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Newsstaff

2024 XFINITY SERIES STANDINGS

Rank/Driver Points 1 Cole Custer #00 716 2 Justin Allgaier #7 665 3 Chandler Smith #81 657 4 Austin Hill #21 640 5 AJ Allmendinger #16 564 6 Jesse Love #2 563 7 Riley Herbst #98 560 8 Sheldon Creed #18 543 9 Parker Kligerman #48 524 10 Sam Mayer #1 501 Rank/Driver Points 11 Sammy Smith #8 488 12 Ryan Sieg #39 466 13 Shane v. Gisbergen #97 463 14 Brandon Jones #9 412 15 Anthony Alfredo #5 393 16 Brennan Poole #44 337 17 Parker Retzlaff #31 315 18 Josh Williams #11 308 19 Jeb Burton #22 268 20 Jeremy Clements #51 267 NEXT RACE: PENZOIL 250, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 3:30 p.m.

Hamlin ready to go ‘back to the future’ at Indy oval

A¦er three years competing on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the Cup Series returns to the iconic 2.5mile oval on Sunday. There are not many people as excited as Denny Hamlin for the “back to the future” Brickyard 400 presented by PPG.

2024 CUP SERIES SCHEDULE

FEB. 3, 8 PM, FOX: Busch Light Clash at the (LA) Coliseum ( D. Hamlin) FEB. 15, 7 PM, FS1: Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 at DAYTONA ( T. Reddick) FEB. 15, 9 PM, FS1: Bluegreen Vacations Duel 2 at DAYTONA ( C. Bell) FEB. 19, 4 PM, FOX: DAYTONA 500 ( W. Byron) FEB. 25, 3 PM FOX: Ambetter Health 400 at ATLANTA ( D. Suarez) MARCH 3, 3:30 PM, FOX: Pennzoil 400 at LAS VEGAS ( K. Larson) MARCH 10, 3:30 PM, FOX: Shriners Children’s 500 at PHOENIX ( C. Bell) MARCH 17, 3:30 PM, FOX: Food City 500 at BRISTOL ( D. Hamlin) MARCH 24, 3:30 PM, FOX: EchoPark at CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS ( W. Byron) MARCH 31, 7 PM, FOX: Toyota Owners 400 at RICHMOND ( D. Hamlin) APRIL 7, 3 PM, FS1: Cook Out 400 at MARTINSVILLE ( W. Byron) APRIL 14, 3:30 PM, FS1: Auto Trader EchoPark 400 at TEXAS ( C. Elliott) APRIL 21, 3 PM, FOX: GEICO 500 at TALLADEGA ( T. Reddick) APRIL 28, 2 PM, FS1: WURTH 400 at DOVER ( D. Hamlin) MAY 5, 3 PM, FS1: AdventHealth 400 at KANSAS ( K. Larson) MAY 12, 3 PM, FS1: Goodyear 400 at DARLINGTON ( B. Keselowski) MAY 19, 8 PM, FS1: NASCAR All-Star Race at N. Wilkesboro, NC ( J. Logano) MAY 26, 6 PM, FOX: Coca-Cola 600 at CHARLOTTE ( C.Bell) JUNE 2, 3:30 PM, FS1: Enjoy Illinois 300 at WORLD WIDE TECH ( A. Cindric) JUNE 9, 3:30 PM, FOX: Toyota/Save Mart 350 at SONOMA ( K. Larson) JUNE 16, 7 PM, USA: Iowa Corn 350 at IOWA ( R. Blaney) JUNE 23, 2:30 PM, USA: USA Today 301 at NEW HAMPSHIRE ( C. Bell) JUNE 30, 3:30 PM, NBC: Ally 400 at NASHVILLE ( J. Logano) JULY 7, 4:30 PM, NBC: Grant Park 165 Chicago Street Race ( A. Bowman) JULY 14, 2:30 PM, USA: Great American Getaway 400 at POCONO ( R. Blaney) JULY 21, 2:30 PM, NBC: Brickyard 400 at INDIANAPOLIS (M. McDowell)

TRUCKS RECAP

• Friday’s CRC BRAKLEEN 175, Pocono Raceway Corey Heim earned his series’ best fifth victory of the season in Friday evening’s rain-interrupted CRC Brakleen 175 at Pocono Raceway. The 21-year-old driver swept both stages and led 55 of the 70 laps to add to his trophy total.

Pocono pit plan pays off for surging Blaney

Reigning Cup champion Ryan Blaney returned to the site of his first career NASCAR Cup Series win and pulled away from the field in the closing laps of Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 at a sold-out Pocono Raceway to deliver a strong reminder to the competition that he’s primed to contend for another season trophy.

Floodwaters rising all over the past few weeks

Eastern New Mexico News CLOVIS — Noah had lots of warning and detailed instructions from the highest authority on how to prepare for the Great Flood. Folks in New Mexico and Texas recently haven’t been so blessed. The scenes of flooding in Ruidoso caused by heavy rains on the recent burn scar are looking a might Biblical and heartbreaking to residents of that fair community. The rains came so quickly after the fires swept through that folks were unprepared even though they probably knew it was coming at some point. I haven’t been in Ruidoso since the fires, but I was working in the Glenwood Springs area when the South Canyon Fire swept across Storm King Mountain above that city. I remember how in pretty short order, flood and erosion control measures were put into place. They never had as serious a flash-flooding event after that fire and the rains they did have were managed well by the work they had done. The South Fork fire on the other hand didn’t give the community much of a chance to get prepared for the inevitable. Almost before the evacuations were lifted and the workers had a chance to get a good shower and night’s rest the rains hit. I think the community was aware of what could happen because they got to see it just outside the community after the Little Bear Fire but the volume of water coming down the Rio Ruidoso in town and then eventually watching U.S. 70 turned into a river was shocking and heart-rending. Another flooding event this past week distracted me a bit from Ruidoso’s woes as Hurricane Beryl came onshore across Matagorda Bay. For two years I lived in the largest community, Bay City, near where it made landfall.

Republican National Committeeman

By Jim Townsend Republican National Committeeman New Mexico State Representative District 54 Note from your National Committeeman: When I arrived in Milwaukee earlier this week for the Republican National Committee’s summer meetings, the temperament of the group was dedicated and sincere. The meetings went methodically smooth. Each of the committee meetings went on queue. I serve you on the RNC Rules committee and was selected to serve the Convention Rules Committee too.