Author Archives: PressBox

Joe Gibbs Racing will bring back Kyle Busch’s yellow M&M’s look for Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. The special design will include photos from Busch’s career, including his first Joe Gibbs Racing contract, his first win with the team, his wedding, and images of Brexton Busch celebrating his victories. Busch’s widow, Samantha, said the tribute means a great deal to the family, and she said she, Brexton Busch and Lennix Busch are expected to attend the race.

The tribute also highlights Busch’s old No. 18 car. Heather Gibbs, co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, said the number is “sacred” and will not return to the Cup Series unless a Busch is driving it. The team said it could stay parked until Kyle Busch’s son Brexton or another Busch family member eventually takes it. Busch was closely tied to the No. 18 during his 2008 to 2022 run at Joe Gibbs Racing, winning 56 races and two Cup Series championships in the car.

Ty Gibbs said he was chosen to drive the tribute car and that it brings some pressure, though he still expects to contend for the win. He enters the weekend sixth in the standings and 51 points behind teammate Denny Hamlin, and he said his recent Iowa victory did not change his approach. Fans who buy grandstand tickets at Bristol are set to receive yellow Kyle Busch towels tied to a Lap 18 tribute moment, as the team marks one of Busch’s best tracks.

Lightning halted and then canceled O’Reilly Auto Parts Series qualifying at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, and NASCAR set the starting lineup for the Food City 300 by its metric formula. Jesse Love inherited the pole position, with Sheldon Creed set to start alongside him on the front row.

The race was still scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. ET. Officials were not expecting a full postponement, though a brief delay remained possible if weather issues developed.

Thirty-nine cars were entered for the race, but only 38 were expected to start. Landon S. Huffman did not make the starting grid under the metric formula.

Rain and lightning wiped out Cup Series qualifying at Bristol Motor Speedway, so NASCAR set the Bass Pro Shops Night Race starting lineup by metric for Saturday’s 500-lap playoff race. Kyle Larson will start on the pole, Joey Logano will join him on the front row, and Denny Hamlin, William Byron and Carson Hocevar will line up third through fifth.

The top 10 also includes Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace. Tyler Reddick will start 20th, with Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney also further back in the field. The Cup field includes 37 cars, with Josh Bilicki entered in the No. 66 Ford and Austin Hill filling in for Kyle Busch.

The race is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 19, with the green flag at 7:30 p.m. ET. USA, HBO Max, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio are scheduled to carry the race. Bristol is also hosting three straight nights of racing during the weekend. The weather interruption came after NASCAR had already completed a shortened Cup practice session, and qualifying was also canceled for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. Denny Hamlin leads the championship standings by nine points over Larson and 18 over Christopher Bell entering the third of 10 Chase races. Bell is the defending Bristol Night Race winner, Larson leads active drivers in laps led at Bristol, and the weekend is set to include tributes for Kyle Busch.

iRacing’s NASCAR 26 debuted as the studio’s second NASCAR console game, bringing cross-platform multiplayer, shared sim-and-console assets, improved physics, a new tire and braking model, more advanced graphics, and celebratory burnouts and donuts after wins. The game is available on Xbox, PlayStation and Steam, and it adds a new Peak Performance training mode along with driver ratings that vary by track type and are updated monthly.

The game also expands its dynamic track system for races at least 13% in length, with rubber building up over a weekend and AI drivers searching for grip. Presentation upgrades include dynamic cloud lighting, improved skyboxes, smoke effects, broadcast-style camera angles, strong sound design and real-time data in a clean UI.

Career mode was overhauled around team management, finances, reputation, weekly decisions and facility upgrades as players move from the ARCA Menards Series to the Cup Series. It includes coaching from Jamie McMurray and Steve Letarte, with Freddie Kraft appearing in the game as a spotter, and NASCAR 26 also adds a new Chase mode for a 10-race title run and lets users edit driver ratings.

iRacing said the launch, including the Gold Edition, got off to a strong start and drew mostly positive reviews. The company described the release as one of the smoothest it had seen, said more DLC was planned in the coming months, and said the last major update for NASCAR 26 was likely due in December before the team shifted its focus to NASCAR 27.

Joe Gibbs Racing asked the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina to hold former competition director Chris Gabehart and Spire Motorsports in civil contempt, saying they violated a March temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. In its filing, JGR said Gabehart continued doing competition-director work despite the order and cited March 21 and March 28 exchanges, including discussions of tire pressures, setups, technical issues and other sensitive information, as examples of the alleged violations. It also asked Judge Rodriguez to order the defendants to show cause and to award costs and fees tied to the motion.

The contempt request is part of a broader lawsuit and countersuit that began after Gabehart left JGR. The team says it fired him for cause on Feb. 9, triggering an 18-month non-compete that Gabehart and Spire dispute, and the dispute has also included a related discovery fight. JGR had previously withdrawn a similar allegation in July after saying it lacked enough evidence, and a trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 1, 2027.