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After earning a degree in Neurobiology and Neurosciences from Harvard in 2012, Patrick Staropoli competed part-time in the ARCA Menards Series East and West from 2013 to 2015, scoring his first career win at Irwindale Speedway before disappearing from the sport.
Last season, to the surprise of race fans, Staropoli returned to the sport after graduating from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in 2017 and working as a Vitreoretinal Surgeon for the better part of a decade.
This year, the 36-yearold is chasing Rookie of the Year honors as he tackles his first-ever fulltime season in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, after taking over the popular No. 48 for Big Machine Racing. WAS A RETURN TO NASCAR ALWAYS IN THE WORKS?
“I was a development driver for Michael Waltrip Racing, and then when MWR went away, so did sort of my path for continuing to move up the ladder. I was already in medical school at the time, so I went back and finished all of my training on that side, but I kept racing. I was still running late models, I did little tour type modifieds, just whenever I could for the last decade. . . like three to five races a year, whenever I
could get in a car, I was still competing and hoping that one day I would get another shot on a national level.”
HOW HAS THE SPORT CHANGED SINCE YOU LEFT?
“There’s quite a bit of difference. I would say that the data side of it is just so much more and is playing a bigger role in your preparation and your debrief every week. I mean, we didn’t have the SMT back in the day, so a lot of it was just like looking at onboard cameras and watching people on track and talking to a lot of people to get those tips that you need for each racetrack.”
WHO ARE SOME DRIVERS THAT YOU TALK TO FOR ADVICE?
“I talk to Austin Hill a lot. With Big Machine, we have the RCR alliance, so I see Austin every week at the debrief meetings, and he’s been really helpful with any questions I have. He’s gotten me up to speed at some of these places I haven’t seen. I’ve talked to Parker Kligerman a lot. He’s, you know, driven for Big Machine in the past, so he knows the whole crew here, he’s driven the same cars that I’ve driven. Then my buddy Joey Coulter. Obviously he has a lot of NASCAR racing experience. We’ve been friends since we were kids and even though he’s not actively racing I still lean on him pretty frequently.”
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WORDS:
In 2017, Ryan Blaney earned his first NASCAR Cup Series win at which track?
a. Talladega Superspeedway
b. Pocono Raceway
c. Charlotte ROVAL
d. Michigan International Speedway
In 2025, NASCAR held its first Cup Series points race outside of the United States since 1958. In which city was this historic event held?
a. Toronto, Canada
b. Mexico City, Mexico
c. Montreal, Canada
d. Monterrey, Mexico
This section includes 8 NASCAR trivia questions, divided into three levels of difficulty:
Rookie (4 Questions): Perfect for casual fans or newcomers.
Advanced (2 Questions): A challenge for seasoned NASCAR followers.
Expert (2 Questions): Only true NASCAR enthusiasts will ace this section!
Daniel Suárez became the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race while driving for which team?
a. Stewart-Haas Racing
b. Joe Gibbs Racing
c. Trackhouse Racing
d. Gaunt Brothers Racing
Kyle Busch made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut in 2001 at just 16 years old. With which team did he race for in this debut?
a. Roush Racing
b. Joe Gibbs Racing
c. Billy Ballew Motorsports
d. Hendrick Motorsports
Which Formula One legend made their NASCAR National Series debut with Kyle Busch Motorsports?
a. Gerhard Berger
b. Kimi Räikkönen
c. Jenson Button
d. Eddie Irvine
In the 2024 season, which driver ended a 110-race winless streak by winning at Darlington Raceway in the spring?
a. Brad Keselowski
b. Chase Elliott
c. Kyle Busch
d. Martin Truex Jr.
Before moving to Trackhouse Racing in 2022, Ross Chastain drove the No. 42 in 2021 for which organization?
a. Chip Ganassi Racing
b. Spire Motorsports
c. Kaulig Racing
d. JTG Daugherty Racing
EACH)
The Next Gen (Gen-7) car, used in the 2026 Cup Series, features a “transaxle” that combines which two components into one unit?
a. Engine Block and Oil Pan
b. Alternator and Water Pump
c. Transmission and Rear Differential
d. Fuel Cell and Fuel Pump
NASCAR fans are always looking for the best ways to show off their collections, finding different ways to limit space and maximize their collections. One NASCAR fan who has taken this to heart is Jack Freese, a diecast collector and team member at 23XI Racing. Through his 3D-printed diecast displays, which range from 1:24 to 1:64 scale, Jack has connected with many other fans and collectors in the community, including Jack Hartje. Hartje is a long-time NASCAR fan, with quite a collection of memorabilia and diecast.
Jack grew up in upstate New York near one of NASCAR’s tracks and the U.S. ‘s most historic racetrack, Watkins Glen International. During his teenage years, races at the track helped develop a love for racing, a passion that only grew when he moved to NASCAR’s home base in Concord, North Carolina.
One diecast that holds a special place in Jack’s collection is his 1:24-scale model of NASCAR Hall of Famer Red Byron’s 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88. The car is featured alongside a copy of Neal Thompson’s book Driving with the Devil, a book that Jack credits for his fondness for NASCAR’s early days.
Jack’s massive collection of diecast and memorabilia, like any great collector, started with a focus on one particular name, Dale Earnhardt Sr. Fortunately, this has grown from just Earnhardt to a focus on many drivers, both past and present, with his diecast displays featuring names ranging from Carson Hocevar to Tim Richmond.
Though Jack is a big fan of the Chevrolet Lumina body style that ran from 1989 to 1994, some of his more noteworthy pieces are his two Dale Earnhardt Aerocoupes. While these are usually bigticket items in the diecast community, he says he is proud to have scored them at a good deal.
In a fun twist, as Jack’s 1:24-scale diecast collection has grown, so has the need for space, leading him to decorate his house’s half bathroom with cars. Though this may be an odd choice, Jack says both he and his wife find the idea rather clever.
Since opening, Victory Junction has been a place families and caregivers can trust to safely care for their children, and that trust has always allowed caregivers to breathe while their children are having fun at Camp.
Building upon the principles of trust and safety, Victory Junction recently launched Camp Recharge, a program designed to offer even more families and caregivers weekend opportunities to experience the impact of Camp.
“For caregivers, there’s rarely any time for resting and recharging,” shared caregiver Larissa Mervin, mother of a Victory Junction camper. “Every single second of every single day is really accounted for and taken up.”
allows both children and caregivers to feel comfortable and supported throughout the experience.
“My first impression of Victory Junction was, wow,” said Larissa. “The amount of attention that goes into every part of Camp was incredible.”
The amount of attention that goes into every part of Camp was incredible.
LARISSA MERVIN Mother of a Victory Junction camper
Victory Junction’s medical and program teams work closely with families to ensure campers are cared for in a way that
“There’s definitely a sense of security with Victory Junction when it comes to medical needs,” said Jamaal Mervin. “They ask very in-depth questions.”
Families say the impact of a weekend experience continues long after Camp ends.
“There is absolutely nothing to lose by sending your child to Victory Junction,” said Marci Bruno. “You know your child is going to come home happier, guaranteed.”
Junction will be expanding Camp Recharge this fall, with plans to offer additional weekend sessions from September through December.
Victory Junction believes every child deserves to laugh, dream, and explore endless possibilities - but for kids with complex medical and physical needs, these things can sometimes feel out of reach.
Founded by NASCAR legends Richard and Kyle Petty, Victory Junction makes fun free and accessible, and helps kids build confidence and independence.
Kick the Tires by learning what makes camp life-changing. Then, Light the Fires by sending kids to camp - refer a camper or donate today!
and discover how you can get involved at
For over a decade, NASCAR fans had asked for the event to return in some form, allowing the sport’s Pit Crew Athletes a chance to shine in the spotlight during All-Star weekend. Ahead of NASCAR’s 2023 All-Star Race, NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports finally announced the return of the All-Star Pit Crew Challenge.
Unlike prior iterations, this revamped challenge would take place at the track during qualifying, with the fastest time setting the field, and a $100,000 bonus for the pit crew. But, alongside the many changes to the All-Star Race in 2026, this year’s event only set pit stall selection, though the fastest pit stop still scored the $100,000 bonus for the pit crew.
Of course, the pressure is not entirely on the pit crews, as drivers still have to complete three solid laps around Dover Motor Speedway and make the tricky transition from the track’s 24-degree banking and onto pit road.
From there, it was in the hands of the crewmen, with each of the 36 entries required to complete a fourtire stop with fuel.
In this year’s All-Star Pit Crew Challenge, an early surprise came just 14 drivers into qualifying, when Zane Smith’s No. 38 crew set down a blazing 12.612-second pit stop.
While Smith, ailed by a pit road speeding penalty, qualified 25th for the All-Star Race, the pit stop time stood for the next 22 entries, with the team scoring the $100,000 bonus and their choice of pit stall for Sunday’s main event.
The win was a shock to many NASCAR fans and a major milestone for the crew, which Front Row Motorsports leases from Joe Gibbs Racing, whose pit crew program has now won three of the four All-Star Pit Crew Challenges since the event’s 2023 re-launch.
Though, as the team’s Jackman, Nate McBride explained, the in-house contest between Gibbs’ pit crews leading up to the event showed that they could be a top competitor.
“We had our own little competition going up against, in my opinion, the best of the best with the 20, 19, 54, and 11 teams,” McBride said. “We ended up winning that during the week.”
For his part, McBride is no stranger to winning on a big stage. As a four-star linebacker recruit out of Vidalia, Georgia, he took his talents to the home team, committing to the University of Georgia ahead of the 2017 season.
Over his four years playing for the Bulldogs under Coach Kirby Smart, McBride saw the team win an SEC Championship, three Bowl games, and play for a National Championship during his freshman year.
Even when he made the transition to NASCAR in late 2021, McBride found himself in victory lane right off the bat, scoring a Crown Jewel win in the 2022 Coca-Cola 600 in his first Cup Series race as a member of Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 team.
But according to McBride, the win in the All-Star Pit Crew Challenge was another level, saying that the wait from the end of their pit stop to the final pit stop of qualifying was stressful for him and his teammates, all of which built up to something they will never forget.
“That time span from doing the stop, being P1 all the way to the end, it was honestly nauseating, to say the least,” McBride said. “But when it happened, you can’t compare it, because you work with those guys every day. Yes, it’s very similar to football in the sense that we just won something crazy. But the fact that it is focused solely on us, not on anyone else. Of course, Zane did his part, but... it was so surreal.”
Even with the prizes, including pit stall selection, $100,000, and one of the most unique trophies in NASCAR, McBride noted that the congratulatory nods from other pit crews in the garage, especially from their fellow JGR-trained pit crews, made the moment all the more joyous.
“Seeing all the Gibbs guys, the other pit crew guys, we’re all good friends with them, so they came by, they congratulated us,” McBride said. “Even though they didn’t win the day, they won the day, because the team motto at Gibbs is ‘One Team’ and it’s so cool seeing those guys come and support us.”
In his five seasons racing in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Parker Retzlaff has built a reputation on track, building on his skills and results in the series year over year.
This season, Retzlaff, in his new home of Viking Motorsports, got off to a career-best start, growing his following off track amongst NASCAR fans as one of the sport’s most popular underdog drivers.
Get to know Parker as he hopes to turn his great start to the 2026 season into his and Viking Motorsports’ first-ever Chase appearance in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
What’s your favorite pre-race meal?
Lately I’ve been doing spaghetti every week before the race, but either spaghetti or I do fried chicken and potatoes.
What’s your favorite non-NASCAR form of racing?
I would say off-road racing is actually what I wanted to do before I got into NASCAR, like short track off-road Racing.
I ran a pumpkin Halloween-themed car at Martinsville in 2023. It had a pumpkin on the side, a pumpkin face. That was probably my favorite car I’ve ever raced. What’s your favorite piece of racing memorabilia?
I have the bumper for my first Daytona O’Reilly car, my first top five, my first time ever going to Daytona, in NASCAR. So I have the bumper from that car, which I think is pretty cool.
What’s your favorite race track you have ever raced?
Rockingham. I really enjoy it, especially this year when it moved around a lot. I think Rockingham would probably be at the top of my list right now.
What is your favorite NASCAR paint scheme?
BY KAUY OSTLIEN
Hunter Megowen is one of the most well-known faces in the online RV creation space. His YouTube Channel, The RV Hunter, has well over 90,000 subscribers, and his Facebook and Instagram accounts, which range from tours to reviews, each reach over half a million followers every week.
Still, despite all his time working in and around the industry, as well as having a personal love for camping and RVs, Megowen had yet to check one major box off the bucket list camping experiences: the infield camping experience at a NASCAR race weekend.
While some might suggest that Megowen start at a historic track like Darlington Raceway, or one known for its closeness to the great outdoors like Watkins Glen, his first time camping at a NASCAR race was a dive headfirst into the deep end, setting up shop for Talladega Superspeedway’s spring race weekend.
Talladega, specifically a strip of what was once Anniston Air Force Base’s runway, now known as Talladega Boulevard, has a reputation for wild parties and all-nighters that have transcended the NASCAR community and earned it its own online reputation.
Still, Megowen, who is family-oriented, said that, for the most part, the infield camping experience at Talladega was far from the wild parties shown online (if you stay away from Talladega Boulevard).
“I heard Talladega was absolutely crazy, and don’t get me wrong, at night it definitely is,” Megowen said. “But during the day, everyone is buddies. I actually had dinner with three sets of people that I didn’t know each night that I had met during the day.”
But the campground wasn’t the only first-time experience for Megowen, who was also attending his first-ever NASCAR race weekend as a whole. As someone who admits not having come from a racing family, the racing was top-notch.
“I didn’t realize how athletic the drivers are,” Megowen said. “Obviously, I knew they had skill. I didn’t realize there was that much skill just being that close to each other. It’s pretty insane to see up close.”
Of course, for someone who is a veteran of the camping world, Megowen’s real notes came from the camping experience itself, and not just the nightlife or racing, and luckily for Talladega, it passed with flying colors.
“It was incredible,” Megowen said. “That’s everything that you want when you’re going camping. . . I think it was a very healthy mixture of getting alone time, but also you could just pop in somewhere, and people were always grilling out some burgers.”
While Talladega may have a reputation to uphold, the weekend left RV veteran hooked, with no doubt that he will be back in the campgrounds again.
The week of the 2026 Coca-Cola 600 can now be recounted and remembered through all manner of recordings - words, pictures, video, audio - that will carry its story well into the future. But in bearing direct witness, it was the environment itself that did the most to tell the tale.
The week in Charlotte began the way that late May and the week of Memorial Day should: Long hours of bright sunshine allowed warmth, color, and a pleasant air to highlight the vastness of the Carolina sky, and by mid-week that warmth became a baking heat that served an unmistakable reminder of summer’s imminent arrival. It created an ideal setting for a race week that always carries a collegial pleasantness in the greater Charlotte area - where drivers and teams enjoy the comforts of the home where they live and work, while also opening the door to swaths of visiting fans who come to share in the Coke 600’s tradition and make it their own.
The sunshine extended into Thursday morning, but the blue skies - and light hearts - were not to last.
On this day, Kyle Busch was supposed to be at Hickory Motor Speedway, competing in a Legends series race alongside his son Brexton, who just days before had turned 11 years old. But it turned out Busch was not going to race at Hickory, nor anywhere at all: Mid-morning, a statement was released that Busch had been hospitalized with a “severe” illness, and that he would not race while undergoing treatment. Taken at face value, it was merely a tough break for the two-time Cup champion, who had seemed to be back on the upswing after a change in crew chief had dramatically improved the performance of he and the No. 8 team.
But reading between the lines, something seemed off. The language involved in the statement – with the Busch family requesting “understanding and privacy” – as well as used by others who extended and asked for prayers, suggested something may be wrong. Few knew what - and those who didn’t tried to dismiss the idea of a worst-case scenario, particularly as the storm clouds began to form and rains came, leaving those at Hickory Motor Speedway with little to do but wait out the wet weather with their thoughts.
Up until 5:20 p.m., the focus was on the skies and when the weather would subside enough to go racing. Then, everything changed: Another statement comes. One person in the garage area checks their phone. And another. And another. And slowly, a hushed realization comes over the speedway – Busch, one of NASCAR’s biggest stars and greatest drivers, is dead.
From that point on, a daze set in: The sudden passing of Busch, who as it turned out had severe pneumonia that turned into overwhelming and fatal sepsis, is acknowledged by the public address system. The track in Hickory is dried, and a moment of silence is observed before the late model racers of the ASA STARS National Tour compete in the feature event. There was a momentary break in the sky, as rays of light shone down into the horizon off Turns 1 & 2 –almost as if to take Kyle Busch up into them.
Still, they raced. In spite of the shock and commiseration many could not even begin to feel, the drivers strapped in and ran the ASA STARS’ Tar Heel 250. It would be won by star driver Caden Kvapil – son of former NASCAR Truck champion Travis Kvapil and younger brother of O’Reilly Series driver Carson Kvapil – who in the triumph and satisfaction of his first super late model win also found the words to describe how and why he and everyone else put their shock and sorrow aside to go racing.
“It obviously is a tough night for everyone,” Kvapil said. “But at the same time, me and everyone else that’s here racing, we’re here to do what we came here to do. And that’s try to do our best on track and put ourselves in position to go out here and have a good night.
“Obviously it’s a tough night for the NASCAR community and everyone involved. But like I said, we’re out here doing what we need to do. Obviously everyone should be praying for Kyle’s family, Samantha and everyone. Just a tough night overall for everyone involved with that, and a lot of prayers going that way.”
By morning and the start of race weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, there was no sun to be seen or warmth to be felt. As damp, cool, and gloomy conditions hung over the opening of the Craftsman Truck Series garage, so too did the image of Busch on the speedway’s big board. His name and likeness, now accompanied by the year of his birth and the year of his death, loomed like an apparition over the Truck teams as they set to work – And work they did, in spite of the unmistakable reminder of what they had lost both overhead, on a scoring pylon that left Busch’s No. 8 alone in first place, and at the front of the field.
Busch was to have run the Charlotte truck race, looking to earn back-to-back wins after driving the Spire Motorsports No. 7 to the checkered flag a mere seven days before in Dover. His signature still adorned
the name rail of his truck, and his surname remained in place over the back window. With qualifying rained out and the field set by the NASCAR rulebook, Busch’s truck started on the pole – in the absence of him in the driver’s seat, as well as in the absence of his spirit on the very Earth.
Corey Day was tasked with the grim responsibility of driving Busch’s truck off pit road and out onto the racetrack. As the No. 7 truck departed, a pair of nearby crewmembers performed a showman’s bow – Busch’s signature win celebration – in a show of reverence and respect that would soon be emulated by many others. A few pace laps are made, with outside polesitter Layne Riggs backing off and allowing Busch’s No. 7 truck to have the front row to itself for a moment – while others were struck by the sight of a painful reminder that someone who should be there, no longer is.
“That’s his truck. I mean, I just raced him last week at Dover,” Ross Chastain said. “It’s still got his name on it, it’s still branded the same way it would’ve been … I don’t normally think about things outside of ‘Are my tires prepped? Do I have the water temperature at the right temperature for the start of the race?’ Like, am I doing all of my jobs inside of the vehicle.
“And I glanced up and saw it, and probably for an entire lap just stared at the back of his truck. I don’t know that I was really thinking about anything, I was just staring at it - still in disbelief.” But the laps made were little more than ceremonial, with a drizzle that turned to steady raindrops halting the procession short of the green flag and any catharsis to be felt. The race would be postponed, and a thick mist would form overnight – Adding to the dread of what was to come when the Cup garage opened the next morning.
As 8 a.m. approached the next morning and the rain continued to fall, it was decided that the Richard Childress Racing No. 8 team would be the first to unload their hauler. Much of their equipment still bore No. 8, which a mere days before had been the most natural thing imaginable – But their racecar did not.
The Cup Series garage, normally a place bustling with the sound of equipment, conversation, and perhaps even the levity of practical jokes, stood completely silent and still in observance of the car that had belonged to their fallen competitor.
Kurt Busch lays 8 flowers on Charlotte Motor Speedway’s infield memorial for his brother Kyle.
Out of respect for Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing announced before arriving at the track that they would discontinue using No. 8, shelving the number at least until Brexton Busch was ready to start his NASCAR career. When Busch’s car was rolled out of its hauler, the number was 33. The driver was Austin Hill. A small, black decal with the Busch 8 sat just below the driver’s window – with no name on the namerail above.
There was nothing to be heard except for the lowering of the lift gate. The Cup Series garage, normally a place bustling with the sound of equipment, conversation, and perhaps even the levity of practical jokes, stood completely silent and still in observance of the car that had belonged to their fallen competitor. The silence persisted as Busch’s team pushed their car to tech, and then as the other Richard Childress team – Austin Dillon’s No. 3 –unloaded their car. Finally, the gathering dispersed, and the rest of the garage got to work.
The drivers, meanwhile, assumed the task of addressing the loss of Busch to the media. In times past, this may have been a grim but necessary part of a race car driver’s job description – Many have strapped into the seat of a race car, only to never climb out. Those left have found ways to rationalize it, saying that they died doing what they loved or assigning some sense of nobility to it – as the great Sid Collins of Indianapolis Motor Speedway radio fame did,
telling the public that “since death has a thousand or more doors, Eddie Sachs exits this earth in a race car” after Sachs, along with Dave MacDonald, perished in a violent crash at the start of the 1964 Indy 500.
But in an era where racing safety has become so advanced, fewer and fewer of today’s drivers have had to deal with burying one of their competitors. And while many may comprehend the idea of dying in a race car or in some other fast machine away from the racetrack – as Greg Biffle did in a plane crash last December – it is almost incomprehensible to grasp that Busch died infirmed with an illness that somehow consumed a seemingly fit and healthy 41 year old athlete.
“It’s difficult because it was completely unexpected,” Daniel Suarez said. “When somebody’s sick, when somebody gets old - Maybe there is a chance, right? But when the guy’s healthy, he just won a race last week, 41 years old - You don’t expect this.
“And then somebody like him that has won so much, I mean, you almost see him as one of the superheroes, you know? One of those guys that, ‘Hey, if something happens to him, he’s gonna be okay.’ It’s tough. It’s very, very tough. ... It’s just very, very shocking. You know what I mean? It doesn’t matter how it happened, but it’s just very, very shocking to lose a legend like this.”
“You take for granted, I guess, how precious life is and how things outside of racing can still happen,” Kyle Larson, who admitted he has contemplated his own mortality given his passion for sprint car racing and the dangers that come with it. “You just can’t forget your health and well-being is always
important no matter what you’re doing. I don’t know. It’s just, yeah, crazy. Crazy for sure.”
It is a given that given the choice between racing and not racing, any driver will choose to put aside whatever afflicts them – including grief – to go race. But with how sudden and how raw the loss of Busch was, and with rain allowing for little to no on-track activity until mid-afternoon, there was at least some room to wonder why anyone was at the racetrack at all. Even when the legendary Dale Earnhardt perished at the end of the 2001 Daytona 500, there were four days away from the racetrack to process and cope with the magnitude of his loss before racing resumed in Rockingham. By comparison, a mere 17 hours and 10 minutes separated the announcement of Busch’s death from the opening of the Truck Series garage.
Deep down, there was no real sense in asking if there was any consideration to postponing the Coca-Cola 600. Still, the question was posed to NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell, giving him the opportunity to acknowledge that strain of sentiment and also articulate a response.
“I think it’s a fair question, but when you look at what minimal conversations did take place between RCR, ourselves, family, it was - Kyle Busch would probably be pretty pissed off if we didn’t race,” O’Donnell said. “So we’re gonna honor his memory and make sure people know what he was all about.”
Even if Busch would’ve wanted race weekend to go on, the weather would not oblige. While a break in the weather allowed the O’Reilly Series race to get going on Saturday night, more rain caused a long delay before the race continued in a fog and mist that created an eerie scene. Gradually, the mist became heavier, and by the end of Stage 2 and the start of lap 91, 54 of the race’s laps had been run under yellow. The field was brought to stage end under caution, and there seemed little desire to get the race restarted once the field was brought down pit road and to a halt.
While Ross Chastain drove off to Victory Lane – trying to lift the mood with a celebratory burnout – the rest of the field quickly and quietly began pushing their cars back to the garage. The mist and moisture softly fell obliquely
against the Musco lighting, and the thickness of the fog made it seem as if nothing in the world existed but the Charlotte Motor Speedway. But surely, the moisture was falling too upon the vastness of the Carolinas –upon the plains and farmlands, upon the lakes and landscapes, upon industrial lots and the race shops they house. Upon all the living, and the dead.
Then, soon enough, the gloom lifted by morning. And slowly but surely – and even through a mess of a truck race that saw Busch’s final truck crash out and ended prematurely due to television time constraints – the sky brightened. It became light and warm at the speedway, and the day would turn into one befitting of the greatest – and most emotional – day in motorsports.
Kyle Busch, undoubtedly, was solemnly and touchingly mourned before the drop of the green flag in the Coca-Cola 600. But by the time he was honored with an unforgettable pre-race ceremony and show of strength by his loved ones, Charlotte was finally under blue skies again. The sun shone for the first time since Thursday evening, and it shone over 39 cars – including his own – that were to be raced in his honor. When the field lined up in a missing man formation and left the pole position empty for Busch during pace laps, and when fans rose to their feet at Lap 8 to hold eight fingers aloft, they did so under a shine connecting one of NASCAR’s greatest races to the heavens above.
The darkness of night still came, of course, and rain would end the race 27 laps shy of its scheduled finish. But even as heavy rain began bursting from the skies and onto pit road, it was clear from the warmth of the
drops and the scene as Daniel Suarez was declared the winner that this rain was different. This was a purifying, cleansing rain – A signal at the end of a weekend of sorrow to begin a sweet release.
All of Spire Motorsports – which works out of the former Kyle Busch Motorsports shop, and with whom Busch had earned his 234th and final NASCAR victory in the Truck Series at Dover – burst out in celebration.
Suarez was overcome with emotion, tenderly embracing his crew and then his wife Julia before receiving more hugs and congratulations from his competitors. And there was undoubtedly great meaning in the rains falling with Suarez out front, as he had grown from a young driver mentored by Busch into a very close friend to the Cup champion and his family.
“As we all know, this has been a difficult week and weekend for all of us – drivers, team owners, media, fans, most important, his family,” Suarez said. “A few days ago, I was still hoping that somebody was gonna say that it wasn’t real. So the fact that Kyle helped me so much –through the Xfinity series and eventually that led me to have a Cup opportunity, the relationship that Jeff Dickerson has had with Kyle for many years, Spire Motorsports actually operates in KBM, Kyle Busch Motorsports’ building, race shop. This is no coincidence. The stars aligned.
“...This week, this weekend is not about us. It’s about Kyle and his family. And I’m super proud to be able to get it done for him.“
LEFT: One way drivers showed their support for the Busch Family in Charlotte was by wearing Brexton Busch merchandise.
ABOVE: On lap 8 of the Coca-Cola 600, fans stood and held up 8 fingers to honor Kyle Busch.
Daniel Suarez dedicated his Coca-Cola 600 win to Kyle Busch, who helped him get his start in NASCAR.
Now, the story of the 2026 Coca-Cola 600 is complete, and it may be told by the man who won it as well as all who witnessed it. For years on end, and through generations, it will be recorded and told by those who lived through it, and who composed the words, pictures, video, audio, and all else that will carry into a future that will seek to know how NASCAR got through suddenly losing one of its greatest competitors and best drivers.
Those who now carry the responsibility of telling the tale should never forget what a textbook case of environmental storytelling it was. And when they lift their gaze to the skies of the Carolinas, they will know too the part it had to play in one of stock car racing’s most solemn yet beautiful moments.
BY KAUY OSTLIEN
On May 21, NASCAR lost one of its greatest drivers of all time when Kyle Busch suddenly died from an abrupt illness.
The aftermath of Busch’s passing was met with tearful memorials and an online ex change of memories and moments from one of NASCAR’s most unforgettable personalities.
Busch’s time in NASCAR will be remem bered for many things for decades to come.
While it might be easy to point to his domi nance in the 2010s as his NASCAR legacy, Busch built himself into one of the sport’s most special talents and personalities, making him stand out for more than just his trips to victory lane.
of the online NASCAR community, compilations of Busch having it out on the mic or speaking his mind at press conferences were a hot commodity.
These compilations extended beyond just videos of Busch speaking his mind, with videos showing some of his controversial on-track moments making the rounds on websites like Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit.
While video suited Busch well, he found his real online legacy in the world of NASCAR memes. As one of the most antagonistic faces of the sport, Busch was often a popular target for fans to poke fun at with memes.
Even as memes evolved from a copy-paste format into the late 2010s, Busch maintained his status at the top of the NASCAR meme community, with fans noticing that, as a driver of many expressions, just pictures of Busch reacting to things were funny enough.
If you were to go to a race track and ask a fan their favorite Kyle Busch “moment,” the an swers could range from some less-than-savory acts on track during his younger years, or even his unlikely 2015 championship run.
Still, some NASCAR fans would likely focus on Busch’s legacy as one of the sport’s mustwatch driver interviews.
Some might pull out an interview quote like “Everything’s great, looking forward to getting back to the racetrack and getting into my race car,” an answer he gave to the media five times in a row at Phoenix in March 2017 after his pit road fight with former teammate Joey Logano at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the prior week.
Fans could turn to one of his sharp and short answers from a post-race press conference, such as “I’m not surprised about anything, congratulations,” from Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Even the weekend before his passing, in his final win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Dover Motor Speedway, Busch delivered another iconic quote. Reflecting on his 69th Truck Series win and 234th NASCAR win, Busch told FOX Sports’ Amanda Busick he cherishes these wins “Because you never know when the last one is.”
Busch’s legacy as one of the sport’s most outspoken drivers made him a perfect fit for the internet age. For many fans, in the early days
At the end of the day, Busch’s legacy as a unique figurehead of the garage area will undoubtedly be remembered as almost a mythical figure amongst drivers who battled him across the three NASCAR National Series.
While NASCAR has had many “Racers,” none may have had the pure passion for competition that Busch had.
After NASCAR placed limits on full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in the 2010s, Busch was one of the drivers who pushed those limits annually.
For example, during the 2021 NASCAR OAP Series season, Busch made five starts, sat on the pole for three of those five starts, and won all five starts for Joe Gibbs Racing.
But Busch’s most legendary run came in the Truck Series, where he won 37.5% of his career 184 starts. His win record, which stands at 69 after tacking on two more in 2026, was also despite the fact that he never raced full-time in the series during his entire NASCAR career.
The records speak for themselves, as Busch is the only driver to win a race in all three NASCAR National Series in a single weekend, something he has done twice, and is the all-time leader in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series wins, OAP Series wins, and combined National Series wins.
Busch stretched his efforts across multiple race weekends a year throughout his career, solely for the love of competition, proving that he is undoubtedly one of the sport’s most competitive drivers ever.
The younger of the racing Busch brothers, Kyle Busch arrived in NASCAR at a very young age. While fans have not always been on his side, no one can deny Busch’s incredible ability to wheel a race car.
Born on May 2, 1985, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Kyle Busch displayed an unprecedented amount of raw talent from the very start of his driving career, assembling an impressive trophy collection as he quickly advanced through racing’s lower divisions.
A champion at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring, Busch made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut for team owner Jack Roush in 2001. The 16-year-old ran six races that season before a rule change forced him back to the Late Model ranks.
An issue developed prior to the Truck Series race at Auto Club Speedway where the Indy cars were headlining the weekend. Officials determined that because of his age, legislation controlling tobacco advertising prevented Busch from competing at the track, which featured numerous Marlboro signs. Shortly thereafter, NASCAR implemented a rule requiring its drivers to be at least 18 years old.
Busch returned to NASCAR racing full time in 2004, winning five Xfinity Series races for Hendrick Motorsports.
He was promoted to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2005 and promptly made two visits to
Victory Lane. However, his temper and attitude often outshone his on-track performance.
Team owner Rick Hendrick dropped Busch from his driver lineup following the 2007 season. Joe Gibbs Racing signed him for 2008, and Busch enjoyed immediate success in his new
Busch gradually matured, but a low point in his career came in 2015 when he broke his leg during an Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway. More determined than ever, Busch was quickly back on track and he surprised many by capturing his first NASCAR Cup Series championship that same season. From there, Busch entered the prime of his career as he made five consecutive Championship 4 appearances beginning in 2015, earning a second championship in 2019.
After a 15-year stint with JGR, Busch joined Richard Childress Racing in 2023 and drove the No. 8 Chevrolet to three victories. Heading into the new season, Busch has 229 victories across NASCAR’s three national series – NASCAR Cup Series (63), NASCAR Xfinity Series (102) and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (64).
IT’S FUN TO BE THE GUY THAT CAN BE SO POLARIZING AND HAVE THAT EFFECT ON SO MANY DIFFERENT PEOPLE.
IN 2019, BUSCH SET OUT to prove his 2015 championship was no fluke. After three consecutive Championship 4 appearances, Busch broke through with five wins, including the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, to claim his second title. His son, Brexton, took a ride around the track after the race.
BUSCH HAS WON AT least one race in each of his full-time Cup Series seasons, and he dominated the sport during the early playoff era. Despite how random people claim the Championship 4 can be, Busch made it five consecutive times beginning in 2015, and he won the title twice.
ROWDY AGGRESSIVE
BUSCH IS BEST DESCRIBED by his nickname Rowdy. His aggressive driving style, combined with his outbursts both to the media and on his team’s two-way radio, turned away some fans but attracted others. The incidents demonstrated Busch’s intense passion for winning, which has driven him to unparalleled success on the race track.
Despite missing 11 races due to leg injuries suffered in the season-opening NASCAR Xfinity Series race, Kyle Busch advanced through the Cup Series playoffs and claimed his first premier series title by winning the season finale.
The younger of the racing Busch brothers grew up in Las Vegas where he won more than 65 Legend Car races and two track titles before graduating to Late Model competition. At the age of 16, Busch began competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving for Roush Racing.
He made his Cup Series debut in 2004 with team owner Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports. At the time, Busch was tabbed by many industry insiders as NASCAR’s next superstar. However, of his six starts that year, all were superspeedway events and all produced finishes outside the top 25.
The next season, Busch won both Cup Series races at Auto Club Speedway. All told through 2007, he claimed four wins with the Hendrick organization
Busch joined Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008 and began a long tenure of success, winning 25 Cup Series races leading up to the 2015 season.
After being sidelined for the first 11 races of 2015, Busch rebounded to score four victories in the regular season.
During the final race of the Chase at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Denny Hamlin started on the pole, while Busch lined up third, Jeff Gordon fifth, Martin Truex Jr. 11th, and Kevin Harvick 13th.
Busch led the other championship contenders as Brad Keselowski dominated the lap count. A debris caution late in the race shuffled the running order, giving Busch the lead. Busch held off Harvick to win both the race and the championship.
JOEY LOGANO, DRIVER OF THE NO. 22 Team Penske Ford, won six races and had 28 top-10 finishes. Logano’s triumph in the Daytona 500 started the year, and he followed it with victories at Watkins Glen, Bristol, Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega during the second half of the schedule. His average start of 6.9 and average finish of 9.2 set the stage for a respectable season, but four finishes outside the top 35 derailed his title hopes.
THE SOUTHERN 500 AT legendary Darlington Raceway featured a record 18 caution flags along with several outstanding arguments over racing real estate. Carl Edwards came back from two laps down to battle Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick for the lead. After a late caution, Edwards got the lead on pit road and went on to win his second race of the season. It was Edwards’ only victory at the 1.336-mile track.
DATE LOCATION WINNER
Feb. 22 Daytona International Speedway Joey Logano
March 1 Atlanta Motor Speedway Jimmie Johnson
March 8 Las Vegas Motor Speedway Kevin Harvick
March 15 Phoenix Raceway Kevin Harvick
March 22 Auto Club Speedway Brad Keselowski
March 29 Martinsville Speedway Denny Hamlin
April 11 Texas Motor Speedway Jimmie Johnson
April 19 Bristol Motor Speedway Matt Kenseth
April 26 Richmond Raceway Kurt Busch
May 3 Talladega Superspeedway Dale Earnhardt Jr.
May 9 Kansas Speedway Jimmie Johnson
May 24 Charlotte Motor Speedway Carl Edwards
May 31 Dover Motor Speedway Jimmie Johnson
June 7 Pocono Raceway Martin Truex Jr.
June 14 Michigan International Speedway Kurt Busch
June 28 Sonoma Raceway Kyle Busch
July 5 Daytona International Speedway Dale Earnhardt Jr.
July 11
July 19
July 26
Aug.
Aug. 9
Aug. 16
Aug. 22
Motor Speedway Joey Logano
Sept. 6 Darlington Raceway Carl Edwards
Sept. 12 Richmond Raceway Matt Kenseth
Sept. 20 Chicagoland Speedway Denny Hamlin
Sept. 27
Hampshire Motor Speedway Matt Kenseth
Oct. 4 Dover Motor Speedway Kevin Harvick
Oct. 11
Oct. 18
Oct. 25 Talladega Superspeedway
Nov. 1
Nov. 8
Motor Speedway Jimmie Johnson
Nov. 15 Phoenix Raceway Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Nov. 22 Homestead-Miami Speedway Kyle Busch
KYLE BUSCH, DRIVING THE NO. 18 JOE
Gibbs Racing Toyota, won five times and had 16 top-10 finishes in 25 starts. Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 StewartHaas Racing Chevrolet recorded 28 top-10 finishes, including three Cup Series wins in 36 races.
Driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Kyle Busch posted five victories and 27 top-10 finishes during the 2019 season as the Las Vegas native earned his second NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Busch’s season got off to a strong start. He finished second in the Daytona 500, sixth at Atlanta and third at Las Vegas before finding Victory Lane at Phoenix. He followed that with a second consecutive win at Auto Club Speedway before finishing 10th at Texas and winning again at Bristol to maintain his stranglehold on the points. A disappointing 30thplace finish at Kansas three races later dropped him to second in the standings, but the setback was far from insurmountable.
A third at Charlotte and a win at Pocono sent the message that Busch had the championship on his mind. His car was being prepared by crew chief Adam Stevens and their union was producing some very strong results, including winning the regular-season championship.
Aside from a 22nd-place finish at Chicago and 14th in the July race at Daytona, Busch knocked off finishes no worse than 11th over the next seven races through Richmond. Then, suspension issues surfaced at Charlotte’s ROVAL, producing a 37th-place finish.
In the final six races, Busch finished 19th at Talladega and 14th at Martinsville but a third at Kansas, seventh at Texas and a second at Phoenix earned him a spot in the Championship 4 at Homestead along with Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin.
Busch won the Homestead race after leading 40 of the 267 laps and by doing so, claimed the 2019 Cup Series championship. Truex Jr. ended up second in the title fight with Harvick third and Hamlin fourth.
DRIVING THE NO. 11 JOE GIBBS
Racing Toyota, Denny Hamlin logged six wins, 24 top-10 finishes and three pole positions in 36 starts for the season’s best stats line. In the closing laps of the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, it was discovered that too much tape had been placed on the front of Hamlin’s FedEx-sponsored ride, making the engine overheat. He fell from third to 10th in the final running order.
DATE LOCATION WINNER
Feb. 17 Daytona International Speedway Denny Hamlin
Feb. 24 Atlanta Motor Speedway Brad Keselowski
March 3 Las Vegas Motor Speedway Joey Logano
March 10 Phoenix Raceway Kyle Busch
March 17 Auto Club Speedway Kyle Busch
March 24 Martinsville Speedway Brad Keselowski
March 31 Texas Motor Speedway Denny Hamlin
April 7 Bristol Motor Speedway Kyle Busch
April 13
April 28
May 6
May 11
May 26
June 2
June 10
June
June
July
July
July
July
Aug.
THE BOX OFFICE: AVENGERS: ENDGAME NO. 1 SONG: “OLD TOWN ROAD” BY LIL NAS X FEATURING BILLY RAY CYRUS GALLON OF GAS: $2.60 POP CULTURE: OVERCOMING INJURIES AND PERSONAL ISSUES, 43-YEAR-OLD TIGER WOODS RETURNED TO THE PINNACLE OF GOLF, WINNING THE MASTERS FOR THE FIFTH TIME IN HIS STORIED CAREER.
IN THE WRECK-FILLED 1000BULBS. com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 14, three major crashes occurred before Ryan Blaney of Team Penske could claim victory. The third “big one” happened with seven laps remaining. Kyle Busch hit Brad Keselowski and collected Kevin Harvick, Brendan Gaughan and many others. On the last lap, Blaney made the winning move, bumping Newman’s car. Blaney won by .007 seconds, the sixthclosest finish in NASCAR history.
KYLE BUSCH’S NO. 18 JOE GIBBS
Racing M&M’s Toyota had five wins, 27 top-10 finishes and one pole in 36 starts. Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Fed-Ex Toyota recorded six wins, 24 top10 results and started from the pole three times.
BY KAUY OSTLIEN
Upon his abrupt passing in late May, fans and industry members quickly realized that Kyle Busch’s legacy goes beyond his personality or success, as his Truck Series team planted the seeds that have grown into the future of the sport.
In its 14 years of competition in NASCAR’s lower two National Series, Kyle Busch Motorsports fielded 54 different drivers. These drivers ranged from forgotten names, up-and-comers, Hall of Famers, future Hall of Famers, and team owner Kyle Busch himself.
While names like Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Martin Truex Jr carried the team to plenty of wins, KBM was also a hotbed for talent, giving drivers their first start, or even a fresh start, in NASCAR.
Throughout the years, KBM’s 13 full-time drivers have gone on to win championships in both the NASCAR Craftsman Truck and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, as well as a combined 168 NASCAR National Series wins, six Crown Jewel Race wins, and two Daytona 500 wins.
While Busch’s team produced some noteworthy drivers who never made it, or have yet to make it, to the top level of the sport, his true legacy as an owner is found on the current Cup Series grid, where 10 drivers can credit their early racing careers to time at KBM.
1. Bubba Wallace
Bubba Wallace made his name dominating the Truck Series field at KBM in 2013 and 2014. Alongside five wins in the series, Wallace pieced together an almost perfect 2014, falling short of the championship in the season finale.
After Wallace’s time at KBM, the driver floated across teams, eventually landing in the Cup Series in 2018 and moving to his current home, 23XI, in 2021. Since then, Wallace has added two Cup wins and a Brickyard 400 ring to his resume.
2. Christopher Bell
If KBM’s developmental talent were jewels in a crown, Christopher Bell would likely be front and center. During his 54 races at KBM from 2015 to 2018, Bell won seven races and a series title before taking his talent to Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Bell is one of, if not the best, KBM prospect ever, having won 19 OAP Series races and 13 Cup Series races since leaving the team. He is also one of just three drivers to race alongside Busch as a teammate in the Cup Series during Rowdy’s later years at JGR.
3. Corey Heim
If any driver were to give Busch a run for his money in the Truck Series, Corey Heim is likely the man to do it. But before he dominated the series with Tricon Garage, Heim first found NASCAR success with KBM, winning his first two races with the team during its final season with Toyota in 2022.
After KBM left Toyota ahead of the 2023 season, Heim landed at Tricon, where over three years he amassed wins, broke records, and signed as 23XI Racing’s first prospect. He currently races parttime for 23XI in the Cup Series and will take his talents full-time in 2027.
4. Daniel Suárez
Before his success in NASCAR’s top two divisions, Daniel Suárez learned the ropes of the National Series racing part-time for Kyle Busch. During those seasons, 2015 and 2016, Suárez struggled to find victory lane, finally scoring his first Truck Series win in his penultimate race with KBM.
Suárez has already made his mark in NASCAR as the first foreignborn driver to win a NASCAR National Series Championship and the first Mexican-born driver to win a race in the Cup Series. His win in the 2026 Coca-Cola 600, days after Busch’s tragic passing, served as an emotional moment of healing for the sport.
5. Erik Jones
Erik Jones’ success with KBM is right up there with Christopher Bell’s, winning consistently for the team. In his 42 starts from 2013 to 2018, as both a full-time and part-time driver, Jones won seven races and the Truck Series title.
After leaving full-time duties at KBM, Jones went on to win nine NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races with Joe Gibbs Racing before being promoted to Cup. While his Cup Series career has not shown the same level of dominance, Legacy Motor Club is building its future around the now veteran driver.
6. John Hunter Nemechek
Of course, John Hunter Nemechek made his name before racing for KBM, but after reaching the top of NASCAR, only to be pushed back down, Busch helped JHN get back on his feet. In two full-time seasons at KBM, Nemechek won seven races and competed for titles.
With new life in NASCAR after his success with Busch’s team, Nemechek began climbing the ladder once again, winning seven O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023. In 2024, Nemechek landed at his new home, Legacy Motor Club, after their switch to Toyota.
7. Noah Gragson
Noah Gragson’s NASCAR career has seen a few ups and downs, but his hot start has everything to do with his time at KBM. From 2016 to 2018, Gragson turned the No. 18 into one of the most feared trucks in the series, winning two races and competing for championships. Gragson moved to JR Motorsports for his first full-time NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season in 2019, going on to win 13 races for JRM before his promotion to the Cup Series in 2023. He now races full-time with Front Row Motorsports, and is one of the Cup Series’ fan favorite drivers and personalities.
8. Riley Herbst
It may be easy to forget, but like so many drivers before him, Riley Herbst made a pit stop at KBM before moving up the NASCAR ladder. Before moving to the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing, Herbst made six of his first few NASCAR National Series starts with KBM.
Herbst is one of the many drivers who departed the Toyota camp after leaving KBM, winning three OAP Series races for SHR, before returning to Toyota in 2025. That return was part of a promotion to the Cup Series, helping 23XI expand to three cars.
9. Todd Gilliland
Todd Gilliland is another second-generation talent who made his way to NASCAR’s National Series with help from KBM. Before his time with Front Row Motorsports, Gilliland raced in 48 races for KBM, where he scored his first of three wins in NASCAR in 2019.
Gilliland moved to FRM in 2020, helping the team launch its Truck Series program, eventually earning a Cup Series promotion in 2022. Gilliland has since moved from the team’s No. 38 to its flagship No. 34 in 2025.
10. William Byron
If the question is whether or not Christopher Bell has any competition for the greatest prospect in KBM history, William Byron is the answer. Before his time with Hendrick Motorsports, Byron was viewed as Joe Gibbs Racing’s next monster prospect, dominating the Craftsman Truck Series in 2016, scoring seven wins for KBM. Byron quickly moved to JR Motorsports as an HMS prospect in 2017 and has since become a Championship contender, top talent, and Daytona 500 Champion. In 2023, KBM’s final season of competition, Byron returned to KBM, now racing Chevrolets, making three starts in a full-circle moment for one of the team’s best drivers ever.
A little drizzle could not slow down Victory Junction’s Gears & Guitars, a first-time event that brought NASCAR energy to downtown Nashville on Friday, May 29. Hosted in front of and inside Hank Williams Jr.’s Boogie Bar, the event welcomed fans to Broadway for a full day of cars, music and support for Victory Junction. The car show featured a strong lineup of historic and show cars, including a 1964 Plymouth Belvedere replica honoring Richard Petty’s 1964 Daytona 500 and championship season. Fans also had the chance to meet 2023 Daytona 500 champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The evening moved inside for live music, a Hannah Dasher meet-and-greet and a silent auction featuring items signed by Richard and Kyle Petty, along with other NASCAR drivers, all benefiting Victory Junction.
A. Chad Coltrane (right), CEO of Victory Junction, speaks with Stephen Layman, vice president of marketing for McCall Farms, which owns Peanut Patch.
B. Fans pose with NASCAR Cup Series driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
C. Nicholas Vernon, Bart Lattimore, Daniel Cain and Ben Miller were the featured performers at Gears & Guitars.
D. The media turned out to cover Gears & Guitars.
E. Fans loved meeting Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
F. Victory Junction spokesperson Gavin Grubbs poses with Hannah Dasher, the country music artist and social media personality behind the popular “Stand By Your Pan” cooking series.
G. The rain could not dampen the spirits at the car show.
H. Classic NASCAR cars drew in the fans.
I. Gavin Grubbs and Chad Coltrane had a busy day at Gears & Guitars.
J. The team from Victory Junction and Michael Waltrip Brewing joins Hannah Dasher for a group photo.
K. Brent Underwood of Peanut Patch served as the executive producer of Gears & Guitars.
L. O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Ryan Ellis, sporting his Tablo TV fire suit, appeared on NewsChannel 5’s lunchtime program.
M. A second round of country music artists performed on stage: Brent Underwood, Caleb Shirley and Ben Miller. Not pictured: Elliot Poston and Adrian Warwick.
N. Hannah Dasher’s appearance was a big surprise for fans at Gears & Guitars.
O. Tonya and Mark Lawrence, co-CEOs of Nashville Distillery, made a $6,000 donation to Victory Junction. Their donation will send two kids to camp this summer.
P. The crowd turned out inside Hank Williams Jr.’s Boogie Bar.
Q. The NewsChannel 5 lunchtime segment featured Brent Underwood showing how to properly eat a boiled peanut.
R. Gavin Grubbs was at the center of attention at Gears & Guitars all night long.
S. Big Dog! Chad Coltrane gives hugs to Nashville Distillery and Big Dog Bourbon namesake Big Dog.
T. Gears & Guitars expects to return to Nashville in 2027.
BY KAUY OSTLIEN
Winning a NASCAR Cup Series Championship and the Daytona 500 in a single season is a feat that only five drivers have ever achieved.
“The King,” Richard Petty accomplished this three times, the only driver ever to do so, scoring double honors for the first time in 1964, which he followed up with two more in 1971 and 1974.
Still, 1964 is considered the most special of all these record-setting seasons, with The King taking home his first of seven championships and seven Daytona 500 victories behind the wheel of a Petty Blue Plymouth Belvedere.
Photos and stat sheets mostly mark the memories of that season, though there is one bright blue symbol that can help fans connect with one of Petty’s seasons more than any old newspaper clippings ever could.
NASCAR fans have seen plenty of show cars that may not have raced the cars they represent, but represent a specific moment. Boris Bonutti’s 1964 Plymouth Belvedere is different from those show cars; it has the Petty touch and horsepower.
The car’s journey began, ironically, with Bonutti and a former associate working on a different project, a rebuild of a 1958 Dodge Regal Lancer. In a South Georgia barn, under a tarp, Bonutti found an old Hemi engine coated in Petty Blue.
For Bonutti, who grew up a self-described Mopar fan, this engine piqued his curiosity immediately. Unfortunately, for the time being, it wasn’t for sale.
With time, the engine, rumored to have been built in-house at Petty’s Randleman, North Carolina, Shop in 1964, eventually went up for sale and sat in Bonutti’s possession for over a year, as the automotive historian debated what its future could, or at least should, be.
The option he settled on was to approach the Petty family, through former drag racer Herb McCandless and Greg Steadman, General Manager of Petty’s Garage, to build a 1964 car around the engine, a process that, in its early stages, led to a call from the King himself.
“[Greg] Steadman said, ‘Well, look, to prove it’s a real [Petty] engine, you gotta take the cylinder heads off, and there’re certain places where there’ll be stamps and markings, so take pictures of them and forward them on, back to my email,’” Bonutti said. “That’s what we did, and all of a sudden, we get a call from Richard Petty. ‘Hey, I understand you got one of my engines. How much do you want for it?”
Unfortunately, Bonutti had to tell Petty the engine was not for sale. However, he did have a unique idea to rebuild Petty’s 1964 Belvedere around the engine, an idea Petty agreed was captivating.
The car would be built under the watchful eyes of the staff at Petty’s Garage, which is home to the same shop where the engine was built in the 1960s.
Alongside that staff, racing legends like Cotton Owens, Maurice Petty, and Dale Inman, the King’s long-time Crew Chief, helped out along the way to ensure all boxes were checked in making the car as historically accurate as possible.
The search for parts and donor cars even went nationwide, with the team sourcing parts from families across the Midwest, making it a true communal effort to build a piece of living history.
“The reason people were selling us these parts was they wanted to know that they were going to this effort,” Bonutti said. “To them, having something, a part from a car their father owned, doesn’t mean anything hanging on a wall in a garage, but when it becomes part of a project like this ‘64 Petty car, that has meaning.”
After around two years of work by the team at Petty’s garage, the car came together in a way that would make those who supplied parts proud.
While the car may not tear up the high line of Daytona like its original brethren, it serves as a reminder of a bygone era, giving young race fans a taste of the sport’s unpolished history.
This education has come through appearances at museums like the NASCAR Hall of Fame, where it has had two stints, and the Darlington Raceway Museum, and at public car shows like Victory Junction’s first annual Gears & Guitars event in downtown Nashville in May.
Car show members helped bring NASCAR history to life by supplying the classic race cars displayed on Broadway during Gears & Guitars. The cars remained on display throughout the NASCAR weekend at Nashville Superspeedway, and participants also enjoyed a special meet-and-greet with Richard Petty and Kyle Petty.
Opti-Coat of Memphis, Tennessee, was the first company to release automotive ceramic coatings in the USA, and they’ve made history once again by introducing ceramic coatings to NASCAR.
Opti-Coat’s blue-and-white logo was featured on the hood of Jeb Burton’s No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing/Bommarito Autosport Chevrolet Camaro last fall at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In the October 2024 race, the No. 27 car was not just wearing Opti-Coat’s logo on the hood – the car entered the race with Opti-Coat’s Pro Ceramic Coating installed on the vehicle.
As far as we know, it’s the first time a ceramiccoated race car competed in a NASCAR race.
Ceramic coatings create a barrier between your vehicle’s paint and the elements, helping keep your vehicle looking new.
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Ceramic coatings were first developed in the 1970s for military and aerospace applications. In 2007, Opti-Coat introduced the first automotive ceramic coating for sale in the United States. This new type of coating was designed to protect the modern, damage-prone clear coat paint found on today’s vehicles.
Opti-Coat coatings are unique in composition, utilizing Silicon Carbide (SiC) – also known as industrial diamond – because it is much longer lasting and more durable than the more commonly used Silicon Dioxide (SiO2). A single application of an SiC coating has a lifespan of at least 10 years, compared to 1-3 years for SiO2 coatings.
Opti-Coat Ceramic Coatings are not just for cars, trucks and SUVs. Opti-Coat has specialized coatings for boats, RVs, motorcycles and even race cars. Opti-Coat is installed by top Professional Detailers throughout the U.S. and Canada.
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MOTORCYCLE CERAMIC COATING
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OPTI-COAT RV & MARINE
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ABOUT OPTI-COAT
Opti-Coat has been designing and manufacturing ceramic coatings and auto detailing products in the USA since 2001. When looking for the best ceramic protection, paint protection film or auto detailing products to keep your vehicle, boat, RV, motorcycle or race car clean and protected, turn to Opti-Coat. For more information, visit www.opticoat.com.
Mark Martin’s Never Lift is the story of a racer who built his life the hard way, one mile, one mistake, one lesson and one victory at a time. From childhood rides with his father to short track battles, Cup Series heartbreak, Hall of Fame validation and the discipline it took to walk away on his own terms, these excerpts capture the voice behind the legend. They are honest, funny, raw and deeply competitive, showing the people, pressure, pain and stubborn belief that shaped one of NASCAR’s most respected careers.
Releasing August 4, this autobiography gives fans a close look at the moments that made Mark Martin not just fast, but unforgettable, and the mindset that kept him pushing long after others lifted for good.
By the time I was old enough to get a driver’s license, I had a stack of police tickets almost as tall as I was. There were motorcycle tickets and car tickets, most for operating a vehicle without a license, with a few speeding tickets mixed in.
Because of all those violations, the very minute they officially gave me my license, they also suspended it.
That’s a true story: They handed me the license, then said, “Okay, now give it back. Your license is suspended for the next three months.”
It was like a ceremony: They presented it to me, and I presented it right back to them.
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 8
In 1980, at Capital Super Speedway in Wisconsin, I had the worst crash I’d ever been in. Almost before the car stopped, I keyed the radio button and said, “I’m hurt. Get me some help.”
The biggest problems were with my left leg and ankle. There was a fracture in the lower part of that leg, but the real pain was farther down. My right ankle had a fracture, but the left ankle had five fractures.
A helicopter flew me to Madison General Hospital. A doctor there said, “Son, it looks like you won’t be racing again this year.”
I said, “I’ll be racing in 30 days.”
That was not a number I picked out of a hat. There was a gap of a month until the ASA series resumed on August 4. You give a racer a whole month, and he’ll recover from just about anything.
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 10
Somewhere or other, I ran into Dale Earnhardt in January of 1982. We didn’t know each other very well yet, but we’d gotten to be somewhat friendly in 1981. We talked about the racing I’d done in the past, and I mentioned that I still had videotapes of some of my ASA races.
Dale said, “Bring them by the house.”
So I did. At the time, he was single, living
in a place on Lake Norman. The two of us go down to the basement, open a couple of beers, and start watching these races, talking about the different drivers: Trickle, Senneker, Eddy, all the heroes.
Then there’s this noise, the sound of a kid running down the stairs. It’s Dale Jr., who was 7 years old but looked even younger. Well, he quickly got a talking-to from his dad, who sent him right back upstairs.
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 11
It was at Christmastime in 1983, in Batesville, that I met Arlene. She was busy being a single mother of four daughters, and nothing about me suggested that I was a guy she’d be interested in. My existence revolved around racing, which was not on her radar. But I was immediately drawn to her.
I was only going to be in Batesville for another week. I mentioned that we ought to go out, but she shot that down. She said I could come to her house, and I did that a few times; we’d sit on her couch and talk for hours.
I had to leave for Wisconsin and the team I was now driving for, but I stayed in touch with Arlene by phone. In January, I drove back to Batesville just to see her again.
There’s no other way to say it: I was crazy about her.
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 13
Alcoholism isn’t something you catch, like the common cold. It builds and builds; it’s a progression from innocent drinking to troublesome drinking to drinking that might be a problem, and finally to drinking that’s a giant problem everyone but you can see.
I was a long way down that road in 1984, and it just
rolled onward through 1985 and ’86. I started to have what I would call “the uglies,” those ugly incidents where maybe you get mean in situations that don’t call for it. It happens again and again, and every so often you sprinkle in a night where things get really ugly.
Some people like to fight when they get drunk. Thankfully, I was not like that, but there were multiple occasions when I probably should have had my ass whipped.
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 15
At Rockingham on October 22, 1989, we finally had a day when everything went right, all the way to the checkered flag. It was my first Cup win, and Roush Racing’s first as well. And we won it in style, running all day with the leaders – mostly Rusty, Earnhardt, and Darrell – and being the fastest when it counted most.
I wish I could remember more about the victory lane ceremonies. I do recall thinking of that win as a team thing. We’d worked so hard and gotten so close, and it was great to see those guys so happy.
But a lot of the celebration became a blur. I think that’s true of any first-time win; so much is happening that you can’t absorb most of it. I wish I could go back and relive that scene and slow everything down a bit.
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 21
In early February of 1995, my motorhome was parked in the infield at Daytona International Speedway. Arlene and I were inside, and it was a nice day, so everything was opened up, with only the screen door between us and the outside world.
All of a sudden, that screen door flew open. A man stormed right in, took a quick look around, and sprawled out in a chair. He never knocked, never asked if he could come in, never said hello. He just fell into that chair and started talking about racing.
It was Paul Newman.
A few days later, the two of us were standing side by side in victory lane, having just won the Rolex 24, one of the biggest sports car races in the world.
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 25
I believe in magic cars. No team has ever built two cars that were absolutely equal. You can build them from the same blueprints, from the same batch of steel, welded in the same week by the same welder on the same jig table. The bodies can be hung by the same man to the same plans. You can drop in engines with matching dyno numbers. You can put identical chassis setups under those two cars. But as soon as you haul them to the track, you’ll find that one is better than the other.
No one can tell you why. People have with different theories, everything from the heat of the welds to the difficulty in duplicating a curve when you bend two pieces of sheetmetal. I’ll stick to my magic-cars theory. Every now and then you’ll get one, and you shouldn’t try too hard to figure out why.
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 26
Earnhardt went through a stretch in 1993 when he decided that he needed to test me in practice. We had been racing together for a long time, but suddenly he was pushing my buttons like I was some new guy he was trying to figure out. In the first practice at New Hampshire, there was Dale, waiting on me again.
Well, I was tired of playing that game. When Dale got next to me entering the corner, I gave my car a little juke to the right and knocked that black #3 up into the marbles. He didn’t crash, but he had to work hard not to.
Benny Ertel, who would later be my business manager, was in the garage area when Earnhardt climbed out of his car and said, “I think Mark’s had enough.”
He never tested me again, and our relationship was back to normal.
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 30
In 2009, I won five races. I had also won five times in 1993, and seven in ’98, but those came in a period when victories were almost expected. We looked at winning as the reason we went racing, and when it happened we didn’t celebrate like we should have. When I started with Hendrick Motorsports in 2009, I hadn’t won since October of 2005, and I had a huge desire to achieve one more Cup victory. We beat that goal by a bunch.
I had turned 50 just before the start of the season, but I still knew how to win. I still knew how to go fast, too. That season I qualified on the pole seven times, and I promise you that no 50-year-old driver will ever do that again.
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 32
Some drivers want to race forever, which would be fine if we all could be competitive forever, but that’s not possible. Too many of them hang on and spend their final few seasons running poorly in a series where they used to kick ass. They can’t be fast anymore, but they can’t quit. I didn’t want to be one of those guys. I knew that change was inevitable, so I embraced the idea that the next chapter was coming. It wouldn’t be the same as the last chapter, but it’s not supposed to be. Once you accept that, there’s no reason the next chapter can’t be as fulfilling as the one that just ended.
I’d done one thing for 40 years, and I’d done it well. Now it was time to do other things.
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 34
People make so much out of the fact that I didn’t win a Daytona 500 or a Cup championship. Well, Dale Earnhardt won the Daytona 500 once. Darrell Waltrip won it once. Junior Johnson won it once. LeeRoy Yarbrough won it once. David Pearson won it once. We’re talking about some of the most legendary drivers in the history of stock car racing. Would they be any less legendary if they had failed to get that one victory?
As far as the championship, I finished second in the standings five times: twice to Earnhardt, once to Jeff Gordon, once to Tony Stewart, and once to Jimmie Johnson. Those are four of the greatest drivers I ever raced against, and four of the best NASCAR drivers who ever lived.
If someone looks at my career and thinks it wasn’t complete, that’s their hang-up. It was complete enough for me.
The engine roar, the smell of burning rubber, and the electric energy of the infield—there’s nothing quite like a weekend at the track. But for most enthusiasts, the journey to the race involves a frustrating compromise. Standard heavy-duty towing setups often turn your truck bed into a “no-go zone,” cluttered with bulky hardware and greasy hitches that make it impossible to use your vehicle for anything else once you’ve arrived. Enter the DEMCO®️ Recon Stealth™️. Designed for those who demand performance on the road and premium comfort at the destination, the Recon Stealth is a gamechanger for the modern race fan. The philosophy is simple: Tow to the track, then turn the bed into the best seat in the house.
Because of its innovative, low-profile design, the DEMCO Recon Stealth solves the ultimate race-day dilemma. Unlike traditional 5th-wheel hitches that eat up every inch of cargo
space, the Stealth leaves your truck bed wide open. This means you don’t have to choose between hauling your gear and hosting the ultimate tailgate. You have all the room you need for the grills, the coolers, and the big screens, all while maintaining the heavyduty towing capacity required for your trailer.
When you pull into your spot in the infield, the transition is seamless. There is no heavy lifting or complicated teardown of your towing rig. You simply drop the tailgate and start the party. The Recon Stealth stays out of the way, providing a clean, unobstructed workspace that effectively turns your truck into a hospitality suite. Don’t let your hitch dictate your weekend. With the Recon Stealth, you get the stability of a professional-grade tow and the freedom of an open bed. From the highway to the checkered flag, the DEMCO Recon Stealth is Built to Move™️ your world—and leave plenty of room for the celebration.
A first-time NASCAR sponsor finds purpose, passion and a bigger platform backing Harrison Burton and Sam Hunt Racing
BY JOSEPH WOLKIN
Everyone who loves NASCAR knows how quickly the sport can pull people in. The same can be said for companies that step into the world of stock car racing. Once a business sponsors a race car and experiences a NASCAR weekend from the inside, it often starts looking for the next opportunity.
That is exactly what happened with New York-based Bulovas Restorations, led by CEO Rory Bulovas and his wife, Brianna.
The Long Island-based restoration company was approached earlier this year about partnering with Sam Hunt Racing and Harrison Burton. The result was a special No. 24 Toyota Camry at Talladega Superspeedway, featuring a Bulovas Restorations paint scheme that also highlighted the Jesse Gerhard Memorial Foundation, which raises funds and awareness for first responders and their families in times of need.
Gerhard, an FDNY firefighter, tragically lost his life after battling a fire on Feb. 16, 2022. When the opportunity came up to sponsor a race team and support a foundation tied so closely to first responders, Bulovas Restorations knew it was something worth pursuing.
“[Rory] loves cars and racing,” Brianna says. “Usually, he’s more toward F1. But the opportunity was brought to him to get involved in NASCAR, which he’s always known about, but he never thought about being a sponsor. When the opportunity came about, he said, ‘This is awesome.’ Putting together his passion with racing was a no-brainer.”
For Brianna, the connection to the Jesse Gerhard Memorial Foundation made the partnership even more meaningful. Her father was a 9/11 first responder, and her brother-in-law is a police officer.
“We give back tremendously to our first responders,” she says. “It was a full-circle moment because we were able to highlight the people who serve our communities, and it was a perfect opportunity.”
The No. 24 team carried a bold black paint scheme designed to feature the names of FDNY firefighters, including members who died in the line of duty and those who died from illnesses related to their work in the rescue and recovery efforts following 9/11.
The opportunity to partner with Sam Hunt
Racing and Burton came at the perfect time for Bulovas Restorations. But the company knew that if it was going to sponsor a race car, the effort needed to be about something larger than itself.
“I don’t think anyone has done anything like this,” Brianna says of the partnership among Bulovas Restorations, Sam Hunt Racing and the Jesse Gerhard Memorial Foundation. “You think of all these other NASCAR drivers, F1 and all of these other organizations out there, and we haven’t heard of anyone who did any type of sponsorship like this for the greater good.
“We hadn’t seen anyone memorializing a car like that to represent everybody who lost their lives in 9/11. It’s something very special to be a part of. It was something we wanted to jump into.”
Bulovas Restorations opened in 2012 after Rory learned the ins and outs of the restoration industry. Since then, the business has continued to grow.
“We’ve grown tremendously,” Brianna says. “It’s been a team effort.”
For the company, Talladega became an unforgettable first NASCAR experience. Even the paint scheme reveal left Rory speechless.
“My parents, my dad specifically, being a first responder, it meant a lot to them,” Brianna says of being at the racetrack and seeing the No. 24 Toyota on track. “Being there and being able to see the names of all of the firefighters written out, and being there with Jesse Gerhard’s family, meant so much.
“For our employees, they understand how much the hard work pays off in the long run. We will be able to continue to grow the company, and the more we grow, the more we will be able to give back.”
“How are we going to pass up on that experience being continued?” Brianna says. “We love the thought process behind it. Having the foundation tied into it for the season is extremely meaningful. We believe tremendously in Sam Hunt Racing and Harrison, and we can’t wait to see what the rest of the season is going to bring.”
Burton, a four-time O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race winner, is equally excited to see the program grow. The partnership gives the No. 24 team another meaningful platform while continuing to raise awareness for the Jesse Gerhard Memorial Foundation.
For our employees, they understand how much the hard work pays off in the long run. We will be able to continue to grow the company, and the more we grow, the more we will be able to give back.
BRIANNA
Bulovas Restorations saw the impact of sponsoring an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series team at Talladega. Now, after the success of that weekend, the company has expanded its partnership with Sam Hunt Racing through an eight-race extension that will continue throughout the 2026 season.
“I am really excited to announce we are expanding our partnership with the Jesse Gerhard Memorial Foundation and Bulovas Restorations,” Burton says. “This is a program that means a lot to me, our race team and everyone involved. The Jesse Gerhard Memorial Foundation was created in honor of Jesse Gerhard, who died in the line of duty while serving with the FDNY. Jesse was assigned to Ladder No. 134 [and Engine Company No. 264] in the borough of Queens. His legacy continues with the work this foundation does every single year. The foundation raises money for families in need. Since its inception, it has donated more than $350,000 for those efforts.
“None of this would be possible without Rory Bulovas and Bulovas Restorations. Rory has been a tremendous partner not only with this foundation, but with so many foundations and nonprofit organizations throughout the tri-state area. Bulovas Restorations is a full-service restoration company, and Rory and his team have shown what it means to use their business to make a real impact in the community. I’m honored to be part of this program, proud to help carry Jesse’s legacy forward and excited about what we’re going to do next.”
Burton will look to qualify for the NASCAR playoffs for the second year in a row. Last season, he reached the postseason with AM Racing. Now, he wants to become the first Sam Hunt Racing driver to make it into the playoffs.
For Bulovas Restorations, the goal is just as clear: keep growing, keep giving back and keep using NASCAR as a platform to honor those who serve.
After a rocket ride through NASCAR’s lower ranks, Connor Zilisch is discovering that Cup Series growth comes one hardearned Sunday at a time.
BY STEVEN TARANTO
Most rookies spend a season chasing the award.
Connor Zilisch began his Cup Series rookie year with his name already penciled in.
When the green flag dropped on the 2026 season, Zilisch stood as the only rookie driver at NASCAR’s highest level. With no other first-year challenger in the field, Rookie of the Year honors were effectively his to lose. It is a distinction that fits a driver widely viewed as one of racing’s brightest young talents, but it is also an unusual measuring stick. No matter how Zilisch’s season plays out, the trophy is likely coming.
The real question is what kind of rookie year he builds around it. Zilisch’s rise to the Cup Series came with rare speed. In a little more than a year, he went from winning the pole in his Craftsman Truck Series debut at 17 to winning 10 races in one of the most statistically dominant seasons in O’Reilly Auto Parts Series history. But so far, success in Cup has been much harder to find.
The soon-to-be 20-year-old phenom has flashed at times, but he has spent much of his rookie season in the middle of the pack, learning a very different race car while also dealing with a lack of organization-wide pace at Trackhouse Racing. For anyone who watched Zilisch win nearly everything but a championship in 2025, the results may look surprisingly ordinary.
Zilisch, speaking with Pole Position at Talladega, knew the jump would be anything but simple.
“I wouldn’t say it’s surprised me or startled me. Obviously coming into it I knew that it was gonna be difficult,” Zilisch said of his move to Cup.
“Everybody who races on Sunday told me last year it’s not easy making the jump from Saturdays to Sundays. I knew that coming in, but I’ve certainly lived it first hand this year so far just trying to claw away and get the best finishes possible.
“It’s no secret that we’ve struggled as an organization, and we’ve got a lot of work to do to get to where we want to be. But we’ve got all the right people, and we can’t get much worse, so that kind of opens up the door for us to try new things and experiment and see if we can learn and get better as the year goes on.”
A drop in performance for Trackhouse Racing has been one of the more puzzling storylines of the early 2026 season, and the team’s struggles have certainly affected Zilisch and the No. 88 group. But on a more basic level, the reasons for his slow start are not difficult to identify.
He is learning a Cup car that is radically different from the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series machines he mastered. He has limited testing and practice time to help speed up that process. And every Sunday, he is racing against the deepest field in stock car racing.
That strength of field has been a major adjustment. Zilisch is experiencing firsthand how much effort and preparation it takes just to run deep in the pack, let alone near the front. He has managed occasional top20 finishes through the first third of the season, but it has not been easy to accept results that do not always match the work being put in.
Because Zilisch found success quickly in stock car racing, it is easy to assume this is the first time winning has not come right away. That is not the case.
He faced a similar situation years ago when he first began racing go-karts in Europe. He also went through a deliberate learning process when he first moved into late models with Carroll Speedshop.
“I was missing A Mains, and it was a struggle. So it honestly feels a lot like that,” Zilisch recalled of his early karting days. “And then also when I first got into late models, I wasn’t in the best car on purpose, Chevy didn’t want me to just go out and smoke everybody with the best car. They wanted to see me learn and grow and adapt in something where I wasn’t winning.
“So honestly, those kind of situations that I was brought up into kind of prepared me for this moment a little bit of learning how to lose and learning how to struggle and trying to make the most of what you’ve got.”
That may be the most important part of Zilisch’s rookie year. Not the award he is likely to receive. Not the box score. Not even where he finishes in points. It is about what happens when things begin to click.
A year ago, that moment came around a third of the way through the season. After Zilisch was forced to miss a race with a back injury suffered in a crash at Talladega, he returned and immediately went on a remarkable run. He won seven of eight races, put together winning streaks of three and four in a row, and recorded 18 consecutive top-five finishes, breaking an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series record that had stood since Sam Ard set it in the early 1980s.
Naturally, the question becomes whether the light
switch could flip again.
Zilisch is not assuming it will be that simple.
“I think part of it is last year, at the beginning of the year, I had speed in a lot of those races,” Zilisch said. “I was contending up at the front, and one mistake would take me out of the race and kind of throw away my chance to win. But I knew that I had race-winning speed everywhere we went, I just had to put it together. Whereas this year, it’s kind of different.
“I haven’t had that race-winning speed anywhere except for really COTA. And it’s gonna take time to get that. I don’t think it’s gonna be quite like last year where we go from being really fast and not being able to get results to being consistently up at the front. I think this year is a little bit different of a situation.
“But in these cars, it doesn’t take a lot to make a big difference. It’s a really tight window that everyone’s working inside of, and little changes can go a long way. So I’m excited to see what we’re able to do in the next few months to get back on track and start to get things going in the right direction again.”
There is still a long runway for Zilisch to improve and start producing stronger results. It is not farfetched to think that could eventually include winning races.
At Circuit of the Americas, Zilisch may have had a chance to win before being spun on the final restart. What followed was still one of his most impressive Cup Series moments, as he drove from 33rd to 14th over the final green-flag run.
With several road course races still ahead during the spring and summer, there are opportunities for Zilisch to build on that performance.
That brings the conversation back to the bigger question. If the Rookie of the Year award is already likely his, how does Zilisch define a successful rookie season?
The award is tangible. His real goal is not.
“I look at it as, me as a driver, am I getting better? Am I growing as a race car driver? And as long as I’m better at Homestead than I was at Daytona, I think that’s what success is for me.
“I obviously know that part of it would be helping give the feedback and do the things that it would take to get us back on track, and being a part of that kind of rebuild that we’re in right now is something that I take a lot of pride in. So there’s not really a positional thing that I would say, ‘If I finish X in the championship, I’d be satisfied.’ I just want to keep continuing to grow as a driver myself.”
For Zilisch, Rookie of the Year may be the headline. But the real story is what comes next.
A driver who has spent much of his young career making success look immediate is now being asked to do something different, something harder, and something that may matter even more.
He is learning how to struggle.
And if his past is any indication, that may be exactly what prepares him to win.
BY JOSEPH WOLKIN
Lavar Scott is tackling his rookie O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season with confidence, patience and a personality that stands out in the garage.
No one is smiling more in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series garage in 2026 than Lavar Scott.
The rookie racer has an unmistakable grin, so much so that you can almost feel it through the phone. But behind that smile is a driver who understands exactly where he is, where he wants to go, and why he is not interested in rushing the process.
“I always want to continue growing, but growing is a process,” Scott says. “Growing takes time, and I’m not in a rush.”
Scott, who took the ARCA Menards Series by storm in 2024 and 2025, moved up the NASCAR ladder in a major way in 2026. Alpha Prime Racing, owned by Tommy Joe Martins and Caesar Bacarella, recognized his raw ability after just a pair of O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts last year. They knew they had to sign him to a full-time deal.
Shortly thereafter, the team announced that Scott would drive the No. 45 Chevrolet full-time, making the jump from ARCA to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
“It’s been amazing,” Scott says of his rookie campaign. “Definitely a lot of ups and downs and some bad races. But we’re racing every single week, so you’re going to have some good races and bad races. In the grand scheme of things, it’s been amazing. Traveling the country racing cars has never been a job. It’s been awesome, and I have a great team around me. We’re keeping each other confident. We know when we have good races that our speed is good and we can contend.”
One of Scott’s mentors is NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, who has dedicated much of his time to coaching the young racer, both on and off the track. In a video Scott recently posted on Instagram, Martin said Scott “can drive” and has “skills that are unbelievable.”
“Mark has been amazing, and he actually texted me this morning to show me some of the workouts he was doing,” Scott says of his Hall of Fame mentor. “We go over workouts and diet stuff. It’s really cool to have a presence like his, a mentorship from someone who I can always contact to talk about certain things. His success in this sport is so legendary, and he’s so smart.
“He cares about what he’s saying, and what he’s saying is 100% right, especially when it comes to racing. I have him and a few other guys in the sport who have taught me a lot, because they have gone through bad moments and good moments, too, and look where they’re at. They know how to go through the process of things. I know that whenever I’m having a bad moment, I can reach out and talk about it, know it’s part of the process and that it always gets better.”
Scott, who will turn 23 in September, is making sure everyone inside and outside of NASCAR knows who he is. The New Jersey native wants to be himself, and that personality is quickly becoming part of his brand. He showcases sleek fits, designer outfits and intense workouts on social media in a way few other NASCAR drivers are doing right now.
Yes, he is even a model.
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“It’s been cool,” Scott says of building his brand away from the track. “It’s just so natural. It’s just me. I’m just posting and doing what I’ve always liked. I always had a fashion sense, wearing cool shoes or whatever it is. A lot of it comes from looking at F1 drivers. They’re really cool people aside from the racetrack. Racing is a job and they love it, but they’re still human beings and have interests and hobbies outside of racing. I try to translate that into myself.
“I want to be a race car driver for the rest of my life, and I’m working hard to continue to do that. But you have to have a balance, not too much balance, and I was insanely into racing 24/7. It really affected me. I had to find other things and interests to get involved in, and that’s modeling, fashion and working out. Working out has been huge for me mentally.”
From building partnerships with major brands like Sunoco to sharpening his race craft, Scott believes much of his growth stems from his time with NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, led by Rev Racing’s Max Siegel, who is also the CEO of USA Track & Field.
“When I was 15 years old, I was winning pretty big races in the sprints and dirt cars I was racing,” Scott says of his journey. “I reached out to NASCAR for the Drive for Diversity program. They told me they already knew who I was and told me to fill out an
application. I went down to the combine in 2018. I made the team for 2020, and it’s been a process ever since. I did legends, late models and ARCA. I made my ARCA debut in 2023, and it was amazing. I thought I was going to win it up until the last lap. I ended up finishing fourth, and that translated into me having a pretty good year in ARCA. In 2025, I made my O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut. It’s definitely been a long journey with a lot of on-track practice over the years that has prepared me for where I am now.”
Scott raced in ARCA for two full seasons. While he did not win a race, he was a constant threat near the front of the field. He learned how to refine his race craft with Rev Racing, seldom wrecking cars and making the most of days when he had a top-five car instead of a winning one.
Now, while competing in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Scott remains thankful for everything he learned with Rev Racing.
“Everything involving NASCAR from on-track to off-track, from branding to sponsorship to marketing,” Scott says of what he learned in ARCA. “Without Rev Racing, I can say this would not be happening at all. It’s all because of Rev Racing and Max Siegel. Nothing this year has been so new to me because I’ve been doing it for the last few years, whether it’s post-race meetings, race situations, how to move around or how to do well on restarts.”
The focus now for Scott is simple: stay out of trouble, avoid other people’s messes and keep learning. If he can do that, he believes the No. 45 team’s raw speed will put him in position for a strong second half of the season.
“It’s been a good year of learning and going through things,” Scott says. “Everything is so easy when you have a great team around you and great guys to support you. You have good days and bad days. What everybody is telling me is that no matter what, you have to go racing again this weekend. It’s a true blessing to go out there every single week, have a chance to get better and get my name out there more.”
At the end of the day, Scott wants to succeed in NASCAR, and he is putting in the work to prove he can get the job done.
“It’s an honor to be in the situation that I’m in,” Scott says. “I always dreamt of being a full-time NASCAR driver, and it’s pretty remarkable that it’s actually happening.”
BY KAUY OSTLIEN
man Truck Series Championship will not be forgotten by NASCAR fans any time soon.
After 16 races, Honeycutt, racing in his first fulltime NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, found himself sixth in points entering Watkins Glen with just two races left until the 2025 Playoffs.
But the week leading up to Watkins Glen would serve as a turning point for Honeycutt, as he and his team, Niece Motorsports, cut ties, with the team citing that he had signed with a different team and manufacturer — later revealed to be Toyota — for 2026.
While Honeycutt would find a full-time ride for the rest of the season, filling in for injured Halmar Friesen Racing driver-owner Stewart Friesen after the Glen, he still needed a ride for that weekend. He eventually landed at Young’s Motorsports and slipped out of the weekend in 34th, falling to eighth in points.
Honeycutt ultimately made the playoffs with Halmar Friesen, coming up just short of the title as he, Ty Majeski, and Tyler Ankrum all chased the rear bumper of Corey Heim’s No. 11.
As the checkered flag fell on Heim’s championship season and his final full-time year in trucks,
Tricon Garage’s flagship truck in 2026. Heim’s record-breaking 2025 was a tough act to follow, but the opportunity Tricon and the Toyota camp offered Honeycutt was far too great to pass up. Besides, the No. 11 team, led by veteran Scott Zipadelli, made the 22-year-old feel right at home from the start.
“It’s been a really great journey,” Honeycutt said. “The guys don’t put any pressure on me. They don’t say, ‘Hey, yeah, we won here last time, now you need to do it too.’ It’s just been an amazing team to work with.”
Nevertheless, the team faced high expectations right out of the gate, as most fans felt that Tricon, Honeycutt, and Zipadelli were a match made in heaven.
But, Honeycutt still faced challenges up the road, as his journey to victory lane saw early heartbreak in the 2026 season.
While they might not have found victory lane right off the bat, the No. 11 team kicked off the season by hitting the marks that they had under Heim. This stretch included three top-five finishes and four top-ten finishes in the first ten races of the season.
Even then, Honeycutt still had some heartbreakers early on, with backtoback races at Darlington Raceway and Rockingham Speedway leaving the team feeling like they left quite a bit on the table.
At Darlington, Honeycutt started on the pole for the first time in his NASCAR career. Still, after leading just 59 laps, Honeycutt fell back during an overtime restart and was left to watch the battle for the win instead of participating in it.
That next weekend, the story at Tricon had again shifted back to Heim, who, while racing part-time in two separate entries for the team, won both
Darlington and Rockingham, tying Honeycutt for the points lead.
At the Rock, Honeycutt, seeing flashbacks from last year’s playoffs, chased the rear bumper of Heim as the laps wound down, but missed his chance to get by his teammate coming to the line.
Still, Honeycutt feels that these two missed opportunities were a necessary step in his long path to victory lane, leaving the young driver with lessons learned in clutch moments.
“I feel like Rockingham or Darlington were two dead giveaways,” Honeycutt said. “I think just losing those two... definitely hurt, but also motivated me to figure out, ‘How do I not let something like this happen again?’”
After another pole position at Bristol Motor Speedway and a solid run at Texas Motor Speedway, Honeycutt maintained his points lead heading back to the track where his 2025 championship hopes almost went up in smoke.
Of course, Honeycutt, a proven short track talent and former CARS Pro Late Model Tour Champion, was likely not on the top of anyone’s prediction list entering Watkins Glen in mid-May.
Prior to that race, and before joining Tricon, the Texas native had an 18.75 average finish in five road course starts. Adding to the stacked odds, Honeycutt and the rest of his fellow Truck Series full-timers were facing one of the fiercest lineups in recent Series history.
This included then-six-time Cup Series road and street course winner Shane Van Gisbergen, six-time NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series road course winner Connor Zilisch, and one of the sport’s original modern era road course aces, A.J. Allmendinger.
For Honeycutt, this daunting list of names is nothing more than more competition, saying that while they are great drivers, he has to treat them like anyone else coming into the Truck Series.
Sundays and competing against them. We just treat them like they’re another driver and respect them. But also, we race them hard, because we want to win in our own series as much as they just want to win and any type of car.”
After qualifying seventh for the Truck Series race, Honeycutt’s weekend got off to a hot start, as he brought home his first-ever ARCA Menards Series win in dominant fashion.
As he hopped behind the wheel of his Truck, Honeycutt sat back and allowed other drivers to make their own mistakes, a lesson he had learned from some small mistakes in a fifth-place run in the first road course race on the streets of St. Petersburg in February.
“St. Pete to start the season off at a road course just wasn’t great,” Honeycutt said. “I just made too many mistakes all day, but it was still a 5th-place finish. I was like, ‘Man, if I can just get rid of three-quarters of all my mistakes, I can win these races on the road course,’ and I just needed to do that for Watkins Glen.”
Honeycutt currently has 8 top-10 finishes, 7 top-5 finishes, and 1 win in the 2026 Craftsman Truck Series season
“They’re obviously special guys, going from Cup to Truck, but to me, they’re another competitor,” Honeycutt said. “Where they’re coming into our playground, it’d be no different if we were going into their playground on
Even when one of these mistakes happened early on in the race, when the team was sent to the back of the field for pitting after pit road had closed while trying to flip stage one, Honeycutt didn’t let this small moment get in his head, setting up for a chance at his first win.
In a full-circle moment, with lessons learned from mistakes earlier this season, Honeycutt took his chance during an overtime restart, slipping in front of race leader Connor Zilisch in turn one and pulling away with the lead and the win.
That move, the first race-winning move of Honeycutt’s NASCAR career, marked the end of an odd period of his career, a period of transition that began and ended at Watkins Glen.
During the cool-down lap, Honeycutt looked back on his unlikely journey to his new home and victory lane.
“On the cool down lap after the race, I would say… it was just really cool, man,” Honeycutt said. “It was ironically the race I had to figure out how to find a ride for to stay in the playoffs last year. And going back and doing that, it was like, who would have thought? I just never thought that would have been possible.”
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