Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series wraps up its regular season with Saturday’s trip to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Team EJP 175 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX One, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The race is the 18th points-paying event of the 2026 Truck Series season.

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | Craftsman Truck Series

Connor Zilisch — who was announced as the future driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet starting during the 2028 NASCAR Cup Series campaign — will pilot the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Two other Cup Series regulars — John Hunter Nemechek in the No. 5 Tricon Garage Toyota and Christopher Bell in the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota — will also battle the New Hampshire track this weekend. It’s the final race of the season in which Cup Series drivers can compete.

As part of the Free Agent Driver Program, Colin Braun will wheel the No. 25 Kaulig Racing Ram for the third time.

Forty-one race trucks are entered into the event.

MORE: Weekend schedule | How to watch NASCAR on FS1

View the full entry list here:

Posted on by Staff Report

Editor’s Note: John Hunter Nemechek will run the No. 40 this weekend in New Hampshire in honor of Legacy Motor Club sponsor Dollar Tree’s 40th anniversary.

The NASCAR Cup Series continues up the East Coast to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301, the penultimate race in the regular season (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The race will act as the 25th points-paying event of the 2026 season. Ryan Blaney is the defending winner at the 1-mile facility.

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | Craftsman Truck Series

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, enters the race weekend on a hot streak, winning two of the last four Cup contests, including the most recent bout at Richmond Raceway. The Connecticut native has two career victories at the New England track, doing so in 2009 and 2014.

Thirty-six cars are entered into this weekend’s contest.

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

View the full entry list here:

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Hendrick Motorsports signed Connor Zilisch to a multiyear contract beginning in 2028 to drive the team’s iconic No. 48 Chevrolet with continued sponsorship from Ally, the team announced Monday.

Zilisch, 20, is in the midst of his rookie campaign in the NASCAR Cup Series as driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing. Alex Bowman, current driver of Hendrick’s No. 48 car, announced last month that he will step away from full-time competition following the 2027 season.

RELATED: Connor Zilisch driver page | Hendrick Motorsports team page

A 10-time winner in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2025, Zilisch has long been touted as a rising phenom in his journey to stock-car racing’s top level. Trackhouse Racing team owner Justin Marks signed Zilisch to a multiyear driver-development contract in January 2024 when Zilisch was just 17 years old with an extensive background in karting and road-course racing.

Despite a challenging start to his Cup career, Zilisch has maintained extensive demand throughout the NASCAR Cup Series garage as a can’t-miss prospect. Hendrick Motorsports was long atop the list of potential suitors eager to pounce if Zilisch became available. With that opportunity at hand, Hendrick wasted no time in signing the next driver of the team’s future.

“Connor is a truly gifted young racer,” Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports, said in a team release. “His talent behind the wheel is exceptional, but I’m even more impressed by the person he is. When someone with that kind of ability and character becomes available, you do everything you can to bring them into your organization. We have tremendous confidence in Connor, and we believe he’s the right driver to build on the legacy of the No. 48 Ally team for many years to come.”

In a July interview on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Marks stated Zilisch is “probably coveted for everybody” and emphasized Zilisch’s commitment to Trackhouse and vice versa through the end of 2027.

With Bowman set to depart after a one-year contract extension for 2027, Hendrick Motorsports had a rare opportunity to fill with its first full-time driver change needed since Kyle Larson joined the team in 2021 after seven-time champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson stepped into retirement.

WATCH: Zilisch stars in RISING Season 2

Hendrick Motorsports president and general manager Jeff Andrews said during Bowman’s announcement that the Hendrick team would soon begin its process of “looking for someone for the right fit, not only from a performance standpoint, but for our company and our culture.” Zilisch appears to fit the bill, both with his impressive resume and a reputation respected throughout the garage for his off-track demeanor and maturity.

“This is one of those moments you dream about as a kid,” Zilisch said in a release. “Hendrick Motorsports has always represented the standard in our sport, and being entrusted to help continue that legacy means everything to me. The chance to drive a Chevrolet for Mr. Hendrick, carry the colors of an incredible partner like Ally and compete alongside some of the best drivers and people in racing is what you work so hard for. I’m grateful for the confidence they’ve shown in me, and it’s my job to prove they made the right decision.”

Zilisch’s youth also offers a long runway, something that has become a staple of being a driver at Hendrick Motorsports. Its current lineup features 2020 champion Chase Elliott, in his 11th year in Cup, all with Hendrick; two-time and defending series champ Larson, competing in his sixth season with Hendrick; Bowman in his ninth year with the organization full time; and William Byron in his ninth year at Hendrick after qualifying for the Championship 4 in each of the past three seasons. Hall of Famers Johnson and four-time Cup champ Jeff Gordon each competed for Hendrick Motorsports for at least 19 seasons while two-time Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove for Hendrick for 10 years.

Marks addressed Zilisch’s impending departure with a statement shared by Trackhouse Racing on social media, reiterating the team’s commitment to performing well with Zilisch through 2027.

“It’s a bittersweet moment for Trackhouse, but I am truly happy for Connor to get an opportunity that many drivers only dream of,” Marks said in a statement. “While our goal was always to have him in our cars for the long term, I’m still excited for the opportunity we have with him now and in 2027. At Trackhouse, our mandate remains to work hard, accomplish big things with Connor while we have him, and position this 88 Chevy team to move into the 2028 NASCAR Cup season ready for a new, inspiring, and talented driver that will author the next chapter in this amazing book we are writing. But not yet.”

Zilisch’s talent was evident from the jump. The same month his contract with Trackhouse Racing was announced in 2024, Zilisch won the LMP2 class of the 24 Hours of Daytona in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, a historic victory on one of sports-car racing’s grandest stages. In March 2024, he continued to impress by earning pole position in his Craftsman Truck Series debut that season at Circuit of The Americas, finishing fourth, then winning the pole at the Bristol Motor Speedway short track later that summer. Those accolades accompanied a stretch in the ARCA Menards Series where Zilisch won five of his first six starts, including four in a row, at Dover Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Michigan International Speedway and Watkins Glen International.

MORE: Catch up on Silly Season updates

That same weekend at Watkins Glen was the site of Zilisch’s debut in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, where he immediately surged to the pole position and win. Last year marked the first full-time campaign across NASCAR’s three national series for Zilisch, soaring to a series-best 10 victories, 20 top fives, 23 top 10s, eight pole positions and an 8.0 average finish en route to a runner-up result in the championship battle.

The Cup Series has proved to be Zilisch’s biggest challenge yet as he continues to adapt to the series’ Next Gen car, registering eight DNFs through 24 starts and sitting 34th in points. There have been glimmers of progress, though, including a seventh-place finish in June at Sonoma Raceway and an 11th-place showing on Aug. 9 at Iowa.

It is fitting that Zilisch’s Daytona 500 debut featured him starting alongside Johnson, who won each of his seven NASCAR Cup Series championships and 83 races driving the No. 48 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports. The significance of Johnson’s accomplishments and the history he created in the No. 48 is not lost on Zilisch.

“Obviously, the 48 has a legacy and it’s one that I can’t wait to carry on and continue to build my own story with Hendrick Motorsports and everyone involved,” Zilisch said in a video posted to his social media. “It’s going to be awesome and I can’t wait for the opportunity to come in 2028. But I’m also grateful for Justin Marks and Trackhouse Racing. I wouldn’t be here today without them. Justin took a chance on me when I was 16 and not many people knew who I was and then gave me my first shot in the Cup Series as well. And I’ll be forever grateful for what you did for me and what your team has done for me as well. We still have a lot of work to do together, a lot of wins to chase and I can’t wait for that and next season.”

Zilisch will remain with Trackhouse Racing as driver of its No. 88 Chevrolet through the 2027 season before joining Hendrick Motorsports for the 2028 campaign.

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

One of the most important race weeks of the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season is here, as the series returns to New Hampshire Motor Speedway this week for Saturday’s running of the Mohegan Sun 100 (4:30 p.m. ET on FloRacing).

Saturday’s race marks the 78th Modified Tour event held at the 1.058-mile asphalt oval since 1990, when Mike McLaughlin held off Mike Stefanik to secure the 14th of his 16 series victories. That event started a tradition for the Modified Tour; New Hampshire quickly became one of the most popular stops on the schedule each season.

Stefanik leads all Modified Tour competitors with eight victories at the track known as “The Magic Mile,” with other stars like Tony Hirschman, Reggie Ruggiero, Bobby Santos III, Ted Christopher, John Blewett III, Doug Coby, Steve Park, Todd Szegedy and Justin Bonsignore among the 25 drivers to earn trips to Victory Lane at the track.

Tickets to Saturday’s Mohegan Sun 100 are available here. Below is everything you need to know about the 12th race of the 2026 Modified Tour season.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is known to put on exciting races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway that also include incredible finishes. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

Mohegan Sun 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

The race every NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver has circled on his calendar is finally here.

Saturday’s Mohegan Sun 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (4:30 p.m. ET on FloRacing) is arguably the biggest race of the season for Modified Tour teams and drivers. A win at New Hampshire can make or break a season and, in the case of some, change the course of their careers.

One season ago it was Tyler Rypkema who emerged as the victor in a thrilling finish that saw him crash across the finish line after contact with Justin Bonsignore as the two raced to the checkered flag. That finish wasn’t an anomaly; Modified Tour events at New Hampshire have traditionally provided thrilling finishes.

A large field of Modifieds is scheduled to take the green flag Saturday. Leading that charge is NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece, who is scheduled to make his second start of the season with NASCAR’s oldest division. Preece is a New Hampshire Modified Tour winner (2021) and should be considered among the contenders Saturday.

Another NASCAR star on the entry list for Saturday is 18-time Cup Series race winner Ryan Newman, who has two Modified Tour victories at New Hampshire. He’ll pilot the No. 0 owned by Glenn Styers in his third Modified Tour start of the season.

Three-time Loudon winner Justin Bonsignore returns to Modified Tour competition Saturday. He’ll pilot his familiar No. 51 Ken Massa Motorsports entry, which will carry new colors thanks to sponsorship from Dollar Tree. Luke Baldwin also returns to Modified Tour competition this weekend aboard the No. 7 owned by his father, Tommy Baldwin Jr.

Championship leader Patrick Emerling will chase his first points victory at New Hampshire on Saturday. (He won a 35-lap, non-point event at New Hampshire in 2019.) Defending series champion Austin Beers is looking for not only his first New Hampshire triumph, but also his first victory of the season.

Other notable entries for Saturday’s event include Matt Hirschman, Andy Seuss, Eric Goodale, Mike Christopher Jr., Jon McKennedy, Craig Lutz, Paulie Hartwig III, Anthony Nocella, Stephen Kopcik, Chase Dowling and Ronnie Williams, among others.

The full entry list for Saturday’s Mohegan Sun 100 is available here.

Tyler Rypkema
Tyler Rypkema (3) won the 2025 running of the Mohegan Sun 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in a thrilling finish with Justin Bonsignore. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

RACING REFERENCE:

Race Mohegan Sun 100
Date Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026
Track New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Layout 1.058-mile oval
Location Loudon, New Hampshire
Start time 4:30 p.m. ET
Laps 100
Posted Awards $161,131
Tickets Here
How to Watch FloRacing

SCHEDULE: Friday, Aug. 21: Practice from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. … Final practice from 12:40 to 1:10 p.m. … American Racer Pole Award qualifying at 2:45 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 22: Start of the Mohegan Sun 100 (100 Laps / 105.8 Miles) at 4:30 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 Mohegan Sun 100 is limited to 32 starters including Provisional Positions.

TIRE ALLOTMENT: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is twelve (12) 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 and/or change tires during the event. A maximum of four (4) tires of the allotment may be used as change tires. The tire change rule is two (2) tires per stop. This includes “swapping” tires front to back.

Posted on by George Winkler

With two regular-season races remaining in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, it’s time for a check-in to see how the race for The Chase is progressing.

Reminder: The top 16 drivers in points make The Chase. There is no more win-and-in. The regular-season points leader starts The Chase with 2,100 points and second place starts with 2,075. Third place starts with 2,065 points, then drivers are separated by five-point increments through 16th place.

RELATED: Cup Series standings | New Hampshire weekend schedule

The Race for No. 1

RankDriverPointsPoints to leader
1Denny Hamlin969--
2Ryan Blaney854-115
3Ty Gibbs842-127

Denny Hamlin continues to put a stranglehold on the top spot in the standings, and it’s desperate times for everyone else. Hamlin finished fourth on Saturday night at Richmond, scoring 46 points, and he emerged from there with a 115-point lead over Ryan Blaney. Even though Blaney is the defending winner at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the site of Sunday’s race, Hamlin’s history at the “Magic Mile” is nothing short of excellent, with three wins and 19 top 10s in 32 races there. In other words, don’t expect Denny to back down.

Blaney, meanwhile, did enough to leapfrog Ty Gibbs in the standings and into second place thanks to a 41-point effort at Richmond that included a Stage 1 win. But after he won his fourth Busch Light Pole Award of the season on Friday and led 88 laps Saturday, some may have expected a better finish than 13th. Still, overall it was a good night for Blaney, who looks solidly positioned for The Chase.

Ty Gibbs’ short-track magic came to an abrupt halt with a 15th-place finish at Richmond and only 22 points on the night after an early pit-road penalty. He’ll look to rebound at New Hampshire, where his best finish is only 16th in three career appearances. He’ll need to buck that trend in order to make up any ground this week.

The Mythical Top Six

RankDriverPointsPoints to leader
4Tyler Reddick831-138
5Chase Briscoe715-254
6Chase Elliott695-274
7Christopher Bell695-274
8Kyle Larson660-309

After a stretch of four finishes of 30th or worse in six races, Tyler Reddick stopped the bleeding with an 11th-place run in which he led laps and tallied 28 points. But he still lost 18 points to Hamlin and desperately needs some momentum heading into The Chase to get back into championship form. Reddick has had a couple of sixth-place finishes in his last three runs at New Hampshire, so there’s hope he can continue on an upward swing.

Not many drivers are hotter than Chase Briscoe right now as the only thing he didn’t do at Richmond was close out the victory. The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led the most laps on Saturday night (171 of 400) en route to a second-place finish and has six top-six finishes in his last seven outings. He has three top-10 finishes in five New Hampshire races, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him continue to stay as hot as a boiling lobster this week.

Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell are in a dead heat for the last spot in the mythical top six. Elliott righted the No. 9 Chevrolet’s ship with a fifth-place run at Richmond, marking his first top-10 finish since May 31 at Nashville and leading a brigade as all four Hendrick drivers finished in the top 10. However, Elliott will have his work cut out staying in front of Bell in the standings, because Bell has two wins and four top-10 finishes in six races at Loudon.

Kyle Larson got a much-needed sixth-place finish at Richmond and moved up two spots in the standings. He’s never won at New Hampshire, but he has an average finish of 10.9 there with nine top-10 finishes in 15 races. Plus, he has to be absolutely stoked after winning the Knoxville Nationals on Saturday during a wild doubleheader night of racing for him.

The Middle Ground

RankDriverPointsPoints to cutline
9Joey Logano659+142
10Chris Buescher653+136
11Carson Hocevar645+128
12William Byron630+113
13Daniel Suárez618+101
14Bubba Wallace587+70

Joey Logano has gone from 20th in the standings to ninth in a matter of six races and is proof that a driver can make up a lot of ground in this points system if they go on a hot streak. Logano is coming off his second win in four races and is set up well for his home track in New Hampshire, where he has two wins and 10 top fives in 27 races. Logano is only one point behind Larson in eighth place, so his upward mobility might continue this week.

Carson Hocevar is doing the opposite of Logano and has dropped from fifth in the standings after Indianapolis to 11th after Richmond, where he had a last-place finish due to an engine issue. That came on top of a 31st-place finish at Iowa, so Hocevar needs some momentum before The Chase starts. But on the bright side, he’s still only 15 points behind Larson in eighth place, so a lot could change in two weeks.

William Byron has stacked back-to-back top-10 finishes for the first time since a string of four in a row early in the season that spanned from Phoenix Raceway to Martinsville Speedway. His ninth-place finish at Richmond came after another ninth-place run at Iowa. Still, he dropped one spot in the standings as Logano whizzed by him after his victory on Saturday night. Byron has only one top-five finish in eight races at New Hampshire, but he’s had success at Daytona, where he could build some late momentum heading into The Chase.

The Cutline Battle

RankDriverPointsPoints to Cutline
15Austin Cindric574+57
16Shane van Gisbergen567+50
17Ryan Preece517-50
18Ross Chastain504-63
19Brad Keselowski489-78
20Erik Jones486-81

Austin Cindric picked a great time to have his best race of the season as he finished third and scored 48 points. That allowed him to move up to 15th place in the standings, and he gained 28 points against the cutline. He’s also just 13 points behind Bubba Wallace for 14th place. However, Cindric isn’t completely out of the woods yet, as he has never finished better than 13th at New Hampshire.

Shane van Gisbergen had a solid 14th-place finish at Richmond, but Cindric’s big night put SVG in the precarious 16th and final position for The Chase. The good news is he opened up a 50-point gap over Ryan Preece in a race where Preece was expected to gain ground. SVG has only raced once at New Hampshire and he finished 32nd.

Looking down the list of drivers beneath the cutline, Brad Keselowski has the best history at New Hampshire with two wins and 16 top-10 finishes in 25 races, but his last two outings at the “Magic Mile” have netted no finish better than 23rd place. Keselowski finished 26th last week at Richmond despite having a strong history there, too.

Posted on by Holly Cain

RICHMOND, Va. — While so much of the early-season NASCAR Cup Series championship storylines centered on 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, as the regular season winds down, subplots and new characters have arrived, changing the competitive outlook.

Only two races remain to set the 16-driver field for the 10-race Chase to award the 2026 trophy. Up next is the New Hampshire Motor Speedway mile hosting Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Richmond

Certainly, Saturday night under the Richmond Raceway bright lights and in front of the sold-out grandstands, a three-time series champion reminded again that he is among those ready to prove this title is still very much up for grabs.

Joey Logano’s win was a strong statement on several levels — and his resiliency this season is indicative of the strength of this championship field and a lesson in never counting out anyone — especially one of the most successful drivers from one of the most heralded organizations in Team Penske.

After suffering through the worst early season tenure in his sure-bet NASCAR Hall of Fame career, Logano has two wins and made up nine positions in the championship standings in just the last six race weekends. His win at Richmond moves him into ninth place in the standings and he’s only a single point behind reigning series champ Kyle Larson in eighth place; only 36 points off sixth place Chase Elliott.

The way his No. 22 Team Penske Ford team has been performing this summer, it’s hard to believe Logano was ranked a season-low 20th place in the standings in the first week of July. And now he stands a reasonable opportunity to high-gear it into title contention.

“We’ve been able to ride some momentum here right now,” Logano said Saturday night after celebrating in Richmond’s Victory Lane. “It’s been a nice turnaround. We’ve been able to switch our goals from making The Chase to winning the championship. It’s quite the turnaround in a month and a half’s time or so.”

And Logano’s certainly not the only driver who has repositioned himself as a threat for the title.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe, who kept Logano honest all night and led a race high 171 of the 400 laps to finish runner-up — earned his first career top 10 on a short track. As importantly, it gives Briscoe — who is ranked fifth in the standings — plenty of confidence heading into The Chase.

His JGR teammate Christopher Bell has also been on a summer surge. A week ago at Iowa, he claimed his seventh runner-up finish, and Saturday night, he led laps and finished seventh at Richmond for his sixth top-10 finish in the last seven races. He’s seventh in the rankings.

Hendrick Motorsports had a similarly encouraging day for its title contenders with Larson getting back in the championship groove after an uncharacteristically “off” summer run. His sixth-place showing at Richmond was his first top 10 since Sonoma at the end of June.

Larson’s teammates, Chase Elliott (fifth place) and William Byron (ninth) also had strong Richmond showings. It was Elliott’s first top 10 in the last 11 races and only Byron’s second top 10 in the last five races. They ranked sixth and 12th, respectively in the championship.

“Obviously it’s not a win, but for how things have been going the last few months, it feels nice to just have a really solid night and hopefully we can get things rolling in the right direction,” the 2020 series champion Elliott said. “There’s been a lot of hard work put in across the board; everyone on this No. 9 Chevrolet team and Hendrick Motorsports. I appreciate that effort. Everyone shows up with it each week, even after a bad day, so hopefully we can get things rolling here.”

Of course, not to be overlooked — or underestimated — were Hamlin and Reddick who reminded Saturday at Richmond that they are up for the challenges coming their way. Hamlin, who holds a 115-point edge over Penske’s Ryan Blaney atop the championship, finished fourth at his home track — his fifth top-five finish in the last six races.

And for Reddick, who won five of the season’s opening nine races, including the Daytona 500, an 11th-place finish and laps led at Richmond marked a timely resurgence after an excruciating summer run that’s included five finishes of 25th or worse in the last eight races. He’s still ranked fourth with two races to go before the points are reset for the 2026 Chase run.

Opening practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is set for Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET, followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying at 11:35 a.m. ET (both on truTV, PRN Radio and SiriusXM). Logano is the defending pole-winner and Blaney the defending race winner.

Posted on by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. — Austin Cindric called his Saturday showing at Richmond Raceway “a very important day for us to have a good day,” a nod to the well-timed nature of his season-best result. His postseason plight, plus a string of unwanted finishes, had created the critical need — one Cindric filled with head-turning effect.  

A strong third-place run in Saturday night’s Cook Out 400 gave Cindric and his No. 2 Team Penske group a boost in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, plus some extra buffer in his quest for a spot in the 16-driver Chase field. The outcome marked his first top-five finish since Darlington in March and snapped an 11-race skid without a top 10.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Richmond

That stretch included a 29th-place outing at Iowa Speedway, where his cushion and comfort relative to the postseason elimination line was narrowed. Cindric had entered Richmond as the final provisional driver into the Chase field — 16th with just a 29-point advantage. That cushion grew to 57 by night’s end with just two regular-season races remaining — New Hampshire next week and Daytona on Aug. 29.

Saturday’s reversal at Richmond was welcome, but with a hint that Cindric was left wanting.

“That’s what’s expected. I mean, this time of year, you’ve got to go, and honestly, the last month we haven’t done a whole lot of going,” Cindric said. “So I’m happy, but yeah, I still want more. I thought I had a car that could win tonight, and things that we could have done that were maybe a bit better, but overall, just proud of everybody on the 2 car team.”

Cindric had said entering Richmond that ticking each box on the team’s checklist and maximizing every factor in the races ahead would be pivotal. Saturday was the fulfillment of that vision.

Cindric’s No. 2 Ford powered through the field in the 70-lap opening stage, rising from the 23rd starting spot to a fourth-place result and a points payoff at the green-checkered flag. A Stage 2 pit stop represented one of the night’s few blips, when Cindric had to dodge the exiting No. 7 Chevrolet of Daniel Suárez as he entered his stall. He quickly made up the two positions lost, notching another fourth-place stage finish.

On a night when Joey Logano marched to his second victory of the year, Cindric maintained a steady presence among the top five, rounding out just behind his Team Penske teammate and runner-up Chase Briscoe at the checkered flag. No. 2 crew chief Brian Wilson lauded Cindric’s poise, but also took special note of the beneficial timing of the points boost.

“Yeah, it’s huge,” Wilson told NASCAR.com. “You know, you try to not focus on it. You try to just run your own race, but you’re always aware of what’s going on. So, throughout the race, you see where the other guys are at the cutline, and it’s good to put some points on the board, maybe a little bit of stress off. You’ve still got to go to Loudon. We’ve still got to have a great week there. So, I don’t know that you’re ever going to be relaxed going into Daytona, but you’ve got to stack as many points as you can these two weeks.”

Only Logano and Briscoe amassed more points than Cindric on a night when he desperately needed them. The conventional wisdom might also follow that Cindric would enjoy some increased confidence for the two regular-season races that lie next. Not so much, he said.

“Doesn’t change it in the slightest,” Cindric said. “I haven’t stopped believing in myself and this team. It’s a hard sport, a tough series, and I want this to be more often.”

Posted on by Nathan Solomon

When Kyle Larson won his preliminary feature and secured pole position for Saturday night’s 65th Knoxville Nationals, he resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn’t be able to race in the main event. The highly prestigious 410 sprint-car race in Iowa competed directly against the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, over 1,100 miles apart, and Larson needed to prioritize duties behind the wheel of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Yet somehow, hours after earning a desperately needed sixth-place finish in the Cup Series, the 34-year-old climbed from Silva Motorsports’ No. 57 car with his fourth Knoxville crown-jewel victory in six years.

The only scenario where Larson could have made it to Knoxville in time for the A-Main required rain at the 0.5-mile dirt oval — a former two-time stop on the Craftsman Truck Series schedule — just down the road from Iowa Raceway. And unlike his two Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 Double attempts, Mother Nature played her cards right.

RELATED: Richmond race results | At-track photos

“It’s extremely surreal,” Larson told worldofoutlaws.com. “Just to talk about the day and the range of emotions. Even going back to the last couple days, I had no emotion. I knew I wouldn’t be able to race, but there was still that glimmer of hope with the rain in the forecast.”

For many reasons, Larson still wanted to enter the World of Outlaws event, knowing the unlikelihood that he’d compete in the 50-lap, $200,000 win event. He remained in Iowa after last Sunday’s Cup event and banked $13,000 in a Capitani Classic win at Knoxville that night, then secured another $21,000 with a victory Monday night at Southern Iowa Speedway. His Thursday prelim victory at Knoxville paid another $12,000, and by having a Silva team member start-and-park for the Saturday main, Larson would have earned another $15,000 — all key funding for the part-time sprint-car effort.

As Saturday progressed, the forecast worsened in Knoxville, but Larson settled in and focused on 400 laps at Richmond. He qualified 30th Friday afternoon and began his uphill battle at the 0.75-mile short track, falling a lap behind early. After finishing 25th in Stage 1, Larson improved to 13th at the end of Stage 2, earning the free pass to return to the lead lap.

Meanwhile, the Iowa skies opened up, pushing back the start of the Nationals and putting the evening of racing in flux. During a midway caution at Richmond, crew chief Cliff Daniels radioed to his driver that he could be traveling to Iowa after all.

“He had done a really good job of this week kind of resigning himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to be able to start the A-Main, and not going to tell you exactly what I told him, but using appropriate language, I was like, ‘man, like, we can have stuff ready for you. We can go get this,’ ” Daniels told reporters after the race. “Jeff Andrews (Hendrick Motorsports President) was very instrumental in helping us get a plan laid out. Colby (Gorniewicz, Larson’s public relations representative), standing right here beside me, had a lot of communication with people back in Knoxville, and I said, hey, look, why don’t we just have a plane ready, have stuff ready to go, and if it works out, then great. Like, I’d much rather have a plan in place that we can say no to, or if they get the feature in, so be it, than to have nothing prepared.

“(Larson) kept telling me no; he kept telling Jeff Andrews no, but we were persistent because we knew that if we get him there, he can probably do something special.”

And coincidentally, once Larson knew a trip to Knoxville was plausible, his Richmond race turned for the better. He rocketed into the top 10 late and came home sixth, scoring his best result since Sonoma after a stretch of four finishes outside the top 30 in five races dropped him five spots to 10th in points.

Kyle Larson's No. 57 car out front
Tyler Carr | World of Outlaws

“We were struggling (at Richmond) but making improvements, and then all of a sudden Cliff came on the radio and said there was a rain delay (in Knoxville), and they hadn’t started hot laps yet,” Larson said. “Then I got a kick-start of emotion there.”

As soon as he took the checkered flag at Richmond, Daniels let Larson know: game on. He parked on pit road and ran for a vehicle that took him to Richmond International Airport, where a chartered plane waited for a flight to Pella, Iowa.

At one point, over 16,000 people were tracking the Knoxville-bound aircraft. Fans provided real-time updates on X, and a DirtVision camera crew shot his exodus onto the tarmac in Iowa. A police escort waited to take him to the track.

Larson arrived on the Knoxville Raceway grounds before even the B-Main began. He missed hot laps, but the 16-time overall Knoxville winner knows a thing or two about how to get around there.

And the way he performed in the wee hours of Sunday morning, you’d never know his Knoxville trip was ever in jeopardy. He led all 50 laps, winning the “Grandaddy of ’em all” over Sheldon Haudenschild for the fourth time since 2021.

“It’s just wild how I’m here tonight,” Larson said. “Huge thank you to everyone at Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com, everybody at HMS for supporting dirt racers, myself and (O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver) Corey Day here tonight. I really couldn’t do any of this without them. I wouldn’t have any Knoxville Nationals championships without Hendrick Motorsports.

“A fourth Knoxville Nationals in a fashion like this is unbelievable … it feels like a little bit of a dream right now.”

Additionally, former Hendrick ace Kasey Kahne finished third, marking the 46-year-old’s best career Knoxville Nationals result.

Contributing: Zack Albert

Posted on by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. — Chase Briscoe had seemingly done everything right Saturday night at Richmond Raceway, leading laps by the dozens and keeping the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series field at bay at a track that had been one of his tallest hurdles. The few little things that went wrong unraveled in a handful of pivotal green-flag stints.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Richmond

His undoing provided an opportunity that Joey Logano pounced on in the late going of Saturday’s Cook Out 400, leaving Briscoe to settle for second place for the third time this season. Briscoe’s Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota led a race-best 171 laps, but he pointed to a late rush by Logano that lifted the three-time champion to his second short-track victory in the last four races and left him disappointed.

“Just have to be perfect for 400 laps,” Briscoe said post-race, “and Joey’s car was odd. It was kind of like mine in a sense, where he had two runs that he was just phenomenal, and then the rest he was just the same as all of us. It was odd from that standpoint, how guys would just be really good one run and then kind of be back to how they were the rest. But yeah, still a solid night. Just rough to be that fast and not get it done.”

Briscoe seemed poised to collect another win late in the regular season, building on the momentum of his victory at Chicagoland Speedway last month. Saturday night’s showing was even more convincing, as Briscoe started second and took firm control as the sun began to set.

Strategies swirled in the final stage, but Briscoe and Logano were roughly adhering to the same game plan. The upper hand, however, went to Logano at a crucial moment.

“Yeah, I thought my car was really, really good and just that second-to-last or before that final pit stop, I just started losing brakes and got really, really loose, and I gave up a three-second lead,” Briscoe said. “If I could have had any buffer at all, I felt like I would have probably won the race just because I definitely was better than him that final run. But just yeah, gave up way too much time that one run, and that was ultimately the difference maker.”

The result still produced marked improvement for Briscoe at Richmond, a venue he’s called “a huge struggle.” Nine previous starts here — eight with Stewart-Haas Racing and one in his debut season last year at JGR — had failed to yield a top-10 finish.

His No. 19 team has had a star-crossed relationship with the 0.75-mile track, especially during Martin Truex Jr.’s tenure with the team. Truex won here three times in the No. 19 Toyota, but his record — and the team’s — also includes a significant share of near-misses, with strong performances that didn’t convert into Victory Lane visits. Saturday night felt like more of the latter.

“I love this place, but lost far many more races here than you know we’ve won, and we’ve won quite a lot,” No. 19 crew chief James Small told NASCAR.com. “So yeah, it’s disappointing. So second, in the scheme of things is a great result, but right now it’s really disappointing because we had the better car and we didn’t win.”

Those results predated Briscoe’s time with the team, but the sentiment was shared.

“I’ve watched Martin obviously lead a ton of laps here, and there’s been times where it’s kind of fell apart at the very end. A little bit of that, I guess,” Briscoe said. “I mean, we didn’t fall apart. We just, honestly, just had one run where we gave up three seconds, and that was the difference maker. So yeah, I think James even said on the radio, if you would have told me going into this week I could run second and top three in both stages, I would have gladly taken it. So, still a lot to be proud of, just … winning is great. To have one be that close and not get it, it’s frustrating.”

Logano was Briscoe’s strongest competition late, but the 31-year-old driver noted that Team Penske’s challenge was organization-wide. Ryan Blaney flexed his strength early from the pole position before fading to 13th place at the end, and teammate Austin Cindric produced a season-best result in third.

Briscoe ultimately tipped his cap to Logano, who has made a habit of second-half surges in seasons past.

“I thought I was in a Penske sandwich there for a lot of the race,” Briscoe said. “I think it was that start of Stage 2, it was literally all four of them, and I was the only one in the top five outside of them. So yeah, I knew that the Penske cars were going to be really, really good all night long, and yeah, it showed. I mean, they were good early in the race, good at the end of the race, and yeah, just typical late-summer Joey Logano just coming up out of nowhere on you. So yeah, just go on to the next one and see what we can do.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

RICHMOND, Va. – Joey Logano issued a not-too-subtle reminder Saturday night that he is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and absolutely ready to position himself for yet another title run.

Logano claimed his second win of the 2026 season – in fact, his second victory in the last four races – driving his No. 22 Team Penske Ford to a dramatic 0.392-second win in the Cook Out 400 under the lights in front of an enthusiastic sellout crowd at Richmond Raceway.

The veteran led 95 of the 400 laps and has improved from 20th place to ninth place in the championship standings in just the last six races after the slowest season start in his 39-time race-winning championship career.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Richmond

“Don’t let the boys get hot, we’re pretty strong right now,” the 36-year-old Logano said, grinning. “It’s awesome to see the speed in the 22 again. Gosh, it was a great car and we’ve had a great car here in the last five races but weren’t able to capitalize on the win. So close, but sweet redemption today.’’

Logano had to work at it, leading six different times on the night, ultimately taking the point for good during pit stop exchanges with only 25 laps remaining. And even then, he had to hold off what looked like the night’s strongest car, the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Chase Briscoe, whose runner-up showing marked not only his first at the famed 0.75-mile Richmond track, but his first career top 10 in the River City. He led a race-best 171 laps but said an issue with the brakes late in the race may have ultimately hampered his ability to get back by Logano.

“As I lost that [brakes] I just kind of lost my advantage and then I just became not mediocre but not quite as strong as I needed to be to maintain there,’’ said Briscoe, who clinched a position into the 16-driver championship field with his effort Saturday. “Definitely frustrating from that standpoint but still a huge improvement from what I’ve been here, so go on to the next one.”

Logano’s Penske teammate Austin Cindric finished third in the No. 2 Ford, his work having major championship implications. He was strong all evening and that third-place effort moved him up from 16th to 15th in the standings, with the top-16 drivers advancing to settle the 2026 title when the 10-race Chase begins in three weeks at Darlington Raceway.

SHOP: Winner gear

Championship points leader and the Virginia hometown favorite Denny Hamlin was fourth Saturday in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He now holds a 115-point advantage atop the standings over Richmond polesitter Ryan Blaney, whose No. 12 Team Penske Ford led 88 laps and won Stage 1, but finished 13th.

Chase Elliott finished fifth in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, notably his first top-10 showing in the last nine races. A two-time winner this season, he formally clinched his Chase position and sits sixth in the standings with two races remaining to set that 16-driver Chase field.

Following the Richmond race, seven drivers have now earned their title shot – Hamlin, Blaney, JGR’s Ty Gibbs, who finished 15th Saturday after an early pit-road penalty, as well as five-race winner, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who finished 11th Saturday night after a disappointing 36th-place showing last week in Iowa.

Briscoe, Elliott and JGR’s Christopher Bell also formally claimed a championship chance, now holding positions fifth through seventh in the standings.

Two-time and reigning series champion Kyle Larson finished sixth Saturday in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, a position ahead of Bell in the No. 20 JGR Toyota. Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry was eighth, followed by Hendrick teammates William Byron and Alex Bowman.

Only two races – at New Hampshire and Daytona International Speedway – now remain to set that 16-driver Chase field. Larson, Logano, RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, Byron, Spire’s Daniel Suárez and Reddick’s 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace hold positions eight through 14th now in the standings.

The season’s two-race winner, Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen, claims that pivotal 16th place in the standings. He finished 14th at Richmond and takes a 50-point edge on RFK’s Ryan Preece to next week’s stop in New Hampshire. Ross Chastain is 63 points off his teammate van Gisbergen’s pace.

The run for the title continues as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Blaney is the defending race winner.

Stage 2 recap

After Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney took Stage 1, Joey Logano paced the final half of a long Stage 2 at Richmond Raceway to take the green-checkered flag.

Blaney and Logano have combined to lead over 140 of the 230 laps so far in the Cook Out 400.

The lone caution in the stage came out for Zane Smith, who spun out on his own in Turns 1 and 2 before hitting the outside wall at Lap 125. The yellow came out during the green-flag cycle that put the likes of Bubba Wallace and Ty Gibbs on their back foot, and the two Toyota drivers fell off the lead lap at the race break.

Austin Cindric and Daniel Suárez also had an extremely close call on pit road at Lap 180 as the No. 2 Ford came to his stall as the No. 7 exited, but they avoided hitting each other and went about their respective races.

MORE: Full Stage 2 results

Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Blaney, Josh Berry, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and William Byron scored points in Stage 2.

Only 12 cars were scored on the lead lap at the Lap 230 caution.

Stage 1 recap

Polesitter Ryan Blaney commanded Stage 1 of Saturday evening’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.

The No. 12 Team Penske Ford driver led 60 of the 70-lap opening frame at the Virginia short track to nab a series-high sixth stage win of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott and William Byron also tallied points in Stage 1. Cindric, who started 23rd, gained a boatload of spots on the opening pit cycle to drive into the top five.

MORE: Full Stage 1 results

Ty Gibbs, who won last Sunday at Iowa Speedway, incurred a speeding penalty during the green-flag pit cycle and finished outside the top 20. Austin Hill also had a pit-road penalty for an uncontrolled tire.

Note: Inspection was completed in the Cup Series garage with no issues, confirming Logano as the Richmond winner. The Nos. 2, 9, 20 and 97 cars will return to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, for engine dynamometer testing. Additionally, the Nos. 9 and 20 cars will also undergo a teardown inspection. 

Contributing: Staff report