Posted on by Adam Fenwick

The race every NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver looks forward to is finally on the horizon. The Mohegan Sun 100, the ninth race of the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, takes place this Saturday evening at New Hampshire Motor Speedway at 6 p.m. ET (live on FloRacing).

Considered the biggest race of the season for NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour teams and drivers, the Mohegan Sun 100 represents one of the most challenging and rewarding events on the series schedule. Much like superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega, drafting will be in play when Whelen Modified Tour teams hit the 1.058-mile oval to battle for supremacy.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway has been a constant on the Whelen Modified Tour schedule since 1990, when Mike McLaughlin triumphed in the Tour’s first visit to the track. The series has raced at the track at least once every year since, with some of the best Modified drivers in history among those to earn trips to Victory Lane.

They include drivers like Mike Stefanik, Jeff Fuller, Reggie Ruggiero, Steve Park, Mike Ewanitsko, Tony Hirschman, John Blewett III, Ted Christopher, Chuck Hossfeld, Donny Lia, Ron Silk, Ryan Newman, Todd Szegedy, Doug Coby, Bobby Santos III, Justin Bonsignore and Ryan Preece. Last year Anthony Nocella avoided a last-lap crash on the frontstretch to earn his maiden NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory.

Tickets to Saturday’s Mohegan Sun 100 are available here. Below is everything you need to know about the ninth race of the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.

Mohegan Sun 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

What to watch for:

Close finishes are the norm rather than the exception at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and last year Anthony Nocella came out on top of one such close finish.

Nocella restarted sixth with three laps left and avoided a multi-car crash on the final lap to earn his first and, so far, only NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory. Unlike last year, when he drove his family No. 92 to Victory Lane, this year he’ll look to defend his victory aboard the No. 46 entry fielded by Goodie Racing.

In order to do so he’ll have to topple a stacked field of entries that includes NASCAR Cup Series star Corey LaJoie. The driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports in the Cup Series is returning to the Modified Tour in the No. 1 for Robert Fuller after earning a victory in his last start at Martinsville Speedway last October.

Andy Seuss, a multi-time champion of the defunct NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour, is among those returning to action aboard the No. 70 entry on Saturday.

MORE NEW HAMPSHIRE: Watch on FloRacing | Get tickets

Bobby Santos III, the 2010 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion and six-time New Hampshire winner, is making his first start of the season in the No. 44 owned by Lawney Tinio. Six of Santos’ last seven Modified Tour triumphs have come at New Hampshire. Max McLaughlin, who last raced with the Tour at Richmond Raceway, is also back in action aboard the No. 77 entry owned by Mike Curb.

You can’t forget about the series regulars either. Ron Silk, Justin Bonsignore and Doug Coby have all earned victories at New Hampshire during their respective careers and each would like to add another trophy on Saturday evening.

Other notable entries include Patrick Emerling and Eric Goodale, who wrecked racing for the victory on the last lap last year at New Hampshire, as well as Austin Beers, Craig Lutz, Ronnie Williams, Chase Dowling and Tommy Catalano, among others.

The complete entry list for the Mohegan Sun 100 is available here.

Anthony Nocella, driver of the No. 92 Nocella Paving Modified, and Eric Goodale, driver of the No. 58 GAF Roofing Modified, during the Whelen 100 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 16, 2022 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo: Nick Grace/NASCAR)

RACE FACTS

Race Mohegan Sun 100
Date Saturday, July 15, 2023
Track New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Layout 1.058-mile oval
Location Loudon, New Hampshire
Start Time 6 p.m. ET
Laps 100
Posted awards $139,600
Live stream FloRacing (Live)

Schedule: Friday, July 14 … Final practice from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m. ET … Qualifying at 6:45 p.m. ET; Saturday, July 15 … Mohegan Sun 100 at 6 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 Mohegan Sun 100 is limited to 32 starters including Provisional Positions.

Tire allotment: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is twelve (12) 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 four (4) tires, any position.

Posted on by Staff Report

Mohegan Sun 100

New Hampshire Motor Speedway

  • Entry list
Car No. Driver Organization Crew Chief Chassis Mfg Sponsor
01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Racing, LLC Jake Marosz Troyer Pine Knoll Auto Sales
3 Jake Johnson Boehler’s Racing Equipment Gregory Fournier Boehler Racing Propane Plus; Lin’s Propane Trucks
4 Tim Connolly Connolly Racing Shane Connolly LFR Connolly Companies, LLC
6 Woody Pitkat Mertz Racing Enterprises Mike Holmes Troyer Koopman Lumber
07 Patrick Emerling KPL Racing LLC Jan Leaty Troyer Bonesteel Aerospace
7 Doug Coby Tommy Baldwin Racing LLC Tommy Baldwin Troyer Mayhew Tools
16 Ron Silk Haydt Yannone Racing Philip Moran FURY Race Cars Blue Mountain Machine; Future Homes
17 Chase Dowling Michele Davini TBA LFR TBD
18 Ken Heagy Robert Pollifrone Greg Gorman Chevrolet Buoy One Seafood
19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Construction Stephen Kopcik Troyer Wanick Construction Inc.
20 Eddie McCarthy III Ed McCarthy Bill Cole LFR McCarthy’s Marine Sales
22 Kyle Bonsignore Kyle Bonsignore Cam McDermott FURY Race Cars Chalew Performance; MTT; Munns Auto
26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Avenue Landscape Supply Chad McDonald Chevrolet Lakeland Avenue Landscape Supply
32 Tyler Rypkema Dean Rypkema Zach Truesdail LFR Northeast Drilling, Musco Lighting
36 Dave Sapienza Judith Thilberg Greg Kleila LFR Sapienza Enterprises/Eastport Feeds
43 Matt Kimball William P. Kimball Trucking William Kimball Jr. LFR J&M Towing Recovery; Poodiack Wealth Management; Edmunds Ace Hardware; Central Mass Tree
44 Bobby Santos III Lawney Tinio Danny Gamache LFR Harshaw Paving / Olivas Market
46 Anthony Nocella Goodie Racing Doug Ogiejko Troyer Riverhead Building Supply
51 Justin Bonsignore Kenneth Massa Motorsports LLC Ryan Stone FURY Race Cars Phoenix Communications Inc.
54 Tommy Catalano David Catalano David Catalano Troyer FX Caprara
58 Eric Goodale Goodie Motorsports Jason Shephard FURY Race Cars GAF Roofing / Riverhead Building Supply
64 Austin Beers KLM Motorsports Ron Yuhas Troyer Dell Electric, Lumiere Electrical, Andrew James Interiors, AP Marquadt & Sons, Hughes Motors
70 Andy Seuss Steve Seuss Steve Seuss LFR Rockingham Boat
77 Max McLaughlin Mike Curb Gary Putnam Troyer Curb Records / Mohawk Northeast
82 Craig Lutz DWR Racing Corp. Ryan Barbieri LFR Horton Avenue Materials
89 Matt Swanson John Swanson TBA FURY Race Cars Ceravdo Auto
97 Bryan Dauzat Bryan Dauzat Todd Cooper Troyer Brother In Law Motorsports
99 Ronnie Williams JT Motorsports Trey Tomaino Troyer Tony’s Competition Engines
101 Corey LaJoie Robert Fuller Tommy Grasso LFR Celcius
121 Anthony Bello John Bello Glenn Jensen LFR Bello Motorsports, SKM, JB Management, NJK Sonoco
Posted on by John Crane

An intense Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway brought unique challenges to the NASCAR Cup Series field. A waning regular-season slate — and with it, fewer opportunities for a winless driver to clinch a postseason spot — only heightened tensions.

Of course, weather played a factor, too, as Sunday’s contest was abbreviated by 75 laps, with William Byron triumphing in the rain-shortened contest to claim his series-leading fourth win of 2023.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos 

That didn’t stop drivers yet without a playoff-clinching win from taking advantage, though, and in the case of Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez and Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell, both will gladly take their top-five finishes as much-needed compensation. After Atlanta, Suárez and McDowell rank 15th and 16th, respectively, in the playoff standings and are each three points inside the 16-driver playoff elimination line heading into next Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

“It is what it is,” said Suárez, who finished runner-up. “I felt like the 99 really needed a day like this. We’ve been very fast, pretty much wherever we go. We have made mistakes. I have made mistakes … We haven’t been able to get the result that we deserve, that my team deserves, that my mechanics deserve, my people deserve, and we really needed to get, I think, a little bit of air, and I think that that’s what happened today. We were able to have a good solid day, and we’ll take it, and we can build from this.”

“I think that we’re doing a good job of getting ourselves a shot at pointing our way into it,” McDowell, who finished fourth, said. “But it only takes one or two more guys winning to feel not so good about it, so I think we’ve got to keep the same mindset of trying to win a race, and that’s what we were trying to do tonight. Be aggressive, stay out there, knowing the rain is gonna come, and see if we couldn’t get another win. Unfortunately couldn’t get it done, but I think that’s a good points night, and we had a fast car, and if we keep making the most out of weekends, we could point our way in.

“But I also feel like we were running good enough where we could win a race, too, in the next eight weeks, so yeah. Everything is going good now and gotta keep the momentum going, keep the intensity going and fight hard. It’s not gonna be easy. It’s gonna be tight, it’s gonna be within three, four points, so you can’t leave anything on the table and just gotta keep executing.”

WATCH: McDowell talks gutsy finish at Atlanta

With both drivers starting outside the top 20 to begin the race, Suárez and McDowell needed to play their cards right. After the conclusion of Stage 2 and with rain impending, both teams opted to stay out, while others stopped for fuel. Such a gamble looked like an instant payoff for McDowell as he — in addition to AJ Allmendinger, another driver looking for playoff positioning — led the field to green with 96 laps to go. And while Suárez battled with Allmendinger and a surging Byron, the No. 99 couldn’t find enough of a late-race jolt once the race was called on Lap 185.

“I needed a bigger push from behind. I was trying to back it up, but with William and his experience, he was backing out with me, and they were side-by-side behind me, so it wasn’t easy to get those runs because they were stalling each other,” Suárez said. “So, if they were maybe side-by-side one row behind them, then I had one single car behind me, I was going to be able to build a run, but the way it was, it was a little bit difficult.”

McDowell’s fourth-place finish didn’t come without bruises from earlier in the race. After the end of Stage 1, McDowell made contact with Martin Truex Jr on pit road, causing the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing driver to spin and incurring heavy right-front damage to the No. 34. Despite the damage, McDowell’s car still had the speed, and by pulling the right pit-stop strings, McDowell was able to tally his fourth top-1o finish in his last five races.

The challenge to achieve that finish, however, wasn’t easy.

“I don’t know if you guys ever raced with AJ and Daniel, but it’s intense no matter what, but then you put three guys that haven’t won a race and need to get into the playoffs, and you know rain’s coming, it was stinkin’ intense …” McDowell said. “Man, I just wish I could’ve held them off. Yeah, we all know what we’re fighting for, right, and we were really close to it, so, you know, it’s a good day, and at the same time, you’re bummed that you didn’t get to Victory Lane, but I think we executed well, and Travis (Peterson, crew chief) did a great job of strategy and putting us in position to have a shot at winning the race, and we just gotta keep doing that every week.”

MORE: Cup standings | Cup schedule

Continuing the consistent grind and amassing points where needed will be key for both Suárez and McDowell, and while the pair might have wished to find Victory Lane and silence all postseason-hunting talk for good, the pair will take any victories they can get, even if they only come in points.

The points compensation — not to mention positive momentum moving forward with seven regular-season races to go — will suffice for now.

“Yeah, it’s definitely important,” Suárez said. “I’m not paying a lot of attention to that. I’m just racing one race at a time, and I’ll see how things play out.”

Posted on by Brandon White

On most weekends during the 2022 season, Kaden Honeycutt found himself going up against many of the best short-track drivers in the southeastern United States as a regular competitor on the CARS Tour.

There wasn’t much time to rest in between those events for Honeycutt, who took part in his first season with RFK Racing’s eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series program after successfully qualifying through a Top 21 points finish in the eNASCAR Contender Series the year before.

Honeycutt has grown accustomed to the busy weekly routine. He said his time on the iRacing servers only bolstered his confidence on short tracks while also preparing him for the larger facilities on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule.

“Being on two different schedules wasn’t too hard,” Honeycutt said. “I was able to put in practice every night before going to bed throughout the season. Nothing conflicted with anything, and I was constantly able to turn laps while staying up to date, so that helped me out a lot.”

RELATED: Career NASCAR stats for Kaden Honeycutt

Honeycutt is among the growing list of drivers who have turned to iRacing for driver development in recent years. William Byron and Ty Majeski used the service to perfect their race crafts before embarking on their own successful careers. Others like Josh Berry, Timmy Hill and Parker Retzlaff have all competed in the eNASCAR iRacing Series since its inception in 2011.

Prior to joining the service, Honeycutt had heard testimonials from numerous drivers on how iRacing made them feel more comfortable at different types of tracks. It was not until Honeycutt started turning laps on iRacing servers that he gained an appreciation for how closely it resembled racing in real life.

By finding a rhythm at virtual versions of several southeast short tracks, Honeycutt managed to seamlessly transition into his first CARS Tour season without any major hang-ups. He tallied two victories and a second-place points finish during his rookie year before adding another victory in 2022.

Kaden Honeycutt’s (12) time on iRacing has been crucial toward his becoming one of the top prospects in Late Model Stock competition. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)

For Honeycutt, iRacing also proved invaluable when it came time to make his drafting debut at Talladega Superspeedway in the Truck Series. With no real-life practice on which to lean, Honeycutt used his knowledge from iRacing to time his runs in the draft and avoid a handful of accidents during the closing laps.

Those efforts nearly rewarded Honeycutt with his first top-10 finish, which he later achieved in the Truck Series finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Honeycutt attributed most of his growth in 2022 to simply being around so many informed people at RFK, including his then teammate in Retzlaff. The two leaned on each other for advice throughout the season, which only made Honeycutt respect Retzlaff more as a driver.

“Parker and I were on the same setup,” Honeycutt said. “[Being with RFK] allowed us to build a solid friendship, and if I needed help with anything, he’d offer his input — and vice versa. There was some good correlation between us, and I’m happy to see him in [the Xfinity Series] this year with Jordan Anderson.”

While Retzlaff secured his full-time ride for 2023, Honeycutt’s immediate NASCAR future is not as coherent, as he currently has a part-time Truck Series deal with Roper Racing.

Despite the resources being invested into iRacing, Honeycutt believes the service is not quite at the point where it can be a true steppingstone toward advancing into one of NASCAR’s top three divisions without a driver heavily relying on funding.

Ray Alfalla, a three-time eNASCAR iRacing Series champion, shared Honeycutt’s sentiments about where iRacing currently stands regarding the developmental ladder. But he hopes changes are made in the future that are designed to provide more competitors like him an opportunity to test their skills in the real world.

“I think [iRacing] is on the way for sure, but real-world racing still requires a massive amount of money to participate,” Alfalla said. “That will always be the limiting factor. Having agreements with the top [iRacing] series to put their champions into development contracts would be probably a good way [to start].”

Three-time eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing champion Ray Alfalla is confident more sim racers will have opportunities to compete in the real world over the next few years. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)

A long-time sim racing veteran, Alfalla needed until 2022 to finally make his real-world debut in racing. It came in the 100-lap Limited Late Model feature for the Fall Brawl at Hickory Motor Speedway.

Even though his race was prematurely cut short by a fuel pump failure, Alfalla was enamored to race at one of NASCAR’s historic tracks. He said his presence at Hickory is an indication of how sim racers are becoming more engrained with racing culture.

That chance for Alfalla was a culmination of several arduous-but-productive years by the staff at iRacing to provide users an ideal simulation of many prestigious tracks from around the world, along with an alternative for drivers in an industry growing more reliant on funded drivers.

With more notoriety coming toward iRacing and eSports in general every year, Alfalla does not see the service’s momentum slowing down any time soon. He’s optimistic its growth will lead to additional success stories like himself, Honeycutt, Majeski, Byron, Berry and others.

“iRacing has become more advanced with their technology as expected compared to 2008,” Alfalla said. “Sponsorship has also increased and there’s a lot more money to race for now than back then. I see it growing more as an eSport with more in-person LAN events with big prizes to win.

“It’s come a long way in 15 years, and it’s still growing.”

The lure of a big prize is a primary reason why Honeycutt has committed himself to the eNASCAR iRacing Series outside of fine-tuning his craft.

Kaden Honeycutt strives to be one of many success stories from iRacing during the current decade. (Photo: Nick Oxford/NASCAR)

At the end of each season, the champion of the eNASCAR iRacing Series receives a paycheck of $100,000, which Honeycutt knows can be crucial toward helping him garner the funding and recognition to potentially earn a full-time ride somewhere in NASCAR.

Honeycutt has his work cut out for him to claim that prize, but he considers himself grateful to be a part of the series and hopes all his laps on the service keep translating into the real world.

“Everything is run well at iRacing,” Honeycutt said. “It’s hard for me [to make suggestions on how to improve things], so I just need to get on it and work on being consistent, which is why I do [the eNASCAR iRacing Series] competitively. I want to compete at a high level.”

Another busy year is ahead for Honeycutt as he balances out iRacing, the Truck Series and short track racing, but he remains more determined than ever to find success in every discipline and show he is capable of one day racing on Sundays.

Posted on by John Crane

HAMPTON, Ga. — For a moment, Brad Keselowski was in a position to scoop up that elusive first win at RFK Racing.

Of course, his first win in the NASCAR Cup Series came 14 years ago, when the then-25-year-old found victory at Talladega Superspeedway. Instead, the now-39-year-old looked to find his first triumph as driver-owner of RFK Racing. And that moment almost came to be Sunday evening during the Quaker State 400 available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos 

However, a dose of pit strategy, fast drivers behind him and a weather-shortened bout at the superspeedway saw the No. 6 RFK Ford driver finish sixth behind the likes of Daniel Suárez, AJ Allmendinger and Michael McDowell, all winless drivers looking to find a win and clinch a playoff spot similarly to Keselowski.

“It was a good day,” Keselowski said. “We were right where we needed to be but didn’t get the breaks we needed. I was really happy with our performance and quality of the cars we had. My teammate, Chris Buescher, did a good job but just didn’t catch the breaks we needed at the end.”

After starting the race in 11th, Keselowski, in conjunction with his teammate Buescher, gradually worked their way up the field, despite finishing outside the top 10 at the end of Stage 1. A Lap 137 pass eventually saw Keselowski overtake another 2023 winless driver in Austin Cindric for the lead, with Buescher following not far behind. The pair eventually began running 1-2 — with Keselowski winning Stage 2 — despite cautions and the threat of weather spicing up pit strategies.

As weather inched closer, the No. 6 team, headed by crew chief Matt McCall, opted for fuel instead of staying out. Keselowski did not envy the circumstances McCall had to choose between. The 260-lap race was eventually called on Lap 185, and while Keselowski led 19 laps, he did not lead the final one en route to the early-race finish.

“No, we had 12-14 laps left of fuel, and that was not enough, and we ended up running 15 laps or so,” Keselowski said. “I think we made the right call, we just needed the rain to be 10 minutes earlier or 10 minutes later.”

MORE: Cup standings | Full race recap

Instead, William Byron found Victory Lane for the fourth time this year, while Keselowski had to settle with a sixth-place finish, his second top-10 finish at Atlanta this season after finishing runner-up in March and best since finishing fourth at Darlington Raceway in May. The 2012 Cup Series champion remains above the 16-driver playoff cutline, sitting 13th in the latest playoff standings 100 points to the good with seven races remaining in the regular season.

While the finish certainly brings certain aspects of optimism for the team, that first win will have to wait just a bit longer. The Cup Series will next race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the Crayon 301 on July 16 (3 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

Whether it be from circumstances, weather or other factors in between, Keselowski will have to chalk up the result and instead look onward.

“It’s just part of the deal,” Keselowski said. “You win races you shouldn’t, and you lose ones you probably should win, and you have to take the punches as they come.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

HAMPTON, Ga. – Neither an early spin nor damage to his No. 24 Chevrolet could prevent William Byron from winning Sunday night’s rain-shortened Quaker State 400 available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

With a storm approaching the 1.54-mile track, Byron surged past AJ Allmendinger into the lead on Lap 167 and remained out front until an accident in Turn 3 involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece and Bubba Wallace caused the seventh caution of the evening on Lap 178.

With Byron out front, the NASCAR Cup Series cars circled the track until the rain arrived and began falling more heavily. NASCAR brought the cars to pit road and red-flagged the race at 9:47 p.m. after 185 of a scheduled 260 laps were complete.

With severe weather moving into the area, the sanctioning body called the race and made Byron the first four-time winner in the series this season. The victory was Byron’s second at Atlanta and the eighth of his career.

MORE: Race results | At-track photos: Atlanta

Daniel Suárez was second when NASCAR called the race, with Allmendinger running third. Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch completed the top five.

Crew chief Rudy Fugle called Byron to pit road on Lap 125 under caution for a pileup in Turn 2 that damaged the cars of Erik Jones, Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs.

That enabled Byron to restart fourth on Lap 165 after roughly half the field (cars that had not pitted since Lap 95) came to pit road on Lap 161. Two laps later, Byron had the lead.

Byron hardly looked like a winner after spinning through the grass on Lap 80 and losing a lap getting to pit road. But the 25-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, regained the lost circuit as the beneficiary under caution for Kyle Larson’s spin on Lap 92.

“It’s cool, man,” Byron said. “We went through so much throughout the night — spinning through the infield, destroyed the bottom of the car dragging it around the apron trying to stay on the lead lap. At that point, you just don’t have the grip, so I was real edgy back in traffic, but Rudy made a good call to pit there and then stay out.

“Once we got towards the front, it was OK. We could make the right decisions, block OK, and I got the lead from AJ and was able to manage the run. Just a crazy night.”

The race was a boon not only for Byron, who leads the playoff standings, but for winless drivers around the playoff bubble. First, there was no new winner in the series to reduce the number of spots available on points.

Moreover, Suárez, Allmendinger and McDowell improved their chances with top-five finishes. Those three drivers all gained ground on Chase Elliott, who is trying to qualify for the NASCAR Playoffs despite missing seven of the 19 races this season.

Elliott wasn’t a factor on Sunday night, failing to earn any stage points and finishing 13th.

Despite his early struggles, Byron was pleased that handling played such an important part in the racing on the recently repaved racing surface.

“It was awesome — that’s all you can ask for on a superspeedway,” Byron said. “We want handling to matter. We want to be able to drive the things. I felt like the first stage was really fun. I was able to make some moves on the bottom.

“And you’re lifting every corner, so it’s different than a 550 (horsepower) old-style race. It’s more packed up, but still handling matters, and guys can make aggressive moves… I’m thankful for the whole team and just staying in it, ‘cause we were a lap down, and it could have been over.”

The race started with team owner Richard Childress driving pace laps in the No. 29 Chevrolet that launched Kevin Harvick’s career with an Atlanta win after Dale Earnhardt’s death in 2001. It wasn’t Harvick’s night, however. After a late spin, he finished 30th in his final run at Atlanta. Harvick is retiring from Cup racing at the end of the season.

Note: Post-race technical inspection was completed without issue, confirming Byron as the race winner. The Nos. 6 and 47 cars will be taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center for further evaluation.

Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway went under the red flag due to rain with 185 of 260 laps completed at the 1.54-mile quad-oval.

William Byron was deemed the winner of the Quaker State 400 available at Walmart as inclement weather hit the track during the Final Stage of Sunday’s race. Because the event was past its halfway mark, NASCAR officials deemed the event complete if unable to restart the event Sunday night.

MORE: Race results | Full race recap

Daniel Suárez finished in second place ahead of AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch.

Byron spun across the frontstretch at Lap 80 after contact from Corey LaJoie to his left rear, ultimately resulting in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet falling off the lead lap. Byron received the free pass to get back onto the lead lap during the next caution when teammate Kyle Larson went for a spin in Turn 4.

The victory is Byron’s fourth of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, most by any driver this year ahead of Busch’s three. Byron has won twice on Atlanta’s new configuration which debuted in the spring of 2022, when his No. 24 made the trip to Victory Lane.

Posted on by John Crane

HAMPTON, Ga — As each 2023 NASCAR Cup Series race concludes, the swan song reaches a higher crescendo, and for Kevin Harvick, the same tune could be sung for Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

With the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing driver set to retire at the end of the season, such an occasion hits home in more ways than one at the recently revamped superspeedway. After all, Harvick’s first win at the track — and ever — came in 2001 in only his third Cup Series start after the then-25-year-old took over for Dale Earnhardt following the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing driver’s death just weeks prior in the Daytona 500.

RELATED: Kevin Harvick through the years | View Harvick’s career stats 

That Atlanta win, infamously, came in the No. 29, and more than 22 years later, Harvick’s final Atlanta sendoff will see that very same No. 29 machine take to the track to pace the field, piloted by none other than Richard Childress, himself.

“I actually haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve been talking to Richard about it and saw they sent me some videos of it this morning and sent me a video of it parked in the garage, so I couldn’t be more excited about seeing it, you know, seeing it lead the field to the green,” Harvick, 47, said Saturday at the track. “I know how excited Richard is. I’m excited as well, but Richard’s been super excited to drive it, so that makes me happy, too.”

The No. 29-styled sendoff hasn’t been the first time the number has found its way back to the track this season. Harvick paid homage to the number personally during the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 21, when he drove a stylized Next Gen-style rendition of the scheme to an 18th-place finish.

However, the usage of the number this time around brings another historical wrinkle, with the car being the very same one used all those years ago and driven by the same owner Harvick called boss for 13 years.

Such a throwback showing Sunday evening will additionally re-emphasize the resilience Harvick displayed in not only taking over for a driver beloved by millions but in getting comfortable with Earnhardt’s setups, even if Harvick was relatively comfortable due to prior experience with the RCR program.

“I had been driving for almost a year, so I did all of it except for Daytona and Indy, so those were the two that Dale would go to, so all of the development stuff and everything that we did,” Harvick said. “I did all of that, so those guys, we were pretty accustomed to driving what he had in the car, what we had come up with, what they implemented and just kind of made all that work.

“I had already been in the cars and kind of known the little nuances of things to do differently and likes and don’t likes and things like that, so obviously they had a pretty good setup, so I would go around this place pretty good. A lot of that stuff was, at that particular point, pretty seamless just because I had been in the car so much.”

MORE: Atlanta schedule | Sunday’s starting lineup 

Harvick will start the Sunday night race in sixth as one of eight Fords inside the top 10. With three career wins, nine top-fives and 16 top-10 finishes at the track in 35 total starts heading into Sunday, his reputation at the track can speak for itself. However, for Harvick, what happens before the race with the No. 29 will evoke as much emotion as the race itself will.

It only makes sense that a sendoff throwing it back to where it all started will definitely hit home.

“Well, obviously, this has been a place for me that has a lot of history here, so to run the last race is definitely a little bit bittersweet,” Harvick said. “But, you know, I think for me, I’ve been prepared for all of this as I’ve gone into this, so seeing the 29 car, the original 29 car, lead the field to the green with Richard driving it and seeing the Hunt Brothers sign there in the middle of 1 and 2, it kind of adds a little bit to it, but mentally, I’ve been prepared for it.”

Posted on by John Crane

To Chris Buescher, the name of the game is to always take that next step.

A brief glimpse at what the No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford has achieved so far this season could immediately illustrate how many steps have already been climbed. The 30-year-old Buescher at the season’s halfway point holds eight top-10 and three top-five finishes in the NASCAR Cup Series heading into Sunday’s Quaker State 400 available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

But for the native Texan, however, that next step doesn’t equate to more top-10 or top-five finishes. Instead, the plan is to be a consistent, weekly contender for a trip to Victory Lane, with another attempt coming at the 1.54-mile superspeedway.

“That next step is probably the hardest step, and it very well could be one of the smallest steps, but it’s just that matter of going from a top-10 car to a car that has a chance to win consistently week in and week out,” Buescher told NASCAR.com Thursday. “We’ve had some shots to win races, but not as consistent as we would like and have the speed to be able to contend for them at as many as we would’ve hoped for.”

RELATED: Buescher’s career stats | An overview of RFK Racing

Of course, any winding road can take many years to navigate, and for Buescher, this was no different. Since joining the RFK ranks as a 15-year-old, claiming the 2012 ARCA Menards Series title, winning the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and continuing to grind for RFK at the Cup level all the way to 2023 after pit stops at Front Row Motorsports and JTG-Daugherty Racing, Buescher has relished the opportunity of being a part of an organization always yearning for consistent, winning success on the regular.

Witnessing such eagerness from his fellow team members only made Buescher that much more determined over the years. Fast forward to 2023, and the optimism and team culture is as strong as ever.

“For me, on a more personal level of being in the shop and being around a lot of the same individuals that have been there for a lot longer than I have, to see their enthusiasm and their mindset in a better place than I’ve seen it in a decade,” Buescher said. “It is really, really neat, and it means something, and it’s cool to see that progression. Not that anybody wasn’t ever hungry, but it gets frustrating, and when you try and put everything you can into it, and you can’t find the result with it, and we’re finding results now, and I think that’s keeping everybody fired up and just a really solid place to work from.”

An optimistic mindset has only helped Buescher discover his prowess on every type of track, varying from superspeedway to short tracks and road courses alike. However, this year’s success started to come to a major head beginning last year, where Buescher put together a career-best season at the Cup level, finishing with 10 top-10 finishes and three top-five finishes in conjunction with a triumph at the Bristol Night Race under the lights during the postseason.

“Then, from the 17 bunch, I think we hit a pretty good stride last season,” Buescher said. “The Bristol win was obviously huge. Bucket list item for so many of us, and Scott [Graves, crew chief] and myself actually lost an Xfinity race there on a green-white-checkered years back together, and it still hurt and haunted both of us. So that was a big recovery … for the team itself, the competitiveness has been there. We’ve got a great group of people that work fantastic together. We’ve been able to really be competitive on the race track, off the truck, on pit road, whatever it may be, we’re really firing on all eight right now.”

MORE: Atlanta schedule | Cup Standings 

For Buescher, having driver-owner and 2012 Cup champion Brad Keselowski as a teammate has only helped accelerate taking that next leap forward. From race weekend conversations to organization-wide company lunch meetings, Keselowski has emphasized the importance of always striving to improve, no matter what success might look like in its current form.

Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski talk.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images

“We can’t lay over or let up. That’s not there. That’s not what our sport is,” Buescher said. “Not that it’s realistic, but if you are winning every week it does not mean you can let up, and that’s something that’s hard to keep everybody in that mindset sometimes, but I think everybody gets it. Brad did a really good job talking to everybody and kind of just reminding everyone that it’s always about learning and being better than you are the previous day and what we can build on, and that’s what we’re after.

“Our sport just doesn’t sit still. … Now is the time to shift gears and go harder.”

MORE: Atlanta 101 | What to Watch: Atlanta

Shifting those very same gears is the goal as the regular season winds down. With Buescher currently sitting 11th in points, the priority will be to scoop up a win and clinch a berth in the 2023 postseason. The opportunity to find that elusive win could very well come at Atlanta, where the No. 17 has shown quick speed recently, despite crashing out in each of the last two races there.

No matter what recent history at Atlanta might show, Buescher will strive to continue demonstrating the positive attitude that has seized the No. 17 team by the horns. The hunger to win has only ever grown, and after Bristol last year provided a taste, Buescher is now eager to make the spectacle more of the norm. Making all of the right moves, whether from finding the right groove on the track to emphasizing consistent growth off the track, will only make that norm become possible.

Consider it one more step in need of climbing.

“It’s an execution day,” Buescher said. “It’s all pieces coming together, and I think that’s pretty much it for any win, but you need to be fast off the truck, you need to have smart decisions during the race. You need to have fast, clean pit stops. Strategy and weather need to go your way, and all of the above.

“It takes everything, which is why we talk about our sport and how much of a team sport it is and what sometimes a casual fan doesn’t realize is it’s not myself in the car deciding to go inside or outside of a car on a single lap that’s make-or-breaking our day. If we have a great day, I didn’t do all of that work. That came from people back at the shop, that came from our practice adjustments, that came from pit road and our spotter on top and strategy. It’s a massive puzzle, and everything has to sit into place on the right day to be able to make it work. So, that’s what we’re focusing on is getting that win.”

Posted on by John Crane

HAMPTON, Ga. — Kaulig Racing was on the cusp of a race sweep.

On paper, the results didn’t look too shabby. Daniel Hemric finished runner-up, and Justin Haley finished close behind in fourth, with Chandler Smith being the outlier of the trio with a 20th-place result after running out of fuel late. But a potential 1-2-3 banner finish for the organization wasn’t cashed in during Saturday evening’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco Uniforms 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

The sting of what could have been resonated profoundly. A dominant effort from all three drivers through the early, middle and later portions culminated with all three drivers in the top three with less than 20 laps to go. A chance for the hat-trick finish was on the table until misfortune in a late caution and NASCAR Overtime saw the trio split up and eventually falter to Joe Gibbs Racing’s John Hunter Nemechek.

“That’s a bitter feeling,” Hemric told NASCAR.com. “John Hunter did a great job. He was in the mix all night. He did everything right, to be honest with you. We just executed extremely poorly on our part.”

“We were just trying to win,” Haley told NASCAR.com. “We thought we were in a good spot, and we just weren’t.”

The waning laps and ensuing overtime period following an Austin Hill caution on Lap 161 looked to put the team in a bind, with the Kaulig cars, spearheaded by Haley, looking to set the pace and cement himself in a position to simultaneously be a blocker and control the front rows. However, the team could not position itself accordingly, with Smith running dry and a Hemric push providing Nemechek the window of opportunity to take control and hold off the field.

Haley finished the race with a field-high 80 laps led. Smith followed up with five laps led of his own, while Hemric — despite not leading any laps during the race — proved to be the steady presence up front, despite the organization’s overall finish.

“In all reality, it probably falls on my lap,” Hemric said. “If I’m not shuffled to fifth there before the yellow comes out, we line up and control the entire front row and at least half of the second row, and I think our odds go up substantially at that point. So, I’ll take the blame for having to choose kind of all we had to choose coming into the last restart, and at the end of the day, that’s kind of what set the tone for the green-white-checkered.”

“Daniel has got to take the shortest line so he can try to get to his teammates, right?” Kaulig Racing President Chris Rice told NASCAR.com. “That’s the key because he had done some blocking, and when you take the shortest line, you get lined up behind people that you hadn’t been racing with, so like I told Matt (Kaulig, team owner), I’m going to go back and look at it and see what it was. But yeah, the big thing is we lost a race, and it’s never fun to lose a race once you dominate like we dominated tonight.”

MORE: Updated Xfinity Series standings 

Moving forward, the team will look to regroup both on the track and off the track, varying from continuing to bring quick cars and vying to improve on providing the right leadership to find that team-wide success.

“Just getting fast cars,” Haley said. “We brought fast cars here which struggled in the spring and seemed decent today.”

“I got to do a better job as a leader at the shop,” Rice said. “I got to make sure I do a better job with everybody, and like I told them, I take full blame for it, and I’ll take it on my hip and figure out what I need to do different to help everybody to be able to win these races because Matt Kaulig deserves to win these races, and that’s what it’s about.”