Posted on by Deja Dorsey

NASCAR fire suits are hot off the presses and headed straight to the runway  … or, more specifically, to pit road. The suits not only display the teams’ well-appreciated sponsors but also protect pit crew members and drivers from the extreme heat and possible fires.

Just like any sport, team members have a mandatory uniform and protection standard. NASCAR fire suits are made with Nomex, a flexible fiber developed by DuPont, that protects up to 1,000-degree heat. But recent advances have helped these uniforms with mobility and in keeping crew and drivers cooler in the summer months

“There’s a lot of things going on over the wall. You know, you’ve got lug nuts going everywhere, used to but now you’ve got one and any fall down, things like that,” Chris Burkey, Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew coach, told NASCAR.com. “It is added protection like football, you know, they (fire suits) are hot, but obviously the most important part of it, it keeps them safe in the event of a fire.”

MORE: NASCAR TV schedule | Michigan weekend schedule

But these suits were not always as protective as they are now. In the 1950s, there were no fire suits, mandated gloves, or helmets. The fabric was thin and resembled everyday clothes, that is until NASCAR Hall of Famer Tim Flock became one of the first drivers to wear a fire-retardant jumpsuit.

A recent experience with the protective power of fire suits came from Justin Fiedler, former tire charger for Erik Jones’ No. 43, sharing his helmet cam footage from Nashville Superspeedway on social media.

“Fire suits are not necessarily completely fireproof,” Fiedler said. “You know they’re not going to protect you from it for a long period of time; what fire suits and fireproof underwear really do is just to give you time to get out of it. So, knowing that, if I need a second or a couple of seconds to finish up the job, I’m not concerned about staying.”

Fiedler is currently in his 16th season with the sport and says he’s experienced countless pit stops across all three NASCAR series, but only four fires. He says the odds of extreme fires from the race cars are relatively low and that having the extra layers of protection comes as second nature.

“Knowing that I have all of the equipment on, you obviously are aware of it. It’s hot,” Fiedler said. “But I don’t worry necessarily about getting burned. You know, your suit will get singed, and maybe your knee pads or something like that will get some burn marks. But the fires that I’ve been in, I was not concerned in any way, shape or form about actually myself getting burned at this point.”

The No. 45 23XI Racing team's fire suit in detail at Indianapolis
Torey Fox | NASCAR Digital Media

Throughout the years NASCAR has made it a point to require drivers and pit members to have SFI Foundation-approved suits, footwear, helmet, gloves, and fire-resistant underwear.

Although there’s been a drastic change from early stock-car racing to today’s Next Gen race car, Burkey as a pit coach has seen advancement in the protective gear that has improved performance in pit crews.

“Even though the fire suits are kind of clunky and kind of heavy, they have made advancements in the materials to make them lighter, which is obviously a good thing for the guys,” Burkey said. “They like them lighter, more flexible and the guys can also do alterations.” All approved and certified, of course.

MORE: Evolution of fire suits in NASCAR

As DuPont and NASCAR continue to make advancements, Fiedler and Burkey say they hope the suits can offer more cooling technology, especially as the racing season peaks in the summer with 90-degree-plus temperatures. While pit crew members complete 12-second and under pit stops — all of this can cause heat exhaustion to the body.

“One thing the guys got to do, especially on a day like today, is hydrate. You know, we talk about hydration on Tuesday of the week. We just can’t do it today,” said Burkey. “We really talk about hydration because you will lose a little bit of weight just like a driver. … It is hard on them, so the hydration is a big part of it.”

Fiedler echoes Burkey and says he does “as much as I can through the week to be prepared for the weekend.” That in mind, he practices in his full fire suit get-up to have the same feeling as race day at practice.

“Obviously if it’s nice and cool outside and you’re not sweating, your fire suit is going to feel different and fit differently than if it’s a super-hot day and you’re sweating,” said Fiedler “… I’ve got two pairs of knee pads, you know, your knee pads kind of move around during stops and your gloves feel different and all of that stuff.”

“I want to sweat during practice so I can have those same feelings of what that’s going to be like at the race track, just to try to mimic things as much as you can.”

Posted on by Brandon White

The fight for the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship has now become a two-man race.

With his victory in the Clash at Claremont 150 on Friday evening, Jon McKennedy is now four points behind 2011 series champion Ron Silk, who has led the standings for most of the year despite having yet to win a race.

RELATED: Follow the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on FloRacing

Although he managed to finish right behind McKennedy at Claremont Motorsports Park, Silk is still attempting to recover from the damage he sustained from his poor showing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway two weeks before, where he finished 21st after getting involved in an early wreck.

While Silk and McKennedy have emerged as the frontrunners with six races remaining on the schedule, plenty of drivers remain within striking distance to take the points lead for themselves should either driver endure a bad race.

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

Although the championship is a two-man race, drivers like Eric Goodale and Justin Bonsignore remain within striking distance of the points lead. (Rachel O’Driscoll/NASCAR)
  1. Ron Silk: 377 points

With Silk being one of three drivers who ran the most recent NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at Claremont, he used that experience to deliver his sixth top-five finish on the year. Despite this, Silk’s efficiency was not enough to prevent another hit in the points that stemmed from McKennedy’s victory.

  1. Jon McKennedy: 373 points

Like Silk, McKennedy also ran the last NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at Claremont back in 2007. Once he took the lead from Jake Johnson on the 14th lap, nobody managed to keep pace with McKennedy as he cruised to his first win since 2018, firmly establishing himself as a title contender in the process.

  1. Eric Goodale: 356 points

Fresh off a heartbreaking loss in the most recent NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at New Hampshire, Goodale was a non-factor throughout the Clash at Claremont 150. After starting in sixth, Goodale faded to 12th at the end of the evening, allowing Silk and McKennedy to put distance on him in the standings.

  1. Justin Bonsignore: 349 points

Leading the first 11 laps from the outside pole proved to be the highlight of Bonsignore’s night at Claremont. Bonsignore struggled to keep pace with the leaders during the middle portion of the Clash at Claremont 150 but did rebound for a sixth-place finish.

  1. Tommy Catalano: 343 points

Catalano’s best season in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour continued Friday evening with his fifth top-10 finish of the year at Claremont. Although he ended up losing a position to Bonsignore in the standings, Catalano remains in an ideal place to easily exceed his previous best points finish of 11th, which occurred in 2018 and 2019.

  1. Austin Beers: 340 points

The current leader in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour rookie point standings, Beers did not have his best run in the Clash at Claremont 150, as he ended up coming home in 11th. Beers maintained his sixth-place position in the standings but now trails Silk by 37 points.

  1. Kyle Bonsignore: 337 points

The other Bonsignore quietly nabbed his second consecutive top-five finish at Claremont on Friday evening. With momentum on his side, Bonsignore will look to break into the top-five in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour point standings during the next six races.

  1. Craig Lutz: 305 points

Friday at Claremont was not the best outing for veteran Craig Lutz. After finishing 10th at New Hampshire, Lutz was involved in an incident with Dave Sapienza that brought out the caution flag on Lap 81. He was able to recover from the incident to ultimately finish 13th.

  1. Dave Sapienza: 270 points

Sapienza was involved in a crash on Lap 81 with Craig Lutz that derailed the day for both drivers. A second incident also involving Sam Rameau on Lap 97 didn’t do Sapienza any favors and he eventually settled for a 15th-place finish. He has yet to earn a top-10 finish this season.

  1. J.B. Fortin: 264 points

Fortin could not match the pace being put down my McKennedy and ended up 16th as the second car one lap down. In his nine starts this year, Fortin’s best finish was a third-place result at Pennsylvania’s Jennerstown Speedway.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings

Pos.  Driver Races Wins Top fives Top 10s Poles Laps Laps led Average start Average finish Points Diff.
1    Ron Silk 10 0 6 9 2 1642 232 7 6.7 377  —
2    Jon McKennedy 10 1 5 8 0 1682 153 9.8 7.3 373 -4
3    Eric Goodale 10 0 2 6 0 1691 30 8.6 8.5 356 -21
4    Justin Bonsignore 10 2 3 7 3 1455 138 4.9 10.2 349 -28
5    Tommy Catalano 10 0 2 5 0 1673 70 13.7 10 343 -34
6    Austin Beers 10 0 0 4 0 1691 0 12.1 10 340 -37
7    Kyle Bonsignore 10 0 2 6 0 1683 6 7.7 10.4 337 -40
8    Craig Lutz 10 0 0 3 0 1599 0 11.2 13.5 305 -72
9    Dave Sapienza 10 0 0 0 0 1598 0 14.7 17 270 -107
10    J.B. Fortin 9 0 1 2 0 1246 0 14.1 14.7 264 -113
11    Doug Coby 6 2 3 6 0 1044 294 7.2 5.5 241 -136
12    Patrick Emerling 7 0 3 4 0 1037 0 12.1 11 231 -146
13    Matt Hirschman 5 1 5 5 1 881 282 4.8 2.4 216 -161
14    Gary McDonald 9 0 0 0 0 1422 0 23.4 20.3 213 -164
15    Walter Sutcliffe, Jr. 8 0 0 0 0 1126 4 23.6 19.3 199 -178
16    Melissa Fifield 10 0 0 0 0 582 0 24.1 24.8 192 -185
17    Tyler Rypkema 5 0 3 3 1 791 108 9.2 8.6 180 -197
18    Jake Johnson 5 0 2 3 2 723 5 12.8 13 157 -220
19    Ken Heagy 6 0 0 0 0 900 0 19.7 19 150 -227
20    James Pritchard, Jr 4 0 0 0 0 683 0 22 17.3 130 -247
21    Timmy Solomito 4 0 1 2 1 641 131 7.8 12.5 129 -248
22    Andrew Krause 4 0 2 2 0 589 70 14.5 13.8 123 -254
23    Mike Christopher, Jr. 3 1 2 2 0 550 28 11.3 5.7 120 -257
24    Jimmy Blewett 3 1 1 2 0 500 13 9 7 115 -262
25    Matt Kimball 4 0 0 1 0 531 0 17 17.5 106 -271
26    Eddie McCarthy 4 0 0 0 0 532 0 16.5 17.8 105 -272
27    Kyle Ebersole 4 0 1 1 0 472 0 18.5 18 104 -273
28    Dylan Slepian 3 0 2 2 0 610 0 13.7 10 102 -275
29    Donny Lia 3 0 0 2 0 415 44 12.7 12.7 96 -281
30    Sam Rameau 3 0 1 1 0 475 0 7.7 12.7 94 -283
31    Ronnie Williams 3 0 0 0 0 612 0 7.7 12.7 94 -283
32    Anthony Nocella 3 1 1 1 0 248 4 15.3 16 88 -289
33    Kyle Soper 2 1 1 2 0 413 39 16.5 4 84 -293
34    Chris Young 3 0 0 0 0 551 0 17 18.7 76 -301
35    Ryan Preece 2 0 0 2 0 300 26 7 8 73 -304
36    John Beatty, Jr. 1 0 0 1 0 200 0 11 7 73 -304
37    Max McLaughlin 2 0 0 1 0 299 10 7 9.5 70 -307
38    Spencer Davis 3 0 0 0 0 337 0 18 21.3 68 -309
39    Jacob Perry 2 0 0 1 0 378 0 15.5 12.5 63 -314
40    Bobby Santos III 1 0 0 0 0 100 0 16 13 58 -319
41    Brian Robie 2 0 0 1 0 299 0 12 15.5 57 -320
42    Anthony Sesley 2 0 0 0 0 247 0 14.5 17.5 53 -324
43    Chris Turbush 2 0 0 0 0 268 0 17.5 19.5 49 -328
44    Matt Brode 2 0 0 0 0 322 0 10 20 48 -329
45    J.R. Bertuccio 1 0 0 0 0 198 0 7 18 47 -330
46    Tom Rogers, Jr. 1 0 0 0 0 66 0 21 25 43 -334
47    Chuck Hossfeld 1 0 1 1 0 150 5 14 3 42 -335
48    Jeremy Gerstner 2 0 0 0 0 296 0 26.5 23 42 -335
49    Roger Turbush 2 0 0 0 0 283 0 22.5 23.5 41 -336
50    Todd Patnode 2 0 0 0 0 62 0 22 24.5 39 -338
51    John Baker 1 0 0 1 0 213 0 20 6 38 -339
52    Blake Barney 1 0 0 1 0 150 0 8 9 35 -342
53    Corey LaJoie 1 0 0 1 0 100 0 8 9 35 -342
54    Joey Coulter 2 0 0 0 0 232 0 19 27 34 -343
55    Ryan Newman 1 0 0 0 0 149 2 4 13 32 -345
56    John Fortin 1 0 0 0 0 211 0 11 15 29 -348
58    Eddie Brunnhoelzl III 1 0 0 0 0 198 0 19 16 28 -349
59    Jack Ely 1 0 0 0 0 147 0 14 16 28 -349
60    Andy Seuss 1 0 0 0 0 46 0 24 22 22 -355
61    Paul Charette 1 0 0 0 0 194 0 23 23 21 -356
62    Bryan Dauzat 1 0 0 0 0 78 0 25 24 20 -357
63    Danny Bohn 1 0 0 0 0 76 0 12 24 20 -357
Posted on by Zack Albert

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — The Victory Cuvee at Richard Childress’ North Carolina vineyard has been in more regular rotation these days. It’s billed online as the wine of the month and the wine of the week at the NASCAR team owner’s sprawling 70-acre side hustle, and well, that seems about right.

Tyler Reddick helped Childress round out an especially newsy month on the last day of July, sharing another cork-popping moment Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. The team celebration was the customary all-smiles affair with the bonus of champagne-soaked brick kissing included, even with the looming inevitability of their partnership’s end drawing near.

RELATED: Reddick romps at Indy | Race Rewind: IMS Road Course

Reddick’s first Cup Series win on July 3 at Road America was followed just nine days later with the bombshell that he would leave for 23XI Racing in 2024. Childress’ reaction at the time was tinged with some acrimony, with the team’s statement bluntly denouncing the timing of Reddick’s jump. Reddick said Sunday that he and his team owner “haven’t really spoken much” since that news broke.

Just 19 days later, the bubbly apparently pairs well with awkwardness. In proving so far that he’s a lame duck with no let-up, Reddick indicated that winning should help soothe any wounds.

“I’ve told him that as long as I’m racing here, I’m going to do everything I can to win races for this team, and I would love to win a championship or two with this team,” Reddick said. “I’m going to be more committed — I feel like the older I get, the smarter you get, the more you find ways to work really hard, and I’m just going to work as hard as I can for this team because there’s a lot of great people on this team, a lot of great people at (engine builder) ECR and a lot of great people not just on my car but at the shop at RCR that work really, really hard on these cars, and they’ve helped me come so far as a driver. I’m just going to give them everything I’ve got.”

Reddick cemented his second straight trip to the Cup Series Playoffs with his second victory of the year. His July breakthrough ended a two-year winless drought for Richard Childress Racing, which promoted Reddick to the Cup ranks after the two paired for an Xfinity Series championship in 2019.

Tyler Reddick celebrates with his family and team at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

Reddick’s contract with RCR runs through the 2023 campaign, and 23XI and Toyota jumped at the opportunity to sign next year’s top free agent this year — before the usual Silly Season swirl had even settled on the shorter-term signees. In remarks to FOX Sports, the timing is what stuck with Childress, who said he was notified that morning before Toyota went live with a news conference at noon.

Any personal feeling of estrangement might be understandable, but it didn’t stop Childress from fielding a winning car bearing Reddick’s name and his Sunday.

“After they made their announcement, I met … I thought about it a lot that night, gave it a lot of thought, and it’s more than just about one person. It’s about a team,” Childress said. “Stayed up most of the night thinking about what I should do, how I wanted to handle it. I went in the next day and told the whole team it wasn’t a perfect circumstance the way it went down, but we’re going to give it everything we’ve got this year, and we’ll see where we go next year.”

That closing note of “we’ll see” for 2023 begged a follow-up question, and Childress reaffirmed, “Yeah, Tyler will be in the car at RCR next year.”

MORE: At-track photos: Indy

That commitment has followed from Childress on down the org chart at RCR. Crew chief Randall Burnett helped guide Reddick to his second Xfinity title in 2019, then made the leap to the Cup Series with him.

In the two-plus seasons since, the No. 8 crew has grown into the organization’s top producer — a perch Burnett says he’s intent to keep despite any frayed feelings.

“Well, you know, it’s one of those things. It’s a business deal,” Burnett said. “We’ve still got a lot of racing left to do with Tyler, and that’s what I told our guys. We’re all professionals. A lot of us, everybody in our team is veterans of the sport. We’ve all been around for a long time. We’ve seen drivers come and go and things move around, and that’s just part of our sport.

“We’ve talked about it as a group, and Richard sat in on some of them and talked with all of us about it. The biggest thing we can do is go out and do what we did today and that’s put fast cars underneath Tyler and try to win races and show everybody what this team is made of so we can try to figure out what we need to do to fill that void. That’s what we’re going to continue to do. We feel like we’ve got a great shot at the championship this year, to win two races now after just not even a month apart.”

As the long goodbye for Childress and Reddick continues, the 26-year-old driver said he’s content to keep adding to the team’s legacy. Sunday’s latest chapter gave RCR another Indy accomplishment, one that dates back to Dale Earnhardt’s emotional win in the second Brickyard 400 in 1995.

Childress soaked it all in Sunday, but made sure to replace the Speedway’s signature sparkling bottles with his own brand. Any vintner worth his or her salt can deliver their wine’s slogan on demand. Few get to do it from one of the more prestigious race tracks on earth.

“For all the winning moments in your life,” Childress said, holding the bottle aloft for the cameras. “That’s pretty good.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Ryan Blaney was a race-winning contender all day Sunday at the Indianapolis Road Course. He finished second in Stage 2 and was inside the top five on the overtime restart.

RELATED: Official results | Reddick rolls at Indy

Despite running up front, the result showed just a 26th-place finish for the 28-year-old after he was spun entering Turn 2 by AJ Allmendinger.  Allmendinger tried re-entering the course after being shoved into the grass due to multiple cars all looking to gain position in close quarters.

The Team Penske No. 12 driver showed his frustration after the race as he spun Daniel Suárez after the checkered flag waved.

“That’s all people do at the end of these things, just dive in there and wreck you,” Blaney said of the late-race action. “I don’t know who shoved who and I don’t care, but tires didn’t matter at the end. We restarted top three both times and tires don’t really matter. It’s just a matter of getting through on the restart, but, apparently, that’s a hard thing to ask. People just run over each other.”

With four races left before the playoffs, Blaney sits 121 points above the cutline.

MORE: Blaney’s gamble ends in heartbreak 

Posted on by Zack Albert

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – As far as top rookie performances go, it’s hard to top Austin Cindric’s rousing victory in the season-opening Daytona 500. But Sunday marked a meaningful day for all three Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidates with top-five finishes all around at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

Cindric led the way in second place in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard, followed by Harrison Burton in third and Todd Gilliland in fourth. The results for Burton and Gilliland marked career-bests and their first top-five finishes in the NASCAR Cup Series. It also was the first time three rookies finished in the top five since July 1994 at Pocono Raceway when Ward Burton, Jeff Burton and Joe Nemechek accomplished the feat.

RELATED: Official results | Reddick prevails at Indy

The three Ford drivers celebrated their collective outcome with handshakes and high-fives on Indy’s pit road. To mark the occasion, here’s a rookie roundup of each driver’s day in the sun.

Austin Cindric, second place

Cindric’s special family connection to the Indianapolis track added another chapter after starting second and finishing there, coming across the start-finish line 1.065 seconds back of race winner Tyler Reddick at the checkered flag. Cindric’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford was one of few cars to steer clear of the Turn 1 mayhem that scrambled the order in the lone overtime restart.

Cindric’s car was actually the third across the line, but apparent second finisher Ross Chastain was penalized for an escape-route detour, moving him and the rest of the rookies up a spot in the official rundown.

“It’s easy on paper, right?” said Cindric, who won in the Xfinity Series race on the IMS road layout last season and finished ninth in the Cup Series event the following day. “Oh, my gosh, I feel like we probably deserved 10th at best today. There were a few things I was good at, but I needed the whole track to do it and I kind of struggled a bit, probably a little lower than my expectations were today, but those restarts, survival, holy crap. All I can say is ‘wow.’ There’s no other sport, no other form of racing other than NASCAR that you’re going to get that.”

Harrison Burton, third place

Not many drivers came away from Sunday’s start unscathed, and Burton was no different. His No. 21 Wood Brother Racing Mustang came around in the first turn during Stage 2, collecting Cole Custer’s No. 41 entry in the mishap.

Burton recovered and followed Cindric’s path through the OT restart chaos, eventually escaping the bumps and bruises that cost others.

“Yeah, we’ll take it. Wouldn’t have picked this weekend to get my best career finish so far,” Burton said. “Just a lot of aggression on the last restarts and putting myself in good positions. At the end of the day, it was — honestly we weren’t doing our job at the start of the race. We kind of didn’t execute well. I made a mistake, spun out, got into Custer there. Was kind of pretty upset midway through the race, and then just got our heads down, came in, got tires and started picking guys off and restarted in a good spot to kind of go get some more. It’s just exciting.”

Todd Gilliland, fourth place

Gilliland celebrated some other firsts Sunday at Indianapolis, marking his best starting spot – ninth – and also chalking up his first laps led in the Cup Series. An alternate pit strategy shuffled his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford to the front for four laps.

In overtime, Gilliland squirted by a spinning Ryan Blaney, bouncing off the side of Burton’s No. 21 before righting his car for the rest of the way.

“It’s just really exciting,” said Gilliland, whose previous best Cup Series finish was 15th at Darlington Raceway in May. “This rookie season has been really tough. The Cup Series is hard. I’ve learned that. It’s easy to give up and that’s one thing, too. You have confidence when you come to the Cup Series, but you get beat down quick. Even just having a ninth-place qualifying effort and just to run up front the first stage. We stayed out and got stage points and kind of had to come from the back again, but that’s what me and my crew chief was talking about.

“That’s really our best weekend start to finish by far, so hopefully that’s just something to build on. For me, that’s a lot of confidence. Road course racing is tough, too. I’ve always loved it, but it hasn’t really loved me so much this year, especially the first time here at Indianapolis. That’s really cool.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Chase Elliott entered Sunday with a brilliant streak of five consecutive races with top-two results. It all tallied up to a pristine 1.4 average finish, dotted by three wins in that span.

The stellar streak ended with a not-so-sweet 16th after an eventful Sunday for the NASCAR Cup Series points leader on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. The 2.439-mile mixing bowl of a circuit gave the 38 cars fits, and Elliott – streak and all – was not immune.

RELATED: Official results | Reddick rolls at Indy

Elliott recovered from an early spin and a mid-race pit mix-up to put the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in a position to challenge Tyler Reddick for the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard win – nearly reprising their 1-on-1 battle from earlier this month at Road America. But bedlam on the next-to-last restart with three laps left in regulation sent the No. 9 Chevy looping in Turn 1, knocking him from contention and sending the race to overtime.

“I just … I crashed,” Elliott told NASCAR.com as he exited the historic track. “Don’t know why.”

Part of the reason was the calamity that hovered on Turn 1 most of the day, especially on restarts. A Stage 1 spin with lesser harm claimed Elliott in that same right-hander, but the late-race repeat carried harsh consequences.

Elliott started second alongside Reddick when the green flag flew on Lap 80 of a scheduled 82, inching ahead before Reddick took control in the preferred inside line. Behind him, a thicket of cars was bearing down on his No. 9, and contact from the No. 24 of teammate William Byron and the No. 12 Ford of close friend Ryan Blaney ate up the remaining real estate.

Elliott took the worst of it, collecting Byron’s car in his wake. He continued at the back of the pack and drove back to pit road.

“Green-white-checkered,” spotter Eddie D’Hondt said over the No. 9 team communications, signaling the overtime restart.

“Good, I need about 10 more here,” Elliott quipped.

At the end, 28 cars finished on the lead lap, and Elliott wound up near the middle of those. Crew chief Alan Gustafson talked about what could have been.

“Just sloppy. A sloppy day. I didn’t do a very good job, and we made too many mistakes and just too far behind the whole day,” Gustafson told NASCAR.com. “Certainly, I was happy with the improvements we made to the car all weekend, so that was a positive. We got the car better but it was just behind the 8 ball all day long. Certainly, we’re not happy with that.”

The remarkable recent run of consistency still has Elliott a whopping 125 points clear of second-place Blaney atop the Cup Series standings. As for the top-two streak’s demise, that ended without fanfare.

“Doesn’t matter,” Gustafson said. “It’s about today.”

Posted on by Tadd Haislop

The story of Ryan Blaney’s 26th-place finish in the Verizon 200 at The Brickyard exemplifies the fragility of a strong run in the NASCAR Cup Series.

The No. 12 Team Penske group did everything right, and in the closing laps on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Blaney was in position to race for a win.

Until he wasn’t.

A spin in Turn 2 following the one and only overtime restart Sunday took Blaney out of contention. Asked after the event what happened, and still fuming with frustration, the 28-year-old claimed he had “no idea.”

MORE: Full race results | Reddick scores overtime victory

Nobody can blame Blaney for his bewilderment. These things happen quickly. In one moment, he was fighting for a top-three position, and in the next, he was staring at the grass on the inside of Turn 2 with A.J. Allmendinger’s front bumper pounding against his driver’s side door.

Entering Turn 1, Daniel Suárez dove low on Blaney’s right side. But when Suarez was shoved from behind, he slid into Blaney, who at that point found himself three-wide between Suárez and Allmendinger. Blaney ultimately ran out of space and spun off Allmendinger’s right front.

Overcome with indignation, Blaney’s crew members in the immediate aftermath of the incident prepared for a potential pit stop. It never came. The crew’s final action of the day was their stop on Lap 53, when crew chief Jonathan Hassler made what would have been the call of the race had the late spin not occurred.

With Blaney running third, more than six seconds behind the leader Reddick, Hassler gambled. He decided not to add four fresh Goodyear tires to Blaney’s Ford Mustang, only providing fuel. In theory, this would allow Blaney to gain valuable track position on Reddick and potentially race for the win.

Hessler had to imagine luck was on his side, because Reddick and second-place driver Christopher Bell pitted on Lap 51. A caution between those stops and Blaney’s would have ruined Hessler’s plan, and despite a Brad Keselowski spin, the yellow never flew.

Save for a stall when Blaney pulled out of his pit box, the plan worked to perfection. Blaney re-entered the track in second place with a far greater chance to contend with Reddick.

In explaining his call, Hassler noted the team learned in practice there was a possibility tires on the Indy road course would not be as crucial as expected, but their limited pre-race laps left some doubt. Still, the team was prepared.

“We showed early on in the race that the tires didn’t mean a ton,” Hassler explained. “We were in a position where we could wait for [Reddick] to pit, and if he took four, then we’d have a chance to jump him with fuel only. So we gambled and did that.

“Didn’t work out quite like we wanted, but we were in position there late in the race.”

Blaney said his older tires were not a factor in the closing laps of the race thanks to multiple restarts; three cautions interrupted the race over the final 22 laps.

So with track position on his side and no notable disadvantages in the condition of his car, all Blaney needed was the same luck that helped get him to such a favorable position.

He received the opposite.

That rapid moment was the difference between what could have been Blaney’s eighth top-five finish of the season and what it became — his fourth finish outside the top 10 in the last five races.

Blaney actually gained a spot in the Cup Series standings with his run at Indy; he jumped Ross Chastain for second place. That’s the silver lining to an otherwise crushing road-course result.

The No. 12’s performance proved once again that a team and driver can do seemingly everything right, only for everything to go wrong.

Posted on by Staff Report

Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon each were assessed 30-second penalties for short-cutting the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in the closing laps of Sunday’s race.

A trio of late restarts saw multiple front-runners spin while battling for position in treacherous Turn 1. On the final restart of the race, both Chastain and Dillon zoomed down an access road to avoid the incidents happening in front of them, then drove back onto the track.

Chastain appeared to take the lead from Tyler Reddick with a slick pass in the esses, but Reddick eventually re-took control and powered on for his second win of the season.

MORE: Reddick claims Indy | Official results

Chastain’s Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet initially came home in second place before NASCAR officials issued the penalty, which then dropped the No. 1 to a 27th-place finish. Dillon was already a lap down and slipped a couple of spots in the final order to 30th.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – The NASCAR Cup Series has a new road course conqueror.

Tyler Reddick survived a wild overtime battle against Ross Chastain — who, as it turned out, was under penalty for finagling the first corner — to win Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.

Reddick’s NASCAR Cup Series victory at the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course was his second this month, the second of his career and his second at a road course.

MORE: Official results | At-track photos

There was one fundamental difference between Reddick’s win at the Brickyard and his victory on July 3 at Road America. Between the two triumphs, Reddick announced he would leave Richard Childress Racing for 23XI Racing after the 2023 season.

But Reddick proved on Sunday that lame ducks can still go fast.

“Well, we just know what we’re capable of, and we did that at Road America,” said Reddick, who led a race-high 38 laps on Sunday. “Certainly, (the announcement) was a little bump in the road, but we went out and won a race fair and square a couple weeks ago, and if we change nothing, we keep working really, really hard, we find a way back to Victory Lane.

“Just really glad to be able to do it here in Indianapolis. This is one really special place to race, and really excited to kiss the bricks here in a little bit and really excited we got (sponsor) 3CHI their win in their hometown.”

After a multicar melee in Turn 1 sent the race to overtime and dashed the hopes of Chase Elliott, who had restarted second beside Reddick on Lap 80, Reddick lined up beside AJ Allmendinger for the overtime restart.

Lining up fifth on Lap 85, Chastain steered wide on the restart and opted for the access road beyond the corner. He returned to the track after swapping the lead with Reddick throughout the first lap of overtime.

Reddick was shocked to see Chastain’s unorthodox strategy.

“I was like, ‘Uh-oh,’” Reddick said. “But that was a scenario that had been talked about. If you get bottled up, what do you do? Take the access road. I couldn’t believe he got ahead of me. I was kind of waiting to see if he was going to have a penalty, because I didn’t want to move him out of the way and make his race worse than what it was.

“Yeah, I was really surprised by that, but, hey, we made it work. Hats off to Ross for trying to do that, but really glad it didn’t end up working out, because I’d have been pretty pissed off.”

NASCAR frowned on Chastain’s artifice and assessed a 30-second penalty that dropped him to 27th at the finish, elevating Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric to the runner-up spot.

“Just trying not to be in the chaos there in Turn 1,” Chastain said. “I thought we were four-wide, and couldn’t go any farther right, and decided to take the NASCAR access lane out there.

“Just pure reaction there, for our Worldwide Express Chevy. I took it in practice on exit, overshooting Turn 1. … Yeah, just wanted to not get hit, and merged back on where I merged.”

Harrison Burton came home third, followed by Todd Gilliland and Bubba Wallace. The results were career bests for Burton and Gilliland, and with Cindric, it marked the first time since 1994 at Pocono that three rookies have finished in the top five in a Cup race.

(The three rookies at Pocono were Joe Nemechek and Jeff Burton and Ward Burton, Harrison Burton’s father and uncle respectively.)

Despite a multitude of early spins, the first caution for an accident in Sunday’s race didn’t come until Lap 62, and it set the stage for the chaos that followed.

After green-flag pit stops, Reddick had built a lead of more than three seconds over Christopher Bell when Kyle Larson’s Chevrolet hurtled out of control into Turn 1 and blindsided the Chevy of Ty Dillon with a bone-jarring impact.

The resulting caution tightened the field and set up a restart on Lap 65 with Reddick in the lead and Bell beside him in the outside lane and Ryan Blaney trailing in third.

The outside lane on that restart and the two that followed proved to be anathema for the drivers running second. Bell was shuffled back on the Lap 65 restart and ultimately caused the fourth caution with a blown right front tire that spread debris on the track.

Elliott, who was tracking Reddick before that yellow, spun in a three-wide sandwich in Turn 1 with Blaney and William Byron on the Lap 80 restart. And defending race winner AJ Allmendinger, who had driven his No. 16 Chevrolet to second despite a malfunctioning cool suit, was forced wide on the overtime restart and dropped to seventh at the finish.

Blaney also was a victim of the final restart, spinning in Turn 1 and finishing 26th after spending the majority of the afternoon in the top five and leading 17 laps, tied for second most with Bell. That mishap cost Blaney a chance to put more distance in the standings between himself and Martin Truex Jr.

Blaney and Truex are 15th and 16th, respectively, in the Playoff standings with four races left in the regular season. After Sunday’s race, Blaney leads Truex by 25 points.

NOTE: Post-race inspection is complete with no issues, confirming Tyler Reddick as the winner of Sunday’s race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

Posted on by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: How to find USA Network | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App | Watch on USA Network | Get the NBC Sports App | Watch on Peacock | FloRacing

Monday, August 1
12:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: TSport 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park (re-air), FS1
2:30 a.m., ARCA Menards Series: Reese’s 200 (re-air), FS1
7:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: TSport 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park (re-air), FS2
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m., NASCAR America Motormouths, Peacock
7 p.m., NASCAR Auto Racing Classics: 1994 Brickyard 400, FS1

Tuesday, August 2
4 a.m., ARCA Menards Series: Reese’s 200 (re-air), FS2
10 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: TSport 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park (re-air), FS2
Noon, NASCAR Presents Beyond the Wheel, FS2
1 p.m., The NASCARcade, FS2
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., Refuse to Lose: Jeff Gordon and the 1997 Daytona 500, FS1

Wednesday, August 3
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m., NASCAR America Motormouths, Peacock
7 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub Best of Radioactive: 2022 Season, FS1

Thursday, August 4
1:30 a.m., ARCA Menards Series: Reese’s 200 (re-air), FS2
3:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: TSport 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park (re-air), FS2
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, Peacock
9:31 p.m., Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fast Lane: Plenty of Pit Stops, USA Network

Friday, August 5
12:33 a.m., Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fast Lane: Plenty of Pit Stops (re-air), USA Network
1 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour: Clash at Claremont 150, USA Network
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., NASCAR Race Classic: 1998 Daytona 500, FS1
9:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Classic: 1994 Brickyard 400, FS2

Saturday, August 6
9 a.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Qualifying at Michigan International Speedway, NBC Sports App
12:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Qualifying at Michigan International Speedway, NBC Sports App
3 p.m., Countdown to Green: NXS, USA Network
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: New Holland 250 from Michigan, USA Network, NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series post-race show, USA Network

On MRN:
12:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Pole Qualifying
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: New Holland 250
6:30 p.m., ARCA Menards Series: Henry Ford Health 200

Sunday, August 7
9:15 a.m., IMSA Auto Racing , Peacock
Noon, IMSA Auto Racing, USA Network
12:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
2:30 p.m., Countdown to Green, USA Network
2:50 p.m., IMSA Auto Racing, Peacock
3 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers 400 from Michigan, USA Network, NBC Sports App (UNDERWAY AFTER DELAY)
6 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series post-race show, USA Network

On MRN Radio:
3 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers 400