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  • Several Cup and Xfinity drivers performing double duty roles at Sonoma

    Several Cup and Xfinity drivers performing double duty roles at Sonoma

    For a second consecutive season, Sonoma Raceway is in for a delightful treat as NASCAR makes its annual return to the 12-turn circuit in Sonoma, California, on June 9-11, 2023.

    In a similar approach from last year, two of NASCAR’s top three national touring series will run on the same weekend in conjunction with the ARCA Menards Series West at Sonoma. Compared to a year ago, where the Craftsman Truck Series competition made its return to the circuit for the first time in 24 years, the NASCAR Xfinity Series competition will experience its first taste of the twists and turns in Wine Country this upcoming Saturday, June 10, with DoorDash returning as a title sponsor of the 250-mile event.

    With the return of the highly anticipated racing weekend in Northern California, a host of NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series stars will be attempting to pull double duty efforts within all three series.

    The driver who headlines the double duty role for this weekend’s Xfinity-Cup doubleheader feature is Kyle Larson. The 2021 Cup Series champion and 21-race Cup winner from Elk Grove, California, is scheduled to make his first of two starts this season in the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports. His Xfinity start will occur a day prior to climbing aboard his iconic No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the Cup division.

    Aside from being a hometown hero, Larson is no stranger to achieving success at Sonoma. He notched a Cup victory at the circuit in 2021 after leading a race-high 57 of 92 laps and has started on pole position in the last five consecutive Cup events at Sonoma. He has also achieved his share of success on road course venues after winning the last two Cup events at Watkins Glen International, the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course venue in October 2021 and his first Xfinity road course victory at The Glen last August.

    While this weekend is set to mark his first Xfinity start of this season in HMS’ No. 17 entry, Larson has already made one start in the series in May. There, he piloted Kaulig Racing’s No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro entry to a thrilling last lap victory over John Hunter Nemechek at Darlington Raceway. With the Darlington victory being the first for him ever in NASCAR, Larson aims to achieve another accomplishment by adding a Xfinity victory at Sonoma to his racing resume.

    Speaking of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing entry, AJ Allmendinger returns to pilot the entry for a second time this season. The 41-year-old veteran from Los Gatos, California, will be receiving sponsorship support from Gabriel Glas for this weekend’s Xfinity and Cup rides, where he currently drives the No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for Kaulig in NASCAR’s premier series.

    Of his 16 career victories in the Xfinity circuit, 11 of them have occurred on road course venues, which makes Allmendinger the winningest competitor on road courses in the series. Despite winning on seven different road courses between the Xfinity and Cup levels, including his two Cup victories at Watkins Glen International and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course venue, Allmendinger has yet to achieve a win at Sonoma. In 11 previous starts at Sonoma in the Cup Series, he has led a total of 65 laps, but has only managed to finish in the top 10 twice, with his best result being seventh in 2009. He has managed to start on the front row three times between 2014-16, including on pole position in 2015. With his most recent victory in the series occurring this past March at Circuit of the Americas, Allmendinger strives to extend his road course dominance by checking off another road course venue off his bucket list.

    Photo by Chad Wells for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Joining the list of double duty competitors between the Xfinity-Cup action is Ross Chastain, who drives the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing in the Cup Series. The 30-year-old Chastain from Alva, Florida, is scheduled to drive the No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro for DGM Racing sponsored by Skip Barber Racing School, with the event set to mark his third series start of this season after competing at Auto Club Speedway in February and at Darlington in May.

    In three career starts at Sonoma in the Cup Series, Chastain has notched two consecutive seventh-place results, including this past season. He was one of five Cup competitors who competed in last year’s Truck Series event at Sonoma, where he led 19 of 75 laps before finishing fourth while driving for Niece Motorsports. Chastain also has one road course victory stored in his resume, which occurred at Circuit of the Americas in March 2022 on a day where he also notched the first Cup career win for himself and Trackhouse Racing. On the Xfinity side, his best series’ result on a road course venue was at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course circuit, where he finished fourth.

    Ironically, a year after making his 100th Truck career start overall at Sonoma, Chastain is also primed to achieve another milestone start in Northern California. By qualifying and taking the green flag in this Saturday’s event, he will make his 200th career start in the Xfinity circuit. Through 199 previous Xfinity starts, the Floridian has achieved two career victories, one pole, 23 top-five results, 49 top-10 results, 961 laps led and an average-finishing result of 16.7. His best points result in the series is seventh place, which occurred in 2020. During that season, he notched career-high stats in top-fives (15), top-10s (27), laps led (553), overall average-starting result (7.7) and overall average-finishing result (8.2) despite going winless and while driving for Kaulig Racing.

    Veteran Aric Almirola from Tampa, Florida, is also scheduled to pull double duty efforts as he will be piloting the No. 28 Michael Roberts Construction Ford Mustang for RSS Racing on Saturday before driving the No. 10 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing on Sunday. The Xfinity event is set to mark Almirola’s 104th career start in the series and second of the season after he competed at Circuit of the Americas this past March, where he finished 24th while competing for SS-Green Light Racing.

    Through 10 Cup career starts at Sonoma, Almirola has achieved two top-10 results, with his best result being eighth in June 2018. While this weekend is set to mark his first Xfinity start at Sonoma, it will mark his third different series where he has competed at the circuit. In June 2018, Almirola competed in the ARCA Menards Series West event at Sonoma for Stewart-Haas Racing, where he finished second after leading 23 of 64 laps. With his last Xfinity victory occurring at Talladega Superspeedway in May 2017 and his best road course result in the Xfinity circuit being a fifth-place run at Watkins Glen in August 2018, a first road course victory is still something Almirola continues to pursue.

    Photo by Bruce Nuttleman for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Another competitor attempting to participate in double duty efforts is Ty Dillon, who will be piloting the No. 4 Chevrolet Camaro for JD Motorsports. The 31-year-old Dillon and grandson of championship-winning owner Richard Childress from Welcome, North Carolina, is coming off his recent series start at Darlington in May, where he finished 19th while driving the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro.

    Dillon has made a total of four Cup starts at Sonoma, with his best result being 23rd a year ago while driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Like Almirola, he has yet to achieve a road course victory to his resume. The closest Dillon came to winning on a road course circuit was during the inaugural Truck Series event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in September 2013, where he was leading on the final lap until he got wrecked by Chase Elliott entering the final corner. His best Xfinity result on a road course venue is third, which was achieved at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August 2015. With his latest Xfinity victory spanning back to July 2014 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Dillon, who currently competes full time in the Cup Series and in the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, aims for a momentous boost to his racing career as he fights his way back to championship-caliber form.

    In a youthful career highlighted with an abundance of success and a rapid ascend to the Cup Series level, Ty Gibbs is set to experience another first to his career as he prepares to tackle Sonoma Raceway for the first time ever and twice in one weekend. The 20-year-old reigning Xfinity Series champion and grandson of championship-winning owner Joe Gibbs from Charlotte, North Carolina, will return as the driver of the No. 19 Toyota Supra sponsored by The He Get Us campaign for his third series start of this season.

    While racing on Sonoma’s surface will be new for Gibbs, racing on road courses is something he is familiar with, with some of his success occurring on road course venues. He achieved his first Xfinity career victory in his series debut at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in February 2021. He then proceeded to win at Watkins Glen in August 2021 before winning at Road America last July following a last lap battle against Kyle Larson. With 11 Xfinity victories achieved, three on road courses, in 53 series career starts, Gibbs, who earned top-five results in two Xfinity starts this season at Circuit of the Americas in March and at Charlotte in May, aims to extend his top-five streak to three and potentially, emerge victorious while continuing his pursuit of claiming this year’s Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title behind the wheel of JGR’s No. 54 Toyota TRD Camry in the Cup circuit.

    Lastly on the Xfinity side, Daniel Suarez becomes the seventh Cup participant for the inaugural Xfinity event at Sonoma as he will be piloting the No. 07 Chevrolet Camaro for SS-Green Light Racing. The 2016 Xfinity Series champion from Monterrey, Mexico, enters the Sonoma weekend with high momentum after notching his first Cup Series career victory at the circuit a year ago and becoming the first Mexican-born competitor to win in NASCAR’s premier series.

    While this season marks his third as a full-time Cup Series competitor in the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing, this Saturday’s Xfinity event is set to mark Suarez’s first start in the Xfinity circuit since racing at Chicagoland Speedway in June 2018. Suarez, though, made his name made within the Xfinity circuit with 84 career starts in the series, a Rookie-of-the-Year title from 2015 and three career victories, including the 2016 championship as he became the first Latin American competitor to win a title across NASCAR’s top three national touring series. His highest Xfinity result on road courses stands at fourth place, which he achieved twice at Watkins Glen and at Road America in August 2016.

    For Sonoma, Suarez returns to the circuit with vast experience. In conjunction with his five total Cup Series start, he competed in two consecutive ARCA Menards Series West events at Sonoma, where he finished 11th and fourth, respectively, in 2017 and 2018. Suarez also competed as a relief competitor for the injured Carson Hocevar and Niece Motorsports during the Truck Series’ Sonoma event a year ago, where he rallied from two laps down after relieving Hocevar early in the event to finish sixth. Given his strength of the circuit, Suarez aims for a repeat victory while pursuing his first Cup victory of the 2023 campaign.

    Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    A day prior to the Xfinity Series’ inaugural event at Sonoma, the ARCA Menards Series West division will make its return to the circuit for the 44th time overall as General Tire retains its right of sponsoring the 200-mile event. The lone Cup Series competitor who is entered for the event is Ryan Preece, who drives the No. 41 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. The 32-year-old Preece from Berlin, Connecticut, will be piloting the No. 9 Ford for SHR in the ARCA West region, which will mark his second career start in the series. His lone start in the series occurred at Sonoma in June 2019, where he led a race-high 33 of 57 laps and was in position of winning until he was penalized for a late restart violation and demoted to the last competitor running on the lead lap in 20th place. A former winner across the Truck and Xfinity circuits, Preece has also made two previous starts at Sonoma in the Cup Series in 2019 and 2021, with his best result being 21st from the 2021 season. His best results on road courses within NASCAR’s top three national touring series are a pair of fourth-place runs at Watkins Glen and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in 2018.

    For Friday’s ARCA West event at Sonoma, Preece will be competing alongside a host of Xfinity Series regulars that include Cole Custer, Riley Herbst, Parker Retzlaff, Kyle Sieg and Sammy Smith, all of whom will receive a head start to their weekend prior to their series’ debut at the Northern California circuit.

    Custer, a former Cup Series Rookie-of-the-Year recipient from Ladera Ranch, California, will retain driving responsibilities of the No. 55 Ford for High Point Racing for a second consecutive week after competing in last weekend’s event at Portland International Raceway. Custer is also coming off a dramatic weekend at Portland, where he notched his first Xfinity victory of the season during an overtime shootout. Herbst, Custer’s Xfinity teammate at Stewart-Haas Racing from Las Vegas, Nevada, will also be returning to the series for a second consecutive week as he will be driving the No. 5 Jerry Pitts Racing Ford.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Retzlaff, a Xfinity rookie competitor from Rhinelander, Wisconsin, who currently competes for Jordan Anderson Racing, will be piloting the No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet for a second consecutive week while Kyle Sieg, a full-time Xfinity competitor for RSS Racing from Tucker, Georgia, will be assuming the No. 46 Ford for Lowden Jackson Motorsports.

    Lastly, Sammy Smith, a Xfinity rookie from Johnston, Iowa, who currently competes for Joe Gibbs Racing, will be joining Hattori Racing Enterprises for a one-race effort in the No. 81 Toyota. Smith, who notched his first Xfinity career victory at Phoenix Raceway in March, has not yet competed at Sonoma throughout his youthful racing career, but he has achieved an abundance of success within the ARCA divisions, with six victories in the ARCA Menards Series, two consecutive ARCA East titles and a single ARCA West victory that occurred at Phoenix last November.

    With Sonoma Raceway serving as the next scheduled event on the 2023 NASCAR schedule and with the drivers’ roster for this weekend’s events set, the weekend commences with the ARCA Menards Series West running the General Tire 200 on Friday, June 9, at 6:30 p.m. ET as the event will air live on FloRacing. The Xfinity Series’ inaugural DoorDash 250 at Sonoma will occur the following day on Saturday, June 10, at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. The Cup Series’ Toyota Save/Mart 350 will cap off the weekend as the series’ top premier competitors compete on Sunday, June 11, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Brad Keselowski to make 500th Cup career start at Gateway

    Brad Keselowski to make 500th Cup career start at Gateway

    Competing in his 14th full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, Brad Keselowski is set to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s event at World Wide Technology Raceway, the driver/owner of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang will make his 500th career start in NASCAR’s premier series.

    A second-generation racer and native of Rochester Hills, Michigan, Keselowski made his inaugural presence in NASCAR’s premier series at Texas Motor Speedway in November 2008. By then, he was competing in the Xfinity Series on a full-time basis for JR Motorsports and had accumulated two victories in the season while battling for the series’ championship. Driving the No. 25 Chevrolet Impala for Hendrick Motorsports, Keselowski started 37th and finished 19th in his Cup debut. He returned to compete in the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he finished 23rd after starting 31st.

    The following season, Keselowski, who remained at JRM as a full-time competitor in the Xfinity circuit, spent the majority of the season splitting between the No. 25 HMS Chevrolet Impala and the No. 09 Phoenix Raceway Chevrolet Impala. After finishing outside the top 20 in his first two Cup starts of the season with HMS, he then made his first start with Phoenix Racing at Talladega Superspeedway in April. It was there where Keselowski achieved an upset by winning his first Cup career race after making contact with Carl Edwards on the final lap, where a late blocking move from Edwards to stall Keselowski’s run through the frontstretch sent Edwards’ No. 99 Ford sideways, airborne and into the catchfence while upside-down after getting hit by Ryan Newman. Keselowski’s Talladega victory occurred in his fifth career start in NASCAR’s premier series and it was also the first for Phoenix Raceway. He then backed up his Talladega victory by finishing seventh at Darlington Raceway with HMS in May and sixth at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with Phoenix in June. During his next seven scheduled Cup starts between HMS and Phoenix, Keselowski’s best result was eighth at Talladega in November. He then competed in the final three scheduled events of the season in the No. 12 Dodge Charger for Team Penske, where his best result was 25th at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.

    In 2010, Keselowski joined forces with Team Penske in both the Xfinity and Cup Series circuits, where he replaced David Stremme to drive the No. 12 Dodge in the Cup circuit. While Keselowski’s campaign in the Xfinity circuit was a success by winning the series championship and gifting team owner Roger Penske his first NASCAR championship, the Cup circuit was a difficult season for the Michigan native, who commenced the season by finishing 36th in his Daytona 500 debut. Three races later at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, he was poised for a top-six run until he was intentionally turned, sent airborne and hit the frontstretch outside wall roof-first by Edwards with three laps remaining. The incident occurred after Keselowski had hit and wrecked Edwards on Lap 41, which prompted NASCAR to park Edwards for the remainder of the event. Despite rallying to finish in the top 15 six times for the remaining 22 of 26 regular-season events, he did not accumulate enough points or results towards the front to make the 2010 Cup Playoffs. Keselowski went on to achieve his first Cup career pole at New Hampshire in September followed by back-to-back 10th-place runs at Talladega and Texas Motor Speedway between October and November. With a 13th-place result at Homestead, he concluded his first full-time Cup season in 25th place in the final standings and with an average-finishing result of 22.4.

    In April 2010, Keselowski was named the driver of Team Penske’s iconic No. 2 Dodge while teammate Kurt Busch, who piloted the No. 2 car since 2006, moved over to Penske’s No. 22 Dodge entry for the 2011 Cup season. Commencing the season with a 29th-place result in the 53rd running of the Daytona 500 after being eliminated in a late wreck, Keselowski finished no higher than 15th during the first nine events of the season. Despite capitalizing on a late strategic call to finish third at Darlington in May, he then finished 13th and 19th during his next two scheduled starts. Then at Kansas Speedway in June, he executed on another pit strategic call by leading the final nine laps and beating his mentor Dale Earnhardt Jr. by nearly three seconds while on a low tank of fuel to achieve his second Cup career victory and snap a 75-race winless drought. After recording three top-10 results during his next seven starts, he then achieved his second victory of the season at Pocono Raceway in August following a late duel against Kyle Busch. The victory occurred after Keselowski rallied from a harrowing accident during a test session at Road Atlanta, which left the driver with a broken left ankle and back pain. Despite his injuries, Keselowski’s Pocono victory ignited a hot streak that would see the driver of the No. 2 Dodge finish second and third during his next two starts before grabbing his unprecedented third victory of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. After finishing sixth during the following weekend at Atlanta in September, Keselowski solidified his spot to qualify for the 2011 Cup Playoffs. With four top-five results recorded during the first six Playoff events, he ran as high as third place in the standings. Four consecutive results outside of the top 15, however, dropped Keselowski to fifth place in the final standings. Overall, the 2011 season delivered great success for Keselowski and the No. 2 Team Penske Dodge team on the strength of three victories, 10 top-five results, 14 top-10 results, 298 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.8.

    The 2012 season was a career year for Keselowski, who rallied from being involved in a late multi-car wreck during the 54th running of the Daytona 500 to grab his first victory of the season at Bristol in March. He went on to win at Talladega in April and at Kentucky Speedway in June while racking 10 top-five runs and 15 top-10 results during the 26-race regular-season stretch before making his second consecutive appearance in the Playoffs. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series. At the start of the Playoffs, Keselowski prevailed in a late battle against five-time champion Jimmie Johnson to win the Playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway in September. Two races later, Keselowski reaffirmed his bid for the title by prevailing in a late fuel strategic call to win at Dover Motor Speedway. By then, he was leading the series standings for the first time in his career. Despite finishing no worse than 11th during the following five Playoffs events, which included a runner-up result at Texas Motor Speedway in November, Johnson managed to gain ground and assume the points lead with back-to-back victories at Martinsville and Texas between October and November. Then during the penultimate event of the season at Phoenix Raceway, Keselowski capitalized on a late incident that involved Johnson and dodged two multi-car wrecks in the closing laps to finish sixth and reassume the points lead by 20 points entering the finale at Homestead. At Homestead, Keselowski capitalized on another late misfortune impacting Johnson’s title run due to a rear gear failure to finish 15th and clinch the first NASCAR Cup Series championship for himself and for Team Penske. With the accomplishment, Keselowski joined Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon as the only competitors to win a Cup title within the first three seasons of full-time competition. He also recorded the final championship for the Dodge nameplate, which was set to depart NASCAR following the 2012 season. In total, Keselowski capped off his championship season with five victories, 13 top-five results, 23 top-10 results, 735 laps led and  a career-best average-finishing result of 10.1.

    Piloting a Ford Fusion while remaining in the No. 2 entry in his bid to defend his series title, Keselowski commenced the 2013 season with four consecutive top-four finishes. Despite earning 11 top-10 results throughout the 26 regular-season stretch, including a strong runner-up result at Watkins Glen International in August, he endured a series of inconsistent runs in the spring and summer periods, including a 25-point dock in points due to a rear-housing infraction at Texas in April, that left him and the No. 2 team outside of the Playoff cutline in September. With his bid to defend the title evaporated, he proceeded to finish in the top 10 five times during the Playoffs. This included achieving his first elusive victory of the season at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October. With a total of one victory, one pole, nine top-five results, 16 top-10 results, 476 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.9 throughout the 2013 season, Keselowski settled in 14th place in the final standings.

    After finishing in second place in the Clash at Daytona International Speedway in February, Keselowski rolled out of the gate with three consecutive top-three runs to commence the 2014 Cup season. This included his first victory of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March after overtaking Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap when Earnhardt Jr. ran out of fuel. He went on to win at Kentucky and New Hampshire in July before capping off the regular-season stretch with a win at Richmond Raceway, which marked the 400th motorsports victory all-time for Team Penske. With four regular-season victories, Keselowski earned the top seed to the newly formatted Playoffs. He then commenced the Playoffs by winning at Chicagoland and earning a one-way transfer from the Round of 16 to 12. During the Round of 12, he was involved in a late wreck at Kansas due to a blown right-front tire and controversial run-ins involving Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart at Charlotte. On the verge of being eliminated early from title contention, Keselowski responded back with vengeance by winning at Talladega in October and transferring to the Round of 8. Keselowski’s late misfortunes, however, continued, starting at Martinsville, where he ignited a late multi-car accident amid a stack-up due to a mechanical issue. This was then followed by another controversial run-in at Texas, where he ran into the side of Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet on a late restart that knocked Gordon out of contention for the win and led to a brawl on pit road following the race. Despite finishing fourth during the final Round of 8 event at Phoenix, Keselowski was eliminated from title contention. Nonetheless, he capped off the season with a third-place run at Homestead before settling in fifth place in the final standings. Despite falling short of winning his second Cup title, Keselowski concluded the season with multiple career highs in victories (six), poles (five), top fives (17) and laps led (1,540). 

    Poised to make another run for his second title, the 2015 Cup season produced a single victory for Keselowski and the No. 2 team, which occurred at Auto Club Speedway in March following a last lap pass on Kurt Busch. Despite making his fourth career appearance in the Playoffs and transferring all the way from the Round of 16 to 8, he fell short of making the Championship 4 finale and settled in seventh place in the final standings on the strength of nine top-five results, a career-high 25 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 11.1. During the following two Cup seasons, he made the Playoffs and accumulated a total of seven victories, four poles, 25 top-five results, 47 top-10 results and average results within 11th place. While he ended up in 12th place in the 2016 standings after being eliminated following the Round of 12, he transferred all the way to the Championship 4 finale in 2017, where he ended up in fourth place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 300 Cup career starts.

    In 2018, Keselowski won the Clash at Daytona in February before enduring a winless stretch during the first 24 regular-season events. His first elusive victory then occurred in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in September followed by another crown-jewel event, which was the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which solidified his spot to make the 2018 Cup Playoffs. The momentum did not stop there for Keselowski and the No. 2 team as they racked up a third consecutive victory at Las Vegas to commence the Playoffs and deliver the 500th motorsports victory for Team Penske. Keselowski’s title hopes, however, came to an end following the Round of 12 as he went on to finish in eighth place in the final standings.

    For the 2019 season, it only took the first two races of the season for Keselowski to record a victory, which occurred at Atlanta in February as he recorded the first Cup victory for the Ford Mustang brand. Backing up his Atlanta victory with wins at Martinsville in March and at Kansas in May enabled the Michigan native to make the Playoffs for the eighth time in his career. Despite transferring from the Round of 16 to 12 on the strength of three consecutive top-five results, he missed the cutline to the Round of 8 by a mere margin after finishing no higher than 11th during the Round of 12. With just two top-10 results during the final four events, Keselowski concluded the 2019 Cup season in eighth place in the final standings for a second consecutive year.

    Keselowski’s first victory of the 2020 Cup season occurred in the seventh event of the season and during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May following an overtime shootout. Two races later, he achieved another victory to the season at Bristol Motor Speedway in June after dodging a late incident involving teammate Joey Logano and Chase Elliott. He went on to win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July before entering the 2020 Cup Playoffs, which marked his ninth trip to NASCAR’s postseason battle for the title. A dominant victory at Richmond in September enabled Keselowski and the No. 2 team to transfer from the Round of 16 to 12. He then achieved three consecutive top-six runs during the Round of 8 to grab a spot to the Championship 4 finale for the second time in his career. During the finale at Phoenix Raceway in November, he finished in second place behind title rival Elliott both on the track and in the final standings. By then, Keselowski concluded the season with 24 top-10 results, which marked his seventh time concluding a season with 20+ top-10 results along with four victories, 13 top-five results, 952 laps led and tying his career-best average-finishing result with 10.1. He had also surpassed 400 Cup career starts.

    In 2021, which marked his 15th season driving for Team Penske, Keselowski commenced the season on a fiery note after being involved in a final lap multi-car wreck with teammate Logano on the final lap of the 63rd running of the Daytona 500 while bidding for the win. Nine races later, he achieved his lone victory of the season at Talladega in April after overtaking Matt DiBenedetto on the final lap. With a total of 10 top-10 results throughout the regular-season stretch, including his victory at Talladega, Keselowski achieved a spot in the Cup Playoffs for the 10th time in his career. His bid for a second title, however, came to an end following the Round of 8, but seven results in the top 10 were enough for Keselowski to cap off the season in sixth place in the final standings.

    Following 15 memorable seasons at Team Penske, Keselowski embarked on a new phase to his racing career in 2022 by joining Roush Fenway Racing as the driver of the No. 6 Ford Mustang and co-owner of the organization, which was rebranded to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. He commenced the season with early momentum after winning the first of two Bluegreen Vacation Duels at Daytona in February, which allowed him to start in third place for the 64th running of the Daytona 500. During the 500, he led a race-high 67 laps and was in position of winning the event during a two-lap shootout until he got shuffled back to ninth place in the final running order. Four races later, where he finished no higher than 12th on the track, Keselowski and the No. 6 RFK Ford team were slapped with an L2-level penalty and docked 100 driver/owner points following a post-race infraction at Atlanta in March, where the team violated two sections pertaining to the modification of a single source supplied part (rear fascia) within NASCAR’s rulebook. Amid the penalty, Keselowski endured a dismal regular-season stretch as he recorded a total of three top-10 results and finished no higher than seventh, which occurred at New Hampshire in July, as he did not make the 2022 Cup Playoffs. This marked his first absence from the Playoffs since 2013. Keselowski, however, rallied throughout the Playoffs by finishing seventh in the Southern 500 before notching his first pole of the season at Texas in September, where he went on to finish eighth. Prior to this, he led 109 laps at Bristol and was within striking distance of contending for the victory until he cut a tire late while leading and falling back to 13th place in the final scoreboard. Keselowski then captured his first top-five result in the No. 6 entry by finishing fifth at Homestead in October. He also crossed the finish line in fourth place during the penultimate event at Martinsville in November, but was disqualified due to his car failing to meet the minimum weight requirements during post-race inspection. Capping off his difficult season in 35th place at Phoenix due to an electrical issue, Keselowski concluded the season in 24th place in the final standings on the strength of a single top-five result, six top-10 results, 224 laps led and an average-finishing result of 19.2.

    Currently, Keselowski has achieved three top-five results, six top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 14.8 through the first 14-scheduled events of the 2023 Cup season. His best result of the season thus far has been a runner-up finish at Atlanta in March, where he led 47 of 260 laps and was leading before being overtaken by ex-teammate Joey Logano on the final lap. Nonetheless, the results have placed Keselowski in ninth place in the regular-season standings as he is 102 points above the top-16 cutline to be in contention to make the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs.

    Through 499 previous Cup starts, Keselowski has achieved one championship, 35 victories, 18 poles, 142 top-five results, 239 top-10 results, 9,022 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.0. By making his 500th career start at Gateway, he will become the 46th different competitor to achieve the milestone mark.

    Keselowski is primed to make his 500th Cup Series career start at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 4, with the event’s coverage to occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • NASCAR issues one-race suspension for Elliott as part of penalty report from Charlotte

    NASCAR issues one-race suspension for Elliott as part of penalty report from Charlotte

    NASCAR released its penalty report and a notable name was issued a major suspension following the recent on-track action at Charlotte Motor Speedway that spanned throughout the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The first news to headline the penalty report is that Chase Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion, has been suspended from competing in next weekend’s Cup Series event at Gateway’s World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois.

    The news comes after Elliott was found to have intentionally wrecked veteran Denny Hamlin on Lap 185 of 400 during the Coca-Cola 600 that occurred this past Monday, May 29.

    During the event, Hamlin and Elliott were battling inside the top 10 when Hamlin slipped up the track and crowded Elliott towards the frontstretch’s outside wall which resulted in Elliott making contact with the wall. Elliott quickly responded back by veering his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the left and turning Hamlin head-on into the frontstretch’s SAFER Barriers at full speed that resulted in both competitors being wrecked out of the event. After the incident, Elliott cited the lack of control over his damaged car after scrubbing the wall that resulted in the contact with Hamlin.

    “[Hamlin] ran us up in the fence,” Elliott said in the infield care center on FOX. “Once you hit the wall in these [cars], you can’t drive it anymore. An unfortunate circumstance.”

    Hamlin, however, did not mince his words over the incident and called for Elliott to be suspended for the upcoming Cup event at Gateway for jeopardizing a driver’s safety amid a retaliatory act.

    “I got right-rear hooked in the middle of the straightaway,” Hamlin said. “It’s a tantrum and he shouldn’t be racing next week. Right-rear hooks are absolutely unacceptable.”

    Following the news of Elliott’s suspension for violating NASCAR’s Behavioral and Code of Conduct policy, Hendrick Motorsports released a statement, citing the team’s decision to not appeal the penalty and submit a formal request for a Playoff waiver for Elliott to remain in contention to make the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs. In addition, HMS announced that Corey LaJoie will be serving as an interim competitor for the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for the upcoming event at Gateway. LaJoie currently competes as a full-time Cup Series competitor for Spire Motorsports. He is set to become the third different competitor to pilot HMS’ No. 9 entry alongside Josh Berry and Jordan Taylor.

    With LaJoie joining HMS for a one-race deal, Carson Hocevar, a full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor for Niece Motorsports, will make his inaugural presence in NASCAR’s premier series by piloting LaJoie No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry this upcoming weekend at Gateway.

    Elliott’s suspension marks the first time NASCAR has suspended a competitor for a retaliatory act since Bubba Wallace was suspended from competing in the Cup Series Playoff event at Homestead-Miami Speedway last October for intentionally turning and sending Kyle Larson into the frontstretch’s outside wall during the previous event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The incident involving Wallace and Larson mirrored the on-track scuffle between Hamlin and Elliott, where Larson forced Wallace up the track as Wallace hit the frontstretch’s outside wall before Wallace quickly retaliated by veering left, clipping and sending Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry into the outside wall as both competitors were knocked out of the event.

    Elliott’s suspension also means that he is set to miss his seventh event of the 2023 Cup Series season. He was absent for six consecutive events from early March to the first half of April after suffering a left leg fracture from a snowboarding accident in Colorado during the week of the Cup Series event at Las Vegas. In eight starts through the first 14-scheduled events, including the Coke 600, Elliott has secured two top-five results and four top-10 results, with his best on-track finish being a runner-up result at Auto Club Speedway in February. With an average-finishing result of 14.6, however, he is currently situated in 29th place in the driver’s standings with 215 points and trails the top-16 cutline to make the Playoffs by 81 points. Elliott has until the series’ return to Daytona International Speedway on August 26, which marks the conclusion of the regular-season stretch, to win or point his way into the Playoffs, which will commence at Darlington Raceway on September 3.

    In other penalty news highlighting the Cup Series, the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang team piloted by Michael McDowell has been penalized for the loss of a wheel or a wheel that was improperly installed on a racing vehicle when a right-front wheel rolled off of McDowell’s entry on the track’s backstretch with 57 laps remaining. As a result, front-tire changer Scott Brzozowski and jackman Adam Lewis have been suspended from NASCAR competition for the following two Cup Series events.

    In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Jeff Meendering, crew chief for rookie Sammy Smith and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra team, has been fined $5,000 due to a lug nut infraction, where one lug nut was found to have not been properly secured on Smith’s entry following Monday night’s action. In addition, the No. 74 CHK Racing team piloted by Dawson Cram at Charlotte has been docked 10 driver/owner points for violations involving the air duct, outlet hose and quarter window of Cram’s entry that did not meet NASCAR standards.

    In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Derek Hartnagel, truck chief for rookie Daniel Dye and the No. 43 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST team, has been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR for violating the sport’s substance abuse policy.

    With this past extended weekend’s events at Charlotte Motor Speedway complete, the Cup and Craftsman Truck Series embark to World Wide Technology Raceway for their next scheduled event while the Xfinity Series travels west to compete for the second-ever time at Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon. The Truck Series’ event at Gateway, which is also set to serve as the second of three Triple Truck Challenge events, will occur this Saturday, June 3, at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1 while the Xfinity Series event at Portland will follow suit at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1. The Cup Series action at Gateway will conclude the weekend and occur on Sunday, June 4, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Travis Mack to call 100th Cup event as crew chief at Charlotte

    Travis Mack to call 100th Cup event as crew chief at Charlotte

    A significant milestone start is in the making for Travis Mack, crew chief for Daniel Suarez and the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team in the NASCAR Cup Series. By participating in this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Mack will call his 100th career event as crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series.

    A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Mack’s racing career began as a mechanic for Frank Kimmel’s ARCA Menards Series team before joining Hendrick Motorsports as a shock specialist and front-end mechanic in 2004, where he worked with Jeff Gordon before eventually teaming up with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nine years later, he served as a car chief for JR Motorsports’ No. 7 team and driver Regan Smith in the Xfinity Series before moving over to JRM’s No. 9 team and rookie Chase Elliott for the 2014 season, where the team ended up winning the series championship. Beginning in 2015, he became a car chief for Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports team in the Cup circuit.

    At Richmond Raceway in September 2017, Mack made his debut as a Cup Series crew chief in an interim role for Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 HMS team after Earnhardt’s regular crew chief, Greg Ives, was suspended due to a lug nut infraction stemming from the previous event at Darlington Raceway. During the event at Richmond and with Mack atop the pit box, Earnhardt Jr. led 13 laps before finishing 13th.

    In 2018, Mack was named crew chief for Leavine Family Racing’s No. 95 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry piloted by veteran Kasey Kahne. Following the first 15 events of the 2018 season, however, Mack was replaced by Jon Leonard after the team posted five top-20 results and finished no higher than 17th three times. Mack would return to the Xfinity Series to serve as a crew chief for Michael Annett and the No. 5 JRM team for the remainder of the 2018 season.

    In November 2020, Mack, who achieved his first Xfinity victory as a crew chief with Annett at Daytona in February 2019, was named crew chief for the newly formed Trackhouse Racing and driver Daniel Suarez for the 2021 Cup season. Despite being suspended for two of the 26 regular-season events, Mack and Suarez achieved a strong fourth-place run at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in March along with a total of three top-10 results and nine top-15 results. While they did not make the 2021 Cup Playoffs, the duo proceeded to finish in the top 15 five times throughout the postseason before concluding the season in 25th place in the final standings.

    Remaining at Trackhouse Racing and paired with Suarez for the 2022 season, Mack led the No. 99 team to two fourth-place results and a total of four top-10 results through the first 15-scheduled events. Then at Sonoma Raceway in June, Mack achieved his first Cup Series career victory as a crew chief when Suarez led a race-high 47 of 110 laps and notched his first career win in NASCAR’s premier series, thus becoming the first Mexican-born competitor to win a Cup event. To go along with five additional top-10 results for the remainder of the regular-season stretch, Mack and Suarez qualified for the 2022 Cup Playoffs. Despite transferring from the Round of 16 to 12 on the strength of three consecutive top-20 results, the duo missed the cutline to the Round of 8 by a mere margin and after a power steering issue at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October diminished the team’s title hopes. With only a single top-10 result during the final four scheduled events, Mack and Suarez capped off the season in 10th place in the final standings.

    This season, Mack, who remains at Trackhouse for a third consecutive season, has led Suarez and the No. 99 team to four top-10 results through the first 13-scheduled events, with their best on-track result being a fourth-place finish at Auto Club Speedway in February. The duo is ranked in 18th place in the driver’s standings and trail the top-16 cutline to make the 2023 Cup Playoffs by 13 points.

    Through 99 previous Cup events, Mack has achieved one victory, eight top-five results, 21 top-10 results and 395 laps led while working with three different competitors.

    Mack is scheduled to call his 100th Cup Series event as a crew chief in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 28. The event is scheduled to commence at 6 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Larson cruises to third All-Star career victory at North Wilkesboro

    Larson cruises to third All-Star career victory at North Wilkesboro

    From an early speeding penalty to cashing in a million dollars in NASCAR’s revival of one of the sport’s oldest venues, Kyle Larson cruised to a dominant victory in the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, on Sunday, May 21.

    The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led two times for a race-high 145 of 200-scheduled laps in a weekend where he started 16th out of the 24-car field and rallied from speeding on pit road during a caution period past the Lap 15 mark to methodically carve his way through the field. After assuming the lead from pole-sitter Daniel Suarez on Lap 55 of 200, Larson never looked back as he also retained the lead during a 90-lap shootout to beat runner-up Bubba Wallace by more than four seconds and win the All-Star Race for the third time in his career.

    The starting lineup for the main event was determined through a Pit Crew Challenge that occurred on Friday, May 19, two 60-lap heat events. with the drivers’ qualifying time determined based on their respective crew’s pit stop time through a four-tire pit stop and the timing lines being established one box behind and ahead of the designated pit box. The teams who delivered the fastest pit services would enable their respective entries to start towards the front of two All-Star Heat Races comprising 60 laps that occurred on Saturday, May 20, and that set the official starting lineup for the All-Star event.

    At the conclusion of both events, Daniel Suarez, whose No. 99 Trackhouse Racing pit crew executed a fast pit stop service in 13.297 during the Pit Crew Challenge that put him on the pole for the first Heat Race, earned the pole position for the main feature after winning the first Heat. Joining him on the front row was Chris Buescher, whose No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing pit crew delivered a pit stop service in 13.381 seconds that enabled him to start on the pole for the second Heat Race and carried forth to the driver winning.

    Suarez and Buescher were among 21 competitors to have earned a spot for the 2023 All-Star Race by virtue of winning a Cup Series points race between 2022-23 or being a former Cup and All-Star Race winner. The eligibility list included Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones.

    The eligible competitors were joined by Josh Berry and rookie Ty Gibbs, both of whom transferred to the All-Star Race after finishing first and second, respectively, during the All-Star Open. The 24th and final starting spot went to rookie Noah Gragson, who was named the Fan Vote winner.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Suarez launched ahead with a strong start on the inside lane followed by Joey Logano and Chase Briscoe while Buescher, who started on the front row, struggled to launch on the outside lane, though he managed to draw even against Briscoe for third. As the field battled amid two lanes, Suarez managed to cycle back to the frontstretch with a clear view and lead the first lap.

    During the second lap, Suarez retained the lead ahead of Logano followed by Briscoe and Christopher Bell while Buescher was struggling to transition from the outside to the inside lane for grip as he was locked in a tight battle against Denny Hamlin for fifth place. Buescher, however, would continue to lose more spots through Turns 3 and 4 as William Byron and Ryan Blaney overtook him. As the 24-car field settled in a long single-file formation, Suarez retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Logano by the fifth lap.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Suarez was leading by four-tenths of a second over Logano followed by Hamlin, Byron and Briscoe while Blaney, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Bell were in the top 10. Behind, Buescher dropped to 11th ahead of Kevin Harvick, Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. while Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Josh Berry, Noah Gragson and Tyler Reddick trailed behind within the 24-car field.

    Five laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Stenhouse, who slid up the track between Turns 3 and 4 and was trying to transition from the outside to the inside lane, got hit by Erik Jones as he spun his No. 47 Kroger/Coca-Cola Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 around in Turn 4 before proceeding without sustaining any significant damage. During the first caution period, names like Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Wallace, Larson, Berry, Gragson, Reddick and Stenhouse pitted while the rest led by Suarez remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Larson was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 20, Suarez and Briscoe dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Suarez managed to peek ahead on the inside lane in his No. 99 Trackhouse Motorplex Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and retain the lead. Behind, Briscoe and Hamlin battled for second as Briscoe was trying to transition back to the inside lane. Despite losing spots to Hamlin and Logano, Briscoe managed to settle in fourth place in front of Elliott on the inside lane as the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Suarez was leading by over a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Hamlin followed by Logano, Briscoe and Elliott while Byron, Truex, Blaney, Keselowski and Buescher were running single file in the top 10. Behind, Gragson moved up to 11th ahead of Berry, Bell, Larson and Erik Jones while Reddick, Wallace, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Harvick trailed in the top 20.

    Ten laps later, Suarez continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Logano, Briscoe and Elliott remained in the top five. Behind, Larson carved his way up to eighth on fresh tires behind Byron and Truex while Bell, Kyle Busch and Harvick were mired from 18th to 20th, respectively. In addition, Chastain was back in 21st while Cindric, Gibbs and Stenhouse were stuck from 22nd to 24th, respectively.

    Through the first 50 scheduled laps, Suarez stabilized his advantage to four-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Logano while Larson was up in fourth place. Briscoe fell back to fifth ahead of Elliott, Truex and Buescher while Byron and Blaney were scored in the top 10.

    Five laps later, Larson, who overtook Hamlin and Logano earlier, made his move on the frontstretch beneath Suarez as he rocketed his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead. Larson started to pull away on fresh tires as he was scored as the leader by more than a second-and-a-half over Suarez at the Lap 60 mark. Behind, Logano overtook Hamlin for third while Briscoe was in fifth ahead of Elliott, Buescher, Truex, Blaney and Erik Jones.

    Shortly after, Byron and Kyle Busch pitted under green, a move that dropped both competitors out of the lead lap category, as Larson remained as the leader by more than two seconds over runner-up Suarez and more than three seconds over third-place Logano.

    At the Lap 75 mark, Larson extended his advantage by six seconds over Suarez as Logano, Hamlin and Briscoe remained in the top five. Behind, Elliott retained sixth ahead of Buescher while Wallace and Blaney moved up to eighth and ninth in front of Truex and Reddick. By then, Larson was also starting to approach Harvick and Keselowski to lap both former Cup champions while Cindric and Stenhouse were also lapped.

    Just past the Lap 90 mark, Larson continued to lead by more than 11 seconds over Suarez while Wallace moved his No. 23 Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota TRD Camry up to third. Logano was back in fourth followed by Briscoe, Reddick and Hamlin while Elliott, Buescher and Blaney were running in the top 10. By then, 16 of 24 competitors were scored on the lead lap.

    When the competition caution period flew on Lap 100, which marked the halfway point of the event, Larson had retained a commanding lead over Wallace, who overtook Suarez for the runner-up spot four laps earlier. By then, 16 of 24 competitors were still scored on the lead lap, none of which included Truex, Byron, Gragson, Harvick, Keselowski, Cindric, Kyle Busch and Stenhouse.

    During the competition caution period, the lead lap competitors led by Larson pitted. Following the pit stops, Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Wallace, Suarez, Reddick, Briscoe and Elliott. Amid the pit stops, Chastain, who exited pit road seventh, was penalized for speeding on pit road. Logano and Bell were also penalized for uncontrolled tire violations.

    When the race resumed under green flag conditions with 90 laps remaining, Larson retained the lead on the inside lane as he took off followed by Wallace as Suarez battled Reddick for third. Reddick would then bump Suarez to assume third place as the field jostled for positions.

    With 75 laps remaining, Larson was leading by more than a second over Wallace while third-place Reddick trailed by more than two seconds in his No. 45 Beast Unleashed Toyota TRD Camry. Suarez retained fourth as he too trailed by more than two seconds followed by Buescher while Elliott, Briscoe, Blaney, Erik Jones and Ty Gibbs were scored in the top 10. By then, names that included Harvick, Byron, Keselowski, Cindric, Kyle Busch, Gragson and Stenhouse were not scored on the lead lap category.

    Down to the final 60 laps of the event, Larson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over runner-up Wallace while Reddick, Suarez and Buescher remained in the top five. Larson would continue to extend his advantage to three seconds over Wallace with 50 laps remaining and more than four seconds with 40 laps remaining.

    With 25 laps remaining, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than three-and-a-half seconds over Wallace followed by Reddick as Briscoe carved his No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang up to fourth ahead of Elliott. Behind, Suarez was back in sixth ahead of Blaney while Buescher, Erik Jones and Gibbs remained in the top 10. Meanwhile, Logano was in 11th ahead of Hamlin, Chastain, Bell, and Truex while Berry, Austin Dillon, Harvick, Keselowski and Byron were strapped in the top 20.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson continued to lead by more than four seconds over Wallace while both third-place Reddick and fourth-place Briscoe trailed by more than seven seconds. Larson would stabilize his advantage to over four seconds over Wallace as the event reached its final five-lap mark.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by more than three seconds over Wallace. Despite dealing with lapped traffic for the majority of his dominant run in the second half of the event, Larson was able to smoothly cycle his way around the short circuit for a final time and back to the frontstretch as he streaked across the finish line to claim his third checkered flag in the All-Star Race.

    With the victory, Larson notched his third All-Star career victory overall and in his previous four All-Star starts as he became the first competitor to win the All-Star Race in three different venues (North Wilkesboro Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway). He joined Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt as competitors to win the All-Star Race three times. He also recorded the 11th All-Star Race victory for Hendrick Motorsports and the 21st for Chevrolet while becoming the first competitor to win a Cup Series event at North Wilkesboro Speedway since Gordon won the last points-paying event at the track in September 1996.

    As an added bonus, Larson’s All-Star victory capped off a weekend sweep after he won Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series event at North Wilkesboro while driving for Spire Motorsports.

    Photo by Andrew Boyd for SpeedwayMedia.com.
    Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images.

    “I can’t even tell you what [the win] means,” Larson said on FS1. “This is my third All-Star win at my third different track. At a historical place like this. You guys in the crowd made this weekend so awesome. We could feel the atmosphere all weekend. So much fun there. That was old-school ass-whoppin’, for sure. We had a great car on the long run there. I was just thinking that, for sure, there was gonna be a caution, right? I got out to a big lead. I could see everybody’s cars were driving like crap in front of me, but I cannot thank this No. 5 team enough. We were God-awful all weekend. Obviously, I had some strategy work out there at the beginning, but we drove from dead last to the lead and checked out by 12 or 13 seconds, and then I could just pace myself there that last run. What an amazing car. Everything that my car did bad on Friday and Saturday did great today.”

    Wallace, who started 10th, retained the runner-up spot he acquired towards the end of the first half of the event as his second-place finish marked his career-best result in his third start in the All-Star event. Wallace’s 23XI Racing teammate Reddick rallied from starting 20th to finish third and notch his best result in his second All-Star career start.

    “[Larson’s] capability throughout the whole run [made the difference],” Wallace said. “He could attack hard and then have something there at the end. If this was any other race, I’d be excited, but it’s for a million dollars, you come up short and walk home with nothing. Tail tucked between our legs, but all in all, just continuing to ride the momentum train. I wanna get [sponsor] Columbia in Victory Lane. We come up one spot short, so congrats to Larson. He’s been on a rail lately, so just have to keep it going. Now, we show back up to home turf and really got to keep the momentum going there and get ourselves deeper in the Playoffs here. Excited to be where we’re at right now. Just come up one spot short.”

    “[I] Just needed a little bit on the balance, but the Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry TRD was really fast,” Reddick added. “I made a mistake earlier in the race back in the first 100 laps and let Kyle [Larson] squeeze by and he really mowed through traffic. We lined up, obviously, behind him on that restart and we could kind of stay in touch, but he was able to just keep far enough away. Honestly, a good, solid car. I had more left in the tank than I thought. [I] Wished I could have that back, but solid effort by our guys and our team. We stumbled a little bit in the Pit Crew Challenge and started deep, but we were able to claw our way through it.”

    Briscoe charged his way to a strong fourth-place finish followed by Elliott while Blaney, Suarez, Erik Jones, Ty Gibbs and Logano capped off their runs in the top 10. 

    Notably, Kevin Harvick finished 18th in his 23rd and final career All-Star Race. In addition, Hamlin ended up 13th in between teammates Bell and Truex, Josh Berry finished 15th while subbing the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the injured Alex Bowman, Buescher fell back to 16th, Keselowski settled in 19th in front of Byron and Kyle Busch concluded his long night in 22nd.

    There were three lead changes for two different leaders. The race featured two cautions for 13 laps. While all 24 starters finished the event, 12 finished on the lead lap.

    Results:

    1. Kyle Larson, 145 laps led

    2. Bubba Wallace

    3. Tyler Reddick

    4. Chase Briscoe

    5. Chase Elliott

    6. Ryan Blaney

    7. Daniel Suarez, 55 laps led

    8. Erik Jones

    9. Ty Gibbs

    10. Joey Logano

    11. Ross Chastain

    12. Christopher Bell

    13. Denny Hamlin, one lap down

    14. Martin Truex Jr., one lap down

    15. Josh Berry, one lap down

    16. Chris Buescher, one lap down

    17. Austin Dillon, one lap down

    18. Kevin Harvick, two laps down

    19. Brad Keselowski, two laps down

    20. William Byron, two laps down

    21. Austin Cindric, two laps down

    22. Kyle Busch, two laps down

    23. Noah Gragson, three laps down

    24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., four laps down

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the 64th running of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, May 28, during Memorial Day weekend at 6 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Berry, Gibbs and Gragson transfer to 2023 All-Star Race from All-Star Open

    Berry, Gibbs and Gragson transfer to 2023 All-Star Race from All-Star Open

    Josh Berry along with rookies Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson completed the starting grid for the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race after all three transferred from the NASCAR All-Star Open at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday, May 21.

    Berry and Gibbs, both of whom started on the front row for the Open, raced their way into the main event after finishing first and second, respectively, during the Open while Gragson was revealed as the Fan Vote winner after rallying from a multi-car wreck to finish seventh on the track, thus claiming the final spot of the 24-car grid for the All-Star event that will follow suit.

    The starting lineup for the event was determined through the NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge that occurred on Friday, May 20, with the drivers’ qualifying time determined based on their respective crew’s pit stop time through a four-tire pit stop and the timing lines being established one box behind and ahead of the designated pit box.

    Following the Pit Crew Challenge, rookie Ty Gibbs was awarded the pole position after his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew delivered the fastest pit stop overall at 13.012 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Josh Berry, an interim competitor for the injured Alex Bowman whose No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports pit crew posted a fast pit stop service at 13.677 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Ty Gibbs launched ahead in his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry with the lead on the inside lane as Michael McDowell made a bold three-wide move to the outside of the field as he tried to launch forward through Turns 1 and 2. McDowell, however, lost grip just as he cracked the top five and slipped back into the top 10 as Gibbs proceeded to lead the first lap. Behind, Berry maintained second in front of Justin Haley, Corey LaJoie, Todd Gilliland and Aric Almirola while McDowell fell back to seventh.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Gibbs was leading by nearly nine-tenths of a second over Berry, who had Haley closing in for second place while Todd Gilliland and Aric Almirola were running in the top five. Gibbs then extended his advantage to more than a second as the event surpassed its Lap 10 mark.

    At the Lap 20 mark, Gibbs continued to extend his advantage by more than two seconds over Berry while third-place Haley trailed by more than three seconds. Almirola moved up in fourth followed by Gilliland while Harrison Burton, McDowell, Chandler Smith, Ryan Preece and AJ Allmendinger were in the top 10. Behind, Ryan Newman was in 11th while rookie Noah Gragson, Corey LaJoie, Josh Bilicki, JJ Yeley and Ty Dillon rounded out the field of 16 competitors currently running on the track.

    By Lap 30, Gibbs retained the lead by more than three seconds over Berry while Almirola overtook Haley for third place. Behind, Gilliland retained fifth ahead of teammate McDowell and Burton while Chandler Smith, Preece and Allmendinger occupied the rest of the top 10 on the track.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 40, Gibbs had maintained the lead by more than three seconds over Berry while Almirola, Haley, Gilliland, McDowell, Allmendinger, Burton, Chandler and Newman were in the top 10. By then, Ty Dillon was lapped, but he received the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap.

    During the competition caution period, the entire field led by Gibbs pitted for fresh tires, fuel and adjustments. Following the pit stops, Berry assumed the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Gibbs, Almirola, Gragson, Haley and Gilliland. Amid the pit stops, Harrison Burton, who exited pit road in eighth place, only opted to have his rear tires changed on his No. 21 Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Ford Mustang.

    When the race restarted on Lap 47, Berry and Haley dueled for the lead as the field fanned out and battled in tight formation through the first two turns and the backstretch. During the following lap, however, Berry managed to pull ahead and assume the lead with a clear racetrack followed by Gibbs and Almirola while Haley fell back to fourth in front of McDowell.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when Gragson, who was running sixth and ran into the rear of McDowell entering Turn 1, went too low and hit the inside wall before his No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 shot back across the track and into the path of Gilliland as Gragson collided into the Turn 1 outside wall head-on along with Gilliland as Chandler Smith, Allmendinger and Newman were also collected. As Chandler Smith and Gilliand retired, Gragson managed to continue along with Allmendinger and Newman.

    With the race restarting with 44 laps remaining, Haley challenged Berry for the lead on the outside lane while McDowell battled Gibbs for third place. Not long after, however, the caution quickly returned when McDowell, who tried to move in front of Gibbs for third place through Turns 3 and 4, got squeezed by Gibbs as he then made contact with Haley for second as both competitors went up the track and slapped the outside wall in Turn 4 hard.

    During the following restart with 37 laps remaining, Berry and Almirola battled dead even for the lead until Berry muscled ahead on the inside lane. Behind, Almirola, who was stuck on the outside lane, was overtaken by Gibbs for second as Almirola tried to fend off teammate Preece and Allmendinger for more.

    With 32 laps remaining, Gibbs reassumed the lead from Berry as Preece started to challenge Berry for second. In the midst of the battles at the front, Allmendinger and Almirola joined the battle in fourth and fifth while JJ Yeley and Gragson trailed behind in sixth and seventh.

    Then with 23 laps remaining, Gibbs, who had maintained a steady lead over Berry through the backstretch, got held up and ran towards the apron by McDowell’s No. 34 Fr8Auctions Ford Mustang through Turns 1 and 2 before he then got shoved towards the inside wall through Turns 3 and 4 as McDowell expressed his on-track frustration to Gibbs over the late contact that eliminated McDowell and Haley from contention. This allowed Berry to reassume the lead in his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the frontstretch while Gibbs managed to fend off Almirola for second place. In the process, McDowell, who lost a lap for repairs during the initial caution period, went two laps down.

    With less than 20 laps remaining, Berry was leading by three-tenths of a second over Gibbs and Almirola while Preece and Allmendinger remained in the top five.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Berry, who lapped McDowell for a third time, continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Gibbs with Almirola trailing by a second and trying to close in on Gibbs for a transfer spot to the All-Star Race.

    With five laps remaining, Berry maintained the lead by more than a second over Gibbs as third-place Almirola cut his deficit to Gibbs by less than three-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Preece and Allmendinger trailed the leaders by four seconds while Yeley maintained sixth as he trailed by more than eight seconds.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Berry remained as the leader by six-tenths over Gibbs as Almirola tried to ignite a final lap charge in his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang on Gibbs for second through Turn 1. Almirola, however, could not execute the pass or bump on Gibbs to gain the spot as Gibbs pulled away. Back at the front, Berry managed to cruise away from the field and claim both the All-Star Open victory and a transfer spot to the 2023 All-Star Race by half a second over Gibbs.

    With his accomplishment, Berry, a NASCAR Xfinity Series full-time competitor for JR Motorsports who led three times for 46 laps, achieved his first checkered flag of any type in NASCAR’s premier series. This year’s All-Star weekend marks Berry’s fourth start as an interim competitor of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports entry in place of the injured Alex Bowman and ninth overall for HMS as he will contend for his first opportunity of winning a million dollars. Berry’s Open victory also enabled all four Hendrick Motorsports entries to make the All-Star feature.

    “I feel so relieved,” Berry said on FS1. “These guys deserve to be in this race so bad. Thank you so much to Hendrick Motorsports for believing in me and giving me this opportunity under circumstances. This is really cool. We were able to get the lead and stretch it out a little bit, and just kind of maintain it. I think the two best cars made it [to the All-Star Race]. We’ll just see what tonight gives us.”

    Behind, Gibbs, the reigning Xfinity Series champion who led twice for a race-high 53 laps, fended off Almirola to finish second and race his way into his first career All-Star Race. Gibbs’ accomplishment enabled all four Joe Gibbs Racing competitors to make the main event.

    Photo by Andrew Boyd for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “It’s really cool,” Gibbs said. “I feel like I’m kind of back here at Hickory Motor Speedway, honestly. It’s a worn-out racetrack, for sure. Just kind of looking for patches, looking for grip. I kind of understand [McDowell]’s frustration, but at Martinsville [Speedway], we were running 18th and they clobbered us and about wrecked us, so I think it’s, honestly, fair game. We got in [to the All-Star Race]. That’s all that matters.”

    Lastly, rookie Noah Gragson, who recovered from his wreck nearing the halfway point to finish seventh, was awarded the 24th and final transfer spot to the All-Star Race by virtue of being the Fan Vote winner. The accomplishment marks Gragson’s first appearance in the All-Star Race as both Legacy Motor Club competitors will compete in the main event.

    Photo by Andrew Boyd for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “It’s kind of bittersweet right now,” Gragson said. “[I] Got the Fan Vote so we can go racing. We want to race our way in, but grateful for the whole Legacy Motor Club team. Thank you fans for all the support and everything going into this. Voting, the cheers, everything. We fire and feed off your guys’ energy, so thank you. Unfortunate for our team [with the damaged car]. We’re gonna try to get [the car] back together and put a show for the fans. We’re gonna try and get up there.”

    Aric Almirola finished the Open in third, but was among the remaining 13 competitors who did not make the 2023 All-Star Race along with Ryan Preece, AJ Allmendinger, JJ Yeley, Ty Dillon, Corey LaJoie, Josh Bilicki, Harrison Burton, Ryan Newman, Michael McDowell, Justin Haley, Todd Gilliland and Chandler Smith.

    There were five lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 18 laps.

    Results.

    1. Josh Berry, 46 laps led

    2. Ty Gibbs, 53 laps led

    3. Aric Almirola

    4. Ryan Preece

    5. AJ Allmendinger

    6. JJ Yeley

    7. Noah Gragson

    8. Ty Dillon

    9. Corey LaJoie

    10. Josh Bilicki

    11. Harrison Burton

    12. Ryan Newman, three laps down

    13. Michael McDowell, three laps down

    14. Justin Haley – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    15. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident

    16. Chandler Smith – OUT, Accident

    The 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway will follow suit on Sunday, May 21, at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 pit crew wins NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge at North Wilkesboro

    Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 pit crew wins NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge at North Wilkesboro

    In the return of NASCAR’s Pit Crew Challenge at a revived venue, the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota TRD Camry pit crew piloted by rookie Ty Gibbs and led by crew chief Chris Gayle achieved an advantage in their quest to make the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race by winning the All-Star Pit Crew Challenge at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Friday, May 19.

    The No. 54 JGR pit crew executed the top four-tire pit service time of the day at 13.012 seconds, which was enough to best 36 challengers and their respective pit crews as they claimed the $100,000 bonus. The result also awarded Gibbs, the reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Charlotte, North Carolina, the pole position for the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Open which will comprise 100 laps and occur on Sunday, May 21, at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

    This year’s Pit Crew Challenge made its first return since 2012 and served as part of NASCAR’s revival to the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, with the last NASCAR competition occurring in 1996 and was won by four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon.

    During the Pit Crew Challenge, which determined the starting lineup for the All-Star Open and two 60-lap Heat Races, which will determine the official starting lineup for the All-Star Race, the 37 competitors who participated in the challenge drove their respective cars into a pit stall prior to entering and stopping at their assigned for their pit service, which would start the time. Once the pit crew completed the four-tire service, the competitors exited their pit stall and crossed the stall after their own, which would complete the time.

    With the top starting spot for the All-Star Open, Gibbs, a 2023 Cup Series Rookie-of-the-Year contender who is currently campaigning in his first full-time season in NASCAR’s premier series, will attempt to race his way into this first All-Star Race event that will occur on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. Gibbs’ pit crew led by crew chief Chris Gayle include car chief Nate Bellows, fueler Peyton Moore, jackman Darrell Edwards, front-tire changer Blake Houston, rear-tire changer Mike Hicks and carrier Jacob Holmes.

    “All credit to [the pit crew],” Gibbs said on FS1. “To be honest with you, I don’t think you should be interviewing me. You should be interviewing those guys. They work so hard. Thank you to all those boys out there. All those guys work so hard, so I appreciate them and all they do. I’m excited. We’ll see what happens. [I’m] Excited that NASCAR brought this [pit crew challenge] back. I really appreciate them giving these pit crew guys a shot.”

    Joining Gibbs on the front row for the All-Star Open will be Josh Berry, who will also be making his fourth start as an interim competitor in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for the injured Alex Bowman. Despite Bowman and the No. 48 team’s eligibility for this year’s All-Star Race after winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2022, Berry does not meet any automatic eligibility criteria for the event as he will attempt to race his way into the main event on Sunday. Nonetheless, the No. 48 pit crew delivered on Friday with the fifth overall and second for the All-Star Open pit stop time at 13.677 seconds.

    Corey LaJoie will line up in third place for his starting spot for the All-Star Open while Harrison Burton, Justin Haley, Michael McDowell, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Preece, Aric Almirola and AJ Allmendinger will start in the top 10.

    NASCAR All-Star Open Lineup (including pit stop time)

    1. Ty Gibbs (13.012 seconds)

    2. Josh Berry (13.677 seconds)

    3. Corey LaJoie (13.911 seconds)

    4. Harrison Burton (14.091 seconds)

    5. Justin Haley (14.294 seconds)

    6. Michael McDowell (14.509 seconds)

    7. Todd Gilliland (14.707 seconds)

    8. Ryan Preece (14.760 seconds)

    9. Aric Almirola (14.776 seconds)

    10. AJ Allmendinger (15.796 seconds)

    11. Josh Bilicki (18.281 seconds)

    12. Ty Dillon (18.447 seconds)

    13. Chandler Smith (19.004 seconds)

    14. Ryan Newman (20.300 seconds)

    15. Noah Gragson (20.886 seconds)

    16. JJ Yeley (21.066 seconds)

    Meanwhile, Daniel Suarez and Chris Buescher were also left victorious after both achieved pole positions for the two Heat Qualifying Races that will occur on Saturday, May 20, beginning at 7:20 p.m. ET on FS1.

    For Suarez, who received the second-fastest pit service from his No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team led by crew chief Travis Mack at 13.297 seconds, he will lead a group of 11 competitors overall to the start of the first Heat event, with the first Heat event determining the starting lineup of the inside lane for the All-Star Race. Joining him on the front row will be Chase Elliott, whose No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 pit crew posted the fourth-overall pit stop time at 13.572 seconds.

    “[The pit crew] are legends,” Suarez said. “I’m very, very fortunate to have an amazing pit crew. We have amazing people and it’s showing. It’s amazing that we’re gonna have a good starting spot [for the Heat Race]. The car is pretty good. I’m confident that we’re gonna be able to keep our track position, have some fun and hopefully, be fighting for the big trophy on Sunday.”

    Buescher, who received the third-fastest pit service from his No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang team led by crew chief Scott Graves at 13.381 seconds, will lead a group of 10 competitors to the start of the second Heat event that will follow suit at 8:15 p.m. ET on FS1 and determine the starting lineup of the outside lane for the All-Star Race. Joining him on the front row will be Austin Dillon, whose No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 pit crew posted the sixth-overall pit stop time at 13.712 seconds.

    “That was awesome,” Buescher said. “I’m so proud of our group. You’re interviewing the wrong person. I had nothing to do with [the result]. I just got it for [the pit crew] and they did a heck of a job. [I’m] Gonna be watching all the on-track activities here these next two days and be ready for this race. We had a really good car in practice too, so I’m pumped right now. That’s awesome.”

    Heat Race #1 Lineup

    1. Daniel Suarez (13.297 seconds)

    2. Chase Elliott (13.572 seconds)

    3. Joey Logano (13.835 seconds)

    4. Denny Hamlin (14.089 seconds)

    5. Chase Briscoe (14.674 seconds)

    6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (15.063 seconds)

    7. Austin Cindric (14.154 seconds)

    8. Kevin Harvick (15.579 seconds)

    9. Ryan Blaney (18.819 seconds)

    10. Christopher Bell (20.064 seconds)

    11. Erik Jones (21.359 seconds)

    Heat Race #2 Lineup

    1. Chris Buescher (13.381 seconds)

    2. Austin Dillon (13.712 seconds)

    3. William Byron (13.867 seconds)

    4. Ross Chastain (14.373 seconds)

    5. Kyle Larson (14.697 seconds)

    6. Martin Truex Jr. (15.115 seconds)

    7. Bubba Wallace (15.167 seconds)

    8. Brad Keselowski (18.044 seconds)

    9. Kyle Busch (19.531 seconds)

    10. Tyler Reddick (21.034 seconds)

    With the starting lineups for both the All-Star Open and the All-Star Race Heat events set, the first All-Star Race Heat event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, May 20, at 7:20 p.m. ET on FS1 followed by the second All-Star Race Heat event that will follow suit at 8:15 p.m. ET on FS1. The All-Star Open is scheduled to occur on Sunday, May 21, at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1 while the All-Star Race will follow suit at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, all at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Starting Lineup:

  • Larson capitalizes late for first Cup triumph at Martinsville

    Larson capitalizes late for first Cup triumph at Martinsville

    Kyle Larson struck gold following a late strategic call to pit for two fresh tires and place himself in race-winning contention, where he then navigated his way to the front during a late-race restart and proceeded to win the NOCO 400 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, April 16.

    The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led the final 30 of 400 scheduled laps in an event that was dominated by all four Stewart-Haas Racing competitors. During a caution period with less than 60 laps remaining amid JJ Yeley’s wreck, Larson pitted with a host of lead lap competitors and opted for two fresh tires to restart towards the front. During the final restart with 46 laps remaining, Larson tracked and overtook Joey Logano, who was running on worn tires, with 30 laps remaining and never looked back as he proceeded to claim his first victory at the Paperclip-shaped short track and his second of the 2023 Cup campaign.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Ryan Preece notched his first Cup career pole after posting a pole-winning lap at 84.780 mph in 19.979 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Daniel Suarez, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 94.298 mph in 20.081 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Joey Logano dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his car.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid an early start due to weather concerns, Preece and Suarez dueled for the lead amid a side-by-side battle through the first two turns until Preece managed to peek ahead and clear Suarez through Turns 3 and 4 as he proceeded to lead the first lap. With Preece out in front of Suarez, Aric Almirola trailed in third followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Briscoe while the rest of the field behind jostled for early positions through two tight-packed lanes.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Preece was leading by a second over Suarez followed by Almirola, Truex and Tyler Reddick while Briscoe, Kevin Harvick, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin and William Byron were in the top 10. Behind, Todd Gilliland was in 11th followed by Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher and AJ Allmendinger while rookie Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Christopher Bell occupied the top 20. By then, Chase Elliott, who returned to competition after recovering from his leg injury from a snowboarding accident in Colorado in early March, was back in 22nd in his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 behind teammate Alex Bowman. In addition, Ryan Blaney was in 24th, Erik Jones was back in 28th behind teammate Noah Gragson and Ross Chastain was mired back in 31st while battling Harrison Burton.

    Fifteen laps later, Preece maintained his advantage to more than a second over Suarez’s No. 99 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while third-place Almirola also trailed by more than a second. Truex and Reddick continued to run in the top five while Larson cracked the top 10 in 10th behind Hamlin as Byron dropped to 11th. Meanwhile, Elliott was mired back in 23rd, Logano was in 32nd and Austin Cindric was all the way back in 34th.

    Another 10 laps later, Preece continued to lead by nearly a second over Suarez, who was slowly starting to close in on Suarez while Almirola trailed by a second in third place. The remainder of the top 10 spots that included Briscoe, Harvick, Wallace, Hamlin and Larson remained unchanged as the leaders started to approach lapped traffic.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Preece, who continued to navigate his way through lapped traffic, retained the lead ahead of Suarez and Almirola as Suarez continued to close in for the lead. Behind, Reddick was in fourth and trailing by nearly four seconds while Briscoe was in fifth ahead of a battle between Truex and Harvick. Wallace, Hamlin and Larson occupied the remaining spots in the top 10 while Byron trailed in 11th. By then, Cindric was lapped by the field.

    By Lap 65, Preece maintained the lead by a second over both Suarez and Almirola while Reddick and Briscoe remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Logano, who was still mired in 32nd, was lapped by the field while Elliott was in 23rd behind Bell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. In addition, teammates Byron and Bowman along with Truex battled for 10th while Blaney was up in 14th in front of Kyle Busch.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 80, Preece steered his No. 41 Haas Ford Mustang to his first Cup career stage victory after leading every lap thus far. Teammate Almirola navigated his way into second followed by Reddick, Suarez and Briscoe while Harvick, Wallace, Hamlin, Larson and Byron were scored in the top 10. By then, 31 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Preece pitted. Following the pit stops, Preece, who received a stellar pit stop from his pit crew, edged Suarez and Almirola off of pit road first to retain the lead while Redick, Harvick and Hamlin exited fourth through sixth, respectively. Following the pit stops, Zane Smith, who was filling in for the suspended Cody Ware, was penalized for speeding on pit road. Kyle Busch and Buescher were also penalized for equipment interference.

    The second stage started on Lap 91 as Preece and Suarez occupied the front row. At the start, Preece battled and pulled ahead of Suarez through the backstretch and entering Turns 3 and 4 to maintain the lead while the field behind battled through two tight-packed lanes for positions. Soon after, teammate Almirola made his way up to second while Harvick and Hamlin were in the top five ahead of 23XI Racing’s Wallace and Reddick.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Preece was leading just ahead of teammate Almirola, Suarez, Harvick and Hamlin while Wallace, Reddick, Larson, Bowman and Truex were in the top 10. Behind, Briscoe was in 11th ahead of Brad Keselowski, Byron, Todd Gilliland and Blaney while Austin Dillon, Bell, Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger and Stenhouse rounded out the top 20.

    Ten laps later, Preece maintained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Almirola, who continued to close in on his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate for the lead despite reporting early concerns of a loose lug nut and wheel to his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang.

    Just past the Lap 125 mark, Preece stabilized his advantage to four-tenths of a second over teammate Almirola while third-place Suarez trailed by more than a second. Meanwhile, fourth-place Harvick trailed by more than two seconds while Bowman cracked the top five in fifth. Hamlin, Wallace, Reddick, Larson and Briscoe were scored in the top 10 while Truex was mired back in 11th ahead of Keselowski, Byron, Gilliland and Blaney. Meanwhile, Bell was in 18th, Chastain was back in 25th, Elliott was mired in 28th and Logano was stuck back in 29th in front of Kyle Busch.

    On Lap 132, the event’s second caution of the event flew when Harrison Burton spun through Turns 1 and 2 amid contact with Erik Jones while Elliott was able to carve his way through without sustaining damage. During the pit stops, nearly the entire field led by Preece returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Preece barely edged Suarez and Almirola in a three-wide photo finish off of pit road first to maintain the lead while Todd Gilliland, Harvick and Bowman followed through from fourth to sixth, respectively. Following the pit stops, however, Preece was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. Wallace and Truex were also sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. Back on the track, however, Chastain, who nearly lost a lap to the leaders during the first stage, remained on the track as he inherited the lead.  

    During the following restart on Lap 142, teammates Chastain and Suarez led the field to the start as Chastain rocketed with the lead on the inside lane. Behind, Almirola and Suarez battled for second in front of Gilliland while Harvick and Larson engaged in a fierce battle for fifth. Not long after, Suarez and Almirola engaged in a fierce battle for second, where Suarez bumped Almirola and both battled dead even through the backstretch and the frontstretch. This allowed Gilliland, who opted for two fresh tires during the previous caution period, to join the battle while Chastain pulled away by more than a second.

    By Lap 160 and amid a series of on-track battles, Chastain was leading by a second over Gilliland while Stewart-Haas Racing’s Harvick and Briscoe moved up to third and fourth in front of Hamlin. Behind, Reddick was in sixth ahead of Suarez, Almirola, Keselowski and Larson while Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Bell, Stenhouse and Allmendinger were in the top 15. Byron, Blaney, Justin Haley, Gragson and Corey LaJoie occupied the top 20 while Preece was mired back in 26th, two spots behind Elliott.

    Seven laps later, Harvick carved his No. 4 Realtree/Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang into the lead after overtaking Chastain. Teammate Briscoe would follow suit another lap later in second followed by a hard-charging Hamlin in his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota TRD Camry. With Gilliland dropping to seventh behind Keselowski, Reddick would then navigate his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry into fourth over Chastain just past the Lap 170 mark while Suarez and Almirola, both of whom ran upfront in the early stages, were back in eighth and ninth.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 180, Harvick, who was making his penultimate Cup start at Martinsville, captured his first stage victory of the 2023 Cup season and his first since 2020. Teammate Briscoe followed suit in second followed by Hamlin, Reddick and Keselowski while Chastain, Gilliland, Suarez, Almirola and Larson were scored in the top 10. By then, 31 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while names that included Byron, Blaney, Preece, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Logano, Wallace and Truex were mired back in 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 28th and 31st. In addition, the sun overshadowed the track.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Harvick pitted. Following the pit stops, Briscoe exited with the lead followed by teammate Harvick, Keselowski, Hamlin, Almirola and Larson.

    With 208 laps remaining, the final stage started as Briscoe and Keselowski occupied the front row followed by Harvick and Almirola. At the start, Briscoe maintained the lead as he jumped away from the field followed by teammate Harvick while Keselowski and Hamlin battled for third in front of Almirola, Larson and Suarez. By then, the field engaged in two tight-packed racing through the corners and straightaways while the cloud cover returned above the Paperclip-shaped track.

    At the race’s halfway mark with 200 laps remaining, Briscoe was leading by three-tenths of a second over teammate Harvick followed by Hamlin, Keselowski and Almirola while Larson, Reddick, Gilliland, Suarez and Chastain were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Bell was in 11th in front of Bowman, Blaney, LaJoie and Gibbs while Allmendinger, Stenhouse, Byron, Haley and Elliott were in the top 20. By then, Preece was in 21st ahead of Kyle Busch, Wallace, Logano and Erik Jones while McDowell, Buescher, Austin Dillon, Truex and Gragson rounded out the top 30.

    With 175 laps remaining, Briscoe continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Harvick while also approaching lapped traffic while third-place Hamlin trailed by four-tenths of a second. As Almirola and Keselowski trailed in the top five, Larson was in sixth ahead of Reddick, Gilliland, Suarez and Chastain.

    With less than 150 laps remaining, Briscoe maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Harvick fell back to third in front of teammate Almirola and Keselowski. Then with 143 laps remaining, Hamlin made his move beneath Briscoe’s No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang and captured the lead while Harvick kept the two leaders within his sights. Harvick would then move into second place after overtaking teammate Briscoe with 137 laps remaining while teammate Almirola followed suit during the following lap, thus placing three of four Stewart-Haas Racing competitors in the top four.

    With 120 laps remaining, Hamlin was leading by two seconds over Harvick followed by Harvick’s teammates Almirola and Briscoe while Keselowski occupied fifth in front of Larson, Reddick, Gilliland, Suarez and Bell. By then, Preece, the fourth Stewart-Haas Racing competitor, was mired in 21st, the final competitor on the lead lap, behind Elliott while names that included Wallace, Logano, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, Truex, Erik Jones, Kyle Busch, Gragson, LaJoie, Harrison Burton and Cindric were lapped by the field.

    Seven laps later, Blaney pitted his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang under green as Hamlin lapped Preece while trying to lap Elliott. By then, Wallace was trying to keep pace with his owner Hamlin to cycle back on the lead lap as Bowman, Reddick, Kyle Busch and Bell pitted. This commenced a cycle of green flag pit stops as Harvick pitted along with Haley, Almirola, Briscoe and others. Not long after, the leader Hamlin pitted under green followed by Larson, Byron, Gilliland and Elliott. Amid the pit stops, AJ Allmendinger was penalized for speeding on pit road. Erik Jones would also be penalized for improper fueling.

    Back on the track and with 107 laps remaining, Keselowski was leading followed by Suarez, Wallace, Logano, Austin Dillon and McDowell and Truex, all of whom had yet to make a pit stop. Meanwhile, Harvick, the first competitor who pitted, was up in eighth as he cycled ahead of Hamlin, Almirola and Briscoe. Suarez would then assume the lead with 100 laps remaining followed by Wallace as Keselowski pitted.

    With 98 laps remaining, however, the caution flew after the right-rear wheel from Anthony Alfredo’s No. 78 BJ McLeod Motorsports entry came off on the frontstretch as the wheel came to rest against the outside wall while Alfredo limped his car back to pit road. During the caution period, a host of lead lap competitors led by Suarez pitted while the rest led by Briscoe, Reddick and Larson remained on the track.

    Down to the final 88 laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Briscoe and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Briscoe fended off Larson to retain the lead as the field stacked up and battled amid two lanes. With Larson maintaining second ahead of Harvick, Reddick and Suarez were in the top five while Logano and Wallace battled for sixth in front of Almirola, Hamlin and Truex.

    With 75 laps remaining, Briscoe was leading by a second over Larson and Reddick in third place, while Harvick and Suarez were in fourth and fifth. By then, 24 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap as the field continued to bump and jostle for late positions.

    Then with 58 laps remaining, the caution returned when JJ Yeley went dead straight into the Turn 3 outside wall while locking up the brakes. By then, Briscoe was leading ahead of Larson, Reddick, Harvick and Suarez. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Briscoe pitted while the rest that included Logano, Almirola and Hamlin remained on the track. Following the pit stops, late disaster struck for Harvick, who returned to pit road with a flat right-front tire as a result of a wheel nut coming loose.

    With 46 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Logano and Almirola occupied the front row. At the start, Logano, who rallied from being mired a lap down during the first stage, gained the advantage on the inside lane as he took off from Almirola and assumed the lead while Hamlin battled and overtook Almirola for second place during the following lap. Larson and Briscoe would then challenge Almirola for third while Logano checked out with the lead by half a second.

    With 35 laps remaining, Logano was leading by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Larson and over a second over third-place Hamlin while Briscoe and Almirola were in the top five. Behind, Stenhouse was up in sixth ahead of Blaney, Truex, Wallace and Suarez while Austin Dillon, Bowman, Chastain, Reddick and Buescher. Meanwhile, Preece was in 17th, Byron was back in 20th after reporting a potential vibration to his car and Harvick was mired back in 24th behind Kyle Busch.

    Then with 30 laps remaining, Larson, who tracked Logano on two fresh tires since the start of the latest restart, overtook and fended off Logano to assume the lead in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while third-place Hamlin kept the two leaders within his sights. By then, teammates Briscoe and Almirola remained in the top five while Truex challenged Stenhouse for sixth.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Larson was leading by more than two seconds over Logano and more than three seconds over Hamlin. Larson then extended his advantage to more than three seconds with 10 laps remaining and with five laps remaining. By then, Logano retained second over a hard-charging Truex while Hamlin, Briscoe and Almirola fell back to fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Meanwhile, Elliott cracked the top 10 in 10th place after overtaking Austin Dillon as he had Wallace within his sights.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by nearly four seconds over Logano. With a clear view in front of him and no challengers lurking behind, Larson was able to cycle his way around the Paperclip-shaped short track for a final time as he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his first checkered flag at the track.

    With his first victory at Martinsville, Larson notched his 21st NASCAR Cup Series career victory and his second of the season after winning two weeks ago at Richmond Raceway. As a result, he joined teammate William Byron as the only other multi-race Cup winner of this season and delivered the all-time leading 28th Martinsville victory for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson’s victory occurred as crew chief Cliff Daniels returned atop the No. 5 pit box following a four-week suspension amid the hood louver penalties that affected all of Hendrick Motorsports’ entries from Phoenix Raceway in March.

    “Huge congratulations to this whole No. 5 team and Hendrick Motorsports,” Larson, who had two top-three finishes at Martinsville prior to his victory, said on FS1. “I feel like [crew chief] Cliff [Daniels] and everybody did a great job all day on pit road. Making the right calls, having great pit stops and then, it all kind of worked out for me there at the end. We had a great car. That was the best my car had been in being able to get out front and manage. I never ever would have thought that I would won here at Martinsville. This place has been so tough on me. [The track] Just does not suit my driving style at all. I like to charge the center. I like to roll momentum. That’s just not what this place is like, but thanks to Cliff Daniels and everybody for making me feel like I know what I’m doing sometimes around here. Just can’t believe it.”

    Logano fended off Truex to finish second while Hamlin and Briscoe finished in the top five.

    “It’s a solid recovery for what the start of the race looked like,” Logano said. “We went down a lap twice, two times. At one point in the race, I would have been just happy to finish on the lead lap. [Crew chief] Paul [Wolfe] did a good job of getting some good changes to the Verizon Mustang to where I got competitive. We just needed track position. [I] Was able to stay out, get a lucky caution there during a green flag cycle. Stayed out again when everyone pitted. It put ourselves on the front row and a shot to win the race. I tried holding off Larson as long as I could, but overall, there’s days when you’re mad about second. Today’s not one of those days when you’re pretty stoked that you finished a little better than I thought we were going to.”

    “We had kind of a crazy day with our Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD,” Truex said. “Really just got a little bit lucky there, getting back to the lead lap midrace and just kept working on our car. We were just loose all day long and then finally at the end, we got it a whole lot better. It was fun at the end, passing a lot of cars and getting up there. Still needed to be a little bit better, but overall, proud of everybody sticking with it and just grinding one out today.”

    Almirola navigated his way to a sixth-place result followed by Blaney, Stenhouse and Wallace while Chase Elliott earned a 10th-place result in his return to competition following a six-race absence.

    “[Today] was pretty good,” Elliott said. “It was about what I expected, so it was a good thing. It was warm and I’ve been sitting on the couch for six weeks, so I think that probably hurt me more than anything. Our NAPA Chevy, we struggled really bad, honestly, for every run but the last. We finally got it going there at the end and I was able to make some passes and do things that I didn’t really think I was capable of doing early. I was pleasantly surprised by that and got us a top 10 out of our first day back, so that was definitely nothing to be too bummed out about.”

    Notably, Preece ended up 15th after leading a race-high 136 laps, Suarez finished 17th, Harvick settled in 20th and Byron fell back to 23rd behind Reddick.

    There were 10 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 50 laps. In addition, 24 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the ninth event of the 2023 Cup Series season, Christopher Bell leads the regular-season standings by five points over Ross Chastain, 15 over Kevin Harvick, 17 over Kyle Larson, 36 over Martin Truex Jr. and 37 over Tyler Reddick.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Larson, 30 laps led

    2. Joey Logano, 25 laps led

    3. Martin Truex Jr.

    4. Denny Hamlin, 36 laps led

    5. Chase Briscoe, 109 laps led

    6. Aric Almirola

    7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    8. Ryan Blaney

    9. Bubba Wallace

    10. Chase Elliott

    11. Alex Bowman

    12. Austin Dillon

    13. Ross Chastain, 31 laps led

    14. Chris Buescher

    15. Ryan Preece, 135 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    16. Christopher Bell

    17. Daniel Suarez, seven laps led

    18. Ty Gibbs

    19. Michael McDowell

    20. Kevin Harvick, 20 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    21. Kyle Busch

    22. Tyler Reddick

    23. William Byron

    24. Brad Keselowski, seven laps led

    25. Todd Gilliland, one lap down

    26. Corey LaJoie, one lap down

    27. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

    28. Justin Haley, two laps down

    29. Harrison Burton, two laps down

    30. Noah Gragson, two laps down

    31. Erik Jones, two laps down

    32. Ty Dillon, three laps down

    33. Austin Cindric, three laps down

    34. Zane Smith, five laps down

    35. Anthony Alfredo, 10 laps down

    36. JJ Yeley – OUT

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ first of two visits to Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, for the GEICO 500. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, April 23, at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Josh Berry finishes second at Richmond to score his best Cup Series career finish

    Josh Berry finishes second at Richmond to score his best Cup Series career finish

    Josh Berry claimed his best Cup Series career result with a second-place finish Sunday at Richmond Raceway. It was his fourth start in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet filling in for the injured Chase Elliott and his second top-10.

    Berry was involved early in the race in an incident with Ryan Blaney but rebounded to a runner-up finish.

    He acknowledged interim crew chief Tom Gray who is leading the team while Alan Gustafson is serving a four-race suspension after L-2 penalties levied by NASCAR for unapproved parts modifications at Phoenix Raceway. Gray made the pivotal call for Berry to stay out on the track during the final cycle of green flag pit stops.

    “Man, this is really cool,” Berry said. “I have to give all the credit to this NAPA team. Tom, Alan, remotely, of course, and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, they made some great calls. When we got some clean track, we weren’t running bad lap times.

    “I’m so glad they tried something different to get us there at the end. I felt like we were decent the whole time. Just getting in cleaner air (was key). We were free to race with Kyle. Man, what a huge day. You know, to come here and start in the back, no practice, qualifying, get spun out, work through the field like that, just second place, it’s pretty cool.”

    Gray agreed that it was a collaboration between the crew and the driver.

    “At the end of the race, it was a team effort, he said. “He had to help hold up his end of the bargain, and he did that. So yeah, that’s what made it work.”

    “Then, at the end there, we were banking on a caution, and even without a caution, I thought we were gonna still finish pretty well. Those other guys got smart when they saw us with the strategy, so we kind of had to do something different. It all worked out really well, so it was good, and kudos to him. Like I said, he’s a big part of that.”

    After the final caution and pit stop, Berry restarted second to the eventual race leader, Kyle Larson, who led the final 13 laps to claim his first Cup Series win of the season.

    Jeff Gordon, four-time NASCAR champion and vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, spoke about the growth he has seen in Berry while subbing for Elliott.

    “When you look at his lap times, he is a guy that he gets in there, he feels the car out, he doesn’t take too many risks or chances until he knows what he has. Then you just start to see the lap times come and build and the runs start to come together.

    “And every time I’m scanning, I kept hearing by the end of the run, Hey, those lap times are really good. Hey, those lap times are similar to the leaders’. So he clearly knows how to manage tires and manage a race well. It seems like the longer the race, the better he does. We’re really happy with the job that he has done.

    “Certainly everybody has known his talent watching him in other forms of racing, late models, and the Xfinity Series. You have to put him in other cars with other teams and other people to really see how far he could take it.”

    And, from what Gordon has observed, Berry has not only met but exceeded their expectations, saying, “I think he’s got a future in the Cup Series.”