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Author: Briar Starr

  • Will Power wins rain-shortened race at Pocono

    Will Power wins rain-shortened race at Pocono

    After pitting from the lead on Lap 112, Will Power was able to come out ahead of Scott Dixon on the track after the pit stops. Power held on until Lap 128 when the race was red-flagged due to weather conditions including lightning in the area. With threatening skies and lightning around the track, NTT IndyCar officials declared the race official and Power as the winner of the ABC Supply 500.

    “If this cloud cover comes over and it doesn’t rain, it’s just not my year,” Power jokingly told NBC Sports. “I’m over the moon, had a few issues during the race and kept coming back. Full credit to the team, great car, kind of hung there and saved fuel, when it was time to go, I went. I was so determined, I really wanted to win. It’ll be my 13th year in a row winning races, I wasn’t thinking about that. I just simply wanted to win a race for Verizon.”

    “These guys worked their asses off all year and then, I just hadn’t had the results.”

    The ABC Supply 500 got off to a wild start. There was a big wreck in the tunnel turn as Takuma Sato’s car came down on Ryan Hunter-Reay. Alexander Rossi, James Hinchcliffe and Felix Rosenqvist were all involved. Rosenqvist’s car violently went up toward the catch fence while Sato went upside down.

    Miraculously, all drivers would be okay but were handed some additional penalties. Rossi, Hinchcliffe and Hunter-Reay each received a 10-lap penalty after working on their cars during the red flag, which is not allowed in IndyCar.

    “Takuma (Sato) just turned down on two cars and I was in it,” Rossi told IndyCar Radio. “I don’t know what the point of that was, what he was trying to accomplish. That’s what happened last year, I don’t know why people are making decisions like that. I didn’t get a good start, so it’s on me, I put us in that position. It’s just one of those instances, shouldn’t have been put in that situation, sucks that I did.”

    Sato gave his side of the incident.

    “Exit Turn 1, Ryan (Hunter-Reay) and I were racing together and the wheels, so Alex (Rossi) probably got something too. We overtook right and left, and there was one little issue. Once it caught them, it jumped on the car and were very crossed together, I kept on steering the wheel straight, but unfortunately, we tangled together.”

    Rosenqvist was later sent to a local trauma center for precautionary measures. Later in the broadcast, NBCSN reported that he was medically cleared after the incident.

    After a 45 minute red flag, the race resumed after repairs were completed in the Tunnel Turn. The next caution was not until Lap 40 in Turn 1 as Spencer Pigot was involved in an accident. The next caution occurred on Lap 74 for Colton Herta, as he was wrecked off the Tunnel Turn as well. On Lap 88, Rossi returned to the track to collect points.

    With the race off to a slow start, it was off to the long green-flag run that normally happens at Pocono. Dixon and Santino Ferrucci were pulling away from the field and the battle was on for the top spot with Power behind them. On Lap 106, green flag pit stops began to take place with Graham Rahal pitting, as well as Ferrucci.

    Dixon pitted one lap later on Lap 107, coming out ahead of Ferrucci. However, Power pitted on Lap 108 and came out second. He eventually passed Dixon for the lead on Lap 115. The IndyCar drivers got to race for 13 more laps before lightning was seen within a seven-mile radius.

    The cars were brought down pit road in case there was any potential to go back green. That was not the case, however, due to a band of storms approaching. IndyCar officials declared the race official and Power scored his first win of the 2019 season.

    Knowing that he was out of the championship hunt at this point in the season, Power was able to focus on winning instead of points racing.

    “Yeah, I kind of just let it go,” Power said to NBCSN regarding the championship. “It’s just not going to happen for me this year, just whatever. Still do my homework, we definitely had the car today, great stops, strategy was right. I worked harder this year than any other year. I was very determined, it just didn’t work for me.”

    The rain-shortened win was Power’s first victory of the season. It was also the 13th consecutive year that the Team Penske driver has scored a win each season, dating back to his first start in 2008.

    Power led once for 31 laps to earn his 34th career win, his third win at Pocono.

    There were four cautions for 23 laps, with 12 lead changes among four leaders.

    In the penalty summary, Takuma Sato was awarded a post-race penalty for avoidable contact. James Hinchcliffe, Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay received a 10-lap penalty for working on their cars during the red flag and Colton Herta also received a post-race fine for a pit safety infraction.

    Josef Newgarden continues to lead the points standings over Alexander Rossi by 35 points with three races remaining.

    Official Results

    1. Will Power, led 31 laps
    2. Scott Dixon, led 32 laps
    3. Simon Pagenaud, led 64 laps
    4. Santino Ferrucci
    5. Josef Newgarden, led one lap
    6. Ed Carpenter
    7. Sebastien Bourdais
    8. Tony Kanaan
    9. Graham Rahal
    10. Charlie Kimball
    11. Conor Daly
    12. Marcus Ericsson
    13. Zach Veach, One lap down
    14. Matheus Leist, One lap down
    15. Marco Andretti, Two laps down
    16. Colton Herta, OUT, Crash
    17. Spencer Pigot, OUT, Crash
    18. Alexander Rossi, 89 laps down
    19. Ryan Hunter-Reay, OUT
    20. James Hinchclifee, OUT
    21. Takuma Sato, OUT
    22. Felix Rosenqvist, OUT

    Up Next: The NTT IndyCar Series heads back to the Midwest on Saturday night August 24 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings- Bristol

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings- Bristol

    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series visited Bristol Motor Speedway this past Thursday night for the start of their fourth annual championship Playoffs. The UNOH 200 was full of all kinds of action with twists and turns throughout the evening.

    There were 12 cautions for 73 laps which means 36.5% of the race was run under caution which is what you would expect for a place like Bristol, especially in a Truck Series race.

    The top spots, for the most part, were filled by playoff drivers, but there were some other drivers who had great runs as well. With that said, here’s a look at this power rankings following Thursday night’s UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    1. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt led the second-most laps in the race. He had a dominant truck as he qualified on the pole, finished second in Stage 1 and won the second stage. Rarely did you see Moffitt in the back of the field as he avoided all of the major accidents. He traded the lead with Ross Chastain and Grant Enfinger, before taking the lead for good on Lap 174. Moffitt led the final 27 laps to pick up his third win of the year and the 10th of his career. With the win, he advances onto the next round of the Playoffs.

      Previous Week Ranking- Fourth

    2. Grant Enfinger – It was a fifth-place finish for Enfinger and his No. 98 ThorSport Racing team. He led once for 57 laps and finished ninth in Stage 2. Despite finishing fifth, he is tied fourth in the playoff standings with his teammate Matt Crafton. The top five finish continues Enfinger’s consistency that he has had throughout the season that ultimately earned him the regular-season championship.

      Previous Week Ranking – First

    3. Stewart Friesen – Friesen started on the right foot in the Playoffs, finishing fourth after starting third. It shouldn’t be surprising at Bristol, as he was runner-up in last year’s race. The Halmar Racing driver was unable to lead any laps but had good stage results, finishing seventh in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2. Now, Friesen heads to his home racetrack Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and will look for a popular victory north of the border.

      Previous Week Ranking – Fifth

    4. Ross Chastain – Chastain quite possibly had the second-best truck of the night. He started on the outside pole, led four times for 78 laps and wound up third. He won Stage 1 and finished second in Stage 2. Some may question his aggression, but nonetheless, it was his seventh top-five of the year. The strong season continues for the No. 45 Niece Motorsports team.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked

    5. Sheldon Creed – Even though he missed the Playoffs, Creed followed Michigan’s strong run with a sixth-place finish at Bristol. He started a disappointing 24th and did not record and top -10 stage finishes. But he was there at the end had things gone Creed’s way. Unfortunately, Creed will have to wait for another race as he finished sixth, his seventh top-10 of 2019.

      Previous Week Ranking – Second

      Fell Out

      1. Tyler Dippel – Dippel was nowhere to be seen, as he had a disastrous night at Bristol getting caught up in a couple of incidents. He was involved in two wrecks, one on Lap 131 and the other on Lap 183. The Youngs Motorsports driver was probably more than ready to leave Bristol after recording a 24th place finish.

      Previous Week Ranking – Third
  • Self Victorious First Time On ARCA Dirt

    Self Victorious First Time On ARCA Dirt

    Michael Self took the lead from dirt specialist Logan Seavey on lap 56 and held on from there, even in an overtime restart with a two lap restart, Self went onto win the Allen Crowe 100. It was Self’s first time on dirt in a stock car, but it sure didn’t look like it.

    “I’m going to give credit to a lot of people,” Self said to MAVTV about his dirt track win. “A lot people like Frank Kimmel for being here today, teaching me a lot and helping me out tremendously throughout the race. Huge thanks to Donnie Moran, last week I ran his Street Stock, he helped me a whole bunch. Billy Venturini (Owner/General Manager of Venturini Motorsports), Christian (Eckes) and Logan (Seavey) helped me a whole bunch.”

    “I just learned as much as I could coming into this. The rain was a little bit of a blessing because, we were really good in practice I thought. At the start of the race, qualifying was super slick and when that rain came through, I thought it really reset the track. So it kind of gave us a fresh start and this thing, was really consistent. I was a little afraid of fire off speed, long run wise we never fell off. That was fun today.”

    In his first ARCA race back in a while, Logan Seavey returned like he never was out of action, setting on the pole in his No. 20 Venturini Motorsports Toyota.

    The race was in hurry up mode due to a chance of rain.

    The first caution came out on the first lap for the 7 of Eric Caudell, who spun out in Turn 3. Will Kimmel was penalized due to changing lanes on the restart. The race went back to green on lap 6, as it saw the 18 of Ty Gibbs take the lead from Seavey on lap 9. However, the rains came on lap 12 and halted the race for a short while.

    After the passing shower, the race resumed on lap 16 after a 20 minute red flag or so. Self came down pit road when the caution was brought back out and Kimmel served his pass through.

    The Allen Crowe 100 featured another lead change on lap 17, where it saw Corey Heim of the 22 take the lead from Gibbs off the restart. The race remained green for several laps until another came out on lap 27, as the 06 of Tim Richmond went around on the back stretch off the exit of Turn 2. Race leaders Heim, Gibbs, Christian Eckes, Travis Braden, Joe Graf Jr were among the few that pitted under caution.

    Seavey and Self stayed out to assume the top spots for the lap 33 restart. Bret Holmes and Kimmel were the other two that stayed out as well. From there, the two Venturini Motorsports teammates pulled away from the field. On lap 64, Braden had to come down pit road for overheating issues. On lap 70, Gibbs was on pit road for a fuel injection problem which took him out of contention to win.

    After a long green flag run, the final caution came out on lap 95 for Graf Jr and Gibbs who spun around. This would see Eckes pit, but also a overtime finish with a two lap dash to the finish.

    With a late race restart on lap 100, it was a battle for the win among Self, Seavey and Heim. However, the No. 25 of Self was able to hold off the hard chargers for his first ever win at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

    “General Tire gives us a good product here, especially on these dirt tracks and a product that last a really long time,” Self added in his interview with MAVTV. “You have to be conservative and it reminded me of Salem earlier this year. You know, just how much you save the right-rear, how much you have to save tires and I think that really plays into effect. When I had the big lead, I didn’t want that caution, I was thinking if there was going to be, we needed to have some tire left.”

    “So props to General Tire for giving us a product. As far as dirt go, I don’t know anything about dirt.”

    For his teammate Eckes, he came home in the second position after pitting late.

    “I just struggled all day, honestly,” Eckes said to MAVTV. “Even there at the end, we didn’t have the balance, we just had new tires and we were able to run them down a little bit. Overall, it was a great day and a lot of learning after this. I kind of burned up these General Tires a little bit. It was a little bit on me and a little bit on us. We weren’t the best, so I had to find something. We were able to get new General Tires and came home second, but it’s coming up short. It kind of sucks. Congrats to Michael and them, but it’s on DuQuoin.”

    There were four cautions for 25 laps with five leaders among four lead change.

    Official Results

    1. Michael Self, led 47 laps
    2. Christian Eckes,
    3. Bret Holmes
    4. Logan Seavey, led 34 laps
    5. Will Kimmel
    6. Kelly Kovski
    7. Corey Heim, led 11 laps
    8. Carson Hocevar, One lap down
    9. Ryan Unzicker, One lap down
    10. Joe Graf Jr, Two laps down
    11. Travis Braden, Three laps down
    12. Dick Doheny, Three laps down
    13. Tim Richmond, Four laps down
    14. Bobby Gerhart, 16 laps down
    15. Ty Gibbs, 22 laps down
    16. Brad Smith, OUT, Overheating
    17. Dale Shearer, OUT, Overheating
    18. Mike Basham, OUT, Overheating
    19. Tommy Vigh Jr, OUT, Overheating
    20. Eric Caudell, OUT, Crash
    21. Wayne Peterson, OUT, DNS

    Up Next: The ARCA Menards Series will take the next weekend off before heading back on dirt on Saturday August 31 at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.

  • Keselowski frustrated with top-five finish at Bristol

    Keselowski frustrated with top-five finish at Bristol

    Although he led laps early in Stage 3 and finished third at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday night, Brad Keselowski was disappointed with his top-five outing.

    “We had a car capable of contending for the win, we were leading and got tore up,” Keselowski told PRN Radio. “Got the most speed out of the Miller Lite Ford but had to settle for third which isn’t what we wanted, but not a bad day, just not the win I thought we could have been able to get.”

    Keselowski qualified 13th on Friday afternoon and it didn’t take him long to get to the front in Stage 1. The Team Penske driver finished eighth in Stage 1 and eighth again in Stage 2.

    The No. 2 driver worked hard all night to get the front dodging accidents. It wasn’t until the final stage when we saw Keselowski up front for good, swapping the lead multiple times with Kyle Busch. Keselowski managed to get out front on Lap 265 and led for 85 laps. He took the lead three more times while battling side-by-side with Busch.

    From that point on, he was trying to catch the race leaders in search of this third Bristol victory. However, Keselowski will have to wait another year to do so as he wound up with a third-place finish. He is currently fourth in the playoff points standings, -138 behind leader Kyle Busch.

  • Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney score solid runs at Bristol

    Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney score solid runs at Bristol

    Chase Elliott debuted a new paint scheme featuring Hooters Spirits Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway in his eighth start at the track. He was hoping to bring home a popular win for the fans.

    It all started with qualifying on Friday afternoon with Elliott qualifying sixth. He was consistently strong throughout the race, even leading at some points.

    In Stage 1, the Georgia native finished second while he finished sixth in Stage 2. Elliott avoided the accidents and kept his car clean for the most part. On Lap 131, he took the lead and led for 33 laps, the only time he led the race. However, Elliott was up front late on the final restart, before making slight contact with Erik Jones.

    Elliott had to slow down and swerve to miss Jones which caused him to lose some momentum and he was never able to get back up to the front to fight for the win. In the end, the Hendrick Motorsports driver finished sixth for his 10th top-10 of the 2019 season.

    “We were a little off from being perfect all weekend,” Elliott said to PRN Radio. “The guys did a great job in the pits. you know we had track position all night long, I just never did anything with it really. Executed really nice, just needed to do a little bit better to do something. We kept lining up on the top, kept gaining spots on pit road, that’s all you could ask for.”

    While it was a quiet night for Elliott, Ryan Blaney had an adventurous night that saw him finish 10th.

    Blaney fought multiple challenges throughout the night. The first challenge came on Lap 231 when he had to check up to avoid making contact with the 52 of Kyle Weatherman. Blaney was also involved in a big wreck on Lap 373 as he shot straight up the track when a right-front tire went down.

    Despite Blaney being caught up in a wreck, he was able to rebound to a 10th place finish in what had been a long night.

    “Multiple things, but not wrecking,” Blaney explained to PRN Radio about his night. “Got in a big wreck right there, cut a right front (tire). Just misjudging where the 8 (Hemric) was. Throughout the race, I just kind of got loose and cut my right front. I think it blew his left rear too. I got into a big pileup there, but luckily we were able to fix it. Just keeping up with the racetrack and struggling a little bit, I’ll have to do better next time.”

    The 10th place finish was Blaney’s 11th top-10 finish of 2019.

  • Matt DiBenedetto falls short at Bristol with runner-up finish

    Matt DiBenedetto falls short at Bristol with runner-up finish

    In what could have been a crowd-pleasing moment at Bristol Motor Speedway, Matt DiBenedetto and the fans were left disappointed as he came up one spot short of victory.

    With the final restart coming with 113 laps to go, DiBenedetto rocketed to second place as race leader Kyle Busch slid back when he got caught up in the PJ1. From there, the No. 95 driver chased Erik Jones down and took the lead on Lap 396.

    For much of the race, he had the best car on the racetrack. DiBenedetto was weaving in and out of lapped traffic in what was likely the best car he has driven in a long time.

    The Grass Valley, California native was determined not to let anything get in the way of his first career Cup Series win. That is, until he caught up to the No. 6 of Ryan Newman. DiBenedetto was struggling to get around him and trying to put him a lap down while keeping on pace.

    He finally managed to get around Newman but at that point, DiBenedetto’s car had begun to go away and he was suddenly not the best car on the track. It was now his affiliate teammate Denny Hamlin who had the car to beat.

    Trying to be consistent, DiBenedetto was doing everything he could to keep Hamlin in his rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, Hamlin got to the left side of him and made contact with left front fender.

    This eventually cost DiBenedetto the win and what might have been the most popular victory in NASCAR in quite some time.

    “I don’t even know what to say, I’m so sad we didn’t win but proud of the effort,” DiBenedetto told PRN Radio. “I got tight there from the damage and trying to get by Newman. I immediately flipped the switch and got tight. This opportunity, this is what I want everyone to know, how thankful I am that I got this opportunity and work with great people like Wheels (Mike Wheeler), my crew chief.”

    “I’m so thankful to everyone on this team who gave me an opportunity, all of our sponsors, Procore, Dumont Jets and Toyota for backing me this year, everyone at Leavine Family Racing. I want to try and not get emotional but it’s been a tough week and I want to stick around and I want to win. That’s all I want to do is win in the Cup Series. It’s so hard to be that close but it’s neat to race door-to-door with Denny Hamlin, someone who I’ve been a fan of since I was a kid.”

    “It’s amazing, a great day but this one is going to hurt for sure.”

    The second-place finish was DiBenedetto’s career-best finish of his Cup Series career.

  • Hamlin scores emotional win at Bristol

    Hamlin scores emotional win at Bristol

    Start first, finish first for Hamlin and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing, but it wasn’t all that easy.

    Hamlin was dominant in the first stage, swapping the lead back and forth with Kyle Larson six times before Hamlin had a right-rear tire go down after contact. The JGR driver was quiet after Stage 1 until he made contact with race leader Matt DiBenedetto for the lead with 12 to go. Hamlin was able to hold off DiBenedetto for his fourth win of the season.

    “It feels good,” Hamlin said to PRN Radio. “My first reaction was, I’m sorry to Matt (DiBenedetto). I mean I know those guys really wanted to win and Matt (DiBenedetto) really deserves to win. Watching him (DiBenedetto) do an interview, I get emotional for him. I just hate that I had to take it from him.”

    Hamlin sat on the pole Friday afternoon, which gave him his first pole of the season.

    Stage 1: Lap 1 – Lap 125

    Hamlin was strong early leading 14 laps before getting stuck in lap traffic, allowing Larson to close in and take the lead. Both drivers would swap the lead a couple of times before a caution on Lap 81 when Hamlin was involved in an accident with Austin Dillon and Jimmie Johnson. Hamlin had to pit under caution for a flat right-rear tire that went down.

    There were no more cautions and Larson took the stage win. Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, DiBenedetto, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Aric Almirola rounded out the top-10 finishers for Stage 1. Hamlin finished 11th after pitting for the right-rear tire.

    Under the stage break, Larson, Truex, Elliott, Harvick, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Blaney, Jones and Clint Bowyer were among the ones to pit.

    Stage 2: Lap 135 – Lap 250

    The second stage has more incidents than Stage 1. On Lap 160, Chicago winner Alex Bowman had a left front tire rub but no caution was warranted. The battle for the lead heated up four laps later with last week’s winner, Harvick and Truex followed suit. Johnson went two laps down on Lap 169. More issues arose for Hamlin on Lap 178 when he reported a loose wheel and he eventually went in to pit on Lap 186. The problem later turned out to be the right-side tire.

    The third caution came out on Lap 191 as Almirola made contact with the 54 of J.J. Yeley. Replays later showed that Almirola tried coming down to pass the 54 before being clipped by Yeley. Almirola would later bring out another caution on Lap 214 after being involved in an accident with the 51 of B.J. McLeod. It was a big moment for Kyle Busch as he had been struggling all night and received the free pass to get back on the lead lap. Busch was running 19th at the time of caution.

    A close call took place with Blaney on Lap 231 with the 52 of Kyle Weatherman. Blaney may have received right front damage. A caution came out again on Lap 242 as Quin Houff made contact with Bowyer which sent Bowyer spinning up the track in Turn 2. Bowyer escaped without any major damage. The caution would be a huge break for Hamlin as he received the free pass.

    This would set up a late Stage 2 restart with three laps to go. The top six of Kurt Busch, Daniel Suarez, William Byron, Newman, Daniel Hemric and Kyle Busch stayed out under caution. Under the caution, Harvick who had led 28 laps, went behind the wall with clutch problems. The No. 4 driver would not return to the race and wound up with a disappointing last-place finish.

    By staying out, Kurt Busch was able to win the second stage. Suarez, Newman, Kyle Busch, Byron, Elliott, Jones, Keselowski, Hemric and Truex rounded out the top-10 in Stage 2. Hamlin was 18th in the second stage.

    Stage 3: Lap 260 – Lap 500

    In the early part of Stage 3, Kyle Busch, who had been struggling earlier, was able to take the lead and led for 11 laps before Keselowski took over for a short while. Both would take the lead several times creating an interesting battle up front. Keselowski eventually took the lead and led 85 laps before battling with Busch again.

    On lap 313, Reed Sorenson was out of the race with a clutch problem. The race started to get interesting on Lap 360 as Truex came down pit road with a right front tire down. Just two laps later, Bowman brought out the seventh caution of the night after blowing a left front tire. Joey Logano and Byron would also be caught in the crash with Logano receiving the most damage.

    The night would go from bad to worse for Logano as he was caught with a safety violation under caution. Race leaders Kyle Busch, Jones, Larson and Hamlin, among others, made a pit stop as well.

    The eighth caution came out for a big wreck on Lap 374. Blaney shot straight up the track in Turn 1 as he couldn’t turn due to a right front tire that went down. He took Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, David Ragan and Johnson with him. McDowell had heavy damage as did Johnson who had the right side sheet metal torn apart with styrofoam coming out of the side.

    After that, there was a long green-flag run with 113 laps to the finish. Race leader Kyle Busch hit the dusty part of the PJ1 which slowed him down and eventually cost him the win. At that point, fan-favorite DiBenedetto skyrocketed to second trying to catch Erik Jones for the lead.

    It wasn’t until a few laps later on Lap 396 when DiBenedetto finally passed Jones for the lead. On the same lap, Jones got loose and made contact with the wall and collected Elliott. Jones later had to pit for the damage.

    From that point on, DiBenedetto set a blistering pace in search of his first career win. He was lapping cars left and right until he caught Ryan Newman, who is a hard driver to pass on the racetrack. Newman gave DiBenedetto a run for his money.

    With DiBenedetto and Newman racing for the lead, Hamlin was able to close in on him, lap by lap. With 12 to go, Hamlin was side-by-side with race leader DiBenedetto. Both made contact on the backstretch, giving the 95 some left front tire damage.

    Unfortunately for DiBenedetto, he ran out of time and laps as Hamlin went on to win at Bristol.

    “Yeah, he was good,” Hamlin said in describing DiBenedetto’s run. “It was probably the setup I ran last year. Mike Wheeler has a great set up for this place. Matt was just doing a phenomenal job, that’s all you could say. He’s a helluva racecar driver and he’s going to land on his feet in a better ride then he’s got now.”

    Despite getting damage early on, Hamlin was able to come back and take home his second win at Bristol.

    “It means a lot, it’s emotional for a lot of reasons,” Hamlin added to PRN Radio. “The team is on a roll like I’ve never seen before. It hasn’t been this good in a long time.”

    Hamlin led four times for 79 laps before picking up the win at Bristol. He also collected five playoff points in the process.

    There were eight cautions for 61 laps and 23 lead changes among 10 different drivers.

    Up Next: The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series takes their final off weekend before returning to Darlington International Raceway on Sunday Sept.1.

    Playoff Standings

    1. Kyle Busch – Four wins
    2. Denny Hamlin – Four wins
    3. Martin Truex Jr. – Four wins
    4. Brad Keselowski – Three wins
    5. Joey Logano – Two wins
    6. Kevin Harvick – Two wins
    7. Chase Elliott – Two wins
    8. Kurt Busch One win
    9. Alex Bowman – One win
    10. Ryan Blaney +95
    11. Kyle Larson +74
    12. William Byron +73
    13. Aric Almirola +63
    14. Erik Jones +63
    15. Ryan Newman +12
    16. Daniel Suarez

    Official Results

    1. Denny Hamlin – led 79 laps
    2. Matt DiBenedetto – led 93 laps
    3. Brad Keselowski – led 91 laps
    4. Kyle Busch – led 30 laps
    5. Chase Elliott – led 33 laps
    6. Kyle Larson – led 62 laps, won Stage 1
    7. Clint Bowyer
    8. Daniel Suarez – one lap down
    9. Kurt Busch – won Stage 2
    10. Ryan Blaney – one lap down
    11. Ryan Newman – one lap down
    12. Daniel Hemric – one lap down
    13. Martin Truex Jr. – two laps down, led 52 laps
    14. Bubba Wallace – two laps down
    15. Alex Bowman – three laps down
    16. Joey Logano – three laps down
    17. Chris Buescher – three laps down
    18. Ryan Preece – three laps down
    19. Jimmie Johnson – four laps down
    20. Ty Dillon – four laps down
    21. William Byron, four laps down
    22. Erik Jones – five laps down
    23. Paul Menard – five laps down
    24. Corey LaJoie – six laps down
    25. Landon Cassill – 10 laps down
    26. Ross Chastain – 10 laps down
    27. Matt Tifft – OUT, Suspension
    28. J.J. Yeley – 15 laps down
    29. Aric Almirola – 18 laps down
    30. Quin Houff – 22 laps down
    31. Kyle Weatherman – 26 laps down
    32. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Front Hub
    33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, DVP
    34. Austin Dillon – 113 laps down
    35. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Fatigue
    36. David Ragan – OUT, Crash
    37. Michael McDowell – OUT, Crash
    38. Reed Sorenson – OUT, Crash
    39. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Clutch, led 28 laps

  • Briscoe and Nemechek earn top-fives at Bristol

    Briscoe and Nemechek earn top-fives at Bristol

    Chase Briscoe and his No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing team found himself with a shot at the win late in the going after the mishap with race leader Justin Allgaier. Briscoe went to second when Allgaier had a flat tire go down with less than 10 to go.

    Briscoe tried to catch Tyler Reddick but was not fast enough to do so and fell .655 seconds short of winning at Bristol. However, despite finishing second, the No. 98 driver isn’t pleased with the finish.

    “We had such a good Ford Performance Mustang,” Briscoe said to PRN Radio. “On the last restart, I just didn’t fire off good, I was really loose getting in, then I would get really tight. Those last five laps, it finally started coming to me, I was definitely running him down, just ran out of laps.”

    “Man that one stings, you don’t get very many opportunities to win at a place like Bristol. I really want to win here bad. I felt like we had a Mustang to do it, just didn’t get it done.”

    For John Hunter Nemechek and the GMS Racing team, it was a hard fought third-place finish after all the troubles they had early. On Lap 52, Nemechek’s tire went down and caused him to spin out in Turn 2 to bring out the caution. The GMS driver rallied to finish fifth in Stage 2 before ultimately finishing third.

    “I don’t know how many times I went to the back and came to the front,” Nemechek told PRN Radio. “Good showing for our Midnight Moonlight Moonshine Chevrolet. Overall, a pretty good night. Looking forward to keeping this momentum into the Playoffs. The third-place finish shows what our car had tonight. I just wish I wouldn’t have sped on pit road, wouldn’t have had a tire go down, and starting in the back, just builds character.”

    Nemechek started ninth and finished third for his fourth top-five of the season.

  • Austin Cindric comes up short for hat trick at Bristol

    Austin Cindric comes up short for hat trick at Bristol

    In what has been a dominant couple of weeks for Cindric and Team Penske with wins at the road courses at Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio, Cindric was ready to finally win on an oval.

    Cindric got off on the right track in Friday afternoon qualifying by winning his third pole of the year. When the Food City 300 got underway, the No. 22 Money Lion Ford was fast even though Cindric did not earn a top-10 stage finish in Stage 1.

    He fought hard and finished fourth in Stage 2 and led for one lap. Cindric caught a few lucky breaks at the end with a caution late in the going. With the caution, the Team Penske driver still had hopes of going three in a row this season.

    Ultimately, Cindric had to settle for a fifth-place finish. Still, he was happy with the result.

    “I would say we were a little better,” Cindric told PRN Radio describing his car. “I just never got an outside restart the entire night. They mean a lot here, especially when our short run wasn’t the best. We had a great car after 30 to 40 laps, fastest car on track kind of deal but didn’t have track position to use well enough.”

    “Congrats to Tyler (Reddick), he’s a good friend of mine but I want it, man. It’s great to be on the pole, great to come home with a top-five. Great day for the guys, so we’ll move on to Road America and see if we can go three in a row on road courses.”

    With the fifth-place finish, Cindric earned his ninth top five of the season.

  • Kyle Busch has tough night at Bristol after engine failure

    Kyle Busch has tough night at Bristol after engine failure

    With an Xfinity Series race at Bristol, you had to expect that Kyle Busch wasn’t going to miss this one. It was Busch’s first race back in the series since Watkins Glen a few weeks ago, where he had the suspension problem.

    This time around, Busch was looking to put that behind him and win at a track where he has been so successful. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had the pole for a short while before being bumped to the second starting position.

    In what would look like his usual dominating fashion, Busch led the first 59 laps of the race before finishing seventh in Stage 1 after making a pit stop under green.

    By making a pit stop, Busch would restart on the front row before taking the lead over once again on Lap 94. From there he led for most the stage before a freak accident happened for the No. 90 of Ronnie Bassett Jr. The right rear tire ripped out of the car and almost hit race leader Busch.

    Talking back and forth with the team, Busch believed his car would be okay following the incident. The race went back green and Busch led the rest of the way before problems occurred.

    Right after taking the Stage 2 win, Busch reported, “we’re done,” to the team after suffering an engine failure. The engine failure relegated him to a 29th place finish after leading 137 laps.

    “It all of sudden started about five or six laps before the stage ended,” Busch said in his interview with NBCSN. “Just coming off the corner, I got back to the gas and it broke. I was just trying to limp it home and that’s all she had. Tough day for our Juniper Supra, it was really fast, really good. We’re always good here. It’s nice to have a solid run, but man these guys have had a bad month.”

    It was Busch’s second straight DNF of the season. Busch only has one more start in the Xfinity Series before the Playoffs begin.