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Smile for the Camera
This photo feature offers a special glimpse into the emotions and unforgettable moments that NASCAR inspires – from the unexpected thrill of a first race to life-changing milestones like proposing at The Lady in Black. You never know what you’ll experience at a NASCAR race.
your
In 2022, Ethan’s passion for the sport was at an all-time low until a family friend of his girlfriend gifted him tickets to Darlington. “The Lady in Black” reignited his love for NASCAR, and last year, he proposed to his girlfriend on the frontstretch.
are countless ways people
NASCAR fans are among the most loyal in sports. Kevin is a lifelong fan of Trevor Bayne, and it started with a small connection. Decades ago, Kevin competed in go-karts against Bayne’s uncle. From that moment, Kevin was one of Trevor’s most dedicated supporters.
Finding someone with which to enjoy NASCAR racing with can be a challenge. Luckily for Darin, he picked the perfect event to introduce his girlfriend to the sport: The Great American Race. Heather is now as big a fan as Darin.
When Budweiser and Dale Earnhardt Jr. reunited for a Late Model race at Florence Speedway, Vito was thrilled to attend. He experienced his first Late Model race and even capped the night by meeting Dale Jr.
Seeing
favorite driver race in person is always special. For Oliver, watching Martin Truex Jr. navigate the tight corners of Martinsville under the lights made the moment even more memorable, especially since it was probably the last time Truex will race at the track.
There
discover their love for NASCAR. For some, it’s through family or friends. For others, it’s iconic films like “Days of Thunder.” One fan, inspired by the movie, attended his first Daytona 500 live in 2023 with his friend and son, cementing his connection to the sport.
Gary and Kyle Lawler traveled five hours to take advantage of a unique VIP opportunity at Watkins Glen International. They watched the entire Xfinity Series race from atop a pit box, creating an unforgettable moment for this father-and-son duo.
NASCARCOLLECTIBLES
Collections Worth Sharing
DIE-CAST CARS DOMINATE SHELF SPACE FOR THESE FIVE
Whether race fans collect T-shirts, sheet metal, crew shirts or die-cast cars, at some point, they’ve owned an item that connects them to the sport of NASCAR or a special moment in its history.
Showing off their collections is an integral part of being a dedicated NASCAR fan, and these five definitely have collections worth sharing:
A.J.: A 1:24-scale die-cast collector for five years, A.J. has built his collection around his favorite driver, Kevin Harvick. It includes every Harvick race-winning die-cast produced. A.J. struggles to identify a favorite, but eventually points out Harvick’s 2010 Coke Zero 400-winning Chevrolet.
MATTHEW: Matthew has been a NASCAR fan for more than 15 years and he collects 1:24- and 1:64-scale die-casts. One special piece of his collection is a David Reutimann 2009 Coke 600-winning car. Matthew had to hunt down this Toyota die-cast and finally got his hands on one last year.
ISAAC: After riding out a self-described “NASCAR coma,” Isaac’s love for NASCAR was reborn in 2020. Since then, he has taken his NASCAR die-cast collection to new heights. It presently includes 187 1:24-scale die-casts, roughly 33 percent of which he notes are affiliated with Kyle Busch.
RAHUL: A NASCAR fan for nearly 25 years, Rahul’s collection of 1:64 die-cast cars spotlights a single driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. In fact, his collection has one of every Dale Jr. die-cast produced in 1:64 scale. Two of the cars were personally signed by the thirdgeneration driver and they stand out as this collector’s favorites.
NEVIN: Thanks to his Instagram account – @greatwallofdiecast – this longtime NASCAR fan is well-known for his 1:64 diecast collection. It includes more than 3,000 pieces in several themed displays, including Daytona 500 winners, crown jewel race winners and series champions from the three NASCAR national series.
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Q&A with CARSON KVAPIL
BY JARED TURNER
Carson Kvapil has racing in his blood, so it’s no surprise that the second-generation driver is quite good at wheeling a race car.
After making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut last season with an impressive ninerace slate for JR Motorsports, the 21-year-old son of retired NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil is competing full time in NASCAR’s No. 2 division this year for the organization co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr.
In the following Q&A, the younger Kvapil discusses his relationship with Earnhardt, his expectations this season and more:
HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT COMPETING FULL TIME FOR JR MOTORSPORTS?
It’s a huge opportunity. Running the nine races last year was a pretty good starter for me. It just kind of allowed me to get my feet wet and get a feel for what this year’s going to be like. I went to a handful of different types of tracks to get a feel for all the different places we go to.
Salisbury, North Carolina), so to get that opportunity was a huge deal, and it propelled me to the Xfinity ride. Just forever thankful for the people that brought my name up in that conversation to get me there.
WHAT TYPE OF ROLE HAS YOUR DAD PLAYED IN YOUR DEVELOPMENT AS A DRIVER?
I’m super-pumped for this year, and it’s kind of been something I’ve been working toward these last few years while running Late Models and just trying to work my way up the ladder. We’re in a pretty good spot. I feel like we have a pretty good team behind us. Obviously, the JR Motorsports cars run great week in and week out, so we shouldn’t have any problem running pretty good. HOW DID YOU GET HOOKED UP WITH JR MOTORSPORTS TO RUN THE LATE MODEL?
I guess it was one of those deals where it was right place, right time. Josh Berry was getting his full-time deal to go Xfinity racing at that time, so the Late Model team kind of needed a guy to fill Josh Berry’s spot for the next few years. We were just working away in the shop one day and my dad asked me if I wanted to run the JR Motorsports Late Model at Florence (South Carolina) Speedway that weekend. I had met (JR Motorsports CEO) Kelley Earnhardt Miller and met the guys on the team and talked to them at Millbridge Speedway (in
He’s played a huge role in it. Before I was driving Late Model Stocks for JR Motorsports, me and him were racing Super Late Models full time and, before that, Legend Cars and go-karts and stuff like that. I pretty much grew up in the shop working alongside him, and we would go to the race tracks and go race together. He’s definitely been the guy I’ve leaned on my whole career, and I’m sure I still will here in the next year.
WAS THERE EVER A DOUBT IN YOUR MIND AS A KID THAT YOU WOULD RACE FOR A LIVING?
I really didn’t know, honestly. I was just doing whatever I wanted to do – playing Xbox and playing in the creek, right? I guess I kind of got hooked on racing when I was 9 or 10 years old, and it just took off from there. I first started racing just to have fun, and it was cool. Then when it came time to move up to the Late Model ranks, it was one of these deals where we had to kind of take a seat and see if we really wanted to pursue this and if we were just doing this for fun or actually trying to make a career out of it.
MY FAVORITE WITH Noah Gragson
One of the most outgoing drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series, Noah Gragson never shies away from giving a direct answer or saying exactly what’s on his mind.
Gragson went full-time NASCAR Cup Series racing in 2023 on the heels of an ultra-successful season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series where he won eight races and nearly captured the championship, ultimately finishing runner-up.
Since joining NASCAR’s premier division, Gragson has raced for three different organizations – the third one being Front Row Motorsports, which he joined ahead of the current season.
In the following Q&A, the 26-yearold Las Vegas native talks about some of his favorites in life:
BY JARED TURNER
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT LAS VEGAS?
I LIKE HOW FASTpaced Las Vegas is. I’m an action sports kind of guy, so being able to go out in the backyard and ride my dirt bike or mountain bike or go skateboarding – the mountains aren’t too far away, so I can go snowboarding – I like all that kind of stuff. There’s a lot that goes on there. There’s a lot of really good food, a lot of energy within the city, and a lot of fun things to do.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?
IN LAS VEGAS, IT’S probably my favorite restaurant anywhere, it’s called Le Thai. It’s a Thai food restaurant, and they have really good fried rice there. I love fried rice. I also like teriyaki chicken and steak. I feel like the food around Charlotte doesn’t really compare to West Coast food. Mexican
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORTE TYPE OF MUSIC/ ARTIST?
MY FAVORITE GUY, probably, is HARDY, or 21 Savage. My favorite song by Hardy is “the mockingbird & THE CROW.” He kind of talks about when he first came into songwriting and performing, they wanted him to do it their way, and he finally said, “Screw that. I’m doing it my way, and I’m going to be who I am. And if you don’t like it, then don’t pay attention, but when I come to your city, you’re going to hear my name.”
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE?
“STEP BROTHERS.” I can pretty much quote the whole movie. It’s bad if you watch the movie with myself or (fellow Cup Series driver) Zane Smith, because we just quote the whole thing. I first watched it when I was 8 or 9 years old. I don’t watch it much anymore, but I used to watch it quite a bit. I really like “The Covenant” with Guy Ritchie, too.
By Kauy Ostlien
Coverage Capitalizes on Untapped Distribution Opportunities
It’s an exciting time for NASCAR fans as the new season brings the return of a historic TV partner in TNT, and introduces a new form of digital distribution in Prime Video. The changes are part of a revamped television rights package that opens untapped distribution opportunities for racing’s premier sanctioning body.
So, what’s new, and where will fans find their favorite NASCAR stars this season?
Streaming platform Amazon Prime Video is an addition to the lineup as is Max, a streaming outlet service from Warner Brothers Discovery. Cable channel TNT, which operates under the Warner Brothers Discovery corporate umbrella, also returns to the NASCAR fold.
This new seven-year TV rights package replaces the previous contract, which was shared by FOX Sports and NBC Sports until it expired at the end of the 2024 racing season.
WHAT’S NEW AND WHAT’S STATUS QUO?
To some, the changes may seem overwhelming, but the overall package is actually rather simple to unpack.
First, FOX and NBC return with a hefty slate of NASCAR Cup Series coverage, while FOX also retains full rights to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The CW is back as the full-time provider of the NASCAR Xfinity Series (after a soft launch in late 2024). The CW has many options for viewership, including The CW app, while its primary outlet is available for free with an over-the-antenna.
FOX’s main network will air five NASCAR Cup Series races, including The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium and the Daytona 500. FS1 has a dozen Cup Series races on its schedule, highlighted by the Duels at Daytona and the NASCAR All-Star Race.
NBC’s main network will televise four NASCAR Cup Series races, including the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
NBC’s streaming platform, Peacock, will simulcast the four Cup Series races that air on NBC’s main network. USA Network will do the heavy lifting for the NBC coverage with 10 races in total, including seven playoff races. NBC and USA will, as usual, have coverage of all 10 NASCAR Cup Series playoff races.
For the first half of the season, Amazon Prime Video will stream Cup Series practice and qualifying for all races except The Clash, Daytona 500 and the All-Star Race, which remain with FOX.
For the second half of the schedule, TNT Sports will cover practice and qualifying on TruTV and streaming on Max. Xfinity Series practice and qualifying remain on The CW, much like the Truck Series, which sticks with FOX.
Prime Video and TNT will also broadcast NASCAR Cup Series races this season. The FOX finale shifts from Sonoma Raceway to the North Wilkesboro All-Star Race, with Prime Video picking up Cup Series coverage with the CocaCola 600 on May 25. Amazon will have exclusive broadcasts streaming on Prime Video for the next five races, including the Cup Series debut in Mexico City on June 15. Their stretch of broadcasts ends at Pocono on June 22.
IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT DEBUTS
TNT Sports will take over coverage on June 28 and continue until July 27. TNT is returning to NASCAR for the first time since July 13, 2014. The TNT Sports portion of the schedule is noteworthy as it offers both streaming and cable options. TNT will simulcast its five races on the main TNT channel and on streaming via Max.
This simulcast is not the only interesting aspect of TNT Sports’ coverage, as the five races on TNT will comprise the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series in-season tournament.
This tournament will seed 32 drivers based on their finishes in the final three races on Prime Video. These 32 drivers will face off in a bracket format, with the driver with the best finish advancing to the next round at the next race. This bracket will whittle down throughout TNT’s five races, resulting in two drivers competing to see who finishes best in the Brickyard 400 for a $1 million prize. This format results in a “race within a race” storyline that adds significance to TNT’s coverage.
To watch this tournament, its seeding process, all 36 NASCAR Cup Series points races, the four exhibition races, and practice and qualifying, fans need a TV provider and a subscription to Amazon Prime Video, which can cost as low as $8.99 a month.
WHO’S MOVING, WHO’S STAYING PUT?
There will be no major changes in the FOX and NBC broadcast booths.
Mike Joy will return as the voice of NASCAR on FOX for his 25th season of covering NASCAR for the network. He is the only remaining member of FOX’s original 2001 broadcast booth.
Clint Bowyer and 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick will work alongside Joy. Bowyer is in his fifth season of analyst work for FOX, while this year marks Harvick’s sophomore season as an analyst.
NBC Sports made its booth changes last season, choosing to get a head-start on the new era of NASCAR broadcasting. NBC replaced longtime play-by-play voice Rick Allen with Leigh Diffey at Daytona last August. The move followed the reveal of IndyCar’s shift to FOX, leaving Diffey without a job prior to his addition to the NASCAR booth.
NBC lost its most well-known analyst when Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the network in 2023. However, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte were back last season, working with both Allen and Diffey.
One of the major storylines of the 2024 NASCAR season was how Prime Video and TNT Sports will fill out their booths. The first domino to fall was Earnhardt, who opted to take the year off from broadcasting following his announced signing with Prime Video and TNT in May.
Fans had to wait until Nov. 18 to find out who Earnhardt’s co-workers would be, with Prime Video and TNT announcing that former FOX Sports broadcaster Adam Alexander would do play-by-play coverage. Alexander left FOX Sports after several years, where he most recently was the lead play-by-play voice of the NASCAR Xfinity Series and a host of the late “NASCAR Race Hub” show on FS1. Alexander has a long history with NASCAR, including a stretch as the playby-play voice for NASCAR on TNT.
To cap off its “NASCAR broadcasting dream team,” Prime Video and TNT added NBC analyst and Earnhardt’s former crew chief Steve Letarte. With this signing, Letarte will become the most consistent face on NASCAR TV, working 24 races this season for Prime Video, TNT and NBC.
Alexander will also cover play-by-play duties for the first full season of the NASCAR Xfinity series on the CW. Former Fox analyst Jamie McMurray and longtime driver Parker Kligerman will join the veteran broadcaster in the channel’s first full season of coverage since taking over at Bristol last season.
Fred Lorenzen
Fred Lorenzen built his NASCAR career by initially wheeling his own race cars and later the driver known as “Golden Boy” won 26 Cup Series races while driving for the powerful Holman Moody operation.
28
Born Dec. 30, 1934, Lorenzen began listening to NASCAR races on the radio in the family car as a teenager in the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst, Illinois.
Short tracks in the Chicago area drew him to NASCAR competition in 1956 and he claimed USAC stock car championships in 1958 and ’59. He returned to NASCAR’s premier series in 1960, but a disappointing season threatened to send him home to Chicago.
Sitting alone on Christmas Eve with no hope of returning to racing, Lorenzen got an unexpected phone call from Ralph Moody, offering a top ride with the legendary Holman Moody team in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Lorenzen won three of the 15 NASCAR Cup Series races he entered in the powerful pearl white No. 28 Ford during the 1961 season.
In 1962, there were two more wins with 11 top-five finishes and three pole positions in 19 starts. The next year, he logged six wins and 21 top-five results in 29 races.
From 1964 to 1967, Lorenzen won 15 additional races, including the 1965 Daytona 500. But the loss of his idol and teammate Fireball Roberts in a 1964 crash at Charlotte Motor Speedway and health issues of his own prompted an early retirement from driving on April 24, 1967.
Stock car racing’s handsome superstar said goodbye to a distinguished career as one of the sport’s most revered and respected drivers of the era.
Lorenzen briefly returned to NASCAR from 1970 to 1972, but he did not win. His career earnings totaled $496,572. Lorenzen was 89 when he passed away on Dec. 18, 2024.
I WANT TO GO OUT WHILE I’M ON TOP. I’VE WON EVERYTHING THAT YOU CAN WIN AND THERE’S NO WAY TO GO BUT DOWN.
DURING THE 1964 SEASON, Lorenzen entered 16 NASCAR Cup Series events and won eight, including superspeedway races at Atlanta, Charlotte and Darlington. Lorenzen had his No. 28 Ford out front for 2,375 of 5,375 laps completed. He was a fan favorite everywhere he raced throughout his 12-year career.
LORENZEN ENTERED RACES with the highest purses and put his cars up front when lap money was on the line. His total earnings of $122,587 in 1963 made him the first NASCAR driver to win more than $100,000 in a single season. He was often spotted calling his stockbroker after victories.
KNOWN FOR LORENZEN WAS handsome and had quite a female fan following. He was known to date movie stars and magazine models when his schedule allowed. He never partied the night before a race and felt getting a good night’s sleep was a huge advantage on the track against his fellow competitors.
THE BEST NASCAR TRACKS TO CAMP
Camping at a NASCAR Cup Series race offers fans an immersive experience, combining the thrill of the race with the camaraderie of fellow enthusiasts. Here are five top tracks renowned for their exceptional camping facilities:
1. Pocono Raceway
Nestled in the scenic Pocono Mountains, Pocono Raceway provides a picturesque setting for campers. The track offers various camping options, including spots within the infield, allowing fans to be close to the action. While some packages may be on the higher end, Pocono also provides complimentary camping with select ticket bundles, making it accessible for different budgets.
2. Texas Motor Speedway
Texas Motor Speedway boasts a range of camping choices, from premium full hook-up sites to tent camping. A notable feature is the expansive backstretch video screen, ensuring that all campers, even those not adjacent to the track, can enjoy live race coverage. Tent camping rates start at $75 for the weekend, catering to fans seeking both luxury and affordability.
3. Daytona International Speedway
As the “World Center of Racing,” Daytona offers a unique camping experience. The infield features a lake and camping spots along the renowned road course, placing fans in the heart of racing history. Due to high demand, especially during the Daytona 500, securing a spot can be competitive. However, the summer race weekend often has more availability, providing additional opportunities for fans.
4. Charlotte Motor Speedway
Located near NASCAR’s hub, Charlotte Motor Speedway offers diverse camping options, from family-friendly areas to luxury sites overlooking the track. The GEICO Family Campground is an affordable choice at $175 for the weekend, with ample availability. Its proximity to various racing team facilities enhances the overall experience for fans.
5.
Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega stands out for its versatile camping offerings. The track features lively areas like The Boulevard for fans seeking an energetic atmosphere, as well as quieter, family-oriented campgrounds. Notably, Talladega provides free camping in select lots for attendees with a Sunday grandstand ticket, making it an attractive option for many.
Each of these tracks delivers a distinct camping experience, allowing fans to fully engage with the race and the surrounding community.
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And Then... ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE
Robert Pressley Remembers the 1990 Budweiser 250 at Bristol
BY RICK HOUSTON HOST OF THE SCENE VAULT PODCAST
It is hard to forget the images of Michael Waltrip’s infamous accident during what’s now a NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway in April 1990.
Contact between Waltrip’s car and the one driven by Robert Pressley sent Waltrip’s entry into the wall coming off Turn 2. Waltrip’s machine disintegrated into a pile of sheet metal and roll bars, completely unrecognizable as the race car it had been just moments before. Onlookers feared the worst, but once being freed from the wreckage, Waltrip miraculously stood up in the midst of it all uninjured.
After spending the night in a nearby hospital for observation – surely, it was widely felt, something, somewhere on Waltrip must have been out of whack – he raced as planned in the next day’s NASCAR Cup Series event.
Waltrip has shared his memories of the incident many times in the 35 years since that bright, but cold, day in the east Tennessee foothills. But Pressley? He was asked about his role for the first time on an episode of The Scene Vault Podcast, hosted by veteran journalists Rick Houston and Steve Waid.
The Scene Vault Podcast: In April 1990 at Bristol, you’re racing Michael Waltrip, and the two of you get together a little bit, and all hell breaks loose. What do you remember about that day?
Robert Pressley: I am so glad we’re talking about that, because this is something that Michael has talked about many a time, and I’ve never got to really go publicly and say exactly what happened – and this is perfect for the story. I’m driving for Alliance Tractor Trailer Training Center. Michael’s driving for (car owner) Ronnie Silvers, who lives here in Asheville (North Carolina). They just happened to be sponsored in a bunch of races by Blanton’s Tractor Trailer Training Center, OK?
We had gotten into a little controversy, kind of, because, let me tell you, it was a rivalry between these two training centers to learn how to drive a truck. They also were only a
ROBERT PRESSLEY
■ 205 NASCAR Cup Series starts.
■ 244 NASCAR Xfinity Series races, 10 Wins.
■ 69 Craftsman Truck Series races, 2 Wins.
mile-and-a-half apart there. So me and Michael kind of got into it at Hickory, you know, bumping and everything. And somebody had said something about it was because Blanton’s wanted to beat Alliance. And Alliance was like whatever it takes. We can’t let the Blanton car win. So now we go to Bristol.
Blanton’s was not on the car at Bristol, at least as the primary sponsor. It was a Kool-Aid car. At Hickory and some of the race tracks that was close here, it had Blanton’s Tractor Trailer Training Center as a primary sponsor for Ronnie Silvers. So we get to Bristol, and now this is 1990, my first or second race at Bristol, because I run there in 1989 in my own car.
Michael and Kyle Petty was dominating the race, the Peak Antifreeze-sponsored car and Michael. I was getting lapped … I was probably two laps down, might have been three. They both pitted. Somehow Michael didn’t get out of the pits as quick, and that’s when the slow cars were on the bottom – fast cars on the top and Kyle got away from him.
I’ve watched this film hundreds of times to make sure what I thought matched up. And this is in the ‘90s. That was a terrific wreck that you don’t want to ever see. And Michael … the race track is coming apart. If you go back and look at the history of the race track coming apart, there’s loose gravel up there and everything … and rubber.
Michael’s coming. My spotter says, “The 30 car is coming. He’s second place or third place or whatever.” And you know, I’m down on the apron like a slow car was supposed to be. And when we come off of Turn 2, this is where the controversy is going to start. I honestly, in my opinion, think that Mike was going to give me a little nudge to say, “Hey, boy, where are you at now? Where’s this Alliance car at now?”
Mike clipped my right rear tire. And when he did, he shot straight into that gate. Yeah, I knew, and I seen it hit. And, you know, wow, what did I just see? Am I delirious? Did I just witness what I seen in the mirror? We didn’t come back around. They red-flagged that race, and I’m looking and everybody’s staring at me, like, what in the heck just happened? And then somebody says, “Hey, Robert, that wasn’t your fault.”
So we get out of the car, and I look over there and I see all this. And I mean, I almost wanted to throw up. I was sick, seeing parts from the body of the car here, motors there. And all of a sudden, we’re sitting there during the red flag and they’re cleaning it up. Here comes Michael on a golf cart going to the infield.
Let me tell you what hurt. Watching that wreck did not hurt as bad as Michael staring me down as he passed me on that golf cart. He went by and we were about 20 feet apart. I was so relieved he was alive that I never thought about any controversy, and he never said a word. He just stared as he went by on that golf cart. I felt so much better because I knew that it wasn’t my fault or anything. Later on, I heard Michael on a podcast tell somebody, “I wanted to go over there and whoop him, but I knew how tough them old Asheville boys was.” Heck, I think to him, he was just glad to be alive.
But later on, I’m in Cup, and this is years later. Michael’s brother, Darrell, told me, “You about killed my brother,” and I said, “Darrell, how did I do it? How did I wreck him?” He said, “Well, whenever you turned him into that wall.” I said, “Oh, I didn’t know that. I turned him in the wall?” He said, “Yeah, when y’all come off the corner, you just turned him in the wall.” I said, “Darrell, you need go watch the video. He’s behind me, and you know, I knew I was good, but I didn’t know I could wreck somebody off the back bumper. And he just said, “Well, I think you need to realize what happened.” Darrell came back to me the next week, and said, “We had always heard you put him in the wall, but that’s not what happened.”
That is probably the most Darrell or Michael ever talked about it with me. All these years, me and Michael probably have not said 20 words together since that wreck … I mean maybe in driver introduction all the races we run. It would be, whenever we walked by each other, we just looked at each other. No words were ever spoken.
I’m so glad you brought that date up, because that the tape will show every bit of what I’m talking about, from them to dominating the race, up to the wreck happening. It is hard to believe that’s been 35 years ago now.
Victory Junction
A CAMP WHERE KIDS CONQUER CHALLENGES AND EMBRACE POSSIBILITY
BY JARED TURNER
NNestled on close to 550 acres in Randleman, North Carolina, outside of Greensboro, is a place where children with serious and chronic medical conditions can find temporary respite from the challenges they face.
It’s a place where they can spend several days enjoying nature, playing fun games, eating good food and making new friends – all at no cost to them or their families, thanks to the generous contributions of reliable donors.
This place is Victory Junction, a NASCAR-themed camp started by NASCAR’s legendary Petty family 21 years ago to help children with serious and chronic medical conditions build confidence, foster independence, and discover their incredible potential.
“We are a camp for every kid,” said Jonathan Lemmon, Victory Junction’s chief operating officer. “We want them to feel like they belong and that they can come be a kid. We’re going to take care of the medical things that are going on while they’re here. We’re going to make sure they have good, healthy, balanced nutritious meals. We’re also going to make sure it’s an environment where they can have the most fun.”
Since hosting its first campers in June 2004, Victory Junction has served tens of thousands of kids from all 50 states and several countries. Victory Junction’s traditional summer camps – open to ages 6-16 and each lasting four or five days – typically begin in early June and end in early August. Each week of camp is known as a “session” and is specifically designed for children with a particular diagnosis.
For example, one of the sessions in the summer of 2025 is for kids with cerebral palsy. Another is for children with diabetes. The full list of sessions is available at VictoryJunction.org.
Grouping campers allows Victory Junction to have the appropriate medical staff on-site each week. It also serves another very important purpose.
“Kids come to Camp and they go, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m not the only one that has this diagnosis,’ or ‘I’m not the only one that deals with going to the doctor to get dialysis every three days,’ or ‘I’m not the only one that deals with going to get chemo,’ or ‘I’m not the only one on a transplant list,’” Lemmon said. “They get to make that connection. In all the time I’ve spent at Camp, that is the most powerful thing to see. That’s because kids go from feeling like, ‘Hey, I’m alone in this’ to ‘not only am I not alone, but I keep making friends and I’m at a place where I can belong.’”
Popular attractions with Victory Junction campers include a zipline, a climbing tower, a horse barn, a petting zoo, arts and crafts, an on-site bowling alley
and theater, a gym and an indoor baseball field. The most recent upgrade is a redesigned waterpark paid for by the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America.
The $2.5 million project features a lazy river, splash pads, swimming areas and much more. Every Tuesday night in the summer, campers experience what’s known as the NASCARnival. This electrifying extravaganza includes carnival-style games, lots of sweet treats to eat and drink, and a live pit stop performed by a NASCAR team.
“That’s just a magical night,” Lemmon said. “That doesn’t happen anywhere else on the planet. It never gets old. But really, there’s something for everybody all day every day.”
None of this would be possible, however, without a team of dedicated staff members and volunteers. Each week in the summer, Victory Junction needs between 40 and 60 volunteers to perform a range of jobs ranging from that of cabin counselor to lifeguard.
Volunteers can serve up to three weeks in the summer, and their meals and lodging are free. Paid staff members, which typically include many teachers and college students, serve at each of the camp’s nine summer sessions and arrive early to participate in a training and orientation program. Their meals and lodging are likewise at no cost.
“Every year I ask the summer team, ‘Why do you want to work here?’” Lemmon said. “They say, ‘I want to make a difference in somebody’s life.’ I’m like, ‘That’s awesome. That’s going to happen. But what you may not realize is that these kids are going to change your life way more than you expect.’
“That’s never failed me. Every year, the staff comes up to me at the end of the summer and they go, ‘You were right.’ As long as that keeps happening, we’re going to keep doing camp.”
To sign up to camp, volunteer or join the summer staff, and to learn more about Victory Junction’s application process and program offerings, including its family weekend camps and day programs, visit VictoryJunction.org/Discover.
KICKTHE TIRES LightTHE fIRES
At Victory Junction, we believe every child deserves to laugh out loud, dream fearlessly, and race toward a life filled with endless possibilities. But for kids with serious and chronic medical conditions, these experiences can often feel out of reach.
Founded by NASCAR legends Richard and Kyle Petty, Victory Junction puts fun at the forefront – at no cost to campers or their families. Every activity is carefully designed to help children build confidence, foster independence, and discover their incredible potential.
Kids and families need your support.
As a NASCAR fan, you know every race begins with preparation – “kicking the tires” to make sure everything’s ready before “lighting the fires” to power your favorite driver across the finish line.
We invite you to Kick the Tires by learning more about what makes Victory Junction a life-changing experience.
Feeling inspired? Then Light the Fires by helping send kids to camp. Refer a camper, or make a donation today!
BEST DRIVERS BY TRACK TYPE
Who
Should
Be Fast Where When New Season Launches
BY KAUY OSTLIEN
The NASCAR Cup Series visits four primary race-track configurations during the course of its 36-race points season: Intermediate Tracks, Superspeedway/Drafting Tracks, Short Tracks and Road/Street Courses.
As the new season gets the green flag, let’s explore the drivers to watch on each type of track. Think of this as a power ranking that highlights the top performers and winners on the various track configurations.
SHORT TRACKS
Less than 1.0 mile: Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond, Iowa
DENNY HAMLIN
Hamlin started last season strong, with all three of his wins coming on short tracks. His average finish of 6.9 on these tracks underscored his consistency, though his momentum waned late in the season. With 14 career short-track triumphs, Hamlin remains a formidable competitor.
KYLE LARSON
Larson excelled on short tracks in 2024, earning six top-10 finishes in seven races, including a dominant win at Bristol where he led 462 of 500 laps. His average finish of 7.9 highlights his consistency and championship potential.
RYAN BLANEY
Blaney’s short-track performances last season were critical to his playoff success. Wins at Iowa and Martinsville helped secure his spot in the Championship 4, with an impressive average finish of 8.4 on these tracks.
Honorable Mentions: Christopher Bell, Josh Berry and William Byron
INTERMEDIATE TRACKS
1.0 mile to 2.0 miles: Charlotte, Darlington, Dover, Homestead, Kansas, Las Vegas, Michigan, Nashville, New Hampshire, Phoenix, Texas, St. Louis CHRISTOPHER BELL
Bell’s 2024 season was one of his best with strong performances at numerous Intermediate tracks, including a rain-shortened win in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May. Despite midseason struggles, Bell eventually found his footing on the high-speed ovals and was a regular top-five finisher. His consistency makes him a key contender.
JOEY LOGANO
Logano’s Intermediate track success often seems to come out of nowhere. A late-race caution at Nashville secured his playoff spot, and his victory at Las Vegas locked him into the Championship 4. His knack for clutch performances makes him a constant threat.
Kyle Larson won the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2024.
Christopher Bell won the 2024 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
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CHASE ELLIOTT
After a chaotic 2023, Elliott bounced back last year with a championship-caliber season. His consistency on Intermediate tracks stood out, earning eight top-10 finishes and an average finish of 11.6. A win at Texas in April ended his losing streak and cemented his status as a contender.
Honorable Mentions: Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, William Byron
ROAD AND STREET COURSES
COTA, CLT ROVAL, Chicago, Sonoma, Watkins Glen
KYLE LARSON
Larson proved his versatility with two road course wins in 2024 – Sonoma and the Charlotte ROVAL. He also earned the pole for the Chicago Street Circuit and notched an Xfinity Series victory on a road course. With an additional serpentine circuit (Mexico City) on this year’s schedule, Larson’s dominance is likely to continue.
TYLER REDDICK
Of Reddick’s eight career Cup Series wins, three are on road courses. Although winless on these tracks in 2024, he remained consistent with three top-10 finishes, showing he’s a perennial threat on technical circuits.
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN
In his first full-time Cup Series season, the New Zealander is a driver to watch. He won three straight Xfinity Series road course races a year ago, including a dominant performance in Chicago. Still finding his way on the ovals, SVG’s road-racing skills will carry the Cup Series rookie into the playoffs.
Honorable Mentions: A.J. Allmendinger, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher
SUPERSPEEDWAY DRAFTING TRACKS
Daytona, Talladega, Atlanta
BRAD KESELOWSKI
Keselowski consistently runs at the front on superspeedways, earning three top-10 finishes in 2024. Two secondplace finishes at Talladega were particularly heartbreaking, but the owner/ driver’s experience and skill keep him a top contender.
MICHAEL MCDOWELL
Despite crashes in three of six superspeedway/drafting races in 2024, McDowell remains a strong qualifier, sweeping the poles at Atlanta and Talladega and adding another at Daytona. He’ll aim to convert his speed into better finishes with a different team this season.
RICKY STENHOUSE JR.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. proved his superspeedway prowess with a Talladega win in 2024. All four of his career wins have come on drafting tracks, solidifying his reputation as one of the best on these circuits. He’s back with the same team but the ownership group has changed.
Honorable Mentions: Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Todd Gilliland
These drivers have excelled on specific track types, making them the ones to watch as we gear up for another NASCAR Cup Series season.
Shane Van Gisbergen won the 2023 Chicago Street Race in his first NASCAR Cup Series start.
Michael McDowell won his first NASCAR Cup Series race in the 2022 Daytona 500.
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XFINITY SERIES ROOKIE CLASS COULD BE BEST EVER
BY KAUY OSTLIEN
The 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie class is shaping up to be one of the strongest in recent memory. Featuring a group of accomplished drivers with impressive résumés across multiple racing series, these rookies bring considerable potential and high expectations.
ROOKIE CLASS STATS
The 2025 rookie class drivers boast exceptional achieve ments in their careers, including wins and championships at various levels of NASCAR and beyond:
• ARCA Wins: 37
• Truck Series Wins: 11
• Xfinity Series Wins: 1
• Championships: 7
• Major Races: 2016 Snowball Derby, 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona These accolades set a
TRUCK SERIES GRADUATES
Drivers advancing from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series include Christian Eckes, Daniel Dye, Nick Sanchez, Dean Thompson and Taylor Gray:
CHRISTIAN ECKES: Moving to Kaulig Racing after one of the best Truck Series seasons in recent years, logging 22 top-10 finishes in 23 races.
DANIEL DYE: Dye also joins Kaulig Racing, following a solid 2024 Truck Series playoff campaign.
NICK SANCHEZ: The 2022 ARCA champion transitions to Big Machine Racing, carrying momentum from a strong Truck Series career.
DEAN THOMPSON: Thompson will join Sam Hunt Racing, aiming to capitalize on his potential after consistent Truck Series performances.
TAYLOR GRAY: Gray moves to the No. 54 car at JGR, entering 2025 with playoff experience and a reputation for solid runs under pressure.
ROOKIES IN THE SPOTLIGHT
While there are underdog rookies, such as OUR Motorsports’ Kris Wright, several drivers moving to top-tier teams stand out. These include rookies transitioning from part-time schedules and fulltime Truck Series competition to their first full-time NASCAR National Series seasons.
CARSON KVAPIL
JR MOTORSPORTS
Kvapil, a second-generation driver, impressed in his parttime Xfinity Series schedule with JR Motorsports in 2024. He enters the series full time, bringing experience from his three CARS Tour championships.
CONNOR ZILISCH
JR MOTORSPORTS
Zilisch made an impactful debut, dominating his first series appearances and earning a major victory at the 2024 Rolex 24 At Daytona. He is expected to build on his rivalry with William Sawalich, with whom he battled in the ARCA Menards Series.
WILLIAM SAWALICH
JOE GIBBS RACING
Sawalich has been a dominant force in ARCA, collecting two ARCA East titles and consistently performing at the highest
2022 ARCA Champion Nick Sanchez
Ward Burton & State Water Heaters Sponsor and Retired Driver Focus on Wildlife Initiatives
BY JARED TURNER
It’s virtually unheard of in NASCAR for a sponsor to continue to partner with a driver long after that driver’s racing days are over.
One notable exception: 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton and State Water Heaters. The two formed a relationship in 2006 when State Water Heaters officials agreed to become a primary sponsor on Burton’s No. 4 Morgan-McClure Motorsports Chevrolet for the 2007 Cup Series season – his final year in NASCAR’s premier division.
That relationship continues to this day and is stronger than ever.
“When the on-track stuff ended with State and Ward in 2007, Ward said, ‘Hey, man, we work really well together. How can I help you continue to sell water heaters?’” said Jeff Storie, State Water Heaters’ marketing director. “So, Ward and I put together a program in 2009 where we would go and utilize the Richard Petty Driving Experience, bring Ward along, rent the whole day out at the track and let Ward take our customers on an adventure both giving them a ride at his speed, and then letting the customer get in the car and do what they could at their speed.
“So, we built a new relationship around those sorts of things as well as events at Ward’s properties.”
Through his nonprofit Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation, Burton is responsible for, among many other things, the upkeep of roughly 11,000 acres of land –spread across five counties in his home state of Virginia.
An avid outdoorsman his entire life, Burton is a major advocate of wildlife conservation, which is all about the preservation and protection of animals, plants and their habitats so future generations can benefit from nature.
“He tries to take care of nature because nature means an awful lot to him,” Storie said. “There’s a famous story about Ward as an 18-year-old or 19-year-old going out and living in the woods for a year or two. Literally, like Grizzly Adams, he lived off the land – even before he got into racing.
“So, the outdoors mean a lot to him. And it’s great because it just aligns so closely with what our customers do in their free time and so it’s just a natural fit for us to support him and support the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation and then use that as a tool to sell water heaters.”
For the better part of two decades, State Water Heaters has been involved in virtually every part of Burton’s life since he retired from the Cup Series with five wins that included not only the Daytona 500 but one of the sport’s other “crownjewel” events, the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
State Water Heaters’ involvement in the Burton family’s endeavors include but aren’t limited to the company’s support of ongoing fundraising events in connection with the WBWF, helping Ward with various projects he undertakes on a regular basis to show appreciation for U.S. military veterans, serving as a NASCAR Xfinity Series team sponsor for Ward’s son Jeb, and sponsoring “Crossroads with the Burtons “– a Sportsman Channel TV series featuring the Burtons and focusing on their lives away from the track and affinity for all things outdoors.
State Water Heaters also provides funding for an emotional support dog that the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation gives away each year to someone in need.
“They’ve been more of, really, a friend and part of the family than a sponsor,” Burton said of State Water Heaters, a leading manufacturer of commercial and residential water heaters for more than 60 years.
“Pretty much every facility that my foundation has or I have either has or is going to have State Water Heaters providing our hot water. What they’ve done to help support our conservation efforts, in particular veteran outreach, has been outstanding as a company.
“To meet and work with their contractors, wholesalers and reps around the country has been a privilege because they’re all hard-working men and women that own their own companies. It’s just been an awesome opportunity to meet great people, and, hopefully, we’ve got many more years to work together and keep on trying to make a difference.”
In return for all that State Waters and parent company A.O. Smith do for his foundation and other philanthropic interests, Ward Burton uses every available opportunity to promote the brand. Sometimes that means taking customers fishing or hunting on the land his foundation owns and manages. Other times, it might mean picking up the phone and calling someone that State Water Heaters believes the business could serve.
“Ward has several properties now where you can shoot skeet, shoot bow-and-arrow and go fishing,” Storie said. “So, we utilize those and put Ward and Jeb with our customers off the track. Hunting and fishing align tightly with what our customers spend their weekends doing. That is Ward Burton in a nutshell: outdoors with a fishing pole or a shotgun. So, we’ve just continued that over the full length of our agreement. Some years look different than others, but there hasn’t been a year that’s gone by where we haven’t put Ward with a fishing pole with our customers and just had one hell of a fun time.”
As recently as December, Burton hosted two clay target shooting and quail hunting events, each attended by a dozen State Water Heaters customers who own their own heating and plumbing business. Burton hosted one of the events at a facility run by his foundation, while the other took place at a property in the Richmond area.
“Pretty much any opportunity that we run across – it
may be a single individual, particularly a veteran that’s needing help – State Water Heaters is always there, and they’re always trying to make a difference,” Burton said. “We in return are always trying to find new ways to communicate about new types of activities we can do to support one another.”
Burton doesn’t receive personal payments from State Water Heaters, but the money goes to support the causes in which he believes.
“That just makes the relationship that much more realistic and that much more special,” he said. “They’re good people that run that company. And all these individually owned plumbing companies that buy State Water Heaters, they’re buying them because they believe in the products and that technology is changing quickly with all kinds of new products.
“So, they’ve got the support, but they know the reps and the company are going to do everything they can to support them so they have the margins to make a living and they have happy customers. So, at the end of the day, that’s why State Water Heaters and A. O. Smith are successful. And we’re just lucky to be a part of all that, you know?”
State Waters Heaters feels just as lucky to be partnered with the Burtons.
“When we got the chance to take a person with the history and success of Ward and attach him to our brand and put him in front of our customers, obviously, it was a no-brainer,” Storie said. “And I think as that’s unfolded, it’s turned into everything we hoped it would be.
“We’re coming up on our 20th year in racing in 2025, and I personally think that’s a really cool thing, because sponsors just don’t stick around that long. But for us, it’s morphed beyond just racing to ‘Crossroads with the Burtons’ and being able to take our customers fishing on Ward’s property, and things like that. Who Ward is, ties really, really closely to who our customers are – just hard-working, blue-collar guys. And that’s become a really cool and successful thing for us.”
WARD BURTON
— a five-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner and passionate advocate for conserving America’s land and wildlife through wise stewardship — has added an extra layer of intrigue to “Crossroads with the Burtons,” which boasted more than 33,000 followers on Facebook alone at press time.
TOP10 WELDING SAFETY TIPS EVERY WELDER SHOULD KNOW
At Forney Industries, safety is our top priority. Whether you’re a seasoned welder or just starting out, it’s crucial to prioritize safety measures to protect yourself and those around you. Here are the top 10 welding safety tips recommended by Forney’s Expert Tech Services:
1
Wear Proper Protective Clothing
When it comes to welding, what you wear matters. Opt for cotton clothing as opposed to polyester. Cotton burns, whereas polyester melts and can stick to your skin, causing severe burns. Forney’s flame-retardant jackets are a musthave for welding professionals. Trust in the superior quality and functionality of Forney’s® welding jacket to keep you safe and comfortable on the job.
2
Cover All Exposed Skin
Welding exposes you to intense UV radiation similar to the sun, but without the Earth’s atmosphere to filter it. Protect your skin by covering all exposed areas to avoid sunburn-like effects.
3
Ensure a Good Grounding Path
Electricity follows the path of least resistance, so ensure your welding setup has a solid grounding path to prevent electric shocks. To achieve this, find clean metal that is not painted, primed, or rusty, and place the actual clamp as close to the weld as possible. Additionally, check all connections for tightness.
4
Avoid Creases & Folds in Clothing
Sparks and slag can easily get trapped in folds or creases of clothing, leading to smoldering and potential fire hazards. Wear fitted clothing without creases to minimize this risk.
5
Maintain Your Equipment
Regularly clean and maintain your welding equipment to keep it in good working condition. This practice enhances safety and improves the quality of your welds. For instance, use Forney’s nozzle gel to eliminate erratic operation with a film that won’t clog the orifices and threads on MIG nozzles and contact tips. Additionally, blow out the internals with compressed air using the Forney 2.5 CFM Air Compressor.
6
Ensure Sufficient Ventilation
Welding produces harmful smoke and fumes that can damage your lungs. Work in well-ventilated areas or use respiratory protection like a respirator or fume extractor.
7
Clear the Work Area
Remove flammable materials such as wood, cardboard, or dry leaves from your work area. Keep a fire extinguisher nearby in case of emergencies.
8
Test Auto Darkening Helmets
Auto darkening welding helmets are convenient but require proper maintenance. Test them periodically using a flashlight or exposure to natural light to ensure the batteries are functional and will darken appropriately during welding.
9
Store Helmets Correctly Store auto darkening welding helmets in a location where the solar charge panel is exposed to ambient light. This helps maintain battery life and ensures the helmet is always ready for use.
10 Stay Informed and Educated Lastly, never stop learning about welding safety. Stay updated on the latest safety protocols, techniques, and equipment to ensure you’re always working as safely as possible.
By following these welding safety tips from Forney’s Expert Tech Services, you can protect yourself from potential hazards and enjoy a safer, more productive welding experience. Your safety is paramount, and investing in proper safety practices is investing in your well-being. For more information and to explore our range of welding safety products, visit https://www.forneyind.com.
Stay safe and weld on!
Disclaimer: Remember, these tips are general guidelines. Always consult specific safety guidelines and regulations for your welding processes and equipment.
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THINGS TO WATCH FOR IN 2025 25
As another NASCAR season launches, new storylines will grace the home pages of websites and the covers of print publications. The constant flow of news can be dizzying this time of year, whether it’s a young hotshot driver entering NASCAR’s top divisions, familiar drivers landing in new places or teams shrinking or expanding.
Last year, fans followed numerous storylines that developed throughout the racing season and continued to generate interest long after the final checkered flag was waved.
As NASCAR heads into what feels like a new era, it’s critical to keep up with all the excitement, changes, drama and potential headlines of an ever-changing motorsports landscape.
So, as the sun rises on a new NASCAR season, here are 25 Things to Watch For in 2025. BY KAUY OSTLIEN
DALE JR.’S ICONIC NO. 8
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports has fielded a car carrying the No. 8 each year since 2021. However, and to the disappointment of longtime Earnhardt fans, the number was of a different design than the one Earnhardt made famous when he drove for Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Last year, a behind-the-scenes deal changed that. First, Earnhardt Jr. entered a car carrying the stylized number in conjunction with sponsor Budweiser in the South Carolina 400 late model race at South Carolina’s Florence Motor
Then, JRM officials announced they would rebrand Sammy Smith’s No. 8 Chevrolet with the stylized No. 8 made famous by JRM’s owner.
This will be the first time the “DEI No. 8” will race in the Xfinity Series since 2008 when Kerry Earnhardt used the number during the Daytona night race for DEI. Of course, the car’s most iconic stretch in the series came with Martin Truex Jr., who carried the number to back-to-back series championships in 2004 and 2005 for Chance2 Motorsports.
Smith is entering his sophomore season with JRM and, despite a slow start to 2024, rebounded late in the year for a solid playoff run. This included a win in the Round of 12 at Talladega, Smith’s first with JRM and the second of his career.
REMEMBER TO PACK YOUR PASSPORT
After years of speculation that NASCAR would eventually head north for a Cup Series points race in Montreal, the sanctioning body pulled an audible and is headed south of the border to Mexico City.
The Cup Series will race at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on June 15. Of course, NASCAR has visited Mexico in the past with Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez hosting the NASCAR Xfinity Series from 2005 to 2008. Current Cup Series regulars Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch competed in those races.
The Xfinity Series will join the NASCAR Cup and Mexico Series in Mexico City during the June 13-15 race weekend.
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez also hosts an annual Formula 1 event. However, NASCAR will not utilize the 17-turn Formula 1 circuit, opting for a 14turn course design.
The Mexico City event will be the Cup Series’ first points race outside the United States since 1958 when the series visited Exposition Stadium in Toronto, Ontario. Lee Petty won that race in his 1957 Oldsmobile as part of a sevenwin campaign that season.
The last time the Cup Series raced outside the U.S. was in 1998 at Japan’s Twin-Ring Motegi. Mike Skinner topped the exhibition, nonpoints event in a Richard Childress Chevy.
23
STREAMING SERVICES JOIN THE PARTY
As part of a new media rights contract, NASCAR is taking the Cup Series back to TNT while streaming assumes a significant role in the sanctioning body’s media universe.
This new contract runs through the 2031 season.
FOX and FS1 will televise 15 Cup Series races with NBC and USA covering the playoffs. New this year, Amazon Prime Video and TNT, which will simulcast on Max, will have five races each. Of course, the most notable aspect is that five of those Cup Series races will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
Prime Video and TNT/Max will have a close relationship. Except for select race weekends, such as the Clash, Daytona 500 and the All-Star Race, Prime will broadcast practice and qualifying for the first half of the season, with TNT associates TruTV and Max taking the second half. Practice and qualifying will not be the only thing Prime Video and TNT/Max will have in common this season, as they will share a broadcast booth with Adam Alexander doing play-byplay alongside analysts Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte. Amazon Prime Video and TNT/Max will take over race coverage starting May 25 with the Coca-Cola 600 on Prime and ending July 27 on TNT at Indianapolis.
HAAS DOWNSIZES TO A SINGLE CUP CAR
Businessman Gene Haas has spent the offseason transitioning the remnants of Stewart-Haas Racing into the Haas Factory Team. Haas formed Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009 with co-owner and driver Tony Stewart. The team won the NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2011 and continued to grow from there.
SHR reached its peak in the mid-2010s with drivers such as Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch. However, the end of 2023 marked a turning point as Harvick retired and Almirola moved to a part-time role with Joe Gibbs Racing.
While Stewart focused on drag racing, SHR struggled at the Cup Series level with officials eventually announcing the team would close at the end of the 2024 season.
During the year, Haas formulated plans to field one NASCAR Cup Series team and two Xfinity Series entries with the rebranded Haas Factory Team. For the team’s Cup Series driver, Haas called on former SHR wheelman and 2023 Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer. Furthermore, while keeping the Haas name in the Cup Series was significant, maintaining the Xfinity Series program was even more important. The team revamped its Xfinity Series lineup, signing series veterans Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed.
25THINGSTOWATCH
SVG’S ROOKIE CUP SERIES SEASON
One of the best stories of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season was the American debut of Supercars sensation Shane van Gisbergen.
Van Gisbergen arrived in NASCAR as part of Trackhouse Racing’s Project91. The New Zealander was spectacular during the rain-soaked Chicago Street Race and claimed his first career win in his first career NASCAR Cup Series start.
Trackhouse Racing and Kaulig Racing then joined forces for a 2024 effort in which Van Gisbergen ran the full Xfinity Series schedule and made select NASCAR Cup Series appearances.
He won three Xfinity Series races, all on serpentine circuits, and finished second in the rookie-ofthe-year standings.
On the Cup Series side of the equation, SVG struggled in Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 car. However, he continued to improve as the season progressed.
In August, Trackhouse owner Justin Marks announced his team would expand to three NASCAR Cup Series entries for 2025, with SVG piloting the No. 88 Chevrolet.
SVG has become a fan favorite. He’s still learning the art of racing on oval tracks, but with five road course events and the Chicago Street Race on the Cup Series schedule this year, he could make a serious run in the playoffs.
DALE JR. BACK IN THE BOOTH
Since retiring from NASCAR Cup Series competition in 2017, Dale Earnhardt Jr has focused on being a husband and father, while also running a few races, growing his media content company and developing his broadcasting skills.
His broadcasting career began with NBC Sports, where he worked alongside Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Rick Allen.
However, at the start of the 2024 season, Earnhardt announced he was no longer working for NBC Sports. Rather than a harsh departure, this was more of a mutual parting of ways with Earnhardt looking for new opportunities.
Earnhardt’s free agency, of course, coincided with the introduction of Amazon Prime Video and TNT/Max as NASCAR’s newest broadcast partners.
Earnhardt later announced he would join Amazon/TNT’s coverage of NASCAR. Looking to the 2025 season, Earnhardt leads a talented booth for Amazon/TNT. He will be joined by play-by-play voice Adam Alexander, who most recently worked for FOX Sports.
Earnhardt is also in familiar company as his former crew chief and fellow analyst Letarte brings his talents to the Amazon/TNT broadcast booth. Letarte is adding the Amazon/TNT broadcast to his NBC coverage this season, making him the most consistent voice in a NASCAR TV booth.
NASCAR’S NEW $1 MILLION TOURNAMENT
In 2024, the NBA became the first professional U.S. sports league to have some form of regularseason tournament. The NASCAR Cup Series will introduce a similar tournament this year with competitors vying for a $1 million first-place prize.
The 32-driver, bracket-style tournament will begin prior to TNT/Max’s portion of the schedule. Over the final three races streamed on Amazon Prime Video, NASCAR will track the top 32 finishers and seed them in the bracket.
The first round of the tournament will take place at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 28. Thirty-two drivers will face off, one versus one against another driver in the field, and the driver with the best finish in each race advances to the next round. These head-to-head battles take place within each race, meaning every driver is looking to beat one specific opponent.
Drivers will be eliminated throughout the five races televised on TNT/Max with the in-season champion decided during the Brickyard 400 on July 27.
The TNT portion of the schedule is diverse. It includes a short track, a superspeedway, hybrid racing at Atlanta and two road course events. These various racing styles mean an upset winner is definitely in play for this tournament.
THE ROCK TRIUMPHS OVER A ONCE UNCERTAIN FUTURE
NASCAR digs deeper into its roots this season with the return of North Carolina’s Rockingham Speedway to the national series schedule.
On April 18-19, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Xfinity Series will join forces with the ARCA Menards Series East for the first NASCAR-sanctioned races at the 1.017-mile track since 2013. Better known as The Rock or even North Carolina Speedway, Rockingham hosted its first NASCAR race in 1965. However, as NASCAR expanded westward into the late 1990s, the track in the sandhills of North Carolina was left behind. Its final Cup Series race was won by Matt Kenseth in February 2004.
Following a pair of Craftsman Truck Series races in 2012 and 2013, the track sat dormant again; the only signs of life were minor updates here and there, a rotating door of owners and pictures of a decaying track.
Renovations fueled by state funding, the rebirth of North Wilkesboro Speedway and a dedicated ownership group brought hope of NASCAR returning to The Rock.
When NASCAR announced its national series schedules on Aug. 29, Rockingham was featured in the Easter weekend slot with dates for the NASCAR Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series. Furthermore, that’s an offweekend for the NASCAR Cup Series.
One of NASCAR’s most storied tracks is back.
25THINGSTOWATCH
XFINITY SERIES HAS STOUT ROOKIE CLASS
The NASCAR Xfinity Series has one of its best rookie classes in recent memory.
Chevrolet prospects Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil could be title contenders in JR Motorsports entries. A former karting prodigy who did much of his early racing in Europe, Zilisch is in the Trackhouse Racing developmental system, while Travis Kvapil’s oldest son graduates from the CARS Tour where he was a star late model competitor.
Staying in the Chevrolet camp, Big Machine Racing signed REV Racing Truck Series driver Nick Sanchez to replace the retiring Parker Kligerman. Kaulig Racing revamped its Xfinity Series developmental program by signing Truck Series drivers Daniel Dye and Christian Eckes.
Toyota has big plans for its top prospects as well. Joe Gibbs Racing has called up Taylor Gray to drive the No. 54 car. Gray made a deep Truck Series playoff run with TRICON Garage during his sophomore season.
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However, the key signing at JGR was 18-year-old William Sawalich. After back-to-back ARCA Menards Series East titles, Sawalich is jumping the Truck Series and heading straight to Xfinity Series competition. And these are just a sampling of the newcomers who are expected to make their mark in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
IRACING ENTERS CONSOLE GAME UNIVERSE
Gamers have waited for this one, and the wait is almost over, as iRacing will release the newest NASCAR console video game this fall.
Motorsport Games introduced the last multi-platform NASCAR console game in 2021. That game, NASCAR 21: Ignition, was a disappointment and after years of confusion, Motorsport Games lost the license to produce NASCAR games in 2023.
The license was eventually acquired by iRacing, which already has a realistic simulation computer racing platform that’s used by drivers and fans. However, a console game is more accessible to a broader audience and is a key aspect of promoting the sport to casual and new fans.
iRacing is known not only for its realistic physics but also for the highly detailed look and feel of both car and track. This is thanks to the highly detailed scans done by the team at iRacing. At a track, these scans can pick up every dip, crack and bump in the surface, allowing for realistic racing and tire wear.
At press time, iRacing had revealed very little about the game. The only things confirmed were that it will be on multiple platforms and the release date will be this fall. NASCAR ’25 may be the most hyped NASCAR game ever, and fans are hopeful the iRacing team can deliver.
• Nick Sanchez
CLASH AT BOWMAN GRAY STADIUM
| FEB 2 | 8 PM | FOX
500
| FEB 16 | 2:30 PM | FOX
| FEB 23 | 3 PM | FOX
| MAR 2 | 3:30 PM | FOX
PHOENIX
25THINGSTOWATCH
EFFORT EQUALS TITLES AT TEAM PENSKE
Team Penske has a chance to do something special. Thanks to late-season playoff runs from Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney over the past three seasons, Roger Penske’s organization has the opportunity to win its fourth consecutive NASCAR Cup Series title. If Penske Racing can finish the job, they will enter an elite club that currently has only one member. That team is, of course, Hendrick Motorsports. In his 40 NASCAR seasons, Rick Hendrick’s drivers have won 14 Cup Series crowns, including one four-peat and one five-peat.
Brad Keselowski claimed Penske’s first Cup Series championship in 2012, and Penske now has five total titles. This current streak, of course, began with Logano’s championship in 2022. It continued with Blaney’s title in 2023 and an improbable comeback by Logano last season.
So, how will fans know that Penske Racing is making a run?
The three Penske cars typically have a quiet regular season, highlighted be a few wins to lock into the playoffs. However, like a sleeping giant, the Penske drivers always seem to pick up the pace in the playoffs. Once again, this momentum shift happens rather quietly.
But if fans have learned anything, it’s that Penske Racing knows how to win when it matters most.
REVAMPED PLAYOFF SCHEDULE AWAITS
In assembling this year’s NASCAR Cup Series schedule, officials left numerous things unchanged while also making drastic revisions
For example, the playoff races at Bristol, Charlotte, Martinsville and Phoenix remain the final races for each round.
Races staying in the playoffs but moving to new dates include Talladega, which shifts from the second race of the Round of 12 to the second race of the Round of Eight, and Kansas, which moves from the first race of the Round of 12 to the second race of that round. Meanwhile, many insiders expect the shuffling of tracks in and out of the playoffs to have a significant impact. Darlington returns to the playoffs as the first race of the Round of 16, replacing Atlanta Motor Speedway, while Worldwide Technology Raceway makes its playoff debut, replacing Watkins Glen International.
New Hampshire Motor Speedway joins the Round of 12, replacing Talladega, which moves to the Round of Eight in Homestead-Miami Speedway’s former slot. The South Florida track is taking its race to the spring.
In the past, shuffling the playoff schedule has paid dividends for both the regular and the post-season. Hopefully, this year, these changes will generate a cornucopia of championship storylines.
CREW CHIEFS PLAY MUSICAL CHAIRS
Seemingly forgotten in the NASCAR Silly Season shuffle, Cup Series crew chiefs had their own game of musical chairs.
At Richard Childress Racing, Richard Boswell is now calling the shots on Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet. He’s Dillon’s third crew chief since the start of last season.
Meanwhile, at RFK Racing, Matt McCall is no longer on the pit box for team owner Brad Keselowski. Jeremy Bullins has replaced him as crew chief on RFK’s No. 6 Ford. Bullins and Keselowski won five races together at Team Penske in 2020 and 2021.
There were also headline-making changes in the Toyota camp. 23XI Racing brought in Truck Series veteran Charles Denike to replace Bootie Barker on the No. 23 car driven by Bubba Wallace.
At Joe Gibbs Racing, Chris Gayle, Ty Gibbs’ former crew chief, has replaced Chris Gabehart on Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 entry. Tyler Allen, who has eight career Xfinity Series victories, will call the shots for Gibbs.
Spire Motorsports signed two prominent crew chiefs. First, Travis Peterson followed Michael McDowell from Front Row Motorsports to his new spot in Spire’s No. 71 Chevrolet. But more importantly, Spire also hired Rodney Childers, the best free-agent crew chief on the market. He’ll work with driver Justin Haley.
‘NASCAR: FULL SPEED’ RETURNS FOR SEASON TWO
Netflix will release season two of its hit series “NASCAR: Full Speed” in April.
The show’s debut season covered the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. It provided an in-depth, race-to-race look at the post-season, and also introduced fans to their favorite drivers on a personal level.
This personal view of the drivers is thanks to the show’s “Hard Knocks or Drive to Survive” approach, which utilizes the on-track drama to complement the drivers’ personalities.
Season one gave fans a look at the personal lives of drivers such as Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick and Willliam Byron. It also showed the intensity involved in pursuing a NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Moments from the 2023 playoffs, such as Ryan Blaney’s clutch win at Martinsville, were among the highlights. Given the excitement of the 2024 playoffs, season two of “NASCAR: Full Speed” should be even more exciting.
Some notable moments from last year’s Cup Series playoffs include the Bristol Night Race, which featured the first round of eliminations. Another cutoff race at the Charlotte ROVAL saw Joey Logano seemingly eliminated from the playoffs before a post-race penalty removed Alex Bowman from his spot, resulting in Logano’s run to the title.
• Chris Gayle
25THINGSTOWATCH
FRANKIE MUNIZ: VETERAN ACTOR, ROOKIE DRIVER
Frankie Muniz is one of the best stories in NASCAR as the former star of FOX’s “Malcolm in the Middle” sitcom has turned his attention from acting to racing.
Muniz developed a passion for motorsports after being invited to participate in the annual Toyota Celebrity Race during the prestigious Long Beach Grand Prix weekend.
Muniz made his stock car debut in 2023, driving a Ford Mustang for Rette Jones Racing in the ARCA Menards Series. Highlights included a five-race top-10 streak, a career-best finish of fifth at Michigan and a fourth-place points finish.
Muniz took a different approach in 2024, making select starts across multiple series. These efforts included his Xfinity Series debut in the season opener at Daytona for Joey Gase Motorsports and a quartet of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series appearances with Reaume Brothers Racing.
On Oct. 22, Reaume Brothers Racing and Muniz revealed they plan to run for rookie-of-the-year honors during the 2025 Truck Series season.
Reaume Brothers Racing scored a top-five finish at Talladega Superspeedway last year with Lawless Alan driving the No. 33 Ford truck.
Based on his time in ARCA, expect a season of consistent finishes as the actor-turned-driver navigates his rookie season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
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KAULIG RACING: REVAMPED AND REVITALIZED
After a major reshuffling of Kaulig Racing’s Xfinity and Cup Series drivers ahead of the 2024 season, hopes were high. However, the team fell short of expectations, scoring only four NASCAR Xfinity Series victories, three of those coming from loaned Trackhouse Racing prospect Shane van Gisbergen.
Facing an uncertain future, team owner Matt Kaulig had to make some tough decisions.
First, the team addressed its NASCAR Xfinity Series lineup.
A.J. Allmendinger will return to the Cup Series in the team’s No. 16 car, so Kaulig hired NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series star Christian Eckes to fill Allmendinger’s vacated Xfinity Series seat.
Kaulig also needed to replace Van Gisbergen, who has a full-time Cup Series ride with Trackhouse Racing. That seat went to Truck Series driver Daniel Dye. Josh Williams returns to Kaulig’s No. 11 Chevrolet.
Ty Dillon, Richard Childress’ grandson, will drive the renumbered No. 10 Cup Series car alongside the 43-year-old Allmendinger. The team’s most important move, however, may have come in the front office where Trackhouse Racing president Ty Norris is now Kaulig Racing’s chief business officer.
After a stint at R.J. Reynolds’ Sports Marketing Enterprises, Norris was a key contributor in developing Cup Series teams such as Dale Earnhardt Inc., Michael Waltrip Racing and Trackhouse Racing.
SPIRE MOTORSPORTS KEEPS GETTING BETTER
Another team preparing for the future is Spire Motorsports, but unlike Kaulig Racing, Spire’s future may have already arrived.
Last year, Spire’s three-car lineup featured Zane Smith, then a prospect in the Trackhouse Racing developmental system; third-generation wheelman Corey LaJoie; and Truck Series graduate Carson Hocevar.
This lineup endured numerous highs and lows. Hocevar became a surprise rookie-of- the year candidate, beating SHR’s Josh Berry by 107 points to claim the prestigious award. Smith struggled from the start but slowly turned his season around, building on consistency as the year progressed.
When Spire signed veteran Michael McDowell, it appeared Smith would be the odd man out. However, as veteran LaJoie struggled, speculation swirled that both he and Smith would not return.
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These rumors came to a head at Bristol in September when Rick Ware Racing and Spire held a joint press conference announcing a driver swap. LaJoie moved to the No. 51 RWR car, while Spire acquired Justin Haley to drive its No. 7 entry.
Haley has a winning history with Spire Motorsports as he scored the team’s lone victory in a rain-shortened event at Daytona International Speedway in the summer of 2019.
MORE TWEAKS TO PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING
In an effort to present a more unified format, NASCAR has made procedural changes that better align practice and qualifying sessions for the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
The NASCAR Cup Series qualifying format has been revamped to correlate with traditional procedures and those found in the lower series.
For all three series, qualifying at intermediate tracks will be one lap with no rounds; and for short tracks, qualifying will be two laps with no rounds. On superspeedways with no practice, qualifying returns to a two-round format, with the fastest 10 moving on to a second round.
The most complex qualifying is at road courses, where two groups will have a 20-minute qualifying round with multiple cars on the track. There is no second round. NASCAR Cup Series practice will be divided into two groups for 25 minutes each at all tracks except superspeedways. For the lower series, practice will be divided into two groups for 25 minutes each at all tracks except superspeedways and road courses, with road courses having one 50-minute round. An interesting note is that pre-qualifying practice is back on the schedule for the season-opening Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series races at Daytona International Speedway in February.
VETERAN DRIVERS ON RETIREMENT WATCH
Each year, there are multiple NASCAR drivers on what is referred to as “retirement watch.”
Entering this season, we can pinpoint three veterans who could decide to hang up their helmets. And, unlikely as it seems, Denny Hamlin is one of them. Now in his 20th NASCAR Cup Series season, Hamlin’s 54 wins make him the most successful active driver without a championship. The rumor mill has been rather quiet about his future and the 44-year-old Hamlin hasn’t discussed retirement on his popular podcast.
If he were to retire at season’s end, it would be a shock. Reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier finally locked down the big one in 2024 and signed a deal to remain at JR Motorsports through the 2026 season. While it’s unlikely he could call it quits this year, that 2026 contract could be a clue that Allgaier’s time at the top of the series could be coming to an end.
One driver who did not have a great year in 2024 was three-time Craftsman Truck Series champion Matt Crafton. The driver of ThorSport Racing’s No. 88 posted his worst career average finish since his sophomore season in 2002.
The California racer turns 49 in June and the time may be at hand.
MEET THE NEW NO. 47 TEAM
A new name on this year’s ownership roster is Hyak Motorsports. However, a little more information reveals this isn’t a new team but the next chapter in one of NASCAR’s best underdog stories.
JTG-Daugherty Racing entered 2024 with high hopes after winning the 2023 Daytona 500. However, rumors began to swirl about its status with long-time sponsor Kroger and the team’s ownership. Despite winning at Talladega, questions remained.
On Nov. 21, the team made it official; while they will return the No. 47 car and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to the track this season, several things are changing.
According to a press release, “The change starts with the name ‘HYAK’ means ‘fast’ in Chinook Jargon, which is a trade language of the Pacific Northwest that incorporates terms from Chinook, Chehalis and many other local languages.”
This name comes from former co-owner and new principal owner Gordon Smith. Smith is taking over for former owners Jodi and Tad Geschickter, who made up the “JTG” in the team’s name. Former NBA star Brad Daugherty remains with the team as a co-owner.
Primary sponsor Kroger, which first sponsored the operation in 2010, has moved to RFK Racing’s No. 60 car.
THE TRUEX & PEARN: BETTER TOGETHER
Since announcing his retirement from full-time Cup Series racing last summer, Martin Truex Jr. has been public about his plans to enter the 2025 Daytona 500.
Early rumors suggested he’d drive for teammate Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing. He even told reporters that Cole Pearn, the crew chief with whom he won the Cup Series crown in 2017, would lead the effort.
Prior to Pearn stepping away after the 2019 season, he and Truex had won 24 times in 179 NASCAR Cup Series starts. The stats prove these two are better when they race together, and combining to win the Daytona 500 would check the final box for this legendary pairing.
At press time, however, Truex’s plans for the 500 had not been confirmed. If the second-generation driver takes the green flag at Daytona International Speedway in February, it will be his 20th attempt to win the Harley J. Earl Trophy. His best Daytona 500 effort was in 2016 when he settled for second to Hamlin in a photo-finish. Since the introduction of the NASCAR Next Gen car in 2022, Truex has failed to post a top-10 finish on the sport’s grandest stage, scoring a best result of 13th in 2022.
The odds that Truex could finally reel in the big one are slim, but if Pearn is back on top of the box, the two have a chance.
UNLEASH
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25THINGSTOWATCH
WILL JGR DOMINATE THE XFINITY SERIES?
Last year, Joe Gibbs Racing rolled out perhaps one of the most lethal Xfinity Series driver lineups in recent memory.
It featured championship contenders Chandler Smith and Sheldon Creed in full-time efforts, while race winners Aric Almirola, Ryan Truex and Christopher Bell and future stars William Sawalich and Taylor Gray shared the spotlight in a pair of part-time programs.
This mix of rookies, stars and veterans combined to win 11 of 33 races and claimed the owners’ championship for Joe Gibbs.
Creed and Smith have departed for new opportunities and this season JGR will focus on three drivers who will each chase the Xfinity Series title.
Brandon Jones is back in the familiar confines of JGR. He won four times with the team between 2018 and 2022 before moving to JR Motorsports.
JGR officials opted for youth for its other two cars. Nineteen-year-old Taylor Gray moves up from the Truck Series to drive the No. 54 Toyota and 18-year-old phenom William Sawalich, a two-time ARCA Menards Series East champion, is slated to drive the No. 18 entry.
With a veteran and two talented newcomers, the Xfinity Series division of Joe Gibbs Racing hopes to maintain the standard it set a year ago.
TOYOTA’S TOP PROSPECT EYES TRUCK TITLE
One Toyota driver staying put is Corey Heim. Despite a stellar start to his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career, Heim will remain in the series for a third full-time season.
The 22-year-old driver from Marietta, Ga., has recorded 11 Truck Series victories since making his series debut in 2022, and he’s been a title contender the last two seasons, finishing second in 2024 and third in 2023.
Despite these efforts, Heim has yet to be rewarded with a full-time Xfinity Series ride. Instead, he’s getting recognition from Toyota Cup Series teams Legacy Motor Club and 23XI Racing.
Heim is one of two drivers returning to TRICON this season. He and Tanner Gray are now the veteran Toyota drivers in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, teaming with rookies Toni Breidinger in the No. 5 and Giovanni Ruggiero in the No. 17 truck.
With his former peers such as Christian Eckes and Taylor Gray running the full Xfinity Series schedule, this might be Heim’s best chance yet to win that elusive NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship.
FORMER SHR DRIVERS FIND NEW HOMES
The fallout of Stewart-Haas Racing’s closure created a domino effect with its six drivers moving to new homes.
SHR’s Xfinity Series wheelmen, Cole Custer and Riley Herbst, are both going Cup Series racing this season. Custer gets a call-up to the new Haas Factory Team to drive the No. 41, a car that rose from the ashes of SHR. Herbst, however, gets a shot at an expanding 23XI Racing in that team’s new No. 35 entry.
On the Cup Series side, Josh Berry, who drove the No. 4 in 2024, will race for the Wood Brothers in the iconic No. 21 Ford. Berry had an up-and-down rookie effort with SHR and fell short of lofty expectations.
Noah Gragson, who drove SHR’s No. 10 car a year ago, is now at Front Row Motorsports. Gragson takes over for veteran Michael McDowell who heads to Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 car.
Joe Gibbs Racing picked Chase Briscoe to replace the retiring Martin Truex Jr. in its No. 19 car and Ryan Preece’s move to RFK Racing is detailed below.
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It’s interesting that Berry, Gragson and Preece remained in the Ford camp while Briscoe’s opportunity came with a Toyota team.
RYAN PREECE GETS A FRESH START WITH RFK
What started as a rumor in mid-August became a key storyline in the NASCAR Cup Series garage area when Stewart-Haas Racing officials confirmed their four-car team would cease operations at season’s end.
The move trigged a game of musical chairs and Ryan Preece, driver of SHR’s No. 41 Ford, was among a quartet of Cup Series drivers temporarily without work for 2025. However, speculation suggested RFK Racing would add a third car with Preece as the driver. Kroger, a longtime sponsor of JTG-Daugherty Racing who was shopping its sponsorship, could make it all come together. Brad Keselowski, a partner in RFK, brushed off questions about the team’s expansion but never denied the rumor.
The program was finally confirmed on Nov. 19 when Preece was introduced as the driver of the No. 60 Kroger Ford for RFK Racing. The car will utilize a charter leased from Rick Ware Racing.
Preece, a champion of the NASCAR Modified Tour, has won in both the Truck and Xfinity Series but has struggled in the Cup Series, first with JTG-Daugherty and then SHR.
Under Keselowski’s leadership, RFK has grown into one of the most consistent Cup Series teams, winning six races since 2022. This is Preece’s third shot at a full-time Cup Series ride, and it could possibly be his best.
NASCARCHARITY
Taking Care of Your Eyes AN ESSENTIAL RULE OF THE ROAD
BY BEN SHABERMAN, V.P. SCIENCE COMMUNICATIONS, FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS
AAs a NASCAR fan, you are well aware that regular automotive maintenance is necessary for getting to and from your favorite race tracks.
But in addition to a well-maintained set of wheels, you also need good vision to stay behind the wheel. Taking care of your eyes is an absolute must.
Even those with good eyesight should have regular exams from an optometrist or ophthal mologist – just like going to a mechanic to get your car’s oil changed and diagnostic checks performed to make sure there aren’t any developing problems.
Like cars, your eyes have many components that can malfunction, especially if they don’t get proper care and monitoring.
One of the more common but under-diagnosed eye problems is glaucoma. It’s caused by high fluid pressure in your eyes and usually doesn’t have noticeable symptoms. The pressure can cause irreversible damage to your optic nerve, the cable that carries visual information from your eyes to your brain.
Left untreated, glaucoma can cause significant damage and vision loss before you even notice it. Checking eye pressure is a simple, routine part of an eye exam. If glaucoma is diagnosed, the eye doctor can prescribe eye drops, or in more challenging cases, a surgical procedure. Anyone can get glaucoma though your risk increases as you get older. It also can run in families.
Another common condition that can occur as one gets older is age-related macular degeneration, which affects your retinas. AMD is the leading cause of blindness in people 55 and older.
Your retinas are thin layers of fragile tissue lining the back of your eyes. Retinas work like digital sensors or film in a camera to capture light and convert it into electrical signals that are sent through the optic nerve to your brain. The brain takes that information to create the images we see.
AMD can cause significant central vision loss from the accumulation of damaging, fatty deposits underneath the retina. That’s the dry form. The wet form of AMD can also develop as a secondary complication. It’s caused by leaky blood vessels that destroy retinal tissue. Fortunately, there are treatments for AMD and regular visits to your doctor can help you stay ahead of the condition before it causes irreversible vision loss.
lifestyle is a great way to reduce your risk for AMD, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, a retinal condition like wet AMD that can occur, especially when diabetes isn’t properly managed. Regardless of your age and health status, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, and low in processed fats, is good for your retinas and the rest of your body. Smoking is one of the worst habits for your retinas. It can quadruple your risk for AMD and significantly increases your risk for glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and cataracts, the clouding of the lens in the front of your eye. (Fortunately, lenses with cataracts are usually easy to replace.)
Whether you have an eye condition or not, always get to an eye doctor right away if you have sudden and/or dramatic changes in vision. That gives you the best chance of saving your vision if there’s a problem.
While many eye conditions can be treated or prevented, there’s promising research underway to eradicate those vision-robbing diseases that are not. That’s the work of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, a nonprofit that’s raised nearly a billion dollars to drive treatments and cures for AMD and blinding inherited retinal conditions – including retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt disease and Usher syndrome – that affect people of all ages.
THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS currently funds over 100 projects at prominent research institutions in the U.S. and around the world. About 50 clinical trials are currently underway for gene therapies, cell-based treatments and drugs to save and restore vision.
Learn more at www.FightingBlindness.org.
Changes TO BE AWARE OF
YOU MAY NEED PENCIL AND PAPER TO TAKE NOTES
BY KAUY OSTLIEN
The NASCAR universe was a beehive of activity during the short offseason and there are many changes fans need to be aware of as the green flag is about to wave on the sanctioning body’s 77th season of NASCAR Cup Series racing.
Revisions to the rulebook include a revamp of the Disabled Vehicle Policy and the introduction of a new provisional that allows stars from other disciplines
CHEVY SAYS GOODBYE TO THE CAMARO
of motorsports to go stock car racing.
On the track, fans will note Chevrolet’s cars no longer carry the Camaro brand, the Cup and Xfinity Series are headed to Mexico City, there’s a shorter course layout at COTA and all four of StewartHaas Racing’s charters found new owners.
So, as NASCAR races into the new year, here are 10 changes to be aware of:
A fixture on America’s short tracks since the late 1960s, the Camaro finally found its place in the NASCAR spotlight prior to the 2018 season when Chevrolet officials introduced the sporty two-door coupe as the company’s designated model for competition in NASCAR’s top two series.
Eventually, word spread that production of the Camaro would cease in late 2024, which historically means the end of the car’s time in NASCAR. Chevrolet loyalists expected a new body style for the 2025 season. And it came from a non-traditional source.
Typically, as the season approaches and teams finalize paint schemes, Lionel releases renderings as part of the die-cast production process.
On Sept. 12, Lionel released a rendering of Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Busch Light paint scheme. This scheme showed the front and back of the car, revealing that CAMARO branding had been replaced with CHEVROLET.
Additional die-cast renderings confirmed this was Chevrolet’s plan for 2025, not only in the Cup Series but also the Xfinity Series.
While the Xfinity Series cars are devoid of Camaro identification aside from their body shape, the Cup Series cars still carry ZL1 badging on the front grills.
HENDRICK PREPPING FOR THE FUTURE
A youth movement is underway at Hendrick Motorsports.
The team’s current NASCAR Cup Series driver lineup is in its fifth season – and seemingly firing on all cylinders. However, Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon are never satisfied with the status quo, and they are preparing in case one of those drivers decides to change teams, is injured in a crash or calls it a career.
Hendrick Motorsports presently fields cars for four Cup Series drivers: Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, William Byron and Alex Bowman. However, Hendrick is known for being one step ahead and team officials are grooming two drivers with an eye toward the future of the powerhouse organization.
Last season, Hendrick Motorsports supported Spire Motorsports Truck Series driver Rajah Caruth with sponsorship from Hendrickcars.com.
In addition to Caruth, Hendrick is betting on the long-term future of 19-year-old, second-generation California sprint car driver Corey Day.
After running a handful of races under the Hendrickcars.com banner a year ago, Day now has a multi-year deal with Hendrick Motorsports.
He’ll be busy this season with a slate of Xfinity Series, Craftsman Truck Series, ARCA Menards Series and Trans-Am Series races so the young driver can become familiar with the different disciplines of asphalt racing.
MEXICO CITY DATE = INTERNATIONAL INTRIGUE
NASCAR made its first major shift toward road-course racing in 2021 when the tally of Cup Series races on serpentine circuits jumped from three to seven.
However, many of the schedule changes didn’t stick. The Daytona Road Course event eventually went back to the tri-oval, the Road America date was moved to Chicago and, last year, the Brickyard 400 was back on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.
Instead of visiting Richmond twice this season, the Cup Series is heading to Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. It will be the first Cup Series points race run outside the U.S. since Lee Petty won at Canada’s National Exhibition Stadium on July 18, 1958.
This race not only confirms NASCAR’s openness to international racing but also its ongoing commitment to constantly shuffling the national series schedules.
Participating in the Mexico City weekend ups the NASCAR Xfinity Series road-course total to seven this season.
Of special note, the Craftsman Truck Series schedule jumps from one road-course event in 2024 to three this year. Circuit of The Americas is off the slate while the Truck Series drivers will turn both left and right at Lime Rock Park, Watkins Glen International and the Charlotte ROVAL.
FOUR CUP SERIES TEAMS ADD A THIRD CAR
Trackhouse Racing, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have purchased three of the four charters formerly belonging to the now shuttered Stewart-Haas Racing. Team co-owner Gene Haas retained the fourth for his new Haas Factory Team.
Trackhouse Racing will use its newest charter to field the No. 88 Chevrolet for Cup Series rookie Shane van Ginbergen. The New Zealander will be teammates with Ross Chastain (No. 1) and Daniel Suarez (No. 99).
The second team to expand using a charter purchased from SHR is 23XI Racing. That organization’s new No. 35 Toyota –driven by Riley Herbst with sponsorship from Monster Energy – will race alongside Bubba Wallace in the No. 23 car and Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 entry.
The final team to purchase one of SHR charters was Front Row Motorsports. Noah Gragson, cast adrift when Stewart-Haas Racing closed, shifts to FRM where the Las Vegas native will wheel the No. 4 Ford.
Todd Gilliland (No. 34) and Zane Smith (No. 38) round out the team’s lineup.
RFK Racing was the final team to add a third car during the offseason. Its new driver, Ryan Preece, came from SHR, but his No. 60 Ford is being fielded under a charter leased from Rick Ware Racing.
NASCAR2025CHANGES
SHORTER COURSE CONFIGURATION AT COTA
Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. will host the NASCAR Cup Series for the fifth time in March, but the race will be run for the first time on what is known as the National Course.
Previously contested on the 3.41-mile Grand Prix Circuit that it shared with Formula 1, the new layout is 2.3 miles in length.
With the change, NASCAR is eliminating five turns along with the iconic 0.62mile back straightaway. Drivers will now turn left at Turn 6, head to the end of the backstretch and negotiate Turn 12.
According to a track press release, this layout will reduce lap times by roughly a minute and add more laps to the race while maintaining its traditional distance. Previously, the long laps, especially under caution, extended the time of the race.
COTA is not the only road course to undergo a recent design change. Prior to its 2024 playoff race, a layout change at the Charlotte ROVAL removed a turn and created a high-speed zone through Turns 5 and 6, followed by a tight hairpin in Turn 7.
6 5 4
UNDERSTANDING THE NEW DVP
NASCAR has made significant changes to its Damaged Vehicle Policy.
Introduced in 2017, the DVP specifies which repairs can be made following an on-track accident. The policy initially gave crew members five minutes to make repairs on pit road, and teams were no longer allowed to replace damaged parts.
If repairs could not be made in five minutes, which was eventually changed to seven minutes, the car was out of the race. The same held true for cars that went off the track or could not be driven after an incident.
Damaged cars were required to maintain a minimum speed and were prevented from rejoining a race to simply log laps. It also ensured that crew members were not making repairs on an active pit road over a long portion the race.
This season, NASCAR has made revisions so the DVP better reflects the sanctioning body’s repair policies of the past.
The seven-minute, pit-road repair clock remains, but NASCAR now requires teams to move their cars to the garage area to continue repairs. Most importantly, NASCAR is now allowing cars to be towed or driven straight to the garage area. Teams making repairs in the garage are no longer subject to the seven-minute clock.
NEW PROVISIONAL FOR WORLD-CLASS DRIVERS
In a move designed to add international star power to its races, NASCAR has introduced the Open Exemption Provisional. According to series officials, “The Open Exemption Provisional guarantees a starting position for world-class drivers who enter a NASCAR Cup Series race.”
This means “open” cars driven by select part-time drivers, such as four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, will be guaranteed a spot in races should their team request an OEP 90 days prior to the race date.
The sport will police this provisional to ensure quality control of entries by deciding who deserves an OEP on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, while NASCAR supplies these drivers with automatic entry into a race, the OEP comes with rules limiting the teams and drivers who use it.
The team fielding the driver will not earn points, prize money or any tiebreaker benefits when utilizing the OEP. Should a driver win a race, NASCAR will only award the driver the statistical win, the trophy and All-Star Race eligibility.
These rules leverage teams to enter only quality, well-funded drivers with the OEP.
3
PLAYOFF WAIVER SYSTEM GETS AN OVERHAUL
Another offseason rule change impacts the sport’s process for obtaining a Playoff Waiver.
The waiver allows drivers to make the playoffs even, if for some reason, they cannot make every race in a NASCAR season.
Recent examples include Chase Elliott, who was injured and subsequently suspended but allowed to enter the 2023 playoffs, and Kyle Larson, who last season missed the CocaCola 600 after rain delayed his effort to finish the Indianapolis 500.
Introduced by NASCAR on Jan. 10, the revised procedure allows a driver to earn a playoff waiver. But in doing so, that driver “will forfeit all current and future playoff points (earned prior to the playoffs), and will start the playoffs with a maximum of 2,000 points.”
NASCAR officials will, however, exempt drivers for medical reasons, which they list as “driver medical, birth of a child, family emergency, etc.” The sport will also allow an exemption for drivers limited by their age.
For example, if a driver turns 18 early in the season, they will be allowed an exemption due to NASCAR’s age restrictions.
Through social media channels, fans asked for a modified waiver system that penalizes drivers who are suspended or miss a race for non-personal reasons.
STIFF PENALTIES FOR MANIPULATING RACES
2 1
As part of sweeping rule changes in early January, NASCAR clamped down on manipulating the finish of a race or championship.
Entering last fall’s cutoff event at Martinsville, Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick were locked into the championship race at Phoenix. As the laps clicked off at Martinsville, a dominant Ryan Blaney left open only one Championship 4 transfer spot.
That battle came down to Christopher Bell and William Byron.
Byron needed to maintain his position to advance, and it looked as if he would as Chevrolet drivers Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain ran a blockade behind him. On the Toyota side of things, if Bell could pass one car, he would be in the Championship 4.
With the white flag waving, Bell’s championship hopes looked to be over until, in the final turn, his Toyota teammate Bubba Wallace, who was allegedly nursing a flat tire, slowed and allowed Bell to pass.
To stop this nonsense, NASCAR now has OEM penalties that “may result in a loss of Manufacturers’ Points, and/or loss of wind tunnel hours, and/or loss of RCFD runs.”
In addition, details of the 100 percent rule were revised with a focus on “manipulating the outcome of a race or championship.”
BUILDING THE LEGACY OF CAR NO. 4
The No. 4 on Front Row Motorsports’ newest NASCAR Cup Series entry is eerily similar to the No. 4 Kevin Harvick carried on the Stewart-Haas Racing car he drove to 37 victories and a championship.
Harvick’s efforts made the number once closely tied to Morgan-McClure Motorsports his own. Upon Harvick’s retirement, Josh Berry filled the seat of the No. 4 Ford for SHR. However, the journeyman short-track racer failed to meet lofty expectations in SHR’s final season.
Now, fellow SHR alum Noah Gragson is driving the No. 4 car for Front Row Motorsports.
Gragson’s career has resembled a roller-coaster ride with several highs and lows. This includes his time in the Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports in which he won 13 races over four seasons. Then, Legacy Motor Club promoted Gragson to the Cup Series for 2023.
But following a controversial midseason exit, Gragson found himself a free agent. He landed on his feet last year and ran well in the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.
Now, Gragson faces a new adventure, and the stability provided by Front Row Motorsports could be what he needs to make the No. 4 his own.
A PASSIONATE NASCARFANDOM
NASCAR Fans Have Unique Ties to the Sport
BY KAUY OSTLIEN
NASCAR fans have always had unique ties to the sport, and they always find new ways to express how much they love their favorite drivers, tracks and milestone moments.
Some fans express this via painting or drawing what they see at the track, while others may collect die-cast cars, apparel or the occasional rare item. NASCAR fans even take their fandom online where they connect with fellow fans to enjoy gaming, telling stories or having conversations about the sport’s past, present and future.
The NASCAR community was once spread across the United States, but now, more than ever, fans are connected by a love of community and friendship. So, let’s get to know the artists, collectors, travelers and content creators who make up one of sports’ most passionate fandoms:
Painting the Action on the Track
ART IS ONE OF THE EASIEST WAYS FOR CREATIVES TO CONNECT with their passions. Whether it’s digital art, drawing or painting, the ability to relate something one loves, be it sports or nature, to a physical skill gives the artist a deeper connection to their passion.
For artist Annika Koser, racing is where her artistic inspiration originates. Since she first posted her acrylic paintings online, Koser has grown in relevance in the online racing community, with more than 3,000 followers on X. She says the popularity of her work, primarily focused on sprint car racing, has allowed her to paint on a full-time basis.
“The support I’ve gotten, I’ve been able to turn it into a full-time job because people show it a lot of love,” Koser said.
Thanks to her reputation in the online community, NASCAR Cup Series driver Noah Gragson gave the self-described “sprint car junkie” the opportunity to paint her first NASCAR work in late 2024.
“Noah must have found my Twitter account because he reached out to me on Twitter,” Koser said. “I have no clue how he found me, but I’m thankful he did.”
A Knack for Finding the Oddities
COLLECTING MAY BE THE MOST COMMON HOBBY IN NASCAR. SOME fans collect die-cast cars, sheet metal or oddities, while others collect a little bit of everything. Issac Jakel likes to have a little bit of everything, and that includes an emphasis on the oddities. As he says, “The weirder, the better.”
Isaac’s collection usually consists of die-cast cars, sheet metal and items from his favorite driver, Scott Wimmer – but oddities are his specialty. His oddities include props from the 2006 film “Talladega Nights” and rare diecasts, but perhaps the weirdest of all, Jakel has an unmatched collection of NASCAR championship merchandise.
What happens to merchandise for drivers who fall short in the playoffs. Sometimes, the merchandise is never seen again, while in rare cases it ends up in the hands of fans. Jakel is one of those fans and has quite a collection of hats from drivers who came up short in their championship pursuits, such as Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin.
FANDOM
A Different Type of Apparel
NASCAR APPAREL HAS TAKEN ON A LIFE OF ITS OWN IN recent years, reaching a broader audience than the everyday NASCAR fan. However, not all fans like to wear traditional merchandise sold online or at the track.
One of those fans is Colby Evans, who has quite the odd collection of NASCAR apparel. While some like a car on their NASCAR apparel, Colby prefers the sponsor logos that adorn crew shirts.
In total, Colby has roughly 31 crew shirts from all levels of NASCAR. While these shirts have had some memorable rides of late, Colby’s collection has one thing in common: The shirts tend to be from “oddball” teams.
“I like to collect the oddball stuff,” Evans said. “Like a crew shirt that, you know, appeared maybe in one race or a team that doesn’t exist anymore or that is just 1000 percent forgotten.”
Getting Prepared for Race Day
FAN CAVES ARE ONE OF THE BEST WAYS FOR supporters of any sport to show and share their fandom for their favorite teams. Of course, NASCAR fans tend to go above and beyond in their fan caves.
Take Conor Pohlman and his “Man Attic,” for example. With his massive setup, this die-hard NASCAR fan takes it to the next level. Pohlman, a NASCAR fan since 1992, has poured a lot into making his setup fit for even the most loyal NASCAR fan.
WEARING A NUMBER WITH PRIDE
The display in his man attic includes sheet metal, which he claims could cover almost two full cars, including a decent amount from his favorite driver, A.J. Allmendinger. Pohlman also has roughly 1,200 die-cast cars displayed in a well-lit case.
Sim Racing Continues to Gain Interest
LIKE ANY SPORT, NASCAR AND GAMING GO HAND-IN-HAND. Thanks to sim racing, and particularly iRacing, fans and drivers can develop their on-track skills from home. It also allows fans to build communities by streaming or uploading their iRacing content.
Take David Duke, for example, better known as bigduke_sim_racing on Twitch and TikTok; Duke grew up a NASCAR fan and even worked a little in the industry.
However, his sim racing journey began with a small setup in hotels while he was on the road working construction.
“When I was sim racing, I was doing it out of hotels,” Duke said. “I was an ironworker, raced off hotel Wi-Fi. I used ironing boards several times to mount my wheel because I could get its height just right.”
Of course, this setup did not last forever, and Duke was able to build more advanced setups, including one that could still go on the road with him. But as his setup grew, he got off the road and began to stream; his popularity grew. Duke now has 41,000 followers on his TikTok and 1.2k followers on Twitch, where he streams nightly.
PERHAPS THE MOST extreme way to express your fandom is by getting a tattoo.
NASCAR fans are known for their loyalty, as evidenced by tattoos of Dale Earnhardt’s No. 3 or Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 8 seen around the track on a race weekend. One fan who displays his colors is Steven Davis, who proudly wears the yellow No. 24 and flames made familiar by Jeff Gordon.
Davis claims Gordon was his “first driver,” something he is proud to have. However, Davis initially wanted to get a Chase Elliott tattoo prior to attending the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race in Phoenix, but after waiting, he opted for Gordon.
This tattoo is part of a larger tattoo “collection” that Davis has, and while Gordon was his first favorite driver, for Davis, there was just something about those flames.
“I decided to go with the flames because even though I started watching when he had the rainbow scheme, I don’t know, (there’s) something about the flames,” Davis said.
NASCARFANDOM
Finding the Stories Fans Want to Hear
IT SEEMS LIKE EVERY NASCAR FAN has a favorite content creator. While some fans may overlook the creative minds behind the content they create, most of these people, much like Bock Beard, were once fans.
Beard is known for his YouTube content and his website, LASTCAR.info. LASTCAR, founded in 2009, focuses on NASCAR’s last-place finishers, keeping track of those drivers and awarding one driver “LASTCAR Champion” at season’s end.
its series 500 Days, which covers the 2001 season, and his coverage of the underdogs of NASCAR with the series Rise of the Field Fillers.
However, aside from his work at LASTCAR, Brock is a YouTuber and author. His YouTube Channel has more than 22,000 subscribers. Brock’s channel is known for
With his YouTube, Beard realized that NASCAR fans wanted to tell these stories, such as the lost storylines from 2001 or the former “field fillers” of NASCAR, and a lot of work went into finding new things that fans may not have known about.
“There is a, a hunger for, you know, just even smaller bits of information,” Beard said. “And it’s really tricky to find something that, you know, that people don’t know about.”
As Beard continues to create content, he will tell the stories of both the well-known and little-known figures of NASCAR.
GETTING THE GIRLS TOGETHER
THE NASCAR COMMUNITY IS built around online relationships and those at the track. From New Hampshire to Sonoma, fans make lifelong friends and get to know each other in the parking lots, infields and campgrounds of their favorite tracks.
From Fan Page to Front of the Field
THE NASCAR COMMUNITY HAS FLOURISHED ONLINE IN RECENT YEARS, AND as the years progress, some fans who had a voice in the online community are now on the track racing in NASCAR.
Thomas Annunziata made his ARCA Menards Series debut last season, running five races, including a second-place finish in his debut at Daytona. He also made his NASCAR National Series debut in the Xfinity Series and is going to race part time with Cope Family Racing in Xfinity this season.
But in 2018, long before Annunziata made his NASCAR debut, he, like many others, was a passionate fan of the sport and its history. This led him to create a NASCAR fan account and community page on Instagram called nascar_oldtimes.
Thanks to the hard work he put into the account and his loyal community, Annunziata’s page grew to 57,000 followers on Instagram. For Thomas, the growth of this page was just one of the first few steps in his NASCAR journey.
Vintage Media Takes Blazer to Big Races
TRAVELING TO ALL THE BIG RACES IS A DREAM OF almost any race fan, both in and out of the NASCAR fandom. While some fans find themselves traveling all over to see IndyCar, NASCAR and even dirt-track events, Bobby Blazer uses his racing journeys to create vintage-style racing media.
In 2023, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course race, Blazer took a vintage camcorder to the track and got shots of flybys, in race action, and winner Michael McDowell’s burnout. These gained traction online and led to Blazer using vintage media from both the infield and the grandstands.
all across the country and build his brand as a rather untraditional racing content creator.
This also provided opportunities to film at tracks
“When I started doing the media stuff, it was August of 2023, and from August 2023 until now, I’ve been able to go to so many incredible events,” Blazer said.
In growing his online identity, Blazer has had the chance to create vintagestyle media at events like the CocaCola 600, Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Knoxville Nationals, and many more. While the races are fun, the community aspect makes Blazer appreciative of the late drives and hard work put into his media.
“It’s become more like a social thing,” Blazer said. “I’ve been able to have the privilege to meet so many cool people that whether it’s dirt or asphalt, I can go anywhere and just be stuck talking to people for three hours or so.”
NASCAR first raced at Dover Motor Speedway in 1969, but since 2006, one group has utilized tailgating to connect with race fans.
If you go to a race weekend at Dover and check out the tailgating scene, you’re bound to run into the Jersey Girls. This group of ladies is comprised of die-hard NASCAR fans who set up a tent over 18 bar stools at the Monster Mile.
Jersey Girls member Kathy Schofield says that while hanging around the bar is fun, the community they have built and the friends they make at Dover are just as important. “We’ve got people from Connecticut, Canada, you know, that all come and literally come to our tent the entire week to, you know, celebrate and be together for the NASCAR races,” Schofield said.
While the action on the track is memorable, the memories fans make and the NASCAR family they create are why so many fans look forward to race day.
WHEN COACH JOE GIBBS CALLS… Chase Briscoe is First Free Agent to Come Off the Board
BY DUSTIN ALBINO
WWhen three-time NFL Super Bowlcoach Joe Gibbs calls, you better pick up. That’s what Chase Briscoe did last sum mer, and he listened to what Gibbs had to say.
During a tumultuous first half of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, Bris coe wasn’t sure what his future would be. Stewart-Haas Racing officials announced in May that the team would shutter its doors following the season finale at Phoenix Raceway, ending months of speculation.
Co-owner Gene Haas later in troduced Haas Factory Team, his rebranded one-car operation that will race on Sundays with Cole Custer driving.
Briscoe, along with his three for mer SHR teammates – Noah Gragson, Ryan Preece and Josh Berry – were left scrambling. Briscoe was the first free agent to come off the board, as Gibbs hired him to replace a retiring Martin Truex Jr.
“The Joe Gibbs Racing opportunity is one in a million,” Briscoe said. “When it first got announced, it was a ton of excitement and I couldn’t do a whole lot with that excitement because I was so committed to the SHR stuff. I thought I was going to start spending a lot of time at JGR toward the end of the season. Then, when we won at Darling ton, that changed a lot of things from a manufacturer standpoint in trying to win a championship with the (No.) 14 car.”
In walk-off fashion, Briscoe punched his ticket into the 2024 playoffs by winning the regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway. That turned out to be the final of 70 victories for the two-time championship-winning organization. Briscoe powered through the opening round of the postseason, but ultimately finished 14th in the championship standings.
The two-time Cup Series race winner from Mitchell, Indiana, is thankful for his tenure with SHR and won’t forget that Ford’s backing put the dirt-track racer on the map.
“My name would have never even been in the hat if it wasn’t for Ford Motor Co.,” Briscoe said, regarding his move to JGR. “Ford took a chance on me at the end of 2016 and signed me to a driver-development deal. They were incredible to me. They funded my racing and did everything they could to get me to the top. We were able to win at every level. It wasn’t something that was taken lightly from the decision standpoint. I feel like I’m loyal to a fault at times. Probably the hardest thing that I’ve had to do in my entire life was to go to the higher-ups at Ford and tell them that I’d decided to go another direction.
“When you look at the opportunity of going to Joe Gibbs Racing or the other opportunities that I had, the Joe Gibbs seat is one of the two (teams) in the series that if you can get in one of those cars, it’s hard to not do it. I felt like with the opportunity that it gave my family, it was one that I couldn’t pass up.”
Even though the No. 14 car is now history, Briscoe remains close with his core group of former teammates. Over the offseason they met for dinner in mid-January and they often connect through a sizable group chat.
With Briscoe swapping manufacturers, he had a jumpstart on working with his No. 19 team following Championship Weekend in the desert, led by veteran crew chief James Small. Admittedly, Briscoe has avoided leaning on Truex, but he did reach out prior to the Clash exhibition race at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Another nuance for Briscoe was being granted access to the Toyota Performance Center, located in Mooresville, North Carolina, just up the road from JGR’s Huntersville headquarters. Never has he experienced anything like the TPC, which is a tool used for drivers to hone all types of skills.
“It’s like mind blowing to me,” Briscoe said of his new racing home. “You have the TCP, which is a full gym and even saunas, cold plunges and physical therapists, all this stuff that I had never had the opportunity to take advantage of. We had a gym at Stewart-Haas, but all those other things from a manufacturer’s standpoint like psychologists. Literally, anything that can make you better – even nutritionists – there are so many things at your fingertips from the driver’s standpoint, which is totally different from what I was at before.
“I’ve only seen a small peak behind the curtain, but it’s been eye-opening with how much they have for the drivers and how much they see the benefit of doing all that stuff for the drivers.”
As for the competition side, Briscoe knows there is pressure. Some of that has been eased by using the Toyota simulator, a craft the No. 19 team hasn’t taken full advantage of over the years. Having a more detailed game plan entering race weekends is appealing to Small.
“James is excited to have someone that is there all the
time,” Briscoe noted. “Nothing against Martin, but he wasn’t there a lot. Martin was at the point of his career where he didn’t even live near Charlotte, so that’s something really exciting for James is being able to go to the simulator. James hasn’t even gone to the simulator in the last three years. For him to have a driver that can go to sim, I think he’s really excited for that. It’s exciting for me, knowing how good the No. 19 team was and they weren’t doing a lot of the things that other teams were doing in the sport. There is a lot of room to grow from the team standpoint, and there is a lot of room to grow for myself.”
Between Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell, JGR won six races during the 2024 season, the second time the organization has won six times in the last three seasons. Changes were made to the competition side with Chris Gabehart leaving Hamlin’s pit box and filling the role as competition director, as the organization went winless for the second half of the year.
Briscoe still knows the upside to JGR, as it’s one of a handful of powerhouse teams within the Cup Series garage. And the goal is to win, immediately.
“There is no secret that the JGR equipment is capable of winning races and battling for a championship,” Briscoe explained. “The expectation, for me, is way higher. If you go and don’t perform, there is no excuse.
“The expectations are very high, and when expectations are high, the pressure is high too. It’s going to be way different from what I’ve been accustomed to over the course of my Cup career because the expectations haven’t always been the highest because we were always on the struggle bus – to an extent – at SHR and that’s not the case at JGR.
“The expectation is to win races and be in the Championship 4. If you don’t do that, they are going to make a change. The pressure is definitely there. It’s different from anything I’ve ever had in my Cup career because the expectation is extremely high.”
A good starting point would be to win multiple races in his first season under the Toyota banner. His two Cup Series triumphs in 144 starts have come at vastly different tracks, and he proved his talent by holding off a hard-charging Kyle Busch on better tires in last year’s Southern 500.
“You definitely have to win, but winning more than once is a key in making the playoffs and making a run in the playoffs,” Briscoe said. “Fortunately, the two times that I’ve made the playoffs, I’ve been able to go to the Round of 8 and the Round of 12. Making the Championship 4 is certainly the goal, but winning multiple races is the biggest judge.
“Even for myself, being more consistent. At StewartHaas, I would have flashes of running well but I wasn’t consistently good. That’s something at JGR that I want to focus on, being that contender week in and week out and being in the mix, cranking out top five and top 10s, leading laps.”
It’s not an overreaction to think that 2025 is the biggest racing season of Briscoe’s young Cup Series career.
Harrison Burton SOMETHING TO
Harrison Burton’s profile on the social media platform “X” reads: “Wheelman for AM Racing #SomethingToProve.” While the “something to prove” part has been there for several years, the AM Racing bit is just a couple of months old. The two descriptors being placed together, although not intentional on Burton’s part, couldn’t be more appropriate.
BY JARED TURNER
Demoted to the NASCAR Xfinity Series for 2025 with little-known AM Racing after three mostly frustrating years in the NASCAR Cup Series with Wood Brothers Racing, Burton is essentially starting over at age 24. Though his surroundings might be different this season, his personal slogan has stuck.
“It’s not particular to this year, but it applies well to this year, where you see these people in sports and other areas of life that get written off and they find a way to come back and surprise a lot of people,” said Burton, the son of 21-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner-turned NASCAR on NBC race announcer Jeff Burton. “That type of mindset of having something to prove when you walk into every race track is the right place to be as a competitor. I’ve been really fortunate to talk to a lot of really, really, really good race car drivers over the years, and they’re all not comfortable.
“You talk to Joey Logano, and he feels like he’s racing for his job every time he gets in the race car – and he’s a three – Cup
PROVE
Series champion now. His mindset on that is something that’s stuck out, and I think that applies well to how I want to model myself. All of the elite drivers are that way. I think keeping that hunger is really important.”
Despite grabbing his first Cup Series win as a lame-duck driver in the final stretch of his run with the Wood Brothers, Burton still has a ton to prove both to himself and those who question why he struggled so badly for most of his time in the Cup Series.
Burton himself has a hard time understanding exactly what went wrong as he recorded only six top-10 finishes – including just two top-five results – in 108 starts as a full-time driver.
“That’s a good question. It’s not an easy answer,” the secondgeneration driver said. “Racing is hard that way, where, man, you can look in a million different directions and think it’s this or that, or think it’s yourself or something else. What I’ve always tried to do and what I’ll continue to try to do is just look internally. ‘What could I have done better?’
Buried deep in the Cup Series standings and needing nothing less than a win to make the 2024 playoffs, Burton delivered in thrilling fashion during August at Daytona International Speedway, when he outdueled two-time series champion Kyle Busch for the victory on the final lap.
Although Burton’s late-race heroics gave Wood Brothers Racing its long-awaited landmark 100th win in NASCAR’s premier series, it was too little too late for Burton to salvage his ride.
A little less than two months before Burton went to Victory Lane, the Wood Brothers announced that Stewart-Haas Racing driver Josh Berry would replace Burton in the team’s iconic No. 21 Ford for 2025.
The news, though hard for Burton swallow, served as motivation for him to finish 2024 on a strong note. And he did, not only winning at Daytona but recording some of his better finishes and qualifying runs in the season’s final weeks. That success, even more than his four wins over two full
seasons as an Xfinity Series driver prior to joining the Cup Series, fuels Burton’s belief that he can excel in his new gig with a largely unproven team.
“I know I can do it. I have trophies in my trophy case that say I can do it at this level, and there is comfort in that. But I think I really draw more from the Cup experience and having raced those guys for three years and gotten better and learned a lot. I’ll try to bring that to the Xfinity Series and maintain that level of attention to detail that it takes to run well.”
After learning he wouldn’t be retained by the Wood Brothers and later receiving a phone call from AM Racing team president Wade Moore about joining the team for 2025, Burton wasn’t initially sold on the idea. The small Statesville, North Carolina-based team enjoyed few highlights – which included 11 top-10s but no wins and just one top-five – over its two full seasons of Xfinity competition after competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series from 2016-2022.
“I didn’t know much about the race team,” Burton said, recalling his initial conversation with Moore. “I knew they had had some ups and downs, but I really didn’t know what to make of it. But when he started talking about the resources we’re going to have and the type of people we’re going to try and go after and that I would be a part of it, all of a sudden it started to grow on me, and I was like, ‘Damn, that sounds really fun. That sounds like something I want to do.’
“Once they kind of laid out the vision of, ‘Hey, this is what it’s going to be, we want you to be a part of it,’ it felt like one of the best options out there.”
Since signing with AM Racing in September, Burton has become even more bullish about his decision.
“I’ve been going to the shop a lot, and I walk in and have a lot of confidence in the people that are in there,” he said. “So, it’s exciting for me to walk in and feel like we’re going to show up prepared and our guys really care about what they’re doing and the level of detail that it takes to run well at this level.
Although Burton is focused on making the most of his opportunity in the Xfinity Series, he makes no bones about his desire to eventually get back to the Cup Series and be a top performer there. Although somewhat rare, it’s not unprecedented for drivers to move up from the Xfinity Series into a Cup Series ride, fall back to the Xfinity Series for a time and ultimately return to the Cup Series – once they’ve proven themselves.
“That’s what I want to do, and everyone at AM feels the same way,” Burton said. “They want it to be a platform for drivers to grow their careers and move on and do great things.”
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Building upon the success of its predecessor, Slime Licker 2.0 promises an enhanced and immersive experience, taking candy enthusiasts on a journey of confectionery delight like never before. Following months of research and development, the 2 oz. patent-pending bottle design eliminates the roller ball of the previous iteration while keeping the same delicious flavors: Strawberry and Blue Raspberry. Having garnered over 365 million views for #SlimeLicker(s) on TikTok, it is safe to say Slime Lickers are one of the internet’s favorite candies! Fans of the candy have been eagerly awaiting the return of Slime Lickers and we are happy to say they have returned to store shelves!
Opti-Coat
Opti-Coat is the leading brand specializing in advanced ceramic coatings and car care products, designed to protect and enhance vehicle surfaces.
Their professionalgrade coatings provide superior resistance to environmental contaminants, UV damage, and chemical etching while delivering a long-lasting glossy finish. Opti-Coat’s flagship products include Opti-Coat Pro, a permanent ceramic coating, and Opti-Coat Pro Plus, which offers additional shine and durability.
Opti-Coat also offers DIY solutions like Optimum Gloss-Coat and a full spectrum of detailing and maintenance products. Opti-Coat products are engineered to improve the longevity and appearance of vehicles while reducing maintenance efforts.
Widely trusted by detailers and car enthusiasts, Opti-Coat stands out for its innovation, quality, and commitment to excellence in automotive protection.
OPTICOAT.COM
ALUMA 8115S QUALITY UTILITY TRAILER!
A PERFECT CHOICE FOR HAULING MULTIPLE ATV and UTV models, the 8115S utility trailer features a 79.25”x180” bed and a dependable all-aluminum body. The trailer features a bifold tailgate and 69”x12” front side ramps for easy loading and unloading. The trailer comes standard with fender steps, a tongue handle, a receptacle holder and includes Aluma’s 5-year warranty. Aluma offers the most complete aluminum utility and recreational trailer line available including utility trailers, ATV trailers, car haulers, motorcycle and snowmobile trailers and more. Aluma trailers are built in the USA and sold through a nationwide network of dealers.
LEARN MORE AT WWW.ALUMAKLM.COM
RACE FANS
Leaking Coolant System?
K-Seal is a multi-purpose, one step, permanent coolant leak repair with more than 10 million bottles sold worldwide to date. It permanently seals leaks in the head gasket, block, radiator, heater core, freeze plug and water-pump casing.
Trusted by professional mechan ics, technicians and motorists alike, K-Seal is suitable for use with all water-cooled engines, including cars, motorcycles, commercial ve hicles and heavy machinery.
No need to drain or flush the sys tem or worry about what type of an tifreeze is in the cooling system; just shake, pour and get back on the road!
LEARN MORE AT KSEAL.COM
Come Ride with Lectric eBike
Escape the ordinary with the Lectric XPeak. It’s an all-terrain eBike equipped to take you off-road and encourage you into the unknown. This ride has been tested to the most aggressive safety standard for mountain eBikes (eMTB) - meaning that it’s durable and well-able to take on even the
most rugged of terrains. Explore beyond your neighborhood with 26” fat tires, a 1310W peak motor, and a trail-ready RST Renegade suspension front fork to smooth out the ride ahead. lectricebikes.com
SHOP LECTRICEBIKES.COM
Joe’s Hand Cleaner CONVENIENCE & PERFORMANCE
JOE’S HAND & SURFACE
wipes are a multi-use, double-sided wipe that is built for convenience and ultimate performance. The abrasive side cuts through the toughest soils, grime and grease, while the smooth side allows for wiping the most delicate surfaces. They are fortified with new generation cleaning agents and unmatched skin conditioners. The wipes are great for cleaning hands, tools, workbenches and household items like athletic shoes. With a great cherry scent, these wipes can also clean up smelly messes leaving behind a nice pleasant smell. These wipes are another fine product in the family of Joe’s Hand Cleaners, which has been manufactured and distributed in the heartland of America for more than 75 years.
TURNBACKTHECLOCK
Elliott Becomes ‘Million
Dollar Bill’
The 1985 season was often described as intriguing and curious. Thanks to one particular racer from a small, north Georgia community, stock car racing was quickly gaining acceptance among fans of mainstream professional sports.
As the season began, drivers and teams were eyeing an unprecedented bonus. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the sponsor of NASCAR’s premier series through its Winston brand, was offering a $1 million bonus to any driver who could win three of stock car racing’s four marquee events – the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway and the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
It seemed an impossible task given the series’ level of competition and, certainly, no one expected a small team from Dawsonville, Georgia, to meet the lofty challenge.
But Bill Elliott answered the call by winning the Daytona 500 in convincing fashion behind the wheel of a sleek and powerful No. 9 Ford Thunderbird owned by Michigan businessman Harry Melling. Elliott then fell short of the Coca-Cola 600 victory due to brake problems while Darrell Waltrip, in Junior Johnson’s No. 11 Chevrolet, won NASCAR’s longest race.
Round three was the Winston 500 and Elliott earned the pole starting position with a record qualifying lap of more than 205 mph. Brake problems early in the race saw him fall two laps behind, but he came roaring back to the claim the victory.
The finale of the four special events was the legendary Southern 500 in September. After holding off a hard-charging Cale Yarborough during the closing laps, Elliott claimed the victory and banked the $1 million bonus..
BEST DRIVER
BILL ELLIOTT ARRIVED at Daytona International Speedway in February 1985 determined to dominate the superspeedways. In the process, he and his brothers, Ernie Elliott (crew chief) and Dan Elliott (mechanic), won nearly half of the races on the 28race schedule. His famous red, white and gold No. 9 Ford rolled into Victory Lane 11 times, producing one of the most successful years in NASCAR’s modern era with 16 top-five finishes, 18 top-10 results and 11 pole positions.
BEST RACE
ELLIOTT’S VICTORY IN the Southern 500 was the greatest of the season and possibly the decade. He set up the springs and shocks on the team’s Ford himself, making sure it could handle the tricky and narrow track configuration for which Darlington Raceway is so famous. The Georgia native led 100 of the 367 laps and garnered international headlines after crossing under the checkered flag to collect a $1 million bonus for winning three of NASCAR’s most prestigious events in the same season.
TOP CARS
ELLIOTT’S 1985 No. 9 Ford set records and sparked interest in NASCAR around the world. Dale Earnhardt’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was the second-winningest car of 1985 with four wins and 16 top-10 finishes.
SEASON RECAP
DATE
Feb. 17
Feb. 24
March 3
March 17
April 6
Daytona International Speedway Bill Elliott
Richmond International Raceway Dale Earnhardt
North Carolina Speedway Neil Bonnett
Atlanta Motor Speedway Bill Elliott
Bristol Motor Speedway Dale Earnhardt
April 14 Darlington Raceway Bill Elliott
April 21 North Wilkesboro Speedway Neil Bonnett
April 28
May 5
May 19
May 26
June 2
June 9
June 16
July 4
July 21
July 28
Martinsville Speedway Harry Gant
Talladega Superspeedway Bill Elliott
Dover International Speedway Bill Elliott
Charlotte Motor Speedway Darrell Waltrip
Riverside International Raceway Terry Labonte
Pocono Raceway Bill Elliott
Michigan International Speedway Bill Elliott
Daytona International Speedway Greg Sacks
Pocono Raceway Bill Elliott
Talladega Superspeedway Cale Yarborough
Aug. 11 Michigan International Speedway Bill Elliott
Aug. 24 Bristol Motor Speedway Dale Earnhardt
Sept. 1 Darlington Raceway Bill Elliott
Sept. 8 Richmond International Raceway Darrell Waltrip
Sept. 15 Dover International Speedway Harry Gant
Sept. 22 Martinsville Speedway Dale Earnhardt
Sept. 29 North Wilkesboro Speedway Harry Gant
Oct. 6
Oct. 20
Nov. 3
Nov. 17
Charlotte Motor Speedway Cale Yarborough
North Carolina Speedway Darrell Waltrip
Atlanta Motor Speedway Bill Elliott
Riverside International Raceway Ricky Rudd
HIGH PERFORMANCE
ON THE RACE TRACK, AND IN YOUR HOME
State Water Heaters is excited to partner with Jeb Burton on the race track and the whole Burton family on their outdoor TV show Crossroads with the Burtons. Just like Jeb Burton knows the value of high performing equipment on the track, we know the importance of high performing equipment in your home. Our ProLine® water heaters are designed to provide tough, commercialgrade performance that your family can rely on.
