The pressure was on to reach the West Coast when the green flag for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway was moved two hours ahead to 1 p.m. ET.
On the latest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast, Mike Forde, NASCAR vice president of racing communications, said the call was made Saturday morning to start earlier because of a significant chance of rain at 5 p.m. ET.
“With a 3 p.m. start time, you’re looking at maybe getting through Stage 2,” Forde said. “The average time of the race is about three hours, so if we moved it up only an hour, we’re probably not going to get in all 160 laps.”
The race finished before a torrential downpour with lightning later that afternoon.
Because of the logistics to move the broadcast compound and other setup equipment to Naval Base Coronado, Forde said the contingency plan was 8 a.m. ET start if the Pocono race had been postponed to Monday.
“We really, really needed to get that race in on Sunday,” Forde said. “There were a lot of things working against us if we had a rain situation. So I think everyone was pretty eager and had a lot of angst to get that race going by any means possible, and everyone worked together.
“I want to give a shoutout to Nick Igdalsky and Ben May, the CEO and president of Pocono Raceway. They probably had the most to lose by moving that race up. They had a sold-out crowd, a sold-out infield, and throwing that curveball to fans with a little more than 24 hours’ notice was a big ask, and they really were great partners. So everything worked out beautifully.”
The decision was also made easier because the broadcast was on a streaming platform that wasn’t beholden to the demands of juggling a network schedule.
“It is a pretty simple yes,” Forde said. “But the later you go, and the closer into primetime you go, the better for ratings. And so they were cognizant that moving two hours earlier was going to probably hurt their ratings, but I think they realized what we’re up against, too. So I think Prime looked at the big picture there and were, as usual, great partners and agreed to the move up.”
Other topics covered by Forde and senior director of racing communications Amanda Ellis during the 58th episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:
— The process that allowed Kyle Larson to slide back to the last attempt in the qualifying order at Pocono.
— Why NASCAR took six cars after the race for wind tunnel testing.
— A streak of four consecutive sellouts for Cup Series races.
— Nuggets about the construction and ground rules for the Qualcomm Circuit at Naval Base Coronado.
Click on the embed below to listen or search for “Hauler Talk” wherever you download podcasts to hear it on your phone, tablet or mobile device.
Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA Today Co. and, for the past 10 years, at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He has also covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.
NASCAR officials have issued a penalty to the No. 62 Beard Motorsports team in the NASCAR Cup Series following last weekend’s action at Pocono Raceway, the sanctioning body announced Tuesday.
Crew members Garrett Crall and Caison Dillon have been suspended for the next two events, running through Sonoma Raceway on June 28, after the detachment of Casey Mears’ right-front wheel on Lap 105 in Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA, causing a caution and violating Sections 8.8.10.4.A&D in the NASCAR Rule Book.
The Cup Series next races at Naval Base Coronado on Sunday (4 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Fans rise to their feet before every NASCAR Cup Series race for the national anthem. Afterward, stunning aircraft whizz by at high speeds and low altitudes, giving thousands of spectators — and even competitors — an adrenaline rush moments before the best drivers in the world prepare to race.
Many of these flyovers are performed by military aircraft from bases near local markets. But NASCAR’s roots with the armed forces date back to the sport’s genesis.
Some of NASCAR’s pioneers served during World War II, before the sport’s inception in 1948. In the late 1950s, the United States Air Force Thunderbirds completed a Daytona flyover — a tradition that still exists before each “Great American Race.” Soon after, NASCAR began racing annually on Independence Day.
The sport’s patriotism ratcheted even higher in 1991, when five drivers donned military-themed paint schemes during Operation Desert Storm (part of the Gulf War) in the Daytona 500.
In the modern era, ties between NASCAR and the armed forces are stronger than ever. Cars don patriotic schemes multiple times a year. Teams honor fallen service members, culminating with the 600 Miles of Remembrance over Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Drivers immerse themselves in military experiences, including Charlotte’s Mission 600.
And when the stars of the Cup Series head to Naval Base Coronado to “Race the Base” on Sunday (4 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), it’ll take those ties to even greater heights as the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary.
The early years
NASCAR’s first champion — Hall of Famer Red Byron — served in the U.S. Army before the sport was even founded.
Serving as an engineer on the Army’s Air Corps B-24 Liberator bomber, he suffered severe leg injuries during a WWII run over the Aleutian Islands. A bomb detonated when it wasn’t supposed to. Byron recognized the impending problem and cut the bomb away, but it exploded while he was still exposed in the fuselage. He spent 27 months recovering in a Colorado hospital.
“That last bomb got hung up in the plane,” team owner Raymond Parks said, as recalled in a 2012 ESPN article. “It was Red’s job to get it loose.”
Byron drove for Parks — another Hall of Famer who also served in the Army — in NASCAR’s inaugural season. Parks fought in the Battle of the Bulge, the last major land battle in WWII. Together, they won the 1948 Modified Division (now the Whelen Modified Tour) and the 1949 Strictly Stock Division (now the Cup Series).
“[Byron] just thought about everything different than most folks,” Parks said. “You might look at something and think, ‘Wow, isn’t that pretty,’ but Red, he was thinking, ‘How in the world did they make that?’ Like an engineer, you know. That’s what made him such a great race car driver.”
Bud Moore, who began fielding NASCAR entries in 1961, was drafted into the Army in 1943. He participated in D-Day as a member of the 4th Infantry Division, and fought in Germany through the winter of 1944 into 1945. He nearly drowned at 19, moments after landing on Utah Beach in Normandy, France. But several years later, as a NASCAR owner, he won back-to-back titles with Joe Weatherly in 1962-63 (another Hall of Famer who previously served), and his cars won 63 times in Cup competition. Moore also served as a champion crew chief for Buck Baker and was inducted into the Hall in 2011, where his two Bronze Stars and five Purple Heart awards are displayed.
Arguably the greatest crew chief of all time, Dale Inman served as an ordnance specialist in the Army from 1959 to 1961. Just three years removed from service, he started working for some 26-year-old named Richard Petty. They won seven championships together, with Inman further cementing his legacy with a 1984 title with Terry Labonte. Petty, of course, became the winningest driver in Cup Series history.
But that’s to name a few. Industry legends Smokey Yunick, Cotton Owens, Junie Donlavey and Leonard Wood all served. Other drivers did as well, including Hall of Famer Tim Flock, Marshall Teague, Roy Mayne, Tiny Lund, George “Sarge” Green and Bugs Stevens. Most recently, U.S. Navy officer Jesse Iwuji competed in NASCAR, racing as recently as last year in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Building patriotism
Kicking off each Cup Series race with a flyover before the green flag is a normal practice these days. That wasn’t always the case.
The first known flyover before a race came in February 1957, with the Thunderbirds whizzing over Daytona Beach in the years before Daytona International Speedway completed construction. They returned over Daytona Beach in 1958, the final year of racing the dunes before the inaugural Daytona 500 a year later. Fast forward to the modern era, and the Thunderbirds — one of the most iconic flight groups in aviation, comprised of the top Airmen in the country — completed their 16th consecutive flyover this February to commence the Daytona 500. The Thunderbirds have piloted variations of the F-16 aircraft since the early 1980s.
Jeff Curry | Getty Images
In 1961, the U.S. Navy Blue Angels appeared on the program cover of the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Naval aviation.
Those moments helped lead to the weekly tradition on the Cup Series circuit, as well as in other sports and racing disciplines.
When Daytona International Speedway finished construction in 1959, NASCAR scheduled its summer Daytona race around the Independence Day holiday. From that year until 1987, the Cup Series raced every summer on July 4 — no matter what day of the week it fell on. Beginning in 1988, the race shifted to the Saturday of Fourth of July weekend, running every year until 2019 — a mid-summer classic fans yearned for.
But for the 2020 season, NASCAR moved the second Daytona race to late August, marking the Cup Series regular-season finale — a literal bookend from February’s 500-miler. It made for high-stakes racing with opportunities for competitors to make or break their championship hopes.
Despite the schedule change, NASCAR continued to make Independence Day weekend racing a ritual. The Cup Series visited the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2020’s pandemic season, before two consecutive seasons in the Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, countryside of Road America. I mean, it quite literally has America in the name, and the 4.048-mile road course blended old-school tradition with a northern flair. Nowadays, it’s a trip to one of the largest cities in the country — Chicago — which started with three seasons on a first-of-a-kind street course before moving back to the Joliet, Illinois, intermediate for this year’s holiday rendition.
And the Independence Day tradition that stemmed from Daytona — celebrating the anniversary of the United States — continues to strengthen the parallels between NASCAR and patriotism that comes with it.
Operation Desert Support
When five Cup Series cars rolled into the 1991 Daytona 500 with military-themed paint schemes, it was rather unprecedented.
NASCAR launched Operation Desert Support on Feb. 5, 1991, one of the sanctioning body’s first-ever initiatives in support of the armed forces. The joint effort between the sport, Daytona, and RJ Reynolds Tobacco led to five cars for Speedweeks, each backing one of the five military branches fighting in the Persian Gulf.
Greg Sacks spearheaded the idea and represented the Navy. Alan Kulwicki represented the Army. Mickey Gibbs represented the Air Force. Dave Marcis represented the U.S. Coast Guard. Buddy Baker represented the U.S. Marines.
NASCAR Research & Archives Center | Getty Images
“We felt the racing community would like the idea of paying tribute to the hundreds of thousands of Americans who are involved in the Gulf War and their families,” NASCAR executive T. Wayne Robertson said in a press release. “We felt having five cars on the track representing the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard would be a dramatic and fitting tribute.
“NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway officials quickly embraced the idea and it became a cooperative effort by all of us.”
Color guards from each of the five branches participated in pre-race festivities. The first 100,000 spectators inside the Daytona grandstands received American flags. Each car donned special decals. Jim Sasser, a U.S. senator from Tennessee, served as the Grand Marshal.
Those bold moves are much more common nowadays.
Most teams don patriotic paint schemes multiple times a year, specifically the Coca-Cola 600 over Memorial Day weekend and the Fourth of July weekend races. Many are planning to run them at Naval Base Coronado, too, including Chase Elliott — who recently revealed a special NAPA Gold Filters Chevrolet for the inaugural San Diego race. Color guards preside over pre-race festivities weekly. Government officials regularly visit tracks, and in 2004, George W. Bush became the first sitting president to attend the Daytona 500. Donald Trump followed suit in 2020 and 2025.
Ultimately, Operation Desert Support elevated that patriotism even further as NASCAR backed the military in a time of need.
The modern era
The traditions we see today were built over decades of patriotism shared by the industry, fans and military. But as the sport continues to evolve, so do those ties.
Much of it focuses around the Coca-Cola 600. For over a decade, each car entered in the 400-lap race — as well as other on-track vehicles — has honored a fallen service member by carrying that service member’s name above the windshield in the 600 Miles of Remembrance. Prime Video also honors those service members on the television broadcast. Gold Star Families come to the track and spend time with drivers on the pre-race grid.
Charlotte Motor Speedway completed its ninth year of the Mission 600 program in 2026, where drivers visit regional military bases for immersive, hands-on experiences about day-to-day life in service. Elliott visited Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, Austin Dillon visited Fort Bragg and Daniel Suárez visited Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
“Honoring those who have served our country and our veterans, the Gold Star Families that are on our cars, it’s always special to me because America is really represented there and the patriotism behind it, and then all of our military branches coming out and just giving them some love that they deserve,” Dillon told NASCAR.com in May. “We always make connections, and then we go see each other [pre-race], and that’s a big part of Mission 600.”
Nathan Solomon | NASCAR Digital Media
One of the most solemn traditions? Each Coca-Cola 600 winner lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, Virginia. Ross Chastain, the 2025 victor, visited this spring, and Suárez, this year’s winner, will have the honor in 2027.
“To walk down those steps and to hear ‘Taps,’ it’s emotional. It’s really, really emotional,” Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks told NASCAR.com in April. “It’s heavy, but it’s an honor and it’s just really humbling. I had this moment there thinking it’s amazing that we’re here because of race cars, because of something so inconsequential and meaningless as a race car. We’re meaningful in that we’re entertaining people, we’re inspiring people and we’re supporting our families by finding lines of work that we’re good at and passionate about. It was just a great, humbling moment.”
And starting this year, NASCAR and Coca-Cola introduced a Heroes Pass, where fans could nominate any service member or veteran in May for lifetime access to races.
Indeed, the connection between NASCAR and the military is stronger than ever, with much of that bond going all the way back to the sport’s earliest years. The next chapter will be written Sunday, when the stars of the Cup Series “Race the Base” in San Diego to celebrate America’s 250th birthday.
Goodyear Racing will bring familiar road-course tires to NASCAR’s first visit to San Diego’s Qualcomm Circuit at Naval Base Coronado, with all three national series set for a full weekend of racing around the 3.4-mile street course.
The new venue, which winds around San Diego Bay and Naval Base Coronado, is the longest track on this year’s NASCAR schedule and features 16 turns around one of the world’s foremost military installations.
NASCAR Cup Series teams will use the same Goodyear Racing Eagle road-course tire that was run earlier this season at Circuit of The Americas and Watkins Glen International. The tire was also used at all six road- and street-course races last season.
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams will also have a familiar setup. Their tire package was introduced last summer at Sonoma Raceway and has been used twice already this season.
Unlike Goodyear’s oval-track tire packages, the same tire specification will be used on both the left and right sides of the car. Wet-weather tires will also be available for all three series if needed.
“Visiting a new track brings a new set of challenges for the industry, but one constant for the teams will be their Goodyear Racing Eagle tires,” said Justin Fantozzi, Goodyear director of racing for the Americas. “The road-course specification we introduced for the Cup Series last season will be raced for the ninth time this weekend, and we have seen consistent performance at other road and street courses. That familiarity gives teams a reliable baseline as they prepare for a new venue.”
Tire allotments for each team competing this weekend:
Cup Series: 9 dry-weather sets — 5 new sets for the race, 1 for qualifying that transfers to the race and 3 for practice. Teams will also have 6 wet-weather sets available.
O’Reilly Auto Parts Series: 6 dry-weather sets — 3 new sets for the race, 1 for qualifying that transfers to the race and 2 for practice. Teams will also have 4 wet-weather sets available.
Craftsman Truck Series: 6 dry-weather sets — 3 new sets for the race, 1 for qualifying that transfers to the race and 2 for practice. Teams will also have 4 wet-weather sets available.
Chris Buescher signed a multiyear contract to remain with RFK Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, the team announced Tuesday.
Originally from Prosper, Texas, Buescher has been a member of RFK since 2009 as a development driver and ultimately won the 2015 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship for the organization. He also made his Cup Series debut that season for Front Row Motorsports on a lease and embarked on a full-time campaign with the organization in 2016, winning as a rookie at Pocono Raceway. Beginning in 2017, Buescher spent the next three years at JTG-Daugherty Racing before returning to an RFK house car and the No. 17 Ford for 2020 and beyond.
“RFK Racing has been home for most of my racing career, and that’s something I don’t take for granted,” Buescher said in a team release. “I’ve grown up with this organization, and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built together over the last several years. The direction we’re heading, the people we have in place and the commitment throughout the company make me excited about the future. I’m grateful to Mr. Jack (Roush), Brad (Keselowski), Fenway Sports Group and everyone at RFK Racing for their belief in me. I’m looking forward to continuing to chase wins and championships together.”
Buescher finished 21st and 19th in the Cup Series standings over his first two full seasons back in-house. Ahead of 2022, Brad Keselowski bought into the organization, a moment when the Jack Roush-founded team began returning to prominence at NASCAR’s highest level. Buescher won the Bristol Night Race that fall, RFK’s first Cup Series victory in five years.
“Chris is everything you want in a race car driver and teammate,” co-owner Keselowski, who also drives the team’s No. 6 Ford, said. “His talent behind the wheel speaks for itself, but what really separates him is his professionalism, preparation and commitment to making everyone around him better. He’s been instrumental in the progress we’ve made as an organization, and we’re excited to continue building toward our goals together.”
The now 33-year-old turned in his best season to date in 2023, winning three times over the span of five races that summer and qualifying for the playoffs for the second time. Buescher qualified for the Round of 8 and missed the Championship 4 by 58 points, finishing seventh in the series ranks — the highest finish of his career.
In 2024, Buescher missed the playoffs following a winless regular season, but beat Shane van Gisbergen that fall at Watkins Glen International in one of the most memorable finishes in recent Cup Series history. He again missed the playoffs in 2025, but not for a lack of consistency — averaging a finish of 14.3 both seasons.
“Chris has been part of this organization for most of his professional career, and there is a tremendous amount of pride in seeing what he has become,” Roush said. “He is an exceptional driver, but just as importantly, he is the kind of person who makes our organization stronger. His work ethic, intelligence and commitment to our success have earned the respect of everyone at RFK Racing, and we’re proud that his story with us will continue.”
Through 16 races this season, Buescher has eight top 10s and sits seventh in Cup Series points. He’s 110 points above the cutline.
Steve Waid, an authoritative voice and storyteller in stock-car racing journalism across multiple eras of the sport, has died. He was 77.
Waid’s longtime colleague Rick Houston said that the veteran writer had died Monday afternoon after a lengthy battle with cancer. Waid was a recipient of the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence, and was elected as a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Hall of Fame in 2014.
“For decades, Steve Waid was one of the most respected and trusted voices in NASCAR journalism,” NASCAR released in a statement. “He chronicled the sport with passion, integrity and an unmatched appreciation for its people, history and traditions. Through his work at NASCAR Scene, NASCAR Illustrated and several other outlets, Steve’s storytelling helped generations of fans better understand NASCAR and the personalities who shaped it. Deservedly, Steve was recognized for his exemplary work in 2019 as the recipient of the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence, the culmination of a career that garnered him the admiration of competitors, industry members and fellow media professionals alike. NASCAR extends its deepest condolences to Steve’s family, friends and longtime readers.”
Waid’s career launched as a freshly minted Old Dominion University graduate in 1970, when he marched into the office of the Martinsville (Va.) Bulletin wearing a T-shirt and jeans to ask, “Do you guys need a sportswriter?” The answer was a yes from the paper’s managing editor, Waid recalled to The Roanoke (Va.) Times in 2019, and he was hired in 20 minutes’ time.
Waid covered a variety of sports, but his brief Martinsville tenure quickly introduced him to activities at Martinsville Speedway during some of NASCAR’s golden years. Longtime track public-relations director Dick Thompson helped Waid get his footing, and soon, he was accepted as a regular in the garage.
Waid later spent a decade with the Roanoke Times & World News, covering the stock-car circuit during the season and the town’s minor-league hockey team in the winter. In the early 1980s, he made a calculated risk with his career by joining Grand National Scene, then a fledgling outfit in Concord, North Carolina, with a circulation of about 9,000 readers.
“I walked into what was the converted country store of an office,” Waid told the Roanoke Times. “I had a metal desk, a chicken-wire in-basket and a Royal typewriter. That was my workspace, and I had left a newspaper with company cars, a marble building, expense accounts — everything like that. I said, ‘What the heck have I done?’ ”
But the management at Scene made good on their promise of growth, and Waid was a key contributor to the publication’s rise to a subscriber count that eventually reached six figures. If the sport was gospel, Scene served as the biblical texts — impressively delivered weekly in an era when sports-news saturation was far from the rampant digital heights of today.
Waid helped spread that gospel for nearly 30 years until his retirement from full-time reporting when Scene ceased publication in 2010. During that time, he served as NMPA president for 12 years and was honored with the association’s George Cunningham Writer of the Year Award in 1989, the same year he received the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence. He also co-authored — with fellow legend Tom Higgins — a brilliant biography about the life and career of Hall of Famer Junior Johnson in 1999.
Waid was recognized as the eighth recipient of the NASCAR Hall’s Squier-Hall Award in 2019. The previous summer, he was informed of his selection by NASCAR vice chairman Mike Helton.
“I was so stunned that I asked him to repeat it, and he did!” Waid said. “It was almost overwhelming, you know? I’ve put 40 years into this, and a little bit more, and all I ever wanted to do was retire. But now this.”
Analysis: Hamlin’s latest Pocono masterpiece gave him a record eighth Cup Series win at the “Tricky Triangle,” the first three-race winning streak of his prolific Cup career and 64 career victories overall, moving him past former teammate Kyle Busch for ninth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list. And after chopping Tyler Reddick’s points lead to just 19 markers, No. 11 is no longer just chasing the top spot; he’s made this the first real fight for No. 1 all season. San Diego is a brand-new venue and a very different challenge, but Hamlin’s road-course resume is not completely empty, either, with a win, 15 top fives and 22 top 10s in 63 starts. Until further notice, the sport is running through him.
Analysis: Reddick did what he could at Pocono, and it still wasn’t quite enough to hold off the Boss Man freight train. The No. 45 rallied to second after late tire concerns, led 24 laps and continued a strong Pocono trend that now includes five top 10s in his last six starts there, including three runner-up finishes. The problem, of course, is that Hamlin keeps winning, and Reddick’s once-massive championship lead is down to 19 points. San Diego feels like an immediate counterpunch opportunity, though. Reddick owns four road-course wins, 12 top fives, 23 top 10s in 34 starts, making this the kind of week where No. 45 can remind everyone this is still very much his season, too.
Analysis: Blaney’s Pocono weekend won’t be remembered for much, but 10th place keeps working just fine when the larger body of work looks this stable. He led three laps, stayed largely out of the mess and remains third in points with 11 top 10s through 16 races. The issue is that the gap between “reliably excellent” and “actually threatening Hamlin/Reddick” has become more obvious with every trophy for No. 11. San Diego offers a chance to shift that conversation a bit, with Blaney carrying one road-course win, five top fives and 18 top 10s in 44 starts. He doesn’t need to become the favorite on a first-time street course and win this weekend, but he does need to start turning solid into something louder again if he wants to break into that two-headed party at the top.
Analysis: Larson keeps climbing back toward where his speed says he belongs. He led the first 24 laps at Pocono, finished fifth and now has three top-five finishes in his last four races, which is a pretty good way to quiet concerns that the No. 5 team’s results had drifted too far from its weekly pace. The win column is still bizarrely empty for a driver with 573 laps led this year, but it feels less like a warning sign now and more like something ready to snap. San Diego could absolutely do it. Larson has six road-course wins, 12 top fives, 18 top 10s and 335 laps led on that track type, and a first-time layout may reward raw car control as much as anything.
Analysis: Elliott didn’t quite extend his Pocono top-10 streak, but 11th was hardly a disaster after a day that still included nine laps led and Stage 2 points. He remains fourth in the standings and continues to carry one of the highest weekly floors in the series, even if the dominant weeks have been a little more sporadic lately. If ever there were a race to lean on reputation and past history, though, it’s this one. Elliott’s road-course record remains elite: seven wins, 22 top fives and 28 top 10s in 43 starts. There is no San Diego data to study yet, but there is plenty of Elliott history on this style of racing — and most of it says he should be near the front.
Analysis: Gibbs rebounded from the Michigan crash with a ninth-place finish at Pocono, adding Stage 1 points and keeping himself planted fifth in the championship standings. It wasn’t the flashiest day, especially after the No. 54 had to recover from a slow/re-jacked stop after Stage 1, but it was exactly the kind of clean reset he needed after letting one get away the week before. San Diego is an intriguing test for a driver whose road-course numbers are stronger than the win column suggests. Gibbs has seven top fives and 10 top 10s in 22 road-course starts, and if JGR keeps unloading the way it has this spring, his second win of 2026 does not feel far off.
Analysis: Buescher continues to do the thing that has made his season so effective: show up, score, finish and move on. Seventh at Pocono came with Stage 1 points, which helped bump him to seventh in the standings, 110 points above the cutline, which is a pretty comfortable place for a driver who still doesn’t have a win. San Diego may be a blank slate, but Buescher’s road-course case is sneaky strong. He owns a win, eight top fives, 19 top 10s in 45 road-course starts, making this less of a survive-the-chaos week and more of a real opportunity. If the first San Diego race gets weird, No. 17 is exactly the kind of driver who can turn wacky into something useful.
Analysis: Hocevar slips a couple of spots, but the larger season picture still looks better than almost anyone expected. Pocono was not the follow-up he wanted after the Michigan homecoming, with a 20th-place finish after starting 26th, though he still grabbed Stage 2 points and remains ninth in the standings. The ranking dip is more about others rising than the No. 77 falling apart. San Diego, however, is a tougher projection. Hocevar has one top five and one top 10 in 13 road-course starts, so this may be more about limiting damage than chasing a trophy, but he’s surprised us plenty before. The way he has rewritten expectations all season makes it dangerous to assume any ceiling is fixed.
Analysis: Suárez keeps making himself hard to move down. Pocono produced another useful points day, with a 13th-place finish, stage points in both segments and another small step toward locking himself more firmly into the postseason picture. He is now eighth in points, 99 above the cutline, and the Spire Motorsports operation around him continues to look more legitimate by the week. San Diego could be a swing race, though, but it’s a bit of a question mark for him, specifically. Suárez does own a road-course win, six top fives, eight top 10s and a pole in 42 starts.
Analysis: Bell’s Pocono finish looks awful, but the story was more complicated than just “26th.” Driving with a broken left wrist after the Michigan crash, he nearly stole the race win on fuel strategy, leading 18 laps late before Hamlin chased him down and Bell ran out of gas coming to the white flag. That is now three straight weeks where the No. 20 has looked plenty capable of winning and still left without the trophy, which is becoming equal parts encouraging and maddening for one of the most talented drivers in the sport. San Diego is probably the best possible next stop, from a pure history standpoint. Bell has three road-course wins, 13 top fives, 19 top 10s in 34 starts, and a first-time street course may be exactly the reset he needs. The only question mark is how difficult it’ll be to shift and turn right — with a broken left wrist.
Analysis: Finally, a much-needed exhale for Byron. The No. 24 finished third at Pocono, matching his best result at the track and ending an eight-race stretch without a 2026 top-five finish. It does not erase the uneven run that knocked him out of the top 10 in these rankings, but it does stop the slide and offers proof that the speed has not gone missing. San Diego is another chance to keep the correction moving. Byron has two road-course wins, seven top fives, 16 top 10s and five poles in 40 starts, so if qualifying and track position matter as much as expected on a brand-new street layout, No. 24 has a legitimate path back toward the upper tier.
Analysis: Briscoe’s Pocono day was better than 12th suggests. He finished fourth in Stage 1, second in Stage 2, led four laps and spent large chunks of the afternoon in the top-five conversation before settling just outside the top 10 in the late stages of the race. That keeps him 60 points above the cutline and continues a quietly strong stretch for a driver who has become much more relevant over the past month. San Diego will test a different part of the resume, though. Briscoe has three top fives and 10 top 10s in 32 road-course starts, though he is still searching for his first Cup win on that track type after showing some sportiness in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on them. A first-time course tends to reward adaptability, and that may be exactly what No. 19 has been showing lately.
Analysis: Wallace drops two spots after Pocono turned into another frustrating missed opportunity. He started at the rear after unapproved adjustments, got swept into the nine-car crash at Lap 47 and finished 21st, losing ground at the exact time the cutline picture is starting to tighten. He is still 43 points to the good, but the cushion feels a lot smaller than it did a couple of weeks ago. San Diego does not exactly scream automatic rebound, either, with just one top five, four top 10s in 40 road-course starts. The No. 23 team has speed, but this weekend is more about survival and execution than making a statement.
Analysis: Pocono is probably already the furthest thing from SVG’s mind after he got caught in the Lap 47 mess, finished 31st and lost 16 points to the cutline and for good reason. San Diego is the reason he stays at this rank, and it’ll maybe even feel too low just a few days from now. Van Gisbergen’s Cup road-course record, as we all know by now, is absurd: seven wins, nine top fives, 12 top 10s, five poles, 418 laps led in just 14 starts. There has never been a Cup race at Qualcomm Circuit, but if the first one turns into a pure street-course talent contest, the entire field knows exactly where the danger is coming from. He’s the 1A and 1B at all road courses until proven otherwise.
Analysis: Jones is no longer just hanging around the bubble — he is officially inside it. After a runner-up finish at Michigan, No. 43 backed it up with a sixth-place run at Pocono, giving him consecutive top 10s and enough points to climb into a tie with Austin Cindric for the final two provisional postseason spots. Legacy Motor Club suddenly looks alive and ready to compete, and the veteran Jones — who, at age 30, may still have a ways to go before reaching his ceiling — has been the clearest proof. The San Diego question is whether that momentum translates to a first-time road course or was perhaps a big-track phenomenon. His road-course numbers are modest but not empty, with three top fives and nine top 10s in 42 starts. At this point, another clean top-15 might be plenty.
Analysis: Cindric remains planted on the bubble, which is both good news and terrifying news, with the grim reality starting to set in that Team Penske may field just one car in The Chase. He finished 14th at Pocono, led a lap and sits tied with Jones on points, just four markers ahead of Brad Keselowski, basically the thinnest of margins without falling out entirely. San Diego, though, should at least give him a track type that matches his background better than most. Cindric has three top fives and 10 top 10s in 24 road-course starts, and while that resume is not dominant, it is useful and suits his overall background.
Analysis: Keselowski’s season is officially in danger. Pocono was brutal, landing 38th after getting caught in the Lap 47 crash with only one point scored and a drop to four points below the cutline after entering the weekend above it. The No. 6 team has shown enough speed to make the slump frustrating yet hopeful, but the finishes are starting to pile up in the wrong direction. San Diego does not offer the cleanest reset, either. Keselowski has never won a Cup road-course race in his lengthy career, with seven top fives, 11 top 10s in 56 starts. He doesn’t need magic this weekend, but he needs a clean, complete points day in the worst way just to stop the bleeding.
Analysis: Logano slides again, and the hole is getting uncomfortable. Pocono started with some promise — he scored Stage 1 points — but the Lap 47 crash damaged the No. 22, and a 34th-place finish dropped him 21 points below the cutline. This still does not feel like a driver or team anyone wants to write off, but the standings are what they are, regardless of reputation. San Diego could help if veteran road-course savvy is a factor, as Logano owns a road-course win, 12 top fives, 25 top 10s in 58 starts. If he’s going to stop the slide, a brand-new course (he’s pretty good when that’s the case) might actually be the kind of reset button he needs.
Analysis: Allmendinger maintains a spot in the top 20 for one obvious reason: the series is headed to a road course, and nobody’s raced it before. Pocono was nothing special — 22nd, no stage points and still 54 points below the cutline — but the San Diego conversation is different for No. 16 than it is for almost anyone else in this range. Allmendinger has three road-course wins, nine top fives and 26 top 10s in 51 starts, and there is absolutely a world where the inaugural Qualcomm Circuit race immediately plays to his strengths and a top five or more is in play. At this point, he likely needs a win to truly change his season, but this is the kind of weekend where that sentence at least feels plausible.
Analysis: McDowell returns to the rankings because this is exactly the kind of week where he belongs in the conversation. He finished 17th at Pocono, remains 49 points below the cutline and has not yet found the kind of peak result like his teammates that can fully jolt his season back to life, but San Diego gives him a much better lane than most upcoming races might. McDowell owns a road-course win, nine top fives and 18 top 10s in 55 starts, and his experience level matters on a brand-new layout where teams will be learning in real time. The Chase math remains difficult, but No. 71 is not out of relevant arguments yet, and this weekend could be impactful.
After a week off, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action with an inaugural visit to Naval Base Coronado for a race on Friday (7 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio).
The event will be the 13th points-paying race of the 2026 Truck Series season and the second street-course contest of the campaign. Layne Riggs won the first street-course race of the season, doing so at St. Petersburg in February.
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson will pilot the No. 1 Tricon Garage Toyota in this weekend’s Truck contest. The Truck race will be the El Cajon, California, native’s second career Truck race and first since 2008 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Thirty-five trucks are entered into this weekend’s event.
Battlestations! After tackling the “Tricky Triangle” in Pocono Raceway, the NASCAR Cup Series next treks across the country to take on the 3.4-mile Qualcomm Circuit at Naval Base Coronado on Sunday (4 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The visit to the California military base will be a first for all three of NASCAR’s national series, with the street-course layout adding a unique, one-of-a-kind flavor to the schedule. Shane van Gisbergen is the most recent street-course winner in NASCAR’s premier circuit, doing so last July at the Chicago Street Course.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts series transitions from the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway to the 3.4-mile Naval Base Coronado for a race on Saturday (5 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The visit to the California military base will be a first for all three of NASCAR’s national series. The street-course race will act as the 18th points-paying event of the 2026 O’Reilly season.
Canadian Alex Labbé will drive the No. 0 SS GreenLight Racing Chevrolet for the third time this season, most recently doing so at Watkins Glen International in May, where he finished 19th. In four O’Reilly races this season, Labbé has three top-20 finishes.
Thirty-seven cars are entered into this weekend’s event.
