Circle Tracks

Can anything stop Tyler Reddick at this point? The 23XI Racing driver now has five wins in the first nine races of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season, and he now has a 105-point lead in the championship. His boss, Denny Hamlin, has jumped up into second in the overall standings, and the two drivers did battle in the closing laps at Kansas on Sunday. Around the Chase cutline, things have changed as ...Keep readingView the full article

Tyler Reddick has now won five of the first nine races to open the 2026 NASCAR Cup season, passing Kyle Larson in the final seconds of Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway. Chase Briscoe, who restarted 11th in overtime with four fresh tires, surged all the way up to third by the time the checkered flag flew. Denny Hamlin led the way at the start of the final two-lap dash, but fell back to fourth ...Keep readingView the full article

Championship leader Tyler Reddick was in the wall and running on fumes with two laps to go, but a surprise caution opened the door for him to have another go at the win. Denny Hamlin had the lead in an overtime restart, but it was Kyle Larson that powered into the lead with a three-wide pass below the apron. Reddick was nearly back to fifth after a chaotic restart, but by the white flag he ...Keep readingView the full article

When Denny Hamlin launched the ‘Action Detrimental’ podcast on Dirty Mo Media, he vowed to be authentically candid and honest about the hot topics of each NASCAR Cup Series race weekend. It’s proven to be a successful formula, at least until a current driver took exception to that candor, in the form of Kyle Busch. The former Joe Gibbs Racing teammates had a back and forth through the ...Keep readingView the full article

Taylor Gray is now a two-time race winner in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. Driving the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, he held off a charging Sheldon Creed in the No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet as Kansas Speedway. "First of all, thank you to everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing," said Gray in Victory Lane. "How about  (crew chief) Jason Ratcliffe? That pit call was awesome. I knew we had ...Keep readingView the full article

Carson Kvapil started Saturday's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts from pole position, but his day ended just three laps into the event. The wreck was something you'd expect to see at a superspeedway, not a 1.5-mile intermediate track... Driving the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, Kvapil was running second and battling three-wide with JRM teammates Justin Allgaier and William Byron. Byron was to ...Keep readingView the full article

The dream season continues for Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing, just one day after partnering with Rockstar Energy. The championship leader earned his 14th career pole and his third of the 2026 season at Kansas Speedway. With a fast lap of 29.142s, Reddick beat his boss Denny Hamlin by 0.019s for the top spot. It was a Toyota 1-2-3 in qualifying with last week's winner Ty Gibbs in third. Kyle ...Keep readingView the full article

Ultimately, at the end of the day, Ryan Blaney said his role regarding pit crew changes at Team Penske is just to support and welcome those who put on the No. 12 uniform each week. This is regarding the change made this week with the demotion of jack man Landon Honeycutt from the Blaney team to the Wood Brother No. 21 driven by Josh Berry. This follows a slow start by the Penske No. 12 pit ...Keep readingView the full article

Kyle Busch did not appreciate the commentary about his season and career trajectory from Denny Hamlin during a segment on the Actions Detrimental podcast on Monday. Hamlin effectively said Busch is one of the greatest of all time, but also felt like Busch needed to solidly outperform teammate Austin Dillon to justify a narrative that the two-time champion is being held back by Richard Childress ...Keep readingView the full article

Tyler Reddick continues to lead the championship standings, but Ryan Blaney is moving closer as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Kansas. He will also have a new jackman after recent issues with the Penske pit crew. Ty Gibbs finally broke through for his first Cup win in his 131st career start last weekend at Bristol, besting Blaney in a photo finish. At Kansas, the Cup Series will be joined by ...Keep readingView the full article

With all due respect to Alex Bowman’s recovery from vertigo, and return to the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 over the weekend after missing four NASCAR Cup Series races, now it’s time for the 32-year-old to save his job. Everyone downplays it, but Bowman is in a contract year, and having faced several medical issues over the years while also not winning at the scope of his superstar ...Keep readingView the full article

In recent weeks, Ryan Blaney has grown increasingly frustrated with mistakes on pit road and slow stops from the No. 12 Team Penske Ford crew. Crew chief Jonathan Hassler has been fairly open about the problems as well, and the need to improve. Despite winning at Phoenix, he had to overcome multiple issues on pit road during that race, and it was a similar story en route to a runner-up finish ...Keep readingView the full article

Driving the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and future NASCAR Hall of Famer Denny Hamlin, NASCAR Cup Series star Tyler Reddick has had a dream start to the 2026 season. He won the season-opening Daytona 500 with a dramatic last-lap pass and went on to win the opening three races of the season -- something no other driver in NASCAR Cup history had previously ...Keep readingView the full article

On Monday night, Joe Gibbs Racing submitted to the Western District of North Carolina photographs from over the weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway that accused Chris Gabehart of violating a temporary restraining order. Specifically, as part of the lawsuit from JGR that alleges a ‘brazen scheme’ from Gabehart to steal and potentially share proprietary information in violation of a non-compete ...Keep readingView the full article

It ultimately didn’t factor into the finish on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway but Ryan Blaney continues to lose track position on practically every NASCAR Cup Series pit stop and the sample size is growing with every start. Before Sunday, Blaney had lost 86 combined spots on pit road.  On Sunday, Blaney was the leader and poised to win the race until a late caution forced crew chief ...Keep readingView the full article

Chris Gabehart attended the NASCAR event over the weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway and Joe Gibbs Racing is adamant that he violated a temporary restraining order in the process. Gabehart is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Joe Gibbs Racing in which the latter has alleged the former violated the non-compete provisions of their previous work agreement. JGR also says Gabehart participated in ...Keep readingView the full article

On the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin ponders if the Kyle Busch era of NASCAR is over and actually has been longer than most within the community realize. It’s been three years and 100 races since the two-time Cup Series champion last won at Gateway on June 4, 2023 and it has been a struggle ever since his first half season at Richard Childress Racing. Since ...Keep readingView the full article

NASCAR has adjusted the length of the three stages for the Cup Series race at Talladega on April 26. The first stage will end on Lap 98, the second stage on Lap 143 and the scheduled conclusion on Lap 188. In comparison, last year saw the stages end on Lap 60 and 120. In other words, NASCAR has structured the race where fuel will not be necessary in the middle of the final two stages, to ...Keep readingView the full article

Ty Gibbs held on against a charging Ryan Blaney at Bristol Motor Speedway to become the 207th different winner in NASCAR Cup Series history this past weekend. The 500-lap event was pushed into overtime, leaving three drivers on three different tire strategies to battle it out for the win. Larson on two fresh right-sides had led the most laps, Blaney with four fresh tires was clearly the fastest ...Keep readingView the full article

There was a degree of validation attached to winning the Food City 500 on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway for Ty Gibbs, crew chief Tyler Allen and team owner and grandfather Coach Joe Gibbs. That last title is especially relevant. One thing that has been uncovered since Joe Gibbs Racing sued former competition director Chris Gabehart in February is a conviction from the defendant that Coach ...Keep readingView the full article

Jonathan Hassler was introduced to the Kobayashi Maru test on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway. For those who are not fans of Star Trek, this is basically a no-win scenario exercise that basically just tests your decision-making prowess when presented with two options that were not going to produce a victory. Now, to be fair to the test, Ryan Blaney nearly drove the Penske No. 12 car back to ...Keep readingView the full article

After 500 laps of racing at Bristol Motor Speedway, Ryan Blaney has moved closer to the points lead, now 62 markers behind Tyler Reddick, who has led the standings all year. After earning his first career win, Ty Gibbs has jumped up to fourth in the standings.  After a mid-race crash, Shane van Gisbergen has fallen to the Chase cut line, and is just one-point clear of Chase Briscoe. The ...Keep readingView the full article

Ty Gibbs became the 207th different driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race, beating Ryan Blaney in a 0.055s photo finish at Bristol Motor Speedway. It was the closest Cup finish at Bristol in 35 years. Blaney had to settle for second while Kyle Larson, who won both stages and led 284 of 500 laps, finished third. Championship leader Tyler Reddick was fourth, and Chase Briscoe was fifth. Todd ...Keep readingView the full article

Making his 131st career start in the NASCAR Cup Series, Ty Gibbs earned his first career win in a wild overtime finish.  Kyle Larson won both stages and Ryan Blaney had the fastest car in the end, but they had to settle for second and third, respectively. Both chose to pit for fresh tires in the closing laps, while Gibbs rolled the dice and stayed out. Blaney ran side-by-side with Gibbs ...Keep readingView the full article

In the NASCAR Cup Series, there is no driver with as many wins at Kyle Busch (63), although Denny Hamlin is moving ever-closer. The 40-year-old Busch won at least one race every year between 2005 and 2023 in his Hall of Fame career. That final year before the impressive streak came to a grinding halt was his very first with Richard Childress Racing, and the two-time Cup champion came out of ...Keep readingView the full article