NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Josh Williams has been suspended from competing in Saturday’s race at Circuit of The Americas, the sanctioning body announced Tuesday evening.
Williams, the driver of the No. 92 Chevrolet Camaro, was found in violation of Sections 4.3.A; 4.4.B & D; 8.7.6: NASCAR Member Code of Conduct and In-race Violations for disobeying a NASCAR request. After being directed to take his car to the garage during last Saturday’s Xfinity race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Williams elected to park his vehicle at the start/finish line, exiting it and walking toward pit road. He will not compete in Saturday’s Pit Boss 250 (5 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). DGM Racing announced that Alex Labbé would fill in for Williams at COTA.
Separately, the No. 33 Ford team for driver Mason Massey in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was hit with a trio of suspensions. Crew chief Gregory Rayl and crew members Matthew Crossman and Travis Armstrong have been suspended for the next three points events in the series for violation of Section 14.3.4 B; 14.17.2.1 D; 10.5.2.6.F: Safety Penalty for loss or separation of added ballast from the vehicle.
Additionally, Deandre Smith has received an indefinite suspension from NASCAR for violation of Sections 4.1 & 10.1.A, while owner/driver Cory Roper has been reinstated and is eligible to return to all NASCAR activity.
In many ways, the addition of road-course experts such as Formula One champions Jenson Button and Kimi Räikkönen and a sports car champ like Jordan Taylor to Sunday’s NASCAR grid seems appropriate as the NASCAR Cup Series continues its 75th Anniversary season at one of the country’s premier road course facilities: Circuit of The Americas (COTA).
While ovals certainly dominated the sport’s earliest schedules, stock car racing has become a big-time player on several of the most historic and important road-course facilities in America. And what the 11-year-old COTA track may lack in pure historical age, it certainly makes up for in modern-day acclaim and aesthetics.
That’s why so many renowned drivers from other series – such as Button, Räikkönen, Taylor and IndyCar regular Conor Daly – are eager to earn a position on the starting grid and test themselves against NASCAR’s very best in Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). And the Cup Series drivers – which will include seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson this week, too — are ready for the challenge.
Although NASCAR’s second sanctioned race during the inaugural 1949 season was run on a road course – a 4.150-mile circuit right on Daytona Beach – NASCAR has predominantly been an oval show for much of its early existence. But the Modern Era – beginning in 1972 – brought changes to the season schedule that included not only a long-established race at California’s Riverside International Raceway but eventually new venues at Northern California’s Sonoma Raceway and the historic Watkins Glen International in upstate New York. Today, there are six road or street course venues on the 2023 schedule.
The famed Riverside track in California – a 2.62-mile track that produced some of the most memorable races in the sport’s history – hosted the Cup Series from 1958 to 1988 before closing in 1989.
The list of Riverside winners is a racing ‘Who’s Who’ from the late Dan Gurney, who won five races – including three in a row from 1964-66 – to Parnelli Jones, the 1967 winner and A.J. Foyt, who took the 1970 trophy. NASCAR’s “King” Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip each additionally won five times at the track, while Bobby Allison led the pack with six trophies.
California’s Sonoma Raceway picked up where Riverside left off, hosting its first Cup Series race in 1989 with Ricky Rudd hoisting the first trophy. This summer marks the 34th edition of the Sonoma race – a venue where native Californian and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon holds the win record of five and Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suárez earned his first-ever Cup Series victory last summer.
After races in 1957, 1964 and 1965, Watkins Glen started hosting Cup Series races regularly in 1986 – that event won by the late Tim Richmond. NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart would go on to establish the all-time Watkins Glen wins record with five trophies. Kyle Larson, the 2021 Cup Series champion, is the two-time defending race winner.
These original races proved that NASCAR competitors and their audience loved the unique challenge of road course races scattered into the schedule. And in recent years, NASCAR has rewarded that fondness by increasing available opportunities. This weekend’s grand prix at COTA is the first of six on the 2023 schedule that will also include the highly-anticipated July 2 debut of a downtown street course along the downtown Chicago waterfront.
Each of these 2023 venues – Circuit of The Americas, Sonoma Raceway (June 11), Chicago Street Race (July 2), Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (Aug. 13), Watkins Glen International (Aug. 20), Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (Oct. 8) – has produced memorable moments, dramatic finishes and won over even the most hardened of oval-traditionalists.
And the drivers on the grid represent both non-regulars who have taken a real interest in NASCAR road course competition, where the entire grid of full-time drivers showcases their road racing talent and focus, racing door-to-door, bumper-to-bumper through every turn and twist.
Three current Cup Series tracks — COTA (2012-present), Watkins Glen International (1961-80) and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (2000-2007) — have all hosted Formula One grand prix.
Räikkönen, who will drive the No. 91 Project 91 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing, has raced at both Indianapolis and COTA – scoring his last win in F1 at COTA in 2018. Button has raced at both Indy and Austin venues as well, earning his best Austin finish (fifth) in the 2012 inaugural race. Taylor is a two-time winner at COTA – from pole position – in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series.
Yet for all their experience and success, these drivers fully concede the bar this weekend is set by Cup Series regulars who have all worked on their road course acumen.
Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain returns to Austin as the defending race winner. Taylor will be driving the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet that injured racer Chase Elliott drove to victory in NASCAR’s first event at COTA in 2021.
“Obviously, it’s helpful that I know the track,” Räikkönen said. “Now, the F1 car and a NASCAR Cup car are slightly different (smiling) in how they feel when you go around it.
“Last year was a great experience,” said Räikkönen, who competed at Watkins Glen. “Unfortunately, the result (37th) wasn’t what we were looking for because we got caught up in a wreck, but that’s part of racing. I am excited to have another go, and hopefully, we will stay out of any big issues. This will be tricky for sure, but the further we go in the weekend, the easier it gets. At least I have an idea of how we can approach the weekend. I think we did a good job last year. Is the car going to give us a better result? I don’t know, I hope so.”
Cup Series drivers are certainly ready for the test.
“COTA is a place that’s pretty fun for us,” said four-time road course winner Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “I’m looking forward to the extra track time on Friday and get a chance to work on it overnight and see what we have for Saturday and Sunday.
“We’ve learned so much over the last year about this car and what it likes and what it doesn’t, so hoping we can come with a lot more knowledge than we had this time last year and get the car where we need it to have a shot to win and run up front all day long. Looking forward to this weekend with our Bass Pro Shops Toyota team.”
HAMPTON, Ga. — Sunday’s fifth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway wasn’t precisely what Tyler Reddick wanted, but it was a significant step forward — especially considering there were some early doubts whether he would be able to compete in the race.
Reddick arrived at the track that morning not feeling well, forcing his 23XI Racing team to scramble to find an emergency substitution if necessary. Just hours before the green flag was scheduled to wave, John Hunter Nemechek was sitting in the No. 45 Toyota, making adjustments to the seating configuration so that either Reddick or Nemechek would feel comfortable.
Reddick powered through, however, and was among a noticeable Toyota surge in the Final Stage. The effort resulted in his second consecutive top-five result after finishes of 39th in the Daytona 500, 34th at Auto Club Speedway and 15th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Stepping out of the car after the strong finish was a literal breath of fresh air for Reddick in light of his illness and figuratively for his team’s confidence moving forward.
“I’m alright,” Reddick said. “Picked a good time to kinda get over whatever it was that was going on. Made it through the race, don’t feel too bad. Wish we would have finished better than fifth, but, yeah, I definitely wasn’t my best out there today.”
After starting 16th, Reddick made his way near the front of the pack in the closing laps, joining up with Toyota teammates Denny Hamlin (also his boss, as co-owner of 23XI) and Christopher Bell. They couldn’t work together quickly enough, though, to get past the Fords of Brad Keselowski and race-winner Joey Logano.
“Every lap was an opportunity, for sure,” said Reddick, explaining the finish. “I don’t know. I was just trying to think about what the right time to make the move was and trying to do it to where all three of us — you know, me, Denny and Christopher — could kinda take advantage of the momentum. I just waited too long and kinda put Christopher and Denny in a spot where they were ready to go before I was. I’ll have to work on that going forward.”
Going forward, the schedule only gets better for Reddick, beginning with the first road-course challenge of the season — Circuit of The Americas (COTA).
Perhaps one of the forgotten story lines of the electric 2022 season was Reddick’s breakout year on road courses, winning at Road America and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course while posting a 9.5 average finish across the six left-and-right circuit races. It was a remarkable run last season, to say the least.
Tyler Reddick’s 2022 finishes on road courses:
Circuit of The Americas
5th
Sonoma Raceway
35th
Road America
1st (first Cup Series win)
Indianapolis
1st
Watkins Glen
7th
Charlotte Roval
8th
According to Racing Insights, Reddick has led 20% of the laps on road courses in the last four races beginning at Road America. Specifically, at COTA, Reddick has never finished worse than ninth and is one of only four drivers with top 10s in both Cup races dating back to the inaugural series event in 2021.
If this momentum continues, this Sunday’s race is a perfect opportunity to flex his strength and earn his first victory with his new team. And so far, the record shows he has been among the handful of drivers to beat at nearly every road course in the Next Gen era.
The two recent top-five finishes have vaulted Reddick and the No. 45 team up the points standings, currently sitting 15th (and in the projected playoff outlook) as the fourth-highest-ranking Toyota. With the new road-course rules coming into effect for the first time this week, this next test could set the tone for many other races throughout the season.
Reddick will try to add to his blossoming road-course resume Sunday, March 26 in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) on the 3.41-mile circuit in Austin, Texas.
The 2022 race season for Andrew Crandall was, thankfully, nothing like the year before.
At the start of the 2021 season, Crandall’s team got his Thunder Car built in a way they were initially “super stoked” about, he said. But the first night of year at Edmonton International Raceway, the car overheated, and eventually the motor expired.
Over the winter, his team took an engine out of a farm truck, and couldn’t believe how well it worked on the race track.
“We started winning races,” Crandall said. “The second race out of the 2022 season we won and I couldn’t believe it. It was unbelievable.”
Crandall and his team had their share of ups and downs throughout the year, but by the time it was done they had a more than 60 point lead on the way to an Edmonton track championship in the NASCAR Thunder Cars series.
Edmonton is a NASCAR-sanctioned quarter-mile paved oval track in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada.
The title was seven years in the making for Crandall.
“Oh, my gosh. On the very last race of the season I broke down. I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I basically had it wrapped up, but we managed a second place on the last night and I cried on the front stretch. I was in so much joy. Finally. It took me seven years but I finally got one.”
“We don’t do qualifying very much so they started me in the back… I went as fast I possibly could, and I made my way through the field. I can’t remember where I placed in the heat, but I raced as hard as I possibly could. I didn’t want to have the mindset that I already won because my performance could be affected by that.”
Crandall got into racing because of his desire to be different. Growing up, others around here played hockey, baseball and football.
He never really had an interest in any of those sports.
“I like to stand out a little bit,” he said.
For his 12th birthday, Crandall and his family and friends went to the race track for the first time. Edmonton has a birthday ride program that allows participants to get in race cars and ride slowly around the track.
“I got to sit in a Thunder Car and we were rolling around the track and I’m asking the guy, just chewing this guy’s ear off, ‘How did you get into it? What kind of car is it?’
“We’re farmers. We’ve got your grain and your cows and all that. I don’t know really even what sparked it. No one really cared, but I didn’t get any allowance or anything so I had to either build something or help my neighbors and they would throw me a little bit of money.”
Crandall found a Civic online that was already prepped to go racing. He bought it for $300.
Andrew Crandall claimed the track championship in the Thunder Car class at Edmonton International Raceway in 2022. (Photo: Carol Ashton/Edmonton International Raceway)
“Funny enough it had the Dale Earnhardt No. 3 on it, and I thought that was really cool because I was just doing a little bit of research about him,” he said. “We left it basically the way it was, we put new safety belts in and spent good money on the neck protector. My mom and dad really helped me out there with all the safety stuff, because it’s not cheap to a 12 year old.”
Experience driving grain trucks and combines didn’t really compare to driving a race car for the first time.
“I’d never driven a car on a track with other people, and we went out there and we were going maybe 30 kilometers an hour around that track. I was terrified,” he said. “But we started getting a little bit better and a little bit better.”
In his first season, Crandall finished third in the points and won rookie of the year.
“So that spark turned into a flame really quick,” he said.
Crandall’s competitive nature has kept him in racing through all the ups and downs. He recalls an early race when he was in the back, coming down the backstretch as the leaders raced up to him. They blew by either side of his car so fast, they knocked his mirrors off.
Other drivers may have been disheartened by the incident, but Crandall took it as motivation.
“I said, you know what, I’m coming for you guys next year,” he said. “I’m going to practice super hard. The old NASCAR games on your PlayStation, I was practicing on that every night just trying to figure out the lines, trying to apply that to real life, and eventually I was banging doors with them in the 2014 season.”
He’s tried to model his racing style off of Earnhardt, and he kept the No. 3 on his car for several years.
“Of course you’re always going to think, oh, I’m not that great at it, maybe I’ll find something else,” he said. “I don’t know what it was, but I started collecting a lot of Dale Earnhardt stuff, and I used that as my motivation. Like, wow, he was confident, he drove like crazy, and I just tried to get that mentality in my head.”
Crandall knew the 2022 season was special when he raced against that same Thunder Car he rode in on his 12th birthday.
“I beat it. Oh yeah, walked all over it,” he said with a laugh. “He’s a really good guy. And he even recognized me, so that was really special.”
It hasn’t been an individual effort for Crandall as he’s climbed the racing ranks at Edmonton. Along with his mom, dad, sisters, grandparents, and girlfriend, he’s had help from Ron and Loretta Thiering, the promoters at Edmonton, and other drivers at the track.
Other racing veterans Brad and Kent Brooks and Mike Ramm came to Crandall’s shop to help set up scales and help with the technology in the shop.
He goes to church with a driver, Larry Philips, who races super late models on dirt. Philips found out Crandall was getting into racing, and he, along with his dad, offered to come to their farm when Crandall was first starting.
“Of course they laugh because they’re used to $30,000 late models, but they said, ‘OK, we’ll help you,’” Crandall said. “Well, those two have stayed by my side the whole time. They’re always in the pits with us, they’re helping us out like crazy. They’ve really helped out.
“Everyone has pitched in. I can go up to any one of those people at the track, they’ll shake my hand and they’ll help, I’ll help them, it’s a huge family. And I don’t know what I would do if I lost that connection.
“It’s been a real team effort and I appreciate that.”
Crandall isn’t sure if he’ll race full-time at Edmonton this season. The rigors of working on the farm and trying to get into college on top of racing can be difficult, but he’d like to try to defend his title.
He’ll stick around racing as long as he can though, because he’ll always have that love that started from that first ride at 12 years old.
“It’s borderline my therapy,” Crandall said. “It gives me chills even thinking about it. I love it so much.”
Edmonton International Raceway will open the 2023 season on Saturday, June 3.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Dash 4 Cash stretch is finally here, with Xfinity mainstays looking to finish among the top four of all series regulars during Saturday’s Pit Boss 250 presented by USA Today at Circuit of The Americas (5 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Of course, the contest at the Austin, Texas road course will not be the official start of the Dash 4 Cash four-race burst. Instead, it will act as the qualifying race to determine the four drivers slated to battle it out for the first of four $100,000 prizes on the line, starting at Richmond Raceway on April 1 (1 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
And so, the process will continue — the Dash 4 Cash winner at Richmond will then have the opportunity to defend their title at the next track scheduled for the program, while the next three highest-finishing Xfinity Series regulars will look to usurp the crown.
Eligibility requirements for this year will be similar to 2022. Drivers who have not declared to collect Xfinity Series points may not participate in Dash 4 Cash races.
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — The rumble of NASCAR national series vehicles was back in the brushy hills of Wilkes County for the first time in a long time Monday. Making all that noise were three Craftsman Truck Series drivers who weren’t even born the last time North Wilkesboro Speedway hosted their tour.
Goodyear tire testing at the historic 0.625-mile track — in its latest phase of resurrection after laying mostly dormant since 1996 — was up to relative youngsters in 23-year-old Zane Smith and 20-year-olds Corey Heim and Carson Hocevar. The three will return with the rest of the Craftsman Truck Series regulars in two months for the Tyson 250 on May 20 (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM) as part of the NASCAR All-Star Race weekend.
Of the three, only Heim had competed here before, in a CARS Tour event during the track’s initial revival last August. As for the other two, their reaction was something of wide-eyed wonderment.
“Right when I pulled into the infield and really looked at the grandstands, I’m like, ‘Man, we’re on a hill,’ ” said Smith, noting the facility’s distinctive incline — downhill on the frontstretch and slightly uphill on the back — for the first time. “So you go pretty much up the hill into (turn) three and down a hill into (turn) one, so you don’t really notice it when you’re out there, but it’s kind of weird to look at. It’s just a place like none other.”
All three were challenged by the elevation change and the fight for elusive grip on the well-worn asphalt, but Hocevar’s first hurdle came even before his arrival after navigating the winding two-lane country roads around U.S. Route 421. “I’ve never seen it,” he said. “I didn’t know how to get into the place. I was lost. There’s no entryway, it’s all under construction.”
Once he found the way in, he liked what he saw.
Harold Hinson | HHP Photo
“Rarely do you have a test where you are smiling the whole time you are out there going around the track,” Hocevar said. “It was a lot of fun to be out there today slipping and sliding around on this historic track. It sounds silly, but this is our ‘Field of Dreams.’ I’m not a baseball fan, but it was super cool to see that. This is just like that. This is our deal. Everyone has high expectations and hopefully we meet (them). It felt like I was walking into a track where we weren’t supposed to be. I’m just really glad that NASCAR, Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and the CARS Tour kept picking at it.”
Monday’s test ran seven-plus hours as a prelude to three NASCAR Cup Series teams scheduled for their own Goodyear session Tuesday. Scheduled to participate are Chris Buescher (RFK Racing), Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing) and Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing).
Teams arrived Monday to find a track that’s inching closer to being race-ready, with SAFER barriers now fully in place and light towers dotting the inside and outside of the track’s perimeter. Support posts are in place all the way around the track, but are still awaiting the catch fencing. Those energy-absorbing retaining barriers have also received a fresh paint job since track officials last held an open house for the media. It’s an old-school look that takes a page from the track’s history books, with alternating red and white sections in a nod to the Winston Cup era.
Steve Swift, senior vice president of operations and development for Speedway Motorsports, said the infrastructure and supporting buildings have shown progress. Outdoor siding, roofing, plumbing, mechanicals and electrical systems are all in place. “We’re just down to the finishes and getting power turned on so we can start putting flooring in and the final touches on the insides of the buildings,” Swift said.
The hospitality suites being built from scratch in Turn 4 still remain a skeleton of what it will become, Swift says. In every other instance, Swift said the approach from his staff has been to keep and improve existing structures wherever possible, helping to preserve a great deal of the track’s rich history.
“We’ve got great teammates and contractors out here that are making this happen, and just everybody’s got the will to make that race to get to that checkered flag to be able to wave the green flag and make things happen,” Swift says. “So we’re really good on schedule.”
From the competition side, Heim, Hocevar and Smith joined their teams — one from each manufacturer — in providing feedback to help find the proper compound, construction and feel from Goodyear’s tires. The early input stressed how much the Goodyear rubber fell off and lost grip on the abrasive surface, even relatively early in a run.
Heim had a basis of comparison from his on-track time last summer at North Wilkesboro.
“I’d say the grip level is certainly a lot less in the Truck Series,” said Heim, in his first year with the Tricon Garage team. “I feel like just the added weight with the truck compared to the late model is the main difference in center speed. Of course, with the truck, you’re gonna have a little bit more horsepower, but it’s really hard to lay that down when the truck weighs so much compared to the late model. So a lot of fall-off compared to the late model, a lot less center corner speed, but should be some good racing.”
Heim also noted the progress he saw in the construction efforts since his last visit here in August, with a fully paved infield complete and the rest of the facilities showing new life. Smith and Hocevar were soaking in the renovations with even fresher eyes, witnessing the final stages of rebirth for a track that existed almost as a mythical piece of racing lore before seeing it in person.
“Obviously you hear about it from everyone in the shop that’s been working in this sport forever, and past drivers, just legends of our sport,” said Smith, the defending Truck Series champion. “This is the place that you always hear about. Then really the past few years, you see pictures of it kind of coming to life and then the rumors that man, this place might come back. I think every racer loves a short track, so we were excited about it, and it was so cool to see really Dale Jr. and others kind of attack this place and make it a reality again.”
Circuit of The Americas stands as one of the finest motorsports facilities in America. For the third straight year, NASCAR makes its way to the 3.41-mile road course in Austin, Texas — and this time, with more Texas-sized star power than ever.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Xfinity Series and Cup Series all race this week with plenty of familiar names across all three series.
The stars shine brightest in the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In addition to the typical slate of stock-car racing’s biggest names come two Formula One champions — 2007 title winner Kimi Räikkönen and 2009 champ Jenson Button. Räikkönen makes his second appearance in the Cup Series with Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91, while Button will make his NASCAR debut in the No. 15 Ford for Rick Ware Racing.
Jordan Taylor, an IMSA heavyweight, joins the fray as well, piloting the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in place of the injured Chase Elliott. Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson returns in the No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet as does IndyCar racer Conor Daly, who will pilot The Money Team Racing’s No. 50 Chevrolet.
Button, Taylor and Johnson make up three-quarters of NASCAR’s Garage 56 effort in this year’s running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. As NASCAR ventures to France later this spring with a modified Next Gen vehicle, Button, Johnson and Mike Rockenfeller will share the main driving responsibilities while Taylor assists as an alternate-slash-coach.
The fun starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday (5 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM) with a slew of Cup regulars coming to join the party. Defending series champion Ty Gibbs returns to Joe Gibbs Racing’s NXS program and will pilot the No. 19 Toyota for his first Xfinity start of 2023. Another former champion, 2017 title winner William Byron, rejoins the circuit in the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Other Cup drivers joining the party will be AJ Allmendinger in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet and Aric Almirola, piloting the No. 08 Ford for SS GreenLight Racing. Josh Bilicki, competing part-time in Cup this season, will pilot the No. 91 Chevrolet for DGM Racing on Saturday before hopping into the No. 78 Chevrolet Sunday for LiveFast Motorsports. Brad Perez returns to Emerling-Gase Motorsports to drive its No. 53 Chevrolet to attempt to qualify for his third Xfinity Series start.
The Craftsman Truck Series takes the first green flag of the weekend on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). Ross Chastain, who collected his first Cup Series victory at COTA one year ago, returns to the Truck Series driving the No. 41 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet. Alex Bowman, who found himself racing Chastain for the Cup win last year, returns to the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet for Saturday’s Truck race.
Kyle Busch, the two-time Cup champion and Truck Series’ winningest driver, returns to his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Chevrolet as well. Ed Jones, the former IndyCar driver and native of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, makes his inaugural NASCAR appearance behind the wheel of the No. 20 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet. Kaz Grala, now an Xfinity Series regular, also returns to pilot the No. 1 Tricon Garage Toyota on Saturday.
Goodyear tire tests have been scheduled Monday and Tuesday at North Wilkesboro Speedway in advance of NASCAR All-Star Race Weekend on May 19-21.
The 0.625-mile track will host NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams on Monday, with the NASCAR Cup Series on track on Tuesday. Three teams — one representing each manufacturer — will participate each day to help determine the proper tire compounds for the weekend.
The sessions mark the return of NASCAR national series vehicles to the North Carolina venue, which last hosted both tours in 1996. The speedway is undergoing a major renovation project ahead of the NASCAR All-Star Race on May 21 (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and the Tyson 250 for Craftsman Trucks on May 20 (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM).
The two days of tire testing are closed to the public. Teams and drivers scheduled to participate are:
Monday: Craftsman Truck Series
Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
Corey Heim, No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota
Carson Hocevar, No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet
Tuesday: Cup Series
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
Smith, the defending Truck Series champion, said Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway that he was looking forward to seeing the progress that has been made in reviving the race track.
“I think it’ll be a pretty cool event,” Smith said. “It’s been kind of cool to see the updates on all my Twitter of just that place coming alive. Obviously, we’ve seen that late model event how packed it was, so I can only imagine how crazy it’s gonna be for the trucks. … I mean, it’ll be a cool event, I’m excited for it. I know my whole team, they’re all racers, especially my engineer and crew chief. They grew up short-track racing, and so they’re excited for it as well.”
North Wilkesboro Speedway hosted NASCAR Cup Series competition from its first season in 1949 up to 1996. The Truck Series joined the North Wilkesboro schedule in 1995-96, the circuit’s first two seasons of existence.
Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks confirmed on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that the team’s Project 91 program will appear in multiple races in 2023 and with multiple drivers.
Kimi Räikkönen, the 2007 Formula One champion and 21-time Grand Prix winner, returns to the No. 91 Chevrolet this week at Circuit of The Americas for his second NASCAR Cup Series appearance. Räikkönen debuted in August 2022 at Watkins Glen International, a race that also served as the debut of Project 91, Marks’ gateway to field elite motorsports competitors outside the stock-car world in a competitive, unchartered entry.
While no details about Trackhouse’s plans have been announced, Marks left no doubt the No. 91 car will appear numerous times in 2023.
“Project 91 will be [at] multiple races this year, and it will be multiple drivers this year,” said Marks, the third-year co-owner of Trackhouse. “I think that beyond COTA, the door is certainly open for Kimi to do more. But I am excited about scaling Project 91. We’re going to have multiple drivers in the seat this year. Those announcements will come soon.”
🎙️ “Project 91 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 be multiple races this year and it 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 be multiple drivers this year.” #NASCAR
And could Kimi Raikkonen run additional races for the team? 🤔⬇️
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) March 20, 2023
Marks has previously discussed fielding four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Hélio Castroneves in an entry, most notably trying to align a start in the 2023 Daytona 500, but those talks didn’t come to fruition. Marks has also listed Lewis Hamilton, the winningest driver in Formula One history and seven-time champion, as another hopeful target for this campaign.
The EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at COTA on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) features an eclectic group of drivers joining the Cup Series regulars. Jenson Button, the 2009 F1 champion and co-pilot of NASCAR’s Garage 56 entry in the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, will make his NASCAR debut in the No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford. Jordan Taylor, an alternate pilot for the Garage 56 car and decorated IMSA racer, also makes his stock-car racing debut in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in place of the injured Chase Elliott.
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson also returns in the No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet, as does IndyCar racer Conor Daly in the No. 50 Chevrolet for The Money Team Racing.
Corey LaJoie has proven the new-age version of Atlanta Motor Speedway is quite the venue for the Spire Motorsports driver.
The driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet posted a fourth-place finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, his second top five in three races on the newly reconfigured 1.54-mile speedway that utilizes the pack-racing package typically reserved for the superspeedways of Talladega and Daytona. Last summer, LaJoie led a career-high 19 laps at the Georgia oval before a late crash relegated him to a finish outside the top 20.
But LaJoie’s first top-five finish of 2023 should come far less shocking than any other prior run. Through five races in 2023, LaJoie boasts a 15.2 average finish, with four results inside the top 20 and a worst finish of 26th on March 12 at Phoenix. He entered Sunday’s race 18th in points and leaves Atlanta 14th in the standings.
“We’ve started the year off really really solid. And I don’t think we could have started any better,” LaJoie said. “We missed it a bit last week in Phoenix, but we come back and rebound and put a good payday in the bank and (take) a couple points from the guys that we’re racing around as well. Because it’s inevitable that a lot of the guys we’re in front of are gonna catch us just (because) those guys are the ones that are on top 10, top 15 consistently.
“So we have to get to where we can, on any given intermediate or any given short track, run in the top 15 a little bit better. But we’re getting there. You know, days like this certainly give us confidence and give us a little more money in the kitty to keep it digging.”
LaJoie has proven to be more than a superspeedway feel-good story this year. Spire Motorsports struggled to string together consistently strong finishes on track in years past, due largely to its lack of resources in comparison to the sport’s powerhouse programs. This year, a closer relationship with one of those elite teams — Hendrick Motorsports — has provided more data to the No. 7 program, elevating the team’s ceiling.
More importantly, LaJoie is capitalizing on resources now at his fingertips, boosting belief in himself in the process.
“We’re getting some help from Hendrick and obviously paying off with underwing scans and some setup help, so hopefully that continues to translate,” LaJoie said. “You know really and truly I’ve got a lot of confidence right now and that certainly helps too.”
LaJoie and Co. executed its game plan nearly to perfection on Sunday. LaJoie found himself on the edge of the top 10 entering the final stage of the race, finishing 10th in Stage 2, and continued to climb the leaderboard when it mattered.
“I don’t think we could have done it better. I don’t think we could have done anything different,” LaJoie said. “Our green-flag [pit] sequence I think was a net positive. We got a stage point there. The only thing I could have done different I’ll look back on was just covering that bottom lane when I had the opportunity to with like 18 to go.
“I just didn’t anticipate that bottom being as strong and as long as it lasted. I thought that they were gonna give up a bit, but they were able to maintain down there. And if I had just covered that I’d have been leading that line, you know, who knows what could’ve happened?”
