The NASCAR Cup Series will be held this afternoon at World Wide Technology Raceway, the 15th of 26 regular season races.
Here are three things to look out for in today’s Cup race.
1. Will a winless drought be broken?
Joey Logano won the first Cup race at this track in 2022, and Kyle Busch won there last year. Both are coming in with long, winless droughts.
While Logano won the All-Star Race last month, he is winless in the last 45 points races. Busch is winless in his last 35 starts.
Logano has never finished worse than third in the two Cup races at this 1.25-mile track. Busch has never finished worse than second in those two races.
“That’s crazy,” one driver says of the idea that NASCAR could deny Kyle Larson an exemption
Michael McDowell: “We’re talking about the best driver to ever drive a stock car and we’re not going to give him a pass? Thats crazy.”
Logano enters the race outside of a playoff spot. He has gone six races without a top-10 finish. Busch holds one of the final playoff spots with twelve races remaining in the regular season.
Busch starts 10th. Logano starts twelfth.
Others with long winless droughts starting at the front: Austin Cindric, who starts second, is winless in the last 85 races. Bubba Wallace, who starts eighth, is winless in the last 57 races. Ty Gibbs, who starts ninth, is aiming for his first career Cup win. This will be his 66th career Cup start.
Friday 5: Front Row Motorsports finds ways to make the charter system work for that
The recent charter purchase of Front Row Motorsports is another example of how the team has benefited from wheeling and deal charters.
2. Team Penske-Front Row Motorsports Alliance
Team Penske has a technical alliance with Front Row Motorsports, which has also been elevated to a tier-1 support level with Ford Performance this season.
The top three places in the starting grid are cars from this alliance. Michael McDowell starts on pole for Front Row Motorsports, while Team Penske teammates Austin Cindric (second) and Ryan Blaney (third) are next.
The key is: can they stay at the front, control the race and take victory? All three still need to win to secure a play-off spot this season.
3. Stewart-Haas Racing moves forward
Stewart-Haas Racing announced this week that it will cease operations after this season and sell its four Cup charters. All team members will be looking for work, including drivers Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, Josh Berry and Ryan Preece.
How will SHR’s four teams perform in the future? None of the four teams are just past the half of the play-offs in the regular season.
Qualifying did not go well for any of these teams on Saturday. No one starts in the top 20. Briscoe qualified 23rd, Gragson 27th, Berry 29th and Preece 32nd.
