Cup / Xfinity / Truck News

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.

BRISTOL, TN – RIS – Christopher Bell won his third consecutive Cup pole of 2023 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday. Bell did it with a fast lap of 126.997 mph.  He’s the first driver to sweep the pole awards in the opening round of the playoffs.

(BRISTOL, TN – SEPT 15, 2023 – RIS) Cole Custer ruled qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Food City 200, running his Mobil 1 Mustang to a lap of 15.684 seconds at 122.341 mph to beat out Josh Berry for pole by 0.028 second. John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith and Daniel Hemric balance out the top five qualifiers for Friday’s race.

(BRISTOL, TN – SEP 14, 2023 – RIS) Corey Heim used a daring low-lane pass over Christian Eckes to lead only the final six laps of the UNOH 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck race at Bristol Motor Speedway. In scoring his third victory of the season, Heim locked himself into one of the spots going into the championship finale at Phoenix to end the season.

(BRISTOL, TN – SEPT 14, 2023 – RIS) Christian Eckes headed both the practice session and time trials for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series UNOH 200 race at Bristol Motor Speedway. 

(KANSAS CITY, KS – SEPT 10, 2023 – RIS) Tyler Reddick gave 23XI Racing a victory in the team’s hundredth race, sweeping into the lead after a late race restart to lead only two laps of the 268 rounds in a green-white-checker overtime. Thew win moves Reddick on to the round of twelve in the Playoffs for the NASCAR Cup championship. 

KANSAS CITY, KS – RIS – It was no contest.  John Hunter Nemechek dominated the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway Saturday while the elimination race left some drivers ineligible for a championship in 2023.

KANSAS CITY, KS – RIS – It’s become a habit for Christopher Bell.  Today, he won the  pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway.   This week at Kansas Speedway, Bell qualified fastest with the only lap over 180 mph at 180.276. Last week’s winner Kyle Larson joins fellow dirt racer Bell on the front row, running a lap of 179.826 mph. Martin Truex Jr. qualified third at 178.767 mph.

KANSAS CITY, KS – RIS – Christiam Eckes took his three wide with Zane Smith and Cory Heim and  won the playoff NASCAR Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway on Friday night.  Eckes lined up fourth on the final restart with Corey Heim out front. He went to the outside of Heim and Zane Smith in Turn 3 and the three briefly bounced off each other before Eckes darted to the inside to clear them both for the lead.

KANSAS CITY, KS – RIS – Chase Purdy will start first in tonight’s Craftsman Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway.  Purdy clocked in at 176.292 mph to earn his first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series pole on Friday, Sept. 8.  Only Nick Sanchez, who will line up alongside him Friday night starting second, was able to reach the 176 mph range with him.

DARLINGTON, SC – RIS – Early on, it looked like the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 was going to be a repeat of Denny Hamlin’s win in the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, but a vibration during the race left him far behind, leaving it up to Kyle Larson to be the dominator and that’s the story of the day.  The driver of the No.5 Chevrolet held off Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher for the victory.

DARLINGTON, SC – RIS – Denny Hamlin came on late, and won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway on Saturday.  He passed Austin Hill with only a lap left to go to win his 6th Xfinity race of his career at the “Track too tough to tame” on Saturday.  The margin of victory was 0.657 seconds,

Bell, Hamlin and Reddick Lead Toyota Top Three Sweep at Darlington Cup Qualifying; Nemechek Heads Xfinity Field

(MILWAUKEE, WI – AUG 27, 2023 – RIS) Grant Enfinger won the pole position in qualifying, both stages and led 96 laps on his way to victory in the Clean Harbors 175 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the Milwaukee Mile. As a warmup for the day’s feature race on the historic flat oval, he also ran to a fifth-place finish in the ARCA Menards Series Sprecher 150 earlier Sunday.

(MILWAUKEE, WI – AUG 27, 2023 – RIS) Grant Enfinger claimed his first pole of the season and sixth career Craftsman Truck Series pole, beating out rookie Nick Sanchez by a thin sixty thousandths of a second on America’s oldest speedway with a lap of 29.744 seconds and 122.848 mph. The pole for GMS Racing came just after the announcement that the team will be closing down at the end of the current racing season.

(DAYTONA BEACH, FL – AUG 26, 2023 – RIS) Chris Buescher scored his third race of 2023, his first NASCAR Cup series superspeedway win and fifth career victory with a push from team co-owner Brad Keselowski, leading only the final two laps of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in an overtime finish of a race slowed by only a pair of inciden cautions. One of those cautions ended the second stage as well, and included a red flag for a multi-car crash involving almost half the field as they approached the stage-ending flag. The second incident was the spectacular barrel-roll by Ryan Preece in the grass on the back straight. 

(MILWAUKEE, WI - AUG 26, 2023 - RIS) Ty Majeski topped practice for Sunday's Clean Harbors 175 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on the historic Milwaukee Mile. A thin 0.031 second back was rookie Nick Sanchez, with Carson Hocevar, Matt DiBenedetto and Zane Smith completing the top five in practice. Corey Heim put his truck in sixth, with the top six drivers all Playoffs contenders for the series championship.

(DAYTONA BEACH, FL – AUG 25, 2023 – RIS) Justin Allgaier had to serve a pass-through penalty at the start of the Wawa 250 after the No. 7 Jr Motorsports car failed inspection before qualifying but that never dampened his optimism and he drove to the front, eventually winning the race in a pair of overtime restarts by just inches over Sheldon Creed. The top five finishers were Allgaier, Creed, Daniel Hemric, Parker Kligerman and Cole Custer, with Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg, Anthony Alfredo, Gray Gaulding and Justin Haley rounding out the top ten.

(DAYTONA BEACH, FL – AUG 25, 2023 – RIS) Chase Briscoe and Aric Almirola clinched the front row for Stewart-Haas Racing by qualifying one-two for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona in the final regular season race for NASCAR’s Cup Series, leading up to the Playoffs for the season championship. Briscoe’s lap of 49.4999 seconds was 0.035 second quicker than Almirola’s, after the pair ran first and seventh in the first round of qualifying.

(DAYTONA BEACH, FL – AUG 25, 2023 – RIS) RCR cars occupy the front row of the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola NASCAR Xfinity race at Daytona with Austin Hill on the pole and Sheldon Creed next to him. Hill headed the first session's times, followed by Chandler Smith, who qualified fourth for the regular season final race. Qualifying for the 100-lap race over Daytona's oval was single-car runs, with Jordan Anderson and Ryan Sieg starting at the end of the pack after failing tech inspection.

It’s Win Five for the No. 24 at Watkins Glen
(WATKINS GLEN, NY – AUG 20, 2023 – RIS) William Byron seemed to channel his mentor’s road course skills in dominating the Go Bowling at the Glen NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen’s historic road course in New York’s Fingerlakes region. Chase Elliott’s woes continued as he coasted to a halt at the Bus Stop chicane on the back straight, out of fuel on lap 57 and had to be pushed to the pits for the only caution flag of the race.

WATKINS GLEN, NY – RIS – Sam Mayer won the NASCAR Xfinity ace at Watkins Glen International on Saturday in what amounted to a wreck fest in the final laps.  Ty Gibbs dominated the race, but in overtime, it was Mayer exercising a little payback on Gibbs.  Mayer spun race leader and archrival Ty Gibbs following a late restart in the Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International on Saturday and went on to win for the second time in four weeks.

WATKINS GLEN, NY -RIS – Denny Hamlin won the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Watkins Glen International Raceway., with a fast lap in the final round of qualifying. It is Denny's fourth pole of the season and the 40th of his NASCAR Cup career. This will be the second time Hamlin starts on pole at Watkins Glen, where he has one victory in 2016. William Byron joins Hamlin on the front row, as the battle between Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports rolls on.  It was Hamlin’s 40th pole in his career.

WATKINS GLEN, NY – RIS -  Ty Gibbs who led the way in qualifying with a speed of 125.019 mph. It’s the first pole for Gibbs in his limited 2023 Xfinity schedule, and his first since winning the Xfinity championship at Phoenix Raceway last November.

SPEEDWAY, IN - RIS -With one of the top road racers in NASCAR breathing down his neck, Michael McDowell stayed cool, calm, and collected. McDowell held off Chase Elliott on a last lap charge to score the win in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield road course.

Chase Elliott finished in second, with pole sitter Daniel Suarez in third, Tyler Reddick in fourth, and Alex Bowman in fifth.

SPEEDWAY, IN – RIS – Ty Gibbs watched favorite A.J. Allmendinger win the first two stages and then ran away with the final run to win the NASCAR  Xfinity Series race on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  The race featured a 43-minute weather delay which made the competitors start on rain tires, but shortly thereafter, the field put on slicks to run the rest of the race.

SPEEDWAY, IN - -Daniel Suarez will lead the field to green at Indianapolis the road course for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race..    Suarez won the pole Saturday with a lap of 99.814 mph. This is his third career pole and his first since Kentucky in 2019. Tyler Reddick qualified second with a lap of 99.649 mph.

INDIANPOLIS, IN – RIS – AJ Allmendinger will lead the field for Saturday’s Xfinity race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Allmendinger, the defending winner at the road course, won the pole with a lap of 92.985 mph. This is his third consecutive Xfinity pole at Indianapolis. He finished second and first in the last two races at the track. Ty Gibbs will start second with a lap of 92.352 mph. 

(BROWNSBURG, IN – AUG 11, 2023 – RIS) Ty Majeski scored the first win of the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoffs in dominant fashion, leading 179 of the 200 laps on Indianapolis Raceway Park’s .686-mile oval. Only Christian Eckes and Corey Heim led any other laps in the TSport 200. “That was awesome,” said Majeski after the race. “This is just the start of our playoff run.”

(INDIANAPOLIS, IN – AUG 11, 2023 – RIS) Christian Eckes sped his NAPA Auto Care Chevy to the pole position for the TSport 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Indianapolis Raceway Park. In the top ten qualifiers, only three are not Playoffs-qualified: rookies Rajah Caruth in fourth and Jake Garcia in seventh with William Sawalich tenth. Shane Van Gisbergen, winner of the NASCAR Cup Series street race at Chicago, will roll off in 28th position at the start.

(BROOKLYN, MI – AUG 7, 2023 – RIS) Chris Buescher captured his second-consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory, out-racing the charging Martin Truex Jr to win the rain-interrupted Firekeepers 400. The win moves Buescher up two spots in points to eleventh place.