DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- There's a good argument to be made that one of the hottest drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series right now hasn't even hoisted a trophy yet. But Brad Keselowski has been awfully close.

• Sunday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, he was in prime position to claim his first victory since 2021 -- running second to fellow Ford driver Michael McDowell as the field came to the checkered flag. But a typically frantic Talladega finish instead left him runner-up by a fraction of a second to winner Tyler Reddick.

  It wasn't a victory, but it was the second consecutive second-place finish for the owner-driver of the RFK Racing team and fifth top-10 finish through the season's first 10 races. Four of those have been top-five finishes, a run of success Keselowski takes to Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway for Sunday's Wurth 400 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

  Keselowski has a victory at Dover in 2012 -- the same season he captured the NASCAR Cup Series championship. He's finished inside the top 10 in three of the last five races there.

  And yet for all the recent positives to consider, Keselowski has not wavered in his stance.

  "Good finishes are important, but we want wins," Keselowski, 40, said after climbing out of his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Mustang at Talladega. "We could really taste it today, but it just didn't happen."

  This is not to say that Keselowski, whose last race win was at Talladega in 2021, is not proud of the effort or encouraged by the recent results. He just has high expectations. And good reason for them.

  His work this year is a strong sign that the team has absolutely progressed on-track. Keselowski became a partner with NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner Jack Roush only three years ago and has already infused exactly the kind of high-level expectation and championship thinking to help bring about a racing renaissance of sorts.

  His four top-five finishes through 10 races this season is already half of the total he tallied in all of 2023. His five top-10 efforts are on-track to better the mark of 16 he had last year. He's ranked 14th in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings, but only seven points behind 10th place Alex Bowman.

  Keselowski's RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher won three races last year and qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. And he's got five top-10 finishes this season and is ranked 16th -- only 16 points behind Bowman in 10th.

  "I feel like the last two weeks especially, we've earned finishes we probably didn't deserve," said Keselowski, one of the most analytical drivers on the NASCAR Cup Series grid. "It kind of ebbs and flows as the season goes. But when you have cars that are capable of winning, in general, you need to make it count."

  Keselowski -- a 35-race winner -- closes out the Spring schedule with a good track record at promising venues. He's scored victories at all four of the next four points-paying tracks (excluding the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, N.C.). He's won at Dover and Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and has two victories at both Kansas and Charlotte.

  Combine that with his strong current run and Keselowski has plenty of reason to feel positive. He characterized his organization two weeks ago at Texas as being filled with that same "kind of never-give-up spirit" that Keselowski the driver has cultivated and flourished from. Certainly, things seem absolutely headed in the right direction.

  --By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Ford led qualifying for Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), with Michael McDowell earning the second pole position of his career Saturday.

• McDowell's No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford made a dramatic final run in the final round of qualifying with a speed of 182.022 mph (52.609 seconds) around the 2.66-mile high-banks, just edging fellow Mustang driver Austin Cindric, whose top speed in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford was 181.739 mph (52.691 seconds). It was a dramatic birthday nod for the Ford Mustang, celebrating its 60th anniversary this week.

  Superspeedway racing has been a strong suit for Phoenix-native McDowell, 39. He started on the outside of the front row for the season-opening Daytona 500 and won his only other pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March. Sunday will mark his fifth top-10 starting spot of 2024.

  "I think we all felt that pressure knowing how strong we were at Daytona and Atlanta to come here to Talladega and repeat and have a really good starting spot," said McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner and last year's Indianapolis Grand Prix winner.

  "The guys put a lot of energy and effort into all the little extra details it takes to get that speed. So excited for (Sunday) and feel good about what we've been able to do this year with our superspeedway program.

  "This is a good week for us to get a win," McDowell added with a smile, noting the Ford Mustang anniversary.

  Ford, which has yet to secure a trophy in the season's nine races, certainly stacked Talladega qualifying. McDowell's teammate Todd Gilliland -- who has led the most superspeedway laps this year -- was third-fastest in the No. 38 Ford, followed by Richard Childress Racing teammates Kyle Busch in the No. 8 Chevy and Austin Dillon in the No. 3 Chevrolet. Busch is the defending race winner.

  Joe Gibbs Racing's Martin Truex Jr. was the top Toyota in qualifying and his No. 19 Camry will roll off sixth. Team Penske's Joey Logano will start seventh in the No. 22 Ford Mustang, followed by Ford teammate Roush Fenway Keselowski's Chris Buescher, last week's race winner Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Christopher Bell in the No. 20 JGR Toyota.

  Of note, NASCAR Cup Series championship leader Kyle Larson will be starting last in the 38-car field.

  His No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet wasn't allowed to qualify Saturday because team members were seen tampering with the roof rails while pushing the car to pit road. NASCAR deemed it an unapproved adjustment and immediately disallowed a qualifying attempt.

  Stewart-Haas Racing's Ryan Preece will start 11th in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford -- his best qualifying run this season. Alex Bowman, in the No. 48 Chevrolet, is starting 12th.

  Also of note, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, a series-best three-race winner this season, will roll off 13th, alongside 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace, who earned his first career victory here in 2021.

  Penske Racing's Ryan Blaney - the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion who has three Talladega victories including last fall in the Playoffs -- will start 21st. Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin, a two-time winner at the track, will start 23rd.

  Notes

  --Hendrick Motorsports' Elliott is a two-time Talladega race winner and has always been strong on the big tracks -- like ‘Dega and Daytona International Speedway. But Elliott conceded that he never knows what to expect at these venues in terms of the final run to the finish.

  Five of the last eight Talladega races have included an overtime finish -- neither of Elliott's wins (2019 and 2022), however, came with extra laps.

  "It' a $64 question, I don't know," Elliott said of the situation and being able to plan ahead on the strategy of extra laps or not.

  "For me personally, I look at it like it's going to go to the finish and you try to position yourself where you want to be when you get back to the start-finish line. It's just a really hard thing to guess when a wreck is going to happen, if it's going to happen. I just don't know. Ask (Ryan) Blaney. I feel like he's won the last 15 races."

  --Blaney, who won at Talladega last fall, was asked about Elliott's remarks on why he is so good at the big track -- in regulation or in overtime. A victory this weekend would mark his fourth at Talladega.

  "You never can predict it; I've always had that in my head," Blaney said. "You can sit around and predict favorites for these races here for and Daytona, and it's like trying to guess the lottery. You just never know what's going to happen. My mindset is always just try to stay in the game and just be in position to try and capitalize at the end. We've been fortunate here the last handful of times to have a shot to at least run up front and have a shot to win the race."

  --Even before McDowell won pole position for Sunday's race, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing's Buescher acknowledged this weekend's Talladega 500-miler represented a really great opportunity for Ford to get in the winner's column for the first time this season.

  Blaney won the fall Talladega race in his Ford, and Buescher's teammate and team co-owner Brad Keselowski is the winningest driver in Sunday's field with six victories at the big track.

  Even without having a win, Buescher is ranked 13th with five top-10s in the opening nine races. Keselowski is ranked 17th with three top-five showings.

  "It's circled high on the list because it's ‘the next one,'" Buescher said of Talladega, noting that for his RFK team the opening eight races of this season have been far more successful than they were a year ago.

  "We were fast in Daytona," he said, adding, "We're never sitting still; this sport doesn't do that."

  Former Ford driver and current FOX television NASCAR analyst Kevin Harvick said this week that Ford needs to win and win soon. Keselowski agreed.

  "It's definitely a better opportunity for us," Keselowski said of Ford winning at Talladega. "We have more speed as a manufacturer at these types of tracks and we need to capitalize on that. I think it's a great opportunity not just for Ford to win but for our team to win at RFK and we need to come out of here with great finishes."

  --By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media

For the third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race, Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson will lead the field to green after capturing the pole position Saturday afternoon for Sunday's AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Texas Motor Speedway.

• Larson, the last of the 10 Round 2 qualifiers to make a lap, turned in a pole effort of 190.369 mph in the No. 5 Chevrolet, 0.003 seconds faster than Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs.

  It is the 250th pole win for the venerable Hendrick team and marks the 13th different NASCAR Cup Series track where Larson has bested a qualifying session. It's his 25th career pole overall.

  "Great car for one, and cool to get three poles in a row and like I said on the radio, that's about the most intense thing you can do or experience, it's so on edge," Larson said of qualifying on the always-challenging 1.5-mile Texas high banks. "You know how much throttle time you have to have to run fast. It's just so sketchy.

  "Yeah, that was cool. ... Just a great day and I'm really, really happy to get the pole. Honestly since we've gone to the NextGen car this has been a place I've really struggled in qualifying, like committing into Turn 1 and I told myself I was going to commit today, and it paid off."

  The qualifying outcome was not truly a surprise considering Larson and Gibbs had also been fastest in practice. Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion and current points leader, last won at Texas in his championship season. Gibbs, in his second year of competition, is looking for his first victory in NASCAR's elite level.

  Gibbs' JGR teammate Christopher Bell was third fastest in the No. 20 JGR Toyota, followed by Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota and Stewart-Haas Racing's Chase Briscoe -- his No. 14 Ford the fastest of three Fords that advanced to final qualifying.

  This season's three-race winner and defending Texas champion, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, will roll off sixth followed by Team Penske's Ford drivers Ryan Blaney -- the reigning series champion -- and teammate Austin Cindric. JGR's Martin Truex Jr. and last year's pole-winner, 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace, round out the top qualifiers.

  Qualifying has always been important at Texas, with 76 percent of the races won from a top-10 starting position.

  Briscoe, Blaney and Cindric's efforts in time trials may be especially critical this week as Ford is still looking for its first victory of the 2024 season.

  JGR's Denny Hamlin will start 11th -- giving all four of the team's cars good starting position for Sunday's race. He'll line up next to Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain, who is racing for his first victory of the season as well.

  Two cars suffered damage in Group B practice -- the track's all-time winningest driver, Kyle Busch, fresh off a Truck Series victory Friday night, spun his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevy exiting Turn 2 to bring out a brief red flag.

  Shortly after practice resumed, the NASCAR Cup Series race's all-time winningest driver, Jimmie Johnson, also had trouble negotiating Turn 2, his No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Chevy making heavy contact with the wall. The team pulled out a back-up for Sunday's race -- Johnson's second start of the season -- but no decision had been made by the start of qualifying session if he would need to swap cars.

  Neither Johnson nor Busch made a qualifying run and will start 37th and 34th, respectively. Johnson has won a series best seven Cup Series races at the track and on Friday night, Busch's win in the Truck Series gave him a combined 20 victories at Texas in NASCAR's three premier series. He's a four-time winner in the Cup Series race in Fort Worth.

  "It is a bit different -- there is no doubt," the seven-time series champion Johnson conceded of the NextGen race car used in competition now. "I felt like we did a nice job trying to get me ready in the simulator. Unfortunately, I just got a little loose in Turn 1 -- I caught it -- but it is such a narrow lane, that once I caught the car I was in the wall, and I was kind of along for the ride then."

  NOTES

  --The season's winningest driver, Byron was asked about the difference in winning a NASCAR Cup Series championship now versus when the 48-year-old Johnson was competing fulltime from 2002-20 and racking up seven season titles. The championship formats changed multiple times during Johnson's tenure while the 26-year-old Byron has only known the elimination-style path used today.

  "I think the playoff points are a good thing, but I don't know any different," said Byron, a three-race winner this season. "I think it's just the format and the nature of it is very intense ... very stressful.

  "But I think that's what you want in sports, really ... to have something that really challenges everyone. So, I feel like the way it is brings out those dramatic moments. If I were a fan, that's what I would like to see. As a competitor, you do have to take it with a grain of salt, knowing that really, it's about Phoenix. So you've just got to prepare that way, know that's the case and try to bring your best stuff then."

  --By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media

Formula One will open its 75th anniversary season in 2025 with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 16.

• F1 released the 24-race calendar for next year on Friday, with Australia hosting the season opener for the first time since 2019.

  "(It) will be a special year as we celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the FIA Formula One World Championship, and it's that legacy and experience that allows us to deliver such a strong calendar," F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said in a news release.

  "Once again, we'll visit 24 incredible venues around the world, delivering top class racing, hospitality, and entertainment, which will be enjoyed by millions of fans worldwide."

  The Bahrain Grand Prix, the opening race in each of the past four seasons, was moved to the No. 4 slot on April 13. Bahrain and the April 20 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix were both pushed back to avoid a clash with Ramadan.

  After Australia, the series goes to Shanghai for the return of the Chinese Grand Prix on March 23. That ends a four-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  The three races held in the United States are scheduled for May 4 (Miami), Oct. 19 (Austin, Texas) and Nov. 22 (Las Vegas).

  Dates for the 2025 calendar's F1 sprint races will be confirmed later.

  F1 2025 race schedule:

  March 16 -- Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne

  March 23 -- Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai

  April 6 -- Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka

  April 13 -- Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir

  April 20 -- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Jeddah

  May 4 -- Miami Grand Prix, Miami

  May 18 -- Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Imola, Italy

  May 25 -- Monaco Grand Prix, Monaco

  June 1 -- Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona

  June 15 -- Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal

  June 29 -- Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg

  July 6 -- British Grand Prix, Silverstone

  July 27 -- Belgian Grand Prix, Spa Francorchamps

  Aug. 3 -- Hungarian Grand Prix, Budapest

  Aug. 31 -- Dutch Grand Prix, Zandvoort

  Sept. 7 -- Italian Grand Prix, Monza

  Sept. 21 -- Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Baku

  Oct. 5 -- Singapore Grand Prix, Singapore

  Oct. 19 -- U.S. Grand Prix, Austin

  Oct. 26 -- Mexican Grand Prix, Mexico City

  Nov. 9 -- Brazilian Grand Prix, Sao Paulo

  Nov. 22 -- Las Vegas Grand Prix, Las Vegas

  Nov. 30 -- Qatar Grand Prix, Lusail

  Dec. 7 -- Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina

  --Field Level Media

Aston Martin signed two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso through the end of the 2026 season on Thursday.

• The contract of the 42-year-old Spanish driver had been set to expire at the end of this season.

  "Securing Fernando's long-term future with Aston Martin Aramco is fantastic news," team boss Mike Krack said.

  "We have been in constant dialogue over the last few months and Fernando has been true to his word: when he decided he wanted to continue racing, he talked to us first. Fernando has shown he believes in us, and we believe in him."

  Alonso, who claimed back-to-back world titles in 2005 and 2006, has finished in the top 10 in all four of his races this season. The oldest driver on the grid, he currently sits in eighth place in the F1 drivers standings.

  "Fernando is hungry for success, driving better than ever, is fitter than ever, and is completely dedicated to making Aston Martin Aramco a competitive force," Krack continued.

  "This multi-year agreement with Fernando takes us into 2026 when we begin our works power unit partnership with Honda. We look forward to creating more incredible memories and achieving further success together."

  Alonso began his F1 career in 2001 and he has accumulated 106 podium finishes, including 32 wins. His last victory came at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.

  --Field Level Media

MARTINSVILLE, Va.--Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace renewed their rivalry on Saturday at Martinsville Speedway -- without contact between their cars.

• Six days after Wallace turned Larson with fewer than two laps left to cause the final caution at Richmond and take a likely win from Martin Truex Jr., Larson edged Wallace for the pole position for Sunday's Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

  With Hendrick Motorsports celebrating its 40th anniversary this weekend with special paint schemes, Larson -- the last driver to make a qualifying run in the final round -- scorched the 0.526-mile short track with a lap at 96.034 mph (19.718 seconds) to edge Wallace (96.029 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.001 seconds.

  "Of all people, it would be Larson -- by a thousandth," Wallace said after Larson's lap flashed onto the scoreboard.

  Though Larson was part and parcel of the final caution last week at Richmond, he rallied to finish third in overtime, while a slow final pit stop relegated Wallace to 13th.

  "Last week was pretty sweet revenge, us finishing third and him having a rough pit stop," Larson said with a smile.

  The pole on Saturday, however, was something of a surprise.

  "Honestly, a bit unexpected," said Larson, who earned his second straight Busch Light Pole Award this season, his second at Martinsville and the 18th of his career. "I knew we'd be good, but that second lap (in the final round) didn't feel that good. It was just enough, though. Really cool to get this 40th anniversary Hendrick Camaro on the pole.

  "It seems like all four Hendrick cars are really good, too, so hopefully it's a good day for the organization."

  Larson's teammate, Chase Elliott, qualified third at 95.869 mph, with Alex Bowman taking the 10th starting spot at 95.487 mph. William Byron failed to make the final round and will take the green flag in 18th.

  Truex (95.864 mph) claimed the fourth spot on the grid, followed by Ford drivers Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano and Josh Berry. Last week's Richmond winner, Denny Hamlin, reigning series champion Ryan Blaney and Bowman will start eighth through 10th, respectively.

  Note: Team owner Rick Hendrick had planned to drive the pace car on Sunday as part of the 40th anniversary celebration, but knee replacement surgery intervened, preventing Hendrick from attending the race.

  -By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service, Special to Field Level Media

During a six-year period after the turn of the century, Hendrick Motorsports owned Martinsville Speedway, at least where competition on the track was concerned.

• Jeff Gordon won both 2003 races at the 0.526-mile short track from the pole, embarking on a dominant run during which he and Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson would take the checkered flag in 10 of 13 races.

  Hendrick Motorsports will celebrate its 40th anniversary at Martinsville this weekend, with team owner Rick Hendrick serving as honorary pace car driver and Gordon and 1984 Martinsville winner Geoff Bodine performing Grand Marshal duties for Sunday's Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

  It was Bodine's victory in the eighth race of the 1984 season that kept Hendrick in business. Including that triumph, the organization has accumulated 28 wins at the historic short track, a record for team victories at a single venue.

  In recent years, however, Hendrick has been forced to share the Martinsville spotlight with Joe Gibbs Racing. In the fall race of 2009, Denny Hamlin started his own streak of three straight victories at the venerable facility.

  In the nine most recent Martinsville races, Hendrick and Gibbs drivers have won four each, the only exception being NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney's victory for Team Penske in last year's Playoff race.

  Though the four recent Hendrick wins are evenly divided among four drivers -- Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, William Byron and defending spring race winner Kyle Larson -- Martin Truex Jr. has accounted for most of JGR's success with three victories to one for teammate Christopher Bell.

  Starting with the fall race of 2019, Truex won three of four events at Martinsville. He comes to Sunday's race after suffering a heart-wrenching loss last Sunday at Richmond, where a late caution gave Hamlin a chance to steal the win.

  In 2022, Truex struggled at Martinsville -- and elsewhere -- in the Next Gen Cup car introduced into the Cup Series that year. Since then, his fortunes have improved dramatically.

  "Definitely high confidence going into Martinsville compared to the first year of this car," said Truex, who led 228 laps at Richmond before finishing fourth after an overtime restart. "To be able to go run like we did at Richmond, it gives me a lot of confidence going forward that our Martinsville stuff should be good.

  "I love going there. It's been a really good track for us over the years, aside from the first year of the Next Gen."

  Note: Given the clear advantages of securing pit stall No. 1, it's surprising that no Cup driver has won a Martinsville race from the pole position since Johnson accomplished the feat in the spring race of 2013. Hamlin, who leads active drivers with five wins at the paper-clip-shaped track, is the only driver in Sunday's race who has won at Martinsville from the pole (2010).

  --Justin Allgaier leads hungry JR Motorsports contingent at Martinsville

  In the first Dash 4 Cash race of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, the incentive for JR Motorsports drivers is clear. They will be competing for the victory, not the $100,000 prize that goes to the Dash 4 Cash winner, in Saturday's DUDE Wipes 250 at Martinsville Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

  No JRM driver finished high enough last Saturday at Richmond to qualify for the initial Dash 4 Cash bonus, which is available to four eligible drivers: Richmond winner Chandler Smith and runner-up Aric Almirola, both of Joe Gibbs Racing; Sunoco rookie leader Jesse Love of Richard Childress Racing; and Parker Kligerman of Big Machine Racing.

  Though out of the running for the bonus, JRM's Justin Allgaier and teammate Brandon Jones are the only former Martinsville winners in the field for Saturday's race. Allgaier won the 2023 fall race at the 0.526-mile short track.

  "It's great to be returning to Martinsville this weekend," Allgaier said. "We showed last fall that we were capable of getting to Victory Lane there, and I feel just as confident that we will have a fast Jarrett Chevrolet when we hit the track on Friday (for practice and qualifying).

  "(Crew chief) Jim (Pohlman) and this entire No. 7 team has been fighting hard all year long and I know that we will give it everything we have to get a solid finish and be in position for the win come Saturday night."

  Jones hopes to reverse his fortunes after an early engine failure knocked him out of last Saturday's Richmond event.

  "We had great speed in Richmond last weekend, but just had some bad luck come our way," Jones said. "Martinsville has always been a strong track for me, so I am ready to get there and try to turn our luck around.

  "I trust this Menards/Atlas Roofing team will give me a fast car like they have all season, so it's time to get it done."

  One word of caution: there have been 13 different winners in the last 13 Xfinity races at Martinsville, which didn't host the series between 1994 and 2006 and experienced another gap between 2006 and 2020.

  Kenny Wallace was the last repeat winner at the track (1992 and 1994).

  --Supercars star Cam Waters to make NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck debut

  In a case of extremes, 11-time Australian Supercars winner Cam Waters will make his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start in Friday night's Long John Silver's 200 at Martinsville Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

  At the other end of the spectrum, Waters' ThorSport Racing teammate, Matt Crafton, will make his record 550th Truck Series start -- all consecutive -- at the 0.526-mile short track.

  Waters follows three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen into the NASCAR ranks. Van Gisbergen won his NASCAR Cup Series debut in last year's Chicago Street Race and now competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

  "I'm absolutely pumped, so I'm super excited to be finally having a race over here in a truck," said Waters, who will drive ThorSport's No. 66 Ford on Friday. "I've always followed NASCAR and done a little valuable stuff myself on dirt in Australia, so to do a pavement oval is pretty cool for me and something I've always wanted to do.

  "I've wanted to do it for years, but with what I do in Australia, (that) has always been my focus and still is my focus, for sure. But we came to Martinsville 12 months ago and watched a race, and that's what probably sparked a bit more interest in me to pursue it.

  "I've just been chipping away in the background over the last 12 months to make something happen like this."

  Starting in 2001, Crafton has raced at Martinsville 40 times in the Truck Series, winning twice and posting a record 23 top 10s. The three-time series champion has completed a record 8,736 of a possible 8,915 laps at the vaunted short track.

  For the fourth time since the inception of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series in 1995, the first five races of the season have produced five different winners and five different polesitters.

  Corey Heim, winner of the Mar. 23 race at Circuit of The Americas, leads the series by eight points over second-place Ty Majeski and by nine points over third-place Tyler Ankrum.

  The last 10 Truck Series races at Martinsville have produced 10 different winners. Heim is the defending winner of Friday night's event.

  --By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel told Sky Sports that he is mulling a return to Formula One in 2025.

• Vettel, 36, won his championships with Red Bull from 2010-13. The German recorded 53 victories over 16 years before retiring from F1 at the conclusion of the 2022 season.

  Vettel's intentions to return were revealed after he was asked by Sky Sports if he was included in the driver market for 2025.

  "Well potentially I am because I haven't got a drive, but the question is, am I looking for one? I think it depends on the package," Vettel said. "I retired from Formula One not to come back but I did say 'you never know,' so ... I think it still stands.

  "Obviously there are some things that I miss, which are mostly the competition, and things that I don't miss. That hasn't changed, life is very different if you're not involved (in F1), and I do enjoy that still -- still trying lots of different things."

  The departure of Lewis Hamilton will open a spot on the Mercedes team, which is run by Toto Wolff.

  "I've had conversations with him, not really about the seat -- we did speak about the whole situation in short as well, but I did speak to others as well because I'm still keeping in touch every now and then. I have some projects and ideas together with F1 and see if they will turn out or not, but I am staying in touch," Vettel said.

  "I don't know, it has to be a couple more phone calls and conversations to really find out a little bit more. But for sure it's one of the best seats on the grid. Performance-wise Mercedes has a great track record, struggling a little bit in the past few years, but their struggle is still second and third in the constructors' (championship) so it's not like you are racing in no man's land."

  --Field Level Media

Chandler Smith led a Joe Gibbs Racing sweep at Richmond (Va.) Raceway on Saturday afternoon, cruising to a 4.495-second victory over teammates Aric Almirola and Tanner Gray in the ToyotaCare 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race.

• It marks back-to-back wins in this race for Smith and he led the final 60 laps in the No. 81 JGR Toyota, 76 laps on the day for his third career win, second of the season. It was his teammate Almirola, who won both Stages and led a race-best 95 of the 250 laps in his No. 20 JGR Toyota, but the former full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver ultimately could not catch Smith, who pulled away in the closing laps.

  "Never give up, never give up," said Smith, who has top-10 finishes in all six races this year. "This car was not good. Stage 1 wasn't good, but we were able to do some strategy there with this No. 81 Supra in Stage 2.

  "Back here winning races on a consistent basis and took over the points lead too, I'm just blessed."

  Almirola acknowledged he didn't have what he needed to catch the 21-year-old Georgia native in the closing laps. He'll have another chance at victory next week as he's in the car again at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

  "We just got a little bit too loose," Almirola said. "The run before that in Stage 2, when I took off, my car was really, really good. At the end, it just felt a little tight and that last run for whatever reason, different set of tires or what, I let Chandler go and when I started to just creep back to him, I didn't have anything to go with.

  "I was too loose in and couldn't get throttle down on exit. Hate that to win both stages and feel like we had the dominant car and then to let it slip away there at the end, is disappointing."

  The JGR team can also take pride in its third-place finish -- considering it was the 24-year-old Gray's series debut. Truck Series full-timer Corey Heim was fourth followed by series rookie Jesse Love.

  It was also a big outing for renowned late model racer Bubba Pollard, punctuating his series debut with a sixth-place finish in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet -- particularly impressive considering Pollard started 37th.

  "I just got behind in qualifying there and it made for a long day," Pollard said. "But these guys gave me a great race car, JR Motorsports.

  "I needed that long green flag run just to get in a rhythm. This place is tough, it's technical and probably one of the toughest places I've been to, and I've been to a lot of places.

  "I'm happy with it. I enjoyed it and had fun and hopefully the fans enjoyed it too."

  Big Machine Racing's Parker Kligerman, Richard Childress Racing's Austin Hill, JR Motorsports' Sammy Smith and reigning series champion Cole Custer rounded out the top 10. The 20-year-old Parker Retzlaff, who won his first career pole position Saturday, finished 16th in the No. 31 Jordan Anderson Chevrolet and led a career-high 27 laps.

  With their work, Smith, Almirola, Love and Kligerman have qualified for next week's Dash 4 Cash event at Martinsville Speedway, and the highest finisher of the four Dash 4 Cash drivers in the race will collect an extra $100,000 bonus.

  With the win, Smith takes a 10-point lead in the driver standings over Hill to next Saturday's DUDE Wipes 250. John Hunter Nemechek is the defending race winner.

  --By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.

Kyle Larson claimed his first pole position of the 2024 season Saturday afternoon to lead an all-Hendrick Motorsports front row for Sunday's Toyota Owner's 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway (7 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

• Larson's time of 22.438-seconds (120.332 mph) narrowly bettered his teammate Chase Elliott's mark of 22.440-seconds (120.321) around the three-quarter-mile Richmond oval - good enough to earn the 2021 series champion and defending Richmond race winner the 17th pole position of his career.

  "Definitely helps for sure," Larson said. "Having the number one pit stall here means a lot. So happy to do that. Happy to be in Group A for sure and then the sun coming out a little bit there helps.

  "Chase got real close there so I was a bit nervous. Awesome day for Hendrick Motorsports. ... Good to be on the pole. We'll see if it translates in tomorrow's race."

  Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain will start third followed by Hendrick driver Alex Bowman and 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace.

  Front Row Motorsports' Todd Gilliland, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs, and Team Penske teammates Austin Cindric and Joey Logano rounded out the top qualifiers at Richmond.

  Logano's No. 22 Team Penske Ford had been fastest in Group A during first round qualifying, as had Elliott, whose 22.114-second 122.095 mph was quickest overall in the opening round.

  Of note, Denny Hamlin just missed advancing to second round qualifying and the four-time Richmond winner will start 11th in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

  Team Penske's Ryan Blaney, who posted the fastest 30-lap average speed in practice, will start 12th.

  Last week's winner at the Circuit of The Americas road course, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron will roll off 13th. He is the first multi-race winner of the season, with victories in the Daytona 500 and COTA. He'll start alongside the summer Richmond race winner, RFK Racing's Chris Buescher.

  Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch, who leads all active drivers with six Richmond victories, will roll off 15th.

  ANOTHER FIRST TIME POLESITTER

  The NASCAR Xfinity Series had another first-time pole-winner this season with Jordan Anderson Racing's Parker Retzlaff, a 20-year old Wisconsin native, claiming the top starting position in the No. 31 Chevrolet for Saturday afternoon's ToyotaCare 250 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

  "It feels great," Retzlaff said. "This is where I made my first start two years ago so, kind of feels full circle."

  -By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service, Special to Field Level Media

Max Verstappen's win streak ended at nine after a brake fire cut short his race on Sunday at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

• Ferrari's Carlos Sainz took advantage and captured the checkered flag as Verstappen dealt with smoke coming from the right rear tire in the fourth lap. A brake duct exploded as Verstappen returned to the pits, prompting the three-time world champion to exit his vehicle and end his race.

  Sainz returned to the winner's circle, two weeks removed from missing the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with appendicitis.

  Sainz also benefited from a final-lap crash by Mercedes driver George Russell to win the race. Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc came in second and McLaren's Lando Norris secured a third-place finish.

  Russell was uninjured.

  Verstappen closed the 2023 season by winning his last seven races and started the 2024 campaign with victories at the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

  Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton also exited the race with a power unit issue.

  --Field Level Media

Kyle Larson was ultimately patient and smart, taking the lead on the final overtime lap to win an aggressive Featured Health 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, the first road course test for the series this year.

• New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill were duking it out for the lead -- and pushing each other high off the race line as the field approached the checkered flag. With those two fending off each other, Larson drove his No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet low around both and pulled away to a 1.215-second victory -- the only lap the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champ led all day around the 20-turn 3.51-mile road course.

  Van Gisbergen finished second in the No. 97 Kaulig Racing Chevy but was assessed a 30-second penalty for exceeding track limits in that last-lap battle with Hill, which ultimately put Van Gisbergen in 27th. So Hill, driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, officially finished second.

  Larson was all smiles climbing out of the car, conceding he wasn't surprised things got so aggressive in the end. He was one of the few cars -- and only one among the leaders -- to drop into pit lane on the final caution to get gas and had worked his way back up front.

  "It feels really special because it seems like every time we've run the 17-car -- any of us four drivers -- we're always fast on track and somehow give it away,'' Larson said. "Today, I was definitely not the fastest, but we were patient. I knew the 21 (Hill) had shoved SVG (Van Gisbergen) through (Turn 1) and if he got to him, it could get dicey.

  "I was just trying to be patient. I was thinking when to make my move and when I saw him shoving him through (Turns) 15 and 16, I thought this could get good and thankfully I cleared them off in that corner. Pretty crazy. Just wild there. ... Really cool, just awesome to win here at COTA.''

  Neither Van Gisbergen nor Austin Hill was too happy with the final outcome -- both of their cars were damaged from the aggressive beating and banging on the final lap. Asked if he would speak to Hill about the racing, Van Gisbergen said, "Yeah, I guess so.'' But he was mostly positive about having a chance to win in only his fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series race of his career.

  "It was a crazy race and the car got better and better,'' Van Gisbergen said. "On that last restart, (Hill) just drove through me in (Turn 1). I guess I stood up for myself. But it was pretty awesome racing with (teammate) A.J. (Allmendinger) and in the end just turned into a mess. That's how it is.

  "It was really fun. Wish I could have gotten through to the lead, but (Larson) just snuck through there. He was driving really well. A lot of fun.''

  While Van Gisbergen managed a smile for the post-race television interview, he definitely had to battle all afternoon -- including with Allmendinger, a two-time winner of this COTA Xfinity Series race and the series' best active road course driver.

  They battled head-to-head for the final laps of the regularly scheduled race only for Allmendinger to get swept up and out in a three-wide attempt for the lead in Turn 1 during the first green-white-checkered flag period. He was running fifth at the time of the final caution that forced a second overtime start and ultimately finished 10th.

  John Hunter Nemechek finished third, reigning series champion Cole Custer was fourth and Parker Kligerman rounded out the top five. Rookie Jesse Love, Austin Green, last week's winner Chandler Smith, Sam Mayer and Allmendinger rounded out the top 10.

  It was a particularly impressive day for Green, son of former Xfinity Series champion David Green, finishing eighth in his first series start.

  Big Machine Racing driver Kligerman earned his first stage win of the year, claiming the Stage 1 victory. Brandon Jones seemingly won Stage 2 only to receive a penalty for cutting Turn 5 on the last lap of the stage. Second-place Stewart-Haas Racing's Riley Herbst was instead awarded the Stage victory -- his first of the season.

  NASCAR Xfinity Series Race -- Focused Health 250

  Circuit of The Americas, Austin, Texas

  1. (1) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 50.

  2. (11) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 50.

  3. (20) John Hunter Nemechek(i), Toyota, 50.

  4. (8) Cole Custer, Ford, 50.

  5. (12) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 50.

  6. (14) Jesse Love #, Chevrolet, 50.

  7. (25) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 50.

  8. (4) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 50.

  9. (10) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 50.

  10. (5) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 50.

  11. (17) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 50.

  12. (30) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 50.

  13. (15) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 50.

  14. (27) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 50.

  15. (29) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 50.

  16. (18) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 50.

  17. (6) Sage Karam, Toyota, 50.

  18. (31) Brad Perez, Chevrolet, 50.

  19. (24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 50.

  20. (34) Leland Honeyman #, Chevrolet, 50.

  21. (22) Daniil Kvyat, Chevrolet, 50.

  22. (36) Blaine Perkins, Ford, 50.

  23. (35) Hailie Deegan #, Ford, 50.

  24. (3) Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, 50.

  25. (33) Patrick Gallagher, Chevrolet, 50.

  26. (26) Alex Labbe, Toyota, 50.

  27. (2) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 50.

  28. (37) RC Enerson, Chevrolet, 50.

  29. (32) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 50.

  30. (21) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 49.

  31. (23) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, Suspension, 48.

  32. (7) Sheldon Creed, Toyota, 47.

  33. (38) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, Accident, 45.

  34. (19) Riley Herbst, Ford, Accident, 45.

  35. (16) Ed Jones, Toyota, Accident, 42.

  36. (13) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, Accident, 36.

  37. (28) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, Suspension, 33.

  38. (9) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, Overheating, 24.

  Average Speed of Race Winner: 72.374 mph.

  Time of Race: 2 hours, 21 minutes, 21 seconds. Margin of Victory: 1.354 seconds.

  Caution Flags: 4 for 9 laps.

  Lead Changes: 13 among 8 drivers.

  Lap Leaders: S. Van Gisbergen # 1-9; A. Allmendinger 10-11; P. Kligerman 12-15; A. Allmendinger 16-27; S. Van Gisbergen # 28; B. Jones 29; R. Herbst 30-31; A. Allmendinger 32-37; S. Van Gisbergen # 38-44; T. Gibbs(i) 45; S. Van Gisbergen # 46-48; A. Hill 49;K. Larson(i) 50.

  Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): AJ Allmendinger 3 times for 20 laps; Shane Van Gisbergen # 4 times for 20 laps; Parker Kligerman 1 time for 4 laps; Riley Herbst 1 time for 2 laps; Brandon Jones 1 time for 1 lap; Kyle Larson(i) 1 time for 1 lap; Ty Gibbs(i) 1 time for 1 lap; Austin Hill 1 time for 1 lap.

  Stage No. 1 Top 10: 48,8,26,31,98,21,35,16,92,97

  Stage No. 2 Top 10: 98,00,16,17,97,35,39,92,19,81

  --By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.

In a thrilling final qualifying round, Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron was able to hold on to the pole position despite a 94.685 mph run by Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs, whose slight bobble in the final turns -- in the final seconds of the session -- at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) road course was just off the mark.

• This is the 13th career pole for Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet -- and the fifth on a road course, which is most among active drivers. This year's Daytona 500 winner edged Gibbs' No 54 JGR Toyota by a slight .015 seconds around the 20-turn, 3.41-mile road course to earn the right to lead the field to green in Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

  "It's just an evolution over time, going out to the karting track this week," Byron said of preparing for the season's first road course test. "Honestly this has been my first normal week since the (Daytona) 500 and being in my rhythm and kind of in my cocoon and being able to focus on driving the race car.

  "I feel very happy with the way the week has gone and feel very fresh going into this race, so I'm excited for that."

  As for Gibbs, who made a valiant, if unsuccessful, effort in the closing seconds to earn the pole, it is still the second consecutive week he has started from the front row. Defending race winner, 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick will start his No. 45 Toyota third. He has started among the top five now in all four NASCAR Cup Series races at COTA. JGR's Christopher Bell, a winner at Phoenix two weeks ago, will start fourth.

  Spire Motorsports' Corey LaJoie, who turned in a showstopper effort in qualifying, will start fifth in the No. 7 Chevrolet, the best starting position of his nine-year NASCAR Cup Series career. And Ross Chastain, who scored his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at COTA in 2022, will start sixth -- his first top 10 start of the season.

  Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin line up seventh and eighth with 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace and Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott rounding out the final round qualifiers.

  Nineteen drivers broke the track record in what was a dramatic first session. Several of the drivers who had been fast earlier in the day surprisingly did not advance to challenge for pole position. Among those were New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, who had been among those at the top of the speed charts in both practice sessions. He just missed advancing to final qualifying, finishing less than a hundredth of a second behind LaJoie in Group A. And just behind him, his Kaulig Racing teammate A.J. Allmendinger, a two-time Xfinity Series winner at COTA, was also slightly off the qualifying pace.

  Van Gisbergen and Allmendinger, who are both competing in Saturday afternoon's NASCAR Xfinity Series race, will start 12th and 14th, respectively on Sunday.

  Among those in Group B not to advance to final qualifying was Kyle Larson, who had shown top five speed during practice. Larson, who is tied atop the championship points lead with Truex, was a little late to join his timed qualifying session as the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team performed a quick rotor change and was never a threat for the pole. He'll start Sunday's race 15th.

  Austin Cindric was the top qualifying Ford and will start his No. 2 Team Penske Mustang 11th. His teammate, reigning series champion Ryan Blaney, will start the No. 12 Team Penske Mustang 28th among the 39-car field.

  Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi -- a two-time Rolex 24 at Daytona champion and two-time World Endurance Championship winner, will be making his NASCAR COTA debut in the No. 50 23XI Racing Toyota from 25th place on the starting grid.

  --By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media

A teammate's crash has knocked American Formula 1 driver Logan Sargeant out of Saturday's Australian Grand Prix.

• The Williams team announced that it is giving Sargeant's car to teammate Alex Albon, whose own chassis was severely damaged in his practice crash on Friday morning in Melbourne.

  "While Logan should not have to suffer from a mistake that he did not make, every race counts when the midfield is tighter than ever, so we have made the call based on our best potential to score points this weekend," team boss James Vowles said.

  "This decision was not made lightly, and we cannot thank Logan enough for his graceful acceptance, demonstrating his dedication to the team; he is a true team player. This will prove a tough weekend for Williams, and this situation is not one that we will put ourselves in again."

  Albon, 27, is Williams' lead driver after accumulating 27 of the team's 28 points in 2023.

  Albon said he empathized with Sargeant over the decision to bump him from his ride.

  "I have to be totally honest and say that no driver would want to give up his seat," said Albon, per motorsport.com.

  "Logan has always been a consummate professional and a team player from day one, and this won't be an easy one for him to take. At this point though, I cannot dwell on the situation and my only job now is to maximize our potential this weekend and work with the whole team to make sure we do the best job possible."

  Sargeant, 23, the only active U.S. driver in F1, called Williams' move the "hardest moment" of his career.

  "This is the hardest moment I can remember in my career and it's absolutely not easy," he said. "I am however completely here for the team and will continue to contribute in any way that I can this weekend to maximize what we can do."

  According to Vowles, Williams did not bring a third chassis to Australia because of delays it faced this winter getting its cars ready for the 2024 F1 season.

  --Field Level Media

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Chandler Smith had a message for his Joe Gibbs Racing team after taking the checkered flag in overtime in Saturday's Call811.com Every Dig. Every Time. 200 NASCAR Xfinity race at Phoenix Raceway.

• "We'll take ‘em when we can get ‘em," Smith radioed before celebrating his second career victory with a burnout near the start/finish line.

  It was good fortune -- combined with Justin Allgaier's disastrous bad luck -- that put Smith in Victory Lane after 205 laps at the one-mile track in the Sonoran Desert.

  Allgaier held a lead of nearly three seconds after crossing the stripe on Lap 195 of a scheduled 200. But as the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet approached Turn 1, his left rear tire went flat.

  Allgaier's car turned sideways and smashed into the outside wall, ending the race for the veteran driver from Illinois.

  On the subsequent overtime restart, Smith pulled away from teammate Sheldon Creed and reached the finish line 0.365 seconds ahead of Sunoco rookie Jesse Love, who edged Creed for the runner-up spot by 0.019 seconds.

  "Going through the dogleg (on the frontstretch), I felt (the tire) come apart, like I ran something over, and at that point, you're just a passenger," Allgaier said. "I just hate it that we tore up a race car. We didn't go to Victory Lane. I hate it for all the guys and gals at JR Motorsports."

  Allgaier's ill fortune was determinative, but it wasn't that Smith didn't deserve the victory. He won the first 45-lap stage wire-to-wire and led a race-high 88 laps to Allgaier's 52.

  "We just lacked a little bit on the 7 (Allgaier)," Smith said. "I hate that happened to him -- he had that in the bag. I'm so proud of everybody back at Joe Gibbs Racing. It's good finally to get this first win off our back for these guys.

  "So let's go keep racking ‘em up."

  Stage 2 winner Cole Custer led 61 laps, but his car suffered from a loose handling condition during the final run.

  With Custer fading badly, Smith was in the lead, more than 2.5 seconds ahead of Allgaier, when Hailie Deegan brushed the Turn 2 wall on Lap 137. To that point, Smith and Custer had combined to lead all the laps.

  The relatively innocent-looking fourth caution, however, set the stage for the chaos that followed. Smith lost three spots on pit road as John Hunter Nemechek took the lead.

  On the subsequent restart on Lap 144, Smith and Nemechek were racing in close quarters when contact from the right-front of Smith's Toyota turned Nemechek's Supra in front of the field.

  All told, 11 cars sustained damage, with Nemechek, hard-luck Sam Mayer (third DNF in four races), Deegan, Parker Retzlaff and Jeb Burton unable to continue.

  Smith's No. 81 Toyota restarted next to Allgaier, the race leader, on Lap 152. On the longest green-flag run of the day, Allgaier pulled away and was cruising toward a comfortable victory when disaster struck, opening the door for Smith to secure his first victory since last April's win at Richmond for owner Matt Kaulig.

  Austin Hill finished fourth, with Custer, the defending series champion, claiming the fifth spot. Sunoco rookie Shane van Gisbergen, Brandon Jones, Parker Kligerman, Sammy Smith and Anthony Alfredo completed the top 10.

  NASCAR Xfinity Series -- Call811.com Every Dig. Every Time. 200

  Phoenix Raceway

  1. (2) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 205

  2. (7) Jesse Love #, Chevrolet, 205

  3. (6) Sheldon Creed, Toyota, 205

  4. (15) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 205

  5. (1) Cole Custer, Ford, 205

  6. (23) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 205

  7. (11) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 205

  8. (12) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 205

  9. (16) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 205

  10. (20) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 205

  11. (24) Leland Honeyman #, Chevrolet, 205

  12. (13) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 205

  13. (31) Blaine Perkins, Ford, 205

  14. (29) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 205

  15. (25) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 205

  16. (14) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 205

  17. (34) Nick Leitz, Chevrolet, 205

  18. (10) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 204

  19. (32) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, 204

  20. (22) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 204

  21. (30) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 204

  22. (3) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, 203

  23. (28) William Byron(i), Chevrolet, 202

  24. (4) Riley Herbst, Ford, 202

  25. (26) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 201

  26. (38) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 200

  27. (27) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 200

  28. (33) Dawson Cram #, Chevrolet, 198

  29. (5) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, Accident, 195

  30. (35) Frankie Muniz, Ford, Vibration, 156

  31. (8) Aric Almirola, Toyota, Accident, 154

  32. (9) John Hunter Nemechek(i), Toyota, Accident, 146

  33. (19) Hailie Deegan #, Ford, Accident, 146

  34. (21) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, Accident, 143

  35. (18) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, Accident, 143

  36. (17) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, Accident, 143

  37. (37) Ryan Vargas, Chevrolet, Suspension, 17

  38. (36) Patrick Emerling, Chevrolet, Accident, 5

  Average Speed of Race Winner: 92.516 mph.

  Time of Race: 2 hours, 12 minutes, 57 seconds.

  Margin of Victory: 0.365 seconds.

  Caution Flags: 6 for 43 laps.

  Lead Changes: 7 among 4 drivers.

  Lap Leaders: C. Smith 1-48; C. Custer 49-108; C. Smith 109-138; C. Custer 139; J. Nemechek(i) 140-143; J. Allgaier 144-195; C. Smith 196-205.

  Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Chandler Smith 3 times for 88 laps; Cole Custer 2 times for 61 laps; Justin Allgaier 1 time for 52 laps; John Hunter Nemechek(i) 1 time for 4 laps.

  Stage 1 Top 10: 81,00,7,19,98,9,1,26,20,2

  Stage 2 Top 10: 00,7,19,81,98,20,1,2,9,21

  --By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Denny Hamlin was convinced he had to improve his performance at Phoenix Raceway, and on Saturday afternoon, he took the first step in that direction.

• Touring the one-mile track in 27.138 seconds (132.655 seconds) in the final round of qualifying, Hamlin put his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the pole for Sunday's Shriners Children's 500.

  Hamlin, who hasn't won at Phoenix since 2019, beat JGR teammate Ty Gibbs (132.227 mph) by 0.088 seconds for the top starting spot in the fourth NASCAR Cup Series event of the season.

  "I'm really trying to get better at this place," Hamlin said after securing his first Busch Light Pole Award of the season, his third at Phoenix and the 41st of his career, 13th-most all-time.

  "If we want to make a run at a championship -- and you've got to win it through Phoenix -- you've got to get better at Phoenix."

  The pole position was the 150th for Toyota in the Cup Series, with Hamlin accounting for 36 of those. His first five poles came in Chevrolets, before Joe Gibbs Racing switched to Toyota. Included in that group of five was Hamlin's first career pole, at Phoenix in 2005.

  Unlike the rest of his final-round competitors, who made sharp cuts across the frontstretch dogleg, Hamlin took a more conservative approach and benefitted from a more favorable angle into Turn 1 on his money lap.

  "I was kind of 50-50 on it," Hamlin explained. "I didn't cut it in the first round, but we consistently saw that I was about a half-car-length behind entering Turn 1, but my angle was better.

  "That was a very indecisive decision -- ‘OK, I won't go all the way, but I won't stay where I was,' and it netted out in a good position where I was able to cut a little bit but also keep my angle into Turn 1."

  Chase Elliott (132.144 mph), winless since the fall Talladega race in 2022, qualified third in his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, followed by Toyota drivers Erik Jones and DAYTONA 500 winner William Byron.

  Tyler Reddick was sixth, ahead of Noah Gragson in the top Ford, Chase Briscoe, Michael McDowell and Sunoco rookie Carson Hocevar.

  Hamlin's pole-winning run broke a streak of three straight poles to open the season by Ford drivers.

  Mixed reactions to new NASCAR Cup short-track competition package

  During a 50-minute practice session on Friday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway, NASCAR Cup Series drivers tried to fine-tune the short-track competition package they will race for the first time in Sunday's Shriners Children's 500.

  The practice produced a wide range of reactions across the spectrum of competitors.

  Joey Logano enjoyed the experience, and not just because he topped the speed chart during the session.

  "Our Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang is fast," Logano said. "That always makes it fun. Definitely a lot of slipping and sliding as the tires fall off. This track has become more and more racey, and it's widening out.

  "The ‘old' Phoenix from years and years ago is starting to come back. This package seems to be a little bit more in that direction, as there's less downforce and a little bit more off-throttle time."

  Though Denny Hamlin brought a radically different setup from years past to a track where he has struggled in race trim, he felt the new package -- which features a smaller, simplified diffuser, a reduced number of underbody strakes and a taller spoiler -- was a step in the right direction.

  "It is going to be a very, very small change," said Hamlin, who was second in the practice session. "But anything that can allow us to run closer together, cross each other's wake without the air blocking we have seen over the last few weeks, that will be a good thing.

  "And I certainly think that this package, (and) this (new Goodyear) tire is heading in the right direction. It's not all the way there, but it's certainly heading there."

  Martin Truex Jr. said the car didn't feel different from the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota he drove last November. Chase Elliott had a similar opinion.

  "I forgot they did anything until they started talking about it afterwards," said the 2020 Cup champion, who was seventh on the speed chart in the fastest Chevrolet. "I don't see it really changing a whole lot. I could be totally wrong, but I don't think it's going to change much."

  Kyle Busch's pit crew woes bring shakeup to over-the-wall gang

  Three races into the NASCAR Cup Series season, the performance of Kyle Busch's pit crew hasn't matched the two-time champion's prowess on the track.

  Following pit road mistakes that cost Busch dearly last Sunday at Las Vegas, Richard Childress Racing made wholesale changes to the over-the-wall crew on the No. 8 Chevrolet.

  Shiloh Windsor replaces Michael Russell as front tire changer, Michael Johnson takes Chris Jackson's spot as rear tire changer and Doug Warwick replaces Garrett Crall as jack man. All three new crew members are full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, on the cars of Anthony Alfredo, Austin Hill and Parker Kligerman, respectively.

  All three also will continue in their Xfinity Series roles. The tire changers will have to adapt to single-lug Cup cars from the Xfinity cars, which still use five lugs per wheel.

  You can forgive Busch if he isn't thoroughly familiar with the circumstances of the changes. Warwick will be the third jack man on the car in four races this season.

  "I don't have any idea of where guys are coming from, what their background is or what their experience is," Busch said before Friday's practice at Phoenix.

  "I always just kind of assume that the Cup guys were the Xfinity guys, so news to me. We'll find out how good they are come around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday."

  Last Sunday, Busch slid though his pit box as he tried to compensate for the pit crew's performance. Because the crew serviced the car with the splitter barely over the line, he was penalized for pitting outside the box and relegated to a 26th-place finish.

  --By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media

With Auto Club Speedway in Fontana no longer on the schedule and the next California stop for the circuit in June, the NASCAR Cup Series' West Coast swing jumps from one desert to another this week.

• And if there is truly just one race on the NASCAR 2024 schedule that drivers want to get right on their first visit, it's at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., where the Shriners Children's 500 runs on Sunday.

  While the young Cup season produced three entertaining finishes with three drivers visiting Victory Lane, there is significant evidence this might be one of the more competitive seasons in recent vintage.

  If the three non-points races -- the Busch Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and twin qualifiers at Daytona -- are taken into consideration, NASCAR produced six different winners in six events.

  After Kyle Larson held off Tyler Reddick to win the Pennzoil 400 in Las Vegas last Sunday, every driver's attention quickly turned to the mildly banked, 1-mile tri-oval 20 miles outside of Phoenix.

  Do well in this race in the desert and a driver may be holding up a title trophy in the return for November's Championship 4 weekend.

  Only twice in its 55 races has Phoenix Raceway had a race go less than its scheduled 312 laps. Those were wins by Rusty Wallace in 1998 and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2015, both shortened by rain to 257 and 219 circuits.

  Chase Briscoe's only career win in 111 starts was two years ago in Phoenix.

  "It was obviously a super special day and one that I'll certainly never forget," Briscoe said. "I remember truthfully going there that weekend, not super excited. Phoenix had never been a track that I necessarily looked forward to going to.

  "I had to hold off Chase Elliott for like 60, 70 laps. ... It was a really hard one to win and one of those races where you really had to keep your elbows up and just a really cool day overall."

  NASCAR announced on Thursday a mandatory two-race suspension for two members of the No. 17 RFK Ford driven by Chris Buescher, who had his wheel fall off and wrecked in Turn 1 early at Vegas.

  Buescher came home last and completed 29 laps.

  "I've probably had three of these now in the last couple of years (with this car)," said the Prosper, Texas, native. "Haven't had a warning on any of them. (It's) nothing like the old five-lug stuff where you get a vibration or shimmy or have some kind of clue. It just happens all of a sudden."

  The suspension of jackman Nicholas Patterson and front tire changer Jakob Prall was deferred until an appeal is heard by an independent panel. Buescher finished fifth at Phoenix Raceway in November's title race and heads to the Southwest with confidence.

  "Truthfully, for the first time in my career, I can say I'm excited about Phoenix after what we had there last time, so I won't have to lie about that," Buescher said.

  In Saturday's qualifying, Denny Hamlin turned in a hot lap of 27.138 seconds (132.655 mph) in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

  Hamlin, who last won at Phoenix in 2019, held off JGR teammate Ty Gibbs to win the top qualifying spot.

  "If we want to make a run at a championship -- and you've got to win it through Phoenix -- you've got to get better at Phoenix," Hamlin said.

  It was his first Busch Light Pole Award this season, third at the flat track and 41st of his career.

  --Field Level Media

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is confident three-time world champion Max Verstappen will remain with the team amid rumors that he might be eyeing a move to rival Mercedes.

• Verstappen's contract runs through 2028 and the Dutchman said this week that he's "very happy" with Red Bull. However, Horner held a meeting with Verstappen's manager after having a public argument with the driver's father, Jos, at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

  Horner was recently cleared following an investigation into alleged misconduct, and Jos Verstappen said this week that "the team is in danger of being torn apart." The elder Verstappen was also seen talking to Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, stoking rumors that Max Verstappen could be a target when Lewis Hamilton leaves for Ferrari next year.

  Horner downplayed that possibility Thursday, telling reporters at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that he is "certain" Verstappen will be with Red Bull through at least his current contract.

  "He's got a great team around him. He's got great faith in that team. And we've achieved an awful lot together," Horner said. "So he's committed to an agreement until 2028."

  Horner said that he spoke with Jos Verstappen following the Bahrain race and that both sides have agreed to move on.

  "I think it's in everybody's interest, collectively, that we've agreed to move on, to focus on the future," Horner said, per motorsport.com. "We both have a vested interest in his son to get the best and provide the best cars for him and to get the best out of him.

  "And he's started the season in the best possible way. He's an outstanding talent. And hopefully, we can continue to provide him with a very competitive car."

  Verstappen, 26, is coming off a victory at Bahrain, where teammate Sergio Perez took second place.

  The controversy surrounding Horner has continued despite him being cleared following the investigation. The woman who accused him of the misconduct has been suspended by Red Bull, according to a report by ESPN.

  "An awful lot has been made of this," Horner said. "It is of great interest in different areas of the media for different reasons. The time now is to draw a line under it."

  --Field Level Media

Max Verstappen spoke out in defense of his father as the fallout continues from a public argument with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

• Jos Verstappen referenced the recently closed investigation into alleged misconduct by Horner, telling the Daily Mail that "the team is in danger of being torn apart. It can't go on the way it is. It will explode. (Horner) is playing the victim, when he is the one causing the problems."

  Max Verstappen, who won the season-opening race, was asked ahead of this week's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix whether his father regrets those remarks.

  "I have not asked him that but my dad, from how I know him in go-karting, is very outspoken," Verstappen told reporters on Wednesday. "He is not a liar, that's for sure."

  Horner met with Verstappen's manager, Raymond Vermeulen, on Monday. For his part, Horner has maintained his innocence and has insisted he expects to remain in his role for the remainder of the season.

  "I'm the driver, I don't know what's happening higher up," Verstappen said, per RacingNews365.com. "But from my side, I'm contracted to focus on the performance side of things.

  "That's what I'll focus on this weekend. What has been said in Bahrain from everyone is to just leave that behind and hopefully have a quieter weekend here.

  "You might agree to disagree sometimes, that is sometimes what is happening in a relationship. That's how it goes."

  The issues within the Red Bull team have led to speculation that he may seek a move to Mercedes, which is seeking to fill a seat with Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari in 2025. However, Verstappen's contract runs through 2028, and the winner of 18 of the past 19 races said he intends to fulfill it.

  "I think no one would have ever realized that Lewis could have moved to Ferrari," Verstappen said. "You never know in general life what happens, or comes to you, or happens around you or what might influence you. So you can never say 100 percent that's how it's going to be.

  "And I approach my life like that, but I also don't think about it too much. I'm very relaxed. Like I said, I'm very happy at the team."

  Verstappen, 26, is the three-time defending F1 world champion and has won 55 Grand Prix races.

  --Field Level Media

Christian Horner met with the manager of his racing cohort Max Verstappen on Monday in the wake of public criticism and a recently put-to-bed wrongdoing investigation, according to multiple media reports.

• The principal and CEO of Red Bull Racing, Horner saw allegations of inappropriate behavior dismissed last week, but has since weathered negative public comments from Verstappen's father, Jos, in recent days.

  The two also were seen engaged in a public argument at the Bahrain Grand Prix, where the younger Verstappen took first place.

  Jos Verstappen, a former Formula One driver himself, said in part, "the team is in danger of being torn apart," also telling The Daily Mail that "there is tension while (Horner) remains in position."

  Red Bull responded Monday in a statement to CNN, saying, "This is untrue. We are united as a team and we are concentrating on racing."

  Max Verstappen, 26, is a three-time F1 world champion and has won 55 Grand Prix races. He is managed by Raymond Vermeulen, who took the meeting with Horner.

  Austria-based Red Bull GmbH, which owns the Formula One team, launched an independent investigation in February after a female colleague complained about Horner, 50.

  Red Bull, in a statement issued Wednesday, said: "The independent investigation into the allegations made against Mr. Horner is complete, and Red Bull can confirm that the grievance has been dismissed. The complainant has a right of appeal.

  "Red Bull is confident that the investigation has been fair, rigorous and impartial. The investigation report is confidential and contains the private information of the parties and third parties who assisted in the investigation, and therefore we will not be commenting further out of respect for all concerned.

  "Red Bull will continue striving to meet the highest workplace standards."

  Horner has been at the helm of the F1 team since 2005.

  Red Bull has won six constructors championships and seven drivers championships. Max Verstappen has won the past three drivers titles, and he teamed with Sergio Perez in 2023 to win all but one of the circuit's 22 races.

  --Field Level Media

LAS VEGAS -- Chandler Smith won the battle. John Hunter Nemechek won the war.

• The Joe Gibbs Racing teammates spent most of Saturday afternoon racing each other for the top spot in The LiUNA!, a 300-mile NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was Nemechek who proved superior in the long run.

  After Smith won the first two stages of the race -- the second with a deft last-lap pass of Nemechek's No. 20 Toyota -- Nemechek asserted his dominance.

  By the time Nemechek crossed the finish line at the end of Lap 200, he held a 4.360-second lead over pole winner Cole Custer, who had charged into second place after a late cycle of green-flag pit stops.

  "Hats off to all the guys on this 20 team for Joe Gibbs Racing," said Nemechek, who led a race-high 99 laps in securing his first victory of the season, his first at Las Vegas and the 10th of his career.

  "Man, it's awesome to come out here and win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with a limited number of starts. Our goal is to come and win as many as we possibly could. Nothing else matters.

  "Congrats to Tyler (Allen). He's the crew chief this year on the 20 car -- his first win as a crew chief. Our spotter, Ryan Blanchard -- his first win as well. ... Man, it feels so good to win here in Las Vegas. Got to rest for tomorrow., so I'm excited."

  Now full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series with Legacy Motor Club, Nemechek will race in Sunday's Pennzoil 400.

  Smith arguably had the best car in the race until he pitted with the rest of the field at the second stage break.

  "We just over-adjusted a little bit," said Smith, who led 74 laps and finished third. "(We were) trying to stay ahead of the race track, and it feels actually like it might have gotten a little colder as well.

  "It felt like the track definitely freed up, and we went in that same direction, thinking it was going to tighten up. So you live and you learn. ... We were pretty dominant and we just over-adjusted, but I'm happy that a Joe Gibbs Racing car still won."

  Austin Hill, who triumphed in the first two races of the season, at Daytona and Atlanta, was fourth, with Riley Herbst finishing fifth after dominating the Las Vegas race last fall.

  AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones and Justin Allgaier completed the top 10.

  Hill retained his series lead by 22 points over Smith. Hailie Deegan was the top Sunoco rookie with a 15th-place finish.

  For the second time in three races, ill fortune beset JR Motorsports' Sam Mayer, who completed just 22 of 120 laps in the season opener at Daytona.

  Mayer was running 10th on Lap 8 on Saturday when the No. 31 Chevrolet of fifth-place qualifier Parker Retzlaff turned sideways in front of him and slammed into the right side of Mayer's car, knocking him out of the race.

  "It's just the year from hell," Mayer said. "Very frustrating and unfortunate and can't wait to get to Phoenix (for next Saturday's race)."

  Another early casualty was New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, who took his Kaulig Racing Chevrolet behind the wall with overheating problems after completing 27 laps.

  Van Gisbergen and Mayer finished 37th and 38th, respectively, in the 38-car field.

  NASCAR Xfinity Series -- The LiUNA!

  Las Vegas Motor Speedway

  1. (12) John Hunter Nemechek(i), Toyota, 200

  2. (1) Cole Custer, Ford, 200

  3. (2) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 200

  4. (5) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 200

  5. (11) Riley Herbst, Ford, 200

  6. (3) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 200

  7. (6) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 200

  8. (8) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 200

  9. (13) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 200

  10. (36) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200

  11. (7) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 200

  12. (10) Aric Almirola, Toyota, 200

  13. (16) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, 200

  14. (32) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 199

  15. (28) Hailie Deegan #, Ford, 199

  16. (37) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 199

  17. (15) Jesse Love #, Chevrolet, 199

  18. (19) Leland Honeyman #, Chevrolet, 199

  19. (18) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 199

  20. (27) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 199

  21. (20) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 199

  22. (23) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 199

  23. (21) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 198

  24. (22) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, 198

  25. (17) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 197

  26. (9) Sheldon Creed, Toyota, 197

  27. (31) Nick Leitz, Chevrolet, 197

  28. (30) Patrick Emerling, Chevrolet, 196

  29. (33) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 195

  30. (38) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 195

  31. (29) Blaine Perkins, Ford, 195

  32. (24) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 195

  33. (34) CJ McLaughlin, Ford, 194

  34. (26) Dawson Cram #, Chevrolet, 192

  35. (4) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, Fuel Pump, 115

  36. (35) Sage Karam, Chevrolet, Transmission, 104

  37. (25) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, Engine, 27

  38. (14) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, Accident, 7

  Average Speed of Race Winner: 137.143 mph

  Time of Race: 2 hours, 11 minutes, 15 seconds

  Margin of Victory: 4.360 seconds

  Caution Flags: 4 for 22 laps

  Lead Changes: 12 among 5 drivers

  Lap Leaders: C. Custer 0; C. Smith 1-49; A. Hill 50-55; J. Nemechek(i) 56-89; C. Smith 90-97; J. Nemechek(i) 98-99; C. Smith 100; J. Nemechek(i) 101-109; C. Smith 110-125; J. Nemechek(i) 126-168; J. Allgaier 169-179; J. Williams 180-189; J. Nemechek(i) 190-200.

  Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): John Hunter Nemechek(i) 5 times for 99 laps; Chandler Smith 4 times for 74 laps; Justin Allgaier 1 time for 11 laps; Josh Williams 1 time for 10 laps; Austin Hill 1 time for 6 laps.

  Stage No. 1 Top 10: 81,20,21,98,00,16,7,48,39,9

  Stage No. 2 Top 10: 81,20,98,7,16,21,2,48,00,39

  --By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.

LAS VEGAS -- For the second NASCAR Cup Series race this young season, Joey Logano will start on the pole.

• Speeding around windswept Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 29.291 seconds (184.357 mph) in the final round of Saturday's time trials, Logano will occupy the top spot in the grid for Sunday's Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

  A three-time winner at the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway -- tied with Brad Keselowski for most among full-time active drivers -- Logano beat Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson (184.225 mph) for the pole position by 0.021 seconds.

  The Busch Light Pole Award was Logano's his third at Las Vegas and the 30th of his career. It was also unexpected, based on Logano's performance in practice.

  "I didn't expect it when I saw our short-run speed in practice," Logano said. "We showed that we had great long-run speed. Our second run, we made an adjustment and went back out and like, 'Oh, wow, we're really competitive.' The car was driving pretty good.

  "So I felt really good that, but our short run, our fire-off, we weren't real fast ... and I barely made it through the first round (of qualifying) by the skin of our teeth."

  Logano said the wind, which stiffened between rounds, was a significant factor in his pole-winning run in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

  "I've got to think it's wind that made the difference," Logano said. "The first run, I was pretty slow through (Turns) 1 and 2 all the way through the corner ... we (must have) had a big gust the first run, or something that held us back a little bit.

  "That doesn't seem to make sense. We were really good through 1 and 2 the second time. The first time we were horrible through there."

  Logano's Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric (184.093 mph) qualified third, followed by Daytona 500 winner William Byron (183.911 mph), as Fords and Chevrolets split the top four grid positions.

  Bubba Wallace (183.648 mph) was fifth in the fastest Toyota. Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher and Christopher Bell will start sixth through 10th, respectively in Sunday's race.

  Logano, who won the pole for the Daytona 500, qualified second for last Sunday's race at Atlanta using a webbed glove on his left hand, presumably for an aerodynamic advantage by blocking more airflow through the car.

  But the glove did not conform to mandated safety standards. For the violation, he lost his starting spot and incurred a fine of $10,000.

  "I'm going to take a portion of the responsibility for that, too," said Logano. "I didn't build the glove. I didn't make it on my own -- I can't sew, OK? That's what it was, and we had a conversation about it.

  "What I'm proud about is that, as a team, even though it was a tough situation to us and hard to go through, embarrassing for sure, but the fact that we got though it and just move on and focus on the next week.

  We showed we have speed in our race car and put it on the pole. To me, it's a statement-type lap."

  NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying -- Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube

  Las Vegas Motor Speedway

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  Saturday, March 2, 2024

  1. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 184.357 mph.

  2. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 184.225 mph.

  3. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 184.093 mph.

  4. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 183.911 mph.

  5. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 183.648 mph.

  6. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 183.486 mph.

  7. (19) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 183.169 mph.

  8. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 183.150 mph.

  9. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 182.927 mph.

  10. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 182.556 mph.

  11. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

  12. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 0.000 mph.

  13. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

  14. (77) Carson Hocevar #, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

  15. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 0.000 mph.

  16. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

  17. (7) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

  18. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 0.000 mph.

  19. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

  20. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

  21. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

  22. (43) Erik Jones, Toyota, 0.000 mph.

  23. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

  24. (71) Zane Smith #, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

  25. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 0.000 mph.

  26. (4) Josh Berry #, Ford, 0.000 mph.

  27. (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 0.000 mph.

  28. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 0.000 mph.

  29. (21) Harrison Burton, Ford, 0.000 mph.

  30. (10) Noah Gragson, Ford, 0.000 mph.

  31. (38) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 0.000 mph.

  32. (15) Kaz Grala #, Ford, 0.000 mph.

  33. (16) Derek Kraus, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

  34. (31) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

  35. (51) Justin Haley, Ford, 0.000 mph.

  36. (41) Ryan Preece, Ford, 0.000 mph.

  37. (44) JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

  --By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is moving from NBC to Amazon Prime Video and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, The Athletic reported Thursday.

• The two-time Daytona 500 winner has served as an analyst for NBC's coverage of the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series since 2018 but also has contributed to the network's coverage of special events, including the Olympics and Super Bowl.

  Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports will begin their race coverage in 2025. Earnhardt, 49, is expected to sit out the 2024 season, The Athletic reported.

  Earnhardt, a third-generation driver, was selected by fans as NASCAR's Most Popular Driver every year from 2003-17.

  "Dale Earnhardt Jr. is beloved in the NASCAR world and has made numerous contributions to NBC Sports, from his work as an analyst on our NASCAR coverage to his experiences as a correspondent at major events like the Indianapolis 500, the Kentucky Derby, the Super Bowl and the Olympics," an NBC Sports spokesperson told The Athletic. "We thank Dale and we wish him the best going forward."

  NASCAR races will continue to be broadcast on both NBC and Fox, even when the new broadcast partners come on board in 2025. NBC and Fox will share 14 races that year, with Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports combining to air 10 races.

  The Athletic reported that the latest NASCAR deals are worth an estimated $7.7 billion over seven years. No contract or financial deals for Earnhardt have been disclosed.

  --Field Level Media

Christian Horner is expected to remain as principal and CEO of Red Bull Racing after the team dismissed allegations of inappropriate behavior following an investigation.

• Austria-based Red Bull GmbH, which owns the Formula One team, launched the independent investigation earlier this month after a female colleague complained about Horner, 50.

  Red Bull, in a statement issued Wednesday, said: "The independent investigation into the allegations made against Mr. Horner is complete, and Red Bull can confirm that the grievance has been dismissed. The complainant has a right of appeal.

  "Red Bull is confident that the investigation has been fair, rigorous and impartial. The investigation report is confidential and contains the private information of the parties and third parties who assisted in the investigation, and therefore we will not be commenting further out of respect for all concerned.

  "Red Bull will continue striving to meet the highest workplace standards."

  Horner has been at the helm of the F1 team since 2005.

  Red Bull has won six constructors championships and seven drivers championships. Max Verstappen has won the past three drivers titles, and he teamed with Sergio Perez in 2023 to win all but one of the circuit's 22 races.

  The new season begins March 2 at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

  --Field Level Media

The collective gasp in the Atlanta Motor Speedway press box was clearly audible when Austin Cindric took the field four-wide on Sunday.

• With Michael McDowell, Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Briscoe running side-by-side at the front of the field, Cindric steered his No. 2 Team Penske Ford to the bottom of the track as the cars approached Turn 1.

  Squeezing through a hole between McDowell's Ford and the white "out-of-bounds" lines between the apron and the racing surface at the 1.54-mile track, Cindric took the lead with 50 laps left.

  Following Cindric into the corner, Kyle Busch kept the field four-wide into Turn 2, and when Busch cleared McDowell, Todd Gilliand took his place at the exit from the turn.

  "It must have looked as cool as it felt," Cindric said after the race. "You don't get runs like that too often and be able to take 'em and do something with 'em.

  "But I was pretty confident I was going to get clear before the corner and stay above the double white line. Yeah, it was cool."

  Cindric's pass for the lead wasn't an isolated incident. The Ambetter Health 400 featured unabated action throughout the race.

  Appropriately, it ended with the closest finish among three cars in motorsports history, with Daniel Suarez taking the checkered flag 0.003 seconds ahead of runner-up Ryan Blaney and 0.007 seconds clear of third-place Busch.

  What enhanced the excitement of this particular race was the relative instability of the cars in traffic.

  "We were not comfortable," Suarez said in his post-race press conference. "I don't think there were many cars going wide-open besides the front-row cars... It was not easy, not easy at all.

  "This race track is fairly new, and it already has some bumps, so it wasn't easy. But it was great racing -- it was great racing."

  Gilliand, who led a race-high 58 laps before a flat tire ruined his chances, put it more succinctly in a radio transmission reported by Jeff Gluck of The Athletic.

  "It's like going to a haunted house, you know?" Gilliland said. "It's fun, but I'm scared for my life at the same time."

  A repaving project after the summer race of 2021 made the character of Sunday's race possible. Before the resurfacing, Atlanta had the oldest, most degraded asphalt on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit.

  The drivers loved the old pavement and initially decried the transformation of the speedway into a narrower track with higher banking in the corners, a track that now can accommodate the superspeedway competition package previously reserved for Daytona and Talladega.

  It was the reconfiguration, however, that helped to create one of the most compelling events in recent memory.

  For the first time in Cup Series history, the season began with back-to-back superspeedway races. In the Daytona 500, William Byron was inches ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman when caution slowed the race -- after Byron had taken the white flag.

  Six days later, the Atlanta race ended in a photo finish, engendering great expectations for NASCAR's return to the track on Sept. 8 for the first race of the Cup playoffs.

  It also created a temptation. If the Atlanta event earned overwhelming praise for the quality of its racing action, why not try the combination at other intermediate tracks?

  That's not a good idea, believes Byron, even though the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet has won twice at both Daytona and Atlanta.

  "You take something that's good in the sport, and you oversaturate it," Byron said. "I feel like we've been down that path. We can't oversaturate something that's a niche, a unique thing that looks really great.

  "I just think it's in our best interest to have unique challenges each week, and that one is -- Atlanta's a great challenge. I love going there, but I don't want that every week."

  Just as trips to a haunted house can lose their impact through repetition, the transformation of additional intermediate tracks into superspeedways would alter the balance of the sport -- and haunt the balance sheets of team owners tasked with replacing wrecked race cars.

  --By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.