Michael McDowell Couldn't Overcome Ford's Intermediate Speed Deficit in Homestead Qualifying

Despite winning a season-high six poles thanks to his dominant qualifying on drafting tracks, McDowell has definitely been hit-or-miss in terms of qualifying everywhere else, as he only qualified 24th for today's Homestead race, the worst since the Southern 500. McDowell hasn't factored much in the oval races where he didn't win the pole, and […]

Joey Logano's Team Likely to Ignore Homestead to Focus on Phoenix

After Joey Logano locked himself into the playoffs by winning last weekend's race at Las Vegas, it seems likely that his No. 22 team will likely be entirely focused on Phoenix likely at the expense of the next two races. When he won at Las Vegas to lock himself into the Championship Four in 2022, […]

Carson Hocevar Looks to Clinch Rookie of the Year Award

Carson Hocevar has a chance to wrap up the Rookie of the Year award in today's Homestead race as he leads his fellow rookie Josh Berry by 99 points. If he leaves with a 121-point lead after Homestead, Berry can't catch him. He probably won't clinch the award today, but since the Spire Motorsports cars […]

Daniel Hemric Qualifies Ninth for Best Start of the Year

Since Daniel Hemric lost his Kaulig Racing ride in 2025, he clearly has something to prove to any remaining NASCAR Cup Series owners who might be listening as he unexpectedly qualified 9th at Homestead, his best qualifying run of the season. This is particularly surprising since Hemric has never started a Cup Series race at […]

Denny Hamlin Is Strong at Homestead, but Sometimes Struggles in the Clutch

Denny Hamlin sits 27 points behind the playoff cutline to make the Championship Four, which means he will likely either need to win at Homestead or Martinsville and/or benefit from a poor finish from Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, and/or William Byron. Hamlin can definitely win at Homestead. He's done so three times before, but it […]

Justin Haley Benefits in Qualifying From Spire Motorsports Speed

Justin Haley delivered his best qualifying run of the season at Homestead yesterday when he qualified 10th. The Spire Motorsports cars are obviously faster in qualifying than the Rick Ware Racing cars, but Ryan Sparks is a worse crew chief than Chris Lawson and seems to struggle with setups as a race progresses. As a […]

Austin Cindric Slowest Ford Regular in Homestead Qualifying

After being eliminated from the NASCAR playoffs in the Round of 12, Austin Cindric doesn't have a great deal at stake at Homestead, but his 36th-place qualifying run was definitely a disappointment. While the Fords in general were very slow in qualifying as none of them qualified in the top ten, Cindric has had a […]

Chris Buescher Lacks Intermediate Track Consistency

Although Chris Buescher missed the playoffs, he still is the highest-ranking non-playoff driver in points as the No. 17 driver sits 17th in points exactly 17 points ahead of both Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace. While Buescher is typically always fast on road courses, he's a lot more difficult to predict on ovals as he […]

Josh Berry Hopes to Stay Alive in Rookie Race at Homestead

Josh Berry currently sits 99 points behind Carson Hocevar and remains just barely mathematically eligible for the Rookie of the Year award. He needs to keep Hocevar's lead over him to 120 points or fewer to not be eliminated, and he'll probably do that if he doesn't crash. Unfortunately, Berry leads the NASCAR Cup Series […]

Chase Elliott Eliminated In Wild Las Vegas Crash

Chase Elliott was eliminated from the Las Vegas race, which opened the Round of 8 in the NASCAR playoffs after being caught up in a crash on the restart that started Stage 2. The wreck happened when Stage 1 winner Tyler Reddick attempted a three-wide outside pass on Elliott and Martin Truex, Jr. before Elliott […]

Joey Logano Locks Himself Into Championship Race With Fuel-Mileage Win

A mere week ago, Joey Logano left the Charlotte roval thinking he had failed to advance to the Round of 8 until Alex Bowman's disqualification unexpectedly let him back in. With his win in yesterday's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he became the first driver to lock himself into the championship race […]

Zane Smith Should Benefit From Spire Motorsports' Speed At Las Vegas

Zane Smith's future remains up in the air even though he has been substantially better in the second half of this season than the first. This trend seems to have continued today as his 14th-place qualifying run is tied for his second best this season, and it wouldn't be surprising if he finished better than […]

Ryan Preece Qualifies Poorly As Usual

Although Ryan Preece has had a pretty terrible season, teams in the garage remain interested in him and he looks poised to move to RFK Racing in 2025. Since he is expected to be driving for a better Ford team next year as opposed to his teammates Josh Berry and Noah Gragson (who are arguably […]

Las Vegas Is One Of Michael McDowell's Worst Tracks

Michael McDowell has been a consistent qualifier at Las Vegas and has now qualified between 12th and 18th in his last five starts, including 15th for Sunday's race. However, this is absolutely one of his worst tracks, as he has never finished better than 17th or posted an average running position of better than 18th. […]

Joey Logano Consistently Strong At Las Vegas

After Joey Logano earned an unexpected playoff bid after Alex Bowman's disqualification at the Charlotte roval, Logano looks to extend his bizarre streak of making the Championship Round of the NASCAR playoffs for the sixth consecutive even-numbered year. Although he seems significantly slower than all the other playoff drivers, Las Vegas really suits him. He […]

Corey LaJoie Will Likely Struggle At Las Vegas

Corey LaJoie has had decent moments at Las Vegas with four top-20 finishes, and he had one of his strongest runs of his career to date with an average running position of 13th in the March race, even though he eventually crashed near the end. But he probably won't run nearly as well this time. […]

Jimmie Johnson Might Be The GOAT At Las Vegas, But Not In His Current Car

Jimmie Johnson used to be great at Las Vegas with four wins from 2005 to 2010, most notably the 2006 event where he led only the final lap after passing Matt Kenseth on a green-white-checkered restart. However, he has not been competitive anywhere with the Next Gen car and Legacy Motor Club hasn't been much […]

Las Vegas Likely A Learning Experience For Shane van Gisbergen

After failing to advance to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs, Shane van Gisbergen had the worst finish of his Xfinity Series career after a fuel-pump failure in Saturday's race. Don't expect much better from him in Sunday's event, as it doesn't seem like he has much speed in the Cup […]

Chase Elliott Unexpectedly Weak At Las Vegas With Next Gen Car

Even though Chase Elliott contended to win at Las Vegas a couple times with the Gen 6 chassis, he has generally struggled with the Next Gen chassis, as he has never led a lap at the track or finished better than ninth with this chassis. He only qualified 18th for Sunday's event, while all three […]

Austin Dillon Surprisingly Consistent At Las Vegas But Never A Real Contender

Las Vegas has been a decent track for Austin Dillon, who qualified 13th for Sunday's race. Although he's rarely significantly factored for the lead or the win, he has started and finished between 10th and 20th in all but one of the last seven races at this track and he's been a little faster since […]

Austin Cindric Usually Finishes Worse Than He Starts At Las Vegas

After being eliminated from the NASCAR playoffs last week despite his best efforts, Austin Cindric qualified a solid 11th right behind his teammate Joey Logano. Although Cindric has a long-standing history of qualifying well and fading through the pack as a race progresses, he's done a little better at avoiding that in the second half […]

Flat Intermediate Tracks Remain Chase Briscoe's Achilles Heel

While Chase Briscoe has certain tracks where he runs very well, flat intermediates tend to not be one of them as he is often significantly lacking in speed at those tracks. In the most recent intermediate race at Kansas, he pretty much ensured that he would be eliminated from the NASCAR playoffs after falling from […]

Josh Berry Likely To Be Hurt By Weak Ford Speed At Las Vegas

Although Josh Berry has won twice at Las Vegas in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, he has not been very competitive there in the Cup Series, as he only finished 20th in the March race, and he had a miserable run the year before when he finished 29th while filling in for Chase Elliott in a […]

Brake Failure At Charlotte Roval Ends Daniel Suarez's Playoff Hopes

Daniel Suarez's improbable playoff drive screeched to a grinding halt at the Charlotte roval, a track where he has sometimes had speed but never delivered a good finish. That happened again in yesterday's race as Suarez was in the top ten for most of Stage 2, but his day effectively ended when Bubba Wallace forced […]

Alex Bowman's Disqualification Spares Joey Logano From Playoff Elimination

Although it initially looked like Joey Logano failed to advance to the Round of 8 after Sunday's Charlotte roval race when Tyler Reddick made a furious charge to secure what seemed to be the last playoff spot, Alex Bowman's post-race disqualification unexpectedly allowed Logano back into the playoffs, thereby continuing his streak of making the […]

Austin Cindric's Gallant Roval Performance Not Enough To Advance To Round Of 8

Austin Cindric tried his hardest to deliver a clutch victory at Charlotte to lock himself into the Round of 8 after his near-miss at Talladega. He started and finished fourth at the roval in his best road course drive in the Cup Series since his second-place finish at the Indianapolis roval in 2022. Although he […]

Broken Steering Eliminates Chase Briscoe From NASCAR Playoffs

Chase Briscoe essentially had no chance of advancing to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR playoffs unless he won at the Charlotte roval, which was going to be an extreme longshot to begin with since he only qualified 25th. However, he was ultimately eliminated from the playoffs after being involved in a string of […]

Daniel Suarez Has Road-Course Speed But Not Enough To Make Up Deficit

Daniel Suarez enters Sunday's Charlotte roval race 10th in the standings, 20 points behind the playoff cut line. Trackhouse Racing certainly has good road-course speed, as Ross Chastain easily could have won at Watkins Glen had he not been bitten by caution timing. Although Suarez tends to consistently have speed on road courses as well, […]

Ryan Preece Rarely Competitive On Road Courses

In what might be Ryan Preece's final road-course race as a Cup Series driver, he qualified 34th for Sunday's race at the Charlotte roval. Although his modified experience occasionally helps him in treacherous conditions, like in the 2021 Austin race where he briefly fought for the lead in heavy rain, he is just as mediocre […]

John Hunter Nemechek Gets New Crew Chief In Legacy Motor Club Reshuffle

Legacy Motor Club has struggled so much this season that they shook everything up on Tuesday by firing Erik Jones's crew chief Dave Elenz, replacing him with John Hunter Nemechek's crew chief Ben Beshore, and replacing Beshore with Legacy technical director Brian Campe on Nemechek's car. Campe is a major question mark at this point, […]