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  • Reddick survives three overtime attempts for wild Cup victory at COTA

    Reddick survives three overtime attempts for wild Cup victory at COTA

    In a highly anticipated event featuring a star-studded lineup of competitors and new names across the grid, Tyler Reddick captured the main spotlight by winning the third annual running of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, March 26, amid three overtime attempts and a dominant run since the start of the weekend.

    The two-time Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, led a race-high 41 of 75 over-scheduled laps in an event where he utilized pit strategy and a fast race car to keep himself in contention towards the front. Swapping the lead with William Byron on several occasions before overtaking him with four laps remaining, Reddick then had to navigate his way around Austin’s 20-turn circuit through three overtime attempts and a series of carnages erupting behind him to muscle away from Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain and Byron to claim the first checkered flag for himself, 23XI Racing and Toyota of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, William Byron notched his first Cup pole of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 93.882 mph in 130.760 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Tyler Reddick, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 93.783 mph in 130.898 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Michael McDowell dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Byron jumped ahead with the lead as the field fanned out through the uphill climb to the first turn. With the field navigating its way into the first turn, Byron retained the lead through a series of right and left-hand turns from Turns 2 to 10 before approaching a steep left-hand turn in Turn 11. As the field approached the long straightaway between Turns 11 and 12, Tyler Reddick and Austin Cindric battled for second with Daniel Suarez closing in after he overtook Jordan Taylor, a three-time IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar champion who was filling in the No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the injured Chase Elliott. Following the final series of turns from Turns 12 to 20, the field returned to the frontstretch as Byron led the first lap ahead of Reddick, Cindric, Suarez and Alex Bowman while Jordan Taylor fell back to ninth.

    Just then, the first caution of the event flew on the second lap when Brad Keselowski, who was running within the middle of the field, spun in between Turns 19 and 20. As a bevy of cars approaching Keselowski scattered to avoid him, Ty Dillon got pinched in between Todd Gilliland and Chris Buescher, which resulted in Buescher hitting Dillon as he veered sideways and slammed into the No. 84 Club Wyndham Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 piloted by seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson as Johnson spun with right-side damage while Dillon emerged with significant front nose damage to his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The early incident was enough to knock both Dillon and Johnson out of contention while Keselowski continued.

    During the following restart on the fifth lap, the field fanned out again entering the first turn as Cindric, who restarted third, managed to motor his way past Byron and Reddick, both of whom went wide in Turn 1, to assume the lead entering the series of turns from Turns 2 to 10. As the field jostled for positions past the turns and entering the frontstretch between Turns 11 and 12, Cindric maintained the lead over Reddick and Byron with Suarez in fourth and AJ Allmendinger in fifth. By then, Taylor locked up the front tires entering Turn 11 while battling within the top 10 and nearly clipped Erik Jones, which caused him to drop back to 13th.

    A lap later, Chase Briscoe, who was running 17th, got hit by Justin Haley and spun in Turn 1, but the field remained under green flag conditions as Briscoe lost a bevy of spots on the track. By then, Joey Logano was assessed a pass-through penalty for shortcutting through the esses while running in 16th, all while Cindric retained the lead in front of Reddick and Byron. By the seventh lap, however, Reddick managed to cycle his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry around Cindric’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang entering Turn 19 to assume the lead on the eighth lap.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Reddick was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Byron while third-place Cindric trailed by more than a second. Allmendinger and Suarez were running fourth and fifth while Bowman, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain were scored in the top 10. Behind, Bubba Wallace was in 11th ahead of Christopher Bell, Jordan Taylor and rookies Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson while Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece, Tod Gilliland, Harrison Burton and Martin Truex Jr. occupied the top 20. By then, Kevin Harvick was in 22nd ahead of Ryan Blaney and Austin Dillon, former Formula One champion Kimi Räikkönen was in 25th, Keselowski was back in 27th, former Formula One champion Jenson Button was mired back in 31st in between Aric Almirola and Chase Briscoe and IndyCar competitor Conor Daly was in 34th. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin, Corey LaJoie and Michael McDowell were assessed penalties for cutting the course.

    Then during the following lap, trouble erupted when Bubba Wallace locked up the front tires and slammed into Larson with Erik Jones also sustaining damage in Turn 12. While limping his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to pit road, Larson endured more on-track issues when he got hit by Denny Hamlin and spun backward toward the pit wall in between Turns 19 and 20 at the same time when Wallace was pitting his wounded No. 23 MoneyLion Toyota TRD Camry as the caution returned. Despite the pair of incidents, Larson managed to continue while Wallace retired with a damaged oil line. By then, Cody Ware also endured on-track issues when he spun within the infield turns. In addition, names like Stenhouse, Harvick, Buescher, Keselowski, Almirola, Briscoe, Logano and LaJoie pitted.

    The following restart on Lap 15 also marked the conclusion of the first stage as Byron managed to edge Cindric to capture his fourth stage victory of the 2023 Cup season followed by Allmendinger, Bowman, Chastain, Suarez, Kyle Busch, Taylor, Bell and Ryan Preece. Compared to the first five events on the schedule, the caution flag did not display and the competitors proceeded under green as part of NASCAR’s new rules for this season, which highlighted that no caution periods would be mandated at the conclusion of stage breaks on road course venues that hold Cup Series events.

    With the second stage proceeding under green on Lap 15, the field fanned out and scrambled for positions through the first turn and the series of left and right-hand turns from Turns 2 to 10 with Byron retaining the lead over Cindric, Allmendinger, Bowman and Chastain.

    At the Lap 20 mark, Byron was leading by six-tenths of a second over Cindric followed by Allmendinger, Suarez and Chastain while Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Bell, Taylor and Reddick were in the top 10. By then, 34 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap. Meanwhile, Blaney, who spun in Turn 15 a few laps earlier after getting hit by Larson, and Keselowski, who received an earlier tap from Blaney before spinning in Turn 12, plummeted down to 27th and 35th, respectively.

    Shortly after, green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Kyle Busch pitted his No. 8 Netspend Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 followed by Jenson Button, Almirola, Preece, Gilliland and Gibbs. Taylor would also pit a few laps later followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Bell. By Lap 23, Cindric pitted despite enduring issues with changing the right-rear tire along with Bowman and Chastain while Byron retained the lead ahead of Allmendinger.

    Once Byron surrendered the lead to pit his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green prior to Lap 24, Reddick, who pitted prior to the conclusion of the first stage, cycled back into the lead. Behind, Allmendinger and Suarez also pitted while Austin Dillon, McDowell, Harvick and Larson emerged in the top five. By then, every competitor still running on the field made at least one pit stop with all on mixed pit strategies.

    By Lap 25, Reddick was leading by more than three seconds over Austin Dillon followed by McDowell, Harvick and Larson while Stenhouse, Buescher, Erik Jones, Briscoe and Logano were scored in the top 10. By then, Hamlin was in 11th ahead of Gragson, Kimi Räikkönen, Keselowski and Byron while Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Suarez, Gibbs and Chastain were in the top 20. By then, Bowman was in 21st, Bell was back in 26th ahead of teammate Truex and Taylor had fallen back in 29th ahead of Cindric and Jenson Button. Meanwhile, Blaney was mired a lap down in 34th following his earlier on-track incident and spin.

    When the second stage concluded under green on Lap 30, Reddick captured his first stage victory of the 2023 Cup season while former teammate Austin Dillon trailed by more than seven seconds. McDowell, Harvick, Buescher, Stenhouse, Larson, Erik Jones, Briscoe and Gragson were scored in the top 10 while 33 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    With the final stage proceeding under green with 38 laps remaining, Hamlin and Keselowski pitted under green shortly after while Gibbs was penalized for cutting the course. Briscoe, Gragson, Larson and McDowell would eventually pit, with Larson being penalized for speeding on pit road. Then approaching Lap 32, Reddick surrendered the lead to pit along with Stenhouse while Buescher assumed the lead. Following Reddick’s pit stop, Byron managed to overtake Reddick on the track as he settled in third behind Buescher and Erik Jones while Reddick was back in 10th.

    A lap later, Byron reassumed the lead once Buescher pitted along with Erik Jones. This enabled Allmendinger to move into second followed by Suarez, Chastain and Kyle Busch while Reddick moved up to sixth. Another lap later, the event reached its halfway mark. By then, Gibbs was assessed another pass-through penalty for cutting the course while Reddick set the fastest lap of the event while running towards the top five.

    With 30 laps remaining, Byron was leading by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Reddick followed by Allmendinger, Suarez and Chastain while Bowman, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Cindric and McDowell were mired in the top 10. A lap later, Reddick made his move beneath Byron in Turn 1 and moved back into the lead. Meanwhile, Logano pitted his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang under green while Bell, who spun in Turn 8, was in 14th.

    Three laps later, the caution flew due to debris reported in Turn 9. This occurred after Hamlin, who was running 17th, spun his No. 11 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry a turn prior and kicked up dirt on the course. During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Reddick pitted for service that included fresh tires and enough fuel for the finish while Logano, who pitted a few laps prior to the caution, remained on the track along with Harrison Burton and Cody Ware. Following the pit stops, Reddick was the first competitor to exit pit road followed by Byron, Suarez, Chastain, Austin Dillon and McDowell. During the pit stops, Gibbs was penalized for pitting outside his pit box.

    With 25 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Logano and Harrison Burton occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out entering the first turn as Reddick launched his move beneath Logano for the lead. Despite grabbing it approaching the turn, Reddick wiggled and went wide, which allowed Byron to overtake him for the lead as Reddick was left to battle Chastain for second. Through the series of left and right-hand turns from Turns 2 to 10 and with the field still fanning out and jostling for late positions, Byron maintained the lead while Reddick was trying to navigate his way back into second. As the field continued to navigate through the next round of turns entering Turn 12, Suarez overshot the turn and lost a spot to fifth place on the track while Byron retained the lead ahead of Reddick, Chastain and Bowman.

    Two laps later, a side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between Reddick and Byron through the straightaway turn between Turns 11 and 12. Following a side-by-side, crossover and swapping duel fight between the top-two leaders through Turns 12 to Turn 20, Byron managed to retain the lead by a narrow hair over Reddick. During the following lap, Byron and Reddick continued to fight for the lead as Chastain started to close in on the two leaders. Through the infield turns, however, Reddick managed to pull ahead and remain ahead of Byron to retake the lead as Chastain started to challenge Byron for second. Meanwhile, fourth-place Bowman trailed by more than a second as he started to join the battle.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Reddick was leading by two-tenths of a second over Byron while third-place Chastain trailed by nine-tenths of a second. Behind, Bowman was in fourth place while Austin Dillon occupied fifth place. With Suarez, Bell, Harvick, Logano and McDowell running in the top 10, Allmendinger, who endured a slow pit stop during the last caution period, was mired in 11th while Jordan Taylor navigated his way into 19th place, six spots over Räikkönen and eight over Jenson Button. Meanwhile, Larson limped back to pit road with a broken toe link to his No. 5 entry while Preece, who was assessed a pass-through penalty for short-cutting the esses, was assessed another pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road while serving his first penalty.

    Five laps later, the Reddick and Byron, both of whom were instructed to save fuel, were separated by half a second, with Reddick leading while third-place Chastain trailed by more than a second. In the midst of the battles upfront, both Keselowski and Stenhouse spun through Turn 11, but the event proceeded under green. A few laps later, Hamlin and Kyle Busch pitted under green for enough fuel for the finish.

    Then with 12 laps remaining, Byron slipped and went off the course in Turn 8, which allowed Trackhouse Racing’s Chastain and Suarez to move up to second and third. Not long after, Suarez bumped and moved teammate Chastain out of his way in Turn 11 to claim second place while Reddick retained the lead by more than a second. Just then, the caution returned when Keselowski came to a stop in Turn 7. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Reddick pitted while names like Bell, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Räikkönen and Preece remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Reddick was the first competitor to exit first followed by Byron, Suarez, Bowman, Austin Dillon and McDowell while Chastain lost a bevy of spots amid a slow pit service.

    During the following restart with nine laps remaining, where Bell and Kyle Busch occupied the front row, Bell jumped ahead with a slight advantage as the field fanned out entering the first turn. Then as Reddick challenged Bell for the lead on fresh tires, carnage ensued behind as Allmendinger clipped and sent Austin Dillon around. At the same time, Chastain, who went wide to avoid Dillon, made contact with Erik Jones as he spun. With Chastain unable to pull away in Turn 1, the caution returned to being displayed. By then, Reddick reassumed the lead ahead of Bell while Byron was up in third followed by Kyle Bush and Truex.

    As the field restarted under green with seven laps remaining, Reddick jumped ahead with the lead. Through Turn 1, however, Reddick overdrove the first turn, which allowed Byron to draw back even and clear him for the lead entering the series of turns. Then through Turn 9, Bell got turned as he spun while running towards the front, but the event remained under green. With the field scrambling entering Turns 11 and 12, Byron was out in front ahead of Reddick and Kyle Busch while Truex and Suarez rounded out the top five.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Byron maintained the lead by half a second over Reddick while third-place Kyle Busch trailed by more than two seconds. With Suarez and Bowman in the top five, Truex was in sixth while McDowell, Preece, Logano and Gragson were in the top 10. By then, 31 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Then entering Turn 11, Reddick, who kept Byron pressured for the lead, pounced on an opportunity to seize it back, which he did as he also fended off Byron through the straightaway from Turns 11 and 12 before maintaining the advantage through a series of turns from Turns 12 to 20. A lap later, the caution returned and the event was sent into overtime due to debris reported on the course as a result of Austin Dillon, who was penalized for cutting the esses earlier, shredding a left-rear tire on his No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

    With the event restarting in overtime, Reddick dueled against Byron amid the field fanning out before being locked into another side-by-side battle with Kyle Busch after he nearly overshot the turn. Behind, however, more on-track issues ensued in Turn 1 when Blaney got turned and spun. In front of him, Preece also got turned after making contact with Gibbs, which he also clipped Gragson. With the carnage ensuing behind, the event remained under green as Reddick maintained the lead over Kyle Busch and Byron. Then as Reddick was trying to motor his car back to the start/finish line to start the final lap, the caution returned and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt due to debris coming off of Blaney’s No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang while fluid was also leaking out of Preece’s damaged No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang.

    At the start of the second overtime attempt, Bowman, who restarted within the top 10 and fanned out in his move to the front, made contact with Suarez and the contact carried forth into Truex getting hit and spun in Turn 1 while Suarez plummeted below the field after stopping in front of Truex’s car. As Reddick remained ahead of Kyle Busch, Bowman and Byron with the lead, Justin Haley spun in Turn 11 while running in the middle of the pack, but the event remained under green. Then through the infield carousel turns, McDowell, Räikkönen and Bell also spun, but the event remained under green again. The caution, however, flew and the event was sent into a third overtime attempt due to debris on the course after Suarez shredded the left-front tire of his No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. By then, Reddick was scored the leader ahead of Kyle Busch, Bowman and Byron while Chastain maneuvered his way back to fifth.

    When the event proceeded under green for the third overtime attempt, Reddick managed to fend off Bowman through the first turn to maintain the lead as the field bumped and jostled through the first turn. With Almirola falling off the pace, Reddick continued to navigate at the front through the series of turns from Turns 2 to 10. With more names like Logano, Bell and Suarez wrecking through the turns, Reddick retained the lead in front of Bowman, who had Kyle Busch pressuring him for second while Chastain was in fourth ahead of Byron.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Reddick, who was able to navigate his way back to the frontstretch without another caution to stall his progress, remained as the leader by a second over Bowman, who was drawn even and overtaken by Kyle Busch for second. Having a clear view in front of him for a final time through the 20-turn circuit while his challengers battled behind, Reddick was able to smoothly navigate his way back to the frontstretch and claim his first checkered flag of the 2023 campaign by more than a second over Busch.

    With the victory, Reddick became the third different winner at Circuit of the Americas in the venue’s three-year history of hosting NASCAR Cup Series events. By becoming the fifth different winner of the 2023 season, he also notched his third victory on a road course venue and his fourth career win in NASCAR’s premier series. The victory was also the first of the season and fourth overall for 23XI Racing while the Toyota nameplate notched its first Cup victory of 2023.

    “[The victory] means the world,” Reddick said on FOX. “This whole 23XI team has been working hard all winter long to make the road course program better and was extremely motivated to come in here and improve that performance. Just so proud of this Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD. This whole team, Toyota, everybody. All the resources, everything they’ve been putting into this to help turn around the road course program means a lot. I’m out of gas, but I feel a little bit better with Monster Energy.”

    Meanwhile, Kyle Busch navigated his way around Alex Bowman for second place for his second top-two finish of the season. Bowman settled in third place for his second consecutive top-three finish at Circuit of the Americas while Chastain and Byron finished in the top five.

    “I don’t know if we could have [beaten Reddick],” Busch said. “Even if we were on equal tires, when we tested here, [Reddick’s team] were lights out and had us beat on the front side of the runs. We needed longer runs, but even today, for some reason, we just didn’t have the really great long-run speed. We had good middle run speed, but overall, for as much as effort and everything that we’ve put into coming here and focusing on this place and all the testing and everything that we’ve been able to do over the off-season, we come out of here with a really good finish.”

    “[Today] was really fun,” Byron said. “[Reddick’s team] were great all weekend. Tyler’s been great at the road courses. We made it a battle, for sure. Every time, crossovers, out-braking each other. That was a lot of fun. I hate that it kind of got down to restarts at the end. I got shoved off one time in second. We needed a top five and probably could’ve done some things different, but overall, a good day for the Liberty University Chevrolet. Good speed. Just, Tyler was so fast all weekend. I felt like, when I got the lead, I was just slipping and sliding, so it was fun.”

    With 30 of 39 starters finishing on the lead lap, Cindric, Stenhouse, Buescher, Gibbs and Todd Gilliland completed the top 10 on the track.

    Notably, Harvick finished 13th in his third and final start at Circuit of the Americas, Larson rallied for 14th, Hamlin fell back to 16th in front of teammate Truex, Blaney ended up 21st and Suarez settled in 27th in front of Logano. In addition, Jenson Button emerged as the highest-finishing open-wheel star in 18th while IMSA’s Jordan Taylor finished 24th and Formula One’s Kimi Räikkönen ended up 29th.

    There were 16 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 17 laps.

    Following the sixth event of the 2023 Cup Series season, Ross Chastain leads the regular-season standings by 19 over Kyle Busch, 25 over both Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick, 27 over Christopher Bell and 34 over Ryan Blaney.

    Results.

    1. Tyler Reddick, 41 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Kyle Busch

    3. Alex Bowman

    4. Ross Chastain

    5. William Byron, 28 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    6. Austin Cindric, two laps led

    7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    8. Chris Buescher, one lap led

    9. Ty Gibbs

    10. Todd Gilliland

    11. Corey LaJoie

    12. Michael McDowell

    13. Kevin Harvick

    14. Kyle Larson

    15. Chase Briscoe

    16. Denny Hamlin

    17. Martin Truex Jr.

    18. Jenson Button

    19. Justin Haley

    20. Noah Gragson

    21. Ryan Blaney

    22. Harrison Burton

    23. Erik Jones

    24. Jordan Taylor

    25. Cody Ware

    26. Josh Bilicki

    27. Daniel Suarez, one lap led

    28. Joey Logano, one lap led

    29. Kimi Räikkönen

    30. Aric Almirola, one lap down

    31. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    32. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

    33. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

    34. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident

    35. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Driveshaft

    36. Conor Daly – OUT, Transmission

    37. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident

    38. Jimmie Johnson – OUT, DVP

    39. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ first of two scheduled events of this season at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, April 2, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • William Byron scores Busch Light Pole at Circuit of The Americas

    William Byron scores Busch Light Pole at Circuit of The Americas

    William Byron had the car to beat Saturday at Circuit of The Americas. He topped the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a lap of 130.76 seconds at 93.882 mph to earn the Busch Light Pole Award at the 20-turn, 3.41-mile track.

    It was his ninth career pole in the Cup Series and Byron also set a record as the first driver to win a poll at four different road course venues – Charlotte Roval (2019), Road America (2021), Indianapolis Road Course (2021) and COTA (2022). 

    Byron spoke about the significance of earning the pole but is focused on Sunday’s race.

    “It’s good,” he said. “I think it’s been an up-and-down weekend. The Cup car, we definitely had a little bit of work to do yesterday just on overall balance and grip in some areas, and areas in me as a driver.

    Byron added, “Good to get the pole, but really tomorrow is what matters and there’s a lot of work to do.”

    Tyler Reddick will join Byron on the front row in the No. 45 Toyota for 23XI Racing, his first top-five start this season. He ran a record qualifying lap record during the opening round (94.210 mph) but fell short during the final round.

    Team Penske driver Austin Cindric will start third in his No. 2 Ford and is optimistic about the upcoming race.

    “Good execution,” he said, “by everyone in our Discount Ford Mustang in qualifying. I feel like this weekend, more than others, qualifying will certainly have an impact on your ability to have a good finish – without the stage cautions. So, solid place to start, it gives us great pit selection.”

     Taylor, a four-time IMSA champion, filling in for the injured Chase Elliott, was fourth fastest in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

    “It was honestly a full new experience, and yesterday [in practice], I felt like I was out of control 90 percent of the time,” Taylor said. “Today, I felt like I knew what the car was doing. We made good set-up changes to help with that and give me a better sense of where the grip was. Today felt super smooth, and it felt like I was driving my [sports] car, something super familiar for me.”

    He gave much of the credit to HMS, saying, “the Hendrick guys have done an amazing job.”

    Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez rounds out the top-five qualifiers. Legacy Motor Club’s Noah Gragson was the fastest rookie in qualifying.

    Former Formula One drivers Kimi Räikkönen who has one prior Cup Series start, qualified 22nd in the No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet and Jenson Button, in his first start in the series, (No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford) qualified 24th.

    Jimmie Johnson qualified 31st in his second race this year as a team owner and part-time driver for Legacy Motor Club in the No. 84 Chevrolet.

    IndyCar driver Conor Daly, with two previous starts in the Cup Series, including the 2023 Daytona 500, qualified 35th.

    The EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix is set for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Starting Lineup:

  • Weekend schedule for Circuit of the Americas

    Weekend schedule for Circuit of the Americas

    This weekend all three NASCAR national series head to Circuit of the Americas (COTA) for a full schedule of on-track activity. The 20-turn, 3.41-mile road course track presents a unique challenge for all of the competitors. As an added bonus, Formula One champions Jenson Button and Kimi Räikkönen, along with IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar champion Jordan Taylor, will join the Cup Series regulars on Sunday in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.

    GRAMMY® Award-winner Darius Rucker will be the honorary starter and also perform in a pre-race concert before the Cup Series race Sunday afternoon.

    Notes:
    Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger will be making his 400th career Cup Series career start this weekend.
    Ross Chastain is the defending Cup Series race winner. AJ Allmendinger won the Xfinity Series event last year and Zane Smith was victorious in the Truck Series at COTA in 2022.

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, March 24

    2:35 p.m.: Cup Series Practice – No TV – Tape Delay 8 p.m. on FS1
    4:30 p.m.: Truck Series Practice – No TV – Tape Delay 9 p.m. on FS1
    5 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying – No TV – Tape Delay 9 p.m. on FS1
    Post Truck Series Qualifying – Watch live on Press Pass
    6:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice – FS1
    7 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – FS1
    Post Xfinity Series Qualifying – Watch live on Press Pass

    Saturday, March 25

    11:30 a.m.: Cup Series Qualifying – FS1/PRN/SiriusXM

    1:30 p.m.: CRAFTSMAN Truck Series XPEL 225
    Distance: 143.22 miles (42 Laps)
    Stage 1 ends on Lap 12, Stage 2 ends on Lap 26, final Stage ends on Lap 42
    FS1/MRN/SiriusXM
    The Purse: $740,517
    Post Truck Series Race: Watch live on Press Pass

    5 p.m.: Xfinity Series Pit Boss 250 presented by USA Today
    Distance: 156.86 miles (46 Laps)
    Stage 1 ends on Lap 14, Stage 2 ends on Lap 30, Final Stage ends on Lap 46
    FS1/PRN/SiriusXM
    The Purse: $1,695,270
    Post Xfinity Series Race: Watch live on Press Pass

    Sunday, March 26

    3:30 p.m.: Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix
    Distance: 231.88 miles (68 laps)
    Stage 1 ends on Lap 15, Stage 2 ends on Lap 30, Final Stage ends on Lap 68
    FOX/PRN/SiriusXM
    The Purse: $9,294,829
    Post Cup Series Race: Watch live on Press Pass

  • Allmendinger to make 400th Cup career start at COTA

    Allmendinger to make 400th Cup career start at COTA

    In his return to full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition, AJ Allmendinger is set to achieve a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), the driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will be making career start No. 400 in NASCAR’s premier series.

    A native of Los Gatos, California, Allmendinger made his inaugural presence in NASCAR’s premier series in 2007, when he was named the driver of the No. 84 Toyota Camry for the newly formed Red Bull Racing. By then, he was coming off three full-time seasons in the Champ Car World Series, where he achieved the rookie title in 2004 and five victories along with a third-place result in the final standings in 2006. After failing to qualify for the first four events on the schedule, Allmendinger’s first start occurred at Bristol Motor Speedway in March, where he finished 40th after being involved in an early wreck in Turn 1. In total, he competed in 17 of 36-scheduled events, where his best result of the season was a 15th-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October followed by a 16th-place result at Atlanta Motor Speedway and an 18th-place run at Auto Club Speedway in September.

    The 2008 Cup season produced another difficult start for Allmendinger, who failed to qualify for the first three events, including the 50th running of the Daytona 500, before being replaced for the following five events. He then made his first start of the season at Talladega in April, where he finished 30th after being involved in a multi-car wreck on the final lap. After finishing no higher than 27th during his next two starts, he achieved a breakthrough moment in his early stock car career by winning the non-points All-Star Open at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, which enabled him to transfer to the All-Star Race as he went on to finish 17th. From Talladega in April through Kansas Speedway in September, Allmendinger managed to qualify and compete in the series. During the span, he achieved his first top-10 career result after finishing 10th at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. He then achieved his career-best result of ninth place at Kansas before being released by Red Bull Racing. After being absent for the following event at Talladega, Allmendinger drove the No. 00 Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing on a one-race basis at Charlotte in October, where he finished 43rd, dead last, after being eliminated in an early wreck. He then competed in the final five scheduled events in the No. 10 Dodge Charger for Gillett Evernham Motorsports, where he finished in the top 16 in all but one of his five starts. Overall, Allmendinger competed in 27 of 36-scheduled events and concluded the season with an average-finishing result of 24.7.

    Allmendinger commenced the 2009 Cup season as the driver of the No. 44 Dodge for Richard Petty Motorsports while the team was unable to secure sponsorship for Allmendinger’s entry for the full season. Nonetheless, he commenced the season on a high note by finishing in third place during the rain-shortened 51st running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in February. Five races later, he secured his second top-10 result of the season by finishing ninth at Martinsville Speedway in March. Over the course of the season, where he managed to qualify and compete in all 36-scheduled events, Allmendinger racked up seventh-place results at Sonoma Raceway in June and at Dover Motor Speedway in September before notching two 10th-place finishes during the final three events of the season. When the final checkered flag of the 2009 season flew and with a total of 17 top-20 results, Allmendinger capped off the season in 24th place in the final standings.

    In 2010, Allmendinger replaced teammate Reed Sorenson as the driver of the iconic No. 43 Ford Fusion for RPM. After finishing no higher than 25th during the first three scheduled events, he achieved a new career-best result to his Cup resume after finishing sixth at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March. He would improve his best result in the series by finishing fourth at Watkins Glen International in August. By then, he had achieved his first career pole at Phoenix Raceway in April. While he did not make the 2010 Cup Playoffs, he accumulated a total of two top-five results, including a fifth-place run at Homestead in November, eight top-10 results, a career-high 181 laps led and an average-finishing result of 17.8 before finishing in 24th place in the final standings. Remaining in the No. 43 Ford in 2011, Allmendinger’s best result of the season was a fifth-place run in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May. Despite securing a single top-five result in 2011, he accumulated a career-high 10 top-10 results and recorded an average-finishing result of 16.1 before finishing in 15th place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

    At the conclusion of the 2011 season, Allmendinger moved to Team Penske to drive the No. 22 Dodge Charger for the 2012 season, where he replaced the 2004 Cup champion Kurt Busch. Allmendinger’s campaign with Penske commenced on a rough note after finishing 34th in the 54th running of the Daytona 500. He rallied five races later by notching a career-best runner-up result behind Ryan Newman amid a green-white-checkered shootout. During his next 11 starts with Team Penske, Allmendinger finished in the top 20 five times before notching back-to-back ninth-place runs at Sonoma and Kentucky Speedway in June. Then in July, Allmendinger was suspended indefinitely from NASCAR after failing a random drug test and violating NASCAR’s substance abuse program, where he was found to have taken amphetamine, which was a banned stimulant. By August, he was released by Team Penske and participated in the Road to Recovery program. After being reinstated by NASCAR in September, Allmendinger made four starts with Phoenix Racing between October and November, where his best result occurred at Charlotte after finishing 24th. Throughout the 2012 campaign, Allmendinger competed in all but 15 of 36 events.

    Allmendinger commenced the 2013 season as a part-time competitor between the IndyCar Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the Cup Series, where he competed in select events for Phoenix Racing. After recording four top-20 results during his first five part-time starts, he then transitioned between Phoenix Raceway and JTG-Daugherty Racing in select Cup events, beginning at Michigan International Speedway in June. With a total of 18 starts in 2013, Allmendinger’s best on-track result was a 10th-place run at Watkins Glen in August. By then, he surpassed 200 Cup career starts.

    In August 2013, Allmendinger was named a full-time competitor of the No. 47 Chevrolet SS for JTG Daugherty Racing for the 2014 season. He commenced the season with back-to-back 26th-place results before notching his first top-10 result of the season at Auto Club Speedway in March by finishing eighth. He then notched a sixth-place result at Richmond Raceway in April before collecting his first top-five result of the season at Talladega Superspeedway. Then at Watkins Glen in August, Allmendinger prevailed in several duels against Marcos Ambrose, including the last one during a two-lap shootout, to achieve his first Cup career victory in his 213th series career start, to record the first win for JTG-Daugherty Racing and to claim a spot to the 2014 Cup Playoffs. Allmendinger’s title run, however, came to an early end after three consecutive finishes outside of the top 10 during the Round of 16 left the Californian two points shy of transferring to the Round of 12. With a total of 17 top-20 results throughout the 36-race campaign, Allmendinger went on to finish in a career-best 13th place in the final standings.

    Remaining as a full-time Cup competitor for JTG-Daugherty Racing in 2015, Allmendinger was unable to return to Victory Lane nor make the Playoffs as he only achieved a total of three top-10 results, including a season-best sixth-place run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. Despite recording two poles during the season, he ended up in 22nd place in the final standings. He rallied during the following season by tripling his total top-10 results to nine and recording two top-five runs, including a season-best second place behind Kyle Busch at Martinsville in April. While he improved his average-finishing result from 23.1 to 17.8 in 2016, he went winless for a second consecutive season, missed the Playoffs and ended up in 19th place in the final standings.

    The 2017 Daytona 500 marked Allmendinger’s 300th Cup career start, where he achieved a strong third-place result. He then finished no higher than 17th during the following four events before managing a sixth-place run at Martinsville in April. With just three additional top-10 results during the following 20 regular-season events, Allmendinger did not accumulate enough points to make the 2017 Cup Playoffs. Finishing no higher than 14th during the final 10 events, he concluded the season in 27th place in the final standings.

    In comparison to the 2017 season, the 2018 Cup season produced a single top-five run for Allmendinger, which occurred at Daytona in July after he finished third. The season also produced a total of five top-10 results, but he managed to improve on his average-finishing result from the previous season from 22.0 to 21.3 and improve five spots in the standings from 27th to 22nd when the final checkered flag flew. At the conclusion of the 2018 season, however, Allmendinger was replaced by Ryan Preece at JTG-Daugherty Racing. He then joined NBC Sports as an analyst for the network’s IMSA Sports Car coverage before being recruited by Kaulig Racing to compete in select Xfinity events, which he continued through 2020 as he collected three victories in the process.

    In 2021, Allmendinger, who became a full-time Xfinity competitor for Kaulig, returned from a two-year absence in NASCAR’s premier series by making his first Cup start of the season at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in the No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Kaulig, where he finished seventh. His next two Cup starts occurred at COTA in May and at Road America in July, where he finished fifth and 29th, respectively. Then during the series’ inaugural event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Allmendinger capitalized on a late run-in involving rookie Chase Briscoe and veteran Denny Hamlin to assume the lead during an overtime attempt and fend off the field to win and grab both the second Cup victory of his career and the first for Kaulig Racing in NASCAR’s premier series. His fifth and final Cup start of the season occurred at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October, where he finished 38th due to an engine failure.

    Remaining as a part-time Cup competitor and a full-time Xfinity competitor for Kaulig Racing in 2022, Allmendinger competed in half of the 36-scheduled events, beginning at Phoenix in March as he finished 20th. His best results of the season included a runner-up result at Watkins Glen in August followed by a third-place result at Homestead-Miami Speedway and a fourth-place finish at Charlotte in October. At COTA in March, Allmendinger battled against Ross Chastain and Alex Bowman for the victory on the final lap until he was bumped by Chastain with two turns remaining, collided into Bowman and sent sideways into the gravel trap, where he plummeted to 33rd place in the final running order. In total, Allmendinger accumulated a total of eight top-10 results. By then, he was named a full-time competitor of the No. 16 entry for the 2023 Cup Series season.

    Through 399 previous Cup starts, Allmendinger has achieved two victories, four poles, 16 top-five results, 69 top-10 results, 559 laps led and an average-finishing result of 20.8. He is currently ranked in 17th place in the driver’s standings with his best result being a sixth-place finish in the 65th running of the Daytona 500.

    Should Allmendinger win this weekend’s event in Austin, Texas, he will join an exclusive club of competitors to win in Cup career start No. 400, a list that features Lee Petty, Richard Petty, David Pearson, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson.

    Allmendinger is set to make his 400th Cup Series career start at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, March 26, with the event’s coverage slated to occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Atlanta

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Atlanta

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

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

    2. Brad Keselowski, 47 laps led

    3. Christopher Bell, six laps led

    4. Corey LaJoie

    5. Tyler Reddick

    6. Denny Hamlin, 14 laps led

    7. Ryan Blaney, five laps led

    8. Erik Jones

    9. Ty Gibbs

    10. Kyle Busch, seven laps led

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

    12. Noah Gragson

    13. Ross Chastain, five laps led

    14. Alex Bowman

    15. Todd Gilliland

    16. AJ Allmendinger

    17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., seven laps led

    18. Josh Berry

    19. Martin Truex Jr.

    20. Austin Dillon

    21. Michael McDowell

    22. Justin Haley

    23.  Ty Dillon

    24. Chase Briscoe, one lap down

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

    26. JJ Yeley, two laps down

    27. Bubba Wallace, five laps down

    28. Ryan Preece, 16 laps down

    29. Daniel Suarez – OUT, DVP

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

    31. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident

    32. William Byron – OUT, Accident

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

    34. Harrison Burton – OUT, DVP

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

    36. BJ McLeod – OUT, Accident

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Starting Lineup:

  • Weekend schedule for Atlanta

    Weekend schedule for Atlanta

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

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

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

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

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, March 17

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

    Saturday, March 18

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

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

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

    Sunday, March 19

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

  • NASCAR issues major penalties report from Phoenix Cup weekend

    NASCAR issues major penalties report from Phoenix Cup weekend

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • News analysis: Hendrick penalties

    News analysis: Hendrick penalties

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

    The news

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

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

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

    Its significance

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

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

    SPOILER WARNING FOR SEASON 6 OF “MY HERO ACADEMIA”

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

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

    Un-answered questions

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

    That’s all, for now.