Bubba Wallace said Saturday at North Wilkesboro Speedway that he had moved on from NASCAR’s Atlanta yellow line penalty and better understood why officials made the call. After meetings with NASCAR competition officials and his 23XI Racing team, Wallace accepted the ruling and said, “a rule’s a rule.” He said the damage from the penalty was already done, and that he was ready to put the incident behind him.

The penalty came on the final lap of the rain-delayed race at EchoPark Speedway outside Atlanta, when NASCAR said Wallace improved his track position by driving below the double yellow line during a three-wide battle with Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar. Wallace said he had initially thought giving the position back might have reduced the issue, but later understood that the rule was about gaining track position, not just gaining position. NASCAR said the violation occurred the moment Wallace moved ahead below the line, making any attempt to cede the spot irrelevant under the superspeedway-style rule.

The ruling erased what had appeared to be a second-place finish, dropping Wallace from second to 29th and costing him 27 points and playoff points. Wallace said the experience gave him a better understanding of how the rule is enforced at drafting tracks. He was 13th in the Cup Series standings, 55 points above the provisional playoff cutoff with six races left in the regular season, and said he remained optimistic about upcoming races, including Indianapolis, where he is the defending Brickyard 400 winner.

Joey Logano won the Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday, giving the 5/8-mile track its first NASCAR Cup Series points race in 30 years. The sold-out event marked the return of Cup points racing to North Wilkesboro for the first time since 1996, when Jeff Gordon beat Dale Earnhardt there, and it came as the battle for the top seed, the final Chase spots and the $1 million In-Season Challenge prize tightened.

Rain washed out qualifying, so NASCAR set the 37-car starting lineup by its metric formula and awarded Ryan Blaney the pole. Ty Gibbs started second, Christopher Bell third and Carson Hocevar fourth. Blaney, who won at EchoPark Speedway the previous week and entered the race third in the Cup standings, said the 450-lap race would be hard on brakes and physically demanding, and he said the pole gave him an edge in his In-Season Challenge semifinal against Bell.

Logano held off Denny Hamlin, who spent most of the final stage in second place behind Logano but could not close the gap. Chase Briscoe finished third, Ty Gibbs fourth and Shane van Gisbergen fifth. The race was the longest in North Wilkesboro Speedway history, and fans were expected from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and eight foreign countries.

NASCAR’s Cup Series returned to Chicagoland Speedway this weekend for the first qualifying session at the track since 2019, and Denny Hamlin set the pace for Sunday’s Eero 400. Hamlin earned the Busch Light Pole Award with a lap of 30.296 seconds at 178.241 mph, edging Kyle Larson by 0.001 seconds. Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top five, while Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott and William Byron completed the top 10.

The qualifying lineup carried added weight at Chicagoland, where starting position could matter and teams are looking to position themselves as the regular season approaches its halfway point. JJ Yeley, Josh Bilicki and Corey Heim were slated to lead Group 1, while Hamlin opened Group 2. The field for the return event also included AJ Allmendinger, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Keselowski, Elliott, Byron, Bell, Ryan Blaney, Larson and Ty Gibbs in Group 2.

The weekend’s only practice session gave teams one on-track look at the venue before Sunday’s race. Riley Herbst led practice with a lap of 30.326 seconds, followed by Bubba Wallace, Larson and Hamlin, who each turned 30.358-second laps. Erik Jones was the only driver involved in a notable incident when he bottomed out on track and returned to the garage with damage. Michael McDowell and Cody Ware did not record qualifying times. The race is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET Sunday on TNT Sports and HBO Max, with radio coverage on MRN. It will cover three stages of 80, 165 and 267 laps, with a listed purse of $11,233,037.

NASCAR will return to Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, over the Fourth of July weekend for the first time since 2019, with the comeback centered on Sunday’s Cup Series eero 400. The weekend will also mark Round 2 of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge, and the Cup entry list includes 39 drivers for a full field. Only 18 of the 38 drivers from the last Cup race at Chicagoland are entered this time, and Denny Hamlin is the most experienced returning driver with 14 Cup starts at the track.

The weekend schedule will feature races from three NASCAR series. Friday’s slate includes ARCA Menards Series practice and qualifying, Cup Series practice on truTV, and the Ashley Furniture 150 on FS1. Cup teams will get only one practice session before qualifying and the race. Saturday brings O’Reilly Auto Parts Series qualifying, Cup qualifying on truTV, and the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, which will air on The CW. The weekend ends Sunday with the Cup Series eero 400, scheduled for 5 p.m. CDT on TNT and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, with additional coverage on HBO Max.

The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race will be the 20th points-paying event of the 2026 season and is set for Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Justin Allgaier enters as the points leader with a 207-point edge over Jesse Love. The 38-car field includes Cup regulars Connor Zilisch, Chase Elliott and Cole Custer, who was the most recent winner at Chicagoland Speedway.

Front Row Motorsports announced a contract extension for Todd Gilliland that will keep him in the team’s No. 34 Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2027. Gilliland, 26, will remain part of Front Row’s three-car operation as he continues in the car he took over last year.

Gilliland has been with Front Row since joining its Craftsman Truck Series program in 2020. He spent two seasons in the No. 38 truck, won once, and made the playoffs both years before moving up to the Cup Series in 2022. He later became the driver of Front Row’s flagship Cup car after Michael McDowell left for Spire Motorsports.

Gilliland is 24th in the Cup Series standings and has posted back-to-back top-20 finishes at Chicagoland Speedway and EchoPark Speedway. His best finish this season is sixth at Bristol, and he also advanced to the final four of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge before his scheduled semifinal matchup with Chase Elliott at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Persistent storms and a lightning hold forced NASCAR to cancel Cup Series qualifying Saturday at North Wilkesboro Speedway, leaving the Window World 450 lineup to be set by NASCAR’s performance metric. Ryan Blaney, who led the metric entering the weekend, was awarded the pole position for Sunday’s race, with Ty Gibbs starting alongside him on the front row. Christopher Bell, Carson Hocevar and Tyler Reddick rounded out the top five.

The rest of the 37-car starting lineup placed Erik Jones sixth, Denny Hamlin seventh, Shane van Gisbergen eighth, Chris Buescher ninth and Chase Elliott 10th. Joey Logano was listed 11th, William Byron 15th, Brad Keselowski 23rd, Kyle Larson 27th and Chad Finchum 37th. Sunday’s 450-lap race was scheduled to begin at 7:14 p.m. ET on TNT.

Inspection issues also shuffled parts of the field. Ross Chastain was sent to the rear and given a pass-through penalty after his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet failed pre-race inspection three times, and he lost pit selection for the weekend. His car chief, David Fero, was removed for the rest of the weekend. Austin Hill’s No. 33 Richard Childress Racing team and Connor Zilisch’s No. 88 Trackhouse Racing team each failed inspection twice, costing both teams their car chief and pit selection.

Layne Riggs won the pole for the Faith Fest 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, turning an 18.502-second lap at 121.608 mph in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150. He edged Carson Hocevar by 0.016 seconds and said crew chief Dylan Cappello’s changes improved the truck’s handling after the team struggled with a tight setup in practice. The pole was Riggs’ second of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season and the sixth of his career in his 69th Truck Series start.

Christopher Bell qualified third and Corey Heim was fourth. Giovanni Ruggiero qualified fifth, with Chase Elliott set to start sixth and Kaden Honeycutt seventh. After qualifying, Riggs also led Honeycutt in the standings.

The Truck Series field was at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina for practice and qualifying ahead of Saturday’s race. Shane van Gisbergen qualified 19th in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado on his Truck Series return, posting an 18.859-second lap. Landon Huffman and Timmy Hill failed to qualify from the 38-truck entry list.

North Wilkesboro Speedway’s return to Cup Series points racing will be marked by a pre-race legends ceremony before Sunday night’s Window World 450, the track’s first Cup points race since 1996. Eight NASCAR legends are set for driver introductions before the 7 p.m. green flag: Richard Childress, Ray Evernham, Chad Knaus, Jeff Hammond, Larry McReynolds, Kyle Petty, Kenny Wallace and Eddie Wood. Three of the honorees — Childress, Evernham and Knaus — are NASCAR Hall of Famers.

The legends are being recognized for their roles in the fall 1996 race at North Wilkesboro. That race was won by Ray Evernham and Jeff Gordon, while the other honorees were connected to Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Ernie Irvan, SABCO Racing, FILMAR Racing and the Wood Brothers Racing team. Rusty Wallace, a three-time North Wilkesboro winner and Hall of Famer, will also be part of the Sunday program. Organizers gave Wallace top billing as grand marshal, and one announcement also listed him as co-grand marshal with Tammy Whitworth of Window World. Sunday’s pre-race ceremony will also include SEAC David Isom as honorary starter, Craig Church delivering the invocation, Savannah Grace Walsh singing the national anthem and the North Carolina State Highway Patrol presenting the colors. The weekend also includes Saturday’s FaithFest 250, a Sawyer Brown pre-race concert and ticket, camping and pre-race upgrade sales online and at Wilkes County IGA Fairvalue Marketplace or Raymer Oil locations.

Bowman Gray Stadium will stage the inaugural Kyle Busch Invitational on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, with Legends and Bandolero races set up as a tribute to Kyle Busch’s life and legacy. All proceeds will benefit The Samantha and Kyle Busch Bundle of Joy Fund, the nonprofit the couple created in 2015 to help families pay for IVF treatment. Samantha Busch shared an emotional tribute after the announcement, and motorsports reporter Jordan Bianchi announced the event on social media.

The quarter-mile oval in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, can hold up to 51 Legend Cars and 18 Bandolero Cars for the event. Drivers can earn automatic bids through the 2026 Summer Shootout standings, and automatic spots also will go to A-Main winners who are not already among the top five in the Pro, Semi-Pro, Masters and Young Lions divisions. Gates are scheduled to open at 2 p.m., with practice and qualifying from 2 to 4:30 p.m. before racing begins at 5 p.m.

The invitational will air live on FloSports and the NASCAR Channel. Two-day ticket packages will be available for the Kyle Busch Invitational and Saturday’s AGSouth Farm Credit 150. The Bundle of Joy Fund has awarded more than 150 grants totaling more than $2.3 million and has helped bring more than 100 babies into the world.