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Author: Briar Starr

Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series Race at Gateway
The Truck Series was in town this past weekend at the World Wide Technology Raceway from Gateway for race No. 13 of the 2020 Truck Series season.

GMS Racing continued their late-season dominance by scoring another victory Sunday afternoon when team driver Sheldon Creed won for the third time this season. Not only winning, but the victory marked GMS fourth consecutive win of 2020. Now, two drivers (Sheldon Creed and Zane Smith) have victories, while Brett Moffitt and Tyler Ankrum remains winless in the year, but are solidly locked in for a potential championship run.

At this point, GMS seems unbeatable, but there is normally at least one team that steps up during the playoffs run. Who that team is yet to be determined, but the playoffs should be interesting to watch with 10 drivers going for one championship.

With that storyline out of the way, we’ll take a look at what else we might’ve missed this past weekend in the CarShield 200 at Gateway.
1. Stewart Friesen Gains Top-Five Finish – The 2020 season sure has been a crazy run with the Halmar Racing team, who has been uncharacteristic like. Before Gateway, Friesen only had one top-five finish and seven top 10 finishes, along with two DNF’s that have certainly hurt his playoff chances. However, some light was found at the end of the tunnel, when Friesen brought home the No. 52 Toyota Tundra to a fifth-place finishing position. No stage points for Stage 1, but the Canadian did gain some points in Stage 2 after finishing 10th. Despite the solid run, his season performance has cost the team a lot of points and is now in a must-win situation if Friesen wants to have another shot in the Championship, as he currently sits 14th nearly 100 points below the cut line.
2. Sam Mayer Has Consistent Run – Sam Mayer is one of the up and coming stars in the NASCAR world, who currently competes in the ARCA series full-time and is on a part-time Truck Series schedule. Through the first four races, the Wisconsin native has struggled to earn a finish inside the top 10. However, Mayer was in contention to win with a late-race restart that came with 13 to go when he lined up alongside his team-mate Sheldon Creed. Unfortunately for Mayer, he spun his tires and fell out of the lead. But, not all was lost as the GMS development driver managed to stay in the top five when he finished fourth after leading 33 laps. Still, if/when Mayer looks back on the race, Gateway could be one of those races on what might’ve been.
3. New Pit Procedure – NASCAR’s new pit procedure was seen Sunday afternoon for the standalone Truck Series race. The new pit procedure consisted of drivers not being allowed to change tires or add fuel during the green flag run and only allowed under the stage break. In addition, wherever drivers finished in the stages, is where they would line up for the stage restart. There were some mixed reactions from the drivers camp, as some drivers “hated the idea” as they thought the procedure “eliminated strategy.” I would have to agree on the driver’s side for this one, as the pit procedure kind of created for a boring race and eliminated the excitement of what goes in pit stops. I understand NASCAR’s creative thinking by trying to eliminate cost measures for teams, whenever they don’t have their regular pit crew with them, but I’m sure there could be other ways to go about with cost-effective measures without eliminating the strategy that goes on in these races.
4. Jeff Green Spots – Yes, you read that right. Former NASCAR Busch Series Champion and part-time driver Jeff Green spotted GMS Racing driver Tyler Ankrum on Sunday. Green was on top of the spotter stand helping the young Californian navigate through the field. Things were looking pretty sporty through the first half of the race for Ankrum, after finishing 10th in Stage 1 and seventh in Stage 2. However, he sort of fell back a bit as the laps winded down, and placed 12th in the final running order.
August 31, 2020
Josef Newgarden Uses Pit-Strategy To Claim Victory in Race 2 at Gateway
By using pit-strategy on lap 150, and ousting Pato O’Ward on pit road following the final stop of the race, Josef Newgarden found himself back in victory lane after cycling to the lead on lap 157 and scored his first checkered flag of the year.

And after taking the lead from O’Ward, the Team Penske driver credited his crew for helping him to win the race.

“This was all a pit stop victory right here for me,” Newgarden said. “We got pretty dicey with Will (Power) and Pato (O’Ward) there on track. My guys have been amazing in the pits. They have put me into position every time. It was really fun racing Pato out of the pit. That was for the win right there, that race when we went side by side out of the pit exit. He did an amazing job. He’s going to do great things in this sport, so good job to him. It’s a smaller crowd; we weren’t allowed to have as many people here, but thank you to everyone who came out. I hope you enjoyed your Sunday, and hopefully, you enjoyed the race. This was all down to my team. Team Chevy did an amazing job. Great to have Hitachi on the car this weekend. They’ve been good luck for us. Really proud of my team. They won the race. I didn’t win it; they won it.”

Prior to Race No. 2 getting underway, a service vehicle had laid down oil on the track, which prompted a long clean up just moments before the command was given. After the cleanup, IndyCar ran one lap under yellow before initially taking the green flag on Lap 2.

From the beginning, Newgarden ran a consistent race by following the pole-sitter Takuma Sato. By using the same strategy on Saturday and staying out longer than others, Sato led through his first pit stop on lap 59.

Eventual race winner Newgarden pitted several laps earlier on Lap 47. He was able to win the race off pit road amongst his competitors. However, it was rookie Pato O’Ward who cycled into the lead on lap 60, with Power trailing by 0.3579 seconds.

It wouldn’t be until the halfway mark, where Newgarden claimed the top spot when pit stops were happening again. Before Newgarden pitted on Lap 102, he led Indy 500 winner Sato by 3.4 seconds.

Once Newgarden and Sato made their stops, Power was the new leader on Lap 114 as he managed to come out in front of O’Ward and Newgarden.

Unfortunately, 36 laps later, Power’s chances of winning went awry, as he got slowed up by lap traffic when the Australian driver was trying to enter the access road to pit lane, costing Power time in his pit box. The incident allowed Newgarden, who pitted one lap earlier than Power, to re-take the lead on lap 157.

For a long while, Newgarden had the best car out on the track, by having a stable lead over second-place O’Ward. O’Ward could never really close in on the race leader unless he had help with lap traffic that would cause Newgarden to slow up. However, the Aarow McLaren SP driver managed to get the gap down to 0.4058 seconds.

Unfortunately, a late-race caution with four laps to go caused by Takuma Sato would see race No. 2 of the Bommarito 500 end under yellow flag conditions. There were not enough laps left to have IndyCar Series officials to do a restart, ultimately giving Newgarden his 16th career NTT IndyCar Series victory.

Even though Newgarden was able to cut into Scott Dixon’s championship points lead (who now leads by 94 points), the Tennessee native knows it’s still too early to think about a championship with just five races left of the season, but the victory could help boost the teams moral.

“We can’t give up on the championship yet,” Newgarden said about a potential title. “Yesterday was a pretty big blow. We’ve been bitten by bad luck this year. The yellows have gone against us in three or four of the eight races. But, what are you going to do? Sometimes they come to you, some times they don”t. But that is racing. You just have to get on a good cycle. Maybe this will be a kick start as we head toward the end of the season.”

There were two cautions for five laps and nine lead changes among five different leaders.

Newgarden led twice for 48 laps en route to victory.

Race No. 2 of the Bommarito 500 potentially marked Tony Kanaan’s last IndyCar Series race of his career, as he is currently slated not to run any more events. Kanaan will end his IndyCar career with 16 victories, 72 podiums, 10 poles, 3,653 laps led, 2013 Indy 500 Champion, and an average finish of 10.2.

Official Results following Race No. 2 at World Wide Technology Raceway from Gateway.
1. Josef Newgarden, led 48 laps
2. Pato O’Ward, led 36 laps
3. Will Power, led 40 laps
4. Rinus VeeKay
5. Scott Dixon
6. Colton Herta, led 10 laps
7. Felix Rosenqvist
8. Conor Daly
9. Takuma Sato, led 66 laps
10. Santino Ferrucci
11. Ryan Hunter-Reay
12. Alex Palou
13. Jack Harvey
14. Alexander Rossi
15. Marco Andretti, 1 lap down
16. Simon Pagenaud, 1 lap down
17. Oliver Askew, 1 lap down
18. Charlie Kimball, 1 lap down
19. Tony Kanaan, 1 lap down
20. Graham Rahal, 2 laps down
21. Ed Carpenter, 3 laps down
22. Zach Veach, 4 laps down
23. Marcus Ericsson, 10 laps down
Up Next: The NTT IndyCar Series next race is Friday, October 2 at the Indianapolis Grand Prix, with a start time of 3:50 p.m./Eastern. However, there have been talks that the previously postponed Mid-Ohio event could become another doubleheader in the next few weeks. There has not been an official announcement yet made by IndyCar, whether or not the event will take place.
August 30, 2020
Creed wins the CarShield 200 at World Wide Technology Raceway
Sheldon Creed scored his third win of the 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series season on Sunday afternoon at the World Wide Technology Raceway from Gateway. But the CarShield 200 Presented by CK Power victory was a little controversial as Creed made contact with then race leader, Todd Gilliland, after the Stage 3 restart.

After the incident, Creed had to fend off his teammate Sam Mayer, who spun his tires on the last restart of the race. As Mayer spun his tires, Creed pulled away and eventually claimed the checkered flag, continuing GMS’s late dominance in the Truck Series.

“The [win] feels great but I want to start by apologizing to the 38 (Gilliland),” Creed said. “It’s so hard to pass here and I got down into his inside and just was really loose getting in. He was really close to my door. They were having such a good day and me and Todd are buddies. I hate doing that to him. They are a strong team. He owes me one.

“But hats off to my guys. They made great adjustments all day. Came from 17th and had my work cut out for me.”

Three stages of 55-55-50 made up the 160-lap race. In addition to the stages, the new NASCAR pit stop procedure came into effect for today only which stated that the drivers could not come down pit road during the green flag run. Therefore, drivers and teams could not change tires until the stage break. But, during the pit stop procedure, the driver would not lose track position and would keep the position where they finished in the stages.

Stage 1: Lap 1 – Lap 55

Through the first 45 laps of the event, a GMS Racing driver led, rookie standout and two-time Truck Series winner, Zane Smith.

Smith led until Front Row Motorsports driver Todd Gilliland took the lead at Lap 46 and drove away to take the stage victory. The stage victory was his first in over two years since Talladega in 2018.

While Smith and Gilliland swapped the lead on-track, 2016 Truck Series Champion Johnny Sauter had to watch from pit road. The Wisconsin native had a broken drive train and was unable to get back out to the track. With Sauter out of the race early on Lap 28, he was credited with a last-place finish. At this point, Sauter is in a must-win situation in the final two races left before the playoffs begin.

Gilliland took the Stage 1 win followed by Zane Smith, Moffitt, Eckes, Crafton, Mayer, Rhodes, Creed, Majeski, and Akrum as the top 10 finishers.

During the stage break, some interesting developments took place on pit road.

Kansas winner Matt Crafton had his hood up as the team was checking for a potential issue with his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150. Crafton’s truck had shut off prior to coming to his pit box. There were reports from the team that the truck could have run out of fuel but the issue was not thoroughly diagnosed. Nonetheless, Crafton was able to continue on in the race.

Stage 2: Lap 61 – Lap 110

Gilliland would dominate the second stage by leading all the laps. However, one caution slowed his efforts.

On Lap 78, the caution flew for rookie Chandler Smith who got loose under the No. 99 of Ben Rhodes, slid up the track and hit the Turn 2 wall. Smith received major left-side damage to his No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra.

Despite the caution flag, Gilliland took Stage 2 with Eckes, Zane Smith, Mayer, Creed, Moffitt, Ankrum, Rhodes, Lessard, and Friesen completing the top 10.

Stage 3: Lap 116 – Lap 160

Several incidents occurred throughout the final stage of the race.

With 39 to go, Christian Eckes bounced off the Turn 2 wall after having a tire go down on his No. 18 Toyota Tundra. Unfortunately for Eckes, his day was done early and he was credited with a 32nd place finish.

A few moments later, the pivotal moment of the race came when Creed drove down into the middle of Turns 1 and 2 and accidentally shoved Gilliland up the track, causing him to hit the wall. After the mishap, Gilliland’s chance of winning the race was done, as he fell to the back of the pack, and came to pit road to fix his damage.

The fourth yellow would fly on Lap 128 when Jennifer Jo Cobb pounded the Turn 2 wall after a right-front tire went flat. During that same yellow, Gilliland was still on pit road fixing the damage and went two laps down due to the untimely yellow.

It seemed as though Turn 2 would continue to be the trouble spot as the final yellow flew with 18 to go when Austin Wayne Self was wrecked after Niece Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar made contact with him.

The late-race yellow set up a 13-lap run to the finish, with rookie Sam Mayer looking for his first-ever Truck Series win and Creed on the front row.

Unfortunately for Mayer, he spun his tires on the restart which allowed Creed to go right on by and prevail with his third checkered flag of the season.

Not only did Creed win again, but he also collected another $50,000 in the “Triple Truck Challenge.”

Creed led twice for 15 laps and picked up five playoff points following his victory. There were five cautions for 23 laps and five lead changes among six different leaders.

Official Results following the CarShield 200 at Gateway:
1. Sheldon Creed, led 15 laps
2. Brett Moffitt
3. Austin Hill
4. Sam Mayer, led 24 laps
5. Stewart Friesen
6. Raphael Lessard
7. Zane Smith, led 45 laps
8. Grant Enfinger
9. Ty Majeski
10. Tanner Gray
11. Ben Rhodes
12. Tyler Ankrum
13. Derek Kraus
14. Matt Crafton
15. Carson Hocevar
16. Danny Bohn
17. Jordan Anderson
18. Tate Fogleman
19. Clay Greenfield
20. Kyle Donahue
21. Tyler Hill, 1 lap down
22. Todd Gilliland, 2 laps down, won both stages, led 76 laps
23. Dawson Cram, 2 laps down
24. Chandler Smith, 3 laps down
25. Spencer Boyd, 3 laps down
26. Bryant Barnhill, 4 laps down
27. Roger Reuse, 9 laps down
28. Natalie Decker, 10 laps down
29. Norm Benning, 12 laps down
30. Austin Wayne Self, OUT, Damage Vehicle Policy
31. Jennifer Jo Cobb, OUT, Accident
32. Christian Eckes, OUT, Driveshaft
33. Johnny Sauter, OUT, Vibration
Playoff Standings
1. Sheldon Creed (3 wins), 19 playoff points
2. Zane Smith (2 wins), 14 playoff points
3. Grant Enfinger (2 wins), 11 playoff points
4. Austin Hill (1 win), 7 playoff points
5. Matt Crafton (1 win), 5 playoff points
6. Brett Moffitt, 4 playoff points, +118 above the cut line
7. Ben Rhodes, +85 above the cut line
8. Christian Eckes, +73 above the cut line
9. Tyler Ankrum, +15 above the cut line
10. Todd Gilliland, 2 playoff points, +15 above the cut line
  Below the cut line
11. Derek Kruas, -15
12. Tanner Gray, -71
13. Raphael Lessard, -75
14. Stewart Friesen, -99
Up Next: The NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series will visit Darlington Raceway for the first time in nine-years, on Sunday September 5th, live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio at 2 p.m./ET.
August 30, 2020
Dixon scores 50 career wins at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway
Scott Dixon continues to have what is quite possibly the best season of his career to date after claiming the fourth victory of the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series season.

The New Zealander had to hold off Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato in the remaining laps of race No. 1 for the Bommarito 500. Sato had closed the gap inside 20 laps to go and made up the difference within 10 to go. At one point, the 2020 Indy 500 winner was on the back bumper of Dixon but Sato could not make the move he needed to pass. Eventually, Dixon held off Sato for his 50th career IndyCar Series victory and won by 0.1414, the second-closest finish at the World Wide Technology Raceway.

“It’s awesome,” Dixon said. “I can’t thank the PNC Bank crew enough. Superb race all day. Sato was going to be strong at the end, but I didn’t realize how strong he was coming. We were kind of going into a reserve mode, looking after the engine, and he was there with a head of steam. Just so happy for this team. Last week at Indianapolis was a bit of a bummer. So, it was nice to get a win. Fifty – that sounds awesome. We’ve got to keep on truckin’ and get a few more. But I can’t thank Honda and HPD enough. I’m proud to be powered by them and what they’ve done, especially this year, is just phenomenal, and how quick their cars have been. This is just awesome.”

With threatening weather in the area, series officials had bumped the race up a few minutes prior to the original command, which was slated for 2:40 p.m. local time. Instead, the green flag flew at 2:35 p.m. local time.

However, the initial green flag didn’t really work out as there was carnage on the first lap. When the green flag flew, several cars piled into the back of each other. The incident was caused by the No. 55 of Alex Palou and the No. 7 of Oliver Askew, who jumped out of line early, and caused a collision. Drivers involved in the wreck were Alexander Rossi, Zach Veach, Simon Pagenaud, Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter, Marco Andretti, Marcus Ericsson, and Pato O’ Ward.

Due to causing the accident, Palou and Askew were penalized for avoidable contact and were sent to the rear for the Lap 13 restart.

Finally, after 12 laps of caution, the green flag flew on Lap 13. Only one driver was able to break away from the field and that was the No. 12 Verizon Chevy of Will Power. Power led through the first round of pit stops before eventually pitting on Lap 62. The first round of green-flag pit stops lasted until Lap 70 when Aarow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward emerged as the new race leader after beating Power out of the pits. O’Ward led second-place Dixon by about 2.5 seconds.

When the green-flag stops were completed, Pagenaud was out of his car on Lap 74 due to early damage from the Lap 1 crash. Unfortunately for Pagenaud, he would be credited with a 19th place finish.

For a while, no driver was a match for the Spaniard, as O’Ward had a steady pace of two seconds over Dixon with the race approaching the halfway point. When the halfway point came, drivers began making more pit stops. However, the second caution of the race flew on Lap 108 for weather in the area. Due to the unfortunate timing, Power, Askew, VeeKay, Harvey, Daly, Hunter-Reay were caught a lap down during the pit stop cycle when the yellow came out.

There was some concern in O’Ward’s pits, as had the race continued to run under the yellow flag, he would run out of fuel while leading the race. Thankfully, the light moisture that prompted the yellow, moved out of the area and allowed the race leaders to pit under the caution flag.

The next restart came on Lap 121 with O’Ward and Dixon making up the front row. O’Ward held Dixon to a gap of 1.2 seconds. As the race went on, Dixon started to cut the gap down to as little as 0.5545 seconds on Lap 150.

The changing moment of the race was during the final cycle of stops at lap 162. This was when race leaders O’Ward and Dixon were on pit road. O’Ward’s pit box was a little further back then Dixon’s, as Dixon had the No. 1 pit box which allowed him to have an easy out. When both team’s pit stops were complete, it was Dixon who beat O’Ward off of pit road.

However, Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato was utilizing a different strategy by staying out and trapping Dixon and O’Ward a lap down so that Sato could at least have a chance of another victory. His plan almost worked out until his final stop on Lap 174, when the pit crew was slow on the left-front, thus causing him to lose valuable time on the racetrack.

Once Sato left the pits, Dixon took the lead and was looking for another checkered flag. But the victory wasn’t all that easy for the Chip Ganassi Racing driver. Sato made a thrilling pass on O’Ward with 21 to go for second-place.

From there, Sato began his chase to win for a second consecutive week. The closest Sato could ever get to Dixon’s back bumper was 0.3333 seconds with just two to go.

Nevertheless, Dixon held off a hard-charging Sato to continue his dominant 2020 season and achieving his first career win at the World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. O’Ward, Herta, and Ericsson rounded out the top five in the running order.

By scoring 50 wins, Dixon is now third on the All-Time IndyCar wins list. He also increased his championship points lead by 117 points over second-place Josef Newgarden.

There were two cautions for 25 laps and six lead changes among seven different leaders.

Official Results following Race No. 1 at the World Wide Technology Raceway from Gateway.
1. Scott Dixon, led 28 laps
2. Takuma Sato, led 14 laps
3. Pato O’Ward, led 94 laps
4. Colton Herta
5. Marcus Ericsson
6. Rinus VeeKay
7. Ryan Hunter-Reay
8. Felix Rosenqvist, led one lap
9. Tony Kanaan
10. Conor Daly
11. Jack Harvey
12. Josef Newgarden
13. Charlie Kimball
14. Oliver Askew
15. Alex Palou
16. Santino Ferrccui
17. Will Power, 2 laps down, led 61 laps
18. Graham Rahal, OUT, Mechanical
19. Simon Pagenaud, OUT, Contact
20. Ed Carpenter, OUT, Contact
21. Zach Veach, OUT, Contact
22. Alexander Rossi, OUT, Contact
23. Marco Andretti, OUT, Contact
Up Next: The NTT IndyCar Series will remain at Gateway as part of the double header weekend with race No. 2 scheduled for 2:45 p.m./local time on Sunday afternoon live on NBCSN. Takuma Sato earned the pole position earlier today on lap 2 of qualifying, which set the lineup for Sunday’s race. Saturday race winner Scott Dixon, will start six.
August 29, 2020
Lexus Motorsports announces Daniel Morad to compete at Road Atlanta

Lexus Motorsports announced today that Daniel Morad will join the team for the upcoming IMSA 6 hours of Road Atlanta event. Morad is scheduled to be the co-driver alongside Jack Hawksworth and Michael de Quesada, driving in the No. 14 AVS Lexus RC F GT3 entry.

Currently, Morad has five podiums in the IMSA GTD category, even earning a victory in the prestigious 24 Hours of Daytona back in 2017, where he was also teammates with de Quesada. In addition, the Canadian scored a podium finish in the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona.

Morad is looking forward to the opportunity when the series heads to Road Atlanta Sept 4-6.

“I’m really looking forward to joining AVS at Road Atlanta and very thankful for the opportunity,” said Morad. “I want to thank AVS for helping me pull this together. The team is really performing this season, and I’ve been focused on making my debut with them the best it can be.”

Team co-owner Jimmy Vasser comments on the addition to his roster.

“We’re happy to announce Daniel Morad will join AVS for the Grand Prix At Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Daniel is a competitive and successful GTD driver who will bring a lot of experience to the No. 14 AVS Lexus effort,” said Jimmy Vasser, co-owner of AIM VASSER SULLIVAN.

August 25, 2020
Two ARCA Races Canceled for COVID-19 Reasons

ARCA Menards Series Officials announced today that two ARCA East Series races, Berlin Raceway, and New Hampshire Motor Speedway have been canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions. In addition, the ARCA Menards Series has one race canceled on the schedule, which was Salem Speedway.

To make up the canceled events, a combination race with both ARCA and ARCA East will be seen at Toledo Speedway Saturday, September 12 live on MAVTV at 5 p.m./ET.

“The logistical challenges created by COVID-19 forced us to make some difficult decisions,” ARCA President Ron Drager said. “We are disappointed that we won’t be visiting Berlin Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Salem Speedway this year, but we look forward to bringing the excitement of ARCA Menards Series racing back to those great facilities in the future.”

Despite the unfortunate cancellations, a limited amount of race fans will be allowed to watch the combination event at Toledo Speedway. This will be the first time this year Toledo will have fans at one of their featured events.

There will also be championship points up for grabs in both series as well.

August 25, 2020
NASCAR Xfinity Series Power Rankings – Dover
Dover International Speedway held two NASCAR Xfinity Series races this past weekend for a doubleheader weekend, with both races making up the originally postponed Spring and Fall events.

Justin Allgaier ended up snapping a winless streak dating back to Phoenix of 2019 and with one of his best races of the season to date. Meanwhile, Chase Briscoe continued his hunt for eight wins that he set out at the beginning of the year, winning the Sunday event for his sixth victory of the year.

But where did everyone else wind up?

Here’s a look at this week’s Power Rankings following the Dover doubleheader.
1. Chase Briscoe – After a forgettable Daytona Road Course race, Briscoe bounced back this weekend by placing 10th in Saturday’s race and leading 107 laps in Sunday’s race en route to victory. The Indiana native also won the second stage in Sunday’s race and gained substantial bonus points. Briscoe is solidly in the Playoffs and could very easily reach eight victories before the season is said and done.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Fifth
2. Justin Allgaier – It’s been a whirlwind of a season for Allgaier, who has been up and down throughout the year with five DNFs. However, Allgaier had a solid weekend at the “Monster Mile” by winning Saturday’s race (finishing third in Stage 1 and winning Stage 2). In addition, he led 120 of 200 laps, the most out of any driver in the race. When Sunday rolled around, Allgaier looked to continue his winning ways. He managed stage finishes of second twice, led 19 laps, and ultimately gained his 12th top-10 finish of the season, finishing seventh. It was a bounce-back weekend for the JR Motorsports driver.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
3. Austin Cindric – A pair of top-five finishes for the No. 22 Penske team, finishing second and third respectively in both races. Cindric led a combined 50 laps, won Stage 1 in Saturday’s race, and managed stage finishes in the top-10 for Sunday. Despite his winning streak being broken this weekend, Cindric is still riding high after a mid-season momentum. After the Dover races, Cindric has earned 15 top-five finishes.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – First
4. Noah Gragson – A respectable weekend in the No. 9 JR Motorsports camp, finishing fourth in Saturday’s race and sixth in the Sunday outing. The Las Vegas native was able to lead a combined effort of 38 laps. Gragson sits third in the points standings, 97 points behind championship points leader Cindric. Gragson could easily be a dark horse favorite for the championship if he continues to have consistent finishes. However, once the Playoffs begin consistent finishes won’t be enough to advance into the next rounds. Gragson will have to start winning again if he wants to be in the Championship Round at Phoenix.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Second
5. Riley Herbst – Herbst had an uneventful but consistent weekend with finishes of sixth and ninth. No laps were led but he brought home a clean No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota Camry for his 12th top-10 of the season. It was a much needed finish after a few weeks of bad luck.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Fourth
Fell Out
1. Brandon Jones – It was a mixed bag of results for Brandon Jones following the Dover weekend. Jones wound up 16th in Saturday’s outing but bounced back to a fourth-place finish in Sunday’s race. Despite quality stage finishes in Saturday’s race, Jones could only place seventh on Sunday.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Third
August 25, 2020
Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Truck Series race at Dover
The NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series continued their march to the Playoffs last Friday at Dover International Speedway.

Surprisingly, there is just three races left in the regular Truck Series season. It’s a little hard to believe the season is starting to wind down considering all that has happened this year with the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of the year. But, NASCAR has made a solid effort by getting most of the races in and just 10 Truck Series races left in the 2020 season.

GMS Racing is currently the team to beat with rookie Zane Smith winning again for the second time this year. The team has a combined four wins with Sheldon Creed and Smith having a pair of victories. Remarkably, 2018 Truck Series champion Brett Moffitt and another rookie Tyler Ankrum, currently don’t have wins but have been close multiple times.

Even though GMS has been the talk of the garage as of late, there are other story lines that are worth mentioning following Dover.

Here are this week’s Four Takeaways.
1. Johnny Sauter Has Solid Run – It’s been a dismal couple of weeks for Johnny Sauter’s No. 13 ThorSport team. An engine failure at Texas and a crash at Michigan has put the Wisconsin native in a must-win situation with three races left. A 71 point deficit is just too much to make up in over those races, so Sauter will need a victory if he wants to make the Playoffs. Nonetheless, he scored a respectable finish of sixth at one of his favorite racetracks.
2. Carson Hocevar Gains Career Day – Coming into the Dover race, Hocevar’s best finish in the Truck Series was 23rd last year at Phoenix. On Friday, the Niece Motorsports driver cut that in half and earned a career-best of 12th. Not a bad outing in his fourth series start.
3. Teammate Battles – A heated battle occurred between Kyle Busch Motorsports drivers on Lap 89 caused a multi-truck incident. Chandler Smith who was back in the No. 51 was underneath his teammate Christian Eckes in the No. 18 and they made contact with each other. Unfortunately for the Georgia native, Smith received the worst of the damage and as a result, he finished 20th two laps down after having a strong truck earlier in the race and leading 50 laps.
4. Playoffs – The season has gone by in a hurry, but the playoffs are inching ever so closley. Currently, five drivers are locked in based on wins, but three additional drivers (Brett Moffitt, Eckes, and Ben Rhodes) are safely locked in on points if they have clean races. Where it really gets interesting is ninth to 11th. Tyler Ankrum is ninth with nine points above the cut line and Todd Gilliland is sitting in the last playoff position in 10th, four points in. Realistically, Derek Kraus would be the only driver outside the cut line that could point his way in. Kraus is sitting 11th, just four points out. Every other driver including Tanner Gray, Johnny Sauter, and Raphael Lessard are too far back to even have a chance. The only thing those three drivers could do is win, but only one driver will be the winner. One thing’s for sure, the points battle will be an interesting story to follow at the final race of the regular season.
August 24, 2020
NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings – Dover
The Truck Series continued their 2020 season momentum last Friday night by visiting Dover International Speedway for race No. 13.

Rookie Zane Smith grabbed another victory when the checkered flag flew after 200 laps at the “Monster Mile.” The victory marked his second of the year and slowly, but surely, he is starting to become a championship favorite for the Playoffs. Aside from the Daytona Road Course, Smith has been able to either win or finish inside the top 10. With his late momentum, Smith has upped his average finish to a solid 10.9 and has only one DNF, which is really impressive for a rookie.

While Smith enjoyed the Dover victory, the top 10 finishing order saw a mixed bag of drivers seeing their best finishes to date.

Here are this week’s Power Rankings following Race No. 13.
1. Zane Smith – After finishing 13th the week last week at Daytona, Smith was back on top at Dover claiming the victory and leading 50 laps. On top of winning Friday’s race, Smith finished fourth in Stage 1 and won the second stage. All in all, not a bad day for the Californian who picked up 57 points and six playoff points. With the victory, Smith tied his GMS teammate Sheldon Creed in the playoff picture with 14 playoff points.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
2. Matt Crafton – Crafton found himself with a shot to win when a late-race restart came with three to go. He maneuvered his way to second following the restart and tried to chase down Smith in the process. Ultimately, the ThorSport driver fell .989 seconds short but did gain stage finishes of second and 10th, respectively. Crafton’s second-place finish was his seventh of the 2020 season.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Third
3. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt started on the pole, led 50 laps, and came home to a podium finish of third. In both stages, the Iowan ended up fifth and gained a total of 46 points. Surprisingly, with just one race left before the playoffs are set, Moffitt does not have a win but currently is 94 points above the cut line. Barring any circumstances at Gateway, he could easily lock himself in after one of the stages. Though, he’ll have to pick it up a notch in the Playoffs and start winning a lot more often.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Fifth
4. Todd Gilliland – It was a bounce-back race in Gilliland’s camp after finishing 33rd at Daytona Road Course due to an electrical problem. This past weekend at Dover, the Front Row Motorsports Ford Performance team came home with a top-five after finishing fourth. It’s the first time he has finished fourth since Pocono back in June. Gilliland sits 10th on the bubble, +4 above the cut line without a win. If he finishes where he usually does next weekend at Gateway, Gilliland will be in the Playoffs. But, the No. 38 team will have to avoid any issues in order to make it in on points or can get help if there is no new winner.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
5. Ben Rhodes – A much needed fifth place at Dover after finishing outside the top 10 the last two weeks and getting involved in a couple of incidents. Rhodes had a clean race and placed sixth in Stage 2. The fifth-place outing gained the Kentucky native his fifth of the year.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
Fell Out
1. Sheldon Creed – A forgettable 22nd place (four laps down) outing at Dover for Creed after winning Daytona the week prior. The only highlight of the day was Creed finishing sixth in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – First
2. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger had a quiet day finishing outside the top 10 in 13th, one lap down.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Second
August 24, 2020
Castroneves earns hard-fought 11th at Indy

Coming into the Indianapolis 500, fan-favorite and three-time winner Helio Castroneves was searching for his fourth career victory in the event’s history. The last time he won the Indy 500 was 11 years ago in 2009. Since then, his best finish at Indy was second back in 2017.

Castroneves had even more of a reason to perform well in Sunday’s race. It was announced earlier this season that Castroneves and his teammates at Team Penske (Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Cameron, and Ricky Taylor) would be out of a ride after ACURA announced they were ending their partnership in the IMSA program.

Despite the news, the Brazilian put his focus and efforts on his one-off Indy 500 start in hopes of catching a car owner’s eye for a potential full-time IndyCar ride in 2021 by having a solid run.

Beginning with last Sunday in qualifying, Castroneves didn’t have the result he wanted after qualifying 28th in the starting field of 33 drivers. He only knew that he could go up from there.

Once the green flag flew on an unusual Indy 500, Castroneves quietly ran outside the top 10 for most of the day, with it being tough to pass especially back in the pack. Though with the help of cautions, the Team Penske driver slowly but surely worked his way to the top 10 as the race neared its end.

While Castroneves never could lead any laps, he was up front a couple of times after playing different pit strategies running as high as second and he had a lucky caution come out that could have played in his favor. However, he would have to make a pit stop off balance with the leaders and would be mired in the middle of the pack again.

Once the checkered flag came under yellow-flag conditions due to Spencer Pigot’s late race wreck with four laps to go, Castroneves wound up finishing 11th after a hard day of work.

“I miss this thing so much,” Castroneves said. “I know I didn’t finish in the top 10. One spot behind, but let me tell you, what a great group of guys. They did a phenomenal job today. The No. 3 Pennzoil Chevrolet was not the strongest car out there, but we fought from 28th all the way up to 11th and we did everything we could. Obviously, we tried to take our chances with some of the yellows and it didn’t work out. It was very difficult to pass, however, and we hung on, and a top 11 was the best we could do. Again, I miss everyone. This was awesome, but now on to the next page and on to Road Atlanta (for the IMSA race).”

August 24, 2020