Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

CONCORD, N.C. — Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen know how to thrill in battles for the win in a NASCAR road race.

But the Trackhouse Racing teammates haven’t fought each other for victory in the Cup Series yet. There’s a good chance that changes Sunday at Watkins Glen International (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with both seeking their first victories of 2026.

MORE: Watkins Glen schedule | Cup Series standings

SVG’s streak of five consecutive wins on a road or street course came to an end at Circuit of The Americas back in March when he finished second to 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, but Zilisch remains confident in Trackhouse’s ability to contend this weekend, where teammates van Gisbergen won by over 11 seconds in 2025 and Ross Chastain won the pole in 2024.

“Based off the speed we had at COTA, I feel like our road-course program is really solid,” Zilisch said in a Tuesday teleconference. “I think obviously, with the success Shane has had, he’s done a lot to build our road-course program over the last few years with just his knowledge and and what he brings to the table. So I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be competitive going to Watkins Glen this weekend. Obviously, he won there last year, and has had a lot of success in the past. Ross has had success there, too. been close to winning races there multiple times and sat on the pole a few years ago. So I’m looking forward to getting there and hopefully continuing to build on the momentum we have on road courses in the past 12 months.”

SVG is unquestionably the series’ most dominant road-course racer since his debut at the Chicago Street Course in 2023, crushing the competition last season with five wins on road or street courses. In four of those races that ended under green-flag conditions, he averaged a margin of victory of 10.992 seconds. But he doesn’t see himself or Zilisch as the favorites this weekend.

“No, definitely not,” van Gisbergen said Tuesday at the NASCAR Production Facility. “The 45 car (Reddick) is. He was amazing at COTA and he’s been amazing all year. So yeah, he’s the one I’m looking at. But as I said earlier, there’s six or eight guys I could pick out of the entry list that are going to be up at the front. So yeah, you’re racing everyone, I guess, but first person you compare to is your your teammate, and if you’re racing him for the win, that’s a good thing. That means our cars are doing all right.”

MORE: Watkins Glen paint schemes

For all of SVG’s road-course glory, Trackhouse has lost some of its steam elsewhere on the Cup Series calendar. Some combination of bad luck and a lack of speed has resulted in a downturn in points, with Chastain 18th in the standings, SVG 19th and 19-year-old rookie Zilisch 33rd, all outside The Chase. Their hope is that road racing can turn their fates back toward the good, particularly with the resumes van Gisbergen and Zilisch bring to the table.

“You definitely feel a buzz in the shop. Like it’s no secret it’s been pretty difficult, I think, to start the year,” van Gisbergen said. “We haven’t been where we expected or hoped to be, obviously. But you’re never just going to turn up and have magically fast cars. The fast cars are still going to be good. We still lack in some areas, and drivers still need to be better too. So yeah, I think collectively, we need to manage our expectations a bit. But yeah, you see, especially at COTA, we saw a big improvement from other teams, how much better they are this year. So yeah, not expecting to have it as nice as we did last year, but certainly hope and we’re preparing like we can fight for it.”

Zilisch entered the series as one of the most highly touted prospects the Cup Series has seen in ages, especially after scoring an incredible 10 wins in O’Reilly Auto Parts Series competition as a rookie in 2025 and nearly scoring the championship. But as driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet in Cup this season, Zilisch hasn’t led a lap, scoring a season-best 14th-place finish at COTA in March.

“We definitely need a good weekend,” Zilisch said. “I’m yet to get a top 10 in the Cup Series, and obviously that’s something that we need to get done sooner than later. The best opportunity is the weekend coming up and each and every race ahead of us. So yeah, we reset every weekend. We don’t let the bad results get to us. We keep our heads down and continue to work and make changes and try and do things differently to make a difference, because at the end of the day, if nothing changes, nothing changes, and we know that.”

Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen race in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Getty Images

Seventeen years Zilisch’s elder, van Gisbergen went through the rookie Cup experience last season as well — one that started similarly to Zilisch’s. SVG averaged a 27.5 finish through the first 11 races of 2025 with three DNFs. Zilisch is averaging a 26.0 finish through 11 races with two DNFs.

This year, the 36-year-old van Gisbergen began far better and sat as high as fifth in the Cup Series standings through four races. But that hot start cooled quickly with three finishes of 34th or worse in a five-race span. The driver of the No. 97 Chevrolet has started to turn things the right direction again with finishes of 20th (Talladega Superspeedway) and 17th (Texas Motor Speedway) in the last two weeks, but he’s just as eager as anyone to run inside the top 15 again.

“It’s hard. Like I had an amazing start to the year. I felt like we were really going well,” van Gisbergen said. “And then the last four weeks, five weeks, we had a bit of a dip, so we’ve just got to get it right and eliminate mistakes, because I still feel like there’s potential for us to get it right when we execute, and I’m still improving and learning a lot. I felt like I went backwards a bit going to Texas. It’s a track I haven’t been to much. And yeah, I went there and (it’s like), ‘Oh [expletive], I’ve still got so much to learn here,’ whereas other tracks, I’m really getting to know them and know what I want the car to feel like and stuff. So yeah, it’s just keeping on building experience and the guys and myself knowing what we want from the car.”

Road courses clearly offer van Gisbergen his best chances at victory — and that’s likely the case for his rookie teammate, Zilisch, as well. But in his first NASCAR campaign, in which wins don’t guarantee a spot in the postseason, SVG believes consistent top 20s on ovals could help him make The Chase this fall.

“I think so — yeah, maybe,” he said. “Obviously doing that, we’ve got to score big on the road courses. Getting a win is huge, and that’ll really help us. But yeah, I would rather be fast every week and not have to rely on the road courses. And it was kind of trending that way at the start of the year, so we just kind of need to get back to that.”

RELATED: SVG joins list of all-time winners at The Glen

Watkins Glen can be that turning point for Trackhouse. Zilisch won each of his two O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at the 2.45-mile road course, including his series debut in 2024. And nearing the midpoint of the 26-race regular season, there’s no time to waste to climb out of a points hole.

“No doubt, it’s one we look forward to as a team,” Zilisch said.  “This is a great opportunity for all of us to get back on the right track, get some good points. And Ross and Shane are obviously really close to the cutline, so them having a good weekend would be really important for just the energy inside the building. We’ve been really hungry and there’s no sense of giving up. We know that this is not where we want to be as a team.

“It’s certainly shocked us at the speed we’ve had, and we know that we need to get to work and make things better. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen the people inside the building work this hard to try and get us back to where we need to be. So it’s really cool what we’re working on and what we’re building and I think it presents a unique opportunity for us to grow and get better as a team.”

Posted on by Nathan Solomon

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Austin Dillon saw a whole new side of Tyler Rader, his friend and Richard Childress Racing pit-crew member, Thursday at Fort Bragg.

Dillon and Rader visited the Eastern North Carolina base for a hands-on experience with the United States Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, part of the Mission 600 leading into the annual Coca-Cola 600 on May 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The visit held extra meaning for the RCR duo. Rader, the fueler for Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet, stepped away from NASCAR seven years ago to enlist in the Army. He was stationed at Fort Bragg as part of the 75th Ranger Regiment. And returning to the base he used to call home, Rader spent seven hours Thursday doing exercises he never imagined he’d complete again.

RELATED: NASCAR Salutes | Buy Coca-Cola 600 tickets

“Getting back here and absorbing back into the military life and kind of getting to do the day-to-day things is surreal,” Rader told NASCAR.com.

The morning started with an escort to the shooting range, where Rader and Dillon worked on their aim with three different weapons: an M4 carbine, a Beretta M9 and finally, an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). Then, they headed to a field for a howitzer cannon demonstration, where seven soldiers set up and fired the versatile field weapon in just four minutes. Rader and Dillon each fired a round, too.

Afterward, they visited the Devil’s Den Warrior Restaurant for lunch before moving to jump tower demonstrations. The RCR mates started inside the body of a retired C-130 aircraft, where soldiers simulated the process of air drops from over 1,000 feet. Rader then headed for the 34-foot tower, where he suited up for a drop, tethered to a zip line. A trip to the flight simulator ended the day, where both Rader and Dillon tested their aviation skills in Apache and Black Hawk helicopters.

Dillon, who has visited Fort Bragg before, was a sponge. He asked rounds of questions to soldiers hosting each exercise and picked Rader’s brain during escorts around the massive base.

“They’re elite at their job. They train and train until they can’t get it wrong, and that’s one of their sayings,” Dillon told NASCAR.com. “You get cool hints, especially from a shooting aspect. I’m a big shooter, and Winchester is a partner of ours, and learning some handgun tips was really nice today. And yeah, getting a pull back on that howitzer — that was awesome getting to pull the trigger on that.

“What they do and what they sacrifice for our country, and the time spent to be ready, I think, is the biggest thing I love and respect about these guys. … Each one of them have so many crafts that they’ve learned in a trade that you can’t anywhere but here in the Army.”

Rader said he enjoyed scratching the itch of jumping again, but admitted he actually hated it during his time as a Ranger — a mission he completed at least 14 times. His favorite part of the day, as Dillon agreed, was the hour and a half spent on the shooting range.

Of course, the two NASCAR Cup Series athletes were ready to compete. They went head-to-head as other members of the travel party shot beside them, with Rader naturally coming out on top.

“He’ll admit to that,” Rader said. “We should have got a picture of the groupings, but yeah, just kind of going out there and poking fun. And honestly, I haven’t shot like that in years, so to do that again was awesome.”

tyler rader and austin dillon firing a weapon at fort bragg
Courtesy of Speedway Motorsports

And upon arriving at Fort Bragg, Rader immediately found a friend. First Sergeant Omar Melendez, who led the group tour around the base, served with Rader in the 75th. Their bond appeared unbroken.

“Just kind of reminiscing with [Melendez] and talking about the guys that we served with there,” Rader said. “I honestly attribute the 72nd Ranger Regiment to all of my leadership abilities. When you first get into regiment … they instill in you leadership from Day 1, even if you’re the small, youngest private, newest private in the platoon, to the oldest, most senior NCO (non-commissioned officer). Leadership, integrity and selfless service was something that was instilled in us, and I try to do that day to day at RCR.”

The focus shifts to the annual Coca-Cola 600 in two weeks, which comes after the Cup Series’ stop at Watkins Glen International on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and follows the non-points-paying All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway. Dillon won his first career race in the crown-jewel marathon nine years ago, squeezing every drop out of his No. 3 Chevy to pass Jimmie Johnson with three laps to go.

MORE: Cup schedule | Dillon through the years

But despite success at Charlotte’s 1.5-mile oval, Dillon reaffirmed that the meaningfulness of the Coca-Cola 600 is what happens off the track and behind the scenes. Many of the soldiers he met on Thursday will attend this year’s Memorial Day Weekend race.

“Honoring those who have served our country and our veterans, the Gold Star Families that are on our cars, it’s always special to me because America is really represented there and the patriotism behind it, and then all of our military branches coming out and just giving them some love that they deserve,” Dillon said. “We always make connections, and then we go see each other [pre-race], and that’s a big part of Mission 600.”

Posted on by Dustin Albino

Editor’s Note: Keep tabs on this page for lineup advice following qualifying, including changes you should consider.

Fantasy Update: Tire wear was evident during practice and qualifying, and it could play a factor in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen. The normal road-course suspects will lead the field to the green, with Shane van Gisbergen and Michael McDowell splitting the front row. The only change this week is removing AJ Allmendinger from my garage pick and adding Ross Chastain. Saturday marked an important day for Trackhouse as all three cars cracked the top five in qualifying.
My lineup: Shane van Gisbergen, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, Connor Zilisch, Michael McDowell.Garage: Ross Chastain.

In a change of scenery, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Watkins Glen International three months earlier than normal this Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Expect the usual road-course aces to lead the pack, highlighted by Shane van Gisbergen, who is looking to defend his win from last August. But if the first road-course race of the season at Circuit of The Americas taught us anything, it’s that SVG is human and can be defeated.

Returning to Fastlane this year is my weekly NASCAR 36 for 36 pick, where you can come play along. It’s a season-long points battle introduced in 2024, with strategy as the primary emphasis. With 36 chartered cars and 36 races on the 2026 schedule, players can choose each car once for the duration of the season.

RELATED: NASCAR Fantasy Live hub | Play 36 for 36

MUST START

Driver: Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 9
Comment: Last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, van Gisbergen stated that he realized during the COTA weekend that Trackhouse’s road-course program isn’t up to par compared to 2025. But the six-time victor has terrorized the field recently, leading 303 laps across the last seven road-course events; the rest of the pack has led 371 combined. He has run inside the top five for 84% of all laps during that time. Inside the top 10? 95%.

Driver: Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Selections remaining: 6
Comment: Even Bell didn’t seem like his normal road-course self at COTA, but he rallied for a third-place effort. His recent numbers when turning left and right are staggering, placing him inside the top five in seven of the last eight, with four of those being top-two finishes.

Driver: Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
Selections remaining: 9
Comment: Since the Next Gen car was implemented in 2022, Buescher is frequently in the mix at road courses. He beat SVG in head-to-head fashion at Watkins Glen in 2024, the site of his last checkered flag. He is the only driver to have top 10s in all four Watkins Glen Next Gen races.

Chris Buescher celebrates at Watkins Glen International.
Chris Graythen | Getty Images

DRIVERS TO AVOID

Driver: Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 6
Comment: Not using Larson, a two-time Watkins Glen winner, could come back to bite. But since last winning at The Glen in 2022, he has three straight finishes of 12th or worse, with two of those being 26th or worse. On the bright side, he has consecutive finishes of sixth or better on road courses after a string of four finishes of 32nd or worse in the previous five tries.

Driver: Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Selections remaining: 9
Comment: Hamlin has admitted that his main objective for Watkins Glen is to minimize points lost. He placed runner-up here in 2023 but has primarily struggled at road courses in the Next Gen era, with three top 10s in 23 attempts.

Denny Hamlin walks.
James Gilbert | Getty Images

SLEEPERS OF THE WEEK

Driver: AJ Allmendinger, Kaulig Racing, No. 16 Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 10
Comment: In Allmendinger’s Cup tenure with Kaulig, the road-course stud has been sporadic on road courses. With five top-five finishes and an average finish of 10.9 (both personal bests), Watkins Glen is Allmendinger’s best track on the schedule.

Driver: Daniel Suárez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 9
Comment: The immediate Spire driver that sticks out at road courses is Michael McDowell. But Watkins Glen is in Suárez’s wheelhouse; he has three top-five and four top 10s in seven starts. His 12.8 average is his best among all tracks.

AJ Allmendinger points to the crowd before a NASCAR Cup Series race.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images

FEATURED MATCHUPS

Chase Elliott vs. Kyle Larson
Pick: Elliott
Comment: This could go either way, with both drivers having multiple wins here. While Elliott is admittedly not confident entering Watkins Glen with three consecutive finishes of 19th or worse here, he still gets the nod. His average finish in the Next Gen car at road courses is still a savvy 10.3.

Shane van Gisbergen vs. William Byron
Pick: Van Gisbergen
Comment: Van Gisbergen should be the heavy favorite, but Byron is a former Watkins Glen winner himself (2023). The inconsistency he’s shown, however, matches his 2026 campaign, alternating with top 10s or finishes of 21st or worse in seven attempts. If that trend continues, he’s due for a poor finish.

Ty Gibbs vs. Michael McDowell 
Pick: McDowell
Comment: Gibbs could surely give McDowell a run for his money at Watkins Glen. But of all the road courses, he’s struggled most at Watkins Glen, with one finish better than 22nd in four attempts. McDowell is typically in the mix, wrestling his car around the famed road course.

Kyle Busch vs. John Hunter Nemechek
Pick: Busch
Comment: Wisdom prevails at Watkins Glen. Even with Busch’s woes with Richard Childress Racing, he remains a formidable road-course competitor and has a pair of wins at The Glen, trailing only Jeff Gordon (262) in laps led (249). Meanwhile, Nemechek has one top 10 in 14 road-course starts.

MY LINEUP

Starting five: Shane van Gisbergen, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, Connor Zilisch, Michael McDowell.
Garage pick: AJ Allmendinger.

36 FOR 36

Pick: Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Comment: With the high speeds Watkins Glen possesses, qualifying will be of the utmost importance for Zilisch this weekend. The young phenom is undefeated in NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series competition entering the weekend at Watkins Glen, taking the series by storm in his 2024 debut. The likelihood of using Zilisch at a road course in this spot is high, and WGI is where he has the most experience.

Posted on by Zack Albert

DUNDEE, N.Y. — One of the first pieces of the 2027 NASCAR schedule took shape Thursday, with Watkins Glen International announcing that its race weekend will move to September next year.

Watkins Glen track president Dawn Burlew first announced the news at an event welcoming campers to the road course’s grounds for this weekend’s NASCAR tripleheader.

RELATED: Watkins Glen weekend schedule | Cup Series standings

Though an exact date wasn’t specified, officials indicated that the NASCAR Cup Series race will take place in one of the earliest slots in the 10-race Chase next year. It’s a shift back to a more traditional date on the NASCAR schedule for the 2.45-mile circuit, which plays host to a rare springtime event this weekend.

Since debuting on the NASCAR circuit in 1957, the road-course race in New York has primarily occurred in August, late in the regular season. Before this year’s May date arrived, the lone exception was a mid-September show in the 2024 postseason, when Chris Buescher passed Shane van Gisbergen to win a thriller on the final lap.

The move will also add road-course racing back to the postseason mix. Charlotte Motor Speedway created a one-year hiatus this year by moving its fall race from the Roval configuration back to the 1.5-mile oval. For Burlew, sewing up a spot in the Chase rotation next season marks a welcome return.

“People actually really liked that recognition for The Glen as well as all our fans that come here,” Burlew said Thursday from a lakeside vista at Glenora Wine Cellars, where she participated in a fan event and tour with van Gisbergen, the defending Watkins Glen winner. “So being in [The Chase] going forward, I think they’re going to be thrilled that we’re at the first part of that and really kind of set the stage for the rest of the playoff season. So again, if we can be part of that and kick it off, there’s no better place than to do it at The Glen.”

Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) marks the earliest date Watkins Glen has appeared on the Cup schedule. It leads into a highlighted stretch of the schedule this month that includes the new-look All-Star Race at Dover, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and a trip to Nashville Superspeedway.

Burlew – who became track president before the 2024 season – acknowledged challenges with this year’s springtime date, with brisk weather in this weekend’s forecast for the state’s Finger Lakes region. The area has had a variable mix ranging from seasonable warmth to late-season chill in recent weeks, but she says the spring bloom is well underway at one of racing’s most picturesque venues.

MORE: Memorable Watkins Glen moments | Buy Watkins Glen tickets!

The annual NASCAR weekend is among the facility’s biggest, and Burlew says its placement at the early end of the track’s schedule hasn’t given the Watkins Glen staff much time to ease into its event calendar. Burlew says everyone involved has pivoted.

“I think what we’ve done is our merchandise, we’ve looked at it when we saw the date, and we said, OK, we need to shift our merchandise from all T-shirts and tank tops to long sleeves and things like that,” Burlew said. “But then again, we did some really cool stuff for Mother’s Day with our merchandise, so we just took a whole different twist to it when we started getting ready and planning for this weekend. We’re more celebrating just a different date, because it gave us a whole different way to plan. Instead of just doing traditional flowers, we did more mulch and tulips that my team planted last fall, which normally we wouldn’t do, but we said, OK, that’s something different. So we just embraced it that way.”

Contributing: Cameron Richardson

Posted on by Reid Spencer

Shane van Gisbergen will race on a road course for the first time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Connor Zilisch is trying for his first win in the series.

Ross Chastain is making his 121st Truck Series start, hoping to add to his career total of five victories.

All three drivers, Trackhouse Racing teammates in the NASCAR Cup Series, are starting a full weekend of triple duty in Friday’s Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at Watkins Glen International (4:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Van Gisbergen and Chastain are competing for Niece Motorsports in the Truck Series race. Zilisch is driving for Spire Motorsports as a teammate to last Friday’s Truck Series winner at Texas, Carson Hocevar.

Reigning series champion Corey Heim, who won last year’s race during a streak of five straight road course victories, is not entered this week. In fact, no former Watkins Glen winners are in the field.

Front Row Motorsports’ Layne Riggs, a Truck Series regular, won NASCAR’s debut at St. Petersburg on Feb. 28 in the first road-course race of the 2026 season. Friday’s event also will include road-course expert AJ Allmendinger, who will drive Kaulig Racing’s No. 25 Free Agent Ram.

RELATED: Watkins Glen schedule | Truck Series standings

“Watkins Glen will always be special to me,” Allmendinger said. “It’s where I earned my first NASCAR Cup Series win, and it’s a place I’ve always enjoyed racing. Kaulig Racing has made solid progress on the truck side, and I’m looking forward to getting in the No. 25 Ram 1500 through the Free Agent Program and contributing to that.

“We had a good Darlington run to get a feel for the trucks, even though it’s a completely different challenge from a road course. Hopefully, we can unload with speed, contend up front, and put ourselves in position to fight for a win.”

Posted on by Press Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — One of the most coveted achievements in Late Model Stock Car racing is set to take center stage once again as the Virginia Triple Crown presented by FloRacing returns in 2026 with heightened intensity, elevated competition and continued investment in grassroots racing’s premier showcase.

Following last year’s landmark announcement, FloSports and NASCAR are once again teaming up to deliver an enhanced Virginia Triple Crown presented by FloRacing, reinforcing their commitment to the drivers, teams and fans who define short-track racing. Building on the momentum of 2025, this year’s championship will continue to feature one of the richest purses in the event’s history, $50,000 total with a $20,000 prize awarded to the overall champion.

FloRacing remains the presenting partner of the Virginia Triple Crown, continuing its role as the nation’s leading destination for live and on-demand grassroots motorsports coverage. With its ongoing investment in regional racing, FloRacing ensures that the Virginia Triple Crown reaches a broader national audience while maintaining its deep roots in the sport’s most passionate communities.

“We’re proud to continue our partnership with NASCAR and further grow the Virginia Triple Crown,” said Michael Rigsby, GM of FloRacing. “This event represents everything that makes Late Model racing special: elite competition, passionate fans and historic tracks. We’re looking forward to building on that foundation and bring even more visibility to this incredible championship.”

“The Virginia Triple Crown is late model stock racing at its best: tough, gritty and intense,” said Joey Dennewitz, Vice President, Industry Development, NASCAR. “With FloRacing’s continued support, we’re building even more momentum around one of short-track racing’s most exciting championships while delivering the kind of must-watch racing our fans love.”

The payout structure will once again reward the top 10 drivers in the final standings:

1st – $20,000
2nd – $10,000
3rd – $7,500
4th – $5,000
5th – $2,500
6th–10th – $1,000 each

All payouts will be distributed following the final leg of the crown – the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway.

The Virginia Triple Crown presented by FloRacing will once again be determined by a driver’s average finish across three of Virginia’s most prestigious Late Model events:

  • June 27 – Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway
  • July 25 – Hampton Heat at Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway
  • Sept. 26 – ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway
Connor Hall
Connor Hall, a two-time NASCAR Local Racing Series national champion, won the 2025 Virginia Triple Crown. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)

To be eligible for the championship and prize money, drivers must compete in all three events.

“With the continued support of FloRacing and NASCAR, the Virginia Triple Crown has never been stronger,” said Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell. “This championship connects three historic tracks and showcases the very best of Late Model racing. Fans can expect incredible competition from start to finish.”

South Boston Speedway General Manager Brandon Brown emphasized the importance of a strong start to the series: “Kicking off the Virginia Triple Crown at South Boston Speedway is something we take a lot of pride in. Every lap matters, and a strong performance in the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 is absolutely crucial to a driver winning the Triple Crown.”

Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway owner and operator Bill Mullis echoed the sentiment: “The Virginia Triple Crown continues to grow in prestige, and FloRacing and NASCAR’s involvement has played a key role in that evolution. It’s exciting to see the tradition continue to thrive and bring even more value to Late Model racing.”

Past champions of the Virginia Triple Crown include some of the biggest names in Late Model Stock Car history, such as Peyton Sellers, Lee Pulliam, Trevor Ward and Bobby McCarty.

Established in 2012, the Virginia Triple Crown remains one of the most respected and challenging accomplishments in short-track racing, testing drivers’ consistency, resilience and performance across three unique and demanding venues.

Fans can catch every lap of the Virginia Triple Crown presented by FloRacing live or on demand with a FloRacing subscription via https://www.floracing.com/signup or the FloRacing app. FloRacing will simulcast the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 on the NASCAR Channel.

FloRacing fans are encouraged to watch more than 1,000 races annually on the updated FloSports Connected TV app, which features enhanced discoverability and streaming capabilities, providing the ultimate viewing experience on Samsung, LG, and VIZIO smart TV’s, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV devices.

Posted on by Neil Paine

Remember when we were wondering if Chase Elliott — in the midst of multiple 40-plus-race winless streaks during the 2024 and 2025 seasons — had a high enough ceiling to consistently win races?

Clearly, that’s not a concern anymore. After snapping a 44-race drought last June at his home-state track (EchoPark Speedway), it took Elliott just 12 races to win his next one (in September at Kansas) … then only 11 more until Martinsville this March … and now, just three before his most recent in Texas.

If you’re sensing a pattern, it’s that Elliott’s winning drives are becoming more frequent — a callback to earlier seasons like 2020 and 2022 when he won every 7.2 races, on average. But the impressive thing about Elliott’s development as a driver is that he hasn’t abandoned his high-floor approach from his drought era, either. Instead, he’s found an optimal way to blend going for wins with managing solid finishes every week.

Elliott’s average finish of 8.9 in 2026 ranks second among Cup drivers, trailing only Tyler Reddick’s 5.7 — which makes sense, given Reddick’s winning percentage matches his car number (45 percent). But in their non-wins, Elliott is much closer (10.7 versus Reddick’s 9.7), and over the past season-and-a-half or so nobody has been better at consistently avoiding bad finishes. Here’s a look at every Cup Series driver with at least 10 races since the start of 2025, sorted by their median finish but with their 10th-percentile finish — basically a “really bad day” benchmark they surpass 90% of the time — highlighted:

Chart showing how Chase Elliott has a higher statistical floor than other drivers.

Elliott’s worst days (with a 10th-percentile finish of 22.4) are better than a number of lower-tier drivers’ median showings — and even better than merely below-average outings from some other contenders. The only other drivers even remotely in the same neighborhood in avoiding disastrous days are Reddick (24.8) and Chris Buescher (26.6), and even they aren’t that close.

In a season when everyone seems to be putting emphasis on protecting their finishes from major harm, due to the influence of the new Chase championship format, Elliott still ranks as the best there is at doing that. But does that give him an advantage toward winning his second career Cup Series title?

Under the current format, avoiding bad Sunday runs is certainly valuable. For one thing, it helps you ensure a spot in The Chase itself — and Elliott already has a 174-point cushion over the No. 17-ranked driver, Joey Logano after 11 races.

Before the season, we reconstructed Chase points for previous years under the old system, calculating that it would take somewhere between 580 and 600 points to secure the No. 16 seed at regular season’s end. Elliott is just 181 points shy of 590 with 15 races left in the regular season; to get there, he’d need to average merely 12.1 points per race, which works out to a 25th-place finish (before considering stage points). We just got done showing that Elliott never finishes that low, so this explains why he effectively has 100% odds to get into the Chase, joining Reddick, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney in that regard.

Avoiding disaster is also essential during The Chase itself. According to my simulation-based Chase odds, a contending driver’s chance to win the title gets cut roughly in half with each successive finish outside the top 20 in a Chase race:

Graphic showing a driver's championship odds based on the number of finishes outside the top 20 he has in The Chase.

The only issue with a “high-floor” type of strategy is that, eventually, you do also have to directly outscore the points leaders, which is why Elliott’s championship hopes also hinge on those all-important Chase seeds.

We know championship points are reset before the final 10 races on the calendar, based on a driver’s placement in the final regular-season standings. But the gaps between different slots in the seedings are not equal; No. 1 starts The Chase with a 25-point lead over No. 2, who has a 10-point lead over No. 3, whose lead over No. 4 is five points. (That’s the standard gap between each successive slot; No. 15 also starts out five points ahead of No. 16.)

That means the value of being No. 2 versus No. 3 is in automatically being about 30% closer to the leader, while No. 3 is about 15% closer than No. 4. It’s much easier to execute a high-floor game plan, minimizing mistakes and capitalizing on those made by others, the closer you are to the top.

That means the fight around who’s in those slots should begin to take focus as we look ahead to the last 15 races before The Chase field is solidified. Reddick is nearly unassailable for No. 1 with his 109-point lead over second-ranked Denny, sitting at about 80% odds to win the regular-season title as things currently stand. But the battle to grab another of those valuable seeds is still very much up in the air, with Hamlin, Elliott and Blaney primarily doing battle over who’ll finish 2-3-4 heading into the Chase:Graphic showing how Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney are in a big fight over seeds 2-3 in The Chase.

That fight will continue to rage this weekend at Watkins Glen (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Blaney should have an edge on Elliott based on projected road-course prowess — it not being 2020 or 2021 anymore — but Elliott, in turn, is due for a better showing than Hamlin, which feeds into the pressure already starting to build around each remaining race. Calculating the leverage index on a driver’s seeding status based on how he finishes at The Glen, Hamlin and Elliott have the most potential swing in their odds of a top-two seed this weekend, while Elliott and Blaney have the most swing around their odds for a top-three seed:Graphic showing a driver's chances to be seeded second or third (or better) based on finish at Watkins Glen.

Elliott’s combined ability to avoid catastrophes while still gunning for checkered flags will undoubtedly help him in that effort. In a format where one bad day can begin to undo everything, even at this early phase of the proceedings, that kind of downside protection is already starting to look like a big competitive advantage.

Posted on by Nathan Solomon

There aren’t many Cup Series drivers who can say they’ve beaten Shane van Gisbergen on a road course.

Chris Buescher is one of them.

The Prosper, Texas, native — who just scored his best career finish at Texas Motor Speedway of fifth last weekend — defeated SVG at Watkins Glen International two seasons ago in a finish for the ages. Van Gisbergen fired to the lead in overtime, but on the final lap, the Kiwi bobbled coming through the bus stop, allowing Buescher to use his bumper and surge for a win in the Finger Lakes.

RELATED: Watkins Glen weekend schedule | Cup Series standings

Since turning to the Next Gen chassis in 2022, Buescher has quietly been one of the best on the road. The Glen is his only triumph, but over the last 24 races turning left and right, the No. 17 RFK Racing driver has 17 top-10 finishes.

That road course prowess dates back to his O’Reilly Series days and early years in Cup, when Buescher benefited from additional time in Ford’s simulator. While veteran drivers didn’t prioritize that type of preparation, Buescher became a sponge.

“When the Ford simulator was pretty new and a lot of our veteran drivers weren’t really keen on spending much time over there yet, there was a lot of open windows,” Buescher said in a Wednesday teleconference. “There were many eight-hour sessions spent over there, just across the street, getting to know a lot of race tracks that I hadn’t been to before O’Reilly or Cup racing at the time. And then trying to figure out how to be better at the types of race tracks that we don’t get to see that often and that’s road courses for us.

“We’ve spent our fair share of time over in the simulator through the years. We just came from there this morning. We were over there for four or five hours to start the day with all three of our teams. We still use it pretty religiously to hone in on how to be better at these things and I’m excited to be heading into Watkins Glen.”

And that simulator time will likely pay off come Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Watkins Glen has three added variables for this year’s annual visit to New York’s Southern Tier region: cooler weather, track limits and 10 additional laps.

A shift from the summer to Mother’s Day weekend brings temperatures forecasted in the 60s, which Buescher expects will make for a faster track. As explained in this week’s episode of Hauler Talk, NASCAR officials are adding tire packs in Turns 1 and 5, narrowing the available real estate in run-off areas. And finally, the race distance increases from 90 to 100 laps for the first time, marking the longest scheduled race at the 2.45-mile facility.

chris buescher at watkins glen
Sean Gardner | Getty Images

“I certainly understand what we’re after. All of the rumble strips did not cut it,” Buescher explained of the track limits. “It just did not do enough to keep us off the runout areas and what the run-offs were doing was creating these really tight moments when everybody merged back on the race track and was creating these massive accidents.

“With the sporadic tire packs, it’s worked at a lot of places when they’ve been used more for the apex, not so much as an invisible wall in between a handful of them. I’m not saying it won’t work. It’s kept us exactly where they want us to be in the simulator. The idea behind it is at least working right now, but we’ll have to see how it works in practice once we get everybody on track. I like what we’re doing.”

But regardless of the variables, Buescher’s confidence isn’t wavering.

“We have a very good grasp of that race track and are able to make several different setup options or race car builds work at that kind of race track,” he said. “We’ve kind of touched on both sides of long run and short run, and maybe that’s what I was trying to allude to, was trying to find that balance in the middle of how do we fire off good, but also maintain the long run pace.

“It’s been a good road course to us for a good, long time now, so I am really excited to head back up to that one. I’m ready to get up there. It’s gonna be a good weekend.”

Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series head north to New York’s Finger Lakes region for their annual stops at Watkins Glen International. Below are the qualifying orders and groups for all three series.

MORE: Weekend schedule | How to watch NASCAR on TV

Cup Series
Group qualifying will occur at 2:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, with practice earlier in the day at 1 p.m. ET (Prime Video).

POSITIONNUMBERDRIVERMETRICGROUP
178* Katherine Legge40.71
241Cole Custer35.31
366* Josh Bilicki(i)34.81
451Cody Ware31.51
522Joey Logano31.01
620Christopher Bell30.51
734Todd Gilliland29.91
821Josh Berry29.61
94Noah Gragson29.21
1054Ty Gibbs27.31
1110Ty Dillon26.71
125Kyle Larson26.21
1371Michael McDowell25.81
1442John Hunter Nemechek23.71
151Ross Chastain23.61
1616AJ Allmendinger23.51
178Kyle Busch21.81
1838Zane Smith21.71
1988Connor Zilisch #21.41
2019Chase Briscoe20.92
213Austin Dillon20.72
2247Ricky Stenhouse Jr.20.52
2397Shane van Gisbergen17.62
2435Riley Herbst16.12
2543Erik Jones15.02
262Austin Cindric15.02
2760Ryan Preece13.42
286Brad Keselowski11.82
2948Alex Bowman10.82
3023Bubba Wallace9.62
3124William Byron8.62
327Daniel Suárez8.42
3312Ryan Blaney8.22
3477Carson Hocevar6.72
3517Chris Buescher5.02
3645Tyler Reddick3.12
3711Denny Hamlin2.02
389Chase Elliott1.62

O’Reilly Auto Parts Series
Group qualifying will occur at 11:35 a.m. ET on Friday, with practice earlier in the day at 10:30 a.m. ET (The CW App).

POSITIONNUMBERDRIVERMETRICGROUP
150Preston Pardus41.91
235TBA39.21
342TBA35.71
487Austin Green34.11
591Carson Kvapil31.11
628Kyle Sieg30.01
755Joey Gase29.81
853Derek White29.61
90Alex Labbe29.51
1032Ross Chastain(i)28.91
1102Ryan Ellis27.61
1217Corey Day27.41
1307Josh Bilicki27.31
1454Taylor Gray26.71
1531Blaine Perkins24.11
1627Jeb Burton23.91
1724Harrison Burton22.91
1892Alex Guenette(i)22.51
1945Lavar Scott #21.41
2048Patrick Staropoli19.12
2144Brennan Poole18.82
221Connor Zilisch16.82
2326Dean Thompson16.62
2496Anthony Alfredo15.32
2518William Sawalich14.42
2639Ryan Sieg14.32
279Shane van Gisbergen(i)13.72
2851Jeremy Clements13.32
298Sammy Smith11.82
3021Austin Hill7.92
312Jesse Love7.52
3220Brandon Jones7.42
3399Parker Retzlaff6.82
3441Sam Mayer6.32
3519Brent Crews #5.22
3600Sheldon Creed5.12
377Justin Allgaier1.72
3888Rajah Caruth1.32

Craftsman Truck Series
Group qualifying will occur at 12:05 p.m. ET on Friday, with practice earlier in the day at 11 a.m. ET (FS2).

POSITIONNUMBERDRIVERMETRICGROUP
120Toni Breidinger58.71
269Dystany Spurlock41.01
371Connor Zilisch(i)40.11
456Timmy Hill39.21
54Shane van Gisbergen(i)38.91
613Cole Butcher #32.31
742Tyler Reif31.21
881Kris Wright30.41
99Grant Enfinger29.01
1044Andrés Pérez28.21
112Jackson Lee27.81
1262Wesley Slimp27.71
1315Tanner Gray25.91
1422Natalie Decker25.31
1533Stephen Mallozzi25.11
1698Jake Garcia25.11
1716Justin Haley24.01
1810Corey LaJoie23.51
1976Spencer Boyd23.31
2014Mini Tyrell #23.12
2126Dawson Sutton18.72
2252Stewart Friesen17.82
235Adam Andretti15.52
2412Brenden Queen #14.82
2518Tyler Ankrum14.72
2625AJ Allmendinger(i)14.62
2717Gio Ruggiero11.92
2819Daniel Hemric10.32
2988Ty Majeski9.62
3045Ross Chastain(i)9.32
3191Christian Eckes8.62
3238Chandler Smith8.22
3399Ben Rhodes6.22
3434Layne Riggs5.72
351Brent Crews(i)4.62
3677Carson Hocevar(i)3.12
3711Kaden Honeycutt2.72
387Connor Mosack1.72

* Required to qualify on time
# denotes series rookie
(i) denotes ineligible for driver points

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Ryan Blaney signed a long-term contract extension Wednesday to remain with Team Penske as driver of its No. 12 Ford, continuing what has been a calm start to NASCAR’s Silly Season in 2026.

Blaney joins Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick and Carson Hocevar as drivers to sign long-term re-ups this year with their current teams — Team Penske, Hendrick Motorsports, 23XI Racing and Spire Motorsports, respectively.

But just because free agency has started without any sexy team transfers doesn’t mean there aren’t any up for consideration.

MORE: Cup standings | Cup Series schedule

The biggest questions looming in NASCAR’s free agency revolve around Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 48 Chevrolet and Richard Childress Racing’s No. 8 Chevrolet.

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 car, and Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 8, are both seeking respective new contracts for the 2027 NASCAR Cup Series season. Bowman is a multi-time winner at the powerhouse Hendrick team with consecutive top fives in his last two starts — a plus for the “What have you done for me lately?” column. Busch is a two-time Cup champion with an unfathomable 233 national series wins to his credit — including 63 Cup wins, ninth-most all-time — but is amid the most uncertain moment of his career.

Both drivers appear to have reached a crossroads with their respective organizations. Bowman has just two wins on his ledger since the start of 2022 and hasn’t reached Victory Lane since winning in July 2024 at the Chicago Street Course. He also has missed three or more races in three of the past five seasons due to injury: a concussion in 2022 (missed five races), a broken vertebra in 2023 (missed three races) and a bout with vertigo at the start of this season (missed four races).

At RCR, Busch won three times in the first 15 races of 2023 in his debut campaign with the team but has gone winless since, leaving the 41-year-old in a drought that has extended to a career-worst 104 races. Busch, who agreed to a one-year extension with RCR last spring, has finished inside the top 10 just once this year (10th, Talladega Superspeedway) and was in contention for a second last week at Texas Motor Speedway before late-race frustration with John Hunter Nemechek sank him to 20th.

So where do they go from here?

Bowman has done himself plenty of favors within the walls of Hendrick Motorsports by continuing to be a helpful teammate behind the scenes, as well as working diligently to return to action whenever he’s been sidelined.

Four-time Cup Series champion and Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon said Sunday he’d like to see Bowman continue his recent upward trend.

“Just continue to improve and contribute the way he has been, which goes deeper than just results,” Gordon said. “It’s all about the feedback that he has throughout the race, throughout the race weekend, Monday debriefs. He’s doing all those things.

“Alex is a great guy. He’s been a great asset to Hendrick. He’s had some misfortunes that were out of his control, but we think the world of Alex. He’s like family to us. We just want what’s best for him and what’s best for the team right now, and that’s where our focus is.”

If Bowman were to return for 2027, the organization would have at least one more year to assess the future of the No. 48 Chevrolet. The question then becomes whether that future includes another long-term commitment to Bowman or an opportunity to start anew, perhaps by promoting Corey Day, currently a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver for Hendrick Motorsports who earned his first career NOAPS win April 28 at Talladega.

The situation for Busch is less clear. Andy Street was named crew chief of the No. 8 team on April 30 to mark his second stint with Busch in seven months. Entering Texas, Busch and teammate Austin Dillon both emphasized Busch’s commitment to RCR.

“I feel like we’re in this together anyways,” Busch said. “I love Richard (Childress, team owner). I feel like we’ve worked really well together. Austin has been a phenomenal teammate that I’ve been able to work with. I feel like he’s one of the best that I’ve had. It’s been a joyful time working with him. It’s just the results aren’t there. We’ve got to line that up and try to be better in order to get those.”

RELATED: Busch speaks on latest team changes

But the reality is that either side may choose to move on for fresh starts in 2027. Jesse Love is the defending O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion and continues to drive for RCR in that series. With seven Cup starts to his name, the 21-year-old has stated he hopes to race full-time in the Cup Series sooner than later.

“Obviously, my goal is to race on Sundays, and when I do get there, not have to have a lot of growing pains,” Love said in February at EchoPark Speedway. “So the more I can do, the more different types of tracks that I can run, the better that’s going to shorten that learning curve for me.”

If either Busch or RCR opts to go separate ways, Love would seemingly be the easiest promotion possible. Where Busch goes, though, remains up for debate.

A number of rides remain in question for the 2027 season, but one that could make sense for Busch is with Spire Motorsports. Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson previously worked as a spotter for Busch in the Cup Series, and Busch has made numerous Craftsman Truck Series starts for the organization since selling Kyle Busch Motorsports to Spire at the conclusion of 2023.

But is there any room at the inn? While Hocevar signed a long-term extension earlier this year, Daniel Suárez joined for the 2026 season on a one-year deal with options built in for more. Suárez has had an admirable start and sits 14th in the standings with one top five and three top 10s while tracking toward a career-best 15.2 average finish.

That raises questions around the No. 71 car, currently driven by Michael McDowell. McDowell, 41, joined Spire in 2025 on a multiyear deal and earned a career-best three top fives last season. He has one to his credit in early 2026 (fifth, COTA), but since placing ninth the next week at Phoenix, McDowell has finished 18th or worse in each of the last seven races. McDowell sits 23rd in points, 53 points beneath the provisional cutline to make The Chase, with an average finish of 21.5 that would mark his worst since 2019.

RELATED: McDowell: No plans to step away soon

Much of the landscape in Silly Season will depend on the fates of Bowman and Busch. The Hendrick No. 48 team and the RCR No. 8 offer high-profile opportunities to succeed at NASCAR’s top level. Those in charge of placing drivers behind the wheel must soon decide how they intend to shape the future of their respective companies — and in turn perhaps altering the landscape of the Cup Series as well.