Posted on by Terrin Waack

BRISTOL, Tenn. — The Next Gen car is no longer NASCAR’s shiny, new toy. It’s now dirty and two months old.

The dirtiness, of course, is built up and caked on from Bristol Motor Speedway’s temporary surface in place for this weekend. Sunday is the Next Gen’s ninth points race of 2022 and the Cup Series’ second edition of the Food City Dirt Race (7 p.m. ET, FOX). A pair of 50-minute practices were completed Friday on the 0.533-mile makeshift dirt track.

“I basically went from feeling like I was OK, pretty decent at the end of the first practice to the second practice, the entire time, just feeling like I was a bird with no wings,” Martin Truex Jr. said. “I couldn’t do anything. I was just hanging on. I was really slow, couldn’t find any traction on the race track.”

Image From Ios (8)
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

RESULTS: Practice 1 | Practice 2

The entire field was slower in the later go-around. Tyler Reddick set the pace in the first practice, turning a lap in 20.017 seconds at 89.924 mph. Denny Hamlin topped the second leaderboard at 20.638 seconds and 87.218 mph.

Before the 2021 inaugural dirt event, the second practice was also a tick slower than the first, but not as noticeably. The difference between the best times from Alex Bowman and Ryan Blaney was 0.017 seconds and the top speeds was 0.075 mph.

“Last year, we saw the race track like really come apart, get real patchy and have holes, which you can make grip through the holes and give it a bunch of character,” Bowman said. “And this year, it’s just super slick and smooth and a little bit on the bottom, little bit on the top and then a bunch of dust.”

Said Chase Briscoe: “I thought it was interesting how we were running the top versus last year we were always on the bottom. Hopefully, we can race where it’s like that and you can kind of move around and it’s not just stuck on the bottom.”

RELATED: Weekend schedule | Betting odds | Paints schemes

The track, understandably so, got slicker and smoother the more it was raced on during daytime conditions.

Image From Ios (7)
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

There was a Camping World Truck Series practice in between the Cup Series’ slots. As the dirt packed down, though, multiple lanes formed. Bowman and Briscoe each independently noted the top and bottom grooves, and there were also cars running practically in the middle.

“By the end of practice, like (Kyle) Larson and (Christopher) Bell, they were up there, they could do it really good, but I think they both hit the fence pretty hard,” Blaney said. “I was right around the middle. I’m not good enough to run up there consistently like they’re good for honestly. So I was like middle, I thought I had pretty decent grip actually, so yeah, that’s gonna be tough.”

For what it’s worth, Larson and Bell are dirt-racing MVPs outside of NASCAR.

Grip, which Blaney touched on, was another practice highlight. Despite Truex’s traction comment, multiple compliments were tossed around about Goodyear’s new radial this year. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any slipping and sliding as the weekend progresses, especially Saturday when the cars are pushed even harder in their respective qualifying heats (6 p.m. ET, FS2) that’ll ultimately set Sunday’s lineup. The ability to successfully control consistent runs up against the wall may prove to be advantageous.

“You’ll just have to weigh that out as you go,” Chase Elliott said. “Because there might be a certain point in the race where you have to take that risk and then maybe points where don’t need to. We’ll see.”

MORE: See the scenes from the 2022 Bristol Dirt Race weekend

Posted on by Bozi Tatarevic

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.

BRISTOL, Tenn. — The first day of track activity at Bristol was eventful as the Next Gen car made its dirt debut Friday in practice.

With rubber already laid down due to the previous Truck Series practice, track conditions had most drivers following a line down the middle of the track. Some tried to move up the track, but it became tricky and the No. 11 of Denny Hamlin ended up colliding with the wall and limping back to pit road.

RELATED: Full practice speeds

Once Hamlin was out of the car, his crew got to work where they were able to replace an upper control and a toe link while that first practice was wrapping up. Due to the modularity of the Next Gen car, they were able to replace these components quickly and even had time to run the car through tech to verify that everything was back in place before the second practice session started. Those repairs were seemingly back in place as Hamlin was able to head back out for that second practice session and top the chart with a lap time of 87.218 mph (20.638 seconds).

The second practice session proved to be even more eventful as many others followed the path of Hamlin while getting close to the wall and ending up with a stripe on their right side. Dirt aces like Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell were running at the top of the track as the practice session went, and both ended up impacting the wall and leaving stripes on the right side of their cars. Larson sustained damage similar to what was seen on Hamlin’s car while Bell seemingly got off lucky as all of the suspension components on that No. 20 passed team checks.

Similar repairs were happening all along pit road as teams worked on replacing components on the right side of the car. The crew on the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team of William Byron chose to replace the entire front corner of the suspension as an assembly and pulled those parts from their backup car. When multiple suspension components might be damaged on a corner, it is often easier to pull the entire assembly as you can unbolt the control arms and just transfer it over.

Further down pit lane there were other teams similarly replacing toe link or control arms after their drivers got just a little too close to the wall. The crew on the No. 2 Team Penske Ford of Austin Cindric was hard at work replacing the right rear suspension assembly after an on-track impact — and Cindric was helping out by cleaning up his car.

Austin Cindric Main Penske Bristol

Cindric shared that he thought we were seeing some of these suspension components breaking or bending due to the nature of the wall at Bristol being harder than what is seen at some of the larger ovals.

The good news for most teams is that even though there were plenty of right-side impacts, there weren’t a lot of suspension repairs as the composite body on the Next Gen car took the impacts well and snapped back into shape immediately after impact in most cases. Many of the impacts were light enough that the only repair that was required was the replacement of some vinyl. As the No. 11 crew was able to complete the suspension repair prior to the start of the second practice, the team was able to spend time cleaning their car and fixing vinyl after the conclusion of the final practice.

While Bristol dirt might be trying to compete with Darlington for the honor of having a signature stripe, the modularity of the suspension components on the Next Gen car and the composite body panels meant that most repairs could be completed quickly and crews would be able to make it to dinner at a reasonable time.

Posted on by Staff Report

Denny Hamlin capped Friday’s final NASCAR Cup Series practice with the fastest lap on the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track.

Hamlin posted a best speed of 87.218 mph in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Kyle Busch was second-fastest at 87.091 mph in the No. 18 Camry, completing a 1-2 sweep for JGR drivers. Rookie Todd Gilliland, Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell — another Gibbs pilot — completed the top five in the second practice for Sunday’s Food City Dirt Race (7 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).

RELATED: Practice 2 results | Weekend schedule

Like opening practice, several incidents sprang up in the second 50-minute session. Bell, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, Austin Cindric, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., William Byron and Kyle Larson were among the drivers who scraped the outside retaining wall as the grooves widened out during the day.

Ty Dillon turned a 360 in the No. 42 Petty GMS Motorsports Chevrolet at the seven-minute mark. Chase Elliott spun around for the fourth time of the day just 12 minutes in, righting his No. 9 Chevy and continuing.

The event is just the second for NASCAR’s top division on a dirt surface since 1970. Joey Logano won last year’s inaugural event, and his No. 22 Team Penske Ford was 19th-fastest in opening practice, and improved to seventh-fastest in final practice.

Four qualifying heats are scheduled, starting Saturday at 6 p.m. ET (FS2), to set the starting lineup for Sunday evening’s main event.

Tyler Reddick bests field in first practice

Tyler Reddick topped the leaderboard in the first of two Friday practices for the NASCAR Cup Series on Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt track.

Reddick clocked a lap of 89.924 mph in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Chase Briscoe was second fastest on the .533-mile track at 89.753 mph with Kyle Busch, Justin Haley and Kurt Busch completing the top five.

RELATED: Practice 1 results | Dirt race format explained

Reddick was also third on the chart of consecutive 10-lap averages, but said that he expected the track conditions to shift from the late-afternoon practice’s timing to a main event scheduled under the lights.

Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Chris Graythen | Getty Images

“It’s going to be different, like the way it was different last year for this race. From practice to the race was a huge difference,” Reddick said. “But we’re going to be running this race at night on Sunday. This track holds moisture better. There are just a lot of factors that will play into that. The track is going to be different, but I can’t really foresee what it’s going to be like. We kind of have to wait and see how the track is prepped. Certainly, it’s just going to take a lot longer to get to where it did at the end of our practice there when we’re racing under nighttime conditions and the sun isn’t really beating down on the race track.”

The 50-minute session was dotted by a handful of relatively minor incidents. Alex Bowman went for a solo spin just two minutes into the session in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and teammate Chase Elliott looped the No. 9 Chevy out of Turn 4 at the seven-minute mark, then again at the halfway point out of Turn 2 and a third time with 7 1/2 minutes to go.

Briscoe’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford slowed with a flat left-rear tire at the 10-minute marker. Denny Hamlin scraped the right-rear fender with his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 19 minutes in.

“Couldn’t see the corner,” Hamlin told FOX Sports. “The dust was so bad that somebody was about 10 lengths in front of me, and they’re right up against the wall, so it was a ton of dust. I didn’t even see where the corner was, so just was late.”

Ross Chastain added his name to the list with a lazy spin onto the apron with 10 minutes left, and Logano slipped out of the high groove and around in Turn 2 with nearly four minutes remaining. Haley’s spin coincided with the red and black flags that ended the session.

Posted on by Terrin Waack

BRISTOL, Tenn. — The Friesens are a match made on dirt.

Stewart and Jessica Friesen have been married since 2014, and their history of racing against – alongside? – each other dates back well before then, specifically at dirt tracks. That didn’t stop after marriage, nor did it after their son, Parker, was born. In fact, both parents are entered into Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway, with the youngster on site.

“It’s a little bit further than Utica-Rome (Speedway), where we met, you know, sneaking dates at the drivers’ meeting back in early 2000s,” Stewart told NASCAR.com. “Jess was running the sportsman, I was running a modified there, and that’s kind of where we met and all this got started. I never dreamed it would end up here at Bristol, let alone with dirt, our kind of native surface.”

RELATED: Weekend schedule | Bristol paint schemes

The racing duo tried to do this exact same thing last year in the inaugural Bristol dirt weekend, but weather literally washed out the heat races, which Jessica needed in order to qualify into the main event. Before rain ruined her chances to compete, Jessica posted the 19th (of 43) and 27th (of 44) fastest times in the two practices. Stewart then ultimately finished 12th in the feature.

Both Jessica and Stewart raced in the Trucks’ second dirt event in 2021 at Knoxville Raceway, though they wouldn’t call it a big success. Jessica came in 26th. Stewart placed 27th.

“Last year, I felt like Bambi on ice,” Jessica said. “I was not super. I was a little tough on Stewart. We had to totally change a lot of things on the trucks at Knoxville.” Image From Ios (6)

Stewart, a Trucks full-timer and team co-owner, was in his usual No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota. Jessica ran the organization’s No. 62 entry.

“Over the winter, our guys went to work,” Stewart said. “We hacked up both the dirt trucks and made a lot of changes from the frame up through the bodywork and everything. That was all due to a lot of Jess’ feedback and her hammering on Trip (Bruce, general manager), saying we gotta get these better.

“So, hopefully, we can unload in practice and see those results.”

The Trucks’ first practice on Bristol’s dirt began Friday at 3 p.m. ET. Stewart topped the leaderboard, turning the 0.533-mile loop in 19.369 seconds at 92.932 mph. Jessica checked in 31st (of 37) with 20.369 seconds and 88.37 mph.

MORE: Full practice results

The second and final run set for 5:35 p.m. ET, live on FS1. Qualifying – which will consist of four 15-lap heats – is Saturday, starting at 4:30 p.m. ET (FS2). The main feature – Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt – is then at 8 p.m. ET (FS1).

Like last season’s attempt, Jessica will need to qualify into the finale. Stewart, running for points, is guaranteed a spot. As long as one of the teammates wields Bristol’s sword in Victory Lane, they’re a happy family.

“We’re always the first ones to kind of tell each other when somebody is wrong, definitely,” Jessica said. “He’s the first one to critique me when I need to do something better or something needs to be changed.”

Said Stewart: “Which doesn’t happen too often. I mean, you don’t really make too many mistakes.”

Posted on by Track Release

CONCORD, N.C. — Earlier this week, Coca-Cola Racing Family driver and team owner Denny Hamlin met via zoom with troops from U.S. Army Central and the U.S. Army 163rd Cavalry Regiment from Camp Buehring, Kuwait, as Charlotte Motor Speedway kicked off its 2022 Mission 600. As a prelude to the 63rd running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend, Mission 600 is designed to honor the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces by pairing drivers with military bases to educate the NASCAR community about the day-to-day lives of the men and women who serve.

Separated by more than 6,800 miles, Hamlin and the troops found plenty of common ground during their hour-long conversation, which covered topics ranging from leadership and teamwork to training regimes and the differences in shift patterns between a military tank and Next Gen race car.

RELATED: Attend the Coca-Cola 600 or other NASCAR races

Hamlin was even given a personal tour of the inner workings of an M1A1 Abrams tank and introduced to each member of the tank’s four-person crew, who talked through their respective roles and responsibilities as commander, gunner, loader and driver.

“When they get out there, they know what they’re doing,” said SSG Thomas Moore. “But it doesn’t happen unless we do have that leadership, we have that capability. Like the captain was saying about being on the battlefield, being coordinated, especially with the medical crews, the retrieval crews, that’s just like your pit crew. We have those roles that are ready to go at a moment’s notice.”

Following the tour, members of the unit showered Hamlin — a 17-year NASCAR driver and more recently co-owner of 23XI Racing — with questions about balancing his dual roles as driver and owner, how he stays in shape to handle the rigors of a 130-degree race car and who some of his mentors were coming up through the racing ranks.

“What the normal person would not be able to do inside of our cars, deal with the heat,” Hamlin said. “Maybe you guys, because it does not look cool inside those tanks. But you know, it’s 130 to 140 (degrees) in the car usually. And we’re in there for four hours and there’s not AC blowing or anything like that.”

“About the 130-degrees in the car, that’s kind of what it is outside here,” Moore joked.

https://twitter.com/CLTMotorSpdwy/status/1514740461726052354?s=20&t=isdRc1XLnEBdMuzRRGhiIA

Hamlin’s virtual visit is the first of six engagements that are planned for the 2022 Mission 600 campaign. In the coming weeks, fellow Coca-Cola Racing drivers Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon are scheduled to visit Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach and Fort Bragg, respectively, while Joey Logano is expected to visit virtually with an overseas U.S. Air Force unit. Additionally, Kurt Busch will make a trip to Camp Lejeune and Kyle Larson — the defending Coca-Cola 600 winner — will visit Arlington National Cemetery.

“The connection of our military and our driving community and fans really embodies what the Coca-Cola 600 is all about,” said Greg Walter, executive vice president and general manager at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “One of the wonderful things about our sport is the sense of patriotism that our fans have, that our athletes like Denny have — a true appreciation for what our servicemen and women do each and every day. What Mission 600 does is bring those two worlds together.”

Posted on by Terrin Waack

BULLS GAP, Tenn. — For the first time in his 24 years of life, eight of which have been spent professionally racing stock cars, William Byron strapped into a Late Model and powered it around a dirt track.

Truth be told, his debut wasn’t always the prettiest. Byron spun more than once throughout the action-packed Thursday night at Tennessee’s Volunteer Speedway, including during his opening run in qualifying hot laps. But he kept at it. He even competed in not just one but ultimately two races. Image From Ios (30)

“I could go do asphalt Late Model races and compete for wins, and that’s a little bit different than this,” Byron told NASCAR.com. “This was more just to put myself in a different environment and see what happens. So, hopefully, I can do a lot more of it and kind of learn behind the scenes, not learn under pressure so much. But it was definitely good to just get some experience around these guys and kind of know what I have to build towards.

“Yeah, it was cool.”

RELATED: See the scenes from Volunteer Speedway

Byron advanced out of the heat races into a B-Main, in which he finished 10th out of 11. His NASCAR Cup Series teammate, Kyle Larson, however, was the promoter of the overall event – officially called the inaugural FloRacing Late Model Challenge powered by Tezo – and was able to gift Byron his promoter’s provisional, a guaranteed spot in the feature race.

The finale was a 50-lap shootout with 25 competitors. Byron came in 24th. Larson crossed fourth behind winner Mike Marlar, runner-up Jimmy Owens and third-place Scott Bloomquist.

“The field was really tough,” Larson said. “A lot of these drivers are every bit as good as what Kyle Busch would be in a Cup car.”

Busch is a two-time Cup Series champion, the only current multi-time champ in the premier series garage. Larson is the reigning titleholder.

Larson, who is just as successful in the dirt world as he is within the stock realm, knows one can’t compare a Cup car to a Late Model, especially when it comes to dirt. A Late Model is built for the surface type. Cup is not; it only races on dirt once a year as of last year. That weekend just so happens to be this weekend, with the second Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway scheduled for Sunday (7 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).

BRISTOL DIRT: Weekend schedule | Qualifying, race format | Cup entry list

Image From Ios (25)That may have played a small part in Byron’s decision to enter Larson’s showdown, but it wasn’t the sole reason, as he himself noted earlier.

“It was cool for him to show up and do it,” Larson said. “Obviously, way different than what he grew up doing. So yeah, neat that he was willing to kind of step way out of his comfort zone and try something really different.”

This wasn’t really out of his comfort zone given his NASCAR history, but just last week at Martinsville Speedway, Byron ran just his second Camping World Truck Series race since 2016 — and won.

Afterward, when asked about the rather unexpected seat add, he said, “I’m just having fun.” The spontaneous dirt adventure tracks more so there than Bristol prep.

It’s not always about winning, especially at the very beginning of a new endeavor.

“I was just trying to get up to speed,” Byron said. “I don’t have any laps in these cars, so just figuring out how they feel and what to do. But it was a lot of fun, for sure.”

Posted on by Cara Cooper

When Jennerstown Speedway Complex general manager Bill Hribar was in Florida visiting New Smyrna Speedway in February for the track’s annual Speedweeks, he ran into some old friends who now work in NASCAR. They all started talking about the possibility of adding Jennerstown to the list of NASCAR-sanctioned short tracks, and, he said, “Next thing you know, we started talking at the table with a NASCAR sanctioning agreement.”

It was about two or three weeks after Hribar returned from Florida that Jennerstown came to an agreement with NASCAR. The Jennerstown, Pennsylvania, half-mile oval became the 45th NASCAR-sanctioned short track in the United States and Canada.

“It’s been an incredible experience,” Hribar said in a phone interview this week. “There hasn’t been one person in NASCAR that hasn’t been amazing to work with so far.”

RELATED: Jennerstown officially returns to Weekly Series

Jennerstown Speedway
Jennerstown Speedway (Nate Smallwood/NASCAR)

It’s been about 15 years since Jennerstown was a part of NASCAR. The track closed in 2008 and was not NASCAR-sanctioned at that time. Back then, Jennerstown had a sister track, Motordrome Speedway, about an hour away in West Newton, Pennsylvania.

Hribar grew up a mile from Motordrome, and he eventually started racing there himself.

“That was my entire childhood. I spent every Friday night there,” he said. “When I got my first teaching job in 2007, the very first purchase I made was for a race car to race at Motordrome Speedway.”

His knowledge of racing and his involvement in the fire department and other local organizations in the community helped Hribar move from behind the wheel to the management side of the sport.

“You meet some of the greatest people of your life in racing, and I met one of the current owners there,” he said. “The owner asked if I would help out at Motordrome and kind of give it a breath of fresh air.”

Hribar and others had an agreement to purchase Motordrome in 2013, but the deal didn’t work out. A year later, he got a call saying, “We’re going to Jennerstown.”

“I thought he was kind of crazy,” Hribar said. “It’s an hour away, and I didn’t really know many people.

“Long story short, I went in front of six individuals, spoke for about two-and-a-half hours about what I wanted to do and how to make it work, and here we are eight years later, and I’m running the place.”

Hribar has been at Jennerstown since it reopened in 2014. He started as basically a volunteer, got a little more involved in 2015, and was named general manager before the 2016 season.

The track has been through several different owners in that time, but it has continued to grow.

It was that growth that convinced Hribar and others it was time to go NASCAR-sanctioned.

“I believe timing is everything in this sport,” he said. “We feel we’ve got a pretty good foundation underneath us.”

Jennerstown Speedway
Jennerstown Speedway (Nate Smallwood/NASCAR)

Hribar said the response has been “remarkable” since Jennerstown made the NASCAR announcement, from the drivers to the sponsors to the fans. When they made the announcement, they were on a Facebook live stream, and almost immediately, he said, their phones were “just going ballistic.”

“And it was from some of the people you would never expect to hear from in regards to that,” he said. ” Even if they were in favor, you wouldn’t expect them to reach out. It has been nothing but positive support from everyone involved. It’s opened up numerous opportunities for the speedway, for drivers, sponsors. It has been a win-win the whole way around, and NASCAR has been amazing to work with.”

Jennerstown hopes to continue to grow in 2022. Hribar said the track recently completed a $350,000 LED lighting project. They redid the VIP area and press box, and they’re currently redoing all the bleachers and some spots in the pit area.

Completing these projects and bringing Jennerstown back to prominence has, most importantly, revived the excitement for short track racing in Southwest Pennsylvania. Before the track re-opened, Hribar said what the sport was missing in the area was consistency.

“You had individuals opening and running the racetracks, and you wouldn’t know until March of the following year if the racetrack was even going to be there,” he said. “So people weren’t willing to invest in their cars, the equipment or the facility not knowing, that uncertainty.

“So we made it quite clear the gentlemen involved, and still are involved, we’re the real deal. They’re investing their time, energy and money into making the speedway successful.”

The biggest reflection of Jennerstown’s success has been in the car count and the fans in the stands. Last year, the track had 34 cars in their top Late Model division collect points, something Hribar said “this region and part of the country hasn’t seen in decades.”

The track is also averaging between 4,000-4,500 fans a week, he added.

“Low and behold, when you pay your bills and treat people with respect, they want to come to your facility,” Hribar added. “And we actually saw people. A gentleman here who hadn’t raced in 20-something years came back. Other people who hadn’t raced in 15, 16 years. Everybody wants to be part of Jennerstown Speedway, and it’s just like a revitalization, and it’s been great.”

Hribar still teaches high school manufacturing full time, and he doesn’t race any more himself. While he said he can’t compare racing to being the general manager of a track, and can’t say which role he likes more, he couldn’t imagine being in any other position at this time. To him, he’s doing a lot more good on that side of the track, and being the GM “scratches the itch where I’m still involved in racing and doing a lot more good on this side of things.”

What he’s most excited about this season is seeing everyone again — from his drivers to the fans to everyone else involved with Jennerstown’s growth.

The track held a registration party last weekend, and Hribar said people came out in droves to support the track and get excited for the 2022 season.

“We’re really excited,” he said. “The 2021 season was probably the most remarkable for Jennerstown, not just in our years but any other years combined.

“In every other year it seems like there’s always, I don’t want to say down time, but you don’t have that adrenaline rush. I live off adrenaline, and all offseason you wait for that to kick back in. Well, I can confidently tell you the adrenaline rush hasn’t stopped since September of last year, and ever since we’ve made the NASCAR deal … It is full speed ahead for everyone involved.”

Jennerstown will hold its first practice day on April 23 and a second practice on April 30. The track will open the season on May 7.

Jennerstown is also one of 21 tracks currently competing for the Advance Auto Parts Advance My Track Challenge for a $50,000 prize. To learn more or vote for your favorite track, go to https://www.advancemytrack.com/.

Posted on by Press Release

When the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to Lee USA Speedway for the first time in more than two decades next month, race fans are going to be in for quite the treat in the inaugural Granite State Derby, promoted by JDV Productions.

Headlined by the 175-lap Whelen Modified Tour race, which will have various tire strategies to keep track of at one of the most abrasive tracks in the region, the Granite State Derby will have multiple different types of race cars battling throughout the day. There will be a little bit of something for everyone on Saturday, May 21, at New Hampshire’s Center of Speed, as the Modifieds, Pro Stocks, Mini Stocks and winged Midgets will all be in action.

RELATED: Buy tickets to JDV’s Modified Tour events

Fans will get a taste of high-powered Modified thunder in two separate divisions — the Whelen Modified Tour and the Pro 4 Modifieds — both standout divisions in New England for many years. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s most recent visit to Lee was in 1998, and although some of the drivers have competed in other races at the track in the last decade alone, many of them will have their first experience at the track with the element of pit stops in play. When will teams elect to take their fresh tires? Will they take them earlier in the race and hope for a long green flag run to the finish? Will they wait until the final few laps and hope for a late caution to blast them on and make a dash through the field? It’s all a guessing game that will keep fans engaged for the whole distance.

The 175-lap Tour race will also serve as the first of three events in the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup, a three-race series that will begin at Lee, continue at Monadnock Speedway on June 18 and conclude at Claremont Motorsports Park on Friday, July 29, when a champion will be crowned. Driver point totals will be kept, and the champion will be the driver who totals the most points over the three races. The incentive bonus program for the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup is now more than $15,000 in extra bonus awards.

“The inaugural Granite State Derby at Lee is going to be a perfect kick-off to a busy JDV Productions schedule for the 2022 season,” said Josh Vanada, owner of JDV Productions. “We’re looking forward to watching so many different divisions on the same day at Lee. You have the Modifieds, which need no introduction with their ground pounding excitement, along with Pro Stocks, Mini Stocks and Midgets, all on the same day. On top of everything else we will have going on at the track, this is a can’t miss race day for race fans.”

The Pro 4 Modifieds, one of the longest standing New England touring divisions, will roar into Lee looking to showcase both the veterans and rising stars of the region. Their 25-lap feature is sure to be a tightly-contested battle that will go down to the wire.

On the fendered side, the Granite State Pro Stock Series will join the JDV Productions events for the first of two times during the 2022 season at Lee. In what will be the third race of the series for the New Hampshire-based touring division, similar to the Modifieds, tire conservation will be a hot topic in their 100-lap race. The only difference: Teams will have to run the entire race on the same four tires, meaning those drivers who save the best will have the most at the end of the race to chase for the trophy.

The GSPSS entry list, to be released closer to the day of the race, is expected to be strong, as teams will be looking to grab as many laps as possible ahead of their $10,000-to-win race at the track in July.

On the winged side, another one of New England’s longest running divisions, the NEMA Lites, will rocket around the track at fast speeds for 25 laps of their own. The NEMA Lites, a division tied to the NEMA Midgets, is used as a more affordable class, but also one that showcases both veterans and rising stars. Many of the drivers who compete in the NEMA Lites eventually become NEMA Midget winners, while names like Randy Cabral, a multiple-time NEMA Midget champion, also dip down into the NEMA Lites to race. The division is familiar with the .375-oval and will have another exciting race in the cards.

And finally, the NHSTRA Mini Stocks will race in a special Battle For The Belt event, set for 50 laps. As one of the more affordable divisions in racing, the Mini Stocks are one of many divisions part of the Battle for the Belt Series in New Hampshire, where the division competes across multiple tracks for glory. The rules are the same across all tracks in the NHSTRA banner, which includes Lee, Claremont Motorsports Park, Monadnock Speedway and Hudson Speedway.

The Mini Stock drivers are no strangers to the long straightaways at Lee and will be excited to race for the checkered flag in a bit of a longer race. Don’t let the laps fool you, though. Racing will be hot and heavy right from the drop of the first green flag through the entire distance.

Tickets for the inaugural Granite State Derby are available today at JDVProductions.com. Tickets for all four JDV events during the 2022 season are also available.. Tickets also include the opportunity to purchase an exclusive pass in the JDV Experience, where fans will get select marquee seating, a private autograph session, concession stand vouchers and more.

For more information on JDV Productions, visit JDVProductions.com and follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.

Posted on by Staff Report

The hype for Darlington Raceway’s annual throwback weekend is continuing to build.

Josh Berry, driver of the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, is the latest to reveal his scheme for the Mahindra ROXOR 200 on May 7 — and it’s a good one.

Berry’s brightly-colored tribute is a nod to team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 2002 Xfinity Series (then-Busch Series) win at Richmond Raceway, featuring the mischievous monster Gossamer from Looney Tunes on the hood and family-favorite Bugs Bunny on the decklid.

RELATED: 2022 Xfinity Series season schedule | Alex Bowman pays tribute to Mark Martin

Twitter 222x8 Tire Pros Throwback 1

Wednesday evening, the JR Motorsports Twitter handle teased the reveal, hinting at inspiration from Dale Jr.’s notable car graveyard.

Earnhardt gathered two series championships and 24 races en route to his NASCAR Hall of Fame career. Berry’s first series victory (and second) came in 2021 when he earned a part-time ride with the Earnhardt-owned team. His prowess in the limited stint earned him a full-time opportunity this season and has been a key member of the organization’s success, with four top 10s in eight races.

Graphic credits: JR Motorsports

Posted on by Staff Report

Christopher Bell was five weeks removed from his first career NASCAR Cup Series win — the 2021 O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 — when he arrived in March 2021 at Bristol Motor Speedway for the first Cup Series dirt race since 1970. 

He was a three-time Chili Bowl Nationals champion who won at Eldora Speedway in his third career Camping World Truck Series race and was one of the most experienced dirt-track drivers in the 39-car lineup for the Food City Dirt Race.

That was enough for BetMGM oddsmakers to place Bell in front of 37 of the other drivers in NASCAR odds. 

RELATED: Weekend schedule for Bristol dirt | Who has the best odds on Sunday?

At +800 to win — his best odds ever entering a Cup Series race — Bell was well below the favorite, Kyle Larson (+280). But it was still a resounding vote of confidence for the then-26-year-old with only 42 career Cup Series starts. Those starts were less than 10% of several others beneath him on the odds board, including Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick.

And for 52 laps at the “World’s Dirtiest Half-Mile,” Bell delivered on the hype; he was running second behind Truex midway through Stage 1 before spinning out, leading to a 34th-place finish.

Despite the result, oddsmakers and the public evidently saw enough to deliver another vote of confidence this year. 

Once again, Bell sits behind Larson at +800, the second-best odds on the board as of Wednesday, though the gap is narrower; Larson is +450 one year after his No. 5 Chevrolet was damaged in Bell’s wreck and finished 29th.

“I passed Joey Logano early in the race last year before I spun out,” Bell told the Johnson City Press, referring to an early pass of Logano, the eventual winner. “That’s good to have that confidence in my head. All the dirt racers, we got a lot of them in the Cup Series now. So it’s not going to be an easy race by any means.”

Bell, Larson, and Logano are included in BetMGM’s featured matchups this weekend in the Food City Dirt Race:

Kyle Larson (-130) vs. Christopher Bell (+100)

Kyle Larson dropped four spots to a season-low sixth in this week’s NASCAR Power Rankings after a 19th-place finish at Martinsville, his fifth finish outside the top 15 in the last six races. 

He did not, however, drop in Cup Series championship odds, still sitting atop the board at +550, narrowly ahead of Chase Elliott (+700) and William Byron (+700) and far ahead of Bell (+2200) and others.

Larson, a two-time Chili Bowl Nationals champion, gets another crack at the Bristol dirt this weekend and must, at minimum, finish ahead of Bell to earn his second win of the season. 

And many BetMGM bettors believe that’ll happen; as of Wednesday, Larson had the highest ticket (11%) and handle shares (22.4%) to win the race and 97% of tickets and 96% of the handle in the head-to-head against Bell.

Joey Logano (-145) vs. Martin Truex Jr., (+115)

Joey Logano won Stage 2 last year en route to his lone win of 2021 and just his second win since early 2020. And after relishing the uniqueness and nostalgia of winning the first Cup Series dirt race at Bristol — his third career Cup Series win at Bristol — he returns with hopes of becoming the ninth different driver to win the 62-year-old race in back-to-back years.

For what it’s worth, Logano ranks sixth in top-five finishes, seventh in laps led, and fifth in wins at Bristol among active drivers. He’s had significantly more success at the iconic track than his head-to-head opponent this week, Martin Truex Jr., who was in position for his first Bristol win (in 31 career starts) at last year’s race before a late flat tire.

The public is buying Logano in race-winner betting — fourth-highest shares in both tickets and handle — but Truex has 89% of the handle in the featured matchup.

William Byron (-125) vs. Alex Bowman (-105)

William Byron became the year’s first multi-win driver with last weekend’s triumph at Martinsville and now sits a career-high third in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, just nine points behind Ryan Blaney and 12 points behind Chase Elliot. And his bid for a second straight win will include a dirt warmup on Thursday in Kyle Larson’s Late Model Challenge at Volunteer Speedway.

Alex Bowman, meanwhile, is seeking a seventh straight top-15 finish since opening the season 24th at Daytona and 25th at Fontana. And with a win, he’d join Byron as the only drivers with multiple wins this season.

The public isn’t convinced of that happening, though; Bowman has only 1.5% of tickets and 1.4% of the handle in race-winner betting and barely any action against Byron in this featured matchup. Byron is dominating both tickets (98%) and handle (99%).

Chase Briscoe (-155) vs. Daniel Suárez (+120)

Pulling double dirt duty last year, Chase Briscoe finished 20th in the Food City Dirt Race and fifth in the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt. The former teenage dirt-track superstar won’t be behind the wheel of Roper Racing’s No. 4 Ford truck this year, but he will be behind the wheel of his No. 14 Ford on Sunday in search of his second win this season.

Only Larson, Bell, and Chase Elliott have a higher share of the race-winner handle than Briscoe (5.6%). Daniel Suárez, however, has 72% of the handle (on a 50/50 ticket split) in their head-to-head.

You can view updated Food City Dirt Race odds and more NASCAR betting odds at the BetMGM online sportsbook.