Posted on by Staff Report

Martin Truex Jr. seemed to leave Richmond Raceway notably displeased after an 11th-place finish on Sunday in a race in which the Joe Gibbs Racing driver led 56 laps but also had a terse scanner exchange with crew chief James Small.

Tyler Reddick’s Lap 372 spin triggered the penultimate caution flag of the 400-lap affair, and with it, the final round of pit stops. As the field hit pit road at Lap 375, all contenders had fresh Goodyear Eagles to utilize — except for Truex’s No. 19 team, which was left with just a set of scuffed tires used for a six-lap stint earlier in the race.

MORE: Analyzing Truex’s day | Full Richmond recap

Truex, a three-time Richmond winner, exited pit road third and maintained the position after William Byron went spinning off the nose of Christopher Bell. But the final 14-lap run to the checkered flag saw Truex plummet down the leaderboard outside the top 10 by the time the checkered flag waved.

“What a (expletive) nightmare,” Truex said on the radio at one point, believing his tires were flat.

Small apologized to Truex over the radio after the checkered flag and explained why he did not inform Truex he was on scuffed tires until after the race concluded.

“We had (expletive) scuffed tires on there because we hosed ourselves taking that set (of tires) in Stage 1,” Small radioed. “So we were (expletive) regardless. Sorry. We (expletive) up.”

The end-race exchange can be heard entirely in the video above.

Though he won the exhibition Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Feb. 5, Truex is in the midst of a 51-race winless drought. His last points-paying victory came Sept. 11, 2021, at Richmond. After missing the playoffs in 2022, Truex sits ninth in the current points standings with one top-10 finish (seventh, Las Vegas).

Small has been atop the pit box for Truex since 2020, scoring five victories with the No. 19 team in that time, including a four-win campaign in 2021.

Posted on by Tadd Haislop

Facetiously, Joey Dennewitz likes to refer to himself as “the other kid from Akron.”

While NASCAR’s new Managing Director of the Weekly and Touring Series is not exactly the LeBron James of grassroots racing, the Ohio native hopes his motorsports savvy helps elevate his team in a way that resembles the basketball star’s impact on his squad.

Dennewitz enters his new role (overseeing Weekly and Touring Series competition) sporting a background cluttered with racing credentials. A former driver, he remembers at an early age being intrigued by the business and logistics sides of the sport as much as the art of competition.

“We were racing ASA Late Models, and I was finishing up at the University of Akron,” Dennewitz said. “I was getting approached by this agent, and I kept asking more business questions than racing questions. He was like, ‘Man, you gotta pick one.’

“I made the decision. I was not [racing] great; just OK. I just didn’t have the patience for it at age 21. The business of it was the next thing, and I’ve been fortunate enough not to need to get a real job ever since.”

Dennewitz of course has acquired plenty of “real” jobs since, and he’s served the motorsports industry in just about every manner possible.

Joey Dennewitz

The aforementioned agent in 2006 asked Dennewitz to spot for a young ARCA Menards Series driver named Michael McDowell, and at the end of that season, McDowell recruited Dennewitz to team owner Eddie Sharp’s shop in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Dennewitz considers that move the break that led to his career in racing.

After helping McDowell with public relations and marketing work, Dennewitz accepted a role at Sparco, an Italian auto part and accessory company. It wasn’t long before he met and was hired by Jeff Dickerson, who at the time was working for Motorsports Management International. Dennewitz later worked for TJ Puchyr at Braun Motorsports.

Dickerson and Puchyr in 2010 founded Spire Sports and Entertainment. Dennewitz recalled becoming employee No. 3 at Spire, which in 2018 purchased a NASCAR Cup Series charter for Spire Motorsports.

The common thread in Dennewitz’s journey through motorsports is the strength of the relationships he’s developed. They began when Dennewitz was still in college; his first public-relations client was Landon Cassill.

Dennewitz knew Cassill’s father through a mutual racing friend in the Akron area, and it was Cassill’s father who hired Dennewitz to handle Landon’s interviews and pre-event pitches. Dennewitz and Landon Cassill remain best friends to this day.

“It’s a Mike Helton line, but this is a business of relationships,” Dennewitz said. “I always took that to heart and tried to emulate that.”

Joey Dennewitz
Justin Haley and Joey Dennewitz

Growing up in Akron, where Goodyear’s presence cultivates a rabid culture of racing, Dennewitz acquired the motorsports bug from his grandfather, a driver himself. Dennewitz ran go karts, competing at tracks like the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Road America, before he climbed into an Allison Legacy car.

Success in those rides led Dennewitz to late models. He recalls winning in his third start at Ohio’s Mansfield Motor Speedway.

Now Dennewitz enjoys joking about his days behind the wheel.

“I thought Rick Hendrick was going to call me at any moment to come drive the No. 48,” he said. “I don’t know if he just didn’t get my phone number or what. But for some reason that didn’t happen.”

The experience Dennewitz gained from that part of his life, though, is a legitimate boon.

“At the time, I was building the car, setting it up, driving the car to the race track, building the marketing proposals, running the public relations and paying the bills,” he said. “I ran the family business and kind of understood a little bit of what it takes to do it all. As my career progressed, it was easy for me to relate to the drivers and what they were up against and the challenges they faced and the emotions they felt.”

Joey Dennewitz

Dennewitz’s experience both inside and outside race cars will be crucial in his new role at NASCAR. So will his passion for the grassroots level of sports.

For example, Dennewitz was instrumental in the process that led the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series to compete at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway, in part because he recognized the entertainment value a half-mile dirt track can provide.

Another part of Dennewitz’s job at Spire Holdings was managing the digital assets of the organization’s minor league hockey teams. He loved that role, because he recognizes this level of sports as “a perfect breeding ground for new ideas.”

That’s what Dennewitz expects to bring to NASCAR’s Weekly and Touring Series operation.

“If you can dream it, you can do it,” he said. “You’re not afraid to take big chances. And you never know who’s going to come up with the next idea.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. — William Byron seemed poised to be a part of the Hendrick Motorsports sweep atop the leaderboard Sunday at Richmond Raceway. He led a race-best 117 laps, pocketed a stage win along the way and was in contention for his third NASCAR Cup Series win of the season until nearly the end.

RELATED: Richmond race results | At-track photos

A restart jam-up was the undoing of the 25-year-old driver, whose No. 24 Chevrolet took the brunt of contact from Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Toyota in a crash with 20 laps remaining. It sent Byron to a 24th-place result in the Toyota Owners 400 as the final driver on the lead lap.

“We definitely were a top-three car, which is good for this place,” Byron said. “You just want to kind of be in contention to have a shot. So yeah, good to have another great car. Sucks to finish in the 20s and hit the wall that hard. So that’s never fun, but it is what it is.”

Bell came home fourth, just behind third-finishing Ross Chastain — the other driver who was part of their three-abreast battle on the next-to-last restart. Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet took the green flag from the fourth row and dove inside of Bell as the field surged toward Turn 1. Bell’s car slid up into Byron’s, which backed into the outside retaining barrier.

Bell initially leveled blame for the lack of running room at Chastain, calling his move “banzai” and referencing his aggressive nature by saying, “Ross did what Ross does.” But Bell backtracked on social media after the race, apologizing to Byron and adding that replays confirmed he had more space in the first turn.

It was a measure of validation for Chastain, who did not trigger the Bell-Byron contact with any excessive crowding from the low groove.

“I didn’t touch anybody, and I got inside of the 20 entering Turn 1,” Chastain said. “That’s all I saw.”

Byron held off on fully assigning responsibility for the crash in his remarks immediately after the race.

“I don’t know all the details,” Byron said. “I haven’t looked at it in-depth to understand it, but I just know they were all funneling from the bottom, and it looked like the 20 just had the brakes locked up. So is what it is.”

Posted on by John Crane

Oh, so close.

Heading into Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400, 50 races had spanned since Martin Truex Jr.’s last NASCAR Cup Series win on Sept. 11, 2021. Coincidentally, the site of his last win was nearly the site of his next: Richmond Raceway.

Truex’s past performances at the 0.75-miler emphasized the opportunity, possibility and arguably the probability that the 42-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver could finally return to Victory Lane. Three victories, nine top-five and 16 top-10 finishes at Richmond in the previous 33 races dating back to 2006 made Truex one of the perennial contenders every time the field frequented the location. And the case remained as such during Sunday’s race — until an untimely caution in the final stage put his No. 19 team in a strategy bind.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Richmond and Texas

Truex’s gradual grind during the race’s opening stage set the scene. Meanwhile, Stage 2 — where he finished fourth — and the final stage emphasized Truex’s capability to run toward the front. That was illustrated on the scorecard — the No. 19 led the field for 56 laps, which ranked fourth behind William Byron (117), eventual race winner Kyle Larson (93) and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin (71).

But the laps-led totals at face value failed to tell the entire story. Fifty of Truex’s laps led came during the final 100 laps of the race, including a stretch where he led for 43 of those 50 laps (309-351). And to make matters more convincing: Even after Truex conceded the lead, he still had the opportunity to win and claim a top-three finish, which would have marked his first since the 2021 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

A Tyler Reddick spin on Lap 373 gave Truex the opportunity to solidify his track position en route to the race’s conclusion, but another caution — this time with less than 25 laps to go after an incident between Christopher Bell and William Byron — led to a different turn, and not in favor of the No. 19 team. While his competitors had fresh Goodyear tires to utilize, Truex’s team only had a set of used tires at its disposal, rubber that had already hit the track for six laps earlier in the contest. That disadvantage cost Truex valuable time on the final run to the checkers, tumbling the No. 19 Toyota to an 11th-place result.

WATCH: Byron spins after contact from Bell at Richmond

Instead of a chance to win the race — or at least claim a top-three finish — Truex finished outside the top 10 at Richmond for the first time since April 21, 2018. A streak of eight consecutive Richmond races with a finish inside the top seven was snapped, and a winless drought was extended from 50 to 51. In a race where pit strategy was key, a strategy call proved to be the difference-maker.

Despite the finish, there are positive signs for the No. 19. Sunday’s finish snapped a three-race stretch of finishes outside the top 15, and the result was the third of the year where Truex finished 11th or better — certainly a glimpse of optimism for a driver looking to clinch his bid in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

The Bristol Dirt Race on April 9 (7 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) brings a fresh opportunity for parity to prosper as it has in each of the last two races there. And the race the following week — April 16 at Martinsville Speedway — provides another track where Truex has had success before, headlined by his three wins and nine top-five finishes.

Chances will present themselves to Truex as the season progresses. Now, it will be about closing the gap even further en route to a hopeful streak-breaking win.

Posted on by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. – Interim No. 9 crew chief Tom Gray had some fun with interim driver Josh Berry over the team radio during pace laps Sunday. Much had been made about Berry’s knack for racing on NASCAR’s smaller ovals, and Gray piled it on with his pep talk.

“All right, Mr. Short Track,” Gray said. “Let’s show ’em why they call you that today.”

By the end, Berry was beaming with a career-best runner-up finish in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400, the highlight of his brief substitute stint driving Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 9 Chevrolet. The Xfinity Series regular recovered from an early spin, then took advantage of a pit-stop strategy call that bounced right to finish off a Hendrick 1-2 behind teammate Kyle Larson.

RELATED: Richmond race results | At-track photos

The result came in just his sixth NASCAR Cup Series start and his fourth appearance with the No. 9 team as a sub for Chase Elliott, who has been sidelined since early March with injuries from a snowboarding accident.

“I mean, it’s just super-awesome, you know, just to be considered for this opportunity, let alone have a couple good finishes out of it now,” Berry said. “I think you just never know what can happen, really.”

Berry started 30th in the 37-car field after Saturday practice and qualifying were washed away by rain. His efforts to make up much ground were stymied by a spin in the 95th of 400 laps when contact from Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Ford sent the No. 9 Chevy spinning at the exit of Turn 4.

After a pit stop for fresh tires, Berry was 35th. “We were struggling a little bit,” he said. “We had been in the pack, got tight, and I think Blaney was coming through the field and just got into me. It just was really light. I don’t think he meant to do it or nothing, but he did.”

Josh Berry races at Richmond in relief of Chase Elliott
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Berry’s rally was incremental through the longer green-flag runs, and most teams were set for a two-stop strategy that would split the final stage into thirds. Gray opted to keep the No. 9 out longer for the final scheduled stop, and by Lap 357, Berry cycled around to lead the first laps of his Cup Series career.

When the yellow flag flew for Tyler Reddick’s Turn 2 spin with 30 laps remaining, Berry was one of the prime beneficiaries. He was on the front row for the final two restarts and brought the No. 9 home for a podium.

“At the end of the race, it was a team effort, and it certainly was. He had to help hold up his end of the bargain, and he did that. So yeah, that’s what made it work,” said Gray, a senior engineer pressed into duty atop the pit box in place of the suspended Alan Gustafson. “Then, at the end there, we were banking on a caution, and even without a caution, I thought we were gonna still finish pretty well. Those other guys got smart when they saw us with the strategy, so we kind of had to do something different. It all worked out really well, so it was good. And kudos to him. Like I said, he’s a big part of that.”

Berry also cheered the decision to make an alternate plan with pit stops down the stretch.

“These guys, you know, they thought outside the box, and that’s what it takes in these races,” Berry said. “I think you never know what could happen. If you do the same that everybody around you does, then you’re gonna finish with them, and they made a bold call, a couple bold calls — one that kept us on the lead lap early in the race and that one at the end to get us some track position.”

MORE: Race Rewind: All the key highlights

Berry has helped to earn his keep as the team’s pick for Elliott’s stand-in. The 32-year-old veteran had already impressed many after his call-up by JR Motorsports to the Xfinity Series ranks after years of dominating on the Late Model circuit around the Southeast, and he competed for the Xfinity championship in last season’s finale.

Among those taking notice was Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports’ vice chairman, who kept close tabs on Berry’s lap times through the race and lauded how he was able to manage his tires. He also touted Berry’s work ethic and his preparation, saying that his recent performance in the team’s equipment provided a true measuring stick for his driving talent.

“It seems like the longer the race, the better he does,” Gordon said. “We’re really happy with the job that he has done. Certainly, everybody has known his talent watching him in other forms of racing, late models, and the Xfinity Series. You have to put him in other cars with other teams and other people to really see how far he could take it. I think he’s got a future in the Cup Series.”

As Berry fielded questions about his banner day, he also received congratulations from a line of well-wishers – third-finishing Ross Chastain and Hendrick Motorsports executives Chad Knaus and Jeff Andrews. Among those was Gordon, who clapped his hand on Berry’s back and offered an embrace.

“That must’ve felt good, huh?” Gordon told Berry. “You fought hard for that one.”

It wound up being a full-circle moment for Mr. Short Track.

“Jeff Gordon was my hero when I was a kid,” Berry said. “I mean, it’s pretty amazing, man. One of the first races I remember watching was the ’97 Daytona 500, and that went pretty well for this company. So to be able to drive for them and finish second place, it just really, just exceeds all of my expectations out of this deal.”

Posted on by Staff Report

With the benefit of a fast final pit stop, Kyle Larson put his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet out front at Richmond Raceway and then held off the field in the last 25 laps of Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 to earn his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season.

The 30-year-old Californian had to out-duel his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry on a pair of restarts in the closing laps to secure the win at the first short-track event of the season (the 0.75-mile Richmond oval). Berry, driving the No. 9 Hendrick Chevy for injured Chase Elliott, finished runner-up, capturing his best NASCAR Cup Series finish — 1.535 seconds behind Larson to the checkered flag.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos: Richmond and Texas

Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.

It was the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Larson’s 20th career win and the first-ever NASCAR Cup Series victory for his interim crew chief Kevin Meendering, who has led the No. 5 team at-track while full-time crew chief Cliff Daniels — along with the Hendrick team’s other three crew chiefs — finish out a suspension penalty from NASCAR.

RELATED: Berry on runner-up finish

“It’s really cool, we’ve been close to winning a couple,” Larson said, adding, “Things just worked out and my pit crew had a great stop.”

It was certainly a Hendrick Motorsports day with Larson and Berry besting the field. And their teammate William Byron led the most laps (117) and won his series-best fifth stage. The season’s only two-time winner Byron looked poised to have a say in the trophy hoist, too, only to be knocked out of contention when Bell hit him from behind on a restart with 20 laps remaining.

“I was just restarting fourth there, just trying to stay tight to the 9 [Berry] and get a good restart and got tagged in the left rear,” said Byron, who finished 24th. “Just a dive-bomb move on his [Bell] part. It is what it is. I had a great race car.

“The Raptor Chevrolet was awesome all day. We’ll just keep bringing fast race cars like that. It was looking like another win before that caution there, but that’s the way it goes.”

RELATED: Bell spins Byron late

Larson led four different times, totaling 93 laps, and survived contact on pit road with Daniel Suárez’s Chevrolet early in the race. It was Larson’s second Richmond win (also in 2017) and the fifth win for Chevy through the season’s opening seven races.

The Toyota contingent gave the Chevys a real run, looking especially strong mid-race. Four Toyota drivers combined to lead 154 laps — more than the manufacturer had been out front in the previous six races. Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing vehicle paced the Toyotas with 71 laps led and he claimed the Stage 2 win. However, a pair of pit-road penalties — including a costly one on his final stop — took Hamlin out of contention and he finished 20th.

“What an awesome Hendrickcars.com Chevy,” Larson said. “Can’t say enough about it. I got into the 99 [Suárez] on pit road there sometime in the second stage, and we were awful after that. I was hoping the damage was the reason why, but they had to calm me down a little bit and get refocused and was able to get it done.

“Thanks to everyone on this team, Cliff Daniels, for everything he does to prepare the team to be as strong as we are without him on the box. So good to get a win, and hopefully many more.”

RELATED: Larson does massive burnout after win

Michael McDowell finished sixth — his first top-10 finish of the year. Reigning series champion Joey Logano was seventh, followed by polesitter Alex Bowman, rookie Ty Gibbs and owner-driver Brad Keselowski. Gibbs’ ninth-place effort marked his third consecutive top-10 finish.

The series returns to action next Sunday with the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Kyle Busch is the defending race winner.

Note: Post-race technical inspection concluded without issue, confirming Larson as the race winner. The Nos. 24 and 48 cars will be taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center for further evaluation.

MORE: Cup schedule | Buy tickets

Posted on by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: How to find USA Network | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App | Watch on USA Network | Get the NBC Sports App | Watch on Peacock | FloRacing | How to watch NASCAR International

Monday, April 3
Midnight, NASCAR Xfinity Series: ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway (re-air), FS1
2 a.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway (re-air), FS1
4 a.m. NASCAR Cup Series: Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway (re-air), FS1
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway (re-air), FS1
10 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS1
11 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway (re-air), FS2

Tuesday, April 4
2 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS2
3:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Bristol (re-air), FS1
4 a.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway (re-air), FS1
10 a.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway (re-air), FS2
Noon, NASCAR Xfinity Series: ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway (re-air), FS2
2 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway (re-air), FS2
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, Peacock
7 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Bristol (re-air), FS1
10:30 p.m., NASCAR Greatest Races: 2007 Food City 500 at Bristol (re-air), FS2

Wednesday, April 5
1:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Bristol (re-air), FS2
8 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Bristol (re-air), FS2
2 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS2
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, Peacock
7 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS1

Thursday, April 6
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, Peacock

Friday, April 7
1 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS2
9 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Bristol (re-air), FS2
10 a.m., NASCAR Greatest Races: 2007 Food City 500 at Bristol (re-air), FS2
Noon, NASCAR Pace Lap, MavTV
3 p.m., NASCAR Pace Lap (re-air), MavTV
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt, FS1 CANCELED
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt, FS1 CANCELED
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
8 p.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series final practice at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt, FS1 CANCELED
8:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series final practice at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt, FS1 CANCELED
9 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS1
10 p.m., NASCAR Greatest Races: 2007 Food City 500 at Bristol (re-air), FS1

Saturday, April 8
1 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt (re-air), FS1
2 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series final practice at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt (re-air), FS1
2:30 a.m., NASCAR Greatest Races: 1996 Coca-Cola 200 at Bristol (re-air), FS1
6 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt (re-air), FS2
7 a.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series final practice at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt (re-air), FS2
7:30 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series final practice at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt (re-air), FS2
8:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Bristol (re-air), FS1
9 a.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt (re-air), FS1
10 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt (re-air), FS1
11 a.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series final practice at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt (re-air), FS1
11:30 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series final practice at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt (re-air), FS1
3 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour: Virginia is for Racing Lovers 150 at Richmond Raceway, CNBC
4:30 p.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Qualifying races at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt, FS2
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS2
6 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Qualifying races at Bristol Dirt, FS2
7 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Craftsman Truck Series at Bristol, FS1
8 p.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt, FS1
10 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Qualifying races at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt (re-air), FS1

On PRN:
6 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Qualifying races at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt

On MRN:
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt

Sunday, April 9
1 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Qualifying races at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt (re-air), FS2
4 a.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt (re-air), FS1
6 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS2
7 a.m., NASCAR Greatest Races: 2007 Food City 500 at Bristol (re-air), FS2
10 a.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt (re-air), FS2
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt (re-air), FS1
4:30 p.m., Bristol Motor Speedway Easter celebration, FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Cup Series at Bristol, FS1
6 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Bristol, FOX
7 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Food City Dirt Race, FOX

On PRN:
6 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Food City Dirt Race

Posted on by Staff Report

After a wreck in the Final Stage of Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series showdown at Texas Motor Speedway, Dean Thompson, driver of the No. 5 TRICON Garage Toyota, was transported to a local area medical facility, where he was checked and later released.

A couple of hours after the race, Thompson took to Twitter to give fans an update on his status:

Thompson did go home after he was released from the hospital early Sunday morning, according to his team. He will undergo further evaluations this week in advance of next weekend’s race at Bristol.

On a late restart, Thompson’s truck got loose and made contact with the wall, sending him spinning back down the track toward the field. Several trucks made contact with the No. 5, ending in a side-door collision with its passenger-side frame. Thompson was able to exit the truck under his own power but was carried into an ambulance on a stretcher after visible discomfort.

TEXAS: Results from Saturday’s race

Initially, Thompson was taken to the Texas Motor Speedway infield care center for preliminary evaluation, where he was awake, alert and being monitored by at-track medical staff. Following the conclusion of the race, he was taken to another medical facility for further assessment.

All other drivers involved in the incident were checked and released from the infield care center.

Posted on by Holly Cain

Nick Sanchez led an absolutely dominant 168 of 172 laps in Saturday’s SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway, but the 21-year-old rookie and reigning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Zane Smith collided at the front of the field after taking the white flag and Carson Hocevar instead drove through to take his first career victory in double overtime.

The 20-year-old Hocevar led only that last overtime lap in the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet to claim his first win by 1.628 seconds over Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Chase Purdy – career-best finishes for both drivers.

After slight contact with Smith racing door-to-door for the win, Sanchez got loose and had to regain control of the truck heading to the white flag. Video replays showed that as he steadied his truck, he was hit from behind by Hocevar, whose truck was carrying the momentum as Sanchez was recovering from his slight miscue. The contact from behind was just enough to spin Sanchez back across the track and collect Smith’s truck while Hocevar drove forward to the finish line and waited for official word of the win.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos 

“I didn’t mean to get into him, I just meant to give him a push, and he got sideways the second I hit him, I apologize to them, I’ll take the fall for it. I wrecked a Chevy, and I’ll go talk to him about it – he deserved to win for sure,” Hocevar said of the contact with Sanchez.

“But all the times we were the fastest car, and I don’t win, and this team deserves to win more than anything, I can stop getting the same question asked all the time now,” continued Hocevar, who has four career runner-up finishes. “We didn’t deserve to win today, but we were in the right spot at the right time.”

Certainly, Sanchez got plenty of practice in mastering restarts, with six of the 12 cautions coming in the final 40 laps of the race. He drove his No. 2 Rev Racing Chevrolet to the front each time, having to duel side-by-side with Smith late in the race.

“Obviously, coming to the last lap, me and the 38 [Zane Smith] were playing an aggressive side-drafting game, and I got a little too aggressive on him, got loose, went through the grass and saved it,” Sanchez said. “Just got hit by the 42 [Hocevar]. I don’t know what else to say about that. It is what it is, that’s racing.

“This is what we’ve been working hard to do,” continued Sanchez, who swept both stage wins. “We don’t want to just win, we want to dominate. Today we dominated, but we didn’t win, so just got to go back and see what I can do better. Try to build on strengths. I guess the positive is we got stage points, that’s something to fall back on. But I want to win, that’s my goal.”

MORE: Hocevar: ‘Didn’t deserve’ Saturday’s win at Texas | ‘It is what it is’: Nick Sanchez wrecks on final restart

Veteran Stewart Friesen finished third, with Ty Majeski and Jake Garcia rounding out the top five; Garcia was the highest-finishing rookie. Hailie Deegan equaled her career-best finish with a sixth-place run. Corey Heim, Ryan Vargas, Jack Wood and Ben Rhodes rounded out the top 10.

Smith scored 14th, and Sanchez was scored 16th. The race leaves Majeski now with a three-point edge over Smith atop the championship standings.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action next week in Saturday’s Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: Inspection in the Truck Series garage is complete with no issues, confirming Hocevar as the winner.

Posted on by Tadd Haislop

RICHMOND, Va. — Despite Austin Beers’ best efforts to sweep Friday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour action at Richmond Raceway, rain forced the postponement of the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 150 to Saturday. This after Beers set the best lap in practice and earned his first Mayhew Tools Dominator Pole Award.

The only traces of moisture to be found at Richmond on a sunny Saturday evening were the tears flowing in Victory Lane after Beers scored his first Whelen Modified Tour victory.

RELATED: Complete results from Saturday’s Mods race at Richmond

Beers, a 20-year-old from Northampton, Pennsylvania, joined his father Eric as a Modified Tour winner. And he did so exactly 14 years to the day after the passing of his grandfather Dale.

“My dad just kind of stepped aside from our family car,” Austin Beers said. “That kind of propelled me to get this ride with [car owner] Mike Murphy. Without that — him kind of giving up his career — I would not be here today at all. I would still be racing at my local short track. I can’t thank him enough for that.

“My grandfather; I would not be racing without him. He started this in my family, so to win on this day is pretty special.”

Beers described his Richmond car as “unreal.” That was evident based on the results of the weekend.

On Beers’ 29th lap of Friday’s practice, he set the fastest time of the session. And for the driver who entered the Richmond race with one top-five finish in his Modified Tour career, a third-place run at Langley Speedway last August, this speed wasn’t an anomaly. He proceeded to earn the pole with a 127.137 mph lap.

As for Saturday’s race, Beers found himself leading six-time Modified Tour champion Doug Coby in the waning moments. A late caution could have spelled doom for Beers, but instead, a keen adjustment to tighten up his Modified allowed him to drive away from Coby and the rest of the field over the final stretch of laps.

“I got a little nervous there in the middle of the run; Doug was really good,” Beers said. “But we made that last adjustment, and it was perfect.”

After some shuffling behind Beers in the last few laps Saturday, J.B. Fortin finished second, and new career-best and his second top-five finish in Modified Tour competition.

Max McLaughlin, who entered the Modified Tour race at Richmond driving for Mike Curb, finished third. He and fourth-place finisher Justin Bonsignore, the defending Richmond Modified race winner, exchanged some heated words on pit road after the event over how the finish played out.

Patrick Emerling, who finished 29th in the Xfinity Series race that took place prior to Saturday’s Modified Tour event, rounded out the top five.

NASCAR Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte finished sixth in his first Modified Tour start at the 0.75-mile oval. Ron Silk, Bryan Narducci, Jon McKennedy and Eric Goodale completed the top 10.

A replay of the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 150 at Richmond will air on CNBC on Saturday, April 8 starting at 3 p.m. ET.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to action Saturday, May 6 with the Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire.

That race will be shown live on FloRacing starting at 5 p.m. ET.