Daytona Beach, Fla. (Oct. 9, 2024) – NASCAR and LegacyHistoryPride — a provider of authentic fashion and apparel that celebrates and supports America’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) — announced today the launch of a new fashion collaboration blending the spirit, culture and legacy of HBCUs with the fast-paced world of America’s No. 1 motorsport.
“NASCAR fashion is surging right now and we’re excited to leverage that momentum to continue driving support of the African American community and HBCUs through this new collaboration with LegacyHistoryPride,” said Brandon Thompson, NASCAR’s vice president of diversity and inclusion. “We hope students and alumni are equally excited to sport the collection.”
The officially licensed collection features a custom-designed, co-branded “pit crew jersey” for twelve different HBCUs, including Claflin University, Clark Atlanta University, Grambling University, Howard University, Morehouse College, Morgan St. University, N.C Central University, Norfolk State University, Prairie View A&M University, VA State University and Winston-Salem State University.
LegacyHistoryPride™ designed the unique racing-inspired jerseys, each including a number that represents the year the institution was founded. The jerseys retail for $90 and are now available online at shoplhp.com/collections/nascar and on campus at select university bookstores.
“This collaboration goes beyond products—it’s about amplifying, celebrating, and honoring the schools that have profoundly impacted countless lives,” said Tahir Murray, CEO & Founder of LegacyHistoryPride. “We view this partnership as a chance to share our commitment to creating opportunities and building stronger communities through the lens of fashion.”
This partnership continues NASCAR’s commitment to the HBCU community, following initiatives like the NASCAR Campus Lab Program – a groundbreaking program that offers HBCU students real-world experience in the sports industry, which was launched in 2023 by NASCAR’s Senior Director of Diversity and Inclusion and Howard University graduate, Caryn Grant.
This collaboration also celebrates the achievements of trailblazing HBCU students and alumni in NASCAR, such as Winston-Salem State University senior Rajah Caruth, who won his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in 2024; John Cohen, a Grambling State University alum and owner of the New York Racing Team; Brehanna Daniels, a Norfolk State University standout and the first Black woman to compete as a pit crew member; and Thompson himself, a Clark Atlanta University alum.
The next chapter of the intense, three-way battle for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour title will take place at one of the series’ most iconic venues: Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.
Since the facility opened to the public in 1940, Thompson has served as a hub for Modified competition in the northeastern United States. During the early days of the Modified Tour, Thompson hosted many as five races in one year alone.
Many notable names have claimed checkered flags at Thompson. NASCAR Hall of Famer Richie Evans won the series’ first four races at Thompson in 1985, with names like Jimmy Spencer, Mike Stefanik, Jeff Fuller, Steve Park, Ted Christopher and Justin Bonsignore later embarking on winning streaks of their own at the track.
As has been the case throughout most of its lifespan on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule, Thompson serves as a crucial, late-season tilt for the championship. A strong race at Thompson will be essential for the three championship contenders before they close out 2024 with two straight events in the south.
Below is everything you need to know ahead of Sunday’s World Series 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.
Patrick Emerling enters Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park with momentum, having won three of the last four NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races. (Photo: Jaiden Tripi/NASCAR)
World Series 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park
No one in the 27-car field could match the blistering pace set by Emerling in Rich Gautreau’s No. 1, which led all 150 laps from the pole. That victory was the first of three Emerling has accumulated over the last four events, with the consistency putting him just 16 points back from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points lead.
Despite this, Emerling still has work to do if he wishes to overtake Ron Silk in the championship hunt. Not only does Silk lead all drivers in the Modified Tour this season with four victories, but the defending champion has enjoyed plenty of success at Thompson while driving for Haydt Yannone Racing, having won two of the last three events there.
Nestled in between Silk and Emerling in the championship battle is Justin Bonsignore, who won six consecutive races at Thompson from 2018-19. Bonsignore is chasing redemption to go along with a 13th Thompson victory, as a missed shift in last year’s fall race on the final restart directly cost him a shot at the title.
The three championship contenders will still have to deal with plenty more talented drivers in Sunday’s World Series 150 at Thompson. Matt Hirschman is among those names, as he is searching for his first visit to Thompson’s Victory Lane after his father Tony earned eight NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour wins at the facility between 1989-2005.
Other drivers set to compete at Thompson on Sunday include Jon McKennedy, Woody Pitkat, Chase Dowling, Matt Swanson, Anthony Nocella and Tim Connolly.
The complete entry list for the World Series 150 can be viewed here.
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park could serve as a crucial turning point in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship on Sunday. (Photo: Nick Grace/NASCAR)
Schedule: Sunday, October 13 … Final practice from 12:20 to 12:40 p.m. ET … World Series 150 pres. by FloSports at 1 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 World Series 150 pres. by FloSports.com is limited to 30 starters, including Provisional Positions.
Tire allotment: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eleven (11) 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.
CONCORD, N.C. — AJ Allmendinger carries a perfect four-for-four record in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval into this weekend’s Round of 12 finale.
And yet the driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet is not sporting the same bravado about the road-course-oval hybrid as he has in past years.
“I go into this weekend probably with the least amount of confidence that I ever been going into the Roval,” Allmendinger said Tuesday during a media availability. “You know, I looked at Talladega as a race I was like, I’ve probably got more of a chance to win there than I do at the Roval.”
His candor offers a stark contrast from what’s become the expectation from Allmendinger, whose 14 road-race victories in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity series are most all-time across the sport’s three national series, including a weekend sweep of last year’s Roval races.
Entering Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 (4 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Allmendinger sits eighth in the Xfinity Series Playoffs standings, the final car above the elimination line by a mere seven points, with teammate and fellow road ace Shane van Gisbergen lurking 10 points beneath that provisional divider. Eleven times, Allmendinger has gone to Victory Lane after an Xfinity road-course race. None of those have come in 2024 after five attempts, his best finish a third-place effort on Sept. 14 at Watkins Glen International. SVG, on the other hand, has won three times.
“I’ve struggled with being loose in the Xfinity car. That is at every road course that I’ve went to,” Allmendinger said.
Van Gisbergen’s advantage at the Xfinity level, Allmendinger noted, is his ability to use the heal-toe method of shifting, using his right heal to brake and toes to blip the throttle while downshifting and utilizing his left foot on the clutch. That clutch usage also allows SVG to skip gears if he so chooses, matching RPMs with the gas pedal. That experience stems from his days becoming a three-time champion in Australian Supercars, where another one of Allmendinger’s former teammates — two-time Cup winner Marcos Ambrose — laid the foundation for stock-car success on road courses.
“The thing is, Shane and I, when we talk about the cars, I think we feel them fairly close to the same of what we fight. He’s just worked through it better and obviously he’s had really good success,” Allmendinger said. “[…] So we feel the car the same. But some of these race tracks, he’s figured out what to do. He’s really good at rolling corner speed, and that’s what I’ve noticed. So like Sonoma was a place that, following him, I tried to drive exactly like he was doing, and I just didn’t have lateral grip, and he makes it work. …
“I haven’t figured out what that is, what I struggle with. You know, I can pinpoint it; just haven’t figured out what that is and how to make it better.”
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images
Having a teammate like van Gisbergen has been helpful for Allmendinger, though, if not for anything but motivation knowing SVG can still win despite similar struggles.
“I’m a fan of motorsports, so you get a three-time champion of the elite series of where you’re coming from,” Allmendinger said. “I mean, we all see what he can do. We saw what he did in Chicago. So on the road course side of it, it’s good for me to see, like, hey, like he’s still getting the speed out of the car, so I just got to figure that out. […] I guess you could always look at it (like) there’s rivalry a little bit with your teammate, but it’s not — I don’t look at us as a rivalry, right? Like, I just see what he’s doing. It’s like, yeah, I need to be better. Like, on the road courses, I’d like to get there. So he’s definitely pushing me and I enjoy that part of it.”
What lies ahead this weekend is a reconfigured Roval, changed this year to feature a longer straightaway between Turns 5 and 6 to set up a sweeping right-handed Turn 6 into an extremely tight left-handed hairpin at Turn 7 leading back to the banked turns of the oval. Additionally, the frontstretch chicane gets a new look as its Turn 15 entry dives further left to set up a sharper, near-90-degree right Turn 16 before a 90-degree left back to the start/finish line. The anticipated outcome, Allmendinger believes, is more excitement, which he sees ahead for some ambitious passing opportunities. Highest alert on Allmendinger’s radar, though, is the hairpin.
“It’ll be interesting to feel in real life, the hump that they got going over into the first right-hander there in the new part of the section of the race track,” he said, “because on sim, the hump is pretty extreme. So it’s kind of where you get on the brakes. It kind of reminds me a little bit — not maybe as extreme downhill — but like Chicago, down right by the the city section there by all the hotels and stuff. So it’ll open it up, especially in Xfinity, I think, for wheel-hopping over that rise. But yeah, I can definitely see using the bumper in the right-hand section. But the problem is, if you do that, you’ve got the next hairpin left-hander. So I think desperation and stuff, there’s gonna be a lot of dive-bombs at the hairpin. I think that’s kind of where we’re gonna see a lot of the action.”
And while his confidence may have lowered slightly in the Xfinity car at the Roval, he fully intends on defending his victory in the NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). In four Cup road races this season, Allmendinger has finished sixth twice (Circuit of The Americas and Sonoma Raceway) and failed to finish twice, crashing out at Chicago and losing a transmission at Watkins Glen.
“I’m showing up to win the race, but I only put the expectations on me to go run well,” Allmendinger said. “Look, it’s hard to win Cup races. It’s hard to run top five in Cup races. Like, the ultimate goal to me, still, is to show up. If we can run top five, top six, that’s a great day. And if we get it right, I know we can win. But on the Xfinity side of it, for sure, it’s just — because if you take SVG out, I don’t win any of the races this year. It’d be different if SVG was winning and I’m running second and I’m like, ‘yeah, just got to figure out a way to beat my teammate.’ But like, literally, if he’s not in the race, I still don’t win any of those races.”
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Oct. 8, 2024) – JR Motorsports announced today that Virginia native Connor Hall will be the new driver behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet for the organization’s championship-winning Late Model program in 2025. Additionally, as previously announced by JRM, Bass Pro Shops will be back on board as the primary partner for 20 Late Model events throughout the upcoming season.
“We are very happy to be able to have someone of Connor’s caliber and experience join us in our Late Model program,” said JRM’s Senior Vice President of Motorsports L.W. Miller. “Seeing his many successes over the past several seasons makes us very excited to watch him continue that success in a JR Motorsports Late Model in 2025. Everyone at JRM is looking forward to seeing what he and Bryan (Shaffer) can do together in the Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet.”
Hall, the current points leader in the zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car division and the 2023 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series National Champion, succeeds Carson Kvapil in the seat as Kvapil moves full-time to the NASCAR Xfinity Series next season with JRM.
“To me, JR Motorsports has the No. 1 Late Model program in the country, and it’s a dream come true to be able to wake up every day and work toward the common goal everyone at JRM has, which is to win more races and championships and carry on the legacy of this team,” Hall said.
“The opportunity to represent JR Motorsports, Johnny Morris and Bass Pro Shops, Dale, Kelley and L.W. means a lot to me. I am super-excited to work with Bryan, Slim and the rest of the team as well. I respect them a ton and am very eager to establish that working relationship.”
The 27-year-old Virginian will get behind the wheel of the No. 88 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats & ATVs Chevrolet for the first time early in 2025.
TALLADEGA, Ala. — The No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet driven by Sam Mayer was disqualified Saturday evening in post-race inspection after the NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Talladega Superspeedway.
Mayer’s No. 1 Chevy failed the post-race height requirement, measuring too low in the rear following the conclusion of the United Rentals 250. Mayer, who started the race in 12th, took the checkered flag in 16th before the violation. JR Motorsports will appeal the ruling, the team announced in a Monday statement on its social platforms.
Mayer, one of 12 Xfinity Series Playoffs drivers fighting for Round of 8 positioning, was fourth in the playoff standings entering Talladega. Ahead of Saturday’s elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, Mayer currently sits 11th in the standings, 13 points beneath the elimination line. Eight drivers will advance to the Round of 8 after Saturday’s event to inch close toward the Xfinity Series championship.
Additionally, one lug nut was found unsecured on Chandler Smith’s No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, which will result in a monetary fine.
The Xfinity Series will conclude the Round of 12 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
This NASCAR Cup Series season has been doted by dazzling endings all year long, and Sunday’s Round of 12 playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway also delivered.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. surged to the win in a three-wide photo finish by just 0.006 seconds over Brad Keselowski, with William Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet third, just 0.027 seconds shy of Stenhouse. The dramatic visual of 13 cars flashing across the finish line within half a second of the leader was thrilling and exhilarating, just how any Talladega charge to the checkers should.
And yet that wasn’t even the closest finish this season. It wasn’t the first photo finish of the year. Heck, it wasn’t even the first three-wide photo finish this year. Sunday’s Stenhouse storm to Victory Lane marked the third-closest finish of 2024, behind Kyle Larson’s 0.001-second shocker over Chris Buescher at Kansas Speedway (the closest finish in Cup Series history) and Daniel Suárez’s triple-barrel thriller at Atlanta, besting Ryan Blaney by 0.003 seconds and Kyle Busch by 0.007 seconds.
Those three margins of victory are within the eight closest finishes in Cup history, all within a span of 30 races. How lucky we are to bear witness to some of the most exciting dashes to the stripe in the sport’s 76-year history.
On Sunday evening, that exhilaration was all over the face of Stenhouse, who grew up in Olive Branch, Mississippi, some 300 miles northwest of Talladega.
“Obviously like with the Atlanta race earlier in the year (and) the first Kansas, you know, my spotter Tab (Boyd) was pumped as soon as we crossed the line,” Stenhouse said. “I’m just sitting there waiting to celebrate and make sure. It was way too close for me to call from the seat.
“When the 24 jumped out to the outside, it was like a parachute hit my car. I was just hoping that we would get to the start/finish line before them. It was a drag race at that point. When I got probably to the backstretch, they were pretty confident that we had won, and a big sigh of relief for sure.”
On the other side of it was the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford of Keselowski, whose push from Chevrolet driver Kyle Larson was ultimately not enough to fend off Stenhouse’s No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Chevy.
“He gave me a good push down the frontstretch,” Keselowski said of Larson. “But the 24 was able to really stick with the 47 there and just needed a tiny bit. It’s a good finish for us. We’ve been knocking on the door of these plate tracks. I hate that we didn’t bust through with a win, but I’m happy to be right there in contention.”
There was a moment exiting Turn 4 where Keselowski was clear high and could have blocked Stenhouse’s lane, but he ultimately decided the bottom lane provided his best shot at the win.
“I knew they were gonna have a really big run and that the 24 was really tight to him and I was just gonna get split,” Keselowski explained. “So I felt like I made the right move, but there’s only so much you can do when you’re outnumbered.
“I just needed a half a foot, I guess. I got a really good push from the 5 down the frontstretch, but just wasn’t quite enough.”
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Kyle Larson exited his No. 5 Chevrolet after 500 miles at Talladega Superspeedway with a beaming smile. He wasn’t in Victory Lane with a horseshoe-shaped wreath of fresh flowers around his neck, but shaking off a handful of daunting speedway streaks with a clean top-five finish was satisfaction enough.
Larson placed fourth in Sunday’s YellaWood 500, avoiding the day’s biggest crash and strengthening his hold on positive ground in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs at what’s been one of his most challenging tracks. The result also broke the Cup Series’ longest string of finishes outside the top 10 where aerodynamic drafting tactics apply, filling a 14-race void.
“I mean, eventually, right, it’s got to work out, and today was just that day,” Larson said. “Especially with that wreck on the backstretch, that easily in the past would be us getting in the middle of that somehow. But we got through it, and yeah, we had a great car.”
Larson exits Talladega and heads to the Round of 12’s elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course with a comfortable 52-point cushion — pocketing a 34-point gain Sunday, relative to the elimination line. He was one of four of the 12 remaining playoff-eligible drivers who scored stage points at both breaks, navigating a treacherous stretch of four-wide racing through Stage 1 and contending with a tough entry to his pit stall near the RFK Racing No. 17 Ford of Chris Buescher.
Larson’s best break came in the massive crash that snarled more than 20 cars, including eight drivers involved in the postseason fight. With Austin Cindric’s No. 2 Ford crossed up in front of the pack after an aggressive low-line push, Larson joined a host of fellow Chevrolet drivers who sailed through in the top lane with minimal bumps.
When the track cleared for overtime, Larson shook out with a prime spot — second in the bottom lane behind Talladega master Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford. Up top was Ricky Stenhouse Jr., with help from fellow Chevy driver William Byron. Larson stayed glued to Keselowski, who didn’t waver far from his lane and wound up just 0.006 seconds shy of a victorious Stenhouse at the stripe.
“I wanted to give him a good shove down the backstretch, get him clear at some point through (turns) three and four, and then hopefully when the 47 (Stenhouse) had some momentum back, I was hoping that he would move up and they’d either chase each other way up, and I could get a run to the lead and to the start/finish line,” Larson said. “But Brad’s really smart, and yeah, he felt like his best opportunity was probably to stay committed to the bottom lane. It was probably the right decision, because he only … I mean, he didn’t lose by much. So I think he would have had an easier opportunity of losing had he moved up to try and block.”
All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers made gains relative to the playoff bubble, but the strides made by William Byron and Larson were the most pronounced. Byron took third place Sunday and rode a stage-point bonanza to maintain his lead in the Cup Series standings, advancing to the next round on points. Larson’s uptick helped offset a 21-point net loss in the previous week’s round-opener at Kansas Speedway, and his plus-52 margin was helped by finishing fourth in Stage 1 and nine in Stage 2 at Talladega.
That execution, combined with a dose of good fortune when the late-race melee broke out, was enough for No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels.
“I think the most realistic take that I can have is that was a very typical day for how it goes for us,” Daniels told NASCAR.com. “You know, we certainly probably have the worst finishing position of anyone in the field when it comes to speedway races, but I would imagine we’re among the best of stage points scored. Typically, we execute well in the stages and we get stage points, so doing that again today was a lot of what we’ve worked really hard to try to put ourselves in position to do. Certainly nice to have all the teammates to work with and have it go the way it did, to score some stage points. Then at the end of the race, typically we’re in that fourth-to-10th bubble where the wreck starts, and most of the time we just don’t make it through. And the difference today is the wreck happened right in front of us, right where we were, and this time we did make it through, so good, heads-up driving by him. Good, good job for the team to stay in it all day, and yeah, thankful to get out of it relatively clean.”
Larson enjoyed a good word of congratulation on pit road afterward from Hendrick vice chairman Jeff Gordon, a six-time Talladega winner during his Hall of Fame driving career. For Larson, it was a more modest Talladega resume-builder, but one worth savoring when chaos reigned around him.
“I mean, it’s only my second top five in like 10 and a half or 11 years of Cup racing, so I’m very happy with it,” Larson said after his 20th Talladega start. “And yeah, like I keep saying, I know we’re capable of doing it. You’ve just got to find some luck along the way, and today we did find that luck, so it’s good.”
TALLADEGA, Ala. — On a tumultuous Talladega Sunday when the postseason fortunes of many drivers diverged and scattered, Denny Hamlin may have had the wildest playoff swing in the right direction. The positive movement stemmed from a final pit stop that seemed to be Hamlin’s undoing, then ultimately turned into a fortunate stroke that helped him avoid the race’s largest crash.
Just like Hamlin and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team drew it up?
“No,” Hamlin said, “but can I say yes and get away with it?”
Hamlin salvaged a 10th-place finish in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, providing him with substantial headway in his NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs quest. He exits the middle race of the postseason’s Round of 12 with a 30-point edge over the provisional elimination line for Sunday’s event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, where just eight championship-eligible drivers will be left from the current dozen.
Hamlin’s day had already hit a hitch with his involvement in a crash at the end of Stage 2, one that damaged his No. 11 Toyota and sidelined Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain. He continued on, but appeared to be sunk after his final stop for service.
Hamlin veered toward pit road with a mix of Toyota and Ford teams on Lap 171 of 195, and his crew changed two tires during the fueling. That decision, said No. 11 crew chief Chris Gabehart, was based on concerns about excessive tire wear from the front-end damage, which altered the steering angle — plus the tires were changed in the time it took to add fuel. When Hamlin resumed at the back of the pack after a slight delay exiting the pits, the ill effects of the earlier damage took hold, and the veteran became unhooked from the aerodynamic draft. He dropped more than 10 seconds behind, falling to 32nd.
“Silence on the radio,” Hamlin said of his feeling in the car. “I just assumed silence is bad news, and I knew that we were dead last of the cars that were running. I think that the damage that we had from the Blaney incident, just it really got magnified once we got to the tail end of the pack, and then we lost the draft because we just weren’t fast enough. So yeah, just … it was looking grim. And then all of a sudden, you know, I had some good luck.”
That windfall of good fortune came at the expense of most of the pack when a colossal 23-car crash erupted well in front of him with four laps remaining, forcing a red flag. “I was a mile and a half away from the wreck when it happened,” said Hamlin, who tiptoed by the melee at the end of the backstretch.
Hamlin moved up 20 spots in the exchange after the stoppage. Those gains, combined with other playoff contenders falling out of the race, moved Hamlin from minus-17 relative to the running elimination line before the crash to a plus-27 position before the final restart.
Two-thirds of the remaining playoff-eligible drivers placed outside of the top 15 once the checkered flag fell, ending a chaotic day at one of the circuit’s most feared maelstroms. Hamlin wasn’t among those unfortunate eight, notching his third consecutive top-10 result.
“I feel happy about it,” Hamlin said. “I mean, ultimately, if you would have said I’d be where I’m at, I would have certainly took it before this race happened. So I think we’re very fortunate today.”
Called the most unpredictable track on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit, Talladega Superspeedway didn’t disappoint, providing late drama in the form of the “Big One” with five laps to go that shuffled the field and had huge playoff implications. We’ll be talking about the fallout from this version of the YellaWood 500 for a while, but for now, let’s take a look at the winners and losers from just another wild afternoon at the famed 2.66-mile superspeedway.
WINNER
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made it two wins in a row for non-playoff drivers as the JTG Daugherty Racing superspeedway ace held off Brad Keselowski in a photo finish for the victory by 0.006 seconds. The driver who just turned 37 on Wednesday recorded his fourth win in the NASCAR Cup Series — all on superspeedways — and his first since the 2023 Daytona 500.
Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell. They are not known for their superspeedway prowess, but Larson and Bell came home fourth and sixth at Talladega, respectively, bucking their history and putting themselves in safe positions heading to the Charlotte Roval. Bell sits 57 points above the elimination line while Larson is 52 up. And if you thought this might be the chance to knock out a couple of championship contenders, well, think again.
Denny Hamlin. The No. 11 team appeared to be cooked after taking two tires on a late pit stop and losing contact with the draft, but when the “Big One” happened late, that strategy call actually kept Hamlin out of harm’s way. It probably wasn’t the way crew chief Chris Gabehart drew it up, but Hamlin now sits 30 points above the elimination line heading to Charlotte.
WHO’S NOT?
Austin Cindric. He was five laps away from possibly getting a win and advancing to the Round of 8, but Cindric got too far out in front of the pack, which surged toward him and ultimately led to his spin on the backstretch that set off the “Big One.” Now, Cindric remains mired 29 points below the elimination line and likely needs a win at the Charlotte Roval in order to advance.
Daniel Suárez. His day started with NASCAR penalizing the No. 99 team for unapproved adjustments to the roof area and that meant starting from the rear, performing a pass-through penalty and going without car chief Eddie D’Hondt Jr., who was ejected. Then, Suárez spun and had to come to pit road in Stage 1 and finished the day involved in the “Big One.” Not quite what the superspeedway winner earlier this year at Atlanta might have envisioned as he’s 20 points below the elimination line.
