OPINION: Kaulig’s rapid rise to Cup success a breath of fresh air in the Charter Era

PHOTO: @KauligRacing

by Ben Schneider

LASTCAR.info Guest Contributor

On Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Kaulig Racing picked up the team’s first victory in NASCAR’s Cup Series with A.J. Allmendinger. It was already Kaulig's eleventh win in NASCAR overall, accounting for their ten Xfinity Series wins.

It’s easy to forget just how young the team is. Just over two years ago, the team was still in search of their first Xfinity win and only running one car in the series full-time. Team owner Matt Kaulig is the owner of LeafFilter, which originally entered the sport in 2014 - just seven years ago - as a sponsor of Blake Koch at TriStar Motorsports. In 2016, Kaulig began fielding his own startup team with Koch as the driver. The team hired Ryan Truex in 2018, who scored the team’s first top-five finish at Mid-Ohio that season.

The 2019 season marked Kaulig’s breakout year. They hired Justin Haley as the flagship No. 11 team’s driver, a position he holds to this day. They started a second part-time team, the No. 10, after running a single race with Austin Dillon the previous year. The biggest highlight of the season, however, would come in a one-off third entry, the No. 16, driven by Ross Chastain to the team’s first-ever win at Daytona. Allmendinger, who has since emerged as the team’s veteran leader, would score a second win on the Charlotte Roval later that year. This would re-ignite Allmendinger's passion behind the wheel, and he’s back full-time in NASCAR, truly enjoying his role in the team's rapid growth.

In 2020, Haley and Allmendinger added three and two wins respectively, while Haley made the  Championship Four at Phoenix, finishing third in the final point standings. Kaulig also entered Haley in a one-off Cup entry in the Daytona 500. Now, three full-time Kaulig entries are going "trophy hunting" - each capable of winning on any given Xfinity weekend. In the Cup Series, they have launched a part-time program with the intention of running full-time in 2022, having secured not one, but two charters for next season. And now they have a Cup win of their own.

In an era of mergers, short fields and disappearing teams, it has been hard for fans of the underdog to keep the faith. The era of the Charter System has seen the closures of many small teams their Charters were supposed to protect.

There has arguably never been a harder time to be an underdog in this sport. Costs are higher than ever, and the current business model has virtually locked out any team not among the 36 who possess Charters from competing at the top level on Sundays.

And yet, in the midst of it all, Kaulig has found a way to grow from a midfield, independent, single-car Xfinity program into a championship-contending Xfinity team with a startup Cup program that already has a race win on their résumé - a first for “open” teams in the charter era.

It’s truly the perfect underdog story: a driver whose passion and entire career has been completely rebuilt by a team that, in less than half a decade, has gone from struggling to crack the top-ten to competing for wins in each of NASCAR’s top two divisions.

For fans of the underdog looking for someone to support, is there really any need to look anywhere else?

CUP: Cody Ware’s historic double-duty weekend ends with late-race incident

PHOTO: @bobpockrass

Cody Ware picked up the 6th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Grand Prix Course when his #51 Nurtec ODT Chevrolet fell out with a “crash” as the listed cause after 46 of 95 laps.

The finish, which came in Ware’s 45th series start, was his first of the season and first in Cup since May 11, 2019 at Kansas, 84 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 30th for the #51, the 617th from a crash, and the 812th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 43rd for the #51, the 1,266th from a crash, and the 1,798th for Chevrolet.

Last weekend was perhaps the busiest yet for the ever-growing Rick Ware Racing organization. North of the border, RWR fielded two cars in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series at Trois-Rivières – one each for Andrew Ranger and Alex Guenette. The rest of the organization was in Indianapolis, where they had a combined seven entries across the three combined NASCAR and IndyCar events. Cody Ware, would be the only driver from either series to start both the Cup and IndyCar events on the same weekend.

Cody has himself expanded his racing resume. He stepped away from NASCAR for much of 2020, instead competing in sports car racing overseas. He parlayed that into his first 24 Hours of Daytona start earlier this year, taking fourth in class in a Ligier LMP2 shared with Salih Yoluc, Austin Dillon, and Sven Muller. IndyCar – through a partnership with Dale Coyne Racing – came next at Road America, where he finished 19th of 25 entries in his first open-wheel start. He then took 20th in last week’s crash-marred Nashville inaugural, and Saturday at Indy finished 25th in a large field of 28, two laps down to Will Power.

With these extra laps, Cody looked to improve on Sunday. It was on a similar infield road course at Charlotte last year that he scored his first career top-ten finish in the XFINITY Series, taking home 7th despite heavy rain. In practice, he ranked 37th of the 40 entrants, and remained 37th in qualifying with a lap of 95.797mph (1 minute, 31.656 seconds).

Rolling off 40th and last was Timmy Hill, who was back in a Cup Series ride with Motorsports Business Management for the first time since the Pocono double-header in June. Hill’s #66 AAW Luxury Cars / CrashClaimsR.us Toyota was not joined by any other penalized driver, and started alongside Garrett Smithley in RWR’s #53 Jacob Companies Ford. At the start, Hill was 5.12 seconds back of the lead, and Smithley pulled open a two carlength advantage through the first couple corners. 

By the time the leaders crossed the yard of bricks under green for the first time, Hill had moved past Anthony Alfredo, who was originally 3.909 seconds back of the lead at the start. Alfredo’s #38 Elliott’s Custom Motorcoaches Ford had reportedly been in an incident with Ryan Newman in the #6 Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs Ford, causing damage to the right-front corner of Alfredo’s car. The crew estimated he may have broken the right-side sway bar, which caused his car to go straight at Turn 7, then roll to the right afterwards. “The story of my freaking season!” shouted Alfredo, who apologized to his crew. By Lap 5, Alfredo complained that his car was “undriveable,” and his team asked if he could ride it out until the end of Stage 1 at Lap 15. Alfredo chose to stay out, saying “I don’t like to give up – it’s not in my vocabulary.” The team remarked Alfredo was “driving his ass off,” and he reached the end of Stage 1, earning the Lucky Dog to briefly rejoin the lead lap.

Alfredo on pit road with noticeable damage to the nose.
PHOTO: @Team_FRM

By the time Alfredo reached pit road, it was apparent he’d suffered significant damage in the tangle with Newman. On top of the sway bar, the splitter had been ripped away, and the driver’s side corner of the hood had buckled. He lost three laps for repairs, but managed to return to the track in last place. His only other challenger during the stage was Brad Keselowski, who for the second-straight week struggled tremendously on a road course. Keselowski’s #2 Discount Tire Ford spun and backed into the wall off Turn 13, then started smoking from the left-rear as the green stayed out. This forced a second stop, dropping Keselowski to 39th on the same lap as Alfredo. Keselowski met minimum speed on Lap 31, and Alfredo pulled out of the way of faster traffic as he reached the end of Stage 2. Keselowski still ranked 39th, and thus earned the Lucky Dog.

Cody Ware didn’t enter the last-place battle until Lap 46, when he slipped to 38th. The team reported contact from Aric Almirola’s #10 Mobil 1 Ford had sent them into a spin, and also cut an oil line. Ware pulled onto pit road with a vibration, but wasn’t informed that he was now on the “Crash Clock” under the “Damaged Vehicle Policy” During a second stop on Lap 49, he pulled behind the wall, and NASCAR reported “51 to the garage, DVP.” “We’re on DVP – we’re on DVP,” said someone on the crew. Then, “Go ahead and hop out. We’re done.” On Lap 51, Ware took last place from Alfredo, and despite the cut oil line was then declared out by NASCAR for an “accident.”

Finishing 39th was Andy Lally, whose first Cup start since November 6, 2011 saw him earn stage points for an 8th-place run in Stage 2. However, his #78 Blacktop Mojo Ford suffered mechanical issues in the final stage, dropping him to 39th with rear gear trouble. He did all this while driving in relief of Kyle Tilley, who was forced to hand over the wheel due to a shoulder injury. Alfredo climbed to 38th before suspension issues ended his day. Moments later, the first of two frightening accidents in Turn 6 filled the Bottom Five – Daniel Suarez in the #99 CommScope Chevrolet and Christopher Bell in the #20 Stanley Tools Toyota.

A.J. Allmendinger took a surprising victory following a late-race tangle between leaders Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe, the first Cup win for Kaulig Racing – and the first for an “open” team in the era of the Charter System (Kaulig has acquired two Charters for 2022). This is Allmendinger’s first Cup victory since August 10, 2014, when he gave JTG-Daugherty Racing their own first checkered flag at Watkins Glen.

Erik Jones finished a season-best 7th in the #43 Petty’s Garage Chevrolet, improving on their only other two top-ten finishes of 2021 – a 9th on the dirt at Bristol and a 10th in Las Vegas.

Driving his familiar #77 Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet, Justin Haley finished 8th for his first Cup Series top-ten finish since his own upset victory at Daytona back in 2019 for the same Spire Motorsports team.

Austin Cindric, who scored a convincing win in Saturday’s XFINITY race, finished 9th – his career-best finish in his 7th and final Cup start of the season before he goes full-time for Penske Racing in 2022.

Further back, there was also some good news for Rick Ware Racing - Josh Bilicki took 18th in his #52 Saved By The King Ford, setting a new career-best Cup finish to best his pair of 23rd-place runs this season at Martinsville and Road America.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marks the second-straight last-place finish for the #51 team, which has scored at least one last-place finish in five straight seasons. The number had never before finished last in any of the 27 runnings of the Brickyard 400 (on the 2.5-mile oval).

THE BOTTOM FIVE

40) #51-Cody Ware / 46 laps / crash

39) #78-Andy Lally / 55 laps / rear gear

38) #38-Anthony Alfredo / 68 laps / suspension

37) #99-Daniel Saurez / 77 laps / crash

36) #20-Christopher Bell / 77 laps / crash

2021 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) JTG-Daugherty Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (4)

2nd) Spire Motorsports (3)

3rd) Chip Ganassi Racing, Motorsports Business Management (2)

4th) Front Row Motorsports, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, StarCom Racing (1)

2021 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (14)

2nd) Ford (7)

3rd) Toyota (3)

2021 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

XFINITY: Rogue turtle eliminates multiple frontrunners on Lap 1, leaving Brandon Jones last

PHOTO: @PRNLive

Brandon Jones picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Pennzoil 150 at the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit when his #19 Menards / Atlas Toyota fell out with crash damage without completing any of the 62 laps.

The finish, which came in Jones’ 191st series start, was his first of the season and first in the series since July 9, 2020 at Kentucky, 40 races ago. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 31st for the #19, the 150th for Toyota, and the 354th from a crash. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 80th for the #19, the 361st for Toyota, and the 1,265th from a crash.

After a 2020 season of highs and lows where he scored three series wins, but missed the Championship Four, Jones is now competing in his fourth season with Joe Gibbs Racing. Coming into Indianapolis, he remained winless through the first 20 races, but still in Playoff contention thanks to seven top-five finishes with a season-best runner-up to Myatt Snider at Homestead. In practice, Jones ran 11th-best of the 44 entrants and qualified 12th with a speed of 95.831mph (1 minute, 31.624 seconds). 

With the return of qualifying came a large list of DNQs – eight in total. This included Bayley Currey in the #74 Date Mining Chevrolet, Loris Hezemans in the Reaume Brothers’ #33 Hezeberg System Chevrolet, and Gray Gaulding in the #52 Chevrolet. Two multi-car teams also saw multiple entries miss the cut. The slower half of Johnny Davis’ team were Ryan Eversley in the #6 JD Motorsports Chevrolet and Mike Skeen in the #15 JD Motorsports Chevrolet, plus three of the four Motorsports Business Management entries: Stephen Leicht in the #13 Jani-King Toyota, Giorgio Maggi in the #42 MBM Motorsports Toyota, and Matt Jaskol in the #66 Lift Kits 4 Less Toyota.

Rolling off 36th and last was J.J. Yeley, who was twice swapped back into the #17 Nurtec ODT Chevrolet for Rick Ware Racing. The most recent change came after word that Max Papis, originally slated to make his first NASCAR start since 2013, was sidelined after a positive COVID-19 test. Four drivers joined him in the rear for unapproved adjustments: 24th-place #8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet of Sam Mayer, 27th-place Kyle Weatherman in the #47 PORAC Chevrolet, 19th-place Austin Dillon in the #23 K&L Ready Mix Chevrolet, and 33rd-place Landon Cassill in the #4 Voyager Chevrolet. Not sent to the rear were two other entries with driver changes during the weekend – 25th-place Chase Elliott in for a returning Michael Annett in the #1 Allstate Peterbilt Group Chevrolet and 34th-place James Davison in for Kyle Tilley in the #5 ERA Motorsport Chevrolet. Annett had not fully recovered from his leg injury suffered last month while Tilley was nursing a shoulder injury following Watkins Glen.

When the green flag dopped, Cassill was the last across the stripe, 6.552 seconds back of the lead and nearly a full second back of the now 39th-place J.J. Yeley, 5.586 seconds back of first place. Ryan Sieg was also struggling on the first lap, and his #39 CMR Construction & Roofing / A Game Ford was ultimately shown 19.24 seconds back of the lead by the completion of Lap 1. Both Sieg and Yeley had missed driver intros, dropping each to the back once again. By then, however, neither Sieg nor Yeley was anywhere near last place.

On Saturday, Bob Pockrass tweeted that NASCAR and the track had originally planned to place four bright yellow “turtles” – or speed bumps – in the run-off of Turn 6. Three “turtles” were directly off the track surface with one a carlength further to the left, each perpendicular to the track. The reason was to keep drivers out of the grass, which has already damaged cars at multiple tracks, and off the run-off area itself, which had been deteriorating. Ultimately, the decision was made to remove the three “turtles” closest to the track, leaving one remaining yellow bump near the far edge of the run-off area. Despite the peculiar arrangement, drivers were made aware of the one remaining “turtle,” and everyone managed to avoid hitting it during practice and qualifying.

On the opening lap, the presence of the lone “turtle” in Turn 6 did nothing to prevent the leaders from using the run-off area. A.J. Allmendinger and Justin Allgaier used it to contest Ty Gibbs for 3rd. Behind them, Noah Gragson pulled out even further toward the grass with Riley Herbst behind him, forming another line to the left of Allmendinger and Allgaier. Following Gragson and Herbst was the #20 Dex Imaging Toyota of Harrison Burton, who had himself been forced to the outside by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Daniel Hemric in the #18 Poppy Bank Toyota – just in time for Burton to run over the “turtle” at full speed. The next four cars behind all ran over the same bump – Preston Pardus in the #90 Chinchor Electric / Danus Chevrolet, Brandon Jones in the #19, Brandon Brown in the #68 BMS Chevrolet, and Kevin Harvick in the #99 Unibet Official Sportsbook Ford. Further back, Alex Labbe spun in the #36 Globocam / Prolon Controls Chevrolet as Josh Bilicki pounded the “turtle” in the #07 CNC Swiss Chevrolet sent both into a spin, and Bilicki was stalled on the track.

In all, seven drivers found trouble in Turn 6, many with significant damage to the nose of their cars and to the equipment beneath. By the time Lap 1 was completed for the ensuing caution, Bilicki, Pardus, Jones, and Brown had not completed a lap with most of them coming down pit road. Bilicki was now classified last for a reported drive shaft issue that turned out to be a broken shock and sway bar. Brown came to pit road with a significant vibration on Lap 2, and reported his car wouldn’t re-fire. Jones was then seen being pushed to the garage area, done for the race under the “Damaged Vehicle Policy.” 

Jones took last on Lap 3, and after Pardus completed his first lap on Lap 4, pulled behind the wall along with Brown. Harvick was also pushed behind the wall on Lap 4, but NASCAR deemed his issue was mechanical even though he ran over the same curb. The #99 crew attempted repairs until Lap 27, when NASCAR declared Harvick out with power steering issues. Ryan Sieg rounded out the Bottom Five after a difficult start where he soon cut down a left-rear tire and had to pull off at Turn 7 when the tire had come apart completely. First Labbe, then Burton and Bilicki all managed to clear the “Crash Clock” and finish 13th, 9th, and 25th, respectively.

Finishing a strong 10th was road race ace Andy Lally, who took the wheel of B.J. McLeod Motorsports’ #78 Lemons of Love Chevrolet. Lally’s late-race charge came hours after it was revealed he would replace Kyle Tilley in Sunday’s Cup race for McLeod and Matt Tifft’s team Live Fast Motorsports, putting Lally into his first Cup field since 2011. 

Prior to Lally’s charge with 16 laps to go, Spencer Pumpelly was running in that same 10th spot in JD Motorsports’ #0 Forever Lawn Chevrolet. This, as NBCSN reported, was the same car Pumpelly backed into the tire barriers at Road America, resulting in a last-place finish. Unfortunately for Pumpelly, he slipped to 24th by the finish, the first car off the lead lap.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marks the third straight XFINITY last-place finish where Jones has failed to complete the opening lap, joining June 28, 2020 at Pocono and July 9, 2020 at Kentucky. Combined with still another last-place run at Kentucky on July 8, 2017, when he also did not complete a lap, Jones has now broken a tie with Joe Bessey for the most last-place finishes with 0 laps complete in XFINITY Series history. Bessey’s three finishes occurred May 7, 1988 (Nazareth), May 13, 2000 (New Hampshire), and April 21, 2001 (Talladega).

THE BOTTOM FIVE

36) #19-Brandon Jones / 0 laps / crash

35) #90-Preston Pardus / 1 lap / crash

34) #68-Brandon Brown / 1 lap / crash

33) #99-Kevin Harvick / 1 laps / power steering

32) #39-Ryan Sieg / 14 laps / suspension

2021 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) B.J. McLeod Motorsports (5)

2nd) DGM Racing, JD Motorsports, JR Motorsports, Mike Harmon Racing, Motorsports Business Management, RSS Racing / Reaume Brothers Racing (2)

3rd) Joe Gibbs Racing, Our Motorsports, Sam Hunt Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (1)

2021 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (14)

2nd) Toyota (6)

3rd) Ford (1)

2021 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

PREVIEW: Stacked Indy weekend will include battle of the “road ringers” in XFINITY Series qualifying

PHOTO: Carl Long Motorsports Facebook

Saturday, August 14, 2021

XFINITY Race 21 of 33

Pennzoil 150 at Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit

2020 Last-Place Finisher: Jeffrey Earnhardt

ENTRY LIST

This weekend sees the return of qualifying, and a 44-car entry list to contest the 36 spots. This means eight teams will miss the show, and several on the bubble have hired road course specialists.

DRIVER CHANGE: #0-JD Motorsports

Johnny Davis’ team has stacked its lineup with three of its four entries all going to “road ringers.” The #0 team will swap out Jeffrey Earnhardt, who finished last in this race last year, and put in Spencer Pumpelly, who finished last in his most recent XFINITY start at Road America after a hard crash. The only JDM car with its regular driver this weekend is the #4, which will again be piloted by Landon Cassill.

DRIVER SWAP: #5-B.J. McLeod Motorsports

DRIVER CHANGE: #99-B.J. McLeod Motorsports

B.J. McLeod has already adopted Davis’ strategy at both COTA and Road America, and will tout a three-driver “road ringer” lineup of his own. Cup Series regular Kevin Harvick – still winless on the Cup side in 2021 – will run the #99 in place of Watkins Glen last-place finisher Kyle Tilley. Tilley will move to McLeod’s #5 in place of Matt Mills, who finished just two spots ahead of Tilley in New York. ERA Motorsport will again back Tilley while Unibet Official Sportsbook sponsors Harvick.

DRIVER CHANGE: #6-JD Motorsports

Second of the JDM “road ringers” will be Ryan Eversley, who makes his XFINITY Series debut. We last saw Eversley at Road America, where he made his Cup debut with Rick Ware Racing, finishing next-to-last in the #53. Eversley takes over for fellow “road ringer” Michael Munley, who cleared the “Crash Clock” after his hard early crash in Turn 5 to finish in 35th.

DRIVER SWAP: #13-Motorsports Business Management

DRIVER CHANGE: #61-Motorsports Business Management

Shigeaki Hattori’s team will this week provide support for the #61, putting the Truck Series’ most recent winner Austin Hill back in an XFINITY car for only the third time this year and the first since Pocono. Hill’s return moves Stephen Leicht back to the #13 in place of David Starr, who isn’t entered. Leicht will carry his Jani-King sponsor and attempt to qualify an entry that has not taken the green flag since Leicht himself finished 26th at Road America.

DRIVER CHANGE: #15-JD Motorsports

Mike Skeen joins fellow Pirelli World Challenge alumni Ryan Eversley in the XFINITY Series garage, and both will be teammates at JD Motorsports. Skeen takes the wheel for Colby Howard, who ran 31st at Watkins Glen. This will be only the second XFINITY start for Skeen, who made his series debut at Watkins Glen three years ago, finishing 28th with the same #15 team.

DRIVER CHANGES: #17-Rick Ware Racing / SS-Green Light Racing

DRIVER SWAP: #07-SS-Green Light Racing

This Saturday was to mark the return of “Mad” Max Papis to the driver’s seat in NASCAR for the first time since 2013, when he ran a combined five races across the top three national series. That changed on Thursday, when the vaccinated Papis reported he had tested positive for COVID-19. Taking his place will be J.J. Yeley, who was briefly entered as the #17 team’s driver before the initial news on Papis. Yeley made his most recent series start at Loudon, where he finished 23rd. Josh Bilicki, who ran the #17 at Watkins Glen, will instead run SS-Green Light’s sister car, the #07, in place of Joe Graf, Jr., who ran 30th at The Glen.

NEW TEAM: #24-Sam Hunt Racing

As announced earlier this month, Sam Hunt Racing will field a second car for the first time, putting in regional series standout Will Rodgers. Rodgers, whose Truck Series effort at The Glen nearly resulted in a last-place finish, will make his second XFINITY start of the year and first since Nashville. Good Rx and Race To End Hep-C are listed as sponsors.

DRIVER CHANGE: #31-Jordan Anderson Racing

This weekend’s schedule includes points-paying events for both NASCAR and the IndyCar Series, opening the opportunity for drivers to try their hand at each. Taking up the challenge from the IndyCar side is Sage Karam, an eight-time starter of the Indianapolis 500 with a best finish of 7th just this year. While not in this weekend’s IndyCar race, Karam will take the wheel of Jordan Anderson’s #31 in XFINITY, taking the place of Cup regular Erik Jones, who wrecked at The Glen. Karam carries sponsorship from Montage Mountain.

NEW TEAM: #33-Reaume Brothers Racing

Coming into this year, the Reaume Brothers had planned to field the #23 team along with RSS Racing, the two together combining into a full-season effort. That deal apparently changed when Our Motorsports acquired RSS’ share of the #23 to take the place of Our’s own second car that had failed to qualify during the opening rounds. With Chris Our now sticking with Cup regular Austin Dillon in their #23 this weekend, Reaume has now entered a different car number – the #33. The driver is Loris Hezemans, who earlier this year ran for both Motorsports Business Management (Phoenix) and DGM Racing (Pocono). This will be the Dutchman’s first XFINITY start on a road course since 2019, when he ran 22nd in his series debut for B.J. McLeod.

RETURNING: #42-Motorsports Business Management

Joining Hezemans among the international contingent is Giorgio Maggi of Switzerland. Maggi has competed in NASCAR’s Whelen Euro Series for the last two years, taking three wins in the Elite 2 series in 2019 and finishing just nine points back of series champion Lasse Soerensen of Denmark. Maggi will run MBM’s #42 team, which hasn’t entered a race since Road America, where Timmy Hill qualified 29th and finished 20th. According to TobyChristie.com, if Maggi qualifies, he will be the first Swiss driver to start a NASCAR national touring race.

DRIVER CHANGE: #52-Jimmy Means Racing

Not among the “road ringer” group is Jimmy Means Racing, which picked up Dave Smith last week at Watkins Glen and finished 33rd in an eventful series debut. Gray Gaulding returns to the driver’s seat for the first time since Atlanta and looks to bounce back from his DNQ at Road America.

DRIVER CHANGE: #66-Motorsports Business Management

Matt Jaskol is back for his sixth XFINITY start of 2021 and his first since Texas, where he ran in 27th. Auto Parts 4 Less is again the sponsor of his Supra, in which he takes the place of Timmy Hill. Hill finished 29th at Watkins Glen, the first driver off the lead lap.

DRIVER CHANGE: #78-B.J. McLeod Motorsports

When not in the broadcast booth for the road courses, Andy Lally has been behind the wheel, and this weekend is no exception. Lally rounds out B.J. McLeod’s “road ringer” trifecta, bringing back Lemons of Love as sponsor. He takes the place of Jesse Little, who ran 27th at The Glen last week. Surprisingly, Lally didn’t run this race last year.

CUP INVADERS: #23-Austin Dillon, #99-Kevin Harvick

Sunday, August 15, 2021

CUP Race 24 of 36

Verizon 200 at Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit

2020 Last-Place Finisher: Inaugural Event

ENTRY LIST

There are exactly 40 drivers entered for as many spots, marking the first “full” 40-car field since Road America, four races ago. This is also just the sixth “full field” in 24 races in 2021, and only the fourth of those to be set by qualifying speed.

DRIVER SWAP: #15-Rick Ware Racing

DRIVER CHANGE: #51-Rick Ware Racing

Fresh off last Sunday’s inaugural Nashville street course race in IndyCar, Cody Ware will be the only driver entered in both this weekend’s IndyCar and Cup races. On Sunday, he resumes his run in the #51, moving Watkins Glen last-place finisher James Davison back to the #15 in place of open-wheeler R.C. Enerson. Enerson isn’t entered in the Cup race, but will rejoin Top Gun Racing to compete with Ware during the IndyCar event.

RETURNING: #16-Kaulig Racing

RETURNING: #33-Penske Racing

Noticeably absent from the Cup Series road course events at Sonoma and Watkins Glen - but now returning to action Sunday - are both A.J. Allmendinger and Austin Cindric. This marks the first time either have started a Cup race since Road America back on Independence Day weekend. For Cindric, this will be his seventh and final Cup start of 2021 before he takes over Penske Racing’s #2 at the start of 2022.

RETURNING: #66-Motorsports Business Management

While Timmy Hill will not compete in this weekend’s XFINITY race, he will make his return to the Cup garage for the first time since the Pocono double-header. Back in MBM’s #66 Toyota, Hill will carry sponsorship from AAW Luxury Cars with returning sponsor CrashClaimsR.us.

WITHDREW: #96-Gaunt Brothers Racing

Ty Dillon was originally slated to join A.J. Allmendinger and Austin Cindric in returning to the Cup Series for the first time since Road America. But early in the week, the Gaunt Brothers Racing team withdrew their #96, leaving the remaining 40 entries to fill the field.

Friday, August 20, 2021

TRUCKS Race 16 of 22

Round of 10 – Race 1 of 3

WWT Raceway 200 Presented by CK Power at World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway)

2020 Last-Place Finisher: Johnny Sauter

The Truck Series takes the week off and will return in Gateway for the opening round of the 2021 Truck Series Playoffs.

TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (August 13, 1961): Dave Mader, Jr. picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in the Western North Carolina 500 at the Asheville-Weaverville Speedway when his #96 1961 Chevrolet dropped out after 64 laps because of the right-front wheel. This event was shortened from 500 laps to just 258 after the paved surface started to come apart. Junior Johnson led the event from start to its early finish. The father of current ARCA Menards Series part-timer Dave Mader III, Dave Jr. made his only six Cup starts in 1961, but was involved in other forms of racing for 25 years. He was also a master mason, bricklayer, and invented the tennis court roller for finishing tennis courts. He died on July 21st of this year at age 90.

TRIBUTE: In memory of Ima Jean McDuffie and Bob Jenkins

August 11, 1991. On a dark and cloudy late afternoon in the Finger Lakes region of New York, the 38 remaining starters of the Budweiser at the Glen rolled slowly down the backstretch, rumbling past a hushed crowd like a funeral procession. The announcement had just been made. Bob Jenkins, the play-by-play announcer for ESPN, offered a statement of his own.

“It is always difficult to report the death of any race driver,” he said. “They know the dangers and the hazards, and they choose to race because they love it so very much. J.D. McDuffie was in his 653rd Winston Cup race. He had never won a Winston Cup event.” 

ESPN had planned to air footage from a short track race later in the broadcast, anticipating a strong run for J.D.’s #70 Pontiac. But that car was now destroyed along with that of fellow owner-driver Jimmy Means following a terrible wreck on Lap 5. Means had walked away, but following a nearly two-hour red flag, everyone had just learned why J.D. had not. Now, the footage rolled.

“But just last night, ironically enough, at Owego, New York at Shangri-La Speedway, J.D. McDuffie was involved in a celebrity race. And J.D. McDuffie driving the 07 car, believe it or not, took the checkered flag first and won that race, just down the road from Watkins Glen International where his career ended today.”

A view from victory lane. The veteran driver in the blue racing suit put on his Rumple Furniture trucker cap and waved to the crowd. The promoter handed J.D. McDuffie a $100 bill, which he used to pay for the team’s breakfast that Sunday morning.

“J.D. got out of the car with his son Jeff watching and received the applause and the congratulations of all of those in the grandstands. J.D. McDuffie leaves his wife Jean and his children Jeff and Linda and our sincere condolences to all the McDuffie family from all of us here at ESPN.”

The memory of that tragic day never left the McDuffie family, and Ima Jean McDuffie in particular. For three days short of exactly thirty years, she fought to make ends meet as best she could, just as her husband had with his race team. Every day, she’d write memories of her husband in a diary she always kept with her.

In time, those memories would include a trip to Darlington in 2016, where the Bailey family in Jackson, Michigan – longtime backers of the team – drove her to see Front Row Motorsports’ “throwback” scheme Landon Cassill raced in honor of her husband. Soon after, she shared these and other memories with me as I put together her husband’s biography. She was as firm with me as any media member during her husband’s career. In her words, she wanted to make sure it was “a good book.”

On Sunday, the green flag dropped for another Cup Series race at Watkins Glen. During those early laps, Ima Jean’s children Jeff and Linda were at her bedside in Sanford. Around Lap 5, Ima Jean was reunited with her husband. She was 83. Barely a day later, Bob Jenkins would follow her. He was 73.

~

With the news of these past couple days, I’ve tried to think of the best way to honor both Ima Jean McDuffie and Bob Jenkins without interjecting myself into the story. But I can’t.

Bob Jenkins was a big part of my childhood – the keystone of most Sunday mornings at 9:30 A.M., my first decade in the sport. His commanding, yet humble presence always kicked off the same way every time. At the exact moment in the SpeedWorld theme song would come the same bright, yet measured tone – as familiar and comforting as a McDonald’s hamburger: “ESPN – The Worldwide Leader in Motorsports and the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing welcome you live to Bristol, Tennessee for the Food City 500!”

From there, Jenkins was like the conductor of a large band, skillfully bringing out the best in what was the most impressive collection of on-air talent NASCAR had ever seen. Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett with him in the booth, or out on the course at road courses. Dr. Jerry Punch, Bill Weber, John Kernan, and many others on pit road. Every one of them had their strengths, but all of them made sure to make way for Jenkins’ legendary calls. Most of those moments were exciting. “And both of them spin!” is a phrase that itself conjures just one memory, one place and time. Other moments were serious, or even tragic, as they were that day in 1991. All seemed pitch-perfect to the moment, and delivered as lively as the images shown. My favorite driver, Jerry Nadeau, was immortalized with Jenkins’ final last-lap call for NASCAR. I've always hoped that Jerry feels that honor as keenly as I do.

McDuffie’s story - and Ima Jean’s role in it - has occupied much of my adolescence and adulthood. From 2000, when I bought a 1:64 scale Classic Trophies Pontiac at Bad Girls Antiques in Martinez, California, I couldn’t figure out why there was so little information on the man who raced it, the family he raised, and the team he relied upon. It wasn’t a single-minded mission, but a curiosity that kept pulling me in from time to time. Finding a picture in college, an article in graduate school. Then I started to find people, and the book began to come together, if only as a place to store all this information. I never thought Ima Jean would speak to me. Yet, as I picked up my phone that day after work, there she was, as eager as anyone to share her story – the final missing pieces of a puzzle two decades in the making. It was a privilege to have known her, if only for such a short time.

When he signed off to end that final race at Atlanta in 2000, Bob Jenkins was again called to say the right things at a most difficult time. As always, he didn’t fail. He recognized all that he and his team had accomplished, and the intangibles that made ESPN succeed as much as the sport it covered. He called it “magic.” In our jaded existence, magic may feel even more impossible than it is. But it’s there. How else can anyone explain Sunday, when on Lap 5, J.D. called Ima Jean home?

“But most importantly,” said Jenkins in 2000, “we thank you, our fans, who have contributed so much to our coverage down through the years. It was for you that we’ve done this since 1981. Without you, there would have been no magic.”

Godspeed, Ima Jean and Bob. And thank you for everything.