Herb Nab’s name may not have been on the car door, but his fingerprints were all over Victory Lane. A meticulous innovator and quiet perfectionist, Nab built the cars that carried legends like Fred Lorenzen, Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough to wins — and into NASCAR history.
Raised in North Carolina amid the postwar short-track boom, Nab’s mechanical skill quickly drew the attention of top teams. By the 1960s, he was one of the sport’s most trusted crew chiefs. With Fred Lorenzen at Holman-Moody, he helped turn “Fearless Freddy” into a national star, capturing dominant wins at the Daytona 500, World 600 and other major events.
Nab reached the sport’s highest peak as the back-to-back Cup Series champion crew chief for Cale Yarborough in 1976-77, a run defined by precision, preparation, and a talent for turning fast cars into champions.
Over his career, he earned 92 wins as a crew chief (third-most all-time), including two Daytona 500s, four Southern 500s, and three Coca-Cola 600s.
Growing up in Dawsonville, Georgia, Ernie Elliott built his reputation not behind the wheel, but under the hood, where precision, creativity, and mechanical instinct defined his contribution to NASCAR competition. Working alongside his family’s racing efforts, Elliott emerged as one of the sport’s premier engine builders.
For 279 Cup Series races, Elliott served as crew chief for his younger brother, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, guiding him to 33 wins and 39 poles, including two Daytona 500s, two Southern 500s, the inaugural Winston Million in 1985 and the 1988 championship.
As an engine builder, his cars amassed 40 Cup Series victories, 148 top five finishes and 291 top 10s, earning him recognition as Engine Builder of the Year in 1985 and Engine Builder of the Decade for the 1980s.
Elliott’s work in the garage and on the pit box set a standard for performance and strategy, producing championship-level cars and leaving a lasting mark that endures.
Ernie Elliott bio
Born: July 25, 1947 Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Championships (1) Cup – 1988
Cup Series Crew Chief Stats
Competed: 1980-99 Starts: 279 Wins: 33 Poles: 39 Years on Ballot: 1
A New England native, Ray Fox saw his first automobile race at the 2-mile board track at Rockingham Park near Salem, New Hampshire. Following service in the U.S. Army in World War II, Fox moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, to work as a mechanic.
Fox built the engine in the Buick driven by Fireball Roberts that led the 1955 Daytona Road & Beach Course wire-to-wire. Roberts, however, was disqualified after it was determined the car’s mechanic, Red Vogt, had modified the pushrods. In 1956, Fox went to work for Carl Kiekhaefer whose Chrysler 300 cars won 22 of the season’s first 26 races and was named Mechanic of the Year.
In 1960, Fox built the Chevrolet in which Junior Johnson won the Daytona 500. David Pearson won three times that year driving Fox-built Pontiacs.
In 1962, Fox became a car owner. He won nine times with Johnson and twice — including the 1964 Southern 500 — with NASCAR Hall of Famer Buck Baker. Over the years, five NASCAR Hall of Famers took the wheel for Fox, including Cale Yarborough and Fred Lorenzen.
Fox retired in the early 1970s but in 1990 accepted the role of NASCAR’s engine inspector, a position he held until his second retirement at the age of 80 in 1996.
Ray Fox bio
Born: May 28, 1916 Died: June 15, 2014 Hometown: Daytona Beach, Florida
Cup Series Owner Stats Competed: 1962-74 Starts: 200 Wins: 14 Poles: 16 Years on Ballot: 9
Kevin Harvick’s rise to NASCAR stardom came under extraordinary circumstances in 2001, when he was called upon to replace Dale Earnhardt following his tragic passing. Just three races into his rookie season, Harvick delivered an emotional victory at EchoPark Speedway and went on to earn the 2001 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year honors, signaling the arrival of a new force in the sport.
By the mid-2000s, Harvick had carved out a reputation for delivering under pressure across NASCAR’s toughest tracks. Known as “The Closer,” he proved capable of winning anywhere, including his 2007 Daytona 500 triumph.
In 2014, Harvick mastered NASCAR’s brand-new elimination-style playoff, answering every must-win moment to claim the Cup Series championship and cement his place among the sport’s elite.
Over 826 starts, Harvick amassed 60 victories, ranking 11th all-time among Cup Series winners. After retiring from full-time competition, he transitioned to broadcasting, joining FOX Sports as a NASCAR analyst for Cup Series races.
Harvick was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers.
Kevin Harvick bio
Born: Dec. 8, 1975 Hometown: Bakersfield, California
Championships (1) Cup – 2014
Cup Series Stats Competed: 2001-23 Starts: 826 Wins: 60 Poles: 31 Years on Ballot: 1
Rooted in the soil of his family’s farm near Caruthers, California, Ray Elder began his career by building and racing stock cars with his brother Richard under the banner of the “Racing Farmers.” Success on California short tracks earned him a full-time ride in the NASCAR Winston West Series — precursor to today’s ARCA Menards Series West — taking the family-run team from local circuits to regional competition.
Elder became the standout driver in the series during the late 1960s and 1970s, capturing six championships and 47 victories, the second-most in series history, while showcasing the talent and competitiveness of West Coast stock car racing. He also set the West Series record for top 10 finishes in a single season with 27 and ranks second in career poles.
In the Cup Series, Elder scored two memorable victories at Riverside International Raceway, proving his success could translate to the national stage.
Beyond the track, Elder’s achievements helped put West Coast stock car racing on the national map and inspired a generation of drivers from the region to pursue NASCAR competition.
Ray Elder bio
Born: Aug. 19, 1942 Died: Nov. 24, 2011 Hometown: Caruthers, California
Championships (6)
ARCA West – 1969-72, ’74, ’75
ARCA West Series Stats
Competed: 1966-83 Starts: 240 Wins: 47 Poles: 44 Years on Ballot: 1
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Qualifying late in Friday’s time trials at Rockingham Speedway, Corey Day stormed to the pole position, navigating the 0.94-mile track in 22.717 seconds (148.963 mph).
After claiming the first pole of his career in the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Day will lead the field to green in Saturday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Presented by Black’s Tire (2:30 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
In the qualifying race for the season’s first Dash 4 Cash Award, Day will start beside defending O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion Jesse Love, who held the provisional pole at 148.545 mph (22.781 seconds), until Day bettered his time as the next-to-last qualifier.
Love took the checkered flag in last year’s Rockingham race but was disqualified when his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet failed post-race inspection because of a rear suspension infraction. Sammy Smith, the runner-up on track, was declared the winner.
After the pole-winning lap, Day thought he might have gained on the rest of the field through the first two corners.
“If I had to guess, I thought I rolled through (Turns) 1 and 2 really, really good,” said Day, who has finished ninth or better in the last six races this season and is seventh in the series standings.
“Obviously, I still have to look at it — I could be wrong on that — but yeah, my car just felt super solid rolling the center of the corner… I was definitely confident with it there. We’ve had organizational tests here the last couple years. That definitely helps, getting laps around this place.”
Parker Retzlaff qualified third at 148.278 mph, followed by series leader and 2024 champion Justin Allgaier, who won the previous two O’Reilly Series races, at Darlington and Martinsville.
Carson Kvapil qualified fifth, joining Allgaier as a JR Motorsports driver in the top five on the grid. JRM has won the last five O’Reilly Series races. A sixth victory would tie Joe Gibbs Racing (2008) for the longest consecutive streak in series history.
At least one JR Motorsports driver has finished in the top 10 for 64 consecutive races, tied for the second-longest streak all-time. Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing holds the record of 79 straight races with a driver in the top 10 (2008-2010).
Taylor Gray qualified sixth on Friday, with Sam Mayer, Brandon Jones, Sheldon Creed and rookie Brent Crews completing the top 10.
The four highest-finishing series regulars in Saturday’s race will qualify to run for a $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus in the April 11 Suburban Propane 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first of four Dash 4 Cash events.
The highest finisher among the four eligible drivers will claim the bonus at Bristol.
Smith, the defending race winner, was 19th-fastest in the JR Motorsports No. 8 Chevrolet. Cleetus McFarland qualified 35th out of 37 cars for his O’Reilly Series debut in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
Sieg brothers top charts in Rockingham practice
Kyle Sieg set the pace in O’Reilly Auto Parts Series practice at Rockingham, topping older brother Ryan in a 1-2 family effort.
The younger Sieg posted a fast lap of 145.812 mph in the No. 28 RSS Racing Chevrolet, eclipsing his brother’s lap by just 0.004 seconds. Ryan Sieg clocked in at 145.787 mph in the RSS No. 39 Chevy.
Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Hill was third-fastest, followed by Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed, and then Jesse Love in another Childress entry to round out the top five.
The session was briefly halted for a rain shower, but quickly resumed after track-drying efforts took hold. Practice for the Craftsman Truck Series’ event was also interrupted by rain earlier in the day.
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. – Sheldon Creed sat comfortably in the shade of his team hauler in the Rockingham Speedway garage, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Justin Allgaier is on a rampage in pursuit of the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship.
Allgaier, winner of three races already this season, has a 92-point lead over second-place Jesse Love and a 116-point edge over Creed, who’s in third.
It seems early in the season, but the O’Reilly regular-season schedule is already 30% complete, and Allgaier is threatening to hide from the rest of the garage. He’ll be after win No. 4 in Saturday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Presented by Black’s Tire at Rockingham (2:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Creed, though, is taking things in stride. He has a win and four top-five runs and is off to the best start of his career. His average finish – 7.7 through seven races – represents a big leap from last year’s 11.7.
“He (Allgaier) is certainly out there,” Creed said. “I feel like we’re in a good spot, as well. Obviously, if he continues on like he has, it’ll be hard to catch up, and it’ll set them up well when The Chase does start. But I also think how the points are now and how much they matter, if he has three bad days and we can continue running top five and just having good days on those bad days, there is the opportunity to catch them. But we’ll have to see how it plays out.
“I don’t think there’s anything to stress about. Maybe if I was sitting 12th in points or something like that, but being third in driver points I’m happy with where we’re at.”
Allgaier has won two consecutive races and three (Phoenix, Darlington, Martinsville) of the past four. A win Saturday by Allgaier or any of his JR Motorsports teammates would tie JRM with Joe Gibbs Racing for the series’ longest winning streak at six.
Allgaier seems on target to notch more wins and clearly is the favorite to win the regular-season title, which would put him on top of the hill for the start of the O’Reilly Series Chase five months from now.
“There’s certainly an advantage to winning the regular season,” Creed said. “It’s an early advantage going into The Chase, but no matter where you are, you’ve just got to put your best nine races together. We’re going to try to keep doing what we’ve done the last seven weeks and get stage points and build momentum.”
Carson Kvapil, fifth in O’Reilly points, said no one should be surprised at Allgaier’s strong start.
“Justin has been around this deal forever,” Kvapil said. “Back when I was playing with toy cars when I was five years old, he was winning Nationwide races, right?”
The Daytona 500 has been named as a nominee for the USA Today’s Readers’ Choice Awards 10 Best for motorsports races in 2026.
Unlike other sports sanctioning bodies, NASCAR runs its biggest event of the year, the Daytona 500, to open the season in grand fashion. From the exhilarating flyover by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds above the sold-out 101,000-plus grandstand seats to the high octane, three-wide pack racing around the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, the “Great American Race” offers all the thrills for attendees.
In February, Tyler Reddick took home his first Daytona 500 triumph with 23XI Racing, co-owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, after passing 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott off Turn 4 on the final lap amid chaos as the field wrecked both in front of and behind the No. 45 Toyota.
A total of 20 events from across the world have been nominated, which include the annual Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International and a pair of IMSA events in the Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta and the Rolex 24 at Daytona, which takes place a month before the Daytona 500 at the same historic venue.
You can vote once per day until voting closes on April 27. The winning events will be announced on May 6.
The ground shakes and the engines roar as history returns to Dominion Raceway. The Flying VA Classic is a high-octane tribute to the legendary Ray “Mr. Modified” Hendrick.
With over 700 career wins and a legacy that defined Southern modified racing, Dominion honors the “Flying 11” by bringing the baddest asphalt machines on the East Coast to the premier 4/10 mile facility that is Dominion Raceway.
THE HEADLINER: The SMART Modified Tour Flying VA Classic (99 Laps)
THE SHOWCASE: The Carolina Crate Modified Series debut
THE QUEST: NASCAR Division I Season Opener for America Racer Late Models
THE STARS: Pre-race Meet & Greet with Ryan Newman, Burt Myers, & Luke Baldwin
THE DEAL: Adults $25 | KIDS 15 & UNDER FREE (Grandstands) sponsored by McGeorge’s RV a Camping World company!
THE PERK: First 50 fans through the gate get a Limited Edition T-Shirt! “Domin10n” Celebrating the next 10 years of racing at Dominion! (Friday and Saturday we have 100 total)
You think it’s just a season opener? Wrong. It’s the birth of the “Domin10n” era. Dominion Raceway is kicking off a new decade of speed with a two-day, high-octane takeover that honors the legendary Ray “Mr. Modified” Hendrick and brings the most elite asphalt machines on the East Coast to the 4/10-mile “Ring of Fire.”
(Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
The main event: Saturday, April 4
Saturday night is the crown jewel. The Flying VA Classic returns with the Pace-O-Matic SMART Modified Tour headlining a 99-lap war.
NASCAR legend Ryan “Rocketman” Newman is back to defend his turf, but he’s walking into a hornets’ nest. Luke Baldwin is coming off a massive 2025 when he secured back-to-back SMART championships, and veteran Burt Myers is looking to prove why he’s a “Madhouse” icon.
But the SMART mods aren’t the only ones shaking things up. Dominion is also hosting the debut of the Carolina Crate Modified Series, bringing a massive field of hungry drivers from the Carolinas for high-stakes, door-to-door action.
The hunt for national points: Truckin Thunder D1 late models
Dominion Raceway’s America Racer Late Models NASCAR Division I stakes have never been higher. These drivers aren’t just racing for a trophy; they are hunting for national points to bring a D1 title to Dominion.
Keep your eyes on Chase Johnson. This kid is on fire; last year alone he racked up 15 wins on his way to a track championship and the NASCAR Southeast Region title. He narrowly missed the national championship, so he’s coming back with a massive chip on his shoulder.
He’ll have his work cut out for him. Charlie Beals is locked in for a full-season run, and in a huge “return to roots” story, JJ Pack, is back. After years of tearing up the old Dominion Speedway, JJ is returning to the new facility to prove he’s still the man to beat in the D1 America Racers.
Youth movement and local heroes
The future of racing is bright at Dominion. The INEX Bandoleros are back both Friday and Saturday nights. These kids are the lifeblood of our youth movement, and seeing them wheel these cars at such a high level is incredible.
Saturday’s full card also includes:
Auto Glass Plus Inc. INEX Legends: Part of the massive Showdown Series.
Renewal By Andersen UCARS: The grassroots, fender-rubbing action everyone loves.
Carlisle III Home Inspection Bandoleros: Round two of the weekend for our youngest stars.
(Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
Friday night double feature (April 3)
We aren’t waiting for Saturday to get loud. Friday night is a total spectacle starting at 5 p.m. ET.
The Legends Showdown Series, the first half of their double-header weekend. NASCAR Local Oval Racing featuring the Dominion Lightworks, Dominion Stocks and the wild SixEight Training Group 4/6/8 cylinder ANYCARS.
No Prep Street Racing: Dominion is opening up the 1/8 mile straight stretch. Bring your daily driver, your truck or your bike and see what it can do for just $25.
Family, fans and fast food
Saturday is also Dominion’s Easter Family Spectacular. At 5 p.m. ET, the massive Easter Egg Hunt begins. At 6 p.m. ET, the pre-race Pit Party begins. Head to the front stretch for a meet and greet with Newman, Myers, Baldwin and the gang as well as Carolina Crate Mod drivers, NASCAR O’Reilly Local Series and INEX drivers.
Adults are $25, but thanks to McGeorge’s RV, a Camping World company, kids 15 and under are free in the grandstands all year long.
This weekend, the first 50 fans through the gate get a Limited Edition “Domin10n” T-Shirt to celebrate the track’s next 10 years.
If you were familiar with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series early on, you’d now find two significant differences with Tricon Garage’s flagship No. 11 team.
That’s because Kaden Honeycutt is the team’s new driver, taking over for Corey Heim after his historic 12-win campaign led to a 2025 title.
But missing from the garage is Scott Zipadelli, one of the most successful crew chiefs in series history. And that wasn’t by design.
Five days before the season opener at Daytona, Zipadelli suffered severe injuries to his left leg in a dirt bike crash. He shattered the top of his tibia, breaking it all the way down toward his ankle. He dislocated his knee, creating internal damage, and also cracked multiple bone chips on his femur. The crash sidelined Zipadelli, a 36-time winning crew chief in the Truck Series, for the first three races of the 2026 campaign, which featured a brand-new driver in his championship-winning Toyota.
“Basically, I crashed my dirt bike pretty hard and drove my leg into the ground when it was straight … my leg went in a direction it’s not supposed to,” Zipadelli told NASCAR.com this week. “Overall, I can’t really complain. A little bit frustrated. Wish I was a little bit further along than I am in my recovery. But, I watched these videos of Lindsey Vonn, and I’m like, ‘How is she doing that?’ But my doctor tells me it’s a different injury, [to] just stay the course. But overall, I’m doing OK.
“It’s just really exhausting being on crutches all day, and my body’s trying to heal and I’m trying to work and do too much. By the end of the day, I’m just completely exhausted.”
Obviously, that all threw an unexpected wrench in the team’s plans for a big 2026 season. But while Honeycutt is new to the organization, he certainly isn’t new to the series. The 22-year-old driver from Willow Park, Texas, has over 60 starts in Trucks dating back to 2022, and unexpectedly joined the Toyota family midway through last year. He raced full-time in 2025 with three different teams, making the first 16 starts of the season for Niece Motorsports and a one-off for Young’s Motorsports at Watkins Glen before filling in for the injured Stewart Friesen the rest of the way.
Despite the unusual circumstances, Honeycutt made the most of it. His performance during the Niece races qualified him for the playoffs, eventually making the Championship 4 in the Halmar-Friesen Racing truck and finishing third in driver’s points.
So battling a little on-track adversity isn’t foreign to the longtime late model ace. Tricon tapped David Stewart, a team engineer, to take over official crew chief duties while Zipadelli stayed back in the Charlotte area for recovery. Zipadelli explained that he’d regularly communicate with Honeycutt and the road crew for his input, and occasionally visited the shop and worked out of the team war room during races — as long as he could access his ice machine.
The two-time championship crew chief returned to the track at Darlington two weeks ago with a large brace on his knee and guided Honeycutt to a fourth-place finish, leading 59 laps. All in all, though, Honeycutt believed the No. 11 pushed through the extraordinary conditions seamlessly.
“My team is so self-sufficient without Scott at the race track; it was actually pretty mind-blowing,” Honeycutt said in a media availability this week. “I think it shows Scott, as the leader of the team, that he has propelled this team to even be more self-sufficient without him there.
“Having him at Darlington was a huge step. I think it definitely made our relationship good. We were able to communicate with each other, and I can hear his voice and know how he talks and how he is on race weekends. I think we had a really good weekend at Darlington. It definitely sucked not having the first three weeks, but not having him wasn’t a huge challenge just because of the race tracks we raced at and the situations we were dealt as a team.”
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Zipadelli agreed. With two drafting tracks and a road course to start the 2026 season, he said those were the best three races he could have missed. The team had a 50-minute practice session at Daytona, and just a few laps at St. Petersburg before rain halted on-track activity. As far as communication and setups go, they aren’t lagging behind as much as one might think.
With Zipadelli now on the mend, saying that he hopes to ditch the crutches in three weeks and begin physical therapy, he and Honeycutt can officially hit the ground running with a crew nearly identical to last year’s with Heim.
“Kaden, in his career, hadn’t had all the tools that we have here from Toyota, so a little bit of a learning curve there,” Zipadelli explained. “He’s adapted really well. I thought it showed at Darlington, where we practiced our sim stuff how we’re going to race, and he applied it to what he learned and he applied it at the race track, and it was pretty seamless. So it’s probably what you’d expect having a new driver come into your program, really. I would say, you know, in a year or two, it would be just like Corey, but the first six months are crucial that you learn these tools the proper way and you don’t pick up any bad habits.
“It’s so hard to get to know a new driver and go through rule changes as they have, procedure changes, and then also have a new crew or even a couple of guys. I’ve been fortunate over the past six, seven years that most of my guys have all stayed together, and it’s just business as usual. They all know their roles and they help each other. They double-check, triple-check each other and work really well together, very efficient. So that’s really huge, and I know that was very important to try to keep our group together, and that gives Kaden a lot of confidence as well.”
Confidence, indeed. And Honeycutt understands that he’s under the microscope. Heim won 21 times in three seasons under Zipadelli’s tutelage, and the Texan realizes it’s now or never to start banking victories and show he belongs with the highly touted team.
“I’d like to say there isn’t, but honestly, there kind of is,” Honeycutt said regarding any added pressure. “I just want to get my first [win]. I definitely have more starts and not enough wins as what the stat sheet says, but I feel like once I can get the first one, I can understand where I was missing in the past starts on running up front. I think Darlington was the first legit race that I was able to lead the race and take control, and also be put in the situation to know what could have happened if I lost it. So now that I have that feeling and knowing what I did wrong to lose that race, I feel like I can go every week now and be in the situation and not make that mistake again and start capitalizing and winning them.
“So I think losing that race was definitely not a bad thing at all, I think, as far as a learning perspective from my end to correct it and just move forward from it.”
David Jensen | Getty Images
With as close as Honeycutt found himself to championship glory a year ago, he and Zipadelli both believe the 11 team is plenty capable of hoisting the trophy come November. They sit second in points entering Rockingham on Friday (4:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), only 33 markers behind series veteran Chandler Smith.
But with still 21 races to go and a new championship format in play, it’s a why-not-us mindset as Honeycutt enjoys the best opportunity of his young NASCAR national series career.
“We have 100% a chance at winning the title at the end of the year, especially from the way the points format is. I think it honestly falls into our favor a little bit easier, just from on a consistent basis on what we can bring to the race track every week, and winning pays a lot,” Honeycutt said. “I feel like we can do that a bunch this year, just need to get the first one and keep on working after that and just keep on rolling through it the rest of the year.”
