Editor’s Note: Keep tabs on this page for lineup advice following qualifying, including changes you should consider.
Fantasy Update: An intriguing practice session where lap times drastically fell off was topped by Tyler Reddick over the long haul. The No. 45 Toyota blistered the field — and his right-rear quarter panel — in qualifying, backing up his quick pace from practice. The primary changes in this lineup for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 are adding Bubba Wallace and Brad Keselowski into the rotation, replacing William Byron and Chase Briscoe. Qualifying toward the front was of the essence for Keselowski, and with a fifth-place starting spot, he is my new 36 for 36 pick.
My lineup: Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski. Garage: Chris Buescher.
Anticipation levels are high for this weekend’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. With Darlington on the list of venues using the higher horsepower, lower downforce aerodynamic package in 2026, multiple drivers believe tire falloff could exceed four seconds throughout the course of a run. Chase Briscoe said last week that he wrecked nearly every sim session he ran. All of that is going to make it challenging for fantasy!
Returning to Fastlane this year is my weekly NASCAR 36 for 36 pick, where you can play along. It’s a season-long points battle introduced in 2024 where strategy is the primary emphasis. With 36 chartered cars and 36 races on the 2026 schedule, players can choose each car once for the duration of the season.
Driver:Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, No. 11 Toyota Selections remaining: 8 Comment: When it comes to managing tires, few drivers in the modern era are better than Hamlin. The 61-time Cup winner is notorious for taking care of his equipment and pouncing at the end of runs. Aside from his five victories, his 7.9 average finish is the best all-time among drivers with more than two starts.
Driver:Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing, No. 19 Toyota Selections remaining: 10 Comment: Briscoe just needs a clean Darlington after an erratic start to the season, placing 26th in the regular-season championship standings. The good news is, Briscoe has won two of the last three Darlington races and put on a masterclass last fall by leading 309 of 367 laps.
Driver:William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, No. 24 Chevrolet Selections remaining: 9 Comment: It was the spring Darlington race last year that Byron nearly perfected, leading the opening 243 laps from the pole. Ultimately, he dropped to second, one of his five finishes of eighth or better in the last seven trips to South Carolina.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
DRIVERS TO AVOID
Driver:Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, No. 12 Ford Selections remaining: 7 Comment: Darlington’s moniker of being the track “Too Tough to Tame” rings true for Blaney. In 18 attempts, he has a single top five finish and an average finish of 18.7. Three of his four Darlington top 10s have come in the last six races.
Driver:Joey Logano, Team Penske, No. 22 Ford Selections remaining: 8 Comment: Since nudging Byron out of the way for the win in the closing laps of the 2022 spring Darlington race, the numbers have gone downhill at the 1.33-mile, egg-shaped track for the three-time Cup champion. Logano has just one top 10 in the last six Darlington races and hasn’t led a single lap during that span.
Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR Digital Media
SLEEPERS OF THE WEEK
Driver:Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing, No. 6 Ford Selections remaining: 9 Comment: Broken leg or not, Keselowski is quietly posting consistent finishes, ranking 12th in the Cup Series standings. His lone win since becoming a team owner came in this race two years ago. In his last seven Darlington bids, he has six top-15 finishes, including four finishes of seventh or better.
Driver:Erik Jones, Legacy Motor Club, No. 43 Toyota Selections remaining: 10 Comment: Whenever Darlington is looming, Jones, a two-time Southern 500 winner, perks up. His six top-five and nine top-10 efforts at Darlington are his most at any race track. He finished third in last year’s Southern 500, with both Legacy Motor Club entries cracking the top five.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
FEATURED MATCHUPS
Denny Hamlin vs. William Byron Pick: Hamlin Comment: This matchup has the potential to come down to the wire, as both drivers shine at Darlington. Hamlin gets the nod, though, as nobody in Cup history can touch his level of consistency at the “Lady in Black.”
Chase Elliott vs. Christopher Bell Pick: Bell Comment: Neither driver has reached Victory Lane at the Cup level at Darlington, but the No. 20 team has been close recently. Bell has a pair of third-place finishes in the last three Darlington races, while Elliott has two top-five finishes across the last 12 races here.
Ross Chastain vs. Daniel Suárez Pick: Chastain Comment: Bad blood between the former Trackhouse Racing teammates spilled into Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend and their strained relationship became more clear during the week. Chastain is normally a contender at Darlington, finishing 11th or better in five straight races here. Meanwhile, Suárez has one top 10 in 16 starts.
Brad Keselowski vs. Ty Gibbs Pick: Keselowski Comment: Gibbs is on the best stretch of finishes of his Cup career — three straight top fives for the first time in his career — but Keselowski is the pick. Sure, Gibbs finished runner-up here in 2024, but it was to Keselowski, who is a two-time Darlington victor.
MY LINEUP
Starting five: Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick. Garage: Chris Buescher
36 FOR 36
Pick: Erik Jones, Legacy Motor Club, No. 43 Toyota Comment: Bringing back the famed Petty blue livery for Darlington jumps Jones to the top of the list for best paint scheme of the weekend. That No. 43 car could surge toward the front of the field, as Darlington has historically been Jones’ best race track. He has three top 10s in his last seven tries while wheeling the famed No. 43 car, which includes winning the 2022 Southern 500.
Michael Bumgarner, Carson Haislip, Ryley Music, Chase Johnson and Penn Sauter are now set to embark on a season-long journey for the prestigious Kulwicki Cup, with each of them receiving $7,000 along with training across several fields. More than $30,000 will be distributed between the drivers who finish top three in the Kulwicki Cup standings.
Established in honor of 1992 NASCAR Cup Series champion Alan Kulwicki, who was killed in a plane crash the following year, the Kulwicki Driver Development Program has assisted drivers with their motorsports ambitions since 2014. The program accomplishes this by providing financial assistance along with resources in areas like networking, marketing and publicity.
The list of drivers who have won the Kulwicki Cup include Ty Fredrickson, Luke Fenhaus and 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ty Majeski. Other notable Kulwicki Driver Development Program alums include Carson Kvapil, Cole Butcher, Evan Shotko, Derek Griffith and Kole Raz.
Each member of the current Kulwicki Driver Development Program possesses a unique story like the one Kulwicki experienced as he worked his way toward NASCAR’s top levels. Some are fresh off a track championship; others are continuing a family tradition. All seek to embody the same spirit and mindset that are now synonymous with Kulwicki’s legacy.
Below is a breakdown of the drivers who will participate in the Kulwicki Driver Development Program for the 2026 season.
Michael Bumgarner enters 2026 having won the last two Hickory Motor Speedway track championships. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
Michael Bumgarner
Fresh off his second consecutive track championship at Hickory Motor Speedway, Michael Bumgarner’s 2026 is already off to a solid start.
A couple days after taking home Hickory’s Late Model Stock season-opener, Bumgarner was named as a finalist for the Kulwicki Driver Development Program. Already with momentum on his side, Bumgarner intends to capitalize on the opportunity with the Kulwicki Driver Development Program by putting together his best year to date.
Bumgarner considers Kulwicki the ideal role model for drivers with small operations; an underdog whose focus and resolved propelled him to the top of the NASCAR pedestal against the powerhouse organizations of his era.
“[Kulwicki’s] determination [with] a small team and a small budget he built from the ground up [was amazing],” Bumgarner said. “To reach the heights and accomplishments he did in the Cup Series with the same small group of guys is really inspiring in that way.
“Comparing it kind of to our small team and the success we’ve had, it really means a lot [to be part of the Kulwicki Driver Development Program].”
Bumgarner developed a passion for racing through his father Keith, who earned a track championship at Hickory back in 2005. Watching Keith excel at the historic track convinced Bumgarner to start a motorsports career of his own, a journey that would eventually see him work his way into Hickory’s premier Late Model Stock division.
Through every phase of that journey, Bumgarner has followed one key piece of advice from Keith: Live in the moment. While he strives to one day make it to one of NASCAR’s top three series, Bumgarner also wants to appreciate everything he is accomplishing now instead of staying too focused on the next step.
From Bumgarner’s perspective, being part of the Kulwicki Driver Development Program is only going to help reinforce that mindset. Not only does Bumgarner get to enjoy the resources provided by the program, but a top-three finish in the Kulwicki Cup standings and the accompanying rewards could be crucial toward more years of on-track success.
Expectations are high for Bumgarner as both a finalist for the Kulwicki Driver Development Program and as the reigning Hickory track champion. If he sticks to the values instilled into him by Keith, Bumgarner knows he can excel on both fronts and reward the faith so many people have in him.
“Out of 103 drivers that initially applied for the program, it really is special to be one of the drivers chosen,” Bumgarner said. “That’s a competitive application process, and the final five finalists are really stacked. It’s going to be hard [to get the Kulwicki Cup], but I’m thankful for the opportunity, and I hope it works out.”
Carson Haislip won the Late Model Stock title at Wake County Speedway in 2025 by winning 11 races. (Photo: Kulwicki Driver Development)
Carson Haislip
When Carson Haislip first started competing professionally in motorsports six years ago, he never imagined he would be in his current position.
The 2025 season at Wake County Speedway saw Haislip put together a dominant campaign in which he secured the track championship by winning 11 of the 18 races he entered. Haislip’s efficiency played a vital in his selection as one of five drivers chosen as finalists for the Kulwicki Driver Development Program.
Since Day 1, Haislip feels he has embodied all the characteristics shared by Kulwicki and many other competitors with limited resources. From Haislip’s perspective, strenuous effort off the track will always show up on track.
“The way [Kulwicki] went about his racing, it replicates the stuff we do,” Haislip said. “Working hard in the shop, making sure our stuff is really well maintained and making sure we show up to the track with a really good race car, that’s something he always did. He made sure he could get the best out of what he had. I feel like that’s something we do very well.”
Haislip’s career began two wheels instead of four, as he competed on dirt bikes during his youth. While attending Wake Christian Academy in Raleigh, Haislip grew curious about Wake County Speedway across the street after constantly hearing races Friday evenings. That convinced him and his dad to start attending the weekly events.
Haislip’s curiosity quickly morphed into a desire to start racing, with him and his dad eventually renting their first car. As time progressed, Haislip grew more comfortable around Wake County’s bullring layout, winning races in Bandoleros and Legends before working his way into the facility’s Late Model Stock class.
Nothing about Haislip’s journey to a Late Model Stock title at Wake County has been easy, but each challenge overcome served to bolster his confidence. While Haislip admits he can be hard on himself from a performance standpoint, those self critiques are a primary source of motivation he plans to always carry with him.
A more diverse schedule awaits Haislip in 2026, but he intends to keep improving on everything that worked for him at Wake County. Refining every aspect of his career is going to be a pertinent focus for Haislip, especially as a finalist for a driver development program named after one of NASCAR’s most inspirational underdogs.
“I want to mature more not only as a person, but as a driver,” Haislip said. “I want to push myself this year to have more consistent finishes, run up front in the big races. We don’t have to win everything, but I want to show people what we do have. [We’re not] a one-track team, we can go to other places and be just as good.
“I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing. [Kulwicki] and I represent each other well, so I want to support his program in the right way.”
After earning his first Late Model Stock victory at Langley Speedway last year, Ryley Music intends to put together an even stronger 2026. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
Ryley Music
The grandson of Late Model Stock legend Phil Warren, Ryley Music always had a firm understanding of the fundamentals needed to excel in racing.
Music has methodically crafted a solid resume at Virginia’s Langley Speedway, the same track where Warren earned seven championships during his career. The accomplishments Music has accumulated include two titles in Langley’s Bandolero division along with his first Late Model Stock victory at the facility last year.
The time Music has spent around Warren helped him adopt a hands-on approach to racing like that of Alan Kulwicki. As a finalist for the Kulwicki Driver Development Program, Music wants to continue tallying victories against many of the best not only at Langley, but across the Late Model Stock discipline.
“It was impressive what [Kulwicki] was able to do at the top level against the smartest guys each and every week,” Music said. “I feel like it’s the same way with some of us local guys when we [do touring races]. We’re working our butts off in the shop, and you’re going up against those really smart guys like he was.
“How we run our program is probably a lot like how he ran his program.”
For all the accolades Warren obtained, Music said his grandfather has always encouraged him to approach his career in a different way. Music recalls Warren discussing how networking and self-marketing were not high priorities during his youth, as his focus was centered on staying one step ahead of his fellow competitors.
The social media presence Music possesses is an area that has garnered praise from Warren. Whether it involves a recap of the previous night’s performance or charitable activities, Music believes he and his family have excelled in building his brand and keeping fans up to date on where he is racing and the progress being made.
A key factor behind Music’s improvement is the group of people around him. Music got the chance to work with Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen while Warren served as his Late Model Stock crew chief, but he has also spent time with other stalwarts in the discipline like Peyton Sellers and Chad Bryant.
For Music, any way he can acquire knowledge and input can only make him a more refined driver. The Kulwicki Driver Development Program is another resource at Music’s disposal, one he intends to utilize so he can properly honor Kulwicki’s memory and make his own mark on Langley’s proud history.
“I at least want to double my win count from last year, which was only one.” Music said. “I feel like our race cars are really good this year from testing them, so I have a lot of confidence. This is a big special deal that I don’t really know how to explain. It’s big for somebody like me who never thought I’d be as far as I am already.”
A stellar rookie season for Chase Johnson in Div. I of the NASCAR Local Racing Series saw him earn a track title at Dominion Raceway and finish runner-up in national points. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
Chase Johnson
The first full season for Chase Johnson in Division I of the NASCAR Local Racing Series far exceeded his own expectations.
Going into 2025 with a goal to simply gain experience, Johnson instead put together a stellar campaign at Dominion Raceway that saw him earn not only a track title, but also the Southeast Regional championship with 15 victories and 21 top fives. That efficiency also helped Johnson become Rookie of the Year at both the national and regional levels.
Now Johnson looks to build off a standout rookie season as a finalist for the Kulwicki Driver Development Program. With the blue-collar approach Johnson implements with his small team, he sees a lot of similarities between his journey and the one on which Alan Kulwicki embarked.
“I look at [Kulwicki] as a big role model,” Johnson said. “I’ve worked on my own with a lot of my race cars. It’s just my dad and a couple of guys we have in the race shop. We’re kind of like how he was, being an independent team and pretty much doing everything yourself. That’s how I really relate to him the most.”
Johnson also has plenty of influences in his family that helped mold his perspective on motorsports. His grandfather Cal competed during the 1950s and 60s, while Johnson’s father Eddie developed a reputation as a stalwart Late Model Stock driver with several track Virginia titles and two victories at Martinsville Speedway.
Patience is a quality Eddie and Johnson’s older brother Chris, a driver himself, have instilled into him throughout his brief career. By being calculative and staying composed, Johnson felt he was able to stay one step ahead of his competition at Dominion, which translated into him winning the track championship by 104 points.
A title defense at Dominion is on the agenda for Johnson in 2026, but he also intends to branch out more in a full-bodied stock car. Johnson’s planned schedule includes a handful of appearances at South Boston Speedway along with contesting the entire Virginia Triple Crown after attempting the final two legs last year.
Even though his program is small, Johnson believes his 2025 was evident of how determination can lead to success regardless of circumstances, just like Kulwicki did decades ago. Johnson is proud to be a part of the Kulwicki Driver Development Program and looks forward to putting together another strong campaign while under their banner.
“The goal is to try and win a Division I national title,” Johnson said. “We came about eight points short last year, and we think we’ve got a decent shot to win it this year. I want to represent [Kulwicki] well on and off the race track the best we can by doing everything we can to better ourselves and make the Kulwicki program look as best [as possible].”
The grandson of short track legend Jim Sauter and son of Johnny Sauter, Penn Sauter looks to carry on his family’s proud racing heritage. (Photo: Kulwicki Driver Development)
Penn Sauter
Having grown up in the Midwest, Penn Sauter is familiar with the impact Alan Kulwicki has on the region’s short-track community.
Kulwicki’s journey from the short tracks of Wisconsin to the top levels of NASCAR has inspired countless Midwest competitors that includes the Sauter family, whose members have raced for over seven decades. Penn is now carrying on that legacy at 16 years of age with a full slate of Super Late Model events planned for 2026.
Given his family’s own history with Kulwicki, Penn considers it both fitting and rewarding to be one of the finalists for the Kulwicki Driver Development Program.
“My grandpa [Jim] raced Kulwicki,” Penn said. “My dad [Johnny] sat on the hill some nights at Wisconsin [International Raceway] and watched Kulwicki. Being a guy from the Midwest, he took his little team to a NASCAR Cup [Series] championship. He just sounded like a good guy all around, and I’m honored to be a part of this. I’m striving to be more like him.”
Success has followed the Sauters in nearly all their racing ventures. Jim Sauter’s accomplishments include back-to-back ARTGO Challenge Series titles in 1981 and 1982, and Johnny Sauter earned a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title in 2016 and has 27 combined victories between Trucks and the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Penn’s uncles Jay and Tim Sauter also earned plenty of accolades during their respective racing careers. While he primarily leans on Johnny for input, Penn said the experience and knowledge Jay and Tim possess gives him the option to ask them for advice on setups or how to approach a certain race track.
The guidance from every member of his family has been crucial for Penn during his transition from running Pro Late Models at Dells Raceway Park to battling many of the best Super Late Model drivers from around the country. That process is ongoing, but Penn feels fortunate that he can travel around and learn from veterans with over a decade of experience.
Penn is approaching his busy schedule one race at a time as he and Johnny figure out how to maximize the speed of their cars. With the prestigious Kulwicki Cup on the line, Penn hopes he can take the next step forward in his development while simultaneously living up to the traits that made Kulwicki so influential to his family and many others.
“I’ve always been a go-getter,” Penn said. “As soon as they drop the green flag, I want to go get it. Running these longer Super Late Model races now, they preach patience. That’s been a huge help for me because tire management is a part of those races. Being patient and managing your stuff are two big things [I’ve learned].
“Representing Kulwicki’s name is going to be big, but consistency throughout this year is going to be key.”
After a two-week break, drivers in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will return to competition in Friday night’s Buckle Up South Carolina 200 at Darlington Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Last year’s series champion, Corey Heim, returns to Truck Series competition for the first time since the second race of the season at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta. The defending race winner at Darlington will drive the No. 5 Toyota for Tricon Garage.
Triple-duty driver Ross Chastain, who won the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series race at the “Lady in Black,” should provide strong competition in the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet.
Christopher Bell, who also will compete in all three NASCAR races this weekend, will drive the No. 62 Toyota for Halmar Friesen Racing in Friday’s Truck Series race. Bell made one start in the series last year and one in 2024.
Series regulars Chandler Smith and Layne Riggs, both of Front Row Motorsports, have won two of the first three races this season (at Daytona and St. Petersburg, respectively), with Kyle Busch taking the checkered flag at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta.
Riggs won the pole for last year’s Darlington race but finished 17th.
“Knocking down the first win of the season is a big weight off of everyone’s chest,” Riggs said of his victory on the St. Petersburg Street Course. “It’s a huge confidence booster. I have always enjoyed the challenge that Darlington brings.
“We have qualified well there in the past, but we can’t seem to put together a full race. It’s a place where there’s not much room for error. We’re excited to get back to racing, though, and I know this team will come out swinging.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 19, 2026) – NASCAR and Anheuser-Busch today announced the return of the highly anticipated Busch Light Summer Music Series, bringing a trio of country megastars to NASCAR race weekends across the country. The star-studded lineup for the second annual Busch Light Summer Music Series includes new country phenom Vincent Mason at Watkins Glen International, chart-topping hitmaker Mitchell Tenpenny at Chicagoland Speedway and another multi-platinum mega-star, who will be announced at a later date, performing at Iowa Speedway.
“As part of our continued partnership with Busch Light, we’re focused on elevating the at-track experience and delivering an even more unforgettable race weekend for our fans,” said Michelle Byron, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Partnership and Licensing Officer. “This announcement is the latest example of NASCAR and the industry working together to provide value to current and future partners across the sport – while also providing fans with experiences they can only get by attending a NASCAR race live.”
Mason will kick off the 2026 Busch Light Summer Music Series at Watkins Glen International on Sunday, May 10, performing his fan-favorite tracks ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series race weekend (May 8-10) in the Finger Lakes. One of country music’s fastest-rising talents, Mason has quickly built a loyal following with his blend of traditional influences and modern storytelling, bringing the roots of country to NASCAR.
Tenpenny will take the stage during NASCAR’s Fourth of July holiday weekend celebration at Chicagoland Speedway on July 5. Known for multi-platinum hits including “Truth About You” and “We Got History,” Tenpenny has amassed billions of global streams and multiple No. 1 songs, bringing arena-level energy to one of the most patriotic weekends on the NASCAR calendar.
The third concert of the 2026 Busch Light Summer Music Series will take place at Iowa Speedway on Sunday, August 9, with one of the biggest names in country music. Additional details will be shared in the coming months.
“We are thrilled to be bringing back the Busch Light Summer Music Series, in partnership with NASCAR,” said Krystyn Stowe, Head of Marketing, Busch Family & Natural Family at Anheuser-Busch. “There’s no better way to kick off a race day this season than with a cold and smooth Busch Light at a pre-race country music concert.”
The Busch Light Summer Music Series continues to build on the long-standing partnership between NASCAR and Busch Light, the Official Beer Sponsor of NASCAR. Since the 1990s, the Anheuser-Busch family of brands has created countless opportunities for 21+ fans to get closer to the sport they love. The Summer Music Series once again delivers a full-length pre-race concert experience, combining the thrill of NASCAR competition with the sounds of country music’s biggest stars.
Busch Light and Trackhouse Racing also continue their partnership in 2026 with NASCAR Cup Series driver Ross Chastain, bringing 21+ fans along for the ride with dynamic specialty paint schemes and fan-focused activations throughout the season, including the brand’s signature “Race for the Mountains” campaign.
LEBANON, Ore. — Marking a historic milestone in its storied history, Willamette Speedway is proud to announce it has become an officially sanctioned NASCAR track for the 2026 season.
As the “fastest one-third mile dirt track on the West Coast” celebrates 60 years of racing action, it joins the NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts, bringing national prestige and life-changing opportunities to local competitors.
Promoters Cory and Sandy Penfold have elected to sanction six core divisions, ensuring that drivers across all levels of experience can compete for track, state, regional and national honors:
Division 1: Albany Toyota Late Models
Division 2: J&K Auto Body & Collision Street Stocks
Division 3: Cabinet Guys Limited Late Models
Division 4: Hornets
Division 5: Modifieds
Division 6: WPCK Cage Klones Leveling the Field and Raising the Stakes
(Photo: Willamette Speedway)
The move to NASCAR brings significant changes designed to benefit the drivers and the show. Most notably, the Modified divisions will see a major shift as Sport Modifieds and Modifieds are combined into a single division. With strategic rule adjustments implemented to equalize the field, fans can expect some of the most competitive side-by-side racing in the region.
The financial incentives are equally historic. For the first time in nearly a decade, a guaranteed points fund is back for the track championship. Furthermore, local heroes now have a clear path to a national spotlight; a Division 1 driver who captures the national title could walk away with a $50,000 payday.
“We’ve got a lot of talented drivers right in the Pacific Northwest, which I believe is the most untapped market in the nation,” said Cory Penfold, entering his fifth year as the track’s promoter. “It’s time to put these drivers in a national spotlight and give them opportunities to be seen without them having to travel halfway across the country.”
The decision to join NASCAR was a personal evolution for Penfold, a self-described “dirt track purist.”
”I’m an old-school guy that appreciates what these guys do,” Penfold remarked. “I’ve struggled with getting away from tradition, but it’s time to move into the modern world of dirt-track racing. This sport evolves quickly, and you have to stay with the times. I wanted to do something to thank the drivers for the show they give the best fans in racing every week.”
To align with NASCAR standards and maximize national exposure, Willamette Speedway will debut a whole new race format this season. This structure is specifically designed to give drivers a legitimate shot at the big-money payouts and the points required to climb the national leaderboard. Fans, teams and sponsors are invited to witness history as the 60th anniversary season kicks off.
The green flag drops on a new era of speed, tradition and competition on April 18.
About Willamette Speedway: Located in Lebanon, Oregon, Willamette Speedway has been a staple of West Coast dirt-track racing since 1966. Known for its high speeds and passionate fan base, the third-mile clay oval continues to be the premier destination for dirt track racing in the Pacific Northwest.
Denny Hamlin’s still got it — as if there was any doubt. Following a sequence of respectable finishes in the season’s first month, Hamlin led 134 of 267 laps on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for his 61st career victory, and first in 2026.
“It is just so satisfying, so gratifying. You just never know what can happen year over year if you still have it or not,” Hamlin said after the race. “I wasn’t totally locked in for the first few weeks. We’ve just been hitting our stride now. This is our bread and butter, these are the tracks that we know we can go win, and we executed. This is a team win. The team did it.”
To Hamlin’s point, it may have been difficult for any driver to fully lock in until they arrived at Las Vegas last weekend. While the NASCAR season technically began in the pack-racing chaos of Daytona and EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta, then moved to the twists and turns of Circuit of The Americas and the unique challenge of Phoenix, the meat and potatoes of the Cup Series season doesn’t start until the cars hit the first 1.5-mile oval of the year.
Want proof of how (to use Hamlin’s words) “bread and butter” these tracks are for the season as a whole? Going back to 2005, I charted the correlation between a driver’s Driver Rating at each track and their finishing quality (measured by Adjusted Points+ index) in every other race that year. A higher correlation means driving well at that particular track means you did better everywhere — and as the chart below shows, mile-and-a-half ovals are the sport’s ultimate bellwethers. Performances at sites like Chicagoland, Kansas and, of course, Las Vegas generally tend to be more closely linked with a driver’s season-long success than any other track types on the schedule:
That’s why teams put so much emphasis on their performance from the moment the haulers pulled up at the track this past weekend — and why drivers like William Byron stuck around in Vegas on Monday for additional test laps. The data and adjustments gleaned from running at one of the most quintessential ovals on the schedule outweigh what you might get from other tracks.
To further illustrate just how disproportionately significant the initial race of the season on a 1.5-mile track tends to be, I took data from those races each year since 2005 and set up a series of predictions, forecasting a driver’s finishing quality for the remainder of the season based on three factors:
Driver Rating from the previous year (across all track types).
Driver Rating in the current season-to-date (across all track types).
Driver Rating from the first race of the season on a 1.5-mile track.
With that model, we can use a measure of relative importance to track how much each category contributes to the accuracy of the future predictions. And the results show that a single race on a 1.5-mile track is basically as valuable as all previous races that season combined (and more than half as important as all of last season) when it comes to knowing who will do well over the rest of the schedule overall:
Furthermore, how you drive at the opening 1.5-miler of the season gains even more salience when we specifically focus on predicting finishes at ovals (mile-and-a-halfs or otherwise) over the remainder of the season. In that regard, that one single race on a 1.5-mile track outweighs all previous races combined to begin that season, and it’s nearly three-quarters as important as oval performance was over the entirety of the season before as well:
So we don’t blame Hamlin for being jazzed about just how well his car ran — winning in spite of an early speeding penalty that buried him in 31st place — and what it might mean over the rest of this, his 22nd season in the Cup Series. Seven of the races on the Chase schedule are, broadly categorized, ovals (Darlington, Gateway, Kansas, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Phoenix and Homestead), and four of those — Kansas, Las Vegas, Charlotte and Homestead — are specifically 1.5-mile “bread and butter” tracks.
Based on what he did at Las Vegas this past weekend, the rest of the field should fear what this No. 11 Toyota Camry might be able to do over the remainder of the schedule — and especially in those crucial late-season battles at the all-important mile-and-a-half intermediate.
WELCOME, N.C. – It was audacious, ridiculous and outrageous all at once, and Matt Kaulig knew it.
Kaulig stood on pit road in the minutes before the start of the Feb. 13 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series opener at Daytona International Speedway, the track’s lights high atop the frontstretch grandstands illuminating the 37-truck grid. Kaulig’s new Ram truck team had yet to run a lap in anger, and already he could enjoy a moment of major accomplishment.
Five shiny Kaulig Racing trucks were scattered across the starting field. Only a few months earlier, the team had not even a truck fender, with the upcoming season an onrushing bull and the clock ticking.
“It was very, very, very surreal,” Kaulig said. “For us to build five trucks – we didn’t even sign the Ram deal until the summer – it was an epic undertaking. Some people in the racing world understand what we did to accomplish that, but they don’t really understand how we did it. I mean, we had nothing.
“Daytona was an awesome moment.”
Now the Truck season is three races old, and teams have been enjoying a three-week break before Race No. 4 on March 20 at Darlington Raceway. At Kaulig’s shop down the hill from Richard Childress Racing’s huge NASCAR complex (on Austin Lane, named for Childress’ racer grandson Austin Dillon), there has been some time to catch up on building new trucks.
Also, Kaulig and team principals Chris Rice (president) and Ty Norris (chief business officer) have been able to reflect on results of the first few weeks of a racing endeavor so new it seems right out of the box. Although the 15 Ram entries through three races have resulted in a best finish of seventh (Brenden Queen at Daytona), at Kaulig the season already is considered a “win.”
James Gilbert | Getty Images
Perhaps it can be compared to another sports effort by Matt Kaulig decades ago – precisely November 19, 1994. Kaulig was the quarterback for the University of Akron Zips, and they were playing the final game of their season against Ohio University. It was a unique game, but not in a pleasant way. Remarkably, both teams entered the season finale with 0-10 records. On the air, ESPN had dubbed it the Toilet Bowl.
“We ended up beating them,” Kaulig said of the 24-10 Akron triumph. “So I guess that was a little victory. I don’t know. It was weird.”
Virtually since that moment, Kaulig has been winning. A successful business entrepreneur, he started LeafFilter, a company specializing in leaf guards for home and building gutters, in his Ohio home and across the years has expanded that operation to more than 150 offices. Well-known in the Cleveland area through business operations and widespread philanthropy through Kaulig Giving, his organization’s charity arm, Kaulig also is a minority owner of the Cleveland Guardians Major League Baseball team.
He tiptoed into NASCAR in 2014 by sponsoring cars in two races, saw stock-car racing as another field in which he could succeed and started an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series team in 2016. He moved into the Cup Series in 2020 and now owns two Cup wins and 27 O’Reilly victories.
Kaulig’s fleet-like assault on the Truck Series began with conversations with officials from Stellantis, the car builder anxious to make a return to NASCAR after former involvement with its Dodge brand. Stellantis chose its popular Ram truck model as the advance guard for its new NASCAR journey, and Kaulig emerged as the company’s choice to jump into the Truck Series this year. Kaulig Racing had no experience in the Truck Series, so everything was new.
James Gilbert | Getty Images
Three races in, Kaulig executives are pleased to have had a top-10 finish in each race but are more excited by the fact that they “won” the rushed preseason construction process and have dominated much of the current talk about the Truck Series, in particular Ram’s big splash at Daytona.
Kaulig signed on with Stellantis last summer and announced its Truck Series plans with Ram in August. Kaulig’s employee numbers steadily increased as the drive toward a 2026 launch began. New engineers, fabricators and body-hangers rolled into Welcome.
There was no template from which to work. Kaulig was racing in Cup and O’Reilly with the assistance of Richard Childress Racing, with which it had an alliance. The new deal with Dodge ended the affiliation with General Motors and Childress, although Kaulig continues to race Chevrolets in the Cup Series because of the prestige and publicity of racing on Sundays and because of the fact that Kaulig owns valuable charters in Cup. So Kaulig is competing in Cup on an island of sorts.
Overtime hours and Christmas holiday work at the shop resulted in trucks being ready for preseason testing and for another unique twist to the Ram effort – a competition in which candidates raced for a chance to fill one of the Kaulig truck seats for the season. Timothy “Mini” Tyrrell won that spot, and the televised competition lifted the profile for Ram and the team. Stellantis, eager to spread the Ram name across a wider palate, also wanted a fifth team truck – a “free agent” entry – to be driven by a mix of up-and-coming drivers and accomplished veterans.
“So we went from zero trucks to five,” said Norris, a veteran racing executive who has run NASCAR operations for Dale Earnhardt Inc., Michael Waltrip Racing and Trackhouse Racing. “We didn’t get parts until December. We didn’t get our fab shop set up until November. We were still hiring people around Christmas. We had people working Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. At that point, the idea of leading laps wasn’t even a question. It was all about getting trucks to the track.”
So it was reasonable that Matt Kaulig would take some time pre-race at Daytona to absorb the moment. He and the team’s other leaders had no idea what to expect performance-wise. “It was my 36th time walking into Daytona in an official capacity, but the first time I ever walked in totally blind to what our level would be,” Norris said. “I didn’t know if we were going to be first, second, third, fourth and fifth and lap the field or finish at the bottom. No idea. Zero.”
The finishes were respectable for a team toddling into the competition. Queen gave Kaulig its first top 10 with a seventh. Daniel Dye was 17th, Tyrrell 19th, Justin Haley 22nd and “free agent” Tony Stewart 36th after being involved in a crash.
The “win,” in the team’s eyes, had been scored with preseason buildup, the attention gained by the television series and a generally successful first week of competition.
“All in all, this is a marketing platform,” Norris said. “When you look at what Ram did in Daytona, leading up to Daytona with the show that we did, with the announcement of Tony Stewart driving and showing up with five trucks with beautiful paint schemes and getting partners like Cummins and Mopar and Celsius, it was all a win. And our merchandise trailer was busy all week. I think we made the most noise at Daytona.”
Rice has worked for Kaulig in developing his NASCAR program since December 2015. Solid success in the O’Reilly Series followed, and AJ Allmendinger has won two Cup races for the team on road courses.
“But I knew if we didn’t get solid OEM support (assistance from a car manufacturer as a featured team) that we would die,” Rice said. “If you don’t have that, you don’t get the money and the resources you need to compete. Matt and I spent three days on a retreat and talked all things NASCAR. We went aggressively after that. We were able to get in the door and talk with Stellantis and get a relationship going.”
David Jensen | Getty Images
Rice has built a reputation as one of the most gregarious, positive people in the NASCAR garage. “I was a gas man in the Busch (now O’Reilly) Series at the age of 14 in 1989, so I’ve been around this for a long time,” Rice said. “NASCAR has given me a good lifestyle and done things for me that I would never have been able to do in a sock factory. So I’m passionate about NASCAR. That’s the passion you see from me.”
Rice also is the guy at Kaulig who counts the pennies. “People think we spend an abundant amount of money, but we watch everything,” he said. “We look like we’re bigger than we are. So, we’re just different. We’re one team fielding seven vehicles.”
The two biggest assumptions in NASCAR garage circles at the moment are that Stellantis and Dodge eventually will race in the Cup Series and that Kaulig will be the vanguard of the move. That announcement is yet to be made.
Rice said the team would prefer advance notice of 18 months to field Dodge Cup entries. “Eighteen months is the rule of thumb,” Rice said, “but I would say if we got six months, we would be happy.”
Kaulig Racing currently employs 157 people. An expected move to Cup will require many more.
“Realistically, it would take years to be absolutely 100 percent ready to be able to compete with the manufacturers that have been in the sport for decades,” Kaulig said. “But we can do it. We just proved it with the trucks.”
Darlington Raceway’s history book has many chapters. The tome spans all eras, from stock-car racing’s infancy — when the idea of staging a 500-mile race for late-model automobiles on a track so large was dreamlike — to the modern day, where technology, science and preparation have sent speeds around the narrow oval rocketing into the high sky.
One thing applies from any era: Only the courageous need apply.
The promise of another dynamic piece of the track’s story arrives this week at one of NASCAR’s original proving grounds, with a tripleheader weekend culminating in Sunday’s Cup Series Goodyear 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The 400-miler marks the biggest turning point this season for a rules configuration that combines increased horsepower, a reduction in aerodynamic bolstering and Goodyear tires designed for aggressive wear.
The wrinkle, though, is that no matter the generation of car, driver or rules, Darlington’s toughness has become legend. In the days before every speedway on the circuit needed a plug-and-play nickname or brand as part of a marketing flourish, “Too Tough to Tame” was gospel, on par with the sinister “Lady in Black” handle that the track also wears.
Teams have already sampled the new 750-horsepower package this year, experiencing the extra output on the 1-mile Phoenix Raceway two weeks ago. But Darlington threads the line of running a configuration meant to enhance short-track racing on an intermediate-adjacent 1.366-mile layout. That combination just ramps up this weekend’s unknowns.
“We’ve got a lot more questions than answers right now with this package, with the limited amount of sim that we’ve tried to do and tried to understand, predicting fall-off to be several seconds — to the point where we don’t think we’re gonna have to count on two hands, but we might max out one,” said RFK Racing veteran Chris Buescher. “It’s going to be big from that side of things, and it’s going to certainly change the race and how we approach it and how hard you want to push. Can you conserve the tire enough to survive late into a run? You know, it’s the shorter Darlington race, but that being said, it’s still going to present a lot of challenges that really Darlington has come to present all on its own, and now we’re tacking on the horsepower, the less downforce and the higher fall-off tire. So lots of excitement going into this one, lots of hope to see some really unique, good racing.”
However new the rules alignment might be, Darlington’s rugged reputation is a decades-long trademark. That calling card began when track founder Harold Brasington began carving the layout into the South Carolina sandhills, doing much of the construction work himself. He also bore the brunt of the ridicule. Long before “Too Tough to Tame,” the site was mocked as “Harold’s Folly” for its outsized scope and seemingly foolhardy ambition.
As has been well documented, land donor JS Ramsey wanted to protect his nearby pond from all the commotion. Given the primitive track-design principles of the day, Brasington didn’t figure the asymmetry would make a difference, so he tightened the west bend’s radius — Turns 3 and 4 today — to appease his business partner.
“The lay of the land was such that we couldn’t make both ends the same size,” Brasington told the Florence (S.C.) Morning News in 1983. “So we just said, ‘What the heck? It won’t matter if one end is a little bigger than the other.'”
Oh, it mattered. It still matters.
“One of the biggest reasons it’s so demanding is it’s not — you don’t see it when you look at it — but it’s not circular in shape,” said Mark Martin, a NASCAR Hall of Famer and two-time conqueror of Darlington’s prestigious Southern 500. “The wall that goes around it seems circular, but the banking is not. So when you’re going fast, you have to hit the apron going into the corner, and then you almost hit the wall on the outside when you leave it. And it’s hard to describe, but it’s just really difficult to manage. It always was, even when it was first built, it was really only one lane wide — insane, and it’s been insane ever since, and it will be even more this year.”
NASCAR Research & Archives Center | Getty Images
Darlington has always been a divider, no matter how sparse the preferred grooves might be and how often the wall scrapes — “Darlington Stripes” in racing vernacular — come about. Those drivers who excelled there were often among the sport’s all-time greats. Those who struggled with Darlington’s tough nature often found creative ways to express their contempt.
Kyle Petty once said he loved visiting Darlington, playing golf at local courses, exploring nearby restaurants and hanging out by the motel pool — “as long as they don’t make me run the track.” John Andretti actually won one Southern 500 pole position, but his difficulties there were so pronounced that he predicted his souvenir business would skyrocket after he qualified 18th for his Darlington debut. “Man, what an accomplishment! On a track nobody should be able to drive!” Andretti told the Associated Press in 1999. “I thought, ‘Man, my T-shirts ought to start selling like crazy now.’ I thought everybody would be really impressed. I was.”
Other criticisms have not been as cheery. “This track was built over 20 years ago,” Charlie Glotzbach said after a 1971 crash there that injured Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen. “It’s just plain murder.”
The contrast may well be why the track’s triumphs have been so heavily celebrated. David Pearson never prepared on a racing simulator or cared a whit about a rules package, but girded himself for Darlington by working on his cars and relying on his patient approach and boundless wisdom. When the time was right, he’d put out his cigarette and pounce. The speedy but savvy “Silver Fox” won 10 times at Darlington — more than anyone.
Mark Martin won two Cup Series races there, and a record eight wins in what’s now called the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. He was once described as being as tough as the Winn-Dixie steaks that sponsored many of his No. 60 Fords in the old Busch Series days, and his tenacity helped guide him in those 10 trips to Darlington’s Victory Lane.
Fellow Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough won the Southern 500 five times, an accomplishment that hangs on the entrance sign to the Darlington garage that bears his name. The South Carolina native also experienced the other side of Darlington’s wrath, saying he felt like an astronaut after his car sailed over the guard railing and out of the park in a calamitous 1965 crash.
“One little slip and it bites you,” Yarborough said years later.
You can’t spell Darlington without “daring,” and that’s a tradition that lives on.
The No. 48 Big Machine Racing team in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will be without three crew members for the next four races after NASCAR handed out penalties on Wednesday following last Saturday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Crew members Patrick Donahue (crew chief), Dillon Bassett (car chief) and Morgan Olsen (engineer) have all been suspended for the next four O’Reilly Auto Parts Series events, through April 11 at Bristol Motor Speedway, after NASCAR discovered a loss or separation of ballast from the No. 48 Chevrolet driven by Patrick Staropoli during Saturday’s The LiUNA!
This penalty is a safety violation detailed in Sections 10.5.2.5 B & E of the NASCAR Rule Book. Ballast added to a vehicle in order to meet minimum weight can break off the car and become a debris hazard for other competitors.
Staropoli had a couple of incidents during last Saturday’s race, one on Lap 118 where he and Dean Thompson spun out to bring out a caution, and another on Lap 132 when he and Josh Bilicki spun in the frontstretch grass. Staropoli finished 21st, one lap down, and is 16th in the standings, 150 points behind leader Justin Allgaier after five races.
The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series is back in action this weekend at Darlington Raceway for Saturday’s Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 (5:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NASCAR is considering the allowance of more hell-raising in its “Hell Yeah” era, but that doesn’t mean drivers can start throwing hands after races.
During the latest “Hauler Talk” podcast, NASCAR vice president of race communications Mike Forde said the sanctioning body and drivers have been discussing the protocol for post-race altercations – particularly in light of the new marketing campaign that aims to showcase personalities and emotions. Drivers have been lobbying for leeway to express themselves without being penalized. “It started probably the end of last year when we had an all drivers meeting and unveiled the ‘Hell Yeah’ campaign,” Forde said. “And the drivers were like, ‘This is kind of cool. This is awesome. So, when you’re talking about that, is the driver scuffle part of that conversation?’
“We took it back to beat it up, and we’re still beating it up. Right now, it’s still a case-by-case basis.”
In the case of Ross Chastain vs. Daniel Suárez after Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, there was no punishment after a confrontation that featured a brief exchange of words and a light shove.
Forde said that any post-race confrontation will be viewed on a case-by-case basis, depending on the severity. NASCAR currently instructs its security team to intervene in the instance of physical contact.
“It’s a moving line a little bit,” Forde said. “We really do want drivers to show their emotion, and I think in this ‘Hell Yeah’ era that we’re in, which we all love, it really goes back to what the essence of NASCAR is, and that’s passion and emotion and fiery conversations and drivers disliking other drivers.
“And some of the comments that have come out this week between Chastain and Suárez, it’s become clear that there is a little bit of a feud there. … We’re not fining for a shove. It’s a case-by-case basis. Drivers have come to us and said, ‘Maybe we could open this up a little bit and let us show our emotion without getting fined.’ That is a conversation that keeps evolving. We want to keep our drivers safe and make sure that nothing gets out of hand. So it’s a tough tightrope to walk. But we’re going to continue having those conversations with our drivers, and we’ll see where we go. But what we want to do is not neuter them and take away that passion because that’s what fans love. That’s what the drivers love. And that’s why we love NASCAR.”
During the podcast, Forde also addressed NASCAR’s decision to take the Toyotas of Christopher Bell and Erik Jones to the R&D Center for a full post-race inspection (which was being conducted on Wednesday after the Camrys completed the trip from the West Coast).
NASCAR has traditionally taken one car from each manufacturer, but Forde said “a new process and philosophy in 2026” will involve taking multiple cars from the same manufacturer.
“It’s something that we’ve discussed in the offseason,” Forde said. “And so this one just happened to be Toyota. We just took two Toyotas, and next time it might be two Chevys. It might be two Fords. It’s a chance for us to get a feel of what the teams are doing and making sure that everything’s on an even playing field.”
Forde said Cup Series director Brad Moran has a tentative schedule of which races will include cars being brought to the R&D Center.
“This was sort of pre-planned, and (Moran) knew that after Vegas, we’re going to take a couple home,” Forde said. “And he knows if we’re taking some cars home after Darlington, but the teams don’t know. So that’s to kind of keep them on their toes so they don’t know when it’s coming, and we can really get a true view of what the garage is doing.”
Other topics covered by Forde and senior director of racing communications Amanda Ellis during the 46th episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:
— The rash of speeding penalties for Joe Gibbs Racing at Las Vegas.
— Is celebrating on the roof of a Next Gen car more permissible?
— NASCAR Alumni Weekend at Darlington Raceway and the discussions with Goodyear about tire falloff with the new 750-horsepower package.
— The backstory of Daniel Dye’s indefinite suspension and what’s next.
Click on the embed below to listen or search for “Hauler Talk” wherever you download podcasts to hear it on your phone, tablet or mobile device.
Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.
Furthermore, how you drive at the opening 1.5-miler of the season gains even more salience when we specifically focus on predicting finishes at ovals (mile-and-a-halfs or otherwise) over the remainder of the season. In that regard, that one single race on a 1.5-mile track outweighs all previous races combined to begin that season, and it’s nearly three-quarters as important as oval performance was over the entirety of the season before as well:
