Jake Finch has never raced in the Xfinity Series before, but he’s about to get behind the wheel of one of NASCAR’s hottest cars. The 20-year-old ARCA driver will pilot Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 17 Chevrolet at Dover International Speedway, stepping into a ride that has already won twice in 2025 with prominent Cup Series drivers.

Can Jake Finch Handle the Pressure of the No. 17 Car?

Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) has ramped up its Xfinity Series activity in 2025. The No. 17 car made only 10 starts in NASCAR’s second-tier series in 2024, but 19 races into this season, that number has already climbed to 11. Another race start is scheduled for the upcoming Dover International Speedway race.

After all the team’s Cup drivers have already piloted the No. 17 car this season, Mr. H has handed the keys to a debutant this time. The car has been a beast on the track so far, with Kyle Larson, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, and Corey Day running it. Out of the 11 races, the car has visited victory lane twice: First with Larson at Bristol Motor Speedway and then with Byron at Charlotte. Beyond those wins, the car finished seven times in the top five, with three runner-up finishes.

You can imagine the pressure that its newest pilot faces, especially when he’s never even set foot in the Xfinity Series before. Part-time ARCA Menards series driver Finch will be taking on the car at the “Monster Mile.” HMS even released a teaser video on X, with the caption: “Next up in the No. 17! @jamessfinch will drive the No. 17 @HendrickCarsChevy at the @MonsterMile.”

Next up in the No. 17! @jamessfinch will drive the No. 17 @HendrickCars Chevy at the @MonsterMile. pic.twitter.com/g8SNtsqcsq

— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) July 14, 2025

Why Did Hendrick Motorsports Choose Dover for Finch’s Debut?

Finch making an Xfinity start was already known in the NASCAR community, thanks to Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealing it earlier in his podcast. However, few would have guessed that HMS would put him at Dover. The Dover track is called the Monster Mile for a reason. The track’s high banking challenges the most seasoned veterans, let alone a rookie.

Despite the challenge, the 20-year-old has shown promise in the ARCA series. He has made 18 race starts so far. As Sports Illustrated reported, Finch has accumulated two wins, 11 top-five finishes, and 28 top-10s in his ARCA career. Additionally, he is currently running for Venturini Motorsports. He already has three starts to his name this season. His best finish was a seventh-place run at Talladega.

Finch has been good at Talladega, where he even won in 2024. But the reason why HMS picked Dover for Finch was that he won there in 2023. Clearly, Finch has the talent. However, the race won’t be easy. Xfinity Series regulars will be pushing extra hard as the regular season will soon come to a close. Those who haven’t already secured a win would be desperate to get a victory and a playoff spot.

Still, Finch has some of that No. 17 car’s form on his side. After all, he isn’t the only debutant to run the car this year. Before him, Day drove it for four races and had decent runs. His best was an 11th-place finish at Nashville.

There is a chance that Finch could pull off something extraordinary at Dover, too. Only time will tell how he fares in the race.

SONOMA, Calif. — Ty Gibbs continued to shine on road courses with “nothing wrong” in a seventh-place finish Sunday at Sonoma Raceway.

“Nothing wrong” was the ruling from NASCAR after drama unfolded on pit road between Gibbs’ No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing team and Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 RFK Racing team.

While coming into his pit box, Gibbs drove through Keselowski’s box where his crew prepared for a pit stop. Keselowski’s tire carrier, Telvin McClurkin, claimed Gibbs clipped his hand and twisted his wrist. After finishing the pit stop, McClurkin had a shoving match with Gibbs’ crew to express his displeasure.

RFK Racing posted video on social media showing the incident.

NASCAR ruled Gibbs did “nothing wrong,” according to the TNT broadcast, absolving of any penalties. In fact, NASCAR reportedly ruled Keselowski’s team should’ve given Gibbs more room to pull his car into his pit box.

All that to say, Gibbs and Keselowski had speed Sunday. While they didn’t have the pace to compete with Shane Van Gisbergen, both teams are headed in the right direction.

For Gibbs, he had another solid points day. He earned 32 points from finishing ninth in stage one and seventh in the race.

Still, leaving Sonoma at 60 points below the NASCAR Cup Series playoff cutline, a win may be what gets Gibbs into the playoffs. Luckily, the No. 54 team is improving as the season goes on.

In the 14 races before Michigan, Gibbs had only three top-15 finishes. In the six races since Michigan, Gibbs hasn’t finished outside of the top-15 and has picked up three top-10 finishes. Although he didn’t finish inside of the top-10 in Mexico City and EchoPark Speedway Atlanta, he led the second- and third-most laps in those races – leading 27 laps in Mexico City and 32 laps at EchoPark.

The next race for the NASCAR Cup Series is the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400, Sunday, July 20, at Dover Motor Speedway. In 2024, Gibbs finished 10th while teammate Denny Hamlin took home the checkered flag.

Gibbs is within striking distance of the playoff cutline but may need his teammate’s fortune to stave off another new winner knocking him down in points.

• Tyler Reddick: 615 points (+149 points to the cutline)
• Chris Buescher: 500 (+34)
• Alex Bowman: 498 (+32)
• Bubba Wallace: 469 (+3)
• Ryan Preece: 466 (-3)
• Kyle Busch: 432 (-37)
• A.J. Allmendinger: 419 (-50)
• Ty Gibbs: 409 (-60)
• Erik Jones: 401 (-68)
• Michael McDowell: 399 (-70)

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are locked in a lengthy legal battle over the charter system, which is the equivalent of the franchise model in other sports. 23XI, owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row, owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, last September rejected NASCAR’s final proposal on extensions and instead filed an antitrust suit.

The two race teams suing NASCAR over antitrust allegations filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction Monday to be recognized as chartered organizations for the remainder of 2025.

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are locked in a lengthy legal battle over the charter system, which is the equivalent of the franchise model in other sports. 23XI, owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row, owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, last September rejected NASCAR’s final proposal on extensions and instead filed an antitrust suit.

The case is winding its way through the court system but now with urgency: the teams were set to lose their charters Wednesday and in the latest filing, they allege NASCAR has indicated it will immediately begin the process of selling the six tags that guarantee entry into every race as well as monetary rewards and other benefits.

After the filing NASCAR was ordered to respond by 5 p.m. Wednesday — which means there would be no ruling on if the charters will be revoked likely until Thursday, at the earliest.

“Today we filed a motion in the district court for a renewed preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order to protect the teams’ ability to race chartered for the remainder of the 2025 Cup Series season and prevent irreparable business harm to 23XI and Front Row Motorsports until we can present our case at trial in December,” said Jeffery Kessler, attorney for the teams.

“New information surfaced through the discovery process that overwhelmingly supports our position that a preliminary injunction is legally warranted and necessary. The teams’ love of stock car racing and belief in a better future for the sport for all parties – teams, drivers, employees, sponsors, and fans – continues to motivate their efforts to pursue this antitrust case.”

There were large portions of the filing redacted because the arguments are based on information learned through discovery, making it confidential, for now. But, the urgency is likely tied to NASCAR indicating it plans to immediately begin selling the charters if they are revoked.

Should the teams have their six combined charters revoked, the drivers would have to qualify on speed to make each week’s race and would receive a smaller percentage of the purse. They may also have to refund money paid out through the first 20 races of the year.

NASCAR accused 23XI and Front Row of filing “a third motion for another unnecessary and inappropriate preliminary injunction” and noted it has made multiple requests to the teams “to present a proposal to resolve this litigation.”

“We have yet to receive a proposal from 23XI or Front Row, as they have instead preferred to continue their damaging and distracting lawsuit,” NASCAR said in a statement. “We will defend NASCAR’s integrity from this baseless lawsuit forced upon the sport that threatens to divide the stakeholders committed to serving race fans everywhere.

“We remain focused on collaborating with the 13 race teams that signed the 2025 charter agreements and share our mutual goal of delivering the best racing in the world each week, including this weekend in Dover.”

Also on Monday, Rick Ware Racing and Legacy Motor Club had a short virtual hearing in a North Carolina court over their fight for a charter.

Legacy, owned by seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, contends it had an agreement with RWR to lease one of its two charters in 2026. RWR contends the agreement was for 2027 and it already has a contract with RFK Racing to lease that team a charter next season.

Legacy on Monday asked for and was granted the right to depose RWR over the recent revelation that T.J. Puchyr, one of the founders of Spire Motorsports, plans to purchase the race team. Legacy contends if Ware is selling the team, then one of the charters should be transferred to its organization.

Legacy also argued that Ware did not disclose he was entering into a sales agreement with a third party — Puchyr, who is now a consultant and brokered the initial lease deal between RWR and Legacy — in an April hearing. The judge in that case warned that RWR could be in contempt of court if it misrepresented its intentions in the first hearing.