“How do you start this?”

The teenager behind the wheel was Jeff Gordon, a 19-year-old dirt sprint car champion who had never sat in a heavy NASCAR stock car. The cars Gordon typically drove in 1990 did not even have starters; trucks pushed them to life. Gordon did not know where the ignition was.

 

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A post shared by Dirty Mo Media (@dirtymomedia)

Evernham showed him, then climbed back up to the hauler roof. What happened next stuck with him for decades.

Gordon needed to be observed and approved before racing. Real estate developer Hugh Connerty wanted to fund a team around him, and crew chief Andy Petree was brought in to run an official evaluation. Petree pulled in Evernham, a freelance mechanic at the time, to prep the car.

The benchmark belonged to Chuck Bown, who had used that same car to set the time Gordon was competing against. But within a handful of laps, Gordon was running a tenth of a second faster than Bown. In an underpowered car. With a teenager who had just learned how to turn the key.

Then it got more interesting. Jeff Gordon entered a corner too hot, broke the rear tires loose, and went sideways at speed. On asphalt, that usually ends with a car into the wall. Instead, Gordon countersteered, caught it, and kept driving, a move straight out of his dirt-track background. Evernham called him in.

“You can’t keep doing that,” he said.

Gordon’s response: “Yeah, I’m all right. Are you all right?”

Another thing Evernham remembers most is Gordon’s mature approach to tackling a race.

“Jeff’s maturity inside the race car was like a completely different person. Outside the car, he’s breakdancing, playing with a Game Boy, just being a kid.”

The Feat That Made Jeff Gordon a Legend

That test was the first sign of what Gordon would eventually become. In 1997, he captured the Winston Million, winning three of the four that made up the program in its final season, becoming only the second driver ever to do it. Gordon also won 13 races in 1998, tying Richard Petty’s modern-era record. Since Gordon’s 13-win season in 1998, only Jimmie Johnson has recorded 10 or more victories in a single year, doing so with 10 wins in 2007.

The same instincts Evernham saw at Charlotte carried him through it all. Gordon’s dirt-bred ability to slide a car through a corner without destroying his tires let him push the radial-tire, high-downforce cars of the late ’90s harder than anyone else on track.

The pit crew mattered just as much. The same “Rainbow Warriors” who started as college athletes recruited for speed, not mechanical know-how, were now gaining Gordon two to three positions on every single stop.

By the end of 1998, Gordon was not just beating Dale Earnhardt’s generation. He was replacing it. The teenager who once asked how to start a stock car had become the driver who changed how fast one could go.

The post “How do you start this?”- Ray Evernham Relives Wild First Experience Inspecting Phenomenal Rookie Jeff Gordon appeared first on EssentiallySports.

“I love you, I miss you,” Mayer wrote emotionally on X, saying exactly how he feels about a track that no longer exists as the one he raced on.

I love you, I miss you. pic.twitter.com/vdpy1NUE2v

— Sam Mayer (@sam_mayer_) June 23, 2026

NASCAR never just shut Fontana down and chose to walk away. Back in 2023, the company promised a high-banked, half-mile short track to replace the old 2-mile oval, made with the same bite as Bristol. The plan was to demolish first and then rebuild. But while the demolition happened, the rebuild never came.

NASCAR kept roughly 90 acres of the original property, the grandstands, the pit road, and the long front straightaway. The four turns got bulldozed completely. Today, that front straightaway just ends. There are no track-like corners or banking. It’s all dirt piles and weeds where Turn 1 used to begin.

The remaining 433 acres weren’t empty for long. NASCAR sold that land to developers for somewhere between $543 million and $569 million. Massive industrial warehouses are now exactly where Turns 1 and 2 once had cars running at full speed.

Former NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps has been honest about why construction stalled. Building the new short track would cost over $300 million, and he has openly questioned whether that is the smartest use of the company’s money right now. West Region President Dave Allen confirmed the project is paused while NASCAR figures out if Fontana is even still the right call.

But for Mayer, there’s a backstory to the way he’s feeling. He finished second in that final 2-mile race in February 2023, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. John Hunter Nemechek beat him to the win that day. At 19 years old, Mayer said afterward that he could “taste that first win”, and he rode that exact momentum into a breakout career.

With the home track gone and its replacement nowhere close to being built, NASCAR had to look elsewhere to keep Southern California on the schedule.

This year, NASCAR made a much bigger swing. The series ran its first-ever race on an active U.S. military base, laying out a temporary 3.4-mile street course across the runways at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego. Mayer was part of that weekend, too, and not in a way he will want to remember. On June 20, he clipped a wall and set off a 25-car pileup that brought out a 43-minute red flag.

NASCAR’s looking for a new home

Southern California is NASCAR’s second-largest TV market. That is why, even with Fontana stuck in limbo, the organization refuses to move on from the region entirely.

One of the plans remains the short track itself, still technically alive but parked indefinitely. West Region President Dave Allen has called it “Option No. 1,” while admitting NASCAR is still openly weighing.

There is already a backup floating around. If a developer can offer roughly 300 acres elsewhere in Southern California, like Bakersfield, NASCAR could abandon the Fontana site altogether and start fresh.

But while that decision drags on, NASCAR has looked for other ways to maintain a presence in Southern California. For three years, the Los Angeles Coliseum filled the calendar with a temporary quarter-mile track built inside the football stadium, before the cost of rebuilding it annually caught up. This year, NASCAR swung bigger at San Diego, with numbers strong enough that NASCAR is already eyeing a return in 2027.

None of that, though, changes what is sitting in Fontana right now. Whether NASCAR eventually finds its 300 acres elsewhere or spends the $300 million at the old site, the short track Mayer and so many others were promised still does not exist.

The post Disheartened Driver Pens Emotional 6-Word Message As NASCAR’s Iconic Short Track Promise Remains Unfulfilled appeared first on EssentiallySports.

Kenny Wallace calls out NASCAR fans’ hypocrisy

Kenny Wallace didn’t mince words on the latest episode of the Koffee with Kenny podcast when discussing the backlash directed at Corey Heim following the San Diego finish.

“Here’s my disclaimer. There’s not a bigger fan of Carson than me. I did a Kenny conversation with Carson Hocevar, but you guys are like a damn comedy. He can spin everybody out. But when Heim spins him out for the win, you guys cry over spoilt milk. Get with it. Earnhardt would not like that. Dale Sr. would say, quit your whining.”

Stop you’re crying
HEIM vs HOCEVAR pic.twitter.com/I00LqxfBay

— Kenny Wallace (@Kenny_Wallace) June 23, 2026

The criticism Heim received centered on how the contact that spun Hocevar crossed the line, especially given the position he was in late in the race. One fan summed up the mood by posting:

“Had to spin out Hocevar to win it. #77 will remember.”

Heim didn’t let that criticism go unanswered. Instead, he responded with a clip from a preseason NASCAR YouTube video. In the clip, Hocevar was reacting to being voted the driver most likely to cause a wreck.

“Just get the f–k out of the way, and there wouldn’t be a wreck,” Hocevar said back then.

Now, when talking to Jeff Gluck after the San Diego race, Hocevar didn’t seem to hold any grudges. “I don’t know if he got hit from behind,” he said, giving Corey Heim the benefit of the doubt. But upon seeing the clip, Hocevar responded with an image of a fictional serial killer from the series Dexter, leading to fan speculation about payback.

And when Denny Hamlin disclosed what transpired just after the race, the situation got even more amusing. According to Hamlin, Hocevar texted him to get Heim’s phone number. Hamlin gladly agreed, as he thought Hocevar wanted to wish the young driver on his maiden victory. Hamlin didn’t understand Hocevar’s true intention until much later.

And when Hamlin figured it out, he admitted that, from his perspective, the incident looked like another NASCAR on-track mistake rather than intentional retaliation. Still, Wallace’s bigger point wasn’t necessarily that Heim was completely innocent. His argument centered on Hocevar’s reputation.

Over the past few seasons, Hocevar has built a name for himself as one of NASCAR’s most aggressive drivers. Just recently at Michigan International Speedway, Hocevar triggered a nine-car crash during a Lap 83 restart. Incidents like that have become part of the package that many fans celebrate (and critics hate) when discussing his driving style. He’s even called ‘Hurricane Hocevar’ for all the destruction he causes wherever he goes.

Owing to all that, Hocevar is often also called “The Next Earnhardt”. But Wallace believes that Dale Earnhardt understood the realities of hard racing, unlike Hocevar.

Throughout his career, Dale Earnhardt was involved in countless on-track run-ins, often both giving and receiving aggressive contact. Yet Earnhardt rarely spent much time dwelling on incidents after the race. His response was usually simple: get back in the car next weekend and settle the score through performance. His fan base also understood that it was the right way.

The post “Quit Your Whining”- NASCAR Veteran Publicly Trashes Fans’ Hypocrisy as He Defends 23XI Protégé appeared first on EssentiallySports.

Denny Hamlin rejects NASCAR’s “100 starts rule”

Denny Hamlin’s comments, urged by Corey Heim’s historic win, came on a recent episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast. At San Diego, Corey Heim claimed his first Cup race win, and he did it in fewer than 20 races started, making him part of a rare group.

“That 100 starts thing is for losers. I think it’s for people that are just trying to buy time. I mean there’s a few exceptions like the Chase Elliotts, that it took a minute. 100 starts?! You need three years? I don’t agree with that. You got to show me something. It’s really really hard to win in the Cup Series.

“Even before Chase won in year whatever it was, he showed he could win far beyond well before his 100th start. Like you knew it was just a matter of time. Others, I feel like, are using it as, ‘You know, I just don’t have a whole lot of experience and by start 100, we’re gonna start contending.’ I don’t buy into that,” Hamlin said.

However, Denny Hamlin’s argument isn’t that every driver should win immediately. He knows that’s asking too much. Hamlin instead believes that if someone truly belongs at the top level, there should be signs long before milestone start numbers arrive. That’s why he referenced none other than Chase Elliott.

 

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Chase Elliott’s first Cup win came in his 99th start, which was the 2018 Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International, where he held off reigning champ Martin Truex Jr. by 7+ seconds. But before that win, in a career that began in 2016, Elliott had eight second-place finishes, including four runner-up results in the 2017 playoffs alone. The results hadn’t arrived, but the ability was never in question. And so he went on to win the Cup championship in 2020 and now holds 23 Cup victories.

Historically, some of NASCAR’s biggest names didn’t wait around either.

Kevin Harvick won in his third Cup start, beating Jeff Gordon by 0.006 seconds at Atlanta in 2001, under circumstances that could have broken most rookies, having been thrust into the spotlight as Dale Earnhardt’s replacement just weeks after Earnhardt’s death. Brad Keselowski got there in his fifth start. And Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 106 laps to win at Texas Motor Speedway in his twelfth start. Hamlin himself won his first Cup race at the 2006 Pocono 500 in his rookie season. He then finished third in the final standings that year, the best points finish for a Cup rookie since 1966.

Even the ones who waited unbelievably long had enough on their resumes to keep trying. For instance, the legendary Michael Waltrip had to wait a record 462 races to get his first win. Similarly, Sterling Marlin spent almost two decades trying to find victory lane before breaking through at the 1994 Daytona 500 (his 279th start). And finally, there’s Dale Jarrett, the 1999 Cup Series Champion and Hall of Famer, who did not taste victory lane until his 129th career start, winning an absolute thriller at Michigan International Speedway in 1991.

These examples perfectly match Denny Hamlin’s beliefs. Elite talent doesn’t count.

The post “That…Is for Losers”- Denny Hamlin Rips Apart NASCAR Drivers’ Cup Series Excuse With Chase Elliott Example appeared first on EssentiallySports.

A NASCAR event people didn’t wanna miss

When longtime NASCAR observers Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi started talking after the checkered flag in San Diego on ‘The Teardown‘, the conversation wasn’t really about who won. It was about what they had just witnessed.

“This race felt different. It really felt like a massive deal,” Jeff Gluck said. “I don’t know what it was like, what it came through the screen to you guys at home, but here it did feel like sort of crown jewel-esque… like it felt like a really big deal that a lot of people wanted to win. The atmosphere felt huge here. It felt like there was tons of people, ton of energy, lots of cheering.”

San Diego was officially a sellout, with approximately 50,000 tickets sold across the featured Saturday and Sunday programs to the general public. But the numbers underneath that turnout may have mattered even more. According to event data discussed by insiders, around 60% of attendees came from California, while 40% traveled from out of state.

It’s no secret this race felt different… but is it crown jewel level? pic.twitter.com/bGMMp6KfEZ

— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) June 22, 2026

What’s even more surprising is that roughly two-thirds of those in attendance had never purchased a NASCAR ticket before – the kind of metric NASCAR has been chasing for years.

A part of the appeal was obvious. The Anduril 250 became the first NASCAR race ever held on an active military installation. Building a 3.4-mile course directly across Naval Base Coronado immediately turned the weekend into something bigger than a race. Then, the timing amplified it further. The Navy’s 250th anniversary celebrations, visible military support, and a venue normally inaccessible to the public gave the event a once-in-a-lifetime feel. Gluck captured that sentiment.

“It felt like the 40 percent that were out of state were like the really true hardcore NASCAR fans… airline tickets, rental cars, hotels trying to figure this out, scooters. It was a really bucket-list kind of thing.”

Then there was the track itself. This wasn’t a ‘normal’ street circuit. It combined tight technical corners with sweeping straights and a signature section that sent stock cars charging across an active airfield. Along sections of the course, the Navy positioned aircraft and military equipment directly alongside the racing surface, creating visuals unlike anything NASCAR has attempted.

Jordan Bianchi noticed something else. “When you walk back from pit road… the way they set up victory lane here was basically right smack dab in the fan zone and just wall-to-wall people… it’s just enthusiasm across the board.”

That design choice mattered. Instead of a traditional enclosed race experience, Coronado became something closer to a festival campus. Fans moved between different environments throughout the day:

• The bayside area overlooking naval operations
• The tarmac surrounded by aircraft and military displays
• Multiple viewing zones offering completely different race perspectives

Moreover, NASCAR ensured it sold fans a proper experience. There were three fan zones inside the race track, with driver introductions, special appearances, and Victory Lane celebrations in the green zone, and brand activations and partner experiences in the red zone. The yellow zone brought fans to Red Bull, NASCAR merch, food, drinks, and more. K1 Speed set up an outdoor pop-up, giving fans the chance to race near NASCAR cars at the go-kart track on June 20 and 21. Military teens in San Diego also got free, hands-on driving training in Oceanside.

And maybe the final ingredient was location. After NASCAR stepped away from traditional Southern California destinations like Auto Club Speedway, the Southern West Coast fans had been waiting for something to replace that void.

But San Diego didn’t feel like a replacement. It felt like NASCAR accidentally stumbled onto a completely new formula. The formula mixed motorsports, spectacle, local culture, and experience-driven attendance into something that attracted people who weren’t coming just for the race but left talking about the racing anyway.

The post NASCAR’s San Diego Gamble Officially Cracked the New Fan Code, Reveal Insiders appeared first on EssentiallySports.

Dystany Spurlock continues rewriting motorsports history

The African American Automotive Association (AAAA) announced on 22nd June that Spurlock will be inducted into its Hall of Fame Class of 2026 under the Motorsports category. They’re recognizing her as a ‘Record-Breaking Drag Racer & Historic NASCAR Pioneer’, which isn’t just a milestone tied to a particular race finish or lap charts.

“Dystany Spurlock is actively rewriting the history books across multiple racing disciplines, demonstrating a remarkable level of versatility in modern motorsports,” a statement released by the AAAA read.

#NASCAR… @DystanySpurlock will be inducted into the AAAA Hall of Fame Class of 2026, the African American Automotive Association announced on Monday. pic.twitter.com/DhwZ4WX0vg

— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) June 22, 2026

Before NASCAR fans learned her name ahead of the Dover race on May 15, Spurlock had already made a name for herself in motorcycle drag racing, where she set multiple records and became one of the sport’s very best. One example came during the 2024 XDA Drag Racing Series, when she posted a 7.32-second run at 178 mph in the Real Street class. The run set a national female record in the category and came at Maryland International Raceway, where the heat normally makes it harder for riders to post fast times. And from there, Spurlock only kept climbing.

By 2025, she had become only the second Black woman to compete in the prestigious NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle category. After that, she decided to make the switch from motorcycles to stock car racing.

It was a completely different discipline, but one she adapted to quickly. In another historic achievement, Spurlock became the first Black woman to compete on the ARCA Menards Series platform. She also impressed on track, including with a seventh-place finish at Hickory Motor Speedway, and soon set her sights on NASCAR.

Her breakthrough moment in a national series nearly came at Watkins Glen International. Competing in Truck Series qualifying, Spurlock posted a faster lap than Natalie Decker, who was also attempting to make the field. However, NASCAR’s owner-points provisional system determined the final starting lineup, leaving the No. 66 team on the outside looking in. That disappointment didn’t last long.

Later in the season, Spurlock officially became the first African American woman to compete in a NASCAR national series race during the 2026 Ecosave 200 at Dover Motor Speedway. Unfortunately, her race ended early after a wreck, resulting in a 36th-place finish. The result mattered far less than what the moment represented.

“Today was a great day. We did make history, which is phenomenal,” Spurlock said after the ace, per The Athletic. “Of course, I wanted to finish the race, but it’s racing. Things like this happen. I did everything I could to my ability.”

Spurlock’s rise has also reached audiences outside racing. Her journey is currently being documented in Driven by Dystany: The Road to NASCAR, a docuseries produced by Foxxtecca that has introduced new fans to her story and expanded support for her growing career.

That broader impact aligns directly with what the AAAA represents. Founded by Harris in 2023, the African American Automotive Association was created to inspire future generations through hands-on education, industry access, and partnerships across automotive, transportation, and motorsports spaces. The Hall of Fame honors Black pioneers across the automotive and motorsports industries. Joining Spurlock in the Class of 2026 are Randy Parker in the Corporate C-Suite & OEM Leadership category and Aicha Evans in the Technology category.

For Spurlock, the Hall of Fame honor arrives while her racing journey is still gathering momentum. At 37, she is only beginning to establish herself in NASCAR, suggesting there may be plenty more milestones to come.

The post Female NASCAR Driver Earns Historic HoF Nod Honoring Trailblazing Career appeared first on EssentiallySports.

“What I can tell you is that we feel like this is a tremendously successful event. Obviously, we want to be respectful that this is an active military base at the same time,” NASCAR COO Ben Kennedy said in a post-race media interaction.

“So this was a great partnership, a great pairing of the 250th anniversary of the United States Navy and the 250th anniversary of the United States of America; you couldn’t ask for a better time than this. We would love to return. We are also cognizant of the fact that this is an active military base, and we want to be mindful of that as well.”

In terms of logistics, San Diego was a completely new challenge for NASCAR. From welding manhole covers to the specialized mill-and-pave operations, NASCAR did it all for this race. Despite all that, the officials faced multiple difficulties throughout the weekend – from the concrete barriers taking too long to repair to the multiple crashes causing longer delays.

NASCAR admitted that the last time they had to go through such a situation was when they decided to host the Chicago Street Race for the first time, which was also the sport’s first appearance on street courses.

At first, the weekend looked like a complete disaster, as the community held little trust in the ambition. But in its next iterations, NASCAR was able to turn things around in its favor. The result? Now, NASCAR and city officials are reportedly nearing an agreement to bring the downtown street race back to Chicago next year.

NASCAR COO Ben Kennedy says the sport would love to return to San Diego and Naval Base Coronado, but makes note that it’s an active military base and they want to respect that.

“We would love to return. We’re also cognizant of the fact that this is an active military base, and… pic.twitter.com/smcwLjIzhg

— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) June 22, 2026

That said, the San Diego street race at the Coronado Naval Base did not fall short of entertainment, thanks to unpredictable yet welcome outcomes. And the numbers align with NASCAR’s ambitions to enter the Southern California market and introduce the sport to a newer audience to increase its influence

More than 125,000 fans attended the race weekend in person across the three days. More importantly, these fans came from all 50 states and 17 countries, with 67% of the demographic attending a NASCAR race for the very first time. The race also had 11% more female audience members and three times the Hispanic attendees compared to a regular NASCAR race.

Wow.

What a look at Justin Marks’ crash in NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series practice from Naval Base Coronado on Friday. #NASCAR | : Kyle Kuester pic.twitter.com/qE2rI3xh01

— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) June 22, 2026

So, on paper, it seems like the tag of an ‘active military installation’ is the only thing that could stop NASCAR from racing at San Diego year after year. Kennedy further revealed that NASCAR has not yet begun discussions with the United States Navy.

“What we are going to do after this weekend is have a deep dive, an after-action review with our entire team. We’re also going to sit down with the United States Navy and talk to them. ‘Hey, what did we learn? What went well?…’

“Sit down with them, have a debrief, then have a conversation about, ‘Hey, is there an opportunity for us to return here?’ Nothing to report today. A lot more conversations we will have after this weekend.”

But if NASCAR does return on the circuit, then it appears to have the best date in mind.

San Diego’s future race might just have the best date

What’s better than racing at a military installation for a grand weekend? The answer is simple. Racing at a military installation on July 4th. Luckily for NASCAR, they might not need to wait long for this opportunity to come around. July 4th will fall on a Sunday next year. It gives NASCAR the ultimate idea for an Independence Day-themed weekend.

The only issue that arises is that the city hosts a parade and multiple events in downtown Coronado. The day is a big deal for local civilians, and NASCAR would want to tread lightly around their sentiments. Chicago offers a cautionary tale, as several local people had complained about business losses, which led to negative local publicity, and it took two years to fix that.

“We know a lot of big conferences come to San Diego. We don’t want to be up against any of that,” Amy Lupo, the president of NASCAR San Diego, said. “We want to be able to get people into hotel rooms and help San Diego, Coronado, and the Navy. This year, our stars aligned with the Padres being out of town.”

For now, NASCAR and Navy officials are expected to debrief and discuss future events. They already had to face a sour situation on Saturday. The NCIS had to step in to detain a man who illegally got on the track while the race was red-flagged. He was under the influence, but San Diego, being a military installation, could not accept such actions, and the person ended up facing federal charges.

The post NASCAR’s COO Drops 4-Word Update on San Diego’s Street Course Return appeared first on EssentiallySports.

According to a video posted on social media by Seth Eggert, a USF2000 car was seen thrown into the air after contact with one of the other drivers. When viewed through the multiple angles available, it was shown that the car went over barriers. Thankfully, the driver remained unharmed in this incident. The driver behind the wheel was Evan Cooley.

While heading towards Turn 5 after the race start, Cooley made contact with Ryan Giannetta in a downhill section. The slight contact clipped Giannetta’s front wheel, and Cooley’s Exclusive Autosport Tatuus car went airborne.

It was an unfortunate day for Cooley, who had been on the podium just one day before the incident. Evan is currently fourth in the driver’s championship with 156 points to his name. Another driver, Callahan Peter, was also involved in the incident, but he did not face any major consequences for the same.

In the caption of the video, Eggert claimed, “Almost 30 feet in the air, Evan Cooley’s USF2000 car almost went over the catch fencing, the car ripped in half, and Evan walked away from the crash.” However, after watching the video in question, some viewers offered a fact check that the car did not go 30 feet in the air. It was likely an exaggerated comment by the announcers.

Almost 30 feet in the air, Evan Cooley’s USF2000 car almost went over the catchfencing, car ripped in half, and Evan walked away from the crash. pic.twitter.com/QSB9jiNMRT

— Seth Eggert (@SethEggert91) June 21, 2026

Nevertheless, the incident was inherently dangerous as Cooley’s car went over the barriers, tumbling multiple times. He was cleared from the medical care center before the race went green again. His crash did end up red-flagging the session for a long time while cleanup of the track was being performed.

Nevertheless, the race would end under yellow flag conditions. After the cleanup, a four-lap dash was announced to decide the winner of the race. Another wreck between Liam Loiacono and Connor Aspley of Exclusive Autosport brought out the yellow flags.

The race was won by Brad Majman from Melbourne, Australia. It was Majman’s second race win in the USF2000. He was joined by his teammate Eddie Beswick as the duo completed a perfect one-two finish for their team, Pabst Racing. Sebastian Garzon, who’s the championship leader with 234 points, completed the podium for DEForce Racing after starting the race on pole.

The post Watch: Driver Miraculously Survives Terrifying Crash After Car Goes Airborne At Former NASCAR Track appeared first on EssentiallySports.

“If you’re coming over here for a one-off, you’ve got to show the competitors who are here full-time some respect,” Hamlin said on his podcast Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin. “If I went and did a one-off somewhere else, I mean, I guess that’s stereotyping us and NASCAR as well: ‘You guys just run into each other. So, I think it’s okay to just power drive you into turn 12 on lap three.’ I’m not a huge fan of that.

“And I have nothing against him at all. I raced around him a little bit today. He was fine, and I think what he did was wildly impressive. But yeah, I’m going to have to side with Noah on this one.”

F1’s Magnussen put up an overall impressive performance in his Cup Series debut. He posted a time of 132.49 seconds — the race’s fastest lap — and ran inside the top 20 for long stretches before eventually fading to 27th. But what he did earlier in the race became the talking point.

On Lap 25, Magnussen hit the back of Gragson’s No. 4 Ford after pulling brakes late. However, Gragson blocked him as the two banged doors. Things only got worse from there. In late Stage 2, with a few laps remaining, Magnussen went into the inside on Turn 4 and sent Gragson’s car into the wall. With his right-front toe-link breaking, the full-time racer’s day ended at the 35th.

“It was dumb,” Magnussen said after the race. “I think what pissed him off was that I bumped him, but I went in, I dived in, and after I dived, he closed the door, and I bumped him. So I said, ‘Okay, fine,’ but then that ruined his whole race, and he basically was messing around under the caution and slamming my door. I thought maybe we could get it out, out of his system and carry on, but he didn’t, so he ended up where he ended up.”

However, there was a history here.

“I’ve watched NASCAR before, so I know that’s how you guys play it.”

–@KevinMagnussen talks about his interaction with Noah Gragson and also describes his first NASCAR race.

Presenting partner: https://t.co/k8HHlawIGl

PROMO CODE: RACER pic.twitter.com/BZfmxq9YJl

— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) June 22, 2026

“I’ve watched NASCAR before, so I know that’s how you guys play it,” Magnussen said when asked about why he wrecked out Noah Gragson.

It was no better than a complete stereotype, claiming that the entirety of NASCAR is about wrecking each other out and ruining each other’s races. That’s why Hamlin sided with Gragson, too.

Still, being the fastest around a technical circuit like San Diego — which leveled the playing fields among the drivers for being a new track — does prove that Magnussen might be able to do better than his debut race if he ever got another opportunity.

The post Denny Hamlin Publicly Slams F1 Ringer For ‘Stereotyping’ NASCAR As He Picks Sides In Noah Gragson Controversy appeared first on EssentiallySports.

In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Wallace said, “Am I complaining about second? No! On a road course? Hell no!! I’ll take it…we’ll come back stronger and continue to push the needle forward. We know we can win. Maybe I can win a road course now after today.”

A runner-up on a road course was at one point a foreign concept for @BubbaWallace, but @NASCARSanDiego showed that he’s more than capable.

“Was really pleased with how the weekend went […] we’ve had a season full of asterisk marks beside our results, and it’s tiring.” pic.twitter.com/Va9sXmFPwE

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) June 22, 2026

That last line stood out because road racing has never exactly been Bubba Wallace’s comfort zone. Before San Diego, Wallace had made 40 Cup Series starts on road and street courses. But, in those forty starts, he had only one top-five finish and four total top 10s to his name. His average finish stood at 22. These weekends were usually about survival, minimizing damage, and getting back to oval racing.

And this one at the Naval Base Coronado looked no different at first. Bubba Wallace had started 12th, and he quietly moved forward in the opening laps. By Lap 17, he was comfortably running inside the top 10 when the team brought the No. 23 Toyota to pit road for service.

Then everything unraveled. When the pit cycles settled, Wallace was all the way back in 31st. However, there was something worse for Bubba to handle. Upon exiting, the right front felt loose and eventually detached between turns 9 and 10, which forced him to pit road again. What followed became one of the biggest setbacks of the race.

Bubba Wallace was hit with a costly two-lap penalty while the team repaired splitter damage on pit road. At that point, a top 10 felt optimistic. But caution flags opened the door. Bubba Wallace grabbed free passes, fought to get back onto the lead lap, and slowly worked through the field. Instead of forcing mistakes, he stayed patient and methodically climbed.

With fewer than 12 laps remaining in the final green-flag run, Bubba Wallace suddenly found himself back inside the top five. Then, the chaos ahead changed everything (in a positive way). Teammates Corey Heim and Tyler Reddick were battling for the lead when Reddick’s tire failed with two laps remaining.

Bubba Wallace quickly slipped through and inherited the second spot vacated by Reddick. After starting near the front, falling outside the top 30, serving a penalty, and clawing back all afternoon, the Alabama native crossed the line runner-up to Corey Heim.

The result moved Wallace up two spots to 11th in the standings and marked his second top-three finish in the last three weeks. Doing it on a temporary military-base street circuit (a place nobody had raced before) might matter even more. Now comes the next test for Bubba. If San Diego changed Wallace’s trajectory, Sonoma Raceway will be where he proves it.

Wallace celebrates 23XI’s big day while making his own goal clear

Bubba Wallace’s second-place finish gave him one of his strongest road-course results ever, but his reaction afterward showed where his mind still was.

“My body language and facial expression will not show it, but I’m really excited for Corey and [crew chief Bootie Barker], getting him back to victory lane,” Wallace said. “But being a winner in the Cup Series is something that we all want to achieve.”

Driving the No. 67 Toyota in only his 13th career Cup Series start, Heim survived the chaos of the inaugural San Diego race and capitalized late when Tyler Reddick’s challenge unraveled. The 23-year-old kept himself out of trouble for most of the afternoon, stayed in contention, and took control of the race with just a few laps remaining.

Heim’s win completed a historic 1–2 finish for the organization with Wallace behind him, proving the team had pace across multiple cars on one of the most technical tracks NASCAR has visited. It also gave crew chief Bootie Barker a return to victory lane.

Coincidentally, on October 4, 2021, Bubba Wallace won the rain-shortened Yella Wood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, earning Barker his first victory as a Cup crew chief and 23XI Racing’s first victory. After years of ups and downs, the 2024 Martinsville playoff race was Barker’s final race as Wallace’s crew chief.

Now, less than two years later, Barker was back in victory lane, this time with Corey Heim. For Bubba Wallace, that probably made the emotions even more complicated. He could celebrate seeing someone he once won with return to the top while also being reminded of what winning feels like and how long it has been since his last trip there.

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