Power Rankings: Will 2025’s best driver finally lead his first lap at Bristol?

Posted on April 8, 2025 by Pat DeCola

Denny Hamlin went back-to-back after capturing his fifth career win at Darlington Raceway as William Byron saw a dominant day crumble on pit road. Could we see Round 2 between this week’s top two drivers on Sunday on the high-banked short track?

NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 Cup Series contenders after the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway and before Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Analysis: No. 24 has been the most complete driver across the board in 2025, even as frustrating as Sunday’s ultimate result was for him after a surefire win turned into a sour runner-up. Like much of Darlington, Byron is dominating the field, and he’ll get a bit of a heat check at Bristol, where he’s never won — or even led a lap.

Analysis: It wasn’t the display of dominance that Byron and Co. exhibited, but Denny did at Darlington what he does best — deliver. That’s back-to-back race wins for Hamlin, and the four-time Bristol winner — including last spring — may go for the triple.

Analysis: Sunday’s third-place finisher didn’t earn the drop here; Byron just leap-frogged him. That will likely be a common occurrence between the two this year. Bell was the only driver in the top five to fail to lead a lap, though. Bell’s been banging on the door of a (non-dirt) Bristol win for years, and it feels likely he’ll have a shot this weekend.

Analysis: Larson has the talent and accolades to back up his stature as arguably the greatest driver on the planet, but he could do himself a favor by avoiding the solo spins that seem to plague him. Thankfully for No. 5, it should be a quick hop back on the horse this weekend, as he turned in perhaps the most dominant Bristol showing of all time there last fall, leading 462 laps en route to victory.

Analysis: Elliott maintained his top-20 streak to open the year (now at eight) and turned in a second straight top 10, but it didn’t look like he was going to after striking out in the first two stages. No. 9 has yet to win at Bristol but did recently have a six-race stretch of at least 23 laps led in every one and a pair of runner-ups from 2022 on.

Analysis: Reddick can’t escape Darlington these days without making some kind of headline, but at least this time it came with a fourth-place run. Bristol, thus far, is not at all his kind of track, though, with a 20.3 average finish and his last top 10 all the way back in 2020. However, he did lead his first laps there last year.

Analysis: Blaney has just three top 10s in eight races and yet … feels like a favorite to make the Championship 4. There’s no denying the speed in the No. 12 and Blaney’s willingness to fight back in these races; eventually, a boatload of wins will come along with that combo as the dominoes start falling in the other direction. Unfortunately for a driver with six Bristol top 10s in 16 tries and just one in the last four, it’s not likely to come Sunday.

Analysis: After securing his first top 10 of the year last week, Logano was back in the teens from a finishing standpoint but did walk away with a solid 33 points. He’s been incredibly hit-or-miss at Bristol ahead of what will be his 30th start there, having won two of the previous 29 … but none in the past decade and without a top-10 finish in the current decade. (Of course, with the caveat that he did win the inaugural Bristol Dirt Race.)

Analysis: A less-eventful Darlington spring race than last year didn’t see him competing for the win, but it did result in a better overall finish with a 38-point, sixth-place effort. He’s now finished in the top seven in four of the past six races and heads to one of his tracks at Bristol, where he led 169 laps en route to the Night Race win in 2022.

Analysis: Every finish of the season so far for Wallace is either better than 10th or no higher than 20th and unfortunately for him, Darlington resulted in the latter despite showing some initial speed. It’d be easy to write him off for Bristol with just one top five (and just two top 10s) in 11 starts there — but it was a P3 last fall, and he’s running even better now.

Analysis: After notching five top 10s in the season’s first six races — more than anybody else to that point — Bowman has now finished outside the top 25 in consecutive races, clinging to a spot in the top 10 in the standings. It’s been a long haul for him to start to see some Bristol results, but he did turn in a pair of top 10s there last year for the first time since 2018.

Analysis: Chastain has now earned consecutive top 10s for the first time since the last time we were at Bristol, in last year’s playoffs, as he continues to make the most of a car that doesn’t appear to have the same spark behind it as some of the other top Chevrolets. His overall Bristol stats aren’t desirable, but perhaps he can lead his first lap there on Sunday.

Analysis: Preece landed a P3 in the opening stage and appeared headed for a solid day at Darlington before striking out in Stage 2 and ultimately settling for 26th. Not the day he wanted, but he’s showing speed and has proven to be more than capable at Bristol in the past in lesser equipment, so a rebound should be in order.

Analysis: No. 19 entered Darlington with tons of momentum and, as the most recent winner there, only to walk away with nine points and his second-worst finish of the year. He’s been sneakily a pretty decent driver at Bristol, though, despite just one top 10 there. In four of his five of his starts — in lesser equipment than his current Toyota — Briscoe finished 14th or better.

Analysis: Baby steps. It’s a far cry from three top 10s in the first four races, but Busch has bettered his finish each race since a P33 at Las Vegas and landed his fourth 2025 top 10 at Darlington before we turn the corner to perhaps his best track. While that very much has not been the case lately (no Bristol finishes better than 20th since 2020), you can’t just wash away a resume with eight Tennessee wins on it.

Analysis: Give this man some credit — he has yo-yo’d back and forth between the Cup and Xfinity Series more than anybody in recent memory and yet here he is, in the top 16 in the standings nearly a third of the way through the Cup regular season. He’s had a few Bristol runs pop off over the years as well, too — P7 as recently as the 2022 Night Race — and it wouldn’t be the biggest shocker to see him compete for a top-15 spot or higher this weekend.

Analysis: McDowell’s worst showing of the year so far has him dipping, and only 20 points separate him (in 17th place) from 24th in the standings (Daniel Suárez). With just one top 10 to date on top of that, there’s certainly some concern for his season-long prospects. Despite just two Bristol top 10s in 26 starts he could sneakily get back on track Sunday, though — McD has been 11th or better in five of the last six races there.

Analysis: Not a whole lot has gone right for Berry and the No. 21 since their Las Vegas win (outside of having arguably the best Darlington throwback paint scheme), with back-to-back finishes outside the top 30 adding to the sting. The short-track star should have a shot to compete at Bristol, though, where he led 25 laps as a rookie in his first start there last year.

Analysis: You know it’s still early in the season when a driver can finish 25th, collect just 12 points and still move up two spots in the Cup standings, but Stenhouse will take it. Back in his Roush days, a Bristol win felt like an inevitability for him, but Stenhouse has just one top 20 there since 2018.

Analysis: Cindric narrowly missed out on just his second top 10 since Daytona, and still can’t quite seem to find the early season speed that saw him lead 47 or more laps in three of the first five. It’s unlikely that he turns around at Bristol, where he’s yet to lead a lap and averages a 24.0 finish.

Posted on April 7, 2025April 8, 2025 by Staff Report

After a week off, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend for the Weather Guard Truck Race (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

BRISTOL ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | Xfinity Series

Following his victory a few weeks ago at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Cup Series regular Kyle Larson is looking for his second Truck Series win of the 2025 season in the No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.

See the full entry list for the 250-lapper in “Thunder Valley” this weekend:

Posted on April 7, 2025April 8, 2025 by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend for Sunday’s Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

BRISTOL ENTRY LISTS: Xfinity Series | Craftsman Truck Series

Jesse Love, the 20-year-old Xfinity Series regular, will make his Cup debut Sunday driving the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Additionally, Corey LaJoie returns in the No. 01 Ford for Rick Ware Racing, and Josh Bilicki will pilot the No. 66 Ford for team owner Carl Long’s Garage 66.

See the full entry list for the 500-lap event in “Thunder Valley” this weekend:

Posted on April 7, 2025April 8, 2025 by Staff Report

The NASCAR Xfinity Series will next race at Bristol Motor Speedway, where the field will try to conquer the historic Tennessee short track on Saturday in the SciAps 300 (5 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

BRISTOL ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | Craftsman Truck Series

Forty cars make up this week’s catalog, including Kyle Larson from the Cup Series and Corey Heim from the Craftsman Truck Series. Only 38 cars will start Saturday’s event, meaning two teams will fail to qualify.

Take a look at the full entry list for Saturday’s event:

Posted on April 7, 2025April 7, 2025 by Nate Ryan

It’s hard to fathom as Denny Hamlin grinds away in a simulator for several hours a week (while also racing, managing a Cup team and raising an expanding family).

But his focus and work ethic were once questioned (and rather unfairly) in the first half of his NASCAR career.

He burst out of nowhere as the fresh-faced rookie who won four races and contended for a championship in 2006, and the whispers began soon afterward.

Denny Hamlin partied too much. Denny Hamlin dawdled with owning a nightclub and cultivating his brand instead of worrying about improving behind the wheel. Denny Hamlin was more likely to be seen courtside at Charlotte Hornets games or on the links with PGA stars than in the halls of Joe Gibbs Racing.

As with many negative narratives, those observations portending the downfall of Denny Hamlin now are laughable.

They certainly have aged much more poorly than Hamlin, whose career resurgence at 44 years old is largely because he puts in the work as much as any superstar in NASCAR — and he always has since his father bought him a go-kart with certain conditions.

“He said, ‘You maintain it, and you clean it because it’s not my hobby, it’s yours,'” Hamlin told Kevin Harvick on the “Happy Hour” podcast last week. “You don’t get to enjoy just the spoils of winning and driving. You have to grind and fix your wrecked cars. That instilled a work ethic that lives on today and applies to everything I do.”

Hamlin is doing a lot in everyday life.

Overseeing Year 5 of his plan with co-owner Michael Jordan to build a powerhouse that can beat Hendrick Motorsports, JGR and Team Penske, Hamlin keeps his hand in everything from competition and sponsorship at 23XI Racing. Within a few months, he will become a father for the third time with fiancee Jordan Fish.

And he is balancing all of those personal and work interests while excelling at his full-time job.

With consecutive victories at Darlington Raceway and Martinsville Speedway, Hamlin has claimed sole possession of 11th on the all-time NASCAR win list and tied Kyle Busch as Gibbs’ all-time winner with 56 victories.

What’s his secret?

It’s as simple as hard work, which in this case means Monday mornings inside a dark and windowless room staring at computer-generated images.

Turning endless laps in a high-tech driving simulator might sound like mindlessly logging hours with entertaining video games. But this is sheer drudgery, unlike any PlayStation.

“One of the things about going in the sim, it’s hard work,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “Honestly, I think Denny is in the sim as much as anybody we have, any of the young guys. He stays after it. You get somebody that age that still has the drive to get it done … I think Denny has a real drive, and I think we’re fortunate to have him.”

It bears repeating that Hamlin is at least 14 years older than teammates Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs. He is way past needing to prove himself, but he has been doing exactly that with new crew chief Chris Gayle, who was impressed by Hamlin texting about setup information into the wee hours the night before Martinsville.

“I’ve been surprised at how hard he does work,” said Gayle, who estimated Hamlin puts in at least seven hours weekly in the simulator. “As he’s gotten older, he’s had to almost ramp up the amount of work he’s done, where he may have gotten by earlier without doing that. He probably doesn’t have to. Some of the other guys don’t. He does it to be a part of the team.”

Though Hamlin is an early-stage Millennial who grew up in the video game age, simulator work is oft putting for many Cup veterans. Some retired in recent years and cited simulator obligations as a major reason.

But Hamlin has increased his simulator workload, taking on all of JGR’s needs.

“I only trust myself to do it,” he said. “I don’t know why. That’s just the control freak in me to want to have everything absolutely perfect. I put a lot of work in. It’s for the benefit of all Joe Gibbs Racing. They reap the benefits.

“Yes, they don’t love it as much as probably I do, but I enjoy the process of being good at it. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that I’m not going to win these races on raw talent anymore. I’m going to have to outwork people. I’m going to have to look at things that maybe other people aren’t looking at. I’ve learned to win it more with my mind than I have with my talent.”

Saying he “can count on two hands” the number of rivals with more ability, Hamlin sees no other way than to put his head down and keep toiling away.

“I’m not going to say it’s easy,” Hamlin said on Harvick’s podcast. “But all the things going on in my life are the things I love. I’m not doing anything I don’t love.”

The adage goes that if you find something you love to do, you never have to work a day in your life.

Maybe it also explains why Hamlin was once so overlooked despite always toiling away.

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.

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Chris Murdock

DARLINGTON, S.C. — NASCAR Cup Series races are often won and lost in a game of inches. While the conclusion to Sunday’s Goodyear 400 was determined in overtime, this is a race that was won on pit road.

Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota came down pit road in third place for what would be the final pit stop of Sunday’s race after a late-race spin by Kyle Larson brought out the yellow flag with four laps remaining. Hamlin exited the pits first and then rocketed off with the lead, controlling the overtime restart and storming to his second consecutive win.

“I knew coming in third, I was going to have to have my best roll of the day,” Hamlin said in his post-race press conference. “That is my fastest pit roll, my fastest speed into the box. I needed to put it perfectly on the sign so they don’t have to adjust.

“I needed to stack tenths and tenths and tenths (of seconds) on my side of the job. Once I get into the pit stall, they drop the right side … I know I did a good job on my metrics. Hopefully, I didn’t speed. But then when they dropped the jack on the right, I know right then, ‘oh, boy, this is going to be a heater.’ ”

A “heater” it was as the 44-year-old surged off pit road from third to first, propelling the No. 11 team to eventual victory.

Pit road was a focal point during Sunday afternoon’s event, as temperatures soared close to 90 degrees in the South Carolina heat, demanding endurance from teams who made the most stops of any track on the 2025 schedule so far.

Attention was also given to the Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew’s work on Denny Hamlin’s Toyota, particularly jackman Joel Bouagnon’s distinctive behind-the-back method for moving across the car to change the left-side tires.

Bouagnon is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, where he played football as a running back. In 2017, he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Chicago Bears in the NFL before joining the Green Bay Packers in 2018.

In 2020, the now 30-year-old made the transition to NASCAR pit crew member, training for the “money stop” moments seen in Sunday’s race.

James Gilbert | Getty Images

“Finishing a race like that is as good as it gets,” Bouagnon told NASCAR.com leaving Victory Lane. “Man, that’s kind of the moments you dream of. I’m so proud of this entire team for executing. There is not a more tense situation. That’s like the pinnacle of any pit stop performance. You want to come down on a money stop like that.

“It feels great. I’m glad all our hard work is … it’s rare that you get to showcase it, you know, how lucky that we have it. We’ve got the team to execute everything. So we’re just being presented with these opportunities, and everyone’s executing. I’m glad we’re getting to see the fruits of our labor.”

Atop the pit box for the No. 11 team this season is crew chief Chris Gayle, new to the team after moving over from the No. 54 Toyota and driver Ty Gibbs. Gayle took the reins of Hamlin’s No. 11 group after former crew chief Chris Gabehart became the company’s competition director in the offseason.

Along with his driver, Gayle is celebrating consecutive Cup Series victories after the duo won at Martinsville last week prior to Sunday’s Darlington triumph. The leader of the No. 11 crew said the team has been preparing for clutch moments just like this.

“We have these conversations in the shop,” Gayle said. “I can tell you the one thing that every one of those guys has come to me about is that situation, how much they want to be in that situation, right? Some people shy away from that moment, get nervous, ‘I don’t want to fail.’ These guys are completely the other way. They’re like, ‘Give me the opportunity and let me try it.’

“I think you just can’t commend that enough. You need that kind of culture and that kind of outlook from everybody on your team.”

That culture manifested the 56th trip to Victory Lane of Hamlin’s career, netting the team a critical five playoff points in addition to Hamlin’s chase of 60 career wins. The Virginia native now sits alone at 11th all-time in Cup Series wins, chasing former contemporary Kevin Harvick for 10th. With a pit crew that ranks second on the season according to NASCAR Insights, Gayle sees potential for even more success ahead.

“For those guys, man, they are just villains,” Gayle said of his crew. “They just want that moment to where they can go in there and just rip everybody’s hearts out and win the race, walk away, don’t care what anybody else thinks, unapologetic. They are just awesome. Happy to be part of their team.”

Now, the No. 11 team will turn its attention to Bristol Motor Speedway (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as it tries to echo a feat completed by JGR teammate Christopher Bell already this season — three consecutive victories.

Posted on April 7, 2025April 7, 2025 by Zack Albert

DARLINGTON, S.C. — A day before Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event, Tyler Reddick said his most recent Darlington Raceway memory was of battling an agonizing, in-race sickness, and not necessarily the way he powered through it, to claim the circuit’s Regular Season Championship in the 2024 Southern 500. This springtime race last year was another memory-churner for Reddick, who led the most laps before a late-race, on-track clash with Chris Buescher sparked a post-race confrontation.

After Sunday, add a third consecutive finish that produced a memorable Reddick moment, but not a first Cup Series win here.

“This place is notorious for that, right?” Reddick said on pit road after exiting his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. “You can do everything right all day long. That wasn’t really us today, but yeah, it’s never over till it’s over at a place like this.”

Reddick finished fourth behind race winner Denny Hamlin after an overtime shuffle for position in Sunday’s Goodyear 400, marking his fourth top-five result in his last seven Darlington starts. He was among the last holders of the lead on a day otherwise dominated by William Byron, jumping out front in the final green-flag pit-stop exchange. That advantage gradually shrunk as the laps ticked down, and a fateful contest for the lead with four laps remaining ultimately turned the tide.

Crew chief Billy Scott called Reddick to pit road on Lap 239 of a scheduled 293, putting the No. 45 team on the early end of those stopping for four tires and fuel. With quick work, Reddick emerged from the pit cycle with a 3.2-second lead, a margin that had nearly doubled to 5.89 seconds with 25 laps to go.

But a looming threat was rising as Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford began to thread his way through traffic to chip away at Reddick’s lead. Blaney had pitted eight laps later than Reddick, and the benefit of his fresher Goodyears was showing.

Reddick scrubbed the wall with nine laps left in regulation, and Blaney chopped the margin to just two seconds. Four laps later, it was a mere 0.3 seconds. With four laps left on the board, Blaney finally pulled alongside, brushed by and cleared the No. 45 Camry through Turn 2.

“I was just kind of hoping that the 12 wouldn’t really get by some of the cars he was racing,” Reddick said. “That was my best chance, I guess, to win.”

But behind them, a laps-down Kyle Larson spun from the second turn in their wake, nosing his No. 5 Chevrolet into the backstretch wall to force a final round of pit stops and a two-lap dash to the finish. Reddick entered pit road second and left second, but he and the rest were leapfrogged by Hamlin, whose No. 11 crew delivered a dazzling final stop, gaining two spots that made the difference. Hamlin pulled away as Reddick fended for running room in a brief, three-wide shuffle with Byron and Christopher Bell in OT.

Scott watched it all from atop the No. 45 pit box. Later, he dissected how the strategy played out, and how Blaney and Hamlin took turns controlling their own late-race fates.

“I wasn’t sure,” Scott told NASCAR.com, when asked if he thought Reddick had enough to hold on at the end. “You know, Blaney was the class of the field all weekend on the long run, especially on the speed chart. So, we knew it was going to be, in large part, theirs to lose in some sense. But you know, we just had to do what was right for us, and we were racing with the 20 (Bell) and the 11 (Hamlin). We had to try to jump them. Kind of expected them to go to the optimal point. So, just the fire-off speed after that stop was good and held on pretty well long-run, I mean, better than anybody else — except Blaney. Kind of expected him to be really close at the end, and just kind of came down to how you were able to get traffic or just how the timing was, just who was out there on new tires racing with you, or who you had to get by that was on just-good-enough tires that made it difficult.

“So it was fun watching it all unfold, and Tyler did a hell of a job getting everything out of it. The last yellow, it kind of gave us a fighting chance, I guess. But also, we knew it came down to whoever controlled the race probably had a really good shot at winning. The pit crew’s done a really good job. They’ve been on it. We’ve been improving all year, and we gained a spot there over the 12. Just the 11 was a little bit better. That was all it took.”

Team co-owner Michael Jordan walked over to share post-race words of encouragement, while Hamlin — 23XI’s other ownership partner — celebrated in Victory Lane. It marked another Darlington near-miss for Reddick, who has led 307 total laps in the last four races here.

MORE: MJ ‘one of the guys’ in NASCAR garage

“Yeah, that’s why it’s got the reputation it does,” Scott said. “This place is really tough to get a hold of, finish one off, and I don’t know what the stat was exactly how many races here in a row now that the car that led the most laps didn’t win, so it’s not just us who has to fight through that, but he’s done a great job. He’s got this place figured out. He’s always up there contending, and he’ll have a win coming here soon.”

Posted on April 7, 2025April 7, 2025 by Staff Report

Shigeaki Hattori, a former driver and championship-winning NASCAR team owner, died Saturday morning in a highway crash. He was 61.

The Huntersville (N.C.) Police Department confirmed Hattori’s death in a Monday press release, reporting that officers responded to a two-vehicle collision on NC Highway 73 at approximately 9:15 a.m. ET Saturday. According to the release, the department’s preliminary investigation indicates Hattori’s 2025 Toyota Crown was traveling westbound when it crossed the centerline into the oncoming lane and collided with another vehicle.

According to the release, Hattori was pronounced deceased on the scene. Investigators do not believe speed or impairment were contributing factors in the crash. The incident remains under investigation.

Hattori raced in IndyCar and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series before transitioning to team ownership. His Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE) teams made starts over several years in the Xfinity Series but emerged as a contender in the Craftsman Truck Series, winning the 2018 championship with driver Brett Moffitt.

“We are heartbroken to confirm that Shigeaki ‘Shige’ Hattori was pronounced deceased on the morning of Saturday, April 5, in Huntersville, N.C., following a motor vehicle accident,” HRE said in a Monday statement. “… Shige was known for his relentless drive, focus and competitive spirit. Team ownership through HRE and Hattori Motorsports had become both his passion and his life’s work. He had a unique gift to constantly inject a light-hearted attitude and one-of-a-kind sense of humor into his race teams that will never be forgotten. We’ll miss you dearly. Farewell, Shige.”

Hattori scored 14 wins as a Truck Series team owner from 2018 to 2021 — six by Moffitt and eight by current Xfinity Series regular Austin Hill. All the while, Hattori served as an ambassador for the sport in his home country of Japan, building partnerships with his team and Toyota dealerships, and creating a NASCAR training program for aspiring mechanics there.

“Shigeaki Hattori was a passionate racer and highly successful team owner, but beyond all his team’s statistics — which includes a NASCAR Truck Series championship — Shige was a genuine, beloved member of the garage who worked tirelessly to lift our sport and his people,” NASCAR said in a statement. “We are deeply saddened by his tragic passing. NASCAR extends its thoughts and prayers to his family and many friends.”

In a statement, Toyota Racing Development USA President Tyler Gibbs said: “Everyone at Toyota and TRD, U.S.A. is saddened to learn of Shige Hattori’s tragic passing. Toyota’s history with Shige spans decades. Through his long run as a driver to his history-making championship success as an owner, Shige’s motivation and work ethic to achieve at the highest level never wavered. His endearing personality was infectious and unforgettable. We are thinking of his family and friends as they process this terrible loss.”

As a driver, Hattori began his career in youth go-karts before shifting to Formula 2 and 3 racing in Japan. He moved to the U.S. in 1995 to chase a racing career stateside, joining the Indy Lights Series full-time the next year and scoring two wins in 1998.

He reached the IndyCar Series in 2000 and competed in parts of four seasons before exploring the Craftsman Truck Series in 2004, the same year Toyota entered NASCAR. He made 10 starts on that circuit the next year but decided to trade his driving gloves in for a different role shortly thereafter.

“I decided, ‘OK, no more,’ and I stopped driving,” Hattori told NASCAR.com in 2022. “Two or three years after, I didn’t do anything. I took some classes at UCLA, traveling and doing nothing with my life. I was thinking, I should do something. I really liked NASCAR racing, and so I decided I should start my race team and put young drivers (in it). So, I started in 2008.”

That year, Hattori started a team in the ARCA Menards Series, then known as the NASCAR K&N Series. He reached the national series ranks in 2013, with Moffitt as his first driver.

Hattori’s organization began full-time competition in trucks with Ryan Truex at the wheel. The next year, he reunited with Moffitt and the two won in just their second race back together, an overtime victory at Atlanta that set the course for their title march.

“It was a green-white-checkered (finish),” Hattori recalled. “It was such a good memory.”

Posted on April 6, 2025April 6, 2025 by George Winkler

Denny Hamlin drove away on the NASCAR Overtime restart to win Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. For the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran, it was his 56th Cup Series win, surpassing Rusty Wallace for 11th place on the all-time list.

Digging deeper than Victory Lane, however, we find drivers who are on the upswing coming out of Darlington as well as a few who didn’t enjoy Throwback Weekend as much and might want to travel back in time for a do-over. Here are our picks for three drivers up and three drivers down after Race 8 of the 2025 season:

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

THREE UP ⬆️

1. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Started: 25th

Finished: 7th

What happened: Chastain credited crew chief Phil Surgen with making adjustments that helped the No. 1 car move forward through the field, but Chastain was also good on restarts Sunday, ranking fifth, according to NASCAR Insights. The top-10 finish was Chastain’s fourth this season and his third in the last four races at Darlington.

What’s next: It’s Bristol, baby, where Chastain has just two top-10 finishes in nine career starts. However, he’s coming off a 10th-place finish there last fall in the Bristol Night Race.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

2. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Started: 15th

Finished: 8th

What happened: Elliott produced another solid effort to earn his fifth top-10 finish of the season. After failing to finish in the top 10 in both Darlington races last season, Sunday’s performance could be a sign that he’ll be competitive here for the playoff-opening Southern 500.

What’s next: Elliott has never won at Bristol but has nine top-10 finishes in 15 starts there, including four top 10s in a row in the Next Gen car.

James Gilbert | Getty Images

3. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Started: 11th

Finished: 9th

What happened: Gibbs grabbed his first top-10 finish of the season, coming on the heels of a 13th-place result at Martinsville. He moved up five spots in the standings to 26th place as he tries to get back into the playoff picture.

What’s next: Gibbs has two top-10 finishes in four starts at Bristol, where he was ninth last spring when tire falloff was the story of the day.

James Gilbert | Getty Images

THREE DOWN ⬇️

1. Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford

Started: 24th

Finished: 36th

What happened: Berry spun off Turn 2 after contact with Tyler Reddick on Lap 195, mashed the inside wall and exited the race. He was running fifth at the time of the wreck but had to settle for 36th place. He dropped a spot in the standings to 20th.

What’s next: Berry doesn’t have much Cup experience at Bristol, with just two starts and no top 10s there. He finished 12th last spring after starting second.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

2. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Started: 13th

Finished: 32nd

What happened: Hocevar’s day got off to a rough start when he spun from 35th place on Lap 24 with a tire going down. Then, Riley Herbst collided with Hocevar after the No. 77’s half-spin on Lap 82. Sunday’s performance marked Hocevar’s fourth finish of 30th or worse in the last five races.

What’s next: Hocevar has three starts at Bristol with a best finish of 11th in fall 2023 for Legacy Motor Club. He’ll need to buck his current trends as well as his career trends at Bristol to rebound from Sunday’s outing.

Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

3. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford

Started: 20th

Finished: 33rd

What happened: What appeared to be Keselowski’s best chance to get back on track this season ended with another subpar performance. On Lap 135, Keselowski spun off Turn 4 after a right-rear lug nut came loose. He made it to pit road, but the caution came out three laps later for debris. Keselowski fell out of contention after that and is now 31st in the standings.

What’s next: Keselowski has three wins in 27 starts at Bristol, with his most recent trip to Victory Lane coming in 2020. He finished third in the spring race last year when tire management became a priority.

Jacob Reeves for NASCAR Digital Media

Posted on April 6, 2025April 6, 2025 by Zack Albert

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Ryan Blaney had plenty to take away from a valiant charge in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series showdown at Darlington Raceway — gobs of long-run speed in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford, a savvy pit strategy that nearly paid off, and a post-race smack on the behind from NBA great Michael Jordan, who had just finished consoling his 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick moments earlier. Areas of improvement in execution, though, were also on the takeaway list.

Blaney nearly completed a sterling surge on fresher tires down the stretch in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 but came up short of his first victory of the Cup Series season. A fifth-place result was just his second top-five finish of the year, but his first since February at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Blaney’s No. 12 Mustang — bearing a throwback look reminiscent of a long-ago design that his father, Dave, once drove — methodically tracked down Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota with sights on the lead in what was shaping up to be the final green-flag run to the end. He’d benefited from a strategy play by crew chief Jonathan Hassler, who stopped on the 247th of a scheduled 293 laps, slightly later than other contenders — a move that provided him with fresher Goodyear rubber for the final push.

“Honestly, really, when I got to like fifth, I was like, ‘Dude, he’s really far away. I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to get there,’ but those guys just hit a cliff, and I just never did,” Blaney said on pit road post-race. “I kind of kept trucking, and when I got to second and it was, like, nine (laps) to go, I was kind of tongue-out for like four laps, but then I’m like, I think I’m gonna have enough.”

Credit Hassler for putting his driver on offense after the final green-flag cycle, a pivotal turn of events that unraveled the race-long domination of William Byron, who led the first 243 laps.

“Honestly, I thought our car was really good. All day, it would take off pretty well,” Hassler said. “We were able to pass some guys, even on restarts, and then as the run went on, we certainly got better. Then, when we kind of lost a little bit of track position there, our only play was to try and run long like that. Worked out probably better than I thought it would, with the chance to take a win.”

On Lap 290, Blaney closed on Reddick and finally scraped by with a slight side tap, but when Kyle Larson’s damaged No. 5 Chevy spun and crashed behind them, the race teetered toward overtime. Blaney pitted from the lead with the other front-runners but exited pit road in fourth place, putting him on Row 2 for the two-lap sprint to the finish as Denny Hamlin roared away from the No. 1 perch to his second straight victory.

“If the caution didn’t come out, I thought we had one easily,” Blaney said. “We were so much faster on newer tires. It was a great strategy running long. Those guys short-pitted, and they were struggling real bad. I mean, I thought, if we could have just got off (Turn) 2 with the lead and caution didn’t come out, I thought I’d have kind of ride off the sunset. Just, not how it worked unfortunately and lost the lead on pit road, lost a front-row starting spot, and never had a shot.”

MORE: Cup Series standings

Blaney was put in the position of playing catch-up for much of the afternoon, with a collection of pit-stop miscues costing him ground. Blaney stopped deep in his pit box on his first stop, getting hemmed in behind the No. 88 Chevrolet of Shane van Gisbergen. He was in fourth place at the end of Stage 2, but trouble with jacking up the left side of the car during the break dropped him to 16th place for the start of the final stage.

According to Racing Insights, the No. 12 team lost a total of 20 spots on pit road over the course of the day, including a critical final three positions before overtime.

“Yeah, we’ve just got some things to work on, you know?” Blaney said. “I mean, I make mistakes. I screw up a lot. Those guys don’t have great stops every now and then. It’s just part of the sport. But you know, they’ll go to work, they’ll figure it out, where do they need to improve, just like we do with the race car. Where have we got to improve on that? So those guys do the same thing, and we’ll try to come back even better.”

Said Hassler: “I mean, our team is our team. Our guys are our guys, and we know we’ve got areas to work on, but we could be certainly proud of the speed that we’ve had, and the group’s perfectly capable. We’ve just got to clean it up and we’ll be there, hopefully sooner rather than later.”