NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour teams and drivers will begin pursuit of the championship within the championship Saturday at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire during the Granite State Derby (6 p.m. ET on FloRacing).
The third edition of the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup, the brainchild of JDV Productions’ Josh Vanada, will once again offer competitors an opportunity to earn extra money. This year, all three Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup events will all take place at Monadnock, a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series track of which Vanada was named promoter last year.
Justin Bonsignore is the winningest driver in Modified Tour history at Monadnock with five victories at the quarter-mile oval, including three in the last four races. Ken Bouchard won the inaugural series event at the track in 1986, with other winners including Jimmy Spencer, Mike Stefanik, Reggie Ruggiero, Jamie Tomaino, Ted Christopher, Todd Szegedy, Ryan Preece, Timmy Solomito and Doug Coby.
Tickets to the Granite State Derby are available here. Below is everything you need to know about the fourth of 16 races on the 2024 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule.
Tyler Rypkema, driver of the No. 32 Northeast Drilling / MUSCO Lighting Modified, in action during the Duel at the Dog 200 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire on May 6, 2023. (Photo: Nick Grace/NASCAR)
Granite State Derby at Monadnock Speedway
The last time the Modified Tour competed at Monadnock, there was no one better than Justin Bonsignore.
The three-time series champion dominated last fall’s Winchester Fair, leading all 150 laps on his way to his fourth of five victories during the 2023 campaign. Bonsignore returns to Monadnock as a favorite to win again as he continues his pursuit of Ted Christopher and Reggie Ruggiero on the all-time Modified Tour win list.
Already a two-time winner this year, Ron Silk will likely be Bonsignore’s primary rival Saturday. Luck was not on Silk’s side the last time the series raced at Monadnock, as he was collected in an early crash and later cut down a tire, leading to a 12th-place finish. It was the worst finish of his 2023 championship campaign.
Matt Hirschman, the inaugural champion of the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup in 2022 with team owner Roy Hall, again joins the fray as he pursues his first Modified Tour victory of 2024. Austin Beers, who’s had a rough start to the season, will look to get the ship righted with a strong run Saturday.
Jon McKennedy, the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion, is scheduled to make his first start of the season in his own No. 79. It’s the first of five Whelen Modified Tour races he plans to enter this year. Brian Robie, who won the opening race of the Monadnock Speedway NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series season on April 20, is among several local favorites expected to be in the field.
Other regional competitors expected to race with the Modified Tour on Saturday include Anthony Nocella, Joey Cipriano III, Matt Kimball and Nathan Wenzel. Familiar names like Patrick Emerling, Craig Lutz, Tyler Rypkema and Kyle Ebersole are all entered, as is the trio of Catalano brothers.
The full entry list for the Granite State Derby will be available later this week.
Ron Silk, driver of the No. 16 Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes Modified, in action during the Duel at the Dog 200 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire on May 6, 2023. (Photo: Nick Grace/NASCAR)
Schedule: Saturday, May 4 … Final practice from 1:15 to 2:15 p.m. ET … Qualifying at 4:15 p.m. ET … Granite State Derby at 6 p.m. ET (FloRacing)
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 third annual Granite State Derby 150 is limited to 28 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 Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. The tire change rule is zero (0) tires, any position.
Effective May 15, 2024, NASCAR has reinstated NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour competitor Sam Rameau, who was suspended indefinitely on October 13, 2023. Upon reinstatement on May 15, Rameau will be placed under probation through December 31, 2024.
Erik Jones has been cleared to return to competition but will remain sidelined for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway as a precaution as he recovers from a back injury, Legacy Motor Club announced Thursday, saying that Jones plans to return at Darlington Raceway on May 12.
Corey Heim, who made his Cup debut in the No. 43 Toyota last weekend at Dover Motor Speedway, returns to the cockpit for Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Jones, competing in his eighth full-time season of Cup competition, sustained a fractured vertebra in his lower back in an April 21 crash at Talladega Superspeedway. Legacy Motor Club officials indicated that Jones was cleared to compete by doctors and approved to return by NASCAR, but that he will rest for another event with a plan to return in time for the Goodyear 400 on May 12 at Darlington, where he is a two-time Cup Series winner.
Now in his third year driving the No. 43 car, Jones, 27, traveled to Dover last weekend despite his injury to support Heim and the Legacy M.C. group as Heim made his first laps in the Next Gen car. LMC officials indicated that Jones will also make the trip to Kansas this weekend to support the No. 43 team.
“As far as coming back, I think it is week-to-week,” Jones said at Dover. “My injury fortunately, is on the mild side, so we’ll just have to see how it’s healing up, how I’m feeling. Again, I’m feeling better and better every day.”
Heim qualified 32nd and finished 25th in last week’s debut at Dover, completing an incident-free race for the No. 43 group despite finishing three laps down. Heim will pull double-duty at Kansas Speedway, wheeling his No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota in the Craftsman Truck Series on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s Cup race.
In four Truck Series starts at Kansas, Heim has two top fives and three top 10s with 71 laps led and a runner-up finish in 2023. Additionally, the 21-year-old Georgia native has two ARCA Menards Series wins at the 1.5-mile oval with five top-five finishes and 240 laps led in six starts.
JTG Daugherty Racing has agreed on a multiyear contract extension with driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to pilot the No. 47 NASCAR Cup Series entry, the team announced Thursday morning.
“I am looking forward to continuing with Ricky as our driver of the No. 47,” team owner Gordon Smith said in a release. “He has been an asset to our team on and off the race track since joining us in 2020. Winning the Daytona 500 was a huge accomplishment for our small team, and I know we have more trips to Victory Lane in our future with Ricky at the wheel.”
Stenhouse, the 2023 Daytona 500 champion, owns a pair of top-10 finishes in 2024 — including two weekends ago with a fourth-place run at Talladega Superspeedway — and is currently 27th in the standings. He’s a three-time Cup Series winner and was a NASCAR Playoffs contender a season ago.
“When I joined this team in 2020, I knew both the team and I were capable of putting the No. 47 in Victory Lane,” said the Mississippi native. “Although I wish it came sooner, winning the Daytona 500 last year proved that we can win together. We have a fantastic group of guys at the shop, great management, solid partners, and an ever-improving program. I’m very excited to continue my relationship with the team. I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised to see what we have in store for the future.”
PHILADELPHIA – Comcast is proud to announce nominations for the 2024 Comcast Community Champion of the Year are now open through June 10, 2024 at ComcastCommunityChampion.com. In its 10 years, this prestigious annual award has served to recognize the philanthropic efforts of individuals within the NASCAR community. Last year, Comcast surpassed the $1,000,000 mark in total contributions made to organizations affiliated with previous winners and finalists.
To nominate and learn additional details about the award, visit ComcastCommunityChampion.com today through Monday, June 10.
Created in 2015, the Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award was designed to honor the incredible efforts of NASCAR industry members who are selflessly giving to improve their communities. Comcast will select and honor three finalists, sharing their stories publicly. Following the finalists’ selection, a committee of NASCAR & Comcast executives, as well as 2023 winner Ryan Vargas, will name the Comcast Community Champion of the Year, awarding $60,000 to the champion’s affiliated charity and $30,000 to each of the two finalists’ selected charities later this year.
“Inspiring change is at the forefront of what Comcast strives to accomplish, and we’re honored to recognize the philanthropic efforts of individuals within the NASCAR family who go above and beyond to support their local communities,” said Matt Lederer, vice president of Brand Partnerships, Comcast.
Any individual with a 2024 annual credential or NASCAR full-season license from any of NASCAR’s top-three national series is eligible to be nominated as a 2024 finalist, including:
Team owners, drivers and all NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series employees
Full-time employees of tracks that are currently on the schedule for NASCAR’s three series
NASCAR Media members who have a Print, Broadcast or Photography Hard Card
NASCAR Officials
NASCAR Partners/Sponsors
Family members of drivers and crew members
Driver and team employees (motorhome drivers, agents, and managers etc.)
Support industry personnel (engine builders, parts and service providers etc.)
Since the inception of the program, Comcast has donated to 27 different nonprofit organizations, furthering the impact of the philanthropic efforts of all finalists and champions. This year, Comcast reached the milestone of donating over $1 million to deserving organizations associated with individuals within the NASCAR family.
Past champions include:
OnPoint Motorsports driver Ryan Vargas, representing FACES: The National Craniofacial Association
Senior Director of Live Shows at CSM Productions Jes Ferreira, representing Foster Village Charlotte
World Wide Technology Raceway owner Curtis Francois, representing Raceway Gives Foundation
NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, representing the Live To Be Different Foundation
Dover Motor Speedway president Mike Tatoian, representing USO Delaware
NASCAR champion Joey Logano, representing the Joey Logano Foundation
Chip Ganassi Racing’s pit crew department, representing Ronald McDonald House
JR Motorsports fabricator Wade Jackson, representing Camp LUCK
NASCAR driver Joey Gase, representing the Iowa Donor Network
Comcast has a long track record of community service, aiding in the advancement of local organizations, developing programs and partnerships, mobilizing resources to connect people and inspiring positive and substantive change. To learn more about these efforts, visit the Comcast Community Impact site.
CONCORD, N.C. — At this point a season ago, Noah Gragson ranked 32nd in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings 11 races into his rookie campaign. The most flattering result was a 12th-place finish at Atlanta, marking one of two top-20 finishes he scored in that span.
What a difference a year makes.
Racing for a new team at Stewart-Haas Racing, some eight and a half months removed from an indefinite suspension while racing for Legacy Motor Club, Gragson has seemingly come into his own in 2024 as a Cup Series driver. What was a 27.6 average finish in his first 11 races of 2023 has vaulted tremendously in 2024, with a 17.3 average finish through the same stretch this season.
“I don’t know if we’ve fully seen our potential yet,” Gragson said Tuesday during a media availability, “because I’ve been taking steps as a driver each and every week on my preparation and whatnot that I don’t feel like I’m anywhere close to where I could be, just based off — if these steps can keep on going my whole career, it’d been pretty cool. And that’s what we’re trying to work for.”
Gragson’s return slotted him into the No. 10 Ford at SHR with crew chief Drew Blickensderfer, departing from the Chevrolet ties Gragson held since joining JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series back in 2019. With that move came an exit from Josh Wise’s program with Chevrolet drivers, a company called Wise Optimization that, at its roots, helps drivers sharpen their approaches and abilities to become better, more efficient race car drivers.
Gragson found incredible use of the program when he was part of it — but says he discovered since leaving that he almost relied upon it too much.
“I didn’t have a process at all before Josh’s and then kind of developed a process at JRM and utilizing Josh,” Gragson said. “But definitely, you have your hand held a lot through that just because you’re never having to go through the SMT data and pull up restart clips and look at all this data. It’s just presented to you. So it’s really good when you’re in it because, like, man, I could utilize all this stuff, and this is what I need to look forward to. But now, not having it, it’s like, ‘oh man, I don’t know where to start.'”
Enter Blickensderfer, now in his 16th year as a crew chief at the Cup level. Once Blickensderfer got word Gragson would be his next driver, the two-time Daytona 500 winner wasted no time in arranging a meeting to get to know his 25-year-old driver better.
“I think all of us thought Noah had great talent to drive race cars,” Blickensderfer said in a Wednesday teleconference. “He showed it in Xfinity. It didn’t work out for him last year driving Cup cars. Why was that? What can we do better? So after a few weeks into the season, we started getting into routines to where we prepare for the weekend together. His backpack, his laptop are on the table right next to me right there. He’ll probably be walking in in a little bit. We’re going to the Ford simulator here in about half an hour. So just things to prepare ourselves.
“Noah’s talent level is extremely high driving race cars on Sunday. Figuring out what line he needs to run, figuring out how to make passes, where to put his car, things like that. The things we had to work on were how to unload to where he was comfortable, could get up to speed quickly, and then qualify better.”
Brittany Wilbur | NASCAR.com
That came to fruition last weekend at Dover Motor Speedway, where their goals were to qualify and finish inside the top 15. Instead, Gragson qualified fifth and finished sixth, marking his fourth top-10 finish of 2024 already and second in a row after a career-best finish of third at Talladega Superspeedway. For Gragson, it all circles back to prep work.
“I’ve been making a lot of steps with the help of Drew,” he said. “Just personally, as a driver, I’ve been making steps of growth over the past — just this year. Week in and week out, it seems like I learn something new, where I maybe hadn’t taken those steps through Xfinity and my Cup career where it’s like, ‘oh man, I could be a valuable resource.’ I look at the simulation and being able to add changes. I’m not the best at describing it, but the 1% that I have learned over the past couple of weeks, I can look at whatever that graph is and say, ‘hey, I need it to be a little different here,’ where I’ve never seen that. So just learning new things, perfecting my process.”
While this stage of Gragson’s career brings immense change, Blickensderfer’s isn’t too dissimilar. “It’s changed tremendously,” the 47-year-old Illinois native said. He’s spent the majority of his career working with experienced Cup veterans — NASCAR Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth, Hall nominee Jeff Burton, 2021 Daytona 500 champion Michael McDowell and, most recently, longtime veteran Aric Almirola. The last time Blickensderfer worked with a driver this inexperienced relative to the field was in 2018, when a 24-year-old Bubba Wallace took over the No. 43 car at what was then called Richard Petty Motorsports.
That’s where the benefit of face time with Gragson has paid its most dividends.
“What I learned early was that Noah was willing to do that work. He just didn’t know where to look for that, and we had to kind of spoon-feed that to him,” Blickensderfer said. “Noah and I have had tough conversations. We’ve had good conversations about it. I’ve enjoyed the process of figuring out what it was going to take for Noah to be better prepared, for Noah to perform versus another guy, right? My challenge as leader of the 10 team is to determine what’s going to get the best result on Sunday. Well, maybe us getting the best result is me spending more one-on-one time with Noah and a little less time on the setup plate with the guys down there.”
There has also been significant collaboration with his Stewart-Haas Racing teammates, most notably Chase Briscoe and crew chief Richard Boswell of the No. 14 Ford. Realizing he was behind as he entered the season, Gragson “felt like I needed to take the initiative” and build a connection with his new teammate, formerly a rival in the Xfinity Series.
“Chase and I communicate pretty close to the same on the cars and our setups are close to the same,” Gragson said. “So I was like, ‘Hey, man, we got to figure it out. Would you be willing to prepare with me?’ And so we started doing that and now Josh (Berry, driver of the No. 4 SHR Ford) jumped on board, and it just helps us have an open dialogue and communication. They’ll say something and I’ll be like, ‘man, I didn’t think of that.’ So just having an open-minded conversation and being able to learn from those guys, what they say and we just are all helping each other out.”
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images
Blickensderfer recalled Briscoe’s similar struggles upon entry to the Cup level and noted Briscoe’s quick friendship with Gragson, who will look to complete his first full-time season at the Cup level this year. This season, the two pairs of drivers and crew chiefs meet every Tuesday to ensure the right paths are taken.
“We have the ability to give them a ton of information and kind of overload them,” Blickensderfer said. “So we are able to sit down with that information and say, ‘you guys don’t have to read 28 pages of data every single week and try to memorize it. What’s important to you?’ And in those talks, we were able to tell them what we thought was important for us. … I think with Chase and with Noah, it wasn’t so much about how to drive the race car on Sunday. It was, this is what the fast guy was doing in practice when the speed was up. What was going on in practice when the speed is up and then going into qualifying? These … are the things you need to do. So we have lunch on Tuesdays together, work through all of that stuff, and we’re able to communicate and we’re able to see things.”
The No. 10 team is especially optimistic with the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway ahead on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Gragson picked up a sixth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, another 1.5-mile oval, back in March, giving the 25-year-old Vegas native the confidence he needs at intermediate tracks.
“I’m super pumped up for these next handful of weeks because I’ve been calling it like mile-and-a-half season,” Gragson said. “We got Kansas, and then Darlington’s a faster track where you can move around. You got the Coke 600. And so I’m really excited for the month of May.”
After Denny Hamlin conquered the Monster Mile at Dover Motor Speedway last weekend, Racing Insights has its sight set on Kyle Larson responding with a win in the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway this Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
As proven in the Texas projections a few weeks ago, Larson dominates on 1.5-mile tracks. Owning the most wins (three) and second-highest point total (592) at intermediate tracks in the Next Gen era, Larson has posted a win, four top-five finishes and led 475 laps in his last six races at Kansas Speedway. Over the two races last season, Larson led the most laps at Kansas with 184, which was close to doubling Hamlin’s second-ranked 97 laps led. With Hamlin now stacking his third win of the year, there’s no doubt Larson will look to get the upper hand this week.
Following Larson in the projections is Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., Larson’s Hendrick counterpart William Byron with 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick rounding out the top five. Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, pole winner Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace complete the projected top 10.
As competition heats up in the thick of the season, anticipation mounts for a Midwestern showdown this weekend at Kansas.
OTHER DRIVERS TO WATCH
DENNY HAMLIN: Hamlin’s win last week sets him up for the three-peat he’s eyeing to complete before the All-Star Race. Kansas is a great track for him, as he’s currently riding a streak of five top-five finishes at the circuit. As an added bonus, Hamlin has won three of the last nine Kansas races, and his four career wins there rank most all-time at the speedway.
TYLER REDDICK: Reddick won Kansas last fall and the No. 45 Toyota has won three of the last four races at the circuit. Reddick has been a force so far on intermediate tracks. He is the only driver to finish in the top five at both true 1.5-mile races this year (second at Las Vegas, fourth at Texas), giving him an average finish of 3.0 on intermediates. BUBBA WALLACE: Don’t sleep on the 23XI crew this weekend, as the organization has posted some of its best numbers at the track. The same goes for Wallace. His last win was at Kansas and he’s finished in the top 10 in three of the four Next Gen races at the speedway.
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Given his consistency week after week, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Truex run up front. His average running position of 8.87 ranks second-best and his average finish of 9.36 is the best among full-time drivers. Plus, 1.5-mile tracks used to be his bread and butter with 12 career wins on those tracks.
KYLE BUSCH: Busch managed to turn in his second top-five finish of the season last weekend at Dover. He will aim to keep up the momentum this weekend at Kansas where he’s tallied four top-five finishes in his last nine races.
RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE ADVENTHEALTH 400 Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula includes current track, current track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to arrive at a projected winner and full race results.
ARLINGTON, Va. – Ryan Blaney knew well in advance that a commemorative visit to Arlington National Cemetery had been on his daily planner. The notice gave him some time for anticipation, to gather his thoughts on what to expect in visiting one of the country’s most solemn places, where more than 400,000 of America’s service members and their loved ones have been placed at rest, scores of white marble headstones against rolling green grass.
Facing the thought of comprehending the magnitude and the meaning, the NASCAR Cup Series champion says he stopped trying to think of what to expect.
“You don’t realize how special it is, until you’re actually a part of it,” Blaney said from the raised concourse at the Military Women’s Memorial on the 639-acre grounds. “Honestly, until you’re here, you don’t understand the sheer mass of this place, and how respectful everyone is here, and why it’s here.”
Blaney and a delegation of Charlotte Motor Speedway dignitaries opened their recognition of the NASCAR Salutes initiative Wednesday — the first day of National Military Appreciation Month –with a visit to Arlington National and their participation in a wreath ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Blaney was a distinguished guest as the defending race winner of the Coca-Cola 600, which the Charlotte track hosts Sunday, May 26 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) on Memorial Day Weekend.
NASCAR’s longest race will be the final act on what is traditionally one of the motorsports calendar’s grandest days, with fanfare and the sounds of roaring from both crowds and engines. Wednesday was the opposite, a day of meditative calm and reflection.
The time-worn traditions of paying respects at Arlington National Cemetery have been shared by visitors spanning from American presidents and international heads of state, to school groups and tourists. Wednesday morning, just after the sounding of 11 bells, Blaney and Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith offered their own tribute by placing a wreath by the 103-year-old sarcophagus, shortly after the changing of the guard. The banner that stretched across the laurels read, “Honored and remembered.”
The moving experience of being here for the first time, Blaney said, “really just all hits you at once.”
“You respect Memorial Day, you understand what it represents. So you understand the people that have laid down their lives to their country, so that we can live in the country we live in,” said Blaney, in a dark suit, the jacket lined with an American flag print. “But really, until you’re here and you see it all, and you see everything that’s around it, it just puts it into another perspective for you of just how small you actually are, in this grand scheme of things. …
“It’s just a whole different kind of outlook on everything, so I definitely will be at the 600 this year with a different perspective, just because I’ve been here and have been able to be a part of it and understand it more.”
Blaney’s tour included viewing memorials to the astronauts aboard both the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia, a walk-through of the Memorial Amphitheater and its Display Room of historic exhibits, and a welcome from North Carolina District 9 congressman Richard Hudson. Major Jake Bagwell handed Blaney a passport-sized copy of the Declaration of Independence in the receiving line. The inscription: “Hope you enjoyed your visit. Keep your pedal to the metal.”
Army chaplain, Maj. Joanna Forbes, greets Ryan Blaney in the Memorial Display Room at Arlington National Cemetery | Charlotte Motor Speedway photo
Blaney was also met by Army chaplain Maj. Joanna Forbes, who brought a large flag she received as a Christmas gift that commemorates the driver’s first Cup Series championship last year. Forbes brought the banner to unfurl for a photo with Blaney. Getting it autographed was an unexpected bonus.
“Not only is he gracious, but he’s the champ and he’s my favorite driver,” said Forbes, on staff at Arlington National for nearly a year and a half. She proclaimed her fandom dating back to Blaney’s days with Wood Brothers Racing, and anticipated his visit after his win in the 600-miler a year ago. “The fact that he also raises funds for Alzheimer’s and TBI (traumatic brain injury) through the Ryan Blaney Family Foundation is a cause near and dear to my heart because my dad died earlier this year of Alzheimer’s. So there’s more than one reason. He’s a great human being, and he’s also a great driver, so he’s a great champ for NASCAR.”
Just over three weeks remain until the 65th running of the Coca-Cola 600. Smith’s family has traditionally taken great care to ensure that the pre-race pageantry includes a respectful display of honor that underlies the crown-jewel event.
Wednesday marked Smith’s fourth visit to Arlington National with the reigning 600 champ, and he said the experience has been meaningful each time.
“I think you really have to let yourself be in the moment here at Arlington and take it all in,” Smith said. “At first, you might just think about the thousands of people that are buried here who all served our country in our armed forces, and then I also thought today about how special it is that we have as a country set aside this really, really beautiful place to not only memorialize but I think also celebrate what it means to serve in the military. What a great thing to do as a country.”
Blaney returns to competition this weekend at Kansas Speedway, kicking off a busy month that includes the Cup Series’ stops at historic venues in Darlington and North Wilkesboro before the annual endurance test in Charlotte. His victory in last year’s 600-miler was a pivotal point in his title-winning season, breaking a 59-race dry spell and celebrating with fans in the stands.
Blaney’s return to Charlotte this year as the defending winner now comes with a fresh, solemn perspective about the weekend’s deeper meaning.
“It did kind of get lost in the ether a little bit because it was in May, and then obviously, we went on to do some really cool things later. But it’ll be neat going back, trying to defend it,” Blaney said. “Honestly, coming here makes me want to win it even more than I did, because I want to come back. I want to do this again. I want to bring my family. I want them to see it. So that part, it even motivates me more to try to win it again.”
NASCAR’s two perennial powerhouses look to be in a tier of their own in 2024 — but is it possible a third team enters the fray of the elite?
Sunday’s winner at Dover Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin, has led in 15 straight races, with his last shutout coming last October in the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (a race he finished third in Stage 2 in before wrecking out).
No. 11 has looked dominant all year. But so has Dover runner-up Kyle Larson. And three-time 2024 winner William Byron. And Martin Truex Jr., leading the series with a 9.4 average finish. Not to mention Chase Elliott’s 10.3 number and Ty Gibbs’ 11.5 right behind him. Oh, but wait, there’s Alex Bowman putting together his career-best average finish (13.6). And remember when Christopher Bell started the season with a win and three top fives in the first six races? Surely, he appears destined for a third straight Championship 4, right?
Wait a second … all of these drivers have something in common — they all drive for Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing.
Obviously, it’s no surprise that two of NASCAR’s winningest organizations are pacing the field this year, but what is a bit of a shock is just how far out ahead of everyone else they appear to be.
The two teams have combined for five poles, nine race wins, 29 top fives and a whopping 2,185 laps led (the next highest team on the list is defending champion Team Penske, with 388.) Of the drivers with the best average running positions in 2024, the top five (Hamlin, Truex, Larson, Elliott and Gibbs, respectively) all drive for these teams.
It feels like a slam dunk that with eight drivers this capable of dominance, the 2024 Championship 4 will be heavy on Gibbs and Hendrick contenders.
But who could squeeze their way in and crash the party?
After all, it’s only May and we’ve seen “slam dunks” completely brick before, even in the not-too-distant past like when Joey Logano toppled the “Big Three” of Truex, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick for his first title in 2018.
No. 22, himself, hasn’t had a season to remember so far — but it’s an even-numbered year and are you really going to write off Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe on May 1? Absolutely not, and don’t forget that defending champ Ryan Blaney has still looked the part this year, he just hasn’t won yet. We aren’t done hearing from Team Penske, a team that notoriously finishes strong, by a long shot.
Also in the Ford camp, it wasn’t that long ago that Stewart-Haas Racing was essentially in that top tier of finishers along with Gibbs, Hendrick and Penske and, though a rebuild in the post-Harvick days is still in process, there are some encouraging signs here as the season continues. Don’t let it go unnoticed that Noah Gragson has secured back-to-back top 10s for the first time in his career with a decent shot to make it three in a row on Sunday, while Chase Briscoe is putting up career numbers as the new top dog at SHR.
RFK Racing is probably the most likely of the other Ford teams to push for race wins and land both of its drivers in the playoffs, however, but Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski have two top 10s combined since they both grabbed one at Richmond — in March.
From a strictly speed standpoint, the JGR-affiliated 23XI Racing and rapidly growing upstart Trackhouse Racing tend to be the biggest competitors to the juggernauts each weekend, and as such are the only other two teams to score a race victory this year. Both project as having deep-playoff-run potential (nobody would bat an eye if Trackhouse’s Ross Chastain or 23XI’s Tyler Reddick raced for a title at Phoenix this year) but there’s a certain polished poise and deeper well of resources and knowledge that JGR/Hendrick have from successfully running championship-capable, four-car organizations for so long that it’s impossible for a pair of two-car teams in their relative infancy to replicate.
Beyond these teams, several other organizations are capable of — and likely will — win this year. We might even see things shift dramatically once we start hitting some of these tracks for a second time and teams continue to build their notebooks and catch up.
But for now, it really feels like both of these powerhouse contenders are without weakness from top to bottom and it’s evident that even if someone is able to topple the Goliaths, the road to the championship very much runs through Gibbs and Hendrick in some form or fashion.
2. What ‘big moment’ might be in store for Kansas?
Kansas Speedway has turned into one of the most intense, electrifying venues on the circuit, prone to big and memorable moments and jaw-dropping finishes.
Kansas is the last remaining track that the series visits in the playoffs that it hasn’t seen yet this year for a regular season race, and teams will certainly be looking for an edge this weekend given its importance later this season. Kansas kicks off the Round of Terror 12 and with the uncertainty that can come along with the other two races at Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte Roval, teams tend to look at Kansas as the “safe” race to go out and win to ensure any later chaos is unimpactful.
There’s only one problem with that strategy — Kansas has been wild the past few years and brings its own degree of uncertainty. Even still, with the degree of importance teams put on it, perhaps that’s part of why the racing there has been so intense and has provided so many memorable moments over the past few years alone. Heck, just look at last year’s spring race that saw 37 lead changes — the most in a 400-mile race on a 1.5-mile track … ever.
For as dominant as all of the season’s winners have seemed, Martin Truex Jr. is actually outpacing them all on a weekly basis as the only driver to average a finish inside the top 10 so far. He’s actually been remarkably consistent, finishing the top 20 in each of the first 11 races for the first time in his career.
This feels like the weekend he not only finishes in the top 20, but finishes ahead of everybody else, too.
The No. 45 Toyota has won three of the last four Kansas races — but, notably, with three different drivers — and it feels quite likely that Reddick will also be dialed in there once again this weekend. But how about the No. 54 Toyota, with the sophomore Gibbs still aiming for career win No. 1? His hot start has cooled in recent weeks, but the weekend ahead looks very pro-Toyota and Gibbs had a great handle on the track in 2021-22 in the Xfinity Series, winning once and finishing P3 with a bunch of laps led in the other.
Bubba Wallace is one of those who delivered a win in the No. 45 there and he stands as one of several former Kansas victors still looking to hit paydirt in 2024, along with Busch, Logano and Brad Keselowski — all former champs that could get it done this weekend despite lengthy winless streaks of their own.
Of course, all of the familiar Gibbs/Hendrick faces will likely be strong again as well (see: bullet No. 1 above) but the window is open this weekend without question.
No matter who winds up in Victory Lane, though, it isn’t likely to be inconsequential. Kansas’ big-time impact is real.
Kim Coon and Skip Flores look ahead to the weekend in Kansas before the NASCAR Cup Series heads back out West.
4. Mile-and-a-Half Martin is due … overdue, even
Truex Jr. was once the 1.5-mile master with 12 total wins, but it’s been 39 races since his last one. He’s been close with 28 top 10s in that span. Racing Insights breaks them down:
Finish
Times
2nd
3
3rd
5
4th
2
5th
1
6th
7
7th
4
8th
2
9th
4
5. Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage
