BUBBA WALLACE LOOKING FOR RARE REPEAT AT BRICKYARD 400 Bubba Wallace is raring to go back to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 30th running of the NASCAR Cup Series’ Brickyard 400, a race he claimed last July in his 23XI Racing Toyota. Thirteenth in points after 21 races, the 32-year-old Wallace may just have the momentum after his recent runs to make it happen Sunday afternoon and become the fourth repeat winner and first since Kevin Harvick in 2020. The Camry driver has two top-five finishes plus a pair of sixths and has led five of the seven races since the start of June. The other three runs were enormous hits to his Chase hopes: A 21st-place effort at Pocono, 22nd at Sonoma and 29th at Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway. Of course, that Georgia finish is deceiving because of the last-lap pass Wallace made on Carson Hocevar, whipping his No. 23 partially below the yellow line on the backstretch and coming home second to good friend Ryan Blaney. However, the team was penalized, disappeared from the live leaderboard and tumbled to just one spot ahead of 30th. “We got a better understanding of the rule,” Wallace said the next week at North Wilkesboro. “To me, I always thought it was like gaining position, but no, it’s gaining track position, which I totally did. … I thought they would care about the data that I tried to give (the spot) back, but the damage was already done.” Wallace scored his third career victory by running eight overtime laps a year ago and topping 2024 Indy winner Kyle Larson to win the scheduled 160-lapper. It would be impossible to go back home again to Indiana without revisiting Sunday night and where North Wilkesboro Speedway now stands in the sport’s future. Was the Window World 450 and its strange distance in laps perfect? Absolutely not. Not even close. However, the short track that lay dormant for almost three decades raced like it always has to those who have watched it for decades: minimal cautions, not much contact, little body damage and a few cars on the lead lap. Wallace was the final driver on Sunday night’s lead lap, and the track record for most cars finishing on it is just 13 in the 1992 Spring event won by Davey Allison, while only two — winner Geoffrey Bodine and Mark Martin — completed all 400 later that Fall. In those respects, NWS is different from many short tracks: It does not race like a bullring. Yet going there last weekend was like walking into a museum boarded up since 1996. It was a racing experience that was good for the soul. Keeping the dilapidated “Winston Cup Series” ads and other weathered Winston red on the walls near the track entrance was a chef’s kiss to racing fans. NASCAR shouldn’t go there twice a season like it did in the previous century, but neither should it ever be left off the schedule again and ignored. At Daytona in 2014 with crew chief Steve Letarte, Dale Earnhardt Jr. waited out a nearly six-hour rain delay and won his second 500 by beating Denny Hamlin, who was victorious in both of his Speedweeks starts, to snap a 55-race skid that wore on his legion of Junior Nation fans. Said teammate Jeff Gordon of Dale Jr.’s long-awaited victory: “All is right with the world again.” With North Wilkesboro back in the fray, that opinion is seconded. ##### LAYNE RIGGS SCORES DOMINANT WIN IN CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES RACE AT IRP CLERMONT, Ind. – With a performance just a hair short of perfection, Layne Riggs dominated Friday night’s TSport 200 presented by Warn Industries and moved tantalizingly close to the No. 1 seed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford led 198 of 200 laps, swept both stages and took the checkered flag 1.148 seconds ahead of persistent runner-up Connor Mosack to claim his second straight victory at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. “I think it’s just a statement win,” Riggs said of his fifth triumph of the season and the 10th of his career. “What a truck! I was just on cruise control…” As far as the series championship goes, Riggs pulled no punches. “I think we’re the ones to beat, for sure.” Riggs’ only bobble of the race came on the Lap 72 restart after the first stage break. Choosing the preferred top lane for the restart, he spun the tires and allowed Front Row teammate Chandler Smith to take the lead for two laps. On Lap 74, however, Riggs made an emphatic pass of Smith, diving underneath Smith’s No. 38 truck entering Turn 1 and sliding up in front of his teammate in Turn 2. From that point on, Riggs maintained control, though Mosack was able to stay close in the closing laps. Ty Majeski, a two-time winner at the 0.686-mile short track, finished third and remained solidly in sixth place in the Truck Series standings with two races left in the regular season. Smith came home third, having clinched a berth in the postseason Chase — joining Riggs and Kaden Honeycutt — with a third-place run in Stage 1. Christian Eckes and Gio Ruggiero also added their names to the list of those who have clinched berths in the Chase. Driving the same Ford F-150 he raced in last year’s IRP event, Riggs expanded his lead in the standings to 100 points over second-place Honeycutt, who pitted late for fresh tires and worked his way up to seventh by the end of Friday’s race. With a solid sixth-place run, Stewart Friesen broke a tie with Tyler Ankrum (ninth Friday) for 10th in the standings, the last Chase-eligible position. With two races left to decide the issue, Friesen holds an eight-point advantage over the driver of the No. 18 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet. Daniel Hemric’s hold on a Chase spot suddenly became more tenuous when he spun in Turn 3 to cause the only caution of the night for an on-track incident. With no way to escape the wreck, Landen Lewis plowed into Hemric’s Chevy, eliminating both drivers from the race. Hemric finished 34th, fell to ninth in the standings and leads Ankrum, the first driver below the current Chase cutline by only 14 points. Nick Sanchez finished fifth in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Driving the No. 1 Tricon Garage Toyota, 18-year-old Gavan Boschele ran eighth in his Truck Series debut. “I had a goal,” said Boschele, who will make his second start in the series Aug. 22 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “I told myself I wanted to run top-10, and we did that. I can’t do without these guys — the No. 1 American Land Partners Toyota group helped me be really, really fast tonight. “They did a really good job to get me everything I needed and make me comfortable. Everyone on this team was really solid, so I’m excited for the three more that I have left this year. We were really fast tonight.” Friesen’s teammate and fellow modified driver Michael Christopher Jr. came home 10th in his third Truck Series outing. The Truck Series races next on Aug. 14 at Richmond Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). About The Author troyderengowski61@gmail.com See author's posts Post navigation MLB NEWS
