There are many great stories in NASCAR. Last week’s Brickyard 400 victory by rookie phenom Corey Heim for one. However, while some stories warrant full coverage, there are also some stories where a couple of paragraphs of exposition and commentary will do. I’ve decided to combine several such topics into one post. (Oh who am I kidding? I’ll probably ramble on for several hundred words on at least a couple of these subjects. But we’ll give it our best shot at it.)
Gilliland’s Million Dollar Prize Not The Win NASCAR Thinks It Is
For the second year in a row, there was a wild card bracket buster in NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge. In 2025, Ty Dillon was the story of the tournament, making the finals only to lose to Ty Gibbs. This year, the “Cinderella Story” belonged to Todd Gilliland except in 2026, the glass slipper fit (to steal a phrase from Mike Joy during the 2011 Daytona 500).
Gilliland’s win over Ryan Blaney to win the In-Season Challenge was similar to the “Battle of the Tys” a year before. It was the big team that always dominate the headlines (Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025 and Team Penske in 2026) vs. the smaller team (Kaulig Racing last year and Front Row Motorsports this year).
But while Gilliland’s win might seem like a “feel good story” for NASCAR (and who doesn’t love those, this writer included), one has to remember that he finished 24th to Blaney’s 26th-place finish. A 26th-place finish that occurred after Blaney had been involved in a wreck, had to work his way back up and only missed the big money payout by two spots.
Handing a $1,000,000 cheque to a driver who has an average finish of 20.8 in 2026, equaling his average from 2025 and up a tenth from 2024, is probably great for NASCAR’s social media accounts. A better turn of events is that Gilliland, or any of the smaller teams, is able to compete for a win, not for top-20s. We saw what Carson Hocevar was able to do at Talladega earlier this season and Spire Motorsports has been able to do as a whole. That needs to keep happening, as a regular occurrence, not as a gimmick.
Front Row Motorsports announces Chandler Smith’s to depart after 2026 season
I’ve never understood why announcements of this nature are doled out like this. There’s three parts to this turn of events. (1) Chandler Smith is leaving Front Row at the end of the season. (2) Chandler Smith is heading elsewhere (rumoured to be the #2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series) for 2027. (3) Someone else will drive the #38 Front Row Motorsports Ford in the Craftsman Truck Series program in 2028.
The way FRM’s announcement reads, one might suspect that there was an issue between Smith and the team and he’s basically being shown the door. Obviously, with two wins and a spot secured in the Truck Series Chase this year, it wasn’t a performance issue. If you didn’t read the rumours, you’d think there’d been some disagreement between Smith and his crew chief, Jon Leonard, or some Front Row exec.
If Chandler is leaving for RCR, why not let him make the announcement and thank FRM for his time with them, even toss in a “I’ll be working with Jon and Front Row in competing for the Truck Championship, to end our great working relationship on a high note.”? Obviously, the right move is for Smith to let Front Row know all of this well in advance so they can prepare their announcement, basically saying what Smith says about the rest of the season, perhaps even solidify the replacement driver. It all would feel a lot more positive than “Chandler’s leaving.”
No matter how it’s announced (and if in fact the rumours are true), I’m glad to see Chandler Smith moving up to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series because it means we are one step closer to having races with Chandler Smith, Joey Logano and Ross Chastain regularly in the lineup. (You might have to think about that one.)
Jimmie Johnson to drive #48 in final NASCAR ride
As Jimmie Johnson finishes up the final laps of his historic NASCAR career, as part of the 2027 Daytona 500, he will do so will driving his iconic #48. This, of course, be the same number that he won all seven of his Cup Series championships and 83 wins at NASCAR’s highest series.
If I’m questioning whether Todd Gilliland winning the In-Season Challenge was a “feel good story,” I have no such qualms about this particular story. The fact that Rick Hendrick, the owner of another team and, indeed, a team using a different manufacturer, agreed to let Johnson, his former driver from 2001-2020, use his old number just makes it more special.
While every driver, every team, and every manufacturer are all competitive rivals on the track, this is an example where everyone seems to be able to set those rivalries aside and work together for the betterment of the sport.
According to NASCAR, Johnson has not led a lap in the #84 Toyota he drives on a very part-time schedule for Legacy Motor Club. I can’t help but hope that maybe the return to the #48 might give him one more opportunity to change that during Jimmie’s last ride at the upcoming Daytona 500.
Honestly, if Hendrick and Johnson could arrange to have Chad Knaus be on top of the pit box as crew chief for the #48 one last time, I think that would be one of the most fitting and proper final race stories in the history of NASCAR.
The Clash Returns To Daytona
This is another announcement that I was happy to hear.
As I’ve stated before, I can applaud NASCAR for trying something different. But let’s be honest, holding the Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was a disaster. The time, money, and effort spent to build a race track for one weekend, only for the majority of the crowd to be visibly bored and only interested in the musical acts, was not sustainable.
For the last two years, NASCAR went to the historic Bowman Gray Stadium. Both events suffered from the attempt to get Cup cars back onto a track of that length, and some confusion about rules. However, what struck me, is that even as I was at home thinking “WTF am I watching here?” the crowd never lost its enthusiasm. They just enjoyed the moment.
Part of me wanted NASCAR to give Bowman Gray one more chance. However, having the Clash return to Daytona…and, I now learn, to be held on February 13, just eight days before the Daytona 500, is a great story. It essentially restores Speedweeks. Yeah, having the Clash in late January/early February meant there was NASCAR content that much earlier. Still, I’d trade an early race for a couple of weeks of racing in Daytona. I don’t ever expect to attend Speedweeks (I don’t travel too well and probably would spend half the time with a migraine from being out in the sun), there will be plenty of people who will be happy to plan their vacations attending.
Rest in Peace: Richard Brickhouse
Some sad news to close out this installment. On July 24, Richard Brickhouse passed away at the age of 87.
If one wanted to make it short and sweet, one could say that Brickhouse was an answer to a trivia question: Who was the winner at the first race ever held at the newly-opened Talladega in 1969?
The race is remembered best as being the race that most of the top NASCAR drivers boycotted due to safety concerns surrounding the new track. NASCAR was forced to enlist drivers from lower series (including Richard Childress, making his Cup Series debut) to fill most of the field.
However, a handful of Cup drivers decided to join the race instead of the boycott. Brickhouse, who had made his first of 39 Cup Series starts at Rockingham in 1968 and had driven in the 1969 Daytona 500, was one of them.
Brickhouse led 33 laps in that first Talladega race and beat Jim Vandiver to the start/finish line (located just before Turn 1 at the track, instead of the traditional spot in the middle of the front stretch) to take the first and only checkered flag of his career. Because he was filling in for Charlie Glotzbach, Brickhouse was also the first driver to win in the Dodge Charger Daytona.
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