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A few hours later, Preece was sitting in 38th place in the official race results.

Preece and defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano were disqualified from the Jack Link's 500 after their cars failed post-race inspection -- specifically, NASCAR found technical violations in the rear spoilers.

That dropped Preece's No. 60 Ford to 38th place and Logano's No. 22 Ford into 39th, last place. Logano crossed the finish line in fifth place.

According to a NASCAR report, officials found "unapproved shims in the rear spoiler area." Logano's car violated rules relating to spoiler braces used during superspeedway races, per the report.

"The No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang was disqualified following post-race inspection at Talladega today," Team Penske said in a statement. "One of the 18 bolts on the surface of the spoiler that connect to the base was found to be loose, and NASCAR penalized the team as a result. This was not intentional and happened throughout the course of the race event. Team Penske accepts the disqualification."

Cindric picked up his first win of the season as Fords originally had four cars finish in the top 6.

NASCAR also announced the No. 5 of Kyle Larson (who moved up to second after the DQs) and the 21 of Josh Berry (26th place) would undergo additional inspection this week at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, N.C.

The Fords of Cindric and Preece ran 1-2 side-by-side in front of the Chevrolets of William Byron and Kyle Larson with 17 laps to go. The pair raced tight but clean off Turn 4 for the final time, with Cindric's No. 2 Team Penske car edging Preece's No. 60 by 0.022 seconds for his third career win in his 125th start.

On the day's final pit stop, Cindric's crew turned in the quickest service on the No. 2 car, which gridded 25th as it hit pit road.

The victory was just Ford's third in the past 10 Talladega events.

Larson and Byron finished third and fourth, while Joey Logano ended up in fifth.

Polesitter Zane Smith was 21st. Ryan Blaney, the 2023 series champion, wrecked out in the first caution and was 39th in his fourth DNF this season.

After Smith led them to green following his first career pole qualifying spot, his No. 38 Ford was quickly under attack for the lead by Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch.

However, the Toyota contingent soon formed on the top line of the 2.66-mile superspeedway and blew past the Fords and Chevys toward the front in the 60-lap Stage 1.

Two laps after pitting, Busch and Brad Keselowski wrecked coming toward pit road. Three-time Talladega winner Blaney and Alex Bowman also received damage.

With 10 laps to go in the segment, there was more trouble after Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher spun down to the apron while running side by side on the front row. Bell's No. 20 crashed into the inside wall in the 188-lap race's hardest hit.

In a four-car bowtie brigade, Larson recorded his first Talladega stage win, though he was soon sent to the back for speeding on pit road. The Chevys of Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chase Elliott took the next three spots.

Bubba Wallace maxed the bonus points by holding off Logano and Larson, who overcame his speeding infraction, to win Stage 2. Cindric was fourth.

With 50 laps to go, five Toyotas led five Fords and two Chevrolets as the manufacturers teamed up and went two-wide instead of three abreast.

Smith, the 2022 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday's Jack Link's 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the sport's biggest track with two-time series champion Kyle Busch starting alongside Smith on the front row -- his best start since earning pole position at Dover, Del. last Spring.

Smith earned his first pole position with a lap of 182.174 mph in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford -- bettering Busch's time by a slight .132-second on the 2.66-mile circuit.

"Obviously a lot of speed," said Smith, who was fastest in opening-round time trials and improved that time in the final round. "Just really proud of how our whole team has been working together before our one-week break (last week) and I feel like that one-week break was perfect not to reset but to digest and think about what we need to re-build on.

"And now we're off to a good start for this next long stretch. Proud of the speed and everything we've been doing, just need to execute a little bit better but a ton of speed this weekend. Long race tomorrow and a lot of things are going to happen and go on, but obviously we have the speed to do it. We'll see how it goes."

Seven Fords, a pair of Chevrolets and a single Toyota advanced to that 10-car final round.

Reigning series champion, Team Penske's Joey Logano and Roush Fenway Keselowski's Ryan Preece will start from row two.

Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon, RFK's Chris Buescher, Penske's Austin Cindric, Wood Brothers's Josh Berry, Penske's Ryan Blaney and Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs (the only Toyota) rounded out the second round qualifiers.

Defending race winner Tyler Reddick will roll off 26th in the 23XI Racing No. 45 Toyota. Championship points leader, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, will start 16th on the 39-car grid.

NOTEBOOK

KESELOWSKI's OPPORTUNITY

Brad Keselowski is a former NASCAR Cup Series champion -- claiming the title in 2012 in only his 16th full-time year competing in the series -- and leads all drivers with six Talladega Superspeedway trophies. That's all encouraging, but the 41-year old owner-driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford would really like to resume that big track magic this weekend and jumpstart an uncharacteristically "off" start to the 2025 season.

Keselowski is still racing for his first top-10 of the year -- an 11th place showing at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway is his best result and he sits an uncharacteristic 31st in the championship standings.

The 2.66-mile Talladega high banks, however, presents a level of confidence for the former champ. He won his very first NASCAR Cup Series start at the track in 2009. He's got 12 top-five showings -- including three runner-up finishes -- and has finished in the top-10 in half of his 32 starts, a remarkable statistic at a drafting track.

"It's definitely not my best (season) start," Keselowski allowed. "It doesn't feel like my best start, but I've got my eternal optimist glasses on and I see the potential. The potential for this team is higher than any team I've had the last four or five years and we just have to recognize it. There's a lot of talent and a lot of fresh faces and the mistakes that come with that. We have to clean that up and recognize our potential."

CHAMPIONSHIP CREW CHIEF CHILDERS OUT AT SPIRE

Spire Motorsports announced this week that it and veteran crew chief Rodney Childers had parted ways effective immediately.

Childers, who guided Kevin Harvick to the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series championship, was in his first year with Spire after spending 11 years with the Stewart-Haas Racing team which left the series at the end of 2024. He has served as a crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2005 and has 30 victories and nearly a 50 percent top-10 percentage, his cars scoring 299 top 10s in 685 combined starts.

"I know this is a shock, but also know that not everything works out perfect all the time," Childers wrote on social media this week, thanking Spire Motorsports for his time there and wishing them "the best in the future."

"This was just one of those things that just wasn't working for either of us."

The pairing with Haley at Spire Motorsports, however, was slow to start with only a single top-10 (10th at Homestead-Miami) through the opening nine races. Haley sits 23rd in the championship points standings. He finished 26th and 31st in the championship the previous two seasons. He qualified 37th for Sunday's race.

"For me, just showing up and trying to do my job to the best of my ability each week and obviously it's an unexpected change and not something you ever want to do in the middle of the season, but super proud and thankful to be with a race team and owner like Jeff Dickerson who isn't scared to make some changes for maybe the better," said Haley, who said he only found out about the situation after a day of regularly scheduled meetings last Tuesday.

"It was just a ‘fit' thing, I think, nothing super wrong that stood out or super left or right. I think at the end of the day we're in the Cup Series and to compete on a Sunday in the Cup Series everything has to be perfect and if one little thing isn't perfect, you're not going to win races. And that's what we're trying to do."

*LARSON LUCK ON SUPERSPEEDWAYS

Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson is widely regarded as one of the best race car drivers in the world -- the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion wins in every sort of car he drives and is poised to make his second Indianapolis 500 start next month.

The one missing style of trophy in the 32-year old's large trophy case, however, is a superspeedway-type victory. A 31-race winner, he is 0-for-20 on Talladega's high banks with a best showing of fourth last October. He is 0-for-22 at Daytona with no top-fives. His best showing is sixth there.

Even bolstered with a pair of wins already this season, he says it doesn't necessarily change his approach for Sunday -- doesn't mean he will race any more aggressively.

"Sure, it's nice to have a win before coming here, but it's kind of been that way for me since joining Hendrick (2021) we've always had a win before going to Talladega," Larson said. "I don't know what it would be like mentally if we didn't have a win. So yeah, I just believe in treating every weekend the same. It would be nice to get a win here but you don't put any more or any less emphasis on it than every weekend."

*GIBBS RESURGENCE

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs is coming off his best showing of the 2025 season -- a third-place finish at the Bristol Motor Speedway short track as he arrives at the series' biggest track, the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway.

It's a significant uptick for Gibbs who has jumped from 34th place in the championship standings three races ago to 20th coming into Sunday's race at Talladega thanks to the Bristol result and a ninth place the preceding race at Darlington. It marks the first back-to-back string of top-10 finishes of the season for the 22-year old former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion and first since last summer when he scored a third place finish at Michigan and a fifth at Daytona.

Most importantly, it shows a notable sign of improvement for his No. 54 JGR Toyota team which has a new crew chief this year in Tyler Allen and several new crew members. He was the only Toyota driver to advance to the second round qualifying Saturday at Talladega and will roll off 10th in Sunday's race.

"For us, I feel the results have shown for sure," Gibbs said of the recent change in tide. "But there is not a time where I've felt I was down on my team or was bummed out. I just think it's part of the process, we have a new team and I think our guys are really good and I have a lot of faith in our guys. There's a lot of things behind the scenes and everyone makes a judgement call, but I know I can run good and that our team is capable of that.

"Sometimes it takes time, and we'll get there. I have confidence in our team."

After last spring's quirky, tire-falloff oddity in cool temperatures, not much happened in Thunder Valley on April 13 as Larson's No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet scorched its way around the half-mile Bristol bullring to lead 411 of the 500 laps on a warmer day.

At least the 2024 version was compelling.

The only reason Larson didn't repeat his 462 laps led in last September's Bristol race was because of Ryan Blaney's strategy of not pitting, putting him in position to lead 48 circuits. But the No. 12 Ford driver lost on the yellow flag for the second straight week -- not needing it when leading at Darlington and not getting it when needed at Bristol.

The excitement ramped back up on Easter weekend when the Xfinity, Craftsman Truck and ARCA series gave fans who tuned in on FS1 and the CW plenty of action and tight racing at Rockingham that Bristol sorely lacked.

The racing was so good at the 1.017-mile, D-shaped speedway located in North Carolina's sand hills that it begged a question: Is there a future place on the Cup schedule for The Rock?

"We know that (NASCAR Executive Vice President) Ben Kennedy told the Charlotte Observer that, 'Yes, we're looking at Rockingham. We could go back there in 2027 if everything goes good,'" said former driver Kenny Wallace on social media.

Wallace was at the track with fellow Missourian Ken Schrader for the festivities and racing's return and said he felt optimistic about Rockingham.

"It was a grand slam. ... I feel really good that NASCAR Cup Series will be back at Rockingham in 2027," he added.

As for the mammoth Talladega 2.66-mile high-banked challenge, it produced in a way as big as its layout one year ago.

Running fifth off the final turn, Tyler Reddick drove his No. 45 Toyota through a mess sparked by blocking from leader Michael McDowell as the field approached the checkers. The Team 23XI driver won his first 2024 race for team owner Michael Jordan as chaos started behind him.

While Reddick is the defending race winner, 15-year veteran Ricky Stenhouse Jr. notched just his fourth career victory when the Cup Series returned to the high-speed track east of Birmingham, beating Brad Keselowski's No. 6 Ford in early October.

Talladega also has a history of drivers recording their very first Cup wins at the Alabama superspeedway.

Keselowski found Victory Lane in 2009 for his initial triumph in NASCAR's top series. Over three straight seasons running from 1986-88, Bobby Hillin Jr., Davey Allison, Phil Parsons and Schrader were first-time series winners. And Stenhouse (2017) and Bubba Wallace (2021) also scored checkers there for the first time.

So a driver like Ryan Preece, Ty Gibbs, John Hunter Nemechek, Zane Smith, Carson Hocevar, Noah Gragson or Riley Herbst should hang in there, be patient and try to avoid "The Big One."

Sunday may be your day.

While he sits fifth in the Cup Series standings, there's been a noticeable lack of race-winning speed from the No. 9 team. With a 36-race winless streak currently on his back, here are the tracks on the schedule in the near future where Elliott could break through and snap the drought.

--Talladega Superspeedway, Sunday

Elliott has turned into one of the best superspeedway racers in the field in recent years, which is reflected by his numbers at Talladega. Elliott is a two-time Talladega winner (spring 2019, fall 2022) and has eight top-10 finishes at the 2.66-mile track in 18 starts. A 14.6 average finish at a track as chaotic as Talladega is quite the accomplishment, and Elliott hasn't crashed out of a race at Talladega since 2020. He has led laps in his last five races there, and a drafting-style race could be what the Hendrick Motorsports driver needs to find his winning mojo again.

--Texas Motor Speedway, May 4

Texas was the site of Elliott's last Cup Series win as well as his first Nationwide (now Xfinity) Series win in 2014. It's also been one of his better tracks throughout his Cup Series career. Over his first seven races at TMS, Elliott finished no worse than 13th. While the 1.5-mile venue hasn't necessarily been kind to Elliott in recent years in terms of results, the Next-Gen car has seen Elliott turn into a consistent front runner again at Texas. He led 44 laps in 2022 before crashing and finishing 32nd, finished 11th in 2023 and won in 2024 after leading 39 laps. Elliott may not be the odds-on favorite to win at Texas, but it would be surprising if he's not at least in contention for a top-five finish.

--Nashville Superspeedway, June 1

In the four Cup Series races held at Nashville, Elliott has two top-five finishes, including a win at the 1.33-mile track in 2022. He finished fourth at Nashville in 2023, and while his other finishes -- 18th in 2024 and 39th in 2021 after a disqualification -- are underwhelming, Elliott has shown lots of promise at a track most of the Cup Series field is still trying to figure out. If he is still winless when NASCAR hits its summer stretch, Nashville could be just the place for the sport's most popular driver to break through as the dog days of summer approach.

--Atlanta Motor Speedway, June 28

As previously mentioned, Elliott has become one of the best superspeedway racers in the field, an invaluable attribute at the reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway. In the six races Elliott has run at the reconfigured 1.5-mile track -- he missed Atlanta's first date in 2023 due to a leg injury -- he hasn't finished worse than 20th. He won at Atlanta in July of 2022, and led 125 laps at the track between the two races held there that year. He only has one top-10 over the last four Atlanta races, but he has been able to bring his car home in one piece, which is the first step to winning a superspeedway race. Add in extra motivation due to Atlanta being Elliott's home track, and you have a storybook win waiting to happen should he still be on the schneid when the Cup Series rolls into the Peach State this summer.

The candidates for the class of 2026 include 10 on the modern era ballot: Busch, LaJoie, Greg Biffle, Neil Bonnett, Tim Brewer, Jeff Burton, Randy Dorton, Harry Gant, Harry Hyde and Jack Sprague.

Busch, 46, won the NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2004, the first year the circuit went to a 10-race playoff format when it was called the Chase. The Las Vegas native won 34 times in 776 starts in his 23-year Cup Series career, including the Daytona 500 in 2017. He also captured 28 poles and won multiple races in Xfinity and Truck Series competition.

LaJoie, 63, scored two championships in what is now called the Xfinity Series in 1996 and 1997 and registered 15 wins and nine poles over a 350-start career. LaJoie, the champion of the former Busch North Series in 1985, was also an innovator in the world of motorsports safety through his long-running racing-seat company.

Busch and LaJoie were voted to the greatest drivers list in 2023.

Title-winning crew chief Jake Elder, who was on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2021, makes a return appearance on the pioneer ballot for the five nominees whose careers began 60 years ago or more. Also up for consideration from last year's vote are Ray Hendrick, Banjo Matthews, Larry Phillips and Bob Welborn.

Longtime Charlotte Motor Speedway promoter H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, 86, is nominated for the Landmark Award for outstanding contributions to NASCAR. The other nominees are Alvin Hawkins, Lesa France Kennedy, Dr. Joseph Mattioli and Les Richter.

A voting panel will convene on May 20 in Charlotte, N.C., with fan voting open until May 18 at noon ET. The collective ballot from fans voting online will count as one vote along with the panel's results.

In the ninth race of 2025, Larson started third and dominated the field after swiping the lead from polesitter Alex Bowman on Lap 40.

He beat Denny Hamlin, seeking a third straight win, by 2.25 seconds for his second victory of 2025 and 31st overall.

Larson led 462 laps last September to win the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol.

The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports driver won for the third time at BMS, all occurring in the past six races, in a race that featured just three cautions and one multi-car incident -- Shane van Gisbergen and Cody Ware tangling within the first 200 laps.

Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney comprised the top five.

Xfinity Series racer Jesse Love made his Cup debut in Richard Childress Racing's No. 33 Chevrolet. The Californian qualified 19th and finished 31st.

Bowman paced the first 39 times around the 0.533-mile speedway, but Larson, who won Saturday's Xfinity race, roared past his teammate and pulled away. Meanwhile, Hamlin moved up to second in a fast Stage 1.

Larson won the 125-lap segment, but it took a hard battle with Ryan Preece's No. 60 -- the final car on the lead lap -- to get to the checkers, leaving just 23 cars on the same lap with Larson. Hamlin, Justin Haley, Bowman and Carson Hocevar completed positions second to fifth, respectively.

van Gisbergen got into Ware for the second caution, but the mishaps continued on pit road. While leaving his pit, John Hunter Nemechek's No. 42 lost a tire, which traveled down and struck Daniel Suarez's No. 99 during service, and Suarez's crew let an old tire roll into the pit in front of them. Both teams received penalties.

Larson had them covered again on Lap 250 as Stage 2 ended, with Bowman, Christopher Bell, Hocevar and Hamlin getting chunks of bonus points.

Concern grew in the Hendrick Motorsports camp when Bowman's No. 48 began billowing blue smoke around Lap 300. He retired it on Lap 352 and finished 37th.

Well, not quite all. Bowman also had to turn a blistering lap in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet during Saturday's time trials at the 0.533-mile short track, and he did just that.

Bowman covered the distance in 14.912 seconds (128.675 mph) -- the fastest lap ever run at Bristol in the NASCAR Cup Series Next Gen car. That was good enough to hold off fellow Chevrolet driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (128.563 mph) by 0.013 seconds to secure the top starting spot for the ninth Cup Series race of the season.

It wasn't just the Busch Light Pole Award that had Bowman salivating. Extensive tire wear in the practice session that preceded qualifying compared to last year's spring event in Thunder Valley, where tire fall-off was a crucial aspect of the competition.

"I think we're all much more prepared than we were last spring," said Bowman, who ran his lap under favorable cloud cover -- with the sun coming out shortly after his qualifying attempt and warming the track slightly on an otherwise chilly day.

"I'm excited for a tire management race. It's going to be a lot of fun. We'll see what we've got," he added.

"We started practice with rubber already on the track from the Xfinity cars, peeled it right up and sawed the tires right off. Yeah, confusing why we're doing it again when we didn't do it in the fall.

"It's going to be warmer tomorrow. Maybe that changes it. It's really difficult to say. I think it's going to be like that (the spring race), but we'll find out together, I think."

Kyle Larson (128.511 mph) qualified third, after winning the pole position for Saturday's Xfinity Series race earlier in the day. Denny Hamlin, winner of the last two Cup events, was fourth in the fastest Toyota at 128.460 mph, and Ryan Blaney topped all other Ford drivers with a fifth-place qualifying lap at 128.305 mph.

In seven of the last eight Cup races at Bristol, the winner has come from the top five spots on the starting grid -- two from the pole and two from the second starting position.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell claimed the sixth and seventh starting spots, with AJ Allmendinger, Carson Hocevar and Justin Haley claiming eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively.

Kyle Busch was 15th fastest in qualifying, but he spun off Turn 4 on his second lap and flat-spotted his tires. Joey Logano, who qualified immediately after Busch, broke loose off Turn 2 and smacked the outside wall with the right rear of his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Logano will start 38th on Sunday.

Xfinity Series regular Jesse Love qualified 19th for his Cup Series debut on Sunday in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

Hyak Motorsports' Ricky Stenhouse Jr. topped the leaderboard in practice at 128.082 mph ahead of Team Penske drivers Blaney (127.571 mph) and Austin Cindric (127.140 mph).

Larson (126.737 mph) and Chase Elliott (126.520 mph) rounded out the top five for Hendrick Motorsports.

Brad Keselowski (126.495 mph), Hamlin (126.461 mph), Busch (126.337 mph), John Hunter Nemechek (126.187 mph) and Bowman (126.121 mph) completed the top 10.

Christopher Bell's three wins in a row at Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas and Phoenix Raceway may lighten the impact of what Hamlin could accomplish in Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, but make no mistake, winning three NASCAR races in a row is no small feat. If Hamlin crosses the line first, it would be his third consecutive win after he collected victories at Martinsville Speedway (March 30) and Darlington Raceway (April 6).

Bristol is the perfect venue for Hamlin to go for his third win in a row. In the four Next-Gen races held at "Thunder Valley," Hamlin hasn't finished worse than ninth. That four-race stretch includes wins in the 2023 Bristol night race and the 2024 Food City 500.

His finishes at Bristol before the current era vary on a wider scale, but there's no denying that Bristol has been Hamlin's playground with the Next-Gen car.

Hamlin has no short list of rivals threatening to end his winning streak at two.

Kyle Larson hasn't finished worse than fifth at Bristol in the Next-Gen era. The winner of the 2024 Bristol night race is seeking history of his own this weekend, as he looks to be the first driver other than Kyle Busch to complete a triple sweep and win all three NASCAR races on a given weekend.

Hamlin won't win a third consecutive race without competition from the last driver to win three in a row. Bell hasn't finished worse than 10th in the four Bristol races with the Next-Gen car, and in eight races this season, he has five top-five finishes. After an uncharacteristically poor two-race stretch at Las Vegas and Homestead (12th, 29th), the No. 20 team bounced back with top-five finishes at Martinsville and Darlington.

Comparing Hamlin's potential streak to Bell's and the drivers that have won three in a row before them provides more context to Hamlin's own run. In 2021, Larson won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, Sonoma and Nashville consecutively. Before Bell, he was the last driver to win three races in a row, and nearly made it four at Pocono before a flat tire on the final lap gave the win to Alex Bowman.

In 2018, Brad Keselowski won the Southern 500 at Darlington, the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis and the Cup Series playoff opener at Las Vegas consecutively. Like the drivers that won three in a row after him, Keselowski found his three wins at three very different racetracks.

The bottom line? It's hard to win three NASCAR Cup Series races in a row, especially in a modern era where the variety of the schedule puts different disciplines of racing on tap constantly. Only the best drivers can accomplish such a feat.

Just take a look at those who came before Keselowski, Larson and Bell. Jimmie Johnson won four Chase races in a row in 2007 en route to his second consecutive championship, while Mark Martin won four in a row in the summer of 1993. In 1992, Bill Elliott won four of the first five races of the season before ultimately falling just shy of the 1992 championship.

Hamlin's resume and legacy already rival those whose feat he will try to match inside the "Last Great Colosseum" on Sunday, but winning three races in a row would just be another accolade on a long list of them for a man who is currently the best driver in NASCAR history to never win a Cup Series title.

That's right: The drivers are leaving one tire-munching track for another.

It's a real shame that Rockingham Speedway isn't next week's stop after Bristol because that would be a Mount Rushmore of rubber-chewing and rubber-spewing racing surfaces.

Of Darlington and Rockingham, former driver Ken Schrader was once asked how often a pit crew should change tires at the two gritty tracks. In typical Schrader fashion, he joked that teams should bolt on four new Goodyears after just pushing the car from the garage to pit road.

Those are three demanding, abrasive tracks where tire wear and tire management become major factors in either winning a race or letting a victory slip away like William Byron did last week, though that was largely a pit strategy snafu.

Byron's team frittered around and found out that passing in dirty air is not easy in the Next Gen car, though the No. 12 Ford manned by Ryan Blaney had no problem picking them off and would have likely won if not for Kyle Larson's spin off Turn 2 with four laps left for the final caution flag.

That came off the front nose of Bubba Wallace's No. 23 Toyota, but race data showed Larson checked up way too aggressively off the turn after he saw Wallace's teammate Tyler Reddick make hard impact with the wall.

Still, Larson's overreaction and the No. 11 crew's super-fast pit stop were enough to help Hamlin, the defending spring race winner at Bristol, score back-to-back victories.

This week should be a venture into the wild unknown for everyone because the tire-management race Hamlin won last March was due to Goodyear's tires showing cords after about 45 laps on the high-banked, half-mile bullring. There was dire concern that Goodyear would run out of tires.

NASCAR decided to go with the same tires it had used the previous fall in 2023, but 15-degree cooler temperatures in the mountainous region created a buildup of rubber marbles as the track lost grip.

To no surprise, the three most-seasoned veterans who faced many tire-heat cycles as younger short-trackers -- Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski -- occupied the top three spots and demonstrated their skill in tire maintenance.

It was one of 2024's best races, pitting older drivers using decades of experience against hard-charging hotshots who can blaze a single circuit around any track.

In all, the 500-lapper featured a series-record 54 lead changes on a short track, 3,589 passes under green (8.9 per green-flag lap) and just five drivers on the lead lap, the fewest since June 2004 at Dover.

Sunday's temperatures are supposed to be in the low- to mid-60s.

Larson, the speedway's most recent winner, did everything right last September by leading 462 laps, the most ever by a Hendrick Motorsports driver in a single race.

"To me, it's the closest style to a dirt sprint car race although it's a lot longer still," said Larson. "Just the intensity, the aggression, the fast-paced style of that race, I'm comfortable with."

His team members will hope to hit on the right setup, car balance and pit work again on the No. 5 Chevrolet.

But they will keep a keen eye on tires while they are at it.

In the appeal, NASCAR contends that 23XI and Front Row sought and received injunctions binding them to the 2024 charter agreement despite contending that the charter violates antitrust law.

NASCAR asserted that U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell misapplied antitrust laws and portrayed the release of claims as standard business practice, not anti-competitive conduct. NASCAR argued that businesses, per case law, have a right to choose the terms and conditions of their agreements and that it's the teams' choice to accept or decline those terms.

Per the appeal, NASCAR went on defend exclusivity agreements with racetracks and limited non-compete clauses, emphasizing their importance in cost control and consistency for race operations and media rights.

NASCAR presented 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports as investments by entrepreneurs such as Jordan, contrasting them with antitrust cases involving athletes restricted by monopolistic environments.

In the appeal, NASCAR explained its competitiveness in attracting capital, fans and owners, citing high turnover and the need for continual investment.

Meanwhile, 23XI and Front Row in court filings have maintained that NASCAR's business practices are monopolistic and anticompetitive and deny teams a fair shake.

Following pit service after Kyle Larson wrecked with four laps to go, Hamlin's crew turned in a 9.4-second pit stop to lock in the top spot in the green-white-checker run.

The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota quickly moved away and saw the lead grow as William Byron, Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick ran three-wide for second while Hamlin came to the white flag.

Posting his 56th career win and fifth at Darlington, Hamlin beat Byron by 0.597 seconds while leading just 10 laps.

Byron dominated by leading the first 243 laps but was shuffled back to third with 50 to go after pitting four laps later than Bell and Reddick, who were third and fourth respectively.

Fifth-place finisher Ryan Blaney appeared headed to victory in the final laps until Larson's crash with four to go.

On Lap 4, Larson lost control of his No. 5 Chevrolet off Turn 2 all by himself and smacked the inside wall, getting significant damage on the race's first caution.

Byron's Chevrolet set a hot pace as the field behind him fought the difficult track. With eight laps to go in the segment while Byron was lapping Carson Hocevar's No. 77 Chevrolet off Turn 4, Riley Herbst's No. 35 Toyota turned Hocevar, who had brought out the second caution on Lap 24, to force the third yellow session.

In a two-lap sprint to finish Stage 1, Byron held off Bubba Wallace and Ryan Preece to snare the maximum bonus points, become the first driver since stage-racing's inception to lead every lap in a segment at Darlington.

Byron continued his dominance and was again the best car in Stage 2, as he beat Joey Logano and Hamlin in the 100-circuit segment.

Reddick pitted four laps ahead of Byron with 50 to go to swipe the lead from him on fresher tires, but Blaney erased Reddick's six-second lead with four laps to go before Larson's late mishap.

Byron's lap of 170.904 mph around the iconic 1.366-mile oval set fast lap early in Busch Light Pole Qualifying on Saturday afternoon and set up a front row that will also include Ryan Preece in the No. 60 Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford -- Preece's best start since winning his only career pole position at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in Spring, 2023.

It's the 15th pole position of the 27-year old Byron's eight-year career, his second of the season (also Phoenix in March) and second at the notoriously tough Darlington track.

"I felt good about it today, felt like we had a good plan going into practice and that we are always strong here,'' said this year's Daytona 500 winner Byron, who won at Darlington in 2023 and said it may well be his "best track."

"Tried to find a decent balance there, worked on it and got better and finished practice pretty strong so I felt like I had some confidence going into practice. Was just nervous going early. Having an earlier draw was not ideal, but it seemed like the track temp was going up so it wasn't the worst thing. ... Proud of our team, we had a really good week of prep.''

Although Chevy and Ford split the front row. Toyotas filled out the rest of the top-five on the grid. Last week's Martinsville winner Denny Hamlin -- Darlington's winningest active driver (four wins) -- was third fastest in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. His teammate, Daytona 500 polesitter Chase Briscoe, was fourth quickest in the No. 19 JGR Toyota followed by 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace, who will roll off fifth in the No. 23 Toyota that Hamlin co-owns.

Austin Cindric will start sixth in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford, followed by 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick (Toyota), Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch (Chevrolet), Penske's Ryan Blaney (Ford) and Spire Motorsports' Michael McDowell (Chevrolet).

Although the Hendrick team is ranked first, second (Kyle Larson), third (Chase Elliott) and fifth (Alex Bowman) in the championship points, his teammates did not fare as well in Saturday's time trials. Elliott will start 19th. Larson, who won at Darlington in 2023 will start 19th and Bowman will roll off 33rd.

"It may be tricky strategy-wise and you can get stuck back there, so (qualifying) matters maybe just a tick more than other places," Byron said, noting of his teammates, "These cars are really finicky so hitting the balance and just hitting the lap the way you want it to be can be really difficult. So I'm not surprised because there's a lot of parity in the Next Gen era and especially in qualifying so you can be just that little bit off.

"I feel like our team has really good notes from qualifying though and that will really help.''

Defending race winner Brad Keselowski, co-owner and driver of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing's No. 6 Ford will start 20th.

NASCAR HOLDS COMPETITION MEETING WITH XFINITY SERIES DRIVERS

*NASCAR officials met with the entire field of Xfinity Series drivers early Friday morning before any track activity at Darlington Raceway - a meeting triggered by an especially aggressive showing for the series at the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway short track a week ago - a race so chaotic that Chase Elliott - a former Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series champ - called it "embarrassing" for the sport.

Although aggressive moves characterized much of the second half of the race, a big wreck on the final lap started up front with then leaders -- Joe Gibbs Racing's Taylor Gray and JR Motorsports' Sammy Smith -- precipitated some angry confrontations post-race. Gray (off track) and Smith (on track) were both penalized for their actions.

Veteran Austin Hill was the big beneficiary of the on-track situation between the two, driving through the melee up front to claim his second win of the year - credited with only leading that last lap. Hill shared that the meeting went well and that he expects his fellow drivers to be more mindful of the way they race going forward, calling NASCAR very "firm" in its morning message.

"I think it's going to calm down a lot more than you think today," Hill said of Saturday afternoon's Sports Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 at Darlington. "We'll have to wait and see but I think we're all going to still be aggressive and trying to win the race but it's going to be a very respectful race."

The series' next trip to Martinsville in late October determines which four Playoff drivers advance to the Championship 4 with a shot to win the 2025 title.

"NASCAR made it very clear they don't want to be in the ball-and-strike business, they don't want to be making all these calls so they said for us to help them with that,'' Hill said. "They (NASCAR) also said if they have to step in and start making calls and black-flagging people and parking people and all those things, they'll do it. I agree with where NASCAR stands with that but I also think we in the Xfinity Series need to do a better job going forward and not putting it in NASCAR's hands.''

KESELOWSKI OPTIMISTIC DESPITE CHALLENGING EARLY SEASON

*The last Spring weekend Brad Keselowski spent in Darlington, S.C., he left South Carolina with a big trophy. It was the first victory the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion had earned as co-team owner at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. As importantly it marked a highlight in a challenging new role as owner and driver.

Darlington, in particular, has been a recent highlight reel for Keselowski whose average finish (6.4) in the last five races in best in the field. He has plenty of reason to be optimistic about this Spring run of races -- at Darlington, Bristol, Tenn., and Talladega, Ala. -- venues where he is a multi-time winner.

He comes to South Carolina without a single lap led and is still looking to claim his first top-10 finish of the eight-race season. His best showing in the No. 6 RFK Ford is 11th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He's finished 26th in the two races (at Homestead,Fla. and Martinsville, Va.) leading into Darlington.

"I feel like we're doing all the right things and get to where we need to be, we just haven't gotten the results,'' said Keselowski, who qualified 20th for Sunday's race, "We haven't qualified as well as we liked to have.

"In the race we haven't been able to put together for a number of reasons some of it in our control, a lot of it not in our control, so it's been frustrating. But kind of have the feeling we're getting the bad luck out of the way early in the season, that's kind of the overwhelming sentiment and if we stay the course, it will come back to us.''

VETERANS HAVE THE DARLINGTON EDGE

*Darlington Raceway is known as the track "Too Tough to Tame" -- and perhaps too that end, its long and distinguished list of winners includes a noticeable group of veterans. Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin leads all active drivers with four victories, another four runner-up finishes and also bests the grid in top-fives (13), top-10s (18) and overall average finish (8.2).

NASCAR Hall of Famers such as Jimmie Johnson (three wins), Bill Elliott (five wins) Jeff Gordon (seven wins) and the late Dale Earnhardt (nine wins) were all so good at the 1.366-mile oblong oval.

"This sport is so week-to-week it's hard to say (the track favors veterans) but you can't argue with results,'' said Hamlin, who has led laps in the last 10 consecutive Darlington races -- and has led more than 100 laps five different times in his career.

"It lends itself to the best drivers and the best teams. I think it's a great combination of, you've got to have everything. ... the driver has to just be really good at his craft and know when to push and when not to.

"It's going to be mentally taxing knowing you've got to hit your marks just perfectly,'' he continued. "And just the mental side of it, with 35 other guys that aren't there to let you win. It's really hard to navigate that. .. it just takes its toll, it has for me on my body and mind every time I race here. As far as the veteran side of it, I think certainly it seems that those that have lots of experience on this track and more than likely the guys have been successful because they know that feel they need to be fast here and continue to replicate it."

AN EVERYDAY EARNHARDT THROWBACK

*There is no question that NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar is a huge fan of late seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt. The driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet recently purchased online a Chevrolet pick-up truck with a paint scheme identical to one of Earnhardt's iconic No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolets. He says it's his "daily drive" and actually drove the truck from his Charlotte-area home to Darlington for the race this weekend.

"Basically I wanted something old-school car-wise,'' said Hocevar, who posted a photo of the truck parked at Darlington on his social media. "I just thought it would be fun and interesting to have. So I got it.''

ZILISCH TO MAKE 2ND CUP START

*On Thursday, Trackhouse Racing announced that 18-year-old driver Connor Zilisch will make his second NASCAR Cup Series start for the team in the sport's longest race, the May 25 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The North Carolinian Zilisch is in his first full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series season driving the No. 88 Chevrolet as a development driver for JR Motorsports and has already won an Xfinity race this year -- from the pole position -- claiming the trophy at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) road course in March. He's currently sixth in the Xfinity Series championship standings.

"It's awesome to have the opportunity to race in one of NASCAR's coolest events," said Zilisch, who has shown great talent competing in endurance races - winning in his class in both the Rolex 24 at Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring IMSA races last year.

"The Charlotte 600 is one of the most prestigious races in NASCAR. It's going to be a physical and mental challenge because that race is so tough."

After displaying some old-school dominance around tiny, tight Martinsville Speedway to win the Cook Out 400, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver could not help but be his outspoken, abrasive self on the frontstretch.

He climbed out of his No. 11 Toyota to cheers, shockingly, as fans likely realized he had won for the first time in a bit -- a 31-race drought that went back 11 months to Dover, to be exact. Then he found a way to transform those cheers back to the customary boos.

Brandishing a giant Carolina Blue-colored flag that read "11 Against the World," Hamlin was all fluttery after the win, inciting a few catcalls after the cheering.

That's the Denny we know and either love or hate -- there is little middle ground there -- but flag-waving and trash-talking aside, his performance Sunday prompted a question:

Is the 44-year-old Hamlin back during the latter portion of a Hall of Fame career?

In 2024, he won three times in the first 12 races that ran through the end of April, but he was a non-factor the rest of the way and again failed to win his first Cup title.

He's a threat to win this week's Goodyear 400 at the legendary Darlington, where Hamlin is known for finding a unique entry into Turn 1 and using it to his advantage. He owns four career wins at the "Too Tough to Tame" track, which has been Darlington's reputation all the way back to its first race in 1950.

Starting with the number eight -- Hamlin's win total in 2010 during his best season -- the Chesterfield, Va., native has 55 career wins. That's his new career total after last week's victories that was one of the most thorough wins in recent memory -- he led 274 of the final 275 laps and won by a dominant 4.6 seconds -- at a place where he has a great reputation but spent a decade of dormancy.

Hamlin was a popular Martinsville pick, and somehow that just felt right. After all, it's Hamlin on a short track in the Commonwealth, right?

However, part of the reality was that Hamlin had been good at the half-mile track -- winning three straight in 2009 and 2010 -- but also had not found the checkers there since late March 2015, a 19-race rudderless run around the flat track.

Commentator Kevin Harvick said he believes in Hamlin, who now works with crew chief Chris Gayle instead of Chris Gabehart.

"That's old-school Denny Hamlin," Harvick said on "Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour" podcast. "For Denny, this is an important moment ... Bringing Chris Gayle in, he knew this was going to be a disruption to the rest of his life. He put the time in to get through the offseason and here we are six weeks into the season and he's in Victory Lane.

"That says a lot about who he is as a driver and a leader."

At Darlington this weekend, Hamlin will race the red-themed Sport Clips paint scheme to honor recent NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Carl Edwards. While the colors may take us to a different era, the real throwback might be that we could be at the start of Hamlin taking it back to 2010.

At 44 years old, Hamlin is around the age where drivers tend to slow down. The trips to victory lane become few and far between, and top-10 runs become the new standard for success.

For Hamlin, however, that doesn't appear to be the case.

Hamlin brought a 31-race winless streak into Martinsville and left with a grandfather clock after leading 274 of 400 laps. It was a performance that showed Hamlin still has plenty of gas in the tank, and one that should inspire confidence in Hamlin as the season rolls on.

According to those around him, Hamlin has had to ramp up his training and preparation as the years have stacked up.

"He's probably in the simulator more than anyone," car owner Joe Gibbs said of Hamlin. "I think it says a lot about him. He works his rear end off."

"I'm surprised at how hard he does work," crew chief Chris Gayle said. "Like (Gibbs) is talking about, we (Gayle and Hamlin) were texting last night; he was watching 2022 SMT data from here. He's had to ramp up the amount of work he's done where he may have gotten by earlier (in his career) without doing that. I think he still has a drive and determination to win."

That drive comes from a part of Hamlin that is still goal-oriented. On Sunday, Hamlin tied 1989 Cup Series champion Rusty Wallace for 11th on the all-time wins list with 55 Cup Series victories.

"There are still goals left for him at this age," Gayle said. "I think it's no secret he wants to get 60 wins. It's one thing to talk about it, but I'm starting to see the amount of effort he puts in. He's with us in the simulator six or seven days a week. He does it to help the team. I think that speaks to where his head is at this age."

As Hamlin climbed atop his Toyota to celebrate the win, his crew members handed him a flag that was given to the No. 11 team by a group of Hamlin's fans. Amidst a light-blue background were the words, "11 AGAINST THE WORLD."

If you know anything about Hamlin, however, the flag was more than a funny slogan. It encapsulates an athlete that has embraced his role as one of NASCAR's most controversial drivers, and done so while still being near the top of his game.

"Why not?" Hamlin said when asked why he held up the flag in front of the Martinsville crowd. "That's me. Go shoot hoops with me, go play pickleball with me, go play golf with me -- if I can't (trash)-talk, it takes my superpower away. It really does. I'm not nearly as good."

Hamlin's methods of motivation and celebration have earned him plenty of detractors over the years, but it's that same mentality that has carried the future Hall of Famer to victory lane 55 times. After winning the 2023 Bristol night race, Hamlin quipped to the crowd that he had "just beat their favorite driver" -- a quote that earned a sequel after Hamlin won the Clash at the LA Coliseum in February 2024.

The fiery, competitive side of Hamlin could be credited with keeping the 20-year veteran of NASCAR's top echelon motivated as he approaches the twilight of his career. And while his victory at Martinsville was important in the moment, it also paints a picture of a No. 11 team poised for another deep playoff run.

While Hamlin hasn't made the Championship 4 since 2021, he hasn't missed the Round of 8 since 2018. He may not be in his prime anymore, but he is a perennial threat to make the penultimate round of the playoffs at the least -- and with NASCAR's current playoff format, anything is possible if you can make that far.

In the short-term, upcoming races at Darlington (April 6) and Bristol (April 13) play right into Hamlin's strengths. Hamlin is the defending winner of the Bristol spring race, and has led 256 laps over six Next-Gen races at Darlington. There's no reason to think his performance at Martinsville was a fluky one-off, especially considering how many tracks there are on the schedule where he could be considered the odds-on favorite to win.

Hamlin may not be at his statistical or physical peak anymore, but he's doing what many drivers before him failed to do as they aged -- consistently win races and be in championship contention, all while becoming more motivated with every passing year.

Restarting fourth with 55 laps to go following the race's final caution period, Bowman worked his way by Larson and Denny Hamlin and eventually put his No. 48 Chevrolet around Bubba Wallace's No. 23 Toyota with 33 laps left around the 1.5-mile speedway.

But with Larson charging hard in his No. 5 Chevrolet, Bowman banged the wall hard on the frontstretch, allowing Larson to slip past and move away for a win by 1.205 seconds for his 30th career victory and Chevrolet's third in five Homestead races.

Larson became the third-winningest driver in the Hendrick organization's history, trailing Jeff Gordon (93 wins) and Jimmie Johnson (83).

Wallace, Chase Briscoe and Hamlin rounded out the top five.

In the 27th Cup race in the South Florida track's history, Bowman led 36 other cars to the green flag, but he eventually watched Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry and Larson take the point through a caution-free start to the 267-lap race, the series' sixth of the season.

However, with 10 laps to go in Stage 1 and Blaney's No. 12 Ford out front, three-time 2025 winner Christopher Bell spun by himself while tight against the Turn 4 wall.

Blaney held the lead on the ensuring restart and won his second stage this season. Bowman, Briscoe, Larson and Austin Cindric grabbed the top-five bonus points in the 80-lap segment.

Hamlin pitted his No. 11 Toyota on Lap 126 but regained the lead with four laps to go and was victorious in Stage 2 by nipping Larson, who was on the same strategy with fresher tires. Blaney, William Byron and Wallace followed.

Running third with 60 circuits left, Blaney had his engine expire in a plume of smoke off Turn 4. The 2023 Cup champion led 124 laps.