Tag: North Wilkesboro

Larson and Chastain moving on from Darlington scuffle

Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain did talk earlier this week after the two crashed for the race lead late at Darlington Raceway, and according to Larson, “It was short and to the point. “Just move forward for both of us,” he said of the conversation …

Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain did talk earlier this week after the two crashed for the race lead late at Darlington Raceway, and according to Larson, “It was short and to the point.

“Just move forward for both of us,” he said of the conversation Saturday afternoon after winning the Craftsman Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

The collision between the two Chevrolet drivers happened in Turn 1 off a restart with six laps to go in the Goodyear 400. Racing tight side-by-side into the corner, Chastain took the blame for getting tight and driving up into Larson’s No. 5.

After Larson left without addressing the media, owner Rick Hendrick was pointed with his comments toward Chastain even while celebrating the win with driver William Byron. Hendrick praised Chastain’s talent but said he doesn’t have to be as aggressive as he is against other drivers. Furthermore, Hendrick believes a growing list of enemies is going to make it hard to win a championship.

“It’s good when your owner has your back and support,” Larson said. “But really, I was just trying to move on as quick as possible after last week.”

While the rivals’ conversation was short, it’s been a week of talking for Chastain. The Trackhouse Racing driver met with his team owner Justin Marks and talked to Hendrick as well.

Chastain didn’t go into detail about those conversations when talking to a few media members earlier this week at North Wilkesboro after competing in the CARS Tour. He did admit he needs to “hit less things.”

Part of the frustration from the Hendrick camp and Cliff Daniels, Larson’s crew chief, was Chastain affecting the team for the third time in four weeks. The No. 1 car indirectly collected Larson in crashes at Talladega Superspeedway and Dover Motor Speedway before the collision at Darlington.

“It’s gotten a little frustrating – it could be anybody out there… We haven’t gotten the results that we deserve the last few weeks,” said Chastain.

Larson motors to Truck Series victory at North Wilkesboro

Kyle Larson proved an admirable substitute on Saturday at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Subbing for injured Alex Bowman, who had been scheduled to race the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, Larson led 138 of 252 laps in winning the Tyson 250 in …

Kyle Larson proved an admirable substitute on Saturday at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Subbing for injured Alex Bowman, who had been scheduled to race the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, Larson led 138 of 252 laps in winning the Tyson 250 in overtime.

Larson is the first driver to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race at revitalized North Wilkesboro in 27 years. The victory was Larson’s third in 15 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts.

At the end of the two-lap overtime, Larson beat ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski to the finish line by 0.974s. Matt DiBenedetto ran third, followed by Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace and pole winner Corey Heim.

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“It was a really fun track there, especially in the truck where you can use the apron and such at both ends,” said Larson, who was making his first Truck Series start of the season. “I had a good time. That was a lot of fun on the long runs.

“I wasn’t supposed to run. Unfortunately, Alex got hurt (in a sprint car accident), and I got the opportunity to run this.”

Larson made the most of his opportunity, dominating the action and charging from sixth after a lap 228 restart on which the first three cars in the running order stayed on the track during the 11th caution, and fourth place Majeski gained track position with a two-tire pit stop.

On lap 238, Larson passed Wallace for the lead and held it through one more caution and the overtime.

Thanks to the pit strategy, Majeski salvaged the runner-up finish.

“Yeah, we just missed it today,” Majeski said. “Sometimes when you’re in the back with nothing to lose, you make gutsy calls, jumping on two tires there, and we were just able to hold off guys who put four tires on. So, a subpar day for us turned into a good finish.”

The race was the first in the series at North Wilkesboro since 1996, when the CRAFTSMAN Trucks ran at the 0.625-mile short track for the second time. Saturday’s renewal produced a record 12 cautions for 81 laps.

The severest of the on-track incidents came on lap 201, when the truck of Tyler Ankrum was forced into the outside backstretch wall. As Ankrum slowed, the Chevrolet of Rajah Caruth and the Fords of reigning series champion Zane Smith and Ben Rhodes suffered a chain-reaction collision that eliminated the three trailing trucks.

Before the wreck, Smith had suffered a pit road speeding penalty that sent him to the back of the field.

“Just a product of what happens when you get put back there,” said Smith, who started the race in the rear of the field because of three failed inspections and had worked his way into the top five before the speeding penalty.

RESULTS

Suarez, Buescher on pole for All-Star heats at North Wilkesboro

Daniel Suarez and Chris Buescher will start from the pole in their respective heat races for the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro. The two earned the positions thanks to their fast pit crews in the Pit Crew Challenge which set the lineups for the …

Daniel Suarez and Chris Buescher will start from the pole in their respective heat races for the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro.

The two earned the positions thanks to their fast pit crews in the Pit Crew Challenge which set the lineups for the All-Star Open and the two heats races for the All-Star Race.

The No. 99 team for Suarez at Trackhouse Racing had a pit stop time of 13.297s.

Buescher’s No. 17 team from RFK Racing had a 13.381s pit stop.

Results of the two heat races will set the lineup for Sunday’s All-Star Race — Heat No. 1 for the inside row and Heat No. 2 the outside.

The heats begin at 7:20 p.m. ET Saturday.

Heat No. 1:

Daniel Suarez: 13.297s

Chase Elliott: 13.572s

Joey Logano: 13.835s

Denny Hamlin: 14.089s

Chase Briscoe: 14.674s

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: 15.063s

Austin Cindric: 15.154s

Kevin Harvick: 15.579s

Ryan Blaney: 18.819s (5s penalty for loose wheel)

Christopher Bell: 20.064s (5s penalty for  loose wheel)

Erik Jones: 21.359s

Heat No. 2:

Chris Buescher: 13.381s

Austin Dillon: 13.712s

William Byron: 13.867s

Ross Chastain: 14.373s

Kyle Larson: 14.687s

Martin Truex Jr.: 15.115s

Bubba Wallace: 15.167s

Brad Keselowski: 18.044s (5s penalty for loose wheel)

Kyle Busch: 19.531s (5s penalty for crew over the wall too soon)

Tyler Reddick: 21.034s (5s penalty for loose wheel)

Starting lineup for All-Star Open at North Wilkesboro

Ty Gibbs will be joined on the front row of the All-Star Open by Josh Berry after their pit crews had the fastest pit stop times of the drivers looking for a spot in the All-Star Race. Gibbs’s No. 54 team from Joe Gibbs Racing won the Pit Crew …

Ty Gibbs will be joined on the front row of the All-Star Open by Josh Berry after their pit crews had the fastest pit stop times of the drivers looking for a spot in the All-Star Race.

Gibbs’s No. 54 team from Joe Gibbs Racing won the Pit Crew Challenge and the $100,000 bonus Friday night at North Wilkesboro Speedway. They had the fastest overall time in the competition at 13.012s.

Berry’s No. 48 team from Hendrick Motorsports had a pit stop time of 13.677s.

Three drivers will advance to the All-Star Race — the top two finishers from the All-Star Open and the fan vote winner.

All-Star Open starting lineup:

Ty Gibbs: 13.012s

Josh Berry: 13.677s

Corey LaJoie: 13.911s

Harrison Burton: 14.091s

Justin Haley: 14.294s

Michael McDowell: 14.509s

Todd Gilliland: 14.707s

Ryan Preece: 14.760s

Aric Almirola: 14.776s

AJ Allmendinger: 15.790s

Josh Bilicki: 18.281s

Ty Dillon: 18.447s

Chandler Smith: 19.004s (5s penalty for loose wheel)

Noah Gragson: 20.886s (5s penalty for loose wheel)

JJ Yeley: 21.066s (5s penalty for crew over the wall too soon)

Gibbs crew earns All-Star Open pole with Pit Crew Challenge win

Ty Gibbs will start from the pole in the All-Star Open at North Wilkesboro Speedway after his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 team clicked off the fastest pit stop Friday night in the Pit Crew Challenge. A 13.012s stop got the job done. Chris Gayle leads …

Ty Gibbs will start from the pole in the All-Star Open at North Wilkesboro Speedway after his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 team clicked off the fastest pit stop Friday night in the Pit Crew Challenge.

A 13.012s stop got the job done.

Chris Gayle leads the No. 54 team. Nate Bellows is the car chief, Peyton Moore the fueler, Derrell Edwards the jackman, Blake Houston on the front tire, Michael Hicks on the rear tire, and Jacob Holmes is the tire carrier.

In addition to the pole, the pit crew won the $100,000 bonus. The Pit Crew Challenge set the starting lineups for the All-Star Open as well as the two heat races for the All-Star Race.

“It means a lot,” Edwards said. “I had a lot of emotion after the stop because this No. 54 team, we’ve been through a lot. I’ve been through two suspensions. My group — we keep putting in the work. We know what type of group we are; we know what type of pit crew we are, and today we were able to showcase it.

“We’re all we got; we always depend on each other and have each other’s back no matter what — good, bad, or indifferent — and it paid off today.”

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In the Pit Crew Challenge, drivers drove into the pit stall from a standing start on pit road. After the four-tire pit stop, they exited the pit box to the timing line. There was no fuel going into the car, but the fueler was still involved in the pit stop by engaging the fuel can and kicking the left rear tire back toward the pit wall.

Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 team from Trackhouse Racing had the second-fastest time in the competition at 13.297s, putting him on the pole for the first All-Star heat.

Chris Buescher will start from the pole in the second heat race after his No. 17 RFK Racing team reeled off a 13.381s stop.

There were nine penalties during the Pit Crew Challenge out of 37 teams. A penalty was called for any infraction a team would be called for during a Sunday race.

J.J. Yeley and Kyle Busch’s teams were called for being over the wall too soon and issued 5s penalties.

The teams of Chandler Smith, Ryan Newman, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, and Christopher Bell were issued 5s penalties for having loose wheels.

8 takeaways from NASCAR’s 2023 schedule with (some) big changes and new tracks

Check out NASCAR’s newly released 2023 Cup Series schedule.

NASCAR released its 2023 Cup Series schedule Wednesday, and although there aren’t too many adjustments compared with this year’s lineup, the changes that are included are fairly big.

In recent years, NASCAR has been revamping it’s schedule so it now includes more road course races, a greater variety in track types and some novelty races, like the preseason Clash at the Coliseum and the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt race. For 2023, many of the recent updates to the schedule remain the same, and there’s two new tracks added — though one is for an exhibition race.

So now that the 2023 NASCAR schedule is finally out, here are our key takeaways.