Posted on by Pat DeCola

NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the 16 Cup Series drivers in The Chase presented by Mobil 1 after Kyle Larson’s win at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and before Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Cup Series Chase schedule | Cup Series standings

Analysis: Hamlin has not opened The Chase with the kind of authority his regular season suggested was coming, yet he still leaves Gateway exactly where he started it: atop the standings. Contact with Larson and a slow late pit stop complicated an otherwise respectable afternoon, but ninth was enough to preserve a nine-point lead with eight races remaining. Now comes a stretch that should suit him far better, beginning with Bristol, where Hamlin owns four Cup wins, 21 top 10s and more than 1,200 laps led. Two messy races have invited the field back into the conversation, but Bristol feels like the first real chance for Hamlin to remind everyone why he entered The Chase as the heavy favorite.

Analysis: Whatever swagger Hendrick Motorsports had misplaced over the summer appears to have resurfaced all at once and is primarily concentrated in the defending champ and his No. 5 team. Larson ended a 51-race winless streak at Gateway, personally pushed for four tires on the decisive stop and then used them to hunt down Joey Logano before surviving two overtimes for his first victory since May 2025. The payoff in the standings was enormous: Larson gained 40 points on Hamlin in one afternoon and is suddenly a scant nine tallies away from holding the championship lead. Now comes Bristol, where he has three Cup wins and led 284 of 505 laps this spring before finishing third. We’ve wondered recently whether the title version of Larson was beginning to reappear. Gateway answered pretty loudly.

Analysis: Bell’s 19th-place finish is one of those results that tells you less about the car than about the afternoon. The Southern 500 winner was still running near the front late before getting swept into the Lap 223 crash involving Bubba Wallace, Josh Berry and Tyler Reddick, leaving him 18 points behind Hamlin rather than right on his bumper as he was. Bristol should help him get right back to it — Bell won the Night Race there last year and owns seven top 10s in 10 Cup starts. His 27th-place spring result came after an early spin and stands out as the exception in an otherwise excellent Bristol resume. One chaotic Sunday did little to cool the championship case (especially where it was so chaotic for so many others, too).

Analysis: Gateway will go down as one of the ultimate “what might have been” races for Blaney. He entered as a strong favorite, looking like a good bet to finally reel in a Gateway win, scored fourth-place stage finishes in both segments and was running sixth when a brake rotor failure sent the No. 12 into the wall, turning a potential title-building afternoon into a 35th-place finish and a 17-point loss to Hamlin. The good news is that Bristol is about as logical a rebound spot as Blaney could ask for. The short-track ace led 190 laps and finished second there in April, and his career record includes five top fives, nine top 10s and 775 laps led. Gateway changed the math, not the underlying championship argument, and his first Bristol win could come at a most opportune time.

Analysis: Somehow, a 54-point afternoon still felt like the one that got away from No. 22. Logano sat on the pole, won Stage 1 and controlled large portions of Gateway before Larson’s four-tire strategy ultimately flipped the race late. Third was his fifth top-five finish in five Cup starts at the track, but a win would have been worth 21 more points, a massive swing for a driver still 51 behind Hamlin. Bristol only strengthens the sense that Logano is becoming dangerous and set to strike again soon — two career wins there, seventh in the spring and fifth last fall. We have seen this particular three-time champion build momentum at inconvenient times before, and he’s perhaps in the midst of his greatest heist yet.

Analysis: Reddick’s Gateway race was compromised almost before it started. Contact with Daniel Suárez sent the No. 45 into the wall on Lap 3, and after spending most of the day clawing back, he was collected again in the late multicar wreck that also trapped Bell and Wallace. The 25th-place finish stretched his Chase deficit to 42 points, interrupting the rebound that had started to take shape over the previous few weeks. Bristol offers a mixed read: Reddick finished fourth there this spring, but that is one of only two top 10s in 10 Cup starts. The No. 45 rediscovered its speed before The Chase, but it could now use a race where nothing gets in the way of showing it.

Analysis: Few drivers endured more Gateway chaos while still repeatedly finding their way back toward the front. Briscoe spun after contact with Wallace while running sixth, later turned Ross Chastain and was then collected when Elliott’s brakes failed while the No. 19 was again running sixth. The 32nd-place finish dropped him to 59 points behind Hamlin, right at the back edge of the leading Chase cluster before a notable 29-point gap opens to Carson Hocevar in ninth. Bristol could steady things quickly: Briscoe was fifth there in April and led 127 laps in last year’s Night Race before finishing ninth. Sunday’s result was ugly, but the speed underneath it for this championship-capable No. 19 team was not.

Analysis: Gateway gave Gibbs a little bit of everything except a clean afternoon. He spun Erik Jones, traded contact with Hocevar, lost track position amid a restart/pit strategy mix-up and eventually got collected in the Lap 228 pileup, finishing 18th. Even so, he remains tied with Logano at 51 points behind Hamlin and now heads to the site of his first Cup victory earlier this year. Gibbs won at Bristol in April after taking the lead late, and last fall he led a whopping 201 laps there before finishing 10th. Whatever drama surrounds the No. 54 right now, Bristol has been one place where performance has spoken pretty clearly above all else and he has a chance to make a huge statement on Saturday night.

Analysis: There is still almost never a dull Carson Hocevar race, but lately the results have started making the commotion easier for him to back up. Gateway included contact with Chris Buescher and Gibbs, an extra stop to retighten the right-rear wheel and another late incident — yet Hocevar still finished eighth for his career-best 10th top 10 of the season. He also moved to ninth in The Chase, though the 88-point deficit keeps him still on the wrong side of the first meaningful standings tier break. Bristol has been solid territory early in his career: 10th this spring, seventh last fall and a 14.0 average finish through six Cup starts. The pace is there, as we know. The question will always just be, apparently, how long the path around the pace will stay clean. Until someone proves otherwise on the race track (or elsewhere), it appears that he’s set to continue his smooth sailing up the standings.

Analysis: Wallace’s 14th at Gateway required quite a bit of reconstruction amidst the chaos, which honestly is a good showing of his team’s mettle. He spun after contact with Briscoe while racing four-wide, recovered into the top 10 and then triggered the late crash with Berry that also collected Bell and Reddick, but rebounded enough that the day wasn’t catastrophic. That left him 90 points behind Hamlin and still sitting at the front edge of The Chase’s increasingly separated lower half. Bristol has not historically been one of Wallace’s better tracks — just two top 10s in 14 Cup starts — though 11th there this spring was perfectly respectable. The title path is narrowing and a similar showing won’t gain him any ground, but the No. 23 has spent enough of 2026 running near the front to keep it from disappearing entirely and the possibility of a win remains.

Analysis: In a Gateway race where 14 of the 16 Chase drivers had some sort of issue, Cindric mostly stayed out of trouble and collected a useful 10th-place finish. It was his third top 10 in five races, a quietly encouraging stretch for a driver who entered The Chase buried by the reset. Bristol is where the optimism gets harder to sustain, unfortunately. Cindric has no top 10s in seven Cup starts there, finished 16th this spring and was 30th in last year’s Night Race. At 108 points back, the No. 2 is running out of opportunities for quiet progress to be enough. Bristol would be an excellent place to finally rewrite some history, but it’s a tall task.

Analysis: Elliott’s Gateway race was headed somewhere genuinely promising before the brakes disappeared. Running seventh on Lap 214, the No. 9 suffered a brake rotor failure, spun and collected Briscoe, turning one of his better afternoons into a 31st-place finish. He is now 93 points behind Hamlin, while Larson’s sudden return to Victory Lane has made the contrast inside Hendrick even sharper. Bristol is difficult to diagnose for the 2020 champ: Elliott owns five top fives and nine top 10s there, but the two most recent results are 22nd this spring and 38th last fall. There is still plenty of championship-caliber history attached to the No. 9 and he’s in no way out of this, but the current form needs to start resembling it much more consistently.

Analysis: Preece continues to hang around as he searches high and low for another Daytona-sized jolt. He brushed the wall while running 11th at Gateway, recovered to 17th and leaves the second Chase race 113 points behind Hamlin. A massive hole, but Bristol at least offers something tangible to work with. Preece finished eighth there in April and owns three career top 10s with a 14.8 average finish despite never leading a Cup lap at the track. He already changed the entire direction of his season once at Daytona, and this team has nothing to lose at this point. With the standings gap widening, another swing of that magnitude would certainly come in handy and they can’t be counted out yet.

Analysis: Gateway finally delivered the kind of clean Sunday Byron had been missing — he’s now mostly just running out of time. Starting 24th, he drove to fourth and snapped an eight-race stretch without a top five, restoring at least a little life to a Chase that opened disastrously at Darlington. The cruel part: Byron gained exactly zero points on tHamlin because the No. 11’s stage haul offset the finishing-position difference, leaving the gap at 114. Bristol is no obvious continuation spot either — he left Tennessee 30th this spring and owns just two top fives in 14 Cup starts. Gateway was badly needed evidence that the No. 24 can still run like itself, but it needs to now take inspiration from its No. 5 teammate and snap the winless skid.

Analysis: Buescher’s Gateway race went from anonymous to disastrous when a brake rotor failed entering Turn 1 with nine laps remaining, sending the No. 17 into the wall and leaving him 27th. He lost 23 points to Hamlin and now sits 111 back, one of several Chase drivers who cannot afford many more weekends that simply disappear. Bristol at least carries genuine great rebound potential: Buescher won the 2022 Night Race there and has five career top 10s, plus finishes of 13th this spring and 11th last fall. If there is a place to pull this Chase back toward relevance, a track where he has one of his signature Cup Series moments is a reasonable starting point.

Analysis: Suárez never really escaped the opening laps at Gateway, and it didn’t get much better from there. Contact with Reddick sent him into the wall on Lap 3, more nose damage followed while avoiding another crash and the afternoon eventually unraveled into a 29th-place finish. The result dropped him to last among the 16 Chase drivers, 119 points behind Hamlin. Bristol offers little statistical reassurance, either, with two top 10s in 16 Cup starts, a 19.7 average finish and 12th this spring before a crash ended last year’s Night Race. The season has already produced a couple of enormous Suárez swings, but eight races remain for another one to arrive. And he very likely needs more than one.

Posted on by Press Release

Kicking Off National Hispanic Heritage Month, Documentary Follows NASCAR Star Daniel Suárez’s Emotional Homecoming During Historic 2025 Mexico City Race Weekend.

Special Preview Airs Sept. 15 on FOX Deportes. Documentary Available on Tubi Following FS1 Debut.

Film Presented by Freeway Insurance.

LOS ANGELES — FOX Sports, Wilmer Valderrama’s WV Alternative and NASCAR Studios today announce SUÁREZ, a new documentary chronicling NASCAR star Daniel Suárez’s emotional homecoming during the 2025 Mexico City race weekend. Premiering Thursday, Sept. 17, at 10 p.m. ET on FS1 in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the film captures a defining chapter in Suárez’s groundbreaking career as Mexico and the United States rally around one driver, one race and one unforgettable moment.

The documentary will have a special preview Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 9 p.m. ET on FOX Deportes and will also be available on Tubi beginning Saturday, Oct. 17 in the U.S., Mexico and LATAM markets following its FS1 debut.

Set against NASCAR’s historic return to Mexico City and its first championship race outside the United States since 1958, SUÁREZ follows the three-time Cup Series race winner back to the country that shaped him. After leaving Mexico to pursue his NASCAR dreams in the United States, where he would go on to become the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race, Suárez returns home, racing not just for victory, but for something greater. The full-circle moment underscores what Suárez’s rise has meant for NASCAR and for a new generation of fans.

“The most compelling sports stories are the ones that resonate far beyond the competition itself, and Daniel’s is one of them,” said Barry Nugent, vice president, development & original programming, FOX Sports. “Daniel’s journey is defined by perseverance, sacrifice and an unwavering pride in where he comes from. He has opened doors, inspired fans and has given the next generation someone to see themselves in. We are proud to partner with WV Alternative and NASCAR Studios to share this deeply personal chapter in Daniel’s life.”

Through intimate access to Suárez, his family and those closest to him, SUÁREZ traces his journey from his beginnings in Monterrey to the highest level of American motorsports, exploring the experiences, relationships and sense of identity that have shaped his career, including the many sacrifices his family made to support his racing ambitions.

“Coming back to Mexico and racing in front of my home country was something I had dreamed about for a long time, but I don’t think I fully understood what it would mean until I was there,” Suárez said. “There were so many emotions that weekend, the pressure, the support from my family and fans, and thinking about everything I had gone through to get to that point. Mexico will always be a huge part of who I am, and being able to race there at the highest level was an incredibly meaningful moment in my life. I hope people watching this film can understand where I came from, what this journey has meant to me and feel inspired to chase their own dreams, no matter where they start.”

After an accident in qualifying forces Suárez into a backup car and to the rear of the field for the 2025 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, Suárez captures an emotional and historic victory with his home crowd behind him. More than a story of one driver or one race, SUÁREZ is a portrait of a man who never had to choose between where he came from and where he was going.

“Daniel’s story is one of ambition, sacrifice and perseverance, the kind of story you hope to find and have the opportunity to tell,” said Wilmer Valderrama, executive producer, WV Alternative. “We were honored to bring his journey to life and give audiences a deeper look at the person behind the driver. It’s a story that we believe will stay with you long after the film ends, and we can’t wait for audiences around the world to experience Daniel’s journey for themselves.”

“When I first started at NASCAR in the spring of 2024, Daniel’s story against the backdrop of our planned Mexico City race weekend quickly got my attention,” said John Dahl, NASCAR SVP of original content. “I had great experiences working with filmmaker Mario Diaz, and I reached out to him about doing a film on Daniel’s journey back home. We were soon connected with Wilmer Valderrama’s WV Alternative team, and it was a perfect match, both in terms of the production and the subject himself. Daniel immediately understood the impact telling his inspiring story could have. He and his wife Julia couldn’t have been more cooperative in our collective effort to bring this documentary to audiences everywhere.”

SUÁREZ is directed by Mario Diaz and is executive produced by Wilmer Valderrama and Jessica Acevedo of WV Alternative along with Tim Clark, John Dahl and Tally Hair of NASCAR Studios and Eric Shanks, Brad Zager and Nugent from FOX Sports. Ariana Rotstein, Carl Hansen, Michael Vayder, Rita O’Dea serve as producers.

The film is presented by Freeway Insurance.

FOX Sports Films is dedicated to presenting captivating global sports documentaries through an unconventional and entertaining lens. Working with FOX Sports’ league and conference partners, the brand produces original programming, connecting live sports events to sports culture.

For more information, visit FOX Sports Press Pass and follow @FOXSportsPR on X.

Posted on by Dustin Albino

When Josh Berry endured an extended slump during the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, his mind kept coming back to one thing: his reputation. However his tenure at Wood Brothers Racing ended, he was determined to leave the organization knowing he had emptied the tank and gone out swinging.

From the outside looking in, he thought the perception around him had changed. His journeyman-like career, winning races at local short tracks in bunches around the Southeast, led him to the national stage. But he was worried that perception was hindered by the No. 21 team’s performance this season.

“It’s amazing how quickly public opinion can change,” Berry said over the weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway before running in contention for much of Sunday’s race but ultimately finishing 28th. “There, for a while, it was bad. It’s results-based, and you can’t really see how the races play out. The things you fight because it’s hard to cover every car throughout the whole race.

“I just felt like myself. I still felt fine, but reading all the stuff, you are like, ‘How did it go this bad this quick?’ ”

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Berry learned in early June that Wood Brothers Racing would go in a different direction with the No. 21 team beginning in 2027, with the organization later announcing young prospect — and 2025 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion — Jesse Love as his replacement. As Berry searched for his next opportunity, results remained elusive, with 17 of the first 21 races this season ending in finishes of 25th or worse. Following a 36th-place finish at North Wilkesboro Speedway, he fell to 33rd in the championship standings.

But then, a proverbial switch flipped at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Berry finished seventh for his first top 10 in nearly four months, dating back to Martinsville Speedway. That sparked a run of three consecutive races at shorter tracks — Berry’s bread and butter — in which he finished eighth or better, highlighted by a season-best third at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The Tennessean added additional top-10 finishes at Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway, extending his streak to six consecutive races, the longest such run by a Wood Brothers driver since David Pearson in 1976.

“And now it went completely the other way, ‘Oh yeah, this guy can drive,’ ” Berry continued about his perception after six straight top 10s. “It’s almost a joke in a way with how things get perceived. It goes to show you how competitive this is, how hard this is and how important it is to have everything going in the right direction.”

Berry began surveying the landscape of potential opportunities. With little movement in Cup, his primary focus was competing with a competitive team in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, though finishing a deal was an uphill battle.

Jimmie Johnson, seven-time Cup Series champion and majority owner of Legacy Motor Club, came calling. Legacy informed John Hunter Nemechek on August 31 that it was moving in a different direction, inserting Berry into the No. 42 Toyota. The deal rapidly came together.

“Very, very strong reaction. The way we operate and with how close we all are as a team, you know, not an easy decision with John Hunter,” Johnson said on “The Dale Jr. Download” last week. “But we are where we are now, and where Josh can bring in a lot of experience in building maturity, know-how, these things that a 35-year-old can bring. It’s just different.”

Digging into the analytics, Berry’s in-race performance stood out. It dates back further than the recent string of solid finishes — Berry proved he could win at the Cup level, scoring his first victory in March 2025 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“I know that people think maybe Legacy chose to move in a direction with Josh because of what’s happened here the last five or six weeks,” Johnson said. “It’s really the data and the body of work over the last three years as we dive in and really look at that, figure out how it fits into our program.”

Ultimately, Berry will be the new pilot of the No. 42 Toyota and intends to join the organization in full soon after the checkered flag drops at the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.

MORE: Cup Series standings | Cup Series schedule

Over the next eight races, however, Berry hopes to deliver Wood Brothers Racing its 102nd Cup Series victory. And with the recent upward trajectory, he’s once again finding confidence and comfort behind the wheel.

“It’s been a hell of a lot more fun — I know that,” Berry said of his recent performance. “It’s been a lot more fun. Just crazy how the perception of me and our race team has changed. I just felt like this is what was possible for us the whole time; it was our expectation with what I could do behind the wheel. Just try to keep it up, finish strong, score as many points as we can and move up through the standings, hand this thing off and go to my new opportunity.”

Posted on by George Winkler

The buzz continues to build for NASCAR 26, with early access set for today (Sept. 15) for those who purchased the Gold Edition. For those who purchased the Standard Edition, the game will be available on Sept. 18. Whatever edition you bought, burnouts, cross-platform play and a Peak Performance mode where Jamie McMurray is your coach are among the highlights that make this the most realistic driver-based game ever offered.

But before you get to compare your SMT data to Jamie’s and experience dynamic tracks where the grip level changes throughout the race, iRacing allowed us to have a sneak peek at the driver ratings for NASCAR 26 — which were developed with NASCAR Racing Insights and that players can adjust to their liking, adding more customization. Being that we’re big NASCAR followers, we saw some interesting things that should get you even more fired up for what figures to be a big week in the gaming world.

Back when the cover was revealed in June, you might remember that it was 2025 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, with his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, who graced the front. Larson earned a 90 overall driving rating, with his highest marks coming on intermediates, concrete tracks and road courses. The highest driver rating went to Larson’s rival for the championship, Denny Hamlin, who scored a 99.

To arrive at that conclusion, Hamlin earned 99s on intermediates, speedways and concrete tracks. His lowest rating was a 76 on road courses. Speaking of road courses, it should come as no surprise that Shane van Gisbergen earned a 99 rating on those tracks. The other 99 ratings in the game came from Ryan Blaney on superspeedways, short intermediates and concrete tracks.

Christopher Bell got a 98 on concrete tracks (remember, he picked up a sword last fall from Bristol) while Joey Logano (who had a blowout win at North Wilkesboro) earned a 98 for short intermediates. Hamlin also got a stellar 97 rating for short intermediates while Tyler Reddick took home a 97 on intermediate tracks that are right in his wheelhouse, like Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of this year’s championship weekend.

If you purchased a Gold Edition, not only will you get early access to NASCAR 26, but you will also get paint scheme packs for September, October, November and December, 1,000 career rep points, $10,000 career bonus money and VIP employees.

To get in on the fun, go to NASCAR26.com/presale. Check out the Cover Reveal to see the Larson cover referenced earlier. Or catch up on the latest news around NASCAR 26, including the Dev Diaries, where you can hear from the developers who worked on the game about what they are most excited about and most proud for you to see and experience.

With more ways to play, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be lighting up tracks like Naval Base Coronado with the fast times needed to outpace the competition.

Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels from outside St. Louis to Bristol, Tennessee, to compete at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“The Last Great Colosseum” will be the third site hosting The Chase presented by Mobil 1. The O’Reilly race is also the 27th points-paying contest of the season.

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | O’Reilly Auto Parts Series | Craftsman Truck Series

Defending O’Reilly champion Jesse Love finally found Victory Lane this season, doing so at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway over the weekend in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. In four career Bristol O’Reilly starts, Love has three finishes of 12th or better.

Thirty-nine cars are entered into this weekend’s Chase contest.

MORE: Weekend schedule | How to watch NASCAR on The CW

View the full entry list here:

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

The second race of The Chase presented by Mobil 1 produced another first-time winner this season as Kyle Larson broke a 51-race winless drought to score the victory on Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. The chaos behind him, however, left The Chase field shaken.

Here’s where we stand in The Chase coming out of the Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway and heading to Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Gateway results | Full Cup Series standings

Chase Changer

A trip to Victory Lane for Larson created the most significant leap in The Chase so far, vaulting a stunning five positions to second in the standings, nine points behind series leader Denny Hamlin. Among the drivers he passed were Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs, leaving Larson as the only Chevrolet driver inside The Chase standings’ top eight.

The other big mover on Sunday afternoon was Carson Hocevar, who gained three positions in points after a noisy week surrounding his conflict with Brad Keselowski from one week earlier. Hocevar jumped to ninth in the standings, but he only gained one point on Hamlin, trailing by 89 markers after Darlington and now 88 back after Gateway.

But the melees of the day wreaked the most havoc at Gateway as 14 of the 16 Chase drivers landed in an incident, according to Racing Insights, with Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Austin Cindric leaving with the cleanest performances.

The two drivers who paid the steepest price were Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe and Spire Motorsports’ Daniel Suárez, both of whom fell three spots in the standings. Briscoe dropped to eighth in points, 59 points back of teammate Hamlin. Suárez faces a more dire situation, falling to last in the 16-driver rundown and 119 points out of first place. Suárez also incurred the biggest points loss to the leader this week, losing 25 points to Hamlin from where he entered Gateway to where he left.

The Chase Board

While The Chase Board shuffled mightily this week — only Hamlin, Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace retained their positions before and after Gateway — there is suddenly a clearer division between the top and bottom halves of the points standings.

Briscoe marks the bottom of the best at eighth, still within 59 points of Hamlin but trailing Larson, Bell, Blaney, Reddick, Gibbs and Logano. The other eight drivers, from Hocevar in ninth to Suárez in 16th, all enter Bristol facing a deficit of 88 or more points with eight races remaining. That includes heavy hitters like Wallace, 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott and William Byron.

For Team Penske, Sunday was largely a missed opportunity, especially for Blaney and Logano, both of whom expected to fight for the win at the flat, 1.25-mile oval that best fits their teams’ strengths. Logano won the pole, led a race-high 96 laps and nabbed 19 stage points before finishing third, but even he was left “bitter” following a 54-point day that could have been a 74-point day had he won instead. Blaney’s Lap 155 brake failure negated the No. 12 team’s drive toward the front of the field and dropped him to 35th in the rundown; fourth-place stage points in the opening two segments salvaged what could have been a two-point result into 16 points instead.

Meanwhile, championship pursuits are growing increasingly difficult for the back half of The Chase field. Eight races provide plenty of opportunities to go on a run and tear into the points gaps in front of these drivers, but their mulligans may all be gone already. Elliott and Chris Buescher both suffered brake failures Sunday at Gateway, while Suárez, Preece and Wallace each found trouble multiple times through the caution-filled event. Byron mustered a fourth-place finish — matching his best since Chicagoland Speedway on July 5 — but a Darlington engine failure and zero Gateway stage points still leave him 15th, 114 points behind Hamlin — one spot better than he entered but facing exactly the same deficit leaving St. Louis.

RankDriverPoints BehindGain/Loss to Leader
1Denny Hamlin--Lost 3
2Kyle Larson-9Gained 40
3Christopher Bell-18Lost 6
4Ryan Blaney-33Lost 17
5Tyler Reddick-42Lost 18
6Ty Gibbs-51Lost 12
7Joey Logano-51Gained 21
8Chase Briscoe-59Lost 22
9Carson Hocevar-88Gained 1
10Bubba Wallace-90Lost 9
11Chase Elliott-93Lost 21
12Austin Cindric-108Lost 6
13Chris Buescher-111Lost 23
14Ryan Preece-113Lost 9
15William Byron-114Even
16Daniel Suárez-119Lost 25

Source: Racing Insights

Next Up

The Bristol Night Race is back, highlighting one of the NASCAR schedule’s most iconic venues with some of the highest stakes. While “The Last Great Colosseum” won’t feature any sort of cutoff race with playoffs in the past, there will be no shortage of drama on the Tennessee high banks — especially not after 18 caution flags flew last weekend at Gateway.

Ty Gibbs scored his first career Cup win this spring in a photo finish with Ryan Blaney at Bristol with Kyle Larson hot on their tails. All three should factor into the outcome of Saturday night’s showdown, which could significantly alter the postseason picture. And don’t sleep on Christopher Bell, who won last year’s Bristol Night Race after a late-race restart.

Larson is historically great at Bristol, with three wins and nine top fives in his last 12 starts there. But his Hendrick Motorsports teammates in The Chase haven’t found that same success. Elliott has just two top fives at Bristol since the Next Gen car was introduced in 2022; Byron has one. Elliott has finished 15th or worse in each of his last three Bristol starts. Byron has one top 10 in his last four Bristol tries.

Hamlin has had an unsteady start to The Chase, plagued in part by bad pit stops at bad times, but still enters Bristol with the points lead. The No. 11 Toyota driver has two wins and seven top 10s in his last eight Bristol starts.

Posted on by Staff Report

After nearly a month away from the track, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action to begin The Chase presented by Mobil 1 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday (8 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX One, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The contest is the first of seven postseason Truck races during the 2026 campaign. Layne Riggs is the defending winner.

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | O’Reilly Auto Parts Series | Craftsman Truck Series

Riggs enters the postseason stretch as the 2026 points leader. Over the 18-race regular season, the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports driver logged six wins, 10 top fives, 11 top 10s, four poles and 598 laps led.

Thirty-seven race trucks are entered into this weekend’s Chase race.

MORE: Weekend schedule | How to watch NASCAR on FS1

Check out the full entry list:

Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series continues on Saturday with a trek to Tennessee for an under-the-lights bout at “The Last Great Colosseum” in Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

This year’s Chase presented by Mobil 1 continues at the iconic venue, with the Bass Pro Shops Night Race the third of 10 postseason battles. The contest is also the 29th points-paying event of the 2026 season. Christopher Bell is the defending winner.

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | O’Reilly Auto Parts Series | Craftsman Truck Series

Kyle Larson, who snapped a 51-race winless streak thanks to his World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway victory in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, enters Bristol on a momentum swing, gaining five spots in The Chase table and sitting only nine points behind points leader Denny Hamlin. In seven Bristol concrete races in the Next Gen era, the 2025 Cup Series champion has two wins and six top-five finishes.

Thirty-seven cars are entered into this weekend’s Chase bout.

MORE: Weekend schedule | How to watch NASCAR on NBC, USA Network

View the entry list here:

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

With only two races left in the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, the race for the championship heads back to Long Island’s Riverhead Raceway this Saturday night for the running of the Eddie Partridge 206 (8:30 p.m. ET on FloRacing).

Held in honor of late Riverhead Raceway owner Eddie Partridge, Saturday’s event will be the 79th Modified Tour race at the quarter-mile bullring. Austin Beers is the defending winner of Saturday’s event, an achievement he’ll attempt to repeat as he continues his pursuit of championship leader Patrick Emerling as the season inches closer to its conclusion.

Justin Bonsignore, who will make his 250th Modified Tour start Saturday, leads all drivers with 12 victories at Riverhead Raceway. Other notable winners through the years at Riverhead include Mike Ewanitsko, Mike Stefanik, Donny Lia, Ryan Preece, Ted Christopher, Doug Coby and Timmy Solomito, just to name a few.

Tickets to Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 206 will be available trackside. Below is everything you need to know before Saturday’s race.

Justin Bonsignore
Justin Bonsignore will make his 250th Modified Tour start during Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 206 at Riverhead Raceway. (Photo: Anna Griffin/NASCAR)

Eddie Partridge 206 at Riverhead Raceway

Riverhead Raceway and Modified racing have gone hand in hand for decades.

Not only is the quarter-mile asphalt oval one of the most traditional venues on the Modified Tour schedule, it is also one of the few tracks left in the United States with Modifieds as their premier weekly racing division.

As a result, some of the best and brightest Modified competitors have honed their skills at Riverhead Raceway. That includes local star Mark Stewart, who won the most recent Modified Tour race at Riverhead earlier this season.

Stewart will be back in the Modified Tour field for Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 206 as he looks to add a second victory with NASCAR’s oldest division to his résumé. In order to do that, he’ll have to outrun some of the best Modified competitors in the United States.

That includes Bonsignore, the winningest Modified Tour driver in Riverhead Raceway history. Bonsignore, who started his career as a local racer at Riverhead, will make his landmark 250th career start during Saturday’s race aboard the No. 51 for Ken Massa Motorsports.

Fresh off his fourth victory of the 2026 campaign two weeks ago at Oswego Speedway, Patrick Emerling heads to Riverhead with an 18-point advantage on Austin Beers in the Modified Tour standings. Emerling and Beers have both won races at Riverhead in the past, which means the battle for the series championship is far from over.

In addition to Stewart, a few more local competitors will join the field for Saturday’s race. They include Chris Rogers, Chase Grennan, Timmy Solomito, Roger Turbush, Joey Braun and Matt Brode. They’ll battle against Modified Tour regulars like Jon McKennedy, Matt Hirschman, Stephen Kopcik, Mike Christopher Jr., Teddy Hodgdon, Tyler Rypkema, Paulie Hartwig III and Andrew Molleur.

The full entry list for Saturday evening’s Eddie Partridge 206 will be available later this week.

Riverhead Raceway
Saturday’s Modified Tour event will be the 79th series event at Riverhead Raceway. (Photo: Anna Griffin/NASCAR)

RACING REFERENCE:

Race Eddie Partridge 206
Date Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026
Track Riverhead Raceway
Layout Quarter-mile asphalt oval
Location Riverhead, New York
Start time 8:30 p.m. ET
Laps 206
Posted Awards $104,092
Tickets Trackside
How to Watch FloRacing

SCHEDULE: Saturday, Sept. 19: Practice from 3:30 to 4:05 p.m. … Final practice from 4:15 to 4:45 p.m. … American Racer Pole Award qualifying at 6:15 p.m. … Start of the Eddie Partridge 206 (206 Laps / 51.5 Miles) at 8:30 p.m. ET.

QUALIFYING: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for The Eddie Partridge 206 presented by My Guy Auto Supply NAPA / Hoss Communications Inc. is limited to 26 starters including Provisional Positions.

TIRE ALLOTMENT: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eight (8) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by NASCAR Officials, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. The same four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice tires during the event. The tire change rule is zero (0) tires, any position for the event.

RE-DRAW PROCEDURE: The fastest qualifier will spin the wheel to determine the number of drivers that will re-draw for their starting positions: 4, 6, 8 or 10 positions will re-draw. Once the fastest qualifier spins the wheel, NASCAR will have the various buckets ready to immediately start the re-draw procedure. Driver will re-draw in their qualifying order after qualifying has been completed (1 through 10, or however many are applicable). The pole position and/or any bonus point(s), if applicable, will be awarded to the fastest qualifier and will be the pole of record. If, due to adverse conditions, qualifying is canceled, the field will be set in accordance with the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Rule Book. The re-draw procedure will still take place regardless of how the field is set.

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

MADISON, Ill. — “Is Kyle Larson back?” “Is he the championship frontrunner?”

Surely, those are the first questions that come to mind when a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion caps a 51-race winless streak with a victory in the early portion of the 2026 Chase presented by Mobil 1.

Larson parked the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet back in Victory Lane Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway for the first time since the 2025 spring race at Kansas Speedway.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

But amid the showers of celebration, the California native is dialing down the knob on the “he is so back” conversation.

“Back to what? Back to 2021? No. Back to 2023? No,” Larson said. “But we’ve been definitely building to get back to Victory Lane. I don’t know if we’re quite yet to where we can go dominate like we have in the past, but a day like today definitely gives you confidence leading into a track (Bristol) where we know we can go dominate.” 

While it hasn’t been for a lack of effort, the No. 5 team and Hendrick have been behind the curve as the Toyota tandem of Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing won a combined 24 races during Larson’s drought and have put a stranglehold on NASCAR’s premier series with Denny Hamlin sitting as the current points leader and championship favorite entering The Chase.

Additionally, Chevrolet brought an updated body to the Cup Series at the beginning of the season and that left the Hendrick organization scratching its head on falling even further behind the Toyota camp.

“We didn’t quite know our deficit to the field,” No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels said. “So early in the year, we were taking, I would just say, too many risks and too many different approaches that weren’t necessarily what we should have done at the time. I think of like Phoenix, we got on a different page at Phoenix early in the year than what we needed to be. Darlington early in the year — we did not do a good job of just the setup that we put in the car and kind of how we approached that one. We have learned through those mistakes that we can’t just go overreach on everything every week. Like everything can’t be in question every week. There’s some things that have to be your solid foundation point.”

Daniels admits the winless drought has made his team be more measured in how it approaches race weekends.

“You’ve got to be more calculated of the things that you’re going to build in that are different, and you’ve got to be equally as calculated of the things that you’re going to build in that aren’t different,” Daniels said. “That’s been a 5 team thing, but it’s also kind of been a Hendrick thing here recently.

“We’ve really had to push ourselves and learn to find that balance of ‘OK, we need to bring a few new things to the race track this weekend. We’re still getting beat. We’re still getting outpaced.’ So we still have to put in the work to find those things.”

Coming into 2026, Larson had won no less than three races in a season going back to his first championship in 2021 when he took a whopping 10 checkered flags en route to his crowning moment in his first season with Hendrick Motorsports.

But after the Kansas win in 2025, mistakes and unforced errors began plaguing the No. 5 team and Larson.

Most notably, Larson had a double-DNF day in his final attempt at the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 Memorial Day weekend combination that seemed to catalyze the drought. But Hall of Famer and Hendrick vice chairman Jeff Gordon admits Hendrick hasn’t brought the best equipment for Larson to succeed in his slump.

“I’ve seen this in my own career and others over the years where things aren’t going your way, you make some mistakes or some things happen to get you in a vulnerable position,” Gordon said. “That’s one thing and that can get you down, but the thing that gets you down the most, especially when you’ve had success, is not having fast race cars, not having cars capable of of running up front. And I think if anything, it’s probably challenged those guys the most. We’ve had a lot of conversations this year about how we’ve been approaching some of the races, knowing we’re behind. We’re always trying to catch up, get our cars better, and working through that with all of our teammates at Chevy and Chevy themselves internally. Effort was being put in and we just weren’t seeing the results and just kind of took some time this season.

“Kyle’s just one of those guys when if the speed’s there, I see his confidence pop right back up right away.”

While 16 months and 51 races without a victory appear long for the standard Larson has set at the Cup level since joining Hendrick, Larson said he doesn’t see it that way and never lost any confidence in his team.

“I always had the trust in our team and the trust in Cliff Daniels. It’s not like we’ve gotten worse as a team,” Larson said. “The trust was always there. I wouldn’t say there was really anything to learn, and that’s why I think the drought didn’t feel so long — and maybe the championship helped with that. Every week I hear you guys tell the new number, and it’s like, ‘It doesn’t seem that large.’ ”

Rolling off a top five and a win to begin The Chase, Larson has quickly ascended from the No. 7 seed to second in points and trails Hamlin by just nine points for the championship lead.

MORE: Cup standings after Gateway | Larson: ‘We got our swagger back’

Larson has been a thorn in Hamlin’s side over recent years when it comes to championship battles, including last year when the No. 5 took the trophy in overtime at Phoenix after a two-tire vs. four-tire strategy call vaulted Larson over the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at the finish.

Whether there is an advantage to chasing the leader early in The Chase or not, Larson has noted the struggles of both Hamlin and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase No. 1 seed Justin Allgaier early in the postseason.

“I think it’s tough to know what’s going on in his and his team’s kind of heads in this moment,” Larson said of Hamlin. “I would say leading into The Chase, like Denny and Justin Allgaier were the two heavy favorites, and they’ve not opened The Chase up as strong as they have been the last few months. I don’t know if it’s because they were just racing free in the regular season, and now you’re trying to protect. We’re just trying to do the best job we can and try to score as many points as we can. I would love to be nine points ahead than nine points behind right now. But it’s been a good start to our Chase.”

There’s no telling if Larson will win again this season or prevent another lengthy drought that extends past a calendar year. But the 34-year-old wheelman is never backing down from adversity and will embrace whatever challenges present themselves to him moving forward.

“The struggle’s fun,” Larson said. “I don’t mind it. I’ve said that all along, too. I’ve had more fun this year than a lot of years and we hadn’t won till this point. I don’t mind the struggle. I’m not scared of it.”

larson in victory lane
Chris Graythen | Getty Images