Moffitt wins Round of 8 opener at Kansas, locks into Championship 4

Posted on October 17, 2020October 17, 2020 by Holly Cain

After four runner-up finishes on the season, former NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Series champion Brett Moffitt earned his first victory of 2020 in the Clean Harbors 200 at Kansas Speedway Saturday evening. And while that first win came 20 races into the season, it was particularly impactful — officially landing Moffitt in the Championship 4 that will compete for the series title Nov. 6 in Phoenix.

Moffitt, 28, held off his GMS Racing Chevrolet teammate Sheldon Creed by a mere .111-seconds for the overtime victory. The race went into extra laps just after Moffitt took the lead from another teammate and fellow playoff driver Zane Smith on Lap 132 of the scheduled 134-lap race.

The two made contact while racing side-by-side and Smith spun out, recovering to finish 11th with seven laps of overtime.

RELATED: Race results | Updated standings

“It’s pretty incredible, such a way to turn the season around for our 23 team,” said Moffitt, who raced in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kansas following his victory. “It’s been a long time since I got in Victory Lane in Iowa, pretty incredible there on the backstretch.

“Thanks to everyone at GMS and the Gallagher family. I’ve got to apologize to the 21 (Smith) there for trying to block him. But we were racing hard for a championship spot and that’s what you got to do.

“A bad block by me, it’s my fault … we’re racing for everything right now, I apologize to Zane.”

Austin Hill rallied from a mid-race setback to finish third, followed by Grant Enfinger and Chandler Smith. Rookie Christian Eckes, Timothy Peters, reigning series champion Matt Crafton, rookie Derek Kraus and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top 10.

Hailee Deegan finished 16th — the best-ever showing for a female driver in her Truck Series debut.

“Oh man, I think my goal was just to finish the race,” a smiling Deegan said. “It’s crazy compared to ARCA racing how intense this racing is, how competitive it is. You’re trying to block one guy while pass another and next thing you know, you’ve got two guys blowing by you if you don’t make a successful pass. It’s a lot tougher racing, but I think we definitely had a successful day.”

Creed, who led a race-best 61 laps, won both stages, increasing his series-best mark to nine stage wins on the season.

With the victory, Moffitt, the 2018 Gander Trucks champion, earns his shot at a second title in the Phoenix season finale. Creed’s runner-up effort gave him the points lead by seven points over the regular-season champion Hill. Smith’s impressive recovery from the late-race spin kept him ranked fourth with a seven-point edge over Enfinger. Crafton is ranked sixth, followed by Ben Rhodes and Tyler Ankrum, who both had troubles on Saturday.

The four drivers who will race for a championship include any playoff driver who wins one of these three final round races — as Moffitt did. At least one position will go to the driver with the highest points tally after that Oct. 30 race at Martinsville.

Deegan’s history-making finishing was only part of a huge career day for the 19-year old Californian.

Shortly before the green flag, Ford Motor Company announced Deegan will drive in the series in 2021 competing for Rookie of the Year honors driving the No. 17 Ford for the DGR-Crosley Racing team. Deegan competed in the ARCA Menards Series full time this season, with a sixth-place finish at the Kansas Speedway season finale on Friday. She was the series’ Rookie of the Year, finishing third place in the standings with a best showing of runner-up twice.

The Gander Trucks’ next race, the SpeedyCash.com 400, is Sunday at noon ET at Texas Motor Speedway (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NOTE: Inspection in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoor Truck Series garage is complete, with the No. 17 truck (Deegan) having one lug nut not safe and secure and no other issues.

Posted on October 17, 2020October 17, 2020 by Staff Report

Ford Performance announced Saturday that Hailie Deegan will move full time to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2021, teaming with DGR-Crosley Racing for a Sunoco Rookie of the Year campaign.

Deegan, 19, just completed her first full season of ARCA Menards Series competition for DGR-Crosley. She also made her truck debut in Saturday’s Clean Harbors 200 (4 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Kansas Speedway, driving the No. 17 Ford for DGR-Crosley co-owners David Gilliland and Bo LeMastus.

RELATED: Hailie Deegan driver stats

“I am excited for this next step in my career with Ford Performance,” Deegan said. “I have raced trucks in the off-road world but to now have the opportunity to race trucks next season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is a dream come true. I have some great partners already behind me for next season. We have a few primaries still available and I hope that we can fill these up in the coming weeks. I can’t wait for Daytona 2021 to get here.”

After beginning her NASCAR career with Toyota Racing, Deegan was signed to Ford’s driver development program last December. She had scored three wins in the ARCA Menards Series West the last two seasons before moving to the main ARCA tour this year.

Ford officials indicated the automaker had “a broad scope of racing activities planned” for Deegan before the COVID-19 outbreak scattered the racing schedule for multiple series. Even with a somewhat curtailed schedule, Mark Rushbrook — the global director for Ford Performance Motorsports — expressed he was pleased with her growth as a driver.

“We are very happy with Hailie’s progress as demonstrated in her first year as a part of our Ford Performance driver development program,” Rushbrook said. “Continuing with the consistency from DGR-Crosley, Hailie is ready to make the step to the NASCAR Truck Series, providing some intense competition and great racing.”

Deegan placed sixth in Friday’s season finale for the ARCA Menards Series, capping her third-place finish in the 2020 standings. She had four top-five finishes and 17 top 10s in 20 starts this season with a best result of second place on two occasions — once in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway and earlier this month on the dirt at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

Posted on October 17, 2020 by Chase Wilhelm

After Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, NASCAR Cup Series Playoff driver Alex Bowman said people slept on him advancing deep into the postseason.

Well, now he’s in the Round of 8, so the joke’s on them.

Bowman heads into Sunday’s third-round-kickoff race, the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM), seventh in the points standings, 18 points behind Championship 4 cutline driver and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.

There’s only one way not to worry about that points deficit — win. The No. 88 driver says the team is capable of doing that right off the bat.

“We’ve been a little off with our mile-and-a-half program compared to how we started the year, but we’re kind of getting back that direction,” Bowman told NASCAR.com. “I’m excited to see how the car is at the start of the race, and I think we could be really good. Kansas is probably my favorite place we go to, just with all the lane options. When that place is cool and has a lot of grip, it’s a lot of fun to race. I think we can have a really solid weekend and hopefully contend for the win.”

Bowman started off the season with solid speed, winning at Auto Club Speedway to make the playoffs, but the summer stretch was rough. Nearing the playoffs, he rebounded. Since scoring a fifth-place finish in August at Dover International Speedway, Bowman has only two finishes outside the top 10.

“We got headed in the right direction at the right time, which was a big positive for us,” Bowman said. “I think we can continue that through the rest of the playoffs.”

An eighth-place finish in July at Kansas bodes well for Bowman’s chances to find the front on Sunday. He also scored a runner-up result in the spring race there last year.

Mathematically speaking, Bowman isn’t in a must-win situation out of the gate, but the task will be tall to make it into the Championship 4 without visiting Victory Lane.

“It’s going to be really hard to point our way into the (Championship) 4,” Bowman said. “But, if we can win, it’d be pretty cool to go race for a championship. I don’t think we have to, but I mean we need three really, really well-executed races with lots of stage points and top fives minimum in all three of them to make the (Championship) 4. That’s really the box we put ourselves in with the lack of playoff points. Just need to go be as perfect as we can be.”

While both Kansas and next Sunday’s stop at Texas Motor Speedway offer opportunities for victory, it’s the Round of 8 cutoff race at Martinsville Speedway that has Bowman on his toes, admitting it’s probably his weakest track on the circuit.

Bowman earned a sixth-place result in the first stop at the Virginia short track this year.

RELATED: Complete Round of 8 preview

“We’ve made gains on our short-track program,” Bowman said. “I feel like we still have a little bit to go, but we’re definitely gaining on it.”

Working with his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, in particular the No. 9 team of Elliott, has led to an uptick in his short-track performance. While Elliott is one of Bowman’s direct playoff competitors, teamwork still makes the dream work.

“We have a good relationship, good relationship with (crew chief) Alan (Gustafson), as well,” Bowman said. “We lean on that team a lot. That team has been the best performing team at HMS the past couple years. They’re definitely doing a really good job. Chase does a really good job. We lean on them a lot, especially for places like Martinsville where they’re really good, or the road courses where they’re really good.

“On the race track, we race each other really well and clean, but hard as well. Away from the track, we’re sharing information as much as we can.”

Posted on October 16, 2020October 19, 2020 by Zack Albert

NASCAR officials indicated Friday that Kyle Larson applied for reinstatement earlier this week.

Larson’s NASCAR membership was suspended April 13, one day after his use of a racial slur during an iRacing event. Chip Ganassi Racing fired the 28-year-old driver on April 14, later tapping Matt Kenseth to replace him in the No. 42 Chevrolet.

RELATED: Larson pens personal essay

Larson is required to complete sensitivity training at NASCAR’s direction as a condition for his reinstatement.

Larson has made few public statements about the matter since his suspension, but has recently spoken out about the measures he has taken to educate himself about civil-rights issues, first in an interview with the Associated Press on Aug. 19, then in a personal essay published on his website Oct. 4. His first televised interview on the subject came earlier Friday with reporter James Brown on CBS This Morning.

Larson is a six-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series. During his suspension from NASCAR, he has spent time in sprint-car competition and has been a regular winner in dirt-track events.

Posted on October 16, 2020October 16, 2020 by Zack Albert

Denny Hamlin sits in prime position to navigate to the championship round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, his seven wins helping him pad a comfortable margin in the postseason standings. It wasn’t that long ago — 2018, exactly — Hamlin was in the same spot as his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch: frustratingly winless after an early exit from the playoff picture.

A new crew chief (Chris Gabehart) assisted with Hamlin’s rebound into title contention the next year, but it also took some soul-searching and a deep-dive analysis of all parts of his team to regain his winning groove. While there aren’t direct apples-to-apples comparisons between Hamlin ’18 and Busch ’20, Hamlin said he still holds a strong belief in Busch’s abilities, no matter the current win-column goose egg.

“I think it kind of depends on chemistry and things like that but I think certainly at any moment – there’s not one driver out there that doesn’t think that Kyle can win any given week, no matter what the circumstances or what’s going on,” Hamlin said, noting his winless season didn’t come on the heels of a series title the year before. “There’s probably not one driver that doesn’t think that the driver/crew chief combination isn’t good. I think that sometimes you just have off years. That’s just part of major sports. You have off years, and it happens. It’s just one of those years that they got a lot of bad breaks within the 18 team.”

Hamlin will aim to keep his 2020 vibes rolling this weekend for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the opening race in the postseason’s Round of 8. With three races left to set the Championship 4 field, Hamlin carries a 32-point cushion over the playoff cutline. Only nine-time winner Kevin Harvick — plus-45 — has more of a cushion entering the semifinal round.

Hamlin’s fruitless campaign not that long ago ended a 12-year run of at least one victory each season. Busch has four races left to avoid snapping his streak at 15 seasons. In 2018, Hamlin limped out of the postseason in the opening Round of 16; this year, Busch’s repeat title hopes ended in the Round of 12.

Though Hamlin admitted success is sometimes fleeting and often comes and goes in waves, he added that those cyclical downturns aren’t something to merely shrug off. At the suggestion that “racing luck” is a sole factor, Hamlin bristled, saying some level of introspection is a necessary step.

“No, it’s not acceptable. I don’t want to make it sound like it’s just, hey, we’ll chalk it up because everyone has these,” Hamlin said. “No, you have to look at yourself and every person on the team. You have to find all your faults. You have to figure out where you can be better as a driver, where can you be better as a leader, where you can be better as a team. So, no. It’s not that it’s just part of it. There’s no doubt that there’s a lot of work going on and a lot of analyzing going on figuring out why the results have been what they have been.

“It’s not all just luck. Luck is just a stupid word in racing. You’ve got to analyze and figure out where your deficits are and go to work on them, and then sometimes, it’s how you respond that makes you a great leader or not. It’s how do you respond to it when you do have a tough year or a tough week or a tough race. The response is the most important part, not necessarily the immediate result.”

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Holly Cain

The penultimate round of the 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Playoffs begins Saturday afternoon at Kansas Speedway with the Clean Harbors 200 (4 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and a tightly-ranked field of championship-eligible drivers ready to earn an automatic ticket into the Championship 4 round to determine who hoists that season trophy.

Gander Truck Series regular-season champion Austin Hill and three-race winner Sheldon Creed are tied in the points standings heading into this weekend’s race at the 1.5-mile Kansas track. Two-race winner, rookie Zane Smith and three-race winner, veteran Grant Enfinger are six and nine points behind the leading pair, respectively.

Brett Moffitt, the 2018 series champion, is ranked fifth and only 12 points back from the series lead, followed by Ben Rhodes (-14 points), reigning series champ Matt Crafton (-19) and rookie Tyler Ankrum (-25 points). Moffitt and Ankrum are the only two drivers among the eight who have not won a race in 2020.

Of the playoff drivers, Crafton has multiple wins at all three tracks in this playoff round (Kansas, Texas Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway). He is the only driver among those eight championship eligible competitors with victories at all three stops.

Crafton has an all-time series best mark of three victories at Kansas – the last coming in July. Hill won the opening half of the July doubleheader weekend and is the only other racer among the playoff eight who has a previous win at one of the upcoming tracks in this round.

Both Hill, driver of the No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota, and Creed, driver of the No. 2 GMS Racing Chevrolet, would like to raise their playoff game. Hill – who leads the series in top 10s (15) and top fives (nine) – won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to guarantee his spot in this round. But it was the only top-10 finish he earned in the three races. He crashed out of the last playoff race – at Talladega Superspeedway two weeks ago – and finished 19th. Kansas has been good to him, however. He is the most recent winner and has accumulated three top-10 finishes at in four starts there, leading 85 laps.

Creed, who boasts the most stage wins (seven) in the series this season, has struggled in the last month with only a single top 10 in the last five races (runner-up to Hill at Las Vegas). His best finish in three previous Kansas starts was eighth-place in the race Hill won this summer.

If Crafton is looking to make a bold statement in his quest to tie NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr. as the series’ only four-time champions, this may well be the round of playoffs he does that. Not only does the driver of the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford easily boast the best track record among the playoff drivers for these upcoming three tracks, he shows up in Kansas this weekend riding a four-race streak of top-10 finishes, including a runner-up at Richmond Raceway. He has finished top 10 at Kansas in eight of the last nine races there, posting three victories and another two runner-up finishes in that span.

Among the eight with a championship on the line, Enfinger is enjoying a stellar season – three wins in 2020, a career high. He has earned top-10 finishes in six of the last eight races in the No. 98 ThorSport Ford and has four top-10 finishes in five Kansas races. His best work – third place – came at both races this July.

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Holly Cain

After a winless opening round of the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, regular-season champion Austin Cindric is eager for the three race venues that comprise this all-important semifinal countdown portion of the playoff schedule.

Cindric ties Ross Chastain with nine top-10 finishes in 10 races this season on 1.5-mile tracks such as Kansas Speedway, where the series resumes postseason competition Saturday night in the Kansas Lottery 300 (7 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In fact, eight of Cindric’s nine top-10 efforts were top-five finishes — three of them wins (twice at Kentucky and once at Texas). The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford is putting up an impressive average finish of 4.35 on these 1.5-mile tracks, and he’ll need every bit of that confidence this week as enters this playoffs round second in the standings, 10 points behind the season’s eight-race winner Chase Briscoe.

Among the eight drivers who have advanced this far — Briscoe, Cindric, Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Justin Haley, Chastain and Ryan Sieg — the 1.5-mile tracks have predominantly been the highlights of their season work. Seven of those drivers have earned top-10 finishes in at least six of the 10 races at 1.5-milers. In addition to Cindric and Chastain, who have nine top 10s, Briscoe has eight and Allgaier and Haley have seven each.

Brandon Jones, who has won the last two races at Kansas Speedway, including a dramatic final-lap pass for the win in July, is the only driver in the playoff standings with a previous trip to Kansas’ Victory Lane. His win this summer was a nail-biting .405-second better than Cindric, who had led a dominating 131 of the 175 laps – the most laps led at Kansas since Erik Jones paced the field for 186 laps in 2017 and finished 15th.

Brandon Jones has finished 11th or better in four of his last five Kansas starts and has been solid in the early playoff run with three finishes of 11th or better.

With back-to-back 1.5-mile playoff venues – Kansas and then Texas Motor Speedway next week – this is the bread-and-butter of these drivers’ championship hopes. And the statistics indicate there should be some tightly-contested races — in particular at these venues — to decide which four drivers will ultimately advance to earn a shot at the Championship 4 in the Nov. 7 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

With their work on the 1.5-mile tracks, Briscoe and Cindric have to be considered the heavy favorites coming into the weekend. Briscoe has already collected a playoff win (at the Las Vegas playoff opener) but didn’t score a top 10 in the two races afterward at Talladega, Ala., and the Charlotte Roval. His best finish in three Kansas starts is third in last year’s playoff race.

“Our first trip there [to Kansas] was one of the worst races of the year,” Briscoe said of his 14th-place finish in the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford at Kansas this summer. “We just missed the balance, but we’ve run well there in the past and we’ve come so far since then.

“I’m confident we we’ll be good this time going back. We know we need to win early in this round and lock ourselves into Phoenix, but we can’t make any huge mistakes to give away our points lead, so we went back and found some things to work on for this race. We’re taking the car we won with at Vegas, so I feel really good about our chances of taking our Ford Performance Racing School Mustang to Victory Lane again.”

Cindric finished sixth at both Las Vegas and on the Roval road course, but 34th at Talladega. His last wins were back-to-back in August at the Daytona Road Course and Road America. His best showing in three Kansas starts was that runner-up effort in July.

Although Briscoe’s win at Las Vegas and Haley’s win at Talladega earned them automatic berths to this part of the playoff schedule, JR Motorsports driver Noah Gragson has actually put together the best three-race run among the championship contenders. Gragson shows up in Kansas ranked fourth, 35 points behind Briscoe, but he scored top-five finishes at every race in the opening round of Playoff competition.

The 22-year-old driver was runner-up to AJ Allmendinger at the Roval last week and also second to Briscoe at Las Vegas. He finished third in the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet at Talladega. He has finishes of 13th and 15th in two previous Xfinity Series starts at Kansas and is still looking for his first career top 10 at Texas.

Gragson’s veteran JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier — who sits third in the championship, 27 points behind Briscoe — boasts seven top-10 finishes in 10 Kansas starts, including three career-best fifth-place finishes at the track. He has 10 top-10 finishes in 20 Texas starts with a career-best of third there in July.

Posted on October 15, 2020October 15, 2020 by Staff Report

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his wife, Amy, welcomed their second daughter into the world on Monday.

Earnhardt revealed the news during the latest edition of the Dale Jr. Download, which was dropped on Thursday.

The couple’s older daughter, Isla Rose, is 2 years old. She’s now a big sister after the birth of Nicole Lorraine Earnhardt. Earnhardt Jr. said the couple decided on this name because Nicole is Amy’s middle name, and Lorraine is the middle name of Earnhardt Jr.’s mother, Brenda.

Listen to the podcast to hear Earnhardt discuss other details below.

Many people are wondering why this episode of the Download is late this week. Well, there’s a good reason.

Listen to the DJD:
Web: https://t.co/SU9mQx8rzn
Apple: https://t.co/YVcnYzxg4U
Google: https://t.co/l6vmiOKAWr pic.twitter.com/iGfKCVDwbo

— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) October 15, 2020

Posted on October 15, 2020October 21, 2020 by Staff Report

The NASCAR Foundation’s Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award recognizes NASCAR fans who volunteer for children’s causes in their racing communities.

There is a two-part nomination process for those eligible. According to The NASCAR Foundation, each applicant must demonstrate that he/she has made a significant impact on the lives of children through volunteerism or charitable work during the last five years and is an avid NASCAR fan. Four finalists have been chosen for the 2020 award, each profiled below.

A winner is ultimately determined by a fan vote, which launched Sunday during FOX Sports’ “Race Hub” and will run through Nov. 4. Results will then be announced during a livestream event Nov. 5 on NASCAR.com.

The NASCAR Foundation will donate $100,000 to the charity represented by the award winner and $25,000 to each of the other three finalists’ charities.

Last year, Joe Vaughn received the ninth annual Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award during the NASCAR Cup Series Awards at Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Vaughn is a longtime volunteer and leader with the South Carolina-based Project HOPE Foundation that serves the autism community. Read more about Vaughn’s award-winning night here.

Here are links to bios on each 2020 finalist:

Larry Jordan | Dacula, Georgia | Angel Flight Soars, Inc.

Learn more about Jordan: Video | Feature

Charlene Greer | Ormond Beach, Florida | Boys and Girls Clubs of Volusia/Flagler

Learn more about Greer: Video | Feature

Daryl Farler | Franklin, Tennessee | Amputee Blade Runners

Learn more about Farler: Video | Feature

Rich Langley | Virginia Beach, Virginia | Roc Solid Foundation of North Carolina

Learn more about Langley: Video | Feature

For more information on the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award, visit The NASCAR Foundation’s website.

Posted on October 15, 2020October 15, 2020 by Staff Report

Editor’s note: This is the fourth installment of a four-part series on the four finalists for The NASCAR Foundation’s 10th annual Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award.

Rich Langley’s son and a school project led him to volunteer with the Roc Solid Foundation, an organization based in Virginia dedicated to building hope for kids battling cancer by giving them an opportunity to play. Langley built his first playset for a friend’s son who lost his battle. Nine years and 160 playsets later, Langley is a devoted leader among the Roc Solid volunteer network guiding a 30-person build team and earning the title “Navy Seal.” He builds hope for children in the toughest fight of their lives.

Roc Solid’s humble beginnings stem from a pediatric cancer patient beating the odds. The Foundation’s mission is to reintroduce “play” for childhood cancer patients. When first diagnosed, play time is something almost certainly stripped from a young child’s life.

“That moment when the child sees their playset for the very first time never fails to put my life in perspective,” Langley said.

Over the years, he has learned the organization builds hope no matter what, no matter where.

While Langley is employed full time, he has taken countless days away from his job to participate in 25 travel build projects that took him across the U.S. An avid cyclist, he has also raised $7,000 for the organization by completing two 300-mile bike rides for the “Roc the Ride” fundraiser.

Langley’s caring personality and incredible work ethic have touched hundreds of families. One of his favorite memories is building a playset for Gracie, a four-year-old suffering from neurofibromatosis. Gracie’s parents adopted her knowing her condition, and Langley has remained in touch with them after the Roc Solid experience. Gracie even came to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2019 to cheer on Langley as he went “Over the Edge” to raise funds for The NASCAR Foundation.

Langley, from Virginia Beach, Virginia, is one of four finalists for The NASCAR Foundation’s 10th annual Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award. The award, named in honor of the foundation’s late founder and chairwoman, honors NASCAR fans who are accomplished volunteers working for children’s causes in their communities throughout the United States.

A NASCAR fan for 45 years, Langley favors “The Intimidator.” He enjoyed watching the 2020 Daytona 500 at the “World Center of Racing” just before the start of the pandemic. His love of NASCAR has only grown through his opportunity to work with the Roc Solid Foundation and Richard Childress Racing.

The winner of the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award will be determined via an online fan vote that is ongoing through Nov. 4 at 12 p.m. ET at NASCARfoundation.org/Award. The winner will be announced virtually Nov. 5. Each of the finalists is guaranteed a minimum donation of $25,000 from The NASCAR Foundation, with the overall winner receiving a $100,000 donation from The NASCAR Foundation.

If Langley wins, some of the nearly 16,000 children diagnosed every year with pediatric cancer will have the opportunity to play again. Specifically, Roc Solid Foundation would be able to build 20 playsets for deserving children and their families and also provide 100 Ready Bags for families including whatever they might need for an unexpected hospital stay.

While Roc Solid isn’t curing cancer, it is changing the way a child and a family fight the disease from the very beginning of their journey.

“I would do anything,” Langley said, “to give hope to these families.”