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Author: Briar Starr

  • Nemechek earns top-10 finish at Charlotte

    Nemechek earns top-10 finish at Charlotte

    Normally at the Charlotte Roval, you expect chaos and an action-packed race for most of the drivers. For John Hunter Nemechek, it was an uneventful day although he did have a few close calls in the No. 23 Fire Alarm Services Chevrolet.

    Nemechek qualified 14th, placed sixth in Stage 1 and 11th in the second stage. Hoping to do a little better than last week’s finish at Richmond, the GMS Racing driver was able to come home in the seventh position in his first-ever Charlotte Roval race.

    “First time at the Roval, it was a fun experience, good day for us,” Nemechek told PRN Radio. “Battle back from adversity and ended up seventh. Every point matters in this situation. Didn’t have a very good second stage, but had a decent first stage. The last stage we ended up fairly well. Proud of the guys, proud of the effort, Fire Alarm Services and everyone involved.”

    “The owner of Fire Alarm actually texted me today, asked me where I thought we could run and I said, I hope we get a top-eight today and we did it, finished seventh. Huge shout out to them for being a huge supporter of mine and Maury Gallagher (Owner) for the opportunity, I’m blessed to be able to come out here and run full time.”

    With the conclusion of the Round of 12 at Dover Motor Speedway next Saturday, Nemechek and the No. 23 currently sit ninth, 11 points behind the cut-off.

  • Cindric and Briscoe both face challenges at the Charlotte Roval

    Cindric and Briscoe both face challenges at the Charlotte Roval

    While Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe had what most would consider a solid day with top-10 finishes at the Charlotte Roval, it was challenging for them in many aspects.

    Cindric was decent throughout most of the race, many times following right behind the leader and at one point, beating Briscoe off pit road to have better position for the restart. Toward the end of race, however, more and more cautions began to fall and that would limit Cindric from trying to take the win. The No. 22 Money Lion Ford came home third after starting third.

    “I think in the end if that last caution wouldn’t have come out, for whatever reason, I broke a right rear shock mount and my right rear shock was gone for the last three or four laps of the race,” Cindric explained to PRN Radio. “I’m glad we didn’t wreck, I’m glad we finished third. It’s just frustrating when you come down to all that and you get a good restart, and it fades away. All in all, it was a good points day and you got to keep pushing this way. We just want some more points.”

    Cindric is +50 above the cut line and fourth in the playoff points standings.

    In what looked like a possible repeat of last year’s race at the Roval, Chase Briscoe and his No. 98 team had to settle for a disappointing ninth-place finish after having a few runs in with Christopher Bell, including getting turned around by Bell on Lap 59 in Turn 2.

    “I felt like I was the best car all day long,” Briscoe said to PRN Radio. “With 10 to go, AJ (Allmendinger) was getting a pretty good lead. Once I caught Bell, I caught him from half a straightaway. Down here in (Turns) 16 and 17 was my best passing zone, where I have been the strongest all day. So I tried to take advantage of it, but once I turned to the right and out braked him at that point, I was committed. I can’t slow it down anymore. I was trying to whoa it up as much as I can, just because I had to try to make the next corner, anybody on my left side wasn’t going to make that next corner.”

    “It’s unfortunate, we both had really good racecars and we both don’t have good finishes to show for it. I hadn’t seen a replay of it, so I don’t know. It’s a lot different when you’re sitting in a racecar and get a outside view of it. I don’t want to say too much because if it’s 100 percent my fault, I’ll take blame for it. I feel like through 1 and 2, I gave him plenty of room and I felt like I just got tagged. I just want to see a replay for sure.”

    Briscoe qualified on the pole, led 21 laps, won Stage 1 and finished second in Stage 2. He heads to Dover, +35 above the cut line in the sixth position.

  • Reddick plays strategy to finish runner up at Charlotte Roval

    Reddick plays strategy to finish runner up at Charlotte Roval

    It wasn’t the dominating race that we normally see by Tyler Reddick and the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Reddick qualified in second but was really nowhere to be found throughout the Drive for the Cure 250.

    Reddick was playing track position by pitting at the end of the stages hoping to assume the lead and be up front for yet another win in the Playoffs. However, it was a ho-hum day for the No. 2 Emerson Chevy, somehow finishing second but not scoring any stage points.

    “This has kind of been the story of our year,” Reddick said to PRN Radio. “We have what looked liked to be really good days. I honestly just made a lot of mistakes here recently. The nice part about making those mistakes is we have been able to rebound and get really good finishes.”

    “Our Emerson Copeland Chevrolet missed the chicane on the first lap. We just had all the odds stacked up against for the day and make us work a lot harder than we should have too, but it’s good practice in case we ever need it.”

    By scoring the win at Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, Reddick is already locked into the Round of 8.

  • Allgaier and Gragson grab top-five finishes for JR Motorsports at Charlotte

    Allgaier and Gragson grab top-five finishes for JR Motorsports at Charlotte

    It was a wild weekend for most of the JR Motorsports’ teams who fielded four cars this time around at Charlotte Motor Speedway. However, two drivers had especially eventful days.

    Justin Allgaier and the No. 7 team finished fourth after being involved in a Lap 45 accident that involved a few drivers. From there, the JR Motorsports driver had stage finishes of third and fourth before collecting his 13th top five of the season.

    “Today was interesting for sure,” Allgaier described to PRN Radio. “Our Armour Vienna Sausage Camaro was really good. I would say we were on the side of conservative just because we knew the implications of the Playoffs and the challenges of coming out of here with a great day. The guys did a great job in the pits and we had to play the strategy to run all the stages out, which I think probably hurt us at the end. We all got really deep in there on that last restart, I don’t know if I got my teammate or not, if I was the one that the got the 8 (Ryan Truex) turned around. I feel really bad if that was what happened.”

    “We all got in there four wide, it was a little bit crazy. So I hate that if we were the one that ended up sending him around. Solid points day, did the things we needed to do. Not much damage on our Armour Vienna Sausage Camaro, so that’s a good day.”

    Allgaier and the No. 7 JR Motorsports team is currently fifth, +40 above the cut line heading into the final race in the Round of 12.

    Speaking of wild weekends, it sure was one for Las Vegas native, Noah Gragson. It all started in practice yesterday when he had an accident and was forced to go a backup car. It carried over to today as his personal vehicle had a flat tire on the side of the road heading to the track.

    Despite having a flat tire, Gragson made it to qualifying and the race. The No. 9 Suave Men team finished ninth in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2 before Gragson ultimately wound up finishing fifth after the crazy weekend he had.

    “I put my No. 9 team in a bind there to start the race by having to go to a backup car,” Gragson said to PRN Radio. “My Suave No. 9 team worked so hard and I’m just so thankful to be able to drive this car. Got back up and came home with a fifth-place finish and we scored fifth-place points in the second stage. We got points in every stage which is big. We’re 24 above the cut off right now. I feel like we did our job. Obviously, we would like to be a little bit better, but there’s a lot of risk and a lot of reward. If you miss it or spin out, it could be detrimental to your day.”

    Gragson heads to Dover in the final race of the Round of 12 in the seventh position, +26 above the cut line.

  • Dixon and Pagenaud come up short in championship

    Dixon and Pagenaud come up short in championship

    Not too far off from Josef Newgarden were championship hopefuls, Scott Dixon and Simon Pagenaud. Pagenaud came into the final race of the season, third in the standings just 42 points back looking for the second championship of his career. It would be his first since 2016 and all Pagenaud needed to do was beat the other three, and win the race.

    For Scott Dixon to further elevate his legacy, he needed to win the race as well. Dixon was the longshot 85 points back, looking to go back-to-back in his career. Should Dixon have won, it would have been the sixth title of his legendary IndyCar career.

    Dixon had a really good starting spot of second heading into the season finale on Sunday. In what was a longshot, he would hope for Newgarden, Alexander Rossi and Pagenaud to fail early to see him winning the race. However, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver spent most of the event behind the back bumper of race leader Colton Herta.

    He never got to lead a lap, but realistically was still eligible to win the title if everything worked in his favor. But, Dixon’s title chances came to an end on Kap 51, as Ed Jones retired from the race due to a mechanical problem. With Jones out of the race, so was Dixon’s title chances as he was eliminated from title contention due to being too far back and all the bonus points being taken up by Herta.

    Still, despite the news, Dixon knew he only had one thing to do to cap the season off and that was to win. Having to fend off title challenger Pagenaud started to make it difficult for him to catch the race leaders. In the end, Dixon finished third and fourth in the championship, -63 back.

    “It was frustrating, we had a lot of drag in the middle and the end of each stint,” Dixon explained to IndyCar Radio. “We were tight there at the end, definitely put a lot of pressure on Simon (Pagenaud) there and we came close a few times. That’s hard racing. The manufacture points for Honda at the end there was pretty tight. So we had to make sure we stayed in front. It’s always nice to race for a podium and it’s fantastic to race with Simon, he’s a great driver. He definitely had a very fast car today.”

    Despite being the longshot, Dixon will end the 2019 season with two wins, 10 podiums and 214 laps led.

    For Simon Pagenaud, he was chasing down Dixon late in the going as it appeared Pagenaud had finally found something that made his car work. There was one close moment in the race, where him and Alexander Rossi barely made contact with each other, which made IndyCar officials take the incident under review.

    With the close call, the officials determined no action and the drivers kept on jockeying for position. Pagenaud’s car started to rally late and caught Dixon. He was trying all he could to pass him, realizing he still might have a shot to win the title. However, Dixon kept Pagenaud behind him and the laps ran out of time, as Pagenaud finished fourth in the race, second in the championship -25 behind his teammate and champion Josef Newgarden.

    “First of all it was an amazing race, very happy we could give a show to the fans, you guys came en mass,” Pagenaud said to IndyCar Radio. “I want to thank you, we all want to thank you for being here for supporting us as a sport. Just an amazing year for Team Penske. I get the (Indy) 500 and Josef (Newgarden) gets the championship, it’s pretty much a perfect picture for us.”

    “I gave it everything I had. The car was amazing and fantastic. I tried to give everything I had to the DXC Technology car. It was tough to pass (Scott) Dixon for sure. We had a great battle, but not enough in the end. Nonetheless, 2019 has probably been my best racing season so far.”

    Simon Pagenaud will end the season three wins including winning the Indy 500, four podiums and three pole position, along with 268 laps led.

  • Herta dominates to win at Laguna Seca, Newgarden collects series championship

    Herta dominates to win at Laguna Seca, Newgarden collects series championship

    Hoping to do the same thing his dad in 1998 and 1999, rookie sensation Colton Herta dominated to win the final race of the IndyCar season at Laguna Seca. Herta earned his second win of the season and is coming off a contract signing for next season with Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport.

    “20 years ago, this was the last winning car here,” Herta told IndyCar Radio. “Meant a lot to win here, meant a lot to win at the end of the year to cap it off and go into the off season with a lot of confidence.”

    Herta had to fend off two IndyCar Series champions (Will Power and Scott Dixon) en route to victory at Laguna Seca.

    “My mouth is dry, I didn’t get to drink a lot in those last few laps with them right behind me,” Herta says to IndyCar Radio. “I thought I had it won after the last stop and I knew had the number on (Scott) Dixon. As soon as we got halfway into the stint, Will Power came out of the pits and I thought, oh god it’s going to be tough. Saving fuel number and tires isn’t easy, but something that we learned in Portland and that just shows we did our job.”

    Herta drove the No. 88 Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda to a flawless race at the returning Laguna Seca in Monterrey, California. In what will be the new Andretti driver for 2020, Herta qualified on the pole in Saturday’s qualifying session. It was his second pole of the season, his first since Elkhart Lake back in June earlier this year.

    As the race started, he never looked back only losing the lead just a couple of times due to the pit stop cycle. However, once the stops cycled out, Herta would be back in the lead and pulling away from the field. Simply put it was his race to lose.

    Despite it being Herta’s race to lose, he managed to stay out front on fresh tires that the No. 88 team gave him. He would have to fend off multiple challenges throughout the road course. Drivers like Scott Dixon, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power all tried their hands to take the lead away. Despite the runs from the other drivers, Herta hung on and went on to win his second race of the season and the final race of the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series.

    He had a shot at winning the Rookie of The Year title, but came up five points short as Chip Ganassi Racing driver Felix Rosenqvist finished fifth just enough to collect the title in his name despite the challenges he faced throughout the weekend.

    “It was a tough race,” Rosenqvist said to IndyCar Radio. “Really tricky conditions today, really slippery on the track. There was a little bit of mind games on who wanted to go to push their tires really hard at first. I tried to be really conservative and then I was aggressive when I needed too, it paid off. We actually managed to pass a lot of guys out there, I didn’t think that I was able to pass. Good strategy from the team, really cool season. It’s been up and down, but ending P6 in the championship and Rookie of The Year. Big thanks to NTT Data and Chip Ganassi Racing for leading me through it.”

    While there was a race winner, there was another race to be settled on track and that was the NTT IndyCar Series Championship. Four drivers still had the chance to win the title. Two of them from Team Penske (Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud), Alexander Rossi from Andretti Autosport and Scott Dixon from Chip Ganassi Racing being the long shot coming in.

    All of them ran their race and was doing what they needed to do. Dixon was the highest running championship driver running in the second throughout the event. However, during the late stages, an Ed Jones retirement mathematically took him out of the championship. Leaving just three drivers to duke it out among themselves.

    After Dixon was mathematically eliminated, it was up to Pagenaud and Rossi to put up a fight to Josef Newgarden. Pagenaud was right behind Dixon in the late goings, trying to do what he could to get around him. Though, laps were winding down and Pagenaud was running out of time to pass Dixon and run down Herta. In order for him to win championship, the Indy 500 winner had to win the race.

    Ultimately, Pagenaud fell short and with an eighth place finish, his teammate Josef Newgarden earned his second series title.

    “I don’t know why, but it fell like it means a lot more than the first one,” Newgarden described to IndyCar Radio. “It’s tough to win races and be in the fight every weekend. You know, to drive for Team Penske, it’s such a dream situation. I wanted this so bad, I felt like the guys deserved it. They have done the best job all year and they deserve the championship. If I did something stupid, I was going to feel terrible throwing it away for them. I just tried to do my job today, everyone around me did theirs’. Can’t ask much more than that, they give me the best cars every weekend, pit stops.”

    “We have a lot of great partners, Hitachi, Chevy. I’m just really happy for everyone involved in this whole deal.”

    Newgarden ends the 2019 season with four wins, seven podiums, two poles and 490 laps led.

    There was one caution for three laps that occurred on lap 45. Conor Daly spun around in the No. 25 Andretti Autosport machine. There were three leaders among eight lead changes.

    Herta led four times for 83 laps for the second victory of his career.

    With Newgarden winning the championship, it was Honda’s second Engine Manufactuer championship.

    Official Points Standings

    1. Josef Newgarden, Champion
    2. Simon Pagenaud, -25
    3. Alexander Rossi, -33
    4. Scott Dixon, -63
    5. Will Power, -91
    6. Felix Rosenqvist, -216
    7. Colton Herta, -221
    8. Ryan Hunter-Reay, -221 both Hunter-Reay and Herta tied for seventh
    9. Takuma Sato, -226
    10. Graham Rahal, -252
    11. Sebastien Bourdais, -254
    12. James Hinchcliffe, -271
    13. Santino Ferrucci, -290
    14. Spencer Pigot, -306
    15. Tony Kanaan, -337
    16. Marco Andretti, -338
    17. Marcus Ericsson, -351
    18. Zach Veach, -370
    19. Matheus Leist, -380
    20. Ed Jones, -424

    Official Results

    1. Colton Herta, led 83 laps
    2. Will Power, led six laps
    3. Scott Dixon
    4. Simon Pagenaud, led one lap
    5. Felix Rosenqvist
    6. Alexander Rossi
    7. Sebastien Bourdais
    8. Josef Newgarden, 2019 IndyCar champion
    9. James Hinchcliffe
    10. Ryan Hunter-Reay
    11. Marcus Ericsson
    12. Graham Rahal
    13. Max Chilton
    14. Marco Andretti
    15. Charlie Kimball
    16. Tony Kanaan
    17. Matheus Leist
    18. Zach Veach
    19. Jack Harvey
    20. Spencer Pigot, one lap down
    21. Takuma Sato, one lap down
    22. Conor Daly, one lap down
    23. Ed Jones, OUT, Mechanical
    24. Santino Ferrucci, OUT, Crash

    Up Next: The NTT IndyCar Series drivers will now have their off season before returning on track for the 2020 season in St. Petersburg on March 15.

  • Keselowski earns top-five finish at Richmond

    Keselowski earns top-five finish at Richmond

    Brad Keselowski started on the pole heading into Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond. Keselowski swapped the lead a couple of times in the race. He led the first 53 laps before quietly running in the top five. The Team Penske driver took the lead again on Lap 246 and led for 36 laps during that stint.

    However, those were the only times Keselowski would be up front. After leading 89 laps, he wound up finishing in fifth place. But, after the No. 20 of Erik Jones failed post-race inspection, the No. 2 driver was moved up in the running order and was credited with a fourth-place finish.

    When asked about the dominance of the Joe Gibbs Racing cars, Keselowski said, “It’s definitely not good news. We’ve got work to do. They’re really strong and we’re not where we need to be to be able to beat them heads-up, but we threw everything we had at them. We put down a great qualifying lap, got the first pit stall, had great pit stops and got to the lead, but just didn’t have the raw speed to keep it.”

    While admitting that their organization has some work to do, he was satisfied with what they were able to accomplish Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.

    “We led eighty-some laps, so it’s not a bad day but just not nearly fast enough to dominate the race and win.”

    “Yeah, we’re locked into the next round.  That feels good.  I’m proud of that effort.”

  • Spin and win for Truex Jr. at Richmond

    Spin and win for Truex Jr. at Richmond

    After making contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. mid-race, Martin Truex Jr. was able to rebound. He took the lead from his teammate Kyle Busch with 25 laps to go en route to his sixth victory of the season.

    “Yeah, that’s unbelievable, that’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to me in my whole racing career,” Truex Jr said to MRN Radio. Thanks to all the fans coming out tonight, everyone at Bass Pro Shops; our Camary was really fast tonight. Just takes a lot of people to make this happen.”

    “I felt good coming into the race. We’ve had a lot of heartbreakers over the years at Richmond and to come here to sweep this year, I guess it’s meant to be. Thanks to all of our guys. Toyota, TRD, Auto-Owners, all of our partners that let us do this. Everyone back at Joe Gibbs Racing, they’re building unbelievable racecars. I hope we can keep this up and we came here to get bonus points, and we sure did.”

    Brad Keselowski qualified on the pole Friday afternoon, while Truex qualified eighth. Only one car had to go to the back and that was the No. 27 Quin Houff for unapproved adjustments.

    Stage 1: Lap 1- Lap 100

    It was clean and green for the first stage. Truex took the lead from pole-sitter Brad Keselowski on Lap 54 and held on to win Stage 1. There were no cautions.

    Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Matt DiBenedetto, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-10 finishers for the first stage. One minor incident took place during the stage break. The No. 13 of Ty Dillon was too fast on pit road and the No. 36 of Matt Tifft was too fast as well. Kyle Busch assumed the race lead after pit stops.

    Stage 2: Lap 108- Lap 200

    One caution broke out during the second stage. On Lap 111, Alex Bowman was sent spinning around after contact with the No. 3 of Austin Dillon. A few laps before, Bowman made slight contact with Dillon. Under the caution, Joey Logano who was struggling all night received the free pass. Kurt Busch and Keselowski also made pit stops.

    Stage 2 ended on lap 200 and Kyle Busch went on to win the stage. Truex, Hamlin, Jones, Keselowski, Ryan Newman, Harvick, Elliott, Bowyer and Johnson swept the top-10 spots for the second stage. Kurt Busch and William Byron were penalized on pit road for being too fast after stops.

    Stage 3: Lap 209- Lap 400

    Just two cautions took place in the final stage. On Lap 242, Reed Sorenson hit the wall on the backstretch. During his attempt at a pit stop, Jimmie Johnson missed his pit stall and had to come back down to complete his pit stop. Almirola was caught with a speeding penalty during stops.

    Keselowski was able to take the lead on Lap 246 and led for 36 laps before Truex retook the lead on Lap 282. As the race was going smoothly, a major incident happened on Lap 316 when Stenhouse, on cold tires, accidentally made contact with race leader Truex. Truex went spinning around on the front stretch.

    After the caution and pit stops, Kyle Busch assumed the lead again and was making his way around the track. However, Truex began to reel in his teammate as laps started to click away. With 25 to go, he was finally able to take the lead from Busch and eventually the win.

    “I was just trying to stay out of the fence and tried to get it straightened out,” Truex added to MRN Radio. “Luckily we got a caution and ended up in a pretty good spot, and came down pit road. We had a pretty big lead there and we took advantage of it. From there, we just battled, had to pass the 11 (Hamlin), the 18 (Busch). I knew it was going to be really tough to get by both of them. They were strong all night long and track position was important. I don’t know if the 18 fell off on the long run or if we were a little better at the end, and made a move.”

    Kyle Busch ended up in second after winning Stage 2 and leading the most laps with 202.

    “We were a little bit off,” Busch told MRN Radio. “Just missed a little bit. We were pretty fast and led a lot of laps, but when we’re out front leading, he could keep close to me pretty well. That kind of worried me for a finish like that and wasn’t sure we would be able to hold him off. At the start of that last run, Denny (Hamlin) pressured me a little bit, so I tried to make sure to stay ahead of him and that’s when Martin started to come on. Martin was just on better tires there throughout the rest of the run, so I don’t know if I hurt my stuff or what. Great job to the team. Everybody on this MMS Camry did a great job. We can now just focus forward.”

    With Truex winning and Kyle Busch finishing second, both are locked into the Round of 12. Kevin Harvick also clinched a spot in the next round.

    Truex swept both Richmond races this year. This was his sixth victory of the season. He led three times for 109 laps for the 25th victory of his career.

    There were five cautions for 32 laps and seven leaders among six lead changes.

    UPDATE: Erik Jones’ car failed post-race inspection. He will be credited with a last-place finish and receive one point.

    Playoff Standings

    1. Truex Jr, 2 wins, 2141 points
    2. Kevin Harvick, +69
    3. Kyle Busch, +66
    4. Brad Keselowski, +55
    5. Denny Hamlin, +54
    6. Joey Logano, +50
    7. Chase Elliott, +37
    8. Kyle Larson, +25
    9. Ryan Newman, +14
    10. Ryan Blaney, +8
    11. Aric Almirola, +3
    12. William Byron, +
      Below the Cut Line
    13. Alex Bowman, -2
    14. Clint Bowyer. -4
    15. Kurt Busch, -14
    16. Erik Jones, -45

    Official Results

    1. Martin Truex Jr., led 109 laps, won Stage 1
    2. Kyle Busch, led 202 laps, won Stage 2
    3. Denny Hamlin
    4. Brad Keselowski, led 89 laps
    5. Ryan Newman
    6. Kyle Larson
    7. Kevin Harvick
    8. Clint Bowyer
    9. Daniel Suarez
    10. Jimmie Johnson
    11. Joey Logano
    12. Bubba Wallace
    13. Chase Elliott, one lap down
    14. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down
    15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr, one lap down
    16. Aric Almirola, one lap down
    17. Ryan Blaney, one lap down
    18. Kurt Busch, two laps down
    19. David Ragan, two laps down
    20. Matt Tifft, three laps down
    21. Michael McDowell, three laps down
    22. Austin Dillon, four laps down
    23. Alex Bowman, four laps down
    24. William Byron, four laps down
    25. Daniel Hemric, four laps down
    26. Ty Dillon, four laps down
    27. Paul Menard, five laps down
    28. Landon Cassill, five laps down
    29. Corey LaJoie, five laps down
    30. Ryan Preece, six laps down
    31. Chris Buescher, seven laps down
    32. Austin Theriault, eight laps down
    33. J.J. Yeley, nine laps down
    34. Spencer Boyd, 12 laps down
    35. Quin Houff, 16 laps down
    36. Ross Chastain, OUT, Brakes
    37. Reed Sorenson, OUT, Crash
    38. Erik Jones, failed post-race inspection

    Up Next: The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competes next week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, home of the Roval and the final race in the Round of 16.

  • Stewart-Haas Racing drivers get top five finish at Richmond

    Stewart-Haas Racing drivers get top five finish at Richmond

    Two playoff drivers and Stewart-Haas Racing drivers, Cole Custer placed third and Chase Briscoe fifth in Richmond outing.

    For Custer, he made a close run at eventual winner Christopher Bell late in the race. However, lap traffic got in his way and fell back to third after running second for most of the race. In the end, it was Custer’s 14th top five finish of the season, already matching last years season of top fives.

    “When we started to hit the lap cars, we started to fall off a little bit,” Custer said to MRN Radio. “I don’t know, we were close there for a second. I was hoping to get the GoBowling car into victory lane for their race. I just needed a little bit more. It was just a little bit too lose to start off the run, started using too much brake and got tonight. A really good way to start off the playoffs, we have a real good cushion going into the roval. You just don’t know what to expect going into that.”

    Custer is second in the standings, +60 above the cut line.

    His teammate Chase Briscoe had an okay day finishing fifth, rounding out the top five finishers. Briscoe started fifth, finished ninth in Stage 1 and seventh in Stage 2 before earning his 10th top five finish of the 2019 season.

    “I don’t think we were necessarily a fifth place car tonight,” Briscoe told MRN Radio. “We were able to get some stage points. We should have got a little bit more, the cautions just didn’t fell our way. You can’t race your way in to the next round, but you certainly can race your out of it. Felt like it was a good start. So if we do this for the next two weeks in this round, we should be alright.”

    “Proud of my Ford Performance guys. I felt like this has been our biggest struggle track all year long, but came home with a good finish.”

    Briscoe sits seventh in the standings, +17 above the cut line.

  • Worst to fourth for Allgaier

    Worst to fourth for Allgaier

    After qualifying outside pole, Justin Allgaier was forced to go to the rear after running over something on pit road before his qualifying run. The No. 7 Jr Motorsports team had to change a tire right before the race started, giving up Allgaier’s strong qualifying outing.

    It didn’t take long for Allgaier and company to get the front though. The Riverton, Illinois native was already up to 10th in Stage 1. He bettered his finish in Stage 2 by finishing third in that stage.

    Allgaier never got to led a lap, but it was a solid night for his No. 7 JR Motorsports team who wound up fourth after making contact with an axle at some point in the race.

    “Not a bad night for our No. 7 Brandt Professional Agriculture Camaro,” Allgaier said to MRN Radio. “Unfortunate part there at the end. We didn’t have the speed to keep up with those guys up front. Still a solid day to come from the back after running over something after qualifying, pushing the car to the grid, that’s disappointing way to start the race.”

    “Hats off to the guys at JR Motorsports. It’s been a little bit of a long week and hopefully all the fans here had a great time. I know it was a lot of fun behind the wheel. Good start to the playoffs, we had a terrible start last season.”

    Allgaier currently sits fifth in the playoff standings, +21 above the cut line.