NASCAR LIVE 4-14-26 : Joey Logano, Parker Retzlaff, Billy Scott

[Music] From fueling NASCAR champions on the track for over 20 years to innovating 94 octane. The highest octane on the market. Performance is what Sonoco does. [Music] All Sonoco fuel at the pump meets the same top tier standards as the fuel used in NASCAR. From the track to your tank. Sonoco, the official fuel of NASCAR. The following is a production of the motor racing network, the voice of NASCAR. The motor racing network presents NASCAR Live. Kyle Larson now, at a turn number four, if it gets the safer barrier, is going to bring the car to the middle reaches of the banking. He looks at the flag stand. The white flag is waving. One and a half miles for Kyle Larson, left in Kansas. Take care one more left car entering turn number one for the final time. If dominating a race with a prime, Kyle Larson would get the electric car today. Off turn two for the final time. Nobody has had anything for Kyle Larson all day long and he has put on an absolutely dominating performance. For the final time, Larson goes through three and four. He won stage one. He won stage number two. He being Kyle Larson, here he comes off quarter number four, the checkered flag is in the air. And Kyle Larson wins the Advent Health 400 at Kansas. NASCAR Live is brought to you by Toyota Racing. Your race, your story, be part of the action at Toyota Racing USA dot com. From the MRN studios in Concord, North Carolina, here is your host, Mike Bagley. Hello everybody, welcome to another edition of NASCAR Live. Here on the Motor Racing Network, Mike Bagley and the entire MRN crew here with you. As we come off of Thai Gibbs first career NASCAR Cup Series win at the Bristol Motor Speedway over the weekend in the food city 500. Now we pick up stakes and head to America's Heartland for the first of two race weekends at the Kansas Speedway in 2026. Coming up on tonight's show, I'll be joined by Joey Logano, driver of the number 22. Michelle Pennzoil, Ford Mustang for Team Penske, Tim Cattlefamo will tell us the full history of drivers getting their first win with Joe Gibbs Racing. Parker Redslop will stop by plus we'll revisit a historic day for Terry LeBonney and Tyler Reddick's crew chief Billy Scott tells us what makes 2311 racing so good at Kansas. But first Kyle Ricky is here with all of the latest headlines across NASCAR Kyle. Mike, NASCAR will be adjusting the stage lengths for the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Talladega Super Speedway on April 26th. Stage 1 will end on lap 98. Stage 2 will now end on lap 143 and the race will conclude on lap 188. The change comes in an attempt to combat fuel saving strategies employed at Super Speedways. John Probst, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Officer, explained what NASCAR's goal is when it comes to the change. It's all in the interest of, again, not having a bad event for our fans. So when we go to Talladega, we're going to start with the long stage, which is a bit reversed from how we've done our Speedway racing. And then with two short stages, which there could be some saying, well you didn't get rid of it, you just parked it all into the front. But like we do have fans that like the strategy and I think that the length of that first stage is such that the teams could logically debate whether or not to one stop or two stop that. I think the best opportunity for us is to have them split that and have some try to some try one and we got like a pretty good story in that first stage and then end it with two stages of just flat out Speedway racing like we've all come to love. Next January, NASCAR will bring back the return of preseason Thunder testing at Daytona International Speedway, or potential technical changes will be assessed ahead of the season. In other news, Richard Childress Racing announced that Austin Dillon will enter the NASCAR Rylee Auto Parts Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Dillon will pilot the team's number three Chevrolet at the one and a half mile oval. His last start in the series was at the Iowa Speedway last August. Dillon isn't the only driver making a return to the series at Texas as veteran race, Sir Ian CW Broadcaster Parker Cligerman will compete for colleague racing as part of the team's Ram Free Agent program in that weekend's NASCAR Crasman Truck Series race. Mike. Coming up, I'll sit down with Joey Logano. NASCAR Powerball, the chase to 1 million is on. Finalists, are you ready? Don't miss your chance to collect cash prizes on your way to an all-new destination where you could take home $1 million. The winner is contestants number two. I can't believe it. The official lottery game of NASCAR is back for the chase. Powerball, the chase to 1 million starts now. This is NASCAR Live. Now back to Mike Bagley. Welcome back to NASCAR Live. This weekend we're off to Kansas Speedway for triple header action with the Arkham and Art Series on Saturday. The Kansas Lottery 300 for the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Saturday evening. And then of course Sunday, the Ed Van Health 404, the NASCAR Cup Cars, Joey Logano will be driving the number 22. Shell Penn's Oil Ford Mustang on Sunday, but on Saturday, he's going to join us in the broadcast booth for our coverage of the Kansas Lottery 300. Let's go to the NASCAR Live Zoom hotline and bring in the aforementioned driver of the number 22 for team Penske. Joey Logano is back on NASCAR Live. Joey, how we do it? What's happening? I'm doing good. How are you? Doing fantastic, my friend. Let's talk about the Kansas Speedway. Obviously you're a five time winner there. You've won three times in cup. You've won twice in the NASCAR Rally Auto Parts Series. What is the biggest challenge at Kansas so driver in a team faces? I mean, I think everyone really likes Kansas. You know, as a race car driver and even as a fan, I think it's really grown into a good racetrack where you know, you can move around the race track a lot. You know, it seems like even the bottom start to play a little bit more again. They're even in both ends. So just so you can go places and it's kind of not that it's homestead type because your homestead has a ton of tire wear, but it's starting to get a little bit of tire wear, but it's wide like homestead is where you have a lot of options when you go in the corner and with the next gen car being so challenging to follow somebody directly behind them. You need a track that has options for a good race and that track has a lot of options has been put on a great race. And it seems like that this gen 7 car has taken to mile and a half race tracks and it's taken to tracks like Kansas for the lay person out there that that doesn't know why is that why does why does this race car seem to take to certain types or measurements of race tracks and others. But again, I think it's probably depending on the race track itself. You know, if you compare it to the old car when the cars had a bunch of skew in it, remember they used to go sideways on straight away and all that well they had to talk skew in the corners obviously as well. The wake would just go off to the right and go up the race track. So moving to the right side of a car really wasn't that great of an option for you. If you stuck into dirty air, right, like imagine a boat going down the down the lake and you see that wake kind of coming off. Well, that's what it's like behind a race car. It's doing the same thing. If it's more to the right, then you don't really want to be out there, right is just turbulent air. These cars, the turbulent air is directly behind it, but when you move to the right or the left, it's pretty clean. So when you get to a track again, it has got some lanes and got some options where you can get out of that wake. You can have just as much grip as the guy with clean air, being the second place car if you're just not aligned. So you have a little bit better options that way that sometimes puts on a little better racing. What does it feel like in the car when you step to the right or you step to the left versus being right behind somebody? What is this sensation that you feel behind the steering wheel there? Well, I mean, just like you just have more grip, right when you get clean air in the car, it just turns better and it handles better. The problem is when you come off the corner, that car or funny gets back in front of you. Right. So as you merge and you're like still hanging on to the exit, you see the bottom car, you're like kind of merging back up in front of you. You better be ready to lose all your grip and you better have that thing pointed in the right direction. Unless you're you're not in good shape. It is not going to be good for you. Because the difference between the the cleaned and dirty or like the clean air to follow in a car directly in front of you is huge with this thing. So I can say you better have your stuff pointed in the right direction before that car comes up front of you. Of course we're talking about what's going to be taking place in the Advent Health 400 to Kansas Speedway. But the day prior on Saturday, you're going to join us up in the broadcast booth on motor racing networks call of the Kansas Lottery 300 seems like you've taken to broadcasting. I know you've been on serious XM. You've done stuff for Fox. You've done stuff for MRN in the past. Is this something that interests you down the line that you would entertain maybe a career broadcasting? Yeah, absolutely. I love it. I like just hanging out talking about race cars. You know, I just it's who I am. At this point, I know a lot about it, which is good. I've been doing it long enough to know enough to where it's easy to do. You know, even after practice like, you know, we're going to have practicing qualifying and I'm going to run up and hang out with you and watch your race. I'm going to watch your race anyways. I might still be up there and have a little bit of fun and get to talk about it and hang out with some of the fans in those type of situations. It's a fun thing to do for me. It's good experience 'cause yeah, post-cost career, I would be very interested in doing some of this type of stuff. So I get a little better at it every time, which is good. So yeah, why wouldn't I do it? - I'm curious from your perspective, the differences between being an analyst on radio versus being an analyst on television. What are those differences in your opinion? - Well, it doesn't matter what I look like on the radio. (laughing) So that's good. I wear whatever I can't want to wear. I don't do it in my underwear though. Okay, I have to answer. - Thank you. - Yeah, so that's good. But outside of that, it's a little, I say the radio's challenging because you're trying to explain what's going on on the racetrack without any visuals, right? Where TV kind of has that crutch, if you will, where the fan gets to see what's happening and you're talking about the details of what's happening. On the radio, you have to explain every little bit that's going on on the racetrack to paint the picture for somebody to understand what's happening. So there's that, and then there's like the communication from what I noticed, at least from the each corner person as it comes around and like, when do you talk and when do you should not talk and I don't want to step on anyone's toes, it's not like, it's just chemistry that's like doing it. It's not like, okay, you talk now, you talk now. It's just like, they get a good flow going. It's very different than TV. TV, everything is very mapped out. If somebody you're telling you what to do, when you're going to commercial, what's happening, all that, where it's much for free flowing on the radio. Well, it's going to be good to have you back. You're going to be re-enacted with your championship with a crew chief Todd Gordon. So it'll be Alex, me, you and Todd, for the Kansas Lottery 300. And I've worked the booth with you and Todd before it's quite entertaining to watch you two go back and forth up there. Yeah, it'll probably end up in an argument about who's got the right strategy or not. That's probably what it's going to come down to. But it's funny, that's what's fun about that series too, is that the tire limit that's usually coming into play at some point in those races is there's a moment where like do you go for it and put tires on the not, do you save it for that late race caution. You usually have one of those moments, which is fun. First, to talk about for one, but two for the fans. You just, you can't completely predict what's going to happen. And that's what a good race is. When you don't, the fastest car doesn't have to win every race for it to be a good race. It's the best team, the best calls, the best execution in a fast car does matter, right? But you got to have all that together and NASCAR racing does that. And we can't wait to bring you live coverage of the Kansas Lottery 360 PM Eastern Saturday night right here on the Motor Racing Network. Appreciate the time, my friend. We'll see you. Absolutely. Good stuff. We'll see you there. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical underage sale prohibited. When it comes to drivers, we all have our favorites. Same goes for zone nicotine pouches, offering a variety of bold flavors available in strengths of six milligrams and nine milligrams, whether you're a fan of mint, citrus, subtle, or spice your shirt to find an intensity and flavor that lasts. One zone pouches at a discount mailed right to your door, get 20% off at nicokic.com, backslash zone, when you use promo code Racing20. This is NASCAR Live, now back to Mike Bagley. Welcome back to NASCAR Live in the 35 year history of Joe Gibbs Racing. The team has been a place where both veteran and young drivers have had success. Sunday tie-gibs became the seventh driver to win his first Cup Series race at JGR. Tim Cattle Femmo is here with all seven of those stories. First career wins are always a special occasion. One organization that has been part of plenty of those crowning moments is Joe Gibbs Racing. The list of drivers who have scored their first career Cup Series win while driving for JGR is an impressive one that stretches all the way back to 1995. Bobby LaBody is still under power as he hits down the middle of the back straight away and dives into the banking of turn number three. He runs the middle racing group with that speedway right here in the turn four area of the speedway. And now he's coming up turn four. Bobby LaBody could coast in from here. He ran his first Winston Cup race in 1991. And in 1995, after 74 races, he claims his first victory in the Coca-Cola 600. Bobby LaBody spent the first two full-time seasons of his Cup Series career driving for Bill Davis Racing, but became the pilot of the number 18 interstate battery Chevy starting in 1995. It was clearly a good match from the beginning. With LaBody finishing in the runner-up position twice in the opening month of the season. Shortly thereafter, everything came together when LaBody scored his first win in the crown jewel Coca-Cola 600. He's off turn two and heading for Victory Lane. Those out of penalties had the strong car all night. And he deserves this one. Tony Stewart for the last time up in the turn three and four. Injust his 25th start of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Tony Stewart is a winner. Checkered flag, Stewart wins. Tonight's ex-ide NASCAR select 400, Richmond. Joe Gams, I'm dead. Don't get any better than that. First and second, you are facing like an expected father. Hey, I gotta tell you, this is one of the great nights right here. I'm so proud of Tony. Bernie Arthur, everybody, Home Depot. Congratulations, Bobby comes in second. I'm telling Lord Bless us for the great night. I couldn't be happy. I tell you, it was one of the big thrills of my life. Joe Gibbs expanded his organization to two full-time entries in the 1999 season. And the man he picked to drive his second car was Tony Stewart. Smokes rise to the top and NASCAR was a quick one. He had one of the more impressive rookie seasons in the history of the Cup Series, one that was punctuated by his first career checkered flag at the Richmond Raceway. Denny Hamlin's black and green Chevrolet all alone coming off the end of the short shoot, Kurt Busch riding in second-nirly a dozen car links behind Denny Hamlin who's racing off the corner. And for the second year in a row, a young driver comes to Pocono Raceway and scores a win in his first ever visit here, Denny Hamlin is gonna win the Pocono 500. Denny Hamlin, you are now a next-tale Cup Series winner. Congratulations. Yeah, it's great to do it here, Pocono. It's a, what a great racetrack. I came here and took about two laps and I came over right here and said this is one awesome racetrack. The fans, I've never seen any fans like this at any other racetrack. So, man, it's great to do it in front of all these people and man, I'm just glad to be here. Fittingly, the next time Joe Gibbs racing got a first-time winner was not long after they became a three-car organization. The number 11 car had been part of the JGR stable in the 2005 season with Denny Hamlin becoming the driver in 2006. Just like Stort, Hamlin had a fantastic rookie season. Before points were counted, Hamlin won the exhibition Buds Shootout at Daytona and a few months later was celebrating his first victory in a points race in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Joey Lugano hits his marks and turns free and forward for the final time in route to his first career nationwide win. We've talked about Joey Lugano. He's done everything but win. But heck, this is only this first handful of races for him. Joey Lugano wins his first career victory in the NASCAR Nationwide series as he wins by nearly three seconds here at the Kentucky Speedway. While many drivers like Denny Hamlin and Tony Stort rose quickly in the sport, they can't even match what happened to Joey Lugano. Lugano was said to be the best thing since sliced bread and scored his first victory in the NASCAR O'Rally Auto Parts series at Kentucky Speedway. Lugano was just 18 years old at the time, driving for JGR. One year later, he was promoted to the Cup series and soon became the youngest winner in series history when he won the Reigns Shorten 2009 Lennox Industrial Tools 301 at the young age of 19. Eric Jones would help from Chris Bussier will go to the lead. Here's true ex side by side with Chris Bussier now as he raised to three. Eric Jones opens up by a couple of car lengths. Here comes Martin Truex Jr. Changes lanes, Jones throws the block, hit it off, turn four. Off turn number four, here they come down to the line. This is going to be a finish we'll be talking about. Young Eric Jones out in front of the field across the line, he'll score the win at Dave Tona. It would be nine years before JGR had another first time winner in their Cup Series stable. And his name was Eric Jones. Jones was amongst a group of 16 different drivers to win their first NASCAR O'Rally Auto Parts series race for Joe Gibbs. He did the same in the Cup Series when he drove to victory lane in the 2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. Turn 11 for Christopher Bell. In to turn 12, he's got two left. He's got 13 and 14. Could we be seeing two first time winners in the NASCAR Cup Series to kick off the season? It was Michael McDowell winning the Daytona 500 one week ago. And here comes Christopher Bell at a turn 14. Shackerd Flag is waving at the start finish line. And Christopher Bell is a winner in the NASCAR Cup Series. He'll take the O'Rally Auto Parts 253 at the World Center of Racing. The road maps that Eric Jones and Christopher Bell took to Joe Gibbs Racing were eerily similar. Both drivers had huge success with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the truck series before moving to JGR in the O'Rally series. What's up? But more, Jones and Bell drove for a different team in the Cup series before a seat opened up at GGR. And they both also had their very first experience in Victory Lane in the Cup series at Daytona. Bell's triumph, however, came on the road course at the World Center of Racing in February of 2021. White flag in the air, Ryan Blaney on the inside. He has the advantage. They're door to door back into one on the final lap. Gidds takes it upstairs, Blaney down at the bottom. Gidds rockets off the corner. He side by side with Blaney in the three. In the turn three and four for the final time. Gidds is rim riding, Blaney on the bottom. They're side by side at the line. Blaney sideways and Ty Gibbs is one. For the first time in his Cup series career, Ty Gibbs is a race winner. He wins the food city 500. It's just awesome for our family. I think Akoi, Ty's dad took him all the way up to Cup. I just wish he could have been here. But I think he probably has a great view where he is. God bless us with so many great people. So many of them helped make this happen. I just thank the Lord for everything he's done for us. While all of those previous victories were indeed memorable for Coach Gibbs, the most recent first time winner to drive for GGR has to be the most special. This past weekend, Ty Gibbs scored his first career win in the Cup series by holding off Ryan Blaney in dramatic fashion at the Bristol Motor Speedway. The grandson of the NASCAR HOTLFAME team owner, Ty came into the sport with a ton of hype surrounding him, winning in his first ever start in the Aaraliata part series in 2021. And while it took Ty more than three full-time seasons to notch the ultimate goal, Cup victory number 229 for Joe Gibbs is a car owner, and win number one for grandson Ty will forever be one of the most cherished moments for the family run organization. Thank you Tim and thank you to the performance racing network for their help on some of those calls. Coming up, Parker Wretsloth will join us. Every DIY project has that "oh no" moment, the missing bolt, the measured cut, the second, third, and fourth trips to the hardware store. That's where Craftsman comes in. Whether you're tackling the backyard, the bathroom, or beyond, Craftsman has the tools to help you power through and get the job done right. Because DIY is unpredictable, but your tools shouldn't be. Head to Craftsman.com today and find the right tools for any project. Craftsman, build on. Parker Wretsloth and Viking Motorsports have been one of the biggest surprises of the year. Parker has three top 10 finishes in the last four races. He set down with our Chris Wilner to discuss their great start and what he's looking forward to this weekend in Kansas. Well Parker Wretsloth joins us after yet another top 10 finish at Bristol that's now back to back and three in the last four races for Viking Motorsports. Parker what is starting to click with this group? You and Danny, your crew chief and just this entire 1919 really both cars have been performing well. So what have the last few weeks been like as far as this momentum you guys are finding? Yeah I mean I think over the last few weeks it's just started to be getting a little bit farther ahead in the shop and just having a little bit more time to work on the small things. So overall I think it's just how hard all the guys are working and the leadership and ownership we have of Vikings leading everyone in the right direction. So we've been working very hard throughout the week to try and be as prepared as we can to show up to the racetrack every week and I think that that hard work's been showing. So third team in three seasons let's go back to just the start of this year. What attracted you to Viking Motorsports and obviously what they're building is building pretty quickly as we look at what eight nine races into the season and what you guys have have accomplished. So if you go back to the off season what kind of drew you to Viking and what they've been building together. Yeah I mean I think what attracted me was like I said earlier the leadership and ownership of who they have you know leading this team and the owners of the team. So what they're building and their plan for the future is that was you know very close in the same goals as mine and I think overall just all the moves they've made in the off season of the reason that everything is going as good as it is right now. I think that they've made really good hires. Like I said earlier they have good leadership from the you know office and stuff like that of people making good decisions. So I think that just overall the structure of the team is what kind of you know was the biggest strong suit to me. And one of those decisions too is the technical lines with RCR. Obviously you can see the benefits of that pretty much out of the gate. ECR engines stuff like that but how important and pivotal has that been just for the data sharing purposes and just kind of making sure you guys are where you need to be. Yeah I mean I think the biggest help of it is just to spend a lot more you know people to talk to about our cars and people that are in a clock you know kind of similar position or even the you know the RCR guys at the top of it. So I just spent a lot of you know helpful people and just being able to talk to the drivers who are on the same you know kind of program as us and also even Jesse and Austin at RCR about what they've been going through and what they've felt every week and just trying to help build each other every week. Your crew chief Danny Eiffel and his kind of been this been in this kind of situation with AM racing and he led you know Harrison Burton of the playoffs last year. Now you're working with him this year. How much have you learned from him just about you know kind of the opportunity you guys are presented with I think talking with him at rocking him a little bit you know he's sight just about where you guys are at and as far as this point of the season. So what is that relationship in like here in the early part of 2026? Yeah I mean I'm a mind and in Danny relations have started really I guess early in the off season. I think we were both together. I mean middle of November so we've got a lot of time to build in just I mean it started with just going to lunches together and just kind of talking about our whole life now just for things stuff and it's just only built from there. So I really think but Danny's been this year we're working a good together. We've worked through a couple of bugs just stuff that I'm a little bit different than what he's experiencing in the past that I think overall we're building pretty quickly. When you look at your performance this year obviously you know we can look at if you look at just the O'Reilly Auto Parts series all the talks about junior motor sports and what they've been doing and just an all-guired all his wins but you kind of like flying under the radar and kind of being that dark horse or how do you kind of view your performance stacked up to everybody else. Do you kind of like that you're you're right there in the mix at ninth and points and putting together really good runs? Yeah I mean I'm happy we're at right now especially because this year's only in or this team's only in year two. I haven't been in business very long and we're already doing this so it only makes me happier for the end of the season and what we can build on. But overall I don't feel like we've for my expectations and I know Danny's expectations I don't think we've done anything too extreme to you know be too happy about so we're still focused on doing the same things and only just trying to get better throughout the year. How close do you feel like this 99 bunches to a win? You know I mean obviously the qualifying effort at Rockingham was huge running up front in the last several weeks do you feel like you guys are knocking on the doorstep to kind of putting it all together? Yeah I mean I think that it's just very hard to win at this level everything and I still correct me on a weekend for us to win and overall I mean I think all we can ask for is to just be in contention and have a top five, top 10 team every weekend and maybe one day with everything going our way we can hopefully get all these 99 guys in big relay and get like a more source of further. Well the next opportunities at Kansas this weekend a mile and a half produces some incredible racing that we've seen over the last couple of years. What is your level of optimism for what you guys will bring to the track this weekend and just kind of the keys to going fast at Kansas it moves around a lot so as a driver I imagine that's kind of fun when you can kind of search a little bit. Yeah I mean I just we actually just finished up my film with my spotter dog for this week so just I feel like we have a good good base from our similar to the last couple of weeks at Kansas and overall Kansas is one of my favorite places that our mile and a half three go to so I'm really excited to get going there and I feel like we'll bring in pretty strong call. Over the next couple of weeks there's some really good racetracks too. I mean obviously a super speedway in Talladega and you've got Texas in places like that. What kind of excite you to as a driver when you kind of pinpoint this end of the spring early summer because it's hard to believe we're already about a third of the way through the season so you know things are starting to get super tightened up you know as we go toward the chase so when you look at kind of the next few weeks what excite you as far as kind of what track circled on your on your list. Yeah I mean I would say that I don't I mean I've had strong runs this year's speedway guys it's not my favorite thing would do it's not something I guess I would say I look forward to so it's a place that you can Talladega's a place that you can gain or lose a lot so I'm happy with the place we're going to right now the mile and a half and I'm a really big fan of Texas so I can't wait to go to Texas and you know get back to walkings running a few weeks after that so overall just a lot of tracks that I'm excited to go back to we feel like we can make a lot of gains that. Alright and it starts this weekend at Kansas Parker thanks for your time and best of luck finally this weekend down the road and we'll see you at the racetrack. Thank you guys. Coming up we'll revisit a historic afternoon for Terry LaBottie. Buckle up NASCAR fans the hearties app is the fastest way to free food. Download the app and join my rewards and we'll start you off with a free sandwich. Ben stack up the rewards lap after lap. $3 spent earned juice stars that turn into more free food plus score app exclusive deals order ahead and start your engines. Get the hearties app today. We're just required to menu items very see after full offer terms. Mike Bagley. Welcome back to Deskhar Live for decades Richard Petty stood alone as Nascar's Iron Man. But 30 years ago on a Sunday afternoon in Wilkes County, North Carolina, Terri Labani joined the King in the record books with a day for the ages. Susie Armstrong has the story. On April 14, 1996, the driver known as the Ice Man would transform into the Iron Man. Terri Labani's 514th career Nascar Cup Series race wasn't just another start. It was a day that would define history. The 10-year driver began his streak in January of 1979. Fast forward to 1996, Terri's 514th start tied Richard Petty's consecutive start record on an afternoon that had no shortage of drama. The first Union 400 transpired at North Wilkesboro Speedway and was the seventh race of the season. Labani claimed the poll and qualifying the day prior and got off to a hot start leading most of the race. With less than 100 laps remaining, Labani found himself battling for the lead with Rusty Wallace. In a game of cat and mouse they had played multiple times throughout the day. Here's Terri Labani. We'll hold off again. Terri takes a quick look to the inside of Rusty Wallace. He'll fall back in line. Terri Labani, Sterling Marlin and Rusty Wallace have been the three dominant players in this race, exchanging the lead back and forth. Series point leader Dale Jarrett cut down a tire and lap 160 fell a couple of laps down. The rally is rallied all the way back to the 14th position now and that's the way we stand with six cars on the lead lap at this point in the race. They are Rusty Wallace, Terri Labani, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Sterling Marlin and Robert Freshley with 60 laps to go. Both drivers seem to be saving their stuff for a mad dash to the checkers, according to Labani's crew chief Gary D. Hart as they approach the final 40 circuits. I think Rusty's back down for a little bit so we got a back down save in our car too. I think both of us know what we're trying to do here. It's asking a lot of the tires to go that far right now so everybody's saving the hours. As Labani waited patiently and the laps continued to decrease, chaos ensued with 27 circuits remaining. Trouble of the back straightaway, John Andretti noses into the outside wall halfway down the back stretch. Now two other cars slam in. Wally Dahlem back, Joe Nima-Jack, Steve Christmas, also involved here as two cars including Rusty Wallace involved in the back straightaway. Wallace collected Andretti. He was sitting sideways just entering turn three. Rusty Wallace collected when John Andretti's car came back across the racetrack and ready hit the water barrels separating the pit lane, the wall at the end of the pit lane from the racetrack. He came back across the racetrack after hitting the outside wall and did collect Rusty Wallace. What was a day full of high hopes for Wallace ended in complete dejection. Oh man, I cannot believe it. Cars just run of that good and a damn lap car spins out back there. The spotter holler and I want to go to the high side couldn't get to the high side. I thought I had a clear low. Went low and he come flying across the track and that was it. Man, I'm not believing that one. All years I've been racing, that's the weirdest. Carb was really great today. At Carb is perfect today. I think I could have won the thing. I was really taking an easy on the tires because we had such a long run to go there at the very end, but it's too bad. LeBonney was the beneficiary of Rusty's misfortune. After the final pit stop, the Texan would lead the field back to the green with less than 20 to go. Terri LeBonney in front comes off the corner, waist no time and punching that throttle this time. And like a Jack Reb, it heads for turn number one. He's not going to be able to shake Jeff Gordon. He stays with him and so does Earnhardt. The front three go out of turn two and head up the back stretch. Those two Dale headed to turn number three Terri LeBonney showing the way with teammate Jeff Gordon on his heels. Dale Earnhardt now joins the front two. In the final stint, Jeff Gordon stayed within striking distance of teammate LeBonney, but the ice man was flawless to the checkered flag. The Gordon falls in line, follows a car tracks for the last time of LeBonney. The Gordon will not be able to do anything with Terri LeBonney. His car breaks loose off of turn number four and Terri LeBonney is going to start consecutive race, 513 and finish it in fine style. He'll be in victory lane as winner of the first union, 400. Well, I was glad it was Jeff behind me because we always raised each other real clean and real close and we've had some good runs before. And I knew he was going to give me every inch that I needed, but he wasn't going to give me no extra room. So I knew I couldn't make any mistakes here. Our cars were awful even. Looking back on that day, 30 years later, LeBonney is still humbled that one of his accomplishments was mentioned in the same sentence as one of NASCAR's best. I told people back then, I said, "It's really cool just to be mentioned in the same article with Richard Petty because he's such a. He's the king of our sport." I don't think anybody will ever reach the status that he has. So I thought, "Well, you know what? It's just really cool to be mentioned in the same article with him." And I think the thing that was really most exciting about it is we went to North Wilkes Pearl on the weekend that we tied Richard Petty and we won the race. So it wasn't like we just started the race and rode around and tied his consecutive starts. We actually won the race and then we went to Marchville the next weekend and broke the record. That was just, to me, it was really the coolest part was the fact that we were running so well and that made it that much more special. What Terry LeBody accomplished that day was nothing short of iconic. His consecutive start record would end at 655 races in August of 2000. Thank you, Susie. That feature was brought to you by the Powerball, NASCAR Powerball. The chase to 1 million is on. Start your entries for the chance to win 1 million dollars at NASCAR Championship Weekend, the official lottery game of NASCAR Powerball, the chase to 1 million starts now. "This is NASCAR Live, now back to Mike Bagley." Welcome back to NASCAR Live. Tyler Reddick and Billy Scott are off to one of the best starts in recent NASCAR history. The driver and crew chief duo have four wins in the first eight races and now heads to 2311 Racing's best racetrack and that's the Kansas Speedway this weekend. Billy joined our Chris Wilner to discuss the team's hot start and preparing for this weekend's event at Kansas. "All right, Billy, a fourth place finish at Bristol and I know it certainly wasn't easy having to come back from that early speeding penalty but what kind of resilience does it say about this bunch? You know, you're fresh off of Martin'sville and then a break and you kind of have to get back after it and then obviously have to battle through some stuff at Bristol but you know, was that almost a win for you guys? I feel like all they went through on Sunday?" Pretty close to it. I think your word "resilient" there is a good way to put it. Certainly a lot of things we fought with not just the speeding penalty but the break and steering shake that we chased a lot on these short tracks was a really bad for Tyler and there was a point in the late stage one where he said, "This is where I'm here. I don't know if I'm going to be able to do this for five-hundred laps." And you know, he did a great job of not just keeping a bare head knowing that we have things that we're up against and having to go to the back and come to the field and all that but then just being able to physically endure what we were up against and what he faced in there to just figure out what he could to make it kind of less impactful, I guess, you know, run in different lines and a lot of times not what he preferred to do just to make it easier and know that he was going to be able to make it to the end. So you're right, very close to feeling like a win and good to get some momentum back after the break and probably the strongest overall showing we've had a Bristol since he joined us here at C-11. So certainly something to build on when we go back there for the chase. 23-11's rolling early, obviously we know on heels of four wins out of your group but you know, above up until Martin's bill was right there locking step in the point. As an organization, you guys have led the second most laps out of anybody this year. We talk a lot about sustaining momentum when you have it. How have you guys just been organization thought into that and continued to kind of use that as a tool each and every week because every week now you guys unload and you're a threat to win and obviously content? Yeah, just staying in that rhythm, relying on the processes we have, you know, it's hard to come off a year after the 45th of particular like last year where we went winless and you know, had things to work on but we try to keep in perspective that, you know, we can't get totally caught up in results. We obviously all come here to win and having the wins, especially on this new point format has been huge for us this year so far and I appreciate it to that but it's also a lot of things behind the scenes that we haven't changed and that we are trying to just keep it the forefront and make sure we keep doing the same thing weekend and week out. And not letting the wins go to your head or get overconfident and change what you're doing because of it. It's as easy to do that as it is, you know, to change something when it's not working. So, you know, again, like you said, everybody's working well together. Everybody's having some level of speed and success. It was really great for the 35th to have the weekend that they had, you know, even though they finished and worked out that way, I think there's a lot they can take from it too with all of us qualifying up front and having speed early on in stage one and all that. So, you know, it's different the way we all work here together and the way we try to utilize our tools to be as efficient as possible and, you know, certainly having good partners like JGR and TRD have been a big part of that and I think, you know, it's been, we've told you there's been a contention every week. even if the races we haven't necessarily been in the top three, top five there. know, one of those other cars those partnerships go a long and we're appreciative of it and just trying to make the most of everything we've got. And I know we're still relatively early in the season but the 62 points gap you guys have been leading the way obviously throughout the first chunk of the season. But as we get farther on into the spring and into the summer, does the way that the chase format is this year? Does it maybe cause you maybe a way to call races different at all or maybe we won't feel that until we get closer to the chase? But how you as a crew chief kind of looked at especially now, almost 10 races in, kind of how you call different races and send yourself up for later in the year. Yeah, it's crazy how fast it's going. He said only eight but it's almost that third of the way through the regular season now. But no, I think it's the biggest thing is that the system still rewards winning. You know, it was a little bit different in the past in the perspective that you had to win to even get qualified. And then extra wins certainly gave the bonus points that often carried people deep into the playoff. You know, as the people were eliminated in the rounds continued. But now it's just paying off in points. The extra points that attach with winning are huge. That's why we have the lead we've got. It's just from having more wins than the others. And I think those that have won are now all of the top four in the points. They're top five or whatever. In the points. So it's going to be, I think you're right when we get deeper into it. And it's more obvious what positions you're battling for. Might start to influence how we're calling races. So far we have not. It's still been all about winning. And I think as long as the reward is there for winning, it's probably going to continue to be that way. You know, there might be a key to the point we're going to cut off for. Or again, if you're battling somebody really close coming down to the wire. At the end of the regular season you might try to sacrifice a race win for some points somewhere along the way during the stages. But I think right now I think they really nailed a new format in the sense that it does pay off to win. So I think that's going to keep everybody eager to do whatever it takes, much like you saw yesterday. Well, Kansas speaking of winning is coming up this weekend. I know it's been really kind to 2311 and Toyota in general. What has it been about this place you guys have figured out? And obviously now the race fans, the drivers since putting on some of the best racing all years. So what is it about Kansas? You guys have honed in on it. I guess what's the outlook for this weekend coming up? Yeah, certainly a positive outlook. Yeah, I think the biggest factor is just that it's an intermediate. These, you know, mile and a half. Have been where we've had the most success, I think, as a whole as a Toyota camp. But also here 2311 we've unloaded most weekends with really good speed. You know, that several poles across the board. And I think that's what we are going to do. And I think that's what we're going to do. And I think that's what we're