DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — While the 10-driver NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff field does not deny Regular Season Champion Corey Heim — a series-best seven-time race winner — certainly holds a commanding presence in the 2025 title run, his competition says it is ready to be put to the championship test.
All 10 of the championship-eligible drivers — Heim, Layne Riggs, Chandler Smith, Daniel Hemric, Tyler Ankrum, defending series champ Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger, Rajah Caruth, Kaden Honeycutt and Jake Garcia — met with the media Tuesday in advance of the seven-race playoff run that begins Aug. 30 at the historic Darlington Raceway.
Heim’s competitors all conceded he’s having a season for the ages and carries an enviable “favorite” tag into the championship run. But starting at Darlington, all bets are off.
And the 23-year-old Tricon Garage driver Heim says he’s ready to hoist the champion’s trophy after being favored previously only to finish third (2023) and runner-up (2024) the last two seasons.
The driver of the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota has led 1,125 laps on the year — nearly double his previous single-season total and almost 900 more than anyone else in the series. Along with seven winner stickers, Heim has also tallied 12 top-five finishes through the 18-race regular season.
“I think the main thing for us is that we’ve really connected a lot of the dots on maybe the prior struggles we’ve had so far and got a lot of things to improve in the playoffs still, regardless, as far as keeping that going or keeping the momentum going,” said Heim, the only multi-time Regular Season Champion in series history, who has earned a huge 39-point lead over No. 2 seed Layne Riggs going into the postseason.
“I feel like for me, there (were) some struggle areas last year that kind of lingered throughout the year and we never quite got past that. But we were able to hone in on that in the offseason and sort of clear those up as far as maybe some packages that we brought to specific race tracks that didn’t work, and maybe some pit road stuff.
“My personal development, as far as my driving style at some places, I feel like just within my 11 team and within Tricon and Toyota, we’ve done a great job of just honing in on the things that maybe didn’t work throughout the year and lingered and just kind of fixing that for 2025 and hoping to extend that into the playoffs as well.”
Heim’s amazing season statistics are not unnoticed by his competition.
“The 11 truck is in his own zip code most weekends,” said Front Row Motorsports’ Smith, a two-race winner this season and ranked third entering the playoff stretch.
Even so — and not surprisingly — every single driver said Tuesday he was prepared to give Heim a run for his money.
“Of course, there’s a lot of pressure, but I feel like I’m ready for it,” said Riggs, driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford, adding, “No Hail Marys in the playoffs, that’s the goal for us.”
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Coming into Saturday’s season finale at Bowman Gray Stadium, it was going to almost be impossible for Brandon Ward not win his second Brad’s Golf Cars Modified championship.
So, Saturday’s AgSouth Farm Credit 150, which proved to be 155 laps after finishing in overtime, was pretty much a coronation for Ward. And he did indeed capture his second championship in three seasons.
“Man, I’m telling you, they all mean so much,” Ward said. “I mean, they don’t ever quit mattering. You know, the first one’s always special, of course. This one, I think it’s more special because it’s tonight, you know what I mean?”
Ward made his effort in winning the championship a sentimental statement.
“The more you win, the more you want to win,” he said. “And the more you expect to win, and these guys, they work hard, and it’s about them, man. It’s about getting them in Victory Lane. It’s about seeing them smile for their hard work, and that’s, when you’ve been racing as long as I have that’s the enjoyment I really get is just seeing these guys happy, man. They work hard for me. I’ve got to work hard for them. And that’s what it’s all about.”
In order for Ward to have held on for the championship, Ward needed to finished 14th or better to win no matter what second-place Burt Myers and third-place Tim Brown did. Ward all of that a moot point after Ward finished sixth even though Brown won the race, and Myers was runner-up.
There was straight qualifying before the race and Ward finished seventh. Brown sat on the pole and Myers was alongside on the front row.
“I’ll be honest with you, we put our qualifying tires on and just weren’t as good as we were practice,” Ward said. “And I don’t know why. I was hoping it was just it was a lap there. It didn’t fire off, but even in the race I wasn’t as good tonight as I have been, which we did have to play the strategy tonight.
“This is the first race I’ve really come into kind of looking at it that way. But, we just did what we had to do. The car wasn’t terrible. It just took it a few laps to go. It wasn’t as good as it has been tonight.”
Ward had to face some adversity in that there were 12 cautions during the 155-lap race.
“The only real worry I had was with about 15 to go I lost power steering,” Ward said. “That made it a little harder to manage, especially if you get in traffic and start getting banged around. Luckily enough everybody raced us tonight. I’m thankful for that.”
Ward was a model of consistency throughout the season. He won three races, had 17 top fives, and 20 top-10 finishes.
“It’s what it takes to win championships,” Ward said. “That’s why it’s such a team effort. You have to be consistent. You have to finish the laps, log the laps. You can’t win them if you’re not there at the end.
“So, to get three wins this year, one them in the Hayes Jewelers 200 (season opener), and to win this championship is, it’s what our goal was. So, just glad to be able to accomplish that again.”
As for Brown, after not winning a race all season, since July 19, he won four races, including Saturday night.
“Man, honestly, it’s great,” he said. “So, it’s what we expected to be doing all year, not just the last six weeks, right? So, my hat’s off to all these guys, everybody that works on this car, everybody that does everything for us is super-special for all of our sponsors, my family, my fans.
“Just be back running the way we’re supposed to be running, like we feel like we need to be running. It’s just a great night. Great way to end the season.”
Other than Brown, who won the race, and Myers, who finished second, Danny Bohn finished third, followed by Mike Speeney, Fleming, and Ward.
Brown had the fastest qualifying lap at 13.670 seconds, better than Myers’ 13.685.
“it’s how we need to be running. It’s how we’re supposed to be running. It’s how I expect us to run,” Brown said. “So does our sponsors.
In addition, Brown led all 155 laps and had to witness all the cautions in his rear-view mirror.
“It’s part of racing at the Stadium,” he said. “Great race car, grear race team. Super-blessed, God’s great to me, so I hate the season’s ending right now.
Not only did he win, he picked up 105th win, which is three more than Myers for the most wins at Bowman Gray Stadium.
“Perfect,” Brown said.
Chase Robertson celebrates after clinching his second Bowman Gray Stadium Sportsman championship on Saturday night. (Photo: Erick Messer/Bowman Gray Stadium)
In the 40-lap race in the Law Offices of John Barrow Sportsman Series, Chase Robertson finished sixth, which was good enough to win his second championship in three years.
Robertson, who had five win this season, was the points leader before Saturday’s race and had to finish eight positions ahead of Mitch Gales.
“The plan for the race when we drew the pole was to, you know, just lead until somebody pressured us,” Robertson said. “And I knew Zack (Ore) was going to be hungry for the win, and he had nothing to lose, so we might as well just let him go. When other people got up to me we just them go and just tried to file right behind and just ride it out.
“Man, this is a dream come true after the year we had.”
Ore was originally declared the winner, but after the race, he was once again disqualified for not breaking down his car. He passed pre-race inspection, but he failed to break down, the fourth time he’s been disqualified this season.
Tommy Neal, who was originally called the runner-up, was declared the winner after Ore was disqualified. Neal needed to finish a combination of 11 positions ahead of Robertson and four positions ahead of Gales in order to win the championship.
Michael Adams finished runner-up, followed by Sterling Plemmons, and Justin Taylor.
The QRC HVAC and Refrigeration 20-lap race turned out to have the most drama.
With double points in all the races, Bryan Sykes Jr. needed to finish no more than one spot behind Brad Lewis and more than three positions behind Kevin Gilbert.
Lewis ended up winning the race, but Sykes ended up winning the championship by two points. It was Sykes’ first championship.
“I’m speechless,” Sykes said. “Billy Gregg told me it was now or never, and it was then.”
Even though he didn’t win the championship, Lewis, who won his fourth race of the season, took what proved to be the consolation prize.
“Yeah, it’s OK,’ Lewis said. “I told God before this race that I was at peace with it. Whatever He wanted, that’s what we were going to do. I stopped at turn 3 for Robbie (Brewer, who died two died two weeks ago). That’s my boy. That’s where he went out the first time…This is all for Robbie.”
Bryant Robertson finished third, followed by Gilbert and Craig Hartless.
The Q104.1 Stadium Stock 15-lap race came to how points leader Brandon Brendle finished after starting 12th.
Brendle needed to finish eighth or better in order to maintain his lead over Luke Smith. Smith won the race, but Brendle moved up eight positions and finished fourth.
It was Brendle’s second championship.
“I first want to thank Todd Barnhart because he gave ne this hot rod and gave me free reins on it, and it shows,” Brendle said. “I want to thank all the guys that help me.”
Tyler McDonald finished runner-up in the race behind Smith, which was his third win of the season. AJ Sanders was third, followed by Brendle, and Chuck Wall.
“We’ve learned a lot this year,” Smith said. “And to come home with three wins, it feels real good.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It happens every fall — in NASCAR’s Next Gen era, at least.
As reliably as jack-o’-lanterns populate the front porches of America with Halloween approaching, the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs take a turn toward a certain Ford team when the end of summer nears.
Ever since the Next Gen race car debuted in the series in 2022, Team Penske drivers — specifically Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney — have blossomed during the postseason.
Logano won the second title of his career in 2022 and added a third last year, outrunning Blaney in the Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway.
Blaney claimed the championship in 2023, giving team owner Roger Penske a monopoly on Next Gen-era titles.
After Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, drivers outside the Team Penske stable might well be thinking, “What? Not again!”
With Blaney’s victory in the final regular-season race, the Ford contingent awoke from an 11-week slumber dating to Blaney’s win on June 1 at Nashville Superspeedway.
There’s a discernible pattern here. In each of the last three seasons, Team Penske drivers have emerged from summer doldrums to prevail in NASCAR’s postseason. The difference this year is that Blaney has shown consistent speed throughout the year — without the victories to show for it.
Blaney entered Saturday’s Daytona race with a string of five straight top-10 finishes. Despite suffering seven DNFs (did not finish) in the first 20 races, he leap-frogged Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson to secure a second-place finish in the regular season and claim the 10 playoff points that accompany the spot.
“To get to second in regular-season points after the year we’ve had with seven DNFs, I think it just shows how good we’ve been,” Blaney said after the race. “And the good thing about the last six weeks, I feel like we’ve been finishing where we’ve been running and deserve to finish. Nothing foolish has happened. We’ve been able to have solid weeks and just kind of put things together.
“I’ve been really happy with the effort of us all year, that’s for sure. I think these guys (Blaney’s crew) are even better than they were when we won the championship, better than what we were last year. They just keep maturing, and their confidence is high. Hopefully, we can make another run and start off next week. We’ll see.”
The playoffs open with the Cook Out Southern 500 on Aug. 31 at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. on USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, HBO Max).
The second race in the opening round takes place at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway near St. Louis, a new addition to the playoffs gift-wrapped for Team Penske.
Logano won the inaugural Cup race at WWT Raceway in 2022. A year later, in Kyle Busch’s most recent victory in the series, Logano ran third, and Blaney finished sixth after leading 83 laps.
Last year, Team Penske driver Austin Cindric triumphed at the 1.25-mile track after Blaney ran out of fuel while leading with two laps left. Logano came home fifth for his third top five at the speedway in as many races.
The only Fords in the playoffs this year are those of Blaney, Logano, Cindric and Josh Berry in the No. 21 Mustang of Team Penske affiliate Wood Brothers Racing.
There also was a tinge of irony in Blaney’s win at Daytona. His victory kept Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver Alex Bowman in the playoffs on points. Last year, it was Bowman’s disqualification in the Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval that kept Logano in the postseason and preserved his championship run.
After Saturday’s race, Bowman asserted that he owed Blaney “seven million beers.”
“Oh, I’ll take five million,” Blaney quipped during his post-race press conference. “I’ll save him some money … I do need a refill if he’s still here. I’ll start with one.”
The real question, though, is whether any other driver can prevent Blaney or one of his teammates from toasting with champagne after the checkered flag in the Nov. 3 Championship 4 Race at Phoenix Raceway.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Alex Bowman spent nearly three hours waiting out his fate in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, doomed to a DNF at Daytona International Speedway after a multicar Stage 1 wreck. He watched the rest of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from the track as a host of drivers bidding for their first win of the season threatened to knock him out.
“Seven million beers,” Bowman told FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass when asked what he owed him. “Certainly thankful for him.”
Bowman and Tyler Reddick left Daytona the way they entered, holding serve above the elimination line to sew up the final two spots in the Cup Series Playoffs. They were nearly a matched pair, with both enduring early crashes that threatened to derail their bids.
Reddick wound up the benefactor after Bowman’s 36th-place finish made his points gap insurmountable. Still, Bowman could not advance until the nerve-jolting final lap when Blaney inched ahead of three other would-be playoff clinchers in a wild, four-abreast flash across the start/finish line. Daniel Suárez was the hard-luck runner-up, with Justin Haley and Cole Custer completing the top four behind Blaney — all separated by just 0.049 seconds.
Reddick was the first to find trouble, collecting Todd Gilliland with a Turn 4 spin on the 18th of 160 laps and nosing his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota into the inside retaining wall. “That was all my doing there at the start of the race,” Reddick said later, and the damage threatened to give Bowman an open door to surpass him in the standings. Bowman’s misfortune eight laps later put Reddick in.
Reddick continued with his car’s taped-up front end, finishing 21st as one of the last drivers on the lead lap. Though his playoff quest stayed intact, last year’s Regular Season Champion still bemoaned a slumping stretch into the postseason, going seven consecutive races without a top-five result and an average finish of 18.6.
“Story of our year. Just messy, not executing well, just filled with mistakes,” Reddick said. “So yeah, we got very fortunate when the 48 had problems, but yeah, we’ll try and clean it up going into Darlington.”
Corey Grantham | For NASCAR Digital Media
Bowman’s window to advance by passing Reddick in points closed quickly. He had started second in the 40-car field and fell back to 30th place in six laps, hampered by a low lane that was sluggish to move. He’d rallied back up to 10th when a three-car coming-together involving Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch touched off a sizable tangle through the trioval, clogging the track. Busch’s careening car tagged Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, which limped around to a halt.
Bowman radioed his team to ask what had happened, and the response was: “Hard to tell. You can point the finger at three people, like normal.” Bowman’s reply: “Yeah, welcome to Daytona.” Once his crew determined that the damage to the car was irreparable, Bowman was out of the race and the waiting began.
“Yeah, what can you do? It’s a stressful time to be a part of, but I don’t think this really defines us as a race team,” Bowman said, acknowledging the uncertainty after his midrace check at the infield care center. “It’s pretty outside of our control, and we’ve done a lot of good things lately. We had a good summer. That’s the first time in eight years we’ve had a good summer. So yeah, just gotta keep digging.”
The dizzying scramble of the final laps nearly saved the seasons of Suárez, Haley and Custer.
For Suárez, the opportunity was there to provide a sterling send-off win in what will be his final season with Trackhouse Racing. His No. 99 Chevrolet had solid help in the aerodynamic draft from the No. 43 Toyota of Erik Jones, but said he needed one more lap working with him to keep their top-lane push rolling. His bid ended up just 0.031 seconds short.
“Mixed feelings because I’m proud of all the effort, but we didn’t achieve our goal, but it’s part of it,” said Suárez, who led six laps early on. “We have to continue to push, and we have 10 more opportunities to win a race.”
Haley’s first top-five finish of 2025 came in the 26th race of the year, and his No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet pressed hard for the lead after the final restart with eight laps remaining. He lost his momentum when two-wide racing morphed into a three- and four-wide gaggle and wound up just 0.005 seconds back of Suárez, roughly half a car-length behind Blaney’s winning No. 12 Team Penske Ford.
“I mean, with the season we’ve had, just trying to get it back on the rails, and I thought we were close there,” said Haley, who nearly vaulted from 30th in the standings into the postseason. “Just yeah, didn’t pan out.”
Custer nearly made a more impressive jump from 34th in the Cup Series standings onto the 16-driver grid. The Haas Factory Team driver led at the white flag with fellow Ford driver Blaney lined up behind him in the high lane to provide a push. When Custer moved his No. 41 Mustang low to block other advances, Blaney took advantage.
“Honestly, the last time we were close to winning was here in February. I felt like I drove a better race here,” said Custer, who led seven laps total. “But overall, you just hope that you’re in the mix at the end of these speedway races. We did a great job saving our car, bringing a really good-handling car, and just giving ourselves a shot to win at the end. Definitely going to be kicking myself at what I could have done different.”
Non-winners led 12 of the last 13 laps. Only Blaney’s last-lap pass saved the day for Bowman.
Word of his seven-million-beer offer eventually made its way to Blaney, who said he’d settle for less.
“I do need a refill if he’s still here,” Blaney said. “I can start with one.”
Daytona dazzled us with another epic finish that saw Ryan Blaney triumph in a four-wide thriller at the line to earn his second win of the 2025.
With the regular season now in the rearview mirror and full attention on the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, several drivers carry some strong momentum into the final 10 races, while a few are on the back foot with limited chances to right the ship before the year comes to a close.
1. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Started: 3rd
Finished: 6th
What happened: The 2021 titleholder continues to make steady progress on drafting tracks. Larson not only claimed Stage 1 by a slim margin over polesitter Blaney, but followed it up with a 10th place in Stage 2, and he spent the majority of the race setting the pace as leader.
What’s next: Larson shakes off the summer slump he’s had the second half of the regular season and carries momentum into the Round of 16 as the No. 1 seed. Plus, tracks like Darlington and Bristol shape up well for him to find Victory Lane again.
James Gilbert | Getty Images
2. Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Started: 37th
Finished: 3rd
What happened: Haley was 0.036 seconds from snatching a playoff bid. The Spire driver charged from deep in the field and quickly established himself as a frontrunner, netting an average running position of 12.9, finishing fifth in Stage 1, along with two laps led. His podium finish also marks his first top five on an oval since September 2022.
What’s next: While Haley won’t join the 16-driver playoff field, this run does give the No. 7 crew some much-needed momentum to finish out the season where they sit 30th in points. Plus, with how much verve Haley showed on the high banks, he can be in the mix for a spoiler win at Talladega.
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
3. Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
Started: 26th
Finished: 5th
What happened: What a story it could’ve been to see the iconic No. 43 in Victory Lane at Daytona, alas, Jones had to settle for a fifth-place effort. The finish marks Jones’ third top five of the season, matching his results from Texas and EchoPark Speedway in a year where Legacy Motor Club continues to make positive strides.
What’s next: The two-time Southern 500 winner has now doubled his top-10 finishes from a season ago. Momentum is building, and Jones heads into the final 10-race stretch with confidence on his side.
What happened: Coming to a drafting track, you expect Hamlin to run up front, but that wasn’t the case at Daytona, with an average running position of 23.5. Hamlin was collected in the big wreck on Lap 27, then had a tire go down early in the final stage that ruined his evening.
What’s next: Hamlin entered Daytona tied on playoff points with William Byron at the top of the provisional playoff table; he now leaves Florida as the third seed. Luckily, tracks like Darlington and Bristol suit him well as he chases that elusive first title.
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
2. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
Started: 22nd
Finished: 37th
What happened: Wallace charged up front quickly in Stage 1. However, that same Lap 27 wreck ended his night early and hopes of adding more points to his playoff charge, marking it as his seventh DNF of 2025 — tied for the most.
What’s next: He now heads to “The Lady in Black” next weekend, sitting ninth in the playoff standings and will need to find some pace to stay there after back-to-back weeks outside the top 25. The first round of tracks also isn’t favorable, with a mixed bag of results at Darlington, Gateway and Bristol in his Cup career.
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
3. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Started: 14th
Finished: 33rd
What happened: Busch needed to win at the “World Center of Racing” to advance into the playoffs and had the speed to do it. Unfortunately, “Rowdy” was also involved in the Lap 27 multicar wreck, which sent him behind the wall during the first half and effectively foiled his race.
What’s next: The two-time Cup champion is still on his career-longest winless streak, which is now 83 races. The best he can do now is play spoiler. With a runner-up finish at Darlington last year, a 2023 win at Gateway (his last win) and a long history of success at Bristol, those tracks set up some opportunity.
With Ryan Blaney winning his second race of the 2025 season, Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman clinched the final two spots in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in Saturday’s regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
Both of their spots came with adversity, knowing a new winner could potentially knock either driver out of the postseason.
Reddick went around at Lap 18 after contact with Zane Smith and nosed into the inside wall. His No. 45 23XI Racing team made repairs, keeping the Toyota driver on the lead lap for the ensuing restart.
Just four laps later, a big crash down the frontstretch claimed Alex Bowman, who entered Saturday’s race 60 points above the elimination line. The Hendrick Motorsports team attempted to fix the battered Chevrolet in the DVP (damaged vehicle policy) area before series officials determined the No. 48 couldn’t return to the track. Bowman’s DNF locked Reddick into the playoffs.
From that point on, all Bowman could do was wait. Several other winless drivers competed for the Daytona victory in the closing laps, including Daniel Suárez, Justin Haley and Cole Custer, but Blaney held the trio off in a four-wide finish to cement Bowman’s spot in the 10-race battle for the Bill France Cup.
Including Blaney, fourteen drivers secured playoff spots with wins earlier in the season. They are: Denny Hamlin (4 wins), Shane van Gisbergen (4 wins), Kyle Larson (3 wins), Christopher Bell (3 wins), William Byron (2 wins), Blaney (2 wins), Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry and Austin Dillon.
See the standings heading into next Sunday’s Cup Series Playoffs opener at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). The bottom four drivers will be eliminated after the first three races.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Not that a rescue mission was top of mind for Ryan Blaney, but his dramatic victory in Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway saved Alex Bowman from playoff oblivion.
Blaney rocketed forward from 12th in the running order with three laps left in the final NASCAR Cup Series regular-season race and crossed the finish line 0.031 seconds ahead of runner-up Daniel Suárez.
Justin Haley was 0.036 seconds behind Blaney in a three-wide photo finish for second place, with Cole Custer, who led the next-to-last lap, 0.049 seconds back in fourth.
A victory by Suárez, Haley or Custer would have eliminated Bowman from the playoffs. Instead, the driver of the No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet earned the 16th and final postseason berth on points.
Blaney’s second win of the season, his second at Daytona and 15th of his career, vaulted the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford into second place in the regular-season standings, earning him a bonus of 10 playoff points.
The victory was the first for a Ford driver since Blaney triumphed on June 1 at Nashville Superspeedway.
“What a wild last couple laps, honestly,” Blaney said. “I was with Cole, I kind of asked him on the restart, if you go to the top, I’m going with you. We kind of just waited and waited, and then the opportunity came, and he made a good move to get to the top, and we were able to really get good shoves.
“A couple good guys behind us, and then it kind of cleared the way for us when the 7 (Haley) and 41 (Custer) got racing, and I was able to clear on the top and just barely hold out for the win.”
In fact, Blaney got the opportunity he needed when Custer moved off the top lane to block Haley’s strong run. At that point, Blaney had enough momentum to carry him to the finish line with roughly a half-car-length to spare.
In a race that featured 44 lead changes among 19 drivers, Blaney and teammate Joey Logano each led 27 laps. Logano spent much of the final stage out front before spinning in front of Erik Jones with 11 laps left.
Jones finished fifth, followed by Stage 1 winner Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry and Chase Elliott. Ross Chastain won the second stage before finishing 15th.
For Bowman, a window of opportunity in the early going opened and shut in short order. On Lap 18, Todd Gilliland lost control of the middle lane and took the Toyota of Tyler Reddick with him.
Reddick nosed into the inside wall and was able to continue after repairs, but the accident gave Bowman hope of overcoming his 29-point deficit to the 23XI driver and locking into the playoffs.
That hope was short-lived. On Lap 27, Bowman was collected in a 12-car pileup on the frontstretch triggered by chain reaction contact between Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.
“Everything was happening pretty quick there,” Wallace said. “The hit from the 5 (Larson) shoved me down there, and it was like I got shoved up by the 22 (Logano), and the 12 (Blaney) moved up. He was trying to just move up and take the lane. But, oh well. I hate it. 20th or 22nd to the lead in a short amount of time…
“All in all, we’re locked in (the playoffs), and we’ll get focused for Darlington.”
The wreck knocked Bowman out of the race. Busch’s last hope for the postseason also ended in the garage, as did that of formidable superspeedway racer Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
“It was all very out of our control,” said Bowman, who had to watch the rest of the race from the sidelines and hope no new winner would oust him from the playoffs. “I hate that we tanked so bad the first run.
“The bottom lane just fell apart behind us. We had to overcome that, but we had gotten back to the back side of the top 10. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out.”
What did work out was Blaney’s victory, which kept Bowman’s championship aspirations alive. He joins Hendrick teammates William Byron (the Regular Season Champion), Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott in the playoffs.
With the field of 16 drivers set, the 10-race playoffs will begin Sunday, Aug. 31, at Darlington Raceway in the Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
NOTE: Inspection in the Cup Series garage was completed without issue, confirming Blaney as the winner and solidifying the playoff field. No cars will return to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina.
Daytona calamity reared its head late in Stage 1 Saturday night as a multicar incident broke out entering the tri-oval on Lap 27.
Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch collided together racing three-wide tight down the frontstretch after a push from the No. 5 Chevrolet of Kyle Larson knocked Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota to the left, turning him into the No. 22 Ford and No. 8 Chevrolet.
Twelve cars were involved in the wreck, most notably Alex Bowman, who entered the regular-season finale as the last driver in the playoffs at 60 points above the elimination line entering the race. Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Noah Gragson were also among those involved.
Bowman and Tyler Reddick entered the 160-lap event as the two drivers above the elimination line without a victory. Reddick was caught up in a two-car tango off Turn 4 at Lap 18 with Todd Gilliland that caused front-end damage to the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota.
Bowman started in the second spot, but lost significant momentum early on in the low groove and had faded to 30th place by Lap 6. He had worked the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet back up to 10th at the time of the incident.
“I mean, honestly, I don’t think any of us expected the bottom lane to fall apart like it did in the beginning of the race and us to lose all our track position. That was pretty surprising,” Bowman said. “Just couldn’t get going, and we chipped away at getting our track position back and got up — I don’t know where we were, 10th or backside of the top 10, somewhere around there — right when we crashed. When they crashed in front of us, there wasn’t anything we could have done different to get through that all.
“I mean, I hate it for everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. They work really hard. The last 10 or 11 weeks has been really fun to be a part of. We’ve been really strong, and that’s been cool.”
Reddick continued in the race on the lead lap, but Bowman’s night came to an end shortly after his No. 48 crew assessed the damage in the Cup Series garage.
Wallace, who led a lap early and clinched a playoff spot last month at Indianapolis, was among those sidelined by the crash damage with 133 laps still to go.
“Got up to the lead fairly quick, so I thought we were playing all of our cards right,” Wallace said. “But just in the blink of an eye, which is what happens here at Daytona, it can be all taken away from you. It is what it is. We’ll re-rack, take Sunday off and go focus on Darlington.”
The crash forced an eight-minute, 30-second red flag for clean-up.
With Ryan Blaney winning the regular-season finale, it solidifies the 16-driver Cup Series Playoff field, which includes Reddick, who took the checkered flag in 21st place, and Bowman, who was credited with a 36th-place finish.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In conjunction with Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Peacock), iRacing Studios and NASCAR unveiled the cover for the highly anticipated “NASCAR 25” racing game, which will launch on Oct. 14.
Gracing the cover are NASCAR Cup Series stars William Byron (2024 and 2025 Daytona 500 champion), Christopher Bell (2025 All-Star Race winner) and Ryan Blaney (2023 Cup champion).
The official game of NASCAR features all four national touring series: ARCA Menards, NASCAR Craftsman Truck, NASCAR Xfinity and NASCAR Cup. Platforms that support the game are PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, XJS and PC via stream.
Game-play modes include Career Mode, Quick Race, Championship Season and 40-player Multiplayer.
Pre-orders for NASCAR 25 will open in mid-September.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Trackhouse Racing announced Saturday that Connor Zilisch will drive full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2026, the latest move in his rapid rise up the stock-car racing ladder.
Zilisch replaces Daniel Suárez, who will leave Trackhouse at year’s end after five seasons driving the team’s No. 99 Chevrolet. The organization and driver announced July 1 that they had mutually reached an agreement to part company, creating a high-profile vacancy in Trackhouse’s three-car fleet alongside Cup teammates Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen.
Zilisch appears poised to fill that void ever since signing with Trackhouse as part of the organization’s driver development program in January 2024. Since then, the 19-year-old phenom has won eight times in 27 starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series while driving for JR Motorsports. That stretch includes wins in five of the last six races, highlighted by Zilisch’s triumph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to seal JRM’s 100th victory and capped by Friday’s victory at Daytona International Speedway with Parker Kligerman driving in relief.
Though the news had been widely reported for weeks, Zilisch grew emotional when presented with the magnitude of the moment, with his family joining him in the Daytona media center.
“It’s cool. I knew the whole world knew already, but still to be able to say it and have my name next to the word ‘Cup Series’ is really cool,” Zilisch said. “So, I wasn’t going to try and hide from it, but it’s just a day that I’ve been dreaming of for a long time and I’m not going to let that kind of the idea that everybody already knows take away from the moment.”
Team founder Justin Marks indicated that Zilisch’s car number, crew chief and crew lineup would be announced in the coming weeks, but noted that Red Bell and WeatherTech would continue to be anchor partners with his program. Zilisch has used No. 87 in his three Cup Series starts this season with Trackhouse.
Zilisch ranks second in the Xfinity Series standings, just three points behind JRM teammate Justin Allgaier as the battle for the Regular Season Championship heads to its final two races. Zilisch is on the mend from a broken collarbone, suffered in a hard fall in Victory Lane after winning Watkins Glen two weeks ago. He started Friday night’s Xfinity event, yielding to Kligerman in a Lap 13 caution period.
Zilisch has excelled at each turn of his racing career, from karting to Mazda MX-5 and Trans-Am competition. His first appearance in IMSA’s Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance race yielded a victory in the LMP2 class.
The teenager’s move into stock cars also brought success, with wins in CARS Tour late models and the ARCA Menards Series before he reached the NASCAR national-series ranks last year. Zilisch participated in partial Xfinity and Craftsman Truck series schedules in 2024, winning poles on both circuits and rolling to victory in his Xfinity debut at Watkins Glen International last September.
Marks has called Zilisch a “rare talent,” noting how quickly the teenager has been able to adapt to different motorsports disciplines. He also lauded his potential to be a multi-time champion at the sport’s highest level.
“I think it’s what everybody sees. It’s the level of maturity, the approach, the ability to deliver in big moments,” Marks said. “When I get asked, which is sort of weird, but I get asked sometimes by young people, ‘What can I do to get noticed or to get an opportunity in racing?’ And I tell them it’s just you have to just win. You have to just have the ability to get it done when you got a fast race car and when you have a winning opportunity you’ve got to be able to close the deal. Connor’s done it. Just every car he’s gotten in, he’s figured out a way to win.
“I think another one is the rate of adaptability. This sport won’t wait on somebody to figure things out. It’s such a fast-paced sport. You have to be able to get in a car, understand it right away, find its limits right away, and go deliver right away.”
Zilisch’s road-racing background has provided him with an edge in his wins at The Glen, Circuit of The Americas and Sonoma Raceway, but he has also been a quick study while performing on ovals, prevailing at Pocono, Dover and Indy consecutively. JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said after his Brickyard triumph that Zilisch has the potential for “incredible, Hall of Fame-worthy things” in his career, hinting that a Cup Series move was imminent. He also said he’s buying into the ever-building buzz around Zilisch, comparing his prodigious rise to that of some of the sport’s all-time greats.
“I mean, the only thing I think it’s close to is probably Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson,” Earnhardt said, making a nod toward his former teammates — both multiple-time Cup Series champions. “So he might be even more of a comet … he might be even more rare than that, because I don’t know, man, if you all get a chance to spend time around him, you’ll realize how mature he is, and I think there’s probably a lot of parents in the room that would be amazed at his level of maturity.”
Zilisch’s beyond-his-years composure will be tested in NASCAR’s top division next season, when his first full Cup Series campaign starts here in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15. His first effort in the “Great American Race” will provide a “welcome to the show” moment, but Zilisch says the journey to saying he’s made it in the sport is just beginning.
“I still haven’t made it to where I want to be, right? This is the start,” Zilisch said. “I wanted to get to this point and give myself the opportunity to win championships at the highest level, but I wouldn’t say I’ve made it. But I’ve made it farther than a lot. So, that’s something to be proud of. And, yeah, it’s going to be grueling. The Cup Series is no joke, and that jump from Saturday to Sunday is bigger than probably any other sport in our country. So yeah, I’m excited for the challenge and looking forward to just going out and learning and every Sunday giving my best effort and seeing where I stack up.”
