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Joe Gibbs Racing, Bob’s Discount Furniture Agree to Multi-Year…

Joe Gibbs, owner of Joe Gibbs Racing and Hamlin are scheduled to attend the grand opening of the Bob’s Discount Furniture location in Winston-Salem on Thursday, July 17 at 1 p.m. ET. The grand opening event will include a VIP autograph session with Hamlin, giveaways, live entertainment and the first chance for fans to see […]

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Joe Gibbs, owner of Joe Gibbs Racing and Hamlin are scheduled to attend the grand opening of the Bob’s Discount Furniture location in Winston-Salem on Thursday, July 17 at 1 p.m. ET. The grand opening event will include a VIP autograph session with Hamlin, giveaways, live entertainment and the first chance for fans to see the No. 11 Bob’s Discount Furniture Toyota before it competes at Iowa Speedway.

“We are thrilled to partner with Bob’s Discount Furniture,” said Gibbs. “Racing every weekend all across the country, we will have the opportunity to promote their great furniture at everyday low prices to race fans everywhere. We are especially excited to have the opportunity to celebrate their expansion into North Carolina at the grand opening event at their new Winston-Salem store on July 17th.”

Bob’s Discount Furniture will serve as the Official Furniture Retailer for Hamlin and the No. 11 NASCAR Cup Series team, with multiple primary sponsor races and full-season associate partner placement over the course of the partnership.



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Five races to go: The fight to make the NASCAR Cup playoffs

21 of the 26-race regular season are now complete, leaving just five races left before the NASCAR Cup playoff field is locked in for the 2025 season. However, there’s still a road course, two short tracks, a superspeedway, and a crown jewel before we get to that point. 12 drivers have already guaranteed themselves a […]

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21 of the 26-race regular season are now complete, leaving just five races left before the NASCAR Cup playoff field is locked in for the 2025 season. However, there’s still a road course, two short tracks, a superspeedway, and a crown jewel before we get to that point.

12 drivers have already guaranteed themselves a spot by winning, but four spots still remain up for grabs. While there are several drivers in a must-win situation, there’s still a handful of drivers with a shot of making it in on points alone. Here’s a look at where those drivers stand entering the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway:

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Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing Toyota

Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing Toyota

Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing Toyota

Reddick is in a fairly solid position points-wise. Unless he somehow loses almost 100 points to Bowman over the next few weeks, there would need to be four new winners over the next five weeks to knock him out of playoff contention. Reddick is also the only driver who was part of the Championship 4 last year, and yet, hasn’t won a race in 2025.

The last Hendrick Motorsports driver not already locked in, but Alex Bowman has to be feeling fairly good about his position. Outside of Sonoma, Bowman has been looking good in recent weeks with top-five runs in Mexico City, Atlanta, and last weekend at Dover.

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Buescher is the highest RFK Racing driver in the standings, and he’s been making steady gains over the cut-line, but one bad race could erase it all. Last year, he was in a similar position, but due to some new winners just before the end of the regular season, he ended up being pushed out of the playoffs.

Sitting on the bubble, Wallace has absolutely zero room for error. And if any driver below the cut-line wins, he automatically ends up on the wrong side of the line. Wallace is also facing a three-year winless streak, so it’s more likely he’ll have to point his way in. He gained some valuable ground at Dover, but he needs to keep that up in the weeks to come.

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Ryan Preece, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

Ryan Preece, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

Ryan Preece, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

Preece has been hovering around the cut-line for what seems like the entirety of the 2025 season. The No. 60 team have been a model of consistency, making the most of what they have. Seven consecutive top 20 finishes and some stage points have helped Preece to remain in contention. He lost some points in a late-race incident at Dover, but he still managed to bring the car home on the lead lap.

Busch has had a very up-and-down season, marred by incidents, but the No. 8 team is going in the right direction at the moment. He has cut his way to within 40 points of the cut-line after being over 70 behind after Atlanta. If he keeps gaining points on the cut-line at that rate, he’ll get there by Race #26, but he can’t afford any surprise winners.

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Three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers have already won this year, but Ty remains winless so far in his entire Cup career. However, despite lagging far behind his teammates, Gibbs has really turned his season around. In the first 14 races, he had eight finishes of 24th or worse. But in the last seven, he has finished 14th or higher in every race, including three top fives. He has rapidly climbed up the standings as a result of his efforts, and made it all the way to the finals of the $1 million in-season challenge.

Read Also:

Winners and losers from a rainy NASCAR Cup race at Dover

NASCAR updates rule book to ensure 23XI and FRM can’t miss a race

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.



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University of Florida students build cars and compete with Gator Motorsport

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – In this week’s Tech Tuesday, our partners at UF Innovate and SCAD Media spotlight Gator Motorsports, where University of Florida students design, build, and race a Formula-style car while gaining real-world engineering and management experience. “Building a car from scratch is exactly as hard as it sounds. We’re here with Gator […]

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – In this week’s Tech Tuesday, our partners at UF Innovate and SCAD Media spotlight Gator Motorsports, where University of Florida students design, build, and race a Formula-style car while gaining real-world engineering and management experience.

“Building a car from scratch is exactly as hard as it sounds. We’re here with Gator Motorsports to learn more. Daniel, tell us more about who you are and what you do,” said Bethany Gaffey, host of UF Innovate.

“Yeah, I am the captain of Gator Motorsports for the F ’25 to F ’26 season. Every year, we build a two-thirds formula car, just like this one, from scratch to compete at the Michigan International Speedway. I basically am in a project management role, so I oversee two chief engineers underneath me and we oversee about 40 engineers every year to build our car,” said Daniel Patel, team captain of Gator Motorsports.

“So, how hard is it to build a car from scratch?” asked Gaffey.

“A lot harder than most people would think. The biggest part of it is the project isn’t an engineering project at the end of the day. We always say it’s a people management project. A lot of people, a lot of personalities with a really huge task. From a technical aspect, we’re really good engineers. The university teaches us a lot, and we teach ourselves a lot to build the car, but getting all of us to work together and make deadlines on time is the biggest challenge,” said Patel.

“What does it take to build a successful car?” asked Gaffey.

“A lot of what it takes is building off of our past failures. So, our first electric car in ’23 unfortunately ended in a small electrical fire. That was really shocking to a lot of people there. And in ’24, we didn’t get through any of our technical inspections. Well, we only got through two of them. This year, we got through all our technical inspections. We finished with only, we had only one lap left, and we didn’t finish in our 2025 season. So, our major priority is figuring out why that happened and fixing it. But on top of that, we want to get through all of our technical inspections faster and we want to have our car more prepared before we go to competition, drive all the dynamic events, as well as, well, obviously the major goal is to win. The more realistic goal is to aim for about a top 10, top 15 finish of about 85 teams,” said Patel.

“How do you see that helping you transition to industry once you graduate?” asked Gaffey.

“A lot of the major skills is being able to work with a bunch of different personalities, a bunch of different people. The interesting thing about engineers is a lot of us tend to be really stubborn and really stuck in our technical ways, but a lot of being on the team forces you to communicate with each other and learn those skills that you don’t necessarily get in the classroom level,” said Patel.

“For updates on the 2026 season, follow Gator Motorsports on social media,” said Gaffey.

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Zac Brown Band and HendrickCars.com to rock NASCAR playoffs with ‘Stone Skull’ paint scheme

CONCORD, N.C. – Zac Brown Band and HendrickCars.com are teaming with Hendrick Motorsports for a show-stopping presence in the NASCAR playoffs to promote the group’s just-announced 2025 limited engagement at Sphere Las Vegas. The collaboration will feature a special paint scheme on Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet during the Oct. 12 Cup Series race at Las […]

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CONCORD, N.C. – Zac Brown Band and HendrickCars.com are teaming with Hendrick Motorsports for a show-stopping presence in the NASCAR playoffs to promote the group’s just-announced 2025 limited engagement at Sphere Las Vegas. The collaboration will feature a special paint scheme on Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet during the Oct. 12 Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Zac Brown Band will perform at Sphere Las Vegas on Dec. 5, 6, 12 and 13 to coincide with the release of their seventh full-length studio album, “Love and Fear.” Known for fusing country, rock and Southern roots, the multi-platinum, GRAMMY® Award-winning group’s immersive live shows will be elevated by Sphere’s state-of-the-art technology and storytelling capabilities that deliver a concert experience like no other.

The No. 5 Zac Brown Band HendrickCars.com Chevrolet will feature the band’s signature “Stone Skull” logo on the hood with a matte black and gold chrome color palette. Primary sponsor HendrickCars.com will remain prominently featured on the car.

“Hitting the track with Hendrick Motorsports and Kyle Larson is a badass way to get the word out about our shows at Sphere,” said Zac Brown, frontman and lead vocalist of Zac Brown Band. “Mr. H has been an awesome friend for many years, and we’re thrilled to have this opportunity with his team. These performances are going to be unlike anything we’ve ever done – and this car is just a preview of the spirit we’re bringing to Vegas.”

Hendrick Motorsports fans can access an exclusive presale offer for Zac Brown Band’s Sphere Las Vegas concerts at www.zacbrownband.com using the promo code “HENDRICK” from 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday, July 23, to 1 a.m. ET on Friday, July 25. Tickets will be available to the general public beginning Friday, July 25.

“Zac and the band are great friends of our organization,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports and chairman and CEO of Hendrick Automotive Group. “They always put on an incredible show, and I personally can’t wait to see what they come up with at Sphere – it’s going to be unbelievable. There’s a natural connection between the energy of rock and roll and the intensity of NASCAR. Las Vegas is one of Kyle’s best tracks, and we hope to deliver a performance for our fans that matches what the band brings to theirs.”

Larson, 32, has been dominant at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Elk Grove, California, native is a three-time winner on the 1.5-mile oval and has led 690 laps there. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion has gone to victory lane twice in his last four starts at the track.

“It’s always cool when two different worlds come together like this,” Larson said. “The paint scheme has a killer edge to it. I’m pumped to take something to Vegas that our No. 5 team fans and Zac Brown Band fans will all be excited about. I love that HendrickCars.com wanted to make this collaboration happen and is going all in. It’ll be a lot of fun.”



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How NASCAR drivers remain competitive away from the track

Daniel Suarez was in his own bubble for the NASCAR Driver Ambassador Program when Ryan Preece changed the game. “It’s very funny because during the first three months, I didn’t even know there was an app,” Suarez said. “Ryan Preece in one (drivers) meeting said, ‘Yeah, man, you have this app and everything.’ I was […]

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Daniel Suarez was in his own bubble for the NASCAR Driver Ambassador Program when Ryan Preece changed the game.

“It’s very funny because during the first three months, I didn’t even know there was an app,” Suarez said. “Ryan Preece in one (drivers) meeting said, ‘Yeah, man, you have this app and everything.’ I was like, ‘Oh, so you can follow live?’”

Yes, there is an app for everything. This app tracks live standings for those participating in the Driver Ambassador Program (DAP), where drivers earn points for promoting the sport. There are financial incentives attached, going in a sliding scale down the rankings.

“I went right away to [wife] Julia and Drew [Brown, Trackhouse Racing representative], who were managing everything for me, and said, ‘Hey, I need that app,’” laughed Suarez. “I started following and I said to them, ‘Hey, this guy just beat us. We better do something.’ So, I enjoyed it. It’s a lot of work, but I think it’s a win for everyone.”

Preece smiled after hearing what Suarez said.

“It’s that why he kicked my ass?” he asked.

Suarez, naturally, went all in around promotion for the inaugural event in his native Mexico. It is what propelled him through the leaderboard by the end of the first payout period in late June. NASCAR only released the top three finishers, which were Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, and Ryan Blaney, but Sports Business Journal reported the 10 with Ross Chastain fourth and Suarez fifth.

“Drivers are very competitive, and for me, Mexico was it,” Suarez said. “Mexico, I was going to do everything all over because that race was very important for me. But at the same time, I’m personally very competitive, it doesn’t matter what it is. So, I really wanted to win at everything.

“It was good. I think it was amazing for the sport, for the fans, and for the racetracks. Every single person I’ve talked to from the racetracks loves it. They’ve never had several drivers show up to do things. I’ll say that 60 to 70 percent of the stuff that I did, I was going to do anyway, and I probably did another 30 to 40 percent. But I think a lot of drivers were doing zero and then went to a good amount. So, I think that’s great. It’s a win-win for everyone, and I’m happy we’re seeing the results.”

Joey Logano was the first recipient of a payout from NASCAR for Driver Ambassador Program. Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

NASCAR implemented the Driver Ambassador Program this year, compared to a similar concept from the PGA. The Player Impact Program (PIP) only lasted a few years, ending after 2024, but it rewarded golfers who had an impact on tickets, sponsorships, media consumption, and fan engagement, while driving interest to the PGA Tour. In 2023, Rory McIIroy banked $15 million for ranking first.

Logano earned $1 million from NASCAR for topping the DAP board after the first payout. NASCAR will pay out the program twice, the first being at the end of June and then again the end of the year. The Team Penske driver revealed he was also involved from the concept of the program as one of the voices in the room as it was created.

“The real winner is the fans because you’re out there doing more, whether it’s going to autograph sessions or media engagement, talking to the fans more often, or the growth of the sport in general,” Logano said. “It’s been a real successful program. It’s cool to see. It was in the works for quite some time, and it’s cool to see it all work out and be executed.”

Naturally, the program became another way for drivers to compete against each other. And the app played right into that aspect.

“Everyone tracks it,” Logano said. “If there is something to win, you want to go win it. That’s the competitor in me. It’s like, ‘Oh, you can win this? Yeah, let’s get it.’”

Logano and Larson were among the drivers who also publicly drew attention to the program. During his double attempt at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Larson was doing an interview with Fox Sports while Logano was in the broadcast booth.

“I’m just curious if Joey is getting some DAP points today,” Larson asked when welcomed into the conversation.

Logano laughed, “Definitely. Maybe.”

“That’s not fair, NASCAR,” Larson cracked. “That’s not fair.”

“I was not competitive at all with it, and then I was like sixth, seventh, eighth in points or something, and I went and did some stuff out in Sonoma and skyrocketed up,” Larson said. “I was like, ‘Holy [expletive], that was pretty easy,’ and then I got really competitive. I just came up a little bit short – honestly, an hour’s worth of work. So, if I had been a little more competitive in the beginning, I probably would have won.

“But I think we’re all addicts (and) competitive. So, I was bummed to lose. … I think it’s great for our series to incentivize us to promote the sport, and you may not see the effects of it in the short term now, but I think the goal is that over time, we become more popular and more mainstream. It’s been nice to see us all take it seriously.”

Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson have seen the benefits of the Driver Ambassador Program. Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

Undoubtedly, drivers have been more visible. Alex Bowman made a similar note as to why the fans were the winners because drivers are doing more than they have over the past couple of years. It has ranged from public events and appearances to local promotion around racetracks, media obligations in and outside the sport, and appearances with fans.

NASCAR has a group dedicated to vetting through submissions from the driver (or their representatives) that get scored. Not all activities are ranked the same, and there are some events scored higher than others. It can also go by the time involved such as 15-minute interviews to longer events. And if travel is involved, that helps the cause.

“Well, I think everything turns into a competition on our side, right?” Blaney said. “So, that turned into a competition. I thought it was a great opportunity. I thought the program did a great job. The goal of it was to find new and unique ways to activate the sport and drivers to go off and do things, and when you’re incentivized to do it, it makes you want to do it more.

“I feel like the sport got a ton of promotion because guys were willing to go do stuff. And not only that, I think there were a lot more asks because they knew drivers would want to do things. It was me, Larson, and Joey who had a big battle, especially coming down to the end of it.”

A battle that went from competitive to secretive.

“It was funny because you get to the last couple of weeks of it and me, Joey, and Kyle were kind of breaking away, and everyone got real secretive of what they were doing,” Blaney said. “I would ask, ‘Hey, what you got this week? Where you going?’ ‘Aw, I don’t really have much this week.’”

It’s a voluntary program as no driver is mandated by NASCAR to participate or submit their appearances. Ross Chastain tasked his business partners with hustling, and it ramped up after seeing how it worked early on. Chastain believes the program did exactly what it was supposed to by rewarding drivers for doing what they should have already been doing, and let him continue to promote himself.

Kyle Busch found it beneficial for both drivers and NASCAR. Busch finished eighth in the rankings at the first payout.

“I can’t find a fault besides it’s really hard to beat those guys at the top,” Busch said. “I thought I was busy, and my wife was especially concerned with how busy I was. She was like, ‘Where are you (on the leaderboard)?’ and I was like, ‘I’m not even close.’ So, she was like ‘Damn, those guys must have no life.’”

NASCAR is not publicly speaking about the program until the end of the season.

“It was fun to be a part of, and it was another outlet for us to compete against each other, and at the same time, when we were competing, we were promoting the sport,” Preece said. “I’ve been racing Cup since 2019, but the buzz we have going right now around seeing all the drivers and doing all these different things, it’s awesome to see because as a kid, I saw that. So, to be a part of those in a different movement, it’s great, and I think it’s great building the series.”



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NASCAR Rule Book Update, Kyle Larson Going for a Different Double Attempt and More: NASCAR News Flash

It has been a wild week for the NASCAR Industry, and it is only Tuesday. Here is your NASCAR News Flash for the week of July 2nd through the 27th. NASCAR Rule Book Update, Kyle Larson Going for a Different Double Attempt and More: NASCAR News Flash While Denny Hamlin is still celebrating his 58th-career […]

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It has been a wild week for the NASCAR Industry, and it is only Tuesday. Here is your NASCAR News Flash for the week of July 2nd through the 27th.

NASCAR Rule Book Update, Kyle Larson Going for a Different Double Attempt and More: NASCAR News Flash

While Denny Hamlin is still celebrating his 58th-career Cup victory, plenty of news has been making waves within the NASCAR realm. After having their charters taken away, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports won’t have to worry about not making the races for several weeks. Or that’s what a new change to the NASCAR Rule book for the next several weeks will try to prevent. It’s just one of the major news pieces of the week.

DOVER, DELAWARE – JULY 20: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Progressive Toyota, William Byron, driver of the #24 Raptor Chevrolet, and William Byron, driver of the #24 Raptor Chevrolet, race during the NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway on July 20, 2025 in Dover, Delaware. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Despite continuous back-and-forth between 23XI and FRM, and NASCAR as a whole, in their ongoing lawsuit. The sport seems to have added some new verbiage to the NASCAR rule book this week. If that wasn’t enough, a fiery take from a highly popular NASCAR personality had the fan base in an uproar on social media on Tuesday. It seems to be a pretty hostile garage area at the moment for some.

Read More: Old Tires Were the Right Call as Denny Hamlin Tames the Monster Mile Again

Entry Rules Changed By NASCAR

With so much yet to be determined in the ongoing lawsuit between 23XI and FRM against the sport. NASCAR has decided to formally change its entry requirements for the remainder of the season. The changes were published to the digital NASCAR rule book on Monday.

According to The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck, the update to the rule book would prevent 23XI or Front Row cars from missing any races the rest of the season, despite being now considered open cars.

 

Officially, it also bumps the guaranteed field of 37 cars to 40. For example, for this weekend’s Brickyard 400, their are 39 cars on the entry list, so obviously with those six cars being guaranteed in the field, it appears all 39 cars will be in the race come Sunday. Just another piece in the ongoing process that seems to get fuzzier and fuzzier each week.

NASCAR Media Members Stoking the Flames

There have been plenty of arguments made about the pros and cons of the current NASCAR Playoff System. For drivers, current and former, they have all had an opinion on it. One such driver who has spoken out loudly about what the sport has been doing to decide its champion is NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin.

On SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday, famed crew chief and broadcaster Larry McReynolds addressed recent chatter about the NASCAR Playoff System. McReynolds, alongside Danielle Trotta, was addressing the current playoff committee for the sport. They proceed to throw shade at someone on the committee. Due to that person wanting the sport to go back to the points system of old to determine the Champion of the sport, that person caught plenty of flak from the pair.

” I bet it’s a driver that has not won a championship,” McReynolds said. Trotta followed up by confirming it was someone who didn’t win a championship.

 

That statement alone hit some fans hard, as many believed it to be about Martin. McReynolds later sent a message on his social media  that he wasn’t talking about Mark. Regardless of whether it’s Mark or Denny Hamlin in this instance, the fact that this was even brought up isn’t what the sport needs.

Drivers deserve to have their thoughts heard. They are the ones competing.

Larson Going For Another Double This Week

Kyle Larson is free to race when he wants, and that is once again the case in Indianapolis. Not only is he looking to defend his 2024 Brickyard 400 victory this week, but he will also step behind the wheel on Saturday for the Xfinity Series race at the famed track.

Larson will look to pilot the No. 17 Chevy to victory lane. Sure it’s not like the Indy 500-Coke 600 double, but if he can score a win both on Saturday and Sunday, that would be an impressive consolation for all the trouble he’s had following May’s disastrous double.

With plenty of action in Indianapolis this weekend, I’m sure their will be plenty more drama to unfold.

Read Next: Goodyear Brings New Tire for Dover, a New Lawsuit Wrinkle, and More: NASCAR News Flash

Main Photo: Jeff Hilliker, Penske Entertainment

Recording Date: July 22, 2025

 





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Hamlin continues climb in NASCAR’s career wins list

DOVER, Del. — Denny Hamlin has stood his ground that wins — enough of them to soon earn his place inside NASCAR’s career top-10 list — matter more to his legacy than a championship. Easy to say, of course, with 58 race victories to zero titles. The 44-year-old Hamlin, still driving the No. 11 Toyota […]

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DOVER, Del. — Denny Hamlin has stood his ground that wins — enough of them to soon earn his place inside NASCAR’s career top-10 list — matter more to his legacy than a championship.

Easy to say, of course, with 58 race victories to zero titles.

The 44-year-old Hamlin, still driving the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing as he has done since his rookie season in 2006, is motivated to reach the top 10 this season during the final 15 races of the Cup season. Kevin Harvick is 10th on the career list with 60 and Kyle Busch, still active with Richard Childress Racing, is ninth with 63, giving Hamlin realistic numbers to shoot for the rest of the season.

Best to take advantage at tracks where he’s had success, such as Dover Motor Speedway, where he won Sunday for the second straight year and third time overall, compared with a track like this weekend’s race on the Indianapolis oval, where Hamlin is 0-for-16.

“I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to go back to back so bad,” Hamlin said of Dover. “(Indy’s) a track that I’ve just come so fricking close to winning. I just want to cross off all the major racetracks on our schedule.”

Hamlin is a driver who thrives in the chaos like few others — if any can — in the series. His win at Dover came days after the race team he owns with Michael Jordan suffered a setback in its court fight with NASCAR. He insisted ahead of the race that the legal issues never caused a distraction for him in the race car, then proved it on the mile concrete track with a series-best fourth win of the season.

Maybe more dark clouds — like the ones that opened up Sunday, causing a rain delay just laps ahead of the scheduled finish — can fuel Hamlin at Indy.

“All I can hope is that something happens this week that derails everything and then I’ll do better,” Hamlin said.

Hamlin then turned to a NASCAR employee and cracked, “Maybe it’ll come from them.”

Can Hamlin realistically get to 60 in 2025? He won eight times in 2010, six times in 2019 and seven in 2020, all totals that would get him to 60 this year.

“When you get him in a situation where he’s got the ball in his hands and it’s time to go win the race, he finds a way to do that most times,” crew chief Chris Gayle said.

It’s a fitting analogy for a race team owned by a former NFL coach.

At his pace, Hamlin remains a contender to cash in this November at Phoenix Raceway and win his first NASCAR championship — even if he lost out on the $1-million prize in the series’ first In-season challenge.

$1 million is on the line

The idea for the challenge was largely championed by Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner who floated the idea of a midseason tournament on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast. When NASCAR bought into the idea and announced the creation of the tournament last year, Hamlin called the tournament on social media “such a win for our sport and drivers.” He jokingly added, “I will collect my 1M royalty next season.”

Hamlin earned the No. 1 seed — and was promptly eliminated in the first race by Ty Dillon, the No. 32 seed.

Dillon faces Ty Gibbs next week at Indianapolis to decide the first winner of the tournament.

Was the In-season challenge a success?

Hamlin said the five-race, bracket-style tournament overall was a success — but not without a few kinks. Some of the seeding was off, such as Shane van Gisbergen not qualifying for the field, then ripping off consecutive wins on the Chicago street race and Sonoma Raceway during the tournament races.

And sure, everyone loves a Cinderella in March. But two in July isn’t necessarily making the tournament the NASCAR story of the summer.

“I think it has been unfortunate, right, you probably had a lot of the top seeds get knocked out pretty early in it, but overall, I thought the implementation of it has been good,” Hamlin said.

The other side of the argument is this: Would any fan or media outlet really care about a pair of winless drivers such as Gibbs (the sixth seed) or Dillon at this point of the season without $1 million at stake?

“For a team like us, at this point in the season, we’re not exactly where we want to be yet, but we’re trending in a good direction,” Dillon said on TNT. “Our story doesn’t get told in years past. It’s mainly the guys trying to fight for the points position. It’s the guys running up front, trying to win the race. But our story and our growth in the year stops getting told. I’m grateful we’ve been able to show our personality as a team.”

Unlike the All-Star race where the winner pockets $1 million, the driver with the best finish earns the cash prize, a ring, jackets and a trophy.

How they fared

Dillon had luck on his side during his run, with his lone top-10 finish coming in the first race in Atlanta. He advanced in that race after Hamlin crashed out and finished 31st. Dillon twice has finished 20th, including at Dover. He has a best finish of 13th in five career races on the Indy oval.

Gibbs, the grandson of team owner and football and NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs, and Dillon have failed to win in a combined 374 Cup races. Dillon has only two career top-five finishes in a career that dates to 2014. The 22-year-old Gibbs has a much better pedigree, winning the 2022 Xfinity Series title, a series in which he was a 12-time winner. He has six top 10s already this season and could make NASCAR’s playoffs on points.

Gibbs has three straight top 10s in the tournament, including a fifth-place finish at Dover. Gibbs finished 23rd on the Indy oval last season.

He’s done enough to impress his grandfather.

“There’s some people there that we got off to a terrible start, it was awful, (but) I had people on that group that came to me encouraging me, ideas for me, after it. I think they care for Ty. It just was a huge deal,” the 84-year-old Gibbs said. “This sport will really measure you. But those guys have fought back.”



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