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NASCAR cup series

    

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NASCARCelebrating its 75th Anniversary in 2023, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States and owner of 16 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities. NASCAR consists of three national series (NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR Xfinity Series™, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series™), four regional series (ARCA Menards Series™, ARCA Menards Series East & West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour™), one local grassroots series (NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series™) and three international series (NASCAR Pinty’s Series™, NASCAR Mexico Series™, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series™). The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. NASCAR also owns Motor Racing Network, Racing Electronics, and ONE DAYTONA. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information visit www.NASCAR.com and www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat (‘NASCAR’).

William Byron makes championship field with 11th-hour win at Martinsville

 David Jensen/Getty Images

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

MARTINSVILLE, Va.—With a heroic, gloves-off drive on Sunday in the crucible that is Martinsville Speedway, William Byron earned a shot at the NASCAR Cup Series title and simultaneously saved the rest of the Championship 4 field from its worst nightmare.

 

Byron led three times for 304 laps—a career best for a single race—and beat Ryan Blaney to the finish line by 0.717 seconds after a restart with 11 laps left to win the Xfinity 500 elimination race under most exigent circumstances.

 

In a scenario under which both Byron and Blaney needed a victory to advance to the Nov. 2 Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway, Byron passed Blaney on Lap 457 during a long green-flag run and held the top spot for the final 44 laps.

 

“Pass” doesn’t do Byron’s move on Lap 457 justice. By then, Blaney’s No.12 Team Penske Ford had begun to fade. Byron charged into Turn 1 to the inside of Blaney’s Mustang and knocked it up the track.

 

Byron rushed past, and Blaney never found an opportunity to return the favor. Hence, for the first time since the Gen 7 race car was introduced into the Cup Series in 2022, Team Penske, the organization that won the last three championships, won’t have a driver in the Championship 4—and the rest of the field can sleep more easily.

 

“Damn, I’ve got a lot to say,” Byron said with a broad smile. “Things have a way of working out. God really tests your resilience a lot of times. We've been tested. Just unbelievable.

 

“I'm out of breath. Thank you, fans, for coming out. Bad-ass crowd. I watched my first NASCAR race up there just before the start/finish line. Man, I am just so thankful, excited to see my family, just celebrate this one.

 

“We obviously go to Phoenix. Just go try to kick ass there.”

 

Blaney, who went to Victory Lane to congratulate the race winner, had no issue with Byron’s winning move.

 

“Yeah, I look back on that long run before the last yellow where William got by me,” said Blaney, who qualified 31st and methodically worked his way through the field. “I just got loose, trying to work through that. My rear drive was fading quick. I tried to manage a lot in the beginning. Yeah, just was starting to fade.

 

“I was trying to protect. I mean, that's just two guys going for it. I don't blame him for taking that. I had kind of lost momentum. I would have done the same thing, to be honest with you. I knew it was going to be tight. I tried to crowd as much as I could.”

 

Byron’s victory in a must-win situation knocked seventh-place finisher Christopher Bell out of the championship race. Bell came to Martinsville 37 points above the elimination line and one point ahead Kyle Larson, but Larson, who finished fifth, outscored Bell on Sunday and claimed the final Championship 4 berth by seven points.

 

Also eliminated were third-place finisher Chase Elliott and reigning series champion Joey Logano, who ran eighth.

 

Larson and Byron will represent Hendrick Motorsports against Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe in the season finale. Hamlin and Briscoe already had qualified for the title race with victories in the Round of 8, but both experienced engine failures at Martinsville.

 

“We had good enough track position all day,” said Larson, who ran a problem-free race. “We were kind of out of the mess, I guess. Yeah, that was good. My HendrickCars.com Chevy was fast. Our pit crew was on it all night.

 

“What a performance by William. That's awesome. I think when the 12 (Blaney) gained control of the race, it was going to be really hard for anybody to beat him. William did a great job on the restarts, just kept positioning himself. Was good enough to get by him on that long run.”

 

Byron dominated Stage 1 from the pole, leading 125 of the 130 laps. He surrendered the top spot only once, under caution on Lap 30 after a tangle in Turn 2 when Michael McDowell got the lead on an ill-fated two-tire call.

 

Byron charged past McDowell moments after the subsequent Lap 36 restart and led the remaining 95 laps of the stage. After the break, he was first off pit road under caution and still at the point when Stage 2 went green on Lap 143.

 

The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet led all 130 laps in Stage 2, but a caution on Lap 242 changed the tenor of the race. Blaney was one of seven lead-lap drivers who pitted on Lap 245, and after Byron came to pit road during the stage break, Blaney lined up second beside Tyler Reddick for a restart on Lap 272.

 

Blaney soon had the lead and control of the race—and maintained it until Byron made the winning pass on Lap 457.

 

The final restart after Carson Hocevar’s third spin of the afternoon was academic. Byron pulled away and wasn't challenged over the final 11 laps. Even Blaney was impressed.  

 

“Thought I got a good restart, the last one,” said Blaney, who led 177 laps. “Kind of entered up top, tried to carry speed, and he just motored right around me on the bottom. Pretty impressive.

 

“Just proud of the effort,” added Blaney, who had won the previous two fall Playoff races at Martinsville. “A shame we're not going to Phoenix as part of the Championship 4. We'll be doing the best we can to finish the year out strong. But I'm just proud of the 12 guys. They have gave 100 percent of what they had. That's all you can ask for.

 

“Wasn't quite enough tonight. We'll just move on.”

 

Non-Playoff drivers Ross Chastain and Ryan Preece ran fourth and sixth, respectively. Todd Gilliland Josh Berry were ninth and 10th.

 

NASCAR Cup Series Race - Xfinity 500

Martinsville Speedway

Martinsville, Virginia

Sunday, October 26, 2025

 

                1. (1)  William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 500.

                2. (31)  Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 500.

                3. (8)  Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 500.

                4. (13)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 500.

                5. (3)  Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 500.

                6. (18)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 500.

                7. (12)  Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 500.

                8. (4)  Joey Logano (P), Ford, 500.

                9. (16)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 500.

                10. (27)  Josh Berry, Ford, 500.

                11. (14)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 500.

                12. (2)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 500.

                13. (7)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 500.

                14. (22)  Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 500.

                15. (10)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 500.

                16. (20)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 500.

                17. (6)  Cole Custer, Ford, 500.

                18. (21)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 500.

                19. (34)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 499.

                20. (19)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 499.

                21. (24)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 499.

                22. (30)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 499.

                23. (17)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 499.

                24. (11)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 499.

                25. (23)  Zane Smith, Ford, 498.

                26. (26)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 498.

                27. (32)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 498.

                28. (33)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 497.

                29. (29)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 497.

                30. (35)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 497.

                31. (15)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 497.

                32. (36)  Cody Ware, Ford, 488.

                33. (37)  Casey Mears(i), Ford, Electrical, 478.

                34. (28)  Erik Jones, Toyota, Accident, 406.

                35. (5)  Denny Hamlin  (P), Toyota, Engine, 334.

                36. (25)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, Engine, 323.

                37. (9)  Chase Briscoe (P), Toyota, Engine, 295.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  73.744 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 33 Mins, 59 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .717 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  10 for 78 laps.

Lead Changes:  7 among 5 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   W. Byron (P) 1-30;M. McDowell 31-35;W. Byron (P) 36-265;*. Reddick 266-271;R. Blaney (P) 272-376;R. Chastain 377-384;R. Blaney (P) 385-456;W. Byron (P) 457-500.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  William Byron (P) 3 times for 304 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 2 times for 177 laps; Ross Chastain 1 time for 8 laps; * Tyler Reddick 1 time for 6 laps; Michael McDowell 1 time for 5 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 24,22,5,9,54,11,12,20,34,2

Stage #2 Top Ten: 24,5,20,9,34,19,60,88,45,43

 

 

William Byron wins pole position for NASCAR Cup elimination race at Martinsville

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

October 25, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

MARTINSVILLE, Va.—Talk about perfect timing.

 

William Byron, one of four drivers realistically needing a victory at Martinsville Speedway to advance to the Championship 4 race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, picked the ideal moment to win his first pole position at the historic short track.

 

Covering the 0.526-mile distance in 19.286 seconds (98.185 mph) on Saturday, Byron edged non-Playoff driver Ty Gibbs (98.175 mph) by 0.002 seconds for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

The Busch Light Pole Award was Byron’s third of the year and 16th of his career but his first since the eighth race of the 2025 season at Darlington Raceway.

 

Though he’s starting up front, Byron was wary of placing too much emphasis on his pole-winning run.

 

“It’s nice, but it doesn’t count for anything yet,” said the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, who starts Sunday’s race fifth in the Playoff standings and 36 points below the cut line for the Nov. 2 Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. “Yeah, it’s good. We’ve prepared well coming here, and I feel pretty good about my race car...

 

“You always want track position, and being on the pole is nice. It gives us a good pit stall—that’s probably the biggest key out of it—and it gives us a chance to control the race for a little bit.”

 

Byron’s teammate, Kyle Larson, fourth in the standings and 36 points above the elimination line, will start third after a lap at 98.038 mph. Playoff drivers Joey Logano (98.002 mph) and Denny Hamlin (97.876 mph) secured starting positions four and five for the final race in the Round of 8.

 

Logano is 38 points below the cut line in a virtual must-win situation. Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe already have made the Championship 4 with a victories in the Round of 8.

 

“You’re never satisfied or never happy until we win, but that’s a good starting spot for our Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang,” said Logano, the defending series champion. “I can see the front from there, and hopefully we’ll get one of the pit stalls we’re looking for, but we’re all or nothing.

 

“You just kind of have to keep that attitude all day and see if we can put it up there. It seems like our short-run speed was in the game. Our long run speed was less than great, so we’ve got some work to do there.”

 

Cole Custer qualified sixth, followed by Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Briscoe and Austin Cindric. Along with Byron and Logano, Elliott and 31st-place qualifier Ryan Blaney almost certainly must win the race to advance.

 

Blaney has won the last two fall Playoff races at Martinsville. His victory in 2023 led to a series championship.

 

Christopher Bell, 37 points above the elimination line, was the only other Playoff driver outside the top 10 in time trials. He qualified 12th.

 

Chase Briscoe locks up Championship 4 spot with overtime victory at Talladega

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

 

TALLADEGA, Ala. – In a typically dramatic push to the Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway checkered flag, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe made a last lap pass on the frantic-field to claim victory in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race and earn his first-ever career shot at the season title.

 

The 29-year old Indiana-native Briscoe will join his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin, who won last week at Las Vegas, leaving the final two positions in the Championship 4 to be decided in next week’s regular season finale at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

 

Briscoe thanked another JGR teammate, however, 23-year old Ty Gibbs for the push forward on the final lap Sunday that resulted in his first ever superspeedway win - .145-second over Front Row Motorsports’ driver Todd Gilliland and Gibbs, neither who are among the current eight-driver Playoff field.

 

The runner-up showing was a career best for Gilliland. 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Haas Factory Team’s Cole Custer rounded out the top-five.

 

“Ty Gibbs, just an incredible teammate there,’’ said an emotional Briscoe, who stood on his No. 19 JGR Toyota waving his arms to the cheering crowd “I honestly would not have won that race without Ty. It was an amazing team effort. I can’t believe I won a superspeedway race. I’ve never done it at any level.”

 

“It’s not hit me, we’re going to Phoenix,’’ a grinning Briscoe said of the championship opportunity he now has after leading only 16 laps Sunday, but the most important final one.

 

“Absolutely [a dream come true]. So thankful that the Lord’s blessed me, opening doors and closing door at times, but certainly opening an incredible door for me here at Joe Gibbs Racing. … Even today I just had such a “peace” and normally I’m scared to death, nervous around this place but today just had such a peace.’’

 

Another JGR driver, Christopher Bell joined Briscoe as the only other Playoff competitor to finish among the top 10 Sunday, crossing the line eighth in the frantic three-wide four rows deep finish that has long characterized the 2.66-mile Talladega high-banks – NASCAR’s largest track. With Hamlin and Briscoe in the title race thanks to victories, Bell now holds the top points position, 37 points above the cutoff line.

 

As good of a day as it was for the Gibbs team to be able to claim half the championship race eligibility and position Bell atop the points standings, it was a disappointing afternoon for the other two organizations also racing for a shot at the title - Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske.

 

Hendrick had two cars running among the top five for the overtime restart only to have Kyle Larson drop back from the lead after running out of fuel. William Byron get spun out from behind only yards in front of the finish line while running top-10. They finished 25th (Byron) and 26th (Larson).

 

Larson is ranked fourth, a point below Bell in the standings – 36 points above the cutoff line. Byron – the regular season champion – is now fifth, 36 points below the line.

 

Penske’s two Playoff drivers, reigning series champion Joey Logano and 2023 series champ Ryan Blaney also experienced similar late-race frustration after positioning themselves up front in the waning laps. Logano’s No. 22 Ford actually led the most laps (35) on the day and turned in the longest single stint out front (16 laps) in a race that featured an incredible 77 lead changes among 27 drivers.

 

Ultimately neither could move forward in the closing pair of laps, however. Logano finished 16th and Blaney was 23rd – after both had to pit during the overtime caution period to top off on fuel.

 

“Really, really frustrating because you’re so close and you see in front of you what you’ve got to do and you can’t do anything about it,’’ said reigning series champion, Logano. “It’s frustrating but we know what we’ve got to do now, it’s pretty simple.’’

 

Sunday’s results leave Logano ranked sixth among the eight Playoff drivers, 38 points below the cutoff line. Blaney is seventh, 47 points back. Both now need a victory at Martinsville to return to the championship race. Blaney has won the last two Playoff races at the half-mile Martinsville track and Logano won it in 2018.

 

NASCAR’s perennial “Most Popular Driver” and a huge Talladega crowd favorite Chase Elliott was the first Playoff driver to have trouble Sunday, collected in an eight-car accident near the front of the field only 51 laps into the 193-lap race, resulting in a last place finish in the 40-car field.

 

Elliott had started the race ranked sixth in the Playoff standings, only 23 points below the cutoff line and has now fallen to eighth among the eight drivers, 62 points out of Playoff contention and also needing to win next Sunday at Martinsville – something he’s done before, claiming the 2021 Playoff finale there.

 

“I saw somebody get turned sideways just like normal and you hope you can get slowed down in time but I got turned sideways there somehow, someway and hit some more stuff after that,’’ Elliott said, adding, “We just did not execute that well as a group and put ourselves in the back of the pack unfortunately and got caught up in the mess.

 

“Stage points are so crucial right now and I wasn’t super surprised everybody was starting to get super aggressive and unfortunately, I didn’t make it through.

 

“Unless we won today we were already likely in a very similar situation next week. I hate it. I don’t know what you do in those situations. We weren’t back there doing anything wild or crazy, I just got turned sideways and slid up into the wreck. Thinking about it I wish I could have done something different, but I don’t really know what I would have done. Looking forward to Martinsville. Got one more shot at it.’’

 

Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, Bell, Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith and Roush-Fenway-Keselowski owner-driver Brad Keselowski rounded out Sunday’s top-10.

 

The final round to set the 2025 Playoff field is Sunday afternoon’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

NASCAR Cup Series Race - YellaWood 500

Talladega Superspeedway

Talladega, Alabama

Sunday, October 19, 2025

 

          1. (2)  Chase Briscoe (P), Toyota, 193.

          2. (27)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 193.

          3. (18)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 193.

          4. (10)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 193.

          5. (12)  Cole Custer, Ford, 193.

          6. (32)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 193.

          7. (15)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 193.

          8. (7)  Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 193.

          9. (23)  Zane Smith, Ford, 193.

          10. (20)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 193.

          11. (31)  Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 193.

          12. (26)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 193.

          13. (24)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 193.

          14. (28)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 193.

          15. (5)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 193.

          16. (16)  Joey Logano (P), Ford, 193.

          17. (1)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 193.

          18. (40)  Casey Mears, Ford, 193.

          19. (3)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 193.

          20. (29)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 193.

          21. (38)  Anthony Alfredo(i), Chevrolet, 193.

          22. (33)  Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 193.

          23. (8)  Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 193.

          24. (17)  Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 193.

          25. (13)  William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 193.

          26. (19)  Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 193.

          27. (21)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 191.

          28. (39)  BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 187.

          29. (11)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 187.

          30. (14)  Chris Buescher, Ford, Accident, 186.

          31. (35)  Cody Ware, Ford, Engine, 165.

          32. (9)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, Engine, 141.

          33. (6)  Josh Berry, Ford, Drivetrain, 133.

          34. (4)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 77.

          35. (30)  Erik Jones, Toyota, Accident, 55.

          36. (36)  Noah Gragson, Ford, Accident, 51.

          37. (34)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 51.

          38. (37)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 51.

          39. (22)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, Accident, 51.

          40. (25)  Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 51.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  149.178 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 26 Mins, 29 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .145 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  6 for 28 laps.

Lead Changes:  77 among 27 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   M. McDowell 1;J. Berry 2-3;K. Busch 4;*. Wallace 5-7;J. Berry 8-15;R. Preece 16;K. Busch 17-22;J. Berry 23-27;C. Ware 28;J. Nemechek 29-31;J. Berry 32-33;D. Hamlin (P) 34-36;K. Busch 37;B. Keselowski 38-42;K. Busch 43;B. Keselowski 44-45;A. Cindric 46-47;R. Blaney (P) 48;A. Allmendinger 49;*. Gragson 50-51;J. Logano (P) 52-58;T. Gibbs 59-61;D. Suarez 62-63;T. Dillon 64-65;C. Buescher 66-68;J. Berry 69-73;K. Busch 74-77;*. Alfredo(i) 78-79;C. Briscoe (P) 80;M. McDowell 81;K. Busch 82-83;M. McDowell 84-85;C. Ware 86-88;K. Busch 89;C. Ware 90;K. Busch 91;M. McDowell 92;K. Busch 93-97;J. Berry 98-101;K. Busch 102-103;J. Berry 104;K. Busch 105-106;C. Briscoe (P) 107-110;*. Reddick 111-113;C. Briscoe (P) 114-117;K. Larson (P) 118;C. Briscoe (P) 119-122;R. Chastain 123-124;J. Nemechek 125-131;T. Gibbs 132;*. Herbst # 133;J. Logano (P) 134-149;R. Chastain 150;J. Logano (P) 151-156;*. Gilliland 157-158;J. Logano (P) 159-160;*. Gilliland 161;J. Logano (P) 162;*. Gilliland 163-164;J. Logano (P) 165-167;J. Nemechek 168;R. Blaney (P) 169-170;*. Gilliland 171-173;K. Larson (P) 174;*. Gilliland 175;K. Larson (P) 176;*. Smith 177-178;*. Gilliland 179-180;K. Larson (P) 181;C. Briscoe (P) 182;K. Larson (P) 183;C. Briscoe (P) 184;*. Wallace 185;C. Buescher 186;W. Byron (P) 187-190;K. Larson (P) 191;*. Wallace 192;C. Briscoe (P) 193.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Joey Logano (P) 6 times for 35 laps; Josh Berry 7 times for 27 laps; Kyle Busch 11 times for 26 laps; Chase Briscoe (P) 7 times for 16 laps; * Todd Gilliland 6 times for 11 laps; John Hunter Nemechek 3 times for 11 laps; Brad Keselowski 2 times for 7 laps; Kyle Larson (P) 6 times for 6 laps; Cody Ware 3 times for 5 laps; Michael McDowell 4 times for 5 laps; * Bubba Wallace 3 times for 5 laps; William Byron (P) 1 time for 4 laps; Chris Buescher 2 times for 4 laps; Ty Gibbs 2 times for 4 laps; Ross Chastain 2 times for 3 laps; Denny Hamlin (P) 1 time for 3 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 2 times for 3 laps; * Tyler Reddick 1 time for 3 laps; * Zane Smith 1 time for 2 laps; * Noah Gragson 1 time for 2 laps; Ty Dillon 1 time for 2 laps; Austin Cindric 1 time for 2 laps; * Anthony Alfredo(i) 1 time for 2 laps; Daniel Suarez 1 time for 2 laps; Ryan Preece 1 time for 1 lap; AJ Allmendinger 1 time for 1 lap; * Riley Herbst # 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 54,45,42,12,23,22,38,71,77,20

Stage #2 Top Ten: 19,5,77,24,20,54,34,12,42,48

 

 

 

 

McDowell wins pole for Sunday's Talladega Playoff race

 

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Oct. 18, 2025

 

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

 

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Michael McDowell may be driving for a new team this year, but the Spire Motorsports driver still proved himself absolutely one of the fastest at a superspeedway, earning the Busch Light pole position for Sunday’s YellaWood 500 Playoff race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, NRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

McDowell turned in a lap of 182.466 mph in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Saturday afternoon to claim the lead position in Sunday’s pivotal NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race – the second of the final three-race round to determine which four drivers will be championship-eligible in the Nov. 2 finale.

 

McDowell bettered Playoff driver Chase Briscoe by a slight .019-second on the lap around the 2.66-mile track. It’s the eighth pole position of McDowell's career and the second of the season, matching his work at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.

 

“You know Talladega for qualifying there’s not a whole lot the driver does but try not to make any mistakes,’’ said the 40-year old Arizona-native McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner.

 

“We were looking forward to seeing where our car was at and if we made any gains from the first two superspeedway races. We didn’t know where we were at today just because we didn’t have the baseline [at the rained out qualifying session] at Daytona [this summer]. We’ve worked really hard to find some speed, everybody at Hendrick engine shop as well, just trying to catch up at these superspeedways.

 

“Having a fast car is important and being able to lead lanes and control lanes you have to have speed to do that. The pole is awesome but more important just knowing you have a fast car going into the race tomorrow.

 

Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch was third fastest in the No.  8 Chevrolet followed by the Fords of Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, Roush Fenway Keselowski’s Ryan Preece and Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry – all non-Playoff competitors.

 

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Penske’s Ryan Blaney – both among the eight-driver Playoff field – will start seventh and eighth followed by non-Playoff drivers, 23XI Racing teammates Riley Herbst ad Bubba Wallace.

 

The regular season champion, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron will roll off 13th in the No. 24 Chevrolet with Penske’s Joey Logano and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin starting 16th and 17th. Hendrick teammates Kyle Larson (19th) and Chase Elliott (25th) round out the Playoff field on the grid.

 

Hamlin already earned a position in the Phoenix Raceway final four with a victory last week at Las Vegas. Larson goes into the race with a 35-point advantage on the Playoff line with JGR teammates Bell (plus-20) and Briscoe (plus-15) currently above the cutoff line.

 

Byron (-15), Elliott (-23), Logano (-24) and Blaney (-31) are below the elimination line. Elliott, Logano and Blaney are all former Talladega race winners.

 

HYAK Motorsports’ driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the defending race winner and will roll off 37th in the 40-car field.

 

 

Denny Hamlin seizes 60th win, Championship 4 spot with Las Vegas victory

 

Logan Riely/Getty Images

October 12, 2025

 

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

 

LAS VEGAS – Denny Hamlin scored an emotional victory and claimed a significant career milestone with a dramatic win in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series’ South Point 400 Playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

 

Hamlin passed two cars in the final 10 laps, ultimately taking the lead from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe with four laps remaining then holding off the day’s most dominant driver Kyle Larson by 1.533-second to claim his series’ best sixth win of the season and 60th win of his career.

 

The win secures the first of four positions in the Nov. 2 Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway – landing Hamlin his first title shot since 2021.

 

Hamlin was notably moved in the moments after climbing out of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Instead of the typical playful banter the veteran normally delivers to the crowd after a win, the 44-year-old Virginian spoke more solemnly, mentioning his father Dennis, who has been ill.

 

“This win means a lot, this is the point where I kind of give the fans some $#%& [grief] but not today, I appreciate you all so much," said Hamlin, his eyes water-filled as he looked toward the crowded grandstands.

 

“Obviously just want to say “hi” to my dad and family back at home," Hamlin added, his voice cracking with emotion. “We were hoping to get 60 [wins] today, but didn’t think we were. Just put the pedal down those last 10 laps and made it happen.

 

“[Crew chief] Chris [Gayle] did an amazing job on that final stop getting the car just right and I just held it down. That’s all I could do, just go for it. I felt like I had nothing to lose just go for it and try to punch a ticket now and it feels great.

 

“Just super proud of the team for making all the adjustments they did and the pit crew for doing a great job all day."

 

It marked the eighth time Hamlin and fellow Playoff contender Larson have finished in some combination of first and second place. Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the class of the field for most of the day – leading a race high 129 of the 267 laps – but just unable to hold off Hamlin’s pole-winning Toyota heading to the checkered flag.

 

“I thought we did everything that we could do," said Larson, who now holds a 35-point advantage above the Playoff cutoff line. “The Toyotas were really fast for the short-run there. I saw the No. 11 (Hamlin) line up behind me and I knew he’d be difficult to hold off. If any one of the Toyotas got clear and could get rolling, I knew it would be tough.

 

“He did a great job, though. He still had to make the right moves, which he did. I felt like I was doing all I could to stay in front of him, while also trying to track down the No. 19 (Briscoe). We just came up a little bit short, but overall, it was a great day for the No. 5 Chevrolet team.”

 

Larson, like Hamlin took four tires on the final pit stop and lined up on the second row for the final restart with 14 laps remaining. Hamlin’s teammate Briscoe was out front, benefitting from a two-tire call that gave him better track position.

 

Hamlin re-started fifth and made his way forward, passing Larson with five laps remaining and then getting around his teammate Briscoe with four laps remaining. Larson and then Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell also got around Briscoe in the closing laps.

 

It marked the 15th time this year Toyota had four of a race’s top-five finishing drivers. The effort gives Bell a 20-point advantage on the cutoff line in third-place and Briscoe a 15-point edge.

 

“I was hanging on but I thought I was in a really good spot there for that last three or four laps on that restart," said Briscoe, who finished fourth.  “My car drove really good and as I ran, I was just absolutely sideways. Thought there for a while when they [Larson and Hamlin] were racing hard I’d be able to sneak one off, but just really really loose there at the end. At least a JGR car won but that’s going to sting for a while."

 

While Briscoe didn’t win, his top-five finish certainly helped his Playoff chances too. Four of the top-six finishers – Hamlin, Larson, Bell and Briscoe - are among the current field of eight Playoff drivers competing for a Championship 4 appearance with two races remaining in this penultimate round - next week at the 2.66-mile Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and the next week at the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

 

Reigning series champion and current Playoff driver, Team Penske’s Joey Logano also gambled on a two-tire stop on that last caution period and was able to manage a sixth-place finish. Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott was 18th rallying from an early race pit miscue and penalty.

 

Elliott’s teammate, Regular Season Champion and Daytona 500 winner William Byron finished 36th after a bizarre late-race collision when his No. 24 Chevrolet car slammed into the back of the No. 10 Chevrolet driven by Ty Dillon, who pulled down to pit although Byron running at full speed said he had absolutely no signal of Dillon’s intention.

 

The incident cost Byron dearly in the standings, dropping him to 15 points below the cutoff line, followed by Elliott (-23), Logano (-24) and Ryan Blaney (-31).

 

As with Byron who won Stage 1 and led 55 laps Sunday, Penske’s Blaney – the 2023 series champion – also had tough outing, finishing last in the 38-car field and dropping from second in the points to eighth.

 

Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford had a tire problem late in the opening stage and slammed into the wall only 70 laps in.

 

Blaney’s disappointment after getting out his car was palpable. He’s finished 32nd or worse in the last three Las Vegas races. The upside for him, however, is that he has three wins at Talladega Superspeedway and has won the last two Martinsville Playoff races.

 

“I’m not very happy right now, but tomorrow morning I’ll be optimistic to go to the next race," Blaney said. “We’ve had good success at the next two events, so hopefully we can come and bring the speed and try to overcome the hole we put ourselves in today.”

 

23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick was the lone non-Playoff driver among the top-five Sunday, finishing fifth in his Toyota. Hendrick’s Alex Bowman, Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, and Roush-Fenway-Keselowski teammates Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-10.

 

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to the Talladega Superspeedway high banks next Sunday for the Yellawood 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the defending race winner.

 

NASCAR Cup Series Race - South Point 400

Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Las Vegas, Nevada

Sunday, October 12, 2025

 

                1. (1)  Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 267.

                2. (6)  Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 267.

                3. (3)  Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 267.

                4. (2)  Chase Briscoe (P), Toyota, 267.

                5. (8)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 267.

                6. (9)  Joey Logano (P), Ford, 267.

                7. (12)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267.

                8. (32)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 267.

                9. (16)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 267.

                10. (34)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267.

                11. (31)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 267.

                12. (11)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 267.

                13. (28)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 267.

                14. (24)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 267.

                15. (19)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 267.

                16. (18)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 267.

                17. (33)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 267.

                18. (4)  Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 267.

                19. (20)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 267.

                20. (17)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267.

                21. (30)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 267.

                22. (7)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 267.

                23. (15)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 267.

                24. (23)  Zane Smith, Ford, 267.

                25. (25)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.

                26. (29)  Josh Berry, Ford, 266.

                27. (27)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 266.

                28. (21)  Cole Custer, Ford, 266.

                29. (26)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 265.

                30. (37)  JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, 263.

                31. (38)  Katherine Legge, Chevrolet, 261.

                32. (22)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, Accident, 252.

                33. (13)  Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, Accident, 245.

                34. (10)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, Accident, 244.

                35. (36)  Cody Ware, Ford, Accident, 243.

                36. (5)  William Byron (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 235.

                37. (35)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 233.

                38. (14)  Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, Accident, 70.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  137.131 mph.

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 55 Mins, 14 Secs. Margin of Victory:  1.533 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  5 for 32 laps.

Lead Changes:  21 among 11 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   C. Briscoe (P) 1-35;C. Hocevar 36-39;*. Gilliland 40;W. Byron (P) 41-73;*. Reddick 74;W. Byron (P) 75-86;K. Larson (P) 87-119;*. Wallace 120-124;C. Custer 125;K. Larson (P) 126-172;D. Hamlin (P) 173;K. Larson (P) 174-213;D. Hamlin (P) 214-217;C. Hocevar 218-219;B. Keselowski 220-221;W. Byron (P) 222-231;K. Larson (P) 232-240;C. Briscoe (P) 241-243;J. Logano (P) 244;C. Briscoe (P) 245-263;D. Hamlin (P) 264-267.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Kyle Larson (P) 4 times for 129 laps; Chase Briscoe (P) 3 times for 57 laps; William Byron (P) 3 times for 55 laps; Denny Hamlin (P) 3 times for 9 laps; Carson Hocevar 2 times for 6 laps; * Bubba Wallace 1 time for 5 laps; Brad Keselowski 1 time for 2 laps; Joey Logano (P) 1 time for 1 lap; * Todd Gilliland 1 time for 1 lap; Cole Custer 1 time for 1 lap; * Tyler Reddick 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 24,5,19,11,9,23,20,45,54,22

Stage #2 Top Ten: 5,45,24,11,19,20,54,48,22,77

 

 

Shane van Gisbergen wins at Roval; Joey Logano advances in Playoffs

Jordan Bank/Getty Images

October 5, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

CONCORD, N.C.—As expected, road course maven Shane van Gisbergen won Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400, but that was only a small part of the story at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.

 

Long after van Gisbergen took the checkered flag to record his fifth straight road course victory of the NASCAR Cup Series season, Ross Chastain made a banzai run in the frontstretch chicane and wiped out Denny Hamlin’s Toyota in a desperate attempt to secure the final spot in the Playoffs’ Round of 8.

 

Spinning after the contact with Hamlin’s car, Chastain threw his car into reverse and sped backwards across the finish line, but the effort proved futile. The final Round of 8 spot instead went to defending series champion Joey Logano, who finished 20th and advanced by four points over the Trackhouse Racing driver.

 

A pair of mistakes on pit road cost Chastain dearly. At the first stage break, he ran wide into the 90-degree corner at the exit from pit road, missed the turn and came to a stop, losing 15 positions to restart 30th.

 

After recovering from that error and putting himself in position to advance, Chastain sped on pit road on Lap 87 of 109, ran long to the finish and lost too many spots on the final two laps to hold off Logano.

 

“(Trackhouse owner) Justin (Marks) hired me to carry this 1 car and to drive it and to be a leader, and I just completely unraveled our day,” a crestfallen Chastain said. “We definitely had the speed on the last lap, yeah, and missed turn 7, and I slid the rear tires and let the 11 (Hamlin) by.

 

“Yeah, not acceptable. I just completely … you know, just completely unacceptable.”

 

Logano was delighted to escape the race at the 2.28-mile circuit with the opportunity for a fourth NASCAR Cup Series title intact.

 

“Such a close finish there,” he said. “Yeah, knew it was within a point there (before the last-corner collision). I knew we were going to be tied there at the end, and Ross was going to do whatever he had to do to make it happen. Geesh, just wasn't quite fast enough today with our car.

 

“It's the drama of the playoffs. If you want drama, the playoffs bring it every time.”

 

Eliminated along with Chastain were pole winner Tyler Reddick (10th), Bubba Wallace (15th) and Austin Cindric, who needed a win to advance and instead finished last (37th) after a litany of issues throughout the race.

 

Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott already had advanced to the Round of 8 with respective Round of 12 victories at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway. Race runner-up Kyle Larson, third-place Christopher Bell, William Byron, Chase Briscoe, Hamlin and Logano joined them after Sunday’s elimination race.

 

Both Larson and Bell made van Gisbergen’s task harder than usual. The New Zealander, however, was so good at managing his fragile tires that he finished the final 59-lap stage on two pit stops compared with three for his closest pursuers.

 

The result was a whopping 15.160-second margin of victory over Larson for the driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. The victory was his fifth of the season and sixth overall, and his five straight road course wins are one short of Jeff Gordon’s series record, set from 1997 through 2000.

 

Both Bell and Larson were aggressive in their attempts to unseat NASCAR’s current road course king. On Lap 63, Larson muscled his way past van Gisbergen, with Bell following into second.

 

After a cycle of green-flag pit stops, the Kiwi passed Bell for second. Eight laps later, he dived to the inside of Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet in the Turn 7 hairpin and regained the lead.

 

After another round of pit stops, SVG and Larson swapped the lead with significant contact between their cars before van Gisbergen passed Larson through the backstretch chicane on Lap 98 and held it the rest of the way. 

 

“Yeah, just started getting hot and sliding around, but what an awesome race,” van Gisbergen said. “Kyle and Christopher driving really good and got a little rough, but, man, the battle was awesome.

 

“With the Chevy, I lost it a little bit at the start of Stage 3, and whatever they did for the rest of the race, unbelievable. Really enjoyed that, and that was a long time waiting, hoping the yellow wasn't going to come out (as he ran late on older tires).”

 

Briscoe made the Round of 8 by 19 points with a 14th-place finish despite feeling ill during the race. At one point, he asked for a bag of ice, which he stuffed inside his driver’s suit.

 

“It was definitely an odd day,” Briscoe said. “We definitely just weren’t that great. I don’t know. They gave me a pill in the beginning, and I felt a lot better. I was just so dizzy … I’ve been fighting something all week, and I sound terrible, I’m sure.

 

“After those first 20 laps, I was able to kind of feel fine. At the end I was struggling a little bit, but I was just focusing on not making any mistakes. Not a super pretty day for our Bass Pro Shops, Tracker Toyota. It was good enough—that’s all we needed to do.”

 

Non-Playoff drivers Chris Buescher, Michael McDowell, Ryan Preece and Daniel Suarez finished fourth through seventh, respectively. Elliott was eighth, followed by AJ Allmendinger and Reddick.

 

The Round of 8 begins next Sunday with the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

NASCAR Cup Series Race - Bank of America ROVAL 400

Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course

Concord, North Carolina

Sunday, October 5, 2025

 

                  1. (2)  Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 109.

                  2. (4)  Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 109.

                  3. (7)  Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 109.

                  4. (5)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 109.

                  5. (6)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 109.

                  6. (29)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 109.

                  7. (20)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 109.

                  8. (15)  Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 109.

                  9. (9)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 109.

                  10. (1)  Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 109.

                  11. (13)  William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 109.

                  12. (3)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 109.

                  13. (11)  Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 109.

                  14. (8)  Chase Briscoe (P), Toyota, 109.

                  15. (12)  Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, 109.

                  16. (33)  Josh Berry, Ford, 109.

                  17. (31)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 109.

                  18. (25)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 109.

                  19. (26)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 109.

                  20. (17)  Joey Logano (P), Ford, 109.

                  21. (10)  Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 109.

                  22. (18)  Cole Custer, Ford, 109.

                  23. (14)  Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 109.

                  24. (24)  Zane Smith, Ford, 109.

                  25. (21)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 109.

                  26. (35)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 109.

                  27. (16)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 108.

                  28. (30)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 108.

                  29. (27)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 108.

                  30. (23)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 108.

                  31. (37)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 108.

                  32. (36)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 108.

                  33. (34)  Josh Bilicki(i), Ford, 108.

                  34. (32)  Cody Ware, Ford, 108.

                  35. (28)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 100.

                  36. (22)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, Drivetrain, 89.

                  37. (19)  Austin Cindric (P), Ford, 87.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  81.105 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 3 Mins, 51 Secs. Margin of Victory:  15.160 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  3 for 10 laps.

Lead Changes:  15 among 6 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   *. Reddick (P) 1-3;S. Van Gisbergen # 4-14;C. Buescher 15-19;S. Van Gisbergen # 20-27;A. Allmendinger 28-40;S. Van Gisbergen # 41-48;R. Blaney (P) 49-52;S. Van Gisbergen # 53-62;K. Larson (P) 63-71;S. Van Gisbergen # 72-73;K. Larson (P) 74-86;S. Van Gisbergen # 87-91;K. Larson (P) 92-95;S. Van Gisbergen # 96;K. Larson (P) 97;S. Van Gisbergen # 98-109.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Shane Van Gisbergen # 8 times for 57 laps; Kyle Larson (P) 4 times for 27 laps; AJ Allmendinger 1 time for 13 laps; Chris Buescher 1 time for 5 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 1 time for 4 laps; * Tyler Reddick (P) 1 time for 3 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 88,5,54,20,1,71,19,9,24,10

Stage #2 Top Ten: 12,45,9,1,88,5,20,22,99,41

 

 

 

 

Tyler Reddick edges Shane van Gisbergen for pole at Charlotte Road Course

 David Jensen/Getty Images

October 4, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

CONCORD, N.C.—Tyler Reddick picked an ideal time to regain his form at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.

 

With a lap at 95.510 mph (85.939 seconds), Reddick edged three-time Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen for the pole position in Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 (3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

Reddick, who claimed the top starting spot at the 17-turn layout in 2023, edged van Gisbergen (95.474 mph), winner of the last four NASCAR Cup Series races on road courses, by 0.032 seconds to earn his second Busch Light Pole Award of the season, his second at the 2.28-mile circuit and the 11th of his career.

 

In a qualifying session that featured unexpected severe fall-off of tires selected for all six road courses this season, Reddick put himself in position to overcome the 29-point deficit he faces entering the Round of 12 cutoff race in the Playoffs.

 

Reddick believes the tire factor may be the most important aspect in determining strategy for Sunday’s race.

 

“I think everybody that had a plan, an idea on the strategy for this race just had it completely ripped in half,” said Reddick, who posted three road course victories shortly after the transition to the Gen 7 car in 2022.

 

“All the teams are now looking at what the fall-off was like today and refiguring what the strategy's going to look like. I would imagine that tires are going to be important to have late if there's a caution, based on what we saw today.”

 

The top 10 drivers in time trials constituted a diverse mix of Playoff and non-Playoff drivers. With Reddick on the pole, Playoff drivers Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Ross Chastain qualified fourth, seventh, eighth and 10th, respectively.

 

Behind van Gisbergen, Ty Gibbs (95.265 mph) was third fastest, followed by Chris Buescher (fifth), Michael McDowell (sixth) and AJ Allmendinger (ninth), as non-Playoff drivers accounted for five of the top 10 starters.

 

Playoff drivers Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott claimed positions 11 through 15 on the grid, respectively. Team Penske Playoff drivers Joey Logano, the defending series champion, and Austin Cindric will start 17th and 19th.

 

Logano holds the eighth position in the Cup standings, 13 points above the current elimination line for the Round of 8. Cindric is 48 points below the line, almost certainly needing a victory to advance.

 

Blaney and Elliott already have earned berths in the Round of 8 with their respective victories at New Hampshire and Kansas, respectively.

 

Van Gisbergen, who also started second in his most recent win at Watkins Glen, is seeking his fifth consecutive road course victory. The record for the Cup Series is six straight, set by Jeff Gordon (1997-2000).

Opportunistic Chase Elliott steals a NASCAR Cup Playoff win at Kansas

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — In the last few feet of race track in the second overtime Sunday afternoon, Chase Elliott came from oblivion to steal the Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET and earn a berth in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

 

As his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet sped wide open through the final corner on Lap 273 at Kansas Speedway, Elliott’s car bounced off the side of Denny Hamlin’s Toyota on the way to the finish line.

 

Elliott, who restarted eighth for the final two-lap shootout, got to the stripe 0.069 seconds ahead of Hamlin, who led 159 laps and drove the final stretch of the second Round of 12 Playoff race without benefit of power steering.

 

“Everything worked out perfect for me,” said Elliott, who picked up his second win of the season, his second at Kansas and the 21st of his career. “Had a great push through (Turns) 1 and 2. That kind of all started with the 6 (Brad Keselowski). Big run off of 2. Seas kind of parted and just was able to keep my momentum up. That was really it…

 

“I wasn't going to lift, so I didn't know what was going to happen. I figured at the end of the day, it was what it was at that point. We were both wide open corner exit. Wherever I ended up, I ended up. At that point, we were all committed.”

 

Hamlin was spent after man-handling his car around the 1.5-mile track in the closing laps of the race.

 

“Just super disappointing,” said Hamlin, who swept the first and second stages. “I wanted it bad. It would have been 60 (career victories) for me. The team just did an amazing job with the car, just really, really fast.

 

“Gave me everything I needed. Got the restart I needed. Just couldn't finish it there on the last corner.”

 

The good news for Hamlin is that he increased his margin over the current Playoff cut line to 48 points entering next Sunday’s Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. Barring disaster, Hamlin is all but assured of advancing to the Round of 8.

 

Christopher Bell finished third, followed by pole winner Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace, who led the field to green for the final overtime restart but faded to fifth after battling side-by-side with Hamlin on the final lap.

 

Wallace was leading as he approached the white flag in the first overtime, but a violent four-car collision in Turn 3 on Lap 267 necessitated a caution that slowed the field before Wallace could reach the flag stand.

 

“Two years ago, I'd probably say something dumb,” said Wallace, who drives for the 23XI Racing team Hamlin co-owns with NBA legend Michael Jordan. “He's a dumbass for that move (on the final lap). I don't care if he's my boss or not. But we're going for the win. I hate that we gave it to Chevrolet there.

 

“Toyotas were super-fast, and proud to be driving one. I thought it was meant to be, and then it wasn't.”

 

Despite the fifth-place finish, Wallace leaves Kansas 10th in the standings, 26 points below the elimination line for the next round.

 

He was tantalizingly close to his second win of the season before John Hunter Nemechek knocked the Ford of Zane Smith into the outside wall in Turn 3 in the first overtime.

 

The impact from Nemechek’s Toyota turned Smith’s Ford sideways against the outside wall, with Smith’s car sliding on the driver’s side through the corner before barrel-rolling down the banking and coming to rest upright on four wheels.

 

“It was a wild ride, no doubt,” Smith said. “Before I knew it, I had a decent restart going and I just get wrecked by the 42 (Nemechek). He just drives through me and then I was sliding on the wall.

 

“I was just mad at that point from how our day was going, and this just pissed me off even more, because that’s what really hurt was just flipping down the track. It was violent, no doubt, but we had such a fast Speedy Cash Ford today. It’s just a bummer.”

 

Playoff driver Austin Cindric was collected in an 11-car wreck in Turn 1 on Lap 217 and heads to the Charlotte Roval 48 points below the elimination line and almost certainly needing a victory to advance.

 

Playoff drivers Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick ran sixth and seventh on Sunday but head to Charlotte in very different positions. Larson is 54 points ahead of ninth-place Ross Chastain, while Reddick is 11th in the standings, 29 points below the cut line.

 

Keselowski finished eighth at Kansas, followed by Playoff driver William Byron, who fought and ill-handling car until his No. 24 Chevrolet came to life in the final run.

 

Despite a pass-through penalty on the first lap for an inspection failure, New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen followed Byron, posting his first career top-10 finish on a NASCAR oval.

 

NASCAR Cup Series Race - Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET

Kansas Speedway

Kansas City, Kansas

Sunday, September 28, 2025

 

                1. (4)  Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 273.

                2. (2)  Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 273.

                3. (5)  Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 273.

                4. (1)  Chase Briscoe (P), Toyota, 273.

                5. (7)  Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, 273.

                6. (3)  Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 273.

                7. (12)  Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 273.

                8. (31)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 273.

                9. (11)  William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 273.

                10. (24)  Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 273.

                11. (9)  Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 273.

                12. (23)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 273.

                13. (33)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 273.

                14. (21)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 273.

                15. (15)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 273.

                16. (10)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 273.

                17. (30)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 273.

                18. (22)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 273.

                19. (29)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 273.

                20. (27)  Cole Custer, Ford, 273.

                21. (35)  Joey Logano (P), Ford, 273.

                22. (32)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 273.

                23. (14)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 273.

                24. (37)  Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 273.

                25. (8)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 272.

                26. (19)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 271.

                27. (16)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 271.

                28. (17)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 271.

                29. (6)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 269.

                30. (26)  Austin Cindric (P), Ford, 269.

                31. (28)  Zane Smith, Ford, Accident, 266.

                32. (25)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, Accident, 266.

                33. (13)  Josh Berry, Ford, Accident, 266.

                34. (36)  JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, 261.

                35. (18)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 236.

                36. (20)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 216.

                37. (34)  Cody Ware, Ford, Accident, 52.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  123.106 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 19 Mins, 35 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .069 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  9 for 48 laps.

Lead Changes:  20 among 11 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   C. Briscoe (P) 1-19;D. Hamlin (P) 20-37;J. Berry 38;R. Blaney (P) 39;B. Keselowski 40-44;D. Hamlin (P) 45-83;C. Bell (P) 84-86;K. Larson (P) 87;C. Bell (P) 88-122;J. Nemechek 123;D. Suarez 124-129;D. Hamlin (P) 130-172;C. Elliott (P) 173-195;D. Hamlin (P) 196-221;C. Bell (P) 222;D. Hamlin (P) 223-255;C. Bell (P) 256-258;*. Wallace (P) 259-265;C. Bell (P) 266;*. Wallace (P) 267-272;C. Elliott (P) 273.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Denny Hamlin (P) 5 times for 159 laps; Christopher Bell (P) 5 times for 43 laps; Chase Elliott (P) 2 times for 24 laps; Chase Briscoe (P) 1 time for 19 laps; * Bubba Wallace (P) 2 times for 13 laps; Daniel Suarez 1 time for 6 laps; Brad Keselowski 1 time for 5 laps; John Hunter Nemechek 1 time for 1 lap; Kyle Larson (P) 1 time for 1 lap; Josh Berry 1 time for 1 lap; Ryan Blaney (P) 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 11,5,9,20,1,19,22,17,38,77

Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,20,5,9,19,23,22,1,12,48

 

 

 

Chase Briscoe snags pole for NASCAR Cup Playoff race at Kansas

Chris Graythen/Getty Images
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service 

KANSAS CITY, Kan.—Chase Briscoe returned to his pole-winning ways on Saturday at Kansas Speedway, earning his series-best seventh Busch Light Pole Award of the season for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET (3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The only driver to exceed 180 mph at the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway, Briscoe turned a lap in 29.987 seconds (180.078 mph) to edge Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin (179.474 mph) for the top starting spot in the second Round of 12 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race by 0.101 seconds.
With Christopher Bell qualifying fifth at 179.015 mph, JGR Playoff drivers claimed three of the top five starting spots. Hendrick Motorsports Playoff drivers Kyle Larson (179.396 mph) and Chase Elliott (179.063 mph) qualified third and fourth, respectively, in their Chevrolets.
The pole was Briscoe’s first at Kansas and the ninth of his career. What surprised the driver of the No.19 Toyota was a slow-down in qualifying speeds from May of this year, when Larson earned the top spot on the grid with a lap at 183.730 mph.
“This time around, not a single car in the field ran wide-open through (Turns) 1 and 2,” said Briscoe, who hadn’t won a pole since early August at Iowa Speedway. “Everything we had prepped for was kind of totally opposite from what we just did there.
“I thought my team did a really good job of making adjustments for the slower pace and everything that goes into that.”
Non-Playoff driver Carson Hocevar qualified sixth, with Playoff drivers Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain claiming the seventh and ninth spots, respectively. Ty Gibbs was eighth fastest, and Erik Jones completed the top 10, giving Toyota drivers six of the top 10 starting positions.
Playoff drivers William Byron and Tyler Reddick will start 11th and 12th. Non-Playoff driver Josh Berry was 13th in the fastest Ford.
The qualifying session and the practice that preceded it were particularly challenging for Team Penske Playoff drivers Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Austin Cindric. Blaney, already locked into the Round of 8 with his victory last Sunday at New Hampshire, blew a right-rear tire in practice and crashed into the outside wall.
Blaney did not post a qualifying lap and will start 37th on Sunday. Logano, the defending series champion, also suffered a problem with the new right-side tire in practice and will start 35th.
“I just felt it starting to feel funky through (Turns) 3 and 4,” said Logano, who starts the race 24 points above the current cut line for the Round of 8. “It just didn’t feel right (in practice), so I took it a little safe than sorry and lifted off in the corner, which is when it really came apart. 
“I’m glad I caught it there. I got a little lucky, but, overall, it should be OK with the Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. We’ll put four tires on it, make some adjustments, cross our fingers and hope she runs good.”
Cindric scraped the outside wall on his qualifying lap and will start 26th. Cindric comes to Kansas 19 points below the elimination line for the next round.
--30--

 

 

NASCAR Championship 4 Media Day Notebook

 

Notebook Items:

  • Kyle Larson sees parity among NASCAR Cup Championship 4 contenders
  • Chase Briscoe eyes title in first year with Joe Gibbs Racing
  • William Byron hopes third straight Champ 4 appearance is the charm
  • Denny Hamlin ready to seize the opportunity in fifth Champ 4 try
  • Xfinity contenders aren’t ready to concede title to Connor Zilisch
  • Kaden Honeycutt playing with house money in Championship Race

 

October 30, 2025

 

By Holly Cain and Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

Kyle Larson sees parity among NASCAR Cup Championship 4 contenders

 

AVONDALE, Ariz.— Kyle Larson smiled at the question but quickly clarified that, just because he is the only driver in the Championship Four field to have won a NASCAR Cup Series Championship previously, he does not necessarily consider himself a ‘favorite” this weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

 

There is no edge with this group of competitors, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion contends.

 

“Sure, we could all probably think up a reason of why there could be an edge that I would have,” said Larson, who drives the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “We’re all just so good and the teams are so good, I just don’t buy into anything like that.

 

“But we’ll see. I think having won before, I am a champion, so if I win another one, great. if I don’t, I’m still on the list. There’s that. But I don’t think that gives you any sort of competitive advantage.”

 

The 33-year-old Californian has three victories and topped 1,000 laps led in a season for the fifth time in his career. His 21 top-10 finishes are most among the four title contenders, and only Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe (15) has more top fives than Larson (14).

 

Although he hasn’t won a race since May 11 at Kansas, Larson is confident his team is in good shape, perhaps even peaking at the right time. He’s got 14 top-10 finishes in 22 Phoenix starts—a win to land him the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series championship and top-five finishes in four of the last five races at the desert one-miler.

 

“Just really excited to get on track and see if it’s what I expect it to be. But all four of us are going to be really good,” Larson said.

 

“We all have experience winning here," he said pausing and smiling, “But I’d really like to win this fall.”

 

Chase Briscoe eyes title in first year with Joe Gibbs Racing

 

Last year at Phoenix Raceway, Chase Briscoe was reluctant to leave the race track.

 

He had just run his last race with his No. 14 team at Stewart-Haas Racing, not as part of the Championship 4 but as a driver for a team that was shutting its doors at season’s end.

 

It was the end of a dream for Briscoe and the beginning of another fraught with uncertainty.

 

“It is crazy, what a difference a year can make,” Briscoe said on Thursday during Championship 4 Media Day at the Phoenix one-mile track. “You go from being sad and down in the dumps… I don’t know, it’s just weird.

 

“We were the last people to leave last year, because we didn’t want it to end. We knew when we walked out of the tunnel that that group would never be together again. They literally kicked us out. They forced us to leave. We were here longer than the champions.

 

“But hopefully this year, I’m the one that’s here the longest again.”

 

In 2024, Briscoe won the Southern 500, the regular-season cutoff race. That earned him an unexpected berth in the Playoffs, but he was out in the Round of 12.

 

After moving to Joe Gibbs Racing this year, Briscoe has three victories, the most recent of which, at Talladega, propelled him into the Championship Race.

 

Briscoe’s Stewart-Haas group, however, hasn’t abandoned him.

 

“This week, all the 14 guys—we still have a group chat—they all were sending me motivational videos and trying to pump me up. (Former crew chief Richard) Boswell sent me a text this morning and sent me a video of all his kids wishing me good luck.”

 

Briscoe is the only one of the Championship 4 drivers who hasn’t raced for a NASCAR Cup title in the season finale. Even before he drove a JGR car for the first time, Briscoe knew expectations were high.

 

“I’ve raced against Joe Gibbs Racing, so I knew that, if everything went well, there was a very good likelihood that you’d be racing for a championship,” he said. “Year one—I’m not going to say it’s surprising, but it also I would say exceeded expectations for year one, for sure.

 

“It would mean a lot to do it in year one, just with everything, with Coach (Joe Gibbs) obviously taking a chance on me. Just to start our tenure off together winning a championship would be pretty cool, but it would certainly make the expectations going forward way harder.”

 

William Byron hopes third straight Champ 4 appearance is the charm

 

After a dramatic victory in the Round of 8 elimination race last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, William Byron maintained a deliberately low profile on his trip to Phoenix Raceway for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

Byron elected to fly commercial to the title race.

 

“I live 15 minutes from the commercial airport in Charlotte,” Byron explained. “I go TSA Precheck, keep my head down—it’s great. I love it. I love to get treated like a normal person, which I am.”

 

Normal people, however, don’t drive stock cars at breakneck speeds in hopes of securing a series title. That’s what Byron will do on Sunday, when he chases the Bill France Cup for the third year in a row.

 

In 2023, Byron won the pole for the Championship Race and dominated the early portions of the event. He won the first stage and led 95 laps but faded to fourth as the track cooled in the late afternoon.

 

As it turned out, that experience was also emblematic of the current season, where inauspicious circumstances often kept Byron from finishing as well as he ran during most of a particular event.

 

“We’ve learned the hard way this year that it’s never over,” Byron said. “I think that’s what sticks with me. I mean, honestly, until that guy throws the checkered flag, the race is not over.

 

“I’ve learned that the hard way this year, and that’s kind of fueled the way I prepared.”

 

In the first race of the Round of 8, Byron was running up front when Ty Dillon slowed in front of him, planning to enter pit road. Unable to avoid Dillon’s car, Byron slammed into it with a vicious impact that knocked him out of the race.

 

A week later at Talladega, Byron was running comfortably in the top 10 when he spun in the tri-oval a quarter-mile short of the finish line.

 

Those two incidents set up a must-win situation for Byron at Martinsville, a circumstance that allowed him to race without attention to points. That’s similar to the situation he’ll face Sunday at Phoenix, where the driver who finishes highest among the Championship 4 will claim the title. 

 

“I did look at the board during the race, and I’m like, ‘It’s so nice not to be worried about this BS,’” Byron said of the Martinsville run. “It’s not necessarily winner-take-all per se (at Phoenix), but it definitely is a third stage (is) what matters.

 

“You have to race the race, but the end is all that really matters.”

 

Denny Hamlin ready to seize the opportunity in fifth Champ 4 try

 

Denny Hamlin looked relaxed and said he was relaxed, but the veteran and winningest driver of the 2025 season conceded this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Championship Race represents a significant milestone for him even as he’s already turned in a celebrated career.

 

The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota earned an emotional 60th victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway three weeks ago to claim one of the weekend’s four title bids, and at the age of 44 sees no better time than the present to add a NASCAR Cup Series championship to a legacy that ranks him 10th on the all-time wins list in a career highlighted with three Daytona 500 trophies.

 

“It feels a little bit different,” said Hamlin, whose best championship finish was runner-up to Jimmie Johnson in 2010. “Less rushed, I guess you could say, and simply because we did so much of our (preparation) for Phoenix before this week, so less rushed is the biggest difference I feel over previous (Championship Four bids).”

 

This marks Hamlin’s fifth time in the Championship race under this format—the first since 2021—and he arrives at Phoenix with twice as many wins (six) than anyone else in the championship field this season.

 

“I definitely feel optimistic about it,” he allowed, adding, “Just generally in a good headspace.”

 

Yes, Hamlin conceded, he probably has the most pressure on him as the oldest championship eligible driver. But he is ready.

 

“Is this my last opportunity or not?” Hamlin asked rhetorically. “Any format change coming that will be a bigger sample size should be better for me in general, but you just never know. You have to seize the moment that’s right there in front of you.

 

“So, I would certainly confirm the pressure is probably most on me because these guys know they’ve still got a long way to go (in their careers).”

 

Xfinity contenders aren’t ready to concede title to Connor Zilisch

 

While the season statistics show NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie Connor Zilisch with a 10-win trophy haul—more than twice as many as any other championship-eligible competitors—when it comes to this weekend’s title-deciding Phoenix one-mile oval, the competition couldn’t be tighter.

 

Zilisch’s JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier is the only driver among the Xfinity Series Championship 4 with a previous win at Phoenix Raceway. He boasts two career Phoenix victories and won the title last year with a runner-up effort in a back-up car.

 

Another title contender, Richard Childress Racing driver Jesse Love, has never finished outside the top-10 in three series starts at Phoenix and boasts the best overall average result among the four drivers (also including JR Motorsports rookie Carson Kvapil) competing for the title Saturday.

 

“I know statistically as far as wins go, it looks very lopsided (in Zilisch’s favor), but we’re actually tied in amount of laps led, we (Allgaier’s team) have the most stage (wins) and we’ve really done all the right things this year,” Allgaier said.

 

Love, a native-Californian, finished runner-up in his first Xfinity Series race at Phoenix in 2023 and has never finished worse than ninth for a Championship 4 best 5.7 average finish at the track.

 

Although he has only a single win in 2025, he also likes his chances of hoisting the championship trophy this weekend. He was in contention to win last year’s race, too.

 

“I keep hearing about and know Justin is really good here, but I don’t think Justin’s any better than I am at this race track," said Love, noting his chance at the Phoenix trophy ended last year after contact with Allgaier and race winner Riley Herbst on an overtime restart.

 

“He (Allgaier) has more experience than me, but I feel as confident as he does or probably more. This place is technical and it’s interesting and I’ve had a lot of races here, probably coming up on 10 (in assorted series) and between truck and Xfinity, I’ve never run outside the top-10 here, so there’s some confidence in that.

 

“I had to think about it all offseason, all year that I was a couple hundred feet from closing out last year with a win here before the caution came out and obviously, Justin put us in the fence after that. I know I can put myself in same position this year, and obviously the stakes are even higher, so there’s some good to come out of that.”

 

Kaden Honeycutt playing with house money in Championship Race

 

The 2025 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series season has been a rollercoaster for Kaden Honeycutt—literally and emotionally.

 

Honeycutt was sixth in the series standings when Niece Motorsports released him after 16 races, citing information that Honeycutt had signed with a new team and manufacturer for 2026, though the specifics of the move were not released.

 

Preserving his eligibility for the Playoffs, Honeycutt found a fill-in ride with Youngs Motorsports for the 17th race of the season at Watkins Glen International.

 

Three days earlier, Halmar Friesen Racing had announced that Honeycutt would replace Stewart Friesen in the No. 52 Toyota for the rest of the season, starting Aug. 15 at Richmond Raceway. Friesen sustained season-ending injuries while driving a dirt modified race car in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada, in late July.

 

Honeycutt made it through two Playoffs rounds, advancing on a tiebreaker at Martinsville to Friday’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

“Honestly, man, we’re playing with house money this weekend,” said Honeycutt, whose second-place finish at Martinsville was a career-best. “We’ve accomplished the goal of being here. That was the whole deal whenever me and (crew chief) Jimmy (Villeneuve) talked at Richmond.

 

“They just wanted to make it and have a fighting chance. The fact that we get to come here and mix it up, I feel like we’ve had speed all the Playoffs. We just get to have fun this weekend, treat it like a normal race and go out and try to win it.”

 

Honeycutt believes fate had a hand in his opportunity to race for the title. Admittedly, it’s an uphill battle against heavy favorite Corey Heim, an 11-time winner in a record-setting season.

 

“Everything happens for a reason,” he said. “I think the reason when Stewart got hurt was for me to fill in and do the job right for ‘em and show off how good this team is in this Playoff that he wasn’t able to do because of his injuries.

 

“I think that’s the reason why we’re here for that.”

 

NASCAR Weekend Preview: Championship Weekend at Phoenix Raceway

The Showdown in the Sun: Phoenix Set to Decide NASCAR’s 2025 Champion

AVONDALE, Ariz. – And so it has come down to this – 312 laps in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway to crown the 2025 champion. Four drivers representing two of the sport’s powerhouse teams – Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports - will settle the title.

 

And for three of the four eligible drivers – veteran Denny Hamlin (No. 11 JGR Toyota) and his new Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe (No. 19 Toyota) along with Hendrick Motorsports’ two-time defending Daytona 500 champion William Byron (No. 24 Chevrolet) are hoping to hoist the sport’s most cherished trophy for the first time.

 

Byron’s Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson (No. 5 Chevrolet) is racing for his second title and would become one of only three multi-time champions (Joey Logano and Kyle Buch) currently competing fulltime in the sport.

 

This is Hamlin’s record 19th Playoff appearance and fifth time in the Championship Four. His best finish is runner-up in 2010 to NASCAR Hall of Famer and seven-time champ Jimmie Johnson.

 

After 35 compelling races this season including nine weeks of intense Playoff competition, the title simply comes down to the best finisher Sunday among those four drivers – Hamlin, Briscoe, Byron and Larson - at the one-mile Phoenix oval. Hamlin’s six wins – the most recent at Las Vegas in the penultimate Playoff round – is double that of each of his competitors.

 

All four of the title contenders have previous wins at Phoenix. Byron (2023) and Briscoe (2022) have Spring race victories. Larson was the 2021 Fall race winner and the veteran Hamlin (Spring, 2012 and Fall, 2019) is the only one among the four championship drivers with multiple wins in the desert.

 

Interestingly, Larson is the only championship contender still without a victory in this year’s Playoff stretch. However, the encouraging news for the No. 5 Hendrick Chevrolet team is that his 10 top-five finishes at Phoenix are the most for him at any track on the schedule.

 

“Hopefully this will be good for the fans and everybody and the excitement," team owner Joe Gibbs said. “Probably won't be good for me. I'll be so nervous and uptight about it (smiling).

 

“To get to the Final Four is a thrill, and we're thrilled to be in it. It's great for our sponsors and our entire organization. You got to give Rick [Hendrick] and them just all the credit in the world.”

 

Even the manufacturers represented in this title round have a strong recent Phoenix resume with both Toyota and Chevrolet winning twice in the last five races there.

 

Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet started from pole position and led 107 of the 312 laps in his 2021 title-season victory. He led a dominating 201 laps only to finish fourth in Byron’s win in the No. 24 Hendrick Chevy two years later.

 

Briscoe, a three-race winner this season, led 101 laps in his 2022 victory in the desert driving a Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota led a race best 143 laps of the 312 laps in his 2019 Fall win prior to the track’s hosting the championship finale - and he led 61 laps in his 2012 Spring victory.

 

Defending race winner and reigning series champion Logano and his Team Penske group may well have a lot to say about Sunday’s race trophy however. Neither he nor 2023 championship teammate Ryan Blaney advanced to have a shot at the title this year but like the other non-championship contenders in the field remain fully committed to a victory to close out the season.

 

Logano has four Phoenix wins including this race last year that earned him his third series title. JGR’s Christopher Bell has won two of the last three Phoenix races including this Spring. Richard Childress Racing’s Busch would love to return to Victory Lane for the first time in two seasons at Phoenix, where he’s won three races.

 

In preparation for the season finale, all three national series will run a full practice session Friday (5:35 p.m. ET, TruTV, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) ahead of Busch Light Pole Qualifying  on Saturday (5 p.m. ET, TruTV, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Martin Truex Jr. started from pole position last year, his final fulltime race.

 

Title on the Line: JR Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing Collide in Phoenix Finale

 

As has been the case for so much of the season, the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series title may simply just come down to who can better JR Motorsports’ rookie sensation Connor Zilisch who has already claimed 10 victories this year.

 

The 19-year-old driver of the No. 88 JRM Chevrolet will be contending with a formidable threesome, however, in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship race (7:30 p.m. ET on CW Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) that includes his teammate and the reigning series champion Justin Allgaier (No. 7 JRM Chevrolet), their JRM teammate, rookie Carson Kvapil (No. 1 JRM Chevrolet) and Zilisch’s best friend, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love (No. 2 RCR Chevrolet) in an all-Chevrolet battle for the big trophy.

 

Should Zilisch or Kvapil win the title, they would become only the fourth rookie to do so.

 

“It’s really cool to be in the Championship 4 with my teammates Justin and Carson," Zilisch said. “It’s going to be a crazy busy weekend in Phoenix but I’m glad to be doing it alongside them.

 

“We just need to execute the day and make the most of it on Saturday. We’ve made sure that everything we do is calculated and are accounting for any and all situations to be prepared for anything.

 

“Before the season started my crew chief Mardy Lindley had me fill out a points and win prediction. I had us winning four races so to sit here today with 10 wins and winning the Regular Season Championship plus locking into the Championship 4 early, this No. 88 team has certainly outdone my expectations.”

 

Of the four championship contenders, only the veteran Allgaier owns a Phoenix trophy, winning at the track in Fall, 2019 and Spring, 2017. He finished runner-up to non-Playoff driver Riley Herbst last November to claim his first career title.

 

Allgaier (fifth) and Love (ninth) are the only ones among the championship-eligible foursome to score top-10 finishes in the most recent race at Phoenix in March. And Allgaier led a race best 130 of the 208 laps.

 

Phoenix has proven to be a strong venue for Love as well, who is a perfect three-for-three in top-10 showings at the track including a runner-up finish in his series debut there in Spring, 2023.

 

There are four other former Phoenix winners in the field, including Aric Almirola, who won this Spring, Front Row Motorsports Chandler Smith, who won in Spring, 2024, JR Motorsports Sammy Smith (2023) and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones (2020).

 

The last two Phoenix races have featured last-lap passes for the win.

 

Not only is there the highly-contested driver’s title to be decided Saturday, but there is a slightly different look for the owner’s championship too. It will include Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota – driven by Almirola – and RCR’s No. 21 Chevrolet driven by Austin Hill in addition to the JR Motorsports cars driven by Zilisch and Kvapil.

 

This race also marks a significant time in series history as longtime sponsor Xfinity ends an 11-year tenure.

 

Practice is set for 4:35 p.m. ET (CW App) on Friday, followed by Kennametal Pole Qualifying is Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET (CW App). Joe Gibbs Racing’s William Sawalich is the defending race pole-winner.

 

Corey Heim’s Historic Season Faces Its Final Test in Phoenix

 

As with the NASCAR Xfinity Series, one driver has dominated the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series season and comes to Phoenix racing for his first major NASCAR Championship. TRICON Garage’s Corey Heim has turned in a season for the record books and hopes to top it off Friday in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

Heim will be competing for his maiden title against reigning series champion and defending race winner, ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski (No. 98 Ford), along with Halmar-Friesen Racing’s Kaden Honeycutt (No. 52 Toyota) and McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Tyler Ankrum (No. 18 Chevrolet).

 

The season statistics mightily favor Heim, but as record-breaking a season as he his having, he has never won at Phoenix. Heim comes into the title race with a record 11 wins including six in the last eight races alone and is the only driver in series history to have a streak of 10 straight top-three finishes. Only one other driver in the Championship Four, Ankrum (one) has a win this year.

 

The 23-year-old Georgia native and driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota has led more than 40 percent of all laps this season– an all-time record. Heim’s streak of leading laps in 25 consecutive races is not only a record, but should he lead a lap Friday he would become the first driver to lead every single race in a season. He is six laps shy of breaking former champion Mike Skinner’s single season record of 1,533 laps led (1996).

 

Heim scored his best finish at Phoenix last year, finishing runner-up to Majeski by almost four-seconds.

 

Front Row Motorsports’ Chandler Smith is the only other fulltime driver with a victory at Phoenix (2021).

 

Practice for the race is Thursday night at 7:35 p.m. ET with Kennametal Pole Qualifying on Friday at 3:35 p.m. ET (FS2). Majeski won pole position for last year’s race en route to the series championship.

 

 

 

Martinsville drama sets up heavyweight matchup between Hendrick and Gibbs in Championship

 

Oct. 26, 2025

 

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

 

A pair of Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas and a pair of Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets will vie for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship next Sunday at Phoenix Raceway – the four-team title card settled in Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway which certainly delivered the drama – again – in deciding which four drivers earned the chance to race for the big trophy.

 

Up front it was ultimately a duel between Hendrick’s William Byron and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney – the race settled on a daring late-laps, three-wide pass that will put the regular season champion Byron among the four racing for a win.

 

Byron will compete against Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe who each claimed a win in the previous two races in this penultimate Playoff round and his Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson, who advanced based on his place in the points standings and is the only one among the four title-contenders to have previously won a championship (2021).

 

Larson’s fifth-place finish Sunday was enough to give him a seven-point edge over another Gibbs driver, seventh-place finisher Christopher Bell for that final points-transfer position. It is the second consecutive year that Bell – a four-race winner this season including the spring stop at Phoenix – has been the “first out,” just shy of advancing to a championship chance.

 

“Just seemed like we were lacking a little bit of long run pace,’’ said Bell, who started 12th in the field, ran primarily among the top-10 but did not lead any laps.

 

“I felt whenever we got the balance close at times I could take off on tires and do okay and make some passes, maintain my position. Then the consistent theme of the day was just falling backwards as the tires got old.

 

“We just weren't strong enough at Martinsville this weekend. We practiced in the teens, we qualified in the teens, and kind of raced back there most of the day. I feel content with the results. I think the four going there are legitimate contenders. Whoever the champion is, it's going to be well-deserved.”

 

Three former champions also saw their multi-title bids end prematurely. Penske drivers Ryan Blaney, the 2023 champion, his teammate reigning series champion Joey Logano and Hendrick’s Chase Elliott (2020) will not be among the four contending for the championship despite all turning in top-10 efforts Sunday. Their position in the points standings entering the race had meant all three would have to win Sunday’s race to advance and Byron, who led 304 laps dominated much of the day.

 

It will mark the first time in four years the three-time reigning champion Team Penske has not had a driver among the four battling the championship trophy. Reigning series champ Logano has won three of the last seven series titles (2018, 2022, 2024) with Blaney claiming the trophy in 2023 and ultimately, Sunday, coming a mere .717-second away from earning another shot.

 

“Just two guys going for it and I don’t blame him,’’ Blaney said of the three-wide move Byron made in traffic to get around Blaney for good with 44 laps remaining. “I would have done the same thing.

 

“I’m just so proud of the effort of this 12-group. Starting where we did and making up the ground we did was impressive. The 24 was just a little better than us at the end.

 

“Shame we’re not going to Phoenix as part of the Championship 4 but we’ll be doing the best we can to finish the year out strong,’’ Blaney added. “I’m just proud. The 12 guys gave a 100 percent of what they had and that’s really all you can ever ask for, it just wasn’t quite enough tonight.

 

Elliott ran up front all day and finished third - on Blaney’s rear bumper - but even that effort was not enough this season to put the one-race winner and perennial Most Popular Driver in the Championship 4.

 

Logano, who finished eighth, was obviously disappointed, acknowledging his car was just never truly trophy-bound Sunday.

 

“Bummed,’’ Logano conceded of the outcome. “I don’t know if there’s another word for it. I’m just bummed that one of us didn’t make it. Everyone works hard enough to deserve to be there. We just couldn’t get the job done today, or really the last three races. That’s what it comes down to. The four there deserve to be there. That’s how I always look at it and this year we didn’t.’’

 

Practice for the NASCAR Championship Race at the one-mile Phoenix oval is next Friday at 5:35 p.m. ET. Busch Light Pole Qualifying is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday with the green flag for the season finale flying Sunday at 3 p.m. ET (NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

William Byron rides superb Martinsville performance into title race

 

October 27, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

More than two hours after William Byron took the checkered flag to win Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, the work of crew chief Rudy Fugle still wasn’t done.

 

Fugle had called an exemplary race and afterwards shepherded Byron’s No.24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet through inspection, confirming the win in the Round of 8 elimination race.

 

As the NASCAR Cup Series transporters filed out of the legendary short track, Fugle waited with his SUV near the crossover gate. Soon, a pickup truck with Martinsville Speedway logo pulled up nearby.

 

From the pickup, Fugle and a crew of three unloaded a long, heavy box that looked more like a corrugated cardboard coffin than the resting place of something precious.

 

The four men slid the box into the SUV, and the hatch clicked shut. It was official. The grandfather clock trophy that goes to the Martinsville winner was on the way to Byron’s home in Charlotte.

 

More than that, it was symbolic. The prize for winning the Xfinity 500 represented Byron’s coming of age under the most intense pressure of his career. To compete for a championship next Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, Byron had to win the race—and he did.

 

Asked whether his drive on Sunday was the best of his career, the two-time Daytona 500 winner already was looking ahead to the Championship 4 Race.

 

“I hope it's not the best, because I hope next week is good, too,” he said.

 

That’s not to say Byron’s performance during the entire Martinsville weekend wasn’t a tour de force. After a contemplative drive from Charlotte to Martinsville in his street car, Byron posted the seventh fastest single lap during Saturday’s practice. He was third-best in 10-lap average, suggesting good long-run speed.  

 

Later that afternoon, Byron put the No. 24 Chevrolet on the pole by 0.002 seconds over Ty Gibbs. In the race itself, he dominated early, and after Ryan Blaney took control in the final stage, Byron seized the opportunity to muscle his way past the 2023 series champion with 44 laps left.

 

Two weeks of horrible luck had put Byron in the win-or-bust position. In the first Round of 8 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he finished 36th after a freak accident near the entrance to pit road sidelined his Camaro. A week later, at Talladega Superspeedway, he spun near the finish line while running in the top-10 and finished 25th.

 

But on Sunday, Byron used the accumulated disappointments of a long season as fuel for a heroic run, made possible by the quality of the car Fugle his team prepared for the race.

 

“Yeah, I do think from start to finish, it's the best I've ever felt in the race car,” Byron said. The (Coca-Cola) 600 (where Byron won the first three stages but finished second to Ross Chastain), different races. You just channel those things, learn from 'em.

 

“If you can learn from 'em, they become positives. They become things you lean on in the moment. For some people they become scars and things you can't get past. For me, I found a way to flip that script either this week or sometime during these Playoffs. It went the other way.”

 

With the victory, Byron earned his third straight trip to the Championship 4. In his two previous appearances, he finished third, as Team Penske drivers Joey Logano and Blaney claimed the respective championships—Logano in 2022 and 2024 and Blaney in 2023.

 

Byron’s win on Sunday eliminated both Penske entries from the Championship 4, putting the 27-year-old in a strong position to win his first title in NASCAR’s top division.

 

If he does prevail at Phoenix, Byron won’t need four clock-bearers to lift the Bill France Cup into an SUV, but the trophy and what it represents won’t have any less gravitas.

 

And after Sunday’s performance at Martinsville, Byron seems more than ready to earn it.

 

 

Saturday Martinsville Notebook

 
Notebook Items:
  • Two Hendrick crew chiefs have vastly different perspectives at Martinsville
  • Joey Logano says pressure reaches crescendo in Championship Week
  • Harrison Burton joins Dean Thompson at Sam Hunt Racing
 
October 25, 2025
 
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
 
Two Hendrick crew chiefs have vastly different perspectives at Martinsville
MARTINSVILLE, Va.—Cliff Daniels has multiple options. Alan Gustafson has one.
The two Hendrick Motorsports crew chiefs come to Martinsville Speedway with significantly different points of view entering Sunday’s Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Daniels, who calls the shots from Kyle Larson’s pit box, has the luxury of a 36-point margin above the current elimination line in the final race in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Round of 8.
Much of his focus will center on the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Christopher Bell, who enters the race in third place, 37 points above the cut line. If Larson can outscore Bell, he’s likely to claim one of the two remaining spots in the Championship 4.
Daniels believes both drivers will execute similar strategies, such as staying out for stage points while others in more desperate straits may short-pit to set up a potential race win.
“Ultimately, I think there’s a scenario where us and Bell would probably end up being very similar to each other, and what that would look like, unless there’s a big disparity in our running positions,” Daniels said on Saturday morning at Martinsville.
“I think that will (be) almost dictated in the moment. If we’re really close on track, we may end up matching each other. If we’re not, then either of us could end up doing something different.”
The best case for Larson and Bell is for none of the four drivers below the elimination line—William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano or Chase Elliott—to steal a berth in the title race by winning on Sunday.
But that’s not an assumption Daniels can afford to make.
“We’ve looked at it from a lot of different angles, and certainly our goal is to execute a good enough day that we can take care of our own circumstance without relying on whatever may happen with the others around us.
“Certainly, that’s one of those scenarios we have to look at, that if a car below the cut line wins, have we done enough to get through? I think the way the race could play out could present a lot of different circumstances for that, and it’s going to be our job to cover those and execute in the moment.”
Every decision Gustafson makes will be guided by one objective—to win the race. His driver, Elliott, comes to Martinsville in eighth place, 62 points below the cut line. Elliott’s only path to the Championship 4 goes through Victory Lane at the 0.526-mile short track.
That circumstance isn’t a new one for either Elliott or Gustafson. In 2020, Elliott won at Martinsville to qualify for the Championship 4 and went on to win the Cup title.
“I think it helps a little bit,” Gustafson said of the experience he and Elliott gained five years ago. “I think it gives you confidence to know that you can accomplish that, right? I think any time that you do that—whatever it is in your life—you do something, and you’re like, ‘OK, this isn’t impossible.’
“Past that, I’m not sure that… in racing years, it’s been forever ago. You’ve just got to make it happen again. Really, for me, it’s more about how we’re running currently and how we ran in the spring. I feel good about all those things and the preparation leading up to it.”
Joey Logano says pressure reaches crescendo in Championship Week
Having trouble with insomnia? Joey Logano suggests trying to fool yourself to sleep.
The way Logano sees it, anyone who says the Championship 4 NASCAR Cup Series event is just another race is engaging in self-delusion.
“I said it last year, and I’ll say it forever, if you say it’s a normal week, it’s just a way to help you sleep—because you can’t sleep,” Logano asserted before Saturday’s final Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway.
Logano ought to know. He has three titles to his credit, earned in 2018, 2022 and 2024. In order to maintain his championship defense this year, however, the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford believes he’ll have to win Sunday’s Xfinity 500, the race that will cut the Playoff field from eight drivers to the final four.
Still, the win-or-bust scenario in the Round of 8 isn’t as intense as the season finale with the Cup title on the line.
“The pressure ratchets up every week,” Logano said. “It affects you—no doubt. I would assume it affects everyone. I don’t see how it doesn’t. If you care enough about it, you’re going to be digging deep and trying to find that little bit more, and what’s it going to take and all that.
“The balance gets pretty off track in the Playoffs a lot of times. What’s your main goal? In this time of year, it’s all about winning championships. Your balance ticks a little more towards… you might have a little shorter fuse and all those type of things that happen.”
Harrison Burton joins Dean Thompson at Sam Hunt Racing
As Sam Hunt Racing expands to two full-time cars, each with a full-time driver in 2026, Harrison Burton will join Dean Thompson on the organization’s driver roster.
Burton will drive the No. 24 Toyota in the newly entitled NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, with Thompson remaining in the No. 26 Toyota. Thompson has scored seven top-10 finishes this season, with a best of fifth at Charlotte in May.
“I feel like Dean has earned his seat at Sam Hunt Racing this year, and I wanted him back,” said team owner Sam Hunt. “He’s just done a great job, and there’s a lot of pressure on Dean next year to continue that upward trajectory and continue to grow as a driver.
“On the other hand, Harrison is something I’m thrilled to announce. I’ve known Harrison for years now at a bit of a distance, but I’ve always admired how he treats people and how he acts along with how hard he works along with being a very accomplished race car driver.
“For me, this was just a very good human fit all the way around. These two guys I think a lot of and want to see succeed and make it to Sunday at some point. I just asked they buy in at the same level and be a part of this team’s growth, and if they do, then we will have a chance to get both cars in the Playoffs.”
In the past two years, Burton has been in both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series Playoffs. He won with Wood Brothers Racing at Daytona in 2024 to qualify for the Cup postseason. This year, he made the Playoffs on points with AM Racing and was eliminated in the Round of 12.
“For me, it’s just an alignment of beliefs with Sam and their group and Dean,” said Burton, who drove Toyotas earlier in his career for both Kyle Busch Motorsports in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series.
“What they believe in and how they race and the way they approach things, it’s just a great fit. I couldn’t be more excited to join this group for what feels like going back home with our friends with Toyota.”
Burton collected all four of his Xfinity wins with JGR in 2020.

NASCAR Weekend Preview: Martinsville Speedway

 

October 23, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

Christopher Bell/Kyle Larson matchup is a primary focus at Martinsville

 

For years, those following the careers of Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell have anticipated a head-to-head matchup between the two drivers—on asphalt.

 

With two berths in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 Race on the line, it’s a given that the two stars will pay close attention to each other in Sunday’s high-stakes Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

Bell comes to Martinsville 37 points above the current elimination line for the Championship 4. Larson is one point behind Bell.

 

If those margins seem comfortable, think again. If one of the four drivers below the cut line—William Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney or Chase Elliott—happens to win on Sunday, only one spot will be available on points.

 

All four drivers on the outside are former Martinsville winners. Both Elliott in 2020 and Blaney in 2023 won at Martinsville to qualify for the Championship 4 and went on to win the Cup title.

 

For practical purposes, to ensure a run for a possible championship Nov. 2 at Phoenix Raceway, either Bell or Larson simply must score more points than the other at the historic 0.526-mile short track.

 

And thus continues a rivalry that dates to heated competition on dirt tracks more than a decade ago. Bell won three straight Chili Bowl Nationals midget titles, for example, before Larson claimed his first in 2020. 

 

“I think the 20 (Bell) is the most important car for us on the track—and probably vice-versa,” Larson said on Wednesday during a Zoom conference with reporters. “If either one of us outscores the other, we’re guaranteed a spot in the final four, regardless of who else wins.

 

“But you don’t want to spend too much focus on him either, but I think the majority of it revolves around Bell.”

 

Though there are far-fetched scenarios that could eliminate Bell and Larson on points, the drivers below the line are looking at their prospects realistically.

 

Byron is 36 points behind Larson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. Logano, the defending series champion, is 38 points back.

 

“It’s all or nothing,” a disappointed Logano said after finishing 16th last Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. “Stage points aren’t going to matter. Nothing’s going to matter. We’re too far back. We’ve just got to go win.”

 

After spinning in the final 400 yards and finishing 25th at Talladega, Byron feels the same.

 

"It’s not ideal, but we know what we have to do this weekend,” he said. “The only option is to win. The last two weeks, not having a better finish for how well we were running is what hurts.

 

“All focus is on Martinsville and how we can run up front all day. The fall there hasn’t been the strongest for us, but I do think we’ve made a lot of strides on that package."

 

Blaney trails Larson by 47 points, with Elliott 62 points behind in an absolute must-win situation.

 

Blaney has won the last two Playoff races at Martinsville. Elliott hasn’t triumphed there since his championship season in 2020.

 

JR Motorsports teammates in close battle for final NASCAR Xfinity Playoff berth

 

Two JR Motorsports drivers—prolific rookie Connor Zilisch and defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier—already have qualified for the Championship 4 Race on points.

 

Two other JRM drivers are locked in a close battle for the final Championship 4 berth as the series moves to Martinsville Speedway for Saturday’s IAA & Ritchie Bros. 250 (7:30 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

Carson Kvapil arrives at the legendary 0.526-mile short track 11 points above the current elimination line, leading teammate Sammy Smith by that margin entering the event that will set the field for the Nov. 1 title race at Phoenix Raceway.

 

If past performance is an accurate indicator, Smith has an edge in the elimination race. In six starts at Martinsville, the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet has scored five top 10s, including two runner-up finishes and a third.

 

“Heading into Martinsville under the cut line is not where we envisioned ourselves, but we’ve been strong here in the past, and this No. 8 Pilot team is hungry to advance to the Champ 4,” Smith said.

 

“Just like Talladega last week (where Smith finished ninth), anything can happen on these short tracks, so we just need to be smart and keep our nose clean. If we can do that, I see no reason why we won’t be right where we need to be at the end of the race.”

 

In two Martinsville starts (the last two spring races), Kvapil has finished fourth and 20th.

 

Auguring what could be an all-Chevrolet Championship 4, Jesse Love of Richard Childress Racing is 40 points above the elimination line and likely to advance.

 

Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver Brandon Jones, a 2022 winner at the paper-clip-shaped track, has the best chance to break the Chevrolet monopoly. Jones is 20 points below the cut line, but he has posted five top 10s and two poles in 10 Martinsville starts.

 

Interestingly, with Aric Almirola winning at Las Vegas and Austin Hill taking the checkered flag at Talladega, the field for the owners’ championship already has been set. Those two drivers will compete against Zilisch and Allgaier for the owners’ title.

 

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series features frantic race for Playoff berths

 

With one notable exception, the elimination race in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series features the closest competition among the three national touring series.

 

With three spots left in the Championship 4, five drivers are within 15 points of each other entering Friday night’s Slim Jim 200 at Martinsville Speedway (6 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

With a record 10 victories this season, Corey Heim is guaranteed a spot in the Championship 4, but second-place Rajah Caruth is only 14 points above the current elimination line.

 

Sixth-place Layne Riggs is only 15 points behind Caruth. Between them, Tyler Ankrum is eight points above the line; Kaden Honeycutt is five points to the good; and defending series champion Ty Majeski trails Honeycutt by five points.

 

Caruth finished ninth last Friday at Talladega to preserve his position above the cut line, and he’s determined to concentrate on the task at hand.

 

“Similar to Talladega, we have to treat it like a normal race,” said Caruth, whose best finish in four Martinsville starts was seventh in the 2024 spring race. “Obviously, the stakes are higher, but you can't psych yourself out of it. I think my mind-set in the Round of 8 has been good to keep it calm and focus on the big picture.

 

“Anything can happen and take you out of the game. If you can keep yourself in it and not self-sabotage your day, you will have the opportunity to capitalize on other's misfortunes and gain points wherever you can find them.

 

“We are in a good spot, and I know there are six other drivers that would love to be in the position we are right now. Those 14 points can vanish quickly, so we have to be ready to go off the truck to preserve that point cushion."

 

 

Daniel Suarez is ready for a new start at Spire Motorsports

 

October 22, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

CONCORD, N.C. — Daniel Suarez has something to prove. So does the No. 7 NASCAR Cup Series team at Spire Motorsports.

 

In 2026, they’ll pool their efforts in hopes of making a statement together. On Wednesday at the NASCAR Productions Facility, Spire announced Suarez as the driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet ZL1 next season.

 

A two-time Cup Series winner and a former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, Suarez, 33, has endured a disappointing 2025 season with Trackhouse Racing, scoring no wins, two top fives and seven top 10s on 34 races.

 

Suarez will replace Justin Haley in the No. 7 Camaro. Haley has scored just one top five and two top 10s this season.

 

“I think when it came down to it, it's just a thing where I think we need each other,” said Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson. “I think all of us love a good story of redemption and giving people a platform to prove doubters wrong.

 

“So, I think in this case, Daniel wants to show everybody that this year was an outlier, and we wanted to show everybody that the No. 7 car’s performance this year is an outlier, as well.”

 

Suarez, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, has been impressed with the progress Spire has made over the last three seasons.

 

“To be quite honest with you, it was a no-brainer, if you look at the last three years, how Spire Motorsports has grown in the last three years,” Suarez said. “I mentioned this to Jeff. I said, ‘Jeff, three years ago, I probably wasn’t looking at Spire Motorsports as an option.’

 

“Right now, I believe that it's the fastest growing team in NASCAR, and I want to be part of that. I know that they are not even close to being done. They are just getting started. The way that they are building the team, I can see that the foundation is strong.

 

“Everything that Jeff and the entire team at Spire Motorsports have been able to do in a very short period of time, it's quite impressive to look at it from the outside. I was just very, very excited to see this new chapter and this opportunity.”

 

At Spire, Suarez will continue his relationship with long-time anchor partner Freeway Insurance, which will serve as primary sponsor of the No. 7 Chevrolet, starting with the Feb.15 DAYTONA 500.

 

“We’ve been having conversations for a long time,” Suarez said of his contract negotiations with Spire. “It’s everything about making sure that you have the same goals in mind, that you’re heading in the right direction.

 

“I would say that a month-and-a-half or so (ago), we knew that it was going to happen. It was just a matter of contracts and things like that.”

 

Suarez won his first Cup race on the Sonoma Raceway road course in 2022. Last year, he won the second race of the season, at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

 

The 2016 Xfinity champion joins McDowell and Carson Hocevar on the Spire Cup Series roster.

 

Suarez and McDowell didn’t know each other well before they traded punches after a disagreement during qualifying at Phoenix Raceway in March of 2019.

 

“Before then, Michael and I were just two drivers,” Suarez said. “And after that incident, we actually became good friends. Michael called me this morning. I've been actually talking to him quite a bit about the system, the processes, the people (at Spire). So, I believe that Michael and I are going to be able to brainstorm a lot, not just in our individual teams, but in everything as an organization, as well.

 

“I haven't had the opportunity to talk to Carson yet, but he's an extremely talented driver. You can see his raw speed. Although he's very young, he's still learning a lot of different things. I think it's going to be exciting to have the opportunity to work with two drivers that, to me, are actually quite different.”

 

--30--

 

 

From Vegas to ’Dega: Joe Gibbs Racing’s One-Two Punch Shakes Up the Playoff Picture

 

October 20, 2025

 

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

 

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Joe Gibbs Racing doubled-down on its 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship opportunities over the weekend – now filling half the four-driver title field – first with a 60-win veteran still racing for his first series title and now the team’s newest driver addition set to compete for his first career chance at one.

 

Chase Briscoe pulled off a dramatic typically-Talladega last lap pass in overtime Sunday to claim the second of the four title-eligible positions in NASCAR’s season-ending championship race – marking the first time in the 29-year old’s career he will race for the big trophy. And he’s got some familiar company in the quest already with his teammate 44-year-old Denny Hamlin taking the first spot in the title four with a win two weeks ago in Las Vegas.

 

And. … the odds look encouraging even beyond that for the Gibbs Toyota team. It’s well on its way to a major title flip-of-the-script from recent years when its chief competitors Hendrick Motorsports’ Chevrolet squad or the three-time defending champion Team Penske’s Ford group dominated the team numbers in the title finale.

 

It's very possible the mighty JGR team could fill three of the four NASCAR Cup Series championship-eligible positions. Gibbs driver Christopher Bell leads the points standings with a healthy 37-point edge on the cutoff line with only Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) left to formalize which four trophy contenders will race for the title.

 

Bell finished eighth Sunday at Talladega, joining Briscoe as the only Playoff drivers in the race’s top-10.

 

The highest-ranked driver in the points standings will advance to the championship race and should a non-title contender win at Martinsville, then the two highest drivers will race for the big trophy.

 

Currently Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson is ranked fourth, a single point behind Bell. Regular Season Champion William Byron is ranked fifth (-38 points), followed by Penske teammates Joey Logano (-38) and Ryan Blaney (-47) and Hendrick’s Chase Elliott (-62).

 

“For our organization, today was just a huge day," team owner Joe Gibbs allowed, with a big smile Sunday. “I appreciated the fact that Christopher [Bell] was able to get everything done that he needed to get done there. Ty [Gibbs] helping Chase [Briscoe] was a big deal. Toyota, our partner, you just can't say enough about them and what we've done together. Just really appreciate it. It's a total team effort. As you know, in this sport it takes a lot.”

 

It does. And JGR’s effort Sunday shows it’s ready to raise its game.

 

Hamlin leads all drivers this year with six wins. Briscoe leads the series with seven pole positions. And Bell a four-race winner this season – including the Spring race at the Phoenix title venue  - leads the team in recent championship eligibility with two appearances in the Championship Four in the last three years.

 

Those three JGR drivers alone, account for 13 victories in the 34 races this year – almost double the total of Hendrick’s (seven) and nearly triple the total of Team Penske’s (five) trophy-haul.

 

“I think if three JGR cars get in it, it's how do we execute and not screw it up," Briscoe said Sunday. “If we have a 75% chance even going there and winning it, one of us needs to win it. We won there earlier in the year as a company.

 

“That would be the biggest thing, how do we put it all together and put a bow on what a good season that we've had.

 

As for Briscoe, the idea of having three teammates among the four title contenders is more reassuring that daunting. He says it doesn’t change the way he races at all and only raises the expectations.

 

“I don't think it's really a mind shift," Briscoe said. “Truthfully more often than not, I know to beat them for a win, I'm probably going to be going up against my teammates. So that doesn't really change. If I can't win, yeah, I hope that one of them win. I even told [his wife] Marissa that the other day.

 

“I'd love to win the championship, but if I can't win, I hope it is one of my teammates. I genuinely want that for them. Whether it's Denny and everything that he's gone through and going through right now, or Christopher. Me and him have been friends since we were 11, 12 years old. I know how much he wants it, too.

 

“Yeah, selfishly I want to win it. If not, I genuinely hope one of my teammates does win it.”

 

 

 

Talladega Saturday Notebook

 

Oct. 18, 2025

 

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

 

DESPITE PLAYOFFS DEFICIT, LOGANO REMAINS CONFIDENT IN CHAMPIONSHIP CHANCES

 

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- With two races remaining to set the four-driver NASCAR Cup Series championship field, reigning series champion Joey Logano comes into the Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway race weekend 24 points below the cutoff line, but, he insists, not feeling desperate title straits yet.

 

Logano is a three-time race winner at the famous 2.66-mile Talladega high banks, playing host to Sunday’s YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, NRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). But even being below the current Playoff line, Logano said Saturday he doesn’t feel like he must win Sunday to advance and have a shot to defend his title.

 

The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford does, however, carry a certain amount of confidence into the race. A three-time Talladega race winner, Logano has led more laps (228) at superspeedway tracks (Daytona, Atlanta and Talladega) than any other driver this season although he’s still looking for a 2025 trophy at one.

 

“If it wasn’t Talladega, maybe I would say it’s a must win, but I still think there’s two avenues to get there,’’ Logano said. “The most simple way would be winning. But considering what Talladega is and how this race can play out, I still think we can point our way in. I don’t want to completely cut that off yet, I still think there’s a chance. Now, if you’re 24 points out going into Martinsville, you probably must win at that point, but there’s still two races and one of them is at Talladega.”

 

BELL IN GOOD POSITION

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell turned a good race at Las Vegas last weekend into an improved position in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings.

 

The driver of the No 20 JGR Toyota comes into Talladega ranked third in the standings – in positive position with two races remaining in this penultimate round of competition. None of the top-three drivers in points have ever won at Talladega while three of the four at the bottom of the standings – Joey Logano, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney all have trophies from NASCAR’s biggest track.

 

Bell’s best effort was a fifth place in the 2021 Playoff race, but he’s led only nine laps in the seven races since with only two other top-10 showings since - an eighth place in 2023 and a sixth place in this race last year.

 

The 20-point margin he carries into the race is significant – a decent buffer that doesn’t make Talladega an absolute must-win.

 

“I think that this is going to be a huge turning point in the Round of 8,’’ Bell said. “It always is, but if we have a Playoff winner, it changes the game dramatically. If we don't have a Playoff winner, it certainly makes us feel a lot better about it. But either way, you look at it, we're going to be in a super tight battle, because I don't think we're going to get out of here with two non-Playoff winners between here and Martinsville.

 

“So, it's going to be -- the points are going to be really tight, and we all know that. So, the only way that I would feel comfortable is if I was the lead points car going into Martinsville, and even with that being the case, that's where I was last year and I didn't transfer. So, it's going to be a battle all the way to the checkered flag. It always is.”

 

“Here in Talladega, it's a lot more circumstances, so while it is a little bit scarier because it's out of your control,’’ Bell added. “I've taken the approach of it's going to be what it's going to be, and then we'll restack the deck in Martinsville.”

 

CREW CHIEF CHANGE FOR JUSTIN ALLGAIER-KYLE BUSCH

Big news emerged this week that defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier’s current crew chief Jim Pohlman will be leaving the No. 7 JR Motorsports team next season to lead the NASCAR Cup Series effort of two-time series champion Kyle Busch at Richard Childress Racing.

 

Allgaier, speaking to reporters Saturday at Talladega for the first time since the announcement, said that he and Pohlman discussed the move before the announcement and Allgaier wished him all the best - reinforcing the great chance for Pohlman to work with someone at the sport’s highest level like Busch, who Allgaier praised as “arguably one of the best to come through our sport.’’

 

But first, there is the current defense of Allgaier’s series championship.

 

“I’m super happy for him and this opportunity, after what we’ve been able to accomplish together on the racetrack,’’ said Allgaier, who held a 44-point advantage above the Playoff cutoff line entering Saturday’s Talladega race.

 

“I would say that had we not won a championship last year it would have been a lot harder for me going into this final stretch of the Playoffs, but I feel like what he’s (Pohlman) brought to this team and what we’ve been able to accomplish, we sat down and he told me what was available and I told him he’d be crazy not to take it.’’

 

Pohlman’s replacement at Allgaier’s team has not been announced yet.

 

 

NASCAR Weekend Preview: Talladega Superspeedway

 

October 16, 2025

 

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

 

Mixed expectations flourish as the Talladega Playoff wildcard approaches

 

TALLADEGA, Ala. – It’s a case of mixed expectations for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers as they anticipate Sunday’s YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET on MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the famous Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway high banks.

 

Some consider Talladega a prime opportunity to formalize a spot in the Nov. 2 Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway, others approach this traditional wildcard race more cautiously with its history of unexpected trophy hoists and intense racing.

 

One driver that doesn’t have to worry about Talladega’s typical all-holds bar style is Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who clinched his position in the title race with an exciting victory last week at Las Vegas – earning him his first championship bid since 2021.

 

It not only re-energizes Hamlin’s No. 11 team and the 44-year-old veteran still seeking his first career NASCAR championship, but it could also be an intimidating scenario for this competition considering the three-time Daytona 500 winner is so good on superspeedways and now lines up on the grid with his title chance already secure.

 

Three more positions are still to be decided in the round’s two final races, Talladega and next week at the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

 

The last 10 Talladega races have been won by different drivers – the longest streak without a back-to-back race winner in the track’s 112-race history. The only two current Playoff drivers to win in that span are local favorite, Georgia-native Chase Elliott (2022) and fellow NASCAR Cup Series champion, Ryan Blaney (2023).

 

Both Elliott and Blaney could use a quality runs this weekend as they are both ranked below the cutoff line in the Playoff standings. Interesting to that point, however, seven of the nine Talladega Playoff race winners were at or below the cutline at the green flag.

 

Beyond Hamlin, who has advanced with a victory already, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson – who finished runner-up at Vegas – now leads the standings, 35 points above the cutoff line. Hamlin’s JGR teammates Christopher Bell (+20) and Chase Briscoe (+15) round out the current top-four drivers.

 

Regular Season Champion, Hendrick’s William Byron is 15 points below the cutoff after a heart-breaking accident at Vegas last week. He’s followed by his teammate Chase Elliott (-23) and Team Penske drivers, the reigning series champion Joey Logano (-24) and 2023 series champ Blaney (-31).

 

Their Penske teammate, Austin Cindric, won at Talladega this April. And this season, Logano leads all drivers in laps led (228) at drafting tracks (Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta) but his best finish is 12th.

 

The four drivers below the cutoff line have a combined 17 victories at Talladega and Martinsville.

 

At Talladega, specifically, Larson, Bell and Briscoe have never won a NASCAR Cup Series race. Blaney and Logano each have three Talladega trophies and Elliott has two.

 

“Talladega is where anything and everything can happen and change quickly," acknowledged Byron, who has won the last two Daytona 500s in the No. 24 Hendrick Chevrolet.

 

“We would like to collect stage points but also strategy will be big when it comes to fuel. Plus, you don’t want to put yourself in a situation where your race could end early all because you pushed too hard for stage points. It’s going to be a very fine balance and all we can do is execute and see where the chips fall at the end.”

 

There is no practice this weekend. Busch Light Pole Qualifying is set for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET (truTV, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell won the pole position for this race last Fall. Hamlin is the last driver to win at Talladega from pole (2020).

 

Talladega could be someone's Xfinity Series ticket to the Championship 4

 

With two races remaining to set the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship field, all four positions are yet to be formally decided. That could change in this weekend’s United Rentals 250 at Talladega Superspeedway (4 p.m. ET on the CW Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Aric Almirola – the 2017 series Talladega winner - won last week’s Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas securing a position for the No. 19 Toyota in the owner’s championship at the Nov. 1 Phoenix grand finale. However, the drivers’ portion of the title race remains very much up for grabs as Talladega moves into the crucial final round schedule for the first time. At least two drivers will now advance based solely on their points position.

 

Championship leader and 10-race winner, JR Motorsports’ rookie sensation Connor Zilisch finished runner-up to Almirola in a thrilling opener to this round last week at Las Vegas and continued to pad his championship advantage – now 82 points above the cutoff line and 38 up on his teammate and reigning series champion Justin Allgaier.

 

Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love is 20-points above the cutoff line and Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer is eight points to the good.

 

JGR’s Brandon Jones is the first driver below the cutoff line, eight points off Mayer. Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed (-21) and JR Motorsports’ Carson Kvapil (-22) and Sammy Smith (-24) are separated by only two points.

 

Love (third), Allgaier (fourth) and Creed (ninth) finished top-10 in April at the track. Creed has finished in the top-10 at Talladega four consecutive times, one shy of the all-time record.

 

Love (2024) and the defending Fall race winner Smith are the only current Playoff drivers with Talladega trophies.

 

Three of the last five races at Talladega have featured a last-lap pass for the win. Love’s RCR teammate Austin Hill won in the Spring race and has proven to be a drafting track master – the only driver in series history to win at all three drafting tracks (Atlanta-five times, Daytona-three times and Talladega once).

 

Of note, no driver has won Race 2 of this final round and then gone on to claim the championship.

 

Kennametal Pole Qualifying is set for Saturday at 11:30 a.m. ET. (CW App) Love started from pole position last year. Only three times in the series’ 38-race history at the track has a driver hoisted a trophy after starting from pole. Justin Haley was the last to do it in 2020.

 

CRAFTSMAN Truck Series returns Playoff action at Talladega

 

After a week off the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series returns to action with Friday’s Love’s RV Stop 225 (4 p.m. ET on FOX, NRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Talladega Superspeedway – the second of three Playoff races that will decide which four drivers race for the 2025 championship.

 

The odds-on title favorite is Corey Heim, who is the first driver in series history to win 10 races in a single season and the only driver so far to have advanced to the Championship 4 Round via his victory on the Charlotte ROVAL two weeks ago. The driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota has won five of the last six races coming to Talladega.

 

Only one of the current eight Playoff drivers have won previously at Talladega – Alabama-native Grant Enfinger, who won in 2016 and again in the last race in 2024. He could use that kind of showing this weekend as he is among the four drivers below the cutoff line with only the Talladega race and the Oct. 24 race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway remaining to set the championship field.

 

Beyond TRICON Garage driver Heim, it’s a very – very - tightly bunched standings. McAnally-Hilgemann teammates Tyler Ankrum and Daniel Hemric – both two points above the cutoff line - and Spire Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth, who is just a single point to the good.

 

Front Row Motorsports Layne Riggs is that 1-point back, followed by reigning series champ, ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski (-2), CR7 Motorsports’ Enfinger (-4) and Halmar Friesen Racing’s Kaden Honeycutt (-4).

 

Four of the last six Talladega races have featured a first-time CRAFTSMAN Truck Series winner.

 

Kennametal Pole Qualifying is Friday at 12:30 p.m. ET (FS2). William Sawalich started from pole position last year. The last polesitter to win at Talladega was Timothy Peters in 2015.

 

 

Several NASCAR Cup Playoff driver’s fortunes changed in Las Vegas

 

October 13, 2025

 

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

 

LAS VEGAS – The opening race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8 Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway certainly provided the compelling storylines expected in this late season push for a championship.

 

Interestingly, the race winner, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin conceded he didn’t necessarily have a trophy at the 1.5-mile Vegas high banks on his bingo card, however he hit the jackpot Sunday with his series-best six win of the year, and 60th victory of his career earning him the first ticket of the season into the Championship Four race.

 

Although the 44-year-old driver of the No. 11 JGR Toyota is a three-time Daytona 500 winner and perennial championship favorite this marks his first appearance in NASCAR’s Championship 4 since 2021 – his first time in the Next Gen Era.

 

And the victory in the round’s first race means Hamlin’s team gets the early-start on preparation for the Nov. 2 championship race on the Phoenix Raceway one-miler.

 

“I mean, I think instinctively we all question our ability at times," said Hamlin, who was unusually emotional after his win Sunday. “Even the greatest drivers will always have a moment where they question their ability.

 

“It's days like today that are, like, huge confidence boost. You can still do it at a really, really, really high level. It affirms that. Yeah, it's a chest-out moment that you get. It's hitting a game winner in basketball, right? The spotlight was on you, it was your race to win, and you did it. They gave me the ball at the end, and I was able to make it."

 

His other Playoff competitors may need to replicate that kind of swagger in this weekend’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

Hendrick Motorsports experienced a vast swing of fortune at Vegas. Kyle Larson, the 2021 season champion, led the most laps and finished runner-up to Hamlin which puts him atop the Playoff standings this week – 35 points above the cutoff line.

 

His teammates, William Byron and Chase Elliott, however, had more challenging afternoons. Byron, who led 55 laps and ran among the top-five all day was collected in a bizarre incident late in the race, when another car moved to pit lane just as Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet had pulled underneath it for a pass.

 

Byron said he had absolutely no indication that Ty Dillon was pitting and the wreck cost the Regular Season Champion dearly in the season championship outlook dropping him to fifth in the standings, 15 points off the four-driver cutoff line.

 

Elliott had to overcome a mid-race speeding penalty and played catchup all afternoon. He goes to Talladega ranked sixth, 23 points off the cutoff line.

 

On the converse, Hamlin’s JGR teammates – Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe moved up to third and fourth overall, respectively, both scoring top-five efforts at Las Vegas.

 

And that leaves the three-time defending series championship team, Team Penske in the most perilous of positions. Reigning series champ Joey Logano is seventh in the standings, 24 points below the line after a frustrating day made a bit better with a two-tire gamble on the last pit stop that gave him track position and ultimately helped him to a sixth-place finish.

 

His teammate, 2023 champion Ryan Blaney, however, undoubtedly suffered the worst Vegas luck of the day, blowing a tire in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford that put his Mustang into the wall only 70 laps into the 267-lap Playoff race. The last place finish drops him from second place in the standings heading into Las Vegas to now eighth place in points – 31 points below the cutoff – as the series heads to one of the most challenging tracks on the circuit.

 

And while it seems Talladega provides a steady dose of unpredictability, there are certainly drivers that usually fare well there – Blaney and Logano among those.

 

In fact, Hamlin is the only one among the current top-four (also Larson, Bell and Briscoe) to ever win at Talladega. Byron doesn’t have a Talladega trophy but has three at the series’ other renowned high-bank superspeedway, Daytona International Speedway.

 

Elliott has a pair of Talladega wins (2019 and 2022). Logano and Blaney are each three-time Talladega winners. Among the four in negative points-territory, Blaney and Byron have each hoisted a pair of trophies at Martinsville. Logano has one win too.

 

“I think it's pretty clear what we got to do looking at the points," said Logano, who drives the No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang. “I mean, one spot's already taken up. I think we're 24 (points) out. Yeah, it's possible [to advance]. But you have to be pretty special the next two weeks without winning the race.

 

“Today everyone ran so well, right? All the Playoff cars, besides the ones that wrecked, were top five stage points all day. It's hard to close up on 'em.”

Saturday Las Vegas Notebook

 

Notebook Items:

  • Denny Hamlin wins the pole for Playoff race at Las Vegas
  • Defending champ Joey Logano's new Playoff life
  • From contender to trophy hoist for Bell
  • Non-Playoff teams still competitive for wins

 

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

 

Denny Hamlin wins the pole for Playoff race at Las Vegas

 

LAS VEGAS - Denny Hamlin led a Joe Gibbs Racing sweep of the top qualifying positions for Sunday’s South Point 400 Playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota claimed the Busch Light pole position Saturday afternoon with a lap of 184.849 mph around the 1.5-mile Vegas high banks – just bettering teammates Chase Briscoe in the No. 19 Toyota and Christopher Bell in the No. 20 Toyota Camry. All three are current NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers. It is Hamlin's first pole at Las Vegas.

 

And it’s the second time this season Toyota has swept the top-three qualifying spots  – the last time was in Indianapolis this summer, when the make swept the top-five. It’s the 25th time in Toyota’s history it has swept the top three starting positions on the grid.

 

“I felt good about it truthfully," said Hamlin, the 2021 Las Vegas Playoff race winner and the current championship leader. “There wasn’t a whole lot left out there for it. But a great job by this team to get my car good. It was good in the short run in practice as well, got to work on it for the long run for tomorrow.

 

“But Saturday [qualifying] has always been our Achilles heel at this race track and that’s a great way to turn that around."

 

Heavy winds affected both practice and qualifying sessions with drivers reporting substantial headwinds on the backstretch.

 

The eight Playoff drivers starting this three-race penultimate round of competition all had solid qualifying performances, however. Beyond the Gibbs front trio, Hendrick Motorsports Chase Elliott was fourth quickest, followed by his Hendrick Chevrolet teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson – a three-time winner at Vegas.

 

Reigning series champion and defending Las Vegas Playoff race winner Joey Logano was ninth fastest in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. His teammate, 2023 series champ Ryan Blaney, will roll off from the 14th place position on the grid.

 

Ross Chastain was fastest in the opening practice session but his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet brushed the wall and the team spent the closing minutes of the session repairing it before qualifying. He will start 15th. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs ended up fastest overall in practice and will start 10thSunday.

 

*DEFENDING CHAMP LOGANO'S NEW PLAYOFF LIFE

 

Team Penske driver Joey Logano is not only the defending series champion but also the defending race winner at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And he comes into the weekend especially energized after a dramatic, final lap extension of his Playoff life last week at the Charlotte ROVAL where he solidified his 2025 title shot with a 20th-place finish, one position ahead of his closest challenger Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain.

 

With new championship “life” – so to speak – the four-time Las Vegas race winner would prefer not to make this three-race penultimate round of the Playoffs quite as suspenseful. But, Logano said Saturday, he doesn’t really care what scenario it takes to advance. As long as he advances.

 

The driver of the Team Penske No. 22 Ford says the result of his team’s ability to overcome tough odds is because it is made up of resilient tough people.

 

“You do feel a little bit more is on the line [in the Round of 8], the intensity rachets up and you feel that," he allowed.

 

“But I don’t care how we get there," continued Logano, who starts this round ranked eighth among the eight drivers (-24 points below the cutoff line). 

 

“I’ve always been that way. I’ve always said it’s about the big trophy at the end of the day. That’s all that matters and how we do it doesn’t matter, whether it’s no wins, five wins, I don’t care. If it’s close to the cut line or easy, it doesn’t matter. It’s all about winning the [championship] trophy.

 

“My message [to the team] was basically, ‘hey, we’ve made it this far, let’s not waste the opportunity.’ We’ve made it to the round of eight and t’s a great accomplishment but doesn’t mean anything if you don’t get to the championship four. And if you make it to the championship four, it doesn’t matter if you don’t win the championship."

 

*FROM CONTENDER TO TROPHY HOIST FOR BELL

 

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell has finished runner-up in the last two Playoff races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – a scant .082-second shy of winner Kyle Larson in 2023 and finishing .662-second behind Logano last year after winning pole position and leading a dominating 155 of the race’s 267 laps.

 

“Certainly, this is the one that we’ve had circled," Bell acknowledged Saturday. “We know this is a great opportunity for us to have a good day and score points. Our intermediate package has been very good from Kansas couple weeks ago even Bristol, so seems like everything is going right for us at Joe Gibbs Racing, our teammates are going really good. We know this is a big opportunity and hopefully we can to capitalize on it.”

 

Conceded done nothing different in preparation for this race weekend than others, just acknowledges “the stakes are much higher.”

 

“I definitely feel confidence and positivity every time you think of Vegas. Even though I haven’t won here. I’ve had a lot of races get away between the two Cup races the last two years and the Xfinity and truck years I have zero wins at Las Vegas, but it’s always been a strong track for me and we’ve performed really well I’d say I am excited to come here every time. One of these days we’re going to get rewarded. I don’t think the track owes us one but certainly driving for Joe Gibbs Racing I know we have great cars every time we come here."

 

*NON-PLAYOFF TEAMS STILL COMPETITIVE FOR WINS

 

LEGACY MOTOR CLUB drivers Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek were not only steadfast in their desire to chase a first victory for the team this season, but a bit defiant to the suggestion that non-Playoff teams aren’t still competitive as the season winds down. The two have combined for six top-five finishes and 13 top-10s and are ranked 25th (Jones) and 26th (Nemechek) in the championship standings.

 

“Who says we're giving up anything, we’re out here to win races," said Nemechek, driver of the No. 42 Legacy team Toyota. “We're out here to do the best that we possibly can for, ourselves, our team, all the men and women at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB. Yes, we're not a part of the playoffs, yes, we're not contending for a championship this year, but we looked at it, at least for our 42 group, we look at it as an opportunity to go out possibly spoil that but also continue to try to get better.

 

“We've made a lot of improvements over the last 10 months, I would say, at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, at certain race tracks more than others, but we look at it at it as opportunity to continue to try and build our notebook and learn and try and going into next year to be a Playoff contender. So, these races are very important, especially with the Playoff format, being able excel in all of the playoff races if you are able to make it.

 

“There's definitely an asterisk to every race track in the Playoffs for sure. I mean, obviously, there's a level of respect there from the guys that are going through the Playoffs and contending for a championship, and you don't want to be the one that makes a mistake and wrecks them and takes them out of championship, contention, right? But at the same time, we're all here to race and we're all here to provide the best possible opportunity we can for our team, ourselves, everyone, that is behind us, our partners and our team owners to go out and try to win races and put ourselves up front.”

Joey Logano continues title defense after tense elimination battle with Ross Chastain

 

Oct. 5, 2005

 

By HOLLY CAIN

NASCAR Wire Service

 

The final 2025 Playoff transfer position literally came down to the last corner of the final lap of competition in Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course – pitting one of the most exciting drivers in the sport, Ross Chastain, against the reigning series champion Joey Logano for that last position to move forward with title eligibility.

 

Trackhouse Racing’s Chastain certainly made a dramatic last-ditch effort to claim that final championship transfer position, running his Chevy hard into the final chicane and hitting the Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin in the final corner of the road course – the contact spinning both cars. As their cars sat facing backwards on track, Chastain put his No. 1 Chevrolet in reverse to zip past the checkered flag rear bumper first.

 

Unfortunately for him, in the immediate aftermath of the collision, three other cars got by - including Logano, who was able to secure the eighth and final championship transfer position after chasing Chastain for most of the race. Logano finished 20th and Chastain 21st.

 

Last year’s regular season champion Tyler Reddick, his 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace and Logano’s Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric were also eliminated from championship contention following the race.

 

“I’d re-start the whole day,’’ Chastain replied when asked what he would have done differently in Sunday’s race, won by his Trackhouse teammate Shane Van Gisbergen.

 

In addition to the final lap drama, Chastain uncharacteristically suffered a pair of pit road miscues – each costing him valuable positions on track during earlier portions of the race. He missed the hard left-hander exiting the pits following a stop during the Stage 1 break then was penalized for speeding on pit road on his final stop with 22 laps remaining in the 109-lap race.

 

“Just unforced errors,’’ a disappointed Chastain said. “Just terrible. It’s heart-breaking for almost 200 employees at Trackhouse. … everybody that makes us go around. [Team owner] Justin [Marks] hired me to carry this 1-car and drive it and be a leader and I just completely unraveled our day. We had the speed.

 

“Not acceptable. Just completely unacceptable,’’ said Chastain, adding. “It’s terrible to get to this level and not perform. You watch, you learn and you study for half your life to get here and to fail is a terrible feeling right now. But I will wake up tomorrow and get right back to work.’’

 

For his part, Hamlin said he had no idea the dire points situation Chastain was involved in at that point in the race. In fact, Hamlin said he didn’t even know what points position the two were actually in on the last lap. “I didn’t know anything about anything going on,’’ Hamlin conceded. “I wish I had known. … I don’t fault Ross at all. I just wish I knew so I could have been prepared or made a different decision.’’

 

Shortly after climbing out of their cars on pit road, Logano and Chastain spoke to each other – ultimately exchanging smiles and pats on the back after the spirited competition on track.

 

“It’s tight, every spot,’’ Logano said. “If you don’t think regular season races matter, look at that.  One point is the difference in making it.” 

 

“We’re still alive, baby.  Now we’ve got to win.  We’ve got to win from here.”

 

Unlike Chastain who was only a dozen points below the transfer line coming into the race, Reddick, Wallace and Cindric essentially needed to win to move forward in Playoff competition.

 

But Reddick, in particular, looked poised for a dramatic turn after winning pole position in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. He led the opening three laps and finished 10th – best among the four drivers trying to race their way into a transfer position. But it wasn’t enough.

 

“I don’t know if anything necessarily went wrong today for how the race was playing out,’’ Reddick said. “We wanted to prioritize setting up to win the race. I think you could pick it apart – a couple restarts and what not, just kind of, as the race unfolded our long run was not where it needed to be with the top guys.

 

“Stage three there, we didn’t make the progress that we needed too, so we kind of went long there hoping for a caution there, and lost a lot of spots, but at the end of the day, we were trying to set ourselves up for a caution late.”

 

Wallace finished 15th and Cindric, a renowned road course racer, ended up 37th in the 37-car field after essentially being collateral damage in an early-race incident.

 

With the points re-set for the next three-race elimination round – with races at Las Vegas, Talladega, Ala. and Martinsville, Va. – Hamlin takes a two-point edge over Penske’s Ryan Blaney to the Vegas 1.5-miler. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron along with Hamlin’s JGR teammate Christopher Bell are four points off the lead.

 

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe and Hendrick’s Chase Elliott are both 14 points back and Logano starts this penultimate round 24 points behind Hamlin.

 

Logano is the defending winner of next Sunday’s South Point 400 (5:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) Playoff race at Las Vegas.

Joey Logano spells danger to other Round of 8 Playoff survivors

 

October 6, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

Forget “Sliced Bread,” if you haven’t already. Call him “Houdini.”

 

On Sunday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, defending champion Joey Logano made yet another great escape from the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

 

When Denny Hamlin passed Ross Chastain in the Turn 7 hairpin on the final lap of the Bank of America ROVAL 400, Logano and Chastain were tied for the final berth in the Round of 8.

 

Logano, however, held the tiebreaker based on best finish in the round. Logano ran fourth in the Round of 12 opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Chastain’s best was ninth in that same race.

 

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Chastain charged the final corner in a last-ditch attempt to pass Hamlin for the point he needed to advance to the next round. The contact spun both cars at the exit from Turn 17.

 

Chastain drove backwards across the finish line as Logano passed him to secure the final spot in the Round of 8 by four points.

 

For the second straight season, Logano needed help to survive the Round of 12. Last year, it was a disqualification to Alex Bowman that kept Logano in the Playoffs. On Sunday, Chastain made two critical pit road mistakes that doomed his chances and elevated Logano’s.

 

The second of those errors, a speeding penalty exiting his pit box on Lap 87, forced Chastain to stay on the track for the final 22 laps. By the end of that stint, with his tires degraded, Chastain was unable to keep Hamlin behind him when it mattered most.

 

Last year, granted a reprieve when Bowman’s car was DQ’d for failing to meet minimum weight, Logano proceeded to win the following week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and immediately set his sights on the Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway.

 

His subsequent triumph in the Arizona desert gave Logano his third series championship. After Sunday’s race, one of the most dangerous drivers at Phoenix is still alive in the title chase.

 

Hamlin had no idea where the Playoff battle stood when he passed Chastain on the final lap. Deliberately cryptic, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver intimated he might have made a different choice, had he known.

 

“I would have made the best decision for me,” Hamlin said. “I wish I would have known… I didn’t know if I was running for 10th or 25th. Listening to the radio the whole time, there was just crickets.

 

“Nobody told me anything—I wish they did.”

 

Whatever Hamlin’s choice might have been, Logano’s path to the Championship 4 remains extremely challenging. He enters the Round of 8 in eighth place, 24 points below the current elimination line.

 

If Logano is to duplicate last year’s victory at Las Vegas, he’ll have to find considerably more speed than he showed at Kansas Speedway, where he finished 21st in the most recent race on a 1.5-mile intermediate track.

 

But in advancing at the Charlotte Road Course in the nail-biting way he did, in a race Shane van Gisbergen won by more than 15 seconds, Logano—in word and deed—delivered a commentary on the current elimination postseason format, as NASCAR contemplates changes to the Playoff system next year.

 

“The Playoffs create drama,” Logano said after the race. “It creates story lines. It creates awesome moments like that. I don’t understand what people don’t like about it. I really don’t get it.

 

“And if you’re one of those people who say the regular season doesn’t matter, and Playoff points don’t matter… Ha! One point would have been the difference there…

 

“If you don’t have cutoff races and things like that, what are you talking about today? How Shane waxed everyone’s butt?”

 

As the Playoffs are constituted today, if the remaining seven other drivers were polled, the majority likely would prefer not to have to face the driver formerly known as “Sliced Bread” (as in the best thing since) in the Round of 8.

 

Logano and the entire Team Penske organization enjoy the reputation as late bloomers who excel in the season finale at Phoenix.

 

That’s an edge Logano is happy to carry into the Round of 8—no matter how you slice it.

 

 

 

NASCAR Weekend Preview: Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course

 

October 2, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

Chase Briscoe looks to solidify position in NASCAR Cup Round of 8

 

Chase Briscoe is the only NASCAR Cup Series driver to have scored top-10s in each of the first five postseason races this year.

 

But in the “What-have-you-done-for-me-lately?” world of auto racing, that model of consistency provides the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota minimal comfort heading to Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

With the Playoff field set to be cut from 12 drivers to eight on Sunday, Briscoe is seventh in the standings, 21 points above the current elimination line. He’s eight points ahead of defending series champion Joey Logano in eighth and 21 points clear of Ross Chastain in ninth.

 

“I think this weekend, we’re obviously really just racing the 22 (Logano) and the 1 (Chastain),” said Briscoe, who has posted an average finish of 23.8 with a best of ninth in four Cup Series starts on the 2.28-mile road course. “If we can just go and outrun them in both stages and the race, then we’ll move on no matter what.

 

“But it’s obviously not that easy either. It’s tough knowing that we’ve been as good as we have, and there’s the potential to be knocked out.”

 

The race has the potential to present difficult strategic choices for Briscoe and crew chief James Small. Foremost perhaps will be the decision on short-pitting a stage to preserve track position versus taking valuable stage points and starting the next segment near the back of the field.

 

“All the Playoff guys are going to stay out to get stage points, and we’re going to get put to the back, and you’re going to be restarting 20th to 30th,” said Briscoe, who won the inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the 17-turn circuit in 2018. “That’s where all your Playoff hopes and dreams can change really, really quickly.

 

“That’s where I think you have to be really smart and conscious about the decisions that you’re making. It’s a little bit easier, I guess, having a little bit of a buffer.”

 

Chastain’s Trackhouse Racing teammate, Shane van Gisbergen is the prohibitive favorite to win Sunday’s race—and justifiably so. The New Zealander has won the last four road course events this season.

 

Accordingly, Chastain plans to use the three-time Australian Supercars champion as a measure of his own potential as he tries to crack the top eight in the standings.

 

"(Crew chief) Phil Surgen and the guys get to figure out how to get stage points and set ourselves up for the end of the race,” Chastain said. “A lot of it depends on speed. If we're fast enough to battle with SVG, then we don't care as much about stage points because we're fast, and we just go win the race."

 

The bottom three in the standings face much longer odds than Chastain does. Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick, teammates at 23XI Racing, are 26 and 29 points below the elimination line, respectively.

 

Team Penske’s Austin Cindric is 48 points in arrears, almost certainly needing a victory on Sunday to advance to the Round of 8. Cindric’s best finish in three starts at the Roval was fourth last year.

 

Six of the seven previous races at the Charlotte Road Course have been won by current Playoff drivers—Ryan Blaney (2018), Chase Elliott (2019 and 2020), Kyle Larson (2021 and 2024) and Christopher Bell (2022).

 

Blaney and Elliott already have qualified for the Round of 8 on the strength of their respective victories at New Hampshire and Kansas. Larson and Bell are comfortably situated in the standings at 54 and 44 points above the cut line.

 

Logano faced elimination after last year’s race at the Charlotte Road Course, but Alex Bowman’s disqualification for a car that was under minimum weight gave the Team Penske driver a reprieve.

 

Logano went on to win his third Cup Series championship.

 

Race is tight for final four NASCAR Xfinity Round of 8 Playoff spots

 

Three of the Round of 8 Playoff spots already are taken as the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads for Saturday’s Blue Cross NC 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (5 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

Brandon Jones advanced on the strength of his victory last Saturday at Kansas Speedway. JR Motorsports teammates Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier already have clinched Round of 8 berths on points.

 

Fourth-place Sam Mayer of Haas Factory Team is 43 points above the current cut line entering the elimination race at the 2.28-mile road course, needing to score just 19 points to advance, no matter who wins the race.

 

Mayer has won the last two Xfinity Series events at the 17-turn circuit.

 

For the rest of the Playoff field, however, the race for the final four spots in the next round couldn’t be much tighter.

 

Fifth-place Taylor Gray is 16 points above the elimination line. Twelfth-place Sammy Smith is just 14 points below. Accordingly, performance in Saturday’s race will be a primary governing factor in setting the field for the Round of 8.

 

Hoping to join teammates Zilisch and Allgaier in the next round, Smith comes to Charlotte with momentum from last weekend’s fourth-place run at Kansas Speedway.

 

“We ran a solid race all day long at Kansas last weekend, which was what we needed to put us back in the game and have a shot at advancing to the Round of 8,” said Smith, who has finished 11th and 10th in his two starts at the Roval.

 

“I have full faith that this Pilot Chevrolet team can accomplish just that. This has been our strongest season yet on road courses, so I’m looking forward to this Saturday at the Roval.”

 

Zilisch is the overwhelming favorite to win at the Charlotte Road Course. Four of his rookie-record nine victories this season have come on tracks that feature right turns as well as lefts.

 

NASCAR Truck Series drivers start march toward Championship 4

 

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series drivers are set to enjoy a coming-out party in Friday’s Ecosave 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

Where the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series already have history at the 2.28-mile circuit, the NASCAR Trucks will race there for the first time.

 

And unlike the Cup and Xfinity Series, which face Round of 12 elimination races at the 17-turn layout, Truck Series drivers will open competition in the Round of 8 of the Playoffs.

 

Corey Heim, a nine-time winner this season, starts the round 69 points above the elimination line, with his name already penciled into the Championship 4. Heim has led 143 of 181 laps contested on road courses this season. He has also led laps in 22 straight races, a series record.

 

Layne Riggs is the only other driver who is remotely secure at 22 points above the cut line.

 

Third-place Daniel Hemric is one point above the elimination line, with fourth-place Ty Majeski, the defending series champion, tied with Tyler Ankrum at the bubble.

 

Eighth-place Kaden Honeycutt, driving for Halmar-Friesen Racing after starting the season with Niece Motorsports, is only seven points in arrears in a wide-open race for the Championship 4.

 

Hemric, who finished second to Heim in the last Truck Series road course race at Watkins Glen, approaches Friday’s race with a level of confidence that outweighs his slim margin in the standings.

 

“I think our NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet can be just as good as it was in Watkins Glen and hopefully a little better,” Hemric said. “This is great opportunity we have in front of us to lock into Phoenix this weekend.

 

“There will be a lot of varying strategies, and the field will likely flip at least once during the day. There’s a lot of variables to manage at the Roval, but I have confidence in everybody at MHR (McAnally-Hilgemann Racing) and on this No. 19 NAPA team that we can make it happen.”

 

--30--

 

Chase Elliott’s win at Kansas leaves Toyota drivers licking their wounds

 

September 29, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — There are no team orders in the Toyota camp. That much is clear.

 

In Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, the second race in the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, the Camry contingent squandered a chance at a likely victory despite lining up in the first five positions for a final overtime restart.

 

It was a conspiracy of desperate circumstances that allowed Chase Elliott to steal a dramatic win—and automatic Round of 8 Playoff spot—in the final corner of the race.

 

It didn’t matter that the frontrunning Toyotas of Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell and pole winner Chase Briscoe combined to lead 234 of 273 laps. They didn’t lead the one that mattered.

 

Bubba Wallace, who led the field to green in the second of two overtimes, was desperate for a victory to keep his championship hopes alive. The same was true of Tyler Reddick, Wallace’s 23XI Racing teammate, who lined up behind the race leader on the inside of the second row.

 

Denny Hamlin, who restarted on the outside of the third row behind Bell and Briscoe, was desperate to take advantage of an opportunity to achieve the goal that drives him—a 60th career victory and top-10 status on the all-time NASCAR Cup win list.

 

Elliott, on fresher tires than the rest of the lead pack, was eighth in the running order when caution slowed the first attempt at overtime, but he gave up a row to choose the top lane for the next restart, lining up on the outside of the fifth row.

 

As soon as Wallace hit the gas for the final overtime, the winning prospects of the Toyotas began to unravel. Reddick gave Wallace a shove forward and then slipped back on the restart, ostensibly looking for a possible run to the inside of his teammate. That option failure to materialize, and Reddick dropped to seventh at the finish.

 

Wallace nosed ahead of Bell through Turns 1 and 2 on the restart lap, but Bell pulled even and then slightly ahead as the cars reached the backstretch. Driving hard into Turn 3 on the bottom, Wallace regained the edge, but Bell had momentum on the top.

 

As Bell’s run accelerated, Wallace’s Toyota moved up the track, forcing Bell toward the outside wall and breaking his momentum. Bell slipped to fifth in the running order as Hamlin, Briscoe and Elliott passed him.

 

At the white flag, Wallace had the lead by a car-length and maintained it through Turns 1 and 2 as Hamlin closed in with a strong run from the top lane. On the backstretch approaching Turn 3, Hamlin steered to the inside of Wallace’s Camry, and when Wallace began to fight back on top, Hamlin’s car drifted up a lane and forced Wallace into the outside wall in Turn 4.

 

Never mind that Hamlin, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, also co-owns the cars of Wallace and Reddick at 23XI.

 

Running on the bottom, Elliott seized the opportunity, matting the accelerator of his Chevrolet off the corner and bouncing off Hamlin’s Camry before taking the checkered flag. Hamlin, Bell, Briscoe and Wallace finished in that order behind him with some of the least-satisfying top fives of their respective careers.

 

“It went about how we thought it would,” Bell said after the race, resignation in his voice. “Just people trying to fight for everything they can get and every inch on the race track. It was just pretty much copy/paste. The 23 (Wallace) ran me up, and then Denny ran him up, and the 9 car (Elliott) drove by all of us.

 

“Obviously, it’s disappointing from a manufacturer’s standpoint. I don’t know what more you can do. We’ve got to race each other with respect, and that’s why we didn’t win tonight.”

 

Clearly, Wallace was just as unhappy with Hamlin’s tactic in the final corner.

 

“Hard racing, and boundaries got crossed, and got to figure it out,” said Wallace, who heads for next Sunday’s Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Roval in dire straits, 26 points below the cut line for the next round.

 

For his part, Hamlin, who was racing without power steering in the final stage, had to fend off attacks on social media. He responded with a post on “X” on Sunday evening.

 

“Give me a break,” wrote Hamlin, who led 159 laps and swept the first two stages. “I was off the gas 100yds before the 23 let off. I was turning as hard as I could given the aero situation. 11 team deserved that race. It didn’t work out.”

 

But to quote Clint Eastwood’s character William Munny in the film Unforgiven, “Deserves got nothing to do with it.”

 

Just ask Chase Elliott.

nascar reviews & NOTEBOOKS

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Celebrating its 75th Anniversary in 2023, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States and owner of 16 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities. NASCAR consists of three national series (NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR Xfinity Series™, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series™), four regional series (ARCA Menards Series™, ARCA Menards Series East & West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour™), one local grassroots series (NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series™) and three international series (NASCAR Pinty’s Series™, NASCAR Mexico Series™, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series™). The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. NASCAR also owns Motor Racing Network, Racing Electronics, and ONE DAYTONA. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information visit www.NASCAR.com and www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat (‘NASCAR’).

  

NASCAR Playoffs' Round of 8 will roll the dice in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – After another dramatic NASCAR Cup Series Playoff elimination race last week, eight drivers move on to vie for the championship as the title chase moves forward with Sunday’s South Point 400 at the always thrilling 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

And while Team Penske’s Joey Logano may have been the “last” to dramatically transfer into that group of eight still racing for the 2025 title, the three-time and reigning series champion is more often the “first” when it comes to the Las Vegas high banks. Not only is driver of the No. 22 Ford the defending race winner of this Playoff race, but he also has four wins at the track – two in the Fall Playoff portion of the schedule and two in the springtime visit – most among the championship group.

 

The last four Fall races have been won by current Playoff drivers, including Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson who has three wins here including the 2023 Playoff race and joins Logano as the only other multi-time Las Vegas winner in the last 15 races at the track.

 

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who now leads the championship standings following the re-set for this penultimate three-race portion of the schedule, scored his only win at the track in the 2021 Playoff race.

 

Going into the weekend, Hamlin – who is competing in a record 19th Playoff - holds an eight-point advantage atop the standings. He leads Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney by two points. Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates, Larson and Regular Season Champion William Byron are four points above the cutoff line.

 

JGR’s Christopher Bell (-4), Hendrick’s Chase Elliott (-14), JGR’s Chase Briscoe (-14) and Logano (-24) are all below the elimination line heading into this three-race stretch with races at Vegas, the 2.66-mile Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway next week and the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway the following weekend.

 

Of note, Kansas winner Elliott, his teammate Larson and JGR’s Bell are the only drivers among the Playoff eight to finish top-10 in all three races of the most recent round. Bell’s 4.0 average finish in the round was tops in the series. In the last three seasons, Hendrick’s Byron has the most top-five (11) and top-10 (15) finishes on 1.5-mile tracks.

 

“The next round is the one we’ve put our focus on, it’s what determines if you race for a championship," said Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “Everyone especially is going to put a lot of focus on this weekend’s race. It’s the easiest way to lock yourself in. Talladega is a bit of a crap shoot, and honestly, Martinsville hasn’t been our strongest in the fall.

 

“This is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for though and hopefully we’re one of the four racing for a championship in Phoenix.”

 

This spring’s Vegas 400-miler – won by Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry (a satellite team for Team Penske) – included a track record 32 lead changes and marked the fourth time in the last seven races that the pass for the victory came in the final six laps.

 

It’s Hendrick Motorsports’ Chevrolet team, however, who has been especially trophy-prone of late at the track, its drivers winning five of the last nine races at the Las Vegas – Larson (2021, ’23, ’24), Byron (spring, 2023) and Alex Bowman (spring, 2023).

 

Toyota has only a single win in the last 11 races there – Hamlin’s 2021 Playoff victory. Current Playoff drivers have hoisted seven of the last 10 Vegas trophies.

 

Practice and Busch Light Pole Qualifying are at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday (truTV, PRN, SiriusXM).

 

Bell is the defending race pole winner. The last time this race was won from pole position was 2009 with Vegas native Kyle Busch claiming the win at his hometown track. Three of the last five races have been won from the outside pole position.

 

Connor Zilisch leads the NASCAR Xfinity Series to Las Vegas

 

The NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs' Round of 8 begins the with Saturday’s Focused Health 302 (7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and if the current run of races is any indication, it may well come down to who can beat championship leader Connor Zilisch, a 10-race winner who has simply dominated the season.

 

The 19-year-old Zilisch has either won or finished runner-up in 10 of the last 12 series races – eight victories and a pair of runner-up finishes. Although he came to NASCAR with a road-racing pedigree (with class wins in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Series’ Rolex 24 at Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring), the driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet has won convincingly on ovals of various sizes and certainly shows up in Las Vegas an odds-on favorite. He starts the Playoffs with a dominating 57-point advantage on the field atop the championship standings.

 

He will, however, start this Round of 8 with very legitimate competition from his own JR Motorsports teammate, reigning series champion Justin Allgaier, who won the March race at Las Vegas by a second over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Aric Almirola. Zilisch finished ninth in his debut at the track.

 

Allgaier and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill are the only current series drivers to ever win at Las Vegas. Allgaier comes into this impactful Playoff round 24 points above the cutoff line with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones and Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer four points and two points – respectively – to the good heading into the Vegas 200-lapper.

 

Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love (-2), JR Motorsports’ teammates Sammy Smith (-7) and Carson Kvapil (-11) and Haas’s Sheldon Creed (-13) round out the Playoff eight in a much tighter contest for the final two championship positions beyond Zilisch and Allgaier.

 

Practice and Kennametal Pole Qualifying for the race is at 2 p.m. Saturday (CW App). Kvapil won the pole position this spring and Mayer started on pole in this race last Fall. NASCAR Cup Series regular A.J. Allmendinger is the defending race winner.

 

--30--

 

Saturday Charlotte Road Course Notebook

 

October 4, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

Bubba Wallace tries to shake hangover from Kansas disappointment

 

CONCORD, N.C.—The emotional residue from last Sunday’s last-lap conflict between Bubba Wallace and his team owner/fellow driver Denny Hamlin haunted Wallace throughout the week leading up to Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

In fact, Wallace and Hamlin tried to clear the around noon on Saturday in what Wallace characterized as a “good heart-to-heart conversation that came from a place of peace.”

 

Wallace and Hamlin were battling for the lead on the final lap of overtime at Kansas, when Hamlin ran Wallace into the outside wall in the final corner. The cars of both drivers lost momentum, and Chevrolet driver Chase Elliott powered to the inside of Hamlin’s Toyota to win the race, as Wallace fell to fifth.

 

“It was definitely a somber week, for sure,” said Wallace, who drives the No. 23 Toyota for 23XI Racing, which Hamlin co-owns with NBA legend Michael Jordan. “I hate it got to this point, the lingering effect, but Denny and I just talked 30 minutes ago…

 

“It went better than I thought it would. He shared his side of things, and I shared mine, and we had common ground.”

 

Wallace surprised Hamlin, who drives the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, with one aspect of his point of view.

 

“Just so you know,” Wallace said he told Hamlin, “I’m not mad about getting fenced going for the win.

 

“I don’t fault Denny Hamlin for racing for a win, for racing for his team and his sponsors,” Wallace added. “I get the question a lot, ‘What’s it like racing Denny on the race track?’ No offense to them, but I could give two (expletive), because he’s a competitor, and he’s labeled it that way.

 

“So that was two competitors going for a win, and as much as it didn’t work out, I have to respect that ... My biggest thing is that Toyota didn’t win.”

 

So what could Hamlin have done differently?

 

“You turn left and go for the bottom—as simple as that,” Wallace said.

 

Shane van Gisbergen still elated by top-10 run at Kansas

New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen is back in familiar territory this weekend as the NASCAR Cup Series races in the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

Van Gisbergen will try to win his fifth straight road course event in NASCAR’s top division. Jeff Gordon holds the series record for consecutive road course wins with six.

 

Nevertheless, as he took questions from reporters before Cup Series practice on Saturday, van Gisbergen couldn’t hide his elation at the 10th-place finish he achieved last Sunday at Kansas Speedway, his first top 10 on a NASCAR oval.

 

The three-time Australian Supercars champion achieved the milestone despite a first-lap pass-through, an inspection-related penalty that put him a lap down from the outset.

 

Van Gisbergen recovered to post the 11th-most green-flag passes during the race (111), even though he didn’t return to the lead lap as beneficiary until the third caution on Lap 90.

 

“We had a little penalty for a mistake, and then, yeah, having to be a lap down, or two laps down we ended up, and coming back was really cool,” van Gisbergen said. “It was pretty genuine, the speed, as well. We were ahead of most of the crashes, and having a really good day.

 

“So, yeah, I was pretty excited. I've never been so excited for a top-10, but this series is tough on the ovals. Everyone's so good, and it has taken all year for us to get up to speed. It’s just a good reward for everyone who's helped me to get here, the spotters and crew chief. I think everyone was pretty stoked after that race. It was a cool atmosphere.”

 

Joey Logano returns to site of last year’s big reprieve

When last year’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course was over, Joey Logano was out of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

 

Hours later, Logano learned that Alex Bowman had been disqualified for an underweight car, a penalty that put Logano back into the Playoff field.

 

A week later, the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford won at Las Vegas and earned a spot in the Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway, where Logano won the race and claimed his third title in NASCAR’s top division.

 

“I remember the emotions leaving the track,” Logano said. “I was bummed. I was like, ‘Well, on one hand, we did really good here last year,’ so I was proud of the effort that we gave. I was bummed that we were just a little short, but it is what it is. That’s how I am at the end of the race. It is what it is.

 

“I can’t change it now, and you just have to keep looking out the windshield and we went home. We went home and had a fairly normal evening, and then I got a call and it was like, ‘Hey, honey, you ain’t gonna believe it. We’re back in.’

 

“Obviously, the next seven days after that changed everything, because we went from out to in to winning Vegas and in the Championship 4 and winning our third title, so just a quick turn of events, but that’s NASCAR racing for you. It’s unpredictable. Things can change really, really fast. You just have to keep rolling with it.”

 

Logano comes Sunday’s race eighth in the standings, just 13 points above the current elimination line for the Round of 8. The defending series champion isn’t looking past the Roval.

 

“It’s one step at a time,” Logano said. “We’ve got to get through this week first. This week right now is the most important race of the season for us. We’ve got to get through this one.

 

“Hopefully, we can continue to be in the championship race after this, and at that point we’ll look at Vegas (next weekend’s Round of 8 opener), but right now 100 percent of our focus is at the Roval.”

 

 

 

NASCAR Cup drivers get first taste of new NASCAR 25 console game

 

October 1, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

CONCORD, N.C.--NASCAR Cup Series drivers Chase Briscoe and John Hunter Nemechek approached their first turns on the new NASCAR 25 simulation-style console game with unbroken focus.

 

Settling on Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of next year’s season finale, Briscoe and Nemechek put their cars through their paces, quickly advancing to expert level.

 

Developed by iRacing, known throughout the industry for the quality of its simulations, NASCAR 25 doesn’t require an elaborate rig. As such, according to Briscoe, it should be accessible to a much broader audience.

 

“The average person would probably have trouble getting around the track in iRacing,” Briscoe said, after dueling side-by-side with virtual Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell. “This is a game I can play with (wife) Marissa.”

 

Set for general release on Oct. 14, NASCAR 25 is played with the sort of hand-held controller familiar to anyone who grew up with Xbox or PlayStation. In fact, the new game is compatible with PlayStation 5, Xbox X|S and on PC through streaming (due Nov. 11) without sacrificing the quality of the graphics.

 

NASCAR 25 is iRacing’s first venture into the console racing area, and it’s the first to feature four NASCAR Racing Series: NASCAR Cup, Xfinity, CRAFTSMAN Truck and ARCA Menards.

 

“The is the first time that iRacing is coming to console at all,” said iRacing developer Matt Lewis. “We have, obviously, a 30-year relationship with NASCAR going back to their early days on sim and PC, but this is the first time on console.

 

“So, a lot of the driving aspects and things like that you would expect from iRacing’s super-authentic race physics are in the game, and we’re really excited to bring it to console for the first time.”

 

The release of NASCAR 25 fills a void for fans with a yearn for racing who may not want to spend the money required for a full-blown competitive rig.

 

“It’s been about six years since there’s been a NASCAR console game at all,” Lewis added. “In that same span that we’ve been doing sim for about 30 years, there have been five or six different publishers.

 

“This is iRacing’s first effort on the console, and we expect to build another 30 years doing console games now as well.”

 

Even before they played the game first-hand, both Briscoe and Nemechek were aware of its imminent release.

 

“I’m looking forward to it,” Nemechek said. “It’s a new year. Growing up, one of my favorite things to do was to play NASCAR 2002, NASCAR 2003, and I’m looking forward to NASCAR 25.”

 

 

   nascar cup series

2025 NASCAR CUP SERIES SCHEDULE

Date

Race / Track

Sunday, February 2

Clash (Bowman Gray)

Sunday, February 16

DAYTONA 500

Sunday, February 23

Atlanta

Sunday, March 2

COTA

Sunday, March 9

Phoenix

Sunday, March 16

Las Vegas

Sunday, March 23

Homestead-Miami

Sunday, March 30

Martinsville

Sunday, April 6

Darlington

Sunday, April 13

Bristol

Sunday, April 27

Talladega

Sunday, May 4

Texas

Sunday, May 11

Kansas

Sunday, May 18

North Wilkesboro (All-Star Race)

Sunday, May 25

Charlotte

Sunday, June 1

Nashville Superspeedway

Sunday, June 8

Michigan

Sunday, June 15

Mexico City

Sunday, June 22

Pocono

Saturday, June 28

Atlanta

Sunday, July 6

Chicago Street Race

Sunday, July 13

Sonoma

Sunday, July 20

Dover

Sunday, July 27

Indianapolis

Sunday, August 3

Iowa

Sunday, August 10

Watkins Glen

Saturday, August 16

Richmond

Saturday, August 23

Daytona

Sunday, August 31

Darlington

Sunday, September 7

World Wide Technology Raceway

Saturday, September 13

Bristol

Sunday, September 21

New Hampshire

Sunday, September 28

Kansas

Sunday, October 5

Charlotte Roval

Sunday, October 12

Las Vegas

Sunday, October 19

Talladega

Sunday, October 26

Martinsville

Sunday, November 2

Phoenix (Championship)

 

 

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This site is dedicated to my father " hoot " who introduced me to the Great sport of auto racing when I was a very young child

Thru the years I have befriended several people Thru Racing that have passed on and I honor them here

Larrt Criss. Charlie Patterson. Carrol Horton, Todd shaffer, gary lee and Judy Morris