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Author: Andrew Kim

Kyle Busch to make 175th Truck career start at Darlington

The upcoming NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Buckle Up South Carolina 200 at Darlington Raceway is set to mark Kyle Busch’s fifth and final Truck Series start of the 2024 season, with the driver campaigning in his four previous events behind the wheel of Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST. The event is also set to mark a unique milestone start for Busch, who is in his 22nd season with at least one start in the Truck circuit. By competing this weekend at Darington, the two-time Cup Series champion will make his 175th career start in the Truck circuit.

A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Busch made his inaugural presence in the Truck Series at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 2001, where he replaced Nathan Haseleu in Roush Racing’s No. 99 Ford midway into the season. By then, the Truck event at Indiana marked Busch’s inaugural presence within NASCAR’s top three national touring series after spending the previous three seasons competing and winning in legends cars and late models in Las Vegas. Starting 23rd in his Truck debut, Busch notched a top-10 result after finishing ninth. He would proceed to finish 17th at Chicago Motor Speedway, 22nd at Richmond Raceway, 33rd at South Boston Speedway, 25th at Texas Motor Speedway and ninth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, respectively. Then at California Speedway in November, Busch, who was the fastest in practice, was not allowed to compete in the event due to being 16 years of age and not meeting the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement that prohibited individuals under 18 years of age from participating in events sponsored by Marlboro cigarettes. Ultimately, Busch would be replaced by Tim Woods for the main event.

After being absent from the series in 2002 and 2003 amid NASCAR’s new age restrictions with an imposed minimum age of 18 years for competitors to be granted to compete in NASCAR, Busch, who competed in the American Speed Association and the ARCA Racing Series in 2002 before reigniting his NASCAR career in the Xfinity Series with Hendrick Motorsports the following season, made a single Truck Series start with Morgan-Dollar Motorsports at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 2004. During the event, he finished 11th after starting 16th.

In 2005, Busch competed in 11 Truck Series events while driving the No. 15 Chevrolet for Billy Ballew Motorsports. In his first series start of the season at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, he led a race-high 77 laps en route to his first career victory. He would then notch his second consecutive victory during the series’ following event at Dover Motor Speedway before recording three top-five finishes during his next five starts. Busch then grabbed a dramatic final lap victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway in October after restarting ninth during a three-lap shootout to the finish and using four fresh tires amid a pit stop prior to the restart to overtake Jack Sprague on the final lap and final corner to win as a multi-truck wreck ensued entering the frontstretch. Busch would then cap off the 2005 Truck season by finishing third at Texas Motor Speedway and 11th at Phoenix Raceway, respectively. Ultimately, Busch achieved three victories, a pole, seven top-five results, nine top-10 results and 243 laps led during his 11-race Truck schedule.

Between the 2006 and 2007 seasons, Busch, who competed for Hendrick Motorsports in between the Cup and Xfinity Series, competed in a total of 18 Truck Series, all occurring with Billy Ballew Motorsports. In 2006, he achieved his lone victory of the season at Charlotte in May and finished in the top 10 in the seven events he entered. The following season, where he switched to BBM’s No. 51 entry, he won at Atlanta in October and at Phoenix in November as he also notched four top-five finishes in 11-entered events. Amid the victories, Busch accumulated a total of seven top-five results, 11 top-10 results and 547 laps led during the two-year stint, with Busch standing at six Truck career wins.

During the 2008 and 2009 seasons, Busch, who switched to Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series but continued to compete in Billy Ballew Motorsports’ No. 51 entry on a part-time basis, made a total of 33 Truck starts. He commenced the 2008 season by finishing in the runner-up spot at Daytona International Speedway in February before notching back-to-back victories at Fontana and Atlanta. He then finished second at Texas in June and recorded five top-10 results during his next eight starts before grabbing his third victory of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. Busch would proceed to finish second twice and no lower than eighth place during his final seven Truck events of the 2008 campaign, in which he competed in 18 of 25 scheduled events.

In 2009, Busch, who competed in 15 events, started the season by finishing second behind at Daytona before winning at Fontana and Atlanta, respectively, for a second consecutive time. After posting two runner-up results during his next five starts, he won in his next five consecutive starts at Bristol, Chicagoland, New Hampshire, Talladega and Texas, respectively, before concluding the season with a runner-up result at Phoenix and a 13th-place run at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Overall, Busch garnered a total of 12 victories, three poles, 21 top-five results, 29 top-10 results and 1,624 laps led, with Busch’s win column increasing to 16.

In 2010, Busch debuted his own-operated racing team, Kyle Busch Motorsports, into the NASCAR Truck Series after purchasing the remaining assets of Xpress Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing. Driving the No. 18 KBM Toyota Tundra, Busch’s first Truck event as a driver/owner would be mired with a 22nd-place finish at Daytona after being involved in a multi-truck wreck on the first lap. He would rally by finishing second at Atlanta before securing his first victory both of the season and for KBM at Nashville Superspeedway in April after leading a race-high 131 laps. After finishing 16th at Dover amid a late fuel pump issue, Busch won at Charlotte in May after leading 69 laps before finishing third and second during his next two series starts.

He then notched back-to-back, dominant victories at Bristol and Chicagoland before finishing seventh at Kentucky, winning at New Hampshire and settling in second at Martinsville during his next three respective starts. At Talladega Superspeedway in October, Busch edged Aric Almirola by 0.002 seconds to win amid a last-lap pass before securing a dominant victory at Texas and another runner-up result at Phoenix during his next two-scheduled starts. He then concluded the 2010 season by scoring his eighth victory of the year at Homestead after leading a race-high 57 laps. With a total of eight victories, six poles, 13 top-five results, 14 top-10 results and a career-high 1,076 laps led in 16 scheduled starts, Busch also earned the 2010 Truck Series owner’s championship for his No. 18 KBM team. To this date, the eight victories earned throughout the 2010 season are the most by Busch in a Truck season as they also tallied Busch’s win column to 24.

The 2011 and 2012 Truck Series seasons generated mixed results for Busch, with the Las Vegas native piloting his No. 18 Toyota to six victories and tallying his wins total to 30 as he also garnered two poles, 11 top-five results and 13 top-10 results in 16 starts. Despite surpassing 100 career starts in the Truck Series, the low point of Busch’s career occurred at Texas in November after he intentionally turned and sent four-time champion Ron Hornaday Jr. head-on into the Turn 3 outside wall at full speed amid a caution period as a retaliatory act from an earlier incident where Hornaday slid up the track and caused Busch to scrape the outside wall while battling for the lead.

The incident not only resulted in Busch being parked by NASCAR for the remainder of the event, but it would carry forth with Busch being suspended from competing in the remaining scheduled events at Texas along with the remaining Truck and Xfinity events of the season. Returning for three Truck events in 2012, Busch finished in the top four in all of his starts but went winless for the first time in his career. The closest he came to winning was during the finale at Homestead, where he led during a two-lap shootout until he was rubbed against the outside wall and edged by a hard-charging Cale Gale at the finish line on the final lap.

Sporting the No. 51 alongside his KBM entry for the 2013 Truck Series season, Busch commenced the season by finishing in the runner-up spot behind Johnny Sauter at Daytona in February before ending up in 27th place at Kansas Speedway in April after being involved in a late accident. He would then snap a one-year winless drought by collecting his first victory of the season at Charlotte before doubling down with another victory at Dover. After finishing third and second during his next two starts at Kentucky and Michigan, respectively, Busch won in his next two consecutive starts at Bristol in August and at Chicagoland in September.

Despite being involved in a vicious final lap multi-truck wreck at Talladega on the final lap before settling in 10th before ending up in 28th place at Texas amid a late engine failure, a victory by Kyle Busch Motorsports’ newcomer Erik Jones at Phoenix followed by Busch notching a dominant victory in the finale at Homestead was enough for Busch to claim his second Truck Series’ owner’s championship and his first for the No. 51 KBM team in a tie-breaker over ThorSport Racing’s No. 88 entry piloted by Matt Crafton, who won the driver’s championship. With five victories, which tallied his wins total to 35, Busch capped off the 2013 Truck Series season with nine top-10 results in 11 starts and 356 laps led.

The 2014 Truck Series season was a breakout season for Busch both as a driver and as an owner. As a driver, Busch commenced the season by edging Timothy Peters by 0.016 seconds to claim his first elusive victory at Daytona in the series before proceeding to win seven races, finish in the top 10 in all but one of his 10 starts and lead 747 laps. As an owner, Busch’s Kyle Busch Motorsports team was victorious in 14 of 22 scheduled events, with sophomore competitor Bubba Wallace winning four races and finishing in third place in the final standings while Erik Jones won three races in 12 starts in KBM’s No. 51 Toyota. As a result, Busch and Jones contributed to Busch earning his third Truck Series owner’s championship.

From 2015 to 2017, Busch made a total of 15 Truck Series starts, all occurring in his Kyle Busch Motorsports equipment. In 2015, Busch, who was sidelined in February after suffering a compound fracture and broke both his right leg and left foot amid an Xfinity Series accident at Daytona before returning to competition in May, made four Truck starts and won two races: Pocono in July and Michigan in August. The following season, he made four series’ starts and won two races for a second consecutive season, this time at Martinsville Speedway in April and at Chicagoland in September.

Making seven starts in 2017, Busch emerged victorious in three events: Kansas and Charlotte in May followed by Bristol in September. With a total of seven Truck victories, Busch also accumulated two poles, 10 top-five results, 11 top-10 results and 807 laps led during the three-year stretch, which tallied Busch’s win column to 49. Amid his success as a Truck Series competitor, Busch was also successful as an owner as he notched his first championship as an owner with Erik Jones in 2015, the owner’s title with rookie William Byron in 2016 and his second championship with Christopher Bell in 2017.

Scaling to a five-race basis in the Truck Series, Busch commenced the 2018 season with a 21st-place finish at Atlanta in February after leaving pit road amid a late pit stop with the left-rear wheel not properly secured on his entry, which the tire rolled out of Busch’s truck upon exiting pit road and plummeting the Las Vegas native to 21st place in the final running order. He would rally during his next series start at Las Vegas in March by notching his first victory of the season and the 50th of his Truck career after leading 55 laps before finishing in the runner-up spot twice at Kansas and Charlotte, respectively, in May. Then at Pocono in July, Busch withstood a late challenge from teammate Erik Jones to score his 51st Truck Series career win in his 145th series start and tie Ron Hornaday Jr. for the most victories in the series.

In 2019, Busch won in all five of his Truck Series starts, starting at Atlanta in February as he became the all-time wins leader in the series with career win No. 52 amid a five-lap dash to the finish. He would then win at Las Vegas and Martinsville in March, where he led a combined 284 laps led, before winning at Texas in April after leading 97 laps. Busch then capped off his 2019 Truck season by winning for the eighth time at Charlotte after leading a race-high 102 laps. At the season’s conclusion, Busch would notch his seventh owner’s title for Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 team.

From 2020 to 2022, which marked his final seasons as a Toyota competitor, Busch scored six Truck Series victories while making five starts per season. In 2020, he won for the fourth time in his career at Las Vegas before finishing second at Charlotte in May and 21st at Atlanta in June, respectively. He then won for the third time in his career at Homestead in June after leading a race-high 82 laps before claiming his fifth series victory at Texas after leading a race-high 72 laps and fending off a late challenge from teammate Christian Eckes.

The following season, he finished in the top five in all five of his scheduled starts while collecting victories at Atlanta in March and at Kansas in May. Then in 2022, Busch finished no lower than seventh during his first four starts before claiming his first victory in his final series start of the season at Sonoma Raceway in June after leading a race-high 45 laps. In total, Busch notched six Truck Series victories, 13 top-five results, 14 top-10 results and 2,016 laps led in 15 starts during the three-year span, which tallied Busch’s win column to 62.

This past season, Busch, whose KBM team rebranded to Chevrolet after Busch departed from Joe Gibbs Racing to join Richard Childress Racing in the Cup Series, returned for a five-race stint in his own-operated No. 51 Chevrolet Silverado RST. He won in his first series start of the season at Las Vegas in March after leading a race-high 84 laps, which also marked the 99th Truck victory for KBM. Busch would proceed to finish second at Circuit of the Americas, second at Martinsville and seventh at Kansas, respectively, during his next three starts before notching a dramatic final lap victory over former KBM competitor Corey Heim to win in his fifth and final start of the season at Pocono in July. The Pocono victory not only marked Busch’s 64th Truck Series career win, but it would also mark the 100th and final NASCAR victory for KBM. Two months later, Busch announced that KBM would cease operations at the season’s conclusion after the team was purchased by Spire Motorsports.

In late February, Busch was announced as a driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports for five Truck events for the 2024 season. His first start of the season occurred at Atlanta, where he won after he overtook Grant Enfinger with seven laps remaining before fending off Ty Majeski at the finish line. He then competed in the following scheduled events at Las Vegas, where he finished 15th amid a late pit road penalty, and at Bristol in mid-March, where he finished second behind Christian Eckes. During his latest series start at Texas in April, Busch, who briefly lost the lead at the start of a 10-lap shootout, reclaimed it from Eckes two laps later before he fended off a final lap charge from Corey Heim to notch his series-leading 66th career victory and his record-tying sixth at the Lone Star state.

Through 174 previous starts in the Truck Series, Busch has achieved 66 victories, which makes him the winningest competitor in the series. He has also notched up 23 poles, 118 top-five results, 141 top-10 results, 8,050 laps led and an average-finishing result of 6.4 as he strives to win for the first time in the Truck circuit at Darlington.

Kyle Busch is scheduled to make his 175th Craftsman Truck Series career start at Darlington Raceway for the Buckle Up South Carolina 200 on Friday, May 10, with the event’s broadcast time to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

May 8, 2024
Larson edges Buescher in closest-recorded Cup Series finish at Kansas

In the blink of an eye, Kyle Larson went from being beaten to a photo finish that set a new record for the closest margin of victory in the NASCAR Cup Series division after edging Chris Buescher to score a wild win y in the rain-delayed AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, May 5.

The 2021 Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led six times for 63 of 268 over-scheduled laps in an event where he was competitive from his fourth-place starting spot as he battled against NASCAR’s elite towards the front for the majority of the event. Then, after initially being poised for a top-six run, a caution for a spin involving Kyle Busch with seven laps remaining generated an opportunity for Larson, who opted for a two-tire pit stop to line up in third place behind Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher. After attempting to make a three-wide move on both during the start of an overtime shootout, Larson settled behind Buescher, who would fend off an early challenge by Larson to retain the lead and start the final lap.

During the final lap, however, Larson then seized an opportunity to make a move to Buescher’s outside entering the final turn and despite getting both rubbed and squeezed by Buescher towards the wall, he managed to muscle ahead by a hair. With Buescher fighting back and both drivers refusing to step off the throttle as they made contact twice approaching the finish line, Larson and Buescher crossed the finish line dead even. Larson would be declared the race winner by 0.001 seconds, which eclipsed the previous margin of finish record of 0.002 seconds, as he notched his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2024 season in dramatic fashion.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, May 4, Christopher Bell notched his first Cup pole position of the 2024 season and the 11th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 183.107 mph in 29.491 seconds in his No. 20 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE. Joining him on the front row was Ross Chastain, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap time at 182.704 mph in 29.556 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced following a delay period of more than three hours due to inclement weather, Bell and Chastain battled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch as the field behind fanned out to three lanes. With the field still fanned out, Bell managed to edge Chastain to lead the first lap from the outside lane, but Chastain kept his car dead even against Bell for the following lap and in an early bid for the lead.

Prior to the third lap, Chastain, who edged Bell to lead the second lap, managed to muscle his No. 1 Busch Light Crocs Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead of Bell through the backstretch as he had both lanes to his control. With Chastain leading Bell, Noah Gragson followed suit in third place followed by Kyle Larson while a three-wide battle for fifth place occurred between Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric and Ty Gibbs. Gibbs would prevail while running the outside lane as he muscled away from Busch and Cindric as Chastain proceeded to lead the fifth lap mark.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Chastain, who nearly lost the lead to Bell a few laps earlier, was leading by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Larson, who assumed the runner-up spot from Bell a lap earlier, as Bell followed suit in third while Gibbs, Gragson, Busch, Chris Buescher, Cindric, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. were running in the top 10. Behind, Michael McDowell trailed in 11th ahead of Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano as John Hunter Nemechek, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. trailed in the top 20 ahead of Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, rookie Carson Hocevar, William Byron and Corey Heim.

Ten laps later, Chastain stabilized his early advantage to two-tenths of a second over Larson while Bell, Gibbs and Buescher were scored in the top five ahead of Gragson, Busch, Hamlin, Cindric and Truex. Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson, who qualified 19th, had fallen to 32nd as he was trailing rookie Josh Berry and Daniel Suarez on the track while Austin Hill, Derek Kraus, Daniel Hemric, Harrison Burton, Riley Herbst and Ryan Preece were running towards the rear of the 38-car field.

Another 12 laps later, a cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Truex pitted his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry XSE along with Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace. The leader Chastain would pit under green on Lap 33, followed by Larson, Gibbs, Buescher, Gragson and a bevy of competitors as Bell and Busch remained on the track. While more drivers, including Bell, pit by Lap 35, Chastain and Larson engaged in a heated battle to emerge as the first competitor who recently pitted on the track while Derek Kraus, who has yet to pit, was leading.

On Lap 41, Chastain zipped by Kraus to reassume the race lead on the track as Larson, who was battling Chastain tightly for the lead a few laps earlier, followed suit in second. Both Chastain and Larson would be separated by a tenth of a second by the Lap 45 mark while Gibbs, who moved into third place, trailed the two leaders by more than two seconds as Buescher and Bell trailed in the top five by three seconds.

At the Lap 50 mark, both Chastain and Larson continued to engage in a heated battle for the lead with both swapping lanes, remaining dead even against one another’s entries, pulling crossover moves on one another through the turns and refusing to give an inch to one another. With Chastain and Larson continuing to battle dead even for the lead during the proceeding laps, third-place Gibbs started to close in as he trailed the two leaders by six-tenths of a second while fourth-place Hamlin only trailed by a second. Larson would then manage to emerge ahead by two-tenths of a second over Chastain by Lap 53 and he would proceed to extend his advantage to a second over Chastain just past the Lap 55 mark.

By Lap 60, Hamlin muscled his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE past Chastain for the runner-up spot as he started to close in on Larson for the lead as he only trailed by less than half a second. Gibbs and Buescher would trail the lead by a second in the top five as Hamlin challenged Larson for the lead on Lap 63. With Larson retaining the top spot while running his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the outside lane, Hamlin tried to overtake Larson again during the following lap, but was denied by Larson as Chastain tried to close back in to join the battle. Eventually, Hamlin would overtake Larson to assume the lead by Lap 68 as Chastain battled and also overtook Larson to assume the runner-up spot.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Hamlin, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Dover Motor Speedway, captured his third Cup stage victory of the 2024 season after fending off a last-lap charge from Chastain, who ended up second. Larson settled in third ahead of Bell and Buescher while Gibbs, Truex, Busch, Gragson and Chase Elliott were scored in the top 10. By then, 33 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, the field led by Hamlin returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Bell edged Chastain to emerge as the first competitor off of pit road with the lead from the first pit box as Larson, Gibbs, Buescher, Truex and Busch followed suit as Hamlin, who was blocked by Austin Hill while trying to exit his pit stall, exited eighth ahead of Elliott and Gragson. Amid the pit stops, John Hunter Nemechek was penalized for speeding on pit road.

The second stage period started on Lap 88 as Bell and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, both Bell and Chastain mirrored their early performance from the event’s start by battling dead even against one another and in front of the fanned pack through the first two turns and the backstretch. Shortly after, Larson, who rocketed his way up to the two leaders, made a bold three-wide move beneath Bell and Chastain, who got loose through Turns 3 and 4, to assume the lead through the frontstretch’s apron. Bell and Chastain were then pinned in a five-wide battle with Gibbs, Buescher and Truex across the start/finish line as the latter three overtook both Bell and Chastain for positions along with Kyle Busch. Chastain and Bell would continue to battle for sixth place and Buescher would battle Truex for the runner-up spot in front of Gibbs and Busch while Larson retained the lead by the Lap 90 mark.

Through the Lap 100 mark, Larson was leading by nearly two seconds over Buescher followed by Gibbs, Busch and Truex while Bell, Gragson, Chastain, Hamlin and Bowman were racing in the top 10 ahead of Michael McDowell, Reddick, Wallace, William Byron and Elliott. As Brad Keselowski, Blaney, Cindric, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Carson Hocevar trailed in the top 20, Joey Logano was mired in 21st ahead of Austin Dillon, Justin Haley, Jimmie Johnson and rookie Zane Smith as Suarez was mired in 32nd behind Corey LaJoie, Hill and Chase Briscoe.

Ten laps later, Larson slightly stretched his advantage to three seconds over Buescher while third-place Gibbs trailed by four seconds. Behind, Busch occupied fourth place ahead of ex-teammates Truex, Bell and Hamlin while Chastain slipped to 10th as he trailed Gragson and Bowman on the track.

Another six laps later, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Todd Gilliland and Ryan Preece pitted their respective Ford entries. Blaney would then pit along with Kraus, Briscoe, Harrison Burton, Logano, Byron and others before select front-runners like Buescher, Gibbs and Hamlin pitted by Lap 119. Larson would then surrender the lead to pit by Lap 120 as he was followed by Busch, Truex, Bell, Gragson and others while 23XI Racing’s Reddick and Wallace remained on the track.

On Lap 125, Reddick surrendered the lead to pit his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE. By then, his teammate Wallace and Daniel Hemric pitted while Buescher, who split Bell and Chastain through the middle as part of the five-wide battle during the start of the second stage period, cycled his No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead. Gibbs trailed Buescher in the runner-up spot, followed by Busch and Larson, who endured a slow pit stop after his front-tire changer had issues tightening the left front tire. Meanwhile, Truex trailed in fifth while Hamlin was in sixth.

At the halfway mark in between Laps 133 and 134, Buescher was leading by more than a second over Busch followed by Gibbs, Larson and Truex while Hamlin, Bowman, Gragson, Bell and Chastain occupied the top-10 spots on the track. Behind, Elliott was in 11th place as he was running ahead of teammate Byron, Keselowski, McDowell and Reddick as Cindric, Blaney, Hocevar, Stenhouse and Wallace trailed in the top 20 as they were running ahead of Logano, Austin Dillon, Gilliland, Zane Smith and Jimmie Johnson.

By Lap 145, Buescher continued to lead by more than a second over a side-by-side battle between Larson and Busch for the runner-up spot while Gibbs and Hamlin trailed by within four seconds in the top five. Buescher’s advantage slightly decreased to nine-tenths of a second over Larson while third-place Busch trailed by a second by Lap 150.

Between the Laps 155 and 160 marks, Buescher stabilized his advantage within less than a second over a hard-charging Larson while Busch retained third place ahead of Hamlin and Gibbs. Behind, Chastain and Reddick battled dead even for a top-10 spot while Elliott and Bell battled for 11th place.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Buescher captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Larson settled in second followed by Hamlin, Busch and Truex while Gibbs, Bowman, Reddick, Chastain and Gragson were scored in the top 10 on the track. By then, 29 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Buescher pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Larson returned atop the leaderboard after he edged Buescher off of pit road first while Busch, Gibbs, Truex, Chastain, Reddick, Elliott, Gragson and Bell followed suit in the top 10. Amid the pit stops, however, Buescher, who had part of a windshield tear off floating atop his car, was penalized for his pit crew jumping over the pit wall too soon prior to his service and was sent to the rear of the field.

With 94 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Larson and Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Larson fended off Busch and Truex to retain the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch as the field behind fanned out. With the field fanning out as wide as four lanes during the following lap, Larson was ahead of Busch with the lead while Truex, Gibbs and Reddick were running in the top five. Another lap later, however, the caution returned after Jimmie Johnson was hit by LaJoie in Turn 1 and sent for a spin before he veered back across the track and crashed hard against the outside wall as Hemric and Hill were also collected. The incident left Johnson disappointed with LaJoie as he ended up with his first DNF of the season and strapped in 38th place, dead last.

During the following restart period with 84 laps remaining, Larson and Busch again battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns until Larson muscled ahead from the inside lane. Busch, however, crossed over to the inside lane in his bid to claim the lead, which he led the following lap by a mere margin as Truex closed in. Shortly after, however, the caution returned for a multi-car crash through the backstretch that started when Hamlin, who was running within the top 10, went up the track and was squeezed into the backstretch’s outside wall by teammate Bell into Cindric, where Cindric veered sideways before he spun his No. 2 Snap-On Ford Mustang Dark Horse back down the track and clipped both Wallace and McDowell as all three were sent spinning while the rest of the field scattered to avoid the carnage.

The next two restart periods, one with 77 laps remaining and another with 71 laps remaining, were quickly halted with two caution periods. The first with 77 laps remaining occurred during the following lap when Harrison Burton, who was running towards the rear of the field, spun his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse entering the backstretch as he needed a wrecker to tow his car back to pit road after he flattened his rear tires. The second caution period with 71 laps remaining also struck a lap after the restart when Logano spun his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse entering Turn 4 as he too flattened his rear tires.

During the initial caution period for Burton’s incident, select names including Hamlin, Buescher and McDowell pitted while the rest led by Busch and Larson remained on the track. During the latest caution period for Logano’s incident, however, a majority of the field led by Larson and Busch pitted while select names led by Gilliland and including Hamlin and Buescher remained on the track.

As the event restarted with 62 laps remaining, the field quickly fanned out to multiple lanes through the frontstretch as Hamlin used the outside lane to muscle ahead with the lead through the first two turns. Buescher followed suit in the runner-up spot through the backstretch and Wallace challenged Gilliland for third place while Busch was trying to fight his way back to the front as he was up to fifth place in front of McDowell, Bell and the field.

Down to the final 60 laps of the event, the battle for the lead between Hamlin and Buescher ignited as Buescher used the apron to overtake Hamlin from the frontstretch to the first two turns. As Busch carved his way up to third place, Hamlin would reassume the lead from Buescher with 54 laps remaining. By then, Busch retained third place while Larson carved his way up to fourth place.

With 50 laps remaining, Hamlin was leading by two-tenths of a second over Buescher, who continued to stalk Hamlin for the lead amid their side-by-side battle earlier, while third-place Hamlin trailed by a second and fourth-place Larson trailed by more than a second. Behind, Gilliland continued to run in fifth place ahead of teammate McDowell, Wallace, Bell, Truex and Elliott while Hocevar, Reddick, Haley, LaJoie, Keselowski, Gragson, Blaney, rookie Josh Berry, Stenhouse and Byron trailed in the top 20.

Ten laps later, Hamlin continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Buescher while Busch and Larson continued to trail the lead by more than a second. Buescher then transitioned to the outside lane as he drew even alongside Hamlin for the following lap before Hamlin rocketed back ahead and blocked Buescher through the frontstretch’s apron with 38 laps remaining. Not long after, Larson overtook Busch for third place as Truex overtook Gilliland to move into the top five while Bell carved his way into seventh place ahead of McDowell.

With less than 30 laps remaining, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to within two- and three-tenths of a second over Buescher while third-place Larson trailed by a second. Behind, Busch retained fourth place ahead of Truex while Bell, Gilliland, Elliott, Keselowski and McDowell were scored in the top 10 ahead of Blaney, Haley, Reddick, Wallace and Hocevar.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Hamlin and Buescher, both of whom were running on fumes with concerns about not having enough fuel to the scheduled distance, continued to run first and second on the track, with Hamlin leading by three-tenths of a second ahead of Buescher. Behind, Larson, who has enough fuel to finish, continued to trail in third place by while Busch and Truex occupied the top five.

Five laps later, Hamlin slightly stretched his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Buescher while third-place Larson continued to trail by more than a second. Hamlin would then extend his advantage to more than a second over Buescher while Larson, Truex and Busch trailed within three seconds with 10 laps remaining.

Two laps later, Truex, who was charging strong after overtaking both Larson and Busch, overtook Buescher for the runner-up spot through the frontstretch. Larson would then drop to sixth as Busch and Keselowski overtook him for top-five spots while Truex started to close in on teammate Hamlin for the lead amid lapped traffic.

Then with seven laps remaining, the caution flew after Kyle Busch, who was running in the top five, got loose and spun his No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 towards the apron from the first two turns and through the backstretch. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Hamlin pitted for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Hamlin exited pit road first following a two-tire pit stop as he was followed by Buescher, Larson, Elliott, Blaney, Gragson, Bowman, John Hunter Nemechek and Corey Heim, all of whom elected for a two-tire pit service, while Truex exited in 10th place with four fresh tires.

With the event restarting in overtime, Hamlin and Buescher, both of whom restarted on the front row in front of Larson and Elliott, led the field to the start until Larson, who restarted behind Hamlin, quickly made a move beneath Hamlin in a three-wide bid for the lead. With Elliott joining the battle, Buescher managed to muscle ahead from the outside lane to emerge with the lead ahead of Larson, Hamlin and Elliott through the backstretch. Larson then tried to make a move beneath Buescher entering Turns 3 and 4, but Buescher blocked Larson, which caused the latter to move up the track and regain his momentum as Hamlin was pinned in a three-wide battle with Elliott and Truex for third place.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Buescher remained as the leader by a tenth of a second over Larson while Truex was trying to muscle away from Hamlin and Elliott to occupy third place. Then after stalking Buescher through the first two turns and through the backstretch, Larson gained a draft on Buescher and made his move to the outside lane as Buescher was trying to squeeze Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 against the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4. Despite being rubbed and squeezed towards the wall, Larson then started to emerge ahead as both he and Buescher made contact while Truex and Elliott were trying to join the battle. Larson then veered left and rammed into the side of Buescher’s No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Dark Horse to stall his momentum, which nearly got Buescher loose, but Buescher kept his foot in the gas, as both he and Larson crossed the finish line dead even ahead of Truex and Elliott.

When the dust settled, Larson, who was initially told that Buescher had won, emerged as the race winner by 0.001 seconds over Buescher, which set a new closest-recorded finish in the history of NASCAR’s premier series. Larson’s margin of victory over Buescher broke the previous record of 0.002 seconds that was made twice: once by Ricky Craven at Darlington Raceway in 2003 and the second made by Jimmie Johnson at Talladega Superspeedway in 2011.

Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

With the victory, Larson notched his 25th career win in NASCAR’s premier series, which placed him in a tie with Jim Paschal and Joe Weatherly on the all-time wins list. He also recorded his second victory at Kansas Speedway, his second of the 2024 Cup Series season after winning his first of the year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, and his 19th driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. In addition, the victory was the sixth of the season for Hendrick Motorsports and the seventh for the Chevrolet nameplate as Larson became the third competitor to repeat as a race winner alongside teammate William Byron and Denny Hamlin through the first 12 events on the 2024 schedule.

“That was wild,” Larson said on FS1. “I was obviously thankful for that last caution [with seven laps remaining]. We were dying pretty bad. [I] Was happy to come out third and figured my best shot was me choosing the bottom [lane] and just try and split three wide to the inside. [It] Worked out. My car turned well and was able to get some runs. Got through [Turns] 1 and 2 really good down the backstretch and had a big tow on Chris [Buescher]. I just committed really hard up top and wasn’t quite sure if we were gonna make it to the other side. I got super loose in the center and then, I’m trying not to get too far ahead of him to where he can side-draft. Then I was trying to kill his run, so it was just crazy. That race from start to finish was amazing. You [fans] got your money’s worth today. I’m just proud to be a part of the show.”

“I didn’t know if I won or not,” Larson added. “I was pumped for the finish. I got to about Turn 3 and [spotter] Tyler [Monn] was going crazy up on the [spotter’s] roof, so just incredible finish there. I wish we have more mile-and-a-halfs [tracks]. These mile-and-a-halfs, these cars just race so amazing. This is so cool. Month of May is gonna be great for us, so hopefully, this just starts some momentum.”

As Larson was left beaming and celebrating on the frontstretch, Buescher was left dejected on pit road after coming up a nose shy of etching the first victory of the season for himself, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing and the new Ford Mustang Dark Horse stock car.

“I don’t know what to say right now,” Buescher said. “That sucks to be that close. It was a great finish for us. A really strong day, a lot of speed in this Castrol Edge Ford Mustang. We really needed that. Needed a win more. [I] Thought I might have had that one. [I] Tried to cover what I could and gave [Larson] half a lane too much, I suppose, but good hard race there right there down to the line, but that hurts.”

Meanwhile, Chase Elliott edged Martin Truex Jr. to finish third while Denny Hamlin, who led a race-high 71 laps, ended up in fifth place.

Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Noah Gragson and Michael McDowell finished in the top 10.

There were 27 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 43 laps. In addition, 31 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 12th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by 29 points over Martin Truex Jr., 55 over Chase Elliott, 56 over Denny Hamlin and 93 over Tyler Reddick.

Results.

1. Kyle Larson, 63 laps led

2. Chris Buescher, 54 laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Chase Elliott

4. Martin Truex Jr.

5. Denny Hamlin, 71 laps led, Stage 1 winner

6. Christopher Bell, five laps led

7. Alex Bowman

8. Kyle Busch, 14 laps led

9. Noah Gragson

10. Michael McDowell

11. Brad Keselowski, one lap led

12. Ryan Blaney

13. John Hunter Nemechek

14. Todd Gilliland, four laps led

15. Josh Berry

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. Bubba Wallace

18. Justin Haley

19. Ross Chastain, 43 laps led

20. Tyler Reddick, seven laps led

21. Chase Briscoe

22. Corey Heim

23. William Byron

24. Carson Hocevar

25. Austin Dillon

26. Corey LaJoie

27. Daniel Suarez

28. Ryan Preece

29. Zane Smith

30. Daniel Hemric

31. Derek Kraus, six laps led

32. Ty Gibbs, one lap down

33. Austin Hill, one lap down

34. Joey Logano, two laps down

35. Riley Herbst, two laps down

36. Harrison Burton, six laps down

37. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident

38. Jimmie Johnson – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, May 12, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.

May 5, 2024
Corey Heim records dominant Truck victory at Kansas

Corey Heim settled his score with Kansas Speedway by notching a dominant NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in the Heart Of America 200 in the Heartland state on Saturday, May 4, after fending off Cup Series rookie Zane Smith for the top prize.

The 21-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, led four times for a race-high 79 of 134 scheduled laps in an event where he started in 13th place but quickly carved his way to the front as he led for the first time on Lap 12. Following an early battle with Zane Smith, Heim would proceed to win the first stage period before he would battle Christian Eckes and Smith for the lead during the second stage period. After regaining the lead from Nick Sanchez on the track with 65 laps remaining, Heim would have to re-cycle back into the lead with 32 laps remaining during a late cycle of green flag pit stops.

Amid a late charge from Smith, Heim managed to maintain his ground and racing line along with navigating through lapped traffic to remain ahead of Smith and prevail for his second Truck Series victory of the 2024 season and his first at Kansas.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Chase Purdy notched his third Truck career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 175.735 mph in 30.728 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Majeski, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 175.713 mph in 30.732 seconds.

Prior to the event, the following names that included Jake Garcia, Mason Massey and Timmy Hill dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective trucks. Nick Sanchez also started at the rear of the field due to his Rev Racing entry failing the inspection process three times which prevented him from posting a qualifying lap.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Chase Purdy muscled his No. 77 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead from the field through the first two turns with the lead as teammate Connor Mosack and Ty Dillon took Ty Majeski three wide to assume second and third place on the track. With the field fanned out as far as four wide exiting the backstretch and back towards the frontstretch, Purdy proceeded to lead the first lap while teammate Mosack, who won the ARCA Menards Series event at Kansas earlier in the day, followed suit in second place.

A lap later, the event’s first caution flew when Majeski, who started on the front row but was losing a bevy of spots through the frontstretch, scraped the outside wall in Turn 1 after cutting a left-front tire. The incident pinned Majeski two laps behind the leaders as his pit crew attempted to keep Majeski’s No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 raceable.

As the event restarted under green on the sixth lap, Purdy retained the lead ahead of Zane Smith, Christian Eckes, Mosack and Ben Rhodes while the rest of the field behind started to fan out through the first two turns and through the backstretch. Purdy would lead the proceeding lap until Smith made a move beneath Purdy through Turns 3 and 4 to assume the lead. With Smith leading the race, Purdy was pressured by a hard-charging Corey Heim, who would claim the runner-up spot by the ninth lap, as Eckes tried to follow suit.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Zane Smith was leading by a tenth of a second ahead of a hard-charging Heim followed by Purdy, Eckes and Rhodes while Daniel Dye, Ty Dillon, Mosack, Kaden Honeycutt and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10. Behind, Rajah Caruth was in 11th ahead of Stewart Friesen, Brett Moffitt, Tyler Ankrum and Matt Crafton while Bayley Currey, Grant Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Dean Thompson and Matt Mills were running in the top 20.

Two laps later, Heim ignited a side-by-side challenge against Smith for the lead, where Heim led the Lap 12 mark through the frontstretch before Smith led the following lap as both remained dead even for the lead. As Stewart Friesen pitted his No. 52 Halmar Toyota Tundra TRD Pro under green after getting into the wall a few laps earlier, Heim managed to muscle his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead and clear Smith’s No. 91 Instacoat Premium Products Chevrolet Silverado RST to assume the lead with both lanes to his control by Lap 14.

At the Lap 20 mark, Heim was leading by half a second over Smith as Purdy, Eckes and Rhodes continued to follow suit in the top five. Behind, Honeycutt was up to sixth place ahead of Ty Dillon and Daniel Dye while Mosack and Taylor Gray were racing in the top 10.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Heim notched his second Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Zane Smith settled in second followed by Eckes, Purdy and Kaden Honeycutt while Rhodes, Mosack, Tyler Ankrum, Ty Dillon and Daniel Dye were scored in the top 10. By then, Majeski, who lost several laps since the restart following his opening lap incident, took his truck to the garage as he retired in 33rd place, dead last.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Heim pitted for service for the first time in the event. Following the pit stops, Eckes emerged as the new leader after exiting pit road first followed by Honeycutt, Smith and Heim. Amid the pit stops, Dean Thompson, Daniel Dye and rookie Thad Moffitt were penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Jake Garcia was penalized for a pit box interference while Cam Waters, who was making his second Truck career start, was also penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

During the pit stops, Lawless Alan overshot his pit box and hit his front tire changer Brandon Henry. As a result, Henry, who survived the incident, was taken to the infield care center while a new tire changer took over to complete the pit service.

The second stage period started on Lap 37 as Eckes and Honeycutt occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes rocketed his No. 19 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead with the lead from the inside lane as the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch. Amid the battles, Smith claimed the runner-up spot from Honeycutt while Nick Sanchez, who carved his way towards the front from the rear of the field and restarted in the top 10, was losing a bevy of spots as he was being pinned in the middle of a bevy of three-wide battles. Smith would then waste little time overtaking teammate Eckes to reassume the lead on Lap 39, but Eckes would pressure Smith on the track during the proceeding laps as he tried to reclaim the lead.

Through the Lap 45 mark, Smith retained the lead by a tenth of a second over teammate Eckes, who continued to intimidate his McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammate for the top spot, while Heim, Honeycutt and Purdy followed suit in the top five. Behind, Nick Sanchez was up to sixth place as Moffitt, Mosack, Rhodes and Dillon were running in the top 10 ahead of Caruth, Tanner Gray, Bayley Currey, Taylor Gray and Ankrum.

Five laps later, Smith continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Heim as third-place/teammate Eckes trailed by a second. By then, Honeycutt and Purdy continued to run in the top five as Moffitt overtook Sanchez for sixth place. In addition, Caruth was up to 10th place as he trailed teammate Mosack and Rhodes on the track while Dillon dropped to 13th. Amid the on-track battles, Smith stabilized his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Heim by the Lap 55 mark.

When the second stage period ended on Lap 60, Smith cruised to his first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Heim followed suit in second along with Eckes, Honeycutt and Purdy while Moffitt, Sanchez, Caruth, Mosack and Rhodes were scored in the top 10. By then, 27 of 33 starters were scored on the lead lap.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Smith returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Eckes reassumed the lead after exiting pit road first for the second time of the event followed by Heim, Honeycutt, Sanchez, Moffitt and Mosack while Smith exited out of pit road in eighth place. Amid the pit stops, Ankrum was assessed a safety violation penalty that sent him to the rear of the field from a top-15 running spot.

With 67 laps remaining, which marked the halfway mark of the event, the final stage commenced as Eckes and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes received a push from Sanchez on the inside lane to storm ahead with the lead through the first two turns as the field fanned out. Amid the field fanning out during the following lap, Sanchez cycled his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST into the lead before Heim used a crossover move on Sanchez through the frontstretch to reassume the lead. Honeycutt would muscle his No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST into the runner-up spot while Sanchez tried to fend off Eckes and Smith for third place.

With less than 60 laps remaining, Heim was leading by two-tenths of a second over Honeycutt followed by Smith, Eckes and Moffitt as Tanner Gray, Currey, Sanchez, Taylor Gray and Matt Crafton trailed in the top 10 ahead of Purdy, Rhodes, Dye, Mosack, Jake Garcia, Caruth, Thompson, Dillon, Bret Holmes and Enfinger. Meanwhile, rookie Layne Riggs was mired in 23rd ahead of Ankrum and Cam Waters.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Heim retained the lead by over two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Honeycutt as Smith, Eckes and Moffitt continued to run in the top five. Behind, brothers Tanner and Taylor Gray were running sixth and eighth while Currey was placed in the middle of the Gray brothers as Sanchez and Crafton continued to trail in the top 10.

Ten laps later, Heim extended his advantage to a second over Honeycutt, who closed in on Heim for the lead earlier before losing ground, as Smith, Eckes and Moffitt continued to trail in the top five.

Shortly after, a cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Heim led Smith and a bevy of competitors to pit road for service before Honeycutt led another group of leaders, including Eckes and Moffitt, to pit road with 39 laps remaining. By then, Rajah Caruth pitted under green two laps earlier as more pitted during the proceeding laps while Daniel Dye, who has yet to pit, was leading. Mason Massey, who also has yet to pit, would then assume the lead with 34 laps remaining as Dye pitted under green. Amid the pit stops, Purdy lost multiple laps due to a loose wheel during his green flag pit service.

Then with 32 laps remaining, Heim cycled back into the lead after Massey pitted under green. Smith would cycle into second place followed by Eckes and Honeycutt as Heim was scored the leader by three seconds with 30 laps remaining.

With 25 laps remaining, Heim retained the lead by nearly three seconds over Smith while Eckes, Honeycutt and Moffitt were racing in the top five. Behind, Tanner Gray, Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Timmy Hill and Currey were in the top 10. Hill would then pit during the following lap before Taylor Gray slapped the outside wall in Turn 2 after sustaining a flat right-front tire to his No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. Amid Gray’s incident, where he pitted, the race remained under green flag conditions as Heim stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Smith with 20 laps remaining.

Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Heim continued to lead by two seconds over Smith while Eckes trailed in third place. As Honeycutt and Moffitt trailed in the top five, the following names that included Sanchez, Tanner Gray, Currey, Thompson and Crafton were racing in the top 10 as Dye, Enfinger, Caruth, Bret Holmes and Dillon followed suit in the top 15.

Five laps later, Heim’s advantage decreased to just over a second over Smith, who was trying to narrow the deficit between himself and the leader, while third-place Eckes trailed by four seconds. Honeycutt and Moffitt continued to run in the top five and sixth-place Sanchez trailed the lead by 16 seconds while Heim stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Smith with five laps remaining.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim remained as the leader by a second over a hard-charging Smith. As Smith tried to narrow the gap while Heim was mired in lapped traffic through the backstretch, the latter was able to stabilize his advantage to perfection and cruise his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro back to the frontstretch victorious for his second checkered flag of the 2024 Truck Series season.

With the victory, Heim notched his seventh career win in the Craftsman Truck Series, his first since winning at Circuit of the Americas this past March and his first at Kansas after finishing within the top four during both Truck Kansas events in 2023. Heim also joins Eckes as the only two series regulars to achieve multiple victories thus far into the 2024 Truck Series season while also delivering the second victory of the season for both TRICON Garage and the Toyota nameplate.

Heim’s Kansas victory also extends his strong start to the 2024 season as he has finished in the top 10 through the first eight events on the schedule while he also continues his pursuit for his first Truck Series championship. The Georgia native will also be making his second Cup Series career start as a relief competitor for Legacy Motor Club and the injured Erik Jones on Sunday.

“[I] Can’t say enough about these guys at TRICON Garage,” Heim said on FS1. “Top to bottom, we executed so well today. Pit crew, everyone back at the shop at TRICON Garage. What a truck. Definitely struggled with being free for most of the race, so I can’t say it was easy, but even with the balance I had, this truck has so much more potential to get better. [I] Really wanted this one today and drove my butt off for it.”

“[I] Just keep getting better, keeping that gap ahead of the second place guy’s the main thing,” Heim added. “I feel like we were so due on this place and I really wanted this one today, so I knew we were gonna be capable of winning today. It’s about putting some more consistency together for the rest of the year and going after that championship.”

Smith, a Cup Series Rookie-of-the-Year candidate who led three times for 29 laps, settled in second place in his fourth and final Truck Series start of the 2024 season, all while piloting the No. 91 entry for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. Amid his strong run, Smith expressed his disappointment in losing a bevy of spots from the lead on pit road prior to the final stage period.

“I was surprised with how much we caught [Heim] there at the very end,” Smith said. “[You] Can’t lose eight spots on pit road. I let that [race] got away there.”

Teammate Christian Eckes, who led 11 laps, came home in third place followed by Kaden Honeycutt, who notched his first top-five career result after finishing fourth, while Brett Moffitt finished in fifth place in his first of select starts driving for TRICON Garage.

“It definitely sucks to come that close and not finish the job, but still a great run,” Honeycutt said. “You got to crawl before you walk, so this is the start of something of our part-time schedule.”

“It was a good night,” Moffitt added. “[I] learned a lot and we’ll move onto the next one and hopefully, be a little bit better.”

Nick Sanchez rallied from starting at the rear of the field to finish sixth while Tanner Gray, Dean Thompson, Daniel Dye and Matt Crafton finished in the top 10.

Notably, Rajah Caruth finished 13th, Rhodes ended up 16th behind Ty Dillon, Ankrum ended up 20th, Taylor Gray was mired in 27th, and pole winner Chase Purdy concluded his event in 28th place. In addition, rookie Layne Riggs and Cam Waters, both of whom made contact on the frontstretch prior to the event’s conclusion and had a heated post-race discussion on pit road, finished 18th and 19th, respectively.

There were 13 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 16 laps. In addition, 14 of 33 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the eighth event of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season, which marks the halfway mark of this year’s regular-season stretch, Corey Heim leads the regular-season standings by seven points over Christian Eckes, 49 over Nick Sanchez, 65 over Ty Majeski and 80 over Tyler Ankrum.

Results.

1. Corey Heim, 79 laps led, Stage 1 winner

2. Zane Smith, 29 laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Christian Eckes, 11 laps led

4. Kaden Honeycutt, one lap led

5. Brett Moffitt

6. Nick Sanchez, one lap led

7. Tanner Gray

8. Dean Thompson

9. Daniel Dye, four laps led

10. Matt Crafton

11. Bayley Currey

12. Grant Enfinger

13. Rajah Caruth

14. Bret Holmes

15. Ty Dillon, one lap down

16. Ben Rhodes, one lap down

17. Jake Garcia, one lap down

18. Layne Riggs, one lap down

19. Cam Waters, one lap down

20. Tyler Ankrum, one lap down

21. Mason Massey, one lap down, two laps led

22. Timmy Hill, two laps down

23. Matt Mills, two laps down

24. Thad Moffitt, two laps down

25. Stewart Friesen, two laps down

26. Lawless Alan, two laps down

27. Taylor Gray, three laps down

28. Chase Purdy, three laps down, seven laps led

29. Mason Maggio, three laps down

30. Connor Mosack, three laps down

31. Spencer Boyd, five laps down

32. Jennifer Jo Cobb, six laps down

33. Ty Majeski – OUT, DVP

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Buckle Up South Carolina 200. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, May 10, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

May 4, 2024
Stenhouse inks multiyear contract extension with JTG-Daugherty Racing

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has inked a multiyear contract extension to continue to drive the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for JTG-Daugherty Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series division.

The news comes as the 36-year-old Stenhouse from Olive Branch, Mississippi, is currently campaigning in his 12th full-time campaign in NASCAR’s premier series and fifth with JTG-Daugherty Racing, where he is ranked in 27th place in the current driver’s standings and has recorded two top-10 results through the first 11 events on the 2024 schedule. Currently, his highest on-track result is a fourth-place run at Talladega Superspeedway that occurred two weeks ago.

“When I joined this team in 2020, I knew both the team and I were capable of putting the No. 47 in Victory Lane,” Stenhouse said. “Although I wish it came sooner, winning the Daytona 500 last year proved that we can win together. We have a fantastic group of guys at the shop, great management, solid partners, and an ever-improving program. I’m very excited to continue my relationship with the team. I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised to see what we have in store for the future.”

Stenhouse, a two-time Xfinity Series champion (2011-12) and the 2013 Cup Series Rookie of the Year, joined forces with JTG-Daugherty Racing in 2020 after spending the previous seven seasons competing for Roush Fenway Racing. He commenced the season on a strong start by winning the pole position for the 62nd running of the Daytona 500. Three years later, Stenhouse won the Great American Race amid two overtime shootouts, which made him the 42nd competitor to win the Daytona 500 as he recorded both the first 500 victory and the second Cup career victory for JTG-Daugherty Racing. The victory also tallied Stenhouse’s total in the Cup circuit to three after he previously won the Daytona summer event at the Talladega spring event in 2017.

Stenhouse’s 2023 Daytona 500 victory enabled both him and JTG-Daugherty Racing to make the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, which marked their second time making the postseason battle for the series’ championship. They would end up in 16th place in the final driver’s standings.

As a JTG-Daugherty Racing competitor, Stenhouse has achieved one victory, one pole, three runner-up results, eight top-five results, 22 top-10 results, 220 laps led and average finishes within the top-25 category as he strives to return to the Playoffs in 2024.

“I am looking forward to continuing with Ricky [Stenhouse Jr.] as our driver of the No. 47,” Gordon Smith, team owner of JTG-Daugherty Racing, added. “He has been an asset to our team on and off the race track since joining us in 2020. Winning the Daytona 500 was a huge accomplishment for our small team, and I know we have more trips to Victory Lane in our future with Ricky at the wheel.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s next NASCAR Cup Series start of the 2024 season is set to occur at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, for the AdventHealth 400. The event’s broadcast time is scheduled to occur this Sunday, May 5, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.

May 2, 2024
Hamlin fends off Larson for third Cup victory of 2024 at Dover

Denny Hamlin earned a monstrous NASCAR Cup Series victory in the Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 28, after fending off Kyle Larson during a 62-lap dash to the finish while dominating the final stage period.

The three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, led twice for a race-high 136 of 400-scheduled laps in an event where he started sixth and ran up front throughout the event.

Hamlin accumulated a handful of stage points during the first two stage periods before leading for the first time before the start of the third stage after squeezing his way past Larson and Alex Bowman on pit road during the second stage break period and pit cycle.

Despite being beaten off of pit road by Larson during a cycle of green flag pit stops with nearly 80 laps remaining, Hamlin quickly reassumed the lead from Larson during a late-race restart period with 72 laps remaining before he had to fend off Larson again during another restart period with 62 laps remaining.

Despite having an advantage that stretched as high as one second evaporate in the closing laps while mired within a bevy of lapped traffic, which enabled Larson to gain ground, Hamlin managed to fend off Larson’s late-race charge during the final 62-lap run to claim his third Cup Series victory of the 2024 season as he won by two-tenths of a second over Larson.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, April 27, Kyle Busch secured his first Cup pole position of the 2024 season and the 34th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 162.191 mph in 22.196 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ryan Blaney, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 161.951 mph in 22.229 seconds.

Before the event, Christopher Bell and Zane Smith dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Kaz Grala also dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car due to wrecking his primary car during Saturday’s practice session.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Kyle Busch launched his No. 8 FICO Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead from the outside lane as he led the field through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field behind fanned out and battled for early spots, Busch led the first lap ahead of Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick while Denny Hamlin and William Byron battled for fourth place in front of Noah Gragson.

Through the first five scheduled laps, Busch was leading by half a second over Blaney as Reddick, Byron and Hamlin followed suit in the top five while Gragson, Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger, Chase Briscoe and Alex Bowman battled in the top 10. Amid the early on-track battles, Busch retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over Blaney by the Lap 10 mark.

At the Lap 25 mark, Busch continued to lead Blaney by three-tenths of a second, with Reddick, Byron and Hamlin battling behind in the top five. Gragson, McDowell, Allmendinger, Briscoe and Bowman continued to run in the top 10 as Busch stabilized his lead to nearly three-tenths of a second over Blaney by the Lap 30 mark.

On Lap 34, Blaney made his move beneath Busch through Turns 3 and 4 as he assumed the lead in his No. 12 Würth Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Nearing the Lap 40 mark, however, the event’s first caution period flew after Todd Gilliland slid up the track beneath Austin Dillon through Turns 3 and 4 before spinning his No. 38 A&W Ford Mustang Dark Horse towards the frontstretch’s inside wall.

During the event’s first caution period, the lead lap field led by Blaney pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Blaney retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Byron, Hamlin, Reddick, Busch, McDowell, Gragson, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.. Amid the pit stops, Reddick made contact with newcomer Corey Heim while trying to exit his pit box and Bell had to reverse his No. 20 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE to have a wheel tightened. In addition, Michael McDowell was penalized for speeding.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 47, Blaney muscled ahead from the inside lane as he retained the lead through the first two turns. Meanwhile, Byron was being challenged by Reddick for the runner-up spot. Through Turns 3 and 4, Hamlin went up the track through Turns 3 and 4, which cost him a handful of spots and dropped him to seventh by the Lap 50 mark, where he was racing behind Kyle Busch, Briscoe, Gragson and Martin Truex Jr. By then, Blaney was leading by nearly three-tenths of a second over Byron.

At the Lap 70 mark, Blaney extended his advantage to nearly a second over Byron while Reddick, Busch and Truex were scored in the top five ahead of Larson, Hamlin, Bowman, Stenhouse and Gragson. Meanwhile, Ryan Preece, who had smoke brewing inside of his No. 41 Morton Buildings Ford Mustang Dark Horse and who pitted early, took his car to the garage and eventually became the first retiree of the event.

Nine laps later, Byron implemented a crossover move on Blaney through the backstretch to muscle his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead as he assumed the lead for the first time of the day. Behind, Reddick retained third place ahead of a hard-charging Truex while Busch was in fifth ahead of Larson and Hamlin.

By Lap 100, Byron was leading by a second over Reddick, who claimed the runner-up spot from Blaney a few laps earlier, while Truex battled Blaney for third place. Behind, Busch retained fifth ahead of Larson, Hamlin, Bowman, Elliott and Stenhouse while Allmendinger, Gragson, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and Chris Buescher trailed in the top 15. Meanwhile, Ross Chastain was back in 16th as Ty Gibbs, Austin Cindric, rookie Josh Berry and Christopher Bell occupied the top 20.

Fourteen laps later and with the leaders mired in lapped traffic, Truex, who zipped past Reddick’s No. 45 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE a lap earlier, muscled his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE into the lead as Byron was having issues trying to navigate past the lapped competitor of Daniel Suarez. Truex would proceed to drive away from Byron as Reddick attempted to battle Byron for the runner-up spot.

Then with three laps remaining in the first stage period, the caution flew after Brad Keselowski, who was battling Gragson in the top 15, spun from the middle to the apron of the track in Turn 2 as he emerged with a flat right-rear tire to his No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Keselowski’s incident was enough for the first stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 120 to conclude under caution as Truex claimed his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Byron settled in second followed by Reddick, Blaney and Larson while Hamlin, Busch, Bowman, Elliott and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Truex pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Truex retained the lead after exiting pit road first just ahead of Byron as Blaney, Reddick, Hamlin, Larson, Busch, Bowman, Elliott and Allmendinger exited suit in the top 10.

The second stage period started on Lap 129 as Truex and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Truex and Byron battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns before Truex muscled ahead from the outside lane through the backstretch. As Truex led the field back to the frontstretch during the proceeding lap, Byron, Reddick and Blaney followed suit from second to fourth, respectively, while Hamlin and Larson battled dead even for fifth place in front of Bowman, Busch and Elliott.

Just past the Lap 140 mark, Truex was leading by six-tenths of a second over Byron while Reddick, Blaney and Larson were racing in the top five ahead of Hamlin, Bowman, Busch, Elliott and AJ Allmendinger. Stenhouse, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric and Ty Gibbs followed suit in the top 15 as Truex extended his advantage to a second over Byron by the Lap 150 mark.

Through the first 165 scheduled laps, Truex continued to lead by more than a second over Byron followed by Reddick, Blaney and Larson, all of whom continued to race in the top five, as Hamlin, Bowman, Busch, Elliott and Allmendinger also continued to run in the top 10. Behind, Stenhouse, Wallace, Busch, Gibbs and Cindric were scored in the top 15 ahead of Berry, Chastain, Gragson, Bell and Logano while Carson Hocevar, Daniel Hemric, Briscoe, John Hunter Nemechek and Corey LaJoie were mired in the top 25. Meanwhile, Corey Heim, who was making his Cup Series debut while substituting for the injured Erik Jones in the No. 43 Dollar Tree/Petty 75th Toyota Camry XSE, was in 26th ahead of Daniel Suarez, McDowell, Justin Haley and Keselowski.

Fifteen laps later, Truex extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Byron while Larson was up to third place as Reddick and Blaney followed suit in the top five. Behind, Bowman, Hamlin, Busch, Elliott and Stenhouse continued to run in the top 10 while Wallace moved up to 11th as he was ahead of Buescher, Gibbs, Berry and Chastain.

Another three laps later, green flag pit stops commenced as Bell, Allmendinger and Cindric pitted before Byron and Larson pitted during the following lap. The leader Truex would pit under green on Lap 184 along with Bowman, Hamlin, Elliott and Reddick while more names including Blaney and Busch pitted by Lap 186. With more of the leaders making pit stops, Corey LaJoie, who has yet to pit, was leading in his No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Larson, who managed to exit pit road ahead of Truex, was running in third place. LaJoie would continue to lead the race and remain on the track by the Lap 190 mark as Larson trailed LaJoie by 19 seconds.

At the halfway mark on Lap 200, LaJoie, who continued to run on the track on old tires and fuel, was leading by more than 13 seconds over Larson while Truex, Reddick and Bowman occupied the top five ahead of Hamlin, Busch, Elliott, Blaney and Stenhouse. Meanwhile, Wallace, Gibbs, Buescher and Allmendinger rounded out the top 14 competitors who were scored on the lead lap while Bell was the first competitor scored a lap down in 15th place.

Eighteen laps later, Larson tracked and overtook LaJoie, who had led 33 laps, to assume the race lead. With LaJoie pitting under green just past the Lap 220 mark, teammate Bowman moved his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the runner-up spot while Hamlin, Truex, Busch, Elliott, Reddick, Blaney, Stenhouse and Wallace were running in the top 10.

By Lap 235, Larson retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Bowman while Hamlin trailed in third place by eight-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Truex trailed the lead by a second in fourth place followed by Elliott, who trailed the lead by two seconds, as Busch, Reddick, Blaney, Stenhouse and Wallace continued to race in the top 10 ahead of Gibbs, Allmendinger, Bell, Buescher and Berry. Meanwhile, Keselowski, who scraped the outside wall 15 laps earlier, was mired in 34th place and scored multiple laps down after pitting to address a flat tire to his entry.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 250, Larson, who was mired in lapped traffic, captured his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Bowman settled in second followed by Hamlin, Truex and Elliott while Busch, Reddick, Blaney, Stenhouse and Wallace were scored in the top 10. By then, 21 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap while Daniel Hemric managed to fend off Corey Heim to be the first competitor scored a lap down and the recipient of the free pass.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Larson returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin, who was in a tight three-wide squeeze against Bowman and Larson to exit pit road first, managed to fend off both to exit first as Larson and Bowman followed suit in second and third, respectively. Busch and Truex exited in the top five as Elliott, Blaney, Reddick, Wallace and Gibbs all exited pit road in top-10 spots.

With 142 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Hamlin and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin rocketed his No. 11 Mavis, Brakes, Tires Toyota Camry XSE ahead from the outside lane as he led the field through the first two turns and the backstretch while Larson retained second ahead of teammate Bowman and Busch. Truex was mired back in fifth ahead of Blaney, Elliott, Gibbs, Reddick, Stenhouse, Wallace, Bell and Berry, as Hamlin retained the lead with 140 laps remaining.

With 130 laps remaining, Hamlin extended his advantage to three seconds over Larson as Bowman, Busch and Truex trailed in the top five by five seconds. Hamlin would stabilize his advantage to three seconds over Larson with 120 laps remaining before the advantage slightly decreased to two seconds with 110 laps remaining. Behind, Bowman, Busch and Truex continued to run in the top five.

Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Hamlin was leading by two seconds over Larson followed by Busch, Truex and Bowman while Blaney, Elliott, Gibbs, Reddick and Wallace were running in the top 10. Behind, Stenhouse, Berry, Allmendinger, Chastain and Bell were in the top 15 ahead of Buescher, Briscoe, Byron, Gragson and Logano while Cindric, Hemric, LaJoie, Corey Heim and Nemechek were trailing in the top 25.

Then with nearly 80 laps remaining, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Truex pitted before a bevy of names led by the leader Hamlin peeled off the track to pit a lap after. Then as the cycle of green flag pit stops continued, the caution flew with 79 laps remaining after Stenhouse, who was running in the top 10 earlier and trying to merge back onto the track following his green flag pit stop, made contact with Berry that sent Stenhouse’s No. 47 Hungry Jack Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 spinning towards the inside wall in Turn 2.

At the moment of caution, Hemric, who had yet to pit, was leading while Larson, Hamlin, Busch and Truex followed suit in the top five. During the caution period, however, Hemric pitted along with Bowman and Busch, which enabled Larson to cycle back as the leader.

During the following restart period with 72 laps remaining, Larson and Hamlin battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns until Hamlin started to muscle ahead through the backstretch. The caution, however, quickly returned after rookie Zane Smith made contact with Bubba Wallace through the first two turns.

It resulted in Wallace spinning his No. 23 Xfinity/U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry XSE towards the bottom of the backstretch as he was then hit on the right side by Byron, who had collided into Bell as Bell hit the inside wall head-on before Wallace and resulted with all three eliminated from contention with wrecked cars. The incident marked Bell’s second wreck of the weekend after he crashed during Saturday’s qualifying session.

As the event restarted under green with 62 laps remaining, Hamlin fended off Larson and teammate Truex to retain the lead through the first two turns. Hamlin proceded to lead the following lap ahead of Larson and Truex while Gragson and Elliott battled for fourth place in front of Busch, Blaney and Hemric, with Bowman and Chastain racing in the top 10.

With 50 laps remaining, Hamlin extended his advantage to more than a second over Larson as Truex, Gragson and Elliott were scored in the top five ahead of Busch, Blaney, Hemric, Bowman and Chastain. Behind, Gibbs, Reddick, Berry, Allmendinger and Cindric occupied the top 15 as Cindric, Logano, Buescher, Briscoe and Nemechek were in the top 20.

Fifteen laps later, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Larson while Truex, Gragson and Busch trailed under five seconds in the top five. Behind, sixth-place Elliott trailed by more than five seconds as Blaney, Hemric, Bowman and Chastain continued to run in the top 10.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Hamlin, who was mired in lapped traffic, continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Larson, who was slowing clipping away Hamlin’s advantage in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, as third-place Truex trailed by two seconds. Behind, Gragson and Kyle Busch continued to run in the top five ahead of Elliott, Blaney, Hemric, Bowman and Chastain while Gibbs, Reddick, Berry, Allmendinger and Cindric were in the top 15.

Five laps later, Hamlin’s advantage decreased to within four-tenths and half a second as Larson continued to gain ground on him for the top spot. Larson would trail the leader Hamlin by two-tenths of a second with 10 laps remaining as both were mired within lapped traffic and with Larson trying to steer across different sections of the circuit to gain more ground on Hamlin.

Down to the final five laps of the event and with the leaders mired in more lapped traffic, Hamlin was leading by a tenth of a second over Larson. Despite Larson making continuous efforts around the turns and the straightaways to narrow the gap between himself and Hamlin, Hamlin managed to maintain both his ground and lane as he also started to blend within Larson’s advantageous line to move in front of Larson, stall his momentum with the dirty air retain the top spot.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hamlin remained as the leader by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Larson. Despite Larson’s final lap effort to go up the track to gain a draft for two final corners, Hamlin managed to keep himself in front of Larson for a final circuit and navigated back to the frontstretch victorious for his third checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season.

With the victory, Hamlin scored career win No. 54 in NASCAR’s premier series, which placed him in a tie with Lee Petty for 12th place on the all-time Cup Series wins list. Hamlin also racked up his second victory at Dover along with the fourth of the season and the fifth for Toyota through the first 11 events on the 2024 Cup schedule. The 2024 season marks Hamlin’s eighth season of notching at least three victories in a Cup Series season.

“Just a great team,” Hamlin said on FS1. “This whole Mavis, Tires, Brakes team just did a great job. All the guys on the wall right here, they’re the ones that make it happen. Thank you to them. [Crew chief] Chris Gabehart, [spotter Chris] Lambert, the whole team, for just giving me a great car. Man, I love winning. Kyle [Larson] did a great job executing on that green flag pit cycle. We were able to get the lead there on that restart, which allowed us, with the caution, to control the restarts. That was the key moment for us. Man, it certainly feels good winning here at Dover.”

Larson, who led 39 laps compared to Hamlin’s race-high 136 and won the second stage period, settled in the runner-up spot for the second time this season. The result, however, was enough for the 2021 Cup Series champion to maintain the lead in the regular-season standings.

“I could pace [the car] and get closer to [Hamlin] at the end of the runs, but it’s just so easy to air block,” Larson said. “Not that he was doing anything dirty or anything like that. It’s just so easy as the leader, especially at a place like this, to shut off the air on the guys behind you. I knew when I got within three car lengths, he was gonna start moving around. I just couldn’t really do anything. I was trying all sorts of different angles and speeds, all that, and nothing could generate enough speed to get close enough to do anything. That was a bummer.”

Martin Truex Jr., who led 69 laps and won the first stage period, settled in third place for his third top-five result of the season while pole-sitter Kyle Busch, who led 34 laps, and Chase Elliott finished in the top five.

Noah Gragson, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Daniel Hemric and Ty Gibbs ended up in the top 10 in the final running order.

Notably, Tyler Reddick, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Talladega Superspeedway, ended up 11th ahead of Ross Chastain, AJ Allmendinger, rookie Josh Berry and Austin Cindric. In addition, Joey Logano ended up 16th ahead of Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez, Corey LaJoie came home 21st despite leading 33 laps, Corey Heim settled in 22nd place in his Cup Series debut while substituting for the injured Erik Jones and Jimmie Johnson ended up 28th behind Austin Dillon in his third Cup start of the 2024 season.

There were 12 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 42 laps. In addition, 17 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 11th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by 15 points over Martin Truex Jr., 33 over Chase Elliott, 49 over Denny Hamlin, 56 over Tyler Reddick, 62 over William Byron and 68 over Ryan Blaney.

Results.

1. Denny Hamlin, 136 laps led

2. Kyle Larson, 39 laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Martin Truex Jr., 69 laps led, Stage 1 winner

4. Kyle Busch, 34 laps led

5. Chase Elliott

6. Noah Gragson

7. Ryan Blaney, 47 laps led

8. Alex Bowman

9. Daniel Hemric, five laps led

10. Ty Gibbs

11. Tyler Reddick

12. Ross Chastain

13. AJ Allmendinger

14. Josh Berry

15. Austin Cindric

16. Joey Logano

17. Chris Buescher

18. Daniel Suarez, one lap down

19. Chase Briscoe, one lap down

20. John Hunter Nemechek, two laps down

21. Corey LaJoie, two laps down, 33 laps led

22. Carson Hocevar, three laps down

23. Justin Haley, three laps down

24. Zane Smith, three laps down

25. Corey Heim, three laps down

26. Harrison Burton, three laps down

27. Austin Dillon, four laps down

28. Jimmie Johnson, five laps down

29. Kaz Grala, six laps down

30. Brad Keselowski, 17 laps down

31. Todd Gilliland, 21 laps down

32. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident, one lap led

33. William Byron – OUT, Accident, 36 laps led

34. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

35. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

36. Michael McDowell – OUT, Hub

37. Ryan Preece – OUT, Safety

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, May 5, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 28, 2024
Ryan Truex scores second consecutive Xfinity victory at Dover

A year after achieving his first elusive victory across NASCAR’s top three national touring series at the Monster Mile, Ryan Truex etched himself as a two-time race winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series level after prevailing through two overtime shootouts and a late challenge from Carson Kvapil to win the BetRivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway on Saturday, April 27.

The 32-year-old Truex from Mayetta, New Jersey, led the final two of 208 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started 12th and ran a consistent event, where he racked up a handful of stage points and dodged a series of late-race caution periods to line up alongside Carson Kvapil at the start of the second of two overtime shootouts. After muscling past Kvapil during the start of the second overtime shootout, Truex then took the white flag to start the final lap of the event and retained the lead just before the event’s race-ending caution flew after front-runner Justin Allgaier wrecked on the frontstretch. The incident resulted in Truex claiming the checkered flag to win at Dover for a second consecutive season and to collect his second career win in the Xfinity Series.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Friday, April 26, Brandon Jones notched his second Xfinity pole position of the 2024 season and the 10th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 156.683 mph in 22.950 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Riley Herbst, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 156.781 mph in 22.962 seconds.

Before the event, the following names that included Anthony Alfredo, Jeb Burton, Blaine Perkins, Garrett Smithley, Josh Williams and JJ Yeley dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Brandon Jones motored his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro ahead with the lead from the outside lane through the first two turns. As the field behind jostled for early spots, Jones proceeded to lead the first lap as teammate Justin Allgaier overtook Riley Herbst to move into the runner-up spot as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sheldon Creed and Chandler Smith followed suit in the top five ahead of Austin Hill, Kyle Weatherman and a side-by-side battle between Taylor Gray and rookie Jesse Love.

On the fourth lap, the event’s first caution flew after Hailie Deegan and JJ Yeley, both of whom were racing towards the rear of the field, made contact through the frontstretch that resulted with Yeley spinning and slapping the outside wall in Turn 1 as his event came to an early end.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 13, Allgaier launched his No. 7 Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet Camaro ahead of teammate Jones through the first two turns as he muscled ahead to assume the lead while the rest of the field jostled for early spots. Allgaier would power ahead by more than a second by the Lap 15 mark while Jones, Herbst, Creed and Hill followed suit in the top five. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith, Gray, AJ Allmendinger, Cole Custer and Love were racing in the top 10 ahead of Kyle Weatherman, Ryan Sieg, Ryan Truex, Parker Kligerman and Sammy Smith as Allgaier continued to lead by more than a second by the Lap 20 mark.

Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Allgaier led by more than a second over teammate Jones while third-place Herbst trailed by five seconds. Creed and Hill followed suit in the top five while Chandler Smith, Gray, Custer, Allmendinger and Love were racing in the top 10 ahead of Ryan Sieg, Truex, Sammy Smith, Parker Retzlaff, Weatherman, Kligerman, Matt DiBenedetto, Sam Mayer, Carson Kvapil and Kaden Honeycut.

Shortly after, the event’s second caution period flew after Ryan Sieg, winner of the third Dash 4 Cash bonus from last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway and who was running in the top 15, came to a stop below the track in Turn 2 after his No. 39 Sci Aps Ford Mustang went up in flames, with the driver able to quickly escape his burned car.

During the caution period, some including Love, Parker Retzlaff and rookie Shane van Gisbergen pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.

With the event restarting under green on Lap 32, Allgaier retained the lead after muscling ahead on the inside lane while teammate Jones was trying to fend off Creed for the runner-up spot. Behind, Herbst trailed in fourth ahead of Hill and Custer while Chandler Smith, Gray, Allmendinger and Truex occupied the top 10.

Just past the Lap 35 mark, Allgaier was leading by a second over teammate Jones with Creed following suit in third while Herbst and Hill battled in the top five ahead of Custer and Chandler Smith. The deficit for Creed, Custer, Herbst, Hill and Chandler Smith would increase to four seconds as Allgaier retained the lead by the Lap 40 mark.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Allgaier captured his fourth Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammates Jones settled in second followed by Custer, Creed and Herbst while Hill, Chandler Smith, Allmendinger, Truex and Sam Mayer were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Allgaier pitted while the rest led by Retzlaff and Love, including those who pitted during the previous caution period, remained on the track. Towards the end of the first stage’s break period, Blaine Perkins stopped on the track in Turn 2 after his car ended up on fire.

The second stage period started on Lap 51 as Retzlaff and Love occupied the front row. At the start, Retzlaff and Love battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch as Jeb Burton followed suit in third. Love would prevail and take over the top spot during the following lap while the rest of the field behind scrambled and jostled for positions by the Lap 55 mark.

At the Lap 60 mark, Love was leading by half a second over Retzlaff followed by Custer, Jeb Burton and Hill while Creed, Herbst, Kaden Honeycutt, Chandler Smith and Allgaier were running in the top 10 as Allmendinger, Sammy Smith, Shane van Gisbergen, Truex and Jones trailed in the top 15.

Ten laps later, Love retained the lead by nine-tenths of a second over Retzlaff as third-place Custer, who was the first competitor who exited pit road during the first stage’s break period, trailed by a second as he was racing ahead of Creed and Herbst.

Another two laps later, Custer motored his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang past Love’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro through the first two turns as he assumed the lead. Custer extended his advantage to a second over Love by the Lap 75 mark and to two seconds over Love just past the Lap 80 mark.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Custer captured his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Hill charged his way into the runner-up spot followed by Love, Retzlaff and Creed while Allgaier, Herbst, Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith and Truex were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Custer pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Custer retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Hill, Allgaier, Herbst, Love, Sammy Smith, Creed, Truex, Chandler Smith and Allmendinger.

With 102 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Custer and Hill occupied the front row. At the start, Custer fended off Hill to retain the lead as Allgaier muscled his way past Hill for the runner-up spot. Allgaier and Hill would battle for the runner-up spot ahead of Herbst and Love while Custer led with 100 laps remaining. Not long after, Love made an unscheduled pit stop under green to address a cut left-rear tire after making contact with Ryan Truex.

With 85 laps remaining, Custer stretched his advantage to three seconds over Allgaier while Herbst, Sammy Smith and Hill trailed in the top five ahead of Carson Kvapil, Creed, Truex, Allmendinger and Anthony Alfredo.

Ten laps later, Custer stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Allgaier as Herbst, Sammy Smith and Hill continued to run in the top five ahead of Kvapil, Creed, Truex, Allmendinger and Chandler Smith.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Custer continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Allgaier as Herbst, Sammy Smith and Hill trailed by five seconds. Behind, Kvapil retained sixth ahead of Creed and Chandler Smith, who gained two spots, as Allmendinger and Truex trailed in the top 10 ahead of Jones, Mayer, Kligerman, Alfredo and Jeb Burton.

Eight laps later, the caution flew due to rain reported around the venue. During the caution period, some led by Herbst pitted while the rest led by Custer, who missed the pit road entrance line and did not pit when reported to do so, remained on the track.

With the caution period being extended due to the rain, the field led by Custer was directed to pit road with 33 laps remaining and the event was placed in a weather delay that spanned more than 12 minutes. Once the red flag period was lifted and the field returned to the track under a cautious pace, select names including Custer pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green flag conditions with 28 laps remaining, Allgaier and Hill battled closely against one another for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch until Allgaier went wide and up the track in Turn 3. This allowed Hill to muscle ahead with the lead as Kvapil moved into the runner-up spot while Allgaier was left to battle Creed and Mayer to retain third place.

Another lap later, the caution returned after Jones, who was racing in the top 10, made contact with Allmendinger in Turn 2 that resulted in Allmendinger bumping into Jones and sending Jones for a spin towards the inside wall on the backstretch, but Jones managed to keep his car off the wall.

The start of the following restart period with 21 laps remaining featured Hill retaining the lead ahead of Creed, Kvapil and Gray. Four laps later, however, the caution returned after Mayer, who was battling Gray for a top-five spot, got loose underneath Gray and clipped Gray which resulted in Gray slamming into the outside wall in Turn 2.

During the start of the next restart period with 11 laps remaining, Hill and Creed battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch before Creed muscled ahead from the inside lane. With 10 laps remaining, however, Hill would battle back against Creed for the top spot as.

Then with eight laps remaining, Kvapil drew himself beneath a side-by-side action between Hill and Creed through the frontstretch. This generated a three-wide action for the lead as Kvapil moved his No. 88 Chevy Truck Season Chevrolet Camaro into the lead. The caution, however, returned a lap later after Herbst got turned sideways in Turn 4, which triggered a multi-car wreck that collected Kyle Sieg, Sammy Smith, Leland Honeyman, Brennan Poole, Daniel Dye and Allgaier. The incident was enough to sent the event into overtime.

The first overtime period did not last long as Hill got loose underneath Kvapil while battling him for the lead through the first two turns, which resulted in Hill spinning his No. 21 Nuthin Fancy Collection Chevrolet Camaro below the apron.

The second overtime attempt generated a different outcome as Ryan Truex, who restarted alongside Kvapil on the inside lane, battled dead even with Kvapil for nearly a full lap until Truex muscled ahead with the lead through Turns 3 and 4.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Truex was leading by two-tenths of a second over Kvapil as Mayer, Creed and Custer battled for third place. Not long after, the caution flew, which ended the race as Allgaier wrecked on the frontstretch. With the checkered flag being displayed alongside the caution flag, Truex was able to coast his No. 20 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota Supra back to the frontstretch victorious for a second consecutive season at the Monster Mile.

With the victory, Truex, who previously recorded two top-10 results in four starts thus far of the season, achieved his second career win in his 95th start in the Xfinity circuit and fifth of the 2024 season. He also recorded the fifth victory of the season for both Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing as he became the third different competitor to pilot JGR’s No. 20 Toyota Supra entry to an Xfinity race victory in 2024.

“I can’t believe it,” Truex said on FS1. “Our car was just good at the end when it mattered. I was so loose all day. Shout out to Carson [Kvapil]. What an amazing run for what, his second race. I felt a little bad running him up the hill, but you’ve got to take these things when you can. I’m out of breath. I think I held my breath the last two laps. Love these fans. Love this track. Just can’t believe it.”

Meanwhile, Kvapil, a full-time CARS Late Model Stock Tour competitor for JR Motorsports and the son of former NASCAR Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil, was left with mixed reactions on pit road despite achieving a career-best runner-up result in his second Xfinity Series career start. He finished in fourth place during his first Xfinity career start at Martinsville Speedway in early April.

“It sucks, right? You get that close [to winning],” Kvapil said. “I really don’t even know what to say. I think we had a really fast Chevrolet here. JR Motorsports brought me a really good piece. I’m just really fortunate to be in the spot that I am. I’m happy that I have a shot to win a race at the end there. We had a good car. I just couldn’t really get up through the restarts really good…[Truex] just barely got us there at the end.”

Sam Mayer ended up in third place followed by Sheldon Creed and Cole Custer. AJ Allmendinger, Chandler Smith, Kyle Weatherman, Anthony Alfredo and Parker Retzlaff finished in the top 10.

For the fourth and final Dash 4 Cash bonus of the 2024 season, the honors belonged to Anthony Alfredo, who achieved his first bonus of the initiative of his career as he also collected his fifth top-10 result of the season.

There were 11 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 61 laps. In addition, 20 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 10th event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Chandler Smith leads the regular-season standings by a single point over Cole Custer, 17 over Austin Hill, 57 over rookie Jesse Love and 81 over Justin Allgaier.

Results.

1. Ryan Truex, two laps led

2. Carson Kvapil, 14 laps led

3. Sam Mayer

4. Sheldon Creed, three laps led

5. Cole Custer, 95 laps led, Stage 2 winner

6. AJ Allmendinger

7. Chandler Smith

8. Kyle Weatherman

9. Anthony Alfredo

10. Parker Retzlaff, three laps led

11. Jeb Burton

12. Parker Kligerman

13. Ryan Ellis

14. Jeremy Clements

15. Austin Hill, 17 laps led

16. Riley Herbst

17. Justin Allgaier, 39 laps led, Stage 1 winner

18. Shane van Gisbergen

19. Brandon Jones, 13 laps led

20. Daniel Dye

21. Leland Honeyman, one lap down

22. Brennan Poole, one lap down

23. Kaden Honeycutt, two laps down

24. Jesse Love, two laps down, 21 laps led

25. Josh Williams, two laps down

26. David Starr, two laps down

27. Kyle Sieg, two laps down, one lap led

28. Patrick Emerling, three laps down

29. Dawson Cram, three laps down

30. Garrett Smithley, six laps down

31. Hailie Deegan, eight laps down

32. Matt DiBenedetto, 12 laps down

33. Sammy Smith – OUT, Accident

34. Taylor Gray – OUT, Accident

35. Corey Heim – OUT, Engine

36. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Electrical

37. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Engine

38. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

With the completion of the 2024 Xfinity Series’ Dash 4 Cash initiative, the next event on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200. The event is scheduled for May 11 and will air at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 27, 2024
Bowman to make 300th Cup career start at Dover

In his ninth full-time season as a NASCAR Cup Series competitor, Alex Bowman is primed to achieve a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this upcoming weekend’s Cup event at Dover Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will reach career start No. 300 in NASCAR’s premier series.

A native of Tucson, Arizona, Bowman made his inaugural presence in the Cup Series at the start of the 2014 season. By then, he was coming off his full-time season in the Xfinity Series with RAB Racing and had conducted a Preseason Thunder test with BK Racing at Daytona International Speedway in January, which was enough for him to earn a full-time ride in BKR’s No. 23 Toyota Camry entry. Starting 29th for the 56th running of the Daytona 500 after earning a transfer spot for the main event, Bowman finished 23rd in his Cup debut. He would proceed to earn a season-best 13th-place result at Daytona in July, 11 top-30 results and an average-finishing result of 32.6 throughout the 36-race schedule before ending up in 35th place in the final driver’s standings and in sixth place for the Rookie-of-the-Year battle.

In 2015, Bowman joined forces with Tommy Baldwin Racing to pilot the team’s No. 7 Chevrolet SS. After not qualifying for the 57th running of the Daytona 500 due to being involved in a multi-car wreck during the second Daytona Duel event and not securing a transfer spot for the main event, he finished 23rd in his first start of the season during the schedule’s following event at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He would proceed to notch a season-best 16th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway in May, a total of 13 top-30 results and an average-finishing result of 31.6 before settling in 33rd place in the final standings.

At the start of the 2016 season, Bowman lost his Cup Series ride at Tommy Baldwin Racing to Regan Smith. Then, after making five starts with JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series, he returned to the Cup circuit in July as an interim competitor for the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet SS piloted by two-time Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was absent after suffering concussion-like symptoms.

In his first event in HMS’ No. 88 Chevrolet at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Bowman spent the majority of the event running in the top 10 until a cut left-rear tire with 29 laps remaining sent the Arizona native into the outside wall entering Turn 1 and down to a 26th-place finish when the checkered flag flew. He would proceed to finish 30th, 10th, 14th, 39th, seventh, 36th and 13th, respectively, during his next seven starts while sharing the No. 88 ride with four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon.

At Phoenix Raceway in November, Bowman commenced the weekend by achieving his first Cup career pole position. He led a race-high 194 laps and was in contention for the victory until a late overtime incident, where he sent title contender Matt Kenseth spinning into the outside wall and relegated him to a career-best sixth place in the final running order. Bowman concluded the season by finishing 16th at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In 2017, Bowman made a single Cup Series start in the non-points Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona in February as he returned to pilot Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 Chevrolet. During the event, he dodged a final lap incident involving Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski to battle with Kyle Busch on the final lap before being edged by Busch and settling in third place. Five months later, Bowman was announced as Earnhardt Jr.’s successor of the No. 88 HMS entry for the 2018 Cup season after Earnhardt Jr. announced his retirement three months earlier.

Piloting the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet entry, Bowman commenced the season by winning the pole position for the 60th running of the Daytona 500 and nabbing the fourth consecutive 500 pole in recent seasons for Hendrick Motorsports. Ultimately, he would finish 17th during the 500 after being involved in a late multi-car wreck. Throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, he notched a season-best third-place finish at Pocono Raceway in July along with a fifth-place result at Bristol Motor Speedway in April and a total of nine top-10 results, which was enough for him to grab the 16th and final berth to the 2018 Cup Series Playoffs based on points.

He also made his first career start in the All-Star Race after winning the first stage over Erik Jones in the All-Star Open, where he would finish 21st during the main event following a late incident. After finishing 19th, 12th and fourth, respectively, throughout the Round of 16, he transferred to the Round of 12. However, he was unable to transfer into the Round of 8 following respective finishes of 28th, 33rd and ninth throughout the Round of 12. For the final four events on the schedule, Bowman finished no higher than 14th before settling in 16th place in the final standings. By then, he had surpassed 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

The following season, Bowman began the season by finishing 11th during the 61st running of the Daytona 500 after starting on the front row. He finished no higher than 11th twice during the first nine events on the schedule before notching three consecutive runner-up results at Talladega, Dover Motor Speedway and at Kansas Speedway, respectively. The results were also enough for him to achieve the Fan Vote title and earn the final transfer spot into the All-Star Race at Charlotte in May, where he finished eighth.

Five races later, Bowman scored his first Cup career victory in his 134th series start at Chicagoland Speedway following a late battle with Kyle Larson. Larson overtook Bowman for the lead with eight laps remaining before Bowman reassumed it for good two laps later. The Arizona native also became the 17th different competitor to win while driving for Hendrick Motorsports. He notched the first victory for HMS’ No. 88 entry since Dale Earnhardt Jr. won at Phoenix in 2015. Despite finishing no higher than 10th during the final nine regular-season events, Bowman’s Chicagoland victory guaranteed him a spot in the Playoffs for a second consecutive season.

With respective finishes of sixth, 23rd and second throughout the Round of 16, Bowman was able to grab the final transfer spot into the Round of 12. Amid respective finishes of third, 37th and 11th throughout the Round of 12, however, he was eliminated from title contention. Managing a single top-five result and two top-10 results during the final four events on the schedule, Bowman settled in 12th place in the final standings. By then, he had recorded 200 laps led throughout the season, seven top-five results, 12 top-10 results and a career-best average-finishing result of 14.4.

After commencing the 2020 Cup season by finishing 24th during the 62nd running of the Daytona 500 despite starting on the front row and ending up in 13th place during the following event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Bowman stormed to the competition by notching his second Cup career win at Auto Club Speedway in March after leading a race-high 110 of 200 laps.

Amid a season mired by the COVID-19 pandemic, he proceeded to secure a strong runner-up result at Darlington Raceway in May along with a total of three top-fives and eight top-10 throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, which was enough for him to make his third consecutive Playoffs. With four additional top-10 results and by finishing no lower than 16th during the first six Playoff events, Bowman transferred from the Round of 16 to the Round of 8. Despite achieving respective finishes of third, fifth and sixth throughout the Round of 8, he missed the cutline to make the Championship 4 round. Nonetheless, Bowman proceeded to finish 16th during the finale at Phoenix and achieve a career-best sixth-place result in the final standings. He also achieved a career-high 440 laps led, a total of 15 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 14.7.

The 2021 Cup season was a breakout season for Bowman, who remained as a Hendrick Motorsports competitor for a fourth consecutive season but was piloting the No. 48 alongside his entry after seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson retired from full-time NASCAR competition. Bowman began the season by notching his second Daytona 500 pole position before finishing 35th during the main event after being eliminated in an early multi-car wreck.

Then after finishing no higher than third and recording three top-10 results during the first eight events on the schedule, he achieved his first victory of the season and the third of his career at Richmond Raceway in April after overtaking Denny Hamlin with 10 laps remaining. With the victory, Bowman achieved the first Cup win for HMS’ No. 48 entry since Jimmie Johnson won at Dover Motor Speedway in 2017. Ironically, Bowman scored his second victory of the season at Dover four races later as he led both 98 laps amid a historic 1-2-3-4 finish for Hendrick Motorsports. Another five races later, Bowman capitalized on a final lap cut tire and incident involving teammate Kyle Larson to score a third Cup victory of the season at Pocono Raceway in June.

After concluding the regular-season stretch with four top-10 results, Bowman finished 26th, 12th and fifth throughout the Round of 16, which was enough for him to transfer into the Round of 12. His title hopes, however, evaporated following respective finishes of 22nd, 38th and 10th during the Round of 12. He proceeded to notch a career-high fourth victory of the season at Martinsville Speedway in October after a late run-in with Denny Hamlin and settle in 14th place in the final standings. In total, Bowman’s 2021 Cup season was a season where he achieved career-high stats in victories (four), top fives (eight) and top 10s (16) with an average-finishing result of 15.1. He had also surpassed 200 Cup career starts.

After starting on the front row for the Daytona 500 for a fifth consecutive season and finishing within the top 25 during the first two events of the 2022 Cup season, Bowman rallied by fending off teammate Larson during an overtime shootout to claim his seventh Cup career win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. He finished second at Circuit of the Americas in March and notched a total of three top-five results and 10 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch before the Playoffs commenced, with Bowman making his fifth consecutive appearance in the postseason title battle.

With respective finishes of 10th, fourth and 32nd throughout the Round of 16, Bowman managed to race his way into the Round of 12. During the Round of 12 opener at Texas Motor Speedway, however, Bowman was involved in a hard accident just past the halfway mark and suffered concussion-like symptoms that would prevent him from competing in the following five events and eliminate him from title contention. He received medical clearance to compete in the finale at Phoenix, where he finished 34th on the track before settling in 16th place in the final standings.

This past season, Bowman began the season by claiming his third Daytona 500 pole position and extending his front starting streak in the Great American Race to six consecutive seasons. He finished fifth in the main event after dodging a final lap multi-car wreck. Despite Bowman’s team being hit with two different level penalties during pre-race and post-race inspection issues stemming from Phoenix and Richmond that resulted in the driver losing two crew chiefs, both of whom were also hit with hefty fines,

Bowman recorded two third-place results and a total of four top-10 results during the first 10 events on the schedule. Then in late April, Bowman was involved in a Sprint Car accident in West Burlington, Iowa, and injured his back and was absent for four events, including the All-Star Race. Despite returning at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600 in May, where he finished 12th, Bowman finished no higher than fifth and sixth during the final 13 regular-season events on the schedule and missed the Playoffs for the first time as a full-time Cup competitor. Although his title hopes for the 2023 season evaporated early, he accumulated two additional top-10 results throughout the 10-race Playoff stretch before managing to settle in 20th place in the final standings.

Bowman, who is currently in his fourth season driving the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, began the 2024 campaign by finishing in the runner-up spot behind teammate William Byron in the 66th running of the Daytona 500. He has since finished in the top eight four times during his previous nine starts, including a recent fifth-place result at Talladega, and is currently ranked in 14th place in the current driver’s standings and trails the regular-season points lead by 107 points.

Through 299 previous Cup starts, Bowman has achieved seven victories, four poles, 36 top-five results, 84 top-10 results, 1,307 laps led and an average-finishing result of 19.7.

Alex Bowman is scheduled to make his 300th Cup Series career start at Dover Motor Speedway for the Würth 400 on Sunday, April 28. The event’s broadcast time is set to occur at 2 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 24, 2024
Grosjean to make 50th IndyCar career start at Barber Motorsports Park

In his third full-time campaign in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Romain Grosjean is within reach of achieving a milestone start. When he takes the green flag in this weekend’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, the driver of the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Dallara-Chevrolet will make his 50th career start in the IndyCar circuit.

Grosjean, who was born in Geneva, Switzerland, but competes under the French flag, made his inaugural presence in the IndyCar circuit at Barber Motorsports Park in April 2021. He was coming off a 10-year campaign in Formula One, where he had recorded 10 podium results and 391 points while competing for Lotus and Haas F1 teams, and had survived a harrowing opening lap accident at Bahrain International Circuit during the Bahrain Grand Prix. The incident ended his F1 career and led him to transition to IndyCar competition.

Piloting the No. 51 Dallara-Honda for Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing in a part-time campaign, Grosjean started seventh and finished 10th in his IndyCar debut. After finishing 13th during his second series start at the Streets of St. Petersburg, Grosjean earned the spotlight during his third series start at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course for the GMR Grand Prix in May, where he achieved his maiden pole position and proceeded to lead a race-high 44 laps before settling in a career-best runner-up spot behind Rinus VeeKay.

Grosjean proceeded to finish in the top seven twice during his next five starts before he achieved both his second runner-up result and second podium of the season at Indianapolis during the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix in August. Three races later, he achieved his third podium result of the season and the third of his career, at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca after carving his way from starting 13th. He would then make his 13th and final IndyCar start of the year in the season-finale Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach at the Streets of Long Beach, California, where he finished 24th after being involved in a late accident. Making 13 starts in total throughout the 2021 season, Grosjean settled in 15th place in the final driver’s standings with 272 points.

Amid his strong performances throughout the 2021 season, Grosjean was recruited by Andretti Global to pilot the No. 28 Dallara-Honda on a full-time basis for the 2022 IndyCar season, replacing the 2014 Indianapolis 500 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay. He began the season by finishing fifth at the Streets of St. Petersburg in February before claiming his first podium result of the season in the form of a second-place finish at the Streets of Long Beach event two races later. Grosjean finished no higher than seventh during his next four starts before managing a top-five finish in the form of a fourth-place run at Road America in June.

He ended up in 31st place during his first Indianapolis 500 start in May after being involved in an accident just past the halfway mark. He would then proceed to record two top-10 results during the following eight events on the schedule before finishing in seventh place in the finale at Laguna Seca. With an average-finishing result of 13.7, one spot lower than 12.7 during the 2021 season, Grosjean concluded his sophomore IndyCar season in 13th place in the final standings and with a career-high 328 points.

Returning for a second IndyCar season with Andretti Global in 2023, Grosjean captured the pole position for the season-opening event at the Streets of St. Petersburg. Despite leading 31 laps, however, he ended up in 18th place in the final running order after being involved in a late accident with Scott McLaughlin, whom he was battling for the victory. After being involved in a second consecutive accident during the following event at Texas Motor Speedway while battling for a top-five spot with two laps remaining, Grosjean rallied by notching back-to-back runner-up results and podiums at Long Beach and Barber Motorsport Park, respectively, the latter of which occurred after he started on the pole position for a third time and led a race-high 57 laps before being outdueled by McLaughlin in the closing laps.

For the remaining 13 events on the schedule, Grosjean would manage to record a single top-10 result, which was a sixth-place run at Nashville Street Circuit in August, as he ended up in 13th place in the final driver’s standings for a second consecutive season, but with 296 points and an average-finishing result of 15.2.

After not being retained by Andretti following the 2023 season, Grosjean found a new team to call home for the 2024 season in the form of Juncos Hollinger Racing, where he replaced Callum Ilott to drive the No. 77 Dallara-Chevrolet on a full-time basis. Coming off a 24th-place result in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg followed by an eighth-place run at the Streets of Long Beach, he is currently ranked in 13th place in the driver’s standings and trails the points lead by 57 points.

Through 49 previous IndyCar starts, Grosjean has achieved three poles, six podiums, and 152 laps led with an average-finishing result of 14.0 as he continues his pursuit for both his first IndyCar race victory and championship.

Romain Grosjean is scheduled to make his 50th NTT INDYCAR Series career start at Barber Motorsports Park for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on Sunday, April 28. The event’s broadcast time is scheduled to commence at 1 p.m. ET on NBC.

April 24, 2024
Reddick dodges final lap carnage for wild Cup victory at Talladega

With drafting help from two Toyota teammates as team owner Michael Jordan watched atop the pit box, Tyler Reddick rose to the occasion and raced his way to a wild overwhelming NASCAR Cup Series victory in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 21, amid a final lap accident that knocked pole-sitter Michael McDowell out of race-winning contention.

The two-time Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, led five times for 13 of 188 scheduled laps. Reddick started 18th and kept his No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE intact while working closely with his Toyota teammates amid the draft and the three-wide packed action towards the front.

Despite losing four of his Toyota teammates, including team owner Denny Hamlin and 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace, to a multi-car wreck with 33 laps remaining amid a late cycle of green flag pit stops Reddick cycled into the lead during the caution period. Drafting support from Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs kept him in contention for a 27-lap dash to the finish as he squared off against Ford competitors Michael McDowell and Brad Keselowski.

Then, on the final lap, Reddick, who led the penultimate lap by a hair over McDowell initially lost ground to McDowell and Keselowski amid the draft. But with two corners remaining, he capitalized on a swerved move by McDowell entering the frontstretch resulting in McDowell spinning in the middle of the track and igniting a multi-car wreck. Reddick was able to zip by both Keselowski and Noah Gragson to cross the finish line by two-tenths of a second ahead of Keselowski and capture his first Cup Series victory of the 2024 season along with his first at Talladega and of the season for 23XI Racing.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, April 20, Michael McDowell captured his second Cup Series pole position of the season and his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 182.022 mph in 52.609 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Austin Cindric, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 181.739 mph in 52.691 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Michael McDowell and Austin Cindric battled for the lead in front of two packed lanes through the first two turns before they navigated through the backstretch. With the field behind still running in two tight-packed lanes through the final two turns and back to the tri-oval, McDowell managed to lead the first lap by a hair over Cindric.

During the next four laps, the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes as McDowell and Cindric battled and swapped the lead. Amid the battles, Martin Truex Jr. mounted a charge from the outside lane with drafting help from Bubba Wallace and Daniel Hemric while McDowell started to muscle ahead on the inside lane.

Meanwhile, Kyle Larson, who was not allowed to post a qualifying lap on Saturday due to unapproved adjustments involving his roof rails to his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and was assessed a drive-through penalty on pit road during the opening lap, was mired at the rear of the field and trailing by a distance with no drafting help.

Over the next five laps, Truex, Hemric and BJ McLeod each led at least a lap while the pack of 37 competitors fanned out to three lanes as they navigated around the superspeedway venue to take advantage of the draft.

Through the first 15 scheduled laps, Chase Briscoe assumed the lead from Hemric on the outside lane amid the tight-packed racing before Justin Haley carved his No. 51 Parts Plus Ford Mustang Dark Horse to the front as he challenged Briscoe for the top spot during the proceeding laps. Despite Briscoe blocking Haley and briefly stalling his momentum through the backstretch by Lap 16, Haley switched to the inside lane and continued to battle Briscoe before he assumed the top spot by Lap 18. Truex, however, would join the battle and lead by the Lap 20 mark. By then, Larson was lapped by the field.

By Lap 25 and with the field still fanned out to three tight-packed lanes, Truex was ahead with the lead by a hair on the outside lane as Haley was leading the draft on the inside lane and Briscoe was mired as the lead competitor in the middle lane. As Haley, Truex and Briscoe battled against one another for the lead within the draft, Truex continued to muscle ahead and lead the proceeding laps by the Lap 30 mark.

At the Lap 35 mark, Truex, who led eight of the previous 10 laps, was ahead by a hair over McLeod and Briscoe while he had teammates Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin drafting him through the middle lane. McLeod, however, would have Daniel Suarez pushing him on the outside lane as he remained in contention for the lead before Suarez bailed on him by Lap 37, allowing Truex to muscle ahead while Briscoe tried to mount another challenge on the inside lane. McLeod would then receive drafting help from Chase Elliott by Lap 40 to muscle back ahead on the outside lane, with Truex and Briscoe remaining in the middle and inside lanes, respectively.

Then on Lap 40, McLeod went up against the outside wall entering Turn 3, and fell off the pace as the entire field zipped by him. McLeod then pitted as the race remained under green flag conditions. By then, Briscoe had muscled his way back to the lead on the inside lane while Truex fought back on the middle lane. Meanwhile, Elliott was trying to mount a charge from the outside lane and received a push from Ryan Preece through the backstretch to challenge the front-runners for the lead.

Not long after on Lap 41, Indiana natives Briscoe and Haley peeled off the track to pit under green. Another wave of competitors, mainly Chevrolet competitors led by Suarez and rookie Zane Smith, pitted by Lap 42 before another led by Alfredo and Gragson pitted. During the latest wave, Hamlin, who was trying to slam on the brakes to enter pit road under pit road pace, got loose and ran into the side of John Hunter Nemechek before he spun his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE on pit road. The race, however, remained under green as Hamlin proceeded to his pit stall while another wave of competitors led by Elliott and Larson, who was a lap down, pitted. By then, Zane Smith and Suarez were penalized for speeding on pit road.

On Lap 45, the final wave of competitors led by Shane van Gisbergen pitted under green. Once the pit stops cycled through, Elliott emerged as the new leader ahead of teammate William Byron, Kyle Busch, Cindric and Harrison Burton. During the pit stops, Joey Logano was penalized for speeding on pit road as Briscoe would have to pit for a second time to address a flat tire on his entry.

By Lap 50, Cindric, who assumed the lead from Elliott two laps earlier, was still leading ahead of Elliott, Burton, Byron and Ryan Blaney as the top 30 competitors were separated by a second. As Cindric and Elliott battled for the lead in front of two packed lanes during the proceeding laps, Larson was running in front of teammate Elliott as he was trying to remain on the lead lap following his opening lap penalty.

Just past the Lap 55 mark, Cindric and Elliott battled for the lead in front of two packed lanes, with Cindric having Harrison Burton drafting him on the outside lane. Elliott was still running behind teammate, Larson, and had teammate Byron drafting him on the inside lane.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, Cindric edged Elliott by a hair to claim his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Elliott ended up second followed by teammate Byron, Blaney and Kyle Busch while Burton, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Larson, who was lapped by Cindric at the start/finish line, was the recipient of the free pass as he returned to the lead lap category.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Cindric pitted while Brad Keselowski and Anthony Alfredo remained on the track. Not long after, the following names that included Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chris Buescher, Keselowski, John Hunter Nemechek, Logano, Corey LaJoie, Truex and Larson would pit again for extra fuel to their respective entries.

The second stage period started on Lap 66 as Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Busch briefly muscled ahead exiting the frontstretch until Blaney fought back on the inside lane through the first two turns. As the field started to fan out to three lanes, Blaney received a draft from teammate Cindric and Burton to clear Busch and muscle ahead of the pack through the tri-oval and back to the start/finish line for the following lap.

Then on Lap 68 and as the field continued to battle through three packed lanes, Shane van Gisbergen mounted a drafting charge to the front followed by Austin Dillon from the outside lane. After clearing both Busch and Blaney, Dillon then bailed on van Gisbergen as he moved his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in front of teammate Busch’s No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. But van Gisbergen fought back on the outside lane as he picked up Alfredo as his new drafting partner. Alfredo then bailed on van Gisbergen on Lap 70 as he led while van Gisbergen was shoved out of the draft as he and his No. 16 Wendy’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 slowly drifted to the rear of the field. Meanwhile, Noah Gragson carved his way into the lead during the following lap as he was pursued by John Hunter Nemechek and while Larson was battling Alfredo for third place.

Just past the Lap 75 mark, Nemechek assumed the lead in his No. 42 AdventHealth Toyota Camry XSE on Lap 72, was leading ahead of Alfredo and a bevy of competitors charging strong amid a scattered, three-wide pack. Despite being pressured by Gragson, Alfredo and Corey LaJoie during the proceeding laps, Nemechek would retain the top spot by Lap 80 as 36 of 38 starters were running within two seconds of one another amid the draft.

Through Lap 85, Nemechek continued to lead ahead of Gragson and LaJoie while Chris Buescher was trying to mount a charge on the outside lane with drafting help from Gilliland. As Alfredo occupied the inside lane amid a three-wide battle within the pack, the top-36 competitors were separated within three seconds while Nemechek remained in front of Gragson with the top spot.

At the halfway mark on Lap 94 and with the field running tight in three packed lanes, Hamlin overtook Nemechek for the lead while Cody Ware, Buescher, Gragson, Gilliland, Truex, LaJoie, Preece and Larson were scored in the top 10 ahead of Busch, Austin Dillon, van Gisbergen, Wallace, Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Alfredo, Logano, Byron, Bell, Elliott and Hemric. Meanwhile, Briscoe, who pitted by himself under green earlier, trailed the lead pack by 41 seconds.

Six laps later, Buescher drafted his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead followed by Ford teammates Gilliland, Preece, Logano and Gragson while van Gisbergen, who led on Lap 98 and battled Buescher during the following lap, was shuffled out of the draft for a second time. Meanwhile, Larson occupied sixth place ahead of LaJoie, Wallace, Austin Dillon and Busch as Briscoe was lapped by the field during the following lap.

Then on Lap 102, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as the first wave, mainly Ford competitors led by Buescher, pitted primarily for fuel. Another wave, mainly Chevrolet competitors led by Austin Dillon and Busch, pitted during the following lap. During the second pit sequence, trouble struck for LaJoie, who spun his No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 after running into standing water on the asphalt while exiting pit road. Despite LaJoie’s spin, the race remained under green flag conditions as Logano led a wave of 12 competitors who had yet to pit. Logano and Hamlin would then battle for the top spot by Lap 106.

On Lap 110, Hamlin was leading ahead of teammate Bell, Logano, Cindric and teammate Truex as the top-12 competitors, all of whom had not yet pitted, continued to run on the track while the next wave of competitors comprising those who pitted led by Byron trailed by 33 seconds. Another lap later, Hamlin led a wave of Toyota competitors to pit road under green while the rest, including, Logano, Cindric, Blaney and Josh Berry remained on the track. During the pit stops, Bell was penalized for speeding on pit road as Logano, Berry, Blaney and Cindric pitted by Lap 112. Upon the completion of the pit stops, Blaney was penalized for speeding on pit road as Logano and Cindric managed to blend back onto the track and regain the pace with the field that enabled them to contend towards the front.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 120, Logano fended off a late challenge from Larson to capture his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Cindric edged Larson at the start/finish line to claim second followed by Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain while Reddick, Buescher, Elliott, Ryan Preece and Ty Gibbs were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Logano returned to pit road for service while the rest including Keselowski, LaJoie, Briscoe, van Gisbergen, Truex, Gibbs and Alfredo pitted. Following the pit stops, Logano exited pit road first ahead of Larson, Cindric, Chastain, Dillon, Elliott, Reddick, Busch, Buescher and Bowman. Shortly after, Keselowski would lead the rest of the competitors who pitted during the caution period as Logano cycled back into the lead.

With 62 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Logano and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, Logano and Chastain battled dead even for the lead as Logano had Team Penske teammate Cindric drafting him while Chastain had Chevrolet teammate Kyle Busch drafting him. Chastain then muscled away from Busch before moving in front of Logano and Cindric in the draft by the following lap just before the rest of the field caught back up to the top-four leaders. Shortly after, Chastain and Logano returned to battling dead even for the lead in front of two packed lanes with 60 laps remaining.

With 56 laps remaining, the caution returned after Elliott ran into the rear of Haley that sent Haley into Bell’s No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE as Bell went back up the track and hit the outside wall head-on in Turn 3 while barely dodging Elliott as Briscoe, Blaney and Zane Smith were also involved. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Logano pitted while the rest led by Alfredo remained on the track. Once Alfredo and others pitted with 50 laps remaining, Berry cycled into the lead.

During the following restart with 49 laps remaining, where teammates Berry and Gragson occupied the front row, Berry and Gragson battled dead even against their Overstock.com-sponsored Ford Mustang Dark Horses for a full lap. The following lap, Hemric ignited a charge from the outside lane as he assumed the lead in his No. 31 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with drafting help from Chastain before McDowell received a push from Austin Dillon to muscle ahead, clear Hemric and return to the lead.

With 40 laps remaining and with a majority of the field migrating to the outside lane, McDowell was leading ahead of teammate Gilliland, Keselowski, Busch and Cody Ware while Gragson, Chastain, van Gisbergen, Suarez and Larson were running in the top 10 ahead of Bowman, Elliott, Stenhouse, Buescher, Berry, Alfredo, Logano, Hemric, Burton and LaJoie.

Three laps later, a bevy of Toyota competitors pitted under green, mainly for fuel. As the Toyota competitors managed to blend back onto the track and remain on the lead lap, McDowell retained the lead over Gilliland, Keselowski, Berry, Hemric, Gragson and a bevy of competitors running two by two in a tight pack with 35 laps remaining.

Then with 33 laps remaining, the caution flew after Bubba Wallace, who was running in a seven-car Toyota line towards the rear of the field upon pitting under green and trying to regain ground of the lead pack, got Erik Jones’ No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE loose in Turn 3 that resulted with Jones getting turned and sent head-on into the outside wall as Wallace and John Hunter Nemechek also piled into him before Nemechek came back the track and clipped Hamlin as Hamlin also wrecked against the wall while Reddick, Truex and Gibbs escaped the carnage.

During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by McDowell returned to pit road for fuel while the rest including Carson Hocevar, Reddick, Truex and Gibbs remained on the track as McDowell exited off of pit road first from the first pit stall. Hocevar would then pit not long after as Reddick cycled into the lead.

As the event restarted under green with 27 laps remaining, Reddick received a push from Toyota teammate Truex to rocket ahead of McDowell with the lead through the first two turns until McDowell came charging back from the inside lane with drafting help from Keselowski’s No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Reddick and McDowell battled side by side for the lead during the following lap until McDowell muscled ahead and was placed on defense as he fended off both Keselowski and Reddick for the lead in his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse with 25 laps remaining.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, McDowell retained the lead ahead of Keselowski, Reddick, Gragson and Berry while Truex, Gibbs, Chastain, Busch, Suarez and 20 additional competitors running within two seconds of one another trailed in a tight two by two pack.

During the proceeding laps, the battle for the lead was drawn to a side-by-side battle between McDowell and Reddick as Reddick had Toyota teammates Truex and Gibbs drafting him on the outside lane while McDowell had Ford teammates Keselowski, Gragson and Berry drafting him on the inside lane while also trying to gain control of both lanes with 15 laps remaining.

With 10 laps remaining, Reddick and McDowell continued to swap against one another for the lead and in front of two stacked lanes, with neither stepping out of the throttle nor giving an inch as they kept their respective manufacturer drafting partners lined up behind them.

During the proceeding laps and with a majority of the field continuing to run in two tight-packed lanes, McDowell started to muscle ahead from the inside lane as he was placed on defense to keep Keselowski drafting him and to stall Reddick’s momentum from the outside lane. Amid his strong defensive drive, Reddick fought back on the outside lane as he continued to challenge McDowell for the lead while a third drafting line led by van Gisbergen, who was running within the top 15, was trying to mount a charge toward the front. Gibbs and Busch would also move up to the third outside lane as McDowell held a narrow lead over both Keselowski and Reddick with two laps remaining.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Reddick was leading by a hair over McDowell amid the tight two-pack formation. As the field navigated past the lapped competitor of John Hunter Nemechek through the first two turns, McDowell and Reddick continued to battle dead even through the backstretch until Keselowski drafted McDowell clear ahead of Reddick and the field with Noah Gragson trying to follow suit through Turns 3 and 4.

Then entering the frontstretch, Keselowski made a move to the outside of McDowell, but McDowell blocked Keselowski. As Keselowski crossed over back to the inside lane, McDowell did the same to make a second blocking attempt, but he got sideways after barely driving off the front nose of Keselowski. This resulted in McDowell spinning back across the middle of the track and igniting a vicious multi-car wreck that nearly collected the entire field and resulted in Corey LaJoie sliding across the outside wall on his side while also nearly turning over Josh Berry in the process and just past the finish line before his car tumbled once and came to a rest right-side up.

Amid the carnage, Reddick, who dropped to fourth entering the frontstretch, surged his No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE past both Gragson and Keselowski while barely avoiding McDowell’s spinning car through the frontstretch to claim the lead and cross the finish line in first place to score the victory just before the caution flew.

With the victory, Reddick racked up his sixth career win in the NASCAR Cup Series division, his first at Talladega and his first since winning at Kansas Speedway last September. In addition, Reddick became the sixth winner through the first 10 events on the 2024 Cup Series schedule as he also recorded the fourth victory of the season for the Toyota nameplate and the first of the season for 23XI Racing.

“Man, it’s incredible!” Reddick said on FOX. “Everyone on this No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry worked really hard today. [Things] Didn‘t really work out in that third stage for us, but we were able to fight and defend our track position. Was [that finish] crazy [fans]?! That was chaos! That’s Talladega for you. I got to give a lot of credit to Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex [Jr.]. It was just us Toyotas left and they pushed me with everything they had. Huge credit to Martin and Ty. Without those pushes, we don‘t win this race.”

The victory celebration for 23XI Racing, which marks the sixth Cup career win for the organization, was also big as team owner and NBA legend Michael Jordan was also present to celebrate in Victory Lane with Reddick, co-owner Denny Hamlin, former 23XI Racing competitor Kurt Busch and the 23XI team.

“Denny [Hamlin] keeps saying I was bad luck when I come to the track,” Michael Jordan said in Victory Lane. “Today, we proved him wrong. I think Tyler did a good job. The whole team did a good job. I’m very happy to be here to see it. Everybody tells me when we win, we can have a good celebration, but this is the first time I’ve been here. We’ve been working hard, trying to get ourselves up to where we can compete against the top guys in this sport. We’ve done a heck of a job just to be where we are and for us to win a big race like this, it means so much to me and for the effort the team has done. I’m all in. I love it. It replaces a lot of the competitiveness that I had in basketball.”

With Reddick winning the race, Keselowski ended up in second place for a second consecutive week while Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Alex Bowman avoided the final lap carnage to finish in the top five.

“I was getting some great pushes from Noah Gragson,” Keselowski said. “I thought the Fords were really working well together. We cleared the Toyotas there on the bottom lane and it was pretty clear that it was gonna come down to the three of us [me, McDowell and Gragson]. I backed up, Noah gave me a great push and I went to make a move on Michael [McDowell]. He covered it, went back the other way. I got another push from Noah and just nowhere to go when Michael came back down. I hate that for [McDowell]. He’s a good guy, hope he’s alright. Just kind of the way this stuff goes, right? All in all, really solid day for us, for Ford, for Castrol. Another second. It’s a solid day, but not the win we wanted. Good finishes are important, but we want wins. I could really taste it today, but it just didn’t happen.”

Anthony Alfredo piloted the No. 62 Beard Motorsports entry to a sixth-place result while William Byron, Todd Gilliland, Daniel Hemric and Harrison Burton ended up in the top 10.

Notably, Truex ended up 11th ahead of Briscoe, Chastain, Preece and Elliott. In addition, LaJoie slid across the finish line on his side in 18th place, Larson ended up 21st in between Blaney and Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch ended up 27th in between Suarez and Shane van Gisbergen.

Meanwhile, McDowell, who led a race-high 36 laps from pole position, ended up in 31st place as he was unable to limp his wrecked race car across the finish line to complete the final lap.

“Yeah, it’s just super unfortunate,” McDowell said in the infield care center. “I just hate it for everybody on this Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang and I hate it for Brad [Keselowski] too because we did a good job of keeping those Mustang Dark Horses upfront. He did everything right. He pushed me out, I drugged back to him and I was able to get in front of him that very first time, but when I came back down, [I] just barely, barely wasn’t clear. I hate it that we didn’t make it to the finish line. We had such a fast Mustang today. It’s unfortunate. It’s been a rough few weeks, but it’s last-lap Talladega. Going for it, trying to get a win and just came up short. [I] Hate that I took a lot of guys with me, so [I] apologize to Brad and everybody that got collected in that. [I’ll] Go back and watch [the replay] and see what we could’ve done better.”

There were 73 lead changes for 23 different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 21 laps. In addition, 30 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 10th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by 15 points over Martin Truex Jr., 22 over Chase Elliott, 24 over William Byron and 43 over Tyler Reddick.

Results.

1. Tyler Reddick, 13 laps led

2. Brad Keselowski, two laps led

3. Noah Gragson, five laps led

4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

5. Alex Bowman

6. Anthony Alfredo, four laps led

7. William Byron

8. Todd Gilliland

9. Daniel Hemric, eight laps led

10. Harrison Burton

11. Martin Truex Jr., 16 laps led

12. Chase Briscoe, three laps led

13. Ross Chastain, six laps led

14. Ryan Preece

15. Chase Elliott, five laps led

16. Josh Berry, three laps led

17. Carson Hocevar, one lap led

18. Corey LaJoie

19. Joey Logano, 22 laps led, Stage 2 winner

20. Ryan Blaney, one lap led

21. Kyle Larson

22. Ty Gibbs, one lap led

23. Austin Cindric, 16 laps led, Stage 1 winner

24. Cody Ware

25. Chris Buescher, six laps led

26. Daniel Suarez

27. Kyle Busch, five laps lef

28. Shane van Gisbergen, three laps led

29. Zane Smith

30. Austin Dillon

31. Michael McDowell – OUT, Accident, 36 laps led

32. BJ McLeod, one lap down, five laps led

33. John Hunter Nemechek, four laps down, 20 laps led

34. Justin Haley, four laps down, four laps led

35. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

36. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident

37. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident, four laps led

38. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Delaware. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, April 28, and air at 2 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 21, 2024
Scott Dixon: The Drive for 67 Race Victories

With his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory of the 2024 season in the 49th running of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in Long Beach, California, on Sunday, April 21, Scott Dixon is within reasonable distance of achieving another major accomplishment to his racing resume.

Currently sitting at 57 career victories in IndyCar competition, Dixon, who is in second place in the all-time IndyCar wins list, is 10 victories away from tying AJ Foyt for the most series wins at 67.

The six-time champion from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, left little to doubt with his impeccable run during Sunday’s Grand Prix at Long Beach, where he rallied from starting in eighth place by leading twice for a race-high 42 of 85 laps and executing his pit strategies to perfection by having enough fuel to lead the final 34 laps and fend off late challenges from Josef Newgarden and Colton Herta to win the Grand Prix at Long Beach for the second time in his career.

Dixon’s victory also extended the current streak of most consecutive IndyCar seasons with a victory at 20, with the champion left relieved in Victory Lane as he celebrated his first IndyCar victory of the 2024 season and his first since winning the 2023 season-finale event at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last September.

“That was tough, that was real tough,” Dixon, who was the championship runner-up in 2023, said on USA Network. “Honestly, I didn’t think we were gonna make it. [The team] kept giving me a number and it just wasn’t…I was close, but not enough. Luckily, we were on the safe side there. Huge credit to everybody on the PNC Bank No. 9 [Honda]. Today was really fun driving my Honda. Hopefully, we can keep doing this this year, but it was huge.”

Even as Dixon managed to steer his No. 9 PNC Bank Dallara-Honda smoothly around the 11-turn circuit around the Streets of Long Beach through the final 34 laps on a low tank of fuel with the lead, he was intimated by the reigning Indianapolis 500 Josef Newgarden during the stretch, who went from a three-second deficit with 20 laps remaining to narrow it down by getting as close to Dixon’s rear wing during the proceeding laps.

Dixon then caught a break with nine laps remaining after Newgarden, who nearly got to Dixon’s rear bumper in Turn 11, was hit from behind by a hard-charging Colton Herta. The contact stalled Newgarden’s momentum and allowed both Herta and the reigning IndyCar champion/Dixon’s teammate Alex Palou to overtake Newgarden for second and third, respectively. With his advantage back up to a second, Dixon then had to fend off Herta for the final nine laps through his low tank of fuel, which he was able to as he beat Herta’s Honda entry by nine-tenths of a second across the finish line to claim the checkered flag first.

“Josef [Newgarden] was coming strong and I was kind of unsure how he was gonna be once he got behind us,” Dixon added. “I also knew that he’d be burning the tires off, too. [Team owner] Chip [Ganassi] came on [the radio]. He’s like, ‘Just go for it, man.’ And I was like, ‘I’m gonna try.’”

Dixon’s victory was one that received high praise from team owner Chip Ganassi, whose team Chip Ganassi Racing and Honda notched their first IndyCar points-paying victory of the 2024 season. They previously won the non-points $1 Million Challenge at California’s The Thermal Club in late March with Alex Palou.

“I don’t know if it was the most improbable [win for Dixon], but [it was] certainly a hard-fought win,” Ganassi added. “We were managing [the fuel] to the finish. We kept telling [Dixon] the fuel number he had to get, but to stay in front of those guys. He was not getting the fuel number we had to get, so we had to keep making that up. That’s tough to do. It was relief at the end. It was relief more than anything. It was relief more than joy.”

During his victory celebrations, Dixon dedicated the victory to Sir Colin Giltrap, a New Zealand philanthropist and businessman who was involved in the motor vehicle industry and served as a big influence on Dixon.

Herta and Palou made it a Honda podium sweep by finishing second and third behind Dixon while Newgarden, who led 19 laps in his Penske Chevrolet and is coming off a season-opening victory at the Streets of St. Petersburg, ended up in fourth place in his 200th IndyCar career start. Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 Indianapolis 500 champion, came home in fifth place in an event where 18 of 27 starters finished on the lead lap.

With the victory, Dixon trails Newgarden in the current driver’s standings by 12 points with 15 points-paying events remaining on the schedule.

In addition to trailing AJ Foyt for the most IndyCar victories at 67, Dixon also strives to tie Foyt for the most INDYCAR championships at seven in 2024, with Dixon’s sixth and latest title occurring in 2020. He also strives to win his second Indianapolis 500 event since winning his first in 2008, though he has also tallied a total of five Indy 500 poles.

Dixon’s continued quest for 67 victories continues next Sunday, April 28, at Barber Motorsports Park for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix in Birmingham, Alabama. The event’s broadcast time is set to air at 1 p.m. ET on NBC.

April 21, 2024