Tag: kyle busch

  • Kyle Busch outduels Heim for final lap victory at Pocono; delivers 100th Truck victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports

    Kyle Busch outduels Heim for final lap victory at Pocono; delivers 100th Truck victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports

    After spending the majority of the late stages being schooled by a former Kyle Busch Motorsports competitor Corey Heim, the bossman Kyle Busch had an extra trick saved up his sleeves to execute a final lap pass on Heim and record a monumental NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in the CRC Brakleen 150 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 22.

    The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion from Las Vegas, Nevada, led twice for seven of 60 scheduled laps in an event marred with late chaos and battles amongst series regulars battling for the final handful of spots to make the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs. All that was on the mindset for Kyle Busch, though, was recording the 100th Truck Series victory for his organization, Kyle Busch Motorsports.

    To accomplish the feat, Busch had to navigate his way around Heim for the lead. Heim, however, did not relinquish the lead to Busch without a fight as he retained the spot since Lap 33 and through a series of on-track battles. Then amid a five-lap dash to the finish and after appearing to settle in second behind Heim, Busch seized upon an opportunity on the final lap to gain a run on Heim and execute a final lap pass on him with two corners remaining to rocket away and record the elusive 100th victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, July 21, rookie Nick Sanchez notched his fourth Truck Series pole position of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning speed at 168.966 mph in 53.265 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Jake Garcia, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 168.306 mph in 53.474 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included Ben Rhodes, Josh Reaume, Dean Thompson, Ty Majeski and Christian Eckes dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a stacked start that caused some competitors running towards the rear of the field to fan out and sustain damage to their trucks, Sanchez received a push from Carson Hocevar on the outside lane to rocket ahead with the lead entering Turn 1. As Hocevar tried to make a move beneath Sanchez, the latter rocketed ahead through the first turn and entering Long Pond Straight while Hocevar moved in front of Garcia to retain second as Grant Enfinger joined the battle. As the field battled amid two lanes through the Tunnel Curve and entering Turn 3, Sanchez managed to retain the lead when he returned to the frontstretch and lead the first lap while Garcia and Hocevar battled for second.

    Through the second lap, Zane Smith made a three-wide move on Garcia and Hocevar through the frontstretch to move his No. 38 Birch Gold Group Ford F-150 into the runner-up spot. Soon after, Matt DiBenedetto and Enfinger rocketed past Hocevar along with Austin Hill through Long Pond Straight as Chase Purdy and Corey Heim trailed closely behind in eighth and ninth. By then, however, Sanchez stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Zane Smith.

    On the third lap, the first caution of the event flew when Tanner Gray, who was running 15th, snapped sideways underneath teammate Kaz Grala and was barely clipped by Tyler Ankrum in the front end before he spun below the track and collided head-on into the inside wall in Turn 1. With the damage to his No. 15 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro deemed terminal and leaking fluid, the wreck also took a significant hit towards Gray’s efforts to make the 2023 Truck Playoffs as he initially came into the event 24 points below the top-10 cutline.

    During the caution period, select names that included Tyler Ankrum, Deegan, Lawless Alan, Cory Roper, Stephen Mallozzi, Josh Reaume and Kaden Honeycutt pitted while the rest led by Sanchez remained on the track. Among those who pitted included Crafton, who pitted for repairs to his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 following the contact at the start of the race.

    As the race restarted under green on the eighth lap, Zane Smith rocketed into the lead while running on the inside lane after receiving a push from DiBenedetto, who overtook Sanchez for the runner-up spot in the process. Through Turn 1 and across Long Pond Straight, Smith started to place a gap between himself and DiBenedetto as he retained the lead while the field behind jostled for positions.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Zane Smith was leading by nine-tenths of a second over DiBenedetto followed by Sanchez, Austin Hill and Garcia while Enfinger, Kyle Busch, Taylor Gray, Stewart Friesen and Hocevar were in the top 10. Behind, Corey Heim was in 11th ahead of a battle between Purdy, Christopher Bell, rookie Rajah Caruth and Christian Eckes while Dean Thompson, Parker Kligerman, Ross Chastain, Kaz Grala and Ben Rhodes were scored in the top 20.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 15, Zane Smith claimed his third stage victory of the 2023 Truck season. Sanchez settled in second after navigating his way around DiBenedetto the lap prior, with DiBenedetto settled in third as Kyle Busch, Austin Hill, Garcia, Heim, Enfinger, Friesen and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, select names that included Rhodes, Chastain, Grala, Kaden Honeycutt, DiBenedetto, Enfinger, Taylor Gray, Colby Howard, Grala, Stefan Parsons, Ankrum, Hocevar, Kligerman and Austin Hill pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 20 as Zane Smith and Kyle Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Busch received a strong push from Heim on the inside lane to rocket ahead of Smith with the lead exiting the frontstretch. Heim then ducked his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro beneath Busch’s No. 51 Zariz Transport Chevrolet Silverado RST in a bid to take the lead entering Turn 1. Though Heim succeeded through Turn 1 and entering Long Pond Straight, Busch responded back through the Long Pond Straight by rocketing past Heim to assume the lead as Friesen tried to overtake Heim for second, with the latter retaining the spot. As the field behind continued to fan out and jostle for spots, Busch started to stretch his advantage as he was leading by more than six-tenths of a second when he returned to the frontstretch.

    By Lap 22, Busch was leading by more than eight-tenths of a second over Heim followed by Friesen, Zane Smith and Garcia while Eckes, Sanchez, Bell, Purdy and Hocevar were in the top 10.

    Three laps later, Kyle Busch continued to lead by nine-tenths of a second over Heim while Friesen, Zane Smith and Eckes remained in the top five. As Garcia, Sanchez, Bell, Purdy and Hocevar remained in the top 10, Ty Majeski was in 11th followed by Taylor Gray, Dean Thompson, DiBenedetto and Kligerman while Enfinger, Rhodes, Ankrum, Chastain and Austin Hill occupied the top 20 with Crafton running in 21st ahead of Caruth, Grala, Colby Howard and Stefan Parsons trailing behind.

    Then on Lap 27, a bevy of names that included race leader Kyle Busch, Heim, Eckes, Garcia, Hocevar, Purdy, Taylor Gray, Majeski, Thompson, Kligerman, Grala, Chastain, Bell and Austin Hill pitted under green. Amid the pit stops, Zane Smith reassumed the lead while Friesen, who missed the opportunity to pit with the front-runners, and Sanchez were in second and third.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 30, Zane Smith collected his second stage victory of the season and the fourth of this year’s Truck season. Friesen settled in second while Sanchez, DiBenedetto, Enfinger, Rhodes, Ankrum, Rajah Caruth, Colby Howard and Crafton were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of lead lap competitors led by Zane Smith and including Rhodes, Friesen, Sanchez, DiBenedetto, Enfinger, Ankrum, rookie Daniel Dye, Stefan Parsons, Tyler Hill, Lawless Alan, Caruth, Cory Roper, Spencer Boyd, Crafton, Kaden Honeycutt, Bret Holmes and Hailie Deegan pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track.

    With 25 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Heim and Kyle Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Heim and Busch dueled for the lead exiting the frontstretch until Heim managed to rocket ahead from the outside lane and with a push from teammate Taylor Gray to lead Busch and the field through the first turn. As the field fanned out through the Long Pond Straight, Heim was out in front of the pack with Busch trailing by two-tenths of a second.

    The following lap, the battle for the lead intensified as Busch tried to gain a run beneath Heim entering Turn 1. Heim, however, was quick to rocket ahead and move back in front of Busch entering Long Pond Straight to retain the lead. As Taylor Gray tried to close in on the two leaders amid the draft in his No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Busch tried to gain another run beneath Heim entering the first turn during the following lap, but history repeated itself as Heim rocketed ahead from the outside lane and with the lead within his grasp. Behind, Chastain briefly lost his momentum after making contact with Eckes that caused him to slip out of the top 10 through Turn 1.

    With less than 20 laps remaining, Heim was leading by more than two-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch, who closed in and started to intimidate Heim for the top spot once again, while third-place Taylor Gray trailed by more than a second. As both continued to battle fiercely for the lead amid the draft, Heim continued to retain the top spot by a narrow margin over Busch, who could not execute his runs to overtake his former Kyle Busch Motorsports driver.

    Then with 15 laps remaining, the caution flew for a two-truck incident involving the front row starters after Sanchez, the pole-sitter, slid underneath Garcia in Turn 1 and sent Garcia into the outside wall and with significant damage to the No. 35 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST, thus terminating Garcia’s race, while Sanchez spun sideways below the track and amid a cloud of smoke as he emerged with right-side damage to his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST. At the time of the caution period, Heim was still leading by three-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch.

    During the caution period, some that included Crafton, Deegan, Colby Howard, Ankrum, Lawless Alan, Tyler Hill, Roper, Reaume, Spencer Boyd, Chastain and Honeycutt pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track.

    Down to the final nine laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Heim received another shove from teammate Taylor Gray on the outside lane to rocket ahead and retain the lead entering the first turn with Kyle Busch following pursuit through the first turn as Bell and Majeski were in the top five. As the field fanned out through the first turn and entering Long Pond Straight, the caution quickly returned when Hocevar slid up the track and made contact with Grala while battling for seventh. The contact caused Grala to slide sideways as he clipped and sent Kligerman’s No. 75 Tide Chevrolet Silverado RST scraping into the outside wall through Long Pond Straight while Friesen collided into Grala before he was T-boned by Austin Hill’s No. 7 ARCO Chevrolet Silverado RST as more competitors that included Stefan Parsons, Chastain, Lawless Alan and Zane Smith, whose truck erupted in flames, were all collected.

    The incident proved costly for Friesen, who was unable to continue with a damaged No. 52 Halmar Toyota Tundra TRD Pro and was scored above the Playoff cutline prior to the incident, while Crafton, who pitted during the previous caution period and was below the cutline, was able to methodically navigate his way through the incident without any damage. The incident was also enough for the event to be placed in a red flag period.

    When the red flag lifted amid a 13-minute delay period, the race restarted under green with five laps remaining as Heim and Kyle Busch retained the front row. At the start, Heim, who received another push from teammate Taylor Gray on the outside lane, retained the lead over Kyle Busch, who was receiving a shove from Christopher Bell, entering Turn 1. As the field returned to the frontstretch with four laps remaining, Heim was leading by three-tenths of a second over Busch while Taylor Gray, Bell and Enfinger followed pursuit in the top five.

    With three laps remaining, Heim continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch, who nearly executed a move and pass on Heim for the lead before relenting and settling in second. By then, however, Taylor Gray started to close in on the two leaders as he was trailing by only six-tenths of a second. Heim would retain the lead by four-tenths of a second over runner-up Busch and seven-tenths of a second over third-place Taylor Gray with two laps remaining.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch and seven-tenths of a second over Taylor Gray. Then after trailing Heim through the first turn, Busch executed a final lap charge and got to Heim’s rear bumper through the Long Pond Straight. He then made his move beneath Heim through the Tunnel Turn and rocketed away with the lead without making contact with Heim. With Busch pulling away and Heim unable to return the favor, Busch was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and record both his second Truck victory of the 2023 season and the 100th victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

    With the victory, Busch, who was making his fifth and final Truck Series start of the 2023 season and whose latest series victory occurred at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, notched his series-leading 64th Craftsman Truck Series career victory as a driver, his second of the season piloting a Chevrolet Silverado RST and with veteran crew chief Brian Pattie and his third in the series at Pocono.

    Overall, Kyle Busch Motorsports, which first won at Nashville Superspeedway in 2010 with Busch and is the winningest team in the Craftsman Truck Series, has now accumulated 100 Truck victories between 18 different competitors, with Busch achieving 48 for his organization. The Pocono victory also marked KBM’s eighth overall victory in nine seasons at the Tricky Triangle.

    Photo by Kirk Schroll for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Yeah, I mean [the win]’s pretty cool,” Busch said on FS1. “We’ve been around for a long time. Not as long as others [teams], obviously. They’ve withstood a little bit longer, but it’s been fun. A great ride. This Silverado today was really, really fast. [I was] Just mired in traffic. Couldn’t find a way to make a clean move, so had to make little bit of a dicey one there at the end getting into [Turn] 2. Heim ran a great race. We needed this 100th win to get it over with.”

    “It’s a monumental day,” Busch added. “It’s a century mark of being able to win 100 Truck races. We’re, granted, a small team and just one that performs in the Truck Series. We ventured away once upon a time and didn’t quite work, but we found a home in the Trucks. It’s cool to always score a victory and another nice one here at Pocono.”

    Heim, coming off a victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course two weeks ago, was left disappointed on pit road after falling one lap shy of notching his third victory of the season at the Tricky Triangle. Despite the disappointment, Heim, who extended his lead in the regular-season standings to 42 points over Zane Smith, commended the battle and final overtake from Busch, whom Heim competed for, won two Truck races and claimed the Rookie-of-the-Year title a year ago.

    “Just unreal,” Heim said. “I felt like I did everything right. It seemed like we had about five laps in the truck before it started tightening up really bad on me. [I] Didn’t really get the run I wanted out of [Turn] 1 and I knew [Busch]’s straightaway speed was really good. I was a little upset initially, but realistically, I would’ve done the exact same thing. A heat of the moment deal there, but looking back on it, I’ve just got a lot of respect for Kyle. I’ve raced for him for two years. He was really good to me, and he raced me with respect today. Hard racer. He didn’t wreck us to win, and I would’ve probably done the same thing. Just really sucks. I really thought we had it there, especially with seeming that he couldn’t really form up a run good enough to pass me and he sends it in on the last lap. All the blame goes on me for not doing what I should’ve done.”

    Rookie Taylor Gray notched a career-best third-place result after crossing the finish line nine-tenths of a behind Kyle Busch while Christopher Bell and Enfinger finished in the top five.

    Ty Majeski, Eckes, Dean Thompson, Ben Rhodes and DiBenedetto completed the top 10. Notably, Hocevar ended up 11th in front of Ankrum, Crafton came home 14th behind Hailie Deegan, Caruth ended up 16th in front of teammate Daniel Dye and Sanchez ended up 19th behind Chase Purdy.

    There were five lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 20 laps. In addition, 29 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With one regular-season event remaining on the schedule, Corey Heim continues to lead the regular-season standings by 42 points over Zane Smith and 59 over Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes and Ty Majeski.

    Currently, Corey Heim, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Christian Eckes and Carson Hocevar are guaranteed spots for the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. In addition, Ty Majeski, who finished sixth at Pocono, has clinched a Playoff spot despite being winless through 15 regular-season events. That leaves Matt DiBenedetto, rookie Nick Sanchez and Matt Crafton holding sole possessions of the final three transfer spots to make the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs entering next weekend’s regular-season finale at Richmond Raceway that will set the 10-truck Playoff field. Crafton holds the 10th and final transfer spot by nine points over Stewart Friesen, 47 over Tanner Gray, 54 over Chase Purdy, 71 over Tyler Ankrum and 94 over rookie Jake Garcia.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Busch, seven laps led

    2. Corey Heim, 27 laps led

    3. Taylor Gray

    4. Christopher Bell

    5. Grant Enfinger

    6. Ty Majeski

    7. Christian Eckes

    8. Dean Thompson

    9. Ben Rhodes

    10. Matt DiBenedetto

    11. Carson Hocevar

    12. Tyler Ankrum

    13. Hailie Deegan

    14. Matt Crafton

    15. Colby Howard

    16. Rajah Caruth

    17. Daniel Dye

    18. Chase Purdy

    19. Nick Sanchez, seven laps led

    20. Kaden Honeycutt

    21. Tyler Hill

    22. Parker Kligerman

    23. Cory Roper

    24. Stephen Mallozzi

    25. Spencer Boyd

    26. Josh Reaume

    27. Lawless Alan

    28. Stefan Parsons

    29. Bret Holmes

    30. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident

    31. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident

    32. Stewart Friesen – OUT, Accident

    33. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident

    34. Zane Smith – OUT, Accident, 19 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    35. Jake Garcia – OUT, Accident

    36. Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident

    The 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular-season stretch is set to conclude next Saturday, July 29, at Richmond Raceway, where the 2023 Truck Series Playoff field will be determined. The event’s coverage is set to commence at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: New Hampshire

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: New Hampshire

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex swept the stages and was the dominant car all day at New Hampshire on his way to the win in the Crayon 301.

    “I was thrilled to hoist the huge lobster given to the winner,” Truex said. “Especially since this is my first win at New Hampshire. And it’s a memory I’ll treasure forever. And one day, I’ll tell my kids all about it. It will be my personal lobster tale.”

    2. Joey Logano: Logano came up short at his home track, settling for the runner-up spot at New Hampshire behind Martin Truex Jr.

    “If some filed a motion that Truex was unstoppable on Monday,” Logano said, “I’m best qualified to ‘second’ it.”

    3. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished seventh in the Crayon 301.

    “Congratulations to my teammate Martin Truex Jr.,” Hamlin said. “He drove like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately for NASCAR ratings, there was a tomorrow.”

    4. William Byron: Byron finished 24th in the Crayon 301.

    “Chase Elliott is in danger of missing the NASCAR playoffs,” Byron said. “But I think, with the support of Hooters and the Dawsonville Pool Hall, he’ll be able to ‘rack’ up a win to get him in the playoffs.”

    5. Kyle Larson: Larson led six laps and finished third in the Crayon 301, posting his ninth top-five of the year.

    “Martin Truex Jr. was just unstoppable,” Larson said. “I have nothing but kind words to say about him. Those words are so much more meaningful when they’re not a requirement of sensitivity training.”

    6. Kyle Busch: Busch got loose and nailed the wall at the end of Stage 1, damaging the right side of his No. 8 Chevrolet. Busch finished last, completing only 71 laps.

    “In addition,” Busch said, “I crashed in qualifying and had to start at the back of the field. So, I was pretty much handcuffed from the start. So, now I’ve been handcuffed in two countries.”

    7. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished 22nd at New Hampshire.

    “This race was called the ‘Crayon 301,’” Blaney said. “Surprisingly, it’s ‘Crayon Software Experts,’ and not the crayons children color with, or many NASCAR fans write with.”

    8. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished 23rd at New Hampshire.

    “Ryan Newman was driving the No. 15 car for Rick Ware Racing,” Logano said. “That means only one thing: Rusty Wallace was nowhere near the race track.”

    9. Christopher Bell: Bell started on the pole at New Hampshire and finished 30th, a lap down.

    “I had to make an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 74 for a loose wheel,” Bell said. “That pretty much ruined my day. I don’t know who it was, but one of my pit crewmen screwed me. Actually, he didn’t screw me enough.”

    10. Kevin Harvick: Harvick led 10 laps and finished fourth in the Crayon 301.

    “There are six more races until the playoffs start,” Harvick said. “That means it’s ‘crunch time.’ Now, if you’re racing anywhere near Ross Chastain, it’s always crunch time.”

  • Truex dominates for third Cup victory of 2023 at New Hampshire

    Truex dominates for third Cup victory of 2023 at New Hampshire

    In his 30th start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. is no longer winless at the track dubbed the Magic Mile after capping off a dominant performance to win the rain-postponed Crayon 301 on Monday, July 17.

    The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Mayetta, New Jersey, led five times for a race-high 254 of 301-scheduled laps, including the final 24, in an event where he swept both stages and dominated after assuming the lead from teammate and pole-sitter Christopher Bell on the second lap. Amid mixed strategy and a late call for two fresh tires during a late caution period, Truex reassumed the lead from Kevin Harvick with 24 laps remaining and had appeared to cruise to the victory before two late caution periods for two separate incident under the final 22 laps stalled his progress. Then during a nine-lap dash to the finish, Truex was not to be denied after he rocketed away from the field and held off a late charge from Joey Logano to capture his first elusive checkered flag at the Magic Mile and his third of the 2023 Cup season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, July 15, Christopher Bell notched his first Cup pole of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 124.781 mph in 30.524 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Martin Truex Jr., who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 124.752 mph in 30.531 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Kyle Busch dropped to the rear of the field due to repairs after wrecking his primary car during Saturday’s qualifying session.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced on Monday after Sunday’s scheduled start was postponed due to precipitation, Bell jumped ahead while starting on the outside lane and fended off teammate Truex and Joey Logano to retain the lead through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. As the field behind battled within two lanes before fanning out through Turns 3 and 4, Bell managed to lead the first lap ahead of Truex.

    On the second lap and as the field continued to fan out and jostle for early positions, Truex gained a run on Bell through the backstretch and made his move beneath his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate to assume the lead in his No. 19 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota TRD Camry entering Turns 3 and 4. Bell, however, fought back as both dueled for the lead through the frontstretch before Truex managed to rocket ahead on the outside lane and clear Bell through the first two turns. As Logano tried to close in on Bell for the runner-up spot, Truex continued to lead at the fifth lap mark.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Truex was leading by nine-tenths of a second over teammate Bell followed by Logano, Aric Almirola and Ryan Blaney while Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Daniel Suarez and Brad Keselowski were running in the top 10. Behind, AJ Allmendinger was in 11th ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Denny Hamlin while Austin Dillon, Austin Cindric, Chris Buescher, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Alex Bowman was in 26th ahead of rookie Ty Gibbs, Ross Chastain was mired in 29th behind Erik Jones, Chase Briscoe was strapped in 30th, Kyle Busch was back in 32nd and Ryan Newman was in 35th.

    Ten laps later, Truex stabilized his advantage to more than a second over teammate Bell while third-place Logano trailed by more than three seconds. With Almirola and Blaney continuing to run in the top five, Reddick, Byron, Wallace, Suarez and Keselowski continued to run in the top 10. By then, Hamlin moved up from 15th to 12th while Elliott lost a spot from 14th to 15th. In addition, Harvick moved up from 19th to 18th and Kyle Busch moved up from 32nd to 31st.

    Then on Lap 27, the first caution of the event flew when Allmendinger, who was running just outside the top 10, spun in Turn 2 after getting loose on his own, though he managed to proceed without sustaining any damage to his No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Allmendinger’s spin served as the scheduled competition caution planned on Lap 30, with Truex still leading ahead of teammate Bell, Logano, Almirola and Blaney.

    During the competition caution period, nearly the entire field led by Truex pitted for service while Stenhouse remained on the track to assume the lead. Following the pit stops, Byron exited first after only opting for two fresh tires followed by Hamlin while Truex, the first competitor who changed for four fresh tires, exited third ahead of McDowell, Almirola, Suarez and Reddick amid mixed strategies ensuing. Amid the pit stops, Austin Dillon and Corey LaJoie were both penalized for speeding on pit road.

    When the race resumed under green flag conditions on Lap 33, the field fanned out through the first two turns as Truex tried to overtake both Byron and Stenhouse for the lead. With Truex briefly getting loose, Byron managed to cycle his No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead followed by Truex. As the field continued to fan out and jostle amid competitors on mixed strategies, Almirola and Reddick moved up to third and fourth while Stenhouse was being intimidated by Hamlin and Suarez for fifth. With Bell, who endured a slow service during the competition caution, also trying to move back up to the front as he was mired in the top 10, Byron, running on two fresh tires, was still leading by half a second over Truex and his four fresh tires.

    Just past the Lap 40 mark, the battle for the lead started to intensify as Truex closed in and tried to gain a run to overtake Byron for the top spot. Then on Lap 43, Truex overtook and cleared Byron for the lead through Turns 3 and 4. With Truex back out in front, Reddick started to gain ground on the two leaders while Almirola and Hamlin were in the top five. Meanwhile, Stenhouse had drifted back to 25th in his No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while on four worn tires while Blaney, Bell, Suarez, McDowell and Logano were running in the top 10.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Truex was leading by more than a second over Byron followed by Reddick, Almirola and Hamlin while Blaney, Bell, Suarez, Logano and McDowell were in the top 10. Behind, Brad Keselowski was in 11th ahead of Larson, Bowman, Ty Gibbs and Buescher while Harvick, Wallace, Elliott, Ryan Preece and Cole Custer were mired in the top 20. Meanwhile, Chastain was in 21st ahead of Justin Haley, Briscoe was in 23rd ahead of Harrison Burton and Cindric, Allmendinger was mired back in 26th in front of Kyle Busch and Stenhouse had dropped back to 34th behind Austin Dillon and rookie Noah Gragson.

    Ten laps later, Truex extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Byron while third-place Reddick trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, Almirola, Blaney, Bell, Hamlin, Suarez, Logano and McDowell remained in the top 10 while Larson moved up to 11th ahead of Keselowski. In addition, Harvick cracked the top 15 in 14th, Elliott retained 18th and Kyle Busch only moved up to 26th behind Allmendinger.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 70, Truex captured his second stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Byron fended off Reddick to settle in second while Almirola, Blaney, Bell, Hamlin, Suarez, Logano and McDowell were scored in the top 10. At the stage’s conclusion, Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 emerged with smoke after the two-time Cup Series champion made contact with the outside wall in Turn 1 and damaged the right side of his car, an incident that would end Busch’s long start in the garage. Behind Busch, Corey LaJoie also suffered the same fate as his car went dead straight towards the wall.

    Under the stage break, the field led by Truex returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Truex retained the lead after exiting first followed by Byron, Bell, Almirola, Blaney, Hamlin and Reddick. Amid the pit stops, Reddick and BJ McLeod were penalized for speeding while exiting pit road. Soon after, more pit issues struck for Bell, who pitted for a second time due to a loose wheel to his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry as he was mired back in the field.

    The second stage started on Lap 77 as Truex and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out to three lanes entering the first two turns as Truex rocketed away with the lead. Behind, Almirola challenged Byron for second while Hamlin and Blaney also dueled for fourth. During the following lap and amid more on-track battles within the middle of the pack, Logano was in sixth ahead of a battle between Larson and Keselowski while Suarez and Wallace were in the top 10 ahead of McDowell, Harvick, Buescher, Ty Gibbs and Briscoe with Bowman, Chastain, Allmendinger, Haley and Elliott mired in the top 20.

    By Lap 90, Truex was leading by more than a second over Almirola while Hamlin cycled his No. 11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota TRD Camry into third place followed by Blaney while Byron had fallen back to fifth. Behind, Larson moved his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to sixth in front of Logano while Keselowski, McDowell and Suarez were in the top 10.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Truex extended his advantage by more than four seconds over Almirola while Hamlin, Blaney and Larson were running in the top five. By then, Byron had dropped to ninth as Logano, Keselowski and McDowell overtook him while Suarez retained 10th in front of Wallace, Harvick, Bell, Gibbs and Buescher. Meanwhile, Chastain was in 19th behind Allmendinger, Reddick was mired back in 21st and Elliott had fallen back to 24th.

    Twenty-five laps later, Truex continued to lead by more than three seconds over Almirola while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than five seconds. With Blaney and Larson still running in the top five, Bell returned to the top 10 as he was 10th while trying to close in on a two-car battle between McDowell and Harvick while Byron and Suarez had fallen to 11th and 12th.

    Another three laps later, green flag pit stops ensued as Reddick pitted his No. 45 Draft Kings Network Toyota TRD Camry. Bell would follow suit to pit along with Byron and Haley, both of whom made contact as Byron was trying to exit his pit stall while Haley was trying to enter his. Soon after, a bevy of names that included Wallace, Todd Gilliland, Cindric, Larson, Keselowski, McDowell, Bowman, Buescher, Briscoe, Almendinger, Chastain, Logano, Harvick, Ty Gibbs, Harrison Burton, Larson, Cole Custer, Hamlin and Blaney pitted. Truex would then pit from the lead on Lap 132 followed by Almirola and Suarez. At the conclusion of his pit stops, Truex, who exited pit road ahead of Almirola, quickly cycled back to the lead after Elliott, who cycled into a brief lead, pitted under green.

    At the halfway mark between Laps 150 and 151, Truex was leading by more than four seconds over Almirola followed by Hamlin, Blaney and Larson while Logano, Bell, Keselowski, Harvick and Austin Dillon were running in the top 10. By then, 19 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while names that included Briscoe, Noah Gragson, Harrison Burton, Elliott, Erik Jones, Cindric and Chastain were pinned a lap down.

    Then on Lap 161, the caution flew when Erik Jones, who was a lap down, spun his No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 4. At the moment of caution, Wallace, who was mired in 18th, had managed to remain ahead of the leader Truex, who was leading by more than four seconds over Almirola, while Briscoe, who was in 19th, had managed to emerge as the first competitor a lap down over Harrison Burton and receive the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap.

    During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Truex pitted. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategy, Almirola cycled into the lead after only opting for two fresh tires along with Larson, Logano and Harvick, all of whom also opted for two fresh tires, while Truex, Hamlin and Blaney followed suit on four fresh tires.

    With 17 laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, however, trouble struck for Almirola, who veered sideways through Turns 1 and 2 before smacking the outside wall after the right-rear wheel on Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang was loose and preparing to come off of the car. The issue stemmed from Almirola’s two-tire pit service during the previous caution period, where the rear tire changer was unable to properly tighten the right-rear tire prior to Almirola leaving the pit box. With the caution quickly returning, Larson cycled into the lead followed by Logano, Truex, Hamlin and Harvick.

    During the ensuing restart with 11 laps remaining in the second stage, the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch as Larson tried to fend off Truex for the lead. Truex, however, led the following lap before Larson attempted to fight back through the frontstretch before conceding to Truex, who was running on four fresh tires. With Truex back out in front, Larson retained second ahead of Logano, Harvick and Hamlin while Blaney, Wallace and Bowman pursued. Behind, contact was made between Keselowski and Reddick, though both continued to run within the top 10.

    With less than five laps remaining in the second stage, Blaney and Hamlin cracked the top five on the track while Harvick fell back to sixth. In addition, Keselowski battled 23XI Racing’s Reddick and Wallace for eighth while Truex extended his advantage to more than a second over Larson.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 185, Truex captured his third stage victory of the 2023 Cup season and second of the day after retaining the lead by eight-tenths of a second. Behind, Larson settled in second while Logano, Blaney, Hamlin, Harvick, Bowman, Keselowski, Reddick and Bell were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Larson pitted while the rest that included the leader Truex, Logano, Blaney, Hamlin, Keselowski, Harrison Burton, Briscoe, Elliott, Austin Dillon and Todd Gilliland remained on the track.

    With 110 laps remaining, the final stage started as Truex and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Truex rocketed away with the lead as the field fanned out and jostled for spots through the backstretch. With the field still fanning out and battling for spots for a full lap, Blaney retained second over teammate Logano while Keselowski and Hamlin were in the top five.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Truex was leading by six-tenths of a second over Blaney followed by Logano, Keselowski and Larson while Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Briscoe, Burton and Wallace were in the top 10. A lap later, Bell moved up to ninth followed by Burton while Wallace fell back to 11th in front of Harvick, Elliott, Buescher and Ryan Preece while Chastain, McDowell, Bowman, Reddick and Ty Gibbs were mired in the top 20.

    Fifteen laps later, Truex stabilized his advantage to less than three-tenths of a second over Blaney, who also started to close in on Truex for the top spot, while third-place Logano trailed by more than two seconds. With Keselowski and Larson both trailed by more than three seconds within the top five, Bell was up to sixth while teammate Hamlin fell back to seventh. In addition, Wallace moved back up into eighth as he was running in between Briscoe and Harvick while Elliott was in 13th behind Austin Dillon and Burton.

    With less than 75 laps later, Truex slightly stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Blaney followed by third-place Logano, who trailed by more than three seconds, as Keselowski and Larson remained in the top five.

    Then with 66 laps remaining, green flag pit stops commenced as Blaney pitted his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang from the runner-up spot. The following lap, Truex surrendered the lead to pit followed by Larson as McDowell, Bowman, Hamlin, Reddick, Elliott, Chastain, Gilliland, Stenhouse, also pitted. By the time Truex completed his pit service, he managed to blend back on the track and remain ahead of Blaney on the track. Meanwhile, more pit stops ensued as Keselowski, Wallace, Briscoe, Burton, Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Allmendinger, Bell, Haley and Logano, who briefly led, also pitted under green.

    With nearly the entire field having made a pit stop, with Harvick and Byron being the last two, Austin Dillon, who assumed the lead on Lap 245 and is faced in a “must-win” situation to make the Playoffs, was leading by more than seven seconds over Truex with 50 laps remaining. Dillon, however, was placed in a position where he still has to make a pit stop to finish the race. Once Dillon pitted his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green with 44 laps remaining, Truex cycled back into the lead while Blaney and Larson followed suit in the top three.

    With 35 laps remaining, Truex, who was mired within lapped traffic, was leading by more than two seconds over both Blaney and Larson, both of whom were trying to gain ground on Truex late in the event, while Logano and Bell both trailed by more than five seconds in the top five. By then, Hamlin was in sixth while Keselowski, Wallace, Briscoe and Reddick were in the top 10.

    Three laps later, however, the caution flew when Noah Gragson blew a right-front tire and went dead straight into the Turn 1 outside wall after the Las Vegas, Nevada, native reported a potential brake rotor issue to his No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. At the moment of caution, Larson had overtaken Blaney for the runner-up spot as both were trailing the leader Truex by more than three seconds.

    During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Truex pitted while Harvick and Austin Dillon, both of whom pitted later than the majority of the lead lap field during the latest green flag pit stop cycle, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Truex exited first followed by Larson, Blaney, Logano, Hamlin and Briscoe, all of whom were among some who opted for two fresh tires while the rest opted for four fresh tires. Amid the pit stops, Blaney was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for running over his air hose while exiting his pit stall.

    When the race restarted with 24 laps remaining, Harvick jumped ahead with the lead followed by Truex as Austin Dillon struggled to launch. Truex then quickly reassumed the lead from Harvick entering the backstretch as Logano made his way up to the runner-up spot. With the field behind fanning out and jostling for late positions, Larson and Harvick battled for third during the following lap while Austin Dillon and Reddick battled for fifth.

    Then amid the battles, the caution returned with 22 laps remaining when Ty Gibbs sent Alex Bowman sideways entering the backstretch before Bowman was able to straighten his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 after getting hit by Erik Jones while the rest of the competitors running within the midfield scattered to avoid the carnage.

    During the proceeding restart with 16 laps remaining, Truex pulled away from Logano to retain the lead as Harvick tried to battle and overtake Logano for the runner-up spot. As Chastain went wide through Turns 3 and 4 amid the field fanning out, Truex retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Logano while Larson overtook Harvick for third with 15 laps remaining. The caution, however, quickly returned with 14 laps remaining when Bell, who was looking to cap off his roller coaster afternoon within the top 10 as he was running in eighth, got loose entering Turns 3 and 4 and smacked the outside wall as he damaged the right rear of his pole-winning car.

    With the race restarting with nine laps remaining, Truex retained the lead after another strong start on the inside lane while Logano, who opted to restart behind Truex on the inside lane instead of alongside Logano on the outside lane, battled and overtook Larson for the runner-up spot. With the field fanning out to multiple lanes, Harvick and Reddick battled for fourth as Keselowski tried to join the battle.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Truex was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Logano while Larson, Harvick and Keselowski were in the top five amid a series of late on-track battles ensuing behind.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Truex remained as the leader by six-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Logano. With Logano gaining more ground in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang around the New Hampshire circuit for a final time, he ran out of time as Truex managed to cycle his Toyota back to the frontstretch and beat Logano by less than four-tenths of a second to capture his third checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season.

    With his third victory of the 2023 season and his first ever at New Hampshire, Truex notched his 34th career win in NASCAR’s premier series and his 15th while driving the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. The New Hampshire victory also marked his second of the season occurring on a Monday after he also won at Dover Motor Speedway in April on Monday due to precipitation postponing the event from its original start time on Sunday.

    “What we’ve been able to do here over the years is pretty remarkable and to not win was really getting frustrating,” Truex said on USA Network. “[Crew chief] James [Small] and I talked about it many times. We thought about it all weekend, talked about it with [teammate] Christopher [Bell] before the race. He was like, ‘Man, you’ve led more laps here than I have been racing Cup’. Just really awesome by everybody. What a race car we had today. Just proud of the whole team. Pit stops were flawless, race car was unbelievable. We had some challenges at times throughout the race and it was a handful at times, but we kept our heads down, kept digging. Man, this is feeling really, really good to do what we did today and finally cap it off with a lobster.”

    “I sat in Turn 1 with my mom [when I was eight years old],” Truex added. “This is the first big track I ever came to with my dad and watched, and first time I’d ever seen Cup cars in person and [Xfinity] cars in person. It’s been a special place for [my family] and being able to win K&N [Series], being able to win in the [Xfinity] Series, this one’s been eluding me for a long, long time. Just really, really happy. Really thankful. [I] Can’t say enough about my team. Man, they’re incredible. I’m the lucky guy to drive these things. This one’s sweet.”

    While Truex celebrated in Victory Lane, Logano ended up in the runner-up spot for the third time this season while Larson came home in third place for his ninth top-five result of the season.

    “Man, I thought I would have something [for Truex],” Logano said. “Right before that caution came out, two cautions to the end when we had tires on it, it seemed like [Truex] took a few laps to get going. I was running him down. I was like, ‘Man, I got a chance here’. That caution came out right when I was thinking I could make a move on the outside into [Turn] 3 and then, it seemed like the cycles helped him get his pressures up to where he can fire and be pretty quick the last couple of restarts. Dang it. [New Hampshire]’s a home track. There’s no place you want to win more than that. It stings a lot to not get the Shell/Pennzoil Ford into Victory Lane, but gosh, second just sucks sometimes. It stings the most when you’re that close, feeling like you had a shot at it, but still a good day for us.”

    “We had a shot [when I] lined up on the front row at the end of one of these Cup races, so that’s a great day,” Larson said. “It was a fun, hot race. [I] Came away with a top three [finish] at a track that doesn’t really suit me or Hendrick Motorsports.”

    Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick executed his late gamble to remain on the track on worn tires to perfection as he finished fourth for his fifth top-five result of the season and in his 40th and final Cup career start at New Hampshire.

    “We were fortunate that we had pitted late and were able to stay out and kind of salvage something there at the end,” Harvick said. “[The team] did a good job. We were just a little bit too loose to start the race and it took us a couple of laps to get going on the restarts. We definitely didn’t dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s, but we did a pretty good job all weekend. Just a couple of little things.”

    Keselowski posted his fourth top-five result of the season by finishing fifth while Reddick, Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe finished in the top 10.

    Notably, Elliott finished 12th in between Erik Jones and Michael McDowell, Bowman rallied to finish 14th, Suarez ended up 16th, Blaney settled in 22nd in front of Chastain after never recovering from his late pit road penalty, Byron ended up 24th, Ty Gibbs fell back to 27th after hitting the wall prior to the final lap and Bell settled in 29th. In addition, Ryan Newman finished 30th in his second Cup Series start of the season while driving for Rick Ware Racing.

    There were 13 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 41 laps. In addition, 27 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With six regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. leads the regular-season standings by 17 points over William Byron, 62 over Christopher Bell, 66 over Denny Hamlin, 74 over Kyle Busch and 78 over Ross Chastain.

    William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell currently occupy the remaining vacant spots in the Playoffs based on points, with McDowell occupying the 16th and final vacant spot by a single point over Daniel Suarez, 20 over AJ Allmendinger, 41 over rookie Ty Gibbs, 42 over Alex Bowman, 46 over Justin Haley, 51 over Austin Cindric and 60 over Chase Elliott.

    Results.

    1. Martin Truex Jr., 254 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Joey Logano, two laps led

    3. Kyle Larson, six laps led

    4. Kevin Harvick, 10 laps led

    5. Brad Keselowski

    6. Tyler Reddick

    7. Denny Hamlin

    8. Bubba Wallace

    9. Austin Dillon, 12 laps led

    10. Chase Briscoe

    11. Erik Jones

    12. Chase Elliott

    13. Michael McDowell

    14. Alex Bowman

    15. Chris Buescher

    16. Daniel Suarez

    17. Justin Haley

    18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., three laps led

    19. AJ Allmendinger

    20. Harrison Burton

    21. Todd Gilliland

    22. Ryan Blaney

    23. Ross Chastain

    24. William Byron, nine laps led

    25. Austin Cindric

    26. Ty Dillon

    27. Ty Gibbs

    28. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    29. Christopher Bell, two laps down, one lap led

    30. Ryan Newman, two laps down

    31. BJ McLeod, six laps down

    32. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

    33. Corey LaJoie, 125 laps down

    34. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident, four laps led

    35. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident

    36. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ lone event of this season to Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, July 23, at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

    1. Shane Van Gisbergen, nine laps led

    2. Justin Haley, 23 laps led

    3. Chase Elliot

    4. Kyle Larson

    5. Kyle Busch

    6. Austin Cindric

    7. Michael McDowell

    8. Joey Logano

    9. Ty Gibbs, one lap led

    10. Chris Buescher

    11. Denny Hamlin

    12. Aric Almirola

    13. William Byron

    14. Corey LaJoie

    15. Ryan Preece

    16. Erik Jones

    17. AJ Allmendinger

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

    19. Todd Gilliland

    20. Chase Briscoe

    21. Jenson Button

    22. Ross Chastain

    23. Josh Bilicki

    24. Brad Keselowski

    25. Noah Gragson

    26. Andy Lally

    27. Daniel Suarez

    28. Tyler Reddick, eight laps led

    29. Kevin Harvick

    30. Harrison Burton

    31. Bubba Wallace

    32. Martin Truex Jr., one lap down

    33. Ryan Blaney, one lap down

    34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

    35. Ty Dillon – OUT, Suspension

    36. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

    37. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

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

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Nashville

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Nashville

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

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

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

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

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

    3. William Byron: Byron finished sixth at Nashville.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Chastain fends off Truex for first Cup victory of 2023 at Nashville

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

    1. Ross Chastain, 99 laps led

    2. Martin Truex Jr., 50 laps led

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

    4. Chase Elliott, one lap led

    5. Kyle Larson

    6. William Byron, five laps led

    7. Christopher Bell, three laps led

    8. Erik Jones

    9. Kyle Busch, 12 laps led

    10. AJ Allmendinger

    11. Brad Keselowski, two laps led

    12. Daniel Suarez, one lap led

    13. Austin Dillon

    14. Ty Gibbs

    15. Bubba Wallace

    16. Ryan Preece

    17. Alex Bowman, nine laps led

    18. Chris Buescher

    19. Joey Logano

    20. Corey LaJoie

    21. Harrison Burton

    22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

    23. Justin Haley, one lap down

    24. Kevin Harvick, one lap down

    25.  Aric Almirola, one lap down

    26. Noah Gragson, one lap down

    27. Austin Cindric, one lap down

    28. Michael McDowell, one lap down

    29. JJ Yeley, two laps down

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

    31. Chase Briscoe, two laps down

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

    33. Brennan Poole, three laps down

    34. Josh Bilicki, three laps down

    35. Todd Gilliand, four laps down

    36. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident

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

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Sonoma

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Sonoma

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Truex dominates Sonoma for second Cup victory of 2023 season

    Truex dominates Sonoma for second Cup victory of 2023 season

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

    1. Martin Truex Jr., 51 laps led

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

    3. Joey Logano

    4. Chris Buescher

    5. Chase Elliott, seven laps led

    6. AJ Allmendinger

    7. Michael McDowell, one lap led

    8. Kyle Larson

    9. Christopher Bell

    10. Ross Chastain, one lap led

    11. Kevin Harvick

    12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    13. Ryan Preece

    14. William Byron

    15. Alex Bowman

    16. Brad Keselowski

    17. Bubba Wallace

    18. Ty Gibbs

    19. Austin Dillon

    20. Corey LaJoie

    21. Justin Haley

    22. Daniel Suarez

    23. Ty Dillon

    24. Todd Gilliland

    25. Austin Cindric

    26. Grant Enfinger

    27. Harrison Burton

    28. Aric Almirola

    29. Chase Briscoe

    30. Josh Bilicki

    31. Ryan Blaney

    32. Erik Jones, one lap down

    33. Tyler Reddick, one lap down

    34. Zane Smith, one lap down

    35. Andy Lally, one lap down

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

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

  • Three Big Stories: Gateway (2023)

    Three Big Stories: Gateway (2023)

    MADISON, Ill. — Well that was a race.

    Kyle Busch slowly turns into a fan favorite. Richard Childress Racing’s a force to reckon with, again, and blown brake rotors.

    So without further adieu, let’s dive into the three big stories of the NASCAR Cup Series’ second race at World Wide Technology Raceway.

    1. Kyle Busch turning into a fan favorite?

    MADISON, Ill. – JUNE 4: Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 3CHI Chevrolet, celebrates victory in the NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway on June 4, 2023, in Madison, Illinois. Photo: Simon Scoggins/SpeedwayMedia.com

    Busch climbed over the metal stairs to walk to the media center, as throngs of fans huddled around him. While security cleared the way, he signed diecasts and posed for pictures.

    Even his son, Brexton, signed autographs.

    Which begs the question: Is Kyle Busch turning into a fan favorite?

    Yes, he always had a hardcore fanbase, “Rowdy Nation,” but the reaction he receives from fans at driver introductions is no longer universal jeering. Now there’s still a noticeable amount of boos, but Sunday, I heard a lot more cheers mixed in.

    Could you imagine this kind of response a decade ago? After all, this same driver needed police escorts into and out of tracks, after wrecking Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Richmond Raceway in 2008, and dealt with months upon months of death threats.

    Busch wore the metaphorical black hat with pride for years, while he gestured to those who booed him to cry about it.

    That guy might now be a fan favorite.

    2. RCR is a force, again

    MADISON, Ill. – JUNE 4: Richard Childress sprays champagne over the #8 3CHI Chevrolet team, after Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway on June 4, 2023, in Madison, Illinois. Photo: Simon Scoggins/SpeedwayMedia.com

    Richard Childress came into the deadline room with a bottle of “Victory Cuvée.” It’s his third victory of the season. All of which came with Busch.

    “Well, he’s helped us all around,” he said. “Number one, he’s winning races, showing we can win races.”

    For almost a decade, Childress lacked wins.

    From 2014 to 2021, RCR won a grand total of four Cup Series races. Never had a multi-win driver in that time. That changed with Tyler Reddick in 2022, until he left for greener pastures, like Kevin Harvick in 2014.

    Hell, at this point, last season, Reddick was zero in the win column. After 15 races, he’s won three.

    “You know, we won a lot with Harvick, won a lot with Earnhardt,” he said. “Our plan is to win a lot with Kyle, and not only be a contender for that championship. If we make the Final Four, we’ll have a shot at winning it for sure.”

    From a shadow of its former glory to a championship contender, and with Busch at the head.

    The irony of which is that this win fell on the 12th anniversary of Childress punching Busch after a Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway. According to Childress, that’s water under the bridge.

    “We talked about it,” he said. “That was one of the first things we talked about. That’s history. We’ve both grown a lot. I know I’ve grown up. I’ve grown older, but I’ve grown up, too. There’s an old song out there, I’m still growing up but I’m getting older.”

    3. Blown brake rotors

    Four.

    That’s how many cars blew brake rotors, Sunday, at Gateway.

    So what’s the reason?

    Well according to Busch’s crew chief, Randall Burnett, a combination of a lack of track data and the choice of rotors.

    “I think people probably came back — I think teams last year came here a little more conservative last year not knowing, and I think we all took data from that and went home and looked,” he said. “We get options on heavy-duty rotors or light-duty rotors, so we can choose that, and we can obviously choose how much cooling we run to them.”

    Last season at Gateway, we had a number of cut tires leading to wrecks. Sunday, you can’t blame Goodyear. Rather, it’s a confluence of factors.

    “It’s kind of a tough place because the straightaways are so long and you’re off the brakes for such a long time, and then you apply them really hard at the end of the straightaway, so the cycles of getting really cool down the straightaways and then really spiking up the heat, it takes a toll on the rotors,” Burnett said.

    Is the answer more practice so we don’t see scary wrecks like we saw with Noah Gragson?

    I don’t know.

    That’s for NASCAR and various factions to decide.

    “I’m sure everybody will take a look at that and try to understand what happened with those cars,” he said.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. William Byron: Byron started from the pole at Charlotte and was strong throughout, but was one-upped by Ryan Blaney for the win and settled for the runner-up spot.

    “Congratulations to Blaney,” Byron said. “He deserved this win, not only because he broke a long winless streak, but also because he clearly had the best car, as you can see by the fact that he led 163 laps. Ryan towered over the competition, just like Fox’s Jamie Little towers over any driver she interviews.”

    2. Ryan Blaney: Blaney outdueled pole sitter William Byron late and pulled away to win the Coca-Cola 600, snapping a 59-race winless streak.

    “What’s the best thing about ending a winless streak?” Blaney said. “Starting another one.”

    3. Kyle Busch: Busch finished sixth at Charlotte, posting his seventh top 10 of the season.

    “I spun on Lap 176 and dropped way down the order,” Busch said. “But I made my way back to the front. If you saw the aftermath of my spin, you could say I ‘reversed’ my fortunes.”

    4. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex came home third in the Coca-Cola 600.

    “It was great to see Jimmie Johnson race in the 600 for his team, Legacy Motor Club,” Truex said. “Unfortunately, Jimmie finished dead last. This is a prime example of Jimmie destroying his legacy.”

    5. Tyler Reddick: Reddick led 28 laps and finished fifth in the Coca-Cola 600.

    “My 23XI Toyota sported the Air Jordan logo,” Reddick said, “and Carolina blue. We could have made it completely a Michael Jordan look had we added a golf club and an image of MJ paying his bookie.”

    6. Kevin Harvick: Harvick started second at Charlotte and fell back to last early, but took the lead early in Stage 3. But Harvick went high into Tyler Reddick on Lap 358 and spun, sending him back in the field. He finished 11th.

    “My car featured the Hunt Brothers Pizza cam,” Harvick said. “Usually, when you hear ‘Hunt Brothers Pizza’ and ‘camera’ mentioned in the same sentence, it’s often a doctor discussing your colonoscopy.”

    7. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin crashed out of the Coca-Cola 600 on Lap 186 when it appeared Elliott retaliated for contact moments earlier that caused Elliott to brush the wall. Hamlin finished 35th.

    “As I said after the incident,” Hamlin said, “Chase threw a ‘tantrum’ and wrecked me intentionally. He should be suspended. I’m sure he’ll profess his innocence, but, much like after his idiotic snowboarding accident, he won’t have a leg to stand on.”

    8. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished 22nd at Charlotte.

    “There was a shoving match,” Chastain said, “an incident with Denny Hamlin, and many other spins. None of that is unusual. What’s unusual was I wasn’t involved in any of it.”

    9. Kyle Larson: Larson struggled early but came on strong midway through Stage 3 with a charge to the front. But Larson’s No. 5 Chevy got loose on a restart with 25 laps to go and suffered extensive damage. Larson’s day was done and he finished 30th.

    “I’m planning on doing the Indianapolis 500-Coke 600 double next year,” Larson said. “I think I can do that in less time than it took to complete Stage 4 in Charlotte on Monday.”

    10. Christopher Bell: Bell got loose and spun into the infield on Lap 236 but luckily suffered little damage. He wasn’t so lucky on a restart with 25 laps to go when he was collected in a pileup triggered by Kyle Larson’s spin. Bell finished 24th.

    “The Coca-Cola 600 is a grueling, time-consuming, and energy-sapping race,” Bell said. “And that’s just for the fans.”