Change has been a common companion to Trackhouse Racing in its brief but rapidly evolving existence in the NASCAR world the last four years. The 2025 season has more growth in store for the Justin Marks-founded organization, which will expand from two to three Cup Series teams next year.
New Zealand import Shane van Gisbergen makes his move to NASCAR’s top series next season in the No. 88 Chevrolet, joining returning drivers Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez on Trackhouse’s full-time roster. SVG was tapped for the role in August, when Trackhouse announced the acquisition of a third charter for Cup Series competition.
Van Gisbergen set his course toward stock-car racing after a dazzling Cup Series debut in winning the 2023 Chicago Street Race inaugural. That one-off victory opened the door for more races with Trackhouse and a full-season campaign in the Xfinity Series, where he won three times as a rookie in 2024.
Both Chastain and Suárez say they see the positives in Trackhouse’s expansion, both from the influx of personnel and resources needed to operate the third team and from gaining a trusted teammate.
“I view it as glass half-full,” Chastain said Nov. 9, during NASCAR’s season-ending weekend at Phoenix Raceway. “From the team side, engineering and crew chief stuff, the guys and girls that are going to be coming in, I’m excited to get them in the shop full-time soon and start working with our group after we all take a break and kind of reset. It’s something that I just see a lot of potential there, and Shane from the driving side and the preparation side, we’ve already been leaning on each other in something as simple as going for runs together, and then as complicated as DIL (driver-in-the-loop simulator) time together, we’re learning how we’re going to structure that for next year.”
Suárez indicated that SVG’s addition should bolster Trackhouse’s road-course program, drawing on his background from the Australian-based Supercars Championship tour. Conversely, van Gisbergen can lean on his two established teammates as he builds experience on oval tracks. His first race on a NASCAR oval was just 15 months ago, at Indianapolis Raceway Park in a Craftsman Truck Series event.
“Already in road-course races, he’s going to bring a lot to the table,” Suárez said in Phoenix. “He’s extremely experienced in road-course stuff, the most experienced of probably the entire field, and we’re super excited to work more closely together for road-course stuff. For ovals, I think it’s going to be a learning process for him. He’s still already learning a lot. He’s still in that process of trying to figure out what he needs, and it’s going to be a long process because obviously the Xfinity Series, we all know that is one thing and the Cup Series is a completely different level. So it’s going to be a process, and he’s going to have to be patient when it comes to the ovals in the Cup Series, but he knows. He’s a very experienced and good race car driver, so he’s going to figure it out.”
Both of Trackhouse’s returning drivers have designs on rebuilding in 2025. Chastain did not qualify for the Cup Series Playoffs for the first time in three years, missing the 16-driver field by 33 points. He scratched the win column in late September at Kansas Speedway, but lamented how he and his No. 1 Chevy team missed out at converting its late-race chances during the regular season.
That said, Chastain said he had no intentions of switching to a more conservative approach.
“We did it at Kansas, but we didn’t do it earlier in the year when we had the opportunity,” Chastain said. “So, lost a lot of points in overtime throughout the year. High risk, high reward. I went for wins throughout the summer, late spring or the springtime. Went for wins, and if I had just laid up and went a little further back, I’d have had a lot better finish and would have made the playoffs. But I’ll go for those wins every time.”
Suárez reached the postseason with an early clinching victory in a nail-biter at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February, but the No. 99 team’s performance lagged through the springtime months. He reached the playoffs’ Round of 12 and had glimmers of improvement in the second half of the season.
The year was a noteworthy one on the personal side as Suárez became a United States citizen on June 18 and married Julia Piquet on July 30. He enters 2025 in the final year of his contract after signing a one-year extension in August.
“I felt like it was a good year. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t amazing, either,” Suárez said. “We had our ups and downs. There were a couple months in the middle of the year that were very, very bad, and there were also a couple months, I would say, lately that we were actually pretty strong. So I feel like a lot to build on, a good year to build on. We know our strengths and our weaknesses, and already we’re looking forward to build from there, and hopefully we can make our group even stronger for next year.”
Joe Gibbs Racing is set to lift a team restriction that previously disallowed its NASCAR Cup Series drivers to compete in extracurricular racing on dirt and other disciplines.
The decision was first reported Monday by The Athletic and later confirmed to NASCAR.com by a team spokesperson, who indicated that the organization now has a process for drivers to request to compete in other forms of motorsports. The new policy comes after the Huntersville, North Carolina-based racing team added dirt star and former Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe to its Cup Series roster for 2025 and beyond.
The Indiana native Briscoe and now-teammate Christopher Bell are two of the top superstars of the dirt racing world, set to sling some mud in the season ahead. No. 54 JGR Toyota driver Ty Gibbs has also expressed interest in expanding his racing horizons as well, with some dirt action expected to be in his future.
“We sort of talked things over to come up with a process by which they can request to run certain races,” Joe Gibbs told The Athletic. “If they get approval from everyone they need on our competition side, then they are free to run the race. That includes dirt, but also potentially other forms of racing.”
The change is a welcomed but surprising one to Bell, readying for a fifth Cup season with JGR and eyeing a return to the Championship 4. The Oklahoma native is one of the most accomplished active dirt racers, one of just three drivers to win the famed Chili Bowl Nationals midget race at least three times.
“I was definitely caught off guard by the change of policy,” Bell told The Athletic. “I was super shocked, but with Chase coming on board and Ty growing an interest in dirt racing, it’s nice we have the majority of our team aligned with it now.”
Briscoe is set to replace Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Toyota Camry after the longtime veteran retired from full-time competition at the end of the 2024 season. As the new guy in the building, the policy change is one Briscoe wasn’t pushing for, but will gladly accept.
“I could tell it wasn’t a hard ‘no,’ but it wasn’t something at the time they were super thrilled about,” Briscoe told The Athletic. “It didn’t feel like the door was shut completely; there was definitely a crack. But I didn’t know in my first year getting there, I would still be able to go do stuff if I wanted to.”
Briscoe and Bell have yet to announce any upcoming participation in dirt events, but are relieved to know they now can.
“It’s refreshing knowing I’ll be able to do whatever I want to do,” Bell said. “I’m super excited to reconnect with my dirt fan base and see everybody at a dirt track soon.”
Earnhardt has made a habit of competing at Florence since 2022, when he returned to the Timmonsville, South Carolina track for the fist time since his formative years racing Late Model Stocks around the Southeast. He has South Carolina 400 finishes of ninth (2022) and eighth (2023). The 50-year-old NASCAR Hall of Famer has already competed at Florence twice this year, finishing fourth in February’s IceBreaker and 10th in a CARS Tour race on Aug. 30.
On Saturday, he’ll be up against a stacked entry list that includes Late Model Stock Car racing’s best competitors, including Earnhardt’s former JR Motorsports driver Josh Berry, 2022 South Carolina 400 winner Brenden “Butterbean” Queen and defending event winner Kade Brown.
Earnhardt will race a familiar car, as his No. 8 Late Model Stock will feature the same Budweiser scheme he made famous during his years driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Thanks to his victory in the CARS Tour event at Florence in August, Ryan Millington will start Saturday’s South Carolina 400 from the pole.
Below is everything else to know about the 2024 South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway, including the entry list and how to watch.
South Carolina 400: TV channel, live stream
The 2024 South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway will be shown exclusively on FloRacing, the streaming home of all NASCAR Regional properties.
The race will not broadcast on a traditional TV channel/network.
FloRacing’s coverage of Saturday’s action is scheduled to start at 4:15 p.m. ET. That’s when qualifying will begin for all three divisions (Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Late Models).
Pre-race ceremonies are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, immediately followed by feature racing. Twin Late Model heat races will begin the feature action, followed by the Street Stock and Mini Stock races.
The 250-lap Late Model feature will close the night.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. pictured before the 2024 IceBreaker at Florence Motor Speedway on Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
Entry list
Earnhardt headlines the entry list for Saturday’s $10,000-to-win South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway, marking the third consecutive season he has entered the prestigious Late Model Stock Car event.
The NASCAR Hall of Famer will be racing against the best Late Model Stock Car competitors in the Southeast. Included among them is Berry, who captured the 2020 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship while driving for Earnhardt.
Brown, the defending South Carolina 400 winner, will be back in the field, but this time he’ll be driving the No. 4 for R&S Race Cars rather than the No. 23 he drove last year for Matt Piercy.
Other notable entries include Queen, Carson Loftin, Jared Fryar, Millington, Brent Crews, Caden Kvapil, Mason Diaz, Landon Huffman, Landon S. Huffman, Treyten Lapcevich, Doug Barnes Jr., Sam Yarbrough and Michael Bumgarner, among others.
The complete Late Model Stock Car entry list is below.
(As of Nov. 18)
Car No.
Driver
1
Jamie York
2
Brandon Pierce
2
Ryan Wilson
4
Kade Brown
4
Jake Crum
5
Dexter Canipe III
5
Jake Vuncannon
5
Bryant Barnhill
7
Tristan McKee
8
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
13
Cody Kelley
14
Jared Fryar
14
Vicente Salas
15
Ryan Millington
15
Jonathan Shafer
16
Casey Kelley
17
Josh Berry
18
Alex Meggs
18
Truett Miranda
18
Anthony Adams
18
Max Reaves
18
David Roberts
19
Adam Congrove
22
Carson Loftin
27
Matt Gould
28
Ryan Glenski
28
Landon Rapp
28
Landon S. Huffman
29
Brent Crews
32
Zack Miracle
32
Caden Kvapil
44
Conner Jones
45
Mason Diaz
47
Ryley Music
51
Matt Cox
51
Donovan Strauss
55
Mark Wertz
55
Lanie Buice
57
Landon Huffman
61
Justin Hicks
70
Stuart Ricks
71
Aaron Donnelly
77
Treyten Lapcevich
77
Darren Krantz Jr.
88
Doug Barnes Jr.
88
Duncan Grant
92
Bradley Means
95
Jacob Heafner
95
Sam Yarbrough
97
Michael Bumgarner
99
Austin Somero
00
Chase Burrow
00
Jamie Weatherford
03
Brenden Queen
04
Ronnie Bassett Jr.
09
Riley Gentry
Kade Brown (23) and Brenden “Butterbean” Queen (03) during the 2023 South Carolina 400 on Nov. 18, 2023. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
Race-day schedule
Saturday at Florence Motor Speedway will mark the second full day of racing action in what makes up the South Carolina 400 weekend.
For Street Stocks, Mini Stocks and Late Models on Saturday, there will be two practice sessions ahead of qualifying. For the Late Models, those who don’t log a top-20 time in qualifying will compete in the heat races later in the evening to try to secure their starting positions. The top six finishers of those heat races will advance to the main event.
Below is the complete race-day schedule for Saturday at Florence.
Saturday, Nov. 23
(All Times ET)
Time
Event
7:30 a.m.
Trailer Parking
8 a.m.
RV/Campground Parking
8 a.m.
Pit Gates Open
8:30 a.m.
Late Model Tire Area Opens / Late Model Tech Line Opens
10 a.m.
Support Division Tire Area Opens
11:15 a.m.
Driver’s Meeting
11:45 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Rotating Practice
1:40 – 2:50 p.m.
Rotating Practice
3:15 p.m.
Late Model Pre-Qualifying Tech
3:30 p.m.
Grandstands Open
4:15 p.m.
Qualifying
6 p.m.
Pre-Race Ceremonies
Followed by…
Late Model Heat Race No. 1 (25 Laps)
Followed by…
Late Model Heat Race No. 2 (25 Laps)
Followed by…
Street Stock Race (50 Laps)
Followed by…
Mini Stock Race (50 Laps)
Followed by…
South Carolina 400 (250 Laps)
South Carolina 400 race format
Below is the race format for the South Carolina 400, via Florence Motor Speedway.
ALL TEAMS QUALIFY WITH THE TOP 20 LOCKING IN FROM QUALIFYING. THE POLE POSITION IS RESERVED FOR THE NO. 15 OF RYAN MILLINGTON WITH HIS WIN IN THE CARS TOUR EVENT ON AUG. 30.
AFTER QUALIFYING, THE TOP 20 WILL LOCK INTO THE 250 LAP FEATURE.
ALL OTHER CARS WILL BE RELEGATED TO TWO 25 LAP HEAT RACES WITH THE TOP 6 FINISHERS ADVANCING.
THE TRACK HAS THE OPTION TO ADD 3-4 PROVISIONALS IF DESIRED, TO CAP THE STARTING FIELD TO 36 CARS.
THE FEATURE WILL BE 250 LAPS WITH A 10-MIN BREAK AT LAP 125. CAUTION LAPS WILL COUNT UNTIL LAP 200.
Kade Brown celebrates winning the 2024 South Carolina 400 on Nov. 18, 2023. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
South Carolina 400 results
Although the Myrtle Beach 400 no longer exists, the tradition that started back in 1993 remains alive and well in the South Carolina 400.
For 26 years, Late Model Stock competitors across the southeast had the Myrtle Beach 400 circled on their calendar. The driver who found the most success during that timeframe was Frank Deiny Jr.; he tallied three consecutive Myrtle Beach 400 victories from 2003-05 before adding one more checkered flag in the prestigious race back in 2010, which he accomplished by passing Steve Grissom’s son Kyle Grissom with 20 laps remaining.
Other notable drivers who have scored a Myrtle Beach 400 victory include Berry, Christian Eckes, Myatt Snider, Timothy Peters and Scott Riggs. Will Burns claimed the final Myrtle Beach 400 in 2019.
Below is the complete list of Myrtle Beach 400 and South Carolina 400 winners.
Myrtle Beach 400
Year
Winner
1993
Jody Ridley
1994
Gary St. Amant
1995
Freddie Query
1996
Jay Fogleman
1997
David Blankenship
1998
Stephen Grimes
1999
Scott Riggs
2000
Greg Edwards
2001
Robert Powell
2002
Robert Powell
2003
Timothy Peters
2004
Frank Deiny Jr.
2005
Frank Deiny Jr.
2006
Frank Deiny Jr.
2007
Sam Yarbrough
2008
Jamey Caudill
2009
Lucas Ransone
2010
Frank Deiny Jr.
2011
Garrett Campbell
2012
Anthony Anders
2013
Lee Pulliam
2014
Travis Swaim
2015
Myatt Snider
2016
Christian Eckes
2017
Josh Berry
2018
Chad McCumbee
2019
Will Burns
South Carolina 400
Year
Winner
2020
Ty Majeski
2021
Ty Majeski
2022
Brenden Queen
2023
Kade Brown
(Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
Florence Motor Speedway track profile
Even casual race fans know about South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway, one of the most iconic venues the NASCAR Cup Series visits on an annual basis.
Those same fans may or may not know about a NASCAR Home Track located just 15 miles south of Darlington known as the Diamond of the Southeast. Florence Motor Speedway, nestled in the town of Timmonsville, is indeed a gem of a short track.
Florence Motor Speedway, now a NASCAR-sanctioned venue and part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series, has been hosting local short track racing since 1982. It has been operated on the watch of owner and promotor Steve Zacharias since 2020.
Zacharias is the reason Florence’s racing season begins with the IceBreaker, an event that features late-model stocks in addition to super trucks, limited late models and mini stocks. He brought the IceBreaker to Florence from nearby Myrtle Beach Speedway upon that track’s closing.
The track itself is unique in its layout. The 0.4-mile paved oval features progressive banking in the corners, a combination that’s prone to producing side-by-side racing.
Perhaps the most unique attribute of Florence Motor Speedway is that fact that, with the exception of the frontstretch in front of the grandstands, it has no outside wall.
“It’s unusual the first time you go there and experience it,” 2020 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series champion Josh Berry told NASCAR.com. “But after a while, it’s no big deal.
“It’s a really fun track.”
Watch the complete Florence Motor Speedway track profile below.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s South Carolina 400 history at Florence Motor Speedway
(Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. made a significant return to his roots in 2022 when he competed in the South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway.
In what was the 30th edition of the race, Earnhardt drove a car sporting a throwback scheme to the Bass Pro Shops car his father Dale Earnhardt Sr. drove in the 1998 NASCAR All-Star Race.
He qualified 26th and methodically worked his way into contention ahead of the final 50-lap run. With 13 laps to go, Earnhardt made contact with Matt Cox down the backstretch while the two were racing for third.
The contact sent Cox into the inside wall, and event officials penalized Earnhardt by sending him to the tail of the field for causing the crash.
Earnhardt marched back through the field a second time, but an incident with Landon Pembelton with fewer than five laps left saw Earnhardt penalized a second time, resulting in a ninth-place finish.
The race was Earnhardt‘s first at Florence Motor Speedway since his formative years in the 1990s.
He returned for the 2023 edition of the South Carolina 400. He qualified 26th and methodically worked his way through the pack to ultimately finished eighth in the 250-lap event.
The 2024 edition of the South Carolina 400 will be his third start in the prestigious race; he ran 23rd in the 1996 Myrtle Beach 400, the South Carolina 400’s predecessor.
Earnhardt also raced in Florence’s Icebreaker in February; he finished fourth. He finished 10th in a CARS Tour event at Florence in August.
TNT Sports and Amazon Prime announced Monday that Adam Alexander and Steve Letarte will join Dale Earnhardt Jr. for their NASCAR Cup Series broadcasts in 2025.
Alexander will lead play-by-play duties for both networks and former crew chief Letarte will serve as an analyst. Earnhardt was announced as the first member of the coverage team for both networks back in May.
Prime Video, a newcomer to the list of NASCAR broadcast networks, and returning partner TNT will each air five Cup Series in the midsection of the season. Prime will begin its coverage with the May 25 Coca-Cola 600 and its run will include the Cup Series’ first event in Mexico City on June 15. TNT’s coverage will begin June 28 at Atlanta and will feature the circuit’s first in-season tournament, with a $1 million prize to the winner.
Alexander joins Prime and TNT after a 19-year run at FOX Sports, where he anchored play-by-play coverage from the broadcast booth for multiple NASCAR series. He also served as a pit reporter and studio host during his time with FOX.
Letarte will be reunited with Earnhardt Jr. in the Prime and TNT booth, and he will continue to be an analyst with NBC Sports. He shifted to broadcasting for the 2015 season after scoring 15 Cup Series wins as a crew chief with Hendrick Motorsports, including five with Earnhardt at the wheel.
Earnhardt began his broadcasting career as an analyst with NBC Sports in 2018, one year after his driving career ended. TNT indicated that the NASCAR Hall of Famer is also scheduled to contribute to Bleacher Report’s social and digital outlets through an agreement with his Dirty Mo Media productions group.
Prime Video and TNT Sports join FOX and NBC as broadcast partners for the Cup Series starting next year through 2031 as part of a seven-year media rights package announced at the end of the 2023 season.
For a complete list of compatible devices to stream NASCAR on Prime Video in 2025, visit amazon.com/howtostream.
Toni Breidinger is set to appear in the 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, the driver announced Monday morning.
Breidinger, who piloted the No. 25 Venturini Motorsports Toyota to a fourth-place standings finish in the ARCA Menards Series in 2024 and opened the Craftsman Truck Series season with a start in the No. 1 Tricon Garage Toyota at Daytona International Speedway, makes history as the first NASCAR driver to appear in the prestigious magazine issue.
“It’s nothing short of an honor to be featured in the 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue,” Breidinger said. “I’m very grateful I get to live out multiple dreams of mine.”
it’s an honor to be featured in the 2025 @SI_Swimsuit@SInow issue. it’s very surreal to be in this issue along side so many inspiring athletes. thank you a million to everyone who made this dream of mine come true!! pic.twitter.com/IHuHKmZPsh
The California native was photographed by Ben Horton on the shores of Boca Raton, Florida. The 25-year-old is a successful model off the track, represented by IMG Models, Roman Empire Management and Loop Legal, and appearing in high-profile campaigns for brands like GAP, Victoria’s Secret and Free People. She also has one of the largest social-media followings in the sport, with more than five million combined followers across Instagram and TikTok.
“We are thrilled to launch our shoot season for the 2025 issue with an extraordinary lineup of powerful female athletes,” said MJ Day, SI Swimsuit editor-in-chief. “This remarkable group, featuring Olympic medalists, world champions, and record holders, embodies the next generation of all-stars poised to transform the world of sports. They defy stereotypes and champion equality, inspiring young girls to envision themselves as both athletes and leaders. At SI Swimsuit, we’ve always celebrated the future of women, and there’s no better way to honor these remarkable achievements than by featuring them on the pages of our issue.”
The 2024 NASCAR Awards are set to take place Friday evening inside the Charlotte Convention Center in North Carolina.
Fans can watch the Awards banquet on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, The CW). The 2024 NASCAR Awards Red Carpet Show will air live on NASCAR.com, NASCAR’s YouTube channel and NASCAR social media on Friday, Nov. 22, from 5-6 p.m. ET.
Before the ceremony, learn about some key awards and recognitions that will be honored throughout the event, in addition to celebrating the sport’s champions.
The Comcast Community Champion of the Year is awarded to an individual in the NASCAR industry for their service-focused efforts to make the world a better place. Driver Ryan Vargas earned the honor last year. Finalists for this year’s award are driver Erik Jones, NASCAR employee Scott Crowell and Charlotte Motor Speedway employee Susan McKee.
The National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Most Popular Driver Award will be honored across all three national series.
Chase Elliott is looking to earn the honor in the Cup Series for a seventh consecutive year, while Justin Allgaier is looking for a fifth Xfinity Series Most Popular Driver trophy. The winner of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series Most Popular Driver will be a first-time recipient.
The Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award recognizes the efforts of those who make a difference in children’s lives through local children’s organizations.
This year’s finalists are Tammy Raulerson (College Station, Texas), Judy Simmons (Axton, Virginia), Carlos Washington (Florence, South Carolina), and Julie Wooldridge (Mooresville, North Carolina).
NASCAR’s prestigious Bill France Award of Excellence recognizes those who have made a massive impact on NASCAR during their time in the industry. It is not given out every year. Former CEO of Goodyear Rich Kramer won the award last year, the first time someone earned the honor since Jimmie Johnson in 2020.
Finally, the NMPA Myers Brothers Award recognizes individuals or groups who have made outstanding contributions to stock-car racing.
This year’s nominees are retiring Xfinity Series director Wayne Auton, Greg Biffle, the Erik Jones Foundation, Kyle Larson, former Talladega chairman Grant Lynch, NASCAR Hall of Fame executive director Winston Kelley, retiring PRN play-by-play announcer Doug Rice and retiring president of Toyota Racing Development David Wilson.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is set to race the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet.
Yes, the year is 2024. No, this is not a drill.
JR Motorsports announced Earnhardt, 50, will run the iconic Bud King of Beers paint scheme in a limited series of Late Model Stock Car races this year and next, starting with the Nov. 23 running of the South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway. The car will feature the stylized No. 8 Earnhardt made famous from 1999 through 2007 in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“It is an incredible opportunity for me to be able to reunite with Budweiser, and the No. 8,” Earnhardt said via his team’s release. “Budweiser and I had some great memories with that iconic scheme and number. We’ve always supported each other over the years.
“It’s going to be really special for me to be able to represent that brand on the race track again.”
Tickets are on sale for the South Carolina 400, a race in which Earnhardt competed the last two years. The NASCAR Hall of Famer is familiar with Florence by now, as he’s been a frequent Late Model Stock competitor at the facility over the past few seasons in his retirement from NASCAR’s national series.
Below is more about the South Carolina 400 and how to watch Earnhardt’s triumphant return to the iconic No. 8.
How to watch Dale Earnhardt Jr. race the No. 8 Budweiser Late Model at Florence Motor Speedway
Dale Earnhardt Jr. pictured ahead of the ninth annual IceBreaker at Florence Motor Speedway on Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
The South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway, one of the most prestigious Late Model Stock Car races in the country, annually attracts some of the best racers in the Southeast — Earnhardt included.
Located in Timmonsville, South Carolina, Florence Motor Speedway is a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series track that notoriously lacks an outside wall from Turn 1 through Turn 4. Earnhardt enjoys racing at Florence in part because the track’s abrasive surface creates extreme tire wear and fall-off, making tire-saving strategy paramount.
The South Carolina 400 on Nov. 23 will stream exclusively on FloRacing, the streaming home of all NASCAR Regional properties. The race will not be shown on a traditional TV channel/network.
For those who wish to witness Earnhardt’s return to the No. 8 Budweiser Chevy in person, South Carolina 400 tickets are available to order.
The South Carolina 400 is a two-day show that features Late Model Stocks, Limited Late Models, Super Trucks, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Legend Cars and Bandoleros. The on-track action begins Friday and culminates Saturday night with the Late Model Stock main event.
The South Carolina 400 is a $10,000-to-win race.
Teams are also able to participate in a test day Thursday, Nov. 21 should they choose to do so.
Earnhardt in 2022 made a significant return to his roots when he competed in the South Carolina 400. In what was the 30th edition of the race, he drove a car sporting a throwback scheme to the Bass Pro Shops car his father Dale Earnhardt Sr. drove in the 1998 NASCAR All-Star Race.
He finished ninth that year, and last season, he improved upon that showing with an eighth-place run.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. in action during the ninth annual IceBreaker at Florence Motor Speedway on Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
Florence Motor Speedway track profile
Even casual race fans know about South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway, one of the most iconic venues the NASCAR Cup Series visits on an annual basis.
Those same fans may or may not know about a NASCAR Home Track located just 15 miles south of Darlington known as the Diamond of the Southeast. Florence Motor Speedway, nestled in the town of Timmonsville, is indeed a gem of a short track.
Florence Motor Speedway, now a NASCAR-sanctioned venue and part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series, has been hosting local short track racing since 1982. It has been operated on the watch of owner and promotor Steve Zacharias since 2020.
Zacharias is the reason Florence’s racing season begins with the IceBreaker, an event that features late-model stocks in addition to super trucks, limited late models and mini stocks. He brought the IceBreaker to Florence from nearby Myrtle Beach Speedway upon that track’s closing.
The track itself is unique in its layout. The 0.4-mile paved oval features progressive banking in the corners, a combination that’s prone to producing side-by-side racing.
Perhaps the most unique attribute of Florence Motor Speedway is that fact that, with the exception of the frontstretch in front of the grandstands, it has no outside wall.
“It’s unusual the first time you go there and experience it,” 2020 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series champion Josh Berry told NASCAR.com. “But after a while, it’s no big deal.
“It’s a really fun track.”
Watch the complete Florence Motor Speedway track profile below.
In the 10 years of the NASCAR playoff elimination format, one Cup Series organization has seemingly cracked the code on how to hoist the Bill France Cup at the end of each season.
With Joey Logano’s third championship in 2024, Team Penske has now won three consecutive titles and are titleholders in four of the last seven seasons. Ryan Blaney was the man to knock off a potential Logano dynasty in 2023 as the No. 12 driver grabbed his first championship.
A perfect 3-0 in the Generation 7 era that’s built for parity, the Team Penske organization and its drivers have perfected the path to winning a title.
The 2018 Cup Series season was dominated by the trio of Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. They combined to win 20 of the 36 races that year and were bound for an epic three-way showdown in the championship race.
Logano was no slouch that season, but after he won his first race of the year at Talladega Superspeedway, the “big three” had already won seven of the first nine events.
With Chase Elliott winning his first career Cup races and Kurt Busch gaining momentum entering the postseason, it seemed as though the No. 22 driver was an outsider to make it to Homestead.
This was the first year Logano began the tendency to capitalize on others’ misfortunes in the postseason.
At the opening playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Logano finished fourth. The first-ever Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval event filled with dramatics? Logano finished 10th. He then went on to score top 10s in all three races of the Round of 12 to move him onto the Round of 8.
As the field was set to determine the Champ 4, it was clear Busch, Truex and Harvick were locks, and the only thing to be decided was the fourth driver that would be a heavy underdog to those three.
At Martinsville Speedway, it was down to Truex and Logano for the victory, and while Truex worked his way around the No. 22 without much contact, Logano knew he needed to get his hands dirty to secure his berth … and that’s exactly what he did. Entering Turn 3 on the final lap, Logano put the bumper to Truex, moved him up the track, and Logano was ahead at the start/finish line as the two were in a drag race to the checkered.
A frustrated Truex said he wasn’t going to let Logano “win the war,” and the championship battle was set.
Throughout the 400-mile event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Truex looked to be in command to grab his second consecutive title as he had the long-run pace Logano didn’t have. However, a caution with 21 laps to go flipped the ball game as Logano had the best car on short runs.
On the final restart, Truex set sail for the lead, but Logano quickly caught and passed Truex for the lead to score his maiden championship.
Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images
2022: SURVIVE AND ADVANCE
Logano’s second run to the championship was arguably the biggest challenge of his career.
Finishes of 27th (Bristol) and 18th (Roval) in elimination races would end a driver’s playoff run in any other year if they hadn’t won to advance … but not for Logano.
The first year of the Next Gen car was filled with crazy moments, and Logano was able to take top-five finishes at Darlington Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway to open the first two rounds and carry those through to the Round of 8 despite those being his only top 10s in the postseason before the semi-final round.
Of all the tracks in the first six races of the playoffs in 2022, Talladega was the only track where multiple playoff drivers didn’t finish 30th or worse. Ironically, Logano was the worst playoff finisher at ‘Dega with a 27th-place result.
Logano once again turned the afterburners on in the opening Round of 8 race at Las Vegas. This time, outdueling Ross Chastain in the closing laps to grab the checkered flag and punch his ticket to Phoenix.
At Phoenix, it was pure Logano dominance. Leading a whopping 187 of 312 laps, the No. 22 was the class of the field and joined Kyle Busch as the only active multi-time champions at NASCAR’s top level.
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
2023: A NEW HOPE
A down year for Logano meant it was time for a new title contender to emerge — enter Ryan Blaney.
Blaney had been the mix over the years, making the Round of 8 three times prior but never emerging as a driver who could win the championship.
That all changed as Blaney took a page from Logano’s book to cash in opportunities to advance and eventually grab his maiden Cup title at Phoenix.
A symbolic passing of the torch for 2023 at least, Logano’s pitfalls at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Round of 16 elimination grace was a saving grace for Blaney as he and Bubba Wallace scraped into the Round of 12 on points.
From there, Blaney would win in a photo finish against William Byron at Talladega and hit a walk-off in the penultimate race at Martinsville to put himself in the Championship 4 for the first time.
Despite run-ins with Chastain trying to battle for the win in the desert, the No. 12 crew eventually got Blaney to back off the No. 1 knowing what the ultimate goal was. After title hopeful Christopher Bell went out early in the race with a brake failure, it was down to Blaney and two Hendrick Motorsports teammates in Kyle Larson and William Byron.
With the fastest car on a final 30-lap green-flag run, Blaney slipped by Larson with 20 laps to go to finish the highest of the Champ 4 and win his first title.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
2024: PERFECTION, PERSONIFIED
Six race wins for Larson, a Regular-Season Champion in Tyler Reddick and a driver on the verge of his third consecutive Championship 4 in Christopher Bell.
2024 was shaped to be the year one of the above three was going to break Penske’s streak at Phoenix.
However, if anyone was going to pull off an underdog run to the championship, it was going to be Logano in an even year.
After initially being eliminated at the Roval, Logano was given second life due to Alex Bowman’s DQ and the writing was on the wall for Logano’s path to a third title.
Logano and Team Penske’s playoff expertise came to full fruition this season and the numbers shouldn’t surprise anyone as to how Logano rose to the top once again.
Reddick was the best in the first 26 races of the season. His average finish in this year’s playoffs? 18.5.
Larson snagged two playoff wins in elimination races but in all three opening-round races, on-track mistakes cost the No. 5 team points and victories. Guessed who took advantage of Larson’s errors at Vegas to win their way back to the Champ 4? Joey Logano.
From Reddick going on his roof, Larson’s pit-road errors to Elliott crashing, Logano would stretch his fuel tank to the limit in the final green-flag run to hold off the dominant car of the day in Bell to advance to his sixth Championship 4.
As Logano and Reddick won their way into Phoenix, Bell and Larson were in dire situations entering Martinsville. Larson had a decent car but needed a victory to move on while Bell had his worst race of the playoffs and was eliminated after being penalized for a safety violation on the final lap, allowing for Byron to grab the final spot while Blaney outdueled both Larson and Elliott to secure his second Champ 4, eliminating the Hendrick duo.
The best two cars at Phoenix were the teammate tandem of Blaney and Logano and despite a strategy gamble from Byron ahead of the final restart, it was no match to hold off either of the Penske duo as Logano surged from fifth to first on the restart while Blaney chipped away to move into second.
Logano and Blaney scored a 1-2 finish to cement Logano’s third title and to kick off a Team Penske dynasty in the championship race.
In the last three seasons, Penske has won the most playoff races of any organization, doubling Joe Gibbs Racing (four) and beating out Hendrick Motorsports (seven).
The playoffs reward winning and that’s exactly what Team Penske does to reach of the peak of the Cup Series year after year.
The 2024 NASCAR season had no shortage of excitement, drama and unpredictability. The same went for NASCAR.com’s season-long 36 for 36 competition.
With 36 races and 36 full-time Charter cars, our players selected one car per race, with one simple twist: Once they made a pick, they couldn’t choose that car again for the rest of the 36-race season. Yes, that means every car was selected exactly once — NASCAR’s version of a survivor pool. You get it.
Our panel of pickers — Dustin Albino from Jayski, Steve Luvender and Cameron Richardson from NASCAR.com, and the collective r/NASCAR subreddit — thought like strategists and proved their picking prowess over the course of the year.
Now, with the 2024 season in the books, it’s time to crown a champion and take a look back at the journey.
Final Standings:
Steve Luvender: 985
r/NASCAR Community: -118
Cameron Richardson: -163
Dustin Albino: -168
Here are some closing thoughts from our pickers. Let’s pretend this is our awards banquet.
Fourth Place: Jayski’s Dustin Albino
Total season points: 817 (-168 points from first place)
Best moment: “If we’re basing this off points accumulated for a single race, it would go to the retiring Martin Truex Jr. at Dover, earning a whopping 51 points. But I enjoy giving some credit to the underdogs, and some of my picks rose to the occasion. My Harrison Burton choice at Talladega was his only top 10 in 2024 outside of his summer Daytona triumph. Michael McDowell was caught up in multiple incidents at Sonoma and rebounded to finish runner-up. It was a challenging transition to Toyota for Legacy Motor Club, but the 30-point day Erik Jones tallied at Pocono was the most points he earned on a non-superspeedway this year. Also recorded a strong seventh-place result with Zane Smith at Michigan.”
Worst luck: “I don’t think we have enough space to list the worst luck here. After taking the championship lead during the summer months, Ross Chastain was wrecked from the lead in overtime at Nashville. The following week, Shane van Gisbergen was taken out in the rain after dominating the opening stage. Right before the two-week Olympic break, Brad Keselowski ran out of fuel from the lead. Let’s jump to the regular season finale at Darlington; William Byron was having a top-five day and was involved in a late wreck. Kicked off the Round of 8 with a Tyler Reddick flip after winning Stage 1. Kyle Larson had a mediocre Homestead race, and by then, I was finally mathematically eliminated from the championship. If I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.”
Overall thoughts: “Fun first year — this was a blast! Caught myself every race checking out where my opponents’ picks were running. It felt real.”
Third Place: NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson
Total season points: 822 (-163 points from first place)
Best moment: “My best moment was probably going with Stewart-Haas Racing early in the season as Preece, Briscoe and Berry all netted me 28 points or more at the flatter and smaller tracks.”
Worst luck: “My season practically ended at Nashville when Ross Chastain was wrecked in overtime battling for the win. It just led to one bad result after another and I never could fight back to the lead, but I’m glad I didn’t finish last.”
Overall thoughts: “I really enjoyed participating in the inaugural 36 for 36 run. I like being able to strategize for weeks in advance, just like a survivor pool in other sports, and I love our take on it here. This was incredibly fun. Maybe we could throw in some new ideas like bonus points or more players but other than that, I loved this and hope we can continue on with it next season.”
Second Place: r/NASCAR Community
Total season points: 867 (-118 points from first place)
The NASCAR subreddit dutifully participated in weekly voting threads each Thursday throughout the season that delivered lively debate, thoughtful strategy decisions and plenty of laughs along the way. Each week, individual Redditors would upvote the driver they thought would make the best 36 for 36 pick in a blind vote — vote totals weren’t visible while selections were taking place — and the driver with the most votes would get the nod on the board.
Highlights of the season for the r/NASCAR community included picking four race winners: Denny Hamlin at Richmond, Christopher Bell at New Hampshire, Harrison Burton at Daytona and Tyler Reddick at Homestead. None of our individual pickers scored as many wins.
There were only a few missteps or bad luck throughout the year. The community confidently picked Kyle Larson in the Coca-Cola 600 — or so they thought — but Larson didn’t race, and Justin Allgaier piloted the car. And, at Bristol in the spring, the community couldn’t quite come to a consensus on a pick, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ended up with the most votes; the No. 47 only scored four points.
As it turns out, getting a community of 1.4 million readers to reach a weekly consensus was good enough for second place overall. Score one for the hivemind.
2024 Champion: NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender
Total season points: 950
Best moment: “I had a feeling my opponents would select defending race winner Shane van Gisbergen in the No. 16 at the Chicago Street Race — and they all did. Of course, SVG ran into some bad luck and crashed out in Stage 2. But, I saved my No. 16 for AJ Allmendinger at the Charlotte Roval, where he’s, like, otherworldly-good. It paid off: my Chicago pick of Michael McDowell scored 32 points, while the ‘Dinger delivered a huge 44-point day at the Roval. Other than that, I’ll admit I got lucky on a few picks — like 43 points from Austin Cindric at Atlanta in February.”
Worst luck: “I picked the No. 3 at Richmond in the spring. The No. 3 car won at Richmond … in the fall. That one stings a little bit. Other standouts include Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Dover, who was in contention for a top-five finish until he found the wall and crashed out, and Kyle Busch at Las Vegas in March, who might have won the race without a late-race pit-road speeding penalty.”
Overall thoughts: “36 for 36 is a great game not only because it has a nice balance of luck and skill, but also because you can have fun whether you spend an hour analyzing Racing Reference for past results or if you make your pick based on vibes and vibes alone. (I did both throughout the year.) Maybe next time, I’ll fill out my board with a random-number generator and see if I can win again. Thanks for following along!”
A field near Jordaine Penick’s Virginia home served as her first race track when she was 13 years old.
That’s the year she got her first race car, but since she was still too young to really compete, she took the car around a homemade dirt-track. It was there where she earned the nickname “Peach Picker.”
“I had told dad to video me as I went around my little track in the field, and next thing I knew I was in a tree,” Penick said. “It was a peach tree. All the peaches were in my car because there was no windshield in it, so that’s how I got the nickname Peach Picker.”
You would think that would be a scary experience for a young girl.
“No, it didn’t scare me,” Penick said. “It was more of, I blinked and it was there, so I wasn’t really reacting about it. I was more scared about the fact that my dad was going to be mad at me.”
Three years later, the now 16-year-old Penick is still racing that fearlessly.
As one of the youngest competitors and the only girl in the Hornets Division at South Boston Speedway, Penick didn’t show any fear this season racing against veterans. She finished in the top five in nine of 10 races on the way to her first track championship.
Penick became the second woman to win a championship at the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series track in South Boston, Virginia, and the first since Terri Marks won a Grand Stock division championship in 2004.
Jordaine Penick (07) attempts to fend off a challenge from Cameron Moss (29) and Jason DeCarlo (54) during a 20-lap Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division race at South Boston Speedway in 2023. (Photo: Joe Chandler/South Boston Speedway)
“It’s really awesome being one of the first girls in 20 years and the second girl out of the whole life of South Boston Speedway to ever win a championship,” Penick said.
Penick finished fifth on championship night to lock up the title by 13 points. Marks was in attendance at the race that night to congratulate her, and Penick later got to meet former NASCAR Cup Series driver and South Boston native Ward Burton, who signed her race car.
“I don’t really think it really hit me,” she said of the championship. “Sitting back and actually realizing I got it. I mean, it was nice coming up there and seeing how proud my family was of me and everything.”
Penick is a third generation driver, beginning with her grandfather who raced in the 1960s and ‘70s. He passed the tradition on to his daughter – Penick’s aunt, Cheryl – who competed around Eastern Virginia.
Cheryl taught the sport to Penick.
“She really tries to help me out, giving me pointers, but it’s a whole lot different somebody sitting there trying to tell you how to drive the car versus you actually being behind the steering wheel and driving the car,” Penick said.
Penick’s brothers all also are in racing, though they’re all in different rides. Her two oldest brothers drive mud trucks and compete in mud bogging races, and the one closest to her in age drag races.
Penick was the only one in her immediate family that gravitated towards circle tracks. She and her dad always liked going to watch races at South Boston, and she wanted to do the compete in the same style of races as her grandfather and aunt.
“I just told dad, I want to get into racing, and he was like, ‘OK, well, if that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do,’” she said.
“My brothers and I, we’ve always been tight. We’ve always had four wheelers growing up, so we always raced or whatever, so speed has always been something I love.”
Penick has grown as a driver since she began racing competitively three seasons ago. When she began she admits she was a “bad competitor,” she said, never really racing near the front.
“I was just trying to get used to the track, and I wasn’t driving the fastest car out there,” she said. “It was just a car I could race with and say I was getting experience.”
The second year she started getting more competitive, and by the end of the season she was pretty consistently finishing third and fourth every race.
Jordaine Penick (second from left) joined Jason Myers (left), Peyton Sellers (second from right) and B.J. Reaves (right) as a track champion at South Boston Speedway this season. (Photo: Joe Chandler/South Boston Speedway)
By her third year, she had gotten the hang of how to get around South Boston, and was now figuring out how to pick up speed.
The improvements stemmed from Penick, “realizing that it doesn’t really matter if I tear my car up, and to just push as hard as I could to get where I was,” she said.
“Learning when I needed to let off the gas and when to accelerate back after I got out the curves, because I’ve always raced four wheelers and stuff like that around the fields,” she added.
Being in a race car as an early teenager had its advantages when it came to getting her real driver’s license, which Penick got during the summer. But she hasn’t quite been able to take the race car driver out of her system when it comes to the road.
“It was pretty easy, but Dad, when he first got in the vehicle with me, he said I held the curves way too fast,” she said with a laugh.
“I honestly love racing, like just being out there and being able to go fast without getting a ticket.”
Penick said she isn’t ready to move up out of South Boston’s hornets division quite yet, because she still wants to learn a little more about how to be the best racer she can be, and get to victory lane.
She’s spending this offseason continuing to work on her craft, while also taking pride in what she accomplished during the 2024 season.
“I’m really proud of myself,” Penick said. “I’ve come a long way thanks to my father, my aunt Cheryl, and all the sponsors.
“It’s awesome. It’s a big honor for me. Being a champion, that’s an honor. There’s four champions at South Boston, so to be one of those four, you’ve got to be really, really good, and it’s nice.”
