Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Author: Angie Campbell

  • Corey Heim captures first Truck Series pole of 2023 at Darlington

    Corey Heim captures first Truck Series pole of 2023 at Darlington

    Corey Heim will start on the pole for the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Buckle Up South Carolina 200 after a qualifying lap of 168.048 mph in the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota. It’s his first pole of the year and the third of his career.

    Chevrolet will occupy the next four positions with Grant Enfinger in second (167.710 mph followed by the fastest qualifying rookie Nick Sanchez (167.676 mph) starting third in a throwback truck scheme that pays homage to Mario Andretti. McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Christian Eckes (167.197) and rookie Jake Garcia, (167.106 mph) completed the top five.

    There will also be four Cup Series drivers competing in the Truck Series race. William Byron was the fastest and will start eighth followed by Bubba Wallace in 15th, Ross Chastain in 16th and Corey LaJoie in 29th.

    The Buckle Up South Carolina 200 will be broadcast Friday night with the green flag set for 7:42 p.m.

    Starting Lineup:

  • Weekend schedule for Darlington

    Weekend schedule for Darlington

    It’s time for Throwback Weekend at Darlington Raceway as all three NASCAR national series compete to tame the Lady in Black. On Sunday afternoon the Cup Series Goodyear 400 takes center stage. Kurt Busch and Ricky Craven will serve as the Grand Marshalls as the FOX television team continues the Throwback theme with Richard and Kyle Petty joining the broadcast booth for Stage 1. Carl Edwards will step in during Stage 2 as Bill Elliott takes us to the checkered flag at the conclusion of Stage 3.

    Denny Hamlin leads all active Cup Series drivers with four wins at the 1.366-mile oval followed by Kevin Harvick with three. Joey Logano is the defending race winner.

    The CRAFTSMAN Truck Series headlines the action Friday night with the Buckle Up South Carolina 200 followed by the Xfinity Series Shriners Children’s 200 on Saturday afternoon.

    There have been 10 previous CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races at Darlington and Matt Crafton has been there for all of them with seven top-10 finishes. Four Cup Series drivers will also attempt to qualify and compete for the Truck Series race – William Byron, Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie and Bubba Wallace.

    Three Xfinity Series drivers entered in Saturday’s race have been to victory lane at Darlington, led by Justin Allgaier with two wins (2021 and 2022), Brandon Jones (2020) and Cole Custer (2019).

    You can check out all of the Darlington Throwback Schemes as they are unveiled throughout the week.

    All times are Eastern and Press Pass is available after each race.

    Friday, May 12
    3:05 p.m.: Truck Series Practice – FS1
    3:35 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying – FS1
    Impound (Single Vehicle/1 Lap/All Entries) FS1
    5:05 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice – All entries – FS1
    5:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying
    Impound (Single Vehicle/1 Lap/All Entries) FS1

    7:30 p.m.: Truck Series Buckle Up South Carolina 200
    Stages: 45/90/147 Laps = 200.8 Miles
    The Purse: $690,259
    FS1/MRN/SiriusXM

    Saturday, May 13
    10:35 a.m.: Cup Series Practice – Groups A & B
    FS2 (moves to FS1 at 11 a.m.)
    11:20 a.m.: Cup Series Qualifying
    Impound (Groups A & B/Single Vehicle/1 Lap/2 Rounds)
    FS1/MRN/SiriusXM
    1:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Shriners Children’s 200
    Stages: 45/90/147 Laps = 200.8 Miles
    The Purse: $1,399,187
    FOX/MRN/SiriusXM

    Sunday, May 14
    3 p.m.: Cup Series Goodyear 400
    Stages: 90/185/293 Laps = 400.2 Miles
    The Purse: $7,722,261
    FS1/MRN/SiriusXM

  • Grant Enfinger claims first Truck Series win of the season at Kansas

    Grant Enfinger claims first Truck Series win of the season at Kansas

    Grant Enfinger led 65 laps in the Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway Saturday night to capture his first CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win of the season. It was his first victory at the 1.5-mile track and the eighth of his Truck Series career.

    After the race, Enfinger gave much of the credit to his GMR Racing team and crew chief, Jeff Hensley.

    “Kansas has been a good track for us but we haven’t had a dominant truck like this in a long time.” He paused a moment, then said, “But lights out, we had the best Chevy Silverado out here. Thank you to Champion Power Equipment for sticking with me.

    “It’s been a dismal year and a half,” he continued. “I know we came up with a win last year but overall the season was a little sluggish, first seven races this year were a little bit sluggish. I was disappointed in our execution

    “But Jeff talked to me before the race. He gave me some encouragement. He did a heck of a job tonight. So the biggest thing is these guys just brought me an unbelievable Chevy Silverado.”

    Corey Heim finished second followed by Zane Smith, Stewart Friesen, Ross Chastain, Nick Sanchez (highest-finishing rookie), Kyle Busch, Jake Garcia, Taylor Gray and Tyler Ankrum to round out the top 10. Toni Breidinger finished 15th in her series debut.

    Heim thought he had a chance at the win until the final caution.

    “I think that last caution (for Kris Wright’s second spin) put a hole in our strategy a little bit,” he said. “If we had that last run go green and we had the same tires as the 23 (Enfinger), I thought we could beat him straight up.

    “As soon as we got that last caution and we were on uneven tires, I knew it was going to be all track position. I got hung up trying to block the 38 (Smith) and kind of took a step back from there and lost track position.”

    Zane Smith and Ty Majeski are currently leading the driver standings with 323 points each with the advantage going to Smith who has two race wins and one stage win. Ben Rhodes (-41) is third followed by Corey Heim (-47) and Grant Enfinger (-56), Christian Eckes -82, Matt Crafton -88, Tanner Gray (-103), Nick Sanchez (-118) and Matt DiBenedetto (-130) rounding out the top 10 in the driver standings.

    Next up for the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series is the Buckle Up South Carolina 200, next Friday at Darlington Raceway at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1 with radio coverage by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Results:

  • William Byron wins Cup Series pole, Kyle Larson second, for all-Hendrick front row at Kansas

    William Byron wins Cup Series pole, Kyle Larson second, for all-Hendrick front row at Kansas

    William Byron topped qualifying at Kansas Speedway with a 179.206 mph lap in the No. 24 Chevrolet to claim his second pole of the season and his 10th career NASCAR Cup Series pole. The Hendrick Motorsports driver will be joined on the front row by teammate, Kyle Larson, who came up a little short with a 179.17 mph lap.

    “Yeah, it feels great,” Byron said. “It feels really good to get a pole. Kansas (Speedway) is where I got my first truck win and that was really exciting, and I’ve never won here again (laughs). Hopefully, tomorrow can be a little bit better.

    “We’ve been kind of inching up on it in the Cup Series at this race track. We had good runs here last year – leading the race in the spring and got a flat tire, and then finished I think sixth in the fall race. So we’ve been pretty good here, it’s just a matter of putting it all together and hopefully, tomorrow is the day.”

    Larson was disappointed that he could not find enough speed to claim the pole but said, “Cool to be there on the front row with William. Wish I could have went just a little bit better. I need to look at the data to see where I gave up a little bit of time to him. Overall, I felt good about my lap and happy to be on the front row.”

    He also indicated that there was still work to be done on the Hendrick cars before the race.

    “Stil feel like we got to work on our cars quite a bit for race trim. I thought the Toyotas were much better.”

    Chevrolet and Toyota each claimed four of the top 10 starting positions with Ford earning two.

    Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain was third fastest in his No. 1 Chevrolet with Toyota drivers Martin Truex Jr. and Tyler Reddick completing the top-five. Joey Logano (Ford), Ty Gibbs (Toyota), Denny Hamlin (Toyota), Daniel Suárez (Chevrolet) and Ryan Blaney (Ford) rounded out the top 10.

    The AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway is set for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET and will be televised on FS1 with radio coverage provided by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Starting Lineup:

  • Weekend schedule for Kansas Speedway

    Weekend schedule for Kansas Speedway

    The NASCAR Cup Series and the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series head to Kansas Speedway this week. Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano lead all active Cup Series drivers at Kansas with three wins each.

    So far this season we have crowned eight different Cup Series winners in the first 11 races of the year. Martin Truex Jr. was the most recent driver to visit victory lane with an impressive run at Dover Motor Speedway, breaking a 54-race winless streak.

    Kyle Busch and Matt Crafton will be two drivers to watch when the Truck Series hits the track Saturday night as they lead the series with three wins each at the 1.5-mile track.

    The ARCA Menards Series will start things off Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. with the Dawn 150 race. Toni Breidinger, who has nine top-10 finishes in the ARCA series, will also attempt to qualify and make her debut in the Truck Series race at Kansas in the No. 1 Toyota Tundra for TRICON Garage. If successful, she will be the first Arab American woman to compete in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.

    The Xfinity Series is off and will return to competition on May 13 at Darlington Raceway.

    All times are Eastern.

    Saturday, May 6

    10:25 a.m.: ARCA Practice – All Entries – No TV

    12:05 p.m.: Truck Series Practice – All Entries – FS1
    12:35 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying (Impound) Single Vehicle/1 Lap/ All Entries – FS1
    Post Truck Series Qualifying on Press Pass

    2 p.m.: ARCA Dawn 150 – (100 Laps/150 Miles) FS1/FloRacing/MRN/SiriusXM
    Post ARCA race on Press Pass

    5:05 p.m.: Cup Series Practice – Groups A & B – FS1/MRN
    5:50 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying (Impound) (Groups A & B) Single Vehicle/1 Lap/2 Rounds – FS1/MRN
    Post Cup Series Qualifying on Press Pass

    8 p.m.: Truck Series Heart Of America 200
    134 Laps = 201 miles
    Stages end on Lap 30, Lap 60, Lap 134
    FS1/MRN/SiriusXM
    The Purse: $734,551
    Post Truck Series race on Press Pass

    Sunday, May 7

    3 p.m.: Cup Series AdventHealth 400
    267 Laps = 400.5 miles
    Stages end Lap 80, Lap 165, Lap 267
    FS1/MRN/SiriusXM
    The Purse: $7,536,752
    Post Cup Series race on Press Pass

  • Weekend schedule for Dover – Cup Series race postponed to Monday at Noon

    Weekend schedule for Dover – Cup Series race postponed to Monday at Noon

    This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series travel to Dover Motor Speedway. Friday evening will showcase the ARCA Menards Series East and the Xfinity Series will take center stage Saturday afternoon.

    The Cup Series will close the weekend with the Würth 400 race on the one-mile concrete paved oval track known as the ‘Monster Mile. Eight active drivers have previously won at Dover with Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. topping the list with three wins each.

    Chase Elliott has been to victory lane twice (2022, 2018) and is the defending race winner while Alex Bowman, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski have each claimed the checkered flag once.

    The Xfinity Series race at Dover is the final round of the Dash 4 Cash competition. Cole Custer, Jeb Burton, Sheldon Creed and Parker Kligerman will be eligible to claim the $100,000 bonus.

    The Craftsman Truck Series will have the week off and will return to competition Saturday, May 6 at Kansas Speedway.

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, April 28

    1 p.m.: ARCA Practice (All Entries) No TV – Canceled
    2:10 p.m.: ARCA Qualifying (Impound/Timed/All Entries) No TV – Canceled
    5:35 p.m.: ARCA General Tire 125 (125 Laps) FloRacing.com – Postponed to Saturday at 4:30 p.m. after Xfinity Series A-GAME 200 (Time approximate)
    3:05 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice – FS1 – Canceled
    3:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying (Impound/Single Vehicle/2 Laps/All Entries) FS1 – Canceled

    Saturday, April 29

    10:35 a.m.: Cup Series Practice – FS2/PRN (FS1 at 11 a.m.)
    11:20 a.m.: Cup Series Qualifying – FS1/PRN/SiriusXM – Canceled
    Post Cup Series Qualifying on Press Pass

    1:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series A-GAME 200
    Stages – 45/90/200 Laps = 200 Miles
    FS1/PRN/SiriusXM
    The Purse: $1,361,382
    Post Xfinity Series race on Press Pass

    4:30 p.m.:ARCA General Tire 125 (125 Laps) FloRacing.com

    Sunday, April 30

    1 p.m.: Cup Series Würth 400 – Postponed to Monday, May 1 at Noon
    Stages – 120/250/400 Laps = 400 Miles
    FS1/PRN/SiriusXM
    The Purse: $7,629,649
    Post Cup Series race on Press Pass

  • Weekend schedule for Talladega

    Weekend schedule for Talladega

    The NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series travel to Talladega Superspeedway this week for one of NASCAR’s most anticipated events. The 2.66-mile track has produced six different winners in the last six races. And, since we’ve already seen seven different winners in the first nine races of the 2023 season, Talladega promises to deliver another exciting result.

    The Xfinity Series has also seen a high level of completion at Talladega with 28 different winners in 34 races. This weekend’s race will feature the third installment of the Dash 4 Cash program with John Hunter Nemechek, Sammy Smith, Cole Custer and Josh Berry vying for the $100,000 bonus.

    The ARCA Menards Series will be first up with the General Tire 200 Saturday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. while the NASCAR Camping World Truck is off for the next couple of weeks and will return to competition on May 6 at Kansas Speedway.

    All times are Eastern

    Friday, April 21

    4 p.m.: ARCA Menards Series Practice (Impound) (Groups) No TV
    5:35 p.m.: Xfinity Qualifying (Impound) Single Vehicle/1 Lap/2 Rounds) FS1
    Post Xfinity Qualifying on Press Pass

    Saturday, April 22

    10:30 a.m.: Cup Series Qualifying (Impound) Single Vehicle/1 Lap/2 Rounds
    12:30 p.m.: ARCA General Tire 200
    Stages 25/50/113 Laps (300.58 Miles)
    FS1/MRN/SiriusXM
    4 p.m.: Xfinity Ag-Pro 300
    Stages 25/50/113 Laps (300.58 Miles)
    Post Xfinity race on Press Pass
    The Purse: $1,438,641

    Sunday, April 23

    3 p.m.: Cup Series GEICO 500
    Stages 60/120/188 Laps (500.08 Miles)
    FOX/MRN/SiriusXM
    The Purse: $7,857,314
    Post Cup Series race on Press Pass

  • Ryan Preece sprints to first career Cup Series pole at Martinsville

    Ryan Preece sprints to first career Cup Series pole at Martinsville

    Ryan Preece won his first NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Award in 124 starts Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway with an impressive lap of 19.979 seconds at 94.780 mph in his Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford.

    He was the only driver to post a speed under 20 seconds during the qualifying session.

    “I was fighting loose that first lap,” Preece said, “It’s a pole. Not a race. So I guess from a company standpoint, it makes us all very optimistic for tomorrow, and [we] can just be smart and we can have good days. It certainly shows that our short track program is really good, and I know our superspeedway program has been extremely good too, and we’ll keep working on that.”

    Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez was second fastest with a lap of 94.298 mph and will join Preece on the front row to lead the field to green Sunday afternoon.  

    Stewart-Haas Racing brought the speed with all four drivers starting in the top 10. Aric Almirola and Chase Briscoe will start third and fourth while Kevin Harvick starts in seventh.

    Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. qualified fifth to round out the top five.

    It was a disappointing day for Hendrick Motorsports. While William Byron qualified in eighth, Kyle Larson will start 19th and Alex Bowman will begin the race in 23rd.

    Chase Elliott, in his return to competition after missing six weeks due to a snowboarding incident, will also have work to do, after qualifying 24th.

    “I actually feel pretty good,” he said. “I had a dismal qualifying lap, but I can’t blame my leg on that one. I had a pretty good first lap and then I really messed up the exit of [turn] two there ]on the second lap. Judging off of practice, starting in the back is going to be a lot of fun, so looking forward to that in the No. 9 NAPA Chevy. We’ll try to go forward there tomorrow.”

    “Yeah, I felt fine in the car,” he continued. “Like I said, the entire practice run, I felt fine. Once you kind of get out there on the track and you start focusing on the little things that you need to be doing to hit your marks, I feel like some of that goes away, so that’s a good thing. Again, my qualifying lap wasn’t because of that, it was just a poor effort.” 

    The Cup Series NOCO 400 is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET and will be televised on FS1 with radio coverage provided by MSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Starting Lineup:

  • Corey Heim perseveres to win rain-shortened Truck Series race at Martinsville

    Corey Heim perseveres to win rain-shortened Truck Series race at Martinsville

    Corey Heim held on to win the NASCAR Xfinity Truck Series Long John Silver’s 200 at Martinsville Speedway Friday night in his TRICON Garage No. 11 Toyota, despite persistent race throughout the event. It was his third victory in the Truck Series in only 26 starts and his first trip to victory lane this season.

    “This race was cut short and that’s definitely unfortunate, but this truck was fast all night,” Heim said after the race. “I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys.”

    The beginning of the race was delayed by almost 2 ½ hours, finally getting underway shortly before 10 p.m. The first 25 laps were run using a weather package specifically designed for driving on a wet track. Then, after the track was deemed dry enough, a competition caution was called to allow the teams to change back to the regular dry weather slick tires.

    An on-track incident with 83 laps remaining brought out the final caution and with it came more rain. At this point, NASCAR called the race official on Lap 124 of the originally scheduled 200 laps.

    Kyle Busch finished a disappointing second and said, “It did not go our way today, unfortunately.”

    “We just didn’t have a good enough short-run truck,” he explained. “Being a little bit loose and free that we were, we were hoping that would pay off in the long run but never had a long run. The longest run of the race was on rain tires.”

    Zane Smith, Ty Majeski and Tanner Gray rounded out the top five with Ben Rhodes, Matt DiBenedetto, Taylor Gray, William Sawalich and Chase Purdy completing the top 10. 

    Majeski remains on top of the Truck Series driver standings by 26 points over Zane Smith, followed by Ben Rhodes (-49), Heim (-71) and Christian Eckes (-72).

    The Truck Series will take some time off with its next race scheduled for Saturday, May 6 at Kansas Speedway.

    Results:

  • Cole Custer captures Xfinity Series pole at Martinsville Speedway

    Cole Custer captures Xfinity Series pole at Martinsville Speedway

    Cole Custer set the fastest lap speed of 94.411 mph during the NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying session at Martinsville Speedway and won the pole for Saturday’s Call811.com Before You Dig. 250. It was the second pole of the season for the Stewart-Haas Racing driver and his 14th career pole in the series.

    He described his qualifying effort, saying, “It’s always very nerve-racking coming here in qualifying because you never know how good your tires are going to come in. But it never feels great, but you hope when they say your lap time afterward that it was a good one. Luckily, had a good one.

    “This is a hard place. It’s not easy to get a trophy here, and a clock. You have to dodge a lot of bullets throughout the race. Hopefully, I can stay up front and dodge all of them.”

    John Hunter Nemechek was second quickest with a lap of 94.331 mph followed by Sheldon Creed (94.237 mph), rookie Parker Retzlaff (94.041) and Sam Mayer (93.808) to complete the top five qualifiers.

    Josh Berry, Sammy Smith, Justin Allgaier, Riley Herbst and Brandon Jones will line up sixth-10th.

    Nemechek, Berry, Allgaier and Chandler Smith are eligible for the Dash4Cash bonus.

    Notes:

    Garrett Smithley (JD Motorsports) and Chad Finchum (MBM Motorsports) did not qualify for the race.

    Alex Labbe had to make repairs due to a brake line cut during practice and will start 24th.

    Anthony Alfredo will start from the back of the field after issues during tech inspection and will start from the back of the field.

    You can tune into the Call811.com Before You Dig. 250 Saturday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Starting Lineup: