HOMESTEAD, Fla. — It took a mighty gamble from crew chief Rich Lushes, but Ben Rhodes is back in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship 4.
A gutsy call to pit with 53 laps to go left Rhodes on worn tires, and the 2021 series champion did enough to finish second after a Zane Smith disqualification and advance past the Round of 8 finale via tiebreaker in Saturday afternoon’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. On the other side of the elimination line was Nick Sanchez, ousted after finishing 17th on a day he started from the pole position. Rhodes earns the nod on the tiebreaker with the better finish in the Round of 8, nabbing second-place results at both Homestead and Talladega Superspeedway. Sanchez’s best run in the stanza was seventh at Talladega.
Lushes is Rhodes’ third crew chief of the 2023 campaign but helped guide Rhodes to the championship two years ago. The No. 99 ThorSport Ford struggled Saturday around the 1.5-mile oval, but one risk has the program back in the title hunt with only the finale remaining.
“Our truck was so bad all day long, we had nothing else to do,” Lushes told NASCAR.com. “Like we had to do something different from everybody else so it was the only call I really had. It worked.”
Rhodes trusts Lushes’ gut, but the poor handle of the truck left him doubtful heading into the final run.
“I was so terrible the whole race, I didn’t think it was going to work out,” Rhodes said. “So I mean, that’s just plain and honest. Right? I’m never gonna hide that. But I had faith in the call. Every time we’re down, Rich does a really good job of making some call off-strategy nobody else is doing. And he pulls it out and we end up winning something. Right now, it’s advancing. I’m just proud of him for the call, you know? But yeah, at the time, I was just shaking my head and I said, ‘Yes, I’ll give it a try. Here we go again.’
“I mean, we almost won the championship last year on a call like this. So, you know, this is a big deal. That leadership is important — the ability to make calls like that and have the confidence to let yourself be thrown to the wind if that’s what happens. He does that. He doesn’t care what happens. He just wants to win. Ballsy move, for sure. I’m all for it. He’s got faith in me to back it up. But sometimes I say, ‘Man, that’s a little too ballsy for me.’ ”
Sanchez’s day went south after the green flag, with the Rev Racing rookie unable to find the feel necessary to compete for the victory at his home track Saturday afternoon. His day soured further heading to pit road with 35 laps to go. Sanchez was following Tanner Gray to pit road under green-flag conditions but Gray checked up sooner than Sanchez anticipated. Sanchez rear-ended Gray, creating significant damage to the left-front nose of Sanchez’s No. 2 Chevrolet and ultimately preventing him from making the passes necessary to advance.
Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Studios
“I wasn’t really good all day,” Sanchez said. “I was kind of confused on the balance a little bit. Obviously, the 19 (Christian Eckes) didn’t really have a lot of good luck so I feel like I was in that position to make it because he kind of got screwed on a couple of things. But I need to do a better job of noticing the balance of the truck and where it was going and fixing that.
“And yeah, me hitting the 15 (Gray) obviously took me out of it at the end. I was racing him and he got in front of me. And I’ve had my marks to go pit road, and here, especially as the pace falls off, you don’t know if they’re running the bottom or they’re going to pit lane. And it’s not an excuse because I hit him. It’s my fault but just gotta learn from it. The second time I’ve done it this year. Did it in Vegas. You can’t make those mistakes and expect to make the championship race and that’s on me.”
Joining Rhodes in the Championship 4 are Corey Heim, Homestead winner Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger.
Also eliminated from the playoffs after the Round of 8 were Eckes, Ty Majeski and defending series champion Zane Smith.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Carson Hocevar secured his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship 4 appearance with a victory Saturday in the Baptist Health Cancer Care 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, earning all four of his career series wins this season – the trophy Saturday most impactful among them.
Hocevar put his No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet into the lead with 11 laps remaining and held off the hard-charging Zane Smith by 2.705 seconds to claim the win over last year’s series champion, whose runner-up effort was disqualified by NASCAR after a post-race technical inspection found the defending series champion’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford used an unapproved windshield support.
“We are disappointed in the disqualification,” Front Row Motorsports said in a statement after the NASCAR inspection. “We will continue to work and discuss with NASCAR officials back at the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, N.C., before making any further comment.”
The DQ moved ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes into runner-up on the afternoon helping him to advance to the playoffs’ final round, prevailing in a tiebreaker in the standings with rookie Nick Sanchez — the pole-sitter who finished 17th after making contact with another truck coming to pit road for his final stop.
Regular Season Champion Corey Heim of Tricon Garage, GMS Racing’s Grant Enfinger and Hocevar’s Niece Motorsports teammate Bayley Curry rounded out the top five at Homestead.
Heim, Hocevar, Enfinger and Rhodes will now race for the championship on Nov. 3 at Phoenix Raceway.
Hocevar celebrated the clutch win by climbing high atop the flag stand to claim the checkered flag in person. He threw it down to the cheering fans behind the fence then climbed back down on the grandstand side to high-five fans and celebrate the biggest win of his life to date.
“It kills me I can’t do a burnout but we have to take this truck to Phoenix,” a grinning Hocevar said. “This truck was so good. We just got behind on pit stops and just lost track position which was unfortunate, but man, it’s so good to feel [like this]. I love it.
“I thought we could win today with our truck, even with all the setbacks from the debris and everything, we had a shot to win and we did just that.”
The battle for that final playoff position was as dramatic as the fight for the victory.
Rhodes came into this final Round of 8 race only five points behind Sanchez for the fourth championship-eligible transfer position. He finished 24th in the opening stage and 10th in the second stage. It still left him outside looking into the Championship 4, so Rhodes’ ThorSport team opted to pit for fresh tires early and out of pit sequence. The move allowed his No. 99 ThorSport Ford to take the race lead as the other front-runners stopped later.
He held the point with 30 laps remaining only to have Hocevar and Smith chase him back down on fresher tires. Hocevar passed him with 11 laps remaining, Smith a lap later.
“We failed Ben today, we didn’t give him a very good truck and he bailed us out at the end there,’’ Rhodes’ crew chief Rich Lushes said. “It was the only call we had. We had to do something different than everybody else and it all worked out so I guess we’re going to [championship] again.”
It was a heartbreaking ending for the 22-year-old Sanchez, who is from nearby Miami and raced often at Homestead-Miami Speedway as he was coming up the junior ranks. He won the pole and led the opening five laps, only to see his playoff hopes in jeopardy after a miscue approaching his final pit stop with 34 laps remaining. His No. 2 Rev Racing Chevrolet hit the back of Tanner Gray’s truck as the two were slowing to enter pit road, causing noticeable damage to Sanchez’s Chevrolet.
“Obviously I lost a lot of time there and just lost time in the pits trying to fix it,” Sanchez said. “Just my fault, no two ways to it. I really didn’t know the 15 was pitting and didn’t slow down [enough]. So that’s on me. I apologize to my team. They’re going to support me. To miss by one point is pretty rough, but all you can do is go to Phoenix and try to win.”
Heim led a race-best 57 of the 134 laps and swept both stage victories. Heim had already advanced to the championship race, based on his victory in the Round of 8 opener Sept. 14 at Bristol Motor Speedway. His third-place finish marked the series-best 15th consecutive top-10 finish of the season.
“I really thought we had them covered today, I mean we were smoking the first two stages and kind of waiting on the third stage and then it went out like a light switch so we’ll look everything over,’’ Heim said, adding, “We’ve got bigger things on the horizon so we’ll focus on that.”
Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Rajah Caruth, Ty Majeski and Chase Purdy rounded out the top 10 finishing order. Majeski joins Smith, Sanchez and Christian Eckes as drivers eliminated from playoff contention.
Eckes finished 20th after what looked like a sure-bet top-10 finish was hampered by penalties and miscues on the afternoon. He was called for changing lanes early on a restart and another time for speeding on his pit-road exit late in the race.
“We had a truck able to advance and just kept making mistakes,” Eckes said. “Just wasn’t good enough today.”
IndyCar star Marco Andretti finished 18h in his second series start in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. He’s scheduled to race at Phoenix in two weeks.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series concludes the season with the Craftsman 150 at the 1-mile Phoenix Raceway on Friday, Nov. 3 (10 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
It’s been a rough postseason for regular-season champion Martin Truex Jr. It took seven races into the playoffs before the No. 19 team earned its first top 10 – and top 15 – finish at Las Vegas. It was the most consecutive races he went without a top 15 since 2009. But the leaderboard shows even more speed out of Truex at Homestead, as he won his second pole of the season (Darlington I). If Truex wins on Sunday, the first two rounds of the postseason are irrelevant to the No. 19 bunch.
NEXT IN LINE: Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney
RISING: There were very little expectations for Blaney this weekend. For his fans, I advise you not to look up his statistics at Homestead – they’re mediocre at best. But in his ninth race weekend at Homestead, Blaney can begin a new trend. The No. 12 car was among the best cars on the long run, ranking fifth on 10-lap averages, but more impressively, quickest on 20, 25 and 30-lap runs. Looks like the No. 12 car will be hoping for long green flag runs on Sunday.
It’s been a terrible season for Austin Dillon. So much so that after advancing to the final round of qualifying, he told NBC Sports that he was glad just to be interviewed. The No. 3 team has found speed at Homestead, dating back to last season when Dillon finished fourth. He won’t have to come from a starting position in the 30s on Sunday, as his sixth-place qualifying effort is his best of the year on asphalt.
FALLING: It looked as though Team Penske had a second bullet in its arsenal early in practice, with Joey Logano sitting seventh on 10-lap averages and was the second quickest of cars in Group B. In the waning minutes of practice, however, the No. 22 car got loose and smacked the inside wall. As we saw last week with Chase Elliott and countless other times when teams have gone to a backup car in the Next Gen era, it doesn’t seem to be as good, with all the emphasis leading into the weekend on the primary. It could be a long day for Logano on Sunday.
Harvick thought his car showed potential on the long run, but the No. 4 car timed in the middle of the field on 10-lap averages. All four Stewart-Haas Racing cars qualified outside the top 20, with Harvick sitting 22nd. Getting Budweiser to sponsor Harvick for the first time since 2015 and Mobil 1 honoring the 2014 champion all weekend long, Homestead is serving as the weekend for remembering Harvick’s Hall of Fame career. It’s just hard to find a spot for him in a stacked fantasy lineup.
FEATURED MATCHUPS:
Kyle Larson vs. William Byron
This could be the toughest matchup of the season. Whenever NASCAR visits Homestead, everyone wants to crown Larson the winner before the race even begins. He’s won just one race at the track and Byron visited Victory Lane first in a fewer number of starts. Both cars looked nearly equal in practice, cracking the top 10 in practice and qualifying. Going to stay with Larson, as he mentioned Saturday that all his emphasis this week was on Homestead and not looking ahead to Phoenix.
Denny Hamlin vs. Martin Truex Jr.
I’ve flipped with this one. Another week where Hamlin hovered in the back half of the top 10 in practice and failed to make the final round of qualifying. And while Hamlin has three triumphs at Homestead, Truex is elite at the track and was the only serious threat to Larson in last year’s race prior to getting spun on pit road. Truex scored his first morale victory of the playoffs by winning the pole.
Christopher Bell vs. Tyler Reddick
If you read Fastlane earlier this week, you would have seen that Bell was listed under drivers to stay away from. He’s still on that list for me, despite having a good practice session and was one of three playoff drivers to miss the final round of qualifying. I’m lovin’ the Reddick pick, though, and still think he’s going to be in contention for the victory.
Chris Buescher vs. Ryan Blaney
Here’s another matchup in which I’ve flipped on from earlier this week. Blaney had more pace in his car than Buescher had in his, especially over the long run. That’s where the No. 12 car shined, with Buescher ranking 26th on 20-lap averages. If Blaney can have a clean race, he should be able to outrun the No. 17 Ford.
See where drivers will pit for Sunday’s 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Ryan Blaney was breathing easier Saturday morning at Homestead-Miami Speedway, especially compared to last Monday morning after the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
NASCAR officials initially issued a disqualification after an apparent problem with the No. 12 Team Penske Ford’s left-front damper, but then rescinded that penalty Monday evening. NASCAR officials discovered an issue with the tool used to measure damper lengths Monday. Blaney remains 17 points beneath the provisional elimination line to advance to the Championship 4.
“We talked about it internally Monday morning as a group before we went to NASCAR and was able to talk with them,” Blaney said Saturday at Homestead. “And I appreciate NASCAR for being receptive to it and just talking with us Monday and kind of meeting with the parts at their R&D Center, understanding what was the disconnect between pre-race, post-race. You know, that’s a sealed part.
“So (NASCAR Senior Vice President) Elton Sawyer and (Cup Series Managing Director) Brad Moran, they were really great to us of just being understanding, and understanding that there was an issue there with kind of the process, and then they were able to fix it. So yeah, a lot of emotions. But it was nice that it ended up I think as it should have been.”
Blaney, inside the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the fifth time in his career, was on the plane leaving Las Vegas and had just turned on his Wi-Fi when a text from crew chief Jonathan Hassler hit his cell phone to inform him of the disqualification. The range of emotions wasn’t extreme, though, for Blaney.
“It didn’t change a ton because it’s like, hey, we had a good day in Vegas. Sixth. We had a good day and lost points,” Blaney said. “And I was like, that kind of stinks. And then we lost a lot more points.”
Having his points restored alters the mindset ever-so-slightly with two races left to secure his first appearance in the Championship 4.
“I was like, ‘Well, we have to win the next two weeks,’ ” Blaney said of the initial reaction. “And then, you know, when it got rescinded Monday, it was, well, all right, it’s still gonna be hard to make it, but it’s not like a must-win, right? So it gives you a little more hope. But I will say I wasn’t, like, distraught or anything. I was like, ‘All right, well, this is the spot we’re in. And we got a new job to do.’ It’s a little bit different description. But now, it’s just changed a little bit.”
Blaney was running third at Homestead a season ago before spinning on pit exit in the final 60 laps. This weekend is starting well for the No. 12 Ford, with Blaney set to roll off 10th for Sunday’s race (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Martin Truex Jr. is raising his NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs game at just the right time – claiming the pole position in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for Sunday’s 4EVER 400 presented by Mobil 1 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) in Saturday morning qualifying at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Since claiming the 2023 Regular Season Championship, Truex had only earned a single top 10 in the seven playoff races since. The 2017 series champion promised the team was primed to raise its game, with a top 10 last week at Las Vegas and now claiming the top qualifying position with a fast lap of 167.411 mph around the Homestead oval – outdistancing fellow Toyota driver Bubba Wallace by a slight .313 seconds.
A previous two-time race winner at the 1.5-mile South Florida track, Truex is poised to reclaim momentum with only two races remaining to set the Championship 4 for the Nov. 5 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
“I felt good coming into this round,” Truex said. “Last week didn’t go quite as good as I had hoped but there was potential there. And coming here I felt good because it’s always been a good track for us. We’ve run up front a lot. It’s just a comfort zone for me, this kind of race track. There’s a confidence there.”
Truex’s only other pole position this season came at Darlington Raceway this spring. The top qualifying position on Saturday is the 22nd of his career.
“I really didn’t expect to get the pole honestly,’’ he said of his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole position at Homestead. “Even after practice I thought the car was good on the long run and needed to make some tweaks to be better for tomorrow, but pretty excited to be on pole here after that. Didn’t expect it, was hoping for a top five and got a little surprise.”
Wallace’s 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick – also a playoff driver – was third-fastest, giving Toyota a top-three sweep on the grid and the automaker’s seventh pole position in eight playoff races. It is the milestone 500th pole position for the manufacturer in NASCAR’s three national series.
RFK Racing’s owner/driver Brad Keselowski was fourth quickest in his No. 6 Ford with defending race winner, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, turning in the fifth-fastest lap. Larson, the 2021 series champion, is the only playoff driver who has already earned his position in the Championship 4 after winning at Las Vegas in last week’s Round of 8 opening race.
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, Hendrick’s William Byron and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain gave Chevrolet the sixth through eighth starting positions on the grid. Byron is the current championship points leader and a former Homestead race winner.
JGR rookie Ty Gibbs and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney round out the top 10 drivers who advanced to final-round qualifying. Blaney is also a playoff driver.
Three playoff drivers did not advance to the final qualifying round but still turned in solid work. JGR’s Denny Hamlin, who has a record-tying three victories at the track, will roll off 11th. His teammate Christopher Bell, who advanced to the Championship 4 last season, will start 13th and RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher will start 17th on the grid.
While Larson has already secured his automatic bid into the Phoenix finale with his Las Vegas win, the points standings are tightly bunched behind him.
Byron holds a nine-point edge over fifth-place Bell. Truex and Hamlin are both only two points to the good on Bell. Reddick is 16 points off the provisional elimination line, Blaney is 17 points back, and Buescher is only 23 points behind the top four.
“It’s very important because we’re plus-two at this point,” Truex said of continuing to excel in this critical Playoff round. “We can’t afford to give up points. We’ve got to get all we can tomorrow.”
Wallace tops chart in Cup Series practice
Bubba Wallace rose to the top of the NASCAR Cup Series practice leaderboard Saturday morning, leading the way in the tune-up for pole qualifying.
Wallace posted a best lap of 169.088 mph in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota. He was also fastest in the consecutive 10-lap average category.
A pair of Team Penske Fords were second and third on the practice speed chart, with Austin Cindric clocking a second-fastest lap of 167.999 mph in the No. 2 Mustang. Teammate Ryan Blaney — tops among the eight remaining title-eligible drivers in the Cup Series Playoffs — was third-best in the No. 12 Ford.
Fellow playoff driver Christopher Bell was fourth-fastest, and Michael McDowell completed the top five.
Joey Logano — another Team Penske pilot and last year’s Cup Series champion — crashed during a practice run, severely damaging the front end of the No. 22 Ford after contact with the inside retaining wall on the backstretch. Logano was evaluated and released from the infield care center. His crew unloaded and began to prepare a reserve car as practice wound down.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — After winning at Bristol Motor Speedway back in September, Denny Hamlin famously said 2023 is “our year” to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Only three races remain in this year’s postseason, and the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota still believes — with plenty of good reason. Hamlin, a 51-time winner at NASCAR’s highest level, has won three times this year, his most since a seven-win campaign in 2020. He’s had top-five level speed in five of the seven races in the NASCAR Playoffs and sits two points above the provisional elimination line heading into Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
But Hamlin, now an 18-year veteran, has been close to title glory before. He’s advanced to the Championship 4 in three of the past four years. So while he is confident the No. 11 team is primed for a championship run, he cautions that nothing is for granted as seven drivers fight for the three remaining spots in this year’s title hunt.
“As long as we keep our fate in our own hands, I feel as though it’s a good opportunity for us — probably one of the best opportunities that we’ve had,” Hamlin told NASCAR.com in a Friday teleconference. “The competition doesn’t care about that, though. If they blow a tire with five (laps) to go and we go from dominating a race to losing it on a green-white-checkered because we pitted or whatever, they don’t care. They don’t care about what you are trying to accomplish. They’re just trying to race their own race. So it’s a weird sport in that sense.
“So while things, you can feel, are in your favor, and you feel as though each week, you’ve been one of the top contenders, the format doesn’t care and they can knock you out pretty quickly.”
The past two weeks, momentum has cooled ever so slightly for Hamlin, the result of a frustrating race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course that left him crashed out with a last-place DNF before a 10th-place run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, second-to-last of the remaining eight playoff drivers. Having the hot hand is a plus, but it’s not everything, Hamlin believes.
“There’s a little balance of it,” Hamlin said. “Does it fully matter? No. It still can be week-to-week. You can still run last one week, and win the next week. But certainly, as far as kind of mojo and feeling good about where you’re at and not second-guessing some decisions that you make, yes, momentum definitely matters as far as that is concerned. So I do feel good about it.
“While last week was a little bump in the road and some people would love 10th or whatever we finished, that’s certainly below our average and what we expect week in and week out. So I think that we’ve identified kind of where our hiccup was that weekend and now we just put it to the past and move on to Homestead where, again, we’ve had a great track record and I feel good about the feel I need out of the car there.”
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Studios
Indeed his track record at Homestead is impressive, the site of three of those 51 career victories. In fact, Hamlin has netted multiple wins at each of the remaining tracks on the schedule, including Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix Raceway. Past success does not guarantee future results, but Hamlin knows what he needs out of the car at each facility, even in the Next Gen car.
“If you can win multiple times at a track, it means whatever you’re feeling or whatever you’re wanting out of the car, that has been good enough to win,” Hamlin said. “And while the car has changed over the last year and a half or more, I’m working my way to knocking out some of these wins at those very familiar tracks again, which means that the feel is still right, even though we’ve got a new car.
“So it does give you a little confidence as far as that’s concerned that you know what you’re doing is right. But yeah, I think that these tracks are super good for us. And I know a lot will be said about, ‘Well, this person has won here many, many times.’ I mean, some of those wins were 10, or 15 years ago. So I don’t know, that doesn’t really relate. But the ones certainly recently do.”
Crew chief Chris Gabehart’s arrival to the role in 2019 coincides with the No. 11 team’s recent hot streak of advancing to the Championship 4. The vehicles have changed since he and Hamlin joined forces, but their approach at this time of the year has not.
“When I think about our process and what we do and how we prepare, it doesn’t change that much, honestly,” Hamlin said of the postseason. “And so we stick to what we know. It’s been successful for us. And if somehow we can make it to the final four and we have those numbers that you’re talking about, those are the years Gabehart and I have been together.
“There’s something about it that seems to click really well. We’re both fierce competitors, and we love going to the race track knowing that we can win every single week. But there’s still two weeks worth of work to be done. We know that. We don’t get too far ahead of our skis. And that’s what’s really made us successful. It’s just really focusing on the moment itself.”
Kyle Larson is locked into the Championship 4 courtesy of his Las Vegas triumph with William Byron holding a nine-point advantage over the provisional divide. Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., his JGR teammate and Regular Season Champion, sit two points above Christopher Bell, another JGR team member for the final transfer spots in the title foursome. Tyler Reddick sits 16 points beneath the line with Ryan Blaney 17 markers out, ahead of Chris Buescher, who trails the line by 23 points.
Byron won last year’s spring race at Martinsville and Truex is a three-time winner there. Both have won at Homestead and Phoenix too. Hamlin still points to Byron and Truex as the most likely to advance out of the Round of 8 but said “You can make an argument for all of them.”
“When I put it all together, I still believe that that’s the case,” Hamlin said of Byron and Truex’s chances to move on. “And I believe that when you look at the general results of the season, it’s probably the most deserving four. I just feel that way. But will it work out that way? I’m not really sure.”
While Hamlin and Gabehart are the most visible leaders of the No. 11 team, Hamlin acknowledged the extra work car chief Brandon Griffeth has taken on as the championship bout nears.
“I think his willingness to sacrifice being at the shop late nights when me and Chris are spitballing ideas, and, ‘hey, we want to change this’ on Thursday evening,” Hamlin said. “Now, you know, they got to load the truck and get the truck on the road. Being able to be very nimble and being willing to be part of the team. And that goes a long way. And he’s making sacrifices, and really all the A-team members that are setting up the car all deserve a huge shout-out.
“These are the long-hour type of weeks. I mean, other weeks, while they’re like this, they’re not like this. We don’t wait ’til the last minute to put the setup in the car like we do on these weeks in particular. We put a lot more work into it, put a little more thought into it. And they are the unsung heroes for sure.”
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
It should also be stated that Hamlin is still busy as a team co-owner at 23XI Racing at this time of the year — more pertinent in 2023 as Reddick still stands eligible to fight his way into the Championship 4 as the driver of the No. 45 Toyota. Hamlin said Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Hamlin’s JGR team have worked closely together all season, but the hands-on role Hamlin usually applies has altered slightly during the postseason as his drivers navigate the playoffs for the first time with Hamlin at the helm.
“I certainly have taken a little step back over the last couple of weeks and let them do their own thing,” he said. “Again, I don’t want to be responsible and send them down the wrong direction or anything like that. I feel like I’ve been able to help in instances where I think it’s been useful for them. But at this point, they’re one of my competitors, and I’ve got to treat them as a competitor. And as long as I’m still driving, it’s up to them to go and get the job done on their own. Certainly, they don’t need help from the competition to do that.
“I just feel like as long as I’m driving up, it’s always gonna be a tightrope but certainly when we get down in the season and they’re still in it and competitors of mine, I have to treat them as such.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A week before crowning the 2023 champion at Martinsville Speedway, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour plans to carry on a new schedule tradition by opening mere miles from the birthplace of NASCAR and finishing at one of its most historic tracks as the 16 race dates on the 2024 schedule was announced today.
For the third consecutive year, the Tour will open at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida as part of the track’s “World Series of Asphalt Stock Cars Racing” during NASCAR’s Speedweeks, racing under the lights on Saturday, February 10. The 66th running of the DAYTONA 500 at nearby Daytona International Speedway then takes place a week later to conclude the opening week of NASCAR action.
Martinsville Speedway returned to hosting the Whelen Modified Tour’s season finale in 2022, and will carry on the new tradition for the third consecutive year in 2024. The race on the Virginia short track moves to a weekend date on Saturday, Oct. 26 – opening up a week of camping and activity for fans of the Virginia short track. NASCAR will then set the field for the Championship 4 in all three national series – NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series – the next weekend, Nov. 1-3.
“We have seen over the past two seasons how exciting it has been for our fans and competitors to open at New Smyrna and finish at Martinsville,” said Jimmy Wilson, Senior Director, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. “The mix of tracks on the schedule pays tribute to the Tour’s roots and sets up a competitive season from start to finish, demonstrated by how once again this year our fans are going to see the Whelen Modified Tour title decided at the finale.”
Cars in action during the New Smyrna Beach Visitors Bureau 200 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour during night 2 of the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna, Florida on February 11, 2023. (Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)
Richmond Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway return to the schedule as companion events alongside NASCAR national series race weekend. Richmond will remain the second race of the season on Friday, March 29, while New Hampshire holds a mid-summer Saturday, June 22, date.
New Hampshire has hosted a total of 75 Whelen Modified Tour races, led by the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Mike Stefanik’s eight wins. Tony Hirshman is second on the all-time wins list there with seven, while Reggie Ruggiero and Bobby Santos III have each tallied five victories in the heart of New England.
Richmond began hosting Tour races in 1990 and has seen the likes of NASCAR Hall of Famer Mike Stefanik, current NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece and three-time Tour champion (and current title contender) Justin Bonsignore visit Victory Lane in their 13 races thus far.
North Wilkesboro Speedway joined the Tour’s schedule for the 2023 season and returns for the second straight year in 2024 on Saturday, Oct. 5.
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (Connecticut) will host a trio of marquee events during the 2024 season, starting off with a Sunday, April 7, event during the 50th Icebreaker Weekend. The Tour will return for a Wednesday night mid-summer classic on Aug. 14, before a third and final visit on Sunday, Oct. 13, during the World Series of Speedway Racing.
Another stalwart on the schedule, Riverhead Raceway, will host a pair of key races for the Whelen Modified Tour, starting with a Saturday, May 18, race in the spring. They will then host a Saturday, September 14, even that will continue to pay tribute to late track owner and team owner Eddie Partridge.
Riverhead stands as track that has been the longest continuous host of the Whelen Modified Tour since coming on board in 1985. Although scheduled to hold a race in 2020, the pandemic prevented the race from taking place.
“It’s important to the Tour to be a part of tentpole events that honor the history of our sport such as those at Thompson and Riverhead,” said Wilson. “And then we also have incredible support from tracks such as Monadnock Speedway, which always provides a great event experience for fans and will continue to do so with a trio of races in 2024.”
Modified cars race during the Winchester Fair for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire on September 9, 2023. (Armond Feffer/NASCAR)
Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire, will continue to build upon their schedule of races under JDV Productions, as they are slated for three dates in 2024 – Saturday, May 4; Saturday, July 20; and Saturday, Sept. 21.
“There are so many great tracks in the Northeast that provide exceptional racing and close proximity to home for our teams,” added Wilson. “These tracks, and their fans, are truly at the heart of what is great about Modified racing in the Northeast.”
Those tracks include Lancaster Motorplex (New York) – formerly known as New York International Raceway Park – that returns to the schedule for the third time, and second straight, with a Saturday, August 3, race. The track first appeared on the schedule in 2021.
Seekonk Speedway (Massachusetts) returns to the 2024 schedule with a Saturday, June 1, event and Oswego Speedway (New York) rounds out the schedule with a Saturday, Aug. 31, race.
“We’re proud this year’s schedule provides balance for our competitors and their teams, who themselves are managing jobs and families away from the track each week,” said Wilson. “And our fans will still continue to see the high-quality and exciting Whelen Modified Tour racing action they have come to love at their favorite facilities.”
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour concludes the 2023 season on Thursday, Oct. 26, in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 at Martinsville Speedway, where the Tour will crown a champion. Ron Silk and Justin Bonsignore have battled atop the standings all season, and enter the race separated by 13 points for the title. Silk, the 2011 champion, holds the lead over three-time champion (2018, 2020, 2021) Bonsignore.
Below is the 2024 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule. Schedule is subject to change. Race times and broadcast networks will be announced at a later date.
Everything you need to know for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the 34th points-paying race of the 2023 Cup Series campaign.
After seven straight races without a top-15 finish, Martin Truex Jr. continues to build off his ninth-place result at Las Vegas as the Joe Gibbs Racing driver took pole position at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Truex’s pole is a milestone accomplishment for Toyota, scoring the manufacturer’s 500th pole award across the three national series. This is also Toyota’s seventh pole in eight playoff races in 2023. The No. 19 car led a Toyota 1-2-3 qualifying effort, with 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick set to roll off the grid in second and third respectively. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson complete the top five. | Read the full practice, qualifying recap
Big storyline
With his post-race disqualification from Las Vegas getting rescinded, can Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 team refocus in pursuit of his first Championship 4 appearance?
Before the penalty got reversed, Blaney would have arrived at Homestead-Miami Speedway in a must-win mindset, sitting 56 points below the elimination line. However, the current 17-point deficit is way more manageable after his sixth-place finish at Las Vegas was restored. Between the checkered flag in Sin City and the 24 hours that followed, it must have been a whirlwind of emotions for Blaney and his entire No. 12 team.
Being in a better position now points-wise, Blaney will have to refocus and continue fighting hard for every point as the Team Penske driver tries to make the Championship 4 for the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career. Looking at Blaney’s Homestead stats, he has seven finishes of 11th place or worse in eight career starts. His best finish here was third in 2020, including 70 laps led that day. If the No. 12 team wants to head into the Round of 8 elimination race at Martinsville Speedway next Sunday feeling like they have a fighting chance, Blaney will have to outperform most of his previous Homestead runs and rise to the occasion. He got off to a good start by qualifying inside the top 10. | NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer details the No. 12’s disqualification rescission
History tells us…
After the last seven Homestead-Miami races produced seven different winners, the eighth different winner could emerge on Sunday.
In the last several years, there has been quite a bit of parity in race winners at Homestead. Since Jimmie Johnson picked up his record-tying seventh Cup Series championship after winning the race in 2016, the 1.5-mile Florida track has not produced a repeat winner. After Johnson’s big win, Martin Truex Jr. (2017), Joey Logano (2018), Kyle Busch (2019), Denny Hamlin (2020), William Byron (2021) and Kyle Larson (2022) visited Homestead Victory Lane in the years afterward. When considering a driver who could become the eighth different winner, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick immediately comes to mind, especially after the No. 45 Toyota qualified third on Saturday morning.
Before the drop of the green flag, everyone already knows the Toyota high rider will be up against the wall ripping the fence at some point searching for speed. Homestead is his style of track and could potentially be his best chance to make the Championship 4 with 23XI. While Reddick has not won at Homestead yet in the Cup Series, his two top fives in three career starts suggest he could be on the verge of breaking through and getting that maiden Homestead win like Larson did last year. While Reddick has only led three laps in three Homestead races, this year’s race may turn out differently as the 27-year-old continues to improve over time. | Preview Show: There’s no place like Homestead
He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for…
Kevin Harvick. A win by the 2014 Cup Series champion at the 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 race named in his honor would be a sentimental moment. With only a couple of weeks remaining until he hangs up the helmet, Harvick is still searching for a win in his final season. Homestead has traditionally been a great track for the Stewart-Haas Racing driver. In his last 15 starts at Homestead, Harvick earned 14 top-10 finishes, including 10 top fives.
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• At-track photos: Sights and scenes from Homestead-Miami | Photos • Bubble Watch: Reddick could spoil title favorites’ hopes | See the analysis • Fantasy Fastlane: Tyler Reddick’s time to shine at Homestead | See the picks • Paint Scheme Preview: See the schemes for Homestead-Miami | Pick a favorite • Power Rankings: Will Tyler Reddick ride the high line into Championship 4? | Latest driver rankings
• Stacking Pennies: Corey LaJoie talks about near misses and a playoff ticket punched after racing at Las Vegas. | Listen to the podcast
💎 NASCAR 75: Learn more about the history of the sport, from pioneers to current stars | Visit NASCAR 75 hub
Get in on the action 💰
Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy and Fan Rewards.
• Fantasy Live: Participate in interactive gameplay from week to week | Choose your lineup • Fan Rewards: New in 2023, get rewarded for your participation | Learn more • NASCAR BetCenter: Don’t miss your chance to make picks each week | Visit the BetCenter
• Going the distance: 2023 Cup Series championship odds | See them here
After a two-week break, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs continue with Saturday’s Baptist Health Cancer Care 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Noon ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – the first of an afternoon NASCAR doubleheader.
This race will formally set the Championship 4 drivers who will compete for the 2023 title on Nov. 3 at Phoenix Raceway.
With a win at Bristol, Tricon Garage’s Corey Heim is the only playoff driver to have formally secured his position to race for the championship, meaning three spots are still to be decided.
Niece Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar tops the standings below Heim and holds a healthy 22-point advantage over fifth-place, GMS Racing’s Grant Enfinger. Christian Eckes, who just re-signed with the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing team this week and Rev Racing’s Nick Sanchez round out the top four heading into Homestead nine points and three points ahead of the cutoff, respectively.
Former series champion, ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes is sixth in the standings, only five points behind Sanchez. His ThorSport teammate Ty Majeski is 19 points off the top four and defending series champion, Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith is 36 points off the pace.
Majeski is the defending Homestead race winner, leading 67 of the 134 laps last year to clinch his first Championship 4 appearance – finishing nearly five seconds ahead of the runner-up Smith. Veteran Matt Crafton, who is no longer championship-eligible, is the only other previous Homestead winner in the field, claiming the trophy in 2015.
Of the championship contenders, Enfinger and Rhodes have the most starts (six). Enfinger has three top 10s – most among the playoff drivers – and an 11.8 average finish. Majeski is a perfect two-for-two in top-10 finishes and boasts the best average finish (5.5) among those with multiple starts.
This will mark the Miami native Sanchez’s season debut at his home track.
Of note, IndyCar standout Marco Andretti is entered at both Homestead and the Phoenix season finale. He’ll be driving the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. He made his series debut at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this summer, finishing 19th.
Practice and qualifying sessions begin at 4:05 p.m. ET on Friday.
