Posted on by Reid Spencer

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Corey Heim stood on the frontstretch at Indianapolis Motor Speedway drained from the effort it took to win one of the NASCAR Cup Series’ crown jewel races — the Brickyard 400.

In a race that produced an unexpected winner and an unexpected millionaire, Heim held off Christopher Bell and Joey Logano over the final 34-lap green-flag run on Sunday to win his second Cup Series race in his 15th start.

Not bad for a part-timer who won’t step into a full-time seat with 23XI Racing until next year. Heim, who won at Naval Base Coronado in June, was driving the No. 67 Toyota for the eighth time this season in his first visit to the Brickyard.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Indy

“Yeah, that was a damn handful,” Heim said of the final run. “I was hanging on for dear life once the shade went down and the pace picked up. My car got really loose. And I had never really been in a lot of clean air throughout the day, so that was the hardest I’ve ever fought in my life to just make sure I focused on exits and kept them (Bell and Logano) in dirty air.

“I’m pretty out of breath. That was a workout. It was a dream come true. Winning at the Brickyard. That’s unbelievable. Caught a break early with the pit cycle. And just executed all day. Made no mistakes.”

In the finals of the Cup Series In-Season Challenge, 25th-seeded Todd Gilliland took advantage of third-seeded Ryan Blaney’s unfortunate wreck on Lap 120 to win the $1-million winner-take-all prize by two positions, 24th to Blaney’s 26th.

Blaney was comfortably ahead in the race for the Challenge bounty when his No. 12 Ford turned off the nose of John Hunter Nemechek’s Toyota to ignite an accident that collected nine cars.

IN-SEASON CHALLENGE: Recap championship round at Indy

“It feels really good,” said Gilliland, who survived five rounds to prevail in the Challenge. “Obviously, we wish we ran a little bit better than 24th today, but we did what we had to do. Really, that was the name of our game all the way throughout this Challenge. We just barely skated by.

“We were obviously a bit lucky, but we still stuck out these races. We did the best we could, and luckily it was good enough, just barely every single round. It’s a big prize. One million dollars going to the team. That’s just massive.”

The restart on Lap 127 — after the nine-car wreck that ruined Blaney’s chances in the In-Season Challenge — made all the difference in the outcome of the race.

Leader Denny Hamlin chose the preferred inside lane, while Heim picked the outside. Hamlin had two of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Bell and Chase Briscoe, behind him on the bottom row, but they failed to organize a coordinated push.

Heim, on the other hand, got a strong, sustained shove from Logano in the top lane and barely cleared Hamlin before slipping in front of his 23XI Racing team owner and stalling his momentum. Hamlin fell to fifth in the running order behind Heim, Bell, Logano and Briscoe, and that’s the way the race ended more than 30 laps later.

In the final green-flag run, Heim slipped noticeably only once — entering Turn 1 on Lap 198 — and allowed Bell to close within a car length.

But by keeping Bell’s No. 20 Toyota in dirty air, Heim extended his advantage over the final two trips around the 2.5-mile track and crossed the famous “Yard of Bricks” 0.287 seconds ahead of the JGR driver, who finished second for the sixth time this season without a win.

Bell had nothing but praise for the 24-year-old race winner.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to be able to get there at all,” Bell said. “My guys were telling me he was going loose. I knew really that was going to be my only opportunity; it was a mistake from him. I knew whatever it was, 35 laps, was a very long run. I just needed one bobble. If he had one bobble, I was going to be able to get there.

“Yeah, he did a great job. He showed excellent mental toughness. Put together 35 really good laps. I didn’t have an opportunity.”

Hamlin rued the restart that cost him the chance to win the only Crown Jewel race that has eluded him.

“Yeah, everyone is trying to fight to win the race,” said Hamlin, who extended his series lead to 84 points over 10th-place finisher Tyler Reddick. “When you’re clear by an inch, you’re going to take that inch. It’s really more on us and the 20 (Bell) and the 19 (Briscoe) of just not orchestrating good pushes there. We came detached at the wrong time.

“I thought the 20 obviously was on board with getting us the push. It was way too early before the restart zone. I can’t go till we get to the restart zone. He said that Briscoe was on him way, way early or laying back, one of the two.

“Yeah, that’s how you lose ’em. These restarts, when everyone kind of knows when you’re going to go, it’s about the pushes. That’s essentially where I got the lead from the 67, the restart before (on Lap 120). Just came back the other way around. I maybe was in there just a hair into Turn 2. (Heim) shut the door. I mean, yeah, everyone’s fighting for a big Brickyard victory.”

Two other factors helped Heim’s cause. He was on pit road on Lap 44 when Kyle Larson’s wreck caused the first caution. Gaining spots as the field slowed for the yellow, Heim finished second in Stage 1 after a one-lap dash.

After a debris caution on Lap 114, Heim was first off pit road after running long in Stage 2 and needing a shorter stop for fuel. Though Hamlin regained the lead on the Lap 120 restart, Heim took it back on the restart that proved decisive.

Brad Keselowski finished sixth, followed by Josh Berry, Ryan Preece, pole winner Carson Hocevar and Reddick. Ty Gibbs won the first stage, led twice for 46 laps — second only to Heim’s 58 — and clinched a spot in the Chase with a 12th-place finish.

Four races remain before the 16-driver Chase field is set.

Rotten luck continued to follow reigning series champion Kyle Larson, who maneuvered himself into a race-leading position with an early pit stop on Lap 28, only to have his strategy fall apart thanks to a blown left-rear tire 17 laps later.

When the tire lost air near the end of the backstretch, Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet backed into the outside wall, severely damaging the car.

“It’s obviously disappointing,” Larson said after his release from the infield care center. “To go from 10th to the lead on a good start and race strategy set ourselves up well to gain a lot of points there and set ourselves up well to maintain that track position the rest of the race.

“It’s a bummer but just a part of racing … I had no warning. When I lifted, I felt it drop and spun.”

MORE: Cup standings | Cup schedule

Larson, coming off a 15th-place finish at North Wilkesboro after consecutive 34th-place results at Chicagoland and Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway, fell out of the race in last (39th) place.

On a star-crossed day for Hendrick Motorsports, Chase Elliott fared little better than his teammate. Racing in close quarters with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on Lap 60, Elliott slammed the outside wall just beyond the Turn 2 exit.

Attempts to repair the car on pit road proved futile, forcing Elliott to drive the No. 9 Chevrolet to the garage. Elliott returned to the track 41 laps down and finished 37th.

The Cup Series takes a week off and then heads to Iowa Speedway on Aug. 9 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with four races to go until The Chase.

STAGE 2

Ross Chastain took the Stage 2 checkered flag of Sunday’s Brickyard 400 (watch live on TNT Sports, HBO Max) under caution after Daniel Dye crashed in Turn 3 on Lap 96.

Tempers flared as the continued saga of the Carson Hocevar-Corey Heim rivalry wrote its latest chapter.

Similarly to Stage 1, the No. 67 23XI Racing driver ran the stage long while most of the field came down pit road during the green-flag cycle. Hocevar came off pit road just behind Heim, who led the race at the time, trapping the No. 77 Spire Motorsports driver a lap down. Hocevar tried getting around the No. 67 early on fresh tires, but Heim threw a block to prevent the occurrence.

As Heim came to pit road for service, Hocevar came down the track off Turn 4 and buzzed near the No. 67, giving a No. 1 gesture out the window to Heim.

Completing the top 10 in the second frame: Todd Gilliland, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Heim, Hocevar, Ryan Preece, Michael McDowell, Erik Jones and Daniel Suárez.

Early in Stage 2, Chase Elliott went to the garage after hitting the wall down the backstretch of the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The race claimed another Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after the No. 9 made contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on Lap 60, turning Elliott into the wall. The contact bent a toe link on the right-rear of the No. 9, forcing the team to make extra repairs behind the wall.

MORE: Stage 2 results

Ty Gibbs led the field back to green for the start of Stage 2 after claiming the Stage 1 checkered flag.

STAGE 1

Gibbs took the Stage 1 checkered flag in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway following a one-lap shootout to the line on Lap 50.

A dramatic twist unfolded late in the stage on Lap 45 as Kyle Larson, who was on his way to cycling to the lead and the stage victory after opening pit stops, had a tire go down entering Turn 3. The No. 5 Hendrick Chevrolet then spun and crashed into the outside retaining wall, bringing Larson’s day to an abrupt end. He entered Sunday’s race sixth in points.

MORE: Stage 1 results | Watch Gibbs clinch Stage 1 win

Corey Heim, Michael McDowell, Carson Hocevar and William Byron finished top five in the opening frame, while Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suárez, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick completed the top 10 and those collecting stage points to open the crown-jewel event.

NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed without issue in the Cup Series garage, confirming Corey Heim as the winner.

Contributing: Staff Report

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Larson, the 2024 Brickyard 400 champion and defending NASCAR Cup Series titleholder, crashed during Stage 1 of Sunday’s crown-jewel race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

On Lap 45, Larson blew a left-rear tire entering Turn 3, backing his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into the outside wall. He was running second at the time after jumping toward the top of the pylon by pitting early at Lap 27. Larson was expected to take the lead after the green-flag pit cycle reached completion. Instead, he was scored 39th with just one point.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Indy

“I had no warning,” Larson told reporters from the infield care center after being evaluated and released. “Right when I lifted, I felt it drop and then spun.

“It’s obviously disappointing. To go from 10th to the lead on a good start and then race strategy set us up to gain a lot of points there, and also set ourselves up well to maintain that track position the rest of the race. It’s a bummer, but that’s just part of racing.”

The DNF will mark Larson’s third finish in the last four races outside the top 30. He spun from the top five at Chicagoland Speedway on July 5 and fell two laps down, never recovering. At EchoPark Speedway, the two-time champion suffered damage in a late-race crash down the backstretch, then went spinning again in a separate incident. Last weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Larson suffered damage after contact with Connor Zilisch on pit road, but rallied to finish 15th.

Before his summer slide, Larson sat fifth in the series standings, but now faces another significant points hit with just four regular-season races remaining following Indy.

Larson has plenty of history at the famed 2.5-mile oval, including starts in the 2024 and 2025 Indianapolis 500.

Posted on by Staff Report

Ryan Blaney made his 400th NASCAR Cup Series start by taking the green flag in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford started 13th in the 39-car field for the annual 400-miler. The 32-year-old driver raced with extra incentive as a finalist in the championship round of the In-Season Challenge tournament, facing off against fellow Ford driver Todd Gilliland for the $1 million prize. Blaney ultimately finished 26th, falling two spots short of Gilliland for the title after suffering damage in a Lap 120 crash.

RELATED: Race results | Ryan Blaney through the years

Blaney made his first Cup Series start at Kansas Speedway on May 10, 2014, also driving the No. 12 Ford for Hall of Fame team owner Roger Penske. Since then, he’s collected 19 Cup Series wins, 14 pole positions and 100 top-five finishes, adding the Cup championship to his accomplishment list in 2023.

The bulk of Blaney’s NASCAR national-series career has been spent with Team Penske and its affiliated team, Wood Brothers Racing. In a Tuesday video conference previewing the In-Season Challenge final, Blaney marveled at how quickly the career milestone seemed to arrive.

“It does fly by. I had no idea it was 400 this weekend. It’s incredibly hard to believe,” Blaney said. “It kind of goes back to … none of this happens without Roger Penske, his group, the Wood Brothers, those folks have really given me the opportunity that I can only dream of. I would never have dreamt that I would make it to 400 starts. You just try to continue to take one start at a time, but it does fly by. It does not feel like 400, so I’ve been really lucky to have a great ride for those 400 starts and hopefully I can make it 400 more, for sure.”

Blaney entered Sunday third in the Cup Series standings with five races — including the Brickyard 400 — remaining in the regular season. He has already clinched a spot in the Chase postseason, and has wins this year at Phoenix Raceway and EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta.

Blaney noted how he’s closing in on a more personal milestone — the 473 Cup Series starts made by his father, Dave, over a career that spanned 17 seasons.

“Growing up around the sport, watching my dad do it, I just wanted to do what my dad did,” Blaney said. “I was in love with the sport. As a kid, I was just in awe of race-car drivers and race cars. I just wanted to do that and I’ve been really lucky in my life to get those opportunities and get amazing opportunities to be fairly successful in that sport that I love. … That’s gonna be a really big eye-opener for me if and when I pass my dad in career starts. That’s gonna be like, ‘Oh, man.’ I would never have thought that, but it’s been a fun 400 and, like I said, I hope to make it 400 more.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Seven-time champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson will reunite with his famed No. 48 in the 2027 Daytona 500 as he caps his NASCAR Cup Series career, Rick Hendrick announced Sunday alongside Johnson on the “NASCAR Nation Pre-Race” show on TNT Sports.

Johnson, owner of Legacy Motor Club, will pilot the No. 48 Toyota in an agreement with Hendrick Motorsports to allow Johnson the fitting sendoff.

RELATED: Buy tickets to 2027 Daytona 500

“This is far more than a number,” Johnson said in a release. “The 48 represents people, relationships, memories and a chapter of my life that shaped who I am. To have the opportunity to make one final Cup Series start carrying that number is something I never imagined. I’m incredibly grateful to Rick, Hendrick Motorsports, Ally and everyone who made this possible. It’s a gesture I’ll carry with me forever.”

The entirety of Johnson’s illustrious full-time NASCAR career came while driving the No. 48 car at Hendrick Motorsports, collecting each of his 83 race wins and seven championships with that number donning the side of his vehicle.

A two-time Daytona 500 champion and four-time Brickyard 400 winner, Johnson made his Cup Series debut in the No. 48 car in 2001 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and carried the number in 686 of his 702 career starts, making his most recent appearance in the No. 48 in the 2020 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

“The No. 48 is part of Hendrick Motorsports’ history, and it’s forever connected to Jimmie,” Hendrick, the owner of Hendrick Motorsports, said in a release. “When Jimmie asked about using the number for his final race, it just felt right. Ally immediately understood why it mattered, too. They’ve always valued relationships, and their willingness to be part of this says everything about the kind of partner they are. Seeing Jimmie back in the No. 48 at Daytona one last time will be quite a moment.”

MORE: Jimmie Johnson through the years

Since returning to NASCAR in 2023, Johnson has 16 part-time starts for Legacy, all while driving the No. 84 car. Johnson has led 18,941 laps in his career but none since piloting the No. 84. His return to the No. 48 for one final race creates the opportunity to add to his already enshrined legacy with a number near and dear to his heart.

Alex Bowman is the current driver of the No. 48 car for Hendrick Motorsports. In conjunction with Johnson’s reunion with the number he made famous, Bowman will instead drive a different numbered car to be determined later for the 2027 Daytona 500. Bowman announced Thursday the 2027 season will be his last before retiring from full-time NASCAR competition.

This story will be updated.

Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series take on the famed Brickyard this weekend for their annual stop at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will be in action at the nearby Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Bookmark this page and come back often for your race-week essentials — from links to qualifying order, average practice speeds, results and more.

RELATED: Full weekend schedule | In-Season Challenge preview | TV listings

NASCAR Cup Series

Race day: Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on TNT Sports. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.

Tires: Fourteen total sets — 10 new sets for the race, one for qualifying, which transfers to the race, and three for practice.

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Qualifying Results
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series

Race day: Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on The CW. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.

Tires: Six total sets — three new sets for the race, one for qualifying, which transfers to the race, and two for practice.

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Qualifying Results
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Race day: Friday at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.

Tires: Five total sets — three new sets for the race, one for qualifying, which transfers to the race, and one for practice. If needed, three wet-weather sets will also be available.

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Starting Lineup
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — After two championships and 26 wins since joining Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Larson is used to success.

That makes his current 45-race winless streak all the tougher to reconcile, his longest such drought since joining the organization back in 2021 and all after clinching the Cup Series crown last November at Phoenix Raceway.

MORE: Cup Series standings | Brickyard 400 lineup

But with five races remaining in the 2026 regular season, neither Larson nor No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels are sounding the panic bells. Instead, they’re relishing the opportunity to grow with new players like mechanic Mark Hudson and engineers Nathan Woodby, Ryan Bradley and Jarrett Schalch joining the fray while learning through adversity.

“We started the year with four new team members,” Daniels told NASCAR.com in a Friday interview. “And I try really hard to look at evaluating our process and how does our weekly flow go, and how does our at-track execution through practice and through qualifying and getting race changes done on Sunday (go). We have improved a lot as a team just in what that is. So a lot of confidence comes with that. Even if our outcomes aren’t where we want, we’re getting more and more confident just in our process.”

Make no mistake: The team is well aware of the goose egg that sits in their win column entering Sunday’s Brickyard 400 (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In fact, Hendrick Motorsports as a whole has just two wins through 21 races, both courtesy of Chase Elliott and the No. 9 team. This is unusual territory for a team of Hendrick’s stature, backed by 15 championships and 322 victories. But Daniels isn’t shying away from that story.

“I think it’s important to talk about because Hendrick hasn’t had much of a winning season this year that we are typically accustomed to having, and so the conversations we’ve been having internally is a great look in the mirror,” Daniels said. “It’s a great reminder of just how, if you feel like you’re a percent or two off in a couple areas, this sport is tough. And the garage continues to rise to a higher and higher level every year, and we’re getting pushed to get better. So while there may be growing pains, that is also a really good thing because we’re pushing ourselves to get better — and that’s in every department from how we build the cars, how we prepare the cars, how we pit the cars, engineering and simulation and all of those things. So we’re going to continue to grow and get better.

“We do need to find our way back to Victory Lane as a company, but we have a lot of the right people to do it. Everybody has stuck together. Mr. Hendrick came to us this week and just reminded us (of) the process of continuous improvement, and it is OK to be reminded when you aren’t great of digging in, finding the things to make yourself better. Know that there’s going to be a little bit of a runway to go achieve that, just from a timing standpoint. And as long as everybody’s bought into that, which we are, then I’m confident that our company and our team can get right back to where we need to be. So the growth is tough but necessary.”

Kyle Larson and crew chief Cliff Daniels look on before a NASCAR Cup Series race.
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images

The results of the last three weeks paint a disappointing picture: 34th at both Chicagoland Speedway and EchoPark Speedway before a 15th-place finish, two laps down, at North Wilkesboro Speedway. But context matters too. Larson led 23 laps at Chicagoland before spinning from second; his EchoPark drive was strong before getting collected in a multicar crash late; and early pit-road damage at North Wilkesboro forced Larson to charge from the rear multiple times, walking away with a top-15 finish.

Before those three weeks, Larson finished top five in five of the prior six races, signaling potential even if the ultimate result — a win — has yet to materialize.

“I think we’re a fourth- to seventh-place car and just need to do our best to finish there,” Larson said Friday. “And if you continue to run in that window, you’ll have some wins hopefully — (the) opportunity for wins pop up. But yeah, I mean, we’re always working hard to get better. And I mean, (we’re) working harder probably than ever to get better, so yeah, hopefully it’ll come together.”

Another encouraging takeaway for Daniels has been the team’s patience in execution. That extends from Larson himself to the team members servicing the No. 5 Chevrolet.

“I think we’ve made mistakes in the past of trying too hard to get it all at once,” Daniels said. “And now, the game has just been refined so much by everybody in the garage that little moments of execution can really impact your day. So we need to be solid just on the baseline of what’s in the car and make sure we don’t miss those little moments of execution to do it right. And you’ve seen when we have missed it, it’s impacted our day very negatively. And when we get it right, we’re right up there with all the good guys.”

MORE: Daniels, Alexander preview Brickyard 400

But if one thing is constant in Daniels’ leadership, it is his love of the process, the drive to derive the best of his teammates for a common goal — now in pursuit of a second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship.

“There’s a lot of fun in learning some new guys and how to update your process with new guys that come in that have a little different skill sets and personalities,” Daniels said. “And then once you get through some of the growing pains, how to keep putting it together in a more efficient way, in a more productive way, and we’ve been able to do exactly that. Very much appreciate the guys that left us at the end of last year because they had a great tenure with our team, and now we’re excited of building around this new group.

“And I think there’s a lot of strength that we’ve been building over the summer. And sometimes, you have to go through difficulty and you have to go through those challenges just to know how to update your process and how to have the experience of when things don’t go well. Unfortunately, that’s just part of life. That’s part of competition. Again, we’re trying not to get too caught up in the outcomes. Of course, we have a job to do. Of course, we have outcomes to go achieve. But long before the outcome, you’ve got to have the team chemistry. You’ve got to have the process. You’ve got to have the daily discipline of how you go to work, and that’s what our team has. And we’re going to keep building on that.”

Posted on by Brandon White

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Travis has been validated in this belief on numerous occasions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

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

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

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

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

RELATED: Complete results from Monadnock

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on by Staff Report

Duel at the Dog 200

Monadnock Speedway

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

 

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

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

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

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Indy

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

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

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

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

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

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