Posted on by Brandon White

There is no shortage of star power as the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour heads to North Wilkesboro Speedway this Sunday for the Brushy Mountain Powersports 150.

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
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.

Luke Baldwin
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.
Posted on by Brandon White

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.”

Hunter Morgan
(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
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.”

Hunter Morgan
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.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

Here’s what’s happening in the world of NASCAR with the Charlotte Roval in the rearview and Las Vegas (Sun., 2:30 p.m. ET, NBC) up next.

THE LINEUP

1️⃣ Want to make the Championship 4? Win in the Round of 8

2️⃣ Who will cash in at Vegas for the first Championship 4 spot?

3️⃣ Analyzing the rules behind No. 48 car’s Roval disqualification

4️⃣ The youth movement isn’t coming, it’s here

5️⃣ Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage

cars race at las vegas
Sean Gardner | Getty Images

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.

RELATED: Playoff Grid Challenge: Make your Round of 8 picks now!

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.

general view of las vegas motor speedway
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.

kyle larson and william byron
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

3. Analyzing the rules behind No. 48 car’s Roval disqualification

Crew chiefs Luke Lambert and Travis Peterson dive into post-race weight rules and what led to the No. 48’s disqualification at the Charlotte Roval.

4. The youth movement isn’t coming, it’s here

Since the debut of the elimination-style playoff format, the Round of 8 field continues to get younger and younger. (Credit: Racing Insights)

SeasonAverage age
201435y, 8m, 26d
201535y, 0m, 28d
201636y, 11m, 29d
201733y, 9m, 11d
201835y, 0m, 15d
201932y, 10m, 18d
202035y, 10m, 4d
202133y, 9m, 29d
202230y, 0m, 19d
202332y, 6m, 27d
202431y, 11m, 20d

5. Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage

Power Rankings: Larson could continue path of dominance all the way to title

Paint Scheme Preview: 2024 Las Vegas weekend

NASCAR betting: 2024 Las Vegas race odds

No. 48 car disqualified after Roval race; Bowman will not advance to Round of 8

Hendrick Motorsports will not appeal No. 48 team’s Roval disqualification

Jeff Gordon on Hendrick No. 48 team’s Roval DQ: ‘That’s on us’

Penalty report: RCR No. 3 crew members suspended for detached wheel at Charlotte Roval

Petty on Reddick’s Roval dash: ‘I think what we saw is a future superstar

Reddick’s charge: How the No. 45 rebounded after early Roval obstacles

Logano the latest to drive into next round from below elimination line

Analysis: Joey Logano’s Roval fight proves fruitful with Round of 8 advancement

Tyler Reddick battles into Round of 8 following Roval finish

Playoff Pulse: Round of 8 set after 2024 Charlotte Roval race

@nascarcasm: Fake texts to Charlotte Roval winner Kyle Larson

Updated championship odds after Charlotte Roval

welcome to las vegas sign
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Posted on by Team Release

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Joe Gibbs Racing announced today that Taylor Gray will drive the team’s No. 54 Toyota GR Supra full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2025. Gray, who currently races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, has competed part-time for the JGR Xfinity Series team this season.

The 19-year-old New Mexico native has enjoyed success at every stage of his young career. This season, Gray has earned a pair of top-five finishes in the Xfinity Series, including an eye-opening third-place result in his debut at Richmond Raceway in March. In the Truck Series, he qualified for the playoffs in his first full season on the strength of seven top-five finishes and 11 top-10s so far. Gray also enjoyed success in the ARCA Menards Series, with nine total victories across the series’ three platforms — national, east and west.

RELATED: Learn more about Taylor Gray 

“I am very thankful for this opportunity,” Gray said. “I feel like I have learned a lot in the races I have ran this year, and we can build on that next season. Being able to work with Tyler (Allen, crew chief) and these guys for a few races has been a great head start on next season and getting that chemistry going, so I’m really excited about what we can do running together full-time.”

Gray is joining the winningest team in Xfinity Series history. Joe Gibbs Racing owns 214 wins, including 10 this year. Since the team’s inception, 23 different drivers have taken JGR to Victory Lane in the Xfinity Series, with 14 of those drivers claiming their first career victory in the series driving for JGR. The organization has earned four Xfinity Series driver championships and six owner’s championships.

“We’re looking forward to adding Taylor to our lineup full-time next year,” said Steve de Souza, executive vice president of Xfinity Series and development for JGR. “Taylor’s strong season in the Truck Series, along with his performance with us on the Xfinity side, have been impressive. With Taylor in the Xfinity car every week in 2025, we expect that trend to continue, and we’re looking forward to him competing for wins and the championship.”

Gray will be paired with crew chief Tyler Allen. So far this season, Allen has led his team to seven victories and the regular season owner’s championship.

Posted on by Nate Ryan

There’s no way to spin it: Hendrick Motorsports’ odds of winning the championship took a hit when Alex Bowman summarily was removed from the playoffs by his Roval disqualification.

It’s simple math. If Hendrick had claimed half the Round of 8, the team potentially could own all of the Championship 4 — putting its 2024 title chances at 100 percent. The elimination of Bowman nullifies that scenario.

So there is no addition by subtraction — but there might be a silver lining.

Losing Bowman won’t enhance the likelihood of winning the championship, but it might increase the probability of having an unprecedented three title-eligible cars in the Nov. 10 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

RELATED: Playoff standings | Explaining the No. 48 team’s DQ

In eight editions of the four-round elimination playoff structure introduced in 2017, only twice have Cup teams advanced four cars to the Round of 8.

Neither of those teams won the championship — and what is perhaps more revelatory is how many of their cars made the championship round.

In 2016, Joe Gibbs Racing advanced Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards to the title race as Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth were ousted. In 2018, Stewart-Haas Racing managed only to qualify Kevin Harvick for the championship as Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer were eliminated.

It underscores what Joey Logano alluded to before the playoffs began when asked about the advantages of having perfect playoff attendance.

“Just odds, the odds of your team making it are better,” said Logano, the beneficiary of Bowman’s exclusion from the third round. “It also presents some hard questions that you have to answer, too.”

Those questions also come down to basic math — there aren’t enough hours in the day to guarantee the attention to detail for four championship entries vs. one. It’s the argument that Chase Briscoe has been making since winning the Southern 500 to capture the 16th and final playoff berth as the lone championship hope for Stewart-Haas Racing.

“I do think there’s a big advantage to being a four-car team and having only one car in,” Briscoe, who pulled off a mild surprise in reaching the second round, said before the playoffs began. “Those other four-car teams are trying to focus on all four of their cars bringing the best to the race track every single week. Preparing the race cars, we can take the personnel and best of the best from each car and just apply it to our car.”

The disparity between cars makes for some tough choices even for the best teams in NASCAR.

“When you put cars together, sometimes there are just better cars than others,” Logano said. “Yeah, we all have the same parts, and everything is really close, but some are better than others.

“When you make the decisions on who gets what, it’s a little harder with more cars in the playoffs than when you have one bullet. It’s easy to say all the effort goes in this car. This is our one chance to win the championship.

“So not that it’s better or worse, it’s just different. You’ve got to have it that way to have more opportunities to win the championship.”

At the outset of the playoffs, those opportunities seem much wider with the margins for error much larger. Yet as the races unfold, and the field shrinks, the degree of difficulty skyrockets for maintaining four championship-caliber cars.

The elimination of Bowman makes Hendrick’s path to a record 15th Cup championship more uncertain.

But it also is less complicated.

Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is the host of the NASCAR on NBC Podcast and also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.

Posted on by Cara Cooper

Zack Ore has raced at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. for 10 years. Along the way, he’s coped with several second- and third-place finishes in the track’s Law Offices of John Barrow Sportsman Series division.

Having made a name for himself as one of Bowman Gray’s most aggressive drivers, Ore entered 2024 with a different mindset.

He wanted to be more calm and collected; he vowed to take whatever the track was giving him each night.

“In the past I have been a really aggressive racer, which has probably helped me in some situations, but hurt me,” Ore said. “So, I think that’s what kind of helped me figure out how to win the championship this year was a different mindset of not being as aggressive as I was in the past and mainly focusing on the bigger picture.”

The big picture displayed a great season. Ore finished with five wins and and 16 top fives at Bowman Gray, the legendary NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series bullring.

He won the track’s Sportsman division championship by eight points, and he scored 430 national points to secure the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division II national championship.

Ore bested Canada’s Donovan Lussier by 14 points in the national standings.

Zack Ore
Zack Ore celebrates with his family and crew after capturing the 2024 Sportsman division championship at Bowman Gray Stadium. (Photo: Erick Messer/Bowman Gray Stadium)

“It was awesome to finally accomplish that feat, and then it was also awesome to see we won the national division, too,” he said. “So, all around a great year.”

Ore wasn’t aware of his NASCAR national points standing until late in the season when a friend informed him. At that point, he began following the points each week, even after Bowman Gray’s season ended in August.

“I had not really ever paid attention to it,” he said. “And when it was finalized, that was awesome to accomplish another goal that I’ve never had before.”

Ore said success at Bowman Gray requires a lot of luck. The track draws for starting position each race, and passing is difficult on such a tight quarter-mile oval. He knew he had the equipment and skills to win: “It was just that the luck was going to be on our side,” he said.

Ore went into the season knowing he likely would battle defending champion Chase Robertson for the 2024 title, and that was exactly the case. After a race on the weekend of July 4, through the end of the season, there were never more than seven points separating the two drivers.

Ore entering the season finale had already tied his win total from the year prior, but he remained neck-and-neck with Robertson in the standings. After not drawing for a top-10 starting spot all season, he drew the pole position on championship night.

“We started on the pole, and I think Chase drew six or seven, somewhere around there,” Ore said. “He got up to us quickly, so it basically became a battle between me and him. I was leading, and he was running second, and we got together, went to the infield. We thought our night was over; thought our championship hopes were done.

“It was a cone race, so we had an opportunity to jump to the outside, if need be, to gain some position, so we jumped to the outside, got right back behind him… and was able to get back by him.”

Zack Ore and Chase Robertson
Zack Ore (55) leads Chase Robertson during the 2024 season finale at Bowman Gray Stadium. (Photo: Erick Messer/Bowman Gray Stadium)

Ore finished the final race fifth, and Robertson finished sixth.

“Just enough to win the championship,” Ore added. “The relief as you cross the checkered flag or the finish line was like none other because of the stress leading up to it.”

The win delivered relief for Ore, and it did the same for the crew members who have been working with him for about seven years.

Getting to share a title with them made the celebration even more special for Ore.

“It means a lot,” he said. “These guys being with me when I wasn’t running as good, and then with me for the last few years that we competed for a championship, and now that we’ve actually got it done and we accomplished that goal, it feels so much better. I’m so happy for them, because they come in, put in a ton of work on the cars.

“Obviously they’re not paid crew members; they volunteer their time, time away from their family, which means a lot to me that they dedicate themselves throughout the summer from essentially March to the end of August, and then we raced some after that.

“So it’s awesome… I’m glad I can accomplish that and allow them to enjoy this with me.”

The team had a small celebration the night of the championship and will also hold a Christmas party, which has become an annual event, where they will continue to celebrate the hard work from this year.

A big season with two big championship wins calls for big celebrations.

“It’s definitely been an awesome season, and hopefully we can enjoy some more accomplishments in the future,” he added.

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

Brushy Mountain Powersports 150

North Wilkesboro Speedway

  • Entry list
Car No. Driver Organization Crew Chief Chassis Mfg Sponsor
01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Racing, LLC Jake Marosz Troyer The Yellow House
1 Patrick Emerling RGM AZ, LLC Dale Hedquist LFR Fleetworks, Inc
02 Joey Coulter IV Coulter Motorsports TBA FURY Race Cars SRI Performance; Bilstein Shocks; PFC Brakes, Molecule; Simpson Race Products
3 Tyler Rypkema Boehler’s Racing Equipment Greg Fournier Boehler Racing USNE; Northeast Drilling
4 Tim Connolly Connolly Racing Cale Gale FURY Race Cars Connolly Companies, LLC
06 Samual Rameau Rameau Family Motorsports Jr Boccanfuso FURY Race Cars Quality Fleet Service; Rameau Family Motorsports
7 Luke Baldwin Tommy Baldwin Racing LLC Tommy Baldwin PSR Products Baldwin Automotive
09 Christopher Hatton Chris Hatton Tom Turano Troyer Generac
16 Ron Silk Haydt Yannone Racing Phil Moran FURY Race Cars Blue Mountain Machine; Future Homes
18 Ken Heagy Robert Pollifrone Greg Gorman FURY Race Cars Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant
22 Kyle Bonsignore Kyle Bonsignore Cam McDermott FURY Race Cars Chalew Performance; MTT; Munns Auto
23 Carson Loftin Brian Loftin TBA PSR Products L&R Transmissions; LeBleu Water; QMF Metal Fabrication
24 Andrew Krause Supreme Racing Robert Hyer LFR Supreme Manufacturing Co.
38 Bobby Labonte PSR Products Neal Cantor PSR Products Pace-O-Matic
44 Chase Dowling Lawney Tinio Daniel Gamache LFR TBD
46 Craig Lutz Goodie Racing Douglas Ogiejko FURY Race Cars Riverhead Building Supply
51 Justin Bonsignore Kenneth Massa Motorsports, LLC Ryan Stone FURY Race Cars Phoenix Communications, Inc.
60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports LLC Mike Stein Troyer PeeDee Motorsports
64 Austin Beers KLM Motorsports Ron Yuhas Troyer G&G Electrical Supply, Dell Electric, Lumiere Electrical, Andrew James Interiors, AP Marquadt & Sons, Hughes Motors
70 Andy Seuss Steve Seuss Steve Seuss LFR Rockingham Boat
77 Ryan Newman Mike Curb Gary Putnam Troyer Curb Records; Montrose Molders; Aggressive Hydraulics

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR officials announced penalties Tuesday to the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team for a detached wheel during last weekend’s Cup Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

Austin Dillon drove the No. 3 Chevrolet to a 32nd-place finish in Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400. In the 81st lap of the 109-lap race, the left-front tire dislodged as Dillon rounded Turn 4, forcing the event’s fifth and final caution period. The loose wheel violated Sections 8.8.10.4.A & C in the NASCAR Rule Book, which concerns the “loss or separation of an improperly installed tire/wheel from the vehicle during the event.”

RELATED: Cup Series standings | Power Rankings

As a result, competition officials suspended RCR No. 3 crew members Joshua Thomas (front tire-changer) and Nick Covey (jack) for the next two Cup Series events — Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Oct. 27 event at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

NASCAR officials also fined four crew chiefs from the Xfinity Series after their cars were found with a single unsecured lug nut each in a post-race check Saturday at the Charlotte Roval. Each crew chief was fined $5,000 for the safety violations; the drivers for all four teams are still championship-eligible in the Xfinity Series Playoffs.

Teams with single-lug infractions (with their corresponding crew chiefs and drivers):

  • No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet (crew chief James Pohlman, driver Justin Allgaier)
  • No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet (crew chief Phillip Bell, driver Sammy Smith)
  • No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (crew chief Andy Street, driver Austin Hill)
  • No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (crew chief Jeff Meendering, driver Chandler Smith)
Posted on by Zack Albert

Joey Logano was already back home after Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval elimination race Sunday evening, unwinding by playing foosball with a friend in his shop. Some tabletop soccer helped distract from the resignation that his championship eligibility in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs had evaporated.

That’s when Logano’s phone notifications started to build.

Those pings eventually let Logano in on the scuttlebutt that had been trickling out of post-race inspection. The Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet driven by Alex Bowman was found to be underweight. Bowman was disqualified and ruled out of the postseason picture; Logano was back into the playoff field, advancing with an 11th-hour reprieve.

RELATED: Logano’s Roval fight proves fruitful | Las Vegas weekend schedule

Logano detailed what he termed a “wild roller coaster of emotions” after Sunday’s turn of events, shedding light on his renewed outlook during a Tuesday media availability with his quest for a third Cup Series title freshly restored. The 34-year-old veteran had mustered a valiant points-gathering day in Sunday’s Round of 12 finale but ended up nine points shy of advancing with the initial, unofficial results. When inspection ended, Logano was slotted back in as the eighth and final driver still alive on the postseason grid.

“I was starting to move forward,” Logano said, recounting the time between the checkered flag and the results being made official. “You get there literally the moment we get out of the race car. It takes a little bit to get your thoughts collected, and honestly, by the time I was driving home, my wife and I were talking about something far more important than what we were doing at the race track. My mind was already starting to shift on what were the next moves and kind of getting over the race. Then I started hearing the rumors from there, and the phone started to ring shortly after.”

Those rumors swirled around potential delays in the inspection process. “Usually, nothing happens,” Logano said about the conjecture, which he took with a grain of cautious optimism. But the questions and uncertainty started to gain momentum, and that snowball effect caught his attention.

“I was like, ‘Something’s up here,'” Logano told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio earlier Tuesday morning. “Hang on a second. Something’s going on. I need to figure it out because a lot of people are calling all at the same time.”

That optimism was rewarded, and it stuck Monday after Hendrick Motorsports elected not to appeal the penalty. Logano now heads to Sunday’s Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) with loftier goals beyond adding a fourth victory at the 1.5-mile Nevada oval. Logano said that playoff eligibility intact or not, his approach stays the same: “You go out there and you attack.”

MORE: Power Rankings | Cup Series standings

Logano won the playoff-opening race at Atlanta Motor Speedway last month, and he led laps in three of the four races that followed, though his finishes did not produce a top-10 result in that stretch. He got back on course at the Charlotte Roval, finishing eighth and piling up 18 stage points in a 47-point total effort. That grit in a pressure-packed situation, combined with the speed in his No. 22 Ford, have been encouraging as Logano sets a target on reaching the championship stage in the Nov. 10 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

“The stats may not look like it. It may look like we’re underdogs from the outset looking in, but internally we feel very confident in our race team that we can make a run at this thing and get ourselves into the Championship 4,” said Logano, who is 11 points below the provisional elimination line. “We’ve seen it in the past where you get in there and anything can happen at Phoenix. The goal right now is to look at the next three races and how do we maximize that. We can point our way in. We’re only 11 out, so it’s not a lot of points by no means. It can happen very quickly, so one race at a time. Right now, the focus is Vegas and we’ll try to maximize the day there.”

Two Team Penske drivers have reached the Round of 8, with Logano joining defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney among those drivers still vying for the Bill France Cup. Penske teammate Austin Cindric failed to advance from the Round of 12 group, despite a fourth-place finish at the Roval.

Logano (2022) and Blaney (2023) have won the last two Cup Series titles, and the blueprint for Team Penske’s success has been a performance uptick as the season draws to its close. It’s a plan that Logano hopes to replicate this year.

CUP SERIES PLAYOFFS: Who’s in, out after Roval | Remaining schedule

“Trends are trends for a reason, right?” Logano said. “I don’t know why or what that is, but it does seem like Team Penske does a good job rising to the occasion when it matters during the playoffs. I feel like that happened a little sooner this year. We started to make that turnaround a little bit quicker than last year, and still, last year, Blaney was able to win the championship. Yeah, I feel great about it because we’ve done this before. Like I said before, from the outside looking in, you look at it and say, ‘Well, they haven’t had as many top fives. They haven’t had as many top 10s. They haven’t been as competitive.’ Who cares? We’ve lived this story many times before. Yeah, would it be easier if you had more playoff points? Yeah, but you know what? You win this weekend, and you’re sitting as the favorite going into Phoenix, so it changes like that, and that’s with the playoff system that we have.

“Every point matters throughout the whole season. I’m not discounting that, but you have to be your absolute best at this point in the season or else those points don’t even matter, so I feel confident in our team that we’ve got that. We’re still alive. We’re still going and that’s the name of the game in these playoffs.”

Posted on by Brandon White

After the race was postponed for two weeks due to Hurricane Helene’s impact on the Appalachain Mountains, North Wilkesboro Speedway is set to host the penultimate event of the 2024 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.

Last year saw NASCAR’s oldest division visit North Wilkesboro for the first time in its long, prestigious history. A field of 38 cars showed up to take the green flag, with veteran Matt Hirschman bringing home the victory over the championship frontrunners in Ron Silk and Justin Bonsignore.

Just like 2023, Silk and Bonsignore enter Sunday’s Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 atop the Modified Tour standings, with the former holding the points lead. Despite this, Bonsignore has momentum on his side for North Wilkesboro after winning at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Sunday.

A freshly repaved North Wilkesboro will present a plethora of challenges for Silk, Bonsignore and the rest of the Modified Tour field as they look to add their own successful chapter at one of the southeast’s most prestigious facilities.

Tickets to the Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 can be purchased here. Below is everything to know ahead of Sunday’s race, which starts at 2 p.m. ET and can be seen on FloRacing.

Justin Bonsignore
A victory at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park has Justin Bonsignore only five points back from Ron Silk in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings. (Photo: Kostas Lymperopoulos/NASCAR)

Brushy Mountain Powersports 150

Justin Bonsignore is all too familiar with how the penultimate race can decide the Modified Tour championship.

During last year’s visit to Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, Bonsignore and Ron Silk never left each other’s sightlines until the final restart of the afternoon. A missed shift from Bonsignore from the front row knocked him to 13thin the final running order, giving Silk the buffer he needed to secure the title at Martinsville Speedway.

North Wilkesboro now fills Thompson’s role in the championship pursuit for 2024, but the stakes remain high for both title contenders. Bonsignore’s triumph at Thompson last week trimmed the deficit to just five points, but Silk still leads all Modified Tour competitors with four victories on the year.

Although Bonsignore and Silk have come together on numerous occasions, their battle for the victory last weekend was both aggressive and clean. Should the two get into a heated duel at North Wilkesboro on Sunday, Patrick Emerling remains within range of the championship despite now being 21 points behind Silk.

The complete entry list for the Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 will be released later this week.

North Wilkesboro Speedway could be a crucial turning point in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship. (Photo: Eakin Howard/NASCAR)

RACING REFERENCE

Race Brushy Mountain Powersports 150
Date Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024
Track North Wilkesboro Speedway
Layout 0.625-mile asphalt oval
Location North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Start time 2 p.m. ET
Laps 150
Posted Awards $111,884
Tickets Here
Live stream FloRacing

Schedule: Sunday, October 20 … Final practice from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. ET … Qualifying at 1 p.m. ET … Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 at 2 p.m. ET.

Qualifying: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 is limited to 32 starters including Provisional Positions.

Tire allotment: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is twelve (12) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and or/change tires during the event. The tire change rule is two (2) tires, per caution period.