Christopher Bell 2023 season in review

Posted on December 27, 2023 by Jerry Bonkowski

Editor’s note: This continues a series where we review the top 20 drivers in 2023 NASCAR Cup Series points.

Season in review: Christopher Bell
No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Crew chief: Adam Stevens
Final 2023 Ranking: 4th
Key stats: 2 wins, 10 top fives, 19 top 10s, 599 laps led

How 2023 ended: Bell continued to develop into one of the most successful young drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series. Not only did he reach the Championship 4 round for the second straight season, but five of his six career Cup wins have come in the last two seasons (three in 2022 and two in 2023). Unfortunately, his championship hopes came to an early and abrupt end in the 2023 Championship 4 event at Phoenix when he was prematurely knocked out and finished last (36th), due to a brake rotor that exploded one-third of the way through the race.

Best race: Bell’s best race was his first win of the season, on the dirt surface at Bristol. That he won was not a surprise, given his lengthy and successful resume of competing on dirt throughout his racing career, particularly in sprints and midgets. Bell led 100 of the 250 laps en route to his win at Bristol. For an encore, Bell returned to Bristol in mid-September to start from the pole and led 187 laps in the 500-lap event, ultimately finishing a close third to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin.

Other season highlights: Bell started the season off in excellent fashion, finishing third in the Daytona 500, the highest finish of his career on a superspeedway. Beginning with his win on the dirt at Bristol, Bell led the Cup Series standings for the next three weeks and was ranked second following the three races after that. Bell showed his clutchness yet again in the playoffs, picking up a thrilling win at Homestead to earn a spot in the Championship 4 after finishing second in Las Vegas the week before in the Round of 8.

Stat to know: Bell is becoming quite prolific when it comes to earning the pole position. After failing to earn even one pole in his first two full-time Cup seasons, he earned four in 2022 and a career-high six in 2023 (including three consecutive poles to start the playoffs at Darlington, Kansas and Bristol).

Quotable: “That was my first time I’ve ever exploded a rotor in my career. So, yeah, I was surprised. … I mean it stings to not have a shot at the end of it obviously. We were all four (Championship 4 finalists) really close and we all four showed strengths at different times. … I’m very proud of the effort put forth by our team to get to the Championship 4, but I do feel like we left a lot on the table at various races throughout the year. I’m excited about the future. We haven’t reached our potential yet.” – Bell on the freak rotor explosion that knocked him out of the championship race, costing him a chance at the title.

Looking ahead: Bell has become one of the biggest threats to win virtually every time he takes the green flag to start a race. After reaching the Championship 4 each of the last two seasons, only to come up short both times, don’t be surprised if Bell finds his way back to Phoenix in 2024 for the third time in a row and get his turn to take home the NASCAR Cup Series championship trophy.

Posted on December 26, 2023 by Holly Cain

Editor’s note: This continues the series where we review the top 20 in 2023 NASCAR Cup Series points.

Season in review: Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota
Crew Chief: Chris Gabehart
Final 2023 Ranking: 5th
Key stats: 3 wins, 14 top fives, 19 top 10s, four pole positions, 998 laps led

How 2023 ended: Even after another stellar multi-win season, the NASCAR Cup Series veteran just missed out on qualifying for the Championship 4. At a track — Homestead-Miami Speedway — where Hamlin is one of the series’ best, his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota suffered a mechanical issue late in the race. The resulting 30th-place finish in that penultimate round proved too much to overcome for a Championship 4 berth. It was a gut-wrenching blow after a fantastic season that included a playoff victory at Bristol Motor Speedway and a runner-up effort at Kansas — part of an impressive seven top-10 tally during the 10-race playoff stretch. Hamlin ultimately finished fifth in the championship for the third time in his career and the second consecutive season.

Best race: Hamlin’s playoff victory on the paved Bristol half-miler was an impressive way to secure a win and make a strong competitive statement. He led 142 laps on the night — including the final 135 laps of the 500-lap classic — and raced away to a huge 2.437-second victory over his friend and fellow perennial championship challenger, Kyle Larson. The Bristol success was part of a four-race streak of top-five finishes launching Hamlin into the runner-up position in the playoff standings at the time.

Other season highlights: After 18 full-time seasons at NASCAR’s highest level, the three-time Daytona 500 winner was in prime form, still competing for his first NASCAR Cup Series championship. He led laps in 27 of the 36 races — three times, he led at least 100 laps in a race. His 998 circuits were close to being his seventh season with 1,000 laps led. His summertime trophy at Pocono Raceway was the seventh of his career at the notoriously tough 2.5-miler, most among all active drivers, and he finished top five in the championship standings for the fifth consecutive year. This marked the 12th season Hamlin won multiple races and that Bristol victory was a milestone 50th win. His 51-win total ranks him 13th on the series’ all-time winner’s list. Only Kyle Busch (63) has more among active drivers.

Stat to Know: Hamlin’s 608 laps led in just the 10-race playoff run was more than all four championship-eligible drivers during that time and more laps led than two of them accumulated on the entire season.

Quotable: “The 50th was the big one for me, but other than that, they [the wins] were all mid-part of year or early in the year, and it didn’t matter when it came right down to it because the formula to win a championship has changed. You just have to win Phoenix. … I believe championships are won differently now. It’s not about dominating for a whole season it’s about dominating for a very short portion of the season and it coming at the very end.’’ – Denny Hamlin about the mindset around battling for a championship.

Looking ahead: Hamlin had shoulder surgery during the offseason to repair a nagging injury that he quietly dealt with at the end of the 2023 season. Back at full strength physically and highly motivated for a title shot in 2024, expect Hamlin to again establish himself as a champion favorite. Even in his dual roles as a competitor and team owner (23XI Racing), winning races has never proven an issue, and this year, the veteran has promised to approach the season title with a different strategy — placing a heavy emphasis on the playoff tracks and scheduling. And, of course, Hamlin would love to steer the No. 11 JGR Toyota to a fourth Daytona 500 win in the season-opener, tying him with NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough’s Daytona 500 trophy haul. Only NASCAR’s “King” Richard Petty (seven) has more.

MORE: Hamlin reveals severity of shoulder injury

Posted on December 22, 2023December 22, 2023 by Holly Cain

Season in review: Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
Crew Chief: Billy Scott
Final 2023 Ranking: 6thKey stats: Two wins, 10 top fives, 16 top 10s, two pole positions, 470 laps led

How 2023 ended: The 27-year-old Californian made the longest championship run of his career, advancing to the Round of 8. The driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota answered his early season victory on the Circuit of The Americas road course with a first-round playoff victory at the Kansas Speedway 1.5-miler. He earned three top-10 finishes in the 10-race playoff run, highlighted with a runner-up at the Darlington Raceway opener and the Kansas win in consecutive races. Even with top 10s in the third round’s first two races, a tough day (26th) at the Martinsville Speedway Round of 8 finale essentially kept him from his first Championship 4 appearance.

Best race: Reddick’s first victory with the 23XI Racing team came in a dominant run at the Austin road course. He led a race-best 41 of the 75 laps at COTA and passed William Byron with 12 laps remaining to hold on to an impressively sizable 1.411-second win over two-time series champion Kyle Busch. Reddick led the race six times to claim his third career NASCAR Cup Series road course win.

Other season highlights: Reddick equaled his previous season’s high marks in top fives (10) and top 10s (16), but this is the first time he’s hit career-best totals in the same season. Reddick won multiple pole positions (at Richmond Raceway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course), giving him three consecutive years with at least one pole position and the second straight season with multiple pole positions. A streak of three consecutive top-10 efforts during the meat of the playoffs (Charlotte, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway) was impressive.

Stat to Know: Reddick’s three road course victories in the last two years make him the winningest driver in that brand of competition during the Next Gen era. In 2022, Reddick won at Road America and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. In 2023, he added COTA to that list.

Quotable: “I still race as hard as I always have, but it’s been nice to have the cars as good as they are to where I can think twice about taking a risky choice or making a risky decision on a restart or battling for position. It’s been nice to have that knowing that if we can’t get them this lap, maybe in five laps, or maybe the next restart, or maybe the end of the race. It gives me options as a driver. I feel like for a long time in the Cup Series, I had to race really, really hard for every spot, even if it’s on Lap 5. And I still have the drive to do that, but it’s nice knowing we have a car that’s capable of overcoming track position. … It makes me feel good that if things don’t go right at some point in the race, I know what to do to get back to the front too.’’ — Reddick on driving for 23XI Racing.

Looking ahead: Reddick continually made progress in his maiden season with the 23XI Racing team and there’s a lot of reasons to believe even better days are ahead. Reddick had an impressive year with top-10 finishes (16), and his sixth-place finish in the championship is a career best by far — exceeding his 13th-place finish in the points in 2021. Unfortunately for Reddick, he also suffered through streaks of uncharacteristically disappointing race outcomes. His June-July, for example, included five straight summertime races where his best finish was 27th (at Atlanta). Importantly, Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace also made the playoffs, so the three-year-old organization took a significant step forward and proved it legitimately belongs in the “championship contender” conversation.

Posted on December 21, 2023December 21, 2023 by Holly Cain

Editor’s note: This continues the series where we review the top 20 in 2023 NASCAR Cup Series points.

Season in review: Chris Buescher, No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Final 2023 Ranking: 7th
Key stats: Three wins, nine top fives, 17 top 10s, 255 laps led

How 2023 ended: The soft-spoken Texan left no doubt that he is ready to be considered a player in the championship talk for seasons going forward. He advanced through the first two rounds of playoff competition after hoisting his third trophy of the year in the Daytona regular-season finale and earned five more top-10 finishes in the playoff portion of the schedule. A tough middle round — with back-to-back finishes of 14th (Texas) and 19th (Talladega) — ultimately sealed his fate in the playoffs, leading to an exit in the Round of 8. However, 2023 was still Buescher’s best season finish of his eight full-time campaigns.

Best race: Buescher’s first victory of the season at Richmond Raceway was a dramatic drive. After starting a deep 26th place on the grid, he rallied through the field and led a season-best 88 laps, winning by more than a half-second over Virginia’s own, Denny Hamlin.

Other season highlights: Buescher’s 2023 season wasn’t just his “best,” but exponentially so. He tripled his previous single-season win total (three), tripled his previous best season top-five total (nine), and nearly doubled his career single-season top-10 total (17). His 255 laps led were also a career-high mark. Only two drivers won more races than Buescher in 2023.

Stat to Know: For the first time in his career, Buescher won back-to-back races; an inspired push forward from a mid-grid starting spot at the Richmond three-quarter miler and then the next week leading a race-best 52 laps the very next week to claim his first win at the 2-mile Michigan big track in a thriller over Martin Truex Jr.

Quotable: “Definitely not a rookie around here anymore. Been around a day or two and proud to keep figuring things out. I’m not going to stand here with any kind of ego and say, ‘I’ve got it all figured out.’ I learned a lot this season, and from my personal side of things, I have a lot to learn, yet, some growth to figure out how to be more competitive at certain trace tracks still. And to mentally be more prepared for certain situations. Our sport is ever-evolving, but it certainly was a big year for our growth and figuring out how to be more successful, and I’m ready to see what 2024 brings for us.’’ — Chris Buescher

Looking ahead: As Buescher himself concedes, the 2023 season was a turning point in his career. He turned in his first multi-race winning season and claimed the victory in the crucial Daytona regular-season finale. His five top 10s in the playoffs and advancement into the second round were also a career-best — all boosting his confidence and optimism heading into the 2024 season with Ford’s brand-new Mustang race car. It was important progress for Buescher personally but also for the Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford team, eager to place itself consistently as a bona fide contender.

Posted on December 20, 2023 by Zack Albert

Not long after the curtain closed on a resurgent season for RFK Racing, the organization provided a glimpse into the year ahead with expansion plans. The addition of a part-time third entry on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit is a new wrinkle, but the growth has its fingerprints on some significant nostalgia for the team that Hall of Famer Jack Roush started back in 1988.

RFK outlined its plans for the “Stage 60” project during NASCAR Champion’s Week, tabbing veteran David Ragan for the No. 60 Ford in the season-opening Daytona 500 and indicating that additional 2024 races would be announced later. Ragan last competed full-time in the Cup Series in 2019 but has been a regular in Ford’s testing and development program.

Team co-owner Brad Keselowski said that the Stage 60 effort marks an initial step toward a more established third team in the future, one that he said he hopes to achieve through measured, thoughtful expansion. In the shorter term, the strength-in-numbers gain plus Ragan’s steady reputation at superspeedways boost RFK’s chances at Daytona, where Keselowski and teammate Chris Buescher excelled last season.

“The principle behind it was, ‘hey, we want to get to a third car,’ but just going out, and even if you were to go buy a charter tomorrow and even if you were to sign the right partners tomorrow, you still would need to have people and have assets,” Keselowski said before the NASCAR Awards in Nashville. “And so we realized that we needed to kind of crawl, walk, and run our way to making that a successful venture. I think the premise behind Daytona is that’s probably one of the actually easier races for us to run, with respect to selling a partner, bringing in a good driver like David, and then the success that we’ve had with our cars at those tracks, we felt really confident that we could go there and be competitive.

“Yeah, we want to have a third car for the 500. The last few years, we’ve been in position to win the race with both of our cars, and for a number of reasons it didn’t come together, and we’d like to think that having a third car would give us some more strength that we’d be able to bring that home. So, to be determined on what the result will be, but the intentions are really good, and the effort’s really good, and that’s what we can control.”

Stage 60 bears some resemblance to the advent of similar part-time entries in the Cup Series in recent years — most notably the Project 91 initiative by Trackhouse Racing and the No. 67 ride from the 23XI Racing shop. Those efforts have introduced stars from other walks of motorsports into NASCAR with a focus on superspeedway and road-course events.

Keselowski suggested that a similar blueprint will likely take shape for starters at RFK’s No. 60 car, but he also indicated that the organization has explored IMSA “in the longer term” as a potential avenue for bolstering its road-course program on the Cup Series side.

“I don’t think we’re thinking of it as an R&D effort,” Keselowski said of Stage 60. “We’re thinking of it as a really targeted effort to go out there and learn with new drivers and find new opportunities for new partners and new people within the organization. So I think we’re looking at it with kind of this fresher look of hopefully we’ll be able to sign a few more partners for some of the road-course events and the superspeedway events is really what we have targeted for this year. And if we’re able to do that, we’d like to bring some fresh faces into the sport.”

The No. 60 itself has a limited pedigree in the Cup Series, with only one long-ago victory by Bill Rexford during his run to the tour’s second-ever championship in 1950. But the number holds special meaning for RFK Racing as a benchmark for its years of success in what is now the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

MORE: Brad Keselowski through the years

From 1992 to 2015, Roush-owned Fords with No. 60 scored an impressive 94 victories in the series, with luminaries such as Mark Martin, Carl Edwards, and Greg Biffle handling the driving duties. Among those contributing to the victory total is Buescher, who won three times with the number and drove a No. 60 Mustang to the 2015 Xfinity title.

The reintroduction of the No. 60 under the RFK banner holds sentimental value for Buescher, but so does a reunion with Ragan. Both drivers have been under the employ of Roush and Front Row Motorsports during their careers, but the connection runs all the way back to Buescher’s close ties with the Ragan family upon his move to the Charlotte area as a teenager.

“I owe a tremendous amount of my being here — really simply put — to that entire family,” Buescher said, saying he moved in with them, completed home-schooling there, and working in the Ragan family’s racing shop when he wasn’t volunteering for pit-stop practice with Roush’s group.

Now Buescher says he’s anticipating getting to work alongside Ragan again at Daytona, with the goal of replicating RFK Racing’s dominance there in last season’s regular-season finale — a 1-2 finish with Buescher edging out Keselowski for his third win of the year.

“A lot of history there, a lot of connection, and cool to have a friend in another one of our race cars going to track,” said Buescher, who finished seventh in the Cup Series standings last year — one spot ahead of Keselowski. “It’s exciting because I know the potential we’ve had with our Mustangs at RFK when we come to any track, but superspeedway racing, just to fire off with Daytona, the success we’ve had there with two cars and what we’ve been able to do. We’ve certainly put the rest of the field on notice when it comes to those events that we’re going to be hard to beat, and you add a third competitive car in there with somebody like David, who is extremely smart and ready to go for superspeedway racing, it can certainly just up our chances and figure out how to get more RFK Fords in Victory Lane.”

Posted on December 20, 2023 by Jerry Bonkowski

Editor’s note: This continues a series where we review the top 20 drivers in 2023 NASCAR Cup Series points.

Season in review: Brad Keselowski
No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford
Crew chief: Matt McCall
Final 2023 Ranking: 8th
Key stats: 0 wins, 7 top fives, 16 top 10s, 341 laps led

How 2023 ended: The 2023 season was much improved over Keselowski’s first season as a driver and co-owner in 2022, which saw him amass just one top-five finish. The most significant achievement for Keselowski in 2023 was qualifying ninth for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and advancing to the Round of 12.

RELATED: 2023 season review hub page

Best race: Keselowski’s best overall performance was the spring race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he qualified fourth and finished runner-up, leading 47 of the event’s 260 laps. One other race of note was the July race at Richmond Raceway, where he finished sixth but led a season-high 102 laps.

Other season highlights: Having led 42 laps, Keselowski was en route to a potential top-five finish — if not a win — in the season-opening Daytona 500 before he was involved in a last-lap, multicar wreck that saw him finish 22nd. In a return visit to Daytona in the final playoff-qualifying race, Keselowski finished second behind teammate Chris Buescher in the best 1-2 performance by RFK Racing since Keselowski joined the team. The best overall performance stretch was from Atlanta in July to Texas Motor Speedway in September, which saw Keselowski tally three top-five and nine top-10 finishes in 12 races.

Stat to know: Keselowski’s last win as a driver was in 2021 while still racing for Team Penske. However, as a part-team owner since 2022, Keselowski has seen RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher reach Victory Lane once in 2022 and three times in 2023.

MORE: Keselowski joins elite list of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers | Keselowski through the years

Quotable: “Surviving and thriving may not always be the same. But, sometimes, surviving is thriving in the playoffs with the way these things are set up. I guess I have a different perspective on it. I want to get through each round the best we can and then move on. Ultimately, if you get to the Championship 4, nobody else cares about the nine races before that. Conversely, you can win two or three races and not make the final four and it still not be considered a good year. I think the way that this thing is set up, you have to just continuously survive. It’s a survivorship mentality.” — Keselowski on the difference between “surviving” and “thriving” in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Looking ahead: Given the significant improvement RFK Racing showed in 2024, it would not be a surprise to see both drivers — including Keselowski — make the Championship 4. Momentum is certainly there for the driver-owner following a 2023 rebound. Perhaps the 2012 Cup Series champion in Keselowski can make a case for title No. 2.

Posted on December 19, 2023December 19, 2023 by Zach Sturniolo

Longtime NASCAR Cup Series spotter Eddie D’Hondt will move to the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in 2024 to work with Cup rookie Josh Berry, the team announced Tuesday.

D’Hondt spent each of the last 12 seasons at Hendrick Motorsports, aiding four-time champion and Hall-of-Fame driver Jeff Gordon around the track before Chase Elliott took the reins in 2016. Elliott led the No. 9 team to the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship and has won 18 races at the sport’s top level, all with D’Hondt atop the spotters’ stand.

MORE: Cup schedule | Elliott to have new spotter in 2024

Berry and D’Hondt worked together five times in the Cup Series during the 2023 campaign as Berry filled in for the then-injured Elliott. Berry earned a career-best second-place finish at Richmond Raceway to pair with a 10th-place showing at Phoenix Raceway in his second start with the team.

We have been so excited about this. @TheEddieDHondt is going to be a huge addition to our team. Can’t wait to get going! 💪🏻💪🏻 https://t.co/uxflcwAn8Q

— Josh Berry (@joshberry) December 19, 2023

In all, Berry enters his first full-time Cup season with 12 starts under his belt — two in 2021 before 10 starts in relief for three cars last year. D’Hondt’s experience as a reliable pair of eyes in the sky and crew chief Rodney Childers’ prowess atop the pit box surround the 33-year-old rookie with a combined two Cup championships and 66 wins.

Tim Fedewa, spotter for the No. 4 team from 2014-23 with Kevin Harvick, will move to the No. 12 Team Penske Ford to work with defending champion Ryan Blaney.

Stewart-Haas Racing also announced spotters for the Nos. 10, 14 and 41 teams Tuesday. Veteran spotter and former NASCAR racer Andy Houston will work with sophomore Cup driver Noah Gragson in his inaugural season behind the wheel of the No. 10 Ford, while Joe Campbell and Tony Raines return to their respective teams with drivers Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece.

Posted on December 19, 2023 by Adam Fenwick

The Catalano family is going all in with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in 2024.

Brothers Tommy, Tyler and Trevor Catalano will compete full-time with the series next year. It will mark the first time three brothers have run the entire Modified Tour schedule at the same time.

The 2024 season also will mark the second time at least two members of the Catalano family have raced full-time with the Tour. Tommy and Timmy Catalano competed in every event during the 2019 season.

“It’ll hopefully be fun. Obviously it can be a lot, but hopefully we can get through it,” Tommy Catalano said. “We’re fortunate to have the sponsors that we have that help, and obviously we all pitch in our spare money and go to work every day so we can go have fun on the weekends.”

The 2024 season will be Tommy’s third full-time run with the Modified Tour after competing in every event in 2019 and 2022. In 74 career starts, the 25-year-old has four top-five and 23 top-10 finishes with a best finish of second.

The upcoming season will be the first full schedules for his younger brothers, 19-year-old Tyler and 17-year-old Trevor. Tyler has one previous Whelen Modified Tour start, which came at Oswego Speedway in 2023. Trevor has not yet competed with the series.

Tommy will continue to drive the No. 54 entry next year. Tyler will drive the No. 84, and Trevor will be behind the wheel of the No. 56 when the season begins at New Smyrna Speedway on Feb. 10.

All three entries will be fielded out of the Catalano Motorsports shop and will carry sponsorship from Power & Construction Group and FX Caprara.

Tyler Catalano, driver of the No. 84 Catalano Motorsports Modified, qualifies for the Toyota Bud Mod Classic 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at At Oswego Speedway in Oswego, New York on Sept. 3, 2022. (Photo: Bryan Bennett/NASCAR)

The genesis behind the decision for all three brothers to join the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour stems from their united desire to race as often as possible and do it as a family.

“We like to all race. All my brothers, myself, my mom, it’s just something we all like to do,” Tommy Catalano said. “If there is one of us running the Tour full-time, it makes it tough doing the back-to-back (races) to get races in locally for (my brothers). They’ve been really eager to give it a go on the Tour.”

Tyler’s first full Modified Tour season is the natural next step for the 19-year-old who has grown up racing in the Northeast alongside his brothers.

In his first Modified Tour start at Oswego, Tyler raced with the leaders throughout the evening and finished on the lead lap in 10th. He’s looking forward to the challenge the full season presents while also racing against his brothers.

“We don’t give each other much slack anymore when it comes to racing because every spot is harder to get then the next. There’s not really much room to give,” Tyler Catalano said. “I think on the Tour, the spots are just so hard to come by, I don’t think we’ll be giving each other much slack during the races.”

When Trevor makes his Tour debut at New Smyrna, he will become the sixth member of the Catalano family to compete with the series.

He’ll join brothers Tommy, Tyler and Timmy as well as his mother Amy and uncle Buck on the Modified Tour ledger. He’s looking forward to forging his own path in NASCAR’s oldest division next season.

“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Trevor Catalano said. “Hard work, for sure, to bring three cars to the race track obviously. I think that’s kind of what we’ve strived for here by us, we all race together, and we all go with the same thing. We feed off each other to help the whole program get better and improve.”

Fielding three full-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour entries will be no easy task for Catalano Motorsports. One challenge they’re already tackling is tracking down enough crew members for the 16-race schedule.

Trevor Catalano celebrates a victory in the Pro Modified division during night four of the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna, Florida on Feb. 13, 2023. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

Previously, when Tommy would race with the series, his two younger brothers would be part of his crew. Now that all three will be racing, they’ll need three full pit crews.

“As a starting point, I lost my crew; my tire changers were Tyler and Trevor,” Tommy Catalano said. “That’s something we’ve been trying to (work on). We’re bringing in what we call outside family. At the end of the year, ultimately the people we bring in, we spend so much time with them they become almost like family.

“It’s a huge commitment obviously. You want everyone to feel like family, as well, because no one is doing this to get rich. They’re doing it because they love racing and they want to help out. That’s the biggest thing.”

The 2024 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season kicks off at New Smyrna on Feb. 10 during the track’s annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. In addition to the Modified Tour opener, multiple members of the Catalano family will be in action throughout the week in a mix of Modified and Super Late Model events.

The Catalano clan wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I would assume we’re all on the same page with the goals, but ultimately it’s about consistency,” Tommy Catalano said. “Finish all the races, keep the cars in one piece the best we can, and build on it.

“To expect to come out of the gate and finish one-two-three is obviously not a realistic goal. That would be nice; that’s what everyone would love to happen, but we’re trying to be realistic about it. Part of it keeping it sustainable and keeping it fun for everyone is having realistic goals for everyone to be excited about.”

Posted on December 19, 2023December 19, 2023 by Holly Cain

Editor’s note: This continues a series where we review the top 20 drivers in 2023 NASCAR Cup Series points.

Season in review: Ross Chastain
No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Crew chief: Phil Surgen
Final 2023 ranking: 9th
Key stats: Two wins, 10 top fives, 14 top 10s, 640 laps led, one pole position

How 2023 ended: Chastain earned his second career – and second consecutive – NASCAR Cup Series playoff berth in 2023. His win at Nashville Superspeedway locked him into the postseason where he was eliminated in the Round of 12. Although he fell short of the Bill France Cup, Chastain ended the season with a win at Phoenix Raceway that clinched him ninth place in the final standings. The second-year Trackhouse Racing driver was ousted from championship contention after a tough playoff run that included a pair of DNFs – crashes at Talladega Superspeedway and the Floridian’s “home track” at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He had four top-10 finishes in the 10-race playoff run but also three results worse than 20th place. Chastain closed out his second season with Trackhouse Racing by leading 157 of 312 laps at Phoenix and is the only driver in the series technically on a “winning streak” to start 2024.

Best race: Statistically speaking, Chastain’s most impressive outing was his career first win at Nashville Speedway from pole position. He led a race-best 99 laps and eased to almost a 1-second victory over Martin Truex Jr. to officially claim a playoff berth and take over second place in the season standings.

Other season highlights: Chastain equaled his career-best win total (two) by scoring multiple victories for the second straight season. He led the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings for seven weeks and was ranked either first or second for 12 weeks – a full third of the season. He led at least 90 laps in a race five times and his pole position at Nashville was a career first.

Stat to know: While he fell short of his career-best numbers in 2022, Chastain still turned in a season to remember and equaled his best win total (two). His lead lap finishes (28) is a career-best mark, and he also topped the 600-laps led threshold for a second consecutive year. Only four drivers bettered his total of 10 top fives.

Quotable: “I don’t really know how to comprehend that maybe in a couple years we’re still doing this. I’m human. I go back to my past. I’ve had things taken away that were a sure bet. I thought it was a one-direction all the way up the mountain. Had to go find another mountain to climb. We found it. We’re climbing it. I feel as long as I get up, do my best, put my work in, go to work and surround myself with good people, trust our processes. … we’ll see.’’

Looking ahead: Although Chastain obviously would have liked to advance farther in the championship hunt, he did achieve his first career pole position, led more than 600 laps and proved his resiliency at the end of the season, hoisting a trophy even when he was out of playoff contention. Statistically, Chastain proved both his consistency and his resiliency. He now has victories on a diverse set of tracks, from road courses (Circuit of The Americas) to superspeedways (Talladega) to the 1.33-miler at Nashville and the Phoenix mile. It showed that his amazing championship runner-up showing in 2022 was absolutely not a fluke and instead the establishment of a driver ready and skilled to contend for the title year after year.

Posted on December 18, 2023 by Press Release

Patrick Emerling is heading back to his Modified, short-track roots full-time in 2024.

While also planning to run a partial NASCAR Xfinity Series slate, Emerling, now based in North Carolina, will return to race full-time on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and chase his first championship.

In a new partnership with car owner Rich Gautreau, the team will race the full Whelen Modified Tour calendar based in Massachusetts at TFR Distribution, with assistance from Rob Fuller.

Emerling is ecstatic to get back to racing Modifieds on a full-time basis. He’s been splitting time behind the Xfinity Series, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, Race of Champions Modified Tour and additional events the last two years.

“It’s all coming together quickly and I’m excited to get the new season rolling in just over a month down in Florida,” Emerling said. “We’ve been running Modified events on and off the last few years and focusing on helping get the Emerling-Gase Xfinity program off the ground. We’ve built a great foundation there and have a bright future. I’ll still be in and around the Xfinity Series throughout 2024, but the opportunity to go after the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship is one I couldn’t pass up. We came close to winning the title with our family operation a few years ago and we’re going back there hoping to complete some unfinished business.”

Gautreau, who lives on the West Coast, is a former SK Modified competitor at Stafford Motor Speedway and has been around racing for many years. The team will also welcome crew chief Dale Headquist, for the effort. Dale was the crew chief for Jon McKennedy when the No. 79 team, owned by Tim Lepine, won the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour title in 2022 with Jon McKennedy. Emerling and Headquist had spoken from time-to-time over the years, but this opportunity to pin them working together has both of them excited.

“I definitely have to thank Rich for giving me the opportunity in some great equipment,” Emerling said. “We have the potential to go out there and win some races. Worrying about the championship battle would come later in the year… we want to come out of the gates with consistent finishes in the top-five and continue to build towards even greater heights. Winning races and a shot at the title is certainly on our list of goals going into the new year. Racing on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, the competition is second-to-none. The quality of cars, drivers and teams out there is incredible.”

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 2024 schedule includes 16 events, beginning at New Smyrna Speedway’s World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing on Saturday, February 10, 2024. The series has events planned in Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and North Carolina, spanning from February to October.