No. 12 is averaging a 12.24 finish on road courses.
That stat line alone is nice, but to make it even better, that average finish puts Ryan Blaney in second for the best mark in the garage right now. The only active driver with a stronger comprehensive look is Chase Elliott at 7.71 – and his ranks third all-time, not just currently. Elliott has seven road-course wins, good for third-most ever. Blaney has just one and still manages that noteworthy mean.
Suffice to say, even without the victory tally, Blaney is consistent on the winding layouts. And NASCAR’s next stop is one of those: Road America (Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It’ll be the Cup Series’ second trip to the 4.048-mile track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, during the sport’s modern era (1972 to present). Blaney finished 20th there last year.
Since that Road America flop, there have been five road-course events. In the most recent four, Blaney was the only competitor to post a top-10 result in each – second at 2021 Indy Grand Prix, ninth at 2021 Charlotte Roval, and sixth at both the 2022 stops so far (Circuit of The Americas and Sonoma Raceway). Austin Cindric personally posted three-consecutive top 10s, but he did not compete in last year’s Roval race, so they wouldn’t be consecutive by full-time standards.
Blaney and Cindric – both from Team Penske – are two of the four drivers who placed top 10 in the two left-and-right shows already completed this season. The others are Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports) and Ross Chastain. Chastain actually won at COTA and then teammate Daniel Suárez won at Sonoma, making Trackhouse Racing superior so far.
Below is a breakdown of Blaney’s road-course history by track.
Blaney’s sole road-course win came in 2018 as Charlotte Motor Speedway debuted its Roval option. He won a stage and led 16 of the 109 laps. It was his only victory of the season.
In fact, Blaney only won one race per season from 2017-20. It wasn’t until 2021 he broke that trend and won three. He finished seventh in the season standings, which ties 2019 for his best ending.
Right now, Blaney ranks third in points. He has not won, though, so he sits plus-112 on the playoff cutline – the best seat among non-winners since 12 of the 16 title-fight spots are already provisionally taken. Nine races remain in the regular season, a third of which will be raced on road courses, starting with Road America.
BetMGM lists Blaney at 14-1 odds to win Sunday’s Kwik Trip 250. Seven drivers are predicted to have a better chance. But remember, only one of those seven has a better average road-course finish.
The acknowledged road-course ace of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, AJ Allmendinger, has done nothing to diminish his reputation this season.
The driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet fashioned a 2.039-second victory over Austin Hill when the series traveled to Circuit of The Americas in March. In the series’ debut at Portland International Raceway on June 4, Allmendinger started from the rear of the field and won a wet-weather race by 2.879 seconds over Myatt Snider.
Allmendinger, who is running for the Xfinity Series championship, is racing in both the Xfinity and Cup Series at Road America. But his primary focus will be on Saturday’s Henry 180 (2:30 p.m. ET on USA, NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
A victory in that race would give Allmendinger three straight Xfinity road-course wins and would keep him in the series lead. He currently holds a 25-point edge over second-place Ty Gibbs.
Allmendinger would also become the first repeat winner at the track. The first 12 races at Road America have produced 12 different winners, including Allmendinger, who scored his first Xfinity Series win there in 2013.
“You have everything on that race track, long straightaways and really fast corners,” Allmendinger said. “The carousel is incredibly fast; Turn 1 is incredibly fast. But you also have big brake zones, like into Turn 5 (and) into Canada Corner.
“It’s easy to use up the tires there. It’s easy to make mistakes. But there’s also a lot of passing opportunities if you get in the back of the field. I love the race track. I think Xfinity always puts on a great race. I think with the Next Gen cars, they are really going to put on a great race in the Cup race on Sunday. I’m happy that I get to be a part of both.”
Chase Elliott is returning to the road-course drawing board this week as he drags a five-race winless drought on the track type into the Kwik Trip 250. And the NASCAR betting public is predicting Elliott and his Hendrick Motorsports crew will assemble a Next Gen masterpiece at Road America.
Elliott is the defending champion at the 4.048-mile track in Wisconsin, but that win in the first NASCAR Cup Series race at Road America in 65 years is “out the window,” as is his road-course dominance elsewhere over the last several years.
“(We’re) relearning just like everybody else,” Elliott said on NASCAR’s Twitter Spaces this week, referencing the Next Gen transition. “We hit on a good package with the other car back in 2016 or 2017 and started tweaking on it from there. And it took us a long time to get to where we were really happy and liked things and were really able to extract what we needed to out of the car.”
Despite the drought – though, as Elliott noted, he “hasn’t been bad” in road courses since his last win, posting three top-five finishes – Elliott is a rare betting favorite to be an overwhelming public favorite.
As of Wednesday, the 26-year-old former Cup Series champion sits atop race-winner odds at +450, well ahead of Kyle Larson (+700), Ross Chastain (+800) and others. Elliott is also dominating the handle share at BetMGM; he has 23.9% of the handle on just 6.5% of the tickets. If that share holds through the green flag on Sunday, it’d be the highest for a favorite this year.
Elliott is also a sizable favorite over Martin Truex Jr. in featured matchup betting. Here are the four matchups this weekend at Road America:
Chase Elliott (-190) vs. Martin Truex Jr. (+145)
Tied with A.J. Allmendinger and Denny Hamlin for the fifth-best race-winner odds at +1200, Martin Truex Jr. is also seeking a return to road-course dominance. From late 2018 through mid-2019, he won two of four road races, including back-to-back wins at Sonoma Raceway. But he’s winless since and has zero top-three finishes in his last four road-course starts.
And the public doesn’t like his drought to end on Sunday; with a race-winner handle share of just 1.4%, he’s the least popular pick among the seven drivers with odds of +1200 or better.
Kyle Busch (-125) vs. Christopher Bell (-105)
KyleBusch is one of only two drivers whose race-winner odds have improved since the market opened Monday morning. The jump – from +1200 to +1000 – comes as the public pounds the defending Henry 180 champion with nearly 15% of the handle.
“I would say both road-course events so far this year were not our strong suit,” Busch said of struggles for drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing. “Why we missed it? I don’t know. If I could answer that, we wouldn’t struggle, we wouldn’t have been bad.”
Teammate Christopher Bell contended in the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix but had issues in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 and sits beside every other Toyota driver without a top-10 average running position on road courses this year. However, he did win at Road America (CTECH Manufacturing 180) in the Xfinity Series three years ago.
Chase Briscoe (-400) vs. Ty Dillon (+280)
In his first featured matchup appearance of the season, Ty Dillon is a huge underdog with increasing odds. After opening at +260 against Chase Briscoe, whom he has finished ahead of in two of the last five road races in which both drivers have started, Dillon has climbed to +280.
Briscoe is the other driver whose odds have jumped since open; he has moved from +3300 to +2500 as the public hits him with 6.5% of the tickets (for 4.4% of the handle). Only Allmendinger, Busch, and Kyle Larson have a bigger ticket share.
Alex Bowman (-450) vs. Corey LaJoie (+310)
Also making his featured matchups debut, Corey LaJoie is a big dog to Alex Bowman as he seeks road-course contention for the first time in his Cup Series career.
Their featured matchup comes one week after a dust-up – and Bowman’s post-race sarcastic praise for LaJoie – in the Ally 400 that ended Bowman’s day early.
You can view updated Kwik Trip 250 odds and more NASCAR odds at the BetMGM online sportsbook.
The veteran West Coast short track competitor has enjoyed a copious amount of success during his long career with accomplishments that include 59 wins and six titles in the SRL Spears Southwest Tour to go along with his two West Series championships in 2013 and 2018.
Now 36, Thorn is embarking on a new challenge, as he is set to compete in the first Late Model Stock event of his career when the green flag flies at South Boston Speedway on Saturday for the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200.
Thorn’s decision to run South Boston deviates from his original plan to debut in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway. He sees the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 as an ideal way to gain track time against competition he will be facing later in the year.
“The end goal was to run Martinsville and the Thanksgiving Classic in November,” Thorn said. “There was an opening to run [South Boston], and we thought it was a good fit. The competition they’ll have at South Boston is what you’ll see at Martinsville, so this is a good way for me to get acclimated. I’m just looking forward to trying something new.”
Even though he will be in an unfamiliar car Saturday, Thorn has grown comfortable racing against the best drivers from different regions of the United States.
Thorn regularly tests his luck in many prestigious Super Late Model events such as the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway, where he has developed a reputation as one of the best drivers who has yet to record a victory in the race.
The past couple of years in the Snowball Derby have seen Thorn narrowly miss out on checking off that box. Both races saw Thorn settle for second-place finishes after he led a combined total of 539 laps between the two events.
While Thorn remains determined to one day win the Snowball Derby, his current focus is to learn as much as possible about Late Model Stocks so he can put together a solid performance at South Boston with R&S Race Cars, which is co-owned by former NASCAR crew chief Marcus Richmond.
Derek Thorn will be driving the No. 43 PepperJack Kennels/Tool Shack/Nutri Source Toyota for R&S Race Cars in Saturday’s Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway (NASCAR)
Thorn has been carefully studying past Late Model Stock races at South Boston to prepare for Saturday’s Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200. But he admitted he will not know exactly what to expect until he makes his first laps on track for practice.
“I’m going into this race open-minded,” Thorn said. “This is a completely different animal. We run a similar right-side tire on the West Coast with SRL, but from what I’ve gathered, [Late Model Stocks] are kind of like an ARCA car with an essence of Super Late Model mixed in. I’ll have to learn on the fly, but thankfully I’m surrounded by good people.”
Thorn believes having Richmond assisting puts him in a better position to find success against Late Model Stock veterans.
Having won races as a crew chief with drivers like Kevin Harvick, Noah Gragson and Johnny Sauter, Richmond has stepped back from that role in recent years to focus on R&S Race Cars, which he founded alongside former driver Steve Stallings with the goal of supplying cars to different organizations.
R&S Race Cars also manages their own in-house Late Model Stock operation. Their full-time car is currently driven by Toyota development driver Jonathan Shafer, with Thorn piloting the second part-time car beginning this weekend.
Richmond was thrilled when he found out Thorn was interested in competing for R&S Race Cars. He fully expects Thorn to find his comfort zone in a Late Model Stock and compete for a victory alongside Shafer on Saturday night.
“I know Derek’s never run Late Model Stocks, but he has run heavy cars out West,” Richmond said. “I think he’ll adapt pretty fast. We’ve been working on our South Boston setup a lot lately, and we know where we need to go, so I have no other intentions aside from winning this weekend.”
Richmond added that having Thorn around R&S Race Cars is going to be beneficial toward Shafer’s development.
The amount of energy and passion Shafer has displayed since joining the program are two qualities Richmond believes makes him stand out amongst other young drivers. That’s why he believes Shafer will take full advantage of the opportunity to lean on Thorn for advice on how to keep improving.
With Thorn’s experience and Shafer’s determination, Richmond is looking forward to a successful weekend at South Boston that he hopes will conclude with either of his drivers nabbing the $10,000 race-winning paycheck.
“It’d be awesome to see Derek or Jonathan park their cars in Victory Lane,” Richmond said. “I’d love for both to just have a shot at the win. If they can do that, then our company, all my guys and our partners have done their jobs to make something like that happen.”
Although he shares Richmond’s expectations for the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200, Thorn said it will be a challenge to just qualify for the main event.
Nearly 50 cars have filed an entry for Saturday’s race. The top 30 starting positions are being determined by qualifying speeds, while the remaining 10 spots will be sorted out in a last chance qualifier, which both Thorn and Richmond know has the potential to get chaotic.
Qualifying is an area where Thorn has excelled in big races with three consecutive poles in the Snowball Derby. Despite this, Thorn has zero notes on how to navigate the fast speeds of South Boston, as the track underwent a repave since his lone start there in 2008 in the East Series.
Thorn anticipates time trials for the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 to be nerve-wracking, but he said responsibility falls on him to ensure his No. 43 PepperJack Kennels/Tool Shack/Nurti Source Toyota is fast enough to be competitive against veterans like Peyton Sellers, Bobby McCarty and Mike Looney.
“I’m just going to take it one day at a time,” Thorn said. “I’ve got faith in this program, but we just have to make the car as good as we can and learn as much as possible in a short period of time. All these guys on the entry list know what they’re doing, so hopefully I can absorb a lot of information and be fast on Saturday night.”
Among Derek Thorn’s accomplishments in short track racing include six titles in the SRL Spears Southwest Tour and two West Series championships. (Jeff Bottari/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Thorn knows it will be an arduous task to contend for a top five in his first Late Model Stock appearance, but he considers himself fortunate to have an opportunity to drive for R&S Race Cars and continue a love of racing that was started by his parents Rick and Carol Thorn many years ago.
Following the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200, Thorn’s attention will turn toward the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 and the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park, which will pay $50,000 to the winner.
A win in any of these three events for Thorn would be another cherished accomplishment he can add to his prestigious short track resume.
Wake up and smell the cheese curds, because the NASCAR Cup Series is returning to action at Road America for Independence Day weekend.
The high-speed, massive Wisconsin circuit will host NASCAR’s top division for the second straight year, and just the third time ever, with Sunday’s Kwik Trip 250 presented by Jockey Made in America (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM).
Nine races are left in the regular season as the hunt for the Cup Series Playoffs continues.
TUNING UP
Cup Series teams will use the practice and qualifying format for road courses for the third time this year, starting Saturday at 11:30 a.m. ET. The field will be split into two groups — A and B — with each group participating in its own 20-minute session.
That warm-up will be followed by first-round qualifying at 12:20 p.m. ET (USA, NBC Sports App, MRN). Group A and Group B will each qualify in 15-minute timed sessions. The fastest five drivers from each group will advance to the final round, making up the 10 drivers who will vie for the Busch Light Pole Award.
The fastest qualifier in the 10-minute final session will start first in Sunday’s 250-miler.
– Road America’s 4.048-mile circuit sits in the rolling hills of the Kettle Moraine area just south of the town center of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
– The 14-turn circuit originally opened in 1955 for sports-car racing, and Phil Hill was its first winner in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) competition.
– NASCAR Grand National — now Cup Series — competition arrived at the track a year later. Hall of Famer Tim Flock won on a rain-soaked track, netting the last of his 39 big-league victories. Road America returned to the Cup Series schedule in 2021, in an event won by Chase Elliott.
– The NASCAR Xfinity Series has raced at Road America each year since 2010. The 12 races at the track have been won by 12 different drivers, and Kyle Busch is the most recent Xfinity winner there.
– Sunday’s 250-mile race is the third of six road-course events for the Cup Series this season.
Cup Series teams will use the same tire that appeared earlier this season at Circuit of The Americas, but with a special distinction. The COTA tire code was marked D-5112, which will run on the left-front and right-rear of cars at Road America. The right-front/left-rear setup will be the same tire but with a different code (D-5113) to mark it for that mounting position and the directional stress points from those areas. The different codes also provide a cue for teams to know which corner to mount each tire.
“The reason why we have the two codes for the same tire on these road courses is that the directional mounting helps protect the beveled splice of the tread component,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear director of racing. “This insures that the tread splice is closed under the force of braking on both front tires and closed under the force of acceleration on both rear tires. Since all the tires are the same size, the two codes make sure teams know which corner of the car the tire is designed for as they make up their race sets.”
Teams will be allotted one set of tires for practice, one for qualifying and a maximum of six sets for the race (five sets, plus one transferred from qualifying, if applicable). Goodyear will also have wet-weather tires on hand should the conditions become rainy at Road America. The same tire limits apply for wet-weather tires and the dry racing slicks.
ROAD AMERICA STORY LINES
— Trackhouse Racing aims to make it 3-for-3 in road-course events this year. In winning the previous two, both drivers and crew chiefs scored their first Cup Series wins — Ross Chastain and crew chief Phil Surgen at Circuit of The Americas; Daniel Suárez and crew chief Travis Mack at Sonoma Raceway.
— Reigning Cup Series champ Kyle Larson won three times on road courses last season. He is seeking his first road-racing top 10 this year.
— Ryan Blaney holds the longest active streak of top-10 finishes on road circuits — four straight dating back to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road layout last season.
— Chase Elliott has won seven of the Cup Series’ last 16 road course events. That includes his win in last year’s Road America event, when he drove from the 34th starting spot to victory — the worst starting position for a road-course winner in series history.
— Hendrick Motorsports has nine wins in the Cup Series’ last 13 road-course races.
— Michael McDowell, a former Road America winner in the Xfinity Series, has six top-10 finishes so far this season — his most in a single year.
Source: Racing Insights
BEST OF THE BUNCH
The sample size for Road America races in the Cup Series is small, and Sunday’s race will be just the third race for the new Next Gen car on a road circuit.
No matter the generation of stock car, Chase Elliott remains BetMGM’s pre-race favorite at 9-2 opening odds. Elliott prevailed in last year’s Road America event and comes in hot as last week’s winner at Nashville Superspeedway.
Teammate Kyle Larson’s strength as a three-time road-racing winner last season sets him as the second pick at 7-1. Ross Chastain, a two-time winner this year, checks in as an 8-1 selection for the second consecutive week.
Joe Gibbs Racing enters Road America hoping for a rebound with its road-course fortunes, and three of its drivers — Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. — set off at 12-1, joined by the road-savvy AJ Allmendinger. Christopher Bell — the fourth JGR driver and last year’s Road America runner-up — is among five drivers at 14-1.
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 (580), Ryan Blaney (547) and Ross Chastain (545).
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.
As first impressions go, Austin Cindric definitely made a name for himself early on in the NASCAR Cup Series.
While his first start at the Cup level came before February’s Daytona 500, it was his first as a full-time driver in NASCAR’s premier series.
Cindric’s surprise Daytona 500 victory looked like a moment where the Team Penske driver inserted his name first in the hat of championship contenders. It’s no shock that the 23-year-old Cup rookie would be in the mix early given his 2020 Xfinity Series championship, and had it not been for Daniel Hemric’s move in the final turn at Phoenix Raceway to take the title by a few feet, Cindric would’ve entered the series with back-to-back Xfinity championships like Tyler Reddick in 2018 and 2019.
However, since adding his name to the Harley J. Earl Trophy, Cindric has gone through some rookie woes. He’s only scored three top 10s dating back to Circuit of The Americas in March.
“Some weeks are good, and some weeks are not so good,” Cindric said. “It’s somewhat of a common feeling throughout the field. You start to figure out more and more of what the car wants and then you show up one weekend and it’s completely out of your expectation.”
With the Next Gen car, Cindric said you could assign a mulligan to his rookie year with how much there is to learn but added that everyone is on a level playing field.
“The way I see it, everyone has the same challenge,” Cindric said. “It’s just as easy and just as hard to screw it up. It’s going to be the car I’m racing for quite a while, and you don’t really get to choose when you move up.”
While the numbers aren’t gaudy at the halfway point of the season, Cindric is still currently locked into the playoffs with his lone victory at Daytona, and with three more road courses on the circuit before the postseason, there are still opportunities aplenty for him to solidify his playoff position with a second win.
The Cup Series heads to Road America on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the Indianapolis Road Course at the end of July, and then Watkins Glen International on Aug. 21 — the penultimate race of the regular season.
Cindric owns Xfinity wins at all three upcoming road courses and had an average finish of 8.7 in 10 combined starts.
He’s also one of just four Cup drivers to score a top-10 finish in both road-course races this season (eighth at COTA, fifth at Sonoma). Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott — the current top trio in the Cup Series standings — are the other three.
“Road America and Indy are pretty special to me,” Cindric said.
Cindric is the lone Penske driver in the Cup or Xfinity Series to score a win at Indianapolis since Penske Entertainment Corp. bought the track in 2020. Austin’s father, Tim, serves as the principal of Team Penske.
Austin will head to Road America coming off back-to-back top 10s at Sonoma and Nashville Superspeedway but said that it doesn’t necessarily equate to momentum.
“Past success doesn’t equal future success,” Cindric said. “If you’re calling a top 10 a success, then I could just as easily as well run outside the top 10 at Road America so I’m not looking at it as a gain.
“The last couple months we’ve been able to show some consistent speed at different types of race tracks. It’s just having that consistent speed throughout the weekend that’s been the thing I’ve tried to grow and hone in on. Execution in these Cup races is everything.”
There will be plenty of fireworks on display at South Boston Speedway this weekend as the facility hosting the opening round of the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown, the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200.
Since opening in 1957, South Boston has served as a hub for short track competition on the East Coast. All three of NASCAR’s top divisions have raced at South Boston, which has also hosted the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown and events for the ARCA Menards Series, NASCAR Southeast Series and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour.
The short track culture at South Boston remains just as vibrant as ever. In the past decade alone, four track champions at South Boston in Philip Morris, Lee Pulliam, Matt Bowling and Peyton Sellers, have all gone on to claim the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series title during the same year.
Many of South Boston’s weekly competitors, including national frontrunners Sellers and Layne Riggs, will be up against a healthy contingent of Late Model Stock drivers as they look to add another chapter in the growing history of the track’s most cherished race.
Below is everything you need to know about the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway.
A packed house is expected for Saturday’s 200-lap Late Model Stock feature at South Boston Speedway, which features an entry list of nearly 50 cars. (South Boston Speedway)
What TV channel is the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway on?
All of the on-track action for the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway can be viewed live on FloRacing, the official streaming home for all NASCAR Roots properties.
The racing action will not be shown on a television network.
Below is the complete schedule for FloRacing’s coverage of the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200.
Complete schedule for the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200
This year’s Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 2.
Four different divisions will make up Saturday’s on-track action at South Boston, including the Limited Sportsman, Pure Stock, Hornet and Late Model Stock divisions. Wrapping up the night will be the 200-lap Late Model Stock feature.
Below is the complete race-day schedule at South Boston Speedway.
Time
Event
11 a.m. ET
Registration/Pit Gate/Tire Building/Tech open
12:40 p.m. ET
Event production meeting
1 p.m. ET
Track services meeting (Turn 1)
1:15 p.m. ET
Frontstretch grandstand gates open
1:30 p.m. ET
Practice/Qualifying (Pure Stocks and Hornets only)
4 p.m. ET
Backstretch & Turn 3 trackside tailgating gates open
4:05 p.m. ET
Driver’s meeting (Tech building)
4:30 p.m. ET
Group qualifying (Limited Sportsman & Late Model Stocks)
5:15-6:15 p.m. ET
Fan appreciation/Autograph session (Frontsretch)
6:35 p.m. ET
Pre-race ceremonies
7 p.m. ET
Races begin (Fireworks to follow)
Official format for the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200
Saturday’s Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 will be divided into four stages.
Each stage is broken into 50-lap segments. Controlled cautions will be displayed at Laps 50 and 150, while a 10-minute halfway break at Lap 100 will allow teams to adjust their cars.
A maximum amount of 40 cars will be allowed to take the green flag and compete for a $10,000 race-winning paycheck. The top 30 starting positions are set by qualifying speed, with the remaining 10 positions being determined by a last chance qualifying race.
Below is the stage breakdown for the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway.
Stage No.
Laps
Stage 1
50 laps (controlled caution)
Stage 2
50 laps (10 minute halfway break)
Stage 3
50 laps (controlled caution)
Stage 4
50 laps ($10,000 race-winning paycheck)
Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 entry list
An impressive group of nearly 50 cars will attempt Saturday’s Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200, which is one of the largest entry lists in the history of the race.
Layne Riggs and Peyton Sellers will take their national championship battle into Saturday’s 200-lapper, but both will have to contend with defending race-winner Bobby McCarty. Known for his success in Late Model Stocks around the East Coast, McCarty also enters the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 as the most recent champion of the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown.
Joining the Virginia locals this weekend will be Super Late Model standout Derek Thorn, whose accomplishments also include two championships in the ARCA Menards Series West. Thorn will be piloting a Late Model Stock prepared by Steve Stallings and Marcus Richmond, the latter of whom has served as a crew chief for drivers like Noah Gragson, Ty Dillon, Dennis Setzer and Timothy Peters.
Other notable names searching for a Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 victory include defending ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner Landon Pembelton, part-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competitor Corey Heim and Carson Kvapil, who is the son of Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil and will be driving a car fielded by JR Motorsports.
Below is the complete entry list for Saturday’s Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200
Car No.
Driver
0
Landon Pembelton
01
Camden Gullie
03
Brenden Queen
04
Larry Barrett
05
Mason Bailey
06
Terry Dease
1
Tate Fogleman
1
Danny Willis Jr.
2
Brandon Pierce
2
Christopher Denny
4
Parker Eatmon
4
Kyle Dudley
5
Carter Langley
8
Thomas Scott
8
Josh Oakley
8
Carson Kvapil
9
Trey Crews
12
Austin Thaxton
14
Jared Fryar
16
Sam Yarbrough
17
Jason Myers
17
Stacy Puryear
22
Bobby McCarty
24
Mason Diaz
25
Jacob Borst
26
Peyton Sellers
28
Jason Barnes
31
Aaron Donnelly
43
Derek Thorn
44
Conner Jones
50
Raymond Pittman
55
Mark Wertz
57
Eddie Johnson
74
Quin Houff
77
Blake Stallings
77
Connor Hall
77
Trevor Ward
78
Corey Heim
81
Mini Tyrrell
87
Mike Looney
90
John Goin
90
Terry Carroll
91
Jonathan Shafer
91
Justin Carroll
91
Chris Elliott
97
Eric Winslow
99
Layne Riggs
Several talented drivers have won the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200, including past NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series champions Lee Pulliam, Philip Morris and Peyton Sellers (NASCAR)
Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 history, winners
Despite South Boston Speedway being a cornerstone of Virginia’s short track community, the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 has primarily been dominated by drivers from out of state during its brief existence.
The most successful of these drivers was Semora, North Carolina, native Lee Pulliam. The four-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I National champion was unstoppable at South Boston during the early 2010s, winning six consecutive Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200s from 2011-’16.
Virginia natives have attempted to re-take control following Pulliam’s win streak. Philip Morris and Peyton Sellers kept the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 trophy inside Virginia from 2017-2019 before Summerfield, North Carolina, native Bobby McCarty broke that streak in last year’s race.
Sellers and McCarty are the only two past winners who are entered in this weekend’s Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200, which presents an ideal opportunity for a new name to stamp their own legacy at the end of 200 grueling laps.
Below is the complete list of winners in the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200.
Kyle Larson has been nominated for Best Driver at the upcoming 2022 ESPY Awards.
The 29-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver is the defending Cup Series champion, coming off a season in which he tallied 10 wins, 20 top-five finishes and 26 top 10s. Larson broke the record for laps led in a 36-race season with 2,581. He had an average finish of 9.1.
“It’s a great honor,” Larson said Saturday at Road America. “I know there has been a lot of NASCAR drivers to win the award, so my fingers are crossed that I can win that. That would definitely be one of the coolest awards. Just being nominated alone is a great honor. But if I was to win it and beat a F1 World Champion, as well as the other champions, that would be a great honor.
“We’ll see. I hope. Max (Verstappen) had a great year, as well as everybody else. Hopefully they consider my dirt wins, as well; because if you factor in my dirt wins, then that would give me a better shot.”
Larson was also the first driver to score 10 wins in a season since seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson accomplished the feat in 2007.
In the award’s 29-year history, NASCAR drivers have won 18 times with Johnson and Jeff Gordon earning the most at four. Kyle Busch is the most recent NASCAR driver to win the award when he did so in 2019.
Tony Stewart (three times) and Busch (twice) have also won the award multiple times, while Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bobby Labonte and Dale Jarrett have each won once.
Going up against Larson for the award are 2021 Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen, defending IndyCar champion Alex Palou and four-time NHRA Drag Racing champion Steve Torrence.
The 2022 ESPYS will take place July 20 at 8 p.m. ET.
The start of the Next Gen era can probably be summed up in one quick phrase — everybody is good somewhere; nobody is good everywhere.
With wins thus far at Richmond Raceway, Kansas Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, and significant speed this past weekend at Nashville Superspeedway — as well as a victory at Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt race, which doesn’t quite translate anywhere else — Joe Gibbs Racing can count shorter-to-intermediate tracks among those it has dialed in for 2022.
Road courses, however, tell a different story.
The Toyota-backed organization’s results at Sonoma Raceway, where of the six competitors driving for the manufacturer Kurt Busch was the highest finisher in 18th, speak for themselves. The first road course of the season at Austin, Texas’ Circuit of The Americas did not go much better, with an average finish of 21.0 among them despite Christopher Bell’s P3.
“We struggled at COTA as well to be honest with raw speed and being able to be good there,” Kyle Busch said at Nashville. “In the early stage of the race, I think we were running eighth, we were fading, I got spun out by Chase Elliott running 12th, you know what I mean? So we weren’t great at COTA either, but we were able to get through some of the restarts and get positions on guys to get ourselves up front. Christopher, I think, was third or fourth. I was right with him on the last lap there. And so you know, felt like with everything that kind of ensued on the last lap, we would have had a shot to run in the top two or three, for sure.”
“But I would say both road course events so far this year were not our strong suit. Why we missed it? I don’t know. If I could answer that, we wouldn’t struggle, we wouldn’t have been bad. But talking to Martin Truex (Jr.), who tested for us at (Watkins Glen International), certainly not looking forward to going to The Glen either. They weren’t very fast there.”
For arguably the top organization of the past decade, this is not typical.
Toyota enjoyed a total of 10 wins last year in the final season for the Gen 6 Cup Series racer, spread across essentially every size and shape of race track the tour visits — including Bell’s victory on the Daytona International Speedway road-course layout. Part of what has historically made JGR so exceptional is its seeming ability to unload fast on a weekly basis, regardless of what track it happens to be racing at that weekend.
The silver lining here for JGR and its sister organization 23XI Racing is that they aren’t alone — every team is fighting the same battle from this regard.
The sort of hit-or-miss nature for teams just about every weekend so far may just be a product of the vast increase in parity across the board that was part of the intention in the development of the Next Gens.
“A little bit. I would argue, too, that the (Team) Penske guys weren’t great at Kansas,” Busch said. “They’ve been super strong at the flatter tracks. They’re really fast at Martinsville, Phoenix. They’ve been good. They were good at Gateway as well, too. … it seems that these teams or organizations kind of have that they’re good at these particular tracks. And so I think as we all continue to learn and grow, like, the good teams will be the good teams everywhere. But you know, it is kind of patchy right now with just getting an understanding built around this car.”
With five of its drivers currently on the right side of the playoff bubble and three of them provisionally locked in with their respective wins, there’s no need to sound the alarm bells just yet, but the road-course issue is one that Toyota would like to have ironed out over the coming weeks.
The Cup Series will turn left and right on three weekends over the next two months as the regular season wraps, starting with Sunday’s Kwik Trip 250 presented by JOCKEY Made in America at Road America (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
Should those three races not produce the solutions and finishes JGR, 23XI and Toyota are looking for, however, it might be time to start sweating.
The season’s final road course is perhaps the most unpredictable one, with the most pressure and implications — Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval.
Busch, Bell and Denny Hamlin all finished in the top 10 there last year, but at the moment, that looks like a bit of a long shot. Given that the Roval marks the Round of 8 cutoff and calamity could spell catastrophe, you can be sure there will be plenty of emphasis placed on Road America, Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Road Course (July 31) and The Glen (August 21).
If there’s any team that has the knowledge, resources and talent to diagnose and rectify an issue like this it’s JGR, but if we’ve learned anything about the Next Gen through the season’s first half of racing … it’s no guarantee.
Over the years, Toyota Racing has had multiple young, talented prospects go through its pipeline. Next in line is Sammy Smith.
Smith currently leads the ARCA Menards Series East racing for Kyle Busch Motorsports, capturing three checkered flags in five races in 2022. He’s led 494 of 875 laps (56.5%) and hasn’t finished worse than fifth.
This year, he’s also ran a partial ARCA Menards Series schedule, dominating at Elko last weekend by leading 233 of 250 laps. In five starts, he hasn’t finished worse than third.
“It’s been a really good season so far,” Smith told NASCAR.com last week.
This weekend at Road America will be a new challenge for Smith, an 18-year-old from Iowa. He will make his Xfinity Series debut, driving the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, marking the first of eight races Smith has on the docket in Xfinity this season, with the remaining races coming at Pocono, Michigan, Watkins Glen, Bristol, Kansas, Martinsville and Phoenix.
Admittedly, Smith’s opportunity in the Xfinity Series has been in the works for some time. A conversation about Smith’s progression between Steve Desouza, executive vice president of JGR’s Xfinity Series program, and Kurt Smith (Sammy’s father), president of Rising Star Management Group, led to the initial thought of running Smith in Xfinity races someday.
“We’ve watched Sammy progress, and as he approached the age allowing him to race in the ARCA East Series, we developed a plan for him,” Desouza said.
Bringing sponsorship to the table certainly helps Smith’s case of getting Xfinity starts soon after turning 18 years old in early June. He brings to the table former sponsors of Michael Annett: Pilot Flying J and TMC Transportation, which have been with Smith since he raced go karts at 8 years old. Allstate Peterbilt Group will also be sponsoring the No. 18 car.
Up until this month, Smith couldn’t compete on tracks bigger than 1 mile in length due to age. He was counting down the days until he turned 18.
“I get to run the big tracks and hopefully continue to learn and work on my craft to try and be a good race car driver,” Smith said. “I feel like I’m decent on the short tracks because that’s what I grew up doing. I have a lot of confidence in those, but it’s going to be about getting used to the big tracks and the Xfinity car. Hopefully, we can run all the laps and get a win out of the eight races.”
Driving for JGR entails having some of the best equipment in the Xfinity Series on a weekly basis. Realistically, Smith knows there will be a learning curve, but isn’t ruling out a victory. After all, his JGR teammate Ty Gibbs shocked everyone in February 2021 when he won in his first Xfinity start at the Daytona road course.
Certainly, Smith has high expectations for himself and the No. 18 team, which he’s gotten to know over the last years with the ARCA and Xfinity cars coming from the same race shop.
“My goals are no different than they are now: Go out and try to lead laps, win poles, win races and do the best I can do,” he said. “I know the team will be behind me with Jason Ratcliff and the whole [No.] 18 group has been good this year and I know will bring fast race cars to the track.”
While Desouza won’t go as far as saying he expects Smith to win, he does have high expectations for the young driver, allowing him to develop in NASCAR’s second-highest division.
“Run all the laps, learn these cars, [communicate] with your team, take what the car will give you, and improve each time he is in the car,” Desouza said.
Leading up to his series debut, Smith has sought advice from 2011 Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne, who has driven the No. 18 car six times in 2022. He’s also worn out the simulator, provided by Toyota Racing Development.
Up until this year, Smith had little road racing experience. But working with Scott Lagasse in a TA2 car has given him some additional laps, particularly at the famed Wisconsin road course that he’ll see this weekend.
The final three races of the year for Smith at Bristol, Martinsville and Phoenix are familiar territory. He anticipates being most comfortable on the shorter tracks, which is where his racing success has come on.
“I’m going to be learning these eight races in the Xfinity Series,” Smith said. “The team is capable of winning, I’m capable of winning; I have to learn a lot and be competitive. Being able to adapt will be the biggest thing, and I don’t think it’s going to be easy by any means. I’ve got a good mindset, so hopefully we’ll go run well.”
The eight starts also serve as another purpose, as Smith surveys the landscape for 2023. Not knowing what he’ll be driving or where he will be competing in 2023, this is a perfect opportunity.
“I think every time you step into a race car you’re getting auditioned,” he said. “You’re only as good as your last race, and these eight races are going to be tough. I take it one race at a time, and we’ll take it when it comes to the present.”
Through 15 races, the No. 18 team ranks 10th in the owners standings, earning seven top-10 finishes.
