Posted on by Dustin Albino

Having won all three Next Gen races at Kansas Speedway, Toyota was going to be the manufacturer to beat entering Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Nothing has changed following practice and qualifying, as all six ranked inside the top 12 on the long run. Christopher Bell scored his second consecutive pole in the playoffs and dating back to New Hampshire, the No. 20 team has won four of the last nine pole awards. While Toyota might have the edge, there are many Chevrolets — topped by Kyle Larson — that look to be in the ballpark.

RELATED: Sunday’s starting lineup | Playoff hub page

Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup:

Starter 1: Tyler Reddick
Starter 2: Bubba Wallace
Starter 3: Martin Truex Jr.
Starter 4: Christopher Bell
Starter 5: Kyle Larson
Garage Pick: Denny Hamlin

NEXT IN LINE: Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Chris Buescher.

RISING: It might get overlooked because Elliott has had success at most venues, but his numbers at Kansas are particularly good. In 15 starts, he has nine top-10 finishes, including a seventh-place result in May. The No. 9 car had one of its best practice and qualifying sessions of 2023 on Saturday, ranking 10th on one-lap speed; seventh on 10-lap averages and qualified fourth.

As noted earlier this week, Austin Dillon could be a good sleeper pick for Kansas. Thus far, that stands true. For the first time this season, the No. 3 team made the final round of qualifying and scored its best qualifying effort (eighth) since the Bristol Dirt race. While Bristol Dirt and Kansas have nothing in common aside from lacking grip, that was the site of Dillon’s lone top-five finish in 2023. Don’t be surprised if he cracks the top 10 in the final rundown on Sunday.

FALLING: If you read Fastlane earlier this week, you’d notice that I was dismissive of using Busch this weekend. That proved to be true in practice, though it was no fault of Busch, who blew a right-rear tire and bounced off the wall. Still, it’s the second consecutive weekend where Busch has had a practice incident, setting the No. 8 team back from the start. If you ask him, though, he will say it’s normal: “Always put in a hole, always put behind, always have to come and dig ourselves out.”

While Larson, Elliott, and Byron all looked to have cars that could contend for the win, Alex Bowman did not. It was a bit of a comedown following his standout performance last fall at Kansas when he led north of 100 laps. The No. 48 Chevrolet was ranked 17th out of 24 cars that made a 10-lap run and qualified a discouraging 23rd. The other three Hendrick cars made the final round of qualifying.

FEATURED MATCHUPS:

Denny Hamlin vs. Kyle Larson

While Toyota did indeed look to be the class of the field on Saturday, Larson seemed to have the pace capable of winning. Hamlin lacked a bit of speed to his Toyota brethren — and to Larson. It wouldn’t be surprising if Hamlin is contending for the win come the conclusion of the race, as he’s the only driver to have top-five finishes in all three Next Gen races at Kansas. But I’m flip-flopping here to picking the No. 5 car.

Bubba Wallace vs. Kevin Harvick

During Wallace’s qualifying run, he got tight off Turn 4 and had to lift out of the gas which cost him time. Other than that misjudgment of the corner, the defending Kansas winner had a strong Saturday, ranking inside the top five on single-lap and 10-lap averages in practice. Meanwhile, Harvick will have to do Harvick things and overcome a speed deficit, sitting 13th on both charts in practice. Go with Wallace.

Tyler Reddick vs. Christopher Bell

This looks to be the toughest matchup of the week. Both drivers should be in the hunt for the checkered flag, as Reddick topped the scoring chart in practice on all metrics and Bell topped the competition in qualifying. Both teams have also made multiple miscues that have taken them out of contention for wins this season. Reddick is the pick here, but the best option might be to put both names into a hat and draw from there.

Ross Chastain vs. Joey Logano

Logano has struggled mightily at Kansas in recent years. But as the champion he is, the No. 22 team made the most out of its pace on Saturday and was the fastest car to not make the final round of qualifying. However, Chastain has finished seventh or better in the last three Kansas races and seemed to recapture some of the team’s early-season speed. Thinking Chastain is the right choice here.

Posted on by Brandon White

Winchester Fair

Monadnock Speedway

  • Race results
Pos No. Name Sponsor Laps Diff
1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 150
2 64 Austin Beers AP Marquadt & Sons/Lumiere Electrical/Andrew James Interiors 150 4.331
3 06 Sam Rameau Quality Fleet Services/Dennison Lubricants 150 5.241
4 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 150 5.935
5 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 150 8.595
6 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K and D Associates/Airgas 150 9.108
7 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 150 10.211
8 25 Brian Robie* Maurice Enterprises 150 11.285
9 82 Craig Lutz Horton Avenue Materials 149 1 Lap
10 43 Matt Kimball* Adam LaPoint Electrical/Edmunds Ace Hardware 149 1 Lap
11 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 148 2 Laps
12 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 148 2 Laps
13 21 Jacob Perry* The Royal Screw Machine Co. 148 2 Laps
14 6 Woody Pitkat Koopman Lumbar 148 2 Laps
15 59 Brett Meservey* BNP Machine 147 3 Laps
16 81 Nathan Wenzel* 1812 Paint and Auto Body 142 8 Laps
17 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 135 15 Laps
18 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 40 110 Laps
19 1 Cory Plummer* Apex Racing/Gene’s Auto Service 1 149 Laps
Posted on by Adam Fenwick

WINCHESTER, New Hampshire – One weekend ago, Justin Bonsignore was involved in a crash at Oswego Speedway that could have ended his dreams of winning a fourth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship.

Fast forward to Saturday’s Winchester Fair at Monadnock Speedway and he’s right back in the fight.

Bonsignore dominated the 150-lap Winchester Fair event that served as the finale of JDV Productions’ Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup, allowing him to close the gap to Ron Silk in the battle for the series championship.

“We needed this after last week,” said Bonsignore, who suffered a broken thumb on his left hand in that crash at Oswego. “I made a big mistake last week and put myself in a bad spot racing for a championship.”

Bonsignore started from the pole Saturday at Monadnock and was never seriously challenged throughout the 150-lap event, but there was plenty of drama behind him.

Most if it involved his championship rival Silk.

Just as the field completed lap one at the quarter-mile bullring, Jacob Perry clipped the left-rear of Silk’s No. 16. The contact turned Silk around in front of the field and Perry’s No. 21 Modified climbed over the left-front tire of Silk’s car as several other drivers piled into the crash.

Silk continued on and quickly went to the pits, somehow emerging just in time to stay on the lead lap.

However, moments after the green flag waved for the restart, more trouble found Silk as a left-rear tire went flat, causing him to spin and bring out another caution. His crew was able to bolt on a new tire, but Silk’s car was never the same and he finished two laps down in 12th.

“We’re back in it. It looks like he (Silk) might have had a bad night tonight,” Bonsignore said after his 39th career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory. “You just can’t give up in these things. Four more to go. It’s going to be a dog fight.”

While Bonsignore was able to celebrate a win after 150 hard fought laps at Monadnock, Doug Coby and team owner Tommy Baldwin Jr. also had plenty of reasons to be happy after claiming the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup championship.

The accomplishmnet for Coby and Baldwin comes just weeks after Baldwin announced that his Tommy Baldwin Racing team would be parked while he undergoes cancer treatments.

For Baldwin and Coby, the opportunity to race for the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup and the $5,000 bonus that comes with it was too good to pass up.

A fifth-place finish by Coby was just enough for Baldwin’s team to claim the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup ahead of Bonsignore and Austin Beers, who finished second on Saturday evening.

“Just to be here with our family and Tommy battling cancer, I mean he’s a warrior,” Coby said. “He told us from the beginning he was going to fight through this and he’s been courageous enough to share his battle and everything on social media, which is pretty uncommon.

“To be here as the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup champions just means a lot. We missed two races and kind of threw our season up in the air, but we’ve got a great group of guys and Tommy really wanted to be here to do this.”

Following Bonsignore and Beers was Sam Rameau, who earned a career-best finish in third. Kyle Bonsignore was fourth ahead of Coby, followed by Anthony Nocella, Jake Johnson, Brian Robie, Craig Lutz and Matt Kimball.

The battle for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship continues next Saturday night when the series returns to New York’s Riverhead Raceway for the running of the Eddie Partridge 256. The event will be streamed live on FloRacing starting at 8 p.m. ET.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Parker Kligerman is a NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs driver. Riley Herbst — despite every bit of determination he displayed Saturday — is left on the outside looking in.

Kligerman finished fourth in the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway, snagging the final berth in the 12-driver postseason grid by 25 points over Herbst. Herbst suffered a double dose of flat right-front tires – coincidentally stemming from contact with Kligerman – and finished 23rd, two laps down.

RELATED: Race results | Weekend schedule

Kligerman entered the day trailing Herbst by one point, collected a total of nine stage points and capitalized on a fast No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet. But all that effort nearly went for naught: Second-place finisher Brandon Jones was in a must-win situation to qualify for the playoffs, and a victory from the JR Motorsports driver would have eliminated Kligerman from contention.

Instead, John Hunter Nemechek held on for the win, allowing one final position in the playoffs for either Kligerman or Herbst.

“I was the biggest John Hunter Nemechek fan on the planet,” Kligerman laughed. “As I saw the No. 9 (Jones) fire off, I was like, ‘Oh no! We’ve done all we should do on points. We’re so close. I don’t think I could beat the 20, but the 9 looks like he might.’ And then obviously the 20 was just so dominant.”

The last two drivers Kligerman raced Saturday were Austin Hill – the Regular Season Champion – and Sheldon Creed, teammates at Richard Childress Racing, which shares an alliance with Big Machine Racing. As Kligerman battled Hill inside the top five, Creed came storming around the top side to take third away from both of them.

“The 2 (Creed) kind of crept up on us and took third,” Kligerman said. “I really wanted third place, but … that last run, I had to just be smart, really, really smart. And so I drove the smartest race I thought I could drive that put us in a position to not have anything stupid happen, keep us the highest position if we get a late-race restart and go on in the playoffs.”

On the other side of the elimination line was Herbst, who endured a trying month that included one DNF, mechanical issues and three finishes of 23rd or worse in the past four races. Adding to a regular season filled with twists for Herbst, the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing team made a change at its crew chief position in June, with Davin Restino taking the reins as Richard Boswell was moved to the NASCAR Cup Series.

“It doesn’t just start today,” Herbst said. “We had a crew chief change before Nashville, had a bunch of mechanical failures. I shot myself in the foot a few races. So it’s here or there, and it’s just all adding up. We didn’t make it, but it’s not the end of the world.”

Riley Herbst reacts after exiting his No. 98 Ford on pit road at Kansas Speedway
Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Studios

Herbst’s Kansas efforts were monumental but not enough to overcome relentless adversity.

His path crossed with Kligerman too literally on a Lap 65 restart. Kligerman lined up third in the outside lane but struggled on his shift to third gear. Creed and Herbst were the two cars behind the No. 48.

“I’d have to go back and look, but he (Creed) went up to avoid it, so I went to go plug (the) middle,” Herbst recalled. “And I was already wide open at that point, and he was still spinning the tires or still trying to get it in gear, and I hit him (Kligerman) with my right-front.

“Tore the whole right-front fender off, cut the tire and from then on, it was over.”

Herbst lost two laps as he pit and received repairs, but quick cautions and brilliant driving saw him rally from 32nd all the way back to the top 10.

But it wasn’t much later that Herbst suffered a second flat right-front tire, effectively ending any hopes of a comeback.

“The right-front splitter was getting ripped off, and the fender was flapping,” Herbst said. “But looking at lap times and listening to lap times, we were probably a top-three race car lap-time-wise.

“I knew that the 48 scored points in the first two stages, so we couldn’t just outrun him. I was more than likely going to have to win. But we just needed a few adjustments to run with the 20 and the 9, and I felt like we were good enough there. Then ultimately, in dirty air, we just kind of hit the wall.”

Kligerman’s triumph rewards a return to full-time competition for the first time since 2013 after years of piecemealing seasons together across NASCAR’s three national series. He and the Big Machine Racing outfit have impressed all season, but particularly through the second half of the regular season.

Kligerman netted 10 top-10 finishes in the final 13 races of the 26-race regular season, capped with three top fives in his last four starts.

“I think it more validates like the last 12 (weeks),” Kligerman said, “where I’ve been telling everyone that we’ve been really good, we’re executing at a high level. And we just didn’t exactly have everything to show for it. But I could see it. I could see it happening. I could feel it. I could see it as we crept up on the bubble.

“And I just knew if we just did what we did today – that’s what we’ve been doing. You know, we just, we probably had a little faster car today. And this was a new car, so you hope to see that sort of thing. So yeah, I think today was a day where we executed at the highest level we ever have, for sure, from pit crew, everyone. My pit crew was on it today, thanks to them. And we had a fast car with it.”

The postseason officially begins Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Kligerman enters the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs as the No. 12 seed – last on the grid. But he’s in – and only six points shy of Sheldon Creed for the final position above the provisional elimination line.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – There were no mixed feelings on Parker Kligerman’s part — he was ecstatic that John Hunter Nemechek asserted absolute domination over the rest of the field in Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway.

Nemechek’s sixth victory of the season assured Kligerman, who finished a strong fourth, of a berth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, which open next Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Official results | Weekend schedule

Kligerman outlasted Riley Herbst, who entered the race with a one-point advantage for the final Playoff spot but ran afoul of the left rear of Kligerman’s car after a restart in Stage 2.

Nemechek did all he could to overtake Austin Hill for the Regular Season Championship. He won the first and second stages and beat runner-up Brandon Jones to the finish line by a whopping 7.521 seconds. Hill ran fifth to secure the regular-season title by five points after leading by 23 entering the race.

After Herbst had trouble, the only circumstance that could have kept Kligerman out of the playoffs was a victory by Jones. Nemechek would have none of that.

“(Crew chief) Ben (Beshore) and all the guys made the right adjustments all day,” said Nemechek, who won for the second time at Kansas and the eighth time in his career. “They brought a really fast hot rod. … Overall, just super pumped, super ecstatic.

“I’m looking forward to getting the Playoffs started next week at Bristol. We came in here trying to get the Regular Season Championship. I thought that we were going to have a 60-point day this weekend, and that’s what we did. We controlled what we could control. We did everything that we possibly could.

“So, let’s go to the playoffs — I’m ready.”

MORE: John Hunter Nemechek discusses what win means to him

Sheldon Creed finished third, 11.881 seconds behind Nemechek, followed by Kligerman and Hill.

“I was definitely the biggest John Hunter fan on the last run there,” quipped Kligerman, who finished 25 points ahead of Herbst for the final playoff spot in a battle that featured substantial swings throughout the season. “I’m really proud of this whole Big Machine Racing team. … We executed at a high level.

“With what I’ve seen do for the last 12 weeks, I felt like, if we could just get in the playoffs, and we bring this going forward, we’re going to race for a championship.”

Just short of midway through Stage 2, much of the suspense disappeared from the race for the final Playoff spot. On a restart on Lap 65, Kligerman had difficulty getting his No. 48 Chevrolet into gear. Creed, immediately behind Kligerman, ran into the back of the 48 and moved to the right.

Herbst, who started two cars behind his rival for the final berth, clipped the left-rear of Kligerman’s car with the right-front of the No. 98 Ford, cutting his right-front tire and damaging the quarter panel.

Herbst lost two laps on pit road changing tires, but he regained both circuits in short order, taking a wave-around at the end of Stage 2 and as the beneficiary during the eighth caution for a dramatic Lap 97 wreck at the front of the field involving Creed, Sammy Smith, pole winner Justin Allgaier and Jones.

Back on the lead lap, Herbst charged through the field and reached the ninth position, but another flat right-front tire forced him to pit road on Lap 127 and ended his chances to secure a Playoff berth.

MORE: At-track photos: Kansas

As it turned out, Daniel Hemric clinched the 11th of 12 playoff spots by starting the race, leaving Kligerman and Herbst to battle for the last one. They join Nemechek, Hill, Allgaier, Cole Custer, Sam Mayer, Chandler Smith, Creed, Josh Berry, Sammy Smith and Jeb Burton, all of whom had qualified for the playoffs before Saturday’s race.

Though Hill secured the regular-season title, he feels his Richard Childress Racing team has work to do to match Nemechek’s pace in the upcoming seven playoff races.

“Just happy that we were able to bring home the Regular Season Championship, get the extra 15 bonus points — which is huge,” Hill said. “But we’ve got to go to work. We’ve got to be better. The 20 (Nemechek) was the class of the field all day.

“Really kind of stunk up the show there, so we’ve got to go back to the drawing board, figure out what we’ve got to do better for next time.”

MORE: Austin Hill reacts to winning regular-season title

Berry, Brett Moffitt, Derek Kraus, Joe Graf Jr. and Kaz Grala finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

The seven-race playoffs open Friday with the Food City 300 (7:30 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Note: Inspection in the Xfinity Series garage at Kansas was completed without major issue, confirming Nemechek’s victory. NASCAR officials discovered three teams with unsecured lug nuts in a post-race check. The No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Sheldon Creed was found with two unsecured lugs, which should result in a one-race suspension for crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz and a fine in next week’s penalty report. Two teams each had one unsecured lug nut — the No. 21 RCR Chevrolet of Austin Hill and the No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevy of Jeb Burton. Those infractions should result in a monetary fine for each team’s crew chief, according to guidelines in the NASCAR Rule Book.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Staff Report

Winchester Fair

Monadnock Speedway

  • Qualifying results
Pos No. Name Sponsor Best Tm Best Speed
1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 12.718 70.766
2 64 Austin Beers AP Marquadt & Sons/Lumiere Electrical/Andrew James Interiors 12.728 70.71
3 06 Sam Rameau Quality Fleet Services/Dennison Lubricants 12.762 70.522
4 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K and D Associates/Airgas 12.805 70.285
5 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 12.812 70.247
6 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 12.826 70.17
7 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 12.827 70.164
8 25 Brian Robie* Maurice Enterprises 12.828 70.159
9 21 Jacob Perry* The Royal Screw Machine Co. 12.83 70.148
10 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 12.897 69.784
11 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 12.953 69.482
12 82 Craig Lutz Horton Avenue Materials 12.966 69.412
13 6 Woody Pitkat Koopman Lumbar 13.004 69.209
14 43 Matt Kimball* Adam LaPoint Electrical/Edmunds Ace Hardware 13.023 69.109
15 59 Brett Meservey* BNP Machine 13.031 69.066
16 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 13.228 68.037
17 81 Nathan Wenzel* 1812 Paint and Auto Body 13.271 67.817
18 1 Cory Plummer* Apex Racing/Gene’s Auto Service 13.351 67.411
19 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 13.735 65.526
Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers Kyle Busch and William Byron both found trouble in Saturday’s practice session at Kansas Speedway. Busch will start at the rear of the field for Sunday’s race after an incident forced him to miss qualifying. Byron won’t fall to the rear, keeping his ninth-place starting spot after NASCAR officials found a manufacturing issue with a part his team replaced.

Busch’s trouble came midway through the 20-minute session for Group B drivers when his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevy snapped loose through Turn 4 and scraped the outside retaining wall. He nursed the car back to pit road for repairs, and the team opted to push it back to the Cup Series garage.

Busch did not post a qualifying lap, which will put him at the back of the 36-car field for the green flag of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

RELATED: What to Watch | Kansas weekend schedule

“Just like every other weekend. Always put in a hole, always put behind, always have to come and dig ourselves out,” Busch told NBC Sports. “So, hate it for all the guys, I mean, the car was really good, had good longevity there. We were just running laps and run some pretty good laps comparatively to the rest of our group that we were with at that time. Just gonna fine-tune on some things in order to get ready for qualifying, and here we are starting last again. It just never ends. I don’t know what to do to change it.”

Byron turned eight laps in practice before he brought his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to pit road shortly after the start of the first practice session at the 1.5-mile track, and his crew discovered a broken suspension component. The No. 24 team repaired the part, which allowed Byron to make a qualifying attempt.

An examination and research by NASCAR officials determined that a manufacturing issue affected the upper and lower control arms on the No. 24 Chevy and that the problem was not a team issue. Replacing the part was not ruled as an unapproved adjustment, and Byron is scheduled to start ninth in Sunday’s 400-miler.

Byron told NBC Sports that he felt the issue in his steering during practice and that he was thankful to have it happen in a Saturday preliminary session rather than when points are on the line Sunday.

“I think that’s the fear, for sure,” said Byron, a five-time winner this season. “I mean, it’s better to be fortunate right now and not have that happen in the race. You know, it sucks that we don’t have much of a prediction of what we have for the race. But we got eight laps, and we have pretty good pace. So we just got to kind of go to work and figure out what we’re gonna have tomorrow, pretty much based on the 5 and the 9 (teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, respectively). So try to look at their notes and see what their long-run pace was like, and we’ll just go from there.”

The race is the middle event in the three-race Round of 16, the opening elimination phase of the 10-race postseason.

Hendrick Motorsports crew works on the No. 24 Chevrolet during practice at Kansas Speedway
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Studios
Posted on by Staff Report

Winchester Fair

Monadnock Speedway

  • Practice results
Pos. Car No. Driver Sponsor Best Time Best Speed In Lap Laps Diff.
1 64 Austin Beers AP Marquadt & Sons/Lumiere Electrical/Andrew James Interiors 12.708 70.822 64 73  —
2 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 12.717 70.771 63 64 0.009
3 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 12.763 70.516 52 62 0.055
4 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 12.811 70.252 43 62 0.103
5 82 Craig Lutz Horton Avenue Materials 12.831 70.143 55 57 0.123
6 06 Sam Rameau Quality Fleet Services/Dennison Lubricants 12.844 70.072 6 28 0.136
7 43 Matt Kimball* Adam LaPoint Electrical/Edmunds Ace Hardware 12.879 69.881 7 70 0.171
8 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K and D Associates/Airgas 12.883 69.86 42 47 0.175
9 6 Woody Pitkat Koopman Lumbar 12.908 69.724 27 29 0.2
10 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 12.93 69.606 46 53 0.222
11 25 Brian Robie* Maurice Enterprises 12.932 69.595 51 55 0.224
12 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 12.943 69.536 35 57 0.235
13 59 Brett Meservey* BNP Machine 12.946 69.52 49 51 0.238
14 21 Jacob Perry* The Royal Screw Machine Co. 12.948 69.509 9 42 0.24
15 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 12.959 69.45 38 59 0.251
16 81 Nathan Wenzel* 1812 Paint and Auto Body 13.114 68.629 38 51 0.406
17 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 13.227 68.043 37 41 0.519
18 1 Cory Plummer* Apex Racing/Gene’s Auto Service 13.312 67.608 9 43 0.604
19 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 13.929 64.613 15 19 1.221
Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Denny Hamlin’s recent contract negotiations with Joe Gibbs Racing triggered moments of reflection for the 42-year-old veteran racer.

Those career discussions, of course, evolved into a multiyear agreement with the only organization for which Hamlin has ever driven, announced Aug. 30 and solidifying Hamlin in the No. 11 Toyota for more time to come.

MORE: Kansas schedule | Playoff standings

The Virginia native first set foot in the NASCAR Cup Series in October 2005 — fittingly at Kansas Speedway, where he will race Sunday in the Hollywood Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Nearer to the end of his career than its beginning, Hamlin said his perspective on contracts has indeed evolved since he first entered stock-car racing’s upper echelons.

What they signify now, he said, is more related to what’s left ahead on track than monetary gain.

“When you are younger, you see it as a financial stabilizer,” Hamlin said in a Saturday press conference. “For me, it’s how many more Daytona 500s do I have left? How many more opportunities do I have to win certain events that are special to me personally or help me accomplish a goal that I’m trying to accomplish? It really puts in perspective the urgency of accomplishing as much as you can here in the short term.

“When you are younger, in your 20s or low 30s, you have so much runway, where if you don’t get it this time, I’ll get it the next (contract period). I’ve been very, very fortunate in the financial planning that my team has put together – we never planned past (age) 40 as far as income was concerned, so this is all me telling myself, how many more opportunities will I have?”

There is no definitive answer to that question, but his resume already stands tall with three Daytona 500 championships, three Southern 500 victories at Darlington Raceway and a Coca-Cola 600 triumph at Charlotte Motor Speedway helping make up his 50 total Cup wins. Going out quietly is something he hopes to avoid.

“I want to compete at a high level in my final year. I don’t want to kind of trickle off. I’m way too competitive to do it,” Hamlin said. “There is no way I could go to the race track not knowing that I could win. I understand there will be a day when things fall off. Things get slower for you. You will never know when that day will come, but now that I’ve been doing it so long – it definitely puts a sense of urgency in years like this where, man, I’ve got all of the things I need to compete each and every week.

“This could be one of the best shots we’ve had to win it all. You really put an emphasis on it, knowing there’s only so many total races left. And if you want to get to your personal goals, you’ve got to capitalize on every single weekend.”

Cars and teams also evolve so quickly in NASCAR that competitors understand success can be fleeting — gone as quickly as it comes. Hamlin dominated much of the Southern 500 last weekend at Darlington, leading 177 of 367 laps, but a loose wheel in the closing 100 laps mired Hamlin deep in the field and out of winning contention.

MORE: Hamlin’s strong day unravels at Darlington

The sting of missed opportunities resonates that much more when fewer races remain out the windshield.

“I would say it’s natural to get a little more emotional when those situations come about because, like last week – how many more chances at the Southern 500 will I have to win?” Hamlin said. “We don’t even know – will our cars compete next year? Will we be as strong? No one knows. There’s so many ebbs and flows in the sport, so you always want to take advantage of the opportunities.

“(Crew chief) Chris Gabehart keeps a strict tally of when our running or winning capability is a one. Last week marked our 59th race-winning-capability weekend. We haven’t won nearly that many – 59 times. That is a lot since 2019. When we look at why we haven’t, I feel comfortable saying I’m doing all I can do. Sometimes, these things are just out of our hands.

“I can only do my job to the best of my ability and continue to try to bring the team up. I really feel confident – no matter what the outcome – that I’m not letting any weekends slip away. I wish I honestly had the discipline way back when, in the early 30s and 20s, that I do now with my work ethic. It’s paid huge dividends.”