Racing Insights: Kyle Larson to shine in the ‘Sunflower State’

Posted on May 2, 2024May 5, 2024 by Alex Cadavid

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.

Finish	Car Number	Driver
1	5	Kyle Larson
2	11	Denny Hamlin
3	19	Martin Truex Jr.
4	24	William Byron
5	45	Tyler Reddick
6	9	Chase Elliott
7	1	Ross Chastain
8	20	Christopher Bell
9	12	Ryan Blaney
10	23	Bubba Wallace
11	54	Ty Gibbs
12	8	Kyle Busch
13	22	Joey Logano
14	48	Alex Bowman
15	6	Brad Keselowski
16	17	Chris Buescher
17	14	Chase Briscoe
18	10	Noah Gragson
19	3	Austin Dillon
20	99	Daniel Suárez
21	77	Carson Hocevar
22	34	Michael McDowell
23	2	Austin Cindric
24	7	Corey LaJoie
25	4	Josh Berry
26	41	Ryan Preece
27	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
28	38	Todd Gilliland
29	51	Justin Haley
30	42	John Hunter Nemechek
31	71	Zane Smith
32	21	Harrison Burton
33	31	Daniel Hemric
34	43	Corey Heim
35	84	Jimmie Johnson
36	16	Derek Kraus
37	15	Riley Herbst
38	33	Austin Hill

Posted on May 1, 2024May 2, 2024 by Zack Albert

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.

RELATED: 2024 Cup Series schedule

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.”

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Pat DeCola

Here’s what’s happening in the world of NASCAR with Dover in the rearview and Kansas (Sun., 3 p.m. ET, FS1) right around the corner.

THE LINEUP ️

1️⃣ Gibbs, Hendrick … and who else?

2️⃣ What ‘big moment’ might be in store for Kansas?

3️⃣ Around the Track: There’s no place like Kansas

4️⃣ Mile-and-a-Half Martin is due … overdue, even

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

1. Gibbs, Hendrick … and who else?

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.

martin truex jr stands at kansas speedway

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.

But what might be the next one?

MORE: Memorable moments at Kansas Speedway

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.

3. There’s no place like Kansas: Previewing the Cup return to the Midwest

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

Power Rankings: Once foe, now friendly Kansas could click for Kyle Busch

Paint Scheme Preview: See the schemes for Kansas

See 2024 Darlington throwback schemes

Three Up, Three Down: Drivers in focus leaving Dover

Denny Hamlin close to tying Kyle Busch on Joe Gibbs Racing wins list

Triple dip? Denny Hamlin’s Dover win could be building block for Kansas, Darlington success

Analysis: Keeping poise helps Denny Hamlin conquer Monster Mile

NASCAR Inside The Race: How Denny beat Dover’s dirty air

@nascarcasm: Fake texts to Dover winner Denny Hamlin

Which driver is favored to win 2024 title after Dover?

denny hamlin climbs into his car at kansas

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Press Release

RALEIGH, N.C. – Advance Auto Parts, a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider, the official auto parts retailer of NASCAR, and official partners of the NTT IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is kicking off the summer travel season by offering its Speed Perks loyalty rewards members the chance to win a bucket-list motorsports experience to “Do the Double.”

On May 26, Advance will send one winner and their guest on a free VIP experience to attend the 108th running of the famed Indianapolis 500 before traveling to North Carolina to watch the Coca-Cola 600, one of NASCAR’s crown-jewel events, held at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Fans can enter for their chance to “Do the Double” from May 1-12 at AAPDoTheDouble.com. Race fans can enter up to three times per day during the program.

To be eligible to win, entrants must be members of Advance’s Speed Perks loyalty rewards program. Speed Perks is free to join, and upon signing up, new members will receive $5 off their first in-store or online purchase of $20 or more. Race fans can sign up for Speed Perks at AdvanceAutoParts.com.

For race car drivers, doing the double involves competing in both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. It is one of the most challenging feats for any race car driver to attempt, given the significant differences between open-wheeled IndyCar cars and NASCAR stock cars. In fact, only four drivers have completed the double since 1994.

This includes three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, who won the 1997 IndyCar title prior to beginning his Hall-of-Fame NASCAR career. Stewart is partnering with Advance on AAPDoTheDouble.com and is the perfect ambassador for the program.

“This is the chance of a lifetime for a fan to also complete the double by having a front-row seat at the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600,” Stewart said. “Advance Auto Parts has put together a fantastic program that is truly unique. Doing the double is history in the making and thanks to Advance, a fan and their guest will get to experience it all in real time. They’ll both be able to say, ‘I was there.’”

Stewart has done the double twice. His first attempt came in 1999 when he became the first driver to complete both races in the same day, finishing ninth and fourth, respectively, in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600, driving a total of 1,090 miles.

Stewart repeated this feat in 2001 and bettered his mark from 1999. He finished on the lead lap in sixth at the Indianapolis 500 before jetting off to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600. He improved that finish as well, coming home third in the 600-miler. Stewart completed all 1,100 miles — breaking his own record for most racing miles driven in a single day.

“Historically, doing the double has been a journey reserved for only the world’s most talented and dedicated race car drivers, like Advance brand partner Tony Stewart,” said Junior Word, Advance’s executive vice president, U.S. stores. “Now, one lucky Speed Perks member will have the unique opportunity to ‘get in the driver’s seat’ to experience their own version of the double. Advance is thrilled to work alongside our partners at NASCAR, IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway to give two race fans the memory of a lifetime.”

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Zach Sturniolo

CONCORD, N.C. — Michael McDowell is ever the optimist, even in the face of adversity. That’s as evident now as any other time in the middle of a six-race skid that has produced four DNFs in the past six races.

Three consecutive early exits have contributed to a 31.2 average finish over the past six weeks, dating back to the March 24 race at Circuit of The Americas.

“Yes! Get you some of that,” McDowell laughed during a Tuesday media availability at the NASCAR Productions Facility after being reminded of the stretch.

MORE: Cup standings | McDowell through the years

A veteran of the sport with 476 Cup starts behind him, McDowell knows the ups and downs of motorsports well. The downs are obvious right now, but context helps: In two of the past three races — at Texas Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, respectively — McDowell was racing for the lead at the time of crashing out, including in the final half-mile on Talladega’s 2.66-mile high banks. The third was a hub failure last weekend at Dover Motor Speedway.

Wrecking from first or second place is typically as effective on the results sheet as wrecking from 31st, but there were positives to take from these scenarios nonetheless.

“No doubt, it’s been a rough few weeks, right?” said McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 champion. “Some of them have been my self-inflicted wounds. Some of them have been our self-inflicted wounds from a team and preparation and parts standpoint. Last weekend in Dover, we had a right-front hub break, and that’s a spec part. That’s a sealed part. We just found out today … it only had one race on it, had no damage. It wasn’t out of mileage, so nothing to indicate that we did anything wrong. It was just a failure. And so sometimes you have failures, right? And so it’s just been a rough stretch.”

McDowell has often described himself as analytical and put that analysis to work Tuesday, dissecting why he crashed at Texas — “100% my fault.” With an opportunity to take control of the race at the end of Stage 2, McDowell was racing in the outside lane against Ross Chastain before his No. 34 Ford snapped loose over the Turn 3 bumps and was sent careening rear-first into the SAFER barrier. Then came a long discussion regarding the Talladega finish as he tried to block the advances of Brad Keselowski in the closing moments, how those runs evolved and how the race changed when the outside lane lost momentum.

“If you stay in your mind about it, it can mess you up. But I don’t,” McDowell said. “I mean, if I break it down analytically and I think about it, I can give you good excuses for all of them. Excuses don’t produce results in racing, and we all know that. But having answers is important, if that makes sense. So if you replace that word ‘excuses’ with ‘answers,’ we have an answer to why these things happened. And so we’re not in a panic of, ‘Aw man, we just we don’t have speed or we can’t do that.’ We have speed and we can run in the top 10 and we have the speed to do that. We just have to have everything cleaned up a little bit.”

James Gilbert | Getty Images

That mental clarity and leadership from both McDowell and second-year crew chief Travis Peterson are keeping the team on the right path despite sitting 29th in points with 15 races remaining in the regular season.

“If we can dig ourselves in a hole in four weeks, we can probably dig ourselves out of a hole in five or six — but the hole is getting mighty deep,” McDowell said. “But to be honest with you, that hasn’t been my mindset or our approach all year. Our mindset and approach has been we need to win a race.

“Now, this year is different because I don’t think you have to win a race to make it in, based on how many races Denny’s won and (Kyle) Larson and William (Byron) and those guys are going to win. It seems like we’re not going to have 17 winners this year, so I don’t think you have to (win) from that standpoint. But our mindset has been to try to win races.

“And it’s easy to get double-minded, right? So if you go back and you’re like, ‘Oh, if you just play it safe and you play it safe and you play it safe, we would’ve had a fourth, fourth and fifth. And adding that all up, you’re like, ‘Oh, we could have probably pointed our way in.’ But there’s so many more weeks left where that can go wrong. And there’s only so many opportunities that you have in the Cup Series to win races. And so I think that when you have a shot at winning races, you’ve got to be aggressive and go for it.”

MORE: Culture shift fuels Front Row’s rise

Up next is Kansas Speedway, where the NASCAR Cup Series will hold the AdventHealth 400 on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). McDowell has never scored a top-10 finish there in 25 starts, his best result a 13th-place finish twice (2017 with Leavine Family Racing and in 2021 with FRM). He qualified seventh in last year’s playoff race, but ultimately finished 26th.

Perspective is key, though. And that past experience keeps McDowell’s head up despite whatever the numbers say.

“I’ve been here before and I’ve also been on the flip side of it,” he said. “I’ve been on the flip side where it’s like you’re running 20th all day. Somehow, you steal a top 10 and you’re like, ‘I’m gonna leave as fast as I can before they figure out that we stole this one.’ And then the next week, it’ll happen again and the next week. We’re like, ‘holy cow, we just stole three top 10s!’ And so I’ve been on the other side where it feels like you can’t do anything wrong. And I’ve been on this side where you just can’t put it together for the life of you, right?

“And whether it’s circumstances or failures or whatever it is. … we’ve just got to break the streak.”

Posted on April 30, 2024 by Staff Report

NASCAR has reinstated Whelen Modified Tour driver Stephen Kopcik, who was suspended indefinitely Feb. 29.

Kopcik is eligible to resume NASCAR competition immediately and is scheduled to serve as the crew chief for the No. 19 entry this weekend at Monadnock Speedway.

Posted on April 29, 2024April 29, 2024 by Zack Albert

Denny Hamlin’s called-shot win Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway might just be the start of something bigger. Turns out, the driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota may have had some extra incentive when he and crew chief Chris Gabehart established some performance-goal parameters heading into the midpoint of the NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season.

“I mean, Chris Gabehart told me that I needed to win one of the next three weeks to feel good about where we’re at at the All-Star break,” Hamlin told NASCAR.com after his late surge to victory in Sunday’s Würth 400. “And so I told him I’d get it done, if not win all three.”

All three, you say?

Stopping short of elevating Hamlin’s statement into a decisively bold 3-for-3 guarantee, history suggests that the No. 11 team’s aspirations for a trifecta in the weeks ahead aren’t that far-fetched. Hamlin tops the win list among active drivers for the next two tracks — Kansas Speedway, the site of Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio); and Darlington Raceway, where the Goodyear 400 will be held Sunday, May 12 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). The non-points NASCAR All-Star Race will follow May 19, at which point 13 regular-season events will be complete, with 13 more to go until the playoffs.

RELATED: Cup Series standings

Confidence is brimming right now for the No. 11 bunch, but with good reason. Here’s how both of those races stack up — for Hamlin and the rest of the Cup Series field:

KANSAS

Hamlin’s history: The No. 11 team came out ahead in last year’s 400-miler at the Kansas City track, where Hamlin converted a last-lap pass on Kyle Larson with some well-publicized contact between the two. Hamlin is a four-time Kansas winner, and he steams into the Cup Series’ next race with five consecutive top-five results there. He’s finished among the top two his last three times out at the 1.5-mile track.

Top challengers? The most significant threat to Hamlin’s bid at Kansas likely stems from the 23XI Racing team that he co-owns with basketball legend Michael Jordan. The organization has won three of the last four there with three different drivers all flying the No. 45 — Kurt Busch (May 2022), Bubba Wallace (Sept. 2022) and Tyler Reddick (Sept. 2023). Outside of the Toyota camp, Larson looms largest, having led the most laps in both Cup Series races at Kansas last year before settling for top fives.

Sean Gardner | Getty Images

DARLINGTON

Hamlin’s history: Hamlin’s four-win portfolio at the track “Too Tough to Tame” could have easily added a fifth in last September’s playoff opener, where he led 177 of the 367 laps before an extra pit stop for a vibration knocked him from contention. He’s led 100-plus laps six times in his Cup Series career at Darlington, where he has also registered six victories in the Xfinity Series.

Top challengers? William Byron, the Cup Series’ other three-time winner this year, is likely to contest for the Darlington laurels as the defending race winner, but also as the top points-earner there since the Next Gen stock car debuted in 2022. Other probable standouts include Larson — the most recent victor at the 1.366-mile oval — and JGR’s Martin Truex Jr., a two-time Darlington winner who has led laps in seven of his last eight starts there.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Posted on April 29, 2024 by John Crane

DOVER, Del. — The circuits were waning, and Kyle Larson was gaining. During the final laps of Sunday’s Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway, Larson closed the gaps between his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Hamlin’s already-thin 0.60-plus second lead over the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion with approximately 20 laps to go quickly diminished to an even thinner 0.347 seconds with 11 laps remaining.

The picture between the pair has played out in a similar fashion numerous times. And who could expect anything less? One former champion (Larson) vs. a driver with Hall of Fame-caliber credentials fighting for his first championship (Hamlin). Title-winning moves are made during the regular season, so they say, and both drivers were looking to cast one of those stones at the famed Monster Mile.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

And during a campaign when both drivers will fight tooth and nail for the coveted Bill France Cup, the Delaware round went to Hamlin, who outlasted Larson by 0.256 seconds to claim his third Cup triumph of the season.

“It’s very satisfying because I was really looking forward to Texas (Motor Speedway),” Hamlin said. “When Kyle Larson was dominating the first half, I knew what kind of car I was going to have in the second half. He had a wheel problem. Man, I can’t race him straight up. We’ve had a lot of late-race battles. So, to get the better end of it certainly feels good on my end. I mean, he’s one of the best. The record proves it. The amount of wins he’s got since being over there, it speaks for itself. I mean, as old as I am, I’m just happy I can keep up at this point. But then to be a challenger to those guys who are half my age, it’s fun.”

With both drivers combining for three wins, six top fives, seven top 10s and 930 laps led this year heading into Dover, early indications were that both would — more than likely — be in contention once again entering the race weekend. And while Larson started Sunday’s race in 21st compared to Hamlin’s sixth, there was no denying the No. 5’s capabilities to quickly work back to the field’s front.

And that’s exactly what happened. Stage 1 concluded with Larson and Hamlin finishing fifth and sixth, respectively, with the former also being the first of the pair to lead laps, spanning from Lap 219 to Lap 253, attributing to a Stage 2 win (Hamlin finished third). Hamlin was next to draw blood, with a savvy three-wide sandwich with Larson and Alex Bowman culminating with a victory off pit road to begin the race’s final stage. And while Larson briefly reclaimed the lead on Lap 325, Hamlin’s speed proved to be electric enough to pull ahead once again.

WATCH: No. 11 crew chief discusses Dover dub | No. 11 jackman on team performance

Chris Gabehart, crew chief for the No. 11, understood the complete effort it took from the entire No. 11 team to overcome Larson and, perhaps equally as important, to help rebound from two consecutive finishes outside the top 30, spanning from Texas (30th) and Talladega Superspeedway (37th).

“In today’s NASCAR racing, to win a race at the Cup level, you have to have it all,” Gabehart said. “You have to have it all, nearly every lap of it. There’s no other form of motorsports where it’s this tight, where you literally have to have it all and then some, a little bit of fortune to go along with it. Texas we had multiple chances to win the race, didn’t get that fortune, cautions didn’t go our way.

“This team definitely has all the makings of it. Denny is doing a phenomenal job as a driver. The car, the new Toyota Camry’s really given us a lot to work with. Everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing is really pulling the rope and excited to win races. I just can’t say enough about our pit crew and all the work they’ve went through. Everybody here at the race track with the 11 car, week in and week out, just how much fun we’re having doing this. That’s what it takes. That’s what it takes to win races. Winning races wins championships. Really, that’s all the 11 is focused on, is winning races.”

James Gilbert | Getty Images

Winning races, not to mention football games back in the day, is something Joe Gibbs knows all too well. And to the 83-year-old coach and team owner, the 43-year-old Hamlin has shown a veteran poise that equates to race-winning success.

“I’m really thrilled with where Denny is,” Gibbs said. “Chris, he was talking about it. At this point in his career, for him to be after it the way he is, he’s in there with Chris, he’s in the simulator. He’s improved at a couple places where he felt like he was off. He took it upon himself in road racing. I got to tell you, in pro sports, it’s hard to get it all together. I think this team, the 11 team, with Chris’ leadership, really right now I feel so comfortable going to the race track. That’s hard to get. Just appreciate all of our guys. In this sport, we know it’s all really different. You got to have four teams working together to solve the problems. Then, when you get to the race track, it’s everybody on their own trying to win it.”

Lengthy green-flag runs late in the race were briefly sprinkled with a pair of cautions (with one of them including a JGR teammate in Christopher Bell), but Hamlin never wavered. Neither did Larson. And with an early-season champion-caliber primer between the pair coming down to the wire, it was Hamlin who eventually overcame a surging No. 5 to take the checkered flag.

The confetti flew. The pit crew celebrated. The crowd remained vibrant. But for Hamlin, the victory wasn’t his first rodeo — his Dover victory netted him his 54th in the Cup Series, which tied him with Lee Petty for 12th all-time.

Hamlin understands his pedigree, and he more than knows the significance of “pushing to the absolute edge” in order to optimize his shot at winning against a championship competitor willing to put it all on the line to win. As a four-time Championship 4 driver, Hamlin also understands that every chance for a Cup Series crown matters.

But simply winning at its base level matters, too. And Hamlin lets it be known, from his wheeling and dealing on the track to confident chuckling after the fact.

“Listen, I know that I’m a championship-caliber driver. I’ll just say it,” Hamlin said. “I think there’s been worse drivers to win a championship than me. I just feel that way just because of things that have worked out. It’s different. Find one driver saying that championships are the same as they were 10 years ago. It’s just not. I care about wins and winning every single week because, in the end, I absolutely would take 60-some wins and no championship over 20 and one. It’s just not even close. I just think it’s fun to be able to do it. When you can do it against someone that you really consider a big challenger in Kyle Larson — he’s a champion, not a challenger. I’m probably the challenger. I think it certainly helps your ego a little bit. Like I need that.”

MORE: Cup Series standings | Cup Series schedule

Such battles involving Hamlin are bound to continue, and look no further than the upcoming AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Hamlin has four career Cup wins and, coincidentally, bumped past one No. 5 driver to tally that most recent win nearly one year ago on the dot.

Hamlin’s championship-style clashes during the regular season will not cease. More stones will be cast. And perhaps more satisfaction will come, too.

Posted on April 29, 2024April 29, 2024 by Zack Albert

Denny Hamlin emerged from a Sunday afternoon of twists and turns at Dover Motor Speedway with his third Cup Series win of the season. He fended off series points leader Kyle Larson down the stretch and kept teammate Martin Truex Jr., last year’s Dover winner, at bay, leaving him third in the final order.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Dover

Hamlin now sits tied with Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron for the most Cup Series wins this year. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver also moved into a dead heat with NASCAR Hall of Famer Lee Petty on the all-time win list with his 54th Cup Series triumph.

A handful of hopefuls savored banner days in Sunday’s Würth 400, while other favorites left the Monster Mile with disappointment. Here are six drivers — three each with trends heading in different directions — who experienced big shifts in fortune Sunday at Dover.

THREE UP ⬆️

1. Noah Gragson, No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford

Alex Daus | NASCAR.com

Started: 5th

Finished: 6th

What happened: Gragson made the most of his 50th Cup Series start, coming up just one position short of collecting his second consecutive top-five finish. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver didn’t lead laps — as he did in last week’s third-place result, a career-best, at Talladega — but Sunday’s outcome gave him a significant six-spot improvement to 21st in the Cup Series points standings.

What’s next: The Cup Series shifts to Kansas Speedway for next Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). His last time out at the Kansas City track, Gragson was on the receiving end of a Ross Chastain punch to the face in a post-race confrontation. The rest of his Cup Series portfolio there is less dramatic (an average finish of 21.7 in three starts), but Gragson has Kansas wins in both the Xfinity Series (2022) and the Craftsman Truck Series (2018).

2. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

James Gilbert | Getty Images

Started: 1st

Finished: 4th

What happened: Busch and the No. 8 group put together one of their most complete race weekends of the season, adding a second top-five finish to match the team’s photo-finish third at Atlanta back in February. Busch came away from Dover with his most laps led in a race this year (34) and his most points earned (42). Like Gragson, Busch savored a six-position jump-up in the Cup Series standings; that increase moved him into 11th place and on steadier ground above the way-early provisional dividing line for the playoffs.

What’s next: The Sunflower State has been a mixed lot for Busch in his Cup Series career, which went 14 Kansas starts before he notched his first top-five finish there. In the time since, he’s posted two victories — including his most recent in 2021. In two starts there with RCR, his best finish is seventh place during last September’s 400-miler.

3. Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

Logan Riely | Getty Images

Started: 14th

Finished: 9th

What happened: Hemric benefited when a caution flag flew with 79 laps remaining, before the No. 31 Chevy team had made a scheduled green-flag pit stop. That trapped 16 cars that had already pitted a lap down, and each of those teams took the wave-around under yellow and lined up behind sixth-place Hemric and the other front-runners for the restart. From there, the 33-year-old driver held his ground for his second consecutive top-10 finish, equaling his season-best result from a week ago at Talladega.

What’s next: Hemric has only raced twice at Kansas in his Cup Series career, but his most recent start there was a memorable one. Back in 2019 during his stint with Richard Childress Racing, Hemric scored his only Cup Series pole position. More of that solid starting-spot vibes could come in handy next weekend; his average start this season is a suboptimal 28.4.

THREE DOWN ⬇️

1. William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Logan Riely | Getty Images

Started: 3rd

Finished: 33rd

What happened: Byron led 36 laps in the early going and was among the top five well into Stage 2. His Lap 182 pit stop, however, was part of the team’s undoing when the No. 24 Chevy fell off the jack before the left-front tire was fastened. The lengthy stop knocked Byron from second place to 18th after the pit cycle, and that midpack position was where he was running when a final-stage restart went awry. Contact in the melee that also involved Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace handed him his first DNF of the season.

What’s next: Byron dipped two spots in the Cup Series standings, but his stature as a playoff qualifier hasn’t wavered as a three-time winner so far this season. The 26-year-old driver has won at a superspeedway (Daytona), a road course (Circuit of The Americas) and a short track (Martinsville) this year. The only void left to fill is an intermediate-sized track such as Kansas, where he won the pole for last year’s springtime event.

2. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

James Gilbert | Getty Images

Started: 33rd

Finished: 34th

What happened: An ominous weekend that opened with a crash in Saturday’s practice and a starting spot at the back of the pack ended up no better with a premature exit for Bell at Dover. Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was tangled up in the same Turn 2 fracas that snared Byron, and the team was out 72 laps shy of the full 400-lap distance. Bell, a winner earlier this year at Phoenix, fell four spots to 17th in the Cup Series standings.

What’s next: Bell could use a rebound and some smooth road ahead at Kansas after two consecutive DNFs with crashes at Talladega and Dover. He’s led laps in his last four Kansas starts, a span that includes two pole positions there for his No. 20 group.

3. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford

Logan Riely | Getty Images

Started: 24th

Finished: 30th

What happened: Keselowski was on the Three Up side of this spectrum last week, when he contended for the victory in the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway. This weekend at Dover, the RFK Racing driver and co-owner went for a long spin at the end of Stage 1, then limped his No. 6 Ford to pit road in the 224th lap after slugging the outside wall in Stage 2. It marked Keselowski’s fourth finish of 30th or worse in 11 races this season.

What’s next: Keselowski is a two-time Kansas winner, prevailing there in 2011 and 2019 during his days with Team Penske. His three-year winless drought in the Cup Series now stretches to 109 races, but he ran a promising second place at the circuit’s most recent 1.5-mile track two weeks ago at Texas.

Posted on April 28, 2024April 29, 2024 by John Crane

DOVER, Del. — Despite finishing on the third-place end of an electric photo finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February, Kyle Busch looked to be in a momentum-building position to perhaps tally off even more top-flight finishes. The eight subsequent NASCAR Cup Series races for Rowdy and the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team — spanning from Las Vegas Motor Speedway to Talladega Superspeedway — instead saw the group tally only two top 10s and finish outside the top 20 four times.

A fourth-place finish at Dover Motor Speedway in Sunday’s Würth 400, though, might rekindle early-season thrills and perhaps ignite an upswing as Rowdy rumbles forward in his 2024 Cup campaign.

RELATED: Race results | Best photos from Dover

“I felt like today was a good day overall,” Busch said. “There are still things to clean up, but I’m proud of a top-five effort. It felt like if we would have restarted third, I might have been able to keep pace maybe somewhere closer to the front. But starting where I did and having to race the 10 [Noah Gragson] was difficult. I hate it for our guys that we didn’t get a better finish, but the FICO Camaro was good. Just struggled a bit on the long, long run.”

“I think Kyle did a great job today,” Randall Burnett, No. 8 crew chief, told NASCAR.com. “It was a solid day for us. We were up and around the top seven all day long, which was a building block for us. We struggled the last few weeks, so to come out here and sit on the pole and run up in the top seven pretty much all day long and be in contention all day, it was a good day for us, overall.”

Despite opening the Dover race weekend with the 12th-fastest lap time during Friday’s practice session at the Monster Mile, Busch wheeled the No. 8 Chevy to the fastest speed during Saturday’s qualifying run, which netted the 38-year-old Las Vegas native his 34th-career pole and first since World Wide Technology Raceway in June 2023.

Such momentum continued through the opening portions of Sunday’s Delaware bout, with Busch leading 33 total laps and claiming nine combined stage points via his seventh and sixth-place finish in Stages 1 and 2, respectively. However, a Lap 330 wreck re-shuffled the field, with Denny Hamlin inevitably making the most of the circumstance to capture his third Cup win of the season.

Capturing his first Cup win of 2024, to Busch, could have possibly transpired with more speed up front.

“I felt like there, when we came off of pit road in third, if we could’ve maintained third, maybe, kind of, sort of, we might’ve had something for the front to or at least been able to keep pace closer to the front too to see what would’ve happened toward the end of the race, but that wasn’t to be,” Busch said. “We had to come back down and restart eighth and eighth to fourth in that final run right there, so decent day, just obviously, could’ve been one spot better, but still not a win.”

From his perspective atop the pit box, Burnett echoed Busch’s sentiment.

“In order to win these races, you gotta put yourself up in the front, so that’s what we gotta do,” Burnett said. “We got to be running up in the top five and put ourselves in position so we can try to get one of these. We just got to keep doing that week in and week out, more than anything.”

Although he couldn’t triumph in Victory Lane, a fourth-place run provides momentum that perhaps can be translated in the coming weeks.

A straightforward mindset will be critical for Busch and the No. 8 team as they continue to search for win No. 1 this season.

“Everything is week-to-week,” Busch said. “You just gotta keep working at it week-to-week. It can be different every week. I’m sure the 9 [Chase Elliott] didn’t think they were capable or in a position that they were ready for a win yet, and they got one a couple weeks ago, so just keep putting yourselves up front and in position and doing what you need to do for that.”

MORE: 2024 Cup Series standings | 2024 Cup Series schedule

Following Dover, Busch sits 11th in the points standings, a six-position bump from where he was a week previous. And there’s a possibility for even more ground to be gained, with Busch holding two wins, 10 top fives and 15 top 10s in 32 career starts at Kansas Speedway, the same track the Cup Series tackles next on May 5 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The X factor? Consistency. And after Dover’s finish, so far, so good for Busch as he and his team look to maintain upward momentum.

“We just gotta be consistent,” Burnett said. “We gotta come out here and perform like we did this weekend, bring a fast car, unload fast, qualify well, and qualifying has become such a big deal in these cars because it just sets up your whole weekend, so that’s one thing we gotta do better is we gotta qualify up the top five consistently and put ourselves in position to get stage points and position run up front all day.”