William Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet failed Friday’s pre-race inspection at the Indianapolis Road Course.
Due to failing three times, Byron will not be allowed to participate in Saturday’s qualifying session and will have to serve a pass-through penalty on pit road after completing the opening lap during Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). The No. 24 team also loses car chief Tyler Jones for the weekend and will not get pit selection for Sunday.
Byron leads all Cup Series drivers with four wins in the 2023 season and currently sits third in the points standings, 96 points behind Martin Truex Jr. in the battle for the coveted regular-season title that awards 15 playoff points to the winner.
Since winning at Atlanta last month, Byron has finished outside the top 10 in four consecutive races.
The NASCAR Cup Series playoff bubble is hotly contested with three races to go in the regular season. In a unique twist, road-course aces make up a large chunk of drivers still aiming to clinch a berth into the 16-driver field, including Michael McDowell, Daniel Suárez and AJ Allmendinger. The drama will surely intensify with the Indianapolis Road Course and Watkins Glen making up two of the final three races.
Entering Indy on Sunday, 12 drivers had locked themselves into the postseason with a victory, leaving four spots still up for grabs. When the field takes the green flag for the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), a handful of big names still have yet to solidify their playoff position. See who currently sits just above the elimination line, just below and on the outside looking in with stats provided by Racing Insights.
Indy outlook — Hit or Miss: As far as road courses go, Indianapolis might be Wallace’s best. He finished 13th in the inaugural event in 2021 and earned his first top-five finish on a road course last season. However, Wallace has finished 17th or worse in the last three road-course events.
TY GIBBS
Points above: 3
Trending: Mostly Cold
Indy outlook — Cold Start: Gibbs finished 17th in his first Cup start on the Indy road course, but he owns top 10s in two of the three road-course races this season. Don’t be surprised if he’s running up front on Sunday.
☣️ ON THE BUBBLE
MICHAEL MCDOWELL
Points below: 3
Trending: Cold
Indy outlook — Hit or Miss: McDowell fell below the top 16 after a 24th-place showing at Michigan. But a pair of road courses upcoming could easily put him back on the positive side of the elimination line. McDowell’s worst finish on a road course this season was 12th at Circuit of The Americas. Last season, McDowell finished eighth at Indy.
DANIEL SUÁREZ
Points below: 5
Trending: Michigan Snapped Cold Streak
Indy outlook — Ice Cold: Suárez was caught up in multiple incidents over the last two races on the Indy Road Course. He’s finished no better than 28th on the layout, and he only has a best finish of 22nd on a road course this season (Sonoma).
AJ ALLMENDINGER
Points below: 24
Trending: Cold
Indy outlook — Hot: Allmendinger was the inaugural winner of the Indianapolis Road Course race and finished seventh on the circuit last year. However, he has just one top-10 finish on a road course this year — Sonoma (sixth).
ALEX BOWMAN
Points below: 44
Trending: Cold
Indy outlook — Cold: What was looking like a great points day for Bowman was for naught as an incident in the final stage at Michigan forced the No. 48 Chevrolet to the garage. Bowman is likely in a must-win situation, but the Indy Road Course doesn’t trend in his favor with only a best finish of 17th in the inaugural event.
🚩 MUST-WIN SITUATION
AUSTIN CINDRIC
Points below: 53
Trending: Cold
Indy outlook — Hot: The next two weeks are going to be Cindric’s best chances to earn his way into the postseason. He was the runner-up at Indy last year and is just one of two drivers (Allmendinger) to own top 10s in the first two races on the road course.
CHASE ELLIOTT
Points below: 55
Trending: Cold
Indy outlook — Hit or Miss: A DNF in the first stage at Michigan has put the 2020 Cup champion in a must-win scenario for the final three weeks of the regular season. Luckily for Elliott, he’s one of the best Cup drivers on road courses with top fives on the last two road courses and seven career victories on left-and right-turn tracks.
Indy outlook — Hit or Miss: Haley nearly shocked the Cup Series field after leading late at Chicago before Shane van Gisbergen took control in the final laps. Haley owns a top-10 finish on the Indy Road Course, but he’ll need to find Victory Lane to make the postseason.
ARIC ALMIROLA
Points below: 81
Trending: Mostly Cold
Indy outlook — Cold: Almirola finished 38th (DNF) last year on the Indy Road Course and has 20 consecutive finishes of 12th or worse on road courses.
RYAN PREECE
Points below: 89
Trending: Mostly Cold
Indy outlook — Cold: Preece owns only one Cup start on the Indy Road Course, a 35th-place finish in 2021. He has nine straight finishes of 13th or worse on road courses.
Kamui Kobayashi hasn’t turned a lap yet in NASCAR Cup Series competition, but he’s already found a home with 23XI Racing. The Japanese endurance-racing star shadowed the team for the inaugural Chicago Street Race weekend and has already made multiple visits to the Mooresville, North Carolina, shop to become better acquainted with the stock-car operations.
But there was one finishing touch needed to help make him look the part. When asked in a video teleconference earlier this week how the team co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and NASCAR veteran Denny Hamlin had made him feel welcome, Kobayashi turned the screen and lifted his feet into view, revealing a new release — the Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG in neutral ‘washed black’ hues.
Now properly shoed, Kobayashi is gearing up for his Cup Series debut in Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM, NBC Sports App). Drivers from seven countries will compete in this weekend’s event, and Kobayashi will be the first Japanese driver to wheel a Toyota in Cup Series competition, taking the reins of 23XI’s No. 67 TRD Camry.
The deal was announced in June at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports raced as the Garage 56 entrant, and where Kobayashi competed for the overall crown for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Hypercar class. The 36-year-old driver has experience in formula cars and is a WEC champion twice over, but the chance to drive in NASCAR’s top series has been a long-sought wish.
“I was asking so many times, like back three, four years ago,” Kobayashi said. “I asked to drive the simulator with NASCAR, and many times asked to get an opportunity. It was never really happening, but somehow this time, it’s now an opportunity. As you know, I think now many global drivers are trying NASCAR and they’ve been quite successful.”
Shane van Gisbergen showed how well standouts from international motorsports disciplines could fare, and the New Zealander dazzled the stock-car crowd in winning the Chicago race with Trackhouse Racing his first time out.
SVG’s return for Indy to join the likes of Jenson Button, Brodie Kostecki, Mike Rockenfeller and Kobayashi in the field has made this weekend’s event feel like a showcase. 23XI Racing team president Steve Lauletta said his organization is happy to contribute to the world-class feel, adding Kobayashi to its roster for the event alongside Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace.
“Well, it is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, right? One of, if not the most iconic race tracks in the world, certainly on that short list, so you would expect it to have that level of interest,” Lauletta told NASCAR.com. “Then when you throw some of these global motorsports stars into the mix, it definitely adds more interest, shines a brighter light on the sport, which we all want to see happen, and I think it’s great that we could be part of that.”
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
***
Recent months have been busy for Kobayashi, ever since Toyota placed its first calls to 23XI to gauge the team’s interest. His participation in team activities in July at Chicago was in-depth — walking the track, sitting in on debriefs, adding his insights based on his experience with wet-weather driving and how to apply it to Cup Series cars.
The weekend after Chicago, Kobayashi made his way to Italy to lead the No. 7 Toyota team to victory in the WEC’s 6 Hours of Monza. He was back stateside soon thereafter to resume his NASCAR immersion. “That’s just been his dedication to do it the right way,” Lauletta says. “It’s been really fun to watch.”
The preparation included a trip to Virginia International Raceway on July 19, when Kobayashi made his first Next Gen laps in a special test. Reddick, the defending Indy Road Course winner and his 23XI teammate, accompanied the team to provide feedback and pointers.
For Reddick, it was light-duty work.
“It didn’t take long at all,” Reddick told NASCAR.com, noting how soon Kobayashi found speed. “I was really impressed, just by how quickly he took to adjusting to the car. I mean, it was Lap 3 running pretty much what we thought the pace was going to be for the weekend, and then he just continued to shave seconds off that as we went. So just really impressed by his car control, his feel for the limit of this car, of the tire.”
Finding a rhythm with a heavier car is one aspect of Kobayashi’s learning curve, but another is the full-contact driving style that he can expect — especially on late-race restarts, and especially as the field funnels into the tight first turn with momentum from the main straightaway. Visiting drivers experienced that in March at Circuit of The Americas, and IMSA champion Jordan Taylor was among those who said “The aggression definitely caught me off guard. I think I had more contact today in one race than probably my entire career combined.”
Reddick was able to steer clear of the late-race chaos at COTA to score the win. Part of his work with Kobayashi has been to prepare him for the sometimes-bruising nature of NASCAR road-course racing. Kobayashi seems to grasp it, saying, “It’s big drama every time.”
“We’ve been going over that some, and that will continue to be a topic as we get closer,” Reddick said. “Certainly it’s a little bit more chaotic, drivers are just more aggressive, and there’s less penalty for contact over here in comparison to what he’s used to doing. These cars just don’t really take a lot of damage, when you have door-to-door, bumper-to-bumper contact. So just kind of walking him through that, getting him an understanding of that, will be important, but he kind of got to get a taste of how chaotic it can be in Chicago.”
The rest of the prep, Kobayashi says, boils down to studying the procedurals.
“Just, I need to do the best I can do,” he said. “It’s just small details which are different, like pit-lane speeds, obviously, the restarts — every little detail that might be a problem for me, but apart from that, I’m pretty confident.”
***
23XI Racing has fielded the No. 67 car in just one other race, placing action-sports dynamo Travis Pastrana in the seat for his year’s Daytona 500. Pastrana had just one full season of Xfinity Series competition 10 years ago but found his way to an 11th-place finish in his Cup Series debut.
The result was one positive aspect, but Lauletta said Pastrana’s participation brought a new audience to the NASCAR world. A similar expectation stems from Kobayashi’s first start, which he said has stirred up interest back in his home country.
David Wilson, Toyota Racing Development (TRD) USA president, said at the unveiling of the No. 67 effort at Le Mans that “we are absolutely open to using this as a platform to bring in other drivers on occasion.” He cautioned, however, that the challenge remained in doing it the right way. Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 initiative has taken a measured approach to highlighting international stars, and Sunday’s race will mark just its fourth start in two seasons — two for van Gisbergen and two for former F1 star Kimi Räikkönen. Lauletta said 23XI will also pick its spots where it makes the most sense.
“We think not only does it help us on the track because we’re learning things, particularly the races that we’re picking that will help our core programs of the 23 and the 45, it’s also helping us as a brand to kind of build our fan base and build our reach,” Lauletta says. “And so, when opportunities come up in the future, we don’t want to do it too often where we do start to take our eye off the ball of our two full-time championship-fighting efforts and race-winning efforts, but when an opportunity for those two things of on-track competition and learning and building our brand come about, we certainly now we’re comfortable enough that we have the infrastructure and the people that we can react.”
Having that support system in place is one matter; another is having the latest re-issue Air Jordan high-tops at the ready as a finishing touch.
“Just having gifts to welcome him to our team and have him feel like this is an important endeavor for us, we want them to feel like they’re part of the family,” Lauletta says. “So he’s been a joy, great to have around and just a professional in every way.”
That footwear bears Jordan’s name, but not his autograph. Not yet, anyway.
“I’m waiting for him to sign my shoes,” says Kobayashi, ready for his first meeting with his team co-owner and his first Cup Series start.
Entering the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course five points below the elimination line, Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez sent a strong message by taking the Busch Light Pole Award in qualifying. Suárez earns his third career NASCAR Cup Series pole at the most important time of the year as he hopes to solidify his spot in the postseason. The driver of the No. 99 Chevrolet will start alongside 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick. Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch complete the top-five starters. | Read the full practice, qualifying recap
Big story line
Can an international driver reach Victory Lane? Including the American-born drivers, seven countries will be represented in Sunday’s race. Joining Daniel Suárez (Mexico) in a field with an international flavor are Shane van Gisbergen (New Zealand), Brodie Kostecki (Australia), Jenson Button (United Kingdom), Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) and Mike Rockenfeller (Germany). In contention for a playoff spot, Suárez needs a win the most out of this group. The Trackhouse Racing driver is five points out from a postseason berth, with only three races remaining in the regular season. Prioritizing stage points will certainly help Suárez’s case as time runs out on the regular season, but a win at Indy would help him rest easier for the next couple of weeks. Chicago Street Course winner van Gisbergen makes his second career Cup Series start in Trackhouse’s Project 91 car, looking to win two races in two starts. Suárez and van Gisbergen are two of six foreign-born drivers to win a Cup Series race. Kostecki (Richard Childress Racing) and Kobayashi (23XI Racing) probably have the best chance of becoming the seventh international driver to win at the premier level, despite the huge challenges ahead in their Cup Series debuts. | Relive SVG’s history-making moment in Chicago
History tells us…
AJ Allmendinger will be someone to watch. Whenever NASCAR heads to a road course, Allmendinger is always one of the early favorites to win. In 2021, he gave Kaulig Racing the organization’s first and only win in the Cup Series at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. Last year, he finished seventh. Entering Sunday’s race, Allmendinger is only one of two drivers to finish in the top 10 in both Indy road races. In his last seven road-course starts, the driver of the No. 16 Chevrolet has five top-1o finishes. More is on the line this year at Indy because Allmendinger is only 24 points below the elimination line. Given his comfort level at these types of tracks, Indy and next weekend at Watkins Glen seem like Allmendinger’s best chances to punch a ticket to the postseason by simply winning. The one possible paint point? His uncharacteristic 26th-place starting position. | Preview Show: Will a familiar face kiss the bricks?
He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for…
Chris Buescher. With only a few weeks remaining until the 2023 Cup Series playoffs, RFK Racing is building plenty of momentum at the right time. Buescher comes to Indianapolis riding a two-race win streak, after visiting Victory Lane in back-to-back weeks at Richmond and Michigan. On Sunday, the No. 17 team could win its third consecutive Cup Series race. While Buescher enters the Indianapolis race weekend with 20-1 odds of taking the checkered flag again, his recent success on road courses means another win cannot be ruled out. The RFK driver currently has eight consecutive top-10 finishes on road courses, which is the longest streak among active drivers. Given Buescher’s hot streak the last couple of weeks, look for him to make it nine straight top 10s turning left and right, including a realistic shot at his third win of 2023. | Kyle Petty: ‘We are witnessing the birth of Chris Buescher’
Familiar favorites ⭐️
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• At-track photos: See the best images from Indianapolis weekend | Photos • Bubble Watch: Road-course aces get their chance to shine | See where drivers stand
• Paint Scheme Preview: See the schemes for Indianapolis | Pick a favorite • Power Rankings: RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher gained four positions after going back-to-back at Richmond and Michigan | Latest driver rankings
• Stacking Pennies: Corey LaJoie chats with Australian Supercars driver Brodie Kostecki ahead of his Cup Series debut | Listen to the podcast
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• Fantasy Live: Participate in interactive gameplay from week to week | Choose your lineup • Fan Rewards: New in 2023, get rewarded for your participation | Learn more • NASCAR BetCenter: Don’t miss your chance to make picks each week | Visit the BetCenter
• Going the distance: 2023 Cup Series championship odds | See them here
Prior to this season, 19-year-old Payton Talbot had never raced at a NASCAR track.
This summer, while racing at both the newly-NASCAR sanctioned Fonda Speedway and Utica-Rome Speedway in New York, he unexpectedly has found himself at the top of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division II national standings.
The South New Berlin, New York driver has six wins and 10 top fives in 12 races at Fonda, where he’s leading the points in the track’s Swagger Factory Apparel Crate 602 Sportsman standings. At Utica-Rome, he has three wins and has finished in the top five in all nine races to also put himself in first in the Vernon, New York track’s Worthington Industries Crate 602 Sportsman standings.
“Honestly it’s been a breakout year for us,” Talbot said. “We ended up with eight wins last year, but this year we’ve had a really good year so far.”
Talbot is in his 10th year of racing, but it’s still a pretty new sport to him and his family. No one in his immediately family raced.
When he was growing up, Talbot spent time with Ed and Sally Wilson while his parents were at work. They weren’t his biological grandparents, but he became so close to the couple he started calling them Pops and Grandma Sally.
The Wilsons owned a late model team in the 1980s and 1990s, and they would often show old videos of their races to Talbot when he was as young as 2 or 3.
“They basically raised me while my mom and dad were working, and they were always into racing, so they got me started,” Talbot said. “They backed us financially-wise and everything.”
Talbot said he was “pretty obsessed” with racing from those videos and watching NASCAR. He was such a big Tony Stewart fan he still drives the No. 14.
When he got a little older, Talbot’s dad took him to a go-kart track.
“We just spent the day there, and ever since then, we were pretty hooked on it,” he said.
Talbot traveled up and down the East Coast and midwest racing go-karts for about five years before he made the switch to a sportsman car when he was 14. His family found a used car they raced until this year.
The young driver didn’t expect to have so much success so quickly. He is the defending sportsman champion at Fonda, where he’s been racing since 2019.
He credits his success at both tracks this summer largely to a new chassis his team built in the spring, plus consistency and better decision making as a driver.
“I’ve really enjoyed this car so far; it’s been really good,” Talbot said. “Mike here at Fastline Performance sets us up with really good stuff.
“I feel like I can make, I don’t want to say better decision, I feel like I was decent last year, but I feel a lot more comfortable this year with this car. I definitely think I’m a little more consistent, for sure.”
At both Fonda and Utica-Rome, where Talbot has been driving since 2021, there are experienced, good drivers he has been battling in the standings. Matt Janczuk has seven wins and is second in the standings at Utica-Rome, 26 points behind Talbot.
Chad Edwards is 25 points behind Talbot in the points at Fonda.
Talbot said competing against good drivers only makes him better.
“Matt, he’s tough anywhere he goes,” Talbot said. “He’s a competitor every single night. You walk into any track, and you know you’ve got to beat him. Matt is one of the best sportsman drives out there for sure.
“Chad’s been really, really tough at Fonda; he’s good anywhere he goes, too. … You’ve got good guys at every track, and then you’ve got guys that you know you’ve got to walk in and beat. They’re both tough. It definitely makes me a better driver, makes you work a lot harder, for sure.”
Talbot will get a chance to defend his Fonda title this weekend when the track hosts its Benjamin Moore Paints Championship Night.
There are still six races remaining at Utica, where Talbot said he’s struggled a little more than Fonda. He’d be happy to just finish strong there, and continue to collect national points.
“Matt Janczuk being at Utica-Rome for so long, he’s tough to beat,” Talbot said. “We got three wins early on in the year, and he’s got seven on us since then, so he’s going to be tough to beat… but all we can do is our best. If we run second to him, it’s still better than running fourth or fifth or losing points, for sure.”
Talbot is sponsored by Teds Body Shop, LMC Industrial Contractors, Parker Excavating, Broedel Energy, Fastline Performance, Bicknell Racing Products, Dig Race Products, Precision Hydraulic & Oil, Terrys Custom Coatings, Training Tails Dog Training + Daycare, J&D Farms, MIR Raceline, Competition Carburetion, Next Generation Graphix and DNA Designs.
Competing for a national title was never a goal for Talbot coming into this season. Having never raced NASCAR before, he said he never expected to even be close to having a shot. But with just a few weeks left in the season, he has a 42-point lead in the Division II national points and the most wins of any driver in the top five.
He tries not to look at the points, but he’s hoping his consistency at two tracks will give him the boost he needs.
“As long as we can go out here and do what we do on a normal week, it’s just about focus,” he said. “You don’t want to put any added pressure on yourself. That’s when mistakes happen. I haven’t watched a lot of the points… it would be awesome to stay where we are, for sure. I don’t know, I think it’s going to be tough, but we’re going to try our best, for sure.”
Racing will return to Utica-Rome Speedway on Friday for the track’s Algonkin Motel/Slade Automotive & Friendly Family of Dealerships night, featuring modifieds and all divisions.
Fonda’s championship night on Saturday will feature all divisions plus Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Series.
While the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series try to clarify their playoff scenarios on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, 10 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers will start their quest for a title in the first of seven postseason races — Friday’s TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (9 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
After the playoff reset, Regular-Season Champion Corey Heim tops the standings with 2,030 points entering the Round of 10. Second-place Zane Smith, the defending series champion, has 2,022.
Two drivers face elimination in the opening round, and Heim is thankful for the extra 15 points he earned as Regular Season Champion.
“I think from a logistical viewpoint, as far as the amount of playoff points that put us ahead, it definitely means a lot — just being able to have that buffer going into the playoffs, and not have that close counter with the playoff cutline right from the start,” Heim said during Truck Series Media Day on Tuesday.
“I feel like it is nice to start the playoffs off with a little less stress and being able to go from there. I feel like, at the same time, if you have one bad race, one DNF and you are kind of back to earth again. I feel like that there’s positives and negatives to it. I think that kind of stems from the playoff format as it is, but it’s certainly not a bad thing to be the Regular-Season Champion.”
Fifth-place Grant Enfinger (2,017 points) is the defending winner of the race at the historic 0.686-mile short track. Another victory there would give him a ticket to the Round of 8.
“I’m excited to get the playoffs started, and I feel good about starting it out at IRP,” Enfinger said. “Our GMS Racing guys are working hard to bring us just as good of a Chevy as we had last year.
“I think that IRP is a great track for the Truck Series. It has multiple grooves we can choose, but it’s still a tough short track with a lot of character.”
The Verizon 200 at the Brickyard is set to deliver a thrilling race on Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, highlighted by an immense amount of international flair.
Check out trends to watch, important info on Goodyear tires and interactive ways to follow all the action.
NASCAR officials have moved the GEICO Restart Zone to the short chute between Turns 13 and 14 ahead of Sunday’s race, a change from the frontstretch where restarts were typically held in each of the first two races at the Indy Road Course.
The change was made to allow the field more space heading down the Brickyard’s long front straightway before bunching tightly into the 90-degree right-handed Turn 1, where drag races in prior years resulted in heavy contact.
In the new restart zone, drivers are permitted to change lanes once clear of the zone, with no need to wait until the start/finish line to make a move. This year’s event is also the first at Indy to feature the choose rule, with the Choose ‘V’ located prior to Turn 7.
— Chevrolet drivers have won both poles and both races at the Indy Road Course.
— Tyler Reddick won after leading the most laps (38) in 2022.
— Each of the two races run at the Indy Road Course have ended in NASCAR Overtime and featured five or more cautions.
— Five different drivers have won the last five road-course races (Watkins Glen — Kyle Larson; Charlotte Roval ’22 — Christopher Bell; COTA — Tyler Reddick; Sonoma — Martin Truex Jr,; Chicago — Shane van Gisbergen).
As noted earlier, the choose rule will be in effect at Indianapolis for the first time, a change at all road courses in 2023. Additionally, there will be no stage breaks this weekend. Points will be awarded on the designated stage-ending laps for Stage 1 and Stage 2, but a caution flag will not be displayed for the stage end.
Goodyear runs one tire on Cup cars at road courses with two different tire codes, which will allow the tires to tread directionally as a way to handle the stress expected to be put on them. As such, the tires used this weekend will be the same setup that was previously run this season at Circuit of The Americas, Sonoma Raceway and the Chicago Street Course.
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.
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.
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:
Make sure your iOS device has been updated to 16.1 or higher.
Available on the leaderboard of all NASCAR Series races.
Click on the three-dot menu near the top right of screen.
Select “Follow the Race.”
Swipe up to access the home screen and you will see the Live Activities at the top.
Lock the device and you will see Live Activities on the Lock Screen.
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 is open now. 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 $25,000 prize for the winner.
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.
For the record-extending 151st time in series history, Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park will welcome the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on Wednesday, Aug. 16 for the running of the Thompson 150.
The 11th race of the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule marks the first of two visits to Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park this year for the series. Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park is perhaps the most historic venue on the series schedule, having hosted the first race in the modern history of the Tour on March 31, 1985.
Appropriately, one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR Modified history, Richie Evans won that race as well as the next three held at the track that year. He’s one of 37 drivers to grace Victory Lane at Thompson, including fellow Modified legends like Ted Christopher, Jeff Fuller, Rick Fuller and Tony Hirschman, as well as modern stars like Justin Bonsignore, Doug Coby and Ron Silk.
Tickets to Wednesday’s Thompson 150 are available trackside. Below is everything you need to know about the 11th race of the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.
Thompson 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park
What to watch for:
The last time Eric Goodale or Craig Lutz visited Victory Lane with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, it was at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park last season.
The two veteran drivers will look to add another Thompson victory to their respective resumes next Wednesday when they both return to action with the series for the running of the Thompson 150.
They’ll be faced with a number of top contenders who will all be looking to add a trophy from Thompson their respective trophy cases. They include Justin Bonsignore, who sits third on the all-time Modified Tour win list at Thompson with 12 victories at the historic track.
Doug Coby and Ron Silk — who have six and five victories, respectively, at Thompson in Modified Tour competition — will also be among the contenders on Wednesday evening.
Austin Beers, fresh off his second victory of the season at Lancaster Motorplex, will attempt to add his name to the list of Thompson winners with a victory in the No. 64 KLM Motorsports Modified. Another driver looking for his first Modified Tour win at Thompson is Matt Hirschman, who will be back in the No. 60 for PeeDee Motorsports.
Five-time Thompson Modified Tour winner Bobby Santos III will look to rebound after a crash in his most recent race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with a strong performance Wednesday. Also back in action with the Tour is Matt Swanson, who made his return to the Tour with an eighth-place finish at New Hampshire.
Brett Meservey will make his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour debut alongside other notable entrants like Jake Johnson, Woody Pitkat, Patrick Emerling and Anthony Nocella.
Cars line up for qualifying during the Phoenix Communications 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on August 18, 2022 in Thompson, Connecticut. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)
Schedule: Wednesday, Aug. 16 … Final practice from 4 to 5 p.m. ET … Qualifying at 6:20 p.m. ET … Thompson 150 at 8 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 Thompson 150 is limited to 30 starters including Provisional Positions.
Tire allotment: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eleven (11) 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 three (3) tires, any position.
The 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season has been a year of many firsts for Nick Sanchez.
For the 22-year-old rookie, the opportunity to compete for a title in this year’s Truck Series Playoffs is another first to add to the list, starting with this Friday’s Round of 10 opener at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
But the allure of simply competing in his inaugural postseason isn’t solely what the No. 2 Chevrolet driver for Rev Racing has in mind. For Sanchez, the possibility of winning could feasibly be in the cards. And the idea of finding Victory Lane for the first time in his Truck Series career — and during a title hunt, no less — would certainly cross another first off the list.
“I think that would be amazing. Obviously, being close many times this year, but I feel like if there is a time to get it done, it’s definitely now, and I know that win would be multiplied times 10 because I’d advance to the next round,” Sanchez said Tuesday via teleconference during playoff media day. “If it’s in the Round of 8, I’d go to the championship round, so I think it’s a really unique format, but I think that would be amazing to hopefully get a win here in the playoffs and compete for a championship in Phoenix.”
After Rev Racing announced its expansion into the national series — with Sanchez as pilot of its No. 2 entry — the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Driver Development Program participant wasted no time making his appearance known in the Truck Series. Sanchez not only claimed the pole in his first-ever Truck Series start at Daytona International Speedway to open the 2023 campaign but amassed four pole awards during the regular season, most in the entire circuit.
Of course, speed was always there for the former ARCA Menards Series standout. To go along with four career wins, Sanchez additionally netted 18 top-five and 31 top-10 finishes while competing in the series. A banner 2022 — in which Sanchez compiled three wins, nine top fives and 16 top 10s — eventually culminated with the driver earning an ARCA championship.
Fast forward almost a full calendar year later and Sanchez finds similar speed, headlined by two top-five and eight top-10 finishes during the regular season. And while he doesn’t incorporate any strategy from that 2022 title year to his chances at a Truck championship in 2023, he does understand where he must be cognizant.
“I think the area that I need to improve on is just execution from start to finish in a race,” Sanchez said. “Usually, we qualify very amazing, top three most of the time, but I feel like you kinda gotta keep that up regardless of how the race plays out or strategy. You have to find a way to be there at the end, so I think that’s gonna be the emphasis I’m gonna put on these next seven races, honestly. Just kind of inverting my race, finishing where I started, so I think that’s the area as a driver I want to improve on.
“I think also aggression. I think, as a rookie, I don’t want to say I’ve been pushed around a little bit, but I’ve definitely been used up a good bit, and part of that is just me trying to be cautious knowing my points position, but I feel like, at least where I am now, it’s the playoffs. I have nothing to lose. So, I think just ramp that aggression up a little bit and start making more aggressive moves to hold position or advance position.”
For Sanchez, the goal of executing through continued speed and increased aggression could be the remedy to not only finding Victory Lane for the first time but outlasting the cream of the Truck Series crop once the Championship 4 race in Phoenix rolls around. Sanchez’s 231 laps led during the regular season ranked third among the entire Truck Series field, and while it was trumped by regular-season champion Corey Heim (408), Sanchez believes he has what it takes to battle with him and other steady contenders.
“It is a very strong field from top to bottom,” Sanchez said. “Week by week, you really don’t know who’s gonna be in Victory Lane, but I think, as far as raw speed goes, I would put us up there right with the 11 (Heim), week-by-week, as the fastest trucks in qualifying and just the fastest on speed, and I think part of what you see in that is truck. I have a really fast truck, but I think once you get to the race, sometimes, I don’t necessarily know right from wrong. Usually, I’ve qualified on pole a good bit. I go out, get a lead and then I lose it in restart, and that’s the first time I’ve experienced dirty air.
“Knowing that I have a fast truck, I just need to put a big emphasis on closing out races, and I think, once me and my team can accomplish that, I feel like we’re gonna be at the top echelon of the field as far as for a shot to win and a shot at the title.”
As postseason play gets underway, Sanchez will look to continue growing as a young driver looking to cement his place in the Truck Series. But above all else, the No. 2 driver will look to keep it simple. There is momentum to build around with a strong regular season behind him, after all.
“I think my expectation for the rest of the season is just to compete for wins and ultimately get to Phoenix, but I feel like the rest of the season, I want to treat every race as its own season,” Sanchez said. “Not really worried about points too much, not really worried about the end goal of Phoenix. Just living the moment and taking it race-by-race, but I think for me, at this point, just competing for wins. That’s the only thing that I haven’t done this year, win. So, I feel like, race-by-race, I just wanna put myself in position at the end to be there and advance.”
And perhaps that position will help check off another first or two.
What to watch for:
