Four-day schedule for 2025 NASCAR All-Star Race Week announced

Posted on April 1, 2025 by Track Release

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. (April 1, 2025) — A star-studded, four-day NASCAR All-Star Race Week of show-stopping entertainment and wheel-to-wheel excitement will descend on North Wilkesboro Speedway May 15-18, giving fans the most on-track, event-week action in the iconic speedway’s history — as well as the 40-year history of the All-Star event.

The grand finale of the week is the 41st running of the NASCAR All-Star Race, a no-holds-barred battle for $1 million on Sunday night, May 18, but race fans will get plenty of fender-bumping short-track racing Thursday, Friday and Saturday preceding Sunday’s main event.

Thursday’s schedule includes qualifying for both the zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model and zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock Series as well as The Reverend Whiskey 75 zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model feature.

NASCAR All-Star Open and Race practice sessions kick off All-Star Friday presented by Raymer Oil on May 16, with the NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge presented by Mechanix Wear — a race against the clock for drivers and crews to set the Heat Race fields — and a Friday-night zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car nightcap taking the spotlight. For the first time, a nationwide cable television audience will witness the zMAX CARS Tour’s eclectic mix of household names and rising stars, with FS1 broadcasting the race live Friday night. NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. will join fellow zMAX CARS Tour co-owner and NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick in the announcers’ booth for what is sure to be the preeminent event on the zMAX CARS Tour schedule.

The weekend lineup starts Saturday, May 17, with Window World 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice, qualifying and race followed by All-Star Heat Races and a post-race Jake Owen concert on the infield frontstretch presented by Raymer Oil.

Sunday begins with a new addition to All-Star weekend, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. NWMT practice, qualifying and a 150-lap feature will be followed by the high-octane All-Star Open, where the top two finishers transfer into the main event — the NASCAR All-Star Race under the lights.

“There’s never been an All-Star Race Week like this, with more racing and entertainment than at any other time in the history of the event,” said Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith. “From grassroot stocks and modifieds to NASCAR trucks, Cup cars and a concert, NASCAR All-Star Race Week is jam-packed with four days of fun to satisfy any race fan who joins us in the beautiful mountains surrounding North Wilkesboro Speedway.”

MORE: NASCAR All-Star Race winners | Drivers to win All-Star Race, championship in same season

Joey Logano won last year’s NASCAR All-Star Race — the second such victory of his career — before going on to capture his third NASCAR Cup Series championship in November. The unforgettable weekend also featured an on-track collision between Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. that led to a post-race, off-track donnybrook in the garage area.

Race fans can experience everything on the four-day schedule at North Wilkesboro’s historic five-eighths-mile oval by locking in race week ticket packages that start at just $130 and include access to the Jake Owen concert presented by Raymer Oil. Fans can buy race week packages, single-day tickets, camping and more by visiting www.northwilkesborospeedway.com.

“This is going to be an exciting and entertaining weekend of racing at North Wilkesboro,” said zMAX CARS Tour Co-Owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. “With the Pro Late Models running Thursday night on Flo (Racing) and Late Model Stocks Friday night on FS1 and Flo, it’s going to be a great time. I’m very proud about how much the series has grown and this is an incredible opportunity for our drivers and teams to showcase themselves. Kevin (Harvick) and I are going to have a lot of fun calling that race from the booth on Friday.”

NASCAR All-Star Race format and additional broadcast information will be released at a later date. Schedule highlights (subject to change) are listed below. Fans should visit www.northwilkesborospeedway.com for the most up-to-date information.

THURSDAY, MAY 15:

zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model Qualifying
zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock Qualifying
The Reverend Whiskey 75 Pro Late Model Feature (75 laps)

FRIDAY, MAY 16:

NASCAR All-Star Race and Open Practice
NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge presented by Mechanix Wear
zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock Feature (100 laps)

SATURDAY, MAY 17:

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Practice, Qualifying and Window World 250 Race
NASCAR All-Star Heat Races
Jake Owen Fronstretch Concert presented by Raymer Oil

SUNDAY, MAY 18:

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Practice, Qualifying and Feature (150 laps)
NASCAR All-Star Open
NASCAR All-Star Race

Fans can connect with North Wilkesboro Speedway and get the latest news regarding the 2025 NASCAR All-Star Race and all events at North Wilkesboro by following on X and Instagram or becoming a Facebook fan.

Posted on April 1, 2025April 1, 2025 by Nathan Solomon

After placing seventh in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, Ryan Preece considered his strong finish a bit of a surprise.

“I didn’t expect that one,” Preece said after the race, reflecting on his third top 10 in a row. “We’ve got some work to do to be able to drive through like some other cars do, but I think we’ve got some good ideas and obviously a little luck went our way today.”

So how much truth is there to Preece’s luck? Using data from NASCAR Insights, Preece’s explanation makes sense.

NASCAR Insights is using five major categories to analyze drivers throughout the season: Passer Rating, Defense Rating, Speed Rating, Restart Rating and Pit Crew Rating. In Sunday’s race, Preece ranked 13th or worse in all five of those categories; in fact, he was the only top-15 finisher to not rank in the top 10 in any of the five.

Starting Sunday’s 400-lapper in 21st, Preece and crew chief Derrick Finley used some early strategy to gain stage points as a caution with nine laps to go in Stage 1 allowed the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford to stay out and finish seventh in Stage 1. Before the yellow, Preece was running in the 30s. When he pitted during the break, he lost that track position and didn’t have the raw speed to climb back through the field. According to NASCAR Insights, Preece ranked 21st in Speed Rating, evidenced in part by a 23rd-place finish in Stage 2 and his 20.4 average running position for the day.

Preece continued to run in the 20s throughout the final stage until green flag pit stops fell in his favor. Shane van Gisbergen went for a spin because of a loose wheel, bringing out a caution at Lap 275. Because Preece had not yet pitted, that allowed him to come down pit road for fresh Goodyears under the yellow.

Restarting with a slight tire advantage, Preece drove from the mid-teens to seventh at the end of the race, benefitting from a 74-lap green-flag run to the finish.

But how do some of the other metrics from NASCAR Insights factor into Preece’s finish?

Preece’s team finished 28th in Pit Crew Rating, a rating that, based on the eye test, feels a bit surprising for a seventh-place finish. For reference, race winner Denny Hamlin statistically had the best pit crew on Sunday, and Joey Logano, who finished directly behind Preece, had the 10th-best and ranked top six in passing, defense and speed.

Throughout the first half of the race, Preece complained to his team about handling issues. He battled a tight condition overall, telling Finley: “Whatever we did overnight completely killed it.” Because the team had more speed during the final long run, Preece’s pit stops earlier in the race were likely longer due to more adjustments, especially since he has the 11th-best pit crew this season.

MORE: Power Rankings: Where Preece sits

“They made the right adjustment when it mattered,” Preece said, referring to his pit crew. “There are some guys that hit it early and then they fell off. For us, we were at our best there at the end, so I’m just proud of everybody. I’m happy. We’re getting on a roll. At first, this is a place I wanted to take advantage of for points because I felt like Martinsville is in my wheelhouse, so I’m happy we did. I hate talking about points, but every bit matters.”

Preece’s other NASCAR Insights metrics included 19th in Passer Rating, 13th in Defense Rating and 14th in Restart Rating. His best-career finish at Martinsville propelled him up two spots to 14th in the Cup Series standings. It’s also the first time in his career with three straight top 10s — an impressive feat for a brand new third RFK car.

Other notables from Sunday:

• Despite having the highest Defense Rating, Carson Hocevar finished 19th, in part due to recording the second-lowest Restart Rating.

• Justin Haley had the second-best pit crew at Martinsville but was 25th or worse in Passer Rating, Defense Rating and Speed Rating as he finished 29th.

• William Byron placed top 10 in Defense Rating and Restart Rating, but finished 22nd in the race largely because of a Passer Rating and Pit Crew Rating in the 20s.

• The top-five finishers statistically had the five fastest cars.

Posted on April 1, 2025April 2, 2025 by Pat DeCola

Denny Hamlin turned in a vintage victory in a classic Martinsville Speedway stomping, re-inserting himself into the championship picture with his first win since the spring of last season.

NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 Cup Series contenders after the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway and before Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: Next-level statistics provided by NASCAR Insights.

Analysis: Larson failed to lead a single lap at Martinsville, his self-admitted likely “best track,” which is honestly quite surprising because he was the best restarter and No. 2 passer on the day en route to his fourth top five in the past six races. The driver with the No. 1 speed and No. 3 defense of 2025 now goes to another of his strong venues at Darlington, where he led 263 laps the last time out as he collected his seventh top five in 14 track starts.

Analysis: Bell was maybe the only guy who had anything to compete with Hamlin’s No. 11 on Sunday — and he still finished 4.617 seconds behind his teammate as the race’s runner-up, Bell’s fourth top-two finish in the last six races. The way he’s running, he can’t be ruled out anywhere at the moment, but historically, Darlington is a weaker track for him with just three top 10s in 11 starts.

Analysis: Byron failed to lead a lap for the first time all year in Sunday’s race at Martinsville, which felt like a rather large swing-and-miss for he and crew chief Rudy Fugle. Considering he’s already locked into the playoffs and Martinsville remains the elimination race ahead of the Championship 4, it’s possible there was some setup experimenting going on with the No. 24, but the No. 1 defender of 2025 will look to once again flex his muscle and collect his second Darlington win this weekend.

Analysis: On days when a driver is racing at one of his best tracks (bonus points if it’s also his home track) with the No. 1 speed and pit crew for the race, you’re going to see a lot of performances like Hamlin’s Martinsville masterclass. He’s almost never not in the mix for the win at Darlington, too, and back-to-back wins from the series’ oldest full-timer would be quite a statement. And quite possible.

Analysis: Elliott still feels like he’s on the verge of a major breakthrough, and Martinsville’s best passer might just pass a lot of cars this weekend, too. Though he’s only led in three of his 16 Darlington starts (and not since 2020), the gut-check here says that trend ends on Sunday, and he’ll be in contention for the Throwback Weekend victory.

Analysis: Though he’s won there before, Bowman is certainly the weakest Hendrick driver at Martinsville, and a promising start (Stage 1 runner-up) finished in the doldrums (P27). The 2020 Darlington spring race runner-up ranks last among Hendrick drivers at this track, too, but maybe some of that Jimmie Johnson throwback magic will work its way into the No. 48.

Analysis: We’re officially past the “this guy ran good in the first handful of races … is there something here, or is this a fluke?” part of the season and now firmly into “yep, there’s something here” territory as Wallace backs up his hot 2025 start weekly. He’s likely to keep it rolling at Darlington, too, where he’s the most recent pole winner and owns an 8.8 average finish in the past five races.

Analysis: All things considered, a P14 with another driver pointing a finger in his face after the race is better than how most of Reddick’s Martinsville starts tend to go, so he’ll be happy to get outta there and move on to Darlington. It feels like an anomaly that he has yet to win at the “Lady in Black,” and after leading 174 laps in this race last year, he lines up as one of the favorites.

Analysis: Logano really had to grind over that final run to make sure he landed in the top 10 despite looking strong all race, but he did, and he finally has that monkey off his back. He’s also now back in the top 10 in the standings, and the 2022 Darlington spring race winner should be able to battle for his first 2025 win Sunday, too.

Analysis: Not quite a banner day for the driver who’s been Mr. Martinsville lately, but it’s tough to shine with the 29th-best pit crew on the day … which is perhaps worth stashing away and wondering if that’ll impact things come November. There’s no real concern here overall (it is literally April 1), but Blaney remains on track for a career-worst average finish (20.0), and it’s no slam dunk he whittles that down at Darlington, where he averages just a 19.6 finish.

Analysis: Boy, we haven’t seen Buescher that mad since, well, last year’s spring race at Darlington. So, with plenty of motivation stemming from a Martinsville run-in with Noah Gragson and perhaps still thinking about last year’s South Carolina beef with Tyler Reddick, No. 17 feels like a real dark horse (no pun intended) for the win this weekend.

Analysis: It’s clear Martinsville is going to be a strong track for Briscoe in his career, and even more so now that he’s with Joe Gibbs Racing, after another impressive run there among the big dogs. You can say the same for him and Darlington, where he enters as the most recent winner amid a pair of strong top-five finishes there last year.

Analysis: Chastain has had an interesting start so far, looking great at times but still kind of wading in that middle ground. Turns out, he might be doing more with less, proving his driver talent by having the 14th-best speed and 19th-best pit crew of 2025 so far, but being third-best in passing and restarts. If the performance in his No. 1 picks up on pit road and in the engineering department, he could find his way to multiple wins.

Analysis: Speaking of doing more with less, after another exceptional run, it sure looks like that’s what Preece has been doing the past few years now that we’re seeing what he’s capable of in equipment that can compete for wins more weeks than not. We know he can look good on short tracks, though … but what about Darlington, where he’s yet to earn a top 10 in 10 starts? We’ll see.

Analysis: No, McDowell didn’t collect his first Martinsville top 10 in his 29th try, but a 25-point, 12th-place finish is still a solid day. The fresh Spire Motorsports driver continues to blossom in his new digs and now gets a crack at a track where he landed a pair of top-seven runs as recently as 2022.

Analysis: Berry’s drop is unfortunate because we never quite got to see what he could do on Sunday as his No. 21 Ford was plagued with mechanical issues almost from the jump. There’s a good chance he would’ve been fast, and there’s a good chance last year’s third-place finisher in the Darlington spring race is a factor again this weekend.

Analysis: On the positive side, Busch’s finishes and points are trending in the right direction again, but overall, there’s some dwindling optimism here that the early-season gains RCR seemed to have are here to stay. Things may start to unravel a bit further if the team is not competitive again this weekend at Darlington, where Busch was the runner-up in the most recent race.

Analysis: Nemechek had a bead going on a solid run when he landed top five in Stage 1 at Martinsville, but really sank the rest of the race and dropped down to 25th for the finish. Darlington is such an odd track for him, history-wise, as he collected a top 10 there as a rookie in 2020 but hasn’t come close to a solid finish since, landing no better than 25th.

Analysis: Stenhouse’s 20th-place Martinsville run was nothing to write home about, but it did keep him afloat in the top 20 in the standings for now, but danger lies ahead. With just a single top 10 and nary a lap led in his 18 Darlington starts dating back to 2013, he’ll need everything to go right on Sunday to sniff a solid finish.

Analysis: The finish wasn’t there, but Allmendinger showed why he’s more than capable at Martinsville, leaning on his P3 in Stage 1 to prop up his 22 points on the day. He was 25th in speed but sixth in defense, and those skills will come in handy again at Darlington, where his last start came in 2023 and he’s never finished in the top 10.

Posted on April 1, 2025April 1, 2025 by Zack Albert

Three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers scored top-10 finishes in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, led by Denny Hamlin’s sterling drive to his sixth triumph at the Virginia short track. The fourth JGR pilot, 22-year-old Ty Gibbs, was poised to join his teammates in that results bracket until contact at the three-quarter mark of Sunday’s 400-lapper knocked him down.

Remarkably, Gibbs’ 13th-place finish in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 was his best in Cup Series’ seven races so far this year. The former Xfinity Series champ remained in the longest skid of his young Cup Series career, dating back to last season when he finished 30th or worse in the final five races of 2024.

Despite the lackluster result, some positives can be drawn from an evaluation of Gibbs’ on-track data. According to NASCAR Insights analysis, Gibbs was the only driver who achieved top-10 ratings in all four of the key performance metrics during Sunday’s race, measuring among the field’s front-runners in speed rating (seventh), passing (sixth), defense (fourth) and restarts (third). His No. 54 team was also eighth in a fifth category — pit crew rating — assessed by analytics partner Racing Insights.

Joe Gibbs Racing competition director Chris Gabehart noted after Sunday’s race how uneven the results have been for the organization’s youngest driver and his No. 54 Toyota team, but also highlighted encouraging signs from recent events. Gabehart said Gibbs was among the strongest in longer practice runs (15-, 20- and 25-lap averages) the last two weeks, but also pointed to Gibbs’ resilience and how reaching Victory Lane — as Hamlin’s No. 11 team and crew chief Chris Gayle did Sunday — was an achievable goal.

“The part that I’m most proud about where the 54 is concerned is it’s a tremendous amount of adversity,” Gabehart said, “but I always say champions aren’t made on their best days, they’re made on their worst, and Ty Gibbs and the 54 group’s going through a real rough stretch the last 14 races or so, but they’re starting to pull out of it, and Ty Gibbs is learning a lot about adversity and how to handle it and see it out to the end of these races and take opportunities when they’ll come to you, rather than not be there for them. So yeah, absolutely. And it’s going to make it’s going to make victory so much sweeter for that group, no different than Gayle and the 11 was today. It’s all the tough times and how hard this sport is on every minute of every day that makes the win so sweet, and the 54’s opportunity for that’s right around the corner.”

Gibbs currently ranks 31st in the Cup Series standings, improving three spots after Sunday’s result. He finished fourth in Stage 2 on Sunday, but his encouraging run to the finish was short-circuited in the 297th of 400 laps when fellow Toyota driver Tyler Reddick nudged him into a spin that also caught Zane Smith up in the melee. Gibbs vowed revenge against Reddick over his team communications, and the two drivers had a civil discussion about the incident while standing alongside the No. 54 Toyota on pit road post-race.

MORE: Three Up, Three Down: Martinsville

Joe Gibbs, the team owner and Ty Gibbs’ grandfather, acknowledged the on-track hardship for the No. 54 group early in the 2025 campaign. But the 84-year-old Hall of Famer also indicated that his grandson inherited the spirit of his father, Coy Gibbs, who died in 2022.

“There’s no secret here. We’ve gone through a tough time to start the year,” Joe Gibbs said. “Everything that’s happened to us, not much gone our way. When that happens, I know what I’m studying through all of that. That is who surrounds us, who is there with us, who is working their rear end off at the race shop to try and get us back. Those are the people that I just really, really appreciate. Anytime you go through a tough time, for me, that is something I really want to look at. Who are the guys there. We got some of those guys that are leading us out of this. …

“But we’re going to fight. Ty’s dad, Coy, his statement was always anytime we got in a tough spot about his kids, he goes, ‘I raised my kids tough.’ That’s what he said. Hopefully, we’re going to fight our way out of this.”

Posted on April 1, 2025 by Staff Report

Goodyear officials have scheduled tire testing this week at Michigan International Speedway, ahead of the NASCAR race weekend there June 6-8.

Three NASCAR Cup Series teams are set for a one-day session Tuesday at the 2-mile track, working to try out softer compounds specific to the Michigan layout and different tire constructions for intermediate-sized — and intermediate-plus, like Michigan — circuits. The introduction of softer race-ready rubber is part of a recent industry-wide push toward more advanced wear and tire-management strategies.

As typical for Goodyear tests, one team from each of the three Cup Series manufacturers will be represented. Scheduled to participate are:

No. 17 RFK Racing Ford and driver Chris Buescher
No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and driver Ty Gibbs
No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet and driver Daniel Suárez

The Cup Series makes its annual trip to the Great Lakes State for the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday, June 8 (2 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). NASCAR’s premier tour will share the weekend bill with the Craftsman Truck Series on Saturday, June 7 and the ARCA Menards Series on Friday, June 6.

Posted on March 31, 2025April 3, 2025 by Staff Report

It’s time for Throwback Weekend at Darlington Raceway, and to kick off the racing Saturday, the NASCAR Xfinity Series hits the track for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 (3:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

DARLINGTON ENTRY LIST: Cup Series

Three NASCAR Cup Series regulars — Ross Chastain (JR Motorsports), Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports) and Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing) — are among the entrants Saturday at Darlington.

See the full entry list for the 147-lapper at “The Lady in Black” this weekend:

Posted on March 31, 2025April 2, 2025 by Staff Report

Throwback Weekend is here, and that means the NASCAR Cup Series is racing at Darlington Raceway, scheduled for Sunday in the Goodyear 400 (3 p.m. ET, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

DARLINGTON ENTRY LIST: Xfinity Series

Full-time Xfinity Series driver Austin Hill will make his first 2025 Cup start as driver of the No. 33 Richard Childress Chevrolet. Darlington will be the first of five Cup races the 30-year-old Hill will compete in during the 2025 campaign.

See the full entry list for the 293-lap event at the “Lady in Black” this weekend:

Posted on March 31, 2025April 1, 2025 by Zach Sturniolo

On one of his least dominant days of 2025, Joey Logano notched his best finish of the season Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

He just needed to fight through adversity once again.

This time, on his way back to an eighth-place result and 12th consecutive top 10 at Martinsville, Logano was forced to charge back through the field after his Lap 317 spin from sixth place. His No. 22 Team Penske Ford slid after contact from Chase Briscoe, but Logano placed the blame in the hands of Ross Chastain, who put a block on Briscoe’s No. 19 Toyota at the entrance of Turn 3 that Briscoe didn’t appreciate. Briscoe charged the corner to bump Chastain, but also caught the inside curbing, sending his car up the track and into Logano.

“Ross just sticking it in a tight spot,” Logano said. “He did it to me on the restart before. I can’t even blame Briscoe for shipping him. I think he got himself in a bind trying to ship him. He [Chastain] just races like a jackass every week, and I keep paying the price. I’m sick of paying the price.”

Asked whether he had anything to say to Chastain, Logano said: “Not at the moment. Nothing good.”

Ethan Smith | For NASCAR Digital Media

The “good” instead came from Logano’s speed, as emphasized by NASCAR Insights’ post-race statistics. The three-time and defending NASCAR Cup Series champion ranked fourth-best Sunday in passing, third-best in defense and sixth in overall speed. A Stage 1 victory netted him an additional 10 points toward the regular-season standings and a playoff point to boot, aiding the No. 22 team to a 39-point day, its best of the season.

Logano led 13 laps at Martinsville and now ranks second in laps led this season, thanks in large part to race winner Denny Hamlin pacing the field for 274 of 400 circuits on Sunday. And yet, the frustration of what could have been stung more for Logano than any bright side could offer.

“It seems like it’s been a typical 2025,” Logano said. “A pretty solid car, and then something happens. Overall, I feel the guys gave me a really fast Shell/Pennzoil Mustang, one that was possible to win with if we got the track position. We went for that stage win early in the race in Stage 1. I think that was the right call. We got ourselves back in the ballpark there, and the long haul was pretty good.”

Then came the contact from Briscoe that changed the complexion of Logano’s final 83 laps in the Cook Out 400.

Posted on March 31, 2025March 31, 2025 by Tadd Haislop

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — For a brief moment after Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, there were signs Burt Myers might not be himself.

With a face as red as the C3 paint scheme on his No. 50 Team AmeriVet Chevrolet Camaro, the 49-year-old from nearby Walnut Cove, North Carolina was too overcome with exhaustion to crack a smile as he prepared to climb from the car. Pop off the steering wheel, drop the window net, detach cooling systems — much like his first NASCAR Cup Series points race in general, the process, while familiar, was foreign.

One step out of his ride and onto Martinsville’s pit road, though, delivered the return of Burt Myers. That seemingly permanent smile was back.

“That was tough,” Myers told a crew member through his grin, still catching his breath. “I tried my hardest.”

Despite his obvious fatigue, Myers was asked a question: How do you feel?

He glanced upward and scanned the scene that was a still-packed grandstand cheering (and booing) Denny Hamlin’s first Martinsville win in 10 years, all flanked by the sun setting behind the southwest Virginia hills. He finally responded.

“I’m good. I’m trying to take it all in, man. That was a lot.”

finished ✅ and still smiling 😃 pic.twitter.com/VGbWdxOAnN

— NASCAR Regional (@NASCARRegional) March 30, 2025

Myers is not used to finishing 36th in a 38-car field. He’s a Modified racing legend whose 11 Bowman Gray Stadium championships are only part of a resume he began building almost 30 years ago.

He is, however, familiar with the concept of enjoying himself at a race track. In that regard, Sunday at Martinsville was a new career highlight.

(Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)

Myers participated in the Cook Out Clash weekend last month at Bowman Gray, but this was his first “real deal” Cup Series racing experience, as he described it. And he didn’t take a moment for granted. He was relaxed, not nervous. He was cheerful, not edgy.

He was Burt Myers, not some 49-year-old rookie.

“At Bowman Gray, if there are five variables separating teams, there are 30 here,” Myers said, acknowledging the challenge that was a 400-lap Cup race at the demanding paperclip.

Myers’ opportunity to race at Martinsville was born in the wake of the Clash when his Modified sponsor, CitruSafe, entered a partnership with C3 Skids. The latter was willing to help fund another ride for Myers and Team AmeriVet at another short track.

The Martinsville race was more than an opportunity for redemption after Myers crashed out of the Clash’s Last Chance Qualifier. Myers was given a chance to join a national series show away from Bowman Gray, yet still surrounded by his family, friends and supporters.

That was the scene on pit road after driver introductions and before Myers climbed into the car. He spent those precious minutes taking photos with his wife, children and everyone else close to him sharing the milestone.

He admitted the race itself delivered only pockets of amusement. After all, he finished multiple laps down thanks largely to an ignition snafu during the second of three stages. But the post-race vibe was pure delight.

After re-charging for a few minutes in his team’s hauler, Myers emerged ready to engage in his typical hijinks. He engulfed a famous Martinsville Speedway hot dog, fully loaded with mustard, slaw, onions and chili. He also convinced his crew chief for the day, Tony Eury Jr., to eat one for the first time in 15 years.

After the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, Team AmeriVet was among the last to load their car into their hauler. They were busy chatting and laughing with driver Burt Myers. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)

Myers asked his crew members if there was anything left of the right side of the car. While he was being facetious with the question, the driver was legitimately delighted to learn only one body panel would need to be replaced.

As he sat on a cooler, other drivers and crew members stopped by to deliver congratulatory messages — not a scene typical for a driver who finished in the back of the pack. They all knew why Myers was still beaming.

The Modified racing legend did something the vast majority of short-track racers never get to do; he competed on stock-car racing’s biggest stage, and he did so without losing that amicable smile.

“Yeah, that’s the thing,” Myers concluded. “I got to do it. … And all four wheels are still on it.”

Posted on March 31, 2025 by Zack Albert

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Chris Gabehart had that feeling, something he estimated he’s had maybe a half-dozen times in the six years he’d spent as crew chief for Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota. Gabehart’s title has changed this season, but even in his new role as Joe Gibbs Racing’s competition director, he couldn’t shake the feeling that shadowed him this weekend: He liked the cut of the No. 11 team’s jib, and just knew that Hamlin would be Sunday’s race winner.

So moments before the field inched off pit road for the start of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series showdown at rugged Martinsville Speedway, Gabehart leaned into the cockpit to get Hamlin’s ear and share his feelings — that feeling — even as he saw the veteran driver’s eyes roll. Hamlin, after all, had come so close in recent years at one of his home-state tracks, but the empty cupboard in the win column here had weighed on him each season since 2015.

Still, Gabehart persisted.

“I said, I got it today. It’s you, it’s you,” Gabehart recalled. “And I told all of them. I said the 11 is winning today. And he says, ‘Your batting average for that’s like 10%.’ I said, ‘Bullcrap. You know it’s way better than that.'”

Roughly three hours later, Hamlin embraced Gabehart alongside the Victory Lane stage and confessed: “You’re right. It’s way better than that.”

Hamlin stirred up the nostalgic aura of the days when Martinsville wins flowed like water and grandfather clock trophies sprouted like spring flowers for the No. 11 team, dominating Sunday’s Cook Out 400 for his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season. The win was validating on a number of levels for both Hamlin and JGR, affirming the changes the organization made in the offseason, buoying the spirits of new No. 11 crew chief Chris Gayle, and providing a real-time referendum on whether the oldest driver in the Cup Series field could still do it.

Hamlin answered the last question with a resounding exclamation point, leading 274 of the 400 laps and pulling away from all would-be challengers down the stretch to prevail by a convincing 4.617 seconds. “Certainly felt like the old days,” said Hamlin, who became a six-time Martinsville winner in collecting his 55th Cup Series triumph, tying him for 11th on the circuit’s all-time win list with NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace.

Wallace was 47 years old when he snared that final victory — in this springtime race at Martinsville nearly 21 years ago — and he retired one season later. Hamlin is 44 and every bit the elder statesman in the current-day Cup Series garage, and though he has fewer driving days in front of him than behind him, the JGR vet says his competitive bent hasn’t wavered — whether it’s racing, basketball, golf, pickleball, you name it. Brandishing an “11 Against The World” flag in a post-race stance that was equal parts triumphant and defiant drove that point home; Hamlin can still turn back the clock — grandfather or otherwise.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

“I mean, I probably am the king of irrational confidence,” Hamlin said. “I mean, generally speaking, I know that when I’ve got the car to do it, I can be the best, so … I haven’t felt like I’ve held back the car at any point. Certainly, I’m not immune to understanding that Father Time is undefeated. Everything that I need to be good to be a race car driver is still really sharp. I feel like it hasn’t happened yet. It will, but not yet.”

Hamlin’s driving career may not have many drastically new chapters ahead, not for a driver who has spent his entire 20-year career with the same organization. But this season has already thrown a doozy his way, with Gabehart’s promotion leading to a new voice atop the No. 11 team’s pit box for the first time since 2019.

Hamlin expressed his initial shock this past offseason, shortly after hearing the news that one of the garage’s longest-running driver-crew chief pairings would be dissolved. Insert Gayle, who was already a longtime JGR hand primarily working with younger drivers, and he spoke openly before the season began about the pressures of accepting such a high-profile role with a proven winner.

So as the laps counted down Sunday, some of those nerves came through with Gayle’s fellow pit-box inhabitants anxiously and collectively tapping feet in hopes that no cautions or other late-race maladies would halt Hamlin’s charge, so much so that the crew chief joked that he needed to install a damper to reduce the shaking. The checkered flag’s arrival brought a sense of relief, both for Sunday’s race and the early assessment of the team’s season-long goals.

“Probably me more than anybody else, right? I’m the only one that’s changed,” Gayle said. “They’ve won races previous to me. If anybody is going to have pressure on them, it was me. I think anytime you have change, there’s that concern. They haven’t shown it to me, the team hasn’t. I’m sure in the back of their minds, human nature is, ‘Are we going to win as much as we did before?’ We’re doing some changes here. How is this all going to work?

“It’s great. I feel like we’ve worked well together. But for sure to get that first win out of the way and get it done early probably relieves them all, myself included.”

Gabehart’s message to Gayle at the outset was to immerse himself in the No. 11 team’s culture, gain an understanding of how the group works, and then learn how he fits best within that dynamic. Victories go a long way toward earning that sought-after trust, and Hamlin singled out Gayle with an emphatic note of thanks on the team radio on the cool-down lap.

MORE: At-track photos: Martinsville

But the overall changes appear to have mostly taken as well. Gabehart now has oversight of all competition aspects for all four JGR cars, and the organization has won four of the season’s first seven Cup Series events — three in a row by Christopher Bell and now, one from Hamlin.

“So there was obviously a lot of stuff that went on in the offseason that was, I think everybody understood it made a lot of sense, but there was a lot of … it was hard on a lot of people and not an easy decision for myself, and certainly left Denny and some others kind of wondering, I’m sure,” Gabehart said. “But, man, it is nice to be racking up wins and have cars as fast as they were today. I think at one point, the JGR/23XI cars would have been top six if you blocked them up front, they’d have stayed there. But I would be lying if I said at Phoenix (where Hamlin was runner-up) and again here I wasn’t cheering the loudest inside for the 11. You know, Denny’s the one who gets a lot of the credit and the accolades. He’s the face of it. But the reality is that 11 team was special, special to me. Took a lot of years to build it, the chemistry and the camaraderie and for them to come out and finally win a grandfather clock after 11 years is a big deal to me. So just super proud of them.”

When Hamlin last won at Martinsville in 2015, Gabehart was a team engineer with the No. 11 crew. He made his crew chief debut in the Xfinity Series for JGR the following year, then joined the Cup Series rotation with the No. 11 team in 2019. That meant he missed out on the track’s grandfather clock prize, a time-worn tradition for Martinsville winners since the mid-1960s.

For the second time this weekend, Gabehart had that feeling.

“I will get a clock,” Gabehart said, adding with a laugh, “and he is buying it.”