Justin Allgaier has been around for a time or two. He’s the only driver to qualify for all nine NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, dating back to the format’s inception in 2016.
With four races remaining in the 2024 season, one thing remains the same: There is still a goose egg in the championship column for the Illinois native, who has sole possession of 10th on the all-time series wins list, passing his team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. earlier this season.
“I’m going to keep doing this until I’m not able to do this anymore or I’m not asked to come back or where I can’t compete at a high level,” Allgaier said openly on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “If that opportunity never presents itself, it’s not going to be the difference in me considering my career a success or not. I love what I do, I’m proud to be here and have the opportunities that I have and keep going forward.”
By all measures, Allgaier has had an extraordinary career. That has blossomed into a standout 2024 season, scoring 15 stage wins, more than double the amount of the next driver on the list (Chandler Smith, seven). He also leads the series in laps led at 663.
But Allgaier’s raw pace hasn’t translated to race wins. The No. 7 Chevrolet has visited Victory Lane just twice this season, with the most recent trip coming two months ago at Michigan International Speedway. He saw five playoff points evaporate from his grasp by giving up a 43-point lead in the regular-season finale at Bristol Motor Speedway.
That Bristol performance was the third race of a five-race stretch between Atlanta Motor Speedway and the second race in the Round of 12 at Talladega Superspeedway where Allgaier had three finishes of 25th or worse. It dropped him from being the championship favorite to having to scratch and claw his way through the Round of 12, entering last weekend’s Charlotte Roval event 10 points below the elimination line.
“To come to Vegas, I have to laugh because with the DNFs we’ve had and still be the points leader, to still have 15 stage wins, it’s pretty wild,” Allgaier admitted. “When I step back and look back at the year as a whole, I’m like, ‘How did we not win 10 races and absolutely be killing it right now?’ My team deserves that. As fast as cars we’ve brought to the race track every week, I look back at the mistakes that I’ve made and think, ‘Holy cow, we have given away some points this year.
“These last two months have given me a lot of time to reflect and focus on what is important. This reset is like icing on the cake. We went into Charlotte with a different mentality, and I think that we executed. We come here to Vegas, and as long as we execute, it’s going to be tough to beat the 7 team.”
The No. 7 team’s strategy for the Roval was to chase stage points. With fellow playoff drivers Riley Herbst and Sheldon Creed having their own issues, the key was to keep all four tires on the pavement around a challenging 17-turn course.
“Charlotte was a great example of execution,” Allgaier said. “We got to where we needed to get to. We got to the end of the race and did what we needed to do points-wise and Jim [Pohlman, crew chief] told me to just sit where you’re at. Don’t try to race anybody. Just don’t wreck. Don’t go off the race track, don’t make mistakes.”
When the checkered flag waved, Allgaier was seventh on the playoff grid, with a four-point buffer over Shane van Gisbergen, who was the first driver eliminated.
The No. 7 team lives by the moniker of pressure being a privilege. That feeling will only intensify by advancing to the Round of 8 and resetting as the points leader with an 18-point advantage over the elimination line entering the Round of 8.
By escaping a tumultuous Round of 12, it’s realistic to believe this is Allgaier’s best shot at winning the championship. Between the three tracks in the Round of 8 – Las Vegas, Homestead and Martinsville – Allgaier has one win in 43 starts. Homestead is among the tracks he’s faced the most challenges throughout his career, having yet to score a top-five finish in 15 starts. He has defined consistency at Vegas and Martinsville, tallying 24 top-10 finishes in 28 total starts.
“We have new life,” Allgaier said. “We put ourselves in this spot. You don’t ever know the peaks without having the valleys. I think sometimes, if everything is flat and smooth and you don’t enjoy those big moments, you have to get down in those deep valleys and dig through it. I think that’s where we’re at. If we were to come out of this with a championship, it wouldn’t be easy.”
Allgaier has qualified for the Championship 4 in six years, earning a best finish of second in the championship battle (2020, 2023).
NASCAR.com’s 36 for 36 continues at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
With 36 races and 36 full-time Charter cars, our players select one car per race, but there’s a simple twist: once they’ve made the pick, they can’t choose that car again for the rest of the 36-race season. Yes, that means every car will be selected exactly once … a survivor pool, by another name.
Follow along weekly as our panel of pickers — Dustin Albino from Jayski, along with Steve Luvender and Cameron Richardson from NASCAR.com — embarks on a season-long journey to think like strategists and prove their picking prowess.
We’ll also feature a fourth “community” 36 for 36 pick each week, as decided by fan vote on the r/NASCAR subreddit. Can the collective vote topple our trio of full-timers?
Current Standings:
Steve Luvender: 826
Dustin Albino: -102
r/NASCAR Community: -130
Cameron Richardson: -140
Race 33 of 36: Las Vegas
It was a story of feast or famine last week at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval for our pickers. A disappointing six-point day for Ty Gibbs after a mechanical issue left the NASCAR subreddit earning just six points, while Dustin Albino’s pick of Justin Haley netted 11 points. On the other side of the coin, AJ Allmendinger netted 44 points for Steve Luvender, extending his points lead, while Cameron Richardson’s big 48-point day from Chase Elliott helped heat up the battle for third place.
Just four races remain in 2024, starting with Sunday’s Round of 8 opener from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. With available options scarce, how will our pickers strategize the rest of their seasons?
Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 45, Tyler Reddick
Dustin’s pick last week: No. 7, Justin Haley (11 points)
Total season points: 724 (second place)
Dustin: The last two weeks have been brutal. For the first time all season, I’m triple-digit points off the lead with four races remaining. Not ideal. But with nothing to lose, I might as well throw my own “Hail Melon” and play a different strategy. If I wanted to stay the course, I’d pick Kyle Larson this weekend, who has back-to-back victories in Sin City. But he’s going to be the popular pick, so I’ll take Tyler Reddick. The No. 45 Toyota was best in class behind the No. 5 car in the spring race at Vegas and was chasing down Larson in the waning laps. Reddick has five top-10 finishes in the last six trips to Las Vegas and desperately needs to find his playoff stride soon.
NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 5, Kyle Larson
Steve’s pick last week: No. 16, AJ Allmendinger (44 points)
Total season points: 826 (first place)
Steve: It’s time. After waiting until Race 33, I’m finally going with the No. 5. Kyle Larson won the last two Las Vegas races and led 27 or more laps in six of his seven races at the track when driving for Hendrick Motorsports. Coming off his sixth win of the season last week at the Charlotte Roval, he has momentum on his side, too. Another consideration: At least one driver from the Round of 8 will advance to the Championship 4 on points, regardless of who wins the next three races. I suspect the No. 5 team and others will keep this in mind to help rack up stage markers.
NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson: No. 20, Christopher Bell
Cameron’s pick last week: No. 9, Chase Elliott (48 points)
Total season points: 686 (fourth place)
Cameron: We’re alive! (For second place, that is.) Going to go with the late-season juggernaut that is Christopher Bell. He’s won one race in the semifinal round in both 2022 and 2023 to make the Championship 4 the last two seasons and scored top 10s in all three Round of 8 events last year. Bell’s had love-hate moments with Vegas so far in his career but came up just short of Kyle Larson in a thrilling finish in the Vegas playoff race in 2023.
r/NASCAR Community: No. 19, Martin Truex Jr.
r/NASCAR’s pick last week: No. 54, Ty Gibbs (6 points)
Total season points: 696 (third place)
It’s back-to-back Joe Gibbs Racing picks for the NASCAR subreddit. This time, the community voted to use Martin Truex Jr., who’s making his final start at Las Vegas as a full-time driver.
Here’s what Redditors had to say this week in the voting thread:
u/FridgusDomin8or: “Truex I think has to be our pick this week even though this team has less than no momentum currently. Vegas has been Truex’s best track in the Next Gen era, he hasn’t finished worse than 9th here over the last 5 races here I believe. I think we have to save Reddick for Homestead, use Preece at Martinsville, and then Blaney at Phoenix (and hope he doesn’t make the Championship 4 since the final 4 drivers do not earn stage points)”
u/Joey_Logano (no relation): “I’d say Truex is the pick here, Reddick at Homestead, my beloved Preece at Martinsville and Blaney at Phoenix. Truex has won at Las Vegas before and is simply are best remaining pick left this late in the season.”
u/Extreme-Bite-9123: “Truex here for sure. Firstly because we have everyone else being used somewhere, but also because this is his statistical best track”
u/Dont_hate_the_8: “Yes. I need say no more.”
Check back next week to see how our pickers fared as the season-long 36 for 36 journey continues.
And, if you’ve got a competitive itch beyond meticulously managing your Fantasy Live lineup each week, feel free to save or print your own 36 for 36 sheet and see if you can beat our pickers and the Reddit community!
In just one calendar year, Leigh Diffey has covered IMSA’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Indianapolis 500, the Summer Olympics in Paris and his current assignment for NBC Sports as the lead play-by-play voice for the NASCAR Playoffs. The variety is as rich as his frequent-flyer odometer is long.
“I like to say I’m in the club of one,” Diffey says with a laugh, acknowledging the level of exclusivity, but also how far the French capital city is from say, Talladega or Bristol. Diffey has deftly navigated both the globe and those transitions this year, and his journey continues with this weekend’s racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In three weeks, he’ll call the Cup Series’ championship race in Phoenix for the first time as the broadcast booth’s primary anchor.
“I mean, if you’re a motorsport commentator, that’s the stuff that dreams are made of,” Diffey says. “I haven’t stopped pinching myself.”
Diffey has been a fixture on NBC Sports’ roster of broadcasters since joining the network in 2013, but this year has been his first as the outlet’s lead NASCAR announcer. Though the 53-year-old veteran still jokingly refers to himself as “the new guy” on the broadcast team, he’s drawn on his experience working alongside analysts Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte to make his move to the main chair a seamless one.
Diffey has already earned raves for his energetic calls of several memorable moments in the second half of the Cup Series campaign. His fellow broadcasters have thrived off that natural enthusiasm, seeing him visit some of NASCAR’s iconic tracks for the first time.
“Look, Leigh’s passion, and you’ve heard Leigh call races and other sporting events …,” Burton says. “Everybody is very much aware of what Leigh is capable of that has listened to him.”
* * *
Funny enough, Diffey’s career could have taken a far different turn had some friends in a motorcycle club back in his home country of Australia not invited him to handle public-address announcing duties at a local meet. Diffey had long been a fan of two-wheeled racing, a passion handed down from his father, and he competed alongside his older brother from the age of 6 well into his teenage years. “I was OK. I wasn’t great,” Diffey says in reflection, noting how some of his friends went on to championship-caliber careers.
“I didn’t grow up dreaming of a career in motorsport broadcasting or sports broadcasting at all,” Diffey says. “At one stage of my career or one stage of my life, I thought I was going to be a farmer or work in agricultural economics because I studied agriculture at high school.”
A career in teaching was also on the table. Diffey earned his bachelor’s degree in education and briefly worked as a physical education teacher. “As my part-time job, I didn’t work at McDonald’s or an ice cream store. I worked on a farm,” he said. “I picked tomatoes and grapes and zucchinis and hung out with a farmer. So that’s where I thought my life was going.”
Joe Skibinski | Penske Entertainment
Though his dirt-bike racing days were behind him by then, Diffey had kept in touch with his friends in those circles. Taking the microphone for that PA-announcing gig changed his outlook.
“I think I was about 20 years old or something like that and just never expected that,” Diffey says, “and I’m sure glad that it happened.”
Doors eventually opened with the Australia-based Supercars circuit, and assignments for motorcycle and rally racing events followed. Diffey came to America more than 20 years ago to cover IndyCar and other forms of racing, and he served as the voice for U.S. broadcasts of Formula 1 events for a number of seasons.
Diffey’s IndyCar ride ended this season with the news that FOX Sports would become the series’ broadcast home in 2025. He called that transition “bittersweet” but that there was little time to dwell on that chapter of his 27-year career in television closing.
“I never dreamed that I’d be fortunate enough to call the Indy 500, and I got to do six of them. So I feel incredibly blessed and just very fortunate that that happened,” Diffey says. “… When anything comes to an end that you’re passionate about, it’s always difficult. But what helped was that my attention and my bandwidth was consumed with the Olympics, doing a great job, it’s all-encompassing, it’s all-consuming, I should say. And then I knew that I had this 7,000-pound gorilla waiting at the end of the year that is NASCAR. So I had to kind of compartmentalize my year. I had to go through it in blocks.”
A big block came this summer, calling track and field events at his sixth Olympic Games on the worldwide stage. “No disrespect to any of the other host nations or cities, but that was the best,” Diffey said, describing the mood in Paris as unmatched. His lodging for his time there was within walking distance of the Stade de France, providing the opportunity to intermingle with spectators and supporters in an on-foot commute.
“Just walking with the masses, with the fans, everyone’s laughing and joking, and there was music and cheering, and they had their nation’s colors on,” Diffey said. “It was just … it was great to go to work every day.”
Just a scant two weeks after the Closing Ceremonies, Diffey was in the booth at Daytona International Speedway to helm coverage of the penultimate race of the NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season. Diffey said the trust that the network has placed in him to cover such a dizzying blend of sports — from luge, bobsled, track and rugby to big-league stock-car racing — can be traced back to the influence of Sam Flood, NBC Sports’ executive producer and president of production.
“We’re going to throw a variety of things at you and see what sticks,” Diffey recalled Flood telling him early in his NBC tenure. “And he said, ‘So you’re going to call different kinds of racing for us, so are you up for that?’ And I said, sure. I mean, I was hired by NBC primarily to do Formula 1 and IndyCar, and then he said, but we’re going to put you on the Olympics as well. Sam is the same gentleman who had the foresight and also the commitment and the belief in me to put me on track and field and also to put me on NASCAR, so I owe a lot to Sam and his belief in me to be able to be flexible enough and to adapt and get on with it.
“Whatever his ideas were and are, then I have to go and execute it, and so far, so good. It’s been a fun ride.”
* * *
Leigh Diffey says he doesn’t really read his own reviews, save for some interactions on social media. “They’re either going to love you or hate you,” he says. “It’s kind of like politics, really. There’s no middle ground. It’s a massive swing.”
On one side are the kudos that glow with praise. “We’re convinced NBC’s Leigh Diffey can narrate a Monday morning commute to work and make it sound thrilling and history-making,” the Associated Press wrote during the Pyeongchang Winter Games in 2018, when Diffey delivered the play-by-play call of the skeleton competition.
On the other side are those who might be surprised to hear an accent in the NASCAR broadcast booth that’s not plucked from the American South. Most of the reception, however, has been a warm one, with Diffey winning over any skeptics with his engaging, upbeat style.
“It has absolutely blown me away. They have been so lovely,” Diffey says of the welcoming spirit. “Of course, I’m not going to be everybody’s cup of tea. I’m not silly enough to not acknowledge that or know that, and look, NASCAR has been around for 75 years, and there’s never been a non-American voice in the play-by-play position. So Jackie Stewart and David Hobbs did it — one from Scotland, one from England — they did it back in the day as analysts. There’s never been a foreign-voiced play-by-play for the American audience on the Indy 500, and I got to do that, and then on NASCAR, and I’m doing that now, and I’m very proud of that.
“But also you’ve got to remember, too, I’m an American — even though I don’t talk like an American. I’m a proud naturalized American citizen, and I have been for 13 years. My children, our two sons, were born in Atlanta, Georgia. I chose to become an American citizen, and I’m really proud of that. Of course, I’ll always be proud of my Aussie heritage, of where I grew up, but this is where my career has been defined. And I love this country, and it’s done so much for me and to me, giving back and becoming a U.S. citizen, I feel really fortunate, and I feel really passionate about that.”
NBC Sports
Diffey has been here long enough that he hasn’t had to worry about much Aussie slang slipping into his broadcast patter. That said, the breadth of his vocabulary has occasionally produced double-takes from some of his colleagues — in particular Letarte, who lightheartedly admits to limiting himself to a two-syllable maximum as an analyst.
During a recent broadcast, Diffey characterized a driver’s maneuver as “dodgy,” which stopped Letarte cold. “He goes, ‘Oh, you’ve got to run that by me again,'” Diffey recalled, saying that both Letarte and Burton have poked good-natured fun at some of his descriptions. That levity comes with a measure of respect, and Letarte effortlessly mentions Diffey alongside legendary broadcasters who have earned Hall of Fame recognition.
“I will say that it never ceases to amaze me the words that Leigh can find,” Letarte says. “It reminds me of some of the greats that we’ve had. You know, Mike Joy has that signature ability to put something in context. Barney Hall had that same ability. Ken Squier, for sure. The Squier-isms are as famous as the man himself. That’s the thing is the calls are not just energetic and not just accurate, but they are poetic and colorful, and they make for a bigger moment than the moment itself already is.”
Diffey had a doozy of a moment and a call to match it with his arrival in the Daytona booth two months ago, when he heralded Harrison Burton’s first Cup Series win as his father, Jeff, watched alongside him. Diffey captured the high drama, noting how close Kyle Busch was to ending the longest skid of his career until Burton’s compelling charge on the backstretch ultimately proved victorious, sealing a milestone 100th win for the Wood Brothers team.
“Jeff, your little boy has done it!” Diffey exclaimed, setting the tone in one of NASCAR’s biggest recent upsets.
“Watching Harrison come off Turn 4 and seeing Jeff’s excitement when he went to Victory Lane and to hear Leigh’s call is a moment I’ll always remember,” Letarte said. “It’s up there with Jimmie’s seventh championship or some of the other great races I have been a part of. We all have our own skill sets, but finding those words in those moments really adds to it. It’s a lot of fun.”
All three boothmates mentioned the chemistry bonds that have grown through the season, but that awareness of each other’s responsibilities has made it all click. When pit stops, strategy or officiating rules crop up during the course of a race, former crew chief Letarte takes a more prominent role. When crashes or driver situations arise, Burton tends to become more vocal. Setting the stage and depicting the climactic action as an on-air quarterback is where Diffey makes his mark, and Letarte and Burton are more than happy to leave that obligation to him.
“We enjoy the opportunity to get the hell out of his way and let him do it,” Burton said. “It’s important to know that there’s a time that I for sure need to shut up and let him roll. So, yeah, it’s been fun. He’s had some big moments on top of that.”
Diffey says he’s savored soaking up the atmosphere as he navigates this portion of his busy year, calling the NASCAR experience “the epitome of Americana.” His increased stock-car workload has brought him to new venues, but it’s also put him in touch with new fans who have been eager to receive his insights.
During last weekend’s track walk at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, one fan shouted for him from the campground area. The Aussie transplant — at home here in the cradle of stock-car racing — walked over to have a conversation, melting away the fencing that separated the two.
“That’s where you get the pulse and the heartbeat of the sport,” Diffey says. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Most seasons, Bryce Allen isn’t able to make every race at Iowa’s Adams County Speedway. As a full-time soybean and corn farmer, he’s busiest in the spring when the race season is just getting started.
Thankfully for both Allen’s farming and racing, Adams County had several rainouts early in the year.
“It rained at the race track, but it didn’t rain in the field, so I was able to get my work done and not miss any races,” Allen said. “And then I kind of found myself in the hunt, I guess.”
In his 11th season at Adams County, a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series dirt track in Corning, Iowa, Allen won nine of 16 races in the track’s B Modified division and finished in the top five 15 times. He won the track championship by 10 points and broke a track record for wins in his division.
(Photo: CK Imaging/Adams County Speedway)
Not only did he do well enough to win his first track title; Allen’s dominant season also led to his first NASCAR national championship. He won the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division III national championships title by 48 points ahead of Berlin Raceway’s Ryan Holtzlander.
Allen and his team built a new car for the 2024 season: “It was just really good for me,” he said.
While Allen was in the fields for work, his chassis builder took the car to the track for practice. From there, he said the car was “definitely exactly what I was looking for.”
Bryce Allen competed in 16 races at Iowa’s Adams County Speedway this year, winning nine of them. (Photo: CK Imaging/Adams County Speedway)
The team suffered a setback early in June when he was disqualified from a race, but they bounced back, and Allen won the next four races in a row.
“The DQ actually probably had a positive effect,” he said. “It lit a fire underneath us and the entire team that we knew we needed to come back and win.
“I thought, ‘Well, we’re probably out of the hunt for a track title now,’ and we just kept winning races and dug ourselves back into that deal… and then midway through the summer, I knew how the national points worked and that it was different and I actually found myself climbing the ladder in national points faster than the track points.”
Much of Allen’s team is his own family. His brother helps in the shop during the week and is in the pits for each race. He’s also joined by his brother-in-law, wife and two daughters, who are 2 and 4 years old.
Allen said his family is the reason he stuck with racing this year.
“My life and job are pretty busy, but they love to go,” Allen said. “And it gives us a chance to go as a family. My mom loves it, too. It’s something we do on Saturday nights that keeps us all together.”
Allen’s daughters even got used to celebrating his many wins this season.
“I don’t think they quite understand, but it got to be a deal later in the season that on Saturday mornings we always say, ‘OK, it’s race day. Dad’s got to go to work for a while and then I’ll see you tonight.’ And it turned into, ‘We’ll see you in Victory Lane, Dad.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, don’t get used to it because it doesn’t always work like this.’
“It’s very special. There was a lot of those wins that one of the officials would hand the trophy to one of my girls to give to me in Victory Lane. That’s pretty special. You don’t get those moments back.”
Bryce Allen is joined by his family and crew in Victory Lane after capturing the Adams County Speedway B Modified track championship this year. (Photo: CK Imaging/Adams County Speedway)
Allen hasn’t decided if he’ll race again next season. Last October, he still hadn’t decided if he’d be racing in 2024.
“It’s a stressful sport. Points racing, especially,” he said. “You ask a guy at the end of the year, a lot of them say they’re never racing again or they’re done racing, and then it gets to be about January, and it’s like, ‘Well, I suppose we can start working on the car again.’
“I still have the car, and I haven’t really made up my mind yet.”
Whatever he plans to do in 2025, Allen can forever call himself a track and national champion, which makes his decision for his future of racing even tougher.
“It feels pretty special, and I think that that’s kind of the other battle of trying to decide if I’m done or not,” he said. “It’s pretty tough to have had a year like that. I mean, that might be a once in a lifetime thing, and maybe you quit while you’re ahead. I don’t know. It’s definitely very special.
“I’ve just got to thank my family and all my sponsors and everybody that’s done this since 2013 with me. It’s been fun.”
A wave of youthful exuberance overcame Hendrick Motorsports’ campus Wednesday afternoon as the racing team and one of its premier partners Ally hosted its sixth annual Fueling Futures event. Fifty high school students from various Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools gathered for this initiative aimed for students to learn and gain firsthand knowledge about diverse career opportunities within the motorsports industry, emphasizing not only the allure of being a driver but also the multitude of supporting roles from marketing and public relations to data engineering and being on the pit crew.
The event featured juniors and seniors taking turns touring various parts of Hendrick’s expansive campus, hearing from industry professionals and learning about their career paths and how they got to Hendrick Motorsports. Each session highlighted that there are more essential roles within a racing organization that are not always thought about on the surface level when it comes to working in motorsports.
“This is a holistic way for us to share with students the different career paths they can have,” Natalie Brown, senior director of corporate citizenship at Ally, stated. “These students have so many different challenges today than I had when I was in high school many years ago. Hearing from leaders in professional sports, it’s an opportunity that a lot of students don’t get to touch. This is also exposing students to understanding that these leaders are just like them, they have challenges and they have successes and how they overcame those challenges motivates the students.”
At the end of the sessions, Bernard Pollard, a former NFL player and Super Bowl champion with the Baltimore Ravens, held a candid interview with the wheelman of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, Alex Bowman, who talked about his career path to Hendrick and what it took to reach NASCAR’s top level of competition. During the interview, Bowman honed in on a recurring theme to not let adversity hinder you from accomplishing your goals. Both Pollard and Bowman encouraged the students to “soak in” all the information they learned, as they explore various avenues after high school whether it be in college or the workforce and to pursue their passions without hesitation.
“I think a lot of people think [careers in motorsports] are pretty narrow,” Bowman said after the event. “There’s just so many opportunities in racing at different organizations and different levels, it’s super cool to kind of expose them to that, but also teaching kids about financial literacy with Ally, it’s definitely cool to be a part of it.”
Another key focus of the event included a Money Matters workshop where students got to learn about the importance of budgeting, saving and having a financial plan once they find a job. It encouraged them to start thinking about finances in a way that could empower them as they approached adulthood.
“The biggest thing for me is being able to pour back into so many kids that I’ve been in their position,” Pollard added. “This is an opportunity to expose them to a company, a brand and a sport that can do really good things for them for setting them up in life and allowing them to see and do things in life that they never thought they’d be a part of, that’s truly a blessing.”
The Fueling Futures event served as a powerful catalyst for inspiration and continues to be one of Ally’s ongoing programs with the goal of fostering economic empowerment and career inspiration for younger generations, allowing students to gain access to resources outside of their school system to help prepare for life after high school.
Throughout the 2024 NASCAR season, Ken Martin, director of historical content for the sanctioning body, will offer his suggestions on which historical races fans should watch from the NASCAR Classics library in preparation for each upcoming race weekend.
Martin has worked exclusively for NASCAR since 2008 but has been involved with the sport since 1982, overseeing various projects. He has worked in the broadcast booth for hundreds of races, assisting the broadcast team with different tasks. This includes calculating the “points as they run” for the historic 1992 finale, the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The following suggestions are Ken’s picks to watch before this Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
The 2018 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs kicked off with a chaotic race at Las Vegas as the playoff field was split between having great days and struggles.
Erik Jones put his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on pole for the race as all 16 of the playoff drivers qualified in the top 18 positions; Jamie McMurray (12th) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (14th) were the only non-playoff drivers to be in the top 18.
Jones and fellow playoff driver Kevin Harvick saw their chance at a great run go out the window on the 147th lap. Harvick blew a tire, and Jones was caught up in the accident, ending the day for both drivers. Harvick had entered the playoffs after winning seven of the first 26 races in 2018. He left Las Vegas third in points, but Jones wasn’t as lucky. His last-place finish left him 15th in points, 19 points behind the elimination line.
Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin were two drivers who also saw their days end with a DNF following an incident. Elliott finished 36th, and Hamlin finished 32nd.
As the race progressed, the strongest car of the day seemed to be the strongest car in the series at the time: Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford. He finished off the regular season with wins at Darlington Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway while leading a handful of times at Las Vegas before a handful of late cautions set the field up for an overtime finish.
Playoff drivers Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman each had tire issues late in the race following a restart for a hard crash involving Stenhouse Jr.
Keselowski stayed out front throughout those incidents — as well as another multi-car incident that brought out the red flag — to capture his third consecutive Cup Series victory.
Playoff drivers finished in the top seven spots in the field, while half of the playoff field finished 19th or worse.
It seemed all too familiar that the Las Vegas playoff race would come down to another thrilling overtime finish. But this time, it was somewhat of a surprise winner.
Hometown driver Kurt Busch always dreamed of winning at the speedway, but luck was never on his side. He had been Cup racing since 2000 but had yet to find Victory Lane at the track, seldom cracking the top 10.
As one of 12 drivers remaining who were chasing the title, he was on the championship hunt, so it would mean just a little bit more if he was able to finally capture that elusive victory at a track where he had always chased the glory.
Busch entered the race sitting 12th in points, one spot behind his brother Kyle. Luckily for Kurt, sixth through 12th in the standings were only separated by 15 points, giving him all the chances in the world to advance to the next round.
Denny Hamlin seemed to have the strongest car of the day, leading a race-high 121 laps, but a late caution flag shuffled the field after drivers came into the pits. The caution flag flew again late, setting up an overtime finish, but Busch was able to hold off the already-eliminated Matt DiBenedetto to take the checkered flag.
An overly emotional Busch took pride in his victory after the race, especially knowing how he was safely into the next round with the two unknown races at Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte Motor Roval coming up.
Hamlin came home third, while a handful of other playoff drivers in Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman and Kyle followed DiBenedetto for third through sixth. Austin Dillon was the lone playoff driver to finish lower than 22nd as he came home 32nd, putting him a hefty amount of points back of the elimination line with two races left.
The 2022 South Point 400 was the first race in which the playoff drivers had the opportunity to punch their ticket to Phoenix Raceway for a chance at the championship as the eight remaining playoff drivers looked to be the one driver remaining to hoist the trophy.
The race kicked off in historic fashion as Mark Martin paced the field in the No. 6 machine he won with at the speedway’s inaugural race in 1998. Who would be the next driver to finish his day in Victory Lane at the track?
Emotions were high as the 36-car field battled for the victory, even between a pair of drivers who were not still in the hunt for the championship.
Bubba Wallace captured the first stage victory, but things quickly went sour after contact with Kyle Larson. The two drivers received extensive damage in the incident, which ended with Wallace shoving Larson in the infield after confronting him about the incident.
The two drivers were credited with a 35th (Larson) and 36th-place finish (Wallace). Christopher Bell, another playoff driver, received damage in the accident and also was unable to continue, ending the race in 34th.
Ryan Blaney, who captured the second stage victory of the day, saw his chance at a strong run end after spinning, relegating him to a 28th-place finish.
At the end of the day, the battle for the victory came down to two playoff drivers, as Joey Logano passed Ross Chastain with three laps remaining to capture his third career victory at the track and, more importantly, punch his ticket to Phoenix for a chance to race for another title.
Chastain, Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin found themselves inside the top four with two races remaining before Phoenix.
Hamlin held a six-point advantage over William Byron, who held a small advantage over Chase Briscoe and Blaney. Bell’s troubles left him with a larger gap as he left the track 23 points back of Hamlin.
Headlining the entry list are two NASCAR Cup Series legends – 2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman and 2000 series champion Bobby Labonte. Newman is piloting the No. 77 Modified for Mike Curb, while Labonte is in the No. 38 for Sadler-Stanley Racing.
Labonte anticipates a complete contrast at North Wilkesboro on Sunday compared to past events with the recently repaved surface. All the unknowns surrounding the new pavement is something Labonte believes creates an ideal opportunity for him to contend with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour regulars.
“I’m excited about it,” Labonte said. “We’ve run [North] Wilkesboro a couple of times now, but the repave is going to be different for everybody. With a lot more cars on the racetrack, hopefully more rubber will be laid down and the groove will move up. Nobody has a clear-cut advantage, but somebody is going to hit on the right combination. Hopefully it’s us.”
Since competing in his last Cup Series race in 2016, Labonte has kept himself busy by racing Modifieds around the Southeast.
The learning curve has not been as rigorous as Labonte initially envisioned. He has visited Victory Lane five times in a Modified during the 2020s, besting many established veterans like Burt Myers, Brandon Ward and even Newman.
Unlike Labonte, Newman’s experience in Modifieds dates to when he was still competing in the Cup Series. Among the accomplishments Newman has amassed in the discipline include four NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victories, three of which were in the iconic No. 7NY.
Ryan Newman’s accomplishments at North Wilkesboro Speedway include a victory in an exhibition event back in 2022. (Photo: NASCAR)
Newman earned a solid sixth place finish during the inaugural Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 last year and won an exhibition event at North Wilkesboro in 2022, but he knows replicating those finishes will require a different strategy. Tire conservation is no longer paramount after the repave, yet Newman believes drivers will still have to race the track on Sunday.
“It’s a totally different race track now with the new asphalt,” Newman said. “Everything we’ve done in the past is not necessarily relevant. We did the tire test for Hoosier when the track was new. The track has got some age on it now, [so] I look forward to going back there.”
Labonte shared Newman’s optimism regarding the slow aging of the new surface, which he hopes creates plenty of side-by-side racing. With how fast North Wilkesboro is now expected to be, Labonte said it will be imperative for teams to not make their cars too loose, otherwise they risk sacrificing corner speed.
A North Wilkesboro victory eluded Labonte during the handful of times he got to race there in the Cup Series. Checking off that milestone will require Labonte to deal with a talented group of racers, but he believes the cars prepared by PSR Products give him a great chance to be competitive all day.
“It would mean a lot to ride that elevator up at North Wilkesboro,” Labonte said. “I’m looking forward to having that opportunity. I feel like we can be fairly competitive and if we can hit the right combination come race time, then I think we’ll be really good.”
Labonte and Newman will look to take home a checkered flag at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. FloRacing will carry live coverage of all the on-track action in the Brushy Mountain Powersports 150.
Although he has won in the iconic No. 7NY, Luke Baldwin will race in that number for the first time in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on Sunday at North Wilkesboro Speedway. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
Luke Baldwin piloting iconic No. 7NY Modified for father Tommy Baldwin Jr.
After a four-race absence, the No. 7NY returns to NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour competition this weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway, this time with Tommy Baldwin Jr.’s son Luke behind the wheel.
Luke only has one prior NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start on his resume, which occurred at New Hampshire Motor Speedway earlier this year. Driving the No. 38 for Sadler-Stanley Racing, Luke ended up settling for a 20th place finish after being collected in a late-race accident.
Despite this, Luke has enjoyed plenty of success in the early days of his career. He earned two victories and a championship in the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing’s 602 Modified Division at New Smyrna Speedway last year before later finding Victory Lane in a Modified.
Expectations are high for Luke as he prepares to run his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event with his family’s iconic number. Luke’s grandfather Tom Baldwin established the legacy of the No. 7NY with countless accomplishments to his name, which has since been carried on through Tommy Jr.’s Modified operation.
A strong field of cars awaits Luke on Sunday afternoon, but the 18-year-old competitor is eager for a successful first chapter with the No. 7NY on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Matt Hirschman is chasing a third Modified victory at North Wilkesboro Speedway since the track’s re-opening in 2022. (Photo: Bryan Bennett/NASCAR)
Matt Hirschman looks to stay undefeated at North Wilkesboro
When the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour made their first trip to North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2023, Matt Hirschman wasted no time etching his name into the record books.
The veteran racer led 80 laps from the outside pole to win the inaugural Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 ahead of Ron Silk and Justin Bonsignore. Hirschman is back in his familiar No. 60 PeeDee Motorsports Modified this weekend with the goal of adding another North Wilkesboro victory to his resume.
Since North Wilkesboro re-opened to the public, Hirschman has been one of the best drivers at the facility. Along with his NASAR Whelen Modified Tour triumph, Hirschman also tallied another victory and a third-place finish during two exhibition events at North Wilkesboro in August of 2022.
All those performances came on North Wilkesboro’s old surface that remained relatively untouched during the track’s prolonged closure. Hirschman will need to adapt to North Wilkesboro’s fresh pavement if he wants to maintain or improve upon his average finish of 1.7 at the facility.
A victory for Hirschman on Sunday afternoon would give him his 10th overall in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and second in 2024, having last prevailed at Seekonk Speedway back in June.
NOTES:
North Wilkesboro Speedway was the sight of Carson Loftin’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour debut in 2023, where he earned a lead lap finish of 25th. The talented Modified prospect is back with the series for his third start of 2024, seeking to improve upon a career-best run of ninth at Richmond Raceway in April.
Andy Seuss, a two-time champion in the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour, is back with the premier tour after last competing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June. Seuss’ best performance on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was a third at Myrtle Beach Speedway in 2017, a milestone he looks to eclipse on Sunday.
Former NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor Joey Coulter has not run a race with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour since the season-opener at New Smyrna Speedway. That changes Sunday as Coulter enters North Wilkesboro Speedway determined to earn his first top 10 with the series.
A long drive from 36th in last year’s Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 for Andrew Krause ended with a solid seventh place finish. Krause has four NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour top 10s at tracks in the Southeast, but will search for his fourth career top five on Sunday afternoon at North Wilkesboro.
When Hunter Morgan made the decision to jump into Late Model Stock Cars for the 2024 season, he knew expectations needed to be reasonable against a stout group of drivers at Tennessee’s Kingsport Speedway.
The results were far beyond what Morgan anticipated. He consistently held his own with seasoned Late Model Stock veterans to earn the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I Rookie of the Year honors with four victories and a fourth-place finish in Kingsport’s final standings.
Morgan was pleasantly surprised with the success he experienced during his maiden Late Model Stock campaign. His initial goals were to log laps and gain respect, but he credited everyone around him for fostering an environment that allowed him to thrive behind the wheel.
“It definitely means a lot,” Morgan said. “We really worked hard for this and didn’t really expect it to happen this year. I was just hoping to run a race or two to get my feet wet, but we delved in deep. My team Chase Dixon Motorsports put in a lot of effort to get me here.”
(Photo: Randall Perry)
Although he is a first-generation competitor in his family, motorsports has been a part of Morgan’s life since his early childhood. His passion for racing started by watching NASCAR races at home, which was further galvanized when his family took him to see his first race at Kingsport.
Hunter Morgan is finding success as a first-generation racer in his family. (Photo: Randall Perry)
The desire Morgan displayed to one day join the local Kingsport heroes on track was enough for his family to get him involved in go-karts at 4 years old. Morgan spent the next seven years refining his skills in go-kart races around the region before advancing into Bandolero competition.
Morgan immediately found a comfort zone with the cars, as he racked up wins at several different tracks and earned three consecutive Bandolero Outlaw Tennessee state championships. With Morgan enjoying so much success in Bandoleros, the next logical step was for him to try Late Model Stocks.
The Late Model Stock division at Kingsport would be Morgan’s toughest challenge in his brief career to date. Morgan knew there would be a learning curve with the heavier cars, but he relied on Chase Dixon Motorsports for advice on how to seamlessly transition into the discipline.
“Going into a Late Model [Stock], I pretty much had to forget everything I learned about driving a Bandolero,” Morgan said. “The only similarities are that they both have a motor, steering wheel and pedals. It definitely was a hard transition, but I was able to figure it out pretty well.”
That process also involved a careful study of previous Late Model Stock events at Kingsport. The facility’s unorthodox layout, which features a concrete surface that does not take in rubber, requires both precision and patience for drivers to gain track position.
By the time the second week of competition arrived at Kingsport, Morgan was already in Victory Lane as the driver of a Late Model Stock, having claimed the second of two features on April 26 over eventual champion Keith Helton. Morgan backed up his performance with three more victories, including one in the season finale on Sept. 13.
While Morgan was not able to make a run at the Kingsport track championship, his efficiency was enough to stay in front of Riley Neal in the national Rookie of the Year standings by 10 points. There is still plenty Morgan admits he needs to learn about Late Model Stocks, but he is more than satisfied with the progress and accomplishments obtained in Year 1.
“I was really just trying to get as much seat time as I could,” Morgan said. “I wanted to learn the car, the tires and try to take it easy. Toward the end, we really had to step things up to continue our [Rookie of the Year] points lead. We ended up really exceeding expectations, because I didn’t imagine getting anything more than a few top fives.”
Now that he has a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division 1 Rookie of the Year title on his resume, Hunter Morgan is focused on gaining more experience in 2025. (Photo: Randall Perry)
Obtaining Late Model Stock experience is still a goal for Morgan as he makes early preparations for the 2025 season. He intends to compete at venues outside of Kingsport and has not ruled out participating in select CARS Tour events if the funding materializes.
Morgan particularly has his eyes on South Carolina’s Florence Motor Speedway, a facility with an abrasive surface that often forces drivers to conserve tires. The more knowledge he obtains on how Late Model Stocks operate at different tracks, the better off Morgan believes he will be in the long-term.
“Hopefully, we can run pretty solid at Florence,” Morgan said. “I’ve always really liked that track, so maybe we can pick up a few wins there. I want to go to as many places as I can and hopefully run solidly in the top five. I’m trying to gain as much experience as I can.”
The 2024 season showcased how adept Morgan is becoming with Late Model Stocks. Although he is tempering expectations ahead of an expanded 2025 schedule, Morgan is committed to building on his national Rookie of the Year campaign by establishing himself as one of the best short track competitors in the southeast.
1. Want to make the Championship 4? Win in the Round of 8
History shows that to advance to the title-deciding round at Phoenix, a driver shouldn’t rely on pointing their way into the Phoenix finale.
With the Round of 8 roster now officially official after Hendrick Motorsports announced it would not appeal the post-race penalty to the No. 48 Chevrolet that knocked driver Alex Bowman out of the field, go ahead and look up and down the list of names still in contention for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship.
It is, to put it bluntly, stacked.
Four races remain in the hunt for a title and we’ve chopped the playoff field in half at this point, separating the wheat from the chaff. Every single one of the remaining drivers feels like a championship contender. Each remaining championship-eligible driver has a past appearance in the Championship 4 — a few of them have several — except for Regular Season Champion Tyler Reddick, clearly no fluke advancer to the Round of 8.
With such a talent-laden field, the road to get there again for any of them, even current top dog Kyle Larson (+33), isn’t going to be easy.
There is, however, a secret, simple recipe to advance — just win, baby.
“For us, these next three are great tracks for us,” Larson said in his post-race winner’s conference after claiming the Round of 12 finale at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval. “I just look at it as a really good opportunity. We would love to win, but if we could just go there and perform how we typically do, we could have a really good point gap before we get to Martinsville.
“That’s my goal; is just to be up front all race long at these next two races especially, but even Martinsville as well.”
This is an interesting strategy — and one that arguably only Larson, with his points cushion, can deploy — but it may not be the wisest, based solely on trends.
The historical Round of 8 numbers tell a compelling story: 57.1% of drivers who’ve advanced to the Championship 4 in the stage era secured their spot with a win in this round. Even more telling? The eventual champion has tasted victory a staggering 70% of the time in this pivotal phase. These aren’t just statistics; they’re a roadmap.
That does leave room for at least one driver to get in on points — and we know at least one will, with four spots up for grabs and only three opportunities to clinch a berth via win, but drivers obviously would rather be in the 57.1% demographic there rather than the 42.9% group — especially with just how many points it typically takes to move on from here.
Championship 4 drivers in the stage era have averaged an eighth-place finish and averaged an accumulation of 39.5 points per race during the Round of 8.
That’s … a lot of points.
To put that into context, consider Reddick’s roller coaster season in which he boasted an average finish of 11.2 before just scraping by to advance to the Round of 8 with an 18.1 finish in the playoffs thus far. Barring a win, there’s no way he’ll advance if that trend continues.
It’s a tough balance, though, especially when it comes to this weekend at Vegas — because that’s the one to win and drivers could put themselves in a hole if things go sour trying to squeeze too much juice out of it. It’s still worth it, however.
Though it’s anybody’s game among the four remaining drivers once we get to Phoenix, a win to open the Round of 8 is a significant advantage that offers a two-week leg-up on the rest of the title chasers with extra time to prep for the 1-mile track in the Arizona desert. Winning the first race in the Round of 8 is like planting your flag on top of Camelback Mountain, declaring to everyone else they’ve got to come through you once they get to Phoenix if they want to fly home with the Bill France Cup.
Given how crucial this opening race is on top of how competitive these eight drivers are from top to bottom — not to mention how wild 1.5-mile races have gotten, in general — expect Sunday’s race to up the ante.
(Oh, did you think you’d read a whole story about the Las Vegas race and not get a gambling pun?)
You can feel pretty confident that more than likely, the three Round of 8 races will all be won by remaining playoff drivers given what’s at stake. And for those who aim merely to point their way into the Championship 4 — you may find yourselves watching the eventual champion celebrate in Phoenix from the proverbial sidelines.
Because in NASCAR’s playoff crucible, it’s not just about finishing well — it’s about finishing first.
Dylan Buell | Getty Images
2. Who will cash in at Vegas for the first Championship 4 spot?
Winning the first race of the Round of 8 offers a huge leg up on the other eventual Championship 4 drivers, and it’s likely we get our first title contender on Sunday.
So now that you know just how crucial it’ll be to win in this round and this coming Sunday, in particular, it boils down to one question: who’s going to be the one to actually do it?
The list, arguably, is one driver long, beginning and ending with Larson.
Obviously, we still have a race to run and if there’s one guarantee in this sport it’s that whatever you think is going to happen often doesn’t, but the underlying theme here screams back-to-back wins for No. 5 in consecutive weeks — and back-to-back-to-back wins for the 2021 champ when it comes to Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Currently in a tier of his own with no signs of slowing, this is a track his competitors aren’t happy to have him try to make the Championship 4, because it’s essentially a slam dunk he’ll find the front of the field. In the Next Gen era, Larson has already led 404 laps at Vegas; more than double his nearest competitor. Nobody has been better than him there since joining Hendrick Motorsports in his title-winning year, with top-two finishes in five of his seven Vegas starts with the team.
That said, for his competitors — there is, however, some hope.
“For whatever reason, the opening race of each round this playoffs hasn’t been very kind to us,” said No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels after Charlotte. “And we want to go to Vegas with a lot of confidence just in our recent run there, but we’re going to have a healthy amount of respect for that race and really for all of them.
“Yes, we look forward to them and think we have a good opportunity ahead of us, but it’s going to take the little details to get it right and make sure of where we need to be.”
The No. 5 team is clearly faster on a consistent basis than everyone, but Larson and Co. aren’t immune from mistakes — and mistakes in big spots, in particular.
Despite Hendrick winning four of the last five races at the track (keep an eye on teammate William Byron this weekend, too), it’s not like the remaining playoff drivers haven’t been competitive there as well. Six of the eight postseason drivers finished in the top 10 at Vegas in March. And Christopher Bell, the lone outlier after a 33rd-place finish due to misfortune, has been arguably the best driver of the playoffs despite no wins yet. A victory by any of the eight wouldn’t be shocking.
The one that might be a little surprising (but not if you really think about it) would be a win by Joey Logano, who initially appeared to have been eliminated after the Roval before the No. 48 DQ upended things. One of just two multi-time champions still racing full-time in Cup, of course Logano is a championship-caliber driver, but his 784 race points scored this season are the second-fewest by a Round of 8 driver ever in the stage era.
But even-year juju and all that, you might as well start thinking about what No. 22 championship apparel you want to order if he does win this weekend, because each time Logano won the title, he won the first race of the Round of 8 — including at Las Vegas in 2022.
His teammate and defending Cup champ Ryan Blaney, however, could be one that sneaks up on people this weekend, despite having no past Vegas wins to Logano’s three. While not a direct comp because of some track differences, a 49-point, fourth-place run at 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway last round could point to No. 12 being a bigger threat this weekend than some realize. And if not Vegas, another intermediate track follows right behind it at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“I feel like we are in a pretty decent spot,” Blaney said after the Charlotte Roval Round of 12 finale. “I was really happy with our speed at Kansas and I thought that was huge at a place we have struggled at. We hadn’t been the best there the last few years but to go there and have race-winning pace was really impressive for our group.
“Hopefully, we can carry that over to Vegas and Homestead and learn from the spring at Martinsville. I think we are in a good spot. We just have to go perform. It is a new week next week and I am looking forward to getting started.”
As the checkered flag waves on Sunday, it’s possible — perhaps even probable — that we won’t just be crowning a race winner. We might just be looking at our next NASCAR Cup Series champion.
In the high-stakes world of playoff racing, Vegas isn’t just another stop on the schedule — it’s often where championships are born.
