NASCAR officials don’t meddle in teams’ strategic decisions, but they will judge the merits if a questionable tactical call affects the outcome of a race.
That was the case Sunday at Kansas Speedway, where a late caution sent the race into overtime after Denny Hamlin had been barely a lap away from victory.
Hamlin lost the lead on the final restart and then noted the yellow flag had flown for a spin by Cody Ware, who was multiple laps down and stretching a set of tires to the max when he lost control.
On the latest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast, NASCAR vice president of race communications Mike Forde explained how teams outside of contention are warned about impacting the fortunes of front-running cars. NASCAR uses a blue flag to make slower cars aware when lead-lap cars are approaching, and officials also use a Microsoft Teams chat system to communicate with teams during the race.
“In so many words, it’s ‘Don’t be part of this outcome, be aware that there are leaders battling for the win here, so don’t be part of the story,’ ” Forde said. “If they do become part of the story, nothing will happen to them. We’re not going to lay down any penalties unless they do something intentional, in our opinion. But as far as what Cody did, it’s kind of a racing deal, as they say.”
But Forde said NASCAR will meet with teams when a race’s dynamics are affected by a team outside contention.
“There are times where we have called people to the hauler — spotters, crew chiefs, drivers — if they’ve done something that we consider unintelligent,” Forde said. “There’s been examples of guys who have stayed out on a crazy amount of tires and are in the lead, and then the restart is a disaster area. Sometimes we’d call them into the hauler and say, ‘Hey, next time, let’s be a little bit smarter here.’ You’re just not going to win a race with that strategy that you just tried to employ. All you’re going to do is really piss off everyone else in the garage. And that’s just not something you want to do if you want to have any success in the sport.”
NASCAR senior director of racing communications Amanda Ellis explained how the virtual chat system is used to communicate with team members during a race.
“It was used a couple of times this past weekend at Kansas just to send a note,” Ellis said. “Friendly reminders that we’re watching and what the expectation is.”
Forde noted race director Tim Bermann sometimes relays the message via NASCAR’s public radio channel.
“That’s Tim using his 40 years of race directing experience and having a gut feeling that something bad may happen, so let me just say something so something bad doesn’t happen,” Forde said. “If it’s pretty tight and there’s a lot of lapped traffic, he’ll just remind everyone to mind their P’s and Q’s.”
Other topics covered by Forde and Ellis during the 50th episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:
— The possibility of racing Crossover Utility Vehicles, which won’t be coming to any NASCAR national series in the near future.
— NASCAR’s evaluation of the racing on 1.5-mile speedways this season.
— A report on Day 1 of tire testing at Chicagoland Speedway, which drew a crowd of about 1,000 fans to the track in Joliet, Illinois.
Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He has also covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.
Talladega Superspeedway hosts a doubleheader of NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series action this weekend with well-known Goodyear treads hitting the asphalt.
Cup teams return for the Jack Link’s 500 on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) on the same Goodyear Racing Eagle tires utilized in both trips to the 2.66-mile superspeedway in 2025. Additionally, Cup teams raced on this rubber compound during Daytona Speedweeks in February, including the 68th annual Daytona 500.
“We have seen tire wear increase at Talladega in recent visits, but the tire setups we’ve selected for this weekend provide teams with a familiar base,” Rick Heinrich, Goodyear NASCAR product manager, said. “Strategy here is often dictated by drafting position, but it’s common to see teams add two-tire and fuel-only stops into the mix throughout the race.”
Teams will have seven total sets of tires to complete the scheduled 500-mile distance Sunday — one set for qualifying and six fresh sets for the race.
In the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, teams will use the same left-side tire compounds used at Daytona earlier this season as well as the same right-side compound as EchoPark Speedway. Four sets of tires will be available for their 300-mile contest — one to transfer from qualifying and three fresh sets for their scheduled 113 laps.
NASCAR.com’s Zach Sturniolo ranks the top 20 Cup Series drivers competing for the 2026 championship after Tyler Reddick’s win at Kansas Speedway and before Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (3 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Austin Cindric enters as the defending winner.
Analysis: Another week, another historic victory for Reddick. The No. 45 team keeps on rolling with its fifth win in nine races, continuing a simply staggering start for Reddick. Surely, the magic will run out at some point, right? Maybe, but maybe not. Reddick is 2-for-2 on drafting tracks in 2026 after winning the Daytona 500 and at EchoPark Speedway, plus he won Talladega in the spring of 2024.
Analysis: So close to another Kansas win for Hamlin, and yet still so far. For the second Kansas race in a row, Hamlin battled a 23XI Racing car for a victory, and for the second time, came up short. This time, Hamlin had to settle for fourth place after leading a race-high 131 of 274 laps. Hamlin may be frustrated he didn’t earn career win No. 62, but there are plenty of positives to take away: He’s up to second in the standings after winning a stage on Sunday and has led 130 or more laps in three of the last five Cup races.
Analysis: Larson was one lap away from snapping that 32-race winless drought … until Reddick did what Reddick does. But Larson walks away with his first runner-up finish of 2026 instead, with a second consecutive week earning 54 points. He’s still looking for his first Talladega Superspeedway win, but he did finish second in last spring’s race to the checkers.
Analysis: Blaney was a distant 24th-place finisher in Sunday’s race at Kansas, marking his first truly miserable day of the season and earning a season-low 13 points. His day appeared to be on the right track until contact on pit road with AJ Allmendinger damaged his right-front fender, and Blaney never recovered. Now he turns toward ‘Dega, where he’s a three-time winner, most recently in the fall of 2023.
Analysis: That’s more like it. Elliott returned to form at Kansas, where he was in contention late for a top-five finish but ultimately finished eighth, squarely where he averaged all day, per NASCAR loop data. That was a needed rebound for Elliott, who slid to a 22nd-place finish at Bristol after a spin in overtime. Building momentum is a tall task at Talladega, but perhaps that’s what the No. 9 team can do after a season full of peaks and valleys early on.
Analysis: Gibbs keeps riding this wave of top 10s since COTA, now extending his streak to seven races after a ninth-place showing at Kansas. His one Achilles’ heel this year, though, has been superspeedways, finishing 23rd at Daytona and 37th at EchoPark after crashing out. His resume at Talladega isn’t stellar, but a third-place finish there last fall should be encouraging to the No. 54 camp.
Analysis: And just like that, Wallace looks like he’s back on track. That two-race skid at Darlington and Martinsville certainly tanked some momentum, but a strong fifth-place run at Kansas has Wallace back in his groove. Those two anomalies are Wallace’s only races with fewer than 30 points scored this season. Now he returns to the site of his first career win back in 2021, and has top 10s in each of his last three Talladega trips.
Analysis: It’s been a weird start to the year for Byron, who averaged a 13.54 running position Sunday at Kansas, but he capitalized on an overtime restart to walk away seventh and put his Bristol nightmare in the past. Talladega may not have given him a victory yet, but his recent finishes are notable, racking up five top 10s in his last six visits.
Analysis: What could have been, huh? Bell lined up behind Reddick on the final restart in Sunday’s race and rocketed to the outside with hopes of fighting Larson for the win. Instead, contact from Reddick put Bell into the wall and broke a toe link on the No. 20 Toyota, dropping Bell out of contention and into a 20th-place finish, one lap down after leading 47 laps. After finishing inside the top five in three straight races, Bell has one top 10 in the four races since. Talladega hasn’t quite been his friend either, with two DNFs in the past four races – both in the spring.
Analysis: What a finish for Briscoe, who earned his second straight top-five finish after an insane restart on four fresh tires launched him from 11th to third in two laps. Briscoe has finally entered The Chase territory, fittingly, and returns to the site of his most recent victory at Talladega. These are the kinds of finishes expected from Briscoe and the No. 19 team. The question is whether they’ve truly found some steady ground.
Analysis: Keselowski capitalized on the late-race restart to score a sixth-place finish at Kansas, earning his third top 10 in the last five races. Now he heads to Talladega, where his six wins are the most among active drivers and tied with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon for the second-most all-time. Keselowski has led in 26 of his 34 Talladega starts, so expect the No. 6 Ford up front again Sunday as the 2012 champ seeks his first ‘Dega win since 2021.
Analysis: A steady showing for Buescher at Kansas produced his fourth top-10 finish of the season, snapping a two-race stretch in the teens. The RFK Racing Fords are always fast on superspeedways, as evidenced by laps led in 10 of his last 13 Talladega trips. But so far, Buescher has just one top-five finish to show for it after finishing third in the 2023 spring race. After two DNFs there in 2025, Buescher may just be glad to see the checkered flag Sunday.
Analysis: Preece has been the model of consistency lately. His 11th-place showing at Kansas continued a six-race span of finishes between eighth and 13th, planting him 13th both in our rankings and the Cup Series standings. Talladega hasn’t given him much to write home about with one top five and three top 10s in 12 starts, but only one DNF here in his last five starts is encouraging, considering the calamity that abounds.
Analysis: Well, that was an ugly run. Logano finished 30th at Kansas, two laps down and earning just seven points, marking his second run of 30th or worse in the past four weeks after a dismal Darlington day in March. It’s been feast or famine lately for the No. 22 team, which earned finishes of third (Martinsville) and seventh (Bristol) in between these recent gut punches. If it’s any consolation, Logano is a three-time Talladega winner with 19 or more laps led in each of his last five races there. His last top five at Talladega came in 2021, though.
Analysis: For as poorly as Kansas went for his teammates, Cindric had a fine day, taking home a 12th-place finish for his third top 15 in four races. Cindric returns to Talladega as the defending winner of the spring race, but he’s another driver that has seen checkers or wreckers here: He has one win, two top fives and three finishes of 23rd or worse in his last five ‘Dega appearances.
Analysis: A strong day for Hocevar was thwarted by a crummy day on pit road. NASCAR Insights ranked the No. 77 crew 31st of 37 entrants in Sunday’s race, dropping Hocevar from an average running position of 9.87 to a 13th-place finish. Talladega treated the Spire driver well last year with dual sixth-place finishes. He was also fighting for the lead late at Daytona and EchoPark earlier this year, so don’t be surprised if Hocevar is in the mix for his first win Sunday afternoon.
Analysis: Kansas was pretty average for Suárez, who finished 19th on Sunday and averaged an 18.56 running position. Suárez isn’t a spectacular superspeedway racer, but he sure isn’t bad. The No. 7 driver has four top 10s in his last seven Talladega starts, including a ninth-place showing last spring. He does, however, have a drafting-track victory at EchoPark Speedway in 2024.
Analysis: For the first time since 2024, welcome back to the Power Rankings, Todd. This has been a decent stretch for Gilliland, netting a strong sixth-place finish at Bristol before earning a respectable 17th-place result at Kansas. It’s a good time to have some positive momentum, too: he finished second at Talladega last fall and has an average finish of 13.1 in eight starts here – his best at any track with three or more starts.
Analysis: A season that started so well has gone so sour. Van Gisbergen’s 36th-place finish at Kansas is his third showing of 34th or worse in the last five races, earning a combined five points in those three events. He’s been perfectly respectable at Talladega in four starts, though, finishing 11th last fall and 15th in the 2024 fall race.
Analysis: Hard to find a bright spot for Trackhouse Racing as a whole when its premier driver, Chastain, is 26th, two laps down at Kansas – a track he won at a year and a half ago. Nonetheless, there should be far fewer concerns heading to Talladega, another track he won at back in 2022.
Racing alongside his son and grandson is a huge joy for Dale Sherman.
Well, for the most part.
“It’s fine until the kids beat me,” Dale said with a laugh.
“Pretty fun for the kids though,” Dale’s grandson, Hayden Sherman, added.
The Sherman family includes three generations of drivers, and they all compete in the Anderson Automotive Hobby Stocks division at Hawkeye Downs Speedway, a NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts track in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Dale’s son, and Hayden’s dad, Jason, also competes in the class. Last year, Hayden finished second in the final points standings. Jason finished third.
Dale began racing at Hawkeye Downs more than five decades ago after initially going to the track with a friend.
“My best friend raced there back when I was in high school, he was a couple years older than me, so then I just went with him when he started,” Dale said. “I started racing then, that was 51 years ago.”
Dale raced just once last year because he had a knee replacement surgery, but he plans to compete in every race this season.
Jason got into racing simply because he enjoyed going to the track and watching his dad.
“Growing up, watching my dad race and going to the racetrack the whole time growing up, eventually I got to a point where I was able to get my own car and go out later on in life. And then it just kind of drew dad back in,” he said.
Hayden, a sophomore in high school, followed in his family’s footsteps and began racing last year.
“Watching it my whole life, it made me want to try it,” he said. “And I’ve always grown up with cars and liking cars, so thought I’d go out too, if I could.”
“With my son, Hayden, coming to the track with me, watching me race and helping me out, it was just like back when I was going with my dad,” Jason said. “And now Hayden’s to the point where he’s old enough and can get his own car and now he’s out there… The hardest part was convincing his mom to let him go out and race.”
The trio all work on the cars together in the garage during the week leading up to the races, and they admit they aren’t that competitive with each other … until they are.
“It’s not that competitive until somebody makes a mistake and then you get to pass them,” Dale said. “Then, it’s on.”
The first time they all raced together was last June. They finished first, second and third in the heat race. After battling with each other in the feature, Hayden came away with not only the family win, but also the overall victory. It was his first win at Hawkeye Downs.
“That was pretty exciting,” Hayden said. “Honestly, I was lost for words. When the announcer was talking to me after the race, I couldn’t say anything. He asked so many questions and I couldn’t answer any of them. I couldn’t talk. I was so excited.”
Ultimately, even though they were defeated, the elder Shermans were happy to see the youngest generation find success.
“On the one hand, it’s great,” Dale said. “On the other hand, he’s beaten me, so…”
“We can be competitive. Our cars are all pretty even, so actually it’s just a lot of fun,” Jason said. “I’m just there to have fun, and it’s fun having my dad and my kid both there at the same time. I couldn’t be happier, no matter what the outcome. No matter who wins, no matter who finishes ahead of who, as long as everybody had a good race and everybody had fun, it’s a joy. If somebody had troubles during the race or their car broke down or whatever, everybody gets to participate in the fun and everybody gets to participate in the work if something doesn’t go right.”
Hawkeye Downs will kick off the season on Saturday with NASCAR Opening Night.
This week, the Shermans are focusing on getting the cars ready for the season. They’re de-winterizing, changing the fluids, getting the setups right, and replacing any broken parts from last year.
When asked what he’s most looking forward to this season, Dale said simply, “To finish the race.”
They all have different goals when they hit the track. Hayden said he’s just looking forward to seeing what every other driver has done with their cars.
Jason just wants to keep having fun and spending time together.
“I’m looking forward to just getting the season started,” Jason said. “There’s always a lot of unknowns until you get out there on the track, not knowing what the car is going to do. So, I’m just anxious to see how it does and to get it right.
“As long as everybody’s still having a good time doing it. As far as working on the car during the week, getting it ready for the race, everybody has fun during the race, we get to load it on the trailer and take it all home in one piece and everybody has a good night, that’s all that matters.”
For all three Shermans, racing is about more than what happens on the track. It’s about the opportunity to be together while they’re there.
“If there wasn’t any family, it wouldn’t be much fun going,” Hayden said.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series next travels to Talladega Superspeedway for a contest at the Alabama venue on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Austin Hill is the defending race winner, and while the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing driver will look to clinch three consecutive wins at the superspeedway, four other drivers — Taylor Gray, Sheldon Creed, Justin Allgaier and Jesse Love — will contend for the win and also do battle for $100,000 in the third of four Dash 4 Cash races this season.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Tyler Ankrum will make his O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut as driver of the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet. Rajah Caruth returns behind the wheel of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet this weekend.
Thirty-eight cars are entered into this weekend’s event.
The NASCAR Cup Series shifts from Kansas Speedway to the high banks of Talladega Superspeedway this Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Austin Cindric is the defending spring winner. Tyler Reddick, meanwhile, continues to be red-hot in 2026, collecting his fifth win in nine races at Kansas and will aim to back it up again at the Alabama track.
Jesse Love is making his second start for Richard Childress Racing this season, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet. Part-time drivers Chad Finchum and Joey Gase are also entered for Sunday’s race.
Forty-one cars are entered into this weekend’s event.
There’s no place like Kansas Speedway, with the 1.5-mile Midwest track again delivering in thrilling fashion, culminating with Tyler Reddick making history via his fifth win in nine NASCAR Cup Series races, the first pilot to do so since Dale Earnhardt in 1987.
Though the spotlight again shone brightest on Reddick, other drivers — and teams — had illuminating performances that could very well be the dose of momentum needed to begin a hot stretch. On the flip side, other performances will look to be forgotten as soon as possible. Let’s see who is on the upswing and who is on the downturn following the AdventHealth 400 and before Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (3 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
What happened:Steady would best describe RFK Racing’s Kansas performance. All three drivers improved or maintained their positions through Stages 1 and 2, and the trio additionally finished the race inside the top 11 for the first time since Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. Team co-owner Keselowski stood out the most, collecting his sixth consecutive top-15 finish and best result since a Darlington Raceway runner-up last month.
What’s next: It’s been a mixed bag at Talladega for RFK Racing. Keselowski is a six-time winner there, and while he hasn’t found Victory Lane at the track since joining the organization, he does have two runner-ups to his ledger since 2022. Buescher and Preece, meanwhile, will have more work cut out for them; the pair have combined for only two top fives and six top 10s in 33 Talladega Cup starts.
David Jensen | Getty Images
2. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
Started: 10th
Finished: 5th
What happened: Reddick might’ve stolen the show, but his 23XI teammate sure stood out, too. After starting 10th, Wallace finished Stages 1 and 2 in ninth and sixth, respectively, with the 32-year-old pilot eventually clinching his first top-five finish of the 2026 campaign. Wallace now has two consecutive top-five finishes at Kansas dating back to the fall 2025 contest.
What’s next: Such a momentum boost from Kansas couldn’t come at a better time, with Talladega the site of Wallace’s first career Cup Series victory, finding Victory Lane there in 2021. More recently, Wallace’s success at Talladega has continued, with three straight top-10 finishes dating back to the 2024 fall race.
Patrick Vallely | For NASCAR Digital Media
3. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
Started: 34th
Finished: 12th
What happened: The 27-year-old driver quickly put his 34th-place starting position in the rearview, working his way into the top 25 five laps into the race and into the top 20 not long after. Adjustments to the No. 2 Ford during ensuing pit stops eventually culminated with Cindric battling within the top 10 following a two-tire call entering NASCAR Overtime, with the No. 2 Ford crossing the start/finish line in 12th.
What’s next: Like Wallace, Cindric is finding positive headway at the right time. Cindric is the defending Talladega spring winner, and though he logged a 34th-place result there last fall, there is still much to look forward to for the No. 2 Team Penske camp.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
THREE DOWN ⬇️
1. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Started: 11th
Finished: 20th
What happened: This one is going to sting. Bell’s No. 20 Toyota looked to be a Victory Lane contender, and after finishing fifth in Stages 1 and 2, the 31-year-old Oklahoma native made his move, overtaking Denny Hamlin between Turns 1 and 2 for the race lead. Bell led for 47 laps and remained in winning reach as the circuits waned, but trouble ensued in overtime, with contact from Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota resulting in a wall brush and broken toe link.
What’s next: Talladega is a coin flip for Bell and the No. 20 camp, though in the Next Gen era, Bell has finished OK at the Alabama facility. In eight Cup starts at the track since 2022, Bell has started inside the top 15 in seven contests and finished in the top 15 in four races. Bell will look to find similar — if not more — success this weekend.
What happened: Things went poorly for the Trackhouse Racing stable from qualifying to the race itself, with all three drivers mired in the back of the pack for practically the entire race. The trio all finished multiple laps down, and the conclusion was a race weekend in need of forgetting, and fast.
What’s next: To a degree, Talladega is still uncharted waters for the organization; while Chastain has logged 14 career Cup starts at the track (and won there with the team in 2022), van Gisbergen only has four career Cup races at the superspeedway. The rookie Zilisch, meanwhile, will get his first Talladega taste in a Cup car this weekend. In other words, the spectrum of potential outcomes is quite wide-reaching.
David Jensen | Getty Images
3. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
Started: 15th
Finished: 30th
What happened: A 15th-place starting position was upended before a lap was even logged Sunday as the No. 22 Ford dropped to the rear for a steering rack change. Unfortunately for Logano, finding top-15 track position once again wouldn’t be achieved, with finishes of 24th and 28th in Stages 1 and 2, respectively. Logano finished two laps down, his second race in the last four in which the No. 22 driver has finished multiple circuits behind the top of the field (Darlington, three laps).
What’s next: Talladega has been good to Logano in the past — thanks to three Cup Series victories — and the 35-year-old Connecticut native will seek to find former glory there once again. That said, those victories occurred in 2015, 2016 and 2018, and since the start of the Next Gen era in 2022, Logano has finished 16th or worse in all eight Talladega races. Tough sledding could continue.
Kyle Busch said on the eve of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway that there were ways he could respond to Denny Hamlin’s recent critiques by making “his life hell.”
Busch’s on-track actions in the late going of Sunday’s event might have been more heck than hell, but the torment was there.
Busch made his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet a more difficult pass for Hamlin in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400, holding up his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as he led eventual race winner Tyler Reddick down the stretch. Reddick eventually passed Hamlin, then surrendered the lead back to Hamlin before gaining the upper hand in NASCAR Overtime.
Busch appeared to make good on his promise with 27 laps to go in regulation as he rode last in the 37-car field, four laps down. With Hamlin approaching to place him another lap in arrears, Busch fought hard in a side-by-side battle for nearly a full lap instead of giving way to the race leader, costing him precious time as Reddick closed in.
No. 8 spotter Derek Kneeland seemed to acknowledge his driver’s intent and attempted to pacify Busch over the radio. “I hear it, but let’s be smart here,” Kneeland said as Hamlin’s faster car gradually drove by on the way to a fourth-place result.
Busch eventually finished four laps down in a season-worst 35th, prolonging his free fall to 27th in the Cup Series standings. Hamlin’s assessment of that decline in last week’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast was the crux of their Kansas disagreement.
“Things are not going well in the Kyle Busch camp,” Hamlin began before touching on Busch’s future with the Richard Childress-owned organization, his performance relative to teammate Austin Dillon, and how his struggles have dated back the last five years. “So we just have to be honest about our expectations,” Hamlin said, “and if you’re expecting Kyle Busch to just go back to Victory Lane on a regular basis, you are kidding yourselves, and you’re going to be very disappointed. I just think that until we change cars or something changes, something has to change. I don’t know what.”
Hamlin couched his remarks by lauding Busch as a “Hall of Fame Mount Rushmore driver” and saying, “Man, I hate seeing it, because Kyle is a competitor who hates losing.” He doubled down on that notion in Sunday’s FOX Sports pre-race broadcast, adding that he was rooting for him to turn it around.
Busch, however, responded to the podcast commentary before Saturday’s practice at Kansas: “If Denny wants to switch cars, I’ll switch cars with him any day of the week, anytime. I would love for him to show me that he can carry it better than I can.”
NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series teams will help usher in Chicagoland Speedway’s rebirth this week with a Goodyear tire test.
The sessions are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday at the 1.5-mile track in Joliet, Illinois, where NASCAR’s national series last raced in 2019. The facility will welcome back both circuits, plus the ARCA Menards Series, for a July 3-5 race weekend.
Cup Series teams will participate on both days of the test, while O’Reilly Series teams will be a part of test runs on Tuesday only. Cup Series teams scheduled to participate are:
No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota; driver Denny Hamlin
No. 12 Team Penske Ford; driver Ryan Blaney
Participating O’Reilly Series teams:
No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet; driver Justin Allgaier
No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota; driver Brandon Jones
Drivers scheduled for the two-day session said plenty of uncertainty surrounds Chicagoland, which has been mostly dormant for almost seven years.
“Yeah, it’s been a while,” said Kyle Larson, who has four top-five finishes in six career starts there. “Chicagoland was an awesome track back then, and I feel like it’s going to be a lot of fun with this car. I think this car produces a little bit more exciting racing on the intermediate-style tracks. I’m just curious to get there, see what condition the facility is in at this point, the racing surface and how it’s changed in the last six years or whatever it’s been. So, yeah, I think our whole team is excited about this test. I think there’s a lot of opportunity for us to learn there that could benefit us at other race tracks also throughout the year. So, yeah, it’s going to be a good test with a good benchmark of teams going there. … But those are the teams that you look at each week, so to go there and have two days to kind of learn what you can about your car, but also you’ll see how you stack up against them. They’re probably going to bring their best stuff as well, so it’ll be good.”
The three Cup Series teams chosen are all among the circuit’s top contenders, and each driver is a veteran with 300-plus starts. Only Hamlin is a former Chicagoland winner, having prevailed there in 2015, and he said he was split on whether the test session would provide his No. 11 team with an edge.
“I mean, maybe. Maybe a third of the field hasn’t seen it,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s an advantage. The advantage comes from having the track time. That’s ultimately where the advantage comes from. Now, that surface hasn’t seen racing in quite some time. So, what we have to do is temper our expectations of what happens out there on the test, we’re going to be going out there probably blowing dust off the thing for a few days. When we go back for the race weekend, I think that track will be totally different. But the good news is we got some good comps, which is the guys that are going be running there for the other manufacturers are guys that I would suspect we’re going to have to race, but there is some sort of advantage knowing that I have run well there, have won there and know what a car needs to feel like at that track. I have no idea what kind of condition it’s in till we get there.”
Allgaier is a two-time winner at Chicagoland in his home state of Illinois. The former O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion visited Victory Lane there in 2011 and 2017, but said he’s considering the track’s unknowns before forming a fully developed opinion on its return.
“I’m probably excited because I just know what the runway looks like for it. I know how cool it could be, but I think there’s also some hesitation,” Allgaier said Friday at Kansas Speedway. “I mean, it’s what, seven years since anybody’s been on it, as far as NASCAR goes. I know that they’ve had some of the (driving) school cars on there and different things, but there’s always reservations whenever you don’t know what to expect. That place has always had a little bit of character of its own, and it’s always been a little bit different. So, my hope is that we fire off for our test and everything goes well. But I just think, look, the Chicago Street Race was great. It was cool. We accomplished a lot by doing it, but I just feel like getting back to Joliet, getting back to Chicagoland, I think with the Next Gen car, I’m excited because I think that the Cup race is going to be fantastic there. I think it hits every marker of what you would want for the Cup Series, but I also felt like the O’Reilly and the Truck Series races were always great there.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — There were flashbacks all around in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series showdown at Kansas Speedway, the prevailing feeling that we’ve all lived through this before.
There was the familiar setup of a Toyota-on-Toyota battle, one that nearly went awry like it did here last fall at the worst possible moment. There was the scent of another captivating finish at one of the circuit’s raciest tracks, a turbulent climax made possible by a surprising shift to overtime on an otherwise calm day. Finally, there was a scene that’s been replayed oh-so-many times already in a season that’s only a quarter of the way through, that of NBA legend Michael Jordan — one of the most competitive athletes in history — relishing another defining victory in the second act of his sports career.
The connective tissue binding all three of those déjà vu moments together again was Tyler Reddick, who has savored the historic spotlight as stock-car racing’s man of the hour. That light was a little brighter Sunday after Reddick handed Jordan, his team owner, the checkered flag in a one-for-the-thumb gesture of team harmony.
“He is on a heater, for sure,” Jordan said from pit road, “and all you can do is just let him go. Get out of his way.”
Like an iPod with his favorite track stuck on repeat, Reddick converted another brilliant drive in a stirring overtime session for his fifth victory just nine races into the season. The 23XI Racing driver’s current tear has him winning at a clip not seen since Dale Earnhardt went 5-for-9 out of the gates nearly 40 years ago. “I mean, that’s a guy on the Mount Rushmore of NASCAR drivers,” Reddick said with incredulity, later adding, “1987 was the last time that happened? I mean, that was generations ago.”
Reddick hasn’t carved his racing story into long-lasting granite, but the manner in which he’s authored the most recent chapter of his career has been a generational and compelling charge. One year removed from a maddeningly winless campaign, Reddick has powered his victory total into the double digits; Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 made it lucky No. 13.
“He’s kind of unstoppable right now, gets adversity thrown at him and just keeps coming back,” 23XI team president Steve Lauletta told NASCAR.com, all as he tried to stay dry in a beer-and-champagne-soaked Victory Lane. “The whole team, I mean — everybody’s just been poised, not getting rattled for any reason, and just knowing that a fast car is under them and they’re executing.”
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
The way he converted is worth its own admiration. Fellow front-runners Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson took turns dominating at the 1.5-mile speedway, but Reddick kept close and methodically tracked down Hamlin during the final green-flag run. His No. 45 Toyota sailed clear into the lead with 10 laps left in regulation, but a fuel stumble and wall scrape just eight laps later re-opened the door for Hamlin.
Cody Ware’s spin in the back of the pack on the next-to-last lap shifted the script, extending the 400-mile race into extra innings with a two-lap dash to settle it. The reset was reminiscent of the most recent Kansas race here in last September’s playoffs, when Toyota teammates had a lock on the upper reaches of the leaderboard for overtime, but contact between Hamlin and 23XI’s Bubba Wallace allowed Chase Elliott to squeak through for an uplifting Chevrolet win and a demoralizing Toyota defeat.
When Hamlin chose the bottom lane to Reddick’s inside, Wallace’s thoughts from Row 3 turned to that crucial moment last fall.
“Oh yeah, I’m like, ‘the 11, run the 45 up. Let me sneak through and do that,’ ” Wallace said with a smile. “I definitely did, and then I thought we were going to be able to capitalize, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
Reddick’s thoughts gravitated that way, too, especially after Toyotas swept the top five in practice and grabbed four of the first five starting spots in Saturday’s preliminaries. “It would have been a real shame if a Toyota didn’t win today,” Reddick said. “I’m glad we were able to get that done.”
This time around, Larson was poised to play spoiler for Chevy as the only non-Toyota among the top five for OT. Reddick was determined not to let that happen, even when Larson’s No. 5 Camaro forced a three-wide move to the low side of Hamlin and Reddick that set some of the late-race bedlam in motion. Reddick nudged Toyota’s Christopher Bell on the next-to-last lap. Bell caromed into Hamlin. With a deficit of several car-lengths and the white-flag lap to go, Reddick went to the low lane and dispatched Larson by making his No. 45 stick on two fresh tires better than the rest.
“Tyler just does a great job with the roller coaster of emotions, getting in the wall and kind of losing your shot to win under green there and just being able to rally back from that, just really mentally tough,” No. 45 spotter Nick Payne told NASCAR.com, lauding the total-team preparation needed to perform at this level, but also the composure of his driver with so much riding on the outcome — for his team, his manufacturer and for himself.
“It’s tough,” Payne added, cradling an empty champagne bottle under his arm. “That’s one of the first things Tyler said to me when I came down here. He said, ‘I really hate how things ended up with the 20 (Bell). We didn’t intend to really get into them there, but it’s a dog-eat-dog world on these restarts. It’s brutal. Even at one point during the race, we were racing the 23 (Wallace) as hard as we could, and it’s not personal. It’s just the product of the Next Gen car, and track position is so important here. I think we were definitely a top-three car. I don’t think we were the best car, but just … you’ve got to execute. It doesn’t matter who it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s the 11 (Hamlin), your team owner, or anybody else around you. So you do have your flashbacks, but I thought more back to 2023 when we won here. Just really with his back against the wall, he does a great job, executes really well. I think, back against the wall, like I said, he’s probably the guy you want in the seat.”
These days, who wouldn’t want Reddick as their guiding force. Track type hasn’t seemed to matter much, with Reddick wrangling victories in the season-opening Daytona 500 together with repeat performances at Atlanta, the Circuit of The Americas road course, rugged Darlington and now here in the heartland.
Reddick acknowledged the surreal nature of this year’s streak post-race, but was quick to note that it was no fluke. As his spotter mentioned, the preparation that’s gone on behind 23XI’s doors has been a beacon, with what Reddick called a “night and day” improvement in the organization’s cars this season. Those gains, combined with an elite level of resilience when the going turns tough, is part of why Reddick holds the top spot in the series standings by a staggering 105 points just a third of the way through the regular season.
Reddick might be excused for basking in the moment, but he says laurel-resting isn’t a flashback he’s willing to take. Now and in the races ahead, Reddick shows no signs of letting up.
“I’m loving that we’re seeing the fruits of that hard work paying off right now,” Reddick said. “If anything, I think a couple weeks ago or couple wins ago, the question was, ‘Now you’ve won two or three, do you settle in, get in a good rhythm and go?’ No. It’s let’s take advantage of how well we’re working together right now, see if we can continue to get the points, get the wins, while everyone is trying to figure it out and get it.”
