Posted on September 6, 2020January 21, 2022 by Press Release

DARLINGTON, S.C. (Sept. 6, 2020) – Voting for the 2020 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Most Popular Driver Award presented by Hooters officially opens today, Sept. 6, at 12 noon ET.

Fans can cast a vote for a single driver once daily at www.nascar.com/mostpopulardriver or on the NASCAR Mobile app. Votes shared by fans on Facebook and/or Twitter count double.

To be eligible, drivers must have declared for NASCAR Cup Series points and must have attempted to start all Championship Events of the current season unless otherwise authorized by NASCAR to be eligible.

VOTE: Cup Series

Voting closes for the NMPA Most Popular Driver at 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9, the day after the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway, with the announcement of the winner to be announced in the weeks following the vote closure.

The award was first presented to Curtis Turner in 1949 at the completion of the inaugural season in what is now the NASCAR Cup Series. It has been administered by the NMPA and presented annually by the organization since 1983 and remains the only major NASCAR award determined solely by fan vote.

VOTE: Xfinity Series

All told, 20 different drivers have received the award since the program’s inception. NMPA Hall of Fame and NASCAR Hall of Fame member Bill Elliott won the award a record 16 times (1984-1988, 1991-2000 and 2002). Dale Earnhardt Jr., elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame this year as part of the Class of 2021, was named NMPA Most Popular 15 times from 2003 through 2017.

Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports, Bill Elliott’s son, has continued the family tradition, winning the Award in 2018 and 2019.

VOTE: Gander Truck Series

“Just an honor, really, and just a big thank you to everybody who voted,” Elliott said after accepting the honor at last December’s NASCAR Cup Series Awards in Nashville. “Obviously, it took a lot of votes to make it happen and everybody that took time to do that, I do really appreciate it.

“It’s more than a trophy or a sticker or an award, really and truly. So I just really enjoyed this past season and just seeing all the people that were at the race track that wanted to see us do good. And you can genuinely feel that, and that goes a long way. So I appreciate it, and hopefully try to make everybody proud next year, too.”

Posted on September 6, 2020 by Staff Report

The Southern 500. The NASCAR Playoffs.

Two pillars of the NASCAR schedule, coming together for the first time to kick off a 10-race stretch destined for drama, intensity and, eventually, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

NASCAR.com has you covered for this premier event from every conceivable angle. Read our full coverage below to get ready for Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR) and stay tuned to this page throughout the playoffs to catch up and see what’s to come.

Southern 500 Outlook, Race Analysis

And starting up front…: Chase Elliott nabs Busch Pole Award for Darlington | 📖: Read more

Best or worst: Darlington preview: Who has the best or worst outlook? | 📊: See the ranks

Time machine: Darlington Throwback: See NASCAR drivers (and more) as kids | 👶 : See the photos

Old schemes, new goals: Preview Show: Old-school schemes meet new goals at Darlington | 🎥: Watch the video

Crown-jewel kings: Active drivers with crown-jewel victories | 💎: See the list

Backseat Drivers: Jimmie Johnson misses the playoffs and Darlington looms | 🗣: What they’re saying

Denny Yarborough?: @nascarcasm: Darlington throwback driver mash-ups | ❌: See the monstrosities

Race-Week Staples

Paint Scheme Preview: See the throwback looks for this weekend’s races | 🎨: See the schemes

Power Rankings: Does Chase Elliott line up as a Championship 4 favorite? | 📈: See the ranks

Fantasy Fastlane: Breaking down the plays to make in Fantasy Live for Sunday | 📖: Read more

Well that’s odd: NASCAR betting: Odds, lines for Darlington Southern 500 | 💰: See the list

Get caught up: Darlington TV times, key statistics, revised procedures and more | 🔢: Get the 101

Just the pits: Darlington NASCAR Cup Series pit-stall assignments for Sunday’s race | 🚗: See pit road

Finish Line: Move Clint Bowyer to a favorite? | 🤔: Hear from the experts

Playoff Picture

Get your team ready: How the 2020 Fantasy Live game works for the playoffs | ⭐️: Fantasy info

Who said what now?: What drivers are saying about the playoffs | 📖 : Read more

Respect over rivalry: Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick aim to carry heavyweight bout into playoffs | 🤝: Read more

Strengths and weaknesses: Meet the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs field | 🏃‍♂️: Get the rundown

Who’s in, who’s out: 2020 NASCAR Playoffs field set | ✂️: See who made the cut

Track-by-track: 2020 NASCAR Playoffs track-by-track breakdown | 📝: See the list

Finding Smoke’s fire?: Kyle Busch primed for a Tony Stewart-style resurgence in 2020 playoffs | 🔥: Read more

Who’s going to win it all?: 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship odds | 📝: See the list

Turn up the heat: NASCAR Cup Series drivers who turned it up in the playoffs | 🧯: See the list

The champ is here: Kevin Harvick presented Regular Season Championship trophy at Daytona | 📖: Read more

Picking the winners: Predicting every 2020 NASCAR Cup Series playoff race winner | 🏁: See our picks

Catch ’em napping?: Aric Almirola OK with sleeper label, aims to maximize playoff potential | 💤: Read more

Been here before: NASCAR Cup Series drivers with playoff appearances in elimination era | 😒: See the list

Classic Kes: Brad Keselowski on playoff motivation: ‘I don’t like to suck’ | 🤬: Watch the video

Remember when: Most memorable NASCAR Playoffs moments | 🏆: See the moments

Let the dogs out?: Cole Custer, Austin Dillon ready to keep playoffs interesting as underdogs | 🐶: Read more

Posted on September 6, 2020September 7, 2020 by PJ Walsh

The Action Network specializes in providing sports betting insights/analytics and is a content partner with NASCAR. Check out more NASCAR betting analysis here.

With the 16-driver field officially set, the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs get underway in Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App) at Darlington Raceway.

The Southern 500 is typically the only Cup Series visit to this historic track during a traditional season schedule; however, 2020 has been anything but traditional.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NASCAR postponed its season earlier in the spring and restarted in May with back-to-back races at Darlington.

As a result, we’re in a unique position with data from two races to help pinpoint which drivers should perform well Sunday night.

With this in mind, here is one driver I’m targeting for a top-10 finish in the Southern 500.

NASCAR Southern 500 at Darlington Odds, Picks

Clint Bowyer (+175) for a Top-10 finish

Bowyer was plenty fast throughout both Darlington races in May, evidenced by his fourth-best driver rating. However, it’s his blazing speed in the second event, the Toyota 500, which really caught my eye.

While both Darlington races are important, I’m especially interested in the Toyota 500 as that was run at night, just like Sunday’s Southern 500, which will finish under the lights.

His 22nd-place finish in that race is deceiving, as an ill-timed caution, contact with the wall and a cut tire all contributed to that misleading result.

Despite finishing outside of the top 20, Bowyer arguably had the fastest car, which included the best driver rating, the most fast laps and the most laps led in that event.

The No. 14 Stewart-Haas Ford will start ninth on the grid as well, which only helps Bowyer’s cause for a top-10 finish.

[Bet now at BetMGM and get an INSTANT $500 deposit match.]

Posted on September 5, 2020 by Zack Albert

Ross Chastain has finished runner-up four times this season, including twice in the last three NASCAR Xfinity Series races — all without a win. Saturday’s latest result at rugged Darlington Raceway added to that total with a dramatic twist.

The Kaulig Racing driver went toe-to-toe with Cup Series visitor Denny Hamlin in a late-race slugfest for the victory, but he couldn’t avoid Hamlin’s car in a contest of crossover moves on the next-to-last lap. Brandon Jones was the beneficiary, slipping by both contenders at the end of Saturday’s Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 for his third win of the season.

Chastain had reason to feel either justified anger or a resigned exasperation post-race as his winless streak inched deeper into the regular season, on the heels of a disheartening race the previous week at Daytona. Instead, he left with optimism after pressing a Cup Series title contender to the limit and sealing a playoff spot by virtue of his third-place rank in the points standings.

“It’s great. I got out of the car smiling,” said Chastain, who led 43 of the 147 laps. “I really am proud of the effort of the increase in speed of the car, and (spotter) Tyler Green is feeding me the right information of where Denny was, and then just driving the car, I probably hit the wall 20 times in that last run and never compromised leading.”

Chastain and Hamlin separated themselves from the pack in the final green-flag run to the checkered flag. Chastain acknowledged that Hamlin had the faster car down the stretch, and he held off his advances by occupying Hamlin’s groove of choice.

The strategy worked until the next-to-last lap, when Hamlin made his boldest try to take command. Chastain was unable to cross up his rival through Turns 3 and 4 and the two collided as they impacted the outside wall, allowing Jones to scoot by. “I should’ve gotten that crossover … I don’t know, a couple of car-lengths sooner, and I didn’t,” Chastain said. “That’s the biggest thing I’ll take away.”

Saturday’s race still qualified as a rebound for Chastain, especially after a tension-fraught final lap last weekend at Daytona International Speedway where Chastain and teammate AJ Allmendinger crashed while vying for the lead. Justin Haley, another Kaulig teammate, skated past them to win, but the outcome posed a potential threat to the upstart organization’s team harmony.

Instead, Chastain said a team “fellowship” with owner Matt Kaulig, team president Chris Rice and the three drivers this week helped to soothe any internal fractions.

“We just didn’t want to let it get worse and mess up what we have on superspeedways, but just as people and as friends,” Chastain said. “We spent a little time together and had a good time, and so it was tough, though, because I was the one that made the mistake.”

For that part of the team-chemistry dynamic, enter Rice, who has helped to buoy Chastain’s spirits throughout.

“He was just pumped,” Chastain said of the Kaulig exec’s post-race reaction Saturday. “He was with me a lot this week and he kept telling me, ‘I’m not gonna let you get down, I’m not gonna let you get down,’ but I was down. I mean, I messed up last week — bad. Really bad. He was just there to hand me a room-temperature bottle of water and tell me it was cold and tell me it was going to be alright. Just like the bottle of water wasn’t cold, I know all’s not going to be alright.

“We want to win, but he was just there to keep picking me up. He did a really good job this week, because if I’d have handled it the way I would’ve, I’d have went and hid somewhere until I had to come here and not talked to anybody, and that’s not the way to handle it.”

Posted on September 5, 2020September 5, 2020 by Holly Cain

It was a fitting race finish for a track known as being “Too Tough To Tame.” The two front-running cars tangled with two laps remaining and Brandon Jones dove low to take the lead and the victory in Saturday’s Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway.

An intense, exciting and suspenseful battle for the lead in the final 10 laps between Xfinity Series regular Ross Chastain and this year’s Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin gave NASCAR fans all they could ask for, but ultimately, contact between the two in Turn 3 with two laps remaining allowed then-third place Jones, 23, of Atlanta, to get around the pair and capture his third checkered flag of the season.

Chastain recovered from the contact with Hamlin to earn his fourth runner-up finish of the season — crossing the line 3.363-seconds behind Jones. Ryan Sieg, rookie Riley Herbst and Hamlin rounded out the top five. Rookie Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson, Michael Annett, Austin Hill and rookie Myatt Snider completed the top 10.

“This is a tough place to get around and man, just smart in the head I think today, I think that’s what got ’em,” said Jones, driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “I saw they were really racing hard and I knew I was catching them and we knew he (Hamlin) was gonna pull that big slider.

“That’s what you gotta do sometimes to get yourself in position.”

Chastain, whose finish formally secured a berth in the 12-driver Xfinity Series Playoffs, seemed both frustrated and encouraged by the late-race duel with Hamlin, who has five Xfinity Series wins at Darlington. Chastain is the highest ranked driver still without a win on the year.

“Denny was faster, I knew that, everybody watching NBC knew that. I just kept gripping the top best I could, probably hit (the wall) 25 times,” Chastain said.

“To be able to be up against a guy like Denny Hamlin, a future Cup champion and go to the end like that with him, I’m proud of this group, proud of the effort,” Chastain said. “It’s another heartbreak, but we man, we finished and we still finished second with a beat-up race car.”

Hamlin, who started last in the 37-car field, won both stages and essentially put on a Darlington driving clinic all afternoon, rebounding from a weak starting position, a slow pit stop, whatever was thrown at him.

“He was running his line, I was running my line and I thought we had a great race going there,” Hamlin said. “I saw an opportunity to clear and once I did I just carried a little too much speed up into (Turn) 3 and obviously he got in back of us and allowed the 19 (Jones) to catch up to both of us.

“It was fun, just didn’t work out.”

It was actually Chase Briscoe who looked ready to give Hamlin the best challenge for the trophy. Briscoe led a race-best 55 laps on the afternoon, but he spun out and hit the wall while leading with 30 laps remaining — running over fluid on track left by Brett Moffitt’s damaged Chevrolet.

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver still rallied to an 11th-place finish, one position ahead of the Xfinity Series championship leader Austin Cindric in 12th.

There was also plenty of significant action among those vying for the 12th and final playoff position based on point standings. At the green flag, Brandon Brown held a 32-point advantage over Jeremy Clements and even after both suffered bad luck on Saturday, Brown was able to pull out to a 45-point hold on the final playoff transfer position.

Brown’s No. 68 Chevrolet suffered collateral damage in a Lap 2 collision between Sieg and Daniel Hemric, and he had to make multiple pit stops for the team to keep the car running, if no longer competitive for a win.

The work paid off because Clements ultimately had problems as well, his car stopping on track with 37 laps remaining.

Brown rallied to a 17th-place finish while Clements was scored 32nd. The difference between them now is 45 points and rookie Snider, who earned his sixth top 10 of the season is now only six points behind Clements; 51 behind Brown.

Three races remain to set the 2020 playoff field as the series moves to Richmond Raceway for a Friday-Saturday doubleheader next weekend starting with the Go Bowling 250 Friday (7 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Notes: Post-race inspection in the NASCAR Xfinity Series garage revealed no issues. NASCAR will bring the Nos. 9, 18, 19 and 98 cars back to the R&D Center this week.

Posted on September 4, 2020 by @nascarcasm

Dear race tracks,

Hi, it’s me, the annoying guy from the internet.

I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but I have a small favor to ask.

I realize that over the course of the past few months, I have accomplished nothing. That’s where you come in.

You’ve likely seen the current trend where stadiums place cardboard standups of individuals in some of the seats that are required to stay vacant. Dover International Speedway took the leap for its recent doubleheader, too.

You probably see where this is going.

What I’m looking for is just one of you to volunteer to make my dream come true. To make me feel like I really accomplished something these past few months. Again, I’ve accomplished nothing. I am an empty husk of a man, who has only worn sweatpants and hoodies for six months. I am a walking tragedy. I’ve made one bar of soap last four months.

Therefore, my co-worker Steve Luvender and I would like to send a few cardboard stand-ups to your race track and for you to place them in a few of the seats that will be easily seen on TV. In order for this to succeed, we MUST get Rick Allen to emit his famous chuckle.

What will the stand-ups be? Just a few of our frequently used images on Twitter. The ones we’ve overused and beaten into smithereens. Below is a schematic we’ve thrown together.

Chris Graythen | Getty Images

As you can see we’re not looking to take up an entire grandstand. Not even a whole row. And we promise they won’t bother you for the entire race.

If you’re willing to accommodate my wish, and don’t everyone spring at the opportunity at once, please tweet me back and we can begin the creation process.

The only additional thing we ask is that you devise a way to firmly attach the stand-ups to the seats. We don’t want these things getting caught in the wind. I’m not saying that a caution for a cardboard Brett Moffitt wouldn’t be hilarious, but I just don’t want to be tangentially responsible for it.

Anyways, get back to me when you can. I have cardboard, and I have dreams.

@NASCARCASM

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Team Release

CONCORD, N.C. (Sept 4, 2020) – Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) announced today it has entered into partnerships with two organizations: Caregility, a clinical collaboration and communications company and Yorktel, a leading provider of collaboration and managed service solutions. Both companies are owned by YTC Holdings.

Yorktel has a 35-year history partnering with customers across the globe to design, develop and manage digital transformation solutions that increase user productivity in the modern workplace. The company has a deep pedigree in collaboration technologies that has proven critical for business, government, education and healthcare operations continuity, particularly during the COVID crisis. Their extensive knowledge in collaboration technologies has allowed them to develop easy to use work from home solutions and enhanced webcasting and streaming media solutions that have become critical needs during this pandemic.

Caregility offers a cloud-based Platform as a Service solution specifically designed to support two-way audio and video communication for telehealth applications. The company’s communications platform was created to enhance the experience of both the patient and the provider in virtually any remote telehealth situation from the ICU to the home. Caregility’s telehealth solution has enabled healthcare providers to quickly scale during the current COVID-19 pandemic, enabling them to provide virtual care for hundreds of thousands of patients across the US.

The partnership with Yorktel and Caregility includes branding on the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, driven by former Daytona 500 and NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) Champion Kurt Busch, beginning with and throughout the 10 races that make-up the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs. The 2020 NASCAR season is a milestone year for Kurt Busch as he made his 700th start at the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 5th. Busch is one of only 17 drivers in NASCAR history to reach the 700-start milestone. Busch will also make his eighth consecutive and 14^th overall appearance in the NCS Playoffs

“In the new business environment of virtual distancing, remote collaboration, and “work anywhere” initiatives, we are looking for new and innovative ways to build awareness of the Yorktel and Caregility brands,” commented Ron Gaboury, CEO, Yorktel & Caregility. “We are looking forward to using the Ganassi Racing platform as a means to broaden the reach and impact of both companies.”

“We’re excited to have Yorktel and Caregility join the organization,” commented Doug Duchardt, COO, Chip Ganassi Racing. “To have their partnership begin as we kick-off the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs is certainly a fun way to mark the occasion. With everything that our country has been through this year, it is enlightening to begin learning about what the respective companies offer to enterprise, public sector, and healthcare providers in these challenging times. We look forward to growing the partnership through the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs and beyond.”

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Chase Wilhelm

The success has been plentiful while the respect has been mutual between Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick throughout the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Harvick leads the way with seven victories, while Hamlin’s six triumphs give both drivers a healthy bonus-points cushion on the other 14 drivers heading into the Round of 16 of the NASCAR Playoffs. Top-seeded Harvick sits at 2,057 points, 10 points ahead of Hamlin, while Hamlin holds an 18-point advantage on third-place Brad Keselowski.

You’d think the rivalry would be fierce. But the exact opposite has been the case – a highly competitive relationship fueled by the desire to conquer the other, mixed with a genuine appreciation for what each is accomplishing as veterans of the sport.

During the second day of NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Media Days on Thursday, Hamlin noted he doesn’t anticipate that changing in the postseason for two reasons – age (Hamlin is 39, Harvick 44) and circumstances.

“I don’t think so simply because the championship is won in the final race where I think if this was a 10-week playoff where the champion was crowned after his 10-race performance then yeah, maybe there’s an opportunity there for head games or whatever it might be,” Hamlin said. “Even though I think we’re pretty much old and too old for that. We have a lot of respect between each other, our teams do as well, and we’re going to battle each other at some point in these playoffs.”

Harvick, this year’s regular-season champion and the 2014 Cup Series champ, hasn’t put too much of his energy into focusing on Hamlin, but he has spent more time concentrating on his own No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team.

“I think everybody is aware of where everybody is and who is doing good and who is doing bad,” Harvick said. “Yeah, it’s definitely not something that we’ve been calling each other up and saying, ‘Hey, what do you think?’ It’s the distance understanding of what each other is doing and who is doing what and just trying to do the best you can for your team.”

RELATED: Meet the 2020 playoff field

The postseason kicks off with Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), a track where Hamlin and Harvick split victories in a doubleheader that served as NASCAR’s return from the COVID-19 stoppage.

As a heavyweight battle all the way to the Championship 4 brews between the two fighters, there’s so much on the line. Harvick looks to earn his second championship, while Hamlin will try to erase the multiple years of heartbreak after falling short of a first title on multiple occasions, including at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2019.

Hamlin thinks both he and Harvick belong in the finale, but the friendly dynamic could change in those 312 laps in the desert if that ends up being the case.

“I think the right scenario is that we’re at Phoenix (Raceway) together battling it out for the championship,” Hamlin said. “There’s a lot of work that has to get done to get us to that point, but that’s probably the right thing when you think about how a championship should be crowned. Our format is a little different and you have to go out and win that final one. I don’t think that we will race each other any different than what we have all season long. The only time it would ever change would be in that final race.”

Of course, all the success in the first 26 races pushed aside, neither driver is a shoo-in for the grand finale. Even if both drivers are able to get there, Harvick knows it will be a tall task for both of them to put together a perfect race to seal the championship, given the high level of competition among fellow playoff drivers.

“Winning a championship today isn’t how (Dale) Earnhardt and (Richard) Petty did it,” Harvick said. “I think it’s a much different style of winning a championship than what it used to be … I think as you look at that it’s very difficult to get yourself to the last race of the season and be one of those four cars and trying to be able to race for let alone win a championship.”

Posted on September 4, 2020February 1, 2021 by Staff Report

Chase and Jaret Curtis are having nearly identical seasons racing street stocks across the northeast this summer.

The duo are first and second in the street stock points standings at Monadnock Speedway, and both are in the top 10 in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Racing Series Division II standings.

The twin seasons make sense for the brothers, who are also twins.

The Curtis brothers, from Rutland, Massachusetts, have raced at Monadnock — a NASCAR-sanctioned quarter-mile high-banked asphalt oval track in Winchester, New Hampshire — the most this season, choosing to race at their home track as much as possible to try for a track championship. Chase currently leads Jaret by four points in the track‘s street stock standings.

Monadnock Speedway | Facebook | Twitter

But racing across the northeast at other tracks including Lee USA Speedway, Hudson Speedway, and Claremont Motorsports Park has helped the brothers climb the national points standings as well. Chase is currently third in Division II with three wins and 13 top fives in 15 starts, and Jaret is fifth with two wins and 12 top fives in 13 starts. Jaret is coming off a win last weekend.

“We‘re always around the same speed so we‘re always running together,” Jaret said. “Usually near the front.”

The 16-year-olds started racing when they were 11 after going to races throughout their childhood.

The sport is a family one for the Curtises. Both their grandfathers, their dad, and uncles had cars. The brothers would go to Monadnock, about 45 minutes from their home, to watch their dad race street stocks when they were growing up.

“It‘s kind of just been in the family,” Jaret said. “We were going to the track before we were even born. We‘ve been kind of just going to the track every year because we were watching our dad. He still races sometimes but just now it‘s kind of just focusing on us.”

“Every summer I just remember going to the races watching our dad,” Chase said. “Now we‘re fortunate to get the chance to race and we really enjoy it.”

The family sport became a love for both brothers as they found their own success.

“I think it‘s kind of just how much work and how much stuff has to go right to finish good,” Jaret said. “When you get a top-3 you have a lot of joy.”

The family goes to the track every week with both cars in a double trailer, and a big cheering section not far behind.

“It‘s pretty fun for everybody, including everybody that comes to watch,” Chase said. “We have a lot of our family that comes to watch a lot. A lot of my friends come. Everybody enjoys it.”

Hudson Speedway | Claremont Motorsports Park | Lee USA Speedway

Even though the brothers admit they‘re competitive with each other, they also use their unique chance having a competitor in the same house as an opportunity to work with each other and help the other get better. If one brother finds something that works on his car they can give it to the other to use.

They also work together during races, doing little things like helping if one gets stuck on the outside.

That doesn‘t mean they don‘t try to best the other on the track, though.

“We‘re pretty competitive. Actually last time out we were first and second and there was a restart at the end of the race,” Chase said. “Jaret got me this time.”

“It‘s a lot of joking around usually. Everybody talks about racing a lot during the week. We look forward to it,” Jaret said.

Having a close-knit group among the team also brings more chances for good weeks.

“It‘s also good having us because if one person has a bad night the other person can still have a good night and it can still be a good week,” Jaret said.

With the season shortened by the coronavirus pandemic, the brothers decided from the get-go to go for a points championship at Monadnock, but when they realized how well they were doing nationally they added a Division II championship and UNOH Youth Achievement Award to their season list of goals.

The youth achievement award recognizes the top drivers 17-and-under, regardless of division. Chase is second in the national standings and Jaret is fifth.

They‘ll both be trying to run twice a week the rest of the season to help with NASCAR points.

NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Division II standings | Monadnock Speedway points standings

The brothers have no problem competing against one another for those prizes, either. It‘s something they know will continue for the foreseeable future.

“Maybe when we start to do our things in life that might change but as of now we‘ll probably be staying together,” Jaret said.

Posted on September 4, 2020February 1, 2021 by Staff Report

THOMPSON, Conn. — Doug Coby has won five times on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Thompson Speedway Motorspors Park, and he’s started on the front row for all five. Three times, he’s won from the pole.

He’ll get another chance Thursday night in the Thompson 150 after collecting his 31st career Mayhew Tools Dominator Pole Award in qualifying.

Coby’s No. 10 Mayhew Tools Chevrolet lapped the .625-mile oval in 19.005 seconds (118.079 mph) for his first pole of 2020. His career total is third all-time behind only NASCAR Hall of Famer Mike Stefanik (48) and Tony Hirschman (41).

Championship points leader Justin Bonsignore, who was fastest in practice and the final car to qualify, will start on the front row after a lap of 19.063 (118.030) came up just short of Coby.

Craig Lutz qualified third at 19.152 (117.481).

Patrick Emerling and Eric Goodale were fourth and fifth, respectively. Anthony Nocella qualified sixth, followed by former tour champion and current NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece, Ron Silk, Ronnie Williams and Timmy Solomito.

The Thompson 150 will stream live on TrackPass on NBC Gold.