The No. 15 Ford driven by Tanner Gray and the No. 61 Toyota of Chase Purdy were each found with one lug nut loose following the series’ event on Sept. 9 at Kansas Speedway.
Mike Hillman Jr., crew chief for the No. 15 David Gilliland Racing outfit, and Matt Lucas, crew chief for Hattori Racing Enterprise’s No. 61 entry, were each fined $2,500 as the unsecured lug nuts violate Sections 8.8.10.4a of the NASCAR Rule Book. The rule states all tires and wheels must be properly secured.
The series returns to action on Thursday at Bristol Motor Speedway (9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as the Round of 8 in the Truck Series Playoffs gets underway.
Jeremy Clements Racing won its appeal of an L2-level penalty levied by NASCAR officials following the No. 51 Chevrolet’s victory last month at Daytona International Speedway, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel decided Tuesday.
Clements wheeled the vehicle to victory in the Xfinity Series race, but the win was soon determined ineligible to count for the Xfinity Series Playoffs. The No. 51 was found in violation of Sections 14.6.12K&U of the NASCAR Rule Book, which pertains to the intake manifold. Additionally, crew chief Mark Setzer was initially fined $60,000 and the team was assessed the loss of 75 owner points, 75 driver points and 10 playoff points should it still qualify for the postseason.
Those penalties are now wiped clean and Clements’ win will count toward qualifying for the postseason.
The Appeals Panel members for this hearing were Tom DeLoach, Richard Gore and Dixon Johnston.
The Xfinity Series regular season concludes Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway with the Food City 300 (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
With Kyle Busch’s impending move to Richard Childress Racing in 2023 comes fresh opportunity for the two-time Cup Series champion — in NASCAR and beyond.
The potential of competing in the Indianapolis 500 is one that has always intrigued Busch, and had previously been forbidden by his future former employer in Joe Gibbs Racing. While not a priority during his contract negotiations with the several teams he met with, the prospect was one that Rowdy ensured was included in the final paperwork before signing a multi-year deal with RCR starting in 2023.
“I made sure it was in the deal,” Busch said Tuesday after his announcement at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “I can go run it if I want to run it. So by all means, any IndyCar teams that are Chevrolet, call me up … I can do it. It wasn’t important. No, none of the teams that I spoke to that was not on the priority list. The priority list was me, myself. Can I win races? Can I win championships and then what does KBM look like? Indy 500 wasn’t on that paper.”
The 37-year-old Busch is arguably NASCAR’s top all-around talent, always looking to prove himself behind the wheel of a variety of vehicles across disciplines. The thought of running one of the nation’s premier motorsports events for the first time has always been on the native Nevadan’s checklist, but perhaps more so after seeing brother Kurt perform the Indy 500/Coca-Cola 600 crossover double on Memorial Day Weekend in 2014.
The only hurdle remaining for Busch to enter the legendary event at The Brickyard is finding a suitable ride — even wife Samantha has apparently given a soft blessing.
“Yeah, (Samantha’s OK with it.) I mean, yeah, she hasn’t said no,” he said.
“The last person that said no was my former boss.”
An emotional weekend is ahead for everyone involved in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour as the series heads to Riverhead Raceway for the third time this year.
Former Riverhead and long-time team owner Eddie Partridge is being honored with a 256-lap race named after him on Saturday. Normally a 200-lap feature, the race has been extended by NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and Riverhead officials to its new distance to pay tribute to the No. 6 that Partridge fielded in the series for many years.
Having won both a driver and owner’s championship in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour with Ron Silk and Ryan Preece, respectively, Partridge purchased Riverhead in 2015 and was instrumental in maintaining the facility’s vibrant weekly culture that features track champions like Kyle Soper, who picked up his first series victory at the track earlier this year.
Outside of managing Riverhead, Partridge stayed committed to fielding a competitive team in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Partridge picked up his final victory with Preece at Richmond Raceway in 2021 before suddenly passing away hours later.
Partridge’s legacy will carry on Saturday night as the local track heroes and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour regulars remember an individual that meant so much to the historic track and to racing across the northeast.
Below is everything you need to know about the Eddie Partridge 256 at Riverhead Raceway on Saturday evening.
Eddie Partridge 256 at Riverhead Raceway
What to watch for:
A unique component to Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 256 will be the inclusion of live pit stops inside Riverhead’s infield.
To accommodate this change, temporary walls have been installed that will separate pit crews and drivers on the frontstretch and backstretch. An additional wall for crew members to stand on will create four rows in total at Riverhead.
Live pit stops are set to create another obstacle in the tight NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship battle. Jon McKennedy currently holds a 10-point championship lead and will look to add a second win on the 2022 season as he searches for his first title.
McKennedy currently has two drivers within striking distance of his lead. The 2011 series champion in Ron Silk has battled McKennedy all season long, but Justin Bonsignore’s third victory of the season during the most recent outing at Oswego Speedway has allowed him to close within 17 points of McKennedy’s advantage.
(Photo by Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)
The championship trio will not only have to fend off the rest of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour stars, but also a healthy contingent of Riverhead regulars led by the most recent winner at the track in Soper, whose accomplishments at Riverhead include three championships and an Islip 300 win back in 2019.
Joining Soper on the entry list is the driver currently trailing him in Riverhead’s weekly standings in Dylan Slepian. In three NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour starts this year, both of Slepian’s top fives have come at Riverhead, including a career-best run of fourth during the first race in May.
Other notable names set to take part in Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 256 include Ed Brunnhoelzl III as well as Timmy Solomito, who led a race-high 114 laps during the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s second trip to Riverhead in June before fading late and settling for an eighth-place finish.
The complete entry list for the Eddie Partridge 256 can be viewed here.
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 Eddie Partridge 256 is limited to 28 starters including Provisional Positions.
Tire allotment: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is nine (9) 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 two (2) tires, any position.
Busch will conclude his tenure with the manufacturer and team after 15 years together, a fruitful partnership for all parties after two Cup championships, 56 premier-level wins and numerous successes in the Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series.
Joe Gibbs, the team owner who secured Busch ahead of the 2008 season from Hendrick Motorsports, offered his appreciation of the series’ lone active multi-time champion as the pairing comes to an end in November.
“Kyle has been a major part of our history and success here at Joe Gibbs Racing,” Gibbs said in a statement. “We are thankful for all his contributions to our organization over the years. When you look at all that he has accomplished already, it is truly remarkable, and we know someday we will be celebrating his Hall of Fame induction.
“We also know he still has many more achievements in our sport ahead of him including competing for the championship this season. We wish Kyle, Samantha, Brexton, and Lennix the very best.”
David Wilson, president of Toyota Racing Development, praised Busch, who has been a critical part of Toyota’s stock-car success. But he also conceded the hole Busch leaves behind that the manufacturer seeks to fill.
“Toyota and TRD are privileged to have raced with Kyle Busch, one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history,” Wilson said in a statement. “While we certainly wish Kyle the best of luck in the future and congratulate him on his announcement to join Richard Childress Racing, we’re disappointed and saddened that his future won’t continue to be with Team Toyota.”
Busch also serves as team owner of Kyle Busch Motorsports, which fields three full-time entries in the Camping World Truck Series. Busch said Tuesday the team intends to compete in 2023 with backing from Chevrolet, but those plans have yet to be solidified.
“Kyle has been an ambassador for Toyota since joining the program in 2008,” Wilson continued. “He’s gone on to accumulate some of the most prestigious milestones possible for the Toyota brand, including our first Cup Series win for the Camry and first Cup Series championship. He will undoubtedly hold the record for the most wins in a Toyota across all three Championship Series for decades to come.
“But more than that, Kyle has been a friend, part of our family and has played a key role in the development of many of our drivers through his ownership of Kyle Busch Motorsports. We wish nothing but the best for Kyle and his entire family as he moves into the next chapter of his Hall of Fame career. We’re thankful to have been along for the ride.”
Richard Childress Racing announced Tuesday that Kyle Busch will drive the No. 8 Chevrolet for the organization in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series, bringing an end to the two-time champion’s long-running partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing.
The announcement — held Tuesday morning at the NASCAR Hall of Fame — means Busch’s 15th season with Coach Joe Gibbs’ organization will be his last. The 37-year-old driver won Cup Series titles with the team in 2015 and 2019, and he is JGR’s winningest driver, collecting 56 of his 60 total Cup victories with the No. 18 team.
“RCR has an impressive history in NASCAR and I’m honored that Richard is putting his trust in me to come in and continue to build on that legacy,” Busch said in a press release. “Growing up in a family of passionate racers myself, I feel like the culture that the Childress family has built within their organization will be an ideal fit for me. As I begin the next chapter of my career, I’m looking forward to driving for RCR and working with everyone there to add more wins and championships to both of our resumes.”
Busch will drive the No. 8 Chevrolet beginning in 2023 of what is a multi-year deal, with Randall Burnett serving as his crew chief. Tyler Reddick, who currently drives the No. 8, remains under contract to RCR and will drive for the team next year in a yet-to-be-announced ride. Reddick had previously announced he will drive for 23XI Racing beginning in 2024.
“The addition of Kyle Busch to the Richard Childress Racing lineup is significant, not only for our organization, but for the sport as a whole,” Childress said in a team release. “Kyle is a proven contender at the highest levels of the sport, and I believe that his experience and dedication to motorsports will elevate our race program across the board. I’ve always admired Kyle’s driving style and his ability to win and race for championships ever since he entered the sport. Who wouldn’t want a proven NASCAR Cup Series champion driving their car?”
Tuesday’s news brings an end to the long-running contract uncertainty that has surrounded the series’ top free agent this season. The move also creates a high-profile vacancy for the No. 18 ride, Gibbs’ original team since his first venture into Cup Series competition in 1992.
Busch had been open about his status in the weeks before his decision, telling reporters in July at Indianapolis Motor Speedway he was willing to re-sign with JGR for less than his current value on the free-agency market. That aspiration, he said, was clouded by the organization’s search for a top-tier sponsor to replace longtime partner M&M’s/Mars. Busch indicated on Sept. 1 at Cup Series Playoffs Media Day he had multiple offers to consider, and that the negotiation process had weighed on him.
“Trust me, my gut doesn’t feel good, and that’s not just for decisions being made, but more so of decisions being weighed and the perception in how you come across to all of those that you’re going to disappoint, right?” Busch said at Media Day. “There’s going to be one winner, and the rest are not winners, if you look at it in that regard.”
David Wilson, Toyota Racing Development president, had stressed the importance of keeping Busch in the automaker’s fold as discussions were ongoing, saying that “any other scenario is just unacceptable.” Busch ranks as Toyota’s top winner in all three NASCAR national series with 203 of his 224 total victories achieved during his time with the manufacturer.
“I mean, Kyle Busch is our 60-home run hitter,” Wilson said Aug. 27 at Daytona International Speedway. “And we’d be foolish not to put everything in play to keep him in the family.”
Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota are now absorbing the loss of Busch’s looming departure from the heart of their batting order, and both groups will work to fill the vacancy. A handful of prospects for the seat exist in JGR’s Xfinity Series pipeline, including Ty Gibbs — a five-time Xfinity winner this year who has filled in for the injured Kurt Busch in the last eight Cup Series events.
Richard Childress gets a laugh out of Kyle Busch when he tells him to “hold my watch” at Tuesday’s press conference. (Alejandro Alvarez/NASCAR Studios)
“Kyle has been a major part of our history and success here at Joe Gibbs Racing,” Gibbs said in a team release. “We are thankful for all his contributions to our organization over the years. When you look at all that he has accomplished already, it is truly remarkable, and we know someday we will be celebrating his Hall of Fame induction. We also know he still has many more achievements in our sport ahead of him including competing for the championship this season. We wish Kyle, Samantha, Brexton, and Lennix the very best.”
The partnership of Childress and Busch — the former a Hall of Famer, and the latter a sure-fire inductee once eligible — might seem like an unlikely union. After an escalating series of tense moments between Busch and then-RCR driver Kevin Harvick, Childress confronted Busch after the driver had a run-in with Joey Coulter — another former RCR pilot — during a Camping World Truck Series race in 2011 at Kansas Speedway. NASCAR officials fined Childress $150,000 and placed him on probation for the physical altercation.
Both the driver and team owner cleared the air during interviews in recent weeks.
“He and I have talked. We put all of our differences behind us a while back and he’s a great race driver,” Childress said Aug. 28, after Dillon prevailed in the regular-season finale at Daytona. “He’ll land him a good ride somewhere, for sure.”
Busch joked about the long-ago fisticuffs last weekend at Kansas.
“Who’s to say he hasn’t punched me again in any of these conversations?” Busch said to laughs. “Whenever you go into negotiations, it’s never fun so you’re duking the whole time. I think you grow up and you work through things, and you talk it over. Really, it was fine the first time I sat down with him. Everything was OK. The biggest thing about it was just having an opportunity to kind of put that behind us.”
Kyle Busch wore his 2015 and 2019 NASCAR Cup Series championship rings to Tuesday’s press conference. (Alejandro Alvarez/NASCAR Studios)
Kyle Busch qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with a victory earlier this year on the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt. That win in April extended his streak of seasons with at least one Cup Series victory to 18.
Busch began his career as a Chevrolet prospect, joining the Cup Series full-time in 2005 with Hendrick Motorsports. He collected four wins with Rick Hendrick’s No. 5 team before his shift to Gibbs’ operation in 2008. Only Denny Hamlin, driver of JGR’s No. 11 Camry, has been aligned with Gibbs longer — since he joined the Cup Series in 2005.
Busch has also enjoyed success on the team ownership side, forming Kyle Busch Motorsports for Camping World Truck Series competition in 2010. Since then, he and his drivers have combined for 98 Truck Series wins and two driver championships (Erik Jones in 2015, Christopher Bell in 2017), paving the path for several of the automaker’s top racing prospects. Busch’s renewed affiliation with Chevrolet on the Cup Series side adds a layer of uncertainty for his Truck Series operation in 2023.
Childress has won six Cup Series championships as a team owner, but none since Dale Earnhardt’s final title in 1994. This season has been Childress’ strongest in recent memory; Reddick and Dillon have combined for three victories, and both qualified for the Cup Series Playoffs.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — When Bubba Wallace rounded Turn 4 at Kansas Speedway, he knew he had just secured his second NASCAR Cup Series victory. It meant that he was the first driver to advance to the second round of the owners’ championship playoffs and the first Black driver in premier series history to win multiple races. But it still signified even more.
Trust.
Two weeks ago, Wallace was tasked with chasing the owners’ championship in the No. 45 entry — a swap from his usual No. 23.
“I remember the conversation that Denny pulled me aside down in Florida,” Wallace recalled in a post-race interview. “And he goes, ‘Hey, we want you to drive the 45 and compete for a championship. We believe in you.’ ”
To some, it seemed like a far-fetched attempt to salvage a season as fringe contenders outside the drivers’ championship. But the numbers say Wallace and the No. 45 team are performing among the best in the garage.
In the last 10 races, Wallace has finished outside the top 14 just once — and that run includes four top-five finishes, six top 10s and, of course, Sunday’s win at Kansas.
“We’re really trying to instill a really positive, one-team mentality,” said Hamlin, sitting alongside Wallace post-race in a joint press conference. “So by doing that and having an eligibility in the owners’ championship, we’re able to just pick apart and put our best pieces in each section of a race team to go out and compete at our best.
“Bubba Wallace was an easy choice for us. Especially the results that he has given us over the last two to three months.”
Wallace failed to qualify for the Round of 16 on the drivers’ side, narrowly missing out with a third-place run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and a valiant runner-up effort at Michigan International Speedway soon after.
His focus, however, has shifted to continual growth in his most productive Cup Series season to date, all while chasing the title for 23XI Racing.
And despite the challenges, Wallace has managed to find two things evading many in the inaugural Next Gen season: consistency and confidence.
“This is my best season ever of climbing in the race car and being, like, ‘All right, pal, it’s time to go to work,'” Wallace said. “You leave it all out there and not regret any decision that you make. Look how we’ve been running. It all starts with self. If you don’t show up with confidence, then you’re not going to run very good, so you definitely have to show up with that.”
Sunday, the season-long confidence finally paid off. Rooting him on along the way? Veteran teammate Kurt Busch.
“The [phone] conversation I had with him in Victory Lane was really special,” Wallace said. “He just talked about believing in self, and he always believed in me, and so I thought that was pretty special.”
His 2022 season is turning out to be special, indeed.
In previous years, Wallace was a legitimate contender mostly at superspeedway-style tracks — just a few drops in the bucket on the diverse 36-race Cup Series schedule.
He’s hoping his electric run-of-form and dominant performance late at Kansas can begin to change that narrative.
“We’ve talked about when we go to the speedways and kind of not so much the rest of the tracks,” Wallace said. “So, I wanna start changing that. We’ve been able to show up these last two months or so, all different types of race tracks, and be talked about. That’s cool. It’s a step in the right direction, we just can’t get complacent.”
It took Wallace 151 starts between two different organizations — Richard Petty Motorsports and 23XI Racing — to earn his first premier series trophy in October 2021 at Talladega Superspeedway. Before then, running inside the top 10, and even 20 at times, was an unreasonable expectation on most weekends.
Now, not even a year later, winning has become the standard. Unquestionably.
“I think winning at this level is the hardest thing in life for us race car drivers,” Wallace said. “To be able to say we’re winners today here at Kansas through the year that we’ve had and what we’ve been able to do the last couple of months is incredible.
“I’m proud of everybody. Proud of Bootie [Barker, crew chief]. Thankful for Denny for just continuing to believe in me and make the most of every opportunity.”
Following Wallace’s journey and rise through the national series ranks, it often becomes clouded with noise from naysayers who attempt to strike down his accomplishments.
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images
First, it was the rain at Talladega. Then his near-misses and remarkable performances were lucky or due to others’ misfortune. The team heard it, too.
But through it all, everyone in the 23XI garage knows that no one can take Sunday’s win away from them. No one can take away their trust in each other and Wallace.
It’s not something they have just discovered, either.
“We know how good we are. We knew,” Barker said. “Knew how good Bubba was, how good he has been all year. So I feel very happy for him in the fact that we took it to ’em. There’s no ‘What are you going to say? What can you throw rocks at us about this time?'”
Kyle Busch is set to announce his NASCAR Cup Series plans for the 2023 season on Tuesday morning, and you can watch live on NASCAR.com and NASCAR’s social media platforms.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — For Alex Bowman and Greg Ives, their final playoff run as a driver-crew chief tandem is off to a convincing start.
After a respectable run at Darlington Raceway in the playoff opener, Bowman came out the gates swinging again at Kansas Speedway, passing Joey Logano for control of the race on Lap 3. Bowman went on to lead a race-high 107 laps, trouncing his total for the previous 27 races combined and dominating Stage 2.
But as the afternoon went on, a pit-road miscue and waning speed left the No. 48 in fourth at the checkered flag.
“We had a fast car all day,” Ives told NASCAR.com after the race. “Short-run speed was really good for us. But after about 35 laps, we tended to fall off a little bit. That’s where I felt like the Gibbs cars were a little bit better than us on those longer runs. That final stage staying green kinda hurt us.”
Bowman held on for fourth place, securing his first top-five result since Dover Motor Speedway in May. It’s clear the No. 48 team has flipped the switch, cranking up the intensity after a so-so summer.
“[The playoffs] are when you need to turn it on if you’re gonna do it,” Bowman said. “While I want to run like this all year long and have more consistency than we’ve had this year, it’s definitely good to be on it when it counts.”
Entering the playoffs just two spots above the Round of 16 cutline, Bowman has improved his standing to sixth in just two weeks.
But he has more on his mind than just his playoff performance, wanting to go out on a high note with the seasoned leader atop his box since he joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2018.
“Regardless of how the playoffs go, I wanna have fun with Greg these next eight weeks,” Bowman said after the race. “He deserves that. He’s a heck of a crew chief and it’s a very bittersweet thing not having him next year. So just trying to make the most of it and we’ve had good race cars the last couple of weeks and finally we’re finishing where we deserve.
Nonetheless, Ives and company remain hungry to improve on the little things happening on the race track in pursuit of their first title — and they know they’re capable of peaking at the right time.
“Alex is doing a great job and the team is coming together well,” Ives said. “Minus two hiccups [on pit road], I think we would have had a pretty good Stage 1 as well. So, all in all a good day, we just always want more.”
Their next chance for more comes in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), a crucial elimination race to set the Round of 12.
