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NASCAR Cup Series

  • Over the Wall with Josh Sobecki 

    Over the Wall with Josh Sobecki 

    Josh Sobecki is a 37-year-old veteran crewman who grew up in Kensington, Pennsylvania and now resides in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina area with his wife, Nicole and their two sons, Caden (8) and Grayson (3). Currently, he’s pitting for one of the most elite organizations in the field. Not only that, but Sobecki goes over the wall in all three NASCAR series.

    Sobecki stated that as a kid, he loved playing outside, he was always in the woods and would often get into trouble with his friends. He was full of energy and played organized baseball along with hockey his whole life. Growing up, he developed the love and passion for cars and racing because of his dad who owned a 1966 Chevelle.

    Around the age of 11, Sobecki started working in a shop with a man named Danny Bash. He worked with him for free just to learn about mechanics and gain some experience with cars. He continued to do this until he graduated from high school.

    Sadly, Sobecki lost his father to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when he was just 13 years old. However, he knew that his path was working with cars and he had the aspiration to get into racing. Shortly after graduation, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he began working at the restaurant, Outback Steakhouse while attending the Nashville Auto Diesel School. One of those courses he took was a high-performance class in which he learned about welding, fabrication and the aspects of racing.

    Sobecki graduated from there in 2005. Not long after that, what began as a very rocky beginning led to an impressive and commendable career as he celebrates his 18th season in NASCAR this season.

    “The beginning of my career was rough with teams shutting down, and I was going back and forth,” he told me. “In 2005 I heard that Bobby Hamilton Racing was hiring some fabricators.

    Working for him is how I got my start into racing.

    I always said that I was going to be in racing because it had to do with cars and speed. It was something I really liked to do. I just love it.”. 

    At this point in the beginning of his career, he had nothing to do with being part of a pit crew. Sobecki stated that Hamilton commented about his part-time job at Outback where he was still working at in the mornings. 

    “One day he said the coolest thing ever to me. He asked me what I was making and stuff, so I told him. He said “I need you to quit your day job. As long as you can quit Outback, I’ll hire you.” I was like, but of course, yeah!”. 

    Sobecki stated that not long after that, they asked him to start carrying tires, so he tried it out. He ended up being a tire carrier by the end of that first year in the truck series for Bobby Hamilton Racing and in 2006, he was a full-time rear tire carrier on the No.4 of Chase Miller.

    He continued to work in the shop as a fabricator, and on the weekends he was the rear tire carrier until Hamilton passed away in 2007. After that, they (BHR) moved the shop to Virginia, and ultimately he decided to follow. But they decided to close BHR shortly after the move and he left them to work at Bill Davis racing in 2008.

    Sobecki’s career was short-lived while he was with them as well because they ended up closing their doors as well. He did note that while he was there, he was a rear tire carrier on Mike Skinner’s No.5 truck.

    Still hungry for an opportunity, Sobecki went to HT Motorsports. He was hanging truck bodies as the head fabricator and carried tires while he was there. Unfortunately, they also ended up shutting down the next year. Other organizations that Sobecki became a part of were Braun Motorsports and Kevin Harvick Incorporated, but those opportunities were also short-lived. 

    JS: When I was at Braun, I was still doing fabrication and carrying tires for Jason Leffler and Kasey Kahne. They were doing a split duty in the 38 car, but I left in the middle of the season and I went to KHI. I was there for a few years carrying tires for the truck and No.2 Xfinity car of Elliott Sadler. And once Delana got pregnant, they decided to shut down the shop. 

    MW: So when did you start at Richard Childress Racing, and what led to you going to their organization?

    JS: So they thought they knew about me from KHI. I remember Mike Dillon found me at a bar – which was funny in Talladega. 

    The conversation between them was brief, but it provided Sobecki with the opportunity he had been waiting for. That was at the end of 2012.

    MD: (Mike Dillon) Hey, aren’t you that Sobecki kid? You’re coming over to RCR next year.  

    JS: I don’t know what you’re talking about. 

    MD: Has nobody talked to you yet? 

    JS: I said nobody has talked to me. 

    MD: We want you on the three car next year for Austin’s Xfinity car. 

    JS: And I said, oh well this is a first thing I’ve heard about it, and I told him I was definitely interested. 

    Sobecki remembered that they spoke the next week and that’s how he got his job at RCR the first time for the 2013 season. He continued  to say, “after the 2013 season, I was there to go move up with Austin (Dillion) from the Xfinity Series to Cup. The Cup series had different people in the organization and Harvick was leaving. So they had a different pit crew. They moved the pit crew over from the 29 to the 3, and I just wasn’t gonna be a part of that”.

    Sobecki mentioned that he knew Harvick was going to be on a mission when he left RCR. He decided to go to Stewart-Haas and tried out for the pit crew and ended up making it onto the 4 car for the 2014 season.

    MW: What did you do as a pit crew member while at Stewart-Haas Racing?

    JS: I was a rear tire carrier. So, then they made some crew swaps after Harvick’s season when we won the championship. I went on to pit Tony Stewart’s car and then Clint Bowyer’s car. I was at Stewart-Haas for six years.  So I switched, I guess, I could say this also; you know we switch to a five-man pit crew, but I was still a tire carrier for the first year. But then I thought I could be a really good jackman. I decided to try to learn how to be one and pushed myself with a lot of practice, and ended up becoming a jackman on the 41 halfway through the season of ’19. 

    Sobecki ended up leaving Stewart-Haas Racing and started the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series at RCR as a full-time jackman when Tyler Reddick started his Cup career. 

    He noted that to this day, between being a tire carrier, jackman and fabricator; fabrication is still his favorite. 

    Photo Credit: Josh Sobecki 

    MW: Out of all the positions that you have done, how important is the position as a jackman in a pit stop while going over the wall?

    JS: Now it’s kind of like the quarterback to be honest with the one lug nut stuff. You can’t be too fast or really slow. One hiccup on your part really messes up the flow of the crew. It’s a lot different. 

    MW: How difficult is it to get over mistakes during a pit stop?

    JS: So, when we did five lug, you could sort of make up time If you messed up on the right side. You can make it up on the left side, but you have to push a little bit harder. When you lose time on a one-lug stop, it’s gone. So you can’t really make up time If there’s a hiccup. You’re pretty much already going as fast as you can. Trying any harder can just label for mistakes. So it’s about trying to minimize mistakes while going as fast as you can. 

    MW: Any injuries over the years?

    JS: Oh gosh, I’ve got a big list! I’ve had a meniscus injury, shoulder MRI done on both shoulders, pulled muscles, torn my groin and I’ve had injuries to my back. It’s just kind of the nature of the sport, I guess. You know, many years I’ve been doing this. This is my 18th season with having injuries over those 18 years. 

    MW: Do you ever have any fears in the moment during a pit stop?

    JS: No fears, no. I’ve never had fears and I think that helps. I just always try to execute as best I can and I’ve always been an aggressive person. I’ve never had a fear of mistakes. You just can’t do that in this sport. You know,  if you’ve got fears, it allows mistakes, and you’re just going to be slow. So I’ve never tried to have that. I’m just trying to be as aggressive as I can.

    MW: When you go to tracks where pit boxes are reversed, is this challenging? And if so, what are the challenges? 

    JS: It’s definitely challenging as a jackman. It’s the most challenging, I’d say because you’re running the opposite way that you would run normally. It’s about learning your footsteps and movement. And when you’re running backwards; it’s just completely different than when you come around to which would be the right side because it’s backwards for the end of the stop. You’re beginning from the right side with the jack. It’s hard because you have to flip your body as fast as you can. It’s tough. You can’t ever learn it. You just don’t want to make mistakes. That’s all.

    MW: How do you prepare for a race? Do you have any kind of rituals? 

    JS: So I guess I would say every race I try to stretch out. I think that’s what’s helped me the most throughout my career.  And I try to stretch out as much as I can to make myself ready for all of those harsh movements. I don’t really have any rituals or anything. I think the only thing I ever do during a pit stop that’s always the same; I pull up my sleeves on my fire suit. So that’s about it. It’s just something I’ve always done. I don’t know. It’s like the most comfortable feeling to me while doing pit stop. 

    MW: Okay, so what’s this fist pump that I’ve seen your wife comment about during a race? 

    JS: So it’s kind of funny. My guys will be laughing and ask why do I still do this, but I just love competition. I’ve always loved competition. It’s about our pit stops. When you’re in, started coming out first and we’re picking up spots on pit road. So, I get a little aggressive during pit stops when we stop. That’s when you’ll see the signature fist pump. It’s almost just like Tiger Woods to be honest. I really didn’t realize I have the same exact fist pump, but I’ve always done it. It’s just something I always do. You can ask any crew that I’ve ever been with and they’ll tell you, Oh my gosh, like it’s just in the moment. I get so riled up. It’s just so fun to me and I think it’s why I still love doing it. It’s just, it’s an adrenaline rush. It’s just something I love to do and the signature fist pump happens when I’m heated up. Yes. It’s like everybody knows that’s a good pit stop. If I do that.

    MW: I heard that you’re the only crewman that went with Kyle Busch over to RCR. What inspired you to do this?

    JS: True. It was tough. The biggest thing is the pit crew. I love those guys I was with for the last three years. We’ve created a great bond, you know. I mean, the funny thing is we’re almost all together except for Brad Bodily. He went to 23XI with Reddick, and he’s on Reddick’s car in the rear. But otherwise, we’re all the same crew on the 21 Xfinity car, and the 51 truck. So, we were so good of a five-lug crew that they never wanted to change us for Austin Hill’s car. And the reason is for instance during one race, we came in third and sixth on another stopped, but went out first every time that weekend. It just goes to show the chemistry we have. Now when they said Kyle Busch was coming over, they were looking for some really fast pit stops. So they had to go to work to put a good crew together, and not saying we didn’t have one, but I think they were just looking for speed. I wasn’t even worried. None of us were guaranteed to be on this car at the end of last year. So we all went to work in the offseason, and I would say we all did about 500 pit stops. It was a lot of them. We put in a lot of hard work, a lot of sore bodies and, you know, we just started grinding. Some of the guys that came over were pretty fun. We had a lot of chemistry and it showed the first two races. We’ve been a top ten on pit road, and I was just lucky enough to still have the speed they were looking for. So I go to stay and start the season with Kyle Busch in the No.8.

    MW: So far this season, you’ve gone over the wall with three teams and ended up in Victory Lane five times in five weeks. How does that make you feel? What’s the celebration like? 

    JS: It’s amazing. Like, I’ve never in my career started off the season like this except for when we won Daytona with Austin Hill last year. And so we went and won again this year with that kid. (Austin Hill) He’s amazing. Then we almost won with Kyle, but we wrecked on the second to the last lap while leading. I’ve always wanted to win Daytona in the Cup series. That one really hurt because that’s a race I haven’t won yet in Cup. Then we go to California, and of course, history with Kyle – he just dominates. We had good pit stops and we kept him up front where he needed to be and won the race. And then we knew we’d have a chance the weekend at LVMS in the truck race, because you always know Kyle’s going to be fast in a truck. We end up winning the truck race. And I didn’t expect to win the Xfinity race and we did. And I was hoping for, you know, something I’ve never had; all three races in one weekend, but we just didn’t have the car that weekend in the Cup series. But it was fun. Then we went on to win at Atlanta with Austin. Celebrations are flying. It’s been almost surreal.

    Photo Credit: Josh Sobecki 

    MW: Tell me a little bit about the camaraderie with the other teams you work with.

    JS: I’ve always remained friends with the guys I’ve worked with. I still have friendships with all the guys from Stewart-Haas. Some of us were crews that have won championships together. It’s pretty cool when you get respect along pit road because you’ve been in the sport for so long. Everybody comes up and talks to you about what’s new or whatever because I’m a veteran. 

    MW: You mentioned winning championships. What’s it like to get a ring? 

    JS: I still remember the first one. It’s just an accomplishment. For instance, there was this gasman that’s no longer with RCR, but he’s been in racing for like, 15 years and he never won a Cup race until last year. So man, that kind of puts you back into place. Some guys don’t have any rings. I guess that’s where guys kind of respect me. I would hope you know. In the sport, I think I have 26 truck wins, 12 Xfinity, and I have about 10 Cup wins now. And so when you get those rings for some of these racing championships, man, there’s no better feeling. I mean, it’s just an accomplishment that you hoped for and you know everyone wants it. And you’re just a guy for that year that got that accomplishment. You know that it helps the party after it’s all over with. 

    MW: When talking about rings in championships, how many rings have you acquired? 

    JS: I received a Team Championship ring in 2012 in the Trucks series with KHI, an Xfinity Championship with Austin Dillion in 2013, a Cup Championship with Kevin Harvick in 2014, and I have another Truck Championship in 2017 with Christopher Bell. That’s it for now, but hopefully more this year. 

    MW: Another thing is, how did it make you feel to get a shout-out on the Dale Jr. Download? 

    JS: My buddy messaged, me and goes, “Dude, Dale jr. Just shouted your name out. He was talking about you, man on his podcast! He singled you out. You know, about being the only crew member?”. And I was like, that’s pretty cool. You know of course, I have tons of respect for this guy. He’s big. I mean, I’ve seen him go through his racing years with 5,000 people around him walking into the garage. There’s a lot of people that listen to that. It was pretty cool to have Dale Jr. shout out my name, I love it. 

    MW: What kind of things do you do outside of racing during the week?

    JS: Well mainly now it’s about taking care of my kids and all their activities. My oldest is in Muay Thai and he’s in love with it. He’s also taking drum lessons and he’s in football. So we take him to all that stuff, and the little one he’s not in too much of anything yet. But it’s fun and for me, I just love all of my projects around the house. I like to build things. I built our patio and deck in the backyard. Oh, and I built a swing for my wife because she always wanted one. I love working on cars. I have a truck that I bought and rebuilt from the ground up pretty much. I love working on that. So I mean, those are my main hobbies. And I’m still playing hockey Those are my favorite, but hanging out with my kids and wife is the best, for sure. 

    MW: Do you have any goals that you haven’t accomplished that you hope to achieve?  

    JS: Somebody recently asked me that. If you didn’t have goals to acquire, you know, you wouldn’t be doing this. And there are so many times throughout my career, I’d reach my goals and be like, oh my gosh, like what now? Like I wanted a truck Championship. Okay, well I got that. Then I won one in Xfinity and then I got one in Cup, too. 

    MW: After you completed those, what’s your new goal? 

    JS: My goal this year was that I’d love to win the Daytona 500 in Cup. That’s why I was so heartbroken losing that one this year. We were so close. The closest I’ve ever been, but that’s the goal.

    Sobecki went on to say that as a veteran crewman, he’d love to make 20 years in the sport as a pit crew guy. “It’s just something I’m kind of striving for and trying to keep my body in shape enough to keep up with all these young guys”.  

     MW: With the fans booing at times, has this ever affected you working with Kyle Busch? 

     JS: No, no. I mean it’s funny. I mean, it’s not like being like a superstar athlete kinda thing, and how they get ‘hate fan mail’ and all that stuff. But it is funny. I mean, when you have a bad pit stop or a bad week, sometimes you’ll see comments a fan said. Like: they suck and are terrible and you know they got to change the pit crew. I mean, it’s never bothered me. Honestly, It’s just more comical. These people have no clue what they’re talking about, but I understand they all have their own say because it’s public, and they can say whatever they want. But it’s just funny, you know? It never changed my performance or has ever made me wonder if I’m good enough to do it or not. And you know when I was with Harvick’s crew, it was the same way. When you get with these good drivers that have talent and huge fan bases like Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick; it just comes with the territory. You gotta get out there and perform the best you can, which is why you’re there. It’s all because you’re good at what you do. Keep that in your head and block out everything else. 

    MW: Is there anyone you want to thank for the opportunities you’ve had or anything that’s current in your life?

    JS: I mean, honestly, my wife. I’d like to thank her. You know, it’s so hard leaving every weekend for many years we’ve been together. We’ve been together about 11 years, and I’ve been leaving her every weekend with the kids and she’s the one having to take care of them by herself so that I can pretty much do what I love to do. It’s been tough on her and of course any of the moms. 

    MW: Would you like to talk about your uncle Tom Levett’s need for a kidney and where people can get the information to help? 

    JS: Yes! You know, at the beginning of this year, he had some kidney issues and they told him it wasn’t working well and he had to have some surgery on it. I guess they said it was like – level four kidney failure is what he said. And so they have to look for a kidney for him.

    You can follow Josh Sobecki on Twitter @Sobesobecki and during race weekends on pit road as the jackman for the No.51 of KBM in the Craftsman trucks along with the RCR No.21 of Austin Hill in Xfinity and the No.8 of Kyle Busch in the Cup series. He’ll be the one expressing his signature fist pump after a fast pit stop!

    I’d like to personally thank Josh Sobecki for taking time out of his extremely busy schedule to talk with me about his life, his love for this great sport, and to share his experience about going over the wall in motorsports.

    For more information about how to become a donor, please visit: https://www.kidney.org/transplantation/how-to-donate

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Atlanta

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Atlanta

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Joey Logano: Logano started on the pole and was the class of the field at Atlanta, winning Stage 1 and leading 140 on his way to the win in the Ambetter Health 400.

    “I knew I would win this race,” Logano said, “because I ‘am better’ than everyone else.”

    2. Christopher Bell: Bell came home third at Atlanta as the top Toyota finisher. Bell helped Joey Logano to the win with a strong push that helped move Logano past Brad Keselowski.

    “Notice that no Hendrick Motorsports cars were racing for the win,” Bell said. “Atlanta Motor Speedway may have 28-degree banking in the turns, but at least on Sunday, it was a totally ‘level playing field.’”

    3. Kyle Busch: Busch survived a spin in the Kevin Harvick-Ross Chastain incident, and damage was minimal. Busch recovered to post a solid 10th at Atlanta.

    “NASCAR really came down hard on Hendrick Motorsports,” Busch said. “NASCAR must have found some really incriminating violations in those inspections. I may have been caught with a gun in Mexico, but at least it wasn’t a smoking gun.”

    4. William Byron: Byron was eliminated from the Ambetter Health 400 as an innocent victim of a crash with 71 laps left, caused when Kevin Harvick got loose in tight quarters and collected several cars.

    “And speaking of ‘innocent victim,’” Byron said, “most people are saying Hendrick Motorsports is not one after their huge penalties and fines as a result of failed inspections. It’s one thing to be the victim; it’s another thing to play the victim. One of those things we do very well.”

    5. Kevin Harvick: Harvick was a victim in one of two final stage wrecks at Atlanta. With 71 laps left, Harvick got loose with Ross Chastain right on his bumper, and Harvick spun into traffic, triggering a crash that involved 12 cars.

    “The easy way out would be for me to blame Chastain for causing the crash,” Harvick said. “Why? Because everyone would believe it, even Ross himself.”

    6. Ryan Blaney: Blaney posted his second consecutive top 10 with a seventh at Atlanta. He is fourth in the points standings,

    “NASCAR handed down quite a list of penalties, suspensions, and fines to Hendrick Motorsports,” Blaney said. “Heck, I bet when NASCAR made the announcement, they, like Hendrick themselves, probably used a ‘cheat sheet.’”

    7. Ross Chastain: Chastain had an eventful day at Atlanta on his way to a 13th-place finish in the Ambetter Health 400.

    “Obviously,” Chastain said, “my reputation precedes me. Just ask Kevin Harvick. Now, I’m being accused of wrecking people even when I don’t even touch them.”

    8. Kyle Larson: Larson was, unfortunately, running behind Aric Almirola with 52 laps left, as Almirola, on old tires, blew a right rear tire and collected Larson, who was competing in his 300th Cup series start.

    “I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Larson said, “much like the thousands of gamers who were listening to me back in April of 2020.

    “Hendrick Motorsport’s best finish was a 14th by Alex Bowman. It was a sad day for Hendrick. But I must say, I’ve seen worse days, pretty recently, actually.”

    9. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski settled for the runner-up spot at Atlanta, unable to hold off former teammate Joey Logano on the final lap. It was Keselowski’s best result of the year.

    “Me and Joey go way back,” Logano said. “Or at least Joey says I go way back, because he won the Cup last year; I won it way back in 2012.”

    10. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished sixth at Atlanta, joining Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell (third) and Ty Gibbs (ninth) in the top 10.

    “I was penalized 25 driver points and fined $50,000 for making intentional contact with Ross Chastain at Phoenix,” Hamlin said. “And, as I am prone to do, I’ll ‘admit’ it, and say it was worth every penny.”

  • Logano executes final lap pass for a thrilling Cup victory at Atlanta

    Logano executes final lap pass for a thrilling Cup victory at Atlanta

    The patience and determination to execute a winning move on the final lap amid the draft paid off for Joey Logano as he capped off a dominant run with a final lap victory in the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 19.

    The reigning two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, led five times for a race-high 140 of 260-scheduled laps and found himself in a prime position of battling for the victory against ex-teammate Brad Keselowski and a host of competitors running in two tight-packed lanes. After keeping the leaders within reach on the inside lane, Logano received a push from Corey LaJoie on the final lap to execute his race-winning move to the outside of Keselowski. Once he assumed the lead through the backstretch, the Connecticut native was able to pull away from the field and triumph both for the first time in the 2023 Cup season and at Atlanta.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Joey Logano notched his second Cup pole of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 177.374 mph in 31.256 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Austin Cindric, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 177.340 mph in 31.262 seconds, while his third teammate Ryan Blaney qualified third fastest on the grid with a speed of 177.215 mph in 31.284 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Christopher Bell, who spun during Saturday’s qualifying session, was the only competitor to drop to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota TRD Camry.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Logano jumped ahead and quickly crossed his No. 22 AutoTrader Ford Mustang from the outside to the inside lane in front of teammate Cindric to retain the lead ahead of two tight-packed lanes of competitors. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Logano led the first lap in front of his Team Penske teammates, all of whom were running on the outside lane, while the field remained in tight formation through two packed lanes.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Logano was leading ahead of teammates Cindric and Blaney while Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick were in the top five. Aric Almirola was in sixth, thus placing six Fords within the top-six spots, while Kyle Larson was the highest-running Chevrolet competitor in seventh. Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin and William Byron were in the top 10 while Chris Buescher, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Justin Haley, Ross Chastain, rookie Noah Gragson, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch and Tyler Reddick occupied the top 20.

    Five laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Bubba Wallace, who was running towards the top 20, got loose and spun towards the inside wall in the backstretch, where he impacted the wall before his No. 23 DoorDash Toyota TRD Camry came to a rest in the backstretch. Despite limping his damaged car to pit road and returned following the repairs, he fell out of the lead lap category. At the moment of caution, Logano retained the lead in front of his Team Penske teammates and the field. During the caution period, some like Ricky Stenhouse Jr., BJ McLeod, Corey LaJoie, Harrison Burton, Martin Truex Jr., rookie Ty Gibbs, Ryan Preece and JJ Yeley pitted while the rest led by Logao remained on the track.

    When the event restarted on Lap 15, Logano and Keselowski dueled for the lead until Logano managed to pull away on the outside lane followed by teammates Cindric and Blaney. As Keselowski dropped to fourth, Larson and Hamlin battled for fifth amid two tight-packed lanes of competitors battling within the draft.

    By Lap 25, the inside lane led by Hamlin started to gain momentum as Hamlin challenged Cindric for second followed by Larson while Logano, who remained on the outside lane in front of his Team Penske teammates, continued to lead the field.

    Just past the Lap 40 mark, Logano retained the lead ahead of teammates Cindric and Blaney while Keselowski and Hamlin were running in the top five. Behind, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Larson and Truex were competing in the top 10 as the top-32 competitors were separated by more than three seconds. By the event surpassed the Lap 50 mark, the top-32 competitors were separated by nearly four seconds as Logano continued to lead the field. In addition, nearly the entire field migrated to the outside lane and in a long single-file line behind Logano.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Logano captured his first stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Teammate Cindric settled in second followed by Keselowski while Blaney, who tried to make his move to the front on the inside lane on the first stage’s final lap, fell back to fourth. Hamlin settled in fifth while Bell, Kyle Busch, Buescher, Suarez and Truex were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Logano pitted while diving into Atlanta Motor Speedway’s new pit road entrance on the apron at the start of Turn 3 under a cautious pace. Following the pit stops, Kyle Busch exited with the lead despite concerns of not having enough fuel fueled into his No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Keselowski exited second followed by Blaney, Cindric, Logano and Truex.

    The second stage started on Lap 67 as Kyle Busch and Keselowski occupied the front row. At the start, Busch and Keselowski battled for the lead, with the former managing to move in front of the field with drafting help from Blaney and in front of a bevy of Ford competitors. Two laps later, however, Blaney made his move in Turn 1 to assume the lead from Busch. Behind, Logano battled Busch for second on the inside lane while Keselowski remained within touch of the leaders. Not long after, however, a side-by-side battle ensued between Blaney and Busch with the field locked in two tight-packed lanes.

    By Lap 75, Busch was drafted back into the lead with help from Logano before Logano launched his attack to reassume the top spot. Behind, Blaney, Keselowski, Buescher, Cindric, Truex, Hamlin, Bell, Bowman and Byron battled for spots within the top 10 while 35 of 36 starters were separated by more than three seconds.

    Through the first 90 scheduled laps, Logano was leading a long line of competitors running towards the outside lane followed by Busch, Blaney, Keselowski and Buescher while Cindric, Truex, Hamlin, Bell and Bowman were scored in the top 10. Behind, Byron was in 11th ahead of Corey LaJoie, Daniel Suarez, Gragson and Austin Dillon while Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ross Chastain, Gibbs, Kevin Harvick and Larson were back in the top 20.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Logano continued to lead in front of Busch, Blaney, Keselowski and Buescher while the top-31 competitors scaling back to Chase Briscoe were separated by more than four seconds. By then, names like Harvick, Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger, Harrison Burton and Tyler Reddick were mired outside the top 20 while Josh Berry, who was making his third start as an interim competitor for Chase Elliott was in 20th behind teammate Larson.

    Fifteen laps later, Logano retained the lead in front of Busch, Blaney, Keselowski and Buescher while Cindric, Truex, Hamlin, Bell and Bowman were running in the top 10. Another 10 laps later, Busch surrendered the runner-up spot to pit for fresh tires and fuel along with Truex, who had no fuel pressure reported to his car. Earlier, Austin Dillon nearly missed the pit road’s entrance as he had his car serviced.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 130, Logano remained out in front ahead of teammate Blaney, Buescher, Cindric and Hamlin while Bell, Bowman, Byron, Suarez and Stenhouse occupied the top 10. By then, Keselowski peeled off the track to pit along with Corey LaJoie and Ty Dillon.

    Two laps later, the Team Penske trio led by Logano, Blaney and Cindric pitted under green as Buescher cycled to the lead. Names that included Haley, Burton, Chastain, Suarez and Stenhouse would also pit. Amid the pit stops and with more front-runners pitting, Blaney was penalized with a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road. In addition, Preece was penalized for a commitment line violation.

    Back on the track and with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop under green, Bell, who had yet to pit and assumed the lead on Lap 137, was leading followed by Larson with nearly 20 laps remaining in the second stage. Once both pitted, Logano cycled his way back into the lead followed by teammate Cindric, Reddick, Byron and Buescher with 17 laps remaining in the second stage. Following his green flag pit stop, Bell managed to blend within the field and the draft in 13th in between LaJoie and Larson.

    With less than 10 laps remaining in the second stage, Logano continued to lead in front of teammate Cindric, Reddick, Byron and Buescher while the top-12 competitors were separated by a second. In addition, the top-30 competitors were scored on the lead lap while Blaney was mired two laps down following his speeding penalty.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 160, Cindric, who made a three-wide move on teammate Logano and Reddick through Turns 3 and 4, muscled his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang to his first stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Logano settled in second ahead of Bowman and Reddick while Byron, Buescher, Truex, Hamlin, Keselowski and LaJoie were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap competitors led by Cindric pitted and Aric Almirola cycled into the lead after only opting for fuel. Logano exited second followed by Cindric, Stenhouse, Bowman, Byron and Harvick. Following the pit stops, Buescher was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Reddick made another trip to pit road to get enough fuel to his car.

    With 92 laps remaining, the final stage started as Almirola and Stenhouse occupied the front row. At the start, Almirola was drafted into the lead from Logano through the first two turns before Stenhouse fought back on the inside lane with drafting help from Byron. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Stenhouse emerged with the lead followed by Byron as Harvick charged his way towards the front. With Stenhouse retaining the lead, Byron settled in second along with Almirola while Harvick, who tried to charge to the lead on the inside lane, settled in fourth place on the outside lane. Meanwhile, Hamlin, the first competitor running on the inside lane and receiving drafting help from LaJoie, was locked in a battle with Logano for fifth.

    With 85 laps remaining, Hamlin emerged with the lead over Stenhouse as the field behind fanned out to two lanes while jostling for late positions. In the process, Larson moved up to fourth in front of Almirola, Harvick settled in seventh behind Keselowski, LaJoie was in eighth and Logano fell back to 12th behind Briscoe.

    Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Hamlin was leading in front of Byron, Harvick, Larson and Stenhouse while Chastain, Almirola, Keselowski, Buescher and Josh Berry were in the top 10. By then, 31 of 36 starters were separated by less than two seconds.

    Four laps later, however, Harvick, who was drafted into the lead with help from Chastain, got loose in front of Chastain’s front nose as his No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang veered sideways and backward before receiving a hard hit by Buescher and colliding against Berry and Byron in the backstretch as the caution returned. In the midst of a multi-car wreck, Kyle Busch, Harrison Burton and BJ McLeod were also involved as Harvick’s penultimate event at Atlanta, the track where he notched his first Cup career victory, came to a late end. Back at the front, Chastain managed to escape with the lead followed by Hamlin, Larson, Reddick and Almirola. During the pit stops, the leaders led by Chastain returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Almirola cycled his way back into the lead followed by Larson, Keselowski, Chastain (who got pushed into the grass while exiting pit road) and Reddick. During the pit stops, Hamlin made contact with Ty Dillon, who was trying to enter his pit stall.

    When the event restarted under green with 61 laps remaining, Almirola retained the lead with drafting help from Larson on the outside lane and was eventually able to control both lanes exiting the backstretch and back to the start/finish line. With Almirola out in front, Larson was in second followed by Keselowski, Chastain, Reddick and Bell while names like Bowman, Suarez, Hamlin and Haley were in the top 10.

    With 51 laps remaining, the caution returned when the leader Almirola veered sideways in Turns 3 and 4 after cutting a tire. With nowhere to go, Larson hit Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang before he got bumped from Reddick and clipped into the side of Haley’s No. 31 LeafFilter Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and veered back across to the frontstretch’s outside wall with a destroyed No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as Suarez also sustained damage while trying to avoid Larson. With Almirola and Larson eliminated from contention, Keselowski dodged the carnage to assume the lead. Under the caution period, names like Chastain, Truex, Ty Dillon, Haley, Austin Dillon, Suarez and Berry pitted while the rest led by Keselowski remained on the track.

    During the following restart with 44 laps remaining, Keselowski, who was receiving constant guidance from veteran spotter TJ Majors, cleared the field along with Reddick as both remained first and second in front of the pack before Bowman squeezed in between both amid the draft. Soon after, Logano, with spotting help from Coleman Pressley, launched his charge to the front along with teammate Blaney, who rallied from his pit road penalty. In addition, Cindric worked his way up to fifth before eventually overtaking Reddick for fourth as Gibbs moved into the top six.

    With 35 laps remaining, Keselowski’s No. 6 King’s Hawaiian Ford Mustang was leading ahead of Logano’s No. 22 AutoTrader Ford Mustang while Team Penske’s Blaney and Cindric dueled for third in front of a bevy of competitors stacked tight in a draft. A lap later, Logano moved back into the lead followed by teammate Blaney as Keselowski fell back to third. With Reddick and Cindric in the top five, Bell, Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Hamlin and Stenhouse battled within the top 10. With 30 laps remaining, however, Keselowski reassumed the lead from Logano as Toyota competitors Reddick, Bell and Hamlin made their way to the front. LaJoie also moved his No. 7 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to fifth while Logano fell back to sixth, though he kept the leaders close within his sights on the inside lane.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event and with the field stacked to two tight-packed lanes in the draft, Keselowski was leading ahead of Reddick, Logano, Bell and Blaney while Hamlin, Cindric, LaJoie, Bowman and Kyle Busch were scored in the top 10. In addition, the top-23 competitors scaling back to Ty Dillon were separated by less than two seconds.

    With 10 laps remaining, Keselowski continued to lead over Logano, Reddick, Blaney and Bell as the top-23 competitors scaling back to Austin Dillon were trailing by a second. By then, Keselowski and Logano began to duel amid the draft for the lead, with the former managing to peak ahead. With the battles towards the front ensuing, Keselowski retained the lead with five laps remaining as he cleared the field with Reddick, Bell, Logano, Hamlin and LaJoie closing in.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Keselowski remained as the leader over Bell and the field that was fanning out. By then, Logano, who kept the leaders within reach on the inside lane, had drafting help from LaJoie to move back to the front and launch a final attack on Keselowski for the lead. Entering Turn 1, Keselowski moved to the inside lane to block Logano. He then tried to move back up the outside lane to block Logano again, but it was too late as Logano gained the momentum and the drafting help from a bevy of cars, including Bell, to reassume the lead through the backstretch. With the field fanning out through Turns 3 and 4, Logano managed to gain control of both lanes with the clean air and streak across the finish line first with the victory.

    With the victory, Logano notched his 32nd career victory in NASCAR’s premier series, his first since winning both the 2022 finale and championship at Phoenix Raceway in November and his first at Atlanta in his 19th series attempt. He also became the fourth different winner through the first five scheduled events on the 2023 season and delivered the first Cup victories of the season for both Team Penske and Ford.

    “First off, it’s so special to win Atlanta for me,” Logano, who credited spotter Coleman Pressley and his No. 22 team, said on FOX. “So many memories of me and my dad, racing right here on the quarter mile [design]. This is the full circle for us. So many memories of gritting over there with the Legends car and racing, having a big time and dreaming of going straight at the quarter mile and going onto the big track. That was always a dream to do it. To finally win here means so much to me personally but to this race team. The AutoTrader Mustang, this thing was an animal. It was very, very fast. [I] Was able to lead a ton of laps and race really hard there at the end. Get a good push from [Bell] to clear myself and enough of a push to get all the way to the end. Huge victory. Nice to get one early in the season. It always feels better, but what a great day for us…We’re coming home with the trophy, baby!”

    Keselowski, whose last Cup victory spans back to Talladega Superspeedway in April 2021, settled in second place, which was his best as a driver/co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, while Bell came home in third place after rallying from starting at the rear of the field. Behind, Corey LaJoie notched a career-best fourth-place finish while Reddick, who was battling sickness throughout the event, completed the top five.

    “The bottom run came with a huge run,” Keselowski said. “I don’t know how, and I thought I had it blocked. Joey just kept shaking and his car didn’t stall out. I couldn’t get the push down the [backstretch]. I thought, ‘I’ll get a push down the back’ and [Bell] just hauled down there. Great run, all in all, for our [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing] No. 6 Hawaiian Ford Mustang. We were right there. Glad a Ford won. It was a heck of a battle. The coolest thing about this is two veterans showed that you can run a race here, side by side, bump drafting and not wreck the field. I think that’s the coolest thing. It can happen if you race respectfully and I thought everybody did a great job. We were right there. Proud of my team and the effort. Just not much we could do there. You just keep running like this and the good finishes and the wins will come.”

    “Whenever [Logano] and [Keselowski] got side by side, I felt like I lost the race,” Bell said. “Really, I think I screwed up whenever I went to the top [lane]. Coming to the white [flag] or one of those laps, I aborted on the bottom and went to the top, and gave [Logano] the bottom, which ultimately, got him the lead. That was disappointing, but ultimately, to come home third, I’m super happy with that. Great showing for our DeWalt Camry.”

    “It feels great,” LaJoie said. “Fourth is great for ourselves, these Camaros and our small team. Just a great points day. We started off the year [with the] West Coast wing, really solid and to come back here, it’s a bit of a crapshoot, but to get another career best [finish] here. I don’t expect to show up and instantly win a race. You just have to keep putting yourself in these positions like Joey. That’s why he wins all the time because he’s upfront all the time. As I get myself some more confidence, race around these guys, these guys see me up there racing with them, our day’s gonna come.”

    “This morning was kind of a struggle for me,” Reddick said. “[I] Didn’t get really any sleep through the early hours of the morning. Just really thankful that our Xfinity Toyota Camry TRD was handling as well as it was. We had a good car. I was trying to make sure all three of us [including Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell] could benefit from it. Unfortunately, I feel like my hesitancy cost us.”

    Hamlin, Blaney, Erik Jones, rookie Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch completed the top 10 on the track as 23 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    There were 20 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 34 laps.

    Following the fifth event of the 2023 Cup Series season, race winner Joey Logano leads the regular-season standings by a single point over Christopher Bell, five over Ross Chastain, 16 over Ryan Blaney, 17 over Brad Keselowski and 22 over Kevin Harvick.

    Results.

    1. Joey Logano, 140 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Brad Keselowski, 47 laps led

    3. Christopher Bell, six laps led

    4. Corey LaJoie

    5. Tyler Reddick

    6. Denny Hamlin, 14 laps led

    7. Ryan Blaney, five laps led

    8. Erik Jones

    9. Ty Gibbs

    10. Kyle Busch, seven laps led

    11. Austin Cindric, five laps led, Stage 2 winner

    12. Noah Gragson

    13. Ross Chastain, five laps led

    14. Alex Bowman

    15. Todd Gilliland

    16. AJ Allmendinger

    17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., seven laps led

    18. Josh Berry

    19. Martin Truex Jr.

    20. Austin Dillon

    21. Michael McDowell

    22. Justin Haley

    23.  Ty Dillon

    24. Chase Briscoe, one lap down

    25. Cody Ware, two laps down, one lap led

    26. JJ Yeley, two laps down

    27. Bubba Wallace, five laps down

    28. Ryan Preece, 16 laps down

    29. Daniel Suarez – OUT, DVP

    30. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident, 17 laps led

    31. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident

    32. William Byron – OUT, Accident

    33. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    34. Harrison Burton – OUT, DVP

    35. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident, five laps led

    36. BJ McLeod – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Circuit of the Americas for the third annual EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, and for the series’ first road course event of the season. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, March 26, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Joey Logano tops leaderboard to win Cup Series pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway

    Joey Logano tops leaderboard to win Cup Series pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway

    Team Penske driver, Joey Logano, was fastest in qualifying Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway and won the Busch Light Pole Award with a 177.374 mph lap in his No. 22 Ford. It is Logano’s second pole this season, his second at Atlanta and his 28th career pole.

    He described the importance of his qualifying run and the nostalgia it evoked.

    “I probably put a little bit more weight on the team on this one, but, either way, it’s still cool to get a pole. I’ve never been on the front row of a superspeedway, forget a pole, and I don’t think I’ve ever done it in Xfinity or anything, so this is kind of cool, and doing it here in Atlanta is special for me.

    “There are so many memories here. I lived up in one of those condos for five years and raced Legends cars out here for six years and just the memories of walking into Victory Lane a minute ago to get the Pole Award and thinking about driving my Legend’s car in there with my dad and how cool that was and always dreaming about being on the big track when I was running the quarter-mile all the time and how neat it is just to be on the big track. I guess I try to keep those thoughts up front in my mind.”

    Ford dominated during qualifying to secure the top eight spots. Team Penske drivers Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney qualified second and third, respectively, with Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Chris Buescher and Chase Briscoe rounding out the top eight.

    “Congrats to everyone at Ford Performance and the Roush Yates Engine shop, everybody including Team Penske bringing lot of speed.,” Cindric said after qualifying. “I’m proud of that. Hopefully, it translates for tomorrow. I think this is as much of a handling race as it is anything else. You’ve got to have speed to keep the lead, so we’ll see what we have tomorrow to be able to race through the field, but obviously, we have the speed to stay up front.”

    Kyle Larson will start ninth in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell will start the race 10th in his No. 20 Toyota.

    Sunday’s Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET  on FOX with radio coverage by PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Starting Lineup:

  • Weekend schedule for Atlanta

    Weekend schedule for Atlanta

    NASCAR travels to Atlanta Motor Speedway with all three national series competing on the 1.5-mile track. The Craftsman Truck Series and Xfinity Series headline Saturday’s action and the Cup Series will close out the weekend’s events with the Ambetter Health 400.

    Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron is the defending race winner and has won the previous two Cup Series races (Las Vegas Speedway and Phoenix Raceway). Look for him to rebound from penalties assessed after last week’s race at Phoenix which dropped him from fourth to 29th in the points standings.

    Austin Hill currently leads the driver standings and will be one of the drivers to watch in the Xfinity Series with two wins this season at Daytona and Las Vegas.

    Four drivers entered in the Truck Series event are previous winners including Corey Heim (2022 race winner), Grant Enfinger, John Hunter Nemechek and Matt Crafton.

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, March 17

    3:05 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying- FS1
    4:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – FS1

    Saturday, March 18

    11:35 a.m.: Cup Series Qualifying
    Post Cup Series Qualifying on Press Pass

    2 p.m.: Truck Series Fr8 208
    Distance: 207.9 miles (135 Laps)
    Stages end on Lap 30, Lap 60, Lap 135
    FS1/MRN/SiriusXM
    The Purse: $673,693
    Post Truck Series Race on Press Pass

    5 p.m.: Xfinity Series RAPTOR 250
    Distance: 251.02 miles (163 Laps)
    Stages end on Lap 40, Lap 80, Lap 163
    FS1/PRN/SiriusXM
    The Purse: $1,274,624
    Post Xfinity Series Race on Press Pass

    Sunday, March 19

    3 p.m.: Cup Series Ambetter Health 400
    Distance: 400 miles (260 laps)
    Stages end on Lap 60, Lap 160, Final Stage ends on Lap 260
    FOX/PRN/SiriusXM
    The Purse: $8,725,965
    TV: FOX/PRN/SiriusXM
    Post Cup Series Race on Press Pass

  • NASCAR issues major penalties report from Phoenix Cup weekend

    NASCAR issues major penalties report from Phoenix Cup weekend

    NASCAR released its penalty report that nails two organizations and a veteran competitor with major penalties following this past weekend’s Cup Series event at Phoenix Raceway.

    For the penalties involving two organizations, Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig Racing were sanctioned L2-level penalties for unapproved modifications pertaining to violating Sections 14.5.4.2.A, which highlights the assembly of radiator duct, from the NASCAR Rule Book. The issue first occurred as NASCAR confiscated the hood louvers from all four Hendrick cars (No. 5 driven by Kyle Larson, No. 9 driven by Josh Berry, No. 24 driven by William Byron and No. 48 driven by Alex Bowman) and one Kaulig entry (No. 31 driven by Justin Haley) at the conclusion of last Friday’s practice session at Phoenix and prior to Sunday’s main event.

    As a result, all five entries between Hendrick and Kaulig were assessed a 100-point dock towards the driver’s and owner’s standings along with the loss of 10 Playoff points. In addition, each crew chief from each entry (Cliff Daniels, Alan Gustafson, Rudy Fugle, Blake Harris and Trent Owens) were fined $100,000 and issued a four-race suspension.

    The penalties for the Hendrick organization come after William Byron piloted the No. 24 entry to his second consecutive Cup victory of this season at Phoenix. Amid the penalties, Byron along with teammates Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman, who initially assumed the lead in the regular-season points standings, have dropped to being outside of the top 20 in the standings. As a result, Kevin Harvick assumes the lead in the regular-season standings by three points over Ross Chastain and 14 over Christopher Bell.

    In terms of the penalty involving the veteran competitor, Denny Hamlin was fined $50,000 and docked 25 points following his on-track actions at Phoenix, where he made contact with Ross Chastain during the overtime attempt, a move he admitted to being intentional and deemed a violation of Sections 4.4 in the NASCAR Member Code of Conduct. The contact occurred after Hamlin drifted up the track entering Turns 1 and 2 and squeezed Chastain against the wall, which stalled their progress towards the front. Hamlin then proceeded in bumping Chastain’s rear bumper three times through the backstretch and entering Turn 3 before overtaking him. As a result, Hamlin and Chastain, both of whom were battling for potential top-five spots, fell back to 23rd and 24th in the final running order.

    NASCAR also issued two-race suspensions for two crew members (Sean Cotten and Ryan Mulder) for the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang piloted by Aric Almirola for violating Sections 8.8.10.4 A&C from the NASCAR Rule Book that highlights a safety violation. This comes as a result of a wheel that came off of Almirola’s car in Turn 4 on Lap 137 of 317, where Almirola wrecked prior to losing the wheel. Following the on-track incident, Almirola was issued a two-lap penalty in his pit stall for the improper installed tire that came off on the track and ended up 33rd in the final running order.

    With this past weekend’s event at Phoenix Raceway capping off a three-race West Coast swing, the NASCAR Cup Series teams and competitors travel to Atlanta Motor Speedway for their next scheduled event and for their first of two visits to the 1.5-mile speedway venue in Hampton, Georgia. The main event is scheduled to occur this Sunday, March 19, at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • News analysis: Hendrick penalties

    News analysis: Hendrick penalties

    None of you asked for it, but I’ll break down the news, its significance and un-answered questions of Hendrick Motorsports’ penalty.

    The news

    NASCAR handed HMS an L2-level penalty, Wednesday, for unapproved modifications to the body of its cars, last weekend, at Phoenix Raceway. Each car’s crew chief (Cliff Daniels, Rudy Fugle, Alan Gustafson and Blake Harris) was handed a four-race suspension and fined $100,000. Furthermore, NASCAR docked each team 100 owner/driver points and 10 playoff points. Excluding the No. 9 team, which Josh Berry (who earns points in the XFINITY Series) drove in place of the injured Chase Elliott.

    These penalties drop Alex Bowman from the points lead to 23rd, William Byron to 29th and Kyle Larson to 32nd. Aside from Byron, this reset Larson to zero playoff points. Byron, however, resets to three.

    HMS announced it plans to appeal the penalties, but won’t request deferrals of suspensions. So four substitute crew chiefs will sit on the war wagons, this weekend, at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    Its significance

    On a scale of 1-10, this is a five.

    For most teams, this is a 10. With Hendrick, however, I doubt this holds them down. Considering that after NASCAR confiscated the parts, it still dominated Sunday’s race at Phoenix.

    SPOILER WARNING FOR SEASON 6 OF “MY HERO ACADEMIA”

    For NASCAR’s all-time winningest team, this isn’t Izuku Midoriya fighting Muscular during his forest lodge trip training. Rather, I suspect this will be Deku jobbing Muscular.

    I’ll go a step further and predict that by the halfway point of the season, Bowman, Byron and Larson make up the points they lost with this penalty.

    Un-answered questions

    I can’t really think of anything Wednesday’s penalty announcement left un-answered. This was pretty cut-n-dry and NASCAR confiscated the parts, before it let the Hendrick cars race, Sunday.

    That’s all, for now.

  • Larson to make 300th Cup career start at Atlanta

    Larson to make 300th Cup career start at Atlanta

    In his ninth full-time season as a NASCAR Cup Series competitor, Kyle Larson is within reach of achieving a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s Cup event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will reach career start No. 300 in NASCAR’s premier series.

    A native of Elk Grove, California, Larson made his Cup Series debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October 2013. By then, he was a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for Turner Scott Motorsports, where he contended for the rookie title, and was set to join Chip Ganassi Racing to pilot the No. 42 Chevrolet SS for the 2014 season. Starting 21st in his Cup debut while driving the No. 51 Chevrolet SS for TSM, Larson ended up 37th following an engine failure. He then competed in three of the final four Cup events of the season with TMS, where he recorded a season-best result of 15th place in the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.

    Taking over the No. 42 Chevrolet while vying for the rookie Cup title in 2014, Larson’s season started off on a rough note with a 38th-place result in the 56th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway after being involved in a late multi-car wreck. He rallied three races later by notching his first top-10 career result in the Cup Series after finishing 10th at Bristol Motor Speedway in March. He then backed up his run at Bristol by achieving a career-best runner-up result at Auto Club Speedway after carving his way from starting in the top 10 and battling Kyle Busch for the win during a two-lap shootout. For the remaining 21 regular-season events, Larson achieved his first Cup career pole at Pocono Raceway in August along with four additional top-five results and nine top-10 results. Despite falling short of making the 2014 Cup Playoffs, he remained competitive throughout the Playoffs by finishing third at Chicagoland Speedway in September followed by two runner-up results during the next three scheduled events. To go along with two additional top-10 results during the final six scheduled events, Larson capped off his first full-time Cup season in 17th place in the final standings and as the highest-ranked competitor to not make the postseason. While he did not achieve a victory in the 2014 season, Larson claimed the Rookie-of-the-Year title on the strength of eight top-five results, 17 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 14.2.

    Throughout his second full-time Cup season in 2015, Larson finished no higher than third on the track as he also achieved a total of two top-five results, 10 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 19.3. In March, he was absent from competing at Martinsville Speedway after suffering a fainting spell a day prior to the main event. Missing the Playoffs for a second consecutive season, Larson concluded his sophomore season in 19th place in the final standings despite leading more laps throughout the season (115) compared to his rookie season (53).

    Commencing the 2016 season with a seventh-place result in the 58th running of the Daytona 500, Larson had achieved four top-five results and seven top-10 results in 23 scheduled events as he was battling within the Playoff cut line. By then, he had also notched a thrilling non-points victory in the All-Star Open against rookie Chase Elliott at Charlotte in May and was leading the All-Star Race in the closing laps until he collided against the wall with two laps remaining while battling Joey Logano. Then at Michigan International Speedway in August, Larson achieved his first elusive Cup career win in his 99th series start following a late battle against Elliott. The victory also snapped Chip Ganassi Racing’s two-year winless drought as it clinched Larson’s spot into the Playoffs for the first time in his career. Larson’s title hopes, however, came to an early end following respective finishes of 18th, 10th and 25th during the Round of 16. With four top-six results in the final seven scheduled events, including a strong runner-up result at Homestead in November, Larson capped off his junior campaign in ninth place in the final standings. To go along with his first Cup career victory, he also racked up 10 top-five results, 15 top-10 results, 379 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.7 while surpassing 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

    The 2017 Cup season generated Larson’s first competitive season of his career. He rallied from finishing 12th during the 59th running of the Daytona 500 after running out of fuel while leading on the final lap to post three consecutive runner-up results during the following three events. He then achieved his first victory of the season and the second of his Cup career at Auto Club Speedway in March after leading a race-high 110 of 202 laps and beating the field in a two-lap shootout. By then, he had assumed the points lead in the Cup standings for the first time in his career.

    Ten races later, he notched his second win of the season at Michigan in June after leading a race-high 96 of 200 laps while beating Elliott in a five-lap shootout. When NASCAR returned to Michigan in August, Larson capitalized on a two-lap shootout to overtake Martin Truex Jr. and achieve his third consecutive victory in the Irish Hills along with his third win of the season. Three races later, he capped off the regular-season stretch with momentum by capturing a late victory over Truex and the field at Richmond Raceway in September.

    Entering the 2017 Cup Playoffs as a title favorite, he transferred from the Round of 16 to 12 on the strength of five consecutive top-five results. His bid for the title, however, ended on a sour note following respective finishes of 10th, 13th and 39th during the Round of 12, including an early engine failure at Kansas Speedway in October that dropped the driver of the No. 42 entry below the top-eight cutline. Strapped with DNFs in three of the final four scheduled events, Larson settled in eighth place in the final standings. While he did not emerge as the champion, he capped off the season with four victories, three poles, 15 top-five results, 20 top-10 results, 1,352 laps led and an average-finishing result of 13.3.

    Aiming for redemption while entering his fifth full-time Cup campaign with CGR in 2018, Larson commenced the season with a 19th-place result in the 60th running of the Daytona 500. He went on to finish in the runner-up spot five times, in the top five eight times and in the top 10 14 times during the 26 regular-season stretch before clinching a spot in the Playoffs for a third consecutive season. Despite transferring from the Round of 16 to 12 while finishing no lower than 25th, his bid for the title came to an end amid three consecutive top-12 finishes and after being docked 10 points stemming from Talladega Superspeedway in October after his team violated NASCAR’s damaged vehicle policy by using unauthorized parts to repair the No. 42 Chevrolet. With two top-five finishes in the final four scheduled events, Larson ended up in ninth place in the final standings with no victories, three poles, 12 top-five results, 19 top-10 results, 782 laps led and an average-finishing result of 12.6.

    Through the first 10 scheduled events of the 2019 Cup season, Larson and the No. 42 team only achieved two top-10 results, an average-finishing result of 18.6 and were mired back in 21st place in the regular-season standings while also being strapped with three DNFs. This included a wild rollover wreck on the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway in April. After rallying with his first top-five result of the season by finishing third at Dover Motor Speedway in May, Larson achieved a memorable run a week later at Charlotte Motor Speedway by winning the All-Star Open before emerging victorious in the All-Star Race over Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.

    With a total of nine top-10 finishes during the final 15 regular-season events in the schedule, Larson was able to make the Cup Playoffs for a fourth consecutive season. After transferring from the Round of 16 to 12 on the strength of three consecutive top-13 results, he snapped his 75-race winless drought by winning at Dover in October and secured a one-way ticket to the Round of 8 in the Playoffs. Despite finishing no lower than 12th in the Round of 8, he did not claim a spot in the Championship 4 finale at Homestead in November. He, however, capped off the season in sixth place in the final standings with a single victory to the season, a pole, eight top-five results, 17 top-10 results, 529 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.1. By then, Larson had surpassed 200 Cup career starts.

    In the early stages of the 2020 Cup season, Larson recorded three top-10 results during the first four scheduled events before the season was placed on a two-month hiatus amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, however, Larson was suspended indefinitely from NASCAR and released by Chip Ganassi Racing after verbally using a live racial slur during a live iRacing event. Then six months later and following a yearlong sensitivity training, Larson was reinstated by NASCAR and was permitted to participate in NASCAR-related activities in January 2021. Amid his reinstatement, he was also signed by Hendrick Motorsports to pilot the organization’s iconic No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for the 2021 Cup season.

    Larson’s return to full-time Cup competition in 2021 ended up being a career season for the Californian, who started the season with a 10th-place result in the Daytona 500 despite being involved in a fiery multi-car wreck on the final lap. Three races later, he achieved a redemptive victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March after leading a race-high 103 of 267 laps as he recorded the first Cup victory for HMS’ No. 5 entry since July 2017.

    After finishing in the runner-up spot in four of the following 10 scheduled races, Larson claimed his second victory of the season in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May after leading a race-high 327 of 400 laps. With the victory, he made Hendrick Motorsports the winningest Cup team at 269, one better than Petty Enterprises. Larson then ignited a hot streak for himself and the No. 5 HMS team, beginning in June by winning at Sonoma Raceway, the All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway and the inaugural Cup event at Nashville Superspeedway.

    With four top-five results during the final nine regular-season events, including his fifth victory of the season at Watkins Glen International in August, Larson managed to overtake and beat Denny Hamlin to claim the 2021 Cup regular-season championship and enter the 2021 Playoffs with momentum. With four additional victories throughout the Playoffs, he managed to transfer all the way from the Round of 16 to the Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway in November. Then during the finale at Phoenix, Larson led a race-high 107 of 312 and fended off Truex in a 24-lap shootout to claim his unprecedented 10th victory of the season and win the 2021 Cup Series championship.

    In doing so, Larson became the 35th different competitor to win a championship in NASCAR’s premier series. He also recorded the 14th Cup title for Hendrick Motorsports and became the first champion to achieve 10 victories in a season since Jimmie Johnson made the last accomplishment in 2007. Overall, Larson capped off his championship season with 10 victories, two poles, a career-high 20 top-five results, a career-high 26 top-10 results, 2,581 laps led and an average-finishing result of 9.1.

    Entering the 2022 Cup season as the reigning champion, Larson commenced the season by capturing the pole position for the 64th running of the Daytona 500. Despite being involved in a late multi-car wreck and finishing 32nd in the 500, he rallied during the following weekend at Auto Club Speedway by beating Austin Dillon, Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez in a four-lap shootout to capture his second victory in Southern California and his first of the season.

    Six months later, he achieved his second victory of the season at The Glen following a late duel against AJ Allmendinger before securing a Playoff spot for a seventh consecutive season. While he was able to transfer from the Round of 16 to 12 on the strength of three consecutive top-12 results, he finished no higher than ninth during the Round of 12 and was eliminated from title contention by two points by finishing 35th at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October.

    With his hopes of defending his series title evaporated, Larson managed to claim a dominant victory at Homestead before settling in seventh place in the final standings. By then, he capped off the season with three victories, four poles, 13 top-five results, 19 top-10 results, 635 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.1.

    Through 299 previous Cup starts, Larson has achieved one championship, 19 victories, 15 poles, 91 top-five results, 148 top-10 results, 6,699 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.2. He is currently ranked in a tie for fifth place in the 2023 Cup regular-season standings on the strength of two top-five results that include a runner-up result at Las Vegas and a fourth-place finish this past weekend at Phoenix.

    Should Larson win this weekend’s event in Hampton, Georgia, he will become the seventh different competitor to win in career start No. 300, a list that includes Ned Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski.

    Larson is scheduled to make his 300th Cup Series career start at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 19. The event’s broadcast is slated to occur at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Phoenix

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Phoenix

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. William Byron: Byron was strong early in the United Rentals Work United 400, winning Stage 1. After falling back from the front late, Byron used a fast two-tire pit stop, and two timely cautions, to win his second consecutive race.

    “That’s two in a row,” Byron said. “And I really don’t know which flag to keep as a souvenir – the checkered or the yellow. Sometimes, your reputation as a great driver is built on the backs of those not-so-great drivers.”

    2. Kevin Harvick: Harvick, historically dominant at Phoenix, blew by Kyle Larson for the lead late, but a sure win was foiled by a late caution. Harvick eventually finished fifth.

    “Losing like this really sucks,” Harvick said. “Building such an insurmountable lead, only to have it wiped away by a caution, makes me sick to my stomach, much like Hunt Brothers Pizza.”

    3. Kyle Larson: Larson started on the pole at Phoenix, and used a quick two-tire pit stop with eight laps to go to gain the lead. Larson was leading with two laps to go, but another late caution forced another restart, and Larson couldn’t hold off William Byron. Larson finished fourth.

    “Let’s face it,” Larson said, “Kevin Harvick should have won this race. Harvick went by me on Lap 269 faster than Hunt Brothers Pizza through your digestive system.”

    4. Alex Bowman: Bowman finished ninth at Phoenix, as all four Hendrick Motorsports cars finished in the top 10, with William Byron taking the win.

    “Hendrick Motorsports builds cars that almost any driver can put in the top 10,” Bowman said. “Take Josh Berry, for example. He basically came off the street and was able to drive Chase Elliott’s car to success. So, driving a Hendrick car is a springboard to success, whereas Chase himself is a snowboard to the hospital.”

    5. Christopher Bell: Bell posted his second top 10 with a sixth in the United Rentals Work United 500.

    “Former Formula 1 world champions Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen are scheduled to drive in the Cup race at the Circuit Of The Americas on March 26th,” Bell said. “I think that would be a great time to prank those two guys by convincing them that NASCAR also begins races with a standing start.”

    6. Kyle Busch: Busch overcame a slow Stage 2 pit stop and came back to finish eighth at Phoenix.

    “It just goes to show that if you work hard and have a sizable budget,” Busch said, “anything is possible. That, of course, is a reference to my lawyer that got me out of that jam in Mexico. And yes, bribery does work.

    “Some people are calling me the ‘Ja Morant of NASCAR. I think that’s a compliment. In any case, let’s holster that comparison for now.”

    7. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished 24th in the United Rentals Work United 500, after dropping from the top five on the final restart.

    “Sometimes,” Chastain said, “your car is fast, like Michael Waltrip at Daytona in 2001. Sometimes, your car is slow, like Michael Waltrip running through the grid on Sunday. Mine was both.”

    8. Joey Logano: Logano struggled with handling early and never was competitive up front on his way to an 11th-place finish at Phoenix.

    “That handling caused early contact with Martin Truex Jr.,” Logano said. “Luckily, Martin didn’t get too angry. I mean, he could have pulled a ‘Mexican Kyle Busch’ and gone ‘ballistic.’”

    9. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin started second at Phoenix but faded fast on the final restart, finishing 23rd.

    “I just had no grip at the end,” Hamlin said, “which made the handling of my No. 11 Toyota a disaster. In a car sponsored by Shingrex, you could say my car drove like ”S’ on a shingle.’”

    10. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished second at Phoenix, posting his first top-5 finish of the season.

    “Congratulations to William Byron,” Blaney said. “I think his celebration of putting on that oversized big hat is cool. Funny thing is, that hat would fit Ryan Newman perfectly.”

  • Late caution ruins Harvick’s run to Phoenix victory

    Late caution ruins Harvick’s run to Phoenix victory

    Ten laps.

    Kevin Harvick needed to complete 10 more laps to score his 10th career victory at Phoenix Raceway. He pulled to a five-second lead over Kyle Larson, who led a race-high of 201 laps, when he powered under him in Turn 2 on Lap 270 and his long-run strength made him all but untouchable.

    Then the caution flew.

    AVONDALE, Ariz. – MARCH 12: Harrison Burton, driver of the #21 DEX Images Ford, spins down the frontstretch with 10 laps to go in the NASCAR Cup Series United Rental Works United 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 12, 2023, in Avondale, Arizona. Photo: Ron Olds/SpeedwayMedia.com

    Just ahead of Harvick, Harrison Burton spun at the start/finish line, cut a tire down and shed debris on the track. Everybody came down pit road, but six cars took just right-side tires, while he took four.

    “It’s what I would have done (taking four tires),” he said. “I’d always rather be on offense.”

    Compounding the matter, his car was geared towards long runs, and struggled on short runs. So on the ensuing restart with three laps to go, he pulled up along the outside of Denny Hamlin, but was boxed in by him and Ross Chastain ahead.

    “Kind of lost our chance,” he said. “Still thought I had a chance there at the end.”

    And he got another shot, after AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs and a few others tangled in Turn 2 and forced overtime.

    In overtime, Harvick chose the outside line, but the same song and dance played out.

    “Those cars were quite a bit slower,” he said. “They get all jammed up.”

    He made up a measly two spots as William Byron scored his sixth NASCAR Cup Series victory and he brought his car home fifth.

    “That’s the way it goes,” he said. “Just smoked ‘em up until the caution. They did a great job with our Hunter Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang. Didn’t need the caution at the end.”

    While it’s no silver lining for the all-time wins leader at Phoenix, Harvick extended the series record for most consecutive top-10 finishes at a single track to 20. Furthermore, he leaves Phoenix second in points. Just three behind points leader Alex Bowman.

    He’ll have one more chance to score win No. 10 at Phoenix in November. Where he could retire as one of just six drivers to win 10 or more races at a single track.