Nascar

Suarez’s No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet failed pre-race inspection on Saturday at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway three times before it finally passed. Because of the failures, Suarez will not be allowed to qualify on Saturday and must perform a pass-through penalty on pit road after taking the green flag in Sunday night’s race. In addition, Suarez’s car chief, Eddie D’Hondt Jr., was ...Keep readingView the full article

On Saturday at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Dillon – who raced his way into the 2022 playoffs with a victory last weekend at Daytona – confirmed Alexander would not return to the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team next season. Dillon said RCR hoped to keep Alexander in another role within the organization. “This sport is a grind. Speaking with Justin, it was about having some more ...Keep readingView the full article

Behind four wins – two more than any other driver – Elliott captured the regular season title and amassed 40 playoff points, 15 more than second-seed Joey Logano. In a season which has seen 16 different winners in the regular season (15 of whom are in the playoffs) thanks in part to the debut of the Next Gen car, Elliott came closer than anyone else to being a dominant force throughout the ...Keep readingView the full article

Suarez, 30, is one of four drivers (Ross Chastain, Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric are the others) making their first appearance in the Cup Series playoffs. And all four qualified for the 16-driver field by winning a race (Chastain won twice). Participating in his first Playoff Media Day on Thursday in Charlotte, N.C., Suarez said he felt right at home. “It feels nice, but honestly it ...Keep readingView the full article

With the playoffs set to begin, Kyle Busch is still looking for his ride for 2023. Bob Pockrass offers the latest from NASCAR playoff media day. View the full article

The playoff grid is set and the final ten weeks of the 2022 season will be intense as the field of 16 is whittled down to four challengers, and ultimately, one champion Kurt Busch withdrew his playoff waiver before Daytona, setting up an odd situation for the playoffs. Austin Dillon won the regular season finale, knocking Martin Truex Jr. out. Ryan Blaney is the only ...Keep readingView the full article

Team Penske driver Logano, who won the Cup Series title in 2018, is one of the 16 drivers locked into the playoffs that commence this weekend at Darlington courtesy of regular season wins at Darlington and Gateway. But after a destructive race at Daytona on Sunday won by Austin Dillon, which featured several multiple-car incidents, Logano voiced his concern that the new-for-2022 ...Keep readingView the full article

“I’m concerned. I think everyone is concerned right now. I don’t see how you could not be,” driver Joey Logano said during Thursday’s Playoff Media Day in Charlotte, N.C. “When you look at competitor’s and your own experiences being brutal in comparison to what the old car was, yeah, it’s going to raise an eye. “You look at the some of things that have happened – Kurt’s ...Keep readingView the full article

Ross Chastain made some enemies while racing his way into the NASCAR playoffs for the first time, Bob Pockrass writes. Will that be a problem for him? View the full article

The race, which was postponed from Saturday due to rain and then had its own 3½-hour rain delay itself, was the last opportunity of the season for a driver to win their way into the 16-driver playoff field. That was going to be the only way Dillon, 32, and his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team would get in this season as there were already 14 drivers in on wins and Dillon was mired in 19th ...Keep readingView the full article

Hamlin, 41, was battling for the race lead with Daniel Suarez when they unknowingly led the pack into rain during the 400-mile regular season finale. The result was a massive, track-clearing incident. Many drivers have complained that the hits taken this year in the new car are worse than the previous generation. Hamlin echoed those comments on Sunday, following his release from the ...Keep readingView the full article

Wallace will remain paired with his crew chief, Bootie Barker. Ty Gibbs will continue to serve as 23XI’s substitute driver for Kurt Busch and will now drive the No. 23 Toyota with Billy Scott remaining as the crew chief. Aside from the number being different, there will be no changes to the primary sponsors on either car. “After consulting with NASCAR, we made this decision in the best ...Keep readingView the full article

Clements ended a 164-race winless streak with his victory early Saturday morning in the rain-delayed race at Daytona International Speedway and his No. 51 Chevrolet passed post-race inspection at the track. However, the Xfinity Series uses a sealed engine program but all race-winning engines must be torn down at NASCAR’s R&D Center prior to the championship season finale. The No. 51 ...Keep readingView the full article

During a break at the Martinsville test last week, Kyle Larson gives his views of who are the favorites heading into the playoffs View the full article

Last year, Larson entered the playoffs as the regular season champion and No. 1 seed behind the strength of five wins and 52 playoffs points. He went on to advance to the championship race, where he held off Martin Truex Jr. to claim his first series title. The road to a repeat for Larson will be harder this season as the 2022 playoffs kick off on Sunday night at Darlington (S.C.) ...Keep readingView the full article

To say RCR has run the gambit on good and bad news this year has been an understatement. To start, Tyler Reddick confirmed that RCR had picked up his option year on his contract (for 2023) and followed that up with his first career win July 3 at Road America. But just nine days later, Reddick stunned the sport – and presumably RCR – with an announcement that he had agreed to a deal to ...Keep readingView the full article

With 22 laps remaining in Sunday's regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, a massive pile-up at the first corner triggered by falling rain led to most of the lead-lap cars being wiped out. The race was red-flagged after this as the rain intensified at the time. Austin Dillon came through the chaos at the 20-car pile-up and went on to take victory when the race was restarted ...Keep readingView the full article

After being one of only a handful to avoid the massive wreck on Lap 138 of 160 before the subsequent 3½-hour rain delay, Cindric lined up second behind Austin Dillon when the final 16 laps got underway. With a shove from Martin Truex Jr., Cindric quickly moved into the lead on the restart but Dillon remained close behind. Soon after, Cindric’s No. 2 Ford found itself with an army of ...Keep readingView the full article

When the race – which was originally postponed from Saturday night – got halted again on Sunday after 139 of 160 laps, Blaney was multiple laps down and would have been the first out of the playoffs. The weather situation appeared dire and it looked like that’s the way the race would end. But after waiting nearly 3½ hours, the skies finally cleared, the track was dried and the race ...Keep readingView the full article

In a wild final stage, in which two multi-car crashes had already propagated, the final big incident resulting after rain had started to fall put Dillon into the lead. As the field entered Turn 1 on 138th lap, rain – which had already been threatening for several laps – began to fall hard and started to bite. Several cars immediately began spinning on the track. Dillon, who was running ...Keep readingView the full article