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Author: Andrew Kim

  • Allmendinger capitalizes late to win at Atlanta

    Allmendinger capitalizes late to win at Atlanta

    A.J. Allmendinger seized the opportunity following a late-race pit stop and held off Noah Gragson in the final 34 laps to win the EchoPark 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The victory was Allmendinger’s fourth of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career in his 18th series start, first of the season and his first on an oval-shaped track. Ironically, Allmendinger’s first Xfinity win at Atlanta came in his first series start at the track.

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw and three competitors from JR Motorsports drew the first three starting positions. Noah Gragson, coming off his thrilling win at Bristol Motor Speedway, started on pole position followed by teammates Daniel Hemric and Justin Allgaier. Following the pre-race inspection, the following teams with drivers Hemric, Harrison Burton, Austin Cindric, Myatt Snider, Jeremy Clements, Tommy Joe Martins and Stephen Leicht lost their pit stall selection for next week’s event at Homestead-Miami Speedway for failing the inspection station twice. Martins started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments along with Timmy Hill, who pitted under the pace laps. 

    When the race started, Gragson paced ahead to lead the opening six laps, but Austin Cindric, who started eighth and was eliminated early in the previous race at Bristol due to a multi-car wreck, used the high lane to move all the way up to second by the second lap and settle behind Gragson. By Lap 6, Cindric, again, used the high lane to his advantage and took the lead in Turn 3 as Gragson slipped. A lap later, Justin Haley moved into second as Gragson battled early loose-handling conditions in his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. By the 10th lap, he had fallen back to fifth as teammates Hemric and Allgaier passed him. Up front, Cindric extended his advantage to over a second over Haley.

    In the midst of the battle up front, Ryan Sieg, who started seventh, experienced early mechanical issues as smoke was billowing out of his No. 39 RSS Racing Chevrolet. He would eventually take his car to the garage for repairs.

    The first caution of the race flew on Lap 16 when Tommy Joe Martins spun on the backstretch. With the competition caution originally planned for Lap 20, NASCAR deemed the caution for Martins’ spin as the competition caution since the field would pass Lap 20 under yellow. At the time of caution, Chastain, who started 11th, moved up to sixth while Burton, who started fifth, fell back to 10th. Under caution, only a handful of competitors like Cindric and Chase Briscoe pitted. Haley remained on track to inherit the lead followed by Hemric, Allgaier, Gragson and Ross Chastain.

    When the race restarted on Lap 21, Haley used the bottom lane to take off with the lead followed by Allgaier and Chastain. Cindric restarted 21st, but bolted his way to fourth in three laps on four fresh tires. By Lap 25, Cindric was in third behind Kaulig Racing’s Haley and Chastain. A lap later, Cindric reassumed the lead. 

    By Lap 30, Cindric extended his advantage to over three seconds over Chastain and four seconds over Haley. During this time, Briscoe, who pitted with Cindric under competition caution only for adjustments, had made his way only up to 11th. Allmendinger, who started 30th, was in 12th, Anthony Alfredo, who started 24th, was in 14th and Jeremy Clements, who started 20th, was in 11th. Brandon Brown, coming off back-to-back top-10 results at Charlotte and Bristol, was in ninth.

    Up front, Cindric remained uncontested and was able to cruise to the Stage 1 win on Lap 40 by over nine seconds over Chastain. With his strong start to the race, Cindric claimed his first stage first victory of the year. Haley finished third followed by Allgaier and Hemric while Gragson, Riley Herbst, Briscoe, Allmendinger and Burton finished in top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Colby Howard inherited the lead after pitting without changing tires. Cindric was the first to exit with four fresh tires followed by Chastain, Briscoe, Haley and Gragson. Following the pit stops, Haley was sent to the rear of the field due to his crew members jumping over the pit wall too soon. A lap later, Howard returned to pit road, giving the lead back to Cindric.

    When the second stage started on Lap 47, Cindric received a push from Briscoe to maintain the lead. Chastain retained second as Briscoe battled Gragson for third. By Lap 60, Cindric extended his advantage to three seconds over Chastain. In addition, Haley, who restarted outside the top 25 following his penalty, worked his way back to 15th.

    On Lap 65, Hemric, who was running fourth, made contact with a lapped car entering Turn 4, but both cars continued without spinning or drawing out a caution. Behind him, Allmendinger and Allgaier made their way past Gragson for position.

    Three laps later, the caution returned when Riley Herbst, who was running in the top 10, spun in Turn 2. Under caution, the leaders remained on track except for Clements, Josh Williams and Jeffrey Earnhardt.

    When the race restarted with seven laps remaining in the second stage, Cindric received another bump from Briscoe to retain the lead. This time, Briscoe moved to second and Chastain battled Hemric for third as the competitors behind the leaders started duking for positions and battled three wide through the turns and the straightaways. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 80, Cindric was the leader as he claimed the stage by half a second over Briscoe and over a second over Chastain. Hemric finished fourth over Allmendinger. Gragson, Haley, Allgaier, Annett and Burton finished in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted. Briscoe exited first followed by Cindric, Chastain, Allgaier and Allmendinger. Following pit stops, Haley was penalized and sent to the rear of the field a second time, this time due to speeding on pit road.

    The final stage commenced with 76 laps remaining. On the restart, Briscoe and Cindric engaged in a heated battle for the lead while Allgaier and Chastain battled for third. Behind, Gragson made contact with Burton, which loosened Burton’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota up the track as Gragson moved up to eighth. Five laps later, Briscoe extended his lead of over a second over Cindric. Chastain, meanwhile, slipped to fourth.

    With 65 to go, caution returned when Josh Williams went for a long slide in Turn 3. He was able to nurse his car back below the apron without receiving any further contact from the field and pit. By then, Haley moved back to 16th following his penalty and Briscoe extended the lead to nearly two seconds over Cindric.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted. Briscoe exited first followed by Allgaier, Cindric, Chastain and Brandon Jones. During the pit stops, Gragson was penalized and sent to the rear for driving through too many pit boxes on pit road. His teammate, Michael Annett, remained on track and inherited the lead.

    On a restart with 61 to go, Briscoe took off on the inside lane while Annett raced four wide with Chastain, Allgaier and Cindric through Turn 1 before Chastain moved to second followed by Cindric, Allgaier, Jones and Hemric. Annett, who struggled on old tires, fell back like an anchor outside the top 10.  

    With 40 to go, Briscoe extended his lead to over a second ahead of Cindric and more than three seconds over Chastain and Allgaier. A lap later, the caution returned when Vinnie Miller spun in Turn 2. Under caution, the leaders pitted. Following pit stops, disaster struck for Briscoe, Allgaier and Cindric as all three were penalized for speeding on pit road. When all three were sent to restart outside the top 20, Allmendinger emerged with the lead alongside Gragson. 

    The race restarted with 34 to go and Allmendinger took off with the lead followed by Gragson, Haley, Jones and Burton. While Allmendinger retained a steady lead over the field, Gragson and Haley battled for second as Gragson would gain the upper hand. With 20 to go, Allmendinger settled in to lead over a second over Gragson followed by Haley, Burton and Chastain. Allgaier was eighth, Briscoe was 10th and Cindric was 17th as all three were running out of time and laps to make up for their late mistakes on pit road.

    With 10 to go, Allmendinger started to approach lapped traffic, which gave Gragson a slim, but brewing opportunity to challenge for the lead. Allmendinger, however, was able to navigate his way through the lapped traffic and maintain his advantage around a second over Gragson. 

    For the final laps, Gragson tried to narrow the gap between himself and Allmendinger, but Allmendinger maintained his ground and his one-second advantage, which was enough for him to cruise to the checkered flag and grab an upset win by 1.858 seconds over Gragson. With the victory, Allmendinger has finished in the top 10 in four of his seven starts with Kaulig Racing as the team recorded its third NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory.

    “Oh, my god! I won on an oval! You like that?!” Allmendinger said on FOX. “Matt Kaulig, I really love you. Chris Rice, these cars were awesome. It’s Atlanta. You’re trying to figure out how much tire to use early. The car was awesome on long runs. Once I got to the lead, I was just trying to hit my marks, which is hard to do. I can’t thank everybody at Kaulig Racing, LeafFilter Gutter Protection, everybody that’s associated with this team. We got C2 Freight Resources on the car…Thank you ECR [Engines], Chevrolet, everybody for giving me the opportunity. Let’s party.”

    In addition, Allmendinger, who was originally not scheduled to compete in next weekend’s second Dash 4 Cash event at Homestead-Miami Speedway on June 14, will enter the event with the opportunity to win $100,000.

    Despite finishing second, Gragson claimed the first Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus of the 2020 season. 

    “First off, I wanna say congrats to the 16 team,” Gragson said on FOX. “They did a heck of a job today. We fought a lot of adversity out there. I drove through too many pit boxes on one of the pit stops and had to go to the back. This Axalta, EchoPark team, they never gave up. [Crew chief] Dave Elenz did a great job making changes. We were wrecking loose there at the beginning of the race. We just kept working on it, working on it. We were able to come home second. I wanted to be doing burnouts on the front straightaway. Our car looked really good. That’s alright. We’re gonna move on to Miami. That’s my bread and butter track. Just super fortunate to be running here in the Xfinity Series.”

    Haley rebounded from his two pit-road penalties to finish third for his third top-five result of this season followed by Hemric as both competitors will compete for the second Dash 4 Cash bonus at Homestead alongside Allmendinger and Gragson. Burton finished fifth as he remains the only competitor to finish in the top 10 in all Xfinity events through Atlanta. Allgaier, Chastain, Jones, Briscoe and Alfredo rounded out the top 10.

    There were 10 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 28 laps.

    Briscoe continues to lead the Xfinity Series regular-season standings by four points over Gragson and 32 over Burton.

    Results:

    1. A.J. Allmendinger, 37 laps led

    2. Noah Gragson, six laps led

    3. Justin Haley, eight laps led

    4. Daniel Hemric

    5. Harrison Burton

    6. Justin Allgaier, one lap led

    7. Ross Chastain

    8. Brandon Jones

    9. Chase Briscoe, 40 laps led

    10. Anthony Alfredo

    11. Michael Annett, three laps led

    12. Brandon Brown

    13. Jeremy Clements

    14. Brett Moffitt

    15. Colby Howard

    16. Austin Cindric, 68 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    17. Riley Herbst

    18. Bayley Currey

    19. Ronnie Bassett Jr., one lap down

    20. Jesse Little, one lap down

    21. Jeffrey Earnhardt, one lap down

    22. Tommy Joe Martins, one lap down

    23. Mason Massey, one lap down

    24. Garrett Smithley, one lap down

    25. B.J. McLeod, one lap down

    26. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

    27. Alex Labbe, one lap down

    28. Josh Williams, one lap down

    29. Myatt Snider, two laps down

    30. Matt Mills, two laps down

    31. Vinnie Miller, seven laps down

    32. Joe Nemechek – OUT, Suspension

    33. Timmy Hill – OUT, Alternator

    34. Chad Finchum – OUT, Suspension

    35. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Engine

    36. Stephen Leicht – OUT, Clutch

    37. Kody Vanderwal – OUT, Engine

    Next on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is a doubleheader series weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the first on June 13 and the second on June 14. The June 13 race at Homestead will air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX and the June 14 race will air at noon ET on FS1.

  • Tough ending for Kaulig Racing at Bristol

    Tough ending for Kaulig Racing at Bristol

    Following an up-and-down result last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kaulig Racing traveled to Tennessee for the next NASCAR Xfinity Series scheduled race at Bristol Motor Speedway, fielding three cars as AJ Allmendinger joined Ross Chastain and Justin Haley to the team’s lineup. When the checkered flag dropped under the lights, Allmendinger emerged with a top-10 result while Haley and Chastain were left with disappointing finishes outside the top 15.

    With the race’s lineup determined by a random draw, Haley and Chastain started fourth and sixth while Allmendinger, who started his first Xfinity event since the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval in September, started 27th. In the opening laps of the race, Haley and Chastain displayed early speed by moving to third and fourth. Disaster struck, however, on the fifth lap, when Chastain blew a right-front tire entering Turn 4 and made contact with Austin Cindric against the outside wall. The contact sent Chastain around, where he was clipped by an oncoming Michael Annett. Despite sustaining significant rear-end damage to his No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet, Chastain’s crew was able to make repairs to keep the driver on the lead lap.

    When the race restarted on Lap 16, Haley settled in third. He remained in the top five as the laps dwindled while Allmendinger methodically worked his way up through the field. Nearly 10 laps later, however, Chastain was forced to pit under green for more repairs needed to his car. He eventually took his car behind the wall where his crew was able to continue making repairs. He would eventually return to the track multiple laps down.

    At the time of the competition caution on Lap 35, Haley was third and Allmendinger was able to race his way to 18th. When the race completed its first stage, Haley was fourth, Allmendinger raced his way into the top 10 in eighth and Chastain was 31st, more than 30 laps behind. Following pit stops under the stage break, Haley exited eighth while Allmendinger returned on track in 11th.

    When the second stage started on Lap 98, Haley moved into second but slipped to third the following restart. On Lap 121, a bump from Ryan Sieg sent Allmendinger spinning in Turn 3, drawing the event’s sixth caution. Despite the contact, Allmendinger was able to keep Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet sideways below the apron without sustaining any damage or contact from anyone else. He pitted for fresh tires and returned on track.

    By Lap 155, Allmendinger battled his way within the top 10 while Haley continued racing in the top five, spending most of the race in third. At the conclusion of the second stage, Haley was third and Allmendinger was 10th. Chastain was in 28th, 30 laps behind the leaders.

    Throughout the start of the final stage, Haley continued battling in the top five and Allmendinger continued battling inside the top 10. With 81 laps remaining, Haley moved into second after passing Noah Gragson and started his pursuit for the lead toward Justin Allgaier. During this time, however, Allmendinger made an unscheduled pit stop to have the left-side tires changed. By the time he returned on track, he was three laps behind the leaders.

    As the laps dwindled, Haley started to chip away his one-second deficit from Allgaier. With less than 60 laps remaining, Haley drew himself within a tenth of a second from Allgaier, who was struggling behind lapped traffic and was ready to pounce for the lead. With the battle for the lead brewing, the caution flew with eight laps remaining for a single-car spin in Turn 4. Under caution, Haley pitted with the leaders and dropped to fourth. Allmendinger remained on the track while Chastain pitted as both were still multiple laps behind.

    The following restart with 45 to go, Haley made contact with rookie Riley Herbst in Turn 2. The contact sent Herbst spinning and slapping the outside wall while Haley proceeded in third with cosmetic damage and a dragged splitter to his No. 11 LeafFilter Chevrolet. Despite the damage, Haley remained on track while reporting no significant fender damage. When the race restarted with 36 to go, Haley fell to fourth but returned to third two laps later after forcing his way below Brandon Jones in Turn 2.

    With approximately 20 laps remaining, Haley’s race went south when he slipped in Turn 1 and scrubbed the outside wall in Turn 2 while trying to race his way back to second. The contact cut a tire on Haley’s machine, where he was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop as his chances of winning his first Xfinity race evaporated for another week.

    Through two additional cautions and a late restart that extended the race into overtime, Allmendinger was able to race his way back on the lead lap. On the overtime restart, Allmendinger was able to race his way to a 10th-place result for his third top-10 result in his sixth start with Kaulig Racing. Haley settled in 17th, four laps behind the leaders, while Chastain ended his long race in 28th, 48 laps behind. All Kaulig teammates watched from a distance as Gragson held off Chase Briscoe and Jones to win at Thunder Valley.

    With the result, Haley is eighth in the series standings, 79 points behind points leader Briscoe, while Chastain dropped from third to fifth and is 52 points behind.

    Allmendinger is scheduled to make seven more Xfinity races this season with Kaulig Racing. Chastain and Haley, along with their fellow competitors, will return for the next series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 6 at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Gragson rallies from late incident to win at Bristol in overtime

    Gragson rallies from late incident to win at Bristol in overtime

    It was not an ideal move that Noah Gragson had in mind when he wrecked his teammate Justin Allgaier for the lead in the closing laps, but it was one that resulted in the Las Vegas native winning the Cheddar’s 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway following an overtime shootout. The victory was Gragson’s second of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career in his 43rd series start, second of this season and his first national touring series win at Bristol. The victory was the 48th in the series for JR Motorsports.

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Rookie Harrison Burton drew the pole position and was joined on the front row with teammate Brandon Jones. Carson Ware started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

    When the green flag dropped, Burton took the lead followed by Jones. Allgaier, who started 10th, made a bold move on the outside lane to gain positions, but he slipped too high entering Turn 2 and barely touched the wall, though he continued without sustaining any serious damage. The following turn, three other competitors that included Jesse Little nearly made contact with one another but all three continued. 

    The first caution of the race flew on the fifth lap when Ross Chastain, who cut a right-front tire in Turn 3, got loose and made contact with Austin Cindric entering Turn 4, sending Cindric hard against the outside wall as Chastain spun and was clipped by Michael Annett, who had nowhere to go. All three sustained significant damage to their respective cars. Annett and Cindric retired while Chastain, who sustained damage to the rear end of his No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, was able to continue on the lead lap.

    The race restarted on the 16th lap and Burton was able to maintain the lead despite being pressured by Jones. Justin Haley settled in third while Daniel Hemric, Chase Briscoe and Allgaier battled hard for fourth. On Lap 18, Haley made the slightest of contact with Jones in Turn 3, sending Jones up the track and out of the racing groove. The following lap in Turn 3, Jones got loose again and dropped more positions. By Lap 24, Jones fell back to 10th after being passed by Vinnie Miller. The following lap, Chastain pitted for more repairs as he dropped out of the lead lap and out of race-winning contention.

    On Lap 27, Haley made a run below Burton for the lead but was stalled by a lapped car which caused him to lose ground on the lead and battle Gragson for second. Despite encountering tight lapped traffic, Burton was able to maintain the lead and Gragson was able to take second from Haley at the time of the competition caution on Lap 35. Under caution, Jones along with Chad Finchum, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Colby Howard and Timmy Hill made a pit stop while the rest of the field remained on track.

    When the race restarted on Lap 42, Burton benefitted on the outside lane to maintain his lead. Gragson retained second while Haley, who restarted third, spun his tires and dropped to fifth behind Ryan Sieg and Briscoe. Four laps later, Gragson made his move below the bottom of Turn 2 and took the lead from Burton. By Lap 60, Gragson was able to maintain his advantage by six-tenths of a second over Burton. The second caution of the day flew on Lap 63 due to debris from Joe Nemechek’s car in Turn 3. Under caution, Burton pitted from the runner-up position to have minimal damage he sustained from hitting the debris repaired. Four other competitors pitted while everyone else remained on track.

    The following restart on Lap 68, Gragson received a push from teammate Allgaier. The contact allowed Gragson to boost ahead with the lead while Allgaier moved to second over Briscoe. By Lap 75, A.J. Allmendinger, who started 27th in his first Xfinity event of the season, made his way in the top 10, running ninth. From there, Gragson was able to lead the field through the conclusion of the first stage on Lap 85 and win the stage despite encountering lapped traffic. Allgaier settled in second followed by Briscoe, Haley and Hemric. Riley Herbst, Jones, Allmendinger, Sieg and Myatt Snider finished in the top 10.

    Under caution, most of the leaders pitted while Burton, who pitted early, remained on track and reassumed the lead. Jones pitted for two tires and was the first off pit road. Jeremy Clements only took fuel and exited fifth behind Allgaier and Briscoe. Gragson suffered a slow pit stop and came out in sixth. Following the pit stops, Hemric was nabbed with a speeding penalty and sent to the rear of the field.

    The second stage started on Lap 98 and Briscoe ran into the back of Burton which allowed Burton to boost ahead with the lead. Haley moved to second after Briscoe slipped in Turn 3 and fell back to fifth behind Gragson and Allgaier. Jones, who restarted second with two fresh tires, fell back to sixth. The caution returned three laps later for an incident in Turn 1 involving Hill and Vinnie Miller.

    Six laps later, the race restarted with Burton maintaining the lead. During the restart, Allgaier used the outside lane to move into second over Haley. Gragson fell to fifth while battling Ryan Sieg and Briscoe for position. By Lap 119, Gragson moved back to fourth after passing Jones, who was battling loose conditions. Two laps later, the caution flew when Sieg made contact with Allmendinger in Turn 3 while battling for seventh. The contact resulted in Allmendinger sliding below the apron, but he was able to proceed without sustaining damage. He and Hill pitted while the rest of the field remained on track.

    When the race restarted on Lap 128, Allgaier mounted a challenge for the lead below Burton and was able to take it. On Lap 137, Tommy Joe Martins made contact with the outside wall but the race proceeded under green. Four laps later, just as Gragson moved Burton out of the racing groove in Turn 1 to move back to second, the caution returned when Patrick Emerling wrecked through Turns 2 and 3 following contact with Bayley Currey. The race was red-flagged for nine and a half minutes to give the safety officials time to clean the fluid from Emerling’s No. 02 Our Motorsports Chevrolet from the bottom of Turn 2 through the high groove in Turn 3. When the red flag was lifted, the majority of the field remained on track while Sieg, Clements and Miller pitted.

    When the green flag returned on Lap 148, Allgaier made the bottom lane work to his advantage as he powered away with the lead followed by Gragson. A lap later, Haley used the outside lane to take third from Burton. By Lap 155, Allgaier and Gragson gapped third-place Haley by more than a second. Meanwhile, Josh Williams engaged in a battle with Allmendinger for a top-10 spot while Hemric rallied from his penalty to race in eighth while battling Snider. 

    Despite encountering lapped traffic, which included Joe Graf Jr., Allgaier was able to hold off teammate Gragson to win the second stage. Haley and Burton finish third and fourth while Briscoe was able to pass Jones following a bump-and-run move to finish fifth. Jones, Hemric, Snider, Herbst and Allmendinger finished in the top 10.

    Under caution, nearly the entire field pitted and Allgaier was able to barely avoid making contact on pit road with Gragson, who was exiting his pit stall, to maintain the lead. Gragson, Jones, Haley and Briscoe followed pursuit. During the pit stops, Sieg and Miller remained on track to inherit the front row for the start of the final stage.

    With the final stage starting on Lap 182, Allgaier used the high lane to reassume the lead. A lap later, Sieg challenged Allgaier on the bottom lane for one circuit before Allgaier moved up the track in Turn 3 and allowed Gragson to move to second from Sieg. By Lap 190, Sieg, battling on old tires on the high lane, fell back to ninth. 

    With 100 laps remaining, Allgaier’s lead over Gragson was less than half a second. Haley moved to third followed by Jones, Hemric and Briscoe. Five laps later, Allgaier was able to extend his advantage by nearly a second over Gragson. By then, Allmendinger was eighth following his late spin and Burton was back in 10th.

    With 81 laps remaining, Haley passed Gragson in Turn 2 to move into second and started pursuing Allgaier for the lead. At this time, however, his teammate, Allmendinger, made an unscheduled pit stop to have the right-side tires of his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet changed. The late misfortune cost him multiple laps behind the leaders.

    As the laps dwindled, Allgaier started to approach lapped traffic but he was able to maintain the lead despite Haley gaining more ground for the lead. With less than 60 to go, Haley caught Allgaier for the lead when Allgaier was experiencing difficulties trying to lap Clements and Brandon Brown. Just as the lead between the two Justins intensified, the caution flew with 52 to go when Martins spun in Turn 4. Under caution, the leaders pitted. Herbst exited pit road first after taking two tires followed by Allgaier, Gragson, Haley and Hemric.

    When the race restarted with 45 to go, Allgaier took advantage of the high lane to lead the field through Turn 2. At the same time, the caution quickly returned when Herbst and Haley made contact that resulted in Herbst being turned in Turn 2 and slapping the outside wall. Herbst pitted, but ended his day due to the damage while Haley remained on track in third despite sustaining cosmetic damage to his No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet.

    The next restart came with 36 to go. Allgaier maintained his lead while Jones, who restarted fourth, rocketed to second. Gragson used the high lane to take second and Haley forced his way underneath Jones to move to third and Jones fell to the clutches of Briscoe for fourth. With approximately 20 to go, Haley, who was trying to pursue Gragson for second, slipped high in Turn 1 and scrubbed the wall, causing him to fall off the pace. He was able to nurse his car back to pit but the incident cost him multiple laps and his hopes of winning his first Xfinity race.

    Just when the race appeared to have been sealed by Allgaier, the caution flew with 13 to go when Colby Howard blew a left-front tire and stopped in Turn 2. The leaders remained on track under caution. When the race restarted with seven to go, Allgaier maintained the lead, but Gragson made his move to challenge for the lead a lap later. He moved below his teammate in Turn 2 and raced side by side with him through Turn 3 before edging out with the lead in Turn 4. Then, he ran into the side of his teammate in Turn 1, causing Allgaier to slip into the outside wall before spinning and making hard contact into the Turn 2 inside wall, drawing a caution with five to go. Gragson was able to continue with the lead followed by Briscoe, Burton, Jones and Snider. Allgaier drove his damaged No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet back to pit road but the damage was enough to end Allgaier’s strong race in his pit stall.

    The incident between the two JR Motorsports teammates sent the race into overtime. In the first overtime attempt, Gragson led the field through Turn 1. In Turn 2, Jones attempted to split Gragson and Briscoe through the middle, but was unable to make enough room for himself to make the move occur. By the time the field returned to Turn 4 for the start of the final lap, Gragson managed to clear Briscoe and was able to fend off Briscoe for one final circuit to claim the checkered flag first.

    “Really, [I] apologize to Justin and the No. 7 team,” Gragson said on FOX Sports 1. “That’s not how I want to race, but I saw the position open up. He, kind of, slipped off the bottom the lap before and I tried to get to the bottom and I just got too loose. All of us top-five guys – really everybody on the field – this track’s like ice out there right now. We were slippin’ and slidin’. What a heck of a night for this No. 9 team. It’s Bristol, baby! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I sucked here. My crew chief believed in me and he wanted me to come back and run with them. Dave Elenz is the man.”

    “The team did a great job getting us track position we needed,” Allgaier said on PRN radio. “I’m more mad at myself for making a mistake and slippin’ off the bottom, but yeah we got wrecked. We had the car to beat all night and unfortunately, we don’t have anything to show for it. I hate it for my guys. We’ll rebound and we’ll come back next weekend.”

    Briscoe finished second followed by Jones and Burton as the trio will join Gragson in battling for the first Dash 4 Cash bonus this upcoming weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Myatt Snider edged Hemric to finish fifth for his first career top-five finish in the Xfinity Series. Hemric rallied in sixth while Brandon Brown, Clements, Josh Williams and Allmendinger rounded out the top 10.

    There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 85 laps.

    Briscoe continues to lead the Xfinity Series regular-season standings by nine points over Gragson and 26 over Burton.

    Results.

    1. Noah Gragson, 55 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Chase Briscoe

    3. Brandon Jones

    4. Harrison Burton, 81 laps led

    5. Myatt Snider

    6. Daniel Hemric

    7. Brandon Brown

    8. Jeremy Clements

    9. Josh Williams

    10. A.J. Allmendinger

    11. B.J. McLeod 

    12. Vinnie Miller

    13. Joe Graf Jr.

    14. Timmy Hill

    15. Jeffrey Earnhardt, two laps down

    16. Ryan Sieg, three laps down, six laps led

    17. Justin Haley, four laps down, one lap led

    18. Justin Allgaier – OUT, 156 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    19. Colby Howard, seven laps down

    20. Bayley Currey, eight laps down

    21. Kody Vanderwal, 10 laps down

    22. Carson Ware, 14 laps down

    23. Tommy Joe Martins, 19 laps down

    24. Chad Finchum, 26 laps down

    25. Matt Mills – OUT, Clutch

    26. Jesse Little, 43 laps down

    27. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident, four laps led

    28. Ross Chastain, 48 laps down

    29. Patrick Emerling – OUT, Accident

    30. Mason Massey, 192 laps down

    31. Ronnie Bassett Jr. – OUT, Engine

    32. Joe Nemechek – OUT, Accident

    33. Alex Labbe – OUT, Overheating

    34. Stephen Leicht – OUT, Suspension

    35. Jeff Green – OUT, Ignition

    36. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident

    37. Michael Annett – OUT, Accident

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series will travel to Hampton, Georgia, and race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 6. The race will air at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Bristol features unique names with top-10 results

    Bristol features unique names with top-10 results

    The conclusion of the Food City presents the Supermarkets Heroes 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway will go down with Brad Keselowski stealing the win in a wild finish after leaders Chase Elliott and Joey Logano wrecked in the final laps. While Keselowski emerged as the overall victor, there were other competitors who left Bristol feeling victorious and satisfied with their results following a difficult start to this season.

    First, there was Clint Bowyer. Prior to NASCAR’s anticipated return to racing following a two-month hiatus amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the Kansas native was 13th in the series standings and had notched two top-10 results. Since the sport’s return, Bowyer struggled with capping off a strong start with a strong race car with a strong result. Most notably, the second Darlington race on Wednesday was a race where Bowyer had the race well within his hands after winning the first two stages and leading a race-high 71 laps until he cut a tire, spun and finished 22nd. In the Coca-Cola 600, he was involved in a single-car wreck four laps shy of the first quarter stage of the race and finished 39th. On Thursday at Charlotte, he was penalized twice for speeding on pit road on different occasions and salvaged a 16th-place result.

    At Bristol, Bowyer started 23rd based on a random draw, but was able to move inside the top 20 through the first 60 laps. By the time the first stage concluded, Bowyer gained more positions to move up to 12th. Starting the second stage fighting tight conditions, Bowyer would keep his car intact and move into the top 10 before finishing sixth at the conclusion of the second stage. Throughout the final stage, Bowyer raced inside the top 15 while avoiding more carnage surrounding him. With 30 laps remaining, Bowyer restarted ninth on fresh tires but was able to move up to fifth prior to a late caution. With five laps remaining, Bowyer avoided the Logano-Elliott skirmish to come out second behind Keselowski, where he would finish for his best result of the season. With his second top-five result of the season, Bowyer jumped from 14th to 12th in the standings.

    “We actually struggled pretty bad with our setup,” Bowyer said. “I don’t know, it was floating the nose really bad up off the corner all day long. I could gain and make some ground up in the center of the corner in, and in the middle, but if I had to pass somebody and turn underneath of them, I didn’t have the real estate. I was needing [Keselowski] to be a little bit closer. I wasn’t gonna feel bad about moving him, but it just didn’t materialize.”

    For seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, his swan song season in the series has been mixed with up-and-down results. Prior to the pandemic, Johnson was fifth in the standings. After last week’s race at Charlotte, he had fallen all the way back to 16th with three top-10 results under his belt. He had a strong runner-up result in the Coca-Cola 600 stripped away due to a post-race inspection failure which cost him a bevy of points.

    At Bristol, Johnson, who started 24th, methodically worked his way through the field and was well inside the top 10 prior to the first stage’s conclusion. He would finish 10th in the first stage. He spent the majority of the race inside the top 10 before opting to pit prior to the end of the second stage, where he finished 13th. In the final stage, Johnson moved his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into the top five, running as high as second before being shuffled back to sixth in the closing laps. Following a late caution and the final restart with five laps remaining, Johnson kept his car intact to move and finish third for his best result of the season. Johnson’s fourth top-10 result of 2020 allowed him to move from 16th to 15th in the standings.

    “Wild and crazy night, for sure,” Johnson said. “Very strong performance for us. Really proud of the guys keeping our chins up through the last four weeks. We’ve had fast cars, really haven’t had the results to show for it. To put together a solid race, start to finish, great pit stops, fast car, be a threat. We need more long runs. There’s only one long race in the whole race. We were battling for the lead with Kyle [Busch]. I wish there were more long runs because our car didn’t have the short run speed in it.”

    For Austin Dillon, momentum is the key word to summarize the driver and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet team. Coming into Bristol, Dillon had notched two top-10 results with a best result of fourth at Las Vegas in March. Dillon started 20th and was able to race his way inside the top 15 at the conclusion of the first stage. He would finish 15th again following the second stage and would remain on track under the stage break to move into the top five. He spent the majority of the first half of the final stage running inside the top 10 until he blew a right-front tire and smacked the outside wall with 172 laps remaining. The day went from good to bad to worse when Dillon was one of four drivers speeding on pit road and sent to the rear. Despite speeding on pit road again with 68 to go and falling to the rear, Dillon would recover to make his way back in the top 15 while also avoiding the late carnage. With five laps remaining, Dillon was ninth but was able to pick up three more spots to finish sixth behind Erik Jones for his second consecutive top-10 finish of this season. He dropped one spot in the standings from 15th to 16th, though he notched his third top-10 result of 2020.

    “The Symbicort Chevrolet was good when it mattered,” Dillon said. “We worked really hard today; hard-fought battle. We were pretty fast there at the end. [Crew chief] Justin [Alexander] made a great call to take tires with 38 laps to go and it showed up. We’re close, we’re getting there. Love how these races are playing out. Getting closer and closer!”

    Like his teammate and childhood hero Jimmie Johnson, a top-10 result was what William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team needed following a string of on-track challenges not only since NASCAR’s return at Darlington, but since the start of this season. Starting with a 40th-place result in the Daytona 500, the Charlotte native has finished in the top 10 once, which came at Phoenix in March. Coming off a 12th-place result at Charlotte, Byron started 13th and spent the first stage of the race mired in and out of the top 20. By the second stage, Byron was able to methodically work his way inside the top 10. He ran as high as fifth before settling in seventh following the second stage. He made contact with the wall at the start of the final stage, which dropped him all the way back to the top 20. He would spend the rest of the race working his way back into the top 10 while dodging the late carnage. When all was said and done, Byron was able to take the checkered flag in eighth, which was the highest he has finished since finishing second at Martinsville in October 2019. With his second top-10 result of the season, Byron gained one position from 17th to 16th in the standings.

    “It was a tough race at the start for us, but we finished eighth which was good,” Byron said. “Lately, we’ve had damage and just a lot of things go wrong for us. We just really needed a good finish and we did today. Once we finally got our track position back, we stayed up towards the top 10 and kept ourselves up there.”

    For Christopher Bell, it was not only a day where he matched his career-best result in the Cup Series. It was a day where he looked like a Cup veteran in only his ninth series start and after rallying from finishing outside the top 20 in the first five races of 2020. Starting 35th, Bell nearly made his way into the top 20 by Lap 60. Ultimately, he would finish 25th following the first stage. Then came a near-harrowing moment for the Oklahoma native on Lap 229, when he was able to escape a multi-car wreck through Turns 2 and 3, a wreck that collected his fellow rookie contenders Cole Custer and Tyler Reddick. Bell would continue to finish 17th in the second stage. Remaining on track under the caution after pitting the previous caution, Bell found himself running in the top 10. He ran as high as fourth before settling inside the top 10 throughout the green-flag run. Disaster struck, however, under caution with less than 70 laps remaining following a pit stop, where Bell was sent to the rear due to an uncontrolled tire violation. He would work his way back to the top 15 in the closing laps and would survive to a ninth-place result, making him the highest-finishing rookie in the race. With his second career top-10 result and third top-15 finish in the last four races, Bell is 25th in the standings.

    “We battled back and have begun to see some results, which is good,” Bell said. “It’s nice to be getting some results after the start of the season we had. We are continuing to build and get better, which is the goal. I’m a rookie and I’m learning more every race.”

    Last but not least, if there was someone who desperately needed a strong result following a string of dismal luck, it was Bubba Wallace and the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet team. Coming into Bristol, Wallace had four top-20 finishes under his belt and had failed to finish the last two Cup races at Charlotte. Starting 36th, Wallace nearly cracked the top 20 through the first 60 laps. He would finish 22nd in the first stage. He made his way inside the top 20 at the start of the second stage, but under caution past the 200-lap mark, Wallace was caught speeding on pit road, which sent him to the rear. He was able to dodge a multi-car wreck on Lap 229 despite making contact with Ryan Preece. When the second stage was complete, Wallace was 19th. Under the stage break, he remained on track to place himself in the top 10. When the race returned to green, Wallace slowly fell back to the top 15 on old tires. Under caution, however, with less than 170 laps remaining, Wallace was again tabbed with a speeding penalty that sent him to the rear. He would spend the duration of the next green-flag run working his way back to the top 10, which he was able to do so less than 60 to go. He would ignite a multi-car wreck with 36 to go that involved Aric Almirola and Martin Truex Jr., but he would proceed while continuing to fight to stay in the top 10. On the final five-lap dash to the finish, he had enough to edge Kevin Harvick and finish 10th for his best result since finishing sixth at Las Vegas. With his second top-10 result, Wallace is 22nd in the standings.

    “All-in-all, it was a good day at the Bristol Motor Speedway,” Wallace said. “It was fun there at the end. It was wild – that race had pretty much everything. We will carry some momentum over – finally got a good finish after two bad ones. We got the bad juju off our back and we will go onto the Atlanta Motor Speedway! We’ve got some work to do there. I am excited about the speed we’ve been bringing to the track each week. We need to tweak some things to get us to the next level. We are knocking on the door.”

    All competitors will return for the next scheduled NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 7. The race will air at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Keselowski wins a thrilling race at Bristol

    Keselowski wins a thrilling race at Bristol

    A week after stealing a late victory in the Coca-Cola 600, Brad Keselowski found himself at the right place at the right time to win the Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway after leaders Chase Elliott and Joey Logano tangled in the final laps. The victory was Keselowski’s second of the season, third at Bristol and the 32nd of his NASCAR Cup Series career. The victory was also his second with his new crew chief Jeremy Bullins as Team Penske claimed its 13th Cup win at Bristol.

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Keselowski drew the pole position and was joined on the front row with Aric Almirola. Gray Gaulding and Ryan Preece started at the rear of the field after their respective cars failed pre-race technical inspection twice.

    When the race started, Keselowski launched ahead on the outside lane and was followed by his teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. After the first lap, Almirola dropped to sixth, while stuck on the bottom lane, as Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. moved into the top five. The majority of the competitors spent the first seven laps jostling for positions, slipping sideways and nearly racing three-wide through every corner until the first caution flew on the eighth lap, when Ryan Newman slipped sideways in Turn 1 and spun the following turn. He proceeded with no damage.

    The following restart on the 12th lap, Keselowski, again, rocketed with the lead followed by Truex, who passed Blaney for second. Keselowski was able to fend off Truex to lead the field through the first competition caution of the day on Lap 20. At the time of caution, Jimmie Johnson, who started 24th, was 11th while rookie Christopher Bell, who started 35th, was 21st.

    Under caution, most of the leaders remained on track while 21 cars behind pitted. All took four tires, except for Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez and Chris Buescher, who pit for two tires. Corey LaJoie nabbed a pit road speeding penalty and was sent to the rear of the field. In addition, Chris Buescher returned to pit road to have a new scoring transponder installed to his No. 17 Ford. Despite the extra stop, he was allowed to retain his restart spot in 25th.

    The race restarted on Lap 30, and Keselowski maintained his advantage on the outside lane. Almirola moved back to second followed by Kyle Busch as Truex fell to fourth. By Lap 35, Logano started making the bottom groove work to his advantage as he passed Truex for fourth. Three laps later, he moved to third over Kyle Busch while Stenhouse, who started 16th, moved to sixth and Truex drifted back to eighth. 

    When the second competition caution flew on Lap 60, Keselowski was still in the lead, having led all the laps. Under caution, the leaders pitted, except for DiBenedetto, who pitted under caution on Lap 23. Keselowski exited with the lead followed by Almirola, Blaney, Logano and Kyle Busch. During the pit stops, Busch nearly ran over Clint Bowyer’s rear tire changer while exiting his pit stall and to avoid hitting Bowyer’s car. The situation soured for Busch, who was sent to the tail end of the field for speeding on pit road along with Suarez.

    When the race restarted on Lap 67, Keselowski made a move on the inside lane to retake the lead from DiBenedetto. Blaney would take second followed by Elliott and Almirola. Logano would move to fifth while DiBenedetto fell back to sixth. 

    On Lap 84, Blaney made a move underneath Keselowski in Turn 3 and took the lead. Two laps later, Elliott moved to second. On Lap 104, Elliott challenged Blaney for the lead as he attempted to move in front of him on the inside lane entering Turn 2. After spending the next two corners challenging his friend for the lead, Elliott took it from Blaney in Turn 1 a lap later and was able to clear him in Turn 2. Blaney attempted a crossover move in Turn 3, but Elliott used the outside lane to his advantage and maintained the lead through Turn 4. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, who started at the rear of the field following his speeding penalty, had only made his way back up to 18th after passing his brother, Kurt.

    When the race reached its conclusion of the first stage on Lap 125, Elliott, coming off his breakthrough win at Charlotte on Thursday, won his fourth stage of the season. Blaney was able to finish second followed by teammate Keselowski and Almirola, both of whom were repeatedly battling one another for position. Logano was fifth followed by Harvick, DiBenedetto, Hamlin, Stenhouse and Johnson.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted for four tires and Blaney was able to beat Elliott off pit road to reassume the lead. Logano exited third followed by Keselowski and Hamlin, who gained three positions on pit road. DiBenedetto was tabbed with a speeding penalty and sent to the rear while Alex Bowman made an extra pit stop for loose lug nuts.

    The second stage started on Lap 137, with Blaney taking off on the outside lane. A lap later, Keselowski moved to second over Elliott. By Lap 150, Johnson moved to sixth followed by Hamlin, Bowyer was ninth, Kenseth was 12th and Kyle Busch was 13th. John Hunter Nemechek was the highest-running rookie in 14th.

    On Lap 170, Keselowski, who gained a huge momentum in Turn 2, made a move below Blaney in Turn 3 to take the lead when Blaney lost a little momentum in the turn. Four laps later, Blaney mounted another charge through Turns 4 and 1 on the bottom and was about to regain his lead before Keselowski used the high lane to zip past his teammate and pull away. Meanwhile, Byron, who restarted 24th on Lap 135, was up to 14th.

    On Lap 185, Stenhouse, Logano and Johnson went three wide for seventh on the track in Turn 2 as Logano and Johnson made contact while being stuck behind the lapped car of Brennan Poole. Stenhouse was able to take the position from both drivers and Johnson went three-wide with Logano and Poole to take eighth in Turn 4.

    The caution returned on Lap 199, when Blaney, who was trying to hunt Keselowski back down for the lead, slipped on the high lane through Turns 1 and 2 and spun. His car came to rest on the straightaway near the wall and was clobbered by Ty Dillon, who was unable to slow his car and avoid making contact with Blaney. The collision destroyed the front nose of Blaney’s No. 12 Ford while Dillon sustained damage to the right-front fender. Both competitors would end their race in the garage.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted for four tires. Elliott was able to exit pit road first followed by Keselowski, Hamlin, Harvick and Almirola.

    The race restarted on Lap 208 with Elliott maintaining the lead. Harvick and Keselowski battled for second followed Byron who challenged Hamlin for a top-five spot. The caution returned on Lap 212 when Joey Gase spun in Turn 2. Five laps later, the race restarted and Elliott, again, powered through with the lead followed by Harvick as Keselowski, who spun his tires, fell to third. The caution quickly returned when Bayley Currey stalled his No. 53 Chevrolet in Turn 2.

    When the race resumed on Lap 222, Elliott maintained the lead over the field. A lap later, Logano uses the high lane to move to second over Harvick. Keselowski, who lifted in Turn 3, fell back to fifth. On Lap 225, Logano peaked for the lead in Turn 4, but slipped in Turn 1, making contact with Elliott, but Elliott was able to maintain the lead. 

    The caution returned on Lap 229 for a multi-car wreck, when Stenhouse, who stepped out of the gas to avoid hitting Kenseth in Turn 2, was turned by Johnson and made hard contact into the inside wall. Stenhouse’s No. 47 Chevrolet came back across the track, where he piled up with Kurt Busch, Bowman, Cole Custer, and Tyler Reddick in Turn 3. Preece and DiBenedetto were also involved as they spun below the apron. The race was red-flagged for 11 minutes and 35 seconds to give the safety crew time to clean the accident scene.

    When the red flag was lifted, the pit road opened under caution and a handful of competitors like Truex, Johnson, Kenseth, Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace pitted. DiBenedetto and Preece also pitted for repairs to their respective cars.

    The restart on Lap 235 saw Elliott maintaining the lead on the outside lane while Hamlin moved into second. The caution returned four laps later when Preece made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3. Under caution, Almirola pitted and Suarez, who was three laps down early in the race, was able to race his way back on the lead lap after receiving the free pass.

    Four laps later, with seven laps left in the second stage, Elliott rocketed to the lead as Hamlin spun his tires on the inside lane. Elliott would cruise to the win in the second stage by less than a second over Hamlin. The stage win was Elliott’s fifth of this season. Harvick finished third followed by Logano and Kyle Busch. Bowyer, Byron, Jones, Keselowski and Buescher finished in the top 10. By then, the race was also halfway complete.

    Under the stage break, Elliott led most of the field to pit road while Hamlin remained on track to inherit the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Johnson, Austin Dillon, Kenseth, Bell, Ryan Newman, Wallace, Michael McDowell, Almirola and Suarez. Following the pit stops, Elliott exited first followed by Logano, Harvick, Bowyer, Keselowski and Byron while Truex gained four spots.

    The race restarted on Lap 262 and Hamlin was able to maintain the lead followed by teammate Kyle Busch. Johnson, who restarted third, slipped in Turn 4 and fell back to sixth while being overtaken by Austin Dillon, Almirola and Bell. While the majority of the competitors started to race aggressively and hard for position, Chris Buescher and Byron each made contact with the wall, but continued. On Lap 269, Buescher tagged the wall a second time in Turn 1 and pitted for a cut right-front tire, which drew a caution. By the time the caution flew, Elliott, who restarted 12th, was up to 10th behind Newman.

    When the race restarted on Lap 274, Hamlin, this time, benefitted from the inside lane to maintain the lead over Busch. Five laps later, Busch made a move on the inside lane to return to the lead over his teammate. Eleven laps later, DiBenedetto took his No. 21 Ford to the garage due to a broken front-tire rod.

    With 200 laps remaining, Busch stabilized his lead to nearly two seconds over Hamlin, who was engaged in a heated battle with Almirola. Johnson was in fourth and Elliott was in 10th, battling Harvick. Bell, Austin Dillon, Kenseth and Logano were fifth through eighth while Wallace fell back to 15th. Bowyer and Keselowski were 11th and 12th.

    With 178 laps remaining, Johnson moved into the runner-up spot, trailing Busch by more than three seconds. Four laps later, Almirola moved to third and a lap later, Bell moved to fourth. The caution fell two laps later, when Austin Dillon smacked the outside wall due to a flat right-front tire. Under caution, the field pitted. Busch exited first followed by Hamlin, Logano, Almirola and Elliott. However, Logano, Keselowski, Wallace and Austin Dillon were all sent to the rear due to speeding on pit road.

    The race restarted with 165 to go and Busch managed to hold the lead on the inside lane followed by Hamlin. Elliott moved fourth to third while Johnson moved from sixth to fifth. The caution returned with 145 laps remaining, when Newman spun through Turns 1 and 2 for the second time. Under caution, most of the leaders remained on track while some, starting with Almirola, pitted. Truex, Byron, Kenseth, Logano, Nemechek, Wallace, Austin Dillon, McDowell, Corey LaJoie and Newman also pitted.

    With 140 laps remaining, the race returned to green and Hamlin used the outside lane to retake the lead from Kyle Busch. 

    As the laps dwindled, Busch started reeling in to teammate Hamlin for the lead, behind by two-tenths of a second, with Johnson lurking right behind as the leaders also started to catch lapped traffic. With 84 to go, Busch used the lapped car of J.J. Yeley to, finally, retake the lead from Hamlin, who was overtaken by Johnson for second two laps later in Turn 4.

    With 68 to go, the caution returned when Harvick got into the Turn 1 wall after making contact with Jones. The leaders pitted and Hamlin, who pitted from third, reassumed the lead followed by Johnson, Busch, Elliott, Truex and Logano, who gained four spots. Bell was sent to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation along with Austin Dillon, who was speeding on pit road.

    The race restarted with 61 to go, and Hamlin launched ahead on the high lane followed by Elliott and Johnson. Kyle Busch fell back to sixth. Six laps later, Elliott gained a huge run on the inside lane in Turn 3 and nearly cleared himself for the lead before Hamlin used the high lane to battle back and clear Elliott the following lap. With 43 to go, Elliott established a crossover move to the inside of Hamlin and was inches away from taking the lead when the caution flew as Gaulding slapped the wall through Turns 1 and 2. At the time of caution, Hamlin was deemed the leader. 

    Hamlin maintained the lead on a restart with 37 to go while Logano moved to second. The caution returned a lap later, when a bump from Wallace in Turn 1 sent Almirola into the left side of Truex, who had slipped and lost momentum in Turn 3, that sent Truex spinning while Almirola and McDowell wrecked against the outside wall. 

    With the race restarting with 29 to go, Hamlin retained the lead followed by Logano and Kyle Busch. Byron moved to fifth while Johnson fell back to seventh as Elliott passed Kyle Busch for third. With 15 to go, the top-four competitors, (Hamlin, Logano, Elliott, Busch), were separated by less than one second. 

    With 12 to go, Hamlin slipped in Turn 1, allowing Logano and Elliott to make their way past Hamlin in Turn 2. The following turn, Logano slipped and made contact with the wall, which resulted in Elliott going to the lead and Hamlin making contact with Logano and spinning into the path of the lapped car of B.J. McLeod in Turn 4, which drew a caution the following lap and set the race for a late showdown to the finish.

    When the race restarted with five laps remaining, Elliott launched with a slight advantage over Logano, who came back a lap later to squeak ahead with the lead. Entering Turn 4, with three laps remaining, Logano managed to clear Elliott on the inside lane, but not without being bumped by Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet through Turn 1 as Elliott made a move on the inside lane to draw even with Logano’s No. 22 Ford while making contact again. In Turn 3, Elliott slid into Logano and both went up and against the outside wall, which allowed Keselowski to take the lead. Bowyer came out in second followed by Kyle Busch as the field scattered to avoid Logano and Elliott. For the final two laps, Keselowski was able to beat Bowyer by less than four-tenths of a second to steal an overwhelming win at Thunder Valley. 

    “Oh, my goodness!” Keselowski said. “I think everybody on this Discount Tire Ford Mustang team is gonna go to Vegas. Is it open yet? ‘Cause things have been going our way from the luck of the draw and the qualifying to the last few laps there. We couldn’t get anything to go our way the start of the race with cars staying out and kept getting the bottom lane on the restarts. Nothing was working out. Right at the end, we came in, we put two tires on the lefts and drove up to fourth or sixth, I guess. We put ourselves in position. I didn’t know what was gonna happen, but I knew if I just kept my eye open, something might happen and sure enough, it did. Incredible day! This was a never-give-up effort and that’s where we’re coming as a team.”

    Logano and Elliott limped home in 21st and 22nd. After taking the checkered flag and parking their wrecked race cars on pit road, they met to discuss the incident.

    “[Elliott] wrecked me,” Logano said. “He got loose underneath me. The part that’s frustrating is, afterwards, a simple apology like be a man, come up to somebody and say, ‘Hey, my bad.’ I had to force an apology, which, to me, is childish. Anyways, man, we had a good recovery with our AutoTrader Mustang and had a shot to win and that’s all you can hope for. [I] passed him clean. It’s hard racing at the end, I get that. It’s hard racing, but, golly man, be a man and take the hit when you’re done with it.”

    “Just going for the win,” Elliott said. “Trying to get underneath him, got really loose in. I don’t know if I had a tire going down or if I just got loose on entry, but as soon as I turned off the wall, I had zero chance in making it. I’ll certainly take the blame. I think I just got loose and got up into him. I felt like that was my shot. He was really good on the short run. I felt like I had to keep him behind me right there in order to win the race with only three, four laps to go. I hate we both wrecked, but you can’t go back in time now.”

    Bowyer settled in second followed by Johnson in his penultimate race at Bristol. Teammates Kyle Busch and Jones rounded out the top five. Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Byron, Bell and Wallace finished in the top 10. 

    The race featured 21 lead changes with seven different leaders. There were 17 cautions for 102 laps.

    Harvick continues to lead the Cup regular-season series standings by 24 points over Logano, 45 over Elliott and 55 over Keselowski. 

    Results:

    1. Brad Keselowski, 115 laps led

    2. Clint Bowyer

    3. Jimmie Johnson

    4. Kyle Busch, 100 laps led

    5. Erik Jones

    6. Austin Dillon

    7. Kurt Busch

    8. William Byron

    9. Christopher Bell

    10. Bubba Wallace

    11. Kevin Harvick

    12. Ryan Preece

    13. John Hunter Nemechek

    14. Michael McDowell

    15. Ryan Newman

    16. Matt Kenseth

    17. Denny Hamlin, 131 laps led

    18. Daniel Suarez

    19. Timmy Hill

    20. Martin Truex Jr.

    21. Joey Logano, two laps led

    22. Chase Elliott, 88 laps, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    23. Chris Buescher, four laps down

    24. Brennan Poole, six laps down

    25. J.J. Yeley, eight laps down

    26. Garrett Smithley, 11 laps down

    27. Quin Houff, 17 laps down

    28. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Accident

    29. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

    30. Gray Gaulding – OUT, Accident

    31. Matt DiBenedetto, 44 laps down, four laps led

    32. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Fuel Pressure

    33. Joey Gase – OUT, Too Slow

    34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

    35. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident

    36. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident

    37. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

    38. Bayley Currey – OUT, Accident

    39. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident

    40. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, 60 laps led

    The NASCAR Cup Series will travel to Hampton, Georgia, to race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 7. The race can be seen at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Sweet redemption for Elliott at Charlotte

    Sweet redemption for Elliott at Charlotte

    After the two previous races got away from Chase Elliott, he came back on Thursday evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway and found redemption. Following a late pass for the lead and benefiting from a green flag run to the finish, Elliott notched his first elusive NASCAR Cup Series win of the season in the rain-delayed Alsco Uniforms 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The victory was the seventh of his Cup career in his 157th series start and his second at Charlotte as Elliott became the sixth Cup regular to win this season. The victory came two days after Elliott celebrated a Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series bounty win at Charlotte over Kyle Busch.

    “It feels awesome,” Elliott said. “Man, it’s been a tough week, for sure. We’ve had some tough losses, but that deal on Sunday night was a heartbreaker. It’s not the Coke 600, but any win in the Cup Series is really hard to get. Just appreciate my team. [Crew chief] Alan [Gustafson] made a great call there at the end to get it tuned up and luckily, the run went long and I think that fell in our favor.” 

    The race was postponed to Thursday evening after persistent rain canceled original plans for the event to run on Wednesday evening, May 27.

    The starting lineup was based on the results from Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on May 24, with the top-20 finishers from Sunday being inverted for the event. William Byron, who finished 20th in the Coke 600, started on pole position while teammate Alex Bowman joined him on the front row.

    Josh Bilicki and J.J. Yeley were sent to the rear of the field due to driver changes from Sunday’s 600-mile race. Aric Almirola also started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

    When the green flag dropped, Byron launched ahead of the field followed by DiBenedetto, who was drafting Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet from the start. After drafting Byron through Turn 1, DiBenedetto made a move on the inside lane in Turn 2 and took the lead entering Turn 3. 

    The field was feet away from starting the first lap of the race when the first caution came out as teammates Joey Gase and Garrett Smithley made contact with one another and wrecked in Turn 3. Gase sustained significant right-rear damage while Smithley entered pit road with significant right-side damage as flames engulfed the underneath of his No. 53 Chevrolet. Under caution, Ty Dillon made a pit stop after reporting power steering issues.

    Following an extensive cleanup, the race restarted on the ninth lap. On this restart, Byron benefitted from the bottom lane and a push from teammate Bowman to lead the following lap, but DiBenedetto remained dead even with Byron for the next circuit. A lap later, Byron managed to clear DiBenedetto and slowly pull away with the lead as Bowman made his move to take second over DiBenedetto. Byron would be uncontested as he remained in the lead at the time of the competition caution on Lap 20. By the time the caution was displayed, DiBenedetto was able to retake second over Bowman.

    Under caution, the majority of the field pitted, except for Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace. With most of the front-runners opting to have two tires changed on their respective cars, Byron was able to exit pit road first followed by DiBenedetto, Bowman, Kurt Busch and rookie Christopher Bell. During his stop, Byron made contact with Corey LaJoie, who was turning left to enter his pit stall, while turning right to exit his pit stall. While Byron sustained minimal right-side damage to his car from the contact, he made an extra pit stop to have his left-side tires changed. During the pit stops, Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin were sent to the rear of the field after both sped on pit road.

    On the following restart on Lap 24, Logano received a push from teammate Blaney and DiBenedetto on the bottom lane to inherit the lead as the field expanded to racing three-wide through Turns 2 and 3.

    The caution flew five laps later, when Matt Kenseth spun in Turn 3, but was able to straighten and drive his No. 42 Chevrolet back to his pit stall. Just in front of him, Brad Keselowski, who was 16th, fell off the pace when he sustained a flat right-front tire.

    Shortly after, the cars made their way to pit road and the race was red-flagged due to lightning and severe thunderstorms surrounding the racetrack. With the rain progressing, the Air Titans were dispatched on track.

    Following a delay that spanned 74 minutes, the drivers returned to their cars and the race resumed under the lights as the skies fell into darkness. Under caution, Bell, Jimmie Johnson, rookie Custer, Bowyer and Daniel Suarez pitted while the others remained on track. Keselowski, Kenseth and Byron also pitted to have the damage to their respective machines repaired.

    When the race restarted on Lap 34, Logano maintained the lead and was able to maintain a decent pace over DiBenedetto and Blaney. By Lap 45, Harvick, who started 16th, was fourth, Kyle Busch, who started 17th, was 11th and Elliott, who started 19th, was ninth. Jimmie Johnson, who started at the rear of the field, was in 19th. Hamlin and Bowyer, following their early pit road spending penalties, were running outside the top 20. Byron and Keselowski, following their pit stops for repairs under the previous caution, had made their way only up to 24th and 27th while Kenseth was trapped in 38th, one lap behind.

    For the final 22-lap green-flag run, Logano was uncontested as he was able to win the first stage. Blaney made his way to second followed by DiBenedetto, Harvick and Bowman. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Elliott and Chris Buescher rounded out the top 10 at the conclusion of the first stage.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap cars pitted for four tires, fuel and adjustments. Logano was able to maintain his lead by exiting pit road first followed by Blaney, Harvick, Bowman and Kurt Busch. DiBenedetto, Buescher, Elliott, Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch exited in the top 10.

    The restart on Lap 63 to start the second stage was where the fireworks on the track started to ignite as Logano maintained his advantage while being challenged by Blaney. While racing four-wide with Erik Jones, Stenhouse and Almirola through Turn 2, Kyle Busch and Almirola made contact in Turn 3, which cut Busch’s left rear tire and damaged his left rear quarter panel. Following the contact, Busch fell off the pace as everyone behind him scattered through Turns 3 and 4 to avoid hitting Busch’s No. 18 Toyota. The damage was enough to force Busch to make an unscheduled stop the following lap, where he fell out of the lead lap. During the tight racing, Ryan Newman also sustained a tire rub, but remained on track. 

    In the midst of the tight racing behind him, three laps later, Harvick was able to take the lead from Logano while Busch, two laps behind, still had damage to the left rear quarter panel. By Lap 70, Harvick checked out to a lead above a second over Logano. Two laps later, Bowman moved into second over Logano.

    The caution returned on Lap 74, when rookies Quin Houff and Brennan Poole tangled in Turn 1, with both drivers making contact with the wall. Under caution, Harvick surrendered the lead to pit for four tires and fuel, giving the lead to Bowman, who was one of 14 cars who opted not to pit.

    When the race restarted on Lap 79, Bowman received a push from Blaney to maintain the lead over the field. By Lap 93, Blaney moved to second after passing teammate Logano and was trailing Bowman by less than two seconds. Additionally, Elliott moved into fourth after passing Kurt Busch and Harvick, who restarted 17th, rallied his way to eighth. With all four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas running outside the top 10, Hamlin was the highest-running JGR competitor in 17th while Kyle Busch was back in 37th, still trapped two laps behind and with a damaged left rear quarter panel.

    The 100-lap mark featured unique names running inside the top 10 on track, with Austin Dillon in seventh followed by Bell and Wallace while Nemechek and Reddick were 11th and 12th.

    While the majority of competitors continued jostling one another for positions, Bowman was able to drive his No. 88 Chevrolet to the win in the second stage over two seconds over Blaney. Logano held off Elliott to finish third followed by Harvick. Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon, Nemechek, Bell and Wallace finished in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Bowman exited first over Logano followed by Harvick, Blaney and Kurt Busch. Elliott exited sixth followed by Hamlin, who gained five positions following a stellar pit stop from his pit crew. Austin Dillon, Bowyer and Wallace exited in the top 10. During the pit stops, Bowyer was tabbed with a second pit road speeding penalty and was sent to the rear.

    The restart of the final stage occurred with 86 laps remaining as Bowman maintained the lead over Logano after clearing him in Turn 3. A lap later, Harvick made his way to second. Three laps later, Harvick made a bold move on the outside lane entering Turn 4 to reassume the lead over Bowman. Additionally, Elliott passed Blaney and Logano to move to third. 

    With 74 laps remaining, Bowman’s race fell apart after he slipped entering Turn 4 and slapped the outside wall, damaging the right side of his No. 88 Chevrolet while attempting to narrow his deficit from Harvick. A lap later, Bowman pitted to have the damage repaired, which cost him a lead-lap finish, as the race remained green. During this time, Blaney moved to second followed by Elliott, Logano, Hamlin and Kurt Busch.

    The caution returned with 64 laps remaining when Timmy Hill’s car fell off the pace in Turn 4. Under caution and following the pit stops, Harvick led the field off pit road while Hamlin gained three spots to move into second. Blaney, Kurt Busch, Elliott and Logano followed in pursuit. Jones was assessed a penalty and was held a lap in his pit box for pitting outside his box.

    When the race restarted with 59 laps remaining, Harvick maintained his advantage with a bump from Blaney. Behind Harvick, the front-runners raced two-by-two through Turn 2 before Blaney cleared the field to move into second and Elliott pursued Hamlin for third. Behind, Stenhouse, making a late rally, took fifth from Kurt Busch. 

    With 50 laps remaining, Elliott and Blaney engaged in a heated battle for second behind Harvick while Stenhouse battled Hamlin for fourth.

    With 43 laps remaining, Wallace, who spent the majority of the event running inside the top 10, made an unscheduled pit stop for a flat right-rear tire that was initiated from making contact with the wall. Shortly after, braking issues forced Wallace to park his car in the garage and end his race in the late stages.

    With 27 laps remaining, Elliott, who persevered over his battle with Blaney and started to reel in Harvick, made a move on the inside lane in Turn 2 and used the lapped car of Suarez, running on the high lane, to take the lead. From there, Elliott started pulling away as Harvick started losing ground and positions.

    For the final 27-lap stretch, Elliott placed himself in a familiar position from last Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, leading over the field. Unlike Sunday, Elliott, who increased his advantage above two seconds, was able to take the white flag and start the final lap of the race, thus ensuring the race would not fall into a late caution and overtime. For a final circuit, Elliott was able to navigate his No. 9 Chevrolet patiently behind lapped traffic and cross the finish line first under checkers to win as the lapped car of McDowell spun behind him.

    “I was just waiting for the caution to come out, to be honest with you,” Elliott humorously said. “I thought either the caution was gonna come out, I was gonna break something or I was gonna crash. Just after the last couple of weeks, I just didn’t think surely it wast gonna go green to the end. Just glad it did and glad we’re, hopefully, back on the right path.”

    Hamlin passed Blaney on the final lap to finish second in his first of four races with interim crew chief Samuel Mcaulay. Stenhouse Jr. finished fourth for his second top-five result of the season and Kurt Busch settled in fifth for his third top-five result of 2020.

    Rounding out the top 10 were Logano, Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Truex Jr. and Harvick.

    The race featured 14 lead changes with eight different leaders. There were seven cautions for 37 laps.

    Harvick continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 14 points over Logano, 41 over Elliott and 43 over Bowman.

    Results:

    1. Chase Elliott, 28 laps led
    2. Denny Hamlin
    3. Ryan Blaney, two laps led
    4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    5. Kurt Busch
    6. Joey Logano, 42 laps led, Stage 1 winner
    7. Brad Keselowski
    8. Austin Dillon
    9. Martin Truex Jr.
    10. Kevin Harvick, 63 laps led
    11. Jimmie Johnson
    12. William Byron, 11 laps led
    13. John Hunter Nemechek
    14. Tyler Reddick
    15. Matt DiBenedetto, 10 laps led
    16. Clint Bowyer
    17. Ryan Newman
    18. Cole Custer
    19. Corey LaJoie
    20. Aric Almirola
    21. Christopher Bell
    22. Chris Buescher
    23. Matt Kenseth, one lap down
    24. Ryan Preece, one lap down
    25. Michael McDowell, one lap down, one lap led
    26. Erik Jones, one lap down
    27. Ty Dillon, one lap down
    28. Daniel Suarez, one lap down
    29. Kyle Busch, one lap down
    30. Gray Gaulding, two laps down
    31. Alex Bowman, two laps down, 51 laps led, Stage 2 winner
    32. Quin Houff, three laps down
    33. Timmy Hill, three laps down
    34. J.J. Yeley, four laps down
    35. B.J. McLeod, five laps down
    36. Josh Bilicki, eight laps down
    37. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident
    38. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident
    39. Joey Gase – OUT, DVP
    40. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Accident

    With the Carolina spring stretch complete in NASCAR’s return to on-track racing, the Cup Series will travel to Bristol, Tennessee, to race at Bristol Motor Speedway on May 31. The race can be seen at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • NASCAR updates Xfinity Dash 4 Cash schedule

    NASCAR updates Xfinity Dash 4 Cash schedule

    The 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Dash4Cash schedule has been adjusted in the midst of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and as the series embarks toward its next scheduled event at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    Following the upcoming event at Bristol on June 1, the top four Xfinity regulars who finish the highest on track at the short-steeped venue will qualify for the first Dash 4 Cash event of the year at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 6. The following two consecutive race weekends, Homestead-Miami Speedway on June 14 and Talladega Superspeedway on June 20, will also serve as Dash4Cash events. The location of the fourth and final event is to be determined.

    The format of the Dash 4 Cash remains the same. The highest-finishing Dash 4 Cash contender in each event will claim the check prize of $100,000 and will automatically qualify for the next scheduled event with an opportunity to win another check. In addition to the winner, the next three highest-finishing Xfinity drivers will also receive an opportunity to challenge for the prize on a weekly basis.

    Last season featured the Big Three trio of the series – Christopher Bell, Cole Custer and Tyler Reddick – claiming the four Dash 4 Cash events, with Bell winning two $100,000 checks, by winning the race over the competition. With all three racing as NASCAR Cup Series rookies this season, it opens possibilities for familiar names like Justin Allgaier, who won four Dash 4 Cash events between 2016-2018, or new names, many of whom have never won the prize for themselves, to contend for it on a weekly basis.

    Catch the Xfinity Series Dash 4 Cash qualifier at Bristol Motor Speedway on June 1 at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • NASCAR postpones upcoming national series events at Charlotte and Bristol

    NASCAR postpones upcoming national series events at Charlotte and Bristol

    NASCAR announced a pair of postponements for its upcoming national series races at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway.

    The NASCAR Cup Series event at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Alsco Uniforms 500 has been postponed from Wednesday, May 27, to Thursday, May 28, due to persistent rain. The 500-mile race will be aired at 7 p.m. ET on FS1. It will mark the second Cup event at Charlotte this week and cap off a quadruple-header weekend at NASCAR’s home base.

    In addition, the NASCAR Xfinity Series upcoming event at Bristol Motor Speedway has been postponed from Saturday, May 30, to Monday, June 1. The race will also air at 7 p.m. ET on FS1. The rescheduling was made to give the teams the time needed to transport and set up their equipment in time for race day.

    The Cup event at Bristol for the Supermarket Heroes 500, scheduled for Sunday, May 31, at 3:30 p.m. on FS1, remains as scheduled.

    When the green flag drops for Thursday night’s Cup event at Charlotte, Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates William Byron and Alex Bowman will start on the front row and lead the field to the start. The starting lineup was based on the results from Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on May 24, with the top-20 finishers from the event being inverted for Thursday’s event.

    As announced on May 27, the starting lineup for the upcoming NASCAR events, beginning this weekend for the Xfinity and Cup doubleheader at Bristol, will be decided based on a random draw in groups of 12 with the final spots to be based on their order of eligibility/owner points. Pit selections will be based on the results from the previous events, followed by new entries in order of points.

  • Busch grabs a thrilling win at Charlotte with a last-lap pass

    Busch grabs a thrilling win at Charlotte with a last-lap pass

    The third time was the lucky charm for Kyle Busch. After having victories slip away from him in his previous two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts this season, Busch rallied from a late pit road speeding penalty and survived a series of late restarts to overtake Austin Cindric on the final lap and win the Alsco 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    The victory was Busch’s ninth at Charlotte and his first win of this year’s Xfinity Series season as he also became the first Cup regular to win an Xfinity event in 2020. With 97 career wins in the series, Busch is three victories away from reaching 100.

    The lineup for Monday night’s event was based on a random draw, where Kaulig Racing’s Ross Chastain started on pole. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones joined Chastain on the front row.

    When the green flag waved, Chastain rocketed to the lead followed by teammate Justin Haley as the field settled in and raced single file. It did not take long for the first caution to come out on the fourth lap when Kody Vanderwal made contact with the wall.

    When the race restarted on the seventh lap, Chastain received another strong launch to pull away with the lead. Behind him, rookie Riley Herbst mounted a challenge on the outside lane for second against Haley. He nearly cleared him before Haley powered through and maintained the runner-up spot in Turn 3 the following lap. By then, Chase Briscoe, coming off his thrilling win at Darlington and who started eighth, was in fourth.

    Following the first 10 laps of the race, Busch, who started 18th and was sporting a black and gold scheme on his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota while honoring the 2020 Appalachian State University graduates, was running seventh. Four laps later, he made his first appearance in the top five after passing teammate Jones and former teammate Noah Gragson.

    The competition caution flew on Lap 20. Chastain was able to lead the first 20 laps and hold a two-tenths of a second lead over Haley followed by Briscoe, Busch and Gragson. When pit road opened, a majority of the leaders remained on track while Jones was the first of a handful to pit for adjustments.

    The following restart on Lap 26, Chastain used the high lane to maintain his advantage while Busch followed in pursuit. Herbst also moved to third and Haley dropped to fourth the following lap.

    The third caution flew two laps later involving Vanderwal again when his motor blew up in a cloud of smoke. Under caution, most of the leaders remained on track while Justin Allgaier, who had reported radio and gauge issues, was among a handful of competitors who pitted for adjustments. Following his lengthy stop, he was assessed with a penalty for having too many of his crew members over his pit wall during the service.

    The restart on Lap 32 featured a second round battle for the lead between Busch and Chastain as both drivers remained side-by-side before Busch slipped in Turn 1 the following lap and Chastain maintained the lead. Behind the leaders, competitive racing started to unfold around the track with drivers starting to race aggressively and battle one another for position.

    With 10 laps remaining in the first stage, Busch drew himself up to the rear bumper of Chastain’s No. 10 Chevrolet in an effort for the lead. Three laps later Busch was finally able to take the lead from Chastain in Turn 4. From there, he was gone and he cruised to the Stage 1 win by more than a second over Chastain. Haley finished third followed by Gragson while Jones, who pitted on Lap 22, managed to march his way back to fifth. Austin Cindric, Herbst, Briscoe, Daniel Hemric and Harrison Burton finished in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders made pit stops. Busch was the first to exit pit road followed by Chastain. Briscoe was able to gain five spots up to third following a stellar stop by his pit crew. Haley and Gragson exited in the top five. Jeffrey Earnhardt was penalized for dragging the jack out of his pit stall and around the track for one lap. In addition, Ryan Sieg, who had finished no worse than 11th in the first five races of this season, turned his No. 39 Chevrolet into the garage due to a mechanical issue.

    The second stage commenced on Lap 51 as Chastain used the inside lane to retake the lead from Busch and lead Busch’s No. 54 Toyota by two-tenths of a second. By Lap 60, both were ahead of third-place Briscoe by two seconds. Meanwhile, Haley started to fall back to ninth while battling loose conditions and Allgaier, who was running inside the top 15, continued to report handling issues to his No. 7 Chevrolet.

    Seventy laps through the race, the battle for the lead intensified as Busch locked himself behind Chastain’s rear bumper. He then pulled to the bottom lane and tried to take the lead, but Chastain refused to surrender. A lap later, a three-way fight for the lead ensured as Briscoe made a move in Turn 2 to pass Busch for second and draw himself behind Chastain. While Briscoe and Busch battled hard for second, Chastain slowly pulled away by half a second as Austin Cindric started to creep towards the leaders.

    With nine laps remaining in the second stage, Busch, who took second back from Briscoe three laps earlier, used the lapped traffic in Turn 2 to take the lead back from Chastain entering Turns 3 and 4. Chastain remained glued to the rear bumper of Busch but by Turn 2 Busch powered away and was gone again. He remained uncontested in the final laps as he claimed the second stage win. Chastain finished second as he did in the first stage followed by Briscoe, Cindric and Gragson. Jones, Hemric, Herbst, Haley and Burton rounded out the top 10.

    Under the pit stops during the stage break, Busch barely exited first over Chastain followed by Cindric, Briscoe and Jones. Briscoe, however, was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    For the start of the final stage, on Lap 98, Chastain mounted a challenge on the inside lane with Busch remaining close on the outside lane. The next time the field circled back to the start/finish line, Chastain cleared Busch for the lead, but Busch used the bottom lane to lead the following lap by a nose. Chastain took the lead right back and led the next two laps before Busch cleared Chastain and reassumed the lead in Turn 2.

    Behind the leaders, Jones moved to third and Haley fought his way back into the top five while battling Cindric. Briscoe, who was penalized under the previous stage break on pit road, had moved back to 15th.

    As the laps dwindled, Busch extended his lead as high as four seconds over teammate Jones, who overtook Chastain for second. Chastain was left to battle with Cindric for third while fighting tight conditions on his race car. During this time, Allgaier and Briscoe rallied from their respective misfortunes to run inside the top 10.

    With 56 laps remaining, green flag stops began. During the pit stops, Chastain overshot his pit stall, causing him to reverse into his stall and lose valuable time during his stop. Then, Busch, Jones and Briscoe were all assessed pit road speeding penalties.

    Once most of the field pitted with 50 laps remaining, Michael Annett assumed the lead as one of a handful of cars that did not pit along with Brett Moffitt and Myatt Snider. The caution came out four laps later when Timmy Hill’s motor blew up in a deep cloud of smoke in Turn 3. Due to the smoke and the spilled oil from Hill’s machine, Briscoe and Chastain slipped and made contact with the outside wall, sustaining cosmetic damage to their respective rides.

    When the caution waved, only five cars were scored on the lead lap. It became six as Gragson received the free pass. Under caution, Annett, Moffitt and Snider pitted and seven cars took the wave around to return on the lead lap. Cindric assumed the lead followed by Haley. Annett came out third followed by Snider and Gragson. Kyle Busch, following the caution and when the field cycled through, was back in ninth. Following their damaged repairs, Chastain and Briscoe fell back inside the top 20 and were pinned one lap behind the leaders.

    The race restarted with 38 laps remaining and Cindric was able to maintain the lead on the outside lane. Gragson made his way into third a lap later as Snider slipped in Turn 4 and fell to fifth. Eight laps later, Gragson passed Haley and narrowed his deficit to Cindric to a second. Behind the leaders, Busch, who restarted 10th, was back in fifth.

    With 29 laps remaining, Chase Briscoe’s good night turned bad after he made contact with the outside wall in Turn 1 and took his No. 98 Ford back to his pit stall with a flat right-side tire and drew a caution.

    Under caution, Cindric, Gragson, Haley, Hemric and Snider remained on track while Busch pitted.

    When the race restarted with 25 laps remaining, the caution quickly returned when Jeremy Clements, who had received the free pass the previous caution, wrecked in Turn 1 along with Austin Hill. At the time of the caution, Cindric was able to maintain the lead over Gragson. Under caution, Hemric surrendered third to pit, which moved Busch to third followed by Haley and Snider.

    Following an extensive clean-up, the race restarted with 17 laps remaining. Cindric received a push from Busch to maintain the lead in Turn 2 but the caution returned again when Justin Allgaier and Snider collided on the backstretch with Snider, making contact with the outside wall and spinning below the apron. He was dodged by the oncoming field, but he limped to pit road with right-front fender damage.

    The following restart with 12 to go, Cindric maintained the lead as Busch and Gragson battle for second. Two laps later, Busch returned to the lead. Three laps later, the caution returned for a wreck entering Turn 4 involving Haley, Herbst and Jones.

    The night’s biggest chaos ensued on the following restart with three laps remaining. Just as Busch rocketed away from Cindric, Gragson slipped in Turn 1 while battling teammates Burton and Jones and spun in the middle of the field, making contact with Tommy Joe Martins, who spun and was hit by Haley’s No. 11 Chevrolet before making hard contact with the inside wall. The wreck sent the race into overtime. In the midst of the chaos, Hemric moved to third following his late pit stop, and Chastain, who was able to race his way back onto the lead lap with 25 to go, moved up to sixth.

    In overtime, Cindric drove his No. 22 Ford to the lead over Busch. On the final lap, Busch made a move on the inside lane to draw himself next to Cindric in Turn 2. On the following corner Busch drove his car as deep as he could and was able to clear Cindric as both leaders slipped into the high lane in Turn 3. With the lead, Busch was able to power through and claim the checkered flag for the win with a last-lap pass.

    “It was interesting, and it was crazy,” Busch said on MRN Network. “Earlier in the race, Ross Chastain gave me a hell of a run on a restart, and then right there, Austin gave me a hell of a run on that restart and I thought picking the outside lane would be the sure launch, and those guys would spin their tires down there and not get going. It might have been [Hemric] that helped [Cindric] stay alongside of me, and he was just able to clear me in [Turns] 1 and 2. Crazy how all that turned out.”

    Hemric finished second for the sixth time in his Xfinity Series career, his best result in his fifth start of the season, followed by Cindric, who earned his fourth top-five result of this season.

    “It just didn’t work out for us,” Cindric said. “I was on older tires, and everyone else on older tires ended up crashing. It’s hard to beat the best in the business on older tires. I got a great push from Daniel [on the final restart]. I’m shocked the restart zone went as well as it did. That was a big struggle for me all night. I knew I was going to have to defend in [Turns] 3 and 4 and took the top in [Turns] 1 and 2. I never lifted driving into [Turn] 3 on the final lap. I just gave up second, but didn’t really care at that point. I just wanted to win the race. Overall, it was a great night and I’m really proud of my team.”

    Chastain and Allgaier rallied from their share of misfortunes to finish fourth and fifth. Moffitt, Annett, Brandon Brown, Burton and Snider round out top 10.

    The race featured 20 lead changes with five different leaders. There were 11 cautions for 53 laps.

    Briscoe continues to lead the Xfinity Series regular-season standings by eight points over Cindric and 12 over Chastain.

    Results:

    1. Kyle Busch, 94 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Daniel Hemric

    3. Austin Cindric, 30 laps led

    4. Ross Chastain, 68 laps led

    5. Justin Allgaier

    6. Brett Moffitt

    7. Michael Annett, nine laps led

    8. Brandon Brown

    9. Harrison Burton

    10. Myatt Snider

    11. Noah Gragson, two laps led

    12. Riley Herbst – one lap down

    13. Dillon Bassett – two laps down

    14. Josh Williams – two laps down

    15. Jesse Little – two laps down

    16. Alex Labbe – two laps down

    17. B.J. McLeod – three laps down

    18. Bayley Currey – three laps down

    19. Joe Graf Jr. – three laps down

    20. Chase Briscoe – three laps down

    21. Mason Massey – three laps down

    22. Chad Finchum – three laps down

    23. Vinnie Miller – four laps down

    24. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT

    25. Jeffrey Earnhardt – five laps down

    26. Joe Nemechek – five laps down

    27. Brandon Jones – OUT

    28. Ryan Sieg – six laps down

    29. Justin Haley – OUT

    30. Matt Mills – seven laps down

    31. Garrett Smithley – 10 laps down

    32. Jeremy Clements – OUT

    33. Austin Hill – OUT

    34. Timmy Hill – OUT

    35. Kody Vanderwal – OUT

    36. Jeff Green – OUT

    37. Colby Howard – OUT

  • A strong start ends with mixed results for Kaulig Racing at Charlotte

    A strong start ends with mixed results for Kaulig Racing at Charlotte

    Kaulig Racing’s Ross Chastain and Justin Haley returned to Charlotte Motor Speedway looking to gain more momentum into the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. Both competitors started the race strong, but Chastain came through with a strong fourth-place result while a late accident left Haley in 29th.

    Based on a random draw, Chastain started on the pole while Haley started third. When the green flag dropped, both Kaulig Racing competitors ran first and second through the competition caution on Lap 20. 

    When the race restarted on Lap 26, Chastain used the high lane to maintain the lead while Haley dropped to fourth. During another restart six laps later, Chastain would engage in a heated battle for the lead against Kyle Busch. 

    With seven laps remaining, after spending a series of laps battling Busch for the lead and refusing to surrender an inch, Chastain was overtaken for the lead. During the final laps of the first stage, Chastain would not have enough to mount another challenge for Busch. When the first stage concluded, Chastain was second while Haley settled in third as both teammates earned valuable points towards the playoffs.

    At the start of the second stage, Chastain, who restarted second, overtook Busch for the lead and held his advantage as high as two-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Haley, who restarted fourth but was battling loose conditions, fell back to ninth. 

    As the race progressed, Chastain would engage in another battle with Busch for the lead. On Lap 70, Busch attempted to overtake Chastain for the lead, but Chastain continued to hold his ground and make Busch earn the lead. A lap later, Chastain was able to hold a reasonable lead when Chase Briscoe challenged Busch for the runner-up spot. 

    With nine laps remaining, however, Busch made his way back to Chastain and used lapped traffic to his advantage to reassume the lead in Turn 3. Chastain mounted a final challenge behind Busch’s rear bumper in Turn 4, but Busch benefited with a strong car on the following corner and was gone. Like the first stage, Chastain would not have anything for Busch as he finished second. Meanwhile, Haley, who continued to deal with loose-handling conditions, finished ninth.

    Both Kaulig Racing teammates pitted under the stage break for air pressure adjustments along with four fresh tires and fuel. Chastain exited second after barely being beaten by Busch while Haley exited eighth.

    When the green flag returned for the start of the final stage, Chastain went at it again for the lead over Busch and refused to surrender. Though his valiant efforts allowed him to lead three laps, Busch would regain his commanding lead. Behind the leaders, Haley, whose car handling started improving, made his way back into the top five.

    Both teammates remained in the top five until green flag pit stops occurred with 56 laps remaining. Haley received a smooth stop while receiving an air pressure adjustment to his No. 11 LeafFilter Chevrolet. Chastain, however, ran into a pair of misfortunes. It all started when he slid his No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet barely outside of his pit stall and reversed, which cost him extra time during his stop. When he returned on track with 46 laps remaining, the engine of Timmy Hill’s machine blew up in a cloud of smoke in Turn 3, causing oil to fall on the racing surface. Chastain ran over the oil and made contact with the wall, causing him to pit for repairs. When he returned on track, he was one lap down and had fallen into the top 20.

    Through all of his teammate’s misfortune, Haley found himself in second, restarting next to Austin Cindric with less than 40 laps remaining. Haley would keep his car inside the top five despite the race cycling through more cautions as more chaos ensured.

    Following a wreck between Austin Hill and Jeremy Clements with 25 laps remaining, Chastain was able to race his way back onto the lead lap. Haley was prepared to restart fourth alongside Busch.

    Both Kaulig Racing teammates would dodge a wreck with 17 laps remaining, but Haley would run into his own misfortune after sustaining damage and being involved in an incident with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Riley Herbst and Brandon Jones with less than 10 laps remaining.

    Under caution, Haley made a pit stop to have the damage repaired, thus surrendering a potential top-five run. On a restart with three laps remaining, Haley’s night went from bad to worse when he was unable to avoid a spinning Tommy Joe Martins and made hard contact with Martins’ No. 44 Chevrolet before he slapped head on into the inside wall in the midst of a multi-car wreck. The damage was enough to end Haley’s race in 29th, but he emerged uninjured from the infield care center. 

    In the midst of the chaos, Chastain made his way back into the top-10 and was prepared to restart in sixth. In overtime, Chastain made a bold move in Turn 1 to move into fourth, but he could only watch from a distance as Busch battled Daniel Hemric and Cindric for the victory on the final lap. When the checkered flag flew, Chastain came home in fourth.

    “Dream come true, man,” Chastain said on FS1. “To go head to head with Kyle [Busch] and not lose a restart to him, [I] checked a lot of boxes in my mind. Still a lot of things for me to clean up. He’s still so dang good at all points of a run. Even though I was strong on the restarts – Lap 5, Lap 10, Lap 15 – [it] was tough for me to put together the consistent aggressiveness that he’s able to. This was a big improvement.” 

    With his first top-5 finish of this season, Chastain moved from fifth to third in the standings and trails points leader Briscoe by 12 points. Haley dropped from sixth to eighth, tied with Brandon Jones, while trailing Briscoe by 65 points.

    Chastain and Haley, along with their fellow Xfinity Series competitors, will return for the next scheduled event at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 30, at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.