Chase Elliott may be leading the NASCAR Cup Series standings  but not everyone is impressed.

NASCAR analyst and former driver Kyle Petty has publicly questioned Elliott’s rise to the top. He called it “mediocre consistency” not standout performance.

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Elliott  who has 12 top 10s in 21 races this season  quietly moved to the top of the standings after last Sunday’s race at Dover. He spun twice while leading but still finished 6th.

The Hendricks Motorsports driver has been top 20 in every race this season  and that’s  kept him in the conversation even without frequent trips to victory lane. But  for Kyle Petty that’s  not enough.

Speaking on PRN’s Fast Talk  Petty said “He’s been incredibly consistent. Mostly mediocre consistent, which has led him to lead the championship. He’s just there, he’s vanilla…  He’s not done anything special to lead the points.”

Also Read:: “They Don’t Have Men Anymore”: Former NASCAR Champion Criticizes Modern Era

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Petty Want More Than Consistency

Kyle Petty went on to compare Chase Elliott to more aggressive drivers. “When you look at Denny with four wins, when you look at at Shane with three wins, when you look at these other guys who have led races and gone out in a blaze of glory and all this stuff. Chase is just that guy. It’s the tortoise and the hare. It’s the tortoise and the hare.”

He later said “Top  20 is not a stat, dude…  Top 10, top 5, wins. That’s what we go after.”

Petty said Chase Elliott’s consistency has been enough to keep him near the front but it’s not the same as drivers who dominate races.

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Even Kyle Larson said he was surprised to see Elliott second  in the standings after his Atlanta win earlier this month. Elliott has since passed teammate William Byron  who led the series most of the year  and now leads by 16 points.

Next up for Chase Elliott is the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway  a track where he’s  never had a top 5. While Larson won there in 2024  Elliott has yet to make an impact at the crown jewel event.

With the regular season winding down  the race may be the opportunity for the points leader to silence his critics with a big result.

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Kyle Larson is introduced before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Sonoma Raceway, Sunday, July 13, 2025, in Sonoma, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

INDIANAPOLIS — Kyle Larson raced to his third NASCAR Cup victory of the season at Kansas in mid-May then turned his attention to his second and perhaps final attempt at racing’s double — completing all 1,100 miles of the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.

Instead, he was hit with a double whammy.

A crash on Lap 92 knocked him out of the 500, relegating him to 24th, and two crashes — the second on Lap 245 — knocked him out in Charlotte, where he finished 37th.

Not much has gone right for Lason since then.

He posted just one top five finish over the next eight races before finishing fourth at Dover last weekend. Now, the defending Brickyard 400 champion is back at Indianapolis Motor Speedway trying to recharge his season.

“It’s great to be back here in Indy and back at the track, hopefully I’ll do a much better job than I did in May,” he said Friday. “It’s a privilege to get to run here and I would love nothing more than a good run and hopefully kind of put the bow on the double stuff.”

Only three drivers in race history own back-to-back Brickyard wins — Jimmie Johnson in 2008-09, Kyle Busch in 2015-16 and Kevin Harvick in 2019-20. Larson’s won last year on Indy’s historic 2.5-mile oval instead of the road course used the previous three years.

Most if not all drivers including Larson prefer running the oval.

“There’s so many people from all over the world here whether it be May or our events or, really for that matter, any events,” Justin Allgaier said. “… It’s just there’s nothing quite like it;”

Larson understands having driven an IndyCar on the oval each of the last two Mays and now back in a Cup car, his fourth start in 14 months at the Brickyard.

The difference this year: Larson wants to change directions after some sub-par results.

But they haven’t dashed his championship hopes.

The 2021 Cup champ is tied for second in wins this season, already has accrued 23 playoff points and trails only Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup champ, and William Byron in points. Neither Elliott or Byron has won the 400, though.

Neither has Denny Hamlin, who sits just behind Larson in points despite winning a series-best four times including last weekend at Dover. He also signed a two-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing on Friday.

If he can add a win Sunday to the three he’s had in the Daytona 500 and Southern 500 and the one Coca-Cola 600 title, Hamlin would join the short list of drivers who have won all four Cup crown jewel races in their career.

“It certainly would mean a lot to me,” said Hamlin, who has started 16 Brickyards. “We’ve come close. We were actually as close on the road course as we were on ovals although I don’t know — you could argue whether that (road race) was actually a crown jewel or not. So, yeah, highly motivated.”

But things already are off script for Larson, Hamlin and everyone else in Indy.

Friday’s scheduled practice was rained out, making the second week in a row practice was washed out. Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday when temperatures are forecast to be in the mid to upper 80s with rain in the forecast most of the afternoon. The forecast for Sunday looks almost identical to Saturday.

That’s not what Larson wanted to hear even though race organizers rescheduled a short practice for Saturday afternoon.

“Hopefully, our car is good again,” he said before the scheduled practice. “I believe it should be fast, if not better than it was last year. So, you know, hopefully we’ll have a good practice, good qualifying (Saturday) and execute a good race on Sunday.”

Larson’s goal is simple — qualify up front, stay up front and stay out of the trouble he’s found far too routinely lately.

“When (Christopher Bell) spun (at Dover), I thought I was going to get collected and be like ‘Uh, oh, just continuing our bad luck here,” he said. “So, hopefully, this is the beginning of us to kind turn things around. We’ll see.”

On a recent episode of the Kevin Harvick Happy Hour podcast, former NASCAR Truck Series champion Mike Skinner was his usual candid self. He shared his thoughts on today’s drivers and didn’t mince words.

Reflecting on the differences between his era and the current field, Skinner praised the technical advancements in the sport but panned what he sees as a lack of grit and personality. “In ’95 and ’96 we had men,” Skinner told Harvick.
“They don’t have men anymore. They have a lot of guys that are really high technical, their fitness program is impeccable now today, but they fall out of the seat way more than we probably did.”

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Skinner, who won the first Truck Series race in 1995 and went on to win 28 races and 50 poles in that series, also pointed out the physical changes in drivers over time.

“They’re little guys, they’re smaller guys,” he said. “And we’re finding out all the time that the smaller frame and the less weight you have and the shorter you are, you’re like a jockey. Kyle Larson should win every race, right?”

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Skinner Misses the Fire: “We Need More of Those Rivalries”

While Skinner acknowledged the gains in fitness and preparation, he said we’ve lost something essential, namely, the raw intensity and personalities that once defined NASCAR. “We need more of those rivalries,” he said. “It’s fun to watch… So we don’t see enough of that in my opinion today.”

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Many veterans and long time fans share the same feeling, they think the sport has veered too far from its original roots. Drivers from Skinner’s era, like Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace or Tony Stewart, were great drivers by talent, but they also had larger than life personalities on, and off, the track, along with plenty of on-track altercations.

After his success in the Truck Series, Skinner joined Richard Childress Racing and he became the 1997 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year. He never won a Cup points race but did win 6 poles. His resume and firsthand experience give him credibility when talking to Kevin Harvick.

Skinner wonders if NASCAR still has a pulse. And with this generation of “nice” drivers like Larson, Byron and Elliott making headlines, this conversation isn’t going to go away.

Also Read:: “He wanted to rip my head off”: Kevin Harvick opens up on Kyle Busch feud and relationship with Tony Stewart

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Friday

At Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park

Indianapolis.

Lap length: 0.69 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (11) Layne Riggs, Ford, 200 laps, 60 points.

2. (16) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 200, 0.

3. (21) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 200, 43.

4. (1) Corey Heim, Toyota, 200, 42.

5. (8) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 200, 46.

6. (2) Ty Majeski, Ford, 200, 44.

7. (3) Chandler Smith, Ford, 200, 44.

8. (6) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 200, 29.

9. (7) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 200, 33.

10. (12) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 200, 0.

11. (19) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 200, 30.

12. (5) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 200, 35.

13. (9) Luke Fenhaus, Ford, 200, 26.

14. (15) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 200, 24.

15. (10) Kaden Honeycutt, Chevrolet, 199, 27.

16. (22) Jake Garcia, Ford, 199, 21.

17. (14) Brenden Queen, Chevrolet, 199, 20.

18. (17) Connor Mosack, Chevrolet, 199, 20.

19. (20) Matt Crafton, Ford, 199, 18.

20. (29) Dawson Sutton, Chevrolet, 199, 17.

21. (24) Jack Wood, Chevrolet, 199, 16.

22. (25) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 198, 15.

23. (18) Andres Perez De Lara, Chevrolet, 198, 14.

24. (13) Brent Crews, Toyota, 198, 13.

25. (30) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 198, 12.

26. (4) Giovanni Ruggiero, Toyota, 198, 11.

27. (28) Toni Breidinger, Toyota, 198, 10.

28. (26) Frankie Muniz, Ford, 197, 9.

29. (35) Greg Van Alst, Toyota, 194, 8.

30. (32) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 194, 0.

31. (23) Jayson Alexander, Chevrolet, 193, 6.

32. (33) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, handling, 99, 5.

33. (31) Alan Waller, Ford, accident, 65, 4.

34. (34) Boston Oliver, Chevrolet, handling, 39, 3.

35. (27) Cody Dennison, Ford, electrical, 8, 2.

___

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 82.124 mph.

Time of Race: 1 hour, 40 minutes, 14 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 1.864 seconds.

Caution Flags: 3 for 24 laps.

Lead Changes: 3 among 3 drivers.

Lap Leaders: C.Heim 0-20; L.Riggs 21-125; S.Friesen 126-145; L.Riggs 146-200

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): L.Riggs, 2 times for 160 laps; S.Friesen, 1 time for 20 laps; C.Heim, 1 time for 20 laps.

Wins: C.Heim, 5; C.Smith, 2; L.Riggs, 1; D.Hemric, 1; T.Ankrum, 1; S.Friesen, 1; R.Caruth, 1.

Top 16 in Points: 1. C.Heim, 690; 2. C.Smith, 546; 3. L.Riggs, 525; 4. D.Hemric, 514; 5. K.Honeycutt, 491; 6. G.Enfinger, 488; 7. T.Ankrum, 468; 8. T.Majeski, 462; 9. J.Garcia, 424; 10. G.Ruggiero, 397; 11. S.Friesen, 395; 12. B.Rhodes, 394; 13. R.Caruth, 384; 14. T.Gray, 361; 15. C.Mosack, 321; 16. M.Crafton, 309.

___

NASCAR Driver Rating Formula

A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.

The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.

Copyright
© 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

A pair of first-day INDY NXT by Firestone practices at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna left series leader Dennis Hauger with a damaged car and Caio Collet with a fast car.

SEE: Practice Results

Driving the No. 76 HMD Motorsports entry, Collet posted the quickest overall lap, a time of 1 minute, 14.0546 of a second that bested Andretti Global’s Lochie Hughes (1:14.3332 in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship car) and HMD Motorsports’ Josh Pierson (1:14.6193 in the No. 14 HMD Motorsports entry). Hauger had the best lap in the first session – 1:14.7484 – but his opportunity to improve in the second practice was lost when he hit the tire barrier in Turn 6.

Hauger finished with the 16th-best lap overall in Andretti Global’s No. 28 Nammo car, a position he won’t want to be in when qualifying is held Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on FS1. That session will set the starting lineups for each of the two races held this weekend. The past 10 pole winners of the Grand Prix of Monterey have gone on to win the race.

Hauger, who leads the series with five wins and six poles, holds a 76-point lead over Hughes (two wins, two poles) with five races remaining. Collet, a one-race winner this season, stands 94 points out of the series lead.

Nineteen car-and-driver combinations participated after Andretti Cape INDY NXT and driver Ricardo Escotto parted ways.

The weekend’s first race is Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS2. Race 2 will be at 1 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1.

IndyNXT PR