Posted on by Staff Report

After nearly a month away from the track, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action to begin The Chase presented by Mobil 1 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday (8 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX One, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The contest is the first of seven postseason Truck races during the 2026 campaign. Layne Riggs is the defending winner.

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | O’Reilly Auto Parts Series | Craftsman Truck Series

Riggs enters the postseason stretch as the 2026 points leader. Over the 18-race regular season, the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports driver logged six wins, 10 top fives, 11 top 10s, four poles and 598 laps led.

Thirty-seven race trucks are entered into this weekend’s Chase race.

MORE: Weekend schedule | How to watch NASCAR on FS1

Check out the full entry list:

Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series continues on Saturday with a trek to Tennessee for an under-the-lights bout at “The Last Great Colosseum” in Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

This year’s Chase presented by Mobil 1 continues at the iconic venue, with the Bass Pro Shops Night Race the third of 10 postseason battles. The contest is also the 29th points-paying event of the 2026 season. Christopher Bell is the defending winner.

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | O’Reilly Auto Parts Series | Craftsman Truck Series

Kyle Larson, who snapped a 51-race winless streak thanks to his World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway victory in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, enters Bristol on a momentum swing, gaining five spots in The Chase table and sitting only nine points behind points leader Denny Hamlin. In seven Bristol concrete races in the Next Gen era, the 2025 Cup Series champion has two wins and six top-five finishes.

Thirty-seven cars are entered into this weekend’s Chase bout.

MORE: Weekend schedule | How to watch NASCAR on NBC, USA Network

View the entry list here:

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

With only two races left in the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, the race for the championship heads back to Long Island’s Riverhead Raceway this Saturday night for the running of the Eddie Partridge 206 (8:30 p.m. ET on FloRacing).

Held in honor of late Riverhead Raceway owner Eddie Partridge, Saturday’s event will be the 79th Modified Tour race at the quarter-mile bullring. Austin Beers is the defending winner of Saturday’s event, an achievement he’ll attempt to repeat as he continues his pursuit of championship leader Patrick Emerling as the season inches closer to its conclusion.

Justin Bonsignore, who will make his 250th Modified Tour start Saturday, leads all drivers with 12 victories at Riverhead Raceway. Other notable winners through the years at Riverhead include Mike Ewanitsko, Mike Stefanik, Donny Lia, Ryan Preece, Ted Christopher, Doug Coby and Timmy Solomito, just to name a few.

Tickets to Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 206 will be available trackside. Below is everything you need to know before Saturday’s race.

Justin Bonsignore
Justin Bonsignore will make his 250th Modified Tour start during Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 206 at Riverhead Raceway. (Photo: Anna Griffin/NASCAR)

Eddie Partridge 206 at Riverhead Raceway

Riverhead Raceway and Modified racing have gone hand in hand for decades.

Not only is the quarter-mile asphalt oval one of the most traditional venues on the Modified Tour schedule, it is also one of the few tracks left in the United States with Modifieds as their premier weekly racing division.

As a result, some of the best and brightest Modified competitors have honed their skills at Riverhead Raceway. That includes local star Mark Stewart, who won the most recent Modified Tour race at Riverhead earlier this season.

Stewart will be back in the Modified Tour field for Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 206 as he looks to add a second victory with NASCAR’s oldest division to his résumé. In order to do that, he’ll have to outrun some of the best Modified competitors in the United States.

That includes Bonsignore, the winningest Modified Tour driver in Riverhead Raceway history. Bonsignore, who started his career as a local racer at Riverhead, will make his landmark 250th career start during Saturday’s race aboard the No. 51 for Ken Massa Motorsports.

Fresh off his fourth victory of the 2026 campaign two weeks ago at Oswego Speedway, Patrick Emerling heads to Riverhead with an 18-point advantage on Austin Beers in the Modified Tour standings. Emerling and Beers have both won races at Riverhead in the past, which means the battle for the series championship is far from over.

In addition to Stewart, a few more local competitors will join the field for Saturday’s race. They include Chris Rogers, Chase Grennan, Timmy Solomito, Roger Turbush, Joey Braun and Matt Brode. They’ll battle against Modified Tour regulars like Jon McKennedy, Matt Hirschman, Stephen Kopcik, Mike Christopher Jr., Teddy Hodgdon, Tyler Rypkema, Paulie Hartwig III and Andrew Molleur.

The full entry list for Saturday evening’s Eddie Partridge 206 will be available later this week.

Riverhead Raceway
Saturday’s Modified Tour event will be the 79th series event at Riverhead Raceway. (Photo: Anna Griffin/NASCAR)

RACING REFERENCE:

Race Eddie Partridge 206
Date Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026
Track Riverhead Raceway
Layout Quarter-mile asphalt oval
Location Riverhead, New York
Start time 8:30 p.m. ET
Laps 206
Posted Awards $104,092
Tickets Trackside
How to Watch FloRacing

SCHEDULE: Saturday, Sept. 19: Practice from 3:30 to 4:05 p.m. … Final practice from 4:15 to 4:45 p.m. … American Racer Pole Award qualifying at 6:15 p.m. … Start of the Eddie Partridge 206 (206 Laps / 51.5 Miles) at 8:30 p.m. ET.

QUALIFYING: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for The Eddie Partridge 206 presented by My Guy Auto Supply NAPA / Hoss Communications Inc. is limited to 26 starters including Provisional Positions.

TIRE ALLOTMENT: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eight (8) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by NASCAR Officials, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. The same four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice tires during the event. The tire change rule is zero (0) tires, any position for the event.

RE-DRAW PROCEDURE: The fastest qualifier will spin the wheel to determine the number of drivers that will re-draw for their starting positions: 4, 6, 8 or 10 positions will re-draw. Once the fastest qualifier spins the wheel, NASCAR will have the various buckets ready to immediately start the re-draw procedure. Driver will re-draw in their qualifying order after qualifying has been completed (1 through 10, or however many are applicable). The pole position and/or any bonus point(s), if applicable, will be awarded to the fastest qualifier and will be the pole of record. If, due to adverse conditions, qualifying is canceled, the field will be set in accordance with the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Rule Book. The re-draw procedure will still take place regardless of how the field is set.

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

MADISON, Ill. — “Is Kyle Larson back?” “Is he the championship frontrunner?”

Surely, those are the first questions that come to mind when a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion caps a 51-race winless streak with a victory in the early portion of the 2026 Chase presented by Mobil 1.

Larson parked the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet back in Victory Lane Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway for the first time since the 2025 spring race at Kansas Speedway.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

But amid the showers of celebration, the California native is dialing down the knob on the “he is so back” conversation.

“Back to what? Back to 2021? No. Back to 2023? No,” Larson said. “But we’ve been definitely building to get back to Victory Lane. I don’t know if we’re quite yet to where we can go dominate like we have in the past, but a day like today definitely gives you confidence leading into a track (Bristol) where we know we can go dominate.” 

While it hasn’t been for a lack of effort, the No. 5 team and Hendrick have been behind the curve as the Toyota tandem of Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing won a combined 24 races during Larson’s drought and have put a stranglehold on NASCAR’s premier series with Denny Hamlin sitting as the current points leader and championship favorite entering The Chase.

Additionally, Chevrolet brought an updated body to the Cup Series at the beginning of the season and that left the Hendrick organization scratching its head on falling even further behind the Toyota camp.

“We didn’t quite know our deficit to the field,” No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels said. “So early in the year, we were taking, I would just say, too many risks and too many different approaches that weren’t necessarily what we should have done at the time. I think of like Phoenix, we got on a different page at Phoenix early in the year than what we needed to be. Darlington early in the year — we did not do a good job of just the setup that we put in the car and kind of how we approached that one. We have learned through those mistakes that we can’t just go overreach on everything every week. Like everything can’t be in question every week. There’s some things that have to be your solid foundation point.”

Daniels admits the winless drought has made his team be more measured in how it approaches race weekends.

“You’ve got to be more calculated of the things that you’re going to build in that are different, and you’ve got to be equally as calculated of the things that you’re going to build in that aren’t different,” Daniels said. “That’s been a 5 team thing, but it’s also kind of been a Hendrick thing here recently.

“We’ve really had to push ourselves and learn to find that balance of ‘OK, we need to bring a few new things to the race track this weekend. We’re still getting beat. We’re still getting outpaced.’ So we still have to put in the work to find those things.”

Coming into 2026, Larson had won no less than three races in a season going back to his first championship in 2021 when he took a whopping 10 checkered flags en route to his crowning moment in his first season with Hendrick Motorsports.

But after the Kansas win in 2025, mistakes and unforced errors began plaguing the No. 5 team and Larson.

Most notably, Larson had a double-DNF day in his final attempt at the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 Memorial Day weekend combination that seemed to catalyze the drought. But Hall of Famer and Hendrick vice chairman Jeff Gordon admits Hendrick hasn’t brought the best equipment for Larson to succeed in his slump.

“I’ve seen this in my own career and others over the years where things aren’t going your way, you make some mistakes or some things happen to get you in a vulnerable position,” Gordon said. “That’s one thing and that can get you down, but the thing that gets you down the most, especially when you’ve had success, is not having fast race cars, not having cars capable of of running up front. And I think if anything, it’s probably challenged those guys the most. We’ve had a lot of conversations this year about how we’ve been approaching some of the races, knowing we’re behind. We’re always trying to catch up, get our cars better, and working through that with all of our teammates at Chevy and Chevy themselves internally. Effort was being put in and we just weren’t seeing the results and just kind of took some time this season.

“Kyle’s just one of those guys when if the speed’s there, I see his confidence pop right back up right away.”

While 16 months and 51 races without a victory appear long for the standard Larson has set at the Cup level since joining Hendrick, Larson said he doesn’t see it that way and never lost any confidence in his team.

“I always had the trust in our team and the trust in Cliff Daniels. It’s not like we’ve gotten worse as a team,” Larson said. “The trust was always there. I wouldn’t say there was really anything to learn, and that’s why I think the drought didn’t feel so long — and maybe the championship helped with that. Every week I hear you guys tell the new number, and it’s like, ‘It doesn’t seem that large.’ ”

Rolling off a top five and a win to begin The Chase, Larson has quickly ascended from the No. 7 seed to second in points and trails Hamlin by just nine points for the championship lead.

MORE: Cup standings after Gateway | Larson: ‘We got our swagger back’

Larson has been a thorn in Hamlin’s side over recent years when it comes to championship battles, including last year when the No. 5 took the trophy in overtime at Phoenix after a two-tire vs. four-tire strategy call vaulted Larson over the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at the finish.

Whether there is an advantage to chasing the leader early in The Chase or not, Larson has noted the struggles of both Hamlin and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase No. 1 seed Justin Allgaier early in the postseason.

“I think it’s tough to know what’s going on in his and his team’s kind of heads in this moment,” Larson said of Hamlin. “I would say leading into The Chase, like Denny and Justin Allgaier were the two heavy favorites, and they’ve not opened The Chase up as strong as they have been the last few months. I don’t know if it’s because they were just racing free in the regular season, and now you’re trying to protect. We’re just trying to do the best job we can and try to score as many points as we can. I would love to be nine points ahead than nine points behind right now. But it’s been a good start to our Chase.”

There’s no telling if Larson will win again this season or prevent another lengthy drought that extends past a calendar year. But the 34-year-old wheelman is never backing down from adversity and will embrace whatever challenges present themselves to him moving forward.

“The struggle’s fun,” Larson said. “I don’t mind it. I’ve said that all along, too. I’ve had more fun this year than a lot of years and we hadn’t won till this point. I don’t mind the struggle. I’m not scared of it.”

larson in victory lane
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Posted on by Dustin Albino

MADISON, Ill. — The stars of the NASCAR Cup Series put Charles Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest to the test at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Few drivers proved more equipped to survive the battle than the battle-tested Joey Logano.

Logano had the cleanest view at the start of a track-record 18-caution race. He led wire-to-wire in the opening stage, securing his third stage victory of the season. The No. 22 team banked nine additional points with a runner-up finish in Stage 2.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“We did a good job with a pole, first and second in the stages, in position to win,” Logano said. “Drove to the lead multiple times to take the lead when you thought it was a pass for the win a couple of times.”

On Lap 200, three-time championship-winning crew chief Paul Wolfe opted to be the first car to take two fresh Goodyear tires. Kyle Larson, one of Logano’s closest competitors, had four fresh tires to work with. The No. 5 Chevrolet charged through the field on the ensuing restarts, taking the lead on Lap 227 after getting a shove from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman.

Larson held off Logano for the final three restarts, including a pair in overtime, with Bowman passing the No. 22 Team Penske Ford on the penultimate restart. Logano led a race-high 96 laps and took the checkered flag in third position, his fifth straight top-five finish in as many starts in St. Louis.

“I’m just bitter at the moment that we didn’t win,” Logano said. “We did most things right; team did everything right, and I’m not even 100% sure how I could have played that restart any better. (Larson) just did a good job, and they beat us.”

Logano wasn’t aware until after the race that he had been at a tire disadvantage to the No. 5 car. Wolfe believes Larson’s lack of track position made the decision to take four tires an easy one for the Cliff Daniels-led team.

“(Larson) didn’t have track position, so it was an easy call for him to do four,” Wolfe explained. “I don’t know that’s it because it depends on how the restarts go. If we clear him, then those four tires aren’t getting by us. It came down to the restart.

“If you watch the race, I felt like right sides were worth something most of the day. But just track position as well.”

MORE: Chase standings | Cup Series schedule

Logano tallied 54 points with his third-place finish, 19 fewer than Larson’s 73. Larson’s Hendrick teammate William Byron, who overcame a final-stage incident to finish fourth, tallied 33 points, tied with series leader Denny Hamlin.

The No. 22 team had its sights on scoring 60 points for the race before the green flag. Logano is tied for sixth on The Chase grid, 51 points back.

“[We] would have been really close if we would have won it,” Logano said. “We will just keep our foot on the gas. It’s still a good day, good weekend: pole, laps led and did a lot of good things. Just didn’t do the most important part.”

Said Wolfe: “I thought we needed to score 60 points, and we came up a little short of that. I felt like we did everything right; we had a good car – just a lot of cautions today, a lot of restarts. That restart didn’t go like we thought it would, and it was just hard. Then, we had no one up there helping us. You had all the Chevys up there at the end, and we didn’t have a chance.”

Posted on by Staff Report

A multicar crash on Lap 223 took out several drivers contending inside The Chase presented by Mobil 1 in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Bubba Wallace contacted Josh Berry exiting Turn 2, sending Berry high into Bell and ultimately triggering the incident. The cars driven by Bell, Wallace and Berry became sandwiched together, spinning Wallace back into traffic with Bell suffering a flat left-rear tire and spinning farther down the backstretch. Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota climbed the left-rear wheel of Berry’s Ford and briefly got airborne before landing back down and continuing forward. Bell, Wallace and Reddick are all competing in The Chase.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

The crash occurred shortly after a restart after an apparent brake failure for Chase Elliott wiped him and Chase Briscoe both out of the Enjoy Illinois 300, taking out an additional two Chase contenders.

Elliott was running seventh on Lap 214 when his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet puffed black smoke on entry to Turn 1. He spun sideways and across the nose of Briscoe’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, slamming both cars into the SAFER barrier in Turn 1. Sunday’s race marked the second of 10 races toward the championship. Elliott entered the race tied for eighth in the points standings as Briscoe was fifth. Briscoe was just 37 points behind series leader Denny Hamlin, with Elliott 72 points back.

Elliott’s brake failure marked the fourth of the 300-mile event, with fellow Chase racer Ryan Blaney suffering a brake failure of his own on Lap 155 of a scheduled 240.

Elliott was credited with a 31st-place finish, with Briscoe 32nd.

Three other Chase drivers were collected in an incident after a restart on Lap 228. Contact between rookie Connor Zilisch and Chase racers Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar created the 16th caution of the day. Zilisch tipped Gibbs into Hocevar, and Gibbs spun down the back straightaway, clipping AJ Allmendinger in the process. Allmendinger spun back up the track toward the outside wall, directly in front of Kaulig Racing teammate Ty Dillon and another Chase driver Daniel Suárez.

Suárez was unable to continue and was dealt a 29th-place finish. He also suffered damage in an incident during Stage 1.

Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford and another Chase racer, suffered a brake failure on Lap 238, bringing his day to a premature end while sending the race into NASCAR Overtime. Buescher was scored 27th.

Posted on by Dustin Albino

MADISON, Ill. — Brake rotors were top of mind for every crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series garage entering World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. It turned out to be one of the primary talking points leaving the 1.25-mile oval, too.

No blow was bigger than Ryan Blaney’s brake rotor disintegrating at Lap 155 of Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300, the second race of The Chase presented by Mobil 1.

“Didn’t feel great about them the run before and finally expired,” Blaney told reporters at the infield care center.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Blaney, the 2023 Cup Series champion, was in position to capitalize at the flatter track, tallying 14 points through the opening two stages while Team Penske teammate Joey Logano led a race-high 95 laps. The No. 12 Ford was running sixth and closing in on Denny Hamlin for fifth when, crossing the start/finish line, its right-front brake rotor exploded through the hood. Blaney then bounced off the outside wall entering Turn 1.

Blaney limped the No. 12 machine around to his garage stall for the Jonathan Hassler-led bunch to assess the damage. He was credited with a 35th-place finish, earning 16 points.

“Gateway has always been a place that’s tough on brakes,” crew chief Hassler told NASCAR.com from the No. 12 team’s stall. “We’ve been on the good side of it before, but we knew there was a little more demand with this (higher-horsepower) package. We certainly were trying to be conservative, but still didn’t give it enough cooling, I don’t think.”

The incident was Blaney’s second DNF in the last three races, dating back to the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway. He entered the race among the pre-race favorites for the victory, having finishes of sixth or better in three of the previous four visits to Gateway, and his 24th-place finish in 2024 was a result of running out of fuel coming to the white flag as the leader.

MORE: Blaney discusses Gateway wreck

Blaney thought he would contend once again, showing that usual long-run pace that could hunt down his toughest competitors.

“I felt like we were in contention,” Blaney said of the No. 12 before the issue. “I never really got the lead, and I never really got to get a head-to-head [comparison] with me, the 5 [Kyle Larson] and Joey, which I thought us three were really good. I definitely thought it was a contending car, and I would have liked to have seen how the race played out.”

With 13 other Chase competitors experiencing their own gremlins according to Racing Insights, including points leader Denny Hamlin, the damage was limited for Blaney. He lost 17 points to Hamlin and now trails the points leader by 33 markers with eight races remaining in the 2026 campaign.

“Just got to keep going,” Blaney said. “Go to the next week and try to have a good day. It’s a shame. I thought we did a good job today. The car was good and had good stage points and was looking forward to the end of the race. We will just go race next week.”

MORE: Chase standings | Cup Series schedule

Said Hassler: “Fortunately, we were in a decent spot with the points coming in. We’ve got a lot of good tracks coming up, so we will move on and do the best we can every week.”

Next up is Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Blaney led 190 laps in April and finished runner-up by 0.055 seconds to Ty Gibbs, who held off the No. 12 car to score his first Cup victory.

Posted on by Staff Report

Seven racers in The Chase presented by Mobil 1 collided in the Lap 141 restart that began the final stage at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Bubba Wallace forced his way to the bottom of what became a four-wide wad through Turns 1 and 2 during the Enjoy Illinois 300, with fellow Chase contenders Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece to his right and Josh Berry atop the four-wide situation.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Room ran out as Wallace and Briscoe came together, sending both Toyotas for a spin. William Byron also contacted Wallace in the melee, incurring significant damage to his No. 24 Chevrolet. Byron entered the event last in the 16-driver Chase standings following an engine failure last weekend at Darlington Raceway.

Briscoe also contacted Preece while sliding sideways off Turn 2. Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin made contact as Hamlin swerved to avoid the calamity. Chase Elliott nearly missed the accident but got slight rear damage from Byron and Wallace.

All drivers were able to continue despite the crash, which necessitated the ninth of 18 cautions Sunday. Byron bounced back for a fourth-place finish, best of those involved.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

MADISON, Ill. — In a cauldron of chaos, with Chase drivers wrecking and brake rotors exploding through the bodies of NASCAR Cup Series cars, Kyle Larson’s 51-race winless streak ended Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Holding off pole winner Joey Logano and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman on a succession of late restarts, Larson won the Enjoy Illinois 300 in two overtimes to affirm his status as a contender for a third series championship in The Chase presented by Mobil 1.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

With top seed Denny Hamlin running ninth after a problematic pit stop on Lap 199 of 247, Larson, the defending series champion, gained five positions to second in the Chase standings, nine points behind Hamlin.

The victory was the first for the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet since May 11, 2025, at Kansas Speedway. Larson, who led 80 laps and won the Stage 2, prevailed for the first time at WWT Raceway and for the 33rd time in his career.

In a race that featured a track-record 18 cautions for 87 laps, Larson passed Logano to the inside moments after a Lap 228 restart that followed a four-car wreck involving Chase drivers Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick.

Three more cautions and two attempts at overtime later, Larson took the checkered flag 0.333 seconds ahead of Bowman, who grabbed the second position from Logano on a Lap 242 restart.

SHOP: Winner gear

Larson had superior speed at the end of the race, thanks to a four-tire call by Larson himself on the team’s final stop on Lap 201. Logano’s crew chief, Paul Wolfe, opted for right-side tires on the No. 22 Ford’s last trip to pit road, and Larson’s tire advantage — along with strong pushes from Bowman on consecutive restarts — proved decisive.

“Just proud of my team for working so hard, being so patient through all the tough times, the winless streak, all that,” said Larson, who ended a nine-race drought for Chevrolet. “Thanks to the fans, my fans, for also being patient with us, letting us get it figured out,

“How about Hendrick Motorsports? Alex Bowman, can’t ask for a better teammate than him. Gave me the pushes I needed to get clear. Want to dedicate this win to him — and his dog just passed away a couple days ago.”

Bowman, who will retire from full-time Cup racing after next season, executed a solid race, avoiding the pitfalls that caused consternation among other competitors.

“Yeah, super happy for Kyle. Was a really hard weekend just to get on the plane and be here,” Bowman said. “So, yeah, ready to go home. But proud of everybody on this Ally 48 team for helping me through the weekend. Yeah, life is hard sometimes.

“Yeah, I lost my best friend, so just ready to go home.”

Logano, who led a race-high 96 laps and finished third, had mixed feelings about the outcome for the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

“The restart where Larson took the lead — that’s where I lost it obviously,” Logano said. “He just rolled the bottom really good and cleared me, which is really surprising.

“His first, like, three laps of every run was pretty spectacular. You had a bunch of three-lap runs there at the end. Once he got there, then the 48 (Bowman) got there, the 24 (William Byron) got there. Had no homies with me. No more friends. On my own …

“I mean, it’s a good run, right? Got a lot of stage points, finished in the top five again, which is obviously what we need to do. Thinking about what the 25 points would feel like right about now, it does stink some.”

RELATED: Logano: ‘Just bitter at the moment’

Logano, who won the first stage and finished second in Stage 2, leaves Greater St. Louis tied for sixth in the Chase standings, having trimmed his deficit to Hamlin from 72 points to 51.

William Byron recovered from a Lap 141 accident to finish fourth, with Ross Chastain in fifth, posting his second top five of the season. Austin Dillon was sixth, followed by Connor Zilisch, Carson Hocevar, Hamlin and Austin Cindric.

If Logano was somewhat disappointed with his third-place result, his dissatisfaction paled in comparison with the calamities that befell a succession of Chase drivers. Ryan Blaney blew a brake rotor and fell out in 35th place, falling 33 points behind Hamlin.

Five Chase drivers — Blaney, Daniel Suárez, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Chase Briscoe — had gone to the garage before the race ended. Buescher and Elliott both suffered from exploding rotors, with Elliott collecting Briscoe after his No. 9 Chevrolet spiraled out of control.

MORE: Several Chase drivers involved in major final stage wrecks

Bell, last Sunday’s winner at Darlington Raceway, finished 19th and fell one spot to third in the standings, 18 points behind Hamlin.

The bottom five drivers in the Chase standings — Byron, Cindric, Buescher, Ryan Preece and Suárez — are all more than 100 points out of first place and losing touch with the top contenders, although there are eight races left before the title is decided.

The Cup Series competes next in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Stage 2 recap

Kyle Larson won Stage 2 of Sunday’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Joey Logano finished second, followed by Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Josh Berry. Denny Hamlin, Ryan Preece, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace completed the top 10 and points earners.

After Stage 1’s conclusion, all but 12 lead-lap cars pitted. Among those staying out were Daniel Suárez, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric and Chris Buescher, all Chase drivers who came for service at least once during the opening frame.

Just four laps under green-flag conditions in Stage 2, Ty Gibbs contacted Erik Jones battling for 18th, sending the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota spinning. Gibbs had trouble passing Jones for multiple laps before the bump and slide.

MORE: Full Stage 2 results

The race restarted on Lap 60, but it took just four laps until the next yellow. Riley Herbst cut across Shane van Gisbergen’s bumper after Buescher checked up following contact from Carson Hocevar in front of them, spinning across AJ Allmendinger.

A majority of Chase drivers came down pit road, where many teams took two fresh Goodyear Eagles. Hamlin won the race off pit road, and he restarted fourth on Lap 69 with Ross Chastain in the lead.

On Lap 81, Kyle Larson passed Chastain for the top spot to lead laps in the second consecutive race. Chastain pitted during the stage break and banked on a caution later in Stage 2 to refuel. But with 12 to go amid the longest run of the race, he surrendered his fourth-place running position for fuel.

But as Chastain blended back onto the racing surface, Zane Smith suffered an issue entering Turn 1, pounding the outside SAFER barrier. That caution came with exactly 10 laps to go, ending Stage 2 prematurely.

Stage 1 recap

Joey Logano won a chaotic Stage 1 of the Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, leading all 45 laps.

Christopher Bell finished second despite a late charge for max points, followed by Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott. Carson Hocevar, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs and Brad Keselowski completed the top 10 in the second race of The Chase.

MORE: Full Stage 1 results | Watch Logano clinch Stage 1 win

It didn’t take long for the first Chase drivers to have issues. Exiting Turn 4 and heading into Lap 4, the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet of Daniel Suárez wiggled and made contact with Tyler Reddick, forcing the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota into the wall. The Chase drivers were battling for a spot inside the top 15.

Two laps later, Riley Herbst spun in the same spot after contact from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Herbst slid into the inside wall, suffering front-end and right-side damage on his No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota for the first caution of the afternoon, allowing teammate Reddick to come down pit road for repairs and dropping outside the top 30.

The race restarted on Lap 10, and just five circuits later, Stenhouse went around exiting Turn 2, with the single-car incident resulting in the second yellow of the day. Reddick pitted a second time, and Suárez came for service as well, allowing his team to investigate for potential damage.

On the ensuing restart, another crash broke out toward the back of the field. Michael McDowell got squeezed into the wall by Shane van Gisbergen while racing four-wide, resulting in an incident that also sent Noah Gragson spinning in his No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford. The wreck happened in front of Suárez, who suffered minor front and rear damage. He again visited pit road for repairs.

On Lap 28, van Gisbergen washed up the track in Turns 1 and 2, contacting Ty Dillon before spinning himself around for the fourth caution. Under that yellow, a handful of Chase drivers made their first scheduled pit stops, including points leader Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Austin Cindric, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher.

The rest of Stage 1 remained green, and Logano earned the wire-to-wire victory.

NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed in the Cup Series garage with no issues, confirming Larson as the Gateway winner. 

Contributing: Staff report

Posted on by Staff Report

World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway acts as the second postseason contest for the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. Following a thrilling weekend at Darlington Raceway, the 1.25-mile track in Madison, Illinois, will be the next battleground in The Chase presented by Mobil 1, with plenty of excitement to be expected. Current Chase points leader Denny Hamlin is the defending winner, while the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will see a new victor emerge after Connor Zilisch took home the honors last season. Bookmark this page and return often for your race-week essentials, from qualifying orders, pit stalls, results and more.

RELATED: Full weekend schedule | TV listings | Goodyear tire setup 

NASCAR Cup Series

Race day: Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available. 

Tires: Twelve total sets — nine new sets for the race, two for practice and one for qualifying that transfers to the race. 

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Starting Lineup
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series

Race day: Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on The CW. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available. 

Tires: Five total sets — three new sets for the race, one for practice and one for qualifying that transfers to the race. 

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Starting Lineup
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results