The intensity of the Cup Series Playoffs doesn’t get any better, and there will be drama leading in and throughout elimination weekend as the circuit returns to North Carolina with the Round of 12 elimination race next Sunday at the Charlotte Roval (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). From a dominant performance that went for naught to a thrilling overtime finish, let’s take a closer look at playoff drivers who improved their footing at Kansas Speedway and who will need to rally before the Roval.
WINNER
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. One of the prime examples of ‘where did he come from?’ After taking four tires on the final stop, the 2020 series champion found himself in the latter half of the top 10. It was already a great points day for the No. 9 team, but they were given a gift as another yellow forced double OT and Elliott sliced through four Toyotas, contacting Denny Hamlin off Turn 4 to score his second win of 2025. Elliott joins Ryan Blaney in the Round of 8, and both can just sit back and watch the chaos unfold on the left- and right-turn Charlotte course next Sunday.
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. On paper, it was a near-perfect day for the No. 11 team. They led a race-high 159 laps and swept both stages. However, multiple drivers took the fight for the lead from Hamlin all race long, and Hamlin reported steering issues as the race wound down. Pit-road demons also reared their ugly head, but through it all, the 44-year-old put himself in a position to take the checkered flag on the final lap. A tight car in the middle of Turns 3 and 4 resulted in Hamlin putting his co-owned No. 23 car into the wall, and Elliott had the momentum to side swipe the No. 11 and pass Hamlin at the checkered flag with a narrow 0.069-second victory.
Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota. Kansas is going to be a what-could-have-been for Wallace as a victory slipped through his grasp on the final corner. An ill-handling race car from the jump mired Wallace outside the top 15 for most of Stage 1, but the No. 23 pit crew worked on the car throughout the race to put Wallace in a position to score points in Stage 2, and ultimately, a shot at a ticket to the Round of 8. Despite the top-five result, Wallace only gained a point on the cutline, and a 26-point deficit ahead of the Roval is going to be near must-win territory.
WHO’S NOT?
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. A ninth-place finish rarely gets you down here, but Byron had a miserable Sunday at Kansas, minus what the end result says. The Regular Season Champion ran outside the top 20 and was nowhere close to competitive at the 1.5-mile oval, nearly falling a lap down on multiple occasions. However, a handful of late cautions put Byron in a position to maximize the result and hold a 40-point cushion heading to the Roval, where he’s scored consecutive top-five results.
Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford. A disastrous Saturday looked like it would be a setup for failure during the race, but a special from crew chief Paul Wolfe to put on two tires for a late Stage 1 restart gave Logano second life as he took four points in the first two stages. However, Logano was collected in a multicar incident on Lap 218 that knocked his result down to 21st. Logano has just a 13-point cushion on Ross Chastain at the playoff cutline, but the three-time champ’s Roval numbers are pretty stout with an 8.6 average finish.
BUBBLE WATCH
RANK
DRIVER
+/-
4
Denny Hamlin
+48
5
Christopher Bell
+44
6
William Byron
+40
7
Chase Briscoe
+21
8
Joey Logano
+13
CUTLINE
9
Ross Chastain
-13
10
Bubba Wallace
-26
11
Tyler Reddick
-29
12
Austin Cindric
-48
NASCAR INSIGHTS
Thirty-fifth place. According to NASCAR Insights, Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 pit crew had the third-worst day at Kansas, which found Reddick restarting at the rear of the field on multiple occasions. Reddick still managed to finish seventh, but goes to an elimination race minus-29 to the cutline, where he may need a victory to advance. If Reddick is to win at the Roval, he’ll need his pit crew to pick up the slack and have better communication on who’s pitting around him to avoid the same mistakes from Sunday.
QUOTABLE
“Just mechanical failures and different things have really hindered us in years past. We had no power steering on the last run and low voltage, just a lot of things. I’m just disappointed because I’ve never had a car that good to the competition. I wanted it for my dad, I wanted it for everybody. I wanted it a little too hard.” — Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, on the difficulty of solving Kansas.
NEXT RACE
It’s time to cut four more drivers and build out the semifinal round of the 2025 Cup Series Playoffs. The Charlotte Roval has produced its fair share of drama and walk-off winners from beneath the cutline. Coming off a Kansas top 10, Shane van Gisbergen will no doubt be a favorite to play spoiler, while 2023 Roval winner AJ Allmendinger will look to do the same. Of the playoff drivers not locked into the Round of 8 just yet, only Kyle Larson and Bell own victories at the road course/oval hybrid.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Denny Hamlin had only one thing on his mind during the final lap at Kansas Speedway: “Winning 60.”
That dictated how he handled the final restart in NASCAR Overtime. But when the checkered flag waved, it was Hamlin falling short to Chase Elliott by a mere 0.069 seconds in the middle race of the Round of 12 after last-corner contact with Bubba Wallace foiled any chance he had of cementing his name alongside Kevin Harvick for 10th on the all-time Cup Series wins list.
Hamlin flat-out dominated Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 by leading a race-high 159 laps, sweeping the stages and scoring the fastest lap. But the driver of the No. 11 Toyota reported to his team he lost power steering on Lap 214 and told reporters he had to muscle out a runner-up finish with 10-20% power steering remaining over the final 50 laps, which not only added more postseason peril but produced another layer to his attack in the waning laps.
After restarting sixth on the final two-lap shootout, Hamlin charged to the back bumper of race-leader Wallace on the back straightaway. Hamlin dove left of Wallace entering Turn 3, but the move backfired. Wallace was shoved into the wall and both Toyotas lost momentum upon contact. That was all Elliott needed as he joined the scene late after restarting 10th and stole the victory, punching his ticket to the Round of 8.
“I got really close to the 23,” Hamlin said. “If I had to do it all over again, I think I’d run a little bit lower to allow a space between us so I don’t get so tight and then try to turn the wheel more.”
The clash between Hamlin and Wallace, who simultaneously played the role of competitor and employee to Hamlin, highlighted the dynamics that come with Hamlin co-owning a race team and driving with his own agenda. A win for either Hamlin or Wallace would have propelled either to the Round of 8 with a guarantee. Instead, Hamlin leaves 48 points above the provisional cutline and Wallace exits 26 points below.
“I would have raced everyone the same way,” Hamlin said. “No one will ever accuse me of laying over for anyone for a win. To win a championship, we’ve gotta figure out a way to move on. And I would have loved for me and the 23 to battle it out, but obviously I couldn’t turn the car well enough that last corner and got him.”
What perhaps could have been a day of celebration for Hamlin instead resulted in disappointment.
“We were the best car,” Hamlin said. “Had a bad pit stop, restart sixth. One (lap) to go, I’m thinking, ‘Find a way to get 60.’ And obviously, not having power steering there was not ideal.”
After leading both overtime restarts but leaving with a fifth-place finish, Wallace showed elation with his crew members after an adversity-filled day and gave Hamlin a friendly pat on the side. But the 23XI racer was still sour about how his boss raced him on the final lap and seeing his ticket to the Round of 8 evaporate in the Kansas heat.
“Can’t talk to him,” Wallace said of Hamlin.
“I’ve always been big on how you race me is how I race you,” he added. “No matter who you are, what it is — we race hard. … I mean, you guys (have) seen it. It’s unfortunate. You know, I was excited to race Denny for the win, and we ended up fifth and gave the 9 (Elliott) a win. So that’s what’s frustrating the most. We couldn’t get Toyota to Victory Lane.”
Wallace fought an ill-handling car all day, an early sign of the gremlins 23XI Racing faced the prior three Kansas races that could possibly drop Wallace into a deeper points hole. But after a call from No. 23 crew chief Charles Denike to bring Wallace down pit road first in Stage 1, the tables started to turn in their favor as the team slowly chipped away to finally crack the top five in the middle frame.
“Every stint that went by, my smile got bigger and bigger because we were getting back up to the front,” Wallace said. “It was nice to see everybody sticking together. Intensity ramps up, the emotions ramp up and I’m vocal, like, we need to fix our car immediately. And they kept their heads down, gave me the appropriate adjustments, and we made it work and we had a shot for the win.”
Both shot-callers for Hamlin and Wallace had comparable sentiments that their respective drivers shared and wore similar emotions, too.
“Obviously, the restarts weren’t great when you got to send it early there, and he was able to still hang on to it after his arms were mushed,” an equally deflated Chris Gayle, No. 11 crew chief, told NASCAR.com. “Really proud of him for doing that and the effort he showed all day. Hate it for him. We felt like we had a car to win and I hate that he wasn’t able to secure that win.”
Though Denike would have preferred to stand in Victory Lane alongside Wallace, he kept it glass-half full with how his driver fought back and never got discouraged.
“Huge result and resiliency,” Denike told NASCAR.com. “He did a great job sticking with it and and just fighting through one stint at a time. We clawed our way back to where we needed to be, and then felt like we were able to maintain good control. Really proud of what Bubba did this race. All you can ask for is a shot to win at the end, and we certainly had that multiple times.”
The Round of 12 closer at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval on Oct. 5 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) presents a wild card, and Hamlin and Wallace enter on opposite sides of the cutline. Four drivers will be eliminated from championship contention after next week’s race, and despite Wallace’s strong showing in the Heartland, he’s back where he started before Sunday’s showing.
Zane Smith was involved in a multicar crash in overtime during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, sending his No. 38 Ford onto its left side and tumbling upside down at the exit of Turn 4.
Smith barrel-rolled twice down the banking before landing right-side-up and exited the vehicle under his own power.
Smith was running the high lane entering Turn 3 side-by-side with Front Row Motorsports teammate Todd Gilliland when John Hunter Nemechek charged to Smith’s back bumper. Nemechek contacted Smith’s left-rear quarter panel and slid the No. 38 Ford high and into the retaining SAFER barrier. Nemechek’s No. 42 Toyota slid further into Smith and squeezed Smith’s car against the wall, forcing Smith’s car onto its driver side, on which it slid for a number of yards. The car eventually turned onto its roof, triggering two full rotations before the car landed on all four tires, allowing Smith to climb from the vehicle.
“It was a wild ride, no doubt,” Smith told NBC Sports after being evaluated and released from the infield care center. “I had a decent restart going and I just get wrecked by the 42. He just drives through me and then I was sliding on the wall. I was just mad at that point from how our day was going and this just pissed me off even more because that’s what really hurt was just flipping down the track.
“It was violent, no doubt, but we had such a fast Speedy Cash Ford today. It’s just a bummer. Right before that caution came out, we were gonna have a top-10 day, racing up inside the top 10 a majority of the day and it’s a shame that it has to come to an end that way.”
After Nemechek’s last contact with Smith, his Legacy Motor Club Toyota came down the track and spun both Ty Gibbs and Josh Berry. Gibbs continued on but Nemechek and Berry incurred too much damage and were unable to keep racing.
Berry and Nemechek were also evaluated and released from the infield care center after their incidents. Berry, the runner-up last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, blamed the incident on the intensity of late-race restarts.
“It looked like Zane and the 42 had got together obviously and Zane was up on his side,” Berry said. “I just tried to go by on the bottom and the 42 spun down and clipped us in the right rear and we wrecked, so it’s just part of being back there. It’s an overtime restart and everybody has to make up for how bad they ran all day and try to pass everybody in one corner.”
Smith, Nemechek and Berry finished 31st, 32nd and 33rd, respectively, in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN Bet. The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continue with the Round of 12’s conclusion at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval on Oct. 5 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — In the last few feet of race track in the second overtime Sunday afternoon, Chase Elliott came from oblivion to steal the Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN Bet and earn a berth in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
As his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet sped wide open through the final corner on Lap 273 at Kansas Speedway, Elliott’s car bounced off the side of Denny Hamlin’s Toyota on the way to the finish line.
Elliott, who restarted eighth for the final two-lap shootout, got to the stripe 0.069 seconds ahead of Hamlin, who led 159 laps and drove the final stretch of the second Round of 12 playoff race without benefit of power steering.
“Everything worked out perfect for me,” said Elliott, who picked up his second win of the season, his second at Kansas and the 21st of his career. “Had a great push through (Turns) 1 and 2. That kind of all started with the 6 (Brad Keselowski). Big run off of 2. Seas kind of parted and just was able to keep my momentum up. That was really it …
“I wasn’t going to lift, so I didn’t know what was going to happen. I figured at the end of the day, it was what it was at that point. We were both wide open corner exit. Wherever I ended up, I ended up. At that point, we were all committed.”
Hamlin was spent after man-handling his car around the 1.5-mile track in the closing laps of the race.
“Just super disappointing,” said Hamlin, who swept the first and second stages. “I wanted it bad. It would have been 60 (career victories) for me. The team just did an amazing job with the car, just really, really fast.
“Gave me everything I needed. Got the restart I needed. Just couldn’t finish it there on the last corner.”
The good news for Hamlin is that he increased his margin over the current playoff cut line to 48 points entering next Sunday’s Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. Barring disaster, Hamlin is all but assured of advancing to the Round of 8.
Christopher Bell finished third, followed by pole winner Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace, who led the field to green for the final overtime restart but faded to fifth after battling side-by-side with Hamlin on the final lap.
Wallace was leading as he approached the white flag in the first overtime, but a violent four-car collision in Turn 3 on Lap 267 necessitated a caution that slowed the field before Wallace could reach the flagstand.
“Two years ago, I’d probably say something dumb,” said Wallace, who drives for the 23XI Racing team Hamlin co-owns with NBA legend Michael Jordan. “He’s a dumbass for that move (on the final lap). I don’t care if he’s my boss or not. But we’re going for the win. I hate that we gave it to Chevrolet there.
“Toyotas were super-fast, and proud to be driving one. I thought it was meant to be, and then it wasn’t.”
Despite the fifth-place finish, Wallace leaves Kansas 10th in the standings, 26 points below the elimination line for the next round.
He was tantalizingly close to his second win of the season before John Hunter Nemechek knocked the Ford of Zane Smith into the outside wall in Turn 3 in the first overtime.
The impact from Nemechek’s Toyota turned Smith’s Ford sideways against the outside wall, with Smith’s car sliding on the driver’s side through the corner before barrel-rolling down the banking and coming to rest upright on four wheels.
“It was a wild ride, no doubt,” Smith said. “Before I knew it, I had a decent restart going and I just get wrecked by the 42 (Nemechek). He just drives through me and then I was sliding on the wall.
“I was just mad at that point from how our day was going, and this just pissed me off even more, because that’s what really hurt was just flipping down the track. It was violent, no doubt, but we had such a fast Speedy Cash Ford today. It’s just a bummer.”
Playoff driver Austin Cindric was collected in an 11-car wreck in Turn 1 on Lap 217 and heads to the Charlotte Roval 48 points below the elimination line and almost certainly needing a victory to advance.
Playoff drivers Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick ran sixth and seventh on Sunday but head to Charlotte in very different positions. Larson is 54 points ahead of ninth-place Ross Chastain, while Reddick is 11th in the standings, 29 points below the cutline.
Keselowski finished eighth at Kansas, followed by playoff driver William Byron, who fought an ill-handling car until his No. 24 Chevrolet came to life in the final run.
Despite a pass-through penalty on the first lap for an inspection failure, New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen followed Byron, posting his first career top-10 finish on a NASCAR oval.
Note: Post-race inspection was clear, confirming Elliott as the winner. No cars were designated to return to the NASCAR R&D Center.
Kansas Speedway has become a favorite among fans in the Next Gen era.
The combination of a surface that wears tires with a multi-groove track helps negate the massive clean-air advantage we see at most other tracks, allowing drivers with faster cars to make passes throughout the field.
This skillset falls right into the hands of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) favorites, which include Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and William Byron based on live NASCAR odds for Kansas.
However, I’m pivoting away from outright bets and heavy-hitters in favor of a driver matchup that appears to be mispriced due to breaking NASCAR news.
As a result, crew chief Stephen Doran was ejected for today’s race. Still, the more significant consequences for our purposes are that van Gisbergen will lose his pit stall selection (meaning he’ll have one of the worst stalls in the field), will have to start the race at the rear of the field and then a stop-and-go penalty after the race goes green.
This puts van Gisbergen at a huge disadvantage to start the race and, barring a very early caution, will likely put the No. 88 a lap down early.
In addition, Michael McDowell is also serving the same penalty, which could make van Gisbergen’s chances of grabbing the lucky dog from an early caution difficult since it’s likely that McDowell will be faster today at Kansas and ahead of van Gisbergen.
Because of the penalty,
I’m taking Ty Dillon in a driver matchup over van Gisbergen at +100 odds (DraftKings).
This is more of a van Gisbergen fade than a bet on Dillon, per se, but I’m having a hard time passing up a Kaulig Racing driver as an underdog to a driver that already struggles on large ovals and will start the race in a big early hole.
NASCAR Pick: Ty Dillon (+100) over Shane van Gisbergen — DraftKings
Editor’s note: Race projections were updated after Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions.
With the postseason nearing its halfway point, the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs head to the Heartland at Kansas Speedway for the second time this season today (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Although much more is on the line the second time around in the Sunflower State, the predicted outcome remains the same.
Racing Insights projects that Kyle Larson will claim his fourth career win at the 1.5-mile oval, backing up a dominant victory in the spring. The 2021 series champion led 221 laps in May, the most by a driver in a 400-mile race at a mile-and-a-half track in series history. His 760 laps out front at Kansas since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021 are four times more than any other driver in that span. In 34 starts at 1.5-mile tracks with the organization, he’s won 10 times — an impressive 29%.
And at this juncture of the season, few need a victory more than the 33-year-old from Elk Grove, California, even though he sits plus-41 to the cutline. His May Kansas romp was his most recent at the Cup level, a triumph that bookended a white-hot spring and began an 18-race stretch (leading up to now) that’s included six finishes of 28th or worse with just three top fives. A recovery at one of NASCAR’s most exciting tracks would alleviate a lot of stress for the Charlotte Roval, even though he’s the defending winner.
In totality, Racing Insights projects the entire HMS four-car stable to finish inside the top seven, with Alex Bowman in seventh as the best non-playoff competitor of the field. Chase Elliott and William Byron have constantly performed well at Kansas as both drivers have recorded the second-most top-10 finishes among all tracks (12 for Elliott; eight for Byron). The organization has placed cars inside the top two in six of the last eight Kansas races and all four drivers rank inside the top 10 in speed and long runs at intermediate tracks in 2025.
While Ryan Blaney doesn’t have much to worry about on Sunday with a Round of 12 victory already in his pocket, other Team Penske members alluded to concerns regarding Kansas. The organization hasn’t won in the Jayhawk State since 2020, with just four top fives in that time frame. Joey Logano enters the middle race of the round at plus-24 with teammate Austin Cindric the opposite, sitting 19 markers below the cutline. Both drivers are inside the top 10 in just two NASCAR Insights categories at comparable tracks, and for Cindric, an average finish of 23.6 at the track is his worst among all venues with seven or more starts.
But as evidenced in the past, the organization rises to the occasion when the stakes are the highest. In the Next Gen era, Penske drivers click off wins at a 26.5% rate compared to just 12.5% in the regular season. While Logano has the momentum, recording top fives in three consecutive races for the first time in six years, Kansas could make or break both drivers’ championship aspirations.
The same goes for 23XI Racing drivers Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace. Both drivers enter race No. 5 of the playoffs well below the cutline (minus-23 and minus-27, respectively), but are by no means in must-win positions … yet. History bodes well for them as the organization is responsible for three of the last seven race wins at Kansas (and 33% of the team’s wins since its inception in 2021). The spring Kansas race didn’t go well as Reddick finished 17th and Wallace crashed and finished 33rd, but the 23XI track record is hard to bet against. And don’t forget about the last time we went to a high-speed oval: Wallace won his first Brickyard 400.
If you want a sleeper organization to keep an eye on, don’t overlook Spire Motorsports. Saturday success hasn’t quite translated to race pace on Sunday, but the team is responsible for a pair of 1.5-mile track poles this season. Plus, Carson Hocevar has the fourth-best average finish over the four playoff races (10.5).
Kansas breeds chaos in the most exciting way possible: Multi-groove racing up all the way to the fence; historically close finishes; and maybe most importantly, major implications that could make or break a driver’s championship run with a road course waiting in the wings next weekend.
CHRISTOPHER BELL: A win Sunday would tie Bell with teammate Denny Hamlin at five wins in 2025. The No. 20 driver has led in all seven Next Gen Kansas races, totaling 197, the most all-time without a win at the track. He finished second in the spring and no worse than eighth in his last four trips to the heartland. With a victory at Bristol two weeks ago, he’s riding obvious momentum, recording an average finish of 10.75 in four playoff events.
DENNY HAMLIN: With win No. 60 of his career in Hamlin’s mind, Kansas would be a pretty fitting place to do it. His four victories at the high-speed oval are the most all-time with seven top 10s in his last eight starts. Hamlin places no worse than ninth in all five NASCAR Insights categories at comparable tracks, making it more than realistic that the historic win could come Sunday.
CHASE BRISCOE: The only driver to record a top 10 in all four playoff races, Briscoe’s searching for his first win at a mile-and-a-half race track. He finished fourth in the spring Kansas race, his best result in nine trips to the Midwest track. He’ll have the added benefit of starting from the pole, too.
ROSS CHASTAIN: The Trackhouse Racing driver earned his first top 10 of the playoffs last weekend at New Hampshire and heads to Kansas as the defending fall race winner. His average finish at 1.5-mile tracks is 11.4, tied for fifth-best, and is one of seven drivers with multiple Next Gen wins at this type of track. At comparable tracks, he’s first in defense and second on restarts, according to NASCAR Insights.
RYAN PREECE: In his first season with RFK Racing, Preece has been one of the best at mile-and-a-half tracks. His four top 10s this season tie Larson for the most in Cup, with his 11.4 average finish tying Chastain for fifth-best. Preece has finished 13th or worse in the last seven races, but a turnaround could certainly be in store for the non-playoff driver on Sunday.
RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400 PRESENTED BY ESPN BET
Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula incorporates current track, track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to predict a projected winner and provide full race results. Updated on race day with practice and qualifying factored in.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Landon Pembelton wanted to win another grandfather clock Saturday evening in more ways than one.
The 20-year-old Amelia, Virginia native is set to move out of his parents’ house at the end of the year. One of the conditions his father Brian Pembelton gave him about finding a new place is that the grandfather clock his son earned in his first ValleyStar Credit Union 300 appearance in 2021 would stay inside the family home.
Fueled by extra motivation to bring a grandfather clock to his new home, the younger Pembelton took the fight to two-time ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner Lee Pulliam in an overtime shootout. The two accomplished competitors traded blows during the closing laps, culminating in a finish decided by only a few inches.
Pembelton emerged victorious in the photo finish, denying Pulliam a record-tying third Martinsville Speedway triumph while simultaneously claiming his second.
“You can’t ask for a better finish,” Pembelton said. “That’s how you’re supposed to race. This race has brought a lot of excitement, and it was fairly clean [tonight]. We rubbed a little bit and moved each other, but that last corner I knew he was going to give me a shot, so I sailed it on down there pretty good.
“He got to me and we rubbed, but we didn’t tear nothing up, so that’s all you can ask for.”
As with plenty of ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winners that came before him, Pembelton’s victory on the Late Model Stock discipline’s biggest stage back in 2021 proved to be a life-changing moment.
Pembelton joined Toyota Racing Development the following year, partnering up with Venturini Motorsports for a part-time ARCA Menards Series schedule while continuing his Late Model Stock exploits. In his first race with Venturini, Pembelton scored an impressive third-place run at Elko Speedway.
The other two starts for Pembelton in a Venturini car that year saw him place inside the top 10. He also continued to excel in Late Model Stocks with a Dominion Raceway track championship, all of which appeared to prime Pembelton for a methodical-but-successful progression through Toyota’s developmental ladder.
For Pembelton, there were two reasons as to why advancing into NASCAR’s top divisions never materialized.
“Money became a factor, but I don’t like to blame that,” Pembelton said. “I felt like I could have done better behind the wheel, but it all kind of played out. [Toyota] offered me a good deal, but it was not something we were really chasing after. Late Model Stocks hit home for me, and it’s something I’ve always grown up around.”
Content with his status as a Late Model Stock regular, Pembelton has been gradually refining his skills in the discipline. He is partnered with a top-tier program in R&S Race Cars, a combination that netted two victories and a third-place points finish in South Boston Speedway’s Late Model Stock standings.
The cohesion with R&S Race Cars served Pembelton well as he prepared for his fifth ValleyStar Credit Union 300 attempt this weekend. Pembelton emerged as one of the favorites alongside Pulliam, who had pulled away with a small-but-comfortable advantage as the white flag drew closer.
A caution for Brandon Pierce transformed Pembelton’s initial satisfaction with a runner-up finish into an opportunity to become a multi-time ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner. Pembelton knew Pulliam would do everything possible to defend his lead, so he had to go on the offensive.
After muscling Pulliam out of the top spot, the Late Model Stock legend returned the favor to Pembelton coming to the checkered flag. Instinct and adrenaline kicked in for Pembelton as he did everything possible to hold onto his lead.
“It was kind of a blur,” Pembelton said. “When I went into turn three, I didn’t really remember anything until I got out of turn four. We were drag racing to the line, and I knew I had him at the line. I was very confident in that.”
For as much elation Pembelton, his family and team showed in the immediate aftermath of the ValleyStar Credit Union 300, the mood was bittersweet for Pulliam, who was in front when a rain shower hit Martinsville with 25 laps remaining. The delay only lasted an hour, forcing Pulliam to fight for another grandfather clock.
Pulliam was among the first to congratulate Pembelton in Victory Lane. Having previously mentored Pembelton through his own program, Pulliam has always held the young competitor in high regard and commended him for the performance he put together at Martinsville on Saturday.
“Landon is a great kid,” Pulliam said. “He drove my car here last year. [The Pembeltons] are a great family. They come from the logging business, and I grew up logging with my dad. Hard workers. I don’t blame the kid, and I can’t be mad at him. I would have done the same thing.”
By preventing Pulliam from claiming another grandfather clock, Pembelton is now in the same category as a two-time ValleyStar Credit Union 300 champion. Aside from Morris and his three checkered flags, the only other multi-time winners in the event are Tony McGuire, Tommy Lemons Jr. and Timothy Peters.
Pembelton’s second ValleyStar Credit Union 300 victory is now enshrined in the Martinsville record books, but one question remains. Where will the second grandfather clock end up?
Brian, who has plenty of experience around Virginia’s short tracks himself, is holding firm on keeping both clocks at the family home for now, but he has no issues with one day seeing them in his son’s own living room.
“I told him that we’re going to keep [the grandfather] clock until he builds him a house,” Brian said. “He’s going to rent a house. When he gets his own place and settled in 100 percent, they are his clocks to take. I might buy me some replicas to keep, but he earned them.”
For all the conversations he has exchanged with his son about the grandfather clock, Brian felt nothing but immense pride Saturday. It was only four years ago when Pembelton stunned the Late Model Stock and NASCAR communities by winning the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at just 16 years of age.
Now Pembelton is a two-time winner after outdueling Pulliam, someone Brian considers a legend of the sport and a close friend.
“I was emotional the first time, and I was probably more emotional the second time,” Brian said. “I wanted [Landon] to solidify himself for what he had done the first time, and I believe he did that. He made the fans stand up. Lee and him put on a great show.
“To beat one of the best that’s ever done it is humbling, really.”
A lot has changed for the younger Pembelton between his two ValleyStar Credit Union 300 victories, but the second one places him amongst many Late Model Stock legends that have turned laps around Martinsville.
Conversations with his family may continue about the immediate future of his two grandfather clocks, but Pembelton returns home knowing he is a two-time Martinsville winner with plenty more great years ahead.
“I can soak this one in,” Pembelton said. “The first one I came in as a rookie not knowing the full extent of it. I’m able to celebrate this one to the fullest extent.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Justin Allgaier’s finish in 13th place Saturday at Kansas Speedway left him with three things: bittersweet emotions, some big-picture solace and four fresh Goodyear tires his team never got the chance to use.
Allgaier’s Saturday drive in the Kansas Lottery 300 — the middle race in the Xfinity Series Playoffs’ opening Round of 12 — could have been one for the ages, a max-points performance that would have provided a victorious high note to career start No. 499. Instead, Allgaier and his No. 7 JR Motorsports team found the points and comfort they needed to advance to the postseason’s next round, a key weekend objective that he and crew chief Jim Pohlman emphasized in the days heading into the 300-miler.
The overly sufficient points margin provides Allgaier a worry-free stop next week in the Round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, but it also provided a small measure of heartache for what could’ve materialized.
“I mean, it’s both, right?” Allgaier said, noting his midweek meeting in Pohlman’s office. “… If we feel like we’re going to win the race, go win the race, right, but we also needed to be mindful of the points. We’ve gone to the (Charlotte) Roval I don’t know how many years the last handful, and you’re racing your guts out just to try to make it in the next round, and we had the luxury of not having to do that. So those are big deals for me, but it’s disappointing.”
Allgaier’s Saturday story was one of smooth sledding in the early portions and bumpier slopes in the second half. The 39-year-old driver led 71 of the first 90 laps to sweep the stage wins, gathering more of the championship points that would buoy his Round of 8 aims.
A sluggish pit stop during the Stage 2 break, however, knocked him back to sixth in the running order. Pohlman’s pep talk over the radio took a mismatched page from the most famous movie set in Kansas, as he gave his driver a confidence boost with a reminder to be patient as well: “Put those little red heels together there, Toto.”
Allgaier worked back up to fourth, driving on after a slight brush of the outside retaining wall on the 124th of 200 laps. But his big move arrived with a pivotal decision by Pohlman to stay out during a caution period that flew with 45 laps left, when Nick Sanchez and Justin Bonsignore came together exiting Turn 2. Only the No. 41 Haas Factory Team group for fellow playoff driver Sam Mayer, who eventually finished 16th, was on the same strategy.
The crew chief was counting on another yellow flag, which would have given the No. 7 team an opportunity to use that last set of tires, reaping the benefit of a newfound grip advantage over the teams that had only scuffed-in sets as an option. That caution never came, and Brandon Jones eased to his second win of the year.
“The falloff is at one second in 10 laps, so all we needed was anytime after (Lap) 172, we needed a caution and we would have been sitting real pretty there,” Pohlman told NASCAR.com. “Them guys had some scuffs laying, and they probably would have pitted and we still would have had to go around them, but that’s a lot of falloff to have to deal with on sticker tires that we would have had laying, I think us and the 41 were still in the right position. Unfortunately, the caution just didn’t fall. For us, the points were the big thing, right? I knew after the first two stages that as long as we finished in the top 15, we were probably locked, so I felt confident about making that right decision there.
“But yeah, it sucks because we had a really hot rod and really good car and probably should have won the race, or should have been in contention to win the race. But hey, that’s what they paid me to do.”
Pohlman struck an apologetic tone on the No. 7 radio during the cool-down lap, but reiterated that he’d have elected to use the same strategy given the chance for a do-over. Allgaier responded that he wasn’t upset at the pit-box call, but rued the green-flag run to the finish that handcuffed them. Advancing in the playoffs helped offset that blow as Allgaier joined Jones and points leader and JRM teammate Connor Zilisch in the next round.
“When we lost the track position there at the end of Stage 2, it was tough because I felt like our strength was being out front, and we made an adjustment on the car, too, that just didn’t quite go with where we wanted to go,” Allgaier said. “But I’m not disappointed in the call. Jim Pohlman is probably one of the few crew chiefs on pit road that is really willing to be aggressive and to make good calls on pit road, and sometimes they work for you, and sometimes they don’t. We see it all the time on the Cup side here, on the Xfinity side and today just wasn’t our day.”
Total team efforts on the table for Round of 12 showdown
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The dozen drivers who still carry championship hopes represent five organizations left standing in the Cup Series Playoffs picture. For each one, their overall objectives have strong similarities, but their situations slightly vary.
Those hopes get a bread-and-butter intermediate-track test at Kansas Speedway in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN Bet (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). The venue — a fall fixture that’s hosted a playoff event ever since the 10-race format’s debut in 2004 — has been prone to postseason heartache, a source of multi-groove racing and historically close finishes, and a domination haven in recent years for Kyle Larson.
All five teams with remaining championship ambitions have the obvious goals — win, survive, advance — in mind for this weekend, for the rest of the Round of 12 and for the balance of the playoffs. The nuances bear looking into in this team-by-team motto tracker and outlook meter.
Team Penske:Pour it on. The only organization with a driver who’s already secured safe passage into the next round is Roger Penske’s. Ryan Blaney secured that automatic berth with a convincing win last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The next two boxes for the Penske group to check involve defending Cup champ Joey Logano and teammate Austin Cindric, who are on opposite sides of the playoff bubble.
Ford hasn’t won here since the fall of 2020, an occasion that marked the most recent of Logano’s three Kansas victories, but Team Penske typically finds stride when playoff times arrive. That seasonal surge would help sustain Logano (plus-24 to the provisional cutline) and could lift Cindric, who is minus-19 and has the worst average finish at Kansas (23.9) among the remaining playoff drivers in the Next Gen era. Specific to this weekend, the organization will need to find the right balance with a new Goodyear tire setup. Both Blaney’s No. 12 and Logano’s No. 22 had significant issues in practice, and Cindric brushed the wall during his qualifying run.
Hendrick Motorsports: Play to your strengths. Larson has won twice and led 498 laps in the last seven Kansas races, notching top-five finishes in five of those seven. Last year’s playoff race here was an outlier, a 26th-place effort hampered by a flat tire and wall scrub just 20 laps in, but he’s projected to add to his win total in the latest Racing Insights projections.
William Byron and Chase Elliott — Larson’s playoff-eligible teammates — are each projected for top 10s or better in Sunday’s race, though neither of them have cracked the code to winning here with the Next Gen car. Byron came closest in this race last year with a runner-up finish, and Elliott ran third in the spring of 2024. All three are double digits above the provisional elimination line — Byron plus-47, Larson plus-41 and Elliott plus-14.
Joe Gibbs Racing: Stay in contact, but not like that. The fallout from last weekend’s teammate tangle between playoff-eligible Denny Hamlin and the postseason-non-grata Ty Gibbs has lingered ever since the Cup Series haulers packed up in New Hampshire and headed to the midwest this week. The rosy story arc of a JGR sweep through the Round of 16 has teetered with Team Penske’s awakening, and Kansas feels like a ripe place to regroup.
“If you’re talking about Kansas, I think we have everything we need,” said Chris Gabehart, JGR’s competition director. “This has been a really good track for us for a long time. So I’m actually really excited about the weekend and more focused on execution than speed. But execution is no small part of it, and you certainly don’t want to make your execution more difficult, which is something that we didn’t do a great job of last week as a company, and those are the types of things that we tried to talk through this week, and I think the drivers get it.”
Hamlin is a four-time Kansas winner who most recently prevailed here in the spring of 2023. Bell lacks a Kansas win but was the runner-up here last May and has four pole-position starts. Both have some buffer to work with above the elimination line, with Bell plus-29 and Hamlin plus-27. It’s their newest teammate Chase Briscoe, who has less cushion at plus-12 but won the pole Saturday and ran fourth here in the spring in his only Kansas start with JGR.
Trackhouse Racing: Fly solo and defend. The lone driver left holding the Trackhouse banner in the playoffs is Chastain, who is also the defending race winner. The 32-year-old driver recently cited his Kansas victory last September as proof of what his No. 1 Chevrolet team was capable of. Finding that level of sustaining speed, however, has been challenging for the whole Trackhouse outfit.
Chastain sits 12 points below the bubble, currently shown as the first driver out on the provisional playoff line. If a Kansas repeat doesn’t find its fruition Sunday, he’ll be left to fight off elimination at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, where he’s expected to lean heavily on the expertise of teammate and road-racing virtuoso Shane van Gisbergen.
23XI Racing: Rekindle the magic. Kansas Speedway was once regarded as a 23XI stronghold, a place where the team won three out of four from 2022-23 with three different drivers. Bubba Wallace was on that list of winners alongside teammates Kurt Busch and Tyler Reddick, and he’s also taken note of the declining results in years since. Not helping matters, last weekend’s outing at New Hampshire, where no 23XI cars finished among the top 20.
Reddick’s average finish in the last three Kansas races is 20.7, with Wallace’s 22.3. Reversing that trend and regaining some Kansas confidence have some connective urgency. Both drivers are at the bottom of the playoff standings with Reddick 23 points back of the elimination barrier and Wallace minus-27. This week’s motivation from team co-owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin was fairly straightforward. “Just basically get back on the horse,” Wallace said Saturday at Kansas. “You know, one bad week isn’t going to deter us from our destiny, our path this season. So we’re still excited, still optimistic. A lot of people are looking forward to running this whole thing out to get to Phoenix and racing for a championship. So we’ve just got to work really hard and capitalize on opportunities.”
What do crew chiefs have in focus to win Sunday’s race?
As simplistic as it would sound for Cliff Daniels to just unload the No. 5 Chevrolet that Kyle Larson drove to victory here four and a half months ago with a carbon-copy setup, the veteran Hendrick Motorsports crew chief says it’s not that easy. Larson led 221 of the 267 laps back in May, but the circuit’s return trip to Kansas presents some fresh wrinkles — new right-side Goodyear rubber included.
“Certainly nice to have the notes from the spring that we can look at — and other intermediates as well,” Daniels told NASCAR.com. “I mean, sometimes it’s valuable to learn what not to do as it is valuable to learn what to do. So we’ve gone to work. Nothing greatly different than what we’ve had before, but we’ve had to push a couple areas just to try to get a little bit better. So with a different right-side tire, that’s going to be a little different variable. The temps are going to be up, so grip will certainly be a thing, and that’s kind of been our outlook, just trying to make sure we’re getting better.”
The new right-side tire construction is built to provide additional durability, and Goodyear officials indicated the same setup will be used in two weeks at the similar 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The additional sturdiness is intended to give crew chiefs more flexibility on air-pressure adjustments, something Daniels says the team has studied “the best that we can.”
Speaking in the Saturday morning hours before practice, Daniels said he expected the the 25-minute session to “be educational and hopefully set us up to have a more complete picture of what we need going into (Sunday), and still, even with that, the track is going to evolve as the race goes along, and I’m sure we’ll be tinkering with air pressure and balance of our car throughout the race like normal. So just got to take it all in and hopefully make the right decisions at the right time.”
Chasing that sweet spot on air pressure isn’t without its challenges. Team Penske discovered that in Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions, encountering problems on the Fords driven by playoff standings leader Ryan Blaney and defending Cup champion Joey Logano.
“The intent is it’s more durable, so the compounds and all that stuff should be very comparable. So I don’t expect to see a big lap-time difference with it, but it’s more about the durability, and yes, how can we push the air pressure,” said Billy Scott, crew chief for Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. “It’s always the big question, and we see failures here often, but you really don’t know where you’re at on that until you experience it yourself, or at least have a teammate get far enough that you start to have durability be a concern.”
Don’t expect a breakthrough. Sunday’s 400-miler will mark Kansas Speedway’s 40th Cup Series race. In the previous 39, however, the track has not produced a first-time Cup winner — the largest void of any circuit currently on the Cup Series schedule.
He may not be the favorite to win, but watch out for …
ALEX BOWMAN. Falling from playoff eligibility may have shifted the 32-year-old driver slightly off the radar, but his record at Kansas Speedway is worth a strong look. Bowman has top-10 finishes in each of the last four races at the 1.5-mile track, and his average finish (7.0) during that span is second-best only to Christopher Bell’s 5.8. Bowman has 11 top 10s in his career here, his most at any track on the schedule. | See Bowman’s projected finishing position
Fantasy update
NASCAR Fantasy Live expert Dustin Albino provides insight for your Sunday lineup.
Boy, what a difference one week makes. After stomping the field at New Hampshire last weekend, Paul Wolfe’s fear of Kansas being a struggle for Team Penske has turned to reality with a horrendous performance on Saturday. With Ryan Blaney’s wreck in the opening minutes of the second group of practice, followed by Joey Logano’s flat tire later in the session, assessing the long-run pace of the field is more challenging than most weeks considering multiple cycles on the same set of tires. With their recent Kansas dominance, it’s no surprise that Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin appeared to be among the best cars in the field. No changes to my lineup this weekend, though I flirted with replacing Alex Bowman for either Bubba Wallace or William Byron.
Lineup: Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain Garage: Alex Bowman
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
•NASCAR at Kansas: Key info, qualifying reports and more from doubleheader weekend | Read more • Racing Insights: Hendrick’s hopes ride high in projected Kansas results | Read more
• Bubble Watch: Inside the playoff subplots for the Round of 12 | Read more • At-track photos: Trackside sights, scenes from the Sunflower State | View gallery
• Memorable moments: Rich history of racing through the years in KC | Read more • Turning Point to Kansas: After Toyota’s first-round sweep, automaker balance tilts | Read more • Neil Paine: Analysis leans toward a Kyle Larson upswing in Kansas | Read more
• Playoff Pulse: Who’s hot, who’s not ahead of Kansas | Read more
• Power Rankings: Sizing up where playoff drivers stand | This week’s ranks
