Posted on by Staff Report

North Wilkesboro Speedway will return to the Cup Series schedule next season, reprising its role as the host of the annual NASCAR All-Star Race in 2024.

NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports made the announcement on Thursday, setting a May 19 date for the non-points invitational. In addition, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will race on May 18 at North Wilkesboro, and the NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge will take place there on May 17. Complete schedules for on-track competition, broadcast information and the All-Star Race format will be announced at a later date.

The 0.625-mile North Wilkesboro oval returned to the NASCAR calendar earlier this year, marking its first on-track action for NASCAR national-series competition since 1996. Speedway Motorsports revived the dormant facility, aided by funds from the North Carolina state budget and the diligent grassroots efforts of the community in Wilkes County and its surroundings.

RELATED: Photos from NASCAR’s return to North Wilkesboro

Kyle Larson was the weekend’s big winner in the track’s return in May, sweeping the All-Star Race event and the preliminary race for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. But the weekend also marked a celebration of the sport’s history for NASCAR’s 75th anniversary, breathing new life into a facility that hosted the premier series during its first season in 1949.

North Wilkesboro Speedway became the fifth track to host the All-Star Race. Charlotte Motor Speedway has been the longest-running All-Star host, putting on its 1985 debut and then staging the event each year from 1987-2019. Other tracks to host the All-Star Race include Atlanta Motor Speedway (1986), Bristol Motor Speedway (2020) and Texas Motor Speedway (2021-22).

NASCAR Classics: Watch full races from North Wilkesboro

Racing continues this weekend at North Wilkesboro, which will play host to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for the first time in Saturday’s Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 (8 p.m. ET, FloRacing). Tour-type Modifieds were part of a series of revival events in August 2022, when Ryan Newman and Matt Hirschman divided the victories.

Ticket packages for next year’s NASCAR events at North Wilkesboro will go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. ET on Oct. 5, 2023 at www.NorthWilkesboroSpeedway.com. 

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

If Texas was any sign, the Round of 12 is going to be full of twists and turns. No better track to heighten playoff drama as the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Talladega Superspeedway for 500 miles of close-quarters racing (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

Before the action begins this weekend from the 2.66-mile Alabama oval, see how the Round of 12 drivers could fare on Sunday, trends to watch for the race and interactive ways to follow every on-track moment.

RELATED: See paint schemes for Talladega | Betting favorites for Sunday’s Cup race

ROUND OF 12 UPDATE 📊

Two drivers who led over 200 laps at Texas find themselves the last in and first out on the elimination line as Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace are separated by just two points. Going into Talladega, Wallace appears to have a significant edge over his playoff competitor given his superspeedway prowess, but the No. 23 Toyota driver only owns one top-10 finish at the track, which was his breakthrough Cup win in the fall of 2021.

Three past ‘Dega winners currently sit below the elimination line with Wallace, Ryan Blaney (minus-11) and defending track winner Kyle Busch (minus-17).

Those three could look to surpass Larson, Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr., who have scored just one top-five finish each at Talladega since 2015.

RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski put on a drafting masterclass in the most recent superspeedway event at Daytona, finishing 1-2. Since becoming a pair last season, the two have combined to lead 153 laps at superspeedways.

MORE: Racing Insights’ projections for Sunday

📉 TRENDS TO WATCH 📈

— The last four winners at Talladega all started 16th or worse.

— Since the current format was introduced in 2014, a non-playoff driver won the Talladega playoff race only once (Wallace, 2021).

— Toyota has yet to win a superspeedway race in the Next Gen era.

— Seven different drivers won the last seven races at Talladega.

(Via Racing Insights)

CLASSIC TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY RACES 🎥

1993: Dale Earnhardt outduels Ernie Irvan by 0.005 seconds | WATCH

2000: Dale Earnhardt wins 76th and final Cup race | WATCH

2019: Ryan Blaney reaches Round of 8 in photo finish | WATCH

2022: Chase Elliott beats Blaney to the finish line | WATCH

ON-TRACK SCHEDULE 🗓️

Saturday, Sept. 30

— 4:30 p.m. ET: Qualifying (USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App)

Sunday, Oct. 1

— 2 p.m. ET: YellaWood 500 (NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App)

MORE: Full weekend schedule at Talladega

RULE CHANGES/GOODYEAR TIRE NOTES 🛞

The GEICO Restart Zone returned to its 2022 dimensions after being extended for this season’s first five races.

Goodyear brings the same tire used at all superspeedway races in the Next Gen era. Cup teams will be issued one set for qualifying and an additional six sets of tires for Sunday’s race.

NASCAR implemented safety updates to the Next Gen car.

Along the right-side door bars and extending toward the rear clip, teams are mandated to run a steel plate in addition to the chassis adjustments made for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The right-side door bar gussets and the removal of the front clip V-brace are changes that remain, in addition to the removal of other front-clip components, to create a softer and larger crush zone for frontal impacts.

Also included in the updates are front-bumper strut softening (modifications to existing parts), the requirement of an empty front ballast box and a modified cross brace. NASCAR incurs the cost of all these updates.

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.

RELATED: See rules changes for 2023

FAN REWARDS 🫵

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.

JOIN TODAY

FOLLOW THE RACE 📲

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:

  1. Make sure your iOS device has been updated to 16.1 or higher.
  2. Available on the leaderboard of all NASCAR Series races.
  3. Click on the three-dot menu near the top right of screen.
  4. Select “Follow the Race.”
  5. Swipe up to access the home screen and you will see the Live Activities at the top.
  6. Lock the device and you will see Live Activities on the Lock Screen.
  7. 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 resets for the playoffs. 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 $10,000 prize for the winner.

How to play: Fantasy Live | Set up a team today!

PLAYOFFS GRID CHALLENGE 🏆

During the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, fans have the opportunity to compete in The Playoffs Grid™ Challenge presented by Ruoff Mortage. Fans can enter by visiting The Playoffs Grid™ Challenge page and registering for a free NASCAR.com account before filling out a bracket. From there, choose from a list of playoff-eligible drivers round by round, and you’re on your way to compete for prizes!

How to play: Playoffs Grid Challenge 

ALSO ON NASCAR.COM 💻

Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week a select number of 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.

Posted on by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Talladega Superspeedway — nestled in the Birmingham, Alabama, hill country — is fast and furious, a bucket-list venue for NASCAR fans and a resume-maker for NASCAR drivers. Sunday’s YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) plays an important role not only in the sport’s longstanding Talladega tradition but also in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship.

RELATED: Talladega surprise winners | Buy tickets to Talladega

The 2.66-mile Talladega is the largest and fastest oval track in the sport. It is its own brand of competition in strategy and bravado. And inevitably after hours of dramatic back-and-forth, it’s the final handful of laps that will either secure a playoff driver’s position in the next round or triumphantly represent a career-maker for one of the other drivers hoping to chase the championship another year.

Even among the variety of playoff venues, Talladega is perpetually top-of-mind with the competitors.

“I don’t think you can pick a guy that is a favorite at Talladega because you never know what can happen there,” said Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, a back-to-back Talladega (2019-20) winner and current playoff driver.

“I think the best thing that we have talked about for that race is to try to control it like we have in the past and get a few of our cars up there and control the front of the pack. Hopefully, you can maintain that. We kind of see it is difficult to go from the back to the front now at speedways, so you try not to bury yourself.”

Talladega represents an interesting phenomenon among competitors. No matter what their thoughts are on the tightly packed high-speed racing, it seems more advantageous to simply embrace the challenge.

It’s one of the few places where reality actually lives up to legend. And Talladega is legendary.

From the beginning, this track has claimed large-font headlines. Richard Brickhouse won the inaugural event in 1969 — by a full seven seconds over Jim Vandiver — in a race that featured many non-NASCAR regulars. Richard Petty, Bobby Allison and LeeRoy Yarborough had all refused to race in protest of a worrisome tire situation.

The drama and action only intensified from that dramatic start with Talladega earning its place as one of the most iconic race tracks in all of auto racing.

The late seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt is the all-time winningest driver with 10 victories — including the last great triumph in his career, winning this fall race in 2000 by passing 17 cars in the final five laps for the victory. And his son, fellow NASCAR Hall of Famer and current NBC Sports broadcaster, Dale Earnhardt Jr., would nobly carry on that Talladega tradition earning five wins of his own including a record four consecutive from 2001-04.

In the last 10 years, there has been a range of drivers who specifically fare well on the high banks and those who count as surprise winners able to take advantage of the unpredictable pack racing there.

The defending race winner, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott has two wins at Talladega in the last decade.

Current playoff driver Brad Keselowski leads active drivers with six Talladega trophies, earning his very first career NASCAR Cup Series win there in 2009. Six of the current 12 playoff competitors — Blaney, Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain — have Talladega victories.

And Busch, who earned his first Talladega win in 2008 and his second this spring — a span of 30 races — makes no bones about the competitive challenge of the big track.

“Talladega is a stress-ball of emotions,” said Busch, who goes into the weekend’s race ranked last (12th) in the playoff standings after a DNF on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron picked up his series-best sixth win of the season last weekend at Texas to secure his position in the next round of the playoffs. Although that gives him some breathing room in this second race of the three-race round, he says he absolutely expects Sunday’s race to have a different, unmistakable feel than the spring non-playoff race there.

“It is (a different vibe) for sure,” said Byron, whose best Talladega finish is runner-up in the 2021 spring race.

“I think it’s even more difficult to get track position. That’s the thing I’ve noticed about Talladega in the fall. It’s not like you can just drive up there and steal something from somebody. It’s definitely going to be tough getting to the front, and I feel like we’ve personally struggled with that in the past. It’s not been our best superspeedway race in the fall.

“I think being a playoff race, it’s important to get up to the front and control the race. It’s not like the spring where there’s a lot of different agendas and not everyone is taking it as serious.

“It’s definitely intense.”

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

The Myers family has long been associated with Modified racing in the Southeast, specifically at historic Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Members of the Myers family have been racing at Bowman Gray since the early 1950s, when brothers Billy and Bobby Myers claimed four track championships in five seasons from 1951-55.

After the untimely passing of the two brothers during the late 1950s, the racing tradition was carried on by Billy’s son Gary Myers and later by Gary’s two sons, Burt and Jason Myers. Burt is a 10-time track champion at Bowman Gray, giving the family 14 track championships in total at the legendary quarter-mile oval.

However, what one might not know is the Myers family also has a long history at another North Carolina race track: North Wilkesboro Speedway.

“I grew up going there,” said Burt, a two-time champion of the now-defunct NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour. “My dad grew up with Richard Childress and with Chocolate [Danny Myers, Burt’s second cousin] being involved with Childress. David Smith, the old jackman [for Dale Earnhardt] was my dad’s friend growing up.

“We would go to the races and stand in the pits and stand in Earnhardt’s pit and watch races there. Then being able to be fortunate enough to go with my dad when he raced there and then the times I’ve gotten to race there. There is just so much history that goes with that place.”

RELATED: Entry list for Saturday’s Mods race at North Wilkesboro

Burt is among the 39 drivers entered to compete in Saturday’s Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 at North Wilkesboro Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FloRacing). The event marks the first for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at the storied venue, which is rich in Myers family history.

Nearly every member of the Myers family that has raced in the last 70 years has won at North Wilkesboro.

They include a NASCAR Convertible Division victory by Billy, which came on March 16, 1958, against a field of drivers that included stars of the era like Bob Welborn, Tiny Lund, Glen Wood and Gwyn Staley.

Bobby, Gary and Jason Myers also earned wins at the 0.625-mile oval through the years.

But the one member of the family who hasn’t won at North Wilkesboro is Burt.

Burt Myers in action during the Hayes Jewelers 200 at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on April 23, 2022. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)

“My dad gives me a hard time about it,” Burt said. “My grandpa, my great uncle Bobby, my dad, and my brother have all won at North Wilkesboro, and I have not. So they give me a hard time about it. I’m hoping to get some redemption this weekend.”

There are several things working in Burt’s favor this weekend, but perhaps none are bigger than the fact that he will have more experience at North Wilkesboro than likely anyone else in the field.

He made his first start at the track in 1995, one year before the venue closed following the departure of the NASCAR Cup Series. He was just 19 at the time and had just started racing Modifieds.

In all, Burt has competed in seven Modified events at North Wilkesboro spread across more than two decades. That includes the Racetrack Revival held last season that helped bring North Wilkesboro back to life. He scored back-to-back fifth-place finishes.

“We kind of feel like we have an idea of what it’s going to take to be fast at North Wilkesboro,” he said.

LIVE STREAM: Watch the Modified Tour at North Wilkesboro live on FloRacing

Burt knew as soon as the race date was announced last year that he wanted to be part of the Brushy Mountain Powersports 150, but it wasn’t until one of his sponsors approached him about running the event that things came together.

“Basically every Modified race that has ever been held in the South, the Myers family tries to be there. The main question that I was asked was, ‘Are you running North Wilkesboro?’ Myers said. “We kind of put that on our calendar at the beginning of the year whenever the Tour made that announcement.

“To be honest the key ingredient was Tommy Lancaster at Citrusafe. He said, ‘I really would love to have you run North Wilkesboro. We want to be a part of North Wilkesboro with you.’ That’s kind of when the ball started rolling.”

Burt’s goal for Saturday night is fairly straightforward. He’s not a full-time competitor with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, so he’s not racing for points.

All he cares about is winning the race and adding his name to his family’s legacy at the track. He also simply wants to be able to call himself a North Wilkesboro Speedway Modified winner.

“Absolutely I want to win. Absolutely I want to be able to say that every Myers that has raced has won at North Wilkesboro,” Burt said. “I don’t think about the past and what’s happened; I think about what we can do moving forward to be better. Therefore, I just want to win this race. I’m not thinking about why I want to win this race. I’m just thinking about that I know I want to win this race.

“[North Wilkesboro] is where it started. It’s where Modifieds belong.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Busch announced Wednesday that he has sold Kyle Busch Motorsports and Rowdy Manufacturing to Spire Motorsports, shifting the team ownership spectrum in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Included in the sale are the assets of Busch’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team and the assets of Rowdy Manufacturing’s chassis building operation and CNC machine shop. The transaction also includes the 77,000-square-foot facility that houses KBM and Rowdy Manufacturing in Mooresville, North Carolina.

RELATED: Truck Series standings | Talladega schedule

“When we started the Truck Series team back in 2010, I never imagined that we would be able to win 100 races with 18 different drivers and that one day I’d be racing in the Cup Series alongside so many of the drivers that I once mentored at KBM,” Busch said in a team press release. “I owe a lot of gratitude to so many people, starting with Samantha and my family for believing in this dream that I had. It took countless hours by so many amazing people to make KBM the winningest team in Truck Series history. I will always appreciate everyone that walked through the doors and gave their all to make this such a successful organization.”

The arrangement signals the end of a 14-year tenure for one of the Craftsman Truck tour’s most decorated teams. The Kyle Busch-owned organization scored its 100th Truck Series win earlier this season and fielded trucks for two series champions, both of whom have since joined their former team owner in the Cup Series — Erik Jones, the 2015 champ, and Christopher Bell, who reigned in 2017.

Busch accounted for 48 of his team’s 100 wins as the driver of his own trucks, but the team also provided a springboard for promising young talents who would reach NASCAR’s big leagues. In addition to Jones and Bell, Kyle Busch Motorsports fielded trucks for current Cup Series drivers Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Daniel Suárez, Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland.

KBM was long a proving ground for prospects in the Toyota pipeline. The organization shifted its manufacturer alliance to Chevrolet this season, a move that dovetailed with Busch’s leap across automaker lines from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing on the Cup Series side.

The organization currently fields two entries in the Craftsman Truck Series – the No. 4 Silverado for full-time driver Chase Purdy and the No. 51 Chevy for a rotation of drivers including Busch, Jack Wood and others.

Spire first entered NASCAR competition as a single-car Cup Series team in 2019, and the group began part-time participation in the Truck Series in 2022. The team has two victories in 20 Truck Series starts, with current Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson dividing the wins.

Spire scored its only Cup Series win in its first season in 2019, with Justin Haley prevailing in the summertime race at Daytona International Speedway. The Jeff Dickerson and T.J. Puchyr-owned organization currently fields two Cup Series entries for teammates Corey LaJoie and Ty Dillon.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Months ago, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Nos. 14 and 41 cars sat unsponsored for the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Ford, had an idea: “We should just do ‘Talladega Nights.’ ”

Wish granted.

On Sunday, Ryan Preece’s No. 41 Ford will feature the classic white and blue Wonder Bread paint made famous by Ricky Bobby in “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” the 2006 hit NASCAR comedy. Briscoe will don the Old Spice red and blue on his Ford Mustang, paying homage to Cal Naughton Jr.’s car from the feature film.

“Holy smokes, we’re actually doing this,” Briscoe said with a laugh in a Tuesday teleconference with Preece and NASCAR Studios.

MORE: Paint Scheme Preview: Talladega | Talladega schedule

The real-life teammates sat donned in their respective fire suits, clearly enjoying the splash of fun that stemmed from recreating classic moments from the hit movie that starred Will Ferrell as Ricky Bobby and John C. Reilly as Naughton Jr.

“It’s just been a lot of fun, to be honest with you,” Preece said. “We’ve been able to do a lot of different skits. When it comes to social media, obviously, it’s something that people are on constantly, and it’s created an opportunity for us to kind of show our personalities and really get into the movie. I’m pretty pumped about some of the stuff we actually shot earlier, and that’s going to come out here in the next day or so. So we’re gonna give people some laughs.”

While it’s a light-hearted callback to a funny flick that even famed director Christopher Nolan claims is a “remote-drop” movie, Preece had his own dramatic crash at Daytona International Speedway one month ago that left him thinking: “I’m flying through the air. This is not good.”

“Basically, the same thing as during the movie,” Preece said, recalling his thoughts from the serious tumble he took down the Daytona backstretch that Briscoe dubbed “his best Ricky Bobby impersonation.”

WATCH: Preece flips in late-race crash at Daytona

The wreck was significant — with five laps to go, Preece’s No. 41 Ford was jolted left across the nose of Briscoe’s car, sending both vehicles toward the grass before Preece became airborne and flipped side over side, end over end before landing on his wheels.

“Obviously, I don’t want to do that this weekend,” Preece said. “I’d rather have a successful day and a really, really good finish like we’ve all run all year. But the car kept me safe. In my eyes, it was the biggest wreck that I’ve had just because I don’t like flipping. I’d actually just got done telling my crew chief I didn’t want to race dirt midgets or anything like that because I didn’t want to flip like that, and then that happens. But yeah, moving forward, just going into the superspeedways with a plan, and we can hopefully execute that plan.”

Briscoe was a firsthand witness to his teammate’s unexpected flight, a frightening moment after wheeling his car back to pit lane.

“Actually, just through the corner, I’d tightened my belts up knowing that we’re kind of getting down to that time,” Briscoe said. “And I was going to the backstretch and saw Ryan just kind of coming out of the corner of my eye coming down across the track. And, you know, we made contact, and we’re kind of sliding. And from my vantage point, I could see his car go up in the air, and it was like on its side, and I knew that it wasn’t going to be good, right? Like he was already up in the air. And I knew we were in the grass and stuff.

“I was trying to save mine, and ours is all messed up. I drove back to pit road, and we qualified on the pole, so we’re in pit stall one. And I remember looking at the big screen, and they had a replay of it just being like, ‘Holy smokes, man.’ It literally looked like a sprint car (or) midget crash. So I was pretty worried. You’re worried for any guy in the field, I think; we all kind of have that camaraderie. But when it’s a teammate, somebody that you know — we’re around each other every Tuesday, Wednesday and then all through the weekend — so it’s definitely different. But at the same time, you know, like Ryan was saying, it’s part of the job.”

Indeed, while Preece’s Daytona crash was his biggest to date, it wasn’t his only significant impact this season. In the spring race at Talladega, a late-race crash sent Kyle Larson spin across traffic and directly into the path of Preece, who had nowhere to go but into the right-side door of Larson’s car, caving a hole into the No. 5 Chevrolet while Preece took a heavy impact.

NASCAR took both cars back to its Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, and implemented changes in time for the July race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Those changes appeared to prove effective both in Preece’s Daytona crash and one by Ryan Blaney that same evening, in which his No. 12 Ford went hard and nose-first into the Turn 4 SAFER barrier. The sanctioning body also took Preece’s Daytona car back to the R&D Center for further evaluation to see if further safety changes were necessary.

“My lower body is going to thank every adjustment that we’ve made because those hits can certainly feel really, really hard,” Preece said. “And I just do want to point out, as Chase would say, as well: We make them as safe as we can, but it’s not like jumping into your bed or landing in a cloud of pillows. So, it’s definitely been the right direction. Obviously, talking to Blaney after his (crash), how horrific that looks and how much the wall moved, he felt a lot better than he did previously at Nashville.

“So yeah, we’re heading in the right direction. But obviously, it’s something that we need to continue working on. Just that way, we, you know, we can always keep each other safe.”

In the meantime, Preece and Briscoe will aim to engage the slingshot on Sunday at Talladega (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) — where in true “Talladega Nights” fashion, if you ain’t first, you’re last.

“Every weekend you go to the race track, there’s two guys dressed up just like we are right now, always in the grandstands,” Briscoe said. “So it’ll be cool to actually have those two cars on the race track, and no better place to do that than Talladega, obviously.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Ryan Preece will return to the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, he confirmed on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday.

Preece is in the midst of his first full-time season at SHR, his fourth full-time campaign at the sport’s highest level. Through 30 starts in the No. 41 Ford, Preece notched a season-best finish of fifth in July at Richmond Raceway and is set to return for another year at the four-car outfit.

RELATED: Cup Series standings | Silly Season updates

“I’m gonna be here with the 41 at SHR next year,” Preece told SXM’s Dave Moody. “I’m definitely looking forward to it, and we’ve made a lot of gains.”

Preece began his Cup career with Phil Parsons Racing’s No. 98 car in 2015 when he made five part-time starts but joined the ranks full-time in 2019 with JTG Daugherty Racing. The Berlin, Connecticut, native competed for three seasons with JTG before the team downsized to one car, leaving Preece without a ride.

Preece, 32, spent the 2022 season working as a simulation and reserve driver for Stewart-Haas Racing, making two starts with Rick Ware Racing in the process. He moved back to the driver’s seat full-time this season, replacing Cole Custer in the No. 41 Ford.

The 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion, Preece has just one top-10 finish this season but is confident in the progress Stewart-Haas Racing is making as the 2023 campaign winds to a close.

“I like the direction of the things that we’ve been working on here at SHR,” Preece said. “And it makes me optimistic going into not only Talladega because we have such fast superspeedway cars, but going to Las Vegas – our mile-and-a-half stuff, it’s never been really my strong suit, but some of the things that we’ve worked on, I feel really, really eager and excited to get to Las Vegas. And obviously when we go to Martinsville and Phoenix, those are two of our stronger tracks so we have a good couple races coming up.”

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) for the second race of the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Playoffs.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR officials issued crew-member suspensions to two Cup Series teams and one Xfinity Series team for detached wheels during last weekend’s races at Texas Motor Speedway.

The safety violation falls under the heading of Section 8.8.10.4.C in the NASCAR Rule Book (Tires and Wheels) and refers to the “loss or separation of an improperly installed tire/wheel from the vehicle during the event.”

Two teams had wheels come unattached in crashes during Sunday’s Cup Series event at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth track. Two-race suspensions were issued to:

• No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet: Josh Sobecki (jack) and Michael Johnson (rear-tire changer)
• No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford: Matthew Schlytter (jack) and Coleman Dollarhide (rear-tire changer)

In the Xfinity Series, one team had a wheel break loose during Saturday’s 300-miler, resulting in two-race suspensions for a pair of pit-crew members.

• No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet: Justin Clapper (jack) and Dakota Bonds (rear-tire changer)

The rule for a detached wheel changed before the 2023 season. Previously, a four-race suspension was handed to the offending team’s crew chief. Starting this season, the penalty means two-race suspensions for pit-crew members and a two-lap penalty if the wheel detaches on the track. An errant wheel on pit road during green-flag conditions results in a pass-through penalty; under yellow, that same violation means the team must restart at the tail of the field.

Also in the Xfinity Series, competition officials issued a penalty for a single unsecured lug nut on the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven to a third-place finish at Texas by Sammy Smith. The infraction resulted in a $5,000 fine for crew chief Jeff Meendering.

Posted on by Zack Albert

JR Motorsports announced Tuesday that Sammy Smith will drive the team’s No. 8 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series next season.

Smith makes the move from Joe Gibbs Racing, where he reached the Xfinity Series Playoffs in his first full season of competition. Smith has one Xfinity victory – achieved in March at Phoenix Raceway – and currently ranks sixth in the circuit’s postseason standings, 18 points above the provisional elimination line with one race remaining in the Round of 12.

RELATED: Key figures in Silly Season | Xfinity Series Playoffs standings

Sponsorship will be provided by Pilot Flying J, TMC Transportation and the Allstate Peterbilt Group.

The 19-year-old driver replaces Josh Berry, who is set to move to the NASCAR Cup Series next season as the pilot of Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 4 Ford. Berry, a five-time Xfinity Series winner, has driven the No. 8 JRM Chevy full time the last two seasons, reaching the playoffs each year. He qualified for the Championship 4 round in 2022.

“Sammy is a great fit for our program and will mesh well with our other drivers,” JRM team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said in a team release “He’s a young, talented racer who’s willing to learn and carries himself with a lot of professionalism. He has a bright future ahead. I’m excited for our team to help him continue his journey.”

Smith made the jump to the Xfinity Series last season, making nine starts in Gibbs’ No. 18 Toyota. He established solid credentials in the ARCA Menards Series with six wins in 2022, and he netted back-to-back ARCA Menards Series East championships in 2021 and 2022.

On his way to the NASCAR national-series ranks, Smith made the rounds with success in Super Late Model events. The Johnston, Iowa, native holds crown-jewel victories at the grassroots level in the Winchester 400 and Redbud 400 in Indiana, and the Governor’s Cup and World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida.

Smith joins three returning drivers on the JR Motorsports roster for 2024. Sam Mayer (No. 1 Chevrolet), veteran Justin Allgaier (No. 7), and Brandon Jones (No. 9) all re-signed with the Dale Earnhardt Jr.-owned organization in recent weeks.

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

FORT WORTH, Texas — Whether it’s Brad Keselowski leading almost every lap only to lose to Jimmie Johnson and not make the Championship 4 or a good old-fashioned donnybrook on pit road with a handful of playoff drivers, Texas Motor Speedway has been at the forefront of postseason theatrics since the inception of the current format in 2014.

Sunday was no different as an array of results accumulated across the 12 drivers still eligible to win the Cup Series championship.

RELATED: Texas results | Playoff standings after Texas

William Byron was the ultimate benefactor of the day, nabbing his sixth win of 2023, the 300th for Hendrick Motorsports all-time, and securing his spot in the Round of 8. However, it wasn’t a straightforward day for the No. 24 team as the group struggled in the first half of the race.

“I think it was kind of one of those days that I knew it would be a grind from start to finish,” Byron said. “Just honestly, we had kind of advanced forward quicker than maybe I expected and got the Stage 1 points and felt good about that, and then just the sequence in Stage 2, I just made a mistake and pitted there, and [crew chief] Rudy [Fugle] made the right call, and we restarted 25th or wherever we were. It was just really hard to go forward after that.”

Kyle Busch was the first to fall victim to Texas woes as he spun and crashed late in Stage 1 trying to manage his right-front tire to the Lap 80 green-white-checkered flag. Leaving the Lone Star State with just one point gained, the two-time Cup champion now sits last in the 12-driver field, 17 points below the elimination line after entering the Round of 12 eight points above.

RELATED: Busch crashes in Stage 1

“It felt really good when we came off of pit road after that green-flag stop,” Busch said. “The car had good grip in it. We had those couple of yellows back-to-back and we restarted on the outside. I felt like I had a flat right-front [tire] and I was going to come to pit road. I second-guessed it and said ‘I don’t think so, man. It’s just something is wrong… something isn’t right, but it’s not a flat.’ And just all on its own, just turned into the bottom of the race track in Turn 1 and it just swapped ends on me. That’s the rear, not the front, not having grip, so I just don’t know.”

Regular Season Champion Martin Truex Jr. had another difficult playoff outing with a 17th-place result and no stage points.

At the end of Stage 1, he was spun in a chain-reaction incident as fellow playoff driver Brad Keselowski hit the back of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Truex has yet to score a top-15 finish through four races in the playoffs and only holds a 19-point advantage above the Round of 12 elimination line heading to a less-than-favorable track for him at Talladega, followed by the round-closing Charlotte road course where he’s had mixed results.

Truex’s JGR teammate Denny Hamlin had an eventful day on pit road. The No. 11 Toyota was hit on the right side by rookie teammate Ty Gibbs on a stop in Stage 1 that resulted in the No. 54 going behind the wall. Hamlin continued on with significant right-side damage to pull out his third consecutive top-five finish.

MORE: Hamlin, Gibbs collide on pit road

“I swung out there to avoid hitting him [No. 2 tire changer]. Obviously we were three-wide with the 54 so as you can see, there’s not much room here [on pit road],” Hamlin said. “This pit lane is not very wide so one car coming out and a car two-wide, you’re going to have contact.”

Christopher Bell earned a fourth-place finish to put himself 20 points above the elimination line before Talladega and the Roval but lamented the overall performance of the No. 20 team on Sunday.

“We had to overcome a slow performance, that is for sure. We got away with one today,” Bell said. “We didn’t have the pace to run fourth for sure. The restarts worked out in our favor, and we were able to sneak by on the bottom and get a good finish out of it. This is one of those days that I’m going to be really, really happy on Wednesday or Thursday, but right now, I’m pretty disappointed because the performance wasn’t there.”

Christopher Bell climbs out of his car
Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR Studios

The biggest playoff drama on the day occurred in the closing laps as Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney all had individual woes.

Larson and Wallace dominated most of the day, combining to lead 201 of the 267 lap-event, but a hotly-contested fight for the lead on a restart with 20 laps to go sealed Larson’s fate as the No. 5 spun on the inside of Wallace, hitting the outside wall in Turns 1 and 2. A 12-point advantage for the 2021 champion is now just two above the elimination line, and in an odd bit of coincidence, it’s Wallace who is lurking just behind as the first driver outside of the Round of 8.

It looked as though Wallace was the clear favorite to take the checkered flag, but a tight battle for the top spot with Chase Briscoe opened the door for Byron to sneak on the inside of both to make it three-wide and take the lead off Turn 4 on the final restart. Wallace settled for a third-place finish, which marks a season-high for the No. 23 23XI Racing driver.

A winner at all Round of 12 tracks, Blaney had a day he’d like to quickly move on from, but he took advantage of pit strategy to score vital points in the first two stages after finding himself outside the top 20. Once again finding himself toward the back of the field on the penultimate restart, the No. 12’s luck ran out as it was collected in a multicar incident down the frontstretch that also included Truex, AJ Allmendinger, Erik Jones and Blaney’s Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric.

More postseason shake-ups are expected next Sunday as the Cup Series heads to Talladega (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).