Latest news with #No.48
NBC Sports
2 days ago
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
Denny Hamlin wins fuel-mileage battle at Michigan International Speedway
Denny Hamlin took the lead with three laps remaining to win a fuel-mileage battle at Michigan International Speedway. Hamlin moved into first on Lap 197 of 200 past William Byron, who had to pit for fuel in the closing laps and finished 21st. Chris Buesher finished second, followed by Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson. Ross Chastain, Zane Smith, Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10. For the third consecutive race, Carson Hocevar had a good chance to break through for his first Cup Series victory, but the Spire Motorsports driver suffered a cut left-rear tire while leaving with 19 laps remaining. The Portage, Michigan, native was forced to pit under green and fell a lap down in 30th after leading 22 laps. Hocevar tied a career-best finish at Nashville Superspeedway last week and was in contention for the Coca-Cola 600 before an engine failure in his No. 77 Chevrolet. The race was stopped ror more than 11 minutes by a red flag for cleanup of a five-car crash in Turn 2 on Lap 67. Alex Bowman took the worst of it, getting turned into a head-on collision with the outside wall by contact from Cole Custer (who had been hit by Austin Cindric). Bowman walked away from his mangled No. 48 Chevrolet, but his freefall in the points standings continued with his seventh finish of 27th or worse in the past nine races. 'That hurt a lot,' Bowman told Prime pit reporter Kim Coon. 'That was probably top of the board on hits I've taken, and unfortunately I've had a lot of hits. So I hate that for the 48 team. Couldn't really do anything except think about 'Oh (expletive) this is about to hurt really bad.' 'Hate that for our team. It's been a rough two months. I mean, honesty, we were pretty decent (in practice), I was pretty optimistic to start today. We got super loose and just had a long pit stop trying to make an adjustment to make it better. And never really got a chance to race again after that. I'm confident that my guys would have gotten the car better, and we could have gotten back up through there, but unfortunately, when you get in the back like that, (expletive) gets pretty crazy, and stuff like that happens.' WILL BE UPDATED Stage 1 winner: Buescher Stage 2 winner: Byron Next up: Sunday, June 15, 3 p.m. ET at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course in Mexico City on Prime.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Three NASCAR Cup champions crash in Talladega pit entry stack-up
On Lap 43 of 60 in the first stage at Talladega, green-flag pit stops were well underway. Exiting Turn 4, a group of Fords planned to pit together — and that's when disaster struck. That's when three Cup champions and former winners at the famed track suffered significant damage early in Sunday's 500-mile race. Advertisement It began when RFK Racing's Brad Keselowski, who has the most wins of any active driver in the Cup Series at this superspeedway, slowed down to entered the pit lane under green. Fellow Cup champion Kyle Busch was unable to slow in time and got into the back of Keselowski, sending both cars spinning across the track. After hitting the door of Alex Bowman's No. 48 machine, they spun back to the inside. That's where Ryan Blaney got clipped in the right-rear by Keselowski, spinning wildly down the frontstretch. "I don't know what happened," radioed Busch. "We never dropped below the yellow line there. I don't know if they checked up too much for him or what." Busch's steering wheel was knocked 90 degrees to the right, and the team needed to make repairs to the toe of his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Keselowski and Blaney react to early exit While Busch remained on track, both Keselowski and Blaney were forced to take their cars behind the wall. They are officially out of the race. Advertisement "Just a stack of guys trying to come to pit road as fast as they could," said Keselowski after exiting the infield care center. "We were kind of the ham in the sandwich. I got squeezed. I don't know, I waved down the backstretch just to let everyone know I was gonna pit. I came off (Turn) 4 and everybody was still tight behind me. I didn't even have a chance to really turn left. Hate that it ruined, not just our day, but several other people's days, but I don't feel like I could have done anything different." Blaney thought he had found a way through the chaos, but the change of direction left him with no way to go and his fourth DNF in the first ten races. "I feel like we're all easily pretty decent getting to pit road," said Blaney. "Just kind of the point in the race where everyone is going to save some gas and then pit and everyone usually does a really good job of letting people know. I didn't sense anything was gonna happen. Really, from what I could see, the 6 [Keselowski] was trying to get to pit road with his group and I don't know if the the guy behind him [Busch] didn't know, didn't see and just kind of ran Brad over. "And when they got hooked together, they were going up the track, so I just kind of committed to the bottom and I think they clipped someone on the top and ricocheted the 6 [Keselowski] back down the race track into me. That just stinks. Another DNF is no fun. We've just been riddled with those this year. Hopefully we can get that sorted out and get a little fortune on our side." Advertisement Officially, Keselowski finish 38th and Blaney 39th. Busch's car is wounded, but he was able to stay on the lead lap. Read Also: NASCAR teams prepare for grueling 28 weeks of racing with no breaks Stenhouse: Fuel strategy is now the "only thing that matters" at Talladega To read more articles visit our website.
NBC Sports
24-03-2025
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
Alex Bowman's strong start continues run from last season
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Some day, one has to figure, the roller coaster ride Alex Bowman has experienced the past couple of years is bound to end with him celebrating more often than anguishing. Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Bowman lamented a chance to win, finishing second to Kyle Larson. But it shouldn't be overlooked what Bowman did this past weekend and what he's doing this season. Of course, the highs and lows of the weekend match the extremes Bowman has faced in recent years. After signing a contract extension days ahead of the 2023 Daytona 500 — a deal that takes him through the 2026 season with Hendrick Motorsports — Bowman took the points lead early in the 2023 season, suffered a back injury in a sprint car crash a few weeks later that derailed his Cup campaign, came a caution short of possibly winning the 2024 Daytona 500, made the playoffs that year with his victory at the Chicago Street Race, fended off rumors ahead of the playoffs he would be replaced if he didn't advance far, saw his title hopes end when his car was disqualified for being underweight and nearly won Sunday's Cup race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Told ahead of this year's Daytona 500 that a couple of competitors considered him the sport's most underrated driver, Bowman said: 'I certainly appreciate people saying that and I think for me, I have had a lot of success, but I have also had down years where things haven't gone how I want them to and the team wants them to. 'So, I think I have been on both sides of it for sure and we ended it at a good point last year obviously through a lot of B.S. Hopefully we are on the good side of that. I don't want to call myself underrated, I just want to go out and win races and I would rather prove it than say it.' Dustin Long, On a team that includes two former Cup champions in Larson and Chase Elliott and the two-time reigning Daytona 500 champion in William Byron, it's easy for many to overlook Bowman, who has eight career Cup wins. 'This is our guy,' Jeff Gordon, vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, said about Bowman after Sunday's race. We're happy to see (the No. 48 team) doing well.' Bowman's pairing with crew chief Blake Harris, which debuted at the start of the 2023 season, has produced results despite some of the difficulties faced in their time together. Harris had one year of Cup crew chief experience before joining Hendrick Motorsports. Four races into the 2023 season, Bowman was leading the points. He missed three races due to the back injury he suffered in a sprint car crash and then struggled to get the proper feel of the car much of that season. Bowman showed better results in 2024 when he was healthy. He advanced to the Round of 8 last year until his car failed inspection after the Charlotte Roval cutoff race, dropping him out of a transfer spot and putting eventual champion Joey Logano in Bowman's spot. Bowman had seven top-15 finishes in last year's playoffs, including a pair of top 10s in the third round after the disqualification. He has opened the season with five top 10s in the first six races and ranks third in the points heading into this weekend's race at Martinsville Speedway. 'I feel like with what happened to us in the playoffs last year and getting knocked out in the Round of 8 by getting DQ'd, I feel like we kind of fell off the radar where, in our mind, we've been carrying that momentum since about last summer,' Harris told NBC Sports on Sunday. 'We've found some things that he's gotten super comfortable with. … I think it's just kind of allowed us to step through some things methodically and really give him the confidence in what he needs to make pace.' Bowman was fast all weekend, claiming the pole and leading 43 laps. He was among those who was a part of a test at Homestead the day after last fall's race and that helped him with the 1.5-mile South Florida speedway. During Sunday's race, Bowman had some damage to his car from earlier wall contact and hit the wall as Larson closed, allowing Larson to pass him for the lead with seven laps to go. 'I don't think we were nearly as good as we were at the test, especially at running the wall,' Bowman said Sunday. 'I just couldn't run the wall well all weekend, really, which is what I could do really well at the test. So, we've got to go back and do our homework and figure out why that was. 'But felt like our short run speed was obviously really good with being able to drive up there and get the lead, pressured Bubba (Wallace) into a mistake and then let myself get pressured into a mistake. So, yeah, annoying. I mean, Kyle (Larson's) the greatest race car driver of our generation. That's the one guy that beat us this. 'It's certainly not the end of the world, but we need to go get some trophies.' Watch highlights from the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Kyle Larson Runs High Line to First NASCAR Cup Win of 2025 Season
Kyle Larson went into NASCAR's first of two visits to Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend with a chance to sweep the three series; a late-race restart took away that chance Saturday night, setting the Cup Series regular to bounce back with a vengeance and claim his first premier series win of the season. Larson qualified deep in the field and had to run his way up from 14th to contend for the win. He did so by running the wall at every opportunity, tapping it at least 18 times in his repeated battles to the front. The final battle came down to Larson and his teammate Alex Bowman, who was also chasing his first win of the season, with seven laps to go. Larson moved by Bowman when the driver of the No. 48 moved too far away from the wall and sailed away to a victory. Bowman settled for second after his second pole of the season and leading 38 laps. Bubba Wallace had his best finish since winning his Daytona Duel, finishing third and leading late before Bowman on fresher tires took the lead. The Joe Gibbs drivers of Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin would complete the Chevy and Toyota top-five. Before the battle came down to the Chevys and the Toyotas, Penske's Ryan Blaney won the first stage and led most of the opening two stages for a race-high of 124 laps. Ultimately, the No. 12's engine would expire while running second behind Wallace and Larson. Blaney records his third DNF in a row for the first time in his nine-year career. You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car
USA Today
25-02-2025
- Automotive
- USA Today
NASCAR's Alex Bowman will drive an Unrivaled-themed paint scheme at Homestead
Unrivaled is hitting the race track. The women's 3×3 basketball league is partnering with NASCAR driver Alex Bowman to promote and unveil an Unrivaled-themed paint scheme on March 23 during a NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead. The league's inaugural season ends March 17, but Unrivaled hopes to continue the excitement around its debut and women's sports after the season. 'I hope NASCAR fans are going to be curious,' Unrivaled co-founder Breanna Stewart recently said. 'I hope they're going to be like, 'What is this? Why is the car this color? What's Unrivaled?' And then just be able to educate themselves on what we had just finished.' Bowman's No. 48 car will have a gradient color scheme that incorporates the league's brand and includes several easter eggs that pay homage to Unrivaled. Here's video of Stewie, Marina Mabrey and DiJonai Carrington previewing the car down in Florida: Our next Unexpected Allies collab is Unrivaled. 🤩 We are excited to be highlighting @Unrivaledwbb, the new Miami-based three-on-three professional women's basketball league, of which Ally is a founding partner. Designed by artist Sophia Chang, the #Ally48 will sport a special… — Ally Racing (@allyracing) February 25, 2025
