The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to competition at Darlington Raceway with Saturday’s Shriners Children’s 200 (1:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) after a rare week off.
Unquestionably the team to beat this week is JR Motorsports, which has won the last four Xfinity Series races at the notoriously tough 1.366-mile oval.
Veteran Justin Allgaier, driver of the No. 7 JRM Chevrolet, is the defending race winner – holding off his then-teammate Noah Gragson by a slight 0.259-seconds in this race last year to hoist his second Darlington trophy in as many years. Allgaier is the only two-time race winner in the field on Saturday and a victory – which would be his first of 2023 – would certainly be huge for him toward his championship run.
Among the title contenders, his two wins, six top-five and 11 top-10 efforts in 15 Darlington starts are easily tops. He’s currently ranked fifth in the standings, 49 points behind leader Austin Hill.
Hill, driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, leads the Xfinity Series with three wins and holds a slight four-point edge over Joe Gibbs Racing’s John Hunter Nemechek atop the driver standings.
Darlington has been a solid venue for both Hill and his closest competitor in the standings, Nemechek. Both drivers finished inside the top 10 in both races there last year, although neither has won at the track. They are also the only two multiple-time winners in 2023. And Nemechek’s 340 laps led this season is best by more than 100 laps over the next closest — Hill.
There are three former Darlington winners in Saturday’s field, including the only multi-time winner Allgaier and his first-year JRM teammate Brandon Jones (2020) and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer (2019).
RCR driver Sheldon Creed finished runner-up in the fall race at Darlington and has back-to-back NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victories at the track and should be considered a favorite as well.
A handful of NASCAR Cup Series drivers are entered this week, including 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, who will drive the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. Current Cup Series driver standings leader Ross Chastain will drive the No. 91 DGM Racing Chevrolet and Ty Dillon will steer the famed No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
Several teams will be participating in Darlington’s famed Throwback Weekend.
Both Hill’s and his RCR teammate Creed’s Chevrolets will honor former two-time Xfinity Series champion Kevin Harvick with paint schemes reminiscent of Harvick’s 2001 and 2006 title-winning seasons. Custer’s No. 00 Ford will pay tribute to the late driver Jason Leffler and his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Riley Herbst’s No. 98 Ford will do the same for the late rally driver Ken Block.
Brett Moffitt’s No. 25 AM Racing Ford will honor the late Tim Richmond’s famous “Folger’s Coffee” car.
Jeffrey Earnhardt’s No. 45 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet will carry a paint scheme honoring his late grandfather Dale Earnhardt’s 1997 All-Star Race car.
Fittingly, for the throwback theme, it’s a NASCAR Hall of Famer that boasts all the most important Xfinity Series records at Darlington. Mark Martin holds the top mark for wins (eight), pole positions (eight), top fives (14), top 10s (18) and laps led (972).
The green flag for practice waves at 5:05 p.m. ET on Friday, followed immediately by qualifying. Both sessions will be aired live on FS1.
NORFOLK, Va. – As a high-octane prelude to the nation’s most patriotic Memorial Day weekend celebration, Coca-Cola Racing Family driver and 2022 NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano continued Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Mission 600 tour with sailors at Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval station, on Wednesday.
Logano, alongside Charlotte Motor Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Greg Walter and NASCAR Salutes ambassador Jesse Iwuji, toured the expansive destroyer USS Nitze, which just last month returned from an eight-month deployment where its missions included deconflicting air space for the President of the United States during a United Nations conference and completing numerous visit, board, search and seizure operations, resulting in the seizure of an estimated $43 million of illegal narcotics.
During the visit, Logano met with commanding officers and the crew, toured the ship’s bridge and aft missile deck, and served chow to sailors. Following the tour, Logano participated in a ship handling trainer simulation, which gave the veteran driver an in-depth education in maneuvering a warship at sea.
“This has been an incredible experience to meet the men and women that serve our country,” Logano said. “I love that we do this as a sport – Mission 600. Every week we do this; today was my turn, and I was pretty excited about coming here and meeting the people. It’s amazing to see the ships and what their capabilities are, but meeting the men and women that are actually doing the work and making the commitment for us… Memorial Day Weekend is really a great time to show that appreciation that we should be showing every single day. I wish everyone had the opportunity I have today to see this stuff up close and personal.”
Charlotte Motor Speedway communications
Capt. Katie Jacobson, the commanding officer of the USS Nitze, hosted the visit, presenting Logano with a USS Nitze hat and an American flag that flew on the ship to commemorate his visit.
“It was great to get to interact with them, chat with them and give them a taste of what being on a destroyer is like,” Jacobson said. “We talked about our deployment. They got to see inside the skin of the ship, how we interact. We have about 320 sailors on board right now. That’s my pit crew. While I’m the captain and represent the ship, it’s really the crew that makes it all happen… I’m super proud of the crew, and it’s always a wonderful opportunity to show them off and show the ship off.”
Mission 600 serves as a prelude to Charlotte Motor Speedway’s patriotic pre-race salute to the troops prior to the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend. With representation from all six branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, the salute embodies the patriotism and service of the nation’s men and women in uniform.
“The Coca-Cola 600 being on the eve of Memorial Day, it’s a nice reminder to be able to bring the stars of our sport out so they can actually see what the military does each and every day – that sense of team, that sense of service, that sense of duty – the same characteristics that make for a successful race team,” Walter said. “When we bring these drivers out for Mission 600, it’s really cool to see them kind of rethink things. They’ll see the military there during pre-race, but to be able to interact with these sailors like Joey did, it’s a unique connection point for our sport to the military.”
It’s time to turn back the clocks and pay homage to 75 years of NASCAR with Throwback Weekend. There is no better facility to honor the greats of the sport and dawn paint schemes of the past than at Darlington Raceway.
The historic track, along with its rough and worn-out surface, serves as the time capsule that continues to evoke every decade of NASCAR and blend it all at once whenever there’s on-track action. There’s a lot to be on the lookout for this weekend so here’s some important information to get you into the spirit of Throwback Weekend with trends to watch ahead of Sunday’s Goodyear 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), tire info and interactive ways to follow all the action.
Following an exhilarating Kansas race that saw last-lap contact for the win and a post-race scuffle involving Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson, the tone has been set for what will be three upcoming weekends of thrilling on-track action. Playoff points continue to be paramount but there’s an added element of bragging rights for the rest of May with the legendary venues NASCAR will be traveling to for the rest of the month.
Any race at Darlington feels like a major event, and we’ve seen what the Cup Series’ best drivers are willing to do — highlighted when defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano moved William Byron in the closing laps to take the win.
A big check on the line and the return to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the All-Star Race following Darlington is sure to produce fireworks that come with short-track racing and May closes with NASCAR’s longest race at the home track of many teams with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
MORE: Cup Series schedule
RULE CHANGES/GOODYEAR TIRE NOTES 🛞
Goodyear Racing
To celebrate Goodyear’s 125 years in business, the tire brand will bring a limited-edition sidewall design that features the original Wingfoot logo created in 1898 and will be seen on 3,500 tires at all three national series races during Throwback Weekend – including the brand’s title sponsor Cup race, the Goodyear 400. The tire pays tribute to the longevity of NASCAR and Goodyear’s relationship as well as celebrates Goodyear’s 125th anniversary in 2023.
Goodyear brings the tire setup to Darlington that was first featured at Homestead-Miami Speedway last October. It’s the same setup that was used at Kansas Speedway last Sunday. Cup teams will be allotted one set of tires for practice, one for qualifying and an additional 10 for Sunday’s 400-miler.
In the event of a lost wheel that is contained to pit road, the offending team will be subject to a pass-through penalty under green-flag conditions. If the infraction occurs during a caution period, the offending team will restart at the tail end of the field.
If the wheel breaks free outside of pit road, the new rules guidelines mandate a two-lap penalty plus a two-race suspension for two crew members. Each penalty is series-specific: Violations in one series will not impact those crew members’ eligibility to participate in other series.
NOTE: No. 2 Team Penske crew members Keiston France and Patrick Gray have been suspended from the next two Championship Series events after Austin Cindric lost a tire on track at Kansas last Sunday.
Fans can get in on the action all season long with NASCAR Fan Rewards, a free program that rewards fans for participating in the action when they watch races and play NASCAR Fantasy.
There’s no cost to join. Fans must be 18 years or older to participate in the program.
Earn points by checking into a race from home or at the track, setting your Fantasy Live lineup, making purchases on the NASCAR.com shop and more. Points can be redeemed for race tickets, merchandise and VIP experiences at the track, including pace car rides and waving the green flag at qualifying.
NASCAR Mobile has now added support for fans to “Follow the Race” and access live leaderboard and race information from Live Activities in the current app release (v13.2.0), available now. Android users, we didn’t forget you — the same functionality has been custom-built for Android devices, as well.
How to access Live Activities on iPhones:
Make sure your iOS device has been updated to 16.1 or higher.
Available on the leaderboard of all NASCAR Series races.
Click on the three-dot menu near the top right of screen.
Select “Follow the Race.”
Swipe up to access the home screen and you will see the Live Activities at the top.
Lock the device and you will see Live Activities on the Lock Screen.
To turn off, simply visit the leaderboard, click the three-dot menu and “Unfollow the Race.”
FANTASY LIVE 🏆
Want to manage a team and race your way to the top of the leaderboards? Check out NASCAR Fantasy Live, which is open now. The free-to-play game lets you choose your drivers each week and show off your crew-chief instincts by garaging a driver by the end of Stage 2, and there is a $25,000 prize for the winner.
Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week, in-car cameras will be available — as well as a battle cam and an overhead look.
NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement to the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the mobile app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more — and see instant results from NASCAR fans like you.
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. – Jeff Canipe had the itch to take a half-day from work. His duties as a student records coordinator at Gardner-Webb University had cooled roughly one week after the school’s commencement ceremonies. He had somewhere he needed to be Wednesday afternoon, making the drive up from his Kings Mountain, North Carolina home to North Wilkesboro Speedway’s public grand re-opening.
The 0.625-mile oval opened up before him at the backstretch crossover gate like a ghost revived. “Man,” Canipe said, making the slight uphill walk to the opening and seeing the track for the first time in 25 years. “It looks like a new race track.”
All of North Wilkesboro Speedway’s spruced-up amenities were there for viewing in Wednesday’s open house, and the community and NASCAR industry took part in the spirit of celebration. The gathering – free to the public – served as a sneak preview for the setting of the May 21 NASCAR All-Star Race (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the first Cup Series event at the track since 1996.
Some finishing touches of the reconstruction were still being completed during the public’s welcome, but the track was in arguably the best condition it’s seen since it was first cut into the North Carolina foothills in the late 1940s, pre-dating even the formation of NASCAR. But even with all the newness and rebuilding, special care was taken for a gentle approach to preserving the track’s history. That wasn’t an easy task since the track has sat mostly dormant since that last Cup Series race, requiring major overhauls and infrastructure updates.
“I thought it was done for,” said Canipe, who said he once worked for veteran driver and car owner Jimmy Means long ago in the Xfinity Series. “I’ve seen pictures of it before they started to renovate it, and I thought there’s no way that they’ll ever race at this place again. To be able to see them bring it back here and race the All-Star Race and hopefully continue, it’s amazing.”
He wasn’t alone among those marveling. Former driver and FOX Sports analyst Clint Bowyer clasped his hand on the shoulder of Marcus Smith, president and CEO of track owner Speedway Motorsports. “Can you believe he spent all this money up here?” Bowyer said to laughs from the modest crowd of fans. “So pumped!”
Zack Albert | NASCAR Studios
Cup Series driver Austin Dillon was back for the first time since 2010 when he was on site for a music video with country artist Tim Dugger. He recalled the weeds creeping up through the cracks in the aging track surface back then, along with a general state of disrepair. Showing up Wednesday night with his brother, Ty, and seeing the fresh paint, new SAFER barriers and community turnout, he appreciated the return to the sport’s roots.
“I think that’s one cool thing about our sport, we do some unique stuff,” Austin Dillon said, noting that his father, Mike, won two Late Model races at North Wilkesboro, a distinction that meant his car rode a hydraulic lift to the trademark rooftop Victory Lane. “Even though people don’t really love change, sometimes change is awesome. But it’s also cool when you go back in time and bring these type of cars back to a track because people love it. I mean, no matter how far forward we go, there’s nothing like the past and going back and coming back in time and experiencing that. For me, it’s that way.”
Evan and Tamara Wiles made the trip to see it for themselves, driving down from the Traphill community in the northeastern corner of Wilkes County. “I’ve lived here all my life,” Evan Wiles said, and the couple brought their 5-year-old son, Everette, to experience it for the first time. He said after seeing other attempts to re-establish racing in North Wilkesboro fizzle through the years, this effort felt like it had staying power.
“It seems like everyone got together and finally have put it in the center,” Tamara Wiles said. “Let’s just get everyone back.”
The Wiles plan to return for qualifying and the Saturday, May 20 race for the Craftsman Truck Series (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Tickets for the main event, they admitted, were a little outside their price range. “I was willing to dadgum spend it if I had to,” Evan Wiles said.
Fans were treated to autograph signings, food-truck fare and the chance to have the run of the track’s grounds for keepsake photos. Two grandstands were re-dedicated to honor a pair of Wilkes County legends. A new Junior Johnson Grandstand took its traditional spot on the end of the backstretch, though not christened with a jar of moonshine this time that we know of. The sweeping seating section through Turns 1 and 2 was named in tribute to fellow Hall of Famer Benny Parsons, who passed away in 2007.
Terri Parsons, Benny’s wife and a key participant in the revival efforts, was there for pictures with the rest of the family beneath the bright red banner. She noted that other race track landmarks had been named for her husband through the years, “but this right here,” she said, “would mean more to him than anything.”
The day and evening were largely devoid of engine noise, which will change next week when a pair of Late Model races rumble to life midweek. For most in attendance Wednesday, just seeing the historic venue reborn was enough.
“They’ve done some great work. It’s truly, truly good work,” said Linda Cheek, president of the Wilkes Chamber of Commerce for the last 25 years. “I look around and shake my head in disbelief more than anything. It’s such an opportunity.”
Sixty years ago, Darlington Raceway president Bob Colvin wanted to add a spark to his track’s springtime event. The race previously had distinguished itself from the longer, more prestigious Southern 500 as an event for the short-lived NASCAR Convertible Series. Even though that division folded after the 1959 season, Darlington still awarded full Grand National (now Cup Series) points for ragtops in that race for three more years.
That 300-mile race, held 60 years ago today at the South Carolina oval, wound up as one of stock-car racing’s most intriguing oddities in an era when the sport was still trying to find itself and larger speedways were beginning to bloom. The event was divided into two races, an overall winner was declared from a formula that averaged out the two results, and the field for the back half of the doubleheader went green from — gasp — a standing start.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Weatherly won the first 110-lapper and finished second in the next segment to take the overall win, but the spark that Colvin sought to kindle never fully ignited. Having math as the path to Victory Lane created more confusion than excitement, and the race structure was relegated to a one-off footnote in the track’s grand history.
Sixty years later, the NASCAR Cup Series reconvenes at rugged Darlington Raceway for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). The national series tripleheader will be the setting of NASCAR’s Throwback Weekend, which will continue the celebration of the sport’s rich history in its 75th anniversary season.
For all the remembrances planned, the Southern 500 memories will be the likely headliners, but so will the classic Ricky Craven-Kurt Busch spring-race showdown from 20 years back; they’ll be the grand marshals for Sunday’s 400. Weatherly’s 1963 triumph won’t make the highlight-reel list, but it’s worth exploring the quirks that have kept it a NASCAR curiosity all these years later.
First, the format. The first 110-lap portion used a traditional rolling start. The winner of the first leg received an extra payout and the first 10 finishers in each race also pocketed a monetary bonus — a nod toward the awarding of stage points in modern-day NASCAR events.
Between each race was a 30-minute break, which allowed time for mechanics to make repairs or adjustments for Race 2. That second race lined up according to the opener’s finishing order, but the field set sail from a standstill after a 10-second countdown to the flag. The cars would be gridded in staggered, alternating rows of two and three — done so to provide more evasive paths for trailing drivers in case of a stalled car near the front.
“I consider this standing start downright silly,” Hall of Famer Bud Moore, who owned Weatherly’s No. 8 Pontiac, told The Charlotte Observer. “But the fans will enjoy it, because there should be a lot of banging of race cars. I just hope the car which starts in front of Joe doesn’t stall. Better yet, I hope nobody starts in front of Joe.”
The points system to determine the overall winner was more convoluted, with potential flaws lurking within the rules. Each driver’s finish in each race earned points, and the result in the second race was weighted slightly more. Weatherly was bullish on how each dash would create the incentive to race harder, but at the same time, the format had its shortcomings. An overall winner could be crowned on consistency, without winning either segment or even leading a lap, and the first car to the checkered flag wouldn’t necessarily be the victor. Weatherly was intent to make the calculations a moot point with a heavy right foot.
“This race seemed to be planned for the chargers,” Weatherly told the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Sentinel two days before the race. “A driver knows he’s going only 110 laps in each race, so he’s going out there and push his car for all it’s worth. The guy who intends to stroke had better stay out of the way. I think I’m really going to like this race.”
NASCAR Research & Archives Center | Getty Images
Still, Weatherly was lightly regarded among the favorites, given the strength of Fords and Chevrolets at the start of the 1963 season. Ford had won the year’s first two big-track events with Tiny Lund in the Daytona 500, and then with Fred Lorenzen in the Atlanta 500. Lorenzen and fellow Ford driver Fireball Roberts were first and second in the race’s unofficial odds established by Jim Hunter, then a staff writer at The State in Columbia, South Carolina, who would become Darlington Raceway’s president 30 years later. Weatherly — the defending series champ — was the ninth choice in Hunter’s odds, going off as a 10-1 shot.
Lorenzen emerged with the pole position after three days of time trials, but his day was done shortly after the rolling start to the opener. On Lap 2, the Illinois campaigner lost control of his No. 28 Holman-Moody Ford and crunched the wall on the main straight. “I hit a slick place and just lost it,” he told reporters later.
Rex White was caught up in the incident, but managed to steer his No. 4 Chevy away from Lorenzen’s car to escape a more severe blow. “Rex did a fine job of driving avoiding me,” Lorenzen said. “He was heading straight for me but somehow got by me. His driving probably saved my life.”
With those two favorites sidelined, that left the top spot to Junior Johnson, who led 80 of the 110 laps in Race 1. When the transmission on his No. 3 Chevrolet gave out on the final lap of the first event, Weatherly capitalized for the win and extra prize money.
Of the 31 cars that started, 25 remained to make a go of it in Race 2. Richard Petty had found trouble in the opener, finishing sixth after running over debris and popping a tire on his No. 42 Plymouth. But he made the best of the standing start, charging ahead when Weatherly double-clutched and fought through vapor lock at his launch.
Newspaper accounts reported that the crowd roared its approval of the unusual starting procedure as the field clambered into Turn 1, but the rest of the second race had a less favorable reception. Petty was dominant in winning Race 2, but Weatherly finished as the runner-up, eight seconds behind and with little need to press Petty further for the overall win.
Weatherly’s finishes of first and second that Saturday afternoon equaled a winning point total of 197.8. He made just one pit stop in each race, and his final stop was a speedy 12 seconds for fuel only. Roberts survived a first-race tangle with Bobby Johns to place third in each event, netting him 191.7 points — good for second overall.
As for Petty, the lengthy pit stop to change his flat tire in the first half likely cost him the overall win, and his finishes (sixth, first) calculated to 189.9 points, third-best. The day’s effort, though, gave him the lead in the Grand National standings and some extra spending cash — $1,500 for winning the second race.
“I’ll say this,” Petty told the Greensboro (N.C.) Record, “I probably wouldn’t have won as much money as I did if there hadn’t been two races.”
Other opinions were split on how successful the experimental format had been. Weatherly — who crowed post-race about how Moore’s tuning expertise had put Ford’s favorites in their place — had a different appreciation for the race procedures, especially since they made him $11,100 richer.
“I don’t care what kind of races they have,” Weatherly said, “just as long as they draw bigger crowds so the purses will get bigger.”
By the time anticipation started building for the Southern 500, Darlington’s Labor Day classic later that year, newspapers reported that track officials had quietly opted to scuttle the format for future 300-milers. Later accounts suggested that the move came at NASCAR’s urging. Either way, the race structure was mothballed, leaving the 1963 event earmarked for obscurity in the history books.
A modern-day look at the results sheet helps explain why. Petty was the first driver to the checkered flag, but just made the last spot on the overall podium after the formula was run. The “laps completed” column also reads like a jumble, failing to follow the numerical listing of the finishing order. David Pearson, for instance, crashed out after 180 laps and was credited with 12th place; G.C. Spencer completed 210 laps — 30 more than Pearson — but finished behind his Dodge teammate in 13th.
The radical procedures didn’t stand the test of time, but the head-scratching has endured. Ford driver Jimmy Pardue spoke for many when a fan asked post-race what he thought of the format.
“I guess it’s all right,” he said. “I’d just like to know where I finished.”
Speed was plentiful at Kansas Speedway last weekend, and that wasn’t just for the Next Gen cars alone.
Pit road was popping in the Sunflower State as teams put up some of the fastest times of the year. According to data by Racing Insights, six of the 10 single fastest four-tire pit stops of the year came at Kansas, including spots 2-6 on the list (full top 10 is below).
The quickest of those was on Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota for the 23XI Racing team. His stop of 9.509 seconds on Lap 84 was the best of the day and the second-fastest of the entire season among all NASCAR Cup Series teams.
Most teams now display their own pit-stop time in their own pit box, and the data from the Next Gen cars essentially allows teams to see everybody’s times. At least one pit crew member credits that visibility leading to a spirit of competition at Kansas.
“I think when you start seeing faster stops, people start reaching for that,” said Ryan Flores, tire changer on the Team Penske No. 12 team and co-host of the “Stacking Pennies” podcast. “The only way to start reaching for that time is to take a bigger risk. Some guys fall in love with a certain (time) trying to be faster, and pit road is as hard as it’s ever been. The risk matches the reward, but the risk is really high.”
Wallace’s team consistently hit on pit road all day. In addition to having the fastest time on one four-tire stop, the No. 23 team also averaged the best time on all four-tire stops at 10.121 seconds.
Buoyed by the strength of crew Austin Dickey (front changer), Adam Hartman (rear changer), Brad Donaghy (tire carrier), Jorden Paige (jackman) and
Joshua Pech (fueler), Wallace drove to a fourth-place finish at Kansas, tied for his best finish of the year.
That pit-road performance moves the No. 23 team into fifth place on the season-long chart of fastest average four-tire pit stops of the year (see more below). William Byron’s No. 24 crew remains at the top of the rankings following Kansas.
See below to analyze additional pit-road statistics from Racing Insights.
Fresh off a NASCAR Hall of Fame induction earlier this year, 2003 Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth can add another accolade to his stacked resumé after being named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers on Wednesday.
The 39-time Cup Series race-winner was a fixture at the front of the field during the sport’s rise to mainstream prominence in the early 2000s, his championship run in 2003 marking the final such title in the non-playoff era. His victory tally slots him tied for 21st on the all-time winner list and includes wins at 19 of the 23 different tracks at which he competed more than once. He additionally won the 2004 All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
While collecting just one victory during his championship season, it remained a dominant campaign in which he led the points standings for the final 32 weeks of the season, turning in his second-best average finish (10.3). And don’t think that the playoff system implemented after his title run hindered him in any way — Kenseth, from that point on, was a contender in the playoffs for 13 of the next 14 seasons, twice finishing runner-up.
Known for his prominence on the sport’s superspeedways, Kenseth tallied two Daytona 500 crowns and another victory at Talladega, tossing in a Southern 500 win in 2013 at Darlington Raceway — NASCAR’s original “superspeedway.”
Before Kenseth’s JGR stint came a longtime tenure driver for Jack Roush, during which came his 2003 title triumph. He later returned to drive for Roush in a part-time capacity in 2018, followed by a partial one-season run with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2020.
Kenseth also has 29 career Xfinity wins, good for eighth-best all-time. He finished in the top three in that series in 1998 and 1999, finishing just shy of good friend Dale Earnhardt Jr. in both seasons.
Throughout its 75-year history, NASCAR has been synonymous with numerous groups and organizations. But perhaps none has carried more significance than the sport’s relationship with the U.S. military.
From pre-race flyovers to the annual Coca-Cola 600 Memorial Day Weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, NASCAR and the armed forces have seemingly been joined at the hip.
That history includes champions and other major contributors to the sport who have carried many of the skills and life lessons learned in the military over to civilian life, and particularly into their roles with NASCAR.
“There’s no question about how things I learned in the military helped me in civilian life, things like leadership, guidance or how to run a tight ship,” said Dale Inman, who was an Army ordnance specialist before he became crew chief for all seven of Richard Petty’s NASCAR championships (plus an eighth title with Terry Labonte). “Whether in the Army or NASCAR, if you’ve got five or more people under you, you’ve got to have a leader, right?
“And you’ve got to respect the leaders. When I became a crew chief, people did respect me, and I certainly learned a lot from the military. You’ve got to be disciplined, you know.”
The sport is once again celebrating its close ties with the military thanks to NASCAR Salutes Together with Coca-Cola. Let’s pay homage to some of those close ties:
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Perhaps the most notable service member who went on to racing stardom was NASCAR Hall of Famer Bud Moore. Before he became a championship-winning crew chief and team owner who won three NASCAR Cup Series championships and 63 races, Moore was without question an American hero.
After being drafted as an 18-year-old in 1943, Moore became a prolific machine gunner, taking part in the 1944 D-Day Invasion, and served under famed Army Maj. Gen. George S. Patton. Moore was eventually awarded two Bronze Stars for his bravery and five Purple Heart Medals for a variety of injuries he suffered.
In addition to Moore, one of the most successful engine builders in NASCAR history, Henry “Smokey” Yunick, served four years in World War II (1941-45) in the Army Air Corps, piloting a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber on over 50 missions across Europe.
There was also NASCAR’s first-ever champion, Army hero Red Byron, who suffered debilitating injuries in a bombing mission in World War II that left him hospitalized for more than two years and nearly cost him his left leg.
While he lay in a hospital bed, Byron had a goal that served to inspire him: to return to race in NASCAR. He’d go on to win the sport’s first championship (Modifieds in 1948) and then the first Cup Series championship in 1949 (known back then as the Strictly Stock Division).
And then there was Bill France Jr. The son of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., he was one of the primary reasons why NASCAR became so synonymous with the military. After spending two years at the University of Florida, the younger France served two years in the U.S. Navy as a Petty Officer 3rd Class ordnance specialist (guns and bombs) in the mid-1950s.
It was during his military stint that the younger France helped recruit several former service members to begin a career in racing, particularly those who had mechanical aptitude that they learned while in the service.
When he returned to the sport after fulfilling his military obligation around 1956, France helped engineer one of the first flyovers in 1957 and 1958 when the Navy’s famed Blue Angels performed over the Daytona beach races before Daytona International Speedway opened in 1959.
The Blue Angels also were featured on the cover of the 1961 Southern 500 program at Darlington Raceway to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Naval Aviation. It was those early flyovers that would lead to flyovers before most NASCAR Cup races, a tradition that continues to thrill fans today.
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Today, the partnership between NASCAR and the military is as strong as it has ever been. Charlotte Motor Speedway has proudly presented a yearly salute to the troops every Memorial Day weekend before the Coca-Cola 600 for nearly 40 years.
And this year, one individual — Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jesse Iwuji, now better known as Xfinity Series driver Jesse Iwuji — will be front and center, showcasing what serving in the military has done for him and his own career and life.
A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Iwuji spent nearly a decade on active duty while also beginning a racing career — at the very advanced age of 26 (he’s now 35) — in his off-duty time.
Iwuji will not compete in the May 27 Xfinity race, but he will host a special Gold Star event honoring military members and their families before the Coca-Cola 600 on May 28.
Now in the Naval Reserves, Iwuji has become a perfect illustration of the partnership between the military and NASCAR. The example he’s set has led to others enlisting in the military with the hope of eventually following in Iwuji’s footsteps into NASCAR as drivers or team members.
“Starting at that age and without any real knowledge of racing, starting with no real pathway because I didn’t come from the racing world, I had to basically draw upon what I learned from the Naval Academy and in the Navy,” Iwuji said. “One of those attributes was being resourceful. There’s no book that says, ‘Here’s the steps to becoming a professional race car driver.’
“You have to be ridiculously resourceful because you have to put into place all the different things that it takes to be a race car driver. It’s not just learning how to race a car well, it’s learning how to drive a race car, how to find funding, how to be marketable, how to be a professional ambassador not only for your brand, your personal brand, but for the brands that support us and the motorsport that you’re in.”
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Iwuji has become an ambassador for NASCAR to not just the Navy, but all branches of military service. And he has been an inspiration to individuals he’s met at the track. In fact, so many individuals have sought advice from him about what they should do with their lives, potentially joining the military and eventually entering the world of NASCAR, that he has written a primer he sends to those who either request it or who Iwuji feels will help them in their path forward.
“I have a lot of different fans reach out to me almost pretty much on a weekly basis, not only just at the track, but also through social media,” Iwuji said. “A lot of them wonder what’s military life like? What’s it like balancing your military duties and balancing what you’re doing with racing with their businesses, and all that together.
“So I developed what I call a playbook in which I describe my pathway into NASCAR and what I had to do to get to where I got to. My pathway might work for some, or it might not work for others.
“I try to help people get to the right mindset. Because when you’re going into any journey, you’re going to go through difficult times, and if your mindset isn’t where it needs to be, you’ll never make it.”
Iwuji gets satisfaction in pointing individuals to careers in the military, NASCAR or both.
“The greatest thing is when you send people this information, and a year or two later, they reach back out to you and they’re like, ‘Hey, because of you, I’m on my way,’ ” he said.
That’s why the military-NASCAR connection is as important today as it was 30, 40 or more years ago. In addition to Iwuji, dozens of current NASCAR members proudly claim to have served in the military.
“I think the tie-in with NASCAR and the military is very important,” Iwuji said. “It’s something that we need to continue to grow every single year. I love what we do with the NASCAR programs, what we do during the month of May, Veterans Day and all the other patriotic weekends of the year. I love how NASCAR is super supportive of it.
“It’s very important because NASCAR is the No. 1 motorsport in the U.S. It’s a very patriotic-type sport because of its fan base. So why not have the No. 1-most patriotic sport, the No. 1 motorsport, why not have that heavy tie-in with our nation’s military, which is something very important and near and dear to everybody’s heart, right?
“Because without our men and women out there who are serving, deploying, going out there risking their lives, risking their limbs, why not continue to honor them, to support them for everything they do.”
Following Saturday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at Monadnock Speedway, the No. 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing modified driven by Doug Coby was issued a penalty as a result of post-race inspection.
The rules infraction is as follows:
Penalty Level: P3
20D – 12.1 Coil Springs A.6. After the vehicle has cleared pre-qualifying or Pre-race technical inspection, one (1) coil spring rubber insert, not to exceed one (1) full coil of the front coil spring, acceptable to NASCAR Officials, will be permitted.
Crew chief Tommy Baldwin was issued a $1,500 fine and was suspended from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour until the fine is paid. Baldwin is also under NASCAR probation until December 31, 2023.
NASCAR officials penalized the No. 2 Team Penske Ford team Tuesday for the loss of a tire after last weekend’s events at Kansas Speedway.
Austin Cindric drove the No. 2 Ford to a 31st-place finish in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400. Earlier in the race, a flat right front tire forced him into contact with the wall going into Turn 1. The tire then subsequently broke off and began rolling away onto the track, a violation detailed in Section 8.8.10.4.A & C in the NASCAR Rule Book, pertaining to loss or separation of an improperly installed tire/wheel from the vehicle..
