NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series makes its Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course debut in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 at Mid-Ohio (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) — the third and final road-course event of the season.
Current championship leader Zane Smith won the first road-course race of the year at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas (COTA), and NASCAR Cup Series regular Kyle Busch took the trophy more recently at Sonoma Raceway, with Smith finishing runner-up.
NASCAR held eight Xfinity Series races at Mid-Ohio, as recently as last season. This weekend, one of those winners, Trackhouse Racing team owner Justin Marks, will compete again at the 2.258-mile, 13-turn circuit in Lexington, Ohio.
Saturday’s race marks the final leg of the Triple Truck Challenge incentive program. Corey Heim, who is making selected 2022 starts for Kyle Busch Motorsports, can pocket an extra $150,000 should he match his win at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway back in June with a victory at Mid-Ohio. Any other driver to win would take an extra $50,000 as part of the popular program.
With only two races remaining to set the 10-driver Camping World Truck Series Playoff field, Smith leads all championship-eligible drivers with three race wins and 12 top 10s in 14 races — and holds a 21-point advantage on John Hunter Nemechek in the standings. The Regular Season Championship concludes July 23 at Pocono Raceway with the top-10 drivers earning playoff eligibility.
Only 53 points separate the top six drivers in the standings. Ben Rhodes, the 2021 series champion, is currently in third place, 30 points behind Smith.
Zane Smith, Nemechek and Rhodes all have previous road-course wins. Smith has the win (COTA) and runner-up (Sonoma) this year. Nemechek was runner-up at COTA this year and won at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in 2016. And Rhodes won on the Daytona Road Course last season.
There is an hour-long practice session Friday morning followed by two rounds of Cometic Gasket Pole Qualifying at 3:35 p.m. ET (FS1).
Chase Briscoe predicted an intense and wild ride at the reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway’s first NASCAR Cup Series event, the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, earlier this year.
It would be crazy, predicted Kyle Busch. Denny Hamlin didn’t know what to expect at the 62-year-old track, nor did Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon and dozens of other drivers who grew accustomed to three and four-wide racing atop the worn asphalt.
It was an intense, wild, crazy, and unpredictable ride with 46 lead changes — from 20 different drivers — as William Byron won his third career Cup Series race. And four months later, the online betting markets appear braced for more chaos.
In NASCAR odds at BetMGM, four drivers opened as co-favorites for the Quaker State 400; Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Byron all sat at +1000. Byron and Hamlin have since dropped to +1100, but if it holds until Sunday, it will be the first race this season without a driver inside +1000 for race-winner odds.
And with five more drivers stacked closely behind at +1200 — Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain — and +1400 — Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano – it could be the tightest odds of the season.
Featured matchup betting reflects oddsmakers’ reluctance to draw lines in the sand, or perhaps more appropriately, lines in the meticulously manicured asphalt, which was replaced immediately following last year’s Quaker State 400. This was designed to produce pack racing similar to Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
One week after pricing multiple heavy favorites for the Kwik Trip 250, BetMGM doesn’t have a featured matchup favorite above -140 this weekend.
Ryan Blaney (-130) vs. Martin Truex Jr. (+100)
Winner of the 2021 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Ryan Blaney finished 17th in March after three straight top-five finishes at Atlanta, part of a strong run for Ford drivers over the last five years.
Blaney is tied with Denny Hamlin for the most top-five finishes at Atlanta, Daytona, and Talladega (seven) over the last 15 races at those three tracks. Truex isn’t far behind, though, with five top-five finishes in those races, including a third-place finish in last year’s Quaker State 400.
As of Thursday, Truex is dominating public betting in this matchup; he has 95% of the tickets and 93% of the handle.
Tyler Reddick (-125) vs. Austin Dillon (-105)
One week removed from his first career NASCAR Cup Series win, Tyler Reddick is seeking to join only five other drivers with multiple wins this season. The 26-year-old driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet has never posted back-to-back top-five finishes in his Cup Series career, something Austin Dillon has done only once in his nine full seasons.
Reddick isn’t a popular pick in race-winner betting — with only 2.1% of the tickets and 2% of the handle — but he has 65% of the handle in the head-to-head with Austin Dillon.
Kevin Harvick (-120) vs. Brad Keselowski (-110)
There was nothing better than Atlanta’s old asphalt, Kevin Harvick said before the race in March, which ended with his worst finish (21st) at the track since 2010.
Harvick is now 21 years removed from his first win at Atlanta Motor Speedway — in the 2001 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500, his third career Cup Series start — and after last week’s 10th-place finish, he will carry a 61-race winless drought into Sunday’s race. It’s the second-longest drought of his 22-year career.
Harvick is currently commanding two of every three tickets and 90% of the handle against Brad Keselowski in featured matchup betting.
Bubba Wallace (-140) vs. Michael McDowell (+110)
This feels like the week Bubba Wallace has been waiting for.
Struggling for consistent contention with the No. 23 Toyota, Wallace raced well at Atlanta in March (13th), Daytona in February (second), and Talladega last October (first). He did swap two crew members with Christopher Bell ahead of this weekend’s race.
Wallace is a popular pick to win the race — with 6.8% of the handle, fourth-highest among all drivers — and finish ahead of Michael McDowell. Wallace has 88% of the handle over the 37-year-old who finished eighth last weekend in Wisconsin.
You can view updated Quaker State 400 odds and more online sports betting opportunities at the BetMGM online sportsbook.
Danny Bohn’s family has a long history at New Jersey’s Wall Stadium Speedway.
His grandfather, Parker Bohn, and father, Eddie Bohn, were both winners at the historic third-mile, high-banked paved oval long before the youngest member of the Bohn racing family turned laps at the track.
This Saturday, the Bohn name returns to Wall Stadium Speedway as the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour rolls into town for the first time since 2019. Bohn, who will pilot the No. 65 Modified owned by Scott Brannick, is among those on the entry list for Saturday’s Jersey Shore 150.
The last time Bohn raced with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour also happens to be the last time the Tour visited Wall Stadium Speedway. Bohn started ninth and finished 27th at the track in 2019.
That event represents one of Bohn’s three NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour starts, which is surprising given Bohn made a name for himself racing Modifieds. He just didn’t do it in the Northeast.
Bohn’s career skyrocketed once he began racing in the Southeast. In 2014, he did something few Northern drivers in history have ever done: win a track championship at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
He hasn’t stopped winning at Bowman Gray. Despite branching out into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series the last few years, Bohn has made a point to continue racing at Bowman Gray as often as he can.
In fact, he opened the 2022 season at Bowman Gray Stadium in winning fashion by dominating the Hayes Jewelers 200 on April 23. It was his first victory in the track’s biggest race and was his 16th overall at the flat quarter-mile oval.
Now the question is whether Bohn can translate the success he’s enjoyed in the Southeast into a winning drive Saturday night at Wall Stadium Speedway.
He’s enjoyed success at Wall Stadium Speedway before. He won the track’s annual Turkey Derby event in 2006 and claimed a pair of Modified track championships at Wall Stadium Speedway early in his career.
Bohn could hardly be considered the favorite to win the Jersey Shore 150, but he shouldn’t be counted out, either.
Jersey Shore 150 marks season halfway point
The Jersey Shore 150 at Wall Stadium Speedway will officially mark the halfway point of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.
Through seven events this year, Ron Silk has utilized consistency to secure his spot at the top of the Tour standings.
Despite being winless thus far this year, Silk has not finished outside the top 10. That, combined with four top-five finishes, has given him an 18-point advantage in the standings ahead of his closest pursuer, Eric Goodale, who has one top-five and five top-10 finishes so far.
However, behind the top two, there are several other contenders lurking.
Jon McKennedy and Tommy Catalano are tied for third in the standings, 22 points off the pace set by Silk. McKennedy and Catalano each have a runner-up finish this year, but neither have managed to find Victory Lane.
The biggest threat to Silk’s position may very well be the man who sits fifth in the standings. That man is three-time and defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Justin Bonsignore, who is 33 points behind Silk despite having two wins this season.
Bonsignore’s victories, which came at Richmond Raceway and Monadnock Speedway, have helped him make up a deficit created by poor finishes at New Smyrna Speedway and Riverhead Raceway earlier this year.
With half of the season left, anything could happen.
Dave Sapienza, driver of the No. 36 SAP Enterprises Modified, during the Duel at the Dog 200 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Monadnock Speedway on June 19, 2022 in Winchester, New Hampshire. (Photo: Nick Grace/NASCAR)
Sapienza returns to Wall in search of improvement
Dave Sapienza had a good race the last time the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour visited Wall Stadium Speedway in 2019.
Sapienza, a native of Riverhead, New York, finished fifth that day. It represents one of only nine top-five finishes that Sapienza has earned through 95 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour starts.
With any luck, Sapienza will be able to make it an even 10 by the time Saturday night is over.
Sapienza has struggled for speed this season. Despite sitting ninth in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings, Sapienza has failed to register one top-10 finish in seven starts this year.
He has been, however, consistent in the finishes he has achieved. His best finish of the season is 13th at Lee USA Speedway, and he has finished no worse than 18th all year.
Perhaps he’ll be able to turn that consistency into a strong run in the Jersey Shore 150 on Saturday evening.
Notes:
Two drivers, Anthony Sesley and Jack Ely, will be making their NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour debuts Saturday night at Wall Stadium Speedway.
In addition to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Jersey Shore 150, Wall Stadium Speedway will also hold races for three weekly divisions Saturday. The Sportsman, Factory Stock and Legend Car division will also be in action.
Andrew Krause, who is the defending Wall Stadium Speedway Modified division champion, is scheduled to compete Saturday. His family has operated Wall Stadium Speedway since 2011.
As the race for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs heats up, the series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at the revamped Georgia circuit.
Before the green flag waves (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), make sure you are up to speed on some important details.
SETTING THE LINEUP
Earlier this season, Cup Series teams participated in a 50-minute practice session before the first Atlanta race. This weekend, teams will only participate in two-round, single-lap qualifying. Split into two groups, A and B, the fastest five from each will move on to the Busch Light Pole Award round, setting the starting lineup for Sunday’s race.
— Atlanta Motor Speedway has hosted 116 races in the Cup Series, placing it seventh on the all-time list. Fireball Roberts won the first race here in July 1960.
— Atlanta held two races a year from 1960-2010 except for 1961 when three races were held. Atlanta held one race a year from 2011-20, and starting in 2021 Atlanta again hosted two races a year.
— This season’s renovations mark the track’s first repave since 1997 and also tightened the corner width from 55 feet to 40 feet and increased the banking from 24 degrees to 28.
— The last 15 Atlanta races were won by five organizations: Hendrick Motorsports (5), Team Penske (4), Stewart-Haas Racing (3), Joe Gibbs Racing (2) and Chip Ganassi Racing.
— Kyle Larson has led 419 laps at Atlanta, securing his spot as the all-time lap leader at the track who has not won a race. Geoff Bodine is second with 391 laps led.
Source: Racing Insights
GOODYEAR TIRES
With the series returning to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the second time this year, the race package remains the same and the teams should be more familiar with it this time around. The offseason repave placed the middle-Georgia track in the superspeedway classification with Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, meaning Cup teams will field cars with 510 horsepower and a seven-inch-tall spoiler, as opposed to 670 horsepower and a four-inch blade at other intermediate tracks.
“The one advantage we have in the Cup Series at Atlanta this week is that these teams already have a race under their belts at this track with this package,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “Having said that, that also means that teams have had four months to learn this car, study this package and improve their cars. The challenges that Atlanta now presents have not changed since the last race in March, and along with the repave and increase in banking, the smooth track surface will not naturally wear tires much at all.
“Tire wear and the dissipation of heat is important in racing because as the tire wears, it sheds rubber and that helps keep the tire cooler and performing at a more optimal level. We’ve specifically designed our tires for Atlanta to operate in these low-wear conditions, both with the formulation of the tread compounds as well as the tread depth.”
ATLANTA STORY LINES
— With the regular-season championship up for grabs and 15 playoff points on the line, the top three drivers are separated by just 35 points in the standings.
— Kyle Larson is on a 16-race winless streak; the longest of his tenure with Hendrick Motorsports.
— The pass for the win came in the final 10 laps in 12 of the 18 races in 2022, including the spring race at Atlanta.
— Twenty different drivers led a lap in the March 2022 race, the most ever at Atlanta.
— If Kurt Busch wins at Atlanta with Toyota, he will tie Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison for the most different makes with a win at the track.
Source: Racing Insights
GIDDY UP, DARK HORSES
Normally, a superspeedway-style race would struggle to find a dominant driver in the field. But in March, William Byron led an incredible 111 laps en route to an impressive victory. Unsurprisingly, Byron opens tied for first on this Sunday’s BetMGM betting oddsboard at 10-1. So, will the co-favorite dominate again? Or will another driver rise to the occasion?
Two very consistent drivers slotted in behind Byron with the second- and third-most laps led in March: Ross Chastain (42) and Chase Elliott (29). Both drivers are in a fight for the regular-season title and cannot afford a bad day at Atlanta. As close as they are in the title fight, they are even closer on the oddsboard. Elliott opens at 10-1, co-favorite, with Chastain on his heels at 12-1.
But there is also incredible value to be found down the line.
Corey LaJoie showed strong will and determination in this year’s first race, finishing fifth overall in by far his strongest race of the season. At 125-1 odds, LaJoie is arguably the best longshot on the board. Recent superspeedway winners Bubba Wallace (14-1) and Michael McDowell (33-1) present good value, but will not surprise too many people if they find Victory Lane this time around.
Want to manage a team and race your way to the top of the leaderboards? Check out NASCAR Fantasy Live, which is open now. The free-to-play game lets you choose your drivers each week and show off your crew-chief instincts by garaging a driver by the end of Stage 3, and there is a $25,000 prize for the winner.
The 2022 Fantasy Live points leaders are Chase Elliott (618), Ryan Blaney (583) and Ross Chastain (578).
Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week a select number of in-car cameras will be available — as well as a battle cam and an overhead look.
NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement in the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the mobile app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more — and see instant results from NASCAR fans like you.
Editor’s note: This story first published on June 22, 2021:
One of the best complementing experiences of attending a NASCAR race is camping near a race track. Both before and after a race, the interaction between fans — creating new friendships and renewing old friendships, as well — is a celebration of NASCAR, camaraderie and limitless fun.
There’s a definite joy of sitting around a campsite talking with fellow fans about memorable past races, favorite (and sometimes not-so-favorite) drivers, and swapping tales — all the while enjoying a drink or meal, maybe even toasting some marshmallows over a campfire.
While camping can run the gamut from pitching a pup tent to “roughing it” in a six-figure motor home, like with the old American Express commercials, there are certain things you just shouldn’t leave home without.
As part of NASCAR’s Summer Family Fun initiative, here are 10 helpful tips for novice campers to make the overall experience all the more enjoyable and rewarding:
1. The biggest must-have of all: bug spray! Whether you’re camping outside places like Bristol Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway or Talladega Superspeedway, always make sure to pack bug spray to shoo away pests like mosquitos, bees, wasps and especially ants! Don’t forget: pests love camping, too! They consider it an all-you-can-eat buffet, be it your food or, in the case of “skeeters,” your blood. Keep a can of bug spray in your bag, and don’t forget the suntan lotion.
2. Practice makes perfect: If you’re a camping newbie, DO NOT wait until you get to your campsite to figure out how to pitch your tent. Even if the instructions say you can be in business in five minutes or less, don’t believe it if you have zero prior experience. Make several practice runs while still at home on learning a quick, efficient way to erect and take down your new tent. Also, put silicone treatment on both the inside and outside of your tent to make sure it’s as waterproof as possible.
3. It’s all about location, location, location: Make sure you pitch your tent on as level ground as you can find, and bring along two tarps or indoor/outdoor rugs, one that can essentially serve as your “living room” outside the tent, and another tarp for the interior of the tent to rest your sleeping bags upon and stay clean and dry. Lastly, if you can camp in locations that offer amenities including hot showers, clean restrooms, and some that even offer wi-fi connections, you’ll have nearly all the comforts of home.
4. Getting a charge out of life, Part 1: Don’t forget a portable battery-powered radio — preferably one that includes a weather band (and alarm for approaching bad weather alerts) — and plenty of batteries. A radio not only keeps you connected with the news of the world and Motor Racing Network’s or Performance Racing Network’s broadcasts of NASCAR races, but it also keeps you informed of weather in your immediate area. If a storm front is moving in, a radio will help you prepare for what’s to come, as well as allow time to seek shelter, if need be. Also, make sure you have at least a couple of flashlights (again, with plenty of backup battery power) or lanterns to show you the way in the darkness. One clever amenity we’ve seen numerous campers use is to hang glow sticks to give a more comforting ambient light atmosphere around the campsite.
5. Getting a charge out of life, Part 2: Be it talking, texting, checking email and social media, surfing the web or playing games, we love our cell phones. Unfortunately, the more we use our phones, the quicker the battery life dries up. Our best suggestion: invest in not one but two portable phone battery chargers. And like your phone, make sure they’re fully charged before you leave home because it’s easy to forget there isn’t a wall plug or power strip that’s accessible when you’re in your tent.
6. Pack extra food and snacks (and ice!): Your campsite menu plans are only limited by your imagination, from simple staples such as hamburgers and hot dogs, on up to ribs, steaks, chicken and more. Always bring more than enough non-perishables (aka canned food) in case you wind up staying an extra day or two, plus plenty of chips and other snacks to nibble on when you get the munchies (but be careful about leaving candy around, as the ants will descend upon you quicker than a mid-winter blizzard), plus plenty of water and other liquids to remain hydrated. Don’t forget your cooler and lots of ice (or ice substitutes such as freeze packs and the like) to keep drinks, meats and other perishables cool and prevent spoilage. And bring several rolls of paper towels.
7. Pack extra clothes and blankets: Even if you camp for just one night, make sure to have plenty of blankets, pillows and extra dry clothes (including a jacket) in case you get stuck in the middle of a monsoon, your tent leaks or the 90-degree mid-afternoon temperature suddenly drops to 40 degrees at night, particularly in some of the more hilly areas near tracks such as Pocono, Bristol and New Hampshire. And don’t forget one folding chair apiece for everyone in your camping party.
8. Bring extra cash, just in case: Even if you’re the most prepared camper in the world, there’s always the chance of unexpected expenses that can occur at the worst of times. Plus, what’s going camping if you can’t bring home a few racing souvenirs from the track, right? One key tip: if you take extra cash, make sure it’s in your wallet only and that the wallet never leaves your sight or possession.
9. If possible, keep your vehicle close by: Unless you’re in a motor home or trailer, having your vehicle parked close by allows an element of enhanced safety from both stormy weather as well as if a local bear or other wildlife wanders into your campsite (which admittedly is rare). And if your sleeping bag proves too hard to get some decent sleep, there’s always the comfort of your car or truck to get some zzzzz’s.
10. Don’t be a litter bug: Bring plenty of garbage bags to clean up after yourself. Leave your campsite as you found it: clean! One other important thing: make sure that if you built one, that your campfire is completely extinguished before you leave. To paraphrase a line from Smokey The Bear, only YOU can prevent campsite fires!
Oh yes, one more thing — and perhaps the most important thing to pack of all: don’t forget your race tickets!
NASCAR officials penalized Noah Gragson after rough driving during last Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Road America, docking him 30 points in the drivers’ standings and fining him $35,000 for violating Sections 4.4.C&E: NASCAR Member Code of Conduct. JR Motorsports also was hit with a 30-point deduction in the owner standings.
Gragson remains in fourth place in the Xfinity Series standings, but his gap over teammate Josh Berry in fifth place has been reduced to five points. Gragson is a two-time winner this season, with victories at Phoenix and Talladega.
Gragson was a central figure in touching off a 13-car crash during the Henry 180, making retaliatory contact with his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in a battle with Alpha Prime Racing’s Sage Karam. The aftermath of Gragson’s bump clogged the track in the Moraine Sweep section of the 4.048-mile course in the 25th of 48 laps, and Brandon Brown was shaken up in the wreck.
Gragson was not penalized during the race, but he was summoned to the Xfinity Series hauler for a post-race consultation with competition officials. Tuesday morning, Elton Sawyer — NASCAR’s vice president of officiating and technical inspection — hinted in an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that punishment was possible with the release of the midweek penalty report.
“We have additional information post-race that we didn’t have immediately after the race when we were speaking with Noah,” Sawyer told SiriusXM. “So again, we’ll look at it internally (Tuesday), what we’ve done in the past and in similar situations, but all things are on the table. And during the event, you know, it could rise to a level that you park a vehicle. It can rise to a level that we hold them for several laps. In this particular case, you know, we elected to speak with Noah post-race to make sure we had all the information and facts that we needed. And again, we’ll take a deeper dive into that incident (Tuesday) morning.”
Karam, making just his seventh Xfinity start, finished 31st after the early exit for his No. 45 Chevy. His post-race anger was echoed by team owner Tommy Joe Martins, who said: “I would be embarrassed to be associated with (Gragson). How many times is he going to publicly apologize? Now he’s trying to act like he’s a bad dude, tough guy. Like are you kidding me, that’s the softest thing I’ve ever seen. I’ll tell you what’s tough, trying to come out here and racing with a budget that’s less than a quarter of what they’re doing.”
Gragson continued to an eighth-place finish, and remained defiant in post-race interviews. “It’s one thing if you’re faster than someone,” Gragson said Saturday, “but to throw it off in there and run you off the race track in the corner, door you, run you off the track. Finally, after the third time, I’m over it. It’s not the ideal situation for him and his team, but two or three times, I’m done with it.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr., co-owner of JR Motorsports, appeared on SiriusXM on Wednesday and said, “I was shocked, to be honest with you, when I saw Noah make that decision. I was just completely shocked and in a bit of disbelief not only that he made that choice but that he, you know, that it created such an accident and got so many other guys involved.”
Gragson, 23, is in his fourth full season of Xfinity Series competition, notching seven career victories so far for JR Motorsports. He made his Cup Series debut earlier this year in the Daytona 500.
Additionally, Tuesday, competition officials penalized the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet team for Xfinity Series points leader AJ Allmendinger for a single unsecured lug nut discovered in a post-race check. No. 16 crew chief Bruce Schlicker was fined $5,000 — the fourth such fine for him this season. Mechanic Sean Kerlin also received an indefinite suspension from NASCAR for violation of Sections 4.1 & 10.1 (Behavioural — SAP).
Jimmy Blewett can remember it like it was yesterday.
As a child, joined by his older brother John Blewett III, the two would stand along the fence at race tracks like New York’s Riverhead Raceway and New Jersey’s New Egypt Speedway to watch the best the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour had to offer battle for supremacy.
“I always recalled standing at the fence with my brother,” the 41-year-old Blewett said. “My brother and I were six years apart and basically whatever he did, I was his shadow as a child. He would walk up to the fence, and he’d hold on to the fence, and we’d watch guys pull out on the track for heat races and for practice for the feature.
“Back then, everyone could wear open-face helmets. It was cool because you could see the driver. He could see you, you could see his face, you could see his expressions. You saw guys like my father (John Blewett Jr.), Richie Evans, Charlie Jarzombek, Reggie Ruggiero, Wayne Anderson, all those guys.”
Being able to get an up-close-and-personal look at the best Modified drivers in the country helped both Blewett children fall in love with Modified racing, much like their father had many years before them.
John Blewett Jr. spent most of his Modified racing career competing at local weekly tracks, but he did make 29 starts with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. He earned one victory, which came in 1986 at Star Speedway in Epping, New Hampshire.
“It’s one of those things, in our household, growing up there were no pictures of the kid with the baseball and the baseball mitt,” Blewett said. “It was racing. It was family pictures in Victory Lane. It as my brother in his go-kart. We’re a racing family, and I grew up around that my entire life.
“It was something as a child, you want to be like your dad. You hear that song, ‘I want to be like you dad.’ It’s something that my brother wanted to do and I wanted to do what he did and he wanted to do what my dad did. Ultimately that’s what drew me in the direction of racing.”
The Blewett children created many great memories on the Tour. They both joined their father as NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour winners, with John Blewett III earning 10 wins and Jimmy Blewett scoring six of his own.
Brothers Jimmy Blewett (left) and John Blewett III (right) at Wall Stadium Speedway in Wall Township, New Jersey, prior to a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event on May 6, 2007. (Photo: NASCAR)
On two separate occasions, the Blewett’s swept the top two positions in a Tour event. It happened for the first time at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway on July 4, 2006, with John Blewett III besting Jimmy Blewett.
It happened a second time a little less than a year later at the Blewetts’ home track, Wall Stadium Speedway in Wall Township, New Jersey. This time it was Jimmy Blewett who emerged as the winner, with John Blewett III following him across the finish line.
It’s a victory that still stands out in Jimmy Blewett’s memory 15 years later because, despite racing against his brother, the two always worked as a team. In fact, John Blewett III was the person who set up his younger brother’s car that day at Wall Stadium.
“He set the cars up for himself and I,” Blewett recalled. “The car was doing something in practice and my spotter (Freddie Kraft) and we were like, ‘We just need to be a little better right in the middle and we’ll have the best car here.’
“My brother, in my brother’s fashion, came over and was like, ‘Quiet, do this, do this, we don’t have enough time. Do this and this. Put it in the car.’ He looked over at me and said, ‘Now you go out and win.’ Fair enough, fair enough. Put the stuff in the car and who did I beat to win the race? Him.”
What neither Blewett knew at the time was that a few months later, John Blewett III would be gone.
Jimmy Blewett (12) leads brother John Blewett III during a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Wall Stadium Speedway in Wall Township, New Jersey, on May 6, 2007. (Photo: NASCAR)
John Blewett III died when the two brothers were involved in a crash at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Aug. 16, 2007.
It was hard for Jimmy Blewett to carry on in the aftermath of the crash. So hard, in fact, that he admits he gave serious consideration to quitting racing altogether.
“Everybody knows my brother was my best friend, my father figure,” Blewett said. “He was everything to me in my life leading up to his passing. He was my guidance. He was my everything to me.
“That night and that day was something that hit me hard. I honestly didn’t know how to take it. I didn’t know if I should just give up altogether and just not ever do anything again or keep going and keep his name alive.”
As time passed and Blewett mourned the loss of his brother, he came to realize that the last thing his brother would want was for him to give up.
“I came to a conclusion in the following weeks that I needed to keep his memory alive,” Blewett said. “I needed to always talk about him. I always feel like he is with me all the time in anything and everything I do.
“I also know that he always taught me to never give up and to be the best and to prove people wrong.”
Now 41, the younger of the Blewett brothers continues to race in his brother’s memory.
Jimmy Blewett during qualifying for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Jersey Shore 150 on May 18, 2019 at Wall Stadium Speedway in Wall Township, New Jersey. (Photo: Mike Lawrence/NASCAR)
Jimmy Blewett has made quite the name for himself at his home track, Wall Stadium Speedway, where he is a four-time track champion in the Modified class. He’s also earned 25 victories across multiple divisions in Wall’s annual Turkey Derby event, including eight victories in the headlining Modified division.
“It’s been a long road. Every time I pull into a track, I have to have that time alone to think about it all,” Blewett said. “At the end of it all, we’re never going to give up.”
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to Wall Stadium Speedway this Saturday for the running of the Jersey Shore 150, the eighth race of the 2022 season.
Blewett, who lives minutes from the third-mile, high-banked paved oval, is hoping to defend his home turf while also racing in his brother’s memory.
“There ain’t a race that I enter that I don’t think I can win. And if I can’t do it, you won’t see me at the race track,” Blewett said.
Recently Blewett has begun to curtail his own racing to focus more on the racing efforts of his 14-year-old son, James Blewett. The plan is for James to compete in several races up and down the East Coast this summer.
If all goes as planned, James Blewett will become the third generation of the Blewett family to race with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
“My son, I call him my angel baby,” Blewett said. “When my brother passed, my wife found out she was pregnant with my son. He turned 14 recently, and he’s growing up to be quite the young man. Fourteen years ago I never envisioned myself having a son, let alone a son as good as him.
“We put him together a crate car and now that he’s out of school — school is the first priority — but now that he’s out of school we’re going to take him racing.”
The future of racing in the Blewett family is bright. That’s exactly how John Blewett III would have wanted it.
RALEIGH, N.C. – Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP), a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider and entitlement sponsor of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series, is offering race fans free tickets to the Advance My Track Challenge celebration night at the historic Jennerstown Speedway in Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 9.
Fans can visit Advance’s Pennsylvania retail locations in Somerset, Johnstown, Latrobe, and Blairsville for free tickets to the action-packed evening, while supplies last. Activities will include a free autograph session featuring Jennerstown’s local race car drivers at 4:30 p.m., a full slate of racing beginning at 6 p.m. to include Jennerstown’s Super Cup Stock Car Series, late models and modified divisions, and a post-race fireworks show, presented by Advance Auto Parts.
The celebration caps Jennerstown’s triumph in the Advance My Track Challenge, which encouraged race fans across the U.S. and Canada to vote for their favorite local NASCAR home track. As the winning track, Jennerstown won $50,000, which the track team will use to construct a family-friendly and ADA-compliant restroom for fans.
“Fans have been gathering at Jennerstown to watch racing for decades, and we’re delighted to recognize the community and track team as winners of the Advance My Track Challenge,” said Jason McDonell, Advance’s executive vice president of merchandising, marketing and eCommerce. “It is great to see how the Jennerstown team plans to reinvest the winnings into their facility, ensuring their track will continue to be enjoyed by future generations. With fireworks, autographs and great racing, it’s going to be a memorable night for local fans.”
“The whole community rallied around our speedway all year,” said Bill Hribar, Jennerstown Speedway’s general manager. “Winning the Advance My Track Challenge has been a great example of the pride our community has in the speedway. It’s only fitting to spend the prize on improving our facility to serve the needs of our entire community, with a modern, ADA-accessible restroom.”
The Advance My Track Challenge began April 5, with 21 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series tracks represented in the program’s first round of voting. Fans voted up to three times daily in the first round of voting. The six tracks receiving the most fan votes – including Jennerstown – were part of the challenge’s final voting round, which took place May 9-13. Jennerstown was announced as the winning track on May 18. More than 130,000 votes were tallied during this year’s program.
Learn more about the local drivers, teams and NASCAR home tracks that make up the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series by visiting the series page on nascar.com.
The last time NASCAR visited Atlanta Motor Speedway, Corey LaJoie was celebrating a top-five finish shortly after sliding across the infield grass with a split-second flight thrown in for good measure.
Well, maybe not celebrating. But he was certainly relishing his best finish of the year five races into the 2022 campaign.
“I wasn’t spraying champagne over anybody,” LaJoie said in a Tuesday teleconference of his result. “But you know, certainly anytime you get a top five in the Cup Series, man, it’s way harder than people think. I’ve been doing this for a long time and those don’t come very often, especially having a strong car like we did there.”
At the midpoint of the season, that fifth-place effort remains LaJoie’s best in what has been a trying year for the driver of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. LaJoie sits 31st in points after 18 races and ranks the same in average running position (27.719).
That’s led to a higher focus on Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where LaJoie feels he can make a difference.
Typically, his conservative style on superspeedway tracks has led to good finishes. That was the case in the debut race of Atlanta’s new configuration, which features higher banking, tighter corners and the sanctioning body’s superspeedway rules package around the 1.5-mile track. But good finishes won’t be enough if LaJoie has any hopes of qualifying for this year’s playoffs.
“I think we’re gonna change the strategy up a bit because I think we have to go to win,” he said. “I think a top five day doesn’t cut it. It really doesn’t. And we’ve shot ourselves in the foot for the last six, seven weeks here with a lot of mechanical failures and not running near to our potential as a race team. But, you know, if it’s a superspeedway, we have to go attack and be in position to throw a Hail Mary and steal one.”
Indeed, the last seven weeks have been dismal for LaJoie and Co., who have finished 34th or worse in five of the last seven races. The team’s Achilles’ heel has been mechanical reliability, most recently in the last two road-course events. At Sonoma, LaJoie’s car suffered from a steering fitting failure. Last week at Road America, a T-bar in the steering rack broke before the green flag waved.
“Some of it’s bad luck; some of it’s being a little bit lean with people and processes,” LaJoie said. “Where a lot of teams have blueprints and they take the stuff from the suppliers apart and assemble them back together, that they’re a little more durable. And we don’t have that. You know, we just are trying to get the cars built, let alone fine-tune the parts that we’re getting from the vendors.
“We’ve found out all the little weak links of most of the parts unfortunately. And yeah, it stinks because we are certainly more capable of running considerably better than this.”
That is evidenced by LaJoie’s other finishes this year. Prior to his recent downturn, he strung together three straight top-20 finishes at Bristol dirt, Talladega and Dover. In the two races not thwarted by issues in this current seven-race span, LaJoie finished 19th at Kansas and 20th at Nashville.
“If we finish the race, we usually finish the top 20,” he said. “That’s just what it’s turned out. Rarely do we finish in the 20s. If our car makes it the whole way, we can be inside the top 20, which is a big goal for us. I think we’re capable. But if you’re sitting behind the wall, I can assure you, you don’t get the seat time learning new cars at whatever track you’re at, nor do you get the opportunity to contend for top 20s. So I can assure you everybody’s on board here trying to figure out how to make our cars last for the entire course of the race because nobody wins in that scenario.”
Atlanta could prove to be a boon for LaJoie, whose five career top-10 finishes all came at superspeedways, including his first career top five back in March. Hotter temperatures may make handling more critical in this week’s go-around, and teams will enter with a better understanding after many unknowns in the spring. LaJoie just hopes his early-season high mark can be replicated Sunday afternoon.
“Atlanta is absolutely a wild card,” he said. “I know William Byron won the first race, but that really can be anybody’s race if they position themselves right. And, you know, we’ve seen a lot of guys, Austin Cindric win the Daytona 500 being a rookie. We’ve seen Michael McDowell win the 500 last year.
“It’s just as much of a wild card in Atlanta this weekend as any speedway race, so hopefully we can be on the receiving end of a good run.”
For the first time since 2019, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to the state of New Jersey and Wall Stadium Speedway for the Jersey Shore 150 this Saturday night.
Saturday’s race marks the fifth time the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will visit the third-mile high-banked oval, and the event serves as the eighth race on the 2022 schedule.
In four previous visits to Wall Stadium Speedway, the Tour has seen four different winners. Woody Pitkat was triumphant in the most recent Tour event at the facility, picking up a victory during the 2019 season.
Other winners at Wall include Reggie Ruggiero and brothers John Blewett III and Jimmy Blewett. The only previous NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour winner at Wall Stadium Speedway scheduled to be in action Saturday is Jimmy Blewett.
Below is everything you need to know about Saturday’s Jersey Shore 150 at Wall Stadium Speedway.
Jersey Shore 150 at Wall Stadium Speedway
What to watch for:
If you’re looking for a favorite to win the Jersey Shore 150 this Saturday night at Wall Stadium Speedway, you need not look any further than New Jersey’s own Jimmy Blewett.
The 41-year-old Modified veteran, who will drive for Tommy Baldwin Racing Saturday night, is a four-time Wall Stadium Speedway Modified track champion with countless victories in a variety of divisions at the legendary high-banked oval. In his two previous Tour starts at his home track, he has one victory, two top-five and two top-two finishes.
He’ll do battle with a number of the Tour’s top stars, all of whom hope to deny the local boy a visit to Victory Lane.
Among those with whom Blewett will have to contend is Matt Hirschman, a multi-time winner of Wall Stadium Speedway’s annual Turkey Derby event. Hirschman already has a Tour win this year in the opener at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway.
Ron Silk enters the Jersey Shore 150 as the Tour championship leader and is one of only six drivers with two top-10 finishes in Tour events at Wall Stadium Speedway. His best finish of seventh came during the 2007 season.
Andrew Krause, whose family took over as promoters at Wall Stadium Speedway a few years ago, is the most recent Modified track champion at Wall Stadium Speedway. He’ll look to keep the Jersey Shore 150 in the family Saturday evening.
Justin Bonsignore, who started from the pole the last time the Tour visited Wall Stadium Speedway, will look to improve upon his finish of 13th in 2019. He has scored two victories this season, but mechanical problems in other races have kept him out of the championship hunt so far.
New Jersey native Danny Bohn returns to Tour competition during the Jersey Shore 150. The driver from Freehold, New Jersey, was a winner earlier this year in the season-opener at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and will be making his first Tour start since 2019.
Dave Sapienza scored one of his nine Tour top-five finishes at Wall Stadium Speedway in 2019 and is the only driver who finished in the top five that day who is scheduled to compete Saturday night.
Other competitors expected to compete include Patrick Emerling, Kyle Bonsignore, Eric Goodale, Tommy Catalano, Jake Johnson and Timmy Solomito.
The complete entry list for the Jersey Shore 150 is available here.
Tommy Catalano (54) leads a group of cars during the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Jersey Shore 150 on May 18, 2019 at Wall Stadium Speedway in Wall Township, New Jersey. (Photo: Mike Lawrence/NASCAR)
Schedule: Garage opens at 1 p.m. ET … Final practice from 3:30-4:30 p.m. ET … Single-car qualifying (two laps) at 6 p.m. ET … Race at 8 p.m. ET
Qualifying: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Fastest lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the Jersey Shore 150 is limited to 28 starters including Provisional Positions.
Tire allotment: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eight (8) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. The tire change rule is zero (0) tires, any position.
If you’re looking for a favorite to win the Jersey Shore 150 this Saturday night at Wall Stadium Speedway, you need not look any further than New Jersey’s own Jimmy Blewett.