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Niece Motorsports NCTS Race Advance: Lime Rock Park – Speedway Digest

Team Stats & Notes New Venue Vibes: This weekend’s LiUNA! 150 will be the inaugural running of a NASCAR national series race at Lime Rock Park. It will also be the first Truck Series race held in the state of Connecticut, expanding the series’ reach. Niece Motorsports Road Course Stats: Niece drivers have made a […]

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Team Stats & Notes

  • New Venue Vibes: This weekend’s LiUNA! 150 will be the inaugural running of a NASCAR national series race at Lime Rock Park. It will also be the first Truck Series race held in the state of Connecticut, expanding the series’ reach.
  • Niece Motorsports Road Course Stats: Niece drivers have made a total of 42 starts on six different road courses (Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Circuit Of The Americas, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Watkins Glen International, Daytona International Speedway, and Sonoma Raceway). The team has won two pole awards (Carson Hocevar – Sonoma, 2022 & Ross Chastain – COTA, 2023) and have earned three top-fives and nine top-10 finishes.
    No. 42 J.F. Electric / Utilitra Chevrolet Silverado RST
    Driver: Matt Mills | Crew Chief: Mike Shiplett
    Matt Mills Racing
    @MattMillsRacing
    @MattMillsRacing
    Website
  • Mills’ Lime Rock Stats: Matt Mills will make his first-career start in any series at Lime Rock Park on Saturday.
  • Mills’ NASCAR Road Course Stats: Mills has raced on two road courses in a truck; first at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2023 and later at the Circuit Of The Americas in 2024. He picked up his best result at Mid-Ohio, finishing 22nd. In seven NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) starts, Mills’ best effort was a 19th-place finish at the Daytona road course in 2021.
  • Shiplett’s Lime Rock Stats: Mike Shiplett will call his first race in any series at Lime Rock Park on Saturday.
  • On the Truck: Mills’ No. 42 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from longtime partners J.F. Electric and Utilitra, who will serve as his anchor partners for the entire 25-race season.
  • Recapping Pocono: Matt Mills and the No. 42 team brought home a 20th-place finish at Pocono Raceway. Mills found it difficult to make up track position as he was mired in traffic, and picked up some slight damage in a mid-race incident. The J.F. Electric team made repairs and kept Mills on track to finish the race inside the top-20.
  • Points Rundown: Mills remains 19th in the points standings heading into the 15th race of the year. The driver currently is 10 points behind Jack Wood in 18th and has a 13-point lead over Dawson Sutton in 20th. With four races left to run in the regular season, Mills is 159 points below the Playoffs cutline.
  • Quoting Mills: It’s been a while since you’ve raced a road course, so have you done any special work to prepare for Lime Rock & Watkins Glen?

“Between running on the simulator and working in the Wise Program, it’s been extremely helpful having those resources to be able to go over everything. Obviously, iRacing too has been helpful in getting in as many laps as we can in different vehicles since we don’t really know what to expect in the trucks. I feel like Niece Motorsports has been a pretty solid team on the road courses the past few years, so having that notebook to build off of will be great. I think specifically for this weekend, the name of the game is going to be survival. We need to qualify well and get what we can without being too greedy.”

About J.F. Electric: J.F. Electric is an electrical contractor that provides engineering expertise, backed by construction and installation know-how in a diverse range of service offerings, from utilities and commercial projects, to industrial and telecommunications customers. When having a long family history in an industry, a company not only builds on its knowledge and experience, it takes pride in cultivating a solid understanding of client needs, all the while nurturing strong relationships with its employees. Evolving through five generations of the Fowler family, J.F. Electric has matured into a well-managed and thoughtfully diversified electrical contractor which is poised to continue its growth and expansion into the future.

About Utilitra: Utilitra is a woman-owned firm specializing in utility and technology solutions with a diverse team of specialized professionals. Utilitra is committed to solving their client’s unique challenges, whether one expert or a team of experts is needed. By adapting to the needs of their respective industries, Utilitra has built a range of services for their utility and technology partners.
No. 44 Trim-Tex Drywall Solutions Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Josh Bilicki | Crew Chief: Wally Rogers
Josh Bilicki Racing
@JoshBilicki
@JoshBilicki
Website

  • Bilicki Joins the Team: NASCAR veteran, Josh Bilicki, will make his debut with Niece Motorsports on Saturday. Bilicki, who has competed in over 225+ starts in the top-three national series, is an accomplished road course racer in other disciplines. He is slated to compete in one other race for the team at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in October.
  • Bilicki’s Lime Rock Stats: Josh Bilicki will make his first-career start in any series at Lime Rock Park on Saturday. He has driven the track several times before in track days / testing with other series, but has never raced here before.
  • Bilicki’s NASCAR Road Course Stats: Bilicki has only made one other road course start in a truck, which came at Sonoma Raceway in 2022. In NXS competition, Bilicki has competed on 10 different road courses (Road America, Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, Charlotte ROVAL, Indianapolis RC, Daytona RC, COTA, Portland, Chicago, and Mexico City), earning three top-10 finishes in total. He has also raced in several Cup Series events at different venues.
  • Rogers’ Lime Rock Stats: Wally Rogers will call his first race in any series at Lime Rock Park on Saturday.
  • On the Truck: Bilicki’s No. 44 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from Trim-Tex Drywall Solutions and Lemons Of Love.
  • Recapping Pocono: Conner Jones and the No. 44 team were forced out in an early Pocono exit due to a crash on lap 47. After starting 22nd, Jones was moving forward before getting collected, but the damage proved to be too severe to continue. He was credited with a 31st-place finish in his second outing with the team.
  • Owner Points Rundown: Following Jones’ crash in Pocono, the No. 44 team dropped to 17th in owner points. Heading into Lime Rock, the team is currently 12 points behind TRICON Garage’s No. 15 entry in 16th and 35 points ahead of ThorSport Racing’s No. 88 entry.
  • Quoting Bilicki: You’ve made some laps around here before, so how do you expect this weekend’s race to play out?

“Lime Rock is a track I’ve been to, but never raced at before. So, I feel good going into the track. There’s been a lot of sim work here, and it almost feels like it’s a backwards short track where you’re turning right. There’s only one left-hand corner here, but it’s really tight. I think the lap times are going to be under a minute. I think there’s going to be attrition, with guys using their bumpers because it’s such a tight track. Hopefully, we can qualify up front and stay there out of the mess all day and bring home a good result for the No. 44 team.”

About Trim-Tex: Trim-Tex Drywall Solutions, a world recognized manufacturer of drywall corner bead and accessories, is no stranger to the motorsports industry. Along with their CEO, Joe Koenig, Trim-Tex has been involved in the motorsports industry as a sponsor, team owner, and a competitor for nearly three decades.

About Lemons of Love: Lemons of Love is a nonprofit organization that delivers care packages to individuals undergoing cancer treatment to provide comfort and support. Each package is thoughtfully filled with items that help ease the side effects of chemotherapy and remind recipients they’re not alone. In addition to care packages, Lemons of Love offers free programs and resources to build community and spread hope.
No. 45 DQS Solutions & Staffing Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Kaden Honeycutt | Crew Chief: Phil Gould
Kaden Honeycutt Racing
@KadenWHoneycutt
@KadenHoneycutt10
Website

  • Honeycutt’s Lime Rock Stats: Kaden Honeycutt will make his first-career start in any series at Lime Rock Park on Saturday.
  • Honeycutt’s NASCAR Road Course Stats: Honeycutt has only competed in one prior road course race in a truck, which came at the Circuit Of The Americas in 2023. In his lone NASCAR road course race, he finished 15th.
  • Gould’s Lime Rock Stats: Phil Gould will call his first race in any series at Lime Rock Park on Saturday.
  • On the Truck: Honeycutt’s No. 45 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from DQS Solutions & Staffing, who will serve as his anchor partner for the majority of the season.
  • Living Life: There have been lots of reasons to celebrate in the Honeycutt household. On Monday, Kaden celebrated his 22nd birthday, and in just a few weeks, he and fiancée, Jessica, will get married before the series’ next outing in Indianapolis.
  • Recapping Pocono: Kaden Honeycutt and the No. 45 team matched their season-best showing with an impressive third-place finish. Honeycutt started off strong on the front row, and maintained track position through the first stage. With stage finishes of second and sixth, Honeycutt nabbed a total of 15 extra points on the day.
  • Points Rundown: Honeycutt’s third-place finish in Pocono vaulted him up to sixth-place in the championship points standings, up two positions from the previous week. Entering Lime Rock, he is five points behind Grant Enfinger in fifth, and 15 points ahead of Tyler Ankrum in seventh. The driver is currently ninth in the Playoffs standings with a 45-point advantage over the cutline.
  • Quoting Honeycutt: You don’t have a ton of road course experience, so what have you been doing to get acclimated to this type of racing?

“Thanks to Chevrolet, Scott Speed, and Josh Wise, I’ve been getting some help on the simulator. We’ve been going over Lime Rock and some characteristics there to see what we can do to be successful there. It’s all right-hand turns except for turn two, so we’ll be running right for 100 laps. I think it will be a very interesting race to see, and it looks like the track is pretty narrow. Passing zones will be pretty small, and I think everyone should unload pretty fast because of how simple the track layout is. Once we get through practice to see what kind of speed we have, I’ll dive into finding out what I can do to be better. You can always go faster on road courses, so it’s all about maximizing. But, the big thing is to stay on the track, and that should lead to a good day. We don’t have really big expectations, so hopefully we can exceed those and be fast.”

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Ty Dillon lifts lid on reasons behind Richard Childress Racing exit – Motorsport – Sports

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season has been an unexpected whirlwind for Ty Dillon in the No. 10 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing, with the inaugural In-Season Challenge, considered the brainchild of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, allowing him his moment in the limelight 11 years after making his debut with his grandfather’s team, Richard Childress […]

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The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season has been an unexpected whirlwind for Ty Dillon in the No. 10 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing, with the inaugural In-Season Challenge, considered the brainchild of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, allowing him his moment in the limelight 11 years after making his debut with his grandfather’s team, Richard Childress Racing.

33-year-old Dillon’s Cup Series journey has been a rocky one, spending two seasons on the books at RCR, where he failed to earn a full-time spot, before being dropped and forced to find his own way. 

For Dillon, failing to make it at RCR after racing with them in both the Xfinity and Truck Series was heartbreaking. He revealed: “I had success at RCR in the Truck Series and Xfinity Series and thought my path was just going to keep going that way, and hopefully race for RCR. That was my dream as a kid.” It comes after a NASCAR legend reveals he will be arrested if he visits his own father’s grave. 

Dillon continued on the Door Bumper Clear podcast: “I think a lot of people think that I chose to go my own way. But honestly, there just wasn’t a door there open. I think they had [Ryan] Newman at the time. I think Caterpillar wasn’t interested in having me as their driver, and having two brothers at RCR just wasn’t something that they wanted. 

“I don’t know all the politics behind it, but the door wasn’t there. And I wanted to continue my career. And Germain Racing gave me an opportunity with a four-year contract at that point. It’s just hard to turn down to be a Cup racer.”

Dillon said that he made the move to Germain, believing his success in the Xfinity Series would carry over and continue, but this wasn’t the case. After four seasons and just five top 10 finishes, sponsorship issues led Germain to cease operations after 2020, leaving Dillon without a team once again. 

This uncertainty led Dillon to question his racing future and consider hanging up his race suit for good in favor of a job working with his father-in-law building retaining walls. However, his wife Haley and her father convinced him not to give in, calling everyone he could think of in the Cup Series to work his way back into the mix.

Stints with Gaunt Brothers Racing, 23XI Racing, Petty GMS Motorsports, Spire Motorsports, Kaulig, Team AmeriVet, and even a one-off return to RCR followed before landing a full-time drive with Kaulig in 2025.

Despite these challenges, Dillon said that in hindsight, he wouldn’t change a thing, believing his experiences have helped him grow “as a person, as a man, as a husband, as a father, and just give me so much perspective for this time in my life to grind. 

“And I’m proud of who I am as far as somebody that like never giving up and never quitting has become so true to me. And I hope that that portrays not only to young kids or people trying to grow in the sport, but I can be a help to my kids, too, in their life, whether it’s racing or not, like just believing and continuing to push forward in what you want to do.”

Having narrowly beaten Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek in the fourth round of the Challenge at Dover, Dillon now heads to Indianapolis, where he’ll take on JGR’s Ty Gibbs for a shot at the $1 million prize fund.



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NASCAR will hold first street race on active military base at Naval Base Coronado in 2026 – News-Herald

By JENNA FRYER CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June as a replacement for its downtown Chicago event that ran the last three years. The move to the San Diego area does not eliminate a return to Chicago, where NASCAR will still maintain an […]

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By JENNA FRYER

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June as a replacement for its downtown Chicago event that ran the last three years.

The move to the San Diego area does not eliminate a return to Chicago, where NASCAR will still maintain an office and effort an eventual return, perhaps as early as 2027.

But the shift next year will allow NASCAR to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy by hosting all three of its national series over a three-day weekend on June 19-21.

“As part of our nation’s 250th anniversary, we are honored for NASCAR to join the celebration as we host our first street race at a military base, Naval Base Coronado,” Ben Kennedy, executive vice president and chief venue and racing innovations officer, said July 23. “NASCAR San Diego Weekend will honor the Navy’s history and the men and women who serve as we take the best motorsports in the world to the streets of Naval Base Coronado.”

It will be NASCAR’s second street race in the sport’s history, following the three-year run in Chicago, and first on an active military base. The course layout is not complete but is expected to be around 3 miles.

NASCAR has seen Auto Club Speedway close after the 2023 race. It built a temporary short track inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum from 2002 through 2024 but moved that event to North Carolina.

Kennedy, who has been bullish on new endeavors for his family business, was the brains of the races at the Coliseum, Chicago, this year’s visit to Mexico City and now next year in San Diego, a venture the Navy is excited about.

“NASCAR embodies the very best of the American spirit through speed, precision and an unyielding pursuit of excellence,” Navy Secretary John C. Phelan said. “Hosting a race aboard Naval Air Station North Island, the birthplace of naval aviation, it’s not just a historic first, it’s a powerful tribute to the values we share: grit, teamwork and love of country.

“From the flight deck to the finish line, this collaboration reflects the operational intensity and unity of purpose that define both the United States Navy and NASCAR.”

The base is known as the “West Coast Quarterdeck” and is a consortium of nine Navy installations that stretch from San Clemente Island 50 miles off the coast of Long Beach to the Mountain Warfare Training Facility 50 miles east of San Diego.

NASCAR named Amy Lupo, who has been with the series since 2021 and helped launch the Coliseum, as president of the race. She spent more than 20 years at ESPN expanding the X Games when she lived in San Diego early in her career. She still lives in Southern California.

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Active military base set to host NASCAR street race in 2026 | News, Sports, Jobs

The Associated Press The guided-missile destroyer USS Stockdale leaves Naval Base Coronado in 2016 in Coronado, Calif. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June as a replacement for its downtown Chicago event that ran the last three years. The move to the San Diego […]

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The Associated Press
The guided-missile destroyer USS Stockdale leaves Naval Base Coronado in 2016 in Coronado, Calif.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June as a replacement for its downtown Chicago event that ran the last three years.

The move to the San Diego area does not eliminate a return to Chicago, where NASCAR will still maintain an office and effort an eventual return, perhaps as early as 2027.

But the shift next year will allow NASCAR to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy by hosting all three of its national series over a three-day weekend on June 19-21.

“As part of our nation’s 250th anniversary, we are honored for NASCAR to join the celebration as we host our first street race at a military base, Naval Base Coronado,” Ben Kennedy, executive vice president and chief venue and racing innovations officer, said Wednesday. “NASCAR San Diego Weekend will honor the Navy’s history and the men and women who serve as we take the best motorsports in the world to the streets of Naval Base Coronado.”

It will be NASCAR’s second street race in the sport’s history, following the three-year run in Chicago, and first on an active military base. The course layout is not complete but is expected to be around 3 miles.

NASCAR has seen Auto Club Speedway close after the 2023 race. It built a temporary short track inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum from 2002 through 2024 but moved that event to North Carolina.

Kennedy, who has been bullish on new endeavors for his family business, was the brains of the races at the Coliseum, Chicago, this year’s visit to Mexico City and now next year in San Diego, a venture the Navy is excited about.

“NASCAR embodies the very best of the American spirit through speed, precision and an unyielding pursuit of excellence,” Navy Secretary John C. Phelan said. “Hosting a race aboard Naval Air Station North Island, the birthplace of naval aviation, it’s not just a historic first, it’s a powerful tribute to the values we share: grit, teamwork and love of country.

“From the flight deck to the finish line, this collaboration reflects the operational intensity and unity of purpose that define both the United States Navy and NASCAR.”

The base is known as the “West Coast Quarterdeck” and is a consortium of nine Navy installations that stretch from San Clemente Island 50 miles off the coast of Long Beach to the Mountain Warfare Training Facility 50 miles east of San Diego.



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NASCAR will host full weekend of racing on military base in 2026

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June as a replacement for the Cup Series event held in downtown Chicago for three years. The move to the San Diego area does not eliminate a return for the top-tier Cup Series to Chicago, where NASCAR will […]

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June as a replacement for the Cup Series event held in downtown Chicago for three years.

The move to the San Diego area does not eliminate a return for the top-tier Cup Series to Chicago, where NASCAR will still maintain an office and effort an eventual return, perhaps as early as 2027. Shane Van Gisbergen won the inaugural Chicago street race in 2023 as well as the third edition earlier this month — both times in a Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet — while Alex Bowman won the 2024 event.

The shift next year will allow NASCAR to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy by hosting all three of its national series over a three-day weekend on June 19-21. The Cup Series will take the track for the main event after races for the third-tier Truck Series and the second-tier Xfinity Series.

“As part of our nation’s 250th anniversary, we are honored for NASCAR to join the celebration as we host our first street race at a military base, Naval Base Coronado,” Ben Kennedy, executive vice president and chief venue and racing innovations officer for NASCAR, said Wednesday via a news release. “NASCAR San Diego Weekend will honor the Navy’s history and the men and women who serve as we take the best motorsports in the world to the streets of Naval Base Coronado.”

It will be the second exclusively street venue in NASCAR history — Chicago was the first — and first on an active military base. The course layout is not set, but it is expected to be close to three miles.

While NASCAR maintains a presence in the Golden State at Sonoma Raceway — this year’s Cup Series race there was held July 13 — that track is in Northern California. The circuit hasn’t visited SoCal for a regular-season race since the closure of Auto Club Speedway after the 2023 race at the track in Fontana, and while the preseason Clash exhibition was held on a temporary short track inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum from 2022 through 2024, that event was held this year at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Kennedy, who has been bullish on new endeavors for his family business, was the brains of the races at the Coliseum, in Chicago and at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City earlier this summer, and he also gets the credit for next year’s street showcase in San Diego, a venture the Navy is excited about.

“NASCAR embodies the very best of the American spirit through speed, precision and an unyielding pursuit of excellence,” Navy Secretary John C. Phelan said in a release. “Hosting a race aboard Naval Air Station North Island, the birthplace of naval aviation, it’s not just a historic first, it’s a powerful tribute to the values we share: grit, teamwork and love of country.

“From the flight deck to the finish line, this collaboration reflects the operational intensity and unity of purpose that define both the United States Navy and NASCAR.”

The base is known as the “West Coast Quarterdeck” and is a consortium of nine Navy installations that stretch from San Clemente Island 50 miles off the coast of Long Beach to the Mountain Warfare Training Facility 50 miles east of San Diego.

NASCAR named Amy Lupo, who has been with the stock-car sanctioning body since 2021 and helped launch the Coliseum’s hosting of the Clash, as president of the race. She spent more than 20 years at ESPN, a tenure that included helping the X Games when she lived in San Diego early in her career. She still lives in Southern California.

AP photo by Jae C. Hong / Pit crews work during a NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway on Feb. 26, 2023, in Fontana, Calif. The Cup Series will return to Southern California for a regular-season race for the first time since then with next year's event on a street course at Naval Base Coronado.
AP photo by Jae C. Hong / Pit crews work during a NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway on Feb. 26, 2023, in Fontana, Calif. The Cup Series will return to Southern California for a regular-season race for the first time since then with next year’s event on a street course at Naval Base Coronado.

Pacer will set the pace

INDIANAPOLIS — Brickyard 400 fans are about to get their own version of a “Pacers and Racers” weekend.

Organizers of the Cup Series race said Tuesday that three-time NBA All-Star selection Pascal Siakam, a forward for the Indiana Pacers, has been selected to drive the pace car for Sunday’s Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The announcement came two months after the Pacers played the New York Knicks in an Eastern Conference title series matchup on the same day as the Indianapolis 500. The events at IMS and Gainbridge Fieldhouse took place just a short drive apart.

It was just the fourth time a Pacers and racers doubleheader had taken place in Indy.

Now, though, Siakam will get a chance to experience the other part, this time leading the Cup Series cars to the green flag in a 2025 Chevrolet Blazer EV SS. The race will take place on the historic 2.5-mile oval for the second straight year after it had been run on the track’s road course from 2021-24 as the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard while part of a busy weekend that included the open-wheel IndyCar Series also racing there. The Cup Series first raced on the oval at IMS from 1994 to 2020 before NASCAR decided to change things up.

“Basketball and motorsports — Pacers and racers — go hand in hand in Indianapolis,” Doug Boles, the president of IndyCar and the speedway, said in a release. “Following the Pacers’ electrifying postseason run, it’s only fitting to have Pascal join us to pace the field as NASCAR’s biggest stars compete to win the In-Season Challenge and add their name to the history books with a win at the Brickyard.”

Siakam, who grew up in Cameroon, didn’t start playing basketball until he was 17 years old. A two-time All-NBA selection, he helped the Toronto Raptors win the league championship in 2019 and helped the Pacers reach this year’s NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who won the title after Indiana took the best-of-seven series the distance.



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NASCAR to hold race at Naval Base Coronado – NBC 7 San Diego

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Ryan Blaney takes issue with NASCAR playoff narrative amid raging debates on format

Ryan Blaney chimed in on the championship format debate Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Blaney pushed back on the narrative that drivers who have won a championship in the 16-driver playoff era were less deserving than those who won under the full season points format. “What kind of bugs me a little bit is the […]

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Ryan Blaney chimed in on the championship format debate Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Blaney pushed back on the narrative that drivers who have won a championship in the 16-driver playoff era were less deserving than those who won under the full season points format.

“What kind of bugs me a little bit is the people that are so diehard on, like, ‘If you won a championship in this format that we have now, oh, it’s a Mickey Mouse championship and it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t count,’” Blaney said. ‘It’s like, man, everyone has the same opportunity as the guy who won it. This isn’t the full season points. Like everyone always talks about like, ‘Oh, this guy, he would have won the full season points.’ Like, well, that’s great. But we haven’t used that format in 20 years.

“… I look at our championship as like, we had a good year, and we even had a better playoffs than everybody else. And we rose to the occasion when we needed to, and we dug in, and we were the best car during the playoffs and had some big wins and I was able to get the championship.”

Ryan Blaney joins in on NASCAR championship format debate

The current playoff format has come under fire following Joey Logano’s victory in the NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Phoenix this past season, in which the Team Penske driver captured his third title. Logano had an average finish of 17.1, the worst for a driver in a championship-winning season.

But in the playoff format, adopted in 2004 and tweaked along the way, winning is everything. NASCAR switched to an elimination style format in 2014, where 16 drivers make up the field. Winning at least one regular season race grants entry into the postseason.

Blaney won the championship in 2023. While far from the dominant car during the regular season, Blaney locked in during the playoffs. He won two of the 10 races, and finished second twice, including in the season finale at Phoenix.

Ryan Blaney reveals what he would change about NASCAR championship format

“I mean, everyone can have their opinion,” Blaney said. “It gets under my skin a little bit when they’re like, ‘You guys didn’t deserve that championship.’ It’s like, what are you talking about, man? Like we went through the grinder, everyone digs in. And we were resilient when it mattered.”

While Blaney will defend his championship against anyone, he is open to change when it comes to the playoff format. He said he doesn’t love the winner-takes-all nature of the final playoff race. Instead, Blaney would like to see a little more consistency rewarded.

“Do I have my ideal like championship format? Yeah,” Blaney said. “Like my opinion on it, I was a huge fan of the initial Chase. Last 10 weeks of the year, you kind of have somewhat of a reset in points and then you go 10 races and whoever had the best 10 races was going to win the championship.”



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