Fred Lorenzen, NASCAR Hall of Famer, dies at 89

Posted on December 18, 2024December 18, 2024 by Zack Albert

Fred Lorenzen, a thinking man’s racer who became one of NASCAR’s biggest money winners during the sport’s rise in the 1960s, has died. The NASCAR Hall of Famer was 89.

Lorenzen’s passing was confirmed by his family. The former driver had battled dementia in his later years.

Lorenzen won 26 times in his premier-series career, vaulting to stardom after connecting with the powerful Holman-Moody Ford factory team in the early part of the decade. Many of those victories arrived as both speedways and purses grew in size, and he became the first driver in NASCAR to earn more than $100,000 in a single season in 1963. Among those prized wins were the Daytona 500 in 1965 and two victories in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“Fred Lorenzen was one of NASCAR’s first true superstars. A fan favorite, he helped NASCAR expand from its original roots,” NASCAR Chairman & CEO Jim France said. “Fred was the picture-perfect NASCAR star, helping to bring the sport to the silver screen — which further grew NASCAR’s popularity during its early years. For many years, NASCAR’s ‘Golden Boy’ was also its gold standard, a fact that eventually led him to the sport’s pinnacle, a rightful place in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. On behalf of the France family and all of NASCAR, I want to offer our condolences to the friends and family of Fred Lorenzen.”

Lorenzen went by many nicknames, known as NASCAR’s “Golden Boy” for his dashing looks. His charm, combined with his racing success, led him to win the series’ Most Popular Driver Award on two occasions.

He was also called the “Elmhurst Express” in a nod to his Illinois hometown, in addition to the alliterative “Fast Freddie” or “Fearless Freddie.” But those nicknames belied a smooth, measured approach that was in sharp contrast to go-for-broke predecessors, such as Junior Johnson and Curtis Turner.

Frederick Lorenzen Jr. was born Dec. 30, 1934, growing up in the suburban Illinois town of Elmhurst, about 20 miles west of the Chicago Loop. He was drawn to stock car racing at first by listening to broadcasts during backyard campouts or on his father’s car radio. His first competitive driving experience came in drag racing at age 19. When not racing, carpentry was his trade.

After four years of straight-line competition, Lorenzen turned to oval tracks, making his NASCAR debut in 1956. After a fruitless seven-race stint in his own equipment, he soon turned to driving in the rival U.S. Auto Club (USAC) Stock Car division. He won 12 times in USAC competition, claiming the series championship in back-to-back seasons in 1958-59. Meanwhile, Lorenzen was becoming a regular winner at O’Hare Stadium’s quarter-mile oval near his hometown, and the lure of a NASCAR return became strong.

“I had an important decision to make — to stick with USAC and eventually get into the big race at Indianapolis or join NASCAR, the world’s largest auto race organization which specializes in stock-car events,” Lorenzen told the Arlington Heights Herald in July 1960. “Since stock cars are the type of racing I know the most about and since NASCAR’s prize monies are the highest anywhere, I made my change. Up to now, however, I must admit that I had begun wondering if I had made the right move and if I was actually good enough for NASCAR.”

His performance that year during his venture south helped to prove his worth, as he netted top-five finishes in a pair of races at Daytona International Speedway and one at Atlanta Motor Speedway in his own equipment. Lorenzen’s results in both series sparked interest from other car owners, but so did his studious approach to the sport.

Other teams mocked his insistence on pit-stop coaching and drills during an era when the practice was uncommon, but that emphasis paid off with quicker service and positions gained during the race.

“(Other drivers) partied, they were out to go fast and live the life, but when my dad came in, he was business,” daughter Amanda Lorenzen Gardstrom said in a 2014 interview. “… After every time he won a race, he’d call the stock broker and want to know the best way to invest that. He insisted that his pit crew was ready to go at 7 o’clock in the morning every day — clean white suits and ready to work. They all worked, and they planned and had strategies as a team.”

Said Herb Nab, later his chief mechanic: “Freddie was a stickler. He worried about everything. He wanted everything to be just so. He was never satisfied unless it was. Maybe that was the key to his success. He wanted perfection, and he made sure he got it.”

NASCAR Research & Archives Center | Getty Images

Lorenzen had already moved his family south to Charlotte, North Carolina, before the 1960 season, connecting with team owners John Holman and Ralph Moody to aid his racing efforts in NASCAR. A phone call on Christmas Eve changed his career arc, with the invitation to compete for Holman-Moody full-time, becoming one of the centerpiece drivers for Ford’s factory effort.

“Biggest day of my life. A miracle, that’s what it was,” Lorenzen told TNT Sports in 2009. “Everybody waits for this, but you make your own way. I earned it, I guess. That’s what Ralph (Moody) said, you’re here because they want you. They like the way you ran it, the way you drive. You don’t jump out front, you just cool it and wait, take your time.”

Holman’s son, Lee, said Lorenzen was a natural fit with the Holman-Moody operation, known for its meticulous attention to detail.

“All he’d ever done is race,” Lee Holman told NASCAR.com in 2014. “He was a famous Illinois dirt-tracker before he came to us and had done real well in other series, so it wasn’t like we trained him and made him what he was. We just gave him an opportunity to move into NASCAR.”

Lorenzen wasted little time getting acclimated to his new surroundings, winning three times and netting four pole positions in his 15 starts in 1961. Holman-Moody focused on NASCAR’s larger and higher-paying events, so Lorenzen never ran a full campaign at the Cup Series level in his pearly white No. 28 entry; the closest he came was participation in 29 of 55 events in 1963, when he won six races and became the first driver to break the six-figure mark in prize money in a single season.

By the time he assembled an eight-win season in 1964, which included a stretch of five consecutive victories and a grand slam at NASCAR’s four biggest speedways at the time, Lorenzen had gone from a promising newcomer to one of the sport’s most compelling stars. Though he was considered by some to be an outsider because of his northern roots, Lorenzen quickly earned the respect of established stock-car racing peers.

“Certainly, Freddie is for real, and I have nothing but praise for him,” Hall of Famer Fireball Roberts told The Charlotte News in May 1964. “He has so many things going for him as well as luck which you must have in this business. First, Freddie has the finest machinery. He also has splendid mechanics in Herb Nab and Wayne Mills, who know how to set up a car. But the man who makes this team go is Lorenzen.”

Lorenzen’s legend on NASCAR’s largest tracks was already established by the time he prevailed in the “Great American Race” in 1965, claiming the first rain-shortened Daytona 500. He drove away from late contact with Marvin Panch as a shower sprang up on the backstretch, staying in front when more rain halted the event after 133 of the scheduled 200 laps.

Though he kept plucking wins at a substantial clip, Lorenzen’s career began to slow the next two seasons. In 1966, Ford’s boycott of NASCAR’s engine rules limited Lorenzen to just 11 starts. The next season, Lorenzen made just five appearances before abruptly retiring on April 24 at just 32 years old, battling health issues and tiring of the racing circuit’s travel demands.

“I guess every athlete wants to quit when he’s on top,” Lorenzen told the crowd gathered as a retirement banquet thrown by Ford’s racing division. “I know I’m slowing down and have been a little more cautious in the last year and a half. Plus I haven’t been feeling too well lately. The ulcer is a small one, but it sure takes a lot out of you. I added up all these things and decided that now was the time to quit.”

Lorenzen had invested much of his prize money and endorsement revenue, and he remained active in the stock market. He also stayed busy by offering occasional help to Holman-Moody and car owner Bondy Long, working as a realtor and making his movie-screen debut playing himself in the campy 1968 film, “The Speed Lovers.”

But the draw of competition remained strong with Lorenzen, who hinted in November 1969 that he might attempt a return. His comeback race was the next year’s World 600, which he led for 47 laps before the engine let go on his Richard Howard-owned Dodge.

“The day I quit I said I knew I’d be back someday,” Lorenzen said, also admitting, “I think I waited too long.”

Lorenzen’s return spanned 29 races from 1970-72. He claimed two pole positions, but the closest he came to winning was a runner-up finish at Dover International Speedway in 1971. That return was marred by heavy crashes at Darlington Raceway and the former Ontario Motor Speedway, plus a head-on highway accident that injured Lorenzen and his father and killed the other driver in January 1971. A final comeback attempt with the Wood Brothers at Darlington resulted in a severe wreck in testing. His second retirement stuck after his dissatisfaction with some of his Hoss Ellington-led crew boiled over before Charlotte’s 500-miler.

“I had gone to the track before 8 a.m. My crew wasn’t there,” Lorenzen later recalled to Bob Myers of The Charlotte News. “Others teased me that they’d been in a lounge partying all night. I just couldn’t tolerate mixing business with pleasure or the razzing. I had not won in 30 races. I had lost my Holman and Moody crew. The driver cannot do it alone. I got disgusted and left.”

NASCAR Research & Archives Center | Getty Images

Lorenzen continued as a top-earning realtor in the Chicago area after his driving days. Even in retirement, the racing accolades kept coming — he was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association in 1978, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991 and the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.

As his health declined and his memory loss advanced in his later years, Lorenzen became the second known driver to pledge his brain in 2016 to the Concussion Legacy Foundation and Boston University, both leading partners in the research of concussions among athletes and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease. Lorenzen’s family drew inspiration from Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s decision to do the same weeks earlier and his advocacy for neurological health.

It’s another layer in the legacy of a Golden Boy from a golden era, one whose popularity endures.

“The fans are what make you run, and they were my heroes. They make you go fast,” Lorenzen told TNT in 2009. “It was a dream come true. All the work you did all your life, it’s something you can’t describe.”

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Adam Fenwick

Wisconsin is known for producing some of short-track racing’s greatest stars.

Drivers like Dick Trickle, Rich Bickle and Joe Shear set the bar for excellence on short tracks across the Badger State, winning so many races that historians have lost count of exactly how many wins each driver earned during his respective career. Others like Matt Kenseth, Ty Majeski, Johnny Sauter and Travis Kvapil used the skills they acquired at Wisconsin short tracks to claim championships in NASCAR’s national divisions.

Jerry Auby is well versed on the history of short-track racing in Wisconsin. He spent 25 years racing at short tracks across the Midwest before becoming the general manager and later the owner of Dells Raceway Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.

He has made it his personal mission to help prepare the next generation of NASCAR stars, which is why he recently announced Dells Raceway Park would join the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series beginning in 2025.

“It’s about strengthening the growth of short-track racing in Wisconsin,” Auby said about becoming part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. “We can’t lose any more tracks, and we need to have fan-friendly entertainment that people can tie into what they see on TV and see the growth of the sport from the grassroots level and get to NASCAR.

“There is some fan excitement to be built by having NASCAR tracks in Wisconsin and these drivers competing at several tracks in the state.”

Dells Raceway Park, a third-mile paved oval, opened for business in 1963. It’s been a fixture of Wisconsin short-track racing culture for decades despite a few periods of inactivity.

Auby first became associated with Dells when he started working with former track owner and promoter Wayne Lensing, who also owns the renowned chassis manufacturer Lefthander Chassis.

Lensing became owner of Dells Raceway Park in 2012, and with the help of Auby, he made it one of the most successful short tracks in Wisconsin. Auby purchased the track from Lensing in 2021.

“I had an injury from snow shoveling, believe it or not, and I was out (of racing), and I started helping Wayne Lensing at Dells Raceway Park,” Auby explained. “It progressed to taking over the place and then finally buying the place.

“I didn’t actually ever think the dream (of owning a race track) would ever come true. I didn’t think I would make it to this point, but it was always in the back of my mind.”

Dells Raceway Park hosts racing from April to October each season, including the Alive for 5 Series and the National Short Track Championship. (Photo: Courtesy Dells Raceway Park)

Dells Raceway Park hosts weekly racing from April to October. Auby says Late Models will be the track’s Division I class, but Super Late Models will continue to be a key part of the track’s racing program thanks to the popular Alive for 5 Series.

Created by Auby and Lensing, the Alive for 5 Series is a five-race miniseries for Super Late Models that features larger race purses and a championship purse.

Dennis Prunty, a veteran Midwestern short track competitor, won the inaugural Alive for 5 Series championship in 2018. Other series champions include Dalton Zehr, Casey Johnson, Luke Fenhaus and Gabe Sommers.

“When I was looking at the schedule, it was exhausting for these teams to race 20, 40, 60, 80 times a year, and the money simply wasn’t in the budget as Super Late Model costs escalated,” Auby said. “My thought process on the whole deal was we need to come up with something that matters and make each race worth coming to.

“Just having one-off events wasn’t drawing the cars, wasn’t drawing the fans, wasn’t drawing the support that it needed to survive. So we had to make something work, and that’s where the five-race series came from.”

The 2025 season at Dells Raceway Park begins April 12 with the running of the IceBreaker 100, the first race in the Alive for 5 Series. The weekly racing opener is scheduled for May 3.

Additional Alive for 5 Series events are scheduled for June 7 (Trickle 99), June 28 (Dairyland 100), Aug. 9 (Badger State 100) and Oct. 18 (Falloween 100).

Another notable part of the Dells Raceway Park schedule is the National Short Track Championship. Initially created by the Deery family and held at Illinois’ Rockford Speedway for more than half a century, the event moved to Dells Raceway Park last season following the closure of Rockford.

The move, which came with the blessing of the Deery family, allowed one of Midwest short track racing’s greatest traditions to continue despite the closure of Rockford. The 60th edition of the National Short Track Championship is scheduled for Sept. 12-13.

“Our slogan is Wisconsin’s best racing entertainment, and we truly live up to that,” Auby said.

With the addition of Dells Raceway Park, the state of Wisconsin now has two tracks in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway, the home of Oktoberfest Race Weekend, is also part of the program.

Auby is adamant that the future of NASCAR rests squarely on short tracks across America and vice versa. By joining the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series, he believes he’s doing his part to help NASCAR thrive while also developing future NASCAR stars as well as future NASCAR fans.

“It comes from the top down,” Auby said. “If NASCAR is healthy, we need to try and make NASCAR healthy. We need to work together. We need NASCAR’s numbers to go up, and we’re begging that their stands are full, because when their stands are full, our stands are full.

“That’s how I envision this thing. We need NASCAR at the local level.”

Posted on December 18, 2024December 18, 2024 by Staff Report

Parker Retzlaff will drive the No. 4 Chevrolet full-time for Alpha Prime Racing for the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, the team announced Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Wisconsin native, who raced for Jordan Anderson Racing from 2023-24, brings a solid resume, with three top fives, 12 top tens and two pole positions across 75 total Xfinity Series starts. Retzlaff also scored a top ten in the Cup Series summer race at Daytona International Speedway.

After a challenging sophomore season, which included 12 DNFs, Retzlaff is eager to prove himself with his new team.

“We all want to win races, be consistent and prove we’re here to compete,” Retzlaff said in a press release. “Everyone here has told me how much they believe in me and what I can do.”

RELATED: 2025 Xfinity Series schedule

Owner Caesar Bacarella, who scored two top 10s as a driver in limited starts for the team in 2024, shared his enthusiasm toward the signing.

“I’m just super excited to have him join us,” Bacarella said. “He’s a young, really talented race car driver, and he’s going to help elevate the team.”

Bacarella highlighted the progress Alpha Prime Racing has made in its first three years and the effort he and team president Tommy Joe Martins have put in to elevate the organization, emphasizing the strength of the team and its future prospects.

“There’s been a lot of ups and downs, but he [Tommy] and I agree it’s all about the people. It’s so hard. We’re racing against the best teams in the world. But we’ve got great people, and that’s what’s made it work,” Bacarella said. “And now we’ve got two ace drivers in the stable full-time.”

Retzlaff will join alongside Brennan Poole to complete Alpha Prime’s driver lineup next season.

“I’m humbled, honestly,” Retzlaff said. “Obviously, I wouldn’t be here without the support of my partners — who I’m really excited to announce later,” he added. “Tommy and Caesar have put together an awesome team. It’s a big confidence booster for me to go into 2025 with a group that really wants me here.”

Details on sponsorship and crew chief will be announced at a later date.

The 2025 Xfinity Series season kicks off at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 15 (5 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Zach Sturniolo

In a year full of chatter surrounding the safety of his employment at Hendrick Motorsports, Alex Bowman responded with a career year.

Bowman, winner of the Chicago Street Race in July in the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, netted eight top-five finishes in 2024 to match a career-high, collected a career-best 17 top 10s and notched a career-tops 28 lead-lap finishes. To boot, half of the 10 playoff races resulted in top 10s for the veteran racer, ending the campaign on a much-needed upswing.

“Hopefully, we can start there as a baseline, right?” Bowman said on Nov. 22 ahead of the NASCAR Awards. “I think that’s the biggest thing is trying to operate at that that level to start and have that be our baseline and go up from there. So yeah, excited to see what 2025 holds. I think we did a really good job to end the season, and looking forward to it.”

MORE: 2025 Cup schedule | Recap Bowman’s 2024 season

To finish strong in 2024 was a mighty contrast to how his 2023 season ended. That season was marred by inconsistency, asterisked by a mid-spring back injury that ousted him from the car and resulted in poor finishes, especially as the year wound to a close. In 2023, Bowman finished 12th or worse in seven of the final eight races — three of those landing 28th or worse in his first winless season since 2018. All of that followed a 2022 effort in which Bowman was sidelined for five races as he recovered from a concussion.

“I don’t know if I questioned myself, but I think definitely after two back-to-back bigger injuries, it’s easy to get in that spot, right?” Bowman said. “Like, it wasn’t much fun, right? Especially, we were so good before I broke my back, and came back and we were good for two weeks and then we were just terrible the rest of the season. Like, it was crazy how bad we were at places that I’m typically really good at even. So that was really frustrating.

“This year, it didn’t start the year great, but we turned it around pretty quickly. So yeah, I mean, I think we’ve done a lot of the right things. I think just kind of being on the other side of it, it definitely feels good.”

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Indeed, there was a bounce-back quality to Bowman’s 2024 season, kicking the season off with a runner-up finish in the Daytona 500 and finishing inside the top 10 three times in a four-race stretch early in the spring. Coupled with his end-of-year upturn was critical heading into the offseason.

“I think getting some confidence back that maybe it’s not me and maybe I can actually do this was nice,” Bowman said. “I think we’re in a good spot as a team, and I think we have some positive things coming that are going to be better.”

But inconsistency was still a flaw of the No. 48 team, and that is top of mind for the Arizona native heading into his eighth season at Hendrick Motorsports.

“We just need to figure out how to put the whole year together, right?” Bowman said. “I mean, the guy that won the championship (Joey Logano) wasn’t great for most of the year, right? But the drama on his side of things is much less than the drama on my side of things. So yeah, now he’s a champion. The system makes it weird. But from optics side of things, we need to run well all year. We want to run well all year, and yeah, trying to figure out how to make it happen.”

Posted on December 18, 2024December 18, 2024 by Zack Albert

Editor’s note: This continues the series in which we review each 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs driver in reverse order of championship finish.

Season in review: Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Crew chief: Blake Harris
Final 2024 ranking: 9th
Key stats: One win, eight top fives, 17 top 10s, one pole, 67 laps led

How 2024 ended: After a year away from the NASCAR postseason picture, Bowman returned to the 16-driver grid and reached the Round of 12. The 31-year-old driver appeared set to advance to the Round of 8, but his No. 48 Chevrolet was disqualified from the round finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval after the car failed to meet the minimum-weight requirement in post-race inspection. Bowman initially was clear into the next round by nine points before the penalty, which opened the door for eventual Cup Series champ Joey Logano to keep his playoff run rolling.

RELATED: Alex Bowman through the years

Best race: Bowman snapped an 80-race winless drought with a spirited surge to victory in the Chicago Street Race, holding off Tyler Reddick’s charge down the stretch. A timely strategy play by No. 48 crew chief Blake Harris put the team in late-race contention, and Bowman did the rest in leading the final eight laps. The triumph was a validating turn of events for the Hendrick Motorsports driver, who answered lingering questions about his performance and completed a redemption arc after battling through injuries that hampered him in the previous two seasons.

Other season highlights: Bowman was second to Hendrick teammate William Byron in the Daytona 500, but he hit his most consistent stretch during the springtime months. Bowman managed top-10 finishes in eight events during a 10-race span, including a stretch of five consecutive starts. That timeframe included a career milestone at Dover Motor Speedway, where he placed eighth in his 300th Cup Series race.

Stat to know: The 2024 campaign was a mixed statistical bag for Bowman, who matched a career best with eight top-five finishes and surpassed a personal mark with 17 top 10s. His laps-led count of 67, however, was the lowest season total since he joined Hendrick Motorsports full-time in 2018.

Quotable: “We showed up in the playoffs and did what everybody said we couldn’t do again. I mean, I obviously wish we would have won some races through that stretch, but I feel like we operated at a really high level. Obviously had a really small, simple mistake cost us greatly, but that’s how racing goes sometimes. So, I feel like we all did a good job and worked really hard and really need to carry that as a baseline into 2025, I feel like. We need to run at that level all the time and elevate from there.” — Bowman on his prospects for next season.

MORE: Power Rankings: 2025 preview | 2024-25 Silly Season news

Looking ahead: Hendrick Motorsports’ four-driver roster remains unchanged for the fifth consecutive season, and Bowman is under contract with the No. 48 team through the 2026 campaign. Bowman echoed his teammates’ remarks when asked about areas of improvement for 2025, saying the organization needed to close the speed gap at relatively flat tracks of roughly a mile in length — think Phoenix Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. But Bowman also said he looked forward to building momentum in his third season with crew chief Harris and with the No. 48 over-the-wall bunch, which won the Mechanix Wear Most Valuable Pit Crew Award in 2024.

Posted on December 17, 2024December 17, 2024 by Zack Albert

Rick Ware Racing announced Tuesday that Bowman Gray Stadium star Tim Brown — the track’s all-time wins leader — will drive the team’s No. 15 Ford in an attempt to qualify for the inaugural Clash at the quarter-mile oval.

Brown will be making his first NASCAR Cup Series bid in the Feb. 2 exhibition (8 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Brown holds the track record with 12 Bowman Gray championships in the featured Modified Division, a mark he established in 2022. The 53-year-old veteran set a milestone with 100 feature victories last season, a figure that leads the all-time win list. That number now stands at 101 wins to go along with his 146 pole positions.

Brown’s only NASCAR national-series start came in 2009, also through a partnership with the Ware operation, where he works full-time as a suspension and drivetrain specialist. Brown finished 27th in a Craftsman Truck Series effort at Martinsville Speedway that year.

“I’ve worked my whole life to try to be a Cup driver,” Brown said in a news release. “I’m good with working on race cars for a living because it’s still a pretty cool gig, but I always wanted to drive for a living. For Rick Ware and everybody involved here at RWR to give me the chance to go run a Cup race is so humbling and so heartwarming. It’s really cool.”

Brown also plans to participate in the Madhouse Classic on Feb. 1 (1:45 p.m. ET), a 125-lap Saturday preliminary for the track’s Modified Division. That event will provide him with a first look at the enhancements that have been made to the historic layout, including new SAFER barriers that ring the racing surface’s outer perimeter.

“That time in the Modified will be very helpful for multiple reasons,” Brown said. “NASCAR has already done some updates to the stadium with soft walls and things like that. That’s going to change the line of the race track because you make the track smaller. So the line that we generally run, you won’t be able to run because they run right out against the wall. If the soft walls take up 2-and-a-half or 3 feet, now that’s 3 feet that you can’t let the car drift out to the wall. Just getting some track time before we climb in the Cup car, which I’ve never driven before other than on the chassis dyno, will be very helpful.”

MORE: Photos: Bowman Gray renovations in progress

Brown has long been a car builder and mechanic for NASCAR Cup Series teams, for car owners such as Cale Yarborough, Michael Waltrip, Jack Roush and Rick Ware. He’s also been a stadium mainstay since beginning his weekly racing career at Bowman Gray some 35 years ago, claiming his first track title in 1996.

Being able to participate in the NASCAR Cup Series’ return to the track for the first time since 1971 — the year he was born — already ranks as a special moment full of anticipation.

“The guys who race these Cup cars today are elite,” Brown said. “They’re the best drivers in the world, and I’m not even going to put myself in that same category. I’m just going to do the best I can. I want to climb out of that thing at the end of the Clash and see my son and our family with big smiles on their faces and knowing that we did the best we could because, I promise you, I’m going to give it 110 percent. I just want to enjoy the moment, relish it and soak it all in. I’m not going to leave there and say, ‘Hey, I’m a Cup driver now.’ I’m just going to leave there knowing this was the experience of a lifetime.”

Rick Ware Racing has not announced its full Cup Series driver lineup for the 2025 season. The organization brokered a trade with Spire Motorsports late last season, putting Corey LaJoie in its No. 51 Ford in exchange for Justin Haley for the last seven races of the year.

Posted on December 17, 2024December 17, 2024 by Holly Cain

Editor’s note: This continues the series in which we review each 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs driver in reverse order of championship finish.

Season in review: Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Crew Chief: James Small
Final 2024 Ranking: 10th
Key stats: Five top fives, 11 top 10s, two poles, 555 laps led

How 2024 ended: Truex finished the year strong, earning back-to-back pole positions at Martinsville Speedway and then for the Phoenix season finale. Unfortunately for the popular retiring champion, the results didn’t live up to the promising starts, and he went winless for only the second season in the last decade. On the upside, his work was still good enough to earn a playoff position based on points. An uncharacteristically rough opening round — with races at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International and Bristol Motor Speedway — meant an early exit from his final championship run. He ultimately finished the season ranked 10th.

Best race: A season single race best 228 laps at the spring Richmond 400-miler was the most laps led by anyone on the day, but Truex finished fourth — his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin took the lead in overtime and led the final seven laps. His best finish in 2024 was runner-up in the spring Bristol race, where he led 54 laps and finished behind — you guessed it — Hamlin.

Other season highlights: Truex’s qualifying efforts this season were solid — four front-row starts, including those two late-season pole positions. Multiple times he challenged for race trophies and led double-digit laps only to fall short of that last victory as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver. His 555 laps out front marked the 10th consecutive season he led at least 500 laps. He scored multiple pole positions for the sixth time in his career — including the last two years. His 11 top-10 finishes concluded a 10-year streak of double-digit top 10s. He led the championship standings for three weeks and was ranked either first or second for 11 consecutive weeks between early March and late May.

Stat to know: The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion — and two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champ (2004-05) — concludes a 19-year tenure as a full-time competitor in the series with 34 victories (26th on the all-time list), 147 top fives, 291 top 10s and 25 pole positions.

Quotable: “[In] my career, I think, what I’m most proud of is not a high probability I guess of doing the things I was able to do. Being able to be around in the Cup Series and in this garage as long as I have. The way it started and the way it ended are two completely different stories. Just the perseverance, I think. The hard work and how none of it came easy. My success in the Cup Series was certainly very, very difficult to achieve and so I’m very proud of that. But I’m also very thankful for the opportunities and the people I’ve gotten to work with. Just feel really grateful and lucky to be able to do what I did and have the success that we did.”

MORE: Admiration, respect aplenty as Truex sunsets full-time career

Looking ahead: The ultimate stop in front of Truex is a distinguished place in the NASCAR Hall of Fame — his dominant Cup Series title run and two Xfinity Series championships make him a sure bet as soon as he is eligible for consideration. In the meantime, although Truex is retiring from full-time competition, he has been very open to running select races at any of NASCAR’s national levels as well as late model events around the country. His JGR teammate Hamlin had offered to field a Toyota for him in the 2025 Daytona 500 — a race that Truex has never won — but that opportunity now appears uncertain. Of note, Truex’s former championship-winning crew chief Cole Pearn has agreed to lead Truex’s Daytona 500 effort, whatever it may be.

Posted on December 16, 2024 by Press Release

Salisbury, NC (Dec. 16, 2024) — ARCA Menards Series graduate Christian Rose is making the jump up to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for a full-time bid with Niece Motorsports in 2025.

Born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, Rose did not come from a racing background, but rather, was raised on his family’s farm. When he was a child, Rose dreamt about becoming a professional driver, but his path to the career was formed by a unique journey.

A former Division 1 college baseball pitcher, Rose graduated with his bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. In 2022, he was enshrined into the school’s Wall of Fame for his playing achievements. Shortly after graduating, Rose became a bouncer at a bar and grill in Ocean City, Maryland, before embarking on his driving career.

Starting out in Super Late Models, then later progressing into the ARCA ranks, Rose has gained experience racing on all types of tracks throughout the country.

In 2023, he joined AM Racing to complete two full-time ARCA national seasons — both of which resulted in top-five finishes in the points standings — highlighted by a third-place title run during his rookie year.

Looking ahead to 2025, Rose will take on a new challenge as he learns the ropes of the Truck Series. His rookie campaign will come from behind the wheel of the team’s No. 44 Chevrolet.

RELATED: 2025 Truck Series schedule

“For me, it’s a huge opportunity to make the jump from the ARCA Series,” said Rose. “I got my feet wet a little bit in the Truck Series a few years ago, but I believe in everything that we have going on in this building and am very excited to get to Daytona. The speed that we’ve seen from this team is a big reason why we signed our deal, and I’m just excited to make that transition. I think if we do the right things and show up and put the work in, we can have a lot of great things to look forward to next year.”

Rose joins fellow teammates Matt Mills and Kaden Honeycutt, who will both compete on a full-time basis for the team in 2025. Additional driver lineup announcements, along with primary partnership announcements for Rose’s truck, are forthcoming.

Niece Motorsports will enter its 10th season competing in the Truck Series in 2025, marking a milestone year for the organization.

“We’re all excited to welcome Christian on with our team next year,” said Cody Efaw, Niece Motorsports CEO. “I think our program has the possibility to have a banner year with the driver and partner lineup that we have. Christian’s drove well in his time running in ARCA, and he will have all the tools he needs to learn from our group of guys. It’s going to be a great year.”

Away from the racetrack, Rose enjoys spending time with his family. He and his wife, Brooke, just welcomed the birth of their second son, Rip, a handful of weeks ago.

The 2025 Truck Series season will commence under the lights at the iconic Daytona International Speedway on Friday, Feb. 14 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on December 16, 2024December 16, 2024 by Cameron Richardson

Entering his full-time NASCAR Cup Series career in 2022, Austin Cindric was off to a dream start.

He won the Daytona 500 and followed up a week later by grabbing the pole in Fontana, California. While he didn’t win that race in Southern California, it seemed like Cindric was going to be a championship contender from his first laps turned as a rookie. However, the three-year veteran has reached a plateau at the Cup level. Cindric hasn’t been bad by any stretch of the imagination but when you consider the level Team Penske competes at annually and that the organization has won the last three Cup Series championships, the 26-year-old wheelman has some catching up to do.

Cindric would even admit that he was not pleased with how his first few seasons have gone at NASCAR’s top level.

“I feel like I’ve had three rookie seasons to start my Cup career,” Cindric said on Nov. 22 ahead of the NASCAR Awards.

In 108 races piloting the No. 2 Ford, Cindric has amassed 10 top fives, 22 top 20s and has put together a combined average finish of 19.5. His best season, statistically, was his actual rookie season in 2022, where he scored five top fives and nine top 10s, highlighted by the win in the “Great American Race.”

But since that two-week stretch to kickstart his full-time career, Cindric has been meager with his only other Cup victory coming this past season at World Wide Technology Raceway after his teammate Ryan Blaney ran out of fuel while taking the white flag.

With Cup Series teams becoming more competitive across the board on a weekly basis, the jump from one of the lower series to Cup has never been more challenging.

“I think it is a big jump,” said Cindric, the 2020 Xfinity Series champion. “And it depends on your perspective, right? But I feel like there are always going to be challenges and I feel like the Cup Series has never been more competitive, race to race, position to position, than it ever has been. So I feel like the margin for error is smaller than it’s ever been. I love it because I feel it’s all about showcasing the best individuals. When you’re not the best on a certain day, there’s a penalty for it and it’s your performance.”

Cindric’s humble start can be compared to that of teammate Joey Logano, who had just one win in his first three seasons and failed to make the playoffs up until his fifth season when he moved from Joe Gibbs Racing to Team Penske in 2013.

Sixteen full-time seasons later and Logano is the only active three-time series champion and still has many years of his prime left to go at 34 years old.

With Logano and Blaney hoisting the Bill France Cup the last three seasons, it gives Cindric in-house mentors as he tries to follow in the footsteps of his teammates to become a consistent title threat himself.

“It really is an open book between all three teams,” Cindric said. “I feel like people say that, but it really is the case. I think the best example that I have with Ryan and Joey, obviously, both of them are very successful, is watching Ryan over the last three or four years really step up into a leadership role on the team. But for me, the two of them achieve success in so very different ways of how they are able to be successful and where they get performance and where they find the ability to win the championship.

“So for me, I think that’s a great example of you have to do what’s best for you and your team and utilize the best resources in a way that makes the most sense for you and your group.”

The midst of the offseason will offer Cindric a chance to assess what he’s done and what he still needs to do to be at the level of his title-winning teammates. And if you’re wondering how motivated Cindric is to join the champion’s club in the coming years …

“More than you’ll ever know.”

Posted on December 16, 2024 by Jerry Bonkowski

Editor’s note: This continues the series in which we review each 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs driver in reverse order of championship finish.

Season in review: Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
Crew chief: Brian Wilson
Final 2024 ranking: 11th
Key stats: One win, four top fives, seven top 10s, 256 laps led

How 2024 ended: After qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the second time in three years, Cindric advanced through the first round but was eliminated in the Round of 12 (even though he finished fourth in the elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval). In total, Cindric had an average playoff performance with two fourth-place finishes and two other 10th-place finishes. On the flip side, he had four finishes of 27th or worse in the 10-race playoffs. He ended the season with a 13th-place finish at Phoenix.

Best race: Cindric’s best outing in the 36-race schedule came at the 1.25-mile oval at World Wide Technology Raceway, where he started from the outside pole, led a season-high 53 laps and took the checkered flag with a commanding finish, beating runner-up Denny Hamlin to the finish line by nearly four seconds.

Other season highlights: Cindric showed significant improvement in qualifying in 2024. While he didn’t earn a pole, he started in the top-five in seven races, and sixth through 10th in seven other races.

Stat to know: The 2024 Cup season was, in a sense, two different seasons for Cindric. He struggled in the first 18 races with 13 finishes of 20th or worse. But in the second half of the season, he only had six finishes of 20th or worse.

Quotable: “I’m not much of like a numbers goal setter, but (making the) playoffs was a must in my opinion. So the only two goals I’ve set for myself, personally or professionally this year, was make the playoffs and break 100 in golf. So if that tells you how hard golf is, I’m still working on the other one.”

MORE: Cindric impressing through playoffs after strong start

Looking ahead: Cindric, whose father Tim is president of Team Penske, has to overcome his up-and-down inconsistency. He had a great rookie season in 2022, winning the Daytona 500 and finishing 12th overall, only to have a challenging 2023 season, with just one top-five showing and finishing a disappointing 24th. It was encouraging to see him perform as well as he did in 2024, but he has to keep the momentum going. Brian Wilson, who replaced Jeremy Bullins with 10 races left in 2023, returns as crew chief for 2025 and there will likely be increased attention on Cindric and Wilson after teammate Joey Logano won his third championship in 2024 to give Penske three titles in a row.