Jacob Brown’s NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division V national championship this season was particularly special for him and the track where he races.
Brown had seven wins and 12 top-five finishes in 16 starts at Nebraska’s I-80 Speedway, scoring 404 national points on the way to the Division V national championship.
The honor comes after officials at I-80 Speedway announced the track would be closing after the 2022 season.
“It’s definitely an honor, especially since it’s probably the last time I’ll be racing for that since I-80 Speedway is closing officially now,” Brown said. “I don’t think I’ll be putting that many nights on to go run for a NASCAR national championship again unless another track in the area goes to NASCAR.”
It was about midway through the season when I-80 Speedway had a double features night, and Brown won both. That’s when he realized his wins were doing more than just sending him up the leaderboard at at the 4/10-mile dirt track.
“I never thought about it until about midway through the season,” he said. “My crew guy said, ‘You better get serious and try to go win this national championship.’ And I said, ‘I don’t know how much more serious you can get, we just won both features in one night.’ But then we went and got another car and raced in another class as well to get more Division V points, because there’s three classes you can race for Division V at our track. We raced two classes some nights.
“We went out and won a bunch of races and were always in the top two or three about every race. Putting up those statistics makes you go win a national championship, I guess.”
It was a member of Brown’s crew who kept up with the track and national points throughout the summer. He won the national title by 24 points ahead of Adams County Speedway and fellow I-80 Speedway driver Bryan Vannausdle.
“Going into the last night of I-80 points we had a pretty good idea we were going to win it,” Brown said. “Then my crew guy said, ‘Just go out and win the race and don’t even worry about it.’ So we went and won the race and didn’t even worry about it.
“I don’t ever go race for points, but we show up every week. So just go get good results and the points take care of themselves. But I don’t ever look at it, I don’t think about it, I just go race.”
Brown was helped on the car this season by his crew chief Robert Ward, who keeps the car at his house and does the bulk of the maintenance throughout the week, and Bobby Bolter, who is in the pits on race day.
Ward was integral in Brown’s championship this summer.
“If I didn’t have him I wouldn’t race,” Brown said of Ward. “I wouldn’t ever maintenance the car, and if you don’t maintenance the car it’s just going to fall apart every week.
“I pretty much just get in the car and stomp and steer, and he takes care of making an idiot get around the track pretty good.”
Brown has been racing since 2006, winning seven track championships between I-80 and Iowa’s Shelby County Speedway, as well as two other regional touring series titles.
In addition to a national championship, a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division V Midwest Region title, and an I-80 championship in the track’s Bragging Rights Late Model division, Brown also assisted on another championship this summer. His 9-year-old son won a go-kart championship at I-80.
All the winning was made extra special because it came at the track that has meant so much to both of their racing careers.
“It’s been like our whole life pretty much,” Brown said. “It’s where I first started racing go-karts. I raced late models there. I’ve even worked out there a bunch because I used to work for the owners in their salvage yard and they’d send me out to the track a bunch with another couple guys and we’d work at the track. I’ve got a lot of hours working at the race track out there helping make it what it is today. And then my kid started racing go-karts out there a couple years ago and he won the championship in his kart class, so that was cool we both won the championship in the last year of I-80 Speedway.”
For only the second time in his long career, Jon McKennedy in 2022 ran all the races on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule.
The 35-year-old from Chelmsford, Massachusetts, turned his second full season with the Tour into his first series championship.
Driving for team owner Tim Lepine, McKennedy used incredible consistency to secure his championship. In 16 races this season, McKennedy finished outside the top 10 just three times, scoring seven top-five finishes and his second career victory at Claremont Motorsports Park on July 29.
Throughout the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, no team was as dominant as Tommy Baldwin Racing.
The iconic No. 7NY ended up visiting Victory Lane on five different occasions with a driver lineup consisting of six-time champion Doug Coby, Jimmy Blewett and rookie Mike Christopher Jr., all of which helped Baldwin earn the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour owner’s championship for the first time in his career.
Being able to celebrate the owner’s title at Martinsville Speedway proved to be a special moment for Baldwin, who credited his entire team for staying flawless in their execution through all 16 races on the schedule.
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 2022 special award winners
The 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season featured 16 races, 67 drivers and more than 2,750 laps completed from February to October.
While Jon McKennedy claimed the biggest prize of the season, the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship, there were several special awards that were claimed by a variety of drivers.
CONCORD, N.C. – Sam Hunt Racing and Kaz Grala have plenty in common. Both have been piecemealing seasons together, impressing with their potential but waiting for the right opportunities.
Their opportunities are here and happen to be one and the same.
Grala will pilot Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 26 Toyota GR Supra full-time in the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, the team announced Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, with Grala set to become the team’s first full-time driver in its three-year history.
The program will also field the No. 24 Toyota full-time in 2023, anchored by driver Connor Mosack, who will pilot the car for 20 races beginning at Phoenix Raceway in March. This marks the first time the organization will field two cars full-time.
Kris Bowen, who crew chiefed the No. 02 Chevrolet at Our Motorsports in 2022, pivots to Sam Hunt Racing and will lead the No. 24 Toyota in 2023.
Grala, a journeyman driver across NASCAR’s three national series since 2016, made his debut for the team in the 2022 season finale at Phoenix Raceway, his 10th start of the season. The upcoming year marks his first full-time NASCAR ride since a Truck Series campaign in 2017 that produced his first national victory at Daytona International Speedway.
Eight years after running against Hunt in what is now the ARCA Menards Series East, Grala was beaming Thursday, relishing the moment in front of him.
“I’ve thought about this for years, and each year, wanted this to fall in place for me and it finally has,” Grala told NASCAR.com. “I feel like the trials and tribulations over the last few years have really made me appreciate this sport, how difficult it is and how important it is to me – how passionate I am about it.
“And that all makes this exact situation that much sweeter, you know? Sam Hunt Racing is such a great place to me. Great environment. They’ve got really talented people. Great support from Toyota. I feel like I’m in a really good place here to have a great opportunity next year.”
Hunt, who finds himself the owner of a two-car Xfinity Series team at age 29, stood in awe of the moment Thursday as his team continues to grow. In May, Hunt employed just 12 full-time workers. He said he’ll end up with “20-plus” heading into 2023, with people eager to come work for his company.
“It’s massive. It’s a huge moment for the team,” Hunt told NASCAR.com. “I think having a guy like Kaz, who has really had to fight and claw for opportunities the last couple years […] I think he’s a guy who’s gonna give every ounce of his effort because like me, our opportunities when we do get them, we’ve got to execute.
“And he’s an experienced guy, which is good. He can be a good leader for our team.”
Grala will be paired with crew chief Allen Hart, who enters his second season atop the pit box after eight years as an engineer at JR Motorsports. In his rookie season as the top shot-caller, Hart had to navigate the personalities and preferences of 10 different drivers.
“As an engineer, I don’t know that I had 10 different drivers my whole career,” said Hart, whose more than 15-year involvement in NASCAR involved working with Dave and Ryan Blaney at Tommy Baldwin Racing before teaming with Justin Allgaier and Regan Smith at JRM. “I grew a lot (in 2022). I think it helped me understand and (spotter Chris) Lambert and I, we grew a lot as a team and as friends over the season. It really made you lean on your core group and your core setup and all those things that make your group better.”
Now Hart and Co. can zero in on Grala, whose resume includes a Cup Series top-10 in the No. 3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing in his debut on the Daytona International Speedway road course and a Craftsman Truck Series victory on Daytona’s superspeedway layout in 2019.
“Having a full-time guy is going to be amazing,” Hart said. “It’s going to let us know where we are as a group and as a team and as an organization, I think. Kaz coming in with all his road-course experience is going to be valuable for us to evaluate our program. I’m looking forward to it – and my interior guys are looking forward to it too. One seat the rest of the year.”
Joining the team for over 60% of the 2023 schedule is Mosack. In addition to two Truck Series starts, Mosack made his inaugural two Xfinity starts in 2022 – one in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota and one in Hunt’s No. 26 Toyota – at Portland International Raceway and Watkins Glen International, respectively. Mosack also made eight starts in the ARCA Menards Series in 2022, scoring four top fives and seven top 10s.
The 23-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native only began racing at age 18 and is best known for his abilities on road courses. The 2020 CARS Tour Rookie of the Year was notable in the Pirelli TransAm TA2 series, competing full-time in 2022 as he netted a Watkins Glen win, six pole positions and five podium finishes.
Hunt was quick to shower the rookie driver with praise on Thursday and offer his full support, noting the duo were introduced by Coy Gibbs, the late vice chairman and chief operating officer of Joe Gibbs Racing who died Nov. 6 after his son, Ty Gibbs, won the Xfinity Series championship.
“I met Connor last year actually through Coy and met Connor and his mom and his family,” Hunt recalled Thursday, “and I remember going home to my wife, Noelle, and just saying, ‘These are the kind of people we want in our lives.’ Connor has every attribute that we could want in a person and in a driver.”
Mosack said he got to know Coy Gibbs as a family friend at the end of 2020, a friendship that led to Mosack’s series debut at Portland in the JGR No. 18 in June. Now, Mosack sits prepared for a 20-race slate in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Sam Hunt Racing, which believes in Mosack enough to be the primary driver of the No. 24 Toyota.
“That means a lot to me,” Mosack said. “I’ve had some ups and downs in my career and had some good runs and struggled in some cars. So, to have someone support me like Sam and the guys on the team means a lot to me and it’s obviously a good confidence booster, and that means a lot going into a new car and new team.”
Sam Hunt Racing debuted in the 2019 Xfinity season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with driver Colin Garrett behind the wheel. The team immediately impressed with a 15th-place qualifying effort en route to a 21st-place finish. Nemechek has scored each of the team’s three top-five finishes – a third-place result at Richmond Raceway in 2021 remaining Sam Hunt Racing’s best finish yet.
“Timing and patience have been pivotal components of our growth process at SHR,” Hunt said in a release. “Expanding to two full-time teams in 2023 brings an excitement level only matched by the responsibility and expectation to compete at a high level every week. It goes without saying that having a full-time driver in the No. 26 for the first time is a blessing to our organization and an important component of our growth. Kaz is a highly talented and experienced driver and has strived for an opportunity like this for a long time.
“Having Connor anchor the No. 24 team is something we are also really looking forward to. He is a very talented young man and has every trait and characteristic I look for in a young driver. We’re heading into 2023 with confidence in both teams and drivers, and I’m excited to continue to build this program with each of them.”
The 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season featured 16 races, 67 drivers and more than 2,750 laps completed from February through October.
While Jon McKennedy claimed the biggest prize of the season, the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship, there were several special awards that were claimed by a variety of drivers.
Below are the special award winners for the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.
Mayhew Tools Dominator Pole Award: Justin Bonsignore
Justin Bonsignore, driver of the No. 51 Phoenix Communications, Inc. Modified, poses for a pole award photo during the Eddie Partridge 256 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Riverhead Raceway on September 17, 2022. (Photo: Mike Lawrence/NASCAR)
For the second straight year, Holtsville, New York, native Justin Bonsignore earned more No. 1 starting positions than any other driver.
The driver of the No. 51 Modified for team owner Ken Massa secured four Mayhew Tools Dominator Pole Awards, one fewer than his total last season when he won the same season-long award.
He was able to turn three of those four pole positions into victories, beginning with Richmond Raceway on April 1. He followed that up with poles and victories at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire, on June 18 and New York’s Riverhead Raceway on Sept. 18.
His other pole came at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where he finished 12th after leading the first two laps.
Mayhew Tools, founded in 1856, is the oldest punch and chisel manufacturer in the United States, growing their extensive professional grade, American made product line to include pry bars, pneumatics, cable ties and more. In 2020, the company extended its product line to a complete line of dual drive and socket bits and sets.
Serving the industrial, automotive, hardware and construction industries, Mayhew’s premium hand tools are sold globally through an extensive distributor network. Mayhew Tools started sponsoring the Whelen Modified Tour pole award in 2019 and has continued the partnership ever since. Mayhew also sponsors six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby.
In addition to Bonsignore, others to secure poles during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season included Matt Hirschman (three), Ron Silk (two), Jake Johnson (two), Coby (one), Timmy Solomito (one), Jimmy Blewett (one), Ronnie Williams (one) and Tyler Rypkema (one).
Doug Coby, driver of the No. 7 John Blewett Inc. Modified, races during the CheckeredFlag.com 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway on August 27, 2022. (Photo: Ryan M. Kelly/NASCAR)
Phil Kurze Mid-Race Leader presented by Josten’s: Doug Coby
While he didn’t compete in every NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race this season, Doug Coby still earned a pair of special awards.
The first of those awards is the Phil Kurze Mid-Race Leader presented by Josten’s, named in honor of former Whelen Engineering vice president of motorsports Phil Kurze and awarded to the driver who is the leader at the halfway mark in the most races throughout the year.
The late Kurze, who was honored last year at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a plaque in the Whelen Hall of Champions, was a strong advocate for short-track racing. He helped elevate the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour prior to his passing in 2018.
In the 12 races that Coby competed in this season, he was the leader at the halfway mark in four of them. That’s two better than both Ron Silk and Jon McKennedy, who were each the leader at halfway in two events this season.
Josten’s, the official provider of the NASCAR Cup Series championship trophy, the Daytona 500 championship ring, the Indy 500 championship ring and more, coins itself as the Most Trusted Partner in Celebrating Moments That Matter and is a proud supporter of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award: Austin Beers
Austin Beers, driver of No. 64 Lumiere Electrical Modified, gets into his car during the Phoenix Communications 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on October 9, 2022. (Photo: Rachel O’Driscoll/NASCAR)
The first year on the road with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was full of learning experiences for Northampton, Pennsylvania’s Austin Beers, but it was well worth the effort and paid off with the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award.
Beers, who competed in four races in 2021 in preparation for his first full season with the Tour in 2022, competed in all 16 races and finished the year ranked fifth in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings.
Driving for team owner Mike Murphy, Beers collected one top-five and seven top-10 finishes against the best Modified drivers in the United States. His best race of the season came at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia, where he earned a third-place finish.
Sunoco, the racing fuel of choice for all of NASCAR’s racing divisions, has been involved in motorsports since the 1960s and continues to be involved today as the Official Fuel of NASCAR and the sponsor of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award.
Hoosier Tire Lap Leader Award: Doug Coby (Owner: Tommy Baldwin Jr.)
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour tire supplier, Hoosier Tire, is the sponsor of a trio of special awards each year. They include the Hoosier Tire Lap Leader Award, which goes to the car owner of the driver who leads the most laps in a race the most times during the season.
This year the award goes to Doug Coby, who led the most laps three times during the 2022 season. Matt Hirschman also led the most laps three times during the season, but Coby got the nod thanks to his higher finishing position in the final NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings.
In all, Coby led a whopping 573 laps during the 2022 season despite missing four races. Hirschman, who himself only competed in seven races, led the second most laps at 384.
Justin Bonsignore, who won a season-high four races during the 2022 campaign, was third on the laps led list at 377. They were the only three drivers who led more than 300 laps during the season.
Justin Bonsignore, driver of the No. 51 Phoenix Communications, Inc., adds a decal to his car after winning the Eddie Partridge 256 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Riverhead Raceway on September 17, 2022. (Photo: Mike Lawrence/NASCAR)
Whelen Engineering Winner of the Race Award: Justin Bonsignore
While Bonsignore fell short of his fourth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship in 2022, he still managed to win the most races throughout the year to secure the Whelen Engineering Winner of the Race Award for the 2022 season.
Bonsignore captured four wins during the 16-race season, starting with his first victory at Richmond Raceway on April 1. He collected his second triumph of the season at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire, on June 18.
He didn’t win his third race of the year until September 3, when he conquered New York’s Oswego Speedway. He claimed his fourth and final triumph of the 2022 season at New York’s Riverhead Raceway on September 17 with his victory during the Eddie Partridge 256.
The Whelen Engineering Winner of the Race Award goes to the driver with the most NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour wins throughout the season. The award is sponsored by series title sponsor Whelen Engineering.
Bonsignore was one of only two drivers to win multiple races during the 2022 season, with the other being Coby, who scored three victories this year. Other race winners in 2022 included champion Jon McKennedy, Eric Goodale, Corey LaJoie, Anthony Nocella, Craig Lutz, Jimmy Blewett, Mike Christopher Jr., Matt Hirschman and Kyle Soper.
Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award and Hoosier Tire Most Improved Award: Ron Silk
Ron Silk, driver of the No. 16 Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes Modified, during practice for the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 at Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 27, 2022. (Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
While Ron Silk fell six points shy of his second NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship, he did still manage to collect a pair of special awards during the 2022 season.
Silk collected the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award as well as the Hoosier Tire Most Improved Award during the 2022 season.
The Hard Charger award is given to the driver who advances the most positions during a race. The postseason award is given to the driver who earns the award in the most races compared to his competitors throughout the season.
Three drivers – Silk, Andrew Krause and Austin Beers – each earned two Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Awards this year. Silk was awarded the season-long award based on his higher finishing position in the final NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings.
The Hoosier Tire Most Improved Award goes to the eligible new team/organization whose driver improves the most positions during the course of each race. Silk secured the award for his team owners Tyler Haydt and Joe Yannone, who were in their first season as team owners on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
In the team’s first year, Silk was able to earn eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes as well as two pole positions.
Throughout the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, no team was as dominant as Tommy Baldwin Racing.
The iconic No. 7NY ended up visiting Victory Lane on five different occasions with a driver lineup consisting of six-time champion Doug Coby, Jimmy Blewett and rookie Mike Christopher Jr., all of which helped Baldwin earn the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour owner’s championship for the first time in his career.
Being able to celebrate the owner’s title at Martinsville Speedway proved to be a special moment for Baldwin, who credited his entire team for staying flawless in their execution through all 16 races on the schedule.
“It was a very consistent year,” Baldwin said. “My team did a really great job completing pit stops and doing everything the correct way. This was a group effort and all three of our drivers did a wonderful job.”
When Baldwin arrived at New Smyrna Speedway with Christopher for the season opener, he initially did not have any plans to pursue the owner’s championship.
Despite being a staple of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for many years, the 2022 season was just the second time Baldwin had contested the entire schedule as a team owner, yet the first part of the season saw him explicitly focus on establishing consistency with a rotating group of drivers.
Baldwin knew both Coby and Blewett were going to contend for victories when he brought them in to drive the 7NY, but he admitted that Christopher taking home a win at Jennerstown Speedway Complex in May following two straight Coby triumphs is what convinced him that an owner’s title was feasible.
The trio of Coby, Blewett and Christopher only continued to rack up accomplishments during the summer and into the fall. Christopher never finished worse than third in his three starts inside the 7NY, while Coby recorded an average finish of fifth across his nine appearances in the car.
Doug Coby pulls into Victory Lane at Langley Speedway on Aug. 27, 2022 for one of Tommy Baldwin Jr.’s five wins as a car owner this year. (Ryan M. Kelly/NASCAR)
Even though Blewett was the only driver to not finish every race on the lead lap in the 7NY following a crash at Thompson Speedway, he did manage to break a six-year winless drought in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour after leading the final 13 laps at Wall Stadium in July.
Baldwin said the unique skill set of each driver was crucial in keeping his Modified program efficient every weekend.
“They all just did their jobs,” Baldwin said. “Doug was the Tour veteran that had run the most races while Jimmy was more of the hands-on guy that helped the whole team. Mikey didn’t know any better, as he was just a rookie who wanted to get in and drive, but he did everything we asked him to do.”
While Coby, Blewett and Christopher showcased the speed of the 7NY every week, it would be a former Tommy Baldwin Racing driver in Jon McKennedy taking home the driver’s championship.
Leading McKennedy atop the pit box was Dale Hedquist, who was serving as a crew chief in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for the first time after spending the last three decades assisting short track programs around the northeast.
Hedquist figured McKennedy would be competitive driving for Tim Lepine’s brand new Modified operation, but admitted he is still in disbelief over defeating drivers like Ron Silk and Justin Bonsignore for the championship in their first year together.
“It was kind of mind blowing,” Hedquist said. “Knowing the history of those that have won the [NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour] championship before us, just being in that conversation is the highest honor any regular competitor can ask for.”
The opportunity for Hedquist to become a title-winning crew chief came about when he ran into McKennedy at the LFR Chassis shop while working for Dave Sapienza. The friendship Hedquist formed with McKennedy resulted in him joining Lepine’s program, who wanted to find consistency with an established veteran like McKennedy.
Hedquist tempered his own expectations for the 2022 season knowing how competitive the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is every year, yet he remained optimistic that McKennedy would at least finish inside the Top 5 in the point standings barring any setbacks.
After enduring inconsistent results through their first three races together, Hedquist noticed Lepine’s team start to develop cohesion at Lee USA Speedway, which saw McKennedy come within one spot of his second career victory.
Jon McKennedy won his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship while being led by Dale Hedquist in his first season as a crew chief in the series. (Veasey Conway/NASCAR)
“We struggled at certain tracks,” Hedquist said. “I didn’t really look at the points, but I tried to keep all the guys focused on the next race. When we finished second at Lee, I thought we had a shot at the Top 3, but that win at Claremont put us in a different stratosphere. The whole team just gelled so much better afterwards.”
Although McKennedy did not find Victory Lane again after Claremont, he ended the year with only three finishes outside the Top 10. Of the drivers that contested the entire 16-race schedule, McKennedy recorded the best average finish with a 7.2.
That consistency put McKennedy and Hedquist in a four-way battle with Silk, Bonsignore and Eric Goodale for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship in the season finale at Martinsville Speedway, which McKennedy ended up claiming despite being involved in a late crash while battling for the lead.
Hedquist said there plenty of mixed emotions immediately after Martinsville for him and his team but said being able to join so many other notable crew chiefs as a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion is an accomplishment he intends to cherish for the rest of his life.
“This is kind of humbling and surreal,” Hedquist said. “It hit home, but it’s still business as usual. We’re already planning for our 2023 season, but once we go to the banquet in Indianapolis, I think all of this will really start to set in.”
With the same talented group of drivers all expected to fight for the championship next year, Hedquist intends to work diligently over the offseason to ensure McKennedy can win consecutive NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour titles.
For Baldwin, he does not envision pursuing the driver’s championship in 2023 and hopes to use a similar group of talented veterans and rookies as he looks to add another milestone to the 7NY’s history in the series.
Having watched his father Tom Baldwin Sr. make the 7NY synonymous with success in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for so many years, Baldwin is honored to keep that tradition going in the modern era as the owner of the prestigious car number.
“This [owner’s championship] secures the legacy of the 7NY in the Modified ranks,” Baldwin said. “This number has been around for a long time, so to get a championship really puts a stamp on everything and legitimizes our team.”
Kyle Busch sported his own bling during last week’s NASCAR Awards festivities in Nashville, a heavy ring on each hand signifying his two Cup Series championships. Those shimmering keepsakes offered a reminder that current champ Joey Logano isn’t the only active driver with multiple titles and that even at a career crossroads, he’s still driven to add more decorations for his digits.
“I might as well wear it when we come to the functions in which you can show people what they’re going after anyway,” Busch said. “So I don’t know, it might be a little bit of a detriment where you’re giving people added motivation, right, but it’s nice when you’re able to pick up the accolades to celebrate those. And this is a celebration of having two rings, and we’d love to get more.”
For the first time in 15 seasons, Busch will be seeking another Cup Series crown with a new team. His transition from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing is already underway this offseason, including turning in his key at JGR and making adjustments to ensure that his driver’s seats and other interior safety and comfort equipment have the proper fit when his new No. 8 Chevrolets hit the track. Adding to the sense of closure: New Kyle Busch-RCR merch and a revamped car number design dropped Thursday and familiar sponsors for 2023 emerged.
Busch became emotional as he exited the No. 18 Toyota he’d become near-synonymous with for the last time in the Nov. 6 season finale at Phoenix Raceway, capping a saga of uncertainty that ended with a shift in his longtime allegiances to both team and manufacturer. But with that move, Busch says, comes the opportunity to re-establish his legacy of winning in new environs. He noted a pair of NFL legends who did the same, claiming Super Bowl crowns with different clubs.
“It’s obviously been a challenging … not just this year but the last little while, and so it’s kind of maybe a blessing in disguise, honestly, where it might just be a time for a fresh start, time for something new and something different,” Busch said. “So I’m kind of looking at it as the Tom Brady-Peyton Manning aspect where they left great teams, great organizations where they won championships, and they went on and were able to win championships somewhere else. So I’d like to think that I still have that opportunity to be able to do that with RCR.”
Busch will work with the No. 8 Chevy team’s incumbent crew chief, Randall Burnett, who helped guide Tyler Reddick to the first three victories of his Cup Series career in 2022. He was alongside Burnett and new teammate Austin Dillon last weekend for some extracurriculars at Circuit of The Americas, driving a No. 3 Chevy in the World Racing League endurance series.
Busch will also make a shift in spotters next year. Tony Hirschman, his former eyes in the sky, will stay with Joe Gibbs Racing to partner with rookie Ty Gibbs, and Busch will pair up with Derek Kneeland, who will remain with the No. 8 crew.
Busch said during Champion’s Week in Nashville that he was aiming to schedule time with Kneeland before the season starts for orientation and to analyze race film. But there’s already a level of familiarity between driver and spotter since Kneeland worked for Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 51 team in the Truck Series last season, which included five spot starts by Busch himself.
“We worked together for some truck races this year, and I felt comfortable with the things that he was doing and saying,” Busch said. “I think that there’s going to be times, for sure, during the year where I might say, ‘OK, that’s too much,’ or, ‘Hey, I need a little bit more, keep talking to me,’ so you’ve just kind of got to give some of that feedback right there in the moment so you can kind of let that guy know and build that relationship of what you’re looking for and how he can help you better.”
Busch’s other major offseason changeover comes in his role as a team owner. Kyle Busch Motorsports announced on Nov. 4 that it would align with Chevrolet next season, fielding two full-time entries in the Craftsman Truck Series. Chase Purdy will drive the No. 4 Chevy in all 23 races, and Jack Wood will wheel the No. 51 Silverado in at least 10 races, sharing the driving duties with Busch and others.
Busch said his KBM crew “have really jumped up and gotten ahead of the game” in changing out the parts and pieces to make the manufacturer shift complete, estimating that just six trucks were left awaiting their swaps as of last week. What’s next is gaining a working knowledge of the new Chevrolet body’s wind-tunnel numbers, mapping the aerodynamics, and developing improvements with the Chevy simulation program.
“So now we have to start over again and doing that with a Chevy sim, so that’s just going to be a big learning curve,” Busch said. “That doesn’t happen overnight. I mean, that’s a 14-month process, so that’ll probably be our biggest thing, but at least we have a notebook to fall back on, and I feel like we’ll be fine to come out of the season strong.”
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Carson Hocevar will return to Niece Motorsports in 2023, piloting the No. 42 WWEX Racing Chevrolet Silverado for his third full-time season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS).
Hocevar, who has made the NCTS playoffs the past two seasons, will race with full-season support from the WWEX Racing program, which comprises Worldwide Express, Unishippers and GlobalTranz.
“Niece Motorsports feels like home, so I’m excited to come back and compete for a championship in 2023,” said Hocevar. “I’m so thankful to Worldwide Express and their WWEX Racing program for stepping up to sponsor us for the whole season. I’ve enjoyed the partnership and really look forward to growing it next season. Our goal remains to bring Niece Motorsports, Al Niece and WWEX Racing wins and a championship in 2023.
“I’ve dreamed of racing in NASCAR since I was a little kid. To be preparing for my third full-time season in the Truck Series is surreal. Thanks to Al Niece and everyone at Niece Motorsports, Chevrolet, the Worldwide Express family of brands, Premier Security Solutions, GM Parts Now, and Scott’s Coins, Jewelry & Sports for getting me here. Their support means the world.”
After a strong rookie campaign in 2021, Hocevar continued to turn heads in his sophomore season. In 23 races this season, Hocevar tallied seven top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. In addition, the Michigan native has earned two stage wins and led 282 laps. Hocevar put the series on notice in June, earning the pole at Sonoma Raceway, a mere seven days after sustaining a broken ankle at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Hocevar’s abilities are not relegated to one type of track. The 19-year-old driver found the front of the field on dirt tracks, road courses, intermediate tracks and short tracks.
While competitors have taken notice of Hocevar’s talent on the track, fans have taken notice of his fun and light-hearted personality off the track. Before climbing aboard his No. 42 Chevrolet on race weekends, Hocevar can often be spotted wearing unique hats.
“We are thrilled to have Carson return to Niece Motorsports next season and excited to expand our partnership with Worldwide Express,” said Niece Motorsports General Manager Cody Efaw.
“Carson has proven time and time again what a tremendous talent he is, and we are glad that he’ll be back behind the wheel of our Chevrolets again next year. We couldn’t do this without great partners, so we are incredibly thankful to have full season support from Worldwide Express. We look forward to making them proud on and off the track.”
Logsitics leaders Worldwide Express, Unishippers and GlobalTranz provide access to industry-leading small package, truckload and less-than-truckload shipping solutions and managed transportation services. Together, the three brands are the Official Logistics Partner of Niece Motorsports, Trackhouse Racing and NASCAR.
“Carson has quickly become one of the most-recognizable figures in the Truck Series — not only for his unique fashion choices, but for his on-track performance,” said Mike Grayson, Executive Vice President of the Worldwide Express family of brands.
“Our company is built on the concept that hard work breeds success. It’s why we couldn’t have picked a better partner than Niece Motorsports, who share the same driving philosophy. We’re excited to be back on the 42 this year as Carson and the Niece team set their sights on the championship.”
Driver: Martin Truex Jr. Car: No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry TRD Crew chief: James Small Final 2022 ranking: 17th Key stats: 4 top fives, 15 top 10s, 1 pole, 572 laps led
How 2022 ended: Some seasons end with a metaphorical (and perhaps literal) roar of success. Others, meanwhile, end with a whimper. Truex Jr.’s 2022 campaign illustrated more of the latter concept. The 42-year-old finished 20th or worse in five of the postseason’s 10 races. Even a respectable eighth-place finish in the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway on Aug. 28 – despite getting caught up in a Lap 102 crash – couldn’t squeak the No. 19 into the playoff field. From no playoff bid to zero wins (a first for Truex Jr. in a season since 2014), 2022 marked itself as a subpar season for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
Best race: New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 17. Starting on the pole and leading 172 of the 301 total laps at Loudon — approximately 30% of the total laps he’d lead in 2022 – put Truex Jr. in a respectable position that inevitably netted the No. 19 driver a fourth-place finish. And while he didn’t end up with the win – despite winning Stage 1 and 2 and leading the first 95 laps to begin the race – Truex Jr. still cemented his New England consistency, even without a win at the track in his Cup career. Truex Jr. has finished inside the top 10 in eight of his last 10 races at New Hampshire and inside the top five in five of those 10 contests.
Other season highlights: Bouncing off Truex Jr.’s success at New Hampshire came what looked to be a potential breakthrough for the No. 19 Toyota when looking at the total results from July and August. Five top-10 finishes over the nine-race span – and only two finishes outside the top 20 to boot – looked to be the remedy to inconsistency that seemingly plagued Truex Jr. throughout the opening half of the season. His eighth-place finish at Daytona to close out the stretch was his second-best finish at the track in his last eight races there. (He finished fourth at the track on Aug. 29, 2020.)
Stat to know: 14.9 average finish in 2022. Naturally, a down year in 2022 will lead to dips in several categories, and Truex Jr.’s average finish was not immune. Truex Jr.’s average finish mark of 14.9 was his lowest in eight years since his 20.2 average finish in 2014. From 2015-2021, Truex Jr. held an average finish mark of 11.3. Rewinding the clocks to those levels of production will surely be on the 2023 docket.
Quotable: “The same. You just go out and fight, man. You go give it all you got. There’s no magic triggers. Just go trying to figure it out and work hard and race hard and see what we can come up with.” – Truex Jr. after his seventh-place finish on Aug. 14 at Richmond Raceway.
Looking ahead: Continuing to fight will be the mantra Truex Jr. rolls with heading into 2023. Another year with James Small as crew chief, not to mention more experience with the Next Gen car, should help serve Truex Jr. well. After all, he won multiple races in four of his previous five seasons heading into 2022. The 2023 season might be the start of another such streak.
Joe Gibbs Racing made another key addition to its Xfinity Series driver roster Thursday, bringing back Ryan Truex for a partial schedule in 2023.
Truex is scheduled for six races as the driver of the No. 19 Toyota. Veteran Jason Ratcliff returns to the organization as the team’s crew chief. The organization indicated that the rest of the No. 19’s driver list, plus the specific races on Truex’s schedule next year, would both be announced at a later date.
Truex is the latest piece added to the driver lineup at JGR, which announced full-time entries for John Hunter Nemechek and Sammy Smith earlier this week. All three are scheduled to be part of a Toyota presentation outlining its Xfinity Series efforts later Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Truex returned to the Xfinity Series in a five-race slate for Joe Gibbs Racing last year, notching a best result of third place in the No. 18 Supra in July at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He also added a one-off start last season for Sam Hunt Racing, a Toyota affiliate on the Xfinity tour.
The 30-year-old younger brother to current Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr. is a veteran of 183 starts across all three NASCAR national series. His last full-time ride was with Niece Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2021.
Ratcliff has an expansive, successful record dating back to his start with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005. He has been the crew chief for 15 Cup Series wins and 54 victories in the Xfinity Series. Ratcliff also teamed with Kyle Busch in an Xfinity championship campaign in 2009.
CONCORD, N.C. – Joe Gibbs Racing supplemented its driver lineup for the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Thursday, moving John Hunter Nemechek into a full-time role in 2023.
Nemechek is set to drive the No. 20 Toyota next season, with Ben Beshore serving as the team’s crew chief. He joins new teammate Sammy Smith, who was named Tuesday as the driver of JGR’s No. 18 GR Supra.
JGR brings the No. 20 back to the Xfinity Series after one year out of its car number rotation. The number was last campaigned by Burton in 2021.
The addition of Nemechek was announced ahead of a formal introduction later Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Toyota’s other affiliated Xfinity Series team – Sam Hunt Racing – also unveiled its plans for 2023.
Nemechek, who raced part-time for both JGR and Sam Hunt Racing in 2021 and 2022, competed for championships in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series over the past two seasons, piloting the No. 4 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports. The move was an admitted gamble by the now 25-year-old, who chose to head to trucks after competing full-time in the premier NASCAR Cup Series in 2020 with Front Row Motorsports.
Standing at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Nemechek reflected on the bet he made on himself that leads him to the No. 20 Toyota GR Supra – the team that enters the 2023 Xfinity Series season as defending champions as the No. 54 team previously headed by driver Ty Gibbs and crew chief Chris Gayle now renumbers.
“I think I’ve grown a lot, that I’m OK with taking risks at times to try and better myself,” Nemechek told NASCAR.com. “But I think the biggest thing is to continue to learn every single day and try and be better every single day. You want to push yourself as hard as you can to learn and continue learning every day to set yourself up for a better spot in the future and try to make yourself a better person off the race track as well as on the race track and just overall a better race car driver.
“I think that there’s a lot to be said about taking a gamble at times but believing in yourself as well.”
Nemechek competed in JGR’s No. 18 Toyota in three Xfinity races last season and drove for Sam Hunt Racing in eight other events. In the Truck Series, he scored two wins, seven pole positions and placed fifth in the final standings for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
The initial move back to the Truck Series puzzled some, but Nemechek saw an opportunity to regularly compete for wins and championships, hoping a possible path to the Cup Series could someday present itself. Nemechek, now a husband to wife Taylor and father to daughter Aspen, is conscious of his future but centering on the tasks at hand first.
“I don’t know where my future lies,” said Nemechek, who made one Cup start for 23XI Racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2022. “I’m excited about this opportunity, focusing on 2023. I feel like being able to go and win races and prove myself will help set me up for a future, but I don’t know what that future may be. So all in all, it’s focusing on the present, focusing on the opportunity at hand to try and go win a lot of races for Toyota, TRD, all of our great partners, as well as everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing.”
JGR also announced that Mobil 1 would be the primary sponsor of the No. 20 Toyota. Nemechek’s entry will also be backed by partners Berry’s Bullets, Pye Barker Fire and Safety and Romco Equipment.
Nemechek has won twice in the Xfinity Series, and his most recent victory came with Joe Gibbs Racing at Texas Motor Speedway in 2021. He is a 13-time winner in the Truck Series, with seven of those wins arriving under the KBM banner in the last two seasons.
His only full-time season in the Xfinity Series came in 2019 when he scored six top fives and 19 top 10s en route to a playoff berth and seventh-place finish in points. Running one-third of the schedule in 2022 helped keep Nemechek fresh, but he admitted room for improvement heading into a new campaign.
“I don’t want to give too much away, but I feel like I need to do better at figuring out this playoff format,” Nemechek said. “I didn’t execute very well over the past couple years in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the opportunity that I had at hand to win two championships, so there’s definitely some focus on that for me.
“Just trying to get myself better to go out and win a championship. That’s one thing that I haven’t done yet. So just focusing on trying to win races, trying to better on and off the race track, putting in different processes, but overall just trusting in the process and pushing as hard as I can.”
Despite entering the year with the title-defending team, the only pressure Nemechek concerns himself with is self-applied, noting he’s his own worst critic.
“I put the most pressure on myself from anyone that’s around me,” Nemechek said. “I know in situations where I may mess up, or I may make a mistake, and I’m hard on myself for that. But at the same time, that’s how I learn. So for me, it’s all about pushing to be better every single time that you hit the race track and learning every single time that you’re on the race track and off the race track. Just excited.”
Beshore returns to JGR’s Xfinity Series effort after working the last two seasons in the Cup Series as crew chief to Kyle Busch on the No. 18 Toyota. Beshore scored three Cup victories together with Busch and is an eight-time winner in Xfinity competition – notching four wins each with Busch and Harrison Burton.
Both of JGR’s full-time drivers from last season will be racing in different surroundings next year. Ty Gibbs, who claimed the Xfinity Series championship on Nov. 5, will race for his grandfather’s team in the Cup Series in 2023. Brandon Jones will be back for his eighth full season in Xfinity but will shift to the JR Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet next year.
Joe Gibbs Racing went back-to-back in the drivers’ championship hunt the last two Xfinity Series seasons, winning with Daniel Hemric in 2021 and Ty Gibbs this year.
m.
