SOUTH BOSTON, Virginia — While the spotlight is tightly focused on the tie at the top of the Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division point standings between former NASCAR national champion Peyton Sellers and Trevor Ward heading into the Saturday night, September 6 Halifax County Farm Bureau Championship Night event at South Boston Speedway, a spoiler could possibly come into play.

That spoiler could be Landon Pembelton.

Neither Sellers, who is bidding for a record-breaking eighth career South Boston Speedway championship, nor Ward, who is chasing his first championship, can forget about Pembelton.

The Amelia, Virginia, resident stands just eight points behind the two leaders and could be the spoiler in the championship chase if he wins Saturday night’s 100-lap Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division race, the final points race of the 2025 season at South Boston Speedway, and Sellers and Ward stumble.

“This last race is going to be a dogfight,” Pembelton remarked. “This thing is going to go down to the wire. I’m looking forward to it.”

There are multiple scenarios in which Pembelton could earn his first career South Boston Speedway Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division title. One of those scenarios is if he wins the race and Sellers and Ward finish ninth or worse. Another scenario is Pembelton can win the championship if he starts at the rear of the field, wins the race, and Sellers and Ward finish eighth or worse. A third scenario is that if none of the three drivers wins the race and Pembelton finishes nine positions ahead of Sellers and Ward, he can win the championship.

Pembelton arguably has the best overall record among the three title contenders over the last three races with a second-place finish, a third-place finish and a win. Ward has a 10th-place finish, a win, and a second-place finish in his last three races. Sellers has a third-place finish, a fourth-place finish, and a fifth-place finish in his last three starts. Ward and Pembelton split wins in the twin-race event on August 23 at South Boston Speedway.

Saturday night’s 100-lap race will be the longest single race for the Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division since the 200-lap race on June 28. Pembelton sees that as a good thing.

“I think it’s going to play into our favor,” Pembelton said. “This car (the car driven to the August 23 win) seems to be better on the longer runs. If we qualify in the top four or top five, it’s going to be okay.”

Pembelton sees the pressure factor in his favor as well.

Landon Pembelton and Trevor Ward
Landon Pembelton (0) races around the outside of Trevor Ward during an event this season at South Boston Speedway. (Photo: Joe Chandler/South Boston Speedway)

“I have no pressure on me,” Pembelton pointed out. “I’ve just got to go into it, not tear up the racecar, finish the race, and it all will play out how it should.”

All four of South Boston Speedway’s division championships will be determined in Saturday night’s Halifax County Farm Bureau Championship Night event. Along with the 100-lap Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division race there will be a 50-lap race for the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division, a 25-lap race for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division, and a 20-lap race for the Dollar General Hornets Division.

A special Championship Night Fireworks Show presented by Italian Delight Family Restaurant will follow the final race of the night.

Zach Peregoy of Clarksville, Virginia leads Tristan Brunelli of Powhatan, Virginia by 18 points in the title chase in the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division. South Boston, Virginia resident B.J. Reaves, who is seeking a second straight Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division title, has a 25-point advantage over Dillon Davis of Nathalie, Virginia entering Saturday night’s 25-lap Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division race.

Jason DeCarlo of Chase City, Virginia, who is seeking his second career Dollar General Hornets Division championship, leads Landon Milam of Keeling, Virginia by 14 points entering the final race of the season.

Advance adult tickets for the Saturday, September 6 Halifax County Farm Bureau Championship Night event are priced at $12. Tickets at the gate on race day will be $15 each. Suite tickets are available for $40 each. Seniors ages 65 and older, military, and students (with ID) can purchase tickets for $12 each at the gate only on the day of the event.

Saturday’s tentative race-day schedule has registration and pit gates opening at 2 p.m. and practice going from 3:25 p.m. to 5:05 p.m. Frontstretch grandstand gates open at 3:30 p.m. and backstretch and Turn 4 trackside parking gates open at 5:30 p.m. Qualifying starts at 6 p.m. and the first race of the night will get the green flag at 7 p.m.

The latest news and updates about the September 6 Halifax County Farm Bureau Championship Night event and all South Boston Speedway events can be found on the speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, by calling the speedway office at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours, and through the track’s social media channels.

Sometimes, the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are about which drivers and teams can exceed expectations by the most — think about Joey Logano’s history of clutch wins that always seem to have him outperforming his regular-season output. But in other cases, it’s about doing what’s expected and producing at tracks where you’re supposed to.

RELATED: Cup standings | Gateway schedule

That was theoretically the plan for Rick Hendrick’s team at Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. In the modern era of the Cup Series — since 1972 — Hendrick Motorsports owns the most wins (16), top fives (58) and top 10s (97) at the track “Too Tough to Tame,” and the team had a streak of five consecutive years with at least one driver finishing eighth or better at the Southern 500 going into this year’s race. Simply holding serve and doing their usual thing would have helped a Hendrick lineup that went into the playoffs with the top two statistical championship favorites (William Byron and Kyle Larson) and a 43 percent chance of winning the title in our initial playoff simulation model.

Instead, Hendrick’s quartet of drivers had one of the team’s worst days ever at Darlington. No Hendrick driver finished better than Chase Elliott at 17th, which represented the first time at a Southern 500 that all Hendrick Motorsports entries were outside the top 16. The team’s overall average finish of 22.0 was also its fourth-worst showing in a four-car race at the track in its history:

Chart showing how the Southern 500 on Aug. 31, 2025 was one of Hendrick Motorsports' worst days as a team at Darlington Raceway.

Between Alex Bowman’s problems on pit lane early — from which he never really recovered en route to a 31st-place finish — to the other cars mostly lacking their usual pace (Larson was the only Hendrick driver to carry a Driver Rating over 80), Hendrick missed its marks in the playoff opener. So how much should the team be concerned now, and what did its disappointing evening in South Carolina do to its overall playoff chances?

Here’s a look at how the playoff odds changed for each team between the pre- and post-Darlington simulations:

Chart showing how the Southern 500 on Aug. 31, 2025 changed each team's playoff outlook with JGR moving ahead of Hendrick for percentage chance at winning a championship.

Whereas Hendrick was the biggest favorite to produce the eventual title winner going into the playoffs, the model has now shifted toward Joe Gibbs Racing, with Chase Briscoe gaining a series-high 9.6 percentage points to his championship odds with an absurdly dominant win at Darlington. Byron remains the model’s favorite, as he stays the runaway leader in average Driver Rating this season — at 98.5, well clear of teammate Larson’s 90.5 mark — and has a series-best 106.9 rating on ovals specifically. But he has dipped from 22.5 percent title odds to 18.9 percent after a 21st-place finish and 76.2 Driver Rating at Darlington.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the title-odds ranking, Bowman’s nightmare day shaved 33.6 percentage points off his chances to advance to the Round of 12, dropping him from a solid 55.3 percent chance to just 21.8 percent. (Only Josh Berry, who had his own immediate problems at Darlington, lost more advancement potential in the opening race of the playoffs.) Sitting 19 points below the cutline, Bowman now is in the unenviable position of needing to score at least one — if not two — top-10 finishes at Gateway and Bristol to even have a chance of advancing to the Round of 12:

Chart showing Alex Bowman's percentage chance to advance to the Round of 12 in the 2025 Cup Series playoffs based upon his finishes at Gateway and Bristol.

He could still win one of these races, of course, and punch his ticket instantly. But short of that type of heroics, Bowman will probably cut Hendrick’s crew of playoff drivers down to (at most) three when the Round of 16 is complete.

The good news for Team Hendrick, however, is that its other drivers are not in nearly as dire a position as Bowman.

Larson actually gained advancement odds with his 19th-place showing at Darlington, because he ran better than his final placing would have indicated — he scored 12 stage points and had a solid 90.3 Driver Rating, ninth-best in the field. He’s 38 points above the cutline and we’re coming up on two of his best tracks; Larson should be just fine.

So should Byron, despite the unimpressive run at the Southern 500. He has a 25-point cushion of his own in the standings, and that top-ranked average Driver Rating for the season as a whole should portend success at an oval and short track in the next two weeks.

Elliott is a bit less secure, sitting in 11th place with just a nine-point edge over the cutline. But his hallmark is consistency, and that should come in handy for nursing that lead in the standings, even if Gateway and Bristol aren’t his very best tracks. In the model, Elliott can probably still make the next round if he has just one good showing and avoids a truly bad outing in the other race:

Chart showing percentage chance for Chase Elliott to advance to the Round of 12 in the 2025 Cup playoffs based upon his finishes at Gateway and Bristol.

In other words, it’s not quite time to panic at Hendrick Motorsports yet, even if they didn’t have a field day at a track where they usually run wild. Barring total disaster, they ought to still be fairly well-represented in the Round of 12, even if Bowman will probably drop out of the championship chase.

But still, Darlington proved that even the strongest team on paper isn’t immune to sudden changes in the postseason — and Hendrick’s championship road does look rougher now than it did just a week ago.

The NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series head to the St. Louis area this weekend for some Midwest action at World Wide Technology Raceway. The Cup Series Playoffs Round of 16 rolls on at Gateway, while the Xfinity Series concludes its regular season and solidifies its postseason field. Bookmark this page and come back often for your race-week essentials — from links to qualifying order, average practice speeds, results and more.

RELATED: Full weekend schedule | TV listings

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: Eleven sets for the weekend (nine new race sets, one set transferred from qualifying and one for practice).

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

NASCAR Xfinity 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: Six sets for the weekend (three new race sets, one set transferred from qualifying and two for practice). 

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Qualifying Results

Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

Here’s what’s happening in NASCAR with the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in the rearview and the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway up next (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

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

1. Chase Briscoe tops title talk — but don’t forget about his teammates

The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing driver entered the season as the third-most-likely among the team to win the championship, but he just jolted to the top after a rousing Southern 500 win to open the playoffs. His teammates, though? You haven’t heard the last from them.

Chase Briscoe took what you thought you knew about how these playoffs were going to go and completely shredded it Sunday night at Darlington.

The No. 19 driver went from a “yeah, I could see that happening” kind of contender to “holy cow, this guy is the favorite” in short order, dramatically shifting his 2025 campaign into overdrive after sputtering out of the gates in his first year at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Entering the season as the presumptive third in the pecking order among JGR drivers as most likely to claim the title, Briscoe’s second-half surge — and really since about Kansas, in May — has vaulted him firmly into the title conversation, and Darlington ensured it now starts with him.

The Indiana native’s second straight Southern 500 triumph was emphatic, leading a career-best 309 laps. His dominance extends beyond that single race, however, boasting the best 12-race stretch of any driver since Mexico with first-place rankings in average speed per NASCAR Insights, average finish (11th), points per race (34.7), top-five finishes (6), stage wins (4), and laps led (536).

I’m not here to further cement Briscoe’s favorite status, though — NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson did that on site at Darlington — but instead to mention that his teammates, the ones who at different times have each looked like Championship 4 locks this year, are coming for that spot.

Denny Hamlin, participating in his 19th playoffs and in search of his fifth Championship 4 appearance, is not locked into the Round of 12 yet but is not far off Briscoe’s tail, with a hefty plus-43 points above the cutline after finishing seventh at Darlington. He’s also collected more wins and top 10s this year than Briscoe, and, apart from sealing the deal at the end, arguably has a better handle on this playoff system than any other driver in its history. Riding two straight runner-ups at Gateway, he may just be the favorite this weekend and, if he capitalizes on it, could immediately leapfrog Briscoe based on history and upcoming tracks alone.

There’s also Christopher Bell, another vital cog in JGR’s 2025 title aspirations — and a driver that was essentially penciled into the Championship 4 just four races into the season, because he won three of ‘em.

Though Bell has just three top 10s in the 11 races since Mexico, this is still a championship-caliber team with a driver/crew-chief combo to match. Bell and Co. also boast a strong record at St. Louis, averaging a 9.0 average finish in the three Cup races there and leading 80 laps in the most recent one. A dismal Darlington will have this team digging deep for a rebound this weekend, and Bell’s sustained competitiveness (despite the weak actual finishes of late) keeps him a clear contender.

They’re both likely to be in the mix for the win at Gateway, and, should either win, the spotlight immediately shifts back to them, especially with each having some of their best tracks remaining in the weeks ahead.

Although Briscoe is the current flame, teammates like Hamlin and Bell honestly look like they could be his biggest competition at the moment, especially considering Chase Elliott’s P17 was Hendrick Motorsports’ top Darlington finish and the powerhouse team, thus far, hasn’t found the strongest hold on this weekend’s 1.25-mile track, still in its Cup infancy.

Onto Gateway!

Chris Graythen | Getty Images

2. Below the cut and running out of time — desperation sets in for some at Gateway

Darlington brought the playoff chaos early, with several contenders running into catastrophic issues at the track “Too Tough to Tame.” With a fresh playoff track and its unknowns ahead, who might rebound, and who might sink deeper?

An early dose of playoff chaos was delivered Sunday at Darlington, leaving key contenders below the cutline and in desperate need of redemption as they head to World Wide Technology Raceway. With only two races remaining in the Round of 16, the intensity is already at a fever pitch as drivers battle the pressure of securing their advancement to the Round of 12 … or at least not digging the hole any deeper, for some.

The St. Louis-area track, a relatively fresh Cup Series venue and a first-time playoff locale, looms as both an opportunity and a threat for those fighting for survival.

Darlington’s grueling nature resulted in multiple run-ins and pit-road mishaps that severely damaged the playoff hopes of some drivers; some were able to recover, but not all. Austin Dillon ended the race with a 23rd-place finish after contact with Ryan Blaney on Lap 210, dropping him eight points below the cutline in a race he needed to maximize. Alex Bowman suffered a catastrophic 40-second pit stop due to a disconnected air line at Lap 69, resulting in a 31st-place finish to live 19 points below the cutline. Joey Logano, the defending three-time Cup champion and former St. Louis winner, had a 20th-place finish and slipped just below the cutoff.

Adding to the list, Chase Elliott suffered a costly 16-second pit stop adjustment, resulting in a 17th-place finish — again, somehow a team-high — while Bubba Wallace needed to overcome a pit-stop issue of his own to finish sixth.

Heck, Josh Berry all but had his playoffs end on Lap 1. The ‘Lady’ was angry that day, my friends, and she made sure the playoff drivers knew it.

And now, the desperation sets in.

MORE: NASCAR Cup title favorites have work to do after fraught Southern 500

Dillon (-8 points), Bowman (-19) and Berry (-19) aren’t yet in “must-win” mode, but there just isn’t much time to count on making up that ground; winning is always going to be the safest, yet most difficult path. But if you’re a playoff driver struggling to string together consistent finishes or doing your best just to wade through poor pit performances it likely means, unfortunately, you’re gonna face the very real risk of elimination, and a lot sooner than you think.

Bowman’s St. Louis results also include no top-10 finishes (with an average finish outside the top 20). Combined with just one finish better than 20th in the past four weeks, it signals potential continued difficulties on this demanding track and an earlier exit than his Round of 8 miss last year.

Similarly, the under-pressure Dillon, whose last few races have been marked by misfortune and contact after looking like a potential contender at Richmond, will need to overcome hurdles to avoid playoff elimination.

Though Team Penske’s St. Louis excellence could theoretically rub off on Berry in an aligned Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford, he faces long odds to rebound at Gateway, especially against the track’s demanding conditions and competitive field in his maiden playoff stint.

Gateway represents a critical juncture in the NASCAR playoffs, where desperation and determination are on a collision course, as drivers are sharply divided between those poised to rebound with strong track history and those who risk sinking even deeper. The unforgiving nature of the track, combined with the psychological pressure of playoff survival, ensures that the drama will only intensify as the Round of 16 edges closer to its climax, before we even reach the showcase race that is Bristol Motor Speedway under the lights.

The stakes are immediately high at one of NASCAR’s newest playoff battlegrounds, and the question remains: Who will rise to the occasion — and who will fall farther behind?

Logan Riely | Getty Images

3. Petty on ‘monumental’ Southern 500 victory for Briscoe

Kyle Petty dissects Chase Briscoe’s Southern 500 win from Darlington and why it’s so hard to go back-to-back in the Next Gen era.

4. Is Kyle Busch going to play playoff spoiler this weekend?

Fresh off missing the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time in his career, Kyle Busch returns to the site of his most recent Cup Series win, 84 races ago. He’s shown shades of the old “Rowdy” in all three Gateway races so far, so could he remind everyone why he’s a future Hall of Famer with a Sunday win — and spoil a potential clincher for his Round-of-12-seeking teammate? (Credit: Racing Insights)

DateStartFinishLaps LedStatusNote
6/5/202212266RunningPassed for the win on an overtime restart
6/4/202311121RunningLast Cup win
6/2/2024103515AccidentAccident with Kyle Larson at the end of Stage 2

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

Paint Scheme Preview: 2025 World Wide Technology Raceway weekend

Playoff Pulse: Chaos strikes at Darlington, Briscoe locks into Round of 12

Power Rankings: Cindric enters Gateway as defending winner, ready to advance

Tyler Reddick’s last-gasp effort leaves him just short of Southern 500 win

Analysis: A league of his own at Darlington — Chase Briscoe sprints ahead as Cup title favorite

Radioactive: Drivers sound off during hectic Lap 1 mess at Darlington

Briscoe humbled that his name ‘will forever be in the history books’

Sean Gardner | Getty Images

The NASCAR Cup Series continues the Round of 16 in the 2025 playoffs with the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway. Qualifying at the 1.25-miler begins at 5:40 p.m. ET on Saturday (truTV, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

QUALIFYING ORDER: Cup Series | Xfinity Series

The qualifying order below is determined via metric that combines the previous race finish by owner (70%) and current owner points position (30%).

Saturday’s qualifying session will be one lap and one round.

The race itself will be on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

MORE: How to watch NASCAR on NBC, USA | Driver Cams on HBO Max | Weekend schedule

# denotes series rookie
(i) denotes ineligible for driver points
P denotes playoff driver 

Pos.Car No.DriverMetric ScoreGroup
151Cody Ware36.71
210Ty Dillon33.41
371Michael McDowell30.91
435Riley Herbst # 30.11
547Ricky Stenhouse Jr.29.71
67Justin Haley27.91
734Todd Gilliland27.51
841Cole Custer26.71
999Daniel Suárez25.61
1054Ty Gibbs21.41
114Noah Gragson20.01
1238Zane Smith17.51
136Brad Keselowski17.41
1460Ryan Preece16.61
1577Carson Hocevar13.81
1617Chris Buescher12.11
178Kyle Busch11.31
1842John Hunter Nemechek10.01
1916AJ Allmendinger9.82
2043Erik Jones8.72
2121Josh Berry (P)31.42
2248Alex Bowman (P)26.22
2388Shane van Gisbergen # (P)26.02
2420Christopher Bell (P)23.32
253Austin Dillon (P)20.32
2622Joey Logano (P)17.92
2724William Byron (P)16.52
289Chase Elliott (P)15.22
2912Ryan Blaney (P)14.72
305Kyle Larson (P)14.22
312Austin Cindric (P)11.12
321Ross Chastain (P)10.12
3323Bubba Wallace (P)5.72
3411Denny Hamlin (P)5.52
3545Tyler Reddick (P)2.62
3619Chase Briscoe (P)1.02

The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to the Midwest Saturday for the Nu Way 200 Sauced by Blues Hog at World Wide Technology Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The CW App will air Xfinity Series qualifying earlier Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. A 50-minute practice session is scheduled for Friday at 5:05 p.m. ET, also airing on The CW App.

QUALIFYING ORDER: Cup Series | Xfinity Series 

The qualifying order below is determined via metric that combines the previous race finish by owner (70%) and current owner points position (30%).

Saturday’s qualifying session will be just one lap and one round.

MORE: How to watch on The CW | Weekend schedule

# denotes series rookie
(i) denotes ineligible for driver points

Pos.Car No.DriverMetric ScoreGroup
176Kole Raz58.71
245Lavar Scott36.11
317Corey Day35.01
407Nick Lietz34.51
535Glen Reen32.31
611Daniel Hemric(i)31.11
799Matt DiBendetto31.01
842Anthony Alfredo30.91
970Thomas Annunziata29.51
1053Joey Gase29.31
114Parker Retzlaff29.11
1214Garrett Smithley28.01
1326Dean Thompson #27.51
1419Aric Almirola25.61
1591Matt Mills25.11
1671Ryan Ellis23.41
1728Kyle Sieg21.71
1800Sheldon Creed21.61
1939Ryan Sieg21.31
2051Jeremy Clements18.82
218Sammy Smith17.52
2232Jordan Anderson16.42
2320Brandon Jones15.02
2444Brennan Poole14.82
2531Blaine Perkins13.82
2610Daniel Dye #13.12
2754Taylor Gray #12.82
2841Sam Mayer12.12
2925Harrison Burton11.72
307Justin Allgaier11.12
3127Jeb Burton9.12
322Jesse Love8.22
3316Christian Eckes #7.62
3418William Sawalich #7.42
351Carson Kvapil #6.02
3648Nick Sanchez #5.72
3721Austin Hill5.02
3888Connor Zilisch #1.02

 

NASCAR will consider altering its eligibility standards for awarding a point to the driver with the fastest lap after another last-place car earned the bonus at Darlington Raceway.

After wrecking in the second turn of the Southern 500, Josh Berry went to the garage for repairs that took several dozen laps. He returned to set the fastest lap (29.038 seconds) on the 1.366-mile oval despite completing only 239 of 367 laps in a 38th-place finish.

RELATED: Darlington results | Cup standings

During the latest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast, managing director of communications Mike Forde said NASCAR executives discussed a review of tweaking the fastest lap rule, possibly by making it necessary to be on the lead lap while setting the mark.

“I think that’s some of the conversation in the offseason, nothing’s going to be changing over the next nine races, but that is something we plan to look at as we move forward into 2026,” Forde said.

Kyle Larson has earned the bonus point twice after returning to the track following major repairs to his No. 5 Chevrolet. He set the fastest laps despite finishing 42 laps down in 36th at Mexico City and 15 laps down in 39th at Watkins Glen. Having also set the fastest laps at Circuit of The Americas and Kansas, those four extra points helped Larson finish ahead of teammate Chase Elliott in the 2025 regular-season standings and gain an extra playoff point.

Just as Larson’s car went through postrace inspection scrutiny at Watkins Glen, Forde said Berry’s No. 21 Ford also passed body and underbody scans after Darlington to ensure its legality.

RELATED: Gateway schedule | Paint schemes

Forde said “there are conversations on both sides” about whether to change the eligibility for the fastest lap, which helps incentivize teams to continue racing after being caught in an early crash or suffering a mechanical problem.

“Fans of Kyle Larson came out to watch him, and they want to continue seeing him strive and compete for something when you’re double- or triple-digits laps down,” Forde said. “So there are good reasons to keep it in there.”

“I imagine if you ask the teams, they probably are for it. They’re competitors, and it gives them something to race for … no one’s knocking down the doors of the hauler to gripe about it.”

Other topics covered by Forde and NASCAR senior director of racing communications Amanda Ellis during the 31st episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:

— How NASCAR officiated the overtime restart of the Xfinity Series race at Portland International Raceway after race winner Connor Zilisch missed the first turn and several drivers missed the second corner.

— Whether NASCAR will make any policy changes after the latest instance of a driver stop in another team’s pit stall for service.

— The new Goodyear tire this weekend for World Wide Technology Raceway after getting tested in June.

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 also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.

If Hendrick Motorsports wants to win its first NASCAR Cup Series championship since 2021, it will have to find a way to improve at Phoenix Raceway.

That plan is in progress, with visible steps forward on similar shorter tracks in August, like at Iowa Speedway — where William Byron won — and Richmond Raceway — where Alex Bowman finished second. But another flat track is ahead Sunday at the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Has the team improved enough to be true title contenders if any of its four Chevrolets advance to the Championship 4?

“I think we’ve been sneaking up on it,” Byron told NASCAR.com in a recent teleconference. “I think we’ve been making progress at those tracks. Definitely the focus point after last season was, how do we get better at those tracks? Because I feel like we feel like we were actually better in 2023 than we were last year at Phoenix, and we knew we had to go to work and just figure out this 1-mile aero package and just how the car needs to drive and everything.

“We put a lot of work into that this year, development-wise, behind the scenes, a lot of people back at the race shop, and it seems like we’re starting to see some of those gains in small ways at those tracks. Still got a ways to go, but I think we’re getting there.”

MORE: Playoff standings before Gateway | How to watch on HBO Max

It would be an exaggeration to say Hendrick Motorsports has been terrible at Phoenix, where the championship has been decided each November since 2020. But the team has been vocal in acknowledging its place a step behind Team Penske.

In last year’s title race, Byron was the team’s lone Championship 4 contender and finished third after leading 19 laps — with teammates Kyle Larson fourth, Chase Elliott eighth and Bowman 14th. In 2023, both Larson and Byron were title-eligible and placed third and fourth, respectively, behind race-runner-up Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who claimed that season’s championship. Under the current playoff format, all that matters at Phoenix is finishing the best of the four title contenders that day. Since 2022, no one has toppled Team Penske at Phoenix in the fall, with Joey Logano winning the 2022 and 2024 titles to bookend Blaney’s triumph.

Phoenix’s layout separates it from most tracks — a perfectly straight backstretch connects the flat, sweeping Turns 1 and 2 to a more steeply banked Turns 3 and 4, leading to a high-banked tri-oval that leads to plenty of action. Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon expressed a cautious optimism for the season finale based on the late-summer performances he saw at Iowa (0.875 miles) and Richmond (0.75 miles). But Gordon is still holding his breath for two early postseason tests as Gateway (1.25 miles) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1.058 miles) join the 2025 postseason schedule.

William Byron and Alex Bowman drive at Gateway.
Logan Riely | Getty Images

Hendrick Motorsports has just three top 10s at Gateway through 12 combined starts — its worst total at any track with at least 12 starts — and the team has not won at New Hampshire since Kasey Kahne went to Victory Lane in 2012.

“Let’s look at Gateway. Let’s look at New Hampshire,” Gordon said. “Because I feel like Iowa, as well as Richmond, although they’re short tracks and we’ve made gains, they’re still not Phoenix. That’s a flatter track, unique to itself. You need to have good braking stability, but you need to have good turn. You got to have long-run (speed), short run. So it’s a tough, tough place to get right. I like the direction we’re heading, though.”

RELATED: Playoff stars find trouble at Darlington | Cup Series schedule

Larson was one of three drivers who participated in a Goodyear tire test at Gateway earlier this summer, representing Chevrolet as Erik Jones (Toyota) and Brad Keselowski (Ford) joined him. Larson owns Hendrick’s lone top five in three Cup races at Gateway — a fourth-place finish in 2023. According to Larson, there are reasons to believe the team has made meaningful gains, and that could be realized Sunday in the second race of the 2025 Cup Series Playoffs.

“I think still the shorter, flatter tracks [are a challenge], so seeing Gateway and New Hampshire in the playoffs is not something that I was thrilled about,” Larson said during Playoffs Media Day. “But I do think we’ve made our package better on that style of track. I look at Iowa, we were fast, William won, Chase was fast, Alex was fast. We went to Richmond, we were all really good again. So I do think we’ve gotten our cars better on those places, but yeah, still need to probably be better, but we’ll see when we get to Gateway and New Hampshire.”

The four-car team could use a dose of positivity after a dismal-by-its-standards showing in last week’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Elliott was the team’s highest finisher in 17th place ahead of Larson (19th), Byron (21st) and Bowman (31st, two laps down). A breakout performance at Gateway in St. Louis could serve to turn around a bad postseason start and pivot Hendrick Motorsports toward a championship run.

Jordan Anderson spent hours playing on the PlayStation while growing up in South Carolina, allocating most of that time to racing games.

That’s where his initial desire to become a team owner came into play.

Anderson remembers designing paint schemes on NASCAR Racing 2003, customizing a schedule and starting an organization from scratch. Fast forward more than two decades, and he’s built a multicar company using similar techniques at the NASCAR Xfinity Series level.

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“Back then, I always enjoyed the driving part, but I was intrigued by [ownership] almost as much as I was the driving,” Anderson told NASCAR.com. “Growing up, I never had the opportunity to go run for people. I’d be working on the car and drive it to the race track. I was learning [the business] side of it and not realizing what I was learning along the way.”

That way of living changed as Anderson made it to the NASCAR national series level in 2014. With the need for longevity, Anderson kick-started a Craftsman Truck Series team in 2018. After three years of running the full schedule, it was time to make the Xfinity Series jump in 2021.

Anderson was set for the full 2021 slate, but an untimely rain shower hit Daytona International Speedway, canceling qualifying. The No. 31 team didn’t have owners points to make the race and didn’t tally its first start until the 11th race of the year at Circuit of The Americas, with Tyler Reddick piloting the No. 31 Chevrolet. That got the ball rolling, leading to three consecutive top-10 finishes with Reddick and Josh Berry.

“It’s kind of been the story of our team,” Anderson said of catching a break. “From the outside looking in, a lot of things that people would say are bad things happening to us. In hindsight, it was one door closing and another door opening. When qualifying got rained out, I thought we were going to be shut down and out of business before it even started.”

Over the last five seasons, drivers with something to prove have joined JAR. Myatt Snider made a one-year stop in 2022 before the team expanded to multiple entries in 2023 with Jeb Burton and Parker Retzlaff. Blaine Perkins replaced Retzlaff in the No. 31 car for 2025, though the team is inflating once again and has frequently entered three cars into events. Notably, Katherine Legge, Austin Green and Rajah Caruth have made attempts with the No. 32 team.

Jeb Burton races in the No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet at Portland International Raceway.
David Jensen | Getty Images

The recipe for success has grown in a mere half-decade, with Anderson frequently making personnel changes behind the scenes. Shane Whitbeck, formerly with Brad Keselowski Racing and recent crew chief for Burton, became JAR’s first competition director in 2025. It was a move that benefited the entire organization.

“I would say Jordan has some good people around him that helps,” Burton said of Anderson’s leadership. “Shane Whitbeck steers the ship and does a lot behind the scenes. He can be a crew chief, a shop floorman — a jack of all trades — and does a lot to keep this place moving.”

The company has more than 30 full-time employees and operates on a set schedule. Rarely does the team work extended hours, which is one of the benefits of Whitbeck’s organizational skills.

“One thing [Anderson] has preached to me all year is we all have to work together 33 weeks out of the year, so we all have to make sure we get along,” Perkins said. “We work together as one team between the 31 and 27. That’s been 100% preached to us: teamwork and camaraderie.”

Despite a sizable partnership with Chevrolet, Anderson knows the best shot his company has at winning is at superspeedways. Burton was ruled inches behind Austin Hill at Talladega Superspeedway in the spring when the caution flew on the final lap. The No. 27 car won that same race in 2023.

Jordan Anderson Racing is continuing to build a stable foundation for years to come.

“We joke about building this LEGO tower, but when you build a LEGO tower and you have four or five missing at the bottom, that thing is going to topple over when you get it big enough,” Anderson said. “We’re making sure the foundation is big, wide and strong and has some depth to it. We are continuing to work on the sponsor side of things, driver side and keep growing our relationship with Chevrolet.”

Anderson won’t let his organization fail. Late in 2021, John Bommarito, a Midwest entrepreneur, became an official team partner. The pairing has become best friends away from the race track as Anderson learns from the automotive juggernaut.

“This is my baby; this is what I eat, sleep, breathe,” Anderson said of his race team, noting that he doesn’t have any outside businesses. “Outside of my wife and future son that’s coming, this is all I care about, making sure the people are taken care of, the team is growing, we have the funding to keep pushing.

“This is my whole life. I love it and wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. I think that’s what has pushed us — when you have that from the top down — hopefully everyone else starts that culture and looks at it that way.”

Admittedly, Anderson doesn’t know what the next five-year plan looks like, but he intends on being around as a team owner for an extended amount of time, “20, 30, 40, 50 years,” he said. The likelihood of expanding to three full-time entries in 2026 is even on the team’s radar.

“We’ve transitioned from surviving to thriving and getting better every year,” Anderson said. “We want to keep getting better. We’re hungry. In the corporate world, there are challenger brands that exist and go against the status quo and go against the grind. That’s what we want to do. That’s how things have been done since we’ve been here, and we’re trying to do things a little differently.”

MORE: Xfinity Series standingsXfinity Series schedule

With finishes of seventh, eighth and ninth last weekend at Portland International Raceway, JAR had its three entries in the top 10 finishes for the first time in a single race. Anderson returns to the driver’s seat this Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), making his second start of the campaign. Burton, meanwhile, currently sits 31 points below the cutline — the first driver outside the 12-driver playoff grid — heading into the regular-season finale.

“What we’re building here is special,” Anderson said. “I want to make sure that I can protect that opportunity and put as much into that as we can.”

The NASCAR Xfinity Series will conclude the 2025 regular season at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in the Nu Way 200 Sauced by Blues Hog on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | Xfinity Series

Only 20 points separate JR Motorsports teammates Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier to decide the Regular Season Championship. In terms of the looming postseason, Harrison Burton is 31 points clear above the playoff cutline, with his cousin, Jeb, currently the first driver outside the 12-driver playoff grid.

Truck Series Playoffs driver Daniel Hemric will pilot the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, while Jordan Anderson, owner/driver of Jordan Anderson Racing, will race in the No. 32 Chevy.

HOW TO WATCH: NASCAR on The CW

View the full entry list for Saturday’s event: