Circle Tracks

19-year-old Luke Baldwin is a back-to-back SMART Modified Tour champion and the youngest two-time champion in series history. He has deep roots in the racing world through his father and grandfather, and is a promising young racer himself. “Martinsville has always meant a lot to my family, so to have my own opportunity at the track is definitely special,” said Baldwin. “It’s a place ...Keep readingView the full article

Daytona, Atlanta, COTA, and now Darlington. 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick is driving away with the championship lead, and in this age of parity, a win record like that is nearly unheard of. But 23XI wasn't the only team that turned heads on Sunday, with RFK and Spire both showing good pace, while titans like HMS and JGR lagged behind.  36 of the 37 starters finished Sunday's race, but there ...Keep readingView the full article

When it comes to the debut of the new short track package at Darlington Raceway, there might be a Venn Diagram overlap between those who had really good cars and those who felt like it improved the racing. As a result, there may also be a similar overlap for the opposite.   Ultimately, most drivers said the increased horsepower and reduced downforce configuration did not fundamentally ...Keep readingView the full article

This isn’t supposed to happen anymore. With the introduction of the NextGen car in 2022, a single-source supplied spec car, the conviction was that no one would be able to dominate modern Cup Series campaigns the way Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson or Kyle Larson had back in the day. Parity! There have been just six races, of course, but Tyler Reddick, Billy Scott and the 23XI Racing No. 45 ...Keep readingView the full article

After four wins in the first six races, Tyler Reddick holds a monumental points lead in the regular season standings. He is now enjoying his biggest lead yet, 95 points ahead as Ryan Blaney moves back into the runner-up spot after a tough day for Bubba Wallace. Around the cutline, Daniel Suarez has now moved back inside the top 16 while his Spire teammate Michael McDowell drops below. The ...Keep readingView the full article

At Darlington Raceway, 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick earned his 12th career win and his fourth in the first six races of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season. He was followed by Brad Keselowski in second, a driver who was hoping to end a two-year win drought, but had to settle for two stage wins and a runner-up finish. Ryan Blaney fought back from a loose wheel to finish third, Carson Hocevar led the way ...Keep readingView the full article

Tyler Reddick may have started first and finished first, but there was a lot happening between it all. He struggled with electrical issues early and needed to shut off the fans, causing the temperature to rapidly rise in the car. He had to manually drain hot water from his broken cool suit, complained about possible brake problems, the team had to change a battery mid-race, and he was even ...Keep readingView the full article

Darlington is no longer being treated as the official 'Throwback Weekend,' but there's still several teams opting to pay tribute to the sport's history by recreating iconic paint schemes. Last December, two-time Southern 500 winner Greg Biffle was killed alongside six others in a tragic plane crash. This weekend, there are several paint schemes honoring the NASCAR legend, in both the Cup and ...Keep readingView the full article

While Kyle Larson dominated most of the race, it was Justin Allgaier who won Saturday's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Pars Series race. It was his second win of the 2026 season and the 30th of his career. "All of these guys right here," said Allgaier, gesturing his team when he asked how he pulled off this latest victory.  "We have not been the best on pit road all year, but these guys have never quit ...Keep readingView the full article

In a tricky qualifying session at Darlington Raceway, Tyler Reddick went fastest of all with a 29.072s lap, even while hitting the wall at the exit of Turn 4. The closest driver to the championship leader in qualifying was the same driver closest to him in the championship standings -- 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace, who ended the session 0.126s behind the pole-sitter. "Gosh, I came off ...Keep readingView the full article

Darlington is the latest race to feature some inspection issues at the start of the weekend. Ahead of NASCAR Cup practice and qualifying, three Cup teams failed inspection twice, resulting in some penalties. They were the #9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Chase Elliott, the #17 RFK Racing Ford of Chris Buescher, and the lone open entry in the field -- the #66 Garage 66 Ford of Timmy ...Keep readingView the full article

In this moment, Denny Hamlin has a contract with Joe Gibbs Racing that has him in the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE through the 2027 season. That’s 67 more points races remaining to score as many wins as possible and challenge for that elusive NASCAR Cup Series championship. On Monday, he predicted that he would reach 67 career victories after reaching 61 on Sunday at Las Vegas. Why that number? ...Keep readingView the full article

Carson Hocevar wants you to understand he doesn’t think he is Dale Earnhardt but he really appreciates the history of NASCAR and doesn’t shy away from embodying some of those character traits either. He idolizes the late great Driver No. 3. To wit, he really appreciated that primary sponsor Chili’s Bar & Grill wanted to sponsor the spring race at Darlington even if it wasn’t an ...Keep readingView the full article

Part-time driver (and reigning Truck champion) Corey Heim restarted ninth with two laps to go, but the former Truck champion had slightly fresher tires than those around, immediately going to the bottom and passing several trucks. At that point, Ross Chastain confidently held the lead, and was over half-a-second clear of Heim at the white flag. But the #5 quickly ran him down, blowing by the ...Keep readingView the full article

Practically every data point suggests a drastically different NASCAR Cup Series racing product at Darlington Raceway on Sunday and it’s a direction that drivers have encouraged for quite a bit. The first four years of this car being used at ‘The Track Too Tough to Tame’ came under the same rules package used at intermediate style tracks. That meant a 4” rear spoiler and a more ...Keep readingView the full article

Tyler Reddick continues to the championship standings by 61 points over 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace. Denny Hamlin is the latest driver to visit Victory Lane, winning at Las Vegas. NASCAR now heads to Darlington where Hamlin is the defending race winner. All three national divisions will be competing this weekend with Trucks on Friday, the O'Reilly Series on Saturday, and Cup on ...Keep readingView the full article

Make no mistake, worn out Darlington Raceway is a treat for competitors and fans alike, regardless of racing platform or rules package but every indication points towards the Cup Series race on Sunday being ‘Too Tough to Tame’ by every definition. The difference is the track debut of the 750-horsepower tapered spacer up from the 670 used since this car debuted in 2022. Additionally, NASCAR ...Keep readingView the full article

NASCAR has issued a four-race suspension for three members from the Big Machine Racing NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts team, due to "loose or separated ballast" on the #48 Chevrolet, driven by Patrick Staropoli. As a result, Patrick Donahue, Dillon Bassett, and Morgan Olsen will have to sit out the next four races. Donahue is the crew chief for the car. They will miss upcoming races at Darlington ...Keep readingView the full article

NASCAR Truck Series rookie Cole Butcher spent his first off-weekend back in something more familiar, driving a Super Late Model at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, and nearly won the race in a spirited duel with Richard Childress Racing development driver Carson Brown too. It was a much needed reminder to himself that he still knows what he’s doing after three races in which literally ...Keep readingView the full article

This is the most invested and involved Mark Martin has been in NASCAR since his retirement after the 2013 season. For a while, even on both sides of his Hall of Fame induction in 2017, he just didn’t know what he was supposed to do within the space after practically four decades of driving at the highest level. He would still watch races but didn’t know what his role was supposed to ...Keep readingView the full article

Kaulig Racing will put A.J. Allmendinger behind the wheel of the #10 Kaulig Racing Ram 1500 at Darlington Raceway this weekend, replacing Daniel Dye. Dye was indefinitely suspended by NASCAR and Kaulig for mocking IndyCar driver David Malukas with a homophobic voice on a recent livestream, making inappropriate inferences about the Penske driver's sexuality. He has since apologized and will ...Keep readingView the full article

Mark Martin is rooting for Denny Hamlin right now because he knows how hard it is to defy the odds and overcome Father Time when he starts working against a high level athlete. The 2017 Hall of Fame inductee says he was first drawn to Hamlin because he’s started to see something of a baby face turn from a driver that was long established as something of a heel, and he lived that when he ...Keep readingView the full article

In dismissing the media who wanted to ask about his post-race conflict with Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain said ‘not today, boys’ but conceded he should said, ‘see you on Tuesday’ in advance of a pre-scheduled media availability. Chastain said, after walking away from Suarez, that he just didn’t understand everything that happened between them and didn’t want to say the wrong thing ...Keep readingView the full article

Daniel Dye, 22, has been indefinitely suspended by NASCAR and will be required to undergo sensitivity training if he hopes to get back behind the wheel. Kaulig Racing has also indefinitely suspended Dye from the organization, "effective immediately after becoming aware today of comments he made on social media." Dye was competing full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as part of Kaulig ...Keep readingView the full article

Alex Bowman, 32, was forced to get out of ht #48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the middle of the March 1 NASCAR Cup race at COTA, with Myatt Snider finishing the race for him. He was later diagnosed with vertigo. Since then, he has missed both Phoenix and Las Vegas with HMS sim driver Anthony Alfredo and 2024 NASCAR O'Reilly Series champion Justin Allgaier filling in for him. Hendrick ...Keep readingView the full article