NASCAR ... WHAT TO WATCH

Drivers are concerned about the heat ahead of Sunday’s race. Joey Logano tried a cool shirt for the first time last race “and now I’m spoiled and don’t ever not want to have it.” Kyle Larson recently started using “Chillout Systems” and thinks he’s got the field covered when it comes to comfort in the heat. “It works extremely good, it’s honestly cold,” said Larson, who made the change to the new system because its warmer in the Next Gen stock car than it was in the older model. Larson found the cooling system he used last year is ineffective in the Next Gen.

He had to cajole crew chief Cliff Daniels (who is suspended for the next four races because of a loose wheel on Larson’s car at Sonoma) to use the new system because, Larson said, it is six pounds heavier and the added weight has to be accounted for elsewhere on the car.

“He didn’t want to put it in, but it was starting to get hot and I wasn’t feeling anything out of my old system, so I was able to talk him into it,” Kyle Larson said. “And yeah, it’s great. So I should get a cut of any sales from here on out.”

Chase Elliott, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, has yet to adopt any sort of cooling system and said he’d use mental toughness to get through Sunday.

“Just be outside, embrace the heat, be the heat and tell yourself ‘It’s cold,’” Elliott said. “It’s about all you can do. There’s a lot of options but I think embracing it and telling yourself it is not hot is the best thing you can do.”

INSIDE NORTH WILKESBORO

Toyota has resumed its popular “Sponsafier” campaign with three new commercials that launched this weekend and gave Kyle Busch his first look inside North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina. The former Cup track has long been defunct but Speedway Motorsports has renovations to begin later this year and hopes to at least land a Truck Series event at North Wilkesboro.

Toyota used brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch for a commercial entitled “Aliens,” and shot most of it inside North Wilkesboro, which will re-open in August for latemodel races and then dirt races in October. “It can be successful, and it can turn into something nice,” Kyle Busch said. “So I’m looking forward to it if they put something there. I think it would be sweet. It’d be nice to see that place come back to life . ... ”