Noah Gragson has asked to be released from his contract with Legacy Motor Club, the team announced Thursday morning.
Gragson was placed under indefinite suspension by NASCAR on Saturday for violating the member conduct section of the NASCAR Rule Book. The league suspension followed one set forth by Legacy Motor Club earlier that morning for “actions that do not represent the values of our team.”
“I have asked Legacy Motor Club to release me from my contract so that I can take time to work through the NASCAR reinstatement process,” Gragson said in a Thursday statement. “I love racing, and I am looking forward to a second chance to compete for wins at the highest level of NASCAR — and most importantly, make my family, my team and the fans proud of me once again.”
Mike Rockenfeller, a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, is set to replace Gragson in each of the next two NASCAR Cup Series races in the team’s No. 42 Chevrolet. Rockenfeller, who has made two Cup Series starts, competed in this year’s Le Mans festivities as a co-pilot with Jimmie Johnson and Jenson Button in NASCAR’s Garage 56 efforts.
In 21 starts prior to his departure, Gragson ranked 33rd in the series standings in his rookie season. He missed one race (Sonoma) earlier this year because of concussion-like symptoms.
MARNE, Mich. — Bubba Pollard has won nearly every Super Late Model crown jewel during his prestigious career.
With victories in the Oxford 250, All American 400, Florida Governor’s Cup, Canadian Short Track Nationals and SpeedFest 200 among many others to his name, Pollard arrived at Berlin Raceway this week with the goal off checking off another big race, the Battle at Berlin 250.
A perfect strategy for Pollard allowed him to solidify excellent track position during the closing laps of Wednesday night’s Battle at Berlin. He held off a stacked field consisting of Chase Elliott, William Byron, Josh Berry and others for a special victory at what Pollard considers one of his favorite tracks.
“I enjoy this place,” Pollard said. “Everyone here is great, and we just love coming here and racing. The track is very racy, you can move around, and you need to have patience. To outrun the caliber of guys here [on Wednesday] is just awesome and feels so good.”
Since he first started racing at Berlin during the 2010s, Pollard had been eager to claim a win in the facility’s premier endurance event.
Pollard had excelled in the Battle at Berlin nearly every year he entered, but a victory eluded him every time. He finished runner-up to Erik Jones in 2016 after leading 58 laps before once again coming up short the following year after getting passed late by Brian Campbell.
The predominant issue that repeatedly hindered Pollard in the Battle at Berlin was mastering tire conservation. With everyone conserving their equipment in the first half, Pollard said winning this race always came down to who could outsmart the field by saving more tire.
Pollard felt confident with the plan he and his team devised for 2023. Their goal was to gain as much track position as possible up until Lap 180, where they would then utilize a fresh set to make a final push for the win.
By the time Pollard reached his target lap, he had worked his way to the lead, leaving him with fresh tires and clean air after the ensuing pit stop. Despite this, Pollard still had one more obstacle to overcome: defending Battle at Berlin winner Evan Shotko, who took control of the lead with fewer than 50 to go.
Pollard was not concerned about temporarily settling into second. With Shotko pushing more than him, Pollard simply waited for the last competition yellow to come out and beat him on the restart.
“I knew we were going to get another caution,” Pollard said. “The competition cautions falling every 50 consecutive laps, and with the engine package [Shotko] had, we were going to fire off better. It all worked out, and we had such a great car tonight.”
Pollard did indeed take the lead from Shotko on the restart just as he envisioned. As Pollard pulled away, Shotko was left to deal with Elliott, who made a late pass to relegate the defending Berlin track champion to third in the running order.
Bubba Pollard (26) leads Evan Shotko (22), Chase Elliott (9) and others late in the Battle at Berlin 250. (Photo: Nic Antaya/NASCAR)
A dejected Shotko admitted there was more he could have done in the pits and on track to give himself a better chance against Pollard. He added that the heartbreak from Wednesday gives him plenty of material to grow as a driver at Berlin and at other tracks across the country.
“We’re pretty bummed out,” Shotko said. “These are very experienced teams we’re racing with, and you have to lose some of these before you win them. We got lucky with our win last year, but there’s a lot of learning to do still.”
Although he was disappointed to not triumph in front of the home crowd, Shotko took some solace in just how strong he was compared to the high caliber drivers in the Battle at Berlin field.
At one point in the closing stages, Shotko had Pollard, Elliott, Berry, Byron and Jones all in his rearview mirror. Such a scenario was something Shotko had long dreamed about dating back to when he used to watch weekly races at Berlin as a child.
The performance Shotko put together Wednesday highlighted the strides he has made with his family-owned program in just the past few years. For Shotko, being surrounded by so many drivers who compete in the NASCAR Cup Series comes with both a sense of pride and motivation.
“It’s pretty unbelievable,” Shotko said. “I’m a fortunate young man who has a great group of people behind me. It’s really amazing to just be standing in between Chase Elliott and Josh Berry.”
Shotko also stressed that Pollard was simply better when it came time to decide who would win the Battle at Berlin. He knew fending off Pollard would be a difficult challenge given the veteran’s past success at so many different tracks.
After passing Shotko, Pollard spent the final laps silently praying that no late race caution would bunch the field up and that oil pressure issues he dealt with all night would not crescendo into a blown engine. No matter the circumstances, Pollard was set on finishing the Battle at Berlin in the first position.
While Pollard has visited Victory Lane at Berlin several times before, finally doing so in the track’s longest race is something he plans to cherish for a long time.
“This one is special because we’ve been trying for so many years,” Pollard said. “All of them are special, because you never know when the last one is going to be. We’ve been coming here a lot of years and we love everything about this place.”
Pollard still has plenty of chapters left to write in his Super Late Model career after the Battle at Berlin. The main one being his quest for that elusive first victory in the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway, where he is set to make his 18th attempt later this year.
Another chapter Pollard wants to write is a second consecutive Battle at Berlin victory in 2024.
Elliott headlined the NASCAR Cup Series regulars in the Battle at Berlin with his second-place finish. Berry came home in the fourth position with local regular Kyle Crump completing the top five.
Byron ended up settling in the seventh position while Jones came home 11th after fading on the last run.
The No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing team in the NASCAR Xfinity Series was penalized after officials confiscated its front splitter during pre-race inspection at Michigan International Speedway, the sanctioning body announced Wednesday.
Crew chief Jonathan Toney was fined $25,000 and the team, along with driver Cole Custer, were docked 20 owners and drivers points, respectively. Five playoff points will also be deducted from their postseason totals.
The infractions were determined after further inspection of the team’s splitter at the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina. Officials cited Sections 14.4.3.C&H in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Rule Book. Section C states that “except as specified, splitters must be used exactly as supplied from the manufacturer,” with requirements and reference dimensions provided in an attached drawing. Section H states that “rounding of any edges of the splitter will not be permitted.”
With the penalty, Custer remains fourth in the regular-season standings but falls 106 points behind series leader John Hunter Nemechek.
Custer has won two races this season (Portland and Chicago) in his return to Xfinity after spending three full-time seasons in the Cup Series. The 25-year-old won Rookie of the Year in the Cup Series in 2020. His return to Xfinity competition is highlighted by 12 career wins in the series, seven of which came during the 2019 season.
The Xfinity Series is back in action at the Indianapolis Road Course for the Pennzoil 150 presented by Advance Auto Parts on Saturday (5:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Front Row Motorsports revealed its 2024 NASCAR Cup Series driver lineup on Wednesday with Michael McDowell returning for his seventh full-time season for the Bob Jenkins-owned team. Joining McDowell will be Todd Gilliland, who currently is sharing the team’s second car with Zane Smith.
Smith, the 2022 Craftsman Truck Series champion, is exploring opportunities in NASCAR’s other national series, including remaining at FRM in 2024. Front Row will compete in the Truck Series in 2024 with plans for that program expected to be announced in the weeks to come.
“Both Michael and Todd are like family to me,” Jenkins said in a team release. “They have been determined to make the team better each season and they just keep fighting to do that. I’m proud of both and now we will be focused on the remainder of 2023 and prepare for 2024 to be even better.”
McDowell, 38, won the 2021 Daytona 500 while driving the No. 34 Ford for Front Row, accounting for the 16-year veteran’s only Cup Series victory. McDowell set career highs last season with 12 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 16.7.
This season, McDowell is 17th in the standings, just three points behind Ty Gibbs for the final playoff spot. Three regular-season races remain, including Sunday’s contest from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Gilliland has three top-10 finishes in 23 races this season in the No. 38 Ford. His best finish was eighth place at the Bristol Dirt Race. Gilliland has three career wins in the Craftsman Truck Series, including one for Front Row in 2021 at Circuit of The Americas.
Smith has one top-10 finish in six Cup races this season, and that was a 10th-place finish in the No. 38 Ford at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Smith has nine victories in the Truck Series, including two this year, and is locked into this year’s Truck playoffs, which get underway Friday night at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (9 ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).
Tyler Reddick’s blast over the team radio near the end of Monday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Michigan International Speedway marked an overflow of frustration after a wayward late-race pit stop cost him an opportunity for his second victory of the season. Reddick nearly spun out with a loose right-rear wheel less than a lap after the pit-road gaffe from his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota crew, and he dropped to a 30th-place finish after a lengthy additional stop to right the wrong.
Tuesday, Reddick’s tone was far less amplified, given a day to reflect on how his team’s effort in the FireKeepers Casino 400 went. But with just three races left before the Cup Series Playoffs begin, the 27-year-old driver reiterated that the team’s execution needed cleaning up.
“Yeah, we’ve definitely got to get better there. We’ve got to improve,” Reddick told NASCAR.com by phone, some 24-odd hours after the checkered flag fell at the 2-mile track. “It’s just tough when that’s a mistake that we’ve made before, in the same situation, honestly. Not the last stop of the race, for sure, but in the lead, cycling back to the lead. Certainly, it’s just, it’s tough to … we’ve just got to learn from our mistakes. We can’t afford to repeat them.”
Reddick led seven laps and spent the most time out front in terms of the clock; he was scored first when rain forced a Sunday stoppage on Lap 75 of 200, leaving him in the lead for a 19-plus-hour red flag before the race resumed Monday afternoon.
When a long green-flag stretch ended the race, Reddick was in prime position to contend. He was on the same pit strategy as eventual winner Chris Buescher, and both drivers made their final scheduled stops with 43 laps to go. The No. 45 Toyota required less gas during its service, allowing Reddick to leave the pits ahead of Buescher’s No. 17 RFK Racing Ford.
“Yeah, we were gone. It was over. I can say that with confidence,” Reddick said with a laugh, contemplating what might have been. “We ran behind them the whole time, and we were just waiting for the pit sequence. We didn’t need as much fuel, we knew we were going to be in front of them, and we were definitely better than he was. It was gonna be game over.”
The hitch was a hesitation by the No. 45 crew on the right-side tire change, specifically the right-rear wheel, which wasn’t fully fastened before Reddick returned to the race. As he got up to speed, Reddick’s car pitched sideways through Turns 3 and 4, and the wheel nearly dislodged before he limped back to pit road. The subsequent stop lasted more than a minute, and Reddick lost three laps before the checkered flag waved.
Reddick called the miscue “unacceptable” on the team scanner as he lashed out in the waning laps that followed at Michigan. His teammate, Bubba Wallace, had experienced similar issues in recent weeks, with pit-road gremlins that hurt his finishes at Nashville and Richmond.
There was some consolation, Reddick said, to be found in the speed that his 23XI Racing team has shown to offset any issues that crop up. And Reddick said he wasn’t blameless in his assessment of the team’s overall performance.
“We’ve unfortunately had a lot of things unplanned happen this year,” Reddick said. “A lot of things have not went our way this year. We’ve made a lot of mistakes. I feel like we’ve learned from a lot of them, and we just have to learn from them because, again, we’ve made so many. We just can’t afford to repeat them. I mean, we’ve run through the majority of our season and still can just barely count on one hand the amount of races that went mistake-free, and that falls on me, too. I’ve made some pretty bad mistakes the last couple of weeks as well inside the car that have cost us wins as well, and it’s just frustrating for sure to see them get away.
“But at the same time, is it is cool to see the amount of pace that we have, knowing that if we just … it’s kind of nice to just know that we don’t have to be operating at 105 percent to win races anymore. It’s just about executing.”
A noticeable change for Chase Elliott during the 2023 season has been his commitment to competing in more Super Late Model events.
With four starts already under his belt, Elliott is teaming up with his long time Super Late Model crew chief Ricky Turner once again for Wednesday’s Battle at Berlin 250 at Berlin Raceway.
Elliott has been working hard with Turner to match the pace of the best teams and drivers in the Super Late Model discipline. Although they are still making progress, Elliott is eager to see how fast his black No. 9 Chevrolet is when it takes the green flag on Wednesday.
“I have run more [Super Late Model races] this year than I have in the past,” Elliott said. “We have been working at it much like the [NASCAR Cup Series] side. We’re just trying to get better and trying to get some momentum on that side of things too, so I’m looking forward to going to Berlin.”
It was through Super Late Models that the motorsports industry got their first glimpse at the talent Elliott possessed.
At 14 years old, Elliott was already starting to prove himself against established Super Late Model veterans with wins at tracks like Hickory Motor Speedway and Lanier Raceplex. The 2010 season would see Elliott earn his first crown jewel triumph, a victory in the physically and mentally taxing Winchester 400.
Elliott built on the confidence he obtained from winning the Winchester 400 by winning the Snowflake 100 in December of that year, which is the Pro Late Model support race to the prestigious Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway.
Elliott continued adding to his Super Late Model win total in the 2010s while simultaneously progressing through the NASCAR developmental ladder. Among his accomplishments were two more victories in the Snowflake 100, an All-American 400 win at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway and his second Snowball Derby triumph in 2015.
A full-time schedule in the NASCAR Cup Series starting in 2016 forced Elliott to take a step back from Super Late Model competition. As Elliott racked up accolades in the Cup Series that included a championship in 2020, Elliott patiently waited for the right time and opportunity to get back into the discipline that defined his early years as a driver.
Chase Elliott turns a lap around North Wilkesboro Speedway in one of his four Super Late Model starts in 2023 so far. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
Everything aligned in 2023 for Elliott to climb back into a Super Late Model more regularly with Turner, who was instrumental in molding a young Elliott into one of the best Cup Series drivers today. The duo has yet to win since teaming back up, but their confidence has grown with each passing race.
Elliott is optimistic the knowledge obtained from his first four Super Late Model starts this year will finally pay off with a trophy as he heads to Berlin for the first time since 2015.
Back when Berlin’s endurance event was known as the Rowdy 251, Elliott never finished outside the top-five in three appearances and tallied two runner-up finishes, both of which were to Kyle Busch. He returned to the facility in 2015 for the Battle at Berlin 251, but once again had to settle for fourth while a young Erik Jones brought home a checkered flag.
With Jones one of many noteworthy names on the Battle at Berlin 250 entry list alongside William Byron, Josh Berry, Carson Hocevar and others, Wednesday presents a healthy challenge for Elliott as he goes up against familiar faces and the local heroes that make Berlin’s weekly racing so vibrant.
The festive atmosphere prevalent at Berlin is one reason why Elliott chose to run the facility’s longest event of the season. He hopes to entertain a packed house on Wednesday by parking his car in Berlin’s Victory Lane and grabbing a $30,000 race-winning paycheck.
“[Berlin] has a lot of support from the local community,” Elliott said. “There are always great crowds and they put up a nice purse too, which in the asphalt world is a big deal. It’s important for the racers to support these shows that put up a lot of money to win, because it doesn’t happen all the time.”
Super Late Model racing has always been a vital part of Elliott’s identity as a driver. Although it’s been nearly eight years since his last Super Late Model win, Elliott is ready to add onto his successful legacy in the discipline that started when he was just a teenager.
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Twenty-seven points are all that separates 16th through 19th in what is turning into a hotly-contested battle for the final spots in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Three races remain before the grid is set for the postseason, and two of those final three will take place on road courses.
In a unique twist, a string of road-course aces command those four positions in the Cup standings and with the Indianapolis Road Course (Sun., 2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) and Watkins Glen International on the horizon, the action is set to be thrilling.
After Monday’s race at Michigan International Speedway, rookie Ty Gibbs eclipsed Michael McDowell for the 16th and final spot with a narrow three-point gap over the 16-year veteran. Gibbs brought home his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 11th while McDowell suffered nose damage that parachuted him to a 24th-place run.
With a poor result in the Irish Hills, the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports camp was left disappointed on Monday but still feel a sense of optimism heading to some of their best tracks across the next three weeks.
“Yeah, this was … this feels pretty catastrophic,” McDowell’s crew chief Travis Peterson told NASCAR.com. “We never even had a chance to race (Monday) with the issues we had with the nose. The damage we had. It just really sucks. Obviously our goal going into this stretch was just to stay within a fighting chance going to our best tracks and we did that, which doesn’t feel that way at the moment but you know three points is overcome-able. Honestly, I’d put my money on us right now if it was going into the races the way it is.”
Heading into Michigan, McDowell said he would need a clean day to manage the points situation. Ultimately, the team didn’t have a clean day after the early contact with Chase Briscoe hampered their race.
Road courses play into the hand of McDowell, who’s been a cognoscente of left- and right-turn circuits even outside of the NASCAR Cup Series.
In Saturday’s media availability at Michigan, McDowell expressed his confidence heading to Indy and Watkins Glen after his results at Circuit of The Americas (12th), Sonoma (seventh) and Chicago (seventh) this season.
“I feel like we’re gonna be able to go to Indy, Watkins Glen and have that kind of speed, but it’s road racing. It’s kind of like superspeedway racing,” McDowell said. “You can get tangled up and we saw Turn 1 be wild last year at Indy. That kind of happened to us. We were a top-five car there last year and late restarts got pushed into the grass and ended up finishing eighth or ninth, so we know that we’re gonna have decent speed.”
To make the playoffs, McDowell will need to climb back in front of Gibbs, and fend off the likes of Daniel Suárez and AJ Allmendinger, who have both won at road courses in their Cup careers.
“It’s not like those guys aren’t good on road courses. If anything, they’re really good,” McDowell said. “But the flip side of that is … so are we. So we’re gonna be able to manage. We’re gonna be able to score some points and I think we’ll also be able to score stage points and you know there’s been conversation about that. In general, that’s one of the things that’s helped us a lot is because in years past, we’re always trying to win the race, not trying to score points right? So we’d always flip the stages. We’d always pit with two to go and so I don’t have a lot of stage points on road courses because we were always on that strategy where now that’s kind of wiped away. When we’re running third or fourth, we’re gonna get those stage points and it’s not gonna hurt our strategy.
“Last year, I think we gave up probably 50 or 60 stage points because we were trying to win the race where this year we’ll be able to capitalize on it.”
Suárez called his shot at Michigan, saying he could still point his way into the postseason despite a 34-point impediment to overcome.
That’s exactly what Suárez did Monday, finishing sixth and scoring 14 stage points in the process to cut his deficit to just five points behind 16th.
“I feel like we still have maybe one more step to go to be able to win races, but it was definitely a race that we needed, especially heading into two road course races,” Suárez said. “Now we have a little momentum on our side and I’m optimistic for the final three races of the regular season.”
Allmendinger, the inaugural Indy road course winner, has 24 points to gain to surmount the cutoff and is banking on the next two races as his shot to reach just his second postseason.
However, Allmendinger touted the evolution of Cup Series drivers on road courses that has seen a transition from just a handful of drivers who could win on them to most of the series being good on that track type.
“If you really look at the Cup Series now, especially how many road courses we have, you probably have more on the positive side of road-course guys who you’ve gotta worry about,” Allmendinger said. “All the drivers put a lot of effort into it, so there’s not many guys now you look at saying, ‘OK, they’re gonna struggle at the road course.’”
From practice at Indy to the checkered flag at Watkins Glen, every lap is going to be must-watch as the best of the best play high-speed chess on their favorite discipline for their playoff hopes.
STATESVILLE, N.C. — LEGACY MOTOR CLUB™ has signed two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Mike “Rocky” Rockenfeller of Germany to drive the No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the Aug. 13 NASCAR Cup Series event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Road Course and the Aug. 20 event at Watkins Glen International.
Just hours after a fifth-place finish in the GTP class at Road America in the IMSA Weather Tech SportsCar series, Rockenfeller got the call from fellow NASCAR Garage 56 teammate Jimmie Johnson this week to assist the team for the two upcoming road course events. Johnson and Rockenfeller competed in the IMSA series together for Action Express for two seasons and were both an integral part of the Garage 56 project with Hendrick Motorsports, in which they completed the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June along with former Formula One driver Jenson Button.
This will be the first time the veteran sports car racer will compete on the 2.439-mile road course at the storied “Brickyard”; however, the 2010 Rolex 24 At Daytona winner has made two starts in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022 — at Watkins Glen and at the Charlotte Roval. In addition to winning twice at Le Mans, “Rocky” is a three-time winner in the NASCAR Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series and won the 2013 DTM championship.
“After racing with Jimmie in IMSA for two years and together in the Garage 56 program, not only were we teammates, but we are now great friends,” said Rockenfeller. “To get to race for him in the NASCAR Cup Series for LEGACY M.C. with him as a co-owner is such a true honor. It’s going to be a huge challenge as I have never raced at Indy. I was dreaming about being in a Cup Series car again, and I’m thankful for the opportunity. I will try my best in this short timeframe to come together with the team and have a great race in Indy.”
Johnson is excited to welcome his sports car teammate to the Club.
“Rocky and I were teammates and helped develop the G56 program,” said Johnson. “I couldn’t think of a better person to assist our Club in this tough situation. These back-to-back road course events will be great for Rocky from the technical side as they will bring out his expertise. Rocky is extremely knowledgeable and talented, and I know he will get us the best results possible.”
The NASCAR Cup Series’ Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course will take place on Sunday, Aug. 13 at 2:30 pm ET, airing on NBC, IMS Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio channel 90.
Since 2019, the Buffalo Chip’s Rusty Wallace Charity Ride has become a key piece of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota.
The fifth edition of the motorcycle journey kicks off Wednesday at Spearfish City Park with a scenic 25-mile cruise through Spearfish Canyon and through to the Sturgis Buffalo Chip campground.
The 1989 NASCAR Cup Series champion and a NASCAR Hall of Famer, Wallace loves the experience in South Dakota — the people, the bikes, the atmosphere — but his heart is with the charity.
Wallace’s ride and its extracurriculars benefit The NASCAR Foundation as well as the Rapid City Special Olympics, with proceeds evenly split between the two organizations. A 55-time Cup race winner, Wallace serves on the Board of Directors of The NASCAR Foundation, which works to improve the lives of children who need it most within the NASCAR community through initiatives like the Speediatrics Children’s Fund and the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award.
The key extracurricular this year is a fully customized 2023 Harley Davidson Road Glide, loaded with high-performance parts and upgrades, designed and built by Southern Country Customs, the Mooresville, North Carolina, based company Wallace co-owns with son and former NASCAR driver Steve Wallace. The bike will be auctioned off Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET in Sturgis, with proceeds benefitting the aforementioned charities.
Southern Country Customs, founded in 2019, operates out of the same building that housed Rusty Wallace Racing, the Xfinity Series team that fielded 547 entrants among drivers like Steve Wallace, Kenny Wallace, Jamie McMurray, Bill Elliott and Brendan Gaughan, among others.
This year’s unique ride features a 127-cubic-inch engine that produces over 150 horsepower, as well as a custom front end to fit an 18-inch fat tire.
“That’s how these people talk about these bikes,” Wallace told NASCAR.com with a laugh.
Courtesy of The NASCAR Foundation
But the vehicle never would have come together if not for the gracious donations made to Southern Country Customs, made in large part from T-Man Performance in Kernersville, North Carolina, with the knowledge the bike would be auctioned for a great cause.
“We’ve had many, many people provide all the free parts to build this bike,” Wallace said. “And out of all the bikes we’ve built, this particular one has probably got more high-end pieces and parts than any bike we’ve ever built. And so we’re real proud of it. It’s all been tuned and dynoed and ridden, and now it’s sitting on display here in Deadwood, South Dakota, at Cadillac Jack’s Gaming Casino.”
Motorcycles weren’t always in Wallace’s wheelhouse — not until former NASCAR president and current Senior Advisor to NASCAR Mike Helton introduced him and others to the South Dakota bike rally.
“One of the things I really love as far as having fun is the motorcycles, and Mike Helton is the one that actually started that,” Wallace said. “Mike started bringing a lot of the NASCAR drivers out to Sturgis for the motorcycle rally almost 20 years ago, and I just really got hooked on it. I just love Sturgis and all the people we get to meet, and my wife started coming out with me about the last six or seven years, and she just loves it and the family, too.”
Wallace’s affiliation with The NASCAR Foundation began with a phone call in 2006 from Betty Jane France, wife of former NASCAR CEO and president Bill France Jr., whose words still have Wallace laughing 17 years later.
“(The NASCAR Foundation) has been something very, very special in my heart, and it all started back in 2006 when I got a phone call from the late Betty Jane France,” said Wallace, who retired from NASCAR racing after the 2005 season. “And she says, ‘Well, Rusty, I want to start a foundation, and I want you to be on the board. And I said, ‘Why me?’ And she laughed and said, ‘Well, now you’re not controversial because you’re not driving any longer.’ ”
Wallace said by the time this week’s rally concludes, over $500,000 will have been raised for children through auctions and the bike builds.
He throws heaps of credit to Jim Burgess, former owner of Black Hills Harley-Davidson, for his assistance and friendship over the years. This year marks the first in which Burgess no longer owns the dealership, touted as one of the world’s largest Harley dealers, but that didn’t keep Burgess away from the cause.
“Jim actually donated the motorcycle through his charity, the Rapid City Flame, this year,” Wallace said. “So he’s the one who wrote the check for the bike. Jim Burgess, he’s the one who has been the partner through the whole entire deal. And I just want to recognize him because he’s just really done a ton for us.”
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Another case of the “Martin Mondays.”
At least, that’s what it looked like through the first two stages in the two-day Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway. Not only did Martin Truex Jr. have the dominant car in the Irish Hills after winning Stage 1, but he additionally charged through the field to go from 14th to the Stage 2 win in a span of 13 laps.
Due to varying pit strategies, however, Chris Buescher found himself leading in the final 50 laps and held off Truex to capture back-to-back wins.
After losing ground to Buescher after the final pit stops cycled through, Truex reeled in and caught the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford, but when he attempted to get around Buescher to take the lead with 12 laps to go, Truex’s No. 19 Toyota snapped loose on the inside of Buescher and couldn’t rally back, losing out to the No. 17 by a 0.152-second margin.
“I got beside him and about lost it down into (Turn 1). I was just trying to do all I could to get by him without making contact,” Truex said. “I easily could’ve got into him there. I feel like we’ve had a good, respectful relationship on the race track, and I wasn’t gonna do anything to wreck him or take a chance at wrecking both of us. Second is better than that.”
Through the two days of action, Buescher said he and his team took note of the No. 19 being the best car at Michigan and had to devise a certain strategy if the race came down to him and Truex.
“That was gonna be really tough, and where they were so good was wrapping the bottom, and I’d seen it yesterday in the race, and we talked about it,” Buescher said. “When we went into rain delay, we felt like the 19 was probably the car to beat and was just able to maneuver and get through traffic very well, and so knowing that we had to commit to a little bit higher, kind of a low-mid lane to make our minimum lap time to try to make max speed. And that was letting him get enough air to get really close to us at times, so I just worked to try to cover as best we could.”
Despite the runner-up finish, Truex fell just one position short of a maximum points day and extended his lead in the Cup Series points standings to 57 points over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin.
Compared to last year, the performance and situation for the No. 19 team is a complete 180-degree swirl.
Truex went winless in 2022 and failed to make the playoffs with 15 different winners and Ryan Blaney outpointing him in the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
Truex’s crew chief James Small described what the biggest difference has been from 2022 to 2023.
“Honestly, just minimizing the mistakes,” Small told NASCAR.com. “Pit road, strategy stuff and just having faster cars as well. Our cars are better this year, and we have a better understanding of what we need to give Martin on a weekly basis, and yeah, I think it’s just everything, so it’s just execution is the key. And outside of that, you can’t control what happens to you, so as long as we all do our jobs properly, then we can run up front every day of the week.”
With three wins pocketed and a healthy cushion in the points lead, Truex takes the cup-half-full approach with the playoffs on the horizon.
“Yeah, it’s a totally different situation. Today was a really good day,” Truex said. “It’s disappointing to run second. It always is, but you know, at the same time, big picture. Two stage wins and second, we gained the most points today, and that’s good for the regular season, so we really want those 15 points. We got a few more races to lock that up, so we’ll see if we can do it.”
The Indianapolis Road Course (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), Watkins Glen International and Daytona will decide Truex’s chase for the coveted regular-season championship.
