The reigning Formula One world champion Max Verstappen has signed a new long-term contract extension to remain with the Oracle Red Bull Racing team through the 2028 F1 season, a deal that will commence following his initial contract that spans through 2023.
The 24-year-old Verstappen, who competes under the Dutch flag, is coming off his finest season to date, where he claimed 10 Grand Prix victories and won his maiden Formula One World Championship following a year-long battle and final lap duel with seven-time champion Sir Lewis Hamilton in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit in December. In doing so, he became the first Dutchman to win a Formula One title and he delivered the fifth drivers’ championship for Red Bull Racing, a team that has competed in F1 since 2005.
“I really enjoy being part of the Oracle Red Bull Racing Team, so choosing to stay to the 2028 season was an easy decision,” Verstappen said. “I love this Team and last year was simply incredible, our goal since we came together in 2016 was to win the championship and we have done that, so now it’s about keeping the number one on the car long-term.”
Verstappen, who made his Formula One debut with Scuderia Toro Rosso at age 17 in 2015, claimed his maiden Grand Prix victory in his first start with Red Bull Racing at the Spanish Grand Prix in May 2016. In doing so, he became the youngest F1 Grand Prix winner at the age of 18 years and 228 days old. From 2016 through 2020, the Dutchman notched 10 Grand Prix victories, three poles, 42 podiums and two third-place results in the final driver’s standings (2019 and 2020).
Entering the 2022 season, Verstappen has recorded 20 victories, 13 poles, 60 poles and an average-finishing result of 7.0 in 141 career starts in Formula One. In addition, Red Bull Racing, which enters their first season with the newly formed Red Bull Powertrains division after taking over Honda’s engine programme and with Oracle as a title sponsor, have 75 career victories along with 73 poles and 206 podiums as they look to capture their sixth drivers’ championship and first constructors’ title since winning four in a row (2010-2013).
In capturing his maiden F1 world championship in 2021 along with a career-high 10 victories, Verstappen will sport the number 1 instead of 33 on his Red Bull RB18 car as he looks to defend his title.
“To have Max signed with Oracle Red Bull Racing through to the end of 2028 is a real statement of intent,” Christian Horner, CEO/Team Principal of Red Bull Racing, said. “Our immediate focus is on retaining Max’s World Championship title, but this deal also shows he is a part of the Team’s long-term planning. With the Red Bull Powertrains division working towards the new engine regulations for 2026 we wanted to make sure we had the best driver on the grid secured for that car.”
Verstappen will continue to compete alongside teammate Sergio “Checo” Perez, who enters his 12th full-time season as an F1 competitor with his second as a Red Bull Racing competitor. Perez, a 32-year-old veteran who competes under the Mexican flag, is also coming off a productive season, where he won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June, notched a total of five podiums and finished in fourth place in the 2021 drivers’ standings.
Verstappen’s quest to defend his F1 world championship commences on March 20 at Bahrain International Circuit for the 2022 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
A record-setting milestone start is in the making from Matt Crafton, three-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion and driver of the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Crafton, who enters his 22nd consecutive season of Truck competition, will achieve his 500th consecutive career start in the Truck circuit.
A native of Tulare, California, Crafton made his inaugural presence in the Truck Series during the season finale at California Speedway in October 2000. By then, he had achieved the 2000 Featherlite Southwest Series championship. Driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for SealMaster Racing, Crafton started 17th and finished ninth.
The following season, Crafton took over the No. 88 Chevrolet for SealMaster Racing as a full-time Truck Series competitor. He commenced his first full-time season with a 27th-place result in the season-opening event at Daytona after retiring midway into the event due to an engine failure. He then went on to record 11 top-10 results throughout the 24-race schedule, including two season-best sixth-place results at Martinsville Speedway in April and at Pikes Peak International Raceway in May, before settling in 12th place in the final standings.
After recording a total of 17 top-10 results between 2002 and 2003, with his best points result being 11th place in 2003, Crafton joined Kevin Harvick Inc. as driver of the No. 6 Chevrolet Silverado. He finished 19th during the season-opening event at Daytona, but proceeded to finish in the top five for the first six times in his career. His best results were a pair of third-place finishes at Bristol Motor Speedway in August and at Phoenix Raceway in November. To go along with a total of 17 top-10 results throughout the 25-race schedule, Crafton finished in fifth place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in the Truck Series.
Crafton, who was released by KHI at season’s end, rejoined ThorSport Racing for the 2005 Truck Series season as the team rebranded from SealMaster Racing during the previous season. In his return to ThorSport, he started on pole position for the first time in his career at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. He also recorded two top-five results, a season-best fourth-place result at the Indianapolis Raceway Park in August and a total of 10 top-10 results before finishing in ninth place in the final standings.
From 2006 to 2007, Crafton achieved a total of five top-five results and 20 top-10 results, including three third-place results, as he notched an eighth-place result in the final standings in 2007. Four races into the 2008 Truck season, Crafton dodged a last lap collision between Kyle Busch and Johnny Benson Jr. to earn a career-best second-place result at Martinsville Speedway in March. Then two races later at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, he fended off the field during a two-lap shootout to score his first NASCAR Truck Series career victory in his 178th series start, which marks the most starts for a competitor prior to a first victory in the Truck circuit. In a season where he etched himself as a first-time NASCAR winner, Crafton also earned a total of nine top-five results and 12 top-10 results throughout the 25-race schedule before finishing in fifth place in the final standings.
Despite going winless in 2009, Crafton endured a successful, consistent season, where he earned two poles, five runner-up results, 11 top-five results, 21 top-10 results, an average-finishing result of 6.7 and a career-best runner-up result in the final standings behind four-time champion Ron Hornaday Jr. By then, Crafton surpassed 200 career starts in the Truck Series.
After finishing in fourth place in the final standings during the 2010 season, where he also earned a pole, 10 top-five results and 20 top-10 results, Crafton snapped a two-year winless drought at Iowa Speedway in July 2011 and claimed his second Truck Series career victory after leading the final 12 laps while fending off Austin Dillon. While he earned an additional pole from the previous season, Crafton, however, earned less top-five and top-10 results from 2010 (five and 13), as he settled in eighth place in the final standings in 2011.
The 2012 season featured a manufacturer change from Chevrolet to Toyota for Crafton and ThorSport Racing as the California veteran recorded a pole, eight top-five results, 14 top-10 results, an average-finishing result of 9.8 and a sixth-place result in the final standings. At Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September, Crafton had the lead late in the event until he was overtaken by Nelson Piquet Jr. on the final lap and settled in a close runner-up result.
Crafton commenced the 2013 season, his 13th as a full-time Truck competitor, with three consecutive top-10 results, including a runner-up result behind teammate Johnny Sauter at Martinsville in March. Then at Kansas Speedway in April, Crafton notched his third career win in the Truck Series after leading the final 30 laps and holding off Joey Coulter. The victory vaulted Crafton to the top of the driver’s standings. From there, Crafton and the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra team displayed a superb consistent season by finishing in the top 10 during the following 12 scheduled events. By then, he surpassed 300 consecutive career starts in the Truck Series. He then finished no lower than 17th during the following five events as he maintained the points lead. Entering the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November with a 46-point advantage over Ty Dillon, Crafton clinched his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship by starting his engine and rolling his truck out on the track for the pace laps. Despite being involved in a late incident and settling in 21st place in the final running order while on the lead lap, Crafton locked up his first title by 40 points over Dillon and became the first competitor to complete every lap of a Truck Series season. To go along with a first NASCAR title for himself and for ThorSport Racing, Crafton recorded seven top-five results, 19 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 7.9 throughout the 22-race schedule.
The 2014 Truck Series season was an historic season for Crafton, who earned multiple victories in a season for the first time in his career and repeated as a champion. After finishing 13th during the season-opening event at Daytona, he persevered during a two-lap shootout to claim his fourth career victory at Martinsville in March. Four races later, he utilized fuel strategy to claim his fifth career win at Texas Motor Speedway in June. By September, Crafton was leading the driver’s standings and went on to claim his second consecutive Camping World Truck Series championship on a strength of 13 top-five results, 17 top-10 results and a career-best average-finishing result of 7.0. Overall, Crafton became the first NASCAR competitor to win back-to-back Truck Series championships.
Crafton began his quest for a record-setting third consecutive Truck title during the 2015 season, which marked his 15th consecutive full-time season in the series, by finishing eighth at Daytona before notching his sixth career win at Atlanta Motor Speedway in late February. During the following eight scheduled events, he collected three additional victories at Kansas, Texas and Kentucky Speedway as he remained as the points leader. Over the next 12 events, Crafton won at Martinsville in late October and earned seven results in the top 10 as he remained in the championship battle between himself, Erik Jones and Tyler Reddick. Two late accidents and finishes outside of the top 20 at Talladega in October and at Phoenix Raceway in November, however, were enough to prevent Crafton’s opportunity in making history with a third consecutive title as he slipped into third place in the final standings. Nonetheless, Crafton went on to record his sixth victory of the season (a career best) during the finale at Homestead as he walked away from the 2015 season with four poles, 13 top-five results, 18 top-10 results, and an average-finishing result of 7.7 in 23 races.
In 2016, Crafton earned back-to-back victories for the first time in his career after winning at Dover Motor Speedway and at Charlotte Motor Speedway in back-to-back weekends in May. He also earned an additional nine top-10 results throughout the 16-race regular season stretch as he emerged as one of eight competitors to qualify for the inaugural 2016 Truck Playoffs. Throughout the Playoffs, Crafton utilized consistency, including four results in the top 10 to transfer all the way to the Championship Round and contend for the title at Homestead in November. During the finale, however, Crafton finished seventh on the track, four spots behind title rival Johnny Sauter, as Sauter claimed the championship while Crafton settled in second place in the final standings. Overall, Crafton earned two victories, a pole, eight top-five results, 16 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 10.9 throughout the 23-race schedule.
Crafton commenced the 2017 Truck Series season on a harrowing note after he was involved in a multi-truck wreck while leading on the final lap at Daytona, where he was clipped by teammate Ben Rhodes on the backstraightaway as Crafton’s No. 88 Toyota went airborne and barrel-rolled in the air before landing back down on all four wheels and coming to rest against the infield wall. He rallied from the incident by finishing second at Atlanta. Nine races later, Crafton snapped a 27-race winless drought by claiming his first victory of the season and the 14th of his career at Eldora Speedway in July. The Eldora win along with nine results in the top 10 throughout the 16-race regular season stretch were enough for the two-time champion to qualify for the 2017 Truck Playoffs. Despite earning five top-10 results throughout the Playoffs and reaching the Championship Round for a second consecutive season, Crafton ended up in sixth place during the finale at Homestead and in fourth place in the final standings behind Christopher Bell, Sauter and Austin Cindric. Crafton, though, was able to achieve a victory, a pole, five top-five results, 16 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 9.3 throughout the 23-race schedule as he even surpassed 400 consecutive career starts in the Truck Series.
Swapping to a new manufacturer from Toyota to Ford, Crafton endured an up-and-down season in 2018, where he earned a season-best runner-up result at Dover in May along with seven top-five results, 13 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 11.2 throughout the 23-race schedule. Despite making the 2018 Truck Playoffs, he was eliminated from championship contention following the Round of 6 and settled in sixth place in the final standings.
Commencing the 2019 Truck season with a fifth-place result at Daytona, Crafton produced a consistent regular season stretch that included 14 results in the top 10 to secure the eighth and final spot to the Playoffs. He then returned to the Championship Round at Homestead in November after finishing in the top 10 in all but two Playoff events. Then at Homestead, Crafton finished in second place behind race winner Austin Hill, but managed to finish ahead of title rivals Ross Chastain, Brett Moffitt and Stewart Friesen to score his third Camping World Truck Series championship. With the result, Crafton, who recorded three poles, seven top-five results, 18 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 8.8 in 2019, became the first competitor to achieve a championship in a winless season since Austin Dillon made the last accomplishment during the 2013 Xfinity Series season. His three championships moved him into a tie with Jack Sprague for the second-most championships in the history of the Truck Series and one shy behind four-time champion Ron Hornaday Jr.
Campaigning in his 20th consecutive full-time season as a NASCAR Truck competitor, Crafton achieved four top-five results during the first nine scheduled events before snapping a 67-race winless drought and collecting his 15th career victory at Kansas Speedway in July. He went on to earn three additional results in the top five before the 2020 Truck Playoffs commenced. From the Round of 10 to 8, Crafton recorded six consecutive results in the top 10, but missed the cutoff to the Championship Round by three points as he settled in fifth place in the final standings.
Reuniting with Toyota as his manufacturer in 2021, Crafton initiated the season with a 15th-place result at Daytona despite being involved in a multi-truck wreck on the final lap. He rallied with four top-10 results during the following seven races before finishing no higher than 15th during the next three. Crafton, nonetheless, was able to claim three consecutive top-six results before qualifying for the Playoffs. Finishing no lower than 14th throughout the Playoffs, he managed to return to the Championship Round at Phoenix Raceway in November. During the finale, however, Crafton finished 12th on the track and in fourth place in the final standings.
The 2022 Truck Series season marks Crafton’s 22nd consecutive season of competition, where he is coming off a 27th-place result at Daytona after being involved in a late multi-truck wreck.
Through 499 previous Truck starts, Crafton has achieved three championships, 15 victories, 16 poles, 130 top-five results, 300 top-10 results, nearly 2,700 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.2.
Crafton is schedule to make his 500th Camping World Truck Series consecutive career start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, March 4, with the event scheduled to occur at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.
The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson outlasted the field through a four-lap shootout and through a series of carnages to win the WISE Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, February 27, in NASCAR’s return to Fontana, California.
Larson, a 29-year-old native from Elk Grove, California, led four times for 28 of 200 laps and received a stellar pit stop from his pit crew with less than 10 laps remaining before fending off Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez and Joey Logano through the final four laps to collect his second victory at Auto Club Speedway and his first NASCAR Cup victory of the 2022 season.
Qualifying determined the starting lineup on Saturday, February 26, as rookie Austin Cindric, winner of this year’s Daytona 500, notched his first Cup career pole with a pole-winning lap at 174.647 mph. Joining him on the front row was Erik Jones, who earned his first front row starting spot since Texas Motor Speedway in November 2019.
Prior to the event, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective machines. In addition, all competitors had a respective crew member ejected from the event. Justin Haley also dropped to the rear of the field due to an oil cooler change along with Ross Chastain, who competed in a back-up car after wrecking his primary car on Saturday.
Another driver that was penalized prior to the event was Kurt Busch, whose No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry failed pre-qualifying inspection three times on Friday, February 25, and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty through pit road at the start of the event. In addition, David Bryant, Busch’s car chief, was ejected from the event.
Following a five-wide salute from the field to the fans and when the green flag waved as the race commenced, Cindric and Jones battled dead even for the lead as Jones took an early command entering the backstretch.
When the field returned to the frontstretch, Erik Jones, piloting the No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 led the first lap while Cindric settled in second in front of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. By then, Kurt Busch served his pass-through penalty and was able to remain on the lead lap.
By the second lap, Jones maintained a healthy advantage over Cindric. Behind, Tyler Reddick challenged Hamlin for third place as Ryan Blaney moved up to fifth while Kyle Busch dropped to sixth.
Three laps later, Jones was leading by nearly a second over Cindric, who had Reddick close in for the spot. Blaney and Hamlin were in the top five followed by Chase Elliott, William Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez and Martin Truex Jr. while Kyle Busch continued to fall back in 11th ahead of Daniel Hemric.
By Lap 10, Jones continued to lead by while Reddick and Blaney were up in second and third.
A lap later, however, Reddick muscled his No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the lead.
On Lap 15, the first caution of the event flew when Kyle Busch, who was running in 11th place, spun his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry in the backstretch, though he continued without sustaining any significant damage.
With Busch’s incident serving as the competition caution planned for Lap 20, the field led by Reddick pitted as Reddick exited with the lead followed by Byron, Elliott, Hamlin and Jones.
When the race restarted under green nearing the Lap 20 mark, Reddick maintained the lead ahead of Byron and Elliott as Elliott overtook teammate Byron to move into second while the field fanned out through the first two turns and through the backstretch.
On Lap 23, Elliott muscled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the lead.
Through the first 30 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by more than a second over Reddick while Byron, Erik Jones and Stenhouse were in the top five. Blaney, Truex, Logano, Hamlin and Kyle Larson were in the top 10 while Cindric was back in 11th ahead of Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher and Hemric. Kyle Busch was mired back in 16th ahead of Cole Custer, Daniel Suarez, Michael McDowell and Brad Keselowski while Aric Almirola was in 21st ahead of Chase Briscoe, Kurt Busch, Corey LaJoie and rookie Harrison Burton. Kevin Harvick was mired in 26th ahead of Justin Haley, Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace.
Then by Lap 35, Reddick reassumed the lead followed by Byron and Jones while Elliott, who scraped the outside wall near Turn 3 once on Lap 33 and again on Lap 35, was losing ground of the lead pack.
Not long after, Elliott’s race went from bad to worse as he spun through the backstretch and drew the second caution of the event. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was on pit road as his No. 18 pit crew popped the hood up to diagnose overheating issues to Busch’s car.
Under caution, the field returned to pit road for serve as Reddick, who reported numbness to his left leg, retained the lead followed by Jones, Byron, Cindric, Stenhouse and Hamlin. By then, Christopher Bell remained on pit road as he was dealing with cooling issues to his car. Following the pit stops, Austin Dillon was penalized for speeding on pit road.
When the field restarted on Lap 42, Byron shoved Reddick as Reddick retained the lead briefly before Jones mounted a challenge on the inside lane. Through the backstretch, however, Jones lost the runner-up spot to Byron as Reddick maintained the lead.
With the field fanning out, a five-car battle for the lead ensued as Reddick was ahead of Byron, Stenhouse, Jones and Truex.
By Lap 50, Reddick was leading more nearly two seconds over Byron, who remained engaged in a battle with Stenhouse for the runner-up spot. Jones was in fourth followed by Joey Logano while Truex was back in seventh behind Blaney’s No. 12 Wurth Ford Mustang. Briscoe, Cindric and Hamlin were in the top 10.
Then on Lap 52, Truex, who was, got loose entering the backstretch and scraped the outside wall as he was narrowly avoided by Cindric. The caution then returned when Josh Bilicki spun in Turn 2.
Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road as Reddick received another stellar pit stop from his No. 8 crew to retain the lead followed by Byron, Jones, Kurt Busch and Briscoe. During the pit stops, Blaney endured a slow pit stop for a second time as he exited in the top 20 after pitting from third place. Following the pit stops, however, Kurt Busch was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. In addition, Kevin Harvick pitted for a second time.
On Lap 57, the race restarted under green as Reddick and Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick received another boost from Byron’s No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to retain the lead ahead of Jones and the field fanning out through the backstretch.
At the Lap 60 mark, Reddick was leading by half a second over Jones while Byron, Briscoe and Kyle Larson were in the top five.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 65, Reddick claimed his first stage victory of the 2022 Cup Series season and the fifth of his career after fending off Jones. Byron settled in third followed by Briscoe and Larson while Alex Bowman, Logano, Blaney, Cindric and Stenhouse were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted as Reddick exited with the lead followed by Briscoe, Byron, Larson and Bowman. Following the pit stops, rookie Todd Gilliland lost a right-front wheel and returned to pit road.
The second stage started on Lap 73. At the start, Reddick and Briscoe battled dead even through the backstretch as Larson joined the battle. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Larson led a lap for himself before Briscoe moved his No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang to the lead followed by Reddick.
By Lap 76, Reddick mounted a challenge to regain the lead against Briscoe, but was unable to complete his task as Briscoe maintained the top spot.
Through the first 80 laps of the event, Briscoe was leading by nearly four-tenths of a second over Reddick while Byron, Logano and Larson were in the top five. Blaney, Hamlin, Bowman, Erik Jones and Cindric were in the top 10.
On Lap 86, Kyle Busch pitted under green after sustaining a flat left-rear tire. By the time he returned on the track, he was mired in 36th place and six laps behind the leaders.
Four laps later, the caution flew when Bell spun his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry in Turn 4. In the midst of Bell’s spin, teammate Denny Hamlin steered his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry to pit road as he reported overheating issues. At the moment of caution, Briscoe continued to lead by more than half a second over Reddick while third-place Byron trailed by more than three seconds. Blaney and Logano were in the top five ahead of Jones, Larson, Cindric, Bowman and Brad Keselowski.
Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road as Reddick entered and exited in first place followed by Briscoe, Byron, Blaney, Cindric and Logano.
On Lap 96, the race restarted under green. At the start, Reddick received another strong push from Byron to take the lead on the outside lane while Briscoe fell back to second ahead of Byron and the field.
While Reddick retained the lead ahead of Byron, a multi-car battle for third place ensued as Larson moved into the top-three followed by Logano, Briscoe, Blaney, Erik Jones and Cindric while Bowman and Austin Dillon were in the top 10.
At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Byron moved into the lead over Reddick as Larson retained third place ahead of Logano and Briscoe. While Blaney was in sixth, Jones and Cindric, both of whom rubbed fenders in Turn 1 a lap earlier, were in seventh and eighth while Bowman and Cole Custer were in the top 10.
Eleven laps later, the caution flew when Chris Buescher spun and backed his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang into the outside wall entering Turn 2.
Under caution, the field pitted and Reddick reassumed the lead followed by Larson, Jones, Custer, Keselowski and Cindric. Meanwhile, Briscoe, who pitted as the leader, exited in 17th place after enduring a slow pit stop.
When the field restarted on Lap 115, Reddick and Jones battled for the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch as Jones moved into the lead. Then just as the field returned to the start/finish line, Keselowski, who was battling for a spot in the top five, got sideways and spun in Turn 4 as the caution flew. In the midst of the spin, Keselowski was narrowly missed by ex-teammate Logano and Hamlin.
On Lap 121, the race restarted under green. At the start, Jones utilized the inside lane to his advantage for a second time to retain the lead. Shortly after, Reddick challenged and reassumed the lead from Jones as Logano moved up to third place followed by Larson, Custer, Blaney and Cindric. Meanwhile, Byron was back in the top 10 while Briscoe was mired in 16th.
With the laps in the second stage dwindling, Reddick extended his advantage to more than a second over Jones while Logano, Larson and Blaney were in the top five.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 130, Reddick captured his second stage victory of the season. Jones settled in second followed by Logano, Blaney, Larson, Custer, Cindric, Almirola, Byron and Hamlin.
Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit stop as Reddick retained the lead followed by Jones, Larson, Custer and Hamlin.
With 64 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Reddick retained the lead while Logano moved up to second in front of Jones. Entering Turn 4, Aric Almirola got sideways, but he straightened his car below the apron and the race remained under green.
At the front with 60 laps remaining, Reddick remained as the leader by more than a second over Logano, who had Erik Jones challenging him for the runner-up spot. Bowman, a former winner at Auto Club Speedway in 2020, was in fourth followed by Blaney while Custer and Byron battled for sixth place. Behind, Hamlin, who made light contact with the outside wall, was in eighth ahead of Cindric, Austin Dillon, Larson and Daniel Suarez.
Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Reddick, who withstood repeated challenges from Jones, continued to lead by nearly seven-tenths of a second over Jones’ No. 43 Chevrolet while Logano settled in third place as he trailed by more than three seconds. Behind, Blaney overtook Bowman for fourth, Byron was in sixth ahead of Custer, Larson was in ninth and Cindric was in 11th. Briscoe, meanwhile, was mired in 22nd behind teammate Kevin Harvick.
A lap later, Reddick’s strong, prominent run towards a possible first Cup victory evaporated when he cut a left-rear tire and fell off the pace entering Turns 1 and 2. Then while Reddick was limping towards the outside wall, he was sideswiped by Byron, which sent both cars into the outside wall as Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet came to a rest below the apron while Reddick limped back to pit road. In the midst of the turn of events, Jones returned to the lead followed by Logano, Blaney, Bowman and Custer.
Under caution for the incident, the leaders returned to pit road as Jones edged Bowman to retain the lead followed by Logano, Larson, Bowman and Elliott.
With 44 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Logano emerged with the lead for the first time as Larson overtook Jones for the runner-up spot in front of the field fanning out.
During the following lap, the caution returned when Bubba Wallace made contact with Keselowski in Turn 2, which sent Keselowski sideways and sparked a multi-car wreck that involved Wallace, Harrison Burton and Cindric. Under caution, some led by Logano remained on the track while the rest pitted.
With 35 laps remaining, the field restarted under green. At the start, Logano blocked and maintained the lead over Larson. Shortly after, Larson made his way to the front over Logano as Jones, Elliot and Blaney battled for third place.
With 30 laps remaining, Larson was leading by less than a second over Blaney while Logano, Elliott and Bowman were in the top five. Meanwhile, Ross Chastain was in sixth place in a back-up car while Jones, Austin Dillon, Hamlin and Daniel Suarez were in the top 10.
A few laps later, the caution returned when Chastain, who was running in the top 10, spun in Turn 4. Under caution, nearly the entire field returned to pit road for service and Elliott exited first followed by Bowman, Larson, Logano, Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez. Back on track, Briscoe remained on the track to inherit the lead.
With 22 laps remaining, the field restarted under green. At the start, teammates Larson and Elliott overtook Briscoe entering the first turn before Larson assumed the lead while Logano joined the party.
During the following lap, Bowman, who was running in the top five, pitted after making contact with the outside wall. At the front, Logano and Larson dueled for the lead as Elliott tried to overtake both. Then in Turn 4, Larson moved up and ran his teammate Elliott into the outside wall as Elliott began to fall off the pace. With Elliott out of contention, Austin Dillon appeared in third place followed by Daniel Suarez, Hamlin and Erik Jones.
With 15 laps remaining, Larson was leading by half a second over Logano while Austin Dillon, Suarez and Jones were in the top five. By then, names like Harvick, Stenhouse and Michael McDowell were in the top 10 while Cindric, Kurt Busch, Haley, Almirola and Daniel Hemric were in the top 15.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Logano while Austin Dillon Dillon, Jones, Blaney, Suarez, Hamlin, Stenhouse, Harvick and Cindric were in the top 10.
Then a lap later, the caution flew when Elliott spun in Turn 2. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Larson exited with the lead followed by Suarez, Logano, Austin Dillon and Jones.
With four laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, a three-car battle ensued between Larson, Suarez and Logano for the lead for a full lap. Then with three laps remaining, Larson led at the line before Suarez received a push from Erik Jones to boost to the lead entering the backstretch.
Suarez, however, lost the lead entering the frontstretch after Larson gained an advantage and reassumed the lead with two laps remaining, where he brought Austin Dillon with him.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson was ahead by three-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon as Erik Jones challenged Suarez for third place. Behind, Justin Haley got turned and spun through the infield grass as he pounded the inside wall.
With the race remaining under green, Larson continued to lead ahead of a hard-charging Dillon. Through Turns 3 and 4, Dillon mounted a final lap charge through the inside lane, but it was too little, too late as Larson took the checkered flag by less than two-tenths of a second ahead of Austin Dillon.
In addition to claiming his second victory at Auto Club Speedway, Larson notched his 17th NASCAR Cup Series career victory and his 11th driving the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports as he begins his pursuit to defend his series championship.
“It’s always fun here to win at the home state,” Larson said on FOX. “Hard work all weekend there. [I] Didn’t feel great in practice yesterday. [Crew chief] Cliff [Daniels] and everybody made some good adjustments overnight and the car handled a lot better. There was definitely some guys that were quicker than us, but they had their misfortunes. Just kept our heads in it all day. Long race. [The] Restarts were crazy. The whole runs were crazy, so definitely wild, but cool to get a win here at California. Hopefully, we get on a little streak. ”
Austin Dillon settled in second place while Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez delivered strong results of third and fourth place. Logano settled in fifth place.
“We’re going to win a few races very soon here,” Suarez said. “I just can’t thank everyone enough on my team. We had a fast car, but we went through a lot of adversity. We had a few issues. We hit the wall once. We had an issue with a diffuser. My pit crew, those guys are legends, it’s unbelievable. It’s the best pit crew I’ve ever had, and it’s a lot of fun to race like that. The Freeway Insurance Chevrolet, everyone that helps Trackhouse [Racing] out, to be able to be here and perform this way… I can tell you that I’m going to work very, very hard to go to Victory Lane very, very soon here.”
Almirola, Harvick, Kurt Busch, Hemric and Stenhouse completed the top 10 on the track.
Cindric, the pole-sitter, finished 12th in front of Martin Truex Jr. while Kyle Busch rallied from falling six laps behind the leaders to finish 14th in front of teammate Denny Hamlin. Briscoe, Blaney and Wallace finished 16th, 18th and 19th, Reddick settled in 24th and Elliott ended up in 26th place in between teammate Bowman and Keselowski.
There were 32 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured a record-tying 12 cautions for 59 laps.
Following his 12th-place result, Austin Cindric continues to lead the regular season standings by eight points over teammate Joey Logano, 12 over Martin Truex Jr., 15 over Ryan Blaney, 16 over Chase Briscoe and 17 over Erik Jones.
Results.
1. Kyle Larson, 28 laps led
2. Austin Dillon
3. Erik Jones, 18 laps led
4. Daniel Suarez
5. Joey Logano, 14 laps led
6. Aric Almirola
7. Kevin Harvick, one lap led
8. Kurt Busch
9. Daniel Hemric
10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
11. Cole Custer
12. Austin Cindric
13. Martin Truex Jr.
14. Kyle Busch
15. Denny Hamlin
16. Chase Briscoe, 20 laps led
17. Ty Dillon
18. Ryan Blaney, one lap led
19. Bubba Wallace
20. Todd Gilliland
21. Garrett Smithley
22. BJ McLeod
23. Justin Haley
24. Tyler Reddick, one lap down, 90 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
25. Alex Bowman, one lap down
26. Chase Elliott, two laps down
27. Brad Keselowski, two laps down
28. Corey LaJoie, two laps down
29. Ross Chastain, two laps down
30. Josh Bilicki, two laps down
31. Michael McDowell – OUT, Electrical
32. Cody Ware, 13 laps down
33. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident
34. William Byron – OUT, Accident, 16 laps led
35. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident
36. Christopher Bell – OUT, Engine
Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the second of the series’ three-race West Coast swing. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, March 6, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Cole Custer rallied from two slow pit stops and through three overtime restarts to score a dominant win in the Production Alliance 300 at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday, February 26.
The 24-year-old native from Ladera Ranch, California, led five times for a race-high 80 of 165 laps to beat Noah Gragson by half a second in his first of select NASCAR Xfinity Series starts this season with SS-Green Light Racing, which achieved their first career victory in NASCAR.
Qualifying on Saturday determined the starting lineup for the event. AJ Allmendinger, coming off his runner-up result at Daytona International Speedway, started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 179.829 mph. He was joined on the front row with Cole Custer, who qualified with a fast lap at 179.793 mph.
Prior to the event, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Jeb Burton, Jesse Iwuji, Joey Gase, Tommy Joe Martins and Josh Williams dropped to the rear for unapproved adjustments. Kyle Sieg also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change along with Joe Graf Jr. due to a driver change after he replaced Timmy Hill.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Allmendinger and Custer battled dead even ahead of the field before the former cleared the latter through the backstretch and went on to lead the first lap.
During the following lap, Allmendinger continued to fend off early challenges from Custer to retain the top spot. Behind, Austin Hill, coming off his first Xfinity career victory at Daytona, made an unscheduled pit stop after sustaining right-side damage to his No. 21 Bennett Transportation and Logistics Chevrolet Camaro due to contact with Josh Berry through the backstretch.
By the fifth lap, Allmendinger and Custer continued to battle for the lead followed by Trevor Bayne, Noah Gragson and Brandon Jones. Ryan Sieg was in sixth ahead of Daniel Hemric, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry and Justin Allgaier.
A lap later, the first caution flew when flames erupted out of the No. 10 Carnomoly Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Landon Cassill, who was running in 11th place. Cassill, though, was able to park his car below the apron in Turn 1 as he exited his flaming car.
Following an extensive cleanup, the race restarted on Lap 13. During the following lap, Trevor Bayne, making his first of select starts in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Devotion Nutrition Toyota Supra, flexed his muscles as he moved into the lead followed by Allmendinger, Custer and the field.
On Lap 19, the caution returned when Mason Massey cut a left-front tire and shredded debris in Turn 2.
When the race restarted on Lap 24 and as the field fanned out, Noah Gragson peaked ahead with the lead followed by Bayne, Custer and the field. When the field returned to the frontstretch, however, Bayne retained the lead followed by Custer, Gragson, Gibbs and Allmendinger.
By Lap 30, Bayne was leading by a tenth of a second over Custer. Gragson was in third followed by teammate Justin Allgaier and Gibbs while Allmendinger, Hemric, Berry, Sieg and Sam Mayer were in the top 10.
In the closing laps of the first stage, Custer started to close in and challenge Bayne for the top spot while Gragson was trailing by more than two seconds.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 35, Bayne, making his first start in NASCAR in two years, claimed his first career stage victory. Custer settled in second while Allgaier overtook teammate Gragson in Turn 3 after Gragson scraped the wall to settle in third. Gibbs, Allmendinger, Berry, Sieg, Hemric and Mayer rounded out the top 10.
Under the stage break, the field pitted and Hemric utilized the first pit box to his advantage to move into the lead. Gibbs followed in second along with Gragson, Berry, Allgaier and Custer while Bayne dropped to 10th following a slow pit stop. During the pit stop, Ryan Sieg missed his pit box and had to return to pit road for service.
The second stage started on Lap 42 as Hemric and Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs challenged Hemric for the top spot through the backstretch while Gragson, Custer and Allgaier battled ahead of the field that was fanning out. Then in Turn 4, Gibbs, who battled dead even with Hemric, bumped against Hemric’s No. 11 Poppy Bank Chevrolet Camaro before he spun wildly across the frontstretch and through the infield grass, all while sustaining no significant damage to his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra.
On Lap 48, the race restarted under green as Hemric and Gragson occupied the front row. At the start, Hemric retained the top spot until Custer stormed back to the lead during the following lap. With Hemric back in second, Gragson challenged for second ahead of Brandon Jones, Allgaier and Berry.
By Lap 50, Custer was leading by a second ahead of Gragson while Hemric, Brandon Jones and Allgaier were in the top five. Allmendinger was in sixth ahead of Berry, rookie Sheldon Creed, Riley Herbst and Sam Mayer. Behind, Bayley Curry pitted under green after sustaining a flat right-rear tire.
Five laps later, Custer stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Gragson while third-place Allgaier trailed by more than three seconds.
Another lap later, Brandon Jones, who was running in sixth place, spun his No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra in Turn 4.
When the field restarted under green on Lap 60, the field battled through two lanes entering the first turn before fanning out to multiple lanes entering the backstretch. In the midst of the battles, Custer retained the lead and Gragson was in second ahead of teammate Allgaier, Allmendinger, Hemric, Berry and Mayer.
Five laps later, Custer remained as the leader by a second and a half over Allgaier while Gragson, Allmendinger and Hemric were in the top five.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 70, Custer claimed his 17th career stage victory. Meanwhile, Brandon Jones, who made a late charge on fresh tires following his spin, settled in second followed by Allgaier, Gragson, Gibbs, Hemric, Allmendinger, Mayer, Berry and Riley Herbst.
Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road and Brandon Jones exited with the lead followed by Allgaier, Gragson, Berry and Hemric while Custer, who endured a slow pit stop, dropped to eighth.
With 74 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Jones powered ahead with a brief advantage on the outside lane as the field fanned out entering the first two turns. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Custer, who restarted eighth, used a fast race car to his advantage by barreling his way back to the lead as Gragson challenged Brandon Jones for the runner-up spot.
With less than 70 laps remaining, Allmendinger pitted under green to address a potential loose wheel to his No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro as he lost a lap to the leaders.
Back on the track, Custer was leading by more than a second over Gragson. Brandon Jones was in third, trailing by more than two seconds, while Allgaier was in fourth. Meanwhile, Gibbs, who rallied from his early spin, was in fifth ahead of Hemric, Trevor Bayne, Berry, Mayer and Creed.
Ten laps later, Custer extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Gragson while Allgaier, Brandon Jones and Gibbs were in the top five. Behind was Hemric, who had Berry, Bayne, Creed and Mayer battling behind him.
Another 10 laps later, Custer’s advantage narrowed to less than two seconds as he continued to lead ahead of Gragson while Allgaier, Jones and Hemric were in the top five. Gibbs, Berry, Bayne, Creed and Herbst were scored in the top 10.
With 48 laps remaining, Brandon Brown spun in Turn 2 as he drew the caution. Under caution, the field pitted and Justin Allgaier exited with the top spot followed by Jones, Gragson, Berry and Herbst. Meanwhile, Custer, who endured another slow pit stop, fell back to seventh.
With 42 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Allgaier retained the top spot through the first two turns as the field jostled for positions. Not long after, Gragson muscled to the lead while Allgaier was back in second ahead of Berry and a hard-charging Custer.
Down to the final 35 laps of the event, JR Motorsports’ competitors occupied four of the top-five spots as Gragson was leading by more than a second over teammate Berry while teammate Allgaier trailed by more than two seconds. Custer was back in fourth while Mayer, the fourth JRM competitor, was in fifth.
Then with 27 laps remaining, the caution flew when Jade Buford wrecked in Turn 2 after getting loose before being hit by Creed. Under caution, some led by Gragson pitted while Gibbs and Anthony Alfredo remained on the track. During the pit stops, Gragson slid through his pit box and ran over his air hose as he exited pit road out of the top 10 while Allgaier was the first competitor on fresh tires and fuel to exit pit road.
With 22 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start and with the field fanning out to multiple lanes, Allgaier reassumed the lead through Turn 1 while Bayne moved into second along with Berry.
During the following lap, a five-car battle for the lead ensued as Allgaier led ahead of Bayne, Gragson, Berry and Custer. Soon after, Gragson muscled his way back to the lead. Not long after, Custer moved into second. By then, Myatt Snider fell off the pace after he lost an engine to his car.
Back on the track, Gragson continued to lead, but he had Custer narrowing the advantage to less than three-tenths of a second.
Then with 15 laps remaining, Custer stormed back to the lead beneath Gragson.
Just then, the caution flew with 10 laps remaining due to debris in Turn 1 as Mason Massey lost a left-front tire. At the time of caution, Custer had extended his advantage to more than a second over Gragson, more than two seconds over Josh Berry, more than three seconds over Bayne and more than four seconds over Allgaier.
With six laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson mounted a brief challenge on Custer before the latter cleared the field through the backstretch. Behind, Bayne challenged Gragson for the runner-up spot as Custer started to pull away.
During the following lap, the caution returned due to an incident involving Creed and Brett Moffitt in Turn 1.
With the field set to overtime, Custer and Gragson occupied the front row as the race resumed to green flag conditions. At the start, Custer, who spun the tires, managed to retain the lead ahead of Bayne and Gragson as the field fanned out to multiple lanes. Then in Turn 1, Hemric made contact with Brandon Jones as Jones spun across the track and dodged by the oncoming field. The incident, however, sent the race into another overtime attempt.
At the start of the second overtime attempt, Custer received a strong start to retain the lead as the field fanned out. Then entering Turn 4, a multi-car wreck struck that involved Creed, Stefan Parsons and Brandon Jones, who spun down to the infield and collided against the sand barriers near the pit road entrance, which destroyed the barriers in a sandstorm. The incident occurred before Custer could start the final lap of the event as the race was sent into third overtime attempt.
Prior to the overtime attempt, the red flag was displayed for 23 minutes for repairs towards the pit road entrance. When the red flag was lifted and the third overtime attempt commenced under green, Custer received another strong start to retain the lead while Gragson and Bayne moved up to second and third followed by Alfredo, who restarted on the front row.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Custer was leading by nearly four-tenths of a second over Gragson and the field. With a fast race car, Custer was able to circumnavigate his way around the circuit for a final time and cycle back to the finish line to grab the victory.
With the victory, Custer claimed his 10th Xfinity Series career win in his 106th series start, his second at Fontana and his first since winning at Dover Motor Speedway in September 2019.
“Man, it was just an awesome car,” Custer said on FS1. “That [car] was just a rocket ship all day. I can’t thank [owner] Bobby Dotter enough, everybody who was involved on this car. It was just unreal how fast we were. Production Alliance Group, this is awesome, it’s [Dotter’s] race. It’s the Production Alliance Group 300 and we got him to Victory Lane. It’s awesome to win at home, so [I] can’t wait for tomorrow. ”
Gragson settled in second place while Bayne notched a strong third-place result in his first Xfinity start in six years.
“We had the lead there and then came down pit road, slid through the pit box and then, had a really good restart from 11th, got back up to the lead in like a lap or two,” Gragson said. “I felt like the Bass Pro Shops Camaro was really close all day. Just struggled with the cloud cover and the temperature change, being too loose or too tight. Hats off to all the guys on the No. 07 car and Cole Custer. He was really fast today. We finished third last weekend, finished second here this weekend. Hopefully, [we] got some good points. This is not one of my good tracks, so I’ll take a second-place finish…Came up short today, but hey, top threes through the start of two races this season, I’ll take it.
Josh Berry grabbed his first top-five result of the season by finishing fourth and Anthony Alfredo made the late decision to remain on old tires work to perfection as he finished in fifth place.
Mayer, Allmendinger, Allgaier, Herbst and Ryan Sieg finished in the top 10.
There were 19 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 58 laps.
After rallying for a top-10 result, Allmendinger continues to lead the regular-season standings by a single point over Gragson, three over Allgaier and 19 over Herbst, Ryan Sieg and Gibbs.
Results.
1. Cole Custer, 80 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Noah Gragson, 25 laps led
3. Trevor Bayne, 24 laps led, Stage 1 winner
4. Josh Berry
5. Anthony Alfredo
6. Sam Mayer
7. AJ Allmendinger, 13 laps led
8. Justin Allgaier, seven laps led
9. Riley Herbst
10. Ryan Sieg
11. Brandon Brown
12. Daniel Hemric, 10 laps led
13. Ty Gibbs, three laps led
14. Jeb Burton
15. Joe Graf Jr.
16. Kyle Weatherman
17. Jeremy Clements
18. Kyle Sieg
19. Brett Moffitt
20. Joey Gase
21. Josh Williams
22. JJ Yeley
23. Matt Mills
24. Alex Labbe
25. Kaz Grala, two laps down
26. Myatt Snider, two laps down
27. Austin Hill, three laps down
28. Mason Massey, three laps down
29. Jeffrey Earnhardt, four laps down
30. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Accident
31. Tommy Joe Martins, seven laps down
32. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident
33. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident, three laps led
34. Bayley Currey, 11 laps down
35. Ryan Vargas – OUT, Accident
36. Jesse Iwuji, 34 laps down
37. Jade Buford – OUT, Accident
38. Landon Cassill – OUT, Engine
The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season proceeds with its second of a three-race West Coast swing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which will occur on Saturday, March 5, at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
Ryan Truex will be adding more NASCAR Xfinity Series events to his 2022 racing schedule after it was announced that he will be reuniting with Joe Gibbs Racing and drive the No. 18 Toyota Supra in a four-race Xfinity deal.
Truex, a two-time ARCA Menards Series East champion and brother of the 2017 Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., will be making his first start in JGR’s No. 18 Toyota at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 5. He will then return to compete at Martinsville Speedway on April 8, Darlington Raceway on May 7 and at Texas Motor Speedway on May 21.
The announcement comes as Truex is coming off a 12th-place result at Daytona International Speedway in his first of select starts for Sam Hunt Racing.
“I’m honored to compete in the No. 18 Toyota GR Supra with Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season,” Truex said. “Having the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a Joe Gibbs Racing entry is an absolute dream come true. Even better, Toyota is sponsoring my inaugural race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway next weekend. I can’t thank them and Joe Gibbs Racing enough for making this happen.”
Prior to this season, Truex’s latest competition in the Xfinity Series occurred in 2019, where he made six starts for JR Motorsports. Since making his Xfinity debut in 2010, Truex has made 79 career starts in the Xfinity circuit, 12 occurring with Joe Gibbs Racing. During the 79-race schedule, he earned a pole, four top-five results and 24 top-10 results. His best result in the series are a pair of runner-up finishes: the first at Dover Motor Speedway in June 2012 and the second at Phoenix Raceway in March 2019.
Through 2022, he has also made 73 career starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and 26 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Truex is the third competitor to be confirmed to pilot Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota entry throughout this year’s Xfinity Series season. Drew Dollar made his first of four scheduled starts at Daytona International Speedway, where he finished 36th, while Trevor Bayne is scheduled to make his first of seven starts this upcoming weekend at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday, February 26.
Truex is scheduled to make his first Xfinity Series start with Joe Gibbs Racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 5 with coverage to occur at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
With a new season of NTT IndyCar Series competition four days away from commencing, Jack Harvey is set to achieve a milestone start in his third full-time season in America’s premier open-wheel series. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg at the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, the newly named driver of the No 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara-Honda will make his 50th career start in the IndyCar circuit.
Harvey, a native of Bassingham, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, who is a former champion of the British Formula 3 Championship series and a two-time runner-up in Indy Lights, made his inaugural presence in the IndyCar Series in the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2017. Driving the No. 50 Honda in a joint association with Michael Shank Racing and Andretti Autosport, he started 27th and finished 31st following an early accident with Conor Daly. He then returned for the final two events of the 2017 IndyCar season at Watkins Glen International and at Sonoma Raceway, where he replaced Sebastian Saavedra as driver of the No. 7 Honda for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. During this span, he finished 14th at The Glen and 18th at Sonoma respectively.
The following season, Harvey campaigned in six IndyCar events in the No. 60 Honda for Michael Shank Racing in a technical alliance with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Commencing the season with a 23rd-place result at the Streets of St. Petersburg, he recorded a season-best 12th-place result at the Streets of Long Beach, California. During the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 in May, Harvey was running in second place with five laps remaining until he was forced to pit for fuel along with initial leader Stefan Wilson and was relegated back to 16th place.
In 2019, Harvey’s IndyCar schedule increased to 10 as he remained with Meyer Shank Racing. After finishing in 10th place during the first two events of the season, he achieved his maiden podium result after finishing in third place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in May. Harvey went on to conclude the 2019 season in 21st place in the final standings and with an average-finishing result of 14.2.
Following three part-time seasons, Harvey campaigned on a full-time basis in a shortened 2020 IndyCar season amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Remaining as a driver for Meyer Shank Racing, he achieved a season-best sixth-place result in the second of a Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader feature at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in October. He went on to record a total of six top-10 results, two front row starts, a ninth-place result in the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500, an average-starting result of 14.4, an average-finishing result of 12.3 and a 15th-place result in the final standings.
Commencing the 2021 IndyCar season with an 11th-place result at Barber Motorsports Park in April, Harvey achieved a strong weekend during the following event at the Streets of St. Petersburg, where he qualified on the front row and finished in fourth place. Twelve races and three additional top-10 results later, he recorded another fourth-place result at Portland International Raceway in September before wrapping up the season in a career-best 13th place in the final standings.
The 2022 IndyCar season is set to mark a new beginning for Harvey, who is set to pilot the No. 45 Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for the first time as he continues to pursue his maiden victory and title in the IndyCar circuit.
Through 49 previous IndyCar starts, Harvey has achieved one podium result, a total of seven laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.1.
Harvey is scheduled to make his 50th career start in the NTT IndyCar Series in the 2022 season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg at the Streets of St. Petersburg on Sunday, February 27, with coverage to occur at noon ET on NBC.
With a new season of NASCAR Xfinity Series competition underway, Jeremy Clements is within striking distance of a a milestone start in his 12th full-time season in the Xfinity circuit. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s event at Auto Club Speedway, the driver of the No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet Camaro will make his 400th career start in the Xfinity Series.
A native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, Clements, who grew up competing in go-karts before moving up to the Modified and Stock Series, the Late Model division and the ARCA Racing Series, made his Xfinity debut at Pike Peaks International Raceway in July 2003. By then, he was coming off a Late Model division season where he achieved nine victories and the championship at Cherokee Speedway. Driving the No. 71 Chevrolet for Young Racing, Clements started 35th and finished 31st in his debut following an early accident.
Four years later, Clements returned to the Xfinity Series and competed in the final five events of the schedule in the No. 36 Chevrolet for McGill Motorsports. His best result during the five-race span was 23rd at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October 2007.
Throughout the 2008 and 2009 racing seasons, Clements made select Xfinity starts in his family-owned team, Jeremy Clements Motorsports, while practicing and qualifying cars for Joe Gibbs Racing, notably at Kentucky Speedway in 2008 and at Iowa Speedway in 2009. Late in the 2009 season, Clements competed in six races in the No. 0 Chevrolet for JD Motorsports, where he earned a best result of 12th at Auto Club Speedway in October.
Clements started the 2010 Xfinity Series season with plans of competing in the opening three races in the No. 0 Chevrolet for JD Motorsports. After failing to qualify for the season opener at Daytona, Clements scaled back and made select starts in the No. 04 Chevrolet for JD Motorsports. Throughout the 2010 season and the 35-race schedule, he made 16 starts and failed to qualify for seven races. At Gateway in October 2010, Clements notched his first top-10 career result (10th place).
The following season, Clements competed on a full-time basis with his family-owned team, Jeremy Clements Racing, and sporting the No. 51 alongside his car. He recorded nine top-20 results with a best finish of 14th in September. Clements returned for another full-time racing role in 2012 for his family-owned team. Clements’ best results in 2012 were a pair of 10th-place finishes at Dover Motor Speedway in June and at Indianapolis. Following the 2012 season, where he finished in 14th place in the final standings, Clements surpassed 100 career starts in the Xfinity Series.
Clements started the 2013 season by finishing 33rd in the season opener at Daytona. Not long after, however, he was suspended from competition indefinitely for using a racial slur during a live interview. Missing the next two events, where Ryan Sieg drove Clements’ No. 51 car, Clements returned the following race at Bristol Motor Speedway in March and competed the rest of the 33-race schedule. His best results were a ninth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway in May and a 10th-place finish during the inaugural race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as he settled in 16th place in the final standings.
From 2014 to 2016, Clements remained as a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for his family-owned team and he notched a total of six top-10 results between the three seasons. His best runs were a fourth-place finish at Talladega in April 2016, a sixth-place result at Road America in June 2014 and a sixth-place result at Bristol in August 2016. His best points result between the three seasons was 14th in 2015. By then, he surpassed 200 Xfinity career starts.
For the first 22 races of the 2017 Xfinity Series season, Clements had recorded only one top-10 result, which was a seventh-place result at Iowa Speedway in June. The following race at Road America was where Clements rose to the occasion and shined under the spotlight as he battled rookie Matt Tifft for the win in the the final laps. On the final turn on the penultimate lap, Clements, who gained a big run to draw himself alongside Tifft, got loose and collided into Tifft as both spun through the turn. With no caution falling and both competitor not sustaining any significant damage to their respective machines, Clements was able to quickly straighten his No. 51 Chevrolet Camaro, take the lead and bolt away, where he methodically navigated around the circuit for one final lap to achieve his first NASCAR win in his 256th career start. The victory was enough for Clements and his family organization to clinch a spot for the 2017 Xfinity Series Playoffs and contend for his first NASCAR national touring series championship. For the remainder of the season, however, he finished no higher than 16th and settled in a career-best 12th place in the final standings after having his title hopes come to an end following the Playoff’s Round of 12 in October.
Between 2018 and 2019, Clements achieved a total of six top-10 results and a season-best result of fourth place at Bristol in August 2019, but he missed the Playoffs during both seasons with his best points result being 14th in 2019. By then, he surpassed 300 career starts.
After notching five top-10 results, a season-best on-track result of third place at Pocono in June and a 13th-place result in the 2020 Xfinity final standings, Clements commenced the 2021 season with a 22nd-place result at Daytona. He was able to return to the Xfinity Playoffs on a strength of seven top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, with his best result being sixth place at Darlington Raceway in May. After his 2021 hopes diminished due to respective finishes of 39th, 24th and 12th during the first round of the Playoffs, he went on to match his career-best result in the final standings of 12th place.
Through 199 previous Xfinity starts, Clements has achieved one victory, four top-five results, 32 top-10 results, 83 laps led and an average-finishing result of 21.0. He is coming off a 37th-place result at Daytona to commence the 2022 Xfinity Series season.
Clements is bound to make his 200th career start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Auto Club Speedway, which will occur on Saturday, February 26, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
In a late war of attrition between the young guns and the veterans, rookie Austin Cindric captured the main spotlight to commence a new season of NASCAR competition by winning the 64th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 20, and capturing his first NASCAR Cup Series career victory after fending off the field during an overtime attempt.
The 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Mooresville, North Carolina, led four times for 21 laps, including the final eight, to fend off challenges from teammate Ryan Blaney, ex-teammate Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace on the final lap to grab his first win in his eighth career start in NASCAR’s premier series and in his first event driving the No. 2 Ford Mustang for Team Penske as a full-time Cup Series rookie candidate.
The starting lineup was determined through two single-car qualifying rounds on Wednesday, February 16, followed by the Bluegreen Vacations Duels on Thursday, February 17. Kyle Larson, the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 181.159 mph and was joined on the front row with teammate Alex Bowman, who qualified at 181.046 mph. Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher, both of whom represent the newly named Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, occupied the second row after each won their respective Duel events.
Prior to the event, George Spencer, the engineer for Chase Briscoe and the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team, and JD Frey, the car chief for Daniel Hemric and the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team, were ejected from the event due to their respective cars failing pre-race inspection twice. In addition, Hemric was assessed a drive-through penalty at the start. Joey Logano also dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car along with Jacques Villeneuve, who dropped to the rear due to an engine change.
When the green flag waved and the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season commenced, Larson jumped with an early advantage and moved in front of teammate Bowman from the tri-oval through the back straightaway while running on the inside lane. The outside lane, however, proved to be the fastest, preferred lane for a majority of competitors as Keselowski received drafting help from Ford teammates Austin Cindric, Chris Buescher and Michael McDowell to move into the lead entering Turns 3 and 4.
When the field returned to the start/finish line, Brad Keselowski, making his first start as a driver/co-owner of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang, led the first lap ahead of Cindric and Buescher while Larson settled in fourth ahead of Michael McDowell, the reigning Daytona 500 champion. By then, Hemric served his drive-through penalty through pit road.
By the fifth lap, a majority of the competitors were running in a long single-file line on the outside lane as Keselowski was leading Cindric, Buescher, McDowell and Kyle Busch. Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Bubba Wallace and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were in the top 10 while rookie Harrison Burton was the lead car on the inside lane in 14th place while receiving drafting help from names like Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Aric Almirola and Denny Hamlin.
Two laps later, the momentum for the competitors running on the inside lane gained momentum towards the ones running on the outside lane as Kyle Busch, who darted to the inside lane, moved his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry to the front of the pack followed by teammate Bell. Soon after, Busch was engaged in a side-by-side battle with Keselowski’s No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford Mustang for the top spot.
Through the first 10 laps of the event and with the field continuing to engage in close-quarters racing through multiple lanes, Keselowski, who fought back on the outside lane to retake the lead on Lap 8, was leading followed by Cindric, Buescher, McDowell and Stenhouse while Kyle Busch fell back to sixth ahead of Erik Jones, Bell, Larson and Truex. By then, Hemric was lapped behind the field.
Five laps later, Jacques Villeneuve was lapped by the field as Keselowski continued to lead a bevy of competitors running towards the outside lane while Kyle Busch was the lead car for multiple competitors running on the inside lane.
By Lap 20, Keselowski remained out in front on the outside lane ahead of Cindric, Buescher, McDowell, Stenhouse and a majority of the competitors while Kyle Busch continued to serve as the lead car on the inside lane with drafting help from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Bell and Truex along with 23XI Racing’s Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace.
Seven laps later, the battle for the lead reignited between Keselowski and Kyle Busch as Busch received drafting help from his Toyota teammates on the inside lane to return to the lead.
Through the first 30 laps of the event, Kyle Busch remained as the leader of the field by a narrow margin over teammate Keselowski while Bell, Cindric, Truex, Buescher, Kurt Busch, McDowell, Wallace and Denny Hamlin were in the top 10. By then, Greg Biffle, making his return to the Cup Series following a five-year absence, took his No. 44 NY Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the garage due to an engine issue.
By Lap 35, a majority of the field moved to the inside lane as Kyle Busch continued to lead ahead of Bell, Truex, Kurt Busch, Wallace, Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Keselowski and William Byron.
A few laps later, the first round of green-flag pit stops commenced as names like Cindric, Blaney, McDowell, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Cole Custer, David Ragan, Aric Almirola and Chase Briscoe pitted. During the following lap, a majority of competitors led by Kyle Busch pitted. Then during the following lap and with another wave of competitors pitting, Villeneuve spun near the pit road entrance, but he proceeded without making contact with the wall as the race continued to run under green. In the midst of the pit stops, Ty Dillon was penalized for speeding on pit road.
Then on Lap 40, the first caution of the event flew when Kaz Grala lost a right-rear wheel of his No. 50 Money Team Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 2. At the same time, Briscoe got bumped by Cindric entering Turn 1 and spun his No. 14 Mahindra Ford Mustang, though he continued without sustaining any significant damage. Under caution, some like Larson and Bowman pitted.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 45, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano occupied the front row ahead of Hamlin and Harrison Burton. At the start, Busch jumped ahead through Turns 1 and 2, but Logano used the outside lane to his advantage as he received a push from Burton’s No. 21 Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Ford Mustang to challenge Busch for the lead.
Through the first 50 laps of the event, Kyle Busch was leading ahead of teammates Hamlin and Bell while Byron and Kurt Busch were in the top five. By then, Elliott, rookie Todd Gilliland, McDowell, Logano and Ross Chastain were in the top 10.
Shortly after, the caution returned when Justin Haley lost a right-front tire from his No. 31 LeafFilter Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 1. Under caution, some like Noah Gragson, Harvick, Custer, and Almirola pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track.
On Lap 56, the race proceeded under green as teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, Busch, who restarted on the outside lane, jumped with another strong advantage before moving in front of teammate Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry to retain the lead. Behind, Byron challenged Logano for third place with drafting help from Harrison Burton. During the following lap, Byron moved his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the lead through the back straightaway as he also moved in front of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota.
Then with the field engaged in close-quarters racing through double lanes, Harrison Burton received a push from Truex to challenge Byron for the lead.
By Lap 60, Burton was leading ahead of Keselowski before Truex mounted his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry alongside Burton’s car in Turn 1 in a bid for the lead.
Two laps later, however, the caution flew for a multi-car that started when Harrison Burton, who was challenging Truex for the lead, got bumped and turned off the front nose of Keselowski entering the back straightaway as he made contact with Byron, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Bell. While Byron slid and pounded the inside wall head-on, Burton’s No. 21 Ford went airborne and landed upside down on the roof before flipping back on all four wheels and coming to rest with a destroyed race car. Also involved were Ross Chastain and Alex Bowman. Despite the incident, Burton emerged uninjured as his strong start to the race came to an early end along with Byron, Hamlin and Chastain.
The multi-car wreck concluded the first stage scheduled for Lap 65 under caution as Truex claimed the first stage victory of the season. Keselowski settled in second ahead of Todd Gilliland, Stenhouse, Logano, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Larson and Elliott.
Under the stage break, some including Kurt Busch, who received minor damage from the multi-car wreck, pitted early. Not long after, the remainder of the field led by Truex pitted for service.
The second stage started on Lap 71 as Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Jones and Blaney dueled through the first two turns until Blaney received a push from teammate Cindric to clear Jones for the lead and retain the top spot when he returned to the start/finish line.
By Lap 75 and with the field fanning out to double lanes, Blaney continued to lead ahead of teammate Cindric and Jones, both of whom battled dead even for the runner-up spot. Chris Buescher and Stenhouse were in the top five ahead of Kevin Harvick, Daniel Suarez, Keselowski, Larson and Gilliland.
Fifteen laps later on Lap 90, Blaney remained as the leader ahead of teammate Cindric, Buescher, Harvick and Keselowski as the field settled in a long single-file line towards the inside lane.
At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Blaney was leading ahead of teammates Cindric, Buescher, Harvick, Gilliland, Custer, McDowell, Ty Dillon and Briscoe as Ford competitors occupied nine of the top-10 spots. Almirola, Logano, Larson, Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, Truex, Wallace and Kyle Busch were running in the top 20 ahead of Kurt Busch, Daniel Suarez and Elliott, all of whom were running under three seconds behind the leader. Hemric, Corey LaJoie, Austin Dillon were in 24th, 25th and 26th followed by Landon Cassill, Codey Ware, David Ragan and Jacques Villeneuve, all of whom were on the lead lap.
Shortly after, names like Austin Dillon, Hemric, LaJoie, Cassill, David Ragan and Corey Ware pitted under green as Blaney continued to lead the field. During the pit stops, Cassill nearly clipped two of Cody Ware’s crew members while trying to exit his pit stall.
Then on Lap 107, a wave of competitors led by Blaney pitted, but Keselowski and Buescher managed to exit pit road ahead of Blaney. During the next lap, another wave led by Truex pitted. In the midst of the pit stops, Briscoe slid past his pit stall while Elliott stalled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on pit road. In addition, Suarez was busted for speeding on pit road and forced to serve a drive-through penalty through pit road.
By Lap 110, Keselowski returned to the lead followed by Buescher, Blaney and the field. A few laps later, Custer pitted for a second time due to not getting fuel in his car during his first stop.
Through Lap 120, Keselowski continued to lead ahead of Buescher, Blaney, Harvick and Gilliland while Larson, who was running within the top 10, formed a line on the outside lane in his bid for the lead followed by Stenhouse, Logano and Truex.
Then five laps later, Larson motored his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the lead, but Keselowski fought back on the inside lane after receiving a push from ex-teammate Logano. As Larson drifted back into the top 10 while receiving no drafting help, Keselowski retained the lead ahead of Logano, Truex, Wallace and Cindric.
Then approaching the final lap of the second stage, Briscoe blocked Keselowski in an attempt to remain on the lead lap. Entering Turn 1, Keselowski moved to the inside lane in an attempt to pass Briscoe, but the rest of the field drafted with Briscoe as Logano moved his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang into the lead followed by Truex and Wallace. Then entering the tri-oval, Truex made his move beneath Logano and edged Logano to claim the second stage victory on Lap 130. Logano settled in second followed by Wallace, Keselowski, Stenhouse, Cindric, Buescher, Harvick, Larson and Gilliland.
Under the stage break, the field returned to pit road for service and Keselowski exited with the lead followed by Cindric, Larson, Wallace and Harvick. During the pit stops, McDowell was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Logano made a second trip to pit road to have the lug nuts on his car tightened.
With 63 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Keselowski quickly moved in front of Cindric to retain the lead and gain momentum. Behind, Wallace was in third while Harvick gained a run on the outside lane.
Soon after, Keselowski led a seven-car breakaway from the field followed by Cindric, Wallace, Erik Jones, Blaney, Buescher and Briscoe while Harvick fell back in a side-by-side battle with Gragson, who was piloting the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in his Cup debut.
Down to the final 50 laps of the event and with the majority of the field running on the inside lane while the rest settled on the outside lane, Keselowski was leading ahead of Cindric, Wallace, Jones and Blaney.
Just then, the caution flew when Tyler Reddick got bumped and turned off the front nose of Villeneuve entering the frontstretch and came across the path of Truex, Kurt Busch and Logano, with the former sustaining front-nose damage while the latter two spinning towards the tri-oval grass as Stenhouse also sustained damage. In the aftermath of the wreckage, Logano and Reddick needed assistance from wreckers to get their stuck cars out of the grass, which dropped them out of lead lap contention.
Under caution, the field pitted for a potential final round of fresh tires, fuel and adjustments as Cindric exited with the top spot following a two-tire pit stop ahead of Wallace, Blaney and Jones, all of whom took fuel only, while Keselowski exited in fifth place with two fresh tires.
With 41 laps remaining, the green flag waved. At the start, Cindric retained the lead ahead of teammate Blaney and Jones while Wallace got shoved out of the top five while making an attempt for the lead on the outside lane.
During the following lap, Cindric was out in front of a four-car breakaway followed by Blaney, Jones and Keselowski while Briscoe, Wallace and the field closed in through Turns 3 and 4.
Another three laps later, Kyle Busch shoved Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry to the lead on the outside lane as Cindric fought back on the inside lane with drafting help from Blaney’s No. 12 Menards Blue DEF Ford Mustang.
With 35 laps remaining and the field engaged in a duel and close-quarters racing, Wallace, who had Kyle Busch pushing him on the outside lane, battled Cindric, who had teammate Blaney pushing him on the inside lane, for the lead. By then, the top-15 competitors were separated by half a second.
Five laps later, Wallace and Cindric continued to duel dead even for the lead. Soon after, the inside lane gained a brief advantage as Cindric cleared Wallace to assume full command of the lead followed by Blaney, Erik Jones, Keselowski and Briscoe while Wallace was back in sixth alongside McDowell’s No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang.
Another five laps later, the outside lane regained their momentum as Kyle Busch shoved Wallace back to the lead ahead of Cindric. Soon after, Wallace and Kyle Busch cleared the field and moved in front of Cindric’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang. By then, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. started to formulate a run for the lead on the outside lane with drafting help from Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang.
With 20 laps remaining, the battle for the lead and the win continued to intensify as Wallace and Stenhouse engaged in a heated duel for the top spot. While Stenhouse’s No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 had drafting help from Buescher, Wallace continued to fight back on the inside lane with drafting support from Kyle Busch.
Two laps later, the outside lane prevailed as Stenhouse started to lead a multi-car breakaway followed by Buescher, Larson, Gilliland, Harvick and Erik Jones. The field soon settled in a long single-car line on the outside lane as Wallace was mired back in 11th.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event and with fuel in question for the front-runners, Stenhouse, who was told he had enough fuel to finish, continued to lead. Then just as the intensity started to crescendo with the competitors fanning out to double lanes, a multi-car wreck erupted just past the start/finish line when Harvick, who got caught up in an accordion effect with Buescher and Larson, slipped sideways off the front nose of Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet and clipped Gragson, who pounded the inside wall head-on in front of Larson, which destroyed his car. Also involved were Erik Jones, Elliott and rookie Todd Gilliland, who also impacted the inside wall head-on. The wreck was enough for NASCAR to pause the race for approximately five minutes before the field proceeded under caution.
When the race proceeded under green with six laps remaining, Stenhouse and Cindric engaged in a heated battle for the lead before Cindric started to pull away on the inside lane with drafting help from Blaney. As the field returned to the start/finish line, Stenhouse got turned off the front nose of Keselowski and bounced off of Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota before spinning and slapping the outside wall as Buescher got collected in the carnage. The wreck evaporated Stenhouse’s hopes of winning his first Daytona 500 as he was unable to continue.
The late incident involving Stenhouse was enough to send the event into overtime. At the start, Cindric jumped with an early advantage and immediately moved in front of teammate Blaney from the outside to the inside lane to retain the lead. Through the back straightaway, Keselowski received a push from Briscoe to try to close in on Cindric on the outside lane.
When the white flag waved, Cindric was still leading by a narrow margin over teammate Blaney, Keselowski and the field. Through the first two turns and the back straightaway, Cindric continued to maintain his ground on the inside lane with teammate Blaney settling behind him while Keselowski continued to lurk but not close on the outside lane.
Then entering Turns 3 and 4, Cindric started to pull away followed by Blaney and Wallace while Keselowski could not gain drafting help from Briscoe. Entering the frontstretch and the tri-oval, Briscoe then squeezed himself past Keselowski towards the outside wall as Blaney and Wallace mounted a final challenge on Cindric for the win. As Blaney made a move to the outside of Cindric, Cindric blocked Blaney while making slight contact with his Penske teammate. That opened the door for Wallace to pounce, but at the finish line, Cindric edged Wallace by 0.036 seconds to win as another multi-car wreck erupted behind, among which were involved included Blaney and Keselowski.
With the victory, Cindric, who won in NASCAR’s first points-paying event with the new Next Gen stock cars, became the 41st different competitor to win the Daytona 500 and the ninth to notch a first Cup career victory in the 500 as he delivered the 17th 500 triumph for the Ford nameplate, the first for crew chief Jeremy Bullins and the third for Team Penske and team owner Roger Penske, who turned 85 years old. In addition, Cindric became the 199th different competitor to win in NASCAR’s premier series and the 37th different competitor to achieve a victory across NASCAR’s top three national touring series (Camping World Truck, Xfinity and Cup).
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Oh my god!” Cindric exclaimed on FOX. “You know what makes [winning] better. A packed house! A packed house at the Daytona 500! I’ve got so many people to thank, first and foremost. Roger Penske, happy birthday! Oh my gosh! [I] Appreciate Ryan [Blaney] being a great teammate. Obviously, he wants to win this one. I’m so pumped for Discount Tire, Menards, Ford, everyone who works so hard with this Next Gen car through this whole process. I am so excited. This makes up for losing a [Xfinity] championship last race I did.”
“I’m surrounded by great people,” Cindric added. “That’s all there is to it. I know there’s gonna be highs and lows being a rookie in a field of drivers this strong. I’m just grateful for the opportunity. [I’m] Excited to climb the mountain we got ahead of us on this No. 2 team. We’re in the Playoffs! That’s one good box check, but oh my gosh! What an awesome group of fans. What an awesome race car. Just really thankful.”
Behind Cindric was Wallace, who nursed his car with a damaged right-front fender to tie his best Daytona 500 result with a runner-up result while Briscoe made a late charge to finish third, which marks his first top-five result in the Cup circuit. Blaney fell back to fourth despite getting consumed in the final lap accident while Aric Almirola commenced his final full-time Cup season in fifth place.
“What could have been, right?” Wallace said. “Just dejected, but the thing that keeps me up is just the hard work that we put into our speedway stuff. The hard work from everybody at 23XI [Racing]. Proud of them. Can’t thank them enough. I knew this was a big move last year for me to go out and be competitive. We’re showing that. There’s always a first race into the season. You’re getting through everything, but when you come out of the gates like that, it’s empowering. It’s encouraging, so thanks to everybody back at the shop. McDonald’s almost got them another [win], back-to-back superspeedway wins. That would’ve been awesome, especially with them being in the 500. Just short…Great Speedweeks, though. We come home second. I’m gonna be pissed off about this for a while. I was happy on the first second-place we got a couple years ago. This one sucks when you’re that close, but all in all, I’m happy for our team. Happy for our partners and on to California.”
“I needed to be able to get to Brad [Keselowski to win],” Briscoe said. “He was having to drag so much brake for me to be able to help him that I wished I was more help. I felt like if I could’ve just locked on, I could’ve gotten him up there. To be sleeping on couches and volunteering at shops six or seven years ago, and now to have a chance to win the Daytona 500 at the end, to finish third and start the year off with these Mahindra Tractors folks and HighPoint.com, all the people that get us to the race track. We wanna be a Playoff contender this year and having a good run here is a good start. [I] Wished we could’ve had one more lap. You never know what could happen, but yeah, super cool to finish third.”
“Coming to the restart there for the green-white-checkered, I really had those thoughts like, ‘Man, this is gonna be a storybook ending coming down here for my last full-time season with this team,” Almirola said. “Having Shane [Smith, President and CEO of Smithfield] and so many people from Smithfield here. I felt like I was in a great spot. It still hurts. It’s an awesome feeling. I’m gonna miss that, coming down the white flag lap, feeling like you have a shot to win the Daytona 500. That’s an incredible feeling. Just so proud of Ford for getting to Victory Lane…This is incredible to come here and almost feel like we had a shot at getting it done. Dang it. So close.”
Kyle Busch, McDowell, Ragan, Keselowski and Elliott finished in the top 10 as 15 competitors finished on the lead lap.
Truex settled in 13th behind Daniel Hemric, Daniel Suarez ended up in 18th ahead of Kurt Busch and Logano finished 21st ahead of Villeneueve. Stenhouse, Harvick and Larson were scored in 28th, 30th and 32nd after having their opportunities to win the 500 spoiled due to the late carnage.
There were 36 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 37 laps.
Following the first event of the 2022 Cup Series event, Austin Cindric and Brad Keselowski are locked in a tie for the lead in the regular-season standings by five points ahead of Martin Truex Jr., seven over Bubba Wallace and 13 ahead of Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney.
Results.
1. Austin Cindric, 21 laps led
2. Bubba Wallace, 12 laps led
3. Chase Briscoe
4. Ryan Blaney, 36 laps led
5. Aric Almirola
6. Kyle Busch, 28 laps led
7. Michael McDowell
8. David Ragan
9. Brad Keselowski, 67 laps led
10. Chase Elliott
11. Ty Dillon
12. Daniel Hemric
13. Martin Truex Jr., 11 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
14. Corey LaJoie
15. Landon Cassill
16. Chris Buescher, one lap down
17. Cody Ware, one lap down
18. Daniel Suarez, one lap down
19. Kurt Busch, two laps down
20. Cole Custer, two laps down
21. Joey Logano, three laps down, one lap led
22. Jacques Villeneuve, three laps down
23. Justin Haley, three laps down
24. Alex Bowman, four laps down
25. Austin Dillon, four laps down
26. Kaz Grala, five laps down
27. BJ McLeod, five laps down
28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident, 16 laps led
29. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident, three laps led
30. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Dvp
31. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident
32. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident, one lap led
33. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident
34. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident
35. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident
36. Greg Biffle, 65 laps down
37. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident
38. William Byron – OUT, Accident, one lap led
39. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident, three laps led
40. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident
With the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season underway, the competitors will be embarking on a three-race West Coast swing over the next three weeks, beginning with the return of Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, following a one-year absence. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, February 27, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
In his first event as a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series competitor, Austin Hill overtook AJ Allmendinger at the moment of caution due to a harrowing multi-car wreck to win the season-opening Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 19, and claim his first Xfinity Series career victory in his 16th series start.
The 27-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led four times for a total of 23 of the 120-scheduled laps as he made a bold move beneath Allmendinger to emerge out in front and claim the victory in his first event driving the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing.
The starting lineup was determined through a qualifying session earlier in the day. Daniel Hemric, the reigning Xfinity Series champion, started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 182.849 mph. Joining him on the front row was Austin Hill, an Xfinity rookie candidate who qualified with a lap at 182.423 mph.
Ronnie Bassett Jr., Natalie Decker, Gray Gaulding, Alex Labbe, Mason Massey, Stefan Parsons, Harrison Rhodes, David Starr and Tim Viens failed to qualify into the 38-car field.
Prior to the event, Shane Lee, Sam Mayer and Ryan Truex started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective machines.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Hemric jumped with an early lead through the first two turns and through the backstraightaway. With the field fanning out to double lanes in the early stages of the event, Hemric led the first lap before he moved to the outside lane to block Sheldon Creed. At the same time, Jade Buford challenged Hemric for the lead, but was unable to clear Hemric as he retained the lead through the following lap.
Then in Turn 1, Hill pulled his No. 21 Bennett Transportation/United Rentals Chevrolet Camaro beneath Hemric’s No. 11 Athletic Greens Chevrolet as he challenged for the lead. While Hill had teammate Creed behind him, Hemric received drafting support from his new teammate Landon Cassill.
Through the first five laps of the event, Hemric and Hill continued to duel for the lead followed by Sheldon Creed, Cassill, Buford, Riley Herbst, Brett Moffitt, Josh Berry, Drew Dollar, Brandon Jones and the field. By then, Anthony Alfredo was black-flagged and was forced to pit to replace a right-side window that fell out of his car.
Five laps later, Hill was out in front ahead of Hemric, Cassill, Herbst and Gragson. By then, Creed was back in 12th ahead of Brandon Jones. In addition, Ty Gibbs was in 16th and AJ Allmendinger was in 20th.
On Lap 13, the first caution of the event flew when Drew Dollar got loose in front of Jade Buford entering the backstraightaway and shot his No. 18 Lynx Capital Toyota Supra back across the track into the path of Jeremy Clements as both competitors made hard contact against the outside wall. Behind, Sam Mayer spun, but continued. Under caution, some like Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier and Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by Hemric remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Gragson was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 19, Hemric, who restarted with the lead, retained the top spot for a full lap as the field jostled behind for positions.
By Lap 25 and with the field fanning out to three lanes through close-quarters racing, Hemric continued to lead ahead of Hill, Herbst, Ty Gibbs and Berry while Allmendinger, Cassill, Allgaier, Brandon Brown and Myatt Snider were in the top 10. By then, Gragson was in 12th behind Brandon Jones, Buford and Mayer were in 14th and 15th and Creed was in 19th in between Brett Moffitt and Kyle Weatherman.
Then on the final lap of the first stage 1, Hill mounted a challenge on Kaulig Racing’s Hemric and Allmendinger for the first stage victory. Entering Turn 3, Hill briefly got by Allmendinger, but the latter fought back entering the frontstretch. Allmendinger, however, was unable to formulate a charge for the stage victory over his new Kaulig Racing teammate as Hemric claimed the first stage victory on Lap 30. Allmendinger settled in second followed by Herbst, Hill, Gragson, Gibbs, Allgaier, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Brown and Mayer.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Hemric pitted and Brown exited first after electing to not have his tires changed. Mayer and Jeb Burton also pitted for only fuel, some like Hill and Gragson pitted for two fresh tires and others like Hemric pitted for four fresh tires. Back on the track, few like Joe Graf Jr. and Ryan Vargas remained on the track. Prior to the restart, Vargas pitted while Graf remained on the track.
The second stage started on Lap 36 as Graf and Brown occupied the front row. At the start, both competitors dueled for the lead before Brown pulled ahead entering the backstraightaway while Graf slipped out of the top five.
By Lap 40, Brown was out in front of a long line of competitors running towards the outside wall while Gragson, Hill, Gibbs and Ryan Sieg were in the top five. Allgaier, Josh Berry, Buford, Herbst and Creed were in the top 10 while Snider, Hemric, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger and Landon Cassill were in the top 15. Graf was back in 16th ahead of Brett Moffitt, rookie Jesse Iwuji, Shane Lee, Josh Bilicki and Jeb Burton while Mayer was in 23rd.
Ten laps later on Lap 50, Gragson was out in front of the field after he muscled his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro into the lead during the previous lap. By then, Ryan Sieg was in second ahead of Hill and Kaulig Racing’s Hemric and Allmendinger.
Soon after and as the field began to fan out to multiple lanes towards the front, Hemric and Allmendinger moved up to second and third as Gragson retained the lead. By then, Gibbs emerged in the top five as he formed a second line of competitors running on the inside lane ahead of Hill.
Through the closing laps of the second stage, the field settled in a long single file line towards the outside wall as Gragson led Hemric, Allmendinger, Brown, Sieg and the field. By then, Gibbs had drifted out of the top 15.
Then on the final lap of the second stage, Hemric and Gragson made contact while battling for the lead entering Turns 1 and 2, which sent Gragson nearly sideways before he slipped up the track and out of the draft as the former returned to the lead ahead of Sieg and Mayer. With the field unable to gain a draft for a final mount, Hemric was able to claim the second stage victory on Lap 60, which marked the halfway mark of the event. Sieg settled in second ahead of Mayer, Allmendinger, Allgaier, Brown, Gibbs, Berry, Jones and Herbst while Gragson, who managed to preserve his car from wrecking, fell back to 14th.
Under the stage break, the field returned to pit road and Hemric retained the lead ahead of teammate Allmendinger following a two-tire pit service. Jones, Gibbs and Gragson exited pit road in the top five. During the pit stops, Jesse Iwuji dropped to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation along with Jeb Burton, who had a crew member jump over his pit stall too early. In addition, Allgaier pitted for a second time to address missing lug nuts on his No, 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro.
With 54 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Hemric jumped ahead and pulled in front of teammate Allmendinger to retain the lead while Gibbs mounted a challenge for the lead on the outside lane with drafting help from Sheldon Creed.
By the next scheduled lap, Gibbs led a lap for himself before Hemric fought back on the inside lane.
With 50 laps remaining, Hemric was laeding ahead of teammate Allmendinger, Gibbs, Creed and Cassill.
Four laps later, Kaulig Racing’s Hemric, Allmendinger and Cassill pitted under green. During the following lap, a next wave of competitors, including Mayer, Buford, Creed, Gragson and Hill pitted, but Mayer spun prior to reaching the pit road entrance. Despite the spin, Mayer was able to straighten his car into his pit stall as the race proceeded under green, but he returned not long after for a new bumper cover.
Down to the final 40 laps of the event and with most of the field having made a pit stop, Josh Bilicki was leading ahead of Matt Mills, Ryan Vargas, Bayley Currey and Josh Williams, all of whom needed to pit, while Shane Lee, CJ McLaughlin, Hill, Gragson and Allmendinger were in the top 10. Cassill, Hemric and Gibbs were in 11th, 12th and 13th ahead of Creed and Brandon Jones.
Four laps later, the caution returned due to Mayer’s bumper replacement coming off of his car in Turn 4. Under caution, some led by Bilicki pitted while the rest led by Austin Hill remained on the track. Among those who pitted included Hemric, who had all four tires on his car changed due to concerns of flat-spotting his tires.
With 29 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hill and Gragson dueled for the lead before Hill received a push from Allmendinger on the inside lane to retain the lead for a full lap.
Shortly after, the caution flew when the No. 38 Ford Mustang piloted by CJ McLaughlin got loose entering the frontstretch and came back across the middle of the track, which triggered a multi-car wreck that collected Moffitt, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Iwuji, Lee, Tommy Joe Martins, Joey Gase, Josh Williams, Kyle Weatherman and Hemric.
With 23 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Hill muscled with an early advantage before he moved up the track entering Turns 1 and 2. This allowed Allmendinger to storm to the lead with drafting help from new teammate Landon Cassill.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Allmendinger continued to lead ahead of teammate Cassill and Hill while Gibbs, Gragson, Jones, Herbst, Allgaier, Buford and Jeb Burton were in the top 10.
Three laps later, Hill cleared Allmendinger to control both lanes with the lead as he had drafting help from Gragson and Riley Herbst.
With less than 15 laps remaining, Allmendinger returned to the lead as Allgaier charged his way to the front ahead of Hill. Allgaier, however, slipped back into the top 10 as Hill led a parade of competitors running towards the outside lane behind Allmendinger’s No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Allmendinger remained as the leader followed by Hill, Gragson, Herbst and Creed, who was back in the top five. Snider, Buford, Bilicki, Brown and Allgaier were in the top 10 ahead of Cassill, Jeb Burton, Anthony Alfredo, Gibbs and Sieg.
With five laps remaining and the top-25 competitors separated by five seconds, Allmendinger led ahead of Hill, Gragson, Herbst and Creed.
Then with two laps remaining, Gragson made his move to the front on the inside lane and drew himself alongside Allmendinger as the field fanned out to two lanes and close quarters racing.
When the white flag waved and the final lap commenced, Allmendinger continued to lead ahead of Hill, Gragson and the field. Then on the backstraightaway, Hill, who had drafting help from Herbst, made a crossover move beneath Allmendinger to challenge him for the lead. Behind, a multi-car wreck ensued that started when Myatt Snider got bumped and turned off the front bumper of Anthony Alfredo, which he was then hit by a pack of oncoming cars as his car was sent airborne and caught the catchfence while upside down before landing back on the track right-side up and in a shower of sparks with the front and rear ends of the car shredded off. Among those involved in the wreck included Matt Mills, Buford, Martins, Jeb Burton, Cassill and Gibbs.
The wreck forced NASCAR to declare the event official and conclude under caution. At the moment of caution, Austin Hill was ruled the winner after emerging out in front of Allmendinger.
The victory made Hill the 171st overall competitor to achieve a win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the 18th to do so while driving for Richard Childress Racing as RCR achieved their first Xfinity victory at Daytona International Speedway since July 2015. This also marked the first time since RCR’s No. 21 car won an Xfinity event since Kevin Harvick made the last accomplishment at Texas Motor Speedway in November 2007.
In addition, Hill achieved his second NASCAR national touring series victory at Daytona, the track where he achieved his first Camping World Truck Series in 2019, and he became the first Xfinity Series competitor to score a first career victory at Daytona since Noah Gragson made the last accomplishment in 2020.
“Me and [spotter] Derek Kneeland worked really well tonight,” Hill said on FS1. “I was learning all night. I kept telling him, ‘Hey, I’m putting that in the bank, I’m putting that in the bank. I’m just putting that in the memory bank to remember for late in the race.’ We timed [the pass] perfectly. Obviously, that caution came out, but we had a heck of a run, so who knows what would’ve happened there. I was able to drag back, [Herbst] gave me a heck of a push, we were able to get by [Allmendinger]. This is so crazy. [I] Won [Daytona] back in 2019 with a new team. Now we’re with RCR, first race with them, we were able to get the job done. Our United Rentals Chevrolet was just as fast as Xfinity Internet. Man, I’m speechless. [Crew chief] Andy Street, [team owner] Richard Childress, just all these guys back at RCR for believing in me. It’s been a fun off-season and now we get to go race for a championship.”
Despite enduring a wild ride on the final lap, Snider emerged uninjured from his battered No. 31 TaxSlayer Chevrolet Camaro and made the mandatory trip to the infield car center, where he was evaluated and released.
Allmendinger settled in second place while Gragson, Herbst and Allgaier completed the top five on the track. Creed, Alfredo, Ryan Sieg, Josh Bilicki and Brandon Brown finished in the top 10.
There were 18 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 28 laps.
Following the first event of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Allmendinger leads the regular season standings by four points over Hill, nine over Herbst and Allgaier, 10 over Sieg and 11 over Gragson.
Results.
1. Austin Hill, 23 laps led
2. AJ Allmendinger, 18 laps led
3. Noah Gragson, 12 laps led
4. Riley Herbst
5. Justin Allgaier
6. Sheldon Creed
7. Anthony Alfredo
8. Ryan Sieg
9. Josh Bilicki, 10 laps led
10. Brandon Brown, 12 laps led
11. Ty Gibbs, three laps led
12. Ryan Truex
13. JJ Yeley
14. Landon Cassill
15. Jeffrey Earnhardt
16. Josh Berry, one lap led
17. Brandon Jones
18. Ryan Vargas
19. Jeb Burton
20. Bayley Currey
21. Kyle Sieg
22. Myatt Snider – OUT, Accident
23. Jade Buford – OUT, Accident
24. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Accident
25. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident
26. Joey Gase, one lap down
27. Jesse Iwuji, two laps down
28. Daniel Hemric, four laps down, 38 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
29. Joe Graf Jr., 10 laps down, three laps led
30. Sam Mayer, 15 laps down
31. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident
32. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident
33. Shane Lee – OUT, Accident
34. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Accident
35. CJ McLaughlin – OUT, Accident
36. Drew Dollar – OUT, Accident
37. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Accident
38. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Engine
Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ return to Auto Club Speedway, which also commences a three-week West Coast swing for the series. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, March 26, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
Chris Buescher capped off a perfect day for the newly named Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing by winning the second Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, February 17, despite being involved in a last lap incident with Joey Logano that sent Logano hard into the wall and with a wrecked race car leading up to this year’s 64th running of the Daytona 500.
The second Duel victory awarded Buescher a starting spot on the second row alongside teammate Brad Keselowski in fourth place as he will contend for his first victory in his seventh career start in the Great American Race.
Prior to the event, Alex Bowman, who claimed a front row starting spot for the 64th running of the Daytona 500, started on the pole and was joined on the front row with Aric Almirola. In addition, Jacques Villeneuve, who locked himself into the 500 based on qualifying speed, fell out of lead lap contention after enduring a throttle cable issue before he could roll his car out on the track for the pace laps.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Bowman assumed an early command with the lead while Almirola challenged Martin Truex Jr. for the runner-up spot on the outside lane.
By the first lap, Bowman was leading ahead of Truex, who had Joey Logano challenge him on the outside lane with drafting help from rookie Harrison Burton while Almirola lost the draft and drifted towards the rear of the field.
During the following lap, Logano led by a hair through the tri-oval before Bowman stormed back to the lead on the inside lane in Turn 3 with drafting help from Truex and the competitors lined up on the inside lane.
By the fifth lap, Bowman was leading ahead of Logano and Truex, both of whom were locked in a side-by-side battle in front of Burton, Denny Hamlin and the field.
Three laps later, Logano peaked his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang ahead with the lead. Another two laps later, however, Bowman fought back to lead another lap for himself before Logano assumed full command, beginning on Lap 11.
By Lap 15, the Dillon brothers moved to the front as Austin Dillon assumed the lead followed by brother Ty. Another two laps later, however, Chris Buescher moved his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang into the lead before Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led a lap for himself on Lap 18.
Through the first 20 laps of the event, Buescher was leading ahead of Stenhouse, Kevin Harvick, Michael McDowell Logano while Burton, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch were in the top 10.
On Lap 26, some competitors that included Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin pitted under green. In the midst of the pit stops, Hamlin locked up the front tires of his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry while trying to enter pit road and spun just past the pit road entrance. Despite continuing, he lost the draft with his Toyota teammates and was mired back in 19th place.
Back on the track, Buescher continued to lead followed by Stenhouse, Harvick, McDowell and Logano.
At the halfway mark on Lap 30, Buescher retained the lead ahead of Stenhouse, Harvick, McDowell and Logano. Burton, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Biffle and Kyle Busch were in the top 10. By then, Biffle was in a transfer spot and 12 spots ahead of Timmy Hill, who was also vying for a transfer spot but mired back in 21st place, dead last.
Two laps later, the next wave of competitors led by Stenhouse pitted under green. Then coming to Lap 34, Buescher pitted as Logano cycled to the lead. In the midst of the pit stops, Biffle endured a long pit stop after his pit crew had issues while trying to get fuel in his car, but he retained a transfer spot for the 500 ahead of Hill and Villeneuve.
With 20 laps remaining, Logano was leading ahead of Buescher, McDowell and Harrison Burton, all of whom were separated by less three-tenths of a second while fifth-place Stenhouse trailed by less than nine seconds. Harvick, Kyle Busch, Bell, Truex and Bubba Wallace were in the top 10 while Biffle retained a transfer spot in 14th place, six spots ahead of Timmy Hill and seven ahead of Villeneuve.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Logano continued to lead by a narrow margin over Buescher, McDowell, Harrison Burton and Kyle Busch while Bell, Truex, Wallace, Stenhouse and Harvick were in the top 10. Behind, Biffle was in 14th ahead of Bowman, but in a transfer spot while Hill and Villeneueve were mired back in 20th and 21st.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano continued to lead ahead of Buescher, McDowell and Burton as Harvick was lapped. Then entering the backstraightaway, Buescher, who tried to make a move beneath Logano, made contact with Logano as Logano tried to block Buescher’s run, which sent Logano head-on into the outside wall. While Buescher and McDowell bolted to the left to avoid the carnage, Burton made contact with Logano’s damaged No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, which sent his car spinning while Burton continued.
Logano’s wreck ended the event under caution as Buescher crossed the finish line in first place ahead of McDowell and Burton. Shortly after, Buescher was declared the winner of the event following an official review.
The victory marked Buescher’s first victory in the NASCAR Cup Series since claiming his first career victory at Pocono Raceway during a rain-shortened event and his first career Daytona Speedweeks win.
“What a way to start Speedweeks out here,” Buescher said on FS1. “To put both [Roush Fenway Keselowski] Ford Mustangs to Victory Lane. To get Fastenal their first win on a Cup car. I know it’s not the big show, but we got a really good hot rod here. Just hats off to everybody back at the shop. I know it’s been a heck of an off-season for everybody at our sport, but we’ve had a lot of changes going on and that’s cool to see it play out…We’re in a good spot here. That’s exciting.”
Following his wreck, Logano ended the night in ninth place, the first competitor a lap down.
“I just made a mistake,” Logano, who emerged from the infield care center uninjured, said. “I didn’t think the run would come that quick. It just seemed like it happened really quick. Even watching the replay, it happened quicker than I thought it would. I knew a run was gonna happen at some point on the last lap. I thought that was pretty early…Thought I was still clear and I wasn’t. I apologize to my race team…Just blew it. ”
McDowell and Burton were scored in second and third while Kyle Busch and teammate Bell finished in the top five. Truex, Wallace and Stenhouse finished sixth, seventh and eighth while Harvick settled in 10th, a lap behind.
Meanwhile, Greg Biffle finished 13th and raced his way into this year’s 64th running of the Daytona 500 while driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for NY Racing. With the accomplishment, Biffle will be making his 511th career start in NASCAR’s premier series and contend for his first victory in the Great American Race, which will mark his 15th career start in the 500.
“It was a tough go,” Biffle said. “I gotta thank Chevy, [Richard Childress Racing], Hendrick engines and [crew chief] Jay Guy. The car drove so good. This was a last minute deal. These team guys thrown together. We had trouble getting fuel in the car. I ran out of gas with two laps to go…Everything happened tonight, but we finished 14th. I’m glad maybe that fuel stop wasn’t perfect because I might’ve been in that wreck [on the final lap]. ”
Timmy Hill, who finished 20th, failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 while Jacques Villeneuve, who retired in 21st place, dead last, secured the final transfer spot to the 500 based on his qualifying speed.
There were 11 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured one caution for one lap.
Results.
1. Chris Buescher, 17 laps led
2. Michael McDowell
3. Harrison Burton
4. Kyle Busch
5. Christopher Bell
6. Martin Truex Jr.
7. Bubba Wallace
8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap led
9. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 33 laps led
10. Kevin Harvick, one lap down
11. Corey LaJoie, one lap down
12. Ty Dillon, one lap down
13. Greg Biffle, one lap down
14. Alex Bowman, one lap down, seven laps led
15. Denny Hamlin, one lap down
16. Cody Ware, one lap down
17. David Ragan, two laps down
18. Austin Dillon, two laps led
19. Aric Almirola, two laps down
20. Timmy Hill, four laps down
21. Jacques Villeneuve – OUT, Electrical
With the starting lineup for the 2022 Daytona 500 established, the main event is set to commence on Sunday, February 20, which will also mark the start of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. Coverage for the event is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
