Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

This weekend, NASCAR’s premier series returns to Nashville Superspeedway for just the second time.

The Cup Series heads back to the 1.33-mile concrete oval in Lebanon, Tennessee, for the Ally 400 on Sunday (5 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) after the series’ off weekend.

Just 10 races remain in the regular season. The final stretch before the playoffs begins now.

GETTING REPS

Drivers will get a full 50-minute practice session to open their weekend on Friday (6:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN).

Nashville marks the fifth of six race tracks to host an extended practice session this year and the last until Championship Weekend kicks off at Phoenix Raceway in November.

Friday’s racing rehearsal will be followed up by single-lap, single-car qualifying on Saturday afternoon (1 p.m. ET, USA, MRN). The fastest five drivers from Group A and the fastest five from Group B will advance to the second round of qualifying, where those 10 drivers will post one more timed lap. The fastest of those 10 will start Sunday’s race from the pole position.

RELATED: See this week’s qualifying order | Weekend schedule | Cup Series standings 

NASCAR IN NASHVILLE

– Nashville Superspeedway’s 1.33-mile concrete oval layout sits 30 miles southeast of Nashville, Tennessee. 

– The track opened in 2001 and was owned by Dover Motorsports, Inc. until Speedway Motorsports purchased Dover and its properties in December 2021.

– Myriad series races at Nashville from its debut year forward, including the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series, ARCA, ARCA East and IndyCar. Xfinity races twice annually at the track from 2002-11. Trucks, meanwhile, competed once a year from 2001-09 and added a second date for the 2010-11 seasons after the closure of Memphis Motorsports Park.

– The track was put up for sale in 2012 after Dover Motorsports decided it would no longer sanction NASCAR races at the facility. 

– Nashville remained available for private use and became a popular NASCAR testing facility and venue for commercial and film opportunities.

– NASCAR held its season-ending banquet in Nashville in 2019, bolstering the sport’s return to the area.

– The Cup Series made its debut at the track in June 2021, the track’s first NASCAR race weekend since 2011.

Source: Racing Insights

GOODYEAR TIRES

While there is plenty of “new” in 2022, NASCAR Cup Series teams enter this weekend with a good notebook on these tires, according to Goodyear.

The tire combination used this weekend is the same combination teams competed with at both Kansas Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. Additionally, the left-side tire compound was utilized at Dover Motor Speedway while the right-side compound was used at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

In a press release, Goodyear noted its minimum recommended air pressure for left-rear tires was “of particular importance” this week, re-emphasizing the higher loads impacting that corner of the car compared to the previous generation car. Setup components will also affect how the tires wear throughout the weekend.

“Every time we race on a concrete track, like the one we have at Nashville this week, we design our tires to specifically lay rubber on the surface,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “Rubbering in the primary groove helps the racing by causing drivers to move around to find the grip provided by fresher concrete. As we come back from an off weekend for the Cup cars, having a full practice, it will be important for teams to find the right balance in their car set-ups on the left rear of the car. Having an established tire set-up they have run before should help them with that.”

NASHVILLE STORY LINES 

– Kyle Larson is the defending race winner, leading 264 of 300 laps in last year’s inaugural Nashville race.

– Aric Almirola won the pole for last year’s race, which featured 11 cautions and an average green-flag stretch of 20 laps.

– Twelve different drivers have gone to Victory Lane in 2022, leaving just four playoff positions available with 10 races to go in the regular season.

– Four drivers (Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez) have collected their first career wins this year, the most in 16 races since 1950.

– Of the eight active Cup champions, only Martin Truex Jr, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski have yet to win in 2022. They have combined for just six top fives.

– Harvick is in the midst of a 59-race winless streak, the second longest of his career.

– The longest top-10 streak this season is five (Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott).

– Michael McDowell’s six top 10s and 38 laps led this year are career-high marks.

Source: Racing Insights

BEST OF THE BUNCH

With just one Cup race in the books at Nashville, there’s not a lot of data to rely on for this week’s favorites.

But it should come as no surprise Kyle Larson is BetMGM’s opening favorite at 5-1 odds after his dominant 2021 performance. Anytime one driver manages to lead 88% of the race and finish the job with a win, leaving them off your bet slip or fantasy team the next time around is a bad move.

Kyle Busch (7-1) has two Xfinity wins and a Truck Series triumph on his Nashville resume, but the two-time Cup champ finished 11th at Nashville last season. Chase Elliott (9-1) earned a Dover win in May, conquering the concrete in Delaware for his first win of the year. Will that translate to success in Nashville on Sunday?

Ross Chastain (8-1) earned a season-best runner-up finish at Nashville a season ago. Now a two-time Cup race winner, Chastain enters as a known threat for this week’s checkered flag.

RELATED: Betting odds for Nashville


FANTASY LIVE

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 (530), Ross Chastain (509) and Kyle Busch (506).

How to play: Fantasy Live | Set up a team today!

ALSO ON NASCAR.COM

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.

Posted on by NASCAR Statement

“Race fans are, and always will be, the lifeblood of NASCAR. Few knew this truth better than Bruton Smith. Bruton built his race tracks employing a simple philosophy: give race fans memories they will cherish for a lifetime. In doing so, Bruton helped grow NASCAR’s popularity as the preeminent spectator sport. His vision and legacy inspired many, and his fan-first mentality remains today through his son Marcus. On behalf of the France family and all of NASCAR, I offer my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Bruton Smith, a giant of our sport.” – Jim France, NASCAR Chairman and CEO

MORE: Bruton Smith passes at 95

Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR and motorsports community mourns the loss of Bruton Smith, the NASCAR Hall of Famer, visionary track promoter and founder of Speedway Motorsports who died at 95 years old Wednesday.

 

Posted on by Kenny Bruce

Bruton Smith, founder of Speedway Motorsports and one of the most forward-thinking track operators and promoters in motorsports, has died.

Smith, a native of Oakboro, North Carolina, was 95. Speedway Motorsports announced his passing Wednesday afternoon.

With Smith at the helm, Speedway Motorsports became the first motorsports company to trade on the New York Stock Exchange in 1995. The group’s holdings would eventually grow to include 11 racing facilities that currently host 15 NASCAR Cup Series events in 2022, including four of the series’ 10 playoff races.

Today, tracks operating under the Speedway Motorsports banner are: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dover Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, North Wilkesboro Speedway, Sonoma Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway.

Jonathan Ferrey | Getty Images
Jonathan Ferrey | Getty Images

Charlotte Motor Speedway was Smith’s jewel, a facility that he helped construct in 1959 with fellow NASCAR Hall of Fame member Curtis Turner. But it wasn’t until he returned to regain sole ownership of the 1.5-mile track in 1975 that Smith began a decades-long process of upgrades for his company’s facilities that quickly made them the envy of the industry.

At Charlotte, Smith added thousands of seats as attendance began to soar, installed permanent lights that allowed the facility to become the first speedway of its size to host races at night and built condominiums overlooking the track as well as a distinctive “Speedway Club,” where guests could dine in comfort while taking in the action on the track.

The addition of lights in 1992 was the key to CMS retaining the series’ annual All-Star Race, which it has hosted 34 times in the event’s 38-year history.

CMS was also the first track to construct a huge, 16,000-square-foot HDTV on which fans could see all the action. When it was built in 2011, the screen was billed as the world’s largest HDTV.

“Bruton Smith is a special guy and someone who has brought so much to NASCAR,” team owner Roger Penske said during a 2016 preseason media gathering. “When you think about the Charlotte Motor Speedway and Bristol, and tracks like New Hampshire and Sonoma and Atlanta, he’s been the best. There’s no question. He set the bar.”

Smith was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2016 for his lifetime of achievement in the industry. His son, Marcus Smith, continues the family’s tradition as president and CEO Speedway Motorsports.

Smith’s Midas touch wasn’t limited to the Charlotte track, though. Major upgrades occurred at all his facilities, whether it was the addition of condos and major infrastructure upgrades at Atlanta, the unveiling of “Colossus” –- the world’s largest permanent outdoor center-hung digital display –- at Bristol, the bar-raising Neon Garage at Las Vegas or “Big Hoss,” a 22,704 square-foot HD screen at Texas, a $225 million facility that set new standards for fans and competitors alike.

“He has an incredible sense of how to make money,” H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, former president and general manager of CMS, told the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press in an interview in 1996. “The best thing is, he puts almost all the profits back in. He always wants to improve things for fans and competitors.”

In 2015, it was announced that Smith, then 88 and out of the public eye for some time, had been battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Family members revealed later that year that he had been diagnosed as cancer-free.

In addition to his racing-related endeavors, Smith built Sonic Automotive, an automotive sales empire that encompasses more than 100 dealerships in 13 states. In 2021, the company was ranked No. 308 on the Fortune 500 list. Sons Scott and David Smith have been involved in executive roles with the company.

Smith was the youngest of nine children born to parents James and Mollie Smith, a Depression-era child born in 1927 and raised on a farm. As a teenager, he had other ideas besides spending the day behind a plow.

“You have food, clothing and shelter,” Smith said in a 2003 interview in Car & Driver magazine, “but you never have any money. And I never did like that. I did not like it.

“You worked from sunup to sundown, but you did not see the rewards. I decided by the time I was eight or nine, I was not going to stay on the farm.”

As a teen, Smith took a turn behind the wheel, racing at local dirt tracks in a car he purchased for $700. While he said he enjoyed his share of success, his driving career was soon cut short by a “higher power.”

“I started driving … and it was not as difficult as I thought it was,” he said during his 2016 Hall of Fame induction speech. “I thought, ‘OK, now I’ve got my career going.’

“My dad didn’t have a problem with it, he just said, ‘Be careful, boy.’ I was, but my mom had a problem with it, and she said, ‘I wish you wouldn’t do that’ … and my mother was a very religious person, and my mom started praying I would quit.

“Well, I knew then … it was time for me to quit because I was not going to compete with that.”

Promoting races in the 1950s was different, but Smith excelled there as well.

In 1954, he won the right to host the national modified championship at the three-quarter-mile Charlotte Speedway, moving it from West Palm Beach, Florida, where it has been contested for several years.

“Just little by little, I found out that you could make money doing what I was doing, and I made money,” Smith said.

Smith was ranked No. 3 in a 2004 listing of the top 20 most powerful people in U.S. motorsports by the Charlotte-based Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal.

Since 2006, the winner of the annual Coca-Cola 600 has been presented the Bruton Smith Trophy. The event, which was the first contested at CMS, is the longest in terms of total miles on the NASCAR schedule.

Smith established Speedway Children’s Charities, Speedway Motorsports’ nonprofit arm, in 1982. The group, which established fundraising chapters at each of its stock-car facilities, reportedly distributed more than $2 million in grants to 260 charitable organizations in 2020, bringing its total fund distribution to more than $61 million since its founding.

Posted on by Brandon White

The arrival of summer in the Pacific Northwest coincides with Evergreen Speedway’s first tentpole event of the season: the Mark Galloway Shootout.

Dubbed “the Superspeedway of the West” by late NASCAR champion David Pearson, Evergreen Speedway boasts a proud history that dates back to its grand opening in 1954. The track hosted six NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events from 1995-00 while also serving as a recurring stop for the NASCAR West and Northwest Series.

RELATED: Watch the Mark Galloway Shootout live on FloRacing

Evergreen maintains an active short track culture into the modern day, with the Mark Galloway Shootout being a part of a packed schedule for the facility that includes its most prestigious event in the Summer Showdown as well as the return of the ARCA Menards Series West on Aug. 20.

Now entering its 11th year, the Shootout is expected to attract many of Evergreen’s top drivers as they look to make their own mark on the event while also building momentum heading into the summer.

Below is everything you need to know about the Mark Galloway Shootout at Evergreen Speedway.

Evergreen Speedway
Evergreen Speedway boasts a proud history of racing that includes hosting races for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, West Series and Northwest Series. (Photo:NASCAR)

What TV channel is the Mark Galloway Shootout at Evergreen Speedway on?

All of the on-track action for the Shootout at Evergreen 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 Mark Galloway Shootout.

Date Start time How to watch
Saturday, June 25, 2022 9 p.m. ET FloRacing

Complete schedule for Mark Galloway Shootout

This year’s Shootout is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 25.

Five different divisions will encompass Saturday’s on-track activity at Evergreen in Vintage Mods, Mini Stocks, Legends, Street Stocks and Pro Late Models. The main event will be the 100-lap Pro Late Model feature.

Below is the complete race-day schedule at Evergreen Speedway.

Time Event
8 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. ET Registration opens
9 a.m. PT / Noon ET Back gate opens
11 a.m. PT / 2:15 p.m. ET Driver/spotter meeting, qualifying draw
11:30 a.m. PT / 2:30 p.m. ET Practice 1 begins
1 p.m. PT / 4 p.m. ET Practice 2 begins
2:30 p.m. PT / 5:30 p.m. ET Qualifying/Pro Late Model qualifying tech opens
4:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. ET Heat races
5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET Opening ceremonies/Main events (FloRacing)
Evergreen Speedway
Plenty of local Evergreen Speedway regulars are looking to add another chapter in the brief history of the Mark Galloway Shootout, including two-time winner Naima Lang. (Photo: NASCAR)

Mark Galloway Shootout history, list of winners

In the brief history of this event, the only driver who has multiple wins in the event is six-time track champion Naima Lang.

The inaugural running of the Mark Galloway Shootout back in 2011 saw Lang take home a checkered flag, but it would take another decade before Lang finally added a second victory in the race to his resume. Lang’s win in 2021 also marked the official return of the Shootout after it was canceled in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Outside of Lang, numerous accomplished short track competitors have visited Victory Lane in the Mark Galloway Shootout. Tyler Tanner, who has made 14 career Truck Series starts, won the race in 2014. Former West series competitor Gracin Raz claimed a victory back in 2019.

The battle is expected to be intense when the green flag flies on Saturday, but everyone will be chasing Lang as he goes for his third victory in the race.

Below is the complete list of winners in the Mark Galloway Shootout at Evergreen Speedway.

Year Winner
2011 Naima Lang
2012 Shane Harding
2013 Jason Fraser
2014 Tyler Tanner
2015 Kelly Mann
2016 Taylor Riddle
2017 Owen Riddle
2018 Rob Touchette
2019 Gracin Raz
2020 No race
2021 Naima Lang
Posted on by NASCAR Official Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. and CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Beginning Thursday on NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports and NASCAR Productions bring fans the latest edition of the three-time Sports Emmy Award-winning short-form documentary series, “Beyond the Wheel.”

The three-part short film series takes viewers inside the sport’s most compelling stories and pivotal moments through the eyes of influential NASCAR legends and characters – both past and present.

The first film, titled “Vintage to Vogue,” dives into the evolution of NASCAR fashion from mere appeal to an iconic statement. It premieres Thursday during NASCAR Race Hub on FS1 at 6 p.m. ET.

RELATED: NASCAR on TV this week

The following documentaries comprise the sixth season of “Beyond the Wheel:”

“Vintage to Vogue” – Host Quincy takes viewers on a journey through NASCAR style, showing how NASCAR fashion has moved beyond mere appeal to become an iconic statement, from gearheads to fashionistas. The film illustrates how NASCAR touches all areas of the style industry from shoe customizations to branded apparel.

“Evolution – Stock Car to Racecar” – The film tells the 75-year history of NASCAR, told through the evolution of its most important asset. It highlights the numerous changes and groundbreaking advancements the NASCAR Cup Series vehicle has undergone over the last 75 years, shining the spotlight on all seven generations of the NASCAR race car. The NASCAR race cars in the 1950s and ’60s were truly stock cars. “Evolution – Stock Car to Racecar” journeys viewers through the years to show how the earliest forms of race cars evolved into the sophisticated, ultra-safe Next Gen car.

“Beating the Odds – The Ernie Irvan Story” – Ernie Irvan overcame adversity in his career to find success in NASCAR. From starting his career as a California outsider in a traditionally southern sport to almost losing his life in a crash at Michigan, Irvan’s perseverance is truly inspirational. “Beating the Odds” displays how a never-give-up attitude and a naturally talented race-car driver can tackle all obstacles and win at the sport’s highest level.

“Evolution – Stock Car to Racecar” premieres June 30, followed by “Beating the Odds – The Ernie Irvan Story” July 7. Both will air at 6 p.m. ET on FS1’s NASCAR Race Hub simultaneously live streaming on the FOX Sports App.

Emmy-nominated NASCAR Race Hub is averaging 131,000 viewers, up  more than 32% over 2021 (99,000). It continues on FS1 through the remainder of the 2022 NASCAR season.

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

Austin Dillon is no stranger to living in the fast lane. The adage takes on a new meaning for the driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, however, as Dillon will add “reality TV star” to his resume.

Premiering Thursday at 9:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, “Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fast Lane,” will follow the 2018 Daytona 500 champion, alongside his wife, Whitney, and their two-year-old son, Ace.

“You should expect a lot of laughs,” Whitney said. “We are a really funny crew.”

RELATED: Austin Dillon’s career through the years

This isn’t the first trek for Whitney on reality TV as she starred on CMT’s “Racing Wives.”

However, this is Austin’s debut, and while the 32-year-old is excited for the show to air, he said nerves will play a role.

“I’m definitely nervous,” Austin said. “I don’t like watching myself do anything. I barely re-watch my races. But I think it’ll be good. Everyone else will be pumped.”

Co-starring with the Dillons will be their best friends, Paul and Mariel Swan.

Paul serves as a tire carrier for the No. 3 team and was a former middle linebacker at Bowling Green University. Before joining RCR, Dillon said Paul knew nothing about NASCAR prior to them meeting.

“He came to a combine and worked his way up to being on the No. 3 team,” Austin said. “It all worked out and now we’re married with kids.”

Whitney and Mariel were both cheerleaders in Tennessee and became best friends from there. Both Whitney and Austin agreed that the way they all came to know each other, even though they were from different places, was special.

The biggest point of contention between the Dillons was about who the star of the show will be.

For Whitney, she said the answer was simple.

“Ace is going to be the star,” Whitney said. “He’s just so cute and this little thing running around. He just makes people smile. It’s what our world needs.”

Austin said he’s deferring the star power over to his counterparts but gave the nod to Paul.

“It’s going to be between Paul, Mariel and Whitney,” Austin said. “Ace will be the cuddliest for sure. But Paul will be fighting for that title because he’s going to give you the most laughs and energy.”

Regardless of how the show plays out, Austin said he understands the reach the show could have and hopes to grow the sport through this venture.

“There’s a lot of people that don’t know about NASCAR and what we go through just getting to the track,” Austin said. “I just hope we bring new eyeballs to our sport.”

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

This Saturday, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour rolls back into New York’s Riverhead Raceway for the running of the Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200.

Saturday night’s race marks the second time this season the Tour has visited the quarter-mile oval, and the event doubles as the eighth race on the schedule for Tour competitors.

This will be the 69th Riverhead race in Tour history, with Doug Coby winning three of the last four events at the popular Long Island facility. Coby is also the most recent winner at Riverhead after capturing the Miller Lite 200 on May 14, 2022.

Coby is one of seven competitors entered in Saturday’s race who have won in Tour competition at Riverhead, but he is not the winningest active driver at the track with the series. That honor belongs to Justin Bonsignore, who has eight victories at Riverhead. The winningest driver in Tour history at the track is Mike Ewanitsko, who won 11 races in 35 Tour starts at Riverhead.

Other drivers on the entry list with Tour triumphs at Riverhead include Patrick Emerling, Donny Lia, Timmy Solomito, Eric Goodale and Jimmy Blewett.

Emerling is the most recent driver not named Coby to win at Riverhead. He picked up a win, his most recent in Tour competition, last September.

Below is everything you need to know about Saturday’s Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 at Riverhead Raceway.

Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 at Riverhead Raceway

What to watch for:

2018 Main Header FinalWhat started as a one-off deal to drive Tommy Baldwin Jr.’s No. 7NY at Riverhead Raceway earlier this year has turned into a regular arrangement for Coby, who returns to Riverhead aboard Baldwin’s Modified.

He will attempt to win his third race of the season and his fourth in five starts on Saturday night, but he will have plenty of competition looking to stop him.

One of those looking to upend Coby will be Ron Silk, the current NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship leader. Silk has yet to win this season, but his consistent approach has kept him at the top of the Tour standings through seven races. He has never won at Riverhead, but now could be as good a time as any for Silk to kick down the door to Victory Lane at the Long Island race track.

Coby will have a teammate again this week at Riverhead, as Jimmy Blewett is slated to make his Tour return in the No. 1NY for Baldwin. He was initially scheduled to return last week at New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway, but when the race was pushed to Sunday by bad weather, Blewett was unavailable for the Sunday rain date.

Bonsignore will attempt to win his second straight race with the Tour after a controversial victory last weekend at New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway. He finished 25th at Riverhead in May.

As is typically the case at Riverhead, several local drivers are also entered and should be considered serious threats to win. They include Dylan Slepian, John Baker, Kyle Soper and John Beatty Jr., all of whom finished in the top 10 when the Tour last visited Riverhead in May.

Solomito, who was the only driver not named Coby to lead laps in May at Riverhead, will attempt to earn his first Tour win since 2017 Saturday evening. Of his nine Tour wins, three have come at Riverhead.

RELATED: Watch the Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 on FloRacing

Two-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Donny Lia is slated to make his second start of the season in the Boehler Racing Enterprises No. 3. Lia has four Tour wins at Riverhead, including three of his first four Tour victories from 2003-05.

Eddie Brunnhoelzl, the cousin of four-time NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour champion George Brunnhoelzl III, is scheduled to make his first Tour start since the 2015. His only two previous Tour starts both came at Riverhead.

Tyler Rypkema, who led the most laps in his last Tour start earlier this year at Pennsylvania’s Jennerstown Speedway, has also filed an entry for the Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200. He hasn’t finished worse than fifth in his three Tour starts this year.

Other Tour regulars expected to compete include rookie contender Austin Beers, Richmond Raceway runner-up Tommy Catalano, Jon McKennedy, 2014 Riverhead winner Eric Goodale and Craig Lutz, to name a few.

The complete entry list for the Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 is available here

Cars race during the Miller Lite 200 for the Whelen Modified Tour at Riverhead Raceway on September 18, 2021 in Riverhead, New York. (Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)
Cars race during the Miller Lite 200 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at New York’s Riverhead Raceway on September 18, 2021. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

RACE FACTS

Race Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200
Date Saturday, June 25, 2022
Track Riverhead Raceway
Layout Quarter-mile paved oval
Location Riverhead, New York
Start time 8 p.m. ET
Laps 200
Posted awards $83,763
TV channel USA (Delayed: Sunday, July 3, 1 p.m. ET)
Live stream FloRacing (Live)

Schedule: Garage opens at 12:45 p.m. ET … Final practice from 3-4 p.m. ET … Single-car qualifying (two laps) at 6 p.m. ET … Race at 8 p.m. ET

Qualifying: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster 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 Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 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.

Posted on by Dustin Albino

Late last fall, Stefan Parsons was announced as the full-time driver of the No. 99 car for BJ McLeod Motorsports in the Xfinity Series for the 2022 season. Just over a half year later, he found himself in a familiar position: Not running the entire schedule.

With a stout Xfinity field, Parsons failed to qualify for the 2022 season opener at Daytona International Speedway. After that, he showed flashes of speed, but the results were hard to come by. It was a frustrating start to the campaign despite seeing internal improvements within the team.

“BJ [McLeod, team owner] has put a lot into the Xfinity Series and a lot into his team to try to be better,” Parsons said recently. “This stuff is hard, and we’ve certainly been trying our best to get there. Everybody else has stepped up their game, too.”

In Parsons’ first race of the season at Auto Club Speedway, he was involved in a late-race incident with Sheldon Creed, who ironically is married to Parsons’ sister, Cami. While running in the back half of the top 20 the next week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he got caught up in another multi-car incident.

The results started to turn for Parsons at Phoenix Raceway, earning a 21st-place finish. He backed that up at Circuit of The Americas with another 21st. And at Martinsville Speedway in early April, the No. 99 team made a strategy call to get Parsons the lead for the first time in his career.

“For the majority of races, we’ve had speed, Parsons said, “and the stuff that’s happened to us hasn’t been self-inflicted.”

While Parsons was beginning to see positive finishes, BJMM’s Nos. 5 and 78 teams struggled. Josh Williams, a popular underdog, failed to qualify for three of the opening eight races. Matt Mills, the primary driver of the No. 5 car, has an average finish of 28.2 in 10 starts this season. With the struggles, McLeod knew something needed to be done. So he opted to scale back to just two full-time teams, running the No. 99 sparingly for the remainder of the season.

“It just felt like with the competitiveness of the series and some of the things we’ve had happen – I hate to say luck, but we’ve had some bad luck – I felt like it was better to go back to two full-time and run a third when we need to and see if it didn’t help the product on track for the rest of the year,” McLeod said.

Though it appeared Parsons would be the odd-man out, he had kept his name circling the garage and spoke with Tommy Joe Martins around Martinsville in early April. Knowing the No. 99 team was scaling back, another opportunity arose for Parsons when he announced he was joining Alpha Prime Racing for approximately 12 races total in 2022.

RELATED: 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule

“The opportunity with Tommy Joe came up and it was an opportunity that was hard to pass up,” Parsons said of joining Alpha Prime. “I just felt like it was the right thing to do at the right time. “Thankfully, I still have some races with the 99 crew because this team is really like family to me, and we have some work to do.”

Parsons added the McLeods have treated him like family, which made the decision to move teams that much harder. BJMM gave him his first shot in the Xfinity Series in 2019. Back then, Parsons worked at the race shop and traveled as a mechanic to the races. If an opportunity to race came up, perfect.

Since then, Parsons has been embedded with BJMM. McLeod believes shipping him off to Alpha Prime could be a big career swing for the 24-year-old.

Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

“I don’t look at it as a loss to Alpha Prime, but I feel like we’re helping Stefan and letting him explore other opportunities,” McLeod stated. “I’m still going to be there to help Stefan anytime he needs it and believe in his ability to be successful in this sport. The raw speed the kid has is what you need to be able to make it and work your way up the ladder.”

Now three starts into the pairing, Parsons has earned his best finish of the season at Texas Motor Speedway, placing 17th. And at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the No. 45 team had a solid run going but was in the middle of a five-car pileup during the Final Stage.

Alpha Prime team owners Martins and Caesar Bacarella, both formerly competing for BJMM, are thrilled to have Parsons on board.

“The kid has a lot of talent, you’ve seen what he’s done in BJ’s equipment,” Caesar Bacarella, co-owner of Alpha Prime Racing, said. “He’s good, just has to keep his head on his shoulders a little bit. I think he’s going to shine now.”

MORE: Alpha Prime Racing focused on future

For Parsons, it’s a full-circle moment to drive for Martins, as he “basically begged” Martins to run one of his trucks in 2017 at Martinsville. At that time, he had zero NASCAR national series experience.

Parsons will return to BJMM to run three races this season: Pocono Raceway, the Charlotte ROVAL and Martinsville. But his goal has shifted to being a top-15 threat on a weekly basis with Alpha Prime.

“I like the vision that Tommy Joe and Caesar have for their program and where they want to take it,” Parsons said. “I would certainly like to be a part of that. I certainly have high expectations for Alpha Prime and feel like we can go have some good runs.”

Parsons will make his fourth start with Alpha Prime at Nashville Superspeedway this weekend in the Tennesee Lottery 250 (Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

Tommy Baldwin Jr. remembers exactly when he fell in love with Modified racing.

A teenager at the time, the younger Baldwin was traveling with his father Tom Baldwin Sr. to a race at North Carolina’s Hickory Motor Speedway.

Age restrictions sometimes prevented young teenagers from entering the pit area. That wasn’t the case this time at Hickory, which meant the younger Baldwin was able to get a first-hand look at what Modified racing was all about.

“Back then you weren’t allowed in the pits until you were 16 or 18 in certain states,” Baldwin said. “We went down to, believe it or not, Hickory, North Carolina, to run a NASCAR race. It wasn’t a Tour race; back then it was 100 races a year for points. I was allowed in the pits, and that’s really when I got the bug.

“I still remember it to this day. That was kind of the turning point on me getting hooked.”

Fast-forward to 2022, and Baldwin remains infatuated with Modified racing.

His No. 7NY Modified has quickly become a fixture in Victory Lane with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour this year, with Doug Coby and Mike Christopher Jr. both earning victories in Baldwin’s equipment.

It’s just a continuation of the success Baldwin enjoyed on the Tour before he eventually moved on to the NASCAR Cup Series.

“People forget that the year I left (the Tour), Steve Park and I won seven out the last 13 races and just missed the championship by three points over Tony Hirschman Sr.,” Baldwin recalled, referencing the 1995 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. “I keep telling everybody I’ve got over 20 Tour wins in my career, but I was gone for 20-something years, so it’s kind of hard for everybody to remember.

“It’s a great, great series. It’s so competitive. It’s no different than the Cup level as far as the competition goes.”

Doug Coby, driver of the #7 John Blewitt Inc during the Miller Lite 200 for the Whelen Modified Tour at Riverhead Raceway on May 14, 2022 in Riverhead, New York. (Mike Lawrence/NASCAR)
Doug Coby, driver of the No. 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing Modified, during the Miller Lite 200 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Riverhead Raceway on May 14, 2022. (Photo: Mike Lawrence/NASCAR)

After making a name for himself on the Tour as a crew chief, Baldwin eventually made it to the NASCAR Cup Series. He spent more than 20 years at NASCAR’s top level, where he won five races as a crew chief with drivers Ward Burton and Kasey Kahne.

Included in those victories were triumphs in the 2001 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway and the 2002 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, both with Burton.

He eventually entered the ownership ranks in the NASCAR Cup Series, fielding his own entries for a variety of drivers including Michael McDowell, Geoffrey Bodine, Dave Blaney, Danica Patrick, David Reutimann, Michael Annett and J.J. Yeley, among others.

Success in the NASCAR Cup Series was limited for Baldwin, whose operation managed a best finish of third on two occasions.

Once Baldwin decided to walk away from the NASCAR Cup Series, he felt it was natural that he return to his family roots in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

“I wanted to keep racing. I didn’t want to stop racing altogether,” Baldwin said. “I just wanted to go have some fun. I didn’t really pay attention much (to the Tour). It was a 22-, 23-year span of racing Modifieds. So I really I didn’t really pay attention that much except for when my dad was racing.

“I got the bug again with these things, and now I’m full bore.”

As is the case for so many others, Modified racing is a family tradition for the Baldwins.

The late Tom Baldwin Sr., known by many as “Tiger Tom,” was a fixture in the Modified division. Before the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was created in 1985, Baldwin raced Modifieds up and down the East Coast in pursuit of championship points in what was then known as the NASCAR Modified Division.

He would go on to win six NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events, with his last victory coming in 1996 at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway. He continued to race with the Tour until his death in 2004 following a crash at another Connecticut track, Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

Tom Baldwin Sr. competes in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Pennsylvania's Nazareth Speedway on May 23, 2004. (Photo: NASCAR)
Tom Baldwin Sr. competes in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Nazareth Speedway.

To this day, the Modifieds fielded by the younger Baldwin carry the No. 7NY, the same number carried by his father for so many years.

“My dad built the base for all of this,” Baldwin said. “He instilled the work ethic in me. It’s my responsibility to, eventually, instill that in my kids to keep this going.”

Baldwin looks at the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour as NASCAR’s working-class series, where drivers and team owners who work nine-to-five jobs can go racing against the best Modified competitors in the country.

He thinks that is why there are so many familiar names and race cars competing with the Tour each season, including his own.

“You’ve got to consider the NASCAR Modifieds as the working-class folk,” Baldwin said. “There are probably only two or three teams that have one guy full-time on it. All the car owners and crew members, they have real jobs, and they sacrifice a lot of time to come to these races and race.

“You grow up working on the car in your family’s garage or family shop, and that shop and that business and that garage stay with you your whole life. As your kids get older, they take over, and as their kids get older, they take over from them. It turns out into a long history of cars and car numbers and people.”

So what does the future hold for the Baldwin family and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour? That’s a great question.

For now, Baldwin will continue to field his own No. 7NY Modified for a variety of drivers. However, two of Baldwin’s children are currently dipping their toes in the racing world competing in Legend Cars during Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“We’re having fun with that, getting them acclimated and doing some racing,” Baldwin said of his two youngest sons, Jack, 18, and Luke, 15. “They’re learning how to drive those cars. They’re really hard to drive. The next step would be getting them into a Crate Modified or an SK Modified.

“I don’t know about going any further, but we’re having fun with that. We’ll see where they progress.”