As the 2024 regular season for NASCAR’s top three national touring series approaches its final set of events before the Playoffs commence, the battle for the Rookie-of-the-Year title intensifies as a handful of rising stars attempt to ascend the racing ladder and establish their marks as future NASCAR stars.
With 22 races complete and 14 remaining on the 2024 Cup Series schedule, Josh Berry holds a slim advantage of five points over Carson Hocevar in the rookie Cup standings while Zane Smith and Kaz Grala both trail by triple digits.
For the majority of the season, the battle for this year’s Cup rookie title has been primarily between Berry and Hocevar, both of whom are also campaigning in their first full-time campaign in NASCAR’s premier series.
Berry, a native of Hendersonville, Tennessee, is piloting the No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry for Stewart-Haas Racing, where he succeeded the 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick following two full-time campaigns in the Xfinity Series. Meanwhile, Hocevar, a native of Portage, Michigan, is driving the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for Spire Motorsports after spending the previous three seasons in the Craftsman Truck Series with Niece Motorsports.
After finishing no higher than 11th while also being plagued by seven finishes of 20th or worse through the first 12 scheduled events, Berry rebounded by notching four top-10 results over the next seven races, including two stellar third-place results, that enabled him to move atop the rookie standings.
Berry, however, is coming off four consecutive finishes of 20th or worse that have him currently situated in 22nd place in the regular-season standings. Berry’s misfortunes have allowed Hocevar to remain within striking distance of toppling Berry for the title. Hocevar, however, has rallied from being involved in an early multi-car wreck during the 66th running of the Daytona 500 to post three top-20 results, including two 15th-place runs, over his next three starts. He has since accumulated 10 additional top-20 runs, including two top-10 finishes, over his next 18 starts and is coming off a 12th-place run at Indianapolis.
Berry has accumulated the most top-10 results of this year’s rookie class at four and is two spots ahead of Hocevar in 22nd place in the regular-season standings as Hocevar holds the best average-finishing result at 19.4 thanks to his consistent runs of top-20 results.
Despite both rookies being strapped in “must-win” situations to make the 2024 Playoffs, their year-long battle of who will claim the season-ending prestigious honor of Cup Series Rookie of the Year remains to be determined.
Meanwhile, Zane Smith, the 2022 Truck Series champion from Huntington Beach, California, driver of the No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, trails both Berry and Hocevar in 33rd place in the standings and the rookie lead by 140 points. Despite notching a career-best second place at Nashville Superspeedway in June, Smith has an average-finishing result of 26th place as he has finished outside the top-20 mark 14 times, which leaves him grinding his gears and striving for more to be more competitive and consistent. In comparison to Berry and Hocevar, Smith’s plans for the 2025 season are unknown, though he is expected to remain on the radar for a ride for years to come.
Kaz Grala, a fourth Cup rookie candidate of the 2024 season from Boston, Massachusetts, is mired in 35th place in this year’s standings and he trails the rookie lead by 222 points. Thus far, he has racked up three top-20 results in 16 of 26-planned events as he continues to hone his development from the Truck and Xfinity Series divisions to NASCAR’s premier series. Amid Grala’s contention to claim the rookie title, his plans for next season remain undetermined.
Transitioning to the Xfinity Series, Jesse Love and Shane van Gisbergen are the top two rookie competitors through 20 scheduled events. With six races remaining until the Playoff field is determined, Love and van Gisbergen are set to square off against one another for both the rookie and the driver’s title as both are guaranteed Playoff berths by winning in their first Xfinity campaign.
The Xfinity rookie candidate who commenced the season on a strong note was Love, the reigning ARCA Menards Series champion who is piloting the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro entry for Richard Childress Racing. Starting in February, Love roared out of the gate to become the first rookie driver to record poles in the first two scheduled races. Despite having his first opportunity of winning spoiled amid a fuel-mileage overtime shootout at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February, the Menlo Park, Californian redeemed himself seven races later by emerging triumphant for the first time at Talladega Superspeedway.
Before his first career victory, Love had racked up two top-five results and five top-10 results as he was also ranked in the top five in the regular-season rankings. While he is currently ranked in seventh place in the Xfinity standings amid two additional top-five results in his previous 11 starts, Love leads the rookie standings by 87 points as he continues to pursue more victories and momentum before contending for his first Xfinity title. Should Love claim this year’s Xfinity Rookie-of-the-Year title, he would join an elite class of competitors who have done so while driving for Richard Childress Racing, including teammate Austin Hill, Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Since June, however, van Gisbergen, driver of the No. 97 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing, has marched his way into the spotlight that started when he recorded his first career win at Portland International Speedway. The three-time Supercars champion from Auckland, New Zealand, would proceed to claim his second series victory in back-to-back weeks at Sonoma Raceway before grabbing a third career victory at the Chicago Street Course, the venue where he won in his Cup Series debut a year ago and leaped into NASCAR stardom.
Amid his road-course dominance that currently has him ranked with the most victories amongst Xfinity regulars, the New Zealander continues to search for more pace to be more competitive on oval-shaped circuits. Despite coming off a strong fourth-place run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which marks his third top-six result on oval-shaped circuits this season, van Gisbergen has 11 ovals mixed with two additional road-course events remaining to leap-frog Love as the top rookie competitor of the 2024 season.
The third-ranked Xfinity rookie candidate is Leland Honeyman, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, who is 310 points behind in a season where he has notched an average-finishing result of 23.3, a career-best fourth-place run at Talladega in April and is mired in 19th place in the standings. The 2024 season marks Honeyman’s first full-time campaign in the Xfinity circuit as he is driving the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro for Young’s Motorsports, but needing to gain more ground to be within striking distance of both Love and van Gisbergen at this season’s conclusion.
Hailie Deegan, a native of Temecula, California, entered this season as a full-time rookie candidate with AM Racing. But, she was replaced by Joey Logano in early July amid a 17-race stretch where she finished no higher than 12th and was strapped with an average finishing result of 26.8. Following the replacement, Deegan has since parted ways and currently has no additional NASCAR plans scheduled for the remainder of the 2024 season.
Dawson Cram, a native of San Diego, California, had initially entered this season as a full-time Xfinity rookie candidate with JD Motorsports. Through July, however, he did not compete in five events, all being road-course venues and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and recently drove a single event for Mike Harmon Racing and Faction46 between the Xfinity and Truck Series, respectively. In addition, JD Motorsports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and laid off staff members in July, with the No. 4 Chevrolet owners’ points acquired by Alpha Prime Racing. With Cram appearing to declare for points for the remainder of this year’s Truck season, his plans for the remainder of this season remain to be determined.
With a single regular-season event remaining on this year’s Craftsman Truck Series schedule, eight overall, the series’ rookie title appears to be within the firm grasp of Layne Riggs, who holds a triple-digit advantage between his main rivals Conner Jones and Thad Moffitt amid a mediocre campaign.
Riggs, a native of Bahama, North Carolina, who joined forces with Front Row Motorsports for his first full-time Truck campaign in the No. 38 Ford F-150, has only racked up three top-five results and four top-10 finishes through 15-scheduled starts. Mired within the strong results are nine finishes of 20th or worse as he has had several strong starts spoiled by on-track incidents. While the results currently have him ranked in 16th place in the driver’s standings, he trails the top-10 cutline to make this year’s Playoffs by 75 points, which places him in a “must-win” situation to make this year’s Truck Playoffs. Despite having a steady advantage in the rookie standings, the next goal for Riggs is to implement a consistent conclusion to the 2024 season while setting his sights on a stronger start for 2025 and beyond.
Photo by Chad Wells for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Riggs’ closest rival for the title is Conner Jones, a native of Fredericksburg, Virginia, who is embarking on a 13-race schedule with ThorSport Racing after spending the previous season campaigning in his first nine series’ starts. Through eight starts, Jones has recorded three top-15 finishes and five top-20 results, with his best result being an 11th-place run at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. In addition to trailing Riggs in the rookie standings by 173 points, Jones’ current average-finishing result is 20.3, which is four spots higher than the result he concluded with following the 2023 season (24.7). With four races remaining in his part-time campaign this season, the sky remains the limit for Jones to gain his first top-10 result in the series.
Meanwhile, Thad Moffitt, a native of Trinity, North Carolina, trails the rookie lead by 188 points in a season where he graduated to the Truck Series level, initially on a full-time basis with Faction46. Over the last two races, however, Moffitt has been competing with Young’s Motorsports following the shutdown of Faction46 due to financial issues. Prior to the previous two races, Moffitt was absent from competing at Nashville Superspeedway in late June due to a medical issue. These factors are pieces to the puzzle of a struggling season for Moffitt, who has finished no higher than 18th and has been mired with finishes outside the top 20 during his remaining 14 starts. Having made steady ground with consistent runs as an ARCA Menards Series competitor, the task at hand for Moffitt to be competitive within NASCAR’s top three national touring series, beginning with the Truck Series, remains tall and long for him to achieve.
With the closing stretch of the 2024 NASCAR season inbound following a two-week break due to the Paris Olympics Games, the Craftsman Truck Series season resumes on August 10 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1 at Richmond Raceway for the Clean Harbors 250, which serves as this year’s regular-season finale. The Cup Series season also resumes at Richmond Raceway for the Cook Out 400 on August 11 at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network while the Xfinity Series season returns to action at Michigan International Speedway for the Cabo Wabo 250 on August 17 at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Two months after having a Memorial Day Double Duty attempt spoiled due to Mother Nature despite campaigning in his first Indianapolis 500 attempt, Kyle Larson earned his redemption at Indianapolis Motor Speedway by winning his first Brickyard 400 title on Sunday, July 21, amid two overtime attempts.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led twice for eight of 167 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started in fifth place and endured a race-long afternoon featuring various pit strategies from start to finish as he was shuffled from the front to the middle of the pack and vice versa.
Running in third place as he tracked Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney for the win in the closing laps while also trying to conserve his fuel tank to the finish, an opportunity presented itself for Larson, who rallied from an early slow pit service, to strike after a late on-track incident involving Kyle Busch sent the event into overtime. Then after Keselowski ran out of fuel before the first overtime attempt, Larson, who moved up and started alongside Blaney on the front row, managed to snatch the lead from Blaney before a multi-car wreck sent the event into a second overtime attempt. Then during the latest overtime attempt, Larson fended Blaney and held off a late charge from pole-sitter Tyler Reddick for one lap just before Ryan Preece wrecked on the backstretch, generating a race-ending caution on the final lap. From there, Larson had enough fuel in his low tank to claim the checkered flag and add the Brickyard 400 to his extensive racing list of accomplished victories in the event’s historic return.
With on-track qualifying on Saturday, July 20, to determine the starting lineup, Tyler Reddick notched his second Cup pole position of the 2024 season after he posted a pole-winning lap at 181.932 mph in 49.469 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Denny Hamlin, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 181.492 mph in 49.589 seconds.
Before the event, Austin Cindric dropped to the rear of the field due to repairs made to his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse after scraping the outside wall during his qualifying run. Martin Truex Jr. was also sent to the rear of the field before the event’s start due to an inspection violation from an unapproved adjustment that occurred on Saturday. To go along with starting at the rear of the field, Truex was assessed a drive-through penalty through pit road at the event’s start.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin dueled for the lead through the first two turns and ahead of a tight two-by-two formation from within the field before Reddick muscled his No. 45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry XSE ahead entering the backstretch. With the field behind jostling for early spots for two remaining turns, Reddick proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Hamlin while Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell and William Byron followed suit in the top six.
As Martin Truex Jr. served his pass-through penalty through pit road prior to the second lap, Reddick retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Elliott, Larson, McDowell and Byron followed suit in the top six. With nearly the entire field running in a single-line formation through every turn and straightaway, Reddick remained in front by seven-tenths of a second over Hamlin.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Reddick stabilized his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Elliott followed by Hamlin, Larson and McDowell while Byron, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and John Hunter Nemechek were racing in the top 10. Behind, Austin Dillon trailed in 11th place ahead of Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace and Harrison Burton while Christopher Bell, Corey LaJoie, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher and Noah Gragson were mired in the top 20 ahead of Chase Briscoe, rookie Zane Smith, Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland and rookie Carson Hocevar. Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson occupied 26th place ahead of rookie Josh Berry, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon and Erik Jones while Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric and Daniel Hemric were mired in the top 35. In the process, Truex trailed in 39th place, dead last, by 41 seconds.
Ten laps later, Reddick continued to lead by half a second over Elliott as he also led an eight-car breakaway that included Hamlin, Larson, McDowell, Blaney, Byron and Gibbs, with the latter trailing the lead by more than five seconds. Meanwhile, ninth-place Stenhouse led a second wave of competitors comprising of nine competitors, including Nemechek, Austin Dillon, Logano, Bowman, Wallace, Burton, Bell and LaJoie, all of whom were separated by four seconds of one another, with Stenhouse trailing the lead by 14 points, while 18th-place runner Buescher led a third wave of competitors comprising of nearly the rest of the field as Buescher trailed by lead by 21 seconds. In the process, AJ Allmendinger dropped to 38th place and was pinned a lap down due to pitting a few laps earlier under green to address his ill-handling No. 16 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. In addition, Truex was mired in 37th place and trailing the lead by more than 40 seconds.
Anther three laps later, pit strategies commenced as Hamlin surrendered third place to pit his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE under green. The following lap, teammates Elliott, Larson, Byron and Bowman pitted their respective Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets. In the process, Hamlin managed to cycle his way past all four Hendrick drivers as they were exiting pit road while Reddick extended his advantage to more than a second over Blaney by the Lap 25 mark.
Blaney would then pit his No. 12 Menards Toyota Camry XSE from the runner-up spot as Stenhouse, Burton, Buescher and Truex all pitted their respective entries. Soon after, Elliott was penalized for a blend line violation, where Elliott attempted to cross the blend line and enter the track early in Turn 2, which was a violation and forced Elliott to pilot his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through pit road at pit road speed. Amid Elliott’s penalty, Reddick continued to lead by more than a second over McDowell while Gibbs, Nemechek and Austin Dillon were scored in the top five.
By Lap 35, Reddick stabilized his advantage to over McDowell as Gibbs, Nemechek, Logano, Wallace, Bell, Corey LaJoie, Noah Gragson and Chase Briscoe followed suit in the top 10. By then, more names including Zane Smith, Ryan Preece, Berry, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Justin Haley, Jimmie Johnson, Hocevar, Daniel Hemric and Ross Chastain all pitted under green. More names including Gragson, Ty Gibbs and Cindric pitted during the proceeding laps before Reddick surrendered the lead to pit under green on Lap 37. McDowell, who inherited the lead in the process, pitted his No. 34 Horizon Ford Mustang Dark Horse the following lap as more names including Nemechek, Wallace, Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Logano and Suarez all pitted. Amid the pit stops, Austin Cindric was penalized for speeding on pit road.
Nearing the Lap 40 mark, Christopher Bell, who inherited the lead, pitted under green along with LaJoie as Brad Keselowski assumed the lead. Then once Keselowski pitted under green by Lap 41, Hamlin, who managed to overtake Reddick as a result of pitting earlier and gaining the lost ground on the track when Reddick pitted latter, cycled into the lead as Larson, Blaney, Byron and Reddick were scored in the top five.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 50, Hamlin fended off a late charge from Larson to capture his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Larson settled in second place ahead of Blaney, Byron and Reddick while McDowell, Bowman, Gibbs, Stenhouse and Gragson were scored in the top 10. By then, 33 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap while select notables including Ty Dillon and Cindric were scored a lap down. Meanwhile, both Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing competitors including Keselowski and Buescher were also off the lead lap category due to late issues. Keselowski was mired in 36th place after he was assessed a late blend line violation penalty. Meanwhile, Buescher was in 38th place after pitting under green with smoke coming from his No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Hamlin returned to pit road for service while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track. Following the pit stops, where mixed strategies ensued, Gibbs and Wallace exited pit road first and second following two tire services. Hamlin followed suit on four fresh tires along with Larson, Burton, Byron, Bowman, Bell, Stenhouse and Blaney. Soon after, Ross Chastain and Erik Jones pitted to top off their respective entries on fuel.
The second stage period started on Lap 55 as Reddick and McDowell occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick briefly muscled ahead of McDowell through the first turn until Nemechek, who restarted behind Reddick, made his move beneath Reddick and assumed the lead entering Turn 2 and the backstretch. With Nemechek leading the race, the rest of the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes and dueled in close-quarters racing for a full lap. A majority of competitors racing in the mid-pack region continued to fan out and duel against one another for positions before all settled in a long single-file line by Lap 57.
Amid the early battles, Nemechek retained the lead and he would proceed to lead at the Lap 60 mark by a second-and-a-half while Reddick, Kyle Busch, LaJoie, McDowell and Wallace occupied the top-six spots on the track. With Logano, Hamlin, Byron and Larson rounding out the top 10, Blaney was mired in 11th ahead of Gibbs, Gilliland, Hocevar and Bell while Elliott was back in 18th place behind Jimmie Johnson. In addition, Truex was up to 22nd place as he was racing behind Bowman and Gragson.
By Lap 65, Nemechek continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than two seconds over Reddick while Kyle Busch, LaJoie and McDowell continued to run in the top five ahead of Wallace, Logano, Hamlin, Byron and Larson.
Two laps later, the caution flew due to a tire carcass that came off of the left rear of Cody Ware’s No. 15 Peoria TT Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the backstretch. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Nemechek pitted while the rest led by Busch and Wallace remained on the track. Not long after, Larson pitted for a second time to ensure the right-rear tire of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was tightened. McDowell and Haley had also pitted with Larson.
With the race restarting on Lap 73, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Busch, who was running tight on fuel, rocketed ahead of Wallace and Gilliland with the lead through the first two turns. Entering the backstretch, however, the caution quickly returned when Preece, who was in 18th place, made contact with both Burton and Byron, where Preece got squeezed in between both, as Byron, who had made earlier contact with Chase Briscoe entering the backstretch, veered right into the outside wall before he came back across the middle of the track and got T-boned by Allmendinger as Byron spun his No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and hit the inside wall head-on while Allmendinger also made contact with the wall. The incident was enough to knock Burton, Allmendinger and Byron out of contention while Preece continued.
During the caution period, some led by Kyle Busch pitted while the rest led by Wallace and Gilliland remained on the track.
The start of the next restart period on Lap 78 featured a side-by-side duel between Wallace and Elliott through the first two turns as both continued to drag-race against one another through the backstretch. Wallace would then manage to muscle his No. 23 U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry XSE ahead of Elliott through Turn 3 while Hamlin went three-wide on Logano and Gilliland to boost his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE into third place. With LaJoie missing his lane and going wide while losing a handful of spots in the process, Wallace would proceed to lead the halfway mark on Lap 80 as Elliott, Hamlin, Gilliland, Nemechek, Logano, Reddick, Blaney, Stenhouse and Bell were scored in the top 10 while LaJoie fell back to 11th place in front of Briscoe and Truex.
At the Lap 85 mark, Wallace stretched his advantage to more than a second over Elliott while third-place Elliott only trailed Elliott by six-tenths of a second. A lap later, Gilliland surrendered fourth place to pit his No. 38 gener8tor Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green, but he lost a lap in the process due to a slow pit service as Wallace continued to lead by more than a second over Elliott at the Lap 90 mark. With Hamlin occupying third place, Team Penske’s Logano and Blaney were scored in the top five as Nemechek, Reddick, Stenhouse, Truex and Bell were running in the top 10.
With three laps remaining in the second stage period, Logano surrendered a top-five spot to pit his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green, where he would then manage to regain speed and remain on the lead lap ahead of the leader Wallace, who continued to lead Elliott on the track.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 100, Wallace captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Elliott followed suit in second ahead of Hamlin, Blaney and Nemechek while Reddick, Stenhouse, Truex, Bell and Briscoe were scored in the top 10. By then, 32 of 39 starters, including Logano, were scored on the lead lap.
During the stage break, a majority of the field led by Wallace pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track. Not long after, Reddick pitted for a second time to address a loose left front wheel.
With 56 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Hamlin and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin rocketed ahead with the lead while Stenhouse quickly overtook Nemechek to take the runner-up spot. As the field behind jostled for spots through the backstretch, the caution then flew when Truex, who was mixed in a tight three-wide battle with Larson and Chastain for sixth place exiting the backstretch, made contact with Larson, which got Truex loose as he slid his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry XSE sideways and slapped the outside wall in Turn 3. In the process, Josh Berry got hit by Ty Gibbs and he ended up sliding and hitting the outside wall, which damaged the front nose of the No. 4 Panini/Caitlin Clark Ford Mustang Dark Horse and took Berry out of contention while Truex continued.
During the caution period, some including LaJoie, Reddick, Erik Jones, Wallace, Gilliland, Preece and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.
The start of the next restart period with 51 laps remaining did not last a single corner as Hocevar, who was running in the middle of the pack, made contact with Blaney, which generated a domino effect as Blaney then got turned into Austin Dillon and made contact with Jimmie Johnson, who made contact with Logano in the process as both Johnson and Logano wrecked hard against the Turn 1 outside wall while Blaney, Dillon and Hocevar continued. At the moment of caution, Hamlin had retained the lead while Nemechek, Briscoe, Stenhouse and Chastain were scored in the top five.
During the caution period, some led by Hamlin, who was on the edge of a fuel window, pitted while the rest led by Nemechek and Chastain remained on the track. By the time his pit service was complete, where he spent a little extra time in his pit stall to top off on fuel, Hamlin was the sixth competitor to exit pit road and dropped to 19th place in the running order.
As the race restarted under green with 46 laps remaining, Chastain gained a strong launch from the outside lane to boost his No. 1 Moose Fraternity Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead over Nemechek through Turn 1. With Chastain leading through Turn 2 and the backstretch, Nemechek followed suit in second ahead of Alex Bowman, who boosted his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into third place ahead of teammates Larson and Elliott while Gragson, Hocevar, Reddick, Keselowski and Justin Haley were mixed into the top 10. By the following lap, Hamlin moved up to 15th place as Suarez executed a bold three-wide move over both Briscoe and Stenhouse for 22nd place during the next lap.
With 40 laps remaining and a majority of the field monitoring their fuel tank and strategy for the finish, Chastain was leading by two-tenths of a second over Nemechek followed by Bowman, Larson and Elliott while Gragson, Hocevar, Reddick, Keselowski and Haley occupied the top 10 on the track ahead of Blaney, Daniel Hemric, Gibbs, Zane Smith and Hamlin. Meanwhile, Bell, Gilliland, McDowell, Wallace and Preece were in the top 20 ahead of Kyle Busch, Suarez, Cindric, Briscoe and Stenhouse while Austin Dillon, LaJoie, Ty Dillon, Cody Ware and Erik Jones were mired in the top 30.
Two laps later, Nemechek and Bowman pitted their respective entries from second and third, respectively. Both of their pit stops occurred a lap after McDowell had pitted as the leader Chastain along with Haley pitted during the next lap. As a result, Larson assumed the lead ahead of teammate Elliott and Gragson before he pitted under green with 37 laps remaining, which handed the lead to Elliott.
Then just as Elliott and Reddick pitted their respective entries under green, the caution returned with 36 laps remaining due to Truex spinning from the bottom to the top of the track entering Turn 3, where he hit the wall and flat-spotted his left-rear tire. By then, Gragson was leading ahead of Hocevar, Keselowski, Blaney and Hemric. During the caution period, Gibbs pitted his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE while pit road was closed due to an engine concern, and the hood was lifted as his pit crew diagnosed the issue before Gibbs, who was still dealing with the issue, proceeded. During the caution period, Gragson and Hocevar pitted while the rest led by Keselowski and Blaney remained on the track.
With the event restarting with 31 laps remaining, Keselowski and Hemric led the field to the green flag as both dueled for the lead through the frontstretch before Keselowski drifted up and cleared Hemric to lead in his No. 6 Body Guard Ford Mustang Dark Horse through the first two turns. Through the backstretch, Blaney moved up to second and Hemric battled Zane Smith for third place while the field behind fanned out and jostled for late positions through two and three lanes deep. As a series of battles continued to occur around every turn and straightaway, Keselowski retained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over Blaney with approximately 30 laps remaining as Smith, Hemric and Hamlin trailed in the top five.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Keselowski continued to lead by half a second over Blaney while Smith, Hemric and Hamlin continued to follow suit in the top five. Behind, Bell, Gilliland, Kyle Busch, Cindric and Wallace occupied the top 10 as Preece, Larson, Suarez, Reddick and Stenhouse trailed in the top 15 ahead of Briscoe, LaJoie, Elliott, Austin Dillon and Chastain.
Five laps later and with the entire field running in a single-file line, Keselowski stabilized his lead to four-tenths of a second over Blaney as Smith, Hemric, Hamlin, Bell, Gilliland, Busch, Cindric and Larson followed suit in the top 10, with Reddick, Wallace, Preece, Suarez and Briscoe scored in the top 15.
Another two laps later, a heated battle between Larson and Busch ignited as both swapped spots before Busch overtook Larson to assume seventh place. With Gilliland being dispatched by both, Busch was trying to close in on Bell for sixth place and Reddick trailed Larson in ninth place while Keselowski continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Blaney, Smith, Hemric and Hamlin. Larson would then overtake Busch again on the track for seventh place with 16 laps remaining before he overtook Bell for sixth place with 15 laps remaining as he proceeded to set his sights on Hamlin.
Then with 13 laps remaining, Larson gained a huge advantage to overtake Hamlin for fifth place through the first two turns. Hamlin would then fend off Busch for sixth place while Larson continued his march to the front as he had Keselowski, Blaney, Smith and Hemric in front of him. Larson overtook Smith for fourth place while Hamlin was being blocked by Smith, as Blaney was trying to gain a run to overtake Keselowski for the lead with 10 laps remaining. By then, the top-four competitors including Keselowski, Blaney, Hemric and Larson were separated by eight-tenths of a second as Larson was trying to gain a run on Hemric for third place while Blaney could not gain a run on Keselowski for the lead.
With nine laps remaining, Larson overtook Hemric for third place just past the backstretch. With Hemric then pitting under green, Larson started to gain a run on Blaney for the runner-up spot while Keselowski continued to lead during the next lap.
Down to the final five laps of the event, Keselowski continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Blaney as Larson followed suit by less than half a second, with the latter two continuing to intimidate one another and the leader Keselowski questioning whether he had enough fuel to finish. Meanwhile, Hamlin was mired in fifth place behind Smith while Reddick was in seventh place behind Kyle Busch.
Then with three laps remaining, the caution flew and the race was sent into overtime when Kyle Busch, who was trying to gain a run on Hamlin for fifth place exiting the backstretch, went up the track and made contact with Hamlin as Busch spun his No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up towards the outside wall and made contact with the wall. During the caution period, some led by Zane Smith and including Hamlin, Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Chastain, Haley, Cody Ware and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest led by Keselowski and including Blaney and Larson remained on the track.
The start of the first overtime attempt featured Larson and Blaney occupying the front row as Keselowski peeled off the racetrack as he ran out of fuel. At the start, Larson and Blaney dueled for the lead in front of the stacked field into Turn 1 just before the caution returned for a vicious multi-car wreck just past the frontstretch when Hemric bumped and sent Nemechek into the inside wall, where both came back across the track and collected Bowman, Briscoe and Hamlin while the rest of the competitors running in the mid-pack region scattered to avoid the carnage. Amid the carnage, Larson had assumed the lead from Blaney, who was left fuming on the radio and the advantage Larson gained to start on the preferred inside lane after Keselowski ran out of fuel, just as the race was placed into a red flag period for 17 minutes.
Once the track was cleared and the field proceeded under a cautious pace, none of the front-runners led by Larson and Blaney pitted while a select few, including Haley and Briscoe, pitted.
The start of the second overtime attempt featured Larson and Blaney occupying the front row, where Larson dueled and muscled ahead of Blaney to retain the lead through the first two turns as Reddick bolted his way past Blaney for the runner-up spot. As Larson led the field through the backstretch, trouble ignited as Preece got bumped by Chase Elliott and spun towards the inside wall just entering the backstretch. Amid Preece’s incident, the race remained under green flag conditions as Larson proceeded to lead through the next two turns.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Reddick while Blaney trailed by nine-tenths of a second. Then two corners later, the caution flew and the race ended as Preece was unable to limp his No. 41 Haas Ford Mustang Dark Horse away from his wreckage. With the caution ending the race, Larson was able to coast his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 around the Indianapolis circuit for a final time with enough fuel in his tank before he made his way back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag for his first victory at the Brickyard and fourth of the 2024 Cup Series season.
With the victory, Larson achieved his 27th career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his first since winning at Sonoma Raceway in June and his third crown-jewel victory overall, including the Coca-Cola 60 and the Southern 500, as he became the first four-time race winner of the 2024 season. The victory was the 10th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate and the ninth of the season for Hendrick Motorsports (HMS, with HMS notching its 11th career win at Indianapolis as Larson became the 16th competitor overall to win the Brickyard 400, while crew chief Cliff Daniels achieved his 20th career victory as a Cup Series crew chief.
“[The Brickyard 400 win]’s for sure up there [on my list of accomplishments],” Larson said on the frontstretch on NBC. “This is just such a prestigious place and such hallowed ground. Pretty neat just to get an opportunity to race here on the oval again. What a job by our [No. 5] team. [They] Never gave up at all. We had the pit stop issue there early on and just fought and dug and had things work out. I love you, Indiana fans. I know you guys love me, too. How about we come back next May and try to kiss these bricks on the IndyCar? I’d love to do [the double again]. We’ll work on it, so I hope we can announce something soon and see you all next May.”
The 2024 Brickyard 400 victory also served both as a redemptive and proud moment for Larson, who was unable to complete a Memorial Day Double Duty attempt between the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May due to on-track precipitation that caused him to miss the latter event while he ended up finishing in 18th place during the Indy 500 while driving for Arrow McLaren’s NTT IndyCar Series team. Ironically, Larson’s race-winning No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sported the exact blue, white and papaya orange scheme he attempted to compete with at the Coca-Cola 600, but Xfinity Series veteran Justin Allgaier ended up competing in when Larson opted to race the Indy 500 before traveling to Charlotte for the 600-mile event.
Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“[The Brickyard 400 victory] does [make up the month of May], I guess a little bit,” Larson added. “I wished we could’ve gotten to do both [races] and run the [Coca-Cola] 600 because we had a phenomenal papaya orange car for that race, too, but I think everything just comes full circle and everything’s meant to be. Today definitely felt meant to be for us, with the way strategy was working out, Brad [Keselowski] running out of fuel, me inheriting the front row, all that. A lot had to fall into place and thankfully, it did. I just can’t believe it. It’s just surreal to win here and can’t wait to kiss these bricks with my team, [owner] Rick Hendrick, whose here finally, my family, my friends, everybody. My parents are here, so we’ll be celebrating these next couple weeks.”
As Larson celebrated on the frontstretch and kissed the yard of bricks with his team, Ryan Blaney, who ended up in third place behind Tyler Reddick, was left displeased over having a first Brickyard 400 victory slip from his grasp through two overtime attempts.
“[Losing]’s no fun,” Blaney said. “We had a really good shot to win today. Gosh, our car was fast. I thought we put ourselves in a great spot. I knew [Keselowski] was probably gonna run out if [the race] went green. We came down to the [first overtime] restart and I couldn’t believe [Keselowski] stayed out. I knew there was no way they were gonna make it, so I obviously chose the top [lane] because [Keselowski] might run out in the restart zone and he runs out coming to the green, so he gets to go to pit road and [Larson] gets promoted [to the inside lane front row]. Luck of the day right there, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t even know what to be mad about. I’m mad at losing this race because I thought we were in a perfect position. It stinks to lose’em that way, but appreciate the effort. I hate we don’t get to celebrate with Mr. [Roger] Penske and everyone at [Team] Penske here. That stings a lot…[I’m] Not going to sleep very good tonight, I can tell you that. Just wasn’t meant to be.”
Meanwhile, Reddick was pleased with his runner-up result that marks his third top-three result in a span of four races in 2024 and keeps him in the hunt for the regular-season championship, though he was also left a little disappointed over falling short of having a perfect weekend at the Brickyard after winning the pole and being the fastest during Friday’s practice session.
“It was a great recovery for us,” Reddick said. “Obviously, a lot of cars and a lot of things had to happen for us to get second. Honestly, it was a good day, but obviously the return to the Brickyard, it’s tough coming up short one spot, but once we got off Turn 2 there, I knew I was pretty much it and [Larson] was gonna have to make a mistake. Glad we got a good recovery. Another solid points day. In a big picture, it was a great day for our team.”
Christopher Bell came home in fourth place while Bubba Wallace, who won the second stage, recorded a strong fifth-place result as he is currently only seven points below the top-16 cutline in his efforts to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs.
Todd Gilliland, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Noah Gragson and Chase Elliott completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were 18 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 32 laps. In addition, 24 of 39 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 22nd event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by 10 points over teammate Chase Elliott, 15 over Tyler Reddick, 43 over Denny Hamlin and 73 over Ryan Blaney.
Results.
1. Kyle Larson, eight laps led
2. Tyler Reddick, 40 laps led
3. Ryan Blaney
4. Christopher Bell, two laps led
5. Bubba Wallace, 26 laps led, Stage 2 winner
6. Todd Gilliland, one lap led
7. Austin Cindric
8. Daniel Suarez
9. Noah Gragson, three laps led
10. Chase Elliott, one lap led
11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
12. Carson Hocevar
13. Austin Dillon
14. Corey LaJoie
15. Ross Chastain, eight laps led
16. Michael McDowell, one lap led
17. Zane Smith
18. Cody Ware
19. Ty Dillon
20. Justin Haley
21. Brad Keselowski, 35 laps led
22. Chris Buescher
23. Ty Gibbs
24. Chase Briscoe
25. Kyle Busch, one lap down, five laps led
26. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident
27. Martin Truex Jr., two laps down
28. Erik Jones, two laps down
29. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident, 16 laps led
The NASCAR Cup Series’ teams and competitors will be taking the next two weekends off due to the Paris Summer Olympics before returning to action at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, for the Cook Out 400. The event is scheduled to occur on August 11 and air at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.
While Kyle Larson left the 2024 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the overall race winner, Bubba Wallace left Indy feeling like a winner and with a relieved smile across his face after finishing in fifth place, which enabled him to gain valuable ground toward his 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff hopes.
The 30-year-old and two-time Cup Series winner Wallace from Mobile, Alabama, commenced his fourth start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series level by rolling off the starting grid in 17th place. Ironically, Wallace also started 17th during the 2020 season, where Indy held the Brickyard 400 on the oval-shaped circuit before transitioning to the venue’s road-course circuit over the next three seasons.
After spending the early portions of the event racing within the top 15, Wallace cycled towards the front and the top-five category as pit strategies amongst the field ensued. Despite pitting under green nearing the Lap 40 mark, Wallace would cycle up to 11th place when the first stage period concluded on Lap 50.
Despite being one spot short of collecting a first wave of stage points during the first stage period, Wallace and his No. 23 U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry XSE team led by crew chief Bootie Barker struck back through pit strategy by inheriting the lead on Lap 76 and during a caution period amid a multi-car wreck that knocked William Byron, AJ Allmendinger and Harrison Burton out of contention. With Wallace leading for the next restart period on Lap 78, he would fend off Chase Elliott and stretch his fuel tank to the maximum distance as he led to the second stage’s conclusion on Lap 100, where he would collect his first elusive stage victory of the 2024 season. With this accomplishment, Wallace notched his first stage victory in a Cup Series race since Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October 2022.
Restarting within the mid-pack region for the final stage after pitting during the second stage’s break period, Wallace would spend the remainder of the event dodging a series of late-race carnages while trying to play the fuel strategy game to his favor. During the process, he methodically worked his way back up the leaderboard and within the top-15 category. Initially poised for a potential top-10 spot, an opportunity for Wallace to gain more spots and stretch his fuel tank to the distance both occurred when Kyle Busch wrecked with three laps remaining in the event’s scheduled distance.
With the event going into overtime, Wallace muscled away from a multi-car wreck on the frontstretch to make his way up to sixth place just as the event was sent into a second overtime attempt. For the second and final overtime attempt, Wallace, who restarted seventh, gained two spots on the track after overtaking Austin Cindric and Todd Gilliland through two turns. Running in fifth place on the final lap, the event’s race-ending caution flew as Ryan Preece wrecked and stalled his car in the backstretch. Having enough fuel to return to the frontstretch, Wallace claimed the checkered flag in fifth place, three spots behind teammate Tyler Reddick, for his fourth top-five result of the 2024 Cup Series season.
With the result, Wallace, who led a total of 26 of 167 over-scheduled laps en route to his fifth-place run at Indy, recorded his second top-five finish in four career starts in the Brickyard 400 and his first of the 2024 season since finishing fourth at Martinsville Speedway in April. The result also marked his 20th top-five finish in his 241st career start in the Cup level, 129th driving for 23XI Racing, as Wallace currently has eight top-10 results added to his 2024 season.
In addition, Wallace, who came into Indianapolis trailing the top-16 cutline to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs by 27 points despite finishing 10th during last weekend’s event at Pocono Raceway, is now only seven points below the cutline and 16th-place occupier Ross Chastain, who ended up 15th place. As NASCAR takes a two-week break from on-track competition due to the Paris Olympics before returning in the second weekend of August, Wallace, who made his first Cup Playoff appearance on points and proceeded to finish 10th in the final standings in 2023, took a moment to savor the relief of gaining ground towards the cutline before the break as he also sets his sights on having a fun, positive approach towards the remainder of the season.
“[The] Team stuck with me and gave me all the right tools to work on and gave us good track position in the middle [of the race],” Wallace said on NBC. “Finally got a stage win. [It’s] Been 10 years since I got one of those. All in all, just a solid day. Definitely what we needed. [I] Can have a big sigh of relief going into the Olympic break here. It’s just nice to come out of here with a smile, enjoy the two off weeks,…just to have fun. That’s what I wanted to do last week and continue that for the next, what do we got? Fourteen [races] left? All about having fun.”
With four races remaining until the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field is determined, Bubba Wallace’s quest to make the Playoffs continues with the next scheduled event at Richmond Raceway for the Cook Out 400. The event is scheduled for August 11 and will air at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Tyler Reddick raced his way to a monstrous Busch Light Pole Award for the return of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 20.
The two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, made early head waves by being the fastest during the first round of on-track qualifying and within his Group A qualifying group, where he was one of 10 overall to transfer into the final round and contend for the pole position.
Once in the final round, Reddick, who was the 10th and final competitor to post a qualifying lap, managed to post the fastest-qualifying lap at 181.932 mph in 49.469 seconds. The qualifying lap was enough to knock off team owner Denny Hamlin off the top of the chart by 0.012 seconds.
With his accomplishment, Reddick, driver of the No. 45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing and who was the fastest during Friday’s practice session, clinched his eighth NASCAR Cup Series career pole, his second of the season, his first since doing so at Darlington Raceway in May and his second overall at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Ironically, Reddick’s first Indianapolis pole occurred in 2022 when the Cup Series’ competitors were racing on the venue’s road-course circuit. During the main event, Reddick would proceed to win and emerge as one of three competitors overall to win a Cup event on Indy’s road-course circuit as he attempts to become the first competitor to win at Indianapolis both on the road course and oval overall.
“I feel like [today’s pole]’s equal of importance, for sure,” Reddick, who compared his first pole at Indy in 2022 to today, said in the media center. “I knew we had to be really close to perfect today. I still wasn’t, honestly, but we did a good enough job the rest of the other three corners to be able to capture [the pole]. I feel like both [poles] are just as important as the other in regards to the race the following day. It’s a great thing that we were able to accomplish today.”
Despite being guaranteed a spot into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs based off of winning at Talladega Superspeedway in April, Reddick, who is currently ranked in third place in this year’s regular-season standings and trails points leader Chase Elliott by 15 points, continues to keep his eyes squared on the prize and against his fellow competitors for the remaining regular-season events on the schedule, starting with a potential crown-jewel victory on Indy’s oval-shaped circuit.
“We got a good opportunity in front of us, but we know that a lot of the guys that are right there behind us are really good at making adjustments and doing what they need to do,” Reddick added. “We have to be mindful of all potentials of how the race unfolds.”
Reddick will share the front row with Denny Hamlin, Reddick’s owner at 23XI Racing who ended up with the second-fastest qualifying lap at 181.492 mph in 49.589 seconds.
Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion, will line up in third place and he will share the second row with teammate William Byron. Kyle Larson, who attempted the Memorial Day double duty role in May and finished 18th in this year’s 108th running of the Indianapolis 500, will start in fifth place and line up next to Ty Gibbs on the third row. Ironically, Larson also qualified in fifth place during his Indy 500 bid.
Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and John Hunter Nemechek, all of whom transferred into the final round of qualifying, will line up from seventh to 10th, respectively, while Austin Dillon and Joey Logano will follow suit on the starting grid in the top 12.
Notably, Austin Cindric ended up in 38th place on the starting grid due to making significant contact with the outside wall during his qualifying lap.
All 39 Cup competitors entered for this weekend’s main event made the show.
This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series and the Xfinity Series return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2.5-mile oval as the the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series heads to the .686-mile asphalt oval at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP).
The pressure to make the Playoffs is mounting with only five races remaining in the Cup Series regular season at Indianapolis, Richmond, Michigan, Daytona and Darlington.
Five Cup Series drivers have clinched a spot in the 16-driver playoff field – Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Christopher Bell.
Seven Xfinity Series drivers have secured a place in the 12-driver playoff field with seven races remaining in the regular season – Shane van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier, and Jesse Love.
There are only two races to go in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular season. Four drivers have claimed a spot in the 10-driver playoff field with only two races remaining in the regular season – Christian Eckes, Corey Heim, Nick Sanchez and Rajah Caruth.
The ARCA Menards Series is also competing this weekend at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday with practice at 1:30 p.m. and qualifying at 2:30 p.m. The ARCA Circle City 200 is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on FS1.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, July 19 1:05 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice 1:30 p.m.: ARCA Practice ARCA Race Center 2:20 p.m.: ARCA Qualifying ARCA Race Center 2:35 p.m.: Cup Series Practice 3:30 p.m.: Truck Series Practice (IRP) USA 4:05 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying (IRP) USA 5:30 p.m.: ARCA Circle City 200 – FS1
8:30 p.m.: Truck Series TSport 200 (IRP) Distance: 137.2 miles (200 Laps) Stages: Lap 60, Lap 120, Lap 200 FS1/MRN/SiriusXM Purse: $672,492
Saturday, July 20 12:05: Xfinity Series Qualifying – USA 1:05 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying – USA NASCAR Press Pass: Post Cup Qualifying
3:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Pennzoil 250 Distance: 250 miles (100 Laps) Stages: Lap 30/Lap 60/Lap 100 USA/IMS Radio/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Purse: $1,873,623 NASCAR Press Pass: Post Xfinity race
Sunday, July 21 2:30 p.m.: Cup Series Brickyard 400 Distance: 400 miles (160 Laps) Stages: Lap 50/Lap 100/Lap 160 NBC/SiriusXM/IMS Radio Purse: $9,596,601 NASCAR Press Pass Post Cup race
Ryan Blaney returned to victory lane Sunday at Pocono Raceway in the Great American Getaway 400. This was Blaney’s second NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) win in the last five races this season and the 12th of his career. The 2023 NASCAR champion won the inaugural NCS race last month at Iowa Speedway, and the Penske No. 12 Ford team could win the championship again this season.
The win also marks Team Penske’s 97th series win and Ford’s 733rd all-time in NCS competition.
“I am super proud of the whole 12 team. The Wabash Ford Mustang was amazing. I appreciate Menards, Body Armour, the Wurth Group, Advance Auto Parts, DEX Imaging, and everyone that makes this possible. It is so cool to win here again. I won here seven years ago for my first Cup win. The crowd, you guys, were amazing. Thank you for being here all weekend.” Blaney said.
Race Notes
There were eight caution flags for 34 laps.
There were eight lead changes among eight drivers.
Blaney led the most laps with 41.
Martin Truex Jr. won stage one.
Denny Hamlin won stage two.
The race lasted 2 hours, 13 minutes, and 59 seconds.
The margin of victory was 1.312 seconds.
What went down behind Blaney
Denny Hamlin started fourth, led 31 laps, won stage 2, and drove his No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE to second place finish, 1.3 seconds back. This was Hamlin’s eighth top-five of the season.
“Hats off to this whole Mavis Tires and Brakes team. Dave (Sorbaro), the CEO and 100 associates were here today, so we were proud to host them. Would’ve loved to give them a victory, but second is close and at least, it’s good to get back on track. We’ve had some slides over the last month-and-a-half.” Hamlin said.
Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Ally Best Friends Camaro ZL1 team finished third. Bowman ran in the top-10 throughout most of the race most of the race and collected points in both stages. Bowman has six top-fives and 12 top-10s this season.
“Proud of my No. 48 Ally Best Friends Chevy team. It was a good run; we just needed a little bit more to get to the No. 12 (Ryan Blaney). Once I abused the right-rear tire for so long, it made Denny’s (Hamlin) job pretty easy to get around me. But yeah, it was a solid third-place day.” Bowman said.
William Byron finished fourth, and Joey Logano finished fifth.
“We were just kind of okay. Definitely had a decent No. 24 Raptor High Heat Chevy. Really good execution and everyone did a good job of just keeping their heads in it.” Bryon said. “Not every situation went our way with the strategy, but we were able to have decent restarts, especially at the end there, and just kind of maintained it to the end. Definitely a lot of things to dissect, but really proud of the team and just good to get a top-five, for sure.”
“Overall, a top five, you have to be somewhat happy with that. We had speed there toward the end of the race and I think we could have run in the top two. I don’t know if we could have been better than Ryan or not, but it just took us too long to get the balance right.” Logano said.
RFK Racing had a great day. Brad Keselowski finished seventh, Chris Buescher finished 11th, and both drivers led a series of laps.
It was another bad day for Kyle Busch. An on-track incident ended the day early for Busch, resulting in a 32nd finish.
“We ended up getting hit from behind and it ended our day early. That’s just racing these days and it’s what happens. I just want to give thanks to all of our partners.” Busch said. “It’s just unfortunate circumstances. Thank you to Rowdy Nation and all the fans for their continued support. We’ll go back to work and get ready for Indianapolis.”
What’s Next
The NCS heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the 30th running of the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 21, at 2:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
As the NASCAR Cup Series makes a historic return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s oval-shaped circuit for the Brickyard 400 after three years of competing on the circuit’s road-course layout, Kyle Busch is set to achieve a milestone start of his own. By competing in this weekend’s Brickyard 400, the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will reach 700 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.
A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Busch made his inaugural presence in the Cup Series at his home track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, in March 2004. By then, he had made seven career starts in the Craftsman Truck Series and 10 in the Xfinity Series as he was also contending in the latter series for Hendrick Motorsports. Driving the No. 84 Chevrolet for HMS, Busch started 18th and finished 41st in his Cup debut after retiring early following an early incident. He made five additional Cup starts throughout the 2004 season and achieved a season-best 24th-place run at Auto Club Speedway in September.
The following season, Busch graduated to a full-time Cup role in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, where he replaced two-time series champion Terry Labonte as Labonte retired from full-time competition. After finishing 38th in his first Daytona 500 career start at Daytona International Speedway, Busch notched his first Cup career pole position at Auto Club in February, where he ended up in 23rd place, before he recorded a runner-up finish behind teammate Jimmie Johnson and in front of older brother, Kurt Busch, at Las Vegas in March. Throughout his next 21 starts, Kyle Busch recorded a total of seven top-10 results, including another runner-up result at Dover Motor Speedway in June. Then at Auto Club in September, he capitalized on a two-lap shootout to score his first Cup career win in his 31st series start and become the youngest winner in series’ history at age 20 years, four months and two days. Despite missing the 2005 Cup Playoffs, Busch would notch another runner-up result at Dover in September before capturing his second Cup career victory at Phoenix Raceway in November following a late duel against Greg Biffle. With a 20th-place finish in the final standings to coincide with nine top-five results, 13 top-10 results 362 laps led and an average-finishing result of 21.0, Busch captured the 2005 Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title.
Busch would remain as the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for the following two Cup seasons. During the two-year span, he claimed one victory per season and made the Playoffs during both seasons. In 2006, he won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July amid a two-lap shootout and recorded one pole, 10 top-five results, 18 top-10 results, 571 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.5 before settling in 10th place in the final standings. The following season, he fended off a hard-charging Jeff Burton to win at Bristol Motor Speedway in March and record the first victory for the Car of Tomorrow stock car as he also recorded the 200th NASCAR national touring series victory for Hendrick Motorsports and the 600th in the Cup circuit for Chevrolet. Busch would proceed to record 11 top-five results, 20 top-10 results, 637 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.1 throughout the 2007 campaign before boosting to fifth place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.
In June 2007, Busch was announced of his departure from Hendrick Motorsports at season’s conclusion, where he would be replaced by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Two months later, he announced his move to Joe Gibbs Racing to pilot the No. 18 Toyota Camry for the 2008 Cup season. Throughout the 26 regular-season stretch, Busch’s move to JGR made both the driver and team a lethal combination for the competition that commenced with top-four finishes through the first three-scheduled events. Then at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, the Las Vegas native led a race-high 173 laps en route to his first Cup victory of the season and first driving for JGR as he also recorded the first Cup Series win for the Toyota nameplate. Five races later, Busch rallied from losing a lap and nearly getting collected in an incident with Jamie McMurray to assume the lead with five laps remaining and retain the top spot prior to a multi-car wreck on the final lap to claim his second victory of the season at Talladega Superspeedway in May. Busch’s early hot streak extended throughout the regular-season stretch as he claimed victories at Darlington Raceway in May Dover Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway in June, Daytona, Chicagoland Speedway in July and at Watkins Glen International in August. To go along with a total of 17 top-10 results, Busch secured his spot into the 2008 Cup Playoffs as he also earned the top seed in his bid to win his first title. Throughout the Playoffs, however, Busch’s title hopes evaporated as he commenced the Playoffs with a 34th-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September after plummeting from first place and being involved an early multi-car wreck followed by a last-place finish during the following event at Dover after his engine expired. Despite recording four top-10 results during the final eight events on the schedule, he could only climb his way up to 10th place in the final standings. Amid his early exit in the championship bid, Busch achieved a career-high eight victories, two poles, 17 top-five results, 21 top-10 results, 1,673 laps led and an average-finishing result of 12.5 in his first season driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Poised for another title bid in 2009, Busch commenced the season by finishing in 41st place in the 51st running of the Daytona 500 after being involved in a late multi-car wreck despite leading a race-high 88 laps. He would rally by finishing third at Auto Club before notching his first victory of the season at Las Vegas in an event where he rallied from starting at the rear of the field. Two races later, he won at Bristol for the second time in his career after leading a race-high 378 laps before collecting his third victory of the season at Richmond Raceway five races later in May, the latter victory making Busch the second competitor to win on a birthday date.
Busch would then endure a difficult summer stretch as he would only record three top-10 finishes in 13 events, results that eventually dropped him below the top-12 cutline to make the 2009 Playoffs. Despite claiming his fourth victory of the season at Bristol in August following a late battle with Mark Martin, Busch would end up 13th and fifth, respectively, during the final two regular-season events of the season, which resulted in him missing the Playoffs by eight points.
He would proceed to finish in the top 10 four times during the final 10 events on the schedule before settling in 13th place in the final standings. By then, Busch only earned half the total victories accumulated from the previous season (four) along with eight less top-five (nine) and top-10 (13) results as he capped off the season with an average-finishing result of 15.3 and 1,157 total laps led.
Busch would return to the Playoffs in 2010 as he claimed three victories throughout the regular-season stretch, starting at Richmond in May followed by Dover two races later and then at Bristol in August as part of his historic NASCAR top three national touring series sweep. Amid the three races where he was victorious, he racked up a total of 13 top-10 results. With four top-10 results recorded throughout the 2010 Cup Playoffs, Busch ended up in eighth place in the final standings as he also surpassed 200 Cup career starts. The following season, he would rack up four victories throughout the regular-season stretch (Bristol in March, Richmond in May, Kentucky Speedway in July and at Michigan International Speedway in August) along with 16 top-10 results. Then after recording only two top-10 results throughout the first seven Playoff events, including a strong runner-up result at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October, Busch was suspended from competing in the Cup Playoff event at Texas Motor Speedway in November following his actions during the Truck Series event at Texas two days earlier, where he intentionally wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution at full speed. Returning for the final two events on the schedule, where he finished 36th and 23rd, respectively, Busch ended up in 12th place in the final standings. With seven victories recorded throughout the two-year span, which accumulated his wins total to 23, he also achieved three poles, 24 top-five results, 36 top-10 results, 2,726 laps led and average-finishing results within the top 15.
The 2012 Cup Series season initially commenced with a hot start for Busch as he rallied from two near spins to edge reigning three-time champion Tony Stewart by 0.013 seconds to win the non-points Budweiser Shootout at Daytona in February. After recording three top-10 results during the first eight events on the schedule, Busch claimed his first points victory of the season at Richmond after muscling away from the field during a nine-lap shootout. Despite finishing in the top four during his next three starts, he would then finish in the top 10 only three additional times during the following 13 events as he was left battling within the cutline to make the Playoffs. Despite notching back-to-back sixth-place finishes at Bristol and Atlanta between August and September that kept him within the cutline, Busch ended up in 16th place during the regular-season finale at Richmond, which left him three points below the cutline and out of the Playoffs for the first time since 2009. With his championship hopes of the season evaporated, Busch concluded the 2012 campaign on a strong note by finishing in the top seven in eight of the remaining 10 events before settling in 13th place in the final standings.
In the early stages of the 2013 Cup Series season, Busch finished in the top five twice during the first four-scheduled events before capitalizing on a last-lap skirmish involving teammate Denny Hamlin and ex-teammate Joey Logano to claim his first victory at Auto Club in March and deliver the first Auto Club Speedway win for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. Two races later, Busch achieved his second victory of the season at Texas in April, which marked his 300th Cup career start as he joined Ned Jarrett, Rusty Wallace and Kasey Kahne as competitors to win on the milestone start. Despite recording eight top-10 results during his next 14 starts, Busch would record his third victory of the season at Watkins Glen in August following a late duel against Brad Keselowski before winning for the fourth time of the year at Atlanta in September, victories that enabled him to clinch his spot into the Playoffs. With a total of five top-five results and seven top-10 results recorded throughout the Playoffs, Busch settled in fourth place in the final standings. By then, he recorded three additional top fives (16) and two additional top 10s (22) compared to his previous season. Despite leading 209 less laps (1,227) compared to the previous season, Busch boosted his final average-finishing result from 13.3 to 12.7.
Like the 2013 season, Busch emerged victorious for the first time in 2014 at Auto Club, the fifth event on the schedule, amid a two-lap shootout that resulted with the driver of the No. 18 JGR Toyota navigating his way from fifth to first, which kept his winning streak in the Cup Series alive to 10 consecutive years. To go along with a total of nine top-10 results, including three runner-up results, throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, he made the Playoffs for a seventh time. Despite transferring from the Playoff’s Round of 16 to 12 amid three consecutive top-10 results followed by two top-five runs during the first two Round of 12 events, Busch’s title hopes came to a crashing end during the Round of 8 finale at Talladega in October after he was involved in a late multi-car wreck and could only salvage his way up to 40th place in the final running order, which prevented him from advancing past the Round of 12. Managing only a single top-five finish during the final four-scheduled events, Busch ended up in 10th place in the final standings for the fourth time of his career and with an average-finishing result of 17.6 amid a total of 15 top-10 results.
The 2015 season was a breakthrough year for Busch that commenced with the driver potentially having his racing career ending following a harrowing accident during the Xfinity Series’ season-opening event at Daytona in February that resulted with the driver hitting head-on into a concrete wall and suffering both a massive compound fracture in his right leg and a minor fracture to his left foot. With the injuries causing Busch to miss the first 11 events on the schedule, he made his return at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the All-Star Race in May, where he ended up sixth. Needing at least one victory and enough garnered points to remain above the top-30 cutline in the standings that would guarantee him in Playoff contention as part of his medical waiver by NASCAR, Busch finished no higher than ninth in his first four races back in contention before accomplishing his first feat: a victory that occurred at Sonoma in June, which marked his 30th victory in the Cup Series and extended his winning streak to 11 seasons.
Despite finishing 17th during the next event at Daytona, Busch notched three consecutive victories at Kentucky, New Hampshire and Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. Managing four top-10 results, including two runner-up results, throughout the final six regular-season events in 2015, Busch was able to climb his way inside the top-30 cutline and make the Playoffs. Utilizing consistency throughout the Playoffs in the form of five top-five results and six top-10 results, he proceeded to transfer from the Round of 16 into the Championship 4 round at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November. Then during the finale, Busch capitalized on a seven-lap restart to overtake Keselowski and fend off title rival Kevin Harvick to win both the finale and his first Cup Series championship. With the title occurring in his 11th season in competition, Busch became the 31st different competitor to win a championship in NASCAR’s premier series as he also delivered the first Cup title for Toyota and the fourth for Joe Gibbs Racing. In total, he accumulated five victories, one pole, 12 top-five results, 16 top-10 results, 736 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.8 in 25 starts, which made him the first competitor to win a championship despite not competing in every scheduled event since Richard Petty made the last accomplishment in 1971.
Commencing the 2016 Cup season as the reigning champion, Busch recorded four top-five finishes during the first five-scheduled events before notching back-to-back victories at Martinsville Speedway and at Texas in April. Four races later, he notched his third Cup victory of the season at Kansas Speedway in May before winning at Indianapolis for a second consecutive season nine races later. To coincide with 16 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, Busch made the Playoffs for a ninth time. Implementing consistency throughout the Playoffs, he finished in the top eight in eight of the first nine Playoff events, which enabled him to transfer from the Round of 16 and back into the Championship 4 round for a second consecutive season. During the finale, however, Busch, who made a late pit stop, could only climb his way up to sixth place on the track, which resulted in him settling in third place in the final standings. Despite falling two spots short of defending his title, Busch concluded the 2016 campaign on a strong note with four victories, two poles, 17 top-five results, 25 top-10 results, 1,379 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.5. By then, he also surpassed 400 Cup career starts.
The following two Cup seasons would feature Busch making competitive championship runs as he notched multiple victories and transferred all the way to the Championship 4 round. In 2017, Busch endured the first 20-scheduled events winless before notching his first victory at Pocono Raceway in July. In the midst of the winless streak, he achieved his first All-Star Race win at Charlotte in May, which marked his 12th attempt of winning the event’s million dollar prize. Busch would proceed to win at Bristol in August as part of his second triple series weekend sweep before winning the following Playoff events at New Hampshire, Dover and Martinsville. During the finale, however, Busch ended up in the runner-up spot both on the track and in the final standings to Martin Truex Jr. In 2018, Busch achieved a career-high eight victories, which marked his second time achieving the feat since 2008. His victories included winning three consecutive races at Texas, Bristol and Richmond in April before emerging triumphant for the first time at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Coca-Cola 600 in May. He would then bump and overtake Kyle Larson amid a last-lap skirmish to win at Chicagoland in early July before muscling away from teammate Daniel Suarez during a two-lap shootout to win at Pocono in late July.
Once the Playoffs commenced, Busch, who claimed the 2018 Cup Series regular-season title, would win at Richmond during the Round of 16 and at Phoenix during the Round of 8 finale in November, to which by then, he had made the Championship 4 round for a fourth consecutive season. Ultimately, he would end up in fourth place both during the finale at Homestead and in the final points standings in 2018. During the two-year span, Busch notched 13 victories, bringing his wins total to 51. He also recorded a total of 36 top-five results, 50 top-10 results, 12 poles, with 20,285 laps led and average-finishing results within the top 11, with the 2018 season generating career-high stats in top fives (22), top 10s (28) and average-finishing result (8.3) while the 2017 season generated the most poles (eight) and laps led (2,023) in a season.
For the 2019 season, which marked his 12th season driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series, Busch commenced the season by finishing in the runner-up spot during the 61st running of the Daytona 500 before finishing sixth at Atlanta, which marked his 500th Cup career start. Two races later, he secured his first victory of the season at Phoenix in March and backed it up with a dominant win at Auto Club, where he achieved his 200th NASCAR national touring series victory. As Busch proceeded to win at Bristol in April before winning at Pocono in June, he would accumulate a total of 21 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch before qualifying for his 12th appearance in the Playoffs and winning his second consecutive regular-season title. Then after finishing in the top 10 five times throughout the Playoffs that enabled him to transfer from the Round of 16 into the Championship 4 for a fifth consecutive time, Busch led a race-high 120 laps en route to his second Cup Series championship during the finale at Homestead.
With his accomplishment, Busch became the 16th different competitor to achieve multiple Cup Series titles as he also delivered the fifth championship to Joe Gibbs Racing and the third for Toyota. Overall, Busch capped off his second championship season with five victories, one pole, 17 top-five results, 27 top-10 results, 1,582 laps led and an average-finishing result of 8.9.
Compared to the 2019 season, the 2020 Cup Series season generated a difficult season for Busch both during the regular-season stretch and throughout the Playoffs that prevented him from contending for his third series title. Despite recording 11 top-five results and 13 top-10 results throughout the regular-season stretch that enabled him to make the 2020 Cup Playoffs, Busch finished no lower than sixth throughout the Round of 16 before transferring into the Round of 12. Then amid respective finishes of sixth, 27th and 30th throughout the Round of 12, he was eliminated from title contention. Busch quickly rallied during the second Round of 8 event by notching his first elusive Cup victory of the season at Texas in October following a late battle against Martin Truex Jr. and having enough fuel to snatch the victory, which extended his winning streak to 16 consecutive seasons. Managing respective finishes of ninth and 11th during the final two events on the schedule, Busch settled in eighth place in the final standings.
In 2021, Busch notched two victories that occurred during the regular-season stretch: the first at Kansas in May as he won on his birthday for a second time and the second at Pocono in July after overtaking teammate Denny Hamlin prior to the final lap while running on fumes with a low gas tank. Amid the victories, he also won the non-points Busch Clash at Daytona in February following a last-lap skirmish involving the reigning champion Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney. The pair of victories along with 16 top-10 results throughout the regular-season stretch allowed Busch to make the Playoffs for a 14th season, which he would record five top-10 runs throughout the Playoffs and transferred past the Rounds of 16 and 12 before coming up three points short of transferring into the Championship 4 round, which resulted with the two-time champion settling in ninth place in the final points standings. By then, Busch had recorded a total of 14 top-five results, 22 top-10 results, 334 laps led, an average-finishing result of 12.8 and surpassed 600 Cup career starts.
For the 2022 season, Busch’s lone victory of the season occurred during the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in April, where he capitalized on a final lap incident involving Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe to beat Reddick by 0.330 seconds. The victory not only marked Busch’s 60th in NASCAR’s premier series, but it also marked his 18th consecutive season of winning at least one event in a Cup season, a record feat that was also made by Richard Petty. Despite recording a total of 13 top-10 results, including his Bristol Dirt victory, throughout the regular-season stretch that enabled him to make the Playoffs, Busch was eliminated from title contention following respective finishes of 30th, 26th and 34th throughout the Round of 16. Managing four top-10 results throughout the final seven events on the schedule, Busch ended up in 13th place in the final standings in a season where he accumulated a total of 17 top-10 results, 627 laps led and an average-finishing result of 16.7.
In September 2022, Busch announced his move to Richard Childress Racing to pilot the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the 2023 Cup season, where he replaced the departing Tyler Reddick. The move came amid a termination to Busch’s 15-year partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing due to longtime sponsor Mars, Incorporated departing NASCAR following the 2022 season and JGR unable to secure a primary sponsorship for Busch prior to the 2023 season. After ending up in 19th place during the 65th running of the Daytona 500 while being collected in a final lap, multi-car wreck, Busch achieved his first victory of the season and his first driving for RCR at Auto Club in February, which made him the new holder of the longest winning streak in Cup Series history at 19 consecutive seasons. Eight races later, he dodged a final lap, multi-car wreck to notch his second victory of the season at Talladega in April before grabbing his third Cup win at World Wide Technology Raceway in June, where he led a race-high 121 laps. The three regular-season victories along with a total of 14 top-10 results enabled Busch to make his 16th entrance into the Playoffs. Despite transferring into the Round of 12 amid no finishes lower than 20th throughout the Round of 16, Busch was unable to transfer into the Round of 8 amid respective finishes of 34th, 25th and third throughout the Round of 12. Finishing as high as third for the final four events on the schedule, he concluded his first campaign with RCR in 14th place in the final standings. By then, he had also accumulated a total of 17 top-10 results, 241 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.0.
This season, Busch has started on pole position once, which occurred at Dover in late April and has finished in the top 10 six times through 21-scheduled events, with his best result being a third-place run at Atlanta in February. With his current average-finishing result being a 19.4, Busch is currently ranked in 18th place in the 2024 regular-season standings and trails the top-16 cutline to make the 2024 Playoffs by 102 points as he also strives to collect his first victory of the 2024 season that would extend his record-setting wins of consecutive seasons to 20.
Through 699 previous Cup starts, Busch has achieved two championships, 63 victories, 34 poles, 248 top-five results, 378 top-10 results, 19,280 laps led and an average finishing result of 14.0. He is set to become the 20th competitor overall to reach 700 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series. Should he win this weekend’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, Busch would become the first competitor to win in a 700th Cup start.
Kyle Busch is scheduled to make his 700th Cup Series career start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the return of the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 21. The event’s broadcast time is slated to commence at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
In his fourth season as a crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series and first paired with Daniel Suarez and Trackhouse Racing, Matt Swiderski is primed to reach a milestone feat. By participating in this weekend’s return of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Swiderski will call his 100th career event as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series.
Swiderski, a Chicago native who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering at Kettering University and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, spent the early portions of his career as a data acquisition and race engineer for Richard Childress Racing across the Xfinity and Cup Series divisions before becoming a loads engineer for SpaceX in 2012. Returning to NASCAR eight months later and reuniting with Richard Childress Racing, where he became a chief race engineer before working his way up to being the head of vehicle performance.
In 2017, Swiderski made his inaugural presence as a crew chief in the Xfinity Series, where he worked atop the pit box of RCR’s No. 3 Chevrolet team piloted between Ty Dillon, Scott Lagasse Jr. and Brian Scott throughout the season, with the entry recording 18 top-10 results and finishing in 11th place in the owner’s standings. He then spent the following three seasons as a part-time Xfinity crew chief for Team Penske, where he worked with Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Paul Menard, before working as Ty Dillon’s crew chief for two events in 2021.
During the 2021 season, Swiderski made his inaugural presence as a crew chief in the Cup Series as he joined forces with Kaulig Racing to lead the team’s No. 16 Chevrolet entry on a part-time basis that was split between AJ Allmendinger, Justin Haley and Kaz Grala.
After leading the No. 16 team to three top-seven results during the entry’s first five starts between February and June, Swiderski achieved his first NASCAR career victory as a crew chief during the Cup Series’ inaugural event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in August after Allmendinger capitalized on an overtime shootout to achieve his second Cup career win and the first for Kaulig Racing in NASCAR’s premier series. The No. 16 Kaulig entry would end up finishing no higher than 20th in its final three starts between mid-August to October.
The following season, Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 entry led by Swiderski became a full-time Cup Series entry as Allmendinger, Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric took turns splitting the entry. During the season, Swiderski was suspended for four events throughout May, including the non-points All-Star Race, due to a loose wheel that came unattached at Dover Motor Speedway in early May. In the remaining 33 points-paying events, Swiderski led the No. 16 entry to a total of three top-five results and nine top-10 results, including a season-best runner-up result at Watkins Glen International in August, before the team settled in 26th place in the final owner’s standings.
In 2023, Swiderski was paired with Allmendinger on a full-time basis as Allmendinger became a full-time competitor of Kaulig’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the Cup Series. Despite commencing the season with a sixth-place result during the 65th running of the Daytona 500, the duo would proceed to finish in the top five twice and rack up two additional top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, but they fell short of making the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs.
Then after finishing no higher than 13th during the first five Playoff events, Swiderski and Allmendinger made triumphant returns to Victory Lane at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course after Allmendinger led a race-high 46 of 109 laps en route to his third Cup career win and the second for Kaulig Racing. Managing a single top-five finish during the final four events on the schedule, Allmendinger settled in 21st place in the final driver’s standings.
In early January 2024, Kaulig Racing and Trackhouse Racing engaged in a crew chief swap that resulted in Swiderski replacing Travis Mack to serve as the crew chief for Daniel Suarez and the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team while Mack took over Swiderski’s role as crew chief for Kaulig’s No. 16 Cup team. After ending up in 34th place due to crashing out of the 66th running of the Daytona 500, the new duo of Swiderski and Suarez emerged victorious during the following event at Atlanta Motor Speedway when Suarez edged the reigning champion Ryan Blaney and two-time champion Kyle Busch in a three-wide finish to snap a 57-race winless drought and record both a second Cup victory for himself and the third for Swiderski.
Despite recording only three top-10 runs through 21 scheduled events of the 2024 season, Swiderski and Suarez, both of whom are in 17th place in the regular-season standings, are currently guaranteed a spot into the Playoffs based on the Atlanta victory.
Through 99 previous Cup events, Swiderski has achieved three victories, 11 top-five results and 23 top-10 results while working with six different competitors.
Matt Swiderski is scheduled to call his 100th Cup Series event as a crew chief at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the return of the Brickyard 400. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, July 21, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
In his sixth full-time campaign as a crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series, Chris Gayle, who works as a crew chief for Ty Gibbs and the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE team, is within reach of achieving a milestone feat. By participating in this weekend’s return of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Gayle will call his 200th event as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series.
A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, and a graduate of the University of North Carolina in Charlotte with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Gayle made his inaugural presence as a Cup Series crew chief at Kansas Speedway in April 2013, where he was atop the pit box of the No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry team piloted by veteran Elliott Sadler. By then, he had recently served as a senior engineer for Kyle Busch and was serving as Sadler’s full-time crew chief in the Xfinity Series. In Gayle’s first event as a Cup crew chief, Sadler, who started 24th, finished 40th after being eliminated in an early accident.
Four years later, Gayle was named a full-time Cup Series crew chief of the No. 77 Furniture Row Racing Toyota Camry entry piloted by Erik Jones, who was set to compete in the series for the first time following a four-win season during the previous Xfinity season. Despite being suspended for two races in August due to a post-race infraction at Pocono Raceway in July, Gayle led Jones to his first Cup career pole at Bristol Motor Speedway in August, where he went on to finish a career-best second place following a late duel against Kyle Busch. Despite earning 11 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, the duo did not make the 2017 Cup Playoffs. Nonetheless, they went on to post two top-10 results during the 10-race Playoff stretch before finishing in 19th place in the final standings. By then, Jones captured the 2017 Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title and became the first competitor to achieve a rookie title across NASCAR’s top three premier series (Truck, Xfinity and Cup divisions).
In 2018, Gayle and Jones moved back to Joe Gibbs Racing and took over the No. 20 Toyota Camry team for the upcoming Cup season. Following a consistent start to the season that was highlighted by six top-10 results during the first 16-scheduled events, Gayle and Jones earned their first career victory in the Cup Series at Daytona International Speedway in July after Jones overtook former teammate Martin Truex Jr. on the final lap to win. After notching six additional top-10 results during the following eight events, the duo qualified for the 2018 Cup Playoffs. Their title hopes, however, came to an early end following respective finishes of 40th, 11th and 30th during the Round of 16. Despite rallying to finish in the top 10 four times during the final seven events, Gayle and Jones capped off the season in 15th place in the final standings.
Remaining as Jones’ crew chief in 2019, Gayle led the No. 20 team to a strong third-place result during the 61st running of the Daytona 500. After enduring an up-and-down regular-season stretch highlighted with eight top-five results and 12 top-10 results during the first 24 regular-season events, Gayle and Jones achieved their first elusive victory of the season in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in September, where Jones held off teammate Kyle Busch to win in his 100th Cup career start and notch the second career victory for himself and Gayle. The Southern 500 victory was more than enough for the duo and the No. 20 team to clinch a Playoff spot for a second consecutive season. Following another early exit from the Playoffs after posting three consecutive results outside the top 30 during the Round of 16, Gayle and Jones went on to finish 16th in the final standings.
Gayle and Jones commenced the 2020 season on a high note by winning the Busch Clash at Daytona in February, where Jones rallied from being involved in three multi-car wrecks to nurse his damaged car to the win with drafting help from teammate Denny Hamlin. The rest of the season, however, ended up being a struggle for the duo as they recorded seven top-10 results during the regular season and failed to make the Playoffs. In addition, Gayle served a one-race suspension during the second of a Darlington Raceway doubleheader feature in May after Jones’ No. 20 Toyota had two unsecured lugnuts during the first Darlington feature. Five finishes in the top 10 during the 10-week Playoff stretch, however, were enough for Gayle and Jones to end up in 17th place in the final standings, the highest-finishing team in the standings to not make the Playoffs.
Following the 2020 season, Gayle and Jones were replaced by Adam Stevens and Christopher Bell, respectively, for the 2021 season. While Jones moved on to Richard Petty Motorsports, Gayle remained at JGR and scaled back as a full-time Xfinity Series crew chief for the team’s No. 54 Toyota Supra entry piloted by a multitude of competitors. Between 2021 and 2022, Gayle earned 17 Xfinity victories between Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs and John Hunter Nemechek. He also won the 2022 Xfinity Series championship with Ty Gibbs in a season where the duo notched seven victories, including the season finale to claim the fourth Xfinity title for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Nearly a week and a half after winning the previous season’s Xfinity championship, Gayle was promoted back to the Cup Series to serve as Gibbs’ crew chief in 2023, with Gibbs retaining the No. 54 and embarking in his first full-time campaign in NASCAR’s premier series. The duo would rally by finishing no higher than 16th during the first four-scheduled events before notching four consecutive top-10 finishes in their next four events. Gayle and Gibbs would proceed to collect two top-five results and another top-10 result throughout the remaining 18 regular-season events on the schedule, but they would miss the cutline to the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs. Nonetheless, they proceeded to record two top-five runs during the final 10-scheduled events before ending up in 18th place in the final driver’s standings. As a result, Gibbs claimed the 2023 Cup Series Rookie-of-the-Year title, which marked the second time and the first since being paired with Erik Jones in 2017 where Gayle navigated a competitor to a Cup rookie title.
Through 199 previous Cup events, Gayle has achieved two victories, four poles, 40 top-five results and 78 top-10 results while working with three different competitors. He and Ty Gibbs are currently ranked in 11th place in the 2024 regular-season standings on the strength of five top-five results, nine top-10 results and two poles, including this past weekend at Pocono Raceway, through 21-scheduled events. In addition, they are 40 points above the top-16 cutline to make this year’s Playoffs with five regular-season events remaining on the schedule.
Chris Gayle is scheduled to call his 200th Cup Series event as a crew chief at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the return of the Brickyard 400. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, July 21, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
1. Ryan Blaney: Blaney took the lead in the pits on Lap 116 and held on until the end to win the Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono, his second win of the season.
“I think this gives us great momentum heading into Indianapolis,” Blaney said. “A lot of drivers have stated how much ‘kissing the bricks’ means to them. Jeff Gordon once compared it to locking lips with his ex-wife Brooke.”
2. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin won Stage 2 at Pocono, but came up short to Ryan Blaney in the final start and settled for the runner-up spot.
“I had a few on-track battles with my old nemesis Alex Bowman,” Hamlin said. “Alex thinks he’s on my level. He’s not. People don’t hate him; they just really dislike him.”
3. Tyler Reddick: Reddick finished sixth at Pocono, posting his 14th top 10 of the year.
“My No. 45 Toyota featured the Money Lion paint scheme,” Reddick said. “When that’s on my car, Michael Jordan gets really excited, but only because he thinks it says ‘money line.’”
4. Christopher Bell: Bell ran in the top 10 for the majority of the day at Pocono and finished 12th.
“The No. 20 Rheem Toyota wasn’t the fastest car on the track,” Bell said, “but we still managed a top 12. That’s mostly thanks to my pit crew. It’s like they say: ‘Rheem work makes the dream work.’”
5. Kyle Larson: A late pit road speeding penalty cost Larson a lot of track position, and he finished 13th at Pocono.
“All it takes is one mistake to ruin your day,” Larson said. “And I made that mistake. Basically, I put the ‘O no’ in ‘Pocono.’”
6. Chase Elliott: Elliott finished ninth in the Great American Getaway 400.
“The broadcast of the race went head to head with that of the Spain vs England European Championship,” Elliott said. “I doubt there is much crossover in those two audiences. If you told the patrons down at the Dawsonville Pool Room that the European Championship was on TV, many would ask ‘Is it streaming?’”
7. William Byron: Byron finished fourth at Pocono, scoring his first top 5 since Iowa on June 16th.
“I haven’t won since Martinsville in early April,” Byron said. “I was in top form then, and I know I still have it in me. It’s like eating a Martinsville hot dog; it’s still going to be in you three months later.”
8. Alex Bowman: Bowman backed up his win at Chicago with a solid third-place result at Pocono.
“The words on my car say ‘Best Friends,’” Bowman said. “Best Friends has everything to do with the animal welfare organization, and nothing to do with my relationship with Bubba Wallace.”
9. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex won Stage 1 at Pocono and finished eighth in the Great American Getaway 400.
“I’m still looking for my first win of the season,” Truex said. “It would be awfully climactic if my first win of the season came at Phoenix in November to win the championship. It would be awfully anti-climactic if my first win came at Phoenix as someone else won the championship.”
10. Ross Chastain: Chastain suffered a steering issue on Lap 53, which sent him sliding into the turn 3 wall. The accident ended his day and Chastain finished 36th.
“When you’re fighting for a playoff spot,” Chastain said, “a terrible result like this can make you sick to your stomach, much like drinking Busch Light Peach.”
