NASCAR officials issued significant penalties to the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota team after Cup Series pre-qualifying inspection Saturday, forcing driver Tyler Reddick to drop to the rear and make a pass through pit road shortly after the start of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Competition officials discovered an unapproved adjustment to the No. 45 entry’s underwing after the car had passed inspection in the Cup Series garage at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Reddick will take the green flag last in the 40-car field and must serve a pass-through penalty at the pit-road speed limit at his soonest opportunity after the start.
Additionally, Michael Hobson — the No. 45 team’s car chief — was ejected for the remainder of the race weekend. The team will forfeit pit-stall selection for the 600-miler but must participate in Saturday’s Busch Light Pole Qualifying to add a set of scuffs to its tire allotment.
Reddick was the pole winner in the Cup Series’ most recent points-paying race, May 12 at Darlington Raceway. He ranks sixth in the Cup Series points, with a victory last month at Talladega Superspeedway.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway that he and his JTG Daugherty Racing team are still undecided if they will appeal penalties handed down from NASCAR after last week’s post-race fight with Kyle Busch.
Stenhouse and JTG Daugherty have the ability to appeal the punishment levied after the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, where Stenhouse threw a punch at Kyle Busch in a post-race fracas near the team haulers.
The team has until 5 p.m. ET Tuesday to inform NASCAR officials if it will appeal.
An appeal would then take the issue before a three-member National Motorsports Appeals Panel, which would hear the argument and then issue a ruling. The panel has the ability to uphold the previous penalty, modify it or overturn it.
“We’re still undecided,” Stenhouse said during his Saturday media availability. “I think we spent all week really focused on just racing here at Charlotte and what we needed to do to run well here. We’ve got until next week to kind of figure that out. But our main focus was just getting back on track and making sure we have a strong run Sunday.”
Additionally, team mechanic Clint Myrick was suspended for the next eight Cup Series races (through events at Pocono Raceway on July 14) for his role, and tuner Keith Matthews was suspended for the next four Cup Series events (through Iowa Speedway on June 16).
Neither Busch nor anyone on his team were penalized.
“I think it’s fair to say that when you have crew members and family members that put their hands on our drivers, we’re going to react,” NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer said Wednesday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “There’s not a lot of detail I’m going to get into due to the fact that these are appealable penalties, and I want to make sure that we’re fair to that process.
“With that being said, and we’ve been consistent about this, when crew members and family members get involved, we are going to react. That’s exactly what we did.”
CONCORD, N.C. — With a masterpiece of strategy and modicum of good fortune, Chase Elliott won Saturday’s BetMGM 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season.
Saving a set of new tires for the final run in the 200-lap event at the 1.5-mile track, Elliott grabbed the lead after a Lap 183 restart and held it the rest of the way.
Driving a No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a paint scheme reminiscent of the signature look of the late Ricky Hendrick’s car, Elliott crossed the finish line 0.500 seconds ahead of Brandon Jones, who recovered from early brake problems to finish second after pressing Elliott in the closing laps.
The victory was Elliott’s first at Charlotte and the sixth of his career — his first since the 2016 season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Jones finished ahead of two of his JR Motorsports teammates, Sammy Smith and Sam Mayer, in third and fourth, respectively.
Elliott started 30th after a lackluster qualifying effort. After Riley Herbst crashed hard on the backstretch to cause the first of eight cautions, Elliott, Jesse Love, Anthony Alfredo and Kyle Sieg stayed on the track on old tires, saving a set of fresh stickers for later in the race.
That call by crew chief Greg Ives proved to be the winning move. Though Elliott pitted on Lap 48 and fell to 26th in the running order for a restart on Lap 53, he regained the lost track position on new tires and was a factor near the front the rest of the way. An opportune caution on Lap 169 gave Elliott the chance to make full use of his final set of new tires.
“Greg made a good call, and I think ultimately that’s what won us the race,” Elliott said. “I felt like I needed a little bit with my balance to make as much pace as the 7 (Justin Allgaier) and a couple of those guys.
“Hats off to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Super special to win with the 17 on the car for the boss (Rick Hendrick) and (Hendrick’s wife) Linda. It’s a great honor here with the Ricky Hendrick scheme. It means a lot to all of us to be a part of this whenever it runs.”
One by one, other contenders for the win fell by the wayside. Allgaier won the first two stages in perhaps the fastest car in the race, but he sped on pit road during the Stage 2 break.
Allgaier’s race came to an end when he and pole winner Ty Gibbs crashed off Turn 4 after a restart on Lap 176. Reigning series champion Cole Custer and current Xfinity Series leader Austin Hill wrecked on the backstretch on Lap 184 after door-to-door contact a half-lap earlier.
A slow pit stop on Lap 170 cost Kyle Busch track position and relegated him to a sixth-place result behind fifth-place finisher AJ Allmendinger, who made a late-race charge on one-lap scuffed tires.
That left Jones to put the pressure on Elliott at the end, but the race ended before Jones could get closer than a half-second back.
“Talk about an up-and-down day and coming back from it,” said Jones, who had to replace brake fluid in his No. 9 Chevrolet during a long pit stop on Lap 76. “That was really fun to come from the back to the front, I think three or four times there.”
Ryan Sieg, Josh Williams, Gibbs and Noah Gragson completed the top 10. New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen was 15th in his first run on a 1.5-mile intermediate speedway.
The Xfinity Series’ next race is scheduled for next Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Portland International Raceway.
NOTES: Post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage was completed without issue, confirming the victory by Chase Elliott and the No. 17 team. Officials indicated that four cars would be brought to the NASCAR Research & Development Center for review – the Nos. 31 and 33 for wind tunnel testing, and the Nos. 16 and 39 for teardown inspection. … Elliott becomes the eighth different winner in the last eight Xfinity Series races.
CONCORD, N.C. — Riley Herbst’s day at Charlotte Motor Speedway came to a crushing end just 30 laps into the 200-lap event for the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Herbst attempted to clear AJ Allmendinger’s No. 16 Chevrolet off of Turn 2 before contact from Allmendinger sent the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang down toward the inside wall.
“I haven’t seen a replay. I passed him twice cleanly,” Herbst said. “I slid him, racing at Charlotte. It’s fast, it’s hot. I think next week at Portland is his favorite track. So we’ll see what happens.”
Through 11 races in the 2024 season, Herbst has tallied two top-five finishes and four top-10s. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver will finish 38th after his early exit before the end of Stage 1.
“He had a run off the top, which is fine,” Herbst said. “And he could’ve tried to slide me back and get some momentum, but instead he just caught my left rear and hooked me. So, it’s unfortunate, but probably unfortunate for him.”
Ultimately, Allmendinger proceeded to finish fifth in Saturday afternoon’s event.
Flights between North Carolina and Indiana are becoming plenty frequent this week. Racing with one team’s NASCAR Cup Series stock car in the Carolinas, then traveling northwest to race with another team’s NTT IndyCar Series entry in the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500.
No, we are not talking about Kyle Larson this time. This one is about Brent Wentz, who will be spotting Takuma Sato’s No. 75 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry in the Indy 500 before jetting back to Concord, North Carolina, to spot Kaz Grala’s No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Wentz has spent decades working in NASCAR, winning the Daytona 500 with Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 RFK Racing team twice before winning Xfinity championships with both JR Motorsports and Team Penske. He then won the 2020 Indy 500 as a Turn 3 spotter for Sato in Wentz’s inaugural Indy appearance. Wentz even podiumed this winter in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, spotting the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s entry to a third-place finish with drivers Jordan Taylor, Jenson Button, Colton Herta and Louis Delétraz.
Now, the Pennsylvania native has a chance to achieve even more greatness: Wentz will attempt the Indy 500-Coke 600 same-day double as a spotter for Sato in Indianapolis and Grala in Charlotte, “checking the box” of another amazing addition to his already stout resume.
“It does rank up there pretty high,” Wentz told NASCAR.com. “It’s like, I’ve watched John Andretti and Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch and all these drivers do it. But I’ve never seen anybody that actually works within the two series try to do it, so I thought I might as well give her a whirl.”
Indeed, the crew-member double is perhaps rarer than the drivers’ double. Danny “Chocolate” Myers, famously the longtime gas man for Richard Childress Racing’s “Junkyard Dogs” that pitted Dale Earnhardt’s No. 3 Chevrolet, managed to fuel both an A.J. Foyt entry in the 1998 Indy 500 before flying back to Charlotte to gas up Earnhardt’s car in the Coke 600 that night. Unfortunately for Myers, both entries’ races finished prematurely: The drive line in Billy Boat’s No. 11 car gave up after 111 of 200 laps at Indy, and Earnhardt crashed out of the Coca-Cola 600 with 64 laps remaining when Randy LaJoie washed high into the No. 3 exiting Turn 4.
Twenty-six years later, Myers still wishes the full No. 3 crew had gotten to pull the double together but dearly treasures the memory of pitting an Indy car and a Cup car in such storied events on the same day.
“I don’t want anybody to think that I’m trying to put myself in the same category with these guys who go up and run 500 miles and run 600 miles,” Myers told NASCAR.com. “But just to be able to go and do that and do both of them on the same day? Pretty proud of that.”
This weekend marks Wentz’s turn from atop the spotter stand. A familiar background with Sato and the RLL Racing team led the program back to Wentz during the winter to get the figurative ball rolling.
IMS Museum via Brent Wentz
“The opportunity to do the double came up a little bit before the LA Coliseum race,” Wentz said. “I got a phone call from Rahal Letterman. I really didn’t think it was going to be possible because of my commitments to Rick Ware. But I proposed it to (RWR president) Robby Benton and Rick, and they said, ‘Yeah, go for it. It’d be a good story, and you’re at the point of your career where you’re checking boxes.’ When am I ever going to get the opportunity to do it again, right? So they gave me the blessing, and we just went on with it.”
But while Larson’s famed and long-well-known attempt has the support, effort and backing of Arrow McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports, Wentz’s attempt is more modest and self-reliant.
“It did come with a lot of hurdles of trying to find transportation back after the 500 and getting the people the right passes to take care of their necessities and let me use one of their jets and things like that,” Wentz said. “But I think we finally got it all set in stone the last week. So, a little stressful trying to get it all figured out because I’m on my own little island, you know? I’m not Hendrick Motorsports; I’m not Kyle Larson. But, you know, I tried to use my connections and things like that to make it happen. And I think we’re at the point where we’re all ready to go.”
This is also not the first time Larson and Wentz crossed paths with similar goals in mind. Wentz served as a secondary spotter on road courses for Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet through his 2021 championship run, leading to a Victory Lane visit together at Watkins Glen International.
Wentz said there may have been opportunities to simply share a ride with Larson, spotter Tyler Monn and the rest of the Hendrick crew en route to Concord from Indy. But that path seemed less appealing to Wentz — not because of its ease but in case of any early departures for either team.
“Yeah, you can talk to the Hendrick people and do that,” Wentz said. “But you know, Kyle is a great driver, and he’ll do a good job, but if he has some kind of weird mechanical problem or something halfway through the race, well, they’re not going to wait for me to get done with my job before they go back to Charlotte. So yeah, just, you know, trying to get it all figured out (and) set in stone was a little bit of a stressful time, but you know, the goal is to get it done.”
So, how exactly will the logistics of Wentz’s plan work? In his research efforts to coordinate this bucket-list journey, the three-hour average of an Indy 500 affords a post-race window of roughly two hours to leave the track and arrive at the airport if the race begins at 12:45 p.m. ET.
“I believe it’s like an hour flight from Indianapolis to Concord, so you do have a good amount of time — but it’s still cutting it close,” Wentz said. “For me, doing it independently, it’s going to be a little bit more of a challenge to get there in time. Kyle, (NBC Sports analyst and Coke 600 racer) Jimmie Johnson … those guys, they’re gonna have it figured out, right? They’ve got so many connections and so many ways to get back and forth from helicopters and police escorts and just a lot of stuff that I’m not going to have access to, they’re going to have.
“Like I said, my deal is a little different. But, you know, the opportunity to do it was there, so we’re going to do our best to knock it out the best we can.”
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
The added effort comes from his family behind the scenes, specifically his wife, who will have Wentz’s truck ready and waiting for him upon landing in Concord to hustle over to the speedway.
Benton, a former racer himself with limited starts across the Xfinity, Truck and ARCA Menards series, is serving as Wentz’s pinch hitter on the NASCAR stand in Wentz’s absence. Benton spotted Grala’s No. 15 Ford in last weekend’s All-Star Open practice at North Wilkesboro Speedway and will do the same in this weekend’s Coke 600 practice on Saturday (5:05 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
He’s also prepared to serve as the starting spotter on Sunday if circumstances slow down Wentz’s Charlotte arrival time.
“We’re just trying to keep everything in-house to keep it simplified,” Wentz said. “And we know that maybe I won’t get back to the 600 for the national anthem. Maybe I’ll get back 50 laps into the race or 10 laps into the race. We’ll just see how the day goes in Indianapolis and kind of work on it from there. But we tried to keep it all in-house, simple so we could go through the kinks as a company and not have to drag people into it.”
Spotting for IndyCar versus NASCAR has its different nuances — ones which Wentz will need to be plenty conscious of as he prepares for 1,100 miles of racing to spot. The most significant difference, he said, is how he relays which driver is nearing.
In NASCAR, he notes, drivers’ numbers are how competitors are known and branded. That doesn’t quite translate to IndyCar, which is more reliant on the paint schemes themselves.
“When you’re spotting NASCAR, you could say, ‘five (car lengths) back to the 6 car,’ and Kaz would be like, ‘Alright, well that’s Brad (Keselowski).’ In IndyCar, the numbers aren’t as relevant, right? Like, you can say who’s the 21 car in IndyCar, and half the people won’t know that it’s Rinus VeeKay because you’re not branded by your number. So the biggest thing is learning the paint schemes and learning who’s in what car. You spot by names. In IndyCar, you don’t spot by numbers. So you’ve got to learn … the paint schemes.
“I think that’s the hardest thing from one to the other is just knowing who you’re racing because I’m not at the IndyCar races every week anymore to know who’s in what car,” added Wentz, who spotted for Callum Illott last season. “And a lot of things change and a lot of sponsors change. But in reality, it’s all relevant. IndyCars are way faster, but they’re all going the same speed. So it’s all relevant. You’re spotting; you’re just doing the same thing you do in NASCAR. It’s just at a different level.”
Sunday, Wentz takes both of his day jobs to a new level. And with one Indy 500 ring in his collection, there is a valid question to be asked: What happens if he wins again with Sato?
“That’s yet to be determined. So we’ll see,” Wentz said. “If that happens, I think I still want to go back because my commitment to the people that let me do it, gave me the opportunity to do it, is in Charlotte, so I think that’s where I need to be. I’ll fly back and kiss some bricks Monday if that needs to be done.”
CONCORD, N.C. – Corey Heim led a dominant 72 laps and swept both stages at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Craftsman Truck Series showdown under the Friday night lights. But ultimately found himself with an immediate disqualification after it was discovered that the No. 11 truck had three lugnuts not secure in post-race inspection, per Section 10.5.2.5.D in the NASCAR Rule Book.
The No. 11 Tricon Garage team made multiple pit-road errors in the closing laps of the 134-lap affair. The first was an issue with the jack, which caused the jackman to leap into action and sprint over the wall to find a replacement, but the damage had already been done.
Heim would restart the next to last caution back toward the back of the pack, but that is where Heim came to shine as he bobbed and weaved past the slower trucks and fought his way back into the top 10 within a matter of laps.
Unfortunately, another error would occur again, as a late caution flew within 10 laps of the checkered flag, putting the No. 11 team back on pit road for four fresh tires. This time, an issue with the left-rear tire put them behind the eight-ball. Heim would get back up to the second place within the final 10 laps and that is where the No. 11 would have finished. With the disqualification, the No. 11 team will be credited with a 36th-place finish.
Corey Heim entered Friday’s Truck Series event second in the driver standings, only four points off of Christian Eckes, Heim also leads the series in the win column with three.
The Truck Series heads to World Wide Technology Raceway next weekend for the Toyota 200 (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
CONCORD, N.C. — Nick Sanchez showed what an opportunist can do when the right moment presents itself.
Taking advantage of fresh tires and a quick pit stop, Sanchez charged from the 10th position on a restart with nine laps left in Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and held off Corey Heim to win his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race of the season — and of his career.
Sanchez crossed the finish line 0.507 seconds ahead of Heim, who fell just short after two snafus on pit relegated him to the runner-up position — temporarily. Sanchez collects a $50,000 bonus as the winner of the first Triple Truck Challenge event of the season.
After the race, Heim’s troubles multiplied when inspectors found three lug nuts not safe and secure on his No. 11 Toyota, resulting in a disqualification that promoted Stewart Friesen to the runner-up position.
“It’s awesome — my No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet,” said Sanchez, who qualified 16th for the 11th Truck Series race of the season. “What can I say more about this (Rev Racing) team? We started off bad. It didn’t affect us. We went to work. We put ourselves in position when it mattered most.
“This is for Chris Showalter, my car chief. Birthday today, 700th truck start. This is for him, and it’s great to get number two.”
Remarkably, Showalter has been a part of the series for every race since its inception in 1995.
Sanchez led only the final nine laps. Heim led 72 before the penalty and Christian Eckes 37.
After dominating the first two stages of the race, Heim dropped to 27th under caution for Matt Crafton’s collision with the outside wall on Lap 79 when the jack malfunctioned and failed to lift his No. 11 Toyota.
Heim roared through the field to fifth before Chase Purdy slammed the Turn 2 wall to cause the fifth caution. Like Sanchez, Heim pitted for fresh tires, but a problem with the lug nuts on the right rear wheel cost him valuable time — and ultimately cost him dearly with the disqualification.
Grant Enfinger was credited with third, followed by Matt Mills, Ben Rhodes and Jake Garcia.
Eckes, who entered the race as the series leader, started from the rear after contact from Kaden Honeycutt’s Chevrolet during practice damaged his No. 19 Chevy and prevented him from making a qualifying run.
That was just the start of Eckes’ problems. Alternator issues kept him on pit road for extended stops during the stage breaks and relegated him to starting spots of 28th and 27th for the second and final stages, respectively.
But Eckes recovered to take the lead after staying out for a restart on Lap 88, and he was still in front — albeit close on fuel — when the caution for Purdy’s accident slowed the field. Eschewing a pit stop for new tires under the final caution, Eckes slipped to 10th at the finish.
Honeycutt, who won Stage 1 after Heim’s penalty and finished third in Stage 2, also went to the rear after leaving his pit stall during the second stage break with a fuel dump can still attached to the input valve of his truck.
Despite the setback, Honeycutt had enough speed in his Chevrolet to recover to seventh at the finish. Connor Mosack, Dean Thompson and Eckes completed the top 10.
NOTE: In addition to the disqualification of the No. 11 truck, the Nos. 5 and 38 trucks were each found with one lug nut not safe and secure, which will result in a monetary fine.
NASCAR.com’s 36 for 36 continues at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
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:
T-1. Dustin Albino: 319
T-1. Steve Luvender: 319
3. r/NASCAR Community: -26
4. Cameron Richardson: -46
Race 14 of 36: Charlotte
The Cup Series’ last points-paying race in Darlington tightened up our 36 for 36 leaderboard quite a bit. Cameron Richardson’s Daniel Hemric pick didn’t quite pan out, earning him just four points and sending him to the bottom of the standings. Carson Hocevar netted Steve Luvender 11 points, while Dustin Albino’s 23-point pick of Noah Gragson tied him with Steve for the top spot in the standings. The r/NASCAR community used a heavy hitter — William Byron — whose 38-point afternoon was the highest-scoring of our pickers and moved the subreddit to just 26 points out of the lead.
Our panel had the week off from their usual picking duties for the All-Star Race, but they’re back in action for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. The 600 is, technically, the most valuable race on the schedule due to its unique added fourth stage — and, thus, an opportunity to earn more points. How will they play this one?
Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 17, Chris Buescher
Dustin’s pick last week: No. 10, Noah Gragson (23 points)
Total season points: 319 (first place, tied)
Dustin: There is an old saying, “Strike while the iron is hot” and there is, arguably, no driver hotter in the Cup Series than Chris Buescher. Sure, he experienced heartbreak at Kansas, losing out to Kyle Larson in the closest finish in Cup Series history. Then, he was on the wrong side of a slide job gone bad from Tyler Reddick at Darlington. But the No. 17 team is helping lead the Fords back to relevancy, as Buescher has been a consistent player in the outcome of these races. He’s had race-winning pace at the last two intermediate tracks and was fast at Las Vegas earlier this season before he literally drove the right-front wheel off. OK, maybe the tire was left loose, but you get the point.
NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 19, Martin Truex Jr.
Steve’s pick last week: No. 77, Carson Hocevar (11 points)
Total season points: 319 (first place, tied)
Steve: The four-stage Coca-Cola 600 is a huge opportunity to gobble up a possible 10 extra points, regardless of finishing position. Ross Chastain, for instance, finished 15th in the 2022 600 but earned the third-most points — including more than race winner Denny Hamlin — due to racking up 26 points from stages alone. With that in mind, I’m going with Martin Truex Jr. this weekend. MTJ has earned the third-most stage points so far in 2024 (107), behind only Kyle Larson (159) and Denny Hamlin (110). Larson would have been an obvious choice for the stage-point play, but uncertainties around the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double aren’t worth the risk; I’ll save him for the playoffs. (Better believe the No. 5 is part of my Fantasy Live lineup, though.)
Cameron’s pick last week: No. 31, Daniel Hemric (4 points)
Total season points: 273 (fourth place)
Cameron: At some point, the 2024 season has to turn around for the No. 3 team as it sits 31st in points. Charlotte could be the place for it to gain some much-needed momentum as Dillon broke through for this maiden Cup win in 2017 and has three top 10s in the last four oval races around the 1.5-mile facility. In 2022, he was on the brink of taking the lead on the final lap before getting turned in a four-wide kerfuffle coming down the frontstretch. Give me another solid day for the No. 3 this Sunday.
r/NASCAR Community: No. 5, Kyle Larson
r/NASCAR’s pick last week: No. 24, William Byron (38 points)
Total season points: 293 (third place)
It was a close one, but the r/NASCAR community selected Kyle Larson in this week’s voting thread. Will he capitalize on the Indianapolis-Charlotte double?
Here’s what Redditors had to say:
u/Quasar_24: “On one hand, I have serious concerns that Kyle will be pretty fatigued. But on the other hand, gestures towards Indianapolis.”
u/SeattlePassedTheBall: “I think we need to capitalize on him here when there’s 4 stages instead of 3.”
u/michigan_matt: “Exactly this. You have to use an HMS car at a track where you get 4 stages when they’ve won over half the 1.5 mile races in the NextGen. If we didn’t just use Byron he’d be the guy, but since he’s not and we’re saving Chase for road courses, you have to go Kyle.”
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!
INDIANAPOLIS — The fifth driver to attempt racing the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day, Kyle Larson has a shot at becoming the first to win either — or perhaps even both.
But there’s some personal history the Hendrick Motorsports superstar would like to avoid making Sunday.
Over two decades of participating in literally thousands of races in various series and vehicles, Larson recalls no instance in which he started a race and was forced to exit the cockpit because of inclement weather or a scheduling conflict.
“I don’t think so,” Larson said before final practice for the 108th Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “So hopefully, we keep it that way.”
Two days removed from his Indy 500 debut, the biggest question mark about the 2021 NASCAR Cup champion’s bid at racing immortality has shifted from can it happen to if and when will it happen.
An iffy forecast Sunday morning in Indianapolis has prompted a wave of virtually endless and unanswerable questions for what’s been dubbed “The H1100.”
If the Indy 500’s 12:45 p.m. ET green flag is delayed by rain, how long can Larson wait for the race to begin before heading to Charlotte Motor Speedway?
If he starts a delayed Indy 500, would he get out before the checkered flag to make a dash to take the green for the Coca-Cola 600?
Or would he stay at the Brickyard for the duration and risk missing the start of the 600 (and potentially jeopardizing his Cup playoff eligibility that is contingent on starting all 26 regular-season races)?
It’s a decision that ultimately will be made by team owner Rick Hendrick, whose automotive empire sponsors both the No. 5 Chevrolet in Cup and the No. 17 Dallara-Chevrolet fielded jointly in the Indy 500 by Hendrick Motorsports and the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team.
And with the infamously fickle Indiana weather, it’s unlikely a call will be made until absolutely necessary. Hendrick said earlier this week that “we’re going to let it play out, and we’ll make that decision Sunday,” and Larson still was resigned to that waiting game during an Indy 500 Media Day session Thursday.
“Sure, yeah, it’s stressful because weather is always unpredictable,” he said. “But you just don’t really know until it’s happening. So it’s hard to plan for weather. You can have all these plans and backup plans and backup plans for the backup plan. But you just can’t really do anything or react until it’s kind of the moment.
“That’s what’s a little bit stressful. Yeah, it doesn’t look too promising for Indy on Sunday, but I think for me where I sit, if it’s going to rain, I hope it rains all day. That way it can just get pushed to Monday or something, and then Charlotte is not going to rain, I just hope it doesn’t rain. Again, it’s weather. The forecast changes kind of every day.”
The good news is that aside from a few hiccups, Larson continued to make progress Friday in the final Carb Day practice.
Though he brought out a yellow with 15 minutes remaining in the two-hour session by running out of fuel on track, Larson was towed back to the pits without incident. He enjoyed another productive session in navigating traffic, ranking 13th fastest (224.761 mph) of 33 drivers while turning 74 laps. That came on the heels of 70 laps in a two-hour practice Monday on the 2.5-mile oval where he will attempt to make 200 laps Sunday.
“I thought my car handling was good,” said Larson, who also practiced pit stops. “I didn’t suck up as good as Monday. The pit stop stuff just was getting familiar with that. It’s different from a NASCAR pit stop, and I felt comfortable with all that. We checked a lot of boxes off. I’m sure there are more things I can do to generate runs, and I’ll talk to my teammates about what I can do.”
Aside from Alexander Rossi, Pato O’Ward and Callum Ilott, Larson had a small army of team members to lean on Friday.
Joe Skibinski | Penske Entertainment
With his Cup team off Friday (practice and qualifying for the Coke 600 will begin Saturday at 5:05 p.m.), 18 members of the No. 5 crew hopped a Hendrick jet Friday morning from North Carolina to Indy and spent the day in Gasoline Alley.
An hour after practice, Larson and crews for the Indy 500 and Coke 600 gathered for photos around the No. 17 at its garage stall.
“It’s really special,” said Cliff Daniels, the crew chief for Larson’s Cup team. “First, thank you to Mr. Hendrick and everyone at Arrow McLaren just for giving us the opportunity to come experience this world. Our team is a team of racers, and they have a lot of passion for it, and to be able to be there and experience what we are today, it’s really special. And Kyle has obviously done a great job.
“Hats off to this team. They’ve done an amazing job with a little bit of a slow start to (last) week and getting behind. They rebounded and had an amazing qualifying effort. And just to see Kyle be so natural in this environment. It’s been a lot of fun to be a part of, the team is communicating great. They’re executing a really good day today, too, to get them ready for Sunday, so it’s been a lot of fun to be part of. We all knew his natural talent and ability is, of course, there.”
Another familiar face has been Hendrick Motorsports technical director Brian Campe, who has been embedded with the Arrow McLaren team since last week and will call Larson’s strategy in the Indy 500.
Arrow McLaren sporting director Tony Kanaan, the 2013 Indy 500 winner, has been at Larson’s side constantly the past two weeks to offer advice and a sounding board for the transition.
“There are a lot of folks helping him out, coaching him,” Daniels said. “I know his teammates at Arrow McLaren have been helping him a lot as well. That environment, and just putting all those resources and people together to help him, he’s been soaking it up like a sponge. And he’s been adaptive and reactive and learning the whole time. He’s communicated a lot of that with me. It’s been fun to be part of, there’s new things he’s learning. Different lingo, different ways to talk about his approach and strategy that he enjoys so much.
“He’s such a racing purist that getting in and grinding out the week and the strategy and the practice and all that is right up his alley, and he’s been doing a great job with that.”
Larson will start fifth Sunday as he tries to become only the second driver to complete all 1,100 miles of both races since Tony Stewart in 2001.
Stewart drove at Indy that year for Chip Ganassi, who has his own history with Larson after giving him his first Cup ride 10 years ago.
“I’m not the least bit surprised with how he’s doing,” Ganassi said of Larson before practice Friday. “I think he’ll do great. I think if he can get in and out of the pits, he’ll be fine. I look forward to him to do very well here. I hope he does. I just hope I’m in front of him.”
Larson just hopes for clear weather and fast cars Sunday. He concedes that there would be pluses and minuses if the Indy 500 were postponed to Monday.
“There would be a level of disappointment,” he said. “There would also be a level of happiness because you have time to recover and all that. But in my mind, it wouldn’t feel quite like ‘The Double.’
“I would love for it to be two sunny days in both places and get all 1,100 miles in or at least attempt both races in the same day.”
Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is the host of the NASCAR on NBC Podcast and also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.
CONCORD, N.C. — The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series celebrated a milestone Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway to kick off a full Memorial Day weekend of action. The series will take the green flag for the 700th time in its history, and with that, one individual will also complete the same milestone.
Chris Showalter serves as the truck chief for the No. 2 Chevrolet piloted by Nick Sanchez at Rev Racing and has been working in the Truck Series since its inaugural race at Phoenix Raceway in 1995. On Friday night, Sanchez delivered the best possible anniversary present: A victory. In a career full of winning, there’s a new favorite win for Showalter.
“(This race) just probably popped to No. 1,” an emotional Showalter told FOX Sports. “It’s a long battle, you know? It’s about people, and I love this group of people. I’ll do anything for this group of people.”
The milestone was heavy on Showalter’s mind even before the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 began.
“If I could’ve told you 30 years ago that I would still be doing this, I would’ve called you crazy,” Showalter told NASCAR.com. “It’s just a testament to all of the great race teams that I have been with and all of the people that I have surrounded myself with that keep me coming back every week. The Truck Series has always been a big family to me.”
This race is special for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that Friday happened to be Showalter’s birthday.
“I sat outside last night as it was raining, thinking about how I was going to be able to handle today, and I’ve done pretty well so far because I’m a pretty emotional person,” Showalter said. “The family, I believe, is going to show up; they haven’t said a word, so that means they’re coming. The (No. 2) guys haven’t said a whole lot, too, so I’m sure there’s a big surprise coming. I’m sure I’ll be in tears here in a little bit.”
That premonition proved accurate. Even more impressive than a career spanning almost three decades is that Showalter — nicknamed “Showie” by his peers –- has never missed a race in the series.
Sanchez immediately dedicated his win to Showalter upon exiting his truck, and was eager to explain how critical a role he plays.
“I mean he’s the backbone of the team,” Sanchez said. “And I think everyone on the team would agree. I was with him last year, and it’s like having two or three crew chiefs, and Showie would be one of them, right? He’s someone that he knows what he wants in a truck and sometimes he calls his shot setup-wise. He’s so important and he’s being doing this so long.
“Today was his birthday, it was his 700th race and it all worked out perfect.”
Showalter began his career with Liberty Racing with driver Butch Miller during the inaugural Truck season in 1995 and quickly excelled in his role. He then made the move to ThorSport Racing for one year before moving to Joe Gibbs Racing with drivers J.D. Gibbs and Coy Gibbs.
Joining Rev Racing for Sanchez is the latest step in a career full of milestones for Showalter, becoming the truck chief for the No. 2 during Sanchez’s rookie campaign. Throughout the past two years, the team has now shared eight top fives and 20 top 10s with seven pole awards. The team also celebrated a win in the season-opening race at Daytona to start the 2024 season.
“It was great starting off the season with a win,” Sanchez said. “More importantly, it was a testament to how hard the team works to bring the best truck each week to the track. I am extremely lucky to work with and rely on Showie and the guys. His knowledge is vast, and his experience is extremely beneficial to our race success. Cheers to 700 on a day that also happens to be his birthday. We are hopeful to celebrate in Victory Lane.”
