The NASCAR Xfinity Series goes from the high banks of Daytona International Speedway to tackling the left and right turns at Portland International Raceway for the Pacific Office Automation 147 (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
2024 winner Shane van Gisbergen will not be returning to the West Coast to defend his victory, but Oceania will still be represented as Australia’s Will Brown hops in the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet this weekend.
Road-course ringers Jack Perkins (N0. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota), Joey Hand (No. 28 RSS Racing Ford) and Austin Green (No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet) will also hit the 1.97-mile Oregon circuit.
With 10 title hopefuls now confirmed, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs are set to get underway this Saturday at Darlington Raceway (Noon ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The “Lady in Black” will act as one of three Round of 10 contests, with Bristol Motor Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway rounding out the three-race slate before the Round of 8. Two drivers will be eliminated following the conclusion of the Round of 10.
Rising star Corey Day returns to the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet to make his eighth start with the team this season. Mason Maggio, originally entered to drive the No. 22 Ford for Reaume Brothers Racing, will step into the team’s No. 33 entry after Frankie Muniz suffered a distal radius fracture in his wrist at his home on Wednesday.
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series regular season has concluded, and now the field begins the playoff push with the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Darlington will act as the opening Round of 16 contest, with World Wide Technology Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway to follow. Four drivers will be eliminated from postseason play following the conclusion of the three-race round and before the beginning of the Round of 12.
Derek Kraus will make his second Cup start of 2025 as driver of the No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet. Josh Bilicki will additionally pilot the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford for the sixth time this season.
Of the 36 points-eligible drivers through the 26-race regular season in 2025, only two drivers ranked inside the top 10 of all five of NASCAR Insights’ statistical categories (passing, defense, speed, restarts, pit crew) for the year: 2025 Regular Season Champion William Byron and 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace.
It’s significant for both as they prepare for their respective postseason runs starting with Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Byron finished the regular season ranked first in both speed and restarts, and was the only driver to lead multiple categories after Saturday night’s race at Daytona International Speedway. The No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports driver snagged two wins on the year and is tied for the fourth-best average finish so far this season (13.9) among full-time drivers. A series-high 247 stage points ultimately put Byron in position to win his maiden Regular Season Championship.
Wallace’s numbers are a bit more surprising despite him making his second playoff appearance after winning the Brickyard 400 in July.
The No. 23 Toyota pit crew was among the best in the field all season long and ranked second during the regular season. Through seven DNFs and notable regression in average finish (down to 18.9 vs. 15.3 in 2024), Wallace was seventh in passing, ninth in defense, eighth in speed and third on restarts. If Wallace can clean up the execution on track, he can put together an eye-opening playoff run.
The second race in the Round of 16 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway will lay the foundations for where both 23XI and Hendrick are at on speed compared to Team Penske, which won at Gateway with Austin Cindric last season and has captured the past three championships at Phoenix Raceway.
Speaking of Team Penske, three-time and defending champ Joey Logano finished 2025 ranked fifth in passing and first in defense.
The old saying of “defense wins championships” may be the name of the game for the No. 22 driver, as a pedestrian regular season didn’t yield signs of a title contender. However, if you know Logano’s playoff history and the strategy gambles from crew chief Paul Wolfe, they will pounce and win their way to a championship if his competitors leave the door just slightly ajar.
Other notables entering the Cup Series Playoffs:
Kyle Larson enters the playoffs as the top seed and ranked sixth or higher in defense, speed, restarts and pit crew. However, he ranked 14th in passing.
Denny Hamlin finished the regular season ranked 15th in passing.
Ross Chastain ranked top five in defense and restarts, but 19th on speed and 13th in pit crew.
On Saturday, a grueling 2025 season at Bowman Gray Stadium culminated with his second track championship against Modified veterans in Burt Myers and Tim Brown, padding a resume that includes victories in Late Model Stocks, Super Late Models, the USAR Pro Cup Series and the NASCAR Goody’s Dash Series.
Now the 44-year-old has his eyes on a few more accomplishments to close the year: NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series state, regional and national titles.
For any other full-time Modified driver at Bowman Gray, the season ending a month before the final day to collect Weekly Series points (Sept. 21) would put him or her at a disadvantage. Fortunately for Ward, his team possesses a Late Model Stock Car.
And given how 2025 unfolded against competitive Bowman Gray fields, Ward believes those championships are feasible goals.
“It kind of worked out,” Ward said. “The car counts [at Bowman Gray] have been phenomenal this year, and the way things have fallen, we’ve been in contention for [the national title].
“I know it’s something that’s going to be tough to win racing against all these guys all over the country, but all we can really do is try to run the races and put up some more wins.”
Inspired by the success of the Modified program, Kevin Powell Speed Motorsports branched into Late Model Stock competition for 2025. The team brought in six-time USAR Pro Cup Series winner Jason Sarvis to serve as crew chief on the car, which has been piloted by Hudson Bulger and NASCAR Cup Series veteran Corey LaJoie.
Ward drove KP Speed’s No. 12 to a 10th-place finish in a CARS Tour race at Caraway Speedway on July 2. The guidance of Sarvis and 2023 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner Trevor Ward has helped improve the overall speed of the car since then, which bolsters Ward’s confidence as he chases a national title.
“I feel like we’ve learned a lot with the Late Model [Stock] program in the last few weeks,” Ward said. “Having Trevor Ward here in the shop racing with us, too, that’s been a big help to our learning curve on the Late Model Stock side.
“It’s all coming together at the right time to be in contention and go chase a few races for this national title.”
Brandon Ward secured his second Modified title at Bowman Gray Stadium on the strength of three victories in 2025. (Photo: Erick Messer/Bowman Gray Stadium)
Kevin Powell wants Ward to capitalize on the opportunity; he believes his driver is one of the best short-track competitors in the United States. Beyond the titles and numerous victories, Powell has seen Ward complete every lap in Bowman Gray’s Modified division over the past three years.
Once the team finalizes its Late Model Stock schedule over the next month, Powell believes Ward will have no issues showcasing the same composure and skill that has followed him long before Bowman Gray.
“Brandon has been part of our organization for quite some time,” Powell said. “The veteran driver that he is, he knows how to take care of his equipment. When it comes time to turn up the wick and hit the go button, he’s probably one of the best there is. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 25-lap race or 150-lap race, he’s really good at getting everything his race car can get.
“A lot of race-car drivers can be fast, but sometimes they can’t take care of their equipment. Brandon can do both.”
KP Speed’s schedule tentatively includes two races, Hickory Motor Speedway’s prestigious Bobby Isaac Memorial on Aug. 30 and South Boston Speedway’s season finale set for Sept. 6. Both are expected to draw a full field of more than 16 cars, which will aid Ward in his championship pursuit.
The next part of the equation for Ward is finding more events with solid fields to earn maximum points. Only a driver’s best 14 events are scored at the end of the Weekly Series season, which presents a conundrum that will force Ward to drop at least a couple top fives from his stellar Bowman Gray campaign.
Ward’s competition for the Weekly Series title includes Dominion Raceway’s Chase Johnson, David Hebert and 2019 national champion Jacob Goede. To stay within reach of those three, Ward knows he needs to be smart with the races he chooses while also translating his efficiency from Bowman Gray into a Late Model Stock.
“It has to be wins,” Ward said. “You have to focus on winning races with a max car count. That’s how anybody is going to do it. That’s what’s cool about it, because you’re racing against the best of the best across the whole entire country at all the NASCAR short tracks. When you’re going up against that type of competition, nothing short of winning more races is going to do it.
“We know it’s a big challenge, but it’s one we’re ready to try and tackle.”
Long known for his versatility, Brandon Ward will chase NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national, regional and state titles behind the wheel of a Late Model Stock. (Photo: Susan Wong/NASCAR)
All the intricacies that go into Weekly Series points make the national championship a rigorous endeavor for any driver. Ward and Powell understand there will be circumstances outside of their control over the next month, yet they believe in the burgeoning speed of their Late Model Stock program.
South Boston and Hickory require different mindsets, the former involving constant aggression and the latter featuring tire conservation. Ward has found success at both facilities; he earned a Modified victory at Hickory in 2021, and he’s reached South Boston’s Victory Lane in both a Modified and the USAR Pro Cup Series.
Powell believes Trevor Ward’s assistance will be beneficial to Brandon Ward should they choose to race at South Boston regularly. Trevor is second in South Boston’s Late Model Stock championship standings with six victories this season.
Powell is confident everything is falling into place for the KP Speed Late Model Stock to consistently contend for wins as the national championship battle intensifies. Now responsibility falls upon Brandon Ward.
“I think our Late Model program is at the top of the heap,” Powell said. “We compete on the CARS Tour program, and we compete in the Weekly Series. Every time we go, we are one of the top cars in practice and one of the top cars at the end of the night. We have continued to improve our program every time we go.
“If we keep putting these runs together, I think a win is really, really close for the Late Model program.”
Plenty of drivers have earned Weekly Series national championships competing at multiple tracks. Ward is looking to become one of the select few who have done so while driving two different cars, a Modified and a Late Model Stock.
Ward does not envision a difficult transition to Late Model Stocks over the next month, but he faces plenty of stiff competition for the national, Southeast regional and North Carolina state titles. Every piece of knowledge he’s acquired over the past several decades will be essential.
“It would mean a lot for me,” Ward said. “Any type of win or championship, especially in today’s time, [is] so hard to come by. Being a national champion is the ultimate goal; that’s the top of the class for all the NASCAR short-track ranks. Kevin Powell giving me the opportunity to race for it means a lot to me.”
“To win it would be one of the biggest things on my resume if I could somehow pull it off.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The main character in the most memorable out-of-nowhere superspeedway comeback in recent memory is looking forward to reliving his thrilling two-lap dash from 13th to first.
Through in-car, overhead and panoramic cameras, Ryan Blaney can watch the finish of the regular-season finale from at least a dozen replay angles — each outlining a different story of the cascading butterfly effects that coalesced into his second victory at Daytona International Speedway.
“I bet it’s pretty cool,” Blaney said. “I have a unique view of it, but I can’t see what’s all around me, so I’m excited to see it from a bird’s-eye view.”
Perhaps by some umpteenth viewing, the Team Penske star finally will see something to convince himself that he’s deserving of more credit for an epic run to the checkered flag.
Or, as Blaney described it in downplaying his deft and split-second decisions, the “circumstantial stuff” that “just kind of worked” in the regular-season finale.
“A lot of things go into it,” Blaney said. “I can’t do it by myself. It wasn’t me out there making those (moves). I didn’t just turn left and pass everybody by myself. You have to wait, which I think is what makes a good speedway racer to me, or at least that I try to keep in my head, is you have to be ready for the opportunity to go make the big move.
“I try to be patient for that opportunity. If it doesn’t come, it doesn’t come.”
It finally arrived Saturday night at a superspeedway for Blaney, a five-time winner at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta, Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway, who had been in an uncharacteristic slump at the drafting tracks. In the past six races there, he had taken some wicked hits while finishing 37th or worse three times.
And though he might have eschewed any chest-thumping about outwitting roughly a dozen competitors over the course of just over 90 seconds at the “World Center of Racing,” Blaney was caught up enough in the emotion of the moment for a rare burnout in his No. 12 Ford.
“I was fired up, man,” Blaney said. “Whenever you win at these speedways, it pumps you up.”
This one should have a little more meaning — and not just because he will enter the 10-race playoffs with a breathtaking win at Daytona playing on an endless loop until the green flag drops on Sunday at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Consider the myriad ways in which his second victory this season was such a game-changer for Blaney and the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series:
— It sealed the playoff fate of several drivers, catapulting winless Alex Bowman into the final slot of the 16-driver field on points while denying an automatic qualifying victory for the four desperate drivers (Daniel Suárez, Justin Haley, Cole Custer and Erik Jones) who each finished within roughly 6 feet of Blaney’s No. 12 Mustang.
— It’s the first win for a Ford in more than two months.
— It might be remembered as a critical turning point if Blaney reaches the Championship 4 for the third consecutive year. In the final five miles at the “World Center of Racing,” Blaney gained nine playoff points — five for his 15th career victory and four from jumping from fifth to second in the final regular-season standings.
“Tonight was super exciting to me because we came from where we did in two laps,” Blaney said. “Everything just clicked right away, and it all kind of is a blur.
“But it ranks up there.”
The charge evoked some memories of the most famous superspeedway rally in NASCAR history: Dale Earnhardt’s drive from 18th to first in the last five laps at Talladega for his 76th and final victory.
Blaney immediately shut down any comparison to Earnhardt, but he did entertain the notion that he has become one of the elite superspeedway drivers in NASCAR’s premier series by working with Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski at Team Penske.
“I feel like I do a decent job,” Blaney said. “I got to learn from a couple great guys. Watching Joey and Brad and just being around them and following them, I just was able to soak up all that information, how they went about it and pick their brain.
“And then I was able to turn it around and apply it to my racing as I got a little bit more comfortable and experienced. I just try to be patient. Sometimes you just have to let it play out and see what happens. I try to be patient and disciplined and in it for the long haul, and that’s what we were tonight.”
Unlike Earnhart’s famous run at Talladega — a frenzy of daring lane changes and masterful weaving — Blaney hardly diverted from his racing line in the last two laps at Daytona because his plan worked to perfection.
Before the final restart with eight laps remaining, he worked out a deal through spotter communication to follow Custer up to the high lane. When the bottom lanes unexpectedly slowed heading to the white flag, Blaney and Custer shot to the top, and the scrambling down the banking began.
As Custer ducked to the bottom to block a run for the lead by Haley, Blaney motored to the checkered flag with help from Suárez.
“You have no time to think about that stuff,” Blaney said. “It’s a bang-bang play. You’d better just go with whatever your gut says. That was our opportunity to do it. If he wouldn’t have done that, I don’t know if we would have got there, honestly. … It’s all situational, and you go with your gut on a lot of things. And I make a lot of bad decisions too out there, but this one tonight just happened to work out.”
That’s been Blaney’s mantra recently for Penske, which has been running much better than its results recently. It’s a hallmark for the team that has won three consecutive titles with late-season runs by Blaney and Logano.
“We’ve made improvements in all facets of our program,” Jonathan Hassler, Blaney’s crew chief, said. “I think we have probably some of the fastest and most consistent pit crews on pit road. Our cars continue to get more speed. Our road-course program was something that in years past we’ve struggled with at times, and you look at Watkins Glen and (Blaney) getting a pole and fighting for stage win and race win. We continue to try to improve in each and every area, and I think we’re doing a good job of that.”
An indicator of the adversity he’s overcome: Blaney finished second in the regular-season standings despite having a series-high seven DNFs.
“I think Ryan Blaney is pretty special,” Team Penske NASCAR president Michael Nelson said. “Think about how many races we’ve had this year where he’s really coming through challenging for the win at the end. So many races where when the end comes around, you see the 12 car.”
Maybe that’s why Blaney carried a certain nonchalance about his miracle run at Daytona — he always expects to be up front regardless of the odds.
“We’ve been running good through the races and the stages and maybe not gotten the finishes we deserved, but we just powered through it into next week,” Blaney said. “This group has been really good all year. I’m really happy where we’re at, and I think it speaks volumes that we could be P2 in points and have kind of the DNFs and stuff like that through the regular season. I think it really speaks of how good this team is, and hopefully we can show it over the next 10 weeks.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — While the 10-driver NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff field does not deny Regular Season Champion Corey Heim — a series-best seven-time race winner — certainly holds a commanding presence in the 2025 title run, his competition says it is ready to be put to the championship test.
All 10 of the championship-eligible drivers — Heim, Layne Riggs, Chandler Smith, Daniel Hemric, Tyler Ankrum, defending series champ Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger, Rajah Caruth, Kaden Honeycutt and Jake Garcia — met with the media Tuesday in advance of the seven-race playoff run that begins Aug. 30 at the historic Darlington Raceway.
Heim’s competitors all conceded he’s having a season for the ages and carries an enviable “favorite” tag into the championship run. But starting at Darlington, all bets are off.
And the 23-year-old Tricon Garage driver Heim says he’s ready to hoist the champion’s trophy after being favored previously only to finish third (2023) and runner-up (2024) the last two seasons.
The driver of the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota has led 1,125 laps on the year — nearly double his previous single-season total and almost 900 more than anyone else in the series. Along with seven winner stickers, Heim has also tallied 12 top-five finishes through the 18-race regular season.
“I think the main thing for us is that we’ve really connected a lot of the dots on maybe the prior struggles we’ve had so far and got a lot of things to improve in the playoffs still, regardless, as far as keeping that going or keeping the momentum going,” said Heim, the only multi-time Regular Season Champion in series history, who has earned a huge 39-point lead over No. 2 seed Layne Riggs going into the postseason.
“I feel like for me, there (were) some struggle areas last year that kind of lingered throughout the year and we never quite got past that. But we were able to hone in on that in the offseason and sort of clear those up as far as maybe some packages that we brought to specific race tracks that didn’t work, and maybe some pit road stuff.
“My personal development, as far as my driving style at some places, I feel like just within my 11 team and within Tricon and Toyota, we’ve done a great job of just honing in on the things that maybe didn’t work throughout the year and lingered and just kind of fixing that for 2025 and hoping to extend that into the playoffs as well.”
Heim’s amazing season statistics are not unnoticed by his competition.
“The 11 truck is in his own zip code most weekends,” said Front Row Motorsports’ Smith, a two-race winner this season and ranked third entering the playoff stretch.
Even so — and not surprisingly — every single driver said Tuesday he was prepared to give Heim a run for his money.
“Of course, there’s a lot of pressure, but I feel like I’m ready for it,” said Riggs, driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford, adding, “No Hail Marys in the playoffs, that’s the goal for us.”
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Coming into Saturday’s season finale at Bowman Gray Stadium, it was going to almost be impossible for Brandon Ward not win his second Brad’s Golf Cars Modified championship.
So, Saturday’s AgSouth Farm Credit 150, which proved to be 155 laps after finishing in overtime, was pretty much a coronation for Ward. And he did indeed capture his second championship in three seasons.
“Man, I’m telling you, they all mean so much,” Ward said. “I mean, they don’t ever quit mattering. You know, the first one’s always special, of course. This one, I think it’s more special because it’s tonight, you know what I mean?”
Ward made his effort in winning the championship a sentimental statement.
“The more you win, the more you want to win,” he said. “And the more you expect to win, and these guys, they work hard, and it’s about them, man. It’s about getting them in Victory Lane. It’s about seeing them smile for their hard work, and that’s, when you’ve been racing as long as I have that’s the enjoyment I really get is just seeing these guys happy, man. They work hard for me. I’ve got to work hard for them. And that’s what it’s all about.”
In order for Ward to have held on for the championship, Ward needed to finished 14th or better to win no matter what second-place Burt Myers and third-place Tim Brown did. Ward all of that a moot point after Ward finished sixth even though Brown won the race, and Myers was runner-up.
There was straight qualifying before the race and Ward finished seventh. Brown sat on the pole and Myers was alongside on the front row.
“I’ll be honest with you, we put our qualifying tires on and just weren’t as good as we were practice,” Ward said. “And I don’t know why. I was hoping it was just it was a lap there. It didn’t fire off, but even in the race I wasn’t as good tonight as I have been, which we did have to play the strategy tonight.
“This is the first race I’ve really come into kind of looking at it that way. But, we just did what we had to do. The car wasn’t terrible. It just took it a few laps to go. It wasn’t as good as it has been tonight.”
Ward had to face some adversity in that there were 12 cautions during the 155-lap race.
“The only real worry I had was with about 15 to go I lost power steering,” Ward said. “That made it a little harder to manage, especially if you get in traffic and start getting banged around. Luckily enough everybody raced us tonight. I’m thankful for that.”
Ward was a model of consistency throughout the season. He won three races, had 17 top fives, and 20 top-10 finishes.
“It’s what it takes to win championships,” Ward said. “That’s why it’s such a team effort. You have to be consistent. You have to finish the laps, log the laps. You can’t win them if you’re not there at the end.
“So, to get three wins this year, one them in the Hayes Jewelers 200 (season opener), and to win this championship is, it’s what our goal was. So, just glad to be able to accomplish that again.”
As for Brown, after not winning a race all season, since July 19, he won four races, including Saturday night.
“Man, honestly, it’s great,” he said. “So, it’s what we expected to be doing all year, not just the last six weeks, right? So, my hat’s off to all these guys, everybody that works on this car, everybody that does everything for us is super-special for all of our sponsors, my family, my fans.
“Just be back running the way we’re supposed to be running, like we feel like we need to be running. It’s just a great night. Great way to end the season.”
Other than Brown, who won the race, and Myers, who finished second, Danny Bohn finished third, followed by Mike Speeney, Fleming, and Ward.
Brown had the fastest qualifying lap at 13.670 seconds, better than Myers’ 13.685.
“it’s how we need to be running. It’s how we’re supposed to be running. It’s how I expect us to run,” Brown said. “So does our sponsors.
In addition, Brown led all 155 laps and had to witness all the cautions in his rear-view mirror.
“It’s part of racing at the Stadium,” he said. “Great race car, grear race team. Super-blessed, God’s great to me, so I hate the season’s ending right now.
Not only did he win, he picked up 105th win, which is three more than Myers for the most wins at Bowman Gray Stadium.
“Perfect,” Brown said.
Chase Robertson celebrates after clinching his second Bowman Gray Stadium Sportsman championship on Saturday night. (Photo: Erick Messer/Bowman Gray Stadium)
In the 40-lap race in the Law Offices of John Barrow Sportsman Series, Chase Robertson finished sixth, which was good enough to win his second championship in three years.
Robertson, who had five win this season, was the points leader before Saturday’s race and had to finish eight positions ahead of Mitch Gales.
“The plan for the race when we drew the pole was to, you know, just lead until somebody pressured us,” Robertson said. “And I knew Zack (Ore) was going to be hungry for the win, and he had nothing to lose, so we might as well just let him go. When other people got up to me we just them go and just tried to file right behind and just ride it out.
“Man, this is a dream come true after the year we had.”
Ore was originally declared the winner, but after the race, he was once again disqualified for not breaking down his car. He passed pre-race inspection, but he failed to break down, the fourth time he’s been disqualified this season.
Tommy Neal, who was originally called the runner-up, was declared the winner after Ore was disqualified. Neal needed to finish a combination of 11 positions ahead of Robertson and four positions ahead of Gales in order to win the championship.
Michael Adams finished runner-up, followed by Sterling Plemmons, and Justin Taylor.
The QRC HVAC and Refrigeration 20-lap race turned out to have the most drama.
With double points in all the races, Bryan Sykes Jr. needed to finish no more than one spot behind Brad Lewis and more than three positions behind Kevin Gilbert.
Lewis ended up winning the race, but Sykes ended up winning the championship by two points. It was Sykes’ first championship.
“I’m speechless,” Sykes said. “Billy Gregg told me it was now or never, and it was then.”
Even though he didn’t win the championship, Lewis, who won his fourth race of the season, took what proved to be the consolation prize.
“Yeah, it’s OK,’ Lewis said. “I told God before this race that I was at peace with it. Whatever He wanted, that’s what we were going to do. I stopped at turn 3 for Robbie (Brewer, who died two died two weeks ago). That’s my boy. That’s where he went out the first time…This is all for Robbie.”
Bryant Robertson finished third, followed by Gilbert and Craig Hartless.
The Q104.1 Stadium Stock 15-lap race came to how points leader Brandon Brendle finished after starting 12th.
Brendle needed to finish eighth or better in order to maintain his lead over Luke Smith. Smith won the race, but Brendle moved up eight positions and finished fourth.
It was Brendle’s second championship.
“I first want to thank Todd Barnhart because he gave ne this hot rod and gave me free reins on it, and it shows,” Brendle said. “I want to thank all the guys that help me.”
Tyler McDonald finished runner-up in the race behind Smith, which was his third win of the season. AJ Sanders was third, followed by Brendle, and Chuck Wall.
“We’ve learned a lot this year,” Smith said. “And to come home with three wins, it feels real good.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It happens every fall — in NASCAR’s Next Gen era, at least.
As reliably as jack-o’-lanterns populate the front porches of America with Halloween approaching, the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs take a turn toward a certain Ford team when the end of summer nears.
Ever since the Next Gen race car debuted in the series in 2022, Team Penske drivers — specifically Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney — have blossomed during the postseason.
Logano won the second title of his career in 2022 and added a third last year, outrunning Blaney in the Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway.
Blaney claimed the championship in 2023, giving team owner Roger Penske a monopoly on Next Gen-era titles.
After Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, drivers outside the Team Penske stable might well be thinking, “What? Not again!”
With Blaney’s victory in the final regular-season race, the Ford contingent awoke from an 11-week slumber dating to Blaney’s win on June 1 at Nashville Superspeedway.
There’s a discernible pattern here. In each of the last three seasons, Team Penske drivers have emerged from summer doldrums to prevail in NASCAR’s postseason. The difference this year is that Blaney has shown consistent speed throughout the year — without the victories to show for it.
Blaney entered Saturday’s Daytona race with a string of five straight top-10 finishes. Despite suffering seven DNFs (did not finish) in the first 20 races, he leap-frogged Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson to secure a second-place finish in the regular season and claim the 10 playoff points that accompany the spot.
“To get to second in regular-season points after the year we’ve had with seven DNFs, I think it just shows how good we’ve been,” Blaney said after the race. “And the good thing about the last six weeks, I feel like we’ve been finishing where we’ve been running and deserve to finish. Nothing foolish has happened. We’ve been able to have solid weeks and just kind of put things together.
“I’ve been really happy with the effort of us all year, that’s for sure. I think these guys (Blaney’s crew) are even better than they were when we won the championship, better than what we were last year. They just keep maturing, and their confidence is high. Hopefully, we can make another run and start off next week. We’ll see.”
The playoffs open with the Cook Out Southern 500 on Aug. 31 at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. on USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, HBO Max).
The second race in the opening round takes place at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway near St. Louis, a new addition to the playoffs gift-wrapped for Team Penske.
Logano won the inaugural Cup race at WWT Raceway in 2022. A year later, in Kyle Busch’s most recent victory in the series, Logano ran third, and Blaney finished sixth after leading 83 laps.
Last year, Team Penske driver Austin Cindric triumphed at the 1.25-mile track after Blaney ran out of fuel while leading with two laps left. Logano came home fifth for his third top five at the speedway in as many races.
The only Fords in the playoffs this year are those of Blaney, Logano, Cindric and Josh Berry in the No. 21 Mustang of Team Penske affiliate Wood Brothers Racing.
There also was a tinge of irony in Blaney’s win at Daytona. His victory kept Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver Alex Bowman in the playoffs on points. Last year, it was Bowman’s disqualification in the Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval that kept Logano in the postseason and preserved his championship run.
After Saturday’s race, Bowman asserted that he owed Blaney “seven million beers.”
“Oh, I’ll take five million,” Blaney quipped during his post-race press conference. “I’ll save him some money … I do need a refill if he’s still here. I’ll start with one.”
The real question, though, is whether any other driver can prevent Blaney or one of his teammates from toasting with champagne after the checkered flag in the Nov. 3 Championship 4 Race at Phoenix Raceway.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Alex Bowman spent nearly three hours waiting out his fate in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, doomed to a DNF at Daytona International Speedway after a multicar Stage 1 wreck. He watched the rest of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from the track as a host of drivers bidding for their first win of the season threatened to knock him out.
“Seven million beers,” Bowman told FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass when asked what he owed him. “Certainly thankful for him.”
Bowman and Tyler Reddick left Daytona the way they entered, holding serve above the elimination line to sew up the final two spots in the Cup Series Playoffs. They were nearly a matched pair, with both enduring early crashes that threatened to derail their bids.
Reddick wound up the benefactor after Bowman’s 36th-place finish made his points gap insurmountable. Still, Bowman could not advance until the nerve-jolting final lap when Blaney inched ahead of three other would-be playoff clinchers in a wild, four-abreast flash across the start/finish line. Daniel Suárez was the hard-luck runner-up, with Justin Haley and Cole Custer completing the top four behind Blaney — all separated by just 0.049 seconds.
Reddick was the first to find trouble, collecting Todd Gilliland with a Turn 4 spin on the 18th of 160 laps and nosing his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota into the inside retaining wall. “That was all my doing there at the start of the race,” Reddick said later, and the damage threatened to give Bowman an open door to surpass him in the standings. Bowman’s misfortune eight laps later put Reddick in.
Reddick continued with his car’s taped-up front end, finishing 21st as one of the last drivers on the lead lap. Though his playoff quest stayed intact, last year’s Regular Season Champion still bemoaned a slumping stretch into the postseason, going seven consecutive races without a top-five result and an average finish of 18.6.
“Story of our year. Just messy, not executing well, just filled with mistakes,” Reddick said. “So yeah, we got very fortunate when the 48 had problems, but yeah, we’ll try and clean it up going into Darlington.”
Corey Grantham | For NASCAR Digital Media
Bowman’s window to advance by passing Reddick in points closed quickly. He had started second in the 40-car field and fell back to 30th place in six laps, hampered by a low lane that was sluggish to move. He’d rallied back up to 10th when a three-car coming-together involving Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch touched off a sizable tangle through the trioval, clogging the track. Busch’s careening car tagged Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, which limped around to a halt.
Bowman radioed his team to ask what had happened, and the response was: “Hard to tell. You can point the finger at three people, like normal.” Bowman’s reply: “Yeah, welcome to Daytona.” Once his crew determined that the damage to the car was irreparable, Bowman was out of the race and the waiting began.
“Yeah, what can you do? It’s a stressful time to be a part of, but I don’t think this really defines us as a race team,” Bowman said, acknowledging the uncertainty after his midrace check at the infield care center. “It’s pretty outside of our control, and we’ve done a lot of good things lately. We had a good summer. That’s the first time in eight years we’ve had a good summer. So yeah, just gotta keep digging.”
The dizzying scramble of the final laps nearly saved the seasons of Suárez, Haley and Custer.
For Suárez, the opportunity was there to provide a sterling send-off win in what will be his final season with Trackhouse Racing. His No. 99 Chevrolet had solid help in the aerodynamic draft from the No. 43 Toyota of Erik Jones, but said he needed one more lap working with him to keep their top-lane push rolling. His bid ended up just 0.031 seconds short.
“Mixed feelings because I’m proud of all the effort, but we didn’t achieve our goal, but it’s part of it,” said Suárez, who led six laps early on. “We have to continue to push, and we have 10 more opportunities to win a race.”
Haley’s first top-five finish of 2025 came in the 26th race of the year, and his No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet pressed hard for the lead after the final restart with eight laps remaining. He lost his momentum when two-wide racing morphed into a three- and four-wide gaggle and wound up just 0.005 seconds back of Suárez, roughly half a car-length behind Blaney’s winning No. 12 Team Penske Ford.
“I mean, with the season we’ve had, just trying to get it back on the rails, and I thought we were close there,” said Haley, who nearly vaulted from 30th in the standings into the postseason. “Just yeah, didn’t pan out.”
Custer nearly made a more impressive jump from 34th in the Cup Series standings onto the 16-driver grid. The Haas Factory Team driver led at the white flag with fellow Ford driver Blaney lined up behind him in the high lane to provide a push. When Custer moved his No. 41 Mustang low to block other advances, Blaney took advantage.
“Honestly, the last time we were close to winning was here in February. I felt like I drove a better race here,” said Custer, who led seven laps total. “But overall, you just hope that you’re in the mix at the end of these speedway races. We did a great job saving our car, bringing a really good-handling car, and just giving ourselves a shot to win at the end. Definitely going to be kicking myself at what I could have done different.”
Non-winners led 12 of the last 13 laps. Only Blaney’s last-lap pass saved the day for Bowman.
Word of his seven-million-beer offer eventually made its way to Blaney, who said he’d settle for less.
“I do need a refill if he’s still here,” Blaney said. “I can start with one.”
