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While there are many eye-catching schemes this year, five stand out among the rest. Here are the best NASCAR throwback schemes of 2024.

5. Harrison Burton, No. 21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, Wood Brothers Racing (Cup Series). Throwback: Leonard Wood's 1953 "Leonard Wood Special"

While Burton's performance on the racetrack has been less than stellar this season, he and the Wood Brothers delivered with a throwback scheme that winds back the clock 71 years. As one of the oldest and most historic teams in the garage area, the Wood Brothers always have an abundance of old schemes to choose from, and they nailed it this season. While Burton likely won't contend for the win on Sunday at Darlington, he did finish sixth there in the spring race last year, so he'll have more expectations placed on his shoulders than usual.

4. Jack Wood, No. 91 Chevrolet Silverado, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing (Truck Series). Throwback: Tim Flock's 1952 "Hudson Hornet"

NASCAR Hall of Famer Tim Flock drove his 1952 Hudson to the NASCAR Strictly Stock (now NASCAR Cup Series) championship in 1952. In a car owned by Ted Chester, Flock quickly carved out a name for himself, and both he and his famous racecar are forever immortalized in racing history. Wood didn't run the Truck Series race at Darlington in 2023 but did so in 2022, finishing 18th for the now defunct GMS Racing. While Flock never won at Darlington in the Cup Series, he did finish top five twice and top 10 four times in his nine Darlington starts. Regardless of where Wood runs on Friday night, though, the No. 91 truck will look fantastic as it pays homage to one of the greatest pioneers of stock-car racing.

3. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro, Hendrick Motorsports (Cup Series). Throwback: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s 2014 Daytona 500-winning car

One of the more recent throwbacks of the weekend, NASCAR's current most popular driver will pay tribute to its former most popular driver at Darlington. Earnhardt Jr. won the 2014 Daytona 500 in a beautiful red, white and gold car that was sponsored by the National Guard. While it will be UniFirst on the hood of Elliott's car this weekend, his No. 9 car nearly perfectly resembles the car that Earnhardt drove to victory in the 2014 Great American Race. Elliott finished third at Darlington last May, so expect him to have a chance at putting an iconic scheme back in victory lane for the first time in a decade.

2. Ryan Ellis, No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro, Alpha Prime Racing (Xfinity Series). Throwback: Cole Trickle's City Chevrolet scheme from "Days of Thunder"

The only thing keeping this scheme from the No. 1 slot is the fact that it's not an actual piece of racing history, but a scheme that has been perfectly recreated from an iconic NASCAR film will still score high with fans. Ellis' sponsor, Classic Collision, has even willingly played along, forming their logo to fit inside the classic Chevy bowtie that will adorn the hood of Ellis' car in Saturday's Xfinity Series race. The only thing that could make this scheme any better is if the No. 43 team somehow got Tom Cruise, who played Trickle in the 1990 film, to the racetrack. Ellis will be looking to "drop the hammer" on Saturday as he searches for his first Xfinity Series win.

1. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro, Hendrick Motorsports (Cup Series). Throwback: Terry Labonte's 1990s Kellogg's scheme

Two-time Cup Series champion "Texas Terry" Labonte will hand over the reins of his iconic scheme to 2021 champion Kyle Larson, who beat Chris Buescher to the line in the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history on Sunday at Kansas. Labonte drove the red and green car from 1994 to 1999, winning the 1996 NASCAR Cup Series championship with Kellogg's proudly displayed on the hood. Aside from the obvious difference in sponsor logos, the cars of Larson and Labonte look nearly identical, and Larson has a good shot of putting the 2024 version in victory lane on Sunday. He won the Southern 500 at Darlington last September, so expect him to be in the mix for another win at The Lady in Black.

Larson beat Buescher by 0.001 seconds -- officially the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history.

Denny Hamlin led with seven laps to go when fifth-place Kyle Busch spun for the race's seventh caution, five of them coming for incidents in Stage 3.

After the top eight cars took two tires in the pits, Larson passed Hamlin in the two-lap shootout, went high on Buescher's No. 17 and edged Buescher for his second win this season and 25th of his career.

It was Chevrolet's seventh win and kept Ford winless in 2024.

Finishing the top five were Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. and Hamlin.

After a three-hour rain delay, Christopher Bell's No. 20 Toyota led a front row with Ross Chastain, whose No. 1 Chevrolet took the lead early from the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.

Hamlin, last week's winner, asserted himself with about 15 laps to go, swiped the lead from Larson and took the point. It was his 16th consecutive race leading at least one lap.

The JGR driver went on to beat Chastain and Larson to score Stage 1's full bonus points on Lap 80, his third segment win of 2024.

In nearly full sunshine and on a warmer track after the earlier rain, Larson's Hendrick Motorsports car came alive and pulled away from the field in the second stage before green-flag pit stops began on Lap 118.

Despite a slow pit stop with a problem on the left front tire change, Larson rebounded to chase down Buescher in the closing laps, but the No. 17 RFK Racing driver held on for his first stage win while Larson's No. 5 and Hamlin's No. 11 followed.

However, Buescher had two problems on his pit stop -- two of his crew members were over the wall too soon and his tear-off stuck on his Ford's roof -- sending him to the back of the field.

The 267-lap race's first accident occurred in Turn 1 when Jimmie Johnson, Corey LaJoie and Austin Hill tangled on Lap 176.

The fourth caution flew shortly after the next restart when Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell wrecked on the backstretch.

Harrison Burton and Joey Logano were involved in single-car incidents for the next two yellows.

But at this point, he'd probably give his eye teeth just to finish a race on Sunday.

Navigating Kansas Speedway in an impressive 29.491 seconds (183.107 mph) in the final round of NASCAR Cup Series time trials on Saturday afternoon, Bell won the pole position for Sunday's AdventHealth 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

He'll share the front row with Chevrolet driver Ross Chastain (182.704 mph), whose lap was 0.065 seconds off Bell's blistering pace.

The pole is Bell's first of the season, his third at the 1.5-mile track and the 11th of his career, all coming since NASCAR introduced the Next Gen race car into the Cup Series in 2022.

Even as he accepted congratulations for his effort, however, Bell already was looking ahead to Sunday's race, the series' 12th of the season.

"I love the high-speed places, the places where you're on the verge of being wide open or not being wide open, and the intermediates have been really good for us," said Bell, who has more poles in the Next Gen era than any other driver.

Since winning the third race of the season at Phoenix in March, however, Bell and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team have suffered a litany of misfortunes. In his last four starts, Bell has posted a best finish of 17th at Texas and three results of 34th or worse.

"Honestly, at this point, I'm not looking for a race win, guys," said Bell, who described his 34th-place run last Sunday at Dover as "the bottom of the barrel."

"I'm just looking to see the checkered flag. I know my car has great capability, and if I just see the checkered flag with a clean car, we're going to have a good, solid day, and that's definitely what we're after tomorrow."

Ford driver Noah Gragson (182.451 mph) qualified third, sustaining the momentum from a pair of top-10 performances at Talladega and Dover. Kyle Larson was fourth fastest at 182.383 mph, followed by Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs and Austin Cindric.

Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott and Chase Briscoe will start from positions eight through 10, respectively.

--Johnson lauds injured Jones for postponing return

Though Legacy Motor Club announced that Erik Jones has been cleared to return to racing by doctors and NASCAR, the team convinced Jones it would be in his best interest to sit out Sunday's AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Jones suffered a compression fracture in a lower vertebra when his No. 43 Toyota rocketed into the Turn 3 wall during a four-car accident on Lap 155 at Talladega on April 21. He missed last Sunday's race at Dover, where NASCAR Truck Series driver Corey Heim finished 25th in relief.

Heim will continue in that role on Sunday. The plan is for Jones to return May 12 at Darlington, where he has scored two of his three NASCAR Cup Series victories.

Team co-owner Jimmie Johnson helped convince Jones that a cautious approach was best, given the high-speed nature of 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway.

"Yeah, I don't envy his position, but I really do appreciate his willingness to hear us out," said Johnson, who will compete on Sunday in his second straight Cup event in the No. 84 Legacy Camry. "It's not a fun process, and as far as he's concerned, he should have never missed a race. He's just eager to do it. I've played hurt before, so I get it and have seen both sides of it.

"My concern is that we're at a fast track and an impact like that could happen again, and is his body really ready for that? And that's kind of the question he came to his own answer on and realized that it's probably early.

"There's a lot of other bits and pieces to that, but ultimately, he feels great and is moving around really well. He was able to get in the gym and exercise, but to really take a shot like you can at this place, it's just early."

--Toyota drivers look to continue Next-Gen era dominance at Kansas

Ask Tyler Reddick to account for the recent success of 23XI Racing at Kansas Speedway, and he'll give you a succinct answer.

"I think it's our boss," Reddick said, referring to team co-owner Denny Hamlin. "He's just really great. I think that's just a big part of it. Denny's just great, so we're great, too."

To Reddick's point, Hamlin is the defending winner of Sunday's AdventHealth 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Reddick is the most recent winner at the 1.5-mile intermediate track, having triumphed in the playoff race last fall.

In 2022, the first year of Next Gen race car in the NASCAR Cup Series, Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace carried the 23XI banner into Victory Lane as the organization swept both Kansas races.

Hamlin comes to Kansas as the series' most recent winner, having taken the checkered flag last Sunday at Dover to tie William Byron in Cup victories this season with three. Hamlin also boasts a record four wins at Kansas.

Hamlin predicted a victory for his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team at Dover and delivered. But on Saturday at Kansas, he wasn't ready to call his shot for a second straight week.

"I thought (crew chief) Chris (Gabehart) gave me the task of winning one of the next three races before we had the All-Star break, and we got the first week," Hamlin said. "Now, from here on out, I think we can be in a good mood once we get to the All-Star break.

"Certainly, these next two tracks (Kansas and Darlington) are set up really nicely for us. So, I'm certainly encouraged by it. You don't want to use up all of your promises too early on in the season, so I'll try to save a few."

--Visit to Arlington National Cemetery had significant impact on Blaney

At the invitation of Charlotte Motor Speedway and Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith, NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney visited Arlington National Cemetery and participated in a wreath-laying ceremony on Wednesday as part of the NASCAR Salutes initiative.

The experience clearly had a significant impact on the 30-year-old Team Penske driver.

"That was a really, really neat experience to go do," Blaney said Saturday at Kansas Speedway. "I was really happy that Charlotte and Marcus invited me out there. It was my first time to Arlington.

"It puts things into perspective, that's for sure -- very quickly. You just see the vast size of that place, and you understand how many men and women have laid their lives down for us to do what we do.

"So it was neat. The wreath-laying ceremony was amazing. Watching the changing of the guard was really special. So I was happy they were able to line that up. I met a lot of great people out there who gave me a lot of the history of it -- definitely a very humbling experience."

As teams prepare for the season's 12th race, a 267-lapper in Kansas City, Kan., drivers voiced concerns about the current Next Gen car, specifically how it has become a defensive asset instead of an offensive weapon.

Following last Saturday's qualifying session and pole-winning lap at Dover, two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch said the car has better value essentially as a blocking tool than for pulling out and roaring by the car in front of him.

That manifested Sunday as Busch fought to get by former teammate Martin Truex Jr. but did not have the force in his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to move up a position.

"The aero blocking is just so bad," Busch said after running fourth. "It's so bad and everybody knows it and uses it as a defense item."

Basically, getting the lead, moving around and making the car wider to prevent a second-place driver from being triumphant, is now the path to success on the speedway ovals.

In the 1987 version of The Winston at Charlotte Motor Speedway, NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt, who would have turned 73 this week, famously frustrated Bill Elliott in the 10-lap dash for a $200,000 payout.

Despite his No. 9 Ford Thunderbird being faster, an angry Elliott could not pass Earnhardt's blue and yellow No. 3 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in a race that featured the Intimidator's legendary "Pass in the Grass" en route to victory.

However, blocking has become more sophisticated with technology.

When Earnhardt shut down Elliott, it was drivers and rear-view mirrors -- and eventually spotters in the late 1980s -- getting them to Victory Lane.

Nowadays, drivers have a rear-view camera mounted to the top of their back window that allows the leader to look at his dashboard and track the car behind him, making aero blocking in the closing laps just a simple act of following wherever the trailing car moves and snuffing an opposing run.

Kyle Larson was running down Dover winner Denny Hamlin over the last 50 laps but could only get as close as 0.20 seconds from the Joe Gibbs Racing driver's No. 11 Toyota.

"It's just so easy as the leader ... (to air block)," said Larson after Hamlin's series-tying third win. "You just shut off the air to the guys behind you. I knew that when I got to within three car-lengths he'd start moving around."

In fairness, Larson admitted that his only victory, at Las Vegas in March, was achieved by the same move of blocking the progress of Tyler Reddick in the final circuits -- now an oval track trend.

Larson, the 2021 champion, also suggested maybe doing away with the rear cameras would improve the racing.

While the series is constantly looking ahead to the schedule's next race, rest assured these drivers will continue to be looking back at what's closing in on them as the laps wind down.

Details were not provided as Stenhouse, 36, will continue behind the wheel of the No. 47 Chevrolet.

"When I joined this team in 2020, I knew both the team and I were capable of putting the No. 47 in Victory Lane," Stenhouse said in a statement. "Although I wish it came sooner, winning the Daytona 500 last year proved that we can win together.

"We have a fantastic group of guys at the shop, great management, solid partners and an ever-improving program," he continued. "I'm very excited to continue my relationship with the team. I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised to see what we have in store for the future."

Stenhouse, driving in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2011, has three career wins. He is in 27th place, 245 points behind leader Kyle Larson, in the current standings. Stenhouse has one top-five and two top-10 finishes in 11 starts this season, including fourth place on April 21 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

"I am looking forward to continuing with Ricky as our driver of the No. 47," team owner Gordon Smith said in the statement. "He has been an asset to our team on and off the racetrack since joining us in 2020.

"Winning the Daytona 500 was a huge accomplishment for our small team, and I know we have more trips to Victory Lane in our future with Ricky at the wheel."

His Legacy Motor Club team made the announcement Thursday, with Corey Heim to replace Jones in the No. 43 Toyota for the AdventHealth 400 on Sunday. Heim, 21, made his Cup debut last week at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway, qualified 32nd and placed 25th in an incident-free race.

Jones sustained a compression fracture in his lower vertebra on April 21 in a crash at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Late in the race, John Hunter Nemechek's car appeared to contact the back of Bubba Wallace's car, which then clipped Jones' car and sent it into the outside wall.

Jones, 27, made the trip to Dover last weekend to support Heim and the racing group and plans to do the same in Kansas City, Kan.

"As far as coming back, I think it is week-to-week," Jones said at Dover. "My injury fortunately, is on the mild side, so we'll just have to see how it's healing up, how I'm feeling. Again, I'm feeling better and better every day."

Jones has one top-10 finish in 11 starts and is in 23rd place, 229 points behind leader Kyle Larson in the NASCAR Cup Series standings.

Here are the five best young prospects in the sport to keep an eye on across the series:

5. Carson Kvapil, No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro, JR Motorsports (Xfinity Series): The son of 2003 Craftsman Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil, the younger Kvapil has an average finish of third through his first two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts in 2024. After a fourth-place run at Martinsville, Kvapil was barely edged out by Ryan Truex for the win at Dover, finishing runner-up in just his second NASCAR start. Recruited by NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Kvapil has proven himself on the short tracks thus far and a full-time Xfinity Series ride could be on the horizon in 2025.

4. Connor Zilisch, No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado, Spire Motorsports (Truck Series): Zilisch's experience in NASCAR-sanctioned races is minimal, but his results thus far show that the 17 year-old may be one of the sport's future stars. The winner of the ARCA Menards Series race at Dover last weekend, Zilisch also won the pole for his first Truck Series start at COTA, where he finished fourth despite an early setback. Without a lap one mistake, Zilisch may have found himself in victory lane. The speed and talent is there, and with a development deal already signed with Trackhouse Racing, Zilisch has a bright future ahead of him. He'll run five more Truck Series races in 2024, giving the NASCAR world five more opportunities to see what he brings to the table.

3. Christian Eckes, No. 19 Chevrolet Silverado, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing (Truck Series): After winning four races in the Truck Series in 2023, Eckes already has two wins so far in 2024, including a race at Bristol where he straight up outdrove Kyle Busch for the trophy. At the ripe old age of 23, Eckes is on the older side of current prospects, but he consistently puts himself in a position to win. His upside might not be strong enough for a Cup team to take a risk on him in the next three or four seasons, but if he keeps winning he'll get a phone call from a Cup team soon enough.

2. Chandler Smith, No. 81 Toyota Supra (Xfinity Series): While Smith did win his first career Xfinity Series race in 2023, he struggled mightily with consistency, notching only 13 top-10's in 33 races. Through the first 10 races of the 2024 season, Smith has two wins, six top-fives and eight top-10's, along with an incredible average finish of 7.0. He has also finished all 10 races so far, an invaluable trait in modern-day NASCAR. At 21 years old, Smith is primed to be the next great Toyota driver, and with the possible retirement of Martin Truex Jr. looming he could be next in line to drive the famed No. 19 car.

1. Corey Heim, No. 11 Toyota Tundra, Tricon Garage (Truck Series): Speaking of consistency, Heim had 19 top-10's in 22 Truck Series races a year ago, and through seven races in 2024 he has finished top-10 in every single one. An increase in wins might be nice, but he'll find victory lane consistently if he keeps running inside the top-five. His average finish through the first seven events is 3.9, a number that before only seemed possible in a NASCAR video game. The Truck Series seems more like a formality for Heim, as a solid showing in his Cup Series debut at Dover in place of injured Erik Jones proves that he has the chops to be a top-level driver in the premier stock-car racing series in the world.

Hamlin is the defending winner of the AdventHealth 400 (3 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In addition, Hamlin's minions -- namely drivers for the 23XI Racing team he co-owns with former NBA superstar Michael Jordan -- have won three of the last four races at the 1.5-mile intermediate track, encompassing the two-year Next Gen era.

Kurt Busch won the spring race at Kansas in 2022 before an accident at Pocono sidelined him. Bubba Wallace followed with a victory in the fall race that season. And after Hamlin triumphed last year, Tyler Reddick secured the third Kansas win for 23XI in the September Playoff race.

All told, Toyota drivers have won seven of the last nine races at the Wyandotte County track, with Hamlin accounting for three of those victories and former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch accounting for another.

"Kansas is where we show up with confidence," Wallace acknowledged. "If everything goes right, we've got a really good shot at being in Victory Lane.

"Something clicks when we show up there. The speed's there, the confidence is there, the crew is on it, and everything lines up there."

After boldly predicting victory at Dover on his Monday podcast, Hamlin held off a charging Kyle Larson to win at the Monster Mile. Though he's not ready to call his shot at Kansas -- despite his recent success there -- Hamlin feels his No. 11 JGR team can win anywhere.

"Yeah, I mean, I expect to win every week," said Hamlin, who is tied with Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron for most victories in the series this season with three. "There's no reason I shouldn't expect to win (at Kansas) ... it's been on the radar for a while.

"This little stretch right here right before the All-Star break, between Dover, Kansas, Darlington, I mean, these are all kind of right in my wheelhouse. Certainly feel pretty good about it."

Larson is the only Chevrolet driver to take the checkered flag in the last nine races at Kansas, a feat he accomplished from the pole position during his championship season in 2021 -- the last before the transition to the Next Gen car in the Cup Series.

Ford drivers haven't found Victory Lane at Kansas since Joey Logano triumphed in the fall of 2020, and the Blue Oval contingent is winless through 11 races this season.

With Jeff Gordon having won the first two races at Kansas Speedway in 2001 and 2002, Hendrick Motorsports has eight victories in 36 races at the track, a total equaled by Joe Gibbs Racing with Hamlin's win last year.

That victory was Hamlin's track-record fourth at Kansas.

Between them, Hendrick and Gibbs have won nine of the 11 races this season, with Hendrick holding a 5-4 edge. The only winners not from those two camps are Daniel Suarez at Atlanta and Reddick at Talladega.

--NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series back in action at Kansas Speedway

After a two-week break, drivers in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series return to competition in Saturday night's Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Series leader Christian Eckes will go for his third victory of the season at a 1.5-mile track that has rewarded him with considerable success. Eckes is the most recent winner at Kansas, having taken the checkered flag in last September's Playoff race.

In addition, the driver of the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Chevrolet has posted four top fives and six top 10s in eight starts at the track. He has six top 10s to his credit in seven starts this season, including five straight results of eighth or better entering Saturday's race.

"Our mile-and-a-half stuff has definitely shown a little bit of an improvement," Eckes said after finishing fourth at Texas on April 12 and seizing the points lead. "We still have a little bit of a ways to go, but we'll see how it goes."

No one else in the field can match Matt Crafton's experience at Kansas Speedway. The driver of the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford has competed in all 27 Truck Series events at the track, dating to the inaugural race in 2001.

With three victories each, Crafton and Kyle Busch share the track record for most Truck Series wins. Busch, who is not racing at Kansas on Saturday, already has two Truck Series victories in four starts this season.

On the other hand, Crafton, a three-time series champion, hasn't won in the series since he took the checkered flag at Kansas in 2020 -- a drought that reached 88 races at Texas.

Notes: Grant Enfinger is the defending winner of the Heart of America 200 ... Australian driver Cam Waters will make his second Truck Series start on Saturday. He finished 30th last month at Martinsville in his debut with ThorSport Racing.

"We're in the groove right now," Denny Hamlin said during his race winner's press conference at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway on Sunday. And who could argue with that? The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota had just hoisted his third trophy in 11 NASCAR Cup Series races, tying him with Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron for most wins on the season.

Only a week earlier he and his 23XI Racing team co-owner, NBA legend Michael Jordan, were celebrating a win with their driver Tyler Reddick at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. It's been a heck of a season start with every reason to expect the good times to keep rolling -- whether it's Hamlin or his 23XI Racing team winning.

Hamlin heads to Kansas Speedway for Sunday's AdventHealth 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as the defending winner of that race, and he's a former winner everywhere the series has a points race for the next month. He's got four victories at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, and he is the defending winner of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway held on Memorial Day weekend.

"It's been a good season," Hamlin conceded with a smile. "I don't know how else to explain it. ... Half of 'em we've been in Victory Lane. The other ones I've been right there with a shot to win 'em."

Hamlin is feeling so confident in himself and his team, he even called his shot -- like Babe Ruth -- predicting a win Sunday on his podcast "Actions Detrimental" leading into Dover. Some may have thought it brash, but Hamlin backed it up and there's a lot of reason to understand why he's feeling so good.

"I expect to win every week," said Hamlin, 43, who currently sits No. 4 in the Cup Series standings as he chases his first championship. "There's no reason I shouldn't expect to win.

"This little stretch right here before the All-Star break between Dover, Kansas, Darlington, I mean these are all kind of right in my wheelhouse. Certainly, feel pretty good about it."

The truth is, Hamlin is feeling pretty good in general. His confidence, however, is matched by a strong motivation that is partly a result of realizing it's "go time" in his 20-year fulltime career.

The Dover win was Hamlin's 54th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, tying him with NASCAR Hall of Famer and one of the sport's great pioneers, Lee Petty. Reaching that kind of elevated status -- such an important accomplishment -- isn't something Hamlin takes lightly.

Only Kyle Busch has more wins in the NASCAR Cup Series (63) than Hamlin (54) among active drivers. And only 11 more drivers in all of NASCAR history have more. And there's every reason to believe Hamlin will move farther up that list this season.

"If you put all the names on the list in the order of the wins that they have, I don't know, I see my name as just an outlier, one that sticks out like it doesn't really belong there," Hamlin said.

"I've been doing it a long time. You take for granted all the wins that you've had. All we think about is the ones we didn't win. I'm like, 'Man, I feel like I should have 80 to 90 realistically.' But everyone has those stories.

"It's my personal goal, in my career, I want to get to a number that puts me well inside that top-10 of race winners. I think that will speak for itself and the resume."

In the lone race at DMS, Hamlin's No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry XSE gained the lead with a super fast pit stop after Stage 2 and held off Kyle Larson by 0.256 seconds for his third win of 2024, tying him with William Byron for the series lead.

The victory was Hamlin's 54th, tying him with Lee Petty for 12th all-time.

Completing the top-five finishers were Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott.

After claiming his second career Dover pole on Saturday, Busch raced out and led the first 33 laps around the one-mile layout in the 120-lap Stage 1 until Ryan Blaney grabbed the point in his No. 12 Ford.

On Lap 79, Byron positioned his No. 24 Chevrolet past the defending series champion, and Truex took the lead as the 72-lap green-flag run came to an end after Brad Keselowski looped his No. 6 Ford following a right-rear tire problem.

Truex, who started 15th, earned the full bonus points by taking his fifth career stage win at the Monster Mile under caution. Byron and Tyler Reddick followed him to the line.

The event's defending winner who won last May when the race was postponed to Monday, Truex had little trouble putting separation between himself and Byron, leading by 2.61 seconds on Lap 180 before green-flag pit stops began.

But Byron's car was dropped from the jack without one of the tires bolted on, and Larson's stop was four seconds faster than Truex's.

That put Larson's No. 5 ahead of Truex's No. 19 Toyota, but Corey LaJoie chose not to pit and led 33 circuits until Larson passed him on Lap 219.

Larson earned the Stage 2 win over Bowman, but hard-charging Hamlin finished third and won the ensuing race off pit road to lead for the first time.

Bubba Wallace, Byron and Christopher Bell were involved in the day's worst wreck on Lap 329 after Zane Smith turned Wallace's No. 23 Toyota off Turn 2.

5. Jimmie Johnson, No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE, Legacy Motor Club: Nobody has conquered Dover more than Johnson, who has 11 wins at the track. Making his first start at Dover since 2020, Johnson is hoping that the Sunday race will be a return to his Dover dominance, rather than a continuation of his streak of poor showings in NASCAR's seventh generation car. In five starts with the Next-Gen car, Johnson's best finish is 28th, which occurred in the 2024 Daytona 500. He did earn his first lead-lap finish with the Next-Gen car on April 14 at Texas, but that was still a lackluster 29th-place run. Nobody is asking the 48-year-old driver to win on Sunday, but an incident-free, top-25 day would be much appreciated for a driver who has struggled mightily in his part-time role.

4. Corey Heim, No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE, Legacy Motor Club: Heim makes his first Cup Series start on Sunday in a similar fashion to Bubba Wallace, a current Cup Series star. Wallace made his Cup debut at Pocono in 2017 after Aric Almirola sustained a back injury at Kansas, while Heim will make his first Cup start as a substitute for Erik Jones, who injured his back in a crash at Talladega last Sunday. While not the circumstances Heim was hoping for going into his Cup Series debut, the 21-year-old phenom has proven he has what it takes behind the wheel, and has the opportunity to show his talent to the world on Sunday.

3. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro, Hendrick Motorsports: A two-time winner at Dover, Elliott broke a 42-race winless streak just two weeks ago at Texas. Despite a mediocre 15th-place finish at Talladega, Elliott has three top-five results in the past four races and is seemingly back to being the championship threat that he was from 2020-2022. With the winless streak snapped, he is one of the favorites heading into the weekend -- and oh by the way, he won the first race at Dover with the Next-Gen car in 2022.

2. Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing: A Mayetta, N.J., native, Dover is a home race for Truex, which could be part of the reason why he has won there four times, including a victory there last year that completed a Truex family weekend sweep. His brother Ryan won the 2023 Xfinity Series race at Dover. Truex is always a contender at the Monster Mile but has lost some pace since his heartbreaking Richmond defeat on Easter, with three straight finishes outside the top 10 since the March 31 race. Dover could be a "get-right" race for the veteran driver, and a win would be huge for a team looking to rebound from its embarrassing playoff run in 2023.

1. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro, Hendrick Motorsports: Perhaps the favorite for Sunday's race, Larson won at Dover in 2019 and finished second to Alex Bowman in Hendrick's iconic 1-2-3-4 finish at Dover in 2021. Unfortunately for Larson, he didn't get to show how fast his car was at Dover a year ago, as an early incident with Ross Chastain took the No. 5 car out of contention. After two straight 21st-place finishes at Texas and Talladega, -- neither of which can be blamed solely on Larson -- the 2021 Cup Series champ is looking to avenge his 2023 Dover defeat and notch his second win of the 2024 season.

It's the 34th career pole position for the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and he'll start on the front row for Sunday's Wurth 400 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) alongside Team Penske's Ryan Blaney, whose fast lap (161.951 mph) in the No. 12 Ford Mustang was a mere .033-second off Busch's pole speed.

"The last month or so there's definitely been a struggle with speed," Busch said. "It's pretty funny we were standing here talking about sitting on the pole last year too with the rainout and started first. And then my over-excitement of coming down pit road for the first time, speeding on pit road, sent us to the back and didn't quite have the race we wanted.

"Don't want to make that same mistake this year. The guys here did a great job. ... we're wanting to trend the right way and putting in the effort, the hours and all the extra work to figure out what's going on and why. This is our first test. We felt like Dover and (next week's venue) Kansas would be a really good test of some stuff. And what do ya know? It worked. Let's go."

This season's three-race winner, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron will start his No. 24 Chevrolet third, alongside last week's Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway race winner, 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 Toyota. Noah Gragson in the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and former Dover winner, Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will start fifth and sixth.

The Fords of SHR's Chase Briscoe and last week's Talladega pole-winner, Front Row Motorsports' Michael McDowell were next fastest in qualifying, followed by Hendrick Motorsport's Alex Bowman -- the 2021 Dover winner -- and Kaulig Racing's A.J. Allmendinger.

It was a strong qualifying outing for the Ford Mustang, which is still looking to score its first series victory of 2024. Not only were there four Fords in the top-10, but fellow Ford drivers Austin Cindric, Josh Berry and Joey Logano will line up 11th-13th on the 37-car grid.

Of note, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell -- a winner at Phoenix this year -- spun on his qualifying lap and will have to start 33rd. Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, an 11-time Dover winner, is making one of his limited season starts and will start the No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota 27th. Defending race winner, JGR's Martin Truex Jr. will start 15th.

And 21-year old Corey Heim, who is making his NASCAR Cup Series debut filling in for injured Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones, will start the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota 32nd -- a row ahead of the team's fulltime driver John Hunter Nemechek.

Heim was 14th fastest of the 16 cars in the opening practice but reasonably close on speed to the pack. Several of the veteran NASCAR Cup Series drivers -- former champion Kyle Larson and this year's three-time race winner William Byron, in particular -- were very complimentary of Heim, despite the young driver's challenging circumstances.

"Just so much different, a lot of fun, a lot of grip," Heim said after his first official practice in the car, adding, "Just trying to find my limits but in these 20-minutes practices, it's tough."

Jones spoke to the media at track and said he is feeling better after a hard crash at Talladega last week that left him with a compression fracture in his lower vertebrae. He did not give a timetable for a return.

NOTEBOOK

*Jones, 28, was in the pits Saturday at Dover and will be trackside for Sunday's Wurth 400, assisting the team as needed while NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship contender Heim drives Jones' No. 43 Toyota.

Jones -- a three-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner- conceded the hard racing on the unforgiving one-mile Dover oval did not present the best situation to be back in the car and testing his injury.

"To be honest right now, I'm feeling pretty good," Jones said. "As a driver, probably any driver, they want to just hop back in. I would love to say that I could get back in and do it right now. Is that possible? I don't know. I don't know how I would truly feel in the car, especially a place like Dover.

"I get pretty sore at night and when I'm not moving around. My range of motion is a bit limited right now, but the soreness has faded away. It was pretty bad earlier in the week and I was just resting. By yesterday and today, I'm feeling better and better."

This is the first race Jones has missed since becoming a fulltime NASCAR Cup Series driver and described it as "a unique perspective for me."

"It is definitely more challenging I thought, waking up this morning to be honest, and getting ready for today and realizing that you are not getting in the car," he said.

Team co-owner Johnson would not predict how long Jones may be out of the car, but did confirm Saturday, should Jones be unable to race at Kansas Speedway next week, Heim would indeed be back in the No. 43 for that race too.

Jones received a medical waiver from NASCAR this week that would allow him to still participate in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs should he qualify.

*The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Johnson confirmed this week he will compete in back-to-back events for the first time since he retired from fulltime NASCAR competition in 2020 -- Sunday's race at Dover and then next week at Kansas Speedway. Johnson has a record 11 victories at the concrete Dover mile and is a three-time winner at Kansas.

Yet even with all that success, the 48-year old Johnson concedes he's still learning this NextGen race car with finishes of 28th (Daytona) and 29th (Texas) in his only other 2024 starts in the No. 84 Toyota. He competed only three times in 2023 with a best finish of 31st coming in the Daytona 500 -- a race he's won twice.

"It's just so different," Johnson said of the new car compared to the ones he drove to 83 wins and the record-tying seven titles. "I realized that quickly at Texas. I have a few wins at Texas that didn't carry in. It is really on me. It is such a different environment as a driver and to spot these drivers in the garage, a two-year head-start on the little nuances that you need from the prep side on a Tuesday, all the way to the completion on a Monday when you debrief and work through it all.

"There is just a lot of distance to make up and first and foremost, I need to do my part and get in tune with this car. Through this stretch, I will be able to do so."

Johnson last raced at Dover in 2020 with finishes of seventh and third place. His earned the last win of his career there in 2017.

*Bowman credits his former Hendrick Motorsports teammate Johnson with being a big help with his Monster Mile education. Bowman, 31, who won at Dover in 2021 and has five top-10 finishes in the last six Dover races, missed this race last year because of injury, but is very optimistic about his chances Sunday in what will be his 300th career series start.

"I think it's just a place where I enjoy going to," said Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. "I feel like I bring a little something to the table and know what I want and know what I need in my race car to be successful here."

"I attribute a lot of my success here to Jimmie (Johnson) as well," he said of the 11-time Dover race winner and NASCAR Hall of Famer. "Definitely a special place for the No. 48 car. When you think of think of the dominance that team had kind of throughout that whole era, this is a place that comes top of mind. So, it's super cool to have also been successful here in the No. 48 car. I think even my own successes here, I definitely attribute to him as well."

Bowman's fifth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway last week made him one of the strongest movers inside the championship standings -- vaulting him four positions from 14th place to 10th place.

The two blue oval drivers will look to break the drought Sunday afternoon when they compete in the Wurth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Del., the 11th race on the 2024 schedule.

And what a 2024 it's been so far for Ford Motorsports, huh?

While the most casual glance at the win column reveals a bad start for the teams -- 0-for-10 -- taking the whole season into consideration is even worse.

Ford failed to win in the season-opening exhibition race in California -- The Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum -- at the legendary Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as Denny Hamlin walked away with a win.

At Daytona during Speedweeks, the blue-clad teams fared no better: Toyota's Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell won the Duels, the Daytona 500's qualifying races.

So really 0-for-13.

As for the point standings, only one Ford -- the No. 12 driven by reigning series champion Ryan Blaney at No. 7 -- graces the top 11, and four of its drivers have combined to record just five stage wins thus far.

That's a whole lot of time being any place other than at the front of the field.

When they were running 1-2 Saturday on the 188th lap at Talladega, one had to figure McDowell, a Daytona 500 winner, or Keselowski, a six-time Talladega winner, would manage to make it to Victory Lane with his Dark Horse Mustang in good shape.

However, neither could be blamed for what ensued: A chaotic melee that ended with Reddick roaring through the mess, stealing the checkers for his first victory at Talladega and crowding the trophy case for 23XI team owner/NBA icon Michael Jordan even more.

But neither Ford driver was finger-pointing afterward, even though a win would have likely put the winner into the playoffs and given either McDowell his third career Cup win or snapped Keselowski's 107-race winless streak.

"Nobody did anything wrong there, not Michael, not Brad, not anyone," said FOX analyst Larry McReynolds. "What (Ford) has to hang their hat on is they had a fast Ford Mustang. The superspeedways, the road courses -- and we've got a lot more of those coming up -- that's obviously their best opportunity to go to Victory Lane and maybe punch their ticket to the playoffs."

On the high banks of the one-mile Dover Motor Speedway, the last two victories for Ford were in cars driven by current booth analyst Kevin Harvick (2018, 2020). Since the 2009 season, the manufacturer has won just three times in 27 races.

Keselowski does have a win there -- a 2012 triumph -- but it was while he was driving for Dodge Motorsports during his title-winning season.

Nicknamed "The Monster Mile," DMS might be too monstrous of a chunk of concrete for Ford to bust through.

Sunday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, he was in prime position to claim his first victory since 2021 -- running second to fellow Ford driver Michael McDowell as the field came to the checkered flag. But a typically frantic Talladega finish instead left him runner-up by a fraction of a second to winner Tyler Reddick.

It wasn't a victory, but it was the second consecutive second-place finish for the owner-driver of the RFK Racing team and fifth top-10 finish through the season's first 10 races. Four of those have been top-five finishes, a run of success Keselowski takes to Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway for Sunday's Wurth 400 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Keselowski has a victory at Dover in 2012 -- the same season he captured the NASCAR Cup Series championship. He's finished inside the top 10 in three of the last five races there.

And yet for all the recent positives to consider, Keselowski has not wavered in his stance.

"Good finishes are important, but we want wins," Keselowski, 40, said after climbing out of his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Mustang at Talladega. "We could really taste it today, but it just didn't happen."

This is not to say that Keselowski, whose last race win was at Talladega in 2021, is not proud of the effort or encouraged by the recent results. He just has high expectations. And good reason for them.

His work this year is a strong sign that the team has absolutely progressed on-track. Keselowski became a partner with NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner Jack Roush only three years ago and has already infused exactly the kind of high-level expectation and championship thinking to help bring about a racing renaissance of sorts.

His four top-five finishes through 10 races this season is already half of the total he tallied in all of 2023. His five top-10 efforts are on-track to better the mark of 16 he had last year. He's ranked 14th in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings, but only seven points behind 10th place Alex Bowman.

Keselowski's RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher won three races last year and qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. And he's got five top-10 finishes this season and is ranked 16th -- only 16 points behind Bowman in 10th.

"I feel like the last two weeks especially, we've earned finishes we probably didn't deserve," said Keselowski, one of the most analytical drivers on the NASCAR Cup Series grid. "It kind of ebbs and flows as the season goes. But when you have cars that are capable of winning, in general, you need to make it count."

Keselowski -- a 35-race winner -- closes out the Spring schedule with a good track record at promising venues. He's scored victories at all four of the next four points-paying tracks (excluding the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, N.C.). He's won at Dover and Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and has two victories at both Kansas and Charlotte.

Combine that with his strong current run and Keselowski has plenty of reason to feel positive. He characterized his organization two weeks ago at Texas as being filled with that same "kind of never-give-up spirit" that Keselowski the driver has cultivated and flourished from. Certainly, things seem absolutely headed in the right direction.

Running fifth off the 2.66-mile superspeedway's final turn, Reddick kept his No. 45 Camry on the high side as the front group roared toward the stripe.

Meanwhile up front, leader Michael McDowell came down to block second-place racer Brad Keselowski.

McDowell was turned up to the frontstretch wall after contact and Keselowski slowed, allowing Reddick to keep his foot in the gas and zoom on to his first win this season as the field slid and crashed behind him.

Reddick beat Keselowski by 0.208 seconds for his sixth career win in 156 starts and first at Talladega. 23XI Racing -- owned by Michael Jordan -- enjoyed the win of Reddick's No. 45.

It was also Toyota's first win at the Alabama superspeedway since 2021.

The final top-finishers were Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Alex Bowman.

The Fords of McDowell, Chase Briscoe and Justin Haley took turns leading early in Stage 1, but Martin Truex Jr.'s No. 19 Toyota paced the group most of the way.

As pit stops began, Denny Hamlin lost control of his No. 11 Toyota at the back of the group that was pitting, making minimal contact with the No. 42 of John Hunter Nemechek, and continued on unscathed.

Austin Cindric's No. 2 Ford edged Chase Elliott by 0.004 seconds for his second stage win of 2024.

Kyle Larson, who started last under penalty and lost a lap due to it, ran side-by-side with Joey Logano after the white flag, but Logano received a huge push from teammate Cindric to beat him and Austin Dillon to the checkers, earning the winless Logano his first stage win in 24 races.

With 56 laps to go, the first incident for cause occurred when the cars of Christopher Bell and Haley were part of a spin on the backstretch. Chase Elliott, the winner last week at Texas, narrowly squeezed past the minor melee.

A worse incident happened with just over 30 laps left when four of the six Toyotas on a promising strategy of pitting early wrecked in Turn 3.

Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, John Hunter Nemechek and Erik Jones all were knocked out of the event.

McDowell's No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford made a dramatic final run in the final round of qualifying with a speed of 182.022 mph (52.609 seconds) around the 2.66-mile high-banks, just edging fellow Mustang driver Austin Cindric, whose top speed in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford was 181.739 mph (52.691 seconds). It was a dramatic birthday nod for the Ford Mustang, celebrating its 60th anniversary this week.

Superspeedway racing has been a strong suit for Phoenix-native McDowell, 39. He started on the outside of the front row for the season-opening Daytona 500 and won his only other pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March. Sunday will mark his fifth top-10 starting spot of 2024.

"I think we all felt that pressure knowing how strong we were at Daytona and Atlanta to come here to Talladega and repeat and have a really good starting spot," said McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner and last year's Indianapolis Grand Prix winner.

"The guys put a lot of energy and effort into all the little extra details it takes to get that speed. So excited for (Sunday) and feel good about what we've been able to do this year with our superspeedway program.

"This is a good week for us to get a win," McDowell added with a smile, noting the Ford Mustang anniversary.

Ford, which has yet to secure a trophy in the season's nine races, certainly stacked Talladega qualifying. McDowell's teammate Todd Gilliland -- who has led the most superspeedway laps this year -- was third-fastest in the No. 38 Ford, followed by Richard Childress Racing teammates Kyle Busch in the No. 8 Chevy and Austin Dillon in the No. 3 Chevrolet. Busch is the defending race winner.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Martin Truex Jr. was the top Toyota in qualifying and his No. 19 Camry will roll off sixth. Team Penske's Joey Logano will start seventh in the No. 22 Ford Mustang, followed by Ford teammate Roush Fenway Keselowski's Chris Buescher, last week's race winner Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Christopher Bell in the No. 20 JGR Toyota.

Of note, NASCAR Cup Series championship leader Kyle Larson will be starting last in the 38-car field.

His No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet wasn't allowed to qualify Saturday because team members were seen tampering with the roof rails while pushing the car to pit road. NASCAR deemed it an unapproved adjustment and immediately disallowed a qualifying attempt.

Stewart-Haas Racing's Ryan Preece will start 11th in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford -- his best qualifying run this season. Alex Bowman, in the No. 48 Chevrolet, is starting 12th.

Also of note, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, a series-best three-race winner this season, will roll off 13th, alongside 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace, who earned his first career victory here in 2021.

Penske Racing's Ryan Blaney - the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion who has three Talladega victories including last fall in the Playoffs -- will start 21st. Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin, a two-time winner at the track, will start 23rd.

Notes

--Hendrick Motorsports' Elliott is a two-time Talladega race winner and has always been strong on the big tracks -- like ‘Dega and Daytona International Speedway. But Elliott conceded that he never knows what to expect at these venues in terms of the final run to the finish.

Five of the last eight Talladega races have included an overtime finish -- neither of Elliott's wins (2019 and 2022), however, came with extra laps.

"It' a $64 question, I don't know," Elliott said of the situation and being able to plan ahead on the strategy of extra laps or not.

"For me personally, I look at it like it's going to go to the finish and you try to position yourself where you want to be when you get back to the start-finish line. It's just a really hard thing to guess when a wreck is going to happen, if it's going to happen. I just don't know. Ask (Ryan) Blaney. I feel like he's won the last 15 races."

--Blaney, who won at Talladega last fall, was asked about Elliott's remarks on why he is so good at the big track -- in regulation or in overtime. A victory this weekend would mark his fourth at Talladega.

"You never can predict it; I've always had that in my head," Blaney said. "You can sit around and predict favorites for these races here for and Daytona, and it's like trying to guess the lottery. You just never know what's going to happen. My mindset is always just try to stay in the game and just be in position to try and capitalize at the end. We've been fortunate here the last handful of times to have a shot to at least run up front and have a shot to win the race."

--Even before McDowell won pole position for Sunday's race, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing's Buescher acknowledged this weekend's Talladega 500-miler represented a really great opportunity for Ford to get in the winner's column for the first time this season.

Blaney won the fall Talladega race in his Ford, and Buescher's teammate and team co-owner Brad Keselowski is the winningest driver in Sunday's field with six victories at the big track.

Even without having a win, Buescher is ranked 13th with five top-10s in the opening nine races. Keselowski is ranked 17th with three top-five showings.

"It's circled high on the list because it's ‘the next one,'" Buescher said of Talladega, noting that for his RFK team the opening eight races of this season have been far more successful than they were a year ago.

"We were fast in Daytona," he said, adding, "We're never sitting still; this sport doesn't do that."

Former Ford driver and current FOX television NASCAR analyst Kevin Harvick said this week that Ford needs to win and win soon. Keselowski agreed.

"It's definitely a better opportunity for us," Keselowski said of Ford winning at Talladega. "We have more speed as a manufacturer at these types of tracks and we need to capitalize on that. I think it's a great opportunity not just for Ford to win but for our team to win at RFK and we need to come out of here with great finishes."

Winless for three years and having never visited Victory Lane with the team he owns, Keselowski and his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford will be among the favorites when the NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Alabama for Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Last week in a Sunday full of mayhem, Chevrolet's Elliott recorded his first win since 2022 (at Talladega) one week after a top-three finish in Martinsville.

Now, Keselowski is trying to follow that example after a strong run in Texas left him trailing only the Hendrick Motorsports driver at the end.

Despite the runner-up showing at treacherous Texas Motor Speedway, Keselowski voiced some displeasure after the event matched the track-record 16 cautions set on Sept. 25, 2022, in Tyler Reddick's win.

"We didn't have a ton of speed," the 2012 Cup champion said. "Honestly, I'm more frustrated than anything because I feel like we have a great team, and we don't have the speed to go with it, and we're doing all we can to overcome that.

"The driver in me is frustrated because I feel like these are races I'm good enough to win, and we don't have the speed to do it. And the owner in me is mad as hell because it's my fault for not making the cars faster."

He might feel better at Talladega, a harrowing, high-speed superspeedway where he recorded both his first career win in 2009 and most recent one in 2021.

As he zeroes in on a victory, Keselowski can rely on his history of going fast at Talladega, arguably still the circuit's most dangerous layout that has featured some of the most horrifying, highlight-reel wrecks.

He played a part in of one of those on April 26, 2009, at the 2.66-mile steeply banked track.

Running 10th with four laps to go, Keselowski -- then a 25-year-old driving the No. 09 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet for owner James Finch -- pushed Carl Edwards to the front with the duo roaring by race leader Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the high side.

Approaching the checkers, Keselowski moved high and then dipped his car below Edwards, turning the Ford driver and propelling him airborne and into the frontstretch's catch fence.

The wild crash ended with Keselowski winning for the first time in the Cup Series and seven fans being hurt.

"We'll race like this until we kill somebody," said Edwards afterward, "then (NASCAR) will change it."

The wreck was eerily similar to Bobby Allison's in 1987.

"Well, it's scary, but it's exciting for the fans. It always has been," Allison said at Talladega that day. "Part of the attraction of Talladega is the potential for danger."

New rules have slowed the cars at Talladega, but with his first and last win being at the mammoth superspeedway, expect Keselowski's emotions to be racing as fast as ever.