Alex Bowman to retire from full-time competition after 2027 season

Posted on July 23, 2026July 23, 2026 by Zach Sturniolo

Alex Bowman will retire from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition following the 2027 season after signing a one-year contract extension, Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday.

Bowman, an eight-time Cup Series winner, has competed full-time for Hendrick Motorsports since 2018 and currently drives the team’s No. 48 Chevrolet. The 33-year-old Tucson, Arizona, native missed four races earlier this season due to vertigo and sits 29th in points with three top fives and four top 10s in 17 starts this season.

His departure will come at the conclusion of his 12th full season of Cup Series competition, a venture highlighted by a four-win season in 2021.

“Alex has meant so much to our organization for a long time,” Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports, said in a team press release. “He’s overcome adversity, won big races and represented our team and partners with professionalism, personality and class. Alex is a tremendous talent in the race car and an even better person outside of it. We’re proud he’ll have the opportunity to finish his full-time career with us on his terms. He’s family.”

Bowman’s tenure marked the culmination of a successful rise from underfunded upstart teams to one of the sport’s premier organizations. He first joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2016, substituting for an injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. and sharing driving duties with Jeff Gordon. Bowman parlayed the part-time role into a full-time gig starting in 2018, driving the No. 88 car until seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson retired after 2020, when Bowman moved into the No. 48 Chevy.

Bowman won at least once each season from 2019 through 2022, earning a career-best points finish of sixth in 2020 before winning four races the next year.

“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what’s next, and this feels like the right decision at the right time,” Bowman said. “The sport asks a lot of you, and I’ve learned it’s important to listen to your body and make the right choices for yourself. To say I’m incredibly grateful to Mr. Hendrick, our partners at Ally and Chevrolet, and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports would be an understatement. They believed in me and gave me the biggest opportunity of my life.

“My focus now is on making the most of my time on the race track and competing for wins. We still have a lot to accomplish, and I want to close my career on a high note for our team and our fans. To have the chance to do that with this organization and these people is really special.”

Injuries led to missed time behind the wheel over the last few years. Concussion-like symptoms sidelined Bowman from the car for five races in 2022. The next spring, Bowman was leading the Cup Series standings before a sprint car crash left him with a broken vertebra and forced him to miss three races in 2023. Bowman returned to Victory Lane in 2024, scoring his most recent win at the Chicago Street Course.

Bowman’s 2026 campaign has not gone to plan, ranking 29th in points after 21 races with three top fives and four top 10s. His 21.8 average finishing position is on track to be his poorest since 2015, when he competed for Tommy Baldwin Racing.

Posted on July 23, 2026 by Reid Spencer

Drivers outside the top 12 in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series have three more chances to muscle their way into the postseason Chase, with the first opportunity coming in Saturday’s Pennzoil 250 presented by Take 5 Oil Change at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (4 p.m. ET, The CW, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Brent Crews and Taylor Gray currently occupy the 11th and 12th positions in the standings, but 13th-place Rajah Caruth is only 17 points behind Gray and 18 behind Crews with Indianapolis, Iowa Speedway and Daytona International Speedway left on the regular-season schedule.

Another Gibbs teammate, William Sawalich, trails Gray by just 21 points.

The race to the postseason aside, there’s one truism about the Indianapolis oval that has been consistent in each of the past 10 O’Reilly Series races there: speed in qualifying translates into performance in the event itself.

In 2012, Brad Keselowski won from the eighth starting position. Last year, Connor Zilisch won from seventh on the grid. In between, all eight winners came from the top three starting positions, four from the pole.

Justin Allgaier is the only former Brickyard winner in the field for Saturday’s race, having triumphed at the track in 2018. With six victories this season, the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet already has clinched the top seed in the Chase, but Indy remains a significant venue for the Riverton, Illinois, native.

“Indianapolis is such a special track,” said Allgaier, who had contemplated retirement after the current season but recently signed an extension with JRM. “With the history that comes with being here, it’s always been a place that we circle on the calendar.

“We came close here last year (leading 37 laps before a late crash), and there’s nothing I would love more than another opportunity to kiss the bricks come Saturday afternoon.”

Allgaier will have plenty of competition within his own team. Full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott both are driving JRM cars.

In 34 aggregate starts on the Indianapolis oval, beginning in 2012, JR Motorsports has recorded three wins, 11 top fives, 19 top 10s and an average finish of 14.1.

A single top 10 for JRM on Saturday would constitute a significant milestone. The organization has placed at least one car in the top 10 for 78 consecutive races, one short of the 79-race record set by Roush Fenway Racing from 2008-2010.

Posted on July 23, 2026July 23, 2026 by Reid Spencer

The race for the final spot in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ postseason Chase couldn’t be tighter — literally.

Stewart Friesen and Tyler Ankrum are tied for the final berth, with Friesen holding the tiebreaker, but the determining factor over the next three races will be performance on tracks of one mile in length or shorter.

The Truck Series heads to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for Friday night’s TSport 200 presented by Warn Industries (8 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Recently, the 0.686-mile oval has been the province of series leader and defending winner Layne Riggs and two-time winner Ty Majeski (2023-2024).

But Friesen and Ankrum will stage their own show as they battle for a berth in the postseason. Ankrum lost ground with consecutive finishes of 31st on the Naval Base Coronado Street Course, 25th at Lime Rock Park and 19th last Saturday at North Wilkesboro.

“It has been tough the last couple weeks, to say the least, but we are not focusing on the negatives and only throwing forward the positives,” Ankrum said. “This No. 18 (McAnally-Hilgemann Racing) team has put in so much work at the shop and at the track to give us what we need to stay in contention in these races, and I’m extremely confident our day will come soon.

“We’re in rough shape with just three races remaining before The Chase, but if we can just knock out a few solid points races here in the next month, we will be good to go.”

Riggs, on the other hand, is in excellent shape entering a race he won last year. His second-place run at North Wilkesboro bumped his lead in the standings over second-place Kaden Honeycutt to 59 points.

Majeski is sixth in the standings, 67 points behind fifth-place Gio Ruggiero, but the 2024 series champion will look to make a significant move over the next three races — on his three best oval tracks by average finish: IRP, 3.75 in four starts; Richmond Raceway, 2.0 in four starts and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, fifth in his only start.

Posted on July 23, 2026July 23, 2026 by Zack Albert

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will return to St. Petersburg, Florida, next season, revisiting the temporary street circuit in 2027 after a successful debut this year.

The event is scheduled Saturday, March 6, sharing the bill with the NTT IndyCar Series’ Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 7. The race weekend, announced Thursday morning by Green Savoree Racing Promotions, marks one of the first pieces of the 2027 NASCAR national-series schedule to take shape.

Truck Series points leader Layne Riggs prevailed in the inaugural OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 at St. Pete on Feb. 28. The event marked the tour’s first event on a street circuit, and Riggs expressed optimism for the return after his victory — then his first on a road course.

“It is an amazing place to come and I don’t know why we couldn’t come back next year,” Riggs said, noting the festival atmosphere of the 1.8-mile marina circuit. “… I couldn’t believe how packed the grandstands were and I thought it was one of the best road-course races the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has ever seen.”

Promoters indicated ticket sales would begin in the fall. The rest of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule will be announced at a later date.

“The 2026 event was our best yet,” said Kim Green, co-owner and chairman/CEO of Green Savoree. “Spectator attendance was tremendous on all three days to witness history made with the NASCAR Trucks racing for the first time on a street circuit and IndyCar kicking off its season once again. We look forward to having both of these series back together on track for our fans to enjoy at the 23rd annual Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg weekend.”

Posted on July 23, 2026 by Neil Paine

Because of how spectacularly dominant Shane van Gisbergen’s early successes were on road and street courses — literally earning him the title of NASCAR’s road-course GOAT after roughly a dozen starts on the twisty tracks (of which he won half!) — it made his less-stellar results on the ovals stand out more.

From 2023 through 2025, SVG made 12 starts on road courses and 38 everywhere else. In the former, he had six wins, an average finish of 7.6, an Adjusted Points+ index of 279 (meaning his finishing quality was 179% better than Cup average) and a Driver Rating of 121.9. In the latter, his average finish was 25.0, with an Adjusted Points+ of 48 (i.e., 52% worse than average) and an average rating of 50.0, numbers that paled in comparison to his road dominance.

Among modern-era drivers (debuting since 1972), nobody had bigger gaps in their Adjusted Points+ or Driver Rating on road courses versus all other track types through their first 12 career road races — and it wasn’t remotely close:

As great of a race-car driver as SVG is, it seemed like that might forever be his fate — sure, maybe he could at least improve some on non-road courses, but van Gisbergen always seemed destined to be a specialist first and foremost.

But just like when Happy Gilmore learned how to putt, the rest of NASCAR has been put on notice recently by van Gisbergen’s performances on ovals. More than just being less-bad, or even merely achieving competence, SVG has actually been pretty good on the non-road courses this year — and it’s already affecting the big-picture story of the 2026 season.

Following a sixth-place run at EchoPark Speedway (a drafting track) two weeks ago and a fifth-place finish at North Wilkesboro Speedway (a short track) on Sunday, van Gisbergen now has seven finishes of 11th or better on non-road courses in 17 starts, with an average finish of 19.3, and Adjusted Points+ index of 97 — remember, Cup average is 100 — and a Driver Rating of 67.4, just shy of average (70) there as well. In essence, van Gisbergen has gone from being a significantly below-average driver across all ovals to basically a dead-average one, in less than the span of a season.

And he has shown quicker mastery of certain types of ovals. While his numbers at intermediates, though improved, remain below the Cup Series norm — 21.6 average finish, 77 Adjusted Points+, 58.2 rating — he has been comfortably above average at both superspeedway/drafting tracks and short tracks, form he showcased in each of the past two weeks:
In all of NASCAR history, it’s incredibly rare to see a good road-racer who struggles on ovals suddenly become decent on them over any extended span of races.

If we once again look at drivers whose careers began after 1972, only three had shown real road-course ability — with at least five starts and an Adjusted Points+ above 100 on twisty tracks — while compiling a genuinely bad record (at least 10 non-road starts and a career Adj. Pts+ below 50) everywhere else, before turning that around with an index of 90 or above over the following 20-race non-road stretch:

Jerry Nadeau (2000-2001): Five previous road starts (116 Pts+), 81 non-road starts (35 Pts+), 128 Pts+ over next 20 non-road starts
Robby Gordon (2001-2002): Seven previous road starts (166 Pts+), 54 non-road starts (33 Pts+), 91 Pts+ over next 20 non-road starts
Shane van Gisbergen (2025-2026): 12 previous road starts (279 Pts+), 35 non-road starts (44 Pts+), 96 Pts+ over next 20 non-road starts

Similarly, SVG is also one of three historical drivers with an above-average Driver Rating on road courses but an abysmal one (less than 50.0) everywhere else who then posted a rating of at least 65.0 over his next 20 non-road races:

Michael McDowell (2023-2024): 39 previous road starts (70.1 Rating), 408 non-road starts (48.1 Rating), 70.0 Rating over next 20 non-road starts
Robby Gordon (2001-2002): Seven previous road starts (92.0 Rating), 52 non-road starts (47.7 Rating), 67.5 Rating over next 20 non-road starts
Shane van Gisbergen (2025-2026): 12 previous road starts (121.9 Rating), 35 non-road starts (48.5 Rating), 67.2 Rating over next 20 non-road starts

The transformation of van Gisbergen from quite-bad to not-bad at ovals has transformed his Chase odds accordingly, as we predicted it would back in mid-May. He currently ranks 14th in the standings with a 54-point cushion over No. 17 Erik Jones, the top driver outside the current cutline. According to my Chase odds forecast model, SVG now has a greater than 90% probability of making the postseason cut — which would be his second playoff trip, but this time without the benefit of a win-and-in reward for his road-course domination.

SVG’s near-assured Chase odds are having a ripple effect on the rest of the bubble picture as well. Because of his recent success, in combination with better days from North Wilkesboro winner Joey Logano — who was also recently sitting on the bubble — there now is only one Chase slot whose favorite is below 90% to make it in: Austin Cindric in 16th place. That means a dogfight is brewing between Cindric and the next few drivers below the current cutline (Jones, Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski), all fighting over one fewer available spot than it seemed when SVG’s fate was more up in the air.

Van Gisbergen, though, doesn’t have to worry much about that scrap with five races to go in the regular season. NASCAR’s greatest road-course specialist is becoming a more complete racer — and now everyone else has to worry about what his improvement has done to them instead.

Posted on July 23, 2026 by Zack Albert

Todd Gilliland and Ryan Blaney have opted to have a little fun with their pairing in this weekend’s championship round of the second In-Season Challenge tournament. Turns out, that’s been the norm between the two of them for some time.

In dueling Ford Racing teleconferences Tuesday, Blaney and Gilliland expressed their anticipation for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and their head-to-head clash for the challenge’s $1 million prize. Their friendly face-off pits a 25th-seeded underdog in Gilliland against a favored heavyweight in Blaney, the No. 3 seed and a former NASCAR Cup Series champion.

The stakes might be high for a crown-jewel event with a seven-figure bonus for the taking, but the pre-race banter has been light-hearted. “Gillie for a Milli” has been a recent rallying cry for the 26-year-old Gilliland, who — when prodded for an origin story for his best-known nickname — jokingly said, “Blaney’s gonna be calling me the Toddfather after this weekend, dude, when we wax him, hopefully.”

Blaney’s introduction to his own video conference moments later including a tongue-in-cheek warning about the pre-emptive smack-talk barbs that Gilliland was hoping to land. “Is he?” Blaney said with a smile. “Wow.” But both drivers made it clear that no deep-rooted rivalry exists. Instead, their common connections bind them.

Both of their fathers — Dave Blaney and David Gilliland — had long Cup Series careers, with no friction between the two that their sons could recall. Their dual upbringings in a racing family meant travel, time at the track and a greater understanding of the value of hands-on work to make their race cars find speed.

“You have a huge appreciation for that, and I’m sure Todd was the same way,” the younger Blaney said, “and we’re both very lucky to do what our fathers did and have really good careers. No, I don’t think there’s a rivalry there that has stemmed down like a Hatfield-McCoy situation. It’s just two kids trying to win their teams a bunch of money.”

The good-natured fun didn’t just start this week. When both were asked to share their favorite stories about the other, both Blaney and Gilliland zeroed in on a shared moment from a few years back at a Ford Racing team-building retreat. This particularly memorable semi-annual gathering was held at the Pursell Farms golf resort outside of Birmingham, Alabama, with an afternoon of activities planned, dinner and an overnight stay heading into a race weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

The bonding extended into the evening, and before long, about a half-dozen drivers had jammed onto a golf cart hurtling through the deep Alabama night. Blaney said he had been teasing Gilliland about the potential for tree-dwelling evil that lurked in the dark woods, aiming to give him chills.

“There were some liquid courage-builders that I think a lot of us indulged in and we were on a golf cart,” Blaney recalled. “We were having a fun time, and I might have ended up off the golf cart by the end of this ride through no fault of anybody’s.”

Gilliland’s retelling was far more dire.

“It’s pitch black, we can’t see anything and we hit a ditch,” Gilliland said. “None of us could see it, and Blaney flew off the back and we’re like, ‘Oh, no. We just killed Ryan Blaney.’ But, luckily, everyone survived. I don’t know if the Ford guys were very happy with us after that, but we were like, ‘We won’t get in trouble because Ryan is with us.’ He was the champion at that point, but then we thought we hurt him, so that was probably an all-time Ryan Blaney story for me.”

Levity or not, neither driver is taking a face-value assessment of their title matchup. Gilliland’s best finish in his march through the tournament bracket was an eighth-place outing last weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway, but his other results have been enough to unseat a pair of teammate duos — Spire Motorsports’ Daniel Suárez and Carson Hocevar, plus Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott. Placing eighth last Sunday marked just his second top 10 of the year, moving the Front Row Motorsports driver to 23rd in the Cup Series standings.

MORE: Power Rankings | Check your bracket

Blaney, meanwhile, has finished no worse than 11th in the four In-Season Challenge races leading into Sunday’s final at Indianapolis. That stretch included a dominant win at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta, a victory that fortified the Team Penske driver’s third-ranking spot in the Cup Series standings and tightened the top of the points race with just five regular-season races remaining this year.

Blaney, however, said the Sunday showdown shouldn’t be considered a walkover, especially since the Brickyard rates as one of Gilliland’s best tracks. In the two years since the Cup Series’ Indianapolis stop returned to the 2.5-mile oval course, Blaney’s average finish there is fifth place. Gilliland’s is sixth.

“Todd is a great driver, and they have a really good team over there, so it’s gonna be tough,” Blaney said. “I don’t think people should write anything off. I’m not going into this weekend thinking that it’s going to be a layup because it’s not. It’s gonna be incredibly difficult, and we have to be on top of our game to try to not only compete for the win, but also race that 34 car too. I don’t think that’s accurate, what people are saying. I think it’s gonna be just as tough as ever no matter who you’re facing because you’re not gonna be able to have any mistakes. You better be fast on the race track. You better be good on pit road, and your strategy better be where it should be. I think it’s gonna be a heck of a battle, for sure.”

Gilliland agreed, but couldn’t resist one last jab.

“Put the house on us, that’s what I would say,” Gilliland said. “We made it this far, why not us? We’ll see. I’m with you. I would probably agree with all of those people who say we’re fighting an uphill battle, but, honestly, we’ve been the underdogs in however many matchups there’s been, but it’s doable. It’s crazy. It’s only one person standing between us and winning this thing, so I’m excited about it.”

Posted on July 23, 2026July 23, 2026 by George Winkler

With five regular-season races left to go in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, it’s time for regular check-ins to see how the race for The Chase is progressing. This week we’ll chat with you on Thursday, but after the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Chase Check-In will become a Monday thing.

So, what is this thing, anyway? It will be a relatively quick and easy way to see where the drivers competing to make The Chase stand after their most recent race and before their next race. But before we get into how the drivers are doing, let’s review the format for The Chase, which is back after a 13-year hiatus, albeit in a modified form.

The Chase Returns

Hall of Famer Mark Martin, former Cup champion Chase Elliott and NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell were among those on hand back in January at the NASCAR Productions Facility in Concord, North Carolina, when NASCAR announced The Chase was back.

What this meant was there was no more “win and you’re in” for the playoffs. Instead, the top 16 drivers in points make The Chase. Then, at the end of the 10 races making up The Chase, the driver with the most points wins the championship.

Instead of 40 points, wins are now worth 55 points to incentivize drivers and teams to still play for the win and not just go for points.

After the regular-season finale on Aug. 29 at Daytona International Speedway, The Chase field will be set. The regular-season points leader will reset at 2,100 points and start the Southern 500 on Sept. 6 at Darlington Raceway with a 25-point advantage over the second-place driver, who will then have a 10-point advantage over the third-place driver.

After that, each driver will be separated by five points down to the 16th-place driver, who will start The Chase with 2,000 points, a full 100 points behind the No. 1 seed.

Unlike the most recent playoff format, there will be no eliminations in The Chase. All 16 drivers will be in it for the duration, although they may eventually get mathematically eliminated from championship contention.

The Race for No. 1

Rank	Driver	Points to Leader	Points to Cutline	Chase probability
1	Denny Hamlin	--	+380	100%
2	Tyler Reddick	-68	+312	100%
3	Ryan Blaney	-87	+293	100%

First, let’s focus on the top of the standings, where Denny Hamlin holds a distinct advantage for the No. 1 seed and the all-important 25-point head start. Hamlin leads Tyler Reddick by 68 points and Ryan Blaney by 87 points after the race on Sunday at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

It’s important to note that all three of these drivers have clinched a spot in The Chase, and they are the only ones to do so at this point. But before we just go ahead and crown Hamlin the regular-season points winner, please consider how much this situation has changed over the past couple of months.

In nine races, Hamlin has gone from 129 points behind Reddick for the No. 1 spot to 68 points ahead of him. This stretch included a run where Hamlin won three straight races (Nashville, Michigan and Pocono) and where he posted six top-five finishes. Meanwhile, Reddick finished 25th or worse five times in this span.

The point we’re trying to make is a lot still could change during races at Indianapolis, Iowa, Richmond, New Hampshire and Daytona, so keep your eyes focused on the top spot.

The Mythical Top Six

Rank	Driver	Points to Leader	Points to Cutline	Chase probability
4	Ty Gibbs	-134	+246	100%
5	Chase Elliott	-208	+172	100%
6	Kyle Larson	-226	+154	100%
7	Carson Hocevar	-244	+136	100%
8	Chase Briscoe	-255	+125	100%

Some prognosticators, including our friends at Racing Insights, who provided all the data here, are pointing to the top six in the points standings as where a driver needs to be to have a legitimate shot at winning the championship. And the top six has stayed relatively consistent throughout the regular season.

After Hamlin, Reddick and Blaney, it’s Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson completing the top six. Gibbs has a healthy 74-point lead over Elliott for fourth place as he continues to enjoy a breakout season that included his first Cup Series win (Bristol).

Elliott has two wins (Martinsville, Texas) but just an 18-point cushion between himself and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Larson. Meanwhile, the two-time champion Larson is still searching for his first win in 2026, having gone 46 races since his last victory in the spring of 2025 at Kansas Speedway.

Creeping up on Larson for the sixth spot is Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, who sits in seventh place just 18 points back. He, like Gibbs, is also enjoying a breakout season that included his first Cup win back at Talladega Superspeedway.

Eleven points behind Hocevar is Chase Briscoe, who recently got his first win of the 2026 season at Chicagoland Speedway and is riding a run of three top-three finishes in four races. Winning at the Brickyard certainly would be a big boost for the Indiana native.

Plus, if Hamlin’s hot streak taught us anything, it’s that a well-timed run can help a driver make up ground in a hurry, especially with the 55 points awarded for race wins. So perhaps somebody outside the mythical top six could make a charge into championship contention, too.

The Middle Ground

Rank	Driver	Points to Leader	Points to Cutline	Chase probability
9	Chris Buescher	-257	+123	100%
10	Christopher Bell	-268	+112	100%
11	Daniel Suárez	-284	+96	99.9%
12	William Byron	-296	+84	99.9%
13	Bubba Wallace	-311	+69	97.5%

The middle ground contains some drivers who are sometimes going in opposite directions but always looking for incremental gains and a step up in The Chase standings in order to improve their chances of getting closer to a championship.

Daniel Suárez continues to have a renaissance at Spire Motorsports and has gained 78 points against the cutline in the last nine races. Suárez was just +18 after Watkins Glen but is now +96 after North Wilkesboro. This span included his win in the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The only driver who gained more ground over that span was Briscoe, who improved his position by 131 points.

Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell are a couple of drivers to watch at Indianapolis this weekend. Wallace won the Brickyard 400 last year and has finished top 10 in his last four Brickyard 400 starts. Meanwhile, Bell has an average finish of 8.0 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, his best for all tracks.

The Cutline Battle

Rank	Driver	Points to Leader	Points to Cutline	Chase probability
14	Shane van Gisbergen	-326	+54	89.0%
15	Joey Logano	-331	+49	95.9%
16	Austin Cindric	-347	+33	87.2%
17	Erik Jones	-380	-33	19.5%
18	Ryan Preece	-395	-48	3.8%
19	Brad Keselowski	-405	-58	5.9%
20	Ross Chastain	-430	-83	0.8%

Some big swings will need to occur in the next five weeks for the battle at the cutline to change much. Austin Cindric, the 16th-place driver, sits a relatively comfortable 33 points ahead of 17th-place Erik Jones and has an 87.2% chance to make The Chase. Meanwhile, Jones has only a 19.5% chance to make it.

Ryan Preece, in 18th place, is 48 points behind Cindric, while Brad Keselowski (minus-58) and Ross Chastain (minus-83) round out the top 20. None of these drivers has a higher percentage than Keselowski at 5.9 to make The Chase.

Glancing above the cutline, one can see it has gotten more comfortable recently for Shane van Gisbergen after his fifth-place finish at North Wilkesboro. The road-course ace was in for a nailbiter after he crashed out of the San Diego street-course race and missed a golden opportunity to pad his Chase standing. However, the unexpectedly good performance at the short track jumped his probability of making The Chase from 44% to 89%.

Similarly, Joey Logano’s chances of making The Chase went from 70.4% to 95.9% after his dominating win at North Wilkesboro. After Indianapolis is over, Logano will get the advantage of two more short tracks with Iowa Speedway and Richmond Raceway to potentially pad his 49-point cushion to the cutline.

Posted on July 22, 2026July 23, 2026 by Cameron Richardson

USA Sports held a Zoom teleconference Wednesday afternoon to detail its branding and broadcast plan as it gears up to take the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season home with coverage for the final 14 races of the year.

Those that spoke with media included the USA Sports booth of Leigh Diffey, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte, Hall of Famer and analyst Dale Jarrett, along with USA Sports Executive Producer and SVP of Sports Production Jeff Behnke and Lead NASCAR Producer Rene Hatlelid.

One of the key topics Behnke tackled was establishing the USA Sports brand as its own entity now under parent company Versant Media.

“All 14 (races) will be branded USA Sports,” Behnke said. “Daytona, Talladega, Martinsville, and (Homestead) Miami will all air on NBC, but that is the only branding that you will hear or see when we first come on the air. It will all be USA Sports, whether it’s mic flags, billboards, wardrobe by announcers, at-track branding on the track and the infield grass, pit walls, everything. All 14 races is USA Sports.”

Behnke also unveiled the on-air talent for the 2026 season.

Marty Snider, Brad Daugherty and Jarrett will be on the USA Sports Pit Box for a pre-race show with a driver guest before each race. Along with Snider, Kim Coon, Dave Burns and Trevor Bayne will serve as pit reporters for the 14-race window, and Behnke also unveiled the debut of the pace-car analyst that Bayne will take part in for select races.

“Trevor Bayne will be live at select races, reporting live from inside of the pace car,” Behnke said. “We couldn’t have pulled this off without the help of Elton (Sawyer, Senior Vice President of competition at NASCAR) and his entire team. More to come on that, but having Trevor live inside of a pace car at select races we think is going to be really game-changing and really create some new experiences for the fans.”

A new documentary titled “NASCAR Americana” will also debut on USA Sports after the Cup Series Iowa Race on Sunday, Aug, 9 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The documentary will break down the symmetry between NASCAR and the United States and consists of three one-hour episodes.

This will also mark the first season of USA Sports tackling The Chase after the 12-year run of the NASCAR Playoffs.

Letarte, who competed in The Chase behind the pit wall, added how his analysis will change with The Chase from previous years in the booth of only covering the playoffs.

“It frees us up because we get to give our opinion on what the cutline is,” Letarte said. “So when the cutline was determined by the system and drivers were officially eliminated, while that was dramatic, it was also definitive and and you could make it in a graphic. Where now I believe that the concept of being cut or eliminated now comes down to the magical question: ‘Jeff, how far back can someone make a run? Leigh, can this guy get here?’ And I think it opens up to generate whatever narrative we believe as experts and what we feel from the garage, and we can take the momentum, both positive and negative, right? Someone could look good in the standings, but we may not feel they have positive momentum. So I think it’s a much more open narrative of conversation as The Chase continues.”

Diffey, play-by-play announcer, is excited for the opportunity to tell the story of the race to make The Chase, along with the 10-week battle leading up to crowning a Cup Series champion in November at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“We kind of get two bites at the cherry because we get those last four (regular-season) races, but we have to tell the story of who’s going to make The Chase,” Diffey said. “It’s great to have The Chase again, right? And then we have to have the accuracy and the authenticity and the enthusiasm of crowning a champion and that drive towards a champion. You want to do everybody justice, so that’s not lost on us. We feel very spoiled and we feel very honored to have this portion of the season.”

Posted on July 22, 2026 by Adam Fenwick

For at least the next few days, Mike Christopher Jr. will be the living embodiment of the phrase, ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead.’

The 27-year-old Christopher, who races the No. 31 Elite Racing entry on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, will drive the No. 62 Toyota for Halmar Friesen Racing at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park Friday evening (8 p.m. ET on FS1).

Once his responsibilities in Indiana are complete, he’ll get whatever rest he can before jumping on a plane at 6 a.m. Saturday morning to fly to New Hampshire to compete in the Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway (8:30 p.m. ET on FloRacing).

Christopher’s busy stretch really started last weekend with the Thunder in the Mountains 200 at White Mountain Motorsports Park.

Once that was complete, he had a full day of work ahead of him Monday before he caught a flight to North Carolina that evening to turn some laps in the simulator and visit with the Halmar Friesen Racing team.

“Monday was probably my easier day because I just worked. It was a full day of work Monday,” Christopher said. “I had a flight that was scheduled to leave Hartford [Connecticut] at 7 p.m., but it took off closer to 10:30 p.m. I landed in Greensboro just before 12:30 a.m. and I drove to Mooresville to stay over. I got there at like 2:15 a.m.

“I was up early and I got to the HFR shop at about 8:30 a.m. I did the sim from 12 to 2 p.m. and I’m scheduled to fly out [to go home] at about 8 p.m.”

His flight home on Tuesday didn’t exactly go according to plan. His plane left North Carolina more than two hours late and he didn’t touch down in Hartford, Connecticut, until sometime after midnight.

No problem, according to Christopher. He got whatever rest he could and was up bright and early again Wednesday morning to go to work at Mohawk Northeast, a heavy civil and marine construction business owned by Al Heinke, a well-known motorsports enthusiast who has supported many drivers and teams through the years.

Christopher worked all day Wednesday and will work a half-day Thursday before returning to the airport for his flight to Indianapolis, Indiana, ahead of Friday’s TSport 200 presented by Warn Industries NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.

Mike Christopher Jr.’s best finish of the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour campaign was a third-place finish at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in April. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

“I fly to Indy and land there about 7 p.m. Thursday night. I’ll go out to dinner and then I’ll be Truck racing all day Friday,” Christopher said. “Saturday morning, I have a 6 a.m. flight back to Hartford. I have to stop in Chicago, but I land in Hartford around 11 a.m. and I’ve got one of my guys there to coordinate picking me up from the airport.

“From there we’re going straight to Monadnock and racing there. So maybe I’ll get to sleep Sunday morning.”

Of course, a plan like this wouldn’t be complete without contingencies.

Elite Racing owner Alan Dering has filed a second entry for Saturday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event for veteran Craig Lutz. If for some reason Christopher can’t make it to Monadnock Speedway in time for Saturday’s event, then Lutz will slide into the No. 31 car, and the second entry will be withdrawn.

If all goes according to plan, then Elite Racing will field both cars. It would mark the first time the team has ever fielded two NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour entries in an event.

“It was just a good excuse to get their other car ready. They (Elite Racing) have another car that is brand new just sitting there,” Christopher said. “It just worked out. So now the other car is getting built and Craig is going to race that. If something were to happen and I can’t show up, then obviously they get points and all is well.”

Christopher’s busy weekend is just the tip of the iceberg for what has already been an incredibly busy season. Not only has he embarked upon his first full NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, but he’s also been a regular competitor at Stafford Speedway in local competition.

The Modified Tour season hasn’t gone exactly as planned. Outside of a third-place finish at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in April, Christopher admitted the team struggled for the first part of the season.

Christopher’s friend Joey Mucciacciaro recently began helping the Elite Racing team with setups and that, in combination with the work down by crew members Ryan Lutz, Dave Roys, Gino Orlando, Chris Elliot and Darryl Baker, has helped turn the season around with top 10s in the last two races.

Mike Christopher Jr. is in his first full season with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour piloting the No. 31 for Elite Racing. (Photo: Chris Dehney/NASCAR)

“It’s turning around for sure. It’s getting better,” Christopher said. “Alan and his Elite Towing crew prepare really good race cars, but we just struggled off the trailer and struggle to get better throughout the day and finish where I think we as a team deserve to finish.

“Recently I brought on my buddy Joey Mooch [Mucciacciaro] and lucky for me he has time throughout the week to go down to [Long] Island and work on the thing and obviously grow a bond with the crew that’s already there and the owner and make something happen.”

Racing has been part of Christopher’s life since an early age. His father, Mike, and his uncle, 2008 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ted, both raced Modifieds for years. It’s practically all he’s ever known.

Christopher knows he won’t be able to do this forever, but for now he’s focused on taking advantage of every opportunity so he can chase his dream.

If that means he loses a few hours of sleep so he can race in a Truck Series event on Friday in Indiana and a Modified Tour event Saturday in New Hampshire, then so be it.

“Whatever it costs, however much sleep you don’t get, whatever,” Christopher said. “Ten years from now I’ll be looking back on this thinking it was the time of my life. I’m living it right now, that’s what I’m doing.

“I’m not really a kid anymore, but I feel like a 17-year-old kid out there doing whatever he wants and driving race cars and making loud noises and stuff like that. It’s a blast so I’m going to soak it all in.”

Posted on July 22, 2026 by Staff Report

NASCAR will consolidate Cup Series practice into a single 50-minute session beginning with the upcoming race weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, officials announced Wednesday.

The revised format will remain in place for the balance of the 2026 season at events not already designated as superspeedway or extended-practice weekends. Homestead-Miami Speedway, which is scheduled to feature an extended practice session ahead of the 2026 season finale, will not be affected by the change.

MORE: Cup Series standings | Full 2026 schedule

All entered cars will participate in the same 50-minute session, replacing the divided-group format used at most Cup Series events. The session will not include a mandated break.

Impound procedures will remain in effect, meaning teams will face restrictions on adjustments following qualifying. NASCAR also will add an additional set of practice tires to each applicable weekend allotment to accommodate the increased track time.

The adjustment was discussed with teams during last week’s technical meeting and follows continued industry feedback regarding the amount and structure of Cup Series practice. NASCAR officials indicated that the garage initiative had received support from a substantial majority of teams.

Practice sessions at superspeedways will continue under their existing event-specific formats.

The Cup Series has primarily used shorter, group-based practice sessions in recent seasons, with the field divided into separate groups ahead of qualifying. Under the new format, every team will have access to the full 50-minute window, giving drivers and crew chiefs more time to evaluate handling, tire wear and potential adjustments before qualifying and the race.

The rule-book update will take effect immediately for the New Hampshire weekend and continue through the remaining eligible events on the schedule.