PHOTO: James Gilbert/Getty Images. Shane van Gisbergen completed a Sonoma weekend sweep, overcoming an imperfect NASCAR Cup Series car to hold off Chase Briscoe while already turning his focus toward the upcoming oval stretch.

As AJ Allmendinger prepares for his 500th NASCAR Cup Series start at Sonoma Raceway, the Kaulig Racing veteran isn’t focused on the milestone. Instead, he’s focused on getting better. From studying Shane van Gisbergen’s road-course approach to earning praise from teammate Ty Dillon, Allmendinger’s career continues to be defined by growth, perspective and an unwavering commitment to improvement.

The New Zealander claimed the Kennametal Pole Award for Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250, turning a lap of 75.029 seconds (95.483 mph) in the No. 9 SuperFile Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. It marked his sixth career series pole, his first of the 2026 season and his third pole in three Sonoma starts.

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Chase Briscoe – This week: 10 – Last week: 9 Briscoe has struggled a bit on road courses in the Cup Series, considering what success he had on them in the O’Reilly Auto Parts (Xfinity at the

Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images By Adam Carabine Though it was in a slightly different capacity, Denny Hamlin returned to Victory Lane for the fourth week in a row. Hamlin, one of the co-owners of 23XI Racing, was celebrating this weekend as a boss, rather than as a driver, as part-time entrant Corey Heim earned his first ever Cup Series victory at the Coronado Street Course in San Diego! Let’s have a look at how it all shook down! Lap 1: Green flag – to the surpris

Kyle Larson backed up his NASCAR 26 cover reveal with the fastest lap in Friday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Naval Base Coronado.

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the Cup Series travels to San Diego, California for the Anduril 250 Race the Base at the Coronado Street Course, also known as the Qualcomm Circuit. This is the first year that NASCAR has done this race, and it is a brand-new track that is being built for this event. The circuit is planned to be 3.4 miles long, featuring 19 turns. Since this is the first event here, the

Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Erik Jones – This week: 10 – Last week: 11 Erik Jones and Legacy Motor Club have been really improving these last few weeks. Jones has an average finish of just over 10th in the last five ra

Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images By Adam Carabine Is this déjà vu? (we said that last week too). For the third week in a row, Denny Hamlin has won the race from the pole! This week, it was a little less complicated for him, as he didn’t have to go to the rear early in the race. Let’s have a look at how it all shook down! Lap 1: Denny Hamlin on pole, Kyle Larson beside him, the race is green! Larson takes the lead from Hamlin by Turn 2. Lap 2: Daniel Suarez gets

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the Cup Series travels to Long Pond, Pennsylvania for the Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway. Pocono is a unique triangle-shaped track that only has three corners rather than the traditional four. It is 2.5 miles long, and features three distinctly different corners, each modelled after other race tracks. Turn One is modelled after Trenton Speedway, Turn Two is

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Chase Briscoe – This week: 10 – Last week: 11 It felt like Briscoe was barely on the TV broadcast on Sunday in Michigan, though to be fair, there were a lot of things happening all at once.

Photo by Brett Farmer/Getty Images By Adam Carabine Is this déjà vu? Denny Hamlin won the pole, went to the rear, and then drove all the way to the front for the second week in a row. There was a lot of crashing and carnage at Michigan, but Denny rose above it to capture the win. Let’s have a look at how it all shook down! Lap 1: Denny Hamlin should have been on pole, but had to make repairs to his car, so he had to start at the rear. Carson Hocevar became the contro

Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Daniel Suarez – This week: 10 – Last week: 13 Riding some momentum from last week’s win at the Coca-Cola 600, Suarez started near the front and had some solid moments at Nashville. He faded

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images By Adam Carabine A chaotic four-lap shootout, multiple brake rotor failures, and an interesting penalty at the start of the race – all of which Denny Hamlin overcame and earned his 62nd Career Cup Series win at Nashville! Let’s have a look at how it all shook down! Pre-Race: The start was delayed due to some light showers in the area. Once they got the track dry, NASCAR opted to include a Competition Caution at (or around) Lap 35. La