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Tag: William Byron

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Kyle Larson: Larson charged early at Martinsville, and was into the top 10 by lap 20 after starting 19th. Larson surged again in the latter part of the race, holding off Joey Logano while leading.

    “I was just in a hurry to get to Ryan Preece,” Larson said, “to see if he was for real after winning the pole and to get some payback for his treatment of me at Bristol. But as soon as I got near the front, he started dropping like a fly, proving that instead of running with the big dogs, he runs from them.”

    2. Joey Logano: Logano started at the back of the field

    “I have mostly fond memories of Martinsville,” Logano said, “and one not-so-fond memory. That’s thanks to Matt Kenseth. But I’ve mostly gotten over that situation, through therapy and positive imagery, in which I picture Matt Kenseth as himself, and I picture myself as Carl Edwards bullying him.”

    3. Christopher Bell: Bell started 22nd and finished 16th in the NOCO 400.

    “Every driver dreams of raising the grandfather clock trophy at Martinsville,” Bell said. “Now, Kyle Larson has his, and he’s won two of the last three races. He looks like the favorite to win the championship. Larson may have the clock, but everybody knows what time it is.”

    4. William Byron: Byron finished 23rd in the NOCO 400 at Martinsville.

    “Chase Elliott returned after missing the last six weeks recovering from a broken leg suffered while snowboarding,” Byron said. “Now, every time Chase vows to do something, he’ll hear the same three words from everyone at Hendrick: no, not ‘Break a leg.’ I’m talking about ‘Don’t go snowboarding.’”

    5. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished third in the NOCO 400 at Martinsville.

    “That’s my first top-five of the season,” Truex said. “Except for Christopher Bell, it’s been a pretty slow start for everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. With Kyle Busch gone, I’d say Christopher is JGR’s top driver. The rest of us, we’re the B-team. In short, with Kyle gone, Christopher’s taken over the job of ‘A’-hole.”

    6. Ross Chastain: Chastain led 31 laps and finished 13th at Martinville, and is second in the points standings, 13 behind Christopher Bell.

    “I feel pretty good about finishing 13th,” Chastain said, “especially since I started the race 34th. So, much like Denny Hamlin’s championship-less career, I feel like I won the battle, even though I didn’t win the war.”

    7. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished seventh at Martinsville.

    “It’s amazing that Chase Elliott was able to return so quickly after breaking his leg,” Blaney said. “Kudos to the doctors who performed the surgery. Heck, there’s no telling what kind of hardware Chase has in his leg. It’s the same thing NASCAR inspectors say about Hendrick cars.”

    8. Kevin Harvick: Harvick won Stage 2 at Martinsville but faded late and came home 20th.

    “We were in contention,” Harvick said, “but we blew that when I had to return to the pits to tighten a lug nut. Seeing your chances evaporate like that is tough to swallow and hard to digest, much like a famous Martinsville hot dog.”

    9. Kyle Busch: Busch finished a disappointing 21st at Martinsville.

    “To make things even more frustrating,” Busch said, “I had to deal with Corey LaJoie. Corey’s earned a reputation as a real douchebag in this sport. So, he’s like a less-talented, less-successful version of me.”

    10. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin led 36 laps and finished 4th at Martinsville, posting his first top-five result of the season.

    “I’m pleased,” Hamlin said, “but the real story here for me is Bubba Wallace bumping me during the race. Did he forget that I’m his team owner? Ironically, it was a totally ‘boss’ move by Bubba.”

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Bristol Dirt

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Bristol Dirt

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Christopher Bell: Bell led 100 laps and held off Tyler Reddick to win the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol.

    “I’m thrilled to get this win,” Bell said. “Not only is it big for the Playoffs, but I also got that big trophy plus a sweet gladiator sword. There are two things I can’t wait to do with that sword: 1, Show it off to my friends, and 2, ship it to Mexico and ask Kyle Busch to bring it back the next time he’s there.”

    2. Tyler Reddick: Reddick was on the charge late, attempting to catch Christopher Bell, but ran out of time and had to settle for his second consecutive runner-up finish in the Bristol Dirt Race.

    “If you saw my post-race interview with Fox’s Jamie Little,” Reddick said, “then you’re well aware that I’m used to coming up a little short.”

    3. William Byron: Byron finished 13th at Bristol.

    “My team was penalized again after failing inspection at Richmond,” Byron said. “But let’s be honest, we’re just trying to make our car faster; NASCAR keeps catching us. They’re preventing us from making a ‘fast getaway (with it).’”

    4. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished seventh at Bristol, as Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell captured the win.

    “Bell’s one of the best drivers on tracks like this,” Truex said. “His name has become synonymous with ‘dirt.’ The name ‘Denny Hamlin’ brings up similar associations, because his name is ‘Mud’ when it comes to retaliatory maneuvers on the track.”

    5. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished a disappointing 28th at Bristol, one lap down.

    “Dirt track racing is not my cup of tea,” Chastain said. “If I did have a cup of tea, I’m sure someone would have a problem with it. And with it being Easter, I’m sure I’d get crucified for it.”

    6. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished ninth at Bristol.

    “Michael Waltrip was joined on his Bristol ‘Grid Walk’ by the Easter Bunny,” Harvick said. “From what I understand, the Easter Bunny doesn’t speak, yet he’s still a better interviewer than Waltrip.”

    7. Kyle Larson: Larson started on the pole at Bristol and won Stage 1, but was knocked out of the race by Ryan Preece on Lap 177. He finished 35th.

    “I think Preece was retaliating for earlier contact between us,” Larson said. “Does he know who I am? Heck. Does he know who he is? Obviously not, because he’s out there trying to make a name for himself.”

    8. Joey Logano: Logano had an eventful day, full of spins and contact with other cars, and was finally knocked out of the race on Lap 96. He finished 37th.

    “My car was all over the place,” Logano said. “That place was ‘last.’”

    9. Kyle Busch: A broken shock with 13 laps to go ended Busch’s night in the Food City Dirt Race. He finished 32nd.

    “It wasn’t the finish I was looking for,” Busch said. “On the bright side, though, I got to shake hands with Tim Tebow. That’s probably as close as I’m gonna get to feeling the hand of God. That is, a God-awful NFL quarterback.”

    10. Ryan Blaney: Blaney ran near the front for the majority of the night at Bristol, but a spin on a restart with eight laps to go cost him a top-five finish. He finished 23rd.

    “The track conditions changed quite a bit over the duration of the race,” Blaney said. “If you took a look at the stands, you noticed that the track was the only thing ‘packed.’”

  • Bell strikes late with first Cup victory of 2023 at Bristol Dirt Course

    Bell strikes late with first Cup victory of 2023 at Bristol Dirt Course

    In a war of attrition match involving NASCAR’s elite around the Last Great Colosseum on dirt, Christopher Bell benefitted from a late strategic call to remain on the track. He then controlled the final stage to his advantage and motored his way to win the third annual running of the Food City Dirt Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course on Easter Sunday, April 9.

    The 28-year-old Bell from Norman, Oklahoma, led the final 100 of 250-scheduled laps. Once he gained control of the lead for the start of the final stage spanning 100 laps, the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota TRD Camry survived a flurry of on-track chaos, caution periods and challenges from former dirt veterans turned NASCAR premier series stars to claim the first checkered flag of the 2023 Cup Series season for himself and for the JGR organization.

    The starting lineup for the main event was determined through four 15-lap qualifying events that occurred on Saturday, April 8, where the 37 competitors that entered the main event accumulated points for their finishing results and passes by improving from their original starting spots during their respective heat events.

    With that, Kyle Larson, who won the third qualifying event after starting sixth and accumulating 15 points, claimed his second pole position of the 2023 Cup Series season. Joining him on the front row was Austin Dillon, who won the first qualifying event after starting fifth and earning 14 points.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Larson took off with the lead on the outside lane and pulled away as the field slipped and slid their way through the first two turns on the dirt. With the field returning to the frontstretch, Larson led the first lap ahead of Austin Dillon, who was being challenged early by Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick. As Larson continued to lead through the Lap 5 mark, he also extended his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon while Ryan Preece moved up into the top five. By then, JJ Yeley, who qualified an impressive third place in his No. 15 Rick Ware Racing entry, had fallen back to eighth in front of Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano while Kyle Busch and Austin Cindric moved up to sixth and seventh.

    On the 10th lap, the first caution of the event flew when Bubba Wallace, who was running near the top 10, got loose entering Turn 2 and collected Logano, who spun Wallace right at the same time he got turned by William Byron and hit the sand barrels near the backstretch’s pit road entrance. Todd Gilliland then made contact with the outside wall after making contact with Byron, who was trying to straighten his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Larson managed to fend off Austin Dillon for the lead while Bell, Reddick and Preece remained in the top five. During the event’s first caution period, names like Gilliland, BJ McLeod, Brad Keselowski and Logano pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 20, Larson fended off Bell and Austin Dillon to retain the lead while having the outside lane to his advantage as the field jostled and slid on the dirt between two lanes for positions. As Larson retained the lead over Austin Dillon and Bell, Reddick retained fourth while Kyle Busch started to challenge Preece for fifth.

    At the Lap 35 mark, Larson was leading by more than eight-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon and more than three seconds over third-place Bell while Kyle Busch and Reddick were in the top five. Preece, Blaney, Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Byron were in the top 10 while Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace, JJ Yeley, Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., rookie Ty Gibbs, Erik Jones, Justin Haley and Matt Crafton occupied the top 20.

    Two laps later, the second caution of the event flew when Matt Crafton, who was filling in the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing entry for Cody Ware, spun between Turns 3 and 4 and barely made contact with the outside wall. In the process, Logano made slight contact with Crafton while jamming on the brakes to avoid colliding with Crafton.

    With the field restarting under green on Lap 45, Larson pulled away in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with the lead on the outside lane followed by Austin Dillon while Kyle Busch moved his No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to third in front of Bell. In addition, Blaney muscled his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang into the top five while Reddick fell back to sixth.

    Through the first 50 scheduled laps, Larson was leading by more than eight-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon while Dillon’s teammate Kyle Busch trailed in third by more than a second. As Bell and Blaney occupied the top five, Preece overtook Reddick for sixth while Briscoe, Byron and Cindric were in the top 10.

    Seven laps later, the third caution of the event flew when Brad Keselowski spun by himself in Turn 4 and continued without sustaining any damage to his No. 6 King’s Hawaiian Ford Mustang. By then, Erik Jones and Corey LaJoie had made on-track contact and pitted while falling out of the lead lap category.

    During the proceeding restart on Lap 64, Larson fended off Austin Dillon to retain the lead while Kyle Busch launched a challenge on teammate Dillon for second, which Dillon blocked Busch before the latter succeeded during the following lap. Meanwhile, Preece moved up to fourth followed by Blaney while Bell was back in sixth. As the field continued to jostle for positions, Larson retained a steady advantage over Richard Childress Racing’s Busch and Dillon, both of whom duked for second, as the event surpassed the Lap 70 mark.

    Then on the final lap of the first stage, the caution flew for a multi-car wreck in Turn 4 that involved Denny Hamlin and Josh Berry. The incident in Turn 4 was enough for the first stage scheduled on Lap 75 to conclude under caution as Larson captured his second stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Teammates Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch were scored in second and third followed by Preece, Blaney, Bell, Briscoe, Reddick, Justin Haley and Byron. By then, 35 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Larson pitted under a six-minute, non-competitive break period while names that included Reddick, Wallace, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Dillon remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 76 as Reddick and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick maintained the lead through the first two turns while teammate Wallace muscled his way into second over Truex. Behind, Larson, the first competitor on four fresh tires, was back in fifth behind Ty Dillon while Preece joined the battle.

    Four laps later and with the field jostling for positions while slipping and sliding in the dirt, the caution returned when Jonathan Davenport, a three-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion who was making his NASCAR debut with Kaulig Racing, got loose and spun entering Turn 4 as the field scattered to avoid him. By then, Reddick retained the lead in front of teammate Wallace, Truex, Ty Dillon and Larson, who made contact with Preece and sent Preece into the wall a few laps earlier. The on-track contact prompted Preece to pull his No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang alongside Larson’s to express his displeasure.

    With the event restarting under green on Lap 86, Reddick retained the lead as the field fanned out to three lanes through the turns and the straightaways. A lap later, however, the caution quickly returned when McDowell got loose and did a full 360 spin entering the backstretch, but he managed to drive away without being hit by the oncoming field.

    During the proceeding restart on Lap 94, Reddick rocketed with the lead on the outside lane while teammate Wallace fended off Truex and Ty Dillon to move to second as the field fanned out. A few laps later, trouble ensued for Daniel Suarez as he spun on the backstretch while Logano had smoke billowing out of his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang. Then shortly after, McDowell went for another 360 spin entering Turn 4, though he continued without sustaining any damage, while AJ Allmendinger made contact with the Turn 1 barriers. Amid all the issues, the event remained under green flag conditions as Reddick continued to lead. By then, Logano, who was aiming for a doubleheader sweep after winning Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series event on the Bristol Dirt, pitted and fell out of the lead lap category. He would eventually nurse his damaged car to the garage and retire in last place.

    Through the first 100 scheduled laps, Reddick was leading by six-tenths of a second over teammate Wallace followed by Truex, Ty Dillon and Kyle Busch while Preece, Blaney, Austin Dillon, Briscoe and Larson were scored in the top 10. Three laps later, however, the caution returned when Preece, who was running in the top 10, got loose and spun on the backstretch due to a broken right-rear toe link.

    As the event restarted on Lap 111, Reddick received another strong start on the outside lane to retain the lead followed by teammate Wallace, who restarted behind Reddick on the outside lane during the last several restarts to remain within striking distance of the lead. With both 23XI Racing competitors running towards the front, Kyle Busch was in third followed by Truex and Ty Dillon while Larson was back in sixth in front of Blaney and Austin Dillon. A few laps later, Ty Dillon made contact towards the Turn 2 outside wall and slipped out of the top 10, but the event remained under green flag conditions. Then towards the Lap 120 mark, Wallace lost a bevy of spots after making contact with the wall.

    Then at the halfway mark on Lap 125, the caution flew when Keselowski spun for a second time of the night, this time in Turn 2. By then, Reddick had maintained the lead over Busch, Austin Dillon, Larson, Bell and Truex while Wallace had plummeted back to 16th. In addition, Larson, who was running towards the front, made contact with the wall while battling Dillon for third before running into Bell to defend his spot.

    The following restart on Lap 131 saw Reddick retain the lead over Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon amid a stacked-up field while Larson tried to use the outside lane to slip and carve his way back to the front. Soon after, Erik Jones spun entering Turn 2, but the event remained under green as a tight battle for the lead between Reddick, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon and Larson ensued.

    Then on Lap 135, Busch pulled a slide job beneath Reddick entering Turn 4 to assume the lead. As Busch maintained the lead by a narrow margin over Reddick, Austin Dillon fended off Larson to remain in third while Bell was in fifth in front of Briscoe and Truex. Reddick, however, would seize an opportunity and overtake both Dillon and Busch in Turn 4 to reassume the lead on Lap 141 as Dillon and Busch engaged in a fierce battle for second with Larson closing in.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 150, Reddick captured his second stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Dillon settled in second in front of Larson while Bell managed to overtake Kyle Busch to claim fourth while Briscoe, Truex, Blaney, Haley and Aric Almirola were scored in the top 10. By then, 32 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, names that included Bell, Briscoe, Almirola, Byron, McDowell, Gilliland, Hamlin, Josh Berry and Ross Chastain remained on the track while the rest led by Reddick pitted during a six-minute break period.

    With 100 laps remaining, the final stage started as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bell and Ty Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Bell retained the lead and checked out away from the field while Briscoe launched his way into second followed by Almirola, Gilliland and Berry as the field behind fanned out and jostled for late positions. Four laps later, however, the caution returned when Larson, who was trying to carve his way back to the front while on old tires after electing not to pit during the second stage’s break period, spun in Turn 4 as he plummeted below the leaderboard.

    During the following restart with 89 laps remaining, Bell retained the lead in front of Briscoe, Almirola, Gilliland and Berry amid a packed field. As Hamlin spun with 82 laps remaining through Turn 2, he continued without drawing a caution as his teammate, Bell, maintained a steady advantage over Briscoe while Almirola, Gilliland and Berry remained in the top five. By then, Kyle Busch was trying to carve his way back to the front as he navigated his way up to seventh behind teammate Austin Dillon as Byron joined the battle. Amid all the battles, however, Bell continued to lead as the laps began to dwindle.

    Then with 76 laps remaining, the caution flew when Larson, who got bumped and squeezed against the frontstretch’s wall with help from Preece, veered back left into Preece before spinning up against the track and wrecking against the Turn 1 outside wall. The damage to his No. 5 Chevrolet was enough to conclude Larson’s event in the garage while Preece continued. The incident, however, was not viewed kindly from Larson’s perspective and it hinted at retaliation from Preece, who made contact with the wall earlier with help from Larson.

    “Yeah, I’m guessing [Preece] was paying me back for whatever I did earlier,” Larson, who emerged from the infield care center uninjured, said. “He ran me straight into the fence, and my car was broke and we crashed. It sucks, but I should just be mad at myself for spinning out earlier and putting myself back there. Just sucks.”

    In the ensuing restart with 69 laps remaining, Bell retained the lead over Briscoe and Gilliland amid a flurry of jostles for positions within the field. A lap later, Austin Dillon worked his way back up to third as he went after Briscoe for second while Kyle Busch challenged Almirola for fifth. By then, Berry and McDowell, who endured two 360 spins, were running in the top 10 as Reddick tried to work his way back into the top 10.

    With nearly 60 laps remaining, Chastain spun in Turn 2, but the event remained under green as Bell continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Briscoe while Austin Dillon trailed by seven-tenths of a second in third.

    With 50 laps remaining, Bell was leading by six-tenths of a second over Briscoe followed by Austin Dillon, Gilliland and Reddick while Kyle Busch, Berry, Stenhouse, Blaney and McDowell were in the top 10. By then, the event’s 12th caution period flew when rookie Noah Gragson spun in Turn 1 due to a broken toe link.

    With the field restarting with 43 laps remaining, Bell retained the lead on the outside lane while Briscoe, who restarted on the front row and the inside lane, maintained second over Austin Dillon as Reddick and Gilliland battled in the top five. As Austin Dillon and Reddick battled for third, the battle at the front began to slowly brew between Bell and Briscoe, with the former holding the top spot.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, the battle for the lead continued to intensify as Briscoe tried to navigate his way around Bell for the lead through the turns and the straightaways while third-place Reddick tried to close in on the two leaders. Despite having an opportunity to assume the lead through the backstretch, Bell managed to rocket away from Briscoe, who briefly stumbled through the frontstretch, as Reddick launched his challenge on Briscoe for second. He would succeed with 28 laps remaining as Briscoe fell back to third. Soon after, Briscoe made contact with the wall as Dillon and Blaney overtook him for top-five spots.

    With 20 laps remaining, Bell was leading by four-tenths of a second over Reddick while Blaney emerged in third place as he trailed the leaders by more than two seconds. Dillon, who scrubbed the wall, dropped to fourth in front of Briscoe while Gilliland, Stenhouse, Bowman, Truex and Haley were in the top 10.

    Nearly five laps later, the event’s 13th caution flew when Kyle Busch, who was being told to pick up his pace, spun entering Turn 4 while nearly collecting ex-teammate Hamlin as he quickly nursed his No. 8 Chevrolet onto pit road with suspension damage. By then, LaJoie had spun in Turn 4 without drawing a caution.

    Down to the final eight laps of the event, the race restarted as Bell rocketed away from Reddick and Blaney to retain the lead through the first two turns. Then through Turns 1 and 2, Briscoe made contact with Blaney and sent him spinning in the midst of oncoming competitors, but the event remained under green as Blaney continued without getting hit. By then, however, Bell had pulled away with the lead and Reddick was in second followed by Stenhouse, Austin Dillon, Briscoe and Gilliand.

    With five laps remaining, Bell continued to lead by more than half a second over Reddick while third-place Stenhouse trailed by more than a second.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bell remained as the leader by three-tenths of a second over Reddick, who tried to close in on Bell for the lead and the win. Behind the leaders, a multi-car wreck erupted when Suarez got loose off the front nose of Buescher and collected Berry, where both spun across the backstretch as Preece and Chastain collided into Berry with significant damage. Amid the carnage, the event concluded under caution on the final lap. This enabled Bell to cycle his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota TRD Camry back to the frontstretch under a cautious pace and claim the checkered flag over Reddick.

    With the victory, Bell, a dirt racing specialist with three consecutive Chili Bowl Nationals sprint car victories and a former Truck Series winner at Eldora Speedway, became the seventh different winner through the first eight events on the 2023 Cup Series schedule. He recorded his fifth career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his first at Bristol, the first of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing and the second for the Toyota nameplate.

    “Man, let me tell you, those were some of the longest laps of my entire life,” Bell said on FOX. “This place is so much fun, whether it’s dirt or concrete. Whenever the cushion got up there on the top [lane], it was very tough because you couldn’t drive it super hard. Otherwise, you get sucked in. If you got your right front into it, you push a little bit. If you got your right rear into it, you’d slide. It was a lot of fun. Man, I’m just so grateful to be here, driving this No. 20 [car] for DeWalt, Joe Gibbs Racing. That was a lot of fun. Man, I just can’t get over how long those laps feel. It’s a 20-second lap and you’re moving the wheel 18 times a corner. It feels like a long time to get around there.”

    Reddick settled in second place on the Bristol Dirt Course for a second consecutive season while Austin Dillon, Stenhouse and Briscoe completed the top five.

    “It was a lot of fun, honestly,” Reddick said. “Really intense. Towards the end there, [I] definitely feel like I found a little bit more. I thought I had the edge, but I wasn’t quite there in the last couple laps. Definitely found it. Just hate it for everybody on this SiriusXM Toyota Camry TRD. Just needed to be a little bit closer than I was. I think with two [laps] to go, it would have been really bold to try to make that move work. Obviously, on the white flag coming into [Turns] 3 and 4, I was going to see. We’ll never know if it [would have] worked. Still a good rebound for us.”

    “I had a blast out there,” Dillon added. “I don’t care what anybody says about the dirt, the concrete. That was cool. That was one of the coolest races I’ve ever been in. [Speedway Motorsports] did a great job of making a track where you can just slide around, top to bottom, and it constantly was changing. It was a blast out there, really was. Just wished we could’ve brought home the win. We’ll keep working. Hopefully, we can carry this momentum. We got a lot of points tonight.”

    Haley emerged with a strong sixth-place result while Truex, Gilliland, Kevin Harvick and rookie Ty Gibbs completed the top 10 on the track.

    There were four lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured 14 cautions for 73 laps. In addition, 27 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the eighth event of the 2023 Cup Series season, Christopher Bell leads the regular-season standings by 13 points over Ross Chastain, 26 over Kevin Harvick, 39 over Kyle Larson, 46 over Tyler Reddick, 47 over Kyle Busch and 49 over Martin Truex Jr.

    Results.

    1. Christopher Bell, 100 laps led

    2. Tyler Reddick, 69 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Austin Dillon

    4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    5. Chase Briscoe

    6. Justin Haley

    7. Martin Truex Jr.

    8. Todd Gilliland

    9. Kevin Harvick

    10. Ty Gibbs

    11. Michael McDowell

    12. Bubba Wallace

    13. William Byron

    14. Erik Jones

    15. Harrison Burton

    16. AJ Allmendinger

    17. Brad Keselowski

    18. Chris Buescher

    19. Austin Cindric

    20. JJ Yeley

    21. Ty Dillon

    22. Denny Hamlin

    23. Ryan Blaney

    24. Ryan Preece

    25. Daniel Suarez

    26. BJ McLeod

    27. Josh Berry

    28. Ross Chastain, one lap down

    29. Alex Bowman, two laps down

    30. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

    31. Aric Almirola, 10 laps down

    32. Kyle Busch – OUT, Suspension, six laps led

    33. Noah Gragson, 45 laps down

    34. Matt Crafton – OUT, Engine

    35. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident, 75 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    36. Jonathan Davenport – OUT, Accident

    37. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ first of two scheduled visits this season to Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia. The event is scheduled for next Sunday, April 16, at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Logano masters Bristol Dirt Course for second Truck career victory

    Logano masters Bristol Dirt Course for second Truck career victory

    Total dominance was the single phrase to summarize Joey Logano’s one-race return to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as he proceeded to win the third annual running of the Weather Guard Truck Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course on Saturday, April 8.

    The reigning two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, led two times for a race-high 138 of 150-scheduled laps, including the final 99, and swept both stages en route to a wild victory at Thunder Valley amid 11 caution periods and a series of carnages from start to finish. Amid the carnages, Logano was not to be denied as he executed every restart to his advantage, including the final one with nine laps remaining, to claim his first checkered flag of the weekend and second overall in the Truck circuit.

    The starting lineup for the main event was determined through four 15-lap qualifying races on Saturday, April 8, as the competitors accumulated points for their finishing results and passes to improve their original starting spots during their respective heat events.

    With that, Zane Smith, who accumulated a total of 17 points, nine for finishing second behind Stewart Friesen in the second qualifying event and eight for improving from starting 10th, claimed the pole position for the main event. Joining him on the front row was Ty Majeski, who notched 16 points including nine for finishing second behind Joey Logano in the third qualifying event and seven for improving from his starting position of ninth.

    With 41 competitors vying for 36 spots, the five drivers who did not qualify for the event were Lawless Alan, Josh Reaume, Jessica Friesen, Jerry Bohlman and Andrew Gordon.

    Prior to the event, Ben Rhodes, Kris Wright, rookie Daniel Dye, rookie Taylor Gray, Jonathan Davenport, Colby Howard, Tanner Carrick, Spencer Boyd and Corey Heim dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to their respective trucks.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Zane Smith rocketed to the lead on the outside lane as the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes while slipping and sliding on the dirt. Through the first two turns, however, Majeski made his move beneath Smith and managed to clear the field and lead the first lap. Then during the second lap, Joey Logano moved his No. 66 Hang 10 Car Wash Ford F-150 into the lead after overtaking teammate Majeski into Turn 3. As Logano pulled away to maintain a steady advantage over the field, Hailie Deegan started to challenge teammate Majeski for second while Zane Smith and Kaden Honeycutt trailed in the top five.

    On the seventh lap, the first caution of the event flew for a multi-truck wreck in Turn 4 that started when Mason Massey slid up the high line entering Turn 4 and spun as Ben Rhodes also spun his No. 99 Campers Inn RV Ford F-150 to avoid hitting Massey. In the process, Massey was then rammed into by Taylor Gray and Stefan Parsons as both tried to avoid Massey while Tyler Carpenter clipped Gray’s damaged No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro as he sustained damage to his No. 41 Niece Motorsports entry. By then, Logano was the leader over teammates Majeski and Deegan while Zane Smith and Kaden Honeycutt were in the top five. Behind, Christian Eckes was in sixth while Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Grant Enfinger and rookie Rajah Caruth were in the top 10.

    During the following restart on Lap 19, Logano retained the lead following a strong start while Majeski and Zane Smith battled for second. Honeycutt would then battle Smith for third as Deegan remained in the top five despite being challenged by teammate Matt Crafton.

    By Lap 25 and with the field jostling for positions, the caution returned when Tyler Ankrum, who pitted to address a flat tire during the pace laps prior to the event’s start, spun his No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro below the track entering Turn 4 and was piled into by Spencer Boyd, Kris Wright and Timmy Hill, igniting a second multi-truck pileup, while Carpenter spun behind the carnage.

    With the event restarting on Lap 33, Logano maintained the lead over teammate Majeski while Honeycutt made his way past Crafton for third. Behind, William Byron muscled his No. 51 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST into the top five while Zane Smith fell back to sixth in front of Deegan, Grant Enfinger, Eckes and Chase Briscoe. As Byron continued to methodically work his way to the front amid a series of on-track battles, Logano was able to pull away and maintain a comfortable advantage over teammate Majeski while Honeycutt was in third as the laps within the first stage continued to dwindle.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 40, Logano claimed the stage victory after beating Byron and teammate Majeski while Honeycutt, Crafton, Deegan, Enfinger, Zane Smith, Stewart Friesen and Parker Kligerman were scored in the top 10. By then, Carson Hocevar, who was battling within the top 20, had smoke coming out of his No. 42 Niece Motorsports entry due to a power steering issue as the field fanned out to conclude the first stage.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Logano pitted while Matt DiBenedetto, Bret Holmes and Tanner Gray remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 40 as DiBenedetto and Tanner Gray occupied the front row. At the start, DiBenedetto maintained the lead by a steady margin over Tanner Gray and Bret Holmes while Logano was trying to carve his way back to the lead from fourth. Three laps later, the caution returned when Christian Eckes spun his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST in Turn 1 after cutting a left-tire tire caused by contact with Rhodes between Turns 3 and 4. By then, DiBenedetto remained as the leader over Holmes while Logano, who put the bumper to move Tanner Gray out his path, was up in third followed by Majeski and Gray.

    With the field restarting under green on Lap 51, DiBenedetto and Logano engaged in a side-by-side battle for the lead for a full lap as Logano managed to pull ahead to lead the following lap. Logano would then lead the proceeding lap on Lap 53 as he started to pull ahead of DiBenedetto and the field.

    Just past the Lap 60 mark, Logano was the leader over teammate Majeski and followed by DiBenedetto, Tanner Gray and Byron while Stewart Friesen, Holmes, Zane Smith, Crafton and Honeycutt were in the top 10. By then, 28 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap. Shortly after, the caution flew when Tyler Carpenter spun in Turn 4.

    While the field restarted on Lap 67, where Logano maintained the lead, the caution returned five laps later for a hard wreck involving Kris Wright on the frontstretch.

    As the field restarted on Lap 79, with the event surpassing its halfway mark, Logano rocketed with the lead over Byron and teammate Majeski while Friesen battled Gray and Crafton for fourth as DiBenedetto eventually joined the battle. As Gray, Friesen and Crafton battled closely for fourth, Logano maintained the lead while teammate Majeski and Byron battled for second. With the laps in the second stage dwindling, Parker Kligerman made contact with the wall, but the event remained under green flag conditions as Logano pulled away by more than a second over a fierce battle for the runner-up spot between Majeski and Byron.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Logano captured his second consecutive Truck stage victory of the season and of the event. Behind, Majeski fended off Byron to settle in second while Friesen, DiBenedetto, Tanner Gray, Crafton, Zane Smith, Briscoe and Bret Holmes were scored in the top 10. By then, 26 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, 14 competitors led by Logano remained on the track while the rest pitted. By then, reports of drizzle and rainy conditions were noted around the circuit while the field remained on the track in preparation for the final stage.

    With 60 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as teammates Logano and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Logano continued to use the outside lane to his advantage as he retained the lead over Majeski and Byron while Friesen and Crafton battled for fourth. With Crafton fending off Friesen for fourth, he then started to challenge Byron for third while Logano pulled away and increased his advantage to more than a second.

    Following another caution period with 55 laps remaining amid a multi-truck wreck that involved Chase Purdy, Eckes, Zane Smith and Bret Holmes in Turn 3, the event restarted with 48 laps remaining, where Logano took off from Byron and Majeski to retain the lead through the first two turns. With Byron struggling at the start, Majeski assumed full authority on second while Crafton and Friesen battled behind Byron. With Logano extending his advantage beyond half a second during the proceeding laps, Enfinger emerged in the top five in fifth after overtaking Friesen while Ben Rhodes tried to close in for sixth. Byron, meanwhile, remained in third behind Majeski.

    Then with 41 laps remaining, Purdy’s night took another eventful turn as he spun his No. 4 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado RST in Turn 2 and drew a second consecutive caution period involving himself. With the event proceeding under green with 35 laps remaining, Logano rocketed with another strong start to retain the lead. Behind, Majeski carved his way into second while Enfinger challenged Byron for third. In addition, Crafton tried to close in and challenge Enfinger for fourth, which he would succeed past the final 35-lap mark while Friesen and Rhodes trailed behind in sixth and seventh.

    With 30 laps remaining, Logano was leading by more than a second over Majeski and a second and a half over Byron amid a series of on-track late battles ensuing behind. Shortly after, the caution flew for Carpenter and Timmy Hill crashing in Turn 3.

    During the next restart with 21 laps remaining, Logano managed to fend off a brief challenge by Majeski to retain the lead as Byron and Crafton pursued and challenged Majeski for second. A lap later, the caution returned when Rhodes, who was running sixth, got loose and spun below the track entering the frontstretch. He was then piled into by Friesen, Heim and Hocevar as the caution returned while the field scattered to avoid the chaos.

    With the field restarting with nine laps remaining, Logano engaged in another brief battle with teammate Majeski until he managed to pull ahead and retain the lead over the field as the competitors behind jostled for second. With Majeski settling in second, Byron was in third while Enfinger and Crafton battled for fourth. This allowed rookie Jake Garcia to close in for sixth followed by Briscoe, Honeycutt and Rajah Caruth.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Logano was leading by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Majeski followed by Byron, Crafton and Enfinger while Garcia, Briscoe, Honeycutt, Caruth and Tanner Gray battled within the top 10.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano remained as the leader by more than a second over teammate Majeski and over third-place Byron. With a clear racetrack in front of him, Logano was able to slip and slide his way around the circuit for a final time and cycle back to the frontstretch to claim his first checkered flag of the season in the series.

    With the victory, Logano achieved his second career victory in the Craftsman Truck Series in his ninth series start, his first since winning at Martinsville Speedway in March 2015 and his second Bristol Dirt victory after winning the inaugural Cup Series’ Bristol Dirt feature in 2021. He also recorded the third victory of the season for the Ford nameplate and the first of the season for ThorSport Racing.

    “The [ThorSport Racing] guys gave me an amazing race truck,” Logano, who will start 12th in Sunday’s Cup event, said on FS1. “It was a great F-150. [Sponsor] Hang 10 Car Wash came on for a last-minute thing, [saying] ‘Hey, let’s give this a shot’. [They] Called up ThorSport. They had an extra truck with some extra people, and put it together. Obviously, they gave me a really fast truck here today that qualified good in the heat race and able to drive to the lead pretty early in the race and then, just pretty much be able to control it. I’m not sure I learned anything for tomorrow because I didn’t get to race the whole bunch, but it was fun leading all the laps. I had a great spotter with [teammate Ryan] Blaney. He was up there spotting for me…My fun meter was pegged tonight. I had a lot of fun out here racing at Bristol. The dirt’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of fun in there as a driver, moving around and seeing the lanes move a lot. Hopefully, tomorrow is just as good with the other car.”

    Teammate Ty Majeski finished second for his third consecutive top-five result in recent weeks while William Byron, who was making his first of three Truck starts this season for Kyle Busch Motorsports, finished third.

    Crafton and Enfinger finished fourth and fifth while rookie Jake Garcia, Chase Briscoe, Tanner Gray, Kaden Honeycutt and Matt DiBenedetto finished in the top 10.

    There were four lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 64 laps. In total, 24 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the sixth event of the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series season, Ty Majeski leads the regular-season standings by 34 points over Zane Smith and 47 over Ben Rhodes.

    Results.

    1. Joey Logano, 138 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Ty Majeski, one lap led

    3. William Byron

    4. Matt Crafton

    5. Grant Enfinger

    6. Jake Garcia

    7. Chase Briscoe

    8. Tanner Gray

    9. Kaden Honeycutt

    10. Matt DiBenedetto, 11 laps led

    11. Rajah Caruth

    12. Dean Thompson

    13. Hailie Deegan

    14. Jonathan Davenport

    15. Corey Heim

    16. Spencer Boyd

    17. Carson Hocevar

    18. Nick Sanchez

    19. Ben Rhodes

    20. Bret Holmes

    21. Zane Smith

    22. Daniel Dye

    23. Stewart Friesen

    24. Norm Benning

    25. Timmy Hill, two laps down

    26. Tanner Carrick, three laps down

    27. Colby Howard, three laps down

    28. Chase Purdy, three laps down

    29. Tyler Carpenter – OUT, Accident

    30. Christian Eckes – OUT, Accident

    31. Parker Kligerman – OUT, Accident

    32. Kris Wright – OUT, Accident

    33. Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Accident

    34. Taylor Gray – OUT, Accident

    35. Mason Massey – OUT, Accident

    36. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is the series’ lone visit of the season to Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Larson reigns supreme with first Cup victory of 2023 at Richmond

    Larson reigns supreme with first Cup victory of 2023 at Richmond

    Nearly a month after having a pair of victories within the West Coast region slip out of his grasp, Kyle Larson gained a needed late break to exit pit road ahead of the field and fend off the competition through two late-race restarts to win the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on Sunday, April 2, for his first elusive NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season.

    The 2021 Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led four times for 93 of 400 scheduled laps in an event that was dominated by drivers between Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. After enduring an up-and-down day, where he led in certain portions of the event before trailing the front-runners and slightly damaging his car amid contact with Daniel Suarez on pit road during the second stage, Larson capitalized on a pit stop under caution due to Tyler Reddick’s spin to beat the field off of pit road and cycle back to the lead. From there, he fended off substitute teammate Josh Berry and the competition through two restarts under the final 21 laps to grab his first victory of the season.

    With on-track qualifying that was scheduled to occur on Saturday canceled due to inclement weather, the starting lineup for the main event was determined through a qualifying metric system from NASCAR’s rulebook qualifying procedure. Based on the metric system, Alex Bowman, the series points leader, was awarded the pole position and was joined on the front row by Kyle Busch.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Bowman and Busch engaged in a side-by-side battle for the lead for a full lap before Busch was able to lead the first lap by a hair on the outside lane as the entire field battled in close-quarters racing through two lanes. Bowman, however, was able to clear Busch and the field during the following lap as he assumed the clean air with the lead. Behind, teammate William Byron battled and overtook Busch for second as Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick proceeded to battle Busch for third.

    By Lap 10 and with a series of on-track battles continuing around the short circuit, Byron, who had been closing in on teammate Bowman for the lead, made a strong move to Bowman’s outside entering the frontstretch to assume the lead in his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. He continued to lead the field through the Lap 20 mark while Bowman fell back to fourth as Chastain and Reddick overtook him. Soon after, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. muscled his way into the top five after overtaking Kyle Busch while Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin cracked the top 10 behind Kyle Larson and Austin Cindric.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 30, Byron retained the lead by more than two seconds over Chastain and more than three seconds over third-place Reddick while Bowman, Stenhouse, Larson, Kyle Busch, Harvick, Cindric and Hamlin were in the top 10. By then, all 37 starters were scored on the lead lap, with names like Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski, rookie Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, Josh Berry, AJ Allmendinger and Erik Jones were in 11th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 26th, 27th and 29th. In addition, Chandler Smith, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity event at Richmond and who was making his Cup Series debut for Kaulig Racing, was back in 34th.

    During the competition caution, the entire field led by Byron pitted, and amid a jammed-packed exit off of pit lane, Chastain exited with the lead followed by Byron, Bowman, Reddick, Busch and Larson. During the pit stops, Hamlin was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road along with Todd Gilliland, who was penalized for equipment interference. In addition, Stenhouse, who was running in the top five prior to the competition caution, endured a long pit stop due to a mechanical issue as he took his No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the garage.

    During the following restart on Lap 38, the field fanned out to four lanes as Chastain rocketed his No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with the lead followed by Byron and Reddick while teammates Larson and Bowman battle for fourth. With Larson eventually overtaking Bowman for position, Logano followed suit to move his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang into the top five while Bowman was being pressured by Kevin Harvick for more. As Ryan Blaney moved up the leaderboard to eighth in front of Daniel Suarez and Keselowski, Kyle Busch slipped out of the top 10.

    Then on Lap 44, the caution flew when Hamlin, who was running just outside of the top 30 and was trying to rally from the rear of the field from his pit road speeding penalty, bumped and sent JJ Yeley sideways as Yeley backed his car into the Turn 1 outside wall with significant rear end damage. During the caution period, some like Suarez, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Preece, Aric Almirola, Erik Jones, Corey LaJoie, Allmendinger, Justin Haley, Ty Dillon and Chandler Smith pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 50, Chastain struggled to launch on the gas, which allowed Byron and Larson to trap Chastain with a three-wide move as both Hendrick Motorsports competitors muscled away with the top-two spots. With Chastain falling back to third, teammates Byron and Larson engaged in a side-by-side duel for the lead for the following two laps until Byron managed to clear Larson and retain the lead. Behind, Harvick started to close in on his bid for the lead in fourth behind Chastain while a series of battles ensued within the middle of the pack.

    Just past the Lap 60 mark, Byron was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Larson followed by Chastain and Harvick while Reddick was in fifth. By then, Logano was in sixth in front of Bowman, Keselowski, Bell and Briscoe while Kyle Busch was back in 12th. Meanwhile, Truex, who was the first competitor with four fresh tires after pitting during the previous caution period, carved his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota TRD Camry up to 16th.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 70, Byron captured his fifth stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Teammate Larson settled in second followed by Chastain, Harvick and Logano while Reddick, Bowman, Bell, Keselowski and Briscoe were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the entire field led by Byron returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Byron retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by teammate Larson, then Chastain, Harvick, Logano and Bowman. During the pit stops, Blaney and Allmendinger were penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 79 as teammates Byron and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Byron rocketed with the lead ahead of Larson, Chastain, Harvick and Logano while Bowman, who struggled with launch pace in his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on restarts, was being challenged by Chase Briscoe for sixth. As the field behind fanned out to three lanes, Byron maintained his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Larson. By Lap 82, however, Chastain navigated his way around Larson for second. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was mired back in 10th behind Bell and Keselowski while Hamlin was battling Ryan Preece for 14th.

    On Lap 94, the caution returned when Blaney, who was running within the top 30 and trying to rally from his pit road speeding penalty during the first stage’s conclusion, bumped and sent Josh Berry’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 spinning in Turn 4, with Berry managing to keep his car off the wall with no damage. During the caution period, the entire field led by Byron returned to pit road for service and Byron retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Larson, Chastain, Bowman, Logano and Bell. During the pit stops, Harvick, who pitted from fifth place, endured a slow pit stop and fell back to 16th. In addition, Team Penske’s Logano and Cindric pitted for a second time, with Logano addressing a loose right rear wheel while Cindric addressed power issues to his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang.

    With the event restarting under green on Lap 101, the field fanned out to three lanes through the first two turns as Byron retained the lead over Larson and Chastain. Behind, Bowman slotted himself into fourth while Bell, the highest-running Joe Gibbs Racing competitor on the track, was in fifth. By then, Truex was up in eighth behind Suarez and Keselowski while Briscoe and Kyle Busch battled for ninth.

    Through the first 125 laps of the event, Larson, who assumed the lead over Byron in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 a lap earlier, was leading by half a second over teammate Byron followed by Chastain, Bell and Bowman while Keselowski, Truex, Suarez, Hamlin and Briscoe were in the top 10. By then, Ty Gibbs was in 11th ahead of Kyle Busch Harvick, Preece and Bubba Wallace while Blaney, Reddick, Almirola, Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland occupied the top 20. Behind, Austin Dillon was in 21st followed by Harrison Burton, Logano, Berry and Corey LaJoie while Chris Buescher, rookie Noah Gragson, Haley, Ty Dillon and Cindric were in the top 30 as 35 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Twenty-five laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Byron while Chastain and Bell battled for third in front of Bowman. By then, Buescher and Berry made pit stops under green while Ty Gibbs carved his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry into ninth place behind teammates Truex and Hamlin along with Keselowski. Meanwhile, Harvick had fallen back to 11th behind Suarez.

    Nearing the Lap 155 mark, green flag pit stops started to slowly commence as Reddick pitted his No. 45 SiriusXM Toyota TRD Camry. Truex, Kyle Busch, Gilliland and Logano would also pit nearing the Lap 160 mark followed by Byron. The leader Larson would then pit along with Bell, Burton, Chastain, Suarez, Harvick, Briscoe, Erik Jones and others. During the pit stops, Larson and Suarez made contact on pit road as Larson was trying to exit his pit stall while Suarez was trying to enter his. Amid the pit stops, Hamlin assumed the lead followed by teammate Gibbs, Blaney and Austin Dillon, all of whom had yet to make a pit stop. Once Hamlin pitted on Lap 166 along with Gibbs, Blaney and Dillon, Larson cycled his way back into the lead followed by Byron, Bell, Bowman, Chastain and Truex. Following the pit stops, Blaney was penalized for removing a wrench out of his pit box, an issue that would cost him a lap behind the leaders.

    By Lap 175, Larson was leading by half a second over teammate Byron while Bell, Bowman and Chastain were running in the top five. Truex was in sixth ahead of Keselowski while Berry navigated his way to eighth followed by Hamlin and Reddick as Harvick trailed behind in 11th.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 200, Byron, who assumed the lead from teammate Larson three laps earlier, was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Bell while Larson, who fell back to third, was battling tight conditions to his No. 5 entry as a result of the right-front fender damage from hitting Suarez’s No. 99 Quaker State Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on pit road. Truex and Bowman were in the top five followed by Chastain, Hamlin, Keselowski, Harvick and Ty Gibbs while 21 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Seven laps later, Bell overtook Byron, who was stuck behind lapped traffic, particularly Harrison Burton, to move his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry into the lead as he became the seventh different leader of the event. By then, teammate Truex overtook Larson for fourth while Hamlin was in fifth after claiming the spot over Bowman.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 230, Hamlin, who cycled his way around teammate Bell for the lead two laps earlier and rallied from his early pit road speeding penalty, claimed his first stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Bell settled in second by Byron, Truex and Chastain while Keselowski, Bowman, Larson, Harvick and Ty Gibbs were scored in the top 10. By then, 19 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hamlin pitted and Hamlin retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Byron, Truex, Bell, Bowman and Keselowski.

    With 160 laps remaining, the final stage started as Hamlin and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin rocketed out his No. 11 SHINGRIX Toyota TRD Camry in front to retain the lead followed by Byron and Truex as the field behind jostled and fanned out for positions, among which included Logano as he tried to carve his way into the top 15. As the laps proceeded, Keselowski, who was in eighth in front of Chastain and Larson, radioed gearing issues to his No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang as his car kept coming out of fourth gear, though he continued under race pace.

    With 125 laps remaining, Hamlin was leading by half a second over teammate Truex while third-place Byron trailed by more than three seconds. Harvick and Bell were running in the top five followed by Larson, Bowman, Keselowski, Chastain and Preece while Wallace, Logano, Briscoe, Gibbs and Almirola were in the top 15.

    Then with nearly 110 laps remaining, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Truex, who was closing in on teammate Hamlin for the lead, pitted along with Suarez, Josh Berry and Kyle Busch. By then, Allmendinger, who was not on the lead lap, had made a pit stop. Soon after, a multitude of names that included Larson, Bowman, Chastain, Gibbs, Briscoe, McDowell, Burton, Austin Dillon, Reddick, Byron, Cindric, Keselowski and Preece pitted as Hamlin continued to lead. With 107 laps remaining, however, Hamlin surrendered the lead to pit along with Bell and Harvick. During his pit stop, Hamlin endured a slow service for his pit crew to change the right-front tire. Once the last set of names that included Bubba Wallace, Logano and Blaney pitted, with Wallace being penalized for a safety violation after a crew member fell over the wall, Truex cycled his way into the lead with 105 laps remaining.

    With less than 100 laps remaining, Truex was leading by more than two seconds over Larson followed by Byron, Bowman and Bell while Chastain, Harvick, Almirola, Keselowski and Preece were in the top 10. By then, Hamlin was mired back in 12th following his slow pit service.

    Down to the final 95 laps of the event, however, the caution flew when rookie Noah Gragson got loose entering Turn 2 at full speed and slapped the outside wall with smoke billowing out of his No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. During the caution period, the leaders led by Truex returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Truex retained the lead followed by Byron, Larson, Bowman, Harvick and Chastain.

    With 88 laps remaining, the event restarted under green as Truex and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Truex launched ahead with the lead followed by Byron, Larson and Bowman as the field behind jostled for late positions, among which included Hamlin as he tried to make his way through the top 10.

    Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Truex was leading by four-tenths of a second over Byron followed by Larson, Bowman and Chastain while Harvick was in sixth ahead of Bell and Keselowski. By then, Hamlin carved his way only up to ninth while Logano was in 10th ahead of Almirola, Gibbs, Briscoe, Preece and Berry.

    Fifteen laps later, Truex continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Byron while Larson, Bowman and Bell remained in the top five. By then, Hamlin was back in 10th behind Logano, Kyle Busch was back in 17th behind Briscoe, Reddick was mired back in 20th and Wallace was in 22nd, a lap down.

    Another 10 laps later, Truex extended his advantage to more than a second over Byron as Larson, Bowman and Chastain remained in the top five followed by Harvick, Keselowski and Hamlin, who could not gain the lost ground on the leaders. By then, Briscoe pitted along with Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Preece, Harrison Burton and Ty Gibbs.

    Shortly after, Byron pitted as he was soon followed by Larson, Bowman, Chastain, Almirola, Harvick, Suarez and the leader Suarez. While most of the leaders had already made a pit stop, Bell was leading a group of seven competitors who had yet to pit. Bell would pit with 45 laps remaining along with teammate Hamlin as Keselowski cycled to the lead for a lap before he pitted and handed the lead to Berry. By then, Berry, McDowell and Gilliland had yet to pit while Byron, the first competitor who recently pitted, was in fourth ahead of Truex and Larson.

    Then with 33 laps remaining, Byron tracked and overtook teammate Berry for the lead. Truex would follow suit in second as Larson would eventually make his way into third. By then, Berry and McDowell remained on the track and in the top five.

    With 29 laps remaining, however, the caution flew when Reddick spun in Turn 2. By then, Byron, who was locked in a side-by-side battle for the lead with Truex, was deemed the leader over Truex. During the caution period, the leaders led by Byron returned to pit road and Larson emerged with the lead after exiting first amid a tight-packed field followed by teammate Berry, Truex, Byron, Harvick and Bell. During the pit stops, Hamlin was busted for speeding on pit road for a second time.

    During the following restart with 21 laps remaining, Larson peeked ahead of teammate Berry as the field started to fan out to multiple lanes entering the first turn. Through the first turn, however, Bell made contact with Byron and sent Byron spinning sideways into the outside wall as he plummeted below the leaderboard.

    The next restart with 14 laps remaining saw teammates Larson and Berry duke for the lead until Larson managed to clear Berry for the lead through the first two turns. As the field fanned out behind, Chastain and Truex battled for third behind Berry while Larson pulled away by half a second.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate, Berry, while Chastain and Bell were in the top five. Truex fell back to sixth in front of McDowell, Bowman, Logano and Gibbs. Larson would retain the lead by nearly a second with five laps remaining while Truex slipped back to eighth.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by more than a second over teammate Berry. With the clean air to his advantage and no late challenges lurking behind, Larson was able to cycle his No. 5 entry around the short track circuit for a final time and back to the frontstretch to claim his first checkered flag of the 2023 Cup Series season.

    With the victory, Larson notched his 20th career victory in NASCAR’s premier series and his second at Richmond as he became the sixth different winner through the first seven events on the schedule. The 2023 season also marked Larson’s sixth season with at least one Cup victory and his 14th driving the No. 5 car for Hendrick Motorsports.

    The victory was also the first for veteran Kevin Meendering, who served his third race as an interim Cup crew chief for Cliff Daniels as Daniels is currently serving his third of a four-race suspension stemming from NASCAR confiscating the louvers from all four Hendrick Motorsports’ entries and the team being penalized for modifying pieces of the car pertaining to the air direction over the hoods. All four HMS entries were reinstated their points earlier in the week while the crew chief suspensions and $400,000 fine from each entry remained in place.

    “It’s really cool,” Larson said on FS1. “We’ve been close to winning a couple [races]. William’s [Byron] been extremely good this year. It was probably gonna be between him, [Truex] and us. [Bell] was really good, so just things worked out. My pit crew had a great stop, so shoutout to Brandon Johnson. He’s out jackman, he just turned 30 today. Our spotter, Tyler Monn, he turned 30 today, so great day for them guys. What an awesome HendrickCars.com Chevy. I got into [Suarez] there on pit road sometime in the second stage. We were awful after that and I was hoping the damage was the reason why. [The pit crew] had to calm me down a little bit and get refocused, and I was able to get it done. Thanks to everyone on this team. [Crew chief] Cliff Daniels for everything he does to prepare the team to be as strong as we are without him on the box. Good to get a win and hopefully, many more.”

    Teammate Josh Berry, making his fourth Cup start as an interim competitor for the injured Chase Elliott, made his late pit strategy pay off to perfection as he notched a career-best second place while Chastain, Bell and Harvick finished in the top five.

    “Man, this is really cool,” Berry said. “I gotta give all the credit to this NAPA team, [interim crew chief] Tom [Gray], [regular crew chief] Alan [Gustafson],…everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Man, they made some great calls. When we got some clean track, we weren’t running bad lap times. I’m so glad they tried something different there at the end to just get us up front because I felt like we were decent the whole time. Just getting in clear air there. Really a little too free to run with Kyle [Larson], but man, what a huge day. To come here and start at the back, no practice, qualifying, get spun out, worked through the field like that to a second place, it’s pretty cool.”

    McDowell, who also benefitted through a late pit strategy as Berry, came home in sixth place while Logano, Bowman, rookie Ty Gibbs and Keselowski completed the top 10 on the track.

    Notably, Truex fell back to 11th in front of Briscoe, Almirola, Kyle Busch and Todd Gilliland while Hamlin settled in 20th following his share of pit road speeding penalties. In addition, Chandler Smith finished 17th in his Cup Series debut behind Reddick, Wallace ended up 22nd in front of Suarez, Byron fell back to 24th after leading a race-high 117 laps and Blaney ended up in 26th, a lap down.

    There were 22 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 54 laps.

    Following the seventh event of the 2023 Cup Series season, Alex Bowman leads the regular-season standings by four points over Ross Chastain, 34 over Christopher Bell, 35 over William Byron, 36 over Kevin Harvick and 41 over both Joey Logano and Kyle Larson.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Larson, 93 laps led

    2. Josh Berry, 10 laps led

    3. Ross Chastain, 16 laps led

    4. Christopher Bell, 26 laps led

    5. Kevin Harvick

    6. Michael McDowell

    7. Joey Logano

    8. Alex Bowman, eight laps led

    9. Ty Gibbs

    10. Brad Keselowski, one lap led

    11. Martin Truex Jr., 56 laps led

    12. Chase Briscoe

    13. Aric Almirola

    14. Kyle Busch, one lap led

    15. Todd Gilliland

    16. Tyler Reddick

    17. Chandler Smith

    18. Ryan Preece

    19. Harrison Burton

    20. Denny Hamlin, 71 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    21. Corey LaJoie

    22. Bubba Wallace, one lap led

    23. Daniel Suarez

    24. William Byron, 117 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    25. Austin Dillon, one lap down

    26. Ryan Blaney, one lap down

    27. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

    28. Austin Cindric, one lap down

    29. Justin Haley, one lap down

    30. Chris Buescher, two laps down

    31. Erik Jones, two laps down

    32. Ty Dillon, two laps down

    33. Anthony Alfredo, four laps down

    34. Cody Ware, five laps down

    35. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 16 laps down

    36. JJ Yeley, 17 laps down

    37. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the third annual running of the Food City Dirt Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in Bristol, Tennessee. The event is scheduled for next Sunday, April 9, on Easter at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Three Big Stories: COTA (2023)

    Three Big Stories: COTA (2023)

    Matt Weaver summed it up best.

    Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas showcased NASCAR at both its best and dumbest. With the former, you witnessed two generational talents duke it out for the victory. Furthermore, the lack of stage breaks added layers of strategy that road course races in NASCAR lacked for years. With the latter, however, a great race turned into a face palm-inducing crash fest.

    So without further adieu, let’s dive into the Three Big Stories of the NASCAR Cup Series at COTA.

    1. A master class of driving between two generational talents

    AUSTIN, Texas – MARCH 26: William Byron, driver of the #24 Liberty University Chevrolet, and Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 Monster Energy Toyota, lead the field on a pace lap prior to the NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on March 26, 2023, in Austin, Texas. Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

    On the Lap 44 restart, Tyler Reddick overshot Turn 1, and William Byron drove underneath him to retake the lead. For much of the remaining laps, they put on a battle that showcased NASCAR at its best.

    “We made it a battle for sure every time with crossovers, out-braking each other… that was a lot of fun,” Byron said.

    With five to go, Byron got loose off Turn 10 and Reddick pounced. He pulled to Byron’s inside in Turn 11, drag-raced him down the backstretch and ran him off the track to take the lead.

    To borrow a line from former NASCAR Chairman and CEO, Brian France, this was “quintessential NASCAR.” Only instead of a poorly handled fustercluck over three races, it was two generational talents using every inch of real estate and an aero package on the razor’s edge of control to fight it out for the victory.

    2. The return of strategy to road course races

    AUSTIN, Texas – MARCH 26: William Byron, driver of the #24 Liberty University Chevrolet, and Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 Monster Energy Toyota, lead the field on a pace lap prior to the NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on March 26, 2023, in Austin, Texas. Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

    Before a caution on Lap 40 put the field onto equal tires, multiple pit stop strategies played out.

    Byron, on a two-stop plan, pitted from the lead on Lap 24. Reddick, on a three-stop race, pitted from the lead on Lap 32. Byron cycled back to the lead, but with an eight-lap tire difference, Reddick reeled in Byron with ease. He cut the lead by three seconds, in the span of two laps.

    On Lap 39, Reddick overtook him with ease in Turn 1.

    None of this happens if NASCAR throws a caution to end stages.

    “Well, it certainly allows the race to play out more naturally, which I feel like in the spirit of road course racing, in my opinion, that’s what it should be more about,” Reddick said. “We had the natural cautions towards the end there with people having tire failures and issues to bring out the cautions to have the exciting green-white-checkered finishes.”

    All stage breaks did, since 2017, was interrupt the flow of a race and removed an element of strategy. As a result, the quality of racing at road courses (and to an extent, Pocono Raceway) diminished. After all, why short-pit, when you’d get two free pit stops with stage breaks?

    “From my perspective, I enjoyed it more today,” Reddick said. “It was about maximizing your pace on the racetrack and minimizing the mistakes because depending on what strategy you had, if you made a mistake, you’re going to be costing yourself track position as the race just played out.”

    With five more road course races left on the Cup Series schedule, you’ll have a strong case for NASCAR doing away with stage breaks everywhere.

    That was some dumb, dumb, DUMB racing at the finish

    AUSTIN, Texas – MARCH 26: Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 Monster Energy Toyota, and Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, lead the field to an overtime restart during the NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on March 26, 2023, in Austin, Texas. Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images

    If everything I mentioned above was some of NASCAR at its best, then the overtime calamities were some of NASCAR at its dumbest.

    Three separate times, cars accordioned into each other and spun others out at the crest of Turn 1. Once or twice, I get it. It happens. But after three times, on each overtime attempt, I just think, “What the hell are we doing, guys?”

    “The end of the race became a typical NASCAR road course race,” Austin Dillon said. “It was just a mess.”

    Honestly, I don’t know how you fix it.

    Perhaps single-file restarts in overtime cuts down on it, but in that scenario, what’s to stop the driver in second from dive-bombing the race leader in Turn 1?

    NASCAR won’t penalize drivers for contact (well, up to an extreme point) like IndyCar and Formula 1 do. Bumping and banging are woven into the league’s DNA. So unless there’s a seismic shift in thinking from the heads in Daytona, that’s a non-starter.

    Well, we’ll see if this also happens in a few months at Sonoma Raceway.

  • 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:

  • Allmendinger dominates for back-to-back Xfinity Series victories at COTA

    Allmendinger dominates for back-to-back Xfinity Series victories at COTA

    AJ Allmendinger was not to be denied in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season after he capped off a dominant run with a victory in the third annual running of the Pit Boss 250 at Circuit of The Americas on Saturday, March 25.

    The 41-year-old Allmendinger from Los Gatos, California, led two times for a race-high 28 of 46-scheduled laps, including the final 14, on a day where he commenced by dominating the event’s early stages. Despite falling back towards the midfield after pitting at the start of the second stage, the Californian managed to methodically navigate his way back to the front amid a series of late caution periods. Then under the final stage with 14 laps remaining, Allmendinger made contact with Sheldon Creed to reassume the lead. From there, he fended off a late attack from William Byron to defend his winning title in Austin.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, AJ Allmendinger, the reigning Xfinity winner at COTA of the Americas, secured the pole position for the main event after posting a pole-winning lap at 92.173 mph in 133.184 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Sammy Smith, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 91.827 mph in 133.686 seconds.

    Prior to the event, a host of names that included Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Sage Karam, Alex Labbe, rookie Chandler Smith, Kaz Grala, Bret Moffitt, Anthony Alfredo, Joe Graf Jr., Kyle Weatherman, Brennan Poole and Kyle Sieg dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, the field fanned out through the uphill climb to the first turn as Sammy Smith and Sheldon Creed launched ahead to Allmendinger’s outside with the lead while Ty Gibbs tried to sneak his way beneath Allmendinger’s No. 10 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro. Then entering the series of right and left turns from Turns 2 to 10, Creed cleared Sammy Smith and assumed the lead in his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro with Allmendinger and Gibbs moving back up to second and third.

    After tracking Creed for the following four turns, Allmendinger made his move beneath Creed entering Turn 15 and re-assumed the lead. From there, Allmendinger navigated his way through the final series of turns from Turns 15 to 20 as he returned to the frontstretch and led the first lap. Meanwhile, Aric Almirola plummeted in the leaderboard after spinning his No. 08 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang in Turn 12 while the field remained under green flag conditions.

    Through the second lap, Allmendinger was leading by more than two seconds over Creed followed by Gibbs, Sammy Smith and Austin Hill while John Hunter Nemechek, Parker Kligerman, William Byron, Daniel Hemric and Riley Herbst were running in the top 10. Behind, Jeb Burton was in 11th ahead of Miguel Paludo, Sam Mayer, Carson Hocevar and Connor Mosack while Jeremy Clements, Josh Bilicki, Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier and Alex Labbe occupied the top 20 in front of Josh Berry and Brandon Jones.

    By the fifth lap, Allmendinger extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Gibbs while Creed dropped back to third and trailed by more than five seconds. Sammy Smith and Hill were running in the top five in front of Kligerman and Byron while Nemechek fell back to eighth. By then, all 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. With Brad Perez spinning in Turn 8, the event remained under green flag conditions.

    Two laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Carson Hocevar, who was making his Xfinity Series debut for SS-Green Light Racing, came to a stop in Turn 1. By then, names like Ryan Sieg and Sage Karam were assessed pass-through penalties for cutting the esses. During the caution period, names like the leader Allmendinger, Kligerman, Herbst, Brandon Jones, Jeremy Clements, Chandler Smith and Kaz Grala remained on the track while the rest of the lead lap competitors pitted, with Berry pitting for repairs to the front nose after receiving damage from hitting Byron at the start of the event.

    When the event restarted under green on the ninth lap, Allmendinger jumped ahead with a strong start and pulled away from Kligerman while the field fanned out entering the first turn and the series of right and left turns. Through the series of turns, Allmendinger retained the lead in front of Kligerman as Riley Herbst maintained third in front of Jones with the field jostling for positions.

    At the Lap 10 mark and with a series of on-track battles ensuing, Allmendinger was leading by more than a second over Kligerman followed by Herbst, Creed and Jones while Chandler Smith, Clements, Gibbs, Grala and Allgaier were in the top 10, with 35 of 38 starters scored on the lead lap.

    At the conclusion of the first stage on Lap 14, Allmendinger captured the stage victory while Creed, Kligerman, Gibbs, Byron, Herbst, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Sammy Smith and Sam Mayer were scored in the top 10. 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, green flag pit stops ensued as Chandler Smith pitted followed by Hill. Allmendinger would then surrender the lead near the Lap 15 mark to pit as Creed cycled to the lead. By then, additional names like Herbst, Brandon Jones, Kaz Grala and Kyle Weatherman pitted along with the rest of the field.

    On Lap 16, the second caution of the event flew when Preston Pardus came to a stop in Turn 1. By then, Austin Hill, winner of three of the first five-scheduled events, took his car to the garage due to an apparent shifter issue while the front-runners remained on the track.

    During the following restart on Lap 19, Creed pulled ahead of Byron and the field to maintain the lead as the field tried to navigate through the first turn. Through Turn 1, carnage ensued as Almirola and Preston Pardus spun with Allmendinger also involved as he wedged Berry into Almirola and slammed the brakes while Almirola spun in front of him. As the event remained under green, Creed retained the lead in front of Allgaier and Byron while Sammy Smith and Cole Custer battled in front of John Hunter Nemechek and Gibbs.

    A lap later and with the battles around the track ensuing, the caution returned due to debris in Turns 13 and 14 when Brandon Jones lost and shredded a left-front tire to his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro. During the caution period, the entire field led by Creed remained on the track for a second time.

    On the ensuing restart on Lap 22, Creed battled and maintained the lead over Byron entering the first turn. As the field navigated through the first turn and the 20-turn road course, Allmendinger and Berry made contact through the esses while Herbst spun in Turn 8. Back at the front, Byron made his move to assume the lead from Creed in Turn 19, but Creed fought back with a crossover move as he reassumed the lead entering Turn 20 and back to the frontstretch. Byron, however, managed to draw himself with Creed entering the first turn and pull ahead through the fifth turn as he assumed the lead while Custer tried to close in.

    By Lap 27, the caution returned when Brett Moffitt came to a stop in Turn 1. During the caution period, names that included Kligerman, Almirola, Ryan Sieg, Jeb Burton and Berry remained on the track while the rest led by Byron pitted.

    As the field restarted under green on Lap 29, Kligerman and Almirola dueled for the lead through the uphill climb to the first turn. Then exiting the first turn, Kligerman briefly fell off the pace Ryan Sieg rocketed past Kligerman and Almirola entering the second turn to assume the lead followed by Creed. In the midst of the battles, Cole Custer spun in Turn 4 with help from Berry and got his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang stuck in the gravel trap. With the event remaining under green as the battles ensued, the caution then fell with Custer unable to pull his car out of the gravel trap. By then, Mayer spun while running in the middle of the pack in Turn 11. This concluded the second stage break scheduled on Lap 30 as Creed captured the stage victory while Ryan Sieg, Nemechek, Almirola, Berry, Allmendinger, Byron, Ty Gibbs, Sammy Smith and Jeb Burton were scored in the top 10.

    During the caution period, names like Ryan Sieg, Kligerman and Custer pitted while the rest led by Creed remained on the track.

    With 14 laps remaining, the final stage proceeded under green. At the start, the field fanned out to multiple lanes as Creed battled and fended off Nemechek to retain the lead through the first turn and entering the series of turns. Behind, however, Allmendinger carved his way back into the runner-up spot as he set his sights on Creed for the lead while Nemechek, Byron, Almirola, Berry and Sammy Smith trailed in the top seven.

    Then in Turn 15, Allmendinger ignited his charge for the lead on Creed as he tried to bump and move Creed through the following turns. Entering Turn 19, however, Creed and Allmendinger made contact as Creed slipped sideways before spinning. This allowed Allmendinger to move back into the lead followed by a hard-charging Byron and Nemechek through the frontstretch while Creed, who was in contention for his first Xfinity career victory, plummeted in the leaderboard.

    During the following lap, the battle for the lead ignited as Byron tried to navigate his way around Allmendinger for the top spot in Turn 1. The latter, however, managed to maintain his ground and keep Byron’s No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro behind through Turn 2 and the following turns while a trio of Joe Gibbs Racing competitors that included Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Ty Gibbs were running in the top five.

    Down to the final 10 laps, Allmendinger continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Byron followed by Sammy Smith, Nemechek and Gibbs while Allgaier, Berry, Almirola, Hemric and Jeb Burton were in the top 10. By then, 31 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. Not long after, however, Almirola spun while running in the top 10, but the event remained under green as Allmendinger retained the lead ahead of Byron.

    With five laps remaining, Allmendinger extended his advantage to more than a second over Byron while teammates Ty Gibbs and Sammy Smith, both of whom were trailing the lead by more than 10 seconds, battled for third. Behind, Nemechek fell back to fifth in front of a hard-charging Allgaier while Hemric, Berry, Mayer and Jeb Burton occupied the top 10. Meanwhile, Creed rallied his way back to 11th despite trailing the lead by more than 26 seconds.

    A lap later, Nemechek got punted by Hemric with four laps remaining, but the event remained under green while Allmendinger maintained a decent advantage over Byron.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allmendinger remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Byron, who kept Allmendinger within his sights and was preparing for a final launch attack on the leader for the victory. By then, Nemechek made an unscheduled pit stop to address a flat left-rear tire. Through Turn 1 and the series of turns from Turns 2 to 10, Byron tried to close, but he briefly stepped out of the gas as Allmendinger placed a reasonable gap between himself and his challenger. Following the long straightaway in between Turns 11 and 12 before entering the final series of turns from Turns 12 to 20, Allmendinger did not miss a beat and managed to keep Byron in his rearview mirror as he cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by eight-tenths of a second over Byron.

    With the victory, Allmendinger, who is scheduled to make five Xfinity starts this season to go along with his full-time Cup Series campaign with Kaulig, became the first repeat winner at Circuit of the Americas in the Xfinity Series as he notched his 16th career win in the series, 11 of which have come on road course events. The victory was also the first of the season and 20th overall in the series for Kaulig Racing as Kaulig’s No. 10 entry returned to Victory Lane since Jeb Burton piloted the car number to a victory at Talladega Superspeedway in 2021.

    “Well, William Byron might be one of the best ones in the sport right now,” Allmendinger said on FS1. “We’ve seen all the Cup races he’s winning. I knew it was gonna be tough, just trying to fight to get back up to the front there. [I] Hate we had contact with Sheldon [Creed]. I got under him. I was there, I felt like. He turned, I was trying to stay off him, so I hate that happened. So proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing. The Celsius Chevy was really hooked up. With all the damage we had, it definitely hurt the car. Man, I’m out of breath. I’m too old for this.”

    “I spent a lot of years not winning anything,” Allmendinger added. “I’m gonna celebrate every [win] like it’s my last one. You never know. As much pressure that I put on myself, I’m always gonna try to live up to it. We fought hard. This was such a team effort. Pit crew was awesome. Just so proud of everybody. I’m just so lucky to be a part of this Kaulig Racing team.”

    Byron, who made his lone Xfinity start of the season in Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 17 “all-star” entry, settled in second place for the third time in his Xfinity career while Ty Gibbs finished third in his first Xfinity start of the season in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 “all-star” entry as Cup Series regulars swept the podium spots.

    “I just messed that esses up,” Byron, who will start on pole position for Sunday’s Cup Series event in Austin, said. “I was getting one final run at [Allmendinger]. Obviously, they were really good all day. Just great at these road courses and [I] still have just a little bit to gain and minimize some mistakes. Overall, [I] just got through the esses there. I didn’t want to get off and screw up second place, so I slowed way down to keep it within the track. Thanks to HendrickCars.com, Chevrolet. It was a great effort. Just need to clean it up in these cars. Just need to do a better job there, but I had a lot of fun racing them. Couple times, I probably had a shot and just needed to do a little better job. Part of it and hopefully, we’ll get’em tomorrow.”

    Meanwhile, rookie Sammy Smith was the highest-finishing Xfinity regular notching fourth place while Allgaier finished fifth. Both along with sixth-place finisher Daniel Hemric and seventh-place finisher Sam Mayer have qualified for the first round of the Dash 4 Cash initiative that will occur next Saturday at Richmond Raceway.

    Berry settled in eighth followed by Creed, who made a miraculous comeback from his late spin, while Herbst completed the top 10 on the track. By then, 31 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    There were six lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured five cautions for seven laps.

    Following the sixth event of the 2023 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by 15 over Riley Herbst, 29 over John Hunter Nemechek, 49 over Justin Allgaier and 53 over Chandler Smith.

    Results.

    1. AJ Allmendinger, 28 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. William Byron, one lap led

    3. Ty Gibbs

    4. Sammy Smith

    5. Justin Allgaier

    6. Daniel Hemric

    7. Sam Mayer

    8. Josh Berry

    9. Sheldon Creed, 16 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    10. Riley Herbst

    11. Brandon Jones

    12. Chandler Smith

    13. Miguel Paludo

    14. Jeremy Clements

    15. Alex Labbe

    16. Anthony Alfredo

    17. Parker Retzlaff

    18. Kaz Grala

    19. Connor Mosack

    20. Ryan Ellis

    21. Jeb Burton

    22. Kyle Weatherman

    23. Ryan Sieg

    24. Aric Almirola

    25. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    26. Kyle Sieg

    27. John Hunter Nemechek

    28. Josh Bilicki

    29. Brad Perez

    30. Joe Graf Jr.

    31. Parker Kligerman, one lap led

    32. Cole Custer, one lap down

    33. Brennan Poole – OUT, Steering

    34. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Engine

    35. Sage Karam – OUT, Engine

    36. Preston Pardus – OUT, Suspension

    37. Austin Hill – OUT, Engine

    38. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Transmission

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of this season to Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, where the first of four Dash 4 Cash events will occur. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, April 1, at 1 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • 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.”