Posted on by Brandon White

HAMPTON, Va. – As Caden Kvapil wrapped up the pre-race autograph session before Saturday’s Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway, he managed to catch the closing laps of the Pennzoil 250 for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

That’s where Caden’s older brother Carson Kvapil fended off a late charge from JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier for his maiden O’Reilly Series victory. Thrilled to see his brother finally break through in the O’Reilly Series, Caden turned his attention back to the Hampton Heat, determined to find Victory Lane himself.

Caden easily picked up where Carson left off at Indianapolis. After conserving his tires inside the top 10 during the first 100 laps, Caden methodically worked his way to the front to secure a checkered flag in his first attempt at the Hampton Heat.

For as much as Indianapolis has tested drivers like Carson for more than 100 years, Caden endured plenty of his own obstacles trying to figure out Langley’s flat layout. That’s why it was a tremendous source of pride for Caden to overcome those issues and prevail in Langley’s most cherished event.

“It’s a really cool night for me,” Caden Kvapil said. “[Langley] is not easy, and I really don’t have a whole lot of laps here. I ran the CARS Tour race earlier this year, finished third there and honestly didn’t think I liked the track. Now that we came back here and [were] able to get the win at the Hampton Heat, it’s probably one of my new favorites, I guess.”

Caden had plenty of experience to guide him to a prestigious crown jewel victory like the Hampton Heat; not just through Carson or JR Motorsports, but also his father in 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil.

From the moment the Kvapil brothers showed an interest in motorsports, Travis made sure to instill into them a rigid, blue-collar mindset that included working on their cars. This was not an easy path for either to take, but Travis knew success would find his sons if they knew all the little details on how to make a car go fast.

Travis has been validated in this belief on numerous occasions.

Carson and Caden have won a combined four championships on the CARS Tour platform. Carson’s efficiency on short tracks eventually guided him to a full-time O’Reilly Series ride with JR Motorsports, which now has Caden in the team’s flagship No. 88 Late Model Stock after a successful part-time campaign in 2025.

As each brother goes through his own journey, Travis does everything possible to be with them every step of the way. Travis plays an active role in helping JR Motorsports set up Caden’s Late Model Stock, but he is always ready to provide advice to Carson even when they are hundreds of miles away from one another.

Travis watched intently on his phone as Carson crossed the yard of bricks at Indianapolis to win in his 64th O’Reilly Series start. Seeing Caden take home a Hampton Heat checkered flag in person only a few hours later was the perfect conclusion to one of the most rewarding race weekends of Travis’ life.

“We’ve won CARS Tour races in the same day, but this is another level of incredible,” Travis said. “Both these boys continue to amaze me every time we go racing. They’ve developed into incredible race-car drivers. There’s been so much work to get to this point, but more so, I’m super blessed to have car owners that give these kids opportunities.

“Carson had me in tears; I was emotional. [The Hampton Heat] was just a lot of fun.”

Caden Kvapil
Caden Kvapil followed in his brother Carson’s footsteps by joining JR Motorsports’ Late Model Stock program, where he now has five victories. (Photo: Kaydee Gawlik/NASCAR Regional)

Even though he shared his father’s joy over Carson’s accomplishment, Caden knew he could only celebrate so much before the Hampton Heat. A 200-lap odyssey around Langley awaited him, one that would require intense mental fortitude against many talented local regulars and perennial Late Model Stock frontrunners.

“I’m here to do my job like he was doing his in Indy,” Caden said. “I didn’t really think much of it, honestly, other than it was really cool for him. I knew beforehand I was going to give my best effort [on Saturday] regardless of what happened.”

Caden admitted he was unsure about the race-winning speed of his car at first. He struggled to find pace in his No. 88 Chevrolet prior to the halfway break, but a concerted effort by his team and crew chief Bryan Shaffer provided Caden the adjustments he needed to make a run for the victory in the second half.

After narrowly dodging a crash between the race leaders of Brenden Queen and Ayden Millette, Caden settled in behind Langley Late Model Stock points leader Woody Howard. Caden made the race-winning pass on Howard with 74 laps remaining and pulled away from the field to secure his first win across the three Late Model Stock crown jewels in Virginia.

Howard, who won his lone Hampton Heat in 2009, knew it was going to be difficult to withstand an assault from a JR Motorsports car regardless of who was driving it. Yet the seasoned Langley veteran was satisfied with the speed he showed against one of the toughest fields he will see at the facility all year.

“I’m really happy,” Howard said. “Throughout the race, there was probably a couple of times we could have saved tires a little better. [Millette] got into us a couple of times on those restarts, but that was my only real issue looking back on what could have went better for us. We got beat by a professional team; that doesn’t hurt my feelings one bit.”

Even as Caden took control of the Hampton Heat, Travis knew a victory was not set in stone with the possibility of a late-race yellow, a feeling he experienced with Carson earlier in the day.

But just like with Carson, once Travis saw Caden the checkered flag, all the stress evaporated and transformed into jubilation. As someone who has witnessed every step of Carson and Caden’s development, Travis knows their victories Saturday were hard-fought and deserved.

Travis emphasized the importance for Carson and Caden to continue proving their talent through winning. Nothing is guaranteed in motorsports, something Travis understands firsthand from his own time as a driver. But Saturday reinforced his optimism over his sons enjoying long, sustainable careers.

“It’s really hard to climb the ladder in motorsports these days without funding, whether that’s family money or you’re tied in with a sponsor somehow.” Travis said. “We don’t have that. Being there and running up front is great, but you have to win races. There’s other drivers that will bring that funding and get in that seat, as well.

“[Carson] still has to do what he’s doing and make a championship run here. Caden is laying great steps in his career here.”

The Hampton Heat triumph marked Caden’s third victory in a JR Motorsports Late Model Stock this year. When Caden is not winning, he’s efficient, which is why he holds a commanding points lead in the CARS Tour’s Late Model Stock standings and departs Langley leading the Virginia Triple Crown with a 3.5 average finish.

Caden does not believe he would be where he is today without his blue-collar upbringing. He’s acquired copious knowledge from endless hours in either his family-owned shop or with JR Motorsports, a process that is arduous, but rewarding.

If everything goes the way he envisions, Caden is confident he will get a chance to race at Indianapolis one day just like Carson. Until then, Caden intends to enjoy every accomplishment obtained on short tracks, primarily because of how involved he is in each one.

“It’s definitely a lot, but I enjoy it,” Caden said. “That’s how my dad has always taught us, to work on our own cars and be hands on with our stuff, otherwise we’re not going to race. I enjoy it more than most people probably would, working on my own stuff and knowing what goes into it.

“When I have nights like these where I can win and run really good, it makes me have a lot of pride in myself knowing I put this whole thing together.”

No family in motorsports was likely prouder after Saturday than the Kvapils, one that has always taken pride in hard work and patience. Those qualities remain strong through Caden and Carson, both of whom look to one day join their father Travis as a champion at NASCAR’s top levels.  

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

WINCHESTER, N.H. – There’s hot, and then there’s whatever Patrick Emerling is right now on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

The 33-year-old driver from Orchard Park, New York captured his third consecutive NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory Saturday night at Monadnock Speedway in the Duel at the Dog 200 Energized by USNE Power to further solidify his place at the top of the series standings.

If that weren’t good enough, he also earned a $5,000 bonus as champion of the Whelen Midsummer Championship miniseries following his victory Saturday night.

“Absolutely incredible,” Emerling said. “Never would I have ever thought a while back that we would be in this position winning three in a row like that. We kind of struggled at the beginning of the season and just had to find our footing and get dialed in on the American Racer tire.”

RELATED: Complete results from Monadnock

Emerling started Saturday’s 200-lap event from the fourth position following the redraw and raced inside the top five during the first portion of the event.

Following a caution and subsequent round of pit stops just before the halfway mark, Emerling was able to muscle his way past defending series champion Austin Beers to take the lead for the first time.

After that, the only time Emerling was challenged was during restarts. His stiffest challenge came from Tyler Rypkema, who stayed glued to Emerling’s outside for several laps following the final restart before Emerling was finally able to clear.

Patrick Emerling
Patrick Emerling further padded his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship with a win Saturday at Monadnock Speedway. (Photo: Jaiden Tripi/NASCAR)

Once he disposed of Rypkema, Emerling pulled away to a comfortable, 2.326-second victory. The win, the 12th of his career, was his second at Monadnock Speedway.

Emerling’s three consecutive victories marks just the 18th time in the history of the modern NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour that a driver has won at least three races in a row. Justin Bonsignore was the last driver to do it at the conclusion of the 2024 season.

“Dale Hedquist just prepared another masterpiece of a race car,” Emerling said. “We had to work for it. We were really elbows up tonight and raced really, really hard each and every lap of the race. The team did an incredible job, and we were able to edge it out there.

“Just happy to be out here racing. I feel really lucky to do it. We had a lot of fun.”

Rypkema settled for second, his third runner-up finish of the season in Boehler Racing Enterprises’ Ole Blue No. 3. Beers was third, followed by rookie Paulie Hartwig III and Tommy Catalano.

Teddy Hodgdon, Eric Goodale, Jon McKennedy, Doug Coby and Stephen Kopcik were sixth through 10th, respectively.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour takes next week off before returning to action for a midweek show at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Wednesday, Aug. 5. The Thompson 150 presented by FloSports.com takes the green flag at 8 p.m. ET live on FloRacing.

Posted on by Staff Report

Duel at the Dog 200

Monadnock Speedway

  • Race results
Pos. Car No. Driver Sponsor Laps Diff
1 1 Patrick Emerling USNE Power 200  —
2 3 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling; SYP 200 2.326
3 64 Austin Beers Dell Electric; Lumiere Electrical; G&G Electrical Supply; AP Marquadt & Sons; Andrew James Interiors; Hughes Motors 200 2.373
4 73 Paulie Hartwig III* Professional Therapy Associates; Jersey Shore Contracting 200 2.848
5 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara; USNE Power 200 5.568
6 05 Teddy Hodgdon* Business Time Motorsports; The Landau Team of Re/Max; Montanari Fuel 200 5.628
7 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 200 5.879
8 79 Jon McKennedy Stuarts Auto.; Christophers Towing; Levasseur HVAC; Boyle Electric; Hillsboro Ent.; J Young Landscaping 200 7.031
9 28 Doug Coby Nucar 200 7.45
10 21 Stephen Kopcik Wanick Construction; Newtown Pools 200 8.07
11 50 Ronnie Williams Empower Financial Advisory 200 8.938
12 60 Matt Hirschman Bar Harbor Bank & Trust; Pee Dee Motorsports 200 9.151
13 17 Anthony Nocella Keene Towing & Recovery; Bells Septic; Sontag Motorsports; Xtreme Autobody 200 11.016
14 82 Andrew Molleur Horton Avenue Materials 200 11.369
15 56 Trevor Catalano USNE Power 200 11.624
16 9 Jayden Harman* Wanick Construction; Harman Funeral Home 199 1 Lap
17 8 John-Michael Shenette USNE Power South; Eighty-Two Services 198 2 Laps
18 95 Cory Plummer* Tuckers Fabrication & Welding; Croteau Machine; Apex Race Cars; Apex Racing 194 6 Laps
19 12 Craig Lutz Elite Towing 139 61 Laps
20 18 Ken Heagy Merkel Racing Engines 108 92 Laps
21 31 Mike Christopher Jr. Elite Towing; Elite Racing; Baker Racing 5 195 Laps

 

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — William Sawalich led laps, scored stage points in both stages and left Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a fifth-place finish.

But even his second-best points day of the year leaves him seven points outside The Chase with just two races remaining in the regular season.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Indy

The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota impressed all day long, surging to lead two laps and capitalizing on a long run late in Saturday’s 250-mile feature to end his day with 42 points earned. He enters the looming off week 13th in the points standings, one position and seven points out of the provisional Chase field.

“The pressure’s on,” Sawalich said. “We still need some more points, and I wish we could have finished a little better there. We had the speed to, I guess, be top three on a long run, or if we were up there in the mix on the short run, then we could hold on better than the guys on the long run. But it kind of is what it is. We’ve got some work to do in Iowa to really build a safe gap into Daytona, but our Soundgear GR Supra was pretty good today.”

Sawalich was the top finishing entrant in Saturday’s race outside of the JR Motorsports stable, which swept the top four positions. Saturday marked Sawalich’s second straight top-five finish and sixth of the season, but the valleys of the four weeks prior leave him on the outside looking in: 21st at Pocono; 36th at Naval Base Coronado; 13th at Sonoma; and 29th at Chicagoland. That, in part, is what made Saturday’s performance “really critical” at Indianapolis.

“I mean, this is the kind of day we needed,” Sawalich said. “We didn’t need any mistakes. We couldn’t afford it. Pit crew did a really good job on pit road, gaining me spots every time. All the Toyotas kind of just struggled on restarts to get going, so those kind of paid off in the long run.”

Next on the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule is Iowa Speedway on Aug. 8 (5 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Sawalich has found success on similar tracks as recently as this year, earning his first career win at Rockingham Speedway earlier this spring. In his lone Iowa appearance, he qualified second last year but ultimately finished 11th. Trailing JGR teammates Brent Crews and Taylor Gray in the points standings — with Rajah Caruth directly on his tail — Sawalich knows 11th may not cut it at Iowa.

“We’re pretty good at short tracks. We’ve got our package a lot better,” Sawalich said. “I think we know what to do while we’re there. Obviously, we need to maximize the stage points and get a good finish. Then we need to build a big gap there to be safe in Daytona because you never know what could happen.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Duel at the Dog 200

Monadnock Speedway

  • Qualifying results
Pos No. Name Sponsor Best Tm Best Speed In Lap Laps Diff
1 60 Matt Hirschman Bar Harbor Bank & Trust; Pee Dee Motorsports 11.836 76.039 2 2  —
2 50 Ronnie Williams Empower Financial Advisory 11.885 75.726 1 2 0.049
3 1 Patrick Emerling USNE Power 11.886 75.719 2 2 0.05
4 79 Jon McKennedy Stuarts Auto.; Christophers Towing; Levasseur HVAC; Boyle Electric; Hillsboro Ent.; J Young Landscaping 11.895 75.662 2 2 0.059
5 73 Paulie Hartwig III* Professional Therapy Associates; Jersey Shore Contracting 11.925 75.472 2 2 0.089
6 56 Trevor Catalano USNE Power 11.929 75.446 1 2 0.093
7 64 Austin Beers Dell Electric; Lumiere Electrical; G&G Electrical Supply; AP Marquadt & Sons; Andrew James Interiors; Hughes Motors 11.937 75.396 2 2 0.101
8 12 Craig Lutz Elite Towing 11.94 75.377 1 2 0.104
9 3 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling; SYP 11.965 75.219 2 2 0.129
10 95 Cory Plummer* Tuckers Fabrication & Welding; Croteau Machine; Apex Race Cars; Apex Racing 11.982 75.113 2 2 0.146
11 21 Stephen Kopcik Wanick Construction; Newtown Pools 12.005 74.969 2 2 0.169
12 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 12.013 74.919 1 2 0.177
13 17 Anthony Nocella Keene Towing & Recovery; Bells Septic; Sontag Motorsports; Xtreme Autobody 12.071 74.559 1 2 0.235
14 05 Teddy Hodgdon* Business Time Motorsports; The Landau Team of Re/Max; Montanari Fuel 12.079 74.509 2 2 0.243
15 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara; USNE Power 12.083 74.485 1 2 0.247
16 82 Andrew Molleur Horton Avenue Materials 12.089 74.448 2 2 0.253
17 31 Mike Christopher Jr. Elite Towing; Elite Racing; Baker Racing 12.126 74.221 2 2 0.29
18 9 Jayden Harman* Wanick Construction; Harman Funeral Home 12.14 74.135 2 2 0.304
19 28 Doug Coby Nucar 12.247 73.487 2 2 0.411
20 18 Ken Heagy Merkel Racing Engines 12.326 73.016 2 2 0.49
21 8 John-Michael Shenette USNE Power South; Eighty-Two Services 12.338 72.945 1 2 0.502

 

Posted on by Reid Spencer

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Carson Kvapil chose the perfect time to claim his first victory in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

Kvapil’s emotional victory in Saturday’s Pennzoil 250 presented by Take 5 Oil Change at Indianapolis Motor Speedway—one of the biggest stages in motorsports — had the driver shedding tears and team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. temporarily at a loss for words.

It was a day of milestones. With Justin Allgaier, Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott in positions two through four, respectively, JR Motorsports scored the first four-driver sweep of an event in series history.

The victory was the 14th of the season for JRM with six different drivers, the latter number tying the record the organization set last year. For the 79th straight race, JR Motorsports placed at least one driver in the top 10, tying the record set by RFK Racing from 2008-2010.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Indy

“It means the world to me,” Kvapil said, as his No. 1 Chevrolet team climbed the frontstretch catchfence in celebration of the victory. “It’s very emotional. I rode around on that lap backwards (after taking the checkered flag), and I sat there just thinking about all the hard work I’ve put in — me and my dad Travis — to get to this point.

“And the faith (team principals) Dale Jr., L.W. Miller and Kelley Miller put behind me to give me this opportunity — a second chance, I guess you could say, to come back at it this year…. I’m going to try not to cry too much. I’ve already shed a few tears—just trying to hold it together right now.”

In an event that featured just one caution for an on-track incident, Kvapil passed Chastain on Lap 79 of 100 and held it the rest of the way. Allgaier powered past Chastain into second place on Lap 94 and closed his deficit to Kvapil to less than a car-length on the white-flag lap.

Crossing the Yard of Bricks with one lap left, Allgaier trailed by a scant 0.283 seconds, but his efforts to shrink the distance on the final circuit proved fruitless, and Kvapil crossed the stripe with a 0.643-second advantage to score his first victory.

Kvapil accomplished more than just a win. He moved into second place in the series standings, 265 points behind Allgaier, who has already clinched the top Chase seed.

Kvapil also joined Allgaier and Jesse Love in the Chase with two regular-season races left — as did Sheldon Creed (eighth Saturday), Corey Day (seventh), Brandon Jones (ninth) and Austin Hill (10th).

Allgaier, a six-time winner this season, felt the race slipped away from him when his No. 7 Chevrolet fell from first to fourth after the Lap 67 start of the final stage.

“That was kind the difference maker for us, I feel like, over the day,” Allgaier said. “I guess, in some ways, we kind of set up to be good on long runs, and it showed through. That’s why we were able to be really good at the end of that run…

“We made good adjustments. We did all the right things. We just came up a couple of laps short. I think if we have a couple more laps, if we have maybe a little bit different help from some of the lapped cars, there’s things that we maybe could have done different.

“But again, super proud of Carson and the whole No. 1 team. He’s done a really good job, and as a company, to do what we did today shows really where we’re at and what we’re able to accomplish, and for that I’m super proud.”

Crew chief Rodney Childers and the No. 1 team kept Kvapil in the mix from start to finish, but that was no surprise. While working as Kevin Harvick’s crew chief, Childers fashioned two NASCAR Cup Series victories at the Brickyard.

MORE: Childers shares why winning with Kvapil is special for him

Kvapil has cobbled the current season together in three different cars with three different teams — the Nos. 1 and 9 at JRM and the No. 91 fielded by Mario Gosselin for DGM Racing.

Saturday’s victory was vindication of Kvapil’s determination to sustain a career despite some imposing obstacles in his path.

With seven of 12 Chase positions now filled, the fight for the final spots intensified at Indy. After finishing 12th, Taylor Gray holds the final berth above the current cut line by seven points over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate William Sawalich and 20 over Rajah Caruth, who stayed out on old tires to win the second stage before finishing 22nd.

Just two races remain in the O’Reilly Series before the Chase begins at Darlington Raceway. Up next is a date at Iowa Speedway on Aug. 8 (5 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series garage, confirming Carson Kvapil as the winner. The Nos. 2 and 20 cars had one lug nut not safe and secure, which will result in loss of pit-stall selection for both teams at Iowa Speedway.

Posted on by Staff Report

With five races remaining until The Chase, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Hoosier State to compete at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Given the fact that time is running out for drivers to position themselves into a good spot for a postseason run, expect a greater sense of urgency to be on display at the 2.5-mile oval. Numerous drivers will seek a strong points day and hope to avoid disaster in the prestigious Brickyard 400 on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Starting lineup | Saturday recap

For drivers in desperate need of a strong performance in Indiana, how will achieving glory in one of the sport’s crown-jewel events change the course of their season and career? Here’s a look at other drivers to keep an eye on, as well as the full projected results for Sunday’s Cup Series race.

DRIVERS TO WATCH

TYLER REDDICK: After watching his points lead slip away during a dreadful summer stretch, the 23XI Racing driver hopes a third-place qualifying run Saturday at the Brickyard will set the No. 45 Toyota up for Sunday success. During the first 15 Cup Series races of the 2026 season, Reddick averaged 44.6 points per race. However, in the last six races, his points-scoring average dropped significantly to 17.5 points per race. In three starts on the 2.5-mile Indiana oval. Reddick has two top 10s, including a runner-up finish in 2024. Sitting 68 points behind championship leader Denny Hamlin, Reddick will try to add a Brickyard 400 win on the oval to go alongside his 2022 victory on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

ALEX BOWMAN: Days after announcing his decision to step away from full-time Cup Series competition after the 2027 season, Bowman was the highest-qualifying driver from Hendrick Motorsports Saturday afternoon at Indianapolis. With the No. 48 Chevrolet set to roll off the Brickyard 400 grid in eighth, he hopes to score another top 10 in Indiana and prove it was not an outlier after finishing ninth in last year’s crown-jewel event. Bowman’s average finish at Indianapolis is 29.6, which is actually his worst among all tracks in the Cup Series. The Hendrick driver has finished 30th or worse in five of his seven career starts in the Hoosier State. Despite those numbers not favoring his chances, maybe the weight of having questions about his future off his chest can spark a magical Sunday and put his name into the history books.

TODD GILLILAND: Last year, it was Ty Dillon, and this year, Gilliland is the Cinderella story of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge, advancing to the final round at the Brickyard against Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney for the $1 million grand prize. While the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford qualified 36th for Sunday’s race, his underdog mentality and never-quit attitude may kick in and give him a shot to upset Blaney. After all, Gilliland has a pair of sixth-place finishes in his two career Brickyard 400 starts.

MORE: At-track photos | What to Watch: Indianapolis

FULL PROJECTED RESULTS FOR BRICKYARD 400 (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports)

FINISHCAR NUMBERDRIVER
111Denny Hamlin
25Kyle Larson
345Tyler Reddick
412Ryan Blaney
554Ty Gibbs
677Carson Hocevar
720Christopher Bell
824William Byron
917Chris Buescher
109Chase Elliott
117Daniel Suárez
1223Bubba Wallace
1319Chase Briscoe
1443Erik Jones
1567Corey Heim
1622Joey Logano
176Brad Keselowski
182Austin Cindric
1971Michael McDowell
201Ross Chastain
2148Alex Bowman
2242John Hunter Nemechek
2341Cole Custer
2434Todd Gilliland
2560Ryan Preece
2638Zane Smith
2716AJ Allmendinger
283Austin Dillon
2935Riley Herbst
3097Shane van Gisbergen
3147Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
3210Ty Dillon
334Noah Gragson
3421Josh Berry
3588Connor Zilisch
3651Cody Ware
3733Austin Hill
3878Daniel Dye
3962Casey Mears
Posted on by Staff Report

Duel at the Dog 200

Monadnock Speedway

  • Final practice results
Pos No. Name Sponsor Best Tm Best Speed In Lap Laps Diff
1 21 Stephen Kopcik Wanick Construction; Newtown Pools 11.681 77.048 16 26 —
2 3 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling; SYP 11.703 76.903 6 28 0.022
3 79 Jon McKennedy Stuarts Auto.; Christophers Towing; Levasseur HVAC; Boyle Electric; Hillsboro Ent.; J Young Landscaping 11.71 76.857 4 30 0.029
4 1 Patrick Emerling USNE Power 11.77 76.466 5 28 0.089
5 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara; USNE Power 11.782 76.388 20 24 0.101
6 56 Trevor Catalano USNE Power 11.786 76.362 7 30 0.105
7 50 Ronnie Williams Empower Financial Advisory 11.787 76.355 26 31 0.106
8 64 Austin Beers Dell Electric; Lumiere Electrical; G&G Electrical Supply; AP Marquadt & Sons; Andrew James Interiors; Hughes Motors 11.798 76.284 41 42 0.117
9 05 Teddy Hodgdon* Business Time Motorsports; The Landau Team of Re/Max; Montanari Fuel 11.801 76.265 19 30 0.12
10 60 Matt Hirschman Bar Harbor Bank & Trust; Pee Dee Motorsports 11.803 76.252 10 37 0.122
11 73 Paulie Hartwig III* Professional Therapy Associates; Jersey Shore Contracting 11.83 76.078 22 25 0.149
12 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 11.872 75.809 6 34 0.191
13 12 Craig Lutz Elite Towing 11.88 75.758 23 26 0.199
14 82 Andrew Molleur Horton Avenue Materials 11.887 75.713 21 24 0.206
15 17 Anthony Nocella Keene Towing & Recovery; Bells Septic; Sontag Motorsports; Xtreme Autobody 11.888 75.707 19 30 0.207
16 95 Cory Plummer* Tuckers Fabrication & Welding; Croteau Machine; Apex Race Cars; Apex Racing 11.961 75.245 6 29 0.28
17 9 Jayden Harman* Wanick Construction; Harman Funeral Home 11.965 75.219 15 25 0.284
18 8 John-Michael Shenette USNE Power South; Eighty-Two Services 11.999 75.006 14 22 0.318
19 28 Doug Coby Nucar 12.009 74.944 39 40 0.328
20 18 Ken Heagy Merkel Racing Engines 12.098 74.392 8 10 0.417

 

Posted on by Dustin Albino

Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Location: Speedway, Indiana
Track length: 2.5 miles
When: 2 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race purse: $11,233,037
Race distance: 160 laps | 400 miles
Stages: 50 | 100 | 160
Sunday’s starting lineup | Pit-stall assignments

No margin for error in pursuit of Indianapolis victory

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Excellence is rewarded at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After 400 grueling miles, the sport’s biggest stars are those who usually end up smooching the grimy, oil-stained bricks after a long day’s work.

Only three of the 39 drivers in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 presented by PPG have experienced that coveted first kiss. Bubba Wallace is the most recent victor, snatching his third career Cup Series victory in the 2025 edition. Nine of the 29 prior winners of the crown jewel event went on to hoist the Bill France Cup at the end of the season, securing the championship. That coveted list includes Jeff Gordon (1998, 2001), Dale Jarrett (1999), Bobby Labonte (2000), Tony Stewart (2005), Jimmie Johnson (2006, 2008, 2009) and Kyle Busch (2015).

MORE: Weekend schedule | At-track photos

“It’d be interesting to see, like, what other race tracks have similar stats like that,” Denny Hamlin, who has coined being raised in IMS’ Victory Lane as the top of his bucket list of races left to win, said on Friday. “Ultimately, you have to kind of have everything. You have to have the downforce for the corner, so you have to have straightaway speed, so you need your engines, good for the straightaways. You have a great team to call a great race for strategy. You’re going to need to qualify somewhat pretty well.

“There are not really any weaknesses, and there’s probably four to five key components to a race team and their ability to win, and you had to have all five. (If) you come out on the last pit stop, last fuel stop, fifth or sixth, I mean, you’re cooked.”

Ryan Blaney, the 2023 Cup Series champion, is aiming to deliver bossman and track owner Roger Penske his second Brickyard win. He concurs with Hamlin’s thoughts, believing drivers need to be near perfect to have a chance at the end of the race. Qualifying is of the essence, with 15 of the 29 winners coming from a top-five starting position.

“I think everything has to be right here,” Blaney stated. “I think it’s hard to come back after a mistake here, so I think that speaks to a lot of teams who can execute a full day, who can qualify well on Saturday, who can run a good race on the race track and on pit road and on the pit box. Teams that have all of that in line, I think those teams are very deserving of winning championships. That’s just a good functioning group. Here, you can’t afford any mistakes, and the best teams, while they are able to overcome a lot of mistakes, it’s just hard to do here with the way the track is.”

MORE: Goodyear tire notes: Indianapolis

Two-time Cup champ Kyle Larson is among the three drivers in the field to win on the Indianapolis oval, alongside Wallace and Brad Keselowski. While track position is important at Indy, Larson drove through the field at a rapid pace in the closing stages of the 2024 event, moving from 12th to the lead in the final 32 laps en route to victory.

Larson knows that having the ideal team behind him helped score that triumph. If there is one weak link on that singular day, that driver is doomed.

“You know, everybody has to be on the top of their game to have a shot to win,” Larson added. “You have to have a fast car, which is all the things you need every weekend, but you have to have a fast car, good starts and restarts, pit stops, strategy. All of it has to come together here to have a good shot at winning.

“It’s a really fun race because it does take everybody. I always enjoy this one. It’s a crown jewel as well, so it just means a lot. When you win here, it just means more for the whole team.”

A general view of the scoreboard atop the pagoda at Indianapolis during the Brickyard 400.
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images

In the details …

One year ago, Ty Gibbs left Indianapolis Motor Speedway $1 million richer after winning the inaugural In-Season Challenge. He won’t be so lucky this year, but he can accomplish another rare feat in 2026 by scoring his fifth straight top-10 finish.

Gibbs and Tyler Reddick are the only two drivers to have multiple streaks of four straight top 10s this season, and only Gibbs (seven) and Blaney (eight) have strung together more consecutive top 10s this season. Take a look at the longest top-10 streaks of 2026:

DriverStreak LengthStartEnd
Ryan Blaney8CharlotteAtlanta-2
Ty Gibbs7COTAKansas
Kyle Larson4MichiganSonoma
Denny Hamlin4CharlottePocono
Tyler Reddick4TexasNashville
William Byron4PhoenixMartinsville
Tyler Reddick4DaytonaPhoenix
Ty Gibbs4Sonoma(active)

Speed reads

Race-day essentials:

• Indianapolis hub: Key information, pit stalls, additional results | Read more
• Sunday Setup: See what crew chiefs have in mind at the Brickyard | Read more
• In-Season Challenge: Bracket, format, schedule and more for Sunday’s final | Read more
• Paint Scheme Preview: Fresh looks ready for the Brickyard 400 spotlight | View gallery
• Hauler Talk: Breaking down North Wilkesboro and an Indy look-ahead | Listen now
• NASCAR Classics: Dig into the video vault for full-race replays from Indianapolis | Watch now
• Power Rankings: Chase Briscoe heads to home state with momentum | This week’s ranks

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Indianapolis Motor Speedway demands a combination of speed, strategy and precise execution to be successful.

That process begins with the men atop the pit box calling the shots for the 38 competitors in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

MORE: Starting lineup | At-track photos: Indy

Crew chief Cliff Daniels guided the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team and driver Kyle Larson to victory in the 2024 edition of the crown-jewel race, the sport’s return to the oval after a three-year hiatus. With the prestige of winning this race comes an enormous amount of work in advance. That shows up at the track.

“Before you even get to (Saturday), you’ve got to have a good week,” Daniels told NASCAR.com. “You’ve got to have a good week of prep. And we did a lot of studying. We had a good week. Worked on a handful of things with Kyle in the sim and came here and made a handful of changes that we were able to feel and able to get a read on. So a lot of that was very encouraging. Now we’ve just got to put the details together and go have a good Saturday, hopefully to lead us into a good Sunday.”

Teams were granted a full 50-minute practice session on Friday with three sets of Goodyear tires to utilize, incentivizing teams to make multiple runs and numerous adjustments to verify any necessary changes. The right-side tire used this week is different from years past, but Daniels noted enough familiarity with this compound’s behavior meant no drastic observations from Friday’s session.

To nail a car setup here means maximizing straightaway speed, downforce and handling before factoring in fuel mileage. Legacy Motor Club’s cars have been notably fast at the iconic Indianapolis track in recent years, and that was bolstered by Friday’s sessions with John Hunter Nemechek posting the second-best lap time and Erik Jones fourth.

“This place is so fast,” said Justin Alexander, crew chief of Jones’ No. 43 Toyota. “You’re really trying to balance grip and downforce and drag, so you’re really kind of looking for that sweet spot on a (lift over drag) number. You’ve got to be trimmed out a little bit, but if you’re trimmed out too much, you won’t have enough grip. So really, it’s about building a car that captures what you’re looking for there and then having a setup to go with it.”

Kyle Larson pits during the 2025 Brickyard 400.
James Gilbert | Getty Images

But with that comes fuel strategy, a constant game throughout the scheduled 160-lap distance that starts as soon as engines are fired. That has materialized in different facets in each of the last two Brickyard 400s, all depending on when cautions fell late in the going.

“It’s absolutely important, to your point, and we’ve been on either side of it the last two years, and both ’24 and ’25 presented very different cases for the way the race played out,” Daniels said. “We spent a lot of time this week actually studying both very uniquely, and not only ourselves, but what factors were influencing the calls of others. How do they strategize their race? And a lot of different ways to get to a very similar point. For guys in the top five, you had some true three-stop cars; you had some true four-stop cars. And then you had some guys that took rights and less fuel at the end. That presents a very interesting array of circumstances to study. So we’ve studied up. We’ll see how the race plays out, and hopefully we’re making the right moves at the right time.”

Jones and the No. 43 team enter squarely at the bubble to make The Chase, sitting 33 points behind Austin Cindric for the final provisional spot in the 16-driver postseason field with five races remaining. That positioning has to be factored into Alexander’s approach.

“There’s always going to be variables, cautions that come out, things that happen in a race,” Alexander said. “For us, we’re really looking to score stage points, so that throws another wrench in there on optimum race strategy.”

Another factor playing into Legacy Motor Club’s hands is Indianapolis’ similar characteristics to Pocono Raceway. Another flat, high-speed, 2.5-mile track, Pocono’s triangle emulates features of Indy’s famed rectangle, a plus after Nemechek finished fourth and Jones sixth in June.

“The tracks race very similar,” Alexander said. “From a strategy perspective, you race them very similar as well. So yeah, we’ll take what we learned at Pocono. Obviously, we ran really well there, and we’ll try to carry it over for (Sunday).”

Another factor for crew chiefs to consider is one of the trickiest pit roads on the NASCAR calendar. At just 24 feet wide, Indy’s pit road lane of travel measures as the narrowest in NASCAR with the narrowest stalls (14 feet, 4 inches), all while featuring the longest pit stalls (46 feet, 6 inches) and the longest pit road at over 2,500 feet.

“Narrow pit road here. That is certainly a big factor where you want to be as far to the Turn 1 side on pit road as you can be,” Daniels said. “That way, if the the accordion happens, you’re just ahead of it.”