Posted on by Pat DeCola

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

THE LINEUP ️

1️⃣ Richmond reversal and the restart in focus

2️⃣ Last short track for months on tap — what will we see?

3️⃣ Where’s the beef? None to be found — for now

4️⃣ Short-track stars: Next Gen masters of Martinsville

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

final restart at richmond

1. Richmond reversal and the restart in focus

Everything changed in the blink of an eye at Richmond, and instead of Martin Truex Jr. claiming win No. 1 of 2024, his teammate Denny Hamlin doubled up.

Given his consistent blazing speed through seven races — Truex Jr. leads the series in both average finish (8.1) and average running position (7.2) — we probably would’ve been talking about the No. 19’s potential championship favorite status had things gone slightly differently at the end of Richmond and Bubba Wallace never makes contact with Kyle Larson to send the race to NASCAR Overtime.

Instead, MTJ left Virginia as “mad as hell” as anybody we’ve seen since his former Big Three member Kevin Harvick at Bristol Motor Speedway that one time, and his teammate Denny Hamlin got to celebrate with the trophy in his home state.

The way Richmond’s final moments played out was fascinating, and it added just so many wrinkles and percolating story lines to follow from here on out, with some of them potentially sparking back up this weekend at Martinsville.

Hamlin and Truex have been racing each other in the Cup Series for nearly two decades, much of that time as teammates or as part of a technical alliance; but will Truex feel like he’s “owed” after this? Will we see different restart-zone tactics late in races moving forward based on a strategy that clearly worked for Hamlin and saw one of Truex’s more dominant runs fade to fourth on the results sheet?

Wallace joked to Larson on pit road that “whatever’s coming my way, I expect it” after spinning the No. 5. Larson isn’t quite the retaliatory type and it was a pleasant exchange, but this isn’t their first run-in and likely would’ve been a different conversation if Larson didn’t rebound to finish third … with another short track on tap, could something be coming Wallace’s way?

Bigger picture, Hamlin has now won two of the past three races and seems to be the driver from the “old guard” most suited to doing whatever is necessary to get wins in the Next Gen era so far. Past champions Truex, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch — some of the biggest names in the sport — are riding a combined 235-race winless streak. There’s seven Cup titles between them and yet they’re consistently getting beat by the driver who notoriously has zero.

Maybe he’s got a point.

denny hamlin does a burnout at richmond

2. Last short track for months on tap — what will we see?

Martinsville feels like the blockbuster finale to a three-race short-track series after raucous recent trips to Richmond and Bristol. 

Another short track? Yes, please.

We’re closing in on two months into the 2024 season and things are really starting to take shape, but what stands out is just the pressure and intensity already becoming increasingly apparent before we even hit April.

Sure, Sunday’s result was the latest extremely frustrating happenstance for Truex, but zooming out a little — he’s still the points leader, the best driver/car on track on a consistent basis and should have just as good of a shot to win this weekend.

But, boy, was he Big Mad. 

You really get the sense that every race and every point really and truly matters (because, well, they do) and we’re seeing drivers just push, push, push to get everything they can with so much at stake and on the line each week. For whatever reason, everything just feels amplified already and a big part of that is likely just because the competition level is arguably as high as it’s ever been. Every opportunity to win matters that much more, because there are just fewer of them.

This is all to say — who’s up for a paperclip-shaped pressure cooker?

We’ve seen almost exclusively nothing but Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing winners thus far in 2024 and truth be told it feels more likely than not Sunday’s winner comes within that eight-driver group. After all, all four Hendrick drivers have won at Martinsville in the last seven races there, and Hendrick/JGR have combined to win eight of the last nine overall at the Virginia short track.

Literally all of those wins, however, have had to go through the two-time champ Logano, as his current nine-race top-10 streak at Martinsville is by far the best with teammate Ryan Blaney and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe turning in four apiece to tie for second.

After a rough start, No. 22 is picking up a head of steam and is probably next on the list behind Hamlin in the “aggressive veteran who knows how to make a win happen” department. Feels very much like he could re-enter the title picture this weekend after somewhat being written off a month into the season by some.

And Hendrick drivers Larson and William Byron have combined for 14 race victories since either Chase Elliott or Alex Bowman have won. They’re both due and running well, while each presents super interesting story lines of their own should they win. On an extremely important weekend for the team, no less.

Alright, time for hot dogs.  

kyle larson celebrates in victory lane

3. Where’s the beef? None to be found — for now

Another seemingly unintentional incident between Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace late at Richmond adds to a long history between the two, who smoothed things over after the race. 

4. Short-track stars: Next Gen masters of Martinsville

Drivers with the most points at Martinsville in Next Gen era. Will Chase Briscoe or Ross Chastain spoil the Hendrick/Gibbs party and pick up their first Martinsville win? 

DriverCarPointsTotal Martinsville Wins
Ryan BlaneyNo. 12 Team Penske Ford1761
Denny HamlinNo. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyots1585
Chase BriscoeNo. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford1570
Joey LoganoNo. 22 Team Penske Ford1571
Kyle LarsonNo. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet1421
Aric AlmirolaNo. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford*1390
Chase ElliottNo. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet1391
Christopher BellNo. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota1341
William ByronNo. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet1271
Ross ChastainNo. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet1230

*Aric Almirola no longer drives the No. 10 SHR entry and instead is competing part-time for JGR in the Xfinity Series in 2024.

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

Power Rankings: Expect to see the No. 9 out front at Martinsville … and perhaps win

Paint Scheme Preview: See the schemes for Martinsville tripleheader 

Analysis: Wet-weather tires afforded everyone a win at Richmond

NASCAR SVP Sawyer on Denny Hamlin’s restart

Inside the Race: Letarte, Gordon break down the final restart from Richmond Raceway

Where the race was won: How Hamlin’s crew controlled pit road at Richmond

Kyle Petty on Truex finish: ‘Plenty of people dominate races and get beat’

@nascarcasm: Fake texts to Richmond winner Denny Hamlin

Chandler Smith wins Xfinity race at Richmond for second straight season

Joey Gase throws his bumper — literally — at Richmond

Which driver is favored to win 2024 title after Richmond?

cars race at martinsville

Posted on by Tadd Haislop

THORNBURG, Va. — You can catch a glimpse looking to your right while traveling north on Interstate 95, right around mile marker 119. Or, while fueling your car at the Sheetz off Exit 118, you can peek over the adjacent landscape and see the teaser that is “NASCAR” in bold letters distinguishing the top of an otherwise unsuspecting building in the distance.

The venue is relatively hidden to passersby. The view from the interstate is mostly obstructed by a line of trees. The rolling northeastern Virginia terrain conceals what’s located at the bottom of a hill off nearby Route 606.

Once discovered, though, Dominion Raceway leaves an incredible impression.

RELATED: NASCAR Regional power rankings

Dominion Raceway
(Photo: Dinah Mullins/NASCAR)

Dominion Raceway is many things to many people. To NASCAR, it’s a top-of-the-line home track that hosts Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series competition. The 4/10-mile asphalt oval with uniform banking is prime for thrilling racing from the featured Late Model division, as well as Virginia Modifieds, Dominion Stocks, Legends, Bandoleros and more.

To others, Dominion Raceway is the area’s hub for entertainment. Yes, it’s Disney World for racing lovers, as the venue in addition to its short track features a two-mile road course and a 1/8-mile drag strip, that latter of which offers street racing every Friday night. Dominion also hosts concerts in its Groove Music Hall. Above that music hall is The 118 Bar & Grill, a full-service restaurant and bar.

The amusement factory is the brainchild of co-founders Jerry Evans and Steve Britt, the latter of whom managed Old Dominion Speedway in nearby Manassas before he sold the old track in 2012 in order to lay the groundwork for what would be called Dominion Raceway and Entertainment.

Britt, his wife Cari and his son Will all work events at Dominion, with Will being the venue’s do-it-all handy man. A large chunk of those who work with the Britts to manage operations at Dominion are life-long friends. They all had smiles on their faces throughout the night of March 30, their 2024 Weekly Series season-opener.

For the second year in a row, Dominion’s short-track racing schedule began with the Dickie Boswell Memorial. The 200-lap Late Model feature headlining the show offered $7,500 to the winner, with the purse of special awards a result of donations from businesses and fans.

Such a special race at such a magnificent venue is the perfect tribute to the late Boswell, a veteran short-track competitor and legend of the region who scored more than 50 wins at Old Dominion Speedway. Boswell passed away in 2021.

The 2024 running of the Dickie Boswell Memorial was arguably more special than the first, as it featured an appearance from Dickie’s son Richard, who serves as Chase Briscoe’s crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series. Briscoe was in attendance Saturday signing autographs.

Dominion Raceway
(Photo: Parker Michels-Boyce/NASCAR)

“Richard had asked if I would be willing to go and just support the race,” Briscoe said. “Anything I can do to help the Boswell family, I want to do. They’ve been so good to me and super important to me.

“I’ve been with Richard since 2018, and I got to know Dickie. I just know how much Richard’s dad meant to him. How much he talks about him and how much losing Dickie affected them.”

Briscoe noted he actually wanted to run the 200-lap Late Model feature, but he wasn’t able to arrange a ride in time.

Even if he would have raced, the driver of the No. 14 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Cup Series likely would have struggled to beat Doug Barnes Jr., the short-track racing star who’s won both Dickie Boswell Memorial 200s to date. Barnes utilized patience to surge to the front in the second half of Saturday’s race and cruise to the checkered flag.

“Air Doug” is one of several who compete at Dominion on a somewhat regular basis. The track is challenging, but it attracts many of the best short-track racers along the East Coast. It’s also the home track of ARCA Menards Series team Mullins Racing.

Dominion Raceway
The 118 Bar & Grill, located on the second floor of Dominion Raceway’s tower, overlooks the 4/10-mile oval. (Photo: Parker Michels-Boyce/NASCAR)

Dominion will continue to attract visitors like Briscoe, as well.

“I want us to continue aligning [the Dickie Boswell Memorial] with the Richmond [Cup Series] race,” communications director Brandon Fuller said. “We coordinated to get Richard Boswell at [Dominion] with his family, so maybe we can get a few more Cup drivers for an autograph session or in the actual race.”

Saturday’s event was a success in every regard. The parking lot that covers the massive stretch of land between the oval track and the service road was packed; overflow parking was required along that service road. The grandstands, suites and infield spots were full, as were the parking spaces for tailgaters outside the fence of Turns 3-4.

There were food trucks. There was music. There was a t-shirt cannon. One didn’t necessarily need hundreds of laps of racing to be entertained. The sensory overload was in full effect regardless.

That’s what makes Dominion Raceway so unique. There’s a something-for-everyone vibe that becomes immediately evident upon arrival. It’s the manifestation of the vision with which Evans and Britt operated as they cleared land for construction of the facility they opened in 2016.

Now they have the perfect place to honor a man like Dickie Boswell, who loved being part of the racing community. The communal nature of Dominion Raceway in itself is a tribute.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Brad Keselowski sits in an unfamiliar position these days, with a winless drought that stretches nearly three full years — a span of 105 NASCAR Cup Series races. It’s an unaccustomed spot for a veteran driver who had a streak of at least one victory each season for 11 consecutive years.

Times are different for Keselowski, who was in his last season driving the No. 2 Ford for Team Penske when he recorded his most recent Cup Series win — April 25, 2021, at Talladega Superspeedway. He’s now in his third season as the driver and part-owner of RFK Racing, and while the scope of his roles has changed, Keselowski says his approach has not.

RELATED: Weekend schedule: Martinsville | Cup Series standings

“I just focus on the process, not the outcome,” Keselowski said Tuesday in a roundtable discussion at the NASCAR Productions Facility. “I’m focused on doing all the right things, trying to help everybody I can and obviously execute on my end, and when I’m not driving the race car, being a servant leader to help everybody else build the best they can. Then you kind of let the results speak for themselves. So I’m just really process-focused, and in that light, you don’t get too high or too low.”

Keselowski’s next opportunity comes Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, site of Sunday’s Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) and the second straight short track on the Cup Series schedule. Keselowski is a two-time Martinsville winner, and he enters the race weekend with top-10 finishes in three of his last four starts.

The process that Keselowski has relied on paid dividends in the stretch run of last season, with teammate Chris Buescher prevailing three times in a five-week span and providing both teams under the RFK banner with playoff momentum. Rediscovering that performance standard and catching up to the early speed shown by Joe Gibbs Racing — winners of three of the Cup Series’ last four races — is the current target.

“Well, week to week that obviously varies. Right now I’m focused on Martinsville and what it’s going to take to have the lap time and speed to compete with the Gibbs cars,” Keselowski says. “Right now, I think they’re dominant. They’ve won, is it four of the last five or something to that effect? And they’ve won them all honest. They haven’t really kind of stole a race. They’ve had the speed throughout the whole race with one of their cars to just control it, and that’s where I want to be. I want to see our team in the spot where we have the speed and control races.

“I thought toward the middle, the end of last year, we had that a couple times, and Chris was able to capitalize with a win, and I wasn’t able to capitalize with a win, but I was able to score a lot of points and make a strong playoff push. So that’s where we want to be. We’re not as strong right now as we were at that time, but I feel like it’s on the tip of our tongue and I want to go get that.”

Last Sunday’s event at Richmond Raceway offered encouragement, with Ford teams placing five drivers in the top 12. Team Penske’s Joey Logano led that charge in second place, and Keselowski did his part with an eighth-place effort.

MORE: Power Rankings: Keselowski up one spot

While Ford teams are still sorting out the nuances of the new Mustang Dark Horse early in its first season of competition, Keselowski noted how well JGR drivers — particularly Christopher Bell — have fared with new Toyota bodies that also debuted this year.

“I thought that the Fords executed really well. I don’t think they had the raw speed the Gibbs cars had,” Keselowski said in summing up Richmond’s results. “The 20 car (Bell), the last two or three races, has had significantly more raw speed than the field, and he’s been able to win one of them but he probably should have won the last two. That’s the level that I think … if we had our execution with their speed, we’d be winning multiple races.”

Win or lose, RFK Racing has already experienced a measure of growth this year, adding David Ragan to the roster in the No. 60 Ford for the Daytona 500 and fielding three cars in a Cup Series race for the first time since 2016. That start represented a one-off — so far — for RFK’s “Stage 60” initiative. As for a more sustained expansion effort to perhaps field three full-time teams, Keselowski says a handful of factors would need to converge to make it happen.

“I mean, we would need the right kind of storm to brew with charter availability and partner availability,” Keselowski said. “I think there’s some opportunities with some talent out there, but the other two pieces really have to come first.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Joey Gase was fined $5,000 for a safety violation after throwing his rear bumper at a competitor’s car during Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Richmond Raceway, NASCAR officials announced Wednesday in their penalty report.

Gase, driver of the No. 35 Joey Gase Motorsports Chevrolet, was penalized 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.”

RELATED: Chandler Smith wins Richmond

The 31-year-0ld Iowa native was bumped on corner entry to Turn 1 by Dawson Cram at Lap 173 during Saturday’s event at Richmond, sending Gase’s No. 35 NCPC Race Against Crime Chevy rear-end first into the outside SAFER barrier. To show his displeasure, Gase climbed from the car, ripped the already-dangling rear bumper from the vehicle, walked toward traffic and threw the fiberglass bumper at Cram’s No. 4 Chevrolet — striking the car directly in the windshield.

Additionally, three Xfinity teams were found with one lug nut not properly installed after the checkered flag of Saturday’s ToyotaCare 250:

  • No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet driven by AJ Allmendinger
  • No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Taylor Gray
  • No. 26 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota driven by Corey Heim

The teams’ respective crew chiefs — Alex Yontz, Seth Chavka and Kristoffer Bowen — were each fined $5,000 in violation of Sections 8.8.10.4a in the NASCAR Rule Book.

The Xfinity Series returns to action Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Martinsville Speedway in the Dude Wipes 250.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Josh Berry will make just his 20th NASCAR Cup Series start this weekend at Martinsville Speedway. The measured progress he’s made in the early portions of his first full year at this level comes with a bit of a perspective — one he admits to and references — that Kevin Harvick, the Hall of Fame-caliber driver he succeeded at Stewart-Haas Racing, retired with 826 starts.

Sunday at Richmond Raceway, the track where Harvick scored the last of his 60 Cup wins, Berry played to his short-track strengths and turned in one of the best performances of his rookie Cup Series campaign. His 11th-place finish in SHR’s No. 4 Ford was marked by early charges into the top five, and only a miscue on a late-race stop kept his result from being better.

RELATED: Weekend schedule: Martinsville | Cup standings

It’s all been part of the adjustment period to a new role, fostering chemistry with veteran crew chief Rodney Childers and growth within a new-look Cup Series roster at Stewart-Haas.

“It’s just a little bit of momentum building,” Berry said Tuesday during an availability at the NASCAR Productions Facility. “I think we’re working together, figuring each other out a little bit more. I’m getting more comfortable getting reacclimated to the Next Gen car, but more than anything, I think we’ve just had good cars the last couple weeks. I feel like, especially at the short tracks. It’s just going to take time.

“I told Rodney this not too long ago, Kevin was 800-and-something starts into racing, and I’m only in the teens, so it’s going to take a little time for me to get acclimated to eliminate some of the mistakes I’ve made at the start of the season. But I think we’re already seeing the potential’s there, the speed can be there, we’ve just got to start executing that and figuring out how to be more consistent, and I think we’ll be fine.”

Berry’s opportunities should be present again this weekend when the Cup Series convenes for more short-track racing at Martinsville Speedway for Sunday’s Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The historic venue was the site of Berry’s breakthrough victory in the Xfinity Series in 2021, and Stewart-Haas Racing has had glimmers of improvement there, with teammates Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece each leading 100-plus laps in this race last spring.

Richmond may have provided a springboard for Berry, who was a runner-up there a year ago in just his sixth Cup Series start, filling in for an injured Chase Elliott in Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 9 Chevrolet. Sunday, his rise on the leaderboard — first on wet-weather tires, then slicks as the weather cleared — prompted an attaboy from spotter Eddie D’Hondt after Stage 1: “You came to play today, buddy.”

Berry’s bobble on an attempted pit-road entry for his last green-flag stop hampered the final result, and the 33-year-old driver radioed his crew to say he’d neglected to adjust his brake bias to the proper setting. A re-rack of the field for an overtime restart also kept him on the fringes of the top 10.

Josh Berry drives during a NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond.
Alex Daus | NASCAR.com

“It’s part of that learning curve and figuring this stuff out, and what can we help him with on all those kinds of things — reminders and different things like that. But he was awesome all night,” Childers told NASCAR.com, noting how few adjustments the team needed to make during the course of the weekend. “I was hoping that we could get some on that last restart and get back up there where I felt like we deserved, and it just didn’t work out. It was like a roadblock, but overall, he did a great job.”

MORE: Power Rankings: Berry breaks into top 20

Berry is still writing this chapter of his racing career, but so is Stewart-Haas Racing in the first season of the post-Harvick era. The contributions by Harvick — both in leadership and the win column — were invaluable to the organization during his 10-year run with the No. 4 team, but his retirement and transition to the FOX Sports broadcast booth have forced the group to move forward without relying on his expertise.

“Honestly, it was really great to lean on him, but at the same time, there’s been some really productive conversations that we’ve had this year in our group, between the four of us,” said Preece, who — like Berry — is a client with Harvick’s sports-marketing agency. “I feel like that’s, between the vibe and some of those conversations, also going to help us. It was time … I don’t know how to really put this, but man, he carried it for so long, right? How are we supposed to carry it? How do we find our direction? I know Josh and I both, we talk to Kevin and we race for Kevin, but this is sink or swim. Figure it out. You can’t always keep going back to Dad, right?”

Berry, even in his brief time under the SHR roof, has seen a notable shift.

“I just feel like just the philosophy itself has changed, and everybody just seems like they’re more motivated to work together and being open-minded,” Berry said. “I mean, everybody’s done a really good job of that, I feel like. Like Ryan said, what we want to see is just the consistency. Everybody’s searching for the balance and speed and to get better, so one car might hit it better than others because we’re not all the same. We’re working together but it’s, ‘Hey, you try this. Hey, you try that,’ from what I see. I’m sure it’s a lot different, but I think change was needed.”

The other side benefit to Berry’s showing last weekend was a tangible boost in the Cup Series standings and the Sunoco Rookie of the Year race. Berry jumped five spots to 23rd in the points, leapfrogging fellow first-year driver Carson Hocevar to grab the lead in the rookie standings.

“That definitely was a goal of ours, for sure, so we want to get as many points as we can and give ourselves the best opportunity to win that award,” Berry said. “Like I said before, I think the potential’s there. We felt like what we had Sunday night and what we had at Bristol, we feel like those nights are in front of us. We’ve just got to figure out how to get there, week in and week out, and it’s going to take some time to get there, but I feel like the potential’s there to keep getting better and running well. Just got to figure it out and go do it.”

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

For the first time since 2019, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will invade Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park as part of the annual IceBreaker weekend this Sunday for the running of the IceBreaker 150 (4:30 p.m. ET on FloRacing).

Thompson is one of the Whelen Modified Tour’s most prolific race tracks. Dating back to the Tour’s formation in 1985, the series has competed at Thompson 152 times leading into Sunday’s 150-lap event, which is more than any other track in series history.

Mike Stefanik has won more Whelen Modified Tour events at Thompson than any other driver, earning 15 victories between 1988 and 2013. Ted Christopher earned 13 victories at Thompson during his career and Justin Bonsignore, fresh off a win one weekend ago at Richmond Raceway, also has 13 Thompson victories.

Other notable Thompson winners include brothers Jeff and Rick Fuller, Tony Hirschman, Doug Coby, Steve Park, Reggie Ruggiero, Ron Silk, Mike McLaughlin, Bobby Santos III and Richie Evans, among others.

Tickets to the IceBreaker 150 are available at the track on race day. Below is everything you need to know about the third of 16 races on the 2024 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule.

Drivers line up for a rolling start during the World Series 150 presented by Flosports.com for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on October 8, 2023 in Thompson, Connecticut. (Photo: Jaiden Tripi/NASCAR)

IceBreaker 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park

ThumbnailWhat to watch for:

It’s been five years since the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour last competed during IceBreaker weekend at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

A lot has changed in those five years, but one thing that hasn’t is the fact that Bonsignore continues to win races. Bonsignore was the last Modified Tour competitor to win at Thompson on IceBreaker weekend, and he’s also the most recent Modified Tour winner following his victory Friday at Richmond Raceway.

He now has 41 series victories, one behind Ted Christopher for third on the all-time Modified Tour winners list. He’ll look to tie Christopher for that mark while also surpassing him in career Thompson victories with a win Sunday.

There will be plenty of competitors looking to deny him that honor during the 50th IceBreaker weekend, including defending series champion and most recent Thompson winner, Ron Silk. The two-time Whelen Modified Tour champion is a six-time Thompson winner following his victory last October during the World Series 150. With finishes of first and second to start the 2024 season, Silk is expected to be Bonsignore’s primary competition Sunday.

Two other potential contenders Sunday at Thompson are Craig Lutz and Eric Goodale. Lutz and Goodale captured victories at Thompson during the 2022 season, and both would like to return to winning form during IceBreaker weekend. Lutz will be in the Goodie Racing No. 46, while Goodale will be in the Goodie Motorsports No. 58.

Austin Beers will be looking to rebound from a dismal performance at Richmond that saw him crash out of the race early. Trevor Catalano, with two top-five finishes in his first two starts during his rookie campaign, will look to continue his positive momentum in the Catalano Motorsports No. 56. Jake Johnson, who was second last October at Thompson, will continue his pursuit of his first series victory in the Boehler Racing Enterprises No. 3.

Other notable entries include Patrick Emerling, Matt Hirschman, Matt Swanson, Bobby Santos III, Kyle Bonsignore and Tyler Rypkema, among others.

The full entry list for the IceBreaker 150 is available here.

A general view during the World Series 150 presented by Flosports.com for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on October 8, 2023 in Thompson, Connecticut. (Photo: Jaiden Tripi/NASCAR)

RACE FACTS

Race IceBreaker 150
Date April 7, 2024
Track Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park
Layout 0.625-mile asphalt oval
Location Thompson, Connecticut
Start time 4:30 p.m. ET
Laps 150
Posted awards $98,197
Tickets At track
How to watch FloRacing

Schedule: Sunday, April 7 … Final practice from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. ET … Qualifying at 3:30 p.m. ET … IceBreaker 150 at 4:30 p.m. ET (FloRacing)

Qualifying: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the 50th Annual Icebreaker 150 is limited to 30 starters including Provisional Positions.

Tire allotment: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is twelve (12) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. The tire change rule is four (4) tires, any position.

Posted on by Staff Report

IceBreaker 150

Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park

Thumbnail

Car No. Driver Organization Crew Chief Chassis Mfg Sponsor
01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Racing, LLC Jake Marosz Troyer Pine Knoll Auto Sales
1 Patrick Emerling RGM AZ LLC Dale Hedquist LFR Fleetworks, Inc
2 J.R. Bertuccio Joe Bertuccio Mike Bologna LFR Gershow Recycling
3 Jake Johnson Boehler’s Racing Equipment Greg Fournier Boehler Racing Propane Plus; Lin’s Propane Trucks
4 Tim Connolly Connolly Racing Cale Gale FURY Race Cars Connolly Companies, LLC
16 Ron Silk Haydt Yannone Racing Phil Moran FURY Race Cars Blue Mountain Machine; Future Homes
18 Ken Heagy Robert Pollifrone Greg Gorman FURY Race Cars Buoy Seafood & Restaurant
19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Motorsports LLC Nevin George Troyer Franzosa Trucking Company; Karchner Warehousing
22 Kyle Bonsignore Kyle Bonsignore Cam McDermott FURY Race Cars Chalew Performance; MTT; Munns Auto
24 Andrew Krause Supreme Racing Robert Hyer LFR Supreme Manufacturing Co.
25 Brian Robie Robie Motorsports LLC Cody Rose Troyer Maurice Enterprises
26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Avenue Landscape Supply Chad McDonald Chevrolet Lakeland Avenue Landscape Supply
32 Tyler Rypkema Dean Rypkema Zach Truesdail FURY Race Cars Musco Lighting; Northeast Drilling; Make-A-Wish
36 David Sapienza Judith Thilberg Greg Kleila LFR Sapienza Racing; Eastport Feeds
44 Bobby Santos III Lawney Tinio Daniel Gamache LFR Harshaw Paving / Olivas Market
46 Craig Lutz Goodie Racing Douglas Ogiejko FURY Race Cars Riverhead Building Supply
51 Justin Bonsignore Kenneth Massa Motorsports, LLC Ryan Stone FURY Race Cars Phoenix Communications, Inc.
54 Tommy Catalano Catalano Motorsports Rick Kluth Troyer FX Caprara
56 Trevor Catalano Catalano Motorsports David Catalano Troyer Catalano Motorsports
58 Eric Goodale Goodie Motorsports Jason Shephard FURY Race Cars GAF Roofing
60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports LLC Mike Stein LFR Elite
64 Austin Beers KLM Motorsports Ron Yuhas Troyer G&G Electrical Supply, AP Marquadt & Sons, Dell Electric, Lumiere Electrical, Andrew James Interiors, Hughes Motors
84 Tyler Catalano Catalano Motorsports JJ Vece Troyer Catalano Motorsports
89 Matt Swanson John Swanson TBA FURY Race Cars Cervaolos Auto; Casella Snowplows; Mullys Auto Repair
128 Mike Marshall Taylor Charbonnier TBA Troyer MLM Diagnostics; Jusczak Electric
Posted on by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. — Joey Logano’s 550th NASCAR Cup Series start nearly had the makings of his 33rd Cup Series victory, a would-be triumph that would have broken a yearlong dry spell. Instead, his Sunday night showing at Richmond Raceway yielded a building-block outcome that produced positives after a shaky launch to the season.

Logano finished second in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400, gaining one spot in an overtime scramble but winding up just 0.269 seconds short of eventual winner Denny Hamlin at the checkered flag. The result marked his first top-five finish of the season, providing a boost to the No. 22 Team Penske group. Even then, Logano admitted there was a bittersweet nature to the evening.

RELATED: Richmond results | At-track photos

“It feels good, and it hurts at the same time because we were so close to winning the race,” Logano said. “I mean, it’s a race track that we expect to run well at, it’s our best race track and we’ve been consistently in the top five and having shots to win.”

Top-five territory is where Logano spent much of the evening after working his way up from a 10th-place starting spot, evidenced by an average running position of 4.6, per NASCAR’s loop data. Stage finishes of fifth and third added to his points total, and by the time the final-stage pit strategies shook out, Logano had moved into second place and in a dogged pursuit of Martin Truex Jr.’s dominant No. 19 Toyota, which led the most laps (228).

Before Kyle Larson’s spin after contact from Bubba Wallace with two laps remaining in regulation forced overtime, Logano was methodically searching for ways to cut into Truex’s lead.

“I started pressuring the 19 at the end of that long run, and he got to racing hard with Ross (Chastain) trying to stay on the lead lap,” Logano said. “I said, ‘This is my opportunity.’ I got Denny to burn his stuff up trying to pass me, and I said, ‘OK, this is my chance,’ and I got close to him and burned my stuff up with about three (laps) to go, and I wasn’t going to get him.”

Sunday’s result was Logano’s fourth consecutive top-10 finish at Richmond, and crew chief Paul Wolfe remarked that the performance was close to the best showing here for the No. 22 team since the advent of the Next Gen car in 2022. Wolfe said that the team made gains with learnings from Logano’s participation in a Goodyear tire test March 13-14 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, but that more gains were made in keeping up morale after a rough opening stretch to the season.

“I think it’s good for the team, for Joey,” Wolfe told NASCAR.com. “I mean, it’s not easy when you look at where we’re at in the garage and 22nd in points and you’re just in a place where you haven’t been before. You’ve got to be careful. It’s easy to get down and lose focus. So these next couple of weeks, I felt like it’d be good opportunities for us. Going to Martinsville next week is another good one. So yeah, it was a great day, came up a little short, but we’re going to keep working.”

MORE: Cup Series standings

Logano has gained 11 spots in the Cup Series standings in the last three weeks with finishes of 22nd at Bristol and 11th at Circuit of The Americas swaying the pendulum back in a positive direction. In Saturday’s interview sessions, Logano said that there were no quick fixes to the team’s early struggles, but another three-spot jump up to 19th in the points Sunday night offers at least incremental help.

“I don’t know if this completely takes us out of the deep end,” Logano said, “but I think ultimately it’s a good momentum-builder, for sure.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

The start of Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 was soggy, damp and wet.

But more importantly, it happened.

Goodyear’s wet-weather tires saved a significant delay at Richmond Raceway, an option still new to the NASCAR Cup Series on ovals but welcomed as drizzles hit the Virginia commonwealth shortly before the scheduled green flag.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Goodyear’s wet-weather oval tires first hit the track competitively with Cup Series cars last year at North Wilkesboro Speedway in the All-Star Race exhibition, but Sunday at Richmond marked the series’ first endeavor into damp oval conditions in a points-paying event. NASCAR officials deemed the track wet shortly before driver introductions and required teams to put on the treaded Goodyear rubber.

A brief hold between the national anthem and the command to start engines became the only true delay to Sunday’s action, with pace laps and green-flag racing on a dampened asphalt surface shining bright under the Richmond lights.

“First of all, credit to (NASCAR CEO) Jim France. This was his vision,” Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, said post-race. “A couple of years ago, he tasked the R&D Center and Goodyear to come up with a tire that we could run in the damp, and tonight was a success. We were able to get the race started pretty much on time. The guys did a great job with the tire. Goodyear did a phenomenal job.”

As the track dried from the combined lack of precipitation and extra heat from the tires and race cars, officials called for a competition caution at Lap 30, freezing the field and bringing everyone to pit road for non-competitive pit stops to replace the wet-weather treaded tires with traditional racing slicks. The decision to keep those stops non-competitive stemmed largely from safety. Sunday’s race marked only the third instance of wet-weather tires on a short oval in competition, factoring in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series contest into both Sunday’s race and last year’s All-Star Race.

“Unlike road courses when pit road is wet, where we would allow the teams to make the decisions whether to put drys or wets on,” Sawyer explained, “on the short ovals, we’re still not to a place where we feel comfortable doing that. We’re looking out for the safety. This is only our third event that we’ve actually run wet-weather tires. …

“So we have another data point. That’s one thing we want to work hard on; is to be able to start the race, put all the competition in the teams’ hands and strategy. When to put tires on, when to take them off and the sanctioning body not be in the middle of that decision-making. I think we’ll get there sooner than later.”

The green flag for Sunday’s race was scheduled for 7:12 p.m. ET but flew at 7:31 — an official delay of just 19 minutes.

“We could have been sitting there another hour getting everything dry like we have in the past,” Sawyer said. “So again, huge credit to everyone that put the effort in to get us to this point with the tires and a huge success. We’ll learn from this, and we’ll be able to make better decisions going forward.”

Contributing: Zack Albert

Posted on by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. – Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson were the class of the NASCAR Cup Series field in Sunday night’s Easter special at Richmond Raceway, leading 372 of the 407 laps in the Toyota Owners 400. It’s that extra seven laps and the critical moments leading up to it when everything fell apart for both.

Truex’s hopes for his first Cup Series win of the season were dashed when three occurrences unraveled the race for the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing veteran. There was the late caution that forced overtime, the loss of one spot in the race off pit road, and the fateful final green flag when teammate Denny Hamlin scooted by with a quick-reflex restart and pushed his way to the point.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

It all equaled a fourth-place finish for a driver who spent most of the night in first, a frustrating result at a track where Truex has won three times but has lost a handful more under heartbreaking circumstances.

“Unfortunately, it’s happened to us a few times in Richmond here,” said Truex, who led a race-high 228 laps. “You know, lead the whole race and then some stupid, some dumbass move brings out a caution coming to the white flag and ruins our whole night, so it was unfortunate. But honestly, just awesome job by my team. The Auto-Owners Camry was a rocket. It was something like we’ve had here in the past, and unfortunately, this has happened to us a few times. Come in with the lead, go out second to the fastest pit crew on pit road is, it’s a tough one to swallow. But I feel like we still could’ve had a race for it, but just got used up in Turn 1 on the restart.”

Truex used his No. 19 Toyota’s bumper to show his disdain for two targets on the cool-down lap. Larson, who scraped by him for third place in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, was first after the two came together multiple times in the final lap of overtime. Truex also nudged Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota before parking on pit road, telling reporters later that he felt his teammate had one, jumped the overtime restart, and two, aggressively forced his way by in the first turn.

“I just, I felt like the 11 used me up down there in Turn 1, and I didn’t really appreciate a teammate racing me like that,” said Truex, who leaves Richmond with his lead in the Cup Series standings intact — now 14 points over new second-place driver Larson. “I wish he would have, you know, gave me a chance. But yeah, that’s the way it is. And then, the 5 just bumped me, drove into the side of me in Turns 1 and 2, and I got a little loose down the backstretch. I don’t know if my left-rear (tire) was going down or what, and I kind of slammed into him. No big deal.”

Hamlin defended his restart tactics, saying that eventual second-place finisher Joey Logano was laying back and that Truex was inching ahead. “I wasn’t going to let them have an advantage that my team earned on pit road,” said Hamlin, who added that he “went right at it” as he reached the restart zone. “Certainly made sure I went to my nose, got there, but I took off right away. Still, we were side by side down the water into Turn 1.”

Larson led twice for 144 laps, and when his No. 5 Chevy wasn’t out front, it was typically found running second to Truex. Larson seemed to get the upper hand on a pit-stop exchange when he squeezed his way in front of Truex, using the first pit stall he earned as the pole winner to his advantage, but the No. 19 Toyota reasserted his strength and regained the spot from Larson five laps later.

Larson faded slightly during the last green-flag run on what crew chief Cliff Daniels called a mismatched set of tires, but his night threatened to take a more drastic turn when Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota clipped him at the exit of Turn 4 with two laps left in regulation. Larson’s No. 5 dipped into the frontstretch grass, and he quickly righted himself, asking Daniels if he’d only lost two spots in the off-course excursion. Daniels replied yes, saying he planned on getting them back.

Kyle Larson spins from contact from Bubba Wallace at Richmond Raceway.
Patrick Vallely | For NASCAR.com

“Just good fortune, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t really know how to describe it,” Larson said with a laugh. “Just got lucky. Got lucky that I had room to spin and thankfully I was hoping the grass wasn’t going to be too slick, and I kind of got it pointed somewhat straighter when I got to the grass. That helped me get going. So just yeah, thanking my lucky stars.”

Wallace walked 20-some pit stalls from his parking spot on pit road to offer a face-to-face apology, taking Larson by the shoulder to explain his side and to make a mention about karma. Larson finished one spot better than where he was running at the time of his spin; Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota crew had trouble fastening a left-side wheel on the team’s final pit stop, and he wound up 13th. “Whatever’s coming my way, I know it,” Wallace told Larson. “I expect it.”

“I appreciate it for sure,” Larson said. “I guess I would have been pissed off if I would have fully spun, and his comment or his apology probably wouldn’t have mattered as much right now, but I would have eventually gotten over it. Because I kept going straight, and he came up, whatever, it’s good. We’ve had our run-ins, and I don’t think tonight was anything intentional.”

As for his back-and-forth with Truex on the two-lap overtime dash, Larson said he felt he was just a convenient scapegoat for Truex’s earlier frustration with Hamlin.

“Martin, I don’t know if his spotter didn’t say that I was inside of him or what, but he just hung a left and hit my right-front, had me up on the apron and then turned left on me down the middle of the backstretch,” Larson said. “So I kind of just, we’re drag-racing to the start/finish line and didn’t really care at that point if I was going to squeeze him in the wall since he decided to turn left on me down the backstretch. So I think, ultimately, he’s just mad at Denny, and I was the closest guy to him to take some anger out on.”