Multiple teams suffered tire issues in NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday afternoon as Ty Gibbs — one of the drivers affected — topped the speed chart at Kansas Speedway.
Five teams slowed with flat rear tires during the session, which was divided into two groups with 25 minutes of track time each. The practice marked the first on-track time for the Cup Series ahead of Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), and Gibbs’ No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led the way with a best lap of 180.144 mph — the only car to break the 30-second barrier in practice at 29.976 seconds.
The other four teams that were hampered by flats were:
No. 6 RFK Racing Ford for driver/owner Brad Keselowski
No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for driver Chase Briscoe
No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford for Zane Smith
No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet for Shane van Gisbergen
Four teams had trouble with their left-rear tires; only Smith’s FRM team had a right-rear tire issue, and his No. 38 was the only car to make contact with the wall because of it.
“I was going through (Turns) 3 and 4, and it felt a little soft,” said Keselowski, “and thankfully it did give me a warning, so I didn’t spin out and crash. But we’re just all pushing the cars to the limit. I didn’t think we were going to be that close, but we’ll work on it and get it better for Sunday.”
Goodyear officials indicated earlier this week that teams are running a different left-side tire this weekend, changing up the compound to promote wear and more fall-off in lap times. While new to Kansas, the same tire combination was also used at similarly sized tracks like Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Darlington Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway earlier this season.
“Everybody is getting as aggressive as they can be with those rear air pressures, trying to get that back end down,” Goodyear product manager Rick Heinrich said after practice. “Speeds are up a bit, which is going to increase loads. That bump over the tunnel is also pretty aggressive. In a situation like this, where you start out with air pressure that low, the damage is done immediately, and they’re going out on the apron, they’re getting up and hitting that bump. When you cross that line on air pressure, the damage is going to happen pretty quick.”
Behind Gibbs on the practice leaderboard was Michael McDowell, second-fastest at 179.456 mph in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace and William Byron completed the top five.
Kyle Larson, the defending race winner, scrubbed the outside retaining wall through Turns 3 and 4 nearly midway through the second practice group. His No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet sustained a minor right-side scrape, and he drove back to pit road.
Larson was ninth on the speed chart but topped the category in 10 consecutive lap averages. He backed up that speed in pole qualifying, taking the No. 1 starting spot.
See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series driver will pit for the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
See where your favorite NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver will pit for the Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The NASCAR Cup Series and Truck Series are both in action this weekend at Kansas Speedway. Bookmark this page and come back often for your race-week essentials — from links to qualifying order, average practice speeds, results and more.
NASCAR Cup Series
Race day: Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.
Tires: 10 sets for the event, including one set for practice and one set for qualifying. The qualifying set transfers into the race, making it nine sets for the 400-miler.
The Nos. 88, 98 and 99 ThorSport Racing Fords and the No. 26 Rackley W.A.R. Chevrolet all failed pre-race NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series technical inspection twice at Kansas Speedway before passing on their third attempts.
As a result, the truck chiefs of all four vehicles were ejected ahead of Saturday’s Heart of Health Care 200 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The teams will also lose pit selection for the series’ next event at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Below are the truck chiefs associated with their respective vehicles:
Tucker Scanlon, No. 26 Rackley W.A.R. Chevrolet
Tyler Kontos, No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford
Brad Means, No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford
Derek Rohlfing, No. 99 ThorSport Racing Ford
Ben Rhodes, driver of the No. 99 truck, and Matt Crafton, driver of the No. 88, both scored top-10 finishes one week ago at Texas Motor Speedway, finishing sixth and seventh respectively. Rackley W.A.R.’s Dawson Sutton finished ninth at Texas for his first top 10 of the 2025 campaign. Defending Truck Series champion Ty Majeski, who pilots the No. 98 Ford, also brought home a 10th-place finish for ThorSport at Texas.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR and JDV Productions announced today the Cheshire County Clash NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Monadnock Speedway has been rescheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, July 20.
The race was originally scheduled for May 3, but was postponed due to inclement weather.
Fans will now have the opportunity to watch a unique weekend double-header with the Whelen Modified Tour at Monadnock Speedway. Saturday, July 19, will feature the Duel at the Dog 200 presented by USNE Power before the teams return for Sunday’s event.
Each race will operate as a separate event day, including practice, qualifying and full points and payout awarded for the two races.
“We appreciate the collaboration with JDV Productions and Monadnock Speedway in finding a makeup date that will ensure we can put on a successful and entertaining race for our fans,” said Jimmy Wilson, Senior Director, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. “While we can’t control the weather and it’s always disappointing to postpone a race, we are looking forward to a great weekend of racing at Monadnock in July.”
For updated event information as available, including the start time for the Cheshire County Clash and ticket information, fans may go to nascar.com/regional.
NORFOLK, VA. (May 8, 2025) — As a high-octane prelude to the nation’s most patriotic Memorial Day weekend celebration, Austin Dillon, Coca-Cola Racing Family driver and the winner of the 2017 Coca-Cola 600, continued Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Mission 600 tour with sailors at Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval station, on Wednesday.
Dillon, alongside Richard Childress Racing pit crew coach Ray Wright, tested his prowess in the Navy’s state-of-the-art simulators, toured the expansive USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) and donned firefighting gear in a simulated emergency response exercise. After eating lunch with sailors aboard the USS Cole (DDG 67) — which was bombed in a 2000 terrorist attack in Yemen — the group capped the day by visiting the station’s USS Cole Memorial. The memorial honors the 17 fallen sailors who were lost to that attack 25 years ago. The USS Cole has since been repaired and returned to service, recently returning from its latest combat deployment.
“The Navy has taken really great care of us since we’ve been here, showing us around, showing us the history of these ships,” Dillon said. “The USS Cole had some amazing history. I’m always grateful to meet these men and women that serve our country, who allow us the freedoms to go race on the weekend. These young people have a lot of pride; they know what they’re doing and do it at a high level of performance.”
Wright said hearing from a range of different personnel on the ship helped draw similarities between NASCAR pit crews and the units that serve the Navy.
“There’s a lot of correlation between this and pit stops,” he said. “Everybody pitches in to give Austin a victory. It reminds me of everything you see on these ships. You got bodies moving back and forth, going here and there, and everybody’s got a job and everybody’s got a task. We’ve always been big supporters of the U.S. military, and seeing behind the scenes what it’s all about, the muscle that we have in our Navy and the pride and the tradition, how they revere their history and they keep it going every day. It’s just been an honor to see it firsthand and something I will remember forever.”
The sailors also enjoyed the opportunity to showcase their mission capabilities and give Dillon and Wright a bit more insight into the day-to-day life in the Navy.
“It’s always great to have somebody of that high caliber and importance to come and see everybody — especially a NASCAR driver,” Machinist’s Mate 3rd Class Cameron Dehart said aboard the USS Kearsarge. “I’ve been a huge NASCAR fan my whole life, so meeting him and seeing him come on board the ship and making those connections is very important. I grew up kind of a Kyle Busch fan — which is his teammate — but I’ve got to start cheering for the No. 3 (Dillon) now, for sure.”
“I really thought that I would be in the 14 car my entire career.”
In 2021, Chase Briscoe got to realize a dream of piloting the No. 14 Ford for the organization co-owned by his favorite driver growing up, Tony Stewart. Episode 2 of Netflix’s “NASCAR: Full Speed,” which premiered on the streaming platform May 7, dives into the closing of Stewart-Haas Racing in 2024 and Briscoe having to carry the banner for the team in the playoffs.
The five-part docuseries details Briscoe’s up-and-down 2024 campaign, highlighted by a thrilling victory in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, the regular-season finale last year, to make the 16-driver postseason. Netflix also goes behind the scenes with the Briscoe family as Chase’s wife Marissa prepares to give birth to twins.
Marissa opened up about the emotions that come with her husband’s career, knowing the nine-month grind of a NASCAR season.
“I wouldn’t say I resent him or his job or get angry about it because in a way, I almost signed up for this,” Marissa said. “But there are moments when I get angry and I break down like ‘why can’t you be there? Why can’t you be here? Why can’t we do this together?’ But nobody else lives this life, but what, 40 other people in the world?”
With Chase’s Cup future unknown following the announcement of SHR’s closure, he reached out to several teams to see what the outlook was. That’s when he received a text from a legendary team owner.
“I get a text message from an unsaved number I didn’t have, it says: ‘Chase, it’s Coach [Joe Gibbs], what are you doing tomorrow morning?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m supposed to go meet with the Wood Brothers — the 21 car.’ Coach calls me and says ‘I’m nervous about you going to this 21 car. You better not screw this up.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Well, if you want to drive the 19 car, it’s all yours. Martin’s [Truex Jr.] not coming back.’
Episodes 2 and 3 look at Briscoe’s 2024 playoff run with elimination races at Bristol Motor Speedway [Round of 16] and the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course [Round of 12] being the featured events. Briscoe scored a top-five result in the daunting Bristol Night Race to earn a berth into the next round of the postseason. However, Charlotte did not serve the No. 14 team good fortune as Briscoe’s day ended early on Lap 41 of the 109-lap affair after being involved in a chain-reaction crash, eliminating him from the Cup playoffs and SHR’s shot at a title before closing its doors.
“Everybody at Stewart-Haas has been like family. That’s all I’ve known for the last seven years,” Briscoe said. “I was crying literally before we rolled off [at the final race of 2024 in Phoenix]. I don’t think it even hit me until I saw all the guys like they were tearing up on pit road too. Just knowing that we don’t get to race together again is sad.”
Even with NASCAR Cup Series drivers in the field, it’s hard to argue against NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Corey Heim as the favorite for Saturday night’s Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
In three previous races on 1.5-mile speedways this season, Heim has two victories — at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 14 and most recently at Texas Motor Speedway on May 2.
Heim is the only multiple winner in the series this season, with three victories. Driving the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota, Heim is aiming for his third consecutive victory at Kansas, having won both races there last year.
At 22 years old, Heim is the youngest driver to reach 14 wins in the series. He’s one victory away from tying 48-year-old three-time series champion Matt Crafton for 10th on the all-time victory list.
But it’s not that Heim will have an easy time on Friday. Challenging his quest for a Kansas trifecta are Cup drivers William Byron and Carson Hocevar, both doing double duty in Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverados.
“I’m excited to get back in a truck this weekend, especially at Kansas,” said Byron, who finished 14th in his only other start this season, at Martinsville. “This is a track where I’ve run well at during my career, but extra laps are always helpful, no matter where it is.
“I appreciate Spire giving me the chance to run a truck again this year and hopefully we can have a good showing for them and HendrickCars.com.”
Coincidentally, Byron picked up his first career Truck Series victory at Kansas in 2016.
Hocevar is one of four drivers in the field who have finished second at Kansas but have never won. The others are two-time champion Ben Rhodes, defending champion Ty Majeski and Layne Riggs.
After every race that NASCAR runs, one competitor retreats to the garage feeling the sting of a runner-up finish — a solid result, sure, but saddled with the painful realization of coming up just one spot short of glory at the end of a hard-fought day.
No one, perhaps, feels that sting more than RFK Racing driver Chris Buescher, whose second-place finish to Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 driver Kyle Larson one year ago at Kansas Speedway slots in as the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history. Buescher crossed the line last spring at the 1.5-mile tri-oval a hair after Larson – 0.001 seconds, to be precise — and did not win the rest of the regular season, failing to make the playoffs after a seventh-place finish in the standings a year prior.
The driver of the No. 17 Ford joined the latest edition of NASCAR Inside the Race hosted by Steve Letarte to break down that close battle to the finish between him and Larson and what he might’ve done differently.
“Obviously, a lot of thought went into that one the week after,” Buescher said. “If we had it to do all over again, we probably would’ve run a little bit higher in (Turns) 1 and 2 and ultimately kept the momentum up there. I think that would’ve been the way to go; we had been really good at running the bottom at Kansas than most, and on that last run to the end, I thought we’d be able to keep the momentum up. Ultimately, it wasn’t the case there.”
Letarte then made the point that there is “no sim for that moment.” Drivers can practice on their respective manufacturer’s simulators in the weeks leading up to a race weekend and dial in the specifics of a race setup, but no amount of simulator time can prepare you for that final run to the finish and what moves to expect from other competitors also doing whatever they can to cross the line first.
“I think we came off of (Turn) 4 there and had his quarter-panel and were going to be able to switch the momentum around,” Buescher said. “When we got door-to-door there, that big hit turned us really sideways. It just killed our momentum there, as much as we thought we were going to be OK. The first (hit) didn’t help, but the second one right here is where it took all of our speed away.
“You know what, it was a good race. It’s a little bit easier to joke about now and certainly wasn’t in the moment, but we basically have a trophy for being the closest loser in NASCAR, so it’s not a good trophy to put up on the shelf.”
Watch the full clip below, and tune in Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1 as Buescher looks to get the real trophy — by finishing one spot higher.
Sure, he wants to one day race in the NASCAR Cup Series, but the Xfinity Series driver has another motivational aspect near and dear to his heart: to advocate to combat suicide and offer consolation to friends and families of suicide victims.
At 21, Dye is one of the youngest full-time drivers in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, but he’s a veteran racer, having started in late models when he was 14 years old.
Around that same time, Daniel and his father, Randy Dye, wanting to use their racing efforts as a platform to also do good and impact people’s lives in a positive fashion, became involved in an advocacy that eventually morphed into the Race to Stop Suicide.
That advocacy is especially important as May is Mental Health Awareness Month.
“Mental health wasn’t talked a lot about in the past, it was just suck it up and there wasn’t a whole lot of good talk about it for a while,” Daniel Dye said. “Now it’s recognized at this level and that it’s a real thing. Mental health is just as important as physical health.”
While Dye talks about suicide to people of all ages, he’s particularly intent on reaching young people who have contemplated suicide, as well as trying to help individuals who’ve lost family members or friends to suicide.
“Nobody really cares much about talking about suicide until it’s too late,” Dye said. “What sparks the conversation is usually only when somebody kills themselves.
“So we’re just trying to get ahead of it, use our platform for good and obviously the NASCAR platform. We try to be as helpful as possible and do as much in our community as we can.
“It’s a good opportunity to be good people, have an open heart, start a conversation and try to spread this like wildfire. We want to get people comfortable to reach out and just be willing to listen to anybody that might need to be listened to.”
Sadly, suicide has hit close to home for Dye. His cousin, Luke Dye, committed suicide in 2022 at the age of 23.
“There was no (warning) sign,” Daniel said. “You hear everybody say that, and it makes it so hard, but you never know. You don’t see it coming and then it’s just like boom. It’s so crazy that it could happen so quick.
“His death was devastating, especially since we had already started Race to Stop Suicide at that point. It was all over our race cars and we were talking about it, all these things, and then one of our own does it. We never saw it coming. It just shows how important it really is because it can be so invisible at times.
“That was the first time that somebody has done it that I’ve been close to. We come across a lot of people in the racing world and have heard a lot of stories about family members and friends of people in racing, fans, who’ve committed suicide. Now our platform has grown more than ever. I’ve been introduced to a lot of people that have a bunch of unique stories.”
According to Dye, NASCAR has been a strong supporter of him and the Race to Stop Suicide initiative.
“NASCAR has embraced it well,” Dye said. “It’s still a hard conversation to have. We’re not vulnerable people, we try and stick our chests out and be as cool as can be, cool, calm and collected, and the whole thing about racing and going as fast as we can.
“But it is being talked about more. I’ve talked to some drivers about situations they’ve been in with family and friends. Every team I’ve ever raced for has been all-in on and really cares about it, which has been super cool. I’ve talked to some officials about it who’ve come to me, as well.”
Daniel Dye dons a “Race to Stop Suicide” scheme in a 2024 Xfinity Series race. (Sean Gardner | Getty Images)
The Race to Stop Suicide initiative has been part of Dye’s racing efforts since his late model days. Every team he’s ever raced for, be it late models, trucks or in the Xfinity Series, has been very supportive of Dye and his father’s advocacy.
Since Dye joined Kaulig Racing, the organization has picked up the mantle from Dye’s previous teams and is a major supporter of Race to Stop Suicide, which is featured prominently on Dye’s No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet.
“(Conversations with family or friends who’ve lost someone to suicide) always seems to start out with ‘thank you’ and then whatever their situation was, my aunt or my stepdad or my father (committed suicide), things like that,” Dye said. “And then the conversation begins, ‘We had no idea. I wish I would have known and done anything to change it,’ things like that.
“Nobody cares until it’s too late, and then once they do care, then they’re all-in, they do everything they can. I recently met a lady whose nephew had committed suicide two years ago and she was talking about him to me. They had bracelets made about her nephew and who he was and to keep you reminded that there are people out there who care about you and how you feel and want to be there if you need something.
“The people who have been impacted by it do seem to care a whole lot and do what they can to start the conversation with people.”
A native of DeLand, Florida, only about 25 miles from Daytona International Speedway, Dye is in his first full season in the Xfinity Series, currently ranked 13th in the standings after the season’s first 12 races.
While he has yet to earn his first win in the Xfinity Series, it has been a good season for him thus far with five top-10 finishes (including a season-best finish of seventh at both Atlanta and Martinsville). Except for a crash on Lap 5 of the season-opening race at Daytona, Dye has completed all but two laps in the 11 subsequent races. His next race is May 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Before this season, he drove full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2023 (finished 18th) and 2024 (finished 10th).
In addition to support from NASCAR, Dye is also thankful for the reception he’s received from fans.
“The fans have been a huge part of it,” he said. “They’ll stop me in the garage or on the way to driver intros or autograph sessions, whatever it may be.
“They’ve all taken it well. Nobody has said you’re doing a bad thing. That always makes you feel good. We’ve had some people reach out to us and say, ‘This actually made a difference in my life personally,’ and that makes you feel good.
“You never want anyone to go through something like that, but it does make you feel good that you’ve maybe changed somebody’s life.”
For more information about the Race to Stop Suicide, click here.There is also a YouTube series of videos: click here to watch.
