In the wake of a heavy front-end impact for Christopher Bell, a section of the inside wall at Talladega Superspeedway will be modified before NASCAR returns in October.
Senior director of racing communications Amanda Ellis confirmed the decision was made to prevent the wall from jutting out as it was during Sunday’s 500-mile race at the 2.66-mile oval.
“That wall will be corrected before we return in the fall,” Ellis said on the new episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast. “They’re going to take that lip out and straighten the wall as well that leads into that area.”
Bell said he felt “really good” after the wicked crash, crediting his HANS and cockpit safety devices with helping cushion the collision of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with the SAFER barrier.
NASCAR managing director of racing communications Mike Forde said the wall was angled at roughly a 5-degree angle because of an access road where several emergency vehicles are stationed for fast response to wrecks on the backstretch.
“Making it more of a straight edge should help as far as the significance of these wrecks,” Forde said. …
The Talladega post-race disqualifications of runner-up Ryan Preece and fifth-place finisher Joey Logano also were discussed during the podcast. Neither penalty was appealed.
Forde said Preece’s team added a third shim to adjust the No. 60’s spoiler to a correct angle after being out of compliance in pre-race inspection. The NASCAR Rule Book allows for only two spoiler shims at superspeedways. Though the infraction occurred Friday, the violation was caught during post-race inspection.
“We don’t watch what they do when they try to fix the car once they fail (inspection) and go back to the garage,” Forde said. “It is one of the rare examples where this was an honest mistake … and so this is one of those where they didn’t do it for a competitive advantage per se. They did it because they were probably looking for a competitive advantage pre-race going into inspection and hoping that spoiler would get through.”
Other topics covered during the 12th episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:
— Safety incidents in the pits and how NASCAR uses painted lines to determine if violations were committed;
— Why Talladega’s 18-sector pit road might have contributed to 10 speeding penalties being called;
— Would NASCAR make any adjustments to reduce the likelihood of drivers crashing when entering the pits for green-flag stops?;
— The current state and future of fuel-conservation races at Daytona and Talladega;
— NASCAR’s position on offering teams the chance to run the All-Star Race with less restrictive regulations.
Click on the embed above to listen or search for “Hauler Talk” wherever you download podcasts to hear it on your phone, tablet or mobile device.
Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the new “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.
When RSS Racing debuted in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2009, Rod Sieg operated the team near its home base in Tucker, Georgia. That remained the case for Ryan Sieg when he jumped to the Xfinity Series in 2013.
For the first decade of the organization’s existence — through alliances with powerhouse teams Richard Childress Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing — they remained in the Peach State. Until this year.
Matt Noyce, former SHR car chief, returned as crew chief of the No. 39 Ford for a second season after a successful trial run in 2024. Previously, RSS employees traveled nearly four hours to Charlotte, North Carolina, to make the alliance with the rebranded Haas Factory Team useful. Now, Charlotte is the team’s backyard, with the No. 39 team having a shop a mile-and-a-half away from the Haas team. The team’s No. 28 entry for Kyle Sieg remains in Georgia.
“The alliance we have, all the resources are on the table,” Noyce said. “It’s about the time and having the people to do it. Being in North Carolina has helped that a lot.
“We’re working just as much, and we’re using the resources. We’re going to the Hawkeye, we’re going to the simulator, we’re going to the pulldown and doing more of the details. There were times last year where you went to the race at 85% or 90%. This year, I feel like we’re going to the race track always at 90% or 100% and not missing that last 10%. I think that’s the difference in the speed we have off the truck.”
Neither Noyce nor Sieg pushed for the move to the Charlotte area, but it made sense logistically. A successful first 2024 campaign, barely missing the Xfinity Series Playoffs, made both parties realize there was more potential, even with just a handful of full-time employees.
“Everyone knows the speed that we built last year, there was a next step,” Noyce said. “Everyone came together. The guys at Haas pushed for it a little bit, and the Siegs wanted to make sure we can get Ryan the best opportunity we can to win some races.”
Sieg was in favor of the move once it was agreed upon, even if it meant driving back and forth from Georgia each Monday to get on the Ford simulator.
“It has picked up the program where you show up every week trying to contend for top fives or top 10s,” Sieg said of the move. “We haven’t shown all of our potential yet. We’ve got a little work to do, but we’re getting there, and everyone is pulling in the right direction now.”
Noyce has a pre-existing relationship with the Haas team, serving as the car chief for the No. 41 Xfinity team in 2017 when Kevin Harvick ran a partial schedule. He returned to the team in 2022 for the same position when Riley Herbst piloted the No. 98.
That familiarity has helped with RSS. The No. 39 team is using many of the same chassis Herbst ran throughout the 2022 season. Building a notebook with those cars has pushed RSS forward.
The first 11 races in 2025 have been a roller coaster for the No. 39 bunch. Sieg has been involved in three last-lap crashes and has had multiple mechanical woes. At Talladega Superspeedway, he charged to the front from a 35th-place starting position, only to be involved in a late wreck. On the other hand, Sieg has four top-10 finishes, led a career-high 77 laps at Rockingham Speedway and is still on the positive side of the playoff elimination line as the series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for Saturday’s race (2 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“Ryan has been lucky even when he has bad luck,” Rod said. “I don’t know how that is, but he’s wrecked a lot. If we finished, we’d really be good.”
Entering Talladega, Sieg ranked ninth in the championship standings battle, 11 points behind fourth. With the incident, he dropped to 11th and lost 45 markers to fourth.
Compared to other years, however, Sieg has more raw speed and is adequately prepared when he shows up at the race track.
“It is a good feeling to be running so well and lead laps,” Sieg said. “We just have to keep after it because it’s been fun. It’s always a joy to come to the race track and at least be in contention for top 10s and top fives. Once you get so far up, trying to get that win is a tough battle.”
The ultimate goal is to win. Sieg has 21 career top-five finishes in 378 starts, including five runner-up results. One of those was in heartbreaking fashion at Texas Motor Speedway — tied for the second-closest finish in Xfinity history — to now-satellite teammate Sam Mayer last year.
Optimism is in the air that this year’s No. 39 team could be the one that finally visits Victory Lane. Sieg’s No. 39 has already led 88 laps, on pace to shatter the most he’s led in a single season (103 in 2020).
“I feel like we can be a top-six team,” Noyce said. “[The competition] will get us back because they have more resources, more manpower and people. We’re looking forward right now and not trying to play defense. I feel like we can win a race. I feel like our options to win aren’t as plentiful, but we have some good tracks coming up that we can win a race. I don’t think it’s stealing a race at this point.”
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Nothing was going to prevent Kurt Bohnsack from missing the 2025 season-opener at Hawkeye Downs Speedway.
The driver from nearby Ely, Iowa has more than 25 years of Hawkeye Downs experience, but he had taken a sabbatical from racing over the past couple years. A project manager for Communications Engineering Company by day, Bohnsack on the afternoon of April 27 once again shed his work boots for a blue fire suit so he could join the show that would begin his home track’s 100th anniversary season.
The Hawkeye Downs crowd that day was treated to a vintage Bohnsack performance. Protected from the sun by the facility’s covered grandstands, patrons watched the semi-retired racer dominate the 15-lap Hornets feature in a white, two-door sedan. His car would pass for a daily driver on the interstate if not for its No. 4 decal, red racing stripes and Sunline logos.
Bohnsack followed the routine, parking in front of the center stage that houses Hawkeye Downs’ frontstretch Victory Lane. But this moment was out of the ordinary for at least one of the seven drivers who opened the track’s centennial year as a winner.
“I always try to win the very first race of the year,” Bohnsack said. “I’ve done it multiple times throughout my career, and it makes feel good if I continue to do that. For the 100th anniversary, I wanted to come out and make sure my name was in the record books.”
Bohnsack’s saga is just one of many associated with a rich track history that dates back to 1925.
Kurt Bohnsack, a recognizable name amongst the Hawkeye Downs Speedway faithful, came out of retirement to help the track celebrate its 100th anniversary. (Photo: Alex Scott/NASCAR Regional)
Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids, Iowa originated as a horse-racing venue called Frontier Park. Changes arrived not long after the facility opened to the public as a different kind of horsepower became prominent. The modern title of Hawkeye Downs came about in 1937 from a statewide contest to rename the track, with the final options of Hawkeye Park and Cedar Downs being merged.
Hawkeye Downs served as a hub for dirt-track racing in Iowa until the end of the 1988 season, when operators paved the facility’s half-mile and quarter-mile ovals. Stock-car competitors flocked to Iowa’s only asphalt short track during the 1990s for opportunities to write their own history.
Among them was Dale Earnhardt, the eventual seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion who prevailed in a 10-lap ICMA invitational event at Hawkeye Downs in 1991. The track also served as a stop for prospects like Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Johnny Sauter and many more.
Plenty of local drivers also carved out successful resumes at Hawkeye Downs. They include Bohnsack and Brian Gibson, the latter of whom now serves as the track promoter. After turning his first laps around Hawkeye Downs in 1991, Gibson over the ensuing 30 years competed in nearly every weekly division before assuming his current role ahead of the 2022 season.
Gibson at his appointment knew the facility needed revitalized. He strived to correspond with the Hawkeye Downs board of directors on how to encourage sustainability, an initiative that would require diligence from all parties. He was optimistic.
“The goal was to continue the tradition,” Gibson said. “We knew we were closing in on 100 years, so that was a milestone everybody wanted to get to. Like every place else, there have been good times and bad times. [Hawkeye Downs] was kind of in a down time [when I took over], so the goal was to slowly try to rebuild it and bring it back.”
Gibson’s plans featured integrity as the theme. He set out to create an environment where competitors would trust both officials and management, which in turn would lead to steady car counts.
From Bohnsack’s perspective, Gibson’s leadership is effective. Clear communication is a focal point of driver meetings. Bohnsack says he always understands the rules, and he knows he’ll have the respect of others each time he competes.
“I’ve raced on a lot of dirt tracks,” Bohnsack said. “I can load the car up [on Sunday], come back on Friday, race it again and do nothing to it. I love racing asphalt, and there are a lot of clean drivers out here [at Hawkeye Downs]. The facility is awesome, and Brian Gibson is doing an awesome job running this track.”
A key component of Hawkeye Downs Speedway’s philosophy is building a friendly, welcoming atmosphere for competitors and fans. (Photo: Alex Scott/NASCAR Regional)
Gibson’s culture is garnering appreciation from Hawkeye Downs’ younger drivers, too. The 2022 late model champion, Kody King enjoys the welcoming atmosphere. With another championship being one of his goals for 2025, King looks forward to spending more weekends at his home track.
“I love the people, and love the facility,” King said. “Brian Gibson is a super great dude. Everything here is great, and the fans are great. It’s true that we have a little bit of a smaller car count, but we’re working on trying to get that up as much as we can, and we’d love to have everyone come join us if they could.”
A key tweak to Hawkeye Downs’ schedule for 2025 is the return of the prestigious Miller 100, which hasn’t appeared on the calendar since 2012. Gibson considers the Miller 100’s revival a major step forward since it’s known as the track’s marquee event.
To further commemorate Hawkeye Downs’ 100th anniversary, Gibson will welcome back dirt-track competitors. Dirt will be placed on Hawkeye Downs’ quarter-mile oval in October for what Gibson sees as a one-time race that pays tribute to decades of dirt competition.
Gibson believes these events can help trigger a snowball effect that leads to an increase in attendance and driver participation. He said many factors are already working in the track’s favor, but more can always be done to promote growth and sustainability.
“We still need to get our car count up, but that’s a nationwide [issue],” Gibson said. “I think we’re putting on a good program, and we just have to continue to work hard. NASCAR has been a great partner that has helped us in marketing and facility improvements. We’re going to keep digging, make the program better for the fans and keep things going.”
King said Hawkeye Downs’ status as Iowa’s lone paved short track can be a disadvantage. With no other facilities within a reasonable driving distance, competitors aren’t as incentivized to start their own race programs. He hopes more in the vicinity will open in the coming years.
Until then, King continues to trust Gibson and track owner Roger Cassill, the father of former NASCAR driver Landon Cassill, to steer Hawkeye Downs in the right direction. Having seen many other facilities close, King stressed the importance of recognizing Hawkeye Downs’ impact.
“This is a piece of racing history,” King said. “Greenville-Pickens [Speedway] is an amazing, historic track, but it’s no longer racing. It’s an honor to be a part of [Hawkeye Downs] while it is still here, and hopefully it’s going to be here for years to come.
“You never know in today’s world, but it’s an honor to be here in this moment.”
Hawkeye Downs Speedway’s track management is committed to ensuring the historic facility thrives in the 2020s and beyond. (Photo: Alex Scott/NASCAR Regional)
Gibson understands his challenges, but he doesn’t let circumstances deter his goals. He’s focused on what he considers imperative components: elevating purses to offset costs for competitors and maintaining an active fan base.
The one constant through Hawkeye Downs’ decades of change is the familial vibe. Nearly every member of Gibson’s immediate family has been involved with the track in some capacity. He finds comfort seeing so many peers from his early days at the track also pass down their passion.
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve tabbed [Hawkeye Downs] as the generational track,” Gibson said. “We have a lot of second- and third-generation racers out here. This is something families can do together and make those memories in times when a lot of families go their separate ways. Hawkeye Downs is a family-oriented track.
“The relationships I’ve built from being out here are priceless.”
(Photo: Alex Scott/NASCAR)
Bohnsack remembers how his late father Bryce’s love for racing brought the family to Hawkeye Downs. The younger Bohnsack went on to become one of the track’s most recognizable names; his desire to learn how to navigate the tricky oval resulted in multiple victories and championships.
Now the year-long celebration of Hawkeye Downs’ 100th anniversary has Bohnsack in pursuit of another title. His commitment to excelling on the track remains unwavering, just like the spirt of the historic complex.
“I started here in 1996 in the Hobby Stock class,” Bohnsack said. “It was me and my dad all the time, but now it’s just me and my family. When my dad passed away, we went to the four-cylinder class, which was something I could afford by myself. It’s hard to win championships, been there and done it, but [another one] would be phenomenal.”
In a century of existence, Hawkeye Downs has witnessed economic downturns, global conflicts and pandemics, yet it has withstood every obstacle.
With dedicated leadership to go along with a loyal group of drivers and fans, Hawkeye Downs looks to add to its cherished history over the next 100 years.
NASCAR levied L1-level penalties to two Xfinity Series teams after parts modifications were discovered in pre-race inspection last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.
The No. 87 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet and No. 99 Viking Motorsports Chevrolet were both found to be in violation of Sections 14.4.A: Body; 14.4.11.C&D in the NASCAR Rule Book, having to do with rear bumper covers.
As a result, the teams were each fined $25,000 and assessed with the loss of 20 driver and owner points and five playoff points.
Austin Green did not qualify for the main event at Talladega in the No. 87, while Matt DiBenedetto finished the race a season-best fifth in the No. 99. DiBenedetto remains 24th in the standings, while Green goes from 48th place to last.
The Xfinity Series is back in action on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Joey Logano arrived at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Tuesday afternoon to discuss and promote next month’s NASCAR All-Star Race, which he won for the second time last year.
An All-Star from another part of the professional sports world, though, had caught his attention just a few hours earlier.
Logano learned Tuesday morning that former Atlanta Braves power hitter Chipper Jones had weighed in on last Sunday’s Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, using social media to aggressively denounce the three-time NASCAR champion’s actions during the Jack Link’s 500. Jones was critical of Logano’s team radio transmissions, where he tore into teammate and eventual race winner Austin Cindric for going against the strategy plans at the end of Stage 2, costing the team a stage victory and points. “Good teammates are hard to come by,” Jones said, among other pointed critiques.
Logano became aware of those comments during a Tuesday morning appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, looking them up after host Pete Pistone had filled him in. Later that day, from North Wilkesboro, Logano said, “I have no clue” what prompted the backlash, saying he’d never met the former big-leaguer, who attended the 2018 Daytona 500 as an honorary race official and was born in DeLand, Florida – about a half-hour’s drive from Daytona International Speedway.
“I found out he really doesn’t like me,” Logano said from the track’s Turn 4 hospitality area. “So I’m surprised that a professional athlete would act in that manner, because he’s been through it, right? Like, I say it all the time. I am very careful to form an opinion on an athlete by their emotions or the way they play the game, because I know from being in that position, when there’s that much on the line in a competitive environment, you act a certain way, because you’re out there to win, right? And then you’ve got to be able to shut that off. I would have assumed him being the athlete that he is and was that he would understand that and not mouth off on social media like somebody that’s never played the sport before or a sport.
“It’s surprising to me. All I can think is he’s just trying to be relevant still or something like that. I don’t really know exactly why. Like I said, I’ve never met him. I don’t have a reason to dislike him outside of now, but oh well. Guess I’m not rooting for the Braves anytime soon. I don’t know what to tell you.”
The disagreement among the Team Penske teammates stemmed from their tactics in the last lap of Stage 2 at Talladega. Cindric’s No. 2 Ford led the outside line with Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry pushing him in the affiliated No. 21 Mustang. When Logano shifted his No. 22 Ford up a lane, in an effort to stall the momentum of race leader Bubba Wallace and form an all-Ford line to charge to the green-checkered flag, Cindric moved a lane higher. His decision not to push Logano disrupted their formation, and Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota cruised to the stage victory.
Logano told SiriusXM that, in retrospect, he probably shouldn’t have keyed his microphone to air out fiery remarks that became public knowledge in an instant. But the 34-year-old veteran said his view of the Stage 2 moves hadn’t wavered, even after talking it through with his teammate.
“My perspective is the same, hasn’t changed a bit,” Logano said. “I don’t think TV captured exactly what upset me, and I’m not here to air dirty laundry either or to talk about what our internal rules of going at it on superspeedways are. At this point, you know, there’s sometimes a straw that breaks the camel’s back. May have been at that moment. We’re out there in the heat of battle, and when something that was set to be a certain way doesn’t go the way that we all agreed to, and maybe not the first time, then yeah, you’re going to get a little frustrated about it.
“At this point, we talked, we communicated. We’re still teammates, right? You’re brothers, right? You’re going to sometimes not see eye to eye. Everyone wants to stick up for their side, obviously, but we just have to come to some kind of common ground and move forward, because no matter what, he’s still my brother, right? He’s still my teammate out there. We’ve still got to figure it out, and we will, and we did, right? We went through it all, we talked about it, and, yeah, you move on. So there’s a lot of lessons learned, and we move on.”
Logano drove on to take the checkered flag in fifth place behind Cindric, but his hardships mounted in the hours after Sunday’s event. The No. 22 Ford was disqualified after post-race inspection, where competition officials said they found an infraction in the rear-spoiler braces, which were not securely fastened. Team Penske officials did not appeal the penalty, saying that one of the 18 bolts on the spoiler’s surface had unintentionally come loose where it connects to the base.
The result would have been Logano’s first top-five finish of the season. Instead, what would have been a productive 41-point Talladega tally was relegated to a one-point day in last place in the 39-car field.
Logano was reminded that a playoff-clinching victory in the coming weeks could go a long way toward softening the damage done by Sunday’s disqualification. He said, though, that the penalty still stings on multiple levels.
“There’s a lot of bad things that come along with the penalty,” Logano said. “And, you know, Team Penske, we’re not the people that, like, blatantly are going to go out there and cheat. It’s not who we are. It was a mistake that essentially, the nut came off the bolt back there on the brace, and the bowl was still in there, but it does — and I said on the radio show this morning — it does cause a little deflection, I’m sure, in the spoiler. Does it give you a competitive advantage? I’m sure it does a little bit. Did it change where we finished in the race? No, because everyone was locked down two-wide, so it doesn’t make a difference, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s not by the rules, so you’ve got to accept the penalty. And the penalty, I mean, it hurts. There’s no doubt.”
Among the implications: Logano was up one position to eighth place in the Cup Series standings based on his initial finishing spot. After the DQ and the 40-point swing, he dipped two places to 11th.
“Not to mention the financial impact as well, from finishing fifth to last,” he said. “So there’s a pretty big impact there, and then the image of it’s not good, either, so you’ve got to navigate that, too. So it’s not ideal, by no means. But, you know, I kind of had the analogy earlier on the show is that it’s the same thing as if you were to wreck someone and you say you’re sorry, it’s like it makes it a little bit better, but it doesn’t change the result, right? Same thing here. We made a mistake, the nut came off, we’re sorry, we didn’t mean to, but it doesn’t change the result. We still have to own up to what happened there, so all we can do now is just understand the process of how it happened and create a new process to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and then we just move forward. That’s all we can do.”
Rick Martin never had grand ambitions when it came to racing. After watching his dad compete for 21 years, the sport was just something he wanted to try.
“Me and one of my friends bought a $50 car and went out there,” Martin said. “The other cars went by us so fast, I thought to myself, ‘I ain’t never gonna go that fast, I’m going to just quit now.’
“But I just kept at it, kept at it, and I guess it was the challenge that I enjoyed.”
Martin has kept at it for 50 years and amassed one of the most impressive resumes of any driver in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.
In his 50th season last year, he won his eighth championship at Massachusetts’ Seekonk Speedway.
Martin won four races in the track’s Chaz’s Auto Body Sports Truck division last season. Unlike other local short tracks, Seekonk’s championships are awarded much like the NASCAR Cup Series. The top four in points on championship night race against one another, and the highest finisher of those four takes home the title.
“I’ve never had not one problem with the truck,” he said. “Nothing. Just sometimes things just go as planned, sometimes they don’t.
“There’s a lot of stress. You can do great, but just one little thing — you got a flat tire running over a nail or something — and it’s all over. It’s a lot of pressure running for points at the end. It was running good. I felt good about it. I looked at it like it wasn’t going to change my life any if I won or I didn’t win it. There was so many sponsors and stuff that were behind me that I like to do it for them and the crew. The only payback I really get to give to the crew is when we win it.”
In addition to his championship, just before the final race of the season, Martin was inducted into the Seekonk Wall of Fame.
In November, he was inducted into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame. The Hall said of Martin: “Over a 40-year plus career Martin has raced across New England in all sorts of different cars, but he stands out as one of the greatest ever to race at Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway… Martin also was known as one of the best fabricators in New England.”
In addition to his three Truck division championships, Martin also has four track titles in Seekonk’s Pro Stock division.
“It was me and Paul Newman got inducted in,” Martin said of the Hall of Fame. ‘So just to be in the same sentence with him. … In between that week, we went and raced up in Connecticut, and we won the race up there, so it was like a banner month, really.”
Racing hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Martin over the last five decades. He’s seen the sport change so much. He’s been through slumps. He’s changed cars, teams and crews several times. He’s seen all the highs and lows of motorsports.
“There’s just so much work these days,” he said. “Years ago, you got a junkyard car. When you bought it, every gas station you looked in there was an old race car in there. You painted numbers and put a roll cage in it, you had a race car. Now there’s a lot involved. A lot of work, a lot of hours, and a lot of money.”
He’s considered retiring more than once, including in 1990, when he blew the motor on his car and said, “I was done with it.”
Before he could give up, a new team asked Martin to drive its car.
“I ended up jumping in their car and we won the next week,” Martin said. “And then I ended up driving their car for a year. We won the championship the next year in ’92, and then that went on for a while.”
Ten years later came another small slump. In the time since, Martin’s changed teams again several times.
“I’ve done this my whole life as this is my job. If I went out and made a thousand dollars, that was my pay for the week. It was getting too expensive.”
Now Martin is with Ed Silva and Silva Motorsport, with Brightman Lumber as a sponsor, who have been with him for his last three championships.
While Martin has always wanted to race in quality equipment that gave him a chance to win, he’s never raced for himself. The victories and championships are always shared with the people who helped him get there.
“It’s a good time. I enjoyed more seeing him,” Martin said. “Ed’s been to the races his whole life, and he never thought about being an owner, never mind having me drive for him, and this is like the best part of his life right now.
“I do it for the people that help me like that. I mean, one more win to me… ain’t gonna change my life, but to these guys seeing them, I don’t pay nobody to work on a car, so that’s what they get out of it, they wanna help and they enjoy it.”
Given all the accolades he received last year, it’s only natural for Martin to think back on all he’s accomplished as a race car driver. He’s starting to give himself time to look back over the last 50 years.
“Over the years, it’s like I’d win a race, and I’d be back in the garage Sunday waiting for the next race and just never even had time to celebrate a win or think about it,” he said. “I always said, someday I’ll retire and I’ll sit on the rocking chair and I’ll go over everything.
“Lately, it’s been people coming along, saying, ‘Oh, you remember this race? I remember watching you when I was a kid,’ and this and that. To me, talking about it now, that’s all the payback. The people that come up and say, ‘Oh, I’ve been cheering for you. Now, I’m here with my son cheering for you.'”
Fifty years of racing wasn’t enough for Martin. He and his team have already built the truck he’ll race at Seekonk this season. They put in new motors and new bodies, plus fresh lettering.
Seekonk will begin racing on May 4. To Martin, Year 51 can’t come soon enough.
“We just go to have fun,” Martin said. “I mean, we’ll go there, we set up. We’ve got our tables, our tent, and our chairs, and we eat better than they do at most restaurants at the track. We’re always bringing something, lobster rolls or something. We just make a good time, and I enjoy it.
“I’d just like to thank everybody along the way that’s kept me going, cause can’t nobody do this by themselves. I’ve got a great team that works on the truck. They’re there every week with me.”
Ross Chastain’s 20th-place finish Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway — in addition to his NASCAR Insights metric rankings from the race — weren’t illustrious. However, one strategy the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing driver played during Sunday certainly proved to be monumental in how the race finished.
How so? Well, let’s dig into it … and see how the NASCAR Insights data helps paint the picture.
During the final stage of the Jack Link’s 500, a Toyota cavalcade — including Denny Hamlin, Riley Herbst, Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace — utilized the outside lane during green-flag stops. With dominant speed as the laps waned, it looked as if the Toyota train would speed away, leaving everyone else in the metaphorical (and perhaps literal) dust.
Not if one driver had anything to say about it. Chastain, ahead of the Toyota group but with much slower speed, maneuvered his No. 1 Chevy in front of the Toyota group, led by Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing machine. As a result, Hamlin — in addition to the Toyotas behind him — checked up, eliminating the speed advantage.
Unfortunately for Hamlin and the bulk of the Toyotas, the speed could not be revived, with Austin Cindric’s No. 2 Ford eventually taking the Talladega victory. In fact, only one Toyota finished the race inside the top 10 (Wallace, eighth). Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe were the next best finishers at 14th and 15th, respectively. Among other Toyota finishes included Ty Gibbs (17th), Jones (18th), Hamlin (21st), and Herbst (22nd).
The block didn’t result in a marquee result for Chastain, and the No. 1’s NASCAR Insights data didn’t pop off the page, either; Chastain finished the race ranked 21st in Passer Rating, 20th in Defense Rating and 15th in Restart Rating.
But that blocking maneuver did hold off the Toyotas, and if NASCAR Insights’ data is any indicator, such a move might’ve been the X factor that prevented the manufacturer from finding Victory Lane. The key metric is the Restart Rating. Four of six drivers with the best Restart Rating were Toyotas: Reddick (first), Herbst (second), Gibbs (fourth) and Hamlin (sixth).
Toyota’s bread and butter came on the restarts at Talladega, and if not for Chastain’s block, the manufacturer very well could’ve capitalized on this strength as the race reached its conclusion.
Other notables from Sunday:
— Despite having a 24th-ranked Passer Rating, Kyle Larson finished runner-up, thanks in part to a fourth-ranked Defense Rating and seventh-ranked Restart Rating.
— William Byron, Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, finished third, despite possessing Passer, Defense and Restart ratings all 12th or worse.
— Noah Gragson collected his first top five of the season (fourth) despite having the 11th-worst Restart Rating.
— Hocevar finished sixth; his 22nd-ranked Restart Rating was his highest-ranked rating of the day.
Austin Cindric emerged victorious at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, becoming the first Team Penske driver to claim a win in 2025 — and, notably, before his championship-winning teammates.
NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 Cup Series contenders after the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway and before the Würth 400 presented by Liqui Moly at Texas Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Analysis: Even without the win, Talladega was a banner day for Larson, who became the all-time leader in stage wins by claiming the first segment on his way to a race-high 54 points. Now, through his supposed “weak” track, look for him to continue a path of dominance that carries into the summer and very likely sees him compete for the win this weekend.
Analysis: It’s hard to recall a recent drafting-track race that Byron hasn’t been a major contender, and that was once again the case at Talladega, where he led in his eighth race of the year and finished third. He’s become a force at Texas as well, with a fall 2023 win coming amid a four-race stretch there with a 3.25 average finish.
Analysis: Hamlin’s streak of first- or second-place finishes ended at three, being held out of the top 20 at Talladega — the second time that’s happened in the season’s first three drafting-track races for the driver who typically thrives on them. A rebound is likely in short order, though, as the two-time spring Texas winner should be right back in the mix Sunday.
Analysis: Elliott’s lack of recent wins compared to his teammates doesn’t go unnoticed, but neither should his consistency — which may be the best among them. No. 9 is the only one among the four to finish in the top 20 in every race this season, a streak that isn’t likely to end on Sunday for the defending Texas winner.
Analysis: Reddick’s season has been a bit of an odd one thus far — on the one hand, he has just four top 10s after securing 21 last year, but on the other … his 12.6 average finish is on pace to be a career-best. With an average finish of 9.3 in six Texas starts and 36-plus laps led in each of the last three, there’s a good chance he whittles it down further, too.
Analysis: Just as Bell was starting to get back in the swing of things, he wrecks from the front of the field at Talladega through no fault of his own. Three top fives in the last five Texas races — albeit with just six laps led in that span — inspire confidence he gets right back to it Sunday, though.
Analysis: The consistency week-to-week is still something that could be improved upon, but it’s clear Wallace is a significant player this season and just turned in his highest points showing of the year, collecting 45 tallies and a Stage 2 win at Talladega. Texas typically would be a challenging weekend for him, but something has turned around there lately and he has been quite good — and nearly almost won — in the past two trips.
Analysis: It seems like every week, Lady Luck is determined to find a new way to mess with the No. 12 team, and Talladega was no exception. Texas has been a track of highs and lows for Blaney, with nothing to write home about there for him since 2022, so it’s tough to get a gauge on how he’ll be this weekend. More than likely he’ll have some speed, however.
Analysis: While Bowman’s 30 points were 15 fewer than Wallace, one spot lower on the results sheet, scoring a P7 on a superspeedway always brings a sigh of relief. He’ll want to enjoy that one, because it could be a tough weekend ahead — No. 48 has just a pair of top-10 finishes at Texas in 15 starts.
Analysis: At Talladega, Chastain snapped a four-race stretch where he didn’t find the front of the field, but he’s still led in just three races this year — two superspeedways and a 1.5-mile intermediate. Luckily for him, we’re coming off one of those and heading to another, and in the two most recent Texas races, he has a runner-up (2023) and led 33 laps (2024), respectively.
Analysis: Those three big trophies sure help, but it’s otherwise not tremendously enjoyable to be part of the No. 22 camp right now after finally seeing an actual, good 2025 finish squandered after a DQ. That leaves the defending champ outside the top 10 in points as we turn the corner to May and head to a track where he has just one top 10 since 2020.
Analysis: Stripping out a nine-point clunker at Darlington, Briscoe has otherwise averaged a solid 30.4 points since wrecking out at Phoenix in the fourth race of the year. He could be a sneaky threat to win this weekend as well — while he’s never led at Texas, he does have a 9.0 average finish there and three straight top 10s.
Analysis: Cindric has sneakily been a dark horse title contender all season, and it was only a matter of time before he broke through for win No. 1 of 2025; it’s only a coincidence that it happened to come at a superspeedway. He’s going to battle for more wins this season, too, though it may not come at Texas — he’s never finished better than 15th there with a 22.3 average.
Analysis: Buescher has run consistently well this season, but bad luck continues to bite him, and thus he’s on pace for his worst average finish since netting just 10 top 10s in 2022. The Texan is always in focus when we visit his home track, but it’s yet to be kind to him — he’s never finished better than 14th in 15 starts.
Analysis: Another race, another day of seeing Allmendinger in contention. While the end result wasn’t there (24th), No. 16 did score points in each stage to bolster his day overall as he continues to make some noise. He has a pair of top 10s at Texas as well, but they came a decade-and-a-half ago.
Analysis: While he couldn’t add another Talladega win, or lead a lap, or even collect a top 10, Sunday was still a great day for Stenhouse, whose 33 points matched that of fourth-place finisher Noah Gragson. On first blush, any momentum could come to a screeching halt at Texas, where Stenhouse has just one top 10 in 20 starts — but it came in 2023.
Analysis: Busch wasn’t able to claim another spring Talladega victory and end his lengthy drought, but it wasn’t for lack of trying after a furious rally put him back in position following an early spin. While he’s had some recent misses there, Texas has been a bountiful track for him over the years and it wouldn’t be the biggest shock if this is finally the weekend, though rough races at Vegas and Homestead this season don’t offer much promise.
Analysis: Hocevar is going to be a major player on superspeedways in his career, and it easily could’ve been him capitalizing on Sunday (and he did, to a degree, capturing 38 points). We already know he has the chops to pull off a cowboy hat and he might just ride the ‘dente right into Victory Lane at Texas, too.
Analysis: Preece appeared to have clinched his best finish of an already resurgent season before being relegated to his worst (38th) after a DQ. That leaves him with three straight finishes of 20th or worse, heading to a track where he’s never finished in the top 10 and averages a 26.3 result.
Analysis: The only reason Berry hangs onto this ranking is because he’s won and we’re heading to a similar track to where he won — otherwise, it’s been tough sledding for No. 21 over the past month and a half since the Vegas victory. The sophomore has just one Cup start at Texas, coming last year and ending with a crash that resulted in a P36.
TALLADEGA, Ala. — NASCAR officials disqualified cars driven by apparent top-five finishers Ryan Preece and Joey Logano from Sunday’s Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway after finding technical violations in both cars’ rear spoilers in post-race inspection.
Preece’s No. 60 RFK Racing Ford took the checkered flag in what was initially a career-best second place, half a car-length behind race winner Austin Cindric’s No. 2 Team Penske Mustang in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500. Officials, however, discovered unapproved shims in the rear spoiler area.
Logano had driven the No. 22 Ford to an apparent fifth-place finish, a result that would have been his first top-five result of the season. Officials, however, found the No. 22 to be in violation of Section 14.5.8.E, which covers spoiler braces that are used as superspeedway events, and Section 14.1.P under General Vehicle Assembly, which states, “All fasteners must be securely fastened at all times during an Event.”
“The No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang was disqualified following post-race inspection at Talladega today,” Team Penske released in a statement. “One of the 18 bolts on the surface of the spoiler that connect to the base was found to be loose, and NASCAR penalized the team as a result. This was not intentional and happened throughout the course of the race event. Team Penske accepts the disqualification.”
On Monday, RFK Racing announced on social media that it also accepts the penalty and will not file an appeal.
“RFK Racing acknowledges and accepts NASCAR’s decision to disqualify the No. 60 Ford Mustang following post-race inspection at Talladega and will not appeal the ruling,” the team’s statement said. “The infraction stemmed from an unintentional adjustment during pre-race inspection to correct a spoiler angle issue. While the change did not provide a competitive advantage, it did not meet the approved compliance method. We respect the ruling and remain committed to integrity and adherence to NASCAR’s standards.”
Preece was relegated to 38th in the 39-car field, with Logano placed last in the official results. Both drivers also earned just one point in the championship standings, with the disqualification erasing what would have been a 40-point day for Preece and 41 points for Logano.
The outcome rounded out a dismal day for RFK Racing, which suffered early retirements by Chris Buescher (34th place) and owner/driver Brad Keselowski (36th) because of Stage 1 crashes. Logano joined teammate Ryan Blaney, who was 37th after being caught up in the Keselowski crack-up, near the bottom of the order.
NASCAR officials also indicated that four cars would return to its Research & Development Center for further inspection. The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (driver Kyle Larson) and No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford (Josh Berry) will have a full inspection and engine dyno tests. The No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet (Ty Dillon) and No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota (Bubba Wallace) will also be observed on the engine dyno.
