Posted on by Zack Albert

NEWTON, Iowa — Friday’s announcement that Martin Truex Jr. won’t continue as a full-time NASCAR driver after this season didn’t arrive as a major surprise, not after reports trickled out earlier in the week, and not after the 43-year-old driver’s ‘will-he-or-won’t-he’ dalliances with retirement in previous seasons. James Small, his crew chief on the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team, wasn’t among the shocked either, but he was also counted among those wishing his colleague well for his next chapter.

“We’ve been expecting this for the last two or three years or whatever, and we get the opposite decision. So yeah, it’s not really any surprise,” Small told NASCAR.com. “We would have loved for him to keep going another year. Ultimately, whatever makes him happy we support him.”

Truex made it official Friday that his 19th Cup Series season will be his last, outlining the plan to sunset his Hall of Fame-caliber career as NASCAR’s top tour arrives for its debut this weekend at Iowa Speedway. The news also signals an end to a long-running partnership with Small, who took the role as the No. 19 Toyota team’s crew chief in 2020 and was the lead engineer for Truex’s cars in the years before.

RELATED: Truex to close Cup Series career | MTJ through the years

Small’s thoughts about his driver’s legacy in the sport were shared by others in their tributes and commemorations, but his perspective as a hand-in-hand teammate atop the pit box had a personal touch, noting some of the what-ifs over the course of Truex’s career.

“You know, he’s incredible,” Small said from the Iowa track’s garage. “Obviously, he kind of flies under the radar, and that’s very much his personality. You look back on what he’s done since 2016, and the amount of races he’s won, he’s been one of the top two, top three drivers over that period. And, you know, you think a couple of things go a slightly different way or less errors, and he could be a four-time champion. It’s pretty simple, and we’d be talking about him in a completely different frame of mind. So yeah, he’s accomplished a lot, and he’s been very easy to work with from our standpoint. He leaves us alone, tells us what he needs and goes and does his thing and puts his trust in us. So from that standpoint, he’s very different, but he’s been a great friend and a great driver to work with and he’s very humble.”

Truex scored 32 of his 34 Cup Series victories after his career connected with Toyota affiliates Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row Racing. Eight of those wins were with Small atop the pit box, and he points to a dominant triumph at Darlington in the spring of 2021 — leading 248 of 293 laps in a flat-black car — as one of his favorites. But other moments of resilience fill Small’s memory banks, as does Truex’s tenacity, which occasionally translated to fiery words through the team’s in-car communications.

“I think those things, and there’s been so many others through the years that just exemplify the true grit of our team and never-give-up attitude,” Small said. “As much as he likes to complain on the radio at times, he never quits, you know what I mean? He’s just as frustrated as anyone, and he will always keep trying to the very last lap, no matter what or how bad the day has been.”

Truex hinted in Friday’s announcement that he could still race in a part-time capacity after this season and that he will stay on in an ambassador’s role with JGR. His approach to the rest of the year, he says, won’t change. “I’m just going to do my job and do what I’ve always done,” Truex said.

Just 10 races remain in the regular season, starting with Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 (7 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) for Truex to seal a playoff berth and a final run at a Cup Series championship to match the one he claimed in 2017. He ranks fifth in the Cup points, and led the standings for three weeks earlier this year; a recent patch of three finishes of 25th or worse in the last four weeks has set Truex back from his earlier perch.

MORE: Iowa weekend schedule

Still, Truex has been close to scratching the win column this season, including his battle among the top three last weekend at Sonoma Raceway before his car sputtered out of gas on the final set of turns. Small says his confidence in the No. 19 team’s performance hasn’t wavered, and though Truex has insisted that his mentality will be “business as usual” the rest of the way, Small suspects there will be a sense of relief in the season’s second half.

“Up until the last three or four weeks, we were leading the points you know, and then we’ve been on a little bit of a hard stretch here,” Small said. “As you say, things go a different way and we could have three wins — definitely two, if we didn’t get late-race cautions at the complete wrong time. So, I think this will take a lot off his mind. I know that decision’s really been weighing on him, and he says it doesn’t affect him but you know, it does. And even the last week he’s been way more relaxed to talk to, and I think it’s a big weight off his shoulders. So hopefully, we can get over this stretch of everything going wrong and be strong from here on out.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

NEWTON, Iowa — Noah Gragson posted the fastest lap in Friday’s inaugural NASCAR Cup Series practice at Iowa Speedway, but the speed of his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford wasn’t quite the main attraction.

Five drivers incurred flat tires during the full field’s 50-minute session ahead of Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350: Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric and Tyler Reddick.

RELATED: Practice results | At-track photos

Gragson was fastest at 137.988 mph over Gibbs, Alex Bowman, Justin Haley and Chase Elliott. Chastain, Harrison Burton, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe completed the top 10 in quickest single-lap speeds.

Gibbs was the first to experience an issue, suffering a flat right-front tire entering Turn 3 after 24 laps of practice.

Bell, Gibbs’ teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, posted the quickest lap early in the session. But Bell, who participated in a Goodyear tire test at the 0.875-mile oval in late May, slammed the outside SAFER barrier in Turn 4 after a right-front tire flattened on corner exit after 19 laps.

“I’m perfectly fine, just obviously a big disappointment and something that I didn’t see coming at all,” Bell said upon being evaluated and released from the infield care center. “It hurt. Whenever we were here for the tire test, we did 50-lap runs like they were going out of style. I don’t even know how many laps I did, but it couldn’t have been any more than 20.”

MORE: Bell slams wall during practice

Chastain and Cindric had their issues later in the session. Chastain’s left-rear tire went down, necessitating a two-tow-truck dolly lift back to the garage area. Like the two Gibbs Toyotas, Cindric’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford had a right-front tire go down, sending him into the Turn 2 wall. Bell and Cindric will both start from the rear in Sunday’s race (7 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, NBC Sports App, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Reddick, who was fastest on the 10-lap averages in practice, had a right-front tire down as well but wheeled his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota back to pit road without issue.

Chastain, who sits 10th in points entering the 17th race of the season, was not overly concerned about his issues or others’.

“I mean there’s no telling what happened,” Chastain said. “We went back out and made more laps on another set, so I went out ran my fastest lap like five laps later.”

On the contrary, Bell was quick to admit raised eyebrows as the Cup Series hits Iowa for the first time. Bell’s was among three teams to partake in the tire test last month, joined by RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski and Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson. Friday’s session was set under a scorching sun, but Bell wasn’t of the belief that added heat was a factor in the numerous tire issues.

“If anything, it should make it better,” Bell said, “because the more heat that you have, the more rubber gets laid down and typically the less wear you have on the tire. So I mean, certainly it’s a difference. And that’s something that I’m sure they’re talking about. But yeah, it’s strange, very strange.”

Reddick, fourth in points and 49 markers back of Larson for the regular-season standings lead, theorized the fresh pavement in each set of corners may also have played a more natural role.

“You could kind of see where the track was really starting to wear in a little bit too,” Reddick said. “From the start of practice to the end, (it) was starting to lighten up a little bit. You know, fresh asphalt was almost pitch-black looking and it was starting to gray up a little bit where we’re running. So I don’t know if it’s already kind of know if … is it already starting to knock that top layer off a little bit and that’s some of it? I’m not totally sure.

“But as we kept going, I mean …  the grip just kept getting better and better and better.”

Larson, who made his share of laps here testing tires in May, was less concerned — and borderline excited for the challenges ahead.

“Honestly, the unknown of everything I think makes things exciting and competitive and all that,” Larson said. “It’s gonna be fun. I think teams are probably gonna have to study a lot and not sleep a lot the next couple nights.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

NEWTON, Iowa — Martin Truex Jr. felt it was time to regain control over his own life and his own schedule.

“I’m obviously here to let y’all know that I won’t be back full-time next year,” Truex said Friday in a press conference with team owner Joe Gibbs, confirming the widely reported news that he will exit the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at season’s end.

RELATED: Iowa schedule

“It’s been incredible. It’s been a hell of a ride. I’m excited about the future, and I’m not really sure what that looks like yet,” Truex added.

There are several issues, however, that are already settled. The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion will continue with JGR in what is vaguely defined as an “ambassadorial capacity.” He likely will compete in an occasional NASCAR Xfinity Series race for the organization.

And Truex will fulfill a stated purpose of reclaiming his time as his own.

“It’s the right time for me. I’ve thought about it a lot for the last few seasons — just waited for that feeling in my mind to be positive, like ‘This is OK, I’m good, and I want to do something else,’” Truex said. “In the 21 years that I’ve done this, I’ve never missed a race. I’ve never missed a practice. I’ve never been late for anything. I’ve never missed an appearance. You live your life by a schedule that somebody makes for you, and it’s just time for me to make my own schedule.

“That’s really what it boils down to. I want to go do the things I want to do, and I don’t want anyone to tell me when I can and when I can’t do those things. I still love racing. I’m still going to race some — I don’t know what, when, how, why — but I feel very fortunate to be in this position to make this decision.”

Gibbs said he had a sense of what Truex’s decision would be. Truex will turn 44 on June 29. That makes him the elder statesman of JGR by less than five months over teammate Denny Hamlin, a three-time winner so far this season.

“I did everything I could to keep it going,” Gibbs said of his efforts to retain Truex for another season. “I think we’ve got two 43-year-olds that are at the top of their game.”

Now in his 19th season of full-time Cup racing, Truex has accumulated 34 victories, 23 poles, 146 top fives and 287 top 10s in 673 starts. He also won consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series titles in 2004 and 2005 with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chance 2 Motorsports.

Truex’s high-water mark in the Cup Series came in 2017. Driving for Furniture Row Racing and paired with crew chief Cole Pearn, he scored career bests in victories (eight) and top 10s (26) en route to the series championship, which he claimed with a win in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

After stints with Dale Earnhardt Inc., Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing and Furniture Row, Truex joined Joe Gibbs Racing in 2019. He won seven times that season and finished second in the final standings for the second straight year.

MORE: Truex through the years | Every Truex win in the Cup Series

Though winless so far this season, Truex currently is fifth in the Cup Series standings, despite running out of fuel and finishing 27th in last Sunday’s road course event at Sonoma Raceway.

NASCAR President Steve Phelps acknowledged Truex’s achievements in a statement extolling his successes as a competitor and a person.

“Martin Truex Jr. has been a consistent figure over the last two-plus decades in NASCAR — a consistent winner, champion and fan-favorite,” Phelps said. “Though he especially excelled on NASCAR’s biggest stages, Martin performed his craft with a quiet tenacity, allowing his immense success tell his incredible story.

“On behalf of the France Family and all of NASCAR, I congratulate Martin on a wonderful career and wish him the best of luck for the remainder of his final full-time season.”

As he plans his exit from full-time racing, Truex has few, if any, regrets.

“I would say I’ve achieved more than I ever thought I would,” he said. “That being said, there’s a lot of heartbreakers. There’s a lot of things you go back and think about like, ‘Man, if that had turned out different.’

“But a championship and three runners-up in this (elimination) format, I feel like that’s really good. I’m proud of what I’ve done. I feel like I gave it everything I had, and I feel I’m really, really good at what I did, so I’m happy with that—I’m content.”
Posted on by Steve Luvender

NASCAR.com’s 36 for 36 continues at Iowa 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 — embarks 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?

Current Standings:

  1.  Steve Luvender: 396
  2. Dustin Albino: -21
  3. r/NASCAR Community: -51
  4. Cameron Richardson: -71

Race 17 of 36: Iowa

Last week at Sonoma was a solid afternoon for our pickers Dustin Albino and Cameron Richardson, who were wise enough to select Michael McDowell for a 40-point, second-place race. The r/NASCAR community’s Daniel Suárez pick netted a respectable 26 points, while Steve Luvender’s points lead narrowed after a bad day for Joey Logano earned only 18 points.

What’s on the menu next? The inaugural Cup Series race from Iowa Speedway. Nearing the midway point of the season and visiting a track with no historical records, our picking panel will need to be strategic about who to employ. Let’s see their approach as NASCAR roars into the Hawkeye State.

Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 20, Christopher Bell

Dustin’s pick last week: No. 34, Michael McDowell (40 points)
Total season points: 375 (second place)

Dustin: After winning his first crown-jewel race last month, Bell jetted to Iowa to participate in a Goodyear tire test, joined by Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski. As we saw recently with Joey Logano dominating the All-Star Race and Ty Gibbs cruising to victory in the All-Star Open, familiarity with a place via a tire test can pay dividends. Add in the fact that Bell was downright lethal at Iowa in the Xfinity Series for JGR, earning two victories and a pair of runner-up finishes in five starts while leading more than 60% of the race three times. The last two times I’ve swung for the fence with a pick, it backfired at Charlotte and Gateway. Hoping the third time will be the charm.

NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 71, Zane Smith

 

Steve’s pick last week: No. 22, Joey Logano (18 points)
Total season points: 396 (first place)

Steve: Sonoma didn’t pan out the way that Joey Logano and I had hoped, but you’ll have that in this cruel game. A new track for the Cup Series means it’s something of a wildcard race, so I’m going with a wildcard pick to match: rookie Zane Smith. Smith scored top 10s in his only starts at Iowa — the two 2019 races in the Xfinity Series — which is more of a track record than some other drivers left on my board. I’ll admit, though, that my expectations are modest. Smith is 34th in points, lowest of all full-time drivers, and isn’t returning to the No. 71 car next year. But, after finishing 16th and 19th in the last two races, it’s the first time the No. 71 has scored back-to-back top-25 finishes all year. Momentum is momentum!

NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson: No. 22, Joey Logano

Cameron’s pick last week: No. 34, Michael McDowell (40 points)
Total season points: 325 (fourth place)

Cameron: A new Cup venue? Look no further than Logano, who has a knack for beating everyone to the punch when the series debuts at a track. The No. 22 Team Penske driver won the first Next Gen event with the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum, won the first event when Cup ran dirt at Bristol for three seasons and was the first champion of the Next Gen era. If there’s a chance to be opportunistic, you know Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe will be the first to pounce.

r/NASCAR Community: No. 6, Brad Keselowski


r/NASCAR’s pick last week: No. 99, Daniel Suárez (26 points)

Total season points: 345 (third place)

The r/NASCAR community selected Brad Keselowski as their collective pick for Iowa.

From the voting thread:

u/michigan_matt: “3 wins and 6 top fives in 7 Xfinity races here. Has finished top three in each of the last 3 oval races this season. I think we need to strike with Brad.”

u/Extreme-Bite-9123: “I’m gonna say Brad. He has had probably the best speed in the cup series lately. Top three finish in three of the last four races, and even did pretty decent at Sonoma. He has really good xfinity stats here, with three wing and six top fives in seven races. Plus, he did a tire test there recently, and knows how the track will be”

Check back next week to see how our pickers fared as the season-long 36 for 36 journey continues.

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!

Posted on by NASCAR Official Release

BETHESDA, Maryland — Global restaurateur HMSHost, part of Avolta AG (SIX: AVOL) and a world leader in creating dining for travel venues, has teamed up with NASCAR to create the ultimate pit stop at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, NASCAR Drafthouse. The new dining spot will have travelers racing to Terminal 1 to fuel up on a turbo-charged, all-day menu of Southern comfort favorites for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a full bar and convenient grab-and-go options.

The officially licensed NASCAR Drafthouse bolsters HMSHost’s long-time presence at STL. The 90-seat full-service restaurant and bar, located in Terminal 1 near gate C15, is poised to become a sought-after destination for NASCAR fans of all ages, with its memorabilia-adorned walls, numerous TVs, and menu offering a range of hearty, flavorful appetizers, entrées, burgers, sandwiches and early-morning fare.

“NASCAR is an icon of the motorsport world, and HMSHost is thrilled for the opportunity to offer travelers and diehard NASCAR fans a fun new food and beverage experience at St. Louis Lambert International Airport,” said HMSHost Vice President of Business Development Bryan Loden. “NASCAR Drafthouse pairs the energy of this renowned racing brand with HMSHost’s culinary expertise to create a restaurant that makes a traveler’s journey as exciting as their ultimate destination. We are proud of our continued partnership with St. Louis Airport Authority to transform the passenger experience.”

“St. Louis is a passionate NASCAR market, and we’re thrilled to partner with an industry leader like HMSHost to bring the NASCAR Drafthouse concept to life here, providing visitors to and from the region a great new spot to refuel on the road,” said Megan Malayter, managing director, licensing and consumer products at NASCAR.

“NASCAR Drafthouse is a unique experience for travelers at St. Louis Lambert International Airport,” said STL’s Airport Director and CEO Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge. “The restaurant also satisfies patrons with its Southern comfort food selections. We are proud to be the airport location for this first-of-a-kind dining experience.”

Travelers starting their morning at NASCAR Drafthouse can dine on breakfast options like flaky biscuits and sausage gravy, a diced ham omelet with mushrooms and cheddar, or a sweet and savory beignet. The lunch and dinner menu features an assortment of stick-to-your-ribs BBQ and seafood dishes such as farm-raised fried catfish, spicy grilled shrimp and creamy grits, chicken fried steak, and tender pulled pork mac and cheese. Juicy burgers, classic sandwiches, gumbo, and salads round out travelers’ multitude of options, with a selection of convenient grab-and-go choices available, as well.

NASCAR Drafthouse visitors can also enjoy an impressive array of draft and canned beer that includes Anheuser-Busch products as well as wine and specialty cocktails like “The Caborita” and “The Checkered Flag,” featuring Cabo Wabo Tequila. The spirits menu even includes moonshine — a nod to NASCAR’s earliest days when numerous future race-car drivers got their start as moonshine runners, building fast cars to haul illegal moonshine throughout the Southeast. Alongside several Sugarlands Shine offerings, NASCAR Drafthouse also features Midnight Moon®, the award-winning moonshine inspired by the family recipe of legendary bootlegger and NASCAR Hall of Famer Junior Johnson. Of course, an abundance of non-alcoholic beverages are available, as well, including Coca-Cola and Monster Energy products.

NASCAR Drafthouse at St. Louis Lambert International Airport is open seven days a week from 4:30 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

Editor’s Note: Racing Insights’ playoff projections use a combination of current standings and historical performance at upcoming tracks to determine the probability of each driver winning or making the playoffs on points.

With the Cup Series Playoffs on the mind throughout the season, what if there was a way to project how the 16-driver field could look before each race weekend?

It now exists via Racing Insights. From now until the start of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, “The Field of 16” will give fans a weekly look at where their favorite drivers could potentially land in the postseason field — and the likelihood of having a shot at the Bill France Cup.

Here’s this week’s update on the projections heading into Iowa Speedway.

NOTABLE PROBABILITY SHIFTS POST-SONOMA

DriverBefore LoudonEntering NashvilleDifference
Chris Buescher67.32%85.72%+18.40
Ty Gibbs85.47%90.08%+4.61
Bubba Wallace29.21%22.11%-7.10
Alex Bowman86.37%70.11%-16.26
Iowa Playoff Predictor
PROBABILITY CALCULATED BY RACING INSIGHTS AHEAD OF IOWA CORN 350, JUNE 16, 2024

DRIVERS SOLIDLY IN PLAYOFF PICTURE

Nine drivers are provisionally locked into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs, with four of those guaranteed as Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Christopher Bell have all won multiple times this season.

Larson jumped back to the top of the table after his third win of the year at Sonoma despite missing the Coca-Cola 600.

Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric and Daniel Suárez each have a win in 2024. With four new winners already this year compared to 2023, it’s best to have a good points cushion to the provisional elimination line as Martin Truex Jr. and Ross Chastain have as they sit with 95% or better probabilities of making the 16-driver field. While Ty Gibbs’ hot start in his sophomore campaign still sees him likely to make the playoffs, he’ll need to find a consistent top-10 streak soon, with just three in the last 10 races.

LAST 4 IN

The tension continues to build for those without a win yet and near the playoff bubble. Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman and Joey Logano remain in the top 16, while Chris Buescher rejoined the right side of the provisional playoff elimination line after a stage win and a third-place result Sunday in Sonoma.

Buescher saw the biggest shift in his playoff probability as it increased by 28 points compared to pre-Sonoma.

Blaney’s probability also went up double digits after finishing seventh at Sonoma.

FIRST 4 OUT

Kyle Busch continues to fade in his probability, but more surprising is Bubba Wallace’s points getting cut by more than half after having a. near-80% probability before Gateway. Now, it’s at 35% and for good reason as the No. 23 driver doesn’t have many favorable tracks outside of Nashville at the end of June before the Michigan/Daytona back-to-back in August.

Busch nearly had a much-needed top-five finish at Sonoma, but that was dashed on the final lap as the No. 8 RCR Chevrolet was spun by Chastain in Turn 4 at the road course. The two-time Cup champion was eventually scored with a 12th-place result.

WHO CAN SHAKE UP PLAYOFF PICTURE AT IOWA?

A new Cup venue? Look no further than Logano, who has a knack for beating everyone to the punch when the series debuts at a track. The No. 22 Team Penske driver won the first Next Gen event with the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum, won the first event when Cup ran dirt at Bristol for three seasons and was the first champion of the Next Gen era. If there’s a chance to be opportunistic, you know Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe will be the first to pounce.

MORE: Racing Insights predicts Iowa | 2024 Cup Series schedule

Before each race weekend, check back into The Field of 16 to see the latest projections of the 2024 Cup Series playoff field.

Posted on by Seth Sharp

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 exclusively for NASCAR since 2008 but has been involved with the sport since 1982, overseeing various projects. He has 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 this weekend’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered By Ethanol at Iowa Speedway.

1996 NASCAR Thunder Suzuka Special:

NASCAR traveled overseas following the conclusion of the 1996 season to Suzuka, Japan for an exhibition race featuring 27 drivers from various places, including four drivers from Japan.

Many top NASCAR stars made the trip, including Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett and the newly crowned 1996 Cup Series champion, Terry Labonte.

CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. was also in the field, driving a No. 45 car for Felix Sabates. Mike Skinner, who won the 1995 Truck Series title, was also in the field in the No. 31 car for Richard Childress. Skinner drove a partial Cup Series schedule in 1996, with plans to go full-time in the series in 1997 for Childress.

Teams shipped their cars over 7,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean in crates to be ready for the action.

Tragedy struck early on as pace-car driver and former competitor Elmo Langley suffered a fatal heart attack while in Japan for the event.

When it came time to get the inaugural event started, Wallace and Ernie Irvan led the field to the green flag on the 1.39 KM road course. The race featured four cautions, plus a planned segment break after the 50th lap.

The fans were treated to Wallace, Gordon and Labonte showing their muscle at the front of the field but it was Wallace with the strongest hot rod.

He led 84 of the 100 laps en route to victory in the inaugural event.

Rusty Wallace wins Suzuka race holds checkered flag
Yukio Yoshimi | Allsport

1997 NASCAR Thunder Suzuka Special:

NASCAR returned to Japan in 1997 for the second consecutive year, this time utilizing rain tires in practice and qualifying for the first time.

The fans were treated to many unique changes on the entry list. Mark Martin made the trip for the first time. Two-time defending Xfinity Series champion Randy LaJoie and Truck Series champion Jack Sprague were there.

Sprague was driving Rick Hendrick’s No. 5 car, which was normally piloted by Terry Labonte. Instead of Jeff Gordon, Ricky Craven was behind the wheel of Hendrick’s No. 24 car.

Two drivers also took their first laps in their new rides for the 1998 season. Bobby Hamilton drove the No. 4 for Morgan McClure Motorsports for the first time, after leaving the famed No. 43 car for Richard Petty. Rising star Kenny Irwin Jr., on the verge of his rookie season in the series, officially took over the No. 28 car from Ernie Irvan.

Martin led the first 45 laps of the event before a handful of drivers, including Mike Skinner, Wally Dallenbach Jr., Lance Hooper and David Green, swapped the lead before Martin again inherited the point.

The race’s defending champion, Wallace, had mechanical issues early on in the race, ending his chance at a repeat performance and relegating him to a 29th-place finish.

The No. 24 car found its way to the front with Craven behind the wheel but it was Skinner who led the final 23 circuits on his way to Victory Lane.

Martin came home second, followed by LaJoie, David Green and Michael Waltrip.

Mike Skinner looks on
Harry How | Allsport

1998 NASCAR Thunder Special Motegi:

The third and final edition of the Japan exhibition races took place in 1998 but was moved to the Twin Ring Motegi Speedway, an oval in Motegi City, Japan.

The anticipation was nearly unmatched for the event, as it would be the first time that Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. raced against each other. The father-son duo raced Coca-Cola-sponsored cars. Earnhardt was behind the wheel of his usual No. 3 car but sporting a red Coca-Cola-sponsored scheme. His son, who had yet to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut, was driving a black No. 1 car.

31 drivers started the race, and the biggest surprise this year was who was behind the wheel of Robert Yates Racing’s No. 88 car.

The car’s usual driver, Dale Jarrett, was battling gallbladder issues after toughing out the end of the season. Yates tapped former NASCAR Cup Series champion Darrell Waltrip to race the car in place of Jarrett. It was sort of a reunion of sorts, as Waltrip previously drove a No. 88 car and the two worked together at DiGard Motorsports.

The race also featured all three NASCAR champions from the 1998 season, Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt Jr. and Ron Hornaday Jr.

The oval brought more cautions than the road course, as the race featured a handful of crashes and drivers with mechanical issues.

Skinner once again was triumphant, as he enthusiastically crossed the line in front of Gordon for the checkered flag.

Earnhardt Jr. finished sixth, two spots ahead of his dad, who finished eighth. The two drivers made contact on the track during the race, resulting in a shoe being thrown at Earnhardt Jr. following the race.

You can watch these three races and hundreds more by visiting NASCAR Classics.

Posted on by Marcus DiNitto

Christopher Bell is not a name that NASCAR bettors are used to seeing at the top of oddsboards for Cup Series races, but that’s where the driver of the No. 20 Toyota sits ahead of Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol (7 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

A combination of Bell’s dominance in Xfinity Series races at Iowa Speedway, his participation in tire tests on the repaved track last month and Toyota’s supremacy on comparable layouts has him priced as the betting favorite this weekend.

RELATED: Iowa weekend schedule | Iowa odds

In five Xfinity Series starts on this 7/8-mile oval, Bell has two wins and two second-place finishes, leading 668 of 1,257 laps. At the comparable Phoenix Raceway on the Cup circuit in March, he won the Shriners Children’s 500 by over five seconds, and Toyotas led all but 14 of the laps. Three weeks later, at Richmond Raceway, a speeding penalty cost Bell another potential victory on a short flat track as Denny Hamlin, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, took the checkers.

The market-making Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas took immediate action on Bell’s opening odds of +600.

“Within 10 minutes, we took a limit bet ($833 to win $5,000), and we moved to (+500),” Ed Salmons, VP of risk management at the SuperBook, told NASCAR.com. “We had a few nibbles at five, so we moved to 9-to-2 (+450). …

“He’s great on flat tracks, and his history in Xfinity (at Iowa Speedway) is just dominant,” Salmons continued. “It’s just insane how good he is here. Plus, Gibbs usually runs really well on these flat tracks. That’s why he’s a favorite.”

Two prominent NASCAR betting analysts understand why Bell is favored, but they’re looking elsewhere for value.

After his tire test in May, Bell “didn’t sound overly optimistic about the partial repave rather than the high tire wear surface he dominated on here five-plus years ago,” Todd Fuhrman, co-host of the Bet The Board podcast and a former Las Vegas oddsmaker, said in an email.

“The other question bettors need to ask is even if he dominates practice and puts it on the poll, how much shorter can his price get,” Fuhrman continued. “This is a guy I’m fading early or waiting to add to my race card post-practice, but definitely not buying sight unseen.”

Added Jim Sannes, managing editor of digital media at FanDuel Research, “I understand the price on Bell, given he dominates short/flat tracks, was great here in Xfinity, and tested here this spring. I just can’t get there myself, given his odds are shorter than you often see on favorites at tracks where we have more data. So I understand it, but I do think he’s pretty heavily overvalued.”

Eyes on Fords

While Brad Keselowski, in seventh place, is the only Ford driver in the top 10 of the Cup standings heading into Iowa, the manufacturer has some momentum. Fords have visited the winner’s circle after three of the last five events, including the All-Star Race at Wilkesboro Speedway and two weeks ago at Gateway.

Keselowski, along with Kyle Larson, also tested Goodyear tires at Iowa Speedway last month.

“Ford has shown a lot of speed of late,” Salmons said. “We haven’t seen this kind of speed from Ford since maybe the championship race of last year. They kind of struggled (at the start of this season), but you saw the speed show up again at Darlington (won by Keselowski) and then definitely at Charlotte for some. At Gateway, Penske was the best Penske has been in like a long time. They were really good that day. So that’s definitely circled in our brain.”

In terms of comparable tracks he’s using to handicap Iowa, Sannes is blending Gateway in with Phoenix, Richmond, New Hampshire and a “smidge” of Martinsville.

“I do have Gateway in there as well, even though it was using a different rules package, just because it can help give a bump to Fords,” Sannes said. “The Fords seem to have unlocked some speed recently.”

Fuhrman, in fact, bet Penske’s No. 22 early.

“I took a bit of Logano in the outright market at prices of 12-1 or better,” Fuhrman said. “I’m actually bullish on the Ford camp this week.”

Around the track

Here are some other drivers on bettors’ radar this weekend at Iowa:

  • “I’m super interested in Bubba Wallace, who grades out as a value to me in pretty much every market,” Sannes said. “He never won here in Xfinity or Trucks, but he did have some really nice runs where he qualified well and led laps. I’m also just generally buying into his uptick in form on short, flats, as he has a top-eight average running position in four straight races at Martinsville, Phoenix, and Richmond combined. My personal risk tolerance allows me to bet him outright (available for +5000 at BetMGM), but I’ve got his top-10 odds at 50.9% (playable at +100 or better), so you can absolutely justify just riding with the top-10 markets instead.”
  • Fuhrman likes the Gibbs cars this weekend, just not at such short odds: “While I’ve got confidence in JGR drivers, other than Martin Truex, I thought all of them were fairly priced to start the week.”
  • Fuhrman believes Ross Chastain “has a high ceiling but potentially low floor” on Sunday: “I’m seeing Team Trackhouse trending up in recent weeks and think his first win is coming in short order.”
  • The SuperBook wrote limit bets (to win $5,000) on Larson, Ryan Blaney and Truex Jr.
  • Longshot bettors played $100 limit bets on Ryan Preece at 500-1 (to win $50,000) and Josh Berry at 80-1 (to win $8,000).

Marcus DiNitto manages a sports betting partnership with The Sporting News. NASCAR is one of the many sports Marcus enjoys wagering on. Follow him on Twitter; do not follow his picks.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

If the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ first trip to Iowa Speedway since 2019 will be a tutorial of sorts for New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, it’s familiar and welcome territory for Justin Allgaier, who will compete there for the 17th time in Saturday’s Hy-Vee PERKS 250 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Van Gisbergen, a three-time Australian Supercars champion, is fresh from back-to-back victories on road courses at Portland International Raceway and Sonoma Raceway, but the Kiwi has never won on an oval and hasn’t posted a top 10 on an oval track since his sixth-place finish at Phoenix Raceway in the fourth race of the season.

Understandably, van Gisbergen will need to sharpen his skills on conventional NASCAR tracks during the remaining regular-season races to be a contender for the championship. Only one road course, the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, is included in the list of playoff circuits.

RELATED: Xfinity Series standings | Xfinity Series schedule

Allgaier, on the other hand, is an adept road racer as well as a perennial contender on Xfinity ovals, and in the field for Saturday’s race, only Jeremy Clements (19) and Joey Gase (17) have more Iowa starts.

The No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet pilot has scored 12 top 10s in his 16 starts at the 0.875-mile track, with a win in 2018 and three other top fives to his credit there.

Already locked into the Xfinity Series Playoffs with a victory at Darlington Raceway, Allgaier can add to his current total of 15 Playoff points (bolstered by a whopping 10 stage wins) with a victory at Iowa.

“I’m really looking forward to our return to Iowa this weekend,” Allgaier said. “This has always been one of my favorite tracks, and it’s great to be going back there.

“JRM was always really strong (there), and I see no reason why we won’t have that same speed again when we unload for practice on Friday. Hopefully, we can have a smooth weekend and be fighting for the win on Saturday.”

MORE: Iowa schedule

The only variable Allgaier hasn’t faced at Iowa is the partially repaved surface — a necessity given the age and degradation of the original asphalt there.

Posted on by Neil Paine

When NASCAR roars into Newton, Iowa, this weekend, it will mark the Cup Series’ debut race at 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway. That’s a pretty rare occurrence for an oval track: Iowa will join Nashville (in 2021) and Gateway (in 2022) as just the third new non-road or street course the series has christened since 2012.

But Iowa won’t be all new to every driver in the field Sunday. In fact, 29 of the 36 drivers on track have had at least one race here before — it’s just that it was in the Xfinity Series, which ran at Iowa every year from 2009 to 2019, or the Truck Series, which also saw the track as a fixture of its schedule for years. That means the winners’ list at Iowa contains some interesting names, from Brad Keselowski — winner of the inaugural Xfinity event 15 years ago — to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and William Byron.

MORE: Cup drivers with past wins at Iowa

Let’s run through the drivers in this week’s Cup Series field according to their past experience and performance at Iowa in the Xfinity Series — and what might help us predict who’s set up to have a big weekend.

Two drivers in Sunday’s field started eight races in the Xfinity Series at Iowa: Michael McDowell and Ross Chastain. While neither won a race there, McDowell scored a top 10 in all but one race he ran — the lone exception being the 2010 race, when he started 26th and finished 13th. McDowell hasn’t been the best short-track driver at the Cup level (more on that later), but he did everything except claim a checkered flag at the 0.875-mile track over his Xfinity career there.

Also among the most experienced drivers at Iowa are a pair of three-time winners at the track: Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who at one point had won 60 percent of all the Xfinity races ever held at Iowa. (As it is, they finished their original runs there with a combined 46 percent win rate.) And tied with Stenhouse at six Iowa starts in Xfinity are Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick, followed by Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney at five apiece.

But maybe what we want isn’t so much drivers who’ve visited the track often as those who dominated during their appearances there. To help measure that, let’s turn to my Adjusted Points Index (Pts+) metric, which judges each driver based on how high they finish — wins are worth twice as much as a sixth- or seventh-place finish, which is worth double a 14th-place finish, and so forth — and then scales everything relative to an average driver. (Average is always 100, and higher is always better — so a Pts+ of 120 means a driver was 20% better than average, etc.) Here were the best drivers in the 2024 field during their Xfinity careers at Iowa, based on Pts+:

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his extensive history of cleaning up in lower-tier series, Kyle Busch was the best of this week’s field in terms of average performance at Iowa in the Xfinity Series. Busch finished second in the 2009 event after getting passed by Keselowski with nine laps to go; he then won the 2010 race in ridiculously dominant fashion, leading 209 of a possible 250 laps en route to one of his series-leading 13 wins that season. In terms of average performance, Busch and Keselowski were far and away the best Iowa drivers among those who’ll climb into a Cup car this weekend.

Others who put up notably strong performances in limited Xfinity Series action over the years at Iowa: William Byron (with a win in 2017 and another top-10 finish when the series returned later that season) and Harrison Burton (who scored a fourth-place finish during his lone Iowa start in 2019), along with — who else? — Kyle Larson (who finished fifth in both of his Iowa outings during the 2013 Xfinity Series season) and both Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott.

How much will all of this matter this week? Well, every driver would tell you that it’s always good to have in-car experience at any new track. The data also tells us that Xfinity Series results can at least give us some sense of how a driver will do in the Cup Series at a particular site. To see this in action, let’s compare how Xfinity Series performance (as measured by Adjusted Points Index) carries over to the Cup Series at Richmond, the track that is most comparable to Iowa based on its length, shape and banking. Among those who had at least five starts in each series, here’s a plot of Xfinity versus Cup Series Pts+ at Richmond during the era in which the drivers also ran at Iowa (2009-2019):

While the conversion rate isn’t 1-to-1 — to get to an average predicted performance at the Cup level, you needed to be about 92% better than average at the Xfinity level — there is a surprisingly strong overall correlation there, if results from a very similar track are to be relied on.

So when thinking about who might do well at Iowa, it probably counts for something to be among our Cup Series drivers with the most — or best — Xfinity Series experience, even if they haven’t run on the track in at least five years. Of course, it also bears looking at results from similar short/flat tracks like Richmond — and to a lesser degree, New Hampshire, Phoenix and Gateway.

Overall short-track performance tends to be predictive at these types of races in general, which is why McDowell’s relatively stellar Xfinity record at Iowa stands out as a fascinating outlier. (At the Cup Series level, short tracks lag far behind road/street courses and superspeedways among McDowell’s best track types over the span of his career.) But nobody aside from Chastain has logged more races in a high-level stock car at Iowa — and that might give drivers like McDowell an important edge as Cup cars take to the track for the first time.

In the bigger picture, it also bears looking at Cup Series results from similar short/flat tracks like Richmond — and to a lesser degree, New Hampshire, Phoenix and Gateway — when trying to predict who will shine at Iowa’s Cup debut this weekend. So that means keeping an eye on the usual short-track suspects like Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Martin Truex, Jr., each of whom show up high in my track similarity-based Adjusted Points Index projection for Iowa despite never actually having driven there before in Xfinity or the Trucks. But there’s a decent chance guys like Busch, Larson, Bell, Keselowski, and even McDowell and Stenhouse outdrive their forecast based on their previous experience and success at the track.