Martin Truex Jr. explains his side of ‘uncalled for’ skirmish with Ross Chastain at Dover

Posted on May 7, 2022 by Zack Albert

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Martin Truex Jr. voiced his displeasure with Ross Chastain’s driving tactics in last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway, explaining the basis of their post-race discussion Monday and the incidents that led up to it.

Chastain and Truex tangled in their last-lap contest for the third position with Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet drifting up into the path of Truex’s No. 19 Toyota. Chastain continued and placed third behind race winner Chase Elliott and runner-up Ricky Stenhouse Jr., but Truex slumped to 12th in the final order.

RELATED: Weekend schedule | At-track photos

The two exchanged words on pit road post-race. Saturday at Darlington Raceway, Truex explained that the final-lap skirmish was the culmination of multiple incidents that fed his ire.

“Well, he came up. I mean, I had a run to the outside, and he, his spotter told him I was there, and he just came up like I wasn’t there,” Truex said after qualifying fourth for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). “So it caused me to lift and get in the marbles, ultimately crashed and lost six spots, seven, eight spots. So I don’t really know the reason. He ran me all over the race track all day, and I get it. He’s air-blocking. These cars are terrible in dirty air, he’s doing what he has to do, but I’m talking three lanes up the race track, all over.

Sean Gardner | Getty Images

“Like literally, just completely blowing and forgetting about making lap time. The guys in front of us are driving away, and he’s screwing around with me for fourth place. It’s the Cup Series, we don’t typically race like that. I just thought it was kind of uncalled for. And then obviously, the incident I was mad about – I wasn’t mad about the rest of it, which is ridiculous, but it is what it is, some guys will do it. And then the deal at the end of the race, just blatantly running me out of race track, that was what I was mad about.”

Chastain dodged when asked about their conversation during last week’s post-race interviews, saying they were discussing their next fishing trip together. He continued that running gag in Friday interviews at Darlington, joking that they planned to wet a hook in the minnow pond adjacent to the track’s Turn 4 bend.

But Chastain did say that in retrospect, he should have opted to let Truex by, which could have allowed both to track down Stenhouse in the late going.

MORE: Sunday’s starting lineup

“I’d say more the mistake was 30 laps before that, not just letting him go and hoping he got by Ricky and then I’d get by Ricky, too,” said Chastain, who will start eighth Sunday at Darlington. “That’s more what I mean. I mean the last lap is the last lap. We are coming back around to the checkered, I’m going to race him as hard as I possibly can and try not to crash. I trust him and hope that he’d trust me. It was like 50 laps before that or the beginning of that last run when he first got to me probably, looking back at it, let him go then and then try to get by Ricky and still finish third. But I didn’t.”

The two drivers sit also in close proximity in the Cup Series standings – Chastain in sixth and Truex seventh, with just two points separating the pair. Moving forward, Truex was asked if his post-race message at Dover was delivered.

“I asked him why he did it, and I’m not really sure he knows why he did it,” Truex said. “But it’s not going to happen again.”

Posted on May 7, 2022 by Staff Report

See where your favorite driver will pit for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Darlington Raceway.

Posted on May 7, 2022May 8, 2022 by Zack Albert

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Denny Hamlin’s season of misfortune by the bushel with one great height continues. It’s been enough that his team’s approach has undergone some tinkering as the NASCAR Cup Series regular season nears its halfway point.

Hamlin enters Sunday’s Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) with highly uncharacteristic numbers on his stat sheet to date. He has a victory already – at Richmond – that has virtually clinched his spot in the Cup Series Playoffs, but that’s his only finish inside the top 10 through 11 races. Six finishes have been outside the top 20, a burdensome weight that’s left him 23rd in the standings and with a lackluster 22.5 average finish.

RELATED: Weekend schedule | At-track photos

“It’s been frustrating. I mean, honestly, it’s just been, you know, week after week of being the coyote that gets the anvil dropped on its head,” Hamlin said Saturday at Darlington Raceway, nodding to the infamous Wile E. Coyote cartoon. “I mean, I don’t even know how else to explain it.”

Hamlin finished right near his 2022 average last week after a list of unforced errors at Dover Motor Speedway – one a pit-stop miscue that caused his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing to lose a wheel early on, and secondly a crash where he was unable to miss the spinning No. 51 of Cody Ware.

He continued on, avoiding what could have been his fifth DNF of the year.

“We’ve had things that just have broken. I’ve had more mechanical failures this year than I’ve ever had,” Hamlin said. “Again, you know, some of these parts that we don’t control and NASCAR is continuing to change them and develop them to make them better so we don’t have a lot of problems, but we’ve just been kind of the poster child of the ones that break things. And then last week, you know, what can I do? … The 51 spun there and I just didn’t, didn’t get around, run into him. It’s been unfortunate, but I can tell you it’s a lot different than running top 10 every week and trying to figure out how you’re going to get enough speed to win. That’s what I’d really be worried about.”

Almost prophetically, Hamlin had another breakage during Saturday’s Cup Series qualifying, with part of the underbody causing a grinding noise underneath his No. 11 Toyota. He had qualified 22nd, but will drop to the rear of the field for Sunday’s start.

His JGR teammates have fared better in their respective perches in the points, all ranking among the top 10 – Kyle Busch tied for third, Martin Truex Jr. seventh and Christopher Bell 10th.

“I mean, he’s been competitive, and he’s been right there with us every week,” Bell said of Hamlin. “So he’s made jokes about it, like you can’t stop the bleeding, right, because something always happens to him. Even last week at Dover, he had a car capable of winning the race and unfortunately had a pit-road mishap and then got caught up in a wreck. That was not his fault at all, so we don’t even really talk about it.”

Hamlin said his faith in his performance has been boosted by his season-best 67 laps led at Dover, but also his average running position – which he said stacks up favorably to Chase Elliott, the current points leader. But the current deficit has prompted the No. 11 team to shake up its goal, strategy-wise.

That shift means a focus on building up a bankroll of playoff points, and letting any other points fall where they may.

“We’ve given up on the regular-season points, and even getting in the top 10. I’m not even sure,” Hamlin said. “So for us, it’s actually simplified our strategy, we go for playoff points only. So when you see the field start splitting because they want stage points or whatever, you know where the 11 (team) stands from this point on. We’re trying to get five points at the end of the race and two for the Playoffs during stages. So it actually simplifies our strategy for the regular season.”

Posted on May 7, 2022May 8, 2022 by Reid Spencer

It was easy to hear the relief and elation in Joey Logano’s voice after the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford put his car on the pole for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“Oh, it was so much needed for all of us here,” said Logano, who struggled to a 29th-place finish last Monday at Dover. “The last couple of weeks were pretty rough, getting in a couple of crashes and not being strong at Dover.”

MORE: Full starting lineup | Buy tickets

On Throwback Weekend at the Track Too Tough to Tame, Logano is sporting a paint scheme reminiscent of the quarter midget racer he drove as a child.

“This is full circle for me,” said Logano, who covered the 1.366-mile distance in 28.805 seconds (170.720 mph) in the money round of qualifying on Saturday. “This is my first quarter-midget paint scheme — it’s got all the same stuff on it since I was a kid.”

In winning his first pole of the season, his first at Darlington and the 23rd of his career, Logano edged Kyle Larson (170.236 mph) by .082 seconds. Christopher Bell qualified third at 169.818 mph, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch, as Toyota drivers claimed starting positions three through six.

Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, William Byron and Tyler Reddick will start from positions seven through 10 on Sunday after advancing to the final round of time trials.

Neither Chase Elliott nor Kevin Harvick made qualifying runs after suffering flat tires during Saturday’s practice. Elliott was forced to a backup car after hard contact with the wall, and Harvick’s team spent the qualifying session replacing the damaged rear diffuser on the No. 4 Ford.

MORE: Elliott on wreck: ‘I hate that’

Both drivers will start from the rear of the field on Sunday.

Brad Keselowski and Corey LaJoie also found trouble in practice. Keselowski spun at pit entry to conclude Group B’s practice session as he attempted to head into pit lane. LaJoie went around in the center of Turns 3 and 4 that saw his No. 7 Chevrolet brush the outside wall. They qualified 23rd and 30th, respectively.

Staff contributed to this report.

Posted on May 7, 2022 by Terrin Waack

Darlington Raceway isn’t “Too Tough to Tame” for Erik Jones.

In his first-ever Cup Series race at the 1.366-mile South Carolina track in 2017, Jones finished fifth. He won his third visit two years later. And of his eight career starts overall, six produced top-10 results.

“It’s just one of those places that I went for the first time about six or seven years ago and ran and just enjoyed it, just had fun with it,” Jones told NASCAR.com. “Some places you go and you unload, it’s like wow, this is a struggle, I just can’t figure it out. But Darlington was never, never like that for me. I always felt comfortable.”

DARLINGTON: Weekend schedule | Paint schemes | Betting odds

The same feeling is in place as NASCAR heads there this weekend for its annual throwback extravaganza. The Cup Series has practice and qualifying Saturday (10:30 a.m. ET, FS1) before Sunday’s Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1), the 12th points-paying event of the 2022 season.

Erik Jones, Darlington Raceway, 2019 (Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images)

Jones’ No. 43 Petty GMS Motorsports Chevrolet will sport a 1959 “Petty Blue” paint scheme in honor of team co-owner and seven-time champion Richard Petty. Jones is excited about the all-blue wrap — wanted to run it last year but didn’t have the chance — and also the upcoming competition itself, understandably so.

For the first time since 2020, when he was with Joe Gibbs Racing in the No. 20 Toyota, Jones is boasting back-to-back top 10s. He came in sixth at Talladega Superspeedway (led 25 circuits; lost the lead on the last lap) two weeks ago and 10th at Dover Motor Speedway last week.

“That’s just big momentum for the team, big confidence for the team,” Jones said. “Keeps the guys pushing forward. Keeps them focused. And keep me focused, right? Sometimes, when you go out and you’re struggling week to week, it’s hard to stay with your mind on it and keep going. And it can be mentally draining at times. When you’re running good, though, everything feels a lot better and it makes life a lot easier.”

Jones’ 2022 results are on pace to be, if not already are, better than 2021. He has one top five (Auto Club Speedway) and four top 10s. Last year, he closed out with no top fives, six top 10s.

This is Jones’ second season in the No. 43 machine. What’s different, though, is GMS Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports merged to form Petty GMS Motorsports. It’s now a two-car stable rather than one. Jones’ teammate is Ty Dillon in the No. 42.

“We’re in a way better spot than what we were a year ago, and that’s just a good feeling when you can improve your year like that,” Jones said. “I’ve seen improvement through this year week to week as a team, as an organization, getting stronger on a lot of different aspects. Not just the car, but the pit crew, the road crew and the shop crew. Everybody is just continuing to get better and better.”

Nowhere better to continue that trend than Darlington.

A goal of Jones’ is to put the No. 43 back in Victory Lane, where it has parked 199 times before. Ninety-four races have passed since Jones last won. It has been eight years since the No. 43 car captured a checkered flag (Aric Almirola, Daytona-2 2014). Petty powered it to three Darlington victories between 1966-67.

“A win definitely gives you confidence anywhere,” Jones said. “You feel like you’ve done it once, you can do it again, right? And coming back at Darlington, it’s always in the back of my mind.”

Posted on May 7, 2022May 7, 2022 by Zack Albert

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Not only was a trophy in the balance in Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, but for Carson Hocevar, so was permanent ink. Not a Sharpie or a Marks-A-Lot, but a real-deal tattoo.

Hocevar left his mark – maybe not permanently – on Darlington Raceway again in the Dead On Tools 200, finishing with a hard-fought runner-up effort in overtime behind eventual winner John Hunter Nemechek. The 19-year-old Michigan native said that had he won, extreme sports star Travis Pastrana – who Hocevar’s throwback No. 42 Chevy honored – would get a tattoo. If Hocevar crashed, he said the ink was his. Instead, he mustered a second-place result – the third time he’s achieved that career-best mark without winning, and the second time in a row.

“I had him, man. I had him, or at least I had something,” he told his Niece Motorsports team on the radio on the cool-down lap. “Damn it. I don’t like this second thing, but it’s a lot better than anything else besides winning. Thank y’all.”

Hocevar started sixth and remained in contention throughout, finishing third in Stage 1 and winning Stage 2. He rallied after a sluggish pit stop at the Stage 2 break left him in eighth place for the start of the final segment. Hocevar surged back up the leaderboard and was lined up on the inside of Nemechek for the overtime session, which pushed the event two laps beyond the scheduled 147-lap distance.

Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

A bombs-away move wasn’t out of the question, but his No. 42 entry faltered, allowing Nemechek to scoot free.

“I took the front row and had a decent shot, came to the white flag and my motor died or electricals died for like split seconds and then he was gone,” Hocevar said. “I think I would have had a shot just because I was better in (turns) 1 and 2, I felt like, and I could at least maintain. I knew he was gonna run the top, so I was Carl Edwards-ing that thing in (turns) three and four.”

A re-enactment of Edwards’ 2008-edition Hail Mary dive at Kansas vs. Jimmie Johnson, however, wasn’t in the cards. “I wasn’t gonna lift till I saw God or at least I saw Him about five car-lengths back in my rearview mirror – or he would have drove in hard and we both hit the wall and we both drag race to the line. That was my plan.”

The prevailing wisdom that Darlington’s tough nature rewards veterans and chews up rookies has skipped over Hocevar so far. He was another top-five runner in his first trip to the track “Too Tough to Tame” last year, notching what was then a career-best third.

That was his first race paired with veteran crew chief Phil Gould, who remains atop the No. 42 pit box to watch his protégé’s success this season.

“I was blown away about how well he did, he took to the track and just how he studies everything, and he’s super smart,” Gould said of his first impressions. “His racing IQ is really high, I think is the best way to say it. As young as he is, I think once he does get that first win, there’ll be a lot of them coming.”

Posted on May 6, 2022May 12, 2022 by Reid Spencer

The fastest truck won Friday’s Dead On Tools 200 at Darlington Raceway, but not without much ado between the green flag and the checkers.

Pole winner John Hunter Nemechek fought through 10 cautions, an extra pit stop to tighten a loose wheel and an overtime restart to post his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory of the season, holding off hard-luck Carson Hocevar by 0.552 seconds in the two-lap shootout to the finish.

“Just a huge shoutout to all the guys that work on this No. 4 KBM Toyota Tundra,” Nemechek said after spinning his truck like a dervish in a celebratory burnout on the frontstretch.

“I thought we gave it away early, honestly, and we were able to rebound and battle back. I learned a lot tonight. I was finally able to bring home the first win of the year.”

Runner-up last fall at Darlington in a race he thought he should have won, Nemechek led a race-high 69 laps in triumphing for the first time at “The Lady in Black” and the 12th time in his career. In winning the pole earlier in the day, he was 0.432 seconds faster than second-place qualifier Ty Majeski.

Clearly, Nemechek had the speed, but his victory was by no means assured after he brought his truck to pit road under caution for a second time on Lap 61 to remedy a loose left-front wheel. That left Nemechek 26th for a restart on Lap 63, but by the end of Stage 2 on Lap 90 he had climbed back to fifth in the running order.

On Lap 123, he passed Christian Eckes for the lead and held it the rest of the way, through the two final cautions and the overtime.

Hocevar was the victor in Stage 2 — the first stage win of his career — but he lost ground on pit road under caution for the stage break and ultimately recovered to restart side-by-side with Nemechek in the overtime.

Nemechek had the advantage of the outside lane for the final two laps and pulled away to win by the half-second margin.

“A lot of emotions,” said Hocevar, who ran a close second to Ben Rhodes in the previous race on Bristol Dirt. “I was freaking out for a second. I had an electrical issue, and every once in a while it would stumble, and it flat out shut off in the middle of (Turns) 1 and 2 coming to the white (flag). …

“The 4 truck (Nemechek) was really good. I was hoping I maybe could have got him. I would have done a lot into (Turns) 3 and 4. I was better than him in 1 and 2. He was better than me in 3 and 4, but I could have done a lot — just like every race car driver, right? But close once again. Hopefully, we’ll be one spot better next week.”

Grant Enfinger was third across the line, followed by Majeski, Matt Crafton, Stage 1 winner Parker Kilgerman, Ryan Preece, Zane Smith and Tyler Ankrum. Crafton, credited with a fifth-place finish, was initially disqualified in post-race inspection, but that penalty was rescinded after a mid-week appeal hearing.

Fifty-eight-year-old Todd Bodine, making his 796th NASCAR national series start en route to 800, finished ninth, posting his first top 10 since 2012.

Friday’s race, the seventh of the Truck Series’ schedule, saw numerous on-track clashes. The most significant collision happened at Lap 99, when a flat tire suffered by Tanner Gray saw his No. 15 truck contact Austin Wayne Self’s No. 22 Chevrolet. Self slid into Chase Purdy, who crashed head-on into the outside wall in Turn 3. Hailie Deegan was also collected.

Defending series champion Ben Rhodes suffered a flat left-rear tire in Turn 1 at Lap 143 for the race’s final caution. Rhodes careened into the outside wall with the right rear of his No. 99 Toyota, suffering major damage before spinning toward the infield.

The Truck Series returns Saturday, May 14 for the Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Staff contributed to this report.

Posted on May 6, 2022May 8, 2022 by Staff Report

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Four NASCAR Cup Series teams failed pre-qualifying inspection twice Friday, leading to a crew member ejection and the loss of pit-stall selection for each team at Darlington Raceway.

RELATED: Weekend schedule

The following teams each lost their car chief and pit selection for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM):

• No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford for driver Kevin Harvick
• No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Kyle Larson
• No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford of Michael McDowell
• No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Alex Bowman

Update from Sunday: The following teams will have to drop to the rear prior to the start of the race.

• No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford for driver Kevin Harvick (no qualifying time and unapproved adjustments)
• No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for driver Chase Elliott (backup car)
• No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for driver Denny Hamlin (unapproved adjustments)
• No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Ford for driver BJ McLeod (no qualifying time and unapproved adjustments)

Cup Series cars did not take to the track Friday, but the garage was open for inspection. There were no three-time failures in the inspection process, which was interrupted by late-afternoon rain showers.

Cup Series practice is scheduled Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET, with Busch Light Pole Qualifying to follow at 11:05 a.m. ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).

Posted on May 6, 2022May 6, 2022 by Staff Report

As Kyle and Samantha Busch get ready to welcome their second child into the world, driver Trevor Bayne will be on standby to pilot the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota if needed, the team confirmed Friday.

Busch, the only active multi-time Cup Series champion, may have to leave the track this weekend at Darlington Raceway or next at Kansas Speedway so he and Samantha can be with the surrogate carrying their baby, should she go into labor.

MORE: Full Darlington schedule | Buy tickets

If so, Bayne will be on-site and ready to hop into the car, which Busch piloted to a victory last month at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Bayne, a former full-timer at the Cup level with Wood Brothers Racing and what is now RFK Racing, joined JGR this season for a limited schedule in the Xfinity Series, with a best finish of third in his debut at Auto Club Speedway in February. He has made 187 career Cup starts in total, famously becoming the youngest winner of the “Great American Race” in the 2011 Daytona 500.

The 31-year-old also has two Xfinity wins in 155 starts and has made eight career Camping World Truck Series starts. His last Cup start came in November 2018 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Posted on May 6, 2022 by Press Release

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (May 5, 2022) – As part of a month-long prelude to the 63rd running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend, Charlotte Motor Speedway continued its Mission 600 campaign Thursday with a visit to the 82nd Airborne’s U.S. Army Advanced Airborne School at Fort Bragg, with Coca-Cola Racing Family driver Austin Dillon and his Richard Childress Racing teammate Tyler Reddick.

Mission 600 is a campaign that pairs NASCAR drivers with military bases designed to educate the NASCAR community about the day-to-day lives of the men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.

“It’s so cool getting to dive into their world a little bit. These guys are true heroes,” said Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. “It’s nice being here and seeing all the men and women who keep this country what it is – the best country in the world. I love Memorial Day Weekend at the race track. I think some of these guys are going to get to come out and I’m glad they’ll get to see what we do too.”

Andrew Coppley

Dillon and Reddick, alongside Charlotte Motor Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Greg Walter, spent the day learning about the equipment and training that paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne receive. With coaching by the 1st Brigade Combat Team, the special guests strapped on parachutes and gear, then leaped from the installation’s 34-foot jump tower. The group also took part in high-stress, live-fire rifle training that mixes exercise and marksmanship.

“We were able to get just a small glimpse of what the everyday training is like and what they are putting themselves through when they are dropped into those combat zones to be prepared physically and mentally,” Reddick said. “The intensity of what they face out here and the intensity in a race car is not really comparable, but for some of the things they’re putting themselves through to train and be ready, you see some of the comparisons to what we do to get ready in the race car.”

Fort Bragg is the largest military installation by population in the U.S., providing the infrastructure and training that enables a ready, capable force to fight and win the nation’s wars. The 82nd Airborne Division is America’s immediate response force — ready to deploy and answer the nation’s call in 18 hours.

“This is another stop on Mission 600 this year, where we take drivers from NASCAR and let them experience what the military does each and every day,” said Greg Walter, executive vice president and general manager at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “We got a little taste of what it takes to get ready to deploy. These paratroopers have to be ready to deploy anywhere in the world on very short notice.

“To see this training on base – and to see Austin and Tyler really get into it and whole-heartedly want to jump out of the airplane – it is a nice reminder of how our sport treats our military. The fact that the Coca-Cola 600 is on the eve of Memorial Day, and how significant that holiday is for our country, we want to be sure we treat it the right way and have great racing.”

At Charlotte Motor Speedway, Memorial Day Weekend provides the opportunity to pay tribute to the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces, particularly those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. The patriotic Coca-Cola 600 pre-race show includes representation from all five major branches of the military.

To date in 2022 on Mission 600, Denny Hamlin virtually met members of U.S. Army Central, Kuwait and Daniel Suarez visited Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach as representatives of the Coca-Cola Racing Family of drivers. Defending Coca-Cola 600 winner Kyle Larson and Jeff Gordon laid a wreath at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Additional Mission 600 visits in the coming weeks leading up to the May 29 Coca-Cola 600 are scheduled to include NASCAR drivers visiting units from the U.S. Marine Corps (at Camp Lejeune) and the U.S. Air Force (virtually with a unit at Camp Ali Al Salem, Kuwait).

Andrew Coppley