Posted on by Marcus DiNitto

Savvy bettors are pleased when the odds move in the direction of their wager. If the odds move in your favor, the thinking goes, you made a good bet, regardless of whether you end up a winner or loser.

A concept called “closing-line value” is a big part of this notion.

Let’s say you bet Denny Hamlin at +130 odds in a matchup prop over Kyle Larson this week at Texas Motor Speedway. By the time the green flag drops, Hamlin is +110. The betting market, which is pretty efficient, moved the number “20 cents” in Hamlin’s direction, and you were on the correct side of the move.

But as the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 ends, the No. 5 finishes ahead of the No. 11, and your bet is a loser.

Did you make a bad bet?

Not according to most sharp bettors, who would say since you got closing-line value (+130 vs. +110), you made the right bet. If you consistently get closing-line value, you will win money over the long term.

Let’s apply this thinking to NASCAR futures bets you may have made either before the season or before the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. While it’s not exactly “closing-line value,” since betting hasn’t closed, if a driver’s odds have shortened since you made your bet, it was a good play.

RELATED: NASCAR BetCenter | Cup Series title odds

Admittedly, some of this is no-brainer-ish. If a driver you bet before the season to win the championship is still in the Round of 8, you probably like your situation.

Of the eight drivers still alive, six have shorter prices now than they did before the season. The reason is obvious: A driver has a better chance to beat seven others than he does to beat 40.

Only four drivers, though, have shorter odds now than they did before the playoffs began, three are equally priced, and only one – Brad Keselowski – has seen his number lengthen.

Here’s how NASCAR Cup Series championship odds have moved at SuperBook USA from before the season to the start of the playoffs to the eve of the Round of 8.

Preseason Pre-playoffs Pre-Round of 8
Kyle Larson +1000 +300 +225
Denny Hamlin +800 +800 +500
Chase Elliott +800 +700 +700
Kyle Busch +800 +700 +700
Martin Truex Jr. +800 +800 +700
Ryan Blaney +1400 +1200 +800
Joey Logano +800 +1200 +1200
Brad Keselowski +800 +1600 +2500

Larson, of course, and Hamlin show particularly good value at this point, both priced with better chances to win the title now than they were even before the playoffs.

Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch are a tick shorter than they were before the season but equal to before the playoffs.

Martin Truex Jr., while assigned the same implied probability as Elliott and Busch, has seen his title chances improve over the last eight races, at least in the eyes of the betting market.

Team Penske is an interesting case: While Ryan Blaney’s odds have improved steadily over the course of the season, his teammates have gone the other way. This is largely a function of their places in the standings – Blaney is above the elimination line in fourth, while Joey Logano and Keselowski are seventh and eighth, respectively.

While Keselowski is now priced as a 25-1 outsider, we won’t revoke your “smart NASCAR bettor” card if you played him at 8-1 odds before the season. It would have been hard to predict before the season that Kes was going to announce in July his departure from Penske.

Is there any value left?

Before the Round of 8, the championship odds are pretty sharp by now. If you shop around, though, there may be value to be found.

Jim Sannes, a quantitative NASCAR analyst at numberFire, told NASCAR.com in a direct message, “Only guy who is interesting to me at their current numbers is Kyle Busch. I think he has great odds of advancing given two of the three races in this round are at 1.5-mile tracks (and I’ve got him at 13.0% to win this weekend).”

While the SuperBook, BetMGM and Barstool are all dealing +700 on Busch, not even the +750 at FanDuel presents the value Sannes seeks. The +800 at Wynn just might, however.

RELATED: BetMGM Texas odds | Lone Star schemes

“It’s close,” Sannes said. “Just worried about the Phoenix speed. But I’d be very close to pulling the trigger there.”

Marcus DiNitto is a writer and editor living in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has been covering sports for nearly two-and-a-half decades and sports betting for more than 10 years. His first NASCAR betting experience was in 1995 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, where he went 0-for-3 on his matchup picks. Read his articles and follow him on Twitter; do not bet his picks.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR confirmed it had a call with members of both race teams after Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott’s latest run-in during Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.

Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford sent Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into a slide on Lap 55 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12 elimination race, resulting in heavy damage to the back end of Elliott’s vehicle. Elliott expressed frustration over his team radio but rallied for a 12th-place finish and advanced into the Round of 8 instead.

Meanwhile, Harvick later exited the race 11 laps short of the finish when he crashed into the wall in Turn 1, thus ending any chances of playoff advancement. When asked if his nudging of the No. 9 was in retaliation for an earlier incident between the drivers at Bristol Motor Speedway, Harvick told NBC, “Sometimes real life teaches you good lessons.”

Alan Gustafson, crew chief for Elliott, shared some detail with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s Danielle Trotta and Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie regarding the nature of the call.

“They try to allow the competitors to compete and the competitors to be the ones to determine the outcome of the races and let the competitors take care of it on their own,” Gustafson said. “I think that’s the way it should be, right? The story shouldn’t be NASCAR, it should be about the competitors, racing and being the best they can be.

“The message that NASCAR has delivered is they tried to do the best job they could do in allowing it to happen and they’re over it. Whatever way you want to look at it from there, but I think … I commend them for allowing us to race, but I think they’ve had enough. They made that pretty clear.”

In his post-race interview with NBC, Elliott said of Harvick: “As far as Kevin goes, just want to wish them a merry offseason and a happy Christmas.”

NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday the sanctioning body was keeping an eye on things and planned to talk to both of the teams.

“Now we’ve had Bristol, which one felt slighted on, and obviously (Sunday), which the other feels slighted on, so hopefully we can put a truce in place there,” Miller told SiriusXM. “But we will just continue to monitor the situation and try not to let it get out of control. We don’t want to park anybody. We want all the fans to see the drivers that they came out to see, so that’ll try to be a last resort. If we keep seeing things, then we will absolutely have to take some sort of action there.”

Posted on by Team Release

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Kyle Busch Motorsports announced Thursday that John Hunter Nemechek will return to drive the No. 4 Toyota Tundra in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series full time in 2022. The organization also announced Eric Phillips, the winningest crew chief in Truck Series history, will once again call the shots atop the pit box for Nemechek and the No. 4 team next season.

With two races remaining in the 2021 season, Nemechek leads the Truck Series in wins (five), top fives (12), driver rating (114.5), average finish (8.5) and average running position (6.961). The 24-year-old driver is also tied for the most top 10s (15) and ranks second in laps led (570). He captured the regular-season championship and, with one race remaining in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs, sits 36 points above the elimination line for advancing to the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway.

RELATED: Truck playoff standings | NASCAR announces 2022 Truck schedule

“I came to Kyle Busch Motorsports because it was an opportunity to get back to Victory Lane — I accomplished my goal of being here for wins and I’m excited to be coming back for more next year,” Nemechek said. “With the support of Kyle and Samantha (Busch), everyone at KBM and everyone at Toyota and TRD, I’ve been able to experience the thrill of victory alongside my long-term partners, ROMCO, Fire Alarm Services, Pye-Barker Fire & Safety and Safeway, and we were also able to get Mobil 1 back to Victory Lane for KBM. We have some unfinished business left trying to bring the championship trophy home to KBM this year and then we’ll go to work on the brand new 2022 Tundra so that we can compete for more wins and another championship next year.”

Said Kyle Busch: “It’s been refreshing to see John Hunter get the No. 4 Tundra back out front leading laps, winning races and competing for a championship this year like it had in the past and it’s important for us that we are able to keep him in that seat for another season. In addition to the accomplishments of the No. 4 team this season, the efforts that John Hunter and Eric have put in behind the scenes have helped keep that winning edge of performance in our whole program. I’m pumped to have the both of them back leading the charge at KBM as we roll out the new 2022 Tundra TRD Pro’s next season to continue our winning ways!”

Nemechek, in his first season driving for KBM, collected his first victory of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. He also produced wins at Richmond Raceway in April, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and at Texas Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway both in June.

The second generation driver is an 11-time winner in Camping World Truck Series action, winning at least one race each season from 2015-18 for his family-owned team, NEMCO Motorsports, in addition to his triumphs this season. Across 121 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, he has compiled two poles, 1,169 laps led, 40 top-five and 65 top-10 finishes, resulting in an average finish of 12.4.

Phillips returned to KBM in 2021 to lead the No. 4 team efforts after six seasons working at Joe Gibbs Racing in various roles. In 2010 under Phillips’ direction, KBM’s No. 18 team recorded eight victories in its inaugural campaign and became the first team in Truck Series history to capture an owner’s championship in its first season of competition. In 2014, the Illinois native led the No. 51 team to an owner’s championship, and his team’s 10 wins spearheaded KBM to a single-season Truck Series record of 14 wins. His 42 career Truck Series victories make him the winningest crew chief in Truck Series history, with 32 of those coming while at KBM.

Sponsor announcements for the 2022 season are forthcoming.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Denny Hamlin’s trip through the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs this season has been remarkably free of intensity. The veteran driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has spent the majority of his time already locked into the ensuing round, cashing in on automatic berths in each round-opening race thus far.

The formula worked with wins at Darlington Raceway to kick off the Round of 16 and then Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Round of 12. The prospects for Hamlin doing it all again and winning this Sunday (2 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Texas Motor Speedway are intriguing, and the stakes are higher.

RELATED: Texas weekend schedule | Playoff standings

“It’s been interesting. We’ve had after today six playoff races and only two of them have mattered to me,” Hamlin said before last Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. “So it’s just different that we were able to, not take off, but really mentally take off for four weeks in the middle of our playoffs. But that’s the way the format is, and we’ve been very fortunate to win the early races and that’s given us the liberty that we’ve got to go out there and enjoy today and really our focus has been shifted to the Round of 8 and how we can win at those tracks.”

A win Sunday at Texas, Oct. 24 at Kansas Speedway or Oct. 31 at Martinsville Speedway would clinch an automatic spot in the Championship 4 field that will vie for the Cup Series title Nov. 7 at Phoenix Raceway. Hamlin has been among that final quartet for the last three seasons.

Hamlin’s path has done its part to take the pressure off the elimination points of the 10-race postseason, but hasn’t come with the cost of any complacency creeping in.

MORE: Cup Series odds for Texas

“All it does is fuel me to win the first week next week as well because I know how good it’s been,” Hamlin said. “You could be counterintuitive to say, well, then you don’t lose your focus or whatever, but Vegas showed we locked right back in. Our performance has still been very, very good in the playoffs.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a meaningful race in the playoffs or not, so we’ve acquired more points than anybody else this season. Doesn’t matter if it’s full regular season or through the playoffs, we’re still on top. Hopefully we can continue that for four or five more weeks.”

As has been the case in each of the last three seasons — and really, for much of his successful 16-year career in NASCAR’s top series — the question that has dogged Hamlin is the if/when mystery to unlocking a first Cup Series championship. Hamlin said he hasn’t been getting stomach knots over that, either, and a victory at Texas — a track where he’s won three times — would release another pressure valve for his 2021 campaign.

“I certainly feel like there’s less pressure, even though we’ve been at the top all year long,” Hamlin said. “For whatever reason, it’s been a pretty easy year when it’s come to the pressures of are you going to win the first (championship), or whatever it might be. Each and every week, I give it my best effort and I never go home any week after a race saying I didn’t do my best. I just feel like I’m just going to have to deal with the result because I can’t change it, and as long as I do my job to the best of my ability, that’s going to give us my best shot. I’m fine either way.

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Keegan Leahy outlasted the Championship 4 field at virtual Texas Motor Speedway on Tuesday night, clinching his first eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series championship in a thrilling close to the 2021 season. With a total purse of more than $300,000 in play for the season, Leahy took home the champion’s share of $100,000 by taking the checkered flag.

RELATED: Race recap | Keegan Leahy’s winning reaction

“It’ll take me about a month to process this, I’m sure,” an elated Leahy said after taking his third win of the season. “My whole family is watching this. This is so huge to me, I’m sure it’s huge to 23XI, I don’t know where to start. My plan, which I think worked, was just to save tires until (Logan Clampitt) got to me, and hope we had even cars when he got to me. Thank you everybody, thank you to Denny Hamlin for believing in me, I can’t name everybody, but thank you all so much!”

Alongside his 23XI Racing teammate Mitchell deJong, William Byron eSports’ Logan Clampitt, and Letarte Esports’ Bobby Zalenski, Leahy was one of four drivers looking to win his first series championship in a season that saw 14 different race winners this season. The premier sim racing series, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series concluded its 12th season and continues to be one of the longest running esports series.

“We’ve seen incredible growth in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series over the past couple of years and this year was no different,” said Nick Rend, Managing Director of Gaming and eSports, NASCAR. “With new teams and more intense racing from the top sim racers in the world, the 2021 season continued to build fan interest globally and is a testament to iRacing’s commitment and leadership in the eSports realm.”

In its first season as the championship event, Texas Motor Speedway turned up the competition among the Championship 4 competitors. With $100,000 on the line, deJong and Leahy qualified on the front row and held the top two spots through the first set of green flag pit stops. After waiting in second through the early stages, Leahy got a run on deJong down the backstretch and took over the lead for the first time on Lap 92.

Following a second set of green flag pit stops, Leahy returned to the top spot on Lap 127, cycling back into the lead as Clampitt climbed his way from the 16th row on the grid to second place in the closing stages. Clampitt tried to line up the field behind him to get a push to the lead, but Leahy’s advantage proved to be too much to overcome in the caution-free race.

“iRacing is proud to congratulate Keegan Leahy on winning this year’s eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series title,” said Anthony Gardner, President iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations. “In our biggest and most exciting eNASCAR season yet, and a year where 14 different drivers won races, this year’s championship was the hardest-fought yet. We’re grateful to NASCAR, Coca-Cola, and all of our partners for their support through a thrilling season and can’t wait to do it all again next year!”

Leahy’s championship was the first title for 23XI Racing, which concluded its first season in the series, and took its first real-world NASCAR Cup Series win with Bubba Wallace at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this month. Leahy tallied three wins, five top-five and nine top-10 finishes. Between Leahy and deJong, who finished fifth, 23XI Racing also clinched the team championship.

For more information on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series and to watch past series races, visit www.eNASCAR.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

Posted on by Staff Report

See where your favorite driver will pit for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by RJ Kraft

Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin have been atop the NASCAR Cup Series standings for the bulk of the 2021 campaign. Larson grabbed the regular-season championship, and the playoffs have seen the two drivers trading wins, combining to win four of the six playoff races run so far — two wins apiece for the title favorites.

As the Round of 8 opens Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the two aren’t separated by much. Hamlin won the most recent 1.5-mile race (at Las Vegas), but Larson’s been a beast on that track type all season. Hamlin has better Texas numbers, but Larson won here more recently in this year’s All-Star Race — although that had a different rules package associated with it.

RELATED: Odds for Sunday’s Texas race | NASCAR BetCenter

How does each driver stack up for a head-to-head matchup around Sunday’s race? We’re breaking down the key stats between teammates ahead of the elimination race.

Kyle Larson Category Denny Hamlin
2 2021 1.5-mile wins 1
7.9 2021 1.5-mile average finish 7.4
324 2021 1.5-mile points scored 291
931 2021 1.5-mile laps led 223
2 2021 NASCAR Playoffs wins 2
9.5 2021 NASCAR Playoffs average finish 4.2
0 Texas wins 3
19.8 Texas average finish (all time) 13.8
21.8 Texas average finish (since 2017) 18.8
2 1.5-mile wins (since 2018) 5
Larson won the 2021 All-Star Race at Texas — but with a different rules package than the one in this race. Notable stat to know Hamlin has finished in the top nine in every 2021 NASCAR Playoffs race so far — the only driver to do so.

It is a little surprising to see Hamlin holding a better average finish on 1.5-mile tracks this season given how strong Larson has looked at the track type all year. The Texas stats favoring Hamlin is not a surprise given the longer body of work there. They have been pretty close all playoffs long and it’s hard not to imagine that continuing to be the case over the final four races. It should be a competitive and fun matchup to watch over 334 laps at the track known for No Limits.

Fresh off their latest run-in, Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick are an additional matchup to watch. Harvick has won three of the last four fall races at Texas while Elliott has not finished in the top 10 in the last four Texas races. It will be interesting to see if their feud has come to a close following Harvick’s elimination in the Round of 12.

Check back on Friday as The Action Network’s PJ Walsh (@PJWalsh24) breaks down the same matchup and provides his betting insight for who and how to bet this matchup.

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Larson earned the Busch Pole Award for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the first race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8.

RELATED: Texas weekend schedule | Cup Series standings

Larson, winner of last Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, will start on pole for the ninth time in 2021 in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

AJ Allmendinger will start on pole in the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Andy’s Frozen Custard 335 at Texas (3 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the first race in the Round of 8.

As NASCAR adapted to COVID-19 protocols last season, practice and qualifying were eliminated at a majority of national-series events to limit at-track time, exposure and to cut race weekend costs. To determine starting lineups, competition officials used grouped draws, added inversions for weekend doubleheaders, and eventually adopted a performance-metrics formula. That metrics format remains in place this season, drawing on performance from both individual races and season-long results.

NASCAR’s metrics formula for 2021 weighs:

  • 25 percent: Driver’s finishing position from the previous race
  • 25 percent: Car owner’s finishing position from the previous race
  • 35 percent: Team owner points ranking
  • 15 percent: Fastest lap from the previous race

See the full lineup for Sunday’s Cup Series race below.

Start pos.
 Driver Car # Team
1 Kyle Larson 5 Hendrick Motorsports
2 Denny Hamlin 11 Joe Gibbs Racing
3 Kyle Busch 18 Joe Gibbs Racing
4 Ryan Blaney 12 Team Penske
5 Joey Logano 22 Team Penske
6 Chase Elliott 9 Hendrick Motorsports
7 Brad Keselowski 2 Team Penske
8 Martin Truex Jr. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing
9 Tyler Reddick 8 Richard Childress Racing
10 Chris Buescher 17 Roush Fenway Racing
11 Christopher Bell 20 Joe Gibbs Racing
12 William Byron 24 Hendrick Motorsports
13 Matt DiBenedetto 21 Wood Brothers Racing
14 Alex Bowman 48 Hendrick Motorsports
15 Austin Dillon 3 Richard Childress Racing
16 Michael McDowell 34 Front Row Motorsports
17 Kurt Busch 1 Chip Ganassi Racing
18 Bubba Wallace 23 23XI Racing
19 Daniel Suarez 99 TrackHouse Racing
20 Cole Custer 41 Stewart-Haas Racing
21 Erik Jones 43 Richard Petty Motorsports
22 Aric Almirola 10 Stewart-Haas Racing
23 Ryan Preece 37 JTG Daugherty Racing
24 Kevin Harvick 4 Stewart-Haas Racing
25 Ross Chastain 42 Chip Ganassi Racing
26 Chase Briscoe 14 Stewart-Haas Racing
27 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing
28 Anthony Alfredo 38 Front Row Motorsports
29 Corey LaJoie 7 Spire Motorsports
30 Quin Houff 00 StarCom Racing
31 Ryan Newman 6 Roush Fenway Racing
32 Justin Haley 77 Spire Motorsports
33 Josh Bilicki 52 Rick Ware Racing
34 Cody Ware 51 Petty Ware Racing
35 BJ McLeod 78 Live Fast Motorsports
36 Garrett Smithley 15 Rick Ware Racing
37 Joey Gase 53 Rick Ware Racing
38 David Starr 66 Motorsports Business Management
39 Timmy Hill 13

Motorsports Business Management

Practice and qualifying are tentatively scheduled for eight Cup Series races this year. Just one race remains with Busch Pole Qualifying on the schedule — the season-ending championship race Nov. 7 at Phoenix Raceway.

Posted on by Staff Report

Unofficial test speeds from organizational Next Gen testing for the NASCAR Cup Series on Oct. 11-12 at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s road course. Note that times are unofficial, with no technical inspection conducted before each session.

Day 1

Pos. No. Driver(s) Best time
 Diff. Best speed Make Team
1 4 Chase Briscoe 01:20.2 — 104.115 Frd SHR (black)
2 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 01:21.3 -1.069 102.746 Chv JTG Daugherty Racing
3 12 Ryan Blaney 01:21.7 -1.497 102.208 Frd Penske
4 16 AJ Allmendinger 01:22.0 -1.803 101.826 Chv Kaulig Racing
5 8 Tyler Reddick 01:22.3 -2.05 101.521 Chv RCR
6 5 Kyle Larson / Chase Elliott 01:22.4 -2.212 101.321 Chv HMS
7 14 Cole Custer 01:22.5 -2.253 101.271 Frd SHR (blue)
8 7 Corey LaJoie 01:22.6 -2.426 101.059 Chv Spire Motorsports
9 21 Austin Cindric 01:22.7 -2.443 101.038 Frd Wood Brothers
10 22 Joey Logano 01:22.7 -2.506 100.961 Frd Penske
11 51 Joey Hand 01:22.7 -2.521 100.943 Frd Petty Ware
12 43 Erik Jones 01:22.8 -2.556 100.900 Chv RPM
13 27 Loris Hezemans 01:23.1 -2.901 100.481 Frd Team Hezeberg
14 0 Kaz Grala 01:23.3 -3.075 100.271 Chv StarCom
15 99 Daniel Suarez 01:23.4 -3.150 100.181 Chv Trackhouse
16 42 Ross Chastain 01:23.6 -3.347 99.945 Chv CGR
17 48 Alex Bowman 01:23.6 -3.369 99.919 Chv HMS
18 17 Chris Buescher 01:23.8 -3.552 99.700 Frd RFR
19 19 Martin Truex Jr. 01:24.1 -3.855 99.341 Tyt JGR
20 94 Ty Dillon 01:24.1 -3.924 99.260 Chv GMS
21 23 Bubba Wallace 01:24.2 -3.948 99.231 Tyt 23XI

Day 2

Pos. No. Driver(s) Best time Diff. Best speed Make Team Laps run
1 19 Denny Hamlin/ Martin Truex Jr. 01:18.6 — 106.296 Tyt JGR 72
2 8 Tyler Reddick 01:21.7 -3.169 102.175 Chv RCR 132
3 4 Kevin Harvick 01:22.0 -3.423 101.859 Frd SHR (black) 95
4 21 Austin Cindric 01:22.1 -3.498 101.766 Frd Wood Brothers 83
5 14 Aric Almirola 01:22.2 -3.579 101.665 Frd SHR (blue) 81
6 12 Ryan Blaney 01:22.2 -3.592 101.649 Frd Penske 97
7 51 Joey Hand 01:22.5 -3.898 101.272 Frd Petty Ware 105
8 22 Joey Logano 01:22.6 -4.037 101.102 Frd Penske 110
9 99 Daniel Suarez 01:22.6 -4.051 101.084 Chv Trackhouse 38
10 7 Corey LaJoie 01:22.6 -4.076 101.054 Chv Spire Motorsports 54
11 42 Ross Chastain 01:22.8 -4.200 100.902 Chv CGR 79
12 27 Jacques Villeneuve/Loris Hezemans 01:22.8 -4.238 100.856 Frd Team Hezeberg 78
13 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 01:22.8 -4.251 100.840 Chv JTG Daugherty Racing 89
14 48 Alex Bowman 01:22.9 -4.317 100.760 Chv HMS 84
15 5 William Byron 01:22.9 -4.367 100.699 Chv HMS 69
16 16 Justin Haley 01:23.2 -4.609 100.406 Chv Kaulig Racing 23
17 0 Kaz Grala 01:23.3 -4.719 100.274 Chv StarCom 43
18 23 Bubba Wallace/Denny Hamlin 01:23.4 -4.798 100.179 Tyt 23XI 47
19 43 Erik Jones 01:23.5 -4.886 100.073 Chv RPM 53
20 17 Chris Buescher 01:23.6 -5.026 99.906 Frd RFR 77
21 94 Ty Dillon 01:24.0 -5.438 99.416 Chv GMS 50
Posted on by Zack Albert

CONCORD, N.C. — Early driving impressions from NASCAR Cup Series regulars are trickling in as two days of testing the 2022 Next Gen model wound to a close Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval.

Competition officials continued to tweak on some of the car’s challenges, working with teams to improve the model before its on-track debut in February, and teams and drivers absorbed their first chance to tune on the vehicle. Even with some issues still to be resolved, initial reviews tended toward the positive.

RELATED: Next Gen photos: Roval | Next Gen timeline

“It’s a great step to take for NASCAR for the foreseeable future,” said Spire Motorsports driver Corey LaJoie. “It’s a nice race car, a little bit heavy, NASCAR’s built some clips to build crush zones to mitigate some of that energy that’s going to be transferred to the driver in a crash, and those guys are taking it very serious overall with having a test go very smooth with a majority of the teams here. I think it’s been way more positives than negatives so far.”

Like the test’s opening day, the 21 assembled teams logged laps without major incident. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bubba Wallace each looped their cars in relatively harmless solo spins, and Chris Buescher continued after scuffing the right-front fender on his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford in the first half of the day.

Among the impressions and topics discussed by drivers during the second day of Next Gen testing:

• Steering vibrations continued to be a struggle for several teams, who reported some wear and design issues with parts in the steering rack. John Probst, NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Racing Innovation, said that in some instances set-screws had backed out of their positions and that officials were working on a long-term fix. Some drivers suggested that the issue could not be resolved in the two-day window of this organizational test.

“Some guys have it all the time, some guys only have some of the time,” said Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman about the steering issue. “We’ve been on both sides of that. I think we’re on steering rack four or five, so we’re working really hard at trying to fix it. I think the advantage to having so many cars here and so many people here is that there’s a ton of smart people working on fixing it. So obviously, we all got to get that dialed in.”

• Early impressions also suggest the competitive balance in the garage could make incremental shifts, with LaJoie among those hopeful that smaller organizations could gain on the Cup Series’ powerhouses. LaJoie’s No. 7 Chevy tester was eighth on the unofficial speed chart after Monday’s opening day.

“For us to have a competitive car right out of the jump at a road course where I’m a mid-pack guy at best,” LaJoie said, “for me to be able to acclimate to these cars quicker, get the most as I can out of the braking zone and figure out the sequential shifter, for me — like I tweeted last night — I’m super positive about the opportunities it presents a smaller team to close that gap with the bigger teams.”

MORE: Additional Next Gen tests set

Chalk some of the early potential for parity up to the elimination of wheel-hop with the car’s new independent suspension, bigger and more forgiving brakes, and the new sequential shifter. The driving characteristics are all-new, and the mastery of the old way of muscling a stock car around a road-course layout needs to be relearned — or un-learned — for the new vehicle.

“I feel like with the current car, there’s so many variables,” said William Byron, “so when you go into braking zones, you’ve got to feel your rear tires, you’ve got to match up the RPMs and make sure you get the downshift right, and if something in that sequence goes off, you’re off. So with this car, let’s just go as fast as you can in that braking zone, be as aggressive as you can and get the downshift done whenever you have time to.

“So I think it’s gonna make for a lot more aggressive passing, because I think guys are gonna dive-bomb and if you’re close to the guy, you’re going to obviously try to outbrake him.”

• NASCAR continued to work on rectifying some previously reported issues with heat inside the cockpit, adding ducts and vents to some of the windshield and window areas in an effort to improve ventilation. Conditions were far warmer at the 2.32-mile Charlotte track on Tuesday after a cool, damp Monday, but still less oppressively hot than the Sept. 7-8 session at Daytona International Speedway.

“It’s hotter down there, but you’ve still got to get the things to where you know, you’re not cooking turkeys inside the race car,” said Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney. “So I think it’s close. I think they’ve done a good job of developing it, you know, that’s with all these tests the last few days and then you know the three, four tests we have coming up in the winter is trying to work some of the bugs out. I think it’s getting there.”

• The Next Gen car’s growing similarity to some of the components used in sports-car racing prompted the question of whether Cup Series drivers might explore finding rides in IMSA’s season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona or in other road-racing events next year. Bowman was among the stock-car crowd saying sign me up.

“I’d race a lawnmower, so yeah for sure, I’d love to run some sports car stuff,” Bowman said. “Looking at my racing skills, I don’t know a sports-car team that’d be like, ‘yeah let’s get him in our car,’ but … I think, you know, it’s way more similar to a sports car than anything we’ve ever had. So I definitely could see some crossovers there and some sports-car guys coming over for road-course season. Not that they weren’t already successful when they came over in the past, but being extremely successful right off the bat, because of how similar they are now.”