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Chris Wassel has written 2790 articles so far, you can find them below.
Joey Logano Outside Row 1 For Hollywood Casino 400
Joey Logano and Team Penske enjoy this Kansas track. Now, it appears the weather should cooperate this afternoon as temperatures cool into the 70's. Logano won the Spring race after a half dozen pretty mediocre results (average finish 15.9 in last seven races). It is clear with the Next-Gen car that the No. 22 has... Read More
Tyler Reddick Steals The Pole For Sunday's Race
Tyler Reddick and his Richard Childress Racing car stole some thunder for Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400. That's right. Reddick took the pole by the slimmest of margins over Joey Logano. It appeared like Logano might have a chance but Reddick was fastest in the turns and ended up 0.037 seconds quicker. Reddick's No. 8 Chevy... Read More
Kevin Harvick Always One To Watch At Darlington
Kevin Harvick is one of those drivers to watch out for at Darlington. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver can be a threat to win. He has won twice over the past seven appearances. Furthermore, Harvick and his No. 4 Ford have an average finish of 3.4 over that span which includes all seven races in the... Read More
Alex Bowman Hoping For Better Luck At Darlington
Alex Bowman has been struggling a bit for Hendrick Motorsports Racing of late. He starts 16th on Sunday at Darlington. Though he has won twice on intermediate tracks since 2019, Bowman has had his issues. The No. 48 Chevy did place second two Springs ago while leading 41 laps. That feels like a lifetime ago... Read More
Erik Jones Hopes Past Success Helps At Darlington
Erik Jones did not make the playoff chase but did qualify 15th on Sunday at Darlington. Jones and his No. 43 Chevy have enjoyed past success on the track. He has four top-ten results in his previous seven appearances. That includes a win in 2019. Though his past three races have been far from incident... Read More
Austin Dillon Looks To Build Off Daytona Momentum
Now that Austin Dillon is in the NASCAR playoff chase, what can the Richard Childress Racing driver do next? All it takes is that one win and Dillon waited till the last possible minute. By winning at Daytona, Dillon sets up reasonable well in the first three segments of the playoffs. Naturally, it will not... Read More
Ross Chastain A Marked Man Heading To Darlington
Ross Chastain will start 12th at Darlington on Sunday evening. The No. 1 Chevy was just 0.046 seconds off the top lap set by Joey Logano. Chastain and his TrackHouse Racing car has been one of the more polarizing figures this season. He gets a bit of a marked man reputation and he has caused... Read More
Denny Hamlin In Solid Position For Darlington
Denny Hamlin has been here before. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won last year at Darlington for his first win of the season. He led 146 laps of the 367 in total and even won Stage 1 while placing fourth after Stage 2. The No. 11 car was very quick in early qualifying. Though he... Read More
Michael McDowell Rounds Out Top Ten For Qualifying
Michael McDowell's car was particularly slow in turns three and four at Darlington during the final round of qualifying. He finished tenth nearly three tenths of a second off Joey Logano's pole lap. The No. 34 Front Row Motorsports does not have the best history here but the lower wear Next-Gen car could be some... Read More
Ryan Blaney Needs An Early "Big" Playoff Chase Result
Ryan Blaney and his Team Penske Ford need to send a statement of sorts on Sunday. He begins ninth after qualifying. Blaney and his No. 12 car finished 0.266 seconds behind Joey Logano. He traditionally starts well at Darlington with an average start of 7.6. Unfortunately, his finishes leave a bit to be desired. Blaney... Read More
Bubba Wallace Begins Eighth At Darlington
Bubba Wallace will be driving Kurt Busch's No. 45 car for 23XI Racing during the final ten races. It was a decision made so that the team could compete for the Owners Championship. The elder Busch had already waived his spot out of the playoff chase. Anyway, Wallace turned in some fast laps as he... Read More
Kyle Larson Hopes Xfinity Result Buoys Playoff Start
Kyle Larson did not win the Xfinity race on Saturday but his podium finish and racing turned some heads once more. He qualified seventh for this race at Darlington. Larson normally is one of the best intermediate track drivers out there with five wins in his last 27 starts. Only Denny Hamlin has a better... Read More
Austin Cindric A Bit Of A Wildcard At Darlington
Austin Cindric and his Team Penske car qualified sixth for the Cook Out Southern 500. With most mindful that overtime is pretty rare for this event (last time in 2014). Cindric and his Ford will be looking at that long run near the end. After some good practice where his car maintained top ten speed... Read More
Kyle Busch Starts Playoff Chase Fifth At Darlington
Kyle Busch and his Joe Gibbs Racing car turned in a nice qualifying performance on Saturday. As a result, his No. 18 starts fifth for the Cook Out Southern 500. Busch led 19 laps of the Spring race before an accident ended his race. He had been in the top-five after Stage 1. Before two... Read More
Tyler Reddick Looks To Get Off To Good Playoff Start
Tyler Reddick and his Richard Childress Racing car has strategic points of strength in every segment of this year's playoff chase. Darlington may not be the best of tracks but Reddick did his Chevy into the fourth spot starting Sunday's Cook Out Southern 500. The No. 8 car has just two top-tens in his last... Read More
William Byron Starts In Third On Sunday At Darlington
William Byron leads Hendrick Motorsports Racing into Sunday's race at Darlington Raceway. Byron will start third after finishing a mere 0.058 seconds off the pole. The really odd thing here is that Hendrick has not won a race here in three years. Team Penske has one win and Stewart-Haas has the other two. That does... Read More
Christopher Bell Leads Toyota Into Cook Out Southern 500
Christopher Bell lead the Toyota cars in qualifying by making the final round with a time just 0.009 seconds off the pole set from Joey Logano. Now, the question is can the No. 20 car from Joe Gibbs run well at Darlington? Joe Gibbs Racing cars have won a series-leading four times since 2019 on... Read More
Joey Logano Snags Pole For Cook Out Southern 500
Joey Logano and his Team Penske car snagged the pole position for Sunday evening's race at Darlington. Logano won the Spring race in may while leading 107 laps. Could this be a bit of deja-vu? Anything is possible and the Ford was quite fast in qualifying and in practice laps. The only concern may be... Read More
Ryan Blaney Looks For Win One At Daytona
Ryan Blaney still has not won a race this season. It seems hard to believe but the Team Penske driver has done everything but win. That being said, the No. 12 Ford starts 16th which is not an issue. Blaney does have three top-fives, four top-tens, and a win in his last seven Daytona appearances.... Read More
Austin Cindric In New Territory On Saturday Night
Austin Cindric has experienced the highest of highs at Daytona as he won the Daytona 500 this year. He runs very well on the 2.5-mile track. In 2021, he was running close to the front before an accident ruined his day. Cindric still finished 15th after starting 39th. However, the Team Penske driver has never... Read More
Martin Truex Jr. On Points Watch For Daytona
Martin Truex Jr. (starts 13th) got a bit of a boost when Kurt Busch was announced that he would be out of the playoffs. However, that race is far from over as Daytona beckons for the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing driver. If there are no new winners, Truex Jr. clinches a playoff spot. If... Read More
Ross Chastain Begins 12th At Daytona On Saturday
Ross Chastain did not have to qualify at Daytona this weekend and that probably helps. The TrackHouse Racing driver has had some issues lately. The No. 1 driver's last top ten was an eighth at New Hampshire. Since then, it has been a mix of DNF's, car issues, and worse. He does tend to like... Read More
Erik Jones Could Struggle At Daytona
Erik Jones probably did not want to see Daytona on the schedule now. He finished 29th at the Daytona 500 to start the season and often has run into some bad luck with car issues and wrecks on the 2.5-mile track. The Petty GMS Motorsports driver is right on the bad side of the bubble... Read More
Alex Bowman Rounds Out Top Ten For Daytona
Alex Bowman does have two top tens in his last seven races at Daytona. However, more often than not, it has been a bit of a struggle. The Hendrick Motorsports Racing driver has had some issues lately. The No. 48 car has not cracked the top five since way back at Dover. His last top... Read More
Michael McDowell Starts Ninth At Daytona
Michael McDowell's greatest moment of triumph was on this very track. He won the 2021 Daytona 500 by leading the lap that mattered. However, the Front Row Motorsports driver does tend to perform well on the 2.5-mile course. He did finish seventh in this year's Daytona 500. That goes along with top-tens at Darlington and... Read More
Chris Buescher Has One Last Shot At Daytona
Chris, or Christopher, Buescher has one last shot at Daytona to make the playoffs. This goes for several drivers obviously. However, Buescher will begin eighth on Saturday night with a bit of success historically on courses like this superspeedway. The RFK Racing driver is in better form too with three top-tens in his last four... Read More
Kevin Harvick In Seventh Heaven As Playoff Chase Beckons
Kevin Harvick and his Stewart-Haas Racing Ford went from missing the playoffs to two wins in the span of a couple weeks. The No. 4 car will be inside Row 4 for the Coke Sugar Zero 400 (seventh). Harvick managed to stay around the top-ten recently at Atlanta which could help some at Daytona. Though... Read More
Tyler Reddick Looks To Bounce Back At Daytona
Tyler Reddick has been great on road courses lately but the Richard Childress Racing driver has been less so elsewhere. He has the two wins at Indianapolis and Road America plus a seventh at Watkins Glen. However, a spattering of outside top-20 results on courses with only right turns is a little concerning. Other than... Read More
Christopher Bell Begins Fifth At Daytona Saturday
Christopher Bell has been one of the most consistent drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing all season. On Saturday night, he starts the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from the fifth position. Bell and his No. 20 car have just one win on the season but 14 top-ten results along with seven top-fives. Bell has five top-12... Read More
Daniel Suarez Gets Boosted To Fourth For Daytona
Daniel Suarez, and not Ross Chastain, will be the highest placed TrackHouse Racing driver to start the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday night. Suarez and his No. 99 car will start fourth based on a NASCAR formula that emphasized recent results. Qualifying just was never in the cards after waves of thunderstorms on Friday.... Read More
