Eckes, Enfinger just short in Truck race at Pocono: ‘Wrong push, wrong time’

Posted on July 12, 2024July 13, 2024 by Zach Sturniolo

LONG POND, Pa. — Grant Enfinger and Christian Eckes tried to throw everything they had at Corey Heim Friday at Pocono Raceway.

In the end, both came up just short.

Heim stormed away to the checkered flag in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the 2.5-mile triangular track, leaving Enfinger and Eckes wishing they had gotten better restarts.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Rain slowed the event with eight laps remaining, creating a 34-minute delay between the caution period and the final re-fire with three laps to go. Heim and Eckes were side-by-side on the front row with Enfinger behind Heim on the outside lane and Ross Chastain behind Eckes on the inside.

Heim got the better launch when the green flag waved while the inside lane struggled to stay connected. When Chastain caught Eckes to push him ahead, the momentum proved too strong, sending Eckes sideways and necessitating a save while Heim drove away for his fifth win of the season — and fourth in the last seven races. Enfinger took the checkered flag second with Eckes third and Chastain fourth.

“Just wrong push, wrong time, I guess,” Eckes said. “He (Chastain) really couldn’t get to me as well as I’d hoped that Ross could and I had to guard him a little bit. I thought he was going to split me three-wide bottom, but I think it’s just wrong push, wrong time. I was coming up a little bit to side draft the nine (Enfinger) or 11 (Heim), whoever was beside me at that time, and as I was pulling up, he hit me hard and jacked us sideways pretty good. But overall, just just proud of everybody. We just got to be a little better.”

Though he restarted behind Heim, Enfinger felt taking the second row was best for his No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet.

“My play was to try to push him (Heim) and clear the inside line,” Enfinger said. “I was hoping that the bottom lane would kind of fan out where we could get clear halfway down the front straightaway and make a move there. Just didn’t pan out.

“All in all, I still feel like that was probably our our best play as far as the odds go to making something happen, but really just happy with our performance.”

Before the final caution, Heim and Enfinger had checked out from the rest of the field by some 10 seconds while the majority of the field was nursing fuel to ensure they’d have enough in the tank. The leaders, meanwhile, were pedal down.

“Everybody was close on fuel,” Enfinger said. “We kind of made the decision to just go and … we’d already had a caution previous. If no caution were to come out, we were gonna kind of take our chances. But no, we weren’t really saving any fuel other than in caution.”

Chastain, a Cup Series regular who won the Truck Series race at Pocono in 2019, had his foot on the floor trying to push Eckes forward. But a disjointed inside lane between Eckes, Chastain and Chase Purdy behind Chastain never got connected until it was too late.

RELATED: Pocono schedule

“I didn’t get the launch. Like I didn’t get attached to him like I wanted to,” Chastain told NASCAR.com. “And Chase, the 77, didn’t get attached to me. So the three of us were just kind of staggered off of each other a foot. And Chase finally got pushed up to me — I’m assuming got pushed up to me — and then I got pushed up to the 19, but it was all the way down in (Turn) 1.

“But yeah, I wasn’t gonna pull out of line. I just wanted to push him and had a lot of momentum when I got there. But trying to just push him into the push him and get him position on the 11 to go take the lead and win the race for Chevy.”

Chastain piloted the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Friday and will climb behind the wheel of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Saturday and Sunday for Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Though there are significant differences between the trucks and the Cup Series’ Next Gen cars, Chastain still felt Friday’s 70-lap affair provided plenty to gain.

“Yeah, sensation of speed man,” Chastain said. “Just getting back in there, 180 mph around Pocono and being brave. I had a whole day of working up my courage off Turn 1 to get ready for Turn 2, and yeah, I get to sleep on that now. Any time I can drive — especially on the same track — but just driving cars, it gets the senses going. It’s just good. Plus I just love doing it. So I don’t have any negatives.

“As long as I can get enough to eat, get enough sleep and be prepped for the Cup car — obviously that’s top priority — but the way the schedule lays out, plenty of time.”

Posted on July 12, 2024July 13, 2024 by Holly Cain

Corey Heim earned his series’ best fifth victory of the season in Friday evening’s rain-interrupted CRC Brakleen 175 at Pocono Raceway. The 21-year-old driver swept both stages and led 55 of the 70 laps to add to his trophy total.

But he had to battle competitors and climate for this win.

The Georgian’s No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota led Grant Enfinger’s Chevrolet across the finish line by 0.867 seconds to take his 10th career victory — quickly re-establishing himself as the race leader — again — on the final restart with three laps remaining.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“It started from the very beginning, we’ve had such a close bond,’’ Heim said of his strong working relationship with crew chief Scott Zipadelli and the career-best single season win mark.

“Week in and week out, so proud of these guys, can’t say enough about them,’’ Heim said.

Rain drops covered the windshields of the trucks — particularly in Turn 2 of the 2.5-mile Pocono track — and eventually brought out a caution flag for weather with only nine laps remaining in the race. But after parking on pit road for just over 10 minutes of red-flag stoppage, the field returned to the track for a lap only to come back down pit road again as the rain got heavier with seven laps remaining.

Not surprisingly, Heim immediately told his crew the rain was substantial. Enfinger, who was 2.2 seconds behind Heim at the time of the initial red flag, was optimistic it was going to be a brief shower. NASCAR had already determined before the green flag that the race would be official no matter the circumstance at 8:20 p.m. ET — approximately one hour and 10 minutes after the first red flag waved Friday evening.

But the sun shone on the restart allowing enough laps to complete the race — a light rain beginning again during drivers’ post-race interviews.

Enfinger’s second-place finish equals his best mark of the year — also at North Wilkesboro — and certainly helped solidify the CR7 Motorsports driver’s position in the playoff standings. He is in seventh place with only two races remaining before the 2024 playoffs begin Aug. 25 at the Milwaukee Mile Speedway.

McAnally-Hilgemann’s Christian Eckes finished third, followed by Tricon Garage’s Taylor Gray and NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross Chastain, driving for Niece Motorsports.

The closing laps featured close racing up front with many among the lead pack having to be conscious about saving fuel — a variable then made moot with the rain stoppage. Heim was trying to hold off the hard-charging, highly motivated veteran Enfinger, who was racing for his first win of the season while Eckes had to hold off Chastain for third place.

The pole-winner Eckes led the race’s opening 11 laps in the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Chevy and finished second to race-winner Heim in both stages. But a slow pit stop during the second stage break forced Eckes to play catch-up. He restarted 10th but was up to fourth place within five laps and continued to move forward.

He rallied to that ultimate third-place showing giving him a series best 12-race streak of top-10 finishes and he still holds a 32-point edge on Heim for the regular season championship.

The first caution flag for a race incident came out with 26 laps remaining when Rajah Caruth spun on track. At the time Heim led Chastain by almost three seconds. As the trucks drove under caution, drivers were alerted that rain was imminent, so the front-runners did not pit.

Chase Purdy, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Dean Thompson and Caruth rounded out the top 10.

With only two races remaining to set the 10-driver playoff field, Daniel Dye holds a single-point edge on Tanner Gray in that 10th position and a slight four-point advantage over Friesen.

Only four full-time series drivers have won this season to claim automatic playoff berths including Heim, Eckes, Friday’s 13th place finisher Nick Sanchez and Caruth.

The Craftsman Truck Series moves to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for Friday’s TSport 200 (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Ty Majeski won last year’s race by more than three seconds over Eckes. Championship leader Heim was eighth.

NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed in the Truck Series garage, confirming Heim as the winner. The No. 45 truck of Chastain had one lug nut not secured.

Posted on July 12, 2024July 14, 2024 by Steve Luvender

NASCAR.com’s 36 for 36 continues at Pocono Raceway.

With 36 races and 36 full-time Charter cars, our players select one car per race, but there’s a simple twist: once they’ve made the pick, they can’t choose that car again for the rest of the 36-race season. Yes, that means every car will be selected exactly once … a survivor pool, by another name.

Follow along weekly as our panel of pickers — Dustin Albino from Jayski, along with Steve Luvender and Cameron Richardson from NASCAR.com — embarks on a season-long journey to think like strategists and prove their picking prowess.

We’ll also feature a fourth “community” 36 for 36 pick each week, as decided by fan vote on the r/NASCAR subreddit. Can the collective vote topple our trio of full-timers?

Current Standings:

Steve Luvender: 506
r/NASCAR Community: -56
Dustin Albino: -61
Cameron Richardson: -88

Race 21 of 36: Pocono

Few could have guessed defending Chicago Street Race winner Shane van Gisbergen would exit early last week due to crash damage, but that’s exactly what happened. The incident was bad news for three of our four pickers who put in the No. 16: Dustin Albino, Cameron Richardson and the r/NASCAR community picked up just 11 points after SVG’s misfortune. Steve Luvender extended his points lead courtesy of Michael McDowell, who wheeled the No. 34 Ford to a fifth-place finish.

Pocono Raceway is the next stop for the Cup Series, and our pickers are starting to feel a midsummer strain — 20 drivers have already been crossed off their boards, yet the playoffs await later in the season, where players might want to hang on to the strongest drivers. Factor in the uniqueness of the “Tricky Triangle” and the fact that four different drivers have won the last four Pocono races, and you’ve got a recipe for some interesting and highly strategic picks.

Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 43, Erik Jones

Dustin’s pick last week: No. 16, Shane van Gisbergen (11 points)

Total season points: 445 (third place)

Dustin: Chicago left me with another week of misery after Shane van Gisbergen was an innocent bystander of Chase Briscoe spinning into the Turn 6 tire barriers. Thankfully, SVG won the opening stage to give me some semblance of points. My hands are tied a bit this week, however, after unloading several big names over the last month and a half. Let’s go with Jones and the No. 43 team for Pocono. During his Cup career, Jones has eight top-10 finishes in 12 starts at the “Tricky Triangle,” including a pair of ninth-place efforts in each of the last two seasons.

NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 31, Daniel Hemric

Steve’s pick last week: No. 34, Michael McDowell (32 points)

Total season points: 506 (first place)

Steve: Shane van Gisbergen’s Chicago misfortune turned into a solid points day for me, considering my fellow pickers went with SVG while I went with fifth-place finisher Michael McDowell. Pocono is a tricky one, as its nickname suggests — not only for drivers, but for the 36 for 36 game. I’m choosing Daniel Hemric for Sunday. It’s been puzzling to guess when the No. 31 runs well and when they struggle, so I’m leaning into the unpredictable gamble that last week’s good points day afforded me. Hemric’s never finished worse than 13th in two Cup Series starts at Pocono, so this week is as good as any to give the No. 31 a go.

NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson: No. 23, Bubba Wallace

Cameron’s pick last week: No. 16, Shane van Gisbergen (11 points)

Total season points: 418 (fourth place)

Cameron: Didn’t I tell you my picks get cursed?? Hopefully, I’ve got a trick up my sleeve for Pocono with Wallace. Bubba’s been sneaky good around the triangular 2.5-miler since joining 23XI Racing. He finished fifth in 2021 and followed it up with eighth- and 11th-place results in 2022 and 2023, respectively. This weekend is a must-perform if I’m to stay in this race for first.

r/NASCAR Community: No. 31, Daniel Hemric

r/NASCAR’s pick last week: No. 16, Shane van Gisbergen (11 points)

Total season points: 450 (second place)

The r/NASCAR community decided it’s Daniel Hemric for Pocono — back-to-back Kaulig Racing picks.

From this week’s voting thread on Reddit:

u/MethodManRedditMan: “It’s time to deploy this guy.

Hemric Pocono Truck Finishes: 9th; 22nd.

Hemric Pocono Xfinity Finishes: 9th; 3rd; 28th; 6th; 9th; 5th.

Hemric Pocono Cup Finishes: 13th; 7th.

He should run Top 15/Top 20, plus who knows with Pocono lending itself to wacky strategy, and we’ve seen the 31 team not shy away from taking a gamble. Throw in a chance at a few stage points, and it might just be that Dan’s the Man at the Tricky Triangle.”

u/ITMAKESSENSE72: “‘He’s carving out a path, welcome to the playoffs Daniel Hemric!’”

Check back next week to see how our pickers fared as the season-long 36 for 36 journey continues.

And, if you’ve got a competitive itch beyond meticulously managing your Fantasy Live lineup each week, feel free to save or print your own 36 for 36 sheet and see if you can beat our pickers and the Reddit community!

Posted on July 12, 2024July 13, 2024 by Seth Sharp

Throughout the 2024 NASCAR season, Ken Martin, director of historical content for the sanctioning body, will offer his suggestions on which historical races fans should watch from the NASCAR Classics library in preparation for each upcoming race weekend.

Martin has worked exclusively for NASCAR since 2008 but has been involved with the sport since 1982, overseeing various projects. He has worked in the broadcast booth for hundreds of races, assisting the broadcast team with different tasks. This includes calculating the “points as they run” for the historic 1992 finale, the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The following suggestions are Ken’s picks to watch before Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VisitPA.com at Pocono Raceway (2:30 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

NASCAR Research & Archives Center | Getty Images

1980 Coca-Cola 500:

Kannapolis, North Carolina’s Dale Earnhardt arrived at Pocono Raceway in July 1980 as quite possibly the biggest surprise of the season.

Earnhardt, who was in his second full-time season, led the series standings after the first 18 races of the season thanks to a victory during the previous race at Nashville Speedway. It was his third victory of the season, which left him 48 points ahead of Richard Petty before the trek to the Pocono Mountains.

Unfortunately for Earnhardt, the last time he was at the track, he was involved in a crash that left him injured and put him out of action for a few weeks.

It looked like Petty had the upper hand on Earnhardt as he piloted his iconic No. 43 Chevy in the third position. He backed that up quickly as he led a handful of times for a total of 18 laps.

Everything went downhill fast for Petty when he was involved in a multi-car incident, one that also heavily damaged Darrell Waltrip’s No. 88.

Cale Yarborough, the race’s pole winner, looked to be one of, if not the strongest, car in the field as the race progressed. As the laps quickly passed by, a battle for the lead between Yarborough, Buddy Baker and Neil Bonnett kept fans on their feet, unsure of who would take the checkered flag.

The drivers’ hard battle for the lead ended with Bonnett and the Wood Brothers Racing Mercury crossing the line first. It was the team’s first win of the season as they were only driving a part-time schedule.

Earnhardt finished right behind in fourth, which moved his gap over Petty in the standings to 144 points.

NASCAR Research & Archives Center | Getty Images

1982 Mountain Dew 500:

It was yet another Pocono race with the trio of Petty, Earnhardt and Waltrip stealing the spotlight, but the race came down to fuel mileage as another top driver swept his way to victory.

Waltrip was coming off an absolutely torrid race at Nashville, one where he led 400 of the race’s 420 laps on his way to Victory Lane. He looked to back up his 1981 Cup Series championship with another statement at Pocono.

Earnhardt sat fourth in the standings heading into the event, but his weekend came crashing to a halt past the halfway point of the race. He lost his breaks as his No. 15 Ford approached the first turn and collected Tim Richmond in a horrifying crash.

Earnhardt’s car caught the back of Richmond’s and slammed into the wall before turning over and sliding on its roof. He climbed from his car and was helped across the track by Richmond.

The impact broke the wall, keeping the field under caution for 12 laps. This turned the rest of the race upside down as strategy was now in play for the race’s final laps.

This set up Petty and Waltrip to battle for the victory, but their bout ran both drivers to the pits for fuel, allowing Bobby Allison to take advantage and grab the checkered flag at Pocono for the second time in 1982.

Petty took a splash-and-go and was able to come back out on the track and finish in second. Terry Labonte, Ron Bouchard and Buddy Baker rounded out the top five, while Waltrip was just behind in sixth.

NASCAR Research & Archives Center | Getty Images

1984 Like Cola 500:

It didn’t take long for Harry Gant and his green No. 33 Chevrolet to look like the car to beat at Pocono. He qualified third for the race, right behind Bill Elliott and Neil Bonnett.

Gant powered past Elliott and Bonnett to lead the first eight laps before the caution flag flew for Ronnie Thomas.

As Gant and Cale Yarborough looked to be the class of the field, many other drivers saw their chance at a good run erased by attrition.

Richard Petty, Dave Marcis, Ricky Rudd and 18 total drivers received a DNF for various issues, leaving only 22 cars running at the finish of the race.

The green flag flew with just under 30 laps remaining, bringing Gant to the pits for new tires but soon returned for a vibration. He quickly pushed his way toward the front following the restart and led the final 16 laps on his way to Victory Lane.

Yarborough followed Gant to the line in second, with Elliott, Terry Labonte and Benny Parsons right behind.

In a remarkable effort, Kyle Petty finished eighth after his crew chief and six other team members left the organization before the race.

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Cameron Richardson

Editor’s Note: Racing Insights’ playoff projections use a combination of current standings and historical performance at upcoming tracks to determine the probability of each driver winning or making the playoffs on points.

With the Cup Series Playoffs on the mind throughout the season, what if there was a way to project how the 16-driver field could look before each race weekend?

It now exists via Racing Insights. From now until the start of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, “The Field of 16” will give fans a weekly look at where their favorite drivers could potentially land in the postseason field — and the likelihood of having a shot at the Bill France Cup.

Here’s this week’s update on the projections heading into Pocono Raceway.

NOTABLE PROBABILITY SHIFTS POST-CHICAGO

DRIVER	BEFORE CHICAGO	ENTERING POCONO	DIFFERENCE
Alex Bowman	49.81%	99.99%	+50.18
Ty Gibbs	77.66%	85.60%	+7.94
Ross Chastain	89.07%	79.02%	-10.05
Chris Buescher	87.76%	60.98%	-26.78

PROBABILITY CALCULATED BY RACING INSIGHTS AHEAD OF THE GREAT AMERICAN GETAWAY 400, JULY 14, 2024

DRIVERS SOLIDLY IN PLAYOFF PICTURE

Twelve drivers are provisionally locked into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs, with four of those guaranteed as Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Christopher Bell have all won multiple times this season.

With six races remaining in the regular season, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott are in a hotly contested battle for the regular-season crown as Larson leads Elliott by a narrow 11 points for the 15 bonus playoff tallies entering the postseason.

Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suárez, defending champ Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and most recently, Alex Bowman, each have a win in 2024. With just four spots remaining and multiple surprise winners already this year, it has created one of the tightest bubbles in the playoff era.

LAST 4 IN

2024 is inching closer and closer to another potential nightmare for Martin Truex Jr. where he’s high up in the point standings but without a win, is left out of the playoffs with 16 different winners like there was in 2022. The No. 19 driver in his final season would probably prefer a victory before Atlanta in September to reassure his position before it’s too late.

A big points day for Ty Gibbs sees a bump in his playoff probability but there could be cause for concern that winners emerge beneath him in the playoff picture and steal a spot from him come September. Gibbs failed to score top 10s at Daytona and Richmond, but a runner-up in the spring at Darlington could mean the second-year Cup driver may have to pull off a clutch performance during Labor Day weekend to make the top-16 cut.

If you’re predicting the 16-driver field at the start of the season, Ross Chastain probably is among the first names you mention. However, back-to-back incidents at Nashville and Chicago really are putting the No. 1 Trackhouse stable in murky waters as the postseason draws near. We’ve seen Chastain pull off crazy stunts to put himself ahead and it may take something similar to put both Trackhouse cars in the 10-race hunt for the Bill France Cup.

Chris Buescher has made it clear the last few weeks that he isn’t interested in playing for points. The No. 17 RFK Racing driver has been right there for multiple wins this season and the Prosper, Texas native is honed in on Victory Lane before September rolls around. It probably helps that last year he won three of the last five regular-season events.

FIRST 4 OUT

It’s clear that all the pressure is on Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch.

For Busch, a two-time series champ shouldn’t be on the outside looking in but one could chalk this up as his worst Cup season ever. Meanwhile, the chip on Wallace’s shoulder continues to weigh heavier and heavier as Reddick continues to finish in the top five while the No. 23 is stuck somewhere between 11th and 20th any given week.

Daytona, Richmond and Michigan are all tracks where Wallace is more than capable of winning that, and he probably will have to in order to make his second consecutive playoff appearance.

Pocono feels like a make-or-break weekend for the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team as Busch is a four-time winner at the “Tricky Triangle.”

WHO CAN SHAKE UP PLAYOFF PICTURE AT POCONO?

With Pocono being a highly technical track, it takes experience to win in Long Pond and at the playoff bubble, it’s Busch with the most realistic shot at winning Sunday. A long green-flag run during the final stage could create a scramble on fuel mileage in the closing laps that could cause a surprise winner but if all goes according to plan, the No. 8 driver is the only one that can truly cause another rift in the top 16.

MORE: Racing Insights predicts Pocono | 2024 Cup Series schedule

Before each race weekend, check back into The Field of 16 to see the latest projections of the 2024 Cup Series playoff field.

Posted on July 11, 2024July 11, 2024 by Staff Report

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney co-presented the award for Best Record-Breaking Performance at Thursday’s ESPYs in Hollywood, California.

Blaney was on stage with Olympic gold medal skier Lindsey Vonn and Chicago Bears wide receiver Keenan Allen to honor the winner, Caitlin Clark (Iowa women’s basketball). Also nominated were 49ers running back Christian McCaffery, Tara VanDerveer (Stanford women’s basketball) and Max Verstappen (Formula 1).

RELATED: Cup standings | Ryan Blaney driver page

Blaney was also up for the Driver of the Year Award after taking home the Cup Series championship in 2023, but Verstappen won the ESPY in that category. Also nominated were NHRA’s Matt Hagan and IndyCar’s Alex Palou.

Blaney is seventh in the Cup Series driver standings this season as he attempts to win back-to-back titles for Team Penske in the No. 12 Ford. He recently picked up his first win of the season in the Cup Series’ inaugural race at Iowa Speedway, locking into the playoffs that get underway in September at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

These were the 32nd annual ESPY Awards, and they were hosted by legendary tennis superstar Serena Williams.

Posted on July 11, 2024 by Staff Report

There are just three races left in the regular season for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as the drivers get ready for Friday’s CRC Brakleen 175 at Pocono Raceway (5:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). See how the playoff picture looks before the race gets underway at “The Tricky Triangle.”

Already Clinched

The following four drivers have clinched a spot in the 10-driver postseason field: Christian Eckes, Corey Heim, Nicholas Sanchez, Rajah Caruth.

Can clinch via points

If there is a repeat winner or a win by a driver who cannot advance to the playoffs, the following drivers could clinch by being 111 points above the fifth winless driver in the standings.

Ty Majeski: Would clinch with 45 points.

The following drivers could clinch on points with a win by Tyler Ankrum:

Ty Majeski: Would clinch with 47 points.

The following drivers could clinch on points with a win by Taylor Gray:

Ty Majeski: Would clinch with 49 points.

The following drivers could clinch on points with a win by Ben Rhodes or a new winner lower in the standings still eligible for the playoffs:

Ty Majeski: Would clinch with 50 points.

Can clinch via win

The following drivers would clinch on their win alone:

Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum, Taylor Gray, Ben Rhodes, Grant Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Daniel Dye, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Chase Purdy, Jake Garcia, Layne Riggs, Dean Thompson, Ty Dillon, Bayley Currey, Bret Holmes, Timmy Hill, Matt Mills, Mason Massey, Lawless Alan, Spencer Boyd.

Posted on July 11, 2024December 10, 2024 by Jerry Bonkowski

During his NASCAR Hall of Fame career, fan favorite Rusty Wallace always looked forward to a number of events every year, including the Daytona 500, racing at Bristol Motor Speedway and the Brickyard 400.

But for the past 19 years, Wallace, who retired from NASCAR racing in 2005 with 55 Cup wins, has had another event always circled on his yearly schedule, one that he looks forward to with great anticipation: his annual trip to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.

For the past six years, Wallace’s trip to Sturgis has taken on an even greater personal meaning as he has turned his time as an Easy Rider into raising money for a variety of charities, including The NASCAR Foundation, Special Olympics and several South Dakota-based charities.

“The crowd that’s hanging out there include folks like Clint Bowyer and his dad and his mom and his brothers, they’re all there,” Wallace said. “We’re always talking racing and talking motorcycles.”

Wallace has raised several hundreds of thousands of dollars for the causes, enjoying not only his time on the open road, but also hanging out and just having a great deal of fun with fellow bikers and NASCAR fans who come to Sturgis.

“I’ll tell you, when you get out to Sturgis, there’s over 700,000 people that will be there, and nearly every one of them are NASCAR enthusiasts,” Wallace said with a smile. “They love NASCAR racing. They love their motorcycles. They love to meet different people. They love to drink some beer and have a great time. And they love to accessorize their bikes and show up with the coolest bad-to-the-bone motorcycles you’ve ever seen in your life.”

Officially known as the Sturgis Buffalo Chip’s Rusty Wallace Charity Ride presented by Harley-Davidson, this year’s Ride will be Aug. 9. It’s sponsored by major Rally supporter Buffalo Chip Campground and Bar, on the outskirts of Sturgis.

Wallace first got hooked on coming to Sturgis by former NASCAR President Mike Helton, who more than 20 years ago began organizing rides from Charlotte to Sturgis and back with NASCAR drivers and announcers such as Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer and Brad Daugherty.

“Mike would always invite all kinds of different people and it got to where we would go to Sturgis every year and just have a hell of a good time,” Wallace said. “Mike eventually turned the reins over to me. I got so excited about it, really loving going to Sturgis.

“The charity thing began six years ago when I got a call from Rod Woodruff, who owns the Buffalo Chip, the largest biker bar in the world. They draw almost 20 to 30,000 people a night, with gigantic acts like this year with stars like Kid Rock, Bret Michaels, Travis Tritt, Jelly Roll and Quiet Riot.”

Helton convinced Wallace to join his two-wheel riding pack in 2006 and Wallace was hooked, not having missed a Sturgis event since then.

“Betty Jane France put Mike in charge of The NASCAR Foundation, as the chair of The NASCAR Foundation, and he still is the chair and president of The NASCAR Foundation to this day,” said Wallace, who sits on the Foundation’s board. “He opens up all of our board meetings. He’s really, really involved.”

Logan Riely | Getty Images

Wallace used to ride all the way from Charlotte to Sturgis, but this year, he’ll ride in an 18-wheeler that will contain not only the bike that he’ll ride in the Rally, but also several bikes that will be on display and for sale from Wallace’s business with son Stephen, Southern Country Customs, which produces high-end custom Harley-Davidsons.

“We’re going to bring about 16 motorcycles with us plus a couple of other trailers for service and sales,” Wallace said. “We’ll have bikes for sale, bikes that are ours, bikes that are customer bikes, just a host of everything. And obviously the special charity ride bike will be on one of the trailers making its way out there to be auctioned off.”

All the proceeds raised from the Ride this year will go to The NASCAR Foundation and the Rapid City Special Olympics Flame.

RELATED: Learn more about The NASCAR Foundation

Wallace will also auction off a special 2024 Road Glide that his company has built, a two-wheel “showstopper,” as Wallace puts it. All proceeds will also go to charity.

“For the special custom motorcycle itself, we’re hoping to raise anywhere between $150,000 to $200,000,” Wallace said. “The bike raised $120,000 last year. And right now we’re already $80,000 ahead of where we were last year (in terms of overall fundraising).”

“We’ve had some real awesome stand-up people that want to help the cause, and really, they know that our bikes from Southern Country Customs are some of the coolest, badass motorcycles you’ve ever seen on the planet. And a lot of people want to have one. We’ve already sold 117 of them so far. Because they’re custom builds, each bike is truly a piece of art.”

This year’s ride will take on a different type of look. Wallace believes the Ride will attract more than 300 bikers and several thousand fans who will line the route along the way, cheering on Wallace and his fellow riders.

The Ride will hit the road from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in nearby Deadwood, South Dakota, go through the picturesque Spearfish Canyon, and then return to the Hard Rock for a massive after-ride party, Wallace said.

Over his nearly 20 years of coming to Sturgis, Wallace has compiled enough stories to write a book. One of his favorite stories occurred more than a decade ago, when a hailstorm on a mountain near Mount Rushmore forced him and his wife, Patty, to take cover.

“We’re all under the tree. It was just the damnedest thing to see. I said to myself, ‘How do we go from 80 degrees at the bottom of this mountain to now the top of this mountain and we’re getting our (butt) kicked and hailed on?’

“We have laughed and smiled and we count it down every year. It’s like our bucket list thing to do. We can’t wait to get to Sturgis, and so I’m excited about it.”

Posted on July 11, 2024July 11, 2024 by Holly Cain

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to competition after a week break, with only three races remaining to set the 2024 10-driver playoff field.

McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver Christian Eckes shows up at Pocono Raceway for Friday’s CRC Brakleen 175 (5:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) fresh off one of the most dominating performances of the season. The three-race winner went wire-to-wire to win the most recent Truck Series race two weeks ago at Nashville Superspeedway.

There are four drivers with guaranteed playoff positions — four-race winner Corey Heim, three-race winner Christian Eckes, two-race winner Nick Sanchez and a first-time series’ winner, Rajah Caruth. Ty Majeski is fifth in the playoff standings with a healthy 144-point edge on the cutoff line. Tyler Ankrum, Taylor Gray, reigning series champ Ben Rhodes, Grant Enfinger and Tanner Gray are currently above the playoff elimination line.

Tanner Gray holds only a slim 14-point advantage on Daniel Dye and a 17-point advantage on veteran Stewart Friesen in that final position. Three-time series champion Matt Crafton is 54 points behind Gray.

NASCAR Cup Series’ champion Kyle Busch earned his third Pocono Truck Series win last year. There are no former winners entered this week. Heim, who has won three races just since May, finished runner-up to Busch last summer and was fourth in his debut at the “Tricky Triangle” in 2022.

A pair of Cup Series drivers are on the Pocono entry list. Ross Chastain will run the No. 45 Neice Motorsports Chevrolet and former Truck Series champion Zane Smith will drive the No. 91 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet.

MORE: Pocono weekend schedule

Heim, Taylor Gray and Dye will all pull double-duty competing in both the trucks and Xfinity Series races at Pocono.

Practice for the CRC Brakleen 175 is Friday at 2 p.m. ET followed immediately by Cometic Gasket pole qualifying at 2:30 p.m. ET. Both sessions will be televised live on FS2.

Posted on July 10, 2024 by Pat DeCola

Here’s what’s happening in the world of NASCAR with Chicago in the rearview and Pocono Raceway (Sun., 4:30 p.m. ET, NBC) right around the corner.

THE LINEUP ️

1️⃣ Who could be the next surprise playoff driver?

2️⃣ The trick to winning at Pocono? Beat the Toyotas

3️⃣ Jeff Gordon on No. 48’s long-term prospects

4️⃣ Never over till it’s over at the ‘Tricky Triangle’

5️⃣ Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage

Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR Digital Media

1. Who could be the next surprise entrant to the playoffs?

With a handful of playoff spots there for the taking, most of the drivers around the elimination line are battling bouts of inconsistency — except for one.

Well, how about that?

Last week, we posited here about the potential for the No. 48 car missing the playoffs for the second year in a row — and Alex Bowman immediately goes out and punches his ticket to the postseason at Chicago, snapping an 80-race skid since his last trip to Victory Lane.

For the second week in a row that moves a driver sitting on the elimination line upward in the standings, pushing some big names — Ross Chastain and Chris Buescher, in particular — into some quite uncomfortable territory. Each has a reasonable cushion, with Buescher’s +45 over Bubba Wallace slotting him in as the 16th and final driver, but six races remain, and those leads are in no way safe.

Bowman’s win was unexpected, but not surprising. His Hendrick Motorsports teammates were among the favorites and he’s come close on road courses before. Not to mention Hendrick has now won all three such races this year, as the clear team to beat on them — which is important to know, with two of them now in the playoffs.

The victory did, however, feel like just the appetizer to a main course of potential surprises over the next six races as the bubble gets more interesting and drivers get more desperate.

James Gilbert | Getty Images

What’s so interesting is that of the four above and four below the current elimination line, almost all of them have been struggling of late. Martin Truex Jr., the top driver in the standings without a win, has just one top 10 in the last eight races. Teammate Ty Gibbs right below him was strong at Chicago, but his third-place run there was just his first top 10 in six races. Ross Chastain has led in just two races since Kansas, Chris Buescher has been close lately but can’t seem to break through to lead at the end and Bubba Wallace, minus-45 to the RFK Racing driver, has just a pair of top 10s in the last 11 races.

Continuing on, Chase Briscoe rode the high of a wild and newsy weekend at New Hampshire to a runner-up finish but otherwise has five finishes outside the top 20 in the last seven contests, and Kyle Busch finally picked up a top 10 at Chicago for his first such result in the last eight.

Even if any of these drivers should wind up making it (and some more than likely will) this obviously isn’t the kind of consistency that leads to a lengthy playoff run.

But that was only seven drivers — and there’s an eighth worth mentioning who has been quite consistent, and his name is Todd Gilliland.

Not only has the No. 38 driver not finished worse than 17th since April, but he’s also culled together a very Chase Elliott-esque top-20 streak of nine races, the longest in Front Row Motorsports’ history. He’s finished better than he’s started in each of the last seven races, finished on the lead lap in all but four this year and actually owns the fourth-best average finish (12.33) over the last six weeks, ahead of Elliott (12.83), and right behind Tyler Reddick (7.59), Buescher (10.83) and defending champ Ryan Blaney (12.17).

Gilliland was a top-15 finisher at Pocono last year, for what it’s worth, and if you’re looking for who might be the next “surprise” entrant to the 2024 playoffs, he’s certainly the driver currently not locked in that’s building the biggest head of steam at the moment.

cars take the green flag at pocono — Getty Images

2. The trick to Pocono? Beating the Toyotas

After a surging Ford camp has won more than the rest lately, Toyota will likely be the manufacturer to beat at in Pennsylvania.

Looking ahead to this weekend at Pocono, one can generally expect a more standard weekend than the wet-and-messy, wonderful madness we just witnessed at the Chicago Street Course, but don’t be surprised if more twists are in store at the “Tricky Triangle.”

The large, Long Pond, Pennsylvania track is no stranger to shocking winners and wild finishes, and as you’ll see in the below table — you often don’t know who will win based on early-race success.

Ford is on a hot streak lately after an admittedly quiet start, winning four of the last eight races — all with different drivers — after going winless for the first 12 races of the season. Chevrolet just won one of the season’s premier races, continuing to capitalize on road courses and marking Hendrick as just the second team to see all of its full-time drivers win this year.

But this weekend? Well, this weekend feels like if either of those manufacturers wants to win, it’s going to have to go through Toyota.

Denny Hamlin is one race away from tying the second-longest top-10-less streak of his career, but, barring catastrophe, that is absolutely going to end on Sunday. No. 11 is the literal winningest driver in Pocono’s lengthy history, with his record-breaking seventh coming just last year to give him victories in three of the last seven there. At the very least, we can expect him to find the front of the field at some point, having led in a whopping nine consecutive races at the 2.5-mile triangle.

Beyond Hamlin, however, are a pair of Toyota compatriots, one his teammate and the other his employee, lining up as arguably the hottest pair in the series at the moment in Christopher Bell and Reddick, respectively.

Bell, the New Hampshire winner, has led 29% of all laps in the seven races since the All-Star Race and looks like a clear contender to return to the Championship 4 for a third consecutive season. It’s easy to envision him becoming the season’s first four-time winner on Sunday. He’s putting in a career year and needs just four laps led — which he’ll almost certainly get this weekend — to check off 600 laps led in a season for the first time in his career, and we’re just over the halfway point.

Reddick has equally come on super strong of late and it’s a shock to still see Talladega as his lone trip to Victory Lane this year. No. 45 is tied for the most top fives (eight) and owns the most top 10s (13) outright in the entire series, propelling himself with consistent speed to gain 41 points in the standings over the last three races alone.

(Let’s also not forget about Truex Jr., a constant at the front of the field at Pocono and two-time winner there, himself.)

But then again, five of the last eight races have been won by drivers earning their first win of the season, with three of those five entering the race as the last driver above the elimination line, in 16th place.

That driver is currently Buescher, in a Ford.

And, naturally, where did No. 17’s first of his five career wins come?

Pocono, of course.

3. Gordon on why Chicago was a ‘huge day’ for No. 48 long-term

NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon talks about the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team after its win at Chicago and what that does for the team’s confidence.

4. Never over till it’s over at the ‘Tricky Triangle’

Five of the last eight Pocono winners finished 29th or worse in Stage 1, while dramatically making gains the rest of the race from there.

Date	Winner	Stage 1	Stage 2
6/2/19	Kyle Busch	30	14
7/28/19	Denny Hamlin	4	5
6/27/20	Kevin Harvick	34	7
6/28/20	Denny Hamlin	30	10
6/26/21	Alex Bowman	36	8
6/27/21	Kyle Busch	29	7
7/24/22	Chase Elliott	2	7
7/23/23	Denny hamlin	3	4