In the midst of his third full-time Cup Series season driving the No. 41 for Stewart-Haas Racing, Cole Custer is feeling like the third time’s the charm.
Still searching for his first top 10 of the season, Custer is optimistic that could change in Sunday’s race at Dover Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where he has never finished worse than 11th.
“Honestly, it’s been a really frustrating year from the standpoint of having some really fast cars,” Custer told NASCAR.com. “We’ve shown we can run top five in the stages and get a pole and have top-10 cars. It’s just a matter of putting it all together. We’ve just had something happen on pit road, a motor blow. I think we’ve gotten wrecked a few times. So, it’s just little things that keep happening that we really haven’t gotten the finishes we deserve. If we can clean some things up a little bit and hopefully some luck turns around, I think we can get ourselves right where we need to be.”
As the season is progressing, the No. 41 team is beginning to show front-running speed — qualifying top three in three of the last five races, including earning the Bristol Motor Speedway (dirt) pole, the first in his 85-race Cup Series career.
One of the younger drivers in the garage, only 24 years old, the return of practice and qualifying is paying dividends, especially with the Next Gen car. And it’s also led to an increased comfort level and positive mindset heading into race weekends.
“You get a lot more comfortable with things,” Custer said. “When you’re a rookie, you don’t know what to expect. Everything is new every single weekend and there’s a lot of pressure ’cause it’s your first Cup season. Once you’ve done it a couple years, you know what to expect, all the nerves drop down a bit and you’re able to relax and find a groove.
“I think that’s one of the craziest things about Cup racing — that the packages and the cars, everything pretty much changes every single year. You have to get used to change, get used to adapting to different things. Where in Xfinity, they’ve run the same car for the last five years or so. There, you kind of get a feel for that one car but in the Cup Series, you get a lot of different things thrown at you.”
It was also his third season in the Xfinity Series (2019) that was his breakout year. Driving the No. 00 for SHR, Custer blazed his way to seven victories, 17 top fives and 24 top 10s in just 33 races. Returning to the series for a part-time stint in 2022, he flashed his dominance again with a triple-overtime win at Auto Club Speedway, where he led 80 laps.
Now, he’s hoping the familiarity of success can continue to carry over to the Cup side. His next challenge: the “Monster Mile.”
Heading to Dover, the site of his 2020 Next Gen test experience, Custer is combining all of the knowledge to make a strong push Sunday.
“It’s hard to take a lot from that test,” Custer said. “A lot of things were different from the last time we were there. But at the same time, I think it was nice to get an idea of what the car felt like and how it was honestly fairly similar to what we drove in the past. But obviously, a lot of things have changed since then. So, it’s going to be kind of a reset and making sure you’ve taken everything you’ve learned this season into this weekend.”
The Next Gen car makes its first trip to the “Monster Mile” this weekend.
NASCAR’s Cup Series rolls into Dover Motor Speedway for the DuraMAX Drydene 400 on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
With 400 laps around the concrete oval ahead, get prepped for the weekend here:
QUICK TIME
Cup teams will be broken into Groups A and B for practice and qualifying at Dover this weekend. Their Saturday begins with practice at 10:30 a.m. ET (FS1), where each group will be allotted 15 minutes. Once practice is complete, the groups will partake in single-car qualifying in which each driver will be allowed two timed laps. The five fastest drivers from each group will advance to the second round of qualifying, where the 10 competitors will fire off for single-car laps once again. The fastest of those 10 drivers will earn the Busch Light Pole Award.
— Dover Motor Speedway opened as Dover Downs International Speedway in 1969 as a unique dual-purpose facility designed to accommodate both harness racing and motorsports events.
— Richard Petty won the first NASCAR race at the facility, a 300-lap event on an asphalt track.
— Kyle Petty, Richard’s son, won the first concrete race at the Monster Mile on June 4, 1995 after starting 37th.
— In 2002, Dover Downs International Speedway became Dover International Speedway as the gaming side of the company split off and Dover Motorsports, Inc., was created to exclusively oversee racing.
— Dover Motorsports at one time owned and operated Memphis Motorsports Park, Gateway International Raceway, Nashville Superspeedway and the Long Beach CA Grand Prix in addition to Dover.
— The track, which features 24 degrees of banking in its concrete corners and 9 degrees on its straightaways, debuted its 46-foot tall sculpture of Miles The Monster at Victory Plaza in 2008.
— Dover Motorsports still held rights to Nashville Superspeedway heading into the 2021 season and shifted one of its two Cup dates at Dover to Nashville last season, the series’ first trip to Nashville Superspeedway and the track’s first NASCAR event since Xfinity and Camping World Truck series racing in 2011.
— In December 2021, Speedway Motorsports completed its purchase of Dover, renaming the facility Dover Motor Speedway.
Source: Racing Insights
GOODYEAR TIRES
With its high banks and high speeds, Dover offers a unique challenge for the Next Gen car due to the heavy loads that will be placed on the vehicles in the corners. Those loads will lead to significant stress on the right-front tire.
“Dover obviously presents many challenges for Goodyear as it relates to NASCAR Cup racing,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “First, and most important for the teams, are the stresses put on the tires because of the high banking and relatively tight turn radii. The right-front sees a lot of load entering the corners as the car gets into the banking and tries to get to the center and back on the throttle. With this Next Gen car, we have definitely seen a higher concentration of loading on that position. Observing our minimum recommended pressures is vitally important at Dover.”
The tannish white of the concrete will also take on plenty of rubber throughout the race weekend, which will be evident both at the track and on television.
“Second, and this is something the fans will notice, is how the track changes color during the course of the race,” Stucker said. “At speed, the track will progressively turn black as the cars lay rubber on the concrete surface and then turn back white under the caution flag as the tires pick back much of that rubber. Keeping pace with that transition is an important element of the race strategy.”
DOVER STORY LINES
— The last six Dover races have been won by six different drivers: Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Alex Bowman.
— Truex, who remains winless in 2022, has finished inside the top two in four of the last five Dover races.
— Kyle Larson’s 7.0 average finish in 13 Dover starts is the best of anyone with at least three starts, besting David Pearson (8.0) for the honor.
— Kevin Harvick’s last stage victory came in August 2020 at Dover, 58 races ago.
— Hendrick Motorsports drivers finished 1-2-3-4 in this race last year, the only four-car team to have all four cars finish in the top four in a Cup race.
— HMS has won 21 Cup races at Dover, 12 more than any other team.
— Richard Childress Racing drivers Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick have yet to win in 2022 but have finished runner-up three times, including in each of the last two races (Reddick, Bristol Dirt; Dillon, Talladega).
Source: Racing Insights
CASHING IN ON CONCRETE
Kyle Larson enters the weekend as the 9-2 favorite according to BetMGM, and for good reason. Larson has finished inside the top three in each of his last three starts at Dover, including a win in 2019.
Not far behind are his Hendrick teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron, both of whom are listed at 8-1 while defending race winner Alex Bowman is posted at 12-1. Truex interrupts the Hendrick hoard at 10-1 odds.
The play this week would appear to be Kevin Harvick at 14-1 odds. The 2014 series champion has three wins at the Monster Mile and is slowly finding his way back to the top of the leaderboard. It seems a bit of a stretch considering the No. 4 team’s lack of prolonged consistency, but Harvick shouldn’t be overlooked this weekend.
Want to manage a team and race your way to the top of the leaderboards? Check out NASCAR Fantasy Live. 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 2, and there is a $25,000 prize for the winner.
The 2022 Fantasy Live points leaders are Chase Elliott (362), Ryan Blaney (339) and William Byron (334).
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.
Jimmie Johnson’s crash on the 127th lap of the 2005 Ford 400 may have cost him a championship and may have prevented a top-four sweep from Roush Fenway Racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Johnson won a championship a year later – and six more in his career – but in 686 career NASCAR Cup Series races he never led a top-four sweep for Hendrick Motorsports, one of the rarest team feats in NASCAR history.
So it felt appropriate, if not sentimental, when his former team did accomplish the feat at the 2021 Drydene 400, the No. 48 Chevrolet was in front. And even though Alex Bowman was behind the wheel at Dover Motor Speedway, Johnson was still a factor in recording the fourth top-four sweep of all time and just the second since the 1950s.
“I asked [Johnson] what he does, how he approaches this place, what kind of lines he runs,” Bowman said after last year’s win, recalling a conversation with Johnson a few years ago when he was struggling at The Monster Mile. “I just stuck to that, and tried to run like Jimmie did, run the Jimmie Johnson line, and just be tight against the black, be super disciplined, super patient.”
Bowman grabbed the lead from teammate Kyle Larson midway through the final stage and led the final 98 laps en route to his first win in 11 career Cup Series starts at Dover. And if Bowman wins the newly named DuraMAX Drydene 400 presented by RelaDyne in consecutive years – something Johnson accomplished three separate times – he’ll do so as the Hendrick driver with the worst odds in NASCAR betting at BetMGM.
As of Wednesday, Bowman is +1200 to win the race, well behind Larson (second-place in 2021) at +450, Chase Elliott (third) at +800, and William Byron (fourth) at +800. Martin Truex Jr. is the lone non-Hendrick driver in the top five for race-winner odds.
William Byron will be one of the least-experienced drivers on Sunday – his seven Cup Series starts at Dover ranks 21st in the field – but he ranks sixth in average driver rating at Dover since 2019 and has back-to-back fourth-place finishes, including last year’s race when he registered 21 of Hendrick’s 382 total laps led.
Byron is currently less popular than Bowman with BetMGM bettors in race-winner betting – 3.4% of tickets and 5.3% of the handle to Bowman’s 8.4% and 9.8%, respectively – but Byron has 57% of the handle in their featured matchup.
Chase Elliott (-185) vs. Tyler Reddick (+140)
Through the first two stages last May, it appeared Chase Elliott had the best chance of catching teammate Kyle Larson before he ultimately finished third.
It was his eighth top-five Cup Series finish and a nice rebound after a crash in the Drydene 311 nine months earlier. And only Bowman, Truex, and Kevin Harvick have more top-5 finishes than Elliott (three) at Dover since 2019.
But the public is more interested in Tyler Reddick; Reddick and the BetMGM-sponsored No. 8 Chevy are tied with Bowman for the highest ticket share (8.4%) in race-winner betting and have 100% of the handle against Elliott in featured matchup betting.
Kyle Larson (-200) vs. Ross Chastain (+155)
No active driver has a better career average finish (seventh) at Dover than Kyle Larson, who has failed to finish in the top 10 of a Dover race only three times in 13 starts. He dominated most of the first 300 laps – leading 263 – last year before Bowman beat his No. 5 Chevy off pit road and never looked back.
Larson now returns to Dover one week removed from a “near-perfect” race at Talladega that ended with a fourth-place finish after a wild final lap. And he’s a massive favorite over last week’s winner, Ross Chastain, who now has a top-5 finish in eight of the last 10 races after starting the season 40th at Daytona and 29th at Fontana.
The public is buying redemption for Larson this weekend; the 29-year-old 17-time winner has a field-leading 13.4% of the handle to win at Dover. And he has 67% of the tickets and 70% of the handle over Chastain in this head-to-head.
Martin Truex Jr. (-145) vs. Kevin Harvick (+115)
Kevin Harvick leads all active drivers in starts at Dover (41), along with wins (three, tied with two others, including Truex), top-10 finishes (22), top-20 finishes (34), and laps led (1,631). And he has just one DNF in those 41 starts.
Nonetheless, Harvick is buried at 10th in race-winner odds and an underdog to Truex in featured matchup betting as he struggles for consistency this season. And bettors are proceeding with caution on both drivers; Harvick and Truex rank eighth and 13th in race-winner ticket share, respectively, and 10th and 16th in handle share.
In the head-to-head matchup, Truex is dominating the action with 97% of tickets and 95% of the handle.
You can view updated DuraMAX Drydene 400 odds and more online sports betting opportunities at BetMGM.
NASCAR officials penalized the Live Fast Motorsports team Wednesday after a wheel detached from the No. 78 Ford during Sunday’s Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Driver and team co-owner BJ McLeod spun in Turn 2 during Sunday’s GEICO 500, prompting a caution period on the 87th of 188 laps. As the car looped down the banking, the right-rear wheel detached and rolled to a stop on the apron as he drove away. McLeod, who led two laps Sunday, continued to post a 26th-place finish.
As a result of the violation of Section 10.5.2.6 in the NASCAR Rule Book, competition officials issued four-race suspensions to Live Fast crew chief Lee Leslie and crew members Alpha Lamin (jack) and Kevin Teaf (rear-tire changer).
Christopher Stanley, who was listed as an engineer on the team roster for Talladega, was designated on an updated entry list as the No. 78 team’s crew chief for this Sunday’s race at Dover Motor Speedway.
All eyes were on Jeffrey Earnhardt last weekend at Talladega. And why wouldn’t they be? An Earnhardt was driving the No. 3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
For the first time at any level in his career, Earnhardt would finally drive a No. 3 car.
“We’ve been trying to make it happen for many years, but it’s never come together, whether it be sponsorship, financially, whatever,” Earnhardt told NASCAR.com ahead of last week’s race weekend at Talladega. “It always seemed to never come together until now.”
He also got to work with Larry McReynolds, who was making his return to the pit box after 22 years.
“To have him as a crew chief, someone who crew chiefed my grandfather and won the Daytona 500 with, is pretty darn special,” Earnhardt said. “Knowing the history and how long he’s been in our sport, his dedication to our sport. And the history he has with my grandfather, it makes all of this that much more special.”
After the 2021 Xfinity season, Earnhardt chose not to return to JD Motorsports, the place he called home for the previous two seasons, his second stint with the team. Racing on a tighter budget, Earnhardt’s breakthrough days were cracking the top 15, something he did just five times between the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
Though forever thankful for his time with Johnny Davis, Earnhardt needed to take his funding elsewhere.
“I’m not getting any younger,” Earnhardt, 32, said. “You look at the ages of people in our sport, I’m old. It’s time to either make it happen or not.”
For the 2022 season, Earnhardt’s goal was simple: Look to see where he could get the best results. And even though that would require a partial schedule, his overall goal is to impress enough to get a full-time ride in a competitive car for the 2023 season.
In January, Sam Hunt Racing inked a seven-race deal with Earnhardt, which began in the season opener at Daytona.
“It’s just a matter of getting better equipment and better people,” Earnhardt said. “When you do that, your funds get eaten up really quick. You’ll pay more money for those races to be competitive and that’s the route that we saw fit to take this year.
Earnhardt’s presence around the Sam Hunt Racing shop has helped the team grow, too. He’s one of the first drivers in team history, along with John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Truex, who isn’t a rookie while competing for Hunt.
“I think he’s a guy that doesn’t get quite enough credit for how much talent he has,” Hunt said. “More than anything, he’s the kind of person our team loves to have around, which is really important to me. He’s motivated, friendly, humble and above everything, he’s the ultimate team player.”
At Daytona, driving a second car for Sam Hunt Racing, Earnhardt finished 15th. He took over the reins of the No. 26 Toyota at Auto Club, where he finished 29th because of a battery issue late in the race.
At Phoenix, Earnhardt made a one-off start in the No. 35 car for Emerling-Gase Motorsports, as he had additional funding and wanted to compete with a team that fielded Toyotas. The following week at Atlanta, another superspeedway-style race, he finished 13th for Sam Hunt.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
And over the weekend, Earnhardt fulfilled his lifelong dream of driving the No. 3 Chevrolet — the same car number his grandfather and uncle drove — for RCR. The deal happened via a conversation between Brian Karmie, owner of ForeverLawn, and Childress.
Believing he would have a car that could compete for the pole and win, Earnhardt wanted to maximize his weekend and take in the moment. He went out and won his first pole award, and brought the No. 3 car home runner-up to Noah Gragson. The second-place outing was his best finish in 136 Xfinity starts.
“I really can’t complain about the year we’ve had,” Earnhardt said.
Earnhardt noted there was a lot of interest in his announcement to drive the No. 3 car at Talladega, and he’s hoping it springboards into “bigger and better things” in the near future.
Admittedly, Earnhardt would race every day of the week if he could, noting “it’s never fun when you’re doing a partial season.” In his down time, he’s been maintaining his physical fitness while chasing the almighty dollar, hoping to piece together more races. It’s something that “never stops” and “24/7.” Noodling season is also quickly approaching.
Should Earnhardt impress enough, such as his second-place finish from last Saturday, he’s hoping to have his 2023 plans complete far in advance from when they’re typically announced.
That, though, is in a perfect world.
“Our main thing is to make it a full season in a really competitive ride next year,” Earnhardt added. “That’s been our focus and our goal to try to accomplish and, hopefully, we’re able to nail something down by the end of this race season because it’s always stressful when you have to go through the holidays not knowing what you’re doing racing-wise the next year.
“I’m pretty confident with our group at (Jeffrey Earnhardt Inc.), the guys at ForeverLawn. They work just as hard as I do to try to find more sponsorship for us to go run more races. I think we’ll be able to accomplish that.”
And if Earnhardt were to get that opportunity more than 14 years since he first competed in a NASCAR national touring event and now in his early 30s, he’s shooting for the stars.
“My goal is to win an Xfinity Series championship,” he said. “I want to try to make that happen within the next couple of years. I think I’m capable of it given the right opportunity.”
The town of Bahama, North Carolina, is no stranger to seeing the Riggs family enjoy success behind the wheel.
During the late 1990s, residents from the town would flock to Orange County Speedway to see Scott Riggs win one race after another, success that helped him progress through the ranks to become a full-time driver in the NASCAR Cup Series.
A couple decades later, Scott’s son Layne Riggs finds himself on a similar path toward the top divisions of NASCAR as he pursues a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series championship with the family-owned operation.
With four wins at South Boston Speedway already to his name this year, Layne Riggs is optimistic he can bring a national championship back home to Bahama and earn the breakthrough he needs to sign on with a major organization as a development driver.
“We wanted to run a little bit of South Boston [Speedway] at the beginning of the year, but with the success coming so quickly, it was a no-brainer to try for the national championship,” the 19-year-old Riggs said. “Past champions have told me I’ve got a really good shot at it this year, and this is also a good opportunity for me to get my name out there more.”
When Riggs strapped into a Late Model Stock for the first time at the age of 14, he genuinely believed that hard work would yield a NASCAR ride after a few years.
Although Riggs has yet to break out of the Late Model Stock ranks, he has made the most of his circumstances by traveling to several tracks around the southeast, where he has gained valuable knowledge on conserving equipment and utilizing patience against the seasoned veterans.
Riggs’ persistence has enabled him to earn victories over Weekly Series champions like Josh Berry, Peyton Sellers and Lee Pulliam. His accomplishments in a Late Model Stock also include a win in the prestigious Rodney Cook Classic at Ace Speedway in 2019.
Layne Riggs celebrates one of his four early-season victories at South Boston Speedway (South Boston Speedway)
Learning from the likes of Berry, Sellers, Pulliam and many others in the region has been invaluable for Riggs, who hopes all the knowledge and experience obtained over the past few years translates to a national championship.
“I’ve raced with the best and beaten the best,” he said. “Where we are right now, we’re one of the best. My racing career has been great because of all the competitors I’ve raced against. They’ve taught me a lot about my race craft and built up my confidence, so now I have to apply it and create my own legacy.”
Riggs has enjoyed his on-track success despite his family not having the resources and funding of other major Late Model Stock operations.
Scott Riggs did everything possible to make sure his son was in the best possible position to excel from the beginning. Along with exercising countless hours on the cars, Scott put a heavy emphasis on big picture racing with Layne so his son would understand not to race others aggressively every lap.
As the years have progressed, Scott has watched Layne gradually mature into a well-rounded competitor who knows how to get the most out of his equipment by constantly providing feedback, observing how the racing line evolves and being actively involved with preparing efficient setups.
Scott knows Layne can win in any car he climbs into, and the father is determined to help his son accomplish his goal of one day reaching NASCAR — even as Layne’s schedule on and off the track gets busier each year.
“It’s just us racing against guys who make their living this way,” Scott Riggs said. “I know Layne’s got a lot of schoolwork on his plate these days in Charlotte trying to get a mechanical engineering degree. During the work week, this is pretty much myself and volunteers, some of which were with me when I was racing Late Models. We’re very fortunate to have so many people who want to help us.”
Layne Riggs believes the right opportunity to move up to the ARCA Menards Series or NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is out there, which is why he is going all in to pursue the Weekly Series national championship.
Points in the national championship come down to car counts, with the minimum being 16 cars for a full allotment. To stay in contention, Riggs plans to visit tracks in the region where car counts range from the minimum number to around 25 competitors.
South Boston and Dominion Raceway check those boxes. Along with averaging 20 cars a night, each facility regularly attracts the best Late Model Stock drivers in Virginia, including the defending national champion in Sellers.
Riggs knew winning races at South Boston and Dominion would not be an easy feat, but he feels he and Scott have developed setups that will allow him to continue the momentum from his strong start to the 2022 season.
“The pavement is very similar between South Boston and Dominion,” Layne Riggs said. “Peyton Sellers has always run good at high grip tracks, but I feel like we’ve hit on something where we’ll be able to do the same. Dominion, South Boston and Motor Mile all have really smooth asphalt, and I can definitely see why they have high car counts.”
Despite his enjoyment for both tracks, Riggs’ championship pursuit hit a snag during his first race at Dominion on Apr. 23. After finishing sixth in the first 60-lap feature, he was involved in an early crash during the second race and had to settle for 12th, all while Sellers swept the evening.
(Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
The last thing Riggs wanted was to give Sellers a margin of error to utilize through the summer. With weekly competitors all around the country beginning to accumulate wins at their home tracks, Riggs knows he will have to be nearly perfect to stay within striking distance.
Scott Riggs is confident Layne can make up that lost ground to Sellers through the upcoming months, adding that someone as committed and appreciative as his son will find success long after he moves on from the family-owned team that helped launch his career.
“It’s very rewarding that we’re able to compete with the high-caliber teams,” Scott Riggs said. “At the same time, it’s tough on our program because of the time, money, energy and personnel we spend. We have to rob Peter to pay Paul in order to give [Layne] a competitive car, but the strongest aspect of our team is the man behind the wheel.”
There are many occasions when Layne Riggs feels like a veteran in the industry even though he is one month shy of his 20th birthday.
From racing the high banks at Bristol Motor Speedway to tangling with Sellers and Bubba Pollard for the win at Martinsville Speedway, Riggs has already experienced so much in his brief time in Late Model Stocks while gaining a fanbase that once watched his father make a name for himself.
Adding a national championship to his resume would only be another chapter in Layne’s eventful career, but one that could carry an extra amount of significance when it comes to following in his father’s footsteps and one day racing in the Cup Series.
“Everyone champion you look at is someone you can consider a legend in short track racing,” Riggs said. “I think I’ll be the youngest one if I’m able to do it this year. That’s nothing but good press and it would be great for a sponsorship opportunity.”
A long season is ahead for Riggs as he battles Sellers across the southeast, but many in the industry, along with the town of Bahama, will be watching to see whether the second-generation Riggs can join an elite of national champions.
NASCAR officials announced Tuesday that Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin must complete a sensitivity training course.
A NASCAR spokesperson sent the update Tuesday afternoon, saying the process must begin by the end of this week.
The mandated course comes in response to a social-media post that Hamlin sent Monday afternoon. Hamlin’s post was directed toward Kyle Larson, whose last-lap move in Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway collected the 23XI Racing entries of Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace. Hamlin is a co-owner of the 23XI operation.
Hamlin deleted the tweet later Monday and issued an apology.
I took down a post I made earlier today after reading some of the comments. It was a poor choice of memes and I saw how it was offensive. It came across totally wrong. I apologize.
Representatives from Toyota, which Hamlin holds an affiliation with as a team owner and a driver, issued a statement Tuesday, saying: “We have spoken with Denny Hamlin regarding his tweet from yesterday. Toyota supports NASCAR’s decision to mandate sensitivity training for Denny and we will all move forward together.”
Editor’s note: Bozi Tatarevic is a professional racing mechanic and pit crew member. He will provide technical analysis for NASCAR.com throughout the 2022 season.
Talladega brought out the excitement as the Next Gen car visited the longest oval on the schedule and some of the highest speeds that the car will see all season. We are finally getting into the stage of the season where similar types of tracks are repeated so teams now have some data to work with versus everything being brand new. While Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway do race differently, there are enough similarities that teams were able to sift through some data and optimize their cars.
It’s usually no surprise to see drivers from major teams like Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron and Kyle Larson and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney out there leading laps, but seeing some of the smaller teams out front shows who is finding advantages with the Next Gen car and making the most of their data. Drivers like Erik Jones from Petty GMS Motorsports and Bubba Wallace from 23XI Racing were in contention for much of the race and led a number of laps alongside Daniel Suárez from Trackhouse Racing, whose teammate Ross Chastain became the eventual race winner.
This type of parity is a testament to the efforts put in place by the introduction of the Next Gen car but also shows the success in some of the personnel choices made by these smaller and upstart teams. While the Next Gen car places emphasis on equalizing the field with many single-source supplier parts, technical expertise and playing in that small box of adjustments plays a huge factor in how well these cars perform. And the choice to place people like Darian Grubb, Joey Cohen and Michael Wheeler in technical leadership roles on these teams is starting to pay dividends as the season progresses.
The top four drivers in laps led were all behind the wheel of a Chevrolet, and this is not surprising considering the speed that these cars have shown for most of the season. However, that engine strength can occasionally come with a compromise as we saw with the retirement of the No. 8 piloted by Tyler Reddick after just 31 laps. According to radio communications, the engine went off-pitch before eventually shutting down, which is usually a sign of one or more cylinders going down. Once Reddick coasted into pit lane, his crew diagnosed it as a broken timing belt and those factors combined likely mean that there was a valve spring failure.
The timing belt connects the crankshaft and the camshaft of the engine so they turn in sync. Typically, the carbon fiber reinforced timing belt does not break on its own but instead breaks because there is an obstruction causing the camshaft to go out of sync with the crankshaft, resulting in the belt being stretched. This would match with the earlier comment of the engine going off-pitch and having a misfire, often meaning a valve spring has broken for a specific cylinder. A valve spring breaking can result in a variety of damage from dropping the valve on the piston to damaging a pushrod or the camshaft itself, which would result in the loss of timing sync and breakage of that belt.
While the failure of Reddick’s car came quietly on pit road, the engine in the No. 16 Chevrolet piloted by Daniel Hemric quit in a much more chaotic fashion while he was in the middle of a pack. This time we had an onboard with audio that allowed us to hear the engine in that car go off-pitch and lose power much like what Reddick had described for his situation, but unfortunately, the sudden deceleration meant Hemric was hit and pushed down to the apron. Hemric tried to save the car, but it bounced back up the track and triggered a crash that ended up taking out the No. 14 of Chase Briscoe and No. 17 of Chris Buescher.
Briscoe ended up impacting the wall and had a hard right-front hit. In the past that would likely mean an immediate write-off based on the amount of damage that is visible, but the modular nature of the Next Gen car could allow the potential for repair. While the front clip of that car is visibly damaged and twisted, it is a piece that can be unbolted and replaced. And according to initial reports, the center section on the No. 14. appeared to be undamaged, so there is a possibility that a new front clip could be bolted on and that chassis could potentially be used again if it passes all safety checks.
Talladega brought the excitement and the speed but also brought some great long green-flag runs that are a welcome sight at superspeedways. While there was some chaos on the final laps, seeing such a long green-flag run in the last stage definitely brought a fun perspective for the race and even resulted in some unexpected fuel-saving elements to team strategy. The next superspeedway race should be even more fun as teams take everything they learned here to make their cars even faster for the second half of the year.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (April 26, 2022) — Today, JR Motorsports announced it will field a fifth car in five additional NASCAR Xfinity Series races this season. With primary sponsorship from HendrickCars.com, current Cup Series stars William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson will combine to make the starts in the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro.
Elliott, who won the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship with Hendrick Motorsports, will kick things off at Darlington Raceway (May 7). Byron will take the wheel of the No. 88 at Texas Motor Speedway (May 21) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway (July 16). Larson, the defending NCS champion, sees action at Watkins Glen International (Aug. 20) and Darlington Raceway (Sept. 3).
JRM owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been a longtime partner with Hendrick Motorsports owner and Hendrick Automotive Group CEO Rick Hendrick with four franchises located in Tallahassee, Florida: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Cadillac and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Buick GMC. Hendrick is also a minority owner of JRM.
“The NASCAR platform has been instrumental in helping us build HendrickCars.com into a national brand, and we look forward to continuing that momentum through this expanded effort,” said Greg Gach, president of Charlotte-based Hendrick Automotive Group. “We are committed to our racing programs and supporting our Hendrick Motorsports teammates whenever we can, and we know these additional races will benefit our drivers and teams. We’re also excited to work with Dale Jr. on this opportunity. He’s a terrific partner whose dealerships have created tremendous value for our General Motors customers. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
HendrickCars.com is Hendrick Automotive Group’s online destination for new and pre-owned vehicle shopping, locating centers for service and collision repair, exploring career opportunities, and learning about vehicle investment protection. It also sponsors Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the Cup Series in addition to NHRA driver Greg Anderson and other racing efforts at the grassroots level.
All three drivers have previously driven for JRM. Byron and Elliott are both past NXS champions and multi-time winners with the organization, while Larson made one start for JRM’s Camping World Truck Series operation in 2015.
The news brings the No. 88 team’s tally to nine events in 2022, up from the four previously announced starts. In the two races to date this season, the team has one top-10 finish with Miguel Paludo at Circuit of the Americas.
Crew chief duties for the No. 88 team will be announced at a later date.
The last time Kevin Harvick won a stage in the NASCAR Cup Series was at Dover Motor Speedway … in 2020. That’s a lofty 58 races since the No. 4 car has earned a playoff point.
That weekend continued Harvick’s recent surge of success at the Monster Mile, who picked up his first win on the concrete race track in 2015. On that afternoon, in a must-win situation to advance to the Round of 12 in the playoffs, the No. 4 car soared from 15th to lead 355 of 400 laps.
Since the 2015 win, Harvick has visited Victory Lane two more times at Dover, and he heads into the Monster Mile for Sunday’s DuraMAX Drydene 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) with seven consecutive finishes of sixth or better at the track. In that time frame, he’s led 200-plus laps on three separate occasions.
“It took a long time to click, I know that for sure,” Harvick told NASCAR.com of his success at Dover. “When I came to SHR, Rodney [Childers, crew chief] knew that was a struggle for me and put a lot of effort into that and took that into winning races and running up front.
“As we’ve gone to Dover through the years, it’s definitely been a fun place to go.”
Of course, Harvick says he wishes NASCAR still took to Dover twice in a season. But this year will have a whole new dynamic.
Many drivers consider this weekend’s race at Dover to be the last true test for the Next Gen car. It’s competed on two superspeedways, another pack-style race at Atlanta, a couple of intermediates, two short tracks and a dirt track, but now has a whole new challenge in the Monster Mile.
Unique to Dover, it has significant elevation change going down into the corners and when exiting the corners with 24 degrees of banking. In the past, it’s been referred to as a roller coaster.
Harvick was quick to point out that teams won’t truly know what they have with the Next Gen car until practice on Saturday.
“I don’t anticipate the actual characteristics of Dover being any different than what they’ve been in the past,” Harvick added. “But I do think it will be somewhat different inside of the car with how you achieve that and put the car in the right spot.
“It’s been different at all the race tracks that we’ve gone to. But in the end, it’s also been a lot of the same, as far as where you want to place the car and things like that.”
Through 10 races this season, Harvick sits 11th in the championship standings, and he is coming off a 10th-place finish at Talladega. And though he’s led just 12 laps on the season – 11 of which came in one swoop at Atlanta – the No. 4 team is maximizing many of its performances thus far in 2022.
“With everything that we’ve had going on, I’m pretty happy with the results that we’ve been able to achieve because we’ve had so many things go wrong,” Harvick added. “Whether it be crashes, pit road, you name it and we’ve had to deal with it. I think the performance of the car has been relatively good from the standpoint and my comfort in the car. We just have to keep plugging away and clean up the things that are going wrong each week and progress from that.”
Changing over to the Next Gen car, Harvick said his team was mentally prepared to clean up miscues. He just didn’t think the team would have so many issues in the first two months of the season.
At the same time, the 2014 champion “didn’t really have any expectations” going into the season because he didn’t want to have to worry about anything additional than honing in on the development of the Next Gen car. He just wants to race.
And though Harvick is on a 53-race winless streak, the goal hasn’t changed.
“Put yourself in the top five, try to win races and put yourself in position to win races,” he said. “I think from the performance side, we have the capability to do that. We just have to have clean days.”
As the season progresses and already eight playoff spots potentially filled, Harvick’s outlook hasn’t changed, even with three first-time winners. His methodical approach will continue on the “week-to-week grind,” forgetting about the issues that have occurred.
“You see things, feel things and you apply those things and move forward and the car continues to get better week after week.”
