Posted on by Pat DeCola

As Mark Twain was so fond of saying, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”

Stats can be a powerful tool to bolster a point of view or tell a story in a certain light. But sometimes, you still have to dig a little deeper than what’s on the surface.

RELATED: 2021 Cup Series race winners | Laps led in 2021 

Thus, we present some of our favorite numbers from the 2021 season. Some of which tell the story of the thrilling, competitive campaign that it was while others are just straight-up anomalous.

You be the judge.

Statistics courtesy of Racing Insights and Steve Luvender.

• Kevin Harvick did not win a single stage or a race in 2021, but matched his points finish from 2020 (fifth).
The No. 4 driver won just about everything in 2020, including nine races and seven stages.

He was also the only playoff driver to not score any playoff points all season.

Getty Images
Getty Images

• Five drivers won a race, but did not win a stage: AJ Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell.
For what it’s worth, none of these drivers advanced past the Round of 12, while Allmendinger was ineligible for the playoffs as a full-time Xfinity Series driver.

• Chase Briscoe (23rd in points, no wins) completed more miles than Kyle Larson (won the championship).
If you include their dirt-track miles, Larson probably takes the cake here. But just barely.

• Anthony Alfredo led more laps in 2021 than Ryan Newman.
The “Rocketman,” who owns 51 career poles, has certainly gotten used to being at the front of the field over the years. Alfredo has never started better than fifth in any NASCAR national series race.

• Josh Bilicki completed more laps in 2021 than Ryan Blaney.
Blaney, of course, won three races and nearly made the Championship 4.

• Alex Bowman won four races in 2021 but led only 161 laps.
There’s a reason they call him “The Showman” — Bowman was able to close when it counted, making his money late in races to capitalize on days he didn’t dominate.

Bowman had as many wins as Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch — all former champions — combined.

• Eleven different drivers led more laps than Alex Bowman in 2021, but only one won more races (Kyle Larson).
Even Kevin Harvick, who was winless, led more laps than the No. 48 driver.

• Kyle Larson (9.1) and Denny Hamlin (8.4) both had a single-digit average finish in 2021 — the third straight season Hamlin has done so.
What’s it going to take for No. 11 to finally win the championship? An average finish inside the top five?

• Thirty-seven different drivers scored a top-10 finish in 2021, the most since there were 41 in 2007.
Shout-out to Anthony Alfredo, Josh Bilicki, Corey LaJoie, Jamie McMurray, Austin Cindric, B.J. McLeod and Kaz Grala, who all had one each. We see you.

• Austin Dillon had a better average finish than Kurt Busch by one full position but scored 22 fewer points in 2021 (when you remove the point bump for Busch making the playoffs).
Dillon has gotten consistently better year by year at keeping his car clean and maximizing his output, even if he’s not a frequent visitor to Victory Lane. Now entering his prime, keep an eye on him for 2022.

• Five of Michael McDowell’s 11 best career finishes came in 2021, including the top two (Daytona 500 win; third at Talladega-1).
McDowell was also showered in more pieces of confetti (approx. 2,375,890) this season than the rest of his career combined.

Michael McDowell wins Daytona 500 2021
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

• Denny Hamlin finished on the lead lap in 34 races in 2021, his most ever in a season.
There wasn’t much else Hamlin left on the table in ’21. Despite just the two wins, he was exceptional from start to finish.

He was also the only driver to start all 36 races without a DNF. Always delivers, this guy.

• Twice in 2021 the race winner led only the final lap: Michael McDowell at Daytona and Brad Keselowski at Talladega.
Unsurprisingly, these were two of the most exciting laps of the year.

• Christopher Bell is the first Oklahoma-born driver to win a Cup series race.
Kind of a shocking stat when you think about it. Figured it would’ve happened sooner.

• Bristol Dirt winner Joey Logano went winless on asphalt for the first time since 2011.
It’s tough to say what’s more surprising — that, or the fact Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell, arguably the sport’s two best dirt drivers, finished 29th and 34th, respectively, in the Bristol Dirt Race that Logano won.

• Daniel Suarez (25th in points) led more laps in 2021 than four race winners.
AJ Allmendinger (five starts) is one, but three of them are full-timers (Aric Almirola, Michael McDowell and Bubba Wallace). Suarez should be viewed as a dark horse contender for next year’s playoffs.

James Gilbert | Getty Images
James Gilbert | Getty Images

POWER RANKINGS: 2022 NASCAR Cup Series lookahead

• Kyle Larson led 2,581 laps in 2021. Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin led a combined 2,614 laps in 2020.
Needless to say, NASCAR had an extremely worthy champion in the year 2021.

• Four race winners ended the season with three or fewer top-five finishes.
That, my friends, is the definition of striking while the iron is hot.

• For the first time in the current championship format (2014-present), the Championship 4 was comprised of all odd-numbered cars.
They say “don’t get mad, get even;” but for the other three drivers who didn’t win this year, the numbers might suggest otherwise.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Editor’s Note: This continues the series of season reviews for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers.

Driver: Denny Hamlin
Car: No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry
Crew chief: Chris Gabehart
Final 2021 ranking: 3rd
Key stats: 2 wins, 19 top fives, 25 top 10s, 1,502 laps led

How 2021 ended:

Hamlin had perhaps the quickest long-run car in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway. That advantage was negated when a yellow flag flew for debris with 30 laps to go, setting up a 24-lap dash to the checkered flag. Despite advancing to the Championship 4 for the third straight season, Hamlin couldn’t find a way past Kyle Larson or teammate Martin Truex Jr. and finished third in the race and in the final standings.

Best race:

The Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway to start the playoffs showcased Hamlin’s Darlington dominance yet again. After starting on the front row, Hamlin was a top-five contender all race long and took the green-and-white checkered flag to win Stage 1 before finishing fourth in Stage 2.

A flurry of late cautions did little to impact Hamlin’s race as the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota excelled on each restart to maintain a top-two position. Hamlin led 146 laps around “The Lady in Black” and seemed destined to cruise to victory on the final lap. A sudden charge from Larson in Turns 3 and 4, however, put those checkered hopes in doubt.

Larson burst to Hamlin’s back bumper to eliminate a four-car-length gap and rode the outside wall all the way to Hamlin’s right-rear quarter panel. Nonetheless, Hamlin was able to defend the run and claim his first win of 2021 that September night at the track “Too Tough to Tame.”

The No. 11 team also deserves praise for its triumph at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to open the Round of 12 later that month. After early cautions led to critical pit-strategy calls from the pit box, crew chief Chris Gabehart put Hamlin in perfect position to dominate the day in the desert. Hamlin led 137 of 267 laps en route to his second and final win of the season.

RELATED: Each of Hamlin’s Cup Series wins | Hamlin through the years

Other season highlights:

Hamlin found success nearly every week in 2021, even if that wasn’t reflected in the win column. Hamlin led 276 of 500 laps in the spring race at Martinsville Speedway before finishing third, then followed that up a week later by leading 207 of 400 at Richmond Raceway before a runner-up finish.

In the inaugural race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Hamlin led 26 circuits and found himself in a battle for the win with rookie Chase Briscoe entering the race’s final restart in overtime.

However, Briscoe, who missed Turn 1 and cut through the grass, was issued a stop-and-go penalty while racing just behind Hamlin. Contact from Briscoe then sent Hamlin spinning out of the lead and the top 20, relegating Hamlin to a 23rd-place finish.

At Martinsville in the fall, Hamlin had led 103 laps and was door-to-door racing with Alex Bowman for the top spot. But entering Turn 3 with seven laps to go, Bowman turned Hamlin, dealing the No. 11 a similar fate to Indianapolis. Hamlin finished 24th but had enough points banked to advance to the Championship 4 regardless of the poor result.

RELATED: Hamlin addresses lack of respect on track

Stats to know:

Hamlin was remarkably consistent all season long. Out of the 36-race season, Hamlin only finished outside the top 15 four times: Talladega Superspeedway-1 (32nd), Nashville Superspeedway (21st), Indy (23rd) and Martinsville-2 (24th).

His win total dwindled from seven in 2020 to just two, but Hamlin actually managed to lead more laps in 2021 than he did in either of the past two seasons. He was out front for 1,502 circuits this year, eclipsing his mark of 1,083 laps in 2020 and 922 laps in 2019, a year in which he won six events.

Quotable:

“He’s just a hack. He’s an absolute hack. He gets his [expletive] kicked by his teammates every week. [Expletive] terrible. He sees one opportunity and he takes it. He’s got the fastest car every week and he runs 10th. He didn’t wanna race us there.” – Hamlin on contact from Bowman racing for the lead at Martinsville on Oct. 31

RELATED: 2022 Cup Series schedule | Season-opening Busch Light Clash airs on FS1

Looking ahead:

Hamlin has made the Championship 4 for three consecutive years, and while he has come close, the veteran driver has yet to break through to win his first Cup Series championship. The Next Gen car brings with it new opportunities – perhaps the opportunity Hamlin needs to add the missing piece to his resume.

Posted on by Sean Montgomery

Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Carl Edwards, who spent the bulk of his career driving for Jack Roush, told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Wednesday that he was eager to see Brad Keselowski leave his imprint on the new RFK Racing operation.

The 42-year-old retired fan favorite spent 12 full-time seasons in the premier series, collecting 28 wins and six top-five finishes in the final season standings. Twenty-three of the victories came with owner Roush and Roush Fenway Racing. With the organization rebranded to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, Edwards’ 2014 win at Sonoma Raceway goes down as the final non-superspeedway win under the previous banner.

As Keselowski takes over with a minority ownership stake and driver of the No. 6 Ford, Edwards is excited to witness the new chapter.

RELATED: Roush, Brad Keselowski lead organization into new era

“I think (Brad) is one of the toughest competitors in this sport,” Edwards emphasized. “I think he’s got a focus and he’s got a competitive drive and a persistence. I’ve never seen anybody with more.

“I have a lot of respect for Brad. And when I heard that he was going to be a part of Roush Racing, to me, that’s exciting. I believe that he, combined with the Fenway group and Jack, that’s a match right there.”

Edwards, who retired following the 2016 season, also discussed his recent trip to Kentucky to help extend relief to victims after the recent deadly surge of tornadoes.

On Dec. 10, tornadoes touched down throughout the state, leaving thousands of victims with destruction of property, power outages and more, prompting nationwide-relief efforts. Edwards was one of the many who answered the call.

PHOTOS: Carl Edwards through the years

“There’s nothing too small that you can go do for people,” Edwards said. “We saw people in their worst moments. I had never seen anything like that, and it was the smallest things. The human spirit is amazing.”

Edwards linked up with Gideon Rescue Company, an organization he was introduced to on a prior relief effort in the Bahamas.

“When I met them, they told me what they do is deliver hope,” Edwards said. “And they showed it to me down there this week. All of us can do that. That experience made this holiday season different for me.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

Bob Keselowski, an ARCA Menards Series champion who later became a pioneering driver in the early days of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, has died. He was 70 years old.

Keselowski leaves a rich family legacy in racing. His father, John, raced motorcycles in the 1950s before forming a stock-car team. Bob and older brother Ron Keselowski drove for their father and worked on his cars at a young age before taking the reins of the family-owned operation.

His sons, Brad and Brian, remain active participants in the sport. Brad Keselowski is a former Cup Series champion who now drives for and partially owns RFK Racing; Brian Keselowski, a three-time ARCA winner, has been involved as a crew chief and a spotter for NASCAR teams in recent years.

Bob Keselowski won 24 times in what is now called the ARCA Menards Series, and he bypassed Bob Brevak in the standings during the 1989 season finale to claim his lone championship. He finished among the top three in the series standings for an admirable seven consecutive years (1987-93).

“Bob Keselowski was a true racer whose determination and love of the sport embodied the NASCAR and ARCA spirit,” a NASCAR statement read. “He worked tirelessly to build his family-owned team, doing whatever it took to compete. Our thoughts are with the Keselowski family during this difficult time.”

RELATED: ARCA champion Bob Keselowski remembered

Bob Keselowski 2
Courtesy of Keselowski family

Keselowski moved to the Camping World Truck Series in its inaugural season of 1995 and became a regular in the circuit’s formative years. He scored his lone Truck Series win at Richmond Raceway in 1997, prevailing in the No. 29 Dodge for the K Automotive team that he co-owned with his brother in their home state of Michigan.

“Boy, I needed this one bad,” he told reporters post-race. “We are just starting to get all the big haulers and the shop and everything. I don’t want to lose it now. It took me 40-something years to get to this point.”

Keselowski gradually stepped out of the driver’s seat during the 1998 and ’99 seasons, battling persistent back pain and a pinched nerve in his hip. “I don’t plan on quitting completely,” he told the Detroit Free Press, “and I don’t plan on sitting around the house.” He remained active as a team owner, fielding winning trucks for Dennis Setzer and Terry Cook and later providing a platform for his son Brad to make his NASCAR national series debut in 2004.

The team folded early in the 2006 campaign, beset by a lack of sponsorship, and Keselowski sold the family’s race shop and inventory.

Bob Keselowski Inset
Courtesy of Keselowski family

The elder Keselowski remained involved in his family’s racing efforts as both his sons reached NASCAR’s national series level. He staunchly supported Brad during his fierce rivalry with fellow Midwesterner Carl Edwards as he rose through the ranks. He also aided Brian’s underdog efforts to make the 2011 Daytona 500, serving as both car owner and crew chief to his No. 92 Dodge under the familiar K Automotive banner. Brian Keselowski made the 43-car field, claiming one of the final starting berths with help from his brother, who pushed his aging car to an emotional fifth-place result in the second 150-mile qualifying race.

Bob Keselowski remained active in motorsports in his later years, chasing land-speed records in a specially prepared Dodge Charger. He set a stock-car record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2018, reaching 271.8 mph during a five-mile run in a speed pursuit documented by his son, Brian.

His journey inspired both of his sons to pursue team ownership. Brad Keselowski paid tribute to his father and uncle by running Nos. 29 and 19 during his time as a Camping World Truck Series owner.

“For all my racing career, we’ve had a small, family-run team, and sometimes the responsibility of being an owner-driver seemed almost overwhelming, yes,” Bob Keselowski told the Gaston Gazette in 1997. “But then I look at the successes we’ve had over the years, and that made all the hard work worthwhile.”

One of Brad Keselowski’s prized possessions is a family photo of his father, uncle and grandfather from the first Cup Series race weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. Brad Keselowski shared the picture on his social media channels for Father’s Day weekend in 2021.

The photo shows brothers Bob and Ron Keselowski rebuilding an engine in the bed of a pick-up truck under the watchful eye of their father as the primitive Talladega grandstands loom in the background.

“That’s grassroots racing right there and I just love what this picture shows,” Brad Keselowski said. “It shows them working together as a family, working hard as a family. All three of them are dirty, all three of them are smiling and having fun. These guys were racers and I look up to them every day.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

Editor’s Note: This continues the series of season reviews for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers.

Driver: Chase Elliott
Car: No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Crew chief: Alan Gustafson
Final 2021 ranking: 4th
Key stats: 2 wins, 15 top fives, 21 top 10s, 952 laps led

How 2021 ended: 

The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion advanced to his second consecutive Championship 4, hoping to become the first back-to-back champion since his former Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson, won five consecutive titles from 2006-10. Elliott went into the season finale at Phoenix Raceway ranked first among the four title contenders but finished fifth in the race after leading 94 laps. All three of his championship rivals finished ahead, leaving the 2020 champion in fourth place in the final standings.

Best races: 

Elliott added race wins 12 and 13 to his career total with victories at the two new road courses on the 2021 schedule – Circuit of The Americas and Road America. His triumph at Road America is perhaps the best feat of the two, claiming the checkered flag after starting in 34th position.

Other season highlights:

Elliott led laps in 22 of the 36 races. Ironically, the two places where he led the most laps on the season – 129 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway and 289 laps at Martinsville Speedway – did not produce trophies. He finished 25th at Bristol and 16th at Martinsville. His 952 laps led was the second highest single-season tally in his six-year NASCAR Cup Series career. And both his 8.1 average start and 11.4 average finish are career bests. His 15 top fives ties last year’s career high, and his 21 top-10 efforts is one off his career best in 2020.

RELATED: Chase Elliott through the years

Stats to know: 

Not only did Elliott win multiple races for the fourth consecutive season, he also tallied a career single-season high seven runner-up finishes – starting with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, then the spring Martinsville race, followed by back-to-back races at Sonoma Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, later adding Watkins Glen International, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway playoff opener and finally adding the Kansas Speedway playoff race to his season total.

Quotable: 

“As far as Kevin [Harvick] goes, just wanna wish them a merry offseason and a happy Christmas.’’ – Elliott after Harvick was eliminated from the playoffs in the second round and Elliott advanced to the Championship 4

Looking ahead:

Elliott may only be 26 years old, but his immediate success in NASCAR’s highest ranks – hoisting a championship trophy at the age of 24 – raises the expectations going forward. This season he maintained his high level of top-five and top-10 finishes and again won multiple races. He made his second consecutive Championship 4 appearance and was widely considered Kyle Larson’s chief challenger for the trophy. Still approaching the prime of this career, it’s reasonable to expect Elliott will be a multi-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, it’s just a matter of being able to continually raise the bar he has already set so high. With the introduction of the Next Gen cars in 2022, Elliott’s current success could be the winning difference in a season of so much transition.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on November 21, 2021. 

PLACERVILLE, Calif. — Chase Elliott cruised in to dusty Placerville Speedway at 10:15 p.m. local time Thursday night — a crisp 1:15 a.m. back home on the East Coast. “I was pushing it, made it,” Elliott said of his turnaround from the 5 p.m. conclusion of NASCAR Next Gen testing at Charlotte Motor Speedway earlier in the day to his 6:30 p.m. flight to Sacramento.

Fifteen minutes after walking through the Placerville pit gate, Elliott emerged from the Kyle Larson Racing hauler of his Cup Series teammate, having traded his fresh Atlanta Braves cap with a 2021 World Series logo for a fire suit and helmet. An ATV pushed his No. 9 USAC Midget racer to the track, with Larson trotting to a hillside vantage point at the track’s north turn to watch and take notes.

RELATED: Photos from Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott’s trip to California

The dirt-track education of Elliott continued with a full two additional nights of racing at the quarter-mile oval in picturesque Northern California, with the 2020 Cup Series champion gaining experience and broadening his racing portfolio. He had the benefit of two well-credentialed teachers — Larson, his successor as Cup champ and a master of multiple dirt disciplines, and Brad Sweet, the World of Outlaws sprint car champion for three years running — helping him to navigate a track he’d never seen before last weekend.

“I felt like I was making gains from being around people who know this, it’s such a departure from anything I’ve ever done, but I really have enjoyed it,” Elliott said before Saturday’s main event. “For me, it’s really nothing more than just trying to better myself and get outside in an area that I’ve never been in before and do something different. I have always really respected the discipline and I’ve been a fan of it for a number of years.

“I just felt like I got to a point where I’m like man, if I don’t … I’m interested in it, I think it’s really cool, I respect the discipline. I think you can learn some really good habits during this stuff. And I was just like, man, if I like it, it’s not gonna get any easier as you get older. As you get older, I feel like learning new things is just going to be harder and harder and harder. So I just felt like if I was going to get involved, I needed to get in there and make an effort to do that.”

Elliott finished 20th in Saturday’s Hangtown 100 A-Main, getting into the feature with a provisional berth after coming up two places short of a transfer spot in the C-Main. Missing Thursday’s events left him with an uphill climb to qualify outright, but he never stopped trying to learn.

After each on-track stint, Elliott debriefed with Larson, Sweet and the crew, reviewing video footage of his heats and gathering more information about the track’s characteristics. Larson and Elliott regularly collaborate as teammates in Hendrick Motorsports’ team meetings, but this was something new for all parties to absorb.

“It’s really neat to see how and kind of get a glimpse of how his brain works and how he processes how to drive a race car,” Larson said. “I’m not a good coach, so it’s been nice to have Brad Sweet here. He’s really been helping Chase a lot. I pitch in some advice when I can, but like I said, my only advice is I feel like to anybody when they ask me what to do is to say, ‘run it harder.’ Explaining how to run it harder, Brad’s really good at doing that and talking angles and explaining what to do with your hands and feet.

“But no, Chase has really impressed me. For him to fly in, suit up, sit in the car, strap in after never seeing this track, didn’t probably watch the races because he was flying here … to go out there and be as smooth and consistent as he was, I thought was extremely impressive. He just needs more seat time and it’ll come. This is as opposite as it gets from what he’s used to doing, especially these track conditions, so I’ve been extremely impressed. I thought he’s probably a little hard on himself, but for him to just go way out of his comfort zone is something we should all take notice of and be impressed with.”

RELATED: Why Kyle Larson has a ladybug for a good-luck charm

Sweet took notice, too, saying he drew some similarities between Elliott’s approach and his own. Sweet, who has asphalt experience on his own resume with 54 NASCAR national-series starts on a part-time basis from 2009-2013, says Elliott’s willingness to make that extra effort became evident as he gained pace through the weekend.

“I think what’s most impressive about Chase is how much he cares,” Sweet says. “He’s really out of his comfort zone, and that’s really respectable for a guy who basically has kind of a fan base and people expect him to be good, and sometimes it’s a little uncomfortable to come to a place where you know you’re not going to be as good as what you know you are. So it’s really cool that he came here, it helps put a lot of eyes on our sport, and he’s definitely trying really hard. He wants to know every piece of information, advice that anybody has for him and I think that’s pretty cool.

“I think that he thinks he’s worse than he is, but it’s just because he’s not as comfortable as he wants to be yet. So I think once he gets a little more comfortable, there’s no doubt he’s unbelievably talented. Once he gets some more laps, there’s just a lot of experience here — these guys do this night in and night out. So once he gains the experience I think it’ll be a lot more competitive and it’ll become even more fun for him.”

The Placerville crowd welcomed Elliott warmly, sticking around after the main event on Thursday’s opening night after word circulated that his tentative arrival was inching closer to reality. After suiting up and loading in, he slung his No. 9 racer into the turns, exploring Placerville’s grooves and prompting cheers from the hardy handfuls who stayed. “Nobody claps for hot laps,” one crew member said while watching from the Turn 3 embankment.

There might be more of a reception from the dirt-track crowd this offseason if Elliott has his way. He indicated Saturday that a return to the Chili Bowl Nationals is tentatively in the works, and a January appearance there would mark his second entry in the prestigious midget-car event.

UPDATE: Chase Elliott set to run at Chili Bowl 

“We’re working on it. If they don’t fire me, I’m supposed to do it,” Elliott said with a laugh. “They’ve offered it up and I told them I would love to do it. So, we’ll see. If they don’t fire me by next Saturday, I’m planning on going.”

Posted on by Team Release

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Dec. 21, 2021) – Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) announced today that Corey Heim will return to the organization and be behind the wheel of the No. 51 Tundra TRD Pro for 15 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races in 2022. JBL, the authority in engineering superior sound, returns to KBM for an eighth season and will be the primary sponsor on Heim’s Toyota for 10 races. Crew chief Mardy Lindley will return for his second season atop the pit box for the No. 51 team.

Heim made three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts for KBM in 2021, with a best result of 11th coming at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in October. The Georgia driver had an impressive Truck Series debut at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in May, where he led two laps, finished Stage 2 in the runner-up position and was running second when he got turned from behind on a restart with just under 30 laps remaining.

RELATED: Corey Heim stats | Catch up on the latest news in the ARCA Menards Series

The 19-year-old driver finished second to Ty Gibbs in the 2021 ARCA Menards Series championship standings after producing six wins, three poles, 406 laps led, 16 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 3.1 across 20 starts. Heim has totaled seven wins, 503 laps led, 26 top-five and 35 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 4.2 across 36 career ARCA Menards Series starts. 

Heim will be in the No. 51 for the Truck Series 2022 season-opening event at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway Feb. 18 and will also compete in the final eight races on the schedule. The remainder of his schedule will be announced at a later date.

“Coming up through the Toyota Racing Development program not only have I looked up to Kyle as a driver but I’ve also watched him build KBM into an organization that provides up-and-coming drivers with all the tools that they need to win races and compete for championships, so I’m super grateful for the opportunity to compete for an owner’s championship alongside him in the No. 51 Tundra TRD Pro in 2022,” Heim said. “I was able to get JBL to victory lane three times in the ARCA Menards Series this year and I know that with Mardy (Lindley, crew chief) atop the pit box and the team I have around me that I can get them to victory lane again this year in the Camping World Truck Series.”

“Corey proved that he is capable of running up front and winning races in the ARCA Menards Series last season and we feel that he is very deserving of the opportunity for an expanded schedule with KBM next year,” Busch said. “Without any practice or qualifying he was able to step right in and run well enough in his Truck Series races this year and we feel that once he is able to get behind the wheel on a more consistent basis that he is someone that will be able to compete for wins. He has a great relationship with Mardy (Lindley, crew chief) and they’ve already been putting in a lot of work in the offseason to make sure that they get our long-time sponsor JBL back to victory lane and put the No. 51 in the hunt for the owner’s championship again next year.”

Lindley’s drivers produced three wins in his first season at KBM, two with owner-driver Kyle Busch and one with Martin Truex Jr. Before arriving at KBM, Lindley guided his drivers to 32 wins and four ARCA Menards Series East championships since 2013, including back-to-back titles with Sam Mayer the last two seasons. Additionally, he earned the ARCA Menards Series Sioux Chief Showdown championship with Mayer in 2020. Behind the wheel, the second-generation driver won 11 races on the Pro Cup Series from 2000 to 2006 and was crowned the series champion in 2001.

Further sponsor announcements for the remaining races on Heim’s schedule are forthcoming.

Posted on by Staff Report

Drivers and teams alike took to social media to applaud the reveal of the 2022 baseline rules package for the Next Gen car. The package will see the cars use a 4-inch rear spoiler for downforce and will use engines with 670 target horsepower as a baseline. The base rules configuration will be used at road courses, short tracks and intermediate-sized circuits during the 2022 season. The rules package for superspeedway events will be determined at a later date.

RELATED: 2022 schedule | Next Gen timeline | 2022 baseline rules package set 

Even NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin chimed in.

Posted on by Zack Albert

NASCAR officials set the rules configuration for a majority of tracks on the 2022 Cup Series schedule Tuesday, announcing that the Next Gen car will use a 4-inch rear spoiler for downforce and will use engines with 670 target horsepower as a baseline.

The determination came after a meeting with competition officials, drivers and representatives for teams and manufacturers at the end of two days of testing last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Those sessions marked the final tests scheduled this year for the Next Gen car that will make its debut in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series. The rules package for superspeedway events will be determined later.

RELATED: Photos from Charlotte test | Drivers offer feedback after testing

Competition officials worked with teams to try four engine/aerodynamics configurations last week on Charlotte’s 1.5-mile oval layout. Officials said the fourth and final package — a higher 670-horsepower figure and a centered 4-inch rear spoiler for reduced rear downforce — received majority support from those attending Friday’s post-test meeting.

“It’s been a two-year process,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “So certainly, it came down to Friday, but that was really through all the work, the thousands of hours of on-track testing and the collaboration with the industry and continued tests to really narrow down what could be the final rules package for the Next Gen car. Friday, we were able to solidify that. We met with the industry, a number of drivers post-test on Friday with the packages we had narrowed down and really hit on what we all thought would be a great Next Gen car in terms of going out under one rules package with 670 horsepower and then a low-downforce 4-inch spoiler, which we we believe we can implement across all of our tracks outside of superspeedways.

“So the bottom line of all this, and you’ll hear this from the drivers is that this package with the Next Gen car puts it back in the drivers’ hands and we’re excited about what that will do in 2022, for sure.”

The base rules configuration will be used at road courses, short tracks and intermediate-sized circuits during the 2022 season. The package will be part of the Next Gen car when it debuts Sunday, Feb. 6 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum exhibition in Los Angeles.

RELATED: Schedule for the Busch Light Clash | Format explained for exhibition event

Cars proved to be a handful at times during last week’s two-day organizational test at Charlotte, with several spins and incidents as drivers fought for control when cycling through the different configurations. Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick was top among those pushing the limits, his No. 8 Chevrolet involved in multiple scrapes and incidents. A three-car tangle in Friday’s final group run brought the test to a close after 12 of a scheduled 30 laps.

“It’s really a new beginning for everyone, right?” O’Donnell said. “So no one has a ton of data they can go back and look at for this car where we previously raced, and that’s a neat thing for the race fan. So they’re going to see the best drivers and the best engineers in the world go out there and attack this car and attack each race track, and it will be hard to drive. I think the drivers are enthusiastic about that. The tire that Goodyear has come with has really put strategy back into a race, so some of that old-school racing that a lot of fans have talked about, I think you’ll see. We’ll learn along the way as well, and there are different things we can take away from this season coming up in ’22 as we look to continually improve upon what we believe is going to be a great launch of the Next Gen car.”

A separate superspeedway rules package for the Cup Series’ largest and fastest ovals — Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway — will be determined next month. Atlanta Motor Speedway will potentially be added to that rules package list after the 1.54-mile oval was repaved and rebuilt with 28-degree banking new for 2022.

MORE: Next Gen timeline | 2022 Cup Series schedule

Cup Series tests are scheduled Jan. 5-6 at the new-look Atlanta and Jan. 11-12 at Daytona to zero in on the Next Gen rules configuration for superspeedways. Atlanta, Daytona and Talladega each play host to two events on the 2022 schedule, the first being the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 20 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“Yeah, we’re close,” O’Donnell said. “We’ve done a number of tests already but our next step in the process for superspeedways will be in Atlanta, early January to confirm what package we want to put on that race track. We expect that to be the superspeedway package. Then from there, we’ll go to Daytona on the 11th and 12th of January, and really what we’re looking at there is the speed of the car. So there’s potential we could shorten the spoiler a little bit. We’ve made some cooling adjustments to the car that affected a little bit of the drag of this car, so we want to make sure that the speeds are commensurate with where we’ve run in the past. So getting some extra laps on the car, both days getting the teams more familiar with the car at the Daytona and then we’ll finalize it coming out of that test.”

Posted on by Davey Segal

Editor’s Note: This continues the series of season reviews for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers.

Driver: Kevin Harvick
Car: No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang
Crew chief: Rodney Childers
Final 2021 ranking: 5th
Key stats: 0 wins, 10 top fives, 24 top 10s, 217 laps led

How 2021 ended:
While Harvick ultimately finished fifth in the final standings, that’s one heck of a rebound after entering the postseason with zero playoff points and going the balance of said playoffs without earning one. He failed to advance past the Round of 12, as Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval drama involving Chase Elliott left him crashed into the Turn 1 wall.

After finishes of ninth and eighth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, respectively, Harvick was in position to advance with a solid run at the Roval. On Lap 56, Harvick sent Elliott into the wall, retaliation from their Bristol Motor Speedway run-in weeks prior, and was suddenly in a good spot to advance. But on Lap 100, Harvick careened into the Turn 1 wall as Elliott approached behind him while running inside the top 10, ending his afternoon and chances of advancing to the next round.

RELATED: Kevin Harvick through the years

Best race:
The Bristol playoff event marked Harvick’s second runner-up finish of the season, but the closest opportunity to a race victory he’d get all year.

Kevin Harvick Bristol
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Just past the halfway point, Harvick took the lead for the first time (only his seventh race to that point up front in 2021). But in the final 100 laps, Elliott had the top spot, and Harvick wanted it. The No. 4 drove it in deep, slid up and brushed the No. 9, cutting Elliott’s tire from the lead, forcing him to pit road. Harvick then paced the field for the subsequent 32 laps.

Until Elliott, who was multiple laps down from pitting under green, planted his Chevrolet in front of Harvick on the high side for multiple laps, slowing his momentum as Harvick tried to drive away from Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson in second. With four laps remaining, Larson passed Harvick for the lead and went on to win his sixth race of the season.

Harvick confronted Elliott post-race on pit road and in the garage area. And despite the second-place result, the 2014 series champion called his emotions post-Bristol “probably the maddest (he’s) ever been” over the course of his 21-year career in NASCAR.

RELATED: Kevin Harvick keeps his edge against rivals

Other season highlights:
• Harvick didn’t finish worse than 15th at Talladega and Daytona International Speedway and scored three top-10 results, marking his best average finish on superspeedways (7.75) since the 2015 season (7.25).

• Despite an early playoff exit, Harvick nabbed top 10s in eight of the 10 postseason races.

Stat to know:
Harvick, who won nine times in 2020 and none in 2021, became the second driver in the modern era to win eight-plus races one season and go winless the next, joining Carl Edwards, who won nine times in 2008 and not once in 2009. Bill Elliott also had a nine-win drop off back in the mid 1980s, going from 11 victories in 1985 to only two in 1986.

By virtue of finishing fifth in the final standings, the Bakersfield, California, native also became the first driver in this playoff format of playoff points (since 2017) to start 15th or 16th, accumulate zero playoff points (via stage wins and race wins) over the course of all 36 races and finish top five in the standings.

Quotable:
“Just chickens***. I mean, what else do you say? Throw a temper tantrum like you’re 2 years old because you got passed for the lead and got a flat tire. We barely even rubbed. It’s all Chase’s way or it’s no way, and if he doesn’t get his way, then he throws a fit […] I told him I wanted to rip his freaking head off.” – Harvick said of Elliott after Bristol 

Looking ahead:
In a recent Dale Jr. Download podcast, Harvick revealed 2021 was originally scheduled to be his final season in the Cup Series. But with two years remaining on his contract with Stewart-Haas Racing, the future Hall of Famer has all intentions of remaining in the No. 4 seat through 2023.

New sponsors such as Subway and GearWrench have signed on with Harvick and SHR for next year and beyond, giving him an extra security blanket as he and crew chief Rodney Childers look to navigate the uncharted territory of the Next Gen car.

With back-to-back Sunoco Rookies of the Year Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe in the fold along with Aric Almirola, Harvick remains the savvy veteran at the organization and will for the duration of his Cup Series career. Sitting 10th on the all-time wins list with 58 Cup Series victories, Harvick seems poised to add to that number and perhaps even add another championship to his already impressive resume.