The three-time Supercars champion has just three races remaining in the NASCAR Xfinity Series before the playoffs begin and will be part of the Round of 12 thanks to his win at Portland Raceway.
In the first round of the playoffs, there is just one road course-style race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway ‘Roval’ where he stands a good chance of winning.
However, beyond the Round of 12, there are no road courses. (more…)
Sept. 5, 2024, Salt Lake City — One of the newest and most challenging courses in the United States, Ozarks International Raceway will host the NASA Championships Sept. 4-7, 2025.
The track features 19 turns and 150 feet of elevation change, and 1,200 feet of elevation change during a single lap. Track owner and president JR Pesek and his crew took nearly three years to build the facility, consulting with everyone from the Army Corps of Engineers to global engineering, manufacturing and motorsports powerhouse Multimatic. Pesek’s in-house team moved about 3 million cubic yards of dirt, but left as many trees in place to create a park-like setting. The result is a track with corners that might seem familiar, but overall is like nothing else in the world. (more…)
Driver talent will truly be tested this weekend, as Darlington Raceway sets the stage for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale, the Cook Out Southern 500, this Sunday, September 1 at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Only three spots are still available in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, and this is the final chance the drivers have to lock themselves into the postseason.
Facing the competitors Sunday night is the historic Darlington Raceway, which is unlike any other track on the schedule. The 1.366-mile, egg-shaped, paved oval has hosted 126 NASCAR Cup Series races dating back to 1950, and with its rich tradition of history it has become one of the most iconic tracks amongst competitors, earning the nickname ‘The Lady in Black’, and this weekend’s Cook Out Southern 500 is considered a ‘Crown Jewel’ event.
Movin’ on Up!: In January, Young’s Motorsports announced it would graduate from the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN® Truck Series to the NASCAR Xfinity Series full-time in 2024 with rising star Leland Honeyman Jr. behind the wheel of the team’s No. 42 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro for the entire 33-race season continuing with Saturday afternoon’s Sport Clips Haircuts Help a Hero 200 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
About Leland: The Phoenix, Ariz. native began honing his racing skills at the tender age of two racing Quads. By four years old, he moved into Trophy Karts and then collected three series championships in off-road racing Trophy Karts.
Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series at Darlington Raceway… In 145 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington Raceway, Richard Childress Racing has eight wins, all by Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt claimed the checkered flag in 1986 (spring), both races in 1987, 1989 (fall), another sweep in 1990 plus spring events in 1993 and 1994. RCR drivers have 26 top-five and 48 top-10 finishes at the historic South Carolina speedway.
Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at The Lady in Black… Richard Childress Racing is looking to find Victory Lane for the first time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Darlington Raceway. Austin Hill owns back-to-back second-place finishes in his two most recent starts at the track. The Welcome, N.C. based team has 14 top-five and 32 top-10 finishes.
Irving, TX – August 29, 2024 – Panini America, the world’s largest sports and entertainment collectibles company and the official trading card partner of NASCAR, has announced that it will serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 15 AM Racing Ford Mustang, driven by two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano, for the Xfinity Series’ Sports Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200.
The race is this Saturday, August 31st, at the iconic Darlington Raceway.
Logano has been a member of Panini’s athlete roster since 2019, serving as the brand’s racing trading card ambassador and as a key element of multiple Panini NASCAR products and marketing activations, including its annual Panini VIP Experience for a sweepstakes-winning fan at the Daytona 500. (more…)
GRAF JR. 2024 NXS 3rd Race of Season: The August 31st race at Darlington Raceway will mark Joe Graf Jr.’s 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) 3rd race thus far in the season. With 2 of the 4 scheduled starts for Graf Jr. behind him, Joe has returned to the Xfinity series better than ever. With an average finish through the first two races of 14.5, he is on pace to shatter his previous season’s number of 25.3. Joe will look to continue his success thus far at Darlington.
RETURN TO JGR: Graf Jr. competed in the full, 33 race NXS season in 2023 where he had three impressive top-10 performances at Daytona, Homestead, and Kansas, highlighted by a best finish of seventh at Daytona.
DAYTONA RECAP: Joe Graf Jr. started off his weekend strong in Daytona qualifying in 4th position. The No. 19 Reagan Toyota GR Supra even got to start front row due to the 21 car making an adjustment to their race car. Joe kept it clean and managed to secure a strong finish of 12th for his team. (more…)
CREED AT DARLINGTON: Sheldon Creed heads to Darlington Raceway this weekend for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200. Creed has claimed Darlington as one of his favorite tracks throughout his Xfinity Series career, making this weekend a highlight on his 2024 schedule. As he heads into his seventh NXS start at the lady in black, Creed holds one top-five, three top-10s. and 47 laps led. He narrowly missed his first career win at the track in 2022 as he lost the lead on a pass in the final corner by Noah Gragson. In his last run at Darlington in the spring, Creed came home in ninth.
DAYTONA RECAP: In typical Daytona fashion, Creed had an up-and-down day under the lights of Daytona, but he showed up when it mattered. After starting seventh, Creed raced his way to a fourth-place finish in stage one and a seventh-place finish in stage two, thus securing a crucial 11 stage points on the day. After falling back in the lead pack during the third stage, Creed worked his way back up to an eighth-place finish, which secured his 14th top-10 on the year. (more…)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (August 28, 2024) – Todd Gilliland returns to the Darlington (S.C.) Raceway for the famed Southern 500. Long John Silver’s will partner with Gilliland for the crown-jewel event.
Gilliland heads to the 1.3-mile track facing a must-win situation in order to make the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Gilliland has a career best finish of 11th at the “Track too Tough to Tame” in the Cup Series, and a 4th place finish in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. He finished 15th in the May Cup race at Darlington.
The weekend will kick off on Saturday, August 31 with practice and qualifying at 12:30 pm ET. The Southern 500 is scheduled for Sunday, September 1 at 6:00 pm ET. Fans can watch the action live on the USA Network. Fans can also listen in from the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM channel 90. (more…)
SMITH AT DARLINGTON: Chandler Smith has three previous NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) starts at Darlington Raceway with a best finish of 12th earlier this year. He also has four NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) starts at the Lady in Black with one top-10 finish.
DAYTONA RECAP: Smith finished runner-up to Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammate Ryan Truex on Friday night at Daytona. The No. 81 team earned their first pole of 2024 Friday afternoon and ran in the top-10 for most of the night, finishing Stage 1 in second and Stage 2 in eighth. (more…)
HAMLIN AT DARLINGTON: Denny Hamlin leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers with four wins, 13 top-five finishes, 17 top-10s and 979 laps led at Darlington Raceway. His 8.8-average starting position and 8.3-average finishing position are also best among active drivers. Last September, Hamlin led 177 laps and won both stages before an unscheduled pit stop dropped him to a 25th-place finish in the Southern 500. Earlier this year, Hamlin started seventh and finished fourth at the 1.366-mile oval. He has led in nine consecutive Darlington races dating back to May 2020. Hamlin’s Darlington resume also includes six NASCAR Xfinity Series wins.
FLYING 11: The No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE will feature the Flying 11 this weekend to pay homage to the late Roy Hendrick. Hendrick, who passed away earlier this month, was a weekly competitor at Hamlin’s home track, Southside Speedway. The No. 11 Sport Clips team previously honored the Hendrick family, including Roy’s father, Ray Hendrick, by carrying the Flying 11 colors to victory lane in the 2017 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. (more…)
BELL AT DARLINGTON: Christopher Bell had one of his strongest NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) runs at Darlington a year ago when he qualified on the pole and led 40 laps. Overall, Bell has one top five and two top-10 finishes in his previous 10 starts at Darlington Raceway.
DOUBLE DUTY: Bell will be driving the No. 20 Sport Clips Toyota GR Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing in Saturday’s Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200. This is the second NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) start for Bell this season. Bell ran double duty at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and swept the weekend. (more…)
DANVILLE, Virginia – Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing team Korthoff Preston Motorsports (KPM) broke through for its first victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s competitive GT Daytona (GTD) class Sunday with a convincing win by team co-drivers Mikael Grenier and Kenton Koch in the No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR). The No. 32’s maiden win came just over three years after the team made its IMSA GTD debut in July of 2021 at Watkins Glen International. The triumph follows KPM’s IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTD team and driver championships last year and several near-miss shots at a race win over the course of the team’s full-season campaigns, which began in 2022.
Will Power, driver of the #12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet V6, races to victory Sunday, August 25, 2024, winning the NTT IndyCar Series BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon. This is the third victory of the season for Power who is in second place in the championship standings with three races left in the season. (Photo by Perry Nelson/LAT for Chevy Racing) (more…)
The #4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R driven by Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg, races to an eighth place finish in the GTD PRO class Sunday, August 25, 2024, during the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia. (Photo by Richard Prince for Corvette Racing) (more…)
