23XI Racing indicated Wednesday that Kurt Busch will sit out for the fourth consecutive weekend, missing this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Richmond Raceway.
Busch has been sidelined the last three Cup Series events as concussion symptoms lingered after a crash during qualifying at Pocono Raceway on July 23. His 23XI team indicated that the 44-year-old veteran had not received medical clearance to drive the No. 45 Toyota in Sunday’s Federated Auto Parts 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM).
Xfinity Series regular Ty Gibbs will fill in again for Busch in the No. 45 Camry. He stepped in for the last three races, recording a best finish of 10th last weekend at Michigan International Speedway. Those starts marked the first Cup Series efforts for Gibbs, the 19-year-old grandson of Coach Joe Gibbs.
NASCAR officials indicated that Busch, a two-time Richmond winner, had received a medical waiver to retain his playoff eligibility, should all other criteria for making the postseason be met. Busch scored his lone Cup Series win of the season in May after a dominant performance at Kansas Speedway.
Busch is in his first year with the 23XI organization co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and fellow driver Denny Hamlin. The veteran has 34 wins in 776 Cup Series starts and secured the series championship in 2004.
STATESVILLE, N.C. — Petty GMS Motorsports announced the final piece of its 2023 driver lineup Wednesday, promoting Noah Gragson to the NASCAR Cup Series full-time in the No. 42 Chevrolet and signing him to a multiyear deal.
Gragson was presented during a news conference at the Petty GMS shop, flanked by stock-car king and team co-owner Richard Petty, team president Mike Beam and a gathering of the organization’s 100-plus employees. As he sat beside a new No. 42 Camaro with his name above the driver’s door, Gragson said he was already savoring the fit.
“Just the atmosphere, the people,” Gragson said. “I think that’s the most important thing is the people and being able to feel comfortable at an organization, that’s pretty unique as it is, I feel like. JR Motorsports, it’s been a home for me the last four years and the leadership and the same qualities that they really instill in their company, I feel like that’s what we’ve seen here at GMS. So looking forward to the opportunity.
“I know it’s gonna be a big challenge and a lot of hard work, but I feel like with the atmosphere here and the people, I can be myself and that’s when I feel like I’m doing the best job possible is when I’m like myself. So I’m just happy for it.”
Gragson arrives after four full seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where he is an eight-time winner. The 24-year-old driver will team with Erik Jones, who signed a multiyear extension to drive the No. 43 Chevy for the Richard Petty and Maury Gallagher-owned organization in July.
Gragson replaces Ty Dillon, who announced July 15 that he would not return to the No. 42 team next year. Dillon was originally signed by Gallagher’s GMS group last October and was kept in the fold when it joined forces with Petty’s organization last December. But in setting a course with Gragson, Beam said that making a change with the No. 42 team was a part of an accelerated timeline to reaching the organization’s performance goals.
“We don’t have time. We’ve got to go, and that’s just the honest to God’s truth,” Beam said. “And Maury will tell you, we’re not gonna mess around here. I mean, we’re committed to this. What it costs to do it, it’s like there’s really no budget. We’re just buying what we need to do to run well but we cannot have any … I don’t want to say weak link, but we just gotta go. And that’s just the honest to God’s truth. We’re not gonna mess around here, and Noah knows it. I talked to Noah about it. I said we’re going to support you, but we gotta go. Erik knows it. You know what our plan is? Our plan is just to run hard. If you wreck it, we’ll bring it home and fix it. That’s just the way it is.”
In signing Gragson, Petty GMS has snapped up one of the Xfinity Series’ top prospects. Gragson ranks fourth in the series standings with three wins already this season — at Phoenix, Talladega and Pocono — for JR Motorsports’ No. 9 team. He placed a career-best third in the final standings last year, finishing behind champion Daniel Hemric and runner-up Austin Cindric in the title race.
Gragson has made nine Cup Series starts this season — seven for Kaulig Racing and two for Beard Motorsports. The Las Vegas native’s best finish so far is an 18th-place result at Kansas Speedway in Matt Kaulig’s No. 16 Chevy, which he is sharing this season with teammates Hemric and AJ Allmendinger. The Cup Series experience was a plus for Beam, who says he’s been appreciative of the Kaulig group’s support in bringing him to NASCAR’s big leagues.
The move keeps Gragson in the Chevrolet camp, which he joined in 2019 with JRM. He entered NASCAR’s national ranks through the Toyota pipeline, primarily with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series.
Along the way, Gragson has earned a reputation for his aggressive nature behind the wheel. Last month, the driver was fined $35,000 and penalized 30 points in the Xfinity Series standings for a payback crash at Road America. Being himself, as Gragson says, is one thing. But taking a measured approach with cutthroat-style tactics is another, Petty says.
“Might have to calm him down a little bit, but the way that Cup racing is now, he’s got to be aggressive,” Petty said. “I think from that standpoint, I just hope that we can calm him down where he’s not too aggressive, but he’s going to be in a learning process because Xfinity is a little bit different crowd of people. They race different. When it comes to Cup, he’s going to have to learn to respect his other drivers and he’s going to have to respect them. So it’s going to be interesting.”
The move also marks something of a reunion for Gragson. Dave Elenz was his crew chief at JRM for three years before making the jump to Petty GMS and the No. 43 team with Jones this season.
Beam said that he had been so focused on completing the contract talks with Jones, Gragson and GMS Racing’s Truck Series drivers that he hasn’t had a chance to settle on a crew chief for the No. 42 team for next season. But Beam also indicated that splitting up Elenz and Jones to pair him with Gragson again was not a consideration.
“Dave’s the guy, and him and Erik do really well,” Beam said. “That was part of Erik’s negotiation, too, which it should be. So no, that’s all fine.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR announced today that construction will begin on a brand new state-of-the-art Productions facility later this summer. The 58,000-square-foot facility will be built on the land adjacent to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina.
The new facility will house approximately 125 NASCAR Productions and MRN employees with further room to expand operations in the future. NASCAR will continue to have a significant presence in the Uptown Charlotte area, with a large contingent of employees remaining in Five Fifty South (formerly known as NASCAR Plaza) for the foreseeable future.
NASCAR will make significant investments in its Productions infrastructure and technology to deliver first-class live event production and content to NASCAR’s fans and industry partners. This commitment furthers NASCAR’s mission of providing fans with enhanced content that brings them closer to the sport.
“The scope and scale of the NASCAR Productions business has fundamentally changed in recent years, with NASCAR’s live event production operation more than doubling since 2018. Developing a state-of-the-art facility that can accommodate our continued expansion was paramount,” said Brian Herbst, SVP, Media and Productions. “In this evolving sports media landscape, live event production and investing in technology that enhances the fan viewing experience has never been more important — it’s essential that our new workspace can facilitate that strategic growth.”
NASCAR Productions will produce more than 500 live events in 2022, up from 200 live events in 2018. Through a partnership with NEP Group, an industry leader in delivering solutions for broadcast and live events, the new NASCAR Productions facility will be outfitted with the latest broadcast equipment and software to create high-end production quality and content.
The new location is strategically located next to the NASCAR R&D Center and will be more closely situated to a majority of NASCAR team operations. The facility will offer more space and will be a far more efficient resource for the industry at large. Though still in the early stages of development, the new facility is expected to be fully operational by the start of the 2024 season.
NASCAR Studios, the sanctioning body’s hub for content strategy, creation and distribution will also have employees based at the new facility in Concord.
NASCAR will conduct a ceremonially ground-breaking event on Wednesday, Aug. 31. More information will be shared as details for the event become finalized.
The No. 45 Toyota Camry will have a fresh look Sunday at Richmond Raceway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM Radio) as 23XI Racing rocks the iconic Air Jordan 11 “Concord” edition on the car.
The scheme matches the white and black pattern of the shoe with the dark blue door number representing the sole color. On the front and rear of the No. 45 is the ‘Carolina Blue’ that gives a nod to co-team owner Michael Jordan’s college playing days at the University of North Carolina.
The Air Jordan was released in 1995 and was a part of Jordan’s rotation during the 1995-96 NBA season.
The No. 45 has a win this season with a Jordan Brand car as Kurt Busch won the spring race at Kansas Speedway to clinch a spot in the Cup Series playoffs. Busch has missed the last three Cup Series races with lingering concussion symptoms, and Xfinity Series regular Ty Gibbs has filled in.
Announced guests for what the team has billed as a “special announcement” include team chairman Richard Petty and Mike Beam, president of both Petty GMS and the GMS Racing operations. The team has also listed “TBD” for the new driver of the organization’s No. 42 Chevrolet.
NASCAR.com will carry the news conference live from the Petty GMS shop in Statesville, North Carolina, streaming from the above link.
Petty GMS announced July 30 that Erik Jones would return as driver of the No. 43 Chevrolet, signing him to a multiyear contract extension. The new driver of the No. 42 Chevy will replace Ty Dillon, who announced two weeks earlier that he would not be back with the organization in 2023.
Ricky Bly experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows on the race track last season. In 2021, he won 13 races, but was involved in a wreck and didn’t finish in every other race.
This season, it’s been seemingly nothing but highs for Bly. He has 10 wins between NASCAR-sanctioned Claremont, Monadnock, Hudson and Lee USA Speedways in New Hampshire.
Bly has a 78 point lead in the Late Model Sportsman division at Claremont, and he’s currently third in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division III National standings.
“It’s definitely a season like I haven’t had in a long time,” Bly said in a phone interview last week. “I’ve won a lot of races, but not like this. It’s pretty good.”
Bly can’t really explain what the difference has been for him in the car in his 22nd year racing. He and his crew built his car last year and said they figured out a lot of small changes to help. Everything else has simply been falling into place.
His worst finish this year was fifth, which came after he cut a tire on another car that had spun in front of him.
“We probably would have won that night, but who knows,” Bly said. “It just seems like everything is clicking the way you want it to go.”
The key for Bly every season, this one especially, is keeping fun at the forefront. In the beginning of his career, he came within two points of a track championship one year and one point short of another.
After those losses, which he said were devastating, Bly spent seven years refusing to points race. He would instead just hop from track to track and try to get wins wherever he could.
He chose Claremont as his home track in 2017, and has won two Late Model championships since, but he still prefers to not look at points until the season is over.
“This year we were like, we’re not even going to points race, we’re just going to go have some fun,” Bly said. “Next thing you know, we’re winning week after week after week. So it was like, well, I guess we’re going to race for points now.
“Points racing in my mind, you’re always worried about what’s going to happen when you’re on the race track. You’re always worried about getting wrecked, you’re constantly checking online to see where you are in the points standings and all that stuff.”
Ricky Bly celebrates one of his 10 victories so far this season.
Bly didn’t even know he was in the national points discussion until a friend pointed it out.
“I was like, oh, that’s kind of interesting. I never had a clue. I didn’t even know where to find it,” he said. “Now I look at it frequently, but I never even looked at it before.”
He has no idea what his highest finish nationally is, but he’s positive this year will be his best. Even though he’s gotten in the habit of looking at the standings every so often, he insists he isn’t going to do anything differently the rest of the season.
“I think that’s the biggest thing, even if you wanted to go for all those points, I feel that the more you get involved with it, mindset-wise, the worse you’ll do,” he said. “I really feel that way. I race to go have fun.
“It’s definitely not about money, and I really could care less about the points, but if it ends up where we end up, that’ll be pretty cool.”
Racing is fun for Bly, and he’s also gotten the opportunity to share his love with many people around the racetrack, and at home. His 6-year-old daughter, Rowan, had her first go-kart race last week.
Rowan is at the track with Bly every time he races, which he said, “just makes it that much more fun.”
She’s even starting to build her own fanbase in the sport.
“She asks every day when we’re going back,” Bly said. “They’re going a lot faster than I thought they would. The first time she went out she looked like a little snail. Then when we actually went out to practice, she was like three times the speed she was. They were like, ‘Is that a different person in there?’ Every time she goes out she’s got more confidence, which is really cool.
“All the people there wanted to watch her. I think she’s got more followers than I do.”
Bly is happy to pass down his love of racing to his next generation after getting into the sport from his own elders in the same way. His mom and dad’s families were all in the sport, and he started helping his cousins in the pits when he was around nine or 10 years old.
It was those years that he said “gave me the itch,” to drive himself.
Bly is racing with something of a heavy heart this season. His mom passed away last year.
“This year, it’s like she’s definitely up there looking down and saying, ‘Do what you can do,’” he said. “She was there every week when I raced. She never missed a race. This has been a pretty cool year since she’s not been around.”
Bly considers everyone he races with a part of his family. Every time he goes to the track it’s feels like a family reunion, and he meets new friends every race.
No matter how many wins he finishes the season with, or where he is in any points standings, he’s going to make sure he enjoyed himself along the way.
“I’ve raced all over,” he said. “I’ve raced everywhere in the northeast and met so many cool people… That’s just made it that much more fun is the amount of people you meet. That’s what makes it fun is when everyone is having fun.”
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Aug. 9, 2022) — Sam Mayer will return to JR Motorsports and race full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2023, the team announced Tuesday. The 19-year-old will again pilot the No. 1 Chevrolet in his third consecutive season with JRM.
Mayer, who ran a part-time schedule in 2021, is currently 21 races into his first full-time season with the organization. Ninth in the championship standings with only five races remaining before the playoff cutoff, he’s squarely in the hunt on the strength of eight top-five and 11 top-10 finishes, including a string of seven top-five efforts in eight races earlier this year.
“We’ve seen tremendous growth and maturity from Sam on and off the racetrack,” said Kelley Earnhardt Miller, JRM general manager. “He is consistently running up front, is fast each and every week and provides great visibility for his partners. With all the situational knowledge he’s gained this year, I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do to finish out 2022 and into ’23.”
Mayer has tallied nine top fives, 17 top 10s and one pole in 39 starts with JRM.
“It’s a good feeling to get this squared away,” said Mayer, a native of Franklin, Wisconsin. “Now we can focus on locking ourselves into the playoffs and getting that first Xfinity win. JR Motorsports has been a great place for me all the way back to my late model days. We’re expecting big things for this No. 1 team for the remainder of this year and beyond.”
An alumnus of JRM’s Late Model program, Mayer was also the 2019 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion, which crowned him the youngest champion in any NASCAR series at the age of 16 years, three months and eight days. He holds one win in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition.
Some of the best Super Late Model drivers from around the country are heading to Michigan’s Berlin Raceway this Wednesday for the 12th running of the Battle at Berlin, which offers a whopping $30,000 to the driver who crosses the finish line first.
The race is the second major Super Late Model event at the track in 2022. Berlin Raceway played host to the Money in the Bank 150 earlier this year, an event that was won by NASCAR Cup Series star William Byron and the Donnie Wilson Motorsports team.
The Battle at Berlin 250 features a purse totaling more than $90,000, making it one of the richest Super Late Model races in the United States. As a result, competitors are coming from across the country with the goal of taking home the $30,000 top prize.
Byron is among those looking to collect the first-place prize money, as is fellow NASCAR Cup Series star Erik Jones. They’re joined by a multitude of top Super Late Model stars, including drivers like Bubba Pollard, Carson Hocevar, Ty Majeski and Preston Peltier.
Below is everything you need to know about the Battle at Berlin 250 at Berlin Raceway.
Cars race during the Budweiser Super Late Model feature at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan on April 23, 2022. (Photo: Nic Antaya/ARCA Racing)
What TV Channel is the Battle at Berlin 250 at Berlin Raceway on?
All the on-track action for the Battle at Berlin 250 can be viewed live on FloRacing, the official streaming home for all NASCAR Roots properties
The event will not be shown on a television network.
Below is the complete schedule for FloRacing’s coverage of the Battle at Berlin 250.
This year’s Battle at Berlin 250 will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 10.
The event is headlined by the 250-lap Battle at Berlin for the Super Late Model division. The Model Coverall Limited Late Model division will also be in action with a 50-lap feature.
Below is the complete race-day schedule at Berlin Raceway (all times ET).
Time
Event
9:30 a.m.
Pit pass window opens
10 a.m.
Pit area opens
11 a.m.
Race tires sold and impounded. One person per team and five at a time in order of registration. Time limit enforced.
12 p.m.
Super Late Model drivers / spotters meeting
1-1:40 p.m.
Super Late Model practice
1:50-2:30 p.m.
Super Late Model practice
3:30 p.m.
Super Late Model tech inspection
4:10-4:30 p.m.
Model Coverall Limited Late Model practice / qualifying
4:40-5 p.m.
Model Coverall Limited Late Model practice / qualifying
5:45 p.m.
Super Late Model qualifying
6:27 p.m.
Invocation / National Anthem
6:30 p.m.
Battle at Berlin 250 Last Chance Race (40 laps)
Immediately following…
Model Coverall Limited Late Model Feature (50 laps)
Immediately following…
Driver Introductions
Immediately following…
Battle at Berlin 250 (250 laps)
Official format for the Battle at Berlin 250
The field for Wednesday’s Battle at Berlin 250 will be set by qualifying and a Last Chance Race. Competitors will make two consecutive laps during qualifying, with the fastest lap serving as their official time.
The fastest 24 competitors will automatically lock into the 250-lap main event. All remaining cars will then race in the Last Chance Race, with the top four advancing to the feature. Positions 29 and 30 are reserved for the July 2 and July 23 Battle at Berlin Qualifier Winners, if necessary.
For the 250-lap race, cars will start according to qualifying times, followed by transfers from qualifying event and qualifying race winners. There will be competition cautions every 40 green flag laps. This does not apply within 15 laps of the finish of the race.
Battle at Berlin 250 entry list
The current entry list for the Battle at Berlin 250 features 28 cars.
Headlining the pre-entries are a pair of NASCAR Cup Series stars, William Byron and Erik Jones. Byron already has a victory at Berlin Raceway earlier this year when he won the Money in the Bank 150. Jones, a two-time Battle at Berlin winner, recently picked up a Super Late Model victory at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in an event that also featured Byron.
They’ll be joined by some of the best Super Late Model competitors in the country, including NASCAR Camping World Truck Series stars Ty Majeski and Carson Hocevar.
Also entered is defending race winner Kyle Crump, Evergreen Speedway Summer Showdown winner Preston Peltier, veteran Super Late Model racer Bubba Pollard, Jennerstown Speedway Motor Mountain Masters victor Evan Shotko and Northeastern Late Model star Derek Griffith.
Other notable entries include Mike Garvey, Tyler Roahrig, William Sawalich, 2019 event winner Boris Jurkovic and two-time race winner Brian Campbell.
Below is the complete entry list for Wednesday’s Battle at Berlin 250.
Car No.
Driver
4
Erik Jones
6
Eric White
12
Derek Griffith
17
Mike Garvey
18
Chase Burda
20
Austin Hull
21
Ty Majeski
22
Evan Shotko
24
William Byron
24
Tyler Roahrig
24
William Sawalich
24
Dylan Stovall
26
Bubba Pollard
28
Kevin Cremonesi
28
Scott Thomas
37
Brian Bergakker
45
Michael Simko
47
Brian Campbell
48
Preston Peltier
53
Boris Jurkovic
57
Blake Rowe
71
Carson Hocevar
77
Andrew Scheid
88
Nate Walton
88
Trevor McCoy
93
Austin Thom
101
Joe Bush
131
Kyle Crump
Kyle Crump, shown here in Victory Lane earlier this year at Berlin Raceway, is the defending winner of the Battle at Berlin. (Photo: Nic Antaya/ARCA Racing)
Battle at Berlin 250 history, winners
In the more than 10-year history of the Battle at Berlin 250, the event has been won by regional competitors as well as top NASCAR stars.
Headlining the list of winners is two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, who won the race three straight years from 2010-12. Joining him on the list of winners is Erik Jones, who won the event twice in 2015 and ’16 as he prepared for his first full NASCAR Cup Series season in 2017.
Among the drivers from the region to win the Battle at Berlin 250 are Brian Campbell, Johnny VanDoorn and Boris Jukovic. Campbell and VanDoorn have each won the event twice, with Campbell winning the inaugural race in 2009.
Kyle Crump is the defending winner of the Battle at Berlin, having dominated the event last season when it was a 150-lap event.
Below is the complete list of winners of the Battle at Berlin 250.
Truex sits fourth in the regular-season points standings, but Harvick’s victory knocks Truex out of the playoff grid with three races remaining before the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs begin.
Truex trails Ryan Blaney by 19 points heading into next weekend’s race at Richmond Raceway (Sunday, Aug. 14, 3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Blaney sits second in the regular-season standings, trailing Chase Elliott for the regular-season title by 119 points.
Sitting below the cut line is a major concern for Truex. Only one spot remains in the playoff grid based on points, and another new winner would eliminate that position. The regular-season champion is guaranteed a playoff berth, however. If Elliott squanders his points lead to Blaney, Blaney could theoretically win the title and qualify for the playoffs without a victory.
Truex, the 2017 Cup Series champion, has qualified for the Championship 4 in five of the past seven seasons, finishing runner-up in 2018, 2019 and 2021. The good news for Truex is his past success at each of the next two tracks on the Cup schedule.
Truex is a three-time winner at Richmond and led 80 laps there in the spring. After that is Watkins Glen International, where Truex hasn’t finished worse than third in each of the past four races.
The No. 19 team will need to score maximum points — or win — throughout the remaining events on the schedule to ensure a last-minute berth into the 2022 playoffs.
