Posted on by Holly Cain

HAMPTON, Ga. – With seven previous Atlanta Motor Speedway trophies in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series already on his mantel, Kyle Busch was the odds-on favorite for Saturday’s Fr8 Racing 208. The veteran did not disappoint.

Pulling ahead of Stewart Friesen about 20 yards from the finish line, Busch’s No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet held on for a slight .017-second win as the two passed side-by-side under the checkered flag. It was Busch’s record eighth series victory at the track. He led a race-high 80 of the 135 laps but definitely earned his hardware this weekend with a half-dozen trucks going door-to-door with the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion in the closing 20 laps.

MORE: Race results | At-track photos: Atlanta

“Awesome run for this Spire Chevrolet and everybody at [sponsor] Gainbridge,” Busch said, thanking the fans in the grandstands for coming out in the cloudy 50-degree Atlanta weather.

“Just trying to make sure I stayed as far forward as I possibly could,” Busch said of how he held off the field in the closing laps. “Those guys would cycle to me and get to the next one in front, next one in front of me and I just made sure to keep battling back and got back to the front so I could control it the best I could. That inside [lane] was good, they were rolling forward so it made for a heck of a race.”

“I’m proud we had a heck of a race there to the finish and it wasn’t single-file. There was some mixing it up for these fans out here to see a cool show.”

As elated as Busch was in claiming his record 67th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win – and record 232nd national series win – Friesen could only muster a slight smile conceding he gave it his best in the thrilling finish.

“Just proud of my race team here,” the Canadian owner-driver of the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota said. “We had a shot. This is my favorite truck and we’ll keep digging with it. We had a shot and I guess I got too far off my help there coming off the back on my last lap. I thought I could pack some more air on him coming out of three and surge ahead, but just had the surge at the wrong time and he came back.”

With Busch and Friesen ultimately the pair fighting for the checkered flag, Tyler Ankrum and Bayley Currey crossed the finish line side-by-side just behind, a mere .001-second separating the two. Georgia native Chandler Smith finished fifth – all of these drivers giving Busch a challenge in those last laps.

Kaden Honeycutt, two-time series champion Ben Rhodes, reigning series champion Ty Majeski, Jake Garcia and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top 10 in a race with 19 lead changes among 11 drivers and only a pair of caution flags beyond the scheduled stage breaks.

Of note, championship favorite Corey Heim ran out of gas while running third, one lap before the Stage 2 break. He was never able to make up the three laps he lost to that miscue and finished 23rd. It was also a rough ending for 25-year-old rookie Connor Mosack, who earned his first series pole position and led 30 laps, but was involved in a late-race incident and finished 25th.

A red flag came out on Lap 78 after Rajah Caruth spun on the bottom of Turn 4, collecting multiple trucks. William Sawalich, Daniel Hemric and Andrés Pérez de Lara were among the drivers who were swept up in this incident.

Jack Wood won the opening stage, and Busch claimed the second stage win. Giovanni Ruggiero was the top-finishing rookie in 11th place. Tanner Gray earned an additional championship point for claiming the Fastest Lap Bonus.

Enfinger takes a one-point advantage over Majeski into the series’ next race, Friday, March 14 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (9 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: Post-race inspection in the Craftsman Truck Series garage was completed without issue, confirming Busch as the Atlanta winner.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by John Crane

HAMPTON, Ga. — Almost 365 days since the three-wide photo finish at the track, Daniel Suárez looks ahead to the 2025 spring bout at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a chance to build on last season’s thrilling victory.

The finish, which saw Suárez, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch race neck and neck to the line, resulted in the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet prevailing in what was Suárez’s second career Cup Series victory. The 0.003-second conclusion currently stands as the fourth-closest Cup Series finish in the circuit’s history.

RELATED: Atlanta weekend schedule | At-track photos

The 33-year-old Monterrey, Mexico native believes he and his team have learned plenty since the electric finish.

“A lot. I think I have got better, and the team has got better,” Suárez said. “We still have things that we have to continue to work on, as always. You know, you can’t always stand still, you have to continue to get better. But I think we’re in a good spot. In my opinion, we were stronger in the fall, second race at Atlanta last year than the first Atlanta when we won, and that, for me, was very important, you know, just to continue to get better. We didn’t win that one, but I think that we could have won that one. I think we’re playing a little bit different. But overall, I’m very excited for the opportunity once again here. We’re gonna have another fast car and looking forward to mix it up with the rest of the guys.”

Since Atlanta’s reconfiguration to begin the 2022 Cup campaign, Suárez has tallied efficient — and consistent — results at the 1.54-mile facility. Suárez has finished inside the top 10 in five of the six Cup contests at the track since its reconfiguration and has collected a runner-up result — or win — in three consecutive Atlanta contests, dating back to July 2023. Suárez’s 7.33 average finish at the reconfigured Atlanta additionally ranks second among all Cup Series drivers, with 2023 Cup Series champion Blaney the only driver standing higher (7.17).

MORE: Sunday’s starting lineup | Projected results for Atlanta spring race

“I mean, I liked this place even before the configuration. I was always strong here,” Suárez said when speaking about Atlanta. “It was always a good place for me, for some reason, and I have a good vibe for this place. And I love racing here. A lot of Mexicans always show up here. I love racing here, and already, since the configuration, the results have been extremely good.”

Suárez starts Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta (3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in 29th. Suárez finished 13th in the 2025 Daytona 500 and currently sits 12th in the Cup Series standings.

Posted on by Holly Cain

HAMPTON, Ga. — Austin Cindric’s first career NASCAR Cup Series win came in the most dramatic and historic ways — a victory in the 2022 Daytona 500. Last week, the driver of the Team Penske’s No. 2 Ford was again at the front of the field in the Daytona 500. He’s led laps in six of his eight starts on the big track. And Cindric’s 59 laps led last week was the most of any driver, yet he was collected in an accident in the closing laps and rallied to an eighth place.

This weekend’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway is considered a smaller drafting track but still along the lines of Daytona and the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. And Cindric’s performance on these kind of tracks was publicly praised this week by fellow competitor, three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin — a pat-on-the-back not so common in the sport.

MORE: Atlanta lineup | Weekend schedule

“For me, it is a very high compliment,” Cindric said. “It is not often times you get to earn the respect but also hear the level of respect your competitors have for you. As superspeedway racing goes, Denny has been one of the best for the last couple of decades. For him to have a high opinion like that is pretty cool. I think that is what made the end of the race significant and special to me.”

Austin Cindric drives during qualifying at Atlanta.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

Cindric said his work — and success on the big track — is something he takes pride in. And he answered his good work at Daytona with a front-row qualifying spot for Sunday’s race at Atlanta.

“Anything you work hard at, you certainly want to see the progress whether it is from your competitors, from within yourself or from your own team,” Cindric said. “I can remember the first two Truck races I did on superspeedways. I hated it! I hated it because I didn’t understand it. When we did the first race here, after they repaved it, I hated it. But that is because I didn’t understand it.

“Now I feel like I look forward to it. That is a huge evolution. That is not just allowing it to happen and understanding that you have to get better to enjoy it. I only have fun if I am out there trying to be successful. If there is an impact on others out there around me, either positive or negative, so be it, but it is a challenging thing to make progress at a level this high.”

Posted on by John Crane

HAMPTON, Ga. — Chase Briscoe has already experienced highs and lows as a Joe Gibbs Racing driver.

Three days after starting on the pole and finishing fourth in the 67th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway last weekend, Briscoe and his new team were levied an L2-level penalty after further inspection by NASCAR officials found modifications to the No. 19 Toyota’s spoiler. Briscoe was subsequently docked 100 driver points and 10 playoff points, while JGR was fined $100,000 and stripped of 100 owner points and 10 playoff points.

Crew chief James Small was also suspended for four races. The team indicated it would appeal the ruling, and Small was with the No. 19 team for this weekend’s Cup Series race in Atlanta, with his suspension deferred pending the appeal hearing.

RELATED: Atlanta weekend schedule | At-track photos

“I mean, obviously, it’s not ideal, timing-wise, right? You know, especially at the beginning of the season, just as we’re trying to kind of understand each other and get to know each other more,” Briscoe said when speaking about the penalty and the possibility of losing Small for four races. “But, yeah, I mean, it would sting, for sure. But you know, also, there is a ton of depth there at JGR, so I don’t know who they would go with, but, you know, like having (Chris) Gabehart [JGR competition director] and all the people they have in place, you know, at least it’ll be a little bit easier, I guess, than, you know, some other companies would have, would have something like that happen.”

The circumstance isn’t a first for the Indiana native. As driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, Briscoe was dealt an L3-level penalty in May 2023 after the discovery of a counterfeit part in the No. 14 machine, resulting in the docking of 120 points in both the driver and owner standings, in addition to the loss of 25 playoff points.

Despite similar circumstances, Briscoe believes that the timing difference between when the penalties occurred can be significant in the long term.

“It’s a little bit different, I would say, just with it being right at the beginning of the year,” Briscoe said. “I mean, literally the first race, it’s just … if we don’t win the appeal, you’ve kind of used up your mulligans. You kind of had like, three or four times where you can have a DNF throughout the season and still make the playoffs. But if we don’t win the appeal, I already used those up. I don’t have any weekends that I can have, you know, bad. So, yeah, we’ll definitely change things, but you’re still gonna have to win if you want to be a championship contender. You have to win a race anyways to get into playoffs, and, yeah, hopefully, that’s what we can do.”

Briscoe, who joins his new team after SHR’s closure following the 2024 season’s conclusion, looks to continue to grow his stature within the JGR ranks. And while he and the No. 19 currently sit 45th (!) in the driver standings and minus-67 in the points table, Briscoe believes the adversity does not change where the team currently stands.

“Honestly, I feel like right now, whether we’re facing it or not, like, we’re so integrated right now,” Briscoe said. “Just trying to get to know each other and learn each other, you know, with it being so new that I don’t really feel like it changes anything. You know, I was maybe three or four years in to this team, it would maybe make a little bit of a difference. But right now, like, I’m at the shop a lot, super into trying to build that chemistry and all those things. So adversity, I wouldn’t say, really brings us closer together. So I don’t feel like it changes a whole lot there.”

Despite the sting from the penalty news, Briscoe believes there is plenty of opportunity to make up ground, beginning at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where the No. 19 will start 25th in Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In eight career Cup starts at the Georgia 1.5-miler, Briscoe has yet to crack the top 10 and has crashed in each of the last two Cup races there, with finishes of 31st and 38th, respectively.

MORE: Sunday’s starting lineup | Projected results for Atlanta spring race

Regardless of past track results and team penalties, Briscoe believes he can not only contend for race wins but also contest for Cup Series titles.

As a JGR driver, Briscoe believes it more than ever.

“I’m excited for what this opportunity is. You know, I was literally telling Marissa (Briscoe, wife) just last week,” Briscoe said. “Like, in the past, I’ve told myself I can win a Cup championship, but down deep, I’m like, man, the odds are it’s probably not gonna happen, being where I was. Now, I feel like I can legitimately go win a championship. So just from an equipment standpoint, like the expectations and just even the performance, just the small window I’ve had, just Bowman Gray and Daytona, like, it’s been very eye-opening, just what I feel like I’ve been racing against.

“So, I’m super-optimistic for this year, and I feel like, you know, I feel really good about where we’re at as a race team, just being so new, you know, James and I’s chemistry, and even, like, Drew (Herring), my spotter, like I figured we would go to Daytona and there’d be learning curves and things just that are different, and it was honestly, super simple. I felt like I had been there for three or four years from a communication standpoint, so I feel really good about where we’re at, and we’re only gonna get better as time goes.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

HAMPTON, Ga. – Ryan Blaney won his first pole position of the season — 11th of his career — Saturday morning at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with his two Team Penske teammates, Austin Cindric and Joey Logano also earning front-of-the-field starts for Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The Penske team — whose three cars combined to lead the most laps in the season-opening Daytona 500 a week ago — will take the field to green on the 1.5-mile Atlanta high banks.

Blaney’s lap of 179.371 mph in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford was a slight .002-second faster than Cindric’s and only .040-second quicker than Wood Brothers Racing driver Josh Berry, in a Penske-affiliated Ford Mustang himself.

MORE: See full lineup for Atlanta | Full weekend schedule

The 2023 Cup Series champion Blaney was part of last season’s three-wide thriller of a finish in this race, which he, Kyle Busch and race winner Daniel Suárez relived in the recent ‘So Damn Close’ short film.

“It’s a big testament to our whole group, Team Penske and Wood Brothers, to be the top four,” the 31-year-old Blaney said.

“It just shows you how similar all our cars are being right there together, so hope it translates to the race tomorrow in handling, and we’ll find out,” he added. “Pretty cool day.”

Fords clearly dominated the qualifying session, earning 10 of the first 11 positions on the grid. Logano was fourth fastest, followed by Front Row Motorsport’s Todd Gilliland – one of three FRM cars to advance to the 10-car final qualifying round. His teammates Zane Smith and Noah Gragson were seventh and 10th fastest.

The lone Chevrolet among the top positions was Kyle Busch, whose No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Camaro will roll off sixth. He was runner-up to Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez in the closest three-wide finish in series history last year at Atlanta. Suarez will roll off 29th in the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. Blaney was the third driver in that historic trio.

There were only two Toyotas to crack the top 20 in Saturday’s time trials – 23XI Racing teammates Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick, who will start 14th and 18th, respectively. The perennial championship-favorite Joe Gibbs Racing team did not fare too well, with Chase Briscoe 25th, Christopher Bell 32nd, Ty Gibbs 36th and Denny Hamlin 37th on the 39-car grid.

Despite his promising showing Saturday, Blaney conceded this style of small superspeedway-type racing at Atlanta creates a lot of drama similar to the bigger drafting tracks like Daytona and Talladega. Meaning anything is possible no matter the grid outlook.

“That’s the start and hopefully it stays that way, but things are going to change during the race,” Blaney acknowledged, “But it’s kind of nice that at least the start of the race through the first stage you can control. It’s not going to be that way the whole race. You’re going to get shuffled at some point and strategy is going to come into play so it’s how do you react to that. But it’s nice to all start together.”

Blaney said there is always a lot of discussion among his team about how to keep the cars together, up front and out of danger.

“Fast cars and teamwork like that is the reason you see all of us leading a bunch of laps and contending for these wins, so it’s nice to be around each other at first but I’d like it to be like that at the end,” he said smiling.

Posted on by John Crane

HAMPTON, Ga. — Justin Allgaier’s 2025 NASCAR campaign has already been a memorable one. Fresh off double duty at Daytona International Speedway in the Cup and Xfinity Series last weekend — with Allgaier’s No. 40 Cup entry also doubling as JR Motorsports’ first in NASCAR’s premier circuit — the 38-year-old Illinois native heads into the Atlanta Motor Speedway race weekend with plenty to reminisce.

The new season additionally serves as a reminder that, even as the reigning Xfinity Series champion, everything is a clean slate. For Allgaier, the reminder is a necessary one.

RELATED: Atlanta schedule | At-track photos 

“I had a great piece of advice from my wife (Ashley Allgaier) … It is the truth, and I love it,” Allgaier said. “She said, ‘Enjoy the championship while you can because when you get to Daytona, you’re a zero again.’ She said, I don’t mean you personally are a zero, but she said you have zero points when you get to Daytona. Like, they don’t give you an extra five bonus points at Daytona because you won a championship last year. You start over just like everybody else.

“And if you are expecting a handout in that regard, like, you’re not going to get it. They’re going to race you just as hard because it doesn’t matter that you won a championship. The finishes aren’t going to be easier. You’re not just going to have a magic wand that you can wave over everything to make it easy anymore. You’re going to have to go want it again.”

Allgaier wheeled the No. 40 JRM entry to a ninth-place finish at Daytona in what was the organization’s Cup debut. Although Allgaier finished 18th in the Xfinity Series race a day prior, the No. 7’s speed was apparent from the jump, with Allgaier starting on the pole and leading 11 laps.

While Allgaier did not find Victory Lane during his Daytona double, all remains calm for the No. 7 team. After all, the season has just begun. More importantly, Allgaier maintains the same mindset that helped the No. 7 team hoist the 2024 Xfinity Series title trophy.

The mindset, according to Allgaier, came from one of the team’s engineers. After the No. 7 had a rough stretch of races during the opening portion of the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs, the engineer laid out a “road map” on a piece of paper, which detailed a series of finishes and points totals. If each box was checked on the piece of paper, the No. 7 team would make the Championship 4.

Although Allgaier initially couldn’t envision the thought of a Championship 4 berth after initially “being behind the 8-ball,” the No. 7 eventually wheeled its way to the Championship 4, one point more than what the piece of paper detailed. The rest was history.

MORE: Xfinity Series lineup for Atlanta spring race | Xfinity Series entry list for Atlanta spring race

“I was like, man, that’s, that’s pretty special, that somebody could sit down, you know, seven … probably five races before the end of the season, and say, if you do all of these things and you score this many points, you’ll make the final four,” Allgaier said. “And ultimately, we did, and that was really cool. And he was smiling the whole time that he did it when everybody else was doing gloom. And he’s still smiling today because he’s a champion out of it. So, it worked out pretty well.”

Allgaier will look to keep that mindset — and perhaps create another lasting memory — at Atlanta in the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 on Saturday (5 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Press Release

CONCORD, N.C. (Feb. 21, 2025) — NASCAR’s Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Speedway Motorsports’ Performance Racing Network (PRN) today announced the creation of the NASCAR Racing Network (NRN). Last Friday, the network kicked off its live coverage of the Craftsman Truck Series from Daytona International Speedway with the season-opening Fresh From Florida 250 won by Corey Heim.

“Working side by side, MRN and PRN have built one of the largest radio networks in sports, delivering the excitement of NASCAR racing to hundreds of thousands of race fans coast to coast,” said Chris Schwartz, Motor Racing Network president. “The NASCAR Racing Network builds on each other’s strengths and creates a new path for us to elevate the NASCAR Radio landscape for fans and stakeholders of the sport.”

RELATED: Truck Series schedule 

The tough trucks of NASCAR turn their attention to Atlanta Motor Speedway for this Saturday’s Fr8 208 airing at 1:30 p.m. ET on the new NASCAR Racing Network.

“Longtime fans of the Craftsman Truck Series may notice new voices but will hear the same great coverage they have come to expect over the years,” said Gerry Horn, Performance Racing Network senior vice president and general manager. “We are thrilled to formalize a partnership that will strengthen both networks allowing us to continue providing award-winning NASCAR coverage to fans nationwide.”

You can follow along all season as the NASCAR Racing Network races to crown a 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion

Posted on by Staff Report

A three-member appeals panel upheld penalties against the Henderson Motorsports No. 75 team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, ruling in a Thursday hearing that the team’s disqualification from the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway would stand.

RELATED: Craftsman Truck Series schedule | Truck Series preview: Atlanta

Parker Kligerman had driven Henderson’s No. 75 Chevrolet to an apparent victory in the Fresh from Florida 250 on Feb. 14, but the truck did not pass post-race inspection when competition officials found that it failed to meet ride-height requirements, measuring too low in the rear (Section 14.17.3.2.2.2.A in the NASCAR Rule Book). That decision handed the win to Tricon Garage driver Corey Heim.

Henderson Motorsports indicated shortly after the disqualification that it planned to appeal, stating on social media: “We feel that we have a very valid case to present to NASCAR.”

In denying Henderson Motorsports’ appeal, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel explained: “The panel confirms it is more likely than not a rules violation did occur and the disqualification penalties in Rule 10.5.2.4 necessitate a race disqualification.”

Since the hearing was an expedited appeal of a disqualification, the ruling of the panel is final with no further appeals available.

Shortly after the ruling was announced, the team addressed and accepted the results of its appeal on social media.

“Unfortunately we have lost our appeal regarding our disqualification from last week’s race in Daytona,” Henderson Motorsports said via a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “While we feel that we had a very strong case, we respect the panel’s decision. We’d again like to thank all the fans for their support. We’ve shown that we can compete, and we’ll be back. See you all in Bristol!”

The three-member panel was comprised of Bill Mullis, Tommy Wheeler and Kevin Whitaker.

Posted on by Holly Cain

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series follows up its dramatic Daytona season-opener in the first half of Saturday’s NASCAR double-header at Atlanta Motor Speedway with the Fr8 Racing 208 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Championship favorite Corey Heim was declared the winner of the Daytona opener after Parker Kligerman’s team was disqualified after post-race inspection. The turn of events earned Heim his first-ever visit to Daytona’s Victory Lane and gives him a slim three-point advantage over 2024 series champion and Daytona third-place finisher Ty Majeski entering the Atlanta race.

RELATED: Atlanta schedule | Truck standings

The Daytona top 10 may be a good indicator of what to expect this season in terms of competitive highlights with perennial title-favorite Grant Enfinger (fourth) and a handful of talented full-timers joining the grid from Chandler Smith (sixth), who led a race best 34 laps, to former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Daniel Hemric (seventh) and highly touted rookie William Sawalich (ninth).

Frankie Muniz, the television and movie star, eager to cement a new career in full-time NASCAR competition, finished a career best 10th place at Daytona.  Two-time series champion Ben Rhodes led 22 laps but finished 20th while young talents such as Rajah Caruth and Tyler Ankrum were collected in crashes.

Among the full-time drivers, there are three former Atlanta race winners entered this weekend, including Heim, who hoisted the trophy in 2022, Enfinger, who won in 2020, and Matt Crafton, the 2015 winner.

Kyle Busch is the seven-time and defending race winner and will be competing Saturday in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.

Qualifying is set for 3 p.m. ET on Friday (FS1). The polesitter has won five times — the most of any position on the grid; the last time was in 2017 with driver Christopher Bell.