DAYTONA BEACH, FL - RIS - NASCAR president Steve Phelps confirmed what a lot of team executives have been saying for years: Cup Series teams are not currently a profitable endeavor.
This was first written as an exercise in historical research. Since then, we’ve tried to keep it updated. In light of past seasons’ somewhat controversial endings, especially where the 2004 championship is concerned, here’s the version for the year just ended.)
AVONDALE, AZ– RIS – Ryan Blaney is the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion by finishing higher in the race standings by the other three qualifiers. Blaney finished second to race winner Ross Chastain, but ahead of Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Christopher Bell. It was Blaney’s first Cup championship. It’s the second consecutive season Team Penske took home NASCAR’s top prize, with Blaney following Joey Logano’s 2022 title conquest. It also gives Ford a sweep of championships following titles by Cole Custer and Ben Rhodes earlier this weekend.
AVONDALE, AZ – RIS – Cole Custer was sent back to the NASCAR Xfinity Series the last two seasons after a less than spectacular 2020 season. Tonight he proved that he does not give up. Tonight, Custer pulled away from Justin Allgaier during a two-lap overtime shootout to win his first NASCAR Xfinity Series championship Saturday night at Phoenix Raceway. It was an exciting finish with Custer, JustinAllgaier and John Hunter Nemechek three-wide on the next-to-last lap, with Allgaier’s JR Motorsports Chevrolet finding some room in between the other two cars. But Custer — who went to the inside — pulled away while the others battled for position.
(AVONDALE, AZ – NOV 4, 2023 – RIS) William Byron added a weapon to his battle for the NASCAR Cup champioinshp with the first pit stall by winning the pole position for the final race in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. Byron, along with fellow Hendrick driver Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell from Joe Gibbs Racing and Ryan Blaney out of the Penske stables, are racing for the big trophy to end the season. Byron has won more races this year than any other driver and will have the best stall on pit road.
In qualifying for Saturday evening's Xfinity race, Sammy Smith beat out Austin Hill for the pole by only two thousandths of a second.
AVONDALE, AZ – RIS – Ben Rhodes nursed an injured Ford truck over the final overtime finish to win the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship. It took four overtimes to determine the winner and the championship in what could be called a rough race. Christian won the race after all the contenders except Rhodes and runner up Grant Enfinger had problems, usual.ly caused by racing accidents.
“To go 25 laps into overtime, you know what that feels like? Almost lose it three times? Look at the front of the truck. It’s crazy. I didn’t think we were going to make it, I thought we were going to pop a tire. I thought anything that could have gone wrong was going to go wrong.”
(PHOENIX, AZ – NOV 3. 2023 – RIS) Kyle Busch topped the charts in practice for the season-ending and championship-deciding NASCAR Cup Series race, setting a fastest lap time of 27.520 seconds and 130.814 mph. Bubba Wallace was second, 0.029 second back, followed by Ryan Blaney.
(PHOENIX, AZ – NOV 3, 2023 – RIS) John Hunter Nemechek topped the lap speed table for both single-lap speed and ten-lap average in preparation for Saturday’s championship-deciding NASCAR Xfinity race. Cole Custer set the second-quickest single lap at 27.817 sec and 129.417 mph, some 0.138 second slower than Nemechek’s 27.679 / 130.063 best round.
Heim Qualifies Last To Take Pole at Phoenix Truck Finale
(PHOENIX, AZ – NOV 2, 2023 – RIS) Rookie Nick Sanchez ended the final NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice session at the top of the time sheet, edging out Playoffs-qualified Corey Heim by less than a tenth of a second. Sanchez’ best lap in the 50-minute session, 26.678 seconds at 134.943 mph was only 0.079 second quicker than Heim’s lap of 26757 seconds and 134.544 mph.
MARTINSVILLE, VA – October 29, 2023 – Ryan Blaney started out good and ended it with a win to qualify him fr the Championship Four to run for a championship next week at Phoenix Raceway. Blaney didn’t need to win at Martinsville to have a chance at the Cup Series title but he got the victory anyway.
(MARTINSVILLE, VA - OCT29, 2023 - RIS) Ryan Blaney led 145 laps after following Denny Hamlin for most of the race to capture another checkered flag for a young race fan and punch his ticket into the championship four racing for the NASCAR Cup Series crown next weekend at Phoenix.
MARTINSVILLE, VA – RIS – In a wild race to determine who sill race for the 2023 Xfinity championship, It was Justin Allgaier who goes on to race for a championship in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The JR Motorsports driver won for the first time at Martinsville Speedway and locked up a spot in the championship 4. He joined fellow race-winners Sam Mayer and John Hunter Nemechek in the Championship 4. Cole Custer also pointed his way into the Championship 4 despite finishing 19th with a car on fire.
MARTINSVILLE VA – RIS -= Truex turned a lap of 32.256 sec. (167.411 mph) to narrowly defeat Bubba Wallace for the pole position for Sunday’s race at the 1.5-mile speedway in Miami. This pole is the second of the 2023 season for Truex, and it is the 22nd pole position of his stellar NASCAR Cup Series career.
Martinsville, VA– RIS - Sammy Smith, a Xfinity playoff driver will lead the field to green at the start by winning the pole position for the Xfinity race at Martinsville Speedway. The race is scheduled to take the green flag at 3:48 p.m. ET Saturday on USA Network. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver earned his first career series pole with a lap of 94.515 mph.
(HOMESTEAD, FL – OCT 22, 2023 – RIS) Christopher Bell only led one time in winning the 4EVER 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, taking the lead from William Byron on lap 252 and leading the final sixteen rounds of the mile and a half track to lock into the championship four.
(HOMESTEAD, FL – OCT 21, 2023 – RIS) Sam Mayer held off a charging Riley Herbst to claim his fourth checkered flag of the 2023 Xfinity season and first career oval track win. Mayer’s team owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr, placed fifth after touching Josh Berry and sending the driver for his team into the wall and out of the race.
Truex Wins Homestead Pole
(HOMESTEAD, FL – OCT 21, 2023 – RIS) After Bubba Wallace ruled in practice and the first qualifying session, Martin Truex Jr edged him out for the pole in Sunday’s 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 NASCAR Cup Series race. Wallace had the quickest single lap and best ten-lap average in practice, then out-ran Truex in the first round of qualifying before Truex’ round two lap of 32.256 seconds bumped Wallace to second on the grid, just 0.057 second behind.
(HOMESTEAD, FL – OCT 21, 2023 – RIS) Carson Hocevar grabbed the lead with eleven laps left, driving to a lead of over 2.7 seconds ahead of Zane Smith to cement a slot in the top four positions heading into the final race of the season two weeks from now at Phoenix.
(HOMESTEAD, FL – OCT 20, 2023 – RIS) Cole Custer ran the table in practice and qualifying for the Contender Boats 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race, setting the quickest lap times in practice and in qualifying, plus the fastest five and ten-lap average speeds, in his No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang out of the Stewart-Haas Racing shops.
Earlier in the day, Nick Sanchez ran fourth in practice for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Baptist Health Cancer Car 200 race, beating out Carson Hocevar by 0.239 second.
MORRESVILLE, NC – RIS – Late Tonight, NASCAR has rescinded the penalty assessed to the No.12 Ford driven by Ryan Blaney after Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. NASCAR’s explanation was as follows:
LAS VEGAS, NV – RIS – Kyle Larson punched his ticket to NASCAR’s version of the final four to determine a champion. As he did in his championship-winning season in 2021, Larson won the NASCAR Cup Series playoff Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. He’s now in the Championship 4 race at Phoenix on Nov. 4 and can spend the next two weeks game-planning for the finale. Larson had to hold off a late-race charge from pole winner Christopher Bell in a photo finish.
(LAS VEGAS, NV – OCT 14, 2023 – RIS) Riley Herbst dominated his hometown NASCAR Xfinity Series race, leading 103 of the 201 laps at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on the way to an initial series win. Herbst beat John Hunter Nemechek to the checkeredflag on the mile and a half speedway. Nemechek had started last after an oil leak kept his car in the garage during qualifying Friday. Nemechek padded his series points lead, heading to next week’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
LAS VEGAS, NV – RIS – Christopher Bell nudged Kyle Larson to win the pole position at the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. With an average speed of 186.335 mph, Bell captured his sixth pole of the 2023 Cup season, the most of any driver. He will have the best view as the Round of 8 begins on Sunday (Oct. 15). Larson will start alongside him in second, while fellow playoff drivers William Byron, Martin Truex, Jr. and Chris Buescher completed the top five.
Berry ‘Wins’ Las Vegas Xfinity Qualifying, Custer Tops in Practice
(LAS VEGAS, NV – OCT 13, 2023 – RIS) Josh Berry won the pole position for Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, topping second-place Cole Custer’s qualifying run by 0.048 second after Custer headed the charts in practice. Berry’s qualifying time, 29.671. seconds and 181.996 mph, was .705 second quicker than Custer’s top time in practice and 0.153 second quicker than his practice best lap. “I didn’t love my lap, honestly. I was pretty happy with it in practice,” Berry commented just after the qualifying session.
CONCORD, NC – RIS – An emotional A.J. Allmendinger outran William Byron in the final stage to win the playoff race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday. Allmendinger dominated the final stage of the race for his third career victory in the Cup Series. Byron dogged Allmendinger throughout the final run, but could never catch him. Allmendinger survived five restarts to lead the final 33 laps of the 109-lap race. All 46 of his laps led came in the race’s third and final stage.
CONCORD, NC – RIS – Sam Mayer looked straight in the eye of elimination in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the ROVAL in Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday and rallied to win. It was the third career win for the 20-year-old driver for JR Motorsports, who was ranked 12th and last in the standings as four drivers vied for the five open slots in the round of eight of the playoffs for NASCAR’s second-tier series. All three of Mayer’s wins this season are on road courses.
(CONCORD, NC – OCT 7. 2023 – RIS) Sam Mayer beat out Justin Allgaier in qualifying for the Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina NASCAR Xfinity race on Charlotte Motor Speedway’s ROVAL™ by the slim margin of 0.038 second after Allgaier led practice. Allgaier’s best practice time of 1:23.043 was 0.220 second ahead of Alex Labbe, with Kaz Grala third, followed by Cole Custer and then eventual pole winner Mayer in fifth spot after the practice session.
CONCORD, NC – RIS -Tyler Reddick will lead the Cup Series field to the green flag at the Charlotte Roval on Sunday afternoon (2 p.m. ET on NBC). Reddick won the pole with a lap of 102.839 mph. This is his sixth career pole and his second of the season. Christopher Bell will start second with a lap of 102.695 mph. Bell is followed by Daniel Suarez (102.603 mph), Bubba Wallace (102.569 mph) and Kyle Busch (102.494 mph).
NASCAR Announces National Series Schedules and Broadcast Times For 2024
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla - October 4, 2023 - NASCAR announced the 2024 schedules, start times and networks for the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. NASCAR will etch another first into the record books in 2024 when the Cup Series visits Iowa Speedway in the nation’s Heartland, the latest installment in a trend that has seen Cup Series debuts at the Chicago Street Race, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and World Wide Technology Raceway – among other venues – in recent years.
TALLADEGA, AL - RIS − Ryan Blaney won the 2023 YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday in the middle race of the NASCAR Cup Series playoff Round of 12. Blaney took the white flag and was the first one back, beating Kevin Harvick by 0.012 seconds. It is Harvick's final race at Talladega. Stage one was won by Blaney and stage two was on by Brad Keselowski. With the win Blaney clinches his way into the Round of 8, joining William Byron. In a surprise turnabout, Harvick was disqualified after tech inspection found that the windshield fasteners were "found in violation of Sections 14.5.6.2.F and 14.1.E and P; the first rule requires that “windshield fasteners must remain secure for the entire Event,” and the latter section pertains to “Overall Assembled Vehicle Rules.” This moved Harvick to last place and elevated William Byron to second place behind Blaney.
TALLADEGA, AL – RIS – Aric Almirola led a dominant set of runs by Ford drivers to sit on the pole for Sunday’s playoff race at Talladega Super Speedway.. Ford drivers swept the top three spots and seven of the top 10 in qualifying for Sunday’s playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway..
(TALLADEGA, AL. – SEPT 30, 2023 – RIS) Brett Moffitt led 22 laps on five different occasions on his way to winning the Love’s RV Stop 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. Avoiding a block by leader Christian Eckes on the last lap and using a push by Ben Rhodes, Moffitt headed the final lap in an overtime finish for his thirteenth career Truck Series win and first since the Kansas event in 2020.
(TALLADEGA, AL – Sept 30, 2023 – RIS) Chase Purdy drove the host state sponsored Bama Buggies Chevy truck to the pole for Saturday’s Love’s RV Stop 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. Purdy sped to the top of the time sheets in both sessions of qualifying, followed by rookie Nick Sanchez who will start second in Saturday afternoon’s race.
FORT WORTH, TX – RIS – William Byron laid low all day, but in the end, he won at Texas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series race. The race was dominated by pole sitter Bubba Wallce and Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson, but the race dominated by crashes, left it to Byron to win on Sunday. Byron made a bold move off of a restart with six laps to go, going to the bottom of the track — making it three wide in the process — and clearing both leader Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain. He did not look back. The win gave car owner Rick Hendrick his 300th in the highest level of NASCAR.
FORT WORTH, TX – RIS – Jason Allgaier dominated most of the race until the final run. Then John Hunter Nemechek showed that he had the speed that would win the race. Nemechek was always at the top of the leaderboard but couldn’t make that momentum to get up and challenge Allgaier, Cole Custer, and others. It certainly was the case in the final ten laps.
FORT WORTH, TX - Bubba Wallace was fastest in qualifying for Sunday’s running of the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. The first race of the Round of 12 begins on Sunday with events at Talladega Superspeedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway to follow after which four drivers will see their playoff hopes end. Chris Buescher’s No. 17 RFK Racing Ford will share the front row Sunday after locking up the second-fastest speed (188.081 mph) in qualifying. Buescher’s teammate and car owner Brad Keselowski was third, with Ty Gibbs and Ross Chastain finishing out the top five. The qualifying results snapped a three-race pole streak for Christopher Bell, who is set to start ninth after his qualifying effort in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
FORT WORTH, TX – Justin Allgaier will start on the pole for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Race at Texas Motor Speedway. Trevor Bayne will join him on the front row when the green flag drops at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. Cole Custer will start third in the No.00 Mustang. Josh Berry, and Austin Hill complete the top five qualifiers.
BRISTOL, TN – RIS – Denny Hamlin took his time and came on strong at the end of the Food City 500 NASCAR Cup race to win the Bristol night elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Saturday night in a race that eliminated Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick, two of the sport’s stars. Logano is the defending Cup Champion.
(BRISTOL, TN – SEPT 15, 2023 – RIS) Justin Allgaier finally won a Bristol race, leading 110 laps on his way to a third 2023 victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Allgaier’s team owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr, led 47 laps and Cole Custer matched Allgaier’s total, dominating the early stages of the race.