LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 06: Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, and Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Pennzoil Ford, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 06, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Alex Bowma races ahead of Joey Logano at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) | Getty Images
NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR News Roundup: Practice Adjusted; Electric Series?

March 11, 2022

Ahead of this weekend’s NASCAR races at Phoenix Raceway, here’s some news items and notes of interest that came out during the week.

Practice Time Adjusted Again

The NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix will see the third different practice format in the three races since the Daytona 500.

The field will once again be split into two groups. Each group will get 20 minutes of time on the 1-mile oval before qualifying begins.

At Auto Club Speedway, there were two groups with 15 minutes each. Last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, at the request of teams to have more preparation time, NASCAR held one 35-minute session for the entire field.

NASCAR “Exploring” All Electric Exhibition Series

NASCAR is taking a look at a possible all electric series in the future.

Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s newly promoted chief operating officer, shared insight into the prospect with reporters on Thursday.

“We are exploring some opportunities around an exhibition series in that space,” O’Donnell said. “And as everyone knows, there’s a huge push across all of our (manufacturer) partners, and even potentially new OEM partners. So it’s important for us to explore that space. I think there’s a lot of interest from our current partners to be part of that.”

O’Donnell observed that there isn’t any timetable for NASCAR to embrace going fully electric, but that NASCAR sees the sport as being “in an ideal world … all things to all people. So if you went to a NASCAR event weekend, you could see whatever type of technologies you wanted throughout a race weekend.”

Throwback Paint Schemes Announced

The countdown to NASCAR’s annual Throwback Weekend at Darlington Raceway in May unofficially got underway this week.

RFK Racing became the first team to reveal its throwback paint schemes for the May 8 Cup Series race.

Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford will be made up in the colors that Mark Martin drove during the 2004 Cup season.

Chris Buescher will keep the 2004-themed party going with his No. 17 Ford.

His car will evoke the No. 17 DeWalt car that Matt Kenseth piloted that season.

Joe Gibbs Racing and M&M’s are giving fans the opportunity to select what throwback scheme Kyle Busch will drive in the throwback race.

This is Mars, Inc’s final season in NASCAR as a sponsor.

To go along with that, fans can vote on five past M&M’s schemes, dating back to its first year in 1998 with Ernie Irvan. That scheme is currently the leader.

Phoenix Hard to Conquer For Non Champions 

Among the drivers entered in Sunday’s Cup race at Phoenix (3:30 p.m. ET on Fox) are eight who have combined to win 20 times at the track.

Notably, two of the last four winners – Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson – clinched championships with race wins. As a result, only one of the eight active Phoenix race winners does not have a title. That would be Denny Hamlin, whose won twice, most recently in 2019.

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Most Laps Led Hasn’t Equaled A Win

Through three NASCAR Cup races this season, three different drivers have managed to lead the most laps of each event.

But none of them – Keselowski (67 laps), Tyler Reddick (90) and Ross Chastain (83) – have been able to secure a race win.

The last time that happened was in 2019. The streak was snapped in the fourth race – at Phoenix – by Kyle Busch.

It’s been a long time since the Cup season went through its first four races without the race winner having led the most laps. It last occurred in 2006. That year, the season’s first five races went by without the dominant car going to victory lane.