Spade Racing: February 2025

Spade Racing’s Stars in Unusual Cars: Joey Logano

Joey Logano debuts (sort of) with Hall of Fame Racing (2008)

Join me throughout this year as I take a look at when some of the sport’s biggest stars drove some unusual cars! (Presented in no particular order).

Joey's first-ever Cup Series practice

Why? With Tony Stewart leaving to start his own team in 2009, Joe Gibbs Racing needed a replacement. They turned to the best NASCAR prospect since…well, “sliced bread”, prepping him with a handful of races near the end of the 2008 season. After failing to qualify the JGR 02 car for Richmond, Logano moved to JGR satellite team Hall of Fame Racing, making his debut with them at New Hampshire.

How successful were they? It didn’t go well. Logano made his much-anticipated debut and came home 32nd, followed by a 39th-place finish at Kansas. He then returned to JGR’s 02 car for two more races (failing to qualify for one of them).

What was the aftermath? Talk about going in two different directions. Hall of Fame Racing essentially closed down after the 2008 season, “running” as a Yates Racing entry for 2009 before completely shutting own as a legal entity. Logano, meanwhile, has gone on to win three Cup championships, and is still racing today.

Ranking on the Strange-O-Meter? 7 confusing DLP commercials out of 10—maybe “its the mirrors”, but it still looks odd to see Logano in anything other than the 20 or 22 car.

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Promotion of Other Racing Series Bad for Some Reason

This is a work of parody

Amidst the pomp and circumstance of the Daytona 500, some fans and self-professed insiders have become concerned over Fox Sports’ promotion of its new IndyCar broadcast rights. This is, apparently, bad for some reason.

“The IndyCar ads have been impossible to ignore, and there’s been at least three of them”, said Nascar-centric YouTuber ERiPMe. “Meanwhile, Nascar only gets one commercial for the (Daytona) 500—how is that fair? For some reason that just doesn’t sit well with me.”

The Fox Sports portfolio has included Nascar for 24 years now, with coverage of the first third of the Cup Series schedule and the entirety of the Truck Series.

“See, this is proof that Nascar is slipping—or even worse, dead”, said Nascar fan and critic Jimmy Heathcliff. “When a network chooses to promote one racing series over another, that means that Nascar is in real trouble. This is very bad for Nascar, although I can’t really explain why.”

Of note, the entire IndyCar schedule will appear on Fox, which is free and over-the-air, as opposed to Nascar, which will primarily air on FS1 after the first few races.

“They (Fox) are putting the whole IndyCar schedule on Fox, while they put Nascar on FS1? Hoo boy, that’s not good news”, said a fan at this week’s Speedweeks events. “I don’t know why Fox is doing that—maybe it’s just to justify how much they charge cable companies to carry FS1, but it’s probably some other reason I can’t quite define.”

The 2025 Daytona 500 airs live on Fox today at 2:30pm ET after a lengthy pre-race show.

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Spade Racing 2025 Xfinity Preview: Nascar Wrestles with its Future

1. Cup Regular Season Preview

2. Cup Team Rankings & Grades

3. TV/Streaming Preview

4. Truck Season Preview

5. Xfinity Season Preview

Who doesn’t like a good tag team? You? Well, too bad—I’m pairing up Xfinity Series drivers by where I expect them to finish and there’s not much you can do about it.

1. STARKEY & STARS: Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas—18 William Sawalich

and 19 (multiple drivers). Sawalich has shown he can dominate already, but how will he adjust to going up against the second-best in stock car racing on a regular basis? Well, having experienced teammates (even on a rotating basis) should help.

The top of the catch fence would
be a great spot for an elbow drop

2. THE COMPANY MEN: Haas Factory Team Fords—00 Sheldon Creed and 41 Sam Mayer. Lots of changes at the former Stewart-Haas Racing, but having two solid wheelmen and rock-solid financial backing should help the transition.

3. THE YOUNG LIONS: JR Motorsports Chevys—1 Carson Kvapil and 88 Connor Zilisch. Two drivers with little experience but lots of talent and incredibly bright futures in front of them. Also, incidentally, probably the two drivers whose last names are most-frequently incorrectly auto-corrected.

4. THE WELCOME WAGON: Richard Childress Racing Chevys—2 Jesse Love and 21 Austin Hill. Both have established themselves as Xfinity Series stalwarts, putting them at a Jason Keller-level of success thus far.

5. JR’S VETS: JR Motorsports Chevys—7 Justin Allgaier and 8 Sammy Smith. Overshadowed a bit by their younger teammates, don’t be surprised to if either of them wind up in the championship four this year.

6. COACH’S BACKUPS: Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas—20 Brandon Jones and 54 Taylor Gray. While not possessing the sky-high potential of William Sawalich or the win-or-else attitude of the #19 “all star car”, they DO have decent Xfinity Series rides.

7. THE KAULIGLOUS FREEBIRDS: Kaulig Racing Chevys—10 Daniel Dye, 11 Josh Williams, and 16 Christian Eckes. These three could go just about anywhere in the standings this year, but it’s hard to leave a guy with an unironic mullet off of Bradstreet USA.

8. ONE CAR WONDERS: AM Racing Ford—15 Harrison Burton, and 48 Big Machine Racing Chevy—48 Nick Sanchez. Who says you need to have teammates to make the playoffs?

Has anyone ever used a tire as a weapon in a
hardcore match?

9. EVERYBODY’S UNDERDOGS: RSS Racing Fords—28 Kyle Sieg and 39 Ryan Sieg. The Official Underdogs of Nascar could use their own version of the Freebird Rule to sneak a car into the playoffs.

10. TEAM JAR: Jordan Anderson Racing Chevys—27 Jeb Burton and 31 Blaine Perkins. They may not have the most funding, but they always have the most press releases.

11. OUR HUNT IS FOR WINS: Our Motorsports Toyota—5 Kris Wright, and 26 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota—Dean Thompson. Look for them to be aggressive on plate tracks.

12. TEAM GREEN: SS-Greenlight Racing Chevys—07 (multiple drivers) and 14 Garrett Smithley. Slowly but surely? More like Quickly and Smithley (…sorry).

13. YOUNG, YOUNG & INDEPENDENT: Chevys of Alpha Prime Racing--4 Parker Retzlaff, Young’s Motorsports 42—Anthony Alfredo, and Jeremy Clements Racing—51 Jeremy Clements. Three smaller teams aiming for top-twenties and, with a little luck, contending for a win or two.

14. THE FLYING FLORIDIANS: DGM Racing Chevys—71 Ryan Ellis and 91 (multiple drivers, mostly Josh Bilicki). Its not easy when you’re not based out of North Carolina.

15. THE MASKED BACKMARKERS: 35, 44, 70, 99 cars. Somebody has to finish in the 30’s, but hopefully all these teams can make progress throughout the year.

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

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Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing

Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

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Spade Racing 2025 Trucks Preview: Nascar Wrestles with its Future

1. Cup Regular Season Preview

2. Cup Team Rankings & Grades

3. TV/Streaming Preview

4. Truck Season Preview

5. Xfinity Season Preview

So as usual, the Truck Series is the one with the least amount of confirmed rides for the upcoming season. Some are virtually guaranteed (Matt Crafton at ThorSport) and some are virtually unknown (Young’s Motorsports). So let's do what a pro wrestling company would do and throw them into huge stables then!

*—unconfirmed

THE FIVE HORSEMEN: Main venters who can (and will) compete for the championship. Stability, experience, and strong teams surrounding them. But with only four slots in the championship race, could there be dissension in the ranks?

1. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota: Corey Heim

2. *98 ThorSport Racing Ford: Ty Majeski

3. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevy: Grant Enfinger

4. 18 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevy: Tyler Ankrum

5. 99 ThorSport Racing Ford: Ben Rhodes

D-GENERATION NOW: The young lions of the series, from rookies to sophomores, who could find themselves in Cup rides by the end of the decade. But how will they stack up against the Truck Series’ wily veterans?

6. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford: Layne Riggs

7. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevy: Rajah Caruth

8. 17 TRICON Garage Toyota: Gio Ruggiero

9. 91 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevy: Jack Wood

10. *13 ThorSport Racing Ford: Jake Garcia

THE REALLY NEW WORLD ORDER: Four drivers with talent at successful teams with strong sponsorship. But how long will it take them to adjust to their new surroundings?

11. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford: Chandler Smith

12. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevy: Daniel Hemric

13. 81 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevy: Connor Mosack

14. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevy: Andres Perez de Lara

THE DUNGEON OF VETS: The Truck Series is known for having some drivers make their entire careers there. But have some of these drivers overstayed their welcome?

15. *88 ThorSport Racing Ford: Matt Crafton

16. 15 TRICON Garage Toyota: Tanner Gray

17. *77 Spire Motorsports Chevy: Chase Purdy

18. *56 Hill Motorsports Toyota: Timmy Hill

MAIN EVENT MEDIA MAFIA: They’re well-known. They’re crossover stars. They’re big online. But can they success on-track in a full-schedule?

19. 33 Reaume Brothers Ford: Frankie Muniz

20. 5 TRICON Garage Toyota: Toni Breidinger

21. 26 RackleyWAR Chevy: Dawson Sutton (famous for having ridded the series of Ty Dillon, who ridded the series of Matt DiBennedetto).

THE NIECE-URAL BORN THRILLERS: One of the Truck Series’ stalwart teams, but can they turn quantity into quality?

22. 44 Niece Motorsports Chevy: Christian Rose

23. *41 Niece Motorsports Chevy: Bayley Currey

24. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevy: Matt Mills

25. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevy: Kaden Honeycutt

THE ONE MAN THREE MAN BAND: Three guys whose teams are based around them, owned by them, and exist for them. Can they pull off an upset win to sneak into the playoffs?

26. *52 Halmar Racing Ford: Stewart Friesen

27. 76 Freedom Racing Enterprises Chevy: Spencer Boyd

28. *32 Bret Holmes Racing Chevy: Bret Holmes

THE MASKED MULTIPLE DRIVERS: Some teams will be running with a number of drivers this year (the Young’s Motorsports *02, the TRICON 1, the Reaume Bros. 2 and 22, Spire’s 7, and the ThorSport *66). But will they be able to adjust to different drivers’ styles and talent levels?

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

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A MOXOC Media production

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Race Picks (the last season?), Uncle Max vs. The Points Leader: DAYTONA

And we’re back from the offseason. Sorry I can’t be more excited about things, but it was a ROUGH winter. My car broke down repeatedly, my job had mass layoffs that I barely survived, and I had yet another relationship fizzle out right around the conference championship weekend. But not all is lost.

2025 Schedule Matrix--click to enlarge

That’s because I might (might!) be up for a big promotion at work. The store manager position is open, and I’ve been given the opportunity to interview for the spot. I’ve always wanted to be a store manager, and having the job permanently would mean more work but much more pay. So not to put the cart before the horse, but if I do get this promotion, this could be my last year making picks.

Anyways, onto the picks—as always, I pick for all points-paying Truck, Xfinity, and Cup Series races. In Cup races I compete against the points leader to see who can win more, me or, um, sustained success. And as always, my “Dark Horse” pick is a driver and/or team no one would expect to win.

TRUCK SERIES Fresh From Florida 250 (7:30pm ET on FS1) CHANDLER SMITH—a new series, a new home, a new success (for about a year).

XFINITY SERIES United Rentals 300 (5pm ET on The CW) RYAN TRUEX—someone has to post a mild upset this weekend, why not Ryan Truex not Jr?

CUP SERIES Daytona 500 (2:30pm ET on Fox) Points Leader picks JOEY LOGANO (last year’s champion). Favorite: ROSS CHASTAIN—do melons keep well over the offseason? We’ll find out. Next Favorite: AUSTIN CINDRIC—being a two-time Daytona 500 is nothing to sneeze at, even if you do occasionally wear a bow-tie. Dark Horse: BUBBA WALLACE—he cries, fans cry, Nascar leadership cries, and I have a snack before bed.

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing

Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

Does this track have lights?

A MOXOC Media production

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Spade Racing Opens a Box of 2024 Select ’24 Cards, Pack 12 of 12

PACK 12: First-rate, out of date, and sun-related hate

FIRST LOOK: Layne Riggs has shown some real talent early in his career. Hopefully it makes up for people constantly leaving the Y out of his first name.