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Category: NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR Cup Series

Shane Van Gisbergen wins in NASCAR debut in inaugural Chicago Street Course event

History was made in the NASCAR Cup Series’ inaugural running of the Grant Park 220 at the Chicago Street Course on Sunday, July 2, as Shane Van Gisbergen succeeded against the stars of NASCAR’s premier series by scoring his first NASCAR victory in his series debut.

Van Gisbergen, a three-time Supercars champion from Auckland, New Zealand, led nine of 78 over-scheduled laps, including the final eight, in a weekend where he made his inaugural presence in NASCAR as he was serving as the second-ever competitor to pilot Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 entry. Qualifying in third place, he finished in the top five and scored stage points during both stage periods while remaining within sight of the front-runners in an event that was delayed by 90+ minutes due to heavy precipitation that ultimately shortened the event to 25 laps of its scheduled distance.

After keeping pace with the front-runners, Van Gisbergen, who nearly overtook Justin Haley for the lead with eight laps remaining amid a late caution period, fended off a late challenge from Haley during a restart with five laps remaining to assume the lead. He then appeared to be cruising to victory before the caution returned with two laps remaining for another on-track incident and the event was sent into overtime. During the event’s lone overtime period, however, Van Gisbergen was not to be denied as he rocketed away from the field and held off the competition through a two-lap shootout to win in his NASCAR debut.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, July 1, Denny Hamlin claimed his third Cup pole of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 89.557 mph in 88.435 seconds. Joining him on the front row was his 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 89.513 mph in 88.479 seconds.

Prior to the event, the following names that included Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. dropped to the rear of the field as all started the event in backup cars. William Byron, Austin Cindric, Todd Gilliland and Justin Haley also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.

Once the engines fired and the competitors rolled off of pit road amid a delay of more than 90 minutes due to heavy precipitation that nearly flooded the course, the competitors filed in a single file line under a cautious pace and behind the pace car for several laps, with the second lap featuring the competitors rolling through pit road.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a single file start, Hamlin received an early challenge from Reddick entering the first left-hand turn. With Hamlin slipping the turn, Reddick would maintain his early challenge on Hamlin through E. Balbo Dr. and entering the second, right-hand turn. Both would duel for the top spot through Turns 3 to 5 until Reddick pulled ahead with the lead entering S. Columbus Dr. in between Turns 5 and 6. Reddick continued to maintain the top spot through Turn 6 while behind, Aric Almirola spun his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang just past Turn 5.

Then ahead of Almirola’s incident, more early trouble ignited in Turn 6 when Erik Jones made contact with Brad Keselowski while trying to brake his No. 43 Draiver Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 amid the slick circuit entering Turn 6 as both competitors along with rookie Noah Gragson made light contact against the tire barriers with little damage to their respective entries. Amid the chaos, the race remained under green as all competitors continued. With the leaders returning to the frontstretch, Reddick proceeded to lead the first lap in his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry ahead of Hamlin.

During the second lap and with the field still navigating its way through the 12-turn circuit under competitive, slick conditions, early trouble struck for the pole-sitter Hamlin, who slipped and made contact against the Turn 2 tire barriers. With Hamlin falling back to 14th and the race remaining under green, Reddick continued to lead by more than a second over Christopher Bell while third-place Shane Van Gisbergen, a three-time Supercars champion who qualified an impressive third place in his NASCAR debut while piloting Trackhouse Racing’s No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, was in third. Behind, Daniel Suarez was in fourth ahead of Michael McDowell while Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Jenson Button and rookie Ty Gibbs were in the top 10.

Then on the third lap, the first caution of the event flew when Kyle Busch, who was running in 16th, went dead straight into the Turn 6 tire barriers amid the slick conditions as the front nose and windshield of Busch’s No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was wedged underneath the tire barriers. In spite of the incident, Busch received assistance from a wrecker to have his car towed out of the barriers as he proceeded under a cautious pace.

When the race restarted under green on the fifth lap, Reddick maintained the lead ahead of Bell, Van Gisbergen, Suarez and McDowell while the field behind remained in a long single file line before fanning out through the first five turns. With Reddick leading by more than a second over Bell, McDowell commenced his early charge to the front during the following lap by battling Suarez for fifth as Logano tried to close in to join the battle.

On the eighth lap, Reddick slipped through Turns 6 and 7, which allowed Bell to capitalize and cycle his No. 20 Craftsman Toyota TRD Camry into the lead. By then, Van Gisbergen maintained third while McDowell and Truex were running in the top five ahead of Suarez and Kyle Larson.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Bell was leading by more than two seconds over Reddick followed by Van Gisbergen, McDowell and Truex while Suarez, Larson, Jenson Button, AJ Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs were running in the top 10. Behind, Logano had fallen back to 11th ahead of Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Corey LaJoie and Alex Bowman while Chase Briscoe, Ryan Preece, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon and Josh Bilicki were running in the top 20. Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney was back in 21st ahead of Ross Chastain, Andy Lally, William Byron and Chase Elliott while Ty Dillon, Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton, Kevin Harvick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were mired in the top 30. By then, Brad Keselowski was strapped back in 35th and Kyle Busch was running in 37th, dead last.

Two laps later and amid a series of jostles and on-track battles ensuing around the 12-turn circuit, the second caution of the event flew when Noah Gragson wrecked his No. 42 Wendy’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 against the Turn 6 tire barriers as he smoked his rear tires while unsuccessfully trying to reverse his car out of the barriers. Like Busch’s incident, Gragson received assistance from the wrecker to have his car towed out from the barriers before he proceeded under caution.

During the second caution period, select names that included Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Harvick and Gragson pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.

During the following restart on Lap 15, Bell launched ahead with a strong start as he maintained the lead through the first turn with Reddick in pursuit. With the field maintaining a long single file line through the first five turns, Bell started to stretch his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Reddick and more than a second over Van Gisbergen while Truex was in fourth ahead of McDowell, Suarez and Larson. In the midst of the on-track battles, Bowman and LaJoie, both of whom bumped and battled fiercely on the track earlier, battled hard for 14th through Turns 8 to 12 while Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece battled behind for 16th.

At the conclusion of the first stage period on Lap 20, Bell captured his first stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Reddick trailed in the runner-up spot by more than a second while Van Gisbergen, Truex, McDowell, Suarez, Larson, Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs and Jenson Button were scored in the top 10. Shortly after, select names that included Bowman, LaJoie and Briscoe pitted under green for slick tires. By then, Blaney, who slapped the Turn 6 concrete barriers, had plummeted to the bottom of the leaderboard as he continued without drawing a caution.

With the event proceeding under green to start the second stage on Lap 21, Bell continued to extend his advantage to more than two seconds over Reddick while third-place Van Gisbergen also trailed by more than two seconds. During the Lap 22 mark, Logano wrecked against the Turn 6 tire barriers, but he managed to reverse his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang and proceed without drawing a caution. Shortly after, more trouble ensued as Jenson Button, who was trying to turn right and enter pit road under green in Turn 12, came across the path of Buescher as he was hit and spun backward towards the pit road entrance. Then as Button tried to loop his No. 15 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang around, he was nearly hit by Logano, who was also trying to pit, but both proceeded under a cautious pace for service.

During the proceeding laps, a bevy of names that included McDowell, Buescher, Byron, Ty Dillon, Almirola, Todd Gilliland, Truex, Larson, Elliott, Andy Lally, Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Hamlin, Cindric, Erik Jones and Kyle Busch pitted under green for slick tires. The leader Bell would then pit under green along with Reddick, Ross Chastain, Suarez and Stenhouse at the Lap 25 mark while Van Gisbergen cycled into the lead followed by Ty Gibbs and Preece. By then, Elliott, who had collided against the tire barriers in Turn 2 moments after pitting, proceeded without drawing a caution.

Once Van Gisbergen and Ty Gibbs pitted for slick tires through Laps 25 and 26, Bell cycled back into the lead. Van Gisbergen would manage to exit pit road and run in second ahead of Reddick, Truex and Suarez.

On Lap 29, the event’s third caution period flew when Gragson wrecked and got his car stuck against the Turn 6 tire barriers for a second time, with the Las Vegas native unable to reverse his car and proceed without assistance.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 33, Bell retained the lead while Reddick battled and overtook Van Gisbergen for second as Truex and Suarez battled for fourth. As the field made its way through the first five turns, Larson dive-bombed his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to fourth over Truex and Suarez as Bell navigated his way through Turns 6 to 12 while extending his advantage to more than a second.

Two laps later and at the Lap 35 mark, Larson continued his charge to the front as he overtook Van Gisbergen for third. Suarez, Van Gisbergen’s teammate at Trackhouse Racing, would follow suit while Bell stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Reddick. Behind, Truex fell back to sixth while McDowell, Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs and Buescher were in the top 10.

By Lap 40, Bell was leading by more than three seconds over the new runner-up competitor, Larson, as Reddick fell back to third. By then, Suarez and Van Gisbergen remained in the top five ahead of McDowell and Ty Gibbs while Truex, who was battling for a top-five spot a few laps earlier, slipped back to eighth in front of Allmendinger and Buescher. Shortly after, the fourth caution period flew when Alex Bowman, who was running in 11th, was hit by Hamlin as he spun his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 11 and was mired with oncoming traffic while trying to straighten his car.

With the event restarting under green with two laps remaining in the second stage, Bell retained the lead ahead of a hard-charging Larson through the first two turns as the field fanned out and jostled for positions. With the field still battling as Bowman parked his car near S. Columbus Dr. between Turns 5 and 6 due to a mechanical issue, Bell maintained the lead by over half a second over Larson while Reddick maintained third ahead of Van Gisbergen, McDowell, Ty Gibbs and Suarez, who hit the wall in Turn 1. With Bowman’s car starting to smoke amid the terminal mechanical issue, which affected his hopes of vying for a spot in the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, the caution returned.

The caution period for Bowman’s issue was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 45 to finish under caution as Bell captured his second consecutive stage victory. Larson settled in second ahead of Reddick, Van Gisbergen and McDowell while Ty Gibbs, Suarez, Truex, Allmendinger and Chase Briscoe were scored in the top 10.

During the caution and stage break, a majority of the field led by Bell pitted while 11 competitors led by Justin Haley and Austin Dillon remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Bell exited first followed by Larson, Reddick, Ty Gibbs, McDowell, Suarez and Van Gisbergen. By then, NASCAR shortened its scheduled distance of the event from 100 to 75 due to the upcoming sunset and stemming from the early rain delay.

When the final stage commenced under green with 27 laps remaining, Haley maintained a steady advantage over Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott while Logano, who restarted fourth, slipped in Turn 1, which allowed Byron to move up to fourth. With Bell strapped back in 11th, Haley maintained the lead through the first six turns before entering Turns 7 to 11 through S. Michigan Ave.

Shortly after, the caution returned when Byron, who was running in the top five, collided into the Turn 11 tire barriers after overdriving his No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the corner. Byron’s incident ignited a massive stack-up as Harvick, who was trying to avoid hitting Byron, slipped sideways and spun his No. 4 Gearwrench Ford Mustang just past Turn 11 along with LaJoie, who got hit by Almirola as a host of competitors running within the top 15 towards the bottom of the leaderboard, had to jam on the brakes as the turn was blocked. Among the competitors stuck in the stack-up and the sideway competitors of Harvick and LaJoie included Bell, Larson and Truex while Reddick, Gibbs, Suarez, Van Gisbergen, Allmendinger and Buescher managed to escape the carnage.

During the proceeding restart with 23 laps remaining, Haley rocketed away from the field following a strong restart as Austin Dillon tried to keep pace with Haley. With Elliott trailing in third place and more than a second behind, Logano was in fourth followed by Kyle Busch and Cindric while Reddick was still scored in seventh ahead of Ty Gibbs. With Truex spinning in Turn 5, the race remained under green flag conditions as Haley retained the lead by nearly half a second. Soon after, Wallace missed the corner in Turn 11 as he had to loop his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry around to proceed and blend back onto the racetrack without drawing a caution.

With 20 laps remaining, Haley was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon, Elliott, Logano and Kyle Busch while Reddick, Cindric, Gibbs, Almirola and Larson were in the top 10. By then, Bell was mired back in 11th ahead of Byron, Van Gisbergen, McDowell and LaJoie while Harvick, Allmendinger, Buescher, Hamlin and Suarez were running in the top 20. Soon after, more on-track drama continued as Chastain and Gilliland made contact in Turn 1 while Gragson spun and hit the wall in Turn 6 again. Not long after, Bell’s run that started off on a strong note and soon went to bad became worse as he spun in Turn 1, though he managed to continue without drawing a caution.

Then with 18 laps remaining, the caution flew when Reddick, who was trying to charge his way back to the front and running in fourth, collided into the Turn 6 barriers, with the Californian unsuccessful in reversing his car out of the barriers as he smoked the rear tires off of his No. 45 Toyota.

Down to the final 15 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Haley maintained the lead over Austin Dillon and Elliott as the field remained in a long single-file line while jostling for late positions. Through the 12-turn circuit and back to the frontstretch, Haley would continue to lead in his No. 31 Benesch Law Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 by half a second over Austin Dillon with Elliott’s No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in close pursuit.

Then during the following lap, Austin Dillon, who tried to set a move on Haley for the lead, bounced off the wall entering Turn 12, which caused his No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to shoot back across the track and wreck against the tire barriers. Despite sustaining significant right-front damage to his car, Dillon proceeded without drawing a caution and would wait for the entire field to overtake him before he reversed his car onto pit road and to his pit box. This allowed Elliott to move up to second followed by Kyle Busch, Logano and Cindric while Haley retained the lead.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Haley was leading by more than a second over Elliott followed by a hard-charging Van Gisbergen, Kyle Busch and Larson while Logano, Cindric, McDowell, Ty Gibbs and Almirola were in the top 10. By then, more on-track issues ignited as Truex slid into Harvick entering Turn 1 as both spun and wrecked with Harrison Burton also wrecking into the tire barriers while trying to avoid the carnage.

Two laps later, the caution flew when Truex wrecked again, this time against the tire barriers in Turn 1. At the time of caution, Haley was scored the leader by over Van Gisbergen, who had overtaken Elliott a few turns earlier and had nearly overtaken Haley for the lead in between Turns 6 and 7.

With the race restarting under green with five laps remaining, Haley maintained the lead entering the first turn ahead of Van Gisbergen. Then in Turn 2, Van Gisbergen made his move beneath Haley and overtook him for the lead. Haley, however, returned the favor through Turns 3 and 4 and briefly reassumed the top spot before Van Gisbergen crossed over in his No. 91 Enhance Health Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 over Haley’s Camaro and overtook him again in Turn 5 and through S. Columbus Dr. in between Turns 5 and 6. Van Gisbergen then began to extend his advantage to nearly a second over Haley as the field behind jostled for positions with four laps remaining.

With two laps remaining, Van Gisbergen was still leading by more than a second over Haley while third-place Elliott trailed by more than two seconds along with Larson and Kyle Busch. Then not long after and with Van Gisbergen having full control of the event, the caution flew and the event was sent into overtime when Bubba Wallace slid and sent Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into the Turn 1 barriers.

At the start of the first overtime attempt, Van Gisbergen muscled away from Haley, Elliott and the field through Turns 1 and 2 before making his way through Turns 3 to 5 in clean air. Van Gisbergen started to place a reasonable gap between himself and Haley through S. Columbus Dr. before making his way through Turns 6 to 12 with the top spot.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Van Gisbergen remained as the leader by less than four-tenths of a second over Haley. With both Haley and Elliott unable to mount a late charge nor close back towards Van Gisbergen, the New Zealander was able to execute a flawless final lap out in clean air and through the 12-turn circuit in Downtown Chicago before he cycled back to the frontstretch and win in his NASCAR debut by more than a second over Haley.

With the victory in the inaugural Chicago Street Course, Shane Van Gisbergen became the 204th different competitor to achieve a win in the NASCAR Cup Series and the first competitor in the modern era of NASCAR, seventh overall and the first since Johnny Rutherford won at Daytona in 1963 to win in a premier series debut.

In addition to recording the fifth overall victory for Trackhouse Racing and the second in recent weeks after the team won at Nashville Superspeedway with Ross Chastain last week, the 33-year-old Van Gisbergen, who has notched three Supercars titles and holds 78 victories in the division, also recorded the first win for Trackhouse’s Project No. 91 entry led by former championship-winning crew chief Darian Grubb, who notched his 24th career victory and first since winning with Carl Edwards at Darlington Raceway in September 2015. The win was also the first for the number 91 in the Cup Series since 1953 made by Tim Flock.

Shane Van Gisbergen, driver of the #91 Enhance Health Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, races to victory Sunday, July 2, 2023, during the first-ever NASCAR Cup Series street race, the Grant Park 220, through the streets of Chicago, Illinois. This is the first NASCAR CUP victory for the New Zealander in his first ever NASCAR Cup race. He is a three time Supercars champion. (Photo by Jim Fluharty/HHP for Chevy Racing).

“No, of course not, but you always dream of it,” Van Gisbergen, who was asked on the possibility of winning, said on NBC. “Thank you so much to the Trackhouse team and the Enhance Health Project 91 [team]. Man, what an experience and the crowd out here. This was so cool. It’s what you dream of. Hopefully, I can come and do more. The racing was really good. Everyone was respectful and it was tough, but a lot of fun.”

“Anything is possible,” Van Gisbergen, who evoked a message to his hometown fans in New Zealand, added. “The fans in Australia and New Zealand, the response and the support I’ve got from everyone, even over here, how welcoming everyone is, I can’t believe it. A dream come true. I’m doing one more year in [Australia] and then, I’d love to come over here [to NASCAR full time].”

Haley, who led 23 laps compared to Van Gisbergen’s nine, ended up in the runner-up spot for his fifth top-five career result in the Cup circuit while Elliott, Larson and Kyle Busch finished in the top five.

“It was tough,” Haley said. “It sucks, obviously, where we are right now. We aren’t in position to win every week, so coming that close, obviously, is not what you want, but [I’m] just really proud of everyone at Kaulig Racing. What an awesome event. [I] Can’t wait to come back next year…What is there to be disappointed about? We’ll go to Atlanta next week, try our best.”

Austin Cindric came home in sixth place while McDowell, Logano, Ty Gibbs and Buescher finished in the top 10. Notably, Hamlin ended up in 11th, Bell salvaged an 18th-place result after leading a race-high 37 laps, Jenson Button settled in 21st in his second NASCAR career start, Gragson finished 25th following numerous incidents in Turn 6, Suarez and Reddick fell back to 27th and 28th, respectively, Harvick ended up 29th and Truex settled in 32nd, a lap down.

There were seven lead changes for five different leaders. The inaugural Cup Series event at the Chicago Street Course featured nine cautions for 21 laps. In total, 31 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

With eight Cup regular-season events remaining on the schedule, Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the regular-season standings by nine points over William Byron, 18 over Ross Chastain, 21 over Christopher Bell and 31 over Kyle Busch.

Martin Truex Jr., William Byron, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Kevin Harvick, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and rookie Ty Gibbs currently occupy the remaining vacant spots in the Playoffs based on points, with Gibbs occupying the 16th and final vacant spot by six points over Daniel Suarez, 10 over Michael McDowell, 24 over AJ Allmendinger, 26 over Alex Bowman, 45 over both Justin Haley and Austin Cindric, 47 over Corey LaJoie and 55 over Chase Elliott.

Results.

1. Shane Van Gisbergen, nine laps led

2. Justin Haley, 23 laps led

3. Chase Elliot

4. Kyle Larson

5. Kyle Busch

6. Austin Cindric

7. Michael McDowell

8. Joey Logano

9. Ty Gibbs, one lap led

10. Chris Buescher

11. Denny Hamlin

12. Aric Almirola

13. William Byron

14. Corey LaJoie

15. Ryan Preece

16. Erik Jones

17. AJ Allmendinger

18. Christopher Bell, 37 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

19. Todd Gilliland

20. Chase Briscoe

21. Jenson Button

22. Ross Chastain

23. Josh Bilicki

24. Brad Keselowski

25. Noah Gragson

26. Andy Lally

27. Daniel Suarez

28. Tyler Reddick, eight laps led

29. Kevin Harvick

30. Harrison Burton

31. Bubba Wallace

32. Martin Truex Jr., one lap down

33. Ryan Blaney, one lap down

34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

35. Ty Dillon – OUT, Suspension

36. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

37. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the second and final trip of the season to Atlanta Motor Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, July 9, at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network.

July 2, 2023
Weekend schedule for Chicago Street Race

The NASCAR Cup Series and the Xfinity Series travel to Chicago’s Grant Park this weekend for the inaugural Chicago street race and music festival. The Black Crowes will perform a pre-race concert Saturday before the Xfinity Series race while The Chainsmokers will close out the night after the race.

But, before The Chainsmokers take over the stage, the Cup Series drivers will be introduced as part of a special event. The fans will also be included with a crowd selfie and a group photo of the Cup Series drivers to commemorate the event.

Prior to the Cup Series Grant Park 220 race, Miranda Lambert and Charley Crockett will provide the musical entertainment.

The CRAFTSMAN Truck Series is off and will return to competition on July 8 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

NASCAR Press Pass will be available after qualifying and post-race for each series.

All times are Eastern.

Saturday, July 1

11 a.m.: Xfinity Series Practice – All entries – USA

12 Noon: Xfinity Series Qualifying
Impound (Groups A & B) Multi-Vehicle/Two Rounds
USA

1:30 p.m.: Cup Series Practice – All entries – USA

2:30 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying

Impound (Groups A & B) Multi-Vehicle/Two Rounds
USA/MRN/SiriusXM

5 p.m.: Xfinity Series race – The Loop 121
Stages 15/30/55 Laps = 121 Miles)
USA/MRN/SiriusXM
The Purse: $1,627,771

Sunday, July 2

5:30 p.m.: Cup Series Grant Park 220
Stages 20/45/100 Laps = 220 Miles
NBC/Peacock/MRN/SiriusXM
The Purse: $7,565,807

June 28, 2023
Legacy Motor Club withdraws Jimmie Johnson entry from Chicago race amid family tragedy

Legacy Motor Club announced Tuesday afternoon that the No. 84 Chevrolet piloted by Jimmie Johnson would not compete as scheduled in this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicago.

“Legacy Motor Club has elected to withdraw the No. 84 Carvana Chevrolet from this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event in Chicago,” the team revealed in a statement. “The Johnson family has asked for privacy at this time and no further statements will be made.”

The announcement came after reports from various news sources, including FOX 23 of Tulsa, Oklahoma, that Johnson’s father and mother-in-law, Jack and Terry Janway, along with their 11-year-old grandson, Dalton, were found dead at their home in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Police are currently investigating the incident as a murder-suicide.

NASCAR released a statement, saying, “We are saddened by the tragic deaths of members of Chandra Johnson’s family,” NASCAR said in a statement. “The entire NASCAR family extends its deepest support and condolences during this difficult time to Chandra, Jimmie and the entire Johnson & Janway families.”

June 27, 2023
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Nashville

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex led 50 laps at Nashville, but couldn’t match the speed of Ross Chastain in the final stage and settled for the runner-up spot.

“Ross just had too much,” Chastain said. “You could say he ‘destroyed the field.’ If you add up all the cars of competitors he’s wrecked over the course of his career, you could also say he’s ‘destroyed the field.’”

2. Kyle Busch: Busch suffered damage on Lap 147 when he tagged Ryan Blaney after cars in front checked up on a restart. Busch, however, recovered and salvaged a ninth-place finish.

“‘It was an accident,’” Busch said, “is what I said after the race, and also this one time at an airport in Mexico.”

3. William Byron: Byron finished sixth at Nashville.

“As per usual,” Byron said, “my car was primarily sponsored by Liberty University. Liberty U. is even advertising during NASCAR races to attract students. Who wouldn’t want to attend Liberty? It’s the academic intersection of education, religion, and voyeurism.”

4. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin won Stage 2 and finished third in the Ally 400.

“There’s losing,” Hamlin said, “and then there’s losing to Ross Chastain. I hate all of those things.”

5. Ross Chastain: Chastain started on the pole at Nashville and came on strong in the final stage to win the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

“It’s really cool being rewarded with a guitar for winning a race, ” Chastain said. “Let my ability to strum a tune remind everyone of my desire to win the Cup championship, because ‘I ain’t playing.’”

6. Christopher Bell: Bell came home seventh at Nashville, posting his tenth top 10 of the year.

“We’re headed to Chicago next week for the first NASCAR race on a street circuit,” Bell said. “Fans in the Windy City are in for a real treat. For once, something other than bullets are going to be whizzing through downtown Chicago.”

7. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished 24th in the Ally 400 at Nashville.

“My No. 4 Ford sported the Busch Light Peach paint scheme,” Harvick said. “I’m not sure who this flavor of beer would appeal to, but they should have the taste slapped out of their mouths.”

8. Joey Logano: Logano struggled to crack the top 10 at Nashville and scored a disappointing 19th in the Ally 400.

“I was barely able to stay on the lead lap,” Logano said. “So, at least for a day, ‘Sliced Bread’ felt like the ‘End Piece.’”

9. Ryan Blaney: Blaney crashed out at Nashville on Lap 147 when a restart stacked up the field, resulting in Kyle Busch rear-ending Blaney and sending him into the inside wall. Blaney finished last in 36th.

“I don’t know who was leading the field to green on that restart,” Blaney said, “but I’d like to introduce them to a gas pedal, and also my fist.”

10. Kyle Larson: Larson finished fifth at Nashville, recording his seventh top 5 of the season.

“Ross Chastain looks like a real championship contender,” Larson said. “Now, he’s in the head of every other championship contender. You could say, like a real watermelon farmer, he ‘planted a seed.’”

June 26, 2023
The White Zone: NASCAR, SAFER barrier all the walls

Ryan Blaney summed it up, Sunday, outside the care center at Nashville Superspeedway.

“It sucks that things like that have to happen, someone hit the wall head-on like that, and then you’re like, ‘Oh, we’ll put a SAFER barrier on it now,’” he said.

There’s no excuse, NASCAR.

NASCAR statement after Blaney's crash: “NASCAR safety engineers work closely with safety experts on the implementation of barriers around the track. As we do following every race weekend, we will evaluate all available data and make any necessary improvements.”
— SpeedwayMedia (@SpeedwayMedia) June 26, 2023

OK, I’m no engineer. I type words onto digital paper for a living. With that said, however, I’ve followed this sports league long enough to know this isn’t the first time something like this happened.

Ten years ago, Denny Hamlin broke his back in a head-on collision with an unprotected inside wall at Auto Club Speedway.

The injury sidelined him for five races.

2015, Kyle Busch suffered a compound fracture, after he hit an unprotected inside wall at Daytona International Speedway.

He missed 11 races.

The very next week, Jeff Gordon hit the inside wall head-on at Atlanta Motor Speedway, just after where the SAFER barrier ended.

Lucky for him, he didn’t miss a race, because of it.

And those are just the incidents after the use of SAFER barriers. That doesn’t include Jerry Nadaeu’s career-ending wreck at Richmond Raceway in 2003, either of Ernie Irvan’s near-fatal wrecks at Michigan International Speedway in the 1990s or that four NASCAR drivers died in the span of a few months in 2000 and 2001, due to hits on unprotected walls.

Yes, I know the walls weren’t the only factor in the deaths of Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin Jr., Tony Roper and Dale Earnhardt (and if we’re including ARCA, Blaise Alexander), but unprotected walls compounded the matter.

We shouldn’t even need to talk about this. This should be a thing of the past. Alas, NASCAR dropped the ball and didn’t line the inside walls at Nashville with SAFER barriers.

The best time to do this was years ago. The second best time to rectify this is now!

Yes, I know I’m spending other people’s money with this, but human life is more important than the number in a bank account.

Come 2024, no oval should have a single unprotected wall. And if there is, well…we’ll cross that bridge, if we get there.

That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

June 26, 2023
Chastain fends off Truex for first Cup victory of 2023 at Nashville

In a season that has been characterized by an up-and-down journey through his share of run-ins and challenges, all while remaining competitive, Ross Chastain capped off a historic weekend that commenced by winning his first NASCAR Cup Series career pole to capturing his first Cup Series victory of the season in the third annual running of the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday, June 25.

The 30-year-old Chastain from Alva, Florida, led five times for a race-high 99 of 300-scheduled laps in a weekend where he led the field to the green flag for the first time ever from pole position. After leading early before spending the majority of the event keeping pace with the front-runners, Chastain commenced his late charge to victory by overtaking Denny Hamlin for the lead with 70 laps remaining. Following a series of green flag pit stops, he then cycled back into the lead with 34 laps remaining and fended off a late charge from Martin Truex Jr. to capture the first checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season for himself and Trackhouse Racing.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, June 24, Ross Chastain notched his first Cup Series pole position of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 160.687 mph in 29.797 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Tyler Reddick, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 159.573 mph in 30.005 seconds.

Prior to the event, Daniel Suarez started at the rear of the field in a backup car after wrecking his primary car during Saturday’s qualifying session. Corey LaJoie, who also had an incident during his qualifying run, also started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments and repairs made to his Spire Motorsports entry.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Chastain fended off an early challenge from Reddick to assume the lead through the first two turns. As the field fanned out and jostled early for on-track positions, Chastain proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Reddick while Joey Logano moved up to third. Behind, Justin Haley, who qualified third, settled in fourth in front of Martin Truex Jr. and William Byron. In addition, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin battled for seventh as the event surpassed the second-lap mark.

The battles around the circuit would continue through the third lap as Truex and Byron moved into the top five while Haley fell back to sixth in front of Wallace, all while Chastain remained as the leader by a steady margin over Reddick. Chastain would proceed to retain the lead as the event reached its fifth lap mark.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Chastain was leading by two-tenths of a second over Reddick followed by Logano, Truex and Byron while Haley, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Wallace and Kyle Busch were in the top 10. Behind, Chris Buescher was in 11th ahead of Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and rookie Ty Gibbs while AJ Allmendinger, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. occupied the top 20.

Just past the Lap 15 mark, Kyle Busch, who was running within the top 10, made an unscheduled pit stop under green due to a flat right-front tire on his No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. With Busch plummeting below the leaderboard and losing a lap, Chastain maintained the lead by within two-tenths of a second over Reddick. By then, Truex and Byron moved up to third and fourth while Logano was in fifth.

At the Lap 25 mark, Chastain retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Reddick followed by Truex and Byron while Hamlin moved his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry into fifth place. With Logano falling back to sixth, Haley was scored in seventh ahead of Elliott, Wallace and Buescher. Behind, Larson was situated in 12th in between Blaney and Bowman, Harvick was in 17th behind Christopher Bell and Keselowski was in 18th. In addition, rookie Noah Gragson, who received medical clearance to return to racing after missing Sonoma Raceway due to concussion-like symptoms, was mired in 26th in between Corey LaJoie and Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric was in 28th and Chase Briscoe was back in 31st.

Ten laps later, Chastain slightly stretched his advantage to half a second over Reddick while Truex, Byron and Hamlin remained in the top five. By then, Haley and Elliott moved up to sixth and seventh in front of Logano while Blaney carved his way into the top 10 in 10th place. Behind, Bowman moved up to 11th ahead of teammate Larson while Wallace fell back to 15th.

Then just past the Lap 40 mark, green flag pit stops commenced as Ryan Preece pitted followed by Wallace, Harvick, Michael McDowell, Larson, Aric Almirola, Truex, Ty Gibbs, Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Reddick and others. Chastain would then surrender the lead on Lap 42 to pit under green followed by more competitors as Byron proceeded to lead a lap for himself before he pitted during Lap 43 as Chase Elliott assumed a brief lead. Once Elliott pitted on Lap 45, teammate Alex Bowman cycled into the lead for a lap before he surrendered the lead to Suarez, who would pit after leading a lap for himself on Lap 46. By then, Ty Dillon, who had yet to pit, cycled into the lead while Michael McDowell, who pitted earlier, was assessed a pass-through penalty for a commitment line violation.

By the time Ty Dillon pitted just past the Lap 50 mark, which completed the first cycle of green flag pit stops, Chastain cycled back into the lead ahead of Reddick. Behind, Byron moved up to third ahead of Truex and Hamlin while Kyle Busch, Elliott, Logano, Larson and Buescher were running in the top 10.

At the Lap 60 mark, Chastain, who was trying to lap Noah Gragson, continued to lead by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Reddick and by more than a second over third-place Byron while Truex and Hamlin remained in the top five. With Gragson refusing to relent to the leaders during the proceeding lap, Reddick gained a strong run on Chastain through the first two turns before he drew himself alongside Chastain’s No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and assumed the lead, thus becoming the second leader of the event.

Fifteen laps later, Reddick, who nearly lost the lead amid a side-by-side battle with Chastain six laps earlier, was leading by half a second over Chastain, who continued to keep Reddick within his sights. Meanwhile, third-place Byron trailed by more than two seconds ahead of Truex and Hamlin while Elliott, winner of last year’s Cup event at Nashville, carved his way up to sixth in front of Kyle Busch and Larson. In addition, Bell was up in ninth ahead of AJ Allmendinger, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity event at Nashville.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 90, Reddick, sporting The Big 615 radio station on Tuneln captured his third stage victory of the 2023 Cup season after fending off Chastain by four-tenths of a second. Byron and Truex followed suit in third and fourth along with Hamlin while Elliott, Kyle Busch, Larson, Bell and Allmendinger were scored in the top 10. By then, 25 of 36 competitors were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Reddick pitted for service. Following the pit stops, the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 piloted by Byron managed to exit pit road first with the lead ahead of Chastain, Reddick, Truex, Hamlin and Larson. Amid the pit stops, Kyle Busch and Harvick were both penalized for speeding on pit road.

The second stage started on Lap 97 as Byron and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, Truex launched a three-wide challenge on Chastain and Byron through the first two turns and the backstretch. All three continued to battle tightly amid three tight lanes for a full lap and they would all continue to battle tightly by the Lap 100 mark. Then during the following lap, Truex managed to launch ahead in his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry and assume the lead with a clear racetrack around him while Byron and Chastain battled for second in front of Reddick and Bell.

By Lap 110, Truex was leading by nearly a second over Byron and Chastain while Reddick and Bell remained in the top five. Behind, Hamlin was in sixth ahead of Elliott, Blaney, Larson and Buescher while Bowman, Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, Aric Almirola and Erik Jones were running in the top 15.

Fifteen laps later, Truex stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Byron followed by Reddick, Chastain and Bell while Hamlin, Elliott, Larson, Blaney and Buescher were running in the top 10. By then, Allmendinger and Bowman continued to duel fiercely for 11th while Kyle Busch had carved his way up to 16th. In addition, Harvick was up in 20th while Logano had fallen to 19th.

Nearly 10 laps later, the event’s second round of green flag pit stops commenced as Austin Dillon and Haley pitted. They were soon followed by Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch as Reddick, Byron, Chastain, Bell, Larson, Blaney, Bowman, Almirola, Buescher, Bowman and Erik Jones pitted. Then on Lap 138, Truex surrendered the lead to pit as teammate Hamlin cycled into the lead.

Then on Lap 138, the caution flew when Reddick, who had just pitted and was trying to cycle his way back onto pit road, spun towards the pit road entrance as a result of a loose right-rear wheel, which the wheel popped out of the car and rolled down towards the pit road wall as Reddick spun backward on pit road. During the caution period, Hamlin, Keselowski and Wallace, all three of whom had yet to pit, pitted, but all three were able to gain a bevy of spots from second through fourth as Truex cycled back into the lead. As a result of spinning and losing the wheel on pit road, Reddick was assessed a tail end of the line penalty as he lost two laps in the process.

Just as the field restarted under green on Lap 146, the caution quickly returned amid a stacked restart as Keselowski struggled to launch forward when Blaney, who restarted within the top 20, got hit in the rear by Kyle Busch. While Busch briefly spun in front of Bowman, Blaney slid his No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang all the way toward the bottom of the track and past the pit road exit before making head-on contact with the inside wall as his event came to an end just shy of the halfway mark.

During the proceeding restart on Lap 152, the field fanned out entering the first turn as teammates Truex and Hamlin battled for the lead in front of Bubba Wallace. With Byron launching his attack on Wallace for third during the following lap, teammates Truex and Hamlin continued to duel for the lead. Despite pulling away from third-place Byron by seven-tenths of a second, Truex and Hamlin continued to battle dead even for the lead until Hamlin managed to rocket ahead with a clear racetrack and the lead on Lap 157.

At the Lap 165 mark, Hamlin was leading by four-tenths of a second over a lurking Truex while Byron, Chastain and Wallace were scored in the top five. Behind, Bell was in sixth ahead of Elliott, Allmendinger, Larson and Erik Jones while Keselowski, Harvick, Ty Gibbs, Buescher and Daniel Suarez were in the top 15.

Ten laps later, Hamlin retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over teammate Truex while Chastain moved up to third ahead of Byron and Wallace.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 185, Hamlin captured his fourth stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Teammate Truex settled in second ahead of Chastain, Byron and Bell while Wallace, Elliott, Allmendinger, Harvick and Erik Jones were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, the leaders led by Hamlin pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin retained the lead after exiting first ahead of teammate Truex, Byron, Chastain, Bell, Elliott and Harvick. Amid the pit stops, Wallace, who pitted from sixth, exited pit road just outside the top 15 after enduring a slow pit service from his pit crew while Austin Cindric was penalized for speeding on pit road.

With 108 laps remaining, the final stage started as teammates Hamlin and Truex occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Hamlin retained the lead ahead of Truex and Chastain while the field behind jostled for positions.

With 100 laps remaining, Hamlin was leading by four-tenths of a second over teammate Truex while Chastain, Bell and Byron were in the top five. Behind, Kevin Harvick carved his way up to sixth while Elliott, Suarez, Ty Gibbs and Logano occupied the top 10. Meanwhile, Erik Jones was in 11th while Keselowski, Buescher, Wallace, Larson, Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Stenhouse and Harrison Burton were mired in the top 20, with 30 of 36 starters running on the lead lap.

Ten laps later, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to within two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Truex while third-place Chastain trailed by more than a second. Hamlin would continue to lead teammate Truex by a tenth of a second another 10 laps later while Harvick carved his No. 4 Busch Light Peach Ford Mustang up to fourth as he trailed the lead by more than three seconds. Soon after with 74 laps remaining, Chastain battled and overtook Truex for second as he tried to launch his charge on Hamlin for the lead.

Then with 70 laps remaining, Chastain gained a strong run on Hamlin exiting the frontstretch as he returned to the lead over Hamlin while Truex trailed in third by seven-tenths of a second. By then, Harvick retained fourth as he trailed by more than a second while Chase Elliott was in fifth and trailing by more than five seconds.

With 61 laps remaining, late trouble struck for Harvick, who was starting to challenge Truex for third, as he fell off the pace and pitted under green to address a flat right-rear tire to his No. 4 entry. Not long after, another cycle of green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Elliott pitted followed by Truex, Corey LaJoie and Cindric. The leader Chastain would then pit with 58 laps remaining followed by Hamlin and after the pit stops, Chastain managed to blend back on the track ahead of Truex and Hamlin while more competitors pitted under green.

With 45 laps remaining and with most of the field having made a pit stop under green, Kyle Busch was leading by more than seven seconds over Bowman, but both were in need of another pit stop to make it to the event’s scheduled distance. Meanwhile, third-place Chastain, the first competitor on four fresh tires and a full tank of fuel, was trailing by more than 14 seconds while Truex and Hamlin were in the top five.

Then with nearly 40 laps remaining, Kyle Busch surrendered the lead to pit under green. Busch’s move gave Bowman the lead while Chastain cut the deficit to trail by more than four seconds. Once Bowman pitted his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green with 34 laps remaining, Chastain, who started to approach lapped traffic, reassumed the lead ahead of a hard-charging Truex, who kept Chastain close within his sights.

Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Chastain was leading by a tenth of a second over Truex, who was trying to gain more ground on Chastain for the lead through every turn and straightaway, while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than three seconds.

Ten laps later, Chastain, who started to experiment with different racing lanes to place a reasonable gap between himself and Truex, started to stretch his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Truex while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than four seconds.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Chastain continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Truex as third-place Hamlin trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, Elliott and Byron were in the top five while Larson, Bell, Erik Jones, Allmendinger and Keselowski occupied the top 10.

With five laps remaining, Chastain extended his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Truex, who was slowly losing ground on Chastain in his bid for a second consecutive victory in recent weeks.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Chastain remained as the leader by seven-tenths of a second over Truex. With Truex unable to gain ground to mount a final lap charge, Chastain was able to navigate his way around Nashville for a final time and cycle back to the finish line to capture his first elusive checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season.

With the victory, Chastain, the championship runner-up finisher from last season, became the 11th different competitor to win through the first 17 regular-season events and place himself in prime contention to make the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs. He also notched his third Cup career victory, his first in 42 races and since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in April 2022. The Floridian also achieved his first oval-shaped victory and the first win for Trackhouse Racing since teammate Daniel Suarez won at Sonoma Raceway in June 2022.

Ironically, Chastain extended Chevrolet’s winning streak at Nashville to three consecutive seasons in the three seasons the Cup Series has competed at Music City.

“[The] Only thing sweeter [than winning] is this Georgia watermelon, I gotta tell you!” Chastain, who smashed a watermelon on the frontstretch, exclaimed on NBC. “This is incredible. This is why every little kid out there, anywhere in the world, when you get criticized and you’re going to if you’re competitive, they will try to tear you down. You will start believing them [that] you can’t do it. You have to go to your people, trust in the process, read your books, trust the big man’s plan upstairs and just keep getting up and going to work. I gotta tell you, a lot of self-reflection through all of this, but I had a group that believed in me and they didn’t let me get down. They bring rocket ships and I just try to point them into Victory Lane…It’s absolutely incredible the fight that we have.”

“[The fun]’s just a desire to win,” Chastain added. “It’s just so hard at this level and it’s the best of the best. It’s where I’ve wanted to be since I was 18 years old. It’s a Cup win. I don’t care what happened the last month or by the rest of my life. It’s a freaking Cup win!”

Truex, the winner of the previous Cup scheduled event at Sonoma, ended up in second place after leading 50 laps, though he maintained the lead in the regular-season standings, while teammate Hamlin rallied from wrecking late at Sonoma to settle in third at Nashville after leading 81 laps.

“[I] Just needed to get the lead,” Truex said. “Once we lost it, I probably made a bad move, taking the bottom [lane] on the restart. Just too loose on the long runs. I could hang with whoever was leading. Just could never get off the corner good enough to make a move. Just lacking soundbite and then overall, just burning the rear tires off too much. Just really loose at the end of the race there as well. Just needed a little bit. Got lots of speed. Just could never get the balance where it needed it to be. Without having clean air, it was difficult. Overall, a good night for our Bass Pro/Tracker Toyota Camry. The guys are doing a great job. Just that close again. If we can keep doing this, we’ll be in good shape.”

“I just think we had a third-place car the entire race,” Hamlin said. “I thought [Truex] was a little better. [Chastain], obviously, came on strong there at the end. That’s all we had with our FedEx Ground Toyota. It’s an optimized day. It’s a day with no mistakes and we gave ourselves a chance. Just didn’t have quite a fast enough car to go up and contend.”

Meanwhile, Elliott notched his fourth top-five result of the season by finishing fourth, where he still trails the top-16 cutline to make the Playoffs by 64 points, while teammate Larson rallied to finish fifth.

Byron, Bell, Erik Jones, Kyle Busch and AJ Allmendinger finished in the top 10. Notably, Suarez, who crashed into Chase Briscoe at the event’s conclusion while trying to congratulate teammate Chastain on the track, ended up 12th after starting the event at the rear of the field. In addition, rookie Ty Gibbs settled in 14th in front of Bubba Wallace, Bowman ended up 17th, Logano fell back to 19th, Harvick finished 24th after never recovering from his late tire issue and Reddick could only work his way up to 30th following his early spin and tire issue.

There were 21 lead changes for 12 different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 24 laps. In total, 21 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

With nine regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the regular-season standings by 18 points over both William Byron and Ross Chastain while Christopher Bell trails by 45 points and Kyle Busch trails by 48.

William Byron, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez currently occupy the remaining vacant spots to the Playoffs based on points, with Suarez occupying the 16th and final vacant spot by two points over Alex Bowman, 10 over rookie Ty Gibbs, 24 over AJ Allmendinger, 27 over Michael McDowell, 45 over Corey LaJoie, 51 over Austin Cindric and 55 over Justin Haley.

Results.

1. Ross Chastain, 99 laps led

2. Martin Truex Jr., 50 laps led

3. Denny Hamlin, 81 laps led, Stage 2 winner

4. Chase Elliott, one lap led

5. Kyle Larson

6. William Byron, five laps led

7. Christopher Bell, three laps led

8. Erik Jones

9. Kyle Busch, 12 laps led

10. AJ Allmendinger

11. Brad Keselowski, two laps led

12. Daniel Suarez, one lap led

13. Austin Dillon

14. Ty Gibbs

15. Bubba Wallace

16. Ryan Preece

17. Alex Bowman, nine laps led

18. Chris Buescher

19. Joey Logano

20. Corey LaJoie

21. Harrison Burton

22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

23. Justin Haley, one lap down

24. Kevin Harvick, one lap down

25. Aric Almirola, one lap down

26. Noah Gragson, one lap down

27. Austin Cindric, one lap down

28. Michael McDowell, one lap down

29. JJ Yeley, two laps down

30. Tyler Reddick, two laps down, 33 laps led, Stage 1 winner

31. Chase Briscoe, two laps down

32. Ty Dillon, two laps down, four laps led

33. Brennan Poole, three laps down

34. Josh Bilicki, three laps down

35. Todd Gilliand, four laps down

36. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ inaugural event at the Chicago Street Course in Downtown Chicago, Illinois. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, July 2, at 5:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

June 25, 2023
Weekend schedule for Nashville Superspeedway

NASCAR heads to Nashville Superspeedway this weekend with a full schedule of events as all three national series compete. The superspeedway is a 1.33-mile, D-shaped oval, and the longest concrete surface track on the 2023 schedule.

There have been two previous Cup Series races at Nashville. Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson won the inaugural event in 2021 and Chase Elliott returns as the defending race winner.

JR Motorsports driver, Justin Allgaier, won the 2022 Xfinity Series event at Nashville. With another victory, he would become only the second back-to-back winner. Carl Edwards has the most Xfinity Series victories at the track with five (2006, 2007 sweep, 2011 sweep) and will be in attendance this weekend as the track pays tribute to his expertise at the venue.

This will be the last race of the 2023 Triple Truck Challenge with a new winner collecting a 50,000 bonus or previous winners, Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes, earning an additional $150,000 payout.

All times are Eastern.

Press Pass will be available after qualifying and post-race for all series.

Friday, June 23

4 p.m.: Truck Series Practice (All Entries) FS1
4:30 p.m.: Truck Qualifying (All Entries) Impound/Single Vehicle/1 Lap – FS1
5:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice (All Entries) USA
6:30 P.M.: Cup Series Practice (All Entries) USA

8 p.m.: Truck Series Rackley Roofing 200
Distance: 199.5 miles (150 Laps)
Stages end on Laps 45, 95, 150
FS1/MRN/SiriusXM

Saturday, June 24

12 Noon: Xfinity Qualifying (Impound) Single Vehicle/1 Lap/All Entries – USA
1 p.m.: Cup Qualifying (Impound) Group A & B – Single Vehicle/1 Lap/2 Rounds – USA/PRN/SiriusXM

3:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Tennessee Lottery 250 race
Distance: 250.04 miles (188 Laps)
Stages end on Laps 45, 90, 188
USA/PRN/SiriusXM
Purse: $1,616,383

Sunday, June 25

7 p.m.: Cup Series Ally 400
Distance: 399 miles (300 Laps)
Stages end on Laps 90, 185, 300
NBC/PRN/SiriusXM
Purse: $8,516,134

June 21, 2023
Bubba Wallace to make 200th Cup career start at Nashville

In his sixth full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, Bubba Wallace is primed to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s Cup event at Nashville Superspeedway, the driver of the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota TRD Camry will achieve 200 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

A native of Mobile, Alabama, Wallace made his inaugural presence in NASCAR’s premier series at Pocono Raceway in June when he was named an interim competitor of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Fusion in place of Aric Almirola, who was recovering from a compression fracture to his T5 Vertebra after being involved in a vicious multi-car wreck at Kansas Speedway in May. By then, Wallace, who had recently lost his ride at Roush Fenway Racing in the Xfinity Series due to sponsorship issues, became the first African-American competitor to compete in a Cup Series event since Bill Lester made the last accomplishment at Michigan International Speedway in June 2006. During his Cup debut at Pocono, Wallace started 16th and finished 26th after serving multiple pit road speeding penalties. He returned for the following three of four Cup events, where he finished 19th at Michigan International Speedway in June, 15th at Daytona International Speedway and a season-best 11th at Kentucky Speedway in July, respectively, before Almirola returned to competition and Wallace was left without a full-time ride for the remainder of the season.

In late October 2017, Wallace was named a full-time competitor of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the 2018 Cup season, thus making him the first African-American competitor to compete on a full-time basis in NASCAR’s premier series since the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Wendell Scott made the last accomplishment in 1971. Making his Daytona Speedweeks debut in February, Wallace notched a strong third-place result in the first of two Daytona Duel events as he lined up in seventh place for the 60th running of the Daytona 500. He then edged veteran Denny Hamlin by 0.002 seconds in a two-lap shootout to finish in second place behind race winner Austin Dillon in the 500, which made him the highest-finishing African-American competitor in the Daytona 500’s history as he eclipsed the previous record made by Scott’s 13th-place result in 1966.

Commencing his first full-time Cup season on a strong note at Daytona, Wallace then finished no higher than 20th during the following five scheduled events before posting his second career top-10 result at Texas Motor Speedway in April. He then led six laps during the following scheduled event at Bristol Motor Speedway before falling back to 16th place in the final scoreboard. Finishing no higher than 14th for the remaining 18 regular-season events, Wallace did not clinch a spot to the 2018 Cup Playoffs. After finishing no higher than 19th throughout the Playoffs, Wallace managed to finish 10th in the penultimate event at Phoenix Raceway in November before capping off the season in 21st at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Ultimately, he capped off his first full-time Cup campaign in 28th place in the final standings and in the runner-up spot behind William Byron in the rookie standings on the strength of three top-10 results, 10 top-20 results, 19 total laps led and an average-finishing result of 24.5.

Through the first 12 events of the 2019 season, Wallace achieved only two top-20 results and finished no higher than 17th, which occurred at Martinsville in March. Then during the All-Star weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, he and the No. 43 RPM team rose to the occasion as the Alabama native fended off Daniel Suarez in a two-lap shootout to win the second stage of the All-Star Open and transfer to his first career appearance in the All-Star Race, where he went on to finish in fifth place. From the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May through the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in September, Wallace notched a total of two top-15 results before achieving his second career top-five result in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which marked his second top-three run in NASCAR’s crown-jewel events. The top-three result at Indy, however, was not enough for him to make the 2019 Cup Playoffs. Managing only two additional top-15 results throughout the 10-race Playoff stretch, Wallace concluded his sophomore season in 28th place in the final standings and with an average-finishing result of 23.9.

In 2020, which marked his third Cup season driving for Richard Petty Motorsports, Wallace commenced the season by finishing 15th in the 62nd running of the Daytona 500. He then posted a strong sixth-place result at Las Vegas Motor Speedway following a late strategic call to remain on worn tires during a two-lap shootout before finishing 27th and 19th during the following two scheduled events at Auto Club Speedway and Phoenix. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic season that initially paused all racing activities until May and throughout the Carolinas, Wallace finished no higher than 16th during his next four scheduled starts before notching a 10th-place result at Bristol Motor Speedway in June. He then earned an additional three top-15 results throughout the following four events before finishing ninth at Indianapolis in July and ninth at Michigan in August. Despite achieving his lone top-five result in the regular-season finale at Daytona in August, Wallace fell short of making the Playoffs for a third consecutive season. With a total of two top-20 results throughout the 2020 Playoffs, Wallace capped off his junior Cup season in 22nd place in the final standings as he also achieved a total of five top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 21.1. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

In September 2020, Wallace was named a full-time competitor of the newly formed No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota Camry team that was formed by NBA legend Michael Jordan and NASCAR veteran Denny Hamlin for the 2021 Cup season. Despite finishing second in the second of two Bluegreen Vacation Duels, Wallace’s first run with 23XI commenced on a fiery note after being involved in a multi-car wreck on the final lap of the 63rd running of the Daytona 500 and settling in 17th place in the final running order. He then finished no higher than 11th during his next 18-scheduled starts before notching his first top-five result of the season at Pocono Raceway in July by finishing fifth. Wallace’s top-five run occurred through fuel strategy as he remained on the track with enough fuel to finish.

After posting three top-20 results during the following five events, he ended up in second place in the regular-season finale at Daytona in August, but fell one spot short of racing his way into the 2021 Cup Playoffs. Five races later at Talladega in October, though, Wallace achieved his first career win in NASCAR’s premier series after the event was concluded 71 laps shy of the full distance due to inclement weather, where Wallace made a late surge to the lead before fending off Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano amid the draft. By recording the first career win for 23XI Racing, Wallace became the 198th different competitor to win in NASCAR’s premier series and the first African-American competitor to win in NASCAR’s premier series since Wendell Scott made the first accomplishment in 1963 at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida. Managing two 14th-place results for the final five scheduled events, Wallace capped off the season in 21st place in the final standings on the strength of his Talladega victory, three top-five results, 62 total laps led and an average-finishing result of 19.7.

Remaining at 23XI Racing for the 2022 season, Wallace commenced the season on a high note by finishing in second place in the 64th running of the Daytona 500 after being beaten by rookie Austin Cindric by 0.036 seconds. He, however, finished no higher than 13th through the following 11-scheduled events before recording his second top-10 result of the season at Kansas Speedway in May. By then, Wallace and the No. 23 team had achieved a total of seven top-20 results. After finishing no higher than 12th during the next six events, he then ignited a hot streak by notching four consecutive top-eight results. This included a third-place result at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and a fifth-place run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in July. He also posted a strong runner-up result at Michigan in August after starting on pole position for the first time in his career. With two top-13 results in the final three regular-season events, however, Wallace fell short of making the Playoffs for a fifth consecutive season.

Then prior to the Playoffs, Wallace was moved to pilot 23XI Racing’s No. 45 entry that was competing for the owner’s title. Commencing the Playoffs with a ninth-place result in the Southern 500, Wallace earned his second Cup career victory at Kansas in September after leading 58 of 267 laps and beating owner Hamlin by a full second. The Kansas victory, which transferred the No. 45 team from the Round of 16 to 12 in the owner’s standings, made him the first African-American competitor to achieve multiple victories in NASCAR’s premier series and the 18th different winner of the 2022 campaign. The team’s entry, however, was eliminated from the owner’s battle after finishing no higher than seventh during the Round of 12. Then at Las Vegas in October, Wallace experienced a low point to his career by intentionally wrecking reigning champion Kyle Larson across the frontstretch and engaging in a shoving match with Larson following earlier contact with Larson that led to the incident. The wreck prompted NASCAR to suspend Wallace for the following event at Homestead as John Hunter Nemechek piloted the No. 45 entry. Returning for the final two events, Wallace capped off his strongest season to date by finishing eighth and 22nd at Martinsville and Phoenix, respectively, before ending up in 19th place in the final standings. By then, Wallace had achieved career-high stats in top fives (five), top 10s (10) and laps led in a season (150) while also achieving a career-best average-finishing result of 18.3.

Through the first 16-scheduled events of the 2023 Cup Series season, Wallace is off to his strongest starts of a season to date. He and the No. 23 team have rallied from posting back-to-back DNFs through the first two scheduled events by finishing fourth at Las Vegas in March. After posting two top-14 results for the following five scheduled events, he then notched a ninth-place run at Martinsville in April. A week later, he was leading on the final lap at Talladega when he and fellow competitor Ryan Blaney made contact that resulted with Wallace triggering a multi-car wreck and ending up 28th in the final running order. Wallace, though, rallied by finishing 12th, fourth, fifth and fourth, respectively during the proceeding four events. Despite coming off two consecutive results outside the top 15 in 30th and 17th, respectively, he is currently ranked in 15th place in the driver’s standings and is inside the top-16 cutline to make the 2023 Cup Playoffs by 26 points.

Through 199 previous Cup starts, Wallace has achieved two victories, one pole, 15 top-five results, 27 top-10 results, 299 laps led and an average-finishing result of 21.1.

Wallace is scheduled to make his 200th Cup Series career start at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday, June 25, with the event’s coverage to occur at 7 p.m. ET on NBC.

June 21, 2023
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Sonoma

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Kyle Busch: Busch won Stage 2 at Sonoma but couldn’t catch Martin Truex Jr. late and settled for the runner-up spot.

“I thought I could catch Martin,” Busch said. “I gave it my best shot. There’s nothing like a charge in ‘Wine Country,’ except for maybe a ‘charge’ in ‘Tequila Country.’”

2. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex held off former teammate Kyle Busch to win the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma.

“Nothing beats sipping wine in Victory Circle at Sonoma,” Truex said. “Except shotgunning a beer anywhere but Victory Circle at Sonoma.”

3. William Byron: Byron started 26th and finished 14th in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

“My Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott chatted with Denny Hamlin about their incident at WWT Raceway,” Byron said. “I don’t know the details of their talk, but I’m pretty sure they put the ‘cuss’ in ‘discussion.’”

4. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished 11th at Sonoma.

“That was my 806th Cup series start,” Harvick said. “That put me ahead of Jeff Gordon for the most all-time. I may have more starts than Jeff, but I’ll never have more championships or marriages.”

5. Joey Logano: Logano finished third at Sonoma, his second consecutive third-place finish.

“Good things come in threes,” Logano said, “unless you’re Austin Dillon.”

6. Ryan Blaney: Blaney struggled at Sonoma and finished 31st.

“Road course racing is not my cup of tea,” Blaney said, “and here in Sonoma, it’s not my glass of wine.”

7. Christopher Bell: Bell finished ninth at Sonoma, his first top-10 finish since Dover in April.

“This race was a typical Sonoma race,” Bell said. “Long, boring, and lacking entertainment. Here in Wine Country, the race packed all the drama of a wine tasting.”

8. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin started on the pole, but wrecked with under 20 laps to go and finished last at Sonoma.

“I’ve got no one to blame but myself,” Hamlin said. “But by the time my latest podcast goes live, I’ll have someone else to blame.”

9. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished 10th at Sonoma, posting his seventh top 10 of the year.

“It’s always fun to see Denny Hamlin wreck,” Chastain said. “And it’s about time he did something without my help.”

10. Kyle Larson: Larson came home eighth in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

“It was a good day for Hendrick Motorsports,” Larson said. “But only because all four regular drivers participated.”

June 11, 2023
Truex dominates Sonoma for second Cup victory of 2023 season

More than a month after snapping his one-year winless streak at the Monster Mile, Martin Truex Jr. doubled down on a sunny afternoon in Northern California and capped off a dominant run with a victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, June 11.

The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Mayetta, New Jersey, led four times for a race-high 51 of 110-scheduled laps, including the final 13 after overtaking Chase Elliott while on four fresh tires for the lead compared to Elliott’s worn tires during a 15-lap dash to the finish. Once he acquired the lead, Truex then fended off a late charge from ex-teammate Kyle Busch to claim his second checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season and fourth overall at Sonoma.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Denny Hamlin notched his second Cup Series pole of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 92.178 mph in 77.719 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Tyler Reddick, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 92.068 mph in 77.812 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Hamlin jumped ahead with an early advantage entering the first two turns. As the field navigated its way through Turns 3 and 4 before proceeding through the Chute corner, Hamlin maintained the lead ahead of teammate Christopher Bell while Reddick slipped to third. In addition, teammate/rookie Ty Gibbs challenged teammate Martin Truex Jr. for fourth while Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger were dueling for sixth. With the field navigating its way through the 12-turn circuit, Hamlin proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Toyota teammates Bell, Reddick, Truex and Ty Gibbs.

During the second lap, Hamlin was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Bell while Toyota teammates Reddick, Truex and Ty Gibbs remained in the top five. Behind, Allmendinger was in sixth followed by McDowell, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch while Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bubba Wallace, Aric Almirola, Joey Logano, Corey LaJoie, Ross Chastain and Ryan Preece occupied the top 20.

Through the first five scheduled laps, Hamlin’s No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota TRD Camry continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry while Reddick’s No. 45 Unleashed the Beast Toyota TRD Camry trailed in third place by more than a second. Truex and Ty Gibbs remained in the top five while Allmendinger, McDowell, Buescher, Elliott and Kyle Busch retained their spots in the top 10. Meanwhile, William Byron trailed in 21st place ahead of Chase Briscoe, Justin Haley, Kevin Harvick, Erik Jones and Brad Keselowski while Daniel Suarez, who over-revved his engine at the start of the race and lost a bevy of spots from starting 10th, was mired in 28th. In addition, Ryan Blaney was mired back in 32nd in front of teammate Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton, Andy Lally and Grant Enfinger.

At the Lap 10 mark, Hamlin, who was leading by more than a second two laps earlier, had his lead shrink to four-tenths of a second over teammate Bell, who was slowly catching teammate Hamlin for the lead while teammate Truex moved his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry into third. Reddick and Ty Gibbs continued to trail in the top five followed by Allmendinger, McDowell, Buescher, Elliott and Kyle Busch. Behind, Larson was in 12th after starting 16th, Logano was mired in 15th ahead of Aric Almirola and Ross Chastain, Byron worked his way up to 20th, Bubba Wallace slipped back to 21st and Harvick was mired in 23rd behind teammate Chase Briscoe.

Two laps later, Truex overtook teammate Bell for the runner-up spot in Turn 7 as Hamlin retained the lead by nearly two seconds. Soon after, Allmendinger overtook Ty Gibbs for fifth while Reddick retained fourth. By the time the event reached its Lap 15 mark, the top-eight nine competitors were separated by more than nine seconds as McDowell, Buescher and Elliott tried to close in on the top-six competitors led by race leader Hamlin.

A lap later, Keselowski pitted his No. 6 King’s Hawaiian Ford Mustang under green. Blaney would then pit his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang under green during the proceeding lap while Hamlin continued to lead by more than three seconds over teammate Truex and more than four over teammate Bell. Blaney, however, would be penalized for speeding while exiting pit road.

By Lap 20, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over teammate Truex as Bell remained in third. Behind, Allmendinger overtook Reddick for fourth place in Turn 11 as McDowell followed suit. With Reddick back in sixth, Ty Gibbs trailed in seventh in his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry followed by Buescher, Elliott and Larson. Meanwhile, Zane Smith, Suarez, and Harrison Burton, among others, made pit stops under green.

A lap later, Kyle Busch pitted his No. 8 McLaren Custom Grills Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from 11th place. A host of names that included Larson, Elliott, Logano, Austin Dillon, Chastain, Byron, Harvick, Briscoe and Cindric would pit during the following lap as Hamlin remained on the racetrack with the lead.

At the conclusion of the first stage on Lap 25, Hamlin captured his third stage victory of the 2023 season. Teammate Truex followed suit by more than two seconds in the runner-up spot while Bell, Allmendinger, McDowell, Reddick, Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Bowman and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were scored in the top 10. By then, a trio of Ford competitors that included Harrison Burton, Blaney and Cindric were mired towards the rear of the field as Almirola pitted under green. Ty Dillon, Erik Jones, Haley and a host of other names also pitted under green with Almirola.

A lap later and as the event proceeded under green to start the second stage, Hamlin steered his No. 11 Toyota to pit road to pit under green followed by teammate Truex, McDowell, Allmendinger, Bell, Reddick, Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Bowman, Corey LaJoie and others. By the time the leaders completed their pit stops, Hamlin retained the lead by more than two seconds over teammate Truex while Elliott and Larson, both of whom pitted earlier than Hamlin, cycled their way into third and fourth. Bell, meanwhile, slipped back to fifth while Kyle Busch, Allmendinger, McDowell, Reddick and Buescher were running in the top 10.

Thirty laps into the event, Hamlin retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Truex while Elliott trailed in third place in his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 by more than six seconds. Bell was in fourth as he also trailed by more than six seconds while Larson settled in fifth. Meanwhile, Reddick and Ty Gibbs were strapped in eighth and 11th, respectively, while Byron navigated his way up to 15th.

Then on Lap 32, Truex drew himself alongside teammate Hamlin in Turn 12 in a bid for the lead. After dueling for the lead through the first two turns, Truex made the pass stick through Turns 3 and 4 as he emerged as the second different leader of the afternoon.

At the Lap 40 mark, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex was leading by a full second over teammate Hamlin while teammate Bell trailed by less than eight seconds in third place. Hendrick Motorsports’ Elliott and Larson trailed in the top five while Allmendinger, McDowell, Buescher, Reddick and Ty Gibbs were in the top 10 ahead of Kyle Busch, Bowman, Logano, Austin Dillon, Byron, Chastain, Stenhouse, Harvick, Almirola and Ryan Preece.

Nearly five laps later, a second wave of green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Kyle Busch pitted along with names that included Suarez, Logano, Austin Dillon and Byron while Truex retained the lead by more than a second over teammate Hamlin. By then, Keselowski, Harrison Burton and Cindric pitted under green a few laps earlier as Harvick pitted under green on Lap 46.

Nearing the Lap 50 mark, Truex continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Hamlin while third-place Bell, another teammate, trailed by more than 13 seconds. Behind, McDowell was in fourth ahead of Elliott and Allmendinger while Larson was scored in seventh ahead of Buescher, Reddick and Ty Gibbs. Just then, the first caution of the event flew on Lap 49 when a right-front wheel rolled out of Zane Smith’s No. 38 pit box just as his pit service was complete, with the wheel rolling into the center of pit road. The caution period occurred just as Ross Chastain had pitted in his No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

During the event’s first caution period, nine competitors that included Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Byron, Austin Dillon, Stenhouse, Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Harvick and Suarez remained on the track while the rest led by the race leader Truex pitted. Following the pit stops, Truex exited pit road first followed by teammate Bell, McDowell, Hamlin, Buescher and Elliott.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 52, where Kyle Busch and Logano occupied the front row, Busch launched ahead with the lead on the inside lane and entering Turns 1 and 2. He then cleared the field through Turn 2 while Logano and Byron battled for second. Behind, Chastain and Stenhouse battled for fourth while Austin Dillon was in sixth ahead of Harvick, Keselowski and Truex. With the field scrambling, fanning out and jostling for positions through the Chute corner before entering a series of right- and left-hand turns through Turns 7 to 10 before entering a steep right-hand, braking turn in Turn 11, Busch remained as the leader ahead of Logano while Chastain muscled his way into third ahead of Byron and Stenhouse.

At the conclusion of the second stage on Lap 55, which marked the halfway point of the event, Kyle Busch claimed his second stage victory of the 2023 season. Logano followed suit in second while Chastain, Byron, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon, Truex, McDowell, Bell and Harvick were scored in the top 10.

With the event proceeding under green with 54 laps remaining, Kyle Busch stretched his advantage to a second-and-a-half over Logano followed by Chastain, Byron and Stenhouse while Truex, McDowell, Bell, Austin Dillon and Buescher were scored in the top 10. Behind, Harvick was in 11th ahead of Allmendinger, Keselowski, Hamlin and Elliott while Suarez, Larson, Bowman, Ty Gibbs and Preece were running in the top 20. Meanwhile, Wallace was in mired in 21st ahead of teammate Reddick, LaJoie, Almirola and Briscoe while Josh Bilicki, Erik Jones, Blaney, Haley and Todd Gilliland were strapped in the top 30. Ty Dillon, Cindric, Harrison Burton, Enfinger, Andy Lally and Zane Smith rounded out the 36-car field, with all running on the circuit.

With 50 laps remaining, Busch stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Logano while third-place Chastain also trailed by more than a second as he tried to catch Logano for the runner-up spot. Meanwhile, Truex carved his way up to fourth over Byron. McDowell would then overtake Byron for fifth during the following lap as Bell, Stenhouse, Buescher and Harvick were battling within the top 10. Soon after, Chastain overtook Logano for second entering the first two turns, but he went wide in Turn 2, which allowed Logano to reclaim the spot as Truex joined the battle. Truex would overtake Chastain during the proceeding lap before overtaking Logano for the runner-up spot with 47 laps remaining. All in the process, Kyle Busch increased his advantage to more than two seconds.

Then with 46 laps remaining, Austin Dillon ran into late trouble after receiving a bump from Ty Gibbs that sent him spinning in Turn 11 while battling for 17th. Despite stalling his car while off the racing course, he managed to continue without drawing a caution.

During the proceeding lap, Kyle Busch, who nearly got loose in Turn 10, was leading by a second over a hard-charging Truex while Logano trailed in third place by more than three seconds. Behind, McDowell carved his way up to fourth while Chastain settled in fifth. After cutting Busch’s advantage during the following three laps, Truex executed his move beneath Busch in Turn 7 as he reassumed the lead with 42 laps remaining. Truex would proceed to stretch the advantage to more than a second over Busch as McDowell started to intimidate Logano for third.

With 38 laps remaining, names that included Bell, Bowman, Ty Dillon and Harrison Burton pitted under green. Byron would pit during the following lap along with Hamlin, Larson and Cindric. Another lap later, the pit strategy games ensued as more drivers including Logano, Chastain, Stenhouse, Preece, Almirola, Briscoe and Corey LaJoie pitted.

Then with 36 laps remaining, the leader Truex pitted along with Kyle Busch and Allmendinger while McDowell inherited the lead after remaining on the track. Buescher moved up to second after he also remained on the track while Elliott, Harvick and Ty Gibbs moved up into the top five.

With 35 laps remaining, McDowell surrendered the lead to pit under green followed by Buescher as Elliott, who last pitted on Lap 51, assumed the lead. By then, Keselowski and Justin Haley also pitted. Once McDowell and Buescher exited pit road together and in close-quarters racing, McDowell managed to cycle past Erik Jones, Chastain and Byron on the track while Buescher was trapped behind Chastain and Erik Jones.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Truex, who last pitted on Lap 75, reassumed the lead as both Elliott and Harvick pitted under green. By then, Reddick cycled back into second as he trailed Truex by nine-tenths of a second while Suarez, Kyle Busch and Logano were in the top five. Behind, Bell was in sixth ahead of McDowell, Wallace, Chastain and Buescher. During the following lap, Reddick, along with his teammate Wallace, and Suarez pitted under green as Busch, Logano, Bell and McDowell were scored in the top five.

With 25 laps remaining, Truex extended his advantage to more than four seconds over Kyle Busch while third-place McDowell trailed by more than six seconds. Logano and Buescher were mired in the top five while Bell, Chastain, Byron, Hamlin and Larson were scored in the top 10 ahead of Stenhouse, Allmendinger, Bowman, Preece, Elliott and Harvick.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Truex continued to lead by more than four seconds over Kyle Busch as McDowell retained third place despite trailing by nearly seven seconds. Meanwhile, Buescher overtook Logano for fourth place two laps earlier while Chastain was up in sixth ahead of Bell, Larson, Byron and Hamlin.

A lap later, the caution flew when Hamlin, who was running in 10th, scrubbed the inside wall entering the frontstretch. The incident caused him to get loose and spin in the middle of the frontstretch as he smacked the frontstretch’s wall and damaged his pole-winning Toyota TRD Camry along with his toe link and right-rear suspension. The damage to Hamlin’s car was enough to terminate his strong run in the garage.

During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Truex pitted while Elliott, Reddick and Blaney remained on the track as Elliott cycled into the lead. Following the pit stops, Truex exited first followed by Kyle Busch, Buescher, Logano, Chastain and Larson. In the midst of the pit stops, McDowell exited pit road 11th after enduring a slow pit service from his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports pit crew.

With the race restarting under green with 15 laps remaining, Elliott took off with the lead entering the first two turns. With Elliott maintaining the lead through Turns 3 and 4 before entering the Chute corner, Truex quickly charged his way into second as Kyle Busch challenged Reddick for third. Logano would then challenge Reddick for fourth after overtaking teammate Blaney through Turns 7 and 8. As the field jostled for late positions throughout the 12-turn circuit, Elliott maintained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Truex while Kyle Busch trailed in third place by more than a second.

Then during the following lap, Truex rocketed past Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the lead entering Turn 7. With Truex back out in front, Kyle Busch then closed up on Elliott’s rear bumper through Turns 8 to 10. Busch then moved up to second after overtaking Elliott, who was losing ground on worn tires, through Turn 11 as he set his sights on Truex for the lead. Way behind the leaders, Reddick fell off the pace after cutting a left-front tire after through Turn 11, but he proceeded to cut the Turn 11 corner and limp his No. 45 Toyota TRD Camry to pit road without drawing a caution, though NASCAR assessed Reddick a pass-through penalty for cutting the course. The race remained under green flag conditions during the following lap despite Almirola spinning but continuing in Turn 7.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Truex was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch while third-place Elliott trailed by more than three seconds. By then, Erik Jones, who spun in Turn 3A and briefly stalled his No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 between Turns 3 and 4, proceeded without drawing a caution.

Truex would continue to lead by more than a second-and-a-half over Busch with five laps remaining and as Logano, Buescher and Elliott occupied the top five. By then, Blaney, who was running in the top 10 two laps earlier, had plummeted to 31st after getting hit by McDowell and spinning in Turn 7, as his roller-coaster day went from bad to worse after he spun again in Turn 2 when he got hit by Chase Briscoe.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Truex remained as the leader by more than three seconds over Kyle Busch. After smoothly navigating his way through the 12-turn circuit for a final time and with Busch unable to close the gap, Truex was able to the frontstretch victorious as he streaked across the finish line in first place and with his second checkered flag of the 2023 season.

With the victory, Truex, who endured a dismal run at Sonoma along with his Toyota teammates a year ago, became the fourth Cup Series competitor to win multiple races this season as he notched his 33rd career victory in NASCAR’s premier series. He also notched his first Cup victory since winning at Dover Motor Speedway this past April and his fourth at Sonoma, with his last at the circuit occurring in 2019. In addition, Truex recorded his 14th victory driving for Joe Gibbs Racing and the 175th Cup career win for the Toyota nameplate.

Ironically, this marked the fifth 1-2 finish in a Cup Series race overall for Truex and Kyle Busch where Truex ended up victorious.

“[It took] A lot of hard work by everybody,” Truex said on FOX. “Everybody at Toyota, [Toyota Racing Development], everybody at [Joe Gibbs Racing] in the off-season to redesign. We got to do some work with NASCAR to pre-design some stuff. Everybody did and they did a good job there. Just hats off to my team. To be so bad here last year and to come back and do that with the same car, basically, is really unbelievable. Just proud of [my team]. We’re having a great year. I feel really good about our team. We couldn’t do it without all our partners, all of our fans. Man, it just feels so incredible to have a day like that and a run like that, and a team like I have. They’re doing everything right right now and it’s a lot of fun to drive these cars.”

Kyle Busch, winner of last weekend’s Cup Series event at World Wide Technology Raceway, settled in second place for the second time this season and his fourth top-two result at Sonoma while Logano came home in third place for his fifth top-five result of the season.

“Yeah, not too bad,” Busch said. “[I] Wished we had a little bit more. I tried there really hard at the end to, at least, try to keep Martin honest and felt like I could beat him a little bit on a lap and then, I would mess up and he’d beat me by a little bit more on the next lap. We were just trading a little bit there, but then, he was able to pull away there late. Great job by all the guys on this McLaren Grills Camaro. Proud of the effort. We gave it everything that we had. We made a lot of changes. We got a lucky break there with the yellow [flag on Lap 49], with only three laps on tires, so we were able to cycle to the front. Once we got up there, we could maintain pace with some of the good cars and have a good top-three speed race car and just flip-flop the race a little bit. Good fortunes for us. Nice to come out of here with a [runner-up result] after a win last week.”

“Overall, the team did an amazing job,” Logano added. “Great execution. We got the car a lot better last night and to where I could, at least, hang in the top five. I wasn’t good enough to win at all means, but to get the AutoTrader Mustang up towards the front, get some momentum, we got lucky a few times today. We got pretty lucky today to get through it and get some points and get some momentum back going.”

Meanwhile, Buescher, who finished second to Daniel Suarez at Sonoma a year ago, posted another strong result in Northern California by finishing fourth while Elliott capitalized in his return to racing following his one-week suspension along with his late strategic call to remain on the track on old tires to bid for a win by finishing fifth. Elliott, however, is currently situated in 31st place in the driver’s standings and trails the top-16 cutline to make the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs by 148 points.

“[It was] Nice to get a top five,” Elliott said. “[I] Just felt like our only play was to stay out. I was really hoping that more people would [stay out] with us, where you had three or four rows and probably, still wouldn’t have been enough, but I do think it would’ve been nicer to have a couple more rows of a buffer before the [competitors on] tires got to us. Good fight. Certainly have one of our better runs there the last couple, so always good to finish strong. To kind of fight through there and get a top-five is a good thing. Looking forward to trying to build on that and hopefully, contend for a win here before long. Definitely closer today.”

AJ Allmendinger settled in sixth while McDowell, Larson, Bell and Chastain finished in the top 10.

Notably, Kevin Harvick finished 11th in his 23rd and final run at Sonoma, William Byron settled in 14th, rookie Ty Gibbs posted a 16th-place result in his first run at Sonoma, Suarez ended up 22nd and Blaney fell back to 31st following his two late-race spins. In addition, Grant Enfinger, who filled in for rookie Noah Gragson as Gragson continues to recover from concussion-like symptoms, finished 26th in his Cup Series debut while Andy Lally ended up 35th.

There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured two cautions for six laps. In total, 31 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

With 10 Cup regular-season events remaining on the schedule, Martin Truex Jr. leads the regular-season standings by 13 points over William Byron, 24 over both Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain, 25 over Kevin Harvick and 29 over Kyle Busch.

William Byron, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Ross Chastain, Kevin Harvick, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman occupy the remaining vacant spots in the Playoffs based on points, with Bowman occupying the 16th and final vacant spot by three points over Daniel Suarez, 11 over rookie Ty Gibbs, 14 over Michael McDowell, 33 over AJ Allmendinger, 39 over Austin Cindric and 40 over Corey LaJoie.

Results.

1. Martin Truex Jr., 51 laps led

2. Kyle Busch, 17 laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Joey Logano

4. Chris Buescher

5. Chase Elliott, seven laps led

6. AJ Allmendinger

7. Michael McDowell, one lap led

8. Kyle Larson

9. Christopher Bell

10. Ross Chastain, one lap led

11. Kevin Harvick

12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

13. Ryan Preece

14. William Byron

15. Alex Bowman

16. Brad Keselowski

17. Bubba Wallace

18. Ty Gibbs

19. Austin Dillon

20. Corey LaJoie

21. Justin Haley

22. Daniel Suarez

23. Ty Dillon

24. Todd Gilliland

25. Austin Cindric

26. Grant Enfinger

27. Harrison Burton

28. Aric Almirola

29. Chase Briscoe

30. Josh Bilicki

31. Ryan Blaney

32. Erik Jones, one lap down

33. Tyler Reddick, one lap down

34. Zane Smith, one lap down

35. Andy Lally, one lap down

36. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident, 33 laps led, Stage 1 winner

The NASCAR Cup Series teams and competitors enter a one-week break period before returning to action at Nashville Superspeedway on June 25. The event’s air coverage is scheduled to occur at 7 p.m. ET on NBC, which will launch NBC’s and USA Network’s coverage for the remainder of this year’s Cup season.

June 11, 2023