Hi friends!

I flew home from the Midwest to our home-base in Charlotte, NC for Chase Media Day Wednesday and captured interviews with 28 drivers during four hours of media for the Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Chase to the championship. I have an insane amount of content to share with you and hope to do it here and on the DIJ web site in an easy to digest and quick rather than massive video dump format. I know you are busy and appreciate your time and the read!

The Beat…

I remember back when a media event like this would be divided simply into print and broadcast, maybe with a small handful of NASCAR media partners and a small room for NASCAR marketing. It’s grown a ton. This year, there were rooms for NASCAR digital and a room just for influencers and areas for special podcasts and a room for the NASCAR YouTube Channel and reserved areas for so many partners - each with their own space and getting exclusive access to the NASCAR Chase drivers. Below, is the start of the TV walk for the drivers at Media Day.

I thought that for this week’s newsletter I’d feature some of the fun moments of Media Day. Obviously, with 28 drivers the content I have will not all fit into the newsletter or the web site at the same time so I figured I’d send you content in a format that works to brief you and then I’ll be adding a ton of content as I head to Darlington so keep posted.

Click directly to the front page of the Dialed In Journal web site HERE!

The first to take the microphone at Chase Media Day where the contenders for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Championship. Leading the points is Justin Allgaier who had on display the helmet designed for him by his daughters Willow and Harper.

I shot a video (below) of the crowd around Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson to give you a feel for the scrums on Media Day. There are lots of phones and fewer and fewer print journalists in today’s media world so everything is captured on video. The biggest challenge is not to get into anyone’s phone video shot because there are so many phones up recording. During this Media Day - only once, trying to navigate the space, did my phone literally go flying. It hit no one, didn’t fly through anyone’s shot and was not noticed by the driver. I got lucky.

Now, for some of the moments that stood out this week:

Scroll through the photo overview below for easy view and I’ll have a link at the end of the photos that will contain a story with all the video clips from these moments below in one piece.

I was full-on interviewing Ryan Preece, who won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona to make it into the NASCAR Cup Series Chase, when Preece noticed this guy in the crowd at Media Day taking a picture of him. He said as he noticed this guy (pictured below on the left,) “I even have my own personal photographer.” Is that Bubba Wallace?

Bubba put his camera in his lap when he took his chair for the scrum. He noticed, mid interview with me, that he hadn’t put his uniform all the way on for Media Day. So, in the midst of the interview, Bubba stopped and put his uniform on and his PR rep Sydnei Fryson (below left) was appreciative and nodded with good humor, as she always does. She’s a pro.

Then, there was the gift handed out by 23XI team PR Person Davis Shaefer (below right) who is director of communications for 23XI Racing. Media got a kick out of it. It was a stress ball stamped with the team’s Chase logo of “Let’s Ball!” I asked Reddick about the slogan and his video answer is in the story on the front page of the web site and linked below.

Videos of the above stories with interviews and fun moment clips can be easily viewed by clicking into this one story (below) on the web site that captures the mood of Chase Media Day with video clips and stories in one piece.

CLICK HERE for a link to the story above that includes video summary clips of some of the best moments of Chase Media Day!!!

There were news stories to report from Media Day as well. Probably the biggest story was the swap of pit crews at Penske Racing.

The pit crew swap between the Ryan Blaney’s (seeded 2nd) No. 12 team and Austin Cindrics (seeded 15th) No. 2 team happened Monday, days before the start of the championship run, and news of it was swirling around on Chase Media Day.

Click HERE to see what Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric said about their pit crew swap!

Spire Motorsports Driver Carson Hocevar ( seeded 12th) who is also a social media influencer of sorts as well as a driver in the NASCAR Cup Series Chase always draws a crowd. I talked with him about what he now thinks happened with six laps remaining in Saturday night’s Daytona race as his car got loose, broke left then rocketed back up the track and hard into the wall.

CLICK HERE to see what Carson Hocevar told me on Chase Media Day about his perspective NOW on the Daytona crash

Claire Off The Air!

I have traveled a lot between the Midwest where my parents are and North Carolina and race tracks that I can get to the past few weeks. O’Reilly Auto Parts Chase driver Ryan Preece is racing in NASCAR Cup for Richard Childress Racing but he’s racing for a championship in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Chase and is seeded fifth. I had a moment on Chase Media Day to tell Ryan Preece that my father in memory care (whose last name is Bennett) now enjoys watching his car and wears his team’s Bennett cap. I’ll show the tape to my dad.

On a personal note, I want to shout out to my father who is so proud of the Bennett name and it is, by the way, what the “B” in Claire B. Lang stands for. He is fighting the good fight with dementia and we are loosing him slowly but he lived a great life and at 95 has much to be proud of. I admire how he soldiers on and never complains. Ever. Shout out to my dad.

There was a lot of content captured at Media Day but, as I wrote at the top of this newsletter, “The Lady in Black,” (as they call Darlington Raceway because it’s such a difficult track) will NOT be upstaged this weekend as the Chase begins. Oh, you just wait - there will be plenty to report on from Darlington. I promise.

I have some great moments with all the Chase drivers and I’ll be writing and posting in a format that is easy to digest moving ahead into the weekend so keep posted.

I have been feeling sick this week with a touch of the cold so trying to rest up to kick it to the curb before the weekend. I hope you are doing well.

I’ll see you at Darlington Raceway this weekend!

Cheers and blessings!

Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar lost control of his No. 77 Chevrolet late in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 Saturday night, slamming the outside wall and collecting Erik Jones in a hard crash that brought out the third caution of the night. At the time Hocevar said it caught him off guard. He appeared to lose control of the car as it snapped up into the wall.

I asked Hocevar, who is seeded 12th in the NASCAR Cup Chase to the championship, 80 points from the points leader Denny Hamlin, at Chase Media Day his perspective on what happened now that he’s had a few days to evaluate it.

One thing about having big social media numbers - there are a lot of people paying attention to you and watching and evaluating what you say and do. It doesn’t seem to throw Hocevar off though and he was calm and positive and easy going on Chase Media Day. He seems to have the view that he’s got nothing to lose and “betting with house money” as they say as the Cup Series rolls on to the championship Chase part of the season with him in the midst of it as the 12th seed.

NASCAR’s Chase Media Day for the NASCAR Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series is a lot for drivers and requires a ton of energy as they go from booth to booth, room to room and scrum to scrum to talk about the upcoming run to the championship they will face now through the end of the season.

This weekend at Darlington Raceway begins the Chase run for both series and NASCAR’s biggest trophy is on the line.

My observations after Media Day this week is that the mood is up, most drivers talked about taking it “race by race” with the new championship format. A win no longer guarantees an advance to the next round. Every point, every moment, every stage matters. Points are reset now for the battle. Want a closer look at the levity and the mood at Chase Media Day? Let’s go!

RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece won at Daytona to advance into the Chase in Cup where he is seeded last 100 points from leader Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin. Watch as another driver surprises Preece in the midst of my interview question.

23XI driver Bubba Wallace, who had his fun shooting pictures of Preece , and other aspects of Media Day had his camera at the ready but forgot to put his uniform up. It happened mid interview question again - and his PR person Sydnei Fryson nodded as he made the fix. Wallace is seeded 14th, down 90 points from the leader.

23XI PR Director Davis Shaefer handed out stress balls with their team’s Chase “Let’s Ball” logo on them to the media. The slogan was added to all branding platforms for the Chase for 23XI.

23XI driver Tyler Reddick, who is seeded third, 35 points from leader Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin. He is focused and ready to ball and does a pretty good job of outlining the new branding - making PR director Davis Shaefer smile.

Denny Hamlin is the points leader in the NASCAR Cup Series Chase headed into Darlington this weekend by 25 points over Ryan Blaney who is second. His mood was one of knowing the road ahead to a championship for whomever wins it is going to be long and grueling.

Hamlin seemed confident but realistic and intense in his thought process. I felt it so I asked about that intensity.

Strong answer from Hamlin.

Jr. Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier leads the points over in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase into Darlington by just 25 points over Carson Kvapill. Allgaier was Allgaier and his mood was solid. He said he has already accomplished more than he thought he ever would so, as always, he is loaded with a good perspective. So what will we see in the championship battle in that series?

Allgaier’s daughters Willow and Harper help Allgaier keep the perspective as the helmet they designed for their dad’s championship run (an Allgaier tradition) was on display near where Allgaier held court on Chase Media Day.

What else did I notice?

Joe Gibbs driver Christopher Bell is seemingly the most confident and wore the biggest smile (non scientific observation) while chatting it up for Media Day. He is sixth in points down 50 from the leader Denny Hamlin to start.

Bell says he doesn’t think you can win a championship without winning a race and he is certain they will win (a race). He smiled the entire session and I just felt confidence from him.

There were many more drivers worth running clips from during my Chase Media Day scrum rounds - and you’ll see stories with those interviews on the site coming up.

Stay posted to the Dialed In Journal site. This piece is only a quick glimpse. One thing is for sure though- Bell nailed it, with a smile, the championship will be won by one of the top 16 Chase drivers in the Cup Series (12 drivers in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series) and it all begins at Darlington this weekend.

Penske racing has switched the No.12 pit crew of Ryan Blaney, (seeded second) with the statistically better No. 2 pit crew for his teammate Austin Cindric (seeded 15th) for the Chase starting this weekend at Darlington.

Blaney found out about the swap Monday and news of the move circulated Wednesday on Chase Media Day.

What? Really?

At first, it’s hard to fathom that the pit crew guys for Blaney, who has three wins on the season, would be pulled and switched just days before the championship run starts.

Imagine, initially, how much of a punch the second-seeded team’s crew would be to be swapped with the 15th seed in any sport. But, in defense of the decision, Blaney’s pit crew drew attention during the regular season for losing positions on pit road.

Blaney said he didn’t ask for the move.

“Leadership called me earlier this week and kind of discussed the change and why the team felt like it made it,” Cindric said.

Blany said hell work to learn the new pit crews preferences and get to know them...quickly

Blaney, who said he understands why the move was made, said he appreciated the No. 12 crew that had been with him for the first 26 races and although he understands it - on the personal side it can be difficult.

Cindric said his crew chief, he and the team will have get up to speed and communication as well with his new pit crew.

As to if he had had spent time getting to know his new crew and their preferences yet, Cindric gave an honest answer at Chase Media Day Wednesday:

“I find that question funny, because I would be there right now if I wasn’t having to sit here and do media.” Cindric said. “It speaks highly of Team Penske’s depth that they can shift guys around and be able to be plugged into other teams pretty seamlessly. Looking forward to seeing how it goes.”

Something to watch for sure starting at Darlington Sunday.

While I’m going through all the interviews from Chase Media Day I’m really struggling with the challenge of having so many good stories to tell and so little space to fit them all. I challenge myself every day not to pick just the hot, juicy story of he day first - but to dig deep for the special stories that need telling.

The Dialed In Journal is a place for me to do just that.

Sam Mayer, with the Haas Factory Team, is seeded 10th in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts (NOAPS) Chase line-up headed into Darlington. He really needed to make the playoffs and he did. When I caught up with him on Chase Media Day he was smiling - as he always is. No really.

I noted several times in the interview that it’s not that Mayer isn’t serious but he’s just joyful in spirit. I repeated it several times on purpose because I didn’t want to paint the wrong picture for you. I am very careful to tell you all exactly like it is.

Mayer is situated 70 points down from points leader Justin Allgaier as the series heads to Darlington and Mayer and his team plan to go full-force to make up ground and get to the top of the Chase leaderboard so he can make a run for it.

“The pressure is off - We’re the one’s attacking...If we can make it happen we make it happen.” Sam Mayer

Mayer is one to watch through the O’Reilly Auto Parts Chase which begins for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series this Saturday night at Darlington Raceway.

Hocevar was in contention at Daytona, with a few laps left in the race, when he steered his Spire Motorsports Chevrolet toward the bottom lane.The back end of the car snapped loose and it sent the No. 77 into the outside wall. Erik Jones’ had nowhere to go and his Toyota plowed hard into Hocevar’s car at the wall. Ty Gibbs’ Toyota spun down the track.

The NASCAR Cup Series racecars had a new package at Daytona with a shorter spoiler and reduced horsepower. Hocevar called the new package, “fine.”

Hocevar seemed confused as to what he felt in his race car and what happened.

Erik Jones, whose day was ruined by the incident was out of the race and scored 39th. It’s lucky, with the hard hit, that both Jones and Hocevar are ok. Hocevar finished 38th and also was out due to the accident.

Jones X post, in true Jones fashion, was not critical but disappointed in nature.

Jones entered the regular-season finale at Daytona outside Chase contention and needed a victory to advance. Hocevar had already clinched a Chase berth prior to the green flag on Saturday at Daytona.

Keep posted as this article will be updated.

RYAN PREECE: How we doing? Bet y'all didn't expect to see me here (smiling).

In a career clutch moment, with a spot in the Chase on the line, Ryan Preece drove the race of a lifetime. He and the No. 60 team won in overtime at Daytona International Speedway and, as a result, advanced to NASCAR’s championship round.

“Winners want the ball. Give me the ball.” Ryan Preece said post Daytona win defining his call to his team, leading into the race, to be aggressive no matter what the odds.

Preece was caught up in a three-car wreck at the end of the first stage. It damaged his left front fender.

Spire Motorsports Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the No. 97 , who Preece was competing with to get into the Chase, won the first stage after the Preece-involved crash. Preece’s crew chief Derrick Finley spoke post race on how the crash challenged their effort to make it into the Chase.

Finley has been a crew chief in the Cup Series since 2003 and it’s his first Cup win. He’s a fighter who doesn’t easily give up. The No.60 team was relentless.

When asked if he was worried that Daniel Suarez got the edge the final lap when the caution came out Finley said, “I did not believe he got the edge. I might be partial (smiling). Yeah, I’ll be honest, never crossed my mind that anyone passed him. They should have thrown the caution seconds before they did. In my mind, we’d won the race already. It was over.”

Preece’s path to NASCAR came through the Northeast racing gritty, hard-core Modified racers and he spoke post win of his path to the Cup win at Daytona and a Chase berth.

Preece’s RFK Racing team owner Brad Keselowski, who finished 14th, summarized his emotions post race in the Deadline Room after Preece won to advance into the Chase.

Keselowski did not advance into the Chase but two of his drivers did, Preece and Chris Buescher.

Preece surged into the lead past 23XI driver Tyler Reddick and Front Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith in overtime, stretching fuel mileage over the final 65-lap stage. Then, Smith turned into the outside wall causing a series of collisions that forced NASCAR to call the fourth yellow of the race. Preece was ahead at the moment of caution.

At the restart with with two laps to go, as NASCAR kept adding caution laps, Preece was close on fuel. Media wanted to know what was going through Preece’s mind at that point.

“Last year there were a lot of keyboard warriors saying I was nothing. Well, we just kicked their butts tonight.” Ryan Preece

The 16 Chase drivers headed into the championship round which begins next week at Darlington Raceway are, in order of reseeded points, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Carson Hocevar, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric and Ryan Preece

Race Results NASCAR Coke Zero Sugar 400 - Daytona International Speedway

NASCAR issued a news release about Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar this week.

The release was unique. It read like a clever piece, written as a news release, without a byline but with clearly stated facts on how Hocevar’s personality has positively affected merchandise sales and other areas of the sport as well as how popular he is. It also included some things being said about him by competitors -not all positive.

It was polarizing like Hocevar

Like the driver the release was about, the release was a bit polarizing and it was meant to be. I am not surprised at the release because the entire media platform in our world is changing so rapidly. Nothing is as old-school journalism and PR used to be and there is no formula as to how to do PR with the landscape so different. So, we will probably see even more folks trying something new to see if it sticks on the wall as they say.

Let me start with a small part of my take and, listen, I work for myself and answer to no one. My gut feelings are my own.

Consider these points

• Even the drama-hungry outlets of those that wrote with fan reaction to it published the release - so to be fair aren’t I right in saying the NASCAR PR mission for sending it was accomplished?

• NASCAR has a wire service that employs journalists to write NASCAR stories that they distribute. So, how is this release different? They could have put a byline from whichever one of their wire service writers they assigned to it and have run the same kind of story. Media folks would have, similarly, picked it up and run it especially in on-line entities. How is this different?

• Former Associated Press journalist Jenna Fryer is working for Chip Ganassi Racing creating an in-house media operation to tell the stories of CGR and I understand why. There are less and less few real news entities left and not as many newspapers that cover racing so the move is needed to get stories worth telling out. Is a story produced from within Chip Ganasi from an in-house media group different than NASCAR story released on Hocevar merchandise sales and popularity? Well I guess the difference is a prize-winning journalist could be the author of the CGR piece (and I hope she uses her byline) but we will never know who wrote the Hocevar piece - a PR person or a Wire Service journalist. I thought Ganassi’s move was good - from a team perspective and it will draw sponsors with the attention the stories get.

Media is changing fast.

I’ll post the NASCAR release first , then, keep scrolling for my additional thoughts after you read the release issued by NASCAR.

Here is the full script of the news release sent from NASCAR on August 27th.

NEWS RELEASE FROM NASCAR:

Does Everybody Hate Carson Hocevar?

The Chase has 16 drivers. Carson Hocevar might have 15 enemies.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 27, 2026) – To paraphrase Corey Heim after winning the Brickyard 400, why are we talking about a driver who just finished 19th?

Well, that’s a fair question. Still … the garage can’t help but talk about Carson Hocevar, the polarizing 23-year-old who finished outside the top 15 at New Hampshire yet still garnered the most amount of ink. Or pixels. Or whatever it is that transfers the extended NASCAR podcast universe into your ear drums.

For instance…

Two days ago on Door Bumper Clear, Kyle Larson discussed Hocevar spinning at New Hampshire, saying, “Spinning out before the race? That was 1000% just to get on TV.”

Bubba Wallace warned him earlier this summer that his aggressive approach was “creating a lot of enemies.”

After Hocevar spun him in Atlanta, Ryan Blaney called him an “absolute weapon” and a “moron” over the radio.

And of course, earlier this month, Zane Smith used an appearance on Racin’ With The Boys to offer his own less-than-glowing review, saying Hocevar puts on “an act to get people to buy in” and didn’t hesitate to call him a “bum-[expletive]”.

Though that’s just a sampling of the negative rhetoric, it’s nowhere near unanimous – especially from those on the outside looking in.

At a time when reaching new fans means showing up in places beyond the traditional NASCAR landscape, Hocevar has done just that. From attending the Met Gala and TIME100 Sports Gala to regularly streaming on Twitch and turning the frontstretch of Talladega Superspeedway into his own personal playground, the young star has put himself and NASCAR in front of audiences that may not otherwise cross paths with the sport.

He has also found ways to turn his personality, and even the occasional controversy, into opportunities to engage with fans. When Smith criticized Hocevar earlier this summer, Hocevar responded with a t-shirt swap, inviting fans to bring another driver’s shirt in exchange for one of his own. Fans took him up on the offer, exchanging 77 shirts during the promotion, including newly purchased Smith merchandise.

The approach appears to be working. From January through May, Hocevar saw the largest percentage increase in cross-platform followers among NASCAR Cup Series drivers, growing his audience across Facebook, Instagram and X by 70.6% and adding nearly 200,000 followers.

The interest extends beyond social media. In the 24 hours following Hocevar’s first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Talladega, sales of his Lionel Racing diecast ranked as the highest following any NASCAR race win since NASCAR and Lionel formed their joint venture in 2010. The mark surpassed the 24-hour sales following some of the sport’s biggest victories during that span, including Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 2014 Daytona 500 win.

In addition, his merchandise sales continue to accelerate, making him the No. 1 driver currently in retail sales on the NASCAR Shop website and he’s ranked inside the top five of trackside sales. An impressive achievement considering he was ranked 32nd in trackside sales this time last season.

And, just for the record, there is indeed at least one driver who recognizes that the lightning rod nature of The Hurricane is helpful – one who also proudly wears the ‘love him or hate him’ badge.

“I think Carson’s great for the sport,” said three-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Joey Logano on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. “I think he brings a ton of new fans, different fans. Just the way he is different than the rest of us. The way he speaks, he’s just, he’s younger. Yeah, I don’t know what he’s talking about half the time, I don’t know what these words mean. But people love it and there’s no denying that and that’s great, that’s great for our sport.”

Hocevar was unavailable for comment this week due to other distractions.

Love him or hate him, Carson Hocevar is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore… so catch him and all his enemies this Saturday night, August 29, during the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

#######

I will say I was wondering about how Carson Hocevar was unavailable for comment this week…. to the sanctioning body? I kind of wondered about that one a little bit- but maybe, as it’s been a busy week. Or, maybe it was written tongue in cheek. Or, maybe whomever wrote it checked and was told he was tied up.

As I said, media is changing and if veteran drivers are going to be weighing in on one of the sports young, charismatic stars NASCAR is smart to capitalize on the attention that Hocevar is getting and, at the same time, provide some facts to be included with the quotes that drivers are giving out on podcasts. Isn’t that PR’s job?

Do you remember a time before almost every driver and some driver’s wives had or participated in podcasts and before the sanctioning body had their own podcast and YouTube channel?

More of my take:

I actually maybe would have liked it more if it was an opinion article with a byline sent out by the wire service vs a no byline release. But it was well-written and it was picked up almost everywhere and published: On 3, Yahoo, Racing News, Motor Biscuit, Kenny Wallace site, BVM Sports, YouTube, MSN.com and a ton more outlets ran the release. Some said “from a release” others just ran it as a story.

Fan reaction was mostly about Hocevar and that they liked him/or not - or questions about why the attention from NASCAR was on him when he’s not winning. Some Hocevar fans were mad that NASCAR quoted bad things some drivers said about Hocevar and some asked why they never did the same for other drivers in the day like Kyle Busch.

The world of media and PR is changing rapidly.

If I could guess - NASCAR found a way to play with the comments from drivers on Hocevar. NASCAR knows if drivers are talking about a polarizing guy - it turns into folks watching. They wanted to capitalize on that but also wanted the facts out that they wanted included, I would guess.

At first, I thought it was something NASCAR has done in the past - a series of features on say the Hall of Fame inductees or the championship contenders - one driver at a time. I asked and was told it was up in the air whether this release would be one in a series or not. Stay tuned.

And one more thing - if you are talking about merchandise sales as it relates to popularity - I remember back in the day when Kevin Harvick said that every time he would say strong, opinionated things that got quotes in the deadline room, his t-shirt sales would go up exponentially.

It’s easy to track those things.

What I get a kick out of is the drama-type web sites (which is not all of them) that ran the release, some acting surprised that NASCAR would issue such a release and then proceeding to run every word of it in their story. If someone didn’t think it was right they should have not run it - but it was juicy content, written in an easy-to-post, fun style, with a kick-butt headline that allowed on-line media to gain clicks without doing any leg work and provided new information data from NASCAR. It was too good and too easy for them to ignore.

So they didn’t.

I wouldn’t say I was surprised to receive the release and I have to be honest as I can - I think it did its job. Does everyone like it? No. But they ran it and the information got out and was highly talked about on social and talk radio.

The media landscape is changing fast. You gotta be one step ahead to keep up.

————————————————————————————————————————————-

On July 17th, 2026 - I posted this opinion piece on Hocevar:

READ my full Hocevar opinion story from July by clicking link HERE!

With no practice, and a new package for the NASCAR Cup Series cars, Trackhouse driver Ross Chastain secured the top starting spot for Saturday’s Daytona regular season finale race.

Most drivers, including the pole sitter have no idea the impact of the rule changes including a shorter spoiler, reduced horsepower and no practice before the race will have on the race Saturday night.

It’s the best start on the 2.5-mile high banks for Chastain in 16 previous races at the iconic track - here is his initial take in the Deadline Room after he secured the pole.

“Life achievement…I was a kid sitting in the grandstands and we camped outside Turn 1. … It’s a big deal, a life achievement and a moment I’ll never forget." Ross Chastain of securing the Daytona pole.

The above amazing photo shot by James Gilbert with Getty Images summarizes the emotion perfectly as 39-year-old Ryan Sieg captured his first career NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series victory in his 424th career start on Friday night at Daytona International Speedway.

It was a night of emotion - the final race of the regular season for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series as The Chase for the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship kicks off next Saturday at Darlington Raceway.

There was chaos, misfortune and heartbreak - but also victory and jubilation and an almost speechless first-time winner in Ryan Sieg.

After a skillful move through a five-car wreck on Lap 44, Taylor Gray finished 26th and claimed one of the last two spots in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Chase for the championship.

Rajah Caruth advanced into the championship-contending part of the season by erasing a 15-point deficit to the cutoff with a second-place finish in Stage 1, a win in Stage 2 and a race finish of 32nd.

Rajah Caruth was running second on Lap 97 when he spun off a push to the bumper by JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier.

Caruth had his heart set on winning, and was close but the incident took that chance away. While he was disappointed, “I don’t think he did it on purpose,” Caruth said.

The 12 drivers who advanced and will compete for the 2026 NASCAR

O’Reilly Auto Parts Championship are, listed below by re-seeded points:

1. Justin Allgaier - 2100

2. Carson Kvapil - 2075

3. Sheldon Creed - 2065

4. Jesse Love - 2060

5. Austin Hill - 2055

6. Brandon Jones - 2050

7. Corey Day - 2045

8. Sammy Smith - 2040

9. Parker Retzlaff - 2035

10. Sam Mayer - 2030

11. Taylor Gray - 2025

12. Rajah Caruth - 2020

This week was my birthday (I kept it on the downlow) and I wanted a wood-fired pizza, a glass of wine with friends and family and I was blessed with all of that. The word grateful comes to mind as I embark on another new year around the sun! Shout out to many of you doing the same!

Life is a highway - or a wide-open race track for sure and there’s never a dull moment in this one. That is the outlook for the weekend as well!

I’ll be quick in the newsletter this week as I want to get it out to you before it’s too late - but the Dialed In Journal is loaded with content and there’s so much happening that it will be packed through the weekend with updates - so stay posted.

B’Cast interview with Ryan Preece Spotter Brandon Wilkinson

Check out the sit-down interview I did this week with RFK Racing Spotter Brandon Wilkinson who spots for the No.60 and Ryan Preece. Preece is 31 points below the cut-off line with only this weekend’s race at Daytona left before the Chase for the championship is seeded. It’s a huge race at Daytona for the No. 60, Preece and Wilkinson.

Here's the link to the FULL Brandon Wilkinson interview.

Rising star Taylor Hamlin paves her own path!

This week for a unique feature I interviewed a rising star and the daughter of Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin and his fiancee Jordan Fish. Taylor sang the National Anthem at Richmond but there is so much more to this young woman than just that one performance. Since the sons of race car drivers get interviewed for their talent I thought she should get interviewed for hers. Taylor is so refreshing and such a joy you will want to check it out. She will be pulling for her dad in the Chase and for her mom who has also ventured in to theater.

I promise you'll have a smile after watching Taylor Hamlin's interview by clicking HERE!

Another interesting conversation I had this week was with Penske Racing Menard’s driver Austin Cindric. He is up 44 points above the cut off line to make the Chase to the championship with only this weekend’s race at Daytona left in the regular season. His perspective including his bright yellow car in the draft and more is worth a watch!

To get the inside story from Austin Cindric CLICK THIS LINK HERE!!

There are many interesting new posts on the Dialed In Journal web site this week. Here are some of them.

Brad Moran, Sr. Managing Director NASCAR Cup Series answers Daytona rules & sched. questions

Brad Moran answers my questions on preferences with 2027 NASCAR schedule and new rules for this weekend at Daytona.

CLICK HERE to see Brad Moran's Answers!

Shout out: NASCAR officials!

This week includes a shout out to the NASCAR officials. Daytona keeps the officials on their toes in inspection and requires working long hours. The officials never complain and and since it is their job to stay out of the news they don’t get a ton of compliments either, not from the outside anyway. They just do their jobs. It’s a perfect weekend to shout them out and I’m doing that today in the Dialed In Journal.

Speed Reads:

Coming Soon!

Working on an opinion piece you won’t want to miss on the NASCAR release about Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar. I’ve been working on it quite some time but don’t want to hold the newsletter up. It will be posted shortly.

Expect many web site updates through a very busy Daytona weekend!

The Joey Logano DIJ poll final results.

The resut was a tie. Not kidding. There were quite a few of you who voted but it ended up that 50% of you think Joey Logano will win the 2026 Championship and 50% voted he wouldn’t. Since the pole went days where the numbers were mostly all voting yes, the no votes came flying in at the end. That poll is closed. We’ll wait to see who was right!

Claire Off The Air: Blood Moon!

Did you all take the time to stay up and watch the partial lunar eclipse and "blood moon" this week? It was late Thursday and we had calls from friends watching as well - but some reported overcast skies. This is our view and “mere mortal” cell phone photos we took - not professional photos but not bad for a couple of cell phone shots and it was quite the watch.

No words top the photos. A moment to simply view in awe.

Cheers and blessings. Talk soon! I’ve got to get this newsletter out to you!

Check out content on the Dialed In Journal web site. Have a great weekend!

On August 14, 2026, before the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Richmond Raceway in Virginia, Taylor, who has starred in musical theater in various roles growing up, sang the National Anthem live and at her father’s home town track. She nailed it.

The sons of race car drivers who are making their own way in racing do interviews and get a lot of attention so I decided I needed to interview Taylor on her talent. She is a 13-year old girl, full of energy and excitement about life itself and it’s refreshing to be around her positive vibes. She reminds me of the joys of being a 13 year-old and, in her case, talented with a very fun personality!

The interview I did with Taylor this week will be broken down here into three parts with photos and stories in between. Make sure to check out all three parts of the interview because all three segments are pure Taylor Hamlin joy.

Part one of my Taylor Hamlin interview begins below when I asked about her personality and where she got it.

Taylor’s mom Jordan told me, “Some of my favorite pictures of Taylor are of this tiny little girl are at the track, and now I'm standing there watching her sing the National Anthem at one. I think that's what made me emotional watching her. I've watched this little girl sing since she could barely talk, and suddenly she's standing out there confidently singing the National Anthem at a place that has been a part of her entire life. It was just one of those full-circle moments where you look at your child and think, When did you grow up? and I think there was something especially meaningful about the fact that, for that moment, she wasn't there because of her dad. It was her moment.”

In Part Two of my Taylor Hamlin interview (below) we talk about the courage it took to sing the Anthem!

In part three of my interview of Taylor Hamlin (below) we talk about her dad, NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin teaching her to drive (It’s an ATV she’s practicing driving by the way, not a car) how she handles school with all the travel, her perspective on being the daughter of a racing superstar, how proud she is of her mom and how she runs with the “NASCAR Kids” as she calls them.

Part three of Taylor Hamlin’s interview is pure happiness with life itself. It’s catching!

Taylor mentioned in the interview above how proud she is of her mom, Jordan, who is now doing community theater with the Davidson Community Players. “Taylor’s been my biggest supporter with it,” Jordan told me. “She really encouraged me to audition. I just did Evita over the summer and I’m going to be a part of White Christmas in December. It’s been so fun,” Jordan added. In fact, it was Jordan who got her talented young daughter Taylor started. “I've always loved Broadway and musical theatre and I took her to see Annie at the Blumenthal when she was probably four or five,” Taylor told me. After that, Jordan says Taylor would sing "Tomorrow" all the time so as soon as she was old enough, she signed Taylor up for musical theatre.”

Keep scrolling to find out how the heck a 13-year-old girl has the confidence to perform the way she does. Remember when you were 13?

As far as where Taylor gets her confidence from at the young age of 13, Jordan told me she has no idea. “I was always pretty shy growing up and I think Denny was pretty quiet himself,” she said, adding, “ I do think being around adults from such an early age probably contributed to it. She's always been comfortable talking to people and being herself. But I also think some of it is just inherently Taylor. She has a confidence when she performs that I certainly never possessed. She gets nervous like anyone else, but when it's time to perform, she has this ability to push through it and just do it.”

Keep an eye on Taylor - she is a young girl who has her head screwed on straight. She told me in the interview that she likes to spend time with her friends at home, but that, at this stage in her life, she thinks it is more important to spend as much time as possible with her parents at the race track.

While Taylor will have roles in theatre performances coming up, she doesn’t have any other Anthems currently booked. “She’s available,” said her mom, Jordan, with a smile.

I’m guessing this won’t be my last interview with Taylor Hamlin -I hope she remembers me when, if she keeps working hard, she’s on Broadway one day!

Thanks for the interview Taylor and for the assist on my request Jordan!

It’s true, NASCAR is known for being able to mobilize efficiently and quickly when needed. When asked to gather the troops (teams) to make something happen - there is no doubt that NASCAR and its series directors can make it happen no matter how challenging the task. So, I always thought the schedule was handed down to the series directors simply implement rather than being part of the process as was defined in the call this week. Moran explains in above clip.

Also - this weekend at Daytona NASCAR is implementing new rules that call for a shorter spoiler and reduced horsepower to eliminate the race becoming a fuel mileage game where teams save fuel and wait to race until the end. Plus, there will be no Cup Series practice prior to the race at Daytona on Sunday. I asked Moran about the Daytona changes as well in the clip above.

2027 NASCAR CUP SERIES SCHEDULE

Brandon Wilkinson is the spotter at RFK Racing for No.60 driver Ryan Preece. Preece is 31 points below the NASCAR Cup Series Chase cut-off line and this weekend’s Daytona race is the last race to make it in to the Chase for the championship which begins next week. From aggressive moves needed to what the driver can see or not see, to code words and crazy experiences at Daytona it is all within my interview with Wilkinson this week.

Watch the B.’Cast interview with No. 60 spotter Brandon Wilkinson below.

Preece has said he was drawn to Wilkinson’s reputation for staying level-headed under pressure. Wilkinson likes working for an aggressive driver. He’s not easily thrown off his game and Preece likes that.

Wilkinson is humble. When I asked him if he could send me a few photos of himself, the photos he sent all included his driver Ryan Preece. They are a team.

The Daytona battle for Chase inclusion headed into the regular season finale this weekend includes:

Bubba Wallace - plus 75 points from Chase eligibility line

Austin Cindric - Plus 44 points from Chase eligibility line

Shane van Gisbergen - Plus 31 points from Chase eligibility line

Ryan Preece - Minus 31 points from Chase eligibility line

Brad Keselowski - Minus 66 points from Chase eligibility line

Many thanks to No. 60 spotter Brandon Wilkinson for the Dialed In Journal “Spotters’ Stand” sit-down B.’Cast interview this week!

Penske Racing’s Austin Cindric is clever and full of quick comebacks. He’s a smart, strategic superspeedway racer but he’s not a guy who makes waves or creates drama. As he enters the final race of the regular season this weekend at Daytona, he’s just 44 points above the 16-driver Chase (playoff) cut-off line. One would think that Cindric’s “under the radar” persona would work to his favor at a track as unpredictable and cut throat as the draft can be at Daytona. I asked him about that and his answer is below.

Cindric mentioned (in the above clip) his inner debate about the effect on drafting the very bright yellow Menards car he’ll be driving at Daytona this weekend will have. You also gotta wonder if other drivers might think his Penske teammate Ryan Blaney is in the car on quick in-draft moments of the race- though they have different numbers on them and folks are used to Blaney and he both being in the Menards car. The topic called for this (below) followup :)

The Menard paint schemes of Cindric and Blaney do look alike but spotters tell me they are used to Cindric and Blaney trading off the Menards sponsorship for various races and so it’s actually not that distracting. As to the fact that Cindric’s yellow car may stand out at Daytona - and whether that is a detriment we’ll have to watch at Daytona to see if that appears to be a factor.

NASCAR is introducing a new superspeedway package with zero practice this weekend at Daytona. Cup teams will not know how the new package races until the 2026 Coke Zero Sugar 400 is underway on Sunday.

Fun!

The No. 12 Team Penske Ford overcame a slow mid-race pit stop that frustrated Blaney but ultimately helped motivate the team in the closing laps to the win.

Blaney saw his friend 23XI driver Ryan Blaney getting closer and closer in the final laps of the race.

After the race Blaney said, “He was able to close in a little bit. Was able to get through that fairly decent. But, I mean, gosh, with 20 to go, kind of as I was working through traffic, I was starting to struggle. Two, kind of fading. Couldn’t get off the corners as good as I wanted to. My entry started to go away. If Bubba got there, he got there. We’ll race it out. I just didn’t want to make a mistake slipping into the corner or something, over driving it.

It was a heck of a battle. I look forward to rewatch it, seeing him creep in. Hopefully the fans enjoyed the racing today. I thought it was pretty good. Fortunate for us we were able to pick through lapped cars and hang on.”

In the Deadline Room Blaney was asked if it mattered - racing a friend with so much on the line. Here (below) is his response to media on that question.

The No. 13 team rebounded from a pit stop miscue to win at New Hampshire but crew chief Jonathan Hassler said it is really competitive on pit road and added,” If you're going to have any speed, you're going to have these sort of miscues.” He said the goal is to eliminate that, of course, but the team has been fast and even if they give up a little bit of speed to do that - that’s what they wanted. He also added that it happens to the best of teams.

Crew chief Jonathan Hassler started the post-win news conference talking about the team’s strategy and the moderator asked Penske Racing President Michael Nelson about Penske Racing coming on strong of late.

“It was a good call after our issue on pit road," Blaney said of his team’s decision to change only two tires on the final pit stop instead of four. “We did two at the end to try to hopefully get the lead and we did.”

Chase (playoff) competitors - six more secured in:

With one race to go (Daytona) before the regular season ends - seven drivers had already clinched a spot in the Chase. At New Hampshire six more drivers earned Chase positions: Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Carson Hocevar, William Byron and Daniel Suarez. The final three positions are yet to be finalized. Bubba Wallace holds a 75-point edge over the cut off line in 14th.

23XI Tyler Reddick’s Toyota was only 26th best in 10-lap average speed in practice and the final practice sheet showed his team at 31st. That made the pole even sweeter. The No.45 Chumba Casino Toyota team led by crew chief Billy Scott huddled, studied data and adjusted after practice to gain speed and Reddick did is job to secure the pole.

This will be the first front row start for Reddick since June at Nashville when he qualified second.

With a chance of weather affecting the race Sunday, NASCAR has moved the New Hampshire Motor Speedway Cup Series start up an hour earlier than originally scheduled, now planned for 2pm EST. Goodyear does have wet-weather tires, which were used at NHMS in 2024. Reddick on racing today if weather is a factor:

“For me, I’ve been able to get the pole at a few of places over the years that’s been really fun and special but the fashion we did it today was really, really awesome.” Tyler Reddick pole sitter for Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301.

“It wasn’t like we walked away from practice thinking we need to make a little adjustment here or there, so for us to take that and go lay the lap down like we did, that for me is a big deal…For me, I’ve been able to get the pole at a few of places over the years that’s been really fun and special but the fashion we did it today was really, really awesome.” Tyler Reddick

Invocation: 2:02:20 p.m.ET

Canadian Anthem: 2:02:45

National Anthem: 2:04:10 p.m.

Command: 2:11:00 p.m.

Green Flag: 2:21:00 p.m.

An abbreviated pre-race show on USA network will now start at 2pm EST. The race will also be carried on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR

“Statement win, this is awesome!" Layne Riggs

“Let’s bring on the Chase. Only got seven (races) left. No mercy.”

Top seed driver Layne Riggs didn’t need to say much - as he and teammate Chandler Smith finished one-two at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the regular season finale Saturday night.

I thought I was off a little bit and thought I was in trouble," Riggs said, of his teams struggles early in the race. Riggs credited his team with making key adjustments and gave props to his pit crew for the win.

Tyler Ankrum claimed the 10th and final position for the seven-race Chase that will decide the ultimate 2026 season champion at New Hampshire and points are reset after the regular season - but Riggs was the top dog with the win, his sixth of the season.

Tyler Ankrum survived to make a run for the title

Tyler Ankrum, driving for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, survived as he claimed the 10th and final position for the seven-race Chase that will decide the 2026 season champion. Ankrum team never gave up after his No. 18 Chevrolet suffered mechanical issues mid-race at NHMS, dropping nearly a lap down but rebounding for a 16th-place finish in the 36-truck field.

The CRAFTSMAN Truck Series now takes a four-week break before starting its seven-race Chase run to the championship title. Joining Riggs and Honeycutt in the run to the championship are: Chandler Smith, McAnally-Hilgemann’s Christian Eckes, TRICON Garage’s Gio Ruggiero, ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski, CR7 Motorsports’ Grant Enfinger, Hemric, three-time series champion ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes, and Front Row Motorsports Tyler Ankrum.

Reseeded truck points below:

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title run begins Sept. 17 with the UNOH 250 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

It will be a dog fight as the final two races of the NASCAR season determine who makes it into the championship Chase with only New Hampshire and Daytona left in the regular season.

Technically, the “dog days of summer” run from July 3 to August 11th as the brightest star rises along with the sun.

Despite how drivers mingle back stage in Driver Intros, the next two races ARE going to be a dog fight for those not secured in.

Uninhibited is my end-of-summer goal!

I don’t know the dancing family I captured on video above, but I admire them. I was at a Summer music concert on the lake when one entire family got up and started dancing freely. Those kids are going to grow up so uninhibited. Good on them! Keep dancing!

Interview: Ryan Preece - Says likely him v.s. SVG!

Check out what RFK driver Ryan Preece told me about whether he has a leg up on Shane van Gisbergen to make the Chase for the championship because he has more experience on ovals. Click HERE for!! Ryan Preece Interview

Poll result (so far):

Go to the Joey Logano story that the poll was posted in last week to vote. Are you surprised at outcome? Click HERE. Poll is in article. ONE DAY left to vote!

You can’t always get what you want….unless you are Mr. Hendrick.

How Rick Hendrick answered my question about his reputation for getting who he wants. CLICK LINK HERE TO WATCH!

New Hampshire memory. A rising star Taylor Hamlin!

Coming Soon:

I’m just finishing a story about Denny Hamlin and Jordan Fish’s daughter Taylor Hamlin and her confidence - Stay posted.

Kyle Busch Day on 8/18

Kyle Busch Day got emotion out that we had kept deep. The loss of Kyle due to complications from pneumonia in May just hasn’t felt real.

For more of my audio where Kyle Busch talks about KFB CLICK HERE:

The lobster trophy at NHMS:

No photo holding a lobster as big as you are under duress could be attractive. I get the “icks” looking at it but the winning lobster is an honored tradition at NHMS. That is a big, slimy lobster.

Hendrick Motorsports Kyle Larson made the media rounds this week!

Larson, may be on a winless streak in the Cup Series but he once again pulled off the amazing, winning the Knoxville Nationals after leaving Richmond’s Cup race Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Watch Larson describe travel to Knoxville - CLICK HERE.

Thanks for sharing your NHMS photos! Keep ‘em coming! Email insidercbl@aol.com or post on X.

Your photos will be added to the Claire B. Roll - CLICK HERE FOR LINK

I’m Reading:

Christmas arrived early as I received this book in the mail from Mark Martin. It’s 500 pages of pure, honest gold. The book will be released on August 31, 2026. Link to purchase HERE:

Room for a mom update?

My mom went through most of her life being anonymous but not now! When I visited, we we got a note they were doing a commercial shoot at her care facility. We forgot to sign up and were having a coffee in the cafe when, out of the blue, in rolled cameras, people and directors. We ended up right in the middle of it all and, of course, they wanted to take photos of mom!

We just can’t help ourselves can we? My mother is the poster woman for happiness at 98-years young. What were the chances the photo shoot would find us?

It’s been a bit of an insane week but I wanted to get the newsletter out to you. Keep posted - more is coming!

Cheers and blessings to you all!

BUT everyone has to admit - it’s pretty amazing that he was able to race and win at Knoxville in the early morning hours after the Richmond night race. Sorry if there are doubters but I stand my ground on being impressed he was able to accomplish the feat.

The man is a racer.

Larson’s Cup Series winless streak is certain to end soon. Right?

Larson, who did media interviews this week after his Knoxville Nationals win was asked by a number of media about the challenges he has faced this season.

He has been very clear that it is not just him and his team and he feels a turnaround is imminent.

Larson’s certainty should bolster the morale of the Hendrick/Larson fans. Proof, of course, is always in the pudding.

Another reason to watch what he’s able to pull off with two races to go before the Chase field is set.