Posted on by Brandon White

Phoenix Communications 150

Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park

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  • Practice Results
Pos No. Name Sponsor Best Tm Best Speed In Lap Laps Diff
1 10 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 18.925 95.112 9 37
2 07 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway 19.012 94.677 21 27 0.087
3 7 Jimmy Blewett John Blewett, Inc. 19.083 94.325 35 38 0.158
4 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 19.097 94.256 3 44 0.172
5 50 Ronnie Williams Empower Financial Services/RB Enterprises 19.1 94.241 4 28 0.175
6 3 Donny Lia Propane Plus/Huntington Honda 19.111 94.187 24 27 0.186
7 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 19.129 94.098 36 46 0.204
8 82 Craig Lutz Danny’s Cesspool Pool Service 19.133 94.078 5 26 0.208
9 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 19.169 93.902 5 34 0.244
10 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 19.187 93.814 19 29 0.262
11 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 19.212 93.691 3 39 0.287
12 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto 19.213 93.687 10 30 0.288
13 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 19.215 93.677 13 39 0.29
14 29 Spencer Davis Ionx Supreme Lubricants 19.241 93.55 35 36 0.316
15 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling/MUSCO 19.258 93.468 16 38 0.333
16 46 Timmy Solomito Riverhead Building Supply 19.28 93.361 28 29 0.355
17 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises 19.353 93.009 41 43 0.428
18 44 Ryan Preece Harshaw Paving/Olivas Market 19.384 92.86 21 31 0.459
19 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Mfg. Co. 19.445 92.569 33 34 0.52
20 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 19.452 92.535 6 32 0.527
21 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 19.51 92.26 20 24 0.585
22 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electrict 19.7 91.371 15 26 0.775
23 78 Walter Sutcliffe, Jr. Last Minute Racing 19.811 90.859 25 26 0.886
24 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 20.317 88.596 17 28 1.392
Posted on by Pat DeCola

Kevin Harvick is no longer chasing a playoff spot entering the penultimate race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular season. He’s now chasing history, though oddsmakers aren’t giving the No. 4 Mustang a vote of confidence in NASCAR betting.

In holding off Christopher Bell to win the Federated Auto Parts 400, Harvick won consecutive Cup Series races for the eighth time in his 22-year career. 

MORE: Watkins Glen odds

In the fifth instance of winning consecutive races – the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 and Pennzoil 400 in early 2018 – he won a third straight race, the 2018 TicketGuardian 500, to become the 14th different driver to win three straight Cup Series races in the modern era (since 1972). 

(Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson became the 15th and 16th in 2018 and 2021, respectively.)

Only nine of those drivers have won three straight races multiple times, most recently in 2021 when Kyle Larson joined Dale Earnhardt as the only drivers with three consecutive wins twice in one season. 

If Harvick wins the Go Bowling at the Glen on Sunday, he will become just the 10th driver in 51 years of NASCAR’s modern era with multiple three-race winning streaks. And if he does win at Watkins Glen International, he’ll arrive at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 next weekend aiming to join only eight drivers with four straight wins.

Nearly 95% of the tickets at BetMGM are betting against that.

As of Thursday, Harvick is buried in race-winner odds (+2800) and has just 3.4% of the handle, nearly 30 percentage points behind Chase Elliott (+500), who’s dominating betting with 33.2% of the handle on 13.3% of the tickets.

For Harvick to win a third straight race, he must, at minimum, finish ahead of Ryan Blaney, against whom he’s a sizable underdog in featured matchup betting at BetMGM:

Ryan Blaney (-165) vs. Kevin Harvick (+130)

The last time Harvick entered this race after a win the previous week (2003), he finished fifth in the third of 20 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Watkins Glen, tied with Kurt Busch for most among active drivers. But he ranks fifth in top-five finishes, sixth in laps led, and sixth in average finish (minimum of five starts). 

Harvick has just one top-three finish in 14 starts after winning the 2006 AMD at the Glen, which came eight years before Ryan Blaney made his Cup Series debut and 10 years before Blaney made his first career Cup Series start at The Glen.

Blaney isn’t a popular pick in race-winner betting – 1.7% of the tickets and 1.5% of the handle – nor featured matchup betting. His odds have increased – opened at -185 – as he receives just 5% of the handle on 10% of the tickets.

Chase Elliott (-120) vs. Tyler Reddick (-110)

Chase Elliott has cooled since his 1-2-1-2-1 run from Nashville to Pocono but remains a heavy favorite in NASCAR Cup Series championship odds at +300. No other driver is better than +800.

Despite the 19th-most career starts at Watkins Glen, Elliott is tied with Kyle Busch for the most wins (two) and ranks second to Busch in laps led (141). He most recently finished second in last year’s Go Bowling at the Glen, which was the first Cup Series start for Tyler Reddick at the track.

Elliott has 94% of the handle against Reddick, who has one career Cup Series start at Watkins Glen.

Chris Buescher (-135) vs. Michael McDowell (+105)

Neither Chris Buescher nor Michael McDowell have done anything of note at Watkins Glen. In 18 combined starts, they have zero wins, zero top-10 finishes, zero laps led, and average finishes of 21.3 (Buescher) and 27.4 (McDowell).

That isn’t scaring off oddsmakers; neither driver is among the favorites, but neither is buried alongside Kyle Tilley, Mike Rockenfeller, and others in the +10000 cellar. Buescher is tied for the 11th-best odds (+2000), while McDowell is tied for 17th (+3300).

And Buescher is getting public love to both win the race – third-highest handle at 6% – and defeat McDowell – 97% of the handle.

Todd Gilliland (-120) vs. Harrison Burton (-110)

Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton are making their Watkins Glen and featured matchup debuts. 

Gilliland started in the Camping World Truck Series 2021 United Rentals 176 at The Glen, and Burton started in the Xfinity Series’ 2021 Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey 200 at The Glen, but neither have started a Cup Series race at the track.

Neither driver is a popular race-winner pick with a combined 1.7% of the tickets and 2.4% of the handle. Gilliland is dominating featured matchup betting; he has 92% of the handle on 96% of the tickets.

You can view updated Go Bowling at the Glen odds and more online sports betting opportunities at the BetMGM online sportsbook.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

It would be easy to identify the favorite in Saturday’s Sunoco Go Rewards 200 if it weren’t for the interlopers from NASCAR’s Cup Series.

Reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, Ross Chastain and Cole Custer all are entered in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race (3 p.m. ET on USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Nevertheless, the 2.45-mile road course at Watkins Glen International may still be the special province of Xfinity Series leader AJ Allmendinger.

WATKINS GLEN: Entry list | Weekend schedule

The driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet has won three of the four road course races in the series so far this season — at Circuit of The Americas, Portland International Raceway, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

Driving for JTG Daugherty Racing in 2014, Allmendinger picked up the first of his two Cup Series victories at The Glen. In three Xfinity Series starts at the track, he finished second all three times (though his runner-up result in 2019 was followed by disqualification for a ride-height violation).

In 22 Xfinity Series starts on road courses, Allmendinger has posted a remarkable nine victories and 18 top fives. So, if any driver can fend off challenges from the Cup regulars, Allmendinger can.

“Watkins Glen will always be a special place for me,” said Allmendinger, who also is running the Cup race this weekend. “The crowd is always amazing, and the memories from my first Cup win will last forever.

“Ever since they repaved the track (in 2015), it’s been a challenge for me, but with the Next Gen car in the Cup Series, it may be completely different. Hopefully, we will have two really great finishes for the weekend.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Several of the drivers that have already won this season and have earned a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs still need to clinch their postseason position by earning enough points that no matter where they finish in the remaining races of the regular season, they will not fall out of the top 30 in points. Once a driver has achieved that points total, they have officially clinched a spot in the postseason. Below is a breakdown of the drivers that can clinch their spot in the postseason this weekend:

MORE: Full weekend schedule | Watkins Glen winners

Already Clinched

The following 10 drivers have clinched a spot in the 16-driver postseason field: Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick.

Can Clinch Via Previous Wins

The following drivers could clinch on previous wins with a win by Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe or Kurt Busch:

  • Alex Bowman: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Daniel Suarez: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Austin Cindric: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Chase Briscoe: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Kurt Busch: Would clinch regardless of finish

The following drivers could clinch on previous wins with a win by Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Aric Almirola, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace or Austin Dillon:

  • Alex Bowman: Would clinch with 4 points
  • Daniel Suarez: Would clinch with 22 points
  • Austin Cindric: Would clinch with 40 points
  • Chase Briscoe: Would clinch with 47 points

The following drivers could clinch on previous wins with a win by Chris Buescher:

  • Alex Bowman: Would clinch with 1 point
  • Daniel Suarez: Would clinch with 22 points
  • Austin Cindric: Would clinch with 37 points
  • Chase Briscoe: Would clinch with 44 points

The following drivers could clinch on previous wins with a win by Justin Haley:

  • Alex Bowman: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Daniel Suarez: Would clinch with 3 points
  • Austin Cindric: Would clinch with 20 points
  • Chase Briscoe: Would clinch with 28 points

The following drivers could clinch on previous wins with a win by Ricky Stenhouse Jr.:

  • Alex Bowman: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Daniel Suarez: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Austin Cindric: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Chase Briscoe: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Kurt Busch: Would clinch with 41 points

The following drivers could clinch on previous wins with a win by Cole Custer:

  • Alex Bowman: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Daniel Suarez: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Austin Cindric: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Chase Briscoe: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Kurt Busch: Would clinch with 33 points

The following drivers could clinch on previous wins with a win by Michael McDowell, Brad Keselowski or a win by another winless driver lower in the standings:

  • Alex Bowman: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Daniel Suarez: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Austin Cindric: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Chase Briscoe: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Kurt Busch: Would clinch with 23 points

The following drivers could clinch on previous wins with a win by Harrison Burton or a win by another winless driver lower in the standings:

  • Alex Bowman: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Daniel Suarez: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Austin Cindric: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Chase Briscoe: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Kurt Busch: Would clinch with 16 points

The following drivers could clinch on previous wins with a win by Todd Gilliland or a win by another winless driver lower in the standings:

  • Alex Bowman: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Daniel Suarez: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Austin Cindric: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Chase Briscoe: Would clinch regardless of finish
  • Kurt Busch: Would clinch regardless of finish

Can Clinch Via Win

The following drivers would clinch on their win alone: Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Kurt Busch.

The following drivers could clinch with a win:

  • Aric Almirola: Would clinch with 44 points
  • Erik Jones: Would clinch with 56 points
  • Bubba Wallace: Could only clinch with help
  • Austin Dillon: Could only clinch with help
Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

The final road course of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season is upon us.

The Go Bowling at The Glen rolls on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), bringing with it several key story lines as the 26-race regular season makes stop No. 25.

With plenty to preview, let’s set the scene for the weekend:

INTERNATIONAL FLAIR

This weekend’s Cup race features some stacked global resumes. It also features a record of seven nations represented throughout the field.

The field, of course, is highlighted by 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen, a 21-time winner there who stood atop 103 podiums in his 19-year F1 career. The Finnish driver will make his Cup debut in Trackhouse Racing’s PROJECT91 entry, the No. 91 Chevrolet sponsored by Recogni and iLOQ.

RELATED: Weekend schedule | Cup Series standings

Joining him will be German racer Mike Rockenfeller in Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Chevrolet. Rockenfeller shouldn’t be overlooked as a true competitor this weekend, boasting wins in both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway in his career. Both Räikkönen and Rockenfeller tested a Next Gen car at Virginia International Raceway on Aug. 11 courtesy of NASCAR’s driver orientation program, reserved for elite drivers in other forms of motorsport.

Daniil Kyvat, another former F1 competitor, represents a Russian entry as he returns to the No. 26 Toyota for Team Hezeberg alongside teammate Loris Hezemans, piloting the No. 27 Ford as a native of the Netherlands. British driver Kyle Tilley is back in the No. 78 Ford for LiveFast Racing, while Trackhouse regular and Sonoma Raceway winner Daniel Suárez hails from Mexico.

Each of the 32 remaining racers is from the United States.

GOOD IMPRESSIONS

NASCAR Cup Series teams hit the track for practice just after midday on Saturday (12:05 p.m. ET, NBC Sports App, USA Network at 12:30 p.m. ET, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), with the 39-car field split into Group A and Group B based on NASCAR’s metric formula. Each group will get 20 minutes of practice ahead of qualifying (1:05 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Qualifying at the road course features a 15-minute timed session for each group. The fastest five in each group will advance to the second round, where those 10 drivers will fight for the Busch Light Pole Award in a 10-minute session. The fastest single lap from the second round will earn the pole position.

MORE: Qualifying groups | Paint Scheme Preview

WATKINS GLEN STORY LINES

— Kevin Harvick won each of the past two races after snapping a 65-race winless streak at Michigan International Speedway to become the season’s 15th different winner.

— Despite sitting fourth in the regular-season points standings, Martin Truex Jr. is currently out of the playoffs, trailing Ryan Blaney by 26 points for the final available position.

— Truex has four straight top-three finishes at Watkins Glen, including a win in 2017.

— Chase Elliott can secure the Regular Season Championship by leaving Richmond with a 61-point lead over second place. Blaney currently holds the second spot and trails by 116 points.

— Ryan Blaney has earned 53 more points than Martin Truex Jr. in the four races on road courses in 2022.

Source: Racing Insights

GOODYEAR TIRES

Goodyear held a tire test at the 2.45-mile road course in May where Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. helped the tire company learn what compound to use for this weekend’s race.

The end result features the same tire codes used at Road America and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, with one code used on the left-front and right-rear positions and another code on the right-front and left-rear spots, the former of which was used on all four corners of the car at Circuit of The Americas.

“With this Next Gen car, with the bigger, wider tire, we’ve been able to go a little ‘softer’ with our tread compounds almost across the board,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “When we had just the two road courses on the Cup schedule – those being Watkins Glen and Sonoma – both tracks were dramatically different and required distinct tires. Now, with six road courses on the 2022 schedule, Sonoma is still on its own due to it being much more technical, but Watkins Glen falls more into line with some of the other tracks. The Glen is on the high-speed end of the scale among the road courses, but this 18-inch bead diameter tire – which is about an inch-and-a-half wider than the previous, 15-inch tire – has enabled us to give the teams a good step up in grip this weekend.”

DEEP RACING ROOTS AT THE GLEN

— Watkins Glen was constructed at its current location in 1956 but had its real beginning in 1948 when a Cornell University law student from Ohio, Cameron Argetsinger, acquired a sports car but had no place to race it. He designed a 6.6-mile circuit comprised of public roads in the Village of Watkins Glen where his family owned a cottage.

— He convinced the Chamber of Commerce of the Village of Watkins Glen and nine other agencies to hold the first post-World War II street race in the country. The annual race on the public roads at the tip of Lake Seneca was hugely successful from 1948-1951 drawing a large field of cars, large crowds and premier drivers.

— After a few years of racing at a temporary course, a permanent facility was built in the town of Dix, which borders Watkins Glen. Engineering professors from Cornell designed the 2.3-mile layout and specified the pavement. The first professional race was a NASCAR Grand National (Cup) race held on Aug. 4, 1957. Buck Baker led all 44 laps in the caution-free race beating Fireball Roberts by nearly half a mile. They returned in 1964 and 1965 on the annual ‘Northern Tour.” Billy Wade won 1964, Marvin Panch 1965.

— Watkins Glen has hosted nearly every major United States sanctioning body and professional racing series: NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, ARCA, Can-AM, Trans-AM, NASCAR Busch North and K&N (now ARCA East), NASCAR Modified, NASCAR Trucks, IMSA Firehawk and Camel GTO, CART, IndyCar, NASCAR Grand-Am, Formula 1, Formula 5000, IMSA and others.

— In 1961, the track ran the first of 19 Formula One races that ended after 1980 due to deteriorating track conditions not meeting F1 standards.

— In 1992, the Inner Loop Chicane was added giving the track its 2.45 distance. In 1997, International Speedway Corporation became the sole owner of the facility.

Source: Racing Insights

ODDS ARE …

With two victories and a runner-up finish in his last three Watkins Glen starts, Chase Elliott should be one of the least surprising favorites this weekend, entering at 5-1 odds, according to BetMGM.

The 2020 Cup champion scored his first career win on the New York course in 2018 and is, in total, a seven-time road-course winner. Elliott’s still looking for his first of the Next Gen era, however, despite finishing runner-up at Road America.

And that brings us to whom he finished behind — Tyler Reddick. The Richard Childress Racing driver has won each of the past two road races (Road America, Indianapolis) for his first career Cup victories and enters with the second-best odds to win Sunday (6-1). Kyle Larson, the defending Watkins Glen winner and series champion, is listed at 8-1 odds.

Perhaps one sleeper to watch this weekend will be Chris Buescher (20-1). Coming off a third-place finish at Richmond Raceway, Buescher touted notable speed in the May tire test that has made the No. 17 Ford a factor in road races this season. The 2015 Xfinity champion finished runner-up to Daniel Suárez at Sonoma, placed sixth at Road America and rallied from an early fire to finish 10th at Road America.

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 is open now. 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 3, and there is a $25,000 prize for the winner.

The 2022 Fantasy Live points leaders are Chase Elliott (876), Ryan Blaney (758) and Martin Truex Jr. (735).

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 Zack Albert

Last time out for the NASCAR Cup Series on a road course, chaos convened with regularity at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway layout’s first corner, a hard, 90-degree right-hander. Sunday’s next round, on the twists of New York’s Watkins Glen International has some on-paper similarities but also some key nuances that may stem some of the scrambling.

When Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen gets the green flag (3 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the field will sort itself into another right-hand bend, this one nicknamed “The 90.” But instead of a super-wide frontstretch narrowing into a snug turn, Watkins Glen has slightly less running room, which will likely curb any widespread fanning out.

RELATED: Watkins Glen weekend schedule | Paint Scheme Preview

“Not as much, but I mean Watkins Glen definitely has the opportunity for that,” said Joey Logano, a winner at the Glen in a weekend sweep in 2015. “I think what happens in Indy is you have six lanes of racing room that funnels down into like two, maybe three. And so you’re forced to do something. It kind of puts everyone in a bad spot because if you don’t do something, someone’s going to do it to you. So you either take it or someone’s gonna take it from me. So that just kind of makes a recipe for disaster in a way and cars are pretty durable, so everyone’s OK with bumping and banging now. So it just becomes kind of messy.

“The same thing could happen at Road America but it doesn’t. Why? Because the track’s only three lanes wide, and you can’t go four-wide. There’s no room – like, you’re in the grass. So that’s what prevents that. Watkins Glen’s similar. Three-wide is … you can get four, but that’s gonna be a little tight, right? Probably not many people do that. But three will definitely happen down there. There’s more room for that.”

A late-race restart in last month’s Indianapolis race was the boiling point for several drivers. Tyler Reddick steered clear of the Turn 1 disorder on the way to his second Cup Series win of the season, but several other contenders with road-race pedigrees did not.

The pace of Watkins Glen’s first turn, where drivers carry more speed through the corner, may also help with some of those concerns. The New York course transitions into a slight right in Turn 2, then carries momentum up the hill through the esses; at Indy, that first close-quarters right proceeds to another sharp, 90-degree left in the more technical infield section.

“I mean, I guess it is a 90-degree Turn 1, but just much different, a faster-pace turn,” says points leader Chase Elliott, a two-time Watkins Glen winner whose day at Indy was torpedoed by the late restart ruckus. “The lead-up to how you restart at Watkins Glen is just much, much different. That approach into Turn 1 doesn’t ask everyone to be dumb, so I don’t think it’ll be quite that bad. And like I said, I think the pace of the track is going to fix the majority of what you saw there at Indy.”

“I feel like when you talk about road-course aggression, we’ve had two race tracks with very inviting Turn 1s, you know,” said rookie Austin Cindric, a former Glen winner in the Xfinity Series. “That’s COTA and Indy. I don’t remember having really any much of a driver standards conversation after Sonoma, and I’m sure the Roval will be the same way, and I expect Watkins Glen to be somewhat similar to those race tracks. Even Road America, a pretty narrow race track, so you can’t really pull off the seven-wide into a corner.”

Watkins Glen hosts the next-to-last race of the regular season as the hunt for Cup Series playoff positioning winds to its conclusion. 15 drivers have virtually clinched postseason berths with victories so far, and Ryan Blaney is 26 points up on Martin Truex Jr. as the battle currently stands for the final spot in the field of 16.

MORE: Latest Watkins Glen odds

The four road-course events so far this year have all been won by Chevrolet drivers – the first two split by Trackhouse Racing teammates Ross Chastain (Circuit of The Americas) and Daniel Suárez (Sonoma), and the most recent two swept by Richard Childress Racing’s Reddick (Road America, Indy).

Truex – another victim to the Turn 1 turmoil at Indianapolis – has a solid recent history that ranks as promising for a Watkins Glen rebound, with four consecutive top-three finishes there. But the driver of the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing indicated after last weekend’s race at Richmond that the Chevy camp’s run of road-course success with the Next Gen car model would present a hurdle.

“Any other year, I’d be ecstatic to go there,” Truex said. “But with this car, our worst tracks have been road courses this year, Toyota in general. So none of us have been good. We haven’t been able to figure out how to get the braking, how to get the car to brake and then still drive off the corner and vice versa. We can only get one or the other. We can’t get both. The Chevys are destroying us.”

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

THOMPSON, Conn. – Art Barry, a two-time champion in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour as a car owner, passed away Tuesday at the age of 86.

Barry, who was well known for his work as a Modified chassis builder in the Northeast, fielded Modifieds for a variety of drivers through the decades.

He enjoyed his most success on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour during the early 2000s when he partnered with NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Mike Stefanik. The pairing won back-to-back NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships in 2001 and ’02, scoring five victories during that two-year span.

The pairing added a sixth victory together in 2003 before going their separate ways ahead of the 2004 season, which Barry spent helping his son Ken Barry during his rookie season on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

Cars fielded by Barry scored several marquee victories through the years, with his drivers earning wins in events at Stafford Motor Speedway, Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, Martinsville Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

In addition to Stefanik, drivers who raced for Barry include Brett Bodine, Mike McLaughlin, Jeff Fuller, Rick Fuller, Reggie Ruggiero, Mike Ewanitsko and Jon McKennedy, among many others.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Editor’s note: Ryan Blaney will be spotlighted in USA Network’s new unscripted series “Race for the Championship” airing this fall. The first episode is Thursday, Sept. 1, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Watch the trailer here.

___

Building on a relationship first forged 10 years ago, Team Penske announced Wednesday that it has signed Ryan Blaney to a long-term contract extension, keeping the driver of the No. 12 Ford within the organization well into his next decade with the team.

The Roger Penske-led team did not disclose terms, but indicated that the long-term deal would keep Blaney on its NASCAR Cup Series roster “well into the future.”

“It’s really nice to get something done. Me and [Roger Penske] got talking this year that it’s hard to believe that I signed with them in summer or fall of 2012,” Blaney told NASCAR.com. “So it’s been 10 years, which is pretty unreal, blew my mind to be honest with you. So they’ve been just amazing to me.”

RELATED: Ryan Blaney driver page | Team Penske page

Blaney included a long list of thank-yous, from Penske himself, to executive vice president Walt Czarnecki, team president Tim Cindric and VP of operations Michael Nelson, among others. The 28-year-old driver also singled out Brad Keselowski, his eventual Cup Series teammate who provided him with his first full-time national series ride in the Camping World Truck Series in 2013.

“It just really means a lot that they’ve believed in me for 10 years and looking forward to continue that hopefully for a really, really long time,” Blaney said. “So they’ve been a family of mine, and I owe them a lot, that’s for sure.”

Blaney’s last contract extension with the organization was announced in March 2020. He struck his first deal with the team — reached in July 2012 — in almost a different era in retrospect. Blaney was then an 18-year-old prospect, the team was in its last season with Dodge before a switch to Ford, and its NASCAR operations were still called Penske Racing. (Penske’s stock-car and IndyCar groups merged under the unified Team Penske name in 2014.)

That first developmental deal with Penske set an initial course for part-time duty in the Xfinity Series, where Blaney first wowed the NASCAR garage with a seventh-place finish at Richmond in his series debut with Tommy Baldwin Racing. Since then, he’s won seven Cup Series races for Team Penske and the affiliated Wood Brothers Racing team and has been a playoff contender for five seasons running.

“To be just, on one hand, noticed by a big team like Penske, and having me out there and meeting with Brad, meeting with Tim Cindric and everybody, it really meant a lot to me,” Blaney said, recalling his move to the organization as his father, Dave, was wrapping up his Cup Series career with the Baldwin team. “I grew up around racing, just watching Dad do it, and, you know, he never really got a shot like that with a big team. I mean, he was able to drive for RCR and Bill Davis, which were amazing teams, but not like, you know, a Penske or a Hendrick or a Gibbs. Dad never really got that shot, so it made me appreciate it even more, in that aspect of like, ‘Man, I’m really getting a great chance here, something that that Dad, you know, never got the opportunity to do.’ So just really thankful to be able to be a part of such a big group and then to be able to stick with them for so long and for us to extend it, definitely means a lot.

“So I never would have thought, when we pieced together a car to go run Richmond in 2012 that I would be here, let alone be driving for Penske. So just when you look back and put it in perspective, it’s a lot of people to thank because it never would have happened without a lot of people involved.”

RELATED: Key players in Silly Season

The people, Blaney says, are what made him singularly focused on re-signing. His first Cup Series win came with the family-run Wood Brothers group in 2017. He transitioned to the No. 12 team the following year, when Team Penske expanded to a three-car operation.

Logan Riely | Getty Images
Logan Riely | Getty Images

Though he’s now with the larger Mooresville, North Carolina-based operation, Blaney says the fit still has a close-knit feel. Though Penske and Ford have provided him with seemingly boundless resources, Blaney laughed at the thought of imposing upon those who he considers his extended family.

“They’ve been amazing to me, and I’m almost sometimes just nervous to ask them for stuff because they already do so much,” Blaney says. “They’re always talking like, ‘you could ask for anything you want. If you need something changed or need something at all just ask us,’ but that always just makes me nervous because they’ve done so much for me, I’ve always kind of been sometimes quiet on that deal.

“But the people make you feel at home and make you feel welcome, and to know that they look up to you so much to perform well for them, it gives me extra motivation to want to do well for those guys and girls who are working at the race shop and maybe don’t even get a chance to go to the track. People that have never been to the track, who are engineers that are solely based at the shop, they even make you feel like home as well and you try to give it back to them. So I mean, that’s been the biggest thing to me is they’ve treated me great. And I couldn’t picture myself being anywhere else where they would treat me as good as the Penske and Wood Brothers folks have over the years.”

With his long-term future secured, the short-term goal of reaching the Cup Series Playoffs for the sixth straight year remains on his to-do list. Blaney ranks provisionally as the last driver in the field of 16, holding a 26-point edge over Martin Truex Jr. for the final spot with two regular-season races remaining.

With 15 winners already through 24 races this year, the playoff picture is an already crowded place. The series heads to Watkins Glen’s road course this weekend for Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM) before locking in the playoff grid in the regular-season finale at Daytona, where Blaney is the defending race winner.

“If we couldn’t win Richmond, it was good to extend on Martin given their track record at that place,” says Blaney, who added seven points to his playoff cushion over Truex. “I was good to come out of there, and you’re leading by more over those guys, so that was a good job by everyone to go and accomplish that goal. I mean, honestly the next two weeks, you just continue to try to do the same thing as we’ve done all year. You try to win every week. There’s no bigger emphasis on winning now as compared to in the spring. It’s just, you try to do it every week, you just try to keep replicating it, and you just see where things shake out.

“I mean, if there’s a new winner this weekend, then we know our job going into Daytona. And if we’re the bubble car into Daytona, then you know your job of trying to win the race, trying to do your best to stay up there and just contend for a win and hope that a new winner doesn’t emerge and you’re punched out. So at the same time, you still have to be aware that you’re still racing the 19 (Truex) for trying to have a points cushion, especially going into Daytona. So, yeah, just trying to win, trying to build the point gap and just doing what we can. I try not to get too fixated or distracted from what other teams are doing, even though you’re noticing what the 19 group does and other groups, but I think the best thing you can do is just focus on yourself, because you’re not going to change other people’s outcomes, you can only control your own.”

Posted on by Team Release

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Sam Hunt Racing (SHR) announced today that John Hunter Nemechek and former NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) champion Joe Nemechek will compete as teammates for the first time since 2019 in the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 26. John Hunter Nemechek will pilot the No. 26 Freedom 13 Toyota GR Supra with crew chief Allen Hart, while his father, Joe Nemechek, will contend in the No. 24 FleetWing Toyota GR Supra with Eric Phillips atop the pit box. 

“Running multiple cars at Daytona is always special, but adding a father and son combo to the history books is a really cool opportunity for our team,” said team owner Sam Hunt. “John Hunter has been a big part of SHR’s growth, and to now have Joe join us at the tail end of his accomplished career is something I’ll cherish for a long time. Working with my dad throughout my entire racing career has been truly special, so I’m honored to be a part of this memorable moment for the Nemechek family and hope they are looking forward to it just as much as we are.” 

In 2017, at the Daytona International Speedway, John Hunter Nemechek competed against his father in a NASCAR national series event for the first time, also marking the first father and son to compete in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race together at Daytona since 2006. 

MORE: Full Xfinity Series schedule

The duo has competed against each other in 29 NCWTS events, 13 NXS events and three NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) events in their careers. The duo has a single NXS start together at Daytona in July of 2019. The last time the father-son duo competed as teammates was on November 8, 2019, at Phoenix Raceway for the family-owned team, NEMCO Motorsports. 

“If this is to be my last time to race in a NASCAR event, I am looking forward to being a teammate again with my son,” Joe Nemechek said. “I am excited to race for Sam Hunt Racing as it shares many qualities with the foundation that NEMCO Motorsports was built upon. I see Sam Hunt Racing as a very strong team, and the wins and championships are coming soon. Racing with my son again is special, and my expectation is to be on the lead lap in the mix with John Hunter. I’m excited to see what happens.” 

The NCWTS winningest crew chief Eric Phillips will call the shots for Joe Nemechek and the No. 24 team at Daytona International Speedway. Phillips, who credits his opportunity in NASCAR to Joe’s late brother John Nemechek, has a career history of working with the Nemechek family. Phillips’ first career NXS victory, as crew chief, was at Texas Motor Speedway in 2003 with Joe Nemechek. Phillips is currently the full-time crew chief for John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports team in the NCWTS. 

The Wawa 250 at Daytona will be part of two-consecutive starts for John Hunter Nemechek with Sam Hunt Racing, as the 25-year-old will also pilot the No. 26 Freedom 13 Toyota GR Supra at Darlington Raceway on September 3, before returning to SHR at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October.


Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Kevin Harvick never panicked during his recent 65-race winless streak.

Since breaking his second-longest dry spell with consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victories at Michigan and Richmond, respectively, Harvick has emphasized a steady, unwavering focus that helped neutralize the lows and highs over the past 23 months. Before Aug. 14, Harvick last visited Victory Lane in September 2020 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

MORE: Watkins Glen schedule | Points standings

The unfaltering mindset wasn’t something naturally engrained in Harvick. Instead, it grew from lessons learned the last time he went through a long skid — a career-worst span of 115 races between February 2007 and April 2010 when he went winless at Richard Childress Racing.

The key takeaway?

“Handle absolutely everything completely different than you handled that one,” Harvick told NASCAR.com on Tuesday.

Harvick doesn’t have fond memories of that stretch, highlighted by the fact he never won a race during the Car of Tomorrow era, when a wing was featured on the rear decklid. Twelve years removed from that dreadful drought, Harvick takes accountability for the lengthy vacation from Victory Lane.

“At that particular time, I was more part of the problem than I was part of the solution,” he said. “So … as you look at this particular (65-race) winless streak and you look at the way that things were handled and how we communicated with each other, you handled it like … I tell people you handle it like an adult. And it was much more productive. And I think as you go through the streak this time and get out of it, you know, it’s like, OK, it’s all the same people. It’s people that you work through a problem to create a solution with, and people that I’ve had a relationship for a long time.

“I would look at the previous (winless) streak at RCR (as) a lot longer than it probably needed to be because of the fact that you weren’t the leader and you weren’t the responsible adult in the room, trying to try to help progress it forward and do the things that you needed to do to fix the cars.”

That experience seemingly changed his entire perspective. Now in his ninth season at Stewart-Haas Racing, the 2014 Cup champion finds connecting with his team is the most imperative facet of his job today.

“I think I worry less about what I want to accomplish and just trying to accomplish what I know I need to accomplish,” Harvick said, “and that is being engaged with my team on a week-to-week basis to get the most out of our cars and vehicles and the responsibility that comes with being prepared and being a part of that process on a week-to-week basis.

“You want to do everything that you can to try to take as much as you can every single week that you’re at the race track, because at some point there won’t be a next week. It’ll be what you used to do, and you want to give it your all while you can.”

Twenty-four races through the 2022 schedule, Harvick is still accomplishing plenty. He holds the hot hand entering the penultimate race of the regular season at Watkins Glen International on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and sits tied for ninth all-time in career victories, claiming his 60th checkered flag at Richmond. The man with whom he’s tied is Kyle Busch, the series’ only active multi-title winner.

Harvick became the first driver to score back-to-back wins in the Next Gen era over the past two weeks. To net the hat trick with a third straight victory — which would be the first three-peat since Kyle Larson accomplished the feat in October 2021 (Roval, Texas, Kansas) — Harvick will need to win at the 2.45-mile road course on Sunday, something he hasn’t done since 2006.

“We’ve done a fair amount better on the road courses this year than we did previously,” said Harvick, who rallied to finish fourth at Sonoma Raceway in June but is showing even better speed now. “So Watkins Glen is a place that I’ve been fortunate to win at and have some success at, so it’s a traditional course that we always run so I feel like I know it like the back of my hand. And you know, we just have to have to get in a good rhythm and try to be prepared from the simulator to the race track for that short practice that we have and go straight into qualifying and see where it all goes from there.”

Only three weeks separate the series from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, set to begin at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 4. Harvick is determined to earn his second career championship — but he admits he’s not worried about adding stats to his legacy. His goal is simply to execute his tasks at the highest level possible.

“That’s definitely what we’re trying to accomplish, is trying to put ourselves in position to race for another championship,” said Harvick, 46. “And whether it works out or not, I’m not sure that it changes the long-term outlook or not. But I’m sure when I get older, you probably tell yourself that I wish I would have done this a little better or this a little differently, and what year that is I don’t know. But I know right now the goal is to try to accomplish that (championship) as we get towards the end of this year.”