JDV Productions announces Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup bonus program

Posted on March 17, 2022March 17, 2022 by Staff Report

ATTLEBORO, Mass. – JDV Productions announced today the addition of a Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup bonus program for teams who will compete in the three NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour New Hampshire races JDV will promote in 2022.

The program includes over $15,000 in posted bonuses – on top of the regular purses offered for the events – headlined by a champion bonus for the team owner of the driver who earns the most points across the three races. NASCAR’s point system will be used to determine the champion of the three-race series – and the champion will be awarded $5,000. Second-place in the points will earn $2,000 and third will earn $1,000.

This means a total of $8,000 alone will go towards this special points system for the three-race series. And that isn’t the only group of incentives on the line for teams to compete in all three events. If a driver can sweep all three races and end up with the race win in all of them, the team owner of that driver will also go home with an additional $5,000.

The Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup bonus program includes events at Lee USA Speedway on May 21, Monadnock Speedway on June 18 and Claremont Motorsports Park on July 29. Based on current NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour purse offerings, the events will all pay lucrative purses to win and throughout the field, along with these special bonuses.

“Our partnership with Whelen has enabled us to tie our three New Hampshire races together under the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup banner,” Josh Vanada, owner of JDV Productions, said. “In doing so, we are enticing and rewarding teams who commit to compete in all three of these events. Our bonus program stands tall – offering an additional $15,000 to NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour car owners and drivers who compete on New Hampshire’s short tracks. We’re very proud to pay premium purses to NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour teams and are grateful for Whelen Engineering and their support to add even more to the pot.”

Outside of points from each event, multiple bonuses are also on the line at each specific race. The Invader Bonus, Hard Charger Bonus, Lap Leader Bonus and Consistency Bonus will all be offered. Between the four of them, an additional $2,500 is on the line.

For $200 per race, the Challenger Bonus will be paid to the highest finishing driver in each event who has competed in less than 50% of the races on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in the past two seasons. The Hard Charger Bonus, also for $200 per race, will be awarded to the driver who improves the most positions from their starting to finishing position.

The Lap Leader Bonus will be set for $500, distributed to the driver who leads the most total laps over the three events. The Consistency Bonus, offered to the driver who scores the lowest average finish across the three races, will earn $800. Both the Lap Leader Bonus and the Consistency Bonus will be paid out following the final of the three races.

Overall, the bonus program will offer an additional $15,500 on top of the purses for each event.

“I’m excited to have the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at my home tracks here in New Hampshire this year,” Cory Plummer, who will field a car for Steven Dickey at Lee, and a driver TBA in the other two events, said. “The bonus program that Josh and Whelen Engineering have put together really made the decision easy for us. It’s more financially feasible to enter a race in these circumstances.”

JDV Productions kicks-off their 2022 season with the first of the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup races at Lee USA Speedway for the Granite State Derby on Saturday, May 21. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 175 will be joined by the Granite State Pro Stock Series and multiple of Lee’s house divisions. On Saturday, May 28, JDV celebrates Memorial Day weekend at Jennerstown Speedway with the Jennerstown Salutes 150 for the second straight year. New for this year, the Jennerstown Pro Stocks and Fast 4’s will be part of the lineup.

On Saturday, June 18, Monadnock Speedway will host the third JDV race of the year, the Duel at the Dog 200, also joined by the Granite State Pro Stock Series and select track house divisions. The final race of the season for JDV will be the Clash at Claremont Motorsports Park on Friday, July 29. This event will also include Claremont house divisions, and will serve as the crowning of the champion of the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup.

Posted on March 17, 2022March 19, 2022 by Zach Sturniolo

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to the East Coast to a brand-new version of Atlanta Motor Speedway.

As part of a repave, the 1.5-mile oval was also reconfigured with higher banking.

Learn all about the new track details, car configurations, odds and much more ahead of Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NEW LOOK, NEW RULES

Atlanta’s facelift features a widened front straightaway and a significant increase in banking, moving from 24 degrees to 28 degrees and becoming the steepest-banked intermediate track on the schedule. The widened frontstretch, though, is coupled with tighter turns as the width shrinks from 55 feet to 40 feet.

The high banks make for higher speeds, so NASCAR will implement many similar elements from its superspeedway configurations. Cars will be outfitted in the same 510-horsepower, 7-inch spoiler configuration utilized at both Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

Additionally, all racing must be done within the inside painted line. The boundary will be enforced throughout the weekend, so no passes will be permitted beneath the line. The choose rule will also be in effect throughout the race, so look for strategy to play out there.

LOGGING LAPS

After inclement weather put a block on Friday’s on-track sessions, Saturday’s schedule was updated to reflect the changes. Instead of Saturday’s original qualifying session, Friday’s postponed practice session will take its place beginning at 12:40 p.m. ET. The session will remain 50 minutes.

Cup Series qualifying was canceled and the starting lineup for Sunday’s race was determined by the NASCAR Rule Book.

ATLANTA HISTORY

— Atlanta Motor Speedway took shape in 1960, later than scheduled thanks to poor weather that delayed construction in 1959.

— Weather has long been a factor at the track, including a 1993 snowstorm and Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 that pushed the September race back to Tuesday.

— Speedway Motorsports acquired the track in 1990 as a symmetrical 1.5-mile oval. In 1997, the track was repaved and reconfigured into a 1.54-mile quad oval, featuring a dogleg on the front stretch, which was previously used as the facility’s back straightaway.

— The season finale was scheduled at Atlanta from 1986-2001, although the 2001 fall race became the year’s penultimate race following New Hampshire’s postponement.

— This season’s renovations mark the track’s first repave since 1997 and also tightened the corner width from 55 feet to 40 feet.

Source: Racing Insights

GOODYEAR TIRES

In recent years, one of Goodyear’s most daunting challenges stemmed from Atlanta’s aged and abrasive surface. Its recent repave creates a new task for Goodyear.

“Atlanta has always been a major challenge from a tire standpoint, but the reason for that challenge has changed dramatically since our last race there,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “Last season, Atlanta was the most worn surface on the circuit, aggressively wearing tires and calling for four-tire stops at every opportunity. Now that the track has been repaved in the off-season, the challenge has shifted to that of a smooth surface that will not naturally wear tires much at all. Tire wear is a positive in racing because as the tire wears, it sheds rubber. This helps to dissipate the heat generated from the high level of grip and speed, keeping the tire at a more optimal performance level. The tread compounds for Atlanta have been formulated to operate in these low-wear conditions.”

ATLANTA STORY LINES

— Then driving a Chevrolet, Kurt Busch’s win in July 2021 ended Ford’s five-win streak at Atlanta.

— Eight of the last nine Atlanta winners picked up their first victory of the season.

— Kurt Busch became the only Stage 2 winner at Atlanta to also win the race. Kevin Harvick (2018) is the only Stage 1 winner to do so.

— Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick are the only drivers to appear in the series’ top 10 for average finishes at both 1.5-mile tracks and superspeedways.

— Chase Briscoe became the 10th consecutive driver under the age of 30 to win a Cup race, the longest streak in NASCAR history.

— Chase Elliott is winless in the last 20 races, his longest winless streak since scoring his first career win. He has led 861 laps and finished second three times in that stretch.

— The laps-led leader in a race has yet to go to Victory Lane in 2022.

— Only four drivers have finished inside the top 20 in each of the first four races: Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch and Ty Dillon.

Source: Racing Insights

WHERE’S YOUR MONEY GOING?

Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson opened at 9-1 favorites, according to BetMGM, but not all odds are created equally in this case.

While there are no guarantees in racing, Blaney is the obvious pick this weekend. The Team Penske driver has one win (March 2021) and three top fives in his last three starts at Atlanta, and if Sunday’s race plays out like a superspeedway, he’s got you covered there too with three superspeedway victories to his name. Expect the No. 12 Ford out front.

At 12-1 odds, also give Kyle Busch a look. Busch hasn’t won at Atlanta since 2013 but consider this — his two Atlanta victories came in the newest generation of car’s first race around the 1.5-miler. The two-time series champion won the 2008 Atlanta debut of the Car of Tomorrow and backed it up five years later by winning the first Gen 6 event at Atlanta. No, he hasn’t won a superspeedway race since winning both Daytona and Talladega in 2008, but perhaps the new layout provides another quirky first for Kyle Busch.

FANTASY LIVE

Want to manage a team and race your way to the top of the leaderboards? Check out NASCAR Fantasy Live, which is open now. 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 Joey Logano (134 points), Kyle Busch (125 points) and Chase Elliott (125 points).

How to play: Fantasy Live | Set up a team today!

ALSO ON NASCAR.COM

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.

Posted on March 17, 2022 by Staff Report

Before Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), try your hand at some props on the race ranging from who will win a featured matchup to where a driver will finish.

Battle of the teams

Featured Matchups of the Week

Race-specific data props

Posted on March 17, 2022 by Staff Report

Kurt Busch entered the first turn of Lap 171 with the lead in the Quaker State 400 last July. But, after a restart to replace a chunk of asphalt at Atlanta Motor Speedway, many eyes were beyond Busch’s No. 1 Chevy and Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Chevy (in second place) as the pack ran three- and four-wide around the 55-foot, 24-degree turn.

No one will run four-wide this weekend in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, the first Atlanta race since last summer. And three-wide will be rare, if not out of the question, after the track’s makeover last fall.

“It’s completely changed with the banking, the fresh asphalt,” Busch said after testing the new track in January. “It’s a clean slate and the Next Gen car is a clean slate and so . . . [this] was a big day with excitement and anticipation of how the track would drive and how it would feel.”

That new track smell and feel. Good job @amsupdates. Send it! pic.twitter.com/21tYJtYIIk

— Kurt Busch (@KurtBusch) January 5, 2022

The 62-year-old track — with a 24-year-old surface — is “completely changed” with 28-degree banking and widths of 40 feet in the turns, 42 feet on the backstretch, and 61 feet, six inches on the front.

Home state hero Chase Elliott is seeking his first win in his eighth NASCAR Cup Series races at the now-steepest intermediate track on the schedule. And to get his first win Sunday, he’ll need to at a minimum, finish ahead of Denny Hamlin.

Elliott is paired against Hamlin in one of four outstanding Featured Matchups for BetMGM’s NASCAR betting in the Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500:

Chase Elliott (-110) vs. Denny Hamlin (-110)

Chase Elliott’s two most recent top-10 finishes at Atlanta – of five total in only seven Cup Series starts – sandwich a 38th-place finish at last year’s Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500 when a blown engine ended his day on the 221st lap.

Denny Hamlin, meanwhile, finished fourth in that race and ranks fifth in average finish (8.25), fourth in low finish (13th), and seventh in average rating (102.6) in Atlanta’s four races since 2019.

As of Wednesday, March 16, Elliott and Hamlin are tied for the third-highest winner odds at +1200 and have similar ticket and handle shares; Elliott ranks third in tickets – 5.9% to Hamlin’s fifth-ranked 4.7% – and eighth in handle – 4.6% to Hamlin’s seventh-ranked 5.4%.

Their Featured Matchup betting, however, is not similar. Ninety-five percent of tickets are on Elliott to finish ahead of Hamlin, accounting for 75% of the handle.

Kyle Larson (-110) vs. Ryan Blaney (-110)

Ryan Blaney made contact with Kevin Harvick in the four-wide first turn on the 171st lap last March but maintained control en route to his fifth career Cup Series win. Now a seven-time winner coming off a most laps-lead fourth-place finish last weekend at Phoenix, he returns to Georgia with three straight top-four finishes at the track.

In a head-to-head with Kyle Larson, whose average Atlanta rating of 118.9 since 2019 is six full points higher than any other driver, Blaney has just 2% of the tickets and 4% of the handle.

Larson, one year removed from a staggering driver rating of 144.8 in last spring’s second-place finish, has also been more popular in race-winner betting; he has 18.7% of the race winner handle, nearly 12 percentage points higher than Blaney (7.5%) and more than 9 points higher than the next-highest driver, Tyler Reddick (9.6%).

Tyler Reddick (-115) vs. Chase Briscoe (-105)

Tyler Reddick and the BetMGM-sponsored No. 8 Chevy jumped to ninth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with a third-place finish at Phoenix, his third straight week-to-week improvement after the season-opening wreck at Daytona.

Reddick finished 26th in this race last year but has had some past success, finishing no worse than 19th in six other races across the Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Camping World Truck Series over the last seven years.

As of Wednesday, he’s commanding 99% of the tickets and 89% of the handle in a Featured Matchup with Chase Briscoe, who finished 15th and 23rd in last year’s Atlanta starts, the first of his Cup Series career.

Reddick is also featured in three pre-packaged parlays at BetMGM, including Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick to both finish in the top 10 (+165).

Bubba Wallace (-120) vs. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (+100)

Bubba Wallace has three straight finishes of 19th or worse entering this weekend and hasn’t finished better than 14th in five career races at Atlanta. He has, however, done well at superspeedways of late, finishing second, first, and second in his last three races at Daytona and Talladega.

That success may be contributing to his overwhelming ticket (93%) and handle (98%) shares against Ricky Stenhouse Jr., but Wallace is still buried in race-winner odds (+3300) and has received fewer tickets than Stenhouse (4% to 3.2%)

You can view updated Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500 odds and more NASCAR odds at the BetMGM online sportsbook.

Posted on March 16, 2022March 17, 2022 by Staff Report

Two different National Motorsports Appeals Panels upheld penalties Wednesday against Kaulig Racing’s No. 31 team and Front Row Motorsports’ No. 38 for their respective safety violations in early-season races.

—–

For Kaulig Racing, crew chief Trent Owens and crew members Jacob Nelson (tire changer) and Marshall McFadden (jackman) had appealed the penalty after the No. 31 Chevrolet lost a wheel during the season-opening Daytona 500. The three-member panel denied that appeal, deciding that the three violated Section 10.5.2.6 (Safety Penalties and Penalty Options) in the NASCAR Rule Book and affirming the original penalty.

Owens, Nelson and McFadden were suspended for four races each in the Feb. 23 penalty report, but have remained rostered while the matter was under appeal. In a statement, Kaulig Racing president Chris Rice indicated the team will not file a final appeal. “We respect NASCAR’s decision on the appeal,” Rice said. “We will take penalty, move on and work hard to be better.”

Haley finished 23rd in the Daytona 500 and currently ranks 25th in the Cup Series standings.

The three panelists for Wednesday’s hearing were Tom DeLoach, Dixon Johnston and Dale Pinilis.

—

For Front Row Motorsports, crew chief Seth Barbour and crew members Jourdan Osinskie and Tanner Andrews had appealed the penalty after the No. 38 Ford lost a wheel at Auto Club Speedway. A separate three-member panel denied that appeal, deciding that the three violated Section 10.5.2.6 (Safety Penalties and Penalty Options) in the NASCAR Rule Book and affirming the original penalty.

The three panelists for this hearing were Hunter Nickell, Bill Mullis and Kevin Whitaker.

On Thursday morning, Front Row announced that team engineer Troy Raker will serve as the crew chief for the next four events. Gilliland, a rookie in the Cup Series, finished 20th at Auto Club and is currently 28th in the Cup Series standings.

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Press Release

SOUTH BOSTON, Va. – Peyton Sellers’ drive for a record-tying seventh South Boston Speedway NASCAR track championship begins Saturday afternoon, March 19, when the speedway kicks off its 65th anniversary racing season with the Danville Toyota 2022 season opener racing program.

If Sellers can win the 2022 South Boston Speedway NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car division title he will tie David Blankenship of Mosely, Virginia, for the most career South Boston Speedway NASCAR track championships with seven championships.

The Danville, Virginia, resident says it would be an honor to tie Blankenship’s record, but his immediate focus is on winning races.

“I’m just focused on running well and winning races,” Sellers pointed out, “but to be up there with David Blankenship would be a big feather in my cap because in my eyes I will never be the driver he is. He was a guy I grew up watching. I was like ‘Man, that guy is smooth as silk.’

“We’ve just been able to do this for a long time and put together some really good results,” Sellers continued. “Myself, H.C. (Sellers’ brother and crew chief H.C. Sellers) and a lot of the guys at Sellers Racing have put in a lot of days here at this racetrack. We’re just going to give it all we’ve got and see what happens.”

Sellers enters the 2022 season as the defending NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion, the defending Virginia state champion and defending South Boston Speedway champion. He has won the last four South Boston Speedway NASCAR track championships.

Winning nine of 17 starts, posting a dozen top-five finishes and leading the most laps last season at South Boston Speedway gives Sellers confidence entering the 2022 season, but he isn’t taking anything for granted.

“There are always some young guns coming in that give us a fit year in and year out and there is always a new challenge every year,” Sellers said. “We don’t take anything for granted. We work just as hard today as we did three years ago, if not harder because we put more pressure on ourselves to come back even stronger the next year.”

“It would have been very easy to sit idle all winter and just kind of fluff and buff our cars and come back this year and think we kind of had the bull by the horns. We sold one of our cars, built a new car, and we’re trying some different things trying to get to where we want to be.

“Last year we kept the same two cars we had and just developed our notebook and worked to make them better,” he continued. “This year we felt like there was some better things out there that we could do to make our cars a little better. We have the same motor combination, the same stuff for the most part, and are just trying to fine-tune it a little bit better. H.C. doesn’t sleep much at night for thinking about these cars. We’re constantly trying to get better.”

Saturday afternoon’s Danville Toyota 2022 season opener racing program will be headlined by twin 65-lap races for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car division. Sellers would like nothing more than to sweep Saturday’s Late Model Stock Car division twinbill as his sponsor, Danville Toyota, is sponsoring South Boston Speedway’s season opening NASCAR racing event.

“It would be very special to be in Victory Lane for the Danville Toyota race,” said Sellers. “Danville Toyota has been with us a long time and there is nothing better than winning when they sponsor the race. They have been a good supporter of South Boston Speedway as well. I feel very fortunate to have them as a sponsor. It would be great to get a win.”

In addition to the twin 65-lap races for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car Division competitors, Saturday afternoon’s five-race card includes a 65-lap race for the Budweiser Limited Sportsman division, a 30-lap race for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock division and a 15-lap race for the Hornets division.

Grandstand gates will open at 12:30 p.m. Qualifying starts at 1 p.m. and the first race of the day will get the green flag at 2 p.m.

Advance adult general admission tickets for the event are priced at $10 each plus a $1.50 processing fee and may be purchased online on South Boston Speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, through Friday night, March 18.

Adult general admission tickets online and at the gate on race day are priced at $15 each. Kids ages 12 and under will be admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult.

Posted on March 16, 2022March 16, 2022 by Marcus DiNitto

The expectation heading into Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is that thanks to the reconfiguration and repave of Atlanta Motor Speedway, the race will run similarly to those at Daytona and Talladega. With increased banking and a narrowed layout, plus the addition of tapered spacers to the engines, we’re likely to see tight packs of race cars we’re used to seeing at the superspeedways.

The betting market agrees with this sentiment, as the odds to win the Atlanta race resemble the numbers for, say, the Daytona 500. At the market-making SuperBook USA, the three co-favorites — Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, and Joey Logano — are offered at 10-to-1 odds, far longer than the chalk is priced for a typical 1.5-mile track. For last July’s Atlanta race, for example, Larson was the favorite at 7-to-4 odds (+175).

Here are odds to win 2022 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 from three sportsbooks — official NASCAR partners BetMGM and Barstool, and the SuperBook.

Driver	BetMGM	Barstool	SuperBook
Kyle Larson	9/1	1o/1	10/1
Ryan Blaney	9/1	10/1	10/1
Denny Hamlin	12/1	12/1	12/1
Chase Elliott	12/1	12/1	12/1
Joey Logano	12/1	12/1	10/1
Kyle Busch	12/1	13/1	12/1
William Byron	12/1	13/1	12/1
Alex Bowman	14/1	14/1	14/1
Martin Truex Jr.	14/1	16/1	16/1
Kevin Harvick	14/1	16/1	16/1
Chase Briscoe	16/1	18/1	18/1
Tyler Reddick	16/1	16/1	16/1
Kurt Busch	20/1	20/1	20/1
Ross Chastain	22/1	20/1	20/1
Austin Cindric	25/1	25/1	25/1
Aric Almirola	25/1	25/1	25/1
Brad Keselowski	25/1	25/1	25/1
Christopher Bell	33/1	30/1	40/1
Austin Dillon	33/1	30/1	20/1
Bubba Wallace	33/1	25/1	30/1

Sunday’s anticipated randomness combined with the flat odds pricing puts bettors in a difficult spot. Value is hard to find, at least based on these early numbers.

“I was hoping they would price it more like a regular mile-and-a-half with Larson as a big favorite or Elliott as a big favorite,” rather than like a superspeedway, said Zack White, a professional bettor who counts NASCAR among his specialties.

“I wasn’t sure I was going to find any value. And now that I’ve seen the outright prices, I’m a little bit discouraged, but you never know,” he added. “Between now and Sunday morning, when matchups and stuff get finalized and prices kind of come into place, there might be something that pops up, and we might learn something along the way that the bookmakers miss.”

Blake Phillips, another sharp NASCAR bettor, said in a text message, “I’m going to tread lightly this weekend, but I’ll be eyeing some of the conspicuously generous odds.”

RELATED: NASCAR BetCenter

Jim Sannes, a quantitative sports analyst at numberFire, is also having trouble identifying betting value ahead of Atlanta. He modeled the race with a hybrid of data from superspeedways and 1.5-mile tracks, generating an outcome of “super flat win/podium/top-10 odds that are very much in line with what the sportsbooks are saying.

“To me, that’s a relief,” Sannes said in a direct message. “I don’t feel comfortable enough in my assumptions around this race to feel good betting it before practice this weekend.”

In other words, patience may be key to handicapping Atlanta.

Talking About Practice

Both White and Sannes will keep a close watch on Friday’s practice session and Saturday’s qualifying runs.

“I’m planning on sitting back and seeing how practice plays out on Friday,” Sannes said. “If it gives us some sort of definitive answer, then I’ll look to attack the markets, alter my sims, and see where value pops up.”

Since NASCAR now releases to the public more detailed practice data than just each driver’s fastest lap like in years past, it’s more difficult for sharp bettors to find an edge against the oddsmakers. Local knowledge, though, can provide such an edge.

“Several big bettors in the NASCAR space have realized what you can get from practice data, so you kind of look elsewhere,” he said. “That’s where having some local eyes and ears at the track (helps). You might hear a little tidbit here or there. Who knows what might turn up between now and Sunday, but it’s definitely worth taking a look at these lines and seeing how the bookmakers treat it after we see some speeds on Friday.”

Briscoe Darling

Breaking through last week for the first win of his NASCAR Cup Series career, Chase Briscoe has gained the respect of the betting market. Briscoe was priced in the 100-to-1 range as he took the checkers in Phoenix. He was also 100-1 two weeks at Fontana and 50-1 at Las Vegas and Daytona. But the days of Briscoe’s long shot status appear to be over, as the No. 14 Ford is just behind the big boys on this week’s oddsboard.

Briscoe’s success isn’t much of a surprise to White, who has a position on the Stewart-Haas Racing driver to win the 2022 Cup Championship at 750-1 odds and is looking at a payday well into the six-figures should it happen. Odds that long for a talented driver on a well-funded team as the Cup embarks on a new era of Next Gen racing was a “no-brainer,” says the gambling pro.

That 750-to-1 ticket is looking awfully nice with Briscoe’s futures price tightening to 40-1 at the SuperBook and as short as 22-1 at Barstool.

“My thinking with that bet was it’s a Stewart-Haas car, they’ve got a really good chance to play catch up this year with the fresh start with the NextGen,” White said. “They certainly have the money and the experience to put a fast car out there. And now we’re starting with the clean slate and kind of evening things out between Gibbs and Hendrick and teams like Stewart-Haas that has been struggling for the last couple of years.”

The rollout of the Next Gen car is going according to NASCAR’s plan: more competitive racing and parity. But for bettors looking for long shots now, it’s probably too late — the betting market has caught up, as it usually does. Ross Chastain, for example, has been adjusted to 40-1 at the SuperBook from a 100-to-1 opener.

“I’m kind of looking down the list now, like maybe I should have bet those Chastains and maybe I should have bet those Daniel Suarezes when they were in the 2, 3, 4, 500 range at the beginning of the season,” White said, “because there are going to be some more winners that are surprising this year. And all you need is to make the (playoffs), and then your odds are going be much shorter and you’ll have a lot of value there.”

Marcus DiNitto is Senior News Editor at Gaming Today. He’s been covering sports business for 24 years and sports betting for 11. NASCAR is among the many sports Marcus enjoys betting but often loses on. Follow him on Twitter; do not bet his picks.

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Adam Fenwick

It’s been nearly five years since Donny Lia last competed with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

On April 1 at Richmond Raceway, that all changes.

Lia, a two-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion in 2007 and ’09, is returning to the series on a limited basis this season thanks to a new relationship with Boehler Racing Enterprises.

A return to competition has been on Lia’s mind for some time, but now everything has come together to make it a reality.

“I’ve been thinking about it awhile,” Lia told NASCAR.com. “It’s just timing. Timing with the right situation. I was looking for a no pressure situation where we can go out there and have fun with guys I have known for a long time. It just all kind of lined up recently.

“I really need to thank Michael Boehler and all the guys on the No. 3 deal for being open to having me come race with them. It means a lot to me. I really appreciate them taking a shot with me as someone who hasn’t really been in a race car in a few years and believing in me enough to go out there and give this a shot.”

MORE: Donny Lia’s career stats

Lia made his last NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start in 2017. Driving Tommy Baldwin Jr.’s No. 7NY., Lia finished fourth at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He explained the decision to step away was a combination of family and business obligations.

“Things were just kind of piling up for me. My children were really young at the time, so I just felt like I needed to focus 100 percent on my kids and on work,” Lia said. “I still feel that way today, but things are just a little bit different today where I’m able to do this. It was tough. I had to fight off…I had to say no to some rides and to go racing with Tommy. That was really tough, but at the time I felt like I was doing the right thing, and I was.

“Now I have more of a clear head and scheduling-wise it works right now in my life.”

The agreement for Lia to return to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour began to develop last year when, while watching a Tour event, he noticed the famous Ole Blue No. 3 of Boehler Racing Enterprises wasn’t in the field.

That’s when he reached out to team owner Michael Boehler.

“He reached out probably late summer or early fall just to check in. I hadn’t talked to him in like a year,” Boehler explained. “We go way back since when he started running modifieds in like 2000 or 2001. He was just checking in. ‘Hey, how you guys doing? Watching one of the tour races and saw you weren’t out there. What’s happening? How’s things?’”

Boehler explained to Lia that his team had scaled back and wasn’t running the full NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule. That’s when Lia said the magic words.

“He was like, ‘Hey, if you ever want to talk about doing something, give me a call.’ So it just kind of worked from there,” Boehler said.

Lia got his feet wet with the team last November when he tested at Seekonk Speedway in Massachusetts. Boehler said Lia was still on the fence about returning after the test but eventually decided he’d give it a shot.

Donny Lia sits in the Boehler Racing Enterprises Ole Blue No. 3 during a test last November at Seekonk Speedway in Massachusetts. (Photo courtesy of Michael Boehler)

“He tested and was kind of on the fence, just trying to figure everything out. We talked a little more around the first of the year and we put something together,” Boehler said.

The 43-year-old Lia is no stranger to fans of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. In 191 Tour starts he earned 17 victories, the last of which came in 2013. He also has a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory, which came in 2008 at Ohio’s Mansfield Motor Speedway while driving for Kevin Buckler.

Of his 17 Tour victories, 12 of them came aboard the famous Mystic Missile No. 4 owned by Bob Garbarino. For Lia, it makes perfect sense for him to return to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour aboard another legendary race car, the Ole Blue No. 3.

“They’re both legendary cars and car owners,” Lia said. “Lenny Boehler (original Ole Blue No. 3 owner) and Bob raced against each other for many, many years. There is definitely a connection there.

“At the end of the day for me, personally, I just look at it as I’m very fortunate to have driven some of the most iconic race cars in modified racing period. Not many guys can say they’ve driven the Mystic Missile, Ole Blue and then to drive for Tommy Baldwin my last year I raced.

“To be able to look back and say I’ve driven those cars is definitely an honor, a huge honor, for anybody racing modifieds. I just consider myself very, very fortunate to have the opportunities to drive any of these race cars.”

Lia is tentatively scheduled to compete in six NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races this year beginning with the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 150 at Richmond. The team plans to run the entire Tour schedule, with Lia sharing the No. 3 with rookie Jake Johnson for the remainder of the year. Ryan Preece drove Ole Blue during the opener at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway last month, finishing ninth.

Richmond has always been a bucket list track for Lia, so making his return to the Tour at the 0.75-mile oval is extra special for the New York native.

“I had some tracks that I really always wanted to race at. Richmond was always one of them,” Lia said. “It’s probably one of the reasons I’m even coming back. During my career the Tour happened to not be racing at Richmond for those years. To be able to go to Richmond and race a modified there is really something I’m looking forward to doing.”

Lia is also tentatively scheduled to compete in the Tour races at Pennsylvania’s Jennerstown Speedway on May 28, New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 16, Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Aug. 17 and Oct. 8 and Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 27.

In terms of expectations for his return, Lia doesn’t have any. He’s just thankful to be back in a race car with a group as dedicated as Boehler Racing Enterprises.

“Right now, we need to go out and we need to run our first race together and then go from there,” Lia said. “Do I think if everything lines up just right and all goes really, really well, can we be competitive? I think it’s possible.

“I still feel like there are some good years left. I’d like to go out there and find out if that’s the case.”

The Virginia is for Racing Lovers 150 at Richmond Raceway is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.. ET on April 1. The race will be streamed live by FloRacing.

Posted on March 16, 2022March 16, 2022 by Staff Report

Check out the qualifying order (12:30 p.m. ET on FS1) for Saturday’s on-track action at Atlanta Motor Speedway before Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). To view the order, click the printer icon above or click here to see the full order.

RELATED: Atlanta weekend schedule

Atlanta is considered an expanded weekend, so there will be a 50-minute practice session on Friday (5 p.m. ET, FS1), and there will be no warmup session before Saturday’s Busch Light Pole Qualifying.

Single-lap qualifying is split up into two groups. The top five drivers from each group will then advance to the second round of qualifying to fight for the pole with another single-car, single-lap run.

Posted on March 15, 2022March 15, 2022 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.

Drivers and teams appear to be settling in with the Next Gen car, and Phoenix Raceway showed more stability with the setups and how drivers are adapting to the handling conditions.

We’re seeing moves now where drivers are learning the limits of the car and can comfortably make saves as Joey Logano demonstrated in qualifying by recovering from a slide. While practice showed some interesting results, the action in the final laps of the race belonged to some of the youngest drivers in the series as Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick battled it out.

ATLANTA: Weekend schedule | AMS revamped

Reddick was there in the final laps and a bit more comfortable than he has been in previous races. His Richard Childress Racing crew has been able to make improvements to resolve the numbness issue he had recently complained about. The new pedal set is now mounted on the floor versus coming down from above, which results in a different point and requires a slightly different position. RCR mechanics were able to adjust the position of the pedal box to relieve the issues with numbness and Reddick did not share any complaints this time around.

Those teams will face an entirely new challenge, though, as they head back to the East Coast and prepare to race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which is an entirely new product for everyone involved.

Teams will run the superspeedway engine and aero packages along with the lighter duty brakes since the new surface and banking will be fast. While we should expect some similarities to Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, there are likely to still be some surprises based on the nature of the surface and all the unknown factors.

We can expect some big runs once cars get together in groups, but we shouldn’t expect anyone to try the top initially until they feel the track out based on some of the feedback from the Goodyear tire test that happened there. The big difference between Daytona and Talladega is that drivers will likely have to lift as they get closer to the car in front of them; otherwise, they will experience a tight condition from being so close to the car ahead.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

In addition to the aerodynamic challenges, there will be mechanical grip challenges for teams as the corners at Atlanta are tighter than the bigger tracks of Daytona and Talladega. Drivers will have speed, but they will have a challenge on corner entry as they make their way around the track, so we’re likely to see a combination of superspeedway style racing with the addition of some off-throttle time.

NASCAR 101: Goodyear tires | Car configurations by track

The general theme in the garage is that there are a lot of unknowns and most teams are taking multiple approaches with their setups and simulations, meaning we likely won’t truly know what handling will look like until there are multiple cars on track in Friday’s practice. That practice session will be one of the more important ones this year as teams will look to see how cars run in a group along with some single-cars runs to simulate what they will see in qualifying Saturday — that way teams have enough data to adjust the cars before they’re impounded after the qualifying session.

This weekend will also see the requirement of the rear tire changer to approach the vehicle from the rear to be removed from Rule 8.8.8.g which will open up opportunities for teams to attempt new pit-stop choreographies. Joe Gibbs Racing is the most notable group that has tried the style of pit stop in practice where both tire changers approach from the front. But even though Atlanta may be the first race that allows it, we may not see the full debut until a race or two down the road because two-tire stops are likely to be the main choice at Atlanta.

Atlanta should prove to be an exciting race and give teams a bit of a reset with some new challenges as they will see a new surface with the superspeedway engine and aero package — entirely different from what they’ve gotten comfortable with while racing out west.