1. What should be the proper racing etiquette between playoff and non-playoff drivers?
Christopher Hansen: Non-playoff drivers should race playoff drivers respectfully and aggressively. The non-championship-eligible drivers are looking to do one thing come playoff time: win races. On the flip side, that’s exactly what the playoff drivers are trying to accomplish, winning races and making the Championship 4 with a chance at the title. There’s a fine line non-playoff drivers have to walk that we saw Ty Gibbs cross last week at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series racing his championship-contending teammates Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell. The stakes get much higher as the season winds down, and I have a feeling we could very well see more frustrations boil over from playoff drivers due to overaggressive moves from their non-playoff competitors.
James Krause: Same as it should be every week. It’s often pointed out how a major difference between NASCAR’s playoffs and those of stick-and-ball sports is that all the non-playoff teams still compete. If you took those non-playoff teams in other sports and let them keep playing, why wouldn’t they still want to win? Gibbs might have had what was coming with how he was racing, but I also don’t expect him or others to roll over for playoff drivers.
Amy Henderson: While non-playoff drivers should race cleanly and with respect, the idea of not racing playoff drivers hard, giving them positions or backing off in any way is ridiculous. The drivers not in the playoffs have just as much right to race for wins and stage points as the playoff contenders. Race them clean, but other than that, it’s a race. Everyone in it is allowed to try to win it. Stop coddling the playoff drivers and go race. One reason people don’t like the playoffs is that it often seems like the non-playoff drivers, especially the teammates and those in a technical alliance with playoff drivers, don’t race them as hard for fear of inadvertently crashing them or worse, just let them go. Stop doing that. As long as they don’t wreck a playoff driver intentionally, anything goes.
2. What are the expectations for the Connor Zilisch/Randall Burnett team at Trackhouse Racing?
Mike Neff: Rookie of the Year and solid finishes are the primary focus. Ideally, he will complete all of the laps and hopefully finish in the top 10 in points. That would be an exceptional season. Contending for wins would be a huge plus, but it is not a focus for a rookie campaign.
Wyatt Watson: Once Connor Zilisch gets acclimated to the Cup car, he will be a force in the Cup Series, and having a winning crew chief in Burnett on top of the box along with Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen as teammates will make his transition even more seamless. His best shot will be outdueling van Gisbergen on road courses, but Zilisch has quickly proven his worth on all different types of tracks, and it would come to no surprise if he finds an oval win as well and makes a deep run in any championship format.
Krause: If you took all of Trackhouse’s results over the last two or three seasons, put them in a pot and mixed them up, you’d get something like what my expectations are for Zilisch and Burnett. Do they contend for wins? Yeah, but not consistently. Will they be great at the road courses? Definitely. Would I be shocked if there were weeks they struggled to get in the top 20? Not really. The step up in competition will bring Zilisch down to earth somewhat, but this duo finds victory lane at least once in 2026.
Hansen: Zilisch, who has been the dominant driver in the Xfinity Series this season, will be expected to compete for wins in his first full Cup season based on his success with JR Motorsports this year. A change of scenery for Burnett moving to Trackhouse from Richard Childress Racing might work out in his favor as he gets the chance to help develop a young superstar in the making with Zilisch, guiding him through his rookie Cup season. One of the main goals for Zilisch should be to finish every race without being involved in too many accidents and possibly compete for a spot in the 2026 playoffs.
3. Who will be the crew chief for Kyle Busch and the No. 8 team in 2026?
Henderson: It’s time for something drastic. RCR is a step behind the top teams, so promoting from within runs the risk of perpetuating that. RCR should try to lure an experienced crew chief from outside the organization to bring in new information. While it might seem like a step back for a top wrench, money talks.
Watson: Kyle Busch needs a win badly either this year or the next. His teammate Austin Dillon has nabbed two wins in the last couple of seasons at Richmond Raceway, and his crew chief Richard Boswell has spearheaded two impressive wins with both Dillon and Chase Briscoe at the 2024 Southern 500. My prediction is that Boswell moves to Busch while RCR promotes one of its race engineers to crew chief for Dillon for 2026.
Hansen: Before signing with JRM, Rodney Childers would have been the most ideal candidate to replace Randall Burnett as Busch’s crew chief. Now that Childers is no longer a free agent, I expect RCR to look into finding a veteran crew chief with several years of experience to replace him. One possibility is Jason Burdett, a former JRM crew chief who led Justin Allgaier to the Championship 4 five times in their time together. Burdett would no question bring leadership to a struggling Busch, who has only two top fives and eight top 10s this season.
Neff: Some people might consider this far-fetched, but think it through. Is there any crew chief in the garage who is more criticized by the fan base than the man on the box for Chase Elliott? In the last three years, while he has consistently been solid in the points, he has only managed two victories. NASCAR’s most popular driver should be scoring more trophies. At the same time, the man on the box was Busch’s head man for his first three years and four victories. It would be a perfect reunion to have Alan Gustafson make the move to be Busch’s final Cup crew chief.
Krause: Mike Gundy.
4. Which 23XI Racing driver will fare better at Kansas Speedway: Tyler Reddick or Bubba Wallace?
Watson: Both have wins at Kansas Speedway in the No. 45, but recently, the team hasn’t shown the same pace they once did in the Heartland. That changes this week after the summer stretch and the first round pace the two have shown. Bubba Wallace especially has been on a tear and has a slightly better track record than Tyler Reddick at this track. If I were to put my money on a head-to-head, I would go with Wallace this weekend.
Krause: Wallace. Both are bound to have better days than they had at New Hampshire, but the overarching theme of the season has been Wallace contending for wins and Reddick fighting for strong finishes at best.
Neff: This is an interesting question because they have both won races at Kansas. Since then, it has been a struggle at Kansas for the whole organization. This post season, Wallace has seemed to have more speed than Reddick. That will be the basis for picking Wallace over Reddick this weekend.
Henderson: Wallace is in a better position right now. He’s been confident and his performance this season as a whole has been a step forward, while Reddick’s has been a step back, and with rumors swirling about Reddick’s future, distractions abound for him.
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.
James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a local sports reporter, including local short track racing. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with football, music, anime and video games.
What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Wyatt Watson has followed motorsports closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretch as a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt is one of Frontstretch's primary IndyCar correspondents, providing exclusive video content on site. He hosts Frontstretch's Through the Gears podcast and occasionally The Pit Straight.You can find Wyatt's written work in columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monsteras well as exclusive IndyCar features. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media team, posting unique and engaging content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on X @WyattWRacing