Playoff drama headlines Truck Roval debut as Enfinger has run-ins with Riggs, Honeycutt

Posted on October 3, 2025October 3, 2025 by Cameron Richardson

CONCORD, N.C. — As it usually does, the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval delivered its fair share of drama to playoff contenders, with opening-lap contact setting the tone for the Round of 8 opener in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ debut on the 17-turn road course.

Right out of the gate, the leaders wrecked on Lap 1 as Grant Enfinger made contact with Layne Riggs, jolting the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford into polesitter Corey Heim and sending the two into the barrier.

All three playoff drivers had to claw their way back and were able to tally stage points in the 70-lap affair, but the results told three separate stories: Heim miraculously recovered to score a record-breaking 10th series win; Enfinger snagged a seventh-place result; and a mechanical issue on the overtime restart parachuted Riggs to a 21st-place finish.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Riggs wasted no time expressing his frustrations with Enfinger after the race.

“Just got wrecked by the 9. I don’t really understand what his thought process is,” Riggs said. “People say you’re supposed to take advice from the veterans and learn from them of how to race, and they race worse out of anybody. That’s twice this year that we’ve gotten wrecked by the (No.) 9 truck — at Watkins Glen and here. Two road courses. Two separate incidents. Two blatantly wrong on his part.”

Enfinger explained his side of the opening lap, taking responsibility for the incident that caused notable damage to both the Nos. 11 and 34 trucks.

“I was trying to get clear into the second row bottom there,” Enfinger said. “I thought we were still driving into the corner and 100% cleaned out Layne and Corey. I apologize to those guys. Obviously, it wasn’t intentional. I looked like a fool doing that. I was still planning on driving in at least another car length or two and about the time I was turning down, Layne started checking up to hit the corner and I just smoked them.”

corey heim and layne riggs at the charlotte roval — *Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media*

It wasn’t the only run-in Enfinger had with his fellow playoff contenders.

On the final lap, Enfinger contacted and the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing truck piloted by Kaden Honeycutt and sent him spinning. The two drivers were battling for a top-five finish when Enfinger dove his No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet into the Turn 7 hairpin and turned Honeycutt around.

Honeycutt swept the first two stages, but the last-lap spin sent him down the results sheet to 14th.

After climbing out of his truck, Honeycutt made a beeline over to the No. 9 truck where he had a heated conversation with Enfinger.

A conversation was had post-race between @KadenWHoneycutt and @GrantEnfinger. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/eJIpecFPVd

— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) October 3, 2025

“It is so hard to hold my tongue about this — I don’t understand why stuff like this happens,” Honeycutt said. “All year, we’ve ran good and just had no results. It is what it is, but thankfully we are only four (points) under, so it could be a whole lot worse.”

“He was upset. I got into him,” Enfinger said of Honeycutt confronting him. “I had a run on (Josh) Bilicki and made the move down there, and I was sliding in there, and Honeycutt was stopping kind of to get a good exit to the corner and I ran into him. It was my fault. It was 100% a racing incident. Those guys have run into me in the past. I ran into them. It definitely wasn’t intentional. I don’t blame him, but I think they’ll look back at it and realize I wasn’t just trying to be a clown. It just was a racing deal.”

Leaving the Roval, the playoff standings couldn’t be tighter.

Heim locked himself into the Championship 4 and is the only driver feeling safe. Tyler Ankrum now holds second in the standings and is just two points above the cutline, tied with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammate Daniel Hemric. Riggs is the first driver out of the provisional title round, just one point below Rajah Caruth at the cutline, while Enfinger and Honeycutt sit seventh and eighth both four points outside the Championship 4.

What’s on deck? A trip to the daunting Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 17 (4 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) where anything can happen and anyone can grab the checkered flag.

“Everybody at Front Row Motorsports, they deserve a lot better day than today,” Riggs said of his day after the Lap 1 incident. “I have a lot of choice words for how the initial start played out — really disappointed in the the amount of talent that that took.”

“Proud of the day and proud of the effort,” Enfinger said. “We had a little bit of pace. We don’t have contending pace at a road course yet and I’m not gonna be happy till we have that. But I feel like we finished where we should have, minus my screw up into Turn 1.”

Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

Posted on October 3, 2025 by Staff Report

Grant Lynch, who guided Talladega Superspeedway for 26 years with an unwavering devotion to improving the fan experience, died Thursday morning. He was 71.

Lynch was president and later chairman of the 2.66-mile Alabama track until his retirement after the 2019 NASCAR season, which marked the facility’s 50th anniversary. He was honored the previous year with the Buddy Shuman Award, which recognizes individuals and organizations whose efforts and contributions have helped advance the sport of stock car racing.

Lynch, a South Dakota native, spent 10 years with R.J. Reynolds’ sports marketing group before coming to Talladega, first as its general manager before being named track president in the fall of 1993, succeeding current NASCAR executive Mike Helton. At his appointment, Lynch said his goal was to make Talladega “the most fan-friendly place on the circuit.” He was also a staunch advocate for the style of high-speed racing that the steeply banked trioval produces.

“Quite frankly, in my opinion, this is the most exciting race track in the world,” Lynch told the Associated Press in 1998. “You see guys here racing side by side, lap after lap. Nobody in the stands sits down.”

Lynch oversaw multiple projects to bring more modern touches to Talladega, the last of which was a $50 million transformation of the track’s infield in 2019. The first race for the track’s new amenities was also the 100th for the NASCAR Cup Series. Lynch served as grand marshal and gave the command to start engines.

“I’ll be going out in November, but I get to build one last big project for the Frances,” Lynch told NASCAR.com that year. “I got to build some others, but I’m looking forward to doing this as kind of my swan song. Then I’m going to go do what I want every day.”

NASCAR released an official statement Thursday afternoon: “Grant Lynch’s leadership, vision and larger-than-life personality helped make Talladega Superspeedway one of the most iconic and fan-friendly venues in all of motorsports. As the track’s longtime president and later chairman, he guided Talladega through more than two decades of growth and transformation while building lasting relationships with fans, competitors and colleagues across the industry. From his time with R.J. Reynolds, Talladega and even into retirement, Grant was not only a trusted leader but also a cherished friend to so many in the NASCAR family. NASCAR extends its heartfelt condolences to Grant’s family and loved ones during this difficult time.”

Posted on October 3, 2025 by Nate Ryan

NASCAR’s playoff races at the Roval never end quietly — even when the checkered flag has signaled a relatively calm finish on the treacherous road course inside Charlotte Motor Speedway.

That was evident last year when the Round of 8 field seemed to have been set with 10 laps remaining when Tyler Reddick moved into the final spot. He eventually advanced by four points over Joey Logano.

RELATED: Weekend schedule | Cup Series standings

More than two hours later, Alex Bowman’s car was disqualified, Logano’s championship bid was resuscitated, and Charlotte’s reputation as host of the annual cutoff cauldron of chaos remained secure.

Logano would win two of the next four races to wrap up his third Cup championship in the most extreme example yet of how the unpredictability of the Roval can reverberate through NASCAR’s premier series.

Sunday will mark the eighth consecutive year that the road course-speedway hybrid has held an elimination event, and at least one driver annually is singled out for a heart-pounding roller-coaster ride of agony or elation while teetering on the brink of advancement or oblivion.

The Roval’s inaugural race in 2018 set the tone with an unbelievably game-changing final lap.

Comfortably above the cutline by seven points and less than a quarter mile from transferring to the second round, Jimmie Johnson was charging toward his first victory of the season when he overdrove a corner in the frontstretch chicane and tangled with Martin Truex Jr. for the lead. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson, who had led a race-high 47 laps before destroying his front-end suspension in a massive crash, was driving a wounded No. 42 Chevrolet with the grace of Mr. Magoo. After being involved in the same wreck (and two earlier incidents), Aric Almirola was just as desperate with a damaged car.

After his spin, Johnson finished eighth and fell into a three-way tie with Almirola, who gained six positions in three laps, and Larson, who comically slammed into the frontstretch wall to make a left turn past the stalled car of Jeffrey Earnhardt and across the finish line to pick up the final point he needed to advance.

And thus began the Roval’s run as the playoffs’ primary change agent.

The track moved from Round of 16 cutoff race to Round of 12 finale the following year, but the bedlam never has subsided.

Chase Elliott wrecked on a restart while leading halfway through the 2019 race and still managed to win. (Teammate Alex Bowman, ailing from dehydration and illness, barely advanced by battling for second after falling to last on the first lap in a backup car.) In 2020, Kyle Busch’s two-championship run with crew chief Adam Stevens essentially ended with a 30th-place elimination.

In 2021, Larson flipped from seemingly out of the playoffs with a malfunctioning alternator in the first stage to leading the final eight laps after a remarkable recovery that was pivotal in his championship push. In 2022, he suffered a stunning elimination in his title defense after slapping the Turn 7 wall with 12 laps remaining and squandering an 18-point lead while fixing the damage.

In 2023, Brad Keselowski entered above the cutline and was eliminated after a horror show of a spin and a pass-through penalty for a missed chicane. Last October was Bowman’s turn to deal with a Roval heartbreak.

Every year, a playoff driver and team get put through the wringer at this unusual 17-turn, 2.28-mile layout that might have the highest degree of difficulty in NASCAR.

Who will face the Roval’s wrath this season?

Be prepared to stick around until after the finish to find out.

Posted on October 3, 2025October 3, 2025 by Staff Report

Before Jeff Gordon drove important laps in a NASCAR career that would lead to four Cup Series championships and 93 Cup victories, Charlotte Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler introduced the driver as “the finest young racing talent in the world today.”

Wheeler was better than most at evaluating racing talent. Gordon was better than most at using that talent. On the day that Wheeler escorted Gordon to a stage in front of curious NASCAR media, however, the driver looked more like a kid on the way to his junior prom than a wheelman who would race to international fame.

Connor Zilisch could play the young Jeff Gordon in a movie. Nineteen years old and as trim, clean-cut and well-spoken as Gordon back in the day, Zilisch would not need a stunt driver for the racing scenes. He will arrive full-time in the Cup Series next season with clear billing as the Next Big Thing, a highly skilled driver with unlimited potential and promise.

RELATED: Xfinity Series standings | Driver page

After somewhat of a tentative start this year, Zilisch has stormed through the Xfinity Series like a man aflame. Garage area observers were wide-eyed last season when Zilisch won his Xfinity Series debut at Watkins Glen International in the first of four get-acquainted races in NASCAR’s No. 2 series. Impressive, for sure, but there was little thought of what would follow this season.

Over the past 16 Xfinity races, Zilisch, driving for JR Motorsports while on loan from Trackhouse Racing, has won eight times, finished second four times and has finished in the top five in every race. It is not a stretch to claim that he could have won all 16 of those races.

Having proven the potential Trackhouse owner Justin Marks saw in him when he was signed as a developmental driver, Zilisch will be promoted to the Cup Series a year ahead of the original schedule. After a handful of Cup appearances this season, he is scheduled to run the full Cup tour in 2026, and it was announced Sept. 23 that veteran crew chief Randall Burnett, previously with Kyle Busch at Richard Childress Racing, will lead his team.

Of course, other young drivers have been labeled as solid prospects over the years. Some fall by the wayside; others don’t reach projected heights because of team or other issues; some win sporadically; others stumble out of the gate under the heat of expectations but eventually perform at high levels.

Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

Famously anointed by no less a personage than NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin as a sure-fire talent and nicknamed Sliced Bread (as in “best thing since” by Randy LaJoie), Joey Logano arrived in the Cup Series as royalty-in-waiting. The going was slow, however, as he scored only three times across his first five seasons before winning five races in 2014 and a first Cup championship in 2018.

Zilisch, having paved the way with brilliance in Xfinity, has everyone’s attention. He will roll into 2026 with a winning team, deep sponsorship (including designation as a Red Bull athlete, putting him in strong international company) and experience with a top-flight Xfinity operation.

The world will be watching, and Zilisch, mature beyond his years and quietly confident in his experience and ability, seems ready. And he understands that there will be no slipping under the radar, no arriving in the dark of night at Daytona Beach in February wearing a disguise.

Earning garlands at the next level will be a tougher go, and the bright lights will be on.

“It’s tough to avoid it, especially in today’s age with social media and how often you see it and get tagged in it,” he said. “But, with that, I enjoy the pressure and wanting to live up to it and wanting to be one of the greats. My expectations are the same going into every weekend, regardless if I’ve won four in a row or if we’ve wrecked out of the last four.

“You have to use the momentum as confidence, and you have to build on that, but you can’t let it get to you and affect the way you’re preparing each week. So I tell myself every week not to let the outside noise affect what I’m doing, not to let it change the way I approach each weekend.”

His emotional balance at such a young age came from his parents (Jim and Janice Zilisch) and former driver and current racing consultant Josh Wise, who counts Zilisch among the clients he has helped move through the rapids that can slow advances at the top levels of automobile racing.

“Josh has been a big mentor of mine and has helped me with not setting expectations,” Zilisch said. “There are so many things in this sport that are not in the driver’s control, so you’re only a small part of the puzzle. If you don’t live up to expectations, maybe sometimes it’s not because you didn’t do your job.”

James Gilbert | Getty Images

If Zilisch could pick a turnaround moment this season, it came on April 26 at Talladega Speedway. A crash in the 11th race of the Xfinity season left him with several damaged back vertebrae and forced him to miss the following race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Zilisch sat in the team pit box during the Texas race and watched substitute driver Kyle Larson drive the Zilisch car to victory. Zilisch returned to the car for the next race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and hasn’t finished worse than fifth since.

“After I hurt myself at Talladega, the switch flipped and things have kind of just completely turned around,” he said. “Certainly, this year has been a lot of fun, but as we go into next year, it’s going to be a much different story.”

Zilisch crashed a few cars in the first half of the season, before and after winning March 1 at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

“I hit enough people that I realized that something I was doing was not right,” he said. “I sit down with the people that I trust and I ask them, ‘Is this my fault?’ They’ll tell me yes or they’ll tell me no. I have to understand that some things aren’t teachable. You have to go out there and mess up to learn.

“I don’t think I’m going to learn much next year if I try to stay under the radar and just putt around. I want to go out and give it my all, knowing that every week is not going to be great. The goal is to give it 100 percent and try to compete for wins.”

Mardy Lindley, Zilisch’s crew chief at JRM, said the driver is a sponge. “He coaches himself,” Lindley said. “He looks at all the data. He can correct himself if he needs to, and he does it mostly on his own. We can see issues, but he sees them before we even have to say anything, which makes him really unique. He’s just a natural. He’s not just intelligent; he’s race-intelligent.

“We’ve had other guys do well in our cars, but they all had a lot more experience than Connor. You have to tell yourself to remember that he’s a rookie, and he’s got the attention of the NASCAR garage.”

Zilisch started racing go-karts at age 4. Four years later, the family went on the road in search of better competition and bigger events. “Being 8 years old and traveling for a sport, I just thought that was the coolest thing ever,” Zilisch said. “I’ve enjoyed it all from a young age. It’s what I’ve loved to do since before I can remember.”

The Zilisches met Kevin Harvick and his son, Keelan, along the go-kart trail, and Connor said Harvick was instrumental in moving him from karts to stock cars and into the Chevrolet fold. The wins kept coming, and Zilisch was carried along in a wave of successes. The standard life of a teenager was no more.

His “normal” education came through online classes. “I never stepped foot in a high school,” he said. “I know I’m never going to get to go to college. I never got to watch my friends play football on Friday nights. But there’s not much I would trade for the life I live now.”

For many, Zilisch wasn’t particularly a big news figure until he made headlines by falling off his race car while celebrating in Victory Lane Aug. 9 at Watkins Glen. He suffered a broken collarbone but won three straight races (at Daytona, with relief-driving help from Parker Kligerman, Portland and Gateway) after the fall.

Zilisch is an unusual name, both in NASCAR and in general. Connor is busy giving it wider exposure. He points out that there’s at least one other Connor Zilisch in the United States. “He’s a little older than me, and we’ve talked,” Zilisch said. “I’d like to get him to a race one day.”

Maybe in Victory Lane. Maybe next year.

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Reid Spencer

Three of the Round of 8 playoff spots already are taken as the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads for Saturday’s Blue Cross NC 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (5 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Brandon Jones advanced on the strength of his victory last Saturday at Kansas Speedway. JR Motorsports teammates Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier have already clinched Round of 8 berths on points.

Fourth-place Sam Mayer is 43 points above the current cutline entering the elimination race at the 2.28-mile road course, needing to score just 19 points to advance, no matter who wins the race.

Mayer has won the last two Xfinity Series events at the 17-turn circuit.

For the rest of the playoff field, however, the race for the final four spots in the next round couldn’t be much tighter.

Fifth-place Taylor Gray is 16 points above the elimination line. Twelfth-place Sammy Smith is just 14 points below. Accordingly, performance in Saturday’s race will be a primary governing factor in setting the field for the Round of 8.

Hoping to join teammates Zilisch and Allgaier in the next round, Smith comes to Charlotte with momentum from last weekend’s fourth-place run at Kansas Speedway.

“We ran a solid race all day long at Kansas last weekend, which was what we needed to put us back in the game and have a shot at advancing to the Round of 8,” said Smith, who has finished 11th and 10th in his two starts at the Roval.

“I have full faith that this Pilot Chevrolet team can accomplish just that. This has been our strongest season yet on road courses, so I’m looking forward to this Saturday at the Roval.”

Zilisch is the overwhelming favorite to win at the Charlotte Roval. Four of his rookie-record nine victories this season have come on tracks that feature right turns as well as lefts.

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Neil Paine

Editor’s note: Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race from the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval is at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12 has officially reached its elimination phase, with one race remaining before four more drivers are ousted from championship contention. And because of what’s on the line, we’ve seen time and again how those races dial up the intensity — and the desperation — leading to dramatic (if also chaotic) results.

RELATED: Weekend schedule | Cup standings

The interesting wrinkle this week at Charlotte, though, is the Roval factor — and what it means with Shane van Gisbergen poised to play spoiler to the playoff drivers who need a win.

If SVG isn’t already the Cup Series’ GOAT road-course driver (and we made the case for him here), he’s darned close to it. Van Gisbergen has won each of the past four road races on the Cup schedule, and he’s finished no worse than seventh in a road race since Chicago in 2024. While he’s not an automatic win in these races, his career winning percentage on the road of 45% is still the highest in history. It’s terrifying to think of needing a head-to-head win over arguably history’s most dominant road-racing machine.

Needing a win, though, is exactly the situation a number of playoff drivers are in this week, knowing they probably can’t advance to the Round of 8 without driving to Victory Lane at the Roval. In fact, we can estimate just how much each driver is in “must-win” mode with our NASCAR Playoffs forecast model, which uses track-type projected Driver Ratings to simulate the remainder of the playoffs 10,000 times, tracking their odds to advance in only the simulations where they did not win at Charlotte.

Before we power-rank the playoff drivers based on how much they need to do the impossible — beat SVG at a road course-like track — here’s a plot of each driver’s advancement odds without a win versus their Next Gen career Driver Rating on road courses … relative to van Gisbergen. (Hint: Everyone is negative, it’s just a question of how much.)

(Note: Excluding Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott, of course, since they don’t have to worry about clinching a spot in the Round of 8 anymore, having already won their way in.)

For each driver in the mix, let’s run down how much they need to take on the challenge of unseating SVG on Sunday, from the least in need of a victory to the most, listing their odds to make the Round of 8 conditional on not getting the win:

Locked in already

Chase Elliott (100%) and Ryan Blaney (100%) have already won races this round, enough said.

Will almost certainly make it either way

This group includes Kyle Larson (>99.9%), Christopher Bell (99.9%), Denny Hamlin (99.9%) and William Byron (99.4%), each of whom is at least 40 points clear of the cutline and carries at least a 99.4 percent chance to advance even without a win. These drivers aren’t technically assured of a spot in the Round of 8 yet, but they can be considered all but clinched unless they finish last, get no stage points and see multiple drivers who are currently below the line score max or near-max points. So for all intents and purposes, nobody in this group needs to focus on beating SVG to make the next round.

Solid chance to make it either way

Chase Briscoe (91.2%) will be one of the most interesting drivers to watch on Sunday in Charlotte as his +21 point margin to the cutline gives him a relatively safe outlook under most normal circumstances. When we consider Briscoe’s 102.9 average Driver Rating at road courses this season and his 9.4 average start in those races, he ought to be in line for some stage points, a decent finish and thus a ticket punched to the Round of 8. However, in the model, things do get somewhat scary for Briscoe if he lands outside the top 20, particularly if he finishes between 26th and 30th (63.6% advancement odds) or outside the top 30 (42.2%).

Under more must-win pressure — but still above 60% to advance even without a W — is Joey Logano (64.9%), who sits 13 points clear of Ross Chastain for the final spot in the Round of 8. A non-winning top-10 drive on Sunday would likely be enough unless one of the drivers below the line scores the win, and even then, he might still be OK depending on what Briscoe does. But a finish in the teens would start to put him in danger — and he could be in real trouble with anything lower than that, which is bad news given Joey’s good-not-great record (73.4 Driver Rating) on road courses. The head-to-head comparison of Logano versus Chastain is the highest-leverage battle of the day on Sunday.

Probably needs a win, but might be OK without one

If Logano is starting to feel like he needs a win, Ross Chastain (23.5%) knows he probably will need one if he wants to make it out of the Round of 12. The non-winning route is not completely improbable with a good run — a non-winning top five would bump Ross’ advancement percentage odds up to 61.0 — and Chastain is relatively strong on road courses (with a 91.8 Driver Rating the past two seasons). But he would also need help with the confluence of several other events to complete that comeback path, including poor days from either Logano or Briscoe (allowing him to gain ground in points) and someone below him in the playoff standings not winning. It’s a scenario that’s certainly possible, but also just convoluted enough that the most straightforward way for Ross to advance is probably just to get the checkered flag over SVG at the Roval.

Win or go home

This final tier belongs to Bubba Wallace (4.7%), Tyler Reddick (2.6%) and Austin Cindric (<0.1%), each of whom goes into the elimination race at least 26 points below the cutline and, if we’re being honest, probably needs a win to advance.

Wallace finished a hard-luck (putting it diplomatically) fifth at Kansas Speedway as a last-lap collision with team owner Denny Hamlin ruined what was set to be a winning run to clinch a trip to the Round of 8. Instead, Wallace now either needs a huge points day and a lot of luck — even a non-win top five would only set his advancement odds at 17.2% — or, more realistically, a victory despite his Next Gen road-course Driver Rating sitting the furthest below SVG of any active playoff driver. It doesn’t look good for the No. 23 car.

Nor do things seem much better for his teammate, Reddick, who is in an even worse version of Wallace’s situation on points. The only glimmer of hope for the No. 45 team is the fact that Reddick’s 100.2 average rating on road courses is the closest to van Gisbergen of any current Cup driver, making him the biggest threat to beat SVG outright and not have to worry about the points at all. It’s a Hail Mary at this point, but it’s not crazy to envision Reddick winning the race he started on pole in 2023 and has never finished worse than 12th.

And finally, there’s Cindric, the ultimate must-win driver at Charlotte this weekend. His 48-point deficit in the standings — with three drivers also wedged between him and Logano — effectively places him too far back to point his way in under nearly any circumstances. (Even with a second-place finish and two stage wins — worth 55 total points — he would need every playoff driver below Briscoe in the standings to finish 30th or worse with no stage points to be able to leapfrog them in points.)

So the main question is whether Cindric can outcompete SVG for the win on a road course … and the bad news there is that, despite his early-career reputation as a good road-racer (with a 93.2 rating in 2022), his form there has declined significantly in recent years. (He was a below-average 62.1 this season.) In their 11 career road-course races together, Cindric has only finished higher than SVG three times, and he’s only posted the higher Driver Rating once — though it was at last year’s Roval race.

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Whatever happens from here, we know the Roval will claim four more playoff drivers on Sunday, one way or another. And for the drivers staring down elimination, the path forward is brutally simple: Find a way to take down SVG in his element — along with the rest of the field — or watch their title hopes come to a crashing halt at the Roval.

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Chris Murdock

When looking back at the 2025 Craftsman Truck Series season in the future, it’ll be hard not to automatically think of 23-year-old Corey Heim and his No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota team’s record-tying nine victories … and counting.

Two road-course wins stand among those nine, and as the series readies for its first trip to the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval on Friday afternoon (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio), a third is looking like a strong bet.

Heim wouldn’t necessarily say his road-racing prowess came naturally, but he instead credits studying the aces from other series and experience gained during his time in the ARCA Menards Series.

“I never really came from a road-course background,” Heim told NASCAR.com. “You see a lot of guys that are kind of dominating today in the Xfinity Series with (Connor) Zilisch and Cup with SVG (Shane van Gisbergen). Of course, those guys come from the road-course racing backgrounds, and I think just studying them and understanding what makes them so good on these … is kind of a big deal of where I sort of progressed a lot.

“I really started working hard on it when I first raced in ARCA, because of the few road-course races that we did within that full-time ARCA year for me. But prior to that, I think I had a couple Legends car races growing up on the road courses, and maybe a couple TA2 (Muscle Car) races to just kind of get my feet in the water.”

The aforementioned Zilisch is experiencing similar success to Heim in his first full-time season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, with nine victories on the year, and he will race in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Truck this weekend at the Charlotte Roval. Racing against Zilisch is a challenge Heim values.

“I’ve always been a believer in ‘if you want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best,’ right?” Heim said. “So, Connor coming down is definitely a challenge. He ran well at Watkins Glen, especially for coming in last-second for Kaden (Honeycutt). I’m sure that was pretty tough to kind of prepare for. So, definitely going to probably have my hands full with him this weekend.”

MORE: 2025 Craftsman Truck Series winners

In terms of progression at NASCAR’s national level, new to Heim in 2025 is his driver development deal with 23XI Racing. In addition to a part-time schedule in the No. 67 Toyota, the Marietta, Georgia, native has had access to the training facilities and competition meetings at “Airspeed” as Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick prepare for their own playoff push.

“It’s definitely been a difference-maker for me this year,” Heim said. “Just being able to work on the Cup side on a week-to-week basis, even the races that I haven’t been racing in the Cup car, I come to all the pre-race meetings and all the preparation. So to be a part of that and prepare like a Cup driver for the Truck Series, I think, makes a big difference. And I know I’m very lucky to be able to have that opportunity.”

The Craftsman Truck Series has the finish line in sight, with only the three-race Round of 8 remaining before the four drivers who will race for a championship at Phoenix Raceway are determined.

Heim is leaning on the veteran experience of his Tricon Garage group, a team that has mostly been together since Heim’s first full-time campaign back in 2023. The No. 11 Toyota team has competed at Phoenix in the Championship 4 for two consecutive years, carrying the determination to grasp the season-ending trophy that has eluded them.

“Those guys are all just so motivated,” Heim said. “I feel like it’s hard to come by, and especially a truck team, where the core guys have been there pretty much since the beginning of my tenure with Tricon. From spotter to crew chief to truck chief to the people in the fab shop, the people who make it happen back at the shop.

“I don’t feel like I’m still in the building phase with (crew chief) Scott (Zipadelli) and really the whole team, I feel like we all understand each other. We don’t have to stay on each other during the week to make sure the truck’s where it needs to be. Or he doesn’t have to stay on me to make sure I’m where I need to be for my preparation. It’s just everyone trusts each other and knows that we’re all motivated enough to go get it done. So they certainly make my life easy, and I hope it’s the same for them.”

Posted on October 2, 2025October 2, 2025 by Adam Fenwick

Fourteen years have passed since Matt Hirschman last contested the entire NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule.

A lot has changed during that time for both Hirschman and the series, but one thing that hasn’t changed is Hirschman’s ability to win races. The driver from Northampton, Pennsylvania is always a threat to reach Victory Lane no matter where he’s racing. In fact, Hirschman has won a race in five consecutive Modified Tour seasons despite racing on part-time basis.

This year, thanks in part to the race and championship purse increases announced by NASCAR and series entitlement partner Whelen Engineering last October, Hirschman decided to embark upon the entire Modified Tour campaign for the first time since 2011.

The goal was simple: Win as many races as possible and try to secure a championship.

“It’s just been a matter of putting all the people and pieces in place to do it,” said the 42-year-old Hirschman, who will make his 150th Modified Tour start in Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 256 at Riverhead Raceway. “NASCAR and Whelen made a commitment to increasing the point fund for this year, which certainly weighed on our decision to compete in all the races.

“I’m glad that we did it. We’re going to see how things finish up.”

FEATURE: What makes Riverhead so unique

Speed has never been an issue for Hirschman. Whether it’s in his own car, the PeeDee Motorsports entry or the Elite Towing/Baker Racing Modified, he always finds a way to get the most out of whatever car he’s driving.

During a career that has spanned 19 mostly part-time seasons, Hirschman has scored 10 Modified Tour wins.

He’s also secured 59 top fives and 95 top 10s in his 149 starts leading into Saturday. Those are incredible numbers for a driver who’s started every race during a Modified Tour season just four times in 19 years.

They’re so good, in fact, that he was selected as one of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s 40 greatest drivers earlier this year alongside his father, five-time Modified Tour champion Tony Hirschman.

“It speaks to having longevity and having a good career to continue to have the opportunity to still compete,” Hirschman said. “I still have cars to drive and can compete at a high level. As long as we can continue to do that, we’re going to continue to make more starts and look to try and get some more wins.”

This year, being consistent has been Hirschman’s biggest challenge.

Despite leading 91 laps in the first three events, he failed to secure a top-10 finish.

Matt Hirschman during practice earlier this year at Riverhead Raceway, where he finished second. (Photo: Mike Lawrence/NASCAR)

He turned things around quickly, winning at Seekonk Speedway and scoring four consecutive top-five finishes before a disappointing, 17th-place effort at Monadnock Speedway on July 19.

Since then, he hasn’t finished worse than sixth, which leaves him 25 points behind Modified Tour championship leader Austin Beers entering Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 256.

While Hirschman isn’t out of the championship battle, he admits he’s going to need a lot of help starting Saturday at Riverhead if he has any chance of capturing the championship later this month in the season finale Martinsville Speedway.

“I feel like our season did not get off to a good start. We dug ourselves a hole that we’ve never been completely out of it, but I always feel like we’ve been at an arm’s length,” Hirschman said. “We’re solidly in the top five, and it’s not over yet. We just didn’t get off to the start we needed to.

“The consistency shows for the 64 team (Beers). They’ve been in the top 10 in every race. They have the best average finish of all the teams. We’ve had the speed and the top-five finishes to compete with those teams, but we have too many finishes outside the top 10.”

Saturday’s race presents a unique challenge for Hirschman. He doesn’t have many starts at the Long Island quarter-mile bullring, which means his notebook is considerably smaller at Riverhead than it is at most of the tracks in the Northeast.

He’s made a conscious effort to change that. In addition to racing in Modified Tour events at the track, he’s also competed in Riverhead’s annual Islip 300 in each of the last three years, winning the event in 2023.

The extra laps have already paid dividends. He scored a runner-up finish earlier this year in the Miller Lite Salutes Steve Park 200, a career-best for Hirschman at the historic Long Island oval in Modified Tour competition.

“Riverhead is a track I never really had a lot of success or experience at,” Hirschman said. “That was one of the tracks, when I stopped racing full time, that I didn’t go to while participating on a part-time schedule. Over the last few years while running races with the Elite Towing-sponsored car in the Islip 300, I’ve gained more experience there and more confidence there.

“I believe our runner-up finish back in June shows that we can now contend, and I’m more comfortable there now. I can now say I’m looking forward to going. Years ago, that would not have been my answer. I think right now it’s a track that we’ve got the speed, and I’m comfortable racing there now. I think we can contend to win.”

If everything goes right, Hirschman thinks a trip to Victory Lane on Saturday night isn’t out of the question. If that happens, it will be hard to bet against the driver from Mud Lane in a championship battle that will almost certainly come down to the wire.

“It’s still tight among the top five,” Hirschman said. “We can move up or down over the last three races.”

Posted on October 1, 2025 by Pat DeCola

Here’s what’s happening in NASCAR with Kansas Speedway in the rearview and Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway up next (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

HOW TO WATCH: NASCAR on NBC, USA | Driver Cams on HBO Max

1. Final exams: Back half of playoffs set to test championship contenders

The first half of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is in the books, with the back five set to whittle away even further at the playoff field. With five unique tracks ahead — three of which are elimination races — drivers better sharpen their pencils, because the grading scale just tightened.

As NASCAR’s playoffs enter the second half this weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval — with upcoming trips to Las Vegas, Talladega, Martinsville and Phoenix to round it out and call it a season — every twist, bump and restart on these vastly different tracks can be viewed as a high-stakes final exam for those who remain in the championship hunt.

A curious thing happens when you pair five wildly varying venues with elimination stakes: the veterans will often pull away, while newcomers and one-trick specialists can find themselves scrambling for answers. Drivers who’ve taken similar tests before stride into the exam room with confidence; those experiencing these pressures for the first time or near to it feel the walls closing in.

This postseason, momentum has flowed almost exclusively toward the seasoned. After a near-perfect opening round, Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing watched their edge vanish at Loudon, replaced by Team Penske’s clinical execution and Hendrick Motorsports’ renaissance on a track where it hadn’t won since 2012. Past champ Chase Elliott collected the win on Sunday at Kansas Speedway, fending off future Hall of Famer — and Kansas race dominator — Denny Hamlin at the line. We’re starting to see the cream rise to the top, and that will become even more evident in the Round of 8.

RELATED: Roval entry list | Full weekend schedule

Three of these remaining five races carry a buzzsaw aimed at the playoff grid: the Roval cuts the Round of 12 down to eight, Martinsville whittles eight to four and Phoenix sorts the championship, with the most painful “cut” of all for the three drivers who have to watch one of their Championship 4 mates hoist the Bill France Cup mere moments after it could’ve been theirs. As we’ve seen sometimes with these must-make deadlines, playoff competitors like rookie Shane van Gisbergen — who led 52% of laps on road courses this year but fell short in the Round of 16 with three finishes of 25th or worse — discover that specialty prowess doesn’t always translate into a passing postseason grade.

Compare that to Joey Logano, whose three titles rest on a foundation of clutch road-course passes (and failures), textbook short-track survival and a drafting knack that helps him excel at superspeedways. Or Denny Hamlin, 19-time playoff veteran and nine-time Round of 8 entrant. Their resumes might as well be study guides on how to survive as long as possible in the NASCAR Playoffs.

Even pit boxes become classrooms. A flawless stop at Charlotte might net you a leg up on the bubble drivers; a mistake at Las Vegas can cost you more than you lost in the casino the night before. Veteran crew chiefs and pit crews, hardened by years of playoff scrambles, are battle-tested beyond belief, and we’ve seen time and again how a championship can come down to whose pit crew pukes the least when things get queasy.

Then there’s the mental calculus. With each new circuit comes a fresh school subject: Charlotte’s combo turns demand surgical braking. Vegas’ high oval speeds punish aero flaws. Talladega’s pack racing hexes hesitation and might bite you anyway, regardless of how hard you study. Martinsville forces precise control of both brakes and one’s temper, and Phoenix demands perfect entries and exits over and over on long runs while, oh-by-the-way, the pressure is the highest it’s been and will be all season. For drivers who’ve battled through similar finals in years past, the syllabus is familiar. For any novices among the group, you might as well be learning French on a roller coaster.

Still, upsets simmer. History shows that momentum can surge in a single lap, as Christopher Bell proved with his must-win, two-laps-led Roval victory in 2022. But those moments are exceptions, not rules. More often, we’re approaching the point where the truest championship contenders reveal themselves; veterans making measured moves, accumulating stage points to build buffers and relying on pit-road prowess to navigate chaos unscathed.

By the time the green flag waves in Phoenix a month from now, only a quartet will remain, each tested not once but four times over from here to reach that point. The final exams reveal more than just who has the fastest car, but often expose who can think and perform fastest under fire.

And as the inexperienced shuffle from their desks, shoulders slouched, the veterans might just walk out confident that they passed with honors.

Pencils down.

James Gilbert | Getty Images

2. Roval roulette: Which driver will burst the playoff bubble?

Entering elimination weekend at the Charlotte Roval, four drivers face do-or-die stakes on NASCAR’s only playoff road course. History suggests at least one will defy the odds — so, who’s the most likely?

Get your pumpkin-spiced popcorn out, everybody.

As the calendar turns to October, Ross Chastain (−13), Bubba Wallace (−26), Tyler Reddick (−29) and Austin Cindric (−48) all must capitalize in Sunday’s single-race showdown — the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) or see their 2025 title quests end. Sunday promises to be a spectacle, and after Kansas produced its twice-annual showstopper this past weekend, the bar will be set high.

A glance at the standings highlights the grim realities each contender confronts, as each needs significant upward movement and perhaps even a win … and all four of them are the type to do it at all costs. With Joey Logano holding a 13-point cushion over Chastain for the final spot, it may seem scant, but the nature of the Roval could make even that amount difficult to surmount, with going for the win from the get-go arguably still the surest path forward, rather than relying on points to shake out in one’s favor.

Although Cindric faces the steepest climb at 48 points back, past comebacks offer faint hope: Christopher Bell erased a 45-point deficit here in 2022 en route to advancing with his win, and Chase Elliott regained 22 points without a win to advance in 2019. Still, only Brad Keselowski (2014) and Bell (2022) have navigated must-win scenarios to secure Round of 8 spots, underscoring the rarity of outright victories under such immense pressure.

Charlotte’s unique 2.28-mile configuration demands finesse more than brute force. Drivers must navigate tight chicanes, heavy braking zones and asphalt-to-grass transitions that punish even minor miscalculations. Of the seven Cup races held here, six winners started inside the top 10, emphasizing the premium on qualifying and track position. Conversely, rushing for stage points has seldom translated into overall triumph; the last driver to claim both a stage and the race was Elliott in 2019. Those patterns hint that disciplined, lap-by-lap execution could reward bubble contenders who play the long game.

And speaking of finesse, there’s one guy lurking in the field who’s out-maneuvered the entire field on road courses all year that they’ll have to contend with. A win may not even be available to these guys.

But for now, let’s examine each of the four under-the-bubble drivers and their likelihood — or not — to advance to the Round of 8 with a win.

Ross Chastain (−13)

Chastain enjoys a modest deficit that could, in theory, be erased with a steady result and some help. He claimed his lone road-course victory at COTA in 2022 and has piled up 136 road-course points this season, ranking seventh among playoff contenders. Despite that, the Roval has proven unforgiving: in six attempts, he averages a 24.0 finish and has only once cracked the top 10 (10th in 2023). His experience reaching the Championship 4 in 2022 adds context to his capability under pressure, but converting opportunity into performance on this track has eluded him.

Bubba Wallace (−26)

Wallace trails only Ryan Blaney in stage points on road courses this year (37) among playoff drivers, a metric reflecting strong early speed at these layouts he didn’t previously have earlier in his career. His Next Gen Roval outings have yielded 33.0 points per race, outperforming some higher-ranked contenders. Recent struggles, including two DNFs and four finishes of 26th or worse in the past seven events, underscore the need for precision under pressure.

Tyler Reddick (−29)

Reddick’s resume at the Roval is unmatched among those on the cusp. In five starts, he ranks first in average finish (7.80) and has never finished worse than 12th. Last year, he led early, survived heavy contact and still landed 11th with enough to clinch his spot in the next round. His 166 points on 2025 road courses place him second among playoff drivers, despite being the only remaining playoff driver yet to win this year. Persistent pit-road mishaps and a mid-season funk, however, marked by seven finishes outside the top fifteen in the past 10 races, cast some doubt on his consistency.

Austin Cindric (−48)

Cindric’s path to survival is narrow: a win or near-perfect conditions are prerequisites. His best Roval outing, a fourth-place run last year, demonstrates capacity when everything clicks, but even that may not be enough this time around. Over 25 career road-course starts, he has secured nine top-10 finishes, and it’s somewhat expected he’ll capture a road-course win at some point in his career. Yet this season’s output tells a bleaker story: second to last in points on road courses among playoff drivers with just 69, zero stage points and three finishes of 30th or worse in his last six starts. Without a dramatic turnaround, his title hopes hinge on an outlier performance.

Picking the bubble-buster

By combining track history, recent form and points scenarios, Reddick likely emerges as the most credible candidate to advance, despite trailing by 29 points. His sustained excellence at the Roval, paired with significant road-course success this season and a history of winning on them, gives him the best chance to leapfrog his competitors. Chastain’s minimal gap keeps him mathematically alive, but his poor Roval track record tempers expectations. Wallace remains a viable dark horse, provided he leverages early speed into a clean, uninterrupted run, but he would need an all-time performance. Cindric’s uphill battle demands perfection and a complete trend reversal, making him the least likely of the four to claw back into contention.

If history repeats, at least one of these drivers will defy their deficit and punch through the cutline. On Sunday, survival awaits at the most intricate — and consequential — road course of the season.

Pop pop.

MORE: Playoff Pulse: Who’s hot, not?

3. Logano leaves Kansas 13 points above cut: ‘Thanks, Denny’

Joey Logano discusses the points situation after Kansas Speedway and how it could’ve been much different without a last-lap incident between Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace.

4. Is this championship Chase Briscoe’s to lose?

The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing driver has been the playoffs’ most consistent driver so far, and has a chance to match some current and future Hall of Famers if he collects a sixth straight top 10 to open the postseason this weekend. Will this level of consistent excellence take him all the way to Phoenix, site of his first career win? (Credit: Racing Insights)

Season	Driver
2004	Kurt Busch
2008	Jimmie Johnson
2009	Jimmie Johnson
2015	Joey Logano
2021	Denny Hamlin

5. Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage

Paint Scheme Preview: 2025 Charlotte Roval playoff weekend

Power Rankings: Will Larson make it two straight at the Roval, ride head of steam into Round of 8?

Larson on post-Indy 500 slump: ‘Is it me? Is it the car? What is it?’

Logano leaves Kansas 13 points above cut: ‘Thanks, Denny’

NASCAR official on Smith wreck: ‘Car did everything it was designed to do’

Byron wheels mystery machine to Kansas P9: ‘Sucks having to throw Hail Marys’

Working in harmony: Chase Elliott, No. 9 pit crew land a win to savor in Kansas

Playoff Pulse: Pair of Toyotas fumble win while Team Penske tanks at Kansas

Tyler Reddick races with hospitalized son in his thoughts, faces virtual must-win after Kansas

Letarte talks 23XI Racing: If team wants to make Round of 8, Kansas needs to be the standard

Hamlin defends last-lap dive on Wallace at Kansas: ‘On Sunday, I am the driver’

Posted on October 1, 2025 by Nate Ryan

Though Zane Smith was unhappy with John Hunter Nemechek for causing a startling wreck at Kansas Speedway, NASCAR was pleased with Smith’s No. 38 Ford after its wild ride.

During the latest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast, Mike Forde, NASCAR managing director of communications, said the at-track inspection after the crash went so well that the car was returned to Front Row Motorsports instead of being transported to the R&D Center for further scrutiny.

The contact with Nemechek’s No. 42 Toyota squeezed Smith’s car into the SAFER barrier. After turning onto its driver side, the No. 38 rode along for several hundred feet at a 90-degree angle to the asphalt before barrel-rolling and landing back on its wheels.

“We never like seeing that, so there is concern that it happened, but from the structural integrity of the car, we’re not concerned,” Forde said. “We were very, very happy with how all that went down. … Nothing was bent, nothing was abnormal, so we gave the car back to the team, and they brought it back to the shop.”

Upon the car’s return from Kansas, NASCAR officials took more photos and met with team members about the incident.

Dr. John Patalak, NASCAR’s vice president of safety engineering, also reviewed the Incident Data Acquisition System that measures G-forces and has a high-speed camera to review the response of driver restraint and cockpit safety devices.

“(Patalak) really liked what he saw from the safety systems,” Forde said. “Zane came away really good there as far as how his seat positioning was, and there was no concern there, either. So, I think the next steps are we’ll look at the race track, look at some more of the data as far as how it got up on the wall. Because cars do get pinched up against the wall often, and you don’t always see that. But all in all, we’re pretty happy with how all that went from a car standpoint. … Everything was good — so good that they may be able to use that chassis again and just pop a new body on it. We’ve had definitely other chassis that were in much worse shape than that one.”

Forde confirmed that security was summoned to Smith’s team hauler, which coincidentally was parked beside John Hunter Nemechek’s hauler in the Kansas garage. In an interview after being released from the infield care center, Smith angrily blamed Nemechek for the wreck.

“It’s not our first rodeo, so sometimes when we see that there might be trouble brewing, we send (security),” Forde said. “That was just trying to keep the peace, get ahead of it and make sure that there were no issues between those two drivers, and there were not. So, I think we’re good there.”

Other topics covered by Forde and NASCAR senior director of racing communications Amanda Ellis during the 35th episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:

— How NASCAR handles power-steering problems during races.

— The rule Brad Keselowski broke that caused his free pass to be rescinded.

— The ejections of two crew chiefs for inspection violations.

— New temporary lighting at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval for a 5 p.m. ET Xfinity start.

— Post-race inspection procedures for a cutoff race in the playoffs.

Click on the embed above to listen or search for “Hauler Talk” wherever you download podcasts to hear it on your phone, tablet or mobile device.

Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He has also covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.