Posted on by Staff Report

Jeff Gordon held off Ryan Newman and Rusty Wallace to win the 2002 Protection One 400, successfully defending his 2001 title to give Hendrick Motorsports consecutive wins in the first two races at the newly built Kansas Speedway.

No team won consecutive races over the next 11 years – one of the longest droughts for an uninterrupted NASCAR Cup Series race this millennium – until Joey Logano drove Team Penske to Victory Lane in both 2014 and 2015.

Kevin Harvick’s win a year later in the 2016 Hollywood Casino restarted the streak, which is now six years after Kyle Larson denied 2020 champion Logano consecutive wins last year.

The onus is now on Larson, Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Alex Bowman to follow Larson’s 2021 win with a win in the 2022 race this weekend. And the public is buying a lot of Elliott and Larson stock.

As of Thursday, four drivers were in the top 14 of NASCAR odds at BetMGM, including two in the top four:

  • Kyle Larson +700
  • Chase Elliott +900
  • William Byron +1400
  • Alex Bowman +2200

Elliott is dominating the ticket share at BetMGM; at 15% he has more than twice as many tickets as the next-closest driver, Denny Hamlin (7.1%). He also leads in handle share (17%), while Larson ranks third in both with 6.8% of tickets and 12.8% of the handle.

Byron and Bowman have never won here in Cup and have just three top-five finishes in 23 starts at Kansas. Larson and Elliott, meanwhile, have each won and rank fourth and first in top-five finish rate, respectively, among active drivers. Only Harvick has a better average finish than Elliott (11.2), and no one has a better laps led rate than Larson (12%).

Larson led 130 of 267 laps in last year’s win, his third straight and ninth of an eventual 10-win season. He won again two weeks later to claim the NASCAR Cup Series championship.

With the Kansas win, Larson had a staggering six wins in 11 starts. Entering this weekend, he has just one win in 25 races.

Neither the lack of back-to-back team wins in this race nor Larson’s cold streak has pushed him down race-winner odds or featured matchup odds. He’s a favorite over Elliott in one of four featured matchups at BetMGM:

Kyle Larson (-125) vs. Chase Elliott (+100)

Elliott is fourth in Hollywood Casino 400 odds but remains a favorite in championship odds; at +350, he’s comfortably ahead of Denny Hamlin (+600), Larson (+800) and others.

And just like they’re buying Elliott in race-winner betting, the public is buying him to finish ahead of Larson at +100. He has 83% of the tickets and 86% of the handle against Larson.

Ryan Blaney (-120) vs. Joey Logano (-110)

Joey Logano has the most all-time wins in this race (three); Kevin Harvick is the only other active driver with multiple wins. Logano’s success, however, has been sporadic since a period of dominance in the mid-2010s.

In five races from late 2013 through late 2015, he won twice, never finished worse than fourth, and led at least 25 laps in each race.

It appears oddsmakers and the public are approaching Logano with caution this weekend. He’s a modest ninth on the odds board (+1400) with the 16th-most tickets (2.3%) and 11th-most handle (3.1%). But Logano is an overwhelming pick over Ryan Blaney; he has 94% of the featured matchup handle on 95% of the tickets.

Kyle Busch (-110) vs. Denny Hamlin (-115)

Only Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick have more career starts at Kansas than Kyle Busch, who’s won twice and has 14 top-10 finishes in 29 starts. But he’s led just 5.9% of total laps, finished an average of 3.1 spots below his starting position – and finished 28th in last year’s race after starting fourth.

Busch and Denny Hamlin both sit in the top five of race-winner tickets and handle, and their featured matchup is the most evenly bet of the weekend. Busch has 67% of the tickets but just 55% of the handle.

Daniel Suárez (-145) vs. Erik Jones (+115)

The first Suárez-Jones featured matchup of the season has Suárez as a sizable favorite despite limited success at the track. He has only one top-10 finish in 11 starts compared to five top 10s (and three top fives) in 12 starts for Erik Jones.

Suárez’s struggles at Kansas aren’t scaring off bettors; he ranks fifth in race-winner tickets (5.9%) and handle (5.2%) and has 90% of the handle on 71% of the tickets against Jones.

You can view updated Hollywood Casino 400 odds and more online sports betting opportunities at the BetMGM online sportsbook.


Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Kansas Speedway this weekend in the midst of quite the battle.

The Round of 16 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continues with the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), which serves as the penultimate race of the postseason’s opening round.

Get set for the 267-lap contest here:

RELATED: Weekend schedule | Cup Series standings

FAMILIARIZING THEMSELVES WITH THE TRACK

Teams will have roughly 20 minutes to practice on Saturday (12:05 p.m. ET, NBC Sports App) with teams broken into Groups A and B. Once both groups have completed their practice sessions, single-car, single-lap qualifying will begin to set the starting lineup (12:50 p.m. ET).

With the postseason underway, playoff drivers and teams will be ordered by their previous race metrics and assigned to Group A or B by the usual odd/even metric procedures. Playoff teams will be the final cars to qualify in their respective groups.

The five fastest overall drivers from each group will advance to the final round of qualifying, where those 10 drivers will each set one more timed lap to fight for the Busch Light Pole Award.

MORE: Paint Scheme Preview | Qualifying order

KANSAS STORY LINES

— Seventeen different drivers have won through 27 races, tied for the record through 27 races set in 1961.

— The pass for the win came in the final 10 laps in 15 of the 27 races this season.

— Tyler Reddick, who finished third last week at Darlington, has the longest active top-10 streak at three races.

— Christopher Bell’s win at New Hampshire is the only win by Toyota in the last 13 races.

— Chase Elliott’s best finish following a last place finish is a win, which came in 2019 at Watkins Glen. Elliott finished last a week ago at Darlington.

— All six Toyotas entered at Kansas in May finished in the top 10.

Source: Racing Insights

GOODYEAR TIRES

Goodyear returns to Kansas Speedway, hoping the flat tires that appeared in May are a thing of the past.

Further tire testing produced new tire setups, including this weekend’s right-side tire that debuted at Pocono Raceway in July. Both left- and right-side tire codes are updated from the May event, with the left-side compound ready to perform in its inaugural race.

“We obviously started 2022 with a new car, and all those involved in the sport have learned a lot over the ensuing months,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “The loads generated on this Next Gen car are quite different than the past, so we evaluated what we saw early in the season and designed some construction updates that we were able to test on track before we unveiled the right side enhancements at the Pocono and Michigan races earlier this summer.

“We had good feedback from the drivers throughout the process and have had good results on the track since. The combination we are running at Kansas this week, which will also be run at Texas and Las Vegas, introduces a left-side construction enhancement to be paired with that right-side already introduced. This combination was confirmed in testing at Charlotte in early August.”

KANSAS HISTORY

— In 1997, Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, were selected as the site for a new Midwestern speedway at the intersection of Interstates 70 and 435. That December, International Speedway Corp. (ISC) announced plans to build a 1.5-mile speedway to seat approximately 75,000.

— Architecture firm HNTB designed the facility and Turner Construction provided construction management. Construction began on the 1,200-acre, 1.5-mile speedway in May 1999.

— The NASCAR Cup Series ran its first event at the facility on Sept. 30, 2001. Jeff Gordon won the race after leading 53 of 267 laps.

— Kansas has hosted a race every season since 2001 and has hosted two races a season since 2011.

— Kansas was repaved and reformatted between races in 2012. This will be the 20th race on the new surface at Kansas.

— This is the 19th playoff race at Kansas. There has been a playoff race at Kansas every year of the playoff era (2004-2022).

— The last five Kansas races were won by different drivers

— Kyle Larson was passed for the win in two of the last three Kansas races and won the other.

— The winners of the last 23 Kansas races have all also won a Cup Championship except for Denny Hamlin.

— Kurt Busch passed Kyle Larson with nine laps to go at Kansas in May, the latest the final lead change has occurred in the last eight Kansas races.

Source: Racing Insights

WHO’S YOUR MONEY ON?

Four Toyotas were among the six cars with the best odds to win Sunday’s playoff race, according to BetMGM’s opening board. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, both at 6-1, opened as co-favorites with Martin Truex Jr. (9-1) and Christopher Bell (12-1) not far behind. Bell has yet to win at Kansas in the Cup Series, but the other three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers have combined for seven victories at the 1.5-mile track with Hamlin leading the way with three wins.

Hamlin won this particular race in 2019, and Busch last won here in the spring of 2021. Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson is the defending winner of the Kansas playoff race, and he comes in at 7-1 odds.

MORE: Complete list of odds for Sunday


FANTASY LIVE

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

The 2022 Fantasy Live points leaders are Chase Elliott (934), Joey Logano (842), and Ryan Blaney (827).

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

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

ALSO ON NASCAR.COM

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

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

 

Posted on by Reid Spencer

The first two races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs settled two issues — both Grant Enfinger and Chandler Smith will advance to the Round of 8, thanks to their respective victories at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park and Richmond Raceway.

The final six positions, however, are very much up in the air entering Friday night’s elimination race, the Kansas Lottery 200 at Kansas Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Kansas weekend schedule | Truck Series standings

Eighth-place Matt Crafton, a three-time series champion, leads ninth-place Carson Hocevar by three points and 10th-place Christian Eckes by six. Those three drivers in particular will be battling on Friday for the final spot in the Round of 8.

Based on experience, Crafton should have an edge. The 46-year-old driver has raced in all 24 Truck Series events at the track, dating to 2001, and has fashioned three victories there, the most recent in 2020.

But Crafton hasn’t shown his customary speed during a winless 2022 campaign. That leaves room for Hocevar and Eckes to compete for the final Playoff berth.

“I’m excited to go back to a mile-and-a-half (track), which seems to be more of our bread and butter,” said Hocevar, who finished 15th at Kansas in May.

Posted on by Zack Albert

The NASCAR Cup Series will make a stunning return to a revitalized North Wilkesboro Speedway next season, visiting one of its original tracks for the 2023 edition of the NASCAR All-Star Race during NASCAR’s 75th anniversary season.

Officials from NASCAR and track ownership group Speedway Motorsports met in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday morning to officially announce the invitational event’s new venue. On hand were North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, NASCAR Chief Operating Officer Steve O’Donnell, Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith and Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., who participated in Late Model Stock competition during the track’s revival of short-track events there last month.

The dignitaries attending the announcement at the North Carolina Museum of History in the state capital indicated that the All-Star event is scheduled to highlight a three-day racing card on May 19-21, 2023. A full schedule for All-Star weekend will be announced at a later date, and tickets will go on sale later this fall.

“There’s something about it, it’s just got a special place in our history,” Earnhardt said. “And I’m so excited to see what can happen beyond this. The All-Star Race is a great thing, but going forward, but North Wilkesboro can continue to contribute to our lives and to our family’s lives.”

Late Model cars line up in front of a full crowd at North Wilkesboro Speedway
Chris Owens | HHP

The 0.625-mile oval – which has deep ties to the sport’s moonshining roots – was part of NASCAR’s foundation in its earliest years, joining the Modified Division schedule in 1948. The track hosted the year-ending race for the Cup Series – then called Strictly Stock – in its first season in 1949. It became an annual stop on the schedule, hosting two races a year starting in 1951.

North Wilkesboro Speedway was shuttered after its most recent Cup Series event on Sept. 29, 1996. Speedway Motorsports had purchased one half of the track’s ownership shares and took one race date to Texas Motor Speedway. Bob Bahre had bought the other half and moved the other Cup Series date to his track in New Hampshire (which is now a Speedway Motorsports property).

The track sat mostly dormant – save for a brief revival 12 years ago – until an $18 million allocation from the federal American Rescue Plan moved through the N.C. state budget. Those funds – combined with grassroots efforts from Wilkes County and Earnhardt Jr. himself – were designated for infrastructure improvements and helped to rejuvenate the track this year. An agreement was also struck for an additional $4M grant from the general assembly for additional facility upgrades for the All-Star weekend.

“There’s a lot of work to be done. There’s a lot of details that we won’t have today, but we’re going to we’re going to get there,” Smith said. “I expect this to be a NASCAR All-Star week of activities.”

Racing returned to North Wilkesboro last month with regional and touring series, which included support and participation from several current and former NASCAR national series drivers. Ryan Newman won the opening night feature for tour-type Modifieds, and Earnhardt helped to promote the Late Model Stock event, finishing third in that race last week. Earnhardt was also among those helping to clean up the track in 2019 for its scan into the iRacing simulation platform.

 

The track still needs updates for basic amenities for fans and competitors. August events there used portable toilets, and concessions were augmented with local vendors in food trucks and stands. The track is also without a working scoreboard and energy-absorbing SAFER barriers for the retaining walls, and the former press box facilities and restrooms were inaccessible.

None of that stopped fans from packing the well-worn seats that still line the historic facility during the August races, which were held on weekday nights under temporary lighting. XR Events, the promoter for those races, had intended to convert the venue into a dirt track for an October racing slate, but the group announced Wednesday that those plans had been abandoned, citing the time needed to complete the transition.

Earnhardt indicated that speedway ownership intends to keep the asphalt as-is. Newspaper records show the track was last repaved ahead of the 1981 season.

“North Wilkesboro is going to remain historic, and it will remain authentic, but it will also be modern, and that will be a great thing to see,” Earnhardt said. “So I’m excited to see the progress, all the things that will be happening there over the next couple of months. The rebuilding and so forth is going to be a lot of fun to watch, and then to finally go there in May, just can’t get here fast enough.”

North Wilkesboro will become the fifth host of the NASCAR All-Star Race, which will stage its 39th running next spring. The invitational event has been hosted by Texas Motor Speedway the last two seasons. Charlotte Motor Speedway was its longtime home, hosting 34 All-Star Races – the first in 1985, then a continuous run from 1987-2019. Bristol (2020) and Atlanta (1986) have also hosted the event one time.

The full NASCAR Cup Series schedule is expected to be announced soon, but the 2023 slate already has a handful of recently added wrinkles. The series will compete on the streets of downtown Chicago for the first time next year, and the season-opening Busch Light Clash exhibition will return to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the second straight year.

“But as you look at evolving your schedule,” O’Donnell said, “you can’t forget about your past.”

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the first time, NASCAR fans can view every lap of NASCAR Cup Series races from inside the cockpit of any car they choose. Live in-car camera streams for the entire NASCAR Cup Series field are available for free as part of NASCAR Drive, the sanctioning body’s hub for live race-day video and real-time stats and information hosted on NASCAR.com and within the NASCAR Mobile App.

Fans can choose any driver’s in-car camera feed beginning with this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 11, at 3 p.m. ET. The full-field in-car camera streams will remain a free, ad-supported offering for the remainder of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and beyond.

NASCAR Playoffs: Full standings | Grid Challenge

“Our goal is to deliver an immersive experience for the most passionate fans in all of sports, no matter where they are,” said Tim Clark, NASCAR senior vice president and chief digital officer. “We know the significant role second screens play in the overall viewing experience, so to provide live video from inside every car and alongside leaderboards, performance data, pit stats, live betting odds, and more is something we’re excited about.”

For several years, NASCAR has offered live in-car streams for a select number of drivers each week across NASCAR Drive, Mobile App, and its social media platforms. Now, fans will have complete control over their full-field viewing experience with the ability to toggle between up to four streams at once. With a subscription to NASCAR’s Scanner product, fans can also listen to live audio from driver and team radio communications as well as the weekly radio broadcast.

“We’re fortunate to have tremendous people and partners who enable us to deliver this next-gen video experience to NASCAR fans all over the world,” said Steve Stum, NASCAR vice president of operations and technical production. “It’s no small feat to introduce something as ambitious as 40 live-streaming cameras inside these cars as they race side by side at speeds upward of 200 miles per hour.”

The expanded streaming offer is possible in part because of NASCAR’s new Next Gen race car, which was introduced at the start of the 2022 season. The Next Gen car design equipped every Cup Series car to accommodate a standard camera mount near the rearview mirror. The current system relies on a 1080p HD camera pointed forward out the front windshield, courtesy of NEP Group/Broadcast Sports International (BSI), that feeds live footage across Amazon Web Services (AWS) and directly into NASCAR Drive. For more information or to tap into the action on race days, fans can visit nascar.com/drive.

Posted on by Staff Report

Episode two of USA Network’s unscripted series “Race for the Championship” airs tonight at 10 p.m. ET, and the second of 10 episodes provides exclusive looks and sounds with multiple NASCAR Cup Series drivers as they prepare for and compete in the Daytona 500.

Each episode throughout the series will feature multiple drivers and their lives and stories away from the track. Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Corey LaJoie will be the three spotlighted tonight.

In tonight’s episode, you can also expect to see:

• An exclusive conversation between Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric on pit road following the conclusion of the 2022 duel races — and one that would foreshadow the Daytona 500;

• Additional insight from Blaney on the ending of the Daytona 500, in which he shoved Cindric to victory;

• Upstart Corey LaJoie and Spire Motorsports agonizing over how to race the final laps;

• Chase Elliott taking to the sky in one of his airplanes as a licensed pilot.

—

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

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR notified race teams of rule changes before this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway to address fire issues that were seen at Darlington Raceway.

The use of intumescent coatings are now permitted for the underside of the car’s lower crush panels, inside the exhaust cover panels and the upper surface of the rocker box. It is also permitted to apply the coating to the right side stop panel.

Intumescent coatings help provide fire protection to steel components, and the changes come after exhaust issues during Sunday night’s Southern 500 at Darlington ended the race for Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and JJ Yeley in the No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford.

Other changes for Kansas included mandating a lateral seal/dam to be installed between the back of the front clip weight box and the top of the splitter panel to help reduce the migration of tire debris from the splitter area. And there were also instructions on trimming of the back stop panel included in the rules changes.

It was also recommended that with exhaust installation, clearance between the exhaust and the floor of the rocker box be maximized.

A NASCAR spokesperson said these changes are a follow-up to the first step exhaust shroud update that was mandated for Richmond Raceway to address specific issues encountered at Indianapolis. Development will continue in this area, and further updates are possible as test results are evaluated.

Posted on by Brandon White

Jon McKennedy has slightly more breathing room to work with in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings following Saturday’s Toyota Bud Mod Classic 150 at Oswego Speedway.

Entering the race with just a three-point advantage, McKennedy stayed out of trouble all evening while the second-place points driver in 2011 champion Ron Silk was forced to make a late pit stop, which increased McKennedy’s lead to 10 points.

RELATED: Complete results from Oswego Speedway

Although McKennedy and Silk have primarily controlled the top two spots during the summer, a third contender has entered the conversation in three-time champion Justin Bonsignore. By winning at Oswego on Saturday, Bonsignore only trails McKennedy by 17 points with just three races remaining on the 2022 schedule.

Below is a breakdown of how the top 10 drivers in the standings fared during the Toyota Bud Mod Classic 150, along with a complete look at the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings.

The top three in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings are separated by just 17 points. (Bryan Bennett/NASCAR)
  1. Jon McKennedy: 492 points 

As has been the theme for most of the 2022 season, McKennedy enjoyed a calm evening at Oswego to settle for a solid, sixth-place finish. Maintaining consistent runs will be imperative for McKennedy over the final three races if he wants to keep Silk and Bonsignore behind him.

  1. Ron Silk: 482 points

For most of the Toyota Bud Mod Classic 150, Silk was running right with McKennedy until he was forced to make a late, unscheduled stop. Silk’s 13th place finish at Oswego will now force him to play both offense and defense as he attempts to claim his second NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour title.

  1. Justin Bonsignore: 475 points

Two poor early-season finishes at New Smyrna Speedway and Riverhead Raceway are the primary reason why Bonsignore is not atop the point standings. Now armed with three wins on the year, momentum is shifting in Bonsignore’s favor to win a third consecutive title in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

  1. Eric Goodale: 465 points 

Goodale remains a dark horse contender for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour title, but he has work to do after Oswego. A ninth place run for Goodale on Saturday gives him eight Top 10s on the 2022 season, yet Bonsignore’s victory caused him to fall from third to four in the standings.

  1. Kyle Bonsignore: 445 points

The other Bonsignore did everything possible to overtake his cousin during the final laps of Saturday’s Toyota Bud Mod Classic 150. Kyle ended up settling for fifth, matching a season-best three top-five finishes that he originally set last year.

  1. Austin Beers*: 441 points

After tallying a career-best performance of third at Langley Speedway last weekend, Beers ended up getting a reality check on Saturday evening. Beers struggled to maintain solid track position at the front of the field and ended up finishing in 12th.

  1. Tommy Catalano: 438 points

The Bud Mod Classic 150 was a night to forget for Catalano. He finished two laps down in the 17th position; his worst run on the 2022 season since New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where he finished 20th after blowing an engine.

  1. Craig Lutz: 429 points

Lutz has quietly turned his season around after finding Victory Lane at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. Lutz mixed it up with the Bonsignores and Chuck Hossfeld during the final laps of the Toyota Bud Mod Classic 150 and ultimately came home in third for his second top five of 2022.

  1. Doug Coby: 368 points

Despite now being a part-time competitor in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, Coby remains one of the most efficient drivers in the series with three wins on the year. The six-time champion enjoyed plenty of time out front at Oswego on Saturday but diverging pit strategies forced him to settle for seventh

  1. J.B. Fortin: 339 points

An early accident set the tone for Fortin’s night at Oswego. He finished in the 22nd position and has not recorded a top 10 since finishing third at Jennerstown Speedway back on May 28.

Pos. Driver Points Starts Wins 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th Top 5 Top 10
1 Jon McKennedy 492 13 1 1 0 4 1 2 7 11
2 Ron Silk 482 13 0 2 3 1 1 0 7 10
3 Justin Bonsignore 475 13 3 1 0 0 2 2 6 10
4 Eric Goodale 465 13 0 2 0 1 0 2 3 8
5 Kyle Bonsignore 445 13 0 1 0 1 1 2 3 8
6 Austin Beers * 441 13 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5
7 Tommy Catalano 438 13 0 1 0 0 1 1 2 6
8 Craig Lutz 429 13 1 0 1 0 0 1 2 6
9 Doug Coby 368 9 3 0 1 0 1 0 5 9
10 J.B. Fortin 339 12 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2
11 Dave Sapienza 291 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 Gary McDonald 290 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 Patrick Emerling 287 9 0 1 2 0 0 0 3 5
14 Walter Sutcliffe Jr. 282 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
15 Melissa Fifield 263 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 Matt Hirschman 257 6 1 2 1 1 1 0 6 6
17 Ken Heagy 243 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
18 Tyler Rypkema 230 7 0 1 0 0 2 0 3 3
19 Jake Johnson * 193 6 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 4
20 Andrew Krause 179 6 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 3
21 Kyle Ebersole 169 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2
22 Timmy Solomito 165 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3
23 Donny Lia 154 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
24 Jimmy Blewett 139 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
25 James Pritchard, Jr. * 130 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
26 Mike Christopher, Jr. * 120 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 2
27 Ronnie Williams 119 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
28 Ryan Preece 111 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3
29 Matt Kimball * 106 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
30 Eddie McCarthy * 105 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 Dylan Slepian * 102 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 2
32 Spencer Davis 102 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
33 Sam Rameau 94 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1
34 Bobby Santos, III 94 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
35 Anthony Nocella 88 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
36 Brian Roble * 86 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
37 Kyle Soper 84 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
38 Chuck Hossfeld 84 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 2
39 Anthony Sesely 78 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
40 Chris Young * 76 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
41 John Beatty, Jr. 73 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
42 JR Bertuccio 72 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
43 Max McLaughlin * 70 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
44 Jacob Perry * 63 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
45 Chris Turbush * 49 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
46 Matt Brode * 48 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
47 Tom Rogers, Jr. 43 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
48 Jeremy Gerstner 42 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
49 Roger Turbush 41 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
50 Todd Patnode * 39 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
51 John Baker 38 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
52 Blake Barney 35 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
53 Corey LaJoie 35 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
54 Joey Coulter 34 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
55 Ryan Newman 32 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
56 Jamie Tomaino 30 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
57 Mike Leaty * 30 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
58 John Fortin 29 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
59 Gary Putnam 29 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
60 Steve Dickey, Jr. * 28 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
61 Eddie Brunnhoelzl 28 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
62 Jack Ely * 28 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
63 Andy Seuss 22 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
64 Paul Charette * 21 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
65 Bryan Dauzat 20 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
66 Danny Bohn 20 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR is continuing to investigate the cause of — and solution for — a fire under the hood of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that “it’s all hands on deck” as NASCAR works with Cup Series teams and manufacturers to diagnose the mechanical failure and ensure it won’t be an issue in the maiden NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the Next Gen car that debuted this season.

“We’re certainly digging into the cause,” Miller said Tuesday morning. “We have cars down (at NASCAR’s R&D Center) this morning looking for any signs of anything that may have triggered that. And you know, we have done so all year. I mean, there’s a lot of rubber at Darlington, the ‘cheese grater’ that we always talk about, so we’re not certain if rubber getting into the rocker box was the problem or not, but we’re debriefing it all.

” … It’s unacceptable for the cars to catch on fire and we’ve been working on different solutions for different problems, different things along the way that seem to maybe be the trigger and obviously we still have work to do.”

With 92 laps remaining in NASCAR’s playoff opener at the South Carolina track, Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Ford Mustang caught fire while running eighth, forcing the 2014 champion to make a quick exit after pulling off the race track. He was officially scored 33rd following the race, dropping him below the playoff cutline with two races remaining in the opening Round of 16.

WATCH: Harvick’s car catches fire late

“They haven’t fixed anything. … We just let it keep going and keep going,” Harvick said after exiting the race.” The car started burning and as it burned the flames started coming through the dash. I ran a couple laps and then as the flame got bigger it started burning stuff up and I think right there you see all the brake fluid that was probably coming out the brakes and part of the brake line, but the fire was coming through the dash. What a disaster for no reason.”

Harvick’s Ford is the latest blue oval to catch fire, with recent incidents seeing Chris Buescher’s RFK Racing No. 17 (Indianapolis Road Course), Joey Logano’s Team Penske No. 22 (Indy) and Chase Briscoe’s SHR No. 14 (Richmond) among the machines to also ignite in race conditions in recent months.

“We’re looking at clearances on particularly the Ford exhaust because they seem to have been having a little bit more trouble with this than the others,” Miller said. “So there’s just there’s a lot of work going on, a lot of collaboration within the industry to get to the bottom of it, and we have to get to the bottom of it quick obviously. It’s all hands on deck with the teams and the OEMs.”

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As an eventful 2022 race season enters its final turn, NASCAR today announced the return of its Champion’s Week celebration to Nashville on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.

The NASCAR Awards will be held on Dec. 1 at the Music City Center to formally crown this season’s NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champions. Fellow drivers, industry personalities and celebrities will take over downtown Nashville for the third year to celebrate an unforgettable 2022 season.

“We are pleased to announce our return to Music City for the celebration to crown our series champions,” said Pete Jung, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer at NASCAR. “We are delighted to bring the celebration to Nashville once again, as the city’s energy and passion for motorsports never cease to amaze us. We are looking forward to being back following the conclusion of the 2022 season.”

The formal postseason Awards are a tradition that stretches back to 1981, when the event was held in New York City. It relocated to Las Vegas in 2009 and then called Nashville its home for the first time in 2019. Over the last two years NASCAR has seen a tremendous turnout from the Nashville fans not only at the race track, but for the celebration of Champion’s week. NASCAR looks to continue the tradition and conclude the season at one of the most iconic cities in the country.