AJ Allmendinger received medical assistance exiting his race car following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of The Americas.
Allmendinger wheeled the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet to a ninth-place finish in the DuraMax Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne, but a malfunctioning cool suit left Allmendinger in need of assistance post-race.
After laying on pit road following the event, Allmendinger was helped onto a stretcher and taken to the infield care center, where a NASCAR spokesperson confirmed he was evaluated and released.
Despite the adversity, Allmendinger rallied to his third consecutive top-20 finish to open the 2026 campaign and earned his first top 10 of the season.
AUSTIN, Texas — After winning Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Circuit of The Americas, Shane van Gisbergen admitted his No. 97 Cup Series hot rod for Trackhouse Racing was lacking pace. He wasn’t certain he’d be able to contend for the victory, a rarity for the New Zealander at road courses.
But come the green flag in Sunday’s DuraMax Grand Prix, van Gisbergen did what SVG does on road courses, maneuvering the car forward in a hurry. By Lap 7, he had already progressed to sixth position, more than cutting his track-position deficit in half from a 13th-place starting spot, his worst starting effort in 12 career road-course appearances.
Ultimately, van Gisbergen’s pursuit fell just short of history. After winning each of the last five road-course races in the Cup Series, van Gisbergen ended Sunday second, 3.944 seconds shy of tying Jeff Gordon’s record of six consecutive triumphs at a road course in Cup competition.
“It’s still good. I’ve always had [expletive] results here,” van Gisbergen said. “It’s good to get a win and a second for the weekend. Yesterday, I felt like we were a long way off and today, I think the car was much better, so the guys did a good job of tuning it up.”
It took just over 10 laps for van Gisbergen to crack the top five. He and Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain chased stage points in Stage 1, as the No. 97 car earned nine of them, one spot short of Chastain’s stage win.
“I need to keep scoring points and accumulate as much as we can,” van Gisbergen said. “I’m pretty stoked about that.”
Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney was the car to beat in the opening stage. At the start of Stage 2, polesitter Reddick showed his hand while van Gisbergen continued marching forward. At the end of the second stage, that trio had separated itself as the elite cars, all electing to flip the stage to have track position come the start of the final stage.
Compared to earlier in the race, No. 97 crew chief Stephen Doran thought the team’s Trackhouse entry had closed the gap on Reddick, who led a race-high 58 laps. Yet prior to a caution flying for Chastain dropping a right-rear tire onto the course with 20 laps remaining, van Gisbergen still ranked behind Reddick and Blaney. The threesome stayed out while other drivers pitted for fresh Goodyear tires, hoping to make a difference in the final stint.
“I think maybe I was a little deceived in the next to last run,” Doran told NASCAR.com. “I thought we had closed the gap enough to him that we could fight it out on equal stuff. My initial instinct was to pit on that last caution. I thought we were as good to race it out – and we weren’t.”
Van Gisbergen passed Blaney on the opening lap of the restart and was in the tracks of Reddick. He hounded the No. 45 Toyota for upward of 10 laps before Reddick took off. After the checkered flag, the six-time road-course victor gave Reddick all the credit for beating him straight up. Van Gisbergen wasn’t certain that Reddick was showing his full hand either, believing the No. 45 car could separate further from him.
“I knew I had gotten beaten by somebody better,” van Gisbergen said. “[Reddick’s] car was really good and he never put a foot wrong. He was driving really well, consistent line, accurate through the bundles. It was impressive to watch. Knowing we got beat by someone that was better is good, just need to work harder and make our car a bit better and there are some things I can do better too.”
With the runner-up finish, van Gisbergen netted 48 points, trailing only Reddick and Ty Gibbs in points scored Sunday. He gained 11 spots in the regular-season standings, moving to fifth after the first three races of the 2026 campaign and one week after netting his best career oval finish (sixth, EchoPark Speedway).
The driver and crew chief had mixed emotions on coming up short, knowing they fell short of the ultimate goal.
“I guess it’s a good consolation to come out of here with a lot of points,” Doran said, “but it burns right now not to win.”
Van Gisbergen was pleased: “Second sucks, but to get good points days, that’s what I need to get into this Chase.”
AUSTIN, Texas — Ever since the Chicago Bulls reign of the 1990s, the “three-peat” has been the sole province of NBA superstar Michael Jordan.
Now “His Airness” has to share the distinction with one of his drivers.
Tyler Reddick made history on Sunday at Circuit of The Americas, powering the No. 45 Toyota co-owned by Jordan and Denny Hamlin to victory in the DuraMax Texas Grand Prix Powered by Reladyne.
A week earlier at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta, Reddick became the sixth driver to win the first two races of a NASCAR Cup Series season. At COTA on Sunday, he became the only driver in NASCAR history to win the first three.
There was nothing easy about Reddick’s 11th career victory and his second at the Texas road course. In order to claim the trophy, he had to hold off New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, who was seeking his sixth straight road-course victory.
“It means the world,” said Reddick, who led a race-high 58 of 95 laps. “Yeah, it’s so fitting. We get going at the end there, and I’m leading and there’s SVG, the guy I’ve been trying to beat for a while now. Just to be able to outlast him there and hold on for the win is just incredible.
“Just really proud of this Chumba Casino Toyota Camry, everyone at 23XI. We worked really hard. We did not like getting beat like that at road courses. It’s one race, but it was so important, so fitting that we were able to get three in a row and make history.”
After the three victories, Reddick holds a commanding 70-point lead over 23XI teammate Bubba Wallace, who finished 11th on Sunday. Chase Elliott is third in the standings, 72 points back.
Jordan was elated with the NASCAR “three-peat.”
“He had a chance to win three in a row, and that’s the hardest one to win,” said Jordan, who led the Bulls to three straight NBA titles on two separate occasions. “He kept to his strategy, and, man, the guys put together a great car.
“I think Billy (Scott, crew chief) did an unbelievable job in calling the game, calling the race, and Tyler did a good job. He beat some good competition. You see SVG coming back there, you get a little nervous, but I think he had him covered pretty much the whole day.”
Reddick maintained the lead after a restart on Lap 79, after the Chevrolet of Stage 1 winner Ross Chastain jettisoned a wheel to cause the third caution of the afternoon and the only one for an on-track incident.
Restarting third, van Gisbergen charged past Ryan Blaney and secured the second position downhill through the esses. For the first eight laps of the final 16-lap green-flag run, SVG harried the race winner, but Reddick gradually pulled away, using his Camry’s horsepower and forward drive to gap van Gisbergen’s No. 97 Chevrolet up the hill toward Turn 1.
Reddick’s winning margin over the Trackhouse Racing driver was a deceptively large 3.944 seconds.
“We lacked a little bit of turn and a little bit of drive,” van Gisbergen said. “Tyler was just amazing. The way he was driving was really good, and his car was good. We just didn’t quite have enough, but it was a great points day for this No. 97 Safety Culture Chevrolet team, which is what we need for getting into The Chase.
“It was still an amazing result, but you’re always disappointed with second when the expectations are so high. But overall, it was a really good day.”
Defending race winner Christopher Bell finished third, followed by Stage 2 winner Ty Gibbs and Michael McDowell. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Elliott ran sixth and seventh, respectively.
Eighth was Blaney, who pressured Reddick early in the final stage, pulling beside the 23XI Camry in Turn 6A. Just as he did later with van Gisbergen, however, Reddick fended off the attack and pulled away before he and Blaney came to pit road for fuel and tires on Lap 69.
AJ Allmendinger and Denny Hamlin completed the top 10, though Allmendinger needed medical attention after the race, thanks to a failure of his cool shirt in the Texas heat, with track temperatures measured at 109 degrees at the start of the race.
Connor Zilisch, the highly touted rookie driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, lined up fourth on the race’s final restart, recovering from a Turn 1 spin to start Stage 2. However, chain-reaction contact sent Austin Cindric into Zane Smith, who hit Zilisch’s left rear and sent Zilisch on his second spin of the day. Zilisch ultimately came back to finish 14th, while Smith, who was seeking his third straight top 10 of 2026, finished 33rd.
The Cup Series will next compete at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Note: Post-race inspection concluded without issues, confirming Reddick as the race winner.
Alex Bowman exited the NASCAR Cup Series race early after feeling unwell Sunday at Circuit of The Americas.
Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, completed 70 of 95 laps in the DuraMax Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne before driving to the garage, where he was relieved by Myatt Snider.
Bowman was taken to the infield care center after exiting the vehicle and was later evaluated and released. He had never finished outside the top 10 in five prior COTA starts, including a ninth-place finish at the 2.4-mile road course in 2025.
“It was an unexpected situation. Alex wasn’t feeling well enough to continue, so we made the call to get him out of the car,” said Jeff Andrews, president and general manager of Hendrick Motorsports. “It came on suddenly. He was seen in the care center and received fluids, but we don’t have anything further to share at this time. We’re grateful to Myatt for stepping in on such short notice.”
Snider had never previously competed in the Cup Series but is a veteran of NASCAR’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Craftsman Truck Series, with 112 O’Reilly starts and 36 Truck Series starts to his credit. Snider won at Homestead-Miami Speedway in O’Reilly Auto Parts Series competition in 2021.
Snider began the day working for FOX Sports as a pit spotter with pit reporter Jamie Little.
Snider ultimately wheeled the No. 48 Chevrolet to a 36th-place finish, six laps down. Because Bowman started the race, Bowman is the driver of record and is credited with the five points earned in Sunday’s race.
For many racers who aspire to reach the NASCAR Cup Series, the journey begins in the NASCAR Regional ranks. And fans can watch each step of that journey.
FloRacing is the streaming home of all NASCAR Regional properties. Fans can utilize that platform to access live broadcasts and replays of ARCA Menards Series and Whelen Modified Tour races, plus a healthy offering of live broadcasts from Local Racing Series tracks.
All of NASCAR’s biggest short-track events of the year, including all of the races that make up the prestigious Virginia Triple Crown culminating in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway, can be viewed live on FloRacing.
Additionally, in 2026, an expanded slate of NASCAR Regional races will be shown live on the NASCAR Channel, further expanding the reach of short-track racing across North America.
The majority of the simulcasts — including the aforementioned ValleyStar Credit Union 300 — will be produced by FloRacing and feature its broadcast teams. It follows the launch of the FloRacing 24/7 FAST channel on Amazon Prime Video, Fubo and YouTube.
The NASCAR Channel provides 24/7 programming and content to fans for free, including classic races, delayed broadcasts of the current season, select live events, NASCAR Studios original content, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s The Morning Drive. The NASCAR Channel is available on The Roku Channel, Xumo Play, Tubi, Samsung TV Plus and Prime Video. No subscription or registration is required.
As for the ARCA Menards Series schedule, each of the series’ 20 races broadcasts live on FOX, FS1 or FS2.
Just like the complete NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule, every ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West race is shown live on FloRacing, with a handful simulcast on the NASCAR Channel.
Below are the complete 2026 broadcast schedules for the ARCA Menards Series, the ARCA Menards Series East, the ARCA Menards Series West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Tyler Reif, driver of Niece Motorsports’ No. 42 Chevrolet, has been treated and released from an area medical facility following Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in St. Petersburg, the team announced Saturday evening.
After finishing 16th in the inaugural Florida street race, Reif was transported for additional care and was treated for heat exhaustion, Niece Motorsports said in a statement.
“Tyler and his family would like to express their gratitude to the NASCAR officials, track medical workers and the local medical facility staff for their care,” the team said in a release.
Reif overcame an electrical issue during the pre-race parade laps as well as right-rear damage sustained during the event.
Niece tapped the 18-year-old native of Henderson, Nevada, as the primary driver of the organization’s flagship entry for the 2026 season. He owns three ARCA Menards Series West victories, including an ARCA Menards Series combo race at Phoenix Raceway in 2023.
AUSTIN, Texas — A debut can be overwhelming for any driver, but 17-year-old Brent Crews was cool, calm and collected in his inaugural O’Reilly Auto Parts Series start as he finished sixth Saturday at Circuit of The Americas.
The rising prospect in the Toyota Racing camp made his anticipated first appearances after missing the opening races at Daytona International Speedway and EchoPark Speedway due to age eligibility and shined under the Texas sun, snagging a handful of laps led and keeping the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing hot rod clean amid another hectic run to the end for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at the 2.4-mile road course.
“I feel like today was just a big learning day,” Crews said. “My first start, obviously. Just overall, I wanted to finish and keep the car in one piece, and we did that. There was some things I feel like I could have done better there at the end. I’ve been here so many times where you gain a row or two rows taking the outside and then they all get wiped out. It was a tough day. It was a long, hot day, and we survived.”
Crews made a big impression in Stage 2, asserting himself at the front of the field on a restart and making it four-wide up the hill to Turn 1 to take the lead while passing the likes of fellow road-course aces in Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch.
Crews paced the field for five laps before van Gisbergen got back by the No. 19 Toyota, but Crews’ ability caught the eye of the New Zealander, who ultimately went on to grab the checkered flag Saturday.
“That was awesome to watch,” van Gisbergen said of Crews. “He was driving like crazy. I couldn’t drive like that. I’d be worn out in two laps. He was just crazy on the limit and it was really cool to watch. He looks like he’s an amazing talent and I’m sure he’ll be really good in not much time. It’s fun to race him, but kind of knew [battling for the lead] was not gonna last long.”
Because Crews will not turn 18 until March 30, he will miss two of the next three O’Reilly events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Darlington Raceway. But the teenager will return to action next Saturday as the circuit shifts west to Phoenix Raceway on March 7 (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Points racing isn’t on Crews’ mind though and isn’t the main goal as he makes his opening few O’Reilly starts, and COTA was mission accomplished for the rookie with an impressive, clean debut that will put him on the map in the series.
“It was a lot, right? I’m a rookie, and as a rookie here, you’re at everybody else’s fate,” Crews said. “Just trying to make good decisions there at the end and not put myself in a position to get crashed or run into a crash. It was a lot of fun. This is something I’ve been looking forward to for the past 10 years and it was everything I’ve expected, and more. Everybody’s really aggressive and really good. The cars are really close and just excited to be right where I am.”
Racing Insights’ projection model has crunched the numbers, recent track trends, team strengths and past history to forecast Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series road-course race at Circuit of The Americas (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), and for a slew of road-course aces, the metrics suggest great things are in store.
Following Saturday’s qualifying session — with Daytona 500 and EchoPark Speedway winner Tyler Reddick capturing Busch Light Pole — the data suggests the usual road-course suspects are expected to make a play for the Texas-sized victory. Here is how the field currently stacks up heading into the bout at the 2.4-mile Austin, Texas, track.
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Though the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing pilot is starting in a relatively mortal position to begin Sunday’s contest (13th), the metrics still believe the New Zealand native will find Victory Lane. Look no further than recent history to make such a claim; van Gisbergen has won the last five road-course races, and his average finish of 7.58 turning left and right is second-best all-time among drivers with four-plus starts, with NASCAR Hall of Famer Fireball Roberts (2.78) the only exception. Should he emerge victorious, van Gisbergen will be only the second driver to win six consecutive road-course races. The other? Jeff Gordon from 1997-2000. Will immortality be achieved?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: Of course, if there is a driver who could usurp the Kiwi at COTA, it could very well be the driver who bested him there for the win last season. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver will start Sunday in eighth, and though Bell has two career COTA finishes outside the top 30, he’s been nails otherwise, tallying three top-three results at the facility. Bell’s 18 laps led at COTA additionally rank sixth among active drivers.
RYAN BLANEY: The 2023 Cup Series champion arguably turned the most heads during Saturday’s on-track action, with the No. 12 Team Penske Ford tallying the second-fastest practice time and keeping momentum through qualifying, earning a fourth-place starting position. Whether the 32-year-old superstar can translate Saturday’s success to a Sunday triumph, though, remains to be seen; Blaney is on a 24-race streak without a top-five finish on road courses and has never finished inside the top five on a left- and right-turning circuit in the Next Gen era.
FULL PROJECTED RESULTS FOR 2026 DURAMAX TEXAS GRAND PRIX POWERED BY RELADYNE (3:30 P.M. ET, FOX)
AUSTIN, Texas — With a bold, brilliant move moments after the final restart of Saturday’s Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas, Shane van Gisbergen once again exhibited his road course supremacy.
Taking the inside line into Turn 1 after the restart with five laps left, van Gisbergen made a four-wide pass for the lead from the sixth position and pulled away to win the fifth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts race of his career, this time by 0.780 seconds over runner-up Austin Hill.
In a rough-and-tumble event with more than its share of contact, van Gisbergen led five times for 31 laps, including the last five after the decisive move, as then-leader and Stage 2 winner Sam Mayer ran wide in the first corner, clearing the inside lane for the winning pass.
“I was a bit unsure there, starting sixth on the outside,” van Gisbergen said. “I kind of got to the inside, which was good, and nosed in on the 41 (Mayer), and he reacted. When he reacted, I thought no way he’s stopping that, and he kind of pushed everyone wide, which was awesome, and it worked out for us.”
The win was SVG’s first at COTA in his second O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at the track. He is winless in two NASCAR Cup Series starts at the Texas road course.
“I’ve always been fast here but never managed to win,” van Gisbergen said. “So I’m pretty stoked to finally get it done — pretty flawless day.”
Van Gisbergen’s victory was the 10th straight on road courses for JR Motorsports and the 106th for the organization overall.
Austin Hill’s runner-up finish was his third in five starts at the 2.4-mile track.
“I made a lot of mistakes out there today, but that’s going to happen on these road courses,” said Hill, the series points leader through three races. “Stage 2, I was struggling a little bit, just trying to figure out what I needed to be better.
“That (last) restart, I did a really good job getting left. As soon as they went off into the corner, I knew that they were going to slide up, and I was able to file in there in second, and then I had to go to work on SVG.
“He’s just so good at the first three laps of a run. He can really get away. I was struggling a little bit with front turn for the first two or three laps, and he kind of got that gap and was able to manage from there. Hats off to those guys. A better guy beat us today.”
In a race billed as a matchup between van Gisbergen and pole winner Connor Zilisch, Sammy Smith finished third, followed by Jesse Love and Corey Day, as Zilisch suffered a litany of issues that dropped him to 21st at the end.
After Zilisch led 12 laps during the first stage, the left-rear brake rotor on his No. 1 Chevrolet sheared, and the 19-year-old prodigy quickly dropped through the field. After stopping for repairs to the rear brakes, Zilisch started the final stage in 29th but just as rapidly worked his way forward.
With fewer than three laps left, he had just cleared Day’s No. 17 Chevrolet for fourth when contact from Day’s car sent Zilisch spinning to damage his Camaro.
“He got right in front of me there, and as soon as he did, he crossed over my nose, I lost a little bit of what I had left (of front turn),” Day said. “It wasn’t intentional. I didn’t want to wreck him.”
The accident ruined Zilisch’s impressive charge from the back of the field.
“Really unfortunate,” Zilisch said. “Hopefully, he can figure it out … All I want is an apology, but he just stands over there and stares at me and makes it worse. But he’ll figure it out.”
Seventeen-year-old Brent Crews finished sixth in his series debut after taking the lead on the Stage 2 restart. Crews is the first driver under 18 to lead laps in the series since Casey Atwood accomplished the feat in 1998.
William Sawalich, Justin Allgaier, Ross Chastain and Brennan Poole completed the top 10.
The O’Reilly Series heads west next Saturday for the Govx 200 at Phoenix Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NOTE: Inspection in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series garage was completed with no issues, confirming van Gisbergen as the winner.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competed in a new venue Saturday in the streets of St. Petersburg, and a handful of tour veterans took to the place. Layne Riggs’ star burned the brightest in victory, and ThorSport teammates Ty Majeski and Ben Rhodes gave a gallant, proper chase.
A pair of IndyCar veterans, however, held their own in one-off starts, making the most of their home-court advantage in unfamiliar vehicles.
James Hinchcliffe rallied from a host of on-track issues in Saturday’s OnlyBulls Green Flag 150, netting a strong top-10 finish in his Truck Series debut. Another St. Pete pro, 52-year-old IndyCar champ Dario Franchitti, ran top 10 for the majority of the day before damage to his No. 1 Tricon Garage Toyota knocked him from contention.
At the end of the sunny, warm afternoon, both drivers were spent. Hinchcliffe sat on the exterior pit wall alongside his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, drenched with water to cool off. Franchitti sought out shade as he sat in a Tricon pit stall and hydrated, a faulty helmet cooling system the cause of his fatigue after his 27th-place finish in his first NASCAR start since 2008.
Both, however, were all smiles — even after mid-race contact between the two — after the Truck Series’ first street-circuit race before a festival-capacity crowd.
“We had to learn a couple lessons the hard way, figure out these tires, figure out how to race some of these guys,” said Hinchcliffe, who adopted a “Jimmy Hinch” alter ego for the race weekend. “But by the third stage, I felt really good in the truck, even with a little bit of damage. That thing was that was humming along. So I wish I could start the race, like I did knowing what I knew at the start of Stage 3, but at the end of the day, just super thankful to Spire for the opportunity, and yeah, really happy to get out there and salvage the top 10 after going to the back a couple times.”
Hinchcliffe got his introduction to full-fendered racing in a hurry, rubbing sheet metal with both Riggs and Majeski in Stage 1, but he tumbled down the leaderboard in the next stanza with a Turn 10 off-course excursion after contact just after getting past Franchitti.
“I mean, the irony of it being him that hit us. It was almost funny,” Hinchcliffe said. “I was almost laughing in my helmet, but it seems kind of poetic. Seems appropriate. You know, honestly, I’m glad that he hit me and not a full-season guy that’s running for points. In some ways, that was a big thing.”
Another Hinchcliffe spin in Turn 5 of the 1.8-mile course seemed to sink his day with 23 of the 80 laps remaining, but his comeback effort was rewarded as he made use of fresh tires and an improved feel for the heavier stock-car style.
“You wouldn’t think necessarily in something like this, compared to a formula car, precision isn’t necessarily the first word that would come to mind, but you really have to,” Hinchcliffe said. “Credit to all the guys and girls that do this full-time. This is not an easy series, and it was a lot of fun to be part of it for a weekend.”
David Jensen | Getty Images
Franchitti’s day was a bit less eventful, though he informed his Tricon team at the race’s halfway mark that he needed a beverage and an ice pack, noting “this helmet fan is … not the best.” The unscheduled pit stop he made 24 laps later knocked him off the lead lap and outside the top 25.
If there was any rust from the driver who last competed full-time in IndyCar in 2013, it didn’t show in his nearly 20-year-later return to NASCAR. The endeavor stemmed, Franchitti said, from a wine-fueled conversation with close friend Jimmie Johnson, who helped make the arrangement through his sponsor and manufacturer connections to get him in Tricon equipment for St. Pete.
While the chance to race in a NASCAR national series was a privilege, Franchitti said the one-off start provided another opportunity for a homecoming.
“The special thing for me is my family are here,” Franchitti said. “My wife, my daughters have never seen me race anything but historic cars and we’ve had a blast doing that. My mom and dad are here, and there’s also my IndyCar family. Everybody I worked with, everybody I’ve known in the paddock since I was a kid. The fans, all that. That’s what makes this, for me, so, so special. I had a great truck. I really did. I wish I hadn’t done so much damage to it, but that was just my inexperience in the truck, catching me out.”
The finishing outcome, Johnson said, was almost a side note to his overall performance.
“I just can’t overstate how well of a job he did,” Johnson said on pit road. “I mean, it’s so tough to come into this series and drive with the regulars, and I think the first part of the race, he built a lot of respect amongst the competitors around him. They were respectful at the end as we got down to the point in time where yellows come out, and he just did an incredible job. Of course, you want a little better result, and that’s where his head is, what he’s thinking about, but I know once that competitive nature kind of goes away and he reflects on the weekend, he has a lot to be proud of.”
The question that lingered was whether the experience was enough to bring both IndyCar vets back to the NASCAR world in the future. When Franchitti mentioned a braking issue, Johnson slipped in a sly hint about the adjustments the team could make for next time. “Next time?” Johnson recalled Franchitti saying. “We’ll see. It’s more on him than on me. I’d love to do it again with him.”
Count Hinchcliffe in as well: “It’d be pretty hard to say no at this point,” he said, with a hopeful note that NASCAR could return to St. Petersburg for a second go-around.
“Oh man, if they don’t come back to St Pete, I think that’d be a real shame,” Hinchcliffe said. “I mean, I didn’t see exactly what’s happening up front, but from where I sat, it seemed like a pretty exciting race, so hopefully everyone in the stands enjoyed it, and we’ll see the Truck Series back here again next year.”
