Larson crashes and Wallace fastest in eventful Roval practice

Kyle Larson will start at the rear of the field in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval in a backup car after crashing in practice. He hit the wall coming out of the infield section of the road course and …

Kyle Larson will start at the rear of the field in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval in a backup car after crashing in practice.

He hit the wall coming out of the infield section of the road course and onto the oval. The No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet got loose when making the transition onto the banking and hit the wall with the right front and then the right rear.

The 2021 series champion will not post a qualifying lap as the team makes the change to the backup car. Larson is 15 points above the playoff grid cutline.

“I just got loose entering [Turn] 8 and overcorrected and got the right front into the wall,” Larson said. “It gets bouncy over there, and it stepped out on me.”

Larson, however, wasn’t the only playoff driver to encounter trouble in practice. Christopher Bell was going down the backstretch toward the chicane when the No. 20 Toyota moved to the right and bounced off the wall.

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23XI Racing teammates Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick led the practice session. Wallace was fastest at 102.295mph (81.646s), while Reddick was second on the chart at 102.210mph.

Chase Briscoe was third fastest at 102.062mph, Corey LaJoie fourth at 101.983mph and AJ Allmendinger fifth at 101.957mph.

Ty Gibbs was sixth at 101.814mph, Daniel Suarez seventh at 101.725mph, Larson eighth at 101.692mph, Joey Logano ninth at 101.665mph and Chase Elliott 10th at 101.607mph.

The remaining playoff drivers in practice were Ryan Blaney (12th), Denny Hamlin (15th), Bell (17th), Ross Chastain (18th), Martin Truex Jr. (19th), Chris Buescher (20th), Brad Keselowski (21st), Kyle Busch (26th), and William Byron (29th).

The only other incident was Ty Dillon hitting the wall coming off Turn 1, damaging the right side of his Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.

There are 37 drivers entered in the Bank of America Roval 400.

Wallace brings a winning mindset to the cusp of playoff advancement

Bubba Wallace and his 23XI Racing team are just about where he’d hoped they’d be as the season has progressed. In fact, it was just yesterday that Wallace reflected as much with 23XI Racing competition director Dave Rogers. “I said, about midway …

Bubba Wallace and his 23XI Racing team are just about where he’d hoped they’d be as the season has progressed. In fact, it was just yesterday that Wallace reflected as much with 23XI Racing competition director Dave Rogers.

“I said, about midway through the season, we were probably an eighth to 12th place car, and we’re sitting ninth in the points right now,” Wallace said at Talladega Superspeedway. “We’re right on the cusp of that.”

That cusp is also the final transfer spot into the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Wallace is two points below the cutline going into Sunday’s race, the second event in the second round.

“I think having an understanding that, usually when the playoffs start, there’s going to be at least two or three playoff cars that take care of themselves, whether that be failures, crashes, penalties – whatever that may be,” Wallace said. “Try not to be one of those. You go out and make sure you have a good day, execute solid, pit crew has a good day, crew chief, strategist, they execute solid. If that recipe is a 20th-place — OK, you missed it. But when you put yourself in a hole, it’s tough. That’s where the mistakes happen.

“I think we’re very capable of getting to the Round of 8. I look at the third round – those are really good racetracks. Going off what I watched last year in Homestead, the car looked really, really fast, so I’m excited to get there. Obviously (there’s) Vegas and Martinsville, so I think if we can just fight our (butts) off these next two weeks, it will be interesting to see what the No. 23 can do for the remainder of the playoffs.”

The boxes keep getting checked for Wallace. Although he hasn’t won a race this season, he earned a postseason berth for the first time. An average finish of 17.6 in the first three races was enough to survive and advance into the next round.

Aside from trying to win, Wallace’s mindset and goal of wanting more in the playoffs hasn’t changed. Advancing is advancing, no matter how it happens, and Wallace is focused on doing so.

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Texas Motor Speedway, the first race of the second round, was the “cleanest and greenest” of the season for everyone on the No. 23 team. Wallace started from the pole and led a race-high 111 laps, but only ended up with a disappointing third-place finish after leading on the overtime restart and being overtaken by William Byron

“When you’re in the top three every week, they say your win is bound to come,” said Wallace. “I do believe that. We just have to keep putting our name in the hat and keep doing what we know we are capable of doing.”

Bootie Barker, Wallace’s crew chief, has preached to his driver what a good team the No. 23 group is. Wallace has always believed as much, but there have been too many times when the team hasn’t been able to put together a complete race.

“I guess if you divide it between three pieces of the pie – driver, crew chief, pit crew – I feel like a lot of times, we’re showing up with two out of the three slices,” Wallace said. “We never had all three. We started to do that more and more and look at what we’re doing. It’s not from us trying harder or whatever; it’s just show up and bring our A-game, and we’ll take what we can get.”

The playoff newcomer admitted that understanding the mindset and appreciating it are two different things. When that happens, it can go a long way for a race team.

“It helps team morale,” Wallace said. “When you fight as one team – this sounds very bland – but you fight as one team, and you show up to the racetrack, and you’re ready to battle for whatever circumstances come your way — that is what makes us so good. We feel like we can overcome anything as long as we don’t take ourselves out. The races can get super long, and you can dial yourself right out, but if you have the right people in the right place to help you out, it makes that transition easy.”

Wallace storms to second career Cup Series pole in Texas

Bubba Wallace laid down a 28.672s lap in qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway, good enough to earn him his second career Cup Series pole and first this season. “When it’s time to step up to the plate and deliver, this is what these (23XI Racing) guys …

Bubba Wallace laid down a 28.672s lap in qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway, good enough to earn him his second career Cup Series pole and first this season.

“When it’s time to step up to the plate and deliver, this is what these (23XI Racing) guys do,” Wallace told NBC Sports after his qualifying lap. The No. 23 was the 10th and final car in the final round of time trials.

Wallace entered last weekend’s Round of 16 cutoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway 19 points below the cut but made up that ground and then some to advance to the Round of 12 in his first ever postseason appearance. It was the second-largest deficit in playoff history to be made up in an elimination race.

His one other pole came last season at Michigan, where he led 22 laps and eventually finished second behind Kevin Harvick. This is also 23XI’s second pole this season (Tyler Reddick at Richmond).

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RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher (28.711s) and Brad Keselowski (28.740s) qualified second and third, with Ty Gibbs (28.760s) and Ross Chastain (28.769s) rounding out the top 5. AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell (was going for four poles in a row) and Denny Hamlin (aborted his flying lap) complete the top 10 starters.

Playoff drivers who failed to advance to the second round of qualifying included Kyle Larson (11th), defending race winner Tyler Reddick (15th), Martin Truex Jr. (16th), William Byron (18th) and Ryan Blaney (23rd).

A piece of debris laid down by Todd Gilliland’s No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford was subsequently run over by Ty Dillon’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet on his lap.

Aric Almirola also scrubbed the wall with his right rear off Turn 2 and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun coming off the same corner on his warmup lap to bring out a brief yellow flag.

There are 36 drivers starting the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400. Green flag is slated to fly on Sunday at 3:50 p.m. ET on USA.

STARTING LINEUP

23XI Racing reveals Luka Dončić inspired paint scheme

The 23XI Racing team has revealed a new Luka Dončić inspired paint scheme for the upcoming race in Texas this weekend.

The 23XI Racing team has two drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs as it has cut the field down to 12. With both Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace qualifying, the team has a 1 in 6 chance to win it all this season.

With the next race being slated for the Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, the team is paying homage to one of the biggest stars in the state — Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić.

The team unveiled this paint scheme featuring green, white and black throughout as well as the 45 for Reddick and the Jumpman logo on it as well.

Take a look at the scheme:

This isn’t the first time we have seen an awesome paint scheme from 23XI Racing connected to basketball. The team has unveiled an elephant print scheme among others over the past year.

With the partnership, we could see more Jordan Brand athletes get special schemes.

Follow us @TarHeelsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.

‘Slap worn out’ Wallace ekes his way into NASCAR’s Round of 12

Bubba Wallace may have been the last driver to climb out of his race car after pulling onto pit road at Bristol Motor Speedway with the other NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers. The 23XI driver took his time rejoining the world after 500 laps. With …

Bubba Wallace may have been the last driver to climb out of his race car after pulling onto pit road at Bristol Motor Speedway with the other NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers.

The 23XI driver took his time rejoining the world after 500 laps. With his helmet still on, Wallace sat alone with his thoughts and emotions. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came over and poked his head into the cockpit. Tyler Reddick, Wallace’s teammate, did the same and enthusiastically slapped Wallace’s helmet a few times.

The No. 23 finished 14th in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, and when Wallace finally climbed from his car, “slap worn-out” by his own admission, he laid his head on the hood, greeted his wife Amanda, and then needed a few minutes to sit down before fulfilling interviews obligations.

As he stood up to address the media, Wallace shouted, “(expletive), yeah!”

That’s how much it meant for Wallace and the No. 23 team to advance into the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. He overcame a 19-point deficit, entering the weekend outside a transfer spot.

“[I was] just trying to gather my thoughts and man, just emotional,” Wallace said. “I said to myself out loud, not on the radio, ‘Proud of you, kid,’ and we all know I rarely do that. Way to stick with it. I tried to give it away a couple of times, got frustrated at myself, frustrated at others, but it all worked out.

“Just what you need to do is execute, so this is a special day and got to cherish it but can’t get complacent. We know Texas is up, and we’re OK there, but we got to come out swinging and come out on the right end of it. Ready to go to work.”

Wallace and his team ‘survived’ the race because he acknowledges they didn’t have the car that they needed. But despite fighting the handling, he ran his race to remain in contention in the bigger picture.

“I thought Daytona was stressful, but that was stressful,” Wallace said of Bristol.

“I beat myself up so many times over the years, and I sound like some of them people up in the stands,” Wallace said of why advancing meant so much. “And to see us continue to march forward is important for my mental, the team’s mentals, everybody involved in this program. Just have to keep it going.”

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A strategy call by crew chief Bootie Barker in the first stage made the difference. Barker kept Wallace on track under the first caution on lap 69, moving them into the top five. Wallace finished the stage in third place, earning eight points.

The No. 23 didn’t place in the points in the second stage, but some of his fellow playoff contenders began encountering trouble. Wallace finished ahead of Kevin Harvick and reigning series champion Joey Logano, who fell out of the race in the final stage.

The final transfer spot went to Wallace by four points over Logano and Harvick. Stenhouse was 17 points below the final transfer spot and Michael McDowell wound up 16 points behind.

“I think the strategy at the beginning was the game changer, staying out there,” Wallace said. “We watched last year’s race and saw that tires were not that big of an advantage, so thought that was key, and that gave us our buffer.”

In his first year in the postseason, Wallace advances to the second round when he knows there were doubters who counted him out. He said as much over the radio, poking fun at how he and his team were “supposed to be out” after the first round.

He didn’t say he’s motivated by proving those people wrong but he hears them.

“You can’t chase that stuff too much; I think that’s where I got caught up in years past…trying to prove the doubters wrong and not racing for [myself] and the team,” Wallace said. “When you race for the team and race for yourself, all that stuff falls in line. It’s cool.”

Wallace bitten by Kansas puncture, falls further in playoffs

Bubba Wallace had one of the fastest cars in the first portion of Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway, but a blown tire derailed his day. On lap 108 of the Hollywood Casino 400, the right rear tire blew on Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota. It shot him into the …

Bubba Wallace had one of the fastest cars in the first portion of Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway, but a blown tire derailed his day.

On lap 108 of the Hollywood Casino 400, the right rear tire blew on Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota. It shot him into the outside wall exiting Turn 2, breaking the toe link on the right rear. Wallace was running second at the time and said there was no warning something was going wrong.

“I got loose like five laps before, but I realized that was kind of my line and my approach to the exit of Turn 4,” Wallace said after finishing 32nd. “And then, three or four laps later, it blew out. No indication going into [Turn 1]. I’m [mad] at myself I wasn’t closer to the fence, and maybe we would have got by with less damage.

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“You’re never going to get a flat tire or blow a tire when you’re running 20th; you’re going to get it when you’re really fast and lights out versus the competition. [Kyle Larson] was kicking our [tail], for sure, but then something happened to them and they weren’t a factor and [Denny Hamlin] and [Tyler Reddick] came out of nowhere.”

With the initial repairs on pit road done before the damaged vehicle policy clock expired, Wallace was able to rejoin the field and meet minimum speed. Although he was skeptical of doing so with an ill-handling car, he ran the required time when the race restarted on lap 114 to reset the clock. Doing so allowed his team to take all the time they needed to make more repairs when a timely caution fell a lap after the restart.

It kept Wallace in the race, but he was multiple laps down for the remainder.

Wallace finished second in the first stage (worth nine points) and led three laps. Last year, he won the fall race at Kansas Speedway and viewed Sunday as an opportunity race now that he and the No. 23 team returned as playoff contenders, the first time Wallace has been a part of the postseason field.

Going into the weekend, Wallace was one point below the cutline. He falls to 19 behind a transfer spot going into Bristol Motor Speedway and the first elimination race of the postseason.

Reddick threads overtime needle for Kansas playoff win

Tyler Reddick made a three-wide move in overtime to grab the victory Sunday at Kansas Speedway and advance out of the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs for the first time in his career. Reddick lined up fifth on the overtime restart in …

Tyler Reddick made a three-wide move in overtime to grab the victory Sunday at Kansas Speedway and advance out of the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs for the first time in his career.

Reddick lined up fifth on the overtime restart in the Hollywood Casino 400 and took advantage of those on older tires in front of him. Reddick quickly went to third and made the three-wide move on Erik Jones and Joey Logano coming to the white flag.

The pass for the lead and the win was completed into Turn 1 and Reddick drove away. Reddick led two laps in Sunday’s win: the final two.

“Just an outstanding job by this whole 23XI team,” Reddick said. “We had really good pace but couldn’t get ahead of Denny [Hamlin] there. But chaos ensued; people stayed out, some took two tires, and the bottom lane opened up. Pretty crazy.”

The victory is Reddick’s second with the No. 45 team at 23XI Racing. It’s his first at Kansas Speedway in nine starts.

Denny Hamlin finished second to the car he co-owns. Hamlin was in firm control of the race — over Reddick — before the final caution flew with seven laps to go when Chris Buescher blew a right-rear tire and hit the wall, bringing the field down pit road. A four-tire call resulted in Hamlin leaving pit road fourth behind the two tires of Jones, Logano and Kyle Busch.

Daniel Suarez, however, stayed out and inherited the race lead. Hamlin chose the outside lane and restarted sixth; he was in the same row as Reddick. However, Hamlin admitted he was lagging on the restart and didn’t get the same jump as Reddick did.

“Four fresh tires and send it in there and slide up,” Reddick said of his move. “Just hats off, as I said, to everybody at 23XI. This Toyota Camry TRD had a lot of pace, and we’ve had a lot of really fast cars with this MoneyLion scheme, and it’s really great to get it back to victory lane.”

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Jones finished third, Kyle Larson finished fourth and Logano finished fifth. Chase Elliott finished sixth, Kyle Busch finished seventh, Christopher Bell finished eighth, Brad Keselowski finished ninth and Alex Bowman was 10th.

Larson won the first stage and Keselowski won the second stage. Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was dominant through the first two stages, leading 99 of the first 165 laps. Larson led the most laps Sunday.

Multiple playoff drivers had trouble in Kansas.

William Byron finished 15th after a spin. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 23rd and had contact with the wall. Michael McDowell got into the back of Austin Cindric to cause a caution in the second stage and struggled with his Front Row Motorsports Ford. McDowell finished 26th.

Buescher finished 27th after the blown tire. He was running 12th at the time.

Bubba Wallace was running second when he blew a right-rear tire and hit the wall. Wallace finished 32nd.

Martin Truex Jr. did not finish the race. Truex was the first driver to make an exit after crashing on lap 4 because of a blown tire.

The four drivers below the playoff grid cutline going into the elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway are Truex (-7), Wallace (-19), Stenhouse (-22), and McDowell (-40).

There were nine cautions Sunday afternoon. There were 19 lead changes among 10 drivers.

RESULTS

Reddick paces eventful Cup practice at Kansas Speedway

Tyler Reddick was fastest in an eventful NASCAR Cup Series practice session Saturday at Kansas Speedway. Reddick posted a lap of 178.808mph (30.200s), topping the speed chart over William Byron at 177.760mph. Bubba Wallace, the defending winner at …

Tyler Reddick was fastest in an eventful NASCAR Cup Series practice session Saturday at Kansas Speedway.

Reddick posted a lap of 178.808mph (30.200s), topping the speed chart over William Byron at 177.760mph.

Bubba Wallace, the defending winner at Kansas, was third fastest at 177.690mph. Kyle Larson was fourth at 177.620mph and Ryan Blaney was fifth at 177.026mph.

The fastest five drivers in practice were Cup Series playoff contenders.

Ty Gibbs was sixth at 176.719mph, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. seventh at 176.644mph, Martin Truex Jr. eighth at 176.390mph, Erik Jones ninth at 176.298mph and Chase Elliott 10th at 176.263mph.

Other playoff drivers in practice were Denny Hamlin (12th), Kevin Harvick (13th), Ross Chastain (14th), Michael McDowell (17th), Christopher Bell (19th), Chris Buescher (20th), Kyle Busch (21st), Brad Keselowski (25th) and Joey Logano (26th).

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There were three incidents in practice — two for playoff drivers.

After Byron laid down the second-fastest lap, he felt a mechanical issue with his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. The No. 24 team will change a broken suspension part.

Busch hit the wall in Turn 4. His No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet got loose after blowing a right-rear tire, sending him into a spin and making significant contact with the right rear.

Gibbs hit the wall off Turn 2 late in practice. The No. 54 Toyota also blew a right rear tire.

Sheldon Creed was 34th fastest in practice. Creed is making his Cup Series debut with Live Fast Motorsports.

There are 36 drivers entered in the Hollywood Casino 400.

Tyler Reddick was fastest in the best 10 consecutive lap average over Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs, Martin Truex Jr., and Bubba Wallace.

Kurt Busch discusses his future at 23XI Racing after retirement

Kurt Busch talks about his future with 23XI Racing after officially announcing his retirement from the NASCAR Cup Series.

[autotag]Kurt Busch[/autotag] announced his retirement from NASCAR before the Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway last weekend. It was an emotional day as a NASCAR champion said goodbye to the sport in a way no one could have imagined before the 2022 season. Well, that doesn’t mean Busch will be leaving overall.

Busch has been involved with [autotag]23XI Racing[/autotag] while being a good mentor for both Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick. The 2004 Cup Series champion has stayed engaged following his concussion at Pocono Raceway in July 2022 and that should remain the case moving forward. Busch was asked in a press conference if he would continue working with 23XI Racing in an advisory department and it was a positive response.

“Yes, as long as they will allow me,” Busch said. “I made up my official title this year. I was called CFD — that is coefficient of drag, really. That is what CFD stands for, but I re-nicknamed it captain of the fun department. That has been a good role, and here lately, I’ve revised it I want to be slightly more professional with the group, so I’ve named myself CVO — chief vision officer.”

“Whatever it means is whatever it means, but I’ve enjoyed working with all of the departments and being that extra set of eyes and helping our team advance so that we can win more races, be more competitive, and have shots at winning championships because that is who personally that I am and I want to give back to the team.”

It is great that Busch is still involved with 23XI Racing following his concussion but it is even better that he remains “happy” and has “no regrets” about racing in NASCAR. Much like many other retired drivers, it will be interesting to see how Busch stays involved in the sport.

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23XI Racing gives big update on status with Toyota in 2024

23XI Racing addresses whether the organization will be staying with Toyota for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.

[autotag]23XI Racing[/autotag] has been at the center of NASCAR silly season discussions as the organization continues to negotiate a deal to stay aligned with Toyota. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin is waiting to officially sign his contract to stay in the No. 11 car for Joe Gibbs Racing. On Saturday night, one piece of the puzzle might have been put in place.

According to The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi, 23XI Racing president Steve Lauletta said the organization will remain aligned with Toyota for the 2024 NASCAR season and that as far as he knows, there will be no changes for next year. This comes as 23XI Racing has been connected to Ford if a deal with Toyota didn’t come to fruition.

Nothing is for certain in NASCAR until the pen hits paper and a deal is announced so that is the next step. Once 23XI Racing and Toyota officially have a deal in place, Hamlin should be able to move forward with his contract involving Joe Gibbs Racing to stay in the No. 11 car.

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