Engine Failure Gives Denny Hamlin His Second Straight Last-Place Finish At Sonoma

Denny Hamlin had a catastrophic engine failure while crossing the start-finish line to complete Lap 2 in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma. The engine failure came without warning, snapped a five-race top-five streak for Hamlin, and cost him the points lead to eventual race winner Kyle Larson. Hamlin was relegated to a 38th-place finish, […]

Christopher Bell Earns Surprise Top-10 Finish After Mid-Race Crash

Although Christopher Bell was mostly a non-factor at Sonoma, he earned a quiet 10th-place finish and suffered less bad luck than any of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. This is not to say he had no bad luck, though, as Josh Berry spun him out on Lap 35 while trying to recover from sliding off […]

Ryan Preece's Paltry Road Course Record Makes Him an Extreme Sonoma Longshot

Although Ryan Preece has improved his finishing position in each of his NASCAR Cup Series starts at Sonoma, having finished 29th in 2019, 21st in 2021, and 13th in 2023, don't expect that trend to continue in this weekend's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma. Not only is his 30th-place starting position his worst ever at […]

John Hunter Nemechek's Road Course Record Too Mediocre to Overcome

John Hunter Nemechek has never competed at Sonoma in the NASCAR Cup Series because the Sonoma race was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic during his only previous full-time Cup Series season in 2020. Nemechek has competed there in both the Xfinity Series and the Craftsman Truck Series, but he has never finished better than […]

Corey LaJoie's Decline in Form Will Likely Continue at Sonoma

Although much of the backlash against Corey LaJoie has been unwarranted, it's still becoming quite clear that he isn't running as well as he did in 2022 and 2023. His disappointing 32nd-place finish at Gateway while his rookie teammate, Carson Hocevar, finished 8th makes it hard for even his most ardent defenders to make much […]

Erik Jones Will Likely Be Stifled by Injury and Lack of Speed

While Erik Jones had some good road course runs for Joe Gibbs Racing, this track type has clearly not been his metier since he lost the No. 20 ride in the NASCAR Cup Series and switched to the No. 43 car, particularly since the introduction of the Next Gen car. In his three Sonoma starts […]

Noah Gragson Faster Than Expected Despite Minimal Sonoma Experience

Although Noah Gragson has never won a road course race at a higher level than the ARCA East Series, he has performed unexpectedly well at Sonoma this weekend. He ranked seventh-fastest in practice and led all four Stewart-Haas cars in qualifying with a 19th-place starting position. Gragson has never started a race at Sonoma in […]

Will Brown Shows Potential, but He's No Shane van Gisbergen

After Shane van Gisbergen's surprise win last year, NASCAR teams have hired Supercars drivers en masse hoping to replicate SVG's results. This weekend's winners of the Supercars sweepstakes are current points leader, Will Brown, and most recent race winner, Cameron Waters. After Brown surprisingly was third-fastest in practice at Sonoma this weekend, many fans speculated […]

Chase Briscoe a Decent Road Racer, but Not So Much at Sonoma

Although Chase Briscoe has run well at several road courses in the past, Sonoma is not one of them. Despite finishing on the lead lap in all three of his starts, he's never led a lap and posted a best finish of 13th, best start of 15th, and average finish of 19.7 at Sonoma. He […]

Sonoma Has Been One of Josh Berry's Worst Tracks

Josh Berry qualified 32nd for this weekend's NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma. He has only made one Cup Series start on a road course thus far at COTA and he ran poorly, starting 31st, finishing 35th, and scoring his second-worst driver rating of the season in that event. He only made one Sonoma start […]

Martin Truex Jr. Remains Snakebitten After Tire Failure While Running Second

Martin Truex Jr. has long been NASCAR's unluckiest superstar, particularly in the years since James Small took over as crew chief. While Truex still ranks third in speed this year with a speed percentile of 82.69, he has no wins to show for it, and Gateway might have been his biggest miss of the season. […]

Michael McDowell Strong In Qualifying Before Fading At Gateway

After never winning a pole before this year, Michael McDowell won his third pole on Saturday at Gateway, tying him with Kyle Larson for the most poles this season. While McDowell led 40 laps yesterday (the most he has ever led on an oval), Christopher Bell passed him for the lead late in Stage 1. […]

Kyle Busch Fast Before Mid-Race Crash At Gateway

Kyle Busch's season is better than most people think. Busch passed Todd Gilliland for the lead on a restart at Gateway and held it before Christopher Bell overtook him shortly thereafter, giving Busch his seventh race with an on-track pass for the lead, tied for second-most this season. However, that ultimately doesn't matter since he's […]

Christopher Bell Dominates For Second Straight Week Until Engine Goes Sour

By most metrics, Christopher Bell dominated Sunday's Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway. Not only did he have the fastest average lap time by nearly a 10th of a second, he led the most laps, won the first two stages, and made three of the race's five on-track passes for the lead. It's debatable whether Ryan […]

Daniel Suárez's Race Speed Deficit and Poor Qualifying Don't Bode Well for Gateway

Although his win at Atlanta locked him into the playoffs, Daniel Suárez's season has rapidly unraveled since then as he had a streak of ten races with below-average speed from Phoenix to Darlington, but he finally had above average speed again in last week's Coca-Cola 600 for the first time since Las Vegas. While that […]

Lack of Speed and Stewart-Haas Racing Closure Will Likely Doom Ryan Preece at Gateway

Ryan Preece qualified 32nd for this weekend's Gateway race but all signs point toward him having an extremely mediocre run on Sunday. All four Stewart-Haas cars qualified badly, most likely because it was announced that the team is going out of business, and while Preece's teammates haven't had a large difference in performance this year, […]

Corey LaJoie Looks to Redeem Himself After Last Year's Gateway Disappointment

Corey LaJoie qualified 15th at Gateway, earning his best oval start this year. He's perhaps eager to prove himself here because his underachievement in the No. 9 Hendrick car in last year's race caused many fans who previously considered him one of the best underdogs in the NASCAR Cup Series to believe that he's always […]

Carson Hocevar Seeks to Fulfill the Promise of Last Year's Auspicious Gateway Debut

Carson Hocevar made his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Gateway last year and attracted a lot of attention when he outran his current teammate Corey LaJoie when LaJoie was substituting for Chase Elliott in his No. 9 Chevrolet after his suspension, while Hocevar drove LaJoie's usual No. 7 Spire Motorsports car. Although Hocevar crashed in […]

Ross Chastain Has Gained Consistency, but Probably Not Fast Enough to Win at Gateway

Ross Chastain qualified 16th for this weekend's Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway. While Chastain has neither led a lap at the track nor finished better than 8th, he did win a Craftsman Truck Series race here in 2019 and the track's egg shape greatly resembles Darlington Raceway, where he has usually done well. Chastain has […]

Chase Briscoe Should Struggle at Gateway After Being Distracted by Team's Shutdown Announcement

Although Chase Briscoe won the pole for the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Gateway and led the first 27 laps, it's unlikely that Briscoe will seriously contend in this weekend's Enjoy Illinois 300. In last year's event, he was a complete nonfactor as he started 25th and finished 34th. This weekend he qualified 23rd. […]

Josh Berry Unlikely to Contend at Gateway

After earning his best two finishes of the NASCAR Cup Series season in back-to-back weeks, Josh Berry makes his first start in the Cup Series at Gateway this weekend. He competed in one previous Gateway race in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2021 where he qualified 14th and finished 15th for Rackley W.A.R., roughly commensurate […]

Tyler Reddick Recovers From Drive-Through Penalty To Finish Fourth At Charlotte

After his team made an unapproved adjustment after pre-qualifying inspection, Tyler Reddick was forced to start last and make a drive-through penalty at the start of Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He came out of the pits directly in front of Ty Gibbs and was able to stay in front of him […]

Ty Gibbs Has Great Speed At Charlotte

In his second season, Ty Gibbs remains very fast, as he ranks fifth in Cup Series speed with a speed percentile of 71.96, and he backed that up at Charlotte with his first-ever pole and his second-fastest lap this year. However, he ultimately finished sixth, both in the race and in his speed ranking. Although […]

William Byron Finishes Third, Has Significantly Improved At Passing

Despite all of William Byron's recent strengths, one of his weaknesses has been passing on long runs. Although he is usually electrifying on short runs, particularly late in races, he often struggled to dominate entire stints last year, and in 2023's Coca-Cola 600, he had a dismal 2-7 lead change record as he kept retaking […]

Justin Allgaier Finishes 13th At Charlotte In Substitute Role For Kyle Larson

After the rain delay at Indianapolis meant Kyle Larson couldn't make the start of the Coca-Cola 600, Justin Allgaier got the opportunity of a lifetime to drive Larson's No. 5 Chevrolet, only the second time the prolific Xfinity Series winner drove a competitive NASCAR Cup Series car. In his only other Hendrick start at the […]

Shane van Gisbergen Making Non-Drafting Oval Debut at Charlotte

Shane van Gisbergen is making his first NASCAR Cup Series start on a non-drafting oval in this weekend's Coca-Cola 600, so it's difficult to predict his performance. His only previous race at Charlotte came in yesterday's BetMGM 300 Xfinity Series race, where he drove from 29th to 15th, but both of his teammates, A.J. Allmendinger […]

Daniel Suarez May Benefit From Trackhouse's Intermediate Speed, but Don't Count On It

On paper, Daniel Suárez seems like one of the best longshot candidates in this weekend's Coca-Cola 600. Both his win at Atlanta and his only other top-five this season (at Texas) came on high-banked intermediates just like Charlotte. Suárez qualified 14th for tonight's event, giving him his best starting position on a non-drafting track this […]

Charlotte Might be Zane Smith's Best Shot for a Solid Run

Zane Smith's rookie season has admittedly been very rocky, as he has no top-10s, no laps led, and the worst speed percentile amongst full-timers at 21.96, not to mention that his teammates, Corey LaJoie and fellow rookie Carson Hocevar, outrun him nearly every race weekend. However, Charlotte might be one of Smith's best opportunities to […]

John Hunter Nemechek Still Struggling to Figure Out Next Gen Car on Intermediates

John Hunter Nemechek qualified 26th for this weekend's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Although he did outqualify his teammate, Erik Jones, don't expect either of the Legacy Motor Club cars to do much in the race. Jones is likely still feeling the brunt of his injury from Talladega, while Nemechek has been mediocre for […]

Corey LaJoie Likely to Have One of His Best Runs of the Season... If He Can Keep It Clean

Corey LaJoie has faced more criticism than any other NASCAR driver this year because he's been consistently outrun by his rookie teammate, Carson Hocevar, but that's more likely a result of fans underrating Hocevar than overrating LaJoie. LaJoie's performance has still been a lot closer to Hocevar's than Zane Smith's by nearly all metrics. LaJoie […]