LAS VEGAS — Lingering effects from an illness drew Josh Williams out of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday.
Williams pulled the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet to pit road on Lap 46 after the conclusion of Stage 1 to step out of the vehicle as Ty Dillon, driver of Kaulig’s No. 10 car in the Cup Series, substituted for him. On his radio communications before exiting the car, Williams said: “Thank you, guys. I’m sorry. I just can’t do you a good job today.”
The illness stems from two weeks ago at Circuit of The Americas, and the effects carried over to Las Vegas.
“I’ve been sick since COTA,” Williams told NASCAR.com after the end of Stage 2. “It was just super hard to breathe in the car, so I couldn’t ever catch my breath, and it just wasn’t safe to stay out there. So thanks to Ty for jumping in for me and everybody at Kaulig being supportive about it. I’d rather race all the races instead of trying to make it through one and not make it.
“I’ve never felt like this my entire life. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever felt before. It’s like you’re almost drowning.”
Williams said doctors have told him there is fluid in his lungs as part of the illness, creating the complications he faced in the car Saturday.
“I mean, I’ve taken medicine. I’m doing what I need to do,” Williams said. “But they said it could take a while, so I wish it would hurry up.”
Williams opted against going to the infield care center and watched the conclusion of the second stage from atop the No. 11 team’s pit box. While the circumstances are still developing, he expects to be back in action next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway (4 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Forced to watch his car race around the track with Dillon in his place, Williams wasn’t fond of the experience but knew it was the right decision.
“That part sucks, right? But I’m still standing here talking to you,” Williams said with a laugh. “I’m not passed out, so that’s a good thing. But I mean, it sucks, but I think it was the safest thing to do.”
Dillon wheeled the No. 11 Chevrolet to a 29th-place finish, six laps down after stepping in on short notice. The veteran voiced his support for Williams following the contest and explained how such short notice could impact the nuances of a substitute role.
“We knew there was a potential to have to get in the car today, but I know Josh wanted to battle and be a warrior there,” Dillon said. “I think he was just too sick, so hopefully, he gets better. I got a text for me to get to the pit box pretty quick. I hate I couldn’t make more out of it, but it was a tough seat to fit in. It was pretty tight, but I’m glad I was able to step in and finish it enough for these guys. I know anybody else would do the same thing for me, too.”
Because he started the race, Williams still earned points, tallying eight to his season total.
See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series driver will pit for the Pennzoil 400 on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
LAS VEGAS — A change of scene did nothing to diminish Michael McDowell’s qualifying prowess.
After winning the first six pole positions of his NASCAR Cup Series career with Front Row Motorsports last season, McDowell moved to Spire Motorsports in 2025 and apparently retained the speed he found last year.
Turning a lap at 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 28.883 seconds (186.961 mph) in Saturday’s time trials, McDowell claimed the top starting spot for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) — his first Busch Light Pole Award at Las Vegas, his first of the season, the seventh of his Cup Series career and Spire’s first Cup Series pole in team history.
The 28.883-second circuit was the fastest qualifying lap at Las Vegas since the fall 2018 race.
Turns 3 and 4 were the key to McDowell’s blistering lap. When his No. 71 Chevrolet stuck firmly in the first two corners, McDowell took full advantage during the balance of the run.
“When my car went through (Turns) 1 and 2 and had a lot of grip, I didn’t think I had used it all up,” said McDowell, who beat reigning series champion Joey Logano (186.864 mph) for the pole by 0.015 seconds. “I knew that I had an opportunity to potentially do that (run the final two corners) without scrubbing speed and without putting myself in a bad spot.
“That’s the chance you take, right? You put wheel into it, get loose and you start tracking up. The car had a lot of speed, obviously, and a lot of grip, and just from studying and seeing how (Christopher) Bell was able to do that last year in Round 2 … I felt like that was the right move to make.
In Saturday’s session, which featured a single lap from each car, Austin Cindric qualified third at 186.793 mph, followed by Kyle Busch (186.638 mph) and Erik Jones (186.632 mph).
Alex Bowman, Josh Berry, William Byron, Zane Smith and Kyle Larson claimed positions sixth through 10th on the starting grid, respectively.
Christopher Bell, seeking a fourth straight Cup Series victory, claimed the 13th starting spot but will drop to the rear at the start of the race as the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team elected to change a throttle body. John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 42 Legacy Motor Club team also made the change and will join Bell at the rear of the field when the green flag drops Sunday afternoon.
Chastain fastest in practice
Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain topped the leaderboard in practice at 187.846 mph, besting Bubba Wallace (186.290 mph) and William Byron (186.175 mph).
Kyle Larson (185.982 mph) and Austin Dillon (185.695 mph) rounded out the top five.
Noah Gragson (185.459 mph), Chase Elliott (185.433 mph), Christopher Bell (185.350 mph), Michael McDowell (185.236 mph) and Chris Buescher (185.008 mph) completed the top 10.
The only caution of practice occurred in Group 1 when Ryan Blaney had a right-rear tire go down, causing him to spin and back the No. 12 Ford into the Turn 2 wall. Blaney brought the car back to the garage for his Team Penske crew to evaluate the damage to the rear of the car.
Blaney did not post a qualifying lap as his team decided to repair his primary car instead of going to a backup for Sunday’s race.
LAS VEGAS – Since Kyle Larson joined Hendrick Motorsports ahead of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, the No. 5 team has been the standard. No team has won more races (23) or led more laps (6,055).
For most Cup Series teams, scoring a pair of podium finishes through the opening four races of the season, featuring a pair of superspeedways and a road course, would be pleased to have escaped with minimal damage. Not Larson, who has led a mere 12 laps through the opening month of the 2025 campaign.
Admittedly, Larson’s biggest struggle since moving to stock cars has been figuring out superspeedways. He remains winless in 49 starts but finally earned a top-five finish last month at the reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway in his seventh attempt. That followed the season-opening Daytona 500, where the No. 5 car was mired toward the rear of the field, signaling Jeff Gordon, vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, to say the poor results on superspeedways were getting to Larson’s head.
But with one decent finish through the first two races of the year on superspeedways, Larson felt as though he was off to a better start than 2024, which was the first season to start with consecutive drafting tracks.
“I think, like, Daytona just was rough,” Larson said on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “We just were buried in the back the whole time. So, that was frustrating to start your season off like that. I would have rather been up front and got crashed but never got to see the front. Atlanta was good. You know, I was happy. You know, I expected to go there and crash, and we got a good finish. So, I felt like we were a week ahead of schedule.”
When the series picked up at Circuit of The Americas, Larson had multiple issues throughout the event, despite the No. 5 team believing it had a Chevrolet capable of contending inside the top five. The biggest hindrance was losing his right-front wheel after exiting the pits, resulting in a two-week suspension for two crew members. The No. 5 team plucked two members from Justin Haley’s No. 7 team — a Hendrick Motorsports developmental pit crew — to fill in through this weekend at Las Vegas. The No. 5 car left COTA with a 32nd-place finish.
In a crucial race at Phoenix Raceway last weekend, William Byron was the lone Hendrick car that stood above the rest. Yet when the checkered flag flew, it was Larson who was the best in the finishing order, ranking third.
“Phoenix last week, we just weren’t fast,” Larson stated. “We weren’t very good. But our team did an amazing job executing: pit stops, restarts, all of that stuff kept us in the hunt.
“I just feel like we haven’t had consistency really to start, whether that be kind of everything coming together. So, I’m hoping that this week, a track that we have success at in the past, you know, we can kind of put it all together and you have a solid weekend. And then go to another track next week where I’m really confident at and try and just put a few good races in a row together.”
Since the formation of the No. 5 bunch, Larson has won at least one race through the opening month of the season in three of his four seasons with HMS (2023). And while Larson is still looking to secure a playoff ticket, Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5, has actually been enthused with where his team sits.
“I think we would have wanted to show a little bit more strength at times,” Daniels told NASCAR.com of the team’s start to 2025. “Last week was a big team day for us because we had somewhere between an eighth- and 11th-place car, call it a 10th-place car. It wasn’t our best showing for what we wanted. And the way the race played out, we had to hang tough and make a couple of strategy calls here and there.
“But I think there’s been a lot of valuable learning situations for our team, areas to get stronger and improve, which you’ve got to take those in stride and accept those when they come. I think our team is going to be a lot better off down the stretch for it. Certainly not discouraged. If anything, the opposite, encouraged that we’ve had those moments and those opportunities where we’ve had to show a little bit of grit and toughness and be ready to keep moving forward.”
Larson has won three of the eight races at Las Vegas that he’s driven for Hendrick, with two additional runner-up finishes. The No. 5 team swept all three stages of last year’s spring Las Vegas race, leading 181 of 267 laps.
LAS VEGAS — Ryan Blaney went for a spin during Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, creating a significant setback for the No. 12 Team Penske operation.
Blaney incurred a flat right-rear tire exiting Turn 2, sending his Ford Dark Horse Mustang into a slide and backing the rear of the car into the outside SAFER barrier. The 2023 Cup champion was evaluated and released from the infield care center. The team plans to repair the primary car that crashed rather than opting for a backup vehicle but didn’t post a qualifying lap.
The tire failure came as a surprise to Blaney, who was unsure whether he ran over debris or if the tire was blown for another reason.
“It ran 18, 20 laps or something like that, so I thought it was no problem,” Blaney said. “So yeah, I don’t know. We’ll have to look at the tire and see.”
Blaney affirmed he felt OK upon leaving the care center but was quick to add: “I hate blowing tires.”
Crew chief Jonathan Hassler told Performance Racing Network Radio that he doesn’t believe Blaney ran over debris.
“Unfortunate it happened, but happy it happened in practice and not the race,” Hassler told PRN. “I think some of our setup parameters didn’t help, but we’ll be fine on Sunday.”
Like last fall, the No. 12 car will need to start Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 from the rear of the field. The team was faced with similar challenges when the Cup Series raced at Vegas in October, when Blaney suffered a flat left-rear tire and spun into the SAFER barrier in Turns 1 and 2, necessitating a backup car.
“Unfortunately, same problem, a blown tire in practice,” Blaney said. “I thought our car was really good before that. Just an unfortunate part of it, but they (the team) have got a lot of work cut out for them.”
Despite the setback, Blaney maintains full confidence in his group and how they respond to complications.
“They respond well. It’s something I’m really proud of them responding well from adversity or unfortunate things happening,” Blaney said. “So I’m sure we’ll bounce back from it like we always do.”
Within 40 minutes of the incident, the team determined it would be replacing both the rear bumper and the diffuser on the primary car while work continued in the Las Vegas garage. The Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube is set for Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Chris Gabehart, the newly minted competition director at Joe Gibbs Racing, knows the results are all anyone will look at — whether that is today or a decade down the road. But ahead of Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), he also sees a significant contrast between the end of 2024 (with finishes of 35th, 30th, 36th, 32nd and 40th) with that iteration of the No. 54 team versus the new group around him in 2025 (with finishes of 16th, 32nd, 34th and 25th).
“It looks very similar to last year, but it is quite different,” Gabehart told NASCAR.com during Friday’s technical inspection. “And I need to go no further back than one weekend ago to Phoenix where they missed it. Ty was struggling. They weren’t running good, but with 15 to go, they were running 10th. That’s not what they were going to do six months ago. They weren’t made of that same moxie. They weren’t going to wake up and find that opportunity to catch a break and have a shot at a top 10.
“Now, ultimately, ‘bad luck’ bit him again. They broke the brake rotor and didn’t get the finish. But the key is they found a way to get to the end of the day with a shot to salvage their day and that is really what is foundationally important of any good team.”
Ivy Daniel | NASCAR Digital Media
Crew chief Tyler Allen has taken the reins of the No. 54 JGR Toyota in 2025, resulting from several internal JGR changes over the offseason. Former No. 54 crew chief Chris Gayle moved to replace Gabehart as the crew chief of Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 car. Allen is an experienced engineer, serving as Adam Stevens’ engineer from 2017-2023 before pivoting to the crew chief role in 2024 in the Xfinity Series. There, he won eight of 33 races with four different drivers — two each with Aric Almirola, Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Truex.
His transition to the Cup Series has been a learning experience made more complex by the addition of a new front mechanic, a new rear mechanic and two engineers that Allen described as “green.” Additionally, car chief Ryan Towles was a front mechanic in 2024 before his ascension in 2025.
“A lot of change,” Allen told NASCAR.com in a Wednesday phone interview. “Especially through these first four (races), we’re kind of feeling it. But as we get in a rhythm and everyone settles into their roles and get the roster sorted out how we need to have it, I envision it working very smoothly. But there’s hiccups along the way, as you would expect with such a new group. So that’s kind of why I’m looking forward to getting a little deeper into the season and getting into a rhythm with these guys.”
What Allen and Gabehart have both seen — and commended — is Gibbs’ demeanor amid consistent adversity. In the Daytona 500, Gibbs was 10th on the final lap before collecting damage in the last-lap melee but still crossed the line 16th for his best finish since Oct. 6 at Talladega Superspeedway (13th). Atlanta resulted in a crash as he dove for a three-wide hole down the frontstretch, wrecking out. Circuit of The Americas brought first-lap damage as his car climbed Hamlin’s in Turn 1, and his Phoenix effort was cut short by a failed brake rotor. Nonetheless, Gibbs has responded appropriately to the tasks at hand, according to the leaders around his team.
“Honestly, it’s been great,” Allen said. “I feel like we’re working together really well, communicating well. We have meetings post-race on Mondays and obviously, we’re both disappointed in the results, but I think we’ve both done a good job of looking at the positives from the weekend and the things that we could control and what we did well versus the things we couldn’t control. So his attitude’s been great.
“He’s a fierce competitor and wants to win just like me. But you know, the Cup Series is hard, and you’ve got to focus on all the details. So I think if you asked both of us, we feel like things are going to turn around. No negativity. Disappointed in the results, but we’re both ready to go have some good results.”
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images
As the competition director and only months removed from the No. 11 team’s pit box, Gabehart can provide “broad-stroke generalizations” to help Allen through his rookie year as a crew chief while also contributing to the success of the teams of Bell, Hamlin and newcomer Chase Briscoe. His approach to the No. 54 team specifically is to provide the big-picture thought process and accelerate learning curves. What he’s seen through Gibbs is an apparent shift in mindset.
“While I wasn’t in this role last year, it was evident that he (Gibbs) wasn’t responding the way he did just last week,” Gabehart said. “But really, last week is how he’s been the entire time. I don’t expect anyone to like the results. He definitely doesn’t like it, but he responds in a professional manner of: ‘It’s part of it. We just got to keep digging.’ And it’s really been a lot of work by a lot of people to help turn that corner for him, but none bigger than himself and just maturing into understanding the pressures of the Cup season’s schedule.”
Bell — NASCAR’s hottest driver on the heels of three consecutive Cup wins, on the verge of four straight, and Gibbs’ teammate — can attest both to Gibbs’ maturation and how difficult adapting to life at the Cup level can be.
“It’s been interesting following along with his Cup career,” Bell said. “And last year, he started off really strong, and I think he was in the top five in points after the first couple of races and was contending for wins, leading laps. And then it did seem like whenever the spring ended and summer came along, they just started kind of falling apart for him. And it’s really easy to get down on yourself and start to allow these negative weeks to impact the future weeks.
“And it seems like he’s been able to turn that around to where, even if things don’t go right, whether it was last week or early on in the race, he’s able to rebound from it and put himself in position to have a good finish and a good week. So I think it just comes with time. And I struggled with that exact same thing throughout the early part of my Cup career.”
James Gilbert | Getty Images
The long runaway ahead of Gibbs is Gabehart’s current focus. Though 2024 was a career year for Gibbs with eight top fives and 12 top 10s, it was also just his second full-time season. Las Vegas will mark the 92nd race of Gibbs’ Cup tenure — a good plenty to be sure, but yet early in his still-blossoming career.
“The reality is, with a 22-year-old Ty Gibbs, while you want to win today and you want to be the point leader today, that’s really not what it’s about for him and this team,” Gabehart said. “Him and Tyler Allen and this team can be together for a decade-plus of success easily. And you don’t have to look any further back than last year’s champion Joey Logano to understand, if you zoom out enough, what it’s really about — and that is building the foundation of a championship team. And Tyler and Ty definitely have the performance capability of being that.
“So I really choose not to look at the 54 that way. Some people might — even within our walls — but I think that’s too shortsighted. I think we have to realize that, as a 22-year-old driver, this is about a long-term project, not a short one.”
Perhaps Vegas is where Gibbs and rekindle some familiar spring success. One year ago, Gibbs finished fifth at the 1.5-mile oval, his first of those eight top fives in 2024.
“He did great at Vegas in both events last year (and) showed a lot of speed,” Allen said. “JGR as a whole did, so I feel really confident going to a place like Las Vegas.”
Gabehart shares that enthusiasm and believes this is the track where Gibbs can curb his results-based slide.
“That team can run top 10 any week. I expect this week will actually be a week that will get us started and start getting that monkey off your back, so to speak,” Gabehart said. “And at that point, I really do think the wins are around the corner. They’ve got to get back into the groove of understanding and believing that they can do it. A nice top-10 finish or two will do that. But their capability is certainly high enough that any given week, it wouldn’t surprise me — at that point, once they get that confidence back — that they could win.”
LAS VEGAS — Tanner Gray could see the lead in the closing laps of Friday’s Ecosave 200 Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Inexperience daunted him from sealing the deal.
After not scoring stage points in either of the opening two stages, Gray sliced through the field and was in position to capitalize on a superb final restart. The lone driver holding him from the lead was his Tricon Garage teammate and 12-time winner in the series Corey Heim.
Gray was able to get to Heim’s rear bumper, but wasn’t close enough to make a move for the lead. Instead, he faded to third in the final laps, allowing Grant Enfinger by for second place. Heim scored his 13th series victory.
“I just got too tight at the end of the run,” Gray said. “I think I burned it up coming from the rear and just didn’t do a good enough job when I got to (Heim). I thought I was definitely better and didn’t make the right lane choices when it mattered. I felt like if I could have gotten out front, maybe I wouldn’t have had to push it as hard and burn it up.
“A lack of experience racing up front and feel like I didn’t do a good enough job. Just wish I could have had a few of those decisions back and done some things differently.”
The third-place finish marked Gray’s best result in nearly two calendar years, dating back to his most recent top-five finish at Darlington Raceway in May 2023, 39 starts ago. Throughout a disappointing 2024 campaign that saw just a handful of top-10 results, the No. 15 team had a best outing of sixth at Kansas Speedway last September.
Running toward the front of the pack again was a relief for the seventh-year driver. It was rare air to be contending for the victory. He jumped two spots in the regular-season championship standings to 10th.
“It’s frustrating when you know you have a truck that can win and don’t close it out,” Gray added. “That’s really the first time in the entire time I’ve been in the Truck Series that I feel like I’ve had a legitimate chance to win a race straight up like that. It’s frustrating to not be able to close that out.”
After announcing earlier this week that he is due to become a first-time father in August, Gray concludes an immense week with a podium finish.
LAS VEGAS — Corey Heim made a mistake on pit road, but his crew picked up the slack when it counted.
A lightning-fast stop under caution on Lap 86 put Heim in the lead, and that was the impetus the driver of the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota needed to win Friday night’s Ecosave 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The stellar work of the pit crew allowed Heim to overcome a pit road speeding penalty he incurred at the end of the first stage on Lap 31.
“First of all, the pit crew did such a good job of getting the truck up front,” said Heim, who won his second race of the season, his first at LVMS and the 13th of his career. “I made that mistake in Stage 1 when I sped on pit road and put us behind.”
In a race run in uncharacteristically cold weather and stopped twice for sudden rain showers, Heim took the lead for good on Lap 101, passing Layne Riggs after the final restart following the fourth and final caution for Jack Wood’s accident in Turn 4 on Lap 93.
Heim led a race-high 42 of 134 laps to 39 for Stage 2 winner Tyler Ankrum and beat runner-up Grant Enfinger to the finish line by 0.825 seconds.
“This wasn’t exactly what we wanted in terms of the weather being cold and whatnot,” Heim said. “It seems to be a lot better when it’s hot and greasy, and we’re sliding around.
“I was doing everything I can there. I think all of us were completely wide open at the end. I spent a lot of time looking at my mirror, and it worked out.”
Enfinger passed Tanner Gray for the second spot on Lap 126 but couldn’t catch Heim over the final eight laps. Enfinger felt the battle with Gray might have cost him a chance to win.
“We got side by side and lost a little but right there,” Enfinger said. “And we probably went over our tire limit a little bit right there and that hurt us at the end.
“Corey was a lot better than us in the short run, and (crew chief) Jeff (Stankiewicz) really got this (No. 9 Chevrolet) really, really strolling on the long run. Our pit crew did an amazing job getting us from 11th to fifth (on the final stop). And when we were in the top five, we could race with those guys.”
Gray held third place at the finish, followed by reigning series champion and Stage 1 winner Ty Majeski and Riggs. Stewart Friesen, Rajah Caruth, Chandler Smith, Matt Crafton and Ankrum completed the top 10.
There were 21 lead changes among 12 drivers, both race records. Rain interrupted the race at the end of the first two stages, with red-flag periods lasting 55 minutes, 51 seconds and 19 minutes, 42 seconds, respectively.
The Truck Series returns to action next Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Baptist Health 200 (8 p.m. ET, FOX, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed without issue in the Truck Series garage, confirming Corey Heim as the winner. The No. 07 had one lug nut not safe and secure.
This stoppage, which comes just past the conclusion of Stage 2, marks the second weather delay of the evening. The first caution flag of the evening waved at Lap 26 for inclement weather, just four laps before the conclusion of Stage 1, which ended under yellow-flag conditions.
Majeski won the opening 30-lap stanza over Ankrum, Day, Corey Heim, Stewart Friesen, Jake Garcia, Haley, Chandler Smith, Gio Ruggiero and defending race winner Rajah Caruth.
Heim worked his way to the top five from a 16th-place starting position but incurred a speeding penalty on pit road after Stage 1 concluded and had to restart from the tail of the field. The driver of the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota charged through the field and finished Stage 2 fourth. Tyler Ankrum won the stage over Smith, Friesen, Heim, Ben Rhodes, Haley, Garcia, Caruth, Kaden Honeycutt and Day.
With two stages complete, the race would be considered official if the event is unable to be restarted.
Thornburg, Virginia’s home for grassroots racing, Dominion Raceway is gearing up for another season of “Bad Ass Fast” action in 2025 with a major change that could shake up the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series (NAAPWS) national championship race.
As a part of the track’s upcoming campaign, Dominion has designated their America Racer Late Models as their recipient for Division I points.
The NAAPWS is NASCAR’s short track national championship program, and tracks are tasked with designating what car class they choose to receive points at the program’s five division levels. Division I is the feature class in which drivers compete for the overall national championship.
In the southeast, tracks typically choose late models, and Dominion Raceway had been no different dating back to their inaugural season in 2016. Over the last handful of years, Dominion was a player in contributing to the national championship battle. With Peyton Sellers bringing home the title in 2021 and Layne Riggs in 2022, DR helped shape who hoisted the trophy by season’s end.
Connor Hall won the last two championships out of Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia. However, with Hall’s move to JR Motorsports and the CARS Tour, fresh opportunity has presented itself to tracks who want to crown national champions.
To do so, Dominion is elevating their previous Division III entry, the Virginia Racer Late Models, and are rebranding them as the America Racer Late Models.
The America Racer division is the fastest growing affordable stock car in Virginia. Developed at Dominion Raceway in 2017, the series features late models running Crate motors at 450 horsepower with a Holley 500 carburetor, 8-inch America Racer tires and no bump stops. This rules package was designed to allow the drivers holding the steering wheel to generate the racing action. These affordable late models attract a wide array of drivers and are a perfect proving ground for up-and-coming talent looking to race stock cars.
Chase Johnson (Photo: Mitchell Richtmyre/Dominion Raceway)
Last year alone, the division generated the largest field of racers and the most exciting action. Chase Johnson not only won the track championship, but the NAAPWS Division III Southeast Region championship.
“We had five cars every week that could win,” Johnson said. “It is awesome to be in Division 1 this year. I think it is going to bring in more competition, which I am super excited for the challenge that will bring.”
NAAPWS rules require a field of 16 cars in order to award season points and payout toward the championship. With rising costs and the creation of other touring late model series tempting racers away from weekly racing, car counts for late models were sparse nationwide.
Despite a phenomenal battle for the track championship between Landon Pembelton and Dustin Storm last year, Dominion Raceway’s late model fields were not excluded from this problem. To combat the issue, Dominion decided to make the switch away from late models to the America Racer Late Models for top points.
“We set up the America Racer Late Model to succeed the Late Model, because we knew the cost would kill it, and it has,” said Dominion Raceway owner Steve Britt. “I think if you have a late model team at this point, you’re either running a CARS Tour season or maybe even doing an ASA. You’re probably running a touring series and committing a lot of resources to that, and that is the result of the expense to race. We didn’t see how our local teams could expend the cost to go race with us every weekend. That resulted in a smaller field, and we don’t think that is fair to our fans to buy a ticket and see eight late models run around the track.”
Not only will moving this class to Division I help promote their young crop of drivers like Johnson and Conner Weddell, but it will allow late model racers who may have struggled to keep up with the lucrative financial cost.
While a change to divert the spotlight away from traditional late models is a nerve-wrecking innovation, it is one tactic that has already worked out in Dominion Raceway history. When similar financial issues led to car count issues prior to the 1978 season, Old Dominion Speedway president Dickie Gore met with competitors and developed a new rule set to keep costs down. By putting an emphasis on strictly using stock parts, like carburetors, exhaust and shocks on a brand new stock front-end, cars could be built for around $4,000, about half the price of what was the precedent at the time. Thus, the Late Model Stock Car as we know it was born.
While that first year in Manassas, Virginia saw five late models grow into 11 by season’s end, the stock-car racing community resisted the idea of upsetting the status quo.
Late Model Stock Racing at Old Dominion saw increased car counts, and ultimately more fans in attendance. By 1981, the rule set was added to the NASCAR rulebook. Britt also mentioned this cost-saving renaissance was something he experienced over a decade ago when he first purchased Old Dominion Speedway.
“We had experienced this once before with the advent of the Crate motors. We were part of that effort when I was at Old Dominion Speedway 10-15 years ago, and the reason for that was the cost of buying a race engine had again gotten out of control,” Britt said. “When we went back to thinking about what we were gonna do with late models, we went back to how they kind of started. They didn’t have bump stops and shocks that were ridiculously expensive, and they had cheaper 8-inch tires.
“The America Racer class was about resurrecting that with cost-containment items in it with the idea that we could create a racy type stock car that was
cost effective.”
Now late model stock car racing is the foundation of motorsports in the heart of NASCAR country. With legends like Dale Earnhardt Jr. occasionally strapping into a late model to prolong their racing careers, the emerging popularity of the CARS Tour, and streaming services like FloRacing putting more eyes on late model stock car racing, a move away from them would be another deviation from the status quo.
For Britt and Dominion Raceway, it is one that could rewrite history.
“It is scary; it is a lot of risk,” Britt said. “This venue is unique, and it has wide-open thinking; that’s the way it was built. You have to have courage; you have to believe.”
While the Dominion oval-track season starts April 5 with the ASA Stars Super Late Models, fans can see the America Racer Late Models on April 12, which will start the NAAPWS season.
