Denny Hamlin works on Harrison Burton in Turn Four during the Bristol Night Race. Photo: Rod Mullins/AFP
Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag at the night race at Bristol on Saturday, but he wasn’t the only big winner. Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace snagged the last two spots in the Round of 12 of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
AFP reporter Rod Mullins was at Bristol and reports back on the big weekend, which included a guest appearance by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Friday’s Xfinity Series race.
Rod Mullins covers NASCAR for AFP, and co-hosts the mid-week “Street Knowledge” focusing on NASCAR with AFP editor Chris Graham. A graduate of UVA-Wise, Rod began his career in journalism as a reporter for The Cumberland Times, later became the program director/news director/on-air morning show host for WNVA in Norton, Va., and in the early 1990s served as the sports information director at UVA-Wise and was the radio “Voice of the Highland Cavaliers” for football and basketball for seven seasons. In 1995, Rod transitioned to public education, where he has worked as a high school English, literature, and creative writing teacher and now serves as a school program coordinator in addition to serving as a mentor for the robotics team.
Hootie gets us ready for UVA-NC State, and the return of Brennan Armstrong to Scott Stadium, but first, the focus is on UVA basketball recruiting, with the latest news being the commitment of four-star power forward Jacob Cofie.