Posted on by Adam Fenwick

When John-Michael Shenette was 15, he wrote a letter to Team Penske requesting an autograph from an up-and-coming driver named Ryan Newman. Just 23 at the time, Newman was beginning a NASCAR career that would see him win 18 Cup Series races, including the 2008 Daytona 500 and the 2013 Brickyard 400.

Shenette had quickly become a fan of Newman as the latter ascended to NASCAR from the United States Auto Club, winning races in the ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series before beginning his full-time Cup Series career in 2002.

“When I was younger, (Ryan) was kind of the driver that I watched. I was a big Ryan Newman fan,” said Shenette, now 38. “I wrote (Penske) a letter asking for an autograph from Ryan Newman. … Ryan doesn’t know that.”

Now Shenette, who competes part-time on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour with his own Eighty-Two Autosport team, will experience a full-circle moment with Newman.

MORE: Watch the Modified Tour finale live on FloRacing

Shenette and Newman will join forces to compete in Saturday’s Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 at Martinsville Speedway, the 2024 season finale. Newman will pilot Shenette’s No. 8 Modified with sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, USNE Power, Anglers Choice and Eight-Two Services.

Saturday’s event will mark Newman’s fourth Modified Tour start of the season and first behind the wheel of Shenette’s car.

“The older you get, the more opportunities you have to see things come full circle, or at least make a half circle,” said the 47-year-old Newman. “I think this is one of those opportunities. Maybe not one of those opportunities, but one of those times I guess you could say where he is a fan of racing, he is a fan of mine. I obviously had an impact on him, even with him not knowing me.

“For us to have this opportunity on a random phone call from a recommendation of another driver to drive his car is kind of crazy, but that’s kind of how things work.”

John-Michael Shenette
John-Michael Shenette has competed in three Modified Tour events this year as a driver, earning a best finish of 17th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)

Before this summer, Newman and Shenette had never met or even spoken. A mutual connection, veteran Modified Tour driver Tim Connolly, is the person who gave Newman Shenette’s phone number.

Newman had been trying to work a deal to drive Connolly’s car in a non-NASCAR event at Stafford Motor Speedway, but when the plan didn’t come together, Connolly recommended Shenette.

“I had talked to Tim Connolly about running the Mystic Missile, and we were working on things, and about three or four phone calls in, things just got disconnected, and we ended up not doing it,” Newman said. “So Tim got me John-Michael’s contact, and I reached out to him, and we ended up putting a deal together.”

When Newman called, Shenette thought someone was pranking him.

“I was talking to my wife, my mother-in-law and daughter,” Shenette said. “Ryan called, and when he said, ‘This is Ryan Newman,’ I only half believed him. I didn’t know who the hell was calling. I didn’t really give him the time of day when he called.”

After establishing that it was actually Newman and that the phone call wasn’t a prank, Shenette and Newman spent some time talking and ultimately worked out a deal for Newman to race Shenette’s Modified in a handful of events through the remainder of 2024.

“I thought about for 10 or 15 seconds,” Shenette said. “I hung up with him, looked at my wife and said, ‘Ryan Newman called, and he wants to drive our car.’

“It’s just a cool deal. It means a lot to put him in the car. I have a high expectation for it. When it comes to the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard and all that, none of that really matters to me. I just value the guy that I’m starting to know better and better. He’s a damn racer.”

Ryan Newman
Ryan Newman has made 38 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour starts through the years, earning four wins. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

Newman had no idea Shenette grew up a fan of his until several phone calls later. That aspect made the partnership more fun for both.

“We’ve had several conversations, and he’s told me what I meant to him as a NASCAR driver and as a fan,” Newman said. “I’m sure it was kind of difficult for him to kind of separate those two things and make good decisions, but when it comes to racing, being a fan is pretty powerful.

“I think that didn’t hurt by any means to stimulate our relationship.”

The pairing made their debut at Stafford last month, and the deal was supposed to include last Sunday’s Modified Tour event at North Wilkesboro Speedway, but the postponement of the event due to Hurricane Helene pushed back their first Tour event together until Saturday at Martinsville.

“I’m confident in the car we’ve got. I’m confident in the driver we’re putting in it. I’m super confident in Scott (Morin, crew chief),” Shenette said. “I have an expectation of going there and winning the race and competing for it. (Ryan) has the pedigree to do it.”

Martinsville is a track Newman knows well. He scored a Cup Series win there in 2012, and he’s competed in the Modified Tour event there each of the last three years. His best finish in those three events was a third-place effort in 2022.

Shenette did get that autograph from Newman when he was 15. It came with a letter, which included a Roger Penske quote that Shenette still remembers today.

“’Effort equals results,’” Shenette said. “I’m using that as a motto, if you will. If you don’t put the effort in, the results aren’t going to be there.”

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

The crowning of state and provincial champions is a NASCAR tradition that dates back to 2007.

Competitors in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series have the ability to race for state or provincial championships in addition to national and regional championships.

This season, 27 competitors were lucky enough to win state and provincial championships. Below is a look at each, followed by a look at the 2024 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series state and provincial rookies of the year.

2024 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series state and provincial champions

Alaska – Trent Dillard

Trent Dillard scored seven victories in seven races at Alaska Raceway Park. This is his first state championship in Alaska.

Alberta – Cameron Medd

In seven events at Edmonton International Raceway, Cameron Medd won three times and never finished outside the top five. This is his first provincial championship in Alberta.

Arizona – Nick O’Neil

Nine victories in 13 starts at Tucson Speedway propelled Nick O’Neil to his second consecutive state championship in Arizona.

California – Jeffrey Peterson

A strong season of racing at Irwindale Speedway and Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway allowed Jeffrey Peterson to win his first California state title. In 14 events, Peterson won seven times. He also captured the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series West Region championship.

Colorado – Brett Yackey

The Yackey family added another NASCAR accolade this year as Brett Yackey captured his third Colorado state championship thanks largely to three victories in six races at Colorado National Speedway. It’s his fourth state championship overall after he captured the Arizona title in 2021.

Brent Crews
Brent Crews captured the 2024 World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing championship at New Smyrna Speedway, which also helped him win the Florida state championship. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

Florida – Brent Crews

A championship during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway also helped Brent Crews win the Florida state title. In six races at New Smyrna, Crews won twice and never finished outside the top five.

Idaho – Josh Jackson

Meridian Speedway regular Josh Jackson drove to seven wins across 19 starts this season to capture his first Idaho state championship.

Iowa – Jeff Wiggins

Four victories in 16 races and no finishes outside the top five were more than enough for Jeff Wiggins to capture his first Iowa state championship.

Massachusetts – Vincent Arrenegado Jr.

Competing at Seekonk Speedway, Vincent Arrenegado Jr. didn’t win a single race this year. However, his consistent approach, which saw him finish inside the top five in 10 of 12 races, allowed him to claim his first Massachusetts state title.

Michigan – Andrew Scheid

In 11 starts at Berlin Raceway, Andrew Scheid scored one win, seven top five and nine top 10 finishes. That was enough for him to capture his first state championship in Michigan ahead of Berlin track champion Brian Campbell.

Minnesota – Jake Ryan

For the first time since 2013, someone not named Jacob Goede is the state champion of Minnesota. That driver is Jake Ryan, who won four times at Elko Speedway in 17 starts to claim the crown.

Jaron Giannini
Jaron Giannini captured a track championship at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in addition to claiming the Nevada state title. (Photo: Las Vegas Motor Speedway)

Nevada – Jaron Giannini

A fast-rising star on the West Coast, Jaron Giannini claimed his first Nevada state championship after scoring four wins in 14 starts at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this season.

New Hampshire – Tyler Leary

It came down to the last possible race, but Tyler Leary captured his first New Hampshire state championship this season. In 28 races split between Monadnock Speedway, Claremont Motorsports Park and Hudson Speedway, Leary won 10 times. He bested Nathan Wenzel by four points to claim the New Hampshire state crown.

New York – John Beatty Jr.

Riverhead Raceway regular John Beatty Jr. put together a strong season that saw him win three times in 14 starts. It was more than enough for him to capture his first New York state championship.

Newfoundland and Labrador – Wayne Walsh

For the first time since 2019, Wayne Walsh is once again the provincial champion of Newfoundland and Labrador. Competing at Eastbound International Speedway, Walsh won twice and never finished outside the top 10 to earn his fourth provincial championship.

North Carolina – Burt Myers

Bowman Gray Stadium’s Burt Myers had another one of his trademark fantastic seasons in 2024. He won six times in 23 races at Bowman Gray on his way to not just his 11th track title, but also a runner-up finish in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I standings and his fourth North Carolina state title.

Ohio – Todd Sherman

For the fourth consecutive year and fifth time overall, Todd Sherman is once again the champion in the state of Ohio. He scored one victory at Limaland Motorsports Park in eight events and only finished outside the top 10 once.

Oklahoma – Justin Shoemaker

A strong season at Salina Highbanks Speedway allowed Justin Shoemaker to claim his first Oklahoma state championship in 2024. He won five times in 19 starts and earned 17 top five finishes.

Ontario – Johnathan Schwemler

Competing at Grand Bend Speedway, Johnathan Schwemler scored an impressive seven victories in 13 starts. He also never finished outside the top five on his way to his first Ontario provincial championship.

Oregon – Toby McIntyre

A winner of eight races in 12 starts this season at Coos Bay Speedway, Toby McIntyre locked up his second consecutive Oregon state championship with ease.

Pennsylvania – Jeff Strunk

One of the Northeast’s veteran dirt modified competitors, Jeff Strunk captured his fifth Pennsylvania state championship. He failed to win a race, but he only finished outside the top 10 once in 19 races this season.

Quebec – David Hébert

For the third consecutive season, David Hébert has captured the Quebec provincial championship. Racing at both Autodrome Granby and Le RPM Speedway, Hébert won eight times in 20 starts. He also captured the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Northeast Region championship.

Casey Kelley
Casey Kelley won the Florence Motor Speedway track title and the South Carolina state championship this season. (Photo: Joe Maylish/Florence Motor Speedway)

South Carolina – Casey Kelley

The battle for the South Carolina state crown came down to brothers Casey and Cody Kelley. Ultimately the crown went to Casey, who won five times and never finished outside the top five in 16 races at Florence Motor Speedway.

Tennessee – Keith Helton

Competing once again at Kingsport Speedway, Keith Helton captured his second consecutive Tennessee state championship. He was nearly unbeatable this year, scoring 17 wins in 27 races.

Virginia – Connor Hall

Racing just about anywhere he could, Connor Hall captured not just a second NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I national championship, but also his second Virginia state crown. In 13 races in the state of Virginia at Langley Speedway and South Boston Speedway, Hall scored nine wins.

Washington – Wyatt Gardner

For the first time in four years, someone not named Naima Lang has captured the Washington state title. Wyatt Gardner claimed his first Washington state crown thanks to six wins in 10 races at Evergreen Speedway.

Wisconsin – Jacob Goede

Opting to switch things up this year, Jacob Goede decided to race at Wisconsin’s LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway this season. It paid off with a Wisconsin state championship, which Goede earned thanks to four wins in 12 races and no finishes outside the top 10. It’s his first Wisconsin state title to go along with 10 Minnesota state titles. He also captured the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Midwest Region championship.

2024 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series state and provincial rookies of the year

State and provincial rookies

Posted on by Dustin Albino

LAS VEGAS – Kyle Larson entered Sunday’s South Point 400 as the favorite to win and advance to the Championship 4 for a second straight season. After all, the No. 5 Chevrolet had dominated the previous two races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

During the opening stage, Larson seemed to have a top-five car but faded to 10th at the end of the stage while Toyota drivers Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell drove through traffic after a restart late in the stage. Early in the second stage, Larson remained a threat and reached second position before his race went haywire.

RELATED: Race results | Playoff Pulse: Vegas

While Larson made a green-flag pit stop on Lap 125, the No. 5 team froze while changing four tires. The rear tire carrier wasn’t certain that the right-rear wheel was secure on the car and alerted crew chief Cliff Daniels. The crew went back around to the right side to tighten the wheel after starting service on the left-side tires. Through the disarray, the left-rear tire was never changed and Larson had to make an additional pit stop.

“It’s a very awkward circumstance because in that moment, I have to call out and flag that we do have an issue on the right rear; we’re halfway through our left-side operation,” Daniels said. “The changer’s second-guessing themselves in what they needed to finish for the left-side operation and clean that up. Ultimately, we had a new tire put on the left-front and we did not get a new tire put on the left-rear.

“It’s tough and now when you look at it in reverse, it’s kind of like, ‘Wow, how did we not get that right?’ I understand where there was some confusion in the moment. The guys now are smarter because we have that experience and know how to handle that moving forward.”

By not getting a new left-rear tire on the car, there was no option but to pit a second time. The additional trip down pit road put Larson nearly two laps down instead of vying to remain on the lead lap with only one costly stop.

When the field reset at the end of Stage 2, Larson battled hard with Ty Gibbs, who sped on pit road, for the free pass position. When Gibbs spun to bring out the race’s final caution on Lap 192, the No. 5 car was awarded the free pass.

MORE: At-track photos | Cup Series standings

Some drivers stretched their fuel mileage to the end of the race after the final restart, but Larson pitted once more and ended the race in 11th position. He sits third on the playoff grid, 35 points above the elimination line — two points more than his margin entering the Vegas event.

“Extremely hard,” Larson said of his Vegas race, which included a slight front-end blemish from debris after Austin Dillon’s crash in Stage 1. “We had a bad end of the first stage and then had to fix the damage that we had. Then, I was like, ‘OK, we’re going to have a good day here.’ I think I got to eighth before the green-flag cycle. I was much better than the guys in front of us and thought we would finish the end of the stage in third or fourth and then we had the biggest mess of a pit stop I think I’ve ever seen. That was just unfortunate.

Daniels was pleased with the poise Larson showed to drive back through the field.

“I was really proud of Kyle, really proud of the team for still coming back after what kind of a mess that was,” he said. “Everybody stuck together. Certainly, wanted better than an 11th-place finish, but that was probably one of the hardest fought 11th-place finishes we’ve had.”

In the grand scheme, Larson said he knows how solid his No. 5 team is. He indicated that this was a singular mishap that won’t happen again, with the No. 5 team having a “deep notebook” of things it practices.

“They’ve won me a lot of races, so I think that’s what helped me stay calm,” added Larson. “I make a lot more mistakes than the rest of our team does. That allows me to be calm. It was a bit of a mess, but we will assess it, learn from it and it will never happen again, I know that.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

LAS VEGAS — A slow first pit stop had Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team playing catch-up all afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Crew chief Chris Gabehart swung for the fences to give Hamlin the best strategy possible to maximize their results, but their eighth-place finish in the opening race of the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs left them fifth in the standings — first out, but a whopping 27 points beneath the provisional elimination line.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“Yeah, just not a clean day,” Hamlin said. “That certainly kind of sums it up. You’ll have that. We’ll just do the best we can to to get the best finish.

“I thought Chris did a great job trying to get some sort of finish. Once we lost the track position early, he was doing everything he could to try to get it back through some alternate strategy. It goes long there, we fall back to the back. Just part of it.”

The setback came at Lap 33 during green-flag stops. While race leader Christopher Bell had an 8.8-second service, Hamlin’s stop totaled 13.4 seconds, slowed by a combination of Hamlin stopped short in his pit stall, sluggish service on the right-front exchange and trouble on the left-rear. In that cycle, the No. 11 Toyota fell from fifth to 14th.

After finishing Stage 1 in 11th, Gabehart had Hamlin stay on the race track on older tires at the start of Stage 2 rather than pit for fresh tires in an effort to gain clean air. That call ultimately didn’t pan out as Hamlin struggled and fell through the field and outside the top 20 for a time.

“I made a really aggressive pit call trying to trying to bail us out of that,” Gabehart told NASCAR.com. “Aggression is important in those moments, and it’s served me well. That was just a little bit too aggressive. But we buried ourselves after that, so it wasn’t the pivotal moment. It just didn’t do us any favors.”

Hamlin ultimately finished Stage 2 in 19th place before disaster in the pits struck again. Stopping short in his stall again, the left-rear wheel wasn’t completely tightened before the jack was dropped to signal Denny’s departure. Instead, he had to reverse the No. 11 car back to the stall for the team to make sure the wheel was tight.

Then came a vibration that Hamlin nursed for the next 20 laps until the subsequent caution, during which the team determined a wheel weight from the right front was “gone,” likely causing the vibration.

Denny Hamlin drives in a NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas.
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

Trapped with a loss of track position again, Gabehart ultimately had Hamlin save fuel for the final 72 laps, utilizing the same strategy Joey Logano and Co. employed en route to the victory.

“One bad issue compounds the next decision, right?” Gabehart said. “Especially in the Round of 8 when you’re racing against such good teams, if you get buried once, you’ve really got to try to find a way out of that. There’s track position and clean air and all those things, restarts. We saw what restarts can do to some of these playoff guys. So yeah, one bad play affects the next. No doubt that pit call is just one where, you know, if I had to do over again, I would have been aggressive. I just wouldn’t have been quite that aggressive.”

WATCH: Reddick up and over at Vegas; Elliott, Blaney involved

The No. 11 team left Vegas with zero stage points and a total of 29 points tallied.

“In the Round of 8, that’s not enough points,” Gabehart said. “I mean, eighth with no stage points is not going to get it done, certainly considering, the setback we had for ourselves there late in the season with a huge penalty. So not the day we hoped for. You’ve just got to execute cleaner than that in the Round of 8. We’re just not executing on pit road.”

Hamlin and Gabehart never gave up on the day, but Gabehart wasn’t ready to pat himself on the back quite yet.

“The 11 team’s not going to talk about resiliency when you got the 22 team, Paul Wolfe and Joey Logano over there who embarrassed everybody in that category there,” Gabehart said. “I knew the minute they got in [to the Round of 8] Sunday night post-Charlotte, I wrote them into the final four first. Write it down. Joey Logano is going to find a way. It’s that simple. That team — it’s a team sport, so I don’t want to single Joey out. I think it’s a testament to how they do business. I knew they were going to get in, and they did.

“So yeah, I’m happy that we were able to salvage an eighth, which is better than we had ran for 230 laps. … But it’s not enough in this round.”

Posted on by Dustin Albino

LAS VEGAS — Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Toyota was a rocket ship during Sunday’s South Point 400 — for most of the race, it was clear he was superior to the field.  

When Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs spun on the backstretch on Lap 192, it was just outside of the fuel window for most teams to make it to the finish. And with Bell having a dominant car, leading a race-high 155 laps, he would burn more fuel by leading the race.  

“A win is a guarantee [of a berth into the Championship 4], and we had a win right at our fingertips,” Bell said.  

RELATED: Official results | Playoff Pulse

When the caution flag waved, crew chief Adam Stevens told Bell he would likely be a handful of laps short of making it to the end of the race on fuel. Stevens’ strategy was to go as hard as possible at the beginning of the run before pitting and chasing down any stragglers that attempted to stretch their fuel.  

It quickly became evident that playoff drivers Joey Logano, who is regarded as one of the best fuel-saving drivers in the sport, and Denny Hamlin were trying to go the distance. Meanwhile, Bell soared through the field after exiting the pits nearly 30 seconds off the lead and was told that drivers were aiming to go the distance on fuel.  

While chasing down race leader Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney, who was eight laps off the pace after getting involved in an earlier wreck, began drafting with his Team Penske teammate Logano. Bell was clocking off seconds at a time, but when the checkered flag flew, he was nearly three-quarters of a second short of catching Logano.  

Logano’s Las Vegas victory locks him into the Championship 4 next month at Phoenix Raceway for a record sixth time in 11 years.  

MORE: At-track photos: Vegas | Cup Series schedule

“Disappointment,” Bell added when describing his race. “I lost an Xfinity race here; I think it was in 2019, in the exact same way where the yellow flag comes out on the outside of the window, leading the race, having to make a pit stop, and someone in the back stretches it. I’ve seen it before, and I couldn’t believe it.”  

Dominating the race, Stevens knew his hands were tied. He also knew that there was a chance that some drivers were willing to gamble for the jackpot.  

“There’s nothing we could have done differently as a team; we executed on all fronts,” Stevens stated. “We brought arguably the best car, good pit strategy, great pit stops and that caution fell at exactly the wrong time. Two laps earlier or two laps later, it doesn’t pan out that way. It happened right where it screwed the leaders. You can’t be upset about that, you can’t control that.”  

Mowing back through the field, Bell doesn’t believe he lost any time in lapped traffic. If the race was 268 laps, he likely would have been the victor. Instead, the result is “more of a dagger than last year” when he finished runner-up at the checkered flag to Kyle Larson.  

By scoring 19 stage points and tallying 54 points on Sunday, Bell has a 42-point buffer over the elimination line with two races remaining in the Round of 8. He’s also the defending winner at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  

The No. 20 team has five straight top-10 finishes and is hitting its stride, but as Bell noted, nothing is guaranteed of being good enough to make the Championship 4.  

“I would rather be in that spot than any other spot, but I can’t tell you who is going to win next week and who is going to win the week after that,” Stevens said. “The points might not make that much of a difference; it might make all the difference. It all depends on how many winners there are. The math changes quickly if you have a top-eight winner.” 

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

Las Vegas Motor Speedway left a huge mark to open the Round of 8 in the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs. Five of the eight remaining title-eligible drivers had issues in Sunday’s showdown in the high desert while Christopher Bell, William Byron and Joey Logano kept their cars clean to maximize their day and take advantage of their competitors’ struggles. See who the winners and losers were from Las Vegas before the Round of 8 shifts to Homestead-Miami Speedway.

WINNER

Even-year Joey Logano continues to be inevitable and another clutch win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway netted the No. 22 driver his sixth career Championship 4 ticket. Logano gambled on the final 69-lap green flag to not pit for tires, and it paid off as the two-time series champion held off the hard-charging Christopher Bell by 0.662 seconds to advance to Phoenix after originally being eliminated in the Round of 12 before Alex Bowman’s disqualification.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

WHO’S HOT?

Christopher Bell. Vegas is going to be a heartbreaker for the No. 20 driver regardless of the runner-up result as it’s the 13th time Bell has won the Cup pole and failed to win the race. It’s the second Vegas playoff race in a row Bell has been the bridesmaid. However, the result is Bell’s fifth top 10 in seven playoff races this season, and he sits a comfortable 42 points above the elimination race heading to Homestead.

William Byron. The No. 24 driver continues his hot streak of finishes with his fourth consecutive top-1o result after finishing second and third (twice) in the Round of 12. A fourth-place result will do for Byron as he’s currently ranked fourth in the postseason standings, 27 points ahead of Denny Hamlin on the elimination line.

WHO’S NOT?

Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott. After starting on the front row and winning Stage 1, Reddick was in prime position to be the first driver to punch his ticket to the Championship 4, but that was all wiped out on Lap 89 as the No. 45 driver was collected in a multicar incident early in Stage 2. Fellow playoff drivers Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney were also involved as Reddick, Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. squeezed into each other off Turn 4, catalyzing the incident. Reddick was scored with a 35th-place result. Elliott and Blaney continued in Sunday’s event, but both finished outside the top 30 and now will be in virtual must-win situations for the remainder of the Round of 8.

Kyle Larson. Opening races of each round in this year’s playoffs continue to cause nightmares for the No. 5 team as a brutal pit-stop sequence in Stage 2 put Larson multiple laps down. Larson’s pit crew had issues on the right side, causing a slow stop and was immediately followed by crew chief Cliff Daniels calling the No.5 back to pit road to look at the left side under green flag. After getting back on the lead lap, the No. 5 managed to recover and finished 11th.

BUBBLE WATCH

RANKDRIVERCUTOFF
1Joey LoganoADV
2Christopher Bell42
3Kyle Larson35
4William Byron27
ELIMINATION LINE
5Denny Hamlin-27
6Tyler Reddick-30
7Ryan Blaney-47
8Chase Elliott-53
Posted on by Holly Cain

LAS VEGAS — Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano made his Team Penske’s fuel strategy call work to perfection Sunday afternoon to claim victory in the South Point 400 playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and earn the first of four NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 berths.

Logano led only the final six laps on the Vegas 1.5-mile track but was able to hold off the afternoon’s most dominant car, Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, by a slight 0.662-second margin in the final few laps.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Vegas

Bell, on the other hand, led a race-best 155 of the 267 laps and won Stage 2, but he pitted 35 laps later than Logano and was not able to make up the nearly 30-second advantage Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford held on track after Bell’s stop.

Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez, who also used the same strategy as Logano, finished third after leading 57 laps, followed by playoff driver William Byron and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman completing the top five.

It’s been quite the turn of fortune for Logano, who a week ago, after the Round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, thought he was eliminated from the playoffs only to receive news from NASCAR hours after the checkered flag that he had been reinstated. Bowman had initially held that playoff position, but his car was ruled underweight in post-race inspection and he was disqualified after the Charlotte Roval race.

SHOP: Race winner gear

That meant Logano, not Bowman, would advance to this Round of 8, which includes two more races – next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway and then Nov. 3 at Martinsville, Va. – to set the four-driver championship field. Of note, Logano’s last Las Vegas playoff race win in 2022 propelled him to the series championship.

“Man, we did some fuel-mileage stuff, didn’t we? Holy crap,” said a smiling Logano, whose four career wins now at Las Vegas ties NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson for most all-time at the track.

“What an incredible turn of events here the last week. Very fast Pennzoil Mustang. We’re going to the Championship 4 again. It’s real. Great fuel mileage, great calls by [crew chief] Paul [Wolfe], Nick Hensley, our gas man, making sure she’s full, giving me the info to keep the lead that we needed to. We’re going racing again. What an incredible situation, man. I’m so blessed.

“Just an incredible day. Like I said, it takes the whole team to do the fuel-mileage stuff. Not just the engineers, spotter. It takes all of us to do it. Total team win. We may not have been the fastest car today, but we were a solid top-five car and were able to maximize it at the end.’’

Bell was as disappointed as Logano was elated.

“I don’t know, and I don’t think I have come to terms yet,” said Bell, who is now 0-for-13 in wins after starting a race from pole position. “Just a bummer. I think everyone on this team did everything perfect today. This thing was obviously on rails, pit crew did an amazing job and [pit crew] Adam [Stevens] called a great race. Did everything we needed to, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be today.

“The points look pretty good, but you’re never safe in this deal,” Bell added. “We needed to win today and unfortunately, we didn’t. We’ll go on to the next one.”

The race certainly provided major implications for the eight playoff drivers — three of them were eliminated from winning contention by Stage 2, two more struggled with pit stops thereafter, leaving Logano, Bell, Byron and eighth-place finisher Denny Hamlin to lead the championship presence among the top 10. Bell’s afternoon was good enough to propel him into the championship points lead with a 42-point advantage on the elimination line.

Hamlin’s eighth-place effort was impressive after a difficult day for his No. 11 Toyota team, which endured a challenging day on pit road before also using a similar fuel-save plan to Logano’s. JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr. was sixth, followed by Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Hamlin, Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek and RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson finished 11th — falling off the lead lap in Stage 2 after also having an uneven visit to pit road that forced a second, unscheduled stop. He is now second in the points standings, 35 points above the cutoff line. His Hendrick teammate Byron holds that important fourth-place spot, 27 points ahead of Hamlin.

Regular Season Champion and the race’s outside polesitter Tyler Reddick finished 35th, eliminated after a rollover accident in tight racing on Lap 89. The accident collected fellow playoff driver Chase Elliott along with Brad Keselowski and reigning series champion and playoff driver Ryan Blaney also involved.

MORE: Reddick, Elliott, Blaney tangle in Stage 2 restart

“We can still have a good day at Homestead and be in the mix in Martinsville,” said a frustrated Reddick, who led nine laps and won the first stage. “Ideally, yeah, it would have been nice to win today. It would be nice to win next week, and that is what we will focus on, but thankfully we got 10 stage points in Stage 1, and it’s not like we are absolutely out of it on points yet. We are going to have to be perfect here on out, probably.”

It was a rough weekend from even before the race’s green flag for Blaney, who suffered a flat tire in Saturday’s opening practice that put his primary No. 12 Team Penske Ford into the wall. He started his backup car from last in the 37-car field Sunday and was steadily moving forward before being caught up in that multicar accident with Reddick and Elliott. He finished 32nd. Elliott was 33rd.

Hamlin is fifth in the championship standings, 27 off Byron. Reddick is 30 points below the elimination line, followed by Blaney (-47) and Elliott (-53).

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to South Florida for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Bell is the defending race winner.

Note: Post-race technical inspection was completed in the Cup Series garage at Las Vegas Motor Speedway without issue, confirming Logano as the race winner. NASCAR officials also indicated that no cars would return to the Research & Development Center for further inspection.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Brandon White

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — On Saturday in northwestern North Carolina, Justin Bonsignore let the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour community know the championship will run through him.

An efficient day on his part and an inconsistent afternoon from rival Ron Silk at North Wilkesboro Speedway enabled Bonsignore to unofficially take a 10-point advantage in the point standings. Bonsignore’s 44th career victory also put him in a tie with Reggie Ruggiero for second on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win list.

RELATED: Complete race results from Wilkesboro

Bonsignore got a head start on his competition the previous evening at North Wilkesboro with a similarly stellar performance. Many circumstances were different on Sunday compared to Saturday, yet Bonsignore maintained the status quo to take a second elevator ride to Victory Lane in one weekend.

“To come [to North Wilkesboro] last night, win that race and then come back today on a different tire with a different car and do it so convincingly with no tire stops is so special,” Bonsignore said. “You don’t get cars like that too often. These things are so hard, and I thought we’d have to win out to win the championship.

“Now we control our own destiny, and we’ll head to Martinsville chasing a clock.”

The car Bonsignore piloted in Sunday’s Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 was the same one he used to prevail at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park last weekend after leading 121 laps.

Last year’s season finale at Martinsville Speedway convinced Bonsignore and everyone at Ken Massa Motorsports a major revamp was needed to that car. During the offseason, the car was torn down except for the center section and sat idle at Fury Race Cars up until recently.

Crew chief Ryan Stone moving the team’s shop from Connecticut to North Carolina was the primary reason why one of Bonsignore’s most efficient cars remained inactive for a prolonged period. Despite this, the new car Bonsignore had been using was just as strong, as he racked up two Modified Tour victories with it this year.

Bringing Bonsignore’s older car back to the track has shifted the Modified Tour championship entirely in his favor. Once he dispatched Matt Hirschman and polesitter Austin Beers, Bonsignore went uncontested at North Wilkesboro the rest of the day, lapping all the way up to the fifth position.

Bonsignore intends to bring the same car from Thompson and North Wilkesboro to Martinsville with two goals in mind: Win the championship and a grandfather clock.

History has favored Bonsignore over Silk during their respective appearances at Martinsville. While Silk only has one career Martinsville top five back in 2009, Bonsignore’s lone finish outside the top three in four starts was due to a mechanical failure he sustained in 2022.

Momentum is in Bonsignore’s favor as he is on the precipice of a fourth Modified Tour title, but he plans to be pragmatic about his approach at Martinsville. A lot can go wrong at Martinsville with a larger field of cars entered, but Bonsignore is confident the speed of his car will enable him to close out 2024 on a perfect note.

“Ultimately, I want to win a grandfather clock,” Bonsignore said. “I’ve won at all three [NASCAR] Cup Series race tracks this year so far, but the grandfather clock is the grandaddy of them all for sure. We’ll be smart about who we race against and the places we put ourselves in as the race winds down.

“Everybody is going to be working hard to get better, but hopefully this car gets even better than it was today.”

Hirschman finished 6.5 seconds behind Bonsignore in the runner-up finish with Beers following him in third. Patrick Emerling and Tyler Rypkema rounded out the top five and the lead-lap finishers.

The rest of the top 10 consisted of Chase Dowling, Luke Baldwin, Bobby Labonte, Carson Loftin and Kyle Bonsignore. Silk ended up 11th, two laps behind Bonsignore.

Only one race remains to decide the 2024 Modified Tour championship. The final stop on the calendar will be at Martinsville on Saturday evening for the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200, which airs live on FloRacing at 8 p.m. ET.

Posted on by Staff Report

Playoff competitors Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney found early trouble in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with a wild crash at the start of Stage 2 leaving all three drivers with finishes outside the top 30.

Tyler Reddick was sidelined after his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota rolled through the frontstretch grass in the 89th of a scheduled 267 laps in the South Point 400. Reddick, Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. had squeezed together at the exit of Turn 4 shortly after the restart that put Stage 2 underway. Blaney and Brad Keselowski also caught damage in the aftermath.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Vegas

Elliott and Blaney continued, with both drivers making multiple pit stops for their crews to fix the damage, but Reddick and Keselowski were done for the day. Both sidelined drivers were evaluated and released after a check at the infield care center. Elliott later brought his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to the garage on Lap 107 for extended repairs, with both he and Blaney reaching the minimum speed to continue. Elliott returned to the race on Lap 131, 26 laps down in 33rd place.

Reddick, the Cup Series’ Regular Season Champion, entered the first race of the postseason’s Round of 8 with a 10-point advantage to the provisional elimination line. He advanced from the three-race Round of 12 on the basis of points.

Reddick had led nine laps and won Stage 1. He said he was playing offense on the restart, trying to gain as much ground as possible in the middle segment of the race, but said he also felt like the transition from infield grass to the paved quarter-mile inside the 1.5-mile track might upend his car.

“You have to be aggressive on the restart,” Reddick said. “It is hard to pass after a while. Being myself on a mile and a half, being aggressive — by the time I realized I was in trouble, the 19 (Truex) started sliding and the 9 (Elliott) was coming up, and I was pretty much already on their outside at that point, with nowhere to really go. I needed to make the decision earlier when I saw them sliding to be more conservative to avoid an incident — just not who I am, but it is unfortunate. It took us out of the race.

“We had a really, really fast Jordan Brand Toyota Camry, probably would have been in the mix all race long, but we will go to Homestead — a place where I have had to get it done before — and go for it there.”

Blaney, who had started last in a reserve No. 12 Ford after a crash during Saturday practice, finished eight laps down in 32nd place. Elliott was 33rd, 37 laps off the lead pace. Reddick ended up 35th in the 37-car field, completing just 89 laps.

“We’re still alive,” said Blaney, who now sits 47 points below the provisional elimination line. “It’s definitely not the best of days. It was just a rough weekend overall. I don’t know what to do about it, to be honest with you, running over something and having a hole in it in practice. And then just getting clipped by the 6 (Keselowski) there. I thought I could get around him and didn’t know if he’d come up the race track and then by the time he was kind of on the track it was too late. I got clipped and bent everything all to hell, so it was just a rough weekend. We still have two more weeks, so we’re definitely not out of it.”

Reddick is now minus-30 points relative to the elimination border, and Elliott sits minus-53 — last among the eight remaining postseason-eligible drivers.

Two races — Oct. 27 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Nov. 3 at Martinsville Speedway — remain before the playoff-eligible field is trimmed to the Championship 4 quartet who will vie for the Cup Series title in the Nov. 10 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Posted on by Staff Report

Brushy Mountain Powersports 150

North Wilkesboro Speedway

  • Race results
Pos No. Name Sponsor Laps
 Diff
1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications, Inc. 150  —
2 60 Matt Hirschman PeeDee Motorsports 150 6.473
3 64 Austin Beers G&G Electrical Supply/Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 150 9.777
4 1 Patrick Emerling Fleetworks Inc 150 9.877
5 3 Tyler Rypkema USNE/Northeast Drilling 150 18.464
6 44 Chase Dowling Harshaw Paving/S&S Paving 149 1 Lap
7 7 Luke Baldwin* Baldwin Automotive 149 1 Lap
8 38 Bobby  Labonte Pace-O-Matic 149 1 Lap
9 23 Carson Loftin* L&R Transmissions/LeBleu Water/QMF Metal Fabrication 149 1 Lap
10 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 149 1 Lap
11 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine/Future Homes 148 2 Laps
12 46 Craig Lutz Riverhead Building Supply 148 2 Laps
13 77 Ryan Newman Curb Records/Montrose Molders/Aggressive Hydraulics 148 2 Laps
14 4 Tim Connolly Connolly Companies, LLC 148 2 Laps
15 02 Joey Coulter SRI Performance/Bilstein Shocks 148 2 Laps
16 06 Sam Rameau Quality Fleet Services/Rameau Family Motorsports 146 4 Laps
17 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood & Restaurant 144 6 Laps
18 01 Melissa Fifield The Yellow House 125 25 Laps
19 09 Chris Hatton Jr.* Generac 39 111 Laps
20 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Manufacturing 3 147 Laps