Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images By Adam Carabine & Logan Morris Logan Morris: Hey Adam, after a wild ending to Throwback Weekend, Denny Hamlin came from what felt like nowhere and doubled up. It’s his first time going back-to-back since 2012. I think Ryan Blaney had it in the bag, but the Bubba Wallace/Kyle Larson incident made that moot. What were some of your thoughts? Adam Carabine: Hello to you as well, Logan!  We had what looked to be a bit of a snoozer on our hands, but you’re right in saying the ending was wild.  William Byron nearly accomplished the NASCAR equivalent of the Perfect Game, and then Tyler Reddick looked like he might have it, followed by Ryan Blaney taking over the lead and surely heading to victory.  How did we wind up here! While there’s something to be said about the impressive run that Byron was on, I’m glad that Darlington gave us a little more drama in the last quarter of the race.  Certainly credit is due to Denny Hamlin’s pit crew, who got him into position to challenge for the win in the Overtime.  Anything stand out to you? LM: Clean air was king in a major way! Yes, it always is. However, something was different this week. The leads that Byron, Reddick, and finally Hamlin were able to get out made it look as though they were capable of lapping the field. Again, I know track position in this era means more than ever but Holy Moses, it’s like the rest of the field was tied to a boat anchor. AC: I’m pretty sure Blaney passing Reddick was the only green-flag pass for the lead.  And at that point, Blaney’s car was just so much better than anyone else’s, it was inevitable.  Do you think that’s a problem with this car or current package? Is there a NASCAR problem right now with not being able to overtake the leader? LM: I never want to make too much of one race. If this is something we see again during the Southern 500 then maybe it’s something we should take a look at. But, as you know, sometimes it’s just the right weekend for dominance. I know we’re all in the business of overreacting these days but, it’s one race. Let’s give it at least one more before we bust out the pitchforks. However, if this were to get NASCAR to add more horsepower it would be a positive.   AC: You’re right that this is just one race, but it’s certainly not the first time we’ve heard about how difficult it is to pass for the lead in this car.  Darlington just proved to be the most glaring example of it we’ve seen so far.  I’m all for NASCAR looking at things and adjusting, and I’ve always been on board with more horsepower.  Whether this one race tips the scales, it’s hard to know.  IndyCar has the push-to-pass system, Formula One has DRS - there are many different options out there, but I’m not sure if NASCAR brass (or the fans, for that matter) are ready to embrace something like that just yet.  Part of the design of this next-gen car is to keep everyone closer together and increase parity.  Unfortunately, that came at the cost of easy green flag passes, at least for now.   I want to circle back to what you said at the beginning about the Kyle Larson/Bubba Wallace incident.  Who do you blame for the incident? LM: I don’t blame either party, overall. But if I lean toward placing blame, it would be with Larson. The reality is they were somewhere in the ballpark of 160 laps down. Their goal is to ride and hope for incidents at that point. Take it easy and just get some notes for the notebook.   AC: I think there is a subsect of NASCAR fans that are quick to jump on Bubba Wallace for anything, but I don’t think he did anything wrong here.  Larson came right out of the gas and it caught Wallace off guard - Larson just happened to be in a bad spot when it happened, and it was deja vu as he spun in exactly the same spot that put him 160 laps down in the first place.   I know we had a chat last week in this spot about who we should be worried about.  I mentioned Brad Keselowski, and unfortunately he followed up with a P33 finish at Darlington this past weekend.  What is going on with the 6 team? Especially since Buescher is putting up solid numbers. LM: I don’t want to push the panic button on the 6 team just yet. However, without question, their start is concerning. Could it just be taking time to find their footing? Absolutely that’s possible.  But, if this continues as we head toward summer, the whispers about what Brad Keselowski has left in the tank will crop up and become a topic on social media, if nothing else. AC: I mean, it’s been eight races now.  And it’s not like Brad is a rookie.  Find his footing? He might need to find his feet first.  I’m not sure what’s going on there, but it’s a bad start.  Of course, under the win-and-you’re-in format, a win can undo any of this in the blink of an eye.  But in previous years, a win might not have even been enough for him.  He’s outside of the Top 30 in points right now, and it used to be win-and-you’re-in-as-long-as-you’re-in-the-Top-30.  Didn’t quite have the same ring to it back then, though. Did you have anyone else you are keeping an eye on? LM: I know Chase Elliott keeps finding a way to have respectable finishes. But, something seems a little off at the 9 team compared to his teammates. He’s fighting proverbial wars to squeak into the top ten. AC: It might have been that god-awful paint scheme. I know I moaned about it last week so I’ll keep that to a minimum!   Let’s move on and get to our weekly awards! Best Performer LM: I know he didn’t win the race, but William Byron was the best performer on Sunday, no question. He put on a clinic.  AC: You’re not wrong.  I do wonder, though - did the idea of the ‘Perfect Race’ get in their heads a bit? Staying out during that first green flag pit cycle paid off for him, as a caution came out and he was able to stay in the lead.  But I felt like they botched the call the next time around, and should have been more reactive.  I worry that they were more concerned with giving up the lead than with actually winning the race. My best performer might have been Byron if not for that call, so I’m going to go with Ryan Blaney.  I’m not at all surprised that NASCAR took that car to R&D for a full teardown.  There was some magic in that there engine! Biggest Move of the Race LM: My biggest move of the race goes to Denny Hamlin’s pit crew. During the money stop they earned every cent. The stop got Denny that clean air and it was a fight for second at that point.  AC: Solid choice, and it’s hard to argue against it.  I’m going to say something different just to keep it fresh.  Earlier on in the race, Christopher Bell was nearly getting lapped by William Byron.  Bell fought really hard to stay on the lead lap, and while it probably annoyed the heck out of Byron, it saved Bell from being mired in the back for the rest of the day.  He rallied back to a P3 finish, and had he been lapped there his day may have been as good as done. Biggest Disappointment LM: My biggest disappointment goes to Josh Berry this week. He had one of the great schemes of the weekend for my money. On a day when NASCAR celebrated and paid tribute to 75 years of Wood Brothers Racing, he had that incident that ruined his day. I’m sure he was feeling some pressure as anyone would be. It’s disappointing he couldn’t have a better day nonetheless.  AC: I’m going to go with Alex Bowman.  He tagged the wall, had some toe link damage, and wound up finishing 17 laps down.  Maybe I missed it on my TV broadcast, but did you see any mention of this during the race?  Not only am I disappointed for Bowman, who I think has had a pretty solid year so far, but that feels like a big miss on the TV side of things. What to Watch for Next Weekend LM: Next week we’re onto the Last Great Coliseum. Don’t look now, but Denny Hamlin is strong there too. Could we have a second three-peat during this still fairly young season? That’s wild to think about. Short tracks with this package give a lot of us anxiety. What do you have your eyes on for next week? AC: Denny is certainly a contender at Bristol, and not only would it be the second three-peat of the season, but both of them would come from Joe Gibbs Racing.  Craziness.  I wouldn’t count out a strong performance from Kyle Busch, though, as he’s the winningest (current) driver there with 9.   Also something to keep an eye on - last year’s spring Bristol race was the one with the absolutely insane tire degradation.  We had tires blowing up here, there and everywhere. I know things were settled down at the Night Race in the fall, but this will be a daytime race, and similar temperatures to last year’s race.  Could we see some more tire issues again?   Regardless, I’m excited.  I do enjoy Bristol quite a bit!  See you next week, Logan! LM: It’s Bristol, Baby!

Photo from www.x.com/f1 By Ryan Wu Verstappen’s Breakthrough? Max Verstappen delivered a commanding performance in qualifying, setting a new track record at Suzuka. He followed that up with a strong start, shutting the door on Lando Norris into Turn 1 and gradually building a lead of over two seconds by lap 10. Verstappen’s pace was especially impressive in Sector 1, where he consistently pulled away from Norris. The early stages of the race were relatively quiet. Apart from Lewis Hamilton overtaking Isack Hadjar, there were no changes in the top 10, and on-track battles were few and far between. Interestingly, both Verstappen and Alex Albon reported issues with upshifts during this phase of the race. By lap 20, as Norris approached his pit window, he picked up the pace and cut Verstappen’s lead to 1.5 seconds. It became clear that pit strategy would be crucial in determining the race outcome. After some dummy calls from both teams, Verstappen and Norris pitted on the same lap. Norris gained nearly a second during the stop but ran wide onto the grass at pit exit while attempting an overtake—an overzealous move that led to some light-hearted radio exchanges between the two championship contenders. McLaren’s decision to mirror Red Bull’s stop was questionable. George Russell’s earlier attempt at an undercut had proven ineffective, leaving him stuck in traffic with little to gain. Arguably, Norris may have been better off staying out a lap longer. With around 10 laps to go, some intra-team drama emerged at McLaren. Oscar Piastri was heard on the radio asking to be let past, believing he had the pace to chase down Verstappen. However, no team orders were issued. Norris closed the gap to within a second but couldn’t mount a serious challenge. Verstappen went on to win the race, becoming the first driver in history to claim victory at the Suzuka four years in a row. Overall, the race lacked drama, with only one change in the top 10 from qualifying—Hamilton gaining a single position. The rest of the order remained unchanged. Red Bull's Controversial Driver Swap A lot of buzz surrounded the recent swap between Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson, following Lawson’s early-season struggles. But the universe has a funny sense of irony—Lawson ended up qualifying one place ahead of Tsunoda, in 14th and 15th respectively. Tsunoda never found consistent pace throughout the race, raising questions about whether this might be another short-sighted decision from the Milton Keynes-based team. In a sport as cutthroat as Formula 1, tough calls are inevitable—but judging Lawson after just two races, especially in the notoriously challenging Red Bull car, feels premature. Red Bull was in a "damned if you do, damned if you don’t" situation. If Lawson continued to underperform, criticism would follow. Yet they publicly backed him at the beginning of the season, with Christian Horner stating the team believes the New Zealander has a higher ceiling than Tsunoda. But two races is hardly enough time for anyone to reach their potential. It also begs the question: was this simply too much pressure for Tsunoda? Racing at home, with the weight of expectations and a point to prove, he may have been trying too hard to show he deserves a shot in the senior team. In the end, he finished 12th—well off the pace of race winner Max Verstappen. Rookie Report Antonelli led the race from lap 22 to lap 32 before making his pit stop. The young Italian showcased impressive tire management on the medium compound, maintaining strong pace throughout his stint. After his stop, he rejoined the race in 6th—the position he had started from—and ultimately finished there along with collecting the fastest lap of the race, continuing his promising start to his career. Isack Hadjar also impressed this weekend, qualifying 7th ahead of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. He went on to claim his first points of the season with a solid 8th place finish. Oliver Bearman also put another strong performance in as he made Q3 and collected a point for Haas with a 10th place finish. Weekend to Forget for Lance Stroll Stroll had a difficult qualifying session, finishing nearly a full second slower than his teammate, Fernando Alonso. Although he gained a position early in the race by overtaking Gabriel Bortoleto, he ultimately finished in last place and was lapped by the three race leaders. Racing Refresh Driver of the Day Max Verstappen, Red Bull Final Points Finishing Positions 1st: Max Verstappen 2nd: Lando Norris 3rd: Oscar Piastri 4th: Charles Leclerc 5th: George Russell 6th: Andrea Kimi Antonelli 7th: Lewis Hamilton 8th: Isack Hadjar 9th: Alex Albon 10th: Oliver Bearman Next on the F1 Schedule: Bahrain Grand Prix: April 11th-13th

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Darlington, South Carolina for the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.   Darlington is a uniquely egg-shaped oval, with corners 1 and 2 being quite a bit wider than 3 and 4.  The track is 1.366 miles long.  It was built in 1950, and Johnny Mantz won the first NASCAR race there that same year.   Tomorrow’s race will be 293 laps long (for a total of 400.24 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 90 – 185 – 293.  Pit road speed is 45 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 50 mph.  The fuel window is between 69-75 laps.   This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 1,808 laps, for 2,459.36 miles so far this season.  Only 4 drivers have completed all of them – Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, and Tyler Reddick.   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Darlington: Denny Hamlin 8.20 over 25 races (4 wins) Kyle Larson 10.79 over 14 races (1 win) Brad Keselowski 11.05 over 22 races (2 wins) Tyler Reddick 13.09 over 11 races Erik Jones 13.21 over 14 races (2 wins)   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Darlington: Cody Ware 31.00 over 5 races Zane Smith 29.00 over 2 races JH Nemechek 27.20 over 5 races SVG 26.00 over 1 race Michael McDowell 25.95 over 19 races   Darlington is an Intermediate Track   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks: Denny Hamlin 12.00 over 337 races (27 wins) Kyle Larson 12.14 over 175 races (17 wins) Kyle Busch 12.44 over 353 races (29 wins) Joey Logano 12.50 over 283 races (18 wins) Chase Elliott 12.53 over 156 races (6 wins)   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks: Riley Herbst 23.50 over 5 races JH Nemechek 23.15 over 42 races Ryan Preece 22.45 over 89 races Ty Dillon 22.42 over 123 races Josh Berry 21.60 over 24 races (1 win)   David Pearson is the winningest driver at Darlington, having won there 10 times.  Dale Earnhardt had 9 wins.  Denny Hamlin is the winningest of current full-time drivers, having scored 4 career wins there.   Notable drivers who have not won at Darlington:    Chase Elliott (has won at 15 other tracks) Christopher Bell (has won at 10 other tracks) Ryan Blaney (has won at 9 other tracks) Tyler Reddick (has won at 8 other tracks) Alex Bowman (has won at 8 other tracks)   No current driver has scored their first ever Cup Series win at Darlington.   Based on average finish, no drivers list Darlington as their BEST or WORST track.   Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:   Drivers Faring Better than in 2024 Tyler Reddick +625 pts Bubba Wallace +585 pts Chris Buescher +498 pts William Byron +367 pts Ryan Preece +351 pts   Drivers Faring Worse than in 2024 Ty Gibbs -462 pts Brad Keselowski -413 pts Todd Gilliland -223 pts Josh Berry -193 pts Joey Logano -160 pts   Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:   Best Career Year           William Byron 10.57 Christopher Bell 11.00 Alex Bowman 12.14 Tyler Reddick 12.86 Chase Briscoe 14.86 Michael McDowell 15.71 Ryan Preece 16.71 JH Nemechek 17.00 Todd Gilliland 19.71 Josh Berry 20.29   Worst Career Year Cole Custer 28.43 Brad Keselowski 25.14 Erik Jones 24.00 Carson Hocevar 23.86 Ty Gibbs 23.86 Ryan Blaney 20.00 Zane Smith 19.29   Rookie of the Year Battle Riley Herbst 89 SVG 80   The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.   Manufacturer Standings         Toyota 254 Chevrolet 252 Ford 227   Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:   Chartered Team Standings Joe Gibbs 251 Hendrick 249 RFK 203 23XI 200 Trackhouse 191 Penske 188 Spire 174 Front Row 160 Kaulig 157 RCR 154 Legacy MC 148 Hyak 135 Wood Bros 122 Haas Factory 60 Rick Ware 44   At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:   Stage Point Leaders Ryan Blaney 71 William Byron 62 Bubba Wallace 59 Joey Logano 55 Kyle Larson 52 Alex Bowman 49 Chase Elliott 46 Austin Cindric 43 Tyler Reddick 37 Denny Hamlin 31   Milestone Watch Chase Elliott Looking for his 20th Career Win Josh Berry Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 Noah Gragson Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 JH Nemechek Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 Daniel Suarez Looking for his 70th Career Top 10 Ryan Preece Looking for his 20th Career Top 10 Bubba Wallace Looking for his 50th Career Top 10 Christopher Bell Looking for his 90th Career Top 10 Ryan Blaney This will be his 350th Career Cup Series Start       Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:   Winless Streaks Justin Haley 148 races Cole Custer 98 races Bubba Wallace 86 races Erik Jones 86 races Kyle Busch 64 races Michael McDowell 55 races Daniel Suarez 41 races Chase Elliott 34 races Brad Keselowski 30 races Austin Cindric 28 races   The race begins Sunday, April 6th at 3:00 pm EST (12:00 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!   Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter  @RacingRefresh   Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!

Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images By Adam Carabine A look at the Top Ten in our weekly Power Rankings, plus the biggest movers! 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, with an emphasis placed on the most recent 5 races.   Ryan Blaney – This week: 10 – Last week: 6 His performance at Martinsville was decent, he finished just outside of the Top 10.  But last week’s DNF is catching up to him and he falls a few spots as a result.   Bubba Wallace – This week: 9 – Last week: 12 Wallace has been on the rise for the past few weeks, and a convincing P3 at a difficult short track like Martinsville helps.  His average running position was 4th all day long.     Joey Logano – This week: 8 – Last week: 9 Logano earns his first Top 10 of 2025, which is crazy enough as it is.  However, he gained 17 spots over the course of the final restart which was very impressive.  He had the highest pass differential of all drivers, which was no surprise after bringing it home P8.   Tyler Reddick – This week: 7 – Last week: 5 It was a quieter day for Reddick at Martinsville.  At this point, he’s always expected to run near the front, but he was kind of mired in the low teens all day long.  He still had the most quality passes (green flag passes in the Top 15) of anyone, which limited the damage to his Power Ranking spot.   Alex Bowman – This week: 6 – Last week: 3 Bowman’s worst start of the season was Martinsville, where he finished P28.  He led 6 laps, started on the second row, but things went wrong for him and so he slides out of the Top 5 in the Power Rankings.   Chase Elliott – This week: 5 – Last week: 8 At some points, Elliott looked to have the fastest car of anyone at Martinsville.  Bringing it home P4 might be seen as a disappointment based on the speed he showed early on, but it moves him into the Top 5 of our Power Rankings.   Kyle Larson – This week: 4 – Last week: 4 Larson holds serve after a win last week at Homestead.  A top 5 finish, with stage points, and an average running position of 6th all point to Larson maintaining his grip on the Top 5.    Denny Hamlin – This week: 3 – Last week: 13 It wasn’t just a win at Martinsville, it was a dominant performance in all of the underlying stat categories as well.  He had 75 fast laps, his average running position was 2nd, and he led the most laps of anyone by a mile – 274.    William Byron – This week: 2 – Last week: 1 It wasn’t Byron’s best day on the track at Martinsville.  He limped the 24 car home to P22, and his underlying stats weren’t amazing.  He had just cracked into the lead last week in our Power Rankings, but heavy is the crown – he falls to P2.   Christopher Bell – This week: 1 – Last week: 2 Christopher Bell returns to the front of the pack after a couple of weeks off.  He finished P2 at Martinsville, and spent a good majority of the day up front after winning the pole.  This team is not to be messed with.   Biggest Movers   Riley Herbst – This week: 34 – Last week: 26 Falls 8 places   Denny Hamlin – This week: 13 – Last week: 3 Gains 10 places   Rest of the List             11. Kyle Busch                      LW: 11                 -- 12. Ryan Preece                     LW: 14                +2 13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.          LW: 10 -3 14. Austin Cindric                      LW: 7 -7 15. Ross Chastain                   LW: 21 +6 16. Josh Berry                            LW: 19 +3 17. Chase Briscoe                    LW: 18 +1 18. Chris Buescher                   LW: 16 -2 19. Michael McDowell              LW: 17 -2 20. Todd Gilliland                      LW: 22 +2 21. JH Nemechek                     LW: 15 -6 22. AJ Allmendinger                 LW: 31 +9 23. Daniel Suarez                      LW: 20 -3 24. Ty Dillon                                LW: 27 +3 25. Justin Haley                         LW: 24 -1 26. Erik Jones                            LW: 23 -3 27. Zane Smith                           LW: 34 +7 28. Ty Gibbs                               LW: 29 +1 29. Austin Dillon                        LW: 28 -1 30. SVG                                       LW: 25 -5 31. Brad Keselowski                 LW: 30 -1 32. Carson Hocevar                LW: 33 +1 33. Noah Gragson                    LW: 32 -1 34. Riley Herbst                         LW: 26 -8 35. Cody Ware                           LW: 36 +1 36. Cole Custer                          LW: 35 -1

(Photo Courtesy NHRA) PRO STOCK FUNNY CAR TOP FUEL

Press Release | NHRA Clay Millican edged out Tony Stewart in an explosive Top Fuel final round on Sunday for Rick Ware Racing, winning for the first time at historic In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip at the 65th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals.   Jack Beckman (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also won the third of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.   Millican went 4.273-seconds at 189.71 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Mighty Fire Breaker/Parts Plus dragster before a wild engine explosion at the finish line, as Stewart drove into tire smoke almost immediately in the finals. It is the eighth career victory for Millican, who defeated Shawn Reed, Jasmine Salinas and No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force to reach the final round, and first in 2025. Millican was also dynamite on the starting line during eliminations, including a lethal .038 against Stewart, denying the racing legend his first career Top Fuel victory and moving to sixth in points. “My crew chief (Jim Oberhofer) told me he had it loaded up and a couple things were going to happen. He said we’re going to win, we’re going to blow up and if we lose, we’re going to be a footnote in history,” Millican said. “Thank goodness we’re not a footnote in history. Tony Stewart is going to win one of these soon, but all I know is we won the Winternationals. “But boy, that final round was forever. When you blow it up and – and we blew it up good – and you got a HANS [head restraint] device on, you're stretching that HANS to its limits, trying to look over like, ‘Is he coming or not?’ I couldn't get there quick enough. I promise I never let off the throttle, even though it wasn't running no more. But I had that thing buried. I was stomping on the loud pedal harder than normal. What a day. “Winning [the Winternationals] is one of the majors. It definitely is. We've won Indy and now we've won here, and that's pretty dang cool. But to come out and win the way we did today, it was a total team effort. I pulled us out once, which rarely ever happens, and the team just stuck together.” Stewart reached the final round for the third time in his career and first this season after defeating reigning world champion Antron Brown, Doug Kalitta and points leader Shawn Langdon.   In Funny Car, Beckman handed John Force Racing its 300th Funny Car win after he went 4.015 at 302.88 in his 11,000-horsepower PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS to knock off Daniel Wilkerson in a historic championship round at the legendary facility – and the home track for JFR. It is the 38th career win for Beckman, who replaced Force after his crash last year and has won the last two races in Pomona.   Force also won last year’s Winternationals, making the car a remarkable 12-0 in the last three Pomona races. The weekend belonged to Beckman, who won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge for the first time with two standout runs and then made a series of passes in the 3.80s to reach Sunday’s final.   He defeated Jeff Diehl, Chad Green and Matt Hagan to reach the championship round. There wasn’t another 3.80s in the fold, but after Wilkerson had trouble at the starting line, Beckman recovered and rolled to his first victory of the season and 36th in his career. It’s also the first time he has led the points since 2020, as Beckman continues to perform at a high level since replacing Force following his crash in June.   “The car was amazing all weekend. We qualified fourth, but we got qualifying points every single round and ran 3.80s every round of eliminations until the final when the flawless part fell off a couple of hundred feet out and car shook the tires and knocked them loose,” Beckman said. “That’s where, as a driver, you've got to be ready to give one back to the team because they'd given me everything all weekend long.    “It felt good to be able to pedal the thing and take it down there and have the car not blow up. It’s pretty cool when they hand you a trophy, your car still intact, and get John Force Racing its 300th Funny car win.”   Wilkerson reached the final round for the second time in his career thanks to round wins against J.R. Todd, Paul Lee and Funny Car rookie Spencer Hyde.   There appears to be no stopping Pro Stock’s Greg Anderson these days, especially at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, as the reigning world champion set the track record in the final round against KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn with a stellar run of 6.476 at 210.90 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. That gives Anderson a remarkable 16 career wins in Pomona – the second-most in NHRA history – including the last two races.   He won the NHRA Finals last November against Glenn, a final-round matchup that has repeated itself the first three races of the 2025 campaign. Glenn won the first in Gainesville, but Anderson has taken the last two. While Phoenix was a wild and wacky final round, this one was much more conventional, as Anderson continued his torrid run this weekend. He was in the 6.40s throughout eliminations, including a 6.477 against Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the second round that initially broke the track record from 2014.   Anderson, the current points leader who also won the GESi Pro Stock No. 1 Qualifier Award for a second straight race, then broke it again in the championship round with a spectacular run, giving the six-time world champion his second victory this season and 108th in his marvelous career.   “We set a [track] record in the final and this is the way you want to do it,” Anderson said. “You want to go out and earn it every single run, and you want to save your best for the final round, and that's what we did. These are proud days today, and just like three months ago here in the final round, you want to give your best shot in the final round against the toughest competition.   “I love this place. Nine times out of 10 when we come here, you get friendly conditions like this, and I was able to drive better than I normally drive as far as reaction time goes. The slight cloud cover, the cool temperatures just feel good for a driver and that just plays more into my hand. are the conditions I need. I wish we could race here every weekend.”   Glenn continued his impressive season as well, advancing to a third straight final round and 30th in his career after defeating Erica Enders, Matt Hartford and Deric Kramer.   The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action April 11-13 with the 25th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo Courtesy NHRA)

Press Release | SCAG RACING Daniel Wilkerson and his SCAG Power Equipment Ford Mustang Funny Car team finished runner-up Sunday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. Teammates Dave Richards in the BlueBird Turf / Versatran Funny Car and Justin Ashley in the SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel dragster each had early first round exits. In the final, the second of Wilkerson’s career, the SCAG Ford Mustang team would take on Funny Car veteran and former world champion Jack Beckman. Neither car would make a clean pass. Wilkerson’s SCAG machine went up in tire smoke at the hit, forcing Wilkerson to coast to an 8.292 second run at only 91.83 mph. Beckman would have to pedal his way to a 4.015 at 302.28 for the victory. “I’m just really proud of our guys for going from not being in the show going into the final session of qualifying to going to the final round of eliminations. Everyone was pretty bummed when we got back to the pit but we have a great car and the car and I are finally starting to click a little bit together so it’s going to come pretty soon. I’m not worried,” said Wilkerson who now sits seventh in the Funny Car points standings. “I’m glad we had these back-to-back races. Getting back out here, making some runs, it was a big deal for me after the red light I had last weekend in Phoenix. I’m glad we were able to turn things around.” Wilkerson, who didn’t qualify for the show until the final session with a 3.924 second pass at 324.28 mph, good enough for No. 8, started his race day lined up against JR Todd. It would be a pedalfest for both drivers with Wilkerson coming out on top going 4.165 at 234.00 to Todd’s 4.621 at 253.18. In the second round, Wilkerson took on most recent event winner Paul Lee. Lee would run into tire smoke almost immediately coasting to a 10.656 second run at 71.19 mph as Wilkerson sailed to a 3.932 at 330.47 mph, giving him lane choice against Funny Car rookie Spencer Hyde in the semifinals. Wilkerson left the starting line first and never trailed running his quickest pass of the weekend at 3.894 seconds and 329.26 mph while Hyde lost traction and had to shut off early for a 5.000 at 153.46. In Top Fuel Justin Ashley, the No. 9 qualifier after running a 3.695-second pass at 313.51 mph on Friday night, started race day with a match up against Josh Hart. Ashley left the starting line first, but the SCAG machine was up in tire smoke early for only a 4.236 run at 184.75 while Hart had a clean pass at 3.675 and 332.67. “This is racing. It’s filled with ups, downs and pretty much everything in between. But there’s no reason to ride the emotional rollercoaster. We have the best team in the business, and we are going to get this right,” said Ashley who is now ninth in the Top Fuel points standings. “It’s only a matter of time. I love driving this SCAG Power Equipment Top Fuel Dragster and appreciate all of the SCAG dealers and distributors that took the time to join us in Pomona.” Dave Richards ran his first three-second run of the season Saturday during the third qualifying session. The 3.954 second run at 320.47 mph put him in the No. 12 position to race against Chad Green first round. Richards had the starting line advantage but drove into tire smoke almost immediately for a 5.811 pass at 130.12. Green had no troubles with a 3.960 at 325.61. “Not the weekend we were hoping for but not a complete loss. We made our first three-second run of the season and figured out some of the things that had been hurting us the first two races,” said Richards who is 15th in Funny Car points. “We had a little too much for the track in that first round, overpowered it. But we will continue to fight. Now it’s about getting down the track consistently and gathering data. We ran good in Vegas last year so I’m hopeful we’ll have something for the Four-Wides.” SCAG Racing will continue on the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series circuit with the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, April 11-13. (Photo Courtesy SCAG Racing)

Press Release | ELITE MOTORSPORTS The Lucas Oil NHRA Winternantionals, race three of 18 on the Pro Stock Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series schedule, came to a close Sunday at In-N-Out Pomona Drag Strip. With all six of the Elite Motorsports entries qualified for race day, Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the SCAG Power Equipment / Outlaw Light Beer hot rod led Elite Motorsports with a quarterfinal exit at the historic event. Jeg Jr. entered race day from the No. 8 spot forcing a first-round matchup with Pro Stock rookie and Elite Motorsports teammate Stephen Bell . Bell, who made his raceday debut thanks to a 6.531 second pass at 209.33 mph that put him ninth, had a solid 6.556 pass at 210.54 but it wasn’t enough for Jeg Jr. who made his best run of the weekend at 6.524 and 209.52 for the win. In the second round, Jeg Jr. faced off with rival Greg Anderson. The SCAG hot rod would come up short with a 6.546-second pass at 210.77 mph to Anderson’s 6.492 at 211.56. “Three races in the books. We’ve had some moments of brilliance and some struggles. The team is eager to have the extra time to do some R&D and make efforts to improve before the first Four-Wide event in La Vegas,” Jeg. Jr. said. “I love Vegas, and we have made some great memories and had some fantastic wins over the years. I’m excited to return and return as the reigning Four-Wide champ.” Elite Motorsports will continue on the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series circuit with the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, April 11-13. (Photo Courtesy Elite Motorsports)

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images By Adam Carabine & Logan Morris Logan Morris:  Adam, here again after a wild and wooly race at the paper clip. Denny Hamlin dominated in pretty spectacular fashion as he secured his 55th career win to pass the great Lee Petty on the all-time wins list. What were your thoughts? Adam Carabine: Yes, we are back! Denny Hamlin gets off the Martinsville schneid, so to speak, with his first win there in 10 years.  But don’t be fooled, he’s quite gifted at Martinsville, that’s now his 6th career win there in the Cup Series.   The race was fairly disjointed with a bunch of cautions, and then a long green-flag run to the finish.  Was it my favourite race we’ve had this year? No - but a day at the races is always better than nothing!  How about you? LM: Well, we got lucky and our rain dances paid off for once. The forecast looked pretty rough as the week wore on and thankfully there wasn’t a drop to be found today. The race did plunge into chaos come the final stage. One thing I want to note is the rubber build-up we saw on Sunday. It was everywhere! I thought this was one of the better short-track races we’ve seen in this era. Is there more work to do? Yes. But it felt like we saw some progress finally.  AC: Yes, it’s nice that NASCAR (and Goodyear, I suppose) is getting aggressive with some of these softer tire compounds, which really does help the racing product.  One thing we talked about a while back when Martinsville was a complete dud was that there wasn’t enough tire fall-off.  It’s fitting that one of the best at tire management ends up winning the race, Denny Hamlin. From a viewer’s perspective, I can understand why this race wasn’t as popular as others.  There was a little less action at the front of the pack, and most of the cautions we saw were for backmarkers spinning, or light contact.  When there’s a wreck at Martinsville, there’s just nowhere to go - so I think they’re quicker to throw a caution.  And while I agree with that approach - safety first, of course - it can get a little frustrating when there are multiple restarts over and over.  You wind up seeing more laps under caution than under green.  Did that bug you today? LM: Yes. I really believe some sort of limit should be enforced as far as laps per caution. I know the thought of even more new rules makes some people anywhere from a little easy to flat-out ready for a stiff drink. However, I think it’s important for the paying customer to get their money’s worth if it can be helped. Weather is one thing, wasting copious amounts of laps under caution is another. I’m not upset at the quick caution calls. As you said, Adam, safety first. But, viewers want to see as much green-flag racing as possible. We saw Zane Smith fall victim to the tighter conditions today.   AC: We did, but he also put up a pretty solid finish, considering he hasn’t been the most impressive driver so far this year.  He’s actually doing better than the eye-test might show when you look at his stats, but I feel like I haven’t really heard much Zane Smith talk at all this season.  He finished P16 on Sunday which is within the realm of expectation for him.   Something else I wanted to touch on was the battery issues for both Josh Berry and Austin Cindric.  The guys in the booth touched on it lightly, but I wondered what you thought - was this just a freak accident? Or did they try something aggressive setup-wise that backfired? LM: Between the battery issues, and Blaney’s recent engine issues, I’m of the opinion that Team Penske is pushing the envelope and paying for it early in the season. I do not doubt that the contact between Berry and Bubba Wallace on pit road early in the race caused trouble for Berry’s first battery of the day. But, he went through three of them and then there were none for Cindric.   AC: I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a car having to retire from the race due to not having enough batteries left! Craziness.  It’s still earlier in the season, and maybe this experimenting will pay off later on down the line for the Penske/Wood Bros teams, but for now things are not going the way they’d like.   LM: Is it still too early to worry about anyone’s season? AC: I think it’s a case-by-case call.  Who do you have in mind? LM: Austin Cindric comes to mind.  AC: That’s fair.  After his DNF this week, and his 50-point penalty earlier this season, he’s certainly in a hole.  He’s currently 24th in points, and it’s a steep climb to get back into the playoff picture.  I would say that Team Penske has the equipment for him to get a win at some point, but certainly not if they keep experimenting.  What about Brad Keselowski? LM: I’m concerned about Keselowski, the way he’s running compared to his teammates/ drivers doesn’t give me a lot of optimism for his season at the moment.  AC: Agreed.  Now finally, before we get to our weekly awards, I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about the Erik Jones DQ - Thoughts? LM: I’m hoping Legacy has grounds to appeal. But, NASCAR usually gives teams a lot of leeway before disqualifying them, so I would guess that Erik Jones’s points deficit just got a lot deeper.   AC: Yeah, you never like to see anyone get disqualified, but post-race weights are a tough one to appeal after the fact. The ol’ post race inspection strikes again!  Anyway, let’s give away some awards! Best Performer LM: My best performer is without question, Denny Hamlin. He put on a clinic today. There is no other option.  AC: It’s hard to disagree with that. Once he got up into clean air, he was unstoppable. He had a little trouble from time to time with some lapped traffic, but he really did a great job of managing the gap back to 2nd.  Biggest Move of the Race LM: I’ll give my biggest move of the race to the 22 team. They battled some adversity to get their first top-ten of the season. They also scored a stage win. Under the radar days like this can make a huge difference later.  AC: Quit stealing all of my answers! I was going to specifically call out Logano and essentially his final 20 laps or so.  When he restarted with 75 to go, he was in 25th. It’s one thing to make a pass when you’ve got fresh tires, or when you’re on a different strategy, but he made some major ground up in those final 20 laps.  He finished P8 (a total gain of 17 spots), including three spots in the final 10 laps.  Awesome work. Biggest Disappointment LM: My biggest disappointment goes to SVG. It has not been a great start for him this season, you have to wonder if he was rushed through the ranks.  AC: Yeah, I saw you mention that in our group chat.  I actually disagree.  Obviously his strong suit is road courses, ovals were always going to be a challenge for him.  He was brought in to be a threat on the road courses, likely with the understanding that he wouldn’t be as competitive on ovals, at least for now.  There’s definitely a learning curve there, especially in a new car to him, as it’s quite different from the Xfinity car, but I think for a team like Trackhouse, the risk was worth the reward.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see an SVG win at a road course this year.  Hopefully he can reign in his oval skills. As far as my biggest disappointment - I’ll say it so you don’t have to.  The Jones DQ is a gut punch to a team that’s already a fringe contender to make the playoffs.  He’s shown some fleeting moments here and there, but hopefully this doesn’t kill morale at the 43 team. What to Watch for Next Weekend LM: Next weekend we’re onto the Lady in Black as she’s known. It’s throwback weekend, which is one of my favorite weekends of the season. I know my favorite throwback already!  Denny Hamlin has a very real chance of going back-to-back. You mentioned Erik Jones, we know how strong he can be at Darlington. AC: Darlington is one of my favourite tracks to watch, so I’m looking forward to it! While throwback weekend doesn’t necessarily get me as excited as it does for others, there has been some widespread backlash against Chase Elliott’s throwback scheme, so I’m interested to see how they navigate that in the broadcast booth. I’d keep an eye on Chase Briscoe.  He won the Southern 500 last fall (with yours truly in attendance, no less), and he’s in better equipment this time.  This would be an important statement from him and the 19 team.   Whatever happens, we’ll be here to break it all down for you post-race.  See you next week! LM: I’ll be chilling with my boombox!