See where your favorite driver will pit in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 in the NASCAR Cup Series at Kansas Speedway (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Christopher Bell sped to his third Busch Light Pole of 2022 with a blistering lap in qualifying on Saturday at Kansas Speedway.
The No. 20 Toyota laid a lap of 179.575 mph around the 1.5-mile speedway to claim the No. 1 starting spot for Sunday’s race (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Tyler Reddick will start second with a lap of 178.855 mph ahead of Kyle Larson (178.772 mph), Austin Cindric (178.448 mph) and Kurt Busch (178.359 mph).
“We have everything we need to win the races, that is for sure,” Bell said. “Our cars are super-fast. I feel like I’ve been driving pretty well, especially the last couple of weeks specifically. We just have to maintain our track position.”
Rounding out the top 10 on the starting grid are Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney.
RELATED: Starting lineup | Full Kansas schedule | Kansas at-track photos
Practice featured multiple on-track incidents, with the most frequent culprit being the left-rear tire. Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Joey Logano each spun and crashed into the wall. Buescher and Logano will go to backup cars while Stenhouse’s primary car will undergo repairs.
“I lost the left rear going down the frontstretch,” said Buescher, whose team rolled out a backup car. “I guess, on corner entry, I started feeling a vibration, tried to slow down and didn’t get it knocked down in time.
“…It’s going to be a long night.”
Logano, who won last week’s race at Darlington Raceway, remained confident despite wrecking his primary car.
VIDEO: Logano smacks wall | Buescher wreck forces backup
“As soon as I turned down off into the corner, I could feel the shaking, and I knew it was bad,” said Logano, who will start from the rear in a backup car on Sunday. “We’ll be all right. We’ll fight through it. I think we were pretty decent in lap times before that, I believe, on long hauls, at least.”
Other drivers who suffered flat tires were Denny Hamlin and Blaney. Hamlin incurred damage to his rear diffuser, forcing his No. 11 team to change the part and meaning he will start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field. Cody Ware also spun in the session.
Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service, contributed to this story.
Miller Lite 200
Riverhead Raceway
- Starting lineup
| Pos. | Car No. | Driver | Sponsor | Best Time | Best Speed |
| 1 | 66 | Timmy Solomito | Natural Designs/Highmark | 11.427 | 78.761 |
| 2 | 58 | Eric Goodale | GAF Roofing | 11.453 | 78.582 |
| 3 | 7 | Doug Coby | John Blewett, Inc. | 11.490 | 78.329 |
| 4 | 82 | Craig Lutz | Danny’s Cesspool Service/Riverhead Building Supply | 11.522 | 78.111 |
| 5 | 51 | Justin Bonsignore | Phoenix Communications Inc. | 11.553 | 77.902 |
| 6 | 22 | Kyle Bonsignore | Chateau Performance/Munn’s Auto | 11.572 | 77.774 |
| 7 | 16 | Ron Silk | Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes | 11.596 | 77.613 |
| 8 | 96 | Matt Brode | Peter Clark Motorsports | 11.621 | 77.446 |
| 9 | 18 | Ken Heagy | Buoy One Seafood | 11.624 | 77.426 |
| 10 | 50 | Ronnie Williams | Empower Financial Advisory/RB Enterprises | 11.631 | 77.379 |
| 11 | 34 | John Fortin | John’s Fuel Oil Inc/John’s Tree Removal | 11.632 | 77.373 |
| 12 | 10 | Dylan Slepian | Eastport Feeds | 11.639 | 77.326 |
| 13 | 64 | Austin Beers | Dell Elect/Lumierre Elect/Andrew James Interior | 11.641 | 77.313 |
| 14 | 02 | Joey Coulter | SRI Performance/Air Shok/Race-Fan/Molecule | 11.646 | 77.280 |
| 15 | 07 | Patrick Emerling | Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway | 11.650 | 77.253 |
| 16 | 5 | John Beatty Jr. | Elite Sound Studios | 11.694 | 76.963 |
| 17 | 49 | Chris Young | J&H Homestead | 11.699 | 76.930 |
| 18 | 54 | Tommy Catalano | FX Caprara | 11.716 | 76.818 |
| 19 | 2 | J.R. Bertuccio | Gershow Recycling | 11.737 | 76.681 |
| 20 | 87 | John Baker | Staria Automotive/Elite Towing | 11.795 | 76.304 |
| 21 | 36 | Dave Sapienza | Sapienza Enterprise | 11.820 | 76.142 |
| 22 | 81 | Chris Turbush | Cromer’s Market | 11.856 | 75.911 |
| 23 | 88 | Roger Turbush | Rheem | 11.876 | 75.783 |
| 24 | 03 | Tom Rogers Jr. | License to Chill/Stakey’s Pumpkin Farm | 11.954 | 75.289 |
| 25 | 78 | Walter Sutcliffe Jr. | Last Minute Racing | 12.178 | Provisional |
| 26 | 01 | Melissa Fifield | Pine Knoll Auto Sales | 13.057 | Provisional |
| 27 | 79 | Jon McKennedy | Middlesex Interiors | 11.961 | Provisional |
| 28 | 15 | Kyle Soper | Eastport Feeds | 11.977 | Provisional |
| 29 | 26 | Gary McDonald | Lakeland Landscape /TRC Electric | 12.422 | Provisional |
| 30 | 3 | Jake Johnson | Propane Plus/LIN’s Propane Trucks | 12.324 | Provisional |
Six days removed from the late-race contact he laid on William Byron to win at Darlington, Joey Logano’s views haven’t changed a bit.
Logano said Saturday his perspective remains the same after laying the bumper to Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet with two laps to go in a fight for the lead, multiple laps after Logano felt he was squeezed into the Turn 2 wall. The late shove bumped Byron into the wall and sent him to a 13th-place finish while Logano took home the victory.
“What happened last week happened, right? I got fenced,” Logano said ahead of Kansas practice and qualifying. “I stand by the same stuff I said last week. I got fenced, I retaliated and won the race. Like I said last week, that’s just kind of how it works. I won’t get pushed around. So in my book, we’re back to even. You reset and go again.”
MORE: Logano says the ‘gloves are off’ | Byron calls Logano ‘an idiot’
Byron, unsurprisingly, sees it differently. A two-time winner this year, Byron said he watched the incidents multiple times and from different angles “to figure out what we can do to control our situation and then also what was done to us that was out of our control,” he said in an interview with NBC Sports reporter Dustin Long. “So there was definitely some things that definitely caught my interest.”
Nothing on the videos changed Byron’s mind.
“Nope. Same as what I felt in the race car,” Byron said. “He (Logano) made a choice in the middle of the corner, got down on my door, and what do you do? You either spin out or it gets close. So it got close.”
Byron was blunt when asked if he believes things are even between him and Logano: “No. Nope.”
Logano, the 2018 champion, made it clear that whether this feud with Byron continues, he’s ready to defend himself however he sees fit.
“Honestly, if he wants to keep going back and forth, I’ll keep swinging,” Logano said. “I don’t think that’s a good play for him in the long run. Like I said, I feel like we’re even. He was willing to take the lead that way. I was willing to take the lead back the same way.”
“He can keep going, but I can promise you I’ll keep going and I’ll go bigger every time.”
Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet crew chief Justin Alexander will miss Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway (3 p.m. ET, FS1) per NASCAR’s COVID protocols, the sanctioning body confirmed on Saturday.
No. 3 driver Austin Dillon will instead work with Jim Pohlman atop the box as he looks for his first NASCAR Cup Series win of 2022. Pohlman was listed as a mechanic on the No. 8 Chevrolet on the team roster for Bristol Motor Speedway.
MORE: Full Kansas schedule | Kansas at-track photos
Pohlman has 18 races of crew chief experience at the Cup level, with 17 coming alongside Juan Pablo Montoya in 2011 and one with Ross Chastain in 2020. He led RCR driver Sheldon Creed in three Xfinity Series races earlier this year, notching one top 10.
AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway
(⏰ 3 p.m. ET | 📺 FS1 | 📻 MRN, SiriusXM, TSN)
Everything you need to know for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, the 13th regular-season event of the 2022 campaign.
Race-day info 📝
Where: Kansas City, Kansas
Approximate start time: 3 p.m. ET | Full weekend schedule
TV/Radio: FS1, TSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio | Full TV schedule
Forecast: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 78 degrees, according to NOAA.gov | Weather tracker
Race distance: 267 laps | 400.5 miles
Stages: 80 | 165 | 267
Pit-road speed: 45 mph
Caution car speed: 55 mph
The purse: $7,117,591
Kansas 101: Get the full lowdown
Starting lineup: Where each driver will start | How qualifying works in 2022
Pit stalls: See where drivers will pit | Expert pit analysis
Key things to watch 🔑
Big story line
What will it take to win at Kansas Speedway on Sunday? So far this season we have seen it all: spectacular strategy, door-to-door dust-ups in the closing laps, and, most recently, a bump-and-run for the win. Through the first 12 races of the season, only Ross Chastain (Circuit of The Americas and Talladega Superspeedway) and William Byron (Atlanta Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway) have hung crooked numbers in the win column. With the playoffs creeping closer, a number of drivers who have come close but not yet sealed the deal will be itching to punch their tickets to the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs. Based on recent history, Kansas has emerged as a wild-card track, with eight different winners in the last nine races. But in the Cup Series’ 32-race history here, the track has surprisingly never produced a first-time Cup winner. Something has to give. Will we finally see the expected rise of the routine dominators? Or will the whirlwind start to the 2022 season continue? | Full Kansas Speedway analysis
Who’s hot? Who’s not?
The No. 9 team has been on a tear lately. Chase Elliott has finished top 10 in the last five races and has seven top 10s in his last eight. Not to mention the Dover Motor Speedway win and that he sits atop the regular-season points standings. In a season that has proven hard to be consistent, Elliott and crew have been just that. And they’re rolling into a track that they have thrived at, with three consecutive top-six finishes and stage points in 15 of the 20 stages at Kansas Speedway. Don’t expect him to cool off this weekend.
Youthful counterpart Ryan Blaney has been trending in the opposite direction. Blaney’s blistering pace to start the season, and three pole awards, had him lined up to win multiple races early, but the No. 12 team missed out on some key opportunities. In the last three races, Blaney has yet to find his way back into the top 10 at the checkered flag and has five finishes of 20th or worse in the last six Kansas races. Sunday will be a test of how far the No. 12 bunch has come — but don’t be too surprised if they find a gritty, statement win.
Driving under the radar
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has been surging lately, posting back-to-back top 10s at Dover Motor Speedway and Darlington Raceway. Stenhouse is heading to Kansas where he led the fifth-most laps out of any driver in 2021 and he has qualified very well at times in his career. In a season full of unknowns, the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing team has seemingly found a nice stride in recent weeks. Aside from four DNFs sprinkled throughout various points this season, Stenhouse and company have really started to pick up the pace. Another top-10 result in the books this weekend and they could very well be in the mix with some of the fringe playoff contenders. He will have to do so from the rear of Sunday’s field after an incident in Saturday’s practice session saw his Chevrolet crash into the outside wall. | Cup Series standings
Saturday’s sessions
Like we have seen in previous weeks, practice proved to be a handful in the early going. Darlington Raceway winner Joey Logano spun and hit the wall, Chris Buescher also made heavy contact and Denny Hamlin damaged his rear diffuser. As the afternoon went on, drivers found better grip and made solid progress in the two-round qualifying session. The team who found the best handle: No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and wheelman Christopher Bell. Bell continued his hot qualifying streak with his third pole of the season, tying Ryan Blaney for most in the series. A pair of quick Chevrolets in Tyler Reddick and Kyle Larson trailed Bell before Austin Cindric, Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch rounded out the first three rows. If the early sessions showed us anything ahead of Sunday’s race, the most notable of them was the ability to drive in different grooves. Some ran the bottom, others drifted towards the top and a few found comfort right in the middle. A great sign for Sunday. | Full practice recap | Starting lineup
Race-day staples ✅
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• Paint Scheme Preview: Super shiny schemes for the Sunflower State | Pick a favorite
• Power Rankings: Strong stats, extra motivation have Byron primed for Kansas | Updated driver rankings
• Fantasy Fastlane: Going Chevy heavy at Kansas Speedway | See why Chevrolet is the expert’s pick
• NASCAR betting: Odds, favorites for Sunday’s race | BetMGM betting odds
• Backseat Drivers: Does William Byron owe Joey Logano a bump-and-run? | Watch the debate
Catch the pack 💨
Read up on the top headlines from the week leading up to Sunday’s race.
• Team changes: Team Penske, Wood Brothers tweak pit-crew lineup ahead of Kansas | More details
• Best to move on?: Joey Logano speaks on the incident with William Byron at Darlington | Hear what he said
• Analysis: Harvesting new trends at Kansas with Next Gen momentum | Read more
• Babies are born: Kyle, Samantha Busch welcome new child | Pettys’ new arrival
• New podcast: Jeff Burton, Mark Martin team up with Mamba Smith | More details
• Jack of all trades: Kyle Larson dominates at Charlotte dirt track | Full story
• All-Star Race: Fan Vote heats up as top 10 drivers emerge | Read more
• Appeal: ThorSport gets Darlington DQ overturned after appeal | Read more
• NASCAR Salutes: Honoring Jamie ‘Montana’ Price, hauler driver and Coast Guard veteran | Watch now
• eNASCAR: Garrett Lowe, Wood Brothers win Coca-Cola iRacing Series race at Kansas | Race recap
• Nominations open: 2022 Comcast Community Champion of the Year | Learn more
Get in on the action 💰
Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy.
• BetMGM: Ross Chastain is bouncing back on betting boards | Read more
• The Action Network: Focus on the favorites this weekend at Kansas | Full analysis
• Featured Matchup: How to bet Erik Jones vs. Aric Almirola on Sunday | Learn more
• Play it LIVE: Full guide to 2022 NASCAR Fantasy Live game | Get the FAQ
• Going all the way: NASCAR betting: 2022 Cup Series championship odds | See them here
Sunflowers and success 🌻
Before NASCAR returns to the Sunflower State, look back at some track history and previous winners.
• Victory Lane: All-time winners at Kansas Speedway | See the list
• Do you remember?: Memorable moments at Kansas Speedway | Relive them here
• Last year: Kyle Busch wins last spring at Kansas on 36th birthday | Full race recap
• Scanner Sounds: Relive some of the sights and sounds from Kansas in 2021 | Listen now
Fast facts ⏩
Hard-hitting, race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.
• The driver who led the most laps won three of the last five Kansas races.
• Kyle Larson won by a margin of 3.619 seconds at Kansas last fall, larger than the margin of the seven previous races combined (2.784 seconds).
• There was a green flag stretch of 70 or more laps in seven of the last nine Kansas races.
• The Stage Two winner finished outside the top-10 in eight of 12 races in 2022.
• Kansas was repaved and reformatted between races in 2012, this will be the 20th race on the new surface.
Say what? 🎙
Notable quotes from the stars of the sport heading into Sunday’s race.
• “I’m excited about the weekend. We’ve been to pretty much every type of track that we’re going to see, so now we have some notes and data points that we can build off of. That helps us a ton with setups and finding a direction to work in. I feel like our team has been looking forward to this race since Las Vegas because of how strong our car was there, and this is the first true mile-and-a-half we’ve been to since then. As a company, we have been bringing great cars to the track lately and just haven’t been able to get the finish we deserved, but I’m confident that we can do that this weekend in Kansas.” — Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
• “It’s a big challenge. Probably a bigger challenge than what’s conveyed, just watching the races and what the fans would see at home. There’s a huge amount of unknowns and there’s a lot of pressure and focus for us to get the car right off the truck, because with just 15 minutes of practice there’s really few things you can do. And then I think for the drivers too, there’s a lot of pressure.” — Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
• “I think it’s really beneficial to get all of these different track types not out of the way, but you get a notebook on every single type of race track. Now we’re going to places that you can relate to other places and when we first started with the car it was Daytona, California, Vegas, Phoenix, all different tracks and every time we went there it was kind of a guess, and now we’ve hit a lot of tracks that, quite frankly, I think race teams were worried about. They were really worried about Dover being really hard to kind of get set up right and maybe it was for some guys, I think us included. I crashed in Lap 2 of practice, so I guess some of those fears were right, but then we got through it and got better throughout the weekend, so the diversity of the schedule early has been, I think, good for the fans because they get to see a lot of different things and see how the Next Gen car performs, and it’s been really good for the teams because now we have a notebook of kind of every kind of racetrack that you could think of and we can go try to build off of that and show up off the truck closer than what we have been in the past.” — Harrison Burton, driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (MAY 13, 2022): B.J. McLeod Motorsports (BJMM) announced today that Nick Sanchez will pick up six NASCAR Xfinity Series races with the team for the remainder of 2022. Sanchez made his Xfinity Series debut with BJMM on March 12, 2022 at Phoenix Raceway in the United Rentals 200 earlier this season and finished 26th. The two have decided to expand their partnership.
BJMM welcomes Sanchez to race in the Alsco Uniforms 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, as well as the Xfinity Series races at Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway, the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Motor Speedway, the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway and the Contender Boats 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
RELATED: 2022 Xfinity Series schedule | Learn more about Sanchez
Sanchez will race Friday in the ARCA Series Dutch Boy 150 at Kansas. Sanchez will also continue to race full-time in NASCAR’s ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 2 Max Siegel Inc. Chevrolet for Rev Racing. In the ARCA Menards Series, Sanchez is currently third in points and only four points short of the leader.
“I’m really looking forward to expanding my 2022 Xfinity Series schedule with BJMM,” said full-time NASCAR ARCA Menards Series and part-time Xfinity Series driver, Nick Sanchez. “I’m excited to continue to work and grow as a driver with this organization.”
“Nick is a talented driver and determined student when it comes to racing,” said co-owner of BJMM, BJ McLeod. “He is passionate about the sport. We are excited to see his hard work transfer to the Xfinity Series and witness the results that follow.”
BJ McLeod Motorsports looks forward to welcoming Sanchez for his first added Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. BJMM and Sanchez fans, tune in to watch Sanchez in the Alsco Uniforms 300 at 1 p.m. ET on May 28 on FS1.
Just over 40 miles from Anchorage, Alaska lies one of the newest and most unique short track complexes in the United States.
The decision to build a short track at Alaska Raceway Park back in 2016 proved to be a popular one amongst local fans and drivers, all of whom were eager to experience what racing would be like at the northernmost NASCAR-sanctioned track in the United States.
Along with providing thrilling on-track action across several different divisions, Alaska Raceway Park features one of the most scenic views across any motorsports venue in the world, as the 6,398-foot Pioneer Peak sits right next to the track along with the surrounding forest.
FLORACING: Catch every race at Alaska Raceway Park
Unlike the adjacent mountain, only a handful of chapters have been written in the story of Alaska Raceway Park’s short track, but general manager Michelle Lackey Maynor and the rest of the facility’s staff remain committed towards creating a vibrant racing culture in Alaska and provide their local drivers more national exposure.
The Last Frontier’s premier short track is set to start its seventh season this Saturday evening with a busy schedule headlined by the GCI Late Model class, with John Klayum entering 2022 as the most recent track champion.
Below is everything you need to know about Alaska Raceway Park.
Track Profile
(Joey Klecka/NASCAR)
| Track | Alaska Raceway Park |
| Location | Palmer, Alaska |
| Opened | 2016 |
| Length | 0.333 miles |
| Surface | Asphalt |
Before any oval racing took place at Alaska Raceway Park drag racing was the main draw at the facility with the quarter-mile drag strip formally opening in 1964.
The first major attempt to bring oval racing to Alaska Raceway Park occurred back in 1980, when a small dirt oval was built right next to the drag strip. This venture did not last long for ARP, and the dirt track was ultimately closed in 1986.
In 1995, Alaska Raceway Park became the only drag strip in the state sanctioned by the International Hot Rod Association. Three years later, Earl and Karen Lackey took over ownership of Alaska Raceway Park before handing over day-to-day operations of the track to their daughter Michelle in 2021.
Since taking over the facility, the Lackeys have strived to make Alaska Raceway Park a top destination for the state’s growing auto racing fanbase. The construction of the paved oval only served to bolster that goal for the Lackeys, as Ken Schrader and Jordan Anderson have been among the notable drivers to make laps around the short track.
Now that the oval and drag strip have the support of NASCAR and the National Hot Rod Association respectively, a bright future is ahead for Alaska Raceway Park as the staff makes final preparations for a new and exciting season of short track competition.
Below is the list of track champions at Alaska Raceway Park.
Alaska Raceway Park track champions:
| Year | Track Champion |
| 2016 | Justin Creech |
| 2017 | Justin Creech |
| 2018 | Tim Workman |
| 2019 | Dana Pruhs |
| 2020 | Stu Laidlaw |
| 2021 | John Klavum |
There was no over-the-top panic when Justin Allgaier’s No. 7 Chevrolet wouldn’t fire off from the pit lane before last weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Darlington Raceway. A moderate scramble ensued in the problem-solving process, but that controlled form of chaos paid a precious reward.
In a fortunate stroke, Allgaier’s powerless car was a short push to the pit stall belonging to teammate Josh Berry’s No. 8 JR Motorsports group, which was prepared to lend a hand and make the necessary fix. After a quickly managed battery swap, Allgaier rejoined the field before the green flag waved, dropping to the rear for the start. Just 200 miles later, Allgaier was talking to his crew on the cool-down lap, thanking them for keeping him calm as he carved up through the pack for his first victory of the season.
RELATED: Xfinity Series standings | 2022 Xfinity winners
That win marked the third in a row for JR Motorsports, which is rounding into powerful midseason form in a stacked Xfinity Series field. While Allgaier’s Darlington tally mark came with a dose of good fortune at the start, it’s been the overall performance that’s added a level of reassurance whenever adversity crops up.
“I mean, I think when something like that happens before you’ve even started the race, and you feel like it’s fixed, at that point you just kind of reset and say OK, we’ve got time to work our way back to the front,” said No. 7 crew chief Jason Burdett. “And as long as we stay patient and don’t make big mistakes, we’re going to be OK. And you know, it worked out. … So it was just, it was a solid day for our team all around. And as an organization, I mean, I think we obviously have really good cars right now.”
The scoring pylon at Darlington reflected those facts, with three JR Motorsports cars among the top five finishers. Behind Allgaier were runner-up Noah Gragson and fifth-place Sam Mayer, who rallied after a last-gasp pit stop. Berry was also in that top-five mix until a late-race restart penalty knocked him back.
Impressive as that was, JRM’s day at Darlington came on the heels of its Dover Motor Speedway dominance the previous week, when all four of the organization’s entries posted top-five outcomes behind a victorious Berry. Allgaier — the team’s longest-tenured driver, now in his seventh season with JR Motorsports – has seen peaks in JRM’s performance before. But this recent spike?
“It’s all of and then some better than what it’s ever been,” Allgaier said. “You know, there’s been times in my time at JR Motorsports where we’ve been ultra-competitive, but not like we are today, right? I feel like our team has done a really good job, the cohesiveness of all of us. You know, the crazy part is as drivers we’re so different, and even setups that we bring to the race track are so different.”
At one end of the JRM chemistry spectrum are veterans Allgaier, a 35-year-old Midwesterner who stands as the team’s senior statesman, and the 31-year-old Berry, a longtime Late Model campaigner making the most of his shot at the NASCAR national series ranks. The other end of that close-knit driver collective has two young prospects – Gragson, who at 23 years old and a two-time winner already this season seems primed to make a Cup Series leap; and Mayer, the 18-year-old rookie who is starting to show polish in his first full Xfinity season.
Different ages and different driving approaches have also meant a variety of car setups, as Allgaier alluded to, which JRM’s teams have been willing to share and fine-tune to improve company-wide performance. Many core members of the team have stayed intact to keep that chemistry tight, but even its relative newcomers – veteran crew chief Luke Lambert included — have fit in seamlessly with the Dale Earnhardt Jr.-owned operation.
“You know, I feel like I’ve had some good opportunities through the years, and I feel like in a lot of ways, this is one of the best opportunities I’ve had, as far as all the pieces are right — with the team and the driver and the timing of it is really good,” says Lambert, who took over Gragson’s No. 9 team this year and has been a crew chief at the national-series level since 2011. “So we’ve got a good chemistry and who knows where it can lead to, but just really trying to make the most of the moment, and we’re in the moment every time we get to go on the race track, and that’s what we’re putting our effort on.”
MORE: 2022 Xfinity Series schedule
The Xfinity Series pumps the brakes for a weekend off this week before returning May 21 at Texas Motor Speedway (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM). It’s allowed an extra week for the organization’s place in the Xfinity standings to simmer, with all four drivers ranked among the top seven – Gragson second, Allgaier fourth, Berry fifth and Mayer seventh.
“This doesn’t happen because of one person or even one team,” Allgaier said. “You know, this is a huge integral part of everybody that works at JR Motorsports. … I’ve always been proud of being at JR Motorsports, but this year, seeing kind of everything come to fruition of the hard work and effort. You know, that’s what you look for, right?
“I mean, everybody works hard. There’s not a soul in that garage in there that doesn’t put their blood, sweat and tears into these race cars, week in and week out. I don’t care if you run 38th every week or if you win every week, you still put the time and energy into it. And so when you have these moments, you have to enjoy them and make the most of them.”
Nine years ago, Justin Krossman just happened to be at a race when a family member needed someone to drive their car.
Krossman grew up watching his family race in the 1990s, but he didn’t pay much attention to the sport after they quit. Other than some laps at a local go-kart track, he had never driven himself.
“It was intimidating. That’s for sure,” Krossman said of his first night behind the wheel. “Everything was flying by. I remember it seemed like I was going super fast, and my reactions were just definitely not as fast as they needed to be to be in this sport.”
The intimidation didn’t stop him from wanting to keep trying, though.
“But it was an absolute blast,” he added. “I absolutely loved it.”
RELATED: Coos Bay Speedway’s 2022 racing schedule
Krossman started racing in the mini-outlaws division at Coos Bay Speedway, a 0.375-mile dirt oval in Coos County, Oregon, and stayed there for two years before moving up to the track’s street stocks division, which he’s been in for seven seasons and won a track championship in 2017. The driver of the No. 4 finished third in Coos Bay’s only street stocks race so far this season.
Getting used to the speed of racing and what it takes to be successful behind the wheel was one thing for Krossman, but learning how to set the car up and get it ready to race was something he didn’t fully expect when he started in the sport nearly a decade ago.
Krossman has worked on cars his whole life, and he knows how to repair and maintain his own rides for the street, but there’s quite a bit of difference when it comes to the precision needed for a race car.
“Your standard maintenance is just your basic services, oil changes, stuff like that, or just replacing parts as they’re not working, and the race car itself is a lot more precise,” Krossman said. “You don’t take your street car and pull the tires off and scrub them and clean them up after every race to make sure they don’t get a bunch of oil sucked out of them from the dirt track. Just a lot more precision in the things you do and the depth you go into versus just your basic every-day mechanic.
“Trying to get the car set up for the changing track, it’s a dirt track, so it’s always changing. Car setup, suspension, shocks, adjustments, that’s been the biggest learning curve.”
Since Krossman is off from work every Friday, those are the days he spends in the shop, from around 8 a.m. until the afternoon. Between that and the time he spends tinkering on Monday through Thursday, and going over the car on Sunday to clean and make sure nothing happened the night before, he estimates he spends about 10 hours working in the shop every week.
It’s time well-spent, though, because he takes pride in being successful with his car both on and off the track.
“I’ve learned the more time you spend making sure that everything is good to go, the less time you’re at the track when you’re supposed to be racing and you’re running into issues,” Krossman said. “So if you check ever nut and bolt in the prep work it makes the night of the race a lot easier. It gives you a peace of mind. So, yes, I enjoy it.”
Krossman has two uncles and a cousin who are at every race to help him with making sure the tires are set and there’s nothing he overlooked.
“They double and triple check everything, and I definitely couldn’t do it without them,” he said.
He has also turned racing into a family event. Krossman’s young son, Blake, is also at every race and is getting the chance to grow up at the racetrack.
Krossman’s fiancée, Cheyanne Austin, is in her first season of racing in Coos Bay’s hornets division. She grew up around the sport, and Krossman helped clean and check her car, and is giving her pointers on what to expect on the track.
“The first time I got in a car it felt like everything was flying by even though it really wasn’t, so she’s going through the first steps of hopping in a race car and getting her reaction times quicker and just getting comfortable with the car.
“She absolutely loves it.”
From first getting in a race car as a way to help a family member out, the sport has now grown into a family event for Krossman.
“It’s a big family ordeal. That’s pretty much what we do on Saturdays,” he said. “It’s amazing. It gives us all something to do together, keeps us all out of trouble… so it’s definitely bonding time. My boy has grown up around it his whole life. He pretty much has free roam at the track. Everyone there knows him. Other racers have kids that are his age so he just runs around and absolutely loves it.”
Ever since Krossman’s championship five years ago, he has been trying to figure out the new car he bought the following season.
Since then, he has been a consistent top-five street stocks driver at Coos Bay, but he’s excited to see if his work this offseason pays off.
Either way, he just wants to continue chasing that rush he felt his first time behind the wheel nine years ago.
“I would say it’s the adrenaline rush. It’s strapping in with all your buddies,” he said.
“I think we finally got all the bugs out of this car, so it’s definitely just getting out there, getting more seat time in the new car and working our way to the front, I guess. That’s always the goal. I’m looking forward to the new races. We do some big street stock races up here, so I’m looking forward to the out-of-town competition.
“That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Racing will return to Coos Bay Speedway this Saturday for the Mega Bike Giveaway, featuring the track’s America’s Mattress Super Late Models, Sportsman Late Models, Three Rivers Casino Street Stocks, Mini Outlaws, Hornets, JR Stingers, and OTRO Hard Tops. Racing will begin at 6:30 p.m. local time.