Christian Eckes will join Kaulig Racing full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2025, the team announced Saturday at Darlington Raceway.
Eckes, 23, will drive the No. 16 Chevrolet for the Matt Kaulig-owned team as part of a multiyear agreement. The Middletown, New York native currently pilots the No. 19 Chevrolet for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and is one of 10 Truck Series Playoffs drivers currently battling in the Round of 10.
“Just super excited for this opportunity,” Eckes said. “This is something I feel like it’s been a long time coming, and to do it with Kaulig Racing, Chris (Rice, team president), Matt (Kaulig, team owner) and so many great teammates as well is something that I’m really looking forward to. Obviously, have a lot to achieve this year still, but very excited for the future. Just ready to get to work.”
AJ Allmendinger, who currently drives the No. 16 Chevy for the team in the Xfinity Series, will return to Cup Series in 2025 as a full-time driver for the organization. Shane van Gisbergen, who currently pilots the No. 97 Kaulig Chevy and posted three wins, will also jump to Cup in the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet.
Since joining McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in 2023, Eckes has accumulated seven wins, 21 top fives, 29 top 10s and 1,184 laps led in 40 Truck races. Eckes finished fifth in the final standings last season and currently ranks first in the points table through the Round of 10’s opening contest at the Milwaukee Mile last weekend, where he finished third. The 2024 campaign is Eckes’ fourth full-time season in the Truck Series.
Kaulig Racing announced last weekend at Daytona International Speedway that Daniel Dye would join the organization to race full-time for the team beginning in 2025. With Eckes’ entrance into the team fold, Kaulig will sport three full-time Xfinity drivers next season: Dye (No. 10), Josh Williams (No. 11) and Eckes (No. 16).
Rice said Saturday that the team does not plan on steering Eckes away from his full-time focus — either with one-off Xfinity starts this year as he competes for the Truck Series crown, or with any Cup Series experience next year in another Kaulig entry. He also noted how Eckes’ composure stood out when he faced adversity this year, both when battling a brake issue at Atlanta and after a run-in with Corey Heim at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Both those instances made impressions on both Kaulig and Allmendinger.
“So the maturity of Christian, but also how fast he could go because those are the things that we need as a company,” Rice said. “OK, we need to have fast race car drivers and fast race cars for the drivers to ride them. I always say a jockey can’t ride a slow horse, no matter how good the jockey is. So we noticed that his maturity was something that we want to keep in our camp, for sure.”
Eckes will next compete in the second of three Round of 10 races at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 19 (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The regular season is winding down for all three NASCAR national series, and the playoff picture is coming into focus. So, what does the Playoff Grid look like? We’re here to answer.
First, a note. The Playoffs standings you’ll see on our Standings page denote the race into the postseason. Only 16 drivers make it (12 for Xfinity, 10 for Craftsman Truck Series), and those standings show who has clinched via a win and then the points positions for the rest.
This Playoff Grid projection shows what the exact standings would look like if the postseason started today.
Here’s what we do:
• All playoff drivers have their points reset to 2,000 for the opening round. • Each race win counts as 5 playoff points, which are then added to the 2,000. Kyle Larson has four wins, for example, so that gives him 20 playoff points via victories. • Each stage win counts as 1 playoff point. Justin Allgaier has 13 stage wins, for example, so that gives him 13 playoff points via stage wins. • This projection takes into account where the drivers are ranked in the regular-season standings. There are bonus points for finishing in the top 10. The regular-season champion earns 15 bonus playoff points. Second-place receives 10 bonus playoff points, and then third-place receives 8 bonus playoff points (etc., down to 1 point for 10th place). We use that here, too.
Here’s what the exact Playoff Grid looks like for all three national series heading into Darlington Raceway.
NASCAR Cup Series
Logan Riely | Getty Images
Notable: Harrison Burton pulled off a stunner under the lights at Daytona International Speedway after winning the Coke Zero Sugar 400 to punch his ticket to the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs. In Wood Brothers Racing’s 100th victory, the No. 21 Ford team went from outside the top 30 in points into the top 16, with a chance to compete for the Bill France Cup. However, Burton’s win pushed 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace below the elimination line, who enters the regular-season finale at Darlington 21 points back. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain sits at a 27-point deficit. While Wallace and Chastain could still make the playoffs on points, Kyle Busch (-106) and others behind the Richard Childress Racing driver in the standings will enter Darlington in a high-pressure must-win situation.
Driver
Playoff points
Regular-season bonus
Total points
Kyle Larson
28
10
2,038
Christopher Bell
25
5
2,030
Tyler Reddick
13
15
2,028
William Byron
16
6
2,022
Ryan Blaney
13
7
2,020
Denny Hamlin
11
3
2,014
Chase Elliott
6
8
2,014
Brad Keselowski
5
4
2,009
Joey Logano
7
--
2,007
Austin Cindric
7
--
2,007
Daniel Suárez
6
--
2,006
Alex Bowman
5
--
2,005
Harrison Burton
5
--
2,005
Martin Truex Jr.
3
2
2,005
Ty Gibbs
2
1
2,003
Chris Buescher
2
--
2,002
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
Notable: AJ Allmendinger and Parker Kligerman worked together throughout the Xfinity Series race at Daytona up to the final lap. Both drivers were looking for their first trip to Victory Lane of the 2024 season. After the white flag waved, Kligerman gave Allmendinger a push heading toward Turn 1. Then, they made contact as Allmendinger’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet spun off Kligerman’s bumper and back up the track into traffic. Kligerman still finished third and enjoyed a solid points day, who now sits 44 points above the elimination line. On the other hand, Allmendinger is 113 points to the good, but a win would have given the No. 16 team some much-needed momentum ahead of the postseason.
Driver
Playoff points
Regular-season bonus
Total points
Justin Allgaier
23
15
2,038
Chandler Smith
15
8
2,023
Austin Hill
13
7
2,020
Cole Custer
8
10
2,018
Shane van Gisbergen
17
--
2,017
Riley Herbst
7
5
2,012
Jesse Love
9
3
2,012
Sam Mayer
11
--
2,011
AJ Allmendinger
--
6
2,006
Sheldon Creed
--
4
2,004
Ryan Sieg
2
1
2,003
Parker Kligerman
-4
2
2,000
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images
Notable: While he did not get by Milwaukee race winner Layne Riggs for the checkered flag, ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski had another strong points day in his native Wisconsin. Majeski picked up his third consecutive top-two finish as the team appears to be getting hot down the stretch. With Christian Eckes and Corey Heim going back and forth during the Truck Series regular season, Majeski may emerge as someone who can challenge them for the championship. The No. 98 Ford driver’s runner-up finish at Milwaukee moved him into second in the standings, 16 points behind Eckes.
Throughout the 2024 NASCAR season, Ken Martin, director of historical content for the sanctioning body, will offer his suggestions on which historical races fans should watch from the NASCAR Classics library in preparation for each race weekend.
Martin has worked exclusively for NASCAR since 2008 but has been involved with the sport since 1982, overseeing various projects. He has worked in the broadcast booth for hundreds of races, assisting the broadcast team with different tasks. This includes calculating the “points as they run” for the historic 1992 finale, the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The following suggestions are Ken’s picks to watch before this Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Olivia, North Carolina’s Herb Thomas captured the NASCAR Cup Series by storm upon the creation of the series.
Thomas made his debut in 1949, finishing 29th in the first race in series history. He went on to race three more times that season before expanding his schedule in 1950. That season saw Thomas make 13 starts and capture the first victory of his career, which came at Martinsville Speedway in October.
The next four seasons saw Thomas hoist the series championship two times, while also finishing second in points the other two seasons. He won 39 races over the stretch while leading over 6,000 laps.
He entered the 1955 season as the only two-time champion, but his 40 career victories were five more than the second and third-place drivers, Lee Petty and Tim Flock, had combined.
Most of Thomas’ victories came behind the wheel of the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, the famed No. 92 Hudson. Thomas also had victories in a Plymouth and an Oldsmobile.
Change came to Thomas in 1955 as his time driving a Hudson slowly went away. Thomas was behind the wheel of not only a Hudson but a Packard, Buick and a Chevrolet.
His victory at Raleigh Speedway in August 1955, while driving a Buick, marked his first win in a different make since 1951.
Thomas arrived at Darlington the following week for the Southern 500 in a Chevrolet, qualifying eighth in the 69-car field.
Thomas bided his time as the laps during the marathon event slowly passed by. He took the lead for the first time on the 279th lap and went on to lead 76 of the final 88 laps en route to Victory Lane.
It was just the second-ever victory for Chevrolet in the Cup Series as Fonty Flock took his No. 14 Chevrolet to Victory Lane at Columbia Speedway in March 1955.
The sixth annual Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway continued the trend of racing on Labor Day, which always fell on a Monday.
Three of those victories went to Herb Thomas, who entered the race in 1956 as the defending champion of the event. Johnny Mantz (who won the inaugural event in 1950), Fonty Flock and Buck Baker were the other three drivers who were crowned Southern 500 champions through the first six events.
The 70-car race was full of names that were or became recognizable to race fans over the years.
The usual suspects like Lee Petty, Tim Flock, Rex White, Buck Baker and Thomas were in the field. As were other drivers such as Rex White, Joe Weatherly, Parnelli Jones, Ralph Moody and Curtis Turner.
Turner, of Roanoke, Virginia, was a 32-year-old driver who had driven mostly part-time since the series’ inception in 1949. He made 16 of the 19 starts in 1950, winning four times and finishing fifth in points. Beyond that, he barely raced over 50% of any of the season schedules, including the 1956 season.
He qualified his No. 99 Ford in 11th for the Southern 500 at Darlington in 1956, as Speedy Thompson put his No. 57 Chrysler on the pole.
Thompson was in the midst of a breakout season, one where the 30-year-old North Carolina native had already captured seven checkered flags.
The 500-mile event saw Thompson lead 15 laps early but never reclaim the lead, despite being fast enough to come home with a second-place finish.
Turner dominated the race, leading four times for 224 laps, on his way to his 11th career Cup Series victory.
Marvin Panch, Jim Reed and Paul Goldsmith rounded out the remainder of the top five.
Tim Flock, who eventually captured the 1956 championship, led 19 laps and finished 12th.
Something clicked for Bill Elliott and his No. 9 Melling Racing Ford at the end of the 1984 season, and the rest of the Cup Series was put on notice because of it.
Elliott ended the season with a third-place finish at Martinsville, a win at Charlotte Motor Speedway, an eighth at North Wilkesboro Speedway, another win at Rockingham Speedway, a runner-up at Atlanta Motor Speedway and a fourth-place result in the finale at Riverside International Raceway.
It was more signs of a breakout for Elliott, who now had finished third in points for two consecutive seasons. Little did anybody know the domination that Elliott and team would bring in 1985.
A dominating victory from the pole position in the season-opening Daytona 500 showed that Elliott might be the driver to beat for the championship.
He won again a few weeks later at Atlanta and then again two weeks later at Darlington from the pole again.
A few weeks later his victory at Talladega Superspeedway not only gave him his fourth win over the first nine races of the season but put him as a real contender for a new program rolled out to NASCAR drivers in 1985.
R.J. Reynolds company, which sponsored the NASCAR Cup Series at the time, announced a new program for the 1985 season called the “Winston Million.”
The program gave drivers a chance at an incredible $1,000,000 bonus check if they captured victories in three of the season’s four biggest races.
It was only May and Elliott had won the Daytona 500, as well as the race at Talladega. This gave him two victories toward the potential bonus money. He now needed to win either the Coca-Cola World 600 at Charlotte in May or the Southern 500 at Darlington in September to capture the prize.
Elliott looked poised to go three-for-three as he sat on the pole at Charlotte. He led 81 laps before mechanical issues relegated him to a disappointing 18th-place finish.
This left Elliott with one opportunity to chase the million-dollar prize, the Southern 500 at Darlington.
With a few months left to prepare for the race at Darlington, all while chasing his first championship, Elliott somehow was hotter than ever.
He managed to arrive at Darlington in September on a torrid stretch, with victories in four of the previous seven races. Dating back further, he had won six of eleven and eleven of 24.
Elliott also was carrying the series points lead, with a 138-point advantage over Darrell Waltrip in the standings.
It was absolutely no surprise that Elliott put his No. 9 Ford on the pole yet again, this being his 10th of the season and his seventh over the previous 10 races.
Elliott, who won at Darlington in the spring, had to battle strong runs from Dale Earnhardt and Cale Yarborough if he wanted to capture the bonus money. Earnhardt led 147 laps and Yarborough 25 before both had issues that allowed Elliott to claim the top spot.
Elliott went on to lead the final 44 laps, capturing the checkered flag, the new $1,000,000 bonus and the nickname “Million Dollar Bill” along the way.
Money poured onto Elliott and his team in Victory Lane, after their total payday of $1,053,725. For perspective, he earned $185,500 for capturing the season-opening Daytona 500 in February.
The program was a huge success for the R.J. Reynolds team and NASCAR as a whole as Elliott’s chase of the prize and following success landed him in the national media. This included Elliott gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated.
NASCAR.com’s 36 for 36 continues at Darlington Raceway.
With 36 races and 36 full-time Charter cars, our players select one car per race, but there’s a simple twist: once they’ve made the pick, they can’t choose that car again for the rest of the 36-race season. Yes, that means every car will be selected exactly once … a survivor pool, by another name.
Follow along weekly as our panel of pickers — Dustin Albino from Jayski, along with Steve Luvender and Cameron Richardson from NASCAR.com — embarks on a season-long journey to think like strategists and prove their picking prowess.
We’ll also feature a fourth “community” 36 for 36 pick each week, as decided by fan vote on the r/NASCAR subreddit. Can the collective vote topple our trio of full-timers?
Current Standings:
Steve Luvender: 635
r/NASCAR Community: -44
Dustin Albino: -68
Cameron Richardson: -104
Race 26 of 36: Darlington
The end of the regular season is here! Coming off a dramatic Daytona finish last week where r/NASCAR’s 36 for 36 pick of Harrison Burton scored his first-ever win, the points have tightened. Points leader Steve Luvender’s selection of Erik Jones netted 20 points, providing Redditors with momentum heading into Darlington. John Hunter Nemechek delivered a solid 22 points for Dustin Albino, while Cameron Richardson’s pick of Zane Smith earned an above-average 24 points.
Darlington will be a challenge for our picking panel. With just 11 possible picks remaining, playoff-qualifying desperation reaching a fever pitch, and the trickiness of the track “Too Tough to Tame,” it may be as unpredictable as Daytona.
Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 24, William Byron
Dustin’s pick last week: No. 42, John Hunter Nemechek (22 points) Total season points: 567 (third place)
Dustin: Both William Byron and myself have shown plenty of inconsistency throughout the summer months. We also share Darlington as being one of our favorite race tracks — his stats back it up — on the schedule. The No. 24 team enters the Southern 500 with four straight top-10 finishes at the track “Too Tough to Tame.” Technically, it should be five, but Joey Logano bumped Byron into the wall for the win in the spring 2022 event. Byron earned his win back last spring and is averaging 44.5 points per race in that four-race timeframe. Hoping Byron bookends the regular season with victories.
NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 1, Ross Chastain
Steve’s pick last week: No. 43, Erik Jones (20 points) Total season points: 635 (first place)
Steve: Ross Chastain enters the regular-season finale 27 points out of the playoffs, a tall order for Sunday night. We already know Chastain can get the job done when the pressure’s on — his 2022 “Hail Melon” move that fans recently voted the most memorable moment of the playoff elimination era comes to mind — and now he needs a single outstanding race to save his season and race for a championship. Darlington is a good track for Chastain, where he’s won in the Craftsman Truck Series. While he’s never scored a win at the track in the Cup Series, he’s found himself in the mix plenty in recent years (controversially so, in some cases — see the 2023 spring race where he tangled with Kyle Larson late). I’m hoping for the trademark frontstretch-melon-smashing victory celebration when the lights turn on Sunday.
NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson: No.43, Erik Jones
Cameron’s pick last week: No. 71, Zane Smith (24 points)
Total season points: 531 (fourth place)
Cameron: What if I told you that Erik Jones is on a multi-time wins list that not even 200-time Cup winner Richard Petty is on? Shocking, but Jones has double the Southern 500 wins compared to the Hall of Famer and motorsports icon. Entering the regular-season finale, Jones’ 2024 campaign hasn’t exceeded expectations, but there’s no reason to believe why the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club driver can’t be in the mix late on Sunday. With multiple drivers in pressure-filled scenarios this weekend, Darlington will be the ultimate test of mental and physical strength and with only one path for Jones to the postseason, the vision is clear. Also, Jones has only failed to finish outside the top 10 once in seven Southern 500 starts.
r/NASCAR Community: No. 43, Erik Jones r/NASCAR’s pick last week: No. 21, Harrison Burton (40 points)
Total season points: 591 (second place)
The NASCAR subreddit has spoken, and Erik Jones is this week’s pick based on community activity in the voting thread. What Redditors had to say:
u/Extreme-Bite-9123: “Definitely take Jones. Darlington is his by far best track, and even if I doubt he wins, this is his best shot at a good day”
u/Joey_Logano: “Jones might also not be a bad pick since this is his best remaining track.”
u/MsCompy: “It’s that time again!”
Check back next week to see how our pickers fared as the season-long 36 for 36 journey continues.
And, if you’ve got a competitive itch beyond meticulously managing your Fantasy Live lineup each week, feel free to save or print your own 36 for 36 sheet and see if you can beat our pickers and the Reddit community!
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — (Aug. 30, 2024) — The annual NASCAR Awards — the year-end celebration honoring the sport’s top talents and brightest stars — will have a new home in 2024 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Home to many of the sport’s drivers, race teams and the NASCAR Hall of Fame, this will be the first time the NASCAR Cup Series Awards will be hosted in the Queen City.
The 2024 NASCAR Awards will be held on Friday, Nov. 22 to formally honor all three national series champions (Cup Series, Xfinity Series, Craftsman Truck Series) at the Charlotte Convention Center and will air on Sunday, Nov. 24 at 3 p.m. ET on your local CW station. Tune in to watch the celebration of the 2024 national series champions.
For the second consecutive year in conjunction with the national series awards, NASCAR will host a celebration for the NASCAR Regional Series (ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East, ARCA Menards Series West, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series) and the NASCAR International Series (NASCAR Brasil Sprint Race, NASCAR Canada Series, NASCAR Mexico Series and NASCAR Whelen Euro Series) on Thursday, Nov. 21.
“We are pleased to announce our move to the Queen City for our postseason celebrations,” said Michelle Byron, EVP, Chief Partnership and Licensing Officer at NASCAR. “Being able to trace many of our sport’s racing roots back to the North Carolina area, you can feel the energy and passion for NASCAR from the fans in Charlotte. We’re excited to officially crown our champions in the Queen City.”
Last year, 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer and Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes were honored in the Music City. The formal postseason Awards are a tradition that stretches back to 1981 when the event was held in New York City. It has since relocated to Las Vegas from 2009 to 2019 and Nashville from 2019 to 2023.
Editor’s Note: Racing Insights’ playoff projections use a combination of current standings and historical performance at upcoming tracks to determine the probability of each driver winning or making the playoffs on points.
With the Cup Series Playoffs on the mind throughout the season, what if there was a way to project how the 16-driver field could look before each race weekend?
It now exists via Racing Insights. From now until the start of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, “The Field of 16” will give fans a weekly look at where their favorite drivers could potentially land in the postseason field — and the likelihood of having a shot at the Bill France Cup.
Here’s this week’s update on the projections heading into the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
NOTABLE PROBABILITY SHIFTS POST-DAYTONA
DRIVER
AT DAYTONA
ENTERING DARLINGTON
DIFFERENCE
Harrison Burton
0.88%
100%
+99.12
Ty Gibbs
80.19%
92.87%
+12.68
Ross Chastain
56.85%
13.74%
-43.11
Bubba Wallace
63.26%
12.44%
-50.82
PROBABILITY CALCULATED BY RACING INSIGHTS AHEAD OF SOUTHERN 500, SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2024
DRIVERS SOLIDLY IN PLAYOFF PICTURE
A chaotic Coke Zero Sugar 400 saw an array of results but almost a washout at the top of the Cup Series standings as Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott were all involved in incidents last Saturday night.
Larson was the benefactor at Daytona despite being collected in a pair of multicar incidents as the 2021 series champion is now just 17 points behind Reddick for the Regular Season Championship. Elliott, who exited the race early in Stage 2, is now third and 18 points behind Reddick.
Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell and William Byron have all won multiple races this season, and while a regular-season title isn’t within grasp, they can still continue to rack up playoff points to position themselves well for the start of the postseason.
Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suárez and Austin Cindric each own a win and have locked in spots in the postseason. Both Suárez and Cindric return to the playoffs after missing out in 2023. Harrison Burton shocked the Cup field with his dramatic victory, holding off Kyle Busch at Daytona to nab win No. 100 for Wood Brothers Racing.
LAST 4 IN
If there’s no new winner Sunday evening, all Martin Truex Jr. needs to worry about is finishing the race with a 58-point gap to the elimination line. However, the 2017 champ can’t cruise around Darlington if there’s a new winner, and he’ll need at least 19 points to clinch if that scenario comes to fruition.
Sophomore Cup driver Ty Gibbs has little Cup experience at Darlington, which may affect how he races Sunday night, but the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing driver should have confidence with a runner-up result at the track in the spring. He also has a pretty comfortable 39-point gap ahead of Bubba Wallace and will need just 16 points to clinch without a new winner. A new winner? Then a whopping 38 points for Gibbs will be required.
Chris Buescher will no doubt have a chip on his shoulder Sunday evening as he looks for redemption after spring heartbreak took away what would otherwise look to be a guaranteed win at Darlington. He’ll likely need some help in any scenario, but 34 points without a new winner will see Buescher clinch his second consecutive playoff berth.
FIRST 4 OUT
There’s still a path for Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace to get in on points despite both being over 20 points below Buescher for the final playoff spot. However, it’s going to take a lot of help, and both Gibbs and Buescher were strong at Darlington in the spring.
In last year’s Southern 500, both Chastain and Wallace finished inside the top 10, and while it can lead to more success Sunday evening, they have to go in with a must-win mentality as Buescher was third in the same event. Wallace has been one of the hottest drivers over the last five races, with an average finish of 10.2 in that span. The only driver better than him is his 23XI Racing teammate Reddick who has an average finish of eighth.
Kyle Busch can only get in with a victory on Sunday. He’s won a Southern 500 before (2008) and will need to find that same magic if he’s to make the playoffs for a 12th consecutive season.
It has to be Erik Jones on the way outside looking in. Jones has double the Southern 500 wins compared to the Hall of Famer, motorsports icon and 200-time Cup Series winner Richard Petty. Jones is also one of only two active drivers with multiple Southern 500 trophies (Hamlin). Entering the regular-season finale, Jones’ 2024 campaign hasn’t gone to expectations, but there’s no reason to believe why the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club driver can’t be in the mix late on Sunday. With multiple drivers in pressure-filled scenarios this weekend, Darlington will be the ultimate test of mental and physical strength, and with only one path for Jones to the postseason, the vision is clear. Also, Jones has only failed to finish outside the top 10 once in seven Southern 500 starts.
Tyler Reddick had arrived early at 23XI Racing’s Airspeed headquarters one day last week, before the sun had fully risen. Walking by and noticing the No. 45 Toyota that he’ll drive this weekend at Darlington Raceway as it sat on the pristine arena-like floor, he did a double-take.
Reddick had already channeled Tim Richmond with his paint scheme for Darlington’s Throwback Weekend back in May, but this new design transcended just one sport’s greatness and made him look again. On the hood, thanks to a new partnership with Upper Deck, were images of 23XI team co-owner and NBA legend Michael Jordan, golf superstar Tiger Woods and hockey immortal Wayne Gretzky.
“I got to the shop at like 6:30 or something, I walk in the door and I’m looking at the car like, what? Like, wow, OK,” Reddick said. “I thought I was hallucinating. I mean, it was early in the morning, right, like I hadn’t had enough coffee yet. I’m looking at the car, like, ‘Am I seeing something?’ ”
When a 23XI colleague working the shop floor assured him that his Darlington ride was the real deal, Reddick said he’d take it. The “no pressure” expectations, however, are in another realm.
“What the hell did I do to deserve that?” Reddick cracked. “I’m going to have to go out there and do something spectacular.”
There may not be a direct comparison to knocking down the winning shot in the NBA Finals, donning the green jacket at The Masters, or hoisting the Stanley Cup, but Reddick has title aspirations all the same in this weekend’s regular-season finale at the historic Darlington oval. He’ll be chasing the Cup Series’ Regular Season Championship and the trophy that comes with it, but he’s also after the bonus of 15 playoff points that could aid his bid for the heavier hardware at stake at season’s end — the Bill France Cup that’s awarded to the overall champ.
Reddick enters Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), the last of 26 regular-season events, as the Cup Series points leader. He clings to a narrow advantage over Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson, who sits 17 points back, and Chase Elliott, just 18 points off the top. The 28-year-old driver says the team’s tack isn’t focused on playing “prevent defense” to protect his points lead, but in staying focused on the challenge presented by the 1.366-mile grinder of a track, one that’s lured cars into its outer barriers on an annual basis since the 1950s.
“If we take care of our points, we do that by having a solid run at Darlington. I mean, from that aspect, those goals are kind of one and the same, what our approach is,” Reddick said. “When you go to some of these other tracks, you have to think about it a little differently. But Darlington’s a race, it’s you versus yourself and the race track. Obviously, we’re competing with other drivers out there, but you can make mistakes pretty easily there by getting too caught up in what your competitors are doing. So it’s just a good mindset to have.”
James Gilbert | Getty Images
His last time out at Darlington was a split decision, with one of those types of miscues snaring him in the late going. Reddick put his No. 45 Toyota on the pole and led a race-best 174 of the 293 laps in the Goodyear 400 back in May, but a late-race squeeze and contact with Chris Buescher’s No. 17 RFK Racing Ford dropped both from victory contention. That on-track altercation — which cleared the way for RFK’s Brad Keselowski to vault to the win — sparked a post-race confrontation, and Reddick took ownership of the mistake in an effort to explain his side and calm Buescher’s anger.
That 32nd-place Darlington finish still stands as Reddick’s worst of the season, and it’s stuck with him as the 2024 campaign has played out.
“Yeah, I really wish I could have looked into the future and saw where I’d be points. I would have taken that second place right about now, because I’d be just going into Darlington and not worrying about racing the 5 (Larson) or the 9 (Elliott) at all,” Reddick said. “You know, hindsight is always 20/20, but certainly it’s a learning moment, I feel like, as the year went on from that moment forward. There’s a lot of reflection for me after that race. Obviously, everything’s out there and been talked about between me and Chris, but beyond how I affected his race, for us and our team personally, I think …”
At this moment, Reddick paused to do some quick math, and his on-the-fly calculations were eerily close to accurate without the benefit of the results sheet in front of him. He’d gathered 17 points by finishing fourth and first at the stages, and a runner-up result would have meant a 52-point total payout. His haul instead was just 22 points — a shortfall that indeed has kept the regular-season title hunt closer than desired.
“So I learned a lot from that moment, and it’s benefited me ever since,” Reddick says, “but certainly it’s tough when I go there, because I’ve never won there. I feel like I’ve had a car and an opportunity and a day … I’ve had a number of days where I’ve been capable of winning there.”
Some of that confidence stems from Reddick’s experience there. His Darlington lap total goes beyond what the record book shows, owing to a handful of rookie tests as his Xfinity Series career transitioned from Chip Ganassi’s operation to JR Motorsports, where he won his first series title. “Got pretty familiar with it,” he says now. “Found the Darlington stripe really early on.”
A guide for those earliest tests was Larson, then with Ganassi on the Cup Series side. And while Reddick said he wondered why his teams kept going back to Darlington for testing instead of branching off to other venues, he says now that the experience has been a boon to his career.
“I don’t know, ever since I’ve stepped into a Cup car at that place, it’s just always seemed to have clicked,” Reddick says. “And on top of it also, we were doing the NASCAR Next Gen testing, they had me do the test at Darlington in that car as well. So again, just been fortunate to do so many tests there, do some tests for NASCAR there, and just have a good understanding of what you need to be feeling to go faster.”
Which makes it all the more surprising that Reddick has yet to visit Victory Lane at the rugged raceway. He’s come close, with three runner-up finishes there — two in Cup and one in Xfinity — in his career. The most recent came in last year’s Southern 500, where he led 90 laps and ran second to Larson.
“Had some painful second-place finishes there and third-place finishes,” Reddick says, “but it’s been nice to know that we’ve been super, super strong at Darlington.”
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are set to bring a fresh new lineup of tracks, with a 10-race postseason that features a mix of classic venues and new additions that create a diverse and challenging path to the championship.
First: The new tracks. World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway both are in the postseason for 2025, in the Round of 16 and Round of 12, respectively.
WWTR joins the playoff schedule on Sept. 7. This 1.25-mile oval near St. Louis will test drivers with its varying layout, featuring different degrees of banking in Turns 1-2 and 3-4. The WWTR event follows the playoff kick-off at Darlington Raceway, which returns to host the opening race for the annual crown jewel Southern 500 at the “Track Too Tough to Tame.” The Labor Day weekend race marks Darlington’s return to the playoffs after a one-year stint as the regular-season finale, setting the stage for a grueling battle on its unique egg-shaped oval to prime the postseason.
“It’s great that World Wide Technology Raceway now has a playoff race,” said Kyle Busch, who won at the track in 2023. “I think it’s cool to have a different mix of tracks in the playoffs. NASCAR is looking for what’s best for the sport and I think WWTR fits that perfectly. There’s been a sellout crowd there every year since the first Cup race back in 2022. I think it’s going to be an awesome event and I’m really looking forward to it.”
The Round of 16 concludes on Sept. 13 with the Bristol Motor Speedway night race. The high-banked, half-mile “Thunder Valley” always produces intense short-track action under the lights, making it a fitting climax to the Round of 16 to eliminate the first four drivers.
Former playoff track New Hampshire also returns, opening the Round of 12 on Sept. 21. “The Magic Mile” presents a strenuous challenge where track position is king, with its flat corners and long straightaways that reward precise driving and strategic pit calls.
Kansas Speedway hosts the second race of the Round of 12 on Sept. 28 followed by the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval on Oct. 5 as the Round of 12 elimination race. This road course/oval hybrid combines technical turns with high-speed banking, creating an air of chaos that will determine who advances to the Round of 8.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway kicks off the Round of 8 on Oct. 12. The desert track’s wide racing surface and progressive banking often produce exciting, multi-groove racing as drivers fight for a spot in the championship race.
Talladega Superspeedway moves to the penultimate round, hosting its trademark brand of superspeedway racing on Oct. 19. The 2.66-mile tri-oval is known for its high speeds, big packs and unpredictable finishes, making it a pivotal race in the playoffs that could produce a surprise Championship 4 contender.
“I think for Talladega in particular, it’s one of our bigger events,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president, chief venue and racing innovation officer. “If you look at our ratings and viewership numbers, very high. If you look at the attendance numbers, it’s one of the highest that we have of the entire season. So it’s a big event for us. And I think as you look at the Round of 8, having a huge market like Las Vegas, going to Talladega Superspeedway and from the feedback that we’ve received from the fans in the industry, having Martinsville as that cutoff race before we have the championship race at Phoenix has been positive for us.”
Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR’s oldest active track, remains in its spot to serve as the Round of 8 elimination race on Oct. 26. The tight, paper-clip-shaped short track often produces intense battles and dramatic moments as drivers vie for a spot in the Championship 4.
The season culminates again at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 2, where the Championship 4 will battle for the title once again. The 1-mile tri-oval, with its one-of-a-kind dogleg configuration, has proven to be an excellent stage for crowning a champion since becoming the finale in 2020.
NASCAR’s new In-Season Challenge, set to debut in 2025, promises to add an exciting dimension to an already fresh Cup Series calendar. The challenge will feature a 32-driver bracket-style format, reminiscent of the NCAA’s March Madness — but for stock car racing.
With the official release of the 2025 Cup Series schedule, the full picture is now in focus.
The challenge will consist of five races, beginning on June 28, 2025, with a Saturday night race at unpredictable Atlanta Motor Speedway. This event will mark the start of TNT Sports’ coverage of NASCAR, embarking on a return to the sport after a decade-long absence. Following Atlanta, the challenge will move to the Chicago Street Course on July 6, then to Sonoma Raceway on July 13, Dover Motor Speedway on July 20 and conclude at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the annual Brickyard 400 on July 27. The winner will receive a $1 million prize.
The seeding for the 32-driver bracket will be determined by the results of the final three races aired on Prime Video before the tournament. Drivers will be seeded based on their best finish in the three races (Michigan, Mexico City, Pocono), with tiebreakers determined by the next-best finish, followed by the season points position.
Throughout the challenge, drivers will compete head-to-head, with the highest-finishing driver in each matchup advancing to the next round. The field will be narrowed down from 32 drivers in the opening race to 16 in the second, eight in the third, four in the fourth, and finally, two drivers battling for the tournament win in the fifth and final race.
This format promises to create intense rivalries and potentially pit teammates against each other, adding an extra layer of excitement to the races. It may also influence race strategy as drivers might prioritize beating their head-to-head opponent for overall race position.
This new challenge is sure to enhance fan engagement and create compelling story lines throughout the summer months. It also aligns with NASCAR’s new media rights deal, showcasing the sport’s commitment to innovation and fan engagement with its broadcast partners, both new and old.
The 2025 schedules for the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series were announced on Thursday, featuring a return to the historic Rockingham Speedway in April and a first-ever race for the Truck Series at road course Lime Rock Park.
Additionally, for the first time since 2011, the Craftsman Truck Series schedule will expand from 23 to 25 races, a testament to the demand for its unique style of racing and intense competition.
Both series will kick off their respective seasons at Daytona International Speedway, with the Truck Series set for a Feb. 14 green flag and the Xfinity Series on Feb. 15.
Like 2024, both series will turn to Atlanta Motor Speedway the following week. The Xfinity Series then heads to Circuit of The Americas for a March 1 visit, while the Truck Series breaks for two weeks.
While the Cup Series rests on Easter weekend, the Xfinity and Truck Series will return to Rockingham Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. The Truck Series remains NASCAR’s most recent visitor to “The Rock,” with races in both 2012 and 2013 — won by Kasey Kahne and Kyle Larson, respectively. Trucks will hit the track for a race on Friday, April 18, for its first event at the 1-mile oval since April 2013.
The Xfinity Series has competed at “The Rock” 42 times since 1982, but its last appearance came in February 2004, when Jamie McMurray won his fourth consecutive Rockingham Xfinity start. The series is set to return on April 19.
“We are really making sure that we’re doing our part to develop our drivers for the Xfinity Series and eventually the Cup Series that are coming through the Craftsman Truck Series as well,” said Jusan Hamilton, NASCAR managing director of competition operations. “So all those different elements are factoring into some of those divisions and also just making sure that each of the venues has a good balance of being able to see the Truck Series in the spring, for example, and see the Xfinity Series later in the year, especially for those venues that we go to multiple times in the season. So we’re factoring each of those elements and that’ll continue to build. I wouldn’t say the goal was to completely revamp the schedule, but the goal was to continue that growth pattern and also make sure we’re doing a service to the fans and industry.”
On June 14, the Xfinity Series will make its international return to Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, the road course in Mexico City, where the series first raced in 2005. The series will be joined in Mexico City by the NASCAR Cup Series, which makes its first point-paying appearance outside the United States since 1958 on June 15. There have been four Xfinity Series races at the facility, with Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kyle Busch each scoring wins from 2005-08.
The Truck Series will visit two new road courses in 2025. Lime Rock Park makes its inaugural appearance on the NASCAR calendar with a stand-alone Truck Series race scheduled for June 28. The second additional road course comes as part of a new-look postseason for the Truck Series.
The opening Round of 10 for the Truck Series Playoffs kicks off at Darlington Raceway before races at Bristol Motor Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which will serve as the first elimination race for the series. The Round of 8 will then kick off Oct. 3 with the Truck Series’ debut at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, with Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway left to help decide the Championship 4 ahead of the finale at Phoenix Raceway.
The Xfinity Series’ postseason remains largely unchanged. World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway will host the division’s regular-season finale on Sept. 6 before the playoffs begin at Bristol. Kansas Speedway and the Charlotte road course will conclude the opening Round of 12 before Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Talladega and Martinsville host Round of 8 races to determine the Championship 4 field.
See the full Xfinity and Truck schedules for 2025 below:
r/NASCAR’s pick last week: No. 21, Harrison Burton (40 points)
