Erica Enders with the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage / Melling Performance / SCAG Power Equipment team and Aaron Stanfield with his JHG / Melling / Janac Brother’s team rallied to the semifinals of the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.

Six-time Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders started her race day from the No. 6 qualifying spot thanks to a 6.590-second pass at 207.40 mph and faced teammate and Sonoma Nationals winner Greg Stanfield in the first round. Enders’ red JHG / Melling machine stayed consistent with a. 6.560-second pass at 208.55 mph defeating Stanfield and his Janac Brothers / The Rod Shop car’s 6.589 at 208.10.

In the quarterfinals, Enders matched with Matt Hartford. Enders would have the race won at the starting line after Hartford went -.008 seconds red on the Christmas tree. The JHG / Melling hot rod made a 6.572-second pass at 208.71 mph setting her up for a semifinal matchup against rival Dallas Glenn.

Enders had her best light of the weekend at .009-seconds and she’d handle her JHG / Melling machine to a 6.583-second pass at 208.75 mph, but it wouldn’t be enough for Glenn’s 6.579 at 208.14 with a .011 reaction time.

“I’m really proud of our turn around this weekend. People only get to see the surface and have no clue the amount of time and effort that goes on behind the scenes. We have been working so hard, to try to close the gap and we are getting there. This season has been challenging and disheartening to say the least but what tears others apart, makes our group stronger,” said Enders after breaking a streak of three consecutive first round losses. “I’m proud of the grit and tenacity they have displayed through not only performance woes but feeling the absence of some of our key men. This weekend, all my boys were here, and it was such a great feeling to have the band back together. We have a long way to go but it felt really nice to turn some win lights on today. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until this is all over: when it comes time and the pressure is on, my money is on us! Let’s go!”

Aaron Stanfield and his black JHG / Melling machine began their eliminations from the No. 13 spot after a 6.621-second pass at 206.89 mph. His position set him up for a first-round race against teammate Cristian Cuadra in his Corral Tequila / Corral Belts / Cuadra machine.

Stanfield had the better run at 6.566-seconds and 206.45 mph to Cristian’s 6.567 at 206.83 mph putting him in the second round to race against Cory Reed. The quarterfinals would be a clean side-by-side drag race with the JHG / Melling car earning the win. Stanfield had a 6.579 pass at 208.07 mph, enough to send Reed and his 6.582 at 208.33 mph to the trailer.

In the semifinals, Stanfield had the starting line advantage against reigning world champion and eventual race winner Greg Anderson but his 6.583-second pass at 207.85 mph couldn’t keep up with Anderson’s 6.555 at 207.66.

Next up for Elite Motorsports on the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series schedule is the regular season finale, the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals over Labor Day weekend, Aug. 29-Sept. 1 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

This story was originally published on August 17, 2025.

Xfinity’s deal with NASCAR was already set to expire next season, leaving the circuit’s second-tier competition without a future name sponsor.

This changed on Saturday: SBJ reported that O’Reilly’s Auto Parts — a chain with almost 4,000 repair stores in the US and with a value near $88 billion — will replace Xfinity as the title sponsor. 

The NASCAR Xfinity Series currently operates almost like a minor league to the Cup Series, offering talented drivers pathways to the top level in an uber-competitive environment. While Xfinity is stepping away from its $200 million title sponsorship, it is remaining involved in the sport and recently stepped up its involvement with Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing. 

The circuit originally partnered with Anheuser-Busch (1982-2007) and Nationwide (2008-14) before settling on Xfinity for the last 11 seasons. 

In that span, current Cup Series drivers like Daniel Suarez, William Byron, Tyler Reddick (twice), Ty Gibbs), and Austin Cindric have won the circuit and graduated to the top level. 

“Pretty gutted really, gutted for the JR Motorsports guys,” said Shane van Gisbergen said of the incident. The New Zealand driver pulls double duty in both the Xfinity and Cup Series. 

Austin Hill was involved in a late crash with Zilisch’s car.

“I hate it for everyone involved, that was definitely not what I wanted to happen coming back from what we had going on,” he admitted. “All we can do is get it behind us, put our head down and we’ve still got a shot to win this thing. Got to get my mind right for this re-start.”

There were 24 lead changes at Richmond Raceway in a 400-lap event that featured nonstop action. The tire falloff made for a fascinating race with multiple strategies throughout the field. And in the end, the NASCAR Cup Series had its 14th different winner of the 2025 season as Austin Dillon locked himself into the playoffs.

Here’s a look at the biggest winners and losers from Richmond:

WINNER: Austin Dillon erases the stain of 2024 Richmond controversy

Watch: Austin Dillon ‘too tired to be angry’ after Richmond victory

Entering Richmond this weekend, everyone was talking about the infamous finish from one year ago, where Dillon intentionally wrecked two drivers to win, and was later kicked out of the playoffs for it. The only way to overcome that was to come back here and win it again, but few thought that it was possible. And yet, the driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet led over 100 laps and captured the checkered flag (cleanly), securing himself a spot in the playoffs. It was the best race of Dillon’s career, managing tires well and executing perfectly. And, he did it while recovering from a broken rib!

LOSER: RFK Racing faces a dire playoff situation

Ryan Preece, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

There were high hopes for RFK at Richmond. Brad Keselowski nearly won the last short track race on the schedule, and Ryan Preece started from pole position. Chris Buescher also held the 16th and final playoff spot. Unfortunately, after 400 laps of racing, all three RFK drivers are now in a must-win situation entering the regular season finale at Daytona. Buescher finished 30th, Preece 35th, and while Keselowski earned a top ten, that doesn’t help their situation. At best, they can hope one of their three cars win at Daytona, or all of them will be eliminated.

WINNER: Goodyear for bringing a tire with significant falloff

Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Samuel Corum / Getty Images

After a frustrating race at Iowa, Goodyear stepped up to the plate and brought a tire with significant falloff to Richmond. The result? The most exciting short track race of the year, masking the many shortcomings of the Next Gen car and giving the fans action from start to finish. The race became a chess match as teams decided on how to use their eight sets of sticker tires, leading to constant passing and a plethora of strategies. 

LOSER: 23XI’s incredible run falls apart

Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing Toyota

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

At one point, 23XI Racing was running 1-2 at Richmond. Tyler Reddick won Stage 1 and Bubba Wallace won Stage 2, combining to lead 164 of 400 laps. But like RFK, whatever could go wrong did go wrong. Reddick got spun out in the middle of the race, while Wallace lost a wheel in a late-race pit stop. In the end, Wallace finished a disappointing 28th and Reddick was 34th. Reddick is still in a fairly solid position to make the playoffs on points, but he did not clinch a spot like he had hoped to do.

WINNER: SVG continues to improve on ovals

Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Samuel Corum / Getty Images

While there is a slice of the NASCAR world that doesn’t want to appreciate the greatness of SVG on road courses, or the incredible task he’s undertaking at 36 years old to learn ovals, he continues to show incredible improvement. At Richmond, he beat teammate Ross Chastain and earned a 14th-place finish, matching his best oval result of the year. And with the playoffs just around the corner, that kind of pace plus his bonus points would be enough to carry him through the Round of 16.

LOSER: Kyle Busch and a night to forget

Richmond

After topping the speed charts in practice, there were high hopes for Busch at Richmond. But while his teammate won the race, he was lucky to finish inside the top 20. The car was out of control at the start of the race, and he got caught speeding on pit road. Later on, he was at the epicenter of a major wreck in Turn 3, and accidentally hooked Chase Elliott into the wall after the fact as he was trying to drive through the smoke. 

WINNER: William Byron clinches the regular season title

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

With Elliott’s Richmond DNF, which Byron had a front row seat for, the No. 24 was able to clinch the regular season title with one race to spare. He now has 15 bonus points in his pocket, which will go a long way in his efforts to win the NASCAR Cup title for the very first time. However, the regular season champion has yet to go on to win the big prize in three previous years of the Next Gen era, but maybe Byron will break the streak.

LOSER: Alex Bowman faces an uncomfortable week at Daytona

Watch: Alex Bowman ‘didn’t get any breaks’ with runner-up finish

Bowman was frustrated with lapped traffic in the closing laps at Richmond, where he finished second to Dillon. It was a great result, but once you look at the playoff picture, you’ll understand why he was so stressed. Dillon’s victory puts him on the bubble for Daytona, so any new winner from below the cut-line will knock him out of the championship hunt. And being Daytona, that is a very likely outcome.

WINNER: Joey Logano rebounds from practice wreck and qualifying woes

Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Logano’s weekend started with a wreck in practice, caused by a flat right front tire. The team scrambled to repair the No. 22 car in time for qualifying, but he had to abandon his lap due to a severe tire rub. Despite all that, Logano fought through the field after starting 38th. He finished fourth as part of a triple top five for Team Penske.

LOSER: Unforced errors ruin Carson Hocevar’s top five run

Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Samuel Corum / Getty Images

In the final stage of the race, Hocevar was in position to potentially finish inside the top five at Richmond. Unfortunately, he missed pit road while trying to make a late-race stop under green. To make matters worse, the team dropped the jack prematurely on two separate pit stops. 

William Byron clinched the NASCAR Cup Series regular season title Saturday night at Richmond Raceway after finishing 12th in the Cook Out 400. His nearest competitor for the title, Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, fell out of the race before the halfway mark. Elliott finished last, 38th, after being collected in a multi-car crash in Turn 3.

The regular-season championship will give Byron an additional 15 playoff points to start the postseason. It’s also his first regular-season title.

“It feels [really] good,” Byron said. “The best 12th-place finish we’ve ever had. We did a good job … we got some damage there with the big crash, and that hurt us a little bit. Honestly, there were runs we were pretty good. We drove up to sixth, seventh and eighth, and then that second-to-last run, we were third, and I thought, ‘OK, we’re in a good spot.’ That set of tires was not good for us, and fell off really hard.

“Proud of this team. Really proud of the effort all year. We’ve done a good job through a lot of adversity, and it feels really good to check this one off the list. In the back of our mind, I think we had that in mind this year just to try to be consistent, and even through some adversity I feel like we were consistently fast and up at the front. Just really proud of this team – all the guys who work back at the shop, Hendrick engine shop, Chevrolet… It feels really good.”

Byron also caught a piece of the same wreck that took Elliott out in Turn 3 on lap 198. Kyle Busch spun Chase Briscoe to start the melee, then caught Elliott to send him into the outside wall. Elliott came across the track in the path of Byron, who was going around the outside of the carnage.

“I was kind of losing my mind there for a minute,” said Byron. “Just felt like there was so much going on. It was such a balance of trying to balance tires all night, and it got crazy on those couple of restarts. That one restart was kind of the tipping point.

“We had, honestly, some really good runs tonight. I was happy with the end of Stage 1 and the beginning of Stage 2, and throughout Stage 2 was pretty good. The beginning of Stage 3, we climbed forward and had that one set of tires that we put on, that we fell way back.”

Byron led the point standings for 20 of 25 races. He also leads the series in stage points earned.

The final regular-season race will be held next Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway. Byron won the season-opening Daytona 500 at the facility and has the opportunity to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2013 to sweep both Daytona races.

“We’re going to have to figure out the game plan there, for sure,” Byron said. “I only feel like I know one way, and that’s to go as fast as I can, so I’m probably going to try to be up front and do all the things that it takes to win the race, just knowing the potential is there to be in a crash or whatever. You can’t drive around in bubble wrap; you have to go out there and do your job and try to get a good finish. Usually you crash more if you’re conservative. Yeah, go out there and be aggressive.”

Byron will start the postseason with at least 32 playoff points.

In his second start in the CARS Tour this year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ends his night at Anderson Motor Speedway with a top ten finish.

Earnhardt’s night was nearly ruined when a crash on Lap 24 occurred. Driver No. 8 was able to avoid the wreck by drifting up high to avoid any damage. Then again on Lap 52, Earnhardt spun on the front stretch after driving up and getting into Lanie Buice. He would be able to continue on with minimal damage.

Under caution, Earnhardt was able to retain his position that he was in when he spun out since most of the leaders pitted. When the race went back green, Earnhardt would get as high as ninth before Parker Eatmon passed him heading to the checkered flag.

Earnhardt has more CARS Tour races scheduled for this year. On October 4th, he will be racing at Tri-County Speedway in the SunDrop colors on his No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

Landen Lewis would go onto take the checkered flag in Saturday’s CARS Tour race at Anderson. Lewis started fifth in the race and spent most of his night battling Jared Fryer for the race lead. Lewis made the race winning pass with 13 laps to go and never gave it up. This marks the third win for Landen Lewis this season.