Editor’s note: With Champion’s Week in Nashville ongoing, NASCAR.com will look at every playoff round of the 2022 season in all three national series.
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: At Phoenix Raceway, Nov. 4
Christian Petersen | Getty Images
WINNER: Zane Smith
KEY HIGHLIGHTS: All four Championship 4 drivers — Ty Majeski, Zane Smith, Chandler Smith and Ben Rhodes — had their respective time to shine in the desert. However, after lining up behind Rhodes during a two-lap shootout in overtime, Zane found enough space and speed to hold off the defending champion and take home the title in his third championship attempt.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (November 30, 2022) – Comcast announced Jes Ferreira as the 2022 Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award, the eighth to receive the annual award. Among all the turmoil of the pandemic, Ferreira looked for an opportunity to give back. Despite her heavy workload, she decided to take on an even heavier challenge, becoming a foster parent to two young girls.
Zack Albert | NASCAR Studios
“I am overwhelmed, humbled, and blown away to be recognized as the Comcast Community Champion of the Year,” said Jes Ferreira, 2022 Comcast Community Champion. “The amount of support this will provide for the Charlotte foster families ensures the best services for these children. I hope this sheds light on the foster community and encourages everyone to support in many different ways.”
Ferreira originally earned a foster license to become a foster parent for one child, but a few months later, the child’s younger sibling needed a new foster home. Although Ferreira, Senior Director of Live Shows for CSM Production, already had a crazy work schedule which included traveling to the race track most weekends on top of fostering one child as a single parent, she knew without a doubt these two siblings deserved to be together while in foster care. Now two young siblings going through the most trying time in their lives have been reunited thanks to Ferreira.
On any given day, there are nearly 424,000 children in foster care in the United States. In 2019, over 672,000 children spent time in U.S. foster care. On average, children remain in state care for more than a year and a half, and five percent of children in foster care have languished there for five or more years.
Ferreira’s affiliated charity is Foster Village Charlotte (FVC), an organization that allows foster parents to connect with and support each other. FVC collaborates with 16 private foster parent licensing agencies, local government, child welfare organizations and the community to serve families holistically and represent the foster family voice to Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services (DSS).
“Jes encompasses everything the Comcast Community Champion of the Year stands for. Anyone that is at the track knows how dedicated Jes is to the sport of NASCAR, and we are so glad we expanded the eligibility for this award so we can uncover and honor the compassion, selflessness and generosity Jes provides off the track, and that is what makes this honor so special, ” said Matt Lederer, Comcast’s Vice President, Brand Partnerships and Amplification.
Ferreira was chosen by a panel comprised of Comcast and NASCAR executives, as well as Curtis Francois, the 2021 Comcast Community Champion, who received the award for his work with the Raceway Gives Foundation.
For the first time, Comcast opened the eligibility for anyone in the NASCAR community with a 2022 annual credential or NASCAR full-season license. With this expansion, Comcast is now able to share these exceptional stories.
Josh Williams, driver of the No. 92 DGM Racing car for the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Sherry Pollex, founder of Sherry Strong, were selected as finalists and will be awarded $30,000 each towards their respective selected charities – the Ryan Seacrest Foundation and Sherry Strong.
Comcast has a long track record of community service, aiding in the advancement of local organizations, developing programs and partnerships, mobilizing resources to connect people and inspiring positive and substantive change. To learn more about these efforts, visit the Comcast Community Impact site.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Celebrating a season full of first-time winners, a popular repeat champion and all the makings of a bright future, the NASCAR industry arrives in Nashville this week to officially crown Team Penske’s Joey Logano as the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Champion and highlight a year of big personalities and high achievement on track.
The NASCAR Awards and Champion Celebration will be held Thursday night at Nashville’s Music City Center and streamed Saturday (8 p.m. ET, Peacock), with country music star Erin Kinsey headlining the evening’s entertainment.
The 2018 champion Logano, who now joins Kyle Busch as the only multi-time NASCAR Cup Series champion among active drivers, will be feted along with NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs and Camping World Truck Series champ Zane Smith.
The Most Popular Driver from each series – as selected in a fan vote – will also be revealed in what is always a highly-anticipated evening of celebration. Chase Elliott, the 2020 season champion, is the four-time defending winner of the award in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“We are delighted to bring the celebration to Nashville once again, as the city’s energy and passion for motorsports never cease to amaze us,” NASCAR’s Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer Pete Jung said in announcing the return of the awards event to Nashville for the third year.
From historic venues like the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame to honky-tonks and famous barbecue at every corner, Nashville has quickly proven to be a favorite for the NASCAR industry and the sport’s loyal fans. Many show up hoping to meet their favorite drivers – all eager to celebrate a remarkable 2022 season.
Logano, 32, driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, dominated the Nov. 6 NASCAR Cup Series finale at Phoenix Raceway – leading 187 of the 312 laps – to claim his second series title by besting the Championship 4 of Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Hendrick Motorsports’ Elliott. It marked the first time either Chastain or Bell had earned a place in the Championship 4 – both advancing thanks to clutch performances in the dramatic penultimate race of the schedule at Martinsville Speedway.
Similarly, Gibbs, the 20-year-old driver of the No. 54 JGR Toyota, led a race-best 125 of the 200-laps at Phoenix to definitively claim his first major NASCAR title in just his first full-time Xfinity Series season. JR Motorsports teammates Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry rounded out the quartet to advance to the final round.
Smith, 23, who drives the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford, took his first NASCAR championship in the Camping World Truck Series after finishing runner-up for the big trophy in the last two seasons. Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Chandler Smith and ThorSport Racing teammates Ben Rhodes – the 2021 series champion – and Ty Majeski rounded out the series’ title contenders.
The championship races in all three national series proved as compelling and exciting as the season they capped, providing much eager anticipation for this week’s opportunity to celebrate.
The NASCAR Cup Series saw 19 different winners in the debut of the Next Gen car – the most diverse winner’s slate since 2001, tying a modern-day record. It notably included a remarkable five first-time race winners, including Chastain, his Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suárez, Team Penske rookie Austin Cindric – who won the season-opening Daytona 500 – Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe.
It all bodes well for the competitive future of the sport with so much to celebrate this week in Nashville – a rare repeat champion in Logano and a pair of young first-timers in Gibbs and Smith. Strike up the band and cue the talent, Music City is ready. And so is NASCAR.
Nothing has come easy for Layne Riggs from the moment his auto racing career began.
A veteran in late model stock car competition despite being just 20, the second-generation competitor from Bahama, North Carolina, has fought for every victory with a small operation, all while waiting for the right opportunity to follow in his father Scott Riggs’ footsteps as a driver in one of NASCAR’s top three divisions.
The decision to bet on himself by going for a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series title paid off for Riggs, who joined a long list of notable national champions with a stellar season that saw him claim 16 victories at five tracks, as well as a track championship at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway.
Going for the national championship was challenging for Riggs on several fronts. He admitted being able to reflect on and cherish what he accomplished in 2022 with his team has been equal parts cathartic and validating.
“It’s been great to celebrate with my team and bask in our glory,” Riggs said. “In the moment when we were winning all the races, it was hard to celebrate anything, as we had to focus on the next day of racing. You couldn’t enjoy the time, but we had a huge team party, and it was great to share stories and celebrate what we did, especially since we’ll probably never do this again.”
Even though he has a familiar last name, Riggs does not see himself much different than the blue-collar drivers who dominate short tracks along the East Coast.
Most of the crew members who assist the Riggs family with their late model stock car program are volunteers, all of whom have worked tirelessly to keep the cars competitive with other top-tier organizations that include JR Motorsports and Sellers Racing Inc.
Being a student at UNC Charlotte only served to complicate matters for Riggs as he poured every ounce of energy into defeating defending Weekly Series champion Peyton Sellers, but he managed to find the perfect balance by constantly communicating with his team about what he needed to be comfortable in his car.
Layne Riggs (99) had to battle Peyton Sellers (26) all year for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series title, with Riggs ultimately prevailing by four points. (Joe Chandler/South Boston Speedway)
The maturity and composure Riggs needed to stay focused amid his hectic schedule came about by perfecting his race craft against many talented competitors, which included current NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Josh Berry, Bobby McCarty, Deac McCaskill and Jared Fryar.
Without those people to lean on in his developmental period, Riggs believes he would never have gotten close to the Weekly Series crown.
“This past season served as my final exam for late model stock racing,” Riggs said. “I’ve learned so much from all the veterans out there, but I had to apply all the knowledge. You don’t really see that growth until you look back and see all the steps you’ve made, but every aspect of myself has gotten better.”
In the middle of his pursuit for the national championship, Riggs finally got the opportunity to make his NASCAR national series debut by signing a three-race deal with Halmar Friesen Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series.
Riggs wasted no time showing the broader NASCAR fan base the talent he possesses. During his first race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, after starting 23rd, Riggs patiently climbed his way through the field and challenged many of the best drivers in the Truck Series before ultimately settling for a seventh-place finish.
The next two Truck Series appearances for Riggs saw him carry over the momentum from his performance at IRP. While he did not eclipse his career-best finish, Riggs qualified fourth at Richmond Raceway and second for the season finale at Phoenix Raceway, where he led five laps after passing eventual Truck Series champion Zane Smith shortly after the initial start.
Riggs is currently working on securing the necessary funding to compete in the Truck Series full-time in 2023. Details are still being sorted out, but Riggs hopes to at least get approval for the opener at Daytona International Speedway before seeing how the rest of the year turns out from a financial standpoint.
A more active presence in the Truck Series means Riggs will move on from the discipline that shaped him into the driver he is today, but he still plans to compete in a handful of late model stock car events when he has free time.
“I’ll probably do the Josh Berry schedule where I race [late model stocks] on off weekends,” Riggs said. “There won’t be a set schedule, so I obviously won’t be running for any championships, but you’ll definitely see me at some short tracks just having fun.”
With a national championship under his belt, Layne Riggs is preparing to embark on what he hopes will be a full NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule next year. (Joe Chandler/South Boston Speedway)
Riggs hopes the success and notoriety he enjoyed in 2022 is a positive sign for other blue-collar racers looking to break into NASCAR’s top ranks.
Throughout his late model stock car career, Riggs has come across plenty of drivers he knows would excel in NASCAR’s top series if given the right opportunity. Having been in that crowd himself, Riggs would love to see those same veterans follow a similar path, and he believes ongoing changes in the industry might one day allow them to do so.
For now, Riggs intends to represent the Southeast short track industry as both a Weekly Series champion and a Truck Series competitor. He anticipates a rigorous learning curve during his first year in the division, particularly when it comes to figuring out aerodynamics and going up against the diverse Truck Series roster.
“In the late model world, you have your select veterans that are always up at the front racing each other,” Riggs said. “When you go to the Truck Series, there are so many more of them. The best from the grassroots made it to the Truck Series, so there’s going to be a lot of competition. I felt like I was the best in my area, so I think I’m up to the task.”
Plenty of obstacles lie ahead for Riggs as he transitions into a new phase of his career, but he is ready to embrace the pending adversity and show that his national championship is the first of many NASCAR accomplishments to come.
The 2022 NASCAR season was one to remember, from the season-opening thrillers at Daytona International Speedway to the championship trophy celebrations at Phoenix Raceway. For one last time this year, make your voice heard through exclusive props for a chance to win points and prizes and make sure to tune in to the NASCAR Awards show Saturday, Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. ET on Peacock.
Editor’s note: With Champion’s Week in Nashville ongoing, NASCAR.com will look back at every playoff round of the 2022 season in all three national series.
Race 1: At Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Oct. 16
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
Winner: Joey Logano
Key highlights: Christopher Bell became collateral damage when Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson tangled on the frontstretch, eliminating the No. 20 team from the race early while fellow playoff driver Ryan Blaney spun late. Joey Logano, meanwhile, charged past Ross Chastain in the closing laps for a critical win that propelled the No. 22 Team Penske Ford into the Championship 4 round.
Key highlights: Chase Briscoe found trouble early and was the lone playoff driver to crash out of the race, but a mistake leaving pit road left Ryan Blaney spinning through Turns 1 and 2 and plummeting down the running order. Kyle Larson, eliminated in the Round of 12, charged to the win fending off Ross Chastain.
Key highlights: With his back against the wall once again, Bell netted the most clutch win of his career to date, catapulting his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team into the Championship 4 with another walk-off victory in the second straight round. Farther back, Ross Chastain used the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4 for an unheard-of full-throttle send to move from 10th to fifth (and then to fourth through post-race inspection) to advance into the title round with Chase Elliott.
Editor’s note: With Champion’s Week in Nashville ongoing, NASCAR.com will look back at every playoff round of the 2022 season in all three national series.
Race 1: At Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Oct. 15
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
Key highlights: After hitting the outside wall in the battle for the lead, Josh Berry was able to manage his car without issue and maintained the lead to secure his berth in the Championship 4. AJ Allmendinger was the only playoff driver to finish outside the top 10 after a pair of loose wheels derailed his day.
Key highlights: The day belonged to the driver of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Leading 127 of 200 laps, Noah Gragson held off the field on a late restart to secure his well-earned spot in the Championship 4 with win No. 8 on the season. Playoff driver Justin Allgaier had an eventful race, finishing 10th after falling a lap down.
Key highlights: The season’s penultimate race was filled with tension, heartbreak and hurt feelings. Ty Gibbs picked up a win after spinning his teammate Brandon Jones entering Turn 1 on the final lap. Justin Allgaier secured the final spot in the Championship 4 after rubbing fenders with fellow playoff driver AJ Allmendinger, causing Allmendinger’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet to suffer a flat tire.
Editor’s note: With Champion’s Week in Nashville ongoing, NASCAR.com will look back at every playoff round of the 2022 season in all three national series.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
RACE 1: At Bristol Motor Speedway, Sept. 15
Winner: Ty Majeski
Key highlights: Short tracks, naturally, can lead to late-race restarts. Such was the case at the half-mile oval during the Round of 8 opener, where Majeski rocketed ahead of Zane Smith with 12 laps to go, never looked back and claimed a spot in the Championship 4 as a result.
Key highlights: Despite not being a direct participant in the playoff field, the 31-year-old for Rackley W.A.R. didn’t cease from securing his first career win in the truck circuit. Among all Round of 8 drivers, only two finished inside the top 10 (Ben Rhodes in second and Christian Eckes in fifth).
Key highlights: In what amounted to his second Round of 8 victory (and second in the series overall), Majeski cemented his place as a go-to championship favorite. While both Smiths — Zane and Chandler — locked in their Championship 4 bids by double-digit points (+23 and +13, respectively), Rhodes (+1) secured his spot by the slimmest of margins over Stewart Friesen, despite finishing just behind him in the race (third compared to sixth).
Editor’s note: With Champion’s Week in Nashville ongoing, NASCAR.com will look back at every playoff round of the 2022 season in all three national series.
Race 1: At Texas Motor Speedway, Sept. 25
James Gilbert | Getty Images
Winner: Tyler Reddick
Key highlights: Attrition played a significant role in the opening race of the second round, with playoff drivers Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell crashing out of contention, and Bowman sustaining a concussion that sidelined him from competition and eliminated him from the postseason. After William Byron sent Denny Hamlin spinning under caution, Tyler Reddick outlasted the field and fended off Joey Logano for the race victory.
Key highlights: The 2.66-mile superspeedway known for producing chaos surprised everyone with its lack of drama despite a nail-biting finish. Elliott scored the first postseason win for a playoff driver by just 0.046 seconds over Ryan Blaney for a series-high fifth win of the year.
Race 3: At Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, Oct. 9
Mike Mulholland | Getty Images
Winner: Christopher Bell
Key highlights: Chase Elliott dominated the day with 30 laps led, but late cautions shook up the running order. Elliott was sent spinning to a 20th-place finish while Christopher Bell rallied for an improbable walk-off victory in a must-win situation, advancing him to the Round of 8 while a mistake by Kyle Larson and mechanical issues for Daniel Suárez thwarted their title hopes.
For only the second time in his long career, Jon McKennedy in 2022 ran all the races on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule.
The 35-year-old from Chelmsford, Massachusetts, turned his second full season with the Tour into his first series championship.
Driving for team owner Tim Lepine, McKennedy used incredible consistency to secure his championship. In 16 races this season, McKennedy finished outside the top 10 just three times, scoring seven top-five finishes and his second career victory at Claremont Motorsports Park on July 29.
“This is the icing on the cake for Jon McKennedy and all the guys that have been behind me for most of my racing career,” McKennedy said. “I want to say I really wish my dad was here. He passed a few years ago. I know he’s looking down. My dad was a huge supporter of my racing going back in the late ’90s when we started off in those little racing karts.
“Never give up. My dad was always a believer that effort equals success.”
Jon McKennedy celebrates after winning the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship during the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 at Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 27, 2022. (Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
McKennedy entered the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour finale at Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 27 as the championship leader, six points ahead of Ron Silk, 11 points ahead of Justin Bonsignore and 13 points ahead of Eric Goodale.
“I knew in practice we had a good long run car, and physically I felt awesome,” McKennedy said.
Throughout the finale, McKennedy was the best of the championship contenders. He appeared to be in position late in the race to win, but contact while racing at the front of the pack sent him spinning down the backstretch and into Turn 3.
Luckily the damage to McKennedy’s car was minor enough that he was able to continue. He rebounded to finish 12th, which allowed him to secure the championship by six points ahead of Silk.
“At one point I thought we were sitting in a good spot to win,” McKennedy said. “Obviously that last restart there was some misjudging off of (Turn) 2. I felt a big bump and next thing you know I was crashed. That’s definitely disappointing, I didn’t expect that.
“It’s amazing though we were able to even finish and be champions considering the situation. We were in a really bad spot there, spinning in the middle of the back straightaway.”
In his only other full-time season with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in 2020, McKennedy finished second in the series standings.
Prior to becoming a seasoned veteran, McKennedy made his first venture into the series back in 2006 at the age of 19, when he earned two top-10 finishes in eight starts. It took him until 2017 to earn his first top-five finish, a fifth-place run at Stafford Motor Speedway.
One year later, McKennedy scored his maiden NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory at Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina driving the famous 7NY for Tommy Baldwin Racing. That stood as his lone Tour victory until his triumph earlier this year at Claremont.
“I look back over the last 10 years, I’ve probably only had 65 or 70 Whelen Modified Tour starts,” McKennedy said. “There were several years I didn’t race the Modified Tour, or the few years I did it was only a couple of races. To do it ourselves with my dad and all of our guys going back years ago we didn’t have the backing or the sponsor to do it. We didn’t have the manpower.
“I was fortunate enough looking back a few of years ago, Tommy Baldwin Jr. called me out of the clear blue. I was literally sitting in a 10-wheeler hauling gravel. Tommy called me and said, ‘Hey McKennedy, it’s Baldwin. I want to try you down at New Smyrna this winter. If you do good, the ride is yours.’”
Jon McKennedy, driver of the No. 79 Modified, looks on during the New Smyrna Visitors Bureau 200 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour during night two of the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna, Florida on February 12, 2022. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)
McKennedy’s partnership with Baldwin ended up lasting four years, which included a full NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule in 2020. Without the opportunity, McKennedy believes he never would have found himself celebrating a series championship at the conclusion of the 2022 season.
“I feel like I owe a big thanks to Tommy,” McKennedy said. “He kind of got me into the Modified Tour the last few years where I made a little more of a name for myself at this level.”
A lot of things could have been different for McKennedy during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, but when the final race was run and the points were tabulated, it was McKennedy who joined the likes of Richie Evans, Tony Hirschman Jr., Mike Stefanik, Doug Coby and Justin Bonsignore as a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion.
“At the end of the day we are NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champions, and I am extremely satisfied,” McKennedy said.
