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.”

RELATED: Grind of a Season Leads to Big Rewards for JR Motorsports Late Model Program

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.”

RELATED: Momentum Carries Josh Berry To Dream Season

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.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

A good crew chief knows how to play to a driver’s strengths. So it came to pass that when Ryan “Rudy” Fugle and driver William Byron had one of their first meetings to discuss their pairing on Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 24 team next season, the crew chief made one of his first calls of his NASCAR Cup Series tenure — where to break bread … or in this case, breaded poultry.

“Rudy knows I’m a pretty picky eater,” Byron said, noting their meeting at a TGI Fridays not far from the HMS campus. “So he chose that one because they have chicken tenders and fries, so it was perfect.”

RELATED: On the Move: Next year’s changes | 2021 Cup Series schedule

With his first winning strategy call in hand, Fugle will become Byron’s third Cup Series crew chief in four seasons in 2021, building on the foundation established by predecessors Chad Knaus and Darian Grubb — both of whom now preside over in-house managerial roles in Hendrick’s competition department. The combination marks a reunion for the two, who first came together nearly five years ago for Byron’s introduction to the national NASCAR stage.

So far, their reconnection — on teamwork, their aspirations and menu choices — has been a near-seamless one.

“I think the influence has already been noticeable,” Byron says. “I mean, we’ve met two or three times over the last couple weeks, and the influence has already been there and we’ve kind of picked up where we left off with communication and stuff. Yeah, we do have to be out on the race track to kind of see the fruits of that, but you can plan accordingly and have a really good plan, and that’s a good start.”

Sean Gardner | Getty Images
Sean Gardner | Getty Images

Fugle was atop the pit box for Byron’s first full national-series season, a title-caliber NASCAR Camping World Truck Series campaign for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2016. The two assembled a series-best seven wins together, and only an engine failure in the penultimate race kept Byron from reaching the championship round.

A year later, both Byron and Fugle were crowned champions in new arrangements. Byron won the 2017 Xfinity Series title after making the shift to JR Motorsports and Chevrolet in advance of his move to the Cup Series with Hendrick Motorsports. Fugle remained at KBM, and his pairing with up-and-comer Christopher Bell resulted in his second Truck title as a crew chief in three years.

Even as Byron graduated to the Cup Series, he kept Fugle in mind, bringing up his name for a potential engineering position at Hendrick in previous years. When mentor Jeff Gordon mentioned Fugle as Knaus’ successor late last summer, Byron embraced the idea. Hendrick announced Fugle’s new role Oct. 26.

It’s a new series and a new era for Fugle, whose work with Byron at KBM was focused on shaping a fresh-faced 18-year-old talent into a proven winner. Fugle’s first impressions, he recalled, was that of a well-prepared, inquisitive teenager who became sharper and more aggressive as his comfort grew behind the wheel. Flashing forward to the current day, Fugle will work with a still fresh-faced, but more experienced 23-year-old with three years vested in his Cup career.

His approach, Fugle says, is something he expects to bridge from those different points in time.

“Our year of working together, I think one of the biggest things is just always learning how to push somebody, how to push their buttons the right way, how to motivate, encourage and read their emotions,” Fugle says. “That’s one thing about him is we can be pretty real with each other. I’m a pretty straightforward guy and William takes that really well. We have a really good communication style and that’s made it easy to be friends with him.”

Byron has qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs the last two years, and the 2020 season yielded his first major-league win — a clutch victory in the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway. But he’s returning to a reimagined Hendrick Motorsports lineup, one that will be missing seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, one that adds a new teammate in Kyle Larson and shifts Alex Bowman to the No. 48, and one that has the sport’s newest champ in Chase Elliott.

MORE: Byron’s 2020 season in review

That last aspect is something that resonates with Byron, who is intent to match Elliott as the standard-bearer for both Hendrick and the series. That starts, Byron says, with improving on zero-win and one-win seasons to being a threat for scratching the win column multiple times in 2021.

“It’s definitely hit us. I think seeing Chase go out there and win the championship like that was definitely a sign that obviously we’re capable,” Byron said. “Yeah, the bar has been set, for sure. Things have really evolved – I think the first year when I was here in 2018, how many growing pains there were for me, but also the race team to kind of find our footing with really three new drivers and one veteran guy. So now, it’s four new guys. I feel like three of us have been here for a while now and really established kind of our trends, our feelings inside the team and what we want in our race cars.

“I think the bar has definitely been set now and it’s about just going out there and trying to achieve that.”

Posted on by Press Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Dec. 3, 2020) – In 2021, The NASCAR Foundation’s Betty Jane France Memorial High Speed Hold ‘Em Poker Tournament traditionally held in Daytona Beach during Daytona Speedweeks Presented by AdventHealth will transition to a virtual partnership with World Poker Tour®. The high stakes evening, hosted online on Jan. 13, will feature NASCAR Cup Series champions Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr., professional poker stars Maria Ho and Phil Hellmuth, and actor Michael Rooker, among other celebrities and participants.

The final table will be streamed at a later date to be determined, with Maria Ho serving as host and commentator. A silent auction and donation drive will round out the event’s programming.

“This year has certainly presented its challenges,” stated The NASCAR Foundation Chairman Mike Helton. “But it has also created new opportunities and we are very excited to host our first virtual poker tournament allowing greater participation as we raise funds to help the children in our racing communities.”

LEARN MORE: The NASCAR Foundation

Utilizing the World Poker Tour’s online sweepstakes-based poker platform, ClubWPT™, the tournament will allow for two playing styles to happen simultaneously – Sit and Go tables and Multi-Tables. The final table will feature six players including two NASCAR Cup Series drivers, one professional poker player, one celebrity and two participants. Participating NASCAR Cup Series drivers will have a chance to earn funds for their charities with the first place finishing driver receiving a $25,000 donation, the second place finishing driver a $15,000 donation and the third place finishing driver a $10,000 donation.

“The World Poker Tour looks forward to extending its online poker partnerships on ClubWPT with The NASCAR Foundation for this event,” said Adam Pliska, CEO of the World Poker Tour. “Philanthropy is top of mind at the WPT®, and the WPT Foundation along with its $27 million raised since 2012, is partnering with The NASCAR Foundation to raise awareness for a great cause and provide a safe environment to play.”

Proceeds from the tournament benefit The NASCAR Foundation’s Speediatrics Children’s Fund, a program that aims to provide health care resources and wellness programs for children.

For more details on sponsorship opportunities and participation, please visit NASCARfoundation.org/poker.

Posted on by Staff Report

At every racetrack Gracie Trotter goes to with her dad, the two have a moment where they just sit back and ask “Did you ever think we‘d be here today?”

The 2020 season was surreal to Trotter, and she said the success she saw still hadn‘t hit her. Trotter won in the ARCA Menards Series West, and was the only driver in the series to finish in the top 10 in all 11 races this year. She also won another late model race at her home track, Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina.

Trotter was also this year‘s recipient of the 2020 Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award, an annual award given to an outstanding minority or female driver in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series, as chosen by a committed and nominated by drivers, crew members, and track operators based on the driver‘s finals standings in the top 500 drivers, as well as on-track performance, sportsmanship, and community service.

Trotter was just the second female to win a race in the West Series, and the fourth to win a late model race at Hickory. She has driven for Rev Racing and is part of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Program.

“That means a lot to me,” Trotter said of the Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award. “I‘ve seen a couple of my teammates over the last few years win that award.

“Being a part of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program has been awesome. They‘ve helped me with my career on and off the track, building a family over at Rev Racing and part of the diversity program. It‘s just a big family over there and everyone does everything to help you out. They‘ve been a huge part of my journey in the racing world and I couldn‘t be more grateful for that in NASCAR.”

The 19-year-old Trotter is a Toyota Racing Development driver, and has seen how much of an emphasis the company puts on finding diverse drivers.

“They‘re trying to get more females and minorities into the sport which is really good,” she said. “What I‘m hoping, and what everyone else is, is that eventually it‘ll become a norm and it won‘t be talked about, that it‘s not normal for females to be in the sport.”

Trotter has been racing since she was eight years old, but this year, to her, was the turning point where the sport went from just a childhood hobby to a potential career. Her first year with TRD in 2016 felt like she was stepping into something bigger, but racing ARCA this year what when racing felt like it clicked.

The North Carolina resident raced on the west coast for the first time, running with Bill McAnally Racing, and started the season strong, coming away with fourth and third place finishes before the season was shut down by the coronavirus pandemic.

The season wasn‘t all highs, though. The pandemic made it tough for Trotter to get comfortable in a new series with a new team. She didn‘t get to the west coast for more than two months, spending most of her time iRacing, which was good practice but far from the real thing.

“Spending time away from the team, that kind of hurt a lot,” she said. “And going back only having 30 minutes to an hour in practice… Doing that in my rookie year definitely hurt me a lot, especially since none of these track I‘d ever been to. So learning new tracks that quickly and trying to communicate with your crew chief and team, it‘s hard to get to know each other and get to know these cars when you don‘t have much practice time and you‘re trying to rush.

“That definitely hurt a lot, but I felt like me and the team really executed as well as we could with what we were given.”

It was a second trip to Las Vegas Motor Speedway where Trotter saw her luck turn. She first competed at Vegas in 2017 in a Legends car, so going back this year in ARCA made the track seem smaller and more manageable.

“In a legends car it felt like Daytona,” she said.

The first time racing at Vegas was a struggle, but fun nonetheless.

“I was like, ‘I really like this track in an ARCA car. Next time we come here we‘re definitely going to go win,‘” she said.

With other tracks canceling races, the ARCA Series returned to Vegas in late September. Trotter started the race ninth after struggling to find the right speed in practice.

She got together with her team and worked out the kinks, and in the end Trotter‘s predictions came true, scoring a victory over her BMR teammates.

“It‘s just special to me because I had my dad there with me and also my longtime crew chief that has crew chiefed me in super late models and late model stocks,” Trotter said. “He was there on the radio with me talking to me throughout the race, so it was really special to have both of them there because those are the two people who have helped me most with my career and I wouldn‘t be where I am today if it wasn‘t for those two.”

Even though Trotter raced across the country in new series with a new team, she learned how to deal with frustrations on and off the track.

“There was a lot of that this year with it being short practice and we‘re having to rush trying to get the car better. It‘s always going to get frustrating,” she said. “So that‘s one thing you have to look for. Once you‘re out on the track for a race everyone has what they have and you have to go out there and race with the best ability you can. I‘ve got to go out there with the best me I can give to the team and everybody there.

“That‘s my biggest thing, is even though you‘re frustrated and it‘s not going good, you‘ll have more bad days than good. You have to go out there with a clear mind and give yourself the best you.”

Trotter‘s family connection to the track was also solidified on September 17 when she won at Hickory, the place her dad raced when he first moved to North Carolina. Winning at Hickory gave her a chance to get to victory lane in front of family who has been there from the beginning.

It also helped her win at the track where it all started for her, and proved she‘s where she needs to be, but there is still work to be done.

“My dad told me, ‘If you want to make racing a career, I can get you to the front gates of Hickory Motor Speedway and you can race my old late model and we can race that once a month or so. That‘s all I can do for you, but if you want to go racing for your career you‘re going to have to work for the rest of it.”” she said.

“TRD has given me a really great opportunity every year, so I just have to keep performing my best and they keep having me on the team.”

Finishing 2020 with two wins boosted Trotter’s confidence as she continues to move through the second phase of her racing career.

While she can relish in the victories and accolades, this season was also a reminder of why she started racing in the first place.

“It makes you realize why you do it,” she said. “Because the feeling of winning is like no other feeling that I‘ve ever experienced. Just winning, the competition, the challenge of the racing, when you go out there you have to be the best you can and it all comes down to the talent, and also what you have in your car too. But once you put your mind to it, the challenges. That‘s what I love about it.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Peyton Sellers has made a habit of having his name near the top of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series standings the last decade.

Even though 2020 was a different year for Sellers and his late model team, the finish was much the same. The 2005 national champion finished second in the Division I national and took home a track championship.

The COVID-19 pandemic made the season difficult for Sellers from the start. A five-time track champion at South Boston Speedway, he was unable to race at his home after the Virginia track canceled the season.

Opting to travel and find a new home, Sellers won a track championship at Dominion Raceway in northern Virginia, completing every lap and never finishing below fourth. It was Sellers’s first time in his career racing for a championship at Dominion.

Sellers won 10 races and had 26 top-five finishes in 30 NASCAR starts, and was the 2020 Virginia champion.

“2020 has been kind of doom and gloom for a lot of people. I have a soft spot for any business that has been shut down due to COVID, but honestly our race team and our construction company both have been able to succeed and have a good year this year,” Sellers said. “Racing started off slow, we started off the year kind of loaded and ready to go out and try to win races at Myrtle Beach back in February. We went down there and had a pretty solid top 10 effort, and then we had to sit at home for two months due to COVID.

“All in all we had an excellent year considering all we‘ve been through.”

The added travel made finding and getting to races complicated at times. Sellers said there were several weekends they would race at either Dominion or Langley Speedway near Virginia Beach on Saturday, and then travel down to Southern National Motorsports Park in North Carolina on Sunday.

Good car counts everywhere they went helped with gaining more national points.

It was the work of the team, though, that helped Sellers push to the top of the pack.

“Just a lot of dedication from my guys that work on our cars,” Sellers said. “They put in a lot of hours this year. Obviously everybody was faced with a difficult situation this year and I had some loyal guys that stayed with me and they traveled with me on weekends to race.

“My brother, H.C., he‘s kind of the glue that holds it all together. He puts in a lot of man-hours and a lot of time every year preparing us fast cars. It feels nice to be able to be competitive every year and being able to run for national championships is all somebody can ask for at this level. We‘ve been able to do that now and we‘ve been in the top 10 for several years running.”

Sellers hopes he’s able to stay local for races next season, in part to help his local sponsors Clarence‘s Steakhouse and Danville Toyota. While he said it‘s hard to say if they‘ll go out and try to run for a national championship in 2021, his shop has three national titles in all — his, and one each by Matt Bowling and Philip Morris — so they know what it takes to make it happen if they decide to try again.

“As long as our sponsors and all the people that are helping us are willing to do that,” Sellers said.

“We‘ve been blessed. That‘s about the only thing you can say about it. We‘ve been fortunate and we‘ll look back at 2020 and see the bad and the good, but we had a lot of good and a lot to be thankful for.”

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Posted on by Staff Report

Ryan Millington came out of the gate swinging, winning six races and leading the national points when they were released for the first time in August.

Even though Millington and his late model team fell off a bit in the final couple of months, he still finished with the highest national points of his career, coming away third in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series standings.

“We, I‘d say, had the best first half of the season out of everybody,” Millington said. “We just didn‘t really have the manpower and equipment and everything to keep up with them boys. It was still a really good year. We worked hard and made a lot of progress all season long. I‘m just really thankful for the season we had this year.”

Ryan Millington

Millington also won his second track championship at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina. He finished the year with six wins and 20 top-five finishes in 26 starts.

Running for national points for the first time proved to be more stressful than Millington had anticipated. He got a new car for the final four races, which he said kind of threw his team “a little curveball”.

The pace of the season, knowing the team had to be at the top of their game every week, added pressure.

“You can‘t really sit here and think about it too much, you‘ve just go to the track every week and keep racing because it can change in an instant and it definitely did just that,” Millington said. “Points racing is an all year long thing. Just being able to put 14, 18, 20 races together, it‘s really tough. Being able to go out and do that all year long, it takes a lot. That is the stressful part, but you can‘t sit there and be comfortable with where you‘re running until really the points are done at the end of the year.”

Now that Millington has gotten the chance to run for a national championship, he‘s ready to fight again and try to do even better in 2021. He plans to travel around to rack up points at more tracks.

He‘s looking forward to going into next season with everything he and the team learned in 2020.

“I think we‘ll really be able to have an excellent year next year and better this year‘s result,” he said. “Try to be more prepared next year instead of deciding at the last minute to do it. Just having equipment ready is the big thing, so we‘re working hard on that, trying to put a new car together. Just have a better year next year than this year.

“The one thing about finishing third is you‘ve always got progress to get better. We‘ve been working hard the past month. We‘ve been at the track 10 or 15 times just trying to get better, find speed, and really improve on what we learned this year, and I think we‘ve made our stuff better so we‘re just going to keep working all offseason and hopefully chase a national championship next year.”

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Posted on by Staff Report

A year after winning a national championship, Jacob Goede went into 2020 racing for a repeat.

While early struggles held him back from a second title, Goede was still able to get into the top five, finishing fourth in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I standings.

The coronavirus pandemic forced Goede away from Elko Speedway, his home track in Minnesota, for the first few months of the season. Traveling several hours away to La Crosse Speedway in Wisconsin, Goede said he didn‘t run quite as well as he would have hoped to start the year.

“It threw us all for a little bit of a loop,” Goede said of trying to find tracks where he could race this season. “It was a different year, that‘s for sure.”

Once he got back to Elko in August, though, Goede bounced back, winning five races at the track on the way to a seventh straight track title.

In all, Goede had eight wins and 24 top-5 finishes in 32 starts this season between Elko, Lacrosse, and Madison International Speedway in Wisconsin.

“Honestly the season could have went better overall. We missed out on some wins and just didn‘t have the car quite good enough,” Goede said.

“Overall it was a good year…can‘t complain too much, but I always know there is room for improvement.”

Trying to repeat 2019‘s success proved to Goede just how special that season was.

“2019 was super special. I didn‘t ever think it would really be possible to do, so doing that, that was a really amazing year,” he said. “So then trying to repeat it was like, well how do we even top that? We came close, so overall it was good but at the same time I wanted more. Yea, a top five is good, but we want to be in the top three. If we‘re going to work that hard you want to try to make it pay off. We worked hard and did everything we could, but sometimes things just don‘t work out.

We missed it a little bit, we weren‘t quite as good as we needed to be all the time and that‘s what it takes. The guys are good and they racked up an amazing season, so it‘s hard to compete with that. You‘ve got to be on your game and we just missed it a little bit.”

Even though Goede didn‘t finish in the top 3 in the nation like he hoped, he did keep an important streak alive. He won a seventh straight Minnesota NASCAR title.

Adding an eighth title to that streak is at the top of Goede‘s list in 2021.

“It could end at any given time, but we‘re going to enjoy the streak while we can,” he said. “But at the same time I don‘t want to be done yet. I don‘t want the streak to be done quite yet. I would like to get to 10 and then maybe call it quits or something… We‘re going to keep working hard to see if we can make it.”

Goede thanked his sponsors and help for their support this season: Suburban GM Parts and Chevrolet Performance, TJ Exteriors, The Car Lot of New Prague, Getz Trucking, Northern Racing Products, Murgic Racing Engines, HEI Collision, Lefthander Chassis, and Baby Gowdy.

Other than going for a state title, Goede isn‘t sure of his own plans for next season. He does, however, know the plans for the rest of his family. His 8-year-old daughter is wanting to get on the track herself, and he plans to help her in her first season racing quarter midgets.

“That‘ll kind of cut into my racing a little bit, and I‘m okay with that,” he said. “I‘m excited. Probably almost more excited than she is.”

Even though he‘ll be helping his daughter on Sundays, expect to see Goede at his home track of Elko Speedway on Saturdays. He has some streaks to protect.

When it comes to racing for another high finish in the national points, though, he‘ll never say never.

“We get enough races at Elko. If I have a really good season there‘s no reason we can‘t compete for a top-3 in the country again just running closer to home,” he said. “We‘ll see how it plays out, and honestly once it gets down to that August time frame or late July and things are looking good maybe we‘ll try to hit a few more, but we‘ll kind of take it one step at a time.”

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