Posted on by Dustin Albino

When asked about expectations for Michigan a couple of weeks back at Pocono, Bubba Wallace’s eyes lit up. Without giving a straight answer, he was confident in what Toyota could accomplish at that track. His No. 23 team gathered data after a Goodyear tire test at the track in late May. That data showed true in practice, with Toyotas sweeping the top five spots, before Wallace eventually earned the first pole for himself and 23XI Racing in qualifying.

Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup:
Starter 1: Kyle Busch
Starter 2: Bubba Wallace
Starter 3: Christopher Bell
Starter 4: Kyle Larson
Starter 5: Denny Hamlin
Garage pick: Tyler Reddick

NEXT IN LINE: Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Erik Jones, Martin Truex Jr.

MORE: Starting lineup | Qualifying recap

RISING: Aside from his win at New Hampshire last month, Christopher Bell has flown under the radar this season, despite sitting sixth in the championship standings. For the fifth time this season, the No. 20 car will start from the front row, and he felt confident about his car potentially competing for a win on Sunday. Practice and qualifying were a success for the No. 20 team.

In unfortunate circumstances, Ty Gibbs has made the No. 45 Toyota car his home for the last three weeks. And though he has top-20 finishes in both of his starts, Gibbs looked to be more comfortable at Michigan, running the fourth-quickest time in practice. And after being the first driver to miss the final round of qualifying, the 19-year-old showed his frustration with a slight jab to the pit wall.

FALLING: Expectations were high for Ryan Blaney entering the weekend; after all, he is the defending winner of the race. Historically, he’s run well at MIS. The one downside on Saturday was the No. 12 Ford was tight, narrowly avoiding the wall in qualifying. As crew chief Jonathan Hassler showed at Indianapolis, he’s willing to pull strategy to get Blaney towards the front.

Given Trackhouse Racing’s success this year, it’s a surprise when Ross Chastain isn’t in the top 10 in any session. In practice, the No. 1 car was 21st on the scoring chart and dropped to 22nd in qualifying. Though it’s possible the team finds speed overnight, save Chastain’s uses for one of the final three races of the regular season.

FEATURED MATCHUPS:

Denny Hamlin vs. Tyler Reddick
Straight up, this is the toughest matchup of the week. Both drivers made it to the final round of qualifying, and though Reddick is riding a wave of momentum, the advantage goes to his future boss, Hamlin. This weekend has a Nashville feeling to it, and though Toyota didn’t win that race, it led 253 of 300 laps.

Ryan Blaney vs. William Byron
This matchup last year would have been tough because Blaney and Byron finished 1-2 in the race. On Sunday, Byron starts 20th and Blaney 24th. Still, give the slight edge to Blaney, solely based on Byron’s inconsistency over the last four months, earning just one top 10 in the last 14 races.

Kevin Harvick vs. Joey Logano
Combined, Harvick and Logano have won five of the past six races at Michigan. Ford itself is on a seven-race winning streak at MIS, the longest such streak since the track began hosting Cup races in 1969. Someway, somehow, the No. 4 team always finds a way to grind through adversity. This might be Harvick’s last best chance to win his way into the playoffs, so the upper hand lies there.

Daniel Suárez vs. Bubba Wallace
One word: Toyota. If the No. 23 car can keep all four wheels on the car and execute on pit road, Wallace should be in contention to win the race. The No. 23 team is riding three consecutive top 10s into Michigan, the only multiple top-10 streak of Wallace’s career.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

Taking control of the race in the final stage, Ty Gibbs sped to his NASCAR Xfinity Series-best fifth victory of the season in Saturday’s New Holland 250 at Michigan International Speedway.

The tenor of the race changed markedly near the end of the second stage when pole winner Noah Gragson opted to stay on the track and compete for the stage win on the high-speed 2-mile track.

MORE: Official results | At-track photos

Gibbs had pitted under caution on Lap 55 and inherited the lead when Gragson and others who had stayed out until the completion of the stage came to pit road during the stage break.

The race ran caution-free from the final restart Lap 68 to the finish on Lap 125, and Gibbs beat runner-up Justin Allgaier to the stripe by 1.160 seconds. Gragson worked his way up to third but trailed Gibbs by 2.472 seconds at the finish.

“I think this type of racing shows the strategy in the pit stops,” said Gibbs, who led twice for a race-high 54 laps, matching the number of his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “My guys did such a great job. I work out with them during the week, so I see how hard they work. They do a great job—every one of them.

“So I’m very thankful and glad to be part of the organization that motivates me like that week in and week out — not motivates, because that’s temporary — but being relentless, and I feel like that’s what they showed me.”

The victory was Gibbs’ first at Michigan and the ninth in 39 Xfinity Series starts for a remarkable winning percentage of 23.08.

Allgaier opted for the same strategy as Gibbs, but a slow green-flag pit stop on Lap 100 cost him a chance to compete for the win.

“I pitted to try and get clear of some lapped cars, and, unfortunately, we merged back on the race track right behind those same lapped cars, right before they made their pit stops,” Allgaier said. “So not only did we have to contend with getting by them, as soon as we got by them, they all pitted.

“Second place is tough, but my daughter’s birthday’s on Monday, so we’ll celebrate, even though it’s second.”

MORE: Watch Gibbs put on a smoke show

Gragson’s No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet arguably was the fastest car in the race, but strategy and the absence of cautions in the final stage doomed his prospects.

“We won the first stage and then had a caution with about five to go in the second stage and opted to stay out, won the second stage (by .035 seconds of AJ Allmendinger),” Gragson said. “Then just flipped.

“Restarted the third stage 12th, and that kind of hurt us there at the end, but overall good day for our Bass Pro Shops, Black Rifle Camaro. We were running him down—just needed more laps there at the end.”

Brandon Jones and Austin Hill finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Josh Berry, Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric, Riley Herbst and Landon Cassill completed the top 10.

The caution flag waved just twice for on-track incidents Saturday. The first came at Lap 41 when CJ McLaughlin contacted the outside wall and Matt Mills spun behind him, with the other waving at Lap 53 for an incident involving David Starr and Dillon Bassett in Turn 2. The latter crash set up the dash to the finish of Stage 2 and altered pit strategy for the race’s frontrunners.

Gibbs is also competing in the Cup Series race on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in Kurt Busch’s No. 45 Toyota as Busch recovers from concussion-like symptoms. He will start 11th in the Cup race alongside Gragson, who will pilot the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet from 12th. Hill will make his Cup debut in the No. 33 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing starting 31st.

NOTE: Inspection in the Xfinity Series garage is complete with no issues, confirming the No. 54 as the race winner.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Sean Montgomery

FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway
(⏰ 3 p.m. ET | 📺 USA Network, NBC Sports App | 📻 MRN, SiriusXM)

Everything you need to know for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan, the 23rd regular-season event of the 2022 campaign.

Race-day info 📝

Where: Brooklyn, Michigan
Approximate start time: 3 p.m. ET (UNDERWAY AFTER DELAY) | Full weekend schedule
TV/Radio: USA, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio | Full TV schedule
The purse: $7,125,085
Forecast: A slight chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 p.m. ET, according to NOAA.gov | Weather tracker
Race distance: 200 laps | 400 miles
Stages: 45 | 120 | 200
Pit-road speed: 55 mph
Caution car speed: 65 mph
Michigan 101: Get the full lowdown
Starting lineup: Where drivers will start
Pit stalls: Where drivers will pit
UPDATE: Kurt Busch out for third week

Key things to watch 🔑

Big story line

Ford is sputtering a bit lately and is on a winless streak that dates back to Joey Logano’s victory at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway — eight races ago. Heading to a track in the manufacturer’s backyard, one it has historically dominated, is the perfect week for them to pick up the pace. Still fighting for a guaranteed playoff berth, Kevin Harvick has five wins and nearly 700 laps led in his 41 races here. Defending race winner Ryan Blaney is also chasing that elusive win on a team where he is the only winless driver. These two drivers each have a strong case to win Sunday, and Ford has not lost a race here since 2017, on an impressive seven-race stretch. Will the Blue Oval continue the streak with the debut of the Next Gen cars?

Who’s hot? Who’s not? 

Has the early season aggression finally caught up with Ross Chastain? His last two races ended in finishes of 27th or worse, including the controversial run-in with Denny Hamlin at Pocono Raceway. The reality is, drivers on the track just aren’t giving him many breaks. Nonetheless, the No. 1 car has been one of the most consistent this season based on raw speed. A big, 2-mile track like Michigan should provide Chastain and his Trackhouse Racing team with a bit more comfort this weekend as they aim to get back on track.

In the last three weeks, Bubba Wallace has been on fire. Wallace and the No. 23 Toyota team have registered three consecutive top-eight finishes, marking the first time Wallace has achieved the feat in his Cup Series career. After some bad runs and early misfortune, Wallace and company have found a groove down the final stretch of the regular season. But based on point standings, they will need to secure a win to get into the playoffs. With opportunities to reach Victory Lane dwindling down, look for them to be more aggressive this weekend at Michigan.

Driving under the radar

If you just tuned in for the first time last season, it can be easy to forget how capable Kevin Harvick is. Still searching for a result to end his 65-race winless streak, Harvick has rarely been the favorite entering a recent race weekend. But pump the brakes. The stats show that the No. 4 team is starting to find its form, with four top 10s in the last seven races and a bit of misfortune at Pocono and the Indy Road Course costing the group solid finishes there, as well. Michigan is arguably Harvick’s best race track. And it is also arguably his best chance to win during this final slate of regular-season action. Before Blaney’s 2021 win, Harvick won three straight and three of the last four. Don’t count him out just yet.

Qualifying

It was the Toyotas who stole the show during Saturday’s two-round qualifying session, led by Bubba Wallace who earned his first career Busch Light Pole Award. Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch filed in behind, trailed by Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin in seventh and ninth to round out a strong top-10 showing. Ty Gibbs, making his first Cup Series start on a traditional oval, flashed excellent speed and will roll off 11th. Joey Logano and Austin Cindric put together the best showcase for the Blue Oval group, earning the fourth and fifth starting spots, respectively. Defending race winner Ryan Blaney will start 24th. | Full qualifying recap

Ryan Blaney prepares to hand the checkered flag to a young fan.
Getty Images

Race-day staples ✅

Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.

• Paint Scheme Preview: See the latest colors for Michigan | Pick a favorite
• Power Rankings: Logano leapfrogs his way up the ladder | Updated drivers rankings
• NASCAR betting: BetMGM odds for Sunday’s race | Underdogs, value bets
• Fantasy Fastlane: Ford looks to continue dominant streak on home turf | Top plays, sleepers
• Bubble Watch: Which drivers are close to the cutline? | Read more
• Stacking Pennies: Denny Hamlin joins the podcast | Listen to full interview

Catch the pack 💨

Read up on the top headlines from the week leading up to Sunday’s race.

• Downtrend: No. 48 crew chief Greg Ives opens up about summer struggles | Read more
• Is it over?: Denny Hamlin chats about feud with Ross Chastain | Listen now
• Kyle Busch: Two-time champ opens up on family, more | Read more
• Keselowski’s committed: Driver-owner standing strong through RFK’s rebuild | Read more
• Cup Series debut: Austin Hill is set to drive the No. 33 for RCR at Michigan | Read more
• No appeal: Front Row Motorsports drops penalty appeal | Read more
• Sad news: Longtime driver Buddy Arrington dies at 84 | Read more
• Fire suits: Inside technological advancements and safety | Read more
• eNASCAR: Wilson wins All-Star Race on Chicago Street Course | Race recap
• ICYMI: Erik Jones will return to Petty GMS in 2023 | Read more

Get in on the action 💰

Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy.

• BetMGM: Despite form, Reddick enters Sunday as an underdog | Read more
• The Action Network: The favorite bet to lock in for Sunday’s race | Read more
• More betting insight: Guide to betting the Suárez vs. Wallace matchup | Learn more
• Play it LIVE: Full guide to 2022 NASCAR Fantasy Live game | Get the FAQ
• Going all the way: 2022 Cup Series championship odds | See them here

Michigan moments 🚘

The automobile industry has strong ties to Michigan, so it is not surprising that NASCAR has a share of it.

• Do you remember?: Most memorable moments at Michigan | Relive them here
• Last year: Ryan Blaney holds off Kyle Larson, William Byron | Full race recap
• Race Rewind: Video highlights, key moments from 2021 race | Watch now

Fast facts ⏩

Hard-hitting, race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.

• Kevin Harvick has won four of the last six races at Michigan.
• JGR has eight Michigan wins but the last came in August 2015 with Matt Kenseth (11 races since).
• Bubba Wallace is on a career-best three-race top-10 streak.
• Ford leads all manufacturers at Michigan with 42 wins, 16 more than Chevrolet’s 26; Toyota has five.
• Current points leader Chase Elliott has 10 top 10s at Michigan; his most at any track.

Say what? 🎙

Notable quotes from the stars of the sport heading into Sunday’s race.

• “We’re just approaching it the same we have all year. Our goal is to go there and win the race. If we can’t do that, then we need to get the best finish possible. I do have confidence going to Michigan based on how our cars have been trending on the bigger tracks lately. I feel like the Toyotas as a group have been getting a lot stronger lately, so we should have an opportunity. We just have to make the most of it.” — Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

• “Every race weekend for NASCAR is a big weekend, but especially Michigan as our home race, as our manufacturer, with our employees, our families, our executives.  There’s a lot of pressure on us to win every race, but especially here at Michigan in front of all of those people.  It’s important for our teams, too.  They know it as well, so looking forward to having everybody there and putting on a good race.” — Mark Rushbrook, Global Director of Ford Performance Motorsports

• “You always want to run good when you go home and I think when we look at the remaining tracks, Michigan is one where we feel like we can win. So, multiple reasons it’s important to us. I feel like it’s going to be an opportunity for us to win and an opportunity to win at home as well. We want to take advantage of both of those things. Every time I go to Michigan, I just want to run well for friends, family, everybody there. Hopefully we’ll have a good showing.” — Erik Jones, driver of the No. 43 Petty GMS Motorsports Chevrolet

Posted on by Staff Report

Bubba Wallace snagged his first career Busch Light Pole Award Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.

Wallace was the only driver to break 190 mph in the final round of qualifying, earning the top starting position with an average lap speed of 190.703 mph. The pole is also the first for 23XI Racing, which first began fielding cars in 2021.

MORE: Sunday’s starting lineup | At-track photos

“About time,” Wallace said. “It took me five years to get my first pole. It’s a testament to 23XI, everybody on the No. 23 team. They’ve been doing a tremendous job all year long, really. Just haven’t had the finishes we deserve, but proud for everybody just sticking through it.

“A lot of adversity on this team, and we keep showing up ready to battle.”

The speed in the No. 23 Toyota was shared across each of the manufacturer’s six cars. Christopher Bell (189.898 mph) will roll off alongside Wallace on the front row for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Kyle Busch, Bell’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, will start third (189.868 mph) with Martin Truex Jr. starting seventh (189.724 mph).

The best non-Toyotas in Saturday’s session were Team Penske teammates Joey Logano in fourth (189.509 mph) and Austin Cindric fifth (189.449 mph). Tyler Reddick, who won last week at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, posted the sixth-fastest lap at 189.026 mph.

The top 10 was completed by Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones.

A pair of part-time rookies will start from Row 6 on Sunday. Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson, both of whom are vying for the Xfinity Series championship this season, posted quick lap times in Saturday’s session and narrowly missed advancing to the final round of qualifying from Group B. Gibbs will roll off P11 Sunday with Gragson 12th.

Chase Elliott, who entered the weekend as a co-favorite according to BetMGM, qualified 13th. Ryan Blaney, the defending race winner at Michigan and highest ranked driver in the playoff grid on points, will start 24th on Sunday.

Drivers who struggled in Saturday’s time trials included Alex Bowman in 30th, Brad Keselowski in 33rd and Todd Gilliland in 37th. In his Cup Series debut for Richard Childress Racing, Austin Hill will start 31st.

The NASCAR Wire Service contributed to this report.

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Larson spoke to reporters for the first time since his race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course came to an abrupt end after a vicious crash with Ty Dillon in Turn 1.

The No. 5 Chevrolet launched into the corner and wiped out Dillon’s No. 42 car, nearly T-boning the vehicle at the end of the long front straightaway. Initial replays indicated a possible mechanical failure on Larson’s car, but the defending Cup Series champion chalked it up to an error behind the wheel.

“Obviously just made a big mistake,” Larson told reporters Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. “I got in there (to the corner) deep and I got out of shape. And I was hoping that by the time I got under control, I could go straight before they turned into the corner. And once I realized that I was going to hit the (No.) 47 (of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.), I tried to just do what I could to turn right and miss both of them. And that obviously didn’t happen.”

MORE: Michigan schedule | At-track photos

As the recipient of the blindsided impact, Dillon was left wondering what happened himself.

“I knew it was a mistake,” Dillon said Saturday. “And definitely looking at the SMT, it’s a really rare mistake that you wouldn’t think that he would make, but we’re all human. And that was kind of what I told him. I was like, ‘hey, we’re gonna make mistakes.’ That’s the risk I take every weekend getting in a race car and knowing that’s a possibility. I’m glad he’s OK, I’m glad I’m OK and we get to come out here and try it again at 200 mph at Michigan.”

Both drivers were stunned after the incident itself, trying to piece together what led to such a violent hit. The two had productive conversations Monday that set things straight despite the scare both received.

“I think he was in shock initially because he asked me what happened,” Dillon said. “I was like, ‘I don’t really know. You hit me really hard.’ But I was glad to see that he was OK.”

“I think it just shocked him as much as anything. I could kind of see the fear and everything in his eyes. I’m sure from his vantage point it was really scary, and he reached out to me on Monday checking in on me and was really kind in what he said.”

Larson called the mistake “embarrassing” and remained eager to move forward ahead of practice for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“Feel really bad about wiping Ty out and just very thankful that him and I were both safe and didn’t get seriously injured,” Larson said, “Because yeah, it was scary for both of us. Hate that that happened and just try not to make any mistakes like that going forward.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

Neil “Soapy” Castles, who enjoyed a two-decades-long career in NASCAR while doubling as a Hollywood stuntman, died Thursday. He was 87.

Castles made 498 starts in what is now called the NASCAR Cup Series, netting 51 top-five finishes without a win in a career that spanned from 1957-1976. The former driver’s passing was first reported by veteran journalist Deb Williams and later confirmed Friday by McMahan’s Funeral Home, which is handling memorial service arrangements in Rutherfordton, N.C.

RELATED: Neil Castles’ career statistics

Castles picked up the nickname “Soapy” from the legendary Buddy Shuman, who provided him with a set of wheels for a soapbox derby racer when he was 9 years old. He stayed close to Shuman, cleaning up tools in his shop and eventually tinkering on his cars through his teenaged years.

Castles won twice in the former NASCAR Grand National East Series, claiming that short-lived circuit’s championship in 1972. After years of trying, he soaked in his first victory at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina that spring, edging Elmo Langley in a photo finish.

“We had been racing close together for a long time, but you always get that urge to win,” Castles told the Greenville (S.C.) News. “The car ran as good as it ever has. There was no trouble. I knew I could get under him. I knew I could do it. Winning … that’s the name of the game.”

Neil Castles in his No. 06 entry
RacingOne | Getty Images

Castles frequently competed in cars that he owned, and he also briefly fielded entries for stock-car luminaries such as Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker and Cale Yarborough. He was also credited for wins in a pair of 25-lap qualifying races – one at Darlington in 1967 and another at Rockingham two years later.

“Racing, as everything else, has its ups and downs,” he told The Charlotte News in 1969. “I’ve been in it so long, I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else. So long as I can feed my wife and kids, I’m staying in the sport.”

Castles said he got his big break into the film industry in the 1950s, around the time his racing career took flight. He and some friends had signed on as extras during filming at Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsborough, N.C. When the stuntman’s arrival from California was delayed, Castles piped up: “Let me wreck that car so we can go home,” he recalled telling the director. “I can tear that thing up for you and we can all go home tomorrow.”

The director prepared a slapdash contract that evening. “I went out the next morning and flipped the car,” Castles said.

Several movie roles followed, some credited and some not. Among them were racing-themed motion pictures such as Six Pack, Greased Lightning, The Last American Hero and Speedway – the last one starring Elvis Presley.

“I doubled for Elvis and I wrecked five or six cars pretty good,” Castles told the Orlando Sentinel in 1973, adding that the dual careers proved to be lucrative. “I had a real good year. Between NASCAR and the Screen Actors’ Guild, it’s the best thing I ever tied up with. I like to race – and do motion-picture work – if I have the time.”

Memorial services are scheduled Wednesday at Mountain Creek Baptist Church in Rutherfordton. Visitation with the family is scheduled at 11 a.m. ET, with funeral services to follow at noon inside the church.

Posted on by Brandon White

At 15 years old, Katie Hettinger has already found her way into the record books at Hickory Motor Speedway.

By taking home a checkered flag in the first of two Late Model Stock features July 23, she established herself as the winningest female in the history of the track with five victories.

With so much history encompassing Hickory’s seven decades of operation, she considers herself honored to earn such a distinction and hopes to keep building on her success at the track before the 2022 season concludes.

“It still hasn’t set in yet,” Katie said. “We never actually knew who we had to beat and how many wins it would take, but once they told us, it was such an awesome moment.”

RELATED: Follow the on-track action at Hickory all year long

The history and prestige of Hickory is what attracted Katie to the facility all the way from Dryden, Michigan.

Katie remembers how her father, Chris Hettinger, sought to compete at Hickory during his own career and admitted that turning laps around the complex feels like a full circle moment for her family knowing that her dad gets to see her win races there on a regular basis.

Chris was the one who helped Katie get connected with former NASCAR team owner Lorin Ranier when they first ventured to the Southeast. That eventually led to an opportunity for Katie to drive a Limited Late Model and Late Model Stock Car for Matt Piercy, who won the Late Model Stock Car track championship at Hickory in 2015.

When Katie started competing at Hickory, she was taken aback by its abrasive surface and initially struggled to find her comfort zone. Despite this, she remained determined to improve with every race and eventually broke through for her first Late Model Stock victory during the penultimate weekend of the 2021 season.

During the offseason, Katie turned as many laps as she could in Piercy’s car to prepare herself for 2022. The additional track time ended up paying dividends, as Katie is now tied with Mitch Walker for the most wins in Hickory’s Late Model Stock division this year with four.

“Every track is different, but Hickory is a little bit more bumpy compared to others we’ve run at,” Katie said. “At the end of the day, Hickory is just another track for me to learn at. We were pretty successful near the end of last season and tested a lot over the winter, so I think that helped us a lot.”

The amount of success Katie has enjoyed at Hickory this year comes as no major surprise for track manager and Matt’s father, Kevin Piercy.

Even though Kevin knew Katie displayed a tremendous amount of potential driving Matt’s car in the Limited Late Model division, he was impressed by how quickly she started winning in Late Model Stock Cars over quality drivers that include Huffman, William Sawalich and current NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series points leader Layne Riggs.

Katie Hettinger has been teamed with 2015 Hickory Motor Speedway track champion Matt Piercy since making her debut at the track in 2021. (Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)

Katie’s efficiency has quickly made her a popular driver amongst the Hickory fanbase, but Kevin added that her maturity and composure outside of the car has earned her the respect of almost everyone in the infield.

“Katie is a hard racer, but she’s a great sport off the track,” Kevin said. “She congratulates her fellow competitors and tries to be friendly with everybody. Even though Katie is still young, she’s a very personable young lady off the track but a hard charger on race day.”

Kevin added that Katie’s record-breaking victory highlights the ongoing mission of Hickory towards promoting a diverse racing environment.

Katie is one of several successful women who actively compete at Hickory nearly every weekend. Annabeth Barnes-Crum claimed a 40-lap feature at the beginning of the 2022 season, while Gracie Trotter and Isabella Robusto are expected to contend for the track championship in Hickory’s new playoff format.

Outside of the women, Cuban American and current ARCA Menards Series points leader Rajah Caruth found Victory Lane at Hickory in 2021 while Akinori Ogata, who was born in Japan, is currently second in the Limited Late Model standings with four victories.

Kevin considers himself fortunate that Hickory remains an ideal destination for any driver to race at regardless of their background and is optimistic the status quo will remain in place even as the motorsports industry continues to evolve.

Kevin is confident that Katie will add more victories to her resume at Hickory over the next few weeks, which he hopes provides her the recognition needed to break into the developmental ranks of NASCAR.

“The sky is the limit for Katie,” Kevin said. “Like everyone else, Katie has to cover her bases as she moves forward, but she has the character, the personality and so many other things going for her that she can use to move up the ladder. I believe those doors are going to open for Katie.”

Katie Hettinger has big plans for her future and intends to make her ARCA Menards Series West debut later in 2022. (Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)

Katie has already started to ponder her future after Hickory.

Along with continuing to gain experience at different tracks around the United States in Late Model Stocks and Pro Late Models, Katie also plans to make her ARCA Menards Series West debut near the end of the season at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway.

Winning is something that Katie knows will only help separate herself from other drivers currently in the developmental pipeline, whether that is against the local competition at Hickory, in her home state of Michigan, or in a national touring series.

As Katie continues to gain more experience, she considers herself grateful to be in Hickory’s record books as the track’s most successful female driver and hopes her accomplishments during the past two years serves as an inspiration for other women looking to break into NASCAR.

“This is really important to me,” Katie said. “It’d be so great to win a championship [at Hickory] and get my name up on the wall, but that’s just not what we’re going for this year. It’s great that I was able to get some kind of record there because now there are other female drivers that are going to try and challenge me, which means that women are only getting better at racing.”

Katie plans to cherish her milestone at Hickory even if it does get eclipsed by another woman, but her focus remains on the next race in front of her so she can one day add her name to more motorsport record books.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Kyle Petty has written plenty in his day, it’s just that many of those words have been set to music. So when it came time to handcraft those words that tell his story, his life in racing and the many people whose lives he’s touched, the process hit differently.

“Verse-verse-chorus, verse-verse-chorus, bridge,” Petty says with some levity in his voice, “that’s something totally different than this is.

However new the process, the same heartfelt quality that threads its way through Petty’s songwriting catalog is woven into “Swerve or Die,” a seat-of-the-pants autobiography that takes an intimate view inside one of NASCAR’s foremost families. The book, co-authored by Ellis Henican, will be released Tuesday by St. Martin’s Press.

RELATED: Swerve or Die: More info, pre-order | Petty’s book signings, events

Much of the book focuses on Petty’s life in racing, but the chapters explore his other passions – as a musician, a broadcaster and a long-established philanthropist. In adding author to this list, the 62-year-old tells the story of the generations that shaped him. Petty’s name and familiar grin may be front and center on the cover, but the story is about family – those who related by blood and close friends who may as well have been.

“To me, it’s not the people that I actually treated as family. It’s the people that treated me as family,” Petty says before recalling a long list – Felix Sabates, the team owner who sealed his deal with little more than a handshake but always stayed true to his word; the Wood Brothers, who gave him a home at a critical juncture of his racing career; Don Tilley, the prominent Harley-Davidson dealer who oozed cool and cultivated his love of motorcycles; Marty Robbins, the country-western crooner who inspired with his effortless blending of music and stock-car racing. That list goes on.

“So it is about family, and it’s about support,” Petty says. “And it’s about, for me, it’s about just continuing to move, just to continue to live.”

Book cover of Kyle Petty's Swerve or Die
St. Martin’s Press

The way Petty has fully lived his life comes through in the book’s anecdotal style. The humorous stories from his days as an adventurous youth, to a next-generation racer and a father all connect, with some reminiscence that was previously untold. That includes a gripping recollection of secretly letting his young son, Adam, slip out onto two of the sport’s biggest speedways in a Cup Series car – a cloak-and-dagger act that seems unfathomable today.

“The guys that worked with me, we just had a good time. That’s the lesson,” Petty said. “That’s when it was fun. You know, it was fun to be on a team, it was fun to go to the race track, it was fun to test — all that stuff. So yeah, I’m not sure any of that would fly, ever again, and I’m not sure anybody else would have an opportunity to do it.”

For all the cheerful moments, there is also tragedy, and Petty doesn’t shy away from sharing it. Petty’s uncle, Randy Owens, and his son Adam were both killed in at-track incidents, 25 years apart.

“A lot of things, it was like it happened yesterday,” Petty says. “With a lot of things, the scar, you think it’s healed, and then you say six words about it and you realize it’s just, it’s still fresh. It’s still incredibly fresh.”

While writing about the loss, Petty arrived at a sense of catharsis. But processing those emotions on paper was far different from speaking the words when it came time to record the audio edition.

Petty thought that process would come as second nature. “Shoot, yeah, I’ll do the audio book, man,” he recalled saying. “I run my mouth for a living, I can do that.” The book’s warm, conversational style reads much like the “fireside chat” storytelling session that he capably moderated at the NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony last winter. But when it came time to verbalize the book’s more sensitive passages, Petty faced an unexpected challenge.

“I mean, I want to tell you that may quite possibly be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, because it got so emotional, reading it and hearing it out loud,” Petty said. “I mean, I think to put it down is one thing. To read it out loud? I talk to myself, and I talk to myself all the time — I mean, a lot. Lots of people tell themselves stuff and it motivates them to keep going. But when you hear it read out loud, and then you play it back, it’s like, oh my gosh. So it was very therapeutic and very healing in a lot of ways at the same time.”

MORE: Kyle Petty finds voice in musical second act

Petty also takes special care to use his crystal ball in the book’s final chapter. While claiming “I’m no Nostradamus,” Petty dives deep into the recent changes that have shaped current-day stock-car racing, but looks forward into what the future could hold.

“I think the sport will continue to change, and will continue to change for the better and will always be here,” Petty says. “So many people want to sing the death knell of this sport so many times. I mean, they want to go, ‘Whoa, this is happening, so the sport can’t survive that’ or ‘This is happening and so, I don’t know what we’re going to do now. I don’t think the sport is gonna be here in 10 years.’ My point is, this sport has been whatever it needed to be in whatever time it needed to be that for 70-plus years, and it’s still as relevant to its fan base and to the people that love it as it was in the very beginning. And I don’t see that changing in the future.

“But the things that we will have to change to are obviously electric cars, it’s the inclusion, it’s the social climate that we live in. It’s being a more inclusive sport, a more welcoming sport. And we need to be that for anybody that loves cars and loves going fast, we need to be that for everybody.”

The question of “why now” for Petty’s entry into the autobiographical record draws two responses – one is that the book is meant for his children to have an account of their father’s path as they grow up, the other is the timing of the pandemic. When COVID-19 first broke and society went on lockdown, Petty immersed himself in songwriting. Telling his story in book form provided another creative outlet.

But Petty’s story is still being written, through his involvement with racing as a broadcaster for NBC Sports, but also through his charity foundations – the Victory Junction camp and the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America. The book digs into the origin stories for both, plus how Petty met his wife, Morgan, as the two helped to guide those organizations into the future.

Both Victory Junction and the charity ride began with casual conversations and a shared vision that led to action. It’s a chapter of the book that’s still being written.

“It evolved over those years to be what it is, because it wasn’t perfect the first year, and at one point, we just kept moving,” Petty says. “And the title of the book, we just kept swerving and we never died. I mean, we just kept moving, and that’s the deal. That’s, to me, that’s what the title means, in a lot of ways is you just keep moving. You just keep moving.”

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway is a home game in a lot of ways for the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet team at Hendrick Motorsports.

The state of Michigan is the home base for manufacturer Chevrolet and the team’s primary sponsor, Ally. If that weren’t enough, crew chief Greg Ives is from Bark River, Michigan, 436 miles from the location of Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN).

“Growing up about 7 hours north of Michigan International Speedway, I’ve been to the race track a few times as a fan,” said Ives, who is in his fifth full season working with driver Alex Bowman. “As a fan there was pressure for my driver, Jeff Gordon, who was my favorite at the time, to get the win.

“I feel the same way now as the crew chief for Alex, our great sponsor Ally and obviously our manufacturer Chevrolet and of course the fans that show up and want to see us do well.”

RELATED: Greg Ives’ career crew chief statistics

A strong run couldn’t come at a better for the No. 48 team, Ives and Bowman. The No. 48 team hasn’t finished inside the top 10 since the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, a stretch of eight races.

During that time, Bowman has finished 32nd or worse four times. That includes a 32nd-place finish last weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

Ives acknowledged his team’s recent struggles but said despite what the statistics show, the team isn’t lacking for speed. A little luck, on the other hand, would go a long way in helping the team turn things around before the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs begin at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 4.

“Ultimately it comes down to a fast car and I feel like never giving up,” Ives said. “Also making the right changes from practice to the race. I feel like we were able to do that at Indy and put ourselves in position to I think continue to march forward to the front and improve our track position every lap and every time we pitted.

“Unfortunately a flat left-front tire with contact with the 4 car (Kevin Harvick) and then ultimately the 4 car later on, contact kind of took us out of the race. Until then I thought we were executing the race as best we could and overcoming obstacles when they were presented.”

Rather than get down or get frustrated by the lack of performance by the team of late, Ives said it’s more important to look at this situation as a chance to grow and learn how they could be better as a team.

“I feel like this is an opportunity to not only work on relationships between Alex and myself, but put some accountability and responsibility on the guys on the team to continue to improve, step up and know that the Playoffs start in a few weeks, but the trend back upwards starts this week,” Ives said.

RELATED: Alex Bowman’s 2022 NASCAR Cup Series results

A strong run, or perhaps even a victory Sunday at Michigan, would go a long way towards righting the ship for Ives, Bowman and company.

Obviously that kind of performance would serve as a confidence booster for all parties, but it would mean even more given the proximity to the home bases for Ally and Chevrolet.

“There is never any doubt that we can go into each weekend and win a race,” said Ives, who has a NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Michigan as a crew chief for Regan Smith in 2013. “We may not be a favorite right now and may not be in consideration for the Power Rankings or what you want to talk about, but you can probably ask anybody, ‘Who can be a sleeper this weekend or has potential that hasn’t lived up to their potential in the last few weeks’ and we’ll probably be part of it.

“Ultimately just go out there and execute a race. If we do that we can easily be inside the top 10 and if we qualify well, easily in the top five. All in all, to come out of there with a win, especially for the manufacturer battle, for Ally, who is a big contributor and supporter of our race team and also always there for fans, it would definitely be a big deal.”