The story of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will unfold like you’ve never seen before in Full Speed Season 2 coming to Netflix on May 7.
Go behind the scenes and into the lives of NASCAR’s top stars such as Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Christopher Bell and Daniel Suárez as they journey through the pressure-packed playoffs, culminating in the championship battle at Phoenix Raceway.
Hear not only from the drivers themselves but also from the people closest to them, including wives and girlfriends Brittany Logano, Gianna Blaney, Morgan Bell, Julia Piquet and others. Contributors to the series include Dale Earnhardt Jr., Marty Smith, Steve Letarte, Bob Pockrass and Kim Coon.
The trailer is just a sneak peek of the drama you’ll see next month when the five-episode series drops.
Ingenuity has long been a trademark of Rodrigo Sanchez’s career in motorsports. After all, the marketing, media and PR whiz long ago put his stamp on Formula 1’s annual grand prix in Mexico, elevating the fan experience with a festival atmosphere that draws on the country’s colorful culture.
So it’s of little surprise that Sánchez’s entry into the behind-the-curtain side of the motorsports industry arrived courtesy of that same spirit of innovation.
“I basically made a fake copy of a hot pass. We used to use hot passes back in the day, and I used PowerPoint and I sort of replicated it,” Sanchez says now, confessing to his youthful indiscretion. “I think I still have it. Honestly, I don’t even know how that worked. It was terrible.”
It worked well enough that a teenager equipped with Microsoft Office software, an old official-looking lanyard and a laminator made his way deep into the paddock for the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) Gran Premio de Mexico in 2002. His goal wasn’t to meet childhood hero Adrián Fernández, though he went far enough to see his green-on-red Tecate and Quaker State-sponsored Champ Car up close. Instead, Sanchez was there to make connections, to explore how his passion for racing might become his calling.
In a roundabout way, it worked. Sanchez says his makeshift credential drew the attention of Billy Kamphausen, one of CART’s earliest hires and its longtime VP of logistics, who stopped him. “Where did that come from?” Sanchez recalls Kamphausen saying. Perhaps it was the text that read “Worker Pass” that gave it away, or that his name wasn’t exactly centered on the paper.
Sanchez tried to explain that his uncle, who had a history of working as a medical liaison for Mexico City races, had given him the pass, but later confessed that he was there to pursue a career in motorsports. Kamphausen brought him to his at-track office and replaced his slapdash pass with a real one, telling him: “Well, you’re a minor, I cannot properly hire you,” Sanchez recalled, “but if you come back tomorrow, for sure, we can use some extra hands.”
The work was entry-level – delivering equipment, transporting pop-off valves and other go-fer tasks – but that November weekend made an impression on CART’s staff, who appreciated Sanchez’s energetic approach. It led to more volunteer opportunities and a chance to travel with a major motorsports circuit for the first time.
“I think from there,” he says, “I sort of just knew that’s what I wanted to do.”
Courtesy Rodrigo Sanchez
Twenty-plus years later, Rodrigo Sanchez has delivered on the aspirations of his youth as the Chief Marketing Officer of the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix and NASCAR Mexico Weekend. Along with OCESA, the leading live entertainment company in Mexico and Colombia, Sanchez will help bring the NASCAR Cup Series to Mexico City for the first time June 13-15. It’s the latest in a series of monumental milestones for the 40-year-old, who was once part of the NASCAR internship program before taking on crucial roles to bring racing to Austin, Texas at Circuit of The Americas and ushering in a revival of Formula 1 events in Mexico.
Sanchez’s garage access is legit now, but he still keeps his homemade pass as a totem to the hustle.
“That shows the passion that he had, what it really took for him to get where he is,” says Adrián Fernández, a Mexico City native who drove to 11 wins across CART and IndyCar competition in his career and also made 10 Xfinity Series starts with Hendrick Motorsports and JR Motorsports. “Like I always tell him, I give Rodrigo a lot of advice through my experience and everything, and basically, he just did exactly what I did myself, too. You just take it to another level.” Fernández would know, having once stowed away on a truck, crossing the border from England to the Netherlands without money or a visa to further his racing dream.
“I mean, he was just trying to do the same, just keep trying to get by, get into the races and try to get the opportunity to be close to the racing world,” Fernández said. “And obviously, when you have such a passion, I always tell my kids, you will always succeed. If you have that much passion for something, you eventually will succeed if you have the discipline, the love of what you do, and the willingness to sacrifice, you will get there. And that’s something that he definitely did.”
* * *
Sanchez’s sister was a student at the University of Texas-Austin when she spotted a career-minded pamphlet. The brochure was a notice for NASCAR’s internship program, and she urged Rodrigo to apply.
“A lot of names rise to the top, and his did,” says NASCAR VP Brandon Thompson, who headed up the internship initiative, then in its infancy. Back then, the vetting process for potential candidates was not quite as robust, but even on an Excel file that put college majors, GPAs and other vital information into columns, Sanchez says he knew his experience and still-developing skills made a difference.
So did his references. Track promoters in Mexico reached the upper floors of the Daytona Beach offices to tout Sanchez’s proficiency, and those raves found an audience in NASCAR executives Jim France and Mike Helton. France prompted Thompson to consider Sanchez’s application for the summer job, one that would help to establish his trajectory into the motorsports orbit.
“I mean, to be honest, I owe my career to NASCAR,” Sanchez said. “That’s where really, things started getting serious outside of volunteering work and just jobs freelancing here and there.”
It was a crossroads moment, but one that Sanchez had been building toward for much of his early life. His uncle, Juan Manuel Sanchez, was an anesthesiologist who routinely worked on the medical safety response team for Formula 1’s events in Mexico. “He was basically the doctor that started the race in the medical car, behind the grid, so I got exposed to Formula 1 since I was a couple years old,” Rodrigo said. “I have many stories of him bringing us over to the race track, and have pictures with some of the guys from that era, and I think that sort of kick-started my love for racing, because I was just so exposed to it for a number of years. So I think that’s sort of where it started.”
Courtesy Rodrigo Sanchez
In 2002, the same year that he finagled access to the CART garage, Sanchez acted on his natural instinct to get behind the wheel, competing in a go-kart event in Mexico City. The pursuit of a driving career was met with some resistance from his family. “In my house, they were very traditional in terms of, no, you go to school and once you finish college, you’ll figure it out,” Sanchez says, “and unfortunately that doesn’t work in motorsports, so I had to start finding my way through things on my own.”
As CART morphed into Champ Car, which would a few years later merge with IndyCar, Sanchez’s involvement in racing promotions was briefly in limbo. He sought sponsorship for a potential ride in the USF2000 series and its Road to Indy ladder program, juggling his school workload with a side gig as a brisket cutter at a Rudy’s Bar-B-Q in Austin.
The NASCAR internship rekindled those aspirations. Sanchez was flown in to Charlotte, attended the Coca-Cola 600, and made connections during his tenure that would supercharge his marketing thirst.
“Credit Rodrigo for his work ethic, his knack for it, but his talent, right? So, not just knack — talent. All of those things have to come together,” Thompson says. “I also think it does shine a light as well on the experience that he was able to gain through his internship, and all that credit goes to the hosts that we’ve had in the program over the years. Being a part of the program myself, one of the things I remember about the program was how hands-on it was. I got to experience just how hands-on it was, but I think when you see the success that Rodrigo has had, and again, the fact that his talent has been able to carry him forward, you see that talent is honed.”
The internship led to a placement with JMI Sports and its sweeping, worldwide reach into a variety of motorsports disciplines. “That was possible because of NASCAR,” Sanchez says now, noting that what he’d learned from the sponsorship side of the industry had spurred him into a marketing and commercial direction for the agency that hired him.
Sanchez’s connection to the stock-car world never really left, and it’s getting a full-circle repeat with NASCAR’s visit to Mexico City now less than two months away. That synergy isn’t lost on Sanchez, the one-time intern who now has an active hand in shaping a historic motorsports event.
“What it reminded me was just how important it is to plant those seeds, and how a program like the NASCAR Next internship program, how those the fruits — to kind of keep with that analogy — may not bear themselves for years to come,” Thompson said. “… Obviously, he’s gone on to do wonderful things.”
Courtesy Rodrigo Sanchez
* * *
Rodrigo Sanchez guesstimates he was “Employee No. 5” at the Circuit of The Americas. He was brought in early as the marketing manager for what would eventually become a world-class motorsports facility and a staple on the Grand Prix schedule.
In those earliest days until construction began on New Year’s Eve in 2010, there wasn’t much to market.
“We would go to the piece of land in Austin where the track was being built, and it was just a bunch of bushes and pigs,” Sanchez recalls, “and at that point, they were like, ‘We’re building a Formula 1 track here,’ and a lot of people were like, ‘Yeah, you guys are crazy.’ But we kept on pushing.”
Those 1,500 acres just southeast of Austin’s downtown are nearly unrecognizable today. The path to get there required diligence and collaboration with city leaders and the community, all while navigating the uncertainty of the project’s fits and starts.
“There were days that we didn’t know if we were going to have a job the next day,” Sanchez says. “We really went through a lot, and when the race started in November of 2012, I remember from the grid, we ran out to the service road and went up into the main grandstand, and when we actually saw the cars start, we were all crying. We couldn’t believe it, what we had accomplished.”
Courtesy Rodrigo Sanchez
The work to build the Texas capital city into a motorsports destination established Sanchez as both a hometown prodigy and a rising star in the racing promotions biz. His ties to the Formula 1 world, one of his first loves, grew stronger.
When the opportunity arose to revive the Mexican Grand Prix, an event that had been dormant since Nigel Mansell’s win there in 1992, Sanchez jumped.
“If you see first how he grew up in the racing world, and how his involvement with the Austin Grand Prix and the track when he was working there and all that, he was always very smart on learning, and he was smart of knowing how to promote, learning how the real promotion of an event really worked,” Fernández says. “Obviously, with his Latin side, when he went to Mexico, obviously all that experience applied to the Mexican way of thinking. It basically was a super, super-successful combination.”
In many respects, the blueprint for luring F1 back to the Mexican capital was similar to the start-from-scratch business model for bringing the COTA venue to life. The key difference was that his immersion in the motorsports realm was unique in his new role; the Mexico City staff that surrounded him were all relative newbies.
That inexperience turned out to be a blessing. Instead of working with a team fueled by preconceived or dated notions of how a global-scale sporting event should look, Sanchez says he felt empowered to shape the race weekend in his own creative view – all from the ground up.
“When I came, there was nothing but an idea,” Sanchez said. “So really just working to make that idea a reality and just go through all the stuff you need to go through, I think that’s one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do, because when you see this on TV or live at the event, and there’s 300,000 fans just going nuts at something that was written on a napkin one day and you sort of made it into a reality, I would say that’s the most gratifying aspect of it.”
Local flavor was a driving force behind Sanchez’s vision. Though the Formula 1 circuit crisscrosses the world to a variety of international locales, he said going to the race track could sometimes be a rinse-and-repeat experience with little time for sightseeing.
The answer was to bring the local culture to the track, instead of making visiting fans venture off in search of it. Sanchez introduced Día de Los Muertos promotions to seasonal events, added mariachi bands and homegrown-style professional wrestling in prominent trackside locations, and welcomed food stands that celebrated the country’s culinary heritage.
“Even if they didn’t have time to just go visit the city, I wanted to bring a little bit of the colors, the flavors and the atmosphere of the city into the garage area, and that’s really how it all started,” Sanchez says. “Just bringing whether it was Lucha Libre wrestling into the middle of the garage and all the food stands. That’s obviously something I’m looking to do for NASCAR and just seeing what the reaction is with another motorsports championship. … But if they can take just a little bit of good from Mexico back home, I think that’s mission accomplished.”
Fernández has watched the growth of the Mexican Grand Prix in his home country with vested interest. The rest of the F1 world took notice as well; the event won the circuit’s Race Promoters’ Trophy five years running from 2015-19.
Courtesy Rodrigo Sanchez
“It’s not just the event in terms of the drivers, the cars. I mean, it’s the whole thing,” Fernández says, drawing a comparison with IndyCar’s Long Beach Grand Prix. “It’s the whole fiesta weekend, right? It’s a celebration.”
In another one of those full-circle moments that have seemed to follow Sanchez’s life, his relationship with Fernández has grown. The homespun driver whom Sanchez once rooted for growing up is now one of his closest friends.
“For me, he’s like one of my kids. He’s part of the family,” Fernández says. “He’s very close with my kids, and he’s spent most Christmas and New Year’s, a lot of them, he spends with us. We have had a very, very good relationship now for a few years, so he has become very close to the whole family. So really, he’s not just a friend. I consider him almost like a part of my family.”
Beyond friendship, Fernández has become part confidante and a trusted advisor.
“I speak with him, I would say, at least once a week if I am ever in trouble or if I ever need a bit of guidance, or if I ever need anything, that’s the first person I call,” Sanchez says. “It’s obviously someone I really care for, but he’s such a strong figure in terms of what he achieved with his career and with motorsport, and with obviously a similar background to mine, where you know you just have to move on to another country and learn new things and adapt to new things and just start climbing the ladder. For me, he’s such a strong figure in that aspect, in his work ethic and just the way he does things.
“Absolutely, I think it’s one of the incredible stories that I’ve been able to live throughout my career. That guy I used to see on television, and as I said, your childhood hero, now is one of my closest friends, like family.”
Courtesy Rodrigo Sanchez
The next time Sanchez comes calling, his latest promotional challenge may be top of mind. NASCAR’s first Cup Series race in Mexico comes 20 years after the Xfinity Series started a four-season run at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit. The logistics of bringing the premier NASCAR Cup Series operations to another country are a wide-scope production, and the planning for the fiesta weekend that Fernández mentions reaches a similarly grand scale.
That tall task might seem daunting, but it hasn’t dimmed any of the anticipation.
“I have known Rodrigo for a while now, and all I can tell you is that we are very lucky to have him,” says Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez, NASCAR’s first Cup Series winner from Mexico. “This event that is going to happen in Mexico, without Rodrigo it wouldn’t be the same. He’s a very, very talented guy. He knows his stuff extremely, extremely well. He’s a huge motorsports fan, so it’s just a perfect combination. When you have somebody talented in what he does, in marketing and putting events together, and then it happens that he loves motorsports? I mean, what else can you ask for? And then, obviously he speaks the language extremely well, and he understands the Mexican market better than anyone I know. So I think we’re very lucky to have him, and he’s going to make sure that this event is a success, not just for a couple of years but for a very long time.”
When that goal is realized come June, Sanchez says he plans to take a cue from his experience at the Circuit of The Americas’ inaugural race weekend, finding a vantage point among the crowd for the green flag. This time, his credential will officially get him there.
“Definitely. That’s something I normally do, just right after the opening ceremony, the national anthem, just run to whatever grandstand you can and just enjoy the moment,” Sanchez says. “Because that’s, I think, what really makes it special. That’s where you just really see what you were able to do.”
Expanded practice and qualifying procedure is in effect, meaning cars have separate practice and qualifying sessions; in this case, on different days as well. (Practice is at 3:05 p.m. ET on Friday on The CW App.) Qualifying is one lap, one round.
The qualifying order below is determined via metric that combines the previous race finish by owner (70%) and current owner points position (30%).
The race itself is at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 19. Watch the race on The CW or listen on MRN Radio or SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
# denotes series rookie
(i) denotes ineligible for driver points
After grinding as a full-time NASCAR competitor for nearly two decades, Kasey Kahne needed time away. He was forced to miss the final 11 races of the 2018 Cup Series season with Leavine Family Racing while battling extreme dehydration, which ultimately ended his full-time NASCAR career.
It took some time for Kahne to reconnect with the sport he dedicated his life to. But after glancing at the 2025 national series schedules, one race stuck out to the 18-time Cup Series winner.
During the wee hours of Jan. 10, Kahne sent a text message to Keith Rodden, vice president of competition for Richard Childress Racing. He was inquiring about NASCAR’s return to Rockingham Speedway. The two former teammates for nearly 15 years immediately picked up the phone to discuss the possibility of Kahne driving an RCR car. Rodden then messaged Danny Lawrence, vice president, alliance operations and director of RCR’s Xfinity Series program. The next day, they approached team owner Richard Childress with the idea.
Childress signed off on it, welcoming Kahne to RCR for the first time as driver of its No. 33 Chevrolet, if only for one race.
An added bonus to Kahne’s return to stock cars was a surprise-to-him organizational test on Jan. 28 at the 1-mile tri-oval, which RCR asked Kahne to attend. Kahne found out roughly two weeks before the test that the track had been repaved.
“I felt great off the start and was really happy with how quickly it came back [to me],” Kahne told NASCAR.com, reflecting on the test. “It doesn’t feel like I’ve been out of NASCAR as long as I have. Time flies, and I’m glad to be back doing this race.”
No matter the track surface, Rockingham is a special place for the recently-turned 45-year-old. Kahne made his Xfinity Series debut at “The Rock” in 2002 for Robert Yates Racing, and two years later, in just his second Cup Series start, he finished second in a photo finish as Matt Kenseth clipped the young gun at the line for the victory. Kahne is also undefeated in Craftsman Truck Series competition in Richmond County, winning the series’ return race in 2012.
“I always liked the track from that point on and enjoyed racing there,” Kahne said of why he wanted to return. “I did [five] Xfinity races, one truck race and one Cup race and was competitive every time I was there. The size of the track, the banking, the flatness in spots — everything that Rockingham brings. It’s a cool track that I wanted to race again at.”
In preparation for Saturday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 250, Kahne has leaned on full-time RCR drivers Austin Hill and Jesse Love, as well as hopping on the simulator, a tool that was in its infancy when Kahne last competed.
Kahne tested Kyle Busch’s chassis from last spring’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The No. 33 team, led by veteran crew chief Andy Street, is bringing a sister car to the track this weekend that’s never been raced before.
“[Kahne] is getting the best of the best that we have,” Rodden stated, noting that Kahne was near the top of the leaderboard in his opening laps during the test. “We’re making sure we put our best foot forward. We need to be around the top five at the last pit stop, keep up with the track, make the right adjustments and give him every opportunity to win the race. When we’re at our best, that’s where we’re at with the (Nos.) 2 and 21. We expect the 33 to be there, as well.
“Our intermediate program is better. Bringing someone like him in who had such domination at intermediates for a long time, he can bring our group up.”
Kahne isn’t returning after nearly seven years away just to lollygag. His competitive juices are flowing, and he wants to feel the thrill of contesting up front. His assumption is that the No. 33 car will be a threat. Kahne is one of only three drivers entered in Saturday’s race who have previously competed at Rockingham, along with Ryan Sieg and Jeb Burton.
“I’m doing it to do everything that I can to win the race,” Kahne, an eight-time Xfinity winner, said. “That’s not going to be easy by no means; the [drivers] are very good in the Xfinity Series. That will be tough to accomplish, but I want to run all the laps and run as close to the front as I can throughout the entire race. Do everything we can to give it our best effort and be happy when it’s over, that we did everything we could to try and win.”
Rodden, who spent the majority of three seasons as Kahne’s crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports and another decade as a race engineer for the Washington native, wants to make this weekend special for Kahne.
“I think it’s great for NASCAR,” Rodden said of Kahne’s return. “Kasey is one of the greatest 75 drivers in NASCAR history. It was cool to see him be honored at Darlington (in 2023). In his prime, he was one of the best.”
Kahne has raced frequently at dirt tracks in his post-NASCAR years and is running the full High Limit Racing season in 2025. After six races, he’s eighth in the standings. The longest race he’s competed in away from NASCAR, he believes, was a 40- or 50-lap feature.
When Kahne couldn’t continue racing full time in NASCAR, it was easy for him to disappear. As time has passed, he’s gradually become more familiar with understanding the new nuances of the sport because “I do miss it a little bit and want to know what’s going on and where things stack up.”
Kahne is uncertain whether he will get bitten by the NASCAR bug again and won’t rule out returning post-Rockingham. Rodden tends to believe Kahne will stay away, but a solid outing at Rockingham could lead to additional races.
“This has been a lot of fun to prepare and work on this one particular race,” Kahne said. “I think a lot of that goes to RCR, the 33 team, Andy Street and that whole group. The timing of it has been perfect. I’ve really enjoyed it. I want to put together the best effort that we possibly can and look at it after that and decide if there’s another one that we would like to do or something like that.
“Putting it all into Rockingham right now. The situation that I’m in is very good. Really enjoying the whole process.”
And just like that, the NASCAR Xfinity Series has completed one-third of its regular season and a hair over a quarter of the 2025 campaign’s entirety.
After Kyle Larson’s victory at Bristol Motor Speedway, the season is now nine races old, and plenty has changed since we ranked the Xfinity field on the eve of the 2025 opener.
Let’s give this ranking another try. NASCAR.com’s John Crane ranks the top 12 Xfinity Series contenders through the first nine races of the 2025 season and ahead of the series’ return to Rockingham Speedway on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Analysis: Two of Allgaier’s first three races to begin the season ended with finishes of 18th or worse … but was there any worry? Of course not. Allgaier sandwiched those finishes with a runner-up result at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and that’s not all. Dating back to Phoenix Raceway in March, the reigning Xfinity Series champ is on a six-race streak of top-five finishes, including back-to-back dubs at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. No. 7 is a slam dunk No. 1 in this ranking installment.
Analysis: Hill is currently on a rough patch of sorts, with two finishes of 16th or worse in his last two contests (Darlington, Bristol), but fret not. Aside from Allgaier, the 30-year-old Hill is the only driver in the circuit to tally two wins at this juncture of the season. And while Hill has surprisingly led only nine laps since his convincing victory at Atlanta in February, there should be little — if any — concern that the Georgia native will again go on a scorcher.
Analysis: If you predicted that Mayer would rank … checks notes … second in the driver standings at this mark of the campaign, collect your earnings now. Freshly into his inaugural campaign with the refreshed Haas Factory Team, the 21-year-old Mayer has already tallied five top fives and six top 10s, good enough for a 9.4 average finish. (Only Allgaier’s 7.2 average finish ranks higher among all full-timers.) Although Mayer has only led 35 laps to date, that total could certainly rise should this pace continue. Keep a watchful eye.
Analysis: After clinching his first win of the season during the first race of the season, Love has continued to show signs of consistency, save for a 37th-place tally at Martinsville Speedway in March; all of his other 2025 finishes to date have yielded results of 16th or better. Not too shabby for the Xfinity Series sophomore, who has repelled any semblance of a second-year slump.
Analysis: A fifth-place preseason ranking might’ve been seen as a reach for a rookie driver who only had four Xfinity Series races to his name entering 2025. But if there was one driver who could prove such a ranking to be warranted, it has been Zilisch, who holds steady in this rendition’s top five. There have, admittedly, been bumps in the road; the 18-year-old started the season with two consecutive DNFs. But the upside has also been apparent, including a pole start and first-place finish at Circuit of The Americas in March and a near-clinic of a showing not even one month later at Martinsville.
Analysis: Jones is easily the biggest mover in this installment, given he was unranked in the preseason rankings. He’s also arguably been one of the bigger surprises so far this season; the No. 20 pilot, nine races into his Joe Gibbs Racing return, sits seventh in the driver standings and captured his first Xfinity Series win at Darlington Raceway in April … a triumph that snapped a 98-race winless skid. One could say he has transitioned nicely in his return to JGR digs, and one could also say there’s still more in the tank; a scary proposition for other title contenders.
Analysis: A huge chunk of the rookie fanfare might be on Zilisch, but it’s time to give Kvapil, his JR Motorsports teammate, his due. After all, his three top fives match the totals from other Xfinity Series regulars like Jones and Sheldon Creed, and it even surpasses that of others, including Love and Sammy Smith. And it’s not like the 21-year-old is lucking into these finishes, either; his 8.2 average start currently ranks fifth among full-timers. Take note: Kvapil is only going to get better.
Analysis: Smith’s “worst” finish so far in 2025 has been a 24th-place result during the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway, which, given that anything can happen at Daytona, isn’t the end of the world. But his most notable race was a 10th-place finish at Martinsville, where on- and off-track skirmishes with Taylor Gray culminated with a post-race penalty. Finding enough race-ending speed to clinch a victory — reminiscent of his win at Talladega Superspeedway last October — is next on the docket.
Analysis: It’s been a slow brew for Creed in 2025, and while his three top-five finishes are undoubtedly solid on the surface, the No. 00 has yet to find consistent speed at the front of the field, leading only nine laps to date this season. That said, 2024 started off slowly for Creed as well, tallying only three top fives and leading four laps through the first nine races. In other words, expect more up-front racing for the 27-year-old California native … and perhaps a trip to Victory Lane in due time.
Analysis: Sieg is currently on pace for a career-best 15 top-10s in what is his 12th full-time Xfinity Series campaign; his four top 10s so far this season are tied for seventh in the field. This is made even more impressive given the fact he had finishes of 19th, 20th and 19th through the first three races to begin the campaign. Being the steady veteran Sieg is, it wouldn’t (and, frankly, shouldn’t) be a shock if this pace continues.
Fun fact: Sieg is one of only three Xfinity Series drivers entered in Saturday’s race to previously turn laps at Rockingham in race conditions, joining Kasey Kahne and Jeb Burton.
Analysis: Nine races into 2025, and the Xfinity rookie Dye already has accrued three top 10s. Why is this significant? Well, that total already surpasses the two top 10s he accumulated during a 10-race part-time Xfinity stint in 2024. And while his Kaulig Racing teammate — and fellow rookie — Christian Eckes might have more top 10s to his name (four), Dye has shown more consistency in finishing races, with only one DNF on the No. 10’s ledger.
Analysis: Two consecutive top 10s to begin 2025 emphasized just what Burton can bring to AM Racing in what is his first full-time Xfinity season since 2021. A pair of stage victories — including one most recently at Darlington Raceway in April — additionally illustrated Burton’s capability to race at the front of the field and collect valuable points, which could prove vital down the road. This is all to say something relatively straightforward: Burton and AM Racing might hit a bump here and there, but the capability to race at the front of the field is very much real, and that’s all you can ask for.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As the start of the 2025 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series heats up across the country, Advance Auto Parts and NASCAR announced today they are teaming up to accelerate support for local short track racing through new “Advance Auto Parts Night at the Races” in 17 track markets.
The program is geared towards ramping up excitement and support for local tracks, drivers, and communities participating in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series championship season. During designated race weeks throughout the year, fans of tracks ranging from Colorado National Speedway to Seekonk Speedway in Massachusetts will get to enjoy special activities both at their local tracks and at Advance Auto Parts retail locations in the market.
“Advance Auto Parts has been a tremendous partner in raising the profile of short track racing across the country for the past several years, and this is an exciting next step in working together to grow motorsports on the local level,” said Joseph Dennewitz, Managing Director of NASCAR Regional. “This is a great opportunity for NASCAR and Advance Auto Parts to show appreciation to our race fans who cheer on their favorite drivers at local short tracks each week, as well as support some of the best venues and racing in NASCAR.”
Virginia tracks Dominion Raceway in Woodford, Va., and South Boston Speedway will kick off the “Advance Auto Parts Night at the Races” in April, while Grandview Speedway in Pennsylvania will close out the festivities with the final event of the season in September.
Leading into each track’s “Advance Auto Parts Night at the Races,” a local Advance Auto Parts retail location will host fan-friendly activities such as driver autograph sessions, ticket or merchandise giveaways, and other fun opportunities featuring the local track.
“As NASCAR’s Official Auto Parts Retailer, we’re thrilled to further enhance fans’ experience and ignite their excitement both at our stores and at local tracks where people are passionate about racing,” said Jason Hand, Senior Vice President of U.S. Stores. “Advance Auto Parts is all about being your community store, so we’re excited to support local tracks, dedicated NASCAR fans, and our customers in their own backyard.”
Fans can go to the NASCAR Regional website for the latest on in-market and at-track activations when “Advance Auto Parts Night at the Races” comes to their local short track. The full schedule of participating tracks in the “Advance Auto Parts Night at the Races” is below:
April
19 – Dominion Raceway (Virginia)
26 – South Boston Speedway (Virginia)
May
10 – Bowman Gray Stadium (North Carolina)
17 – Seekonk Speedway (Massachusetts)
24 – Berlin Raceway (Michigan)
31 – Jennerstown Speedway Complex (Pennsylvania)
June
7 – Elko Speedway (Minnesota)
13 – Wake County Speedway (North Carolina)
13 – Limaland Motorsports Park (Ohio)
21 – Langley Speedway (Virginia)
July
26 – Riverhead Raceway (New York)
30 – Hawkeye Downs Speedway (Iowa)
August
9 – Salina Highbanks Speedway (Oklahoma)
9 – Colorado National Speedway (Colorado)
15 – Lee USA Speedway (New Hampshire)
30 – New Smyrna Speedway (Florida)
September
6 – Grandview Speedway (Pennsylvania)
The NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series features local tracks across the United States and Canada that participate in weekly racing programs sanctioned by NASCAR. Drivers across several divisions can collect points for track, state, regional and national rankings to contend for NASCAR championships.
Several Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series drivers have vaulted into the NASCAR national series spotlight in recent years. The NASCAR Cup Series’ newest first-time race winner (Las Vegas Motor Speedway) and driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford, Josh Berry, was the Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion in 2020. The 2022 national champion, Layne Riggs, is a two-time winner in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and competes full-time in the series for Front Row Motorsports.
The success of two-time – and most recent – national champion Connor Hall came to the attention of Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Hall now competes full-time for JR Motorsports in a Late Model stock car. He also posted a 10th-place finish in his CRAFTSMAN Truck Series debut last year at Richmond.
The first quarter of the season has been a rollercoaster for Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 crew. He went from leading the driver standings after the first two races to a string of three consecutive DNFs (two engine issues, one crash) from Phoenix to Homestead. But after a fifth-place performance at Bristol, which marks Blaney’s second consecutive race with a fifth-place finish, it signals that the 2023 Cup Series champion may be starting to find a rhythm.
In Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Blaney and Kyle Larson were the only two drivers to net top-10 ratings in all five NASCAR Insights statistical categories — passing, defense, speed, restarts and pit crew. While he didn’t finish runner-up to race-winner Larson, the performance overall merits one that Blaney deserved after having a stretch of misfortune that also included a handful of pit-road woes at Darlington that cost him a chance to win.
It was a different story, though, at the “Last Great Colosseum” as Blaney’s complete race craft was rewarded. The No. 12 Team Penske driver was consistently fast, rated as having the fourth-quickest car. Blaney made that speed count by executing clean passes, especially after his crew chief, Jonathan Hassler, made a gamble to stay late on older tires in the final stage, leading Blaney to charge up from ninth during his final stint. His defensive driving was equally sharp, rated eighth overall, helping him fend off pressure during long green-flag runs.
“It was a good risk to take,” Blaney told FOX Sports after the race. “I thought Jonathan did a good job of taking a chance. We weren’t going to win, I was already running fifth and at the end of the day we got back to where we were running, which is good. I took a chance trying to get a yellow and trapping a bunch of guys lap down, but really good effort.”
The No. 12 crew also rebounded as they rated eighth-best in pit-crew performance, which marks a significant improvement from their season average of 25th. The combination of speed, different tire strategy and a clean day from the crew gave Blaney a race where he wasn’t playing catch-up but rather showing what his team is capable of when they are firing on all cylinders.
“Honestly, a really good weekend by the 12 boys,” Blaney added. “I thought we got better and better from practice, which was good. I didn’t think we were very good yesterday in race trim, so they did a great job of getting us to where we need to be and getting better all day. Like you said, blue-collar day.”
Blaney’s season average rating in passing and speed rank first and second, which is another indication that the Bristol result aligns with the pace Blaney has shown throughout the season but hasn’t been able to convert. While the Cup Series takes this weekend off, he will look to keep the momentum going Sunday, April 27 at Talladega (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio), a track where he has three wins, eight top 10s and 290 laps led.
Other notables from Sunday:
— Ross Chastain charged up from 35th to seventh despite having a passing rating of 13 and a speed rating of 11.
— The two Spire Motorsport cars of Carson Hocevar and Justin Haley each had speed ratings in the top six.
— Chase Briscoe had the best passing rating in the race but had a defense rating of 15th and was 13th-best on restarts.
