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The Midwest tour begins! A two-race excursion through Indy and Michigan; a boon for the high-horsepower teams before the oncoming road course stint! Logan Sheets, Chauncey Redmond Jr. and Bink Lucas are in line for their first Chase birth, attempting to hold off four former Champions occupying 11th through 14th in the standings. Veterans Tony Pizzaro, Craig Lee, Dave Miller and Timothy McDonnell lurk from behind the bushes, aiming to re-gain their rightful status as "Dominance Men". The green flag waves! Pole-sitter Tony Pizzaro leads the inagural lap, watching 400,000 fans clap in unison as the "Fenway Frank" Fusion marches in front. It wouldn't last for long. A backstretch spin by Dan Johnson brought out the first yellow flag, bunching the 45-car field for a second-chance start. Pizzaro would lose the lead to Logan Sheets, with teammate Rick Jackson blowing an engine, dropping to 20th in the standings. Willma Perry would suffer the same fate for his seventh DNF of 2026. The "Fenway Frank" #12 re-takes the lead on lap-9! Ryan Heuser and "pain-man" Cristian Torres are able to keep pace, with Heuser taking the top-spot just six laps later. The #138 NOS Energy Chevrolet would dominate the remaining stint, hoping to earn his fifth Brickyard 400 victory in their last seven tries. Pizzaro beat him out of the pits, with Sheets, Zakk Miller, Torres, Zach Michael, Alex Crapser, Markell Murphy, Trae Larkin and Bink Lucas occupying the top-10 by the lap-50 mark. Ken Pettit blows a tire! Ben Geer smacks the #8 through the entrance of turn-1, sending both into a spin towards the outside barrier. Underneath, Dave Miller and Matt Raboin tangle while attempting to bypass the smokescreen, with the #90 Marlboro Chevrolet careening off the outside wall and into the path of Champion Johnny Reed Foley. Steven Spears hits Foley, who spews a mosquito-screen into the windshields of all! Raboin goes for a flip after a second contact with Pettit, with Adam Crapser, Larry Sheldrake and Dalton Lucas unable to avoid the oil and grease. Seven drivers fell out after the accident. Miller dropped from 13th to 14th in the standings. Foley's three-peat hopes were all but tarnished, falling to 26th in points after a third-straight effort of 30th or worse. Raboin literally tumbled outside the top-20, with Pettit miraculously holding onto 10th, just one point ahead of Bink Lucas with four races remaining in the regular season. Steven Spears recovered to finish 23rd, just four points behind Ken Joynt for the 35th-spot. Dalton Lucas earns his league-leading 8th DNF, with teammate Adam Crapser practically out of title contention after literal "blow" to his soul. "Complacency heralds our doom!" exclamed #12 crew chief Neil Justice. A 70-race winless streak heading into the Brickyard 400, not winning at an oval in three-and-a-half years! Pizzaro would lead the field through lap-61, holding off Sheets and Heuser again, with Sheets in control through the halfway mark. Danger Zone teammates Zach Michael, Markell Murphy and Zakk Miller joined the fray, with Tony Gunk, Molemar Diggs, John Battista and John Tharp rounding out the top-10 positions. The #58 Quaker State Intrepid held it's ground through green flag stops! Zakk Miller came out on top, pulling to a 1.5-second advantage over Sheets and Michael, with Heuser leading the third-pack. With 50-to-go, the lead-six morphed into a slip-stream of the Gods, safely ahead of the remaining contenders. Miller, Heuser and Murphy traded the top-spot through the 30 to-go mark, with 35 cars still in contention if a caution flag were to fly. ... Read more » |
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Cristian Torres will run the Brickyard! A catastrophic tunnel-turn accident on lap-6 of the Pennsylvania 400 broke his collarbone, but he will not be denied! He'll start in the 6th position, ahead of 40 less-hindered superstars. Pole-sitter Tony Pizzaro aims to turn his recent misfortune into gold! Four-straight finishes outside the top-18 drops the "Fenway Frank" #12 outside the top-10 in points, dropping from seventh to eleventh since the Budweiser 400 at Gateway. A victory here will cure his ails, though he'll have to surpass points-leader and Indianapolis dynamo Ryan Heuser. An average finish of 2.5 with four victories in his last eight Brickyard 400's. He'll start just two rows behind, hoping to maintain his 72-point advantage over Zakk Miller in the regular season Championship. Towards the rear, miracle-man Banks Germany will start his first ever race, gridding 37th in the 46-car field. Points Standings (After 21 of 36 Events) 1. Ryan Heuser: +630 |
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Bink Lucas and Ken Pettit enter the top-10 in points! Both endured morbid starts to their 2026 campaigns, only to rebound after a surplus of top-20 finishes. Tony Pizzaro and Craig Lee find their way outside the bubble, dropping to 11th and 12th after late-race accidents in the Pennsylvania 400. Pizzaro will start on the pole, with Lee crashing his primary car in qualifying; forced to start dead-last in the 46-car fracas. $10,000,000 is on the line for the winner! Ryan Heuser is the early favorite at 4-1; a line some fans think is too low after winning four of his last six. Outside-pole sitter Dakota Wilkins, John Battista and Zach Michael were each fast in practice, with Zakk Miller hoping for a Ryan Heuser meltdown to gain ground in the Championship. It's an unlikely scenario. Nobody dominates the Brickyard like the #138 Quick-Silver Motorsports Chevrolet! Points Standings (After 21 of 36 Events) 21. Matt Raboin: -230 |
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A long-distance excursion between both Pocono events! Only a five-race trip between the Pocono 400 in June and today's Pennsylvania 400, witnessing first-season victories from Matt Raboin, Chauncey Redmond Jr., Logan Sheets and Zakk Miller. Before this recent surplus of checkered-flag recipients, only Ryan Heuser, Team Danger Zone and Lucas Racing provided any consistent clout. Johnny Reed Foley and Dakota Wilkins won two events, but were plagued by different types of misfortune. With top-speed as the primary advantage, expect a return-to-form for the usual front-runners. NASCAR superstar Jimmy Spencer was spotted near a local cafe. When he turned around, we realized it was not Jimmy Spencer, but former Bonanza Series superstar Harry Lapp! "What happened to you Harry?" yelled a local race fan. "I can't stop eating these Pennsylvania crumpets!" he exclaimed, pouring a bottle of Aunt Jemima atop his over-filled platter. Hopefully, our current Extravaganza superstars won't succumb to the same fate. Pole-sitter Johnny Reed Foley leads the first six laps! Then, disaster struck. Alex Crapser and Cristian Torres make contact entering the tunnel-turn. The GameStop #26 flies through the infield grass, smacks the inside wall, then catapults over the turn-2 curbing. Somehow, everybody missed him before decimating the outside wall passenger-side first. The entire housing bent to the left on impact, pushing the Goodyear tires out in shades of NASCAR's Jeff Fuller at Kentucky. Torres would be helped out of the car, suffering a broken collarbone in the crash. Torres hit the wall with the right-front at 134 miles-per-hour, knocking his breath into another dimension! Still, he gave the "thumbs up" to the crowd as a helicopter flew his dangling torso out of the racetrack. "We thought he was dead" exclaimed Matthew Dominique, who witnessed the red and black blur fly across his windshield. "The impact flung him back to Argentina" yelled Steven Spock. He was forced to apologize for the comment due to his ties with the Don Satur biscuit company. The green flag re-waved on lap-10! Bink Lucas and Tony Gunk took fuel-only, hoping to hold off the field with their barely-worn Goodyear Eagles. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Johnny Reed Foley made a three-wide maneuver on the inside lane, surpassing both drivers by the end of the second-straightaway. He would lead the field through lap-26, with he and Craig Lee taking turns at the top-spot. Tony Pizzaro's "Fenway Frank" Fusion stole the advantage on lap-31, leading the pack for the remaining green flag distance. Catastrophe on lap-47! Dakota Wilkins and Ken Pettit make contact battling for 16th, knocking the #77 into Dalton Lucas as both slap the outside turn-3 barrier. Lucas crashed front-first, spinning towards the outside-groove traffic. Ziggy Moonglow, Geno Sphere, Markell Murphy, Steven Spears and teammate Alex Crapser all piled into the accident. Combined with Larry Sheldrake blowing an engine, all six cars would fail to continue. A massive blow for Murphy and Crapser, hoping to clinch their Chase spot before the final regular season event at Richmond. Chauncey Redmond Jr. leads the field for the lap-52 restart! He would dominate the entire stint, leading every lap in hopes of a thirteenth top-16 finish in his last fourteen events. On lap-65, a hard-charging David Butterworth was running 10th before blowing a tire on he exit of turn-1. Ken Joynt tagged him, sending the #81 through he in field grass, while Joynt spun into the path of Trae Larkin and Mark Heron. All three cars slapped the tunnel-turn wall, with Joynt, Butterworth and Heron heading to the garage. Larkin would limp home to a modest 30th.
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Zakk Miller wins two in-a-row! A magical stretch for the "Bepis Man", earning his eighth top-10 finish since Kansas, while jumping to a career-high second in the standings. He'll occupy the tenth spot on the Pennsylvania 400 starting grid. Pole-sitter Johnny Reed Foley hopes to turn the tide after a morbid streak since his comeback at Nashville. Four of his last five finishes are outside the top-20, leading only three laps during the stretch. He'll need to gain 42 points points race; 252-back from tenth-place Craig Lee with only six races left in the regular season. If he can lead lap one, the momentum may carry him forward, in spite of continuous aches and bruises from Talladega. "They hand me an orange tonic before every race!" exclaimed Foley. "It looks like Fast Orange, but I doubt they'll try to kill me. At least not yet!". Crew chief Ronnie Pressley commented further. "If Shoenice can consume shampoo, Foley can drink grease cleaner with ease!". Expect a comeback performance for the #3 AC-Delco team. Points Standings (After 20 of 36 Events) 1. Ryan Heuser: +625 |
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Ben Geer nealy broke a decade-long winless-streak in last week's Tropicana 400! His second-place effort jumps the #29 Twinkie Chevrolet to 26th in the standings, gaining ground on perennial Championship contenders, while pulling away from the 35th-place provisional cutoff. Geer-5 Racing teammate Donald Stewart stands two positions ahead, finishing every event so far in 2026. Their new dedicated engine room paid dividends in consistency, but raw speed remains a work in progress. Stewart tries for his first top-6 result, with Geer turning 39th-place finishes into an art form. They'll both start outside the top-35 for the Pennsylvania 400, with hopeful long-run speed as their salvation for a top-20 run. Up front, Tony Gunk pulls off another miracle qualifying lap, starting sixth with hopes of catching Ken Joynt for a top-35 spot in the standings. Front-row starters Johnny Reed Foley and Craig Lee will lead the field to green! Points Standings (After 20 of 36 Events) 21. Matt Raboin: -246 (-4) |
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A treacherous drive from Daytona to Illinois! A 1,000-mile cruise through Interstate-75, only for the racers to drive 400 more in the Tropicana 400. One driver got in trouble for bringing a fanta bottle. "It's just carbonated tropicana!" exclaimed the driver. "Fenway Frank" racer Tony Pizzaro dominated qualifying, earning his first pole since Bristol in 2024. Will he hold off the field? Four of the five drivers behind are inside the top-5 in points, hoping to chop the "Fenway Frank" #12 into a bite-sized filet. 200,000 screaming fans roar in euphoria! Tony Pizzaro leads the first 22 laps, still recovering from his Mike and Ike overdose on Wednesday. Bepis-man Zakk Miller followed his trail before points leader Ryan Heuser bypassed them both, leading is league-leading 15th event in 2026. He, Chauncey Redmond Jr. and Geno Sphere would pull away from the pack. By lap-40, the #64 New England Patriots Chevrolet was at the helm, traversing defiantly from his 14th startng spot. Redmond maintained his advantage through fuel stops! On lap-69, Ben Geer and Michael Henson tangled across the start-finish line battling for the 27th spot. Henson's #144 Black + Decker Chevrolet spun and pulverized the outside wall, caroming back into traffic. William Perry, who suffered a season-ending accident in this race one year ago, smashed the rear of Henson, with Matt Raboin following suit. Henson went for a flip-and-a-half before coming to a halt on the turn-1 apron. The aftermath of the crash saw William Perry, Michael Henson and Matt Raboin exit their cars unscathed. CFM Motorsports teammates Johnny Reed Foley and Timothy McDonnell narrowly escaped the accident, passing by the #87 both on the track and in the points standings. Up front, nine cars stayed out on old tires, with Mark Heron leading his first laps since his Cinderella effort in last years' Sharpie 500. He would not disappoint, holding off the field in a modest three-lap chance at glory. Markell Murphy leads his 13th race! The #47 Team Danger Zone crew hopes to erradicate a three-race hard-luck streak, failing to finish better than 27th since Richmond. He would pull away from the pack with a four-second gap, leaving Adam Crapser, Ben Geer, Rick Jackson, Jeremy Hebel, Zakk MIller and Timothy McDonnell in a ferocious battle for the second position. A Nigel Ramasawmy spin on the backstretch decimated his advantage, bringing out the second caution flag. The battle for the Halfway Bacon Bonus! Markell Murphy and Adam Crasper race side-by-side for the $100,000, keeping Rick Jackson, Zakk Miller and Timothy McDonnell in tow. Murphy would earn the money and "prized slab", hoping the inevitable weight-gain will add to his 2026 luck. Teammate Zakk Miller would pass him on lap-149, hoping to make it two-in-a-row with a chance to catch Ryan Heuser for the Regular Season Championship! Heuser is mired in the 23rd position, struggling with a tight racecar. Pole-sitter Tony Pizzaro and Ken Joynt spin! The yellow comes out with 90-to-go, with Rick Jackson and Zach Michael beating the #30 Bepis Mustang out of the pits. Rick led his first laps since the Coca-Cola 600, holding off the Team Danger Zone brigade and a hard-charging Ben Geer through lap-209. Eventually, Geer took the advantage, also leading his first laps since Charlotte. The #29 "Twinkie-Man" hasn't found victory lane in nearly a decade. Could this be the night? Geer would enjoy a two-second advantage with 40-to-go. ... Read more » |
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Five drivers enter the 2026 Tropicana 400 with an advantage of the Gods! Ryan Heuser, Alex Crapser, John Battista, Zakk Miller and Markell Murphy could each fall into a sewer hole, live off the drainage-liquids for a full month, and still make the Chase. Everyone behind them still endures the struggle. Dakota Wilkins dropped from 3rd to 13th in points after Talladega. On the opposite end, John Tharp went from a virtual outcast up to 15th with three straight top-6's, hoping to keep Toyota's factory support in line for 2027. Two-time reigning Champion CFM Motorsports is well behind the eight-ball. Hell, they are behind the cue ball! Timothy McDonnell dropped to 19th after two-straight finishes outside the top-40. Johnny Reed Foley hasn't returned to form as quickly as some hoped, still mired directly behind in 20th. With Markell Murphy, Logan Sheets and Chauncey Redmond Jr. currently inside the bubble, the Extravaganza "Old Guns" could finally fall to the wayside. Look for Rick Jackson, Dave Miller and Ken Pettit to counter-attack in the Tropicana 400! Points Standings (After 19 of 36 Events) 1. Ryan Heuser: +665 Monday, September 28th, 4:00 ET |
