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Denny Hamlin

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NASCAR News Today: Another title, Another year for Team Penske with No.22’s Joey Logano back on top to prize off team-mate Ryan Blaney with his 3rd Championship win

by Sports Benches

It’s been another golden championship season of Team Penske Fords ever since when the Next Gen Chassis era began three seasons ago. 

The driver of the day though belongs to Joey Logano who stole the Drivers’ Crown off his No.12 team-mate & last year’s champion Ryan Blaney following a really great battle between those two on a few occasions – including the final stage when 1-2 others may have crashed out – before Joey pulled off the winning move & stayed there just in time to clinch yet another silverware piece for his No.22 team. 

Again, it has to come down to one huge winner as Logano both had the fight and championship-winning experience to lock up for the 3rd time that goes back from 2018 to 2022 & now 2024. 

For Blaney, it’s never a good feeling being 2nd best but hey, he raced really well to defend his crown against his team-mate Logano. At the end of the day, it’s all about great racing that makes Team Penske the most successful Ford Cup team over the last few years, and sure Blaney will back in 12 months time to hopefully hoist his Drivers’ Championship title No.2 at this same Phoenix race track.

William Byron finished 3rd in the No.24 Chevy Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports where he wasn’t quite up to Team Penske’s standards for the ultimate prize when it comes to the consistency including late race restarts. But he had a fantastic season though where he always finishes Top 3, Top 5 as well as a few regular season wins here and there. 

If he can translate with wins into Playoffs time next year, then the best of Byron and the No.24 Hendrick team should be yet to come.

We also still haven’t heard much of Toyota when you compare to Penske and Hendrick when you got Tyler Reddick finishing 6th behind another consistent Top 5 finisher Christopher Bell from Gibbs as the 4th and final Championship 4 contender for the manufacturer’s satellite Cup team at 23XI Racing, with team-mate Bubba Wallace in 7th. It remains to be seen what will happen going into next year since 23XI is having a really tough time alongside Front Row Motorsports at court & unfortunately, it didn’t go their way as per judge ruling before the weekend.

It’s not just 23XI who is walking into unknown territory but one of their co-owners Denny Hamlin would most likely not be donning the FedEx colours anymore  next season & he too finished 11th for his No.11 Gibbs Toyota team after missing the Championship 4 cup for yet another year in season 2024. Whoever comes in to support Denny, let’s hope he can adjust his expectations so he doesn’t end up disappointed next time as he’s still yet to win a Drivers’ Championship at age 43.

I wish he can get a decent enough crew chief who has been there & done that before with winning championships, but all he can do is just win them all at Playoffs time if he can and we might finally see the best of Denny as a driver. If Justin Allgaier can do like he did as a finally first-time Xfinity Series Champion yesterday, then so could Denny no matter what happens. 

In the meantime, if you’re a big Penske fan, particularly for Joey, then today’s your lucky day! No doubt Penske will go on to be the 2020s version of Hendrick Motorsports if they keep on adding more and more championship titles every season as congrats to Joey once again with his 3rd Cup crown all coming from the same place of Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway. 

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NASCAR Race Today: Another late Team Penske Round of 8 win this time by No.12 Ford’s Ryan Blaney at Martinsville ahead of his season-title defense for next weekend

by Sports Benches

Yes, it’s that time of the year when eligible Playoff drivers who haven’t booked their Championship 4 ticket yet usually leave things to the last minute during the last Round of 8 Cup race. However for some when they were fortunate enough to get that golden ticket opportunity, it’s within good reason thanks to Ryan Blaney’s win today in the No.12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske at Martinsville Speedway. 

Now there’s going to be not one but two Team Penske cars alongside a 23XI Toyota (Tyler Reddick) and a Hendrick Chevy (William Byron) on what could be yet another golden Team Penske Championship year for the third straight time ahead of next weekend’s season-finale race at Phoenix Raceway.

You just couldn’t believe the time has come for Team Penske to dominate this three-week semis swing even though we haven’t heard much from them beforehand. But hey, they’ve been there and have done before with huge success and it would no surprise if either the defending champ Ryan Blaney or Joey Logano take home that championship trophy once the 2024 season is done.

First of all, Christopher Bell would’ve easily been the other last two favourites to book into Phoenix – provided if he can provide a good enough finish – as one of the championship front-runners like it was back in 2022 and 2023. But then he made an illegal wall move towards the end there on Byron (the actual Championship 4 contender instead) that got himself DQ’d and NASCAR fined him with a penalty there on the spot post-race. He’ll have to wait till next year now for his next championship opportunity as still plenty to offer in the No.20 Gibbs Toyota at age 30.

Also, feeling sorry there for experienced veteran Denny Hamlin who overcame yesterday’s crash to force his way back up through the field with a spare No.11 Toyota Camry in 6th – the best placed Toyota/Gibbs car today at Martinsville.

Unfortunately, it’s still not quite enough to book in his championship shot yet again for season 2024 when a win was still required that began with the Team Penske’s championship glory back in 2022. Yes, he also could’ve done it last weekend at Homestead if it wasn’t for that poor last restart & also if the last yellow didn’t come out when other eligible Championship 4 contenders already have better Playoff form than him it as seen with the Team Penske duo & even one or the other Toyota team-mates like Bell and his 23XI employee of course in Reddick.

Although there’s lots more to come from Denny as a co-owner for 23XI Racing with Reddick still in the fight, but as a driver, he really needs a big impact all along at Playoffs time next year like winning all these set of races if he wants to finally win the championship so badly.

What else? There’s also some Ford cars in and out of the Top 10 with Brad Keselowski who finished 9th in his co-owned No.6 Ford for RFK Racing as well as Noah Gragson 11th as the highest Stewart-Haas Ford finisher ahead of a few other team-mates down the Top 15 mark for his No.10 crew. And don’t forget New Zealand’s Shane Van Gisbergen in 12th for Kaulig Racing’s No.16 Chevy Cup team. Yes, I know Austin Dillon aka AD finished 7th for the No.3 Childress Chevy but he was there for the wrong reasons unfortunately when it comes to that late race radio drama.

And if I was going to choose a championship winner for next Monday’s season finale for Cup, it’s going to be a touch one for sure. Now based on regular season form then it would be William Byron; if not, going with Logano to get this done for a 3rd Drivers’ Championship.

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Tyler Reddick now step away to race for the NASCAR Cup season title after an unreal final lap pass win for 23XI at Homestead-Miami 

by Sports Benches

The second of the 2024 NASCAR semi-final races at Homestead-Miami saw a brand new & another bit surprising championship contender for the next fortnight’s finale at Phoenix Raceway as there’s only one to go before the “Final Four” line-up is sorted by the end of next Sunday’s Cup race (Monday AM in Australian time) at Martinsville Speedway.

The driver of the day belongs to Tyler Reddick, who was simply outstanding all afternoon including pole position the other day, having initially passed his boss Denny Hamlin on his way to Turn 1 following the last restart yellow and then Ryan Blaney during the last two corners before he managed shut Blaney down on time towards the checkered flag – what a day for Tyler and his No.45 23XI Racing team right there. 

Tough luck for both Blaney (Defending Champion in the No.12 Ford for Penske) and Hamlin (as a No.11 Gibbs Toyota driver) who fell just short in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Yes, good to see Denny in particular finish 3rd as the best Gibbs Toyota car ahead of always Top 5 finisher Christopher Bell in 4th while he was able to stop by to celebrate with his own driver post-race which was lovely to hear. 

However, it seems that Denny will really need a good race car once more to get out of this must win situation or else he will have it miss out yet again come Martinsville. Don’t have much confidence on him to pull off unfortunately unless all other five Playoff contenders drop out via luck such as a mechanical failure or a crash & Denny gets his way – remember he hasn’t won anything much for a while unlike the regular season leg including the past few Playoff race editions & also this “Paper Clip” short track record that goes way back to 2010 (15 years ago).

If I was going to choose the last two drivers to close off the last semi-final race, then it would be Bell who always does well in the Top 3-5 regardless of this next result & although that last pick looks like to be a very tough one, but maybe Kyle Larson in the 5 Hendrick Chevy will do it with the win as long as he doesn’t crash next weekend.

For now, go celebrate your drivers’ win Denny as Tyler is such a huge talent – who has won 2 x Xfinity Championships in the past – and sure he can make Championship 4 something special should he be the first driver to win one at Phoenix.

Who else other than a strong Top 3-4 Toyota afternoon at Homestead-Miami? There’s AJ Allmendinger in 8th for Kaulig’s 16 Chevy team (racing part-time there for now) and so does the new Rookie of the Year Carson Hocevar who finished 9th also in a Chevy for Spire’s 77 squad. 

And a few Stewart-Haas Racing Fords also filled in & out of the Top 10 when it comes to the next three spots like Ryan Preece (10th – No.41), Josh Berry (11th – No.4) & Chase Briscoe (12th – No.14). Yes, they may not have much time left as SHR are already out of any chances of a season title since Kevin Harvick last won it 10 years ago (2014) but a good Top 10-15 finish is at least a positive thing to hear if you closely follow SHR.

We’re going to miss them dearly at season’s end with Haas set to continue running on his own albeit on a smaller scale and Tony Stewart spending more time with his wife via their drag racing business in the NHRA together.

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NASCAR Race Results: Joey Logano bounces back from a lifeline thanks to Alex Bowman’s DQ to being in the running towards another Championship fight after his win at Las Vegas

by Sports Benches


Today’s NASCAR Cup race that began the first of the three semi-finals ended up with a huge twist on the road to Championship 4 Finale at Phoenix for next month & gotta say congrats to Joey Logano on becoming the first eligible Playoffs driver to book in that season-finale spot for the No.22 Penske Ford team following his unreal late move on Daniel Suarez to take home the race win with 6 laps left from Las Vegas. 

So gutted for Suarez there after leading the race for so long under green until a late yellow came out after Ty Gibbs spun out that late and he just couldn’t stop Logano& later Christopher Bell in his tracks before the race was over. But again not a bad result though to finish third for Trackhouse’s No.99 team (Chevy) just one week after being eliminated from the Round of 12 Playoffs as let’s hope we can see more of him in a bid to compete in the semi-finals for the first time late next year.

Meanwhile, Seven days ago Joey Logano thought he was out of the Playoffs running after the Charlotte Roval race but then a shock DQ from Alex Bowman in the No.48 Hendrick Chevy gave him a lifeline to keep his Championship hopes alive over Bowman’s ride height/underweight car failure. Now he’s in for a shot towards a possible 3rd Drivers’ Championship crown since his last triumph back in 2022, having first won it when Homestead-Miami had its last moments as a season-finale venue back in 2018.

Who knows? He could even make Roger Penske & the Blue Oval (Ford) something more legendary with yet another Cup crown for a three peat in season 2024 where Ryan Blaney (No.12 team) became a first time champion nearly a year ago.

1 down, 2 more races to go with Homestead in Miami around the cotner as there’s 3 more Championship 4 slots still left to fill – so all hope is not lost just yet.

You just couldn’t believe it can you? when there’s several drivers going out of control with spins and hits along the way including Tyler Reddick in the No.45 Toyota Camry for 23XI Racing while there’s another lot out there who managed to bounce back with redemption. It’s a shame that Tyler’s race unfortunately ended early when he tried to go around Chase Elliott on the outside line but then he was collected towards the front stretch that went airborne. He is now sitting below the Playoff cut-off line (6th) having always been inside the Top 4 prior to today thanks to this regular-season championship win from early last month.

Semi-Finals Playoff watch 

What else? Christopher Bell always a consistent front runner following his 2nd placed finish for the No.20 Toyota for Gibbs, he would love nothing more than a win though as he wants to treat every other race now as a Championship 4 finale. So does William Byron who is also on the same front running boat as Bell over in the No.24 Hendrick car for Chevy when he finished 4th but again, a win though would help him go to that next level which would hopefully be a season-ending win & also the championship title.

Even though Denny Hamlin finished not  bad in 8th in the other Gibbs Toyota for the No.11 team, he still needs a Top 3 finish upfront or even a win would do it if he wants to finally win his first championship title as a driver this year. 

He’s only 27 points behind the Playoffs bubble in 5th spot, so all eyes on Denny now if he can get that job done by usurping Bell as the best Gibbs driver – right now he’s sitting as 2nd best.

All other shoutouts

And finally here’s some more shoutouts where a few other drivers had a really good day off the back through their survival of the fittest by steering clear of yellows. It’s been a while from John Hunter Nemechek in the No.42 Toyota for Legacy Motor Club since New Hampshire back in July (8th) with a 9th-placed finish – still a long way to go before LMC can finally fulfil their full potential based on the recent personnel changes they’ve made by co-owner and 7 x Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

Plus, there’s a few other Fords marking in between the Top 10-15 finishing spots on top of Logano’s unreal day for Team Penske. Chris Buescher finished 10th for the No.17 RFK Racing team, Corey LaJoie posting yet another Top 15 result once again in 14th just one month after that swap deal with Justin Haley (who moved the other direction to his former long-time No.7 Spire home) & he does not disappoint so far in the No.51 for Rick Ware Racing, and Harrison Burton steered the iconic No.21 Mustang home through the every end in 15th for Wood Brothers Racing.

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NASCAR Race Results: Kyle Larson still the one & only Playoff eligible driver who has won a race so far following his great day out at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval Course

by Sports Benches

The last Playoffs driver who won a race during the Playoffs was Kyle Larson at Bristol Motor Speedway a few weeks ago to close out the opening Round of 16 & he’s closing out the 2nd Round of 12 with a win once again at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval course for Hendrick Motorsports and his No.5 Chevy team.

He gave a huge credit to the early yellows whose long runs have been top-notch that helped him gained track position up front, especially when “Yung Money” pulled off well clear of AJ Allmendinger in the No.13 Chevy from Kaulig Racing for the lead not long after that Lap 60 restart — and he was just simply unstoppable ever since. 

Looks like he’s saving the best for last as Kyle Larson is sure wanting to be there first all the way by the time the NASCAR season ends in early November as a possible two-time drivers’ champion at Phoenix Raceway in Arizona.

Post-Race Shoutouts

Who else has done well today other than Kyle Larson? No.20’s Christopher Bell back up front in 2nd for Joe Gibbs Racing’s Toyota works organisation & so does fellow Hendrick driver (No.24) William Byron who finished 3rd as both drivers also coming off strong recent results when it comes to the Top 5/7 – keep an eye on them over the next three weeks of semis.

How about Kaulig Racing’s two road course ringers and also full-time Xfinity Series drivers both AJ Allmendinger and Supercars champion & Bathurst 1000 winner Shane Van Gisbergen? AJ finished 6th in the No.16 ahead of his team-mate in 7th when things could’ve been better if it wasn’t for these early yellows but at least both cars were running well all afternoon to put both cars into the Top 10.

And don’t forget the 23XI satellite Toyota team is still in the running when it comes to the championship & so does co-owner Denny Hamlin over in the No.11 Gibbs machinery (who finished 14th today), although he’s currently sitting 6th (-8 off the Playoffs bubble) where Denny needs to win either of the next semi-final races/post consistent Top 3 finishes or he will sadly miss out yet again for season 2024. 

23XI’s man of the hour you’re looking right now at is the No.45 of Tyler Reddick, who currently sits 3rd in Playoff drivers’ points, thanks to his regular season championship title from a while ago at Darlington. He finished 11th following a series of late-race passes which is two spots behind team-mate the No.23’s Bubba Wallace in 9th as Tyler may not had a Top 5 since his last Cup win Michigan. But as long as he keeps up in the Top 10 with all those stage points he picked up right now, he’ll be alright to see out his first Championship 4 at Cup level – having won back-to-back Xfinity Series Championships at this same Phoenix race track back in 2018-19.

Now we will leave the Queen City to rolling the dices at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which is going to be the next NASCAR Cup race (Race 33 of 36) and also the 1st of the 3 x Round of 8 events as they’ll be back next Monday at 5.30am AEDT.

Round of 12 now becomes Round of 8 on the road towards the Championship 4 Finale next month

And last but not least, we will bid farewell to the next last bottom four drivers who are now no longer eligible for the championship following the end of the Second Round of 12 races today.

We’ll start with Alex Bowman who originally finished 18th which was supposedly enough to make it into the semi-finals that could’ve seen Logano eliminated. But unfortunately he got caught up post-inspection for the wrong reasons to his No.48 Chevy & got DQ’d along the way, which ultimately ended his championship hopes in such tragic circumstances – such a bummer for Alex and his No.48 Hendrick racing team.

Then there’s Daniel Suarez when he didn’t see much of him since his 2nd placed finish at the 2nd Atlanta Cup race early last month as he’s hoping to bounce back even better following another good season in the No.99 Chevy for Team Trackhouse.

We also cannot forget the unsung talents of Chase Briscoe in the No.14 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing having not scored a Top 10 since the last Round of 16 race at Bristol (8th), but he is someone who is tipped for maximum success when he will be replacing the retirement-bound Martin Truex Jr. next season at Joe Gibbs Racing’s No.19 Team. 

A big loss for Haas turns out to be a big gain by driving such a competitive car at a championship-winning team like Gibbs that can hopefully help Chase run upfront more regularly & in turn win more races as well as season-ending silverware.

And so does Austin Cindric in the No.2 Ford for Team Penske. He might not have chased down Kyle Larson on time to get out a must win situation down in 4th while he hasn’t made much Top 5 finishes since his last win at Gateway back in early June but sure there’s a lot more to come as Austin is capable of posting some good if not excellent results as long as that fast race car can come good for him – that’s all what’s best about him who won the Daytona 500 race in his rookie Cup year two years ago.

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NASCAR Race Results: Another non-Playoffs winner strikes again with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gifting JTG yet another restrictor-plates win since last year’s Daytona 500 win at the Dega

by Sports Benches

What a finish & what a day it has been at Talladega by another new non-Playoffs winner. This time it’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the No.47 Chevy Camaro after he gifted JTG Daugherty Racing yet another restrictor-plate event win since his Daytona 500 moment last year. Although it would’ve been any great if this was another regular season race, but at least Ricky & JTG has something to celebrate and he’s here for more – having renewed his multi-year contract earlier this season. 

He had a brilliant start from 32nd to 2nd earlier on thanks to an early yellow. Now he may be been running mid-pack for a while, particularly during Stage 2 before that last-lap mini-drama changed everything. But as said, steering clear of yellows alongside some good adjustments were key to dominating this race & he’s done all of that to get what he and the No.47 Team wanted with the win. 

Ah, so sorry for RFK Racing’s co-boss man Brad Keselowski (in the No.6 Ford Mustang) who fell so short by 0.006 seconds to Roush’s former long-time employee in Stenhouse. Another last restart would’ve been any better when he couldn’t get much help on the inside line & Stenhouse got the upper hand on the outside. But at least, there’s some positives to take out for 2nd as this is what restrictor-plate racing was all about when it’s so unpredictable full of “The Big Ones”.

What else? It’s been a while from Erik Jones in the famous No.43 Toyota Camry for Legacy Motor Club since this year’s Daytona 500 (8th) & he came off a really good afternoon as the best Toyota placed driver today in 5th behind the two Hendrick Motorsports Chevy cars of Kyle Larson (4th) and William Byron (3rd). 

So does Justin Haley in the No.7 Chevy for Spire Motorsports who finished 7th with more to come after his second race back from Rick Ware Racing. Then there’s Austin Dillon in 8th at Richard Childress Racing. Good to see him finish off nice and clean following that Richmond win a while ago & he didn’t make the Playoffs when he wrecked Denny Hamiln at the finish line. 

Speaking of Hamlin today, he came out not bad in 10th behind his 23XI employee Bubba Wallace (9th) when he was running up and down for some time & avoiding these yellows saved the day for him. But again, he’s currently in a comfortable middle ground at 4th in Playoffs points with one Round of 12 race left this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval course. All he has to do is keep running Top 5-7 including a win in any three semi-final races if that helps and Denny is sure that a championship can finally come his way when the season finale reaches Phoenix early next month.

And if that’s not enough, how about we give a round of applause to Rick Ware Racing with both Ford cars in the Top 20 – Cody Ware in 12th for the No.15 & Corey LaJoie 18th in the No.51. Plus, don’t forget NZer Shane Van Gisbergen who finished 15th in the shared No.16 Chevy for Kaulig Racing – his current Xfinity Series home. 

Looks like SVG is so getting used to this sport ahead of his full-time Cup ride next year at Trackhouse other than his usual road course expertise where he’s getting the benefit of the doubt if he wins any of regular road course races there & a Playoffs spot immediately hands over to him. More to come also as he continues to keep on learning with merit every week.

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NASCAR News Today: Kyle Larson unstoppable in the No.5 Chevy Camaro that wraps up a dominant night for Hendrick Motorsports at Bristol Motor Speedway

by Sports Benches

One word to describe Kyle Larson’s night at Bristol – tremendous. The same will say for Hendrick Motorsports too after a dominant 500 laps of racing for this multi-championship winning organisation with No.9’s Chase Elliott finishing in 2nd when Alex Bowman led the race field from pole but it was Larson who took over and went on to keep the lead with safe hands by sweeping all three stage wins in the No.5 Chevy Camaro. Love the celebration he just had with his son Owen while Owen ran around with the checkered glad when dad Kyle was interviewed by NBC Sports’s Marty Snider in front of the grandstand.

He and the No.5 Hendrick team still has unfinished business ahead for their 2nd championship hunt since his 2021 triumph with the Round of 12 now set to begin at Kansas Speedway next weekend (3pm ET Sunday afternoon/5am Monday AM here). 

Other than Kyle, looks like we will have to say goodbye unfortunately to the bottom four Playoff drivers as neither of them couldn’t get away with a must-win situation (or a Top 5 finish via luck). We begin with Ty Gibbs following an inconsistent 1st Playoffs round results down the middle of the race field (15th – No.54 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing), so does team-mate Martin Truex Jr. due to an untimely pit road speeding penalty from 2nd to 24th (19th Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing), Brad Keselowski (26th – No.6 Ford for RFK Racing) & Harrison Burton (35th in the No.21 for Wood Brothers Racing over a steering issue).

As said, any four of them can win the remaining few races of this year (see Chris Buescher’s win last weekend at Watkins Glen in the No.17 Ford for RFK Racing despite missing the initial Top 16 cut) but doesn’t mean they can all get back into Playoffs contention now that the first Round of 16 is over. After Kansas, we will have Talladega once again on the high banks oval in Alabama before the second Round of 12 Playoffs will finish on the roval (both left/right turns) at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

What else? Great to see Bubba Wallace in 3rd ahead of his boss Denny Hamlin (No.11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing) following a busy last few days like his contract extension at 23XI Racing. He too had a great night all inside the Top 10  thanks to his functioning No.23 Toyota Camry machinery From 11th to 10th in Stage 1 followed by 6th in Stage 2 & 3rd overall. Yes, he may have missed the Playoffs this year (19th) but there’s a lot more to come from Bubba at Denny & Michael Jordan’s co-owned race team.

Speaking of Denny, he’s relieved to stay alive in the Playoffs race ahead of the next round in Kansas. Sure, he may not been able to quite close in on Larson when it comes to the race lead. However, he knows what it takes to bring these fast race cars home where Denny has been there and done that before with a couple of semi-final and Championship 4 Finishes under his belt. He still really wants to finally win his first championship so bad as a driver and let’s hope he can stay upfront all day long where he’s currently 6th in Playoff Points, so he doesn’t fall short outside the semi-finals like it was over the last two years. 

Meanwhile, Christopher Bell doesn’t disappoint in 5th (No.20 Toyota for Gibbs) as he’s sitting comfortably in 2nd on drivers’ points. Plus, the No.41’s Ryan Preece posts another Top 10 finish in 8th behind team-mate Chase Briscoe in the No.14 for Stewart Haas Racing (Ford), who continues to prove his talent whenever he can possible. And even though someone may have finished well against the rest when being a lap down, Michael McDowell steered his No.34 Ford home in 11th for Front Row Motorsports following his 7th-placed run last week (in his specialist road course ringer discipline) at Watkins Glen.

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NASCAR Race Review: Tyler Reddick guides 23XI Racing home with his and the team’s 2nd win of 2024 at Michigan

by Sports Benches

The 2024 FireKeepers Casino 400 was finally over early on Monday morning due to rain that begins with a Denny Hamlin group battle between his own No.11 Joe Gibbs car and his 23XI employee of Bubba Wallace before he spun himself out off Turn 4 as the race had to be pushed back to Monday. Then we saw a William Byron & Kyle Busch Chevy dominance up front for the most part but at the end of the day, glad there’s a Toyota win to celebrate thanks to Denny’s other 23XI employee Tyler Reddick over in the No.45 team.

Huge day from 23XI once again with Reddick having a super day where he thanks these 2nd half cautions en route to his 2nd win of 2024 since the Spring Talladega race back in late April.

The tables will now turn now on Denny to hopefully get back into victory lane himself as a racer soon enough this weekend at Daytona, having caught back lots of time well to finish 9th. Meanwhile, Chevy weren’t bad with Byron 2nd (Hendrick), Kyle Busch 4th (Childress) & Daniel Suarez 8th (Trackhouse). Also good seeing two Spire cars in the Top 10 such as Zane Smith (7th) & Carson Hocevar once again from another stellar Top 10 run last week in Richmond (10th).

And shoutout to RFK Racing Ford who had an excellent day with co-owner Brad Keselowski 5th in his hometown event ahead team-mate Chris Buescher in 6th.

Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona here we come under the lights this weekend with two regular races to go before Playoffs.

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NASCAR News Today: Thoughts on Austin Dillon stripped of his Playoffs eligibility despite keeping his controversial win from the Cook Out 400 weekend in Richmond 

by Sports Benches

So there we have it, after a long few days out from that Richmond race finish controversy, Austin Dillon of the No.3 Chevy Camaro for Richard Childress Racing – who intentionally wrecked both Team Penske Ford’s Joey Logano and then Joey Gibbs Racing Toyota’s Denny Hamlin following the final two turns for the race win – can keep his win but his Playoffs berth though will not count as a result of this investigation by NASCAR. 

RCR on the other hand is still furious about this decision with the plans of an appeal over the next coming days – good luck with that! But what RCR and No.3 of AD needs to do now is not make up any more shortcuts in order to cleanly win races next time with only three regular rounds to go. Should he win either one of the last three regular races, he will enter the post-season Playoffs with zero Playoff points meaning he will have to also win another Round of 16 races to keep his hopes alive.

Gotta say it’s being well said at last as this should’ve been taken action immediately after the race unlike post-race inspections with race cars. You can defend AD and RCR all you like when the No.3 crew would like him to spin and win that race and he did that to make this happen but then this shouldn’t be acceptable in the world of Motorsport at all including NASCAR, so again AD needs to now learn that lesson & not upset everyone in anyway like he did to both drivers at the overtime white flag.

Another party that is worth consider appealing is Joey Logano who verbally unleashed into AD post-race for intentionally spinning him out into the wall that ultimately cost Joey his race win where he finished down in 19th rather than a front row finish as hoped for the Blue Oval. He received a fine of $50,000 USD by NASCAR for his mis-conduct and it’s not fair on him to walk away empty handed that isn’t his own fault other than being so frustrated to see someone who wrecked him celebrate in victory lane at the same time. Maybe NASCAR should take away the penalty fee off Joey and not let RCR give a free pass appeal anymore after all this chaos that took them so long. 

Enough said and we move onto the next Cup race this weekend for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway & this 3rd last regular season race is expected to be Rick Allen’s last as NBC’s NASCAR lead commentator, with Aussie Leigh Diffey to take over from next weekend’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 night race at Daytona International Speedway.

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NASCAR Race News from the weekend: Austin Dillon spins his way with the Cook Out 400 race win at Richmond Raceway in the No.3 Chevy for Richard Childress Racing

by Sports Benches

It may have been a dominant Toyota front row fest for the most part other than the Daniel Suarez Stage 2 win in the Trackhouse Chevy but look who’s back in victory lane? It’s Austin Dillon in the No.3 Chevy Camaro with the win for Richard Childress Racing following his race-winning bump past Turn 4 on both Team Penske’s Joey Logano & Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin towards the checkered flag on overtime when Ryan Preece spun out that led to a caution with two to go.

Now for some NASCAR fans, particularly for those who go for Logano & even Hamlin, this last lap restart on the run home was both good and bad. Well, the sport could’ve looked at this one a lot deeper other than post-race inspections but that’s stock car racing unfortunately unlike most other racing series we see on-track. First of all, good to see AD back in victory lane for the first time since the summer 2022 Daytona race with the same previous crew chief of Justin Alexander, who has been in and out of the No.3 pit box as time goes by until sometime earlier this year. Yet, he’s back for the third time now of asking to help turn his form around once again and yes it did work outwell with another lucky charm for him and Justin together like it was a few times before as AD wouldn’t be there to celebrate today or these past victories if it wasn’t for his best crew chief.

Gotta say that 2nd half performance after the first two stages within the Top 6-7 worked well in AD’s favour off the back of these important pit road adjustments beforehand that helped him make a brilliant charge on the front row. He rolled off the line from 6th aftern an excellent run in qualifying, having never looked out of place with a fast race car on his hands while he remained patient while others drop out all along to get what what he wants. RCR hasn’t been bad when it comes to submitting at least one of their cars over the last few years at Playoffs time & if Kyle Busch can at least win the last few regular season races for the other No.8 car, then no doubt they would be a decent threat up front to the other 3/4 car big teams.

Looking at the Toyotas, you gotta feel for them when these cars fired off really well with some promising signs across the first two stages. Then they had some of the problems happening when it comes to the long last stage with Martin Truex Jr. forced to pull due to mechanical issues while some lacked inconsistency on the long runs like Christopher Bell other than a good Denny day except his last lap overtime drama where he finished 2nd. Seeing four Toyota cars in the Top 6 ain’t bad though with Denny’s co-owned 23XI Racing team also having a great field day in 3rd & 4th thanks to the No.45 of Tyler Reddick & No.23 of Bubba Wallace as Toyota needs to continue making that firepower right going into the next Cup round at Michigan.

Meanwhile, the Ford cars also didn’t have a great day either when Joey Logano was unluckily spun out whilst trying to win with fellow Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney being the best driver there just outside the Top 10 in 11th & the rest of these drivers languishing towards the back end of the finish line. And last but not least, shoutout to Carson Hocevar, who finished 8th in the No.77 Chevy for Spire Motorsports. Now he might not have cracked these Top 5 finishes just yet since he went straight from Trucks but a few Top 10 finishes though ain’t bad and he’s even leading the Rookie standings by a small margin.

Three more regular rounds to go with Michigan, Daytona and Darlington to come as good to see NASCAR back following a long two-week Olympics break and we’re almost there to make up the last 16 drivers that will be competing in the 10 week Playoffs campaign for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship trophy starting early next month at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

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