What they’re saying: Quotes, notes for Next Gen test days at Charlotte Roval

Posted on October 11, 2021October 12, 2021 by Zack Albert

CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR’s Next Gen car is on track for a full two days of testing on the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course Monday and Tuesday, putting next year’s Cup Series model through its paces.

The two-day session comes after the Bank of America Roval 400 weekend, and race winner Kyle Larson is among those participating. A total of 21 teams were on schedule to participate, getting their first chance to tune on the new model at the track in an organizational test.

What a sampling of drivers and a top NASCAR competition official said they anticipate from this week’s Next Gen test:

Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford: “We’ll see. It’s nice to be able to test the Next Gen car the next two days for long days. I think it’ll be good. I ran that car at Texas earlier this year, and obviously coming to a road course, it’ll be way different in how it’s going to drive and really see what the braking performance is and the tire performance. Nice to jump in the day after we run this car. It’s like, ‘I can do this better here’ or ‘it does this worse here.’ Just kind of pick and choose when it’s fresh in your head. You’re not looking back months prior and be like, ‘I think this is better here.’ So I’m looking forward to it. I think it’ll be really nice to get behind that car, and it’s really nice to get more organizational tests here. We have this one, we have the Charlotte oval, we have Phoenix. I think it’s really good to try to just start getting laps in that car.”

Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet: “Hopefully, a whole lot of learning, right? I think there’s still a lot of question marks about the car that we want to learn. I think there’s things that NASCAR wants to learn, so we’re just going to hopefully dial it in. I’m excited to get two days at a road course of testing for me. I feel like I don’t have a lot of road course background, and it’s something that I can continue to improve on, so improving myself as a race car driver over the next two days will be a lot of fun.”

Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet: “I got fitted for a seat insert the last couple weeks, and mirrors and shifter and things like that, but I’ve never been in it on the ground, so I’m sure everything will look different once I’m on the ground. I’m excited to see how it drives, kind of going in with no expectations and take it slow and not wreck the car for the other guys.”

Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford: “It’ll be a lot different, a lot to learn in a short amount of time. Not just for driver, crew chief and the engineers, but the mechanics to learn how to work on this car. Everything is different. The seat and the steering wheel are the same, but I think after that, it’s all different. So just a lot of things — the mirrors aren’t even the same. You’ve got plenty to look at and think about and talk about. You don’t have many tests and practice will be limited. We’ve just got to make the most out of that test to try to get ahead, right? It’s such an underdeveloped car right now — we don’t know what works and what doesn’t work, and we have to figure that stuff out pretty quickly. We don’t have a great starting point because we haven’t been here before, so you just have to start from the beginning.”

Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota: “I think just trying to learn about the car, obviously there’s so much different about it than what we’ve ever raced, so there’s going to be a lot of learning. There’s going to be a lot of trying things, seeing where maybe our cars are compared to the other manufacturers, competition, etc. — all those things. Really just see where you’re at and see where you need to go. And then, something that I’ve heard a lot about is the heat. I didn’t have to deal with it when I drove it — it was really cold here. The way the car was put together was all different, and it wasn’t an issue. It’s really been a big issue this summer, a hot topic. We’ll see if the heat’s still an issue and if they were able to find any things to fix that.”

Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition (to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio): “We’ll just be over there working with the teams and looking for team feedback. This is the first time a lot of them have run their own cars, and it will be interesting, the particulars of each team’s feedback as to where some minor improvements could be made. Just looking at things like where we might need extra heat shielding, just all of those things that are little things that we’ll be soliciting individual team feedback on. We have a few teams working with us on some different airflows under the car and evacuating speed from out from under it. We have definitely some development work going on still, just really though, the teams getting miles on their stuff and what they’ve found and next steps moving forward.”

Posted on October 10, 2021October 11, 2021 by Sean Montgomery

CONCORD, N.C. — Needing a win to advance in the playoffs, William Byron laid it all on the line.

Byron entered Sunday’s showdown 44 points below the Round of 12 elimination line and trying to advance to the Round of 8 for the first time in his career.

After starting 11th in the NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Byron and crew chief Rudy Fugle flexed their muscles with a masterful combination of tire strategy and pure pace. Their valiant effort came up short with a heartbreaking finish, however.

RELATED: Playoff standings | Roval results

Byron began the day by finishing top 10 in Stage 1 and Stage 2, putting him in prime position to compete for the walk-off win in the final stage.

“Everything went almost according to plan,” said Fugle, leader of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team. “The only thing that could have went better is if we didn’t get that one yellow where it bunched everybody back up and caused some chaos. It ended up getting us in an incident. We had the lead, we were stretching the lead and if it stays green, I don’t think anybody catches us.”

Byron charged his way to the front of the pack late to lead a race-high 28 laps before the game-changing yellow flag flew with just 21 laps remaining, setting up a pressure-packed restart.

“It was lookin’ like it was gonna be a really good day,” Byron said. “Even after the caution, it was looking like we were gonna have a shot to win.”

But after battling with teammate Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick to regain the lead, push came to shove and turned Byron’s day on its head.

Entering the backstretch chicane, Reddick got into the back of Byron, causing him to overshoot the curbing and surpass the track limits.

“I just passed the eight (Reddick) off Turn 8 and I guess he had the five (Larson) inside of him,” said Byron. “Just a lack of awareness.”

That on-track incident left Byron further back in the pack after serving a stop-and-go penalty — seemingly the final blow to the No.24 team’s playoff hopes after a myriad of earlier issues.

“We felt like this was one gonna be one of our best rounds,” Fugle said. “We’re great at the Roval, we’re generally great at Talladega but got in a wreck, and we were great at Las Vegas but we got a flat tire. It is what it is.”

Byron’s 11th-place finish in Sunday’s showdown confirms his Round of 12 exit from the NASCAR Playoffs for the second time in his career (2019). Now, the No. 24 crew is focusing on building momentum for the 2022 season and beyond.

“We’re building a championship-caliber team year in and year out,” Fugle said. “William is 23 years old. So, we’re gonna build a solid team around him that can compete for a championship on a regular basis.”

Posted on October 10, 2021October 10, 2021 by Zach Sturniolo

Four drivers were eliminated from the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, as the postseason field was trimmed from 12 drivers to eight.

WINNER

Kyle Larson. Larson muscled past Denny Hamlin on the final restart of the race, rallying from early electrical trouble that at one point saw him beneath the elimination line. That comeback propelled the No. 5 team to its seventh win of 2021.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

ELIMINATED DRIVERS

Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing
Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing
William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports
Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports

ADVANCING TO THE ROUND OF 8

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports: 4,065 points
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing: 4,030 points
Martin Truex Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing: 4,029 points
Ryan Blaney, Team Penske: 4,024 points
Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing: 4,023 points
Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports: 4,022 points
Joey Logano, Team Penske: 4,013 points
Brad Keselowski, Team Penske: 4,008 points

WHO’S HOT

Kyle Larson. Larson wasn’t in a must-win situation, but his No. 5 team was vulnerable after a 10th-place run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and a dismal 37th-place run at Talladega Superspeedway. A victory at the Roval sends his momentum skyrocketing into a round that should fit his team’s best capabilities.

Denny Hamlin. Hamlin locked his way into the Round of 8 with a win at Las Vegas, which was also the most recent 1.5-mile track before finishing seventh at Talladega. With finishes of first, seventh and fifth, Hamlin carries a hot hand in search of his first championship.

WHO’S NOT

Alex Bowman. Bowman’s luck never turned around after a costly speeding penalty at Las Vegas. Talladega brought an untimely crash and early exit, sending him into must-win territory entering the Roval. Electrical issues ruined any hopes of advancing into the next round despite rebounding to finish 10th.

William Byron. Byron got caught on the wrong side of pit strategy at Las Vegas before pit-road penalties took him out of contention. Like his teammate Bowman, wrecking at Talladega put emphasis on the Roval, where he led 30 laps before finishing 11th.

NEXT RACE

The Round of 8 opens at Texas Motor Speedway with the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at 2 p.m. ET next Sunday (NBC/NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Who it favors

Kyle Larson. Larson was the winner of the NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas in June and has collected points wins at Las Vegas and Charlotte this season, both 1.5-mile tracks.

Who it hurts?

Martin Truex Jr. Despite a runner-up finish at Texas one year ago, the track hasn’t always been kind to the 2017 champion and finished 29th in the spring race of 2020.

Posted on October 10, 2021October 10, 2021 by Reid Spencer

CONCORD, N.C. – Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 featured a frequent winner, a couple of unlikely heroes and occasional villainy.

Kyle Larson took the checkered flag after 109 laps at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course to win for the seventh time this season and advance to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Larson won for the third time on a road course—the most ever in series history in a single season—in a race that featured the violent renewal of the Bristol-born rivalry between Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott.

RELATED: Race results

And Larson’s victory was no stress-free Sunday drive. Car chief Jesse Saunders and hauler driver Steven Legendre changed the battery and alternator belt on Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet under caution and kept him on the lead lap at the end of Stage 2, after the voltage dropped and put Larson in danger of elimination from the Playoff.

“It wasn’t looking too good,” Larson said of the electrical problems that beset his car. “Thankfully, everybody on our 5 car did a great job of staying calm. (Crew chief) Cliff (Daniels), as always, did a great job of communicating with me what was going on, getting the battery changed, the alternator—whatever was going on to get our battery running.

“I knew I was going to have some sketchy moments. I had to work my way through traffic, stay calm, and we had some good restarts there at the end … It was just a fun race there and a lot of craziness all day long.”

The victory was Larson’s first at the Charlotte Road Course and the 13th of his career.

Harvick failed to advance from the Round of 12 for the first time since the inception of the elimination format in 2014. His race ended in the SAFER barrier on Lap 99 after he locked up the left front tire on his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and shot straight into the wall.

“I just pushed it in there too hard and I got the tire locked up and I couldn’t stop it,” Harvick said. “I felt like I needed to go get a couple spots back that I had lost, and I got the left front locked up, and I couldn’t get it to turn.”

“Karma,” Elliott’s spotter, Eddie D’Hondt, said on the radio with understandable satisfaction, given that Harvick had spun Elliott into the wall in Turn 8 to jeopardize the reigning Cup champion’s chances of advancing to the next round.

But Elliott did advance after recovering to finish 12th, joining Larson, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. in the Round of 8.

Joining Harvick on the sidelines were Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman and William Byron, who led a race-high 30 laps but lost track position after a bump from race runner-up Tyler Reddick entering the backstretch chicane after a restart on Lap 90.

Byron missed the corner and had to come to a full stop before continuing. Later, he was running third before hitting the wall on the penultimate lap. Needing a victory to advance to the Round of 8, Byron instead finished 11th.

Harvick’s shot into Elliott’s back bumper on Lap 55 appeared to be retaliation for the Sept. 18 Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, where, in Harvick’s view, Elliott cost him a victory by taking his line in the late stages of the race—after Harvick had run Elliott into the outside wall and cut a tire on the No. 9 Chevrolet.

Asked whether his intent was payback for the Bristol race, Harvick said, “Sometimes real life teaches you good lessons.”

Chris Buescher finished third on Sunday — his first top five of the season. Kyle Busch was fourth, followed by Hamlin, Matt DiBenedetto, Logano, Bell, Blaney and Bowman.

The Round of 8 will begin next Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway with the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It’ll then continue at Kansas Speedway (Oct. 24) and Martinsville Speedway (Oct. 31) before the Championship 4 is set for the 2021 finale at Phoenix Raceway (Nov. 7).

NOTES: The race-winning No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Kyle Larson passed NASCAR’s post-race inspection, thus confirming the victory. The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Kyle Busch had two lug nuts not safe and secure, which will result in a fine of $20,000 and a one-race suspension of crew chief Ben Beshore. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Denny Hamlin and the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Chris Buescher each had one lug nut not safe and secure.

Larson is the first driver since Kasey Kahne in 2006 to win both the Coca-Cola 600 in May and the fall race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Kahne won both races on the 1.5-mile oval. The ROVAL became the venue for the fall race in 2018… Larson enters the Round of 8 as the No. 1 seed with 4,065 points, 35 more than second-place Hamlin… The victory was Hendrick Motorsports’ 36th at Charlotte Motor Speedway, including the oval and ROVAL events and the NASCAR All-Star Race… Team Penske is the last organization with all of its Playoff drivers still eligible for the championship—Keselowski, Logano and Blaney.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on October 10, 2021October 10, 2021 by Staff Report

Kevin Harvick’s playoff hopes came to an end with 11 laps remaining in Sunday’s Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

The No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford overshot Turn 1, locked up and crunched the barrier. The car ended up on the hook after Harvick exited under his own power.

“I just pushed it in there too hard and I got the tire locked up and I couldn’t stop it once I felt like I needed to go to get a couple spots back that I had lost, and I got the left-front locked up and I couldn’t get it to turn.”

Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was behind Harvick before his mistake. The two had a brush-up earlier in the final stage, which left Elliott’s car with severe damage. “Karma,” said Elliott spotter Eddie D’Hondt over the No. 9 radio.

Harvick, still winless this season, entered the cutoff race nine points below the elimination line. He was 10th in the first stage and third in the second, giving him nine stage points. After wrecking out, Harvick checked in at ninth in the standings — the first driver out — finishing 25 points below the elimination line.

This will be the earliest Harvick has ever been eliminated from the NASCAR Playoffs since the current format was established in 2014. He has always made it to at least the Round of 8, including last season.

Posted on October 10, 2021October 10, 2021 by Zack Albert

CONCORD, N.C. — The prevailing thought that the Chase Elliott-Kevin Harvick feud from Bristol Motor Speedway might have simmered or otherwise fizzled? Turns out those were underestimated, and their cars emerged with more damage Sunday from the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval than they did at their previous Bristol clash — whether it was self-inflicted or meted out intentionally.

In the end, Elliott moved on in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet severely scarred from a run-in with his newest rival but with a hard-fought 12th-place finish in the Bank of America Roval 400. And though Elliott pledged to exact revenge later in the race over the No. 9 team communications, Harvick made that a moot retribution point by overcooking Turn 1 in the final stage, unceremoniously ending his day 11 laps short of the 109-lap distance and scuttling his postseason hopes.

Post-race, Elliott tried to keep his remarks to his own team’s performance but couldn’t resist the dig.

“Yeah, I mean, our team has a lot of fight. I’m just super proud of that,” Elliott said. “As far as Kevin goes, just want to wish them a merry offseason and a happy Christmas.”

Christmas in October. Elliott’s unseasonable salute came 76 days early, stemming from their Lap 55 confrontation — one that rekindled the flames from the postseason’s previous elimination race.

Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing nudged Elliott’s car into a slide as the two exited the infield portion of the oval-road course hybrid. Elliott crunched the outside retaining wall, damaging the back of the No. 9 Chevy and sending him into a slide on the oval’s banking.

After a check at the infield care center for his later crash, Harvick dodged when asked whether his bump of Elliott was intentional. He told NBC Sports, “Sometimes real life teaches you good lessons,” and offered to PRN Radio that, “You remember Bristol.”

Elliott remembered, too, with the team vowing revenge in their radio chatter. The payback for the payback never quite materialized. Instead, the No. 9 team buckled down and tried to stem the crash damage. Elliott’s chances for a third consecutive Roval triumph were hampered, but the patchwork did the trick for salvaging a playoff-saving result.

“Everybody did an amazing job. I think this is an optimum result for what we had today, probably overachieved by far what most teams would have done,” said Alan Gustafson, Elliott’s crew chief. “… It’s satisfying to overcome that, for sure. I think it’s, diamonds are made from pressure, right? So that’s going to help us.”

Said Elliott: “We could have easily given up or not fixed it to the proper standard and had something break or had a tire rub. Everybody just did a really good job today and I’m super proud of that coming off of a really fast car. I thought we had a shot to win. Obviously that didn’t happen. In the grand scheme moving on is the most important thing. Our season is still alive. I’m pumped.”

By day’s end, both cars were battered, with Elliott moving on to the postseason’s Round of 8 in an effort to defend his Cup Series title and Harvick continuing outside the playoff picture. As to whether their relationship would stay contentious, Rick Hendrick — Elliott’s team owner — said he hoped Sunday’s flare-up was the end of it.

“I think they’ve handled it well,” Hendrick said of the No. 9 team’s composure. “Of course, they were upset. Everybody was upset when that happened today. It looked like Chase could be done and out of the playoffs. I mean, it was a lot of heated feelings. He came back, was able to (advance). Harvick wrecked himself, I guess. I hope it’s over.

“We don’t want to race that way. We want to just race. That’s not our style. Just go out, if a guy is better than you, he wins. Just do your job. If you get beat, you get beat. It never feels good to push somebody out of the way. I mean, a little rubbing or something, that’s OK. But just to wreck somebody, that’s not good.”

Posted on October 10, 2021October 10, 2021 by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: How to find NBCSN | Get the NBC Sports App | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App

Monday, Oct. 11
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7:30 p.m., Refuse to Lose: Jeff Gordon and the 1997 Daytona 500, FS1 (re-air)

Tuesday, Oct. 12
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, Oct. 14
1 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub Best of Radioactive: Part 1, FS2 (re-air)
2 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub Best of Radioactive: Part 2, FS2 (re-air)
3 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Legends Show, FS2 (re-air)
4 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub Best of Features: Part 1, FS2 (re-air)
5 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub Best of Features: Part 2, FS2 (re-air)
6 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub Best of Radioactive: Charlotte, FS2 (re-air)
2 p.m., IMSA Auto Racing Special Prototype Challenge: Virginia International Raceway, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
3 p.m., IMSA Auto Racing Pilot Challenge, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (tape delay)
5 p.m., ARCA Menards Series West NAPA AutoCare 150 presented by Berco Redwood, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (tape delay)
6 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Friday, Oct. 15
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Saturday, October 16
2:30 p.m., Countdown to Green, NBC/NBC Sports App
3 p.m, NASCAR Xfinity Series Andy’s Frozen Custard 335, NBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN3)

On PRN
2:30 p.m, NASCAR Xfinity Series Andy’s Frozen Custard 335

Sunday, October 17
Noon, NASCAR RaceDay: Texas, FS1
1:30 p.m., Countdown to Green, NBC/NBC Sports App
2 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500, NBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN)
6 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Post-Race Show, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

On PRN
1 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500

Posted on October 10, 2021October 10, 2021 by Zack Albert

CONCORD, N.C. — The first organizational test for NASCAR’s Next Gen car in the 2022 Cup Series is scheduled Monday and Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s road course.

A total of 21 teams are set to participate, with drivers shaking down the new model on the 2.32-mile Roval circuit. The seventh-generation design is set to debut in the non-points Clash at the Coliseum exhibition on Feb. 6, with a full-fledged premiere in the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 20.

The list of teams and drivers expected to participate in the two-day test:

Team	Driver(s)
No. 00 StarCom Racing Chevrolet	Kaz Grala
No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford	Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola
No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet	Kyle Larson
No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet	Corey LaJoie
No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet	Tyler Reddick
No. 12 Team Penske Ford	Ryan Blaney
No. 14 Stewart Haas Racing Ford	Chase Briscoe, Cole Custer
No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet	AJ Allmendinger, Justin Haley
No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford	Chris Buescher
No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota	Martin Truex Jr.
No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford	Austin Cindric
No. 22 Team Penske Ford	Joey Logano
No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota	Bubba Wallace
No. 27 Team Hezeberg Ford	Loren Hezemans, Jacques Villenueve
No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet	Ross Chastain
No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet	Erik Jones
No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet	Alex Bowman
No. 51 Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet	Joey Hand, Cody Ware
No. 94 GMS Racing Chevrolet	Ty Dillon
No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet	Daniel Suarez

The sessions will mark the debuts for two Cup Series efforts — Team Hezeberg, which will field the No. 27 Ford for NASCAR Whelen Euro Series drivers Loren Hezemans and Jacques Villeneuve ahead of their part-time venture in 2022, and the No. 94 GMS Racing Chevrolet for newly tapped driver Ty Dillon.

Xfinity Series champion Austin Cindric, who is slated to drive the No. 2 Ford for Team Penske next year, will drive the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 in the two-day session. Cindric was originally slated to drive the No. 21 in the Cup Series next year before Brad Keselowski’s planned departure to Roush Fenway Racing in 2022 shook up the roster for Team Penske and its affiliates.

The sessions — which are scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET each day — provide an early opportunity for teams to get familiar with the Next Gen model, working on their own cars and learning their nuances. The vehicle’s development phase was largely made up of single-car tests, with eight teams taking part in the most recent test Sept. 7-8 — a NASCAR test at Daytona International Speedway to determine tire combinations and the proper aero and horsepower mix for the 2022 superspeedway rules package.

Three more organizational Next Gen tests are on the calendar before the 2022 season — Nov. 17-18 on the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway oval, Dec. 14-15 at Phoenix Raceway, and Jan. 11-12 back at Daytona.

Posted on October 10, 2021October 10, 2021 by Staff Report

Ty Dillon will drive full time for GMS Racing in its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series season in 2022, the organization announced Sunday.

In 2021, Dillon has competed in four Cup Series races with Gaunt Brothers Racing and 11 Xfinity Series races with Joe Gibbs Racing, Our Motorsports and Jordan Anderson Racing.

Dillon has competed in more than 160 Cup Series races in his career with his last full-time effort coming with Germain Racing in 2020.

“It’s such an honor to be able to drive for GMS Racing as they take the step into the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time, and that they have chosen me as their driver for the future,” Dillon said in a team release. “It’s been a challenging year off from racing full-time, but I’m so excited to return. I don’t think that there is going to be another driver that is more hungry than I am next year to get back out there and prove what I am capable of in the Cup Series. I am excited for our future and am ready to get to work.”

On June 17, GMS Racing announced it would field a full-time Cup Series effort next year. Since 2014, the organization has won more than 50 races across the Xfinity Series, Camping World Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series.

Dillon will drive the No. 94 Chevrolet for the team in an alliance with Richard Childress Racing and ECR Engines.

The number has significance with GMS Racing. Team president Mike Beam partnered with NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Bill Elliott in 1995 to form Bill Elliott Racing to field the No. 94 entry throughout the mid-1990s. The original Bill Elliott Racing shop is still a current part of the GMS Racing facility.

“We’re excited to welcome Ty to the GMS Racing family,” said Beam. “Going full-time Cup racing in 2022 is a big step for us and I can’t think of a better driver than Ty to lead us into our first year in NASCAR’s top series.”

Added team owner Maury Gallagher: “GMS is always looking forward and I believe this is the next step for the team in that process. We have the goal to be a championship-caliber team in any series in which we compete, and I am excited to watch the team grow in the coming years.”

Posted on October 9, 2021 by Zack Albert

CONCORD, N.C. — Rarely do so many dynamic factors figure into a 15th-place finish. That’s where Harrison Burton wound up on the scoring pylon after Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, the first elimination point in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

But Burton’s just-above-midpack result included playoff pressure, a closely contested battle with family and a conservative approach that went against his racing instincts. In the end, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver celebrated his 21st birthday by advancing to the Round of 8, maintaining the necessary cushion by just eight points and staving off the playoff ouster that claimed his cousin, Jeb, and three others — Myatt Snider, Jeremy Clements and Riley Herbst.

“I know it’s boring, but just got to make it home,” Harrison Burton radioed his No. 20 JGR team as he tried to tiptoe through and avoid trouble with 10 laps left on Charlotte Motor Speedway’s tricky road course layout. Even after a late caution period forced a chaotic two-lap dash to the end, Burton stayed steady and kept his older cousin’s No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevy at least within sight as he finished two spots ahead.

“It’s family, and he wants it as much as I do,” Harrison Burton said. “You just have to take what you feel is yours. We were around each other all day, that was kind of by design on my part — just stay around Jeb and it worked out.”

The two cousins were in close proximity for much of the 68-lap showdown. Just Burton entered the day with the same nine-point gap that he finished with, his playoff chances hurt by a crash-related 36th place in the postseason opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks ago.

A seventh-place finish last weekend at Talladega helped his recovery, but the deficit was too much to surmount — and an over-aggressive counter-move was out of the question.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

“I needed to outrun him all day by a couple spots, and we were right beside each other all day. The only way it was going to happen was if I just wrecked him. I got a little bit more respect for him than that,” Jeb Burton said. “He races me clean, and I race him clean. If it had been some other guys, maybe I woulda just dumped ’em, but I wasn’t going to do that to him. It is what it is, and he was the better car today and he outran us all day and I just beat him at the end by a couple spots. It just wasn’t enough.”

Jason Ratcliff, Harrison Burton’s crew chief, had a front seat for the friendly family face-off atop the No. 20 pit box, enjoying a bit of a laugh when asked to wrap his head around the cousin vs. cousin component of Saturday’s race.

“I haven’t heard much, but I’m sure those two were probably back and forth this week, having a little fun with it,” Ratcliff said. “It seems like all day, we were right beside each other, within one or two spots. So it was a little nerve-wracking at times, but both of them raced each other with a lot of respect and they pushed on each other a little bit but not to the point where it got ugly. Both teams and both drivers did a good job today. It was close.”

The crews for both Burtons preached patience at different intervals — Jeb Burton got that message early, with a Stage 2 scrape of the Turn 2 wall prompting some reassuring messages from his No. 10 team. Harrison Burton’s coaching came later as he tried to preserve his points margin, cognizant of the stakes.

Taking it easy at the Roval, it turns out, was less than easy.

“It is tough. As a driver, it’s so tough to be in a rhythm when you’re not full aggression, right? When you’re riding around trying to not crash or not make a mistake to get into the next round, it’s challenging to get in a rhythm. I wish we were just able to race, but we were in the situation we’re in, and that’s racing,” Jeb Burton said.

For the others eliminated, a mixed bag of results kept them from making the first cut. Snider was the top finisher among them, coming home eighth at the Roval, but not providing enough pop to offset a 31st-place wreck-out at Talladega. He wound up 16 points below the elimination line after the Round of 12.

Riley Herbst’s long-shot chance to advance ended with his No. 98 Ford heading behind the wall with rear-gearing trouble in the closing laps. Jeremy Clements actually leapfrogged Herbst in the points with a 12th-place finish — his best of the playoffs — but earlier setbacks at Vegas and Talladega left him too far back.

“We got in a big wreck at Vegas, broke a rocker arm at Talladega, and I mean, after that you’re just in a huge hole,” Clements said. “We knew we needed to come here to win, and that’s a tall feat for a small team, but proud of our effort today. We ran hard and raced hard.”