Rajah Caruth balancing time between two teams, forging future: ‘This is my shot’

Posted on April 9, 2026 by Zach Sturniolo

Rajah Caruth is living a double life in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

Some weeks, he’s the driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, heading to its shop in Mooresville, North Carolina, to prepare for a race weekend with engines from Hendrick Motorsports and sponsorship from HendrickCars.com. Others, he’s the driver of the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet, heading to its shop in Statesville, North Carolina — 25 minutes north of JRM — to prepare for a race weekend with Earnhardt-Childress Racing engines and sponsorship from other partners.

But no matter what day it is, what team he’s driving for, or how far his commute is to Chevrolet’s GM Charlotte Technical Center, he’s a driver fighting for stability in search of stock-car racing’s highest levels.

“It presents difficulties in the week-to-week logistics whenever I go back and forth, and obviously knowing the differences of the cars,” Caruth said of his dual rides in a Tuesday teleconference. “But honestly, at the race track, it’s not too complicated. I try to get each car driving to where I feel like I need it to go fastest, and we see where we stack up.”

This week, Caruth will be back in the No. 32 Chevrolet. Through eight races, the 23-year-old sits 10th in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series points standings after running five races for JR Motorsports and three for Jordan Anderson Racing. The back-and-forth nature of his current situation is taxing. He is chasing a championship by running the full season, but the unsteadiness of his circumstances isn’t confined to logistics. Caruth is also managing different personnel and different equipment on any given week.

There may not be many short-term benefits to the split duties he’s balancing, aside from a guaranteed full season of competition. But for Caruth, it’s all about the future.

“I feel like at the end of day, my goal is to race on Sundays, and I obviously can’t lose sight of where I’m at now, right? Because that impacts how or if I get to that level,” Caruth said. “But yeah, I think it’s the road less traveled. It’s not the easiest, and it wasn’t by design by any means. You’ve got to take what you get and what you’re able to make the most of. But I feel like the strengths and lessons I’ll receive will definitely benefit me long term in terms of going from running in the top five to fighting for a top 20, right? I think the race-craft that I’ve learned through that in my years, not only in the O’Reilly Series, but truck racing will just help for hopefully when I have the chance to race on Sundays in the future.

“I think that versatility, that race-craft is going to be important to know. And I feel like kind of getting a balance of both worlds is something that’s going to help me in the long run. So obviously got to be successful and get wins at this level and be competitive, but I really hope that in the long run, it will benefit me, because obviously it’s not the easiest right now, but I’d much rather take the path that I’m on now than having the best rides for my whole career and kind of having it easy to a certain point.”

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With JRM, Caruth has one top five and three top 10s. With JAR, Caruth has one top 10. A Class of 2024 graduate of Winston-Salem State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Motorsports Management, Caruth dubs himself a tough critic and grades himself just a C-plus or B-minus through the early run of the schedule.

“I think there’s definitely been some highlights, but then there’s also been more left to be desired, whether it’s been in my control or out of my control, and opportunities left on the table,” Caruth said. “I’ve learned a lot. I’ve had a lot of fun this year for sure, but yeah, definitely some ups and downs.”

One of those highs was a daring late-race move for JRM last Saturday at Rockingham Speedway that vaulted Caruth to a career-best fourth-place finish, qualifying him for a shot at the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Another was an eighth-place finish in the No. 32 Chevy at Phoenix Raceway last month.

MORE: O’Reilly Auto Parts Series entry list for Bristol

His most public down, though, came at Martinsville Speedway when he initiated contact late with Jesse Love while both were racing inside the top 10. Neither finished inside the top 10, and Caruth spun on the final lap, falling to 25th. Caruth also points to his eighth-place run at EchoPark Speedway in the second race of the campaign as another missed opportunity in a season when points are more critical than ever.

“I made one move that was pretty low percentage — and I didn’t crash or anything,” Caruth said. “But I put myself in a spot where I made it to where I had to fight back to get a top 10 versus if I just waited for the next corner or didn’t put myself in that spot, that goes from eighth to fighting for the win. Same thing with Martinsville last week, right? Like just having a big picture kind of mentality of, ‘I need to live to the next corner.’ I’ve had a couple of moments like that this year where there’s points on the table that I probably gave away, where if I didn’t have those, if I didn’t make those decisions or have those emotional reactions, then that positively impacts my finishing position.”

It’s hard to fault Caruth for overstepping that aggression. Though only 23, Caruth has been on a path toward seeking NASCAR Cup Series glory for nearly a decade, a path forged through sim racing that led to real opportunities and required unrivaled determination. But there are no guarantees for what’s next. He has now. That’s all he knows.

“There’s no other shot. Like, this is it for me,” Caruth said. “For this year, this is my shot. There’s not a next-year contract. I don’t have a Sunday ride waiting for me. There’s nothing waiting for me. This is it for this year, so I’ve got to race like my life depends on it and do my best. And whatever the season looks like when we get to November, I’ll be proud of it because I did my best.”

James Gilbert | Getty Images

Posted on April 9, 2026April 9, 2026 by Zach Sturniolo

Alex Bowman has been medically cleared to return to NASCAR Cup Series competition at Bristol Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday morning.

Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, missed the past four races with vertigo, stepping out of his car during the March 1 race at Circuit of The Americas when symptoms arose.

MORE: Cup standings | Bristol schedule

Sunday’s Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will mark Bowman’s first race since symptoms began.

“I’m grateful for the support I’ve had from Hendrick Motorsports, my sponsor Ally, our fans and the medical team throughout this process,” Bowman said in a team release. “It’s been tough being out of the car, but we all wanted to make sure I was 100% ready before returning. I feel really good, and I’m excited about being at the track with my team and getting back to racing.”

In a release, Hendrick Motorsports said Bowman turned laps Tuesday in a street car at the Ten Tenths Motor Club road course in Concord, North Carolina, then participated in a Wednesday pit practice in addition to simulator testing. Bowman then underwent a medical evaluation before being formally cleared for competition without restrictions.

“We’re proud of Alex and the way he’s handled this situation,” Jeff Andrews, president and general manager of Hendrick Motorsports, said in a release. “He’s put a lot of work into his recovery and followed the medical team’s plan every step of the way. From the outset, our goal was to prioritize his health and have him return when he was fully recovered and medically cleared. We’re looking forward to seeing Alex back in his race car this weekend.”

Myatt Snider stepped into the No. 48 Chevrolet to complete the race at COTA when Bowman exited the vehicle at Lap 71. Anthony Alfredo, a simulation driver for Hendrick Motorsports, drove the No. 48 car in Bowman’s absence at Phoenix Raceway while Justin Allgaier, the 2024 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion, substituted at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway and Martinsville Speedway.

Bowman, an eight-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series, is in his ninth season with the Rick Hendrick-owned team. He returns to action sitting 36th in the Cup standings with a best finish of 23rd (EchoPark Speedway) in three starts this year.

Posted on April 9, 2026 by Neil Paine

Ever since he won his first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race on Feb. 20, 2021 at the Daytona Road Course — as an 18-year-old making his first career start at any level of NASCAR national series — Ty Gibbs has been on everyone’s radar as a future winner at the Cup level.

At the time (before Connor Zilisch came along), Gibbs was the third-youngest O’Reilly Series winner in history, trailing only future champions Joey Logano and Chase Elliott. And nobody had ever won with zero national-series experience before. Gibbs went on to win three more races in a part-time schedule that season, then added seven more checkered flags en route to a dramatic 2022 O’Reilly championship win over Noah Gragson, clinched just weeks after his 20th birthday.

All of which is to say that Ty Gibbs knows how to win races against tough competition. So it has long seemed to be a matter of when the No. 54 JGR Toyota would drive to Victory Lane in the Cup Series, not if. But what seemed like a foregone conclusion has proven to take longer than we might have expected: Gibbs is now 130 starts into his Cup career, and the best showings he has put together have been a pair of runner-up finishes in 2024 at Darlington and in 2025 in the Chicago Street Race.

Should this worry Gibbs? The eventual list of winningest modern-era drivers who took at least 130 races to claim their first win is surprisingly sparse:
Among that group, only the great Ricky Rudd — who took 161 career races before reaching Victory Lane — even won more than 10 times in his career. Go a bit longer than that, and it was considered remarkable that guys like Sterling Marlin (no wins until his 279th start) or especially Michael Waltrip (0-for-462 before winning in 2001 at Daytona on that fateful day) managed to even win the handful of races that they did after coming up short so many times at first.

Gibbs isn’t quite at that point yet. He’s still only 23 years old; Rudd, Kyle Petty and Alex Bowman all won their first races at age 26 and Austin Dillon was 27 when he broke through, to say nothing of Marlin (37) and Waltrip (38). Sometimes, getting an early head start on your career can help you earn experience without burning too many of your prime-aged years.

And the other encouraging factor for that long-awaited Gibbs win? He’s been driving extremely well so far this season, even if he doesn’t have the trophy to prove it — though that may be coming next, very soon.

With an average Driver Rating of 88.6 through seven races, Gibbs is tracking for both his best career single-season mark — surpassing his 81.4 average from 2024 — and his best ranking among Cup regulars. (At No. 8 in the series, he currently sits above Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski and Ross Chastain.) Moreover, Gibbs has improved almost across the board so far this year. Here’s a comparison of his ratings in each race of the 2026 season versus his previous career averages at the same tracks:
Aside from a tough day at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta, which saw him get caught up in traffic with Josh Berry and crash out of the race — finishing 37th with a 38.4 rating — Gibbs has beaten his previous career norms at every other track on this year’s schedule. That’s been especially true over the past five races, when he’s posted a Driver Rating of 89.2 or higher every race, including three in triple-digits (a threshold he broke only six times all of last year in more than five times as many races).

One final stat on Gibbs’ 2026 form to really underscore his improvement: After producing a cumulative head-to-head record of 119-220 (.351 winning percentage) against his JGR teammates over his first four seasons in Cup, Gibbs has gone 13-8 (.619) against teammates this season. Only four other drivers — AJ Allmendinger, Erik Jones, Chase Elliott and Shane van Gisbergen — have shown more improvement in record relative to teammates in 2026 versus 2025.

But while steady improvement is great — and a No. 6 ranking in the standings has Gibbs in excellent early position to make The Chase — we still have to ask: When will that maiden win finally happen?

Well, it could happen this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. Among active drivers, Gibbs is tied with Elliott for fourth-best with a 12.8 career average finish; after a 35th-place run in his Cup Series Bristol debut in 2022, he recorded a top 10 in four of his next five starts here (and counting), finishing no worse than 15th in that span. Also, in the Next Gen Car era (since 2022), only Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin have a better average Driver Rating at Bristol than Gibbs’ 98.3 mark:
Beyond that, Gibbs also had a top-10 average Driver Rating (91.5) in the Next Gen era at Dover, back when it was a points-paying race track — which is relevant because Dover is the only other track that’s even vaguely comparable to Bristol on the schedule. Gibbs simply has a knack when it comes to these steep concrete tracks, and they probably offer him his best chance to claim that first career victory. That may particularly be the case when we consider that this is all pre-2026 data, predating his overall improvement as a driver so far this season.

In other words, all the ingredients seem to be finally lining up for Gibbs, and when that’s the case, the breakthrough usually isn’t far behind. For years, his first Cup win has felt like just a matter of time. Now — with the way he’s been driving, and with Bristol coming up — that time might finally be here.

Posted on April 8, 2026April 9, 2026 by Nathan Solomon

Front Row Motorsports is used to flying under the radar.

So it shouldn’t be a shock that through seven races, Zane Smith is reaping the rewards of what’s been a career year thus far.

In his second season with the team’s NASCAR Cup Series program, Smith has a pair of top 10s and has vaulted as high as fourth in the standings after leading 10 laps in the season-opening Daytona 500. Crashes have hindered the No. 38 Ford’s finishing position at times, including the last race at Martinsville, where a potential top 15 turned into 34th after suffering damage in the giant Lap 324 melee. He enters Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) 22nd in the series ranks.

Overall, Smith believes FRM has become more of a premier Ford organization while still outpunching its weight class, with far fewer resources and manpower than some of the other top Cup squads.

“We’re like a Ford A-team. That’s been a big step in the right direction,” Smith said in a media availability on Wednesday. “I still feel like we aren’t quite there, nearly comparing to like the top teams, but those top teams didn’t get there overnight.

“But from comparing last year to this year, I really like where we’re at. I feel like we’ve taken that next step and are a lot stronger in a lot of areas. Our whole weekend seems to be going smoother and just better from a performance standpoint, and I feel like that next step for us is just trying to find ourselves in the top 10 every week. That’s a big step.”

Smith rejoined FRM in 2025 after spending his rookie Cup Series season with Spire Motorsports, briefly driving for the organization as a Trackhouse Racing development driver. The 26-year-old from Huntington Beach, California, previously drove two seasons in Front Row’s Truck Series operation, culminating with a title in 2022.

So while his familiarity with the Bob Jenkins-owned team is certainly crucial, his career adversity is, too. Smith lost his Truck Series ride with GMS Racing after 2021, despite finishing second in points. Combined with his short time at Trackhouse and Spire, he explained that he’s learned to enjoy the small wins and be willing to alter his expectations.

And in an era of stage racing and constantly swimming upstream as an underdog, that perspective means everything.

MORE: Power Rankings ahead of Bristol

Chris Graythen | Getty Images

“You got to take your little wins, which are big wins when you can, and it’s really hard to change your mindset with that,” Smith said. “[I] came up winning in the lower ranks, and it becomes the normal. And you know, you go into a weekend – even if it’s not a great track for you — you still might win a stage and get a lot of stage points, and have a shot to win the race, and then you get on the plane and you’re happy at the weekend, but you’re not excited or just amped.

“What feels really good at this level, but at the same time really frustrating, is when you do damn near everything right in a weekend and you run 12th. You got to dive deep and dig deep to see where you can improve on and move the needle, but that’s just Cup racing.

“I feel like nowadays, if you could get some good stage points or have a shot at a stage win or at the end of these things, it’s crazy how they play out. You could be completely out of it for 90% of the race, and then strategy and weird, timely cautions fall, you find yourself in the first couple rows and you have a shot to win the Cup race. I feel like that’s what really just fuels you up for the next one, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be in that position a few times.”

And one of those times came when the Cup Series last visited Bristol. In a race filled with attrition, tire management, and pure chaos, Smith took what he called “at best, a mid-pack car” and took it all the way to the front. He fired off second on a restart with four laps to go, but Christopher Bell ultimately powered past him and Carson Hocevar, relegating the Ford driver to third in the final running order.

Like most drivers, Smith isn’t sure if the same type of Bristol race is in store this Sunday. But with expected temperatures close to 80 degrees and another new tire from Goodyear on the way, anything is possible — and he’s ready for it.

“I’m good with whatever,” he said of the changes. “I’m a big believer of if you put yourself in contention enough, one will go your way. Once you get that first one out of the way, they sure do come easier.”

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will race at the iconic Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. Below are the qualifying orders for all three series.

MORE: Weekend schedule | How to watch NASCAR on TV

Cup Series
Single-car qualifying will occur at 5:40 p.m. ET on Saturday, with practice earlier in the day at 4:30 p.m. ET (Prime Video).

Position	Number	Driver	Metric	Group
1	66	Chad Finchum (i)	40.4	1
2	10	Ty Dillon	35.5	1
3	35	Riley Herbst	33.5	1
4	51	Cody Ware	33.2	1
5	41	Cole Custer	32.2	1
6	38	Zane Smith	30.4	1
7	47	Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.	30.3	1
8	23	Bubba Wallace	28.5	1
9	4	Noah Gragson	28.3	1
10	88	Connor Zilisch (#)	28.1	1
11	42	John Hunter Nemechek	28.1	1
12	48	Alex Bowman	25.6	1
13	3	Austin Dillon	25.6	1
14	16	AJ Allmendinger	24.9	1
15	34	Todd Gilliland	24.5	1
16	8	Kyle Busch	24.0	1
17	43	Erik Jones	21.6	1
18	7	Daniel Suárez	18.8	1
19	71	Michael McDowell	17.7	1
20	1	Ross Chastain	16.9	2
21	77	Carson Hocevar	16.4	2
22	17	Chris Buescher	16.3	2
23	19	Chase Briscoe	16.1	2
24	21	Josh Berry	14.5	2
25	60	Ryan Preece	12.3	2
26	97	Shane van Gisbergen	11.9	2
27	6	Brad Keselowski	11.5	2
28	2	Austin Cindric	11.0	2
29	45	Tyler Reddick	10.8	2
30	5	Kyle Larson	9.0	2
31	20	Christopher Bell	7.0	2
32	22	Joey Logano	5.7	2
33	24	William Byron	5.0	2
34	12	Ryan Blaney	4.8	2
35	54	Ty Gibbs	4.6	2
36	11	Denny Hamlin	2.3	2
37	9	Chase Elliott	1.9	2

O’Reilly Auto Parts Series
Single-car qualifying will occur at 3:05 p.m. ET on Saturday, with practice earlier in the day at 2 p.m. ET (The CW App).

Position	Number	Driver	Metric
1	74	Gray Gaulding	40.4
2	28	Kyle Sieg	36.4
3	07	Josh Bilicki	34.5
4	35	Blake Lothian	34.3
5	9	Carson Kvapil	34.1
6	87	Austin Green	32.1
7	55	Joey Gase	31.8
8	41	Sam Mayer	31.1
9	48	Patrick Staropoli	30.4
10	0	Garrett Smithley	28.1
11	26	Dean Thompson	26.5
12	51	Jeremy Clements	25.6
13	02	Ryan Ellis	25.3
14	92	Josh Williams	24.4
15	5	J.J. Yeley	24.2
16	96	Anthony Alfredo	22.8
17	31	Blaine Perkins	22.4
18	19	Brent Crews (#)	21.5
19	42	Logan Bearden	19.9
20	91	Mason Maggio	19.8
21	2	Jesse Love	19.8
22	45	Lavar Scott (#)	18.9
23	32	Rajah Caruth	18.9
24	27	Jeb Burton	17.6
25	24	Harrison Burton	16.6
26	44	Brennan Poole	14.9
27	39	Ryan Sieg	11.1
28	8	Sammy Smith	10.5
29	21	Austin Hill	9.2
30	54	Taylor Gray	8.8
31	17	Corey Day	8.8
32	99	Parker Retzlaff	8.6
33	1	Connor Zilisch (i)	5.9
34	00	Sheldon Creed	5.4
35	18	William Sawalich	4.3
36	20	Brandon Jones	4.1
37	88	Kyle Larson (i)	3.4
38	7	Justin Allgaier	2.4

Craftsman Truck Series
Single-car qualifying will occur at 4:35 p.m. ET on Friday, with practice earlier in the day at 3:30 p.m. ET (FS2).

Position	Number	Driver	Metric
1	71	Daniel Suárez (i)	58.7
2	56	Timmy Hill	31.5
3	33	Frankie Muniz	30.1
4	22	Clayton Green	29.9
5	76	Spencer Boyd	29.5
6	44	Andrés Pérez	29.0
7	77	Carson Hocevar (i)	28.3
8	5	Chase Briscoe (i)	27.5
9	38	Chandler Smith	27.0
10	14	Mini Tyrrell #	26.2
11	12	Brenden Queen #	26.1
12	42	Tyler Reif	24.5
13	19	Daniel Hemric	24.3
14	4	Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (i)	24.2
15	2	Luke Baldwin	24.0
16	25	Carson Ferguson	23.2
17	81	Kris Wright	21.4
18	62	Christopher Bell (i)	20.3
19	26	Dawson Sutton	19.5
20	15	Tanner Gray	17.2
21	99	Ben Rhodes	15.9
22	17	Gio Ruggiero	14.3
23	13	Cole Butcher #	13.9
24	16	Justin Haley	13.2
25	98	Jake Garcia	12.0
26	91	Christian Eckes	11.8
27	45	Ross Chastain (i)	10.7
28	18	Tyler Ankrum	9.3
29	9	Grant Enfinger	8.9
30	7	Kyle Busch (i)	8.9
31	10	Corey LaJoie	8.5
32	88	Ty Majeski	7.7
33	52	Stewart Friesen	6.7
34	34	Layne Riggs	3.6
35	11	Kaden Honeycutt	2.0
36	1	Corey Heim	1.0

* Required to qualify on time
# denotes series rookie
(i) denotes ineligible for driver points

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Adam Fenwick

Life has a habit of getting in the way of racing. Just ask Doug Coby.

The six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion hasn’t run the full series schedule since 2020. He missed one race in 2021 and has stuck to a part-time schedule since while he focused on other business ventures. He competed in just one race last season, the fewest Coby has contested since he made his series debut in 2002.

Fans can expect to see Coby a lot more this year thanks to a new partnership with Jett Motorsports, which will see the driver from Milford, Connecticut compete in nine events beginning with Sunday’s Icebreaker 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (4:30 p.m. ET on FloRacing).

ENTRY LIST: Mods at Thompson

Coby credits Cam McDermott, crew chief for Kyle Bonsignore, for making the connection that led to Coby’s opportunity with Jett Motorsports.

“Last fall, Cam McDermott introduced me to Jariah Roderick and Steve Rollins, who had a Tri-Track team that they were working with Woody Pitkat on,” Coby explained. “Through the course of me racing the Fall Final for them at Stafford last year, they kind of made it known that they wanted to put a Whelen Modified Tour car together for a few races the following season. They expressed some interest in working with me on that.

“At the time, we had just met each other, and we didn’t know how things were going to unfold. When the schedule came out for the Tour this year, they decided they wanted to do a few more than the original number that they had picked.”

Doug Coby has made nearly 300 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour starts since 2002, earning 35 wins along the way. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

According to Coby, the original plan was to enter somewhere between one and four races this year. However, after Roderick and Rollins saw the 2026 schedule, they decided to expand the team’s slate to include nine events at tracks like Thompson, Stafford Speedway, Seekonk Speedway, White Mountain Motorsports Park, Monadnock Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“I told them, ‘You can build the team you want to build and go whatever direction you want to go. I’m available,’” Coby explained. “They decided to go with the nine races and kind of build the team from there.”

The team may be new to Coby, but many of the faces working on the car will be familiar. The crew is made up of people he’s previously worked with, including crew chief John McKenna.

That kind of familiarity means Coby will have an instant bond with many of the crew, which can only help get the team up to speed quicker.

“I was excited to see it coming together with a lot of people involved who are very familiar to me,” Coby said. “My crew chief, John McKenna, from the No. 52 and my No. 10 team and then basically all my crew guys from Mike Smeriglio Racing, most of whom were available, and my No. 10 team.

“It’s not like it’s a whole new team. It’s really a lot of familiar people. A lot of us are pushing on 15 years working together.”

While the Jett Motorsports team has fielded Modifieds before, the car Coby will be driving Sunday is a new LFR chassis that was built specifically for the Whelen Modified Tour.

The team will have sponsorship from Nucar, a Northeastern-based car dealership. Perhaps more importantly to Coby, the car will carry the No. 28, which is a tribute to his friend and mentor Don King.

Doug Coby (28) during the 2003 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. Coby drove the No. 28 for team owner Don King early in his career. (Photo: NASCAR Archives)

“Don wasn’t just my first car owner; he was one of my best friends,” Coby said. “The King family and I go well into aunts, uncles, cousins of all of us having a strong relationship. It’s definitely a family thing.”

Coby made his Modified Tour debut in 2002 driving the No. 28 entry owned by King. He went on to make 36 starts driving King’s car, and the pair remained close until King’s passing in 2021.

“The team knew we needed a car number, and we tried to get the No. 2, which the owner was pretty supportive of even though that was Smeriglio’s number,” Coby said. “The Bertuccio’s have that number, and they were keeping it. So, really, we just threw around some options, and even though the No. 10 was available we kind of had some options that were thrown out there.

“One of the car owners, Steve, of all the options said he really liked No. 28 the best. Secretly, even though it wasn’t many of the crews first choice, it was really my first choice all along.”

He may be racing for a new team, but the goal is still the same for Coby. He wants to win races – his next win would break a tie with Tony Hirschman for fifth on the all-time win list – and he believes the team Roderick and Rollins has assembled can be competitive right away.

“I think the goal is to win nine races,” Coby said. “I think we have some expectation to be competitive. That’s definitely why everybody got on board to do it. If we don’t win nine races, which might be unrealistic, we’re certainly going to go try and contend for wins.

“Obviously there have been lots of changes with format with the tire and the pit stop format change since our guys have been together. There are lots of things for us to adapt to.”

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Dustin Albino

Before hopping into the No. 24 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota at Martinsville Speedway, Harrison Burton stated that the beginning of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series has been the roughest start to any season he’s endured.

The results back up that statement.

Through the opening two months of the 2026 campaign, Burton has a pair of DNFs with a 24.3 average finish, earning a best effort of 13th last weekend at Rockingham Speedway. He sits 22nd in the regular-season champion standings. The laundry list of misfortune is piling up.

RELATED: Harrison Burton driver page

“I know this might sound strange, but I think I speak for everyone at SHR when I say I have more confidence in Harrison being successful here now than I even did back in January,” team owner Sam Hunt told NASCAR.com earlier this week. “As much as we all prefer to be free of adversity, it’s not the reality of our sport and never will be.

“Seeing the leader Harrison has been to his team through countless adverse scenarios, many of which were out of his hands, has solidified who I thought he was when I signed him. He’s the first to pick his guys up, first to say he needs to be better, and first to jump in the fire with them. The entire organization is pulling the rope hard to be better each week, and as one of the few independent teams left in our garage, we know the legwork going in now will show dividends before too long.”

Burton reunited with Toyota after a four-year stop with Ford. From the age of 13 until he jumped to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022 with Wood Brothers Racing, he was under the Toyota umbrella, rising through the ranks with Kyle Busch Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing.

“I feel like I grew up in that pipeline,” Burton said. “They have always supported me with the utmost respect and the most opportunities I could ever ask for. To be back with that group is big.”

Watching from a distance, Burton was impressed by what Hunt was building within the Toyota camp. He appreciates the sacrifice and dedication that the 32-year-old has made, including how he started the two-car organization from scratch while living in a van outside of Robert Yates Racing’s old engine shop.

“I know the people that are here, I know the race cars, and I know the goal of the race team,” Burton said. “The goal of the race team is to go win races. It’s not to make a profit here, and let’s make our ownership rich and cut corners. It’s about going to win races and being aggressive.”

Getting an established, full-time driver was important for Hunt. In prior years, it’s been a stomping ground for young drivers to develop, including Dean Thompson. The No. 26 car’s wheelman is one spot ahead of Burton in the driver standings. Having someone with top-level NASCAR experience is rare for a younger O’Reilly team.

Sean Gardner | Getty Images

“Having Harrison’s knowledge is going to be helpful for someone like Dean, someone Dean can lean on in the good and bad times,” Hunt said. “There is no ego. He is the perfect teammate for a lot of people. It means a lot to me that Harrison wants to be at SHR. He has made it clear that this is home and he wants to be a part of making it better, and like them all, they want that first win [for our team].”

Returning to a second full-time entry for the first time since 2023 made sense for SHR. The organization ran multiple cars 18 times last season and had enough employees to be efficient.

“You see these four- or five-car teams do so well because there is so much data that each team is gathering and sharing between each other,” Hunt said. “As a one-car team, you are on an island. I think that’s how we get better, is trying a little bit more throughout the season and using each team as a resource.”

Burton is a proven winner at the O’Reilly level, scoring a quartet of checkered flags in 2020 while driving for JGR. He knows a thing or two about significant victories; he won at Daytona International Speedway in the summer of 2024 for Wood Brothers Racing’s 100th race win.

Chasing SHR’s first victory is reminiscent of Burton’s quest for No. 100 in the No. 21 car. Seven different drivers have delivered a top-five finish for Hunt, totaling 13 across 246 starts.

“They have been close, and the cars have shown the potential to do so, and the people are capable,” Burton said. “It’s just about executing and getting it done. I think myself and Dean both want to be the guy that does it, but whoever does it, it’s going to be a big deal.”

MORE: O’Reilly Auto Parts Series standings | O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule

The goal for Burton, however, is to return to the Cup Series on a full-time basis. He excelled in 2025, delivering AM Racing a postseason appearance. And while he’s currently 98 points below The Chase cutline, there are still two-thirds of the regular season remaining, with Bristol Motor Speedway next on tap (Sat., 7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“I’m going to give this race team every single thing I have every single weekend, and I think it will make me a better driver,” Burton said. “The end goal might be wanting to get back to Cup and win races, but so does everyone else. So what do you do that differentiates yourself? For me, what that would be is to kick ass in this car and work well with my teammates and go try to win some races.”

Posted on April 8, 2026April 8, 2026 by John Crane

With the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season five races old, we’ve seen a bit of everything. A pair of title contenders in Chandler Smith (Daytona) and Layne Riggs (St. Petersburg) have left their mark in victorious fashion. Kyle Busch continues stacking wins. And 2025 Truck Series champion Corey Heim has back-to-back victories and leads the driver standings … despite being a part-timer who isn’t eligible for The Chase.

These storylines have left the full-time Truck field in a bit of a jumble relative to our preseason rankings. So, how does everything currently shake following the most recent on-track action at Rockingham Speedway? NASCAR.com’s John Crane ranks the top 10 drivers with more than a quarter of the regular season complete.

Analysis: It was a bumpy ride to begin 2026 for the 23-year-old Riggs, finishing 31st and 27th at Daytona International Speedway and EchoPark Speedway, respectively. But for a driver unanimously viewed as a title contender, his fortunes were bound to turn around, and that they have with three consecutive finishes of 12th or better, highlighted by a 70-point win at St. Petersburg. Riggs maintains the top spot in this ranking installment, but others are hot on his heels.

Analysis: The current points leader among full-timers is the 22-year-old Honeycutt, who ironically shares the points lead with part-timer Heim, the previous driver of the No. 11. While Honeycutt has yet to put his Toyota in Victory Lane, it could come soon; Honeycutt has finished eighth or better in four of five races this season and has led laps in three of those four. Lump it together with two 30-plus and two 50-plus points payouts, and Honeycutt is in good shape early on.

Analysis: Let’s start with the good news. Smith won the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway, storming through the pack during the second lap of NASCAR Overtime thanks to a strong push from Ty Majeski. Now for the bad: After initially finishing fourth at Rockingham, the No. 38 Ford failed post-race inspection, resulting in a disqualification and just one point earned. Every point matters in The Chase, so this isn’t ideal, but even still, the 23-year-old still has what it takes to recoup lost points.

Analysis: After starting on the pole for six races in 2024, it was goose eggs for Majeski last year. Enter 2026, and Majeski has already broken the ice on that front, claiming the pole at Daytona (and finishing fourth). The 2024 Truck Series champion is still aiming to capture his first checkered flag since that season at Phoenix Raceway. There have been signs of a potential breakthrough, including a St. Petersburg runner-up. Two finishes of 28th or worse are a damper, though, so more consistency will be needed.

Analysis: After a solid 2025 rookie season, the 19-year-old Massachusetts native is off to a good sophomore start with two top fives and three top 10s. Ruggiero has certainly started race weekends strongly, beginning all five contests inside the top 10; his 7.0 average start leads full-timers. That said, Ruggiero has yet to lead a lap, which will be needed if he wishes to find Victory Lane for the first time since Talladega Superspeedway last fall.

Analysis: Speaking of leading laps, Rhodes has certainly done that, with 93 circuits to his name after leading 74 over the two prior years combined. The 2021 and 2023 Truck Series champion currently possesses a 14.6 average finish, which will need improvement, but a Darlington DNF — with just two laps completed — certainly skews the data. What’s next for Rhodes? Rekindle early-season success; after finishing the first three races 12th or better, the 29-year-old has finished 18th or worse in the last two contests.

Analysis: Similarly to Rhodes, a DNF for Eckes (EchoPark) throws the metrics for a bit of a loop. Eckes has finished inside the top 15 in every other race, a decent start to his full-time Truck Series racing return. Eight laps led is a far cry from his 1,401 circuits from 2023-24, however, and if Eckes wishes to find Victory Lane once again (after doing so eight times in his last two full seasons), he will need to find more field-leading speed.

Analysis: It’s great to see Friesen behind the wheel once again after a July 2025 crash during a Super DIRTcar Series event sidelined him for the remainder of last season. And the 42-year-old Canadian is making the most of it, with two top 10s and a stage win to his 2026 ledger. A P4 result at “The Rock” has momentum on Friesen’s side, and with a touch more of where that came from, the No. 52 Toyota could turn heads.

Analysis: Haley’s P10 position in the standings leads Kaulig Racing’s five-truck Ram contingent. A former NASCAR Cup Series mainstay, the 26-year-old Haley is a veteran leader for the team — and manufacturer — to build behind, and with finishes of 15th or better in the last four races, there is a rallying point as the organization wheels into the bulk of the schedule. Patience will be needed for the team and manufacturer, but Haley could very well bump up in these rankings once again in due time.

Analysis: If there is one thing Garcia has a knack for spanning back to 2025, it’s collecting pole positions. After capturing three pole awards last season, the 21-year-old Garcia already has two to his credit in 2026 … in only five races. It’s certainly a good predictor of success; Garcia finished inside the top 10 in both races in which he claimed the pole this season (EchoPark, Rockingham). There are building blocks to work with here.

Posted on April 8, 2026April 12, 2026 by Staff Report

Icebreaker 150

Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park

Entry list

Car No.	Driver	Team	Crew Chief	Chassis Mfg.	Sponsor
1	Patrick Emerling	USNE Motorsports	Dale Hedquist	LFR	USNE Power
3	Tyler Rypkema	BRE Racing	Greg Fournier	Boehler Racing	Northeast Drilling; SYP
05	Teddy Hodgdon IV	Teddy Hodgdon Racing	Ted Hodgdon	FURY Race Cars	Business Time Motorsports; The Landau Team of Re/Max; Montanari Fuel
8	John-Michael Shenette	Eighty-Two Autosport	Scott Morin	LFR	USNE Power Charlotte; Eighty-Two Services General Contractor
15	Joey Cipriano III	Fueled Up Motorsports	Ryan Plourde	FURY Race Cars	Dependable Energy; The Bass Plating Company
16	Ron Silk	Haydt Yannone Racing	Phil Moran	FURY Race Cars	Blue Mountain Machine; Future Homes
18	Ken Heagy	Heagy Motorsports	Greg Gorman	FURY Race Cars	Merkel Racing Engines
20	Max Zachem	Morgan Zachem Racing	Ryan Morgan	Troyer	Lu-Mac’s Package Store; Mama MZ Crafts
21	Stephen Kopcik	Wanick Motorsports	Nick Kopcik	Troyer	Wanick Construction; Newtown Pools
22	Kyle Bonsignore	Kyle Bonsignore	Cam McDermott	FURY Race Cars	ChawLew; MTT; Mike Holmes Excavating
24	Andrew Krause	Supreme Racing	Steven Reed	LFR	Supreme Mfg Co.
28	Doug Coby	Jett Motorsports	John McKenna	LFR	Nucar
31	Michael Christopher Jr.	Elite Motorsports	Eugene Orlando	LFR	Elite Towing; Elite Racing; Baker Racing
36	David Sapienza	Sapienza Racing	Greg Kleila	Troyer	Sapienza Enterprises; Eastport Feeds
44	Chase Dowling	Tinio Racing	Danny Gamache	LFR	S&S Paving / Harshaw Paving
46	Craig Lutz	Goodie Racing	Douglas Ogiejko	FURY Race Cars	Riverhead Building Supply
50	Ronnie Williams	Ronnie Williams	Adam Skowyra	Troyer	Empower Financial Advisory
51	Justin Bonsignore	Kenneth Massa Motorsports	Ryan Stone	FURY Race Cars	Phoenix Communications, Inc.
54	Tommy Catalano	Catalano Motorsports	Rick Kluth	Troyer	FX Caprara; USNE Power
56	Trevor Catalano	Catalano Motorsports	David Catalano	Troyer	USNE Power
58	Eric Goodale	Goodie Motorsports	Rob Hyer	FURY Race Cars	GAF Roofing
60	Matt Hirschman	Pee Dee Motorsports	Mike Stein	Troyer	Bar Harbor Bank & Trust; Pee Dee Motorsports
64	Austin Beers	KLM Motorsports	Ron Yuhas	Troyer	G&G Electrical Supply, AP Marquardt & Sons, Lumiere Electrical, Fastrack Electric, Dell Electric, Andrew James Interiors, Hug
73	Paulie Hartwig III	Hartwig Racing	Bobby Geiger Jr.	FURY Race Cars	Professional Therapy Associates; Jersey Shore Contracting
79	Jon McKennedy	Jonathan McKennedy Racing	Patrick Walsh	FURY Race Cars	Stuarts Automotive, Christophers Towing, Levasseur HVAC, Leone’s Landscaping, Hillsboro Inc, Central Mass Tree
82	Andrew Molleur	DWR Racing	Michael Molleur	LFR	Danny’s Cesspool Service Inc
89	Matt Swanson	Matt Swanson	John Swanson	FURY Race Cars	Ceravolos Auto; Swanson GMC
95	Cory Plummer	Apex Racing	Jonah Gosnell	Apex Race Cars	Tuckers Metal Fabrication & Welding; Apex Race Cars; Apex Racing; Croteau Machine & More; Shiny Rhino Carpet Cleaning.
211	Eric Berndt	Ferguson Motorsports	Chuck Madigan Jr.	LFR	Independent Pipe & Supply

Posted on April 7, 2026April 8, 2026 by Nate Ryan

NASCAR will shorten the lengths of its final two stages in the April 26 race at Talladega Superspeedway to address fuel-saving concerns on superspeedways.

Next January will also bring the return of a “Preseason Thunder” test session at Daytona International Speedway, assessing potential technical changes to the cars that could lessen the impact of conservation strategies at superspeedways.

The sanctioning body also revealed that YouTube personality Cleetus McFarland has yet to be approved for Talladega. (More on that below.)

MORE: Cup Series schedule | Cup standings

But back to the superspeedways, where the concept of drivers running at less than full throttle at the longest tracks on the circuit has drawn negative reactions.

“Listen, we talk to our fans every week,” John Probst, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer, said on the latest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast. “So we hear what they’re saying. There’s certainly a lot of feedback from the fans that don’t always like to see some of the three-wide fuel saving that happens mostly at Talladega and Daytona.

“And I think that coming out of Daytona, we have been working hand-in-hand with a lot of our race teams, trying to largely break into two categories of things that we could do. One being the sporting-related things, like rules around pit stops or stage lengths or things of that nature. The other being in a technical bucket, which would mean car changes, spoiler, power levels and things of that nature.”

Though the precise lengths have yet to be announced, Probst said the final two stages at Talladega will be short enough to complete without a fuel stop.

“Generally, how a lot of our speedways were laid out, it was a short stage, a short stage and then a long stage to the end,” Probst said. “Going into Talladega, we’re going to flip that.”

Last year, Talladega’s segments broke down as 60 laps for the first stage, 60 for the second and 68 for the last.

This year, the first stage likely will be closer to 100 laps, with the last two stages under 50 laps apiece, when the Cup Series returns to the 2.66-mile oval in two weeks.

“It could be interesting in that first stage, if there’s some teams that try to do it on one stop versus some that try to do it on two,” Probst said. “We think that if there are some that do it on two, they may drag the group that would try to do it on one stop. So it’s got some potential for some pretty interesting strategies.”

The dates have yet to be set for the Daytona preseason test, but Probst said it would occur before the Rolex 24, which is slated for Jan. 30-31, 2027 (and will be preceded by an IMSA test at the track on Jan. 22-24).

NASCAR plans to test “some different power levels and spoilers and maybe some other car-type things,” Probst said, adding about fuel strategy that “it’s important to point out that this is a tool now that the teams know. And this is not something that I think is ever going to go away because these guys will look for every possible advantage that they can get. And that’s reasonable on their end. So I think that what we can do is just take steps to mitigate that.”

Patrick Vallely | For NASCAR Digital Media

Other topics addressed by Probst during the podcast:

— After making his O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut at Rockingham Speedway, McFarland has yet to be approved for Talladega.

“We’re all huge Cleetus fans,” Probst said. “We all watch his videos and are certainly very appreciative of everything he’s done in our sport and will continue to do in our sport.

“He is approved right now for O’Reilly Series short tracks, which means he’s good for all of ARCA, all of Truck and then O’Reilly up through the short tracks. We’d like to see more out of Cleetus in the short tracks. So we’re not saying no, but there is more that we would like to see out of Cleetus before we would approve him for Talladega.”

— NASCAR has finalized the track layout for its inaugural race weekend at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, California, on June 19-21. Probst said paving will be required in some sections of the track that are used for loading aircraft carriers.

“The drivers will have to deal with some unique features that a course like that will throw at us, but it’s an honor for us to go out there and race in June,” he said. “There are parts of that base that we’ll be racing on tarmac, runway, streets that are concrete and asphalt. So that track will probably have more different aspects to it than any track we’ve ever raced on. There’ll be some curveballs that we have to hit. Once we get everybody at the track and we get kind of into the grind of our normal race weekend, the one thing that our industry has shown is that once we’re on site, we can adapt as well as anyone and put on a really good show.”

— With a Goodyear tire test slated April 21 for Chicagoland Speedway, Probst said there isn’t any major repaving needed for the 1.5-mile speedway in Joliet, Illinois.

“The track surface actually weathered pretty well,” Probst said of Chicagoland, which was mostly dormant since the most recent Cup race in July 2019. “There’ll be some track bond to patch up some minor issues and obviously some painting and cleaning up the garage and some retrofitting of the suites. But we’re pretty pleased how the track weathered over time; this current package has had some pretty good racing at Kansas. Chicago is a bit of a sister track to Kansas, so we’re pretty pumped up. We think that’ll be a really good show.”

Other topics covered by Forde and senior director of racing communications Amanda Ellis during the 48th episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:

— Why rain tires were unavailable for use at Rockingham;

— A new rule that resulted in more than a dozen Craftsman Truck Series teams missing 10 minutes of practice at Rockingham Speedway because of inspection failures.

Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.