Posted on by Staff Report

With Justin Bonsignore behind the wheel, Ryan Stone as crew chief, and Ken Massa as owner, the No. 51 Phoenix Communications-sponsored Modified has become the team to beat on the Whelen Modified Tour.

Go ahead, count up the stats. They‘re so outrageous, they can be hard to believe. Over the last three years, they‘ve notched 17 wins in 41 races. Only four of those 41 races have finished outside the top-10. Two seasons with an average finish below 3.5. Nobody else has come close.

What the No. 51 team is doing is nothing short of one of the most dominant runs in the history of Whelen Modified Tour racing.

This ground-pounder superpower didn‘t assemble itself overnight. In fact, there was a time where the possibility was real that there would be no more No. 51 team.

Assembling a force

It was the end of 2017.

The No. 51 team had just wrapped up a season that ended winless on the year with only four laps led. Sure, they finished third in the points, 16 behind champion Doug Coby, but that wasn‘t good enough for either Bonsignore or Massa.

In need of a crew chief, they began discussing the possibility of walking away from the Tour entirely.

“Ken and I racked our brains for weeks just wondering what to do, where to go,” Bonsignore said. “We felt if it wasn’t going to be something that we thought we could contend and go out and try and win races, we just wouldn‘t do it anymore.”

Massa remembered feeling much the same way.

“We were close, very close, to calling it quits,” he said.

Then, it happened: Stone, then working down in North Carolina for the JR Motorsports Xfinity Series program, was thinking about moving back up north to his home state of Connecticut. After some convincing from both Bonsignore and Massa, Stone agreed to crew chief the team in 2018.

“I just kept nudging him and nudging him, and Justin kept nudging him, and he finally agreed,” Massa said. “His dedication to the sport is unmatched.”

The decision for Stone to join the team would turn out to be a game-changer beyond Bonsignore or Massa‘s wildest dreams.

RELATED: Coronation Time: Justin Bonsignore Celebrates Second NASCAR Whelen Modified Title

A legendary start

The first thing Stone did when he agreed to join the team was put two brand-new FURY chassis together.

The next thing he did? Help propel the team to a championship in 2018, winning eight of the season‘s 16 races, along with five poles, 12 top fives and 15 top-10s.

It was a season so successful that it exceeded even Stone‘s high expectations.

“I knew we were going to win, I just didn‘t think we‘d win eight [races],” Stone said.

Chemistry to the nth degree

You don‘t have to question the buy-in from anyone on this team.

Massa recalled a group call with the team before the season started. Because of the pandemic, NASCAR limited teams to bring eight crew members to the track. Massa had to ask for one of the nine crew members to stay home along with him.

“There was silence,” Massa said. “This team was ready to go. Nobody wanted to stay behind. That was a tough moment for me, but it showed their dedication. Nothing wanted to stop them.”

“Everyone was dying to go,” Stone said. “I really believe that everyone was so fired up that by the time we got racing, we wanted to capitalize on every opportunity that we had.”

Chemistry is simple for Stone: it‘s either there or it‘s not.

“I don‘t think you can build it,” he said. “When I started with these guys in 2018, as a group, [the crew members] are buddies… They had that established when I got here and it was more about me fitting in with them.

“We all have the same sense of humor, we all have the same passion for racing and the same drive to perform at a high level. I just had to come in and fit with them. I knew Ken‘s commitment was there. Justin had been driving for Ken for almost 10 years at that point. The commitment was always there, they just needed to get the rest of the pieces of the puzzle together to be a championship-winning team.”

The pieces are there. It was arguably more clear than ever in 2020.

RELATED: Justin Bonsignore Career Stats | Ryan Stone Career Stats

Making 2020 happen

After coming oh-so-close in 2019, finishing eight points shy of a second straight title, Stone knew where and how to get the team back to the promised land: consistency.

“We knew where we goofed up,” Stone said. “We had a couple miscues and lost by eight. We just felt like we knew we were good enough to win even though we didn‘t. It was about winning races, but we focused on the championship because we lost it in such a close battle in 2019 with just one little hiccup at the very first race.”

“We said ‘listen, we can’t stub our toe at all this year. We‘ve got to be smart,‘ and even though we came out this year with nine races, we never finished out of the top-five. We really focused hard on those days where you can‘t win and you‘re not going to win, to get the best finish. Don‘t try to win and spoil a good finish.”

In terms of accomplishing that goal, it‘s hard to be any closer to perfect than the No. 51 team was this year. They led laps in eight of the nine races contested. They finished no lower than fifth all season long. They won three times. And they set a record for lowest finish ever by a Whelen Modified Tour championship-winning team (2.7).

The fact that the team performed so well, practically immaculately, in a year where things were anything but predictable is what made Massa so proud.

“Some people say the shortened schedule helped us, but to be honest, I think our advantage is more races,” he said. “I think the adversity of wondering when the next race was going to be… It was not an easy thing to do. I think that‘s the part that makes this title special.”

Looking to the future

After being on the brink of shutting it all down, Massa has put all of those thoughts entirely in the rearview mirror. Now that the winning has started, there‘s no way he‘s just going to let it end.

“To see it pay off is worth everything to me, but I‘d like to see it continue for sure,” Massa said. “I just think this team is fully capable of it. I think everyone wants to continue doing it, so I think we should be able to.”

And now that the team is once again at the top of the Tour garage, the spotlight will once again be on them to back up what they‘ve done for the last three years.

Stone is excited to do just that all over again.

“You want to do it again. We‘ve got so many more records to tie and try and catch up to… But to think you‘re on the cusp of doing something like that, you‘ve got so much more work to do to get there. It‘s not that easy.

“If we can stay on this roll, god only knows what we can continue to do.”

Equipment. Talent. Smarts. Chemistry. The No. 51 team has it all. And they show no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR officials announced a shift to the early portion of the national-series schedule Tuesday, moving a race weekend planned for Auto Club Speedway to the Daytona International Speedway Road Course.

The move means NASCAR’s top series will open with three consecutive weekends in Florida and two straight weeks at Daytona, as Homestead-Miami Speedway will shift back one week on the schedule to accommodate the move.

RELATED: Updated 2021 Cup Series schedule

Challenges resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the need for significant advance planning for fans and the NASCAR industry led to the schedule adjustment.

The season-opening weekend at Daytona International Speedway remains unchanged, with the Cup Series’ Daytona 500 set for Sunday, Feb. 14. Daytona openers for the Xfinity Series (Feb. 13) and Camping World Truck Series (Feb. 12) also stay the same. The new February schedule for the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series is tentatively set:

— Feb. 14 weekend — Daytona oval (all three series)

— Feb. 21 weekend — Daytona Road Course (all three series)

— Feb. 28 weekend — Homestead-Miami (Cup, Xfinity)

The Camping World Truck Series had previously been scheduled to contest its second race of the season at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami track. That event has been realigned to the 3.61-mile Daytona Road Course layout, which hosted NASCAR national-series races for the first time last August.

Exact dates and times for the Xfinity and Truck series at the Daytona Road Course and Homestead-Miami have not been determined.

Because of the move, Auto Club Speedway will not host a NASCAR weekend for the first time in 24 years. The 2-mile Fontana, California, track was slated to hold the third race of the season for both the Cup and Xfinity Series for the second straight year.

RELATED: More on Auto Club

Efforts at Auto Club will continue with the proposed redevelopment project to transform the track into a high-banked short track. Timing for approval will occur at a later date based on the impacts from COVID-19. This will allow fans and the industry the opportunity to properly close the history books on the storied oval for what could be the final race on its original surface in 2022.

The announcement adds a new twist to an already overhauled 2021 Cup Series schedule, which was unveiled Sept. 30. The series will now compete on seven road courses next season, as the Daytona Road Course joins Circuit of the Americas (May 23), Sonoma Raceway (June 6), Road America (July 4), Watkins Glen International (Aug. 8), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (Aug. 15) and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (Oct. 10) on the schedule.

The schedule shift also adds to an already busy stretch for Daytona’s road course layout. The circuit is scheduled to host the non-points Busch Clash for the Cup Series on Tues., Feb. 9, and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship kicks off with the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Jan. 30-31, one week after IMSA’s Roar Before the Rolex 24 preliminary Jan. 22-24.

Posted on by Track Release

Nashville Superspeedway launched its brand identity today through an introductory video as well as the newly designed website in preparation for NASCAR’s return to Middle Tennessee in 2021.

Nashville Superspeedway partnered with nationally recognized brand-building firm RARE Designs on its updated logos, featuring the track’s 1.33-mile layout, a guitar headstock and tuning keys as an homage to Nashville’s musical heritage. The new logos can be found on the latest Nashville Superspeedway merchandise, with links available on the website, which is designed and hosted by NASCAR Digital Media.

MORE: New Nashville merch!

Fans are encouraged to register their contact information HERE for the first chance at tickets for Nashville Superspeedway’s NASCAR tripleheader on Father’s Day Weekend, June 18-20, 2021, including the track’s inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday, June 20.

Fans who submit their information will be eligible to purchase tickets and camping spots starting Tuesday, Jan. 5. An exclusive promo code will be emailed and Nashville Superspeedway Ticket Office personnel will be available to answer your questions. Tickets will be available for the general public starting on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

“This is the next step in our rebirth here in Nashville,” said Erik Moses, Nashville Superspeedway’s track president. “We appreciate the input, vision and assistance of NASCAR and our partners in the creation of our new website and brand. NashvilleSuperSpeedway.com will be the go-to place for fans to plan their trips to Middle Tennessee and learn about all of our on- and off-track events.”

RELATED: Check out the new website

The June 18-20 NASCAR tripleheader weekend will include a full schedule of activities, including a NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday, June 19 and a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Friday, June 18. Green flag times, along with on-track and off-track schedules for all three of Nashville Superspeedway’s NASCAR events will be determined and shared at a later date.

Keep track of Nashville Superspeedway’s latest news and updates via social media at Facebook.com/NashvilleSuperspeedway,on Twitter at @NashvilleSuperS and Instagram @nashvillesuperspeedway.

For questions about tickets, media relations employment, or other inquiries, interested parties are encouraged to email [email protected].  

Posted on by Staff Report

At just 23 years old, Tyler Rypkema had plenty of expectations on him for the 2020 season.

After all, not only was Rypkema running the Whelen Modified Tour full-time for the first time in his career, he made an equipment upgrade. After Mike Smeriglio retired from the Tour as a car owner at the conclusion of the 2019 season, it was Rypkema‘s family who purchased two cars from Smeriglio as he sold off assets. The No. 32 Rypkema Racing team was set to go.

Driving the equipment that had won four of the last five Tour championships, you could say there was some pressure on Rypkema to perform.

Rypkema did just that: perform. He rounded out the season with four consecutive top-10 finishes, with a total of five for the year. In eight of nine races, Rypkema also finished better than he qualified. Most important of all, he kept his nose clean, finishing all nine races in 2020. That was enough to win him the 2020 Sunoco Rookie of the Year award.


“I‘m ecstatic about it, really,” Rypkema said. “You grow up as a little kid and you watch Modified racing and you know that the Whelen Tour is the pinnacle. You can‘t go anywhere and have any more competition than you do on the Whelen Tour.

“To go there and run well and gain a lot of respect from drivers, it‘s really cool to be able to do this.”

The signature moment of the season for Rypkema? A very strong eighth-place performance at Jennerstown in July, after struggling in the opening three races of the season.

“To come to Jennerstown and have a really strong run, that gave us the confidence to carry on the rest of the season and show that it wasn‘t a one-off, that we could duplicate that and try to do better yet,” Rypkema said.

The 10th Rypkema earned at the Musket 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September also stood out to him as a race to be proud of.

“That was huge,” he said. “Going to New Hampshire, that‘s as demanding as you can possibly be on a car, on a driver, on a team in general. To go there and have several pit stops and have good pit stops and have a really strong car, that was huge for us. You don‘t just go to New Hampshire and finish top-10 unless you know what you guys are doing.”

RELATED: Tyler Rypkema 2020 Stats

Rypkema‘s offseason, while extended, wasn’t quite as long as other drivers on the Tour. He spent a week in Florida at the World Series of Stock Car Racing down at New Smyrna, where he performed admirably, finishing second in the Richie Evans Memorial 100.

There wasn‘t much easy for Rypkema Racing to put forth a full-time effort this past season. A family-run operation, day jobs get in the way for crew members. Tack on the fact that a pandemic forced the shutdown of the racing season for three months, and there were a bunch of hurdles for the team to overcome. Despite all the challenges, the family made it happen, with a Rookie of the Year award to show for their efforts.

“I have to thank my guys for what they‘ve done, and for my sponsors,” Rypkema said. “I couldn‘t have done it without any of them. I was pretty happy with the way we turned things around.”

Whether the team is able to put together a schedule to run the Tour full-time again in 2021, Rypkema says they‘ll be back in some form. And there‘s plenty to be excited about in terms of what was accomplished this season.

“Aside from those first two races, I‘m really proud of what we‘ve done as a team,” Rypkema said. “We really rallied and we had a lot of strong finishes.”

Tyler Rypkema (32) works on his car during the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Toyota Mod Classic Presented by McDonald

Posted on by Team Release

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (December 7, 2020) – Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) announced today that Chandler Smith will compete for the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship behind the wheel of the organization’s No. 18 Tundra. Safelite AutoGlass, the nation’s largest provider of vehicle glass repair, replacement, and recalibration services returns to KBM for a fourth season and will adorn the hood of Smith’s Tundra for 15 races.

The 2021 season will mark the Georgia native’s third season with KBM but first full-time effort. Smith made his Truck Series debut driving the No. 51 Safelite AutoGlass Tundra at Iowa Speedway in June 2019. After qualifying was washed out, he started from the pole based on owner’s points and remained up front for the first 55 laps of the race before bringing his Toyota home eighth.

RELATED: Changes to know for the 2021 season | John Hunter Nemechek joins KBM

The Toyota Development Driver has finished inside the top five in half of his 16 career Camping World Truck Series starts, including a career-best runner-up finish at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in August 2019. Smith posted an average finish of 7.7 across his final seven of 12 total Truck Series starts in 2020, including third-place finishes in the series finale at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway and his first career superspeedway start at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in October.

“Since I started racing at a young age, I’ve worked hard towards my goal of getting to compete full time in NASCAR, so being named to drive the Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra and being able to chase a championship in the Camping World Truck Series next year is very rewarding,” Smith said. “I’ve learned a lot from Kyle the last few years, and I’m thankful to be in a position where I can continue to learn from him. KBM is a top-notch organization, and I know that with the hard work from everyone in the shop combined with the support from Toyota and TRD that every time we go to the race track we’ll have a chance to compete for wins as long as I do my part.

“Having been around KBM the last few seasons, I know how much Safelite supports their drivers and their racing program. I’m going to give it my all to get them back to victory lane next year and hopefully things will be back to normal where their employees and customers will be able to be there to celebrate with us!”

“Chandler is following the path that other Toyota Development drivers have in past seasons where they gain valuable experience driving a limited schedule for a couple of seasons and then graduate to running full time for a championship once they are eligible to do so,” Busch said. “He showed that he could run up front on the short tracks right out of the gate in his first season and at the end of this year once he started to understand the aerodynamics of racing on the bigger tracks in the Truck Series, he proved capable of producing top fives no matter where we were racing. Next season, we expect him to continue his progression and be able to turn some of those second and third-place finishes into wins and put himself into the mix for the championship.

“We appreciate Safelite’s continued support during these unprecedented times and look forward to having a contingent of their employees and customers touring the Truck Series garage proudly in their red and black crew shirts this season.”

“We’re very excited to welcome Chandler to the Safelite family,” said Safelite AutoGlass Senior Vice President Garth Beck. “We know he is a championship-caliber driver with many strong races at KBM under his belt over the last few years while driving a part-time schedule. We think he is a great fit to drive the Safelite Toyota Tundra for the 2021 season and very much look forward to cheering him on to victory next year.”

Smith has recorded nine wins, 10 poles and an average finish of 5.3 across 33 career ARCA Menards Series starts the last three seasons. He captured the pole in his series debut at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville (Tenn.) in April of 2018 and set an ARCA Menards Series record by winning four consecutive poles to start his career. He earned his first victory at Madison (Wis.) International Speedway in just his fourth series start in June of 2018. Despite running a part-time schedule, he led the series in laps led in both 2018 and 2019.

Further sponsorship announcements and who will serve as Smith’s crew chief are forthcoming.

Posted on by Staff Report

With the racing calendar for 2020 drawing to a close, it’s time to recognize stock-car racing’s championship performances from all levels of the sport and look ahead at season finales to come. Recap the stellar seasons for multiple NASCAR, ARCA and touring series, plus the title hardware handed out in eNASCAR.

Join us as we raise a glass to the Champions – presented by DixieVodka.

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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

CUP SERIES

2020 champion: Chase Elliott

Season review: Elliott capped his first premier series championship with a convincing victory in the Season Finale 500 on Nov. 8 at Phoenix Raceway, becoming the third-youngest title winner in the circuit’s history. The 24-year-old driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet outran fellow title contenders Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin down the stretch, grabbing the crown with his fifth victory of the season and his second straight win to close the season. Elliott joined his father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, as a Cup Series champion. (Recap)

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Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Chris Graythen | Getty Images

XFINITY SERIES

2020 champion: Austin Cindric

Season review: The 22-year-old Cindric finished out a banner year in the Xfinity Series with his first title, topping Justin Allgaier, Justin Haley and Chase Briscoe in the season finale. Cindric’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford surged in a final restart to prevail in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway. Cindric’s sixth win of the season came in his 100th Xfinity start. He’ll return to defend his title next season before moving to the Cup Series with Wood Brothers Racing in 2022. (Recap)

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Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Chris Graythen | Getty Images

GANDER RV & OUTDOORS TRUCK SERIES

2020 champion: Sheldon Creed

Season review: Creed’s sophomore season represented a breakthrough for the 23-year-old Californian, one that ended in his first Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series championship. Creed benefited from a late pit stop for fresh tires, then hustled his No. 2 GMS Racing Chevrolet to the front in an overtime restart to best rookie Zane Smith, Brett Moffitt and Grant Enfinger in the finale at Phoenix Raceway. Creed’s closing victory gave him five for the season, tops in the Gander Trucks ranks for 2020. (Recap)

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2020 Oct21 Brett Holmes Main Image
Barry Cantrell Photo

ARCA MENARDS SERIES

2020 champion: Bret Holmes

Season review: Holmes, a 23-year-old Alabama native, rolled to his first ARCA Menards Series championship, clinching the crown by just 12 points over Michael Self, who was the runner-up in the standings for the second straight year. Holmes closed out the season with four consecutive top-three finishes, ending with a series-best 14 top fives in 20 races. His lone win in his family-owned No. 23 Chevrolet was a dominant one, leading 82 of 100 laps to prevail in July at Kansas Speedway. (Recap)

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2020 Oct21 Sam Mayer Main Image
Morgan Givens | ARCA Racing

ARCA MENARDS SERIES EAST

2020 champion: Sam Mayer

Season review: Mayer capped his second consecutive ARCA Menards Series East championship by netting his fifth victory of the season in the finale at 5 Flags Speedway. The 17-year-old Mayer, tapped for the NASCAR Xfinity Series duty the next two seasons with JR Motorsports, won all but one race in the abbreviated six-race schedule and led 34.3 percent of the laps. Ty Gibbs, the series’ only other winner in 2020, finished second overall — 32 points back. The performance gives Mayer nine career wins in the series, all behind the wheel of GMS Racing’s No. 21 Chevrolet. (Recap)

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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST

2020 champion: Jesse Love

Season review: Love set a youth record for the ARCA West tour, clinching his first crown at 15 years, 9 months and 24 days old. Love clinched the 10th West Series championship for mainstay Bill McAnally Racing and its fifth in the last six seasons. He edged Blaine Perkins by 25 points in the final standings. Love finished 14th in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway while Perkins dropped from contention after an early exit with engine failure. Like Perkins, Love scored three victories this season. (Recap)

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2020 Oct26 Bonsignore Main Image
Adam Glanzman | NASCAR

WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR

2020 champion: Justin Bonsignore

Season review: The 32-year-old Bonsignore secured his second NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship, claiming his second title in the last three years. Bonsignore won the first two races — at Jennerstown (Pa.) Speedway and White Mountain Motorsports Park in New Hampshire — and was never headed in the series standings. He added a late-summer triumph at Monadnock Speedway to win three of the nine races in a schedule shortened by the COVID-19 outbreak. A crash in the season finale thwarted six-time Modified champ Doug Coby’s bid. He slipped to third in the final standings behind second-place Jon McKennedy. (Recap)

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2020 Oct27 Jason Hathaway Main Image
Matthew Manor | NASCAR

PINTY’S SERIES

2020 Pinty’s FanCave Challenge champion: Jason Hathaway

Season review: With a schedule altered by the COVID-19 outbreak, the Canada-based circuit shifted to a shortened slate of three weekend doubleheaders dubbed the Pinty’s FanCave Challenge. The veteran Hathaway emerged as the winner, capturing the checkered flag in three of the six races and leading 393 of the 756 laps (52 percent). His performance was enough to edge Kevin Lacroix by 14 points in the final series standings. (Recap)

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2020 Oct27 Josh Berry Main Image
Jacob Kupferman | NASCAR

ADVANCE AUTO PARTS WEEKLY SERIES

2020 champion: Josh Berry

Season review: Berry, a 30-year-old Tennessee native, rounded out a stellar short-track season to secure the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I national championship. The JR Motorsports driver wheeled the No. 88 Chevrolet to 24 victories in 37 starts, topping former national champ Peyton Sellers by 28 points in the overall standings. He closed out the season in style with a three-win weekend, prevailing once at Hickory Speedway and sealing a doubleheader sweep at Southern National Raceway Park. Berry was rewarded by team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. with a partial NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule next year for JRM. (Recap)

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2020 Dec06 Alon Day Main Image
Stephane Azemard | NASCAR Whelen Euro Series

WHELEN EURO SERIES

2020 champion: Alon Day

Season finale: In a weekend when he became the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series’ all-time winningest driver, Alon Day clinched his third championship at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain. The 29-year-old native of Israel assembled a four-win season, giving him 24 victories for his Euro Series career. Day’s championship was his third in the last four seasons, adding to the titles he notched in 2017-18 and tying Ander Vilarino for the most in series history. Danish driver Lasse Soerensen finished second in the overall standings, and Loris Hezemans — who prevailed in the Valencia finale and was the 2019 series champ — ranked third. (Recap)

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2020 Nov8 Nick Ottinger Main Image
William Byron eSports

eNASCAR COCA-COLA iRACING SERIES

2020 champion: Nick Ottinger

Season review: Ottinger wrapped up an emotional first title in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, surviving multiple overtimes for a clinching fourth-place finish in the finale at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway. The result was enough to top the three other title-eligible finalists — Michael Conti, Ryan Luza and Bobby Zalenski. The Claremont, North Carolina, veteran cashed in a $100,000 payday, bringing William Byron eSports its first championship in its first year of operation. (Recap)

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2020 Oct27 Daniel Buttafuoco Main Image
@LuckyDog_38

eNASCAR HEAT PRO LEAGUE

2020 champion: Daniel Buttafuoco

Season review: Buttafuoco rolled to his first eNASCAR Heat Pro League crown, converting a bump-and-run maneuver with two laps remaining to top Justin Brooks in the finale at virtual Bristol Motor Speedway. Buttafuoco — also known as LuckyDog385 in gaming circles — edged JTG Daugherty Throttlers’ Brooks, Brandyn Gritton of Stewart Haas eSports and Leavine Family Gaming’s Josh Harbin in the Championship 4 field for a $30,000 payday. The performance from both Buttafuoco and teammate Kyle Arnold sealed the team championship laurels for Germain Gaming. (Recap)

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NASCAR Peak Mexico Series
Courtesy photo

PEAK MEXICO SERIES

2020 champion: Rubén Rovelo

Season finale: Rovelo entered the last race of the year Dec. 19 with a 22-point lead over multi-time NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series champions Abraham Calderón and Rubén García Jr. Rovelo’s 10th-place run at Autódromo Internacional Miguel E. Abed was more than enough for the 33-year-old from Mexico City to capture his first championship. Rovelo, who made his series debut in 2008 as a 20-year-old, has finished in the top 10 in points every season of his career — including runner-up in 2015 and ’17. (Recap)

Posted on by Staff Report

The drama of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs found a new level of intensity as the 2020 campaign shifted to the postseason’s Round of 8. Game-changers unfolded each week, first at Kansas, then Texas, leading to a captivating crescendo at Martinsville Speedway to determine the series’ four finalists for a championship.

The final three-race elimination round for the Cup Series comes into sharp focus in Episode 6 of MotorTrend’s docuseries, “NASCAR 2020: Under Pressure.” The latest episode, released Saturday, provides insights into the title quests for the drivers, the pit crews and a glimpse into NASCAR race control.

RELATED: Start your free trial on the MotorTrend app today

Tune in each week through Dec. 12 for all-new editions of “NASCAR 2020: Under Pressure” with behind-the-scenes looks into an unprecedented 2020 season.

With a free trial to the MotorTrend app, you will also receive access to more than 3,600 hours of automotive entertainment, including shows from MotorTrend, Discovery Channel, live events and more. Subscribe now to start watching “NASCAR 2020: Under Pressure.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Front Row Motorsports indicated Friday that spotter Clayton Hughes will join the organization, spotting for Michael McDowell in the NASCAR Cup Series next season.

Hughes had been the longtime spotter for Martin Truex Jr., and he served as his eye in the sky for his march to the 2017 Cup Series championship. Hughes was a familiar voice on the radio for Furniture Row Racing who followed Truex to Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 team, where his call of “Stage winner, M-T-J,” continued to be a common refrain.

RELATED: On the Move: Changes for 2021

FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass reported that Drew Herring, who has spent his recent years with Toyota Racing Development’s testing and simulation program, would spot for Truex in 2021.

Front Row Motorsports has not announced its full driver lineup for next season, but Hughes indicated on social media that he would work with McDowell and crew chief Drew Blickensderfer, who would return for his third straight season with FRM. John Hunter Nemechek announced Nov. 16 that he would leave the Bob Jenkins-owned Front Row team, and he signed a week later with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Posted on by Staff Report

With 24 wins and 33 top-5 finishes in 37 starts, calling 2020 a good season for Josh Berry would be an understatement.

Berry had more than twice as many wins as anyone else in NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I, helping him to roll to a national championship by nearly 30 points.

“It was really just amazing,” 31-year-old Berry said. “We kind of set out the year, we didn‘t really intend on competing for the national championship, and some things happened and schedules got changed obviously with everything going on in the world and it kind of led us to compete for it.

“It‘s been pretty awesome. We had an awesome season and the last month or so has been pretty fun.”

Berry and his JR Motorsports team found a home at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina, and realized really early in the summer they could be competing for something special. The team decided around August they would run for national points, travelling to a few more racetracks around the Carolinas and Virginia, including Southern National Motorsports Park, Dominion Raceway, Langley and Myrtle Beach Speedways.

The national championship was the first of Berry‘s career.

“Really the last couple weeks we felt like we were in good shape,” Berry said. “You never know what can happen with that deal though. I‘ve learned that just from paying attention to it over the years. Really we went into the last couple weeks and Peyton Sellers had moved to second in the points so we really just decided to go race wherever he was in hopes of keeping him from bettering his score. Really that was kind of what our game plan was the last couple weeks. So we felt like as long as we were able to beat those guys there was no way they could catch us.”

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Berry called the national championship one of the highlights of his career, the other being his win in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway in October 2019. The Martinsville win served as something of a springboard for Berry in his career, and helped him gain confidence going into 2020.

“It‘s just been incredible, really. Winning Martinsville was such a huge deal and it was a huge deal for me personally because that race had been pretty tough on me over the years,” Berry said. “Martinsville was a huge goal for us, and to accomplish that it kind of led us to wonder if we could ever compete and win a national title, and that was kind of what led us to where we ended up this year.

“Those two things have just been amazing for me to accomplish. So many great drivers have done that. To be able to add my name to that list and be able to accomplish both of those things really meant a lot.”

If the Martinsville win gave Berry confidence heading into 2020, a national championship is enough to give him even more confidence heading into 2021, when he‘ll race part-time with JRM in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

 

Berry – who has raced seven times in the Xfinity Series, but not since 2017 – said he had talked a little bit with the team about maybe putting something together for 2021, but that call was much more unexpected than the one from NASCAR telling him he‘d won a national title.

“For them to commit to me like they have and put together a deal for me, in the middle of everything we had going, it was just really amazing.”

“I‘ve had a few previous opportunities in the Xfinity Series that really didn‘t pan out like I‘d hoped,” said Berry. “It‘s been a few years since then and just in my career I‘ve been able to accomplish a lot in that time so it makes me feel more prepared and confident going into next year and hopefully we can do some great things.”

The team — with sponsors All Things Automotive and iRacing — has already started to get to work on next year. Until then, though, Berry is trying to soak up the last month and appreciate all his recent short track accomplishments.

“Over the last few years we‘ve been able to have a lot of success which makes things a lot easier,” he said. “And now we‘ve got a little girl that is getting to go experience those things at the race track and go racing with, us so it‘s a lot more special to enjoy those moments with her.”

Josh Berry, driver of the #88 All Things Automotive Chevrolet, during Championship Weekend for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series at Southern National Motorsports Park in Kenly, North Carolina on October18, 2020. (Jacob Kupferman/NASCAR)

Posted on by Staff Report

In an abnormal season from the start, Josh Berry and his JR Motorsports late model team started the year racing at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina, a big shift brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

It was sometime around the middle of the summer, after the team had picked up a few wins, Berry decided to try to run for a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship.

But, not everyone was on board with Berry‘s idea, especially his crew chief, Ryan Vasconcellos.

“We picked up a couple wins at Hickory one weekend,” Vasconcellos said. “After that race Josh was like, ‘I think I want to run for a national title.‘ And I was like, ‘You better find a new crew, cause that‘s too much for us.‘

“Now here we are four or five months later.”

Months later, after some convincing, Vasconcellos is a national champion crew chief with Berry. The team had 24 victories at four different tracks, and won the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I title by 28 points.

Team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. also won the Lincoln Electric Car Owner of the Year Award.

Even though Berry and Vasconcellos won all but 13 of their 2020 races, the  championship was anything but easy for the team. After starting the year focusing on Hickory, once the decision was made to go for a title they started traveling wherever they could to race.

“Everybody was on board when we said we were going to try to chase a national title. Everybody except me, I think,” Vasconcellos said. “They said let‘s do it and I couldn‘t let them down so we just traveled around and won some races.”

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Splitting up the two cars in JRM meant that with one staying tour racing and Berry running NASCAR late model events, they were forced to split personnel. Vasconcellos said there were many races when it was just him, Berry, a spotter, and tire guy.

The split also meant having to divide tools, supplies, shocks, springs, and even spare parts and motors in case they ran into issues.

The traveling was especially tough given Berry was the only one on the team who worked full-time with JRM. The other three had full-time jobs outside of racing.

“It was definitely more work for sure,” Vasconcellos said.

They never missed a beat, though. Once the decision to run NASCAR weekly seres full time was made they started to dial in. There was one weekend in August Berry won two races at Hickory on Saturday and two more at Southern National Motorsports Park in North Carolina on Sunday.

The team was winning, but Vasconcellos said they were racing so much they didn‘t have time to sit back and relax. The best way he could describe the season was a grind from start to finish.

“If we ran at Hickory Saturday night it was like, ‘All right, is Southern National running? Where can we go? Can we go to (Myrtle) Beach? The Beach rained out on Saturday. O.K., let‘s shoot down to Myrtle Beach and try to pick up a win there.‘ There really wasn‘t a lot of time to sit down and celebrate or anything like that,” Vasconcellos said.

“It was totally like we couldn‘t even think about what was happening. In the moment you always think about what‘s the next race you‘re going to, what we‘re going to have to change, and what motors we‘re going to have to have to compete with the local guys, the guys that run there weekly.”

Berry and Vasconcellos have been working together since Berry joined JRM in 2010. Vasconcellos started with the team in 2008.

The two have built a close bond over the last decade.

“We‘ve been to a lot of races together and lost a ton of races,” Vasconcellos said. “And it makes you appreciate all the wins that we had this year.”

The two and their team have traveled a lot together in that time. They used to go and up and down the road to Radford, Virginia taking on former national champions like Lee Pulliam and Philip Morris at Motor Mile Speedway.

“Trying to think about how we can beat them every week,” Vasconcellos said of those early years. “It definitely shows me how hard those guys work for all the national titles that they‘ve got. It‘s definitely impressive because one thing we learned this year is it‘s not easy, that‘s for sure.”

Vasconcellos said he considers Berry one of his best friends, and their tire guy, Justin, is an equally good friend to the two. The whole team hangs out on weekends, with the conversations usually revolving around racing.

“We eat, sleep, live racing,” Vasconcellos said. “We think about it all the time. We work together, try to make smart decisions. Really just a team. We work together. Some people are better in other areas and that‘s where the team comes into place.”

Even though Berry is the driver, Vasconcellos said he does just as much work on the car as any of them.

“He does a lot during the week setting the cars up,” he said of Berry. “He‘s probably one of the smartest drivers when it comes to the racecar and what‘s going on in the race and on pit road week-to-week.

“That‘s probably the biggest thing is he‘s grown from being a legends car racer out in Tennessee to an iRacer to being a next level racer now, which I think he‘s proven going on to being an Xfinity racer next year. I think that‘ll be pretty cool to watch.”

The team — with JRM manager Bryan Shaffer, John West, David West, and Jay Hitchcock – has been working together for a long time, but their success has grown over the last three years. It goes back to the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway in 2018 that Vasconcellos said they felt slipped away from them.

They went back in 2019 with something to prove, and they did just that, winning in dominant fashion, leading every lap.

The Martinsville win gave the team momentum Vasconcellos said they carried into this season. To him, it seemed like everywhere they went they had speed.

“It seems like everywhere we go this year it was like we unloaded and we couldn‘t do the wrong thing for a while,” he said.

“Just trying to learn from all of our mistakes from the past decade of working together and putting more pieces of the puzzle together, and really and truly that is what made us so good the year.”

Berry will move on to run a partial schedule in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with JRM next season, and Vasconcellos said going for a national championship was too much wear and tear to try for again.

They‘ll take the rest of the year to relax with family for the holidays, and enjoy the rewards of their hard work in 2020.

“It still doesn‘t feel real. It hasn‘t sank in,” Vasconcellos said. “After winning the national title and winning a couple big races we took a big breath of fresh air there and then we went right back at it and tried to win a couple more.

“It‘s just been an unbelievable season. Thanks JR Motorsports and All Things Automotive and iRacing and Dale Jr. and Kelley (Earnhardt Miller) and LW Miller and TDS Decal Services and all the guys that have helped us throughout this year.”