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The Movie Paint Scheme Chronicle, 2004

Well, I thought nine movies across 15 schemes was a lot for 2003. Turns out that 2004 outdoes it with 16 schemes (but still nine movies). This continues our early-to-mid-2000s trend of a boatload of new releases getting their moment in the spotlight with a NASCAR scheme (or two, or three, or four), and the […]

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Well, I thought nine movies across 15 schemes was a lot for 2003.

Turns out that 2004 outdoes it with 16 schemes (but still nine movies).

This continues our early-to-mid-2000s trend of a boatload of new releases getting their moment in the spotlight with a NASCAR scheme (or two, or three, or four), and the last of a past release showing up (at least for a while).

This almost timed out well with the 20th anniversary re-release of Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, but 2005’s article will be next week instead (by the time this publishes, I’ll have already gone to a showing of the movie).

As for ’04, it’s funny to me how much movie sponsorships seemed to specifically favor the Labonte brothers. A bunch of movies on prominent teams’ cars, like Hendrick Motorsports? Makes sense.

But just specifically those drivers seemed interesting to me.

The Passion of the Christ

We kicked off the 2004 season with the most irreverent, out-of-nowhere, bizarre movie sponsorship to ever hit the track: Mel Gibson’s controversial film The Passion of the Christ graced the hood (and roof, at least the sky design) of Bobby Labonte‘s Daytona 500 car.

Labonte started 13th and finished 11th.

There’s got to be a fun, wild story behind how this came together (presuming Joe Gibbs was behind it), especially because it’s not a full-car sponsorship yet has two of the most prominent panels of the car!

At least we don’t have a bloodied-up Jim Caviezel with the Crown of Thorns on the car. No, blood still features on a car in the same season. But in a much different context and just a few weeks later.

The Punisher

The aforementioned blood shows up on one of my personal favorites, purely because they somehow got away with this design on Brendan Gaughan‘s scheme for Bristol Motor Speedway in the spring of 2004:

Simple, but the background of red and black with the pop of the No. 77 and the Kodak logos works so well.

In just his sixth Cup start ever, Gaughan was running 11th with 19 to go, but spun in traffic and took damage. I remember reading a thing in NASCAR Illustrated about “The One that Got Away” with Gaughan, where he talked about the ’04 Food City 500 and talked along the lines of thinking he had the car to win it. He did salvage a 20th-place finish.

NASCAR: The IMAX Experience

This one ran before and after the Gaughan car (in early March and early May), with the No. 30 of Johnny Sauter taking on some underwhelming-at-best promotion of the first NASCAR documentary to hit the big screen.

The car entered at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway in March and May, respectively. Sauter started 30th or worse and finished lower than 20th in each.

NASCAR: The IMAX Experience is the first film I remember seeing in a theater (shoutout the domed screen at the Science Museum in Richmond, Va.).

Not the most showy scheme, but that documentary certainly put things more on the map.

Shrek 2

Across a two-week span, Joe Gibbs Racing had the wide, green features of Shrek across its Nos. 20 and 18 cars at Charlotte Motor Speedway. First, Tony Stewart had a more swamp-slime-themed car in the All-Star Race, where he started fifth and finished third.

A week later, Labonte’s No. 18 had the big-ass face of Shrek on the hood in the Coca-Cola 600. I think Stewart’s car looked slightly better, as nauseating as the orange-and-green color combo was. Stewart also outperformed his teammate, as Labonte finished 13th but did qualify ninth.

More importantly, McFarlane made this absolutely bizarre set of Labonte and a firesuit-clad Shrek that I still can’t believe exists. (They also made one of Stewart and Donkey, but that one isn’t as visually disturbing).

Spider-Man 2

Thank god for “BROskeeWowWow” because I’d otherwise have no real photo of this car to link to in this article.

Terry Labonte ran a car for Spider-Man 2 at the summer race at Daytona in 2004, starting 10th and finishing eighth. I don’t have a ton to say about this one, other than that it’s good to see the trend of promoting the Raimi movies continuing and that it’s also kind of an underwhelming car.

I do love the creativity of having it look like Spidey is crouching on the hood of the car, but the rest of the design is so muted that there’s not much to write home about.

It’s easily the worst of the four Spider-Man cars promoting the original trilogy — a shame, since Spider-Man 2 is one of the best superhero films ever made — though the bar was already set pretty high with the Robby Gordon No. 31 in 2002.

Shark Tale

Cross-series for the first time in 2004, Shark Tale showed up in Busch and Cup Series races late in the season.

Kasey Kahne ran the blue No. 38 three times in the late summer and early fall, at Michigan International Speedway (started 10th, finished fifth), Auto Club Speedway (third / fourth) and Kansas Speedway (second / 13th) in the Busch Series.

Decent scheme, but oddly success-avoidant — Kahne made two starts in between the second and third races he ran in this car, and won pole both times. Just couldn’t in the Shark Tale car, I guess.

At Talladega Superspeedway that fall, Ward Burton took on the mantle of promoting the movie via his No. 0 NetZero car in the Cup Series.

Kahne’s car definitely pops more, but I’m a sucker for a really cool shark mouth design (see old warplanes or paint schemes like Bubba Wallace’s Warthog livery). Burton did nab a top-10 effort with a 10th-place finish.

Shark Tale is also probably the closest Martin Scorsese has ever gotten to being associated with NASCAR.

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Where else but Kansas Speedway would schemes commemorating the landmark 1939 film run? The Wizard of Oz celebrated its 65th anniversary in 2004, though it appears that nothing specific was being promoted via these schemes.

A special box set didn’t drop until the following year, so it might’ve been subliminal promotion for that? The Internet, for once, yields no answers.

The only place I could find the schemes all (mostly) together was this tweet of Jeff Gordon‘s, Elliott Sadler‘s and Scott Riggs‘ cars recreated in iRacing.

My favorite, though, was Gaughan’s. This continues Gaughan’s trend of top-tier movie schemes that year. Gordon’s was fine, a decently-repurposed version of his normal DuPont scheme; Sadler’s a pretty neat take on the yellow-brick-road concept; and Riggs’ an adequate feature of the Tin Man.

But Gaughan’s had film strips with actual stills from the movie, all while retaining the Kodak branding, which was pretty sick.

Sadler came out the victor of the four cars, finishing fourth. Gaughan came home 10th, while Gordon finished 13th and Riggs 26th.

The Spongebob Squarepants Movie

A week after Kansas, our second cross-series promotion came in the form of The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie. In the Busch Series, Hendrick Motorsports fielded the Nos. 5 and 48 for Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson, respectively.

Of note, too, that’s three straight weeks (Talladega – Kansas – Charlotte) of movie cars hitting the track in the Cup Series.

Johnson, understandably, got our title character of ‘Bob on the hood. Busch was relegated to Patrick Star gracing his nose, but I’d argue that his scheme is better — I’m a big fan of when movie cars actually sort of set a scene, and we get the sandy landscape of Bikini Bottom around the skirts of Busch’s car.

Both cars ran at Charlotte Motor Speedway that fall. Johnson did better, starting 20th, but finishing third while Busch timed 18th and ended up fifth.

Less than 24 hours later, Casey Mears had the main event version of the SpongeBob cars, with his Cup scheme carrying the primary branding for the movie on his hood.

Mears qualified extremely well with a third-place effort, but ended up finishing 20th when the checkered flag waved.

Fantastic scheme, though.

The Incredibles

That’s two for Terry and two for Bobby in ’04. Labontes had a big year with movie schemes.

In the third-to-last Cup event of the season, Labonte had The Incredibles grace an all-black version of his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Not the most involved of schemes, but we do get all the main characters of one of the best (and probably my favorite, besides Cars) Pixar film ever made on the flanks and hood of Labonte’s No. 5.

Kind of underwhelming, just like Terry’s Spider-Man 2 car, and it wasn’t great on-track either — starting 31st and finishing 32nd at Phoenix Raceway.

Seven drivers from this list will show up again next week, when we talk about 2005’s movie cars (including another winning scheme).

Follow @adamncheek


Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He’s freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek’s Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.





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CHEVROLET NCS AT ALL-STAR OPEN: Hocevar Post-Race Quotes – Speedway Digest

Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, won the All-Star Open race to secure his first career start in the main event. Hocevar marks Chevrolet’s 10th driver in the lineup for the All-Star Race. How tough was it out there to win that race? “We were really loose. I had my hands […]

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Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, won the All-Star Open race to secure his first career start in the main event. Hocevar marks Chevrolet’s 10th driver in the lineup for the All-Star Race.

How tough was it out there to win that race?

“We were really loose. I had my hands full, for sure. It’s great to be an All-Star, per say, for a night and be able to be in the big show. I’ve watched this race and been a fan for all my life, so to be able to do this and win the Open is super cool. I think it tells a lot about this race team. North Wilkesboro Speedway is incredible. I love everything about this facility.

I liked our racecar yesterday.. I didn’t like it today. But if we’re that fast and I don’t like it at all, hopefully this is a good sign for us. The Indiana Fever team won last night, so we’re going to have to try and hopefully have a shot at it in the All-Star Race.”

Describe the discipline of leading on the outside and having people inside of you..

“Yeah, especially with the Open, right? It’s make it or bust, so you know people are going to be aggressive. For me, it’s just a good ole fashion dirt racing feel – just running the top, trying to unwind the wheel, get momentum and get them on exit. Unlike dirt racing, they can hit you and get you in the left-rear. Of all people, I probably deserve it more than anybody else or have one coming. No problem of just being aggressive there, but everyone was racing really clean and respectful. Being able to control the restarts really helped that.” 

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Carson Hocevar wins All-Star Open; Nemechek advances from second; Gragson wins fan vote

Carson Hocevar led the final 46 laps to win the All-Star Open at North Wilkesboro Speedway, advancing into the All-Star Race main event. John Hunter Nemechek finished second to claim the other transfer spot from the 100-lap warmup race. “It’s super big for this group, this team,” Hocevar told FS1’s Regan Smith. “It’s great to […]

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Carson Hocevar led the final 46 laps to win the All-Star Open at North Wilkesboro Speedway, advancing into the All-Star Race main event.

John Hunter Nemechek finished second to claim the other transfer spot from the 100-lap warmup race.

“It’s super big for this group, this team,” Hocevar told FS1’s Regan Smith. “It’s great to win. Especially being challenged by tires there. I had my hands full. We definitely have to go to work here on my race car because I didn’t really like it. But it’s a good sign we didn’t really like it and were still pretty quick there.”

ALL-STAR OPEN: Click here for results l Click here for penalty report l Click here for race notes

NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race - Qualifying Heat

Twenty-three drivers will race for the $1 million prize with winning the exhibition race.

Noah Gragson claimed the third and final transfer spot by winning an online fan vote.

“It means a lot,” he said after finishing 17th in the Open. ” I’m very grateful to have all of the support from the fans and I feel like we’ve got a pretty good race car. We struggled. I lost power steering in the Open race, so we’re gonna try and get that better for the All-Star Race. It’s such a cool atmosphere here and such a cool experience. I’m very lucky to be able to be a part of it.”

Ty Dillon finished third, followed by Ty Dillon, Erik Jones and Michael McDowell.

Pole-sitter Shane van Gisbergen finished 13th after leading the first 54 laps on the 0.625-mile oval. The Trackhouse Racing driver fell to sixth by taking four tires on a pit stop at the halfway break. Hocevar took the lead as one of five drivers who took two tires during the All-Star Caution.

“I don’t know whether to smile or cry,” van Gisbergen, who is ranked 35th in the points standings, told FS1’s Jamie Little. “It’s been a dismal year for us. But I feel like we’re getting better every week. This shows it. It was awesome to lead some laps. I was out front driving like a grandma and felt like it was easy. But I still felt like the tires were going to off. We took four. Once I was back (in traffic), no grip, and I put myself in some bad spots, too. It was awesome to lead laps. We’re getting better.”

After slamming into Todd Gilliland twice on the cooldown lap, van Gisbergen drove his No. 88 Chevrolet into Gilliland’s No. 34 Ford in the pits. Gilliland and van Gisbergen then had a civil conversation outside their cars.

“I gave him a little spray,” van Gisbergen said. “It is what it was. He wasn’t happy. Whatever.”

All-Star Open results

1. Carson Hocever, No. 77 Chevrolet,
2. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Toyota
3. Ty Dillon, No. 10 Chevrolet
4. Erik Jones, No. 43 Toyota
5. Michael McDowell, No. 71 Chevrolet
6. Zane Smith, No. 38 Ford
7. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Chevrolet
8. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota
9. Cole Custer, No. 41 Ford
10. Riley Herbst, No. 35 Toyota
11. Ryan Preece, No. 60 Ford
12. Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Ford
13. Shane Van Gisbergen, No. 88 Chevrolet
14. Justin Haley, No. 7 Chevrolet
15. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Toyota
16. Cody Ware, No. 15 Ford
17. Noah Gragson, No. 4 Ford
18. Chad Finchum, No. 66 Ford





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Results of Cup Series All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro

Daytona Motor Mouths: Kyle Larson wins at Kansas. Next up, Indy 500 The guys start with the Indianapolis 500 and Kyle Larson’s double attempt after his win at Kansas. Then, they discuss the NASCAR All-Star Race. Christopher Bell found Victory Lane for the fourth time this season, taking the checkered flag of the NASCAR All-Star […]

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Christopher Bell found Victory Lane for the fourth time this season, taking the checkered flag of the NASCAR All-Star Race Sunday at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Bell started second. Brad Keselowski was the pole winner. He placed 22nd.

Defending champion Joey Logano led a race-best 139 laps before Bell passed him with nine to go. Logano finished second.

Bell led 28 laps across four stints up front.

Here’s the full finishing order:

NASCAR standings: Results from All-Star Race today

  1. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
  2. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
  3. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
  4. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
  5. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
  6. William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
  7. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
  8. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
  9. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
  10. Chris Buescher, No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford
  11. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
  12. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
  13. Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
  14. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
  15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 HYAK Motorsports Chevrolet
  16. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
  17. Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
  18. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
  19. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
  20. Harrison Burton, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
  21. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
  22. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford
  23. Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet



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Michigan driver wins exhibition race, earning his way into NASCAR All-Star Race

The 22-year-old Carson Hocevar won the NASCAR All-Star Open on Sunday, May 18, at North Wilkesboro Speedway, punching his ticket into the All-Star Race later in the evening. It will be Hocevar’s first appearance in the All-Star Race. It’s his second season in the NASCAR Cup Series. The Portage native took the lead halfway through […]

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The 22-year-old Carson Hocevar won the NASCAR All-Star Open on Sunday, May 18, at North Wilkesboro Speedway, punching his ticket into the All-Star Race later in the evening.

It will be Hocevar’s first appearance in the All-Star Race. It’s his second season in the NASCAR Cup Series.

The Portage native took the lead halfway through the race by changing only two tires on a pit stop. He held off challengers to earn the exhibition race win.

“I had my hands full,” Hocevar said. “We definitely have to go to work here on our race car. I didn’t really like it – but it’s a good sign that I didn’t like it and we were still pretty quick.”

The All-Star Race starts at 8 p.m. Sunday on FS1. The winner gets $1 million. Only four drivers who have advanced from the All-Star Open have gone on to win the All-Star Race.

MORE: How to watch the 2025 NASCAR All-Star Race today

Rochester Hills native Brad Keselowski is on the pole for Sunday night’s main event.

Michigan’s third driver also nearly earned his way into the race – as the top two finishes in the All-Star Open advance to the main race. Erik Jones, of Byron, nearly took second place in the final laps, but ultimately couldn’t pass his teammate, John Hunter Nemechek.

NASCAR North Wilkesboro Auto Racing

Carson Hocevar gets the checkered flag in the NASCAR All-Star Open auto race Sunday, May 18, 2025, in North Wilkesboro, N.C. (AP Photo/Scott Kinser)AP

Hocevar is driving the No. 77 Indiana Fever/Gainbridge Chevrolet. He’ll start 21st in the All-Star Race.

It’s been an eventful year so far for Hocevar, with a second-place photo finish, his first career Cup pole position and a victory in the Truck Series.

MORE: Michigan 22-year-old falls just feet short of first NASCAR Cup victory



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CSBK: Collins Wins Again In Supersport At Shannonville – Roadracing World Magazine

Collins wins shortened Supersport race two at Shannonville The Canadian Storm continued to steal the show at the Bridgestone CSBK opener on Sunday, as Torin Collins capped off a perfect weekend with a race two victory in the Pro Supersport class at Shannonville Motorsport Park. Collins faced far more adversity than in his runaway win […]

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Collins wins shortened Supersport race two at Shannonville

The Canadian Storm continued to steal the show at the Bridgestone CSBK opener on Sunday, as Torin Collins capped off a perfect weekend with a race two victory in the Pro Supersport class at Shannonville Motorsport Park.

Collins faced far more adversity than in his runaway win on Saturday, fending off a lap one assault from defending champion Sebastien Tremblay as part of a six-rider group in the early stages.

After clearing Tremblay and resisting a charge from Trevor Daley, it was Matt Simpson who began to pose the biggest threat as he climbed his way back from a poor start to lap faster than everyone on track – including Collins out front.

Unfortunately, an incidental collision between Daley and Simpson exiting the turn five hairpin would cause a brake failure for Simpson off the end of the long back straightaway, resulting in a terrifying crash for the 2023 championship runner-up.

Simpson thankfully avoided any critical injuries and is expected to make a full recovery.

The crash would force a red flag stoppage, however, with an eight-lap restart as a result of the race not meeting half-distance.

This time it was Daley who would grab the holeshot, igniting an epic first-lap battle between himself and Collins as they traded places in turn five and down the back straightaway.

Collins would then make the race-winning move in spectacular fashion into the Allen’s chicane, barely getting his Novalda Suzuki stopped as he moved past Daley and began to stretch his lead once again.

The 19-year-old would run a comfortable pace the rest of the way to escape with a second career victory in the Supersport category, confirming himself as the favourite for the 2025 middleweight crown.

“I didn’t think I was getting the bike stopped on that pass, to be honest. I was all over the place there,” Collins laughed, before acknowledging his strong opening round with a broom gesture. “Pole position, one win, now two wins – that’s a weekend sweep!”

Sunday’s Supersport podium from Shannonville Motorsport Park (L-R): Sebastien Tremblay (3rd), Torin Collins (1st), and Trevor Daley (2nd). Photo by Rob O’Brien/CSBK

As for Daley, the OneSpeed Suzuki rider mounted an excellent comeback from seventh on the grid to claim an excellent runner-up finish, moving to second in the championship after round one.

“First of all, I just want to send my thoughts to Matt Simpson, I hope he’s okay. That looked pretty scary,” said Daley from the podium. “I got a great start, couldn’t quite hang with Torin but I have to give a huge thanks to Suzuki. The bike is great, and to have three of us up here is pretty awesome.”

Tremblay would take third to complete a different kind of sweep for Suzuki, as they locked out the podium thanks to the S.T. Motorsports rider. While he was unable to launch a last-lap pass on Daley, the consecutive third-place finishes will keep Tremblay’s hopes of a title defence in good shape as he takes a 17-point deficit into round two at AMP.

Elliot Vieira held onto fourth for GP Bikes Ducati after a great start of his own, running with the lead group both before and after the restart before ultimately settling into a comfortable position aboard his V2 Panigale.

Another couple of laps and Vieira may not have been as lucky, however, as the hard-charging duo of Andrew Van Winkle and Alex Michel were quickly reeling in the Ducati rider in the final moments.

Van Winkle would settle for an impressive fifth after starting from 12th on the grid for Mountainview Motorsports Suzuki, finishing tops amongst the “old-gen” machines on his GSX-R600.

That was just narrowly ahead of fellow old-gen rider Alex Michel, who earned an impressive sixth for SpeedFactory67 Kawasaki as he matched the pace of the leaders in the late stages aboard his ZX-6R Ninja.

The podium lockout for Suzuki will give them a commanding early lead in the Supersport Constructors Championship, while Ducati moves past Yamaha for second after Simpson’s unfortunate crash, just 45 points adrift of Suzuki thanks to the performances of Vieira and Philip DeGama-Blanchet (eighth).

The Supersport category will return for round two at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Nova Scotia, a favourite circuit of reigning champion Tremblay as he looks to chase down Collins atop the 2025 standings.

Full results can be found on the series’ official website: www.csbk.ca



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Christopher Bell, your All-Star Race winner

Daytona Motor Mouths: Kyle Larson wins at Kansas. Next up, Indy 500 The guys start with the Indianapolis 500 and Kyle Larson’s double attempt after his win at Kansas. Then, they discuss the NASCAR All-Star Race. Christopher Bell won the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Christopher Bell didn’t answer with a “yes” or […]

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  • Christopher Bell won the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Christopher Bell didn’t answer with a “yes” or “no.” But he made his thoughts pretty clear.

“That right there was absolutely incredible,” Bell said after winning the NASCAR All-Star Race on May 18. “North Wilkesboro — best short track on the schedule.”

Then, he fielded a question on the Fox broadcast about if he wants a points race at the historic speedway in North Carolina.

“Let’s go!” Bell shouted in response.

With nine laps to go, the 30-year-old wheeled his No. 20 Toyota past Joey Logano. He held on the rest of the way and reaped the benefits.

Logano finished second. Ross Chastain placed third, Alex Bowman ranked fourth and Chase Elliott was fifth.

Here are three takeaways:

1. Christopher Bell continues standout NASCAR season with All-Star prize

No, Bell won’t receive playoff points for his victory at North Wilkesboro. He pocketed $1 million, though.

And the race continued his standout campaign, during which he sits third in the standings. He claimed three straight races in February and March, tying him with Kyle Larson for most wins on the circuit.

Bell started second and led 28 of the 250 laps. Logano fronted the pack for a race-high 139 before Bell overtook him late.

The race featured 18 lead changes and five cautions.

2. Harrison Burton returns to Cup Series for one race

Fans see 22 of the All-Star Race’s 23 participants every Sunday. They’re full-time Cup Series drivers.

Then, there was Harrison Burton.

Burton, 24, lost his seat with the Wood Brothers following last season. But he scored his first career Cup Series victory at Daytona International Speedway’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 last August. That guaranteed him a spot in the All-Star event, which promises a starting position for each winner from the past two seasons.

He placed 20th Sunday, piloting the No. 51 car.

This season, he’s full-time in the Xfinity Series. He drives the No. 25 Ford for AM Racing and has six top-10s through 12 races.

3. Next up, Charlotte — and Kyle Larson’s Indy 500

The Cup Series returns to regular circumstances, not a for-fun exhibition, next week. It will run the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It is scheduled for 6 p.m. Bell also won that race last year.

Kyle Larson will attempt another double dip next weekend. He’ll begin with the Indianapolis 500 at noon Sunday. Then, he’ll boogie to Charlotte and try to compete in the NASCAR race that evening.



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