CHASE BRISCOE
Darlington Advance
No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Event Overview

● Event: Goodyear 400 (Round 13 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 12
● Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
● Layout: 1.366-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 293 laps/400.2 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 90 laps / Stage 2: 95 laps / Final Stage: 108 laps
● TV/Radio: FS1 / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Darlington (S.C.) Raceway is home to the Official Throwback Weekend of NASCAR, and for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 NASCAR Cup Series race, drivers and teams use their racecars to turn back time by running throwback liveries. The racecars are the canvas where the paints of the past come alive. For Chase Briscoe and the No. 14 team of Stewart-Haas Racing, they’re throwing it back to the paint scheme Chase’s father, Kevin, used on his sprint car during a more than 20-year career that included over 200 feature wins. The elder Briscoe also won the 1993 track championship at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Indiana, and scored five track titles at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway, including a run of three straight (2004-2006) after winning championships there in 1991 and 2001.

● The white-and-red-colors adorning Briscoe’s No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse go all the way back to the patriarch of the Briscoe Family, Richard Briscoe. Richard is Chase’s grandfather and, in addition to fielding a sprint car for his son, Kevin, Richard employed a who’s who of sprint car racers since his team’s founding in 1976. Fourteen National Sprint Car Hall of Famers have driven for Briscoe Racing: Chuck Amati, Dale Blaney, Dave Blaney, Steve Butler, Dave Darland, Dick Gaines, Jack Hewitt, Rickey Hood, Randy Kinser, Steve Kinser, Danny Smith, Jeff Swindell, Rich Vogler and Doug Wolfgang. In all, 37 different drivers delivered more than 500 wins to Richard Briscoe.

● Richard Briscoe climbed behind the wheel of sprint car just two times. After a friend was killed on the second night of his driving career, Richard became a fulltime car owner and mechanic. His first win as a car owner came in 1976 at Bloomington Speedway with driver Mike Johnson in a race that paid $1,000 to win. Richard’s number throughout Briscoe Racing’s years has been No. 5. Said Chase Briscoe about the number’s history: “The first car my grandpa ever bought had the No. 5 on it, and he thought it was back luck to change numbers, so the No. 5 has been with us ever since.”

● The Goodyear 400 will mark Chase Briscoe’s seventh career NASCAR Cup Series start at Darlington. While the native of Mitchell, Indiana, is still looking for his first top-10 at the track, Briscoe has been solid, with five top-20 finishes to give him an average result of 18.2. His best Cup Series result at Darlington is 11th, earned in the 2021 Goodyear 400. Briscoe finished 15th in his most recent Cup Series start at Darlington, last year’s Southern 500.

● Darlington is known as “The Track Too Tough To Tame,” but Briscoe has tamed the venerable 1.366-mile oval in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He scored a dramatic victory at Darlington on May 21, 2020, beating Kyle Busch in a fender-scraping, tire-rubbing duel where the margin of victory was just .086 of a second. Both Briscoe and Busch led 45 laps that day, but Briscoe led the lap that mattered most as he took the lead from Busch on the final lap. It was the fourth victory in Briscoe’s tally of 11 career Xfinity Series wins. In Briscoe’s two other Xfinity Series starts at Darlington, he finished sixth (August 2019) and 11th (September 2020).

● The 2024 season marks Darlington’s 74th anniversary, with the egg-shaped oval having hosted 125 NASCAR Cup Series races. The first came on Sept. 4, 1950 and it was the first 500-mile race in NASCAR history and the first on asphalt. Johnny Mantz drove his Plymouth to the win with an average speed of 75.250 mph and the race took 6 hours, 38 minutes and 40 seconds to complete. Juxtapose that with Kyle Larson’s win in the most recent NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington, the 2023 Southern 500, where he had an average speed of 120.906 mph and the race finished in 4 hours, 8 minutes and 47 seconds.

● Mahindra Ag North America is in its third year as the anchor sponsor for Briscoe and the No. 14 team after extending its partnership with Stewart-Haas during the offseason. The multiyear agreement with the NASCAR team co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart and industrialist Gene Haas continues to feature Mahindra Tractors, a brand of Mahindra Ag North America, on Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Mustang for the majority of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. Houston-based Mahindra Ag North America is part of Mahindra Group’s Automotive and Farm Sector, the No. 1-selling farm tractor company in the world, based on volumes across all company brands. Mahindra offers a range of tractor models from 20-75 horsepower, implements, and the ROXOR heavy-duty UTV. Mahindra farm equipment is engineered to be easy to operate by first-time tractor or side-by-side owners and heavy duty to tackle the tough jobs of rural living, farming and ranching. Steel-framed Mahindra Tractors and side-by-sides are ideal for customers who demand performance, reliability and comfort. Mahindra dealers are independent, family-owned businesses located throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Your No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Darlington represents three generations of racing Briscoes. How special is that for you?

“It’s cool just to be able to kind of throw it back and give back to the only reason I’m racing at all. If it wasn’t for my grandpa in 1976 kind of getting bit by the racing bug, then my dad doesn’t get involved in it, and if my dad’s not involved in it, then probably I’m not involved in it. So, it’s pretty cool to be able to do that and have all three generations still alive to be able to see it. Not many families can say they have three generations of racecar drivers, and the way my son is, I’m probably in trouble because we’ll probably have four generations. It is really cool and really special. I’ve been fortunate that, pretty much every year of my career, Darlington throwback weekend I’ve been given me the opportunity to kind of do what I wanted, and I’ve wanted to do this for a long time and this year it just all came together. I’m really excited for it and can’t wait to see it on track.”

Talk about your grandfather, Richard, the sprint car owner, and what you remember about some of the drivers he had in his racecars.

“My grandpa, at first, decided he was going to start racing. He went and bought a used car and raced twice, and on the second night one of his best friends got killed. He was like, ‘This probably isn’t for me, I have a family, I’m just going to start owning them instead and start being a crew chief and just be a car owner,’ and he was really, really successful at it. I didn’t realize at an early age just how big of a deal my grandpa was in the Indiana sprint car scene. Obviously, my dad always drove for him growing up and that’s all I knew, but before my dad started driving, it was like a who’s who of sprint car drivers who got to drive for my grandpa. If you were an Indiana sprint car driver, even a national driver and you came to Indiana, you wanted to drive in my grandpa’s car. He was one of those owners. I figured it up the other day, he’s got over 500 wins as an owner, and I think there were 14 national Sprint Car Hall of Famers who have driven for him. When you look at the list, there are only 40 or so drivers who ever driven for him, so nearly half have been Sprint Car Hall of Famers. It’s pretty cool just to know the history that my grandpa has been able to have with multiple drivers, and to have a lot of my heroes on the hood of our car who have all driven for my grandpa, that’s pretty special.”

Talk about your dad, Kevin, the sprint car driver, and what you remember about seeing your dad not just race, but win, a lot.

“My dad won a lot of races. Growing up, I probably took for granted how good he was. I just thought it was normal when you went to the racetrack that your dad was going to win the race. As a driver, my dad has won over 200 races, so he certainly had a way more successful sprint car career than I could’ve ever thought about having. It was crazy, growing up, literally every weekend he would win a race and it was just normal. I always tell the story about when I wouldn’t go, I’d wake up Sunday morning and turn the corner and he’d always put the trophy on our kitchen counter, so that’s how I always knew if he won or not. And it literally felt like every single weekend there was a trophy on our kitchen counter. He’s won a ton of championships at different racetracks, and truthfully didn’t race for a lot of championships a lot of the time, he just went where the money was in the Midwest and had a really successful career. I didn’t get to see the heyday, but I felt like when I was young he was winning quite a bit. I think one year when I was younger, he won 24 races, about half the races. A pretty dang good career, for sure.”

Explain what it’s like to be able to share with your dad and granddad your journey to NASCAR, where you’ve reached the pinnacle of North American motorsports – the NASCAR Cup Series.

“It’s crazy. I think for all of us it’s just nuts that I’m even here. My path to NASCAR was so different from 95 percent of the drivers in the field. We didn’t have money growing up, so the fact that I ran one NASCAR Truck race was unbelievable, let alone in the Cup Series, and doing it at the place where I’ve always dreamed of racing with the car number that I would’ve picked. It’s still a pinch-me moment for all of us. It’s really good for all of us to get to experience that. My dad goes to probably 50 percent of the races, so for him to be there a lot of the time is really cool for us. My grandpa tries to go to one race a year when he can. It’s always special, just the fact that my grandpa’s still around to see it, starting when he did back in 1976, and now to see the fruits of his labor, in a sense, is pretty cool. If he wouldn’t have started back in 1976, his grandson certainly wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing now. So it’s pretty dang cool, for sure.”

You now bring all of that history to a track known for its history. Do you feel like you go back in time when you go to Darlington?

“Every time you go to Darlington, it’s like you’re stepping into a time machine. Just the racetrack, it doesn’t matter what era of racecar you put on it, whether it’s a NextGen, a Gen 4, 5, 6, it’s like none of them are going to drive that good, they’re all going to be slipping and sliding around, the tires are going to get worn out, you’re going to have more power than you need, and that’s unlike a lot of racetracks we go to. And then even the facility, it’s not the fanciest facility we go to, it doesn’t have the nicest things for fans, realistically. But when you go there, you know you’re not going for that, you’re going for that authentic, early NASCAR experience, and that’s what it feels like when you drive through the tunnel at Darlington. Whether you’re in the garage area or you’re on the racetrack, it doesn’t matter where you’re at on those grounds, it just feels very sacred and just feels like you’re in a time machine.”

You’re in a NextGen car. You wear a full-face, state-of-the-art helmet, combined with a state-of-the-art firesuit and shoes, and a six-way seatbelt system keeps you secure in a custom-molded seat. Do you ever wonder how a guy like Richard Petty ran 500 miles at Darlington in overalls and whatever helmet he could find, in a car not far removed from what was on the dealership floor?

“It is crazy just to think about the roots of NASCAR, and just the roots of racing, in general, like how far we’ve come in not a long period of time. You think about how they were literally taking cars pretty much from the showroom, guys were out there racing in their street clothes and pretty much anything they could get on their head that would work – it could be a bucket and they would run with it. It’s pretty crazy just how far we’ve come. Even talking with my dad about his early days in sprint cars, it literally had four Dzus buttons that you would take out with a flathead screwdriver, it was a quarter turn, that’s all that would lock their seat in, and that was it. You just wouldn’t even think about doing that these days. It’s definitely wild to think about how far we’ve come as just a culture with motorsports, and certainly glad that we’ve come that far, but yeah, those guys were certainly stallions in a world of ponies.”

What makes Darlington challenging for you?

“Darlington’s been a place where I’ve had success in the past, and it’s always been a place where I feel like I understand what I need. And I’ve always been good there. I’ve never been necessarily great at Darlington, but I’ve always been kind of OK from a speed standpoint. That first time I went there in the Cup Series was still in the old car and it drove a lot like what I grew up racing there as far as the Xfinity stuff goes. The NextGen car has been a little bit more of a struggle, just because how I drove Darlington didn’t necessarily fit the current generation of car. I’ve had to change my style there over the last year. I feel like every time we’ve gone there we’ve gotten better and better, we just haven’t had the finish to show for it. Hopefully, this time we can go there and it would be super special to have a really good run in that car. I know my dad’s coming, they’re trying to figure out a way for my grandpa to come, so it would be really special to run well with that paint scheme.”

When you won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington in May 2020, you had to beat Kyle Busch. How big of a deal was that victory, and do you consider it one of your greatest victories?

“I would say that win certainly put me on the map as far as having conversations about going Cup racing. Before that, I don’t think anybody thought I was necessarily Cup-caliber, and I felt like after winning there, beating Kyle Busch and doing it the way we did it, being literally just heads-up and being able to outrun him there changed a lot of people’s perspectives. I know for me it was huge just from a confidence standpoint. I mean, I beat Kyle Busch in an Xfinity car and I did it at, of all places, Darlington. So just from a confidence level, that was big for me, and every time I’ve gone back there, I feel like that’s kind of just carried over, just knowing that you beat one of the best to ever run around this place. I know that I’m capable of doing it, it’s just a matter of putting all of those pieces back together. But certainly I would say that was one of the biggest wins of my career. Still, literally every single weekend, somebody brings that race up to me, like a fan does, and they don’t do that about other races. So, certainly it was one of the biggest wins of my career.”

How much can you rip the wall at Darlington before you rip your car into pieces?

“You can do it all day if you’re good. It’s definitely easy to get caught up there and get into the wall because it just invites you. The closer and closer you get to the wall, the more and more speed you make. And you hear about it, right? It’s the Lady in Black, she invites you to keep running in there harder, and then you drive harder and flirt with her and dance with her a little bit more, and then she slaps you. It’s always a challenge there because it is 100-percent faster the closer you run to the wall, and then you try to get that little bit extra and then you’re into the wall. It’s different than every other racetrack. At every other racetrack, you kind of lift at the same spot, you use the same amount of brake, whereas at Darlington the tires are falling off so much, literally every single lap you run, nothing is the same, so you’re constantly changing, and that’s what makes it so challenging.”

When you finish a race at Darlington, regardless of where you finish, is there a sense of accomplishment?

“I felt like early in my career when I ran the whole day and I finished and I didn’t crash, that was good, but I feel like now you don’t necessarily have that same level of accomplishment. It’s almost one of those things where if you come in and the right side’s not torn up, you’re like, ‘Man, I probably wasn’t driving hard enough.’ You kind of want the whole right side destroyed by the end of it because if you come in at the end of the day with a clean car, you’re probably not driving hard enough.”

No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Chase Briscoe

Hometown: Mitchell, Indiana

Crew Chief: Richard Boswell

Hometown: Friendship, Maryland

Car Chief: J.D. Frey

Hometown: Ferndale, California

Engineer: Mike Cook

Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland

Spotter: Joey Campbell

Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Shayne Pipala

Hometown: Frankfort Square, Illinois

Rear Tire Changer: Dakota Ratcliff

Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee

Tire Carrier: Jon Bernal

Hometown: Holland, Michigan

Jack Man: Dylan Moser

Hometown: Monroe, North Carolina

Fuel Man: Corey Coppola

Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia

Road Crew Members

Underneath Mechanic: Stephen Gonzalez

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Interior Mechanic: Trevor Adams

Hometown: Plymouth, Wisconsin

Tire Specialist: Keith Eads

Hometown: Arlington, Virginia

Shock Specialist: Brian Holshouser

Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina

Engine Tuner: Jon Phillips

Hometown: Jefferson City, Missouri

Transporter Co-Driver: Todd Cable

Hometown: Shelby, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Dale Lackey

Hometown: Taylorsville, North Carolina

DANIEL HEMRIC

No. 31 LA Golf Camaro ZL1

• Daniel Hemric qualified 33rd for the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway.
• Incurring a rain-delayed start to the AdventHealth 400, Hemric rolled off the grid in the 33rd position to take the green flag at Kansas Speedway. In the early laps of the stage, Hemric relayed the LA Golf Chevrolet was free. As the field began making green flag pit stops, Hemric pitted on lap 36 for four tires, fuel, and an air pressure adjustment; returning to the field 19th during the pit cycle. Falling back positions as stage one progressed, the handling became loose in the nose and lacked right rear grip. Pitting at the stage conclusion for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment, the No. 31 was scored in the 28th position for the start of stage two.
• Coming in for a green flag pit stop on lap 124, the No. 31 received four tires, fuel and air pressure; rejoining the field in the 33rd position. Remaining quiet on the radio for most of the stage, Hemric continued to battle handling and fell a lap down from the leader completing the stage 32nd. During the stage conclusion pit stop for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustment, it was determined the No. 31 LA Golf Chevrolet had incurred some damage to the nose causing a return to pit road for tape to the nose and splitter and returned to the track in the 36th position.
• Stage three of the AdventHealth 400 was caution laden. As the field was getting up to speed on the stage three restart, Hemric sustained impact from a competitor. He immediately pitted for four tires and fuel with a second pass down pit road for sheet metal repairs; taking the restart 34th. With a caution on lap 177, the call was made to bring Hemric in for fuel, additional repairs and further assessment of the No. 31, with the instruction to return to pit road for a second time for a toe adjustment. Continuing to run towards the back of the field, Hemric maintained a steady pace hovering in the 31st position for the duration of the event. He ultimately ended the 400-mile event with a 30th place finish.

DEREK KRAUS

No. 16 Project Wyoming Camaro ZL1

• Derek Kraus qualified 38th for the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway.
• After a two and a half hour rain delay, Derek Kraus and the No.16 Project Wyoming Camaro began running the high line as he worked to gain track position, moving up to the 32nd position by lap 16. As the field began green flag pit stops, Kraus and the No.16 found themselves in first place on lap 36, leading a total of six laps before pitting for four tires, an air pressure adjustment, and fuel on lap 52. Kraus would go on to finish one lap down and scored 37th after a caution free stage one.
• During the stage break, Kraus reported his car was a bit tight but handling better than earlier in the day. Electing not to pit, Kraus restarted 35th after taking the wave around, putting him back on the lead lap. Kraus reported on lap 100 his No.16 was really tight and free on entry. The No. 16 would pit under green on lap 115 for four tires and fuel, falling to the 37th position and two laps down. As the field began to cycle under green flag pit stops, Kraus would gain a lap, before pitting on lap 146 for four tires and fuel. Kraus would finish stage two in the 38th position and two laps down after another caution free stage.
• Kraus and the No.16 would take the wave around once again to open stage three, restarting in the 37th position as he reported his car is lacking grip. The first caution of the day came out on lap 176, allowing the No.16 to pit for four fresh tires and fuel, restarting in the 35th position. The second caution flag of the day would then come out shortly after on lap 185. The No. 16 would stay out and restart 32nd before the third caution would fall on lap 191, with the No. 16 coming to pit road for four tires and fuel. Restarting from the 32nd position, the fourth caution of the night came out on the opening lap. Kraus would stay out and restart from the 31st position. As the field went back to green on lap 205, Kraus reported shortly after that he was tight and loosing the right rear of the car. The fifth and final caution of the night came out with seven laps to go. Low on fuel, Kraus was told to save fuel while under caution, restarting from the 31st position and back on the lead lap. Kraus would go on to finish 31st.

“We just fell behind early at Kansas Speedway today. We fought all day to get laps back and Travis and the crew did a great job putting me in that position. I can’t thank Project Wyoming enough for their support and I’m looking forward to getting back in the car next weekend at Darlington.” – Derek Kraus  

 
About Kaulig Racing

Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time, multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has earned 23 NXS wins, made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started, and won two regular-season championships. In 2021, the team competed in select NCS events, before expanding to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 and adding a third, part-time entry during the 2023 season. Since its first NCS start in 2021, the team has earned two wins. Kaulig Racing is currently fielding two full-time entries in the NCS and continues to field three full-time NXS entries, with a part-time fourth entry at select events. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet Team Solid at Kansas Speedway

Finish: 25th
Start: 16th
Points: 31st

“We were hoping for more today at Kansas Speedway, but proud of the efforts by everyone on the No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet team. The handling of our Chevy was just so different from what we expected with changing track conditions after the rain came in on Sunday morning. It was fun racing out there three and four-wide, especially on restarts. We just got too tight at the end and couldn’t turn at all. On the last restart, we got pinched down by another car but we were so tight that I couldn’t react and we ended up making contact with the wall. We probably would have finished 16th or 17th if it wasn’t for that last restart, but we’ll settle with 25th and head to Darlington Raceway ready for another race.” -Austin Dillon

Kyle Busch Overcomes Late Race Spin to Claim Eighth-Place Finish in Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet at Kansas Speedway

Finish: 8th
Start: 5th
Points: 12th

“Everyone at RCR did a great job this weekend. We had a fast Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro today. The guys deserved to finish in the top three. We qualified well and we backed that up in the race. We led laps and ran consistently in the top-five. I was running fourth with just a handful of laps to go and spun out. We pitted under the caution and put on four tires. I restarted 20th for the green-white-checkered and drove the daylights out of it to get to eighth on that final restart. Not the day we wanted, but we came away with a good finish.” -Kyle Busch

Austin Hill and the No. 33 United Rentals Chevrolet Team Learn at Kansas Speedway Despite Damage

Finish: 33rd
Start: 34th
Points: N/A

“It was a day of learning for our No. 33 United Rentals Chevrolet team. The NASCAR Cup Series cars are very different than the NASCAR Xfinity Series cars, so I’m still learning the tendencies of this Next Gen car, especially on a mile-and-a-half track. During the first two stages, our Camaro would fire off tight in traffic, but as the run continued, the balance would get loose to the point where I couldn’t turn the steering wheel. Crew chief Keith Rodden and the guys kept working on the handling, but unfortunately in Stage 3, we got collected in an accident. I had the No. 84 missed, but when the No. 7 came up the track, I pancaked the right side. After that we lost all front turn and stayed extremely tight. We will keep learning and build the notebook for next time.” -Austin Hill

AdventHealth 400 – Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, KS – May 5, 2024
NASCAR TRACKS – KANSAS SPEEDWAY – NASCAR 101

AUSTIN CINDRIC No. 2 SNAP-ON FORD MUSTANG

START: 7TH STAGE ONE: 12TH STAGE TWO: 18TH FINISH: 37TH POINTS: 20TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Snap-on Tools Ford Mustang, was credited with a 37th-place finish after an unfortunate early retirement in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway. Cindric jetted off from the seventh position and hovered around the top 10 for the duration of Stage 1, finishing 12th as he endured a tight condition. Crew chief Brian Wilson called the 25-year-old driver to pit road for the second time for a service of four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment under the Stage break. Cindric restarted 11th on Lap 89 when the race resumed but dropped to 18th after a hectic restart. He returned to the attention of the Snap-on crew on Lap 117 under green for a four-tire stop and finished Stage 2 in the 16th position. Pleased with the handling improvements, Cindric told the team over the radio that the car was the best it had been all day. After another trip down pit road, he restarted 14th for the third and final Stage. Calamity struck with just under 85 laps to go, heavily damaging the No. 2 Ford Mustang and forcing its retirement.

CINDRIC’S THOUGHTS: “A lot of cars there trying to overdrive the corner to try to get in front of one another. The 22 slid up on the 20, the 20 slid up on the 11 and I was the first thing to hit before the wall. I tried to back out when I saw the situation the 11 was getting put in. It is just racing. Nobody I can really be frustrated with. It is unfortunate. I felt we had a really solid run going, nothing overly spectacular but I thought the guys did a really good job all weekend and executed a great race up until that point.”

RYAN BLANEY No. 12 MENARDS/CARDELL CABINETRY FORD MUSTANG

START: 26TH STAGE ONE: 16TH STAGE TWO: 18TH FINISH: 12TH POINTS: 6TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Ryan Blaney secured a 12th-place finish Sunday night at Kansas Speedway in the No. 12 Menards/Cardell Cabinetry Ford Mustang. Following a lengthy delay to the start of the race due to rain, Blaney made up ten spots in the first 20 laps prior to the start of green flag pit stops on lap 32 as three 12 team’s adjustments worked on the balance in the early going. Despite reporting a tight-handling condition on the ensuing run, Blaney came away with a 16th-place finish in Stage 1. Blaney continued to fight the tight condition at the start of the second segment but maintained pace as he searched around for grip on the track. After cycling to 16th in the running order following green flag stops that included an adjustment to free him up, Blaney raced to an 18th-place result in Stage 2. The final stage featured several cautions as the restarts produced three and four-wide racing, allowing the 12-team to go off-sequence with their strategy, but a caution with under 70 laps to go brought all the lead lap cars to pit road prior to the final run of the night. Blaney began his charge through the field and made his way into the top-10 with 32 laps to go before a single-car incident with seven laps to go set up one final round of stops prior to the overtime restart. Crew chief Jonathan Hassler made the call for right side tires only, gaining Blaney five spots on pit road before he lined up on the inside of row three to take the green flag. Blaney held his line in the inside lane but was unable to carry the momentum off of turn two before taking the checkered flag 12th.

BLANEY’S THOUGHTS: “Proud of the effort from everyone on the 12 group tonight – [crew chief] Jonathan [Hassler] made a great call at the end there to get us in the first few rows for the final restart. We just fought the balance all day and couldn’t make up enough track position early on. We’ll take what we can from it and shift our focus to Darlington.”

JOEY LOGANO No. 22 SHELL-PENNZOIL FORD MUSTANG

START: 11TH STAGE ONE: 21ST STAGE TWO: 21ST FINISH: 34TH POINTS: 17TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Joey Logano was involved in a late-race incident Sunday night at Kansas Speedway, resulting in a 34th-place finish for the Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang. After a nearly three-hour rain delay, Logano took the green flag from 11th before issues with front turn saw the Shell-Pennzoil Ford settle into 15th in the running order during the opening run. During the first green flag pit cycle, Logano hit pit road with the second wave of cars on lap 33 for four tires and a round of adjustments before crossing the line 21st in Stage 1. Logano struggled with a lack of rear grip and a loose Ford Mustang on exit of the corners during the second segment, but the balance began to neutralize over the course of the run in a 21st-place showing in Stage 2. A trio of cautions to begin the final stage stemming from three and four-wide racing on the restarts tightened up the field as Logano was scored 15th coming to the green flag with 70 laps to go, but the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford broke loose off the exit of turn four on the opening lap of the restart, sending Logano sliding into the infield to bring out the yellow. With both rear tires down, Logano was towed to the 22 team’s pit stall for four fresh tires before rejoining the field in 35th, two laps down before taking the checkered flag 34th Sunday night.

LOGANO’S THOUGHTS: “Tough end to the night for our 22 team, for sure. I liked the direction we were going with our balance but we just lacked pace on the longer runs. We got ourselves towards the front there late but, unfortunately, lost all that momentum in one corner and that was it for us.”

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Darlington Raceway for the Goodyear 400 on Sunday, May 12. Coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

RICK WARE RACING
AdventHealth 400

Date: May 5, 2024
Event: AdventHealth 400 (Round 12 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/85 laps/102 laps)
Note: Race extended one lap past its scheduled 267-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Chris Buescher of RFK Racing (Ford)

RWR Race Finish:

● Justin Haley (Started 35th, Finished 18th/ Running, completed 268 of 268 laps)
● Riley Herbst (Started 37th, Finished 35th/ Running, completed 266 of 268 laps)

RWR Points:

● Justin Haley (32nd with 134 points)

● Note: Herbst is a fulltime driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and is not eligible for points in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Haley Notes:

● Haley earned his third top-20 of the season and his third top-20 in his seventh start at Kansas.

● Haley equaled his previous best finish at Kansas – 18th, first earned May 2023.

● Haley’s 18th-place finish was a team-best for RWR at Kansas. The previous best-result was J.J. Yeley’s 22nd-place finish in July 2020.

Herbst Notes:

● This was Herbst’s sixth Cup Series start, his first at Kansas and his first at an intermediate track.

Race Notes:

● Kyle Larson won the AdventHealth 400 to score his 25th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his second at Kansas. His margin of victory over second-place Chris Buescher was .001 of a second, the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history.

● There were seven caution periods for a total of 43 laps.

● Thirty-one of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

● Kyle Larson remains the championship leader after Kansas with a 29-point advantage over second-place Martin Truex Jr.

Sound Bites:

“It was a really good day for the No. 51 team. Our Ford Mustang Dark Horse was really good on the long run. If we didn’t have that caution at the end, I think we could’ve ended up with a few more spots, but it was still a great finish. We’re gaining each race and it’s been a lot of fun to see the improvement coming out of RWR.”– Justin Haley, driver of the No. 51 Children’s Mercy Kansas City Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I can’t think everyone at Monster Energy and RWR enough for the opportunity to race today. Cup Series racing is tough, but I feel like I learned a lot that I can take back and work on for the next one.” – Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 15 Monster Energy Zero Sugar Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Goodyear 400 on Sunday, May 12 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Leads 53 Laps at Kansas; Brad Keselowski Finishes 11th

KANSAS CITY (May 6, 2024) – Chris Buescher finished second Sunday in what was likely the most heartbreaking scenario possible, a photo finish that is now known as the closest in NASCAR’s history.

The No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang led 53 laps in total, won stage two, and took the white flag as the leader, but was scored second when all angles were reviewed by NASCAR late Sunday night at Kansas Speedway. Teammate Brad Keselowski finished 11th in what was an up-and-down afternoon for RFK altogether.

“It sucks to celebrate on the backstretch and then pull up to the front straightaway and be told no,” Buescher said following the race. “I don’t know how everything transpired honestly. Not right now. It sucks in a lot of ways. Second hurts, a whole lot worse than third. To be that close a couple of times this year now and not be able to get the win, the speed is great and we did a good job today and was a good recovery from the end of Stage 2 there, but we don’t have a trophy right now.”

6 Recap
Keselowski and the No. 6 team experienced a rollercoaster race, one that was initially delayed by rain the area for several hours. Once the green flag eventually dropped just past 5 p.m. local time, Keselowski fired off 30th. He quickly began a surge through the field though, gaining 16 spots alone in the first stage to finish 14th at the end of the opening 80 laps.

Stage two ran caution-free as the Consumer Cellular Ford remained inside the top-15 the duration of the run, ultimately crossing the stripe 13th at the end of the stage (lap 165). From there, a flurry of cautions flew – three within 20 laps – as Keselowski lost spots on pit road due to various issues.

He fought back inside the top-15 by lap 199 when the yellow waved for the sixth time. With varying pit strategies playing out over the final 100 laps, Keselowski ultimately worked his way into the top-10 with a handful of laps remaining. The race looked to run green until the end, but a caution with five laps remaining changed everything.

Scored fourth at the time, Keselowski joined the field on pit road, taking four fresh tires with nearly 10 cars in front taking just two tires. That put the No. 6 just outside the top-10 on the final restart, and he went on to cross the line 11th.

17 Recap
Buescher experienced one of the better comeback efforts of the season, all in all leading the race four different times. A solid qualifying effort on Saturday put him 12th on the grid to start the 400-mile race.

Like teammate Keselowski, Buescher surged through the field early, advancing into the top five just 25 laps in. He drove to a fifth-place finish to end the first stage, earning key stage points early. He began stage two in the same position, and by lap 110 had driven to second. During a green-flag pit cycle around lap 120, Buescher inherited the lead and maintained it for the next 43 laps, driving to the stage two win, picking up a valuable playoff point.

In the ensuing pit stop in the stage break, the No. 17 team was called for a penalty (over-the-wall too soon), setting Buescher to the tail end of the field on the restart. What seemed like a feat too tall to overcome at the time, Buescher began his comeback trail with 93 laps remaining.

The flurry of three cautions between lap 177-193 allowed the No. 17 to knife through traffic. He again pitted from the 20th spot at lap 195 and would restart 27th at lap 198. One more caution just a lap later brought most of the field down pit road, splitting a handful of cars with varying strategy. This put Buescher back in position and P3 when the race went back green at lap 206. He took the lead again – this time from the No. 11 – at lap 208, just 40 laps after he last held it. He and the 11 swapped it a handful of times in that stretch of laps as Buescher tried different lines to again gain advantage.

Then, with just five laps to go, the race’s final caution was displayed which ultimately saved those in fuel-saving mode, and set up a final pit stop and restart. Buescher was one of nine lead cars to take two tires, putting him second on the NASCAR Overtime restart. He gained the advantage on the restart, took the white flag as the leader, and went toe-to-toe with the No. 5 to the line, earning the runner-up result.

“We got a great push,” Buescher added. “Chase got us a good restart and we got into the corner. We were able to run the bottom pretty well and we had some good momentum down the back but Kyle (Larson) certainly had a run.

“I was trying to cover what I could but we just left too much space around the top side. Unfortunately, that ended up getting us, and it hurts. It was a good race. We were banging doors all the way to the checkers. I knew it was going to be close but certainly it hurts to be that close and miss out.”

Up Next
Darlington Raceway hosts race No. 13 of the season next weekend. Race coverage is set for 3 p.m. next Sunday on FOX, with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).

About RFK Racing
RFK Racing, in its 37th season in 2024, features an ownership lineup pairing one of the sport’s most iconic names, Jack Roush, along with NASCAR Champion, Brad Keselowski, and Fenway Sports Group owner John Henry. Roush initially founded the team in 1988 and it has since become one of the most successful racing operations in the world, propelling him to be the first NASCAR owner to amass three hundred wins and capturing eight championships, including back-to-back NASCAR Cup titles in 2003 and 2004. Keselowski, a former owner in the NASCAR Truck Series, is the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series Champion. In 2007, Roush partnered with Henry, who also owns Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, English Premier League’s Liverpool F.C., and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, to form Roush Fenway Racing. Off the track, RFK is a leader and proven winner in NASCAR marketing solutions, having produced multiple award-winning social media, digital content and experiential marketing campaigns. Visit rfkracing.com, and follow the team on all social platforms @rfkracing.