Joe Gibbs Racing revealed the nature of Bell's injury Tuesday after Gibbs said following Sunday's race that Bell was dealing with ankle and wrist injuries after the crash. Bell's car hit the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4 at a nasty angle and a high rate of speed after Chase Elliott got loose to the inside of him.

Bell and Elliott were racing for second behind William Byron when the crash happened. The race had to be red flagged for repairs to the wall — the first layer of the SAFER barrier was dented from the impact of the crash.

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The wreck dropped Bell three spots in the points standings to 10th. He's 259 points behind leader Tyler Reddick with five top-five finishes and six top 10s in 2026. His 398 laps led are actually three more than Reddick and he ranks third in that category to Michigan winner Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson.

Missing races can be more detrimental this season than in years past with NASCAR's revised Chase playoff format. With the previous win-and-in format, a driver with a win could lock himself into the postseason despite missing races due to injury. This season, the top 16 drivers in the points standings will make the 10-race Chase at the end of the regular season regardless of win total. Bell is currently 81 points ahead of Joey Logano in 17th place.

A week after he had to work his way through the field at Nashville after starting on the pole, Hamlin essentially did the same thing at Michigan on Sunday. Hamlin won the pole on Saturday but had to start at the rear of the field to fix damage to his car. He took the lead for the second time after a lap 162 restart and easily beat the rest of the field by 10 seconds or more for the victory.

The victory is Hamlin's third of the season after he won the fifth race of the year at Las Vegas. He celebrated the win with a flag honoring his former teammate Kyle Busch, who died on May 21 after he contracted sepsis while he had bacterial pneumonia.

Busch won 63 Cup Series races in his career. Sunday was Hamlin's 63rd Cup Series win.

At Nashville, Hamlin actually started the rain-delayed race in first. But he jumped the start of the race and was forced to serve a drive-through penalty under green. That put him last in the field just laps into the race. He worked his way back to the front and passed Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe for the win in the waning laps.

Erik Jones finished second to Hamlin on Sunday while Bubba Wallace was third and Kyle Larson finished fourth.

Points leader Tyler Reddick — who won five of the first nine races of 2026, was wrecked on a mid-race restart when fifth-place finisher Carson Hocevar gave John Hunter Nemechek an unnecessarily aggressive bump. Reddick was forced to retire from the race after a hard hit with the inside wall. It is his first finish outside the top 15 all season.

Hamlin continued to stay second behind Reddick in the standings with his win.

Bell and Elliott crash red flags the race

A wreck involving Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott was so violent that it forced NASCAR to red flag Sunday's race at Michigan with 50 laps to go.

Elliott and Bell were racing for second place after a restart and Elliott got loose underneath Bell. The contact sent Bell into the wall at a near 45-degree angle. It's one of the hardest hits you'll see. Thankfully, both drivers immediately climbed from their cars after the crash, though Bell's car owner Joe Gibbs said after the race that Bell had ankle and wrist injuries.

"Totally my fault, I feel really bad for Bell," Elliott said.

Bell's hit was so hard that the wall was dented where he hit. NASCAR tracks are equipped with SAFER barriers — a dual wall that has foam on the inside to help absorb force. The outer wall bent inward because of the impact of Bell's car.

"I don't think you'll see a car hit the wall at a harder, faster impact than there," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on the Amazon Prime broadcast.

The caution flag was the 10th of the race and tied a Michigan track record. William Byron was ahead of Bell and Elliott when the wreck happened.

Race results

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Erik Jones

3. Bubba Wallace

4. Kyle Larson

5. Carson Hocevar

6. Daniel Suarez

7. Joey Logano

8. Ryan Blaney

9. Chris Buescher

10. Chase Briscoe

11. Austin Cindric

12. Cole Custer

13. Riley Herbst

14. John Hunter Nemechek

15. Josh Berry

16. Ross Chastain

17. AJ Allmendinger

18. William Byron

19. Alex Bowman

20. Austin Hill

21. JJ Yeley

22. Todd Gilliland

23. Cody Ware

24. Ty Dillon

25. Ty Gibbs

26. Michael McDowell

27. Noah Gragson

28. Ryan Preece

29. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

30. Shane van Gisbergen

31. Christopher Bell

32. Chase Elliott

33. Zane Smth

34. Brad Keselowski

35. Tyler Reddick

36. Austin Dillon

37. Connor Zilisch

Instead, Childress was at Michigan International Speedway making his first public comments after Busch's sudden death on May 21 at the age of 41.

"The hardest part of this is that today, we were going to be in here, Kyle was going to be with me and we were going to announce that he was coming back in 2027 and drive for [Richard Childress Racing]," Childress said. "We wanted to do it up here in Michigan with our [General Motors] friends, with Chevrolet, and it didn't happen. This is a different type of media availability instead of a press conference that he was coming back to race for us in 2027.

"I talked to Kyle Tuesday night [May 19], before everything went down Wednesday night and Thursday, and we had a great conversation. He said 'you give me cars like you gave me the last three weeks and I will make the Chase this year.' We were that confident. Both of us had a lot of confidence in this team."

Busch died after he contracted sepsis while he had bacterial pneumonia. His death certificate said that Busch had been dealing with the pneumonia for days to weeks. The two-time Cup Series champion said he was dealing with a cough in his final NASCAR Cup Series points race at Watkins Glen on May 10. On May 20, his family said he'd been hospitalized with a severe illness and would miss the Coca-Cola 600.

Released 911 audio revealed that the unidentified man who called 911 from the General Motors Technical Center that Wednesday said that Busch was coughing up blood and had shortness of breath.

Busch joined RCR ahead of the 2023 season following 15 seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing. He won three times over his first 15 Cup starts at RCR but hadn't made victory lane since as the team struggled to keep up. Busch was 14th in the 2023 points standings — his lowest finish since his rookie season in 2005 — and finished 20th and 21st the past two seasons.

He posted his first two top-10 finishes of the season across his final three Cup Series races in 2026 and had moved up four spots in the standings to 23rd.

"Kyle Busch will go down in history as one of the greatest drivers there's ever been," Childress said. He'll be in the Hall of Fame. I'd love to see them put him in right away. He helped RCR when we needed him."

In 2001, Dale Earnhardt was the most recent Cup Series driver to die during a race when his Richard Childress Racing car went head-on into the wall on the final lap of the Daytona 500. And now, 25 years later, Childress is again dealing with the sudden passing of one of his drivers.

"It's challenging," Childress said. "You lose two of the greatest drivers that's ever driven a car in NASCAR, and now having to go through it again. I just feel so bad for the family and the RCR employees. I haven't slept very well. I'll leave it at that."

Jarrett, a NASCAR Hall of Famer, won 50 Cup Series races across 352 starts from 1953 through 1966. He then became a revered TV analyst after he retired from driving and his call at the finish of the 1993 Daytona 500, when his son Dale beat Dale Earnhardt, is one of the most iconic broadcast moments in NASCAR history.

"Our father was a devout Christian and a devoted, loving, family man," a statement from the Jarrett family said. "He was a friend to everyone he met and NASCAR's oldest living champion. By all accounts, he was a true NASCAR legend. While we mourn his passing, we celebrate the remarkable life of an amazing man and truly the best father anyone could have wished for."

Ned won Cup Series titles in 1961 and 1965. His first title came despite winning just once across 46 races. Jarrett finished in the top 10 in 34 of his starts and beat Rex White for the championship.

In 1965, Jarrett won 13 races across 54 starts and had 45 top-10 finishes. He cruised to the championship by more than 3,000 points over second-place Dick Hutcherson. Darel Dieringer in third was over 14,000 points behind.

The year before Jarrett's second title, he won 15 of the 59 races he started and finished second in the standings to Richard Petty.

Jarrett's media career began while he was still driving. Jarrett started hosting a radio show in the 1960s and joined NASCAR's MRN radio in 1978. He was an analyst with CBS for 17 years from 1984 to 2000 and called Dale's other two Daytona 500 wins in 1996 and 2000.

When Dale Jarrett won the 1999 Cup Series title, the Jarretts joined Lee and Richard Petty as the only father-son combinations to win Cup championships. That group now includes three families as Chase Elliott joined his father, Bill, with his title in 2020.

The Jarretts are also just one of five families with fathers and sons in the NASCAR Hall of Fame for their careers as drivers, along with the Pettys, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr., Buck and Buddy Baker, and Bobby and Davey Allison. Ned Jarrett was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011 as part of the hall's second class, and Dale Jarrett joined him in 2014.

Howell, 35, was arrested and charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon leading to serious injury following the incident, which occurred hours before the race. She had a court appearance on Tuesday and her next court appearance on June 16. She posted a $125,000 bond.

Wednesday, Howell was listed on NASCAR’s penalty report with an indefinite suspension for a behavioral violation.

According to Howell’s LinkedIn page, she is a senior account manager for 23XI, the team co-owned by Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan.

23XI’s Tyler Reddick has been the most dominant driver in the Cup Series this season. Reddick won the first three races of the season and has added two more since. No other driver has more than two wins across the first 13 races of the season.

Hamlin is a distant second in the standings and 122 points behind Reddick. Bubba Wallace is 13th in the standings and Riley Herbst, 23XI’s other driver, is 27th in the standings. Before the season, 23XI and Front Row Motorsports prevailed in their legal fight with NASCAR after the sanctioning body agreed to a settlement during an antitrust trial over NASCAR’s charter system.

Busch died Thursday at the age of 41 after contracting sepsis following a case of pneumonia. According to his death certificate, Busch had been dealing with bacterial pneumonia for “days to weeks” and became septic. That led to clots to form in his bloodstream.

Per Fox Sports, NASCAR made the decision to take Busch out of its official points standings “following conversations with [his Richard Childress Racing team] about how to handle Busch’s death and being empathetic of the impact to those who would see his name in the standings.”

His name no longer appears on the standings on NASCAR’s website.

Before Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, Busch was 23rd in the points standings and had accumulated 217 points through the first 12 races of the season. He scored his first two top-10 finishes of the season in his last three races after he was 10th at Talladega and then eighth at Watkins Glen.

Busch is NASCAR’s winningest driver across its three national series with 234 wins. His last NASCAR win came on May 15 at Dover in the Truck Series. He’s the winningest driver ever in both NASCAR’s O’Reilly Series and Truck Series and ranks ninth in Cup Series history with 63 wins.

However, that last win came in 2023, when Busch won three races in his first season with RCR. As RCR struggled to be competitive, Busch’s win rate tailed off as a result. He recorded just eight top-five finishes across his last 84 Cup Series races after scoring 246 top fives in his first 678 races.

Legendary NASCAR driver Kyle Busch was reportedly dealing with bacterial pneumonia for “days to weeks” before his death, according to a death certificate obtained by US Weekly.

Busch reportedly had been dealing with pneumonia before going septic. A medical examiner reportedly determined Busch dealt with sepsis for one day, which then led to clots forming in his bloodstream, blocking blood flow to his organs and causing hemorrhagic shock, per US Weekly.

That’s exactly what Busch’s family announced in a statement two days after the driver’s death. In that statement, Busch’s family said the driver died after “severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications.”

Prior to his death on May 21, Busch planned to take part in the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday. But Busch reportedly became ill while in a racing simulator Wednesday. In a 911 call obtained by TMZ, Busch was reportedly struggling to breathe and coughing up blood.

Busch was transported to a Charlotte, North Carolina, hospital after that call. Early Thursday, his team released a statement announcing Busch would not take part in the Coca-Cola 600 due to a “severe illness.” Hours later, Busch’s family put out a statement announcing his death. He was 41.

In the days following his death, Busch — NASCAR’s winningest driver across its three national series — was honored and celebrated by the sport and his colleagues. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin were among the drivers to immediately send heartfelt messages in tribute to Busch.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway held a moment of silence for Busch on Friday and lit up the pylon during lap 18 of Sunday’s Indy 500 in Busch’s honor. Richard Childress Racing announced it would suspend the use of the No. 8 ahead of the Coca-Cola 600. The company said it would hold the No. 8 until Busch’s 11-year-old son, Brexton, was “ready to go NASCAR racing.”

Spire, which purchased Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) in 2023, added KBM logos to some of its trucks before the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 on Friday.

Following Busch’s death, there’s been support for NASCAR to waive its Hall of Fame policy and immediately induct Busch into the Hall of Fame. Typically, drivers need to be retired for two years in order to become eligible for the honor.

Busch, 41, died Thursday after he contracted sepsis while dealing with a case of pneumonia. The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion recorded 234 wins across NASCAR’s Cup Series, second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and third-tier Craftsman Truck Series over a career that spanned 26 seasons.

Busch’s wins mark dwarfs that of any other active driver and almost any other driver in NASCAR history. Only Richard Petty, who won 200 Cup Series races throughout his career, along with one in NASCAR’s long-defunct convertible series, is close to Busch’s career wins mark. And while Petty’s 200 wins all came in the Cup Series and have long served as the NASCAR gold standard for excellence, there’s a strong case to be made that Busch’s record deserves to stand alongside Petty’s.

How Richard Petty got his wins

• 200 wins in 1,184 Cup Series starts

• First win: Charlotte, 1960

• Last win: Daytona, 1984

Petty has long held the title of greatest NASCAR driver ever, thanks to his seven Cup Series championships to go with his 200 wins. Only Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson have as many titles, and David Pearson, with 105 victories, is the only other driver with more than 100 Cup Series wins.

The man known as “The King” posted some absurd stats during his career. In 1967, he won 27 of 48 races while finishing in the top 10 in all but eight of his starts. Four years later, Petty won 21 of the 46 races he entered and had 41 top-10 finishes. Overall, Petty had 555 top-five finishes and a top-10 rate of more than 60% throughout his career.

However, there are a few caveats to Petty’s record, especially when compared to modern NASCAR. (The sanctioning body defines its modern era as being from 1972 to the present day.) Before 1972, NASCAR’s schedule at the top level was a hodgepodge. During that 1967 Grand National series season, 15 races were held in June and July alone, with many coming just days apart from one another.

Petty was the only driver to race in 48 races; just 10 competed in 40 or more races. James Hylton finished second to Petty in the standings by competing in 46 races and scoring 26 top-fives while never finishing on the lead lap. The competition in the nascent days of NASCAR wasn’t exactly fierce.

But Petty was still incredibly good once the modern era began and NASCAR’s slimmed-down Cup Series schedule took shape. He won 13 of 30 races in 1975 on the way to his sixth title, a year after winning 10 races for his fifth. His seventh title came in 1979, when he finished fifth at Ontario to slip past Darrell Waltrip by 11 points.

How Busch got his wins

• 234 wins in 1,313 NASCAR starts

• 63 Cup wins in 762 starts

• 102 O’Reilly wins in 367 starts

• 69 Truck wins in 184 starts

• First win: Richmond, 2004 (O’Reilly)

• Last win: Dover, 2026 (Truck)

Busch ranks ninth all-time among Cup Series wins leaders and is the winningest driver in O’Reilly and Truck Series history. He has more than twice as many wins as second-place Mark Martin (49) in the O’Reilly Series and 18 more than second-place Ron Hornaday in the Truck Series.

From 2010 through 2013, Busch won 33 O’Reilly Series races. It’s a remarkable achievement made even more so when you remember that Busch went winless in 2012. That year, he drove for his own Kyle Busch Motorsports team as it moved up to NASCAR’s second tier instead of for his longtime Cup Series team, Joe Gibbs Racing.

All but 21 of Busch’s Truck Series wins came while he was driving for his own team. After he didn’t win in any of his three starts in the series in 2012, Busch won at least one Truck Series race for the next 14 years — and won all five of his starts in 2019.

Overall, Busch posted four seasons with at least 10 or more wins in the O’Reilly Series and had two eight-win seasons in the Cup Series. His first eight-win season came in 2008, when he finished 10th in NASCAR’s Chase. Ten years later, Busch won eight races again, but he finished fourth among the four title contenders in NASCAR’s winner-take-all championship race.

Like Petty in many of his pre-modern-era races, Busch was in top-tier equipment against drivers with far less talent and far less equipment in many of his second- and third-level wins. That’s indisputable. But even in that context, Busch’s win rate of better than 30% in the Truck Series is staggering.

Why no one will get close anytime soon … or ever

Among all drivers, Kevin Harvick ranks a distant third to Busch and Petty with 121 wins across all three series. Among active drivers, Busch’s lead is colossal.

Denny Hamlin is now the active leader in wins across all series with 81, while Brad Keselowski has 76. Both drivers are in their 40s, and in Hamlin’s case, the 2027 season might be his last. Neither races regularly below the Cup Series any longer. They probably won’t be adding a bunch more wins to their totals.

Joey Logano is third among active drivers with 69 wins, and Kyle Larson is fourth with 55. Both are in their 30s, but they’re also not running many lower-tier races. There isn’t an active driver who is likely to sniff Busch and Petty in total wins.

The main reason is pretty simple. It’s tougher to dominate the Cup Series in the 2020s than it was in Petty’s day. And as Cup drivers like Busch were dominating the O’Reilly and Truck Series, NASCAR moved to institute race limits for Cup drivers in the lower series. The current limit is 10 O’Reilly Series races and eight Truck races per season for veteran drivers. For the previous five seasons, experienced Cup drivers were limited to just five O’Reilly races per season.

Drivers simply don’t have the opportunities Busch did in the 2010s. In 2009, Busch ran the full Cup and O’Reilly schedule along with 18 Truck Series races. He started 89 of a possible 96 races.

But even if NASCAR immediately loosened its race restrictions and allowed Cup drivers to compete with the frequency that Busch did, no one is going to win like he did, either. He was NASCAR’s unicorn, and his wins record will always reflect that.

Hill’s name was on Tuesday’s NASCAR Cup Series entry list for Richard Childress Racing’s No. 33 car after he drove Busch’s car in the Coca-Cola 600. Busch, 41, died Thursday after he contracted sepsis while dealing with pneumonia.

Richard Childress Racing immediately moved to change the number on Busch’s car from No. 8 to No. 33 after his death. Busch had driven the No. 8 car since joining RCR in 2023.

Hill, 32, finished 27th and one lap down during the 600. It was his third Cup Series start of the season after making two previous starts in the No. 33 as a third car alongside Busch and teammate Austin Dillon.

Hill is currently sixth in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series standings with one win and seven top-10 finishes through the first 15 races of the season. He’s in his fifth season for RCR in NASCAR’s second-tier series and hasn’t finished lower than sixth in the standings in any of the previous four seasons. He was sixth a year ago despite missing a race due to suspension and losing his playoff points after intentionally crashing Aric Almirola at Indianapolis.

RCR has not announced if Hill or anyone else will drive the rest of the season for the team. In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, RCR said Childress would hold a news conference June 6 and, in the interim, it “respectfully asks for privacy for the Busch family and everyone at RCR until that time.”

Imagine how boring it would be to drive 20 mph for three hours. Yet you’d have covered more distance than drivers covered under green-flag conditions in that same timeframe during the NASCAR Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on Wednesday.

The Clash was, simply, a brutal watch. An exhibition race that was supposed to end before its two-hour TV window was over stretched into a fourth hour, as drivers couldn’t stop running into each other and spinning out. The race went so long that Fox kicked the race off its airwaves after three hours in order for “The Masked Singer” to air an hour later than scheduled. As the reality show began, NASCAR was relegated to the little-watched Fox Sports 2, a channel that regularly airs repeats.

It was an ignominious start for NASCAR’s Cup Series ahead of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15. The Clash was originally scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 1, but the massive snowstorm in North Carolina kicked the race to Monday and eventually to Wednesday. Even so, the three-day delay didn’t save NASCAR from the elements.

With temperatures just a few degrees above freezing, a rain and sleet shower halted the proceedings about halfway through the 200-lap race. Teams were allowed to put rain tires on while NASCAR dried off the track following a short delay.

Chaos ensued. It was impossible for a green-flag run of any magnitude to happen. And that’s where the Clash’s caution-flag rules come into play. The race would've mercifully ended an hour earlier if it were like any other race and caution-flag laps counted toward the 200-lap total. But the Clash is unlike any other race. Caution laps don’t count.

That made for an interminable viewing experience.

Wednesday's race was the second Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium after a few years at a temporary short track at the Los Angeles Coliseum. No, NASCAR can't control the weather, but the events that took place at the 0.25-mile short track made a great case for why the Clash should either move back to Daytona or cease to exist.

The Clash, which began in 1979, moved from Daytona partially because it was a costly endeavor for teams to start the season. Crashes became the norm in latter years — as NASCAR's rules put cars closer and closer together at Daytona and Talladega — so what happened at Bowman Gray wasn't too out of the ordinary, even if the 17 caution flags were a Clash record.

But the race was also a perfect example of the recent NASCAR experience. Races have far too often been a chore to watch. If you stuck out the Clash after it moved from Fox to FS2 and didn't go do laundry, organize your sock drawer or polish your silverware, you're a die-hard NASCAR fan.

Yet you still probably didn't enjoy what took place. It doesn't help that Fox continues to mail in its NASCAR broadcasts and treat viewers like children. But even an engaging broadcast could've done only so much. 

At least the Clash didn't count for anything toward the 2026 title. And we can hope it's not a harbinger of things to come this season. As NASCAR has — again — revamped its championship format, it's hoping that disaffected fans will reengage. If you're one of those who watched on Wednesday, you certainly didn't find a reason to tune in later this year.

Oh, yeah, Ryan Preece won.

NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps will resign from his position at the end of January. Phelps, who has been with NASCAR since 2005, announced his resignation in a statement Tuesday.

Phelps' statement read:

"As a lifelong race fan, it gives me immense pride to have served as NASCAR's first Commissioner and to lead our great sport through so many incredible challenges, opportunities and first over my 20 years. 

"Our sport is built on the passion of our fans, the dedication of our teams and partners, and the commitment of our wonderful employees. It has been an honor to help synthesize the enthusiasm of long-standing NASCAR stakeholders with that of new entrants in our ecosystem, such as media partners, auto manufacturers, track operators, and incredible racing talent. 

"As I embark on new pursuits in sports and other industries, I want to thank the many colleagues, friends and especially the fans that have played such an important and motivational role in my career. Words cannot fully convey the deep appreciation I have for this life-changing experience, for the trust of the France family, and for having a place in NASCAR's amazing history."

NACAR said Tuesday that Phelps "made the personal decision to step away from the company." The company did not announce additional leadership changes and said it does not plan to hire a new commissioner. Phelps' responsibilities will be delegated to other NASCAR executives. 

The news comes months after court filings revealed Phelps made derogatory comments about RCR team owner and former driver Richard Childress. 

In a 2023 text exchange with NASCAR VP Brian Herbst, Phelps called Childress a "stupid redneck" who "needs to be taken out back and flogged." Phelps also referred to Childress as a "total ass-clown" in the exchange. Those comments came while NASCAR was working on a new charter agreement with Childress.

That text exchange came to light in November as part of the 23XI/FRM vs. NASCAR antitrust lawsuit. Phelps came under scrutiny after those remarks were revealed, with Childress saying he was seeking legal action and Bass Pro Shops CEO Johnny Morris implying Phelps should be removed from his position. Bass Pro Shops has been a partner with the sport for years.

In December, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports and NASCAR announced a settlement, ending the lawsuit. 

Phelps' resignation ends his 20-year run with NASCAR. He originally joined the company in 2005 as its vice president of corporate marketing. Phelps worked his way up through the organization over the years, eventually being named its president in 2018. 

In March of 2025, Phelps was promoted into the role of commissioner. He lasted less than a year in that position.

Justin Allgaier’s poorly timed block near the end of the second stage of the Daytona 500 took out a host of cars at the front of the field.

Allgaier was leading with less than 10 laps to go before the stage concluded when Denny Hamlin got a push from Ryan Blaney at the front of the outside line entering the tri-oval. As Hamlin went to Allgaier’s outside, Allgaier moved up. Slowly.

The late block collected Hamlin, Blaney, defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Shane van Gisbergen and many others. At least 20 cars were involved. Forty-one cars started the race and 40 were on track at the time of the crash. 

Allgaier races full-time in NASCAR's second-tier O'Reilly Auto Parts Series for JR Motorsports. It was his second straight Daytona 500 racing for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team, as it has attempted each of the past two 500s.

This year's 500 was just Allgaier's fifth Cup Series start in the past four seasons. Though he's an O'Reilly Series champion and has finished in the top five in the standings in each of the past six seasons, it's fair to wonder if his lack of experience in Cup Series cars helped lead to the crash. There was little reason for his block to happen so lackadaisically. He either needed to let Hamlin drive past or move up in front of him sooner. 

It was the second big crash of the race in the tri-oval already. A wreck earlier in the second stage ruined the chances of contending for Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Connor Zilisch and others. Allgaier was also slightly a part of that one as he and Zilisch made contact as the wreck began. 

Betting the Daytona 500 is far from straightforward.

NASCAR’s biggest race has evolved into what can kindly be called a crapshoot over the last five seasons. As William Byron goes for his third straight Daytona 500 win, he’s hardly been at the front in any of his previous two victories.

In 2024, Byron took the lead for the first time on a late restart and led the final four laps. Those were the only laps he led all day.

A season ago, Byron led 10 laps. But he wasn’t anywhere near the lead halfway through the final lap. Byron went from seventh to first on the last lap thanks to a crash at the front of the field that he somehow escaped.

Since Denny Hamlin led 79 laps on the way to his third Daytona 500 win in 2020 — a race he won from third just football fields from the finish line as leader Ryan Newman went head-on into the wall — none of the past five race winners have led more than 21 laps. And outside of the 21 laps that Austin Cindric led in 2022, no winner has led more than 10 laps in any of the last four Daytona 500s.

It’s imperative to be in the right place at the right time. And there’s no consensus on where the right place actually is given the nature of Cup Series racing at Daytona and Talladega. You can lead 190 laps and get sent into the wall while leading just as easily as you can get caught up in a crash ahead of you while running 35th.

You need far more luck than skill and a dominant car these days.

That’s why we recommend spreading out your bets if you’re looking to cash in on the Feb. 15 race. Instead of a large bet on one or two drivers, smaller bets on a handful of drivers — including a couple of long shots — is a much smarter play. Here’s a look at the field ahead of the first Cup Series race of the season. All odds are from BetMGM.

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The favorites

Ryan Blaney (+1200)
Blaney is still looking for his first Daytona 500 win, but may currently be the best driver at Daytona and Talladega. He’s won two summer races at Daytona and has nine top-10 finishes in 21 starts at the track. He also has nine DNFs. That’s why it’s so hard to predict Daytona races.

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Joey Logano (+1200)
Logano is going to be at the front of the field at some point. Book it. He’s led a lap in each of the last 14 Daytona races. However, he hasn’t won since he took the checkered flag in the 2015 Daytona 500.

William Byron (+1400)
Can Byron continue to be in the right place at the right time? Since he led 24 laps on the way to a win in the 2020 summer race, Byron has led 35 laps over the last 10 Daytona races yet has two victories in that span.

Denny Hamlin (+1400)
Hamlin’s odds are so long despite being a three-time Daytona 500 champion because his recent stats stink. Hamlin hasn’t finished higher than 17th over the last eight Daytona races. But we think that’s far more likely to be Daytona noise than a skill regression.

Great mid-tier value

Austin Cindric (+1600)
Yes, oddsmakers like Team Penske. Its three drivers are among the favorites and Cindric has the best Daytona average finish of the trio at 18.4. He has a top five and another top 10 in addition to his 2022 win.

Brad Keselowski (+1800)
Bet Keselowski with caution. He’s still recovering from a broken leg suffered in a fall during the offseason. He didn’t race in Wednesday’s Clash, but plans to be medically cleared for the Daytona 500. He has one win and eight top-10 finishes in 33 Daytona starts.

Bubba Wallace (+2200)
Wallace has the best average finish of any active driver at Daytona at 14.4 despite crashing out in three of the last six Daytona races. He has five top-five finishes at Daytona and two second-place finishes in the Daytona 500.

Long shots to look at

Josh Berry (+4000)
Berry drives for Wood Brothers Racing, a team that has a technical alliance with Team Penske. If you’re bullish on the Penske favorites, you need to also take a flier on the other driver in Penske equipment. Berry has one top-10 finish in five Daytona starts.

Erik Jones (+4000)
Jones has finished in the top 20 in each of the past five Daytona races and won way back in 2018 when he was driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.

NASCAR’s preseason exhibition race has been postponed. Again.

The sanctioning body announced Sunday the Clash, which was originally scheduled for Sunday night at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, would be pushed to Wednesday. The Clash had previously been postponed to Monday, thanks to the massive snowstorm that hit North Carolina and the surrounding areas.

Assuming roads can be cleared in time for teams and spectators to get to the event, it will be at 6 p.m. ET and televised on Fox. Practice and qualifying for the event will be held in the afternoon and the last chance qualifier for the race will start at 4:30 p.m. ET. The event’s heat races had already been canceled as part of the postponement to Monday.

The 2026 season is the second for the Clash at the historic North Carolina short track. The exhibition race has been held at the start of the NASCAR season since 1979, but moved from Daytona to a temporary short track at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 2022. The race was held on the West Coast for three seasons before it was moved to Bowman Gray in 2025.

The Cup Series season officially begins on Feb. 15 with the Daytona 500. Since moving to Los Angeles, the Clash has been held in prime time on the weekend ahead of the Super Bowl in an attempt to take advantage of the NFL's off weekend.

Chase Elliott won the inaugural Bowman Gray race ahead of Ryan Blaney. Elliott led 171 of 200 laps. Though there are 36 chartered teams in the NASCAR Cup Series, the field is limited to 23 cars because of the size of the 0.25-mile track.

Some areas of North Carolina received over a foot of snow as state officials advised residents all across North Carolina to stay off the roads. Temperatures are supposed to get over freezing in Winston-Salem on Monday with a forecast high of 42 on Wednesday.

Denny Hamlin said Tuesday that he plans to race in 2026 but that he’s going to need some time to get over what happened at Phoenix on Sunday.

Hamlin lost out on what would have been his first championship in gut-wrenching fashion on Sunday at Phoenix. Hamlin dominated much of the race, but a late caution for William Byron’s flat tire erased Hamlin’s seemingly insurmountable lead with only three laps to go. After Hamlin’s team put four fresh tires on his car on the ensuing pit stop, Hamlin got stuck in traffic on the final restart of the race as Kyle Larson won the title after his two-tire stop put him ahead of Hamlin for the restart.

In the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s race, Hamlin said that “in this moment, I never want to race a car ever again.” It was easy to chalk that up to his emotions in the minutes after the race was over.

Tuesday, Hamlin said he was still processing what happened in the final laps.

“I plan to, I have a contract to, but at this point there’s just absolutely no way that would even — I don’t even think about the race car right now," Hamlin said. "Yeah, I’m going to need some time on this one.”

Hamlin then said that “I’ll get over it, it’s just going to take a minute.”

The 44-year-old announced a two-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing during the season. He won six races in 2025 and at Phoenix led 208 of the race’s 319 laps. Yet Larson won the title without leading a single lap as he finished third and Hamlin was sixth.

Larson did score the most points of any driver over the course of the 36-race season; there’s a strong argument that he was the best driver of 2025 even if he didn’t win over the final 24 races of the season. However, the finish to Sunday’s race has fallen flat for many in and around NASCAR, especially as the sanctioning body appears to be ready to move on from its one-race, winner-take-all title format for 2026 and beyond.

As Hamlin ponders what could have been in his most recent chance at a first Cup Series title, he also could be preparing for a trial against NASCAR. The 23XI Racing team that he co-owns with Michael Jordan is one of two teams suing NASCAR over the sanctioning body’s franchising agreement with its teams. Settlement discussions (so far) have not yielded a resolution in the suit and the trial is scheduled to start on Dec. 1.

Jimmie Johnson has three races left in his NASCAR Cup Series career.

The seven-time Cup champion said Saturday that the 2027 Daytona 500 would be his final race in NASCAR’s top series. Johnson is competing in this season’s Daytona 500 on Sunday and will also race in the inaugural San Diego road course race this summer.

Johnson will assuredly get a NASCAR provisional to race in next season’s Daytona 500 again. NASCAR granted Johnson a provisional for the 2026 race under a rule implemented a season ago that gives the sanctioning body the right to add a spot to the starting grid for a notable driver. The rule was put in place as Helio Castroneves, the former IndyCar driver who attempted the 2025 Daytona 500 for the first time.

Sunday’s race will be the 701st Cup Series start of Johnson’s career. He hit No. 700 in the Coca-Cola 600 last May, but crashed out of the race after completing just 111 of 400 laps.

Johnson retired from the Cup Series at the end of the 2020 season but has returned to run part-time schedules in each of the past three seasons as he’s now a co-owner of Legacy Motor Club. The Toyota team is the former Richard Petty Motorsports and fields full-time entries for Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek. Legacy is expanding to three full-time cars in 2027, and Johnson will drive a fourth car in the Daytona 500.

Johnson was the dominant driver of the 2000s in the Cup Series. He won five straight championships from 2006 through 2010 before winning titles in 2013 and 2016. Johnson won 35 races during his five-season championship streak and didn’t have fewer than 22 top-10 finishes in any of those five seasons.

He’s one of three drivers — along with Petty and Dale Earnhardt — to win seven Cup Series titles. Johnson’s 83 Cup Series victories are sixth all-time as he’s tied with Cale Yarborough. Only Petty, David Pearson, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip have more.

The Super Bowl has come and gone, which means the Daytona 500 is right around the corner. The race will take place Sunday at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida, and Kyle Busch will start from the pole position after earning the top spot in Wednesday's qualifying.

However, Ryan Blaney is the co- favorite, along with Joey Logano, at 12-1 to win the race at BetMGM sportsbooks, followed by Denny Hamlin and William Byron at 14-1. Busch currently has 18-1 odds. Hamlin has the most wagers (6.9%) and total dollars wagered (9%) of any driver, and is also the biggest liability to win the race at the sportsbook.

Here are the odds for every driver at the Daytona 500:

Odds to win the Daytona 500

Ryan Blaney, 12-1

Joey Logano, 12-1

Denny Hamlin, 14-1

William Byron, 14-1

Kyle Busch, 16-1

Chase Elliott, 16-1

Austin Cindric, 16-1

Kyle Larson, 18-1

Brad Keselowski, 18-1

Alex Bowman, 20-1

Bubba Wallace, 22-1

Christopher Bell, 22-1

Chase Briscoe, 22-1

Chris Buescher, 22-1

Ryan Preece, 25-1

Ross Chastain, 30-1

Carson Hocevar, 30-1

Corey LaJoie, 30-1

Tyler Reddick, 30-1

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 35-1

Connor Zilisch, 40-1

Michael McDowell, 40-1

Josh Berry, 40-1

Erik Jones, 40-1

Ty Gibbs, 40-1

Austin Dillon, 50-1

Justin Allgaier, 50-1

Daniel Suarez, 50-1

AJ Allmendinger, 60-1

Todd Gilliland, 60-1

Corey Heim, 60-1

John Hunter Nemechek, 60-1

Zane Smith, 60-1

Noah Gragson, 60-1

Jimmie Johnson, 80-1

Shane van Gisbergen, 80-1

Cole Custer, 80-1

Ty Dillon, 100-1

Riley Herbst, 100-1

Chandler Smith, 100-1

Cody Ware, 200-1

Anthony Alfredo, 200-1

Casey Mears, 250-1

JJ Yeley, 250-1

BJ McLeod, 250-1

Daytona 500 TV/streaming schedule

All times Eastern

Sunday, Feb. 15
1:30 p.m.: Daytona 500 (Fox)

Daytona 500 starting lineup

1. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
2. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
3. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
4. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
5. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
6. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
7. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
8. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
9. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
10. Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
11. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
12. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
13. Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
14. Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
15. Daniel Suárez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet*
16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 HYAK Motorsports Chevrolet
17. Casey Mears, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford
18. Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
19. Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
20. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
21. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
22. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
23. Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet
24. Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
25. Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
26. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
27. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
28. Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota
29. Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota
30. Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
31. Jimmie Johnson, No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
32. Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
33. Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet
34. Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
35. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
36. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
37. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet*
38. BJ McLeod, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet
39. William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet*
40. Justin Allgaier, No. 40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet
41. Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford*

*-Moved to the rear of the field for switching to a back-up car.

Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The long 15-week wait is almost over as the NASCAR Cup Series regular season returns with its biggest annual event, the Daytona 500. This year will mark the 66th running of “The Great American Race” on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway.

In all, 41 drivers compete on Sunday, led to the green flag by Kyle Busch, who won the pole and is looking for his first Daytona 500 win in 21 starts. The field includes former seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson, who is being granted an Open Exemption Provisional, meaning the two-time event winner is locked into the field, but cannot earn championship points or prize money.

William Byron is looking to become the only driver ever to win three straight Daytona 500s after joining select company with his second straight win in the 2025 edition. That list includes Richard Petty (1973-74), Cale Yarborough (1983-84), Sterling Marlin (1994-95) and Denny Hamlin (2019-20). If he does it, Byron will have won from the lowest position on the grid — 39th — in the history of the event.

This year’s Daytona 500 will feature eight previous winners, with Hamlin entering with the most Harley J. Earl trophies at three.

Daytona 500 race details

Track: Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile high-banked tri-oval) in Daytona Beach, Florida
Banking: Turns - 31 degrees | Tri-oval - 18 degrees | Backstretch - 3 degrees
Race length: 200 laps for 500 miles
Stage lengths: Stage 1 - 65 laps | Stage 2 - 65 laps | Stage 3 - 70 laps

Top drivers and best bets for the Daytona 500

Owing to the unpredictable nature of the Daytona 500, two-time defending champion William Byron has the second-best odds at +1400. Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano hold the best odds at 12-to-1. All odds courtesy of BetMGM.

Best odds to win the Daytona 500

• Ryan Blaney +1200

• Joey Logano +1200

• William Byron +1400

• Denny Hamlin +1400

Yahoo Sports’ Nick Bromberg recommends spreading smaller bets around a handful of drivers rather than big wagers on one or two top names. He suggests good mid-tier value can be found in 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace (+2200) as Wallace has the highest average Daytona finish of anyone in the field at 14.4, including two second-place runs. If you’re looking for a longshot, Bromberg points out that Josh Berry’s (+3500) Wood Brothers team has an alliance with the aforementioned favored Penskes while Erik Jones (+4000) has five straight top-20 finishes at Daytona and won this event back in 2018.

Daytona 500 entry list

Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
Daniel Suárez, No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota
Chandler Smith, No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford*
Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
Justin Allgaier, No. 40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet*
Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford
John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
J.J. Yeley, No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet*
Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
Anthony Alfredo, No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet*
Casey Mears, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford*
Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota*
Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
B.J. McLeod, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet*
Jimmie Johnson, No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Corey LaJoie, No. 99 RFK Racing Ford*

*-Open entry, not guaranteed to make the 41-car field.

Daytona 500 race week weather

According to Yahoo Weather, the forecast is ideal all week with daytime highs ranging from 67-76 degrees. There is only a single-digit percentage chance of rain all week … except for race day. That chance climbs to a 25% chance of rain right around the scheduled green flag (2:30 p.m. ET) on Sunday.

Denny Hamlin is going to race injured in 2026.

Hamlin, 45, told reporters on Wednesday ahead of the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium that he re-injured his right shoulder but will put off surgery until after the season because of the lengthy recovery timeline. Hamlin had surgery on his right rotator cuff after the 2023 season and dealt with the injury in the latter weeks of that season.

He said that he found out the muscle in his shoulder was re-torn after he fell going through debris at his parents’ house. Hamlin’s father Dennis died from injuries sustained in the fire on Dec. 28 in Stanley, North Carolina, and his mother, Mary Lou, was seriously injured. Hamlin said Wednesday that his mother’s condition was improving.

Dennis Hamlin had been in declining health before the fire. Denny Hamlin had said during the 2025 playoffs that he believed that it was his dad’s last opportunity to see him win a championship.

Hamlin did not get that title despite dominating the final race of the season at Phoenix. He led 208 of the race’s 319 laps, but a late caution for William Byron’s tire failure set up a green-white-checkered finish and Hamlin’s team’s four-tire pit stop strategy backfired as Kyle Larson finished ahead of Hamlin for the title.

It was a tumultuous end to 2025 — to put it mildly — for Hamlin. His 23XI Racing team also settled its lawsuit with NASCAR in December over the sanctioning body's charter system. The settlement was a win for 23XI and Front Row Motorsports, the plaintiffs in the suit, as NASCAR relented on its previous stance and granted teams permanent charters.

Hamlin, who is arguably the best NASCAR driver to not win a title, finished fifth in 2023 as he dealt with his shoulder injury. A crash at Homestead effectively ended his hopes for a championship in the 34th race of that season.

This season, the title format will be much different. NASCAR has re-implemented the cumulative 10-race Chase after using a multi-round elimination format since 2014. The winner-take-all title race is gone, as the driver who has the most points at the end of the playoffs will win the title.

Tony Stewart’s hopes of a win in his first NASCAR race back from retirement ended before the race was even halfway over.

Stewart’s truck was shoved into the wall when Jake Garcia’s truck got loose off Turn 4 in the second stage of the 100-lap Craftsman Truck Series race at Daytona. As Stewart was to his outside, Garcia overcorrected and collided with Stewart as he hit the wall.

The damage to Stewart’s truck was significant enough that it ended any chance he had at winning the race. After his Kaulig Racing team made repairs, it decided to take the truck to the garage.

The three-time Cup Series champion and Hall of Famer was making his first start in a NASCAR event since he retired after the 2016 season. Stewart won 49 races over 618 career Cup Series starts and was one of the best drivers of the 2000s before he stepped away. He won the 2002, 2005 and 2011 Cup Series titles, and his final title is widely credited with helping create NASCAR’s recently ditched winner-take-all championship race.

That season, Stewart and Carl Edwards waged one of the greatest playoff battles in NASCAR history. Stewart, who won five races in the 10-race playoffs after going winless in the regular season, won the final race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway to tie Edwards and win the championship via tiebreaker because he had more wins.

Stewart was back in NASCAR on Friday thanks to Ram’s reentry into the Truck Series. The manufacturer returned to the NASCAR Truck Series in 2025, and Stewart, whose NHRA team fields Dodges, was chosen to run the team’s No. 25 truck, which will have a rotating cast of drivers throughout the 2026 season.

The race was Stewart's first Truck Series start in more than 20 years. He had last made a Truck start in 2005 and had won twice in six starts across NASCAR's third-tier series. 

Twenty-five years after his sudden, shocking death on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt remains as vital to NASCAR as ever. A quarter-century after we last saw his Goodwrench No. 3 knifing through the pack, Dale Earnhardt is still exactly what NASCAR wants to be. 

Sure, the tattoos Earnhardt fans got during his lifetime are fading and sagging. The last Cup driver to run in a race with Earnhardt, Ryan Newman, retired more than two years ago. But you don’t have to look far to see Earnhardt’s persistent influence. He’s the focus of new documentaries, books, endless social media recollections. His image — sunglasses, mustache, attitude, black No. 3 flag — is still everywhere at NASCAR tracks. 

No other driver — not Jeff Gordon, not Chase Elliott, not even Earnhardt’s boy — has ever come close to matching The Intimidator’s impact. And given the way that NASCAR, and American culture, have trended in the years since his death, it’s likely no one ever will. 

If Dale Earnhardt hadn’t existed, a team of marketers — or a superhero movie screenwriter — couldn't have created a more perfect avatar of NASCAR’s ideal self-image. Born in the blue-collar mill town of Kannapolis, North Carolina, he lived hard and raced harder. Some people climb over obstacles; Earnhardt just drove right through them.

He was mean as hell; you don’t get the name “The Intimidator” because you’re a go-along, get-along kind of guy. But he also inspired deep respect up and down the garage. You might not like him, you definitely wouldn’t outrun him, but you damn sure respected him. Drivers from Jeff Gordon to Jimmie Johnson to Kurt Busch have spent the last 25 years telling stories of how nervous they were in Earnhardt’s presence, and these are NASCAR’s champions. 

But Earnhardt wasn’t just a surly S.O.B. Besides being tougher than a three-dollar steak, Earnhardt was also funny as hell. His disgust at drivers who complained about going too fast at Talladega created one of racing’s all-time great quotes: “Put a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat that candy ass.” It’s tough to say which was scarier — Earnhardt in your rear-view mirror charging at you, or Earnhardt in his sunglasses smiling at you. 

RacingOne via Getty Images

Sure, he wasn’t perfect. He played by the rules right up until the rules didn’t suit him. If he needed to turn someone to win a race, like Terry Labonte in Bristol, well, he’d rattle their cage and plead innocence later. He could be a tough man to love, whether you were his wife or his friend or his child. And he was beyond stubborn; it’s tough to reconcile the fact that he refused to wear the neck-protecting HANS device that could have saved him from the exact spinal injury that killed him. 

In the years since Earnhardt died, American culture has swung away from the worship of the car, and of Earnhardt’s brand of tough, unapologetic masculinity. Maybe he would have changed with the times, or maybe he would have stubbornly remained set in his ways. Or maybe both. He was complex and unpredictable, and he swerved away from expectations just like he swerved around slower-moving cars. 

Earnhardt swung conservative in his political beliefs, but famously once cut the Confederate flag off his truck’s bumper sticker after he understood the offense it caused. He was as wealthy as a king, but he loved driving his tractor on his farm — sometimes even riding up to unsuspecting onlookers trying to catch a glimpse of his estate. He stoked a public rivalry with Gordon, but privately went into business with him, monetizing their personality clashes. 

But he didn’t whine. He didn’t play victim. He just strapped himself into his Goodwrench No. 3 and figured out how to beat you, one way or another. 

Even now, Earnhardt’s influence persists far beyond the grandstands of NASCAR tracks. Anyone who’s ever felt the hum of an engine in their bones, or mashed the gas on an open highway, discovers that bit of Earnhardt in their soul. Maybe that’s why his absence still hurts, and always will. 

Raise hell. Praise Dale. Now and forever.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the race, as NASCAR has made significant changes to its championship format ahead of the season.

Can William Byron win 3 in a row?

William Byron is attempting to be the first driver to win three consecutive Daytona 500s.

Just six drivers have won at least three Daytona 500s and none of them ever won them in back-to-back-to-back seasons. And of those six, only three — Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Denny Hamlin — won Daytona 500s in back-to-back seasons.

Byron is one of seven drivers with two Daytona 500 wins and he’s scored those victories by avoiding late crashes and being in the right place at the right time on late restarts.

In 2024, Byron was able to escape a 23-car crash at the front of the field with less than 10 laps to go. That crash set up a restart with four laps to go as Byron led all four of the remaining circuits on his way to the win. Those were the only four laps Byron led all race.

A season ago, a crash with five laps to go on the backstretch set up a green-white-checkered restart. Byron was in seventh as the field exited Turn 2 on the final but was somehow able to get past the race leaders as they crashed down the backstretch to steal the win.

Can Byron somehow continue his luck for an unprecedented three wins in a row?

Daytona 500 winner no longer a virtual lock for playoffs

NASCAR’s cumulative 10-race playoff format has returned.

The sanctioning body announced in January that it was returning to a version of its original playoff format that it launched in 2004. After the first 26 races of the season, the top 16 drivers in the points standings will qualify for the playoffs and will be seeded based on their position in the standings. The driver who has the most points in the final 10 races of the season will be crowned the champion at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

NASCAR had a cumulative 10-race playoff from 2004 through 2013 before it launched a multi-round version of the playoffs in 2014. In that playoff format, a driver who won a race in the regular season could virtually guarantee himself a spot in the playoffs.

For the past 12 seasons, the 10-race playoffs included four rounds and three drivers were eliminated in each of the first three rounds before four drivers raced straight-up for the championship in the season finale. In 2025, Hamlin dominated the final race of the season at Phoenix, but a late caution for Byron’s tire failure shook up the field on pit strategy, and Kyle Larson exited pit road ahead of Hamlin and beat him to the finish line for his second Cup Series title.

Can Denny Hamlin win a fourth Daytona 500?

Hamlin, 45, would tie Cale Yarborough for the second-most Daytona 500 wins if he gets a fourth victory. Hamlin is one of four drivers who have three Daytona 500 wins and, along with Byron, is one of just two active full-time drivers who have scored multiple Daytona 500 wins.

It’s been a tumultuous last four months for Hamlin. After losing the championship in heartbreaking fashion in November, Hamlin and his 23XI Racing team that he co-owns with Michael Jordan went to trial against NASCAR over the Cup Series’ franchising agreement. The trial ended with a settlement that granted permanent charters to teams — a main sticking point in the lawsuit that 23XI and Front Row Motorsports filed against NASCAR.

Later in December, Hamlin’s father, Dennis, was killed and his mother, Mary Lou, was significantly injured in a fire that destroyed their home in North Carolina. Just two weeks ago, Hamlin revealed that he re-injured his right shoulder while climbing through the rubble at the site of the fire and will wait to have surgery until after the 2026 Cup Series season.

Hamlin has won 60 career Cup Series races across 721 starts and is the most successful driver to have never won a Cup Series title. Can 2026 finally be the year after he came so close in 2025?

Big names still looking for their first Daytona 500 win

Along with Byron and Hamlin, there are only five other full-time drivers who have Daytona 500 wins to their name; Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, Austijn Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

You’ll notice that a lot of star power is absent from that list. Drivers like Larson, 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott, and 2015 and 2019 Cup Series champ Kyle Busch are still searching for their first wins in the Daytona 500.

Busch has the longest drought of anyone in that group. The 2026 Daytona 500 will be Busch’s 21st start and his luck in February at Daytona just simply hasn’t been good. Busch has just one win over 41 total starts at Daytona and only five of his 13 top-10 finishes in those races have come in the Daytona 500. 

If he wins for Richard Childress Racing on Sunday, he’ll break a streak that was longer than Dale Earnhardt’s. The seven-time Cup Series champ finally won his first Daytona 500 in his 20th start in 1998.

Busch is also starting the race from the pole. He won his first Daytona 500 pole position on Wednesday night and would be the first driver since Dale Jarrett in 2000 to win after starting first. 

Connor Zilisch is the only Cup Series rookie

The 19-year-old doesn’t have to do much to win Rookie of the Year in 2026 as he’s the only driver running for the award. Zilisch is moving up full-time to the Cup Series this season for Trackhouse Racing after 36 starts in what’s now the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

After winning once over four starts in 2024, Zilisch was dominant in 2025 with 10 victories and 23 top-10 finishes across 32 races for JR Motorsports in 2025. However, he didn’t win the series championship after he finished third behind champion Jesse Love in the final race of the season.

Zilisch is already an accomplished road racer and could quickly be the main foil for his Trackhouse teammate Shane van Gisbergen on road courses. Van Gisbergen won five of six Cup Series road course races in 2025.

Jimmie Johnson returns

The seven-time Cup Series champion is continuing his part-time run in NASCAR with another Daytona 500. After taking the 2021 and 2022 seasons off from the Cup Series and trying his hand in IndyCar, Johnson has raced in the last three Daytona 500s for Legacy Motor Club and even finished third a season ago.

This season, Johnson doesn’t have to worry about qualifying for the race, either. Under a rule NASCAR implemented in 2025 that granted Helio Castroneves a guaranteed spot in the race, Johnson is locked into the field via the Open Exemption Provisional granted at NASCAR’s discretion to accomplished drivers running a part-time schedule.

Johnson’s inclusion into the field means 41 cars will start the Daytona 500 instead of 40. With 45 cars attempting to make the race, four drivers will fail to qualify for the race.

Who made it into the Daytona 500?

Casey Mears and BJ McLeod raced their way into the Daytona 500 during Thursday night's Duel qualifying races. And they accomplished their feats quite differently.

Mears spun entering pit road midway through the first Duel and was at the back of the main pack on the final lap. But Corey LaJoie — one of two drivers he was racing for a transfer spot into the 500 — was involved in a crash while running at the front of the field. Mears floored it as the crash occurred, and even ran into Daniel Suarez as Suarez hit the wall. But he crossed the finish line ahead of Chandler Smith as LaJoie's car was damaged in the infield grass.

In the second Duel, McLeod exited his car certain that he didn't make the 500. McLeod finished ahead of JJ Yeley but behind Anthony Alfredo in that race's transfer spot. However, Alfredo's car failed post-race inspection, and his disqualification put McLeod into the race. 

Kyle Busch’s quest for a Daytona 500 win will start from the pole position Sunday.

Busch earned the top spot in front row qualifying for the Daytona 500 on Wednesday night with a lap of 183.925 mph in the second round of qualifying. Busch’s lap usurped Chase Briscoe from the top spot in the final round. Briscoe started last year’s Daytona 500 on the pole.

Sunday will mark Busch’s 21st start in the Daytona 500 as he chases his first win in NASCAR's biggest race. His winless streak is longer than any other active driver's and is even longer than Dale Earnhardt's. The seven-time champion won the 1998 Daytona 500 in his 20th start. 

Earnhardt won that race while driving for Richard Childress Racing, the same team that Busch represents. The 2026 season is Busch's fourth with RCR after moving over from Joe Gibbs Racing. And Busch is looking to recapture the form he had with JGR.

Busch, 40, has 63 Cup Series wins across 750 starts. But he hasn’t won in each of the last two seasons after scoring three wins in his first season with RCR in 2023.

At JGR, Busch won the 2015 and 2019 Cup Series titles as he won 40 races in the 2010s. Busch missed the Daytona 500 in 2015 after suffering a broken leg in the Xfinity Series race the day before. But he returned after missing 11 races and went on to win five of the remaining 25 races that season to win his first title.

Daytona has not been terribly kind to Busch in the Cup Series, either. Across 41 starts, Busch has just one win and 13 top-10 finishes. That win came in the 2008 summer race and just five of his top 10s at the track have come in the Daytona 500.

Wednesday night's qualifying session only locked in the top two starting spots for the Daytona 500 and determined which two non-chartered teams would make the race. Corey Heim, driving a fourth car for Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan's 23XI Racing, was the fastest driver in a non-chartered entry and he's locked into the race. So is Justin Allgaier. He posted the second-fastest time among open teams while driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports.

With Jimmie Johnson also guaranteed to be part of the 41-driver field, thanks to a NASCAR provisional, six drivers are competing for the final two spots in the Daytona 500 in Thursday night's Duel races. 

The highest finisher among Corey LaJoie, Chandler Smith and Casey Mears in the first Duel race will make the 500 while the best finishing driver among Anthony Alfredo, BJ McLeod and JJ Yeley will make the race from the second Duel.

Here are the lineups for each of the two qualifying races on Thursday night. The first race will set the inside row and the odd-numbered starting positions while the second race will set the outside row and the even-numbered starting spots.

Duel 1

1. Kyle Busch

2. Ryan Preece

3. Corey Heim

4. Alex Bowman

5. Chris Buescher

6. Joey Logano

7. Austin Dillon

8. Corey LaJoie

9. John Hunter Nemechek

10. Brad Keselowski

11. Ryan Blaney

12. William Byron

13. Cole Custer

14. Cody Ware

15. Jimmie Johnson

16. Bubba Wallace

17. AJ Allmendinger

18. Ross Chastain

19. Shane van Gisbergen

20. Daniel Suarez

21. Chandler Smith

22. Casey Mears

23. Noah Gragson

Duel 2

1. Chase Briscoe

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Kyle Larson

4. Chase Elliott

5. Ty Gibbs

6. Christopher Bell

7. Justin Allgaier

8. Austin Cindric

9. Zane Smith

10. Michael McDowell

11. Connor Zilisch

12. Erik Jones

13. Josh Berry

14. Carson Hocevar

15. Riley Herbst

16. Todd Gilliland

17. Anthony Alfredo

18. Ty Dillon

19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

20. Tyler Reddick

21. BJ McLeod

22. JJ Yeley

Tyler Reddick is a Daytona 500 champion.

Reddick passed Chase Elliott exiting Turn 4 on the final lap at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday to win his first Daytona 500. Reddick drives for 23XI Racing, the team co-owned by Michael Jordan. It's the first Daytona win for both Reddick and 23XI Racing.

Reddick passed Elliott, who then crashed into the outside wall before the finish line after Riley Herbst got turned into the wall.

Carson Hocevar was leading when the final lap began, but he too ended up crashed and into the outside wall. 

Take a look at how all the chaos unfolded.

“I didn’t know if I’d ever win this race, it’s surreal, honestly,” Reddick said.

Reddick was fourth when the final lap began but somehow avoided the wreck that took out Hocevar. He then ended up behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chase Elliott on the backstretch as Zane Smith pushed Elliott to the lead.

But Elliott was hung out to dry in the final two corners. Reddick got a push from his teammate Herbst after zooming around Zane Smith and went around Elliott before the crash happened behind him as he took the checkered flag.

The final lap was the only lap Reddick led all day. 

William Byron entered the race looking to become the first driver to win three Daytona 500s in a row. He was caught up in an early wreck when BJ McLeod had a parts failure on his right rear wheel, but was in position to steal another victory late in the race. 

However, Byron was slowed by the wreck that included Hocevar and ended up out of contention for the win.

Though Byron's streak is over, Reddick's win continues a streak of Daytona 500 winners who haven't led many laps in their wins. 

Over the last six 500s, Austin Cindric's 21 laps led in 2022 are the most of any winner. Byron led just 14 total laps in his two wins, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led 10 laps in 2023, and Michael McDowell only led the final lap in 2021. 

Chris Graythen via Getty Images

Another NASCAR victory for Michael Jordan 

Reddick's win comes two days before Jordan's 63rd birthday. 

"I'm ecstatic, I don't even know what to say. It feels like I won a championship but until I get a ring I won't even know," Jordan told Fox after the race.

Jordan became a NASCAR team owner in 2021 when he went in with Denny Hamlin to form 23XI Racing. The team hired Bubba Wallace to drive the No. 23 car and has expanded to three cars with Reddick and Herbst while also fielding a fourth entry on Sunday for Corey Heim.

Just two months earlier, Jordan and Hamlin scored a massive legal victory over NASCAR. The team, along with Front Row Motorsports, sued NASCAR over the sanctioning body's franchising system. The lawsuit made it all the way to trial, where the two parties finally settled after the trial began. 

The settlement was a clear win for the plaintiffs — 23XI and Front Row wanted permanent charters, which are essentially NASCAR's version of franchises. NASCAR was relenting. But NASCAR gave permanent charters as part of the settlement and the parties also agreed to financial compensation before a jury was needed to reach a verdict.

After the settlement was announced, NASCAR chairman Jim France and Jordan presented a united front about how the settlement would push NASCAR forward. On Sunday, France was there in victory lane with a hearty handshake to congratulate Jordan and the team after the win.

The green-flag run to the finish was 4 laps

The third stage was caution-free until a late crash with less than 10 laps to go after nearly the entire field had made a pit stop.

Christopher Bell hit the wall after contact from Corey Heim to bring out the yellow flag. Before that crash, only one driver — Michael McDowell — hadn't pitted.

McDowell was trying to get to the end of the 200-lap race after last pitting on lap 134 on the 2.5-mile track. It was a Herculean task. But he inherited the lead after the caution and was in position to fight for the win until he was collected in Hocevar's crash. 

It was clear that NASCAR wanted a green-flag finish to the race when it didn't throw a caution for the first wreck on the final lap. Per NASCAR rules, the field is frozen at the time of caution on the final lap; whoever would have been in first when the caution was triggered would have been the winner.

Would that have led to an unsatisfying ending for a lot of fans? Probably. But was the racing that ensued after the crash any more satisfying? Since 2018, the Daytona 500 has either ended with a caution or a crash on the final lap or a two-lap green-white-checkered finish because of another late caution every season.

Two big crashes in the second stage

Before the final lap, most of the crashing took place in the second stage, when a 20-car pileup at the front of the field, thanks to a bad block by Justin Allgaier triggered mayhem in the tri-oval.

Laps before that, another crash was triggered in the tri-oval after contact among Allgaier, Connor Zilisch and Cody Ware led to a wreck.

Unofficial results

1. Tyler Reddick

2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

3. Joey Logano

4. Chase Elliott

5. Brad Keselowski

6. Zane Smith

7. Chris Buescher

8. Riley Herbst

9. Josh Berry

10. Bubba Wallace

11. Noah Gragson

12. William Byron

13. Daniel Suarez

14. Ty Dillon

15. Kyle Busch

16. Kyle Larson

17. Cody Ware

18. Carson Hocevar

19. AJ Allmendinger

20. Ross Chastain

21. Erik Jones

22. Michael McDowell

23. Ty Gibbs

24. Cole Custer

25. Ryan Preece

26. John Hunter Nemechek

27. Ryan Blaney

28. Corey Heim

29. Jimmie Johnson

30. Shane van Gisbergen

31. Denny Hamlin

32. Casey Mears

33. Connor Zilisch

34. Austin Cindric

35. Christopher Bell

36. Chase Briscoe

37. Austin Dillon

38. Justin Allgaier

39. Todd Gilliland

40. Alex Bowman

41. BJ McLeod

Tony Stewart is returning to NASCAR.

Kaulig Racing announced Tuesday that the three-time Cup Series champion would drive for the team in the season-opening Truck Series race at Daytona on Feb. 13.

Kaulig is the anchor team for RAM’s NASCAR return. The automaker is joining the Truck Series for the 2026 season as the series will have four manufacturers for the first time since Dodge was last in the series in 2016. Stewart, whose NHRA team fields Dodges, will be one of many rotating drivers set to appear in one of Kaulig’s five trucks this season.

Stewart, 54, hasn’t driven in a NASCAR race since he retired at the end of the 2016 season. Stewart missed the first eight races of the season that year after a back injury while riding a dune buggy but made the playoffs thanks to a win at Sonoma. He finished 15th in the standings.

It’ll be the first Truck Series appearance for Stewart in over 20 years. He’s made six career Truck Series starts and his last came in 2005, when he had one top-five finish in two starts. He’s won two of those starts — both were at Richmond in the early 2000s.

Stewart is infamously one of the most successful drivers to never win a Daytona 500, but he’s had plenty of success at the track even though he never won NASCAR’s biggest race. He won the summer Cup Series race at the track four times and seven of his 11 career Xfinity Series wins came in the season-opening race at Daytona.

After filling in for his wife Leah Pruett for his Tony Stewart Racing team in the NHRA's Top Fuel division in 2025, Stewart will compete against his wife in 2026. Pruett returns to the car after the couple had their first child, and Stewart will compete full-time for Elite Motorsports. 

Chase Elliott and Joey Logano won the two Daytona Duel races ahead of the Daytona 500.

Logano won the first Duel while Elliott got the checkered flag in the second race. Casey Mears got into the Daytona 500 on the final lap after Corey LaJoie and Chandler Smith were each caught in late passes.

With 39 of the 45 drivers attempting the race locked in via charters (36 drivers), qualifying speed Wednesday night in pole qualifying (Justin Allgaier and Corey Heim) and a NASCAR-issued provisional for well-known drivers (Jimmie Johnson), Mears was racing against LaJoie and Smith for one of the two remaining spots.

Smith was involved in a crash with five laps to go that effectively ended his chances at a win. Mears, meanwhile, caused the first caution of the race when he spun into Noah Gragson when they were pitting under green.

LaJoie was in an incredibly advantageous spot on the final lap, but he got pushed by Daniel Suarez and as he got pinched up to his Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing teammate Brad Keselowski, LaJoie lost control.

Mears floored it from the back of the pack and even ran into Suarez. But he crossed the finish line comfortably ahead of Smith as LaJoie’s car was crashed out of the race in the infield inside Turns 3 and 4.

LaJoie was the second car on the inside line at the time of the crash.

The second race was far less eventful. Elliott will start fourth in the Daytona 500 while Logano will start third. Anthony Alfredo made it into Sunday’s race ahead of BJ McLeod and JJ Yeley in Duel No. 2, however, Alfredo was disqualified after the race when his car failed technical inspection. McLeod will make the race in his place. 

Here’s the full starting lineup for the race. The first race decided the odd-numbered starting spots while race No. 2 decided the even-numbered spots.

Daytona 500 lineup

1. Kyle Busch

2. Chase Briscoe

3. Joey Logano

4. Chase Elliott

5. Ryan Blaney

6. Carson Hocevar

7. Austin Dillon

8. Kyle Larson

9. Brad Keselowski

10. Michael McDowell

11. John Hunter Nemechek

12. Christopher Bell

13. Shane van Gisbergen

14. Josh Berry

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. Casey Mears

18. Todd Gilliland

19. Ryan Preece

20. Ty Gibbs

21. Alex Bowman

22. Denny Hamlin

23. Cole Custer

24. Erik Jones

25. Noah Gragson

26. Tyler Reddick

27. Bubba Wallace

28. Riley Herbts

29. Corey Heim

30. Zane Smith

31. Jimmie Johnson

32. Connor Zilisch

33. Cody Ware

34. Ty Dillon

35. AJ Allmendinger

36. Austin Cindric

37. Ross Chastain

38. BJ McLeod

39. William Byron

40. Justin Allgaier

41. Chris Buescher

Former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle along with six others — including three family members — died in a plane crash Thursday at Statesville Regional Airport in Statesville, North Carolina.  

Biffle, who spent 16 seasons driving in NASCAR's top series, was 55. 

The other six victims included Biffle's wife Cristina; their 5-year-old son Ryder; Biffle's daughter from another marriage, Emma, 14; Dennis Dutton and his son Jack; and Craig Wadsworth, who was also a part of the NASCAR community.

"We are devastated by the loss of our loved ones," the families said in a joint statement. "This tragedy has left all of our families heartbroken beyond words."

YouTube star and part-time NASCAR racer Garrett Mitchell — known as Cleetus McFarland — posted to Facebook that Biffle and his family were headed to visit Mitchell and his family. Biffle had appeared in numerous videos on Mitchell's popular YouTube channel. 

The Cessna C550 was scheduled to fly to Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport from Statesville, about 40 miles north of Charlotte. Per FlightAware, it took off at 10:06 a.m. ET and traveled just 29 miles before it crashed while attempting to land back at Statesville at 10:32 a.m. ET.

The plane was owned by GB Aviation Leasing LLC. The address listed on the FAA registry for the plane matches an address for Biffle in Mooresville, North Carolina.

Biffle was born in Vancouver, Washington, and began his racing career in the Pacific Northwest, far from the Southeast epicenter of stock car racing. In 1998, he got his break when team owner Jack Roush gave him a ride in the third-tier Truck Series. He won a title in his third season, moved his way up to the second-tier Xfinity Series and won a title there, too. Then it was onto the top-tier Cup Series.

Biffle competed for 16 full or part-time seasons in NASCAR’s Cup Series from 2002 through 2022. He raced full-time in the Cup Series from 2003 through 2016 and scored 19 wins and 92 top-five finishes over 515 career starts.

His best season came in 2005, when he finished second to Tony Stewart in the points standings. Biffle’s six wins were the most of anyone in the Cup Series that season and his average finish of 11.9 was second only to Stewart.

Biffle finished in the top 10 in the Cup Series points standings in six different seasons. He was third in 2008 and finished fifth in 2012.

Biffle is one of just two drivers to have won both a championship in the third-tier NASCAR Truck Series and the second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series.

All 19 of Biffle’s Cup Series wins came while driving for Roush Racing. His last victory came at Michigan in 2013, 10 years after he won his first race in 2003.

"I have lost a dear friend and partner in our NASCAR program," Jack Roush said in a statement. "His contributions to our race team over the years are immeasurable."

Biffle drove for Roush Racing for nearly his entire Cup Series career before he parted ways with the team at the end of the 2016 season. He returned for five races in 2022 with back marker team FDNY Racing and never finished better than 20th in any of those starts. He was named one of NASCAR’s 75 greatest drivers for NASCAR’s 75th anniversary in 2023 and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Biffle is elected into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in the near future.

In a statement, NASCAR said the following:

"Greg was more than a champion driver, he was a beloved member of the NASCAR community, a fierce competitor, and a friend to so many. His passion for racing, his integrity, and his commitment to fans and fellow competitors alike made a lasting impact on the sport. On the track, Greg’s talent and tenacity earned him championships in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as well as numerous wins and accolades in the NASCAR Cup Series. Beyond his racing career, he gave of himself for the betterment of our community. Most notably, Greg spent countless hours of his time helping the citizens of North Carolina during the disasters that followed Hurricane Helene. His tireless work saved lives."

In 2024, Biffle, a licensed pilot, used his helicopter and pilot skills to help people in remote areas of North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The hurricane had flooded out roads and caused significant infrastructure damage to the Appalachians due to flooding rains.

“It’s been busy — a lot of seat time in the helicopter, more than I ever would have imagined in my life,” Biffle said in an October 2024 interview with NASCAR.com. “But it feels good to be able to get supplies and things in need into these people that need the help the most, that are still cut off. The mission now, is, even though the roads are starting to open, the grocery stores aren’t. Some of the grocery stores are wiped out, gas stations still don’t have fuel, the power is not back on everywhere, so these folks still need supplies and food and they can’t just hop in their car and go driving around looking because they’ll ultimately end up out of gas somewhere and stranded.”

"I had such tremendous respect for Greg as a driver," NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon said on X, "and we shared countless tough battles on the track. Like so many others, I was inspired by his tireless relief work during Hurricane Helene. My heart goes out to the Biffle family and everyone hurting."

Zane Smith’s car flipped over after he rode the wall in Turns 3 and 4 late in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas.

Smith got pinched into the outside wall by John Hunter Nemechek on the first lap of a two-lap overtime restart following a spin for Carson Hocevar. As Smith’s car was pinned between Nemechek’s and the wall, the front end lifted off the ground and the car turned on its side and slid along the wall before it tumbled down the track to a stop.

Smith was able to get out of the car himself after track personnel arrived on his car.

The crash caused a red flag for NASCAR to clean up after the crash.

Once the race resumed, Chase Elliott came from fifth to first on the final lap to score the victory. Denny Hamlin got a huge run on the penultimate lap to go from fourth to second and was racing Bubba Wallace — who drives for Hamlin's 23XI Racing team — for the win. As Hamlin dove to the inside of Wallace in Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap, he drifted up the track and Wallace hit the wall.

That slowed the two cars enough to give Elliott a clear shot through on the inside towards the finish line and sneak past Hamlin for the win. Christopher Bell finished third ahead of Chase Briscoe while Wallace fell all the way to fifth before the checkered flag. 

"Just super disappointing," Hamlin said after the race. "I wanted it bad. It would have been [win No.] 60 for me. The team just did an amazing job with the car, just really, really fast. Gave me everything I needed. Got the restart I needed. Just couldn't finish it there on the last corner."

Wallace, meanwhile, was not too thrilled with his boss. As Hamlin is comfortably 27 points ahead of the playoff cutoff line heading into the last race of the second round at the Charlotte Roval next week, Wallace is 27 points back of it.

"Two years ago I'd probably say something dumb," Wallace said. "He's a dumbass for that move. I don't care if he's my boss or not. But we're going for the win. I hate that we gave it to Chevrolet there."

Kyle Larson is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.

Larson took two tires on an overtime restart to gain track position over Denny Hamlin and finish third in Sunday's Cup Series race at Phoenix to win the 2025 title. 

Hamlin looked like he had the championship wrapped up with three laps to go. But William Byron — another driver racing for the title — had a flat tire and hit the wall. That brought out a caution flag and necessitated extra laps.

Larson's crew chief Cliff Daniels went with two tires along with other drivers. Hamlin went with four tires as a four-tire stop had worked on a previous restart. 

"Honestly, I can't believe it," Larson said. "Like, we didn't lead a lap today. Somehow won the championship.

"I mean, really, I'm just speechless. I can't believe it. We had an average car at best. We had the right front go down, lost a lap. Got saved by the caution. Did the wave-around. Was really bad that run. We took two tires. I was like, Oh, God, here we go. We're going to go to the back now.

"It had a lot more grip than I anticipated. We got lucky with the final caution. I was really hoping we were going to take two again. I felt like I learned a lot on that restart, bombing one and two really hard. Thought I could do the same thing if we got another one."

It didn't this time. Hamlin got stuck in traffic as Larson made the high line work to finish first among the four title contenders.

"Yeah, nothing I can do different," Hamlin said. "Prepared as good as I could coming into the weekend. My team gave me a fantastic car. Just didn't work out. I was just praying that no caution. Had one there.

"What can you do? Just not meant to be."

By the way, Ryan Blaney won the race. 

Hamlin had the race won before Byron's flat tire. That flat tire continued a theme of the race. All four title contenders had tire problems. 

Larson even lost a lap in the final stage because of a flat tire. Hamlin appeared to be the most fortunate title-contending driver as his flat tire happened when a caution flew near the end of the second stage and he was able to pit under yellow. 

Chase Briscoe had the most tire problems of any title contender and was a relative non-factor for much of the race before a late two-tire pit stop gained him track position. 

Larson finished third behind Blaney and Brad Keselowski while Hamlin was sixth. Briscoe finished 18th and Byron was 33rd. 

Because of Byron's flat tire, the race went into overtime. Hamlin was asked after the race if it'd be "beneficial" to end the final race at the scheduled distance.

"Gosh, I don't know," Hamlin said.. "Golly, in this moment I never want to race a car ever again. I mean, my fun meter is pegged."

Hamlin continues to be the best driver without a Cup Series title

Hamlin was about to get his storybook win before Byron’s flat tire.

The victory would have been his 61st career win and put him alone in 10th place all-time among Cup Series drivers. He would have also shed the label of the best driver without a Cup Series title and won the championship as his father Dennis looked on. Hamlin said earlier in the week that this would be the last chance for his 75-year-old dad to see him win a title.

Instead, it was the same old heartbreak for Hamlin. A driver known for crushing losses in NASCAR’s playoff format suffered another one as Larson added to his 2021 Cup Series title.

Hamlin won six races in 2025, the most of any driver. Larson won three, as did Byron and Briscoe.

Good riddance to NASCAR’s winner-take-all title format

If you’re not a fan of NASCAR’s current playoff format or uneasy about how the final laps of the championship race unfolded, you may be able to take solace in the fact that this appears to be the final year of NASCAR’s current playoff format.

NASCAR seems determined to change its title format ahead of the 2026 season, though it’s unclear just what that change will be.

"I think that's something that as you look at the future of the sport, making sure that a driver who has delivered all season long has the ability to be named a champion, and not have something maybe come down to one race, that's really been the focal point, is we want to reward winning," NASCAR vice president Steve O'Donnell said Friday. "We're going to continue to do that. Whatever model we come up with, winning is very important.

"The one-race thing has been a factor of there's a lot of circumstances that can happen. Our fans, right or wrong, are different than other stick-and-ball sports. That's okay.

"I've said this before. When the Giants win the Super Bowl, because I'm a Giants fan, nobody questions it. Everyone says, Giants are Super Bowl champions. Our fans don't do that. That's been a learning process for us, as well."

NASCAR first introduced the winner-take-all format in 2014 as drivers were eliminated from the playoffs after each of the first three rounds. When the sanctioning body implemented its playoff format in 2004, 10 drivers raced for the title over the final 10 races of the season. 

The current format was tweaked over the years as NASCAR added buffers for drivers who had more success during the regular season. But it still left the heads-up, winner-take-all final race intact. 

That is probably gone next season in favor of a multi-race final round or even a season-long points format like NASCAR used through the 2003 season. Any changes aren't expected to be official until later in the offseason. 

Denny Hamlin’s aggressiveness at Kansas will likely cost his team a car in the semifinal round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

As he was fighting a car that didn’t have power steering, Hamlin washed up the track while racing Bubba Wallace for the lead on the final lap. Wallace hit the wall and Hamlin’s momentum was slowed enough that Chase Elliott snuck past to get the win and an automatic ticket to the next round of the playoffs.

Wallace probably needed to get the win at Kansas to advance after a bad weekend at New Hampshire. After falling to fifth, Wallace is now 26 points back of eighth heading into Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Roval (3 p.m. ET, USA).

Here’s a look at how the playoff picture stacks up heading into the final race of the Round of 12. Four drivers will be eliminated after Sunday’s race.

Already advanced

1. Ryan Blaney (win at New Hampshire)

2. Chase Elliott (win at Kansas)

Both Blaney and Elliott don’t have to worry about a single thing during the final road course race of the year. The Roval can be chaotic, especially after restarts, but the new Cup Series car has helped lead to fewer cautions. The first four races at the Roval had at least eight cautions each. Since 2022, the three Roval races have had four, seven and five cautions each.

Blaney and Elliott are former Roval winners, too. Blaney won the inaugural race in 2018 and Elliott scored wins in 2019 and 2020.

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Feeling really good

3. Kyle Larson (3,124 points)

4. Denny Hamlin (3,118)

5. Christopher Bell (3,114)

6. William Byron (3,110)

An early crash or mechanical failure could derail any of these drivers’ chances of making the next round but the odds seem pretty slim. Byron has 40 points on Ross Chastain in ninth and given that lack of chaos in the current car era, it seems doubtful that any of these drivers will have any issues advancing.

Sweating a bit

7. Chase Briscoe (3,091)

8. Joey Logano (3,083)

Briscoe won the first Xfinity Series race at the Roval and is now in the best Cup Series equipment of his career. He should be near the front of the field for much of the day and has the benefit of watching what Logano and Chastain are doing for pit strategy. Logano was eliminated from the playoffs at the Roval a season ago but found himself back in the field after Alex Bowman’s car was disqualified for failing to meet minimum weight. Four races later, Logano was a three-time Cup Series champion.

Has a realistic chance to move up

9. Ross Chastain (3,070)

Chastain is the only driver who could point his way into the next round without significant misfortune for others. Making up a 13-point gap isn’t difficult in the stage racing era. However, he has just one top-10 finish in six Roval starts.

Needs a lot to go right to make the next round

10. Bubba Wallace (3,057)

11. Tyler Reddick (3,054)

The two 23XI drivers need a lot to go wrong for the drivers ahead of them. And barring a win for one of them, it’s highly unlikely that both will make the next round of the playoffs. Reddick has the second-best average finish of any driver at the Roval (7.8) and has three top-10 finishes in five starts. Wallace has finished in the top 10 in two of his last three starts at the track.

Needs to somehow beat Shane van Gisbergen for the win

12. Austin Cindric (3,035)

At 48 points back of Logano, Cindric isn’t officially in “win-and-in” territory but he might as well be. And that’s somehow easier said than done given the presence of Shane van Gisbergen.

Van Gisbergen has won the last four road course races in convincing fashion and it’ll be a surprise if he doesn’t extend that streak to five. His odds to win at BetMGM are a staggering +100. After finishes outside the top 20 in his first two Roval starts, Cindric was fourth a year ago.

The playoff scenarios at Martinsville look pretty straightforward.

Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe are in. Hamlin won at Las Vegas in the first race of the third round and Briscoe won a week ago at Talladega.

That leaves six drivers for two spots. And those two drivers will likely either be both Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson or one of those drivers and either Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, William Byron or Joey Logano if one of those four drivers wins.

Bell and Larson are far ahead of the other four in the points standings. Bell is 37 points ahead of Byron in fifth in the points standings. Larson is 36 points up on Byron. Given that a driver can get a maximum of 60 points in a race and 20 of those points are via the first two stages, Byron and Logano (38 points back of Larson) need one or both of Bell and Larson to have early trouble if they aren’t going to advance to the final round via a win.

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If a driver is going to win his way into the final round, the odds favor Blaney. And for good reason. Blaney has won each of the last two fall races at Martinsville. He passed Elliott with 15 laps to go to win a season ago and got past Aric Almirola with 23 laps remaining in 2023 to win his first race at the half-mile track before winning the championship a week later.

Blaney is +350 to win the race at BetMGM ahead of Hamlin at +425. Hamlin has the most success at Martinsville of any driver in the field. Elliott, who last won at Martinsville in the fall of 2020 and can’t mathematically advance to the final round on points, is at +650.

Despite not being locked in to the title race just yet, Bell is the championship favorite at BetMGM. He’s currently +250 to win the title, even though there’s a plausible scenario that he misses out on the final round. If Blaney wins and Larson outscores Bell by two points, Bell’s chances of a championship are toast.

Hamlin is the No. 2 favorite for the title ahead of Larson and Briscoe.

Martinsville favorites

• Ryan Blaney (+350)

• Denny Hamlin (+425)

• Chase Elliott (+650)

• Kyle Larson (+675)

• Christopher Bell (+675)

• William Byron (+800)

• Joey Logano (+900)

• Chase Briscoe (16-1)

• Josh Berry (25-1)

• Bubba Wallace (25-1)

Cup Series title odds

• Christopher Bell (+250)

• Denny Hamlin (+275)

• Kyle Larson (+300)

• Chase Briscoe (+375)

• Ryan Blaney (+900)

• Chase Elliott (18-1)

• Joey Logano (20-1)

• William Byron (22-1)

Sam Mayer’s 2025 season is over. NASCAR announced Tuesday that Mayer had been suspended for the Xfinity Series season finale at Phoenix for intentionally crashing Jeb Burton after the checkered flag flew Saturday night at Martinsville. Mayer drove Burton into the wall in Turn 1 right after the race was over.

Mayer was one of the eight drivers in the playoff semifinals racing for four spots in the championship race at Phoenix. However, Mayer was eliminated from the playoffs at Martinsville on Saturday night after finishing seventh. He said after the race that he was upset with Burton’s actions in the previous race at Talladega. Mayer finished last after he was part of a 10-car crash on lap 15.

"He caused a 20-car pileup at Talladega which put us in the spot we’re in going into today so it was his fault to begin with,” Mayer told reporters after the race. “Him left-hooking the No. 20 car in the middle of the trioval at Talladega is just an absolutely silly thing to have happen.”

Burton finished sixth at Martinsville and Mayer said that he was also unhappy with the way that Burton had raced him at the half-mile track before the end of the race.

Haas Factory Team said it would not appeal Mayer's penalty and that Ryan Sieg, an Xfinity Series regular who drives for his own team, would fill in for Mayer at Phoenix.

Mayer, 22, will likely finish eighth in the points standings with one win and 18 top-10 finishes. The 2025 season was his fourth full-time in NASCAR’s No. 2 series and his first with HFT. He had previously spent his entire career with JR Motorsports and has eight career wins and a best finish of third in the points standings.

JR Motorsports will have three of the four drivers racing for the title in Justin Allgaier, Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch along with Richard Childress Racing's Jesse Love. 

Two tires or four? Four tires or two? One question, one moment, one irrevocable choice, a championship on the line. For Kyle Larson and crew chief Cliff Daniels, the question of how to proceed in the final seconds of the final race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup season would determine whether they would hoist a trophy, or spend the season’s final minutes mired in the pack, and the next few months mired in regret.

Daniels’ first instinct on the final pit stops was to take four tires, which would mean gaining speed on the field, but at the cost of track position. His engineers advised him to consider thinking bigger and bolder, to make, in Daniels’ words on Sunday night, “the call that we have to make to get ourselves up front and to give ourselves a shot.”

So when a late-race caution with three laps remaining ripped near-certain victory — and a championship — right out of Denny Hamlin’s hands, Daniels and Larson communicated over the radio via the use of code words — no sense tipping off the competition over an open mic — and with that, set in motion the events that would win Larson his second championship and deal Hamlin, who's infamously NASCAR's winningest driver without a championship, the most heartbreaking loss of his career.

Larson assured Daniels he would wheel the hell out of a car on two changed tires. That was good enough for Daniels, who ordered the two-tire stop that would put Larson ahead of Hamlin. And from there, Larson sat in the car, anxious but happy — “happy that I got the caution, and then happy that we took two tires and were able to come out ahead of Denny,” he told Yahoo Sports on Monday. Hamlin had opted for four tires, which would have been more useful had he not been buried on the fifth row of the restart with only two laps remaining.

“I was able to get through (turns) 1 and 2 good and keep my momentum,” Larson said. “I was surprised that (Hamlin) wasn’t able to get a better first corner than he did, but he just got stuck three-wide on the bottom.”

Jared C. Tilton via Getty Images

Larson’s spotter Tyler Monn kept one eye on Larson and another on Hamlin, letting Larson know that Hamlin was struggling in the pack behind him. “That gave me a little bit more ease as I got under the white flag (signaling one lap to go),” Larson said. “I just knew I needed to put together a couple more good corners and we would be the champion.”

Monn’s voice grew more excited as the turns wound down, but Larson tried to stay focused on what was ahead. He imagined what the final turns would look like, what the cars around and ahead of him were going to do in the closing laps, preparing himself for every eventuality. It’s a level of awareness born of years of experience winning big races — and also losing them, too.

Since this race’s loser is getting as much, if not more, ink as the winner, it’s worth noting that Larson, now a two-time champion, has tremendous empathy for Hamlin’s ongoing, vain, painful struggle to win a Cup Series title.

“What Denny is going through, for me, would be the Chili Bowl,” Larson said. “It took me 13 years to finally win, and I had been so close. Blew up leading. Christopher Bell passed me on the last lap. Thirteen years at that time was half of my lifetime trying to win this race.”

And all the time, Larson was wrestling with an ever-growing sense of futility and frustration. “I would always have these demons,” he said. “You know, those stupid voices in your head saying, ‘You’re gonna screw up,’ or ‘A caution is going to come out and you’re going to lose.’”

If there’s any solace that Hamlin can take in what’s surely the darkest race of his career, it’s this: Once Larson nabbed his first Chili Bowl, in 2020, he won a whole lot more — two more Chili Bowls, 26 NASCAR Cup Series races, plus those two NASCAR titles.

“I won a lot of races before the Chili Bowl,” he said. “But the first Chili Bowl I got, all these big wins started flooding in after. And I think it was just because mentally, I got over the hurdle of doubt that I had in my own mind.”

Maybe there’s a path out of the darkness for Hamlin there, maybe not. If nothing else, Larson acknowledges that NASCAR’s current one-race, winner-take-all format paid off huge for him while wishing for something a little more comprehensive.

“What this format presents is definitely some excitement and craziness, but a better format would at least have a larger sample size to crown a champion,” Larson said. “Obviously, we got extremely lucky yesterday, and Denny got extremely unlucky. Whether it’s 36 races or 10 or four or whatever the number may be, I think anything larger than one race would be a little bit more fair.”

Fair or not, Larson’s name will go into the NASCAR record books as the 2025 champion. (He finished as the season-long points leader and had three wins, so it’s not like he vultured a championship.) NASCAR is likely to change the title format next year, but Larson has put himself in a position to challenge for any title, no matter what the format. He has both the experience and the confidence to make the kinds of split-second decisions that are the difference between a title and heartbreak.

“It's just,” he said, “a shocking way to win the championship.”

Busch, a two-time NASCAR Cup series champion, was hospitalized on Wednesday after he became unresponsive while training in Charlotte for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. His family announced early Thursday that he was withdrawing from the race due to “severe illness.”

It was announced later Thursday that Busch had died. Busch’s family revealed on Saturday that he had developed severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis, a condition in which the body overreacts to an infection that can lead to organ failure.

On Sunday, Busch’s family was at Charlotte Motor Speedway and took part in a pre-race tribute in the infield led by NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell.

‘He competed like he had something to prove’

Busch’s parents, Tom and Gaye Busch, stood alongside his brother, Kurt, a retired former NASCAR Cup series champion who won 34 races, including the 2010 Coca-Cola 600.

“No one ever feels fully prepared to speak at a moment like this, and I think we can all agree this was Kyle Busch’s home,” O’Donnell said. “Every race track was Kyle Busch’s home.

“He competed like he had something to prove every single race, when in reality, he had already proven everything. What I think what we’ll miss most isn’t the wins. It’s the guy who quietly wanted to help a teammate or give some advice. It was the husband, the father or the guy who quietly did things for others when no one was watching. “

O’Donnell then addressed Busch’s widow, Samantha and their two young children, Brexton and Lennix, who were alongside him.

“Samantha, I want you to know that this sport stands with you and that you and your children are NASCAR family forever,” O’Donnell continued. “And Brexton and Lennix, you’re dad loved you with all his heart.

“Everyone gathered here, everyone behind you, everybody watching on TV and all those people up in that grandstand are your family. And we’ve got you.

“Kyle Busch is NASCAR. He was one of a kind. And there will never be another.”

The 95,000-plus fans at soldout CMS then took a moment of silence before three bagpipers played “Amazing Grace.”

Kyle Busch tributes carry on to race track

After the pre-race ceremonies, drivers took the field with No. 8 decals on their cars in honor of Busch and his No. 8 car that he drove for Richard Childress Racing. RCR announced previously that it is retiring No. 8 until and unless Brexton, 11, advances to NASCAR.

They took the track with the missing man formation on their pre-race pace laps, leaving the pole position open in honor of Busch.

When the race went into the eighth lap, the Amazon Prime broadcast went silent, and fans in the stands around the track held up eight fingers.

Daniel Suárez wins: ‘This one is for Kyle’

Daniel Suárez, who was mentored by Busch, won the race. He paid tribute to Busch after the Coca-Cola 600 win while wearing a No. 8 hat.

“This one really means a lot,” he said in his post-race interview. “I’ve been saying every year, this is my favorite race of the year …

“It’s been a very tough week. Kyle, he was special, man. This one is for Kyle — for Kyle, for Samantha, for Brexton, for Lennix, for all his family.

“Every win is special. But definitely this one has a special flavor because of Kyle. This one is for him. If it wasn’t for Kyle, I wasn’t gonna be an Xfinity champion, I wasn’t going to have my shot in the Cup Series. And to be able to win this race for him is unbelievable.”

Busch was NASCAR’s all-time winner across the sport’s top three series with 234 victories combined in the Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series. He’s ninth all time with 63 Cup Series wins and was a Cup Series champion in 2015 and 2019.

Dennis Hamlin, the father of NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin, has died, and Hamlin’s mother, Mary Lou, was severely injured in a fire at their home on Sunday night.

Fire crews responded to a call at 6:19 p.m. ET in Stanley, North Carolina. According to multiple reports, both Dennis and Mary Lou were outside the residence when firefighters arrived, and they were taken to a hospital. Numerous fire departments were involved in putting out the blaze because there are no hydrants in the area where the Hamlins lived.

Gaston County Emergency Medical Services confirmed Monday evening that Dennis Hamlin had died from injuries sustained in the fire and that Mary Lou was being actively treated at a hospital in Winston-Salem.

Per the Athletic, a statement from Gaston EMS said that both Hamlins suffered "catastrophic injuries" in the fire.

The house is owned by a real estate company managed by Denny Hamlin.

Dennis Hamlin had been in poor health in the fall of 2025. After winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to clinch a chance at the championship, Denny Hamlin was emotional and reflected on the sacrifices his family made for him to pursue his auto racing career.

“Just thank him for sacrificing really his and my mom’s life to chase around my dreams,” Hamlin said when asked after the race what he wanted to say to his dad following the victory. “My parents had no money. My parents had very normal jobs, but they found a way. That way is a path I would never recommend anybody taking. Every credit card that comes to the mail, 'OK, we’ll use it.' Asking people to help. Second and third mortgaging the house. All these things. The arguments I had to listen to. I’m in my room, and my mom and dad are going at it. One is saying, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ The other one saying, ‘Please just one more week.’”

Before the title race at Phoenix, Hamlin said he knew it was his dad’s last opportunity to see him win the championship.

“I know for a fact this is my last chance for my dad to see it,” Hamlin told the AP in October. “I don’t want him going and never getting to see the moment.”

Hamlin, 45, controlled the race at Phoenix and was well on his way to victory. However, a tire failure from fellow title contender William Byron set up a late caution, and Hamlin exited pit road behind eventual Cup Series champion Kyle Larson because of the teams’ differing pit strategies. Then Hamlin was unable to pass Larson in the final two laps of the race, and Larson won his second Cup Series title.

Weeks after the title race, Hamlin scored a major victory in a federal courthouse in North Carolina, as the 23XI Racing team he co-owns with Michael Jordan and Front Row Motorsports settled their anti-trust lawsuit against NASCAR. As a result of the settlement, NASCAR granted permanent charters to all Cup Series teams. The lack of permanent charters was a driving reason for the suit.

Greg Biffle raced for 16 years in NASCAR, winning 19 races and earning $75 million in purses. Named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers in 2023, he was a top-10 fixture for a decade. But his most meaningful impact came long after he stopped driving full-time.

Biffle, who died Thursday along with six others in a plane crash, became a sudden, unexpected savior in the wake of 2024’s devastating Hurricane Helene. Flying his helicopter into and out of hurricane-ravaged areas of North Carolina, Biffle ferried emergency supplies in and brought rescued survivors out of the storm zone.

He began by rescuing a family of tourists stranded in Banner Elk, North Carolina. And once he took to the skies — once he got a look at the carnage left by the hurricane — Biffle found a sudden calling. He flew multiple missions a day for nearly two weeks, in part buoyed by thousands of social media messages pleading him to help find loved ones.

“There’s no recollection of a road, an embankment. No ledge, no bridge, no anything for miles down these canyons, and we see people walking with backpacks trying to get help,” Biffle later recalled.

Leaving from the same Statesville airport where his plane crashed on Thursday morning, Biffle ran dozens of rescue missions into the mountains around Asheville, North Carolina, where washed-out roads had left many small towns isolated, cut off from the outside world and reachable only by air. He dropped off food, diapers and Starlink satellite connections, and he rescued those who needed extraction.

“It feels good to be able to get supplies and things in need into these people that need the help the most, that are still cut off,” Biffle told NASCAR.com in October 2024. “The mission now is, even though the roads are starting to open, the grocery stores aren’t. Some of the grocery stores are wiped out, gas stations still don’t have fuel, the power is not back on everywhere, so these folks still need supplies and food, and they can’t just hop in their car and go driving around looking, because they’ll ultimately end up out of gas somewhere and stranded. So the mission continues.”

NASCAR is a tight-knit family largely centered in North Carolina, and Biffle’s example inspired the rest of the family to undertake other charitable efforts. Cup champions Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski offered support, equipment and logistical assistance. Charlotte Motor Speedway organized charity drives to collect needed items.

"I had such tremendous respect for Greg as a driver," NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon said on X Thursday, "and we shared countless tough battles on the track. Like so many others, I was inspired by his tireless relief work during Hurricane Helene."

Biffle worked morning to night, until the sun dictated he couldn't do anymore.

“The hardest thing was when I went home at night and landed in the dark because we just couldn’t fly anymore, my mind wouldn’t shut off,” Biffle said in September. “I’m sitting there at my counter looking through my phone just overwhelmed like what am I gonna do next.”

After flying dozens of Helene missions, Biffle eventually transitioned to a ground support role, but occasionally made his way back up to the mountains — dropping 4,000 Easter eggs this spring, for instance.

In his racing career, Biffle claimed wins at legendary NASCAR tracks like Daytona, Pocono and Darlington. But his greatest victories came in the remote hills and narrow canyons of western North Carolina.

Shane van Gisbergen won his fifth race of the season at the Charlotte Roval as Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric were eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

The road course ace didn’t dominate at the Roval like he had at four other road courses this season. But he had a big margin of victory after his closest challengers Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson pitted late for fresher tires in the hope of catching a caution.

The race’s biggest drama came down to the final playoff spot in the semifinal round between Chastain and Joey Logano. Logano’s team had him pit for tires in the hope he could make up enough track position to stay ahead of Chastain in the points standings. 

And sure enough, it worked out. Barely. 

Chastain got passed by Denny Hamlin on the last lap to get Logano into the next round. Chastain then made a last-ditch dive on Hamlin in the final corner that resulted in both of them spinning out and Logano crossing the finish line ahead of Chastain anyway.

Hamlin was safely into the third round of the playoffs, so he had nothing at stake as Chastain and Logano fought for the final spot. Chastain was in that position late in the race because he missed the turn off pit road at the end of the first stage and cost himself 15 spots and sped on pit road during his final pit stop after grabbing the wrong gear.

Despite the mistakes, Chastain found himself with a fighting chance to make the next round of the playoffs. He had to finish four spots ahead of Logano after the stage points and called what happened throughout the race "unacceptable."

"Knowing that no one else had a hand in it but me ... I can go to bed knowing that they're building me to be the best I can be but I've got to make those right decisions in those moments where I'm not on autopilot — but I come out of the pit stall I'm just getting to my lights ... and I pulled [the shifter] twice," Chastain told NBC after the race. "And when I got to the end of pit road I didn't turn because I wanted to give them the yellow line and I needed to just turn the wheel. It's really simple."

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A year ago, Logano made the third round of the playoffs after he thought he had been eliminated. Logano was provisionally out of the postseason after the race but Alex Bowman's car failed post-race inspection because it was underweight. That disqualification put Logano back into the postseason and he went on to win his third championship. 

If you believe in the Logano even-year success rule, he's not a title contender in 2025. Logano's titles have come in 2018, 2022 and 2024. He's been a relative non-factor in 2025, but just needs one win over the next three races to be guaranteed a title chance at Phoenix in November. 

Logano joins Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and William Byron in the semifinal round of the NASCAR playoffs. A win at Las Vegas, Talladega or Martinsville guarantees any of those eight drivers a spot in the four-driver title race at Phoenix on Nov. 2.

Denny Hamlin’s got another chance Sunday to get rid of a pesky label.

Hamlin enters NASCAR’s Cup Series championship race at Phoenix (3 p.m. ET, NBC) with 60 career wins and is tied with Kevin Harvick for the 10th-most all time. Three of those wins came in the Daytona 500. Only two drivers, Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough, have won NASCAR’s biggest race more times.

However, Hamlin, 44, is still chasing his first Cup Series title. And Sunday’s title race could be his last best shot. He’s the betting favorite to win the championship at +200 ahead of Kyle Larson at +250, William Byron at +260 and Chase Briscoe at +375.

Every driver above Hamlin on the career wins list has at least one championship, and only Harvick and Bobby Allison (85 wins) have just one title. Hamlin is also one of just four drivers among the top 30 in career wins without a Cup Series championship.

But 2025 is hardly Hamlin’s first opportunity at a title. He finished second in the points standings in 2010 and Sunday’s race will be the fifth time he’s raced for a title in NASCAR’s winner-take-all final race championship format.

And he revealed Thursday afternoon to the Associated Press that this will be the last chance that his father Dennis will have to see him win a title. 

“I know for a fact this is my last chance for my dad to see it. I don't want him going and never getting to see the moment,” Hamlin told The Associated Press of his dad, now 75 and battling a serious illness.

Dennis Hamlin has been a central figure in his son's racing life. Denny opened up about his dad after he was in tears winning at Las Vegas earlier this fall. That win was Hamlin's 60th and it clinched a spot in the championship race. 

"He's the one that got me into racing," Hamlin said after his win. "Just took me to a racetrack when I was five. Then made all the sacrifices financially to keep me going. Sold everything they had. We almost lost our house a couple times. Just tried to keep it all going.

"So I'm glad he was able to see 60. That was super important to me."

If Hamlin does win the title on Sunday, he could be handed the championship trophy while in an ongoing legal dispute with NASCAR. Though settlement talks are reportedly still ongoing — and Hamlin said Thursday that they were not close to an agreement — a lawsuit filed by Hamlin and Michael Jordan's 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR is headed toward a Dec. 1 trial date.

Here’s a look at the close calls Hamlin has had throughout his Cup Series career. Will this weekend finally be when Hamlin is no longer the best NASCAR driver ever without a Cup Series title? 

2010 (2nd in points)

The 2010 season was a preview of how hard it would be for Hamlin to win a Cup Series title. He won eight races and two of those victories came in the 10-race playoffs. A win at Texas in the 34th race of the 36-race season put him in first place in the points standings ahead of Jimmie Johnson. But a dominating performance at Phoenix went off the rails over a 73-lap run to the finish. Hamlin needed to save some gas to make it to the end but said he was never told he needed to do so. The lack of fuel saving resulted in a late pit stop. And Hamlin finished 12th as Jimmie Johnson was fourth.

Hamlin entered the final race of the season just 15 points ahead of Johnson — he could have led by nearly 70 — and lost the title when he finished 14th and Johnson finished second at Homestead after Hamlin suffered front-end damage in an early crash.

2014 (3rd)

Hamlin was one of four drivers racing for the Cup Series title in NASCAR’s first winner-take-all championship race. He won just one race all season, but made it through to the final round, thanks to three top-10 finishes in the semifinal round.

Hamlin had the lead with less than 20 laps to go as he stayed out on the track during a caution flag. However, two cautions in the final 15 laps of the race allowed drivers like Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman with fresh tires to get past as Hamlin fell to eighth and Harvick won the title.

2019 (4th)

Hamlin won six races in 2019 and qualified on the pole for the championship race as all four title-contending drivers qualified in the top four.

As it turned out, the drivers who qualified third and fourth — Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. — ended up finishing first and second.

We can blame some grille tape for that one. Hamlin was forced to pit late in the race after tape applied to the grille caused the engine to overheat. That relegated Hamlin to a 12th-place finish and last on the lead lap as Busch beat Truex for the title.

2020 (4th)

The 2020 season was the first winner-take-all race at Phoenix. A location change didn’t help Hamlin’s luck. As the three other title-contending drivers led 294 of the race’s 312 laps, Hamlin didn’t lead a single lap. He finished fourth behind Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano as the race went green for the final 112 laps.

2021 (3rd)

Another title race at Phoenix, another year when Hamlin didn’t lead a single lap. His third-place finish at Phoenix was his 25th top-10 finish of the season. But he finished behind Larson and Truex, two of the three drivers he was racing for the title.

Much like in 2020, the other three title contenders combined to lead 273 of the race’s 312 laps. And Larson, who qualified first, beat Hamlin out of the pits during the race’s final caution flag to take the lead and hold on for his first Cup Series title.

Former NASCAR driver Michael Annett has died. He was 39.

JR Motorsports announced Annett’s death in a social media post Friday evening with no other details. Annett drove for the team in the Xfinity Series for five seasons from 2017-21.

Annett made over 100 starts in NASCAR’s Cup Series and over 300 starts in NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series. Annett’s lone Xfinity Series win came in 2019, when he won the season-opening race at Daytona. He went on to have five more top-five finishes and finished ninth in the points standings that season.

His best season in the Xfinity Series came in 2012 when he drove for Richard Petty Motorsports. Annett had six top-five finishes and 17 top-10 finishes and finished fifth in the points standings.

At JR Motorsports, he never finished outside the top 15 in the points standings.

Annett competed in 106 Cup Series races over the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons. He drove for underfunded teams Tommy Baldwin Racing and HScott Racing during his time at NASCAR’s top level and had just six top-20 finishes in his Cup Series career. His best finish came in 2015 when he was 13th at the Daytona 500.

Annett retired after the 2021 season after he dealt with a stress fracture in his right leg for much of the season. He missed seven races that year. He also missed races during the 2013 season after he suffered a fractured and dislocated sternum in a crash at Daytona when his car slammed head-on into the wall.

The trial between Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing and NASCAR is over, with Jordan and Co. coming out as the big winner.

Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney representing Jordan's 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports in the teams’ antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, told Judge Kenneth Bell that the parties had reached a settlement Thursday “in a way that will benefit the industry going forward.”

That "way" is what the two sides are calling "evergreen charters" — which are essentially permanent team charters, the main sticking point between Jordan's side and NASCAR.

"From the beginning, this lawsuit was about progress," Jordan said in a statement after the settlement. "It was about making sure our sport evolves in a way that supports everyone: teams, drivers, partners, employees and fans. With a foundation to build equity and invest in the future and a stronger voice in the decisions ahead, we now have the chance to grow together and make the sport even better for generations to come."

Per the terms of the settlement, the financial agreements between the teams and NASCAR will not be publicly disclosed. 

What was the trial about?

The future of NASCAR, really.

In 2016, NASCAR implemented charter agreements, NASCAR's version of franchising. The charter agreement were not in perpetuity, but they provided 36 teams guaranteed entry into every race of the season and a larger share of purse money than "open" (or non-charter) teams.

The old charter agreement expired at the end of the 2024 season in concurrence with NASCAR's previous media rights deal. In the fall of 2024, NASCAR presented teams with a new charter agreement that would run from 2025-2031. Given less than one day to agree to the new agreement — which NASCAR said was its final offer after months of contentious negotiations — most teams signed on. Two did not. 23XI, co-owned by Michael Jordan and driver Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports held out. 

They, along with many other teams who signed the deal, wanted the charters to be permanent, but NASCAR and the France family, the sanctioning body's longtime owners, didn't acquiesce to that request.

NASCAR granted teams a larger portion of media rights money in the current charter agreement, however the sanctioning body and its tracks continue to receive the majority of revenue. Teams have said that costs have skyrocketed in recent years and especially since the implementation of NASCAR's "NextGen" car in 2022. Teams are forced to use NASCAR-approved, single-source suppliers to build their cars instead of building many of their own parts in-house.

23XI and Front Row accused NASCAR of monopolistic and anticompetitive behavior as NASCAR gave teams just hours to sign its final charter offer in September of 2024. Because they didn't sign the charter agreement, the two teams forfeited their charter status for the 2025 season. After a legal back-and-forth which saw them temporarily regain those charters, 23XI and Front Row raced as open teams for much of the 2025 season.

The two sides spent the last few months wrangling for a settlement but were unable to come to an agreement. On Dec. 1, the two sides — 23XI/Front Row and NASCAR — went to court, an all-or-nothing proposition for Jordan who likely would have shut his team down had he lost.

The trial 

Jordan said on the stand that he felt he needed to challenge NASCAR and that attorneys advised him that the charter agreement could be in violation of antitrust laws. The charter agreement included a non-disparagement clause that teams needed to agree to.

Over eight days, some of NASCAR's biggest names — Jordan, Hamlin, team owner Richard Childress — along with executives — Jim France, NASCAR's principal owner; commissioner Steve Phelps; and president Steve O'Donnell — took the stand in Charlotte, North Carolina, where both sides made their case. In simplistic terms, the Jordan side argued they're losing money because NASCAR is keeping too much of it, NASCAR arguing the current agreement provides stability for a sport in an uncertain time.

Maybe the most impactful testimony came from Heather Gibbs, daughter-in-law of longtime team owner and former NFL coach Joe Gibbs and co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing. Heather Gibbs explained that while they did sign the new charter agreement, it came "like you have a gun to your head."

"We said we have to sign this," Gibbs testified, per Fox Sports. "We can’t lose this. We have too many employees. … I did not think it’s a fair deal for the teams.

"... If you don’t sign it … everything is gone."

Before the trial reached its ninth day, the two sides came to an agreement. 

As part of the settlement, both 23XI and Front Row will receive their charters back.

“This outcome gives all parties the flexibility and confidence to continue delivering unforgettable racing moments for our fans, which has always benefited our highest priority since the sport was founded in 1948," Jim France said. "We worked closely with race teams to create the NASCAR charter system in 2016, and it has proven invaluable to their operations and to the quality of racing across the Cup Series. Today’s agreement reaffirms our commitment to preserving and enhancing that value, ensuring our fans continue to enjoy the very best of stock car racing for generations to come.”

23XI Racing is one of NASCAR's newest Cup Series teams. The team, co-owned by Jordan, his longtime business manager Curtis Polk and current Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin, began in 2021 with Bubba Wallace and has since expanded to a three-car team.

Front Row Motorsports is also a three-car team and has fielded cars in the Cup Series since 2005.

The teams had expanded from two to three cars ahead of the 2025 season as each reached an agreement to purchase a charter from the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing. Because of the lawsuit, those deals had officially been on hold, though they'll now be allowed to close.

“I’ve cared deeply about the sport of NASCAR my entire life,” Hamlin said. “Racing is all I’ve ever known, and this sport shaped who I am. That’s why we were willing to shoulder the challenges that came with taking this stand. We believed it was worth fighting for a stronger and more sustainable future for everyone in the industry. Teams, drivers and partners will now have the stability and opportunity they deserve. Our commitment to the fans and to the entire NASCAR community has never been stronger. I’m proud of what we accomplished, and now it is time to move forward together and build the stronger future this sport deserves.”

On Saturday, seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson raced in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond, finishing 12th.

Less than 48 hours later, he traded his head-to-toe racing suit for a different type of racing apparel: running sneakers, shorts and a T-shirt.

The 43-year-old was part of the field in the 123rd Boston Marathon — wearing bib No. 4848, of course — and posted an impressive time.

‘Most challenging thing I’ve ever done’

Johnson is a triathlete, but this was his first time running a marathon.

His stated goal was to finish in three hours, and he came quite close, with a time of 3:09:07, averaging 7:17 per mile. He was 4,183rd overall (there were over 30,000 entrants) and 646th in the men’s 40-44 age group.

Lawrence Cherono out-sprinted Lelisa Desisa to win the men’s race.

“That was the most challenging thing I’ve ever done, what an experience,” Johnson tweeted.

“I left the pace I wanted to try to hold and came up a little bit short of my goal,” Johnson told reporters after finishing. “I wanted to race it and really run hard and challenge myself.

“I need some food. I’m afraid to sit down. I might not get back up. Everything is starting to tighten back up right now.”

Johnson received his finisher’s medal from 2014 Boston champion and long-distance racing legend Meb Keflezighi, who served as grand marshal of this year’s race.

It was ‘amazing’

Johnson, who was able to run through a sponsor’s exemption, was recognized by fans as he ran.

“It’s been an amazing experience. I’ve learned so much about myself. I just can’t believe how the city supports all the runners on the course,” he told WBZ-TV.

One of Johnson’s sponsors, Ally Racing, took over the fire station at Mile 17, in the town of Newton, handing out T-shirts and flags, and naturally Johnson got one of his biggest cheers as he passed by.

Because of his time, Johnson qualified to run Boston again next year, but the NASCAR schedule probably won’t be as favorable.

“Somebody told me that it doesn’t work out as well. I’d like to have Sunday to recover some [after a NASCAR race],” Johnson said. “If I can, I will.”

Two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip completed the 2000 Boston Marathon, finishing in 4:42:20.

Touched by tragedy

This year’s marathon was held on the sixth anniversary of the finish-line bombing that rocked the race and the city of Boston. The tragedy touched Johnson’s Hendricks Motorsports team.

“We had somebody close to Hendrick Motorsports … was [because of] the bombing,” Johnson said. “Sean Collier was a security guard at MIT and was lost trying to apprehend the bombers. His brother [Andrew] worked in our engine shop and I’ve been able to meet with his family and spend time with them and take them to the races. I’ve been trying to bring up his name and honor him.”

Sean Collier was 26 when he was shot and killed in his vehicle by the Marathon bombing suspects during his regular night shift patrolling the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus.

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An investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board said last Friday that the plane carrying Dale Earnhardt Jr., his wife Amy and their daughter Isla “basically bounced at least twice” before ending up on fire in the middle of a Tennessee highway.

The Earnhardts and the two pilots on board were able to get out of the plane safely Thursday after it came to rest approximately 1,000 feet past the end of the runway at the Elizabethton (Tenn.) Municipal Airport at about 3:40 p.m. Earnhardt Jr. was transported to Johnson City Medical Center after the crash but was released from the hospital a few hours later.

Senior investigator Ralph Hicks said Friday that the NTSB would be on site for two or three more days while investigating the crash. He said investigators were able to find surveillance video footage that shows the crash and the crash footage is consistent with what the two pilots of the airplane told investigators.

In addition to noting that the plane had bounced at least twice, Hicks noted that it had come down hard on the right main landing gear. He also said investigators had walked the runway and saw tire and skid marks that were consistent with the airplane though there hasn’t been a determination of just where the plane first touched down.

In its preliminary report, which was released Friday, the NTSB states the pilots attempted to do a go-around following the second bounce, but the plane did not respond as expected. The report added that the landing gear on the right side “collapsed.”

Hicks said that investigators have determined that Junior’s plane caught fire after it had crash-landed and that the crash landing took a matter of seconds. The runway at Elizabethton Municipal is approximately 4,500 feet long and the Cessna Citation was capable of landing at a runway of that length.

The plane had a voice recorder, Hicks said, which was sent to NTSB headquarters in Washington D.C. for download. Hicks also noted that the surveillance footage that investigators have reviewed would become public at some point after investigators are done with it.

Earnhardt Jr.’s sister Kelley released a statement last Friday morning thanking the people who had responded to the plane crash and said the family would have no further comment in the immediate future.

“We want to reiterate our appreciate to the NASCAR community, first responders, medical staff and race fans everywhere for the overwhelming support in the last 24 hours. Dale, Amy, Isla and our two pilots are doing well. We are assisting the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board in their investigation and will have no further comment at this time.”

The Elizabethton Municipal Airport is located southeast of Bristol Motor Speedway, the site of last Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race. Junior was set to call that race for NBC Sports but skipped the race broadcast.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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NASCAR Hall of Fame member Junior Johnson died on Friday. He was 88.

Johnson is one of the most legendary figures in NASCAR history. A stalwart of NASCAR’s early days, Johnson won 50 races in 313 starts from 1953-66. He was a part of the first NASCAR Hall of Fame class in 2010 and was known for learning the skills he needed to race in NASCAR by hauling moonshine.

“Junior Johnson truly was the ‘Last American Hero,’ ” NASCAR chairman Jim France said in a statement. “From his early days running moonshine through the end of his life, Junior wholly embodied the NASCAR spirit. He was an inaugural NASCAR Hall of Famer, a nod to an extraordinary career as both a driver and team owner. Between his on-track accomplishments and his introduction of Winston to the sport, few have contributed to the success of NASCAR as Junior has. The entire NASCAR family is saddened by the loss of a true giant of our sport, and we offer our deepest condolences to Junior’s family and friends during this difficult time.”

The Last American Hero mention by France is an ode to the iconic 1965 Tom Wolfe feature on Johnson. A movie by the same name was released in 1973 about a familiar moonshine hauler turned NASCAR racer.

Johnson never ran a full schedule in his NASCAR driving days. His best season came in 1965 when he won 13 of the 36 races he participated in with nine poles and 19 top 10s. Johnson also won the 1960 Daytona 500.

After he stopped driving Johnson continued in NASCAR as a team owner. Johnson-owned cars won 123 races in over 1,000 starts. Cale Yarborough won three-straight championships driving for Johnson in 1976-78 and Darrell Waltrip won the 1981, 1982, and 1985 titles while driving Johnson’s No. 11 car. 

Johnson’s last two wins as an owner came in 1994 when Jimmie Spencer won the summer race at Daytona and then a few weeks later at Talladega. Spencer won that Daytona race when he made a last-lap pass on Ernie Irvan to lead the only lap he had all day when he took the checkered flag. 

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Richard Childress is no longer a member of the National Rifle Association’s board of directors.

Childress submitted his resignation in a letter dated Monday, Aug. 19, two days after the NRA was a co-sponsor of Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“At this time, it is necessary for me to fully focus on my businesses,” the NASCAR team owner and Hall of Famer said in a statement. “I owe that to my employees, our partners, my family, and myself. Since proudly agreeing to serve on the NRA Board, I have supported the organization and its important mission to preserve and protect our Constitutional rights. But when, as now, I am no longer able to be fully engaged in any commitment I have made, it becomes time for me to step down. I have reached that point in my ability to continue to serve the NRA. As such, I must resign.”

The NRA has been a co-sponsor of the Bristol night race since 2016. The Bristol sponsorship came after the group had previously sponsored the spring race at Texas Motor Speedway.

NRA president Oliver North stepped down in April. Childress read North’s resignation letter at the organization’s board meeting. Since North’s resignation, stories about the use of money and disputes within the organization have emerged as donations have dropped for the group. The Washington Post and other outlets reported earlier in August that NRA CEO Wayne Lapierre had looked into purchasing a $6 million Texas mansion with NRA funds in the wake of the Parkland shooting.

Childress is the fifth member of the board to resign this month. He had previously taken over as the NRA’s First Vice President in 2017.

Richard Childress Racing, which fielded a car for seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt for much of his career, currently has two cars in the Cup Series and one car in the Xfinity Series. While Tyler Reddick leads the Xfinity Series points standings and has four wins, Austin Dillon — Childress’ grandson — is 23rd in the Cup Series points standings and Daniel Hemric is 25th.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he was “feeling great” Friday, just over two weeks after he, his wife Amy and daughter Isla walked away from their plane that crash-landed at a Tennessee airport.

Junior and his family were en route to Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 15 when their plane bounced and skidded off the runway at the Elizabethton (Tenn.) Municipal Airport. Both pilots were also able to walk off the plane as it caught fire as well as the Earnhardts’ dog. No one sustained any serious injuries in the crash.

“Very lucky and very thankful that we’re able to carry on and plan the rest of our lives and feel very lucky of course,” Earnhardt Jr. said Friday at Darlington. “Without a doubt. It’s hard to overstate that.”

Junior was transported to a local hospital after the crash but was released a short time later. He took the weekend off from his regular broadcasting duties with NBC. He did not address any of the details of the crash during his media availability on Friday.

Earnhardt Jr. is set to race in Saturday’s Xfinity race at Darlington in his only NASCAR start of the season. He’s made one Xfinity Series start per season since retiring from the Cup Series at the end of the 2017 season. He raced at Richmond last year and said Friday that he’s looking at Homestead in 2020 if all goes well on the sponsor front. He’s driving the No. 8 car for his JR Motorsports team in Saturday’s race.

Junior admitted last week that his back was sore from the crash but said Friday that he was good to go and had no issues on Thursday when he was driving a different car around the track.

“My back healed really quickly,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Got some great treatment and help from doctors there to get — I drove a two-seater yesterday for an hour-and-a-half and didn’t have one issue with soreness back there and that seat’s not even my seat. So this seat should be formed to me and very comfortable and should be no problem.”

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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NASCAR CEO Brian France was arrested for DWI and possession of oxycodone approximately two hours after Chase Elliott’s win on Sunday.

According to Sag Harbor (New York) Police, France was pulled over after driving through a stop sign in the Hamptons at approximately 7:30 p.m. ET. Police found the oxycodone after a search when he was pulled over.

“Mr. France was observed operating a 2017 Lexus northbound on Main Street failing to stop at a duly posted stop sign,” a police release said. “Upon traffic stop, it was determined that Mr. France was operating said vehicle in an intoxicated condition.”

Mug shot of the @NASCAR CEO Brian France who was arrested over the weekend. pic.twitter.com/fi3YoaMkTn

— Ryan Ruggiero (@RyanRuggiero) August 6, 2018

He even reportedly name-dropped President Donald Trump, according to TMZ Sports, and his blood-alcohol content was twice the legal limit. (France publicly endorsed Trump for president in early 2016 at a rally in Georgia.)

And sources tell us … during the process, France was name-dropping all of the powerful people he knew and even mentioned his relationship with President Donald Trump.

Police said France was released at 9:30 a.m. Monday after arraignment. NASCAR announced Monday afternoon that France had taken a leave of absence from his role as NASCAR’s CEO and chairman.

“I apologize to our fans, our industry and my family for the impact of my actions last night,” France said. “Effective immediately, I will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from my position to focus on my personal affairs.”

His uncle Jim France will take over as the interim leader of NASCAR. Jim France and Lesa France Kennedy, Brian’s sister, are the majority owners of NASCAR. Jim France’s permanent role is as NASCAR’s Vice Chairman.

This is the second-known traffic incident with Brian France. He hit a tree in 2006, also while driving a Lexus, and a witness said he “fell over his own feet” after he got out of the car. France told Daytona Beach police that he hit the tree when he was taking a drink of a soda.

This latest incident comes just after NASCAR was celebrating the first win of Elliott’s career. Long-anointed as one of the series’ future megastars, Elliott outran Martin Truex Jr. over the last 15 laps of the race to reach victory lane in his 99th Cup Series race.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

Follow @NickBromberg on Twitter

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Kyle Busch died of pneumonia leading to sepsis, according to a statement provided by the Busch family on Saturday morning.

"The medical evaluation provided to the Busch Family concluded that severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications,” the family said in a statement. "The Family asks for continued understanding and privacy during this difficult time."

Busch, 41, died on Thursday after a brief illness. On Wednesday, he began suffering a medical emergency at the General Motors Charlotte Technical Center in Concord, North Carolina. An unidentified male at the scene called 911, according to a recording obtained by TMZ, saying Busch was suffering “shortness of breath, very hot, thinks he’s going to pass out and is producing a little bit of blood — coughing up some blood.”

Busch was taken to a Charlotte hospital, per the Associated Press, and on Thursday morning his family and Richard Childress Racing announced he would miss this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 because of an unspecified “severe illness.” At 5:40 p.m. ET on Thursday afternoon, NASCAR announced publicly that Busch had died, shocking the racing community. 

“Our entire NASCAR family is heartbroken by the loss of Kyle Busch,” the Busch family, Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR said in a statement. “A future Hall of Famer, Kyle was a rare talent, one who comes along once in a generation. He was fierce, he was passionate, he was immensely skilled and he cared deeply about the sport and fans. Throughout a career that spanned more than two decades, Kyle set records in national series wins, won championships at NASCAR’s highest level and fostered the next generation of drivers as an owner in the Truck Series. His sharp wit and competitive spirit sparked a deep emotional connection with race fans of every age, creating the proud and loyal ‘Rowdy Nation.’”

Twelve days prior to his death, Busch had complained of sinus issues while racing at Watkins Glen and asked for a doctor to visit him in his hauler after the race. However, he continued to race afterward, even winning a Truck Series race in Dover, Delaware, one week ago. 

The winningest driver in history across all of NASCAR’s three national series, Busch won two Cup series championships and 234 races in his career. A team owner as well as driver, he made his mark on the sport of NASCAR in innumerable ways and had been training son Brexton to follow in his footsteps. Busch was in the midst of his 22nd Cup season, driving for Richard Childress Racing. 

Busch is survived by his wife, Samantha, children Brexton and Lennix, brother Kurt and many other family members.

NASCAR will be running the Coca-Cola 600 as scheduled this weekend. Austin Hill will be driving Busch’s car. 

Kyle Busch was struggling to breathe when a 911 call was made asking for an ambulance to come to the General Motors Charlotte Technical Center in Concord, North Carolina, around 5:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

In a call obtained by TMZ, an unidentified male made the call, telling a 911 operator that Busch had “shortness of breath, very hot, thinks he’s going to pass out and is producing a little bit of blood — coughing up some blood.”

Busch was at the General Motors facility Wednesday testing in a racing simulator when he became ill, according to the Associated Press, which reported that he was taken to a Charlotte hospital.

Thursday morning, Richard Childress Racing, the team Busch drives for, announced that he would miss this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 due to what his team had termed a “severe illness.”

At 5:40 p.m. Thursday, NASCAR announced publicly that Busch had died, shocking the entire racing community. He was 41.

On Saturday, the Busch family announced his cause of death as pneumonia that led to sepsis.

Busch is survived by his wife, Samantha, children Brexton and Lennix, brother Kurt and many other family members.

He was in the midst of his 22nd Cup season, competing just 11 days ago at Watkins Glen, where he finished eighth — his best result of the season. In the middle of that race, Busch complained over his radio of a sinus issue and even requested a doctor be brought to his team bus after the race.

Just six days before his death, Busch won the Truck Series race at Dover, in what would be his last NASCAR points race.

When asked after the victory why the winning moments never get old, Busch responded, “Because you never know when the last one is.”

Busch won 234 races across NASCAR’s top three series, including 63 in the Cup series. He won the Cup series championship in 2015 and 2019. Those 234 victories make him the winningest driver all-time across NASCAR’s top-three series. He’s also the winningest driver in both the O’Reilly (102) and Truck Series (69) divisions.

“Our entire NASCAR family is heartbroken by the loss of Kyle Busch,” the Busch family, Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR said in a statement. “A future Hall of Famer, Kyle was a rare talent, one who comes along once in a generation. He was fierce, he was passionate, he was immensely skilled and he cared deeply about the sport and fans. Throughout a career that spanned more than two decades, Kyle set records in national series wins, won championships at NASCAR’s highest level and fostered the next generation of drivers as an owner in the Truck Series. His sharp wit and competitive spirit sparked a deep emotional connection with race fans of every age, creating the proud and loyal ‘Rowdy Nation.’”

His sudden death shocked the racing world.

“Absolutely cannot comprehend this news,” former teammate Denny Hamlin wrote on X. “We just need to think of his family during this time. We love you KB.”

“There aren’t really words for today,” fellow Cup driver Ricky Stenhouse wrote. “I’ve raced against Kyle for a long time, and anyone who’s lined up next to him knows exactly what made him special, he gave you everything he had, every single lap, and he made all of us better for it.

“… Rest easy, Rowdy. The sport won’t be the same without you.”

Kyle Busch, the winningest driver across NASCAR’s three top series, has died. He was 41 years old. 

Busch, a two-time NASCAR Cup series champion, had withdrawn from this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 race due to what his team had termed a “severe illness.”  On Saturday, the family revealed that the NASCAR legend died of pneumonia leading to sepsis.

"The medical evaluation provided to the Busch Family concluded that severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications,” the family said in a statement. "The Family asks for continued understanding and privacy during this difficult time."

Eleven days ago, during the Cup Series race in Watkins Glen, NY, Busch complained over his radio of a sinus issue and even requested a doctor be brought to his team bus after the race.

On Wednesday, he was testing in a racing simulator in Concord, N.C., when he became unresponsive, according to the Associated Press, which reported that he was taken to a Charlotte hospital.

Busch is survived by his wife, Samantha, children Brexton and Lennix, brother Kurt and many other family members.

Busch won 234 races across NASCAR’s top three series, including 63 in the Cup series. He won the Cup series championship in 2015 and 2019. The 2015 title is particularly memorable. During the O’Reilly Series season opening race at Daytona, Busch suffered a major crash in which he broke both legs. He would miss the first 11 races of the Cup season, then won four races in his return prior to the playoffs, which he qualified for via a waiver. He’d go on to win the final race of the season, giving him his first Cup title.

He was in the midst of his 22nd Cup season, competing just 11 days ago at Watkins Glen, where he finished eighth — his best result of the season. Just six days ago, Busch won the Truck Series race at Dover, in what would be his last NASCAR points race.

When asked after the victory why the winning moments never get old, Busch responded, “Because you never know when the last one is.”

His sudden death shocked the racing world.

“Absolutely cannot comprehend this news,” former teammate Denny Hamlin wrote on X. “We just need to think of his family during this time. We love you KB.”

“There aren’t really words for today,” fellow Cup driver Ricky Stenhouse wrote. “I’ve raced against Kyle for a long time, and anyone who’s lined up next to him knows exactly what made him special, he gave you everything he had, every single lap, and he made all of us better for it.

“… Rest easy, Rowdy. The sport won’t be the same without you.”

Icon Sports Wire via Getty Images

Born in Las Vegas, Kyle and his older brother Kurt began racing as young boys under the tutelage of their father, Tom. Kyle’s skill was evident from the start, and he got his first start in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series at age 16. He won Rookie of the Year at NASCAR’s O’Reilly Series in 2004, when he was just 19, and then at the Cup level in 2005. He set record after record for his age, becoming the youngest driver to win both poles and races at the Cup level. 

He began his Cup career racing for the powerful Hendrick Motorsports, racing alongside teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. He won four Cup races in three full seasons for Hendrick.

“Kyle was one of the most talented drivers I’ve ever seen and a racer in the truest sense of the word,” Rick Hendrick said in a statement Thursday. “He had a fire and competitive spirit that drove him to be great.”

Busch and Hendrick split after the 2007 season, and Busch joined Joe Gibbs Racing, kicking off the winningest run of his career. Driving a distinctive yellow No. 18 Toyota, Busch was a threat at every single track and in every single season for well over a decade. His highly competitive personality made him a polarizing figure both on the track and among fans, but his talent was indisputable, as was his need to race, and he piled up victories in all three NASCAR series. 

In a 12-year stretch with Gibbs, Busch won 52 races at the Cup level and two series titles. But his winning stretched across all three of NASCAR’s elite series. In 2009, he won nine races and the O’Reilly Series title. That same year, he won seven of the 15 races he entered in the Truck Series, establishing himself as one of the most versatile and complete drivers NASCAR has ever seen.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram via Getty Images

Along the way, he earned the nickname “Rowdy,” for his outspoken ways and his sometimes antagonistic relationship he had with fans. After race wins, in the face of a crowd mixed with as many boos as there were cheers, Busch would hop out of his car and bow — reveling in playing the role of the heel.

But over the years, many of those who booed became fans of Busch, who had entered the elder statesman portion of his career, focussing a lot of his attention on the budding racing career of his son Brexton.

Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing split after the 2022 season, and he moved to Richard Childress Racing, where he took over the No. 8 Chevrolet. He won three times in the 2023 season, his final win coming at World Wide Technology at Gateway outside St. Louis in June 2023. His final pole came earlier this year at the Daytona 500.

His 63 Cup Series wins rank ninth all-time. His 234 wins across all three national series ranks first, 34 wins ahead of Richard Petty. The next closest is Kevin Harvick at 121.

Kyle Busch has died at 41 years old, his family announced on Thursday.

On Saturday, the Busch family revealed that the NASCAR legend died of pneumonia leading to sepsis.

"The medical evaluation provided to the Busch Family concluded that severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications,” the family said in a statement. "The Family asks for continued understanding and privacy during this difficult time."

The family released a statement on Thursday saying he would miss this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway because of a severe illness.

“Our entire NASCAR family is heartbroken by the loss of Kyle Busch,” the Busch family, Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR said in a statement. “A future Hall of Famer, Kyle was a rare talent, one who comes along once in a generation. He was fierce, he was passionate, he was immensely skilled and he cared deeply about the sport and fans. Throughout a career that spanned more than two decades, Kyle set records in national series wins, won championships at NASCAR’s highest level and fostered the next generation of drivers as an owner in the Truck Series. His sharp wit and competitive spirit sparked a deep emotional connection with race fans of every age, creating the proud and loyal ‘Rowdy Nation.’”

Busch was also scheduled to take part in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in Concord, North Carolina

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The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion was replaced in the race by Austin Hill.

Busch was set to drive the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, who released a statement wishing the 41-year-old well in his recovery.

The Coca-Cola 600 was to be Busch's first Cup Series race missed since 2015.