Posted on by Brandon White

NORTH WILKESBORO, North Carolina — Saturday marked the ending of one era at North Wilkesboro Speedway and the beginning of a new one.

The final race on the current North Wilkesboro racing surface that has survived since the early 1980s was the inaugural NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Brushy Mountain Powersports 150. Many of the best Modified drivers from the North and South made the trip to Wilkes County looking to write another chapter in North Wilkesboro’s storied history.

RELATED: Complete race results from the Brushy Mountain Powersports 150

Matt Hirschman earned the distinction of winning the first Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 after surviving several late restarts. Hirschman was one of the first to claim a checkered flag during North Wilkesboro’s revival in 2022 and was honored to take another elevator ride to Victory Lane.

“This is probably the biggest win of the year,” Hirschman said. “We haven’t won as many races as we did last year, but here’s a big one that rivals many of the things we did last year. I really enjoy coming here and these are memories that will last a lifetime.”

There was a brief period where Hirschman was unsure if he would even be able to compete in the Brushy Mountain Powersports 150.

A bad crash at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in August left Hirschman sidelined with a broken arm. Being out of the car due to the injury was a frustrating time for Hirschman, but he met the best-case scenario on his prognosis and was back racing by the middle of September.

The Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 was Hirschman’s first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race since sustaining that injury. Once he made several laps in practice around North Wilkesboro, Hirschman knew he was in perfect shape both physically and mentally to contend for a victory on Saturday night.

Replicating his victory from last August was going to be a more challenging task for Hirschman. Rather than a 50-lap sprint, a 150-lap endurance race required Hirschman and the rest of his competition to be patient and take advantage of opportunistic cautions.

After pitting early, Hirschman cycled to the lead of the race before falling to second behind 2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman. During the final pit stops of the evening with 40 laps left Hirschman’s team opted for two tires, allowing him to take the lead and eventually the win.

“I felt this was going to be a tough race to win tonight,” Hirschman said. “There were so many ideas in my head as to what possibly could work. What ended up happening wasn’t initially my Plan A, but you just never know how these races are going to play out.”

If we came back next week to run this race again, what I did tonight probably wouldn’t work.”

Even though Hirschman had track position, he still had to play defense during the closing stages. Newman, Doug Coby and Ron Silk all provided Hirschman with strong challenges, but the veteran driver withstood everything that came his way to triumph at North Wilkesboro again.

Hirschman considered his North Wilkesboro victory to be one of the most significant of his career alongside the inaugural NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at New Smyrna Speedway last year. Both events attracted notoriety and large fields, which only motivated Hirschman even further.

With North Wilkesboro set to be repaved ahead of the 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race, Hirschman found Saturday’s outcome to be bittersweet in many ways, but he is also happy to see the historic track thrive after nearly two decades of being dormant.

“I hope this place is here to stay for a long time,” Hirschman said. “It’s going to take a while for this surface to age when they repave the whole thing. For the new surface to have the character it had [on Saturday], I don’t know if it’ll happen during my racing career.

“Last year and this year were two different storybook endings and I’m going to remember them for a long time.”

Hirschman considers himself fortunate to have played a key part in North Wilkesboro’s revival and hopes to write many more successful chapters at the track on the new surface in the coming years.

Silk finished behind Hirschman in the second position with Justin Bonsignore, Eric Goodale and Patrick Emerling completing the Top 5. Newman, Andrew Krause, Cobb, Kyle Ebersole and Bobby Santos III were the rest of the Top 10 finishers.

CNBC will broadcast a replay of the Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday, Oct. 8 at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Only two races remain on the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule. The penultimate event takes place on Sunday, Oct. 8 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park with the running of the World Series 150 present by FloSports.com. FloRacing will provide live coverage.

Posted on by Staff Report

Brushy Mountain Powersports 150

North Wilkesboro Speedway

  • Race results
Pos Car No. Name Sponsor Laps Diff
1 60 Matt Hirschman PeeDee Motorsports/Coyler Trucking 155  —
2 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 155 0.564
3 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 155 1.095
4 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 155 1.213
5 14 Patrick Emerling Advantage Trucks/Anastasi Trucking 155 1.462
6 39 Ryan Newman Pace-O-Matic/Aggressive Hydraulics/Montrose Molders 155 1.648
7 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Manufacturing Co. 155 1.988
8 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 155 2.201
9 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating, Inc. 155 2.219
10 44 Bobby Santos III Harshaw Paving/Olivas Market 155 2.295
11 19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Construction Inc. 155 2.435
12 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 155 2.497
13 34 JB Fortin A&R Materials/John’s Fuel Oil 155 2.542
14 64 Austin Beers AP Marquadt & Sons/Lumiere Electrical/Andrew James Interiors 155 2.905
15 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises/Eastport Feeds 155 2.953
16 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 155 3.376
17 06 Sam Rameau Quality Fleet Services/Dennison Lubricants 155 3.661
18 1 Burt Myers Citrusafe Cleaners 155 4.238
19 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K and D Associates/Airgas 155 4.433
20 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprera 155 4.609
21 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 155 5.185
22 70 Andy Seuss Rockingham Boat 155 5.406
23 99 Jamie Tomaino Tony’s Competition Engines 155 5.592
24 04 Brandon Ward KevinSaysYes.com/Kevin Powell’s Foothill Ford 155 6.165
25 23 Carson Loftin* L&R Transmissions/Lebleu Bottled Water 155 12.096
26 59 Brett Meservey* BNP Machine 154 1 Lap
27 21 Jacob Perry* The Royal Screw Machine Co. 152 3 Laps
28 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 149 6 Laps
29 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 147 8 Laps
30 09 Chris Hatton* Generac/HTR Racing/Race Radios Direct 143 12 Laps
31 77 Gary Putnam Curb Records/Mowhawk Northeast 138 17 Laps
32 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 129 26 Laps
33 38 Bobby Labonte Pace-O-Matic/Cook Out/Units/Coca-Cola 119 36 Laps
34 82 Craig Lutz Horton Avenue Materials 110 45 Laps
35 17 Chase Dowling Start Finish Production/S&S Paving 83 72 Laps
36 4 Tim Connolly Connolly Companies LLC 40 115 Laps
37 28 John-Michael Shenette * Eighty-Two Services/Heinz Performance 25 130 Laps
38 20 Edward McCarthy Jr. McCarthy’s Marine Sales 16 139 Laps
Posted on by Zack Albert

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Martin Truex Jr. is still looking for the first Talladega Superspeedway victory of his career, and snagging one Sunday at a pivotal point in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs would be well-timed. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran is also looking to right the ship in this star-crossed postseason — his four races so far have yet to produce a top-10 finish or a lap led.

Sunday’s YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) presents an opportunity for the Regular Season Champion and the rest of the 12 postseason hopefuls to advance to the next round. The event is the middle race in the Round of 12, and four drivers will be ousted from championship eligibility after Sunday’s 500-miler and next Sunday’s event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course. Only William Byron — who entered the postseason tied with Truex atop the standings — has immunity, thanks to last weekend’s win in the round opener at Texas Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Sunday’s starting lineup | Weekend schedule

Truex holds a 19-point edge over the provisional elimination line after Texas. The wild-card nature of racing at the 2.66-mile Talladega track could treat the playoff standings like a properly shaken drink, but the style of high-speed racing in the draft will also place an emphasis on teamwork along manufacturer lines.

Truex is one of just six Toyota drivers in the 38-car field, pitted against 17 Chevrolets and 15 Fords. After Saturday’s Cup Series qualifying, he suggested strength might not necessarily be in the numbers.

“All the drivers, we all work together really well and look back on past races and things, so I feel like we have a good group of guys,” said Truex, who starts 16th Sunday. “You know, we’re definitely outnumbered Toyota-wise, and this racing has become manufacturer racing, but at certain times, it works well for us because we’re so committed. We’re all basically on the same team, where other guys are … they might be a Chevrolet, but they might be with different teams or have a beef or something, and when it comes down to the end, they leave each other hanging. So if we can all make it to the end and be together, we’ll have a really good shot at one of us winning.”

Five of the six Toyota drivers are still playoff-eligible, a list that includes Truex and JGR teammates Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, plus the two-car effort of 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace. All five will be fighting for their own playoff fates, but the value of teamwork, they say, still applies.

“We all obviously need each other to do good, too,” said Bell, who is just ahead of Truex in the playoff standings, 20 points up. “So while we are competing against each other, the betterment for the whole … all of us are going to benefit from pushing each other and being committed to each other. So instead of bailing on each other and getting away from team racing, we will all benefit if we stay together.”

MORE: What to Watch: Talladega | At-track photos

Chevrolet drivers have won the last three Talladega races, with Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch splitting the laurels. The most recent superspeedway race, though, was a Ford affair, with RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski closing out a 1-2 finish in the regular-season finale at Daytona.

That result, Buescher said, stemmed from a concentrated effort on working hand-in-hand on the circuit’s largest ovals.

“This has been something that we recognized we didn’t do very well together last season and realized we had fast race cars, one or the other, and didn’t do a good enough job at finding each other and making a show out of that,” Buescher said. “We’ve worked very hard this year together. We put a lot of emphasis and a lot of studying into these events to make sure that when we are in a situation like we were in Daytona there at the end, we’re ready for it, that we’ve thought about that. And that hasn’t changed. We can’t say, ‘Oh, we had it figured out there, we’re done. We don’t need to think about again. We’ll remember.’

“It’s the same diving into it, looking at what happened there, looking at this race from the last time we were in Talladega, playing out scenarios in our heads, talking it through with spotters, with crew chiefs, with our entire teams. There’s a lot that goes into these things, obviously, our pit strategy and pit road is a massive part of how these races play out as well. So yeah, a lot of time and a lot of studying goes into this one, just like it did at Daytona, and we plan on it yielding the same results.”

For Truex to reverse some of his previous superspeedway results, he’ll need that teamwork dynamic on his side. The playoff scenarios, he says, won’t disrupt that strategy.

“Not at all,” Truex says. “I mean, our best chance is to all work together all day and hopefully be together at the end. That’s our best chance to win.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola claimed the pole position for Sunday’s YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) with a fast lap of 181.656 mph in the No. 10 SHR Ford; the 39-year old Tampa native just bettering the speed of fellow Ford driver and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano Saturday afternoon by 0.004 seconds.

Almirola’s SHR teammate Chase Briscoe was third fastest and will start on the second row alongside Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, the top qualifier among the 12 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers.

RELATED: Full starting lineup | Weekend schedule

“You know these races come down to pit stops really, track position at the end, and so having a good pit stall, a clean-in and clean-out, stuff like that, that all matters,’’ said Almirola, who won the fall race on the 2.66-mile Talladega high banks in 2018 and gets first pit selection with this pole-winning effort Saturday, his sixth career pole.

“I’m just really proud of all the guys on this 10 team. We’ve been working so hard to put speed in these Smithfield Ford Mustangs and [engine builder] Doug Yates obviously brings a ton of horsepower when we come to these type race tracks.

Aric Almirola poses with a light blue Busch Light Pole Award flag after winning pole at Talladega
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

“It’s not a secret, this has been a tough year for us,’’ Almirola said of the four-car SHR organization that is still racing for its first win of the season. “So to show that kind of grit and resolve with everyone continuing to grind and work and bring fast race cars to the race track. That says a lot about our race team. Just really proud. The driver has a small part to do with it at these places, but a lot of it is just the speed built into the cars.’’

Five of the 12 playoff drivers advanced to second-round qualifying on Saturday. Brad Keselowski, whose six wins at Talladega are most in the field, qualified fifth in his Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford. Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, who has already punched his ticket into Round of 8 with a victory last week at Texas Motor Speedway, will start eighth. 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney round out the top 10 positions on Sunday’s starting grid.

MORE: Briscoe, Preece lean into “Talladega Nights” | Keselowski “due” for next win

Several other playoff drivers were just off that pace. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, who leads the standings in terms of points, will roll off 12th Sunday. 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick was 13th-fastest in final qualifying, with Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr. 15th and 16th, respectively.

RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher will start 24th, with Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch lining up his Chevrolet 25th on the grid. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain – who finished runner-up at Texas last week – rounds out the current playoff dozen and will start 32nd.

Among those drivers who advanced to the final round qualifying and not competing in the Round of 12, NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Riley Herbst turned in an impressive result, qualifying a Front Row Motorsports car sixth – his best start in four NASCAR Cup Series races. Blaney’s Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric – the 2021 Daytona 500 winner – was seventh-fastest.

Going into this second race of the three-race round of playoff competition, Hamlin holds a 37-point edge to ninth-place Wallace, who sits only two points behind Larson. Reddick is 10th, three points behind Larson, followed by Blaney (-11) and Busch (-17).

“I think [starting position] definitely helps for the first stage, and hopefully, we can get some stage points, but outside of the first stage, I don’t think it really matters a ton,’’ said Larson, who is competing for his first Talladega victory.

“I feel happy we made the final round, but we’ll see. I think it should be good.’’

Posted on by Zack Albert

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Zane Smith spent nearly half of Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race sitting idle in the Talladega Superspeedway garage while the field whisked by, lap after lap. He sat in his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford, which showed the battle scars of a scary pit-road incident and the underneath scattering of parts from a slipping clutch.

Smith’s title defense took a severe hit in Saturday’s Love’s RV Stop 250 with a 32nd-place finish on a day where multiple playoff drivers found conflict. Smith’s trouble was the most dramatic, as his truck skidded sideways on the entry to his pit stall during the Stage 1 break, sliding into the team’s tire carrier, Charlie Plank.

RELATED: Race results | Weekend schedule

“I watched in my mirror, and I saw Charles running, and I was just in a slide, and I couldn’t do anything about it,” said Smith, who said he had checked his brakes before making his stop. “Obviously hit him, and my heart just sunk. I felt terrible. … That’s one of a driver’s probably biggest fears.”

The contact sent Plank and the two Goodyear tires he had in hand flying, but the crew member was reported OK by the team before the race went back green. Plank conducted an interview with FS1 and said he intended to finish the race.

“When I looked and I saw him standing out there, I’m like, ‘Man, I hope he jumps,’ and luckily he did,” No. 38 crew chief Chris Lawson told NASCAR.com. “So it just, it lets your body take a lot more of the energy, and luckily, like I said, it kept him from getting hurt. So, honestly, I think he was tougher than the truck. Like, look at him. He doesn’t have nothing on him, and the truck’s tore all to pieces. So yeah, tough dude, and just thankful, honestly, that nobody did get hurt on that one, too.”

Smith failed to keep pace upon his return to the race, not because of the slight right-rear damage but because his truck was unable to stay in gear. He didn’t head back to the track until 21 laps remained in regulation.

The repairs and his return helped Smith gain three points, but his deficit stands at 36 points below the provisional elimination line with just the Oct. 21 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway remaining in the Round of 8. Four drivers will be trimmed from championship eligibility, and the other four will race for the Craftsman Trucks title in the Nov. 3 finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Smith could conceivably advance on the basis of points, but the most realistic route likely rests with winning at the 1.5-mile South Florida track.

“I’m gonna do everything I possibly can to go win the race,” said Smith, who is headed to the Cup Series next season. “My last two truck races, so I’ll give it my all, lay it all on the line and see what happens.”

Said Lawson: “We’re gonna go to Homestead and do what we were gonna go to do there anyway. We weren’t going there not to win, so now it’s just gonna mean a little more. So yeah, I don’t feel any different than I did coming into this one. I feel like we just got to go there and execute and no mistakes, and I feel like we’re gonna have a shot at it. So we’ll see.”

If there’s a silver lining, Brett Moffitt took a Front Row Motorsports truck to Victory Lane in a one-off start, denying other postseason contenders from locking in their Championship 4 spot. Tops among those was former series champ Ben Rhodes, who was unable to make a winning move down the stretch and was the Talladega runner-up by 0.089 seconds.

The next best bet among the remaining playoff drivers was Christian Eckes, who led the field under the white flag in his No. 19 Chevrolet. His victory hopes unraveled in the final lap of overtime when he scooted too far out front and was unable to block the onrushing pack through the second turn. He was shuffled out of line and faded to a 19th-place finish, last on the lead lap.

Eckes entered the race with a 29-point cushion but now sits just plus-9 headed to Homestead.

“I didn’t really want to do that, but I was told to do that,” Eckes told NASCAR.com as he walked back to the garage. “So, not going to point fingers or do anything else, but we lost another one and killed our cushion, so less than thrilled.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Brushy Mountain Powersports 150

North Wilkesboro Speedway

  • Qualifying results
Pos Car No. Name Sponsor Best Tm Best Speed
1 64 Austin Beers AP Marquadt & Sons/Lumiere Electrical/Andrew James Interiors 18.318 122.83
2 60 Matt Hirschman PeeDee Motorsports/Coyler Trucking 18.468 121.832
3 14 Patrick Emerling Advantage Trucks/Anastasi Trucking 18.502 121.608
4 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 18.549 121.3
5 82 Craig Lutz Horton Avenue Materials 18.569 121.17
6 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 18.598 120.981
7 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 18.599 120.974
8 23 Carson Loftin* L&R Transmissions/Lebleu Bottled Water 18.601 120.961
9 38 Bobby Labonte Pace-O-Matic/Cook Out/Units/Coca-Cola 18.628 120.786
10 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 18.637 120.728
11 39 Ryan Newman Pace-O-Matic/Aggressive Hydraulics/Montrose Molders 18.649 120.65
12 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 18.666 120.54
13 70 Andy Seuss Rockingham Boat 18.668 120.527
14 19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Construction Inc. 18.67 120.514
15 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises/Eastport Feeds 18.703 120.302
16 21 Jacob Perry* The Royal Screw Machine Co. 18.736 120.09
17 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K and D Associates/Airgas 18.739 120.07
18 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating, Inc. 18.752 119.987
19 1 Burt Myers Citrusafe Cleaners 18.764 119.91
20 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 18.783 119.789
21 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 18.79 119.745
22 20 Edward McCarthy Jr. McCarthy’s Marine Sales 18.827 119.509
23 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprera 18.831 119.484
24 04 Brandon Ward KevinSaysYes.com/Kevin Powell’s Foothill Ford 18.838 119.439
25 34 JB Fortin A&R Materials/John’s Fuel Oil 18.839 119.433
26 28 John-Michael Shenette * Eighty-Two Services/Heinz Performance 18.841 119.42
27 44 Bobby Santos III Harshaw Paving/Olivas Market 18.844 119.401
28 17 Chase Dowling Start Finish Production/S&S Paving 18.866 119.262
29 06 Sam Rameau Quality Fleet Services/Dennison Lubricants 18.9 119.048
30 59 Brett Meservey* BNP Machine 18.902 119.035
31 4 Tim Connolly Connolly Companies LLC 19.032 118.222
32 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Manufacturing Co. 19.05 118.11
33 77 Gary Putnam Curb Records/Mowhawk Northeast 19.132 117.604
34 09 Chris Hatton* Generac/HTR Racing/Race Radios Direct 19.272 116.75
35 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 19.273 116.744
36 99 Jamie Tomaino Tony’s Competition Engines 19.809 113.585
37 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 19.919 112.957
38 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 20.101 111.935
Posted on by Staff Report

Nick Sanchez and Matt Crafton were involved in a post-race altercation in the garage following Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, showed Sanchez and numerous others on the ground in the garage area following the event. Sanchez’s face was bloodied after the incident, which he said began after a tap from behind after the race.

MORE: Moffitt captures ‘Dega in OT | Photos from the race

“I was walking back to the hauler, got a tap on my back, got punched in the face,” Sanchez told reporters after being treated and released from the infield care center. “Cheap shot, but is what it is I guess. I’m all for fighting, but no cheap shots, and I got a cheap shot. Never really had a chance to get him back, but it is what it is. It’s part of racing.”

The two drivers’ trucks made contact at Lap 93 of Saturday’s race exiting Turn 4, a collision that triggered a significant multitruck wreck before the race’s nearing conclusion. Sanchez dove to Crafton’s left exiting the corner, putting his truck in the middle of a three-wide scenario. While making the move, Sanchez contacted the left-rear corner of Crafton’s truck, tipping him into traffic and initiating the pileup.

Crafton’s pit stall sat directly next to Sanchez’s, and following the crash, the 47-year-old and three-time series champion parked his No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford between the two pit boxes. Upon exiting his truck, Crafton was seen exchanging words with crew members of Sanchez’s No. 2 Rev Racing Chevrolet.

“I heard a little bit about it but not a lot,” Sanchez said of the pit-road exchange. “It’s Talladega. It’s plate racing. I mean yeah, it was an aggressive move I made, but I held my line, right? It is what it is and it happens every year.”

Asked if he needed stitches, Sanchez replied: “No, I think they just glued my face and a slight break over here, I don’t know,” gesturing to the tip of his nose. “But I’m fine.”

NASCAR.com has reached out to ThorSport Racing for further comment on the incident. Crafton posted a thread on X Sunday afternoon explaining his side of the incident.

Sanchez leaves Talladega three points above the elimination line in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs standings. One race remains in the Round of 8, which will conclude at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, Oct. 21 (12 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Crafton qualified for the playoffs but was one of two drivers eliminated from title contention following the Round of 10 conclusion at Kansas Speedway on Sept. 8.

Posted on by Staff Report

Harrison Burton will return as the driver of Wood Brothers Racing’s No. 21 Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2024, he confirmed Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway.

The 22-year-old driver currently ranks 31st in the Cup Series standings. He confirmed the news to The Athletic.

RELATED: Harrison Burton driver page

Burton has four top-10 finishes in the last two seasons, with a best result of third place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in his rookie year. He had acknowledged in August that he had been a topic of rumors in recent weeks but that he preferred to stay with the Wood Brothers as his career progressed.

“At the end of the day, it’s fairly easy for me because I am happy where I’m at, and I hope to continue to race where I’m at,” Burton said. “You know, it’s fairly easy for me to kind of just go to work with the guys that I’ve worked with for the last year and a half or so, and yeah, it’s not super distracting at this point.”

The Wood Brothers recently made a change at crew chief, bringing back Jeremy Bullins atop the No. 21 pit box for the final 10 races of this season and for next year’s schedule. Bullins traded places with fellow crew chief Brian Wilson, who moved to the No. 2 Ford of the affiliated Team Penske operation.

RELATED: Catch up on latest Silly Season moves

The Wood Brothers have been fielding Cup Series entries since 1953. The team’s next victory in NASCAR’s top division will be its 100th.

Burton joined the No. 21 team for the 2022 campaign after two full seasons in the Xfinity Series. The next-generation driver won four times during his tenure with Joe Gibbs Racing, and his move to the Cup Series also meant a transition from Toyota to a Ford allegiance.

Posted on by Staff Report

Three NASCAR Cup Series cars failed pre-race technical inspection twice at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday afternoon.

The No. 2 Team Penske Ford, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford and No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford each needed a third trip through the inspection line ahead of qualifying for Sunday’s Yellawood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

MORE: Talladega schedule | At-track photos: Talladega

Each of the teams had its car chief ejected from the event: Cody Sauls from the No. 2 Ford driven by Austin Cindric; Lucas Tucker from the No. 38 Ford driven by Todd Gilliland; and Anthony Cardamone from the No. 41 Ford driven by Ryan Preece.

In addition, those three teams also lost their respective ability to choose their pit stalls for Sunday’s race, which marks the second event in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12.