By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

RICHMOND, VA – It’s been the ultimate celebratory week for TRICON Garage driver Kaden Honeycutt who absolutely dominated the weather-delayed Black’s Tire 250 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway Saturday afternoon – the strong winning effort coming only days after the 23-year-old Texan announced he and his wife Jessica were expecting their first child.

Honeycutt led 225 of the 250 laps at the .75-mile track – the most laps he’s ever led in a single race – surpassing his 59 laps out front at Darlington, S.C. earlier this year – more laps led than in all his 75 previous series races combined. And for the first time in his career, he swept both stage wins as well.

Ultimately Honeycutt’s No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota crossed the line a healthy 1.313-seconds ahead of his teammate, reigning series champion, Corey Heim in the team’s No. 5 Toyota Tundra. After a series of late race pit stops, Honeycutt reclaimed the lead with 29 laps remaining and never looked back.

His strong day broke a long-tenured Richmond race pattern where the driver who leads the most laps does not typically win the race. Honeycutt was strong early and often…at one point holding the lead position for a 195-lap stretch.

This marks his second career win and second of the season and trims Saturday’s 15th place finisher, Front Row Motorsports driver Layne Riggs’ championship lead to 61 points heading into the regular season finale next week at New Hampshire.

The victory is also significant for Honeycutt’s veteran crew chief Scott Zippadelli, who now claims 38 career series victories, second all-time to Eric Phillips 44-trophy haul.

“Man, we never give up,’’ Honeycutt said. “We’ve had a rough last couple weeks and just wondered what the heck was going on. We’re not a seventh place, tenth place team and it’s all thanks to [crew chief] Scott Zippadelli and everyone on this 11-team.

“We just stay on it. We don’t give up and I just can’t thank everyone enough. What a dominant day. I’ve never been able to do something like that before so really good confidence for me and hopefully we can go to Loudon (N.H.) and do the same thing next week. Just really cool.’’

McAnally-Hilgemann’s Christian Eckes was third in the No. 91 Chevrolet with first-time series pole-winner, New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen finishing fourth in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet in what will be a Saturday doubleheader as he competes Saturday night here in the NASCAR Cup Series race. Grant Enfinger, who led 22 laps on the day in the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet, rounded out the top-five.

As so often happens, the Richmond race proved to have a significant impact on the championship standings.

Tyler Ankrum—who came into the race ranked 11th, one position outside the Chase 10-driver championship-eligible field—was dealt a penalty for his No. 18 McAnnally-Hilgemann team having too many men over the pit wall on the opening pit stop of the race. After collecting stage points with an eighth-place finish in the first stage, he started the next stage as the last truck on the lead lap.

Ankrum was able to overcome the situation a mere 20 laps into the run, however, quickly re-passing his primary foe Stewart Friesen (who came into the race 10th in points) before moving to an 11th place finish in Stage 2 and ultimately the race.

Friesen brought out the third and final caution flag crashing by himself with 33 laps remaining and triggering an impactful twist in the standings. Ankrum’s steady work and Friesen’s misfortune—he finished last in the 37-car field—moved Ankrum into that all-important 10th position in the standings.

He’s now 20 points up on Friesen and 21 points over Saturday’s sixth place finisher, ThorSport Racing’s Jake Garcia as the series heads into the regular season finale next week at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway one-miler.

Those three drivers contending for that final Chase transfer position have only four previous starts among them at New Hampshire. Friesen has competed in two races there, his best work was a fifth-place finish back in 2017. He was injured and did not race last Fall. Ankrum and Garcia did race, finishing 11th and 16th respectively, in their only series starts at the New England mile.

ThorSport’s Ty Majeski also survived a hectic afternoon, the former Richmond winner officially locking into the Chase even after going down two laps with tire trouble early in the day. He finished 19th a lap down, but his perseverance on a challenging day was enough to secure his position into the Chase.

Garcia, Front Row Motorsports’ Chandler Smith were sixth and seventh with Spire Motorsports’ 16-year-old Tristan McKee earning an impressive eighth place finish in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut. TRICON’s Gio Ruggiero and McAnally-Hilgemann’s Daniel Hemric rounded out the top-10 Saturday. Virginian-native Elliott Sadler in the free agent Kaulig Racing Ram finished 32nd.

The regular season finale is set for next Saturday with the Team EJP 175 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The 2025 series champion Heim won last year’s race from pole position.

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

NEWTON, IA (August 10, 2026) – A two-tire call. An impeccable green-flag run. And Ty Gibbs had his second victory of the season.

Leap-frogging Joe Gibbs racing teammate Christopher Bell on pit road—thanks to crew chief Tyler Allen’s two-tire call on Lap 290 of 350—Gibbs kept Bell behind him the rest of the way in front of a packed house at 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway.

When Ross Chastain came to pit road to complete the cycle of green-flag stops, Gibbs had the race lead on Lap 331, with Bell close behind him.

Bell tried everything. Arcing high into the corner. Running the bottom. Crowding up to the bumper of Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota and trying to force a mistake. But with Gibbs repeatedly taking his line, Bell couldn’t find a way past his 23-year-old teammate, who had claimed his first career victory at Bristol Motor Speedway in April.

Before he could get to a race-winning position, Gibbs had to rally from a blown pit stop that cost him 25 positions at the first stage break. With a cool head after the miscue, he maneuvered his way back to the front.

“We made a big step from last year, obviously, and I really appreciate it,” said Gibbs, who has finished in the top four at all four short tracks so far this season. “But I really appreciate all my teammates, too.

“I wouldn’t be here without all my teammates as well, week in and week out, just help keep developing the program. And, obviously, we’re all up front for a reason. I really appreciate Denny (Hamlin) and Chase (Briscoe) and Christopher for all their help, obviously.”

For the seventh time this season, and for the fourth time in the last five races, Bell had to settle for second. That he climbed from 10th to sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with the runner-up result was of little consolation.

“This is what you call a bad second-place finish, for sure,” Bell said. “I don’t know what else to say. Ty did a really good job. He did a great job managing the race.

“I could tell that he was slipping and sliding around. Similar to last week or two weeks ago with Corey Heim (at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he just didn’t make a mistake. So P2.”

Pole winner Ryan Blaney came home third after leading the first 93 laps and winning the first stage. Josh Berry finished fourth in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford, scoring his first top-five of the season.

Overcoming brake problems and a start from the rear of the field, series leader Hamlin ran fifth and extended his advantage in the standings to 103 points over Gibbs, who jumped from fourth to second with the win.

“Just had to white-knuckle every lap,” said Hamlin, who complained of a “long” brake pedal early in the race. “Obviously, not knowing where my car was going to land when I got into the corner, obviously you want to have brakes, and that was a crazy race to have to do it the whole time without it.

“But you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. The team did an amazing job. I would take that day 100 out of 100 times.”

Chase Briscoe finished sixth, followed by Chastain, AJ Allmendinger, defending race winner William Byron and Austin Dillon. Sunoco rookie Connor Zilisch was 11th, matching his best Cup Series result on an oval track (2025 at EchoPark Speedway).

Shane van Gisbergen ran 30th, three laps down after spinning, but remained 15th in the standings with a 47-point margin over the current cut line for the Chase.

The race wasn’t five laps old when a slip by Tyler Reddick ignited a wreck that had profound implications for the series standings.

With both cars running in the top seven, Reddick’s Toyota broke loose in Turn 2 on Lap 4 and collected the Camry of Erik Jones. Both cars slammed the outside wall and sustained damage that knocked them out of the race in 35th (Jones) and 36th place (Reddick).

The accident cost Reddick two positions in the standings and dimmed his hopes of overtaking Hamlin for the regular-season title. He’s now fourth in points, 120 behind Hamlin with three races left before the Chase field is set.

“Just got out of shape in an area—corner entry—where I thought we were pretty secure all weekend,” a chagrined Reddick said after exiting the infield care center. “For us to take ourselves out is one thing, but to take out a fellow Toyota teammate when they are racing for the Chase… pretty much ended their day as well.

“It’s the type of stuff you don’t do to yourself, and you don’t do to a teammate.”

The early exit was a crushing blow to Jones, who came to Iowa 18th in the standings, 44 points below the Chase cutoff. He leaves the Hawkeye State 20th in points, 50 behind Austin Cindric in 16th, the last Chase-eligible position.

“Yeah, we needed a few perfect weeks, and it needed to start here today, and obviously that didn’t happen,” Jones said. “Just unfortunate with how early it is. I’m just trying to settle in and get going.

“You don’t expect it either in the top-10, top-five. You don’t think you are going to get caught up in something crazy like that. It’s a bummer. It’s a huge mountain now from here on out to get to the Chase, so we’ll see.”

Iowa once again proved a Waterloo for Kyle Larson, who started second and finished third in Stage 1, only to get collected with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman in a Lap 149 accident after John Hunter Nemechek forced Larson’s Chevrolet up the track and created an untenable four-wide situation on the frontstretch.

Larson finished 18 laps down in 33rd, two spots below his average finish for the first two Cup Series races at Iowa Speedway.

Blaney led three times for a race-high 129 laps, nine more than Bell’s total. Gibbs led the final 20 laps of the third stage, which ran under a green flag from Lap 219 through 350.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Sunday, July 26, 2026) – Corey Heim stepped into Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time Friday. Two days later, he was celebrating on Victory Podium after an impressive drive to victory Sunday in the Brickyard 400 presented by PPG.

Part-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Heim, from Marietta, Georgia, took the lead in the No. 67 Field & Stream Toyota of 23XI Racing on a frantic restart on Lap 127 and held off Christopher Bell over the final 34 laps for victory in his first Brickyard start. This was just his 15th career Cup Series race.

A star is born.

“This is a dream come true, winning at the Brickyard,” Heim said. “That was unbelievable. Caught a break early with the pit cycle and just executed all day. Made no mistakes, my pit crew and my team.”

Heim, 24, won the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship and is running a partial Cup Series season with 23XI Racing before joining the team full time in 2027. He became the first part-time driver to win this crown jewel NASCAR event and the second-youngest driver to win this race behind Jeff Gordon, who was 23 when he captured the inaugural Cup Series race at IMS in 1994. Gordon is the only other driver to win the Brickyard in his first start in the race.

This also was the second consecutive Brickyard victory for the 23XI team, co-owned by basketball icon Michael Jordan and Cup Series star Denny Hamlin. Bubba Wallace won last year for 23XI.

Bell finished second today in the No. 20 Rheem Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing, .287 of a second behind Heim. Three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano was third in the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford of Team Penske.

Indiana native Chase Briscoe placed fourth in the No. 19 Mobil 1 Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing, and Denny Hamlin placed three Joe Gibbs Racing cars in the top five in the No. 11 National Debt Relief Toyota.

Todd Gilliland earned a $1 million bonus for winning the NASCAR In-Season Challenge. He placed 24th in the No. 34 Grillo’s Pickles Ford of Front Row Motorsports, edging the No. 12 Menards/Delta Ford of fellow Challenge finalist Ryan Blaney of Team Penske, who finished 26th.

The pivotal point of the 160-lap race came on the final restart on Lap 127. Hamlin led the field to the green flag on the inside line, with teammates Bell and Briscoe right behind. Heim started second, on the outside line with Logano behind him.

But the JGR line on the inside lane was scattered, with Hamlin, Bell and Briscoe not aligned nose-to-tail to possibly bump-draft and keep Hamlin out front. Meanwhile, Logano pushed Heim ahead of Hamlin on the outside in Turn 1.

Hamlin nearly edged even with Heim in Turn 2, but Heim slammed the door shut and kept a lead he would never surrender.

“It’s a fight to win the race, and when you’re clear by an inch, you’re going to take that inch,” Hamlin said. “It’s really more on us and the 20 (Bell) and the 19 (Briscoe) to just not orchestrate the good pushes there.

“I thought the 20 was obviously onboard with giving us the push. It was just way too early, before the restart zone. I can’t go until you get to the restart zone. He said that Briscoe was on him way, way early or laying back, one of the two. That’s how you lose them. These restarts, when everyone kind of knows when you’re going to go, it’s about the pushes. That’s how I got the lead from the 67 (Heim) on the restart before.”

But once he got out front, it was far from a Sunday stroll to victory for Heim, who also won earlier this season in the street race at San Diego.

Bell stayed within three- to four-tenths of a second of Heim for the next 30 laps. He pulled to within .164 of a second with two laps to go, pouring on pressure, but Heim padded that gap to .364 of a second with one lap to go and held on to a loose-handling race car on the final trip around the 2.5-mile oval to win.

“That was a damn handful,” Heim said. “I was hanging on for dear life once the shade went down and the pace picked up. My car got really loose. I had never really been in a lot of clean air throughout the day, so that was the hardest I’ve ever fought in my life to just make sure I focused on exits and kept them in dirty air. I’m pretty out of breath. That was a workout.”

Said Bell: “I didn’t think I was going to be able to get there at all. My guys were telling me he was going loose, and I knew that was going really be my only opportunity, was a mistake by him.

“I knew that 35 laps was a very long run. Man, I just needed one bobble. If he would have had one bobble, I was going to be able to get there. But he did a great job. He showed excellent mental toughness and put together 35 good laps.”

Heim, who started seventh, led four times for 58 laps, both race highs.

Pole sitter Carson Hocevar led the first 31 laps in the No. 77 Ziegler Auto Group Chevrolet of Spire Motorsports before making his first pit stop. But he never led thereafter and finished ninth.

Heim inherited the lead on Lap 41 by running long on the first pit cycle before Ty Gibbs took the top spot on Lap 45 in the No. 54 SAIA Freight + Logistics Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing. Gibbs stayed there – also winning the first stage at the end of Lap 60 — until pitting on Lap 74, with Heim taking over the lead from Laps 75-91.

Ross Chastain won the second stage, which ended on Lap 100, in the No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet of Trackhouse Racing. By that point, Heim had climbed back to fifth and jumped to third when leader Chastain and second-place Gilliland pitted on Lap 101.

Nearly the entire field pitted for their final stops on Lap 115 during a caution, and Heim’s earlier pit strategy paid dividends. His previous stop was on Lap 93, later than most of his rivals, so he needed less fuel and a shorter stop, giving him the lead as the field approached the restart on Lap 120.

Hamlin passed Heim on the outside of Turn 1 on that restart, but another caution flew almost immediately when John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 42 Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota nudged Blaney into the Turn 3 wall. That set up the fateful final restart on Lap 127 where Heim took the lead for keeps.