DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 2, 2024) – Later today in Los Angeles, NASCAR will honor 10 trailblazers and inclusion advocates at the 16th annual NASCARDrive for Diversity Awards. Among the honorees are crew members, league partners and a public school system who are all making a real difference in the sport. And new this year, Ally Financial – the nation’s largest digital-only bank and Official Consumer Bank of NASCAR – will be the first presenting partner of the ceremony.
“Today we celebrate 10 individuals playing a key role in growing our sport and welcoming new fans by making it more inclusive,” said NASCAR President Steve Phelps. “Having the support of sponsors like Ally is crucial because we share a common goal of making racing inclusive for all. We’re elated to have them as the presenting sponsor of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Awards.”
Ally, widely known for its commitment to inclusivity on and off the track, entered racing in 2019 as a full-season sponsor of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Team and expanded its presence by becoming an official NASCAR partner in 2023. Ally has since initiated a series of initiatives designed to elevate the contributions of diverse members of the racing community, including:
Fueling Futures: In 2019, Ally launched its annual Fueling Futures program in collaboration with HMS. It is aimed at fostering economic mobility for young people by showcasing the various job opportunities within motorsports beyond race car drivers.
First Lap Program: Ally launched its First Lap program last year by partnering with organizations serving minority communities to give their members a VIP race day experience, continuing to demystify the sport for people unfamiliar with racing.
Inclusive Paint Schemes: Over the years, the Ally 48 has featured multiple inclusive and captivating paint schemes, including numerous LGBTQ+ Pride decals, a design featuring Static, an iconic Black superhero and more.
Ally and NASCAR ERGs: Ally and NASCAR connected their respective employee resource groups (ERGs) so they could work together and make a collective DE&I impact, including when NASCAR and Ally’s pride ERGs walked side-by-side at in the Charlotte Pride parade early last year.
“From our Fueling Futures and First Lap programs to the inclusive paint schemes on the Ally 48, our efforts in the sport have been focused on advancing diversity and inclusion within racing, which is why we are thrilled to recognize the progress as the first-ever presenting sponsor of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Awards,” said Bridget Sponsky, executive director of brand and sponsorship marketing at Ally Financial. “We know together we can make racing a more inclusive place for all, and we couldn’t be prouder to honor these extraordinary diversity difference makers at the awards.”
The 2024 NASCAR Drive for Diversity Awards recipients are as follows:
Crew Member: Mike Metcalf
Mike Metcalf previously worked as the Co-Head Pit Crew Coach and Director of Culture and Community at Trackhouse Racing. The Charlotte native and former football student-athlete graduated with honors from Appalachian State University. Metcalf first entered the world of NASCAR as a pit crew member in 2006. Mike started coaching pit crews in addition to competing in 2012. Mike is one of the few Pit Crew Coaches to be a pit crew champion as both a crew member (08’) and a coach (22’).
Developmental Series Driver: Zach Herrin
Zach Herrin races part-time in the ARCA Menards Series. He’s an out driver who has been an exemplary advocate for LGBTQ+ people in the motorsports industry, integrating inclusion into his ethos through building partnerships with organizations such as Lambda Legal and representing the sport in a positive light both on and off the race track.
Sam Belnavis Industry Ambassador: Jefferson Hodges, Team Penske
Jefferson Hodges serves as NASCAR Team Manager for Team Penske and previously worked as Rev Racing’s General Manager and Director of Competition for 10 years. Hodges was instrumental in the growth and stability of the Rev Racing organization, helping train, advance and guide over 100 developmental drivers during his stint. Currently at Team Penske, Hodges continues to keep DE&I efforts at the forefront by working with Rev Racing to identify potential pit crew recruits.
Institution: Chicago Public Schools
NASCAR and Chicago Public Schools worked together to help introduce the sport to a new generation of racing fans when 43 CPS STEM and STEAM schools and 22,000 students from across the district participated in an in-classroom design challenge focused on driver helmets in 2023. Winning teams of K-12 students were invited to the inaugural STEAM Fest to compete in an engineering-focused design challenge with help from NASCAR Cup Series driver Daniel Suárez and a team of STEM professionals from the NASCAR industry. Following the success of the 2023 program, NASCAR’s Research and Development Team has furthered its partnership with CPS to build a NASCAR-themed STEAM curriculum to be rolled out to an additional 17,000+ 8th graders across the city in 2024.
National Series Driver: Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing
Tyler Reddick, driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, has participated in several events to promote dialogue on social justice as an integral part of NASCAR’s diversity and inclusion work with its drivers. Reddick also leverages his partnership with Jordan Brand and his team, 23XI Racing, to engage celebrities and influencers like J. Balvin as an opportunity to expand NASCAR’s reach to diverse audiences.
Outstanding Intern: Chandler Love, University of Miami
Chandler Love joined the NASCAR Diversity Internship Program with a strong passion for Human Resources. Over the summer, Chandler supported various functions within NASCAR’s HR department, contributing significantly to processes and the overall employee experience. Chandler’s dedication and exceptional performance earned her a part-time opportunity with NASCAR as a Learning Administrator as she completes her senior year at the University of Miami.
Partner: Keurig Dr Pepper
Keurig Dr Pepper has shown commitment to NASCAR diversity, equity & inclusion goals through the Dr Pepper 23XI SPEED Institute Tuition Program, which began in 2021. Through this alliance between Dr Pepper and 23XI Racing, Dr Pepper has offered vital financial support by awarding 23 deserving students $5,000 each in tuition assistance. Additionally, several tuition recipients have had the opportunity to gain work experience in motorsports through internships at 23XI.
Team: Venturini Motorsports
Venturini Motorsports has played a pivotal role in the careers of drivers throughout the years. During the 2023 season, Venturini Motorsports earned an ARCA Menards West Championship with Sean Higorani while also competing in the ARCA Menards Series with drivers Toni Breidinger, Amber Balcaen and Taylor Reimer. In addition to developing driver talent, Venturini has continued to advance engineering talent, hiring Monon Rahman, who won his first race as a crew chief with Sean Hignorani in 2023. Venturini’s longstanding commitment to advancing careers and the sport began with The Ultra Blue Crew in 1987, which was an all-female pit crew that competed in ARCA races.
Track: Phoenix Raceway
Phoenix Raceway utilized the NASCAR Championship Ignition Luncheon benefiting Phoenix Children’s Hospital to generate excitement for the 2023 NASCAR Playoffs and NASCAR Championship Weekend while also promoting NASCAR’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. The luncheon, which featured a cross-section of NASCAR’s past, present and future that showcased the changing face of the sport to an influential audience, was built on a successful event earlier in the year highlighting STEM’s important role in NASCAR and introducing underrepresented cultures to our sport. The track has also been a sponsor of Phoenix Pride for the past two years.
Young Racer: Katie Hettinger
In 2023, Katie Hettinger was crowned CARS Tour Rookie of the Year, finishing the season second in Driver Championship Points and receiving the fan vote as Most Popular Pro Late Model driver. She also received the Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award in 2022.
For Isabella Robusto, a 16th-place finish in the Pro Late Model preliminary for the All American 400 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway normally would be procedural, if not uneventful.
That November evening instead was one of most significant moral victories Robusto had experienced in her young career to date.
The 19-year-old from Fort Mill, South Carolina was coming off an arduous, seven-month process just to resume competing in stock car events. She was sidelined for most of the 2023 season after dealing with lingering, concussion-like symptoms following an accident at Hickory Motor Speedway in April.
While the recovery period took longer than Robusto preferred, her perseverance made those 100 laps at Nashville more cathartic.
“We tried to go back a couple times to see if I was ready to get back into a car,” Robusto said. “Concussions are a weird thing, and I’ve learned so much about them this past year. You can’t really set time on them. You can feel good one day only to experience a whole different feeling when you get in the car.
“It felt so good to get back in the car [at Nashville], and that allowed us to continue testing throughout this offseason.”
Prior to the late crash, Isabella Robusto enjoyed one of the best performances of her career, leading a race-high 48 laps at Hickory Motor Speedway. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
Recollection of the April accident brings mixed emotions for Robusto, who was on the precipice of a breakout performance in the zMAX CARS Pro Late Model Tour.
She recalls being unhappy with the handling of her car during practice. Battling a tight condition, Robusto and her team worked to loosen up her car ahead of the 100-lap feature that evening.
The adjustments resulted in an eighth-place qualifying run, but Robusto in the race quickly found comfort with the car and established her own pace. She methodically climbed her way through the top 10 before taking the lead on Lap 49.
The only driver who stood in the way of Robusto making history as the first female CARS Tour winner was short-track veteran Mike Hopkins. Over the final 10 laps, Hopkins erased Robusto’s advantage, which led to an intense battle between the two for the victory as Hopkins used the momentum on the top groove to overtake Robusto.
A slip by Hopkins coming to the white flag gave Robusto an opening to pull alongside him. Slight contact between the two proved disastrous for Robusto, who was suddenly a passenger as her car veered full speed toward the inside wall.
(Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
“When [Hopkins] and I got together, it broke the tie rod on my right front,” Robusto said. “It rolled my tire under and sent me straight into the wall. There wasn’t anything I could do about it, and there was no way to keep the car out of the wall.
“I was turning hard right, but with the tire rolled under, I had to go along for the ride.”
The impact was so severe, it broke the pit-wall barrier and shot Robusto’s car back into oncoming traffic. Other drivers avoided Robusto, who managed to climb out of her battered car with minimal assistance from safety officials.
For a brief time, the vicious impact was just another accident.
Once repairs were made to Hickory’s inside barrier and the Pro Late Model race concluded, Robusto was back in a driver’s seat ready to compete in the CARS Tour Late Model Stock event. She mustered a 21st-place finish, which she attributed to personal frustrations over the wreck that cost her a Pro Late Model victory.
It was not until Monday afternoon when Robusto realized something might be amiss.
“I just started to feel nauseous and super dizzy,” Robusto said. “I couldn’t really focus on things, so that’s when Toyota, the team and I decided to get everything checked out. That’s when we figured out it was a concussion, so I had to just go along with the steps for [the recovery process].”
Although Isabella Robusto could still perform day-to-day activities after her crash, focus and equilibrium issues kept her out of the car for an extended period of time. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
Robusto after her crash closely followed the outline of the concussion protocol. Through rehab and frequent checkups with her doctor, she was optimistic she would return to full-time racing by the middle of summer.
A GT4 event at Virginia International Raceway presented the first comeback opportunity for Robusto, who said road courses helped correct her focus in the simulator better than ovals did.
The first race of the weekend went well; Robusto that Saturday scored a respectable finish as the second driver for Smooge Racing.
The next day, not long after Robusto’s second race, all the progress she had made was stymied.
“I was the starting driver and had to start mid-pack,” Robusto said. “Things just didn’t feel right. I ended up pulling in, and my co-driver got in the car on Lap 3, and he finished the race.
“After that, I knew we still weren’t there and still needed time to get everything back in balance.”
Several factors hindered Robusto each time she attempted to climb back into a car. She experienced dizziness navigating short tracks at a high speed while also dealing with focus issues, a bad equilibrium and poor hand-eye coordination.
The initial 2023 plans for Isabella Robusto included full seasons in both Pro Late Models and Late Model Stocks. (Photo: Jacob Kupferman/NASCAR)
With each minuscule step back to full health, more of Robusto’s year evaporated. Her goal in 2023 was to race full-time in both divisions of the CARS Tour, plus a debut in the ARCA Menards Series. All of that was scrapped.
Her lost season was mentally taxing, but Robusto knew following the advice of the people around her and carrying on with daily tasks would be crucial toward her return.
“It was very frustrating,” Robusto said. “I was able to do all my day-to-day stuff and even do the sim while feeling relatively normal. When we would get into the car, I knew I wasn’t there yet.
“I’ve learned throughout this concussion that you could be good doing everything, but there’s a whole different level in recovery when it comes to driving a race car. When you’re in the car, you really don’t think about how on you have to be.”
Robusto noticed enough improvement by the time October arrived. She and Donnie Wilson Motorsports began making plans to run at Nashville the following month with the goal of simply getting Robusto re-acclimated to running a Pro Late Model.
Everything went according to plan; Robusto kept her car out of trouble and obtained a solid, lead-lap finish. Although she had to re-learn much about her craft, Robusto climbed out of the car feeling invigorated knowing her prolonged recovery period was finally coming to an end.
A solidified schedule for the upcoming year brings a sense of relief for Robusto, who credits the support system of her family, friends, teams, doctors and Toyota Racing Development for standing by her and providing valuable advice while she waited to get clearance for on-track activities.
Robusto considers herself a more astute and attentive driver following the Hickory crash. She now spends more time on the simulator preparing for races and takes more precautionary measures with how her driver’s seat and seatbelts are set up in the car.
Robusto’s long road back to the track was laborious, but she is more determined than ever to resume showcasing her talent.
“I tell people who ask me if I’m 100 percent that I am,” Robusto said. “My normal is a little bit different now compared to my normal before the crash. I’m at full strength and ready to get back into a race car.”
Nashville served as Robusto’s sentimental victory after months of patience. The next milestone for Robusto is building off the efficiency she enjoyed at Hickory and start accumulating one victory after another.
Through two years of NASCAR Cup Series racing with the Next Gen race car, only one driver has advanced to the Championship 4 both seasons: Christopher Bell.
Bell, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and legend on the dirt-racing scene, has spent much of his NASCAR Cup Series career flying under the radar — often at the front of the field but seldom getting his time in the spotlight.
As shown in the new Netflix docuseries, “NASCAR: Full Speed,” that doesn’t bother Bell one bit, as he’s scored three clutch playoff wins in the past two years to reach the title round.
“I’m very quiet, reserved. I keep to myself,” Bell said in the documentary. “I don’t want to be known for social media or known for doing dumb stuff. I want to be known for winning races.
“I haven’t won enough to be that guy yet. One day, I will.”
That confidence is well-founded. Driving for JGR, one of the most successful teams in the sport, Bell has won on a variety of different track types, from Daytona International Speedway’s road course to Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt to the 0.526-mile Martinsville Speedway back to the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Execution was lacking throughout the 2023 season for the No. 20 team at times. Still, Bell and the crew persevered all the way to the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway, where a chance to win the title evaporated after a brake rotor exploded mid-race.
“Our ceiling is as high as any other team’s ceiling in the industry,” Bell told Netflix.
To Bell, racing was his only career path, and he never wanted to do anything else. He grew up dominating the dirt ranks, often dueling eventual 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson.
“I never had Plan B. There was no Plan B,” Bell said. “I was gonna make it happen, whether it was dirt-track racing or NASCAR racing. I didn’t even think it was going to be NASCAR racing. So, I was committed. Ever since I was in my early teens, I just wanted to be a race car driver.”
Being underestimated doesn’t bother Bell. Never has. So when Netflix producers finally sat down with him late in the 2023 season, the budding superstar realized something: “I wasn’t in that plan, was I?”
For the longest time, Nov. 14, 2003 was the happiest day of Travis Kvapil’s motorsports career.
That afternoon, he battled Brendan Gaughan, Ted Musgrave and Dennis Setzer for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Entering the day fourth in points, Kvapil took advantage of misfortunes that befell the other contenders to earn his lone NASCAR national series championship.
Nearly two decades on from that milestone, Kvapil on Nov. 4 enjoyed a championship celebration once again, this time as a father to his sons Carson and Caden. The brothers secured the CARS Late Model Stock and Pro Late Model titles, respectively, at North Carolina’s Caraway Speedway.
Seeing Carson and Caden share the championship stage was a rewarding moment for Travis after several years of tireless work from the family to excel at the short-track level.
“For me, there’s an overwhelming sense of pride in what [the] boys have accomplished,” Travis said. “We all started with that as the goal, but never gave it much thought until six weeks ago when we realized this could be really special with both these boys winning championships.”
From the moment his sons first expressed an interest in racing, Travis took it upon himself to pass down the qualities that made him a champion.
Competing in the newly formed NASCAR Midwest Series in the early days of his career against drivers like Steve Carlson and Brian Hoppe taught Travis lessons about finding success in motorsports. The most paramount was emphasizing hard work above everything else.
Nothing came easy for Travis during his progression into the NASCAR Cup Series. He won twice in the Midwest Series, and his 2003 championship campaign in the Truck Series saw him visit Victory Lane once (Bristol Motor Speedway).
Travis Kvapil had to fend off Ted Musgrave, Dennis Setzer and Brendan Gaughan to earn his lone NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title in 2003. (Photo: NASCAR)
When Carson climbed into his first car at age 10, he was frequently reminded by Travis of the grind he had to endure as a driver, adding that both wins and consistent results would be difficult to obtain.
Those struggles were apparent as Carson charted his own path through the developmental ladder. With every bad race, Carson took in constructive criticism from his father as the two figured out how to make their own program better.
“I totally remember our first year running Supers when we would get lapped and not even finish the race,” Carson said. “We were horrible, but we put 100 percent effort into it to try and get to a point where we could have a winning car.”
It would not take long for Carson and Travis to start seeing progress in full-bodied stock cars.
In 2020, Carson tallied numerous wins in a Pro Late Model along with a victory in the Super Late Model feature of the North-South Shootout. By the end of the 2021 season, he was a champion in the CARS Super Late Model Tour with triumphs at tracks such as Hickory Motor Speedway and Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
“When we won the 2021 championship in the Super Late Model, I knew special things were ahead for us,” Travis said. “I thought I was holding [Carson] back by running the family car, which was literally me and the boys working on our Super and Pro Late Models out of our own shop. I know [Carson] has a bright future ahead, and it’s all going to work out.”
Consistency in Pro and Super Late Models helped Carson Kvapil earn an opportunity to drive for JR Motorsports. (Photo: Ryan M. Kelly/NASCAR)
As Carson dealt with the positives and negatives associated with short-track racing in the southeast, Caden passively observed his older brother and father, taking in as much information as possible before his first venture into stock-car competition.
Caden recalls how everything came naturally to him once he started regularly competing in Pro Late Models, which he admitted would not have been possible without leaning on Carson and Travis as they gradually built a race-winning program.
“I was just there learning the most I could from what Carson was talking about in the car,” Caden said. “Once I got in the car for the first time, I already knew what I was supposed to be doing instead of just getting up to speed. It’s been a lot easier for me than it was for Carson.”
Carson echoed the sentiments Caden has on his own development. He said Caden always being around the conversations with him and Travis naturally gave his younger brother a head start when it came to understanding what the family-owned No. 35 needed to be efficient.
The roles were reversed for Carson when he earned an opportunity to compete for one of the best Late Model Stock organizations in the southeast: JR Motorsports.
“[Caden] jumping into the Late Models after we refined them down was a lot like when I came to drive [for JR Motorsports] that first season [in 2022],” Carson said. “I knew the stuff was good, and Josh [Berry] was obviously super talented. Him and Brian [Shaffer] had this stuff right, so it’s a lot easier jumping into something that’s already worked on.”
With Carson replacing Josh Berry in the No. 8 at JR Motorsports and Caden embarking on a full CARS PLM Tour season in the No. 35, Travis was eager to see how his sons would perform during the 2022 season.
The results were almost instantaneous. Caden took home a checkered flag in the season-opening Old North State Nationals at Caraway, which was followed by Carson scoring a $30,000 race-winning paycheck in just his second CARS LMSC Tour event with JR Motorsports.
Carson used the momentum from that night to score eight more CARS LMSC Tour victories and win consecutive championships in the series.
“Starting that 2022 season, I was super nervous,” Carson said. “To win [the Old North State Nationals] and go on to win three more that year and the championship was really good. Coming into this year, my goals were to win as many or more races as I did last year. We did that by winning five of them.”
For Caden, the path to the CARS PLM Tour title saw him move on from the No. 35 he had enjoyed so much success with early in his career to drive the No. 96 for Highlands Motorsports, who had won the championship the previous season with Luke Fenhaus.
Despite having Travis by his side as a crew member, Caden found himself struggling to find consistency at the start of 2023. In the first six races, Caden only amassed two top-five finishes, which initially hindered his chances of potentially joining Carson as a CARS Tour champion.
Once Highlands Motorsports elected to pull out their backup car starting with the seventh race of the year at Caraway, Caden hit his stride. He proceeded to lead all but three laps at Caraway that night and finished outside the top five once the rest of the year, enabling Caden to cruise to the CARS PLM Tour championship.
Caden Kvapil tallied three wins to close out the 2023 CARS Pro Late Model Tour title, all of which came during the second half of the season. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/CARS Tour)
There were plenty of adverse moments for Caden during the final championship push, but he embodied his father’s advice to stay composed and provide constant feedback to ensure his car could stay competitive.
“You have to be calm no matter what,” Caden said. “If you get in an accident with someone, you can’t go back out there, drive over your head and wreck people. We got into an incident at Tri-County, but we got back up to third and then the leaders wrecked each other. I stayed calm in the car and didn’t mess up.”
For Travis, the ability of both Carson and Caden to avoid trouble was the main catalyst behind their respective titles. Carson finished every CARS LMSC Tour race on the lead lap and only placed outside the top 10 once, while Caden completed all but four laps.
“You have to finish these races and be there at the end,” Travis said. “Dick Trickle used to say that you must finish to finish first. For [these] guys to complete all the laps and not tear up the equipment, it allows the teams to bring the cars back every week and make them a little faster instead of sending them over to the chassis shop to get rebuilt.”
Carson and Caden celebrating two hard fought CARS Tour titles showed Travis just how much they have grown since their first starts.
There were times when Travis was unsure if everything he was teaching would even translate into something sustainable for his sons. Travis has seen plenty of talented drivers be unable to make into the top ranks of NASCAR, but he now feels more assured about Carson and Caden’s outlook following their stellar 2023 seasons.
While there are plenty of differences between the two Kvapil generations, Carson sees similarities with his father when it comes to being actively involved with preparing setups. As he continues to move through the ranks, Carson does not plan to deviate from the blue-collar mindset that has followed the family long before Travis’ 2003 Truck Series title.
“Our season was definitely not as stressful at the end as [my dad’s] would have been,” Carson said. “He was really fortunate with the people that helped [him] get to where he is now, and it’s kind of the same for me. After winning the Super Late Model championship and getting the call to fill in for JR Motorsports, it was such a big opportunity.
“I’m sure there’s going to be more people along the way, but I can’t thank the handful of people in my head that have gotten me here.”
With Carson and Caden’s CARS Tour championships, all three members of the Kvapil family have score a major title in their careers. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/CARS Tour)
The Truck Series title is still fresh in Travis’ mind over two decades after the intense finale at Homestead-Miami. At the time, Travis never imagined he would get to experience such an emotional moment with a five-month-old Carson or Caden, who was still three years away from being born.
Travis knows how demanding motorsports can be, but he wants Carson and Caden to remember where they came from no matter how their careers turn out.
“We definitely don’t have the resources or knowledge of the bigger teams,” Travis said. “One thing we do have, which I tried to instill into [Carson and Caden] from day one was our work ethic. My background from racing Late Models in Wisconsin was similar, which was to work, fight and claw your way to every opportunity.
“If [these] guys go down a different path in life by working hard, being reliable, showing up on time and putting in the work, [they’re] going to be successful in anything at life.”
With the future now brighter than ever for his sons, Travis is confident Carson and Caden are going to bolster the family’s racing legacy with more championships over the next several years.
HAMPTON, Va. — Connor Hall was a couple hours away from his 22nd Late Model Stock Car start of the year at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia. He knew a win would extend his track record of 15 victories on the season and cement his status as 2023 champion.
He felt sick to his stomach.
Sure, the 26-year-old Hampton native was experiencing some anxieties related to the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I championship, as he was entering the season’s final national points-paying weekend leading the standings. But this uneasy feeling in his gut was not a pressure-induced ailment.
He had devoured nearly a dozen fried Oreos throughout the day.
“If you can’t eat 11 fried Oreos and drink a half gallon of sweet tea on race day and get in there and still do your job, then you don’t need to be doing it,” Hall said.
(Photo: Susan Wong/NASCAR)
Those who know him react accordingly. That’s just Connor Hall.
Hall won the 2023 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division 1 national championship. Though his title was not yet official when he was gobbling sweets at Langley on the final points weekend, he was aware of his impending accomplishment.
Hall by nature is laid back and collected, hence his ability to enjoy cookies on race day. (He swears he otherwise maintains a healthy diet.)
But, toward the end of the year, he obsessed over his championship standing.
This after entering 2023 having no clue he’d run a full schedule at Langley, let alone chase a national title.
Hall in April won both of Langley’s season-opening twin races for the Taylor Waste Services Late Model division. He won two more when the division held its next pair of races in May.
Week after week, he kept winning. In turn, he kept collecting NASCAR points.
Eventually, for a driver who entered the year planning to focus on his CARS Tour schedule with Chad Bryant Racing rather than his own late model program, everything changed.
‘WE BLEW THEIR DOORS OFF’
Hall’s race shop is a two-and-a-half-car garage that sits perpendicular to his parents’ house right on the Harris River in Hampton. The house is where he grew up as a person; the garage is where he continues to mature as a racer.
Hall, who works full-time as a broker for Bluewater Yacht Sales, lives in his own house a few minutes away, but he spends a significant portion of his time at the shop.
He and his friend Clayton Parrish form the duo that builds, maintains and adjusts the cars Hall races on the weekends. Hall’s father Earle also lends a heavy hand with his help in the shop and at the track.
The success Connor Hall Racing had in 2023 is a remarkable reflection of the small team’s dedication and hard work. Quite literally, this is a couple buddies running a national championship-winning race team out of their parents’ garage.
The fruits of CHR’s labor are collected on a nearly weekly basis at the 4/10-mile paved oval located about nine miles away.
Connor Hall at Langley Speedway (Photo: Ryan M. Kelly/NASCAR)
Hall opened the year at Langley Speedway winning an absurd 11 Late Model Stock races in a row. That includes a victory in the CARS Tour’s visit to the facility on June 6, plus five sweeps of twin features for the track’s Late Model Stock division.
The first Langley race Hall failed to win in 2023 was the prestigious Hampton Heat on July 22. He finished second to fellow Hampton native and Late Model racing star Brenden Queen.
On the day of the Hampton Heat, though, an important meeting took place. Hall approached a senior official to ask how the NASCAR national points system operated. Having won 10 points-paying races, his friends and fellow competitors were beginning to inform him of his impressive standing.
Hall on Aug. 5 swept another pair of races at Langley for NASCAR wins 11 and 12.
It was that following week — five months into the season — when Hall decided to make a run at the Weekly Series national championship.
“I didn’t want to have a false sense of confidence,” Hall said. “But the most important thing you can obtain is knowledge. So I went and read all the rules on how the NASCAR points system works. I went and found all the NASCAR-sanctioned races that any of my competitors would be able to run. And I just kind of built this master schedule.
“I did the math every week to figure out what would benefit us the most. Just mapping out the scenarios.”
Hall with his newfound goal knew he had to take the fight beyond the confines of Langley, so on Aug. 12, he traveled to North Carolina’s Hickory Motor Speedway for the legendary NASCAR Home Track’s pair of Late Model races. He won both, with a notable result being the fact that he beat fellow national title contender Doug Barnes twice.
The next day, Hall raced at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama, North Carolina, and won again. Barnes showed up to Southern National that day but did not race.
(Photo: Gardner Street Photography/Hickory Motor Speedway)
The success at other tracks against his toughest national competition was a sign Hall was cruising toward a championship.
Until he wasn’t.
On Aug. 19, Hall for the first time in 2023 failed to win a pair of features at Langley, finishing second and fourth, respectively, in the twin Late Model races. He blames himself. After the second race, he immediately looked under his car and realized he had forgotten to adjust his track bar.
“I messed it up,” Hall said. “We were kind of assuming Langley was going to be a good chance at success. So when we struck out and went 0 for 2, that created kind of a panic. ‘Have we fallen off? Has something changed? Or did we mess it up so bad, that once we get it set back right, we’ll be fine?’
“Obviously it was a ‘we’ll be fine’ thing, because we went out there and blew their doors off the week after.”
Hall finished the NASCAR national points-paying portion of the schedule having won 14 races at Langley. In all, he ran NASCAR points races at five tracks in 2023 — Langley, Hickory, Southern National, South Carolina’s Florence Motor Speedway and New River All American Speedway outside of Jacksonville, North Carolina. He scored 18 wins in 27 races, plus 24 top fives and 25 top 10s.
His national championship is a result of his skill and hard work as much as it is a byproduct of the behind-the-scenes guidance he’s received over the years.
‘WE SIMPLY LIVE LATE MODEL RACING’
For Hall, Langley Speedway is a NASCAR Home Track with home being the key word. It’s where he experienced a strange start to his racing career.
Hall’s parents bought him a go-kart when he was 8, and they routinely took their son to Langley’s open test sessions. He was terrible. Earle, who himself was a champion hydroplane racer, wanted to sell the go-kart. Denise insisted it was worth keeping.
They entered Connor in his first race later that year. In qualifying, once again, he was terrible. But a field invert sent the slowest driver to the front of the field to start the main event.
For reasons Hall and his family still can’t explain, Hall in the race immediately pulled away from the field and eventually lapped every other driver.
Hall dominated in karts at Langley for six years before he moved into the track’s Legends division. More success in that class led him to the Late Model world in 2016.
He experienced sporadic success in Late Models in the seasons that followed. It was in 2019, at an ARCA Menards Series pre-race practice session at Daytona International Speedway, when Hall met Chad Bryant and began to see his world change.
Connor Hall prepares to race in the ARCA Menards Series at Daytona International Speedway for Chad Bryant Racing on Feb. 9, 2019. (Photo: NASCAR)
Their relationship early was all about business. Hall routinely called Bryant to beg the car owner for ARCA rides. The peskiness paid off when Hall raised enough funding to race Bryant’s ARCA car at Daytona that February. A last-minute opening that June at Michigan International Speedway allowed Hall to run Bryant’s car again. Hall’s third and final ARCA start for Bryant came at Daytona in the 2020 season-opener.
Bryant recognized Hall’s talent. But the development needed to happen on the short-track ranks, where Hall would be the one building and preparing his own cars.
“Very slowly, the conversations went from me just begging him to race an ARCA car, to him kind of asking what I was racing, what I was doing, stuff like that,” Hall said of his communication with Bryant. “Slowly, he kind of started trying to, I don’t want to say help, but more of me kind of pestering him with some questions every chance I could get on the phone.
“It got to the point where he would always joke I could get one question or five minutes. So I’d always choose the five minutes. Slowly over time he started helping me more and more.”
The relationship continued to evolve to the point where, in 2022, Bryant invited Hall to race his equipment in some CARS Tour events. As part of the preparation for that season’s CARS race at Hickory, Bryant suggested Hall run his own equipment in a Weekly Series race at the track the weekend prior.
Ahead of that event, Bryant did something he had never done for Hall. Rather than suggesting a tweak or two at a time, Bryant sent Hall a complete list of setup points for his car at Hickory.
Hall completed the list and looked at the car. He was livid.
“I called Chad, and I was all pissed off,” Hall said. “The car looked terrible. I told him I thought he was messing with me.
“And he was like, ‘Fine, run it or don’t.'”
Hall of course ran Bryant’s setup at Hickory. He set a track record in qualifying and won both Late Model feature races.
(Photo: Gardner Street Photography/Hickory Motor Speedway)
“It was more of a mentorship at that point,” Hall said of his relationship with Bryant. “But I feel like now it’s gotten to the point where, I don’t know if I would call him a younger uncle I’ve never had or a form of an older brother I’ve never had … but also a friend.
“He’s always so concerned about my well being, but at the same time, if he could, he’d probably beat my ass or shove my head in a toilet. It was just a slow evolution of trust and friendship. Now it’s become more like family.”
Hall credits Bryant for the evolution that led to his 2023 Weekly Series national championship. The two speak on the phone nearly every day.
They talk about Hall’s Late Model program, of course, but the topic comes up naturally.
“It’s not like we’re trying to diagnose an issue or something,” Hall explained. “It’s just how conversations and our brains always seem to work together. It’s just the fact that we simply live Late Model racing. That’s where our conversations always go.”
Hall and Bryant entered the year planning to race the full CARS Tour season for the latter’s Late Model team. Those plans changed as Hall kept winning in his own equipment at Langley.
Eventually, Hall dropped the CARS Tour events from his schedule to replace them with NASCAR points races, a move Bryant fully understood and supported.
Hall did so with friends and family on hand as he continued to celebrate his 2023 national championship.
‘WE JUST STARTED DOING THE SAME THING EVERY WEEKEND’
As is the case for most competitors in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series, Hall’s race program doubles as an amusement avenue to have a good time with his family and friends.
Though only a few hands touch the car, Hall’s pit box on a given weekend is packed with people who support him.
He has his family — his dad Earle, his mom Denise, his sister Kelsea and his girlfriend Lindsey. His “race team” is really just a collection of friends — Parrish the crew chief, Brad Roper the tire specialist, Bo Gurkin the spotter, Cody Gary and Brian Wroten.
Of course, away from his own race program, Hall is also supported by Zach Bruenger, Steven Civitsarese and Gage Painter from Chad Bryant Racing.
(Photo: Ryan M. Kelly/NASCAR)
Hall does not take those supporters for granted. And in the case of the 2023 season, their playfully collective superstitions defined the year.
Before Hall won his first race of 2023, Parrish bought Chick-fil-A breakfast for the group. One can guess where had breakfast every race-day morning since. Hall lamented the fact that, by the end of the season, he was tired of chicken minis.
“It wasn’t really anything said,” Hall recalled of the tradition’s origin. “It was kind of a joke that slowly evolved. It still is a joke. We don’t do it because we truly believe in it. At this point, it’s kind of a principle to keep the joke going.
“Also, we ended up winning [the opener] and we ended up just sitting there drinking a couple beers together. For whatever reason, we still always sit on the surface plate around the car after the race. So, with Clayton and the Chick-fil-A breakfast, I was just trying to joke and get a free breakfast. We just starting doing the same thing every weekend.”
Hall in 2024 will continue racing in the short-track ranks. His bigger-picture goal is to race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, a national-series opportunity that has been realized by recent Weekly Series national champions.
Hall said a new challenge with his Late Model program is the expectations that arrive with success. Gone are the days when he can roll into a race track and hope to simply run well.
“There’s only one option,” Hall said. “I don’t care if we’re flying out to Kern County in California for the first time. We better sit on the pole and win the race.”
Of course, where Hall’s career goes from here and how his expectations evolve are irrelevant factors as they relate to what he accomplished in 2023, and with whom he mastered the craft.
He dominated the season at his NASCAR Home Track.
He ventured out of state and proved himself against a variety of competition.
He became a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division 1 national champion.
Rick Ware Racing announced Friday that Riley Herbst will drive the team’s No. 15 Ford in the season-opening Daytona 500, marking the first race in a partial NASCAR Cup Series schedule in 2024.
Herbst, a NASCAR Xfinity Series regular, made four Cup Series starts last year, including a finish of 10th for the Rick Ware-owned operation in his debut in the 2023 Daytona 500. His No. 15 Mustang Dark Horse will carry primary sponsorship from Monster Energy in the “Great American Race” on Feb. 18 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Herbst returns for his fifth full season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and his fourth with Stewart-Haas Racing. He did not make the Xfinity Series Playoffs cut last year, but posted five consecutive top-five finishes in a strong finish to the season, which included his first Xfinity win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 14.
“I’ve grown a lot as a race car driver, especially this past year,” Herbst said in a news release from the team. “I put in the work and try to maximize every opportunity, and I feel like last year that hard work and determination paid off. We were really strong at the end of the year. We never finished lower than fourth in our last five Xfinity Series races. I didn’t want the season to end. I’ve kind of been chomping at the bit to get this year started, so to be able to get back to Daytona and run the 500 is something I’m definitely looking forward to.”
Additional races for Herbst in the No. 15 Ford were not announced. The Ware organization named Kaz Grala as the primary driver of the No. 15 on Jan. 17, tapping him for 25 Cup Series races and this Sunday’s Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum exhibition (8 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Herbst will team with Justin Haley — full-time driver of RWR’s No. 51 Ford — in the 500-mile classic.
New Smyrna Speedway is set to kick off its 2024 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series racing season on Saturday, Feb. 3 with the running of the Red Eye 50/50.
Established in 1984 to celebrate New Smyrna’s tradition of racing on every weekend of the year, the Red Eye 50/50 started as a 100-lap Super Late Model event that featured several accompanying support divisions. The first event was held on New Year’s Day, with Jack Cook taking home his first of five checkered flags in the race.
The Red Eye 50/50 has become a centerpiece of New Smyrna’s racing culture that has gradually evolved over the ensuing decades. The most significant change took place in 2019, when the 100-lap Super Late Model race was replaced by two 50-lap events, one for Supers and the other for Pro Late Models.
Many notable names have started their respective seasons by claiming a victory in the Red Eye 50/50 at New Smyrna. Part-time NASCAR Cup Series driver B.J. McLeod was victorious in 2004, while other short-track mainstays like Bubba Pollard, Stephen Nasse and Jeff Choquette have amassed multiple Red Eye 50/50 wins in their careers.
A competitive group of Super and Pro Late Models are set to make the trip to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, for an opportunity to build some early momentum for 2024 and add their names to the long list of Red Eye 50/50 winners.
Below is everything to know ahead of the Red Eye 50/50 on Feb. 3.
Super and Pro Late Models headline the Red Eye 50/50 at New Smyrna Speedway. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)
Red Eye 50/50 race-day schedule
On-track action for the Red Eye 50/50 at New Smyrna Speedway will comprise of five different divisions, with the Sportsman, 602 Mods and Bomber A classes supporting the Super and Pro Late Models.
Practice for each class will rotate in race order, meaning the Pro Late Models will go out first with Super Late Models being third in line.
Super Late Models, Pro Late Models and the Bomber A class will each have a qualifying session to determine the starting lineup before the first green flag waves at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Below is the full Saturday schedule for the Red Eye 50/50.
Saturday, Feb. 3
(All times ET)
Time
Event
2 p.m.
Pit Gate/Tech/Fuel/Tires/Registration Opens
3:30-5 p.m.
Rotating Practice in Race Order (see below)
5:15 p.m.
SLM Pre-Qualifying Tech (Outside wall)
5:45 p.m.
PLM Pre-Qualifying Tech (Inside wall)
6:15 p.m.
Qualifying (SLM, PLM, Bomber A)
7 p.m.
Driver’s Meeting
7:15 p.m.
Pre-Race/National Anthem
7:30 p.m.
Racing Begins (Pro Late Model, 50 laps … Sportsman, 25 laps … Super Late Model, 50 laps … Bomber A, 30 laps … 602 Mods, 20 laps)
Entry list
A handful of competitors have already filed their entry lists for the Red Eye 50/50. Among them are multi-time track champion Brad May, Bobby Good and Brandon Turbush in the Super Late Model class.
Brandon Lopez, E.J. Tamayo and Jimmy Renfrew are among the names who have filed entries in the Pro Late Model class.
The complete entry lists for both divisions can be found here.
Shane van Gisbergen and Kaulig Racing revealed the seven Cup Series races he’ll compete in while driving the No. 16 Chevrolet during the 2024 season on Thursday. The select Cup events coincide with the Trackhouse Racing driver running full-time in the Xfinity Series in Kaulig’s No. 97 Chevy.
The three-time Supercars champion kicks off his slate with a trip to Circuit of The Americas on March 24. Then, it’s off to unfamiliar territory for the New Zealand native as he makes his Cup superspeedway debut on April 21 at Talladega. He will also compete in the playoff race at the 2.66-mile oval on Oct. 6.
Van Gisbergen will then compete in NASCAR’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600, on May 26.
After winning his Cup Series debut in thrilling fashion at the Chicago Street Course last season, van Gisbergen will look to defend his crown in the Windy City on July 7. He’ll compete on his third and final road course at the Cup level on Sept. 15 as the series heads to Watkins Glen International at the midpoint of the Round of 16 in the playoffs.
Van Gisbergen’s final scheduled Cup race will take place at the start of the Round of 8 when the series returns out west to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 20.
No, that’s not a reference to the 1981 film steeped in ancient Greek mythology. It concerns the third iteration of the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum, a short-track NASCAR Cup Series exhibition race that features the titans of stock car racing, whose talent is no myth at all.
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, a field of 23 qualifying Cup drivers will compete for bragging rights on a quarter-mile, purpose-built race track inside the iconic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. As an addition to the program this year, the rising stars and veterans of the NASCAR Mexico Series will run a 150-lap race at 10:30 p.m. ET.
The Clash will be broadcast on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“This is a tremendous win for our fans and our sport,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR senior vice president, racing development and strategy, and the principal architect of NASCAR’s expansion into stadium-based racing.
“Not only will the fans see the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series in action, they will also bear witness to the talent and skill that is found within the NASCAR Mexico Series. I can’t think of a better way to begin our 2024 season.”
Though this is the third running of The Clash in Los Angeles, the event as the kickoff to Speedweeks in Daytona dates back to 1979. Among active drivers, Denny Hamlin is the only three-time winner of The Clash, starting with his rookie season in 2006 and adding victories in 2014 and 2016.
The bullring in the LA Coliseum, however, is a far cry from the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, where Hamlin scored his three Clash wins.
“It’s a unique atmosphere and a fun race to kick the season off,” said Hamlin, who finished ninth after leading 26 laps of 150 last year. “It doesn’t really translate to anything else we do because the track is so small, but it’ll be fun to knock some of the rust off from not being in the car since November.
“I’m looking forward to it. Our team is looking forward to it. So, we’ll just see what we unload with on Saturday and hopefully get ourselves locked into the main event with a good starting spot. From there, you have to stay up front and stay out of trouble to have a shot at the end.”
That’s exactly what Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Martin Truex Jr., did last year. The driver of the No. 19 Toyota started second, took the lead from Ryan Preece on Lap 126 and won the Clash by .786 seconds over runner-up Austin Dillon.
The triumph put Truex in a two-driver club with Joey Logano, winner of the inaugural Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum in 2022.
If the size of the track is unique to Cup racing, so is the race format. The starting field will be set from practice on Saturday (5:35 p.m. ET) with the top 22 fastest times locking into the main event. The 23rd spot will go to the driver highest in owner points from last season that didn’t transfer to the main event through practice speed.
Short-track ace and Sunoco rookie Josh Berry, who succeeds Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, is looking forward to his first appearance in the Clash.
“I’m definitely excited to go to the Coliseum,” Berry said. “I think it’s a really cool event—having watched the races there, it’s really fun to get the chance to compete there. I think, for the race, it’s a good opportunity for us to run well.
“Obviously, with my background being in short-track racing, I think it should help, but I definitely think it will be a unique experience.”
