The NASCAR Cup Series is in the midst of 28 straight weekends of racing, with the lone off-weekend on the entirety of the 38-race schedule coming six weeks ago during the Easter holiday.

Some in the NASCAR garage talk about managing their time and their overall schedule to ensure the grind of competing in the longest season in all of sports doesn’t wear them down.

Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), is not one of those people.

“Honestly, the Cup schedule is not that bad. Everybody makes it seem like it’s intense, but I think it’s pretty manageable,” said the 22-year-old Gibbs, currently in his third fulltime Cup season.

“I also race dirt stuff, so I probably have about 40-50 more races this year. I enjoy racing – all kinds of racing – and I think the more I do it, the sharper I am, so I should do as much as I can.”

Gibbs made his 100th career Cup Series start last Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. It was a milestone moment that also served as the halfway mark of the Cup Series’ regular season. Thirteen races are in the books and just 13 remain before the NASCAR Playoffs begin Aug. 31 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Currently 25th in the championship standings, Gibbs is eyeing a playoff spot by either breaking into the top-16 in points or by winning a race to automatically punch his playoff ticket. The charge toward a points haul and, ideally, a win begins anew this Sunday in the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.

The 1.333-mile, concrete oval is relatively flat, with corners banked at just 14 degrees. Those corners, however, are wide, allowing drivers to use multiple lanes to navigate traffic and find the quickest line around the track.

“There are a couple of bumps that are pretty sketchy at Nashville. Off of (turn) four there are a couple of dips, like swells, down there. You have to stay away from those and kind of just go wide,” Gibbs said. “Last year, we were running fourth, fifth all day, and then got caught up in a wreck near the end. So if we can stay out of the wrecks, I feel like we can win.”

Three multicar accidents in the last 25 laps of last year’s Nashville race collected a total of 15 cars, including Gibbs. That experience, combined with his 14th-place finish in his first Cup Series race at Nashville in 2023, has led Gibbs to pinpoint the ultimate key to success in Music City.

“Track position,” Gibbs said. “You’ve got to have good track position all day, and that comes from having a well-executed day. You want to be fast, obviously, but you’ve got to have good pit stops and good restarts, and you’ve got to stay consistently fast.

“You can come from the back a little bit, but it’s really hard to pass. People throw blocks so easily. If you can be out front, you want to stay there. That’s where guys are good.”

Gibbs has proven to be more than good. He won in his very first NASCAR Xfinity Series start – Feb. 20, 2021 at the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway road course – and then won the championship in 2022 during his first full season thanks to seven victories. Upon moving to Cup in 2023, Gibbs handily won the Rookie of the Year title.

At Nashville, Gibbs sports the bright green colors of JGR’s founding partner, Interstate Batteries. The leading replacement battery brand in the United States has been with JGR since its inaugural season in 1992. Now in its 34th year, it is the third-generation Gibbs carrying the torch for the most tenured team partnership in all of NASCAR.

“Interstate Batteries has been a part of my family’s team since the very beginning,” Gibbs said. “I’ve grown up with them. It’s cool to have such a long-standing partnership with them and to be able to carry on their legacy in NASCAR.”

Gibbs climbs into his No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE on Saturday when practice begins at 3:30 p.m. CDT/4:30 p.m. EDT, followed by qualifying at 4:40 p.m. CDT/5:40 p.m. EDT. The Cracker Barrel 400 goes green on Sunday at 6 p.m. CDT/7 p.m. EDT. All of the action will be broadcast live by Prime Video and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

TSC PR

The NASCAR Cup Series begins the second half of the regular season with Sunday’s trip to Nashville Superspeedway.

Ross Chastain’s Coca-Cola 600 victory last weekend made him the fourth different winner in the last four points races. Kyle Larson won at Kansas, Joey Logano at Texas and Austin Cindric at Talladega in that stretch.

Here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup teams heading into Sunday’s race at Nashville Superspeedway.

23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick placed third in last year’s Nashville race. … Corey Heim will drive the No. 67 car in a fourth entry for the organization this weekend at Nashville. Bad news: Bubba Wallace has finished 33rd or worse in the last three points races, dropping him from seventh to 12th in the standings. … Reddick has one top 10 in his last seven Cup points races. … Riley Herbst has finished 27th or worse in seven of the last 10 points races. … Herbst has six pit road speeding penalties, tied with Shane van Gisbergen for most in the series this year. … The team has one top-10 finish in the last five races.

Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Noah Gragson has finished in the top 15 in three of the last four races. … Gragson’s five stage points in the Coca-Cola 600 were more than he’s scored in the previous 12 races. … Todd Gilliland has finished 18th or better in six of the last seven races. … Zane Smith finished a Cup career-best second at Nashville last year. Bad news: Smith comes to Nashville after a 39th-place result in the Coca-Cola 600.

Haas Factory Team — Good news: Cole Custer has averaged 17.5 points per race in the last four races after averaging 9.4 points per race in the first nine races of the season. Bad News: Custer is one of four full-time drivers without a top-10 finish this season, joining Ty Dillon, Riley Herbst and Cody Ware in that category.

Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: Kyle Larson has a 4.5 average finish at Nashville, his best at all tracks. … Larson is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all four races at Nashville. … Larson has won six of the last 11 stages. … Hendrick drivers have combined to lead 72% of the laps in the last six races. … The organization has had at least one driver finish in the top five in all 13 races this season. … William Byron’s average start this season is 8.8, best of all drivers, and his average finish of 9.5 is best of all drivers. … Byron has finished in the top three in five of 13 races this season. … Chase Elliott is the only driver to finish in the top 20 in every race this season. … Alex Bowman will make his 268th career Cup start for Hendrick Motorsports, passing Ken Schrader for sixth on the team’s all-time starts list. Bad news: Bowman has finished 27th or worse in five of the last seven races.

Crashes ended Kyle Larson’s races at Indianapolis and Charlotte.

Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will make his 450th Cup start this weekend. … Stenhouse is in a playoff spot halfway through the regular season. … Stenhouse has four consecutive top-20 finishes. Bad news: Stenhouse has started in the top 20 only twice in the first 13 races of the season. … Stenhouse has yet to lead a lap this year.

Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Denny Hamlin will make his 700th career Cup start this weekend. … Chase Briscoe finished a season-best third in last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600. … Christopher Bell has six top 10s in the last eight races. … Bell has three top 10s in four starts at Nashville. Bad news: Hamlin has finished 16th or worse in the last four races. … Briscoe has not finished better than 21st in four Nashville starts. … Ty Gibbs has placed 17th or worse in each of the last four races. … Bell has led eight of the 1,923 laps run in the last six races.

Kaulig Racing — Good news: AJ Allmendinger is coming off a season-best fourth-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600. … Allmendinger won a race in the Xfinity Series in 2023 at Nashville. … Ty Dillon has finished in the top 20 in six of 13 races this season. Bad news: Allmendinger is 13 points out of the last playoff spot at the halfway point in the regular season.

Will Brown will drive a third entry for Kaulig Racing in the July 6 Chicago Street Race.

Legacy Motor Club — Good news: Erik Jones has placed in the top 15 in two of the last three races. … John Hunter Nemechek won the Xfinity race at Nashville last year. Bad news: Nemechek finished 31st last year at Nashville in his only Cup start there.

Richard Childress Racing — Good news: All three of Austin Dillon’s top-10 finishes this season have come in the last five races. … Dillon has three top-15 finishes in four Cup starts at Nashville. … Kyle Busch has two Xfinity and two Truck wins at Nashville. Bad news: Busch has one top-10 finish in the last nine races.

The 2026 season will mark Kyle Busch’s fourth at RCR.

Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Cody Ware’s 25th-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 is his best result since placing 24th at Phoenix in March. Bad news: Ware has started 33rd or worse in 11 consecutive races.

RFK Racing — Good news: Ryan Preece has five top-10 finishes this season, tied for the most he’s had in a Cup season. … Preece has scored back-to-back top-10 results… Brad Keselowski finished a season-best fifth in the Coca-Cola 600. … Chris Buescher’s crew chief, Scott Graves, returns after sitting out the past two races (Coke 600 and All-Star Race) for a violation after the Kansas race. Bad news: Nashville is the only oval that Keselowski does not have a top-10 finish. … Chris Buescher’s average finish of 22.3 at Nashville his his worst among active tracks.

Spire Motorsports — Good news: Michael McDowell scored a season-best seventh-place result in last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600. … Carson Hocevar has scored points in seven of the last 11 stages. Bad news: Justin Haley finished 30th or worse in each of the past two races. … Hocevar has had two blown engines this season.

Team Penske — Good news: Joey Logano is the defending winner at Nashville, taking the checkered flag after five overtimes. … Logano has three top 10s in four Nashville starts. Bad news: Austin Cindric has one top-10 finish in the last eight races. … Ryan Blaney has failed to finish five races, tied with Bubba Wallace and Brad Keselowski for most in the series.

Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Coca-Cola 600 winner Ross Chastain is finishing 20.7 positions better than he’s starting over the past seven races. … Chastain has six top 10s in the last nine races. … Chastain has three top-five finishes in four Nashville starts, including a win in 2023. … Shane van Gisbergen’s 14th-place result in last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 is his best finish on an oval since last October at Martinsville. Bad news: Daniel Suarez has three finishes of 33rd or worse in the last five races. … Shane van Gisbergen has six pit road speeding penalties, tying Riley Herbst for most in the series this year.

Team members worked nearly through the night to prepare Ross Chastain’s backup car, which took him to victory in the Coca-Cola 600.

Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry started second in last year’s Nashville race, his first Cup start there. … The 169 laps he’s led this year are his most in a season. Bad news: Berry has four finishes of 26th or worse in the last seven races.

With a thrilling Coca-Cola 600 in the books, the NASCAR Cup Series next sets its sights on Nashville Superspeedway for the Cracker Barrel 400 on Sunday (7 p.m. ET, Prime Video, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | Xfinity Series | Truck Series

Corey Heim makes his second Cup start of 2025 this weekend, driving the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota with Bootie Barker as crew chief as one of three Open entries.

MORE: How to watch NASCAR on Prime Video

Take a look at the full entry list for Sunday’s event:

NASCAR team owner Richard Childress has declared Kyle Busch’s son Brexton as the ‘real deal’ when quizzed on the young racer’s future.

Childress and Busch spoke to the media ahead of Sunday’s Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway after announcing that the two-time Cup Series champion had finalized a contract extension with the team.

Busch, whose contract was due to expire at the end of 2025, will now continue to drive the No. 8 Chevrolet through until the end of 2026.

But, when announcing the news, Brexton and the possibility of him racing for the team in the future also came up, despite him being just 10 years old.

“Yeah, he is [doing well],” Childress said of Brexton’s racing progress before recalling a symbolic gesture he made to the young racer: “And I did sign him a contract, a $100 bill, when we signed up with Kyle.”

Childress continued: “I’ve watched him race some and watched him on some of the YouTube stuff for different things that somebody had sent me, and I congratulate him,”

“I think he won the championship in Florida, and I texted him and congratulated him on that and watched him run over at Millbridge.

“He’s a real deal like this one,” Childress concluded, pointing towards Kyle.

NASCAR HEADLINES: Team Penske star offers exit verdict as Charlotte race disqualification confirmed

Who is Brexton Busch?

Brexton Busch is one of Kyle Busch’s two children and is a racer in his own right, making waves at the Tulsa Shootout earlier this year.

10-year-old Brexton won the Junior Sprint Division at the event, holding back a 20-car field in the ‘a-main’ race to become a Golden Driller winner, with over 105 drivers having entered the Junior Sprint Division overall.

In the aftermath of that victory, Kyle Busch took to social media to celebrate his son’s success.

“24 hours later, and I still couldn’t be more proud of Brexton Busch,” the two-time Cup Series champion wrote.

“Biggest moment of his career and he drove a perfect race. All the hard work he and the guys put in all year paid off.

“Just a really proud dad right now.”

More recently, Brexton and his father even raced against each other in the “Battle of the Busch’s” at Millbridge Speedway in North Carolina.

An up-and-coming racer, Brexton’s career is certainly worth keeping a close eye on in the coming years.

The young racer is certainly not short of people he can go to for advice, if he needs it, with two-time champion Kyle, his father, and one-time champion Kurt Busch, his uncle.

READ MORE: William Byron claims top spot after Coca Cola 600 despite late Ross Chastain heartbreak

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NASCAR is allowing for two additional entries to the NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Mexico City via international provisionals.

The openings allow for up to 40 cars to run that weekend.

Any team using the 39th or 40th spot won’t be eligible for prize money or driver or team owner points. It will not receive playoff points for stage and/or race wins.

NASCAR utilized a similar rule in the NASCAR Cup Series for the Daytona 500 called the Open Exemption Provisional. Trackhouse Racing applied for it for Helio Castroneves, and at the time, if a driver eligible for the Provisional qualified for the race, the field would remain at a maximum of 40 entries. Castroneves didn’t qualify and was added to the field as a 41st entry.

Currently, the OEP will be applied and Cup Series will have a 41-car field if more than 40 cars are attempting the event.

The Xfinity Series race at Mexico City is slated to run Saturday, June 14 at 4:30 p.m. ET and airs on the CW.

Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She’s currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch issued a damning statement post-race at the Coca Cola 600 as he admitted he was starting to feel like a ‘broken record’.

The race weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway proved another challenging one for Busch and his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team, with the 40-year-old finishing Sunday’s main event in 15th.

The race marks the fifth consecutive event that Busch has finished 14th or lower, with just one finish inside the top 10, which came at Darlington in April, in his last nine races.

Things certainly seem to be a struggle of late for the No. 8 team, and the two-time champion says he is tired of having to come out and repeat the same message every weekend.

“I feel like a broken record saying another difficult night for our No. 8 Chevrolet team,” Busch explained, via NBC.

NASCAR HEADLINES: Team Penske star offers exit verdict as Charlotte race disqualification confirmed

What went wrong for Kyle Busch at the Coca Cola 600?

Elaborating on the issues he faced at Charlotte across the weekend, Busch continued: “The weekend started out with a steering issue. We got the pump changed and were able to make a qualifying lap, but had to change the rack and go to the rear for the start of the race on Sunday.

“We were tight in dirty air. Crew chief Randall Burnett made some changes and got it running better when I heard a loud pop. Something broke, and we’re still not sure what it was. From that point on, we were just out of it.

“We tried a strategy call late in the race, but we had an issue on pit road, so we weren’t really able to capitalize on that.

“I want to thank the family of Fireman Jeffrey M Svoboda for allowing us to honor him this weekend.”

On the plus side, there was good news for Busch ahead of the race, with him and his team having made a big contract announcement.

It was revealed on Saturday that Busch and Richard Childress Racing had finalized a contract extension that will see the 40-year-old continue to drive the No. 8 Chevrolet through 2026.

READ MORE: William Byron claims top spot after Coca Cola 600 despite late Ross Chastain heartbreak

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