May Highlights from NASCAR and ARCA

The month of May is always the portion of the season where we start to see the cream rise to the top throughout the field, while television coverage from FOX begins to wrap up before the summer stretch. Stock car racing takes center stage in its backyard, ending the month at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Memorial Day classic, known as the Coca-Cola 600.

Texas Motor Speedway, April 2-4

The month started with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series Tripleheader. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) kicked off the weekend with the Speedy Cash 250, where Corey Heim emerged victorious following a controversial call on the final caution. Although Rajah Caruth appeared to be the leader when the yellow flag was displayed, officials ruled that he would restart on the second row, allowing Heim to secure another win this season. Leaving Texas Motor Speedway, Heim held a 46-point lead over his closest competitor, Chandler Smith.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series’ (NXS) Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 was a thriller, as Kyle Larson, filling in for the injured Connor Zilisch, stole the show, after the lapped car of Kris Wright collided with leader Justin Allgaier with 45 laps to go, ending Allgaier’s day and taking him out of contention for the win. Despite leaving the Lone Star State with a 35th-place finish, Allgaier was still comfortably on top of the standings, holding a 51-point lead over Austin Hill.

To cap off a weekend of racing on the 1.5-mile single-grove racetrack, Joey Logano got his first win of the season, despite a chaotic and eventful Wurth 400. This track has been notorious for not being kind to stock cars since its repave in 2017, as various wrecks ensued, but in the end, it came down to Logano getting the jump on a restart, beating Ross Chastain and teammate, Ryan Blaney to take home the victory. Leaving TMS, William Byron was +13 over teammate, Kyle Larson in the standings.

Kansas Speedway, May 9-11

The ARCA Menards Series joined the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR Cup Series for a weekend of action in the Sunflower State, kicking off with the Tide 150 on Friday night. A field of 26 cars took center stage for a 100-lap shootout, as Brendan “Butterbean” Queen stole the show from William Sawalich, taking home his second win of the season after winning the season-opener at Daytona in February.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series took center stage Saturday night for the Heart of Healthcare 200. Jake Garcia snagged the Pole, but it was ultimately Corey Heim who proved to be fast throughout the evening, until the laps began winding down after Stage 1. NASCAR Cup Series regular, Carson Hocevar, went wheel-to-wheel with Layne Riggs, with Hocevar ultimately prevailing, while Riggs received a disqualification in post-race inspection, resulting in Riggs receiving a last-place finish.

Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 was a classic dominant performance by Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, who swept all three stages, winning his third race of the season. There were several notable takeaways from this race: Christopher Bell has emerged as Kyle Larson’s fiercest competition this season, showing impressive strength and speed all afternoon and will be a threat for the Championship this year; Corey Heim proved he is ready for a full-time NASCAR Cup Series ride with a solid thirteenth-place finish in the No. 67 23XI Toyota; and Ryan Preece demonstrated that he has the speed, he just needed the equipment to match all these years.

North Wilkesboro Speedway, May 16-May 18

The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series made the trip to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Wilkes County, North Carolina for All Star Weekend. The weekend started off with the Pit Crew Challenge, as Spire Motorsports’ #71 team won the Million-Dollar bonus for being the fastest pit crew Friday evening. The results of the challenge determined the starting lineup for the heat races, and Brad Keselowski was the fastest during the time trial session and also won his Heat Race, while Christopher Bell also won his, both taking place on Saturday.

Before the Cup Series took to the track in the evening, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series took to the track for the Window World 250. Corey Heim dominated the day, putting a clinic of the field, until the final restart when Layne Riggs got into Heim coming out of Turn 2, spinning his #11 Mobil 1 Toyota in the process, allowing Chandler Smith to sneak by and win his second race of the season. Heim confronted Riggs after the race, but it never got physical. Heim left Wilkes County with a 47-point lead over Smith.

Sunday night rolled around and the All Star Open took center stage at 6:00PM EST, consisting of drivers who were not locked into the All Star Race. Ryan Preece looked to lock himself in with a win, but after running over the painted “choose cone”, NASCAR sent him to the tail of the field, despite Preece transparently letting his team know that “you could barely see the cone”. Carson Hocevar wound up winning, locking him into the main event, as John Hunter Nemechek finished 2nd, also securing a spot, while Noah Gragson was voted in by the fans.

The All Star Race took the Green Flag just after 8:00PM EST. There was beating and banging on Lap 1 and throughout the evening, everyone wanted a shot at winning a million dollars. Joey Logano, last year’s winner of the All Star Race, challenged Brad Keselowski for the lead early on, and was able to lead 139 of 250 laps. In the end, after the “promoter’s caution” was used to bunch the field back up, it was a three-way battle between Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain and Logano. Bell prevailed and was able to collect the big payday from the All Star Race. This race was not for points, so the standings remained unchanged after this event.

Coca-Cola 600 Weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway: May 23-25

NASCAR’s backyard played host to their annual Memorial Day Weekend event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. On Friday, the ARCA Menards Series took to the track for the General Tire 150, and after 100 Laps, Austin Green won his first-career ARCA Menards Series race at the 1.5-mile Oval. Later in the evening, Corey Heim once again showed the field who’s boss by leading 98 of 134 laps and beating Cup Series veteran, Ross Chastain.

Saturday, the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Bet MGM 300 saw Charlotte native, William Byron put on a clinic, dominating the first stage, before driving all the way from the back to the lead after a pit road speeding penalty. This race was notorious for various restarts towards the end of the event, as drivers couldn’t seem to keep it together with bumping and contact occurring on nearly every restart. Justin Allgaier and Connor Zilisch attempted to hold off the hard-charging Byron, but his #17 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet was too much for the rest of the field.

The Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR’s second Crown Jewel event of the year, is the ultimate test of endurance for both driver and machine, spanning 400 grueling laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This year’s race had a bit of everything. Chase Briscoe surprised the field by snatching the pole from Kyle Larson, who was attempting the Indy/Charlotte “Double” for the second consecutive year after competing in the Indianapolis 500 earlier that day. Early in the race, William Byron displayed the same dominant speed he showed in Saturday’s sessions, sweeping the first three stages despite heavy pressure from Denny Hamlin and a strong contingent of Toyotas.

Towards the end, Ross Chastain stole the lead from Byron with five laps to go, en-route to his first-career Coca-Cola 600 victory. This is the second time this season that William Byron led the most laps and swept every stage except the one that matters most, the first time being the Goodyear 400 at Darlington in April. While Chastain’s win has locked him into the Playoffs, the Alva, Florida driver has a few strong tracks coming up for him on the schedule and looks to turn heads before the summer heats up. Stay tuned to everymanoneverycrew.com as we continue to highlight the the action going into the summer swing.