Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

PHOENIX — Ross Chastain’s Martinsville miracle continues to make rounds on the Internet days after a Hail-Mary move vaulted him into the Championship 4.

Chastain’s decision to throttle up at Martinsville Speedway and ride the SAFER barrier at full speed through Turns 3 and 4 was still the talk of the NASCAR community Thursday at the Phoenix Convention Center where the four title contenders gathered for media day.

MORE: Why Chastain will win title | Phoenix schedule

An improbable — once thought impossible — move launched the No. 1 Chevrolet from ninth to fourth in the final set of corners. But the question lingered: Is that a move that could have any success at Phoenix Raceway in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race on Sunday afternoon? (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

“I don’t think it’s a move that can have any success at Martinsville,” Chastain laughed Thursday. “I still don’t know why it worked.”

The eighth-generation watermelon farmer’s move transcended the sport of stock-car racing, rocketing him up the leaderboard at the final moment to score enough points to advance to the Championship 4 for the first time in his career — and the first time for his team, Trackhouse Racing.

Why it proved successful is lost on Chastain, but the why doesn’t matter now.

“I look back at it. I look at the physics of it,” Chastain said of the move he perfected in “NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup” on the Nintendo GameCube. “I have people explain to me what happened and what I felt and why that car did not slow down, why it kept air in the tires. Why the suspension — the right-front suspension broke. The right-front upper control arm is broken. But I was able to get across the line before I really could feel it. And then down into Turn 1, I just kept it pinned on the wall because it was broken.

“So why it worked? I don’t know, but I have no ideas or plans to ever do that again because it was not pleasant.”

Whether another moment like that comes to fruition remains to be seen. But so rarely can something be seen for the first time in 74 years of stock-car racing at the sport’s premier level. From immense engagement on social media to gracing the top spot on “SportsCenter’s” top-10 plays, Chastain’s last-ditch effort has been seen everywhere.

“Ross should be really credited because only those unique things can really take you outside of your own bubble and your own world,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., a NASCAR Hall of Famer and analyst for NBC Sports. “And for a moment this week, we were in a lot of places we typically don’t exist. So that was incredible for us and hopefully there’s some momentum and ripple effects and that lasts for quite a while.”

While the move has received its praise, other drivers have voiced their hesitance surrounding the move in future scenarios.

Joey Logano, the 2018 champion, admitted “it was an awesome move to see.” But he cautioned whether a move so daring — where more could have gone wrong than went right — is a long-term positive.

“I don’t know if it’s the best for a few reasons,” Logano said. “One, it’s really, really risky — not only for the driver, but for the fans. There’s a lot of risks there. I don’t know if we should be willing to take that kind of risk. Two, I think the integrity of the sport’s a little bit interesting with this one because let’s be honest — like Ross did it. It’s awesome. Right? It takes big guts to do that. Like that takes a lot.

“But it’s also the move you make in the video game when you can’t get around the corner fast enough. Isn’t it? Like so? And what’s it look like when there’s 10 of us doing the same thing at the same time? And it happens race after race after race. Well, eh. It’s not that cool any more, is it, when you say like that, right? So I think yeah, it was awesome and made top-10 plays as it should. Like all that was really neat. I just don’t think it’s the greatest thing.”

Chase Elliott, the 2020 title winner and this year’s Regular Season Champion, lauded Chastain for taking the risk but echoed Logano’s sentiment regarding potential future wall rides.

“I think there’s a few factors to that in my opinion on it, but certainly commendable for a guy to do what he had to do to get the job done,” Elliott said. “I totally respect that, and I think that that deserves some respect. But from just a global landscape of our sport, when you kind of step back and look at it, I think it is a bit embarrassing, really, when you step back and look at it. It’s like cutting the track at a road course isn’t acceptable, either.

“NASCAR has put a lot of time and effort into making these cars equal, we’re suspending crew chiefs for weeks for pieces of vinyl being in the wrong place, you know, and then you go break the track record and run two seconds faster than everybody. You know, it’s just like from an integrity standpoint of what we do, is that proper? I don’t know, maybe not for me to say, but it certainly is interesting.”

While the legitimacy or future legality of the move remains in question, one thing for sure was the fever pitch surrounding the move. Trackhouse co-owner Pitbull reached out to Chastain to talk about it, but he was one of many. Chastain said he received over 1,000 text messages in the wake of Sunday’s daredevil antics.

“There wasn’t much common sense in this,” Chastain admitted. “And I think the difference in it being — Travis Pastrana said the difference between stupidity and brilliance is success. And this one is brilliant because we succeeded. Now why it worked? I don’t know.”

Chastain also remained adamant this was not a decision he ever practiced in the simulator. At the white flag, Chastain was notified he needed to pass two cars in order to transfer. The idea sparked in his mind, and after confirming he heard them correctly, planted the throttle pedal and sped through the corner some 60 mph faster than his competitors.

“There was a lot of luck involved. I’m not going to shy away from that,” Chastain said. “But I did have it — like from the time we took the white flag, I had it in my mind like you cannot leave the wall. Once I’m on the backstretch, I have to follow it. And it actually has more of a kick out and like a pocket, I’ll call it, in the [Turn] 3 than I even thought.

“And I thought when I hit the wall, I hit it pretty hard on entry, which surprised me. I thought I could just kind of lay into it. And then when I walked the track on the way out that night I realized, kind of like Darlington Turn 3, … the wall goes away six or eight inches that I had never noticed before.”

That’s because no one had ever run the wall like Chastain did before Sunday at Martinsville.

Now, he faces Logano, Elliott and Christopher Bell in a battle for the NASCAR Cup Series championship this weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

Posted on by Zack Albert

PHOENIX — A remorseful Ty Gibbs rolled into the NASCAR Xfinity Series portion of Championship 4 Media Day on Thursday, saying that his selfishness and over-aggressive move last weekend left his family’s racing organization with one fewer chance for a series title. Indeed, he’ll face three JR Motorsports teammates intent on shutting him out in Saturday’s finale.

But before a lap has been turned in Saturday’s Xfinity Series curtain-closer, the war of words has already ramped up, led by old foe Noah Gragson, who derisively called the title-eligible quartet “three and a half men.”

RELATED: Weekend schedule: Phoenix

“Just voicing my opinion, I don’t like him,” said Gragson, who spoke candidly and at length about his disdain for his rival.  “It’s just speaking what everybody doesn’t want to say, but they feel it.”

Championship 4 Media Day included the return of trash-talking and gamesmanship to the pre-race festivities Thursday at the Phoenix Convention Center, with Gragson carrying the primary baton. Gragson will join teammates Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry in taking on Gibbs in Saturday’s Xfinity Series Championship race (6 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM) at Phoenix Raceway.

The issue burbled up last Saturday at Martinsville Speedway, when the 20-year-old Gibbs bounced teammate Brandon Jones from the lead on the final lap of the series’ penultimate race. Gibbs had already locked into the Championship 4 field, but his bump of Jones’ No. 19 Toyota cost Joe Gibbs Racing another slot in the title-eligible field.

Jones will actually be leaving the organization at season’s end to join the JR Motorsports roster as Gragson’s replacement in the No. 9 Chevrolet. But Gibbs’ crash-inducing push had ripples and repercussions beyond the Martinsville moment, with fan opinion swaying far out of favor, and Coach Joe Gibbs – the team owner and young racer’s grandfather – saying that there would be consequences for the on-track actions.

Noah Gragson during the Xfinity Series portion of Championship 4 Media Day at the Phoenix Convention Center
Zack Albert | NASCAR Studios

“You know, going back if I could redo it multiple times, I would,” Gibbs said. “I’ve thought, I guess this scenario over millions of times, you know, and it’s hard for me because I have to live with it now. And it’s really hard, but we could have had two JGR cars, I guess, in the Championship 4, and I took that out. I took 50% of Toyota’s championship and ours, JGR’s championship away for my selfish actions. So I have to move forward and do the best I can to work and to fix these things.”

Gibbs said he had spoken with Jones after the incident, saying that he gained an understanding of Jones’ position while opting to keep other details of their conversation private. As for the potential consequences, Gibbs said he wasn’t aware of what that might entail but would accept whatever the team deemed necessary.

Dealing with that fallout has added another facet to Gibbs’ compelling pursuit of a championship in his first full year of Xfinity competition, and the specter of whether his aggression might rare up again with the title on the line.

“It’s definitely a great question to ask, but I just don’t want to be known as a dirty racer,” Gibbs said. “I want to be known as a class racer, and somebody who’s going to race hard, but not going to be dirty. And you know, I’ve been dirty and made my mistakes. But the only thing I can do now is work forward to changing that perspective.”

For Gragson, the repentance has been part of a pattern for Gibbs – show on-track aggression, apologize, vow to learn a lesson, rinse, repeat. The two rivals – one bound for the Cup Series next year and the other seemingly so – have locked horns multiple times in their head-to-head battles over the last two seasons, and Gragson said he confronted him face-to-face in June to let him know where the two stood.

Gragson didn’t hold back in expanding on that ahead of the season finale.

“I just think like, I’m just sick and tired of the ‘I’m sorry, I’m trying to learn’ deal,” Gragson said. “Like it’s been two years. … Definitely over being – I think all of us – the pinball of this series from him.”

The thought of Gibbs being potentially less aggressive in the final race, with his recent actions being top of mind? “He doesn’t care,” Gragson said. “He lives in fantasy land.”

And on Gibbs’ supposed lack of situational awareness: “I have no clue honestly what goes through his mind,” Gragson said. “God, it would be badass just to live in that kind of world where you just have no real consequences or anything.”

Asked why he doesn’t just pre-emptively crash Gibbs to prove his point, Gragson offered an alternate route: “I want to beat him straight up. It pisses him off a lot more.”

Regardless of the volume of the pre-race noise, a first-time champion will be crowned in the Xfinity Series this year from this intriguing four-driver composite. Gragson and Gibbs are young prospects aiming to cap impressive seasons as they near their Cup Series futures; in Allgaier and Berry, two veteran 30-somethings have a long-awaited national-series title in their reach – Allgaier after a journeyman’s career in Xfinity, and Berry after years of dominating at the local and regional short-track level.

Allgaier was the benefactor of Gibbs’ last gasp at Martinsville, claiming the final Championship 4 spot that belonged to Jones until the final lap. Berry said he was more outspoken than usual about the late-race move last weekend, but that he has respect for Gibbs from having competed against him first on the Late Model level and now in Xfinity.

He also made a point to say that Gibbs was not solely to blame.

“If he could do everything over again last week, I’m sure that he would do things a little bit different,” Berry said. “I don’t completely put all the blame on him for what happened. I mean, there was people watching from afar that had radios that could have made decisions and helped push him and help him maybe make a better decision in that moment. So I don’t think it’s fair to completely put the fault on him in that moment. I know that they could have been more proactive during the race to say, ‘hey, this guy’s got a lot going on the line.’

“Yeah, he roughed you up. I mean, we’ve all seen it, right? I’ve raced short tracks my whole life. People run over each other for the win and the lead, but there’s just … the playoffs create a different dynamic there, that there was a lot going on amongst all that. And you know, somebody from afar could have stepped in and helped make his life a lot easier in that moment.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

The Championship 4 is set, and the only thing left to do now is crown this year’s NASCAR Cup Series title winner.

Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain are prepared to battle in the desert in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Prepare for title weekend with everything you need to know below:

RELATED: Weekend schedule | Cup Series standings

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Unlike most weekends throughout the 2022 Cup schedule, teams will have a full 50-minute practice session Friday evening (8:05 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN). The session will be open to all entries, and teams will be allowed to work on their cars in advance of qualifying.

Qualifying to set the starting lineup will take place on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The Championship 4 drivers and teams will be ordered by their previous race metrics and assigned to Group A or B by the usual odd/even metric procedures. Playoff teams will be the final cars to qualify in their respective groups.

This week, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain will be the final qualifiers in Group A. Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Christopher Bell will qualify last in Group B. Every driver will post one timed lap during their time trial. The fastest five drivers from each group will advance to the final round of qualifying, where those 10 drivers will set one more circuit to fight for the Busch Light Pole Award. The driver who sets the quickest lap in the session will start first on Sunday.

MORE: Paint Scheme Preview | Qualifying order

PHOENIX STORY LINES

— For the first time since 2018, four different organizations are represented in the Championship 4. This is the fifth time it’s happened since the elimination format was introduced in 2014. Joey Logano represents Team Penske; Christopher Bell represents Joe Gibbs Racing; Chase Elliott represents Hendrick Motorsports; and Ross Chastain represents Trackhouse Racing.

— The average age of the 2022 Championship 4 is 29 years, 3 months, 19 days — the youngest ever.

— The top four drivers in average finish in the 2022 season are the Championship 4 drivers.

— Kyle Larson’s Homestead-Miami win locked the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team into the Championship 4 for the owners’ championship. Only twice in Cup have there been a separate owners champion and driver champion: In 1963, Joe Weatherly won the drivers’ title, and Wood Brothers won the owners’ championship; in 1954, Lee Petty won the drivers’ championship, and Herb Thomas won the owners’ championship.

— Logano (2018) and Elliott (2020) are each seeking their second career Cup title, while Bell and Chastain eye their first, respectively.

— 19 different drivers have won this year, tied for the most all time.

— Christopher Bell’s Martinsville victory was also Joe Gibbs Racing’s 200th win, making it the third organization with at least 200 wins.

— Three of the last six champions won the opening race in the Round of 8, including Joey Logano in 2018. Logano won this year’s Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas.

— Chastain advanced to the Championship 4 for the first time in his career, taking Trackhouse Racing there for the first time as well. This is Trackhouse Racing’s second season, and it locked both of its drivers into the playoffs (Chastain, Daniel Suárez).

Source: Racing Insights

GOODYEAR TIRES

Teams will have familiar tires to work with Sunday in the Arizona desert.

Goodyear returns to the 1-mile tri-oval with the same tire setup utilized in the Next Gen’s inaugural Phoenix race back in March. Since then, teams have also run these tires at Richmond, Worldwide Technology Raceway and New Hampshire. Two of this year’s Championship 4 contenders have already won with this Goodyear configuration — Joey Logano was victorious at WWT Raceway, and Christopher Bell won at New Hampshire.

“This is an important weekend for the sport as we crown our 2022 champions,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “In the Cup Series, we’ve had an exciting season with the introduction of the Next Gen car. As has always happened, the learning curve with a new car is steep, and teams work hard at improving their performance as the season goes on.

“We got up to speed fairly quickly at Phoenix after an organizational test at the track in January and then a race in March. Coming back with this same tire setup at four more races at three different tracks throughout the spring and summer, Cup teams have been able to remove that variable as they developed their car setups. Everyone should know what to expect from this tire setup, and that helps the teams as they prepare for Championship Weekend.”

PHOENIX HISTORY

— Phoenix Raceway opened in 1964 with hopes of becoming a western beacon of open-wheel racing and held its first race on a road-course layout. AJ Foyt won the track’s first oval race in March 1964.

— Richard Petty won the venue’s first NASCAR-sanctioned event, a Winston West Series victory in 1978.

— In 1988, three years after Buddy Jobe purchased the track from Dennis Wood, Phoenix held its first Cup Series event, won on Nov. 6 by Alan Kulwicki, who celebrated with the first “Polish Victory Lap” by driving the opposite direction around the track.

— International Speedway Corporation purchased Phoenix in 1997.

— The track was first reconfigured and repaved in 2011, widening the then-frontstretch by 10 feet while extending the backstretch dogleg by 95 feet and tightening its radius. Progressive banking was also added in Turns 1 and 2.

— The track was again reconfigured and renovated in 2018 as part of a $178 million project that saw the start/finish line move to the exit of what was previously Turn 2. Enhancements were made to provide a new pedestrian tunnel as well as upgrade the media center, Victory Lane and garage area.

— Sunday marks the 53rd race at Phoenix and third championship race, with the first coming in 2020.

Source: Racing Insights

BET IT ON THE HOUSE?

Since the elimination-style format was introduced in 2014, the season finale has been won by the champion, a streak that’s lasted eight years.

Naturally, this year’s Championship 4 are the favorites to win this year’s race at Phoenix as well. Chase Elliott enters as the preliminary favorite at 5-2 odds, according to BetMGM. Elliott, who won a series-high five races in 2022, leads the league in average finish (12.0) and drove to the 2020 championship at Phoenix. Hendrick Motorsports has won each of the two title races held at Phoenix.

Behind Elliott on the odds board is Christopher Bell at 13-4 (+325) odds. Bell is a four-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series, but no one has been more clutch in the 2022 season than Bell. The third-year driver for JGR found himself in must-win situations to advance from the Round of 12 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course and again to advance from the Round of 8 at Martinsville Speedway and delivered both times. Factor in that he has a win on this tire package at the 1-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Bell could prove to be a wise pick.

At 4-1 odds sit Joey Logano and Ross Chastain. The duo find themselves on opposite ends of the spectrum — Logano was the earliest to lock himself into the Championship 4 thanks to his win at Vegas while Chastain needed a desperate Hail Mary in the final corners at Martinsville to propel past Denny Hamlin and advance to the championship round. Logano’s advantage is that his No. 22 team had ample time to prep for Phoenix. But Chastain has proven he’s never out of it with a series-leading 14 top-five finishes this year.

MORE: Complete list of odds for Sunday

FANTASY LIVE

Want to manage a team and race your way to the top of the leaderboards? Check out NASCAR Fantasy Live, which reset for the playoffs. The free-to-play game lets you choose your drivers each week and show off your crew-chief instincts by garaging a driver by the end of Stage 2, and there is a $10,000 prize for the playoff winner.

The 2022 Fantasy Live points leaders are Chase Elliott (1,186), Joey Logano (1,087) and Ryan Blaney (1,078).

In addition to Fantasy Live, NASCAR.com is offering the Playoffs Grid Challenge presented by Ruoff Mortgage during the playoffs.

How to play: Fantasy Live | Set up a team today!

ALSO ON NASCAR.COM

Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week, the full field of in-car cameras will be available — as well as a battle cam and an overhead look.

NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement to the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the mobile app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more — and see instant results from NASCAR fans like you.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

ThorSport Racing driver Ben Rhodes hasn’t been front-and-center lately, but runner-up finishes in each of the first two rounds of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs (at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park and Talladega Superspeedway, respectively) were enough to propel him into Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 title event at Phoenix Raceway (10 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Accordingly, Rhodes will try to defend the championship he won with a third-place finish in last year’s title race at Phoenix. If he’s successful, Rhodes will be the second driver to win back-to-back championships in the division. Teammate Matt Crafton (2013-14) is the only driver to have accomplished the feat so far.

RELATED: Weekend schedule for Phoenix | Ranking the Championship 4 drivers

Rhodes claimed his only victory of the season on the Bristol Dirt Track in April. Teammate Ty Majeski, on the other hand, arrives at Phoenix with considerably more momentum, having won two of the last three races, at Bristol (pavement) and Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In the title race, the ThorSport Racing drivers will face off against two Smiths — Zane and Chandler (no relation).

Zane Smith will be trying to break out of the runner-up rut on Friday. He has finished second in the final Truck Series standings for two straight seasons, he enters the Phoenix race second in points, and he has collected five second-place finishes without a win in his last 11 Truck Series starts.

Both Smiths have posted three victories this season. Though he didn’t qualify for the Championship 4 last season, Chandler won the season finale at Phoenix from the pole.

“I feel like last year, the last three quarters of last year, we showed what we were going to have in store for this year,” Chandler said. “We were really good at the end of last year—started getting wins and running up front every single week and were the truck to beat almost every other week—where the year before we were hit-or-miss.

“We ended up getting our stuff together, we were more consistent, winning races and I told the guys next year we are out for blood—we’re going to go get them next year. And look, we’re sitting here talking about running for a championship, and it has just been an amazing experience.”

Posted on by Staff Report

The Championship 4 of Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott will all join NASCAR Studios host Alex Weaver for a live discussion together on Thursday afternoon from Championship Media Day.

NASCAR.com will stream the conversation live from the Phoenix Convention Center at 5 p.m. ET. Tune in here or watch via the NASCAR YouTube channel.

Logano, Bell, Chastain and Elliott will battle for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship on Nov. 6 at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Logano and Elliott eye their second career Cup titles, respectively, while Bell and Chastain are in the Championship 4 for the first time.

Logano was the first to clinch his spot in the championship round thanks to an Oct. 16 win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Bell claimed his place with a second walk-off win in as many rounds, scoring the upset at Martinsville Speedway last weekend.

Chastain’s Hail Mary through Turns 3 and 4 at Martinsville rocketed him into position at the checkered flag, while Elliott found himself above the elimination line in the closing laps.

Posted on by Brandon White

A thrilling and competitive 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season is in the books with veteran driver Jon McKennedy having scored his first championship.

The Chelmsford, Massachusetts, native was competing in his second full-time Tour campaign, and he managed to hold off Ron Silk, Eric Goodale and Justin Bonsignore in points while driving for a new team led by Tim Lepine.

McKennedy’s championship was one of many highlights from a year that featured one of most compelling title fights in the history of the series. Many different drivers also managed to find success across the 16-race campaign that spanned from the Northeast all the way to Florida.

Below are some of the defining figures from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s 38th season of competition.

RELATED: Final NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour point standings

Jon Mckennedy celebrates after winning the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 200 for the Whelen Modified Tour at Martinsville Speedway on October 27, 2022. (Veasey Conway/NASCAR)

1: The amount of races Jon McKennedy won during his championship season. McKennedy’s lone victory came at Claremont Motorsports Park on July 29.

3: The number of drivers who won a race for owner champion Tommy Baldwin Jr. Those drivers were Doug Coby (Riverhead Raceway, Lee USA Speedway and Langley Speedway), Jimmy Blewett (Wall Stadium Speedway) and Mike Christopher Jr. (Jennerstown Speedway).

3: The final position for veteran Eric Goodale in the Tour point standings. It was his best result across 14 full-time seasons in the series. Goodale’s previous best points finish was fifth, which came during the 2017 season.

4: The number of drivers who had a chance to win the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship ahead of the season finale at Martinsville Speedway. They were Jon McKennedy, Ron Silk, Eric Goodale and Justin Bonsignore.

Justin Bonsignore celebrates his win during the Eddie Partridge 256 at Riverhead Raceway on September 17, 2022 (Mike Lawrence/NASCAR)

4: The amount of races Justin Bonsignore won during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, more than any other driver this year. His victories took place at Richmond Raceway, Monadnock Speedway, Oswego Speedway and Riverhead Raceway.

4: The number of drivers who scored their first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victories in 2022. Mike Christopher Jr. won at Jennerstown Speedway, Kyle Soper won at Riverhead Raceway, Anthony Nocella won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Corey LaJoie won at Martinsville Speedway.

4: The number of poles Justin Bonsignore scored during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, more than any other driver. Of the races he started on pole, (Richmond Raceway, Monadnock Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Riverhead Raceway), the only one he did not win came at New Hampshire, where he placed 12th.

5: The number of drivers who recorded double-digit top 10s during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. That list includes the four championship contenders in Jon McKennedy (13), Ron Silk (12), Eric Goodale (11) and Justin Bonsignore (11), as well as Doug Coby (11).

5: The final position for 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour rookie of the year Austin Beers in the point standings. Beers was the only Rookie of the Year candidate to compete in all 16 races on the schedule, scoring a season-best finish of third at Langley Speedway on Aug. 27.

Tommy Baldwin Racing team celebrates their NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour owner’s championship at Martinsville Speedway on October 27, 2022. (Veasey Conway/NASCAR)

6.1: The average finish owners champion Tommy Baldwin Jr.’s No. 7 Modified recorded during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season with Doug Coby, Jimmy Blewett and Mike Christopher Jr. sharing driving duties.

7: The number of top-five finishes by Matt Hirschman in as many NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour starts in 2022. His worst finish in Tour competition came at Oswego Speedway, where he finished fifth.

7.2: The average finish champion Jon McKennedy recorded in 16 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races this year, which ranked higher than any other driver who ran the full schedule. Ron Silk was second of the full-time competitors with a 7.3 average finish.

8: The amount of top-five finishes Ron Silk scored during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, which led all other drivers.

Ron Silk makes a lap around Riverhead Raceway during practice for the Eddie Partridge 256 on September 17, 2022. (Mike Lawrence/NASCAR)

9: The final position for Doug Coby in the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour point standings despite not running the full schedule. In 12 starts, Coby tallied three victories — at Riverhead Raceway, Lee USA Speedway and Langley Speedway.

9: The number of drivers who earned a pole during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. Justin Bonsignore led the way with four poles, while Matt Hirschman followed closely behind with three. Ron Silk and Jake Johnson each earned two poles while Doug Coby, Tyler Rypkema, Timmy Solomito, Ronnie Williams  and Jimmy Blewett all tallied one each.

11: The number of drivers who scored a victory during the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. Justin Bonsignore led the list with four wins, followed by Doug Coby’s three victories. Nine other drivers scored one victory each, including Jon McKennedy, Eric Goodale, Craig Lutz, Matt Hirschman, Mike Christopher Jr., Kyle Soper, Jimmy Blewett, Anthony Nocella and Corey LaJoie.

Anthony Nocella reacts after winning the Whelen 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 16, 2022 (Nick Grace/NASCAR)

13: The amount of top-10 finishes champion Jon McKennedy recorded during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, which led all drivers.

13: The number of points that separated the four championship contenders ahead of the season finale at Martinsville Speedway.

26: The number of drivers who led at least one lap on the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. Doug Coby led the way (573), followed by Matt Hirschman (384), Justin Bonsignore (377), Ron Silk (232), champion Jon McKennedy (229), Timmy Solomito (131), Craig Lutz (119), Corey LaJoie (110), Tyler Rypkema (108), Eric Goodale (103), Tommy Catalano (75), Andrew Krause (70), Donny Lia (44), Kyle Soper (39), Patrick Emerling (33), Mike Christopher Jr. (28), Ryan Preece (26), Jimmy Blewett (19), Kyle Bonsignore (18), Max McLaughlin (10), Chuck Hossfeld (5), Jake Johnson (5), Walter Sutcliffe Jr. (4), Anthony Nocella (4), Ryan Newman (2) and Ronnie Williams (2).

Eric Goodale poses for a photo after winning the Phoenix Communications 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on October 9, 2022 (Rachel O’Driscoll/NASCAR)

27: The number of drivers who scored at least one top-five finish during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.

38: The number of drivers who scored at least one top-10 finish during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.

67: The number of drivers who competed in at least one NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race during the 2022 season.

573: The amount of laps Doug Coby led during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, which ranked higher than any other driver despite Coby missing four races on the year.

Austin Beers looks on during the Toyota Bud Mod Classic 150 at Oswego Speedway on September 3, 2022. (Bryan Bennett/NASCAR)

597: The amount of points Jon McKennedy scored during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season to claim the driver championship.

633: The amount of points Tommy Baldwin Jr. scored during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season to claim the owners’ championship.

2,746: The amount of laps Eric Goodale completed on the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, which ranked higher than any other driver. Rookie of the Year Austin Beers followed closely behind Goodale by completing 2,745 laps.

Posted on by Staff Report

Editor’s note: Tune in live or set your DVRs for Episode 10 tonight at 10 ET on USA Network. The previous nine episodes are currently available for streaming on Peacock.

The 10th episode of USA Network’s unscripted series “Race for the Championship” airs tonight at 10 ET, and it provides an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the field throughout the three-race Round of 8 — including the incredible finale at Martinsville Speedway that saw Ross Chastain haul the wall to clinch a spot in the Championship 4.

Chastain’s last-gasp, last-lap bout of ingenuity is among the highlights in Episode 10. Although fans may have watched his final dash to the checkered flag on replay countless times since Sunday, the “Race for the Championship” crew captures an alternate angle of Trackhouse Racing team owner Justin Marks celebrating. He’s mic’d for sound, too, when he rushes onto pit road to greet Chastain, who is bound for the Championship 4 this weekend alongside Joey Logano, Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott.

The “Race for the Championship” docuseries debuted Sept. 1 with an episode dedicated to the beginning of the NASCAR season. As the series and season have both evolved, it’s caught up to real-time now with tonight’s episode.

NBC Universal previously announced that the entire season so far of Race for the Championship will be available on Peacock starting Oct. 7. Episodes 7-10 of Race for the Championship will still debut on USA Network before being available on Peacock the next day.

So after watching tonight’s Episode 9, be sure to stream previous episodes or any you may have missed on Peacock.

—

How to find USA Network | USA Network streaming on the go

Posted on by Pat DeCola

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of four stories examining why each Championship 4 driver could win the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship. For more on Chastain and the Championship 4, tune in to the “Race for the Championship” docuseries at 10 p.m. ET Thursday on USA Network or set your DVRs.

Tuesday: Joey Logano
Wednesday: Christopher Bell
Thursday: Ross Chastain
Friday: Chase Elliott

• • •

Ross Chastain will win the 2022 championship because …

… if there were such a thing as a mojo meter, the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing driver would be off the charts.

Chastain’s Martinsville move-heard-round-the-world electrified the sports social sphere this week, with the viral clip of his “video-game move” seemingly on every inch of the internet and beyond — even landing at No. 1 on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” top plays list. Being the guy that everybody is talking about; the guy that just locked himself into the championship race in the most remarkable way possible? (Not to mention the guy whose dang team owner is Pitbull?)

Yeah. Everybody wants to be that guy.

RELATED: Odds to win 2022 championship

I’m honestly not sure there was a soul outside the Trackhouse Racing shop that saw a Ross Chastain Championship 4 appearance as even a possibility in February when the season started. And that’s not intended to be a knock on him or them; this run to a title shot — much like his move at Martinsville — just quite simply hadn’t been done before.

There’s hesitation to call them underdogs right now because Chastain and Co. at this point are anything but at this juncture, but here are some facts. The organization itself is only in its second year of existence, and this is the first season for Chastain’s No. 1 team. He’d started 115 Cup races before 2022, finishing in the top 10 in just nine of them, with a best standings finish of 20th last year.

The 2021 season was a foundation-building, inaugural campaign for Trackhouse with driver Daniel Suárez. While he had some bright spots, he ultimately finished below Chastain — running with Chip Ganassi Racing at the time — in the standings in 25th. Justin Marks and Pitbull then outright purchased CGR’s assets, signed Chastain and set themselves up for a two-car operation this season. Sure, you could expect them to build on Year 1 and maybe get one of the drivers into a crowded playoff field.

Instead?

Both claimed their first career Cup victories and the automatic playoff berths that come along with them. They both proved to be legitimate championship contenders, and the No. 1 driver has set the racing world ablaze all season long with a style of racing that perhaps we’ve never seen before — and it’s working.

MARKS: Trackhouse owner on Chastain’s ‘absolutely lethal’ potential

2022 March27 Ross Chastain 2 Main Image
Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

Chastain laid claim to a series-best 14 top fives this season, tying fellow Championship 4 competitor Chase Elliott with the series lead for top 10s (20). His average finish of 13.5 is second-best in the series, and honestly, considering his aggressive tendencies have taken him out while racing at the front of the field on occasion, that number theoretically could’ve been even better.

The Florida native’s finished fourth or better in four of the last five playoff races, has the most top 10s and best average finish (10.56) in the playoffs and was runner-up at Phoenix in the spring. He ranks as the best restarter in the series in 2022, and his team on pit road ranks first on average four-tire pitstop time.

There’s just absolutely nothing to not like about his potential to win this race and the championship — unless you still believe retribution could still be coming his way from one of his many run-ins throughout the season, which feels less likely to happen at this point.

Trackhouse Racing has yet to make a single misstep since its debut in the sport, and in a lot of ways, this really does feel like theirs and Chastain’s championship to lose.

And it’s hard to see them doing so.

MORE: Fewest starts before first Cup championship


Posted on by Staff Report

Richard Childress Racing driver Tyler Reddick announced Wednesday that he has been cleared to race this weekend at Phoenix Raceway for the season’s final race.

Reddick underwent evaluations this week following his early departure from Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.

Reddick pulled his No. 8 Chevrolet to the garage area after voicing concerns over the radio that he was feeling unwell.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos

Upon exiting the car at Martinsville Speedway, Reddick was taken to the infield care center, where he was later evaluated and released. He later said he was involved in an on-track stack-up of cars that led to him exiting Sunday’s race early.

Sunday will be Reddick’s final race in the No. 8 Chevrolet. The 26-year-old will drive the No. 45 Toyota for 23XI Racing beginning next season.

Posted on by Dustin Albino

From the ripe young age of 8, Luke Lambert knew what his future held: Racing.

This weekend, his destiny could be fulfilled, serving as crew chief for Noah Gragson and the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet as the duo battles for the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship at Phoenix Raceway Saturday ( 6 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM).

RELATED: Full Phoenix schedule | Xfinity standings

Between 8-year-old Luke and this weekend in Phoenix, it’s been quite the journey:

Lambert, who raced when he was younger, graduated from North Carolina State University in 2005 with a mechanical engineering background, and he competed on the school’s Formula SAE team.

Lambert landed a job as an engineer out of college at Richard Childress Racing. After six years of working with RCR, he replaced Todd Berrier as Jeff Burton’s crew chief midway through the 2011 season.

The following year, he became the full-time crew chief for Elliott Sadler in his final year at RCR in the Xfinity Series. Lambert returned to crew chief Burton in 2013 in his final Cup campaign at RCR. Once Ryan Newman came over in 2014, Lambert led the way for the No. 31 team for the next five years — picking up his lone Cup win in 2017 at Phoenix  — and stayed with Daniel Hemric in 2019.

“The Cup Series is tough,” Lambert said. “It’s a challenging series. You have all the best guys in it and it’s a grind.”

For the last two years, Lambert moved over to Roush Fenway Racing to work with Chris Buescher. But when the team rebranded to RFK Racing, Lambert had some soul searching to do. He wanted to compete for championships.

Last December, he met Noah Gragson for the first time for lunch at Field of Greens in Mooresville, North Carolina. Instantly, there was chemistry, though Gragson said he had no say in who would be his next crew chief at JRM, with Dave Elenz leaving for Petty GMS Motorsports in the Cup Series.

Gragson was nervous about a future without Elenz.

“I just saw a lot of the things that Noah, JRM and Dave had done together and saw a continuous progression of improvement and potential every week,” Lambert said. “I felt like the work wasn’t done with where he was heading and he’s continuing to put that work in.”

The duo had success right out of the gates in 2022, though Gragson didn’t find Victory Lane until the fourth race of the season at Phoenix. Those first four races all resulted in podium finishes.

“Have you ever met someone and be like, ‘Damn, how did we not know each other?’” Gragson said of their early success. “Like in ‘Step Brothers,’ doing the same thing, building bunk beds and stuff, that’s how I see Luke and I. ‘Did we just become best friends?’ It happened so quick and easy. We tried to spend time with each other, but it wasn’t forced.”

Away from the track, the pairing is arguably closer than they are at the track. When the Lamberts want a night to themselves, sometimes they’ll call on Gragson to watch their kids: Waylon, 10; Cade, 9; RubyLynn, 6.

Gragson enjoys hanging out with the children, acting as an older brother.

“They’re just cool kids,” he said. “They seem like they’re family to me.”

Gragson has taken the Lambert children to dinner and North Wilkesboro to watch a race, while also riding dirt bikes with them.

“He’s a part of our family,” Lambert said of Gragson. “It’s good for all of us and makes the working relationship that much more successful at times. We get along and have a lot of the same interests and try to enjoy whatever we end up doing.”

At the track, the No. 9 team has found camaraderie. Gragson has won a series-high eight races (he’d won five races in his first three seasons combined) and picked up 20 top-five finishes with an average finish of 8.3.

Some of the success can certainly be put on the shoulders of the addition of Lambert. Gragson has also matured throughout the season and become the championship favorite entering this weekend.

Gragson and Lambert are having such success that Lambert will make the move back to the Cup Series in 2023 to crew chief Gragson at Petty GMS. Lambert is ready to tackle the Cup Series once again.

“[Petty GMS] asked who I wanted to be the crew chief and they could give us the option,” Gragson stated. “I was like, ‘I’d like to keep this together if I can.’

“I was nervous because I didn’t want to move up to the new car with a new guy and trying to learn a new guy and new car together.”

Lambert is excited to learn a new craft in the Next Gen car. He was waiting for an opportunity similar to this, though appreciative of his one season at JRM.

“What’s important to me in my job in racing is to be with a team that is successful and to work in a situation where we have an opportunity to compete and contend for wins and championships,” he said. “The relationship that we’ve forged during this time racing together makes it more clear to me that’s where I want to continue and work towards.”

Before departing JRM, Gragson and Lambert have one mission left, winning the Xfinity Series championship. It would be the ultimate payoff for the team that’s been most dominant in the series in 2022.

“It’s certainly a lifelong goal of mine,” Lambert said. “I’ve been able to finish second in the Xfinity Series championship and I’ve been able to finish second as a crew chief in the Cup Series championship. The opportunity to close it out is something that is really important to me.”