This article is part of our NASCAR Barometer series.
Tyler Reddick dominated Sunday's Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, leading 174 laps until he collided with Chris Buescher while attempting a pass for the lead in the final miles. Both cars sustained damage while Brad Keselowski snuck past to capture the checkered flag, ending his 110-race winless streak. It was his first victory for the team he became part owner of two seasons ago and the first for a Ford-powered car this season. It also guarantees Keselowski a spot in the 16-driver field that will battle it out for the season championship. Half of that population is now filled with race winners, leaving eight spots open for drivers to qualify on points. Martin Truex Jr. heads that list with a 66-point margin over Ty Gibbs, Sunday's runner-up finisher, in the 10th position. Keselowski's win moves Chase Briscoe to the 16th and final spot in the standings with just six points separating him from Bubba Wallace outside the playoff positions in 17th.
The NASCAR Cup Series takes a brief break from points racing this week with a return to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the All-Star Race weekend. This will be the second time the historic track hosts the All-Star weekend and as usual, the format will be a bit different than regular-season race weekend. The action gets underway Friday with qualifying to get the ball rolling toward Saturday's heat races and the two big races Sunday.
UPGRADE
Brad Keselowski - Keselowski was the lucky beneficiary of Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick's hard battle for the lead, which handicapped both cars and left the No. 6 machine to pick of the pieces and drive to Victory Lane. The long-awaited race victory was a long time coming for Keselowski, who has consistently been putting himself near the front of the field and just needed some dominos to fall to his benefit, and that is exactly what happened Sunday. The win was Keselowski's second at Darlington and it snapped the longest winless streak of the owner-driver's career, ensuring he will also be one of the 16 playoff contenders, too. His victory was also the first of the season for Ford, something Keselowski will no doubt be very proud to have accomplished for the manufacturer. Keselowski finished 19th in last year's All-Star Race.
Ty Gibbs - Gibbs finished second Sunday at Darlington to grab his best finish of the season and fourth top-five of the year. He started the weekend with positive track position, qualifying fourth, and added stage points with top-three finishes in each segment. He led 34 laps as part of his haul, and further consolidated his position among the playoff contenders. Gibbs and team continue to show a level of consistency that would suggest race wins are near despite being just a second-year driver. Darlington is one of the circuit's more challenging tracks and Gibbs tackled it like a veteran, with his runner-up result improving his average Darlington finish from 17.3 to 13.5. Gibbs transferred into last year's All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro after finishing second to Josh Berry in the All-Star Open. Gibbs went on to finish ninth in the All-Star Race.
Josh Berry - Berry clawed his way forward 30 positions from the start to the finish to grab his first top-five and top-10 finish of the season in an impressive third-place run. Berry's best result prior to Sunday was his 11th-place finish at Richmond. The team's results have improved in recent weeks, too. His average finish from the first three races was just 24.7, but the last three have been an average of 10.7. Even before Darlington, that average was 15.0. Berry seems to be finding his stride and consistently finishing inside the top 15 should be this team's expectations, with improvement still to come from that. The trends bode well for him as the summer schedule approaches after the All-Star weekend. Last year, Berry won the Open race to advance to the All-Star Race where he finished 15th. He'll have to navigate the Open this weekend to advance again.
Michael McDowell - McDowell's race weekend started with the news that he would be joining Spire Motorsports in 2025. His on-track effort started with a relatively decent 16th-place qualifying effort. Despite missing out on stage points in the first two segments, McDowell held position and was able to move up to finish 10th for his fourth top-10 finish of the season and second in as many weeks. It was his third top-10 at Darlington, and all of those have come in his last five races. McDowell is locked into the main event in this weekend's All-Star Race due to winning on the Indianapolis road course last season. He had a lackluster outing at North Wilkesboro last season, managing just an 13th-place finish in the All-Star Open. The past few results give him some positivity to take into this non-points racing weekend.
DOWNGRADE
Kyle Larson - Larson picked up right where he left off a week prior by winning the first stage at Darlington. It was his seventh stage victory of the season, but the early-race success didn't carry him much further. Things came apart in the final stage when a loose car caused him to hit the wall, and that incident was followed up a little later as a left-rear tire failure that sent him spinning and into the wall again. The compounding incidents earned him his second DNF of the season. His focus the next few weeks will be split between NASCAR and an attempt at the Indy 500 when attempts the Memorial Day Weekend double-header, too. Kevin Harvick will be behind the wheel of the No. 5 for All-Star practice, but Larson is expected back on Sunday for the main event. He dominated last season's All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, leading 145 of 200 laps to win.
Tyler Reddick - Reddick got his Darlington weekend off on the right foot by winning the pole for Sunday's race, but Sunday's race didn't go fully to plan. He went on from scoring the pole and finishing fourth in the first stage to grab his second stage of the season by taking the checkered flag in the second segment. On his way to that stage victory, the laps he led also made Darlington the track where he has led the most laps of any track in his career. Things were looking great and the race appeared to be his to lose. However, when stuck behind Chris Buescher late in the final stage, he made an aggressive move for the lead to the inside, washed up the track, and collided with the No. 17, damaging both cars and taking away both drivers' chance for the win. In the end, Reddick finished a lowly 32nd position when a little more patience might have put him in Victory Lane. Reddick admitted his errors afterward and will have to find a way to recover lost trust.
Chris Buescher - Despite being part of a stack up earlier in the race, Buescher had his car in the lead and in position to potentially win Sunday when a banzai move from Tyler Reddick squeezed him into the outside wall and then to pit road with damage. He had been poised to have another race finish to be proud of after qualifying third and running inside the top 10 all afternoon, but it was the second week in a row that Buescher could feel robbed of a race win. His frustration boiled over after the race as he confronted Reddick on pit road, who took blame for the incident. Buescher is still searching for his first victory of the season and his frustration after the race shows the pressure to get it. Despite his 30th-place finish on the day, Buescher remains in the playoff hunt but is just 15 points clear of the drop zone.
Martin Truex Jr. - A stack up on a restart in the second stage put Truex in the middle of a three-car sandwich that damaged the front and rear of the No. 19 machine. After the contact, the former series champion was forced to run more than half of the race with a less than perfect racecar. Late in the same stage, alternator issues started to become a headache, too. The electrical trouble just compounded the other problems and forced him into an even more miserable situation with many miles remaining. He remarkably finished on the lead lap, but fell from his 10th-place starting position all the way down to 25th, which was his worst finish of the season so far. Truex remains the points leader among non-winners, but his speed suggests he can make a turn into Victory Lane if he can avoid the nagging issues that seem to thwart his potential.
Ryan Blaney - Blaney, attempting to make an outside move in a second stage restart, was tipped into a slide with contact to his car's rear corner and sent hard into the outside wall. Despite making it to pit road for repairs, the team fell afoul of NASCAR's damaged vehicle clock and drove to the garage and out of the rest of the afternoon's race. The last-place result was his second finish outside of the top 30 in the last five races and third of the season. As a result, Blaney heads into the All-Star Race sitting 11th in the playoff standings, 19 points behind Ty Gibbs and just six points ahead of Alex Bowman in 12th. Blaney and his No. 12 Team Penske squad will be working this All-Star weekend to reverse their points trajectory when the regular season resumes again in Charlotte. Blaney started 11th and finished sixth last year at North Wilkesboro as the second-highest finishing Ford that day behind Chase Briscoe.
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Justin Haley - Despite a 28th-place start, Haley improved his car and track position throughout Sunday's race to score an impressive ninth-place finish at one of NASCAR's toughest tracks. The finish was his first top-10 of the season and was an extension of the good form Haley has shown at Darlington throughout his career. It was his third top-10 at the track in seven series starts, and he has a best finish at the track of third back in 2022. Arguably more impressive is that Sunday's ninth-place finish was the first for Rick Ware Racing on a non-superspeedway. For those reasons, fantasy players would be wise to keep Haley in mind when the series returns to Darlington later this season. He still rests deep down the order in the championship standings, but Sunday's result will be a boost of confidence for him and the team.
