Alex Bowman details vertigo bout, ready for Bristol return: ‘Thankful to be back’

Posted on April 11, 2026April 11, 2026 by Zach Sturniolo

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Alex Bowman was back at the race track Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway, saying he’s back to feeling well after a month-long bout with vertigo.

Bowman’s remarks came two days after his Hendrick Motorsports team announced he was cleared to return to NASCAR Cup Series competition in Sunday’s Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). He is set to load back into his No. 48 Chevrolet for practice and qualifying later Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, Prime Video).

Bowman missed the last four Cup Series races with vertigo, which forced him to the sidelines during the March 1 event at Circuit of The Americas. Myatt Snider subbed in for Bowman the rest of the way in Austin, Texas, and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series regulars Anthony Alfredo (Phoenix) and Justin Allgaier (Las Vegas, Darlington, Martinsville) were fill-ins in subsequent weeks.

“Obviously, COTA wasn’t a lot of fun for me,” Bowman said Saturday. “I mean, everything was fine until it wasn’t obviously in the car — dizziness, throwing up on myself, spinning, all the things. So it wasn’t fun. Not pumped that I had to get out. Obviously, I’ve raced through a lot of injuries, but that was one where I was going to end up running into something or somebody, and the smart thing to do in that case was to get out. Just spent a lot of time with a lot of different doctors and had a lot of different help to go about the best rehab process possible and best practices going forward, and everything to get back to where I needed to be to get back in the car.”

But upon exiting the car at COTA, Bowman didn’t know if getting back in the car would ever be an option.

“Honestly, yeah, when I got out at COTA, I was like, this is probably it,” Bowman said. “Like, that was what was going through my head. So yeah, that sucked. Thankful that I get another shot at it.”

Bowman tested a street car at the Ten Tenths Motor Club circuit on Tuesday, then participated in pit practice, simulator testing and a medical evaluation in preparation for his return. Jeff Andrews, Hendrick Motorsports’ president and general manager, added that Bowman was cleared without restrictions, so the team does not have a backup driver “on call” this weekend in anticipation of Bowman completing the full 500-lap contest.

“The biggest thing is with vertigo being a symptom, just trying to find what was causing everything and why it happened and what the right path going forward was,” Bowman said. “There was definitely, for me, concern there, but at the same time, just trying to get back feeling well enough to do life. Fortunately, I had a lot of really great people around me that helped me a ton. The boss (team owner Rick Hendrick) flew me around to different places that I needed to be and all the things that we needed to do to give me the best help that we could get. Now I’m feeling really good, so thankful to be back feeling well.”

Chris Condon | Getty Images

Bowman’s test days at the Ten Tenths Motor Club targeted his dizziness. In his first attempt, briefly after COTA, he ran only a couple of laps before feeling ill again. Finally, five weeks after the onset of his vertigo symptoms, Bowman has rid himself of that instability, feeling well enough through karting, pit practice and different workout regimens to re-establish a semblance of normalcy.

But Bristol is anything but normal. The 0.533-mile bullring is a steeply banked rollercoaster of a concrete race track with 15-second lap times that send the healthiest drivers for a loop. Why come back this week?

“Because they said I could,” Bowman said. “I mean, I’m a race-car driver, so you tell me I’m clear and I’m gonna go do it. It’s probably the worst place possible to come back to, I think not just from it’s physical, but it’s a track that is extremely difficult. The margins from the front to the back of the field are tiny. You look at qualifying here, and every hundredth (of a second) is multiple spots for the most part. I haven’t qualified a car in a month. Trying to get back up to speed.

“It’s going to be extremely difficult for me. My expectations coming here, it’s one of my best tracks — two of the last three poles here, expect to contend for wins. I think expectations probably change a little bit this week. If we could get out of here with a top 10, top 15, I think on my side of things, I’d be happy. But I think (Saturday) will be the hardest part, just getting back up to speed and trying to qualify after sitting on the couch.”

In Bowman’s absence, crew chief Blake Harris has led the No. 48 team without its primary driver. With Bowman back behind the wheel, Harris has no concerns that they’ll be back to normal soon.

“I think coming back to Bristol in general is just a place that he’s run really well, our company has performed well,” Harris told NASCAR.com Saturday morning. “So I think it’s good that the first week he’s coming back, it’s at a place that we’ll have some confidence in the cars and stuff with him, and really just good to kind of get back in routine with the guy that we’re used to preparing with every week and looking forward to it.”

The team ranks 34th in owners’ points through seven races, but that hasn’t been for a lack of effort. Through his recovery, Bowman stayed as plugged into the group’s communications as Alfredo and Allgaier jumped into the cockpit.

“I think it’s no secret that it’s been a rough year on the 48 team,” Bowman said, “and the two of them worked super hard to give it all they had. So appreciative of all their help. I spent a lot of time talking to Justin today before I came in here, too. Those guys were super helpful and really appreciate it.”

Bowman was originally scheduled to miss the Bristol weekend. His clearance this week meant another set of hustling for Harris and the No. 48 crew, but they were happy to do so if it meant their main driver was back behind the wheel.

“We’ve been just kind of back on our heels trying to react on whatever’s thrown at us,” Harris said. “To be honest, this week, once Alex was approved to get back in and get all his stuff back in the car and all those things, it wasn’t much different to what that’s kind of been to us, it seemed like, every week.”

But this isn’t the first time Bowman and Harris have navigated adversity together. In 2023, their first season paired, Bowman missed three races with a broken vertebra after a sprint-car crash. At the time, he and the No. 48 team were leading the points standings. Going through that process together once before has helped bond the duo for another unwanted situation.

“He should have the confidence in me knowing that whenever he’s ready to come back, we’ll have the team ready and the car ready and really lean into that,” Harris said. “There was no necessary timeline to when he had to be back, just whenever he felt good.”

James Gilbert | Getty Images

That support has come from the top down, from Hendrick to Andrews on down the line.

“Alex Bowman has always been the driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, and we never had questions about whose seat that was,” Andrews said. “I think we said that early on that we would follow 100% the medical guidelines that we were given (to) plan Alex’s return when it was medically cleared, as well as when Alex said he was ready.

“For us, Alex is part of our team. He’s a key teammate for us and been an integral part of our company for quite some time. So we were willing to do what we needed to do to wait for him and get him back in at the right time. I think it’s a testament to Alex and how hard he worked to be back a week early.”

As Bowman said, Bristol is a track where he excels, collecting three top 10s and two pole positions in the last four Bristol races. He and the No. 48 team also participated in a Goodyear tire test in November, during which Harris said they completed nearly 500 laps — a full race length — to build a notebook.

The goal now is to begin a charge up the standings. While the No. 48 car is 34th in owners’ points, Bowman is saddled even further behind in 36th on the drivers’ side after missing four races.

“We want to win, and if you win, then that fixes all other things,” Harris said. “I think if you look at owners’ points or the drivers’ points, it’s definitely a tough road, right? There’s some things that have to go right. But I think, really, the next few weeks for us — going to Bristol; going to Kansas; Talladega, we’ve scored a lot of points and were really good at speedways. Texas has been a place he’s been really fast at. Like, if you just go the next three or four weeks and see how things go, I think that’ll kind of lay out really what that means.

“So I think again, if we can just run well and be in contention for wins and win some races, then I think the rest kind of works itself out.”

Contributing: Staff report

Posted on April 10, 2026April 11, 2026 by Reid Spencer

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell was thrilled to have an opportunity to drive the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Toyota in Friday night’s Tennessee Army National Guard 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

After crossing the finish line first, he had reason to be positively elated.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Corey Heim, on the other hand, had 350,000 reasons to be disappointed, after his dream of completing the Triple Truck Challenge — and earning a $350,000 bonus — ended prematurely against the Turn 1 wall.

Bell grabbed the lead from Christian Eckes on Lap 188 of 250 and held it the rest of the way, with Chandler Smith moving into second after a subsequent restart on Lap 224 and chasing Bell to the checkered flag.

Finishing 0.330 seconds ahead of Smith’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford, Bell scored his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory since 2017, his first on the 0.533-mile short track and the eighth of his career.

Bell was enlisted to substitute for injured Stewart Friesen in last year’s Truck Series race at Watkins Glen. On Friday night, he raced as Friesen’s teammate and finished three positions better than he had at the Upstate New York road course.

“Oh, man, that was just so awesome to win a truck race,” Bell said. “It’s been since 2017 that I’ve won one of these things. It’s a lot of fun racing with this group. I got the unfortunate call last year to drive for Stewart when he was hurt, went up to Watkins Glen and almost got it.

“They’ve been working really hard to get to Victory Lane. Just so special for me to be able to race with these guys. These wins, they mean a lot to this team, this organization.”

MORE: Bell describes winning for Halmar Friesen Racing

The most recent Cup Series winner at Thunder Valley, Bell will race Sunday in the Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Heim’s bid for an extra $350,000 ($500,000 total) for a third straight Triple Truck Challenge victory ended abruptly on Lap 180, moments after he had muscled past Christian Eckes to lead his only lap of the race.

Contact from Eckes’ front bumper to the right rear of Heim’s No. 1 Tricon Garage Toyota sent Heim spinning into the outside wall. Pole winner Kaden Honeycutt T-boned into Heim’s Tundra, with the No. 34 Ford of two-time Bristol winner Layne Riggs nosing into Honeycutt’s truck in a chain-reaction collision.

Tricon teammates Heim and Honeycutt exited the race under the resulting red flag. With the single lap led to his credit, Heim has now led the last 30 straight Truck Series races he has entered, but that was no consolation for losing the $350,000 bonus he would have collected for winning the race.

“I don’t think he did it on purpose or anything,” Heim said graciously of the contact from Eckes’ Chevrolet. “I think the lead was super important to win the race, just having track position and control. Then they had a mix-up on who was starting the race as far as the control truck.

“I had an issue with my transmission sticking into gears, and I had to pack a little bit of air. I don’t think I touched him to get him out of the way. He was already free. I just packed some air and got him free. I think he was trying to get behind me and ship me, which would have been fine because I did it to him. Just misjudged it.

“I’ve been racing him for a long time, and I don’t think he would do that on purpose, so we are all good.”

After losing ground on the final restart, Eckes finished fifth behind Bell, Smith, Gio Ruggiero and Cup driver Ross Chastain. Jake Garcia, Dawson Sutton, Kyle Busch, Carson Hocevar and rookie Brenden Queen completed the top 10.

The race featured nine cautions for 76 laps. Eckes led a race-high 132 laps to Bell’s 63 and won the first stage. Ben Rhodes stayed out under caution on Lap 122 and claimed the Stage 2 win.

The Craftsman Truck Series returns to action Friday, May 1, at Texas Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: Inspection in the Craftsman Truck Series garage was completed without issues, confirming Bell as the Bristol winner.

Posted on April 10, 2026April 11, 2026 by Cameron Richardson

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Christian Eckes and Corey Heim made contact battling for the lead late in Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, sparking a heavy multi-truck crash and ending a chance at history.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

At Lap 179, Heim passed Eckes in Turns 3 and 4 using his bumper, and in the following set of corners, Eckes made contact with Heim’s right-rear fender, sending the No. 1 Tricon Garage Toyota into the wall. Kaden Honeycutt — the polesitter — had nowhere to go, piling into his teammate, Heim. Front Row Motorsports’ Layne Riggs and Cup Series regular Chase Briscoe were also involved.

After the race, Eckes took responsibility for the incident.

“Obviously, it wasn’t intentional to spin him or even hit him,” Eckes said after the race. “I was just trying to get in line and misjudged it, and he ended up wrecking pretty hard. I feel pretty small right now about that. I wanted to get behind him to race him and maybe repay the favor, but obviously, had no intention of getting into him and spinning him like that. Just feel terrible about that, for sure.”

Heim, the defending series champion and a part-time competitor in 2026, was looking to become the first driver to sweep all three Triple Truck Challenge races. He won three weeks ago at Darlington Raceway, and last weekend at Rockingham Speedway, he took the victory in dominant fashion.

In a bit of a twist, the frustrations that often come with Bristol weren’t apparent for Heim, and he understood the contact from Eckes, regardless of the intent.

“Just got hooked a little bit there,” Heim said. “I think I was trying to maintain the lead. Everyone kind of knew, based on the way the race was playing out, that we needed to lead, so kind of gave Christian a nudge to get that, and I believe he just misjudged it trying to get back in line and do the same to me, which would have been totally fine considering I’d just done it to him. Giving him the benefit of the doubt that he misjudged it, I think I’m all good. It’s just kind of, you know, crap happens, and kind of move on from it.”

Honeycutt entered Friday night’s contest as the co-points leader alongside Heim. His night ended with the wreck, ending a streak of three consecutive top-five runs going back to St. Petersburg.

MORE: Christopher Bell wins Bristol

“I don’t really know what in the world those two were doing,” Honeycutt said of Eckes and Heim’s mischief out front. “But definitely trickled down to us and a couple other trucks. Unfortunately, history repeated itself, and they got into it, and it’s an unfortunate doing for sure.

“I never actually saw the contact, but when I saw the 91 shoot up, I figured Christian just didn’t blow the corner on purpose. I was assuming that the 1 hit him, but I wasn’t really sure. But yeah, I guess he got into him again on that restart. Corey is an amazing race-car driver. I’m not going to say it was his fault, but I think they both could have done definitely something different to not have that situation escalate with so many laps left in the race like that.”

Heim and Eckes competed against each other on a full-time basis in the Truck Series from 2023 to 2024. Eckes, driving for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, briefly moved to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series last year for Kaulig Racing before moving back to trucks this season. The two had a run-in in 2024 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park as they were in the mix for the championship.

But Friday night, two of the most dominant Truck Series drivers over the last several seasons departed Bristol empty-handed.

Eckes finished fifth after leading a race-high 132 laps, but moved up two spots in points to fifth.

Front Row Motorsports’ Chandler Smith retook the Truck Series points lead from both Heim and Honeycutt after the incident, and on top of dropping the points lead and a totaled Toyota Tundra, there will be no “Half-Million-Dollar Heim” to close out the Triple Truck Challenge.

“That sucks, for sure,” Eckes admitted. “They deserve to win half a million bucks today, and I took that away from them.”

Posted on April 10, 2026April 11, 2026 by Staff Report

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Triple Truck Challenge incentive program returns for the 2026 season, with a trio of intriguing races making up this year’s event.

This hub page will provide you with everything you need to know about the program, including links and more for each race event. Continue to monitor this hub as results from each Triple Truck Challenge race are added.

What is the Triple Truck Challenge?

Beginning in 2019, “The Trip” is a program that rewards drivers financially for performing well during a three-race stretch in each Truck Series season. Over that span, a $50,000 bonus is awarded to the winner of each race. Should a driver win multiple events, the bonus money increases. If a driver wins two out of three races, he or she will be awarded $150,000. If a driver wins all three Triple Truck Challenge races, $500,000 total is awarded.

Where will the Triple Truck Challenge take place this season?

“The Trip” begins its 2026 stretch on March 20 at Darlington Raceway. The second of the three Triple Truck Challenge races will be on April 3 at Rockingham Speedway. The 2026 Triple Truck Challenge finale will occur on April 10 at Bristol Motor Speedway. All three venues have hosted the program in prior years; Bristol and Rockingham made up two of the three races during the 2025 stretch, while Darlington hosted the event most recently in 2021.

Who qualifies for the Triple Truck Challenge?

In order to qualify for the Triple Truck Challenge, drivers must be declared to collect Craftsman Truck Series points.

MORE: Every Triple Truck Challenge winner

Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

2026 Triple Truck Challenge recaps:

At Darlington Raceway (March 20)

Recap: Corey Heim storms to Truck win in stunning last-lap move at Darlington

A victory at Darlington Raceway seemed out of reach for Corey Heim, until a double overtime restart at least. The defending Truck Series champion restarted ninth and tracked down Ross Chastain in the final corner to win both the race and a $50,000 payday at the track “Too Tough To Tame.”

***

At Rockingham Speedway (April 3)

Recap: Corey Heim rocks field to win Truck race at Rockingham, claim Triple Truck bonus

Twice is most definitely quite nice. Corey Heim dominated the day at ‘The Rock,’ leading 178 of 200 laps for his second consecutive Triple Truck Challenge win, upping his payday to $150,000. He did, however, need to fend off Tricon Garage teammate Kaden Honeycutt in the final laps as Heim battled late steering gremlins.

***

At Bristol Motor Speedway (April 10)

Note: A Triple Truck Challenge winner was not awarded because the race winner was not declared for series points. Cup Series driver Christopher Bell won the race for Halmar Friesen Racing, leading 63 laps.

Posted on April 10, 2026April 10, 2026 by Zach Sturniolo

The following feature appears on NASCAR’s Substack and is being shared in full on NASCAR.com this week. Subscribe to our Substack to read more of Zach Sturniolo’s work, Nate Ryan’s weekly column, NASCARCASM’s fake texts, chat live each week with writers Sturniolo and Cameron Richardson, and much more.

When “Malcolm in the Middle” last aired in 2006, lead actor Frankie Muniz was 20 years old, still very much in the hustle and bustle of Hollywood.

Twenty years later, the show is back with a four-episode reunion on Hulu and Disney+ — as evidenced by the sky-blue vinyl wrap donning the No. 33 Team Reaume Ford F-150 that Muniz drove in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday.

MORE: Truck Series standings | Bristol schedule

Muniz’s face was prominently featured on the rear corners of the race truck, surrounded by those of Bryan Cranston, Jane Kaczmarek and his familiar castmates that made the show a 2000s staple. But Muniz isn’t a kid actor anymore. He’s a grown man with a family, pouring his soul into being a full-time race-car driver in NASCAR’s national levels. It just so happens he’s now reliving part of his childhood back in the public eye of the mainstream.

“I never thought I’d experience it again,” Muniz told NASCAR.com Friday morning at Bristol. “But it’s been really awesome. Obviously, I’m also driving (Friday) in the ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ Ford F-150, which I don’t know that that’s ever happened before — like a driver promoting their TV show that’s coming out the same day. But I’m super-excited for both worlds colliding, and hopefully people love it.”

These days, Muniz is a full-time racer in the midst of his fourth full-time season in stock cars, a journey that has been mixed with glorious highs and heart-wrenching lows. Toss in filming a four-episode reunion in Vancouver while balancing racing, fatherhood, marriage … it all began to take its toll on Muniz.

“I always feel bad — the word’s not complaining, but explaining how just crazy busy I am because everyone’s busy,” Muniz said. “Life is busy in general. But being an actor, filming a show, promoting a show, that’s a full-time gig that most actors would be like, ‘Oh, I need a six-month vacation in Hawai’i.’ Because it’s just a lot. It’s really draining.

“But then mix in the fact that I’ve got to be prepared and ready to compete almost every single week in the Truck Series and traveling all over. … Since Feb. 1, I’ve only been home four days. I’ve already been on, I think, 80 flights this year. It’s been a lot. Sure, people are gonna go ‘first-world problems.’ I’m exhausted, I’m not gonna lie.”

James Gilbert | Getty Images

What keeps him going is what pushed him back into racing in the first place: serving as an inspiration to his 5-year-old son, Mauz.

Muniz knows the great fortune he’s had to be so many things — a Hollywood star; a drummer in indie-rock band Kingsfoil; a real-life, full-fledged race-car driver. But when he held his son in his arms for the first time in 2021, he couldn’t help but wonder: “Who is he gonna grow up thinking that I am?”

Five years later, Muniz is back in the Hollywood limelight, rattling through press and premieres that featured an early-week gamut of appearances in New York City, where his face was featured on a 200-foot billboard in Times Square.

“I wanted him to understand work ethic and sacrifice and all those things, right?” Muniz said. “And I wanted him to understand why we had the things that we had, not just think that it’s normal. And so I decided to go racing to be an inspiration to him. In that same token, it has completely taken me away from him, realistically. So even that, I’m trying to balance in a sense.”

Muniz’s stay in the Craftsman Truck Series — the first rung in the three-level ladder of NASCAR’s national series — is no publicity stunt. Muniz first started racing in 2004, during the original stint of “Malcolm in the Middle” filming, with an appearance in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race in Long Beach. That jump-started a career that led him into open-wheel racing before a 2009 crash at Mid-Ohio sidelined him with a broken back and badly injured left thumb.

MORE: Frankie Muniz’s journey to stock-car racing

A full season of racing in the ARCA Menards Series in 2023 with one top five and 11 top 10s led to part-time opportunities in trucks and the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2024 before going full-time truck racing in 2025 with Team Reaume.

In 30 truck starts before Bristol, Muniz has one top 10 (10th, Michigan 2025) with an average finish of 25.6. Team Reaume is not a powerhouse team in the series, the way Toyota’s Tricon Garage or Ford’s ThorSport Racing is. Targets are always kept in check — “if we can consistently be in the top 20, that’s a good goal” — and Muniz loves the challenge, no matter the struggles that come with it.

“It is so hard,” Muniz said. “The competition I think in the Truck Series is insane this year. ARCA, I dove in after not racing for 12, 13 years. I was an open-wheel guy and then wanted to go stock-car racing. I jumped into ARCA (and) immediately had success, and it felt really, really good. So obviously, made the jump up to the Truck Series and it’s a whole different level, right?

“When you look at the entry list even this weekend at Bristol, like, how am I even out there? Like, there’s I think seven Cup drivers (in the field). Everybody in the Truck Series is really, really good. At first, I was playing catch-up for the lack of experience. Now, I have a lot of experience, but it’s trying to figure out what works for me, what works for the team.”

There are rejuvenating highs in racing, though. Muniz ventured back into sports-car racing on March 27, driving for Ford in the Pirelli GT4 America Amateur class at Sonoma Raceway. In his first appearance at the famed California road course, Muniz and co-driver Tyler Stone walked away with a second-place podium class finish, a tangible result for his unrelenting efforts.

The objective nature of sports is that results do that talking — not critics.

“It’s not subjective, right?” Muniz said. “You know, the ‘Malcolm’ show came out (Friday). I’m reading reviews. Half of them think it’s the greatest show ever, and half of them think we shouldn’t have done it. But it’s subjective. Where in racing, we were on the podium. It’s because we beat everybody. …

“That’s why I like racing, right? The highs and lows and the feelings and the emotion. And a lot of is because you just care a lot, right? If I didn’t care what, like, ‘yeah, whatever, I had a bad day.’ No. Like I want — for the team, for me — to do well. But I don’t expect it to be handed to me. So I know there’s a lot of work that goes into it, and I’m trying to do it.”

So 20 years later, long after Muniz had originally hung up the moniker of Malcolm, he’s back. He was even put in the middle of the action Friday night on the high banks of Bristol. And with the race wrapped up, folks can go from watching him race to watching him reprise his role as Malcolm on “Malcolm in the Middle” with four new episodes on Hulu and Disney+.

But no matter the oversized billboards or the fun promos you get to see him star in, Muniz is all in on racing.

“I just want everyone to know that I take this so seriously,” Muniz said. “I’m not here as a fluke or just to have fun. I’m here because I want to compete. I’m here to hopefully eventually get to where I’m competing for top 10s, top fives, maybe wins. I know I’ve got a long way to go, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m gonna keep fighting for it.”

Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Digital Media

Posted on April 10, 2026April 11, 2026 by Dustin Albino

Editor’s Note: Keep tabs on this page for lineup advice following qualifying, including changes you should consider.

Fantasy Update: Drivers had their hands full during practice and qualifying for the Food City 500, leading to a jumbled starting grid at Bristol Motor Speedway. Ryan Blaney appeared to have the best car over the long haul, topping the scoring pylon on 15-, 20-, 25- and 30-lap averages. I’ve only got six uses remaining with both Blaney and Denny Hamlin over the course of the regular season, and am leaning in the direction of the No. 12 car banking more points on Sunday. The only other adjustment is dropping Chase Elliott, who ranked 28th on 10-lap averages in practice, with Carson Hocevar.

My lineup: Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell.
Garage: Carson Hocevar.

With a pair of unforgettable, extreme tire-wear races over the last two seasons, Goodyear will debut a new tire compound this Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It’s important to note because some of the heavy favorites have struggled under those conditions. This weekend could be a return to normalcy, where the drivers who rip it around the “World Fastest Half-Mile” become mainstays at the front once more.

Returning to Fastlane this year is my weekly NASCAR 36 for 36 pick, where you can come play along. It’s a season-long points battle introduced in 2024 where strategy is the primary emphasis. With 36 chartered cars and 36 races on the 2026 schedule, players can choose each car once for the duration of the season.

RELATED: NASCAR Fantasy Live hub | Play 36 for 36

MUST START

Driver: Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 8
Comment: Since joining Hendrick, Larson has been virtually untouchable at Bristol. Before a wreck there in the fall, he had six consecutive top-five finishes to start his tenure with Hendrick, including a trio of victories. In the last two non-tire-wear races, he led 873 of 1,000 laps.

Driver: Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Selections remaining: 6
Comment: Hamlin has been the only driver who has challenged Larson consistently at Bristol over the last several seasons. He is a four-time winner here, including two of the last five races. The No. 11 team has placed inside the top 10 in six of the last seven trips at “The Last Great Colosseum.”

Driver: Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Selections remaining: 7
Comment: Bell enters this weekend as the most recent Bristol winner. In nine career Cup starts there, he has a quartet of top fives, with a grand total of seven top 10s. He is the only driver to crack the top 10 in all six Next Gen events at the Tennessee short track.

Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

DRIVERS TO AVOID

Driver: Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
Selections remaining: 8
Comment: Admittedly, Reddick’s most glaring flaw since moving to the Cup Series has been short tracks. Bristol fits that bill, with a lone top 10 in nine tries and an average finish of 19.4. In five Bristol starts with 23XI Racing, he hasn’t placed better than 15th.

Driver: Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
Selections remaining: 7
Comment: Knowing full well how successful Penske has been at short tracks recently, this could look like a boneheaded decision in retrospect. After all, Logano rounded out the top five at Bristol last fall and has a pair of wins on his resume. However, that fifth-place finish is Logano’s lone bright spot in six Next Gen races here as the No. 22 car has five finishes of 22nd or worse during that span.

David Jensen | Getty Images

SLEEPERS OF THE WEEK

Driver: Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Selections remaining: 10
Comment: Gibbs is on a career heater entering Bristol, earning five straight top-10 finishes, matching the longest streak of his career. Bristol has been his best track since jumping to Cup, earning a pair of top-five finishes and four top-10 finishes in six starts. The 440 laps that he’s paced the field for are his most of any track, netting a 12.8 average finish.

Driver: Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 9
Comment: Ever since Hocevar first turned laps in a Cup car at Bristol with Legacy Motor Club in 2023, he’s run toward the front. He has three finishes of 11th or better in five starts, including a personal best of seventh in the most recent outing.

Jacob Kupferman | Getty Images

FEATURED MATCHUPS

Chase Elliott vs. Brad Keselowski
Pick: Elliott
Comment: While Elliott has never hoisted one of the coveted Bristol swords in Victory Lane, he has five top-five and nine top-10 finishes in 17 starts, leading 444 laps. Keselowski has just two more top 10s than Elliott (11) in 12 additional starts (29). Elliott also brings added confidence, having won the most recent short-track race at Martinsville Speedway.

Denny Hamlin vs. Kyle Larson
Pick: Larson
Comment: This heavyweight battle could go either direction, but the recent numbers back Larson. Both drivers have won two races in the Next Gen car at Bristol, but Larson spends a significant amount of time at the front, having led 1,762 laps in only 19 career starts.

Ty Gibbs vs. Chase Briscoe
Pick: Gibbs
Comment: Briscoe enters this weekend on a streak of three consecutive top 10s at Bristol, finishing fourth in this event last spring. His 12.6 average finish here is a personal best among all circuits on the schedule. But Gibbs is the pick because of his consistent success on the track and the No. 19 team’s tendency to beat itself through the opening two months of the 2026 campaign.

Carson Hocevar vs. Josh Berry
Pick: Hocevar
Comment: Berry had an impressive showing at Martinsville, leaping seven spots in the driver standings. And while he’s a short-track enthusiast, his Bristol numbers aren’t staggering, with a best finish of 12th. Hocevar tends to stay out of trouble at Bristol, and the raw speed of the No. 77 car is impressive.

MY LINEUP

Starting five: Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott.
Garage pick: Chase Briscoe.

36 FOR 36

Pick: Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Comment: At this point, it seems like a matter of time before Gibbs scores that elusive first Cup victory, and it’s entirely possible Bristol is where he gets it accomplished. He enters his best venue with momentum thanks to five consecutive finishes of sixth or better, jumping to sixth in the standings. In September, Gibbs led a career-high 201 laps and has hit the century mark in three of his six Bristol attempts.

Posted on April 9, 2026April 9, 2026 by Reid Spencer

When it comes to racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, there’s not much Corey Heim hasn’t accomplished.

The 23-year-old from Marietta, Georgia, accumulated a single-season series record of 12 victories last year in winning his first championship.

This year, Heim is driving part-time for Tricon Garage, and he has the chance to do something unprecedented in Friday night’s Tennessee Army National Guard 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In the first of three Triple Truck Challenge races March 20 at Darlington, Heim pulled off a dramatic win in the No. 5 Tricon Garage Toyota, collecting $50,000. Two weeks later, he triumphed in the No. 1 Tricon Tundra at Rockingham to up his bonus to $150,000 in the second race of “The Trip.”

Should he become the first driver to win all three races of a Triple Truck Challenge, Heim would collect a total of $500,000 for his efforts.

“I don’t really think about it in the truck, but being able to reflect on it, it would be cool to be the first person to sweep all three if we are able to do it,” Heim said after the Rockingham win.

“There is a lot of motivation for these guys in the No. 1 camp with Celsius as our primary (sponsor at Bristol), so super excited about that.”

Heim won at Bristol in 2023 and has finished second, third and third in his last three starts there.

MORE: Triple Truck Challenge hub | All-time Triple Truck winners

Foremost among Heim’s competition for the Triple Truck Challenge bonus are Front Row Motorsports teammates Layne Riggs and Chandler Smith, both two-time winners at Thunder Valley (with Riggs winning two of the last three races there).

The field also features a handful of NASCAR Cup Series regulars, including five-time Truck Series winner Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suárez. The Cup drivers are not eligible for the Triple Truck Challenge bonus money.

Posted on April 9, 2026 by Nathan Solomon

Stewart Friesen remembers everything about July 28, 2025.

It would’ve been easy for the veteran driver to walk away. But that thought never crossed his mind.

Racing in the Super DIRTcar Series — as he often does, along with his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series duties — Friesen suffered major injuries in a crash during an event at Autodrome Drummond in Quebec, Canada. His No. 44 car jumped the cushion on the 3/8-mile track and hit the end of the Turn 3 wall, with Friesen calling it a “blunt abutment.” He pirouetted through the night sky in a ball of fire before landing, when he was then struck by an oncoming race car at full speed.

Friesen was extricated from his car and rushed to a local hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with a plethora of injuries, including a broken pelvis and three separate fractures in his right leg. He was later transferred to a larger hospital in New York for surgery and recovery.

Friesen spent several days in medical facilities before returning home, where heavy rehabilitation awaited. He rested for several weeks before starting physical therapy to rebuild significant muscle loss in his legs. Once winter arrived, he ramped up his training with the intention of returning to race action by Speedweeks.

That he did.

RELATED: Stewart Friesen driver page

“I’m feeling pretty good,” Friesen told NASCAR.com ahead of Friday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “Definitely more comfortable in the race car than I am out of it walking around and stuff. Still fighting some nerve damage in my ankle — that’s been a little bit of a challenge. But overall, it’s going good. We’re back rocking and rolling.”

While Friesen nursed his injuries, his Truck Series team still had plenty to fight for last season. As a result of Friesen’s win at Michigan International Speedway last June, the Halmar-Friesen Racing No. 52 team was locked into the Truck Series Playoffs on the owner side. HFR tapped Christopher Bell to pilot the truck at Watkins Glen International before Kaden Honeycutt joined the program for the final eight races.

Friesen watched from afar, rooting for both his team and Honeycutt as they made the Championship 4 in both driver and owner points. Honeycutt earned five top 10s during his stint, including a pair of top-three finishes in the final two races.

“We had the win at Michigan and ran really good at IRP, and then I got hurt the next week. So I felt like the team was on an upward trajectory at that point and best it’s ever been,” Friesen said. “Chris (Larsen, team co-owner) and everybody at Halmar were like, yep, no, we want to keep the team going, and we were able to put Kaden in the truck, and he did a great job and kept the momentum going. That definitely translated into a strong end of the year for HFR and being in the final four, and then some good momentum through the off-season.”

In January, less than six months after the crash, the 42-year-old tested his big block modified at Friendship Motor Speedway in Elkin, North Carolina. He was cleared to return to racing.

And it didn’t take him very long to return to Victory Lane, either.

Friesen raced three events at All-Tech Raceway in Florida before heading to Volusia Speedway Park for the Super DIRTcar Series opener. On February 11, just 198 days after his injury, Friesen returned to glory.

“That was really, really big to get a win, get back in Victory Lane and just get those juices flowing for everybody,” Friesen said. “It’s been a busy start to the season. We’ve had some good speed, and it’s been kind of back to our crazy normal.

“[I have] a deeper appreciation for being able to do this, being able to make a living in motorsports. Getting back to the track with Jess (Friesen, his wife) racing at Fonda in September, it was like OK, not being at the race track for almost a whole month, and then being able to get to the track and just watch her and help her out just kind of re-ignited that fire that, damn, I really love this stuff and this is what we want to do. I’m just lucky to have a lot of partners that stuck with me, and teammates that helped make the transition back smooth.”

David Jensen | Getty Images

Through five races on the Truck Series side, it’s been so far, so good for Friesen heading into Friday’s race at Bristol. He sits ninth in points with a pair of top 10s, highlighted by a fourth-place finish last weekend at Rockingham Speedway.

His early numbers, though, aren’t fully indicative of the speed the No. 52 Toyota has shown. Friesen led 10 laps and won a stage at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta, and for most of that race, he seemed poised to take down Kyle Busch in what could’ve been Round 2 between the drivers after last year’s photo finish. But a late mechanical failure relegated him to 20th. Contending for at least a top 10 at Darlington Raceway three weeks ago, Friesen suffered damage in an overtime restart and finished 25th.

MORE: Truck Series Power Rankings

Otherwise, he could be much higher in the Truck Series totals.

“We’ve had really fast trucks, probably the best trucks we’ve had in years,” Friesen said. “That’s thanks to all our guys and our association with Toyota; it’s been awesome to see that, see the growth of the team and the speed come out of that.

“[Rockingham was] definitely a lot of relief. Big shot in the arm for the team and a big momentum builder. Having the speed but not the finishes is frustrating at times, so to be able to get the finish out of it was — have the bounce go the right way there with staying out in that long run and not losing a lap trying to do a green flag stop. So it kind of worked out in our favor, and we were able to capitalize there.”

After Bristol, it’s a three-week hiatus for the Truck Series before a stretch of seven races in eight weeks, spanning both coasts and including a pair of road courses. The other five races are intermediate-style tracks, a burst that, once completed, will mark just five regular-season races remaining.

The season is still quite young, but The Chase is already top of mind for the Canadian-turned-New Yorker.

“I got to do a better job of qualifying, to try to get some stage points per second stage,” Friesen said. “But trying to seed ourselves a little bit better so we’re not playing catch-up for most of the races is kind of what we’ve been doing. We’ve had race speed, but the qualifying hasn’t been great the last two weeks. So as we go through that stretch, just try to be consistent, qualify well and make as much points as we can.”

MORE: Craftsman Truck Series standings | Craftsman Truck Series schedule

As Friesen forges ahead through salvation, one thing’s clear: He isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. The veteran said he’s re-watched his brutal crash, but that won’t deter him from racing and embarking on another loaded schedule across both the dirt and NASCAR realms.

To a much smaller scale, Friesen is like a modern-day version of The Beatles. When he shows up at a dirt track in the Northeast, no matter the venue, the fans will follow. They swarm him for autographs in the pits. They pile into the grandstands, whether it’s a 35-degree day in April or a 95-degree day in August.

Friesen is just as hungry as ever and isn’t lifting off both the literal and figurative throttle.

“It’s going to be kind of more of the same as years past,” Friesen said. “Focus on the midweek Super DIRTcar Series and Short Track Super Series races throughout the month of May, June, July, just hit as many of those as I can in the off weeks. And yeah, kind of business as usual. Try to stay racing as much as I can and keep myself in good shape.”

Posted on April 9, 2026 by Zach Sturniolo

Rajah Caruth is living a double life in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

Some weeks, he’s the driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, heading to its shop in Mooresville, North Carolina, to prepare for a race weekend with engines from Hendrick Motorsports and sponsorship from HendrickCars.com. Others, he’s the driver of the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet, heading to its shop in Statesville, North Carolina — 25 minutes north of JRM — to prepare for a race weekend with Earnhardt-Childress Racing engines and sponsorship from other partners.

But no matter what day it is, what team he’s driving for, or how far his commute is to Chevrolet’s GM Charlotte Technical Center, he’s a driver fighting for stability in search of stock-car racing’s highest levels.

“It presents difficulties in the week-to-week logistics whenever I go back and forth, and obviously knowing the differences of the cars,” Caruth said of his dual rides in a Tuesday teleconference. “But honestly, at the race track, it’s not too complicated. I try to get each car driving to where I feel like I need it to go fastest, and we see where we stack up.”

This week, Caruth will be back in the No. 32 Chevrolet. Through eight races, the 23-year-old sits 10th in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series points standings after running five races for JR Motorsports and three for Jordan Anderson Racing. The back-and-forth nature of his current situation is taxing. He is chasing a championship by running the full season, but the unsteadiness of his circumstances isn’t confined to logistics. Caruth is also managing different personnel and different equipment on any given week.

There may not be many short-term benefits to the split duties he’s balancing, aside from a guaranteed full season of competition. But for Caruth, it’s all about the future.

“I feel like at the end of day, my goal is to race on Sundays, and I obviously can’t lose sight of where I’m at now, right? Because that impacts how or if I get to that level,” Caruth said. “But yeah, I think it’s the road less traveled. It’s not the easiest, and it wasn’t by design by any means. You’ve got to take what you get and what you’re able to make the most of. But I feel like the strengths and lessons I’ll receive will definitely benefit me long term in terms of going from running in the top five to fighting for a top 20, right? I think the race-craft that I’ve learned through that in my years, not only in the O’Reilly Series, but truck racing will just help for hopefully when I have the chance to race on Sundays in the future.

“I think that versatility, that race-craft is going to be important to know. And I feel like kind of getting a balance of both worlds is something that’s going to help me in the long run. So obviously got to be successful and get wins at this level and be competitive, but I really hope that in the long run, it will benefit me, because obviously it’s not the easiest right now, but I’d much rather take the path that I’m on now than having the best rides for my whole career and kind of having it easy to a certain point.”

Getty Images

With JRM, Caruth has one top five and three top 10s. With JAR, Caruth has one top 10. A Class of 2024 graduate of Winston-Salem State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Motorsports Management, Caruth dubs himself a tough critic and grades himself just a C-plus or B-minus through the early run of the schedule.

“I think there’s definitely been some highlights, but then there’s also been more left to be desired, whether it’s been in my control or out of my control, and opportunities left on the table,” Caruth said. “I’ve learned a lot. I’ve had a lot of fun this year for sure, but yeah, definitely some ups and downs.”

One of those highs was a daring late-race move for JRM last Saturday at Rockingham Speedway that vaulted Caruth to a career-best fourth-place finish, qualifying him for a shot at the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Another was an eighth-place finish in the No. 32 Chevy at Phoenix Raceway last month.

MORE: O’Reilly Auto Parts Series entry list for Bristol

His most public down, though, came at Martinsville Speedway when he initiated contact late with Jesse Love while both were racing inside the top 10. Neither finished inside the top 10, and Caruth spun on the final lap, falling to 25th. Caruth also points to his eighth-place run at EchoPark Speedway in the second race of the campaign as another missed opportunity in a season when points are more critical than ever.

“I made one move that was pretty low percentage — and I didn’t crash or anything,” Caruth said. “But I put myself in a spot where I made it to where I had to fight back to get a top 10 versus if I just waited for the next corner or didn’t put myself in that spot, that goes from eighth to fighting for the win. Same thing with Martinsville last week, right? Like just having a big picture kind of mentality of, ‘I need to live to the next corner.’ I’ve had a couple of moments like that this year where there’s points on the table that I probably gave away, where if I didn’t have those, if I didn’t make those decisions or have those emotional reactions, then that positively impacts my finishing position.”

It’s hard to fault Caruth for overstepping that aggression. Though only 23, Caruth has been on a path toward seeking NASCAR Cup Series glory for nearly a decade, a path forged through sim racing that led to real opportunities and required unrivaled determination. But there are no guarantees for what’s next. He has now. That’s all he knows.

“There’s no other shot. Like, this is it for me,” Caruth said. “For this year, this is my shot. There’s not a next-year contract. I don’t have a Sunday ride waiting for me. There’s nothing waiting for me. This is it for this year, so I’ve got to race like my life depends on it and do my best. And whatever the season looks like when we get to November, I’ll be proud of it because I did my best.”

James Gilbert | Getty Images

Posted on April 9, 2026April 9, 2026 by Zach Sturniolo

Alex Bowman has been medically cleared to return to NASCAR Cup Series competition at Bristol Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday morning.

Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, missed the past four races with vertigo, stepping out of his car during the March 1 race at Circuit of The Americas when symptoms arose.

MORE: Cup standings | Bristol schedule

Sunday’s Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will mark Bowman’s first race since symptoms began.

“I’m grateful for the support I’ve had from Hendrick Motorsports, my sponsor Ally, our fans and the medical team throughout this process,” Bowman said in a team release. “It’s been tough being out of the car, but we all wanted to make sure I was 100% ready before returning. I feel really good, and I’m excited about being at the track with my team and getting back to racing.”

In a release, Hendrick Motorsports said Bowman turned laps Tuesday in a street car at the Ten Tenths Motor Club road course in Concord, North Carolina, then participated in a Wednesday pit practice in addition to simulator testing. Bowman then underwent a medical evaluation before being formally cleared for competition without restrictions.

“We’re proud of Alex and the way he’s handled this situation,” Jeff Andrews, president and general manager of Hendrick Motorsports, said in a release. “He’s put a lot of work into his recovery and followed the medical team’s plan every step of the way. From the outset, our goal was to prioritize his health and have him return when he was fully recovered and medically cleared. We’re looking forward to seeing Alex back in his race car this weekend.”

Myatt Snider stepped into the No. 48 Chevrolet to complete the race at COTA when Bowman exited the vehicle at Lap 71. Anthony Alfredo, a simulation driver for Hendrick Motorsports, drove the No. 48 car in Bowman’s absence at Phoenix Raceway while Justin Allgaier, the 2024 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion, substituted at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway and Martinsville Speedway.

Bowman, an eight-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series, is in his ninth season with the Rick Hendrick-owned team. He returns to action sitting 36th in the Cup standings with a best finish of 23rd (EchoPark Speedway) in three starts this year.