Competing in his third full-time season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Noah Gragson is within reach of achieving a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s Playoff event at Kansas Speedway, the driver of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro will make his 100th career start in the Xfinity circuit.
A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Gragson made his Xfinity Series debut at Richmond Raceway in April 2018. By then, he was also competing in his second full-time season in the NASCAR Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Driving the No. 18 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, Gragson notched an impressive runner-up finish in his series debut following a late battle with teammate/eventual winner Christopher Bell.
Gragson returned for the following two Xfinity events at Talladega Superspeedway in April and at Dover International Speedway in May, where he finished fourth and seventh respectively.
After settling in the runner-up position in the 2018 Truck Series drivers’ standings, Gragson moved up to the Xfinity Series on a full-time basis in 2019, where he took over the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. By the, JRM’s No. 9 team was coming off back-to-back Xfinity championships. Starting the season with an 11th-place result at Daytona International Speedway in February, Gragson achieved nine top-five results, 22 top-10 results and an average result of 9.3 throughout the 33-race schedule. He made the 2019 Xfinity Playoffs and made it all the way to the penultimate round before being eliminated from title contention and settling in eighth place in the final standings.
Gragson kicked off the 2020 Xfinity season on a high note by achieving his first Xfinity Series career victory at Daytona in February after assuming the lead on a two-lap shootout and retaining the lead on the final lap when a multi-car wreck concluded the race under caution. Six races later, he achieved his second series win at Bristol Motor Speedway in June despite being involved in a late-race incident with teammate Justin Allgaier.
Gragson went on to make the 2020 Xfinity Playoffs for a second consecutive season, but he came up short in making the Championship Round finale as a title contender after he was eliminated following the Round of 8 in October. Overall, Gragson went on to achieve his first two Xfinity career victories, 17 top-five results, 25 top-10 results, an average-finishing result of 8.8 and a fifth-place result in the final standings.
After finishing no higher than 23rd through the first three Xfinity races of 2021, Gragson recorded eight top-five results and 14 top-10 results during the following 20 events. Then at Darlington Raceway in September, he made his yearlong return to Victory Lane after holding off former teammate Harrison Burton in a two-lap shootout. The momentum for Gragson did not stop there as he muscled his way to back-to-back victories and a fourth Xfinity career win at Richmond Raceway following a seven-lap shootout. The victories were enough for him to earn a Playoff spot for a third consecutive season.
Finishing in the top 10 twice during the Round of 12 were also enough for Gragson to advance in the Round of 8, where he is coming off a strong third-place effort at Texas Motor Speedway. Gragson is currently ranked in fourth place in the Playoff standings and is two points above the top-four cutline to advance to the Championship Round and contend for his first NASCAR national touring series championship.
Through 99 previous Xfinity starts, Gragson has achieved four career wins, 40 top-five results, 69 top-10 results, 902 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.1.
Gragson is primed to make his 100th Xfinity Series career start at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, October 23, with the event scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Brandon Jones will be returning for a fifth consecutive full-time season with the organization for the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.
The news gives the 24-year-old native from Atlanta, Georgia, continuous driving control of the No. 19 Toyota Supra for the upcoming Xfinity season.
Since joining JGR in 2018, Jones has achieved his first four career victories in the Xfinity circuit (one in 2019 and three in 2020) along with one pole, 29 top-five results, 69 top-10 results and four consecutive appearances in the Xfinity Series Playoffs, including the 2021 season. His best result in the final Xfinity standings is sixth place, which occurred in 2020.
To go along with his driving plans next season, Jones will be having veteran Jeff Meendering remaining as his crew chief. Meendering, a native from Grand Rapids, Michigan, has worked with Jones and Joe Gibbs Racing since 2019. Also remaining with the No. 19 JGR team will be Menards, which will sponsor Jones throughout the 33-race schedule, beginning at Daytona International Speedway in February 2022.
“This has been a very strong season so far and I couldn’t be prouder of our 19 team,” Jones said. “It will be great to have Jeff Meendering back as my crew chief for the third consecutive year; his leadership is exactly what this team needs. I also realize how fortunate I am to have partners like Menards and Toyota; their support means the world to me. I couldn’t be more excited to have Menards return and more importantly, their support for the full season. It’s huge. I am thrilled to be back at Joe Gibbs Racing next season. Right now, I remain focused on our championship run and making it to Phoenix this year for a shot at the Xfinity Series title.”
“Brandon provides a veteran driver presence in the Xfinity Series for us,” Joe Gibbs, owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, added. “He has advanced into the final eight of the NASCAR playoffs for the second consecutive year and now our focus is to make it into the next round with the opportunity to race for the championship in Phoenix. We’re excited to have him back next season with the opportunity to represent Menards every week.”
“We are excited about the opportunity to be a full-time sponsor for Brandon Jones in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing,” Jeff Abbott, Menards Marketing and Promotions Manager, added. “Brandon has gained valuable experience through the years at many levels of racing, including winning in the ARCA Menards Series, NASCAR Truck Series and Xfinity Series and most recently by qualifying twice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. Brandon has proven himself time and again by winning races, competing for championships and being an outstanding ambassador for Menards and our valued racing partners. We look forward to being a part of his continuing success in 2022.”
Through the first 30 events of the 2021 Xfinity Series season, Jones has recorded a single stage victory, which occurred at Daytona in February. He has also notched three runner-up results, 11 top-five results and 17 top-10 results. He is currently competing in the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoffs and one of eight competitors vying for the 2021 Xfinity championship in the Round of 8 while ranked in eighth place in the standings and 32 points below the top-four cutline to make the Championship 4 round cut for the finale at Phoenix Raceway in early November.
With his racing plans for 2022 set, Jones, who is coming off his 100th Xfinity career start at Texas Motor Speedway, is scheduled to continue his pursuit for the 2021 Xfinity title at Kansas Speedway, a track where Jones has won at twice, on Saturday, October 23. The event is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
The 2021 comeback, dream season for Kyle Larson became even brighter as the California kid dominated and fended off the field through four restarts under the final 25 laps to win the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 17.
By winning the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener at the Lone Star state for his eighth victory of the season, Larson punched his ticket to the Championship 4 Round at Phoenix Raceway scheduled in early November as he will contend for his first NASCAR Cup Series championship.
The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Kyle Larson, winner of last weekend’s Playoff event at the Charlotte Roval, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Denny Hamlin.
Prior to the event, Playoff contender Chase Elliott started at the rear of the field due to his No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE failing pre-race inspection twice. Other competitors who started at the rear of the field due to two inspection failures included Corey LaJoie, rookie Chase Briscoe, Garrett Smithley and David Starr. Prior to the start, Alex Bowman, who was recently eliminated from the Playoffs, and Justin Haley also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective machines.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Larson received a push from Kyle Busch to jump to an early advantage for a full lap. With Larson leading the first lap, he had the green No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry piloted by Kyle Busch close in his rearview mirrors while the No. 22 AAA Insurance Ford Mustang driven by Joey Logano started to close in. Denny Hamlin maintained fourth while Martin Truex Jr. was challenged by Tyler Reddick and others for more.
By the fifth lap, Larson was out in front by nearly half a second over Kyle Busch. While Hamlin started to challenge Logano for third, Ryan Blaney moved up to fifth followed by teammate Brad Keselowski.
Through the first 10 laps of the event, Larson stabilized his advantage to nearly half a second over Kyle Busch while Logano, Blaney and Hamlin were in the top five. William Byron, following his elimination from the Playoffs, was up in sixth followed by Keselowski, Truex, Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher. Meanwhile, Chase Elliott was up in 18th.
Ten laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Logano, who overtook Kyle Busch earlier. Blaney, meanwhile, started to close in on Logano and Busch for more while Byron was up in fifth ahead of Hamlin’s No. 11 Craftsman Toyota Camry.
When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Larson was leading by more than three seconds over Logano, who had teammate Blaney starting to challenge him for the runner-up spot. Behind, Byron moved his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE ahead of Kyle Busch. While seven Playoff contenders were in the top 10, Elliott, the eighth and final title contender, was up in 13th in between Buescher and Bubba Wallace.
Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Byron, who opted for a two-tire pit stop, leapfrogged from fourth to the lead followed by Truex, Kyle Busch, Reddick, Christopher Bell and Logano, who made light contact with Justin Haley’s Spire Motorsports car while exiting his pit stall. Following the pit stops, however, Kyle Busch was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.
When the race restarted on Lap 30, Byron maintained the lead ahead of Truex and Reddick as the field fanned out to multiple lanes entering the first two turns. Just then, the caution returned for a 10-car wreck that started when Bubba Wallace, who was in between Kurt Busch and Keselowski, got loose underneath Busch, clipped Michael McDowell and was hit by Ross Chastain while Alex Bowman got turned after being hit by Cole Custer, Aric Almirola and Ryan Newman. Also involved were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., teammate Ryan Preece, Haley, Cody Ware and Joey Gase as many were taken out of contention.
In the midst of the carnage, Kyle Busch, who sustained minimal rear-end damage but managed to dodge most of the carnage, pitted for fresh tires along with Keselowski and Blaney.
Following an extensive cleanup, the race restarted on Lap 39. At the start, Truex engaged in a heated side-by-side battle with Byron as the field again fanned out while jostling for positions. Truex managed to lead the following lap by a nose before Byron fought back on the inside lane and cleared Truex entering the backstretch. Behind was Matt DiBenedetto along with Logano and Bell while Hamlin was in sixth. Meanwhile, Elliott was left in a battle with Austin Dillon and Larson for eighth.
On Lap 43, Reddick made the slightest of air contact with Truex entering Turn 3, which wiggled Truex’s car up the track and dropped him from second to fifth as Reddick, DiBenedetto and Logano took advantage of Truex’s misfortune.
Through the first 50 laps of the event, Byron was leading by six-tenths of a second over Reddick while third-place DiBenedetto trailed by more than two seconds. Teammates Hamlin and Truex were in the top five ahead of Elliott. Bell, Larson, Blaney and Logano were in the top 10 followed by Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Daniel Suarez. Kyle Busch, meanwhile, was in 16th ahead of Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe and Corey LaJoie.
Ten laps later, Byron continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Reddick while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, teammates Larson and Elliott moved in the top five ahead of Blaney, DiBenedetto, Bell, Truex and Erik Jones. Kyle Busch was in 11th, Logano was back in 12th and Keselowski was mired in 17th.
Another 10 laps later, Byron stretched his advantage to more than a second over Reddick. Meanwhile, Larson flew his way to third place ahead of Hamlin, Elliott and Blaney while Kyle Busch worked his way up to seventh. Truex, however, slipped back to 10th in between DiBenedetto and Kurt Busch while Logano and Keselowski were in 13th and 17th.
On Lap 82, Larson returned to the lead after gaining a huge momentum entering the backstretch and overtaking teammate Byron on four fresh tires compared to no fresh tires to Byron.
Three laps later, Larson slowly started to extend his advantage to nearly seven-tenths of a second over teammate Byron while Reddick, Hamlin and Elliott remained in the top five.
Another five laps later, Larson’s advantage grew to more than a second over teammate Byron.
On Lap 95, Larson pitted under green along with Byron, Reddick, DiBenedetto, Logano and others. Soon after, names like Elliott, Harvick and Hamlin, who led two laps, pitted. In the midst of the pit stops, Kyle Busch, racing with race engineer Seth Chavka serving as an interim crew chief, was leading with plans on winning the stage after pitting under the previous caution for the multi-car wreck.
At the Lap 100 mark, Kyle Busch was leading by three-tenths of a second over teammate Bell while Blaney, Kurt Busch and Buescher were in the top five. By then, Truex pitted under green. Soon after, Bell surrendered the runner-up spot to pit.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 105, Kyle Busch claimed his seventh stage victory of the season. Blaney settled in second ahead of Larson, Kurt Busch, Byron, Briscoe, Hamlin, Elliott, Reddick and Keselowski. By then, 12 competitors were scored on the lead lap while names like Truex and Logano were behind a lap.
Under the stage break, the lead lap competitors pitted as Kyle Busch retained the lead ahead of Larson, Kurt Busch, Truex, Blaney and Byron.
The second stage started on Lap 112. At the start, Kyle Busch received a push from Byron to clear Larson entering the first turn and maintain the lead.
The following lap, Briscoe nearly made contact with Blaney entering Turn 3, but both competitors kept their cars straight as Briscoe moved up to sixth behind teammate Harvick. Meanwhile, Larson challenged Kyle Busch for the lead while Byron and Elliott were in third and fourth.
After battling Busch side-by-side for a full lap, Larson reassumed the lead approaching Lap 117 ahead of Kyle Busch while Harvick challenged Byron for third ahead of Reddick, Elliott and Briscoe.
By Lap 120, Larson was out in front by nearly half a second over teammate Byron while Kyle Busch settled in third ahead of Reddick, Harvick and Elliott. Logano made his way up to seventh ahead of teammate Keselowski, Briscoe and Blaney while Hamlin and Truex were in 11th and 12th.
Through the first 150 laps of the event, Larson, racing in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, stabilized his advantage to nearly three seconds over teammate Byron while Kyle Busch, Reddick and Harvick were in the top five. Blaney and Elliott were in sixth and seventh followed by Keselowski, Keselowski and Hamlin while Truex was in 11th.
Nearly five laps later, green flag pit stops occurred as Elliott pitted his No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Soon after, Austin Dillon pitted along with Logano, Reddick, Erik Jones, DiBenedetto.
Just three laps shy of the halfway mark scheduled on Lap 167, the fourth caution of the event flew due to debris reported on the backstretch.
Under caution, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead upon exiting his pit stall followed by Kyle Busch, Byron, Keselowski, Harvick and Blaney.
When the race restarted on Lap 170, Larson received a push from teammate Byron to maintain the lead ahead of Kyle Busch and clear the field. While Byron and Kyle Busch battled for second, Penske teammates Blaney and Keselowski dueled for fourth and more while Harvick was in sixth.
By Lap 180, Larson was leading by three-tenths of a second over teammate Byron while Blaney, Keselowski and Harvick were in the top five. While Kurt Busch was up in sixth, brother Kyle was back in seventh ahead of Hamlin, Briscoe and Truex.
At the Lap 200 mark, Larson continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over teammate Byron while Blaney, Harvick and Keselowski remained in the top five. Kurt Busch, Briscoe, Hamlin and Reddick were running sixth through ninth while Kyle Busch was mired back in 10th ahead of Truex and Logano.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 210, Larson, who encountered brief lapped traffic, fended off a hard-charging, teammate Byron and notched his 16th stage victory of the season. Blaney fended off Harvick to finish behind the two Hendrick Motorsports teammates while Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Hamlin, Briscoe, Reddick and Kyle Busch were scored in the top 10. The Playoff contenders finishing outside of the top-10 stage points spots were Truex (11th), Logano, (12th) and Elliott (15th).
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead following his service and after beating teammate Byron back to the pit exit line. Keselowski followed suit along with Blaney, Kurt Busch and Harvick. Following the pit stops, Daniel Suarez was penalized for speeding on pit road.
With 118 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Larson was being pushed by Blaney on the inside lane while Byron was being pushed by Keselowski on the outside lane. Entering the backstretch, however, Larson persevered for the lead while Blaney challenged Byron for second.
The following lap, Kurt Busch, who was in sixth, dropped off the pace through the backstretch and made his way to pit road under green for two fresh left-side tires.
Back at the front, Larson was leading by a narrow margin over teammate Byron while Harvick was in third along with Keselowski, Blaney, Hamlin, Logano, Kyle Busch, Briscoe and Reddick.
With 110 laps remaining, Larson slowly started to pull away with the lead while Harvick and Byron battled for second ahead of Keselowski and Blaney.
Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Larson stretched his advantage to more than a second over teammate Byron while Keselowski, Blaney and Harvick were in the top five. Reddick was up in sixth followed by Briscoe, Hamlin, Logano and Kyle Busch while Elliott and Truex were in 11th and 12th.
With 75 laps remaining, teammates Larson and Byron remained in first and second despite both battling vibration issues to their respective Chevrolets. Keselowski was in third, trailing by three seconds, while Blaney and Reddick remained in the top five. By then, Kyle Busch was outside of the top 10 in 11th while Elliott occupied 10th place. Not long after, Bell pitted under green.
Fifteen laps later, the caution flew when Briscoe, who was having a strong run in the top 10 and was battling Hamlin earlier before making contact with Hamlin and touching the Turn 4 outside wall, cut a right-rear tire and shredded debris through the backstretch.
Under caution, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead followed by Byron, Keselowski, Reddick, Hamlin and Blaney.
With 54 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Larson received a push from Keselowski to clear teammate Byron and remain as the leader ahead of the field.
Four laps later, the battle for the lead started to ignite as Byron challenged Larson for the lead. Despite keeping his leader and teammate within his sights, Byron still could not gain a run to seal the deal over Larson.
Another 10 laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to three-tenths of a second over teammate Byron and six-tenths of a second over Keselowski while Reddick trailed by less than a second. Blaney was in fifth ahead of Hamlin, who had Daniel Suarez and Elliott closing in. Harvick and Logano were in the top 10 just ahead of Kyle Busch and Truex.
With 36 laps remaining, the seventh caution of the event flew when the motor on Logano’s No. 22 AAA Ford Mustang blew up through the backstretch, which forced the 2018 Cup champion to end his race in the garage and place an early blow to start the Round of 8.
Under caution, some led by Elliott pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.
Down to the final 30 laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Larson and Byron dueled for the lead followed by Reddick and Keselowski. Just then, the caution returned as Kyle Busch got Buescher sideways while rookie Anthony Alfredo, who made contact with teammate Michael McDowell, spun and backed his car into the outside wall in Turn 1. As Alfredo’s car slid down the track, fire then erupted beneath Alfredo’s car and the Turn 1 surface, though Alfredo was able to safely exit out of his car. The incident was enough for the event to be red-flagged for 11 minutes.
When the red flag was lifted and the race restarted with 25 laps remaining, Larson received a push from Reddick to remain as the leader while Reddick challenged Byron for second. Behind, Hamlin made his way into fourth place ahead of Blaney while Keselowski slipped to sixth ahead of Harvick.
The following lap, a three-wide action occurred between Hamlin, Blaney and Harvick as they battled for fourth for a full lap in front of Truex and Kyle Busch. Then, Blaney made contact with Hamlin entering the frontstretch, which resulted in a tire rub and smoke coming out of Hamlin’s No. 11 Craftsman Toyota. Despite the contact, Hamlin, for the moment, continued in seventh behind Keselowski, Harvick and Blaney.
Back at the front, Larson continued to lead ahead Reddick, who overtook Byron for second as Keselowski remained in the hunt.
Then nearing the final 20 laps of the event, the caution returned when Hamlin spun through the backstretch after cutting the left-rear tire, which came from the contact with Blaney. Despite having minimum damage to his car, Hamlin, who also had a flat right-front tire, pitted and continued.
Down to the final 16 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Byron shoved teammate Larson to the lead before trying to fend off Reddick and Harvick for second.
Shortly after, the 10th caution of the event flew when Truex, who was bumped by Suarez, made hard contact into the Turn 3 outside wall before limping his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry to his pit stall with significant right-side damage. The damage was enough to knock Truex out of contention in the closing stages of the event.
With nine laps remaining, the race restarted as teammates Larson and Byron retained the front row. At the start, Larson received another strong shove on the inside lane from Reddick to retain the lead. While Byron retained second, Reddick also fended off Keselowski, Blaney, Bell and Harvick to settle in third while challenging Byron for more.
With seven laps remaining, Reddick slipped beneath Byron in Turn 3 while trying to take second, which resulted with Reddick slipping out of the top five as Larson ran away with the lead.
Just then, the 11th caution flew when Briscoe and Buescher made contact entering the backstretch, which resulted with Buescher spinning and getting hit by Hamlin before making hard contact with the inside wall and ending his race with a wrecked race car.
With the race set to a two-lap shootout, the green flag waved as teammates Larson and Byron occupied the front row once again. At the start, Larson was able to clear Byron entering the first two turns to keep the lead as the field battled and fanned out behind.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson continued to lead while Keselowski challenged Byron for second. With the side-by-side battles occurring behind him, Larson streaked away from the field and came back around to claim his eighth checkered flag of the 2021 season.
By claiming his 14th NASCAR Cup Series career win and sweeping both Texas Motor Speedway Cup events of this season (he won the All-Star Race at Texas in June), Larson will make his first appearance in the Championship 4 Round as a title contender as he looks to deliver a second consecutive title for Hendrick Motorsports.
“This is unreal,” Larson said on NBC. “I knew we’d have a good shot to win today and our car was amazing. That’s probably the best 550 [mph] package, intermediate car we’ve had all year. Thanks to everybody on this No. 5 team, HendrickCars.com, [owner] Rick Hendrick. This is so cool. We get to go race for a championship in a few weeks. This is crazy. I just got good pushes from behind me, really. I tried to stay patient on the throttle, to keep them to my back bumper and thankfully, I was able to just barely clear them every time into [Turn] 1 and not have to fight them off of [Turn] 2. Thanks to William [Byron], Tyler [Reddick], Brad Keselowski, anybody who was ever behind me, especially Brad there that last restart. Just awesome to win and hope we can get some more wins throughout the rest of the year.”
“I don’t think we’re gonna lose focus on Kansas [Speedway] or Martinsville [Speedway], but I definitely think we can shift a little bit more to Phoenix [Raceway] car,” Larson added. “Really look forward to that. I love the West Coast. I love Phoenix. We’ve always been fast there. I think we should have a good shot. Our team’s been so strong all year long and might as well close it out now.”
Byron received a push from Bell through the frontstretch to claim the runner-up spot, which moved Bell up to third and dropped Keselowski to fourth while Harvick finished in the top five.
“It’s all about the push,” Byron said. “I think here at Texas, the shortest lane kind of wins out because of the way the track kind of separates into Turn 1. The AXALTA Chevy was fast all day. We just never quite got control. I think [Larson] was definitely better than us that first stage and then, I was right there with him the rest of the time and it was just clean air, basically. Congrats to [Larson]. Kyle really deserves it. They’ve been awesome all year, flawless on pit road, pit calls and everything. Our team’s right there and I think we’re building something really good for years to come.”
“The last few times we’ve been here, you get 40-, 50-, 100-lap runs in the end and jeez, we didn’t run more than two laps at the time for the last 45, 50 laps,” Keselowski said. “That’s not what we needed. We needed the long runs to be able to keep them honest. We had the long-run speed. Those guys were just blistering fast, [Larson] and [Byron]. Every restart, they just drove away from me. It’s kind of like, ‘Come on, give me some laps and let their stuff wear down!’ Just wasn’t the way it played out. We gained a point, but we moved up from eighth to sixth [in the standings], so that’s a nice little win for us. If you keep running like that, scoring high 30s, low 40s in points, we’ll transfer in.”
Finishing in the top 10 were Blaney, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Reddick and Suarez. Hamlin, meanwhile, limped across the finish line in 11th place and with damage to the front nose of his car following his involvement in the previous caution.
“It just gets wild and crazy,” Blaney said. “There’s not a ton of room here to kind of go on restarts and then, just trying to help each lane kind of move forward. You hope the lane you pick moves forward and I thought we could run third or fourth. I thought the top two, [Larson] and [Byron], were pretty spectacular. I thought we could run third or fourth and just lost a couple of spots here and there on each restart. Gained one, lose one and then, we ended up sixth. Proud of the Dex Imaging Ford Mustang team today. Good stage points. We got a good finish out of it. Go on to Kansas and keep on at it…Just gotta keep doing what you’re doing. I don’t think you can ever get comfortable unless you’re [Larson] right now for the next two races. You just have to keep racing like you have been. We did a good job on pit road and didn’t make any mistakes today. Had a fast enough car to run up at the front. You hope to bring that every single week. We’ll keep on focusing on one race at a time.”
“I thought by the end, we were decent,” Elliott said. “Just by that point, obviously, too late…Congrats to Kyle. Hopefully, we can join those guys in Phoenix. I’m looking forward to these next two weeks. I think we can run good at the next couple [races]. We all got to be super close in points. I feel like we just go do our jobs these next two weeks and control what’s in our hands. and we’ll be alright. “
“We probably missed four or five points there at the end of the day, but we missed four or five points at the stage as well, too” Kyle Busch said. “That’s about all we missed out on. We just didn’t have it. Certainly, [Larson] and [Byron] were the class of the field again. We were just slow. I found some laps where I could run wide open and I was able to just barely, barely, barely make the same time as them. Anytime I had to get out of the gas, they would just drive away. Got to go back to the drawing board for next week. Try to figure out some better stuff for Kansas. We’ll go get’em next week.”
“We just didn’t have quite a fast-enough car,” Hamlin said. “I thought we were fifth at best, honestly. Two wrecks at the end. [Blaney] just got bounced up into us there. We got our tire cut, hit the wall and then, [Buescher] and [Briscoe] got into it there and came across the nose. The fact that there was that much attrition was a good thing for us because we were able to rally on that green-white-checkered to get to 11th…I’m pretty optimistic about next week at Kansas. We need some tools to fix this car because it is destroyed.”
There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 55 laps. Only 15 of 39 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Kyle Larson, 256 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. William Byron, 55 laps led
3. Christopher Bell
4. BradKeselowski
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Ryan Blaney
7. Chase Elliott
8. Kyle Busch, 20 laps led, Stage 1 winner
9. Tyler Reddick
10. Daniel Suarez
11. Denny Hamlin, two laps led
12. Erik Jones
13. Matt DiBenedetto
14. Austin Dillon
15. Chase Briscoe
16. Kurt Busch, two laps down
17. Michael McDowell, two laps down
18. Aric Almirola, three laps down
19. Cole Custer, four laps down
20. Corey LaJoie, five laps down
21. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident
22. BJ McLeod, 10 laps down
23. David Starr, 11 laps down
24. Garrett Smithley, 13 laps down
25. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Accident, one lap led
26. Josh Bilicki, 15 laps down
27. Timmy Hill, 17 laps down
28. Ross Chastain, 23 laps down
29. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident
30. Joey Logano – OUT, Engine
31. Quin Houff – OUT, Suspension
32. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident
33. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident
34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident
35. Ryan Newman – OUT, Accident
36. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident
37. Justin Haley – OUT, Accident
38. Cody Ware – OUT, Accident
39. Joey Gase – OUT, Accident
Bold indicates Playoff contenders.
Playoff standings.
1. Kyle Larson – Advanced
2. Ryan Blaney, +17
3. Denny Hamlin, +9
4. Kyle Busch, +8
5. Chase Elliott, -8
6. Brad Keselowski, -15
7. Martin Truex Jr., -22
8. Joey Logano, -43
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will continue next weekend at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, October 24, which will occur at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
With a championship spot on the line for eight Playoff contenders, including runner-up Daniel Hemric, John Hunter Nemechek, a part-time Xfinity Series competitor, had other plans and stole the spotlight after rallying from a late pit road penalty to win the Andy’s Frozen Custard 335 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 16, while on two fresh tires.
Nemechek, who currently competes as a full-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship competitor for Kyle Busch Motorsports, led three times for a race-high 92 of 200 laps as he fended off Hemric by more than a second to deny Hemric and seven other Playoff contenders an early automatic spot to the Championship Round at Phoenix Raceway scheduled in early November.
The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, AJ Allmendinger, winner of last weekend’s Playoff event at the Charlotte Roval, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Austin Cindric.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Allmendinger got off to a strong start as he cleared his No. 16 Andy’s Frozen Custard Chevrolet Camaro through the field through the first turn and led the first lap ahead of Cindric and Daniel Hemric. Behind, Noah Gragson was in fourth ahead of Justin Haley and Brandon Jones.
The following lap, Hemric, who was running on the outside lane, slipped from second to fifth as Cindric, Gragson and Haley muscled their way to the front on the inside lane.
By the fifth lap, Allmendinger was leading by nearly a second over Cindric while the field continued to jostle for positions towards the front.
Through the first 13 laps, Allmendinger continued to lead the field. Then, Cindric emerged with the top spot in his No. 22 Snap-On Ford Mustang on Lap 14.
When the competition caution flew on Lap 20, Cindric remained out in front. During the competition caution, the front-runners led by Cindric elected to remain on the track.
When the race restarted on Lap 25, Cindric and Allmendinger engaged in a tight side-by-side battle through Turn 1 and ahead of the field until Cindric squeaked ahead entering the backstretch. Then, the caution returned when Landon Cassill stalled his car in Turn 4.
Under caution, Jeb Burton and rookie Sam Mayer, both of whom made contact on the track, pitted for repairs.
Six laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Cindric received a strong start on the inside lane after receiving a push from Hemric, which allowed him to clear Allmendinger entering Turn 1 as Hemric also moved up to second place.
On Lap 33, Gragson made the slightest on contact to the rear bumper of Allmendinger’s car, which sent Allmendinger up the track and down from fourth to sixth while Gragson and Brandon Jones moved up. By then, Cindric continued to lead by a decent margin over Hemric.
In the closing laps of the first stage, the third caution of the event flew when JJ Yeley stalled in Turn 4. Under caution, some like John Hunter Nemechek, Myatt Snider, Ryan Sieg, Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones, rookie Sam Mayer, and Riley Herbst pitted while the rest led by Cindric remained on the track.
Following a one-lap shootout to conclude the first stage on Lap 45, Cindric, who retained the lead, claimed his 10th stage victory of the season. Gragson settled in second followed by Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, Michael Annett, Haley, Harrison Burton, Jeremy Clements, Brett Moffitt and Brandon Brown.
Under the stage break, some led by Cindric pitted while the rest led by Hemric, who pitted under the previous caution, remained on the track.
The second stage started on Lap 51. At the start, Hemric pulled his No. 18 Craftsman Toyota Supra away from teammate Nemechek following a strong start on the inside lane while Mayer and Brandon Jones battled for third. In addition, Riley Herbst and Austin Hill overtook Myatt Snider through three lanes to move up to fifth and sixth.
Three laps later, the caution returned due to debris reported on the track. In the midst of the battles occurring towards the front and around the track, Hemric was out in front by a narrow margin over Nemechek.
When the race restarted on Lap 61, Hemric and Nemechek were locked in a heated, side-by-side lead for a full lap before Hemric cleared Nemechek entering Turn 2. By then, Nemechek slipped entering the backstretch, which allowed Sam Mayer to move into the runner-up spot.
Shortly after, the sixth caution flew when Ryan Sieg spun his No. 39 CMR Chevrolet Camaro in Turn 2.
When the race restarted on Lap 68, Hemric retained the lead on the inside lane while Mayer slipped after having brief issues getting going on the outside lane, which allowed Nemechek to reassume the runner-up spot.
Four laps later, Nemechek, making his second Xfinity Series start in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 Romco Toyota Supra, peaked ahead of Hemric to lead for the first time, but Hemric fought back through the backstretch. Then in Turn 3, Hemric slipped up the track and nearly wrecked with Nemechek, but both Joe Gibbs Racing competitors kept their cars straight as they continued to battle for the lead through the frontstretch. By the time the leaders entered the backstretch, Nemechek cleared Hemric to retain the lead.
By Lap 75, Nemechek was leading by half a second over Hemric while Mayer, Jeb Burton and Riley Herbst were in the top 10. Haley was in sixth ahead of Michael Annett, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones and Cindric. Allmendinger, meanwhile, was in 11th ahead of Gragson and Harrison Burton.
With less than 10 laps remaining in the second stage, Nemechek extended his advantage to a full second over teammate Hemric while third-place Mayer trailed by more than six seconds. By then, Cindric slipped back to 12th behind Allmendinger while Gragson moved up to ninth. In addition, Haley overtook Herbst to move in the top five behind teammate Jeb Burton.
Having no competition lingering or closing towards him, Nemechek, who made his way through lapped traffic, came back around to claim the second stage victory on Lap 90, which marked his second stage victory of the season. Hemric settled in second, trailing by a second, followed by Mayer, Jeb Burton, Haley, Herbst, Annett, Allgaier, Gragson and Allmendinger.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Nemechek retained the lead ahead of Hemric, Mayer, Jeb Burton and Haley. During the pit stops, Allmendinger nearly left his pit stall without a left-front tire after his jackman dropped the jack early while the crew members were changing the tires on the left side. In addition, Allmendinger’s service was slow for repairs due to hitting a tire being held by Gragson’s crew member during Gragson’s service. Both returned to pit road to have the lug nuts on their respective machines secured. Soon after, Haley dropped to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation.
With 103 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Nemechek jumped ahead following a strong start while Mayer issued a challenge on Hemric for the runner-up spot. Behind, Jeb Burton and Allgaier battled for fourth in front of Cindric.
Just shy of the halfway mark scheduled on Lap 100, the eighth caution flew for a heavy multi-car wreck involving Dylan Lupton, Tanner Berryhill and Jade Buford, who slammed into Lupton after nearly having the incident dodged.
Down to the final 92 laps, the race restarted under green. At the start, Nemechek launched ahead following another strong start while Hemric and Mayer battled again side-by-side for second. Then through the backstretch, Allgaier made a bold three-wide move to take over the runner-up spot entering Turn 3. Hemric, however, fought back and took over second place through the frontstretch as the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes while jostling for positions.
At the front, Nemechek extended his advantage to more than a second over Hemric and Allgaier while Mayer settled in fourth ahead of Jeb Burton and Cindric. Brandon Jones was in eighth, Harrison Burton was in 10th and Allmendinger was mired in 12th behind Herbst while ahead of Gragson and Haley. Meanwhile, Kyle Weatherman was penalized for a restart violation.
With 80 laps remaining, Nemechek stabilized his advantage to nearly two seconds over teammate Hemric while Allgaier remained in third ahead of Cindric and Jeb Burton. Annett was in sixth ahead of Brandon Jones, Gragson, Brandon Brown and Allmendinger. By then, Mayer had fallen back to 12th behind Haley, Harrison Burton was mired in the top 15.
Ten laps later, Nemechek remained as the leader by less than two seconds over Hemric while third-place Allgaier trailed by more than three seconds. Cindric remained in fourth ahead of Annett, Jeb Burton and Gragson, who recovered from his pit road issue following the second stage but was now under surveillance by NASCAR for possibly leaking fluid on the track.
Another 10 laps later, Nemechek, who was making his way through lapped traffic, continued to lead by two seconds over teammate Hemric as Allgaier, Cindric and Annett remained in the top five. Gragson also remained in sixth ahead of Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Haley and Jeb Burton. Harrison Burton, meanwhile, remained as the lowest-running Playoff contender in 12th.
Two laps later, the ninth caution of the event flew when CJ McLaughlin spun in Turn 4. Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Nemechek exited the pits with the lead ahead of Hemric, Allgaier, Cindric, Annett and Gragson. During the pit stops, Nemechek dropped out of the lead after being penalized for having too many crew members over the wall. In addition, Brandon Brown was penalized for speeding on pit road.
Down to the final 51 laps of the event, the race restarted as Hemric and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Cindric shoved Hemric clear of Allgaier through the first turn as he challenged Allgaier for second place. Meanwhile, Hemric was clear out in front while Annett overtook teammate Gragson for fourth. Behind, Allmendinger battled Brandon Jones for sixth.
With 40 laps remaining, Hemric was out in front by more than a second over Allgaier while third-place Cindric trailed by more than two seconds. Gragson and Allmendinger were in fourth and fifth while Annett, Haley, Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones and Herbst were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Nemechek was in 12th before he made a bold move through the backstretch to overtake Jones, Harrison Burton and Herbst for eighth place.
Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Hemric stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Allgaier while third-place Gragson trailed by nearly four seconds. Allmendinger and Cindric were in the top five ahead of Annett and Nemechek, who continued to methodically make his way to the front with a fast car. Haley, Harrison Burton and Brandon Jones were in the top 10.
Just then, the 10th caution flew when Brandon Brown, winner at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this month, wrecked in the backstretch and retired due to heavy damage on his No. 68 Brandonbilt Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.
Under caution, the leaders pitted and Nemechek leap-frogged back to the lead following a two-tire stop ahead of Hemric, Allgaier, Gragson, Annett and Allmendinger. Meanwhile, Harrison Burton remained on the track to inherit the lead.
Down to the final 21 laps of the event, the race restarted. At the start, teammates Harrison Burton and Nemechek battled dead even for a full lap until Burton cleared Nemechek returning to the frontstretch.
The following lap, however, Nemechek returned to the lead for the first time since Lap 144 as Hemric joined the battle involving his two JGR teammates. Allgaier and Gragson were in the top five ahead of Allmendinger, Cindric, Haley, Annett and Brandon Jones.
With 15 laps remaining, Nemechek, racing on two fresh tires, was leading by less than seven-tenths of a second over teammate Hemric, who was trying to close in on four fresh tires, while third-place Harrison Burton, racing on four worn tires in his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra, trailed by a second.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Nemechek stabilized his advantage to more than a second over teammate Hemric while Gragson was up in third, trailing in his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro by less than three seconds. Behind, Allgaier and Allmendinger were up in fourth and fifth followed by Cindric and Harrison Burton, who continued to hold strong on worn tires. Haley, Annett and Jones were in the top 10.
With five laps remaining, Nemechek, who started to make his way through lapped traffic, had his advantage decreased to less than a second as Hemric tried to close in for his first win and a championship finale spot.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Nemechek remained as the leader by more than a second over teammate Hemric. With a clear race track in front of him and his teammate unable to narrow the deficit, Nemechek, whose late strategy for only two fresh tires paid off, was able to come back around and claim his first checkered flag in this year’s Xfinity season.
With the victory, Nemechek collected his second Xfinity Series career win in his 55th series start, fourth of the season, and since winning his first at Kansas Speedway in October 2018. The victory was also the 10th of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 Toyota Supra led by crew chief Chris Gayle. Nemechek’s win also comes two days after announcing that he will be remaining with Kyle Busch Motorsports for the 2022 Truck Series season.
This also marked the third time through the first four Playoff races where the events were won by non-Playoff Xfinity Series competitors.
“[Spotter] Stevie Reeves and Chris Gayle kept me calm [after the pit road penalty],” Nemechek said on NBC. “I think this year, I’ve grown a lot as a driver. I’ve been put in positions like that in the Truck Series as well. Man, I can’t say enough about this whole team. The No. 54 [car] has been fast every single week. My goal coming in was to win. I had to win to prove to myself that I can do this and it’s just like taking a step back to the Truck Series. I wanted to get back to Victory Lane. Thank you to all the fans that are out here. It’s an amazing accomplishment to get this one done, beating my teammate as well. We’re racing for an owner’s championship, so I’m back in the No. 54 [car] at Phoenix. Going for double championships there when we go.”
Behind Nemechek was Daniel Hemric, who led 54 laps but finished in second place for the 10th time in his career as he continues to pursue his first win across NASCAR’s top three national touring series. Ironically, Hemric also finished second to Nemechek during Nemechek’s first Xfinity career win in 2018.
“[Nemechek] just made a really good call to take two [tires] there,” Hemric, who was left dejected, said. “Obviously, clean air was so big. When we had clean air with our Craftsman Toyota Supra there at one point, it was really good. We were on the tighter side all day. Even earlier when [Nemechek] was better than us, he was just a little freer. I just couldn’t quite carry the same mid-quarter exit speed. [Crew chief] Dave Rogers made good adjustments all day, getting it better. Once we got that clean air, we were pretty well checked out. The caution came out and [Nemechek] just made a good call there to take two [tires]. It’s ‘Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.’ It just didn’t work out. I was just too tight there. It never got far into the run where our tires could make a difference. With 20 laps to go, you’re not going to overcome the gap I needed to make up. Too tight. I was whipping it for all I had. [I] About pounded the fence there three or four times trying to catch [Nemechek]. Great job to those guys, congrats to those guys. Really fast JGR Supras. Just not quite good enough.”
Gragson rallied from his early pit road issue and damage to finish in third place followed by teammate Allgaier and Cindric.
Meanwhile, Allmendinger ended up in sixth place followed by teammate Haley, Harrison Burton, Annett and Brandon Jones, with the remaining eight Xfinity Playoff contenders finishing in the top 10.
There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 54 laps.
Results.
1. John Hunter Nemechek, 92 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Daniel Hemric, 55 laps led
3. Noah Gragson
4. Justin Allgaier
5. Austin Cindric, 34 laps led
6. AJ Allmendinger, 13 laps led, Stage 1 winner
7. Justin Haley
8. Harrison Burton, six laps led
9. Michael Annett
10. Brandon Jones
11. Jeb Burton
12. Riley Herbst
13. Sam Mayer
14. Ryan Sieg
15. Kaz Grala
16. Brett Moffitt
17. Bayley Currey
18. Tommy Joe Martins
19. Josh Williams
20. Austin Hill, one lap down
21. Myatt Snider, one lap down
22. Ryan Vargas, one lap down
23. Jeffrey Earnhardt, one lap down
24. Alex Labbe, one lap down
25. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down
26. Joe Graf Jr., two laps down
27. Mason Massey, four laps down
28. Spencer Boyd, four laps down
29. Jeremy Clements, four laps down
30. Joey Gase, five laps down
31. Jesse Little, five laps down
32. Matt Mills, seven laps down
33. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident
34. David Starr – OUT, Engine
35. CJ McLaughlin – OUT, Suspension
36. Landon Cassill – OUT, Electrical
37. Tanner Berryhill – OUT, Accident
38. Dylan Lupton – OUT, Accident
39. Jade Buford – OUT, Accident
40. JJ Yeley – OUT, Engine
Bold indicates Playoff contenders.
Playoff standings.
1. AJ Allmendinger, +30
2. Austin Cindric, +26
3. Justin Allgaier, +4
4. Noah Gragson, +2
5. Daniel Hemric, -2
6. Justin Haley, -6
7. Harrison Burton, -21
8. Brandon Jones, -32
The 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs will continue next weekend at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, October 23, with the race scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
The 2022 Formula One schedule was revealed, featuring a record-breaking 23 Grand Prix events that will span from mid-March through mid-November. It is a schedule that will feature some new and familiar venues with one notable country absent for the upcoming F1 season.
For a second consecutive season, the Bahrain International Circuit will kick off a new season of Formula One competition with the Bahrain Grand Prix (March 20) while the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit will remain as the final F1 event on the schedule (November 20).
New on the schedule is the Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome in Miami Gardens, Florida (May 8). The event will mark Formula One’s first of two visits to the United States of America with the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, primed to return (October 23).
Familiar circuits that are set to return and host Formula One competition for the upcoming season include Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit for the Australian Grand Prix (April 10), Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the Canadian Grand Prix (June 19), Marina Bay Street Circuit for the Singapore Grand Prix (October 2) and Suzuka International Racing Course for the Japanese Grand Prix (October 9). All circuits, which last hosted a Grand Prix event in 2019, were absent for the previous two seasons due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Other circuits that will host a Grand Prix event in 2022 include Jeddah Corniche Circuit for the second annual Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (March 27), Imola Circuit for the third annual Emilia Romagna Grand Prix (April 24) and Circuit Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix (September 4), which will mark the second time the F1 competitors will be competing in the Netherlands since returning last September and for the first time since 1985.
The annual Russian Grand Prix (September 26) will take place at Sochi Autodrom for the ninth and final time before moving to Autodrom Igora Drive in St. Petersburg for the 2023 season.
Not included on the schedule for next season is the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit amid the COVID-19 pandemic. China, which last hosted a Grand Prix event in 2019, will announce its plans for its return to the Formula One schedule and for the future at a later date.
The Portuguese Grand Prix and Turkish Grand Prix, which were featured on the schedule for the previous two seasons amid the pandemic, will also not be featured for the 2022 season. The inaugural Qatar Grand Prix at Losail International Circuit, which is scheduled to occur this season on November 21, will not be featured for 2022, but will become an annual Grand Prix event at an undetermined circuit, beginning in 2023 and on a 10-year contract.
A statement was made following the announcement of the 2021 Formula One schedule:
“The 2022 season follows an unprecedented two years for Formula 1 in which the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in revised calendar of 17 races in 2020 and 22 races in 2021 – a huge achievement given the international nature of the sport. It has been fantastic to welcome fans back to events this year, and we will continue to ensure this is done safely and in line with national guidelines. The pandemic has continued to present challenges to the 2021 season, but the entire sport has shown its ability to react and adapt to the challenges as they have arisen. While we hope the virus recedes further in the coming months for everyone around the world, we will continue to closely monitor the situation and work closely with the promoters and national authorities.”
The 2022 Formula One schedule comes as the competitors and teams prepare to embrace new technical regulations for the upcoming season involving new aerodynamics and bodywork to the F1 cars, power units, standardized components towards the gearbox and fuel system and a tyre increase from 13 to 18 inches.
“This season (2021) has been incredible so far with great battles on the track, large audiences tuning in and fans returning to the races after the impact of the pandemic,” Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula One, said. “We look forward to welcoming more fans back next season and hope 2022 feels more normal than the life we have all experienced in the past two years. We are very pleased with the interest in Formula 1 from places that want to host races and the growth of the sport and believe we have a fantastic calendar for 2022 with destinations like Miami joining famous and historic venues. The pandemic is still with us, and we will therefore continue to be vigilant and safe – to protect all our personnel and the communities we visit.”
“The impressive 2022 FIA Formula One Championship calendar is the result of the great work made by Formula 1, led by Stefano Domenicali and his team, in strong synergy with the FIA,” Jean Todt, President of FIA, added. “Over the past two years, F1 has shown remarkable resilience. This is clearly demonstrated by the continued growth of the sport despite the important challenges of the pandemic. The 23 Grands Prix in 2022 will be an exciting showcase for the all-new cars and I am looking forward to it.”
The full 2022 Formula One schedule is as follows:
1. March 20: Bahrain Grand Prix (Sakhir)
2. March 27: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (Jeddah)
3. April 10: Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne)
4. April 24: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix (Imola)
5. May 8: Miami Grand Prix (Miami)
6. May 22: Spanish Grand Prix (Barcelona)
7. May 29: Monaco Grand Prix (Monaco)
8. June 12: Azerbaijan Grand Prix (Baku)
9. June 19: Canadian Grand Prix (Montreal)
10. July 3: British Grand Prix (Silverstone)
11. July 10: Austrian Grand Prix (Spielberg)
12. July 24: French Grand Prix (Le Castellet)
13. July 31: Hungarian Grand Prix (Budapest)
14. August 28: Belgian Grand Prix (Spa)
15. September 4: Dutch Grand Prix (Zandvoort)
16. September 11: Italian Grand Prix (Monza)
17. September 25: Russian Grand Prix (Sochi)
18. October 2: Singapore Grand Prix (Singapore)
19. October 9: Japanese Grand Prix (Suzuka)
20. October 23: United States Grand Prix (Austin)
21. October 30: Mexico City Grand Prix (Mexico City)
22. November 13: São Paulo Grand Prix (São Paulo)
23. November 20: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Abu Dhabi)
Also announced were the Formula 2 and Formula 3 schedules, which will run in conjunction with Formula One throughout the season from mid-March through mid-November. F2 is scheduled to compete in 14 rounds, beginning at Bahrain International Circuit (March 18-20) and ending at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit (November 18-20). F3 is scheduled to compete in nine rounds, beginning at Bahrain (March 18-20) and ending at Monza Circuit (September 9-11).
With the 2022 racing schedule set, the 2021 Formula One World Championship season is set to resume on October 24 at Circuit of the Americas for the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
Competing in his sixth full-time season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Brandon Jones is set to achieve a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s Playoff event at Texas Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra will reach 200 career starts in the Xfinity circuit.
A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Jones made his Xfinity Series debut at Iowa Speedway in May 2015. By then, he had achieved two victories in the ARCA Menards Series and one victory in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, all while competing for Turner Scott Motorsports. Driving the No. 33 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing on a part-time basis, Jones started fifth and finished eighth in his Xfinity debut.
Jones returned for four additional Xfinity races in 2015, starting at Iowa in August, which was followed by the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August, Bristol Motor Speedway in August and at Kentucky Speedway in September. During this span, Jones notched a career-best fifth-place result at Kentucky.
In 2016, Jones took over the No. 33 Chevrolet Camaro as a full-time Xfinity Series competitor. Commencing the season with a seventh-place result at Daytona International Speedway, Jones achieved a total of 12 top-10 results throughout the 33-race schedule. He also made the inaugural Xfinity Series Playoffs, where he was eliminated following the first round, and settled in 10th place in the final standings.
While Jones achieved his first Xfinity career pole for the 2017 season-opening event at Daytona in February, he only achieved a total of three top-10 results throughout the 33-race schedule and failed to make the Playoffs before ending up in 16th place in the final standings.
Following the 2017 season, Jones departed RCR and joined Joe Gibbs Racing to pilot the No. 19 Toyota Camry for the 2018 Xfinity season. Starting the season with a 10th-place result at Daytona in February, Jones achieved a pole, two top-five results, 17 top-10 results and a spot in the Xfinity Playoffs, where he was eliminated from title contention following the first round and went on to settle in ninth place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 Xfinity career starts.
Finishing in third place in the 2019 Xfinity season opener at Daytona, Jones logged in four top-five results and 13 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, which were enough for him to make the Playoffs based on points. After finishing 11th, 16th and 37th in the Playoff’s first round, however, Jones was one of four competitor who were eliminated early from title contention. Jones rebounded the following weekend at Kansas Speedway in October by avoiding late calamity and fending off top Playoff contenders to score his first Xfinity Series career victory. He went on to finish in the top 10 in two of the final three races before settling in 10th place in the final standings.
The following season, Jones achieved his second Xfinity Series career win at Phoenix Raceway in March following a late pass on teammate Kyle Busch. Following NASCAR’s return to action in May amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Jones completed a last lap pass on Austin Cindric to win for the second time in 2020 at Kansas in July. Six races later, Jones overtook teammate Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain prior to the final lap to achieve his third victory of the season and fourth of his career at Darlington Raceway in September. Returning to the Playoffs for a third consecutive season, Jones remained in title contention through the Round of 8 at Martinsville Speedway in October, but he fell short in making the Championship Round at Phoenix Raceway in November and contending for his first NASCAR title. Nonetheless, Jones and his No. 19 JGR Toyota team finished in sixth place in the final standings, which marks Jones’ best points result to date.
This season, Jones has recorded a stage victory, three runner-up results, 11 top-five results and 16 top-10 results through 29 scheduled Xfinity starts. After qualifying for the Xfinity Playoffs for a fifth season, Jones is coming off three consecutive top-10 results and is one of eight competitors to transfer to the Round of 8. He is currently lined up in eighth place in the Playoff standings with 3,003 points as he continues his pursuit for his first NASCAR national touring series championship.
Through 199 previous Xfinity starts, Jones has achieved four career victories, three poles, 30 top-five results, 85 top-10 results, five Playoff appearances, nearly 600 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.5.
Jones is set to make his 200th Xfinity Series career start at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 16, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
Not even an early electrical issue could prevent Kyle Larson from continuing his quest for his first NASCAR Cup Series championship after the Elk Grove, California, native rallied to lead the final eight laps and win the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course on Sunday, October 10.
The victory gave Larson an automatic pass to the Round of 8 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs as the penultimate round in the Playoffs was determined and left some big names out of the championship battle.
The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Playoff contender Denny Hamlin started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Brad Keselowski.
Prior to the event, Garrett Smithley dropped to the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race inspection twice.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Hamlin and Keselowski dueled for the lead through the first four turns until Hamlin was able to break free and clear Keselowski. Exiting the infield turns, Hamlin continued to lead through the backstretch oval turns, the backstretch chicane and the frontstretch chicane as he led the first lap.
Behind Hamlin, Joey Logano started to challenge teammate Kesleowski for second while Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell battled for fourth ahead of Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.
The following lap, Hamlin continued to lead by more than two seconds while Logano muscled his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang into the runner-up spot over Keselowski’s No. 2 Wurth Ford Mustang. While Blaney settled in fourth, Elliott moved his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE into fifth over Bell entering Turns 5 and 6.
By the fifth lap, Hamlin was leading by more than two seconds over Logano while Blaney, Keselowski and Elliott were in the top five. Bell was in sixth followed by Larson, William Byron, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch while Martin Truex Jr. and Alex Bowman were in 11th and 12th, all of whom were in the Playoffs. Behind, Aric Almirola spun in the backstretch chicane following contact from Chris Buescher but continued under green.
Three laps later, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Logano as Blaney, Keselowski and Elliott remained in the top five. By then, Truex, who started fifth but was struggling with early pace, slipped back to 13th behind Kurt Busch. Meanwhile, Austin Dillon was in 14th ahead of teammate Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace was in 18th behind rookie Chase Briscoe, Matt DiBenedetto was in 20th in between Buescher and Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger was in 24th behind Corey LaJoie, Ryan Newman was in 25th ahead of Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez and Cole Custer, and rookie Anthony Alfredo was in 31st ahead of Justin Haley.
A lap prior to the competition caution scheduled on Lap 10, the strategic game began as names like Harvick, Bell, Truex, Bell, Kyle Busch, Suarez, Corey LaJoie, Erik Jones, Briscoe, Buescher, Cole Custer, DiBenedetto and Almirola pitted under green. During the pit stops, Bell was penalized for speeding on pit road.
Just as Hamlin was returning to the frontstretch to complete the 10th lap, he directed his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry to pit road along with Byron, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain. Hamlin’s move allowed Logano to inherit the lead as the competition caution flew.
Under the competition caution, some led by Bubba Wallace pitted while others led by Logano remained on the track.
When the race resumed on Lap 13, teammates Logano and Blaney dueled for the lead through the first three turns until Blaney emerged as the new leader exiting the infield turns and entering the oval turns.
In the backstretch chicane, Keselowski spun off the front bumper of Bowman, which moved Larson and Hamlin to fourth and fifth behind Elliott while Bowman fell back to 11th behind Harvick. Keselowski, meanwhile, was in 38th.
By Lap 15, Blaney was leading by nearly eight-tenths of a second over teammate Logano while Elliott, Larson and Hamlin, the first competitor on fresh tires, were in the top five. Allmendinger was in sixth ahead of Kyle Busch, Byron, Kurt Busch and Harvick while Truex, Bowman and Bell were in 12th, 15th and 16th.
Five laps later, the second caution of the event flew when Ryan Newman, who spun a lap earlier in the infield turns, lost a right-rear tire, spun again and wrecked in Turn 14, narrowly avoiding Keselowski.
Under caution, some led by Larson and Hamlin pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hamlin was assessed a speeding penalty.
With three laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Blaney jumped ahead on the outside lane before Allmendinger crossed over beneath Blaney and challenged him for the top spot through the first three turns. Shortly after, Allmendinger, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity event at the Roval, assumed command while Elliott challenged Blaney for the runner-up spot, which he succeeded exiting Turn 8.
The following lap, Allmendinger was ahead of nearly four-tenths of a second over Elliott while Blaney, Truex and Logano were in the top five. Behind, Matt DiBenedetto missed the backstretch chicane and was forced to come to a stop before continuing to serve his penalty. In addition, Ryan Preece got turned exiting the front stretch chicane following contact with Logano, but the race continued under green.
On the final lap of the first stage, Elliott issued a challenge on Allmendinger for the top spot exiting the infield turns. Behind, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made contact with Kyle Busch exiting the backstretch chicane, but Busch prevailed ninth.
Following a brief fight against Allmendinger exiting the infield turns and returning to the oval turns, Elliott prevailed through the backstretch chicane. Elliott’s late perseverance and charge allowed him to come back around through the frontstretch chicane and win the first stage on Lap 25, which marked his fourth stage victory of the season. Allmendinger settled in second followed by Blaney, Truex, Logano, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Byron, McDowell and Harvick. By then, Larson was in 11th, Bowman was in 14th, Hamlin was mired in 21st and Bell was back in 26th.
Under the stage break, some led by Elliott pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.
The second stage started on Lap 29 as Allmendinger and Kyle Busch occupied the front row ahead of Byron, McDowell, Harvick and Larson. At the start, Kyle Busch muscled his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry into the lead following a battle with Allmendinger from the second turn through Turn 5. Shortly after, Byron moved his No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to second place. Behind, Harvick and Larson battled for fourth.
Through the first 30 laps of the event, Kyle Busch was leading by half a second over Byron while Allmendinger, Larson, Harvick, Austin Dillon, McDowell, Bowman, Custer and Suarez were in the top 10. Hamlin was in 13th, Keselowski and Bell were in 15th and 16th, Elliott was in 19th and Blaney was in 24th ahead of Truex and Logano.
Three laps later, the fourth caution of the event flew when Stenhouse made contact and turned Chase Briscoe in a cloud of smoke across the frontstretch.
Under caution, some led by Larson and Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track. During the pit stops, Larson’s crew popped the hood of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE open to change the battery. Teammate Bowman’s crew also popped the hood open on the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to replace an alternator belt with plans on replacing the battery following the second stage.
When the race restarted on Lap 35, Kyle Busch launched ahead with the top spot entering the first turn while Harvick moved into second place ahead of Byron, Austin Dillon, McDowell and Suarez.
Two laps later, Kyle Busch was leading by one-and-a-half seconds over Harvick and Byron, both of whom were currently scored below the top-eight cutline to the Playoff’s Round of 8. Behind, Elliott was up in sixth behind McDowell, Hamlin was in eighth, teammate Bell was in 11th, Blaney was in 16th, Keselowski was in 20th behind Allmendinger, Logano was in 21st, Truex was in 23rd, Bowman was in 29th and Larson was in 30th.
Through the first 40 laps of the event, Kyle Busch continued to lead by a second over Harvick while Byron, Austin Dillon and Elliott were in the top five. Behind, LaJoie came to a full stop after missing the frontstretch chicane. In addition, Bell drove through the grass in Turns 5 and 6. Earlier, Wallace came to a stop after missing the frontstretch chicane.
By Lap 45, Custer spun entering the first turn, but the race proceeded under green. By then, Kyle Busch was out in front by more than a second over Harvick while Elliott was up in third ahead of Byron and Austin Dillon. By then, Larson was in 18th behind Logano, Keselowski and Truex while Bowman was in 22nd behind Bell.
A few laps later, Chastain, Wallace and LaJoie pitted under green. Not long after, Byron, Austin Dillon, Allmendinger, Hamlin, Almirola, Briscoe, Suarez, DiBenedetto, Bell, Buescher, Kurt Busch, Custer Tyler Reddick, McDowell and Alfredo pitted.
Back on course, Kyle Busch continued to lead ahead of Harvick, who had rival Elliott charging for the runner-up spot. Following a smooth lap around the 17-course turn, Kyle Busch was able to claim his sixth stage victory of the season with the second stage concluded on Lap 50. Elliott overtook Harvick to settle in second followed by Blaney, Logano, Larson, Keselowski, Truex, Bowman and Byron.
Under the stage break, Bowman pitted while pit road was closed to have a voltage regulator on his car changed, which resulted in a penalty for Bowman to start at the rear of the field. Once pit road opened for the field, a majority of the field led by Kyle Busch pitted while others led by Byron and Austin Dillon remained on the track. Meanwhile, Larson’s crew went to work to change the alternator belt while giving Larson four fresh tires and fuel to last to the end. As the field began to stack up for a restart, Larson’s crew was able to repair the mechanical issue and get the driver back out on the lead lap while behind the field.
With 56 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Byron was able to retain the lead over Austin Dillon entering the first turn and the infield turns as the field fanned out and jostled for positions.
At the halfway mark between Laps 54 and 55, Byron was leading by a mere margin over Austin Dillon while Hamlin, Suarez and Allmendinger were in the top five. Just then, the caution returned when Elliott, winner of the previous two Cup Roval events, got hit by Harvick and sent into the wall in between Turns 7 and 8, which damaged the rear end and deck lid of Elliott’s car. As Elliott tried to continue through Turn 8, he made contact with Custer and spun below the apron. Despite the damage and a reported broken track bar, Elliott managed to continue as he was slated in 37th. The incident, however, reignited Harvick and Elliott’s rivalry following their confrontation at Bristol Motor Speedway in September, where Elliott cost Harvick an opportunity to win.
With 52 laps remaining, the field restarted under green. At the start, Byron retained the lead while Hamlin battled Austin Dillon for the runner-up spot ahead of Suarez. Shortly after, Allmendinger, who was in fifth, fell off the pace due to an engine issue entering the backstretch chicane, which forced the field to scatter to avoid Allmendinger’s Kaulig Racing machine as the Californian took his car to the garage.
Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Byron, coming into the Roval in a “must-win” situation, was leading by more than a second over Austin Dillon while Hamlin, Reddick and Suarez were in the top five. By then, Harvick was in 13th in front of Blaney, Kyle Busch was in 20th in between Keselowski and Truex, Larson was in 23rd behind Wallace, Bowman was in 26th and Elliott was mired in 36th, the last car on the lead lap. By then, Larson and Kyle Busch were barely above the top-eight cutline while Harvick, Elliott, Bell and Bowman were the four competitors scored below the cutline.
Ten laps later, Hamlin missed the backstretch chicane while trying to overtake Austin Dillon for the runner-up spot and served his penalty by coming to a full stop on the frontstretch chicane.
When the field returned to the front stretch, Byron remained in the lead by over Austin Dillon while Reddick, Kurt Busch and Buescher were in the top five. Hamlin fell back to sixth ahead of Suarez, DiBenedetto, Blaney and Chastain. Harvick was in 11th ahead of Erik Jones, Bell was in 14th in front of Logano, Larson moved up to 16th ahead of Keselowski and Kyle Busch was back in 18th ahead of teammate Truex and Bowman. Elliott, meanwhile, was mired in 34th and gaining no ground on the leaders.
A few laps later, Reddick, who was one of the fastest cars on the circuit, overtook teammate Austin Dillon for second as he trailed Byron by less than three seconds.
With 35 laps remaining, Larson, who was in the top 15, ignited green flag pit stops as he pitted followed by Bell. A lap later, Harvick and Logano pitted along with Kyle Busch, Truex, LaJoie and Briscoe. Another lap later, Byron surrendered the lead to pit along with Reddick, teammate Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Blaney, Suarez and Erik Jones.
Soon after, Kurt Busch, who led a lap, pitted his No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, giving the lead to Buescher and Hamlin. By then, Wallace, Preece, Custer and Joey Hand also pitted.
With 30 laps remaining, Hamlin, who has yet to pit, was leading followed by DiBenedetto and Byron, who was trailing by more than 14 seconds.
Two laps later, Hamlin pitted and gave the lead back to Byron, who had Tyler Reddick closing in on him for the lead. By then, Elliott, whose rear bumper cover was loose, was 86 seconds behind and on the verge of being lapped by his Hendrick Motorsports’ teammate.
With 23 laps remaining, the caution flew when the rear bumper cover from Elliott’s car came off on the backstretch. Under caution, a majority of the field led by Byron pitted while the rest led by Hamlin and DiBenedetto remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Bowman was busted for speeding on pit road, which sent him to the rear of the field and negatively affect his hopes of advancing to the Round of 8.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hamlin retained the lead as the field fanned out and jostled for positions entering the first turn. Behind, Reddick moved up to second while Byron battled for third against DiBenedetto. Behind, Kurt Busch and Larson battled for fifth with the latter prevailing.
Through the backstretch chicane, Keselowski spun again and caused a stack up to the competitors running towards the back. With the race remaining under green, Byron ignited a battle on Reddick for second as Hamlin continued to lead by a narrow margin.
Just then, Byron missed the backstretch chicane after getting hit by Reddick while running in front of Reddick and Larson in second. Despite stopping on the backstretch, the penalty was costly for Byron, who needed to win to keep his title hopes alive.
Back at the front, Hamlin was leading by more than a second over Larson, Reddick, DiBenedetto and Kurt Busch. Logano was in seventh, Blaney was in ninth ahead of Kyle Busch, Byron was back in 12th ahead of Harvick and Truex. Bell was in 17th while Elliott was in 21st behind LaJoie. Bowman was mired back in 29th.
Shortly after, the eighth caution of the event flew when LaJoie smacked the Turn 2 wall following contact with Custer as Joey Hand also collided into the wall.
Under caution, some including Stenhouse, Alfredo, Preece, Keselowski, Almirola, Bowman, LaJoie and Hand pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.
With 14 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hamlin launched ahead with another strong start while Reddick battled Larson for second as the field fanned out entering the first turn. Shortly after, Larson issued a challenge for the lead over Hamlin. Through the infield turns, Larson squeaked ahead with the top spot, but Hamlin fought back through the backstretch chicane as Reddick also challenged Larson for the runner-up spot through Turn 13. Behind, Kurt Busch missed the frontstretch chicane after slipping.
Back at the front, Hamlin was leading by a narrow margin over Reddick, who prevailed over his late battle and contact with Larson as Buescher was in fourth. Behind Logano moved up to fifth over DiBenedetto while Harvick, Byron and Kyle Busch were in the top 10. Elliott, meanwhile, was in 17th while Keselowski was in 24th.
Then with 11 laps remaining, Kevin Harvick’s title hopes for 2021 evaporated after he locked up the front tires of his No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang and pounded against the barriers in Turn 1 while running in the top 15, thus damaging the front nose of his car. At the time of the incident, Elliott had caught Harvick, but Harvick’s incident involved no contact with Elliott.
“I just pushed [the car] in there too hard,” Harvick, who was released from the care center and deflected any comments over his incident with Elliott, said. “I got the tire locked up and I couldn’t stop it once I felt like I needed to go, to get a couple spots back that I’d lost and I got the left front locked up, but I couldn’t get it to turn. Sometime, real life teaches you good lessons.”
Under caution, some including Elliott, Truex and Keselowski pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.
Down to the final eight laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hamlin pulled ahead through the first turn, but Larson made his move and took over the lead exiting Turn 4. Behind, Reddick moved up to second while Byron battled Buescher for fourth.
Through the backstretch chicane, Byron muscled his way up to third, but he now had seven laps to return to the front and maintain his title hopes.
The following lap, Larson was ahead by nearly a second over runner-up Reddick and less than two seconds teammate Byron. Behind, Buescher maintained fourth while Hamlin was back in sixth behind teammate Kyle Busch. Meanwhile, Bell was in ninth, Bowman was in 14th, Elliott was in 20th and Keselowski was in 28th behind Truex.
With five laps remaining, Larson continued to lead by less than a second over Reddick, who had Byron trying to pressure him for the runner-up spot.
Down to the final two laps, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Reddick and Byron. Just then, Byron’s title hopes dwindled as he spun and damaged his No. 24 car in Turn 5. Despite the incident, Byron continued as the race remained under green. Earlier, Truex spun on the backstretch following contact with Joey Hand.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained in the lead by more than a second over Reddick. Behind, Buescher moved up to third followed by Kyle Busch and Hamlin. Byron, meanwhile, continued in 11th ahead of teammate Elliott.
Navigating his way through the 17-turn course smoothly, Larson, who was scored outside the cutline early, came back around and claimed the checkered flag for the first time on the Roval and for the seventh time in 2021.
With the victory, Larson became the third different winner at the Charlotte Roval as he achieved his third road course victory of 2021. In addition, he notched his 13th career win in the Cup Series and swept both Cup Charlotte events of the season.
“I wouldn’t have believed it, that’s for sure,” Larson said on NBC. “I don’t know. I didn’t even really feel that good early, started changing some things up. [The crew] were doing a good job, letting me know what to do inside the cockpit to get better. About that time, I noticed my battery was going low, so I was gonna stress out. I’m like, ‘Man, I’m not gonna get knocked out of the Playoffs like this.’ It wasn’t looking too good. Thankfully, everybody on our No. 5 car did a great job of staying calm. [Crew chief] Cliff [Daniels], as always, did a great job communicating with me with what was going on, getting the battery changed, alternator, whatever it takes to get our battery staying running. Just an awesome day for Hendrick Motorsports and glad to get another win. Looking forward to the next round a lot.”
Reddick settled in second place for the third time in his Cup career while Buescher, Kyle Busch and Hamlin finished in the top five. DiBenedetto, Logano, Bell, Blaney and Bowman ended up in the top 10 on the track.
After settling in 12th place and earning enough points to advance to the Round of 8, Elliott maintained his composure when expressing his side of the incident with Harvick.
“[I’m] Really proud of our team,” Elliott said. “Our NAPA team did a really, really good job of fixing this [car]. It is destroyed and I think we finished 12th. Our team has a lot of fight and I’m just super proud of that. As far as Kevin goes, just wanna wish them Merry Offseason and a happy Christmas. It’s all good. Just glad we’re moving on. Proud of our team. We’re just eyes forward and just excited to be moving on. That’s the big picture. That’s really all that matters to me and our group, so we’ll keep fighting and see where we end up.”
Photo by Ted Seminara for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski have transferred into the Round of 8 in the Playoffs. Kevin Harvick, William Byron, Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman have been eliminated from title contention.
“Glad to finally be able to finish one today,” Kyle Busch said. “Thanks to M&M’s, all the guys on the team. [They] Did a good job, brought a good car, got the most out of it. We won that [second] stage. That helped a little bit for the reset going into next week and gave us one more point. Overall, we got everything we could out of it today. I wished there was more, but it kind of seemed like once everybody got strung out, that was about it. There wasn’t a whole lot of comers and goers throughout the runs, so overall, that’s kind of where we stacked out.”
“We got the good out of [the car],” Logano said. “So much for keeping it clean. That was the plan. Just ended up having a rough day, but ended up finishing seventh or even a shot at a top-five or top three even towards the end of the race there. Proud of our Shell/Pennzoil team. I got into [Ryan] Preece and dumped him early in the race. That was just my mistake. Overall, hey, we’re moving on to the Round of 8. It’s a great accomplishment, we’re proud of that. On to the next three [races] and try to score a bunch of points, maybe, or get a win. That might be the easiest way doing it, but we’ll maximize our races and get every point we can.”
“I was behind two guys side-by-side getting into the bus stop, so we’re all checked up, just trying to not get run over when we get run over,” Truex said. “I don’t know what the hell [Hand] was thinking. Riding around the back all day and he drives through a Playoff car for no reason. Luckily, we were able to come through, make it, pulled out some stage points. Really, that was the difference. Good strategy, terrible race car. We sucked. It was awful…It was just absolute garbage. Glad we made it. That’s all I can say, I guess. Thanks to everybody for all the support this year. Go on to the next round, see what we can do. It’s all reset.”
“Just not a good day,” Keselowski said. “[I] Had some decent speed. I think we could’ve run about 10th all day. Had a couple of restarts where we just kind of got ran over. We fought back from that best we could with the Wurth Ford Mustang. Salvaged what we could with a 20th-place day, but nowhere near what we were hoping for. Enough to get on and go to Texas.”
“Ultimately, we just weren’t good enough,” Bell said. “Made a lot of mistakes out there. We just weren’t fast enough. Bummer, but we’ll have to move on and I think we’ve got opportunities to win races every time we go to the race tracks. Building a notebook between me and [crew chief] Adam [Stevens]. Really proud to be in this No. 20 group, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. Got good race tracks coming up and we’re gonna go out there and give it our all, and end the season on a high note.”
“Unfortunate,” Bowman said. “It’s tough to make a car live long here without any brake fans and tire cooling. [Crew chief] Greg [Ives] and all the guys on this Ally No. 48 team did such a good job, I guess, letting me know what I needed to do, to get it to the finish line and what I could and couldn’t do with fans. We put a battery in it at one point and kind of went from there. I’m exhausted. I’m just mentally drained after the roller coaster that was, but good to get a top 10. Wished we had more. Congrats to [Larson]. The kid’s superhuman. Bummed we’re not in the next round.”
Following the event, Byron, who ended up in 11th, had a post-race conversation with Reddick to express his displeasure over being hit by Reddick late in the event while battling towards the front and caused Byron to miss the backstretch chicane.
“I just passed [Reddick] off of Turn 8 and I guess he had [Larson] inside of him,” Byron said. “Just lack of awareness, like hit me in the back bumper right as I was downshifting to first gear, so there was no way I was going to make the chicane. It’s the lightest the car can be right there, so I don’t get it. He and I and [Larson] racing for the win and [Hamlin] had old tires, and we were in a good position. Just stinks, but just not the round we wanted. Definitely tough finishes, tough results, but we had speed in two of the three races to definitely advance. Thanks to Valvoline and Chevrolet…It was definitely looking like it was gonna be a really good day, even after the caution, looking like we were gonna have a shot to win. I was just too bad at the end there. Made a mistake and could’ve finished third, but finished 11th. Just stinks.”
“Unfortunately pretty straightforward,” Reddick said. “Just made a mistake, one that meant a lot. Slight bump, maybe a press like this is all it really took to cause wheel-hop, for [Byron’s] car to go sliding off. I hate that, wasn’t in any way what I was trying to do. If I was trying to do that, I would’ve hit him a lot harder. I hate that it happened. I hate that it did what it did. He was racing for everything just like I was. Obviously, his stakes were higher, but just unfortunate.”
There were 15 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 18 laps. Thirty-one of the 39 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Kyle Larson, eight laps led
2. Tyler Reddick
3. Chris Buescher, one lap led
4. Kyle Busch, 22 laps led, Stage 2 winner
5. Denny Hamlin, 25 laps led
6. Matt DiBenedetto
7. Joey Logano, four laps led
8. Christopher Bell
9. Ryan Blaney, 10 laps led
10. Alex Bowman
11. William Byron, 30 laps led
12. Chase Elliott, two laps led, Stage 1 winner
13. Daniel Suarez
14. Bubba Wallace
15. Austin Dillon
16. Michael McDowell
17. Erik Jones
18. Cole Custer
19. Ryan Preece
20. Brad Keselowski
21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22. Chase Briscoe
23. Ross Chastain
24. Aric Almirola
25. Kurt Busch, two laps led
26. Anthony Alfredo
27. Joey Hand
28. Josh Bilicki
29. Martin Truex Jr.
30. Quin Houff
31. Scott Heckert
32. Timmy Hill, one lap down
33. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Accident
34. Garrett Smithley, 13 laps down
35. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident
36. Cody Ware – OUT, Accident
37. Justin Haley – OUT, Engine
38. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Engine, five laps led
39. Ryan Newman – OUT, Accident
Bold indicates Playoff contenders.
Playoff standings.
1. Kyle Larson – Advanced
2. Denny Hamlin – Advanced
3. Martin Truex Jr. – Advanced
4. Ryan Blaney – Advanced
5. Kyle Busch – Advanced
6. Chase Elliott – Advanced
7. Joey Logano – Advanced
8. Brad Keselowski – Advanced
9. Kevin Harvick – Eliminated
10. Christopher Bell – Eliminated
11. William Byron – Eliminated
12. Alex Bowman – Eliminated
The Round of 8 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will commence next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The event will occur on Sunday, October 17, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
While the drivers’ championship battle took another swing, Valtteri Bottas made his yearlong return to the top of the podium after winning the Turkish Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday, October 10.
The Finnish veteran, who originally posted the second-fastest lap in qualifying, started on pole position after his teammate, Sir Lewis Hamilton, was hit with a 10-place grid penalty for competing with a newly installed Mercedes engine in his car. After launching away from the field at the start and on damp conditions, Bottas led the first 37 laps. He returned to the lead on Lap 47 of 58, which he would keep for the remainder of the event as he beat runner-up Max Verstappen by more than 14 seconds.
With the victory, Bottas, who also set the fastest lap of the event, became the sixth different winner of this year’s F1 season as he achieved his 10th Grand Prix career win. Bottas, who remains in third place in the drivers’ standings, is down to his final six events with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, a team he joined in 2017 and went on to record his maiden Grand Prix victory. He is set to join Alfa Romeo Racing for the 2022 season.
“It feels awesome,” Bottas said. “It feels good. I don’t know. Almost like a relief to actually win a race this year. It’s been a while and it was not an easy race win. With these conditions, just needed like full focus, non-stop and couldn’t do any mistakes. The pace I had was really good and I was confident with the car. I feel like since Monza, things have been going quite well and quite nicely. There’s not pressure about anything, so I can just really enjoy, focus on the driving and that seems to work.”
Trailing Bottas to the finish line were Red Bull Racing’s two competitors, Max Verstappen and Sergio “Checo” Perez, both of whom sported a special silver Honda tribute scheme to pay homage to Honda’s final season as a power unit in F1. Verstappen finished in second place for his 12th podium result of the season and reassumed the lead in the drivers’ championship standings by six points over Lewis Hamilton. Perez, meanwhile, settled in third and achieved his first podium result since finishing third at Circuit Paul Ricard for the French Grand Prix in June.
“I think we had, in general, a decent race,” Verstappen said. “I think we maximized the result. Valtteri was a little bit faster, but of course this whole weekend, we were a bit behind in pace compared to Mercedes. This race was all about just managing the tyres through a certain lap. As a team, to finish second in Turkey was a very good result. I wish I had a bit more pace in the car so it would’ve been a bit easier. We are in the fight. We’ll keep fighting and we’ll see in the coming races how competitive we are going to be.”
“It’s been a while since I’m not on the podium,” Perez said. “Unfortunately, I think the last couple of races, we’ve been simply so unlucky. Today’s a special podium because it’s one of those days that I wasn’t fully comfortable with the car, especially on that first stint. It made it very tricky. It was good to get that podium. I think I learned a lot from my first stint to apply to my second one and how I bring the tyre in. That made a good difference. I really hope that from Austin onwards, we can be stronger than [Mercedes].”
While Charles Leclerc finished fourth after leading nine laps, Hamilton, who was able to methodically work his way to the front, ended up in fifth place after opting to pit for tyres with eight laps remaining while battling for a podium spot. The result left Hamilton furious with his team over the late decision to pit.
“I feel like I should’ve stayed out,” Hamilton said. “My gut feeling was to stay in and I that’s what I feel like I should’ve done. So frustrated in myself in not following my gut, but I work as a team. [I] Did the best I could with the advice I was giving…That’s life.”
Pierre Gasly, who qualified in the top five for the sixth time this season, rallied from a five-second penalty for colliding into Fernando Alonso on the opening lap to finish sixth followed by Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, who started at the rear of the field while competing in a new power unit to his Ferrari. As a result of his drive from the rear of the field, Sainz was named ‘Driver of the Day.’ Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon completed the top 10 on the track.
Antonio Giovinazzi settled in 11th followed by teammate Kimi Räikkönen, Daniel Ricciardo, rookie Yuki Tsunoda and George Russell. Fernando Alonso ended up in 16th ahead of Nicholas Latifi and Sebastian Vettel, who slipped off the course twice in the opening lap and later spun while trying to enter pit road. Rounding out the 20-car field in the running order were Haas’ Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.
Results:
1. Valtteri Bottas, 26 points, 49 laps led
2. Max Verstappen, 18 points
3. Sergio Perez, 15 points
4. Charles Leclerc, 12 points
5. Lewis Hamilton, 10 points
6. Pierre Gasly, eight points
7. Lando Norris, six points
8. Carlos Sainz, four points
9. Lance Stroll, two points
10. Esteban Ocon, one point, +1
11. Antonio Giovinazzi, +1
12. Kimi Räikkönen, +1 lap
13. Daniel Ricciardo, +1
14. Yuki Tsunoda, +1
15. George Russell, +1
16. Fernando Alonso, +1
17. Nicholas Latifi, +1
18. Sebastian Vettel, +1
19. Mick Schumacher, +2
20. Nikita Mazepin, +2
Max Verstappen leads the drivers’ standings by six points over Lewis Hamilton. Meanwhile, Mercedes continues to lead the constructors’ standings by 36 points over Red Bull Racing Honda.
With six races remaining to the schedule, the 2021 Formula One season will be taking a one-week break before returning to Circuit of the Americas for the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, October 24.
A week after being eliminated in an early accident at Talladega Superspeedway, AJ Allmendinger raced his way into the Round of 8 in the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs after leading the final 21 laps and winning the Drive for the Cure 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course for a third consecutive season on Saturday, October 9.
The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Playoff contender Austin Cindric started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Justin Allgaier.
Prior to the event, Michael Annett, who returned as driver of the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro for the first time since Richmond Raceway in September, started at the rear of the field due to replacing Josh Berry, who was originally on the entry list.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Cindric and Allgaier battled dead even for the lead entering the first turn while Jeb Burton and Noah Gragson made a four-wide move on Harrison Burton and Justin Haley to move up towards the top five.
From Turn 1, the six additional infield turns of the Roval and entering Turn 8, Cindric managed to remain with the lead ahead of Allgaier, Daniel Hemric and the field. Behind, Tommy Joe Martins spun entering Turn 8, but the race remained under green as the field scattered to avoid Martins. Shortly after, Kris Wright, who sustained a flat tire, spun entering the backstretch chicane.
When the field returned to the start/finish line, Cindric was able to lead the first lap ahead of Allgaier, Hemric, Brandon Jones and Gragson, who was being challenged by Haley.
As the field made their way out of the infield turns in Turn 8, the first caution flew when Sage Karam spun in Turn 6 following on-track contact. At the same time, Jade Buford, who was trying to dodge Karam, pinned his car against Brett Moffitt and the wall as the field behind was forced to scatter.
By the fifth lap, the race restarted on the frontstretch. At the start, Allgaier challenged Cindric side-by-side through the infield turns before Cindric prevailed entering Turn 7. While battling Hemric for the runner-up spot, Allgaier locked up his tires entering the backstretch chicane, but managed to keep his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro straight and through the chicane clean, though he lost the spot to Hemric.
Three laps later, Allgaier slipped and made contact with the wall in Turn 2, damaging the right side of his Camaro. The incident forced Allgaier to pit under green and fall below the running order. At the same time, Cindric, who was leading, missed the backstretch chicane and served his penalty by stopping on the frontsretch chicane, thus surrendering the lead to Daniel Hemric.
Another three laps later, the second caution of the event flew due to Gray Gaulding stalling in the backstretch. Under caution, some like Michael Annett, Brandon Brown and Allgaier pitted while the rest led by Hemric remained on the track.
When the race restarted on Lap 14, Hemric retained the lead over Cindric entering the infield turns as the field fanned out to multiple lanes and jostled for positions. Through the infield turns, the oval turns and the chicanes in the backstretch and frontstretch, Hemric was able to remain ahead of Cindric, Gragson, AJ Allmendinger, Brandon Jones and Justin Haley while the field battled in a single-file line.
With five laps remaining in the first stage, Hemric was leading by nearly a second over Cindric while Allmendinger, Gragson and Haley were in the top five. Brandon Jones was in sixth ahead of Gibbs, Herbst, Harrison Burton and Jeb Burton. Meanwhile, Josh Williams spun in the backstretch chicane, but the race remained under green.
Just as the pit road closed with two laps remaining in the second stage, Cindric peeled his No. 22 Richmond/Menards Ford Mustang to pit road for service and in preparation for the second stage. Meanwhile, Hemric continued to lead by more than three seconds over runner-up Allmendinger and nearly second seconds over third-place Gragson. By then, Gibbs overtook Haley to move into fourth place.
On the final lap of the first stage, the third caution of the event flew due to possible fluid on the course and when No. 15 Toyota driven by Kris Wright, who was smoking through the backstretch, came to a stop in Turn 12 due to a broken track bar. The caution was enough for the first stage scheduled on Lap 20 to conclude under a cautious pace as Hemric claimed his eighth stage victory of the season. AJ Allmendinger settled in second followed by Gragson, rookie Ty Gibbs, Haley, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton and Jeremy Clements.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Hemric pitted while few led by Cindric, who pitted prior to the first stage’s conclusion, remained on the track.
The second stage started on Lap 22 as Cindric and rookie Sam Mayer filled the front row. At the start, Cindric retained the lead over Mayer entering the first turn while the field fanned out to three and four lanes. Behind, Hemric muscled his pink No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra to third followed by Gragson, who made a four-wide move prior to the first turn to move up into the top five.
When the field returned to the start/finish line, Cindric was the leader of a four-car breakaway stretched out by less than a second. Meanwhile, Allmendinger was in fifth, trailing by three seconds, while Austin Hill, Haley, Preston Pardus, Brandon Jones and Gibbs were in the top 10.
By Lap 25, Cindric continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Mayer while Hemric, Gragson and Allmendinger remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Allgaier was mired in 29th in between Loris Hezemans and Stefan Parsons.
Three laps later, the fourth caution of the event flew when Josh Bilicki ran over the curbs through the backstretch chicane and destroyed the front spitter of his car, where the front of his car went airborne before he limped to pit road in a cloud of smoke and ended up in the garage. The debris and damage towards the backstretch was enough for the event to be red-flagged for approximately five minutes.
When the red flag was lifted following the cleanup and repairs to the chicane, names like Herbst pitted under caution while the rest led by Cindric remained on the track.
Down to the final laps of the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Cindric powered ahead on the inside lane while Mayer struggled to launch on the outside lane. Through the infield turns and the circuit turns while the field jostled for positions, Cindric was leading ahead of Hemric, Haley, Gibbs and Mayer.
A lap later, Jeb Burton made contact with the wall entering Turn 2, but he proceeded under green and just outside of the top 15.
When the field surpassed the halfway mark on Lap 35, Cindric stabilized his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Hemric. Meanwhile, Gibbs moved his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra up to third place while Haley and Mayer remained in the top five.
Just then, the caution returned due to debris reported on the frontstretch. Under caution, some led by Cindric pitted while the rest led by Hemric remained on the track.
With three laps remaining in the second stage, the race resumed under green. At the start, Hemric fended off Haley to maintain the lead entering and exiting the infield turns. He also continued to stabilize his lead through the backstretch chicane, the oval turns and the frontstretch chicane.
On the final lap of the second stage, Haley started to close in and challenge Hemric for the top spot. Despite getting close to Hemric’s rear bumper through the infield, Hemric continued to lead over Haley. Haley issued a final challenge on Hemric entering the frontstretch chicane, but the latter managed to hold him off to win the second stage on Lap 40 and record his ninth stage victory of the season. Haley settled in second followed by Myatt Snider, Gragson, Clements, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton, Gibbs, Jeb Burton and Mayer. By then, Hemric and Allgaier secured their spots for the Round of 8 in the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoffs based on points.
Under the stage break, some led by Hemric pitted while the rest led by Gibbs and Mayer remained on the track.
With 25 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Gibbs jumped ahead from the field following a strong start while the rest of the field jostled for positions through multiple lanes.
The following lap, Gibbs was out in front by one-and-a-half seconds over Mayer, who had Allmendinger and Cindric challenging behind. Herbst, who was now placed in a “must win” situation to keep his title hopes alive, was in fifth ahead of Sage Karam, Allgaier, Ty Dillon, Alex Labbe and Haley while Hemric was mired in 13th. Meanwhile, cousins Harrison and Jeb Burton, both of whom were battling one another for a Playoff spot, were in 16th and 18th.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Gibbs continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Allmendinger, who was methodically closing in for the lead. Behind, Cindric moved up to third while Mayer fell back to fourth. Karam was in fifth ahead of Haley, Allgaier, Hemric, Herbst and Labbe. By then, cousins Harrison and Jeb Burton were in 15th and 16th.
Just then, Gibbs, who was battling brake issues, missed the backstretch chicane and was forced to come to a complete stop on the backstretch before proceeding. Gibbs’ misfortune allowed Allmendinger to take the lead as Cindric and Mayer moved up to second and third, thus dropping Gibbs to fourth ahead of Karam.
Five laps later, Allmendinger was leading by nearly four seconds over Cindric while Mayer, Haley and Hemric were in the top five. Karam was in sixth ahead of Gibbs while Allgaier and Herbst battled for eighth in front of Labbe. Harrison Burton was mired in 15th ahead of teammate Brandon Jones, Jeb Burton, Clements and Gragson while Michael Annett was in 21st.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Allmendinger stabilized his advantage to more than four seconds over Cindric and Mayer. Haley, who was in fourth, trailed by nearly nine seconds while Hemric, who was mired in fifth, trailed by more than 13 seconds.
Not long after, Cindric got loose approaching Turn 7, which allowed Mayer to briefly move into second before Cindric fought back through the oval turns. While both Cindric and Mayer battled, Allmendinger extended his advantage to more than six seconds. In addition, Haley started to close in on Cindric and Mayer for the runner-up spot.
With five laps remaining, Allmendinger remained as the leader by nearly nine seconds over Cindric, who was under fire by Mayer, Haley, Hemric and Gibbs for the runner-up spot. By then, Herbst took his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang to the garage due to a rear end issue. The late misfortune ended Herbst’s hopes of advancing to the Round of 8.
A lap later, the caution flew due to an incident involving Tommy Joe Martins in Turn 14. The caution all but evaporated Allmendinger’s advantage of nearly nine seconds.
Under caution, names like Hemric, Labbe, Allgaier, Gragson, Snider, Michael Annett and Ryan Sieg pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.
With two laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Allmendinger launched ahead on the inside lane while Cindric spun the tires on the outside lane. Through the infield turns and the chicanes while the field battled for late positions, Allmendinger maintained the lead ahead of Mayer while Gibbs and Cindric battled for third.
When the final lap started, Allmendinger continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Gibbs and Mayer, both of whom battled for second ahead of Cindric and Hemric. Then entering Turn 5, Mayer sent Gibbs in a spin, dropping Gibbs back to sixth as Cindric, Mayer, Haley and Hemric moved up the leaderboard. Soon after, Mayer missed the backstretch chicane and came to a stop before proceeding. By then, Mayer dropped out of the top 10.
In the midst of the late spins and battles, Allmendinger was long gone as he made his way through the frontstretch chicane and cruised his No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet Camaro across the finish line for the win.
With the victory, Allmendinger captured his sixth road course win, which was the most all-time for an Xfinity competitor. In addition, he captured his fifth victory of the season and his 10th triumph in the Xfinity circuit as he took another step closer in capturing his first NASCAR national touring series championship.
“I knew [the final caution] was coming out,” Allmendinger said on NBC. “It wasn’t gonna go simple like that. That was a fight today. We had to be kind of on defense early, worried about the points. This place was tough to pass. The track was really slick to begin with, obviously with all the rain. [I] Can’t thank all the men and women at Kaulig Racing enough, [team owner] Matt Kaulig, [team president] Chris Rice. This Hyperice Chevy, once it got into the lead, it was stupid fast. The big picture’s the championship, but getting another win, three in a row here at the Roval, that means the world to me…What an awesome day.”
As the cars were approaching the finish line, a multi-car melee struck that involved Gibbs, Josh Williams, Brandon Brown and Ty Dillon.
Cindric, who secured his spot for the Playoffs based on points a week ago at Talladega Superspeedway, finished in second place after leading a race-high 22 laps while Hemric, who won both stages and led 17 laps, made his way up to third place on fresh tires.
“Pretty solid round,” Cindric said. “I feel like today’s a bit of a missed opportunity. I feel like I was able to drive as hard as I wanted to today. I made some mistakes because of it, but learned some things. [I] Thought we were gonna be a bit better today, but it should set us up for Texas. I know we put in a fast lap early. Finishing second and good in points. I had fun today.”
Haley, Brandon Jones and Gragson secured their spots for the Round of 8 after finishing fourth, fifth and sixth while Preston Pardus, Snider, Allgaier and Mayer ended up in the top 10 on the track.
“I think me and AJ probably had the best cars there,” Haley said. “His points gap coming into today just allowed him to short-pit and get the lead, and I had to go through traffic through that second stage. I think we had a pretty good LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet. A second-place car. I don’t know. We never really got towards AJ, but awesome day. Locked into the Round of 8.”
“Pretty much, all the road courses this year haven’t been too bad to us,” Jones said. “Lot of time, lot of effort into trying to make something of this. There’s been a lot of additions at road courses, so it’s a big part of our schedule now. Today paid off for us, I think, having a lot of preparation to come into this weekend and have a run like we did. [I] Did exactly what I really needed to do. I know when when we step into a race track, we wanna win. That’s our main goal, but we sat down as a team and said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna make it to the next round.’ It’s all about being smart…All that went perfect.”
“[Today] was alright,” Gragson said. “I didn’t really feel like we had the speed we did here in the rain or the dry in the past. [I] Salvaged a fourth- or fifth-place car. To come home sixth from starting at the back there at the end, we’re just focused on points the whole time. Pretty much, just race the race at 80 percent, 85 percent. There’s a lot at risk, but there’s a lot of reward here at this race track for speed and it’s a big penalty when you go off…Came back, did our job, collected points in all three stages and came home a sixth-place finish. We’ll keep on pushing. On to the next round in the Playoffs.”
In the midst of the late chaos and battles, Harrison Burton coasted his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra across the finish line in 15th and secured the eighth and final transfer spot to the Round of 8 over his cousin Jeb Burton, who had his title hopes come to an end.
“Yeah, it was a boring race for us ’cause it was just pins and needles,” Harrison Burton said. “We had two decent first stages where we ran about seventh or eighth or wherever. Then we come into this race, the last stage, and it’s like, ‘OK, just stay wherever [Jeb] is.’ It wasn’t the most fun. I wasn’t able to be aggressive, be like myself, just kind of cruising, so that was boring. Glad it worked out. Now we can go and we’ll go win and get into Phoenix. That’s all that matters is getting to Phoenix with a chance. These next three races, [we] might have to win one. These are all great tracks for us, so I’m excited to go try.”
“I made a couple of mistakes,” Jeb Burton said. “I got in the wall and I was side by side with Harrison. Luckily, it didn’t end our day, but I just need some more laps here. I hadn’t raced here before. I was getting better and better. [I] Appreciate Kaulig [Racing] and everything they’re doing for me. Congrats to AJ. He helped me a lot. Just needed a little bit more.”
AJ Allmendinger, Austin Cindric, Daniel Hemric, Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Justin Haley, Brandon Jones and Harrison Burton have transferred into the Round of 8 in the Playoffs. Jeb Burton, Myatt Snider, Riley Herbst and Jeremy Clements have been eliminated from title contention.
“I made a rookie mistake there,” Snider said. “I pulled out too soon on the restart, knowing there were a couple of slow cars in front of me. I was just trying to get all I could and misunderstood the rule that I follow. That’s on me. [Crew chief] Andy Street made a great call to get us tires there at the end, help us get back up there to eighth and get ourselves a fight for it, but finished eighth and we’re still 15 points out, we’re gonna need a lot more than that. Really proud of everybody on the TaxSlayer crew for slaying it. That’s what I gotta learn for next year’s ride. It’s just to not make those rookie mistakes…Something to build on.”
“We just got in a wreck the first [Playoff] race we couldn’t avoid, broke a rocker arm at Talladega, lost a cylinder and rode around, and battled hard here today with our pink All South Electric Chevrolet,” Clements said. “We weren’t as fast as Xfinity internet this round, but we’re gonna keep digging deep and give it all we got. We got four more races to learn and try to get better for next year. I’m proud of our effort. This is how we should’ve ran the last two races, so it is what it is. We were dealt the cards we had and we were in a big whole, but just proud of our group. I’m proud we made the Playoffs and we’re gonna keep trying to get faster.”
There were six lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 13 laps.
Results.
1. AJ Allmendinger, 21 laps led
2. Austin Cindric, 22 laps led
3. Daniel Hemric, 17 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
4. Justin Haley
5. Brandon Jones
6. Noah Gragson, one lap led
7. Preston Pardus
8. Myatt Snider
9. Justin Allgaier
10. Sam Mayer
11. Josh Williams
12. Jeremy Clements
13. Jeb Burton
14. Alex Labbe
15. Harrison Burton
16. Jade Buford
17. Landon Cassill
18. Austin Hill
19. JJ Yeley
20. Jeffrey Earnhardt
21. Ty Gibbs, seven laps led
22. Brandon Brown
23. Kyle Weatherman
24. Stefan Parsons
25. Sage Karam
26. Ty Dillon
27. Michael Annett
28. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down
29. Will Rodgers, one lap down
30. Matt Mills, one lap down
31. Spencer Boyd, one lap down
32. Ryan Sieg, two laps down
33. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Accident
34. Riley Herbst – OUT, Suspension
35. Loris Hezemans – OUT, Electrical
36. Ryan Vargas – OUT, Axle
37. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Accident
38. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident
39. Kris Wright – OUT, Suspension
40. Gray Gaulding – OUT, Rear gear
Bold indicates Playoff contenders.
Playoff standings.
1. AJ Allmendinger – Advanced
2. Austin Cindric – Advanced
3. Justin Allgaier – Advanced
4. Noah Gragson – Advanced
5. Daniel Hemric – Advanced
6. Justin Haley – Advanced
7. Harrison Burton – Advanced
8. Brandon Jones – Advanced
9. Jeb Burton – Eliminated
10. Myatt Snider – Eliminated
11. Riley Herbst – Eliminated
12. Jeremy Clements – Eliminated
The Round of 8 in the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs will commence next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway for a 300-mile feature. The event will occur on Saturday, October 16, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
Michael Annett announced his decision to retire from full-time NASCAR competition following the 2021 racing season.
The 35-year-old Annett from Des Moines, Iowa, currently competes as driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Across NASCAR’s top three national touring series (Camping World Truck Series, Xfinity Series and Cup Series), Annett is also in his 13th season as a full-time competitor, having made 431 career starts.
“I’m just so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had,” Annett said. “Being able to drive racecars for a living is honestly a dream come true for me. It’s been a privilege to work with some great teams and alongside some of the most talented folks in the garage. None of this would have been possible without the support of my partners, and I am happy to call them life-long friends. It’s those relationships and friendships that are the most rewarding.”
Annett made his inaugural presence in NASCAR in 2008, where he competed in eight Truck Series events for Bill Davis Racing and one Xfinity event for Germain Racing. Since competing as a full-time competitor for Germain Racing in the 2009 Xfinity season, Annett has accumulated a single victory in his career, which occurred at Daytona International Speedway in February 2019. He has also racked up a pole, 19 top-five results, 93 top-10 results, nearly 200 laps led, an average-finishing result of 15.8 and three Playoff appearances through 316 Xfinity career starts, all while competing for teams that include Germain Racing, Rusty Wallace Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports and JR Motorsports. His best result in the Xfinity standings is fifth place, which occurred in 2012.
Making nine career starts in the Truck Series, Annett achieved one top-five result and two top-10 results. During a three-year span in the Cup Series with HScott Motorsports (2014-16), he recorded five top-20 results and 13 laps led.
Annett, who is in his fifth season with JR Motorsports in the Xfinity circuit, is ranked in 17th place in the standings and has achieved a single top-five result along with eight top-10 results through 21 of 29 starts. He has not competed in NASCAR since September at Richmond Raceway as he recovers from a leg injury that he first sustained and caused him to not participate in the Xfinity event at Atlanta Motor Speedway in July. Since Atlanta, Annett has not competed in seven of the previous 11 events while Josh Berry and Chase Elliott took turns piloting Annett’s No. 1 JRM Chevrolet. Berry managed to secure a victory with the No. 1 team at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in late September.
With the 2021 season marking Annett’s final full-time season as a NASCAR competitor, his return to on-track competition is yet to be determined as Berry is scheduled to fill in the No. 1 JRM Chevrolet for the upcoming Xfinity Series event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, which will occur on Saturday, October 9, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
