The 2024 EuroNASCAR calendar is here!

Posted on October 17, 2023October 17, 2023 by Staff Report

2024 will usher the continuous expansion of NASCAR in Europe. EuroNASCAR, the best European touring car series, will take the Pure Racing atmosphere of its American Festivals to seven different countries for a total of 28 races to crown the NASCAR European Champion alongside. The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will return to oval racing with the addition of a seventh NASCAR GP at Raceway Venray, Netherlands and a returning playoff format, four races awarding double points during Semi-Finals at Oschersleben, Germany and Finals at Zolder, Belgium.

“This 2024 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series calendar is the best in the Series history! Each one of these destinations brings its own flavour and identity to the NASCAR Official Championship, providing fans, teams and drivers a great diversity of racing experiences. We can‘t thank our fantastic circuit partners enough, each one of them sharing the same ambition to build great American Festivals to entertain tens of thousands of fans and families. This 2024 season will be another big step in the development of NASCAR in Europe,” said NWES president and CEO Jerome Galpin.

On April 13-14, Valencia‘s Circuit Ricardo Tormo will host the traditional season opener NASCAR GP SPAIN for the tenth time. The splendid 4 km track will also welcome the series Prologue — a day of pre-season testing — on April 11.

The NASCAR GP ITALY will change dates to become the second event of the 2024 season and benefit from the Roman dolce vita atmosphere in May: the American Festival of Rome will take place at the Autodromo di Vallelunga on May 18-19.

Circuit Brands Hatch and the hugely popular American SpeedFest XI will once again highlight the month of June. The NASCAR GP UK will gather tens of thousands of fans at the iconic Indy Circuit on June 8-9 to crown the king of Brands Hatch.

Three weeks later on June 29-30, the brand new OVAL GP will be held on the high-banking half-mile oval of Raceway Venray, marking NASCAR Whelen Euro Series’ return to an oval track for the first time since 2019. This unique event will be the sole NASCAR Oval race outside of the Americas.

After the summer break, the EuroNASCAR action will resume on August 31st and September 1st, when the official European NASCAR series visit Autodrom Most for the fifth edition of NASCAR GP CZECH REPUBLIC. This exciting weekend will end the regular season and determine the classifications before entering the Playoffs, after all drivers dropped their two worst results.

The EuroNASCAR will launch the Playoffs in Germany for the SEMI-FINALS on September 21-22. The pressure will be on with double points on the line. Motorsport Arena Oschersleben will welcome EuroNASCAR for the second time following a spectacular debut in 2023.

The season will culminate in Belgium at Circuit Zolder on October 12-13. The legendary track in the Limburg forest will host the EuroNASCAR FINALS for the seventh time with four nail-biting NASCAR races to crown the NASCAR Champion as well as Cups and Trophies winners .

Who is going to raise the Tijey trophy to the sky in the 13th season of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series? A new season is ready to begin for EuroNASCAR. Don‘t miss a single lap of the battle to crown the 2024 NASCAR European Champion.

Featured image by NASCAR Whelen Euro Series

Posted on October 17, 2023October 17, 2023 by Staff Report

At the end of a twelve-race season filled with passion, emotions, sudden turnarounds and close Pure Racing action, the last race of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season decided the battle for the title in favor of Gianmarco Ercoli, who earned his first EuroNASCAR PRO championship in the most unpredictable way. A never give up attitude was the key to success: Ercoli on the #54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet Camaro came out the winner ahead of Speedhouse‘s driver-owner Lucas Lasserre at the end of Europe‘s closest and most thrilling touring car championship.

Ercoli started the race from 17th and ended up fourth under the checkered flag. The outstanding comeback awarded him the eight bonus points for the most gained positions in the 18-lap race, a feat that played a major role in the outcome of the race. The Rome native is the first ever EuroNASCAR 2 champion to also win the premier NASCAR Whelen Euro Series title.

The race began with a potential three-way battle for the championship between Lasserre, Vittorio Ghirelli and Ercoli in which Ercoli was in the most desperate situation. Drama struck already in the first lap behind the Safety Car, when Ghirelli‘s throttle got stuck and caused the #72 Team Bleekemolen Ford Mustang to spin, putting the Italian at the back of the field.

In the first half of the race, Ercoli had to climb through the midfield of the pack and had only a glimpse left of hope for a miracle. But the Italian continued to get the best out of his #54 Chevrolet and tried to maximize the result, hoping for Lady Luck to be on his side. Meanwhile, Lasserre was cruising in second place with one hand on the Tijey Trophy.

In the rain of Belgium, drama struck again on lap 16, when a contact between Lasserre and Mario Ercoli, shuffled the Frenchman down to fourth. Ercoli received a 30 seconds post-race penalty for the incident. Lasserre still finished in front of Gianmarco Ercoli, but a 10 second post-race penalty for a procedure infringement in the initial start of the race relegated the Frenchman in 10th place, promoting Gianmarco Ercoli to fourth, 15 points clear in the lead.

In a season that saw six different winners, four different championship leaders and a unique competitive parity at all levels, three race wins, nine top-5 and ten top-10 results were the foundation for Ercoli to win the 2023 NWES Championship. To add to the record books, the winningest driver of the season, who won the EuroNASCAR 2 Championship in 2015, became the first driver to top both divisions, a testament to the quality of the NWES ladder system. The CAAL Racing driver stepped on top of his car‘s roof after being announced as the champions with tears of joy in his eyes. Ercoli experienced a rollercoaster of emotion in 2023.

“Even after the events on Saturday, I knew that this season would be decided today,” said Ercoli, who held onto the very last straw in the final race. “I just focused on myself and pushed very hard. Before the race, my team bosses Luca and Corrado Canneori as well as the whole team came to me and said: ‘Gimmy, fight! Don‘t think and just drive to have fun!‘ We were unlucky yesterday but today I‘m the lucky guy. It‘s really important for me personally to have won this EuroNASCAR PRO title and I have no words right now to express my emotions. I thank the whole team for the amazing work during this season.”

Lasserre ended up tenth in the last race of the season and finished second in the overall standings. Despite the heart-breaking loss, Speedhouse can be proud of an amazing year of strong results and a great development within the whole organization. Lasserre scored a total of two race wins in 2023 and paved the way towards strengthening the team‘s status in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. Despite the frustrating outcome, the Speedhouse team will for sure find the positives in the season and keep on following their motto of “racing, style and good times”.

The same can be said about Vittorio Ghirelli and Team Bleekemolen, who vehemently emerged as top contenders for the title in the official European NASCAR Series.

Tobias Dauenhauer scored his second win of the season with Bremotion in dominant fashion. On a wet track, the driver of the #99 Chevrolet Camaro mastered the challenging condition with stunning lap times that were at some points more than two seconds better than the rest of the field. The German crossed the finish line 47.276 seconds ahead of Liam Hezemans in second. The latter, racing for Hendriks Motorsport, took the win in the Junior Trophy for drivers aged 25 and under, just six points ahead of race winner Dauenhauer. The special classification‘s podium was rounded out by Race Art Technology‘s Giorgio Maggi, who finished sixth.

“I love the rain and the car felt amazing,” says Dauenhauer in the Victory Lane. “It was a tough challenge for us because the car was damaged in a crash in the EuroNASCAR 2 race but my team managed to fix the car within ten minutes before the start of the race. Many thanks to Bremotion, we had an amazing car and I love these conditions. It‘s amazing to see so many fans here and I‘m really happy to end the season like this.”

Fabrizio Armetta collected his second overall Challenger Trophy win by finishing third under the checkered flag. The Italian made it to the overall podium for the first time of his career and scored his 22nd Challenger Trophy win to increase his lead in the all-time standings of the special classification. Giorgio Maggi followed behind Ercoli, while Anthony Kumpen ended up sixth and therefore kept his fourth place in the overall standings. The top-10 were rounded out by Martin Doubek, Paul Jouffreau, Ulysse Delsaux and Lucas Lasserre. Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Thomas Toffel joined Armetta on the Challenger Trophy podium.

Another thrilling and unpredictable championship is in the books. The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will continue in 2024 with seven unique events across Europe in seven different countries. Buckle up for another year of exciting American themed events and Pure Racing at the tracks. Follow EuroNASCAR on social media and visit EuroNASCAR.com for the latest news about the 2024 season until the series travels to Valencia, Spain, on April 13-14.

EuroNASCAR PRO Results | EuroNASCAR 2 Results

Featured image by NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Bart Dehaese

Posted on October 17, 2023October 17, 2023 by NASCAR Hall of Fame Release

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Distinguished Los Angeles Times reporter Shav Glick was named recipient of the 2024 Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence, becoming the 12th winner of the prestigious award.

Glick spent the last 37 years of his career as lead motorsports reporter for the Los Angeles Times. His coverage of NASCAR helped showcase the sport across Southern California.

“Shav Glick was a giant in motorsports journalism and the racing authority on the West Coast,” said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France. “For decades, Shav’s stories helped introduce NASCAR to a new audience, as the sport grew nationally. He had a special way of highlighting the people behind the competition, always showcasing the human element that makes NASCAR so special. Whether he was covering the NASCAR Cup Series, or a grassroots-level race, Shav’s professionalism and grace embodied the best of sports journalism.”

Glick began his career at the Pasadena Star-News and served as sports editor of the Los Angeles Mirror before it merged with the Times. In 1969, 34 years into his distinguished career, he was asked to cover motorsports, which he did until his retirement in 2006.

He has earned numerous honors including the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (IMHOF) American Motorsports Media Award (for lifetime achievement in motorsports journalism) in 1977 and the AARWBA Angelo Angelopolous Award in 2004. In 2004, he became the first newspaper reporter inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.

Glick will be honored during NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony festivities on Jan. 19, 2024 and featured in an exhibit in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Tickets to the Induction Weekend events are available at NASCARHall.com.

The Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence was named after legendary NASCAR media figures Ken Squier and Barney Hall, the first two recipients of the award.

The other seven nominees for the award were:

Russ Catlin, one of the best-known early racing writers and historians; editor of Speed Age Magazine

George Cunningham, long-time beat writer for The Charlotte Observer, Atlanta Constitution and NASCAR Scene; is the namesake for the annual NMPA award for Excellence in Writing

Mike Harris, spent 30 years as the lead motorsports writer for the Associated Press

Bob Montgomery, co-founder and announcer for the Universal Racing Network

Bob Moore, spent more than 20 years as a NASCAR beat writer including stints with the Daytona Beach News-Journal and The Charlotte Observer

Hank Schoolfield, a jack of all trades bringing NASCAR racing to fans across the Southeast through newspapers, magazines and radio

Deb Williams, the first woman to receive the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Staff Report

Tyler Reddick’s first season with 23XI Racing has produced his deepest run in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, an appearance in the Round of 8. The campaign has marked his next stage of growth, from his days as a winner and eventual title contender in the Craftsman Truck and Xfinity Series to a full-fledged title hopeful in NASCAR’s top tour.

Despite the postseason’s sometimes-frantic pace, Reddick found time recently for reflection in a wide-ranging sitdown — debuting today in full on NASCAR’s YouTube channel. The 27-year-old driver opened up on his career path, the joys and twists of parenting, and what it’s like driving for 23XI co-owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin.

Reddick’s development has accelerated since he first entered NASCAR’s national series scene as a promising teenager in the truck tour in 2013. Along the way, he grew into a force in the Xfinity Series, where he won consecutive championships (2018-19) for two different organizations. That proved to be reassurance for Reddick that his aspirations of gaining a foothold in the Cup Series someday was a possibility.

“Being able to switch teams like that and go out and win a second championship made me feel like it was going to happen at some point,” Reddick said. “It went down the way that it did, and I ended up moving into the 8 car the next year.”

Reddick eventually rounded into a Cup Series winner with Richard Childress Racing’s No. 8 group, but when Hamlin, Jordan and company came calling, he answered. Reddick acknowledged the potential for hurt feelings on the RCR side, especially after he had expressed, “It wasn’t even on my radar about racing anywhere else in the future.”

Reddick discussed how he made the news known about his 23XI Racing move as a surprise guest on a Zoom video conference and the motives for breaking the story the way they did. But he also noted how 23XI has raised his level of expectation, a precedent that stems from the organization’s “work together” mantra but also Jordan’s competitive nature and history of success.

“I remember a time that if I qualified 15th in a Cup race, I was over-the-moon excited,” Reddick said. “Now, if I qualify 15th in a Cup race, it’s harder to be much more disappointed than I am, and that just goes to show where this team is heading. So it’s nice to have those higher expectations week in and week out, and put ourselves in that top-line conversation.”

Watch the whole conversation, including Reddick’s take on fatherhood, from 23XI Racing here:

Posted on October 16, 2023February 8, 2024 by Staff Report

NASCAR officials rescinded the disqualification of Ryan Blaney’s Team Penske No. 12 Ford on Monday after further inspection of his car from Sunday’s Cup Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The decision restores Blaney’s sixth-place finish in Sunday’s South Point 400 and provides him with better footing in the Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 8, which continues Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Blaney and the team were initially disqualified after post-race technical inspection at the 1.5-mile Nevada track, where competition officials ruled that the left-front shock on the No. 12 did not meet the overall specified length outlined in Section 14.11.3.5 of the NASCAR Rule Book. Blaney was demoted to last place in the 36-car field.

After a further review of the inspection process at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, competition officials discovered an issue with the damper template used for inspections in the Las Vegas garage. A statement from the sanctioning body said that “NASCAR then conducted a detailed investigation and has restored the No. 12’s stage and race finishing positions from Sunday. NASCAR has taken internal steps to remedy this issue moving forward.”

Blaney was once again credited with sixth-place points, and the eight points he had earned at the two stage breaks were also restored. The reversal moves Blaney from last place among the eight remaining title-eligible drivers to seventh, trimming his deficit relative to the provisional elimination line from 56 to 17 points.

Brad Moran, managing director for the NASCAR Cup Series, said Monday evening in an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that officials brought back shocks, the damper template and other tools from the race weekend, then reviewed all the weekend reports before discovering the issue. Moran also explained how the template may have slipped out of spec.

RELATED: Updated standings

“Obviously a lot of shocks go on throughout a weekend,” Moran told SiriusXM. “They have a set screw underneath it that keeps everything tight, and if they become even the slightest bit loose during a weekend, they actually can basically come loose, shift a little bit. … So it’s not big numbers we’re talking about here, but there was a way that they could actually come loose, and if they were moved, the shock would go on, and was sealed prior to the race and that’s where the problem came about post-race. That same shock did not pass the same template that it was on previously.

“So again … there was a lot of digging in here to come up with what we did, but when we were all done, NASCAR had ownership in it. It was not a team problem, and we’ll own up to that, and that’s why the penalty’s getting rescinded.”

Team Penske responded with a statement later Monday evening, applauding the ruling.

“We are pleased with the decision by NASCAR to rescind the post-race disqualification to the No. 12 car following Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway,” Team Penske’s statement read. “NASCAR has shown a tremendous amount of integrity throughout the process which has led to this conclusion. We are proud of the effort and the results by the No. 12 team during the 2023 season. We look forward to continuing the pursuit of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship.”

Moran added that competition officials were taking measures to prevent a similar issue in the future.

“We’re implementing new procedures,” Moran said. “We’ve got the boards here that are getting re-done. There’s a lot of things taking place that are going to be done by the end of the day (Tuesday). So this will be the last time I talk to you about this situation, I can pretty near guarantee you that.”

Blaney is making his third consecutive appearance in the Round of 8, marking the fifth time in his Cup Series career that he has made such a deep playoff run. The 29-year-old driver is seeking his first appearance in the Championship 4 field, the final four drivers who will vie for the Cup Series title in the Nov. 5 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Staff Report

With Kevin Harvick’s NASCAR Cup Series career soon coming to a close, it’s only fitting to offer a toast.

Anheuser-Busch will do just that this Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing driver’s longtime partner’s flagship brand returning as his primary sponsor for the 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

The iconic beverage that adorned the sides of his No. 4 en route to the 2014 Cup championship will once again add its red and white colors to Harvick’s livery, with the scheme itself harkening back to the look the 60-time winner sported the night he won the title at the 1.5-mile facility.

MORE: Harvick’s wins by track | All of his Cup wins

Budweiser, AB brand Busch Light — Harvick’s typical weekly sponsor — and SHR came together to surprise Harvick with the throwback Budweiser paint scheme and fire suit for his final race at the South Florida oval after a nearly decade-and-a-half-long partnership.

“Kevin Harvick has been an iconic Anheuser-Busch partner and cornerstone of our sports portfolio since we first started working together in 2011,” said Matt Davis, vice president of partnerships at Anheuser-Busch. “Through our partnership with Kevin, we have been able to connect with 21-plus NASCAR fans across the country, giving them unparalleled access to the sport. This surprise paint scheme is just another way we are celebrating Kevin, his loyal fans and his storied career on the track.”

Harvick, who also ran a throwback paint scheme during the All-Star Race weekend at North Wilkesboro, fondly recalled his 2014 march to the Cup Series title with his red-and-white No. 4 entry.

“I think the single best race has to be Homestead of 2014, just with the way everything went and the great call and the race at the end and everything that happened with coming to Stewart-Haas Racing that first year,” Harvick said. “All the adversity that we had at the beginning of the year, how fast the cars were, and then putting it all together in one day to win the championship, I think that single race is probably the one that I would circle just because of everything that happened and everything that it summarized and wound up, ultimately, with a championship at the end.”

Posted on October 16, 2023October 16, 2023 by Zach Sturniolo

LAS VEGAS — Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team can breathe easily after winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

That victory propels him to the Championship 4 for the second time in three years. And while the stress of advancing is eradicated, Larson doesn’t anticipate taking his foot off the gas pedal in either of the races at Homestead-Miami Speedway or Martinsville Speedway that precede the Nov. 5 title fight at Phoenix Raceway.

MORE: Full rundown from Sunday’s Round of 8 opener | Latest playoff standings

“Obviously, it’s nice to win and lock in. You can focus on Phoenix,” Larson said. “At the same point, you really can’t look too far ahead of yourself. There’s still two other races before then.”

First on the docket is Homestead-Miami (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), where Larson dominated a year ago to lead 199 of 267 laps en route to the victory. Larson has long excelled at the South Florida 1.5-mile oval, but last season marks his only trip to its Victory Lane.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself going to Homestead,” Larson said. “I want to have a great run there. I want to dominate, honestly. I want to win both stages by 15 seconds and win the race by 30. That’s my goal.

“I’m not thinking really ahead of Homestead yet. Martinsville, as well. I want to go there and have another good run like we had earlier this year, go into Phoenix with a lot of confidence and momentum.”

That perspective is shared by crew chief Cliff Daniels, who helped guide Larson to the 2021 Cup Series title with a season-long stomp of the competition that resulted in 10 wins in addition to a triumph in the exhibition All-Star Race. Daniels, a fifth-year crew chief, knows the formula that leads to championships. He served as a race engineer for Hendrick’s No. 48 team beginning in 2015, working alongside NASCAR Hall-of-Fame-elect driver Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus en route to the 2016 championship — a record-tying seventh for the driver/crew chief combo.

Any opportunity to let the seven other drivers in the Round of 8 build momentum, Daniels believes, is an opportunity lost for the No. 5 program.

“To me, just from the team exercise dynamic of things, if we say we’re just going to cruise for the next two weeks, then you’re not operating with the edge that I think you’re going to need to win it in Phoenix,” Daniels said. “There’s two more races to win. So now the way I see it is this: Now that we’re in the position that we’re in, we get to play those races to win — a late call, flipping a stage if a caution comes out, whatever it may be — versus having to play the race for points. I think that’s the position it puts us in the next two weeks.

“From a team exercise, all those other guys are so good. They’re going to be pushing hard to win the next two weeks. I think we have to match that intensity, so we’re going into Phoenix with the right level of intensity ourselves, get there with strength.”

The tone is inherently different than that spoken by the No. 22 Team Penske program in 2022 when Joey Logano won to open the Round of 8 at Las Vegas. He and crew chief Paul Wolfe remained adamant all focus ahead was on Phoenix — a strategy that proved fruitful as Logano earned his second Cup championship.

Larson, Daniels and Co. have their own flow, however. Much of that, of course, stems from how Daniels operates. Jeff Gordon, the Hall of Fame four-time champion driver and vice chairman at Hendrick Motorsports, has seen the evolution of the duo since Larson’s welcome to the organization in 2021 and how Daniels has bettered Larson.

WATCH: Gordon on if Larson is a better driver than he was: ‘Uh, yes!’

“You take a guy like Kyle and his capabilities, his talent — he’s impressed me with his work ethic too,” Gordon said Sunday. “I wasn’t sure how he approached the Cup Series, especially with Cliff and all the data, all the homework that Cliff gives him, the meetings they have. Cliff is an intense guy, and he brings a lot to the table. It’s a lot of information that you have to absorb.

“He stepped up to the plate and has done everything that the organization can possibly ask out of him and then some. It’s been a great relationship.”

It was just another day in the life of Larson, whose extraordinary week could only be ordinary for him. On Oct. 10, Larson earned the High Limits Sprint Car Series championship just two days before a Thursday rookie orientation to prepare for the 2024 Indianapolis 500. Three days later, he’s in Las Vegas, scoring the victory that launches him toward another chance to win a Cup championship.

“It’s been a memorable week,” Larson said. “A little bit, maybe crazier than normal, but my weeks stay pretty crazy. So it felt pretty normal in a way.”

Such is the superheroic nature of what Larson brings to the track, where he frequently teeters on the edge of control. Larson’s willingness to take risks has resulted in four victories this year and a series-best 14 top-five finishes. But those same daring moves have also resulted in seven DNFs — second-most of anyone this season and all due to crash damage.

Gordon acknowledged those ups and downs and particularly pointed to Texas Motor Speedway, the opening race of the Round of 12, where Larson wrecked while racing for the lead with Bubba Wallace. Two weeks later, Larson crashed during practice at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, relegating the team to a backup car for an elimination race.

For now, those mistakes are in the rear-view mirror with a sealed path to Phoenix. The only question that remains is how bold Larson will be as he chases his second NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Zach Sturniolo

Corey Heim will return to Tricon Garage to drive the No. 11 Safelite Toyota in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, he and the team announced Monday.

Heim is locked into this year’s Championship 4 in his first full-time campaign in the series, with three of his five career victories coming in 2023, his inaugural season with Tricon Garage.

“It’s all good things,” Heim told NASCAR.com in a phone interview. “I think with the progress we’ve made throughout the organization at Tricon this year and the partnership between Toyota Racing, we started off a little bit slow but once we got rolling in the early summertime, I really feel like we were right in the mix pretty early.”

MORE: Truck Series Playoffs standings | Homestead-Miami schedule

Indeed, Tricon Garage previously operated as David Gilliland Racing before 2023 running Fords. The operation transitioned to Toyota Racing Development this year as the manufacturer’s top team, and Heim delivered.

In addition to his three wins, Heim netted the Regular Season Championship despite missing a race at World Wide Technology Raceway, and he has collected 11 top fives and 18 top 10s in 20 starts this year.

“We kind of got on a roll quicker than expected,” Heim said. “I really feel like we’re still growing to this day, and now that we have a full offseason to work on it and improve for 2024, it’s gonna be really good, I think.”

The success Heim has found translated from a successful stint at Kyle Busch Motorsports, where he ran 16 of 23 races in 2022 on the way to two victories, six top fives and 10 top-10 finishes. Those stats would seem to favor a promotion to the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the next rung on the proverbial national series ladder and where Heim has made four starts for Sam Hunt Racing.

The 21-year-old will instead stay put for more seasoning in the Truck Series, where he could be a champion in less than three weeks’ time.

“I feel like it’s just what’s gonna set me up best for my future,” Heim said of returning to Tricon. “And the other side of that is I do want to go out and have immediate success and win races, contend for wins, so on and so forth. So for me, I think it was just being in such a good spot, I really felt like the best bet for me was to return to Tricon and return to my team. They have everyone coming back for me, and I feel like we’re gonna really be in a really good position to have success going forward.

“As I mentioned earlier, we’re making so much progress every week that I feel like we’ll be in really good shape next year. I feel like timing is kind of everything in racing and I feel like the timing for me is just to stick with that team. They’ve brought me so much success, so I feel like it would almost be crazy to not stick with them.”

MORE: 2023 Truck Series winners

The spread of the Truck Series schedule, combined with his Sept. 14 triumph at Bristol, means that Heim has already been locked into the Championship 4 for more than a month. That time has allowed the No. 11 team led by crew chief Scott Zipadelli a healthy amount of time to prepare for the title race at Phoenix. The series’ penultimate race of the year is set for Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway at noon ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“It really is a big advantage. I mean, we’ve really just focused on that race specifically,” Heim said of the long breaks between races. “Of course we want to win the races in between – Talladega and Homestead. Had a good run at Talladega and want to run good at Homestead as well.

“But of course, all the marbles are in for Phoenix and that’s our priority, so we were able to really dive deep into that. We started doing simulator work basically immediately after Bristol. Of course, you can only prepare so much until you just go there and you got to do it or don’t kind of thing. But I really feel like we’ve been able to use this time off just to improve and make sure we’re as prepared as we possibly can be.”

Posted on October 15, 2023October 16, 2023 by Zach Sturniolo

LAS VEGAS — An old-fashioned Las Vegas gamble cost Martin Truex Jr. big in Sin City on Sunday afternoon.

During the caution period separating Stages 1 and 2 in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, crew chief James Small made the decision to leave Truex and the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on track after a 14-lap stint on fresh tires.

The rest of the field took fresh rubber behind him, and the once-competitive No. 19 car quickly plummeted through the leaderboard before rallying to a ninth-place finish — Truex’s first top-15 finish since Watkins Glen International in August.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Truex questioned the initial call under the yellow flag but ultimately followed the order. But after a stronger start for the 2017 champion, the No. 19 car struggled mightily in traffic and never truly rebounded from that deficit.

“He told me that (decision) pretty late around the corner in (Turns) 3 and 4, and my gut reaction was don’t do it. Don’t stay out,” Truex said. “And I just, I like to listen to my crew chief and do whatever they say no matter what because they know more of what’s going on than you do. And usually, the driver’s 90% of the time wrong if they make their own decision or go against the crew chief. So I went with it, but I didn’t feel good about it.

“And then, you know, nine laps, 10 laps or whatever here is a lot on tires, so you know, if we could have got a quick caution, it would have worked out great because we had the lead for whatever a few laps, but you know, once I got back to third or fourth, it just dropped like a rock.”

When the next yellow flag flew 25 laps later, Truex radioed the car was “terrible.”

“Sorry. We completely (expletive) that up,” Small responded.

“I almost didn’t listen to you, but I’m not really good at that,” Truex said.

“Yeah, you should not have listened clearly,” Small said. “We have no idea what we’re doing.”

The brunt of the damage from that moment forward occurred on restarts, where Truex lost ground before eventually passing others back during the course of a long run.

“It was just trying to figure out how to minimize the damage and hope that we could get a longer run,” Truex said. “We did at the end, which was really helpful. I don’t know what we had going on. Restarting up front, we were pretty good, and then on the long runs, really good – I thought – probably a third-place car, but once we got back there – 16th, 18th, whatever it was – it was just really bad on the restart.

“I would lose three, four, five spots every time, and then once we got strung out and got going, I would pick them off and work our way forward, but then we would get another caution, and I would lose a couple more. It was an uphill battle, but luckily, at the end, we were able to have a couple of better restarts and at least maintain, and then work our way forward from there. All-in-all, it was OK. The pit call obviously really killed us in Stage 2.”

The frustrations were palpable post-race after Truex entered with confidence. The New Jersey native entered the postseason tied for the No. 1 seed after scoring the Regular Season Championship, but mistakes and poor luck have battered the No. 19 team on the results sheets. As he bled positions on restarts, Truex tried to focus on the job at hand and put that disappointment aside.

“All I can do is drive the damn thing as hard as I can and get all the lap time I can get out of it and, you know, not worry about where we’re at or what’s going on,” Truex said. “Just drive as hard as I can and get everything I can and be as smart as I can and then hopefully try to just make it up later.”

Posted on October 15, 2023October 16, 2023 by Staff Report

EDITOR’S NOTE: After further review, NASCAR officials rescinded the disqualification of Team Penske’s No. 12 and restored Ryan Blaney’s finishing position.

The No. 12 Team Penske Ford driven by Ryan Blaney has been disqualified following the vehicle’s failed post-race technical inspection at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR officials deemed the left-front damper on the No. 12 car did not meet the overall specified length outlined in Section 14.11.3.5 of the NASCAR Rule Book. Blaney is relegated to a last-place finish, forfeiting the eight stage points he collected throughout the 267-lap event.

MORE: Race results | At-track photos: Las Vegas

Blaney is a competitor in the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and took the checkered flag in sixth place to conclude Sunday’s South Point 400, the opening race of the postseason’s penultimate round.

The postseason continues on Oct. 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).