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Author: Briar Starr

  • Bowman follows up with a third-place at Dover

    Bowman follows up with a third-place at Dover

    After racing his way into Round of 12 on a tiebreaker, Alex Bowman knew he had to have a solid opening race at Dover if he wanted to move forward to the Round of 8 which begins at Martinsville Speedway later this month.

    After Bowman had been in the news all week with the Bubba Wallace controversy following the Charlotte Roval, he was looking to putting that behind him and having a strong finish this weekend at Dover International Speedway.

    The Tucson, Arizona native qualified his No. 88 Nationwide Insurance Chevy 12th in Saturday’s qualifying session. Knowing Dover is a track where it is tough to pass, Bowman would have to have a good car early to stay up front and avoid going a lap down early. The Hendrick Motorsports driver finished sixth in both stages.

    Despite making adjustments during his pit stops, Bowman had to settle for a strong third-place finish after finishing in second previously at Charlotte Roval.

    “Yeah, we had a solid day,” Bowman said to MRN Radio. “Really thankful for Cincinnati, it’s their first time on the car as a primary, so it’s neat to have a good day with them. We would like to be two spots better, but we overcame some things. We had a couple of pit stops, where we had some issues and had to drive back through. It’s so hard to pass here, it’s tough. Just need to be a little better, but pretty happy how we ended up.”

    The third-place finish was Bowman’s sixth top five of the season. He heads to Talladega seventh in the playoff points standings, +17 above the cut line.

  • Harvick quietly places top five at Dover

    Harvick quietly places top five at Dover

    It was a quiet day for Kevin Harvick and his Stewart-Haas Racing team who had a special paint scheme design on the No. 4 Ford. Harvick was hoping to bring his “Harvick Beer” car to victory lane at Dover, a track that he has been so strong at in the past.

    Harvick had a solid qualifying effort of fourth and he was consistently strong throughout the race, at one point catching the leaders. However, despite having a good car Harvick was never able to challenge for the lead and wound up settling for a fourth-place finish.

    “Our “Harvick Beer” Ford never gripped today,” Harvick described to MRN Radio. “Took off on the first lap, the front tires never turned and the back tires never gripped. Just way different then practice, but our guys did a great job of staying in there and grind one out today and finished fourth. Still, a solid day, just not what we thought we had after practice.”

    Harvick was able to place his No. 4 “Harvick Beer” Ford Mustang fifth and fourth in both stages respectively. The Stewart Haas Racing driver sits fifth in the playoff points standings, +42 above the cut line heading into Talladega Superspeedway next Sunday. Harvick won at Talladega, 10 years ago in 2010 during a Chase race and has not won since.

  • Hamlin disappointed with fifth-place finish at Dover

    Hamlin disappointed with fifth-place finish at Dover

    It was a dominating day for Denny Hamlin who was making his 500th career Cup Series start this weekend at Dover. Hamlin made it even more special by qualifying on the pole which gave him great track position to begin the race.

    Hamlin was strong early in his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camary and led almost every lap. The car was strong enough that Hamlin ended Stage 1 as the victor. After the pit stops, he was still able to maintain his lead for the most part in Stage 2.

    However, on Lap 229 Hamlin was passed by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. for the lead. It would be the last time we saw Hamlin out front, as he would have a challenging car while being stuck back in traffic.

    At the end of the day, it wasn’t the result the No. 11 team wanted with Hamlin finishing fifth after leading nearly half the race despite a potential engine issue, only to come up short.

    “I didn’t do a good job under caution, I missed a shift there on that last restart,” Hamlin described to MRN Radio. “It’s just unfortunate, I didn’t do my best, but I’m proud of the effort we had today. We did a hell of a job with our racecar. I just didn’t quite keep up with the race track. This is by far the best race I had at this race track. So, really happy with that result and happy we could go out there, compete and lead laps at this track.”

    The fifth-place finish was Hamlin’s 15th top five of the season. He also led 218 laps, won Stage 1 and finished third in Stage 2.

  • Larson snaps 75-race winless streak at Dover

    Larson snaps 75-race winless streak at Dover

    For the first time in over two years, Kyle Larson took the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team to victory lane. It was his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win at Dover International Speedway and the sixth overall of his Cup Series career. Larson took the lead on pit road after Martin Truex Jr. had a slow stop on the right rear after his crew member slipped on pit road.

    “It’s such a team event, to win in NASCAR, not only myself has to be on my game but everybody on our team does,” Larson said to MRN Radio describing the win. “We qualified well yesterday and had good pit stops today, great car obviously and made good adjustments. Just a well rounded day and you can’t thank them (pit crew) enough for it. It’s been fun. It was a struggle earlier in the year, obviously with all of our crashes and DNF’s but we had fast cars the whole time and today we showed how good we really are.”

    Stages were 120-120-160 to make up the 400 lap race.

    Stage 1: Lap 1- Lap 120

    It wasn’t all Kyle Larson as the race started. Denny Hamlin, who was making his 500th career Cup Series start, began on the pole and was dominant early on. In fact, Stage 1 was picture-perfect for Hamlin and his No. 11 team who went on to win the first stage.

    However, a few others weren’t so lucky and were caught by “Miles The Monster” before the race even started. Playoff driver Joey Logano couldn’t even make a lap before he had an issue with a broken axle. Logano had to go behind the wall and fix the issue before returning to the track, 23 laps down.

    Another playoff driver also had issues. Last week’s winner, Chase Elliott, had his engine expire on Lap 8. The team took it behind the wall to try and fix the problem but wound up with a disappointing last-place finish to begin the Round of 12.

    After a few drivers had their problems early, Hamlin was smooth and took the win for Stage 1. Martin Truex Jr., Larson, William Byron, Kevin Harvick, Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney were the top-10 finishers in Stage 1.

    During the stage break, Kyle Busch was caught speeding on pit road and Paul Menard had an uncontrolled tire sending both to the back of the field prior to Stage 2.

    Stage 2: Lap 127- Lap 240

    Stage 2 saw no yellows for incidents, but it did see a lead change. On lap 229, Truex took the lead from Hamlin and held on to win the second stage. Larson, Hamlin, Harvick, Johnson, Bowman, Jones, Blaney, Keselowski and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top-10.

    The pivotal moment of the race came on pit road. One of Truex’s crew members slipped while coming to change the right rear. This made Truex lose time and eventually the lead. In this case, Larson ended up winning the race off pit road, which would be crucial later on.

    Stage 3: Lap 247- Lap 400

    Like Stage 2, there were hardly any incidents that would bring out the caution, however, there were some notable problems that occurred for playoff drivers.

    On Lap 272, Hamlin reported that his engine could be blowing up, though he was able to stay on track and finish the race. Then, on Lap 298 another playoff driver, Ryan Blaney, had his own issues. Blaney took his No. 12 machine behind the wall as he had lost his brakes. Blaney would end up in 35th.

    Despite the challenges the playoff drivers faced, there were no problems for Larson and his No. 42 team. He won at Dover for the first time in his career and went to victory lane for the first time since Richmond in 2017.

    “At some point in the second stage, I started changing what I was doing in the car,” Larson added to MRN Radio. “I was able to calm down and hit my marks better and keep my car lasting longer and we were making good adjustments at the same time. Just kind of how it all came together there. We had a good pit stop to restart as the leader. It was so hard to pass today.”

    “Being the leader was important. Obviously we had a good car to go along with it and stretch out and maintain that gap. Traffic got a little crazy there but it got cleared out and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.”

    Larson led four times for 154 laps and finished third in Stage 1, while finishing second in Stage 2. This is the first time that Chip Ganassi Racing has a team moving on to the Round of 8.

    There were three cautions for 17 laps and 14 lead changes among nine drivers.

    Official Playoff Standings

    1. Kyle Larson, Advanced to Round of 8
    2. Martin Truex Jr., +63
    3. Kyle Busch, +48
    4. Denny Hamlin, +48
    5. Kevin Harvick, +42
    6. Brad Keselowski, +20
    7. Alex Bowman, +17
    8. Joey Logano, +0
      Below the cut line
    9. William Byron, -0
    10. Clint Bowyer, -4
    11. Chase Elliott, -7
    12. Ryan Blaney, -22

    Official Results

    1. Kyle Larson, led 154 laps
    2. Martin Truex Jr., led 15 laps and won Stage 2
    3. Alex Bowman
    4. Kevin Harvick
    5. Denny Hamlin, led 218 laps and won Stage 1
    6. Kyle Busch
    7. Matt DiBenedetto
    8. Jimmie Johnson
    9. Kurt Busch, one lap down
    10. Clint Bowyer, one lap down
    11. Brad Keselowski, one lap down
    12. Paul Menard, two laps down
    13. William Byron, two laps down
    14. Daniel Suarez, two laps down
    15. Erik Jones, two laps down
    16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., two laps down
    17. Aric Almirola, two laps down
    18. Austin Dillon, two laps down
    19. Ryan Preece, four laps down
    20. Bubba Wallace, five laps down
    21. Daniel Hemric, six laps down
    22. Ryan Newman, seven laps down
    23. Ty Dillon, seven laps down
    24. Michael McDowell, nine laps down
    25. Matt Tifft, 10 laps down
    26. Landon Cassill, 11 laps down
    27. David Ragan, 12 laps down
    28. Corey LaJoie, 15 laps down
    29. B.J. McLeod, 18 laps down
    30. Joe Nemechek, 19 laps down
    31. Ross Chastain, 20 laps down
    32. J.J. Yeley, 20 laps down
    33. Garrett Smithley, 23 laps down
    34. Joey Logano, 25 laps down
    35. Ryan Blaney, OUT, Suspension
    36. Chris Buescher, OUT, Engine
    37. Reed Sorenson, OUT, Handling
    38. Chase Elliott, OUT, Engine

    Up Next: The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers head to Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, Oct. 13 for the continuation of the Round of 12.

  • Logano has issues early, finishes 34th at Dover

    Logano has issues early, finishes 34th at Dover

    It was a strange race for Joey Logano and his No. 22 Team Penske team. In fact, Logano did not even make a lap before he suffered his own problems. Just as soon as he rolled off pit road, he had a broken axle and had to take it behind the wall.

    However, Logano would return to the track several laps down. All he could do at this point was salvage the best finish he could and avoid a DNF which would hurt him in the points. The Team Penske driver managed to stay out there on the track. While doing so, Logano did receive some criticism from other drivers for holding them up, but he stayed in his lane.

    In the end, it wasn’t the day Logano was looking for and he finished a disappointing 34th at Dover.

    “Bummer,” Logano said to MRN Radio describing his day. “Things happen, I guess. I don’t know, something broke back there and I’m not sure what it was. We fixed it and got back out there, and rode around 20 something laps down all day. It’s a long day to run around and hopefully have a few guys fall out and gain a couple of spots. We may gain two or three by being out there. I think we’re the last one in right now. We’ll press on from here, we’re not out.”

    Logano is tied with William Byron in the playoff points standings heading into Talladega Superspeedway for the next race in the Round of 12.

  • Chandler Smith makes late race pass to win rain-shortened race at Lucas Oil Raceway

    Chandler Smith makes late race pass to win rain-shortened race at Lucas Oil Raceway

    With a late-race pass for the lead, rookie sensation Chandler Smith took home the ARCA Menards Series win at Lucas Oil Raceway after the rain started falling on Lap 162. The field made a few more pace laps before coming down pit road on Lap 168. After waiting a few more moments, ARCA Menards Series officials had no other choice than to call the race early, giving Smith the win.

    “It was meant to be,” Smith said as he celebrated in victory lane. “We couldn’t have timed that pass out any better than we did.”

    It wasn’t all about Chandler Smith though. Another rookie, Ty Gibbs, was back for his 11th and final race of the season. It was also a day past Gibbs 17th birthday and he sat the No. 18 Monster Energy Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the pole for the second time in his ARCA career.

    With showers in the area, the race was moved up prior to its original starting time in hopes of beating the rain to complete the 200 lap race.

    As soon as the race began, Gibbs took off and was the dominant car early on. In fact, he led every lap and held the lead despite a few cautions that slowed the pace until Gibbs became the caution. On Lap 142, the No. 77 of Joe Graf Jr. made contact with Ty Gibbs, sending him up the wall and ending his night early.

    “I don’t even know who that guy is or what happened out there,” Gibbs said. “We had a really great car. I am pretty bummed. Most of all I am sorry for my guys, the deserved a win here tonight.”

    When the race went back green on Lap 151, Christian Eckes, who is chasing the championship, made a dive bomb move to take the lead. Eckes led until Lap 159, where his other teammate Smith got side-by-side with him and took the lead. Just as Smith took the lead, the sky started to open up with rain sprinkles falling from the sky.

    The yellow eventually came out due to rain on Lap 162. Just a few laps later, the cars came down pit road to sit under a red flag before officials called the race early due to heavy rains, leaving Chandler Smith to earn his fifth win of the 2019 season.

    The race was slowed four times to yellow. The first caution flew on Lap 53 for the No. 5 of Bobby Gerhart, who went spinning around on the backstretch. The second caution came out on Lap 98 for the No. 11 of Dick Doheny who crashed in Turn 2. A third caution came on Lap 145 for the Ty Gibbs and Joe Graf Jr. accident. The final caution was seen on Lap 162 for rain before the race was called.

    By finishing second, Eckes wound up winning the Short Track Championship and is heading to the season finale at Kansas with a 20 plus point lead advantage over his teammate Michael Self.

    “We’re obviously disappointed with second,” Eckes said, “but it’s our sixth top-two finish in a row. We really have things turned around after a tough stretch in the summer. We’d have liked to have had that caution for rain a few laps earlier though.”

    There were four cautions for 25 laps and three lead changes among four drivers.

    Official Results

    1. Chandler Smith
    2. Christian Eckes
    3. Sam Mayer
    4. Corey Heim
    5. Hailie Deegan
    6. Michael Self
    7. Travis Braden
    8. Bret Holmes
    9. Carson Hocevar
    10. Joe Graf Jr.
    11. Bobby Gerhart, two laps down
    12. Tommy Vigh Jr., nine laps down
    13. Mike Basham, 10 laps down
    14. Scott Melton, 10 laps down
    15. Ty Gibbs, OUT, Accident
    16. Howie DiSavino III, OUT, Electrical
    17. Tim Richmond, OUT, Brakes
    18. Dick Doheny, OUT, Accident
    19. Brad Smith, OUT, Clutch
    20. Eric Caudell, OUT, Radiator
    21. Darrell Basham, OUT
    22. Benjamin Peterson, DNS

    Up Next: The ARCA Menards Series now heads to Kansas Speedway in two weeks time for their championship season finale race on Friday night Oct 18 live on Fox Sports 2.

  • Allgaier, Cindric have strong day at Dover

    Allgaier, Cindric have strong day at Dover

    It was almost a picture-perfect day for Justin Allgaier and his No. 7 JR Motorsports team at Dover International Speedway. Allgaier qualified eighth for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race and worked his way up early taking the lead on Lap 27.

    His No. 7 Northeastern Supply Chevy was strong enough to win both the stages. However, pit strategy and late-race cautions cost him late in the going. In the end, Allgaier finished runner up to race winner Cole Custer.

    “Disappointing,” Allgaier told MRN Radio. “I feel like we give Cole (Custer) a gift there. Our Northeastern Supply Camaro was really strong today. I felt like we made decent changes throughout the course of the race. We got track position. Obviously points are what they are and we maximized the points in the stages and that’s all we really could do. But at the end there, I feel like we made the right pit strategy. Those guys went five laps further than what I thought we could on fuel.”

    “Just disappointing to come out first for the cars that had pitted and to be able to show for it. It’s disappointing, but to get Northeastern Supply in their first race under the hood a good finish and moving on to the next round is a big deal.”

    Austin Cindric and his No. 22 Team Penske team had a quiet day for the most part. He raced with Allgaier for parts of the race before racing on his own. Cindric finished third and second in both stages, before coming home third.

    “You feel like when you run all three races and you run 12th, we were the best car,” Cindric described to MRN Radio. “Worst finish is third. Really proud of our MoneyLion team. I don’t think we had a car capable of winning today. In clean air, we could hold our own but once we got behind, we were a third-place car and that’s where we finished. I’m proud of that and proud of that effort. Definitely proud of the recovery we made from practice. Trying to keep bringing this momentum into the next round.”

  • Chase Briscoe earns fifth at Dover after starting in the back

    Chase Briscoe earns fifth at Dover after starting in the back

    It was quite the day for Chase Briscoe and his No. 98 team at Dover International Speedway. Briscoe had qualified on the pole for the race, however, they experienced electrical problems during his qualifying run. Therefore, due to unapproved adjustments, the Stewart-Haas driver had to go the rear prior to the start of the Xfinity Series race.

    Briscoe didn’t take long to get to the front during the first stage and finished seventh in Stage 1. In Stage 2, he improved his finishing position with a third place. It wasn’t until the final stage that began on Lap 96 when Briscoe would take the lead two laps later. He led for 71 laps before making his final pit stop of the day.

    However, late-race cautions and varying pit strategies by everyone else in the field shuffled them back a little. In the end, Briscoe finished fifth for his 11th top five of the season.

    “I think it was certainly a really good day as far as our speed goes,” Briscoe said to MRN Radio. “When you’re in the lead, it’s so tough under green. You never know if the caution is going to come or not.” He continued, “Overall, really proud of our SHR guys. We had a really good Ford Mustang. Like I said, we were able to drive through the field multiple times.”

    “It’s one of those situations where it’s all about when the cautions come and we just missed it today. Going to Kansas, I feel like we got as good a racecar than anybody right now, which is encouraging. I hate how we have the best car and run fifth with it. Kind of the same thing we had last week at the Roval, but hopefully, at Kansas, we can put it all together.”

  • Michael Annett survives and advances to Round of 8

    Michael Annett survives and advances to Round of 8

    Michael Annett and his No. 1 JR Motorsports team started in the back in the Xfinity Series race at Dover International Speedway after an engine change. It resulted in a nerve-wracking start for Annett especially after he had to avoid all the carnage that came within the first few laps.

    However, after the early chaos, it was Annett’s playoff hope to lose. The team ran their race and played strategy hoping to go onto the next round. At one point, all seven drivers were locked into the Round of 8 except Annett.

    Annett’s luck came late as he and his team stayed out during the last round of green-flag pit stops hoping for a caution. His wish came true with a late-race caution with less than 20 to go. During that caution, the team brought the JR Motorsports driver down pit road for fresh tires and fuel.

    Despite another caution toward the end and other playoff drivers up front needing to win to advance to the next round, Annett held on to finish sixth after having a little bit of luck at the end.

    “It’s Dover, you never know what’s going to happen,” Annett said to MRN Radio. “I think we stayed out there, besides the 11 (Justin Haley) and the 00 (Cole Custer), we stayed out there the longest. We never have gone that long on tires without them blowing. We did 40 laps in practice and 45 in the segment, so the second you get past 45, it’s an unknown and you see people blow right fronts.”

    “You start coming on the radio and say, hey when are we coming. I saw that 23 (John Hunter Nemechek) come down pit road so I knew that next lap we would probably come and sure enough the caution came out. It worked out perfect for us. There at the end, you want to be aggressive, you want to go for the win, you’re also realistic knowing how good the 00 was and you’re kind of a 10th place car all weekend. Don’t do anything stupid to not make it to the next round of the playoffs.”

    Annett placed 10th and ninth respectively in both stages, and advances to the Round of 8.

  • Nemechek falls short in advancing to next round

    Nemechek falls short in advancing to next round

    Despite finishing eighth at Dover International Speedway Saturday afternoon, pit stop mistakes prevented John Hunter Nemechek and his No. 23 GMS Racing team from making it to the next round of the playoffs.

    Nemechek qualified the No. 23 Chevy 17th for the Xfinity Series race and had some ground to make up in the beginning. Like other drivers though, it didn’t take him too long to get up there in the top-10 before Stage 1 finished. For the first stage, Nemechek finished ninth and he finished seventh in the second stage. Unfortunately, having to make a few extra pit stops at the end hurt his chances of making it to the next round of the playoffs.

    However, Nemechek was still upbeat even though failing to make the Round of 8.

    “It’s awesome to make the playoffs for Maury Gallagher and the GMS Racing team,” Nemechek said to MRN Radio. “It came down to mistakes. We had a guy down on pit road making a mistake and had a loose wheel. It is what it is, had to pit there again. Came out third or fourth, we were going to be in great shape. It just wasn’t meant to be.”