LAS VEGAS— For the second NASCAR Cup Series race this young season, Joey Logano will start on the pole.
After speeding around windswept Las Vegas Motor Speedway at 184.357 mph in the final round of Saturday’s time trials, Logano will occupy the top spot on the grid for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
A three-time winner at the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway — tied with Brad Keselowski for most among full-time active drivers — Logano beat Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson (184.225 mph) for the pole position by 0.021 seconds.
The Busch Light Pole Award was Logano’s third at Las Vegas and the 30th of his Cup Series career. It was also unexpected, based on Logano’s performance in practice.
“I didn’t expect it when I saw our short-run speed in practice,” Logano said. “We showed that we had great long-run speed. Our second run, we made an adjustment and went back out and like, ‘Oh, wow, we’re really competitive.’ The car was driving pretty good.
“So I felt really good about that, but our short run, our fire-off, we weren’t real fast… and I barely made it through the first round (of qualifying) by the skin of our teeth.”
Logano said the wind, which stiffened between rounds, was a significant factor in his pole-winning run in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.
“I’ve got to think it’s wind that made the difference,” Logano said. “The first run, I was pretty slow through (Turns) 1 and 2 all the way through the corner… we (must have) had a big gust the first run, or something that held us back a little bit.
“That doesn’t seem to make sense. We were really good through 1 and 2 the second time. The first time we were horrible through there.”
Logano’s Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric (184.093 mph) qualified third, followed by Daytona 500 winner William Byron (183.911 mph), as Fords and Chevrolets split the top four grid positions.
Bubba Wallace (183.648 mph) was fifth in the fastest Toyota. Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher and Christopher Bell will start sixth through 10th, respectively, in Sunday’s race.
Logano, who won the pole for the Daytona 500, qualified second for last Sunday’s race at Atlanta using a webbed glove on his left hand, presumably for an aerodynamic advantage by blocking more airflow through the car.
But the glove did not conform to mandated safety standards. For the violation, he lost his starting spot and incurred a fine of $10,000.
“I’m going to take a portion of the responsibility for that, too,” said Logano. “I didn’t build the glove. I didn’t make it on my own — I can’t sew, OK? That’s what it was, and we had a conversation about it.
“What I’m proud about is that, as a team, even though it was a tough situation to us and hard to go through, embarrassing for sure, but the fact that we got through it and just move on and focus on the next week. We showed we have speed in our race car and put it on the pole.
“To me, it’s a statement-type lap.”
Practice
Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain set the fastest time in practice at 184.269 mph. The No. 1 Chevrolet bested Noah Gragson (183.661 mph), Ty Gibbs (182.859 mph), Tyler Reddick (182.846 mph) and Denny Hamlin (182.723 mph), who all rounded out the top five.
Bubba Wallace (182.673 mph), Chase Briscoe (182.439 mph), William Byron (182.346 mph), Kyle Larson (182.328 mph) and Chris Buescher (182.094 mph) completed the top 10.
Practice only had one pause in the action when Ryan Preece spun and hit the Turn 2 wall with the left side of his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford during Group A.
LAS VEGAS — NASCAR show-and-tell was in session Saturday morning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with two different examples of aerodynamic gamesmanship shown in the Cup Series’ officials hauler. One device was from the top portions of two cars; the other came from a champion driver’s hands, in what Cup Series director Brad Moran admitted, “for me, this is a one-off.”
The confiscated and unapproved gloves used by Joey Logano in his qualifying lap last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway were shown by competition officials Saturday, along with the seized roof rails from Stewart-Haas Racing’s Nos. 10 and 41 Fords. The gloves — which were not compliant with SFI-approved standards — had all five fingers connected by webbed fabric, resembling something a middle infielder would use to snag one-hoppers on the baseball diamond.
Logano was fined $10,000 for the unapproved gloves, in addition to the two-part competition penalty on race day — forking over his second starting spot to drop to the tail of the field and a pass-through on pit road after the green flag for his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Stewart-Haas was docked 35 points in each of the driver and team standings for the L1-level violation, with those penalties affecting Noah Gragson’s No. 10 team and Ryan Preece’s No. 41 group.
Moran said that Logano’s infraction was discovered in a random check of roughly five cars flagged for further inspection at Atlanta; in-car camera replays verified and informed those initial concerns. The NASCAR Rule Book states that driver gloves must meet SFI specifications without being modified in any way.
“The reason for that is obviously you can block more air,” Moran said. “The drivers do put their hand up against the (window) opening, which we’ve never really had a rule against it, but this obviously goes one step further and this becomes not only a competition problem, it becomes a safety violation because that glove is no longer SFI approved. Regardless of what the material is made of, regardless of who put it on there, it’s not as-delivered, it’s not as-tested and it’s an unapproved SFI piece of safety equipment.”
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR.com
Moran said the fabric – flame-retardant or not – also posed a safety risk since the material could impede a driver’s exit from the race car in case of a crash, potentially posing a hindrance in unbuckling seat belts or unfastening window nets.
Logano served his in-race penalty last week as a Lap 2 pileup slowed the early action at Atlanta, mitigating the severity of the punishment. Logano was able to remain on the lead lap and work back into contention before another wreck halted his progress.
“We felt comfortable with the at-track penalty. We were comfortable with it,” Moran said. “You know, their team got a little lucky, which can happen. The penalty is the penalty, the drive-through is the drive-through and the caution came out on Lap 1. That probably helped them, but no, the penalty fit the crime.”
With approved gloves this weekend at Las Vegas, Logano was still the fastest of the bunch in Saturday’s qualifying, winning the pole position for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Though he admitted that he’s no tailor when it comes to glove preparation, Logano said he bore at least a share of the blame for the Atlanta penalty.
“As a driver, you work with the team, and, hey, I’m gonna take a portion of responsibility of that too, obviously,” Logano said. “I should. I put the glove on. I didn’t build the glove or make it on my own. I can’t sew, but that’s what it was. We had conversations about it. What I’m proud about with this team is, yeah, that was a tough situation for us. It was hard to go through and embarrassing for sure, but the fact we got through it and just move on and focus on the next week. We showed that we have some speed in our race car, and to be able to put it on the pole here, to me, is a statement-type lap, so I’m proud of that.”
Logano also addressed the safety concerns, saying he did not feel that his well-being was compromised during Atlanta time trials.
“I personally did not. I would never have put myself in a situation where I feel unsafe,” Logano said. “I have kids. I have a wife. I have a family that I care way more about than race cars, so, no, I didn’t feel concerned about what we did. I didn’t race with it. Qualifying on speedways is pretty simple.”
A sampling of drivers downplayed the violation and impact of the unapproved gloves, with Bubba Wallace calling it “small potatoes” in terms of any potential performance advantage that might have been achieved.
“I didn’t really put a ton of thought into it, to be honest,” said Brad Keselowski, a former teammate of Logano’s at Team Penske. “I don’t think there’s a lot of performance (gain) there, but I think a lot of times as drivers, you get caught up in doing things so that the team feels like everybody’s all-in – whether they matter or not, and I think that probably falls into that category.”
That all-in feeling of contributing to the team effort only went so far for Logano.
“I didn’t feel better after it, I can tell you that much,” he said. “Directionally better, how much better? Probably nothing. That’s the part that hurts the most. It isn’t even worth it. It didn’t do anything to speak of. It’s directionally an area that everybody goes to try to block that hole. You see everyone put their hand there. We just tried to cover more space.”
SHR’s penalty stemmed from roof air deflectors that did not meet the computer-aided design (CAD) specs in the NASCAR Rule Book. Officials indicated that the penalty was slightly less strict because the roof rails in question are a team-produced part and not a single-source component for the Next Gen platform, which has tighter restrictions on modifications.
Moran said that the rails were meant to sit flush or flat against the roof surface but that the right-side rails on both SHR cars had raised, pressed marks at the fastener holes instead of flat openings. Those roof rails sat higher, and NASCAR inspectors discovered them in a visual check.
“That’s not done from tightening any bolts or anything else,” Moran said. “The head of the bolt is not that big, so these are pressed so they stand proud on top of the greenhouse, which is a problem. We don’t get into why they’re like that. They were only on the right side of those two vehicles, but they certainly don’t meet the CAD files, so that’s what the penalty was for.”
LAS VEGAS – Samantha Caruth was beaming. As a self-proclaimed hugger, she took the moment to embrace seemingly everyone who visited Victory Lane late Saturday night to congratulate her and her son, Rajah, on his first trip there in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Roger Caruth sat close by, checkered cloth in hand while fielding calls from well-wishers who were still awake back home, thousands of miles from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway oval. His notifications for missed calls and unread texts had already surged past two dozen in the short walk from pit road to the trophy presentation in the center of the fan-friendly garage. That figure was expected to multiply as word of his son’s accomplishment spread.
“Some people are sleeping on the East Coast, so they’re probably going to find out in the morning,” Roger Caruth told NASCAR.com. “So that’s when my phone’s going to really start blowing up.”
It was a good problem to have.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “I mean, that’s what racing is about.”
Rajah Caruth celebrated a historic night by becoming the third Black driver to win a NASCAR national series race, etching his name alongside Hall of Fame trailblazer Wendell Scott and current-day Cup Series star Bubba Wallace. The 21-year-old driver punctuated the moment with a professional-grade smoky burnout that made him look like a seasoned veteran, far removed from his earlier Late Model triumphs at Hickory and Tri-County in the North Carolina foothills and light-years away from his iRacing roots.
History intersected with family Friday night at Las Vegas, and Roger Caruth was among the first to cross the tri-oval’s infield grass to embrace his son after the checkered flag unfurled.
“I’m pretty speechless. It’s been a tough journey so far,” said Rajah Caruth, now in his second full season of Truck Series competition. His first truck win arrived in his 30th start. “A lot of people have helped me get to this point. Thank you to every single one of y’all. Definitely ups and downs, but this journey has been fruitful at times and testing at times. … This winter was a lot of uncertainty about where I’d be driving, not having a bunch of funding behind me at the time. I just stayed true to my faith and my family. Fortunately, a lot of people put a lot of stuff together for me to be in this spot.”
Even before Friday night’s triumph, the week had been a banner one for Caruth. His Spire Motorsports No. 71 Chevrolet team received extra backing from HendrickCars.com just two days earlier, increasing its primary sponsorship from a previously announced 10-race deal to a secure, full-season run for 2024.
That vote of confidence was rewarded in short order in Friday’s qualifying session when Caruth rocketed to his first career Truck Series pole position. The FOX Sports crew that interviewed him after his qualifying effort had perceived an uncharacteristic show of emotion. Caruth blamed his would-be tears on catching some dust in his eyes — a trope of an excuse right up there with cutting onions. He explained later that because of the intense, swirling wind in the Nevada desert, the dust was the actual culprit and not a convenient, hackneyed scapegoat.
The extra support was rewarded again in Friday night’s race, where Caruth ran consistently among the top five with finishes of second and third at the stage breaks. The final stage is where the No. 71 group nailed the final pit stop – the Spire team with the strategy piece and Caruth on the execution – when his closest challengers stumbled with penalties or other shortcomings in the sequence.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR.com
The week had already been a win for Caruth & Co., but when the pit-stop exchange netted out and the race went clean and green for the final stretch, a breakthrough seemed well within reach.
“Wherever he placed, I would have been celebrating,” Samantha Caruth said in between hugs later. “This is just extra on top of extra. He’s living his dream in real-time.”
The pinch-me dream state from Las Vegas was shared by the Spire Motorsports group that’s grown in big leaps in recent months. Spire’s Craftsman Truck Series operation is continuing the legacy of the Kyle Busch Motorsports team that it absorbed, now with four allied full-time trucks making a run of it alongside its expanded three-car Cup Series effort.
Doug Duchardt, a longtime NASCAR executive with a wide breadth of racing experience, was a key component to Spire’s recent moves. He’s been on the job as Spire Motorsports team president for all of three months now. Duchardt has experienced plenty of wins and championships from his earlier management roles with Hendrick Motorsports and Chip Ganassi Racing, but his post with Spire represents part of a ground-up build from an organization that first hit the track just five years ago.
Caruth’s victory – which made Spire-affiliated teams 3-for-3 in the Truck Series win column so far this season – was a big step in the organization’s growth.
“I think every first win is special for anyone. I think for Rajah and for Spire and then for HendrickCars who just came on, it’s just … it’s extremely, it’s hard to state how special just for everyone,” Duchardt told NASCAR.com. “Rajah has a pretty cool demeanor, he doesn’t show a lot of emotion, but I know it’s been a lot of work, and a lot of work by him and all of his support system with his family. So I’m just really happy and proud — of him and for him.
“But then our team, it was a huge lift for the whole team to put four truck teams and three Cup teams together in one shop and work together to get through all that and get through this first bit of the season. And so I’m just proud of everyone at Spire Motorsports for getting through that. And I think what makes it special is, of course, it’s three in a row in the Truck Series with three different drivers, and it just shows the depth of the team and how much those guys on that truck side work together.”
The celebration rolled on into the night, with Victory Lane team photos, another trophy pic with Caruth’s group-chat besties and other commemorations of a career first. “Aw, I’m so happy for you guys,” said Cup Series standout Ross Chastain after finding his way to Victory Lane for one of Samantha Caruth’s hugs.
Among the rotation in the hat dance of Victory Lane photos was a family portrait worth savoring.
“I’m really glad both my parents are here,” Rajah Caruth said. “Especially my dad. I know my sister’s watching, too. They’ve been my rock. My dad took me to my first race. Both my parents did, with my late granddad. Got me that first experience. Really enabled me to put in the work and chase the dreams, like I said, of living by myself in North Carolina. I can’t imagine for a mom, for a dad, to send their 18-year-old kid to a completely different culture, a completely different lifestyle, to live on his own, work at a race shop, and be in a completely different environment.
“I’m glad they’re here. They’ve been with me every step of the way. That’s honestly a blessing I’ve really had, is having my parents, my sister, a lot of really good close friends and others that have helped elevate me, helped me during the tough times and helped me celebrate for the good ones.”
“This is a beginning of a bright future, I think,” Roger Caruth said. “It’s been kind of a struggle to get here, but that’s the nature of the game. We just took full advantage of the opportunities that we had, knowing that he had to potentially do what he did tonight.”
What better place to savor a career-defining triumph than Las Vegas, with the nearby glitz, the neon lights, the cheeky nightlife, the long-ingrained gambling culture and the high-roller swagger. Gaming media scribes at the Vegas speedway pointed out to Caruth that his accomplishment was also a big win Friday night for bullish bettors. At the suggestion that he stay awhile to share in the party atmosphere, Caruth politely but firmly declined.
“I’m going home, bro,” Caruth laughed. “I am flying back, yeah. I am a homebody. I stay inside.”
Which all makes sense. Home, after all, is where family is.
LAS VEGAS — Friday evening’s Craftsman Truck Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway looked likeit was Ty Majeski’s race to lose. And when he entered pit road on Lap 101, his shot at hoisting the trophy in Victory Lane went awry.
After winning the first two stages and leading 40 laps — the most of the 10 drivers to lead circuits on Friday — Majeski wheel hopped when slowing down to pit road speed at pit entry. He knew immediately that he was nabbed for speeding, as he lost track of his rpm’s.
“You just can’t make those mistakes,” Majeski said. “I tried to get a little bit too much. Had a little bit of wheel hop going into first gear and when that happens, you lose track of your rpm’s. And when it settled down, I knew I was speeding. I didn’t match the revs good enough. It was a little mistake and that was the end of our night. We had a shot to win — great truck.”
Despite the 2024 campaign being Majeski’s third full-time season with ThorSport Racing, he doesn’t have a plethora of experience when it comes to making green-flag pit stops. The No. 98 truck was the first of a host of trucks that were caught for speeding, including series’ all-time wins leader Kyle Busch and Daytona winner Nick Sanchez.
“I’ve been doing this a while, but it doesn’t happen often,” Majeski said, regarding making a green-flag stop. “That’s not an excuse — I’ve just got to be better than that. When you’re going 180 mph for 20 minutes and you’ve got to get your mind to get back down to 55 or 60 mph, it’s not easy to get your mind right because it feels so slow and you don’t think you have to slow down that much.”
Over the final 30-plus laps of the race, Majeksi powered through traffic and still rounded out the top 10, finishing ahead of three of his ThorSport teammates. It’s the second consecutive top-10 finish for the No. 98 team, and he’s led laps in all three races to begin the season.
Despite the disappointment, Majeski sees the bigger picture in what Friday evening proved. The No. 98 truck could be a force to reckon with throughout the 2024 season, particularly on intermediate tracks.
“We have fast trucks — and I think that’s the biggest takeaway,” Majeski added. “We haven’t shown speed quite like this on an intermediate in a while, so to have this kind of speed bodes well for our future. We’re excited — it’s going to be a really good year for the 98 team.”
The 40 laps led for Majeski is his most on an intermediate track since his victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the penultimate race of the 2022 season (67). Majeski sits second in the regular season standings after three races, five points behind championship leader Tyler Ankrum.
LAS VEGAS — Rajah Caruth made a promise after taking the checkered flag in the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“There’s more to come, for sure,” said the 21-year-old Spire Motorsports driver moments after securing his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win from the pole position in Friday night’s race.
An alumnus of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, Caruth is the third African-American driver to win a NASCAR national series race, joining Hall of Famer Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace.
It was a day for firsts for Caruth, who earlier on Friday won the initial Truck Series pole of his career by 0.001 seconds over Christian Eckes.
But it was Caruth’s pit crew that helped decide the issue. During a 62-lap green-flag run to the finish, crew chief Chad Walter called Caruth’s No. 71 Chevrolet to pit road early in the cycle.
The over-the-wall crew performed a flawless stop, and after other contenders made their stops during the cycle, Caruth inherited the lead on Lap 114 with an advantage over Taylor Gray of nearly two seconds.
That margin enabled Caruth, who led 38 laps, to finish 0.851 seconds in front of fast-closing Tyler Ankrum, who passed Gray for the second spot on Lap 120.
“It’s surreal,” said Caruth. “Thinks so much to (sponsor) HendrickCars.com and Mr. H (Hendrick) for putting me in this thing all year, and with the men and women at Spire.
“So many people have helped me get to this point, and I can’t believe it. I just stayed cool. We lost track position in little portions of the race, and we stayed in the game. … My guys got me a great stop, and we just executed.”
A lack of execution ruined the chances of several contenders. Ty Majeski, who led a race-high 40 of the 134 laps and swept the first two stages, drew a penalty for speeding on pit road on Lap 102. So did Daytona winner Nick Sanchez, snuffing out a late rally.
Defending race winner Kyle Busch’s crew was guilty of a tire violation, preventing Caruth’s Spire teammate from contending for the victory. But with Busch winning last week at Atlanta, Spire now has two straight victories.
In the closing laps, Ankrum could see Caruth tantalizingly in front of him, just out of reach.
“I wish we would have had 10 more laps, and I think we could have gotten it,” said Ankrum, who retained his series lead by five points over second-place Majeski. “But we tend to say that a lot in racing. I wish we would have been able to do it, but I think our time is coming.”
Corey Heim finished third and is seven points behind Ankum in the standings. Caruth climbed one spot from fifth to fourth, 10 points out of the series lead.
Gray ran fourth on Friday, followed by Christopher Bell. Eckes, Matt Crafton, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger and Majeski completed the top 10. Busch finished 15th, one lap down.
The Truck Series will head east to race at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 16 (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NOTE: Post-race inspection in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was completed without issue; confirming Caruth as the winner
NASCAR.com’s 36 for 36 continues at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
With 36 races and 36 full-time Charter cars, our players select one car per race, but there’s a simple twist: Once they’ve made the pick, they can’t choose that car again for the rest of the 36-race season. Yes, that means every car will be selected exactly once … a survivor pool, by another name.
Follow along weekly as our panel of pickers — Dustin Albino from Jayski, along with Steve Luvender and Cameron Richardson from NASCAR.com — embark on a season-long journey to think like strategists and prove their picking prowess.
We’ll also feature a fourth “community” 36 for 36 pick each week, as decided by fan vote on the r/NASCAR subreddit. Can the collective vote topple our trio of full-timers?
Standings after Race 2
Rank
Name
Points
Behind
T-1
Steve Luvender
284
—
T-1
Dustin Albino
284
—
3
Cameron Richardson
235
-49
4
r/NASCAR Community
219
-65
Race 3 of 36: Las Vegas
Our pickers largely went with an underdog approach last week at Atlanta. Cameron Richardson looked like a genius most of the race with his pick of Todd Gilliland, who led a race-high 58 laps, but brought the No. 38 home in 26th place. That equaled the 17 points earned by Dustin Albino’s selection of Justin Haley (No. 51), who finished 20th. The Reddit community’s Corey LaJoie (No. 7) pick netted a solid 13th-place finish, good enough for 24 points. Meanwhile, Steve Luvender won for the second consecutive week by choosing fourth-place finisher Austin Cindric, who collected 43 points and a stage win.
Now, Las Vegas awaits, and its style of traditional intermediate speedway racing will require our panel to take a different approach from the last two weeks of draft-heavy action. Interestingly, though, the panel seemed to arrive at a shared conclusion.
Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 48, Alex Bowman
Dustin’s pick last week (Atlanta): No. 51, Justin Haley Points earned last week: 17 (20th-place finish) Total season points: 30 (third place)
Dustin: After playing it safe the first two weeks of the season at drafting tracks, I’m hoping to hit the jackpot in Sin City. That’s exactly what Bowman did in this race two years ago. In fact, he has podium efforts in each of the last two spring races in Vegas. I feel like this is a safe enough gamble where I can keep some aces in the hole for upcoming events at downforce tracks.
NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 8, Kyle Busch
Steve’s pick last week (Atlanta): No. 2, Austin Cindric Points earned last week: 43 (fourth-place finish) Total season points: 71 (first place)
Steve: Kyle Busch and I have a lot in common — we’re both leading our respective points standings after two races. The No. 8 has started the season with some strength, and while it’s a little risky to pick a top driver this early in the season, Rowdy’s finished fourth or better in five of the last six Las Vegas races. Plus, there’s something to be said about a driver’s hometown race that I believe is worth a little extra. Either way, I like those odds, and I’m putting it all on the No. 8 in Vegas.
NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson: No. 48, Alex Bowman
Cameron’s pick last week (Atlanta): No. 38, Todd Gilliland Points earned last week: 17 (26th-place finish) Total season points: 18 (fourth place)
Cameron: From just five laps complete at Daytona to leading the most laps at Atlanta, the rebound is underway! Las Vegas feels like a ‘prove it’ race for Bowman in a pivotal year for the 30-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver. There may be no better place for the No. 48 to get back on track than a place where he’s finished top three in the last two spring races, including his last Cup victory in March 2022 at the Sin City oval. I expect a big day for Bowman on Sunday.
r/NASCAR Community: No. 48, Alex Bowman
r/NASCAR’s pick last week (Atlanta): No. 7, Corey LaJoie Points earned last week: 24 (13th-place finish) Total season points: 37 (second place)
No pressure this week, Alex Bowman! The r/NASCAR subreddit has also selected Driver No. 48, determined by community vote.
u/SBMVPJustinHerbert: “This is my suggestion for the week. It’s clear that Hendrick has owned Las Vegas lately, winning the last 3 spring dates and 3 of the 4 races with the Next Gen. However, while I have full confidence in Byron, Elliott, and Larson to be strong contenders all season long at all varieties of tracks, I don’t have quite the same faith in Bowman. Let’s use him at a track he’s proven he can win at. It’s Hendrick’s playground.”
u/Blue8844: “I’ll jump on board the Bowman train (and apologize in advance for the bad luck Bowman fans).”
u/Dont_hate_the_8: “This is the pick. Bowman hasn’t been great recently, but he has been traditionally been strong at Vegas. This is one of Hendrick’s better tracks as well. I say it’s about time to bust out the big guns for the year and get this party started.”
Check back next week to see how our pickers fared at Las Vegas as we begin the season-long 36 for 36 journey.
And, if you’ve got a competitive itch beyond meticulously managing your Fantasy Live lineup each week, feel free to save or print your own 36 for 36 sheet and see if you can beat our pickers and the Reddit community!
HICKORY, N.C. — Fans and competitors at Hickory Motor Speedway will enjoy more than just a new season of racing Saturday night.
Kevin Piercy, the promotor of the famed half-mile NASCAR Home Track, is putting the finishing touches on multiple upgrades in advance of the facility’s opening races of the 2024 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series season.
Among them are new bathrooms and a repaved infield, plus some concrete patching and resealing of the racing surface. Piercy also plans to renovate the sponsor suites in the main tower. Those updates are expected to be completed in April.
The upgrades were made possible thanks to a more than $500,000 grant from the state of North Carolina; the funding was made available to the track as part of a larger grant program for select speedways in the state.
“What we tried to do with the grant that was awarded to Hickory Motor Speedway was do something for everybody,” Piercy said. “We tried to do the bathrooms in the grandstands so the fans would have a very clean place to go to the bathroom. Nice fixtures and things to use. We also did the bathrooms and the infield for the competitors. We were having a lot of [asphalt] chunks coming up in the infield.
“A lot of people have asked why we didn’t pave the track. Well, if we had paved the track, then we wouldn’t have had any money to do anything else, and we wanted to be able to do multiple things.”
Hickory Motor Speedway has been in operation since 1951. It hosted 35 NASCAR Cup Series races from 1953-71. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
The most noticeable upgrade for fans and competitors alike will be the renovated bathrooms, which all got facelifts with new toilets and stalls, a fresh coat of paint and epoxy floors.
Piercy was still putting the finishing touches on the restroom upgrades Thursday while Lee Faulk Racing drivers Toni Breidinger and Taylor Reimer were at the track testing in advance of Saturday’s opener.
He acknowledged that, without the help of the grant from the state of North Carolina and Governor Roy Cooper, the upgrades likely wouldn’t have taken place.
“Racing has been a tough sport to be in. To take $500,000 and put it into a race track with today’s economy is a little bit risky,” Piercy said. “This shot in the arm was huge, especially for a place like Hickory.
“We’re very, very appreciative from what we did get and the opportunity to do what we’re doing, because it’s very nice.”
Beyond a potential repave, Piercy’s wish list for more upgrades at Hickory includes a new scoreboard that can double as a video board.
That’s not in the immediate future, but he is hopeful.
Roughly 40 feet of asphalt on Hickory’s racing surface has been replaced with concrete in areas that needed attention. (Photo: Yem Sanlaeid/NASCAR)
“I still have some money available; we didn’t use it all yet,” Piercy said. “The biggest thing I want is a newer, upgraded scoreboard with the possibility of some video capabilities. That’s a big expense that we don’t have enough yet for. Maybe Gov. Cooper will find fit to give us another grant, and I think we’d really be in good shape after the second one.”
Saturday’s opening night, which will be available to watch live on FloRacing, will feature twin 40-lap features for the headlining Late Model Stock Car division. Limited Late Models, Street Stocks, Super Trucks and Renegades will also be in action Saturday.
Based on the number of drivers and teams testing at the track in recent weeks, Piercy expects a strong contingent of cars across all five divisions.
“We had people that wanted to practice, and we had to close basically for three weeks while we were paving the infield,” Piercy said. “People have seen the renovations as we’ve been going along, and everybody is excited and very complimentary of them. It looks like we’re going to have a good field of cars this week. A lot of people are calling to come.
“We’re excited for people to see what we’re doing here.”
Gates for Saturday’s opening race of the 2024 season at Hickory open at 4 p.m. ET, with racing scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET.
Throughout the 2024 NASCAR season, Ken Martin, director of historical content for the sanctioning body, will offer his suggestions on which historical races fans should watch from the NASCAR Classics library in preparation for each upcoming race weekend.
Martin has worked for NASCAR exclusively since 2008 but has been involved with the sport since 1982, overseeing various projects. He worked in the broadcast booth for hundreds of races, assisting the broadcast team with different tasks. This includes calculating the “points as they run” for the historic 1992 finale — the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The following suggestions are Ken’s picks to watch before the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 1, 1998, the third race of NASCAR’s 50th Anniversary season.
The celebrations stemming from NASCAR’s storied history combined with the bright lights of Las Vegas created an edge-of-your-seat excitement before the green flag even waved.
Rusty Wallace’s usual No. 2 Ford for Roger Penske was running a special scheme for the event, as Elvis Presley graced the hood of his car, which also included a special design on the door.
Ford was the story of the weekend, as Dale Jarrett put his Robert Yates Racing powered car on the pole, with another Ford of Geoff Bodine starting alongside of him. Altogether, Ford qualified in 16 of the first 24 positions.
That theme continued in the race, headlined by Mark Martin and the rest of his Jack Roush-led teammates. Martin led a race-high 82 laps en route to etching his name in the history books as the first Cup Series driver to win at the track.
All four of his teammates also finished in the top 10. Jeff Burton came home behind Martin in second, while Johnny Benson Jr. was fourth, Ted Musgrave was sixth and Chad Little came home 10th.
Dale Earnhardt, who finished eighth, was the only driver not piloting a Ford to finish in the top 14.
Amid all of his NASCAR Cup Series dominance, Jimmie Johnson captured his record fourth victory at Las Vegas. Johnson, who was coming off four of an eventual five straight championships, led the final 17 laps en route to Victory Lane.
The race featured 18 lead changes among nine drivers.
Johnson held off a legendary contingent of drivers to the checkered flag, as 11 of the first 12 finishers were named to NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers List in 2023. Altogether, 19 of those 75 drivers started the race.
Jeff Gordon (third), Mark Martin (fourth), Matt Kenseth (fifth) and Tony Stewart (seventh) have already been enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Johnson had won at the track in 2005, 2006 and 2007, which at the time made him the only driver with three victories at the track. Jeff Burton (1999 and 2000) and Matt Kenseth (2003 and 2004) were the only other two drivers at the time, who had multiple victories at Las Vegas.
To this date, Johnson is still the only driver with four victories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Martin Truex Jr. passed Brad Keselowski with two laps remaining to pick up his first victory at the track.
He started second and dominated the event, leading 150 of 267 laps. Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Keselowski rounded out the top five.
The excitement didn’t stop when the checkered flag waved, as chaos ensued on pit-road following a late race battle between Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. The two made contact on the track, which saw Busch spin around en route to a 22nd place finish.
Busch walked over to make his displeasure with Logano known following the race before a scuffle broke out between crew members and the drivers.
You can watch these three races and hundreds more by visiting NASCAR Classics.
There’s an old axiom that posits that it’s better to be lucky than good.
So, what happens when you have both factors in your favor?
Answer: You’re Austin Hill, and you win back-to-back NASCAR Xfinity Series races to start the 2024 season.
Hill won the rain-delayed United Auto Rentals 300 at Daytona on Feb. 19, taking the checkered flag in the season-opener for the third straight year. Five days later, he won at Atlanta when Richard Childress Racing teammate and pole winner Jesse Love — and a host of others — ran out of fuel late in an event that went to overtime.
On Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Hill will try to win his third straight race in The LiUNA! (5 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
There’s a streak on the line for Chevrolet, too. Chevrolet drivers have swept two straight Cup/Xfinity/Truck tripleheader weekends and are looking to extend that success in the three national series at Las Vegas.
Las Vegas native Riley Herbst looks to disrupt that string of victories in the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Herbst got his breakout Xfinity Series win last year at his home track during a streak of five straight top-four finishes to end the season.
“I’m pumped,” Herbst said. “Not only am I going home, but I’m also going to a track that means the world to me. I started my racing career just next to the big track at the Las Vegas Bullring. That win last October meant everything. I had waited so long for it and, honestly, it just made it that much more meaningful to get it at my home track.
“There’s definitely confidence going into this race, not only from me, but from the entire No. 98 Monster Energy team. We’ve had speed at every race since then, and I know we can go out and contend for the win again. We still have to do everything right, but I’m confident in this team.”
On Thursday, NASCAR announced the following penalty has been issued:
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Stephen Kopcik is indefinitely suspended from NASCAR.
The rule infraction is as follows:
2-11 Required Notice
Any NASCAR Member charged with any violation of the law (misdemeanor and/or felony), shall notify NASCAR at [email protected] or visit http://reporting.nascar.com prior to the next scheduled Event or within 72 hours of being so charged, whichever is earlier.
12-8
1. NASCAR membership is a privilege. With that privilege comes certain benefits, responsibilities and obligations. Correct and proper conduct, both on and off the race track, is a part of a Member’s responsibilities.
A Member’s actions can reflect upon the sport as a whole and on other NASCAR Members. Ideally, NASCAR Members are role models for the many fans who follow this sport, regardless of the type of license a Member may hold, or the specific Series in which a Member may participate. Therefore, NASCAR views a Member’s conduct, both on and off the race track, which might constitue a behavioral Rules violation under this Rule Book with great importance.
12-8.1
E. Member actions that could result in a fine and/or indefinite suspension, or termination.
3. Being charged with or convicted of significant criminal violations (e.g. Domestic Violence, Trafficking, Assault), or having had determinations rendered by criminal or civil authorities that in NASCAR’s judgement necessitate action. NASCAR will not pre-judge guilt or innocence in the criminal or civil legal system, or the guilt or innocence of a Member, but rather review each matter in its own context and circumstances and with regards to its potential effects upon the sport.
