Riley Herbst begins to put full races together in search of elusive first win

Posted on April 5, 2023 by Dustin Albino

There’s no sugarcoating it: Riley Herbst believes he needs to win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In 116 starts, he’s yet to stand triumphant in Victory Lane.

But winning isn’t something he stresses much about. It wasn’t long ago when he was barely a threat for the top 10 with Joe Gibbs Racing. He had a disappointing first year in 2021 with Stewart-Haas Racing, taking over the No. 98 Ford that won nine races the previous season with Chase Briscoe behind the wheel.

“In 2020, I had some speed in the 18 car but would put myself in bad positions and wrecked,” Herbst recalled to NASCAR.com. “In 2021, in the 98, we were not that great. We got a pole, but we weren’t good.”

Ahead of the 2022 season, Herbst signed on with Kevin Harvick Inc. Management as a client. Being in the Stewart-Haas family, it was an easy transition, already having a relationship with Harvick himself.

Over the past 14 months, Harvick has stressed to Herbst the importance of finishing races. He believes that to be frequently running inside the top five, you must first place inside the top 10. And to even sniff a win, the team must be consistently in the top five.

“He’s done great; you’ve got to take what it will give you,” Harvick said. “He’s doing exactly what he needs to do, and it’s been a great start to the season and seems comfortable.”

Comfortable, indeed. Before getting spun by Brandon Jones and finishing 23rd at Richmond Raceway last weekend, Herbst was the lone driver to have top-10 finishes in the opening six races of the 2023 season. Comparing his average finish of ninth through seven races to 14.3 in the same amount of events last season — and 22.1 in 2021 — it’s easy to tell the Las Vegas, Nevada native has made great strides for SHR. He is coming off leading a career-high 27 laps at Richmond, in what he says is his favorite track on the schedule.

Adam Glanzman | Getty Images

“I think the only way we could have started the season better was being in Victory Lane,” Herbst said. “Other than that, we’re doing well in stage points, we’re finishing well and that’s what we planned for. We want the best, but we’re doing what we planned.”

Richard Boswell, crew chief of the No. 98, credits Herbst’s preparation to the team’s early season success. It doesn’t hurt to have another year of experience under his belt and be among the longest-tenured drivers with a top team in the series, either.

“Things are just starting to click,” Boswell said. “He’s not making mistakes that he made before. He’s learned from those mistakes and has taken good notes going back to tracks. He’s progressing as a driver.”

Like many young drivers, Herbst doesn’t have a multitude of laps on tracks, given most weekends have between 15 and 20 minutes of practice. In his first two seasons, there was little to no practice because of COVID-19.

By Boswell’s tally, Herbst is just getting to the number of laps that a typical second-year driver would have in previous seasons. And progress is evident.

“That preparation and experience is coming together,” Boswell noted. “It’s a testament to everybody working hard and keeping a good core group together for a couple of years.”

Herbst stated that he began focusing on things that mattered and not reading social media. In the past, comments from people who already have him “labeled” weighed him down. But even away from the race track, his personal life is thriving. Coming full circle, he believes that also boosts his confidence.

“It took me a while to understand that I’m Riley,” Herbst said. “I’m not Cole Custer, I’m not Chase Briscoe. Once I felt like I got that settled and would be able to be myself, have fun and try to drive the race car the way I want to drive the race car, things started to turn.

“I have so much confidence in Richard and everybody on the 98 team. I know that they have confidence in me, and that’s what matters.”

MORE: 2023 Xfinity Series schedule

Herbst knows he will have naysayers no matter what the stat sheet reads. But as he said, “I’ve grown to laugh at it now because I went from getting hate because of wrecking race cars to now I’m getting hate for getting too many top 10s. If I start winning every week, then I’ll get hate from winning too much.”

Candidly, Herbst believes his No. 98 team can win at just about any circuit. He has top-five finishes this season at two distinctly different race tracks in Phoenix Raceway and Atlanta Motor Speedway. Before Richmond last weekend, he put together a streak of nine straight top-10 finishes, which is tied for the longest in SHR’s Xfinity Series history.

But that win still eludes him. He believes it’s the only thing he has left to check off. His next try comes in two weeks at Martinsville Speedway, where he finished third last fall.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we won any of the next five races; if we won all of them, if we won one of them,” Herbst said. “It doesn’t matter because I know the progression that we’re taking and where we want to be when it comes late summer.”

Posted on April 5, 2023April 5, 2023 by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. and GATLINBURG, Tenn. — Sugarlands Distilling Co., an award-winning craft distillery in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and NASCAR today announced the release of an officially licensed limited-edition moonshine to commemorate NASCAR’s 75th anniversary. The Sugarlands NASCAR 75th Anniversary Moonshine will make its debut at Bristol Motor Speedway during the Food City Dirt Race weekend April 8-9. It will be available at the Sugarlands 360 Bar inside the track that weekend and also available for purchase at retailers nationwide while supplies last.

Moonshine played a pivotal role in the birth of NASCAR, which was founded by Bill France Sr. in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1948 and has since grown into the No. 1 motorsport in America. A moonshine still on display at the NASCAR Hall of Fame tells the story of how many of NASCAR’s early stars got their start running moonshine.

Tying together both elements of NASCAR’s beginnings, the Sugarlands NASCAR 75th Anniversary Moonshine boasts a tropical piña colada flavor as a subtle nod to the sport’s beachside start. The label features a photo from a July 10, 1949, NASCAR race in Daytona along with NASCAR’s official 75th-anniversary diamond logo.

“Few products provide a more authentic homage to NASCAR’s roots than a commemorative moonshine,” said Megan Malayter, managing director of licensing and consumer products at NASCAR .”We’re thrilled to collaborate with Sugarlands to give fans a taste of the sport’s origins with a modern twist and provide a fun, fitting toast to NASCAR’s milestone 75th anniversary.”

Sugarlands has a history of supporting NASCAR and collaborating with the racing industry, including currently serving as the “Official Moonshine of Bristol Motor Speedway.” Since launching in 2014, Sugarlands has released limited-edition products to commemorate anniversaries at Bristol Motor Speedway, Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. Earlier this year, Sugarlands announced a season-long partnership with JTG Daugherty Racing and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 47 Camaro ZL1 and 2023 Daytona 500 champion. Sugarlands also partners with NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his wife Amy Earnhardt to produce High Rock, a premium, handcrafted vodka. High Rock recently announced a partnership with JR Motorsports and Josh Berry, making High Rock the “Official Vodka of JR Motorsports.”

“Moonshine and NASCAR go hand-in-hand, both born from a spirit of rebellion and ingenuity,” said Ned Vickers, Sugarlands president and founder. “We have a deep appreciation and respect for motorsports, due to the deep-rooted history moonshine shares with NASCAR, and it’s an honor to help them commemorate this significant milestone for the sport by producing a 75th^–anniversary moonshine.”

Sugarlands produces a full line of craft moonshines and Appalachian Sippin’ Creams with flavors like Dynamite Cinnamon, American Peach, Dark Chocolate Coffee and Butter Pecan. Sugarlands also produces Roaming Man Tennessee Straight Rye Whiskey, winner of nearly three dozen gold and platinum awards, including Best in Class Whiskey in the 2019 American Craft Spirits Association Awards.

To find the Sugarlands NASCAR 75th Anniversary Moonshine at a retailer, visit FindMoonshine.com. Sip Wisely! The NASCAR 75th Anniversary Moonshine is produced and bottled by Sugarlands Distilling Company, Gatlinburg, Tennessee. 35% alc/vo., 70 proof, available in 750 ml jars. Must be 21+ to purchase.

Posted on April 4, 2023April 4, 2023 by Reid Spencer

Those who are familiar with NASCAR Cup Series history doubtless are aware of the intense rivalry at Bristol Motor Speedway between Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte in the late 1990s.

Labonte won the Night Race at Bristol in 1995, but he did so in a wrecked race car, thanks to a brutal hit from Earnhardt as the cars approached the finish line.

Four years later, Labonte was leading on the last lap but didn’t make it to the stripe. In Turn 2, Earnhardt turned Labonte into oncoming traffic and ignited a multi-car wreck on the backstretch.

RELATED: Memorable moments at Bristol

Earnhardt took the checkered flag, but for the first time in his NASCAR Hall of Fame career, he was greeted with a loud chorus of boos from the huge crowd that packed the speedway.

The sentiment against Earnhardt was so strong on that night that owner Richard Childress advised his team to change into generic clothing rather than logoed gear so they wouldn’t be recognized leaving the track.

“Yeah, we had our concerns ’cause there were people that were really upset,” Childress recalled. “I put on a Harley-Davidson T-shirt when I left, and I actually wore it up to the press box with Dale (for post-race interviews).”

Ardent fans also will remember Darrell Waltrip’s record 12 victories at the .533-mile high-banked track. They’ll also remember unprecedented feats accomplished at the speedway.

One of the most notable was Kyle Busch’s sweep in 2010 when he won races in all three of NASCAR’s top national touring division at the same track on the same weekend. Busch repeated the feat at Bristol in 2017 and remains the only driver ever to accomplish the weekend triple.

Among active drivers, Busch is the leading winner at Bristol Motor Speedway with eight victories on the concrete surface. He was the first driver to win in NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow, introduced to Cup competition at Bristol on March 25, 2007.

He’s also the defending winner of the Food City Dirt Race, which will be contested Sunday night (7 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

That event will be only the third on dirt in the Modern Era (1972 to present) of NASCAR’s 75-year history, but many don’t remember that the groundwork was laid for the current races in 2001 and 2002—the first time the paved surface at Bristol was covered with dirt for special events.

In those two years, sprint cars raced on the dirt surface and open-wheel legend Sammy Swindell won both races from the pole.

Though Bruton Smith is credited with the amazing transformation of Bristol into “The Last Great Colosseum,” two key innovations took place in the five years before Smith acquired the track in 1996 through his corporate entity, Speedway Motorsports, Inc.

In 1992, the asphalt surface was replaced by concrete, and in 1995 permanent lighting was installed to replace the temporary lighting (mounted on trucks) that had illuminated the Night Race from 1978 through 1994.

When Smith acquired the speedway, the seating capacity was listed at 71,000. As SMI added to the facility and encircled the track with massive grandstands, the track grew to the point where it could hold as many as 160,000 fans.

As one of the largest sports venues in the United States, Bristol became a record-setter. When the speedway hosted a football game between Tennessee and Virginia Tech in 2016, attendance was listed at 156,990, the largest crowd ever to attend a college football game by more than 40,000.

That was a high-profile event but many fans don’t remember that in its maiden year of 1961, Bristol hosted an NFL preseason game between Philadelphia and Washington, which the Eagles won 17-10.

The size of a college football crowd wasn’t the only way Bristol has qualified for the Guinness Book of Records. In August of 2007, Bristol was the site of the world’s largest card section, where the crowd—with 128,000 cards—spelled out “USA” with representations of the American flag in the frontstretch and backstretch grandstands.

Bristol also gets credit from Guinness for the world’s largest crowd-wave and the world’s largest karaoke.

Posted on April 4, 2023 by Zach Sturniolo

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The NASCAR Hall of Fame has officially entered its next generation.

Austin Cindric, driver of Team Penske’s No. 2 Ford, helped unveil the white and black Discount Tire Mustang used to win the 2022 Daytona 500 on the hall’s “Glory Road” exhibit on Tuesday morning, the first Next Gen car to be displayed in the prestigious main floor of the hallowed grounds.

Last year’s season opener served as the first points-paying race of the newest era of NASCAR Cup Series racing, introducing the Next Gen car to the fray just in time for Cindric’s rookie campaign. The end result was team owner Roger Penske’s third triumph in the “Great American Race” and the first for the storied No. 2 car.

MORE: Relive the 2022 Daytona 500 | Cup Series schedule

Gone were the layers of colorful confetti that once laminated the machine, but the signatures of all the crew members who worked on the vehicle that February day in 2022 still donned the rear bumper panel, signifying this was, in fact, the same car Cindric wheeled to Daytona glory.

“It’s really cool that as a company, Roger really appreciates the history,” Cindric said Tuesday. “And as far as you know, making this car look showroom-ready for an opportunity like this, it’s really special. Obviously special for us to be part of it. Awesome to kind of get the entire team here. I think we’re only missing one member of the crew that won that race. So otherwise, pretty special. Pretty hard to replicate moments like that, so good to enjoy.”

Nigel Kinrade Photography via Team Penske

The allure of a Daytona 500 victory hasn’t yet worn off for Cindric, nor will it any time soon. That his car sits in the Hall of Fame merely 14 months into his full-time Cup career takes him aback.

“I mean, I probably would have guessed it would have been something that like flipped or wrecked or some example of that and probably not the Daytona 500 winning car,” Cindric said. “But it’s certainly what’s possible when you go out for Roger Penske and have a team like I have, so those are the things that are really important about having success in the sport.”

Michael Nelson, team president of NASCAR operations, has been a member of Team Penske since 1998. Seeing one of the latest iterations of the team’s success — an inaugural win with a new vehicle platform — prompted some reflection.

“I think there’s a bit of pride and, you know, just a sense of accomplishment by being here,” Nelson told NASCAR.com. “You know, it really started to set in when I walked in to see the car. And people come from all over the world to learn about NASCAR in this building, right? And to have one of our race cars here is just an immense honor.”

Through his years at Team Penske, Nelson has also seen Cindric grow from a child into a winning NASCAR Cup Series competitor. As the son of team president Tim Cindric, Austin Cindric has spent his life around Team Penske.

“I think some things have changed for him, but some things really haven’t,” Nelson said. “I mean, you could see the dedication, determination, hard work from the very beginning, even at the early stages. But the cars have changed, right? But, you know, I’ve known for a long time this is really what he’s wanted to do. And he was determined to do it.

“He’s a hard worker, very intelligent young man. And, you know, I’ve seen him mature in terms of his race-craft, and you know, the experience in all these different types of cars has helped him. But there was something there from the beginning.”

Nigel Kinrade Photography via Team Penske

In his own words, Cindric’s sophomore year has been up and down. In seven starts, the Mooresville, North Carolina, native has two top-10 finishes (sixth at both Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Circuit of The Americas) and an 11th-place run at Atlanta, but his other four results are 23rd place or worse.

“I’d say it feels normal,” Cindric said of being a second-year Cup driver. “Like I feel like I’m going into work every day. It doesn’t feel like, ‘Oh my god, I’m going Cup racing, I gotta figure this out.’ The guys I’m racing against, yeah, I still feel like I have a lack of experience some days, but I definitely know what I bring to the table. I know what I have to work on.

“And there’s been some frustrating moments already throughout the year. You know, you start the year off getting put in the wall three races in a row and trying to figure out how to just get things going. And then you have two really good weeks, and then you have another really bad week. So just the ups and downs — it’s so hard now more than ever, I think, to find consistency in the Cup Series.

“That’s where you see drivers and organizations right now really having the most success, just being able to be in the game every week. That’s harder than y’all might think. So I respect that but I want to be there for sure.”

As a whole, Team Penske has been hit or miss in 2023. In 21 combined starts across its three entries with defending series champion Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Cindric, the organization has one win (Logano, Atlanta), three top fives and nine top 10s. There has been speed, but not quite the results to show for it. Logano’s average finish is 13.6, Blaney’s 14.7 and Cindric’s 18.1.

“It’s been a little bit up and down, I think,” Nelson said. “You know, I’m encouraged by our performance. We were really close to winning the Daytona 500. We won the race at Atlanta. You know, we’ve had some execution issues that probably have prevented us from showing what we have at times. That’s our biggest challenge right now is trying to minimize mistakes, whether it be on pit road or on the race track.

“The cars are a little different this year with some of the changes, so we’re adapting to that as well. And this past weekend in Richmond, no practice, right? So yeah, I think we’re OK, we’re on track. We just haven’t achieved exactly what we wanted to so far. I feel good about where we’re going.”

Posted on April 4, 2023April 4, 2023 by Press Release

RALEIGH, N.C. — Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP), a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider and the official auto parts retailer of NASCAR, announced that voting is live for its third-annual Advance My Track Challenge. The program encourages race fans to vote for their local NASCAR-sanctioned short track, with the track receiving the most votes winning a $50,000 grand prize.

Beginning today, fans can visit AdvanceMyTrack.com to vote for one of 25 NASCAR Home Tracks located in the U.S. or Canada. Tracks that are part of the program showcase a variety of NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series (NAAPWS) racing disciplines, including late model stock cars, open wheel modified cars and street stock race cars.

The first round of voting concludes Friday, May 5. One track per region (West, Midwest, Southeast, Northeast) plus the track with the next-highest total of votes will move to a final round of voting on May 9-15. Each of the five finalist tracks will win $5,000, with the track receiving the most votes in the final round winning $50,000. Teams at winning tracks are encouraged to use prize money for track facility upgrades or to establish programming with schools or nonprofits that benefit their local community.

“We are passionate about offering race fans a platform to advance local grassroots racing,” said Jason McDonell, Advance’s executive vice president of merchandising, marketing and eCommerce. “The Advance My Track Challenge spotlights the importance of local racing and how NASCAR Home Tracks have been enjoyed by fans for generations. Short track racing is part of NASCAR’s past, present and future, and this program ensures that local venues will continue to provide entertainment for fans and a chance for racers to live out their dreams.”

“Advance Auto Parts’ commitment to improving facility infrastructure and fan experience through the Advance My Track Challenge continues to enhance grassroots racing across the country,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR senior vice president, racing development & strategy. “As NASCAR celebrates our 75th Anniversary season this year, it is more important than ever to put a focus on racing at the local level, which is the foundation of our sport.”

Advance will activate the program alongside its partners at Team Penske. Advance My Track Challenge “Vote Now” branding will be featured on Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, April 16 (3 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1).

“It’s important for grassroots racing to be accessible for fans and drivers,” said Blaney, a third-generation race car driver and 7-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner. “I’m proud to work with a partner like Advance who is focused on supporting NASCAR’s Home Tracks and local race fans through programs like Advance My Track Challenge. We couldn’t pick a better place to kick off the program than Martinsville, one of NASCAR’s most fun and old-school style race tracks. We’re looking forward to a great ride in our No. 12 Ford Mustang this weekend.”

The Advance My Track Challenge first launched in 2021. In its two years, Advance and NASCAR celebrated Berlin Raceway (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Jennerstown Speedway (Jennerstown, Pa.) as its two winners of the $50,000 grand prize.

Advance’s support of the NAAPWS includes its “Home Track Highlights” program. The retailer is using its season-long sponsorship of Blaney’s No. 12 Ford to spotlight various local NASCAR track champions across the U.S. and Canada. Each week, different Weekly Series drivers are featured on Blaney’s car. For every Blaney Cup Series victory, the winning driver(s) featured on his car each receive a $1,200 Advance gift card.

Posted on April 3, 2023 by Staff Report

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

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

MORE: Analyzing Truex’s day | Full Richmond recap

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on April 3, 2023 by Tadd Haislop

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Justin Haley and Joey Dennewitz

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

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

Now Dennewitz enjoys joking about his days behind the wheel.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on April 2, 2023April 3, 2023 by Zack Albert

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

RELATED: Richmond race results | At-track photos

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

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

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

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

After watching the replay, I saw there was much more room than what I thought in the heat of the moment. Sorry @WilliamByron. https://t.co/ESQgXHjOtn

— Christopher Bell (@CBellRacing) April 3, 2023

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

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

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

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

Posted on April 2, 2023April 3, 2023 by John Crane

Oh, so close.

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

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

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

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

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

WATCH: Byron spins after contact from Bell at Richmond

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

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

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

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

Posted on April 2, 2023 by Zack Albert

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

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

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

RELATED: Richmond race results | At-track photos

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

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

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

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

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

MORE: Race Rewind: All the key highlights

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

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

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

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

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

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

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