On Wednesday, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel heard an appeal for the safety penalty issued to Xfinity Series driver Joey Gase following his actions at Richmond Raceway on April 3.
After an incident took him out of the race, Gase took the bumper cover off his damaged No. 35 Ford and threw it at a competitor under caution. He was then penalized and issued a $5,000 fine for violating Sections 8.8.8K of the NASCAR Rule Book, which states: “A safety violation may be imposed for any action or omission by a Competitor or vehicle that creates an unsafe environment or poses a threat to the safety of the Competitors, as determined by NASCAR.”
The Appeals Panel consisting of Hunter Nickell, Shawna Robinson and Kevin Whitaker upheld the penalty to Gase, concluding that “NASCAR was correct in ruling that driver Joey Gase put himself in a dangerous position on the racetrack.”
Gase can appeal the decision of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel to the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer in accordance with the NASCAR Rule Book.
CONCORD, N.C./DAEGU, SOUTH KOREA (April 24, 2024) – As a prelude to the 65th running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend, Charlotte Motor Speedway took its 2024 Mission 600 campaign international on Tuesday with a virtual visit between Coca-Cola Racing Family driver Denny Hamlin and the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command (ESC), Eighth Army, United States Forces Command, Korea.
Now in its seventh year, Mission 600 pairs NASCAR drivers with military bases for in-person and virtual visits in an effort to educate the NASCAR community about the day-to-day lives of the men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces and to build meaningful connections between the worlds of motorsports and the military.
While separated by more than 7,200 miles – or roughly the distance of 12 Coca-Cola 600 races – Hamlin and the unit found a lot of common ground in discussing sustainment, logistics, teamwork and leadership.
Hamlin met a variety of specialists from the 19th ESC who oversee everything from maintaining and fueling fleet vehicles to training K9s. During the discussion, Maj. Javon Starnes showed an overview video and shared insights into the vital role of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) and the ongoing joint training efforts with the Republic of Korea (ROK) forces. Starnes explained how collaborative training underscores the commitment to readiness and the shared responsibility of maintaining peace and security in the Indo-Pacific, reaffirming the U.S. forces’ ironclad commitment to the ROK-U.S. alliance. Hamlin and the soldiers then engaged in discussions on teamwork, emphasizing the parallels between military operations and the high-stakes world of NASCAR racing.
The 53-time Cup Series winner and 2022 Coca-Cola 600 champion shared about the importance of work-life balance, how logistics breed success in NASCAR and leadership lessons learned from NBA legend and 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan.
On what drives him:
“I love to compete. Since I was a kid, even before I could compete in NASCAR, I wanted to compete. I was always racing a friend on a bike. I was always trying to beat my grandma in putt-putt. I was always just a huge competitor. Even though I’m 20 years into my career at NASCAR, every seven days I have a chance to win, and knowing that feels really good… Just feeling like I’m at the peak of my career this late in my career, it keeps me smiling because I know that I’m one of the guys they’re going to have to beat.”
On the role logistics and sustainment play in NASCAR’s success:
“I didn’t understand it until I became a team owner. It’s different because if I win in the No. 11 car at Charlotte Motor Speedway at the Coca-Cola 600, I did a great job doing my job, which is just driving the car. I did a great job on that day. When you have weekends like this past weekend where the team that I own wins, it’s like watching your kid do something. You’re always more proud of them than you are of yourself and your own accomplishments. I feel like I had a hand in everything – the sponsorship, the marketing, the competition, the business side. I was part of growing the entire team. What I realized pretty quickly is that making this show happen every week is just crazy hard on the race team itself. We try to work at least two and a half weeks in advance because it’s a process that we have to stay ahead of constantly… I didn’t realize how much logistics is around making this show happen until I owned a team.”
On preparing for unexpected challenges:
“Whether you’re doing what you guys do or in racing, the game never goes as scripted. It never does. So, how do we prepare for that? How do we prepare for any of the challenges that may arise on the weekend? You can make, usually, the right decision, if you practice how you race. We’re on the racetrack with 36 other drivers and they never drive as I hope they would. There’s cautions when you don’t expect them. Sometimes there’s crashes that we have to avoid. Sometimes there’s damage to our car that we have to fix to get the car back in racing-winning shape… Life throws you curveballs and racing does as well. We’re always trying to deal in crisis management and how we can do better.”
On finding work-life balance :
“You’ve got to have a really good tackle box… I’m able to compartmentalize some things at certain times. Ultimately, the family always comes first, no matter what, over anything else. That’s going to live on way past my driving days. Your kids are your legacy.”
On beating Michael Jordan in head-to-head competition:
“In two things, actually. One is golf. We’re very close in handicap, so we just kind of play straight up. So I have beaten him in golf one or two times. And then, he thought he would try his hand at running in the racing simulators. You guys have seen simulators in the military. You’ve got simulators for everything… It took him about 10 laps before he said, ‘I’m done. My eyes are shaking. They’re crossing. I’ve got a new-found respect for what you guys do.’ What people see on Sundays is our cars going around in circles. What they have no idea of is what goes into that, what makes this driver just a little better than that driver, or what makes this car just slightly faster than that car. It takes hundreds of people – and sometimes thousands of people – to build these cars and get every little bit of speed out of them. But it was really fun to see the greatest athlete of all time struggling to make lap time around the race track.”
For the first time in his 10-year NASCAR Xfinity Series career, Ryan Truex will enter the weekend as a defending winner. And of all circuits, it’s at his home race track: Dover Motor Speedway.
Hailing from Mayetta, New Jersey — roughly two hours and 15 minutes from the Monster Mile — Truex is too young to remember the first time he visited Dover. It was when his father, Martin Truex Sr., competed in the Busch North Series. His earliest memory is sitting in the grandstands near the end of the frontstretch when his older brother, Martin Truex Jr., won his first Xfinity Series race with Chance 2 Motorsports in the fall of 2004.
Nearly 20 years later, the Truex family is still the talk of the town, sweeping the Xfinity and Cup Series events last season.
“I don’t even remember my interview on the frontstretch,” Ryan told NASCAR.com. “I feel like I just blacked out and all the things that I’ve wanted to say over the years, I totally forgot all of them and said whatever came to mind.”
Truex’s career voyage has been filled with twists and turns. The former top prospect had his first shining moment in 2012 at the same concrete Dover track, leading 43 laps and being passed by Joey Logano for the lead with six laps remaining.
Ten years later, Truex returned to JGR after varying stops in all three series. In 2022, the results of his six races fell below expectations with a single top-five finish. But as part of his agreement with Toyota, he chose some of his events for the 2023 season. Dover was at the top of his list.
“That one stood out — and he talked about it a lot, so I knew it would be a big deal for him,” Jason Ratcliff, who crew chiefed the No. 19 car last year, said.
Monsoon-like precipitation washed out practice and qualifying that Friday at Dover, leaving Truex to go off his notes from a few hours in the Toyota simulator to prepare for the 200-lap race. While the simulator is a tool, he hadn’t competed in an Xfinity race at Dover since 2018 when he was driving for Kaulig Racing. As he said, “There is always that little bit of doubt — at least for me — when I haven’t been somewhere in a while to show up and be fast.”
The No. 19 Toyota started 12th but powered to the lead by the end of the opening stage. Truex cruised to victory in each of the first two stages.
“I kept passing cars and once I got towards the front, I felt, ‘This thing is pretty good,'” he said. “Once I took the lead, that’s when it clicked to, ‘This is a car that is good enough to win.’
“From that point, my sole focus was to stay in control of the race. Once you lose control and lose clean air, it’s so hard to make that back up. I think we could have with how good the car was, but my goal from then on was no mistakes.”
James Gilbert | Getty Images
During the 94-lap dash to the finish, Truex’s primary concern was making a green-flag pit stop. With 33 laps remaining, Ratcliff called his driver to the treacherous pit road for the final time.
“The most vulnerable spot for me was the green-flag stop,” Truex added. “I feel like pit road, in general, for me as a part-time guy, is my most vulnerable time of the race where I’m most prone to making mistakes. I was a bit conservative on pit road just to make sure I wasn’t the guy that threw the race away.”
Sheldon Creed came to pit road 11 laps shy of making it the distance, handing Truex the race lead. When the checkered flag flew, he became a NASCAR winner in his 188th national touring series start.
The triumph — and 124 laps led, to boot — was beyond validating.
“To do that as a part-time guy is a huge sticking point for me,” Truex said. “There are not many people who have done that over the years. If you look back at the past 10, 12 years of Xfinity, every guy that’s been able to win in a part-time schedule – especially this limited of a schedule at six races – is in Cup or were in Cup. I feel like that shows that if you can go out and do it, people know that and take value in that.”
Truex celebrated with roughly 20 to 30 friends when he returned home to North Carolina that evening. He had two weeks to celebrate it, with the next race — his final start in 2023 — coming at Darlington Raceway, which proceeded with a bye week.
“I didn’t know if I would be back this year or not, I didn’t know what was next or if I was done racing. I was going to be bummed out if I was,” Truex said. “You just have to take the opportunities and make the most of them and keep digging.”
While Truex’s day job is helping Toyota Racing Development with its Cup Series simulator, JGR upgraded him to 10 races for the 2024 season. This weekend’s race at Dover will be his fifth and just the second on a non-drafting-style track. Truex has a pair of top-10s in his four starts this season, with a best finish of seventh at Texas.
“I feel like my stock has risen over the past year and I’ve been able to create some value in what I can bring to the table and what I can offer to a race team,” Truex said.
The most challenging part of Truex’s job remains finding funding. Since the start of 2023, his new approach has been to hone his effort into driving instead of being a better salesman or marketing guy.
“I think on-track stuff for me right now has been an improvement and I’m the best I’ve ever been,” Truex said. “I think I can go out and win at any track any time we show up. We will see if that works out or if I end up with no sponsors and no ride.”
Should Truex end up getting a full-time ride, watch out.
“He’s a great driver,” Ratcliff said. “I think if you put him in something where he can build some consistency, he would win a lot of races and be a championship contender.”
The 2025 NASCAR Hall of Fame Fan Vote is now open, and that means you have the opportunity to cast your ballot and help decide who should be enshrined among NASCAR’s greatest.
Voting begins on April 24 at noon ET and closes on May 19 at noon ET. To vote, follow the embedded link.
Voters may “select” up to two nominees from the Modern Era ballot and up to one nominee from the Pioneer Era ballot. To complete the submission form, you must provide your email address. Fan voters may submit up to one overall vote per day per email address.
Dale Earnhardt, Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Junior Johnson and Richard Petty made up the inaugural class in 2010. The 2024 Class saw Donnie Allison, Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus get inducted. Don’t miss out on your chance to help honor other legends of the sport in 2025.
NASCAR Hall of Fame officials announced their newest list of nominees Wednesday for the Class of 2025, adding Greg Biffle, Randy Dorton and Jack Sprague — a trio of championship-winning candidates — to the Modern Era ballot.
Ray Hendrick and Bob Welborn, both named on NASCAR’s 50 and 75 Greatest Drivers list, were added to the Pioneer ballot. Short-track legend Larry Phillips, a nominee since 2014, was moved from the Modern to the Pioneer ballot, and safety innovator Dean Sicking joins the list of five nominees for the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR.
Voting Day for the Class of 2025 is scheduled for May 21. Two honorees will be selected from the 10 names on the Modern Era ballot, and one will be elected from the five Pioneer nominees. Fan balloting, which will count as one vote among those cast by the voting panel, is now open.
Biffle, 54, is the most recent competitor on the list, a winner of 19 Cup Series races who was named to NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers list last year. His path to NASCAR’s top tour included championships in what is now known as the Xfinity Series (in 2002) and the Craftsman Truck Series (2000). He last competed in 2022.
Dorton made his mark in shaping Hendrick Motorsports’ engine program and guiding the team to some of its greatest successes, including nine NASCAR national-series titles. The legendary engine builder died in an aviation crash in 2004 at age 50, but his legacy and leadership lives on with an engine department that crossed the 500-win plateau last fall.
Sprague was a founding member on the Craftsman Truck Series driver roster, and he rose to prominence as a three-time champion (1997, 1999, 2001) and a 28-time winner. The 59-year-old Michigan native made 297 Truck Series starts, plus an additional 132 in other NASCAR national series.
Biffle, Dorton and Sprague join seven returning nominees on the Class of 2025’s Modern Era list (in alphabetical order): Neil Bonnett, Tim Brewer, Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, Harry Gant, Harry Hyde and Ricky Rudd.
Ray Hendrick became known as “Mr. Modified” with his trademark red “Flying 11” cars collecting an estimated 700 victories in both the Modified and former Late Model Sportsman tour, the precursor to today’s Xfinity Series. Hendrick, who died in 1990 at age 61, was named one of NASCAR’s All-Time Top 10 Modified Drivers in 2013 and was chosen for the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007.
Welborn was a three-time champion in NASCAR’s former Convertible Division, where he was a 19-time winner. In addition to his dominance of the ragtop tour, the North Carolina native won nine times in what’s now the NASCAR Cup Series and holds the distinction as the pole winner for the first Daytona 500.
Phillips, the Missouri short-track ace who won five championships in the NASCAR Weekly Series, was moved to the Pioneer list of candidates after 10 ballot appearances. Hendrick, Phillips and Welborn join incumbent nominees Banjo Matthews and Ralph Moody on the Pioneer ballot. Late Model Sportsman standout Sam Ard and motorsports legend A.J. Foyt moved off the ballot this year.
Sicking, 66, has been instrumental in advancing motorsports safety through the development of SAFER (Steel And Foam Energy Reduction) barrier technology. The civil engineer and inventor joins Alvin Hawkins, Lesa France Kennedy, Dr. Joe Mattioli and Les Richter on this year’s list of Landmark Award nominees.
Randy Dorton was a mastermind engine builder whose legacy endures to this day.
Dorton’s NASCAR career began in the 1970’s assembling engines for legendary crew chief Harry Hyde, and continued to the formation of his own company Competition Engines.
But it was Dorton’s partnership with Rick Hendrick in 1984 that changed everything. Dorton served as lead engine builder for Hendrick Motorsports from 1984-2004 winning 136 NASCAR national series races and setting the foundation for an engine shop that has won more than 500 NASCAR races.
Dorton’s engines won nine NASCAR championships (Cup – 1995-98, 2001, Xfinity – 2003, Truck – 1997, ’99, 2001), three DAYTONA 500s, six Coca-Cola 600s, four Brickyard 400s, seven Southern 500s and five NASCAR All-Star Races.
Beyond the on-track success, Dorton’s leadership style and foresight helped shape Hendrick Motorsports, as well as engine programs across NASCAR.
Dorton tragically died in a plane crash that took the lives of 10 members of the Hendrick Motorsports family in October 2004.
Randy Dorton bio
Born: May 1, 1954 Died: Oct. 24, 2004 Hometown: Concord, North Carolina
Early success on local short tracks in Michigan led Jack Sprague to North Carolina and a legendary career in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
After winning several track championships in the NASCAR Weekly Series, Sprague found his footing with the formation of the Truck Series in 1995.
He finished fifth in the series’ inaugural season and followed with an impressive streak which saw him finish first or second in the standings in five of six years (1996-2001).
Sprague won Truck Series championships in 1997, 1999 and 2001 for Hendrick Motorsports, becoming the first three-time champion in series history.
In 297 starts, he captured 32 poles and 28 wins, finding Victory Lane everywhere from short tracks to Daytona.
Sprague’s success in the formative years of the Craftsman Truck Series have made him one of the all-time greats of the series.
Jack Sprague bio
Born: Aug. 8, 1964 Hometown: Spring Lake, Michigan
Championships (3)
Truck – 1997, 1999, 2001
Truck Series Stats Competed: 1995-2011 Starts: 297 Wins: 28 Poles: 32 Years on Ballot: 2
The original “Mr. Modified,” Ray Hendrick is one of the winningest drivers of all time, amassing more than 700 modified and late model sportsman wins between 1950-88.
Hendrick’s success started in his home state of Virginia, where his famous No. 11 was known to all. He won five track championships at South Boston Speedway — four modified and one late model sportsman.
Hendrick was known as a driver that was willing to race ‘anywhere and everywhere,’ filling his schedule with modified and late model sportsman races across the East Coast. Though he made his name dominating short tracks, Hendrick also produced impressive victories at Talladega, Charlotte and Dover.
Despite never winning a Modified Division championship, Hendrick finished in the top 10 in the standings nine times from 1960-69.
Hendrick was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers and one of NASCAR Modified’s All-Time Top 10 Drivers.
Ray Hendrick bio
Born: April 21, 1929 Died: Sept. 28, 1990 Hometown: Richmond, Virginia
Modified / Late Model Sportsman Stats Competed: 1950-88 Wins: 700+ Years on Ballot: 2
When you think of the NASCAR Convertible Division, you think of Bob Welborn.
In 1956, the “King of Convertibles” found his niche in the newly formed NASCAR Convertible Division. Welborn had reasoned that convertibles were going to take over the sport because the fans could physically see the driver.
In its inaugural season, Welborn would compete in 45 of the 47 events grabbing three wins and the series championship. He would go on to dominate the series for the next two years capturing 15 poles, 14 wins, and becoming the back-to-back-to-back Convertible Division champion.
In 1959, Welborn won the first NASCAR Cup Series points-paying race held at Daytona International Speedway, the convertible qualifier for the inaugural Daytona 500, earning the race’s pole position.
In 183 starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, Welborn captured nine wins and seven poles.
Welborn was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers.
Bob Welborn bio
Born: May 5, 1928 Died: Aug. 10, 1997 Hometown: Denton, North Carolina
Championships (3)
Convertible – 1983-84
Convertible Division Stats Competed: 1956-59 Starts: 111 Wins: 19 Poles: 18 Years on Ballot: 2
Greg Biffle was first noticed nationally during the 1995 NASCAR Winter Heat Series. On the advice of Benny Parsons, Jack Roush hired Biffle and the pair experienced immediate — and lasting — success.
“The Biff’ quickly made a name for himself in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series winning the 1998 Rookie of Year award and the 2000 series championship.
Similar success came in the NASCAR Xfinity Series — a 2001 Rookie of the Year award followed by the 2002 championship, the latter making him the first driver with championships in both the Xfinity Series and the Truck Series.
And while Biffle was unable to win a Cup Series championship in 14 full-time seasons, he earned 19 wins in 515 starts and was a perennial playoff contender. Biffle finished in the top 10 in the standings six times, including a runner-up finish in 2005.
Biffle was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers.
Greg Biffle bio
Born: Dec. 23, 1969 Hometown: Vancouver, Washington
Championships (2) Xfinity — 2002, Truck — 200
Cup Series Stats Competed: 2002-16 Starts: 515 Wins: 19 Poles: 13 Years on Ballot: 2
