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Nascar 2023 Season
By Nyx
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Category: Achievements, Characters, Classes, Co-op, Crafting, Game Modes, Gameplay Basics, Loot, Maps or Levels, Modding or Configuration, Multiplayer, Secrets, Story or Lore, Trading, Walkthroughs, Weapons, Workshop
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19 Aug, 2023 @ 9:20am
19 Aug, 2023 @ 9:20am
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Guide Index
Overview
Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum 
Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 and 2 at DAYTONA 
DAYTONA 500 
Pala Casino 400 
Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube 
United Rentals Work United 500 
Ambetter Health 400 
EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix 
Toyota Owners 400 
Food City Dirt Race 
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Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum
Martin Truex Jr. escapes Coliseum chaos, wins Busch Light Clash in LA
LOS ANGELES — In front of a large, enthusiastic crowd in one of the most iconic venues in sports, Martin Truex Jr. earned his first NASCAR Cup Series victory in more than a season in a rough-and-tumble all-thrills Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum on Sunday night at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.


Truex’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota held off Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet by a mere 0.786 seconds, leading the final 25 laps of the 150-lap annual non-points exhibition event marking the start of the NASCAR season. It was the first career Busch Light Clash victory for the former series champion.

Dillon’s new teammate, two-time series champion Kyle Busch, finished third in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet – the three top finishers feted on a podium with medals, reminiscent of the Olympic Games the venue has also famously hosted.

“Just really good race car, the guys did a really good job with this Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry,” the New Jersey native Truex said. “Last year was a pretty rough season for us with no wins, to come out here and kick it off this way, just really proud of these guys.

“Tonight was just kind of persevere, not give up and just battle through and we found ourselves in the right spot at the end. Sometimes they work out your way, and sometimes they don’t. Tonight, it went our way.”

The iconic HOLLYWOOD sign on the hills overlooking Turn 3 and the downtown Los Angeles skyline just beyond Turn 2 provided a unique setting for this event.

It was a packed house at the 100-year-old Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the race – lots of new fans mixed with the most loyal long-timers dressed in their best NASCAR fan T-shirts, driver jackets and hats excited to watch the NASCAR Cup Series show exactly the kind of high-drama short track action that has made the 75-year-old sport an American treasure.

The track was purpose-built inside the stadium, bringing the sport to a new market, which appears to have wholeheartedly embraced.

And while this may be a preseason exhibition, frustration was often in mid-season form Sunday night.

The race was slowed 16 times for cautions. Dillon had a late race run-in with Bubba Wallace, their cars colliding. Wallace got the worst end of the contact and was knocked from contending for the win to instead finishing 22nd in the 27-car field – despite leading 40 laps and challenging Truex as the race wound down.

“Obviously, Bubba knocked me through the corner,” Dillon said. “I was going to hit him back. Didn’t mean to turn him like that, but when it gets down to the end, I think everybody knows what’s going on, and that’s what you see at places like this and [North Carolina short track] Bowman Gray Stadium.”

Dillon acknowledged that Wallace may be upset with him and said they would talk.

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five. Tyler Reddick was sixth in his debut in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota.

New Englander Ryan Preece, 32, making his first start in the No. 41 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing, led the most laps (43) but fell back with 24 laps to go, telling his crew there was a fuel-pump problem. He finished seventh.

Denny Hamlin, who won his qualifying heat earlier in the day in his No. 11 JGR Toyota, finished ninth, with driver William Byron in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet rounding out the top 10.

The four heat and two Last Chance Qualifier races Sunday afternoon provided plenty of drama in setting the field for the main event under the lights – and under the fire of the Coliseum’s famed peristyle torch. Both RFK Racing Fords – driven by team co-owner Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher were among the eight cars that didn’t qualify.

Joining the RFK drivers on that list of DNQs were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Harrison Burton, Ty Dillon, Corey LaJoie, Cody Ware, JJ Yeley and BJ McLeod.

The NASCAR Cup Series next moves east to Florida for the Feb. 19 regular season-opening Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway (Sunday, Feb. 19, 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Notes: Truex’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota cleared post-race inspection with no issue, confirming his race win. … NASCAR and Ally Financial Inc. announced a league-wide sponsorship expanding the financial institution’s presence in the sport, having Ally Bank become the Official Consumer Bank of NASCAR and NASCAR-owned tracks. The multiyear deal is in addition to Ally’s existing full-season relationship with Hendrick Motorsports and will also focus on continuing to bring unique and engaging experiences to fans while advancing inclusivity in racing.
Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 and 2 at DAYTONA
Logano, Almirola shine in Bluegreen Vacations Duels, setting stage for 65th Daytona 500



DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano and Florida native Aric Almirola each won their Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona qualifying races on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway — the event setting the starting order for Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).



It was a Ford sweep at Daytona, but the two races played out very differently.

Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford led 25 of the 60 caution-free laps in the opening race; his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney led a race-best 30 laps, finishing third — behind Logano and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell, who crossed the finish line a mere 0.018 seconds after Logano.

In the late race, Almirola led only 17 laps but took the lead for good in the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with two laps remaining and held off fellow Ford driver Austin Cindric and Chase Elliott by a slight 0.122 seconds in a race that featured more drama — two caution periods, including one that ultimately took out the dominant car.

Kyle Busch led the most laps (28) in the second Duel, but his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was hit from behind by Daniel Suárez’s No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet and wrecked from the lead with 18 laps remaining.

“Lots of pushing and shoving,” Busch said afterward, hopeful the team could repair the car and not have to go to a backup on Sunday.

“Doing everything you can to hang on and do the best you can to keep it straight,” Busch said of the incident. “Finally overloaded the left rear and hooked it to the right. Hate it for all my guys. Built a fast Chevy Camaro and was fun to drive. Had a long way to go and don’t understand [this], but it is what it is.”

That six-car accident also damaged Austin Hill’s Chevrolet so badly he had to pull it into the garage. That gave the final Daytona 500 transfer position to IndyCar Series regular Conor Daly, whose No. 50 TMT Racing Chevrolet finished the race 17th in the 21-car field, a lap down. The car had a mechanical problem Wednesday night and wasn’t able to turn a pole qualifying lap.

“Well, we were inherently unlucky for the last 36 hours, but we got lucky,” Daly said. “I wish I could have said that I drove it in on pure pace, but it was just crazy.

“This race, I’ve watched it for so many years and so much crazy stuff can happen and thankfully we were on the right side of the craziness. It’s pretty amazing.

“I’m sure none of you expected to see me here, but we changed everything but the car’s color in that race,” Daly told reporters with a smile, noting he already had 170 text messages as he did post-race interviews.

The first Duel was relatively calm — with no caution periods. Fords dominated the race. RFK Racing driver Chris Buescher and 2021 Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell rounded out the top five in their Ford Mustangs. Kevin Harvick, who is retiring at the end of the 2023 season, was sixth in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford after riding Logano’s bumper for more than 20 laps at the race end.
DAYTONA 500
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins Daytona 500 to begin NASCAR’s 75th season


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In the longest Daytona 500 in NASCAR history, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got help from an unexpected source and won the sport’s most prestigious race when a wild wreck froze the field in the second overtime.

Stenhouse and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano were battling for the lead on Lap 212 when contact from Aric Almirola’s Ford started Travis Pastrana’s Toyota spinning in Turn 2. Pastrana’s Camry clipped the Chevrolet of Kyle Larson and set it rocketing into the outside wall.

Tires screamed, sparks flew and smoke billowed as the cars of defending race winner Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney were all collected in the chaotic wreck.

But when NASCAR hit the button to illuminate the caution lights, Stenhouse’s No. 47 JTG Daugherty Chevrolet edged ahead of Logano’s Ford, thanks to a timely shove from the third-place finishing Toyota of Christopher Bell, who, like Stenhouse, arrived at the pinnacle of pavement racing from a dirt-track background.

NASCAR declared Stenhouse the winner of the 65th running of the event, a perfect christening of the renewed relationship between the driver and crew chief Mike Kelley, with whom Stenhouse won his two NASCAR Xfinity Series championships more than a decade earlier. It also gave manufacturer Chevrolet its 25th win in the Great American Race.

“Yeah, I think this whole offseason Mike just preached how much we all believed in each other,” Stenhouse said after climbing from his car. “They left me a note in the car that said they believe in me and to go get the job done tonight. I made a few mistakes. We were able to battle back.

“This Kroger Continental team worked really, really hard in offseason, great pit stops, Hendrick engines. Glad a Chevy won.

“Man, this is unbelievable. This was the site of my last win back in 2017. We’ve worked really hard. We had a couple shots last year to get a win and fell short. It was a tough season, but, man, we got it done. Daytona 500!”

It was a remarkable victory and a perfect highlight for the 75th anniversary of NASCAR racing. Stenhouse is the first driver from a single-car team to win the Great American Race since Trevor Bayne shocked the racing world with Wood Brothers Racing in 2011.

The win was Stenhouse’s third in the Cup Series and first since he took the checkered flag in the Daytona summer race in 2017, snapping a streak of 199 races without a victory. JTG Daugherty hadn’t found Victory Lane since Allmendinger triumphed at Watkins Glen in 2014, a drought of 266 races.

With a push from Kyle Larson after the second overtime restart, Logano held the lead with one lap left.

“Second is the worst, man,” Logano lamented. “You’re so close. Leading the white flag lap there, I was up front. Kyle gave me a good push and, yeah, you’re watching in the mirror, and you’re three-wide across there. I felt like the three-wide was going a hurt a lane; looked like Kyle was getting pushed ahead, and then Ricky started getting pushed ahead.
Pala Casino 400
Kyle Busch notches first win of RCR era, prevails at Auto Club



FONTANA, Calif. – The Kyle Busch era at Richard Childress Racing began three weeks ago at the Los Angeles Coliseum, but the coronation was reserved for Sunday’s Pala Casino 400 in the last NASCAR Cup Series race at 2-mile Auto Club Speedway.

Busch grabbed the lead from Ross Chastain on Lap 165 and regained it on Lap 180 at the end of a cycle of green-flag pit stops, as the race ran under green for the final 55 laps. He crossed the finish line on Lap 200 with a 2.998-second advantage over runner-up Chase Elliott.

The victory was the 61st of Busch’s career, most among active drivers and ninth all-time. For the 19th straight season, Busch has won at least one NASCAR Cup Series race, breaking a tie with seven-time champion Richard Petty for the series record.

“Welcome to RCR, baby,” the No. 8 radio reported as Busch crossed the line. “First of many.”

Kyle and Kurt Busch now hold the record for most combined Cup victories by brothers with 95, one more than the total accumulated by Bobby and Donnie Allison.

Coincidentally, Busch claimed the first Cup win of his career at Auto Club, the bulk of whose property was recently sold – with plans to replace the 2-mile speedway with a short track.

Busch’s victory at Auto Club came in his second start in the No. 8 Chevrolet for RCR, the team he joined after 15 seasons and two series championships with Joe Gibbs Racing.

“I can’t thank Richard and Judy (Childress) enough, Austin (Dillon) for calling me and getting me talking and getting me the opportunity to come over here to RCR,” said Busch, who had to overcome a pit-road speeding penalty under caution on Lap 43.

“The guys did a great job. (Crew chief) Randall (Burnett) – everybody that worked so hard in the offseason. We did a lot of sim stuff, a lot of testing in general, just trying to get up to speed. There is nothing more rewarding than being able to go to Victory Lane. …

“You put yourself in a different situation and you’re able to reward your guys. It’s not about me always winning, but about the guys. I’ve worked with a lot of great people who’ve given me a lot of great opportunities in my career. It’s awesome to be able to reward them.”

With qualifying rained out on Saturday, Elliott started 31st according to a metric formula based on owner points and performance in the previous race (the Daytona 500). Throughout the race, Elliott’s crew made the No. 9 Chevrolet better. By race’s end, it was competitive with the fastest cars in the field.

“Yeah, just really proud of our team,” Elliott said. “We obviously didn’t run very good there toward the end of the year last year, and just everybody really went to work hard over the winter to try and get better. Obviously, I think we still have some work to do, but it was really nice to just see a lot of that hard work pay off and have the car driving like we were wanting it to do. So that’s always a good thing. …

“Congratulations to Kyle. For him to leave and then to go get the job done like that is pretty cool. He’s always been really good to me, so happy for them and looking forward to getting to Vegas and hopefully competing for some more wins.”

Chastain led a race-high 91 laps to Busch’s 27 and finished third after sweeping the first two stages, the second by 6.673 seconds. Chastain’s Trackhouse Racing teammate, Daniel Suárez ran fourth, followed by Kevin Harvick in his 750th consecutive Cup Series start. Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon and Joey Logano completed the top 10.

A multicar accident during a restart on Lap 86 eliminated pole-sitter Christopher Bell, as well as Ryan Preece, Aric Almirola and Tyler Reddick. Ryan Blaney, who ran at or near the front of the field in Stage 1, sustained heavy damage to his No. 12 Ford during the wreck and finished 26th.
Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube
William Byron banks big win in Las Vegas




William Byron won the most important race Sunday afternoon – by inches off pit road.

Quick work by Byron’s pit crew enabled the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver to beat teammate Kyle Larson off pit road for an overtime restart in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and that was the decisive factor in Byron’s fifth career NASCAR Cup Series victory.

When Aric Almirola spun into the Turn 4 wall with four laps left of a scheduled 267, the race turned upside down. At that point, Larson held a two-second lead and appeared the almost certain winner.

After NASCAR called the fourth and final caution, Martin Truex Jr. stayed on the track, with Byron, Larson and most of the other contenders pitting for two tires. Byron’s crew was a fraction of a second faster on the stop, and Byron claimed a front-row starting spot for the overtime to Truex’s outside.

On the first overtime lap, Byron surged past Truex as the cars entered Turn 3 at the 1.5-mile track and pulled away to win by 0.622 seconds over Larson and 0.766 seconds over teammate Alex Bowman. It was the third time Hendrick Motorsports had finished 1-2-3 in a Cup Series event.

The drivers accomplished the feat with their fourth driver, Chase Elliott, watching from North Carolina with team owner Rick Hendrick. Elliott broke his left tibia in a snowboarding accident in Colorado on Friday and will miss multiple races as he recovers from surgery.

Josh Berry, substituting for Elliott, finished 29th and two laps down in his first race in NASCAR’s Next Gen car.

“Yeah, just been really confident about the group of guys that I have on this 24 team,” said Byron, who led 176 of 271 laps, swept the first two stages and won for the first time at Las Vegas. “They work extremely hard, and we spent a lot of time in the offseason just going through running at the sim (simulator) with Chevy and running on iRacing and just trying to get better as a race car driver and as a team.

“Thinking of Chase back home. Wish he was out here with us. He’s a great race car driver, great teammate. Wish he was out here.”

For the overtime restart, Larson chose the inside lane behind Truex and was bottled up behind the No. 19 Toyota. But Larson acknowledged the race was lost on pit road.

“Damn,” Larson said with a wry laugh. “It’s just part of Cup racing. It seems like kind of laps down, lap by lap, and then, sure enough, the yellow lights come on. You’ve just got to get over that and then try to execute a good pit stop, and I thought I did a really good job getting to my sign and getting to the commitment line.

“I had a gap to William behind me, and their pit crew must have just done a really good job and got out in front of us, and that gave up the front row. I knew I was in trouble with the 19 staying out. I felt like William was going to get by him.

“Yeah, just a bummer that we didn’t end up the winner, but all in all, William probably had a little bit better car than I had today, and their pit crew executed when they needed to there at the end.”
United Rentals Work United 500
William Byron makes it two wins in a row with late effort at Phoenix


AVONDALE, Ariz.-Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick hate late-race cautions. William Byron loves them.

After a two-tire call under the fourth caution flag in Sunday’s United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway, Byron surged past Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson in overtime to win his second straight NASCAR Cup Series race.

Byron can thank Ford drivers Aric Almirola and Harrison Burton, who on successive weekends spun with a handful of laps left – at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix, respectively – and gave Byron a chance to capitalize on the opportunity.

As a result, Byron scored his second victory of the season and a guaranteed ticket into the Cup Series Playoffs. The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet won for the first time at Phoenix and for the sixth time in his career.

Byron credited crew chief Rudy Fugle with the two-tire call that got him out front with a chance to win.

“Owe the last couple weeks to him,” said Byron, who also won at Las Vegas on two fresh tires. “He’s done a really good job strategy-wise, and execution-wise we’ve done a good job to put ourselves in those positions on the front row with a shot at the end.

“Thanks to everybody back at Hendrick Motorsports, putting together great cars, doing a great job. This is a big credit to them, engine shop, (team owner, Rick) Hendrick, everybody.”

Harvick leaves his best track with a mountain of frustration as tall as spectator-friendly Rattlesnake Hill at the east end of the 1-mile speedway. That he posted his 20th straight top 10 at Phoenix – a Cup Series record for a single track – was of scant consolation.

“It’s what I would have done,” Harvick said of crew chief Rodney Childers’ four-tire call. “I’d always rather be on offense. I just didn’t get a couple cars when that first caution came out. Kind of lost our chance. Still thought I had a chance there at the end. Those cars were quite a bit slower. They get all jammed up.

“That’s the way it goes. Just smoked ’em up until the caution. They did a great job with our Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang. Didn’t need the caution at the end.”

Harvick had a commanding lead when Burton spun at the start/finish line on Lap 302 of 312. Harvick took four new tires on the ensuing pit stop but came out seventh behind Larson, Byron, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin – all of whom opted for two tires.

ANALYSIS: Why Harvick could be set up perfectly for finale

Larson took the lead on a Lap 310 restart, but an accident on the backstretch involving Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs and AJ Allmendinger forced overtime, and Byron grabbed the lead after the restart on Lap 316. Blaney and Tyler Reddick, who had taken four tires, also got past Larson during the two-lap overtime to finish second and third, with Larson holding fourth. Harvick came home fifth after leading 36 laps.

For the first two stages, it appeared Larson and Byron would decide the race between them. Byron grabbed the lead from his teammate on Lap 2 and held it thought the end of Stage 1 on Lap 60. During the stage break, Larson regained the top spot under caution, taking advantage of the No. 1 pit stall he earned for winning the pole on Saturday.

Larson dominated the second stage on the way to leading a race-high 201 laps. But Harvick beat Byron off pit road for the second position during the Stage 2 break and kept Larson in his sights. After an exchange of green-flag pit stops that saw Harvick gain considerable ground, Harvick closed on Larson.

With NASCAR’s new lower-downforce competition package in use for the first time, the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet struggled in traffic, and Harvick closed in. When Larson had difficulty passing Justin Haley and Austin Cindric in succession, Harvick was on his bumper.

On Lap 269, Harvick made the pass for the lead and pulled away to an advantage of nearly four seconds before Burton’s spin slowed the field. Though Larson held the lead after one late restart, the second time proved the charm for Byron.
Ambetter Health 400
Joey Logano sidesteps Keselowski on final lap, bags Atlanta victory



HAMPTON, Ga. — Deftly maneuvering his No. 22 Ford through the final two laps of Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400, Joey Logano finished the NASCAR Cup Series race where he started — at the front of the field.

With a push from Christopher Bell on the backstretch on the final lap, Logano moved to the outside of leader Brad Keselowski with huge momentum and charged past Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford into the lead.

Logano pulled down to the inside lane through the final two corners and crossed the finish line 0.193 seconds ahead of Keselowski and 0.194 seconds ahead of third-place Bell.

“Yeah, first off so special to win Atlanta for me,” said Logano, a Connecticut native who began to refine his talent racing Legends cars at Atlanta. “So many memories of me and my dad racing right here on the quarter mile. This is the full circle for us. So many memories gritting over there with the Legends car, racing, having a big time.

“Dreaming of going straight at the quarter mile and going onto the big track. That was always the dream to do it. To finally win here means so much to me here personally, but the team.

“The Auto Trader Mustang — this thing was an animal. Very, very fast. Able to lead a ton of laps, race really hard there at the end, get a good push from the 20 (Bell) to clear myself. Huge victory. Nice to get one early in the season. Always feels better, but what a great day for us.”

Logano’s first victory of the season and first at Atlanta was no surprise. On Saturday, the reigning series champion led eight Ford drivers into the top eight starting positions for Sunday’s race.

Logano won the first stage wire-to-wire, leading the first 63 laps. In Stage 2, he finished second to Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric. All told, Logano led 140 of the 260 laps. Keselowski was second with 47 laps led.

The victory was Ford’s first of the season after Chevrolet drivers claimed trophies in the first four events. Logano is the second straight driver to win from the pole at Atlanta, following Chase Elliott last summer.

Disappointed with second place, Keselowski was nevertheless elated with the quality of racing in the closing laps.

“The coolest thing about this race is two veterans showed you can run a race here side-by-side, bump-drafting, and not wreck the field,” Keselowski said. “It can happen if you race respectfully. I thought everybody did a great job.

“We were right there. Proud of my team and the effort. Nothing much we could do there at the end.”

Not that there wasn’t plenty of action before the final laps ended with Logano’s 32nd career victory.

After two relatively placid stages where single-file racing predominated, the intensity increased exponentially as the end of the race approached.

On Lap 190, one lap after Kevin Harvick had taken the lead for the first time, Ross Chastain pulled up close behind Harvick in the draft. Harvick’s No. 4 Ford broke loose and triggered a massive wreck on the backstretch that involved 12 cars.

Harvick was eliminated, along with William Byron, Chris Buescher, Harrison Burton and BJ McLeod. The defending race winner, Byron was seeking his third straight Cup victory of the season.
EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix
Tyler Reddick scores first 2023 win at COTA in triple overtime


AUSTIN, Texas – Tyler Reddick prevailed in three NASCAR Overtime restarts to claim his first trophy of the year – and first with his new team, 23XI Racing, with a 1.411-second victory over two-time series champion Kyle Busch in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix – the NASCAR Cup Series’ first road course race of the season.

It was a field of international champions and NASCAR’s very best at the famed Circuit of The Americas course, but for most of the race, the outcome looked to be decided in a good ol’ Texas duel between the two fastest cars all weekend driven by Reddick and Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron. The pair exchanged the lead, lap after exciting lap for most of the afternoon.

And on the final two-lap restart, Reddick was able to put his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota out front exiting Turn 1 – a tight left-hander – and power forward to the lead, while Busch and third-place finisher Alex Bowman, fourth-place finisher – and defending race winner – Ross Chastain and fifth-place Byron fought door-to-door, bumper-to-bumper as they chased after him.

“I’ve been wanting to win here in a Cup car for a long time,” Reddick, the 27-year-old Californian, said who now has four NASCAR Cup Series wins, but noted this was his first as a Toyota driver and with his 23XI Racing Team – co-owned by fellow competitor Denny Hamlin and NBA superstar Michael Jordan.

“It means the world,” said Reddick, who sat down on the track and leaned against his car with a bag of ice after winning to cool down on the typically Texas-hot afternoon. “This whole 23XI team has been working hard all winter long to make the road course program better and was extremely motivated to come in here and improve performance. Just so proud of this Monster Energy team and TRD (Toyota Racing Development). All the resources they’ve put in to turn around the road course program means a lot.”

As often happens late in a road course race, patience lags and urgency increases. That was certainly the case Sunday with three different overtime restarts deciding the outcome. Reddick and Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet combined to lead 69 of the race’s 75 laps with Reddick out front a race-best 41 of those, most of them after hard-fought challenges and back-and-forth corner after corner with the race polesitter Byron.

“It feels good to get a top five, but we had a top-two race car really with the 45. He was really better than everybody, but I thought we were a close second,” said Byron, a two-race winner already in 2023, whose fifth-place finish at COTA was his career-best on a road course. “We’ll keep building on it.”

Busch’s runner-up effort was an impressive comeback. He had been mid-pack for most of the afternoon but gambled on fuel strategy to move forward during some late-race cautions in regulation.

“Even if we were on equal tires, they were lights out,” Busch, driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, said of Reddick’s No. 45 team. “Overall, for as much effort as we put into coming here and focusing on this place and all the testing we did in the offseason, we’re coming out of here with a good finish. Tyler’s obviously a really good road course racer.”

In addition to the NASCAR stars, the field that raced Sunday included four big names from other racing genres including IMSA champion Jordan Taylor, who drove the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for injured former COTA winner Chase Elliott, a pair of former Formula One champions in Jenson Button and Kimi Räikkönen and popular IndyCar Series regular Conor Daly.

Among these four, the Englishman Button – the 2009 Formula One champion – claimed the top finishing position, 18th in the No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford. Taylor, a two-time winner at COTA in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series finished 24th but made a huge impression in his debut after qualifying fourth.

Räikkönen, the 2007 F1 World Champion from Finland, finished 29th but ran as high as fourth late in the race. Daly only got 16 laps into the race before his team had to take his No. 50 The Money Team Racing Chevrolet behind the wall for extended repairs. He finished 36th.

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson didn’t even get a full lap of green flag racing in only his second start of the 2023 season. The owner-driver of the No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet was collected in a multi-car accident that eliminated his Chevrolet and left him 38th in the running order. Johnson, Button and Taylor are slated to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans through NASCAR’s Garage 56 effort in June.



Toyota Owners 400
Kyle Larson prevails late at Richmond for first win in 2023, 20th in career




With the benefit of a fast final pit stop, Kyle Larson put his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet out front at Richmond Raceway and then held off the field in the last 25 laps of Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 to earn his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season.

The 30-year-old Californian had to out-duel his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry on a pair of restarts in the closing laps to secure the win at the first short-track event of the season (the 0.75-mile Richmond oval). Berry, driving the No. 9 Hendrick Chevy for injured Chase Elliott, finished runner-up, capturing his best NASCAR Cup Series finish — 1.535 seconds behind Larson to the checkered flag.

Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.

It was the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Larson’s 20th career win and the first-ever NASCAR Cup Series victory for his interim crew chief Kevin Meendering, who has led the No. 5 team at-track while full-time crew chief Cliff Daniels — along with the Hendrick team’s other three crew chiefs — finish out a suspension penalty from NASCAR.

“It’s really cool, we’ve been close to winning a couple,” Larson said, adding, “Things just worked out and my pit crew had a great stop.”

It was certainly a Hendrick Motorsports day with Larson and Berry besting the field. And their teammate William Byron led the most laps (117) and won his series-best fifth stage. The season’s only two-time winner Byron looked poised to have a say in the trophy hoist, too, only to be knocked out of contention when Bell hit him from behind on a restart with 20 laps remaining.

“I was just restarting fourth there, just trying to stay tight to the 9 [Berry] and get a good restart and got tagged in the left rear,” said Byron, who finished 24th. “Just a dive-bomb move on his [Bell] part. It is what it is. I had a great race car.

“The Raptor Chevrolet was awesome all day. We’ll just keep bringing fast race cars like that. It was looking like another win before that caution there, but that’s the way it goes.”

Larson led four different times, totaling 93 laps, and survived contact on pit road with Daniel Suárez’s Chevrolet early in the race. It was Larson’s second Richmond win (also in 2017) and the fifth win for Chevy through the season’s opening seven races.

The Toyota contingent gave the Chevys a real run, looking especially strong mid-race. Four Toyota drivers combined to lead 154 laps — more than the manufacturer had been out front in the previous six races. Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing vehicle paced the Toyotas with 71 laps led and he claimed the Stage 2 win. However, a pair of pit-road penalties — including a costly one on his final stop — took Hamlin out of contention and he finished 20th.

“What an awesome Hendrickcars.com Chevy,” Larson said. “Can’t say enough about it. I got into the 99 [Suárez] on pit road there sometime in the second stage, and we were awful after that. I was hoping the damage was the reason why, but they had to calm me down a little bit and get refocused and was able to get it done.

“Thanks to everyone on this team, Cliff Daniels, for everything he does to prepare the team to be as strong as we are without him on the box. So good to get a win, and hopefully many more.”
Food City Dirt Race
Christopher Bell dominates late to win Bristol Dirt Race



BRISTOL, Tenn. – Before Sunday night’s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell lamented that a “dirt guy” hadn’t won the NASCAR Cup Series’ only race on the red clay in Thunder Valley.

Bell fixed the problem-in a race that also saw hard feelings between pole winner Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece boil over.

Holding off charging Tyler Reddick in the final stage of the 250-lap race, Bell held a slim lead over Reddick when NASCAR called the 14th caution with 200 yards left in the final circuit.

A dirt-track aficionado who won three straight Chili Bowl Midget Nationals from 2017-2019, Bell collected his first victory of the season and the fifth of his career.

“Man, let me tell you, these are some of the longest laps of my entire life,” Bell said of the late stages of the race. “This place is so much fun, whether it’s dirt or concrete. Whenever the cushion got up there on the top, it was very tough, because you couldn’t drive it super hard. Otherwise, you’d get sucked in.

“If you got your right front into it, you’d push a little bit. If you got your right rear into it, you’d slide. It was a lot of fun.”

Bell used his experience on dirt to negotiate the two ends of the half-mile track, which featured markedly different racing characteristics.

“(Turns) 3 and 4, that was the scary corner for me, because if you got into it too far, you lost all your momentum,” the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota explained. (Turns) 1 and 2, I think I kept hitting the wall a couple times.

“Seems like there was a little bit more moisture up there-it would hold me better. I’m like, ‘OK, I can really attack 1 and 2.’ But 3 and 4, I had to be careful… Definitely the track tonight favored experience.”

Staying out on old tires after the end of Stage 2, Bell led the last 100 laps. Reddick, on the other hand, forewent a pit stop after Stage 1 and won Stage 2, but paid the price with a pit stop at the second break and restarted 12th on Lap 151.

It wasn’t until Lap 223 that Reddick passed eventual fifth-place finisher Chase Briscoe for the second position, as Briscoe scraped the outside wall in Turn 4. Reddick began his pursuit of Bell, but the final caution foiled any opportunity he might have had.

“Yeah, towards the end there definitely feel like I had a little bit more,” Reddick said. “I thought I had the edge, but I wasn’t quite there in the last couple laps. Definitely found it.

“Just hate it for everybody on this (No. 45 23XI Racing) Toyota. Just needed to be a little bit closer than I was. I think with two (laps) to go, it would have been really bold to try to make that move work. Obviously, on the white flag coming into (Turns) 3 and 4, I was going to see. We’ll never know if it (would have) worked.”

Larson won 75-lap Stage 1 wire-to-wire, but he angered Preece with a move that forced the Stewart-Haas Racing driver into the outside wall. On Lap 175, 20 circuits after Larson spun and fell to the rear of the field, Preece returned the favor in Turn 4. Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet then shot to the inside into the door of Preece’s No. 41 Ford before spinning into the outside wall.

“Yeah, I’m guessing he was paying me back for whatever I did earlier,” said Larson, who exited the race with suspension damage to his car. “He ran me straight into the fence, and my car was broke and we crashed.

“It sucks, but I should just be mad at myself for spinning out earlier and putting myself back there. Just sucks.”
2 Comments
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NascarGuy 23 Nov, 2023 @ 7:32pm 
Cool :steamthumbsup:
Nascarman 21 Aug, 2023 @ 3:16pm 
wow this is amazing
:steamthumbsup: