This morning’s announcement will include special organizational news for the 2023 season, featuring an updated driver lineup and more. You can view the stream on NASCAR.com using the above link or tune in to the NASCAR YouTube channel.
When it comes to four drivers, Thursday’s Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 at Martinsville Speedway will make or break their 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.
Jon McKennedy, Ron Silk, Justin Bonsignore and Eric Goodale enter the season finale with a chance to win the championship. Awaiting them are 200 laps around the paperclip-shaped, 0.526-mile oval.
Below, starting with the points leader in McKennedy, we explain how each driver reached this point.
A consistent season has McKennedy in position to claim his first Modified Tour championship in just his second full season.
McKennedy has one victory this year, which came at New Hampshire’s Claremont Motorsports Park. He has finished outside the top 10 just twice this season. He has seven top-five and 13 top-10 finishes, with his top-10 total being the best among drivers on the Tour.
McKennedy enters the finale with a six-point advantage over Silk. Should McKennedy win at Martinsville, he’ll secure his first Tour championship regardless of where his rivals finish.
McKennedy has just one previous start in Tour competition at Martinsville, which came last season. He started eighth and finished 11th.
Ron Silk (Photo: Nick Grace/NASCAR)
Ron Silk: 558 points
The most experienced driver in the battle for the championship is Silk, who enters the finale six points out of the points lead.
Despite being winless thus far in 2022, Silk has used his incredible consistency to keep himself in the thick of the title hunt. His eight top-five finishes are more than any other driver this year, and he’s finished outside the top-10 in just three events.
Silk’s best finishes this season have come at Claremont and Virginia’s Langley Speedway; he scored runner-up finishes in both of those races. Silk has also led 232 laps this year, the fourth highest total on the Tour.
Silk has six previous starts at Martinsville dating back to 2006. His best finish at the track came in 2009, when he started second and finished fourth. He finished 21st in the Tour’s return to the track last season.
Justin Bonsignore (Photo: Nick Grace/NASCAR)
Justin Bonsignore: 553 points
An up-and-down season for Bonsignore has left him in the unenviable position of sitting 11 points behind McKennedy entering the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200.
Bonsignore’s season started as poor as it could have with a last-place finish in the season opener at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway. He rebounded to win the next race at Richmond Raceway, but he followed that with bad finish in the next race, at New York’s Riverhead Raceway.
Bonsignore made up ground in the points through the summer months thanks largely to victories at Monadnock Speedway, Oswego Speedway and Riverhead. He’s led more laps than any of his title rivals this year with 377, and his four victories are the most for a driver on the Tour in 2022. He’ll need more of that summer magic if he hopes to win his fourth championship in five years.
Bonsignore has made just two previous starts at Martinsville, both of which resulted in top-five finishes. He ran second in 2010 and finished third in the Tour’s return to the track last season.
Eric Goodale (Photo: Bryan Bennett/NASCAR)
Eric Goodale: 551 points
The driver who needs to make up the most points in the title race Thursday night happens to be the most recent Tour winner at Martinsville.
Goodale enters the finale fourth in the standings, 13 points behind McKennedy, but he has plenty in his favor. He enters this event having won the most recent Tour race thanks to amazing drive at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Oct. 8. Last year at Martinsville, Goodale started third and led the final 30 laps on his way to victory, one of his now five Tour wins.
Goodale has four previous Tour starts at Martinsville. Including his victory, making him the only driver of the championship four who has a Martinsville clock, he has three top-10 finishes at the track. He enters the finale with five top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 2022.
Bobby Labonte set for Modified Tour debut
Bobby Labonte (Photo: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
For the first time in his lengthy racing career, Bobby Labonte will run with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on Thursday at Martinsville.
Labonte, the 2000 NASCAR Cup Series champion who made his last Cup Series start in 2016, will compete in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 in a Modified fielded by Phil Stefanelli, the owner of PSR Products.
The 58-year-old Texan enjoyed a successful NASCAR career, capturing the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship in 1991 before claiming the Cup Series crown in 2000. He scored 32 NASCAR national series victories during that time, including 21 in the Cup Series with Joe Gibbs Racing.
While effectively retired from competition at the Cup Series level, Labonte has been keeping busy racing Modifieds on the side. He scored a Modified victory at South Carolina’s Dillon Motor Speedway last year.
During his NASCAR career, Labonte competed at Martinsville 42 times at the Cup Series level, earning one victory in 2002. He also has a victory at Martinsville in Xfinity Series competition, which came during the 1992 season, and in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, which came in 2005.
Ryan Newman back for another Modified start at Martinsville
Ryan Newman (Photo: Sanjay Suchak/NASCAR)
For the first time since he competed at Richmond Raceway in April, former NASCAR Cup Series competitor Ryan Newman will race with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour this Thursday.
Newman is no stranger to the Tour; he’s competed in 31 events dating back to 2008. He has four Tour victories to go along with 18 in the NASCAR Cup Series, seven in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, one in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and four in the ARCA Menards Series.
The driver from South Bend, Indiana, will again compete for team owners Hermie Sadler and William Stanley at Martinsville after driving for them at Richmond. He started fourth in that event, led two laps and finished 13th.
While Newman hasn’t won a Modified Tour event since his victory at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2011, that doesn’t mean he’s been winless in a Modified.
Earlier this year, Newman won the first race at the revived North Wilkesboro Speedway, capturing a 50-lap Modified event that also featured drivers like Ryan Preece, Matt Hirschman, the aforementioned Labonte and Jimmy Blewett, among others.
While Newman has never won a Tour race at Martinsville, he does have a Cup Series win at the track in 2012 driving for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Notes:
Tommy Baldwin Racing will clinch the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour owner’s championship when the green flag waves Thursday night. The team has won five races with three drivers (Doug Coby, Jimmy Blewett and Mike Christopher Jr.) this season. Blewett will pilot the No. 7 entry for the team at Martinsville.
NASCAR Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie will make his second start of the season with the Tour, this time aboard the No. 53 for team owner Mike Curb. Ryan Flores, who works as a tire changer for Team Penske as well as an analyst and podcast host for NASCAR.com, will change tires for LaJoie during the event.
Ryan Preece, the 2013 Tour champion, will make his fifth start of the season Thursday at Martinsville. He’ll return to the seat of the Ole Blue No. 3 for the Boehler family, with whom he won his first Tour race at Martinsville in 2008.
A total of 36 cars are entered for Thursday’s race, a season-high for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Chuck Hossfeld returns to Tour competition after last racing with the series at New York’s Oswego Speedway, where he finished second. In two starts this year, Hossfeld has finished third at Richmond Raceway and second at Oswego.
Only four drivers entered in Thursday’s race have victories in Tour competition at Martinsville. They include Jimmy Blewett, Ryan Preece, Bobby Santos III and championship contender Eric Goodale.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Sim racing performed on its grandest stage Tuesday night and delivered an event to remember.
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series held its championship finale at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, in front of a crowd that gathered to watch virtual racing on its real-life counterpart’s hallowed ground — with winner Casey Kirwan taking home an astounding $100,000 championship prize.
There to present the trophy was none other than NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., iRacing’s executive director and a key sim racing leader who helped design the championship trophy that bears his name to resemble Cup Series trophies of decades past. The moment was a far cry from the 1990s when Earnhardt was racking up high Internet bills while racing online himself before his NASCAR career skyrocketed.
On Tuesday, hors d’oeuvres circulated the main hall as drinks flowed among the spectators while four drivers competed on a stage in front of the championed cars of Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.
James Thomas | NASCAR Studios
“This is just confirmation and the result of years of trying to be an advocate or an asset to sim racing, and a lot of people working really hard to create something really special,” Earnhardt Jr. told NASCAR.com. “And also, I think we’ve got to be thankful for all the development team, and everybody that creates the software to be able to get it to a point to where [the] NASCAR industry starts to look at it as an asset, starts to look at it as a way to connect to a certain demographic. That’s really what we’re seeing here is the NASCAR industry really embrace it.”
After being welcomed by the Carolina Panthers’ drumline outside the Hall of Fame, fans and spectators encompassed the main corridor of the hall, all in awe of how far iRacing has come. Fans, along with families of the drivers, cheered as Kirwan made the title-winning pass on Bobby Zalenski, bringing an immediate smile to Kirwan’s face though more than 25 laps remained.
TJ Majors, spotter of the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford, entered sim racing on the ground floor along with Earnhardt Jr., the driver he previously spotted for. The enthusiasm for virtual competition felt Tuesday night once seemed unfathomable. Suddenly, it’s tangible.
“Man, where was this 20, 25 years ago?” Majors laughed. “I mean, this is awesome, man. It’s $100 grand to win this championship, so I can’t even — that’s life-changing for one of these kids, man. But it’s great to see it. We’ve got a huge trophy over here now that’s … gonna mean something. It’s pretty awesome looking. It’s like an old Cup trophy. I mean, you got a Hall of Famer here giving the command. And this is a big production. So it’s pretty cool to see it grow to this and to see this many real-world drivers involved and real race teams.”
Anthony Alfredo, driver of the No. 23 Our Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, helps run the XSET iRacing team that Kirwan competes for and was in attendance to celebrate as the champion co-owner. Alfredo credits the simulation service for his rapid ascension through the stock-car ranks and was struck by the significance of this championship event.
“It’s definitely huge for not just the sim racing industry as a whole but motorsports because I’m one of actually a few drivers now that made the transition from sim to reality, started their career on a computer,” Alfredo said. “So this is just really cool to see guys racing for a world championship tonight, and to be a part of it on the team side with XSET gaming and Casey Kirwan is huge.”
Rajah Caruth is one of the most recent examples of the sim’s success, jumping on iRacing after seeing William Byron’s rise from iRacer to NASCAR Xfinity Series champion — the same Byron who can clinch a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“I didn’t grow up going to the race track. I was born in Atlanta, raised in DC, away from racing,” Caruth said. “The only reason why I have any sort of driving ability is really due to the sim. So that shows the legitimacy of the platform.”
Also on hand was Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series. Stewart-Haas eSports competitor Steven Wilson was among the Championship 4 contenders in the iRacing Series, and Smithfield, primary sponsor of both Wilson and Almirola, has taken notice of the value iRacing’s platform can provide.
“They understand the value, and they know that they can reach a younger demographic of the NASCAR fan by being involved in iRacing,” Almirola said. “And it’s a great opportunity to stay engaged with our fans and the consumers of their products and reach that younger demographic.”
James Thomas | NASCAR Studios
Steve Myers, the executive vice president of iRacing, stood gobsmacked at the success of the event as the festivities slowly came to a close, admitting an event like this was something he’d dreamed of exhibiting.
“These guys start getting emotional, their families get emotional and everyone’s crying. Like, I find myself emotional because I know how much work went into it,” Myers said. “Not just them, but everyone put into this. And to see that end result of the champion having that champion moment, there’s no words that I can use to describe that feeling.
“I am immensely proud of what we accomplished tonight, and I think we just got it started. I think this was a huge success. I think absolutely next year, I feel like we have the momentum to make it bigger.”
The sanctioning body and iRacing have worked more closely in recent years on numerous projects, a list that includes mapping the track laid inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as well as the Chicago street course that will debut in reality in 2023.
That partnership continues to grow, and its roots spread to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday night.
“It’s something that, shoot man, 10 years ago, trying to talk to NASCAR people about iRacing, they just couldn’t see the vision,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “So it’s pretty awesome actually to see everybody can’t deny, I guess, the cool factor here and the sheer connection this creates to a younger demographic.”
Ross Chastain turned in another ho-hum finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, landing a second straight runner-up result after a P2 at Las Vegas the week before.
Why ho-hum? Because we’re now living in a world in which the weekly expectation for the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet driver, who entered 2022 with three total top fives through his first 115 NASCAR Cup Series starts, is a battle for the win and a finish among the leaders.
The 29-year-old Floridian’s out-in-the-open transformation over the course of a rollercoaster 2022 has been one of the most prominent among a handful of remarkable story lines on display this season. Chastain wasn’t in a whole lot of preseason playoff picks, yet here we are about to set the Championship 4 this Sunday at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio) and he’s in the best position to do so of the seven drivers not currently locked in.
It’s the culmination of a lot of deep, ongoing self-analysis and the drive to be better — and then going out and doing it. The Ross Chastain we’re seeing now is not the Ross Chastain that showed up to the LA Coliseum in February, or the one who drew the ire of seemingly half the field over the summer.
He’s leveled up.
“So I mean, (his decision-making improvement is) what I’ve seen in these playoffs. He’s learning when to push and when to chill, and you see it,” Trackhouse co-owner Justin Marks said on pit road after the Dixie Vodka 400, the Round of 8’s middle race. “I mean, he makes his way to the front. And then he’s a threat these last two weeks; he’s been a threat to win both races, obviously. So yeah, that’s just maturity. That’s part of going through the process. He’ll be doing it for a long time. But there’s an absolutely lethal race car driver in there somewhere. It’s just, you know, the experience will bring it out.”
Chastain emerged from his home track looking every bit the championship part, battling with rival and fellow title contender Denny Hamlin cleanly toward the end, and for the second week in a row receiving props after the race from a driver he was racing with. After they stopped their cars on pit road, Chastain and P3-finisher AJ Allmendinger shared a hearty handshake just a week after Vegas winner Joey Logano made sure to mention how much fun he had racing the two-time 2022 winner in the closing laps.
Now contrast that with the constant chatter leading up to and during the playoffs about when drivers might potentially issue payback for past run-ins with Chastain. If they still plan to, we haven’t seen any recent evidence of it.
“(Drama) hasn’t really … you know, there’s been no reason to have that conversation for months now,” said Marks, whose Trackhouse organization has won three total races in its second year of existence. “I mean, it was just a moment in time. And, you know, he learned from it and grew from it. And he’s not going to be that type of guy forever. You know what I mean? It’s just part of the learning experience. So, I suspect that the Ross Chastain we’ve seen for the last couple of months is the Ross Chastain we’re gonna see for many years to come.”
Let’s not put the (watermelon) cart before the horse, of course, but if this is the driver we’re going to see for the next decade-plus, in cars that are already this fast coming from an organization with one of the strongest trajectories in the Cup Series … just do the math there. That’s a strong recipe for a shot at double-digit career wins and the potential for multiple championships, the first of which could come in less than two weeks.
There’s always the chance, as we’ve seen with the comers and goers on the leaderboard in the Next Gen’s first year, that other cars in the garage catch up to Chastain and crew chief Phil Surgen and their weekly ways of finding the front. At the same time, however, it feels like this group still has a ways to go before hitting its ceiling, and that momentum could certainly be carried into 2023 and beyond.
Getty Images
“We’re learning more about what he needs in a race car and giving him a race car for his style. And that just comes with everything we’re learning around this new car, but then his relationship with Phil continuing to develop and making sure during the week that they’re really listening to each other,” said Marks. ” … I mean, look, he’s been here for a long time. He’s got a lot of Cup starts. He’s driven a lot of stuff. And he’s just now in a position where he’s sitting in race cars that can win almost every week. So I just think it goes back to him recognizing the opportunity that he’s got, and just trying to maximize that opportunity to the most of his ability.”
For an ambitious organization that’s intent on doing things differently, it begs the question if expansion — beyond Trackhouse’s Project 91 program — could be in the works.
If so, is the “next Ross Chastain” out there?
“I think as the team grows, obviously, as a company, we have to start looking for talent out there,” said the driver-turned-owner. “But I want both these guys (including No. 99 driver Daniel Suárez) in these cars for a long time. So that’s definitely where we’re at right now. And that’ll just be something for way further down the line as we continue to build this company. I think it probably just goes to … is Trackhouse gonna be in a position over the next couple of years to expand to a third team? And, you know, charter acquisition is a tough thing right now, if not impossible at this moment in time. So we’re just committed to our two guys and our two cars.
” … But yeah, I mean, it’s part of the process. I’m excited watching (Ross) go through it. Excited about our opportunity.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR and FloRacing will continue their unprecedented investment and commitment to grassroots racing, adding $30,000 to the race purse for the Charlie Powell Memorial South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway on Nov. 18-19. The additional funding from FloRacing – along with added prize money from track and race sponsors – more than doubles the race purse from 2021.
The incremental purse will provide additional prize money to the winner, but the majority of the extra investment will go to the middle and back of the field. The last 20 finishers will receive more than double the purse from last year.
The South Carolina 400 was formerly known as the Myrtle Beach 400, a race that took place at Myrtle Beach Speedway. This year is the 30th anniversary of the event. Florence Motor Speedway owner Steve Zacharias formerly served as general manager at Myrtle Beach Speedway. Zacharias purchased Florence after Myrtle Beach closed in 2020 with the goal of making it a premier destination for racers across the country.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will compete in the event, which also features many of the top drivers in grassroots racing. The South Carolina 400 will air live and exclusive on FloRacing.
“We are extremely grateful for the commitment from NASCAR and FloRacing to make the South Carolina 400 even bigger and better than ever,” Zacharias said. “Florence Motor Speedway is a premier destination for short track racing, and we can’t wait to showcase it to the world on FloRacing and to the fans in attendance on Nov. 18-19.”
Fifty-two cars entered the South Carolina 400 in 2021, and more are expected this year. Past winners at Florence Motor Speedway include Earnhardt Jr., Joe Nemechek, John Hunter Nemechek and Josh Berry.
“Grassroots racing is a huge passion of mine and I’m honored to support the South Carolina 400,” said Earnhardt Jr. “I grew up competing at Florence and have been looking forward to taking the wheel there again against some of the best short-track racers in the world.”
About five years ago, teenager Mady Stichal decided she wanted to try racing.
No one in her family had ever raced before; it was just something she saw that looked like fun, and she wanted to try it.
“My dad, when I first told him I wanted to race, he was like, ‘I don’t know,’” Stichal said. “But he saw how committed I was, and he’s every step of the way looked into it, done so much research for me, found so many set-ups and sat me down, read me books after books, articles after articles. Like, ‘Here, look at this, look at this.’ So he’s definitely someone who helped me throughout the way.”
Not only did Stichal want to try racing, she wanted to try everything in racing. After spending the first few years of her career competing on dirt tracks, this season she added an asphalt track to her resume, competing at Alaska Raceway Park.
Stichal ran in the track’s Late Model class full-time, and she competed in the Bandolero, Asphalt Sprint and Legends classes while also competing at three different dirt tracks on her off weekends.
“It was pretty crazy,” Stichal said of her busy season.
The recent high school graduate finished fifth in the GCI Late Model class at Alaska Raceway Park, a NASCAR-sanctioned 0.333-mile track in Palmer, Alaska. She was the highest finishing rookie in the field.
More than anything, 2022 was a learning season for Stichal.
“It was definitely a challenge. I learned a lot,” she said. “In the very beginning I was kind of skeptical of what to do, because I’ve always been on dirt, and I’ve mainly done sprints, so getting into a bigger car, I was like, ‘What could happen?’
“We figured out a lot with me, because my team was like, ‘We usually like setting up for a tighter car,’ and I was like, ‘OK, let’s try it.’ And it ended up not working for me, and we ended up battling setups until we figured out I’m more into loose cars. So it was pretty interesting to learn that each driver is different when it comes to setups.”
Prior to this season, Stichal, who dreams of one day racing in the World of Outlaws, said she had never considered racing on asphalt. That was until her car owner, Stu, reached out.
“He hit me up and was like, ‘Hey, I’ve been watching you race for some time. I really want to step back, and I really want to get a younger driver into the car. Would you be interested?’
“I thought about it and said, ‘This is going to grow my racing career, so why not?’ So I took it.”
In addition to learning how to drive a late model, it took some time for Stichal to adjust week-to-week when going from dirt to asphalt.
She reached her goals in each discipline, getting into the top five among sprint car racers in Alaska while also getting faster every week in a late model.
“It was pretty great for me to be able to jump to all those cars and learn and explore how each car is on this track,” she said. “I was blown away with myself, and I was really proud of my team for getting me back up there. It was awesome.”
Stichal said she’s learned a lot thanks to the help of her family. Even though none of the Stichals have a racing background, while she has learned how to drive, her family has learned with her to help her get better.
“With my whole family, they’re all super supportive,” she said. “They’re all there with me like, ‘Hey check this out, let’s try this set up,’ and I’m like, ‘Yea, let’s try it.’
“It helps me a lot to know that my family is right here by my side. If something goes wrong, if an accident happens or I end up failing or not doing my best, I know that they’re right there still supporting me saying, ‘Hey you have the next race.’”
And there will definitely be a next race. Stichal has talked with her car owner about possibly traveling outside of Alaska to race late models and sprints next season.
She plans to race as many different cars as possible for as long as she can.
“I feel it grounds me to say I can do different things,” she said. “It definitely made me more humble about which car I’m driving.
“I think it’s just the adrenaline rush, for sure, and the speed. Just wanting to be better and be faster every single lap I take for myself.”
Petty GMS Motorsports announced Tuesday that veteran crew chief Luke Lambert will lead the No. 42 Chevrolet team next season, continuing his partnership with driver Noah Gragson into 2023.
Lambert will return to the NASCAR Cup Series after a successful Xfinity Series campaign with Gragson this season on the No. 9 JR Motorsports team. Their pairing has yielded a series-best eight victories this season, including a four-in-a-row win streak that tied a record set by the legendary Sam Ard.
Gragson’s most recent win – last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway – clinched a Championship 4 appearance for the Nov. 5 finale.
“I’m looking forward to continuing this journey with Noah,” Lambert said in a Petty GMS team release. “This year has been fun and rewarding, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. When I joined JRM, it was because I believed in the organization and knew I’d have the opportunity to compete for race wins and a chance at the championship, and that’s exactly where we are right now. I see the same opportunity with Petty GMS. They’ve shown great growth this season and were able to get the team’s first win. With Dave and Erik, along with what Noah and I bring to the table, I think we’ll continue to see that success and contend for race wins next season.”
The announcement finalizes the Petty GMS driver-crew chief lineup for next year. Gragson and Lambert will race alongside the No. 43 Chevy team, which will return driver Erik Jones and crew chief Dave Elenz in 2023.
“Hiring Luke was the right choice for us when it came to finding a crew chief for Noah,” said Joey Cohen, director of competition and engineering for Petty GMS. “The chemistry and success they have had this year in the Xfinity Series is one that can’t be replicated, and we know with the right resources and tools, that success can carry over to the Cup Series next year. Luke brings a great deal of knowledge from his previous years in the Cup Series and knowledge of Noah. With both Luke and Dave next year, Noah and Erik and the relationships they’ve already built, I know we’re giving them the best chance for success next season and the ability to continue to elevate Petty GMS.”
Tuesday’s move marks the latest in a series of changes for the No. 42 team, which was created when team owners Richard Petty and Maury Gallagher merged operations to launch Petty GMS last offseason. Gragson was tapped Aug. 10 as Ty Dillon’s replacement for 2023, and Chad Norris was named interim crew chief for the No. 42 group on Sept. 13, replacing first-year wrench Jerame Donley for the remainder of the season.
Lambert enters with a wealth of experience, dating back to his start as a race engineer for Richard Childress Racing to his ascent to the crew chief role in 2011. Since then, he’s made 332 Cup Series appearances atop the pit box – a stretch that includes one victory (2017) and a Championship 4 appearance (2014), both with Ryan Newman.
Lambert has been a crew chief for just two full seasons in the Xfinity Series, but those stints have been marked by rampant success. He more than doubled his victory total this year, adding Gragson’s eight triumphs to the four wins he shared with driver Elliott Sadler at RCR in 2012.
The hiring of Lambert means that Petty GMS will have two former crew chiefs for the JRM No. 9 team atop their pit boxes next year. Elenz worked with Gragson from 2019-21, collecting five Xfinity Series victories together and making the Championship 4 field in their final year with the No. 9 group.
Jones and Elenz have clicked this year, winning the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway last month and totaling 13 top-10 finishes so far in 2022.
A season of hard work for drivers at 45 NASCAR-sanctioned shorts tracks across the United States and Canada has culminated in celebrations for numerous track champions.
From Alaska Raceway Park in Palmer, Alaska, to New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, drivers from all across the continent worked tirelessly toward the goal of becoming NASCAR track champions this season. For a select few, that dream was realized.
They include 2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion Layne Riggs, who captured his first track title at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway this year. Also among the track champions are drivers like Tim Brown, who captured his record-breaking 12th championship at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Dylan Zampa won 11 races in 13 starts at All American Speedway in Roseville, California, and Craig Von Dohren captured his 13th track championship at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania.
Below is a list of NASCAR-sanctioned division champions from all of the tracks that are part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.
2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series track champions
The battle for the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship will come to a close Thursday when the Tour makes its 37th visit to the popular, 0.526-mile paved oval known as Martinsville Speedway.
Four drivers — Jon McKennedy, Ron Silk, Justin Bonsignore and Eric Goodale — enter the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 in contention for the championship. Any one could end the day as the title winner, but the champion will need to overcome the strongest field of the season.
Martinsville first hosted the modern version of the Tour in 1985, when Charlie Jarzombek won the first two Tour events at the track. Through the years, countless legendary names in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour history have visited Victory Lane at Martinsville, including Reggie Ruggiero, Mike McLaughlin, Tom Baldwin, Tony Hirschman, Mike Stefanik, Ted Christopher, Jimmy Blewett and Donny Lia, among others.
The Tour returned to Martinsville last season for the first time since 2010, and it was Goodale, who enters Thursday’s finale 13 points out of the championship lead, who emerged as the race winner. A victory likely will be what it takes for Goodale to claim his first Tour title, and based on history, that very well could happen.
Below is everything you need to know about Thursday’s Virginia is For Racing Lovers 200 at Martinsville Speedway.
Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 at Martinsville Speedway
What to watch for:
Entering the final race of the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, the top four drivers in the series standings are separated by only 13 points.
Jon McKennedy enters the race as the championship leader, six points ahead of 2011 champion Ron Silk. Three-time and defending Tour champion Justin Bonsignore is third and 11 points back from the lead, while defending Martinsville winner Eric Goodale is fourth, only 13 points back.
Any of those drivers could end Thursday as the champion, but the battle for the victory, the coveted Martinsville grandfather clock and $111,113 in posted awards is going to be as intense as ever. A whopping 37 cars are entered in Thursday’s race, a season-high for the Tour.
Headlining the list of entrants in addition to the championship contenders are a quartet of drivers with experience in the NASCAR Cup Series. They include 2000 NASCAR Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte, who will make his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour debut for team owner Phil Stefanelli.
Cars line up during qualifying for the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 200 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Martinsville Speedway on April 8, 2021. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)
Ryan Newman, the 2008 Daytona 500 winner and four-time Tour winner, returns to make his second start this year in a car co-owned by Hermie Sadler and Virginia State Senator William Stanley. Current Cup Series competitor Corey LaJoie, who made his return to the Tour earlier this year at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, is also entered in the No. 53 for car owner Mike Curb.
Ryan Preece, the 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion, is back for his fifth race of the season and his third start of the year in the legendary Ole Blue No. 3. Preece scored his first Tour triumph back in 2008 at Martinsville in the Ole Blue No. 3.
Other notable entrants include six-time Tour champion Doug Coby, who will be in his own No. 10 for Thursday’s finale, Matt Hirschman, Max McLaughlin, Joey Coulter, Bobby Santos III, Anthony Nocella, Craig Lutz, Jimmy Blewett and Chuck Hossfeld.
The complete entry for the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 can be viewed here.
Schedule: Thursday, Oct. 27… Final practice from 3 – 4 p.m. ET … Qualifying at 5 p.m. … Race at 8 p.m. ET
Qualifying: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 is limited to 32 starters including Provisional Positions.
Tire allotment:The maximum tire allotment available for this event is 12 tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. The tire change rule is four (4) tires, any position.
Kyle Larson was eliminated from repeating as the NASCAR Cup Series drivers’ champion in the Round of 12, but his triumph Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway opened the door for a potential team owners title for his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports group next month.
The possibility of a split championship exists for the first time in the Cup Series’ modern era when the sun sets on the 2022 season Nov. 6 at Phoenix Raceway.
Joey Logano and his Team Penske No. 22 Ford team clinched a unified berth in the Championship 4 fields with a victory in the Round of 8 opener a week ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Three title shots remain open in the driver playoffs, but just two exist on the team owners’ side after Larson locked the No. 5 team in.
The divide opened near the end of the regular season when Kurt Busch withdrew his name from playoff contention as his recovery from a concussion stretched into the postseason. His No. 45 23XI Racing team retained its eligibility for the team owners’ title, thanks to Busch’s win in May at Kansas Speedway. The team, which shifted Bubba Wallace into the No. 45’s seat for the playoffs, was knocked from contention after the Round of 12.
Ryan Blaney clinched the 16th and final spot in the drivers’ playoffs in the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway, but his No. 12 Team Penske Ford team was one spot shy of reaching the owners’ playoffs. Blaney would qualify for the driver’s crown if he advances to the Championship 4 round after Sunday’s Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM) at Martinsville Speedway.
Two Hendrick Motorsports drivers — Chase Elliott and William Byron — remain alive in the drivers’ championship. They also carry the hopes of the No. 9 (Elliott) and No. 24 (Byron) teams with them, which would secure the 15th championship on the team owners’ side for NASCAR Hall of Famer Rick Hendrick.
“I certainly think they’re both important,” said Jeff Andrews, president and general manager of Hendrick Motorsports. “Obviously one has a different financial impact than the other one does, as we know the points fund is based largely on the owner points, but certainly for the driver as well as the team that that driver is associated with. That’s equally important to us, to be able to go there and compete for that and try to get that accomplished.”
There have been two instances of split driver/team championships in Cup:
In 1963, Joe Weatherly won the driver title (drove for nine teams), and Wood Brothers Racing won the team title.
In 1954, Lee Petty won the driver title (with two teams). Herb Thomas won the owner title.
Larson captured his first Cup Series championship last year at Phoenix, but says he still has aspirations for a repeat of sorts for his No. 5 bunch.
“I view myself as … if I say we were to win Phoenix, like my name isn’t going to be on the championship, but having our team be the champion I think is honestly better than … like I would hate to be in Ryan Blaney’s position,” Larson said. “I think he’s the one that’s only in on driver, not owner. I would hate to be in his position, and say he wins the championship and he is credited with a championship but not his team. If I was to have it one way or the other, I would rather be out on my end and be able to celebrate the team championship.
“I’m happy that we get to go compete for that again, and honestly that’s the paycheck, too. We’re going to go for that, and we’re fired up about it.”
Entering the final race of the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, the top four drivers in the series standings are separated by only 13 points.
