See where your favorite driver is pitting for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
AJ Allmendinger arguably won the biggest race of his career this past weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, the NASCAR Cup Series’ debut on the 14-turn layout.
Even after the triumph, Allmendinger’s primary focus was still on capturing the Xfinity Series championship with Kaulig Racing.
During the course of his NASCAR career, Allmendinger has been known to be cordial with any team he’s part of, yet vocal when he’s not pleased with his race cars. There was too much of the latter at JTG Daugherty Racing, and it took the enjoyment out of racing for the California native. Ultimately, his displeasure led to his departure from the team after the 2018 Cup season.
With no full-time seats open, Allmendinger waited … and waited. In the meantime, he took up a job as an analyst for NASCAR on NBC.
That was until Matt Kaulig, owner of Kaulig Racing, and team president Chris Rice cold-called the veteran driver, asking if he would be open to running a partial Xfinity schedule in 2019 to improve the young organization, particularly on road courses.
Allmendinger agreed.
Allmendinger’s famous smile reappeared, with near-instant success at Kaulig Racing. He crossed the finish line inside the top three in his first two starts, only to be disqualified (Daytona and Watkins Glen), then won in his fifth race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
Allmendinger enjoyed racing again. With two more wins, including his first on an oval in 2020, both sides came to an agreement to run the full 2021 Xfinity Series schedule. Nearly two-thirds of the way through the season, the 39-year-old Allmendinger is still relishing his return to full-time NASCAR competition.
“I put so much pressure on myself that there’s always going to be that element of, ‘I’m not having a lot of fun right now’ because I show up to these weekends and I expect greatness out of myself,” Allmendinger told NASCAR.com a few weeks ago. “I want to win every race. I want to be up front. I want to walk into the shop and feel like a badass because I’m bringing something to the team.
“That’s the pressure I put on myself. I joke around, but it’s serious. There are times where it’s not ‘fun’ because I do that to myself. But the difference is, you’ve seen us joking around and what you see with us giving each other crap and going back and forth, that’s real. That’s part of the reason I wanted to be full time because I had that fun on a part-time basis. But then, I would go three or four races without racing — I would go to the shop, but I want to be at the track. I wanted that every weekend.”
Through the opening 21 races of the season, Allmendinger is one of just five full-time Xfinity drivers who have won a race. In early March at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the No. 16 Chevrolet crossed the finish line first. Three months later at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Allmendinger charged through the field after a late pit-road penalty, securing his second checkered flag of the season.
RELATED: Michigan, Gateway weekend schedule | Xfinity Series standings
Currently, Allmendinger sits second in the championship standings, 82 points below Austin Cindric, who has five victories — including a big one at Indy the day before Allmendinger’s Cup win.
“You always want more, and I do feel we’ve given away a couple of wins,” Allmendinger said. “I feel like in every race, we could have been in the top five. There’s probably a couple of top fives we got where we probably should have had a seventh or eighth, but we got a top five out of them. And the ones where we didn’t get top fives, whether it’s mechanical, strategy calls, out of tires, etc., I would say we could have been inside the top seven every race this year.”
Rice said he believes the No. 16 team is having a “building year.” But he also knows Allmendinger is inexperienced when it comes to competing in the Xfinity Series. Still, it’s worth noting that Allmendinger hasn’t competed in an Xfinity Series car at three of the final 12 tracks on the schedule (Michigan, Richmond and Kansas), and just once competed at Phoenix, finishing fifth.
“I think the season has gone OK, but I think we can be a lot better,” Rice says. “A lot of these places AJ is going to for the first time in an Xfinity car, so we’re building on notes. But with no practice and no qualifying, we have to sometimes come back and rebuild on what we built there.”
Jason Trinchere, who has been an engineer in all three national touring series and is in his first year as a NASCAR crew chief, agrees it’s been a solid season. Knowing that he has a wheelman in the driver’s seat doesn’t hurt, either.
“For me, it was a lifetime worth of work for a lifetime opportunity,” he said. “We all know AJ is going to be a contender for each race, so I couldn’t have a better opportunity.”
Rice added that Allmendinger has been a key contributor to the team because he helps lead its driver core of Justin Haley, Jeb Burton and Kaz Grala. At the same time, Kaulig puts no pressure on Allmendinger, which has helped propel him to success.
“We told him we want to win trophies, but at the same time, we want to have fun with it,” Rice said. “I think he knows that and sees we have his back no matter how good or bad he runs. That makes for a big deal.”
With five races remaining in the regular season, it’ll be a tough hill to climb making up 82 points on Cindric to win the regular season championship. Still, second place is awarded 10 playoff points, which could go a long way toward potentially making it to Phoenix Raceway as part of the Championship 4.
MORE: 2021 Xfinity Series winners
Across the board, Allmendinger says he feels the No. 16 team is on par with Cindric’s No. 22 team on a weekly basis. They’ve been 1-2 in the championship standings since Mid-Ohio, nine races ago. So does that make the Nos. 16 and 22 the favorites for the title?
“I don’t think so,” Rice said. “I think you’re going to have some sleepers like Justin Allgaier. Justin Allgaier is good; he’s great at some of those race tracks in the playoffs. Noah Gragson is really aggressive and a guy you have to keep your eye on. Daniel Hemric. I don’t think there are any favorites, but I think there are three or four guys that can really jump up in there and push us, in terms of AJ Allmendinger, Justin Haley and Jeb Burton out of the way, as well as the (No.) 22 car.”
Over the last seven races (the same amount as the playoffs), the No. 16 team has scored eight more points than the No. 22 team. Because of that, Trinchere has his team slotted as a co-favorite to win the championship. “If we’re keeping pace with them,” Trinchere says, “I know come playoff time we can excel when we make that push.”
And though Allmendinger has been around NASCAR for a decade and a half, he’s not letting his thoughts get caught up with the potential of winning a championship. There’s too much of the season left.
“With the way the championship format is, one bad race and you could be done,” he said. “Obviously, it comes down to the last race of the season. If we’re lucky enough to be in the final four in Phoenix, then maybe you start letting your brain be like, ‘OK, it would be big to win a championship.’ But we have so much work, so much progress to make to even worry about that, that I don’t think ahead and allow it to enter my mind.”
Kyle Larson has won the Busch Pole Award for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Michigan International Speedway.
Larson, the series points leader, will start his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet from the top spot for the fifth time this season. He is a five-time winner this year and a three-time winner at the 2-mile Michigan track in his Cup Series career.
Defending Xfinity Series champion Austin Cindric claimed the pole for Saturday’s New Holland 250 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford at Michigan. Cindric is the series’ most recent winner, claiming his fifth victory of the season last Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.
Austin Hill is on the pole for Friday’s Toyota 200 presented by CK Power (9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in the No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota. That race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway will open the seven-race playoffs for the Camping World Truck Series.
RELATED: Michigan, Gateway weekend schedule | 2021 Cup Series standings
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 | Chase Elliott | 9 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 3 | Ryan Blaney | 12 | Team Penske |
| 4 | Matt DiBenedetto | 21 | Wood Brothers Racing |
| 5 | Martin Truex Jr. | 19 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | 1 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 7 | Kyle Busch | 18 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 8 | Kevin Harvick | 4 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 9 | Denny Hamlin | 11 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 10 | Alex Bowman | 48 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 11 | Chris Buescher | 17 | Roush Fenway Racing |
| 12 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
| 13 | Erik Jones | 43 | Richard Petty Motorsports |
| 14 | Tyler Reddick | 8 | Richard Childress Racing |
| 15 | Bubba Wallace | 23 | 23XI Racing |
| 16 | Ryan Newman | 6 | Roush Fenway Racing |
| 17 | Justin Haley | 77 | Spire Motorsports |
| 18 | William Byron | 24 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 19 | Joey Logano | 22 | Team Penske |
| 20 | Brad Keselowski | 2 | Team Penske |
| 21 | Chase Briscoe | 14 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 22 | Ross Chastain | 42 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 23 | Aric Almirola | 10 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 24 | Corey LaJoie | 7 | Spire Motorsports |
| 25 | Michael McDowell | 34 | Front Row Motorsports |
| 26 | Austin Dillon | 3 | Richard Childress Racing |
| 27 | Cole Custer | 41 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 28 | Christopher Bell | 20 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 29 | Josh Bilicki | 52 | Rick Ware Racing |
| 30 | Daniel Suarez | 99 | Trackhouse Racing |
| 31 | Quin Houff | 00 | StarCom Racing |
| 32 | Ryan Preece | 37 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
| 33 | Garrett Smithley | 53 | Rick Ware Racing |
| 34 | James Davison | 15 | Rick Ware Racing |
| 35 | Anthony Alfredo | 38 | Front Row Motorsports |
| 36 | BJ McLeod | 78 | Live Fast Motorsports |
| 37 | Cody Ware | 51 | Petty Ware Racing |
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.
This story first appeared on NASCAR.com on May 5, 2021:
What started after the 2018 season as a clean sheet of paper in NASCAR’s Research & Development Center is now delivered, dressed and ready for its close-up.
NASCAR’s three automakers released their Next Gen models for Cup Series competition in 2022 on Wednesday at The Park Expo in Charlotte, North Carolina, ushering in a new era of the “Rebirth of Stock.” The model that began its life with a Gen-7 codename and was previously seen in testing prototypes with camouflaged or generic wrap designs has now emerged with three sleek bodies specific to each Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).
Wednesday’s public debut of the Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, the Ford Mustang and the Toyota TRD Camry for 2022 showed off some of those car-specific characteristics. But in dialing back toward more of a stock feel for better relevance to their production-car counterparts, the Next Gen car also showed off plenty of new components — some that had shown up on test-mule prototypes, but some that the NASCAR industry and fans saw in detail for the first time.
“I think that at the highest level, one of the main goals is just that the sport remains healthy and strong, that it remains attractive to our current OEMs, teams and fans, but also attracts new ones,” said John Probst, NASCAR’s senior vice president of racing innovation. “As we kind of dive into that, it’s sort of your overarching goal. Then we know to be attractive to our OEMs, we need to be relevant to them.”
RELATED: A legacy of safety
Competition officials worked in tandem with the manufacturers in that search for product relevance, adding bigger wheels, a more muscular coupe-style look, the potential for hybrid power in the future and a closer resemblance to each car’s road-going version (think sinews over stickers). But the project also included a heavy focus on the competition side, developing a symmetrical car with features that decrease the dependence on aerodynamics and increase the emphasis on car setup in the hands of teams and drivers.
“If you look at where Gen-6 is today, there’s a big component of it that’s around wind tunnels and simulation,” Probst said, referring to the Cup Series’ current model, which made its competition debut in 2013. “And while that will always be in our sport and rightfully so, we felt like we needed to have that at a level that’s commensurate with the amount of attention that the fans get out of it. We don’t sell tickets to the wind tunnel or to watch engineers run simulations, so just trying to keep things focused on the race track. …
“I think now that the range of adjustment (teams) will have on a week-in, week-out basis will exceed what they have as an opportunity with the hardware they’re running today.”
Wednesday marked the next phase in the path to its 2022 competition debut, a timeline that was delayed by a year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last season. The Next Gen prototype has undergone significant testing, and the OEM unveiling coincided with the model’s 12th on-track test — with Ryan Blaney at the controls of the P3 test car at Texas Motor Speedway.
RELATED: Next Gen project timeline
In the meantime, there’s plenty to unpack from Wednesday’s launch. Car specifications, a list of parts suppliers and other details were released, all ranging from larger, fundamental shifts to smaller but still significant nuances that have gone into the build-out process.
Front and center in the unveiling were the bodies and their coupe-like stance — a shorter rear deck, a lower roof and wider dimensions. The body materials have changed, going from the well-established sheet metal to a durable composite body. Five Star Fabricating, Inc., produces the composite body panels, which were phased into the Xfinity Series starting in 2017.
The resilient nature of the composite, flange-fit bodies has reduced some of the negatives of full-contact racing in the Xfinity Series, a trait that’s expected to carry over with even stronger material for the Cup Series’ new model next season.
“This new car’s going to allow them to get into the wall a little bit, get into each other a little bit, without really any worse for the wear as far as the performance of the vehicle,” Probst said. “We’re really hoping that this encourages them to get a little bit even more aggressive, if that’s possible. Our drivers are pretty aggressive already, but we think this composite body will really allow them to bump and bang a whole lot more.”
Other notes and facets that were released or featured as part of Wednesday’s reveal:
• The body of the Next Gen car is designed to be symmetrical, removing the skew and tail offset from the centerline that teams have used to create right-side sideforce. “Again, back to putting the car in the drivers’ hands,” Probst says. “Bigger tires, we’ll have more mechanical grip for them to lean on the tires vs. lean on the body, if you will, through aero.”
The car will also be two inches higher off the ground, with a new splitter up front, a flat underbody and a rear diffuser that channels and transitions airflow moving under the car and reduces the effects of more disruptive “dirty” air behind it.
• With safety at the top of mind, the redesigned chassis will feature energy-absorbing foam bumpers in front and back. The reinforced tubing will be rectangular, a shift from the current circular design. Roof flaps will carry over to the new-generation car, but it will also include a lower-mounted diffuser flap that deploys to help keep cars on the ground in the event of a backward slide at the series’ faster speedways.
• The Next Gen car will feature increased connectivity, with in-car cameras expected for every car in the Cup Series field — a boon for broadcast and online partners, and ultimately fans. “Our goal is to have more cameras and more camera angles than ever, so that we can engage our fans and get them inside the car with their favorite driver,” Probst says. “We’re working out how to get more data out of the ECU (electronic control unit), getting more camera angles, higher-definition cameras, 360 cameras — you name it — so that when this thing goes live in 2022 that we’re bringing our fans something they haven’t seen before, from the car perspective but also from the broadcast perspective.”
• Officials anticipate having two rules packages with the Next Gen car — a low-downforce, low-drag, high-horsepower package for short tracks and road courses, and also a high-downforce, lower horsepower package for intermediate-sized tracks (1.5 miles) and longer. Target horsepower figures for the rules packages are still being determined.
RELATED: ‘More aggressive’ drivers?
• The Next Gen car features a new sequential five-speed shifter, which allows drivers to bump forward and back to change gears — a departure from the traditional four-speed H-pattern. The new transaxle is expected to better accommodate the potential for a hybrid engine combination in later models, a timetable that remains uncertain for now.
“I think right now it’s something that we are certainly having a lot of discussions with our OEM partners about,” NASCAR President Steve Phelps said April 25. “The Next Gen car will certainly have the opportunity, if we decide to go to some form of electrification in a hybrid vehicle or hybrid engine, that the Next Gen car has the opportunity for us to drop that engine in there. The timing of it, it’s a difficult one, right? I would have said before COVID, we’re maybe looking at ’23. Timelines are tough just because we need to make sure that all the stakeholders who matter in this discussion, which are our race teams, our OEM partners, that they’re all aligned on what that would look like. It could be ’24. I think frankly the opportunity to have a new OEM partner will largely depend on what happens with that hybrid engine.”
• An independent rear suspension replaces the solid rear axle, and the Next Gen car will no longer have a track bar for adjustments. Teams will tune with five-way adjustable dampers and there will be a travel limiter to retain the higher ride height.
• The Next Gen car will move from a 15-inch wheel to an 18-inch diameter, and the material will be forged aluminum rather than the current steel. Tires will be wider, up from 10 inches to 12, with a smaller sidewall. Those new dimensions will emphasize mechanical grip with a larger contact patch, and Goodyear officials can build in softer tire compounds for increased grip and fall-off.
Even with a single, center-locking lug nut instead of the current five-lug configuration, tests have shown a half-second is needed to fasten the larger single lug, compared to the 0.8-second speed that a capable tire changer needs to hit all five. No dramatic changes are expected when it comes to the essential choreography of a pit stop.
• Each of the three Next Gen models will have manufacturer-specific hood louvers, a release point for ducts that transfer air out of radiator. The system is intended to decouple engine performance from aero performance, offsetting the practice of teams taping off air intakes and placing undue pressure and heat strain on the car’s engine.
• With the lower roofline and the potential for a decrease in rear visibility, drivers will be able to see behind them with the aid of a rear-mounted camera.
• The Next Gen car will feature larger brakes with a better thermal capacity, rack-and-pinion steering and a 20-gallon fuel cell, up approximately two gallons from the current model.
What’s old is new again this week on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway will play host to the 10th race of the 14 in the championship points battle, marking the first time in over 15 years the tour has visited the third-mile Maine oval.
While the track hasn’t hosted a modified race since 2005 or ARCA Menards Series East race since 2003, the facility operates weekly under the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Racing Series sanction, with local divisions on both Thursday and Saturday nights.
But, dating back to 1995, the year the track became officially NASCAR sanctioned, tour standouts such as Steve Park, Todd Szegedy, the late Ted Christopher and Jerry Marquis, winner of the last event at Beech Ridge, have turned laps at the Scarborough track.
RACE INFO: Race Center: Beech Ridge
With only five races remaining before a champion is crowned, the new generation is primed to make their mark on Beech Ridge, hoping to reign in the Modified Tour’s return with a trip to Victory Lane. With a 12-point advantage over Patrick Emerling, Justin Bonsignore is looking to add to his cushion in search of his second consecutive championship, and third overall.
Fans can watch the Rumble at The Ridge 200 live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, and see a tape-delayed version on Sunday, August 29 at 4:30 pm ET on NBCSN.
Rumble at the Ridge 200
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
Only two drivers have prior experience with the Whelen Modified Tour at Beech Ridge. Seven-time champion Doug Coby has raced three times at the Maine oval, with his best finish coming all the way back in 2003 (12th), while Ransomville, New York’s Chuck Hossfeld has four career starts, finishing third the same year. Hossfeld is entered to return to tour competition on Saturday driving for Gershow Motorsports, while Coby continues his quest to climb back to the front of the championship battle in the No. 10 Mayhew Tools machine.
As with most everybody else, they’ll be learning from square one. But that may be a blessing in disguise for Bonsignore — who seems to thrive on the Whelen Modified Tour’s inaugural trips to venues. Dating back to last season, he finished first or second in his first career starts at new tracks. At Jennerstown last season, he won in his first trip to the track (and backed it up with a win this season), did the same at White Mountain Motorsports Park in 2020, and finished second at Lancaster in his debut there just two races ago.
The trend says the No. 51 will be, at a minimum, running up front towards the end of the 200-lap, 66.6-mile feature event. That would make things tough for Emerling, who is now playing catch up to Bonsignore in the standings. Emerling has only finished outside the top 10 once this season (13th at Loudon), but knows he needs to start racking up more victories if he wants to realistically catch Bonsignore for the big prize.
RELATED: In Career Year, Emerling Preps For Stretch Run At Championship
Although it’s all but a two-horse race for the title, the race behind them is heating up. Jon McKennedy holds the third spot by 17 markers over Ron Silk and 18 over Eric Goodale. Thanks to some mechanical gremlins in recent weeks and missing the race at Oswego, Coby sits a distant sixth in the standings despite his two victories thus far.
Also in the Beech Ridge field are some part-timers, who are sure to be competitive. Matt Hirschman is entering only his second event of the season. But, having won the first one at Oswego in June leading 70 of the 150 laps, the No. 60 is sure to be up front.
Still searching for his first win on the tour is Matt Swanson. While he’s yet to finish inside the top 10 this season, his outings at Stafford and Loudon were marred by crashes. The speed is there for the Acton, Massachusetts native, as he led 84 laps in the first Stafford event before the aforementioned wreck took him and his No. 3 team out of contention early. He does have experience this season at Beech Ridge in a Tour-Type Modified, competing with the Modified Racing Series.
On top of the Whelen Modified Tour Rumble at the Ridge 200, the Beech Ridge local Beetle Bugs, Mad Bombers, Sport Series, Pro Series and Wildcat divisions are also scheduled to race Saturday. The Whelen Modified Tour drivers will be showcased to the fans in a driver autograph session behind the grandstands at 5:30 p.m.
RACING REFERENCE:
RACE FACTS
| Race | Rumble at the Ridge 200 |
| Date | Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021 |
| Track | Beech Ridge Motor Speedway |
| Layout | Third-mile oval |
| Location | Scarborough, Maine |
| Start time | 7:30 p.m. ET |
| Laps | 200 |
| Miles | 66.6 |
| Tickets | Click here |
| TV channel | NBCSN (Delayed: Sunday, Aug. 29, 4:30 p.m. ET) |
| Live stream | TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold (Live) |
RACEDAY SCHEDULE: Saturday, Aug. 21 — Garage opens: 12 p.m. ET; Practice: 2:50-3:50 p.m.; Qualifying: 6:30 p.m.; Race: 7:30 p.m.
CREW CHIEF HANDOUT: The starting field for the Rumble at the Ridge 200 is limited to 28 starters including provisionals. The field will be set by qualifying (1-22) and provisional process per the entry blank (23-28) for the Rumble at the Ridge 200. In the event that qualifying as stated on the entry blank does not take place for any unforeseen circumstance, the field will be set in accordance with the 2021 NASCAR Touring Series Rule Book.
QUALIFYING: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start-finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time.
The maximum tire allotment available for this event is as follows: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eleven (11) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event.
The tire change rule is four (4) tires, any position. To utilize the fourth (4th) change tire, the team will have to take a practice tire purchased at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway and turn in by the conclusion of practice.
QUALIFYING AND SPECIAL AWARDS
$400 Phil Kurze Halfway Leader Award presented by Josten’s per event award to the race leader at the halfway point of the event, regardless if the race is running under green or yellow.
$600 Hoosier Tire “Lap Leader” per event award to the eligible car owner whose driver leads the most laps in each event. In the event of a tie, the award will go to the highest finishing car in the event.
$500 Hoosier Tire “Hard Charger” per event award to the highest finishing eligible driver who advances the most positions during the course of the race. In the case of a tie, the highest finishing driver will receive the award.
$500 Hoosier Tire “Most Improved” per event award to the eligible new team/organization whose driver improves the most positions during the course of the race. In the event of a tie, the award will go to the highest finishing car in the event. If money is not awarded during this event, funds will roll over to the next event and will continue to roll over until an eligible new team/organization claims the money.
$1,000 Mayhew Tools Dominator Pole per event award to the driver with the fastest qualifying time eligible to participate under the Manufacturers’ Prize Money Conditions.
$550 Sunoco Spec Fuel award divided: 1st-$300 5th-$150 10th-$100.
$3,500 Whelen Engineering “Winner of the Race” award to the winning driver.
Whelen Non-Starter award will be paid to the first 15 competitors throughout the season who pass inspection, practice, attempt to qualify but fail to make the feature event.
Hattori Racing Enterprises announced Monday that Bubba Wallace will drive the team’s No. 61 Toyota this weekend in NASCAR Xfinity Series competition at Michigan International Speedway.
RELATED: Michigan, Gateway schedules
Wallace, a Cup Series regular for 23XI Racing, is set for his first Xfinity Series start since 2017 in Saturday’s New Holland 250 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“I’m excited to race again in the Xfinity Series,” Wallace said. “Michigan is a track where I’ve run well in the past and even won in the Truck Series. Anytime we can get extra track time, it helps. Just to get extra laps before the Cup race on Sunday will be good with no practice or qualifying. Thanks to everyone at HRE and Toyota for the opportunity to run the AISIN Supra this weekend. Hopefully we can go out and have a strong race and put ourselves in contention at the end of the day.”
Austin Hill was initially scheduled to drive the HRE car in Saturday’s 250-miler, but will instead concentrate his energies on Friday’s postseason opener for the Camping World Truck Series at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
Hill enters Friday’s Toyota 200 (9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) as the second seed in the series’ 10-driver playoff field. He has made three part-time starts in the Xfinity Series this year in Shigeaki Hattori’s No. 61 entry.
“We really enjoy running the Xfinity Series but having someone like Bubba step in to help this weekend will let us focus 100% on our AISIN Toyota Tundra at Gateway,” Hill said. “The first race in the playoffs is always important and our team has a great chance to win everywhere we go with our AISIN Toyota Tundra. Being able to focus solely on Gateway Friday night will be helpful for us to get our championship run started on the right foot.”
SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Matt DiBenedetto’s No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford did not look like a top-five car at the conclusion of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
The initial race start was not kind to DiBenedetto, who rear-ended another car going into Turn 1, leaving the left-front fender mangled. Later in the race, heavy contact with the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Christopher Bell knocked the toe out of the steering and levied significant damage to the side of the car.
RELATED: Full Indy results | At-track photos from wild Indy race
Although it was a little more than bear bond could fix, crew chief Jonathan Hassler used pit strategy to salvage the day, electing for DiBenedetto to stay out longer than other competitors during the final round of green-flag stops with the hopes of better track position if a late caution fell.
A series of cautions in the closing laps due to incidents related to curbing issues in Turn 6 were a blessing for the 21 team, leading to a fifth-place finish when the checkered flag finally flew — his first top five in 13 races (since a fourth-place finish at Kansas in May).
“I’ll take a top five after the craziness and we had not a whole lot of a race car left. … You name it, we had it, somehow,” DiBenedetto told NASCAR.com. “That’s a testament to Jonathan Hassler, my crew chief, the whole team for fighting and not giving up. That incredible strategy of knowing that if anything happened, we would gain track position by staying out really long and it works. That’s team effort.”
The top-five showing extends his recent streak of consistent results, finishing 11th or better the past five races.
Currently 18th in the playoff standings, 145 points below the cutline, DiBenedetto knows the team needs a win in order to make the playoffs with two races remaining in the regular season. As his job search continuesfor next year, DiBenedetto is satisfied with the positive trajectory the team has taken, albeit a bit tardy.
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“Our worst runs have been 11th. Every week we’ve been running up in the top 10,” DiBenedetto said. “It just shows how much our team has clicked. Obviously, I wish it all happened sooner, but we’re showing where our team’s at and what we can do when everybody’s clicking like we are.”
The recent stretch of finishes began at Road America in July, earning a 10th-place finish. DiBenedetto feels like his road-course prowess has always been strong, but he always needed the backing of a solid car and team to accompany it.
“… You’re only as good as what you’re riding in, so it’s a testament to the team because, really, that (road-course racing) was the weakest part of our program for a while,” DiBenedetto said. “We kept communicating, talking about what we needed and how to get better and better.”
With Michigan International Speedway and Daytona International Speedway serving as the last two stops before the postseason begins, DiBenedetto is optimistic. He finished seventh in the second race of a doubleheader at Michigan last year. A more efficiently run team will only improve his chances at a first career victory this Sunday.
Despite an unknown future, confidence is higher for DiBenedetto at the moment.
“We’ve eliminated a lot of weaknesses as a team,” DiBenedetto said. “We’ve gotten better everywhere. … we can do great things when we’re all on the same page.”
JR Motorsports announced Monday that Josh Berry will compete full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series next season, taking the wheel of the organization’s No. 8 Chevrolet.
Berry, last year’s NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion, has made 16 Xfinity Series starts on a part-time basis this season — 13 for JRM and three for Jordan Anderson Racing. The 30-year-old driver notched an emotional breakthrough victory in April at Martinsville Speedway.
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“This moment is something we’ve been working toward for a long time,” said team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a JRM release. “Josh took full advantage of the opportunity he had this year in the No. 8 car. He went out, raced hard, and earned every bit of this. With all he’s accomplished on a limited schedule, I can’t wait to see what he can do in this series full time.”
Sponsorship details for the No. 8 Chevrolet “will be announced in the coming weeks,” according to the team. Tire Pros, Chevrolet Accessories, Filter Time and iRacing have been among the No. 8 entry’s backers this season.
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Berry had made a total of seven Xfinity Series starts from 2014-17 before landing this year’s opportunity. He is sharing seat time in the No. 8 Chevy this season with 18-year-old Sam Mayer (six starts so far in 2021) and veteran Miguel Paludo (three starts).
Berry is an 11-year vet of JR Motorsports’ long-running short track program, notching 89 Late Model wins and multiple titles at the local track and regional touring series level.
“It’s difficult to put into words what this means,” Berry said. “I’m just a local short track racer, so saying this is a dream come true seems like an understatement. I’m so grateful to Dale, Kelley, L.W. (Miller) and everyone at JR Motorsports. They have always believed in me. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I’m ready and focused on 2022.”
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — NASCAR Vice President of Competition Scott Miller and Indianapolis Motor Speedway Track President Doug Boles addressed issues with the curbing in Turn 6 following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race on the track’s 2.439-mile road course.
The curbing came apart on the right-hand corner on Lap 78 of the scheduled 82-lap race, causing damage to multiple cars and a significant crash involving William Byron, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, James Davison, Justin Haley, Ryan Preece and Daniel Suarez.
“Obviously that thing had deteriorated after that last big wreck quite substantially. There was no way we could justify leaving it like it was without removing it,” Miller said. “There was some debate and it obviously had to come out if we were going to continue.”
Miller indicated there was also some debate among NASCAR officials whether to remove the larger sausage curbing that laid adjacent to the damaged curbing, but that was not an option.
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“… As we worked through putting the track together for Xfinity (Series) for last year’s race, there was a big ask from the drivers to have something back there because that section was just way too fast, there was that grass and then going into Turn 7 they would have maybe been running 15-20 miles per hour faster,” Miller said. “We weren’t going to sign up for that. That other one had to stay. That was the only way we were going to get back to racing (Sunday).”
A red flag was displayed following the incident, which lasted 19 minutes and 14 seconds as track officials removed the damaged curbing from the racing surface and cleared away oil on the race track. Boles was also out on the track assisting with the cleanup.
“The curbing that delaminated is the same style of curbing that we’ve had since we re-did the road course in 2014, so those curbs have been placed, repaired, so we’ve not really ever had an issue with those curbs at all,” Boles said. “… We looked at that curb between every session, we looked at it at night and in the morning and there was no indication today that there was really anything wrong with that curbing. So, it was a little bit of a surprise for us when the race had started that we started having issues with it.”
Both Boles and Miller noted they don’t feel this will impact any decisions to keep the Cup Series on the road course next year and beyond and they would take this as a learning experience.
“We had our problems (Sunday),” Miller said. “This is one of those deals where you take a lot of learnings away and come back and put on a better event, obviously avoiding the problems that we had (Sunday). I think that we saw some exciting action out there and I think the course itself puts on a really good show.”
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Denny Hamlin took a long walk down pit road following a chaotic ending to Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
The end result of that stroll was a visit with Chase Briscoe.
With two laps remaining during the final overtime restart, Briscoe made contact with the back bumper of Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, sending Hamlin for a spin. A moment prior on the same lap, Briscoe went off-course at the exit of Turn 1, going through the grass and getting back on track alongside Hamlin for the lead.
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Briscoe’s move back onto the race track was considered cutting the course, so NASCAR officials handed down a stop-and-go penalty to Briscoe. According to Briscoe, he wasn’t aware of the penalty when he was racing Hamlin for the lead, which ultimately led to the contact and spin.
Hamlin finished 23rd while Briscoe was parked by NASCAR officials after running into the back of Hamlin under penalty. Briscoe was listed as finishing 26th.
The two drivers discussed the incident for a brief amount of time before parting ways.
“At first, I didn’t know if I was getting anywhere,” Briscoe said of his conversation with Hamlin on pit road. “Once I explained to him that I didn’t even know I had a penalty until I got to Turn 10, if I knew I had a penalty, there was no need for me to even try to pass him for the win. If I would have known that earlier, I would have done my stop-and-go and went on. As I understood it, at that moment in time I could still win the race and I was going for it and got into him accidentally.”
Hamlin did agree that Briscoe did not intentionally make the contact, but that didn’t help the sting of defeat.
“I agree it’s not on purpose, but my team told me that he had a penalty right away and to me, it’s obvious,” Hamlin said. “If you cut the race track and end up in the lead, you’re going to have a penalty. Lack of awareness. Race me for a lap. He went right in the back of me.
“We can’t race that way,” Hamlin added. “I don’t think he did it (maliciously). I’ve raced with him for a year now. He’s not that kind of person, just bad judgment.”
Briscoe felt he made some headway with Hamlin’s understanding of the situation toward the end of their conversation.
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“(Hamlin) has been there when you are trying to get your first win and especially in our playoff situation, you have to do what you have to do,” Briscoe said. “That is what I get paid to do and that is what I was trying to do.”
Car owner Tony Stewart watched on while Briscoe and Hamlin hashed it out. Following the discussion, Stewart offered Briscoe some words of encouragement.
“I’m just glad you stood up for yourself on it,” Stewart said. “You deserve to. That’ll go a long way. I’m proud of you.”
After the race, NASCAR Vice President of Competition Scott Miller addressed Briscoe’s penalty and the driver being unaware when it occurred.
“It was announced over the race channel that he (Briscoe) had a penalty and needed to serve it prior to having the incident out there with the 11 (Hamlin),” Miller said. “…There wasn’t much time left by the time that we called the penalty and him getting into it with the 11. We will do some investigation and make sure the spotter conveyed the message well to the driver before that happened. That was unfortunate how that went.”