NASCAR officials took the hood louvers from the four Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets at Phoenix Raceway, and the sanctioning body will bring them to the NASCAR Research & Development Center for further evaluation next week in Concord, North Carolina.
During initial inspection Friday, league officials discovered a potential issue that needs further examination. Hendrick cars were permitted to use those louvers in practice, with officials taking them after the opening session at the 1-mile track.
There is no penalty to Hendrick cars this weekend, and any potential penalties would be announced next week. The Hendrick organization can replace the hood louvers prior to inspection on Saturday and in advance of qualifying (2:05 p.m. ET, FS1).
The hood louvers — which you can see on this Next Gen 3D model — are openings or vents in the hood that serve as a release point for ducts that transfer air out of the radiator. The system is intended to decouple engine performance from aero performance, offsetting the practice of teams taping off air intakes and placing undue pressure and heat strain on the car’s engine.
Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson paced the field in practice Friday in the No. 5 Chevrolet, turning his fastest lap time at 131.258 mph (or 27.427 seconds). Alex Bowman was third overall in the No. 48 at 130.725 mph. Last week’s winner William Byron was 20th overall (129.241 mph) and Josh Berry, filling in for the injured Chase Elliott in the No. 9, was 23rd (128.986 mph).
Friday’s practice served as the debut for NASCAR’s new rule package featured on most short ovals and all road courses in 2023. The configuration includes a 2-inch spoiler and fewer strakes underneath the car, reducing downforce by approximately 30%.
Kyle Larson topped the leaderboard in Friday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice at Phoenix Raceway at 131.258 mph in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Just behind was Ryan Blaney in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford at 131.105 mph.
Completing the top five behind them were Alex Bowman in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, Joey Logano in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford and Chase Briscoe in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.
Ross Chastain, the series points leader, was 26th-fastest with a speed of 128.315 mph in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet.
The 50-minute session served as the debut for NASCAR’s new rule package, featured on most short ovals and all road courses in 2023. The configuration includes a 2-inch spoiler and fewer strakes underneath the car, reducing downforce by approximately 30%.
Fords performed notably well in single-lap speed during the Friday warmup, placing seven of the manufacturer’s entrants inside the top 10, including RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski in sixth, Wood Brothers Racing sophomore Harrison Burton in eighth and SHR teammates Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola rounding out ninth and 10th.
Toyota, on the other hand, did not place a car inside the top 15 in one-lap speeds. The quickest of Toyota’s six cars was Bubba Wallace in 16th, who wheeled the No. 23 23XI Racing Camry around the track at 129.413 mph.
Ten-lap averages saw Larson quickest of the bunch at 129.311 mph, ahead of Blaney, Logano, Harvick and Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron. Wallace turned in the sixth-quickest 10-lap average over Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Stenhouse and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick.
Farther down the speed chart in both categories was Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Busch, the two-time Cup Series champion, posted the 29th-fastest single lap at 127.927 mph and didn’t fare much better in 10-lap runs: 27th at 126.353 mph. Teammate Austin Dillon was 15th-quickest in one-lap speeds but ranked 30th of the 34 cars which ran 10 laps, turning an average speed of 125.428 mph.
The Cup Series returns to the track for qualifying at Phoenix on Saturday at 2:05 p.m. ET with live coverage on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Three races into the NASCAR Cup Series season, Ross Chastain sits atop the points standings for the first time in his career.
And yet the second-year Trackhouse Racing driver continues to battle his own confidence levels, just months after reaching the Championship 4 and finishing runner-up in a breakthrough season for the fledging program.
Don’t be too confused: Chastain has no doubt about the capabilities of his equipment. He’s already netted three stage victories — one in the Daytona 500 ahead of a stage sweep at Auto Club Speedway — in addition to 12 stage points at Las Vegas Motor Speedway a week ago.
But that hasn’t diminished the self-doubt that crept into Chastain’s mind ahead of the 2023 campaign.
“I know it sounds weird when I say it out loud, but I have less confidence because I know what we’re capable of,” Chastain told NASCAR.com Tuesday at Martinsville Speedway. “And sustaining this level of competitiveness at this level of the sport is so challenging. We race in circles on the weekends and this sport is a huge circle. Teams go up and down. Drivers’ stock goes up and down. So trying to keep ourselves elevated here is going to be tough.”
The introspective questions aren’t exactly fresh for the eighth-generation watermelon farmer from Alva, Florida. Chastain first mentioned those thoughts a month ago during Daytona 500 Media Day.
“Look, last year was the arrival of Trackhouse and Daniel and myself,” Chastain said on Feb. 15. “I had a new car and a new team to lean on for kind of the unknown and be confident in the unknown that we would come out strong, but we didn’t know. I honestly feel less confident sitting here today than I did one year ago. And I know it might sound odd. It’s something I’ve been working through with my coaches, but I feel like there’s more things I need to do to be better to sustain what we arrived last year and did. …
“The lack of confidence is that I might not be good enough, that I might not be able to execute when it comes time. So continuing to be the best race car driver I can be is where I work to build that confidence back up. It’s not really a numerical value of race finished or anything. It’s just, can I execute when it matters?”
The results have yet to be seen as Chastain’s tenure at Trackhouse is still fairly new — and so is the team’s tenure in NASCAR after a 2021 debut. But the early sample size is encouraging, particularly in Chastain’s case.
A bit of self-auditing may be healthy for the 30-year-old, though. Chastain nabbed two victories last season — the first wins of his career — and advanced to the championship round of the playoffs, but his most recent trip to Victory Lane was April 24, 2022, at Talladega Superspeedway, nearly a year ago. And to propel into the Championship 4, he needed to complete the most desperate move a 10th-place driver has ever pulled at Martinsville Speedway in the Round of 8 finale, grabbing five positions in the final two corners to barely advance.
To Chastain’s point, numbers aren’t the end-all goal, particularly in a sport where there are at least 35 losers to every race winner each week. But he knows now what he and his team were capable of in 2022. Entering Phoenix Raceway as the points leader on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), it’s now a matter of remaining at the top of the cycle.
“I don’t have great words for it, but simply put, I feel like that I have to work harder now than I ever have,” said Chastain, standing next to the Turn 3 SAFER barrier he helped remove from Martinsville on Tuesday. “And I have to drive the car in a more precise way and be better. And I’ve worked my whole life to be as good as I am right now, and trying to find that next unknown piece of how to drive the car a little bit better, how to handle a loose car or a tight car and how to just perform in those key moments in Cup racing.
“It’s 400 miles, 500 miles. And there are key moments in these races that define your race and can ultimately define your season. I mean, this piece of wall — right there to right there — lasted five seconds. Defined our year — and you can’t do that anymore.”
The next three weeks seem to provide more opportunities for Chastain to get back to Victory Lane with races at Phoenix, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Circuit of The Americas. In the five combined races at those tracks last season, Chastain’s average finish is 2.0 — a COTA win for his first triumph, runner-ups in the spring Phoenix race and both Atlanta events and a third-place finish in the season finale.
The goal? Don’t lose any momentum.
“Keep firing like we are, man,” Chastain said. “We’re just bringing hot rods to the race track. Fast cars, [they] handle good. Go over the bumps good. Pit crew’s good, mechanics. There’s not weird things happening. We’re just going and executing and we keep putting ourselves in the top 10 and top five. We’re gonna continue to reap the rewards from it. So we’re not going to win every race, be awful greedy of us, but we are gonna try to.”
Chastain will also try to silence his biggest critic — his mind.
“Nobody’s is a harder critic on me than me,” he said, “so I just push myself. Sometimes I’ve told a little too much but look man, I just want to outwork them on Sunday.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – ‘NASCAR Speed Hub’ today makes its virtual debut on Roblox. NASCAR Speed Hub is an immersive experience that lets players design cars, unlock exclusive virtual items, play mini-games and connect to other popular experiences on the platform. Partnering with metaverse studio Dubit, NASCAR’s Roblox experience also builds around a popular collaboration with Jailbreak developers Badimo.
“This is the next step in expanding NASCAR’s presence in the metaverse and engaging with the community in unique and creative ways,” said Nick Rend, NASCAR managing director of gaming & esports. “At NASCAR we want to encourage the emerging generation of digital natives to manifest their passion for NASCAR racing their own way. NASCAR Speed Hub on Roblox is an exciting new space that lets players create and evolve their NASCAR story on their terms.”
NASCAR Speed Hub is an immersive 3D experience filled with social experiences. Players can unlock virtual items, customize cars, and learn about NASCAR Racing in a fun, creative, and playful environment on the Roblox platform that’s connecting millions of people through shared experiences.
At the heart of the hub is a time trial that allows players to collect currency and upgrade their cars. Upgrades are a critical component to competing for bragging rights on the global leaderboard. The ‘Quest for Diamonds’ is a mini-game that sees NASCAR’s 75th Anniversary diamonds spread throughout partner games which are accessed through the hub.
“We are thrilled to bring the excitement of NASCAR to the Roblox platform in a unique way, involving the phenomenal community of builders,” said Andrew Douthwaite, Dubit chief commercial officer. “Roblox has a vibrant platform of designers and players, and when it came time to launch a persistent space, it was important for NASCAR to also include creators.”
Jailbreak players who complete a time trial in NASCAR Speed Hub will earn a limited-time NASCAR-themed 75th-anniversary skin as part of a new vehicle launch.
“NASCAR’s passion for community building on the Roblox platform is remarkable,” said Alex Balfanz, co-founder of Badimo. “Our fans loved the Jailbreak x NASCAR experience and the virtual items we previously launched are some of the most talked about in our community.”
The NASCAR Speed Hub will eventually include additional user-generated and official content.
Zane Smith has opened the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck campaign in the same spot he finished last season – at the top.
There’s been no let-up so far for the reigning series champion, who enters an off weekend for the Truck Series as its points leader with finishes of first and second to start the year. Smith won’t be idle this weekend; the 23-year-old California native is entered in Sunday’s United Rentals Work United 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Phoenix Raceway, where he will mark his second Cup Series start of the season and just the third of his career.
His kick-off to his Truck Series title defense has started in almost the best possible fashion. Smith prevailed in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway, then drove his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford to a runner-up result at Las Vegas Motor Speedway behind a dominant Kyle Busch, the series’ all-time wins leader, adding a stage win along the way.
“No doubt it’s a long year, but I mean, there’s 21 races left,” Smith said after last weekend’s event at Vegas. “These will go by quick, and the playoffs will be here before you know it. So you try to capitalize on these stage wins and good race finishes, and I felt like that’s what we did tonight. That was our goal last year, and it worked out pretty well for us.”
The Craftsman Truck Series returns to action Saturday, March 18, at Atlanta Motor Speedway with the FR8 Auctions 208 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Smith holds a slim two-point edge over ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski, who joined him in the Championship 4 field for last year’s truck title race.
Smith will get to sit on that advantage for an extra weekend before the Truck Series resumes its 2023 schedule. But there’s been little resting on laurels so far, and Chris Lawson – his crew chief for the No. 38 F-150 team – says his driver’s intensity still burns.
“He’s super-focused,” Lawson told NASCAR.com last weekend in the Las Vegas garage. “I saw it last year, toward the end of the year, where he really honed in on that championship, and he literally came into the beginning of this year the same way, like we’re gonna try to come in and win every race, right? Like, we expect to win every race, so he’s got that mentality. He’s got that confidence. I know it ate him tonight to get beat by Kyle. He really wanted that one, but we had speed, we just got a little caught up there, lost our track position. But yeah, it’s there for sure.”
Smith’s Cup Series effort this weekend will be his first in Front Row’s No. 38 Ford Mustang, where he will step in for Todd Gilliland, a second-year driver who will campaign the car in 30 of the 36 races this season. In addition to his Phoenix duties, Smith plans to drive the No. 38 at Talladega Superspeedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway, Texas Motor Speedway and the Charlotte Roval.
Smith’s previous two Cup Series efforts came 7 1/2 months apart, and both resulted in respectable top-20 finishes. He filled in for an ailing Chris Buescher last season for RFK Racing, placing 17th at Pocono Raceway, then came home 13th in a third FRM car in this year’s Daytona 500.
Gilliland will be racing at Phoenix for Rick Ware Racing, giving Front Row veteran Michael McDowell a new teammate at the 1-mile Arizona oval. Even though Smith’s sample size at the Cup Series level may be relatively small, McDowell says he still plans to lean on his input as the team prepares for the fourth points-paying race of the year.
“I think Zane is more than qualified and has done a good job in any situation that he’s been in so far, so I think he’s still gonna have a value to the team and to the feedback,” McDowell said. “Race car drivers are race car drivers. For sure, experience helps that when it’s leading an overall direction of development, but as far as balance and feel, and what he’s fighting and what his car is doing, I think it will be valuable.”
New winners. Three races down, three unique drivers with a trip to Victory Lane. The historic parity displayed during the 2022 season seems to have carried over so far, but a lot of time still remains for the cream to rise to the top. Will Sunday’s race in Phoenix produce the fourth new winner in a four-race span? Perhaps we will also see the first victory of 2023 for Ford or Toyota after Chevrolet is off to a dominant start to open the new campaign. Of the 2023 winners so far, Kyle Busch is the only one with a victory at Phoenix — three, to be exact — and is among the experts’ early favorites to pick up another this weekend. But three versus the rest of the field, racing with a new rules package? Chances are that this historic pace will continue for at least one more week.
Sunday could be Kevin Harvick’s race to lose. Harvick has an astounding nine victories at the Arizona track and is currently on a streak of 19 consecutive Phoenix races with a top-10 finish — yes, you read that correctly. It’s unquestionably the best track for the Cup Series veteran, and that’s saying a lot considering his tremendous success elsewhere over the last two decades. Still, Harvick hasn’t won here since 2018, and in pursuit of his first win of the 2023 season in his final campaign, it just means that much more. When it comes down to the final stage, Harvick is almost always in the mix for the checkered. If he makes it to Victory Lane on Sunday, he will join an elite list of drivers with 10 wins at a single track — and that’s no feat to forget.
He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for…
Chase Briscoe. Briscoe has had a pretty slow start to the year, without any top-10 results through the first three races. But Sunday’s race at Phoenix could easily be where he kicks it into gear and makes a run as the defending spring race winner. Last season, his first full year after his 2021 rookie campaign, Briscoe showed that this 1-miler is one of his better tracks with the victory and a fourth-place finish in the annual finale. In total, he led 112 laps between the two races and could very well add to that number this weekend. At 20-1 odds (DraftKings), it’s worth taking the early jump in case he improves his standing with a strong showing in practice and qualifying. | Who is the betting favorite?
Practice and qualifying
Kyle Larson clearly has the car to beat. Larson showed up in a dominant way during both practice and qualifying, topping the early charts and earning his first Busch Light Pole Award of the 2023 season. Denny Hamlin earned the second front-row starting position, followed by last week’s winner William Byron. Perhaps the biggest story of the sessions may have been the confiscation of Hendrick Motorsports’ hood louvers by NASCAR officials on Friday after the practice session and Justin Haley’s on Saturday before qualifying. | For more info, read the full qualifying recap.
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• Paint Scheme Preview: Delightful designs for the desert races | Pick a favorite • Power Rankings: Will the Kevin Harvick of old dominate on Sunday? | Latest driver rankings • Fantasy Fastlane: Will Stewart-Haas set the standard at Phoenix? | Best plays, lineup advice • Betting odds: See which driver is favored to win Sunday’s race | Top bets, underdog picks
• Stacking Pennies: Crew dives into the Chase Elliott situation, more | Listen to the podcast
💎 NASCAR 75: Check out exclusive NASCAR content throughout the anniversary season | Learn more, explore
Hot off the press 📰
Key stories and breaking news from the week leading up to the race.
• Package deal: New rules configuration for short tracks and road courses | Learn more
• Joey Logano: Record on new configurations, races is ‘unparalleled’ | Read more
• Christopher Bell: JGR driver optimistic about new rules package | Read more
• Ross Chastain: Battling confidence and high expectations | Read more
• Chase Elliott: Expected to miss six weeks; fill-in drivers announced | Read more
• Jensen Button: Set for Cup Series debut at COTA | Read more
• Ross Chastain: Rebuilding for confidence after career year | Read more
• Roblox: NASCAR launches brand new gaming experience | Read more
• Hail Melon: Ross Chastain helps remove historic wall portion at Martinsville | Read more
• William Byron: Cup Series driver to drive for KBM in three races | Read more
• Analysis: Is Hendrick Motorsports the team to beat in 2023? | Read more
• Photo Memories: Lesa France Kennedy recalls early days of NASCAR | Watch video
• Jordan Taylor: Road-course ace gets call to drive No. 9 at COTA | Read more
• Kimi’s back: Räikkönen will return for Project 91 entry at COTA | Read more
• Loose wheels: New rules mean new questions on pit road | Watch video
• IMSA: No. 60 GTP team penalized for Daytona infraction | Read more
Get in on the action 💰
Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy and Fan Rewards.
• Fan Rewards: New in 2023, get rewarded for your participation | Learn more • Fantasy Live: Still time to get on the leaderboard and win big this season |Tips for 2023 • NASCAR BetCenter: Don’t miss your chance to make picks each week | Visit the BetCenter
• Going the distance: 2023 Cup Series championship odds | See them here
Flashback to Phoenix 📸
Currently the site of the championship race, there’s a lot of history at this Arizona desert short track.
• Winner, winner: All-time wins at Phoenix Raceway | See who has the most
• Setting the stage for Phoenix: Track has long been a focal point of motorsports | Read more
• Do you remember?: Most memorable moments at Phoenix | Relive them here • GIFs are great: Key moments from most recent Phoenix race in GIFs | See them here
• Sights and Sounds: Chase Briscoe tames Phoenix Raceway | Highlights from 2022
Take some notes 📝
Five hard-hitting, race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.
• The last time Kevin Harvick finished outside the top 10 at Phoenix was 3,661 days ago (10 years and nine days).
• Alex Bowman is the first Hendrick Motorsports driver to start the season with three top 10s since Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2015.
• The winner of the last four races on March 12 went on to win the Cup Series championship.
• Ford won both poles at Phoenix in 2022, won both races and led 89% of the laps run.
• Five drivers finished top 10 at both Phoenix races in 2022: Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe and Ross Chastain.
Jenson Button will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Circuit of The Americas as part of a three-race partnership with Mobil 1 Racing, Button announced Thursday on Race Hub.
Button will drive the No. 15 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang fielded by Rick Ware Racing at COTA, the Chicago Street Course and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Marketing and promotional support is being facilitated by Stewart-Haas Racing, according to a press release, noting prior collaborations between the two programs with numerous drivers. The Englishman is also one of three primary drivers piloting NASCAR’s Garage 56 entry in the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Button won 15 times during his 17 seasons in Formula One and claimed the 2009 championship with six victories. He was announced to the Garage 56 lineup on Jan. 28, bringing him into the stock-car world for the first time at age 43. He joins seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, Le Mans and Daytona winner Mike Rockenfeller and alternate-slash-coach Jordan Taylor.
Between his full-time F1 departure in 2016 and arrival to Garage 56 this winter, Button leapt into sports cars, claiming the 2018 championship in the Japanese Super FT Series’ GT500 class ahead of a five-race stint in the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship. From the 24 Hours of Le Mans to the Baja 1000, Button has driving plenty of unique vehicles — but none on that list includes an appearance in a NASCAR Cup Series race.
“Obviously, racing a Cup car is very different than what I’m used to,” Button said in a team press release. “It’s a lot heavier with a lot less power and, basically, no downforce. It’s got a sequential gearbox where you need to blip the throttle, so there’s lots of stuff to learn in a very short space of time.
“But I just get excited about that new challenge, and when I throw myself into something, I am 100 percent in. I’m not just doing it for fun in some one-off. I want to be competitive, and I know that to be competitive, it’s going to take a bit of time. That’s why doing these three races works very well this season.”
Sponsoring this year’s three-race effort will be Mobil 1, a longtime sponsor of both Button and NASCAR. In 2013, Button appeared with Tony Stewart, now co-owner of SHR, in the famed advertisement that introduced us to “soda cookies.” Button’s relationship with the company dates back 20 years, proving a fitting match for his inaugural Cup endeavor.
“I won the world championship with Mobil 1, and 14 of my 15 wins in Formula One were with Mobil 1, as well as winning the Super GT championship with them,” Button said. “We’ve had a really close relationship over the years and I can’t think of a better partner.
“Mobil 1 has been a big part of making these NASCAR races happen for me, so I’m very thankful to them for giving me this opportunity. I look forward to working alongside the brand to get the best out of every race weekend.”
True Speed Communication
A decade after their commercial debuted, the duo of Button and Stewart is reunited at NASCAR’s premier level. SHR, co-owned by the three-time Cup champion Stewart and F1 team owner Gene Haas, remains the home of 2014 title winner Kevin Harvick, whose 60 wins and 23 seasons of experience speak for themselves.
In a February interview with NASCAR.com, Button noted: “I think if I could do a few races, I would be up for it. Jumping in for one? That doesn’t interest me.”
Consider the wish granted. This also isn’t the first time he has thought about hopping into a NASCAR vehicle.
“I live in the States now, so I’ve looked at races in NASCAR,” Button told NBC Sports. “It’s not something I’m educated in in terms of ovals of experience there. So the road course is always something I’d like to aim for in racing. So this [Garage 56] is a perfect step into NASCAR.”
Another step closer, Button will have a multitude of other resources to prepare for his maiden competitive debut behind the wheel of a NASCAR Next Gen vehicle. While Johnson provides the easiest connection via his stock-car success and their Le Mans teamwork, Taylor will also compete at COTA, making his Cup debut for Hendrick Motorsports in place of injured 2020 series champion Chase Elliott.
On Wednesday, Button concluded a two-day test at COTA behind the wheel of the Garage 56 entry. Taylor told NASCAR.com it was a “flawless test” by his evaluation as the program strives to find better lap times in preparation for the June 10-11 event.
“The first time I jumped into the Garage 56 car, it was like, ‘What have I done? This is so different,’ and that lasted about four laps,” Button said in a release. “Then it was like, ‘Hang on, it’s still a race car. It’s got four tires that touch the road. It’s a mechanical race car, which is even better for learning.’ I’ve really enjoyed the challenge.
“A Cup car has a lot less downforce and is a lot heavier, but the Garage 56 car has given me an idea of what it will be like along with a direction, which is really useful. I know in my first race I’m not expected to be qualifying right at the front and I’m not expected to be fighting for a victory. I have a lot of respect for the drivers racing in the Cup Series. There’s so much talent there, whether it’s on ovals or road courses.”
Nick Laham | Getty Images for Mobil 1
Stewart is also no stranger to open-wheeled racers, claiming the 1997 IndyCar championship and piloting the 2008 McLaren MP4-23 which Lewis Hamilton drove to an F1 title.
“It’s always a challenge to try a new racing discipline, and the best thing you can bring to a new opportunity like this is an open mind,” Stewart said in a release. “Jenson has been doing that his entire career. Those F1 cars evolve every year, and Jenson always found a way to adapt. And when he got out of F1, he jumped into sports cars and won another championship. He’s even done off-road. There’s very little that he hasn’t experienced in a race car. He’s new to NASCAR, but he’s not new to racing. This is going to be fun for all of us, and we’re very appreciative of Mobil 1 for making it happen.”
NASCAR announced Thursday that the “choose rule” will be implemented at all road courses in 2023, beginning with the March 26 event at Circuit of The Americas.
The rule, which allows drivers to pick which lane they prefer to use for an impending restart, was introduced in August 2020 and originally used on all tracks except dirt tracks, superspeedways and road courses.
The sanctioning body announced in a January rules briefing that lane choice would be introduced at superspeedways and dirt tracks this season, which brought the choose procedures to the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway for the first time in February.
Thursday’s ruling opens lane choice at each of the six road courses on the 2023 Cup Series schedule, beginning at COTA. Other events include races at Sonoma Raceway, Chicago Street Course, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Watkins Glen International and the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.
Additionally, NASCAR officials have added a 50-minute practice to the COTA weekend schedule, which will be held at 2:05 p.m. ET. This will allow teams to better acclimate to a new rules package for short tracks and road courses in 2023.
The package is set to debut at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) announced Thursday that William Byron, the most recent winner in the NASCAR Cup Series and KBM alum, will return to the organization to compete in a three-race schedule behind the wheel of the No. 51 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this season.
HendrickCars.com, the online home for everything Hendrick Automotive Group, will be the primary sponsor on Byron’s Silverado when he makes his KBM return April 8 for the Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, and the Ricky Hendrick tribute scheme will also adorn the No. 51 for the races on May 12 at Darlington Raceway and May 20 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. All three races on Byron’s schedule will mark his first starts in the Truck Series at the respective venues.
Byron collected a Truck Series-leading seven victories and 727 laps led driving for KBM in 2016. He earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors that season and led the No. 9 team to an owner’s championship with his victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The North Carolina native returned to Victory Lane in the Truck Series last year, leading a race-high 94 laps for Spire Motorsports in the HendrickCars.com Silverado at Martinsville Speedway. Across 26 career starts in NASCAR’s Truck Series, the 25-year-old driver has totaled eight wins, three poles, 821 laps led, 12 top-five and 17 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.7.
With his win Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Byron now has five career NASCAR Cup Series victories. In 2022, he tallied a career-high two victories, finished a career-best sixth in the Cup Series championship standings and ranked third in the series with 746 laps led. Across 183 career Cup Series starts he has totaled eight poles, 1,781 laps led, 27 top-five and 63 top-10 finishes. Between his time at KBM and graduating to the Cup Series in 2018, Byron captured an Xfinity Series championship and Rookie of the Year Honors for JR Motorsports in 2017 after totaling four wins, two poles, 262 laps led, 12 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes.
“I am so excited to return to racing with KBM. I’m looking forward to getting back in their trucks and hopefully having some fun for these three races,” Byron said. “These are three cool race tracks we’re paired up for, and I’m interested in running at them since I haven’t raced there in a truck before.”
“Having William return to KBM for three races is going to be beneficial for our whole organization as we continue to build our notebook as a Chevrolet team,” Busch said. “You expect that he’ll compete for the win each time out, he’ll provide valuable feedback to Brian Pattie and our other crew chiefs and when it comes to the development drivers that we’ve had come through KBM, his race preparation is second to none, so he’ll be a valuable asset as a teammate to the young drivers we have in the building.
“Ricky (Hendrick) was a good friend of mine, so seeing one of my trucks hitting the track with the paint scheme he raced with in the Truck Series is going to be really special. We appreciate Rick (Hendrick) and everyone at HendrickCars.com for stepping up and making this deal possible.”
Phoenix Raceway holds the keys to the NASCAR Cup Series championship as the site of the season finale, but that race date sits some eight months down the road from the circuit’s first visit to the 1-mile track this weekend.
“The championship race is so far away that things will progress, and there’s really nothing in my mind other than this week,” says Kevin Harvick, a nine-time Phoenix winner.
The title hunt will wait, but Cup Series drivers and teams will get their first taste this weekend of a new rules configuration for the tour’s shorter ovals and road courses. Sunday’s United Rentals Work United 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will be run with aerodynamic tweaks made to the Next Gen platform, which is still early in its second season of Cup Series competition.
NASCAR officials mandated a reduction in the number of downforce-producing aero devices underneath the car, dialing back on diffuser strakes, engine panel strakes and the diffuser’s outer fencing. The more visible update is a smaller rear spoiler, trimmed from a 4-inch height to 2 inches for road circuits and ovals measuring 1.058 miles (New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s length) and shorter. In sum, those aerodynamic alterations should result in roughly a 30-percent decrease in downforce, said Dr. Eric Jacuzzi, NASCAR Vice President of Vehicle Performance.
Six of the 36 chartered Cup Series teams tested versions of the configuration at Phoenix in January. Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell said Wednesday that NASCAR officials and fellow Ford teams have shared data from that two-day session, but this weekend will mark most teams’ first real-world experience with the new package.
“Without having our hands on it and being on track with it, I honestly don’t know what to expect,” said Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet for Kyle Larson. “You know, there’s several other teams that didn’t have car representation there, and so we’re all going to kind of be learning for the first time when we show up to practice. So, hope to have a good practice and, yeah, make the best of it.”
Practice will be expanded for the Cup Series this weekend, with a 50-minute session added Friday (6:35 p.m. ET, FS2) in place of the shorter grouped warm-ups just before Busch Light Pole qualifying. Those Saturday time trials are expected to remain a strong performance predictor; eight of the last nine Phoenix winners have started from the first three rows on the grid. But Harvick said that the first-time uncertainty with the new rules configuration could upend some of the conventional performance wisdom.
“Qualifying is still gonna be important,” Harvick said during a Wednesday morning video call. “I think for this particular race, with everybody not knowing a lot about the package, is going to probably open things up a little bit, just because we don’t know all of the intricate details of what it takes to make the car go fast quite yet. That won’t take long. Obviously, we know a lot more about the car than what we did before, but still different, and I think that opens the window up for probably more passing. The package, in general, is intended to help the cars in traffic. I still think you’re gonna have issues in traffic, so qualifying will be important, but I think the door is open to be able to hit the setup right and be able to pass better than what we have in the past.”
Harvick indicated that with many single-sourced parts and pieces on the current-generation racer, finding a window for performance gains is a smaller opening than it has been in years past. The latest changes to the car, he added, should keep teams and drivers on their toes, but he appreciated the measures and direction that NASCAR officials have taken to make enhancements.
“I’m very interested,” Harvick said last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “I love the fact that they’ve been aggressive with it in trying to fix it. And I think that’s as part of the collaboration between NASCAR and the drivers and believing in each other, that they’re going to do something, and they believe what we’re willing to say. And I think as long as everybody collaborates and keeps continuing down that path, the racing can get better.”
