Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR and BettorView, a leading in-venue sports betting marketing and technology platform, are partnering to deliver NASCAR content at venues located within legal online betting sales across the nation. This partnership marks BettorView’s first with a professional sports league and is designed to help drive engagement and strengthen NASCAR’s foothold in the growing sports betting landscape.

“This collaboration will allow us to deliver NASCAR-specific content to a massive number of people actively engaged with sports betting,” said Joe Solosky, Managing Director, Sports Betting. “NASCAR’s handle is increasing at a healthy rate and this partnership will deepen our connection with this growing audience on a national scale.”

RELATED: Opening odds for Road America

BettorView is the only multichannel solution of its kind in the gaming space, providing on-screen touch technology, brand ambassador activations and digital content marketing to more than 1,000 in-venue screens nationwide. With the start of the NASCAR Playoffs on the horizon, BettorView will showcase customized NASCAR stats, analytics and odds alongside special sports betting promotions in restaurants, bars, stadiums, and NASCAR tracks located in states where betting is legal, reaching millions of highly engaged sports fans.

“Since its inception, the vision for BettorView has been to enhance and reimagine sports fans’ in-venue experiences with our technology and industry expertise. As a gaming and venue operator, it’s exciting to partner with NASCAR, whose long-term strategy in the gaming space is as innovative, as it is focused on serving its fans and sportsbook partners alike,” said Seth Schorr, CEO of BettorView.

BettorView created the first plug-and-play solution that brings sports betting content to hundreds of venues via its patented technology. The BettorView platform launched nation-wide in 2019, securing partnerships with top hospitality chains, independent bars, and professional sports teams. BettorView is optimized to make sure guests are engaged with the best sports and sports betting information, which increase dwell time and revenue.

“We’re excited to bring our marketing and technology solutions to NASCAR and its partners, as the only multichannel solution of its kind in iGaming,” said Javier Vargas, COO of BettorView. “BettorView is proud to assist NASCAR in its ability deliver measurable ROI to sportsbooks, with an emphasis on new user acquisition and increased betting activity.”

In the past two years, NASCAR entered into a series of partnerships with world-class brands to better position the sport in the sports betting space. Sportradar signed on as NASCAR’s integrity partner, BetGenius as its data provider, Penn National Gaming, BetMGM, and WynnBET as Authorized Gaming Operators, IMG Arena as its international streaming partner, and EquiLottery and LEAP in the lottery and virtual gaming spaces, respectively. To help fans become educated on sports betting, NASCAR recently launched NASCAR.com/betcenter and also works closely with The Action Network and VSiN.

Posted on by Zack Albert

This year’s Daytona 500 victory wasn’t the first long-awaited triumph in Michael McDowell’s career. Five years ago, the 36-year-old veteran landed another eagerly anticipated win at the site of this weekend’s Cup Series event — Road America.

RELATED: Road America weekend schedule | Cup Series standings

That 2016 Xfinity Series breakthrough ended a drought of nearly 300 NASCAR national-series races for McDowell, who cashed in on a spot start with Richard Childress Racing. He’d come close before at the 4.048-mile road course, qualifying in the top five for each of his Xfinity starts there, but misfortune seemed to follow him. Nearly five years ago, all the pieces aligned.

“My fondest memory was just coming off the final corner there and knowing that I had it, just a relief,” McDowell says, noting strong performances in his previous efforts there with Joe Gibbs Racing. “Just so many things had gone wrong there where I’d led a lot of laps there, had some opportunities to close the deal there and just wasn’t able to do it. So to finally do it, it was just a big sense of relief and accomplishment.”

Wisconsin is a heck of a place for an Arizona native to have a homecoming, but no matter the geographical contrast, McDowell is ready for a reunion on friendly turf in America’s Dairyland. He’ll bring a heaping helping of experience into Sunday’s Jockey Made in America 250 presented by Kwik Trip (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the first Cup Series event at the Elkhart Lake facility since 1956.

Jonathan Ferrey
Jonathan Ferrey | Getty Images

McDowell’s winning ways at Road America extend beyond his handful of Xfinity Series starts. He also won there twice as he established his road-racing chops in the open-wheel Pro Mazda Series, prevailing for the first time in 2003 and again the following year on the way to the series championship in the Road to Indy program.

Advantage, McDowell? That might be the case in terms of experience at the long, high-speed circuit, but the Front Row Motorsports driver acknowledged that the rest of the Cup Series field is a quick study.

“I think it’s always an advantage to have experience, especially good experience where I’ve been in quality cars and had great runs,” McDowell says, “so I think that kind of experience is helpful, but … the drivers are so talented and the tools that we all have with simulation and videos and data, you have a fairly good idea of what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it before you ever get to the race track. The great guys are going to figure it out fast. I’d actually prefer it if there was no practice because I think when you give talented people that 50 minutes, they’re going to figure it out and you might lose some of that advantage you might have.

“At the same time, I wouldn’t give up the experience. I think it always helps.”

MORE: McDowell wins Road America in 2016

Another helpful asset: McDowell’s already banked season-opening win, which has virtually assured him a playoff berth and the highest finish in the Cup Series standings for his career. It’s been a handy insurance policy for the postseason, but winning the “Great American Race” has also magnified McDowell’s stature.

Since the start of the season, McDowell has appeared in national ad campaigns for CarParts.com, and just last weekend at Pocono, the team added sponsorship from new backer Horizon Hobby and its ARRMA RC brand for his No. 34 Ford. “I think that winning the 500 and just having a solid year in general has been so helpful with our relationships here at Front Row,” he said. “Anytime you run good and your partners are happy, it creates opportunity.”

It hasn’t hurt McDowell being introduced with “Daytona 500 winner” as a prefix to his name.

“I don’t know if you ever get used to it, but it’s nice,” McDowell said. “This sport is so challenging and it’s week to week, and you’re only as good as your last race. So when you have a struggle and a difficult weekend, and you come to the office to do autograph requests or sign pictures, when you keep signing that same picture of you in Victory Lane at the Daytona 500, it’s a good reminder that when you’re struggling, it’s worth it.”

The struggles have been less frequent this year, with McDowell already posting career-best numbers with five top-10 results and a 16.8 average finish. For McDowell, those stats and the win-column check mark haven’t spurred any thoughts about testing the free-agency market. While he says those positives haven’t necessarily accelerated any negotiations with Front Row in an already busy Silly Season, McDowell has indicated that he expects to stay put.

“It’s pretty early for us, but I’ve kind of said this before: I plan on being here. I enjoy the growth that we’ve had at Front Row and what we’ve been able to build,” McDowell says. “To go from when I got here, running high 20s to 30s every week to running low 20s to running in the teens, then winning a race and being in the playoffs and having more top 10s and top fives than we’ve ever had, it’s a fun time to be a part of Front Row. I’m enjoying being here and hopefully that’ll be an opportunity for years to come, but we haven’t really gotten to that point yet.”

Firming up plans for 2022 can become a priority later, but McDowell & Co. have work remaining for this season. Seven events remain before the 10-race playoffs begin, and McDowell says that FRM is striving to make gains on the more well-heeled teams in the Cup Series garage.

“We’re still a small team and we still have a budget, but we are able to build a few new cars and have some time to work on those cars and make them the best that we can before the playoffs start,” McDowell says, “but we also look at these next three or four weeks as big weeks for us, having three road courses coming up and knowing that those are races that we can contend in.

“You’ve got to balance your focus. Obviously, you don’t want to get too far ahead, but you also want to make sure you’re prepared for the playoffs. We’re doing everything that we can.”

Posted on by Staff Report

See where your favorite driver will pit for Sunday’s Jockey Made in America 250 presented by Kwik Trip (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Marcus DiNitto

There are different schools of thought among sports bettors when it comes to futures wagering. Some avoid making futures bets, theorizing the opportunity cost of keeping their money tied up for months is too great. Others find value in futures and say that investing in these long-term markets allows them to get out of the day-to-day grind many gamblers endure.

To exemplify these philosophies in NASCAR, if a bettor with a $2,000 bankroll placed a $100 wager today on Chase Elliott to win the 2021 Cup Series Championship (7/1 odds at BetMGM), the upside is a nice $700 payday in November. The opportunity cost is that the $100 will be held by the sportsbook for the next five months, depriving the bettor of the chance to invest that 5% of his bankroll.

RELATED: Road America odds | NASCAR BetCenter

For many professional bettors, the money required for a meaningful futures bet could instead be turned over many times during the season, creating more opportunity for profit. If baseball or basketball are among the sports they bet, for example, they could wager the amount of their forgone futures bet on a daily basis. Even the sharpest bettors have very small edges against the market, so betting at a high volume is necessary for these pros to make a living.

“I generally stay away from futures markets, just for the opportunity costs, locking up money for a long period of time,” sharp bettor Blake Phillips told NASCAR.com.

Zack White, though, is one pro gambler who has had plenty of success playing futures. White and his partner Mark DeRosa famously made a big score on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win Super Bowl LV, and he stands to cash in again should Alex Bowman win this year’s Cup title at long odds (an outcome NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola gives a realistic chance). White, in fact, is currently cheering on his futures position on the Tampa Bay Lightning to win the Stanley Cup.

Not only has futures betting been profitable for White, but it also allows him a more enjoyable lifestyle.

“I’ve done really, really well with futures over the past several years,” White said. “There was a time when I worked every single day of the week, betting all sorts of sports. Now, I’ve got (a family), and I’m not living in Vegas full time anymore. Honestly, futures are a way for me to get down a substantial amount of money at a big edge and only work a few days (laughs) and just wait until (the bets are) graded. So if I’m betting hockey futures and football futures and basketball futures, then I have stuff grading pretty regularly throughout the year, but I only spend a few days actually executing the bets instead of a whole season.

“I’d rather have a 30% edge on a futures bet that I don’t have to think about for a few months until they’re graded, because in a lot of those cases, it’s not like I would be using the money daily like some people would.”

Futures for recreational bettors

For the casual gamblers among us, betting on futures can be fun. And remember, for casual bettors, that’s what this is supposed to be about.

We shouldn’t worry too much about not being able to wager a certain part of our bankroll and exploit our edge.  That’s because there are very few instances where we actually have an edge.

For recreational gamblers, the value in futures betting comes in the form of entertainment. A $100 bet on your favorite driver to win the Cup championship, for example, lasts all season. The value of a $100 bet on the same driver to win Sunday afternoon’s race is likely zero by Sunday evening.

So go ahead and make a futures bet or three. You’ll get a season’s worth of excitement for a relatively small amount of money.

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

Posted on by Pat DeCola

Similar to how Jeff Gordon and seven-time Cup Series champion Richard Petty became forever intertwined as the former began his premier series career in the latter’s final race in 1992 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott and Gordon will be linked in perpetuity.

Gordon, the four-time champ, hung up the fire suit after “going to Homestead” to complete a Hall of Fame career (minus a brief stint filling in for an injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. the next year). He then handed off the proverbial keys to a fresh-faced 20-year-old Xfinity Series champion with a famous last name, allowing Elliott to become the first full-time driver of the 24 car since Gordon grabbed the wheel in ’92  — three years prior to Elliot’s birth. 

Arguably the most famous driver in arguably the most famous car for the majority of his career, Gordon guided Elliott through the transition phase while shifting gears to pick up a microphone in the NASCAR on FOX booth.

MORE: Elliott’s career in photos

Though Elliott was winless his rookie and sophomore years, now with three Most Popular Driver awards and a Cup championship in the trophy case, it’s safe to say Gordon mentored his young ward successfully.

“I feel like Jeff’s kind of always had that about him and he’s always just been helpful to me,” Elliott said. “I feel like the most engagement and the largest interactions that I’ve had with him have been just car-related, especially when I first came in. Obviously, he was stepping away and I was stepping in. There was a transition period he really helped me through. I was going to work with a team that he had a lot of experience with and working with, around. Guys he wanted and helped kind of assemble. 

“I feel like that transition, when I look at how he helped me through that, it was very professional.”

Things are about to get even more professional, as Gordon will shift from the broadcast booth to his upcoming 2022 role as vice chairman at Hendrick Motorsports. 

MORE: Gordon named vice chairman at Hendrick | Gordon through the years

For a team that’s already setting the world on fire with a series-best nine race victories in the season’s first 19 races on top of housing the defending champ and current 2021 title favorite, what could having the 2019 Hall of Famer in-house possibly add to the dynamic?

Quite a bit, actually.

“He has a good feel and a good mindset for all the things that it takes to make racing and make a race team work,” said Elliott, favorite to win Sunday’s Cup return to Road America (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC). “He has fought the battles on the driver’s side, on and off the race track, and he has a good understanding of the business aspect of it, the NASCAR aspect of it and just how all these puzzle pieces that come together to make it work.”

Above all else, however, is one thing. Gordon is already a big part of what keeps the Hendrick machine humming. And happy.

“I would say one of his biggest strengths is understanding all the different areas of how it works and how to make everybody as happy as they can (be),” Elliott said. “I feel like he has a really good understanding of how to do that.”

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR officials penalized four Cup Series teams and two Xfinity Series teams Tuesday for lug-nut violations during last weekend’s events at Pocono Raceway.

RELATED: Cup Series standings

On the Cup Series side, each infraction occurred in Saturday’s Pocono Organics CBD 325, the opening race in a weekend doubleheader for the tour. Sunday’s Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 was all clear in post-race inspection.

Each of the four Cup Series teams was found with one unsecured lug nut in Saturday’s post-race check, resulting in a $10,000 fine for each of the following teams/crew chiefs:

• No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford (crew chief Rodney Childers; driver Kevin Harvick)
• No. 12 Team Penske Ford (crew chief Todd Gordon; driver Ryan Blaney)
• No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (crew chief Ben Beshore; driver Kyle Busch)
• No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota (crew chief Mike Wheeler; driver Bubba Wallace)

In the Xfinity Series, two teams were also found with a single unsecured lug nut after Sunday’s Pocono Green 225, resulting in $5,000 fines for each crew chief. The offending teams were the race-winning No. 22 Team Penske Ford (crew chief Brian Wilson; driver Austin Cindric) and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (crew chief Dave Rogers; driver Daniel Hemric).

Additionally, JGR crew member Micah Horton was indefinitely suspended by NASCAR for violating Rule Book Sections 12.1, 12.8.a and 12.8.g — all of which relate to member conduct. Horton was listed on NASCAR team rosters as a mechanic for the No. 18 team for the Xfinity Series’ last three events; he was listed as the No. 18 team’s car chief for the first 11 races of the Xfinity Series season.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is set to take on one of its most storied settings yet.

For the first time in series history, the trucks will race at Knoxville Raceway, the Sprint Car Capital of the World. The Corn Belt 150 will be held at the historic Iowa half-mile July 9 with live TV coverage on FS1.

Knoxville’s status in the world of dirt racing is nothing short of legendary, starting as a horse track built in 1878 that found its purpose as an auto-racing facility not long after the turn of the 20th century.

RELATED: Camping World Truck Series schedule | Buy tickets

After a years-long racing hiatus during World War II, stock cars became the vehicle of choice to work around the dark Iowa clay. That choice evolved to super modifieds and eventually sprint cars in a short amount of time.

But to have stock-car racing back in the heart of Iowa’s home for dirt racing? That’s as full circle as it gets.

“It’s going to be quite significant,” said Bob Wilson, the track historian at Knoxville. “It’s going to be the first time (the trucks visit) and it’s going to be a different sort of race than our regular people are used to seeing. However, I think the stands will be filled with NASCAR people who are really interested in this.”

Wilson is right — this will be a new endeavor for all parties involved.

Chris Dunkin has been Knoxville’s lead track prep director since 1995, but this role dates back far longer than that. He began helping his father prep the track as far back as 1977, and his father began working on the racing surface shortly after returning from serving the country in WWII.

Yet for all the experience Dunkin has, he knows this will be new territory for both him and the competitors.

On a typical dry summer week, Dunkin said the track will go through 100,000 to 150,000 gallons of water to prepare for a regular sprint-car show. Because those vehicles are less than half the weight of a Truck Series vehicle, there will be significantly less water involved.

“What I want to see when the trucks hit the race track is a surface that has some moisture in it,” Dunkin said, “but not to the point to where it’s definitely not standing water but almost to the point where it’s just starting to discolor.”

The hype around Knoxville is growing with each passing day. In the backyard of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum, Knoxville legend Donny Schatz will make his series debut in one of NASCAR’s national touring series.

Schatz is a 10-time winner of the Knoxville Nationals, one of the highest honors in sprint-car racing around the world.

“Donny Schatz is one of the premier drivers to ever race on Knoxville dirt,” Wilson said. “He has just been a phenomenal sprint car driver. And so for him to take the time to go to the Truck Series and try it out (says a lot).”

MORE: Schatz set for Trucks debut

Also joining Schatz around the half-mile in a series debut will be hometown hero Brian Brown. Brown has been finding every way possible to ready himself for his stock-car racing debut, including participating in the inaugural Superstar Racing Experience event held at Knoxville on June 19.

“He is one of Knoxville’s favorites,” Wilson said. “This is his home track for winged sprint-car racing. He’s from Missouri. He comes here basically weekly, and he’s a multi-time track champion. Just set a brand-new track record for one lap last year, 14.3 seconds on the half-mile.”

Wilson and Dunkin have both spent their lives around the facility. And while the track’s reputation has exploded over the past several decades, both acknowledged the significance of this event.

The importance goes both ways. In one aspect, heading to Knoxville legitimizes the Truck Series’ venture to dirt. While the series circuited Eldora Speedway for seven consecutive years from 2013-19 and put on great displays of racing, Eldora was the only dirt venue at which the series competed. To go to such a storied location this year after a successful trip to Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt-covered banks only bolsters the series’ reputation.

Likewise, a nationally-televised live broadcast of a NASCAR-sanctioned national series event further cements Knoxville’s status in the world of racing, proving its facilities are built to host an event of this magnitude.

“Understanding that the trucks were going to come to Knoxville, you get that sense of excitement,” said Dunkin, who also noted he was in “disbelief” when he learned this event was happening. “It’s a privilege to have an organization like NASCAR come to a local track in Iowa.”

Wilson admitted he was a bit jealous of Eldora when he went for the 2019 iteration of the Eldora Dirt Derby, wishing Knoxville would one day have its chance. That opportunity is finally here.

“I was a 9-year-old kid sitting in the grandstand in the ’50s, and to think that these races are going to be nationally live is just crazy,” Wilson said. “I never would have guessed it. Never. And I think Knoxville Raceway was already on the sprint-car map. And I think with these new races that more and more people are going to know about Knoxville.”

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR and iRacing.com today announced a new partnership agreement that will grant the Massachusetts-based developer of PC-based racing simulations the title of “official simulation partner of NASCAR.”

The deal will serve to elevate a decade-plus licensing relationship to official partner status, as the two organizations work closer than ever before to promote the various eNASCAR series which live on the iRacing platform, while also collaborating around a number of innovation initiatives which have far-reaching implications on the future of NASCAR — including the design of new and proposed NASCAR race tracks, collaboration and technical support on the NASCAR NextGen race car project, the creation of sim racing-oriented content for NASCAR Digital Media channels, and the use of iRacing as a training tool for NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity class.

iRacing has been a NASCAR licensee since 2010, and since that time has been a key driver behind the sport’s fast-growing efforts in the esports space. iRacing has provided the platform for NASCAR’s first-ever officially sanctioned professional virtual racing series — what is now known as the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series — since 2010, and also played a central role in the formation of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series in 2020, which bridged the gap between events for real-world stars during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The seven-race series set records for the most viewed esports events in United States television history, earned both Sports Emmy Outstanding Esports Coverage and Sports Business Awards Breakthrough of the Year nominations, and was renewed for 2021.

Beyond esports, iRacing has also grown to be a key technical partner to the sport, as the company is currently assisting the sanctioning body around multiple race track and facility development projects. iRacing first collaborated with NASCAR on the reconfiguration of Auto Club Speedway into a half-mile short track in 2020, and later scanned the streets of Chicago in the fall to create a proposed street circuit that debuted during an eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series event that aired live on FS1 this June. In addition to track development, iRacing assisted NASCAR in developing the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series NextGen car, which was revealed to the public earlier this year and made its racing debut during the Pro Invitational events.

“NASCAR fans know and love iRacing for their accomplishments in the development of virtual racing series, but what many may not realize is that the company is so much more than just an esports partner,” said Tim Clark, senior vice president and chief digital officer, NASCAR. “iRacing is a full-on technology partner in every sense of the word, and their best-in-class simulation and engineering capabilities are helping us innovate across multiple layers of our business — whether that be in designing new race tracks, developing new race cars, creating compelling digital content, or providing a virtual training ground for the next generation of NASCAR stars.”

“NASCAR has been immensely supportive of iRacing over the past decade, and a huge contributing factor in our growth as an organization,” said iRacing president Tony Gardner. “From their world-class support of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series for more than a decade, to the explosion of new initiatives like Pro Invitational events and track development projects, NASCAR’s assistance has helped iRacing remain at the forefront of the esports industry while also taking our organization to exciting new places. We’re incredibly excited to extend our partnership, and look forward to continuing to evolve these efforts for years to come.”

To learn more about how iRacing is leveraging its engineering expertise to create compelling simulated auto racing experiences for both NASCAR and other motorsports properties, visit www.iRacing.com. For more information on NASCAR’s esports initiatives, visit eNASCAR.com.

Posted on by Cara Cooper

Chaz Briggs didn’t have any family in racing, and didn’t grow up around the track. He got into the sport 10 years ago when he was in his late 20s for mostly just one reason — he wanted to drive fast.

“I’ve always loved cars and stuff, and I found it was a place I could go where I could drive cars as fast as I could and not get in trouble,” Briggs said.

Within about the first hour of driving, though, he realized there’s a lot more to racing than just driving the car as fast as you can. At the time, he had bought a used race truck and began racing in the Thursday night amateur division at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway — a 1/3-mile NASCAR-sanctioned asphalt oval track in Scarborough, Maine — the same track where he still races today.

When it came to the mechanical side, Briggs said of him and his mom, who helped him at the time, “Between the two of us we barely knew which end of the screwdriver to hold on to.”

“When I showed up there with it and I felt the tires on the old air compressor they said, ‘What do you want for tire pressure?’ and I said, ‘They’re all hard. Fill them up.’ And they were like, ‘It doesn’t work like that. What’s your pressures?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know,’ ” Briggs said. “That’s how far off I was from knowing anything about it.”

RELATED: Latest NASCAR Roots news

The driving part, though, came pretty quickly. Briggs won just the fourth race he competed in. And because of his success, he started getting attention from other crew members at the track. Even though they didn’t have time to help him on his truck, Briggs started shadowing them on Saturday mornings before races to get a better understanding of the sport.

“They sent me on checking their tire temperatures, which as anybody in racing knows that’s like the lowest on the totem pole of priorities, but it is something that can help, so I stuck with that every Saturday until finally the guys were like, ‘Bring that truck over,’ ” he said. “So I took the truck over and they started helping me get it tuned up right and I started winning a lot of races and a championship.

“That’s when we decided we’ve got this figured out and I decided to move up to a more challenging division.”

After four years, Briggs moved up from the amateur division to racing on Saturday nights at Beech Ridge. The jump to weekend racing was very difficult, and it took him “quite a while” to get settled into the track’s Wildcat division, but he’s now amassed 17 wins overall, and has become a fan favorite at the New England track.

“As far as the mechanic side of it, at this point I do know how to check tire pressure, but beyond that I’m not very good,” Briggs said with a laugh.

Briggs came into the 2021 season with the goal of winning a Beech Ridge championship. He’s come close in the past, with consistent top-five finishes. Briggs’ No. 82 car is currently tied for third in points.

“I don’t typically win a lot of races. For a lack of a better term, I kind of bore them to death with consistency,” Briggs said. “I’m typically a contender for a championship, but it’s not because I rattle off a lot of wins. It’s because I rattle off eight second places and a bunch of third places and some fourth places and no DNFs. No bad finishes, just consistency.”

Briggs did pick up his first win of the season earlier this month, a celebration he was able to share with his co-workers who he’s brought along into the world of racing.

Briggs owns a demolition company, and the guys who work for him during the week serve on his pit crew on the weekends. His company has also brought on two young employees from New York City as part of a program meant to get inner city kids back on track. They, too, have taken to short-track racing through Briggs.

“I gave these kids a chance and I fell in love with the kids. They’re energetic. They’re positive, upbeat, eager to learn, loyal guys,” Briggs said. “I started taking them to the race track and they’ve never seen anything like that before. And I could tell they really appreciated stuff like that, so now they keep coming back and they’re all excited. They send pictures back to friends back home in New York that have never seen anything like this before.

“So it’s really cool to see their faces light up, and this week to be able to bring back a big trophy for them. They’re all, ‘Oh, wow!’ I think it was exciting.”

Briggs’s demolition company has also gained him the nickname of “The Demo King” by the public-address announcers at Beech Ridge, another likely factor in his becoming a fan favorite.

“It’s actually really, really cool,” Briggs said of having young fans in the stands. “If you’ve ever been a fan of somebody, what team you started cheering for, whether you liked the name or the logo. I don’t know if they liked the color of my car one year or they liked how I race, but you know, I’ll take it.  A fan is a fan.”

Racing has given Briggs several bucket list moments he never knew he had before getting behind the wheel 10 years ago. Earlier this year he got the chance to race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, something he called “probably in the top five best experiences of my whole life.”

Another bucket list item, for him, would be the “honor to be able to say I won a Saturday night track championship,” at Beech Ridge, he said.

Brigg’s racing career has come a long way from 10 years ago when he just wanted to be able to drive fast. He’s learned a lot, but he’s still that same adrenaline junkie.

“I don’t know anything else you can get adrenaline from like that that’s legal,” he said. “You certainly can’t drive like that on the road.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

Bubba Wallace helped the upstart 23XI Racing team convert its first top-five finish Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series. Having team co-founder and NBA legend Michael Jordan on hand for at least part of the Pocono Raceway weekend festivities? Perhaps some of his renowned competitive drive rubbed off.

Wallace opened the second half of the Cup Series season with the organization’s best result to date, coaxing enough fuel out of his No. 23 Toyota for a fifth-place finish in the Explore the Pocono Mountains 350. His previous best this season was an 11th-place result at Dover International Speedway back in May.

RELATED: Official Pocono-2 results | At-track photos

The effort provided a much-needed confidence boost for Wallace, who — instead of directly lauding his impeccable gas mileage — gave credit to the crew that Jordan and co-owner Denny Hamlin assembled for 23XI in its debut season. “Having the right people on top of the (pit) box,” Wallace said, tipping his cap to crew chief Mike Wheeler, engineer J.R. Houston and spotter Freddie Kraft by name. He went the final 47 laps without stopping, one more lap than eventual race-winner Kyle Busch.

“They were just telling me 80% (throttle) here, match lap times with the other guys,” Wallace said, citing help with fuel-saving efforts. “I knew we were in a worse position than the 18 (Busch), so we were just racing our race and I was doing as best as I could. But all in all, really solid weekend. Great race for DraftKings in their first race on our Camry is the first top five for our team. That’s a little pen-to-the-paper action to get them to re-sign, but all in all, just happy with how the weekend went.

“Smooth sailing for the most part today. It was a little bit tricky. Perseverance. We got through it, and I’m proud of everybody.”

Wallace led three laps Sunday during a green-flag pit cycle, putting his No. 23 atop the leaderboard for the first time in nine races. He also broke an odd trend of scoring 14th-place finishes in three of the last four Cup Series events.

If Jordan’s influence as a fierce competitor is starting to take hold at 23XI, so might be the ties to Joe Gibbs Racing through its technical alliance. Though Hendrick Motorsports remains the front-running organization with six consecutive wins before Busch’s streak-snapper, Sunday showed there are gains to be had from the Toyota camp — Wallace included.

“It’s just a matter of getting closer and having — you can’t always have a perfect race car, but getting closer to that 10 out of 10 type race car that you can have at the race track,” Busch said of Wallace and 23XI. “That’s what is going to give you success, put you in those positions. Yes, he’s in our (team) meetings, he’s in there all the time. When we talk and stuff, especially earlier in the season when they didn’t have much communication yet started, he would say, ‘Look, I had a four out of 10 car today. I had a six out of 10 car, seven,’ whatever it might have been. I bet you we get in the meeting (Monday) and he’s going to talk highly on his car. That’s going to be a step in the right direction for that bunch, for sure.”

The boost in morale is intangible, but Sunday’s finish also gave Wallace & Co. something more measurable numbers-wise. The 27-year-old driver also savored a rise in the Cup Series standings, helping him jump three spots into a share of 19th place with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

MORE: Cup Series points standings

Seven races remain in the regular season, and Wallace sits a still-daunting 54 points back of the 16th and final berth in the provisional playoff picture — a spot currently held by former series champion Kurt Busch. More results like Sunday’s will be needed to achieve one of 23XI’s preseason goals, which could determine if the top-five run at Pocono stands out as a building block or a blip.

“We wanted the playoffs when we started the season. We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Wallace said. “We know that we are in a hole, but it’s finishes like that, that we have to capitalize on the speed in our cars. Today shows what we can do. We’ve got to keep up the momentum.”