Posted on by Staff Report

Throughout the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Advance Auto Parts is spotlighting a series of Home Track Heroes from NASCAR-sanctioned short tracks around the country. Each Home Track Hero, nominated by his or her peers as a result of contributions made to the race track, will have his or her name appear on the C-Post of Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang in a Cup Series Playoff race. Bruce Heggerud, the safety director at Edmonton International Raceway, is the Home Track Hero whose name will appear on Blaney’s car during the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Simply put: Edmonton International Raceway in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada could not operate as smooth as it does without the aid of the man who’s volunteered at the quarter-mile race track for more than 30 years and never missed a race event.

Bruce Heggerud was working as search and rescue officer when he joined Edmonton to aid in its safety program all those years ago. Now doubling as the safety director at the track while serving his primary job as a truck driver for Maple Leaf Foods, Heggerud remains the first employee to arrive at Edmonton on a race day and the last to leave.

Heggerud uses his own truck, covered with logo stickers and topped with Whelen safety lights, for his safety work at the race track. The staff applauds him for having constantly improved EIR’s safety program over the course of his tenure, not to mention his work away from the track. For example, the former volunteer firefighter once organized fire safety training for the Wetaskiwin City Fire Department.

Heggerud’s weekday job also allows him to aid others on occasion. While driving his rig, he never passes a stranded car on the side of the road without pulling over to make sure all people involved are OK and receiving the aid they need. He even has assisted the local police and fire departments on dispatch calls.

Heggerud’s passion for the well-being of others can only be rivaled by his love for racing at Edmonton International Raceway. Even when that dedication clashed against a new affection, when he was planning his wedding years ago, the race track had to be considered. Heggerud made sure to schedule his summer wedding on a weekend when the track was not hosting an event.

Heggerud is a Home Track Hero in more ways than one, but to Edmonton International Raceway, he’s the lifeblood that keeps the track’s safety program top-notch.

Posted on by Staff Report

Darlington Raceway is commonly coined the “Track Too Tough to Tame” for a reason, and last Sunday’s Round of 16 opener at the fabled location didn’t diminish this long-held notion a bit. After all, 10 of 16 playoff drivers had varying mishaps, further proving Darlington’s reputation as a tough postseason-opening venue.

RELATED: Playoff Pulse | Where Larson and Byron land in current Power Rankings 

But while uncertainty might have surrounded many drivers during the Cook Out Southern 500, there was nothing but certainty for Kyle Larson and William Byron, especially regarding each team’s respective pit crews.

In the case of Larson, his crew — led by front-tire changer Blaine Anderson, rear-tire changer Calvin Teague, tire carrier RJ Barnette, jackman Brandon Johnson and fueler Brandon Harder — helped vault the No. 5 firmly inside the top four among all Cup teams in average four-tire pit stop times (11.244 seconds). The No. 24 piloted by Byron, meanwhile, continued to maintain his top position — with an average four-tire pit stop time at 11.071 seconds — thanks to front-tire changer Orane Ossowski, rear-tire changer Jeff Cordero, tire carrier Ryan Patton, jackman Spencer Bishop and fueler Landon Walker.

And what fruits did this labor eventually help net for both drivers? Larson won at Darlington and clinched a Round of 12 berth, while Byron’s fourth-place result was the No. 24’s third consecutive finish inside the top 10, dating back to the team’s victory at Watkins Glen International. Should the Hendrick Motorsports duo wish to continue their positive playoff push, efficiency in the pits will be critical.

See below to analyze additional pit-road statistics through Darlington and before the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

TEN FASTEST FOUR-TIRE PIT STOPS IN 2023

RankTrackDriverTime
1SonomaKyle Busch9.185 seconds
2Richmond-2Daniel Suárez9.260 seconds
3Richmond-2Ty Gibbs9.276 seconds
4NashvilleKyle Larson9.281 seconds
5SonomaAustin Cindric9.301 seconds
6Richmond-1Corey LaJoie 9.309 seconds
7NashvilleDaniel Suárez9.333 seconds
8Richmond-2Ty Gibbs9.343 seconds
9CharlotteWilliam Byron 9.383 seconds
10Richmond-2Denny Hamlin9.408 seconds

BEST AVERAGE FOUR-TIRE PIT STOP TIMES IN 2023

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

Last Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway was another race to remember after bedlam in the Final Stage crafted more questions than answers in the Cup Series Round of 16.

With Kansas Speedway on the horizon, the goal for playoff drivers will be a clean afternoon to either have a healthy gap heading to the elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway or win and not have to worry about points racing on the short track. Before Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), take a look at the top story lines entering Kansas, trends to watch at the 1.5-mile oval and interactive ways to follow all the action this weekend.

RELATED: See paint schemes for Kansas | Betting favorites for Sunday’s Cup race

PROVING GROUND FOR 23XI RACING 📍

Entering the Kansas playoff race last season, Tyler Reddick held a 32-point gap above the Round of 12 elimination line. He appeared to have the dominant car early in the Sunflower State until wrecking late in Stage 1 set Reddick up to be eliminated in the Round of 16 for a second-consecutive season at Bristol.

Reddick is in similar territory entering Sunday as he’s 30 points above the elimination line after a runner-up finish at Darlington. Toyota has dominated on speed in recent Cup events at Kansas, and this weekend should be no different. Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace is the defending winner of the Kansas playoff race and had a great top-10 run at Darlington to pull himself just one point from the top 12.

A mistake-free day for Reddick and Wallace could mean two spots potentially secured in the next round for all 23XI Racing.

📉 TRENDS TO WATCH 📈

— Toyota has won the last three Kansas races.

— Four of the last five Kansas winners got their first win of the season.

— 37 lead changes at Kansas in the spring set a track record.

— The race winner started in the top 10 for the last seven Kansas races.

(Via Racing Insights)

CLASSIC KANSAS SPEEDWAY RACES 🎥

2001: Jeff Gordon wins inaugural Kansas race | WATCH

2004: Joe Nemechek, Ricky Rudd battle for win in closing laps | WATCH

2015: Logano spins Kenseth late to amplify playoff drama | WATCH

ON-TRACK SCHEDULE 🗓️

Saturday, September 9

— Noon ET: Practice (USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App)

— 12:45 p.m. ET: Qualifying (USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App)

Sunday, September 10

— 3 p.m., ET: Hollywood Casino 400 (USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App)

MORE: Full weekend schedule at Kansas

RULE CHANGES/GOODYEAR TIRE NOTES 🛞

The GEICO Restart Zone returned to its 2022 dimensions after being extended for this season’s first five races.

Cup teams will run the same tire setup that was used at Kansas in May. Goodyear will allot one set of tires to teams for practice, one for qualifying and an additional eight sets for Sunday’s race.

NASCAR implemented safety updates to the Next Gen car.

Along the right-side door bars and extending toward the rear clip, teams are mandated to run a steel plate in addition to the chassis adjustments made for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The right-side door bar gussets and the removal of the front clip V-brace are changes that remain, in addition to the removal of other front-clip components, to create a softer and larger crush zone for frontal impacts.

Also included in the updates are front bumper strut softening (modifications to existing parts), the requirement of an empty front ballast box and a modified cross brace. NASCAR incurs the cost of all these updates.

In the event of a lost wheel that is contained to pit road, the offending team will be subject to a pass-through penalty under green-flag conditions. If the infraction occurs during a caution period, the offending team will restart at the tail end of the field.

If the wheel breaks free outside of pit road, the new rules guidelines mandate a two-lap penalty plus a two-race suspension for two crew members. Each penalty is series-specific: Violations in one series will not impact those crew members’ eligibility to participate in other series.

RELATED: See rules changes for 2023

FAN REWARDS 🫵

Fans can get in on the action all season long with NASCAR Fan Rewards, a free program that rewards fans for participating in the action when they watch races and play NASCAR Fantasy.

There’s no cost to join. Fans must be 18 years or older to participate in the program.

Earn points by checking into a race from home or at the track, setting your Fantasy Live lineup, making purchases on the NASCAR.com shop and more. Points can be redeemed for race tickets, merchandise and VIP experiences at the track, including pace car rides and waving the green flag at qualifying.

JOIN TODAY

FOLLOW THE RACE 📲

NASCAR Mobile has now added support for fans to “Follow the Race” and access live leaderboard and race information from Live Activities in the current app release (v13.2.0), available now. Android users, we didn’t forget you — the same functionality has been custom-built for Android devices, as well.

How to access Live Activities on iPhones:

  1. Make sure your iOS device has been updated to 16.1 or higher.
  2. Available on the leaderboard of all NASCAR Series races.
  3. Click on the three-dot menu near the top right of screen.
  4. Select “Follow the Race.”
  5. Swipe up to access the home screen and you will see the Live Activities at the top.
  6. Lock the device and you will see Live Activities on the Lock Screen.
  7. To turn off, simply visit the leaderboard, click the three-dot menu and “Unfollow the Race.”

FANTASY LIVE 🏆

Want to manage a team and race your way to the top of the leaderboards? Check out NASCAR Fantasy Live, which resets for the playoffs. The free-to-play game lets you choose your drivers each week and show off your crew-chief instincts by garaging a driver by the end of Stage 2, and there is a $10,000 prize for the winner.

How to play: Fantasy Live | Set up a team today!

PLAYOFFS GRID CHALLENGE 🏆

During the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, fans have the opportunity to compete in The Playoffs Grid™ Challenge presented by Ruoff Mortage. Fans can enter by visiting The Playoffs Grid™ Challenge page beginning Tuesday, Aug. 29 and registering for a free NASCAR.com account before filling out a bracket. From there, choose from a list of playoff-eligible drivers round by round, and you’re on your way to compete for prizes!

How to play: Playoffs Grid Challenge | Set your grid today!

ALSO ON NASCAR.COM 💻

Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week a select number of in-car cameras will be available — as well as a battle cam and an overhead look.

NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement to the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the mobile app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more — and see instant results from NASCAR fans like you.

Posted on by Staff Report

Legacy Motor Club announced Wednesday that John Hunter Nemechek will drive for its No. 42 team next season, bringing the 26-year-old driver back to the NASCAR Cup Series.

Nemechek is currently in his first full season with Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series, where he ranks second in the standings with one race left before the playoffs begin. The move, announced Wednesday on FOX Sports’ Race Hub news program, makes Legacy MC his third team in the last four years.

RELATED: Xfinity Series standings | Kansas schedule

“To be able to announce my plans for next season so early and officially say I will be competing full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series relieves a lot of pressure,” Nemechek said in a statement. “There is so much to be done for next year, and this gives us the opportunity to get the news out there and move forward. Also, driving for Maury (Gallagher), Jimmie (Johnson) and Richard Petty is a dream come true for me.”

Co-owner Johnson and John Hunter’s father, Joe, were teammates at Hendrick Motorsports in 2002 and 2003, as the elder Nemechek drove the No. 25 entry in the Cup Series. John Hunter was just five years old at that time.

“We’re excited to have John Hunter in the Legacy Motor Club family and I can’t wait to see what he can do in the No. 42 next season,” Johnson said in a statement. “He is impressive both on and off the track and will be a great ambassador for Legacy M.C. and our partners. He will be a solid teammate to Erik (Jones) and I can’t wait to watch them both compete for wins and championships for years to come.”

Nemechek’s lone full season in the Cup Series was 2020 when he joined Front Row Motorsports’ No. 38 team. Since then, he has been in the Toyota development pipeline, driving two seasons with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series before jumping to the Xfinity Series and JGR. The last three years have been among Nemechek’s most prolific, with 13 of his 20 national-series victories arriving during that stretch.

Nemechek will remain in the Toyota camp with the shift. Legacy Motor Club announced in May that it would switch its manufacturer partnership from Chevrolet to Toyota for 2024.

The personnel move is intended to bring stability to the No. 42 team, which began the year with rookie Noah Gragson behind the wheel. Gragson was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR on Aug. 5 for a member conduct violation, and Legacy Motor Club granted his release from the team five days later.

Since Gragson’s suspension, three drivers have taken his place in the No. 42 Chevy — Josh Berry and Mike Rockenfeller for two races each, and Truck Series regular Carson Hocevar in the series’ most recent event at Darlington Raceway. Hocevar, 20, is also scheduled to drive the No. 42 in the Cup Series’ next two races, at Kansas Speedway this Sunday and at Bristol Motor Speedway the next weekend.

The organization is in its first season under the Legacy Motor Club banner. The former Petty GMS Motorsports team transformed in the offseason with the addition of seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson to its ownership group.

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR-themed teddy bears are being delivered to children in hospitals across the United States, Mexico and Canada as The NASCAR Foundation and Kaulig Giving join together for the seventh annual Speedy Bear Brigade. This year’s efforts will bring the cumulative total to more than 11,000 Speedy Bears delivered since the program’s inception, providing comfort to children during their hospital stays.

“To have surpassed 10,000 bears delivered in just seven years is truly amazing,” said Nichole Krieger, executive director and vice president, The NASCAR Foundation. “Support from donors like Kaulig Giving, NASCAR partners and all of our wonderful NASCAR fans is so important to help us continue the vision of Betty Jane France to bring comfort to kids in the hospital.”

This year’s efforts mark the biggest to date with 100 hospitals participating in race markets across the United States, Mexico and Canada. The initiative surrounds National Teddy Bear Day on Saturday, Sept. 9, with events in Akron, Ohio, home to Kaulig Giving headquarters, as well as Charlotte, North Carolina, and Daytona Beach, Florida, home to NASCAR headquarters.

“We’re honored to team up with The NASCAR Foundation to deliver cheer, positivity and comfort to children in hospitals across the country through the Speedy Bear Brigade program,” said Matt Kaulig, team owner of Kaulig Racing and founder of Kaulig Giving. “Our partnership with The NASCAR Foundation continues to grow on and off the track and is a priority for us. All of us share the incredible goal of impacting the communities we love by helping children in need live happier, healthier lives.”

NASCAR fans are encouraged to join the Speedy Bear Brigade by making a $25 donation to The NASCAR Foundation to sponsor a Speedy Bear and send an inspirational message to a child in the hospital. As an additional incentive, Kaulig Giving will match each $25 donation made at NASCARfoundation.org/speedybear for a total gift of $25,000.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR competition officials plan to introduce a stricter inspection process in the Xfinity Series after a recent flurry of pre-race failures.

Officials indicated this week that tougher penalties will be in place starting with the Sept. 15 event at Bristol Motor Speedway, which will open the seven-race Xfinity Series Playoffs.

RELATED: Xfinity Series standings | Xfinity schedule

Starting at Bristol, officials plan to penalize teams that fail pre-race inspection two times by ejecting a crew member. Previously, the threshold for an ejection was three inspection failures.

Seven Xfinity Series teams failed pre-race inspection twice ahead of the circuit’s most recent event, Saturday’s 200-miler at Darlington Raceway. Six cars failed pre-race inspection twice before the previous race in Daytona.

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

For the first time in series history, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will visit New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway twice in a single season. It will happen when the Tour returns to the quarter-mile bullring Saturday for the inaugural running of the Winchester Fair (8 p.m. ET on FloRacing).

The 14th race of the 2023 Modified Tour season will double as the finale of the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup. The Cup’s originally scheduled finale at Claremont Motorsports Park was canceled due to inclement weather, setting the stage for Saturday’s showdown at Monadnock.

Saturday’s race will mark the 16th time the series has visited the Winchester, New Hampshire track dating back to 1986. Drivers to have visited Victory Lane at Monadnock include four-time winner Justin Bonsignore, two-time winner Doug Coby, Todd Szegedy, Jamie Tomaino, Jimmy Spencer, Mike Stefanik, Timmy Solomito, Reggie Ruggiero, Ryan Preece, Ted Christopher and Ken Bouchard.

Tickets to Saturday’s Winchester Fair are available here. Below is everything you need to know about the 14th race of the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.

Winchester Fair at Monadnock Speedway

What to watch for:

At least for one weekend, Tommy Baldwin Racing and Doug Coby are back.

The team owned by Tommy Baldwin Jr. on Saturday will make its return to the series after missing the last two events following Baldwin’s announcement of a cancer diagnosis.

Coby and Baldwin return with one goal in mind: Win the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup and the $5,000 car owner bonus that comes with it.

The team enters the Winchester Fair as the leader in the three-race miniseries produced by event promoter JDV Productions. Coby won the Modified Tour’s most recent race at Monadnock earlier this year, making TBR’s crew the favorites to leave with the Cup.

Several drivers will look to dethrone Coby and Baldwin, including two-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race winner Austin Beers, who sits only six points behind Coby for the Cup. NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship points leader Ron Silk is also in contention, as he finds himself just seven points behind Coby.

MORE MONADNOCK: Watch live Saturday on FloRacing

Regional contender Sam Rameau is also in the hunt for the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup, and he enters Saturday’s race nine points behind Coby. Justin Bonsignore will look to rebound from a rough race at Oswego Speedway with a strong run at Monadnock as he attempts to keep Silk within striking distance in the battle for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship.

Anthony Nocella returns to the Tour in his family-owned No. 92, as does Woody Pitkat, who will once again be in the No. 6 owned by Stan Mertz. Craig Lutz, Kyle Bonsignore, Jake Johnson and Tyler Rypkema are among the other entrants. One driver, Nathan Wenzel, will be making his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour debut Saturday night.

The complete entry list for the Winchester Fair is available here.

Ron Silk in action during the Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway on May 6, 2023. (Photo: Nick Grace/NASCAR)

RACE FACTS

Race Winchester Fair
Date Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023
Track Monadnock Speedway
Layout Quarter-mile paved oval
Location Winchester, New Hampshire
Start Time 8 p.m. ET
Laps 150
Posted awards $83,845
Live stream FloRacing (Live)

Schedule: Saturday, Sept. 9 … Final practice from 2:55-3:55 p.m. ET … Qualifying at 5:30 p.m. ET … Winchester Fair at 8:30 p.m. ET (FloRacing).

Qualifying: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the inaugural Winchester Fair is limited to 28 starters including Provisional Positions.

Tire allotment: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eight (8) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. The tire change rule is zero (0) tires, any position.

Posted on by Dustin Albino

If you look at Sheldon Creed’s racing career, it’s easy to point out the improvement from his rookie season in a series to his sophomore year. This year, Creed’s campaign has been filled with bright spots and stretches that make you wonder what’s happening with the No. 2 team.

In 2018, Creed’s second season of competing in most of the ARCA Menards Series schedule, he won a quartet of races and posted 16 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes in 20 starts while winning the championship. Same song, different verse in 2020, when he scored his first Craftsman Truck Series win in mid-July at Kentucky and went on to win five of the final 17 races of the season on the way to the title.

RELATED: Creed’s driver page | Xfinity Series standings 

Creed’s 2022 rookie campaign in the Xfinity Series, meanwhile, was humbling. The No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet missed the playoffs entirely, and the driver finished 14th in the championship standings.

“If you look at his progression in stock-car racing in general, it took him a year to understand what he needed,” Jeff Stankiewicz, who has been crew chief for Creed since ARCA, said last fall. “When we move up to a series together, it’s not just him – it’s us together figuring out what we can do to make him more comfortable and give him what he wants. It’s a group effort for all of us. If history repeats itself, next year should be lights out for him.”

Creed’s 2023 season hasn’t been lights out, but it’s shown signs of progression. Through the first nine races of 2023, the No. 2 car posted five top-10 finishes. During the next 12 races, however, Creed scored just a seventh-place finish at Portland. Since placing eighth at the Indianapolis road course, he is riding a streak of four straight top 10s into Kansas Speedway this weekend, losing out in a photo finish to Justin Allgaier at Daytona International Speedway and slipping in oil the week before at Watkins Glen International. Both races resulted in runner-up finishes.

“I feel like last year we lacked speed in general and made mistakes,” Creed said. “This year, we’ve been a lot more competitive speed-wise, but we’ve just made mistakes a lot. That’s not only the team, but myself, too.

“I feel like we’ve made gains, but to run how we want to run every week, we need a lot more.”

Creed believes he entered the series when RCR was at a disadvantage, saying that Joe Gibbs Racing had superior cars at the time. The California native is winless in 62 career starts. Meanwhile, his RCR teammate Austin Hill has scored six wins — four in 2023 — and leads the regular-season championship standings by 23 points entering Saturday’s elimination race in the Kansas Lottery 300 (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

MORE: Weekend schedule: Kansas

“Myself and our team could do a better job of putting ourselves in better situations, where sometimes it looks right with the strategy we might be on, and the worst possible case happens, and we don’t finish where we ran all day,” Creed said. “That’s happened pretty often.”

Creed doesn’t like to compare himself to Hill because their families hang out away from the track. He’s thrilled with the amount of success the No. 21 team has had, particularly during the 2023 season. But he believes the difference between the two drivers isn’t much.

“I don’t feel like he’s outperformed me driving-wise. I feel like we’ve just had situations that are different,” Creed said. “Austin does a really good job of managing what he has – he does that better than I do. That’s something I’ve worked on and have studied to improve on.”

Kansas is a big weekend for Creed. Not only is it conceivable to think he will lock up his first postseason berth in Xfinity (56 points above the elimination line), but he’s also making his Cup Series debut for Live Fast Motorsports in the No. 78 Chevrolet.

Through Team Dillon Management, which represents Creed, Kansas became a logical spot for Creed to get experience in the Next Gen car. His Xfinity sponsor, Whelen, had additional funding to support its driver. After planning to run a few truck races fell through, moving the capital to a Cup ride became feasible.

“Out of all the tracks to go to, I think Kansas is a pretty safe one,” Creed said. “It’s not super-rough; just to get used to the car because it does funky things that these guys have had time to adjust to. For me, it’s going to be a full learning experience.”

RELATED: 2023 Xfinity Series schedule

Creed doesn’t believe he’s ready to make the jump full-time to the Cup Series, but he wants to get a feel for what that series is like should an opportunity present itself in the future.

“I haven’t even thought about Cup racing,” Creed said. “I want to win [in the Xfinity Series] a lot before I go. It’s hard here; it’s really hard there. I want to feel like I earned the Cup ride because I don’t think buying a Cup ride is any fun.”

BJ McLeod, co-owner of Live Fast, does believe there’s potential to work with Creed in the future. He’s watched Creed’s progression since he ran late models at New Smyrna Speedway a decade ago to what he’s become in NASCAR.

“It’s just cool when you can put deals like this together and have drivers of his caliber and accomplish the things that he has in his career,” McLeod said. “It speaks a lot for Live Fast and what we’ve been able to accomplish to get him over here and get him seat time. We’re excited to get him his Cup debut and looking forward to seeing where he ends up in the future.”

The goal for Creed at Kansas is simple: run all 400 miles. He knows Cup drivers race hard throughout the entire field, and he’s got just 20 minutes in practice to get a feel for his race car.

“If I go and set my expectations to go run 10th, I think I’m going to piss myself off all day,” Creed said. “I just want to go have fun, enjoy it and log all the laps – but not get lapped. That’s goal one.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

After a miserable night at Darlington Raceway, three Joe Gibbs Racing playoff drivers — Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. — need to rebound in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

The Southern 500 weekend started with promise for the JGR NASCAR Cup Series contingent. Bell won the pole for last Sunday’s Playoff opener, edging Hamlin for the top starting spot.

RELATED: Weekend schedule | Playoff standings

Bell led the first 33 laps, but his race started to unravel during the first cycle of green-flag pit stops. A 15-second stay in his pit stall dropped Bell to eighth in the running order, and subsequent hard contact with the outside wall, followed by a late wreck, dropped him to 23rd at the finish and squarely in the danger zone when it comes to advancement into the Round of 12.

After falling to 12th in the playoff standings, just one point ahead of fellow Toyota driver Bubba Wallace in 13th, Bell expects to have a top-flight car at Kansas, where Toyota drivers have won four of the last five races and six of the last eight.

Bell has four top 10s in seven starts at Kansas, including fifth and third-place results in last year’s races. But the driver of the No. 20 Camry can’t afford a disaster like the one he experienced in this year’s spring race. Bell crashed out in last place (36th).

“We have speed,” Bell said after the Southern 500. “We’ve had speed a lot, and I know that in Kansas we’re going to be fast again. That’s been a really good track for Toyota. I know that we have the speed to do it — we’ve just got to put it all together.”

Hamlin likewise needs to put together a complete race. The driver of the No. 11 Toyota won the first two stages at Darlington, picked up two additional playoff points and actually improved his position above the Round of 12 cut line to 27 points.

Thinking he had a loose wheel, however, Hamlin brought his car to pit road on Lap 274. The team could find nothing wrong, and the prospect of a victory and automatic advancement to the Round of 12 was gone.

“It’s really tough to tell,” Hamlin said of his car’s mysterious malady. “It looked like the left rear was still tightening as we were going. It’s close enough to where it didn’t matter. What I felt, (like) I was in a crash. I had to bring it in and just turned the day upside down.”

MORE: Hamlin’s dominance sours at Darlington

The day got worse when Hamlin was collected in a late five-car crash. He finished 25th. But Hamlin goes to Kansas as the winner of the most recent race there — the May 7 Advent Health 400. His last four finishes at the track have been no worse than fifth.

“We think we’re going to win every week,” Hamlin said. “There’s not one week where I show up and I don’t think I’m going to win. But you’ve got to play the game, and sometimes when you play the game it doesn’t work out the way you planned. I’m happy about the speed the car had (at Darlington) and the restarts that I had. The things I had to work on I felt like I really did well. It’s part of the process. We move on and if we advance, all we really lost out on is points for the next round, so we’ll see.”

Despite a 31st-place qualifying effort, Truex had excellent speed to start Sunday’s race. By the second cycle of green-flag pit stops in Stage 1, he had advanced 16 positions to 15th, but an unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel initially cost him two laps and mired the No. 19 Camry in traffic.

Truex fought back for an 18th-place, lead-lap finish, but at Kansas, he can’t afford the sort of points erosion that dropped him from a tie for first in the standings to sixth place.

Fortunately, Truex has an excellent record at the 1.5-mile speedway on the Kansas side of the Missouri River. He has two victories and 906 laps led, and he comes to Kansas with finishes of ninth or better in his last eight races there — all good omens for a driver trying to preserve his status in the top 12.