The NASCAR Foundation added a new element to its Speediatrics Fun Day Festival at Phoenix Raceway this weekend – the “Top Stepper” Award presented by KSDT CPA. This award is given to the two individuals participating the Speediatrics Fun Day Festival program who track the most steps in a given period of time.
The “Top Stepper” Awards were presented to 9-year-olds Izzy Carmona and Madelyne Valera for tracking 19,273 and 18,901 steps during the four-day program, using pedometer watches provided in their Speediatrics Fit Kits. The winners received gift cards for a new pair of athletic shoes to keep their momentum going and stay as active and healthy as possible.
“At KSDT CPA, we’re incredibly proud to have sponsored the ‘Top Stepper’ Award at this year’s Speediatrics Fun Day Festival,” said KSDT CPA’s Managing Partner Jeffrey Taraboulos. “Witnessing the joy and determination on the faces of these young winners truly warms our hearts. It’s a powerful reminder of the impact we can make when we come together to support the health and well-being of our children. Their enthusiasm and commitment to staying active are inspiring, and it reinforces our dedication to fostering a healthier future for all. To all the participants, you embody the spirit of perseverance and joy in movement. Keep stepping forward, and never forget the strength and happiness that comes with every step you take.”
“We are so grateful to KSDT CPA for sponsoring this award and helping us grow the impact of our programs on the kids we serve,” said The NASCAR Foundation Vice President & Executive Director Nichole Krieger. “To see these kids literally jumping for joy when they were presented with the award is so wonderful.”
In Phoenix, students in the 4th grade at Arizona Desert Elementary School of Tolleson Elementary School District participated in a healthy living curriculum provided by The NASCAR Foundation to introduce them to NASCAR while encouraging them to adopt the same healthy habits that NASCAR drivers and pit crew members use to see success on the race track.
“The ‘Top Stepper’ awards aren’t just about logging steps,” said Tolleson Elementary School District Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Giselle Herrera. “They honor the students who walked, skipped, and hopped their way to the top of the class pedometer chart during The NASCAR Foundation’s Speediatrics Fun Day Festival activities. For our two students, it’s like winning the gold medal in a friendly race, proving their dedication to staying active and healthy while having a great time. To the school, the award is a celebration of movement and healthy living fostered by The NASCAR Foundation Speediatrics Fun Day Festival. It showcases the importance of overall health and wellness, embracing physical activity and well-being.”
The NASCAR Foundation’s Speediatrics Fun Day Festival, now in its eighth year, with 14 events scheduled across the country in 2024, is part of The NASCAR Foundation’s Speediatrics Children’s Fund, which supports hospitals, specialty clinics, camps, and other organizations that provide medical and healthcare services for children.
The festival brings the sport of NASCAR to life for children between the ages of 7 and 12 through a specialized curriculum and a NASCAR-themed at-track festival.
It’s not hard to find something concrete to say about Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
For the past three seasons, NASCAR Cup Series drivers have spent the spring event at Bristol racing on Tennessee red clay, 2,300 truckloads worth.
This year, however, dirt won’t be covering the concrete surface for the first race at the 0.533-mile track. Under the circumstances, you might think Christopher Bell would be chagrined at the loss of an opportunity to defend last year’s win on the dirt surface.
Instead, Bell waxed almost euphoric about the prospect of two 2024 Bristol races on the high-banked concrete. In his last two Bristol Night Races, Bell ran fourth in 2022 and third in 2023 after winning the pole.
“I love racing at Bristol,” said Bell, who almost assuredly cemented his place in the 2024 Playoffs with his victory last Sunday at Phoenix Raceway. “It’s literally my favorite race on the schedule. I’m very thankful we get to go twice this year. It’s been a track we have excelled at the last couple of times we have been there — we’ve been close.
“Bristol is another important race for us; you don’t win the Championship there, but you can definitely lose it if you’re not good. Having a versatile car is the key to a good run at Bristol. We know the bottom will be good because they are spraying the resin (traction compound) down, and we know the top is going to come in at some point, so you have to have a car that can really run both places.”
And that’s from a driver who grew up racing on dirt and won three straight Chili Bowl Nationals during NASCAR offseasons.
The last driver to win a spring Bristol race on concrete was Brad Keselowski in 2020, a feat he accomplished from the pole. Keselowski, however, hasn’t won a Cup race since April 25, 2021 at Talladega, his last year with Team Penske.
Now an owner/driver with RFK Racing, the 2012 series champion saw his drought reach 102 races with last week’s fourth-place run at Phoenix.
With eight victories, Kyle Busch is far and away the leading active winner at Bristol, but like Keselowski, Busch has switched teams — from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing — since his last victory at the 0.533-mile short track in the spring of 2019.
Denny Hamlin, who won last year’s Bristol Night Race, is tied with Keselowski with three victories at the track, second-most among active drivers.
“As a purist, I love seeing this race back on the concrete,” Hamlin said. “Obviously, as the last guy that won there, it’s going to be good to go back there and kind of test what this car wants compared to what we had in the past.
“We’re going to have to tweak on it, but we feel like we’ve got a good base setup with what we had last year.”
Because of high speeds and extreme loads in the corners—Bristol is billed as the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile”—Cup drivers won’t be using the new short-track package that debuted last Sunday at Phoenix.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action after a week off, and Spire Motorsports driver Rajah Caruth has a chance at another career milestone in Saturday night’s Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
With a victory from the pole in the March 1 Truck Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Caruth became the third African-American driver to win a NASCAR national series race, joining NASCAR Hall of Famer Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace.
Should Caruth win at Bristol on Saturday, he would be the eighth driver in the series to win his first and second races in consecutive starts, joining Rich Bickle (1997), Kurt Busch (2000), Ted Musgrave (2001), Todd Bodine (2004), Kasey Kahne (2004), Kyle Busch (2005) and Johnny Benson Jr. (2006).
“It’s really the only reason I was able to go from sim racing to real life,” Caruth said on Monday during a Zoom call with reporters. “Aside from that, I didn’t have any path to race in real life…
“They not only gave me my shot in 2019, they also gave me the time to develop. They allowed me to grow. I showed up every day, trying to get better, working on the cars, learning how to race. They’re the only reason I got to this point now.”
In trying to win a second straight race, Caruth will face a daunting challenge—from Spire Motorsports teammate Kyle Busch, a five-time Truck Series winner at Bristol. The all-time series leader with 65 victories, Busch is making his third start of the season after winning at Atlanta and finishing 15th at Las Vegas.
LUCAMA, N.C. — The 2024 CARS Tour season-opener was far from the only thing on Brenden “Butterbean” Queen’s mind when he pulled into North Carolina’s Southern National Motorsports Park last weekend.
The 26-year-old was eager to share news of a golden opportunity.
Queen’s announcement was met with an overwhelmingly positive reception from the Late Model Stock Car racing community in which he’s embedded. He attributes the jubilant reaction to all the hard work he’s put into building both an efficient race program and a recognizable brand.
“It was hard to keep a secret,” Queen said. “You want to tell all your fans so they can get excited, but what a day it was. This is something I’ve dreamed of, and to see how many people supported the news was really important to me.”
Butterbean has defeated many talented competitors, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., in Late Model Stocks. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
Queen has always been associated with the nickname “Butterbean,” a moniker he received from his family when he was a baby due to the resemblance he shared with professional boxer Eric “Butterbean” Esch. He’s glad the nickname stuck; it enabled him to create an identity to which fans at his home track of Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia could attach.
Queen’s perseverance and magnetic personality garnered him a loyal fan base for Langley’s weekly shows, even when, initially, he wasn’t delivering victories. As the years progressed, he evolved into a perennial contender. He won Langley’s prestigious Hampton Heat for the first time in 2020, and he parlayed that into three consecutive Late Model Stock track titles to open the decade.
The dominance Queen displayed at Langley gave him the confidence to branch out and test his luck against the best Late Model Stock competitors from the southeast. He embarked on this venture by departing his family team and joining Lee Pulliam, whose accomplishments include four NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national titles.
Butterbean has emerged as one of the best in Late Model Stocks with a resume that includes crown jewel victories and three titles at Langley Speedway. (Photo: Sanjay Suchak/NASCAR)
Such an efficient run was something Queen knows would not have been possible only a few years earlier, even with stellar equipment. Dealing with one hardship after another was a crucial first step in his development; it helped him simultaneously understand how to take care of a car and maximize its potential.
“This comes from the days of grinding in my backyard with lesser equipment, not being able to afford parts and having to use old stuff,” Queen said. “It made me appreciate the car and equipment way more, so when I got better stuff, I knew how to appreciate it. Last year we proved we could go on the road and have so much success.”
The natural ability Queen displays and the compassion he has for those around him are two reasons why Pulliam wanted Butterbean to join his operation. Pulliam said there’s never a day around the shop when Queen is not actively sharing information to help the organization. This includes assisting Pulliam’s driver development program, which now includes Isabella Robusto and Gavan Boschele.
Pulliam had high expectations for Queen, but even the car owner was impressed by how quickly the wins began accumulating. He has every reason to believe they will reach more milestones in 2024.
“Brenden sets the bar very high and is a valuable asset,” Pulliam said. “We knew we could win right out of the gate, but knowing you can and getting it done are two different things. He’s won some really big races for us, and we’ve come close to winning a lot more, so we’re looking forward to continuing our journey together.
“Quite frankly, I think he’s the best Late Model Stock driver in the country right now.”
Brenden “Butterbean” Queen signs autographs ahead of the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway July 1, 2023. (Photo: Sanjay Suchak/NASCAR)
Queen’s talent was on full display during his final victory of 2023 in the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National. At the end of an intense, 50-lap battle to the finish, Queen fended off NASCAR Cup Series driver Josh Berry and fellow Late Model Stock standout Kaden Honeycutt.
That win caught the attention of several in the motorsports industry — including Toyota. The manufacturer contacted Queen about making a Truck Series appearance, which he was more than happy to accept.
Queen can’t think of a place better than North Wilkesboro to make his Truck Series debut. The historic facility was the sight of his dominant victory last year against a field that consisted of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and other Cup Series stars.
Queen, though, is anticipating plenty of differences in the Truck race, especially now that the track has been repaved. He will also have to adapt to new aerodynamics and a heavier ride, but those factors are not quelling his optimism about earning another North Wilkesboro win.
“Riding that lift is something not a lot of people get to do, and I’m lucky enough to have done it once,” Queen said. “What an honor it would be to ride a truck up the lift in my debut, but it’s going to be a totally different ball game than Late Model Stocks, and you’ll need a good enough truck to have enough momentum to keep your free roll up.”
Brenden Queen pictured ahead of the South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway on Nov. 18, 2023. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
The primary piece of advice Pulliam has provided to Queen before his Truck Series debut is to enjoy the experience, reminding him that many great short-track drivers have gone their whole careers without receiving a similar opportunity.
For Pulliam, the furthest he progressed up the developmental ladder was a handful of starts in what’s now the ARCA Menards Series East. There are days when Pulliam wishes he could have made it to NASCAR’s top ranks, but he has worked tirelessly in his post-driving career to ensure his drivers have the fundamentals to excel.
With another of his drivers in Corey Heim serving as Queen’s teammate, there is plenty of elation for Pulliam leading up to North Wilkesboro. He’s confident Queen has the capability to eventually turn that one-off Truck Series appearance into a full-time Cup Series career one day.
“I couldn’t be any more proud,” Pulliam said. “It’s awesome to see Brenden get an opportunity like this. I’m kind of living my dream through my drivers now, so it’s been pretty cool for me to do that through these guys like Corey Heim and now Butterbean. This is something I take a lot of pride in.”
The best way for Queen to prove he’s worthy of additional Truck Series starts will be to keep his Toyota Tundra in one piece, respecting the competition and showcasing the skill set that won him so many Late Model Stock races around the southeast.
Queen hopes the identity he’s built around the Butterbean brand attracts more fans who aren’t familiar with his short-track exploits. He also wants to inspire the next generation of young fans who fall in love with motorsports by watching races.
“All those years of never giving up pays off,” Queen said. “I was one of those little kids sitting in the stands growing up and always wanted to be a NASCAR driver. You just need to keep chasing your dreams, and if you never give up, you can make anything happen.”
Once the checkered flag waves at North Wilkesboro, Queen will go back to focusing on Late Model Stock competition. He intends to maintain that diligent work ethic so he can one day open his seasons at Daytona International Speedway.
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. – Joey Logano’s current spot in the NASCAR Cup Series standings could conceivably prompt a panic-button moment four races in. His position might also feed the prevailing thought that the worst of his misfortune is behind him.
“Depends on the moment you ask me,” Logano says with a sanguine laugh. “We’re sitting here Wednesday, I’ve gotten back under control, which is good.”
Logano heads to this Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) mired in 30th place in the points after a rocky kickoff to the 2024 campaign. The 33-year-old driver of Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford leads the Cup Series with two pole positions and three front-row starts, but has three finishes of 28th or worse.
A ninth-place day at Las Vegas two weeks ago marks the lone race where Logano hasn’t been collected in a crash. Any chance to build on that was hampered last Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, where a bump from John Hunter Nemechek sent him careening into the outside retaining wall 109 laps short of the end.
Logano is exactly 100 points behind Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney, the reigning Cup Series champion and current standings leader. For now, with 22 regular-season races to remedy his situation before the Cup Series Playoffs, Logano’s outlook is short on gloom and doom, but with the acknowledgment of how difficult this starting stretch has been.
“It’s definitely the toughest start of a season I’ve ever had,” Logano said at the end of Wednesday’s Goodyear tire testing at North Wilkesboro Speedway. “Some of it, out of our control; some of it, in our control, but we just haven’t scored the points. The superspeedways, Atlanta, our cars were really fast. Vegas, we were mediocre. Last week was a struggle. With that said, the way the races are these days, you can pick that car up, put it fifth, and it’ll probably run fifth. Just we didn’t qualify good enough and stay up there and get up there. And then we got caught up in that crash there with John Hunter. So, just one of those things.
“You hope that it all just comes up in one lump and it’s over for the rest of the season. I don’t know how the averages work out like that, but all we can do is just stay focused in on what we do — keep preparing, keep bringing fast race cars. This is the same team that’s won two championships, the team that knows how to do it. Paul (Wolfe, No. 22 crew chief) knows. We all know. We don’t really have to talk about it a whole bunch. We kind of know the situation, we know who we are, we know we can fight out of it. So, just keep on digging.”
Logano said he had discussed last weekend’s incident with Nemechek, who was apologetic post-race at Phoenix, saying that he intended to reach out. “We talked,” Logano said. “We’re good.”
The sting of sitting P30 in points remains, but Logano said there’s solace to be found in a history of resilience for both him and his No. 22 team. Logano has bounced back from subpar efforts before, perhaps most notably in winning his first Cup Series championship in 2018, one year after a rare playoffs absence.
“I mean, it helps you in these moments mentally when you know you can do it, right?” Logano said. “If you’re earlier in your career and you haven’t gone through many things like this before, you wonder if you’re ever going to win again. But when you’ve done it for — what am I, 15, 16 years in now — I’ve been through the cycle a few times. I know that we will get out of it. I know it’s not easy, and don’t get me wrong, it’s not fun. It’s freakin’ miserable, but it is what it is, and you just kind of keep fighting and you come out the other end. You stick with the habits and keep going.”
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — The ongoing and stunning refresh of North Wilkesboro Speedway from the stock-car ashes added another chapter this week, debuting fresh asphalt for the first time in more than 40 years. Thankfully, Cup Series drivers reported that the pavement kept some of the character that made the historic 0.625-mile track distinct.
William Byron, Ty Gibbs and Joey Logano put a variety of Goodyear tire compounds and constructions to the test Wednesday in the first of two days of Cup Series sessions ahead of the NASCAR All-Star Race on May 19. Wednesday’s sunny session came after a single day of Goodyear testing held Tuesday for the Craftsman Truck Series.
The early reviews were generally favorable from the Cup Series trio, who noted how drastic the change was from last year’s All-Star Race, held on an abrasive asphalt surface that was last installed in 1981. That surface was patched and prepped to withstand nearly a week of racing last May, with the plan all along to start anew in the fall.
“They did a good job. There’s still some character. It’s still a unique-shaped racetrack, which is all good,” said two-time Cup Series champ Joey Logano. “There’s a pretty big bump down into Turn 1, I think, where the wall was out too long, and they cut it, and it’s kind of an interesting area, and there’s a huge bump leaving (turn) four, which really kind of upsets the cars. I don’t think that’s bad. I’m OK with it. That’s something that made this race track so cool in the past is that you had a lot of character, it’s bumpy, and you’re forced to move around them because it was challenging. You make the thing like glass, I don’t know if that really makes the racing better. So I think the fact that it’s got a couple of bumps and some areas where drivers can make mistakes and jump out of the groove and do different things, it’s just going to promote passing. That’s a good thing.”
Logano said that the thicker-gauge tire used during last weekend’s Cup Series race at Phoenix served as the control tire. A run earlier in the day produced a one-second falloff after a 25-lap stint, “which I thought was really good,” Logano added, saying that the control had the most wear. “That’s probably the direction that the majority is pushing, I think at this point. We’ll probably make some verification longer runs tomorrow, but so far everything seems like it’s going as planned.”
No lap times were provided since the test fell under Goodyear’s jurisdiction, but Logano noted “we were hauling ass” with the speed he found in the new pavement. Byron laughed and seconded the sensation, saying: “It seemed like ‘mash throttle, mash brake.’ ”
Byron noted that drivers were hesitant to venture outside of the preferred racing line, finding other areas of the track dusty and not rubbered in. The Daytona 500 winner said that it would take time for the groove to widen out, but that short tracks tend to regain their personality quicker than other ovals, drawing the comparison to events at Richmond Raceway after it was last repaved in 2004.
“I vividly have seen some of those races and I feel like it was pretty treacherous,” Byron said. “A lot of guys would get in crashes or there’d be a lot of restart wrecks, so I think the racing could actually be pretty exciting with a repave on a short track. But yeah, it won’t have the style of like comers and goers, I don’t think. I think it’ll be the guys who are up toward the front will be racing hard, and there’s probably just going to be more wrecks.”
New pavement or not, the rugged speedway that’s stood here since the 1940s continued to provide all the nostalgic feels, on a day with “chamber of commerce” weather that track promoters bask in. The track’s return to Cup Series racing last May for the first time since 1996 was a celebrated part of NASCAR’s 75th anniversary season last year.
Logano hopes the place can keep that solid, old-school mojo going when the All-Star Race returns in just more than two months’ time.
“This place is cool,” Logano said. “For me, I remember coming here, I guess it was five or six years ago when it was shut down, and we shot a couple of videos here. It was a ghost town. There was graffiti everywhere, there was weeds growing through the race track. I mean, it’s crazy. It was like the world ended, and no one’s been here since the last race. You walked in the infield care center … there were stretchers in here still, and it was kind of creepy, but it’s kind of crazy to see all that and what Marcus Smith and (Speedway Motorsports) have done, I think to restore the race track, but keep the feel, they did a tremendous job.
“I know they had to repave. I think every driver doesn’t ever want to see a repave, but it’s coming apart. You’ve got to do something. We patched it, we got through last year. I don’t think you can get lucky that many times before you’ve just got to bite the bullet and do it. But I do think when you come up here, it’s just a different vibe than any other race track you go to when you pull up to it, it’s cool. Where you’re at, you’re in the mountains, man. It’s just a unique facility. And I think last year the fans showed up and appreciated it and thought it was really cool, and I would expect this year, you’re probably gonna have a similar crowd and hopefully we’ll deliver again and keep that hype.”
1. Is 2024 finally going to be the season Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson trade wins each weekend?
The two most recent Cup Series race winners might be destined to duel each other all season long, and it could end with one of them hoisting the Bill France Cup.
The past two race weekends have gone to dominant victors at the top of their respective games, flexing on the field as they ride into Victory Lane for the first time this year. They also each happen to be, arguably, among the most talented race car drivers in the world across any discipline.
Strap in because Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson might be about to take us on one heck of a ride this season.
Seemingly always on parallel yet totally unique paths, the pair of dirt devils have taken different trajectories to Cup Series superstardom, but make no mistake — they’re both fully, firmly there. Larson already collected a Cup title of his own in 2021, while Bell is the only driver to make both Championship 4 fields since then.
Get used to seeing that, because the notion of at least one of them (and probably both) racing for a title in the finale seems near inconceivable over the next decade.
It’s entirely possible this pair of (mostly) friendly rivals winds up in a tit-for-tat, anything-you-can-do kind of season-long battle, trading wins each weekend as each attempts to gain the upper hand, a la Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon in 1995 and a certain “Big Three” outpacing everyone in 2018.
And it’s entirely possible we see it directly play out this weekend at Bristol, where Bell and Larson are two of the best.
Both are among the top three in points scored on short tracks in the Next Gen car and are tied for the most career Bristol stage wins, with three apiece. Bell is the most recent spring winner at Bristol — albeit on dirt — while Larson is a 2021 winner and has led nearly 800 laps in his last nine starts there while finishing in the top 10 in eight of them.
Sunday afternoon’s short-track showdown feels like a tailor-made opportunity for this pair to showcase again what we’ve seen out of each the past two weekends — only this time, they could be door-to-door, beating and banging as they come to the checkered flag.
2. What kind of sparks will fly on Sunday at Bristol?
With the first true “short track” on deck and a month’s worth of pent-up frustrations to process, we could see some fireworks play out on Sunday.
There’s going to be a lot to unpack after Sunday.
For the first time since 2020, the spring Bristol event will return to its concrete surface, with the Next Gen racers taking to the Tennessee high banks during the day for the first time as well. Despite being half the length of last week’s 1-mile Phoenix Raceway, this weekend won’t deploy the 2024 rules package for short tracks and road courses we saw last week, adding an additional layer of mystery to how things will play out.
Racing intrigue? Check.
The last four short-track races were all won by different organizations, too. The last five Bristol races were won by five different drivers, all five of whom drove for different teams.
Not to mention that Chris Buescher — himself a recent Bristol winner — has just as many short-track wins in the Next Gen era as Team Penske and Stewart-Haas Racing combined.
The final lead change has also come with 32 laps or fewer remaining in nine of the last 11 Bristol races, so it’s going to come down to the wire, whoever it is.
Potential for chaos? You betcha.
And lest we forget that this race is coming at the tail end of a month-plus stretch that saw three separate trips out West, the Super Bowl of the sport and all of the emotion and drama that comes along with it, two races moved a day in each direction because of biblical rainfall and everybody’s clocks just moved forward an hour.
Basically, patience is going to be in short supply come Sunday. If the field is tired and cranky already, surely flying jet fighters in a gymnasium for a few hours (tip of the cap to Kyle Petty) is just what the doctor ordered.
Fists haven’t flown yet this year, but there are a few feuds on the burner, slowly simmering. Sudden elder statesman Joey Logano hasn’t shied away from giving young firestarters Ty Gibbs and John Hunter Nemechek his unsolicited feedback, and reigning champion Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain — former Brad Keselowski Racing teammates — can’t seem to get away from each other on track each week, a trend that dates at least back to last year’s Phoenix finale and probably longer. Keep your eye on Chase Briscoe and Erik Jones, as well, after the pair of typically mild-mannered Midwesterners took umbrage with how they raced each other at Phoenix.
From the competition on track to the potential fireworks off it after the checkered flag, Sunday’s race just offers so much and it’s shaping up to be a can’t-miss event.
3. Around the Track: The little things matter at Bristol Motor Speedway
Find out why winning at Bristol is about all the small things and fine details in this edition of “Around the Track.”
4. High flyers on the high banks
There are some interesting names among drivers with the most amount of laps spent in the top five at Bristol during the Next Gen era — will one take home the hardware Sunday?
Driver
Car
Laps in top five
Christopher Bell
No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
835
Kyle Larson
No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
660
Chris Buescher
No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
609
Denny Hamlin
No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
519
Ty Gibbs
No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
384
William Byron
No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
288
Kevin Harvick
No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford (retired)
268
Michael McDowell
No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
224
Brad Keselowski
No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
214
Chase Elliott
No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
169
5. Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage
Kamui Kobayashi will rejoin 23XI Racing and make his second career NASCAR Cup Series start at Circuit of The Americas later this month, the team announced Wednesday.
This marks the second consecutive year the 37-year-old Japanese driver will race in NASCAR’s premier series, with his first stint coming last August at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Kobayashi finished 33rd as pilot of the No. 67 Toyota.
Kamui Kobayashi rejoins 23XI Racing for his second career #NASCAR Cup Series start as he takes on COTA with teammates Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick. #teamtoyotapic.twitter.com/Ifkmss21wE
Kobayashi, who has experience in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Formula 1 and Super Formula Championship among other ventures, continues NASCAR’s trend of international stars competing at the highest level of stock car racing. Other international racers to don the NASCAR fire suit over the last year include Jenson Button, Kimi Räikkönen and Shane van Gisbergen.
The Cup Series will race at COTA for the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on March 24 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NASCAR officials issued penalties Wednesday for lug nut infractions in the Xfinity Series stemming from last weekend’s events at Phoenix Raceway.
In post-race inspection after Chandler Smith’s victory in Saturday’s Call811.com Every Dig. Every Time. 200, Jesse Love’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet and Parker Kligerman’s No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevy were each found with one unsecured lug nut.
This violates Sections 8.8.10.4a: Tires and Wheels of the NASCAR Rule Book and crew chiefs Danny Stockman (No. 2) and Patrick Donahue (No. 48) were each fined $5,000.
The Xfinity Series is off this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway and will race next at Circuit of The Americas on March 23 (5 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
One of the most enjoyable parts of being a sports fan is, of course, “remembering some guys” — along with occasionally breaking off into side conversations about who a sport’s true “G.O.A.T.” is across any era.
It’s a familiar argument: MJ vs. LeBron. Montana vs. Brady. Petty vs. Earnhardt vs. Johnson. You know the drill.
What makes these discussions unique among NASCAR fans, however, is that drivers race at wildly different tracks each weekend, and certain drivers can be totally human at one, while completely untouchable at another.
Enter Kyle Busch.
Still one of the sport’s all-time greats — not to mention its all-time winningest — Busch falls just short of the greatest-of-all-time discussion (at least for now), with his two Cup Series titles paling in comparison to the seven each that Dale Earnhardt, Jimmie Johnson and Richard Petty all collected.
But at Bristol Motor Speedway? There’s no driver that’s torn up the Tennessee high banks this millennium better than Rowdy.
The future Hall of Famer has two more trips to Victory Lane there (eight total) than any other track — and five more than any other active driver has. His 2,593 laps led count there is more than 1,000 higher than at his next-best track, Richmond Raceway, where he’s actually run two more races.
The No. 8 Richard Childress Racing driver’s style of racing is perfectly suited for sustained Bristol success, and has, for fairly obvious reasons, often been compared to RCR’s most recent champion — The Intimidator.
Earnhardt also repeatedly staked a claim in Bristol lore, nearly cracking double-digits in the win column (nine) while turning in the best average finish (9.3) the track has seen among drivers with more than six starts there. It was also the site of his first Cup Series win — as a rookie! — in 1979.
Seeing these two drivers compete against one another truly would’ve been something to behold, and at Bristol, even more so.
Our friends at NASCAR on NBC, thus, posited the question on Tuesday with NASCAR set to take on Bristol this weekend: in a 10-lap dash to the finish at Bristol with both drivers in their prime, who wins?
Busch actually chimed in himself and gave, honestly, the perfect answer.
Well, there you have it. Hard to argue that. It would be a beating, banging battle for the ages.
One thing’s for sure, though — we wouldn’t want to miss it.
Tune in Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) to see if Busch can break back into Victory Lane at Bristol for the first time since 2019.
