Posted on by Adam Fenwick

A lifelong dream will soon become a reality for eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series competitor Vicente Salas, who will make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas this Saturday (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1).

Salas will drive the No. 20 Chevrolet Silverado for Young’s Motorsports with sponsorship from Miramar Financial Group.

“I am beyond excited,” Salas said. “It’s really a full circle moment. The first car I ever sat in was at Home Depot, it was a Tony Stewart No. 20 car. I think I was 2 or 3 years old at the time. Honestly it is what has driven me until now, sitting in that race car and that feeling.

“To be able to make my first start in the Truck Series driving the No. 20 as well, it just feels surreal.”

The opportunity to make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut came after Salas reached out to Young’s Motorsports Team Principal Tyler Young in 2023, who has 80 starts in the Truck Series himself.

At the time, Salas was trying to put together the funding to compete in the Truck Series or ARCA Menards Series. While the two sides were unable to reach a deal, the meeting with Young ultimately helped lead to the opportunity for Salas to race at COTA this weekend.

“Last year I wanted to run some ARCA or some Trucks and someone that has always been super highly spoken of is Tyler Young,” Salas said. “I got his contact info and hit him up, I told him I really want to talk to you and try to run some races for you guys.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t get to do anything with him last year, but it was cool to just have him in my contacts and know that if I wanted to go race to just give him a call.”

Salas will become the latest driver with eNASCAR experience to compete in a NASCAR national series event, joining drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Josh Berry, Parker Retzlaff and Kaden Honeycutt, among others.

Salas, a 21-year-old third-generation American with roots in Latin America, has been working towards this opportunity for the last few years.

Vicente Salas (55) during a Late Model Stock Car event at North Carolina’s Hickory Motor Speedway in 2023. (Photo: Gardner Street Photography/Hickory Motor Speedway)

He burst onto the scene in 2021 by winning an eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series event at Richmond Raceway as a rookie.

That victory helped propel him to a real-world opportunity to compete in a zMAX CARS Tour event at Hickory Motor Speedway in 2022, where he brought home a fourth-place finish.

Salas secured enough funding for a season of Late Model Stock Car racing at Hickory the following year. It did not take Salas long to find success, as he won his first race on March 25, 2023 after a last-lap pass.

All the time spent in eNASCAR over the past couple of years, especially with his current team Kanaan eSports, is what Salas credits for his ability to excel in a real race car.

“I don’t believe I’d be anywhere near where I am at now without the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series,” Salas said. “For me, living out on the West Coast, I felt like I was disconnected from the actual NASCAR scene here on the East Coast.

“I built connections, made new friends that work in the industry here and they were able to get me the connection to go race a Pro Late Model, then the connection to go race the Late Model Stock last year and now to go race this Truck. That win is what helped me get into a Late Model and without that win or without that series, I don’t believe I’d be where I am.”

So how is Salas preparing for his first start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series?

If you said by turning laps on iRacing at the virtual COTA, then you’d be right.

“I have already been running laps. I have talked to a lot of drivers who drive a lot on iRacing and drive in NASCAR as well and they have said the Truck is very close on the sim to what it is in real life,” Salas said. “I’ve already been running laps at COTA and trying to get as many tips and tricks from the guys I know that have run that track.

“I’m just super excited to get rolling at COTA.”

Posted on by George Winkler

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Crew chief Chris Gabehart said managing Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway was like being a football coach where the entire game plan goes out the window in the first quarter.

And to him, that was a good thing.

His driver, Denny Hamlin, came out on top on a day when there were a track-record 54 lead changes, a number that blew away the old mark of 40 that had stood since April 14, 1991, when Rusty Wallace beat Ernie Irvan by two feet.

It was footing — or the point where the rubber meets the road — that forced crew chiefs and drivers to adjust on the fly to stay ahead of tire falloff that was hitting them more quickly than expected.

What resulted was perhaps one of the wildest and most exciting short-track races in recent memory.

RELATED: Race results | Driver standings

“It was fantastic,” Gabehart said. “The whole weekend was nothing what any of us expected, the driver, the crew chiefs, the engineers, the pit crew, the team, the spotter. I mean, from the minute practice was over, we suspected something was going to be different. I think a lot of us thought maybe 80 (laps), 100 in, this place would rubber in and get a little more familiar. But it did not.

“It was a blast. I’m not just saying that because we won. I’m saying that because it was fun to have to do something so unrefined.”

The unrefined, outside-the-box thinking also challenged the drivers, putting the race squarely in their hands as they soon realized that this would be a Bristol event like no other. The top three finishing drivers — Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski — also happened to be among the most experienced drivers in the Cup Series garage.

Hamlin, 43, said he drew upon his experience in late models to help save tires Sunday, resulting in his 52nd Cup win.

“Yeah, it was challenging,” Hamlin said. “A different kind of challenge, for sure. Certainly not something we’ve had to do for a very long time in managing tires.

“Lesson learned early on. I kind of ran a certain pace, a certain line, wore my tires out. From that point on made some adjustments internally. He (Gabehart) made some adjustments to the car that allowed me to just manage it from that point on.

“Once it got into that tire management type of race, certainly my history in late models where you had to do that big-time certainly paid off.”

What caused the tire falloff was still a bit of a mystery as teams were breaking down pit boxes and loading up haulers, but by several accounts, the 0.533-mile concrete oval just wasn’t taking on the same amount of rubber that it did last fall when Goodyear used the same tire.

Shreds of tire rubber coat the top of the Bristol concrete after the NASCAR Cup Series race.
Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR.com

With the track eating up tires at a pace of every 40 to 50 laps, it led NASCAR to release an additional set of tires during the race, giving teams 12 sets (11 fresh and one carrying over from practice/qualifying) to get through the 500 laps. There were some anxious moments about whether there would be enough tires to get through the race, but the action on the track was undeniable.

“On the allotment (of tires) we actually removed a set of tires from the fall race coming into this race,” said John Probst, NASCAR chief racing development officer. “That’s on us, not Goodyear. So, we actually gave that back during the race as you guys saw. We’ll go back and look at it all. There were times in the race obviously when there was anxiety over whether we were going to have enough tires to finish it. But man, coming out in the end and watching all that, I wouldn’t want to change much at all.”

One difference this weekend as opposed to the fall was the use of resin instead of PJ1 as a track compound to help promote grip in the bottom lane and applied in the corners. Several drivers noted after practice and qualifying how it was giving them a different feel. But there was a reason for the change.

“One thing we learned with our testing on the wet weather on ovals was that the cars are the best way to dry the track quickly. The fans want to see the cars on track,” Probst said. “So when we came here and tested, we tried the PJ, and when we wet the track down, it was almost like oil on the track, the cars were getting no traction. So when we came back here this year with the wet-weather package for Bristol, we elected to use the resin vs. PJ1.”

MORE: No. 11 tire changer: ‘We’ve got everything it takes’

There will be much to unpack from this race, and Probst said NASCAR would work with Goodyear and the teams to look at things further. Goodyear echoed that assessment.

“We tested here last year with the intent to come up with a tire package that generated more tire wear,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “That was the request from NASCAR and the teams.

“And we feel like we had a very successful test and a very successful race in the fall of last year because we did exactly that. We ran a full fuel stop and definitely saw wear, but we thought it was spot-on. So now we’re trying to understand what’s different and why is the race track behaving differently this weekend than what it did a year ago.”

Stucker also said he thought it would be a good bet that there would be a test between now and the race in the fall at Bristol, which will be the elimination race in the Round of 16 of the NASCAR Playoffs. That should give everyone plenty of time to think about what just happened at Bristol and the unique situation that unfolded on Sunday.

“While it’s hard on us, yes, it’s supposed to be hard, you’re supposed to see these guys struggle,” Gabehart said. “You’re supposed to see the 25th-place car look like a mess and the teams trying to figure out how to rebound and rally. Help (the driver) understand whether this run the (tire) management didn’t work or the leader’s running too hard this run, but tell your driver … and let him adjust inside (the car). It’s supposed to be hard. This is not supposed to look easy.”

Posted on by John Crane

BRISTOL, Tenn. — A bottom-10 starting position was not what Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team had in mind heading into Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Coupled with the grind-it-up tire conditions, perhaps the adversity would be too much to bear.

Not entirely.

Starting 29th didn’t stop Bowman from capitalizing late to finish fourth, the 30-year-old’s second top five of 2024 and first since the season-opening Daytona 500. The Bristol finish additionally netted the Tucson, Arizona, native a new career-best finish at “The Last Great Colosseum” in 14 career Cup races.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“I think we all saw it coming in practice, somewhat,” Bowman told NASCAR.com regarding the heavy tire wear. “I don’t think we thought it would be that bad. I thought the race track would lay a little bit of rubber and kind of move to the top, but I mean, we knew in practice, like 35 laps, tires were on cords, so try to make the most of it there.”

So while Bowman had to manage how quickly his tires wore on the track, crew chief Blake Harris had to navigate how to maximize pit strategy for the No. 48 Chevrolet.

“We weren’t in a good spot all day with right-front tire wear, really right-side tire wear in general, you know, better than some, but not as good as you’d like to be,” Harris told NASCAR.com. “So really, it’s just trying to have that discipline to give him (Bowman) targets and lap times and try to watch his steering traces and making sure he’s managing it to the level of what we’ve seen for successful runs, so yeah. I thought he did an amazing job within that all day.”

Of course, Sunday’s 500-lap affair wasn’t one of immediate success right out the gate for the No. 48. A 19th-place finish at the end of Stage 1, followed by a 16th-place run at the end of Stage 2, certainly marked improvement over where the team started. But there was still work to be done.

Being track-savvy and adapting to early-race conditions continued Bowman’s chip-away approach, even when Hendrick teammates William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson weren’t in the vicinity to aid in the pursuit.

“I don’t know that we really did anything to work together as teammates. I’m sure on the pit boxes, they’re giving each other a lot of info,” Bowman said. “Not that we didn’t work together. We just really weren’t around each other until we got them at the end, and so just trying to outsmart guys around you. There are times you want to push, and like, at any point, you can pass a car in front of you, but it’s like, what’s the price you pay on the other side of the runs, so just try to be smart about it … feel like we did a pretty good job.”

The real trick came during the race’s waning laps. After Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 RFK Racing Ford came in during a green-flag pit stop, Bowman’s No. 48 Chevy transitioned to the lead. Bowman led the field for three laps before it cycled back to eventual race-winner Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

“It was pretty nerve-wracking, especially there at the end in that green-flag cycle, Harris said. “Last thing you want to do is pit under caution … under green and look like every time you’re getting close to pitting, it looked like there might be a caution, so ran a little bit long there.

“I think that was our best shot to get the lead and potentially a win. Maybe cost us one or two more … maybe one more spot by running long there, but ultimately, just really happy. We’ve had a couple rough weeks. Didn’t get the finish that I thought we deserved last week in Phoenix, so to come out here with a top five is a big deal for this team. Get a little momentum on our side.”

MORE: Standings after Bristol | Cup schedule

Although the end result might not have culminated with a race win, the finish was one for the No. 48 team to build upon, whether from inside the No. 48 machine to atop the No. 48 pit box. Bowman currently sits 12th in the Cup points standings, a one-position bump from last week after Phoenix.

“I think it’s been a tough couple weeks, so glad to finally get a solid run and wish we could’ve ripped the fence like normal here for the fans, but it still was a good run for us,” Bowman said.

Next will be Circuit of The Americas on March 24 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Bowman has three top-10 finishes in as many Cup races there. And who knows? After navigating through a tough Bristol race weekend and grinding out a top five, the finish could be the start of something greater.

“Use this weekend as a perfect example,” Harris said. “We qualified 29th. Practice, with everything we had going on at the track, which was a huge challenge, we had to come in today, throw that out, be confident in what we put underneath Alex and him having confidence in us to just go get the job done. And yeah, I thought even before all the tire issues, we had a really good car. We were able to move up through there and just kind of manage the chaos from there. But yeah, you have to come in, reset and go after it, and that’s what we were able to do today.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

BRISTOL, Tenn. — How appropriate.

On a day where tire management was the essential element in a NASCAR Cup Series race, three veterans swept the podium positions, with Denny Hamlin winning Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

In a race that produced 54 lead changes — a record for Cup Series short tracks — Hamlin lost the lead briefly to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. in the closing laps but regained it in traffic and beat Truex to the finish line by 1.083 seconds.

RELATED: Full results | At-track photos

In a return to concrete after three straight spring races on dirt, Hamlin won his second straight race at the 0.533-mile speedway and his fourth overall, second-most among active drivers to Kyle Busch’s eight.

The victory was the 52nd of Hamlin’s career, 13th all-time and his first this season.

But the story was the tires and the mysterious way they behaved in a race that saw the track start to eat through to the cords 45 laps into a green-flag run.

Goodyear brought the same tire that ran without issues in last fall’s night race, but on Sunday, the concrete surface did not take rubber. Instead, marbles (small balls of rubber from degraded tires) accumulated high in the corners, making the top of the track untenable.

There were two variables that might have helped to account for the tire issues. The temperature was roughly 10-15 degrees cooler than it was for last year’s night race, which was run on Sept. 16.

NASCAR also opted for a different resin in the bottom lane from the PJ1 traction compound previously in use.

Whatever the cause, with his short-track background, Hamlin was best equipped to deal with the surprising situation.

“That’s what I grew up here doing in the short tracks in the Mid Atlantic, South Boston, Martinsville,” said Hamlin, who grew up in Chesterfield, Viriginia. “Once it became a tire-management race, I really liked our chances.

“Obviously, the veteran in Martin, he knew how to do it as well. We just had a great car, great team. The pit crew just did a phenomenal job all day. Can’t say enough about them. … Man, it feels so good to win in Bristol.”

SHOP: Race winner gear

Truex passed Hamlin for the lead in traffic on Lap 483 but surrendered the top spot to the race winner one lap later, as the teammates worked around slower cars. Truex’s tires gave up the ghost on the last few circuits, as Hamlin pulled away.

“Apparently, that’s what I needed to have happen here at Bristol to have a shot at winning — I guess this tire management thing fit into my wheelhouse here at Bristol,” Truex said.

“Man, the difference was just coming out of the pits so far behind Denny (after green-flag pit stops during the final run). I had to use mine up more on the last run. The last four, five laps of the race, was cord.”

Hamlin led a race-high 163 laps, as the four JGR drivers spent a combined 383 of 500 laps at the front field, with Ty Gibbs leading 137, Truex 54 and Christopher Bell 29.

Brad Keselowski, a three-time winner at the track, finished third, 7.284 seconds behind Hamlin. Hendrick Motorsports drivers Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson were fourth and fifth, respectively, as only five drivers finished on the lead lap.

The last time five or fewer drivers finished on the lead lap was the June 6, 2004 race at Dover.

John Hunter Nemechek, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, Gibbs and Bell came home sixth through 10th, respectively.

Larson and Truex leave Bristol tied for the series lead, passing defending series champion Ryan Blaney, who finished 16th.

William Byron, the Daytona 500 winner, hit the wall at Lap 21 and lost numerous laps on pit road, ultimately finishing 35th, eight laps down.

The Cup Series makes the shift to its first road course of 2024 as Circuit of The Americas awaits next Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Notes: No issues were found in post-race inspection in the Cup Series garage, confirming Hamlin’s first victory of the season. No cars were taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center for teardown inspection.

Contributing: Staff report.

Posted on by Staff Report

William Byron found trouble early in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet contacted the outside wall on Lap 21 after a bump from behind by Joey Logano. Logano was in the middle of a three-wide sandwich with Christopher Bell to his left and Byron to his right.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Slight contact between Logano and Bell sent Logano’s No. 22 Ford up into Byron’s left-rear quarter panel, leading Byron into the wall before sliding there again in Turns 3 and 4. The caution flag waved two laps later for debris from Byron’s Chevrolet.

Byron’s No. 24 team, headed by crew chief Rudy Fugle, repaired a bent right-rear toe link within the allotted time of the damaged vehicle policy and returned to competition six laps down.

“Car feels fine here,” Byron radioed after the restart at Lap 31.

Byron, the 2024 Daytona 500 winner, was unable to recover and finished 35th, eight laps down.

Posted on by Staff Report

Editor’s Note: This story was updated after Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions.

After Christopher Bell led the charge in a dominant Toyota performance on the 1-mile Phoenix Raceway, Racing Insights predicts the manufacturer to stay on top, and this time sees Denny Hamlin take the checkered flag at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Food City 500 on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Hamlin is the most recent winner on the Bristol concrete and has been stout on the surface dating back to 2019 with a pair of victories and five top 10s in the last seven races.

RELATED: Set your Fantasy Live roster | Weekend schedule

The metrics predict Kyle Larson, 2021 fall Bristol winner, to finish second. Polesitter Ryan Blaney and Larson’s Hendrick teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron are projected to round out the top five. Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace are projected to complete the top 10.

The twist of not running the new short-track package, coupled with the fact that it will be the first time in the Next Gen era that the Bristol spring race is on concrete, could cause fierce battles up and down the grid. This weekend will be a test for how teams react to the new landscape surrounding Sunday’s race.

OTHER DRIVERS TO WATCH

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Bell won at Bristol last spring, but the difference is that there is no dirt this time. That shouldn’t be a problem for Bell. Whether it’s dirt or concrete, he stands firmly at the top with 835 laps run in the top five at Bristol since 2022 and has scored the second most points at the circuit in the Next Gen era.

CHASE ELLIOTT: The 2020 champ is focused on becoming a perennial contender once again. Bristol bodes as a circuit for Elliott to finally crack the top 10 as he’s finished second (2022) and seventh (2023) in his last two visits there.

TY GIBBS: It’s already been an impressive start to Gibbs’ sophomore season. He led 102 laps last time around the “Last Great Colosseum,” and given how he took control at The Clash in February and Phoenix last week, the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will be one to watch.

CHRIS BUESCHER: A previous Bristol winner himself, it’s hard to think Buescher won’t be in the mix this weekend. He’s finished in the top 10 in three of the last four Bristol races and only ranks third behind Bell and Larson for most laps run inside the top five at Bristol in the Next Gen era (609).

BRAD KESELOWSKI: Both RFK cars cracked the top five last week, and with another short track on deck, it’s hard to imagine they won’t ride the momentum into another solid weekend. Keselowski is a three-time Bristol winner and RFK Racing has made a note to be a force on the short track since last season.

RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE FOOD CITY 500

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.

FinishCar NumberDriver
111Denny Hamlin
25Kyle Larson
312Ryan Blaney
49Chase Elliott
524William Byron
620Christopher Bell
76Brad Keselowski
822Joey Logano
919Martin Truex Jr.
1023Bubba Wallace
111Ross Chastain
1214Chase Briscoe
1317Chris Buescher
1445Tyler Reddick
1548Alex Bowman
168Kyle Busch
1754Ty Gibbs
1841Ryan Preece
193Austin Dillon
2034Michael McDowell
2110Noah Gragson
227Corey LaJoie
2343Erik Jones
2499Daniel Suárez
2521Harrison Burton
2638Todd Gilliland
2777Carson Hocevar
282Austin Cindric
2947Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
3016AJ Allmendinger
3151Justin Haley
3242John H. Nemechek
334Josh Berry
3471Zane Smith
3531Daniel Hemric
3615Kaz Grala

Posted on by John Crane

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Christian Eckes’ hoisting of the victory sword in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race wasn’t the only celebration under the lights for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday evening.

It wouldn’t require much of a glimpse to see where else the organization excelled at “The Last Great Colosseum,” either, given how littered the top 15 was with McAnally-Hilgemann Chevrolets. Zane Smith, in the part-time No. 91, finished third, while Tyler Ankrum rounded out the top five with a fifth-place triumph. Daniel Dye, in the No. 43 Chevy, completed the McAnally-Hilgemann pack with a 13th-place finish.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“It’s huge for us. It’s kind of been a rough stretch for this company, honestly,” Eckes said. “I mean, the 18 (Ankrum) has been running pretty good, but it’s been a grind at the shop trying to get everything together, and these guys deserve every minute of it because they work so hard. Yeah, this was a huge collaborative effort. It’s basically our setup from last year all four trucks ran, so what you saw in the 19 tonight, all three of the other trucks had, and you know, it’s cool to kind of have that level of team that we’re all building, and we’re all trying to do something special here, for sure.”

Lapped traffic and switching between the top and bottom lanes didn’t dissuade McAnally-Hilgemann from making the necessary strides where necessary. Eckes earned the pole during Saturday’s qualifying session and maintained his track position by battling and eventually prevailing over Kyle Busch during the waning laps, while Zane Smith (who started seventh) and Tyler Ankrum (who started ninth) each improved on their starting positions.

With the result, McAnally-Hilgemann finished inside the top five with multiple trucks for the first time this year after ending the 2023 Truck Series season at Phoenix Raceway with Eckes and Jake Garcia finishing 1-2 in the contest. The Bristol triumph Saturday evening additionally marked the first time that the organization finished with three trucks inside the top five.

“We were really good firing off; we made a couple of lane choices that I wish I could maybe have back, but our final ones were good,” Smith said. “I was happy with (our race), just needed a little bit more. I felt like we had a pretty good truck, just needed to be a little bit better on the longer run. Fun race track, had fun all day long. MHR is strong here, man. They’re fun trucks to drive, appreciate MHR and everyone for letting me have one to drive.”

Ankrum’s fifth-place finish gave the 23-year-old his second top five of 2024, netting the San Bernardino, California native multiple top fives in a Truck season for the first time since 2021. With the finish, Ankrum remains atop the Truck field in the points standings.

To Ankrum, the organizational victory further cemented McAnally-Hilgemann’s place among Truck teams jockeying for early-season positioning. McAnally-Hilgemann currently ranks first in the owner standings, 13 points clear of Spire Motorsports.

“Tonight, we broke that Spire parade up, and we’re gonna wanna continue that at COTA,” Ankrum said. “Right now, I feel like if you look at all the organizations, I mean, Spire is right there with us, but ThorSport isn’t qualifying and racing like we are as a whole and as an organization, Tricon (Garage) isn’t. The 17’s really fast right now, the 11 is really fast right now, but just as a whole, for a whole organization, it just goes to show you what kind of leadership that we got.”

MORE: 2024 Truck Series standings | 2024 Truck schedule

Next up on the spring docket will be a trek to Texas, where McAnally-Hilgemann will vie for another strong showing at Circuit of The Americas on March 23 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

McAnally-Hilgemann will need to lean on the same top-to-bottom success the organization illustrated at Bristol for another strong effort to show itself. And with a huge momentum swing, the possibility is certainly there for the taking.

Such a possibility can only exist with uplifting momentum, and the upbeat organization certainly isn’t lacking in that area.

“It all starts with Bill McAnally and Bill Hilgemann, and then that just trickles down to the crew chiefs and to the drivers, all the way down to the electrician that rolls up on the shop on Monday to fix lightbulbs,” Ankrum said. “It’s huge as an organization.”

Posted on by John Crane

BRISTOL, Tenn. — At first glance, Brad Keselowski’s 17th-place starting position and Chris Buescher’s 34th-place start for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway might not look appealing.

But make no mistake, the organization, not even three years removed from its rebrand from Roush Fenway Racing, remains on an upward trend, especially after a successful run at Phoenix Raceway last weekend and before Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Weekend schedule | At-track photos: Bristol 

“I thought at Phoenix our teams looked really similar. Atlanta, we looked pretty similar. Daytona, we looked pretty similar,” Brad Keselowski told NASCAR.com. “We didn’t look very similar at Vegas. I thought the 17 was a bit stronger than the 6 car was there, and those things come and go for various reasons. There’s not one thing on any given week. You want the crew chiefs to have a little bit of freedom to do what they want to do with their engineers and try different things, and when that gets too far apart for too long, you try to rein it back in.

“There’s an ebb and flow to that, but for the most part, I feel like we’re pretty close to each other.”

Last weekend’s result at Phoenix Raceway was more than each driver’s first top-five finish of the 2024 campaign. With Buescher’s runner-up finish and Keselowski’s fourth-place result in the desert, the occasion marked the first time both drivers finished inside the top five together since the regular-season finale last August at Daytona International Speedway, where Buescher and Keselowski enthralled the Florida crowd with a 1-2 finish, respectively.

For Buescher — who compiled a career-best three Cup wins last season and advanced all the way to the Round of 8 — the prosperity as an individual driver and as a two-driver team has been a gradual build.

“Right now, it’s success early on in the season,” Buescher told NASCAR.com Saturday at the track. “It took us half a year to get where we needed to be last year and got to win races and be competitive most every week.

“We need to be there now. I think that we have been very competitive. We’ve been able to lead laps at three of the four events so far and finally got a solid, respectable finish for the work we did last week in Phoenix and didn’t get caught up in an accident.”

Next comes Bristol, where both RFK drivers have found past success … and on concrete, to boot. Keselowski is a three-time winner at “The Last Great Colosseum,” with his most recent win there coming in 2020 during the last spring race on the racing surface we’ll see Sunday. Buescher’s short-track prowess in the Next Gen era has also been apparent at Bristol, winning during the 2022 fall running under the lights at the half-mile.

This track record of Bristol success, coupled with last weekend’s Phoenix result, certainly doesn’t hurt going into Sunday’s contest.

“It’s not a bad thing, that’s for sure,” Keselowski said. “I wish we would’ve got the results that both of us deserved at Atlanta, and if we had done that, we’d be already checking that box off, but you know, it’s kind of wishing in one hand. But I was happy with where we ended up last week. Good result, good finish and certainly bodes well for going into Bristol, one of our better tracks.”

MORE: 2024 Cup Series standings 

For Buescher, the goal is to build on recent success, which, in turn, would allow for better contending opportunities. For Keselowski, the goal is to show more raw speed and maintain more of a presence at the front of the field. This raw speed, perhaps, can even be the remedy for snapping the 2012 champ’s current 102-race winless streak in the Cup Series.

However, both goals emphasize the same checkbox: maintaining that upward trend.

“We’re on track to do a much better job and be in contention,” Buescher said. “But really, I think for our 17 group, I’m looking at Phoenix as a singular race to really be able to dive into and get a sense of where we’re at fully, just because we’ve had so much other stuff going on to get the year started.”

“We kind of went from irrelevant to relevant to kind of on the fringe of being contenders,” Keselowski said. “And so, we just need to keep pushing to firmly get the grasp in that contender category.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Sometimes a victory tastes sweetest when it comes as a chaser for a bitter defeat.

That was certainly the case for pole winner Christian Eckes, who held off Kyle Busch in the closing laps to win Saturday night’s Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

In last year’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff race at Bristol, Eckes gave up the lead to Corey Heim with six laps left and finished second by 0.218 seconds. The loss cost Eckes, who led 150 laps in that event, a berth in the Championship 4 at Phoenix, where his victory in the season finale gave him a consolation prize but not a title.

On Saturday night, Eckes passed Busch for the lead on Lap 159 and held it for the final 92 circuits as Busch made a frenetic charge that fell just short. In traffic, Eckes crossed the finish line 0.141 seconds ahead of the career Truck Series victory leader.

“Oh, man, it’s so sweet,” said Eckes, who won for the first time this season, the first time at Bristol and the sixth time in his career. “There’s just so much behind this win from last year, missing out on the Championship 4 and losing the race with (six) to go.

“To come back and redeem ourselves was our number one goal, and not only that, but the first three races (of this season), how terribly they’ve gone. We had a lot of issues, and to come back and run really good just shows the resilience of the team.”

By putting his No. 19 McAnally Hilgemann Racing Silverado in Victory Lane, Eckes extended Chevrolet’s 2024 Truck Series winning streak to four races.

Under the sixth and final caution, which slowed Busch’s pursuit for eight laps, Busch radioed to his team, “We’re a second-place truck, maybe third.”

But that didn’t prevent Busch from charging after Eckes after a restart on Lap 227 of 250. As the run progressed, Busch cut into Eckes’ lead, which had grown to more than one second, and closed to his back bumper by the time Eckes crossed the finish line.

“The crazy part about it is, we fought loose all through practice, all through qualifying, all through the beginning part of the race on older date codes,” Busch said. “Then we put on the newer date codes of tires and were instantly tight. So, just not being able to prepare and practice on what you expect to race on hurt us.

“We tightened up all day, and obviously I don’t think we were as tight as the 19 (Eckes) at the end but, you know, just track position. I let him go early in that run to just go burn his stuff off and track position at the end, just aero effects… Didn’t have enough rubber on the road to outduel him.”

Zane Smith finished third in the first race of a double-duty weekend. Three-time series champion Matt Crafton was fourth after joining Eckes and Busch in a three-way battle for the lead before the final caution for a shunt involving Stewart Friesen and Nick Sanchez on Lap 219.

EXCLUSIVE: Sanchez, Friesen have confrontation on pit road

Series leader Tyler Ankrum was fifth, extending his margin over second-place Corey Heim to 17 points. Heim finished sixth, followed by Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth, Grant Enfinger and Sunoco rookie Layne Riggs.

Ty Majeski, the winner at Bristol in 2022, spun from the top five at Lap 144 shortly after the start of the Final Stage, collecting ThorSport Racing teammate Ben Rhodes in the process. Majeski’s No. 98 Ford later went behind the wall due to mechanical issues, resulting in a 34th-place finish.

The Truck Series returns to action next Saturday at Circuit of The Americas (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NOTE: Post-race inspection concluded without issue, confirming Eckes as the race winner. The No. 91 Chevrolet driven by Zane Smith was found with one lug nut unsecured, which will result in a monetary fine.

Contributing: Staff report.

Posted on by George Winkler

Food City 500

(⏰ Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET | FOX | PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Weekend schedule | TV schedule | Weather tracker | NASCAR 101

Location: Bristol, Tennessee
Track length: 0.533 mile
Cup Series race purse: $8,182,531
Race distance: 500 laps | 266.5 miles
Stages: 125 | 250 | 500
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Starting lineup: Blaney wins pole position
Pit stall assignments: See where drivers will pit
Defending winner: Christopher Bell, April 2023 (dirt)

Key things to watch

Saturday session

Ryan Blaney dominated Saturday by winning the pole, leading practice and topping the charts in 10-lap averages. This continues a hot streak for Blaney, who has rolled off three straight top-five finishes this season and is leading the series standings. However, he hasn’t won a race yet in 2024. That could very well change on Sunday.

Josh Berry will join Blaney on the front row, and that’s a step in the right direction for the rookie driver for Stewart-Haas Racing. However, Berry will have to improve his long-run speed in order to be a factor in the final outcome. He was 26th in practice and 24th in 10-lap averages.

It’s interesting to note that Berry’s best career finish came on a short track, a second-place showing last year at Richmond Raceway in a substitute role.

Ryan Blaney poses at the Busch Light Pole Award winner board at Bristol Motor Speedway
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

Big story line

What can we expect now that the spring race at Bristol is back on concrete?

More unpredictability than usual thanks to a few different factors. The Next Gen car has never raced on concrete here in the spring, and this year’s race is scheduled to take place during the afternoon hours instead of at night.

Add in the fact that NASCAR has put down a resin on the bottom lane of the track, and it will likely mean the teams that manage all these variables the best will have the highest probability of ending up in Victory Lane.

“We all have done it before; we’ve all done the spring concrete race here at Bristol,” Ryan Blaney said. “It’s just a matter of they put that resin down on the bottom. How long does it last? How long does your car run on it? It’s a different kind of material, so we’re trying to figure that out.”

Another thing to keep in mind is that a driver’s stats at Bristol pre-Next Gen car may not hold as much water now. Kyle Busch, for example, leads active drivers with eight Bristol wins on the concrete but has finishes of 34th and 20th on the surface in the Next Gen car.

“The car really changes a lot for me,” said Busch, when asked about his confidence level entering the weekend. “We won here with this car on the dirt, but since we’ve been bringing the new Next Gen to the concrete surface, I have not found my way with it yet. I definitely have a way of understanding this place and having a sense of setup and how to drive it with the old stuff, but not with the new stuff. We’ll see how this weekend goes.”

One thing that hasn’t changed about Bristol are the physical and mental demands the track puts on drivers. Sunday’s race figures to test the limits of drivers in both areas, and that might lead to some frayed nerves.

“I think this is one of the more physically demanding races that we go to just because you never get a break,” Blaney said. “You never get a rest on the straightaway. Even at Phoenix last week you have some time to shake everything out and take a breath. But here, you don’t have any of that. You’re constantly just getting shoved into the seat, and you’re never by yourself. You’re always trying to pass somebody or try to hold somebody off. … That’s where the mental exhaustion comes from.”

History tells us…

That there should be a different winner for Sunday’s race because the last five concrete races have produced five different winners from five different teams.

When looking for clues for a new winner, Bubba Wallace’s name jumps out from Saturday. The driver of the No. 23 Toyota for 23XI Racing posted the ninth-fastest qualifying time and had the third-fastest time on 10-lap runs.

Wallace has qualified in the top 10 in his last four short-track races. Plus, two of his three career top-10 finishes on short tracks have come in his last six races. Perhaps Wallace is due to end one of these short-track races in Victory Lane and become a new winner at Bristol.

He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for…

Michael McDowell. Looking for another upset special? Check out McDowell, who opened the week at 60-1 odds to win, according to DraftKings. The driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford was seventh-fastest in practice and qualifying. Like Wallace, McDowell is on the uptick at short tracks with two sixth-place finishes in the past five races. | Bristol odds

Speed reads

Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles. 

• Turning Point: Trends from Phoenix, heading to Bristol | Read article
• Aiming for 80,000: Breaking down Hendrick Motorsports’ laps led | Photo gallery
• Back to concrete: Drivers eager to get back on the hard stuff | Read article
• Logano not low: Team Penske driver remains upbeat despite start | Read article
• Suspensions to begin: RFK Racing drops No. 17 team’s appeal | Read article
• NASCAR Classics: Picks to click from our video library for Bristol viewing | Read article
• 36 for 36: NASCAR survivor pool selections for Bristol | Read article
• High times on high banks: Relive Bristol Motor Speedway’s biggest moments | See the photos
• Springtime winners: Going all the way back to 1972 | Photo gallery
• Fearless prediction:Racing Insights projects the final race results | Read article
• Fantasy Fastlane: Lineup advice for Bristol | Sleepers, drivers to avoid
• Paint Scheme Preview: Outdoorsy looks for Trackhouse | Pick a favorite
• Power Rankings: Gibbs looks to be on verge of victory | Latest driver rankings
• At-track photos: Scenes, sights from fastest half-mile | Photo gallery
• Old-school details: Bristol throws it back with wall look | See the photos

Fast facts ⏩

Race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.

• The race winner has led over 100 laps in each of the last five Bristol races.
• Four Bristol races were won with a last-lap pass, but the last was August 1999 when Dale Earnhardt passed Terry Labonte after he “rattled his cage.”
• Ford leads all manufactures with four short-track wins in the Next Gen car.