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After the race weekend that refused to end in Texas, a non-playoff driver victory meant that the playoff picture was still very much up in the air heading into Martinsville this Sunday.  A minimum of 2 drivers will now make the Final 4 on points alone.  Who has the advantage heading into this weekend? Let’s take a closer look:   Martinsville Speedway is a 0.526 mile short-track oval – the shortest track currently on the NASCAR circuit.  This weekend’s race will (confusingly) be called the Xfinity 500.  Martinsville is the only current track that has been on the NASCAR schedule every year since its inception, having been built in 1947.  Nicknamed “The Paperclip,” it is also unique in that it’s the only NASCAR track to have asphalt straightaways with concrete in the corners.    The race will be 500 laps long (for a total of 263 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 130 – 260 – 500.  The fuel window is approximately 145-155 laps, though tire wear will likely result in driver

(Photo Source : Twitter.com/NASCAR_Trucks)

  (Photo Source : Twitter.com/NASCAR)

Kyle Larson will become the driver of a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in 2021. This fills a vacancy left by 7 time Champion Jimmie Johnson. The successful dirt racer turned stock car driver is currently serving an indefinite suspension from NASCAR and a termination from Chip Ganassi Racing after the use of a racial slur during a broadcasted video game event earlier this year. The team announced today that they will transition the number 88 to number 5 moving forward.  [It was announced in October that Alex Bowman will officially replace Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 for the last 19 seasons at Hendrick beginning in 2021. Jimmie was said to have a large influence in the successor to the famed #48. Longtime Hendrick Motorsports sponsor Ally Bank will stay with the #48 team. ] Larson who was recently reinstated by NASCAR has completed the proper sensitivity training that is needed to return to his stock car career. He returned to his dirt racing past this summer and has won a historic

  CONCORD, N.C.   --  Hendrick Motorsports has named Rudy Fugle as the crew chief for William Byron and the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. He will join the organization in mid-November. The 36-year-old Fugle is one of the most successful crew chiefs at the NASCAR national series level. He has won two driver championships and five owner titles in the Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series. As a crew chief for Kyle Busch Motorsports since 2013, he has recorded 28 truck victories, which tie him for the second-most in series history. Fugle will replace current No. 24 crew chief Chad Knaus,  who was recently named Hendrick Motorsports’ vice president of competition  effective at the completion of the 2020 racing season. “We’re pleased to welcome Rudy,” said Jeff Andrews, general manager of Hendrick Motorsports. “His teams have consistently performed at a championship level for many years. We believe he’s an excellent fit for our culture and will mes

Leading online auto retailer  Carvana  (NYSE: CVNA) announced today it will be the primary partner for 7-time NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) Champion Jimmie Johnson and Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) for the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES racing season in the newly-formed Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing entry.  Johnson co-holds the NCS record with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for most premier series championships and is the only driver to win five consecutive titles (2006-2010). Johnson’s 83 career wins is tied with Cale Yarborough for sixth all-time and is tops among active drivers. With an impressive record any athlete would envy, Johnson saw his next challenge in INDYCAR, and recently announced his plans to race with CGR in his continued pursuit of excellence.  “Jimmie Johnson has already made his mark as one of the best NASCAR drivers in history, yet he’s continuing to push himself with a new challenge,” said Carvana Chief Brand Officer Ryan Keeton. “He’s not resting, but raising the bar, and that’s

  Syndicated Post : PRESS RELEASE FROM SPEEDWAY MOTORSPORTS - If everything’s bigger in Texas, it’s only appropriate that the inaugural NASCAR weekend at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) just got bigger. Speedway Motorsports officials today announced that the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series have been added to the weekend lineup with the NASCAR Cup Series at COTA in Austin, Texas, May 21-23, 2021. "When NASCAR rolls into Austin for the first time, it’s going to be exactly what Speedway Motorsports always presents, and that’s the biggest, baddest events that we see throughout all of NASCAR," said Daniel Hemric, NASCAR Xfinity Series driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. "Bruton and the entire Speedway Motorsports family always do the utmost job of bringing the best experience for the fans, the best show for the fans, and we look forward to doing that as drivers as well." Three-day weekend packages are on sale now at NASCARatCO

  The GoFas Racing Team operated by Archie St. Hilaire has announced that they will be transitioning into a part-time effort beginning with the 2021 season. They have competed full-time for from 2014 to 2020 in NASCAR's premiere series.  Team Owner Hilaire provided this statement regarding the change. "It has been a lot of fun over the years but with the evolution of life, your priorities change. With my son [and GM of Go Fas] Mason moving on to start his own business in a different industry and myself getting ready to spend time with my daughter having my first grandchild, I feel its time to reevaluate the next chapter of my life. It definitely has been great working with Ford and all of our great marketing partners over the last 10 years and we look forward to continuing with them on a smaller scale going forward. I can’t say enough about how NASCAR has built and maintained their business model during the current pandemic and how exciting the schedule looks for 2021! We will

  The new racing team that is being started by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan has been officially announced as 23XI Racing (Prounounced Twenty-Three Eleven Racing). The name pays homage to both the legendary NBA Hall of Famer's basketball number as well as co-owner Denny Hamlin's racing number 11.  The team has not officially announced that they will be running Toyota in the 2021 season, but it is widely understood that this will be a TRD team, with assumptions that there will be some type of Joe Gibbs Racing alliance as well. No details on the contract terms are announced in regards to sponsorship or the length of announced driver Darrell Wallace Jr.'s contract. 

 

  (Photo Source : Twitter.com/NASCAR_Trucks)

  (Photo Source : Twitter.com/NASCAR_Xfinity)

As the 2020 NASCAR season winds down, the stakes have never been higher.  With Joey Logano’s spot in the Final 4 being the only guarantee, the remaining seven playoff drivers hope they can make their mark at Texas this weekend.  But what does Texas have in store for them? Let’s take a closer look:   Texas is a 1.5 mile quad-oval, and this weekend’s race will be called the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500.  While NASCAR has been racing in Texas for many years, the track they will visit on Sunday was built in 1996, and began hosting the Cup Series a year later.    The race will be 334 laps long (for a total of 501 miles), and just as it was in July, stage breaks will occur at 105 – 210 – 334.  The fuel window is approximately 60-63 laps.   This year, the Cup Series has raced a total of 12,437.83 miles.   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Texas: Erik Jones 9.00 over 8 races Matt Kenseth 9.74 over 31 races Kevin Harvick 10.2

 

      In a season filled with so many twists and turns it is sadly winding down. Eight drivers remain in the hunt and half of the final four is a compelling battle between six drivers. Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin are essentially locked in on points, and the races in this round being at Kansas, Texas, and Martinsville really sets up well for them. Martinsville is the "wildcard" of the round, but even then the elite drivers there always rise to the top.     Kansas actually sets up as the most compelling in my opinion, and here's why six different active playoff drivers have won here. Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick both have three wins at Kansas, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., and Joey Logano all have two wins at Kansas, and Chase Elliott has one win at Kansas. Denny Hamlin has won two of the last three at Kansas including the race this July, and last seasons playoff race. I think Denny Hamlin is the favorite coming into this race, but Kevin Harvick's 9.6 average

      What an interesting story for a race. I rarely am down on competitive races, but I am down on this Kansas race. The finish resulted in fans watching Harvick almost helpless in his attempts to try to pass Joey Logano, and Logano used his master blocking skills to clinch a spot in the Championship Four.      Stage one was controlled by Chase Elliott largely, and seven of the eight remaining playoff drivers scored stage points. Stage one was the best racing of the day, and it is becoming more obvious this intermediate aero package works best in cool, cloudy, and wintery weather.  Stage two was won by Denny Hamlin, and it was an interesting battle in the closing laps of the stage, but it was at that point I realized passing for the lead was going to be a problem at the end of the race. It was another stage dominated by the playoff drivers, and it tightened up around the playoff cutline after stage 2.  Stage three was a mess. Playoff contender Kurt Busch had an engine blow up, and Den

 For the second race of NASCAR's Saturday double header at Kansas, the NASCAR Xfinity Series kicked off their Round of 8.  Like the Truck and Cup series, this was the first opportunity for an Xfinity playoff driver to lock themselves into the Championship 4 at Phoenix.  The playoff drivers fought extremely hard under the lights to grab a championship opportunity.  The race overall was a bit dull, as there was not much action.  However, at the end of the night, one playoff contender did find himself with a golden ticket to the desert.   In Stage 1, Noah Gragson led the field to green with Austin Cindric to his outside.  It didn'tt take long for the action to intensify as Matt Mills got sideways bringing out the caution on lap 10.  This lined up the field again, and this time it was a wild restart.  Going into turn 1 there was a 4-wide battle for the lead between playoff drivers Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, and Brandon Jones.  Gragson and Cindric got the worst end

All three of NASCAR's National Touring series came into the weekend on a level playing field.  All three series were entering their Round of 8.  All three series had the same 4 tracks left in front of them.  Finally, all three series presented an opportunity to 8 drivers to go out and clinch their shot at a championship in Phoenix.  For the Truck series, that's exactly what the 8 remaining playoff drivers set out to do.  Ultimately, only one could lock up a spot in the Championship 4.  However, the playoff battle was not the only story, perhaps not even the biggest story of the day.  This was because rising star Hailie Deegan was set to make her first ever NASCAR Touring series start.  Deegan was driving the #17 Ford F150 for DGR Crosley Racing, a ride which was announced later in the race that she would be driving in the Truck Series in 2021.  The round of 8 was set to begin. Sheldon Creed continued his dominant performance as he took the lead from Ben Rhodes and Chandler Smit

      The Roval weekend has came and went, and it was a bit of a let down in my opinion. This year was NASCAR's third attempt at the Charlotte infield road course, and it was the most boring of the three. Based on the history of the Roval with its crazy finishes, as well as Saturday's Xfinity race, the expectations were sky high...and it flopped. Even though it didn't meet those full expectations the end resulted in a satisfying race winner for many fans...Chase Elliott.     Stage 1 was the best stage of the race in my opinion. Although it wasn't raining, seeing the Cup guys starting a race on the rain tires for the first time ever was unique. Starting on the rain tires allowed for early race strategy, and when the first caution happened Ty Dillon and Matt DiBenedetto changed to "slick" tires to fly through the field, and Dillon snagged a stage win. Full-time underdog Timmy Hill also earned a career best stage finish of fifth place.     Stage 2 had a return to