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NASCAR

Denny Hamlin Wins NASCAR Cup Series Race At Kansas Speedway

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Jamie Squire/Getty Images

KANSAS CITY, KS (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Denny Hamlin passed Stewart Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick wit 13-laps to go to win the Super Start Batteries 400 at Kansas Speedway Thursday night.  The win was the 5th of the year for Hamlin and 42nd of his Cup Series Career.

“I thought that we were in trouble,” said Hamlin, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing. “Our car didn’t have the all-out speed that a couple cars did. Certainly it looked like his (Harvick) had a ton of speed. But to kind of out-duel him at the end, it’s gratifying. But it only lasts this week. It doesn’t give me any false confidence going forward.”

Harvick was passed for second place by Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski with nine laps to go before fading to a fourth place finish.

“All in all a good night,” said Keselowski.  “Really came down to the last few restarts, who got the clean air, who pushed who. Just couldn’t quite get in front of Denny. I was a little bit faster than he was once we were up to speed, but not anywhere as fast as he was getting up to speed.”

Three Rivers Karting

“When we restarted fifth right there with 20 some to go, I really didn’t like our chances that much,” said Hamlin. “I just was trying to execute every restart perfectly. We were able to get to third. Another restart, execute that one nicely, we were able to battle it out.  This is a well-executed race. We won today with probably not the best car.”

Hamlin’s JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr finished third and said track position was key.

“We were really strong all day,” said Truex. “It seemed like as it started getting into the nighttime, it took us a little longer to get going on runs. If guys could beat us out of the pits on two tires or whatever, it would take us a long time to pass them. That was the biggest thing I noticed, was just being off a little bit on the short run later on just because guys were getting us on track position.”

The NASCAR Cup Series takes the weekend off, their first since returning from the COVID-19 break. The next Cup Series race is August 2, 2020 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

NASCAR

Chevrolet Blazer EV SS set to pace Sunday’s 67th Daytona 500

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Chevrolet Newsroom

DAYTONA, FL (February 11, 2024) – The 2025 Chevrolet Blazer EV SS is going to lead the NASCAR Cup Series field to the green flag in Sunday’s 67th running of the Daytona 500.

“Chevrolet has a long history with racing – it’s in our DNA – and the Blazer EV SS is a testament to that,” said Scott Bell, Vice President of Chevrolet.  “We’re excited for customers to watch the Blazer EV SS, the quickest SS we’ve ever produced, pace such an iconic race this weekend.”

The Blazer EV SS produces 615-horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque, which launches the vehicle from 0-to-60 in just 3.4-seconds.

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“We’re honored to have Chevrolet as a founding partner of Daytona International Speedway, and that the iconic brand chose to feature the all-new Blazer EV SS at the Daytona 500,” said Frank Kelleher, President of Daytona International Speedway.

This marks the first time a Blazer has paced the ‘Great American Race’ and the first time an EV has paced the race.  Sunday marks the 16th time a Chevrolet Bowtie will lead the Daytona 500 field to green.

Chevrolet will also pay the NASCAR Xfinity and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races as well:

  • A Corvette Stingray will be the pace car for the United Rentals 300 Xfinity Series race on Saturday, February 15.
  • A Silverado RST will be the pace vehicle for the Craftsman Truck Series Fresh From Florida 250 on Friday, February 14.

Chevrolet also plans to debut its Blazer EV.R NASCAR Prototype ahead of the Daytona 500. The prototype represents a joint effort between NASCAR and OEM partners with the intent of exploring new and emerging automotive technologies.

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NASCAR

Chase Elliott wins Cook Out Clash at historic Bowman Gray Stadium

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Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (February 2, 2025) — Pole winner Chase Elliott held off a dramatic charge from Ryan Blaney to win Sunday night’s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in front of a teeming, vociferous sellout crowd at the historic quarter-mile.

Adroitly working lapped traffic in the closing stages of the 200-lap season-opening exhibition race, Elliott crossed the finish line 1.333 seconds ahead of Blaney, who started last among the 23 competitors on a driver points provisional.

Elliott claimed his first victory in the Clash, which came to Bowman Gray after a three-year stint in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet reveled in the NASCAR Cup Series’ return to the iconic short track after an absence of 54 years.

“This environment is special,” said Elliott, who led 171 laps, including the first 96 before surrendering the lead to eventual third-place finisher Denny Hamlin. “This is a place that has a deep history in NASCAR. I think they deserve this event, truthfully.

“I hope we didn’t disappoint. It was fun for me at least, and we’ll hopefully come back here one day.”

Hamlin led twice for 28 laps, but faded after Elliott retook the top spot from him on Lap 126. And when Blaney slipped past Hamlin’s Toyota on Lap 147, it became a two-driver race.

But Blaney’s car tightened up in the late going, preventing the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford from challenging for the win. Blaney thought better of making an overly aggressive move on the series’ seven-time most popular driver.

“I’m not going to bulldog into him and get chased out of here with pitchforks,” Blaney quipped… “I just didn’t quite have enough right rear at the end to make a move on him.”

Joey Logano finished fourth, followed by Bubba Wallace, who advanced from his 14th-place starting position. Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick, Shane van Gisbergen and Chris Buescher completed the top 10.

Hamlin rued the final restart on Lap 121, after the seventh caution for Brad Keselowski’s spin off Wallace’s bumper.

Three Rivers Karting

“I just didn’t do very well on that restart there, and kind of lost the bottom, and Chase took advantage of it,” Hamlin said. “Once you get the lead, it’s a lot easier to hang on to it.

“I thought that they were just a little better that second half than we were, along with the 12 (Blaney) was as well. We just have to get a little bit better, but overall, a good day for our Sport Clips Toyota.”

In the last chance qualifier that determined positions 21 and 22 in the main event, Kyle Larson charged from the 10th starting position and survived nine cautions to win the 75-lap event and advance to the Clash.

On Lap 72, Larson grabbed the lead from Josh Berry, who was making his first competitive start for Wood Brothers Racing at the track where team patriarch and NASCAR Hall of Famer Glen Wood secured all four of his Cup Series victories.

Larson took the top spot for the first time on Lap 30 and led a race-high 36 circuits en route to the win. However, Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet sustained damage after he surrendered the lead to Erik Jones for a restart on Lap 65.

In a melee moments after racing resumed, Jones spun in a three-wide mishap with Berry and Larson and dropped out of contention.

“My car was way better than it was yesterday,” said Larson, whose eighth-place finish in his Saturday heat relegated him to the last chance qualifier. “That was fun. I was able to get to the front without really getting into too many people.

“But then after that long break (for local champion Burt Myers hard wreck on Lap 61), I cycled really tight for that restart and allowed Erik to get in front of me and just kind of lost control of the race at that point. Then, the next restart, it got crazy, and I got a bunch of damage.”

Berry, who started 13th, held second to secure the 22nd spot in the Clash. Berry and Larson finished 13th and 17th, respectively, in the main event.

“It got pretty rough,” Berry said. “You hate that it comes to that, but it is what it is—it’s the Madhouse, it’s Bowman Gray Stadium, it’s a tight race track, and you’re going to run into each other.”

Notes: Elliott is the 26th different driver to win the Clash and the eighth different driver to win the event in the last eight years. He’s the first driver to win in a Chevrolet since Jimmie Johnson did so in 2019… This was the sixth time the Clash has been won from the pole position.

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NASCAR

Chase Elliott leads pole winners’ sweep of NASCAR Clash qualifying races

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By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (February 1, 2025) —It was a great night for NASCAR’s most popular driver.

After setting the fastest time in the final four-minute practice session and earning the top starting spot in the first qualifying heat, Chase Elliott won that heat wire-to-wire to win the pole position for Sunday’s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium (8 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Elliott described track position at the tight quarter-mile track as critical to success.

“It’s going to be tough to win from the third or fourth row,” said Elliott, who will share the front row with Heat 2 winner Chris Buescher, who led every lap of the qualifier and held off new Joe Gibbs Racing hire Chase Briscoe to claim the second starting spot in the 200-lap exhibition race.

“I think the first couple of rows certainly have a massive advantage on the rest of the field. Obviously, anything can happen. You all have been watching long enough to know that anything can happen, and I’m well aware of that. But I think just in a normal circumstance of people not totally crashing each other or whatever—yeah, I certainly would want to be on the first couple of rows and, fortunately, we are. We’ll try to take advantage of that.”

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Heat 3 and 4 winners Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick will start from third and fourth on the grid, respectively. To underscore just how important starting position is, all four heat winners won wire-to-wire after posting the four fastest laps in the final practice sessions to earn their pole positions for the qualifiers.

The top five drivers in each heat advance to Sunday’s clash. The remaining 19 drivers will compete for two spots in a last chance qualifier that precedes Sunday’s main event. The 23rd spot in the field goes to the driver with the highest number of 2024 championship points not otherwise qualified for the Clash.

That provisional belongs to Ryan Blaney, who finished 10th after starting third in a wild first heat that featured three cautions in 25 laps. Kyle Larson, who started sixth and finished eighth in the second heat will have to race his way into the main event from the LCQ.

After battling a loose condition in his No. 17 Round Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford in the opening eight-minute practice session, Buescher benefited from adjustments made to the car based on considerable preparation time in the simulator.

“We had the changes ready, so when we got there and realized we were just way too loose, we were able to make quick adjustments to get in the ballpark,” said Buescher, who had failed to qualify for the main event in the last three Clashes at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Joining Elliott in the main event from Heat 1 were Brad Keselowski, Noah Gragson, Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain. Heat 2 qualifiers included Buescher, Briscoe, Shane van Gisbergen, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez.

Advancing from Heat 3 in addition to Hamlin were reigning NASCAR Cup champion Joey Logano, William Byron, Carson Hocevar and Alex Bowman. Joining Reddick from Heat 4 were Christopher Bell, Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric and Todd Gilliland.

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