NASCAR officials fined the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team Tuesday for a lug-nut infraction after last Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
The violation of Section 10.9.10.4 in the NASCAR Rule Book was discovered in a post-race check, where the No. 19 Toyota — driven by Brandon Jones to a second-place finish in the Sparks 300 — was found with one unsecured lug nut. That infraction resulted in a $5,000 fine for Jeff Meendering, the team’s crew chief.
No other penalties were announced from the tripleheader weekend at the 2.66-mile Talladega track, which also hosted the Cup Series and the Camping World Truck Series.
No further penalties were assessed to the No. 11 Kaulig Racing team for a rules violation found in pre-race inspection before the Xfinity Series event. Driver Justin Haley was forced to start at the rear of the field and serve a pit-road pass-through penalty after the green flag because of improperly applied decals on the No. 11 Chevrolet.
“Just in talking with (series director) Wayne Auton, it looks like multiple layers of the wrap that the teams put on the cars, anything you can do at the superspeedways may seem as minute to our fans, but there’s some performance there,” said Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s vice president of officiating and technical inspection, in a Tuesday appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “The inspectors caught that and they corrected it and put them to the rear of the field. No additional penalties will come out of that one.”
Before drivers hit the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend for a pair of NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series playoff races, they’ll be lacing up for a different kind of competition — on the diamond.
Corey LaJoie’s Inaugural Charity Kickball Klassic, featuring a star-studded cast of drivers and celebrities, makes its debut Wednesday at Atrium Health Ballpark, home of the Kannapolis (N.C.) Cannon Ballers. The Spire Motorsports driver-led charity event will see proceeds donated to the Kannapolis YMCA and LaJoie’s organization of choice, Samaritan’s Feet.
Two seasons ago, LaJoie put Samaritan’s Feet on his car at Watkins Glen International and donated a month’s salary to the organization. The group helps provide shoes and socks to those in need across the globe.
“I’ve had this idea of a kickball tournament for years now. … I played with (Hendrick Motorsports crew chief) Cliff Daniels’ team in Huntersville (N.C.) for a couple years and just how much fun it is, but it is somewhat competitive. Everybody does a golf tournament but I wanted to do something a little bit different,” LaJoie said. ” … to be able to get a bunch of teams to raise that much more money for the Kannapolis YMCA as well as Samaritan’s Feet, which has pretty much been my charity that I use my platform to promote because if I were to build one it would be exactly what they do; to provide shoes to children and people worldwide. It’s going to raise over six figures, I don’t really know what the final number’s going to be. It was looking somewhere around $150,000.”
Each team will have a celebrity captain from a list of NASCAR drivers, professional athletes, or entertainment celebrities in attendance. Special guests include drivers Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Matt DiBenedetto, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, Michael McDowell, Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, NBA player Marvin Williams, professional softball player Lauren Haeger and many others.
“I just hit the ground and tried to sell the teams and round up some guys to play and it turned into a much bigger event than I anticipated and it’s going to be really fun to see everybody out there hanging out and to see NASCAR Productions and NASCAR Digital to show up and stream it on Facebook and their YouTube page,” he said.
“It really is a group effort and it’s really cool to see everybody come together and help me pull off this thing.”
The tournament starts at noon with 16 teams vying for the title. The top four teams after an afternoon of pool play will advance to the semifinals and the winners to the title game. Three kickball fields will be set up in the outfield at Atrium Health Ballpark and five will be located in the Kannapolis horseshoe.
Once a tournament champion is crowned, the celebrities will face off in a “just-for-fun” kickball contest of their own and will hold an autograph session for fans. There will also be a Family Fun Zone sponsored by GoPro Motorplex featuring bouncy houses and other kid-friendly activities, in addition to a post-tournament concert with opening act The Dryes and headliners Pryor & Lee. General admission tickets are $10, with children 3 and under free.
TALLADEGA, Ala. — As Bubba Wallace made his way down pit road toward the indoor Victory Lane at Talladega Superspeedway, 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin approached the crowd surrounding his driver and took in the scene with a soft smile. People were congratulating Wallace left and right on his first career win, as others snapped pictures and recorded reactions. Once Wallace was free, even if for just a second, Hamlin made his move, embracing Wallace in a long, firm hug.
In that moment, Wallace thanked Hamlin – for believing in him, for giving him a chance – and expressed how much both meant. Hamlin kept it short and sweet – “I’m proud of you” – before letting go and walking off.
“It’s like watching your kid succeed at whatever they’re doing, whether it be baseball, musical theater, whatever, right?” Hamlin said. “I have no relation to anyone on this team, but they are family. We spend a lot of time together, we work hard together. I know the people within the shop work very, very hard. They had to work their tails off to get this team off the ground just 10, 12 months ago.”
Twelve months and 12 days to be exact, as of Monday’s breakthrough victory. Sept. 21 was the one-year anniversary of 23XI Racing’s formation announcement. Hamlin began the team in 2020 with NBA legend Michael Jordan, who shared his victory excitement on Twitter.
The No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota was fielded with help from Joe Gibbs Racing, with the two organizations sharing a technical alliance. Hamlin still competes for JGR full time in its No. 11 Toyota, currently in the championship hunt.
Wallace has piloted the No. 23 to the one win, three top fives and three top 10s through 31 races. He’s averaging an 18.8 finish.
“I knew it was going to be a process, but I maybe underestimated the process in which it takes to ultimately be a top-tier team and the time it takes to get all the recruits that you need,” Hamlin said. “We’re looking at talent and seeing, OK, when is their contract up? OK, let’s kind of bookmark that and go after them during that time.
“It truly is a five-year period of, like, runway getting where you want to be.”
Changes and progress are already being made.
Wallace was 23XI Racing’s first and only driver in 2021. In August, the team announced it’ll add Kurt Busch to its 2022 lineup in the No. 45 Toyota, as the Next Gen car makes its competitive debut. His crew chief has been picked but not revealed.
Speaking of crew chiefs, Wallace’s recently swapped out. Mike Wheeler was atop the No. 23 pit box for the first 29 races of 2021. His role as director of competition at 23XI Racing then upgraded to a full-time position. Robert “Bootie” Barker was picked to take over as the signal caller for the rest of the season.
Monday’s win marked not only a first for 23XI Racing in 31 starts, Wallace in 143 starts but also Barker in 484 starts.
“I know a lot of history was made today I believe, which is really cool,” Wallace said. “But it’s about my guys, about our team, what we’ve done. Appreciate Michael Jordan, appreciate Denny for believing in me, giving me an opportunity.”
Said Barker: “It takes a lot of things to win a race. It’s a million ways to lose one and one way to win one. So, I mean, I did what I had to do to get this far, so I appreciate with Denny giving me a shot.”
Sometimes that’s all it takes to create success. In its first season of existence, 23XI Racing became a race-winning team. Hamlin admits, he never imaged that.
The 40-year-old himself is a 46-time winner at NASCAR’s top level, as a driver. Now, he’s also a winning team owner.
“It’s big in so many ways,” Hamlin said. “I can’t even express it. Certainly way more emotional than what it is when I win.”
Bubba Wallace became NASCAR’s second Black driver to win at the Cup Series level Monday at Talladega Superspeedway. Rain postponed and shortened the YellaWood 500, yet Wallace beamed despite the dreariness, making sure his No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota was out front when it mattered most – just 118 laps into the 188-lap event.
“This is for all those kids out there that want to have an opportunity at whatever they want to achieve and be the best at what they want to do,” Wallace said. “You’re going to go through a lot of [expletive], but you always have to stay true to your path and not let the nonsense get to you. Stay strong, stay humble, stay hungry. There have been plenty of times that I wanted to give up, but you surround yourselves with the right people and it’s moments like this that you appreciate.”
Wallace’s first win came in his 143rd career start – and it happened at the track where, in his 85th career start, he was thrust into the social-justice spotlight.
In June 2020, a week after NASCAR banned the Confederate flag, a noose was found in Wallace’s Talladega garage stall. An FBI investigation concluded the garage door pull had been there for months, ruling out a hate crime. Nonetheless, the Cup Series garage rallied behind Wallace during pre-race ceremonies as a sign of support.
Wallace then willingly became a public voice for NASCAR, advocating for awareness and change toward racial equality.
“He hasn’t let anyone change him, which has been, I think, the best thing,” Ryan Blaney said. “He’s still (the) Bubba that I’ve known since we were 10 years old.”
And that’s in spite of outside influences.
Social media turned into a dark place for Wallace and started to negatively affect his mental health. To break that cycle, Wallace decided to stay off his main platforms, having now been absent for months. He has learned to not let other people’s opinions bother him and accepted the fact he cannot please everybody.
“I can’t fathom it, right?” said Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing. “I mean, I try to. I try to understand, but I’ll never pretend to kind of understand what any minority goes through. I just don’t. I’ve never had those life experiences, so it’s hard for me to judge one way or another.
“But I see it on my social media. People just automatically dislike me because I hired Bubba Wallace. I was like, ‘What are you talking about? We’re trying to give him an opportunity and put him in great equipment.’ And it’s great to see results when that happens.”
It’s no fluke, either. Wallace put himself in the position to win. There were 39 other cars that could have done the same but didn’t. Wallace led the last five laps at Talladega.
In his new ride at 23XI Racing, Wallace has accomplished more top-five finishes 31 races into the schedule than he did in three full 36-race seasons previously – three in 2021 vs. three from 2018-20. He was fifth at Pocono Raceway in June and runner-up at Daytona International Speedway in August. And then, of course, Monday’s breakthrough victory.
“It shows that someone who is not as common in the sport, being a person of color, can come in and have success,” Blaney said. “I hope it opens a lot of kids’ eyes who want to try out racing – see success that Bubba has like, ‘Man, I want to be just like him.’ ”
To Wallace, that fellow driver of color was Wendell Scott, though he raced long before Wallace was born in 1993. Scott made history as NASCAR’s first-ever Black winner in 1963.
NASCAR’s modern era is considered 1972 on. That leaves Wallace as the modern-day inspiration.
“I didn’t dream about being here when I was kid,” Wallace said. “But this is kind of a dream come true.”
After the second race of the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, here’s a brief look at the playoff picture. There’s just one race remaining in the Round of 12 before the field is whittled to eight, with four drivers eliminated from the postseason after the Oct. 10 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
Winner
Bubba Wallace. Wallace earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory in Monday’s rain-shortened race at Talladega Superspeedway, which also serves as the first win for the 23XI Racing organization co-owned by basketball legend Michael Jordan and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin. Wallace is not among the 12 playoff drivers.
Brad Keselowski. Keselowski’s second-place finish at Talladega bumped him up from four points above the elimination line after Las Vegas to fourth in the playoff standings, 20 points ahead.
Joey Logano. Like his Team Penske teammate Keselowski, Logano also moved up massively in the playoff standings. Logano finished third at Talladega, which bumped him up to third in the rankings heading into the Charlotte Roval, 21 points above the elimination line. The No. 22 driver entered Talladega just six points ahead.
Who’s not
Alex Bowman. The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports driver crashed out on Lap 98 of the rain-shortened event at Talladega after being tagged in the back bumper by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. while battling for the lead. Bowman is now last in the Round of 12 standings, 52 points below the elimination line. It’s a must-win situation for him at the Charlotte Roval.
William Byron. Byron also wasn’t able to get out of Talladega unscathed. The No. 24 driver crashed on Lap 116 after contact with Ryan Preece in a multi-car incident. Byron is now 44 points back and in a similar situation with teammate Bowman.
BUBBLE WATCH
Rank
Driver
Points to cutoff
5.
Martin Truex Jr.
+20
6.
Ryan Blaney
+15
7.
Chase Elliott
+9
8.
Kyle Busch
+9
——–
ELIMINATION LINE
———
9.
Kevin Harvick
-9
10.
Christopher Bell
-28
11.
William Byron
-44
12.
Alex Bowman
-52
Next race
The NASCAR Cup Series travels to the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval for the Bank of America ROVAL 400 next Sunday (2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Who it favors
Chase Elliott. The No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver has just a nine-point cushion on the elimination line, but luckily for him, we’re going to a road course. Elliott has earned the victory in the past two races at the Charlotte Roval and finished sixth in his first attempt in 2018. On top of that, the defending series champion has seven total road-course victories, with his last coming at Road America in July.
Who it hurts
Kyle Busch. After a 27th-place finish at Talladega, Busch is tied with Elliott in the playoff standings, nine points above the elimination line. But the Charlotte Roval has not been kind to the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing driver. The 2019 champion owns finishes of 32nd, 37th and 30th there. All four drivers below the line — Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell, William Byron and Alex Bowman — have all shown prowess on road courses, so another result like that just won’t cut it for Busch.
Bubba Wallace reeled in his first career win in the NASCAR Cup Series race Monday at Talladega Superspeedway, marking just the second win for a Black driver in the series’ highest level.
Had a lot of fun driving out front at the end there, just wish Mother Nature and I could have been on the same page! @MonsterEnergy@TeamChevy was fast. Top 5 and coming home in one piece. Congrats to @BubbaWallace – first wins are always special. pic.twitter.com/4GNVNylenK
Congrats to @BubbaWallace and everyone @23XIRacing .. Really happy for Bootie to get his first cup win. I appreciate him every day for hiring me for my first cup job. 🙏🏼
The talk will be about the history made today, what a huge deal it is for the team and all partners involved…..But I want to say just how damn proud I am of @BubbaWallace for the person he has been through everything! Love you brother, @NASCAR Cup Series Winner! pic.twitter.com/7y7jXUuTVj
Bubba Wallace posted his first NASCAR Cup Series victory Monday at Talladega Superspeedway, becoming the first Black driver to prevail in the sport’s premier division in nearly 58 years. Scott, a NASCAR Hall of Famer, is the only other Black competitor with a Cup Series win.
Wallace, in his fourth full season of Cup Series competition, also made winners of 23XI Racing, a new organization headed by co-owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin. The 27-year-old was tapped by the NBA legend and his fellow Cup Series driver for the No. 23 Toyota after driving three years for team owner Richard Petty.
But it was also a winning day for stock-car racing history, with Wallace channeling Scott’s trail-blazing spirit by forging his own path into the record books. Scott’s lone Cup Series victory came on Dec. 1, 1963 in Jacksonville, Florida. Buck Baker was initially flagged as the winner, but a protest and a later scoring recount gave the triumph to Scott.
That win came at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, and race officials — reluctant to celebrate a Black driver’s triumph in the Deep South — did not give him a proper Victory Lane celebration at the time. NASCAR officials righted that wrong earlier this year in pre-race ceremonies before the Cup Series’ regular-season finale in August at Daytona International Speedway.
That tribute included the presentation of a replica of the winner’s trophy, and Wallace joined the Scott family on the pre-race stage. Wallace was born three years after Wendell Scott’s death, but he has remained connected with family members who have followed and supported his racing career.
“He’s someone that I’ve known for quite a while, and we’ve always pulled for him in everything that he does,” Warrick Scott, Wendell’s grandson, said during the Daytona race weekend. “It’s not easy being him, just as a man. Being similar in age and things of that nature, I can understand a great deal of what he goes through, and for me, it’s been wonderful watching him mature and turn into who he’s become and what it means to the African-American community, to me is paramount. I think he’s an emerging legend himself, and I love the way he competes, but also how he shares his passions.”
Scott made 495 starts in NASCAR’s top series, recording 20 top-five finishes. His driving days ended in 1973 and he died in 1990 at age 69. He would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year.
Speedway Park — the half-mile dirt track that hosted Scott’s landmark win — is long gone, shuttered in 1973 and later redeveloped. The Madelyn Oaks apartments now sit at the corner of Lenox and Plymouth on Jacksonville’s west side. Scott’s win was the last Cup Series race the track ever hosted.
Wallace’s path to a big-league triumph had been foretold by modest national-series success. He notched six Camping World Truck Series wins from 2013-2017. One of those Truck victories came carrying Scott’s longtime car number, driving a retro-themed No. 34 entry at Martinsville Speedway to honor the driver’s selection for the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015.
“Used to get calls all the time, aspiring drivers would say we all want to start in the Cup Series. My father would say, ‘well, you gotta cut your roots first,” said Frank Scott, Wendell’s son, back in August. “And I think Bubba has done that. He started out in the lower divisions and worked his way up, and where he is now is most deserving.”
TALLADEGA, Ala. — An opportune caution and a sudden rain shower helped make Bubba Wallace the second Black driver ever to win a NASCAR Cup Series race.
Wallace held the lead in Monday’s rain-delayed YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway when Ryan Preece turned into the outside wall off the bumper of Chris Buescher’s Ford to cause the fifth caution of the event.
As the cars circled under the yellow, rain drenched the 2.66-mile race track. NASCAR brought the cars to pit road on Lap 118 of a scheduled 188. After another shower thwarted track-drying attempts, NASCAR called the race and declared Wallace the winner.
Wallace is the first Black driver to win a race in NASCAR’s premier series since Hall of Famer Wendell Scott took the checkered flag at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Fla., on Dec. 1, 1963.
It was the first victory for 23XI Racing, a team that debuted this year with driver Denny Hamlin and Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan as co-owners. Drivers outside the respective Playoffs won all three Talladega races in NASCAR’s top three divisions this week. All were first-time winners, a historic first.
Wallace’s victory came at the same track where the sport came together to support him after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and after a noose — later found not to be directed at Wallace — was discovered in his garage stall.
“Man, I’m just so proud of everyone at 23XI,” Wallace said. “New team coming in and getting a win late in the season. I know a lot of history was made today, I believe, which is really cool, but it’s about our guys, about our team, about what was done.
“I appreciate Michael Jordan, I appreciate Denny for believing in me and giving me the opportunity. … It’s pretty fitting that it comes here at Talladega.”
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Wallace was choked up when asked about the historic significance of his achievement.
“I never think about those things, and when you say it like that, it obviously brings a lot of emotions, a lot of joy to my family, fans, friends. … You’ve got to stay true to your path and not let the nonsense get to you and stay strong, stay humble, stay hungry.
“There’ve been plenty of times when I wanted to give up. You surround yourself with the right people, and moments like this that you appreciate.”
Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano improved their chances of transferring into the Round of 8 in the Playoffs with second- and third-place finishes. Kurt Busch was fourth, followed by Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, Hamlin and Kevin Harvick.
The wreck that ultimately made a winner of Wallace severely damaged the Playoff hopes of William Byron, whose Chevrolet was collected by the spinning car of Preece. Byron was relegated to 36th in the finishing order and likely will need a victory in Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte to advance to the Round of 8.
“He (Preece) was just coming down the track, and I was kind of trying to run a third lane,” Byron said of the wreck. “Just part of Talladega. We’ll go to the Roval, try to win that one and advance that way.”
Byron was the last of three Hendrick Motorsports drivers to get swept up in an accident. Kyle Larson was the first. By the time the first sudden rain shower of the day darkened the asphalt in Turns 1 and 2 and forced a stoppage on Lap 74, Larson’s fortunes already had taken a turn for the worse.
A strong push from Byron’s Chevrolet turned Justin Allgaier’s Camaro sideways as the cars thundered toward the tri-oval on Lap 56. Allgaier shot up the track into Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, severely damaging the front suspension and the sheet metal on the driver’s side of the car.
Larson was able to make minimum speed after a restart on Lap 65. The caution for the five-car wreck that crippled Larson’s car also encompassed the end of Stage 1, won by non-Playoff driver Buescher.
On Lap 67, Larson shredded his right-front tire, which was cocked at an angle toward the outside wall when he resumed racing. He lost three laps on pit road and fell to 39th in the running order as his crew made frantic repairs.
Attrition elevated Larson to 37th at the finish, but he lost the security he had as a six-time winner in the series this year. The regular-season champion leaves Talladega second in the standings but just 22 points above the current elimination line for the Round of 8.
A multicar chain-reaction wreck after the resumption of the action brought an early end to Alex Bowman’s afternoon. On Lap 98, Chase Elliott pushed the Chevrolet of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into the rear bumper of Bowman’s Chevy, turning the No. 48 Camaro into the outside wall and out of the race.
“The 9 (Elliott) just shoved me one last time there, and it got the 48 loose,” Stenhouse radioed to his team.
Bowman was fighting for the race lead when he was turned by the contact from Stenhouse’s car.
“Yeah, just dumped over on the left-rear and turned us around really bad,” Bowman said. “Bummer for the Ally 48 team. We had a fast car; we were leading there. That’s just superspeedway racing and the box that we’re put in by these racetracks. You’ll have that. Bummed to have torn up race car, but we’ll move on and try to go win the Roval.”
Kyle Busch was another victim of the Lap 98 wreck, but the two-time Cup champion remains nine points above the current cut line — tied with defending champion Chase Elliott — heading to the Round of 12 elimination race.
Harvick is nine points below the elimination line, with Bell 28 points in arrears and Byron and Bowman 44 and 52 points on the outside, respectively.
The Cup Series’ next race is the Round of 12 finale, scheduled Sunday (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM) at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course. Four drivers will be trimmed from the postseason field after the event.
Note: Post-race inspection in the NASCAR Cup Series garage was completed Monday without issue, confirming Wallace’s first win.
Monday’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race was halted by rain for a second time at Talladega Superspeedway.
The YellaWood 500, already postponed from a scheduled Sunday start because of inclement weather, had completed 117 of the scheduled 188 laps Monday before another rain shower hit the 2.66-mile track.
Bubba Wallace was scored as the leader with just three laps to go before the end of Stage 2. The race never got restarted, and Wallace was declared the winner.
A rain shower earlier in the event soaked Turns 1 and 2 and forced a red flag of 18 minutes, 20 seconds. Cody Ware was the leader then, staying out on the track after a cycle of pit stops.
The race was the middle of three events in the postseason’s Round of 12. Only pole-starter Denny Hamlin had assured a berth in the next round, thanks to his victory in the round’s opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
John Wes Townley, who made nearly 200 NASCAR national series starts from 2008-2016, was killed Saturday night in a shooting in Athens, Georgia. He was 31.
The Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald first reported Townley’s death Sunday. The newspaper reported that Townley and a 30-year-old woman had been shot and transported to a local hospital, where the former driver later died of his injuries. An investigation is ongoing, police said.
Townley, a Georgia native, competed primarily in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, running on a nearly full-time basis from 2012-2016. He scored his lone Truck Series victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2015, which was also his best full season with an eighth-place finish in the series’ standings.
Townley also competed part-time in the Xfinity Series, making 76 starts, and he was a two-time winner of the ARCA Menards Series’ season-opening race at Daytona. He announced his retirement before the 2017 season, and his family-run Athenian Motorsports team ceased operations.
His father, Tony Townley, was co-founder of the Zaxby’s fast-food chain, which was a frequent sponsor of the younger Townley’s racing efforts.
