DARLINGTON, S.C. — Four NASCAR Cup Series teams failed pre-qualifying inspection twice Friday, leading to a crew member ejection and the loss of pit-stall selection for each team at Darlington Raceway.
The following teams each lost their car chief and pit selection for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM):
• No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford for driver Kevin Harvick • No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Kyle Larson • No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford of Michael McDowell • No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Alex Bowman
Update from Sunday: The following teams will have to drop to the rear prior to the start of the race.
• No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford for driver Kevin Harvick (no qualifying time and unapproved adjustments) • No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for driver Chase Elliott (backup car) • No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for driver Denny Hamlin (unapproved adjustments) • No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Ford for driver BJ McLeod (no qualifying time and unapproved adjustments)
Cup Series cars did not take to the track Friday, but the garage was open for inspection. There were no three-time failures in the inspection process, which was interrupted by late-afternoon rain showers.
Cup Series practice is scheduled Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET, with Busch Light Pole Qualifying to follow at 11:05 a.m. ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).
As Kyle and Samantha Busch get ready to welcome their second child into the world, driver Trevor Bayne will be on standby to pilot the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota if needed, the team confirmed Friday.
Busch, the only active multi-time Cup Series champion, may have to leave the track this weekend at Darlington Raceway or next at Kansas Speedway so he and Samantha can be with the surrogate carrying their baby, should she go into labor.
If so, Bayne will be on-site and ready to hop into the car, which Busch piloted to a victory last month at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Bayne, a former full-timer at the Cup level with Wood Brothers Racing and what is now RFK Racing, joined JGR this season for a limited schedule in the Xfinity Series, with a best finish of third in his debut at Auto Club Speedway in February. He has made 187 career Cup starts in total, famously becoming the youngest winner of the “Great American Race” in the 2011 Daytona 500.
The 31-year-old also has two Xfinity wins in 155 starts and has made eight career Camping World Truck Series starts. His last Cup start came in November 2018 at Texas Motor Speedway.
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (May 5, 2022) – As part of a month-long prelude to the 63rd running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend, Charlotte Motor Speedway continued its Mission 600 campaign Thursday with a visit to the 82nd Airborne’s U.S. Army Advanced Airborne School at Fort Bragg, with Coca-Cola Racing Family driver Austin Dillon and his Richard Childress Racing teammate Tyler Reddick.
Mission 600 is a campaign that pairs NASCAR drivers with military bases designed to educate the NASCAR community about the day-to-day lives of the men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.
“It’s so cool getting to dive into their world a little bit. These guys are true heroes,” said Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. “It’s nice being here and seeing all the men and women who keep this country what it is – the best country in the world. I love Memorial Day Weekend at the race track. I think some of these guys are going to get to come out and I’m glad they’ll get to see what we do too.”
Andrew Coppley
Dillon and Reddick, alongside Charlotte Motor Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Greg Walter, spent the day learning about the equipment and training that paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne receive. With coaching by the 1st Brigade Combat Team, the special guests strapped on parachutes and gear, then leaped from the installation’s 34-foot jump tower. The group also took part in high-stress, live-fire rifle training that mixes exercise and marksmanship.
“We were able to get just a small glimpse of what the everyday training is like and what they are putting themselves through when they are dropped into those combat zones to be prepared physically and mentally,” Reddick said. “The intensity of what they face out here and the intensity in a race car is not really comparable, but for some of the things they’re putting themselves through to train and be ready, you see some of the comparisons to what we do to get ready in the race car.”
Fort Bragg is the largest military installation by population in the U.S., providing the infrastructure and training that enables a ready, capable force to fight and win the nation’s wars. The 82nd Airborne Division is America’s immediate response force — ready to deploy and answer the nation’s call in 18 hours.
“This is another stop on Mission 600 this year, where we take drivers from NASCAR and let them experience what the military does each and every day,” said Greg Walter, executive vice president and general manager at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “We got a little taste of what it takes to get ready to deploy. These paratroopers have to be ready to deploy anywhere in the world on very short notice.
“To see this training on base – and to see Austin and Tyler really get into it and whole-heartedly want to jump out of the airplane – it is a nice reminder of how our sport treats our military. The fact that the Coca-Cola 600 is on the eve of Memorial Day, and how significant that holiday is for our country, we want to be sure we treat it the right way and have great racing.”
At Charlotte Motor Speedway, Memorial Day Weekend provides the opportunity to pay tribute to the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces, particularly those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. The patriotic Coca-Cola 600 pre-race show includes representation from all five major branches of the military.
To date in 2022 on Mission 600, Denny Hamlin virtually met members of U.S. Army Central, Kuwait and Daniel Suarez visited Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach as representatives of the Coca-Cola Racing Family of drivers. Defending Coca-Cola 600 winner Kyle Larson and Jeff Gordon laid a wreath at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Additional Mission 600 visits in the coming weeks leading up to the May 29 Coca-Cola 600 are scheduled to include NASCAR drivers visiting units from the U.S. Marine Corps (at Camp Lejeune) and the U.S. Air Force (virtually with a unit at Camp Ali Al Salem, Kuwait).
Editor’s note: Due to inclement weather, Jennerstown Speedway’s season will begin on May 14.
On Saturday, May 7, Jennerstown Speedway will kick off its 2022 season and return to its NASCAR Roots as part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Racing Series.
NASCAR has deep roots at Jennerstown Speedway, but the Jennerstown drivers have deep roots of their own. On Saturday, five different drivers will have family roots spanning three generations of racing at Jennerstown Speedway.
All-time Martella’s Pharmacy’s Late Model winner and defending track champion Barry Awtey is in the middle of his three generation span. Barry’s father, Bill Awtey, was a household name at the Speedway in its dirt and early asphalt years. He’s perhaps best known for his motor building skills and his knowledge of street stocks and charger cars.
Bill’s knowledge and passion for cars lives on through his oldest son, Barry, who just won his seventh Late Model division championship all while carrying on his father’s legacy by helping others on a weekly basis.
In 2021 the speedway saw another member of the Awtey family at the speedway. Barry’s youngest daughter, Carley, became the third generation of the Awtey family to compete at Jennerstown Speedway.
Barry hopes to build on his family legacy in 2022 by extending his all-time win record as well as pursuing a staggering eighth Late Model championship.
The Awteys are not the only family with generations of success at the speedway.
Multiple generations of the Awtey family have enjoyed success at Jennerstown Speedway through the years. (Photo: Jennerstown Speedway)
The Hemminger family, consisting of grandfather Larry Hemminger, son Michael Hemminger and grandson Will Hemminger, have each won track championships at Jennerstown Speedway across several divisions. Larry also captured the 1993 National Dwarf Car championship.
Michael will once again chase a championship in the Martella’s Pharmacy’s Late Models. In 2021, Will won the inaugural One Stop Auto Sales Pro Stock championship at the age of 15, becoming the speedway’s youngest champion ever. Will is looking to defend his championship in 2022, but it won’t happen without a challenge from yet another third generation driver.
Josh Dunmyer, the grandson of Cliff Dunmyer and son of 1997 NASCAR Northeast Region champion and multi-time Jennerstown champion Jeff Dunmyer, will be competing this year in the One Stop Auto Sales Pro Stock division in search of his first championship.
Josh will carry the familiar family color scheme and the No. 07 with him throughout the year. He only contested a limited schedule in 2021, but showed great speed and promise in his first year in a full-size race car.
Also part of the multi-generational families at Jennerstown are the Price and Marhefka families.
Gerry Price Sr. and Rob Marhefka Sr. are both members of the Jennerstown Speedway Hall of Fame and their grandchildren are currently active as competitors at the track.
Brandon Marhefka represents Marhefka Motorsports in the Martella’s Pharmacy’s Late Model division. His father, Rob Marhefka, is a former winner in a late model and now serves as the family crew chief.
For the Price family, father Todd and son Steven will be back in action in 2022. Todd will drive the family-owned Late Model while Steve, who competes on a limited basis in the Late Model class, will chase a championship in the One Stop Auto Sales Pro Stock division.
“Part of Jennerstown’s success is due to the amazing support of all our drivers’ families and fans,” explained Jennerstown Speedway General Manager Billy Hribar. “The racing community is a huge family at Jennerstown and you don’t have to be blood relatives to be a part of it, but to see drivers’ family history span five decades is truly remarkable.”
Jennerstown Speedway’s 2022 points season will officially begin on Saturday, May 7. Grandstand gates will open at 4 p.m. and opening ceremonies will begin at 5:50 p.m.
If you followed William Byron’s remarkable rise through NASCAR’s national-series ranks, his recent success comes as no surprise.
Seven wins in the 2016 Camping World Truck Series season and a four-win Xfinity Series year in 2017 are among his laurels — all accomplished before the age of 20. Now, in the midst of what is shaping up to be his best-ever season in the Cup Series, Byron and Hendrick Motorsports have inked a deal keeping the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet with the organization through 2025.
“It certainly means a lot,” Byron said. “It’s been a special, special few weeks really. To get the wins that we did and have this announcement today (Thursday) is obviously great. So, really excited for it. Excited for the next few years and just want to keep building what we’re doing with our 24 team. I feel like we’re really starting to build good momentum and got great people around me with my crew chief Rudy (Fugle) and all the people that he’s assembled under me. Just really excited and thankful and hopefully (we) keep it going.”
The youngest of a youthful stable at Hendrick Motorsports, 24-year-old Byron and crew chief Rudy Fugle are only in their second year together at the Cup level. But the early success is speaking for itself.
After two seasons with renowned crew chief Chad Knaus (2019-20), the new No. 24 duo has triple the number of wins and has four times the amount of top fives in 25 fewer races together.
“It’s all about communication,” Byron said. “I feel like he and I, when we communicate well, we’re really good and we can have a lot of success. What I like about him is that after a tough race, he digs his feet in deeper and figures out how to solve problems. He’s a problem solver. So, I like that aspect and I think that’s why we’ve always been good. When we’re able to rally from bad races and get closer together and work on it.”
Now, with zero doubt about his contract status, which previously would have left him a free agent after the 2022 season, the No. 24 team can focus on one thing: winning a championship.
As it stands, Byron is third in the Cup Series standings, trailing only teammate Chase Elliott and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney. Byron also sits alongside Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain as the only multi-time winner 11 races into the season.
Byron’s 2021 playoff run was his best ever, coming up just one race short of the Round of 8 and ultimately finishing 10th in the final standings. He has already won more races and led more laps than all of last season.
Credit to some of the newfound success: Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman and four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon.
“He’s helped quite a bit,” Byron said. “I think he’s just made me comfortable in the Cup Series and made me understand what’s important. He’s really good at managing both sides of it. He’s good at managing the off-track and the on-track and knowing the importance of both. He’s been good for me but also good for the race team and good for Rudy.”
Another championship for Hendrick Motorsports would be a 19th overall and first in the No. 24 since Gordon’s spectacular six-win 2001 season.
And Byron and Fugle just might be the perfect pairing to get it done.
“For us, it’s just learning this new car,” Byron said. “Everything we did last year was great, and it kind of set a good foundation for what is important to us and how we’re going to approach our season.”
A new era for Autodrome Granby under NASCAR sanctioning is starting on Friday evening with a 75-lap feature in the track’s Sportsman Superstar Series.
While not well known to motorsports fans in the United States, Granby has been one of the most popular dirt tracks in Canada since opening in the 1960s. Along with having healthy fields for their weekly divisions, Granby has also attracted competitors from Canada and the U.S. by hosting several events for major sanctioning bodies.
Having operated for two years at limited capacity due to Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions, a capacity crowd is expected to descend onto Granby Friday night to watch more than 50 of the track’s best drivers battle it out for a shot at $3,000.
Friday’s season opener kicks off the most ambitious schedule in Granby’s history with 21 races on the calendar. Among the notable events on the schedule include three days of racing around Fete Nationale, or Jean Baptiste Day, on June 24, as well as the year-end Rebel Weekend that will take place from Sept. 16-17.
Below is everything to know about Autodrome Granby.
The vision Marcel Guillemette had when he first broke ground on Granby has evolved into a track cherished by nearly everyone in the adjacent town and throughout Quebec.
Originally going by the name Rebel Speedway, the facility experienced exponential growth after it was bought by Serge St. Sauveur, Normand St. Sauveur, Rene Pelletier and Bob Gatien in 1985, who formally changed the name of the track to Autodrome Granby.
For several decades, Martin Roy Jr. held the distinction of being the most successful driver in Granby’s Modified division with four track championships. David Hebert eclipsed that mark in 2017 and currently has six track championships after claiming another last year, while Francois Bernier follows closely behind him with five of his own.
Despite being new to NASCAR sanctioning, plenty of drivers in the sanctioning body’s top three divisions have found success at Granby, with Stewart Friesen scoring a Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modified win at the track back in 2018.
Other notable names that have visited Victory Lane at Granby include three-time World of Outlaws champion Sammy Swindell, former Richard Childress Racing development driver and Chili Bowl winner Tim McCreadie, as well as eight-time ARCA Menards Series winner Jimmy Horton.
More history will be added to Granby’s prestigious legacy on Friday night as Hebert, Bernier and plenty more local heroes will look to become $3,000 richer at the end of a grueling 75-lap Sportsman Superstar Series feature.
Below are the complete list of Modified track champions at Autodrome Granby.
There are four former Darlington Raceway winners in the field for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race — and three of them are driving for JR Motorsports.
Regulars Justin Allgaier and Noah Gragson will be joined by double-duty driver Chase Elliott as they try to extend JRM’s winning streak at the “Lady in Black” in Saturday’s Mahindra ROXOR 200 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
JR Motorsports drivers swept last year’s races at the venerable 1.366-mile speedway, with Allgaier winning last spring and Gragson taking the checkered flag in the fall race. Gragson already has two victories to his credit this season. Allgaier is looking for his first.
“I can’t wait to get to Darlington this weekend,” said Allgaier, who finished a close second to teammate Josh Berry last Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway. “We have an awesome throwback design for our Hellman’s Chevrolet, and hopefully we can replicate the same kind of success we had last year and get back into Victory Lane.
“I know this team is capable of doing it, and I’m ready to get down there and make it happen.”
As strong as the JRM Chevrolet Camaros have been at Darlington, it would be unwise to ignore the Joe Gibbs Racing contingent. Brandon Jones won the fall race in 2020 and 19-year-old Ty Gibbs already is a series-leading three-time winner this season.
On the positive side, Hendrick Motorsports has won five of the 11 NASCAR Cup Series races so far this season.
Further, Hendrick drivers collectively have 14 all-time Cup victories at Darlington Raceway, more than any other organization in the sport.
Here’s the negative, though: Hendrick hasn’t earned a trophy at the “Lady in Black” since Jimmie Johnson won the spring race in 2012, and no current driver in the Hendrick stable has a victory at the track.
Based on recent performance, however, that decade-long drought has a good chance to end in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
After winning for the first time this season in last Sunday’s race at Dover Motor Speedway, 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott comes to Darlington looking to go back-to-back. Though winless in the Cup Series at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped track, Elliott won at Darlington in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2014, the first time he raced on the track.
This weekend, Elliott will get extra seat time by running the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race.
“I always look forward to going to Darlington,” Elliott said. “It’s really cool, and I feel like it’s really a driver’s race track. For some reason, I’ve kind of struggled there the last couple of years, so I’m looking forward to getting some practice on Saturday in the Xfinity race.
“Hopefully, that can help me come Sunday. I also feel like there are some things that we learned from Dover that we can take to Darlington. It’ll be interesting with the new car and how things go.”
Teammate William Byron, a two-time winner this year, also has shown speed at Darlington. The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet won the pole for the 2019 Southern 500 before falling to 21st at the finish. For Throwback Weekend at the ‘Track Too Tough to Tame,’ Byron’s Camaro is sporting a paint scheme reminiscent of one of his predecessors in the No. 24 car—NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon, a seven-time winner at the track.
Recently, though, Darlington has been the nearly exclusive province of Toyota driver Denny Hamlin and Ford driver Kevin Harvick. In the five races since the coronavirus pandemic caused a 10-week hiatus in NASCAR competition, Hamlin and Harvick have won two events each, with Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. taking last year’s spring race.
In fact, a Chevrolet driver hasn’t won at Darlington since Harvick took the checkered flag in the 2014 spring race, the year before Stewart-Haas Racing switched to Ford.
Hamlin has a victory at Richmond to all but ensure a berth in this year’s Playoff, but the rest of his season has been fraught with error—notably an unattached wheel that sabotaged a potential race-winning car last Monday at Dover.
But Hamlin leads all active drivers with four Darlington wins, not to mention his five victories at the track in the Xfinity Series. Hamlin got a feel for the track in the Next Gen car during a March 15 Goodyear tire test that included Harvick and reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson, a Hendrick driver seeking his second win of the season.
“We’re looking forward to this weekend,” Hamlin said. “Darlington has been a great track for us, and we feel like we learned a lot at the tire test, so that gives us confidence going back.
“Like all season, our biggest thing is just eliminating mistakes—whether that’s me or on pit road or something happening with the car. It seems like every week has been something, but our speed has been good most weeks if we can just put everything together.”
Twenty-five-year-old Ben Rhodes is the defending series champion. He won at Darlington in 2020 in the Truck Series’ return to the “Track Too Tough to Tame” after a nine-year hiatus. Rhodes is fresh off an impressive April 16 victory at the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track.
Todd Bodine, 58, will make his 796th career start in NASCAR’s three national series combined when he takes the green flag. Bodine is driving the No. 62 Tundra for Halmar Friesen Racing.
Series regulars with hopes of winning and securing a playoff berth will have to deal with a formidable obstacle. Two-time NASCAR Cup Series winner Ross Chastain will drive a fifth Chevrolet for Niece Motorsports.
Chastain began his rise to prominence at Darlington in 2018, when he won the pole and the first two stages in Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 42 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Race weekends at Autodrome Granby have been unusually quiet these last few years.
While the unmistakable roar of the engines is still prevalent, drivers and track officials have regularly taken part in events with little or no fans in the grandstands due to strict restrictions implemented by the Canadian government to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The pandemic status quo at Granby is finally set to be erased on Friday evening, as a full crowd will be welcomed back inside the facility to watch a Sportsman Superstar Series feature that is expected to have more than 50 cars on the final entry list.
With the season opener also serving as Granby’s first race under NASCAR sanctioning, assistant promoter Charles Lampron is confident that 2022 is going to be an exceptional return to form for the facility after two years of struggles during the pandemic.
“We haven’t had a normal season since COVID began,” Lampron said. “The fans are super excited to come back, and we wanted to kick off things in a big way with more money on the line for drivers. This was the perfect opportunity to get started under the NASCAR banner with FloRacing broadcasting as well, so we’re all very excited.”
The hardest aspect of holding races at Granby in a global pandemic for Lampron was adapting to rules that changed based on case and hospitalization numbers.
Granby initially could not have any fans on site once they were able to resume weekly racing. Even when restrictions started to ease, Granby’s staff had to remain vigilant by taking temperatures of the spectators that were allowed in while also enforcing mask mandates.
Alex Lajoie, whose success at Granby includes a track championship in the Sportsman class in 2019, said that competing in front of empty grandstands was one of the most surreal experiences of his career and hopes to never go through anything like that again now that Canada has the pandemic mostly under control.
Lajoie sees Friday’s Sportsman Superstar Series event as a perfect way for Granby to welcome back a full crowd of spectators and wants nothing more than to enjoy a victory with a diverse range of emotions from the grandstands to take in.
“It’s nice to race in front of a full grandstand,” Lajoie said. “When COVID began, it was so weird to win and climb out of the car to see nobody there. It was certainly strange but I’m excited to see so many fans and drivers [at Granby] on Friday night.
There were many points in 2020 and 2021 where Lampron was unsure if Granby would weather the storm and fully rebound, but he credited the perseverance of the track’s staff for temporarily adapting to the new environment by emphasizing the alternative of streaming and keeping everyone safe on race weekends.
For Lampron, that hard work was crucial for Granby’s discussions with NASCAR to blossom into a partnership while still in the pandemic. He considers himself fortunate that Granby has NASCAR support and is eager to start the first year of what he believes will be a successful relationship between the two.
“This has been in the works over the last eight years,” Lampron said. “NASCAR was in touch with us every year and they would sometimes have people come out to the track. The NASCAR name brings so much value and this was the right time for us to jump in.”
Autodrome Granby (Joe Labrie)
Anticipation has been building around Friday’s season opener at Granby since the plans were first announced, as many drivers from the track’s Modified division have built Sportsman cars to race for the $3,000 paycheck.
David Hebert, who recorded his sixth Modified championship at Granby last year, is among those that will be entering the Sportsman Superstar Series feature. He will be joined by many more Modified drivers that include Francois Bernier, who is second to Hebert in track titles with five.
Having Hebert, Bernier and several other Modified regulars in the field is a welcomed challenge for Lajoie. He knows the Modified drivers will be determined to open the year with a victory in front of a capacity crowd and wants to make sure his car is perfect ahead of Friday’s green flag.
“We’ll have to work hard,” Lajoie said. “There are going to be some late nights in the shop getting the car ready. Our car wasn’t perfect the last time we raced, so we’re going to make sure we have the right setup and arrive [at Granby] prepared to win.”
Celebrating a win in front of fans would be a cathartic experience for Lajoie, who was frustrated to see how the pandemic negatively impacted tracks all around Canada from financial and personal standpoints.
Although the pandemic remains a talking point in Canada, Lampron is ready to move on from the past two years and help organize an eventful 2022 season that reminds everyone as to why NASCAR and so many competitors are investing into the facility’s future.
“Our expectations are very high,” Lampron said. “The schedule has 21 events on it, which is the most we’ve ever had in one year. We’re going big and there are a lot of races for fans and drivers to enjoy. This is the most exciting season we’ve had yet and I think it could be the best year ever at Granby.”
Lampron added that the drop of the green flag on Friday night will be a rewarding payoff for everyone at Granby that has made sacrifices to sustain one of Canada’s proudest short track complexes.
No longer will an unnerving calm permeate Granby on race weekends, but rather the familiar sound of energetic fans cheering on the country’s best dirt track competitors.
