Tyler Reddick Unlucky at Iowa, but Still a Relative Non-Factor Before That

Tyler Reddick had a relatively mediocre run by his standards last night at Iowa, which doesn't come as much of a surprise since the Toyotas were slow in the race, not to mention that short tracks tend to be arguably Reddick's weakest track type. Reddick was unlucky as he got trapped a lap down when […]

Kyle Larson Made Electrifying Charge Through Field at Iowa Until Late Race Crash

Kyle Larson had another electrifying drive in yesterday's inaugural Iowa Corn 350 until being caught up in a crash when Daniel Suárez spun him into Denny Hamlin. Larson won his fourth pole of the season and although eventual winner, Ryan Blaney, passed him a couple of times, Larson still had a 4-2 lead change record […]

Denny Hamlin Inexplicably Slow in Inaugural Iowa Race

Denny Hamlin shockingly had one of his worst runs in years in last night's Iowa race. Although he qualified 12th and was a pre-race favorite because he usually adapts well to rough track conditions and abrasive surfaces, as he did at Bristol, Hamlin rapidly fell through the pack and was surprisingly lapped multiple times on […]

Christopher Bell the Sole Bright Spot for Toyota at Iowa

In a race where Toyota badly struggled, Christopher Bell was the only bright spot for the manufacturer in last night's Iowa race. Bell rallied to a fourth-place finish while all three of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates spent most of the race outside the top 15. He got trapped a lap down when he pitted […]

Ryan Preece Unlikely to Get Out of Slump at Iowa

Ryan Preece has had a miserable 2024 season to date and it seems likely that his future in the NASCAR Cup Series is in doubt since Stewart-Haas Racing is shutting down and Preece has been kept out of SHR's setup notes sessions this year. That could mean that Preece will be unusually motivated to prove […]

Brad Keselowski a Pre-Race Favorite at Iowa

Brad Keselowski qualified fifth for tonight's Iowa Corn 350 and enters as one of the prerace favorites. Although you can't really predict this race based on past results since the track was resurfaced, Keselowski has proven to be a master of the track in the Xfinity Series with three wins and 332 laps led and […]

Austin Dillon's Lack of 2024 Speed Likely More Predictive than His Iowa Success

Austin Dillon has had a marginal uptick in performance since his stalwart crew chief, Justin Alexander, returned, but he's still having one of his worst seasons and is the fifth-slowest driver in the NASCAR Cup Series this year with a speed percentile of 27.56. This weekend at Iowa, he qualified dead last for Sunday night's […]

Austin Cindric Mediocre at Iowa Even Outside of the Cup Series

Despite Austin Cindric's surprise win at Gateway two weeks ago, it seems unlikely that he will be a significant contender in tonight's race at Iowa Speedway. Although Cindric has more experience than many other drivers at Iowa, he has never finished better than 10th in the Xfinity Series or eighth in the Craftsman Truck Series. […]

Harrison Burton's Lack of Short Track Speed Likely Dooms Him at Iowa

Harrison Burton qualified 25th for this evening's inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa. He started one Iowa race for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series and finished fourth, but was no match for his teammate, Christopher Bell, who won that race. Despite that performance and two top fives in the Craftsman Truck Series, […]

Josh Berry Could Break Out at Iowa

Josh Berry had the second-best qualifying run of his career at Iowa Speedway thyis weekend and will be starting third for the Iowa Corn 350. Although he had not started a race at Iowa since 2016, he still has less of an advantage than he usually does as a rookie driver because most of the […]

Ross Chastain Earns First Top Five Since Las Vegas, but Not Without Controversy

After a string of mediocre runs due to curiously slow cars, Ross Chastain returned to form and finished fifth at Sonoma, scoring his best career finish at the track and his first top-five since Las Vegas. Chastain was consistently fast, particularly at the end of Stage 2 when he passed Tyler Reddick, and he was […]

AJ Allmendinger Had a Quiet but Very Strong Run at Sonoma

AJ Allmendinger finished sixth in yesterday's race at Sonoma, matching his best finish at the track from last year and also matching the Daytona 500 and COTA for his best finishes this year. However, his performance yesterday was stronger than any of those other races, as he scored a driver rating of 108.3, his highest […]

Cam Waters Caught Up In Multi-Car Pile-Up In NASCAR Cup Series Debut

Cam Waters made his NASCAR Cup Series debut on Sunday at Sonoma. Although he was fresh off of winning the last Supercars race at Wanneroo Raceway last month and he also made a few starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this year (which gave him a bit more experience than his fellow Supercars debutant […]

Michael McDowell Recovers To Second At Sonoma After Off-Track Excursion

Michael McDowell made a surprise charge to finish second on Sunday, giving him his best finish both at Sonoma and this year. His finish was improbable, as he was caught up in a crash in the grass with Austin Cindric and Noah Gragson, but McDowell's strategy was on point, while many other contenders made their […]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Noah Gragson Faster Than Expected Despite Minimal Sonoma Experience

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

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

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

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

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

Sonoma Has Been One of Josh Berry's Worst Tracks

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

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

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

Michael McDowell Strong In Qualifying Before Fading At Gateway

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

Kyle Busch Fast Before Mid-Race Crash At Gateway

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

Christopher Bell Dominates For Second Straight Week Until Engine Goes Sour

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

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

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

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

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