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Author: Briar Starr

  • Formula One 2019 mid-season review

    Formula One 2019 mid-season review

    It’s the summer break in Formula 1 right now and it will continue over a three week period. For some teams like the Haas Racing Team that fields drivers Kevin Magnussen and Roman Grosjean, it is a much-needed break. Other drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen probably didn’t want to see the break as they are dominating the races as of late, especially the Mercedes.

    However, drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc can use a much needed break since they surprisingly haven’t won a race yet as they were expected to at this point in the season.

    Here’s a look at who’s hot and who’s not during the Summer Break and the Mid-season review for Formula 1 in 2019.

    Who’s Hot

    1. Lewis Hamilton – It should be no surprise that Hamilton and Mercedes are at the top of this list. The Englishman has scored eight wins in 12 starts; that’s a win percentage of 66.6%. Hamilton leads the championship points standings over his teammate Valtteri Bottas by 62 points. Should Hamilton keep on winning after the summer break, he’ll have the title wrapped up before the season finale in Abu Dhabi in December. Realistically, it’s a three-way title fight for the top spot right now with Bottas and Max Verstappen lurking behind him. Other stats include 10 podiums, four poles, 352 laps led out of 746 laps complete and an average finish of 2.2. The only time Hamilton has not won a race was at Melbourne, Baku, Speilberg and Hockenheimring. Especially notable in these races where Hamilton has not won, he has either finished first or second. Only twice has the Mercedes driver finished outside the podium and that was at Speilberg where he finished fifth, while Hamilton finished ninth at Hockenheimring, his worst drive of the season. It will be interesting to see if Hamilton can keep up his incredible hunt for another championship to add to his impressive resume.

    2. Valtteri Bottas – If it’s not Hamilton who is having impressive drives, it’s his teammate Bottas who is the other Mercedes driver. Bottas sits second in points, 62 behind Hamilton. In 12 races he has collected two wins (Melbourne, Baku) and nine podiums and has sat on the pole three times (Shanghai, Baku, Catalunya). Bottas has 103 laps led and only one DNF that occurred at Hockenheimring, the only difficult day for the Mercedes team who otherwise finishes on the podium if not winning the race. The Finland native is already besting his 2018 stats where Bottas ended with eight podiums and two poles and 84 laps led. Needless to say, Bottas and Mercedes are working well with each other this year.

    3. Sebastian Vettel – I think at this point in the season we would have expected Vettel and the Ferrari to win 12 races into the season. Some would say he should have won at the Canadian Grand Prix where Vettel was somewhat pushed off the track in one of the sectors and came back on the track dangerously and then was penalized by the stewards for the action. To this day, Vettel and his fans believe they still won the race where they came up second in the overall results after the time penalty. Since then, Vettel has had some disappointing finishes of fifth at Paul Ricard, fourth at Spielberg and 16th at Silverstone, one lap down. He has rebounded a little bit in the past two races, however, as Vettel has finishes of second and third respectively. At Mid-season, he has 73 laps led down from last year’s 345 laps led. Vettel has only been able to amass six podiums compared to his 12 last year. He has also been down on his average finish with a 4.4 where last year the German had a 3.9 average finish. Perhaps this summer break will be a good time for Vettel and his Ferrari team to reset and come in with a clear mind when Formula 1 returns to Spa Francorchamps on September 1. However, Vettel is likely out of the title hunt being 94 points behind, fourth in the standings.

    4. Max Verstappen – A driver heating up as of late is Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who took the checkered flag at Spielberg and won a popular victory at Hockenheimring. While Verstappen has not yet matched his 2018 podium finishes, he is starting to come into his own in the past couple of races. In 2019 at the summer break he has five podium finishes with a worst finish of fifth at Montreal and Silverstone. Otherwise, Verstappen has finishes of second, third, fourth or winning the race. He has an average finish of 3.3 already bettering his 2018 average finish, where it was 6.1 at the end of the season. Verstappen still realistically has a chance to win the title at the end of the season at 69 points behind but he will need a lot of help over the next several races in order to catch Hamilton in the title hunt.

    5. Charles Leclerc – Leclerc is having a decent season so far for his Ferrari team. He has almost matched his teammate Vettel’s podium finishes by having five of them. Leclerc more than likely could have had two more, if it weren’t for two DNFs at Monte Carlo and Hockenheimring which were both due to crash damage. Otherwise, his stats are solid with an average finish of 6.2 and 118 laps led. He has come close to winning multiple times, quite notably at Spielberg where Leclerc qualified on the pole position and finished second after leading 58 laps. He qualified on the pole one other time at Bahrain, the second race of the season after Melbourne. Leclerc has only completed 86 percent of the laps or 647 of the 746 laps possible. He is already doing better than last year when the Ferrari driver did not record any podiums, poles or laps led. I think it’s safe to say that his championship hunt is over as he is 118 points behind. Still, there are a lot of races remaining, nine in total, but he will have to start winning right out of the gate when the series returns September 1.

      Who’s Not

      1. Kevin Magnussen – It’s been a difficult season for Magnussen and his Haas F1 Team who has faced sponsorship rumors throughout the season. His best finish occurred at Melbourne where Magnussen finished sixth. After finishing sixth the 2019 season has not been kind to the Denmark driver with no podiums, no pole positions and no laps led. He has finished off the lead lap eight times and did not finish the Silverstone race due to a crash that relegated to him to a retirement in the running order. Magnussen will have to pick up the pace if he wants to be back at Haas Racing Team next year.

      2. Robert Kubica – Speaking of difficult seasons, it’s been one for Kubica and the ROKiT Williams Racing team who has been struggling all year. Kubica was only able to record a point at Hockenheimring where he finished 10th after starting 18th. Despite the 10th place finish his other finishes have been disastrous finishing 17th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 15th and recently 19th at Hungaroring. The summer break might be good timing for Kubica and the Williams Racing team who quite possibly need the break most of all. Kubica sits 18th in the standings.

      3. Antonio Giovinazzi – Giovinazzi sits last in the series points standings in what has been a painful season. The Alfa Romeo Racing driver has only been able to record one point in the Spielberg race where he finished 10th after starting seventh. However, his finish was one lap down in that race. The Italian native has finished one lap down or more in most of his races this year. Giovinazzi’s other best finish occurred at Bahrain with an 11th place finish. The Alfa Romeo Racing driver will have to pick up the pace more throughout the rest of the season if Giovinazzi wants to impress his team.

      4. George Russell – Like his teammate Kubica, Russell has had a frustrating season so far with his ROKiT Williams Racing team. His best finish took place at Hockenheimring a few weeks ago when Russell finished 11th. In other races, it’s been a struggle to finish on the lead lap. The Englishman has finished two laps down in most races and is last in the points standings. It looks like this will continue for the rest of the season but hopefully, Russell will find some motivation despite his disappointing finishes in the second half of the season.

      5. Daniel Ricciardo – With a new team in hand, Ricciardo was hoping for a fresh start with the Renault team but that hasn’t been the case. The Australian has only been able to record a best finish of sixth at Montreal. Other finishes include a seventh at Shanghai, ninth at Monte Carlo and seventh at Silverstone. Ricciardo has four DNFs (Melbourne, Bahrain, Baku, Hockenheimring). With those finishes, his average finish has come to 12.8 down from last year where it was 9.3. Here’s hoping the summer break is just what the doctor ordered for the Australian and his Renault team.

    There you have it, your list of who’s hot and who’s at this point in the 2019 Formula 1 season. For the most part, it has been a battle between the Mercedes and the Ferraris’. However, lately, it’s been a battle between the Mercedes and the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver Verstappen. Three drivers have a shot at winning the title, with Hamilton having the better advantage with a 62 point lead over his teammate Bottas.

    While a lot can and will happen in the nine races remaining, drivers fourth on back in the championship standings will need a lot of help to catch Hamilton who rarely makes a mistake in his races.

  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Michigan

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Michigan

    After a week of slinging dirt, the Truck Series regulars return to asphalt this weekend for their regular season finale at Michigan.

    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series has quite possibly been the most exciting series all season long in the three touring series divisions of NASCAR. It is now crunch time for the drivers who have not won yet and are outside the playoffs.

    Drivers like Matt Crafton, Ben Rhodes, Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland, Sheldon Creed, Tyler Dippel, Austin Wayne Self and Gus Dean all will be trying to fight for the remaining spots. One exception is championship points leader Grant Enfinger. Enfinger has a 52 point lead over his teammate Crafton in the standings and will clinch a spot in the playoffs by starting the race.

    This means that more than likely, Enfinger will win the regular season championship title after Michigan. If Crafton wants to win the regular season championship, Enfinger would have to finish last and Crafton would have to win both stages and the race. It’s a tall order for the California native, but anything can happen in the world of NASCAR.

    With all that said, here is a look at five drivers who might punch their ticket in victory lane Saturday afternoon, along with a look at the drivers who are on the outside looking in.

    1. Ben Rhodes – With being in somewhat of a slump in the past few races, Michigan could be the track where Rhodes finds his confidence again and wins the race on Saturday potentially knocking someone out of the playoffs. In three races, Rhodes has a best finish of sixth twice (2016, 2018). The Kentucky native has led just four laps. Despite having some solid finishes, Rhodes will have to work on his qualifying game in order to have a shot at the win. His best qualifying effort is 14th that came in 2017. In terms of stage finishes, in 2017, Rhodes finished fourth in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2 while in 2018, he finished sixth in Stage 1. Keep an eye on Rhodes and his No. 99 ThorSport team who could be a winner on Saturday.

    2. Stewart Friesen – Last week’s Eldora winner will need to continue his momentum in Michigan this weekend where he’s been decent at best. In two starts, the Canadian has a best finish of eighth in 2018 after starting fifth and leading 12 laps. Since Friesen only has two starts at the 1.5-mile track, his average finish is 10.5. He didn’t earn any stage finishes in 2017, but in 2018, Friesen was able to win Stage 1 and finish ninth in Stage 2. The Halmar Racing has been decent on 1.5-mile tracks this year where it’s either been second finish or bust for Friesen. Should Friesen win, the playoff standings will remain the way they are and no one else will get themselves in.

    3. Todd Gilliland – A driver that could solidify themselves in the 2019 championship playoffs is Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Todd Gilliland. Gilliland only has one start that came in 2018 but started on the outside pole and finished fifth after leading eight laps. The KBM driver has stage finishes of third and eighth in his only start. In 2017, now Xfinity Series driver Christopher Bell took the No. 4 truck to a second-place finish. Gilliland will be piloting chassis number KBM-04. “The No. 4 JBL team has prepared chassis KBM-041 for this weekend’s Corrigan Oil 200. This chassis was last used earlier this year by Gilliland at Dover and has been driven to one win by owner-driver Kyle Busch at Chicago in 2016. Gilliland will be in the playoffs if he wins Saturday’s race.

    4. Grant Enfinger – Speaking of the regular series points leader, Enfinger just might nab his first win of the season at Michigan this weekend. It’s hard to believe that even though Enfinger has had consistent finishes, he has not won at all in 2019. The 1.5-mile track has seen the Alabama native finish inside the top-10 in all three of his starts with a best finish of seventh in 2018. Enfinger has also led 16 laps and has an average finish of 7.7. As far as stages go, Enfinger finished 10th in Stage 2 in 2017, while finishing fifth in Stage 1 and winning the second stage. There couldn’t be a better moment for Enfinger if he wins the race and the regular season championship Saturday afternoon. As far as clinch scenarios go, the Alabama native will clinch a spot by just starting the race.

    5. Christian Eckes – One driver that might be an upset winner Saturday is Christian Eckes who will be driving the No. 51 once again this season. Eckes competed in last week’s race at Eldora where he finished sixth. At Michigan, however, Eckes will be making his first Truck Series start. Despite not having any Truck Series experience at the track, he does have one ARCA start where the KBM driver finished seventh after starting second. For the chassis. “The No. 51 SiriusXM team will unload chassis KBM-038 for Saturday’s Corrigan Oil 200 at Michigan International Speedway. This chassis has been raced 14 times and has ended up in Victory Lane in six outings. It was most recently raced to the win at Martinsville earlier this season by owner-driver Kyle Busch, and Chandler Smith started on the front row and finished eighth with it at Iowa in his first start. Noah Gragson, Christopher Bell and William Byron have all also had victories in this chassis.”

    Drivers on the outside looking in:

    1. Matt Crafton – Currently sitting second in the points, Crafton is on the bubble for the playoffs. It is hard to imagine that it’s been two years since the California native has won a race in the Truck Series. At Michigan, Crafton has 17 starts with a best finish of second in 2014. Other stats include 81 laps led, four DNFs, three top fives and eight top-10 finishes with an average finish of 13.9. Should there be no new winners or if his teammate Enfinger wins, Crafton will receive a spot in the playoffs. The only way he can race his way in on points is if he scores 53 points and Enfinger does not start the race, which is a tall task.

    2. Harrison Burton – Burton has no starts at Michigan, which will put some added pressure to win the race on Saturday. As far as 1.5-mile racetracks go this season, he has four top-five and two top-10 finishes with a best finish of third multiple times. He will have to win in order to have a chance at the championship.

    3. Sheldon Creed – Like Burton, Creed will have to win the race Saturday in order to compete for the championship. Even though his last couple of finishes did not go well at Kentucky and Pocono, Creed has been on the rise after Fort Worth in June. Creed has managed three top-10 finishes. No truck starts at Michigan for the GMS driver, but he does have three starts in the ARCA Series with a win in last year’s race. If Creed wants to make the playoffs, he will have to some luck and do what he did in the ARCA race last year.

    4. Tyler Dippel – Michigan might be a learning curve for the Youngs Motorsports driver. Dippel has no track starts at the 1.5-mile speedway. He will have to reach deep down and pull off a wildcard upset to win the race Saturday. His finishes have been so-so at 1.5-mile tracks this season with a best finish of eighth at Texas in March. It would be an amazing story for Dippel and his team if they can make it, but they will need a lot of luck from other drivers circumstances.

    5. Gus Dean – Win or bust for Dean and his No. 12 Youngs Motorsports team this weekend. Like Creed, Dean does have starts in the ARCA Series to his credit. His best finish at Michigan in ARCA is fourth in 2018 and he finished fifth in 2017.

    Other drivers scheduled to compete this weekend includes Daniel Sasnett in the No. 0 for Jennifer Jo Cobb, Jordan Anderson returns to his own No. 3 after Carson Hocevar drove it at Eldora. Cory Roper will also return to the track in his own No. 04 team. It’s Roper first race back since his ninth-place finish at Fort Worth in June. Joe Nemechek is back in the No. 8 while Codie Rohrbaugh is in the No. 9. Trey Hutchens is in the No. 14, Anthony Alfredo in the No. 15 and Spencer Boyd is back in the No. 20 after sitting out Eldora due to injury.

    Josh Reaume will compete in his own No. 33 machine, Jesse Iwuji in the No. 34, Bayley Currey returns in the Niece Motorsports No. 44, Ray Ciccarelli in the No. 49, Natalie Decker in the No. 54 and Camden Murphy in the No. 87.

    Michigan International Speedway has hosted 19 races dating back to 1999. Greg Biffle, Travis Kvapil and Brett Moffitt have been the only repeat winners at the track. Other winners include Robert Pressley, Brendan Gaughan, Dennis Setzer, Johnny Benson, Erik Darnell, Colin Braun, Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Nelson Piquet Jr, James Buescher, Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace.

    As far as stage winners go, Kyle Busch swept both stages in 2017 with Friesen winning Stage 1 and Enfinger winning Stage 2 in last year’s race.

    For the manufacturer side of things, Toyota has the most wins with seven, Chevrolet and Ford have five wins each and Dodge has two.

    Want to win at Michigan? The past five winners have seen the winner start as low as 21st and as high as fifth. Only once has the driver won from the pole position set by Kvapil in 2007. Moffitt won from the 21st starting spot in last year’s race. Otherwise, winners have come from the second, third, fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th starting positions.

    Friday will see a day of practices for the Truck Series. First practice is set for 1:35 p.m. ET with final practice scheduled for 3:05 p.m.ET, both lasting 50 minutes. There will be no live TV coverage for either practice. Qualifying will be early Saturday morning at 9:35 a.m. ET live on Fox Sports 2.

    The Corrigan Oil 200 is slated to take the green flag shortly after 1 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio. Stages will be broken into 20/40/100 to make up the 200-mile distance.

  • Four Takeaways-NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race at Eldora

    Four Takeaways-NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race at Eldora

    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Eldora Dirt Derby took place last Thursday night. It was the 15th race of the season for the truckers with only two races until the Playoffs begin at Bristol. Many drivers needed a good points day or a win to solidify themselves in the championship hunt. While it was a fun event, for the most part, some fans were not happy with how the race went down but they were happy with the outcome.

    With that said, here are this week’s Four Takeaways From The Dirt Derby

    1. Friesen finally gets win – A favorite among the dirt racing fans, the Canadian finally took the checkered flag last Thursday night. It was a popular win for Friesen and his fans who waited so long to get into victory lane. Something to note, during the post-race press conference, team owner Chris Larsen stated, “We started this out as something on the side, something else to do for fun.” Now they are winners and championship contenders in the Truck Series. It really is amazing to see how far Friesen and his No. 52 Halmar Racing team has come in the past four years since his first race at Eldora in 2016.

    2. Too many cautions laps – This was certainly the talk of the night on Social Media among race fans and racers. There were way too many caution laps wasted especially late in the race. They could have gone back to racing with seven to go but didn’t resume until two to go. At the track, you could hear the fans voicing their opinion as it came across TV. To put it into perspective, there were 68 laps ran under caution. That’s 45% run under yellow with an average green flag run of 6.3 laps. I hope we never see this again, as it is one of the biggest races of the season in the Truck Series aside from Daytona, Talladega, Bristol and Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
    3. Not an exciting race – Speaking of Eldora, it really wasn’t that exciting compared to years past. While there is nothing wrong with Chase Briscoe winning both stages and leading 93 laps after starting on the pole, for some fans, it lacked some of the intensity that we usually see. There was only one lead change throughout the race and that came under caution, when Briscoe made a pit stop and Friesen stayed out. It was all about track position and it seemed like it was tough to pass and the second groove never came in.

    4. Heated Tempers – You know that the Playoffs are on the horizon when tempers flare after the race is over. Ben Rhodes and Tyler Dippel had an altercation in the garage area due to on-track activity. The action has certainly been heating up over the past few weeks as drivers are trying to make the Playoffs and fight for a championship. It will definitely be interesting in the weeks to come, especially when the Playoffs began at Bristol.
  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings-Eldora

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings-Eldora

    Last Thursday, the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series visited Eldora Speedway for their 15th race of the season and saw an unfamiliar face in victory lane.

    While some have criticized the race for not being as exciting as it has been in years past, some drivers earned a much-needed points day, others had a disappointing night and one finally got to victory lane.

    Here’s a look at this week’s power rankings.

    1. Stewart Friesen – Worst to first for Friesen in one week as he finally earned his first career win in four years and 63 starts after being so close multiple times. With the win, he finally locks himself into the Playoffs and could potentially be a threat in the postseason if he keeps this pace up. Friesen dominated the race leading 57 of the 150 laps, despite not winning any stages. It will be interesting to see if the Canadian can keep this run going and start to heat up when it counts. He can’t afford any more finishes like he had at Pocono the week before.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked

    2. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger came close to getting that elusive win on Thursday night after falling short in a close battle the year before. The No. 98 team placed third after starting 15th. While he didn’t lead any laps, Enfinger had a decent finish of fifth in the second stage. Coming out of Eldora, he still remains the regular-season points leader over teammate Matt Crafton by 52 points. With Michigan being the season finale this weekend, something catastrophic will have to happen to Enfinger in order for him not to win the regular title.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked


    3. Sheldon Creed – Creed almost became a wild card in last week’s race by coming up one spot short. He worked hard all night, finishing fourth in Stage 1 while not earning any stage points in Stage 2. Now, Creed will have to win on Saturday at Michigan in order to put himself in the Playoffs. The second-place finish was his first top-five of the season.

      Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked

    4. Todd Gilliland – A much needed fourth place for Gilliland who came close to winning the Dirt Derby last Thursday. Still, it’s not going to be enough to point his way into the Playoffs without a lot of help. In the race, Gilliland started eighth, finished second in Stage 1 and seventh in Stage 2 while he finished fifth overall. He will have to have a great run on Saturday with some help from others to fight for the championship.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked

    5. Tyler Dippel – A somewhat surprising eighth-place finish for Dippel, who is really not a dirt expert. He bested last year’s finish of 13th to have his career-best finish last Thursday. Dippel finished ninth in Stage 2 before earning his second top-10 of the year. Unfortunately, it’s win or go home for Dippel and the No. 02 Youngs Motorsports team this week at Michigan.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked

      Fell Out

      1. Ross Chastain – A difficult night for Chastain and his No. 45 Niece Motorsports team who finished 12th after being in the top five at one point in the race. The Floridian lead no laps and finished ninth, and sixth in both stages, respectively. It was a different week for Chastain after coming off a strong dominant win at Pocono the week before. However, he is locked into the Playoffs at this point sitting 14th in the regular-season standings with three wins.

      Previous Week Ranking – First

      2. Harrison Burton- Speaking of disappointing nights, it was one for Burton and his No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports team. Burton caused a caution on Lap 57 when he spun on the backstretch collecting some damage to his truck. After the incident, Burton could never really rebound from it and wound up 31st.

      Previous Week Ranking – Second

      3. Brett Moffitt – A struggle for Moffitt and his No. 24 GMS Racing team after being involved in a big wreck in Turn 1 on Lap 65. Like Burton, Moffitt never had the chance to have a better finish and finished 29th after starting third. On the bright side, the Grimes, Iowa native did finish third in Stage 1 but did not earn any stage points in Stage 2. Moffitt looks forward to Michigan, the site where he won in a thrilling finish last year against Johnny Sauter making a last-lap pass.

      Previous Week Ranking – Third

      4. Tyler Ankrum- It was a ninth-place finish for Ankrum and the No. 17 DGR-Crosley team after starting 26th. The No. 17 team did not win any stage points despite their top-10 effort.

      Previous Week Ranking – Fourth

      5. Matt Crafton- Hard to believe, it’s been two years now without a win for Crafton and his No. 88 ThorSport Racing team. The California native started the night well on the outside pole but wound up with a 10th place finish. Crafton finished fifth and third in both stages, respectively. Still, the finish could probably have been somewhat better for the No. 88 team who is facing pressure to get into the Playoffs with just one race remaining.

      Honorable Mention

      1. Mike Marlar – Marlar earned a fourth-place finish in his first-ever career Truck Series start at Eldora after qualifying in the 23rd position. It’s the same truck that Josh Reaume owns and got them the publicity the team deserves. At one point, Marlar found himself contending for the lead but had to settle for a top five finish. He was able to finish eighth in Stage 2. It shouldn’t be surprising to dirt fans, however, as he competes regularly in the Super Late Model Racing Series. In fact, Marlar went to victory lane in Tennessee in the series just a few days after his Truck Series debut.
  • Hamilton outsmarts Verstappen with pit strategy for Hungarian GP win

    Hamilton outsmarts Verstappen with pit strategy for Hungarian GP win

    In what looked liked it was going to be all Max Verstappen going for his second win of the season, Lewis Hamilton passed the Red Bull Racing driver for the race win with three laps to go in Turn 1. Hamilton pitted on Lap 49 for fresh tires and made up a 20-second deficit to score his seventh Hungarian Grand Prix win.

    “Tired, which is how it should be,” Hamilton said in regards of making up 20 seconds for the win. “I’m really grateful for the day and really for the team for believing in me, and continuing to push to the limits, taking the risks and the chance. We’ve been together for seven years, it never gets old, it always feels brand new. A new win for us. If it wasn’t for all these boys here and back at the factory, this wouldn’t be possible, so I’m grateful to be apart of it.”

    After sitting on the pole Saturday afternoon for Formula 1’s 1,000th career race, Verstappen got out to a blistering pace right off the start. It was an action-packed Turn 1 on Lap 1 with the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas as he had lots of tire smoke by locking up and then eventually making slight contact with teammate Hamilton.

    Bottas dropped to the fifth position after the disastrous start, where on Lap 6 he made a pit stop for a new front wing and hard tires. He returned to the track after the incident in last place and had a lot of ground to make up.

    Meanwhile, things started to quiet down with Verstappen continuing to check out on Hamilton. However, Hamilton stayed within car lengths of Verstappen by two seconds.

    The closest Hamilton got to Verstappen is 1.4 seconds right before the round of pit stops began. With the leaders now in pit stop window, mind games began to take place between the top two leaders. Hamilton was supposed to pit on Lap 27, but stayed out on the track and continued to set the fastest lap time of the race.

    With Hamilton not yet pitting, Verstappen had already pitted on Lap 25 for hard tires. Hamilton finally pit on Lap 32 from the lead having a four-second pit stop compared to Verstappen’s 2.6 second stop.

    The battle for the lead heated up on Lap 36. Hamilton tried passing Verstappen but the Red Bull Racing driver made it difficult for him and stayed in the lead. Verstappen was able to use the DRS with the lap cars getting in his way, allowing him to get more speed and pulling away from second-place Hamilton.

    On Lap 41, Hamilton got frustrated by trying to run down the race leader. He radioed to his crew, “What more can I do, man?” His crew responded with “Just keep the pressure on.” Hamilton radioed back, “I can’t keep the pressure on.”

    With the frustration, Verstappen was able to keep a steady distance from Hamilton for first. During the heated battle, Hamilton’s teammate Bottas once again pitted on Lap 48 and came out in the 12th position with medium tires.

    The state of the race changed on Lap 49 when second-place Hamilton pitted for new medium tires while Verstappen stays out and had 23 laps more on his tires. Hamilton now has his work cut out for him by having to make up a 20-second gap.

    Lap by lap, Hamilton was able to cut the gap into Verstappen’s lead with his fresh tires. Verstappen continued to struggle on his old tires and started to lose grip quickly. On Lap 56 of 70, Hamilton had the gap down 15.6 seconds. The Mercedes driver continued to set a blistering pace by setting the fastest lap on Lap 59 for the time of 1:18.668 seconds.

    Trying to catch the race leader Verstappen, Hamilton was told that the race leader’s tires would “be junk at the end.” On Lap 63, he cut the lead down to 7.8 seconds. A few laps later, he continued catching Verstappen by now having the gap to 3.2 seconds on Lap 65.

    With all the work Hamilton made up, he was able to catch the rear wing of Verstappen on Lap 67 of 70. Eventually, Verstappen was passed for the lead in Turn 1 as his tires went away and he came down pit road to pit for new ones.

    Despite having new tires, the Red Bull driver ran out of time and laps to catch Hamilton, as Hamilton went on to win his seventh career Hungarian win, his 81st career win.

    “Honestly, we had brake problems all weekend,” Hamilton added. “Having like separation from the front temperatures and glazing, and I was a bit worried. We made some changes that made a difference in the race. I was actually doing a lot of lifting and coast, and not touching the brakes after that. I was just trying to save as much as I could during that time when I could get the chance.”

    “It was very, very difficult to get by traffic on the straights. I don’t know if I could have caught that 19-second gap, my tires dropping off and all these different things. The team said, to keep your head down and I kept pushing, the gap closed and closed, the laps were like qualifying laps every lap. Hats off to the team, I think if Niki (Lauda) were here today, he would take his hat for the team.

    1. Lewis Hamilton, 10 points
    2. Max Verstappen, Nine Points
    3. Sebastian Vettel, Eight Points
    4. Charles Leclerc, Seven Points
    5. Carlos Sainz Jr, One Lap Down, Six Points
    6. Pierre Gasly, One Lap Down, Five Points
    7. Kimi Raikkonen, One Lap Down, Four Points
    8. Valtteri Bottas, One Lap Down, Three Points
    9. Lando Norris, One Lap Down, Two Points
    10. Alexander Albon, One Lap Down, One Point
    11. Sergio Perez, One Lap Down, Zero Points
    12. Nico Hulkenberg, One Lap Down, Zero Points
    13. Kevin Magnussen, One Lap Down, Zero Points
    14. Daniel Ricciardo, One Lap Down, Zero Points
    15. Daniil Kvyat, Two Laps Down, Zero Points
    16. George Russell, Two Laps Down, Zero Points
    17. Lance Stroll, Two Laps Down, Zero Points
    18. Antonio Giovinzazzi, Two Laps Down, Zero Points
    19. Robert Kubica, Three Laps Down, Zero Points
    20. Romain Grosjean, Retired

    Up Next: Formula 1 will be taking two weeks off for their annual Summer Break. The next scheduled race will be September 1 with the Johnnie Walker Belgian Grand Prix.

  • Chase Elliott dominates to win at The Glen

    Chase Elliott dominates to win at The Glen

    Started first, finished first is the name of the game for NASCAR’s most popular driver, as Chase Elliott completely dominated to win his fifth Cup Series career victory and his second consecutive win at The Glen.

    “The past month and a half has not been that fun at all, and this team has stuck together, just stayed the course,” Elliott said to MRN Radio. “That’s the most important thing when you’re struggling. So to be able to stay the course, come up here, sit on the pole Saturday, lead the most laps, win the race, I’ve never done that in my career. That’s the kind of team we can be. I feel really confident about that, so we just have to keep it rolling.”

    Stages were broken into 20/20/50 laps to make up the 90 lap race distance.

    Only Ryan Blaney had to go to the rear for making unapproved adjustments prior to the start of the race.

    Stage 1: Lap 1 – Lap 20

    No cautions took place in the first stage, however, there were a couple of incidents. Kyle Busch spun underneath William Byron on Lap 2 in Turn 1. There would be no caution, but more on this later.

    Aric Almirola reported that his shifter was about to break off. There was a near-miss between Denny Hamlin and Byron and Daniel Suarez had grass on his grille.

    In the remaining laps, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Blaney, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman and Chris Buescher all pitted with three laps to go in hopes to have track position for the Stage 2 restart. Byron also had grass on his grille after going through the bus stop.

    It was all Chase Elliott who led every lap to take the Stage 1 win.

    A heated interaction occurred between Byron and Kyle Busch under the stage break, as Byron went to retaliate by running into the rear end of Busch in the esses. However, Byron got the worst of it with damage to his hood.

    Busch would also have more problems occur on his pit stop, as he would be caught being too fast exiting on section eight. Corey LaJoie was penalized for driving through too many pit boxes on exit. Ross Chastain was penalized for having a crew member over the wall too soon.

    Elliott, Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Byron, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Larson, Erik Jones, Kurt Busch and Almirola rounded out the top-10 finishers for Stage 1.

    Stage 2: Lap 24 – Lap 40

    Larson assumed the lead as he would stay out under the stage break, but later pitted from the lead on Lap 29.

    On the other hand, Truex had a close call with Keselowski coming to the inner loop by going off the grass a little bit. Logano went through the inner loop grass as well and would have minor front end damage.

    Another driver who had issues with the inner loop was Parker Kligerman who went spinning around after contact with Suarez. Since Larson pitted from the lead, Elliott would assume the lead on Lap 29.

    A caution broke out on Lap 32 when the No. 77 of Reed Sorenson began leaking fluid in the inner loop. This prompted NASCAR to clean up the fluid. Under the caution, Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch pitted along with Byron.

    A restart came with four to go in Stage 2. With that, a battle heated up for the lead between Elliott and Truex for the stage win. However, Wallace was sent spinning into the Turn 5 tire barrier to bring out the caution on Lap 39.

    With the incident, Stage 2 would end under yellow with Elliott once again picking up the stage win. Truex, Harvick, Bowyer, Hamlin, Keselowski, Bowman, Jones, Blaney and Johnson were the remaining top-10 finishers in the second stage on Lap 40.

    Stage 3: Lap 43 – Lap 90

    The final stage began just how it ended with Elliott and Truex contending for the lead. Ryan Newman pitted on Lap 50 for a right front flat and was penalized for driving through too many pit boxes on exit. Hemric also spun through the inner loop two laps later with no caution and the Richard Childress Racing driver suffered major damage to the rear end after contact with Ty Dillon. Due to the contact, Dillon went through the inner loop picking up grass on his grille.

    Green flag pit stops started to take place on Lap 57 with Harvick being the first to pit. Elliott pitted from the lead with 30 to go, while Truex stayed out one lap longer and came in the next lap. Elliott retook the lead right after Truex re-entered the track.

    Two incidents broke out on Lap 61. Johnson went sliding in Turn 5 toward the tire barrier after getting loose. Then, Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace were bumping and banging on the frontstretch with Wallace turning Busch in Turn 1. A caution came out for the incident.

    The final restart of the race came with 25 to go. Elliott and Truex had a thrilling battle off the restart, banging doors with each other. So much so, that even with Elliott getting the lead, he was concerned with having a flat tire going down.

    But Elliott was able to fend off Truex for his second consecutive win at The Glen. Elliott led all but 10 laps to pick up his second win of the season.

    “Track position, obviously, having a clean air was the biggest thing,” Elliott added. “I thought he (Truex) was a little better there at the end. Just tried to hit my marks and stay mistake free. You know, just not hand it to him. I knew he was going to come up there and pass me, just didn’t want to beat myself and worked really hard at that. Glad we were able to seal the deal, it feels really good.”

    Elliott led three times for 80 laps and picked up 60 points, along with seven Playoff points.

    There were four cautions for 13 laps with four leaders among five lead changes.

    Monster Energy Cup Series Race Number 22
    Race Results for the 34th Annual Go Bowling at The Glen – Sunday, August 4, 2019
    Watkins Glen International – Watkins Glen, NY – 2.45 – Mile Road
    Total Race Length – 90 Laps – 220.5 Miles

    Fin Str No Driver Team Laps S1Pos S2Pos S3Pos Pts Status
    1 1 9 Chase Elliott NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet 90 1 1 0 60 Running
    2 4 19 Martin Truex Jr Bass Pro Shops Toyota 90 3 2 0 52 Running
    3 6 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Cares Toyota 90 2 5 0 49 Running
    4 14 20 Erik Jones DeWalt Toyota 90 8 8 0 39 Running
    5 19 12 Ryan Blaney PPG Ford 90 0 9 0 34 Running
    6 20 95 Matt DiBenedetto Procore Toyota 90 0 0 0 31 Running
    7 15 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Beer Ford 90 0 3 0 38 Running
    8 5 42 Kyle Larson McDonald’s Chevrolet 90 7 0 0 33 Running
    9 10 2 Brad Keselowski Autotrader Ford 90 0 6 0 33 Running
    10 7 1 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Chevrolet 90 9 0 0 29 Running
    11 3 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Hazelnut Toyota 90 4 0 0 33 Running
    12 9 10 Aric Almirola Go Bowling Ford 90 10 0 0 26 Running
    13 16 37 Chris Buescher Cottonelle Chevrolet 90 0 0 0 24 Running
    14 17 88 Alex Bowman Axalta Chevrolet 90 0 7 0 27 Running
    15 12 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Acronis Ford 90 0 0 0 22 Running
    16 11 34 Michael McDowell Long John Silver’s Ford 90 0 0 0 21 Running
    17 18 41 Daniel Suarez Haas Automation Ford 90 0 0 0 20 Running
    18 22 21 Paul Menard Menards/Dutch Boy Ford 90 0 0 0 19 Running
    19 8 48 Jimmie Johnson Ally Chevrolet 90 6 10 0 24 Running
    20 13 14 Clint Bowyer Rush Truck Centers/Haas Automation Ford 90 0 4 0 24 Running
    21 2 24 William Byron Hendrick Autoguard Chevrolet 90 5 0 0 22 Running
    22 31 38 David Ragan MDS Transport Ford 90 0 0 0 15 Running
    23 21 22 Joey Logano MoneyLion Ford 90 0 0 0 14 Running
    24 26 36 Matt Tifft # Maui Jim/Surface Sunscreen Ford 90 0 0 0 13 Running
    25 25 6 Ryan Newman Acronis Ford 90 0 0 0 12 Running
    26 24 96 * Parker Kligerman(i) TRD 40th Anniversary Toyota 90 0 0 0 0 Running
    27 32 15 Ross Chastain(i) Chevrolet 90 0 0 0 0 Running
    28 30 43 Bubba Wallace Victory Junction Chevrolet 90 0 0 0 9 Running
    29 34 0 Landon Cassill(i) StarCom Fiber Chevrolet 90 0 0 0 0 Running
    30 27 13 Ty Dillon GEICO Military Chevrolet 89 0 0 0 7 Running
    31 28 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 89 0 0 0 6 Running
    32 36 52 Josh Bilicki(i) Chevrolet 89 0 0 0 0 Running
    33 35 51 Cody Ware(i) JACOB COMPANIES Chevrolet 89 0 0 0 0 Running
    34 33 32 Corey LaJoie Samaritan’s Feet Ford 85 0 0 0 3 Engine
    35 23 8 Daniel Hemric # Caterpillar Chevrolet 84 0 0 0 2 Running
    36 29 47 Ryan Preece # Kroger Chevrolet 72 0 0 0 1 Rear Gear
    37 37 77 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 65 0 0 0 1 Steering

     

    Updated Playoff Points Standings

    1. Kyle Busch, 4 wins
    2. Martin Truex Jr, 4 wins
    3. Denny Hamlin, 3 wins
    4. Brad Keselowski, 3 wins
    5. Joey Logano, 2 wins
    6. Chase Elliott, 2 wins
    7. Kevin Harvick, 1 win
    8. Kurt Busch, 1 win
    9. Alex Bowman, 1 win
    10. Aric Almirola, +96
    11. Ryan Blaney, +89
    12. William Byron, +60
    13. Erik Jones, +54
    14. Kyle Larson, +46
    15. Clint Bowyer, +12
    16. Jimmie Johnson, tied with Ryan Newman

    Up Next: The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads back to Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, August 11.

  • Tyler Reddick rebounds to top-five finish

    Tyler Reddick rebounds to top-five finish

    In what was a whirlwind kind of day for Tyler Reddick and his No. 2 Anderson’s Maple Syrup crew, Reddick was able to rebound to a top-five finish at The Glen.

    It all started on the first lap of the Xfinity Series Zippo 200 when Reddick missed the turn in the inner loop and had to stop before getting back on track. He would eventually have to make a pit stop to clean the grass off his grille.

    Despite the Lap 1 incident and making a pit stop, the California native rebounded to a ninth-place stage finish in the first stage.

    For Stage 2, Reddick restarted in the fifth position and stayed consistent throughout the stage until trouble rose again. After a restart on Lap 37, he once again went off the track, but this time it was in Turn 6. This cost the Richard Childress Racing driver several positions with Reddick finishing 15th in Stage 2.

    Hoping to have a smooth third and final stage, it all went south again for Reddick on Lap 47, when he went through the inner loop once more. This sent the RCR driver all the way back to 20th.

    Even though Reddick had trouble throughout the race, he caught some lucky breaks by having multiple restarts near the end of the Zippo 200. On the final restart of the race on Lap 75, he restarted third, having a shot to win.

    Eventually, Reddick finally brought home the No. 2 Chevy in the fifth position.

    “It was just a crazy set of circumstances,” Reddick described to MRN Radio. “I mean, I never remember a race where I made so many mistakes and still finish sixth. Just crazy.”

    Due to AJ Allmendinger’s disqualification after the post-race inspection, Reddick was credited with a fifth-place finish. It was his 15th top-five finish of the season. Reddick is currently the championship points leader over Christopher Bell by 32 points.

  • Chase Elliott wins Pole at Watkins Glen, Hendrick sweeps top spots

    Chase Elliott wins Pole at Watkins Glen, Hendrick sweeps top spots

    Chase Elliott won the provisional pole at Watkins Glen Saturday evening with a lap speed of 127.297 mph. Hendrick Motorsports was able to continue their success in qualifying as teammate William Byron will join Elliott on the front row.

    “Our Napa Chevy was fast there, which is nice,” Elliott said to MRN Radio. “It cooled off a lot and picked up a lot of pace from what it had in practice. Just trying to find the limits of all that. It was a good effort, felt like there was a couple of areas where I could get a little bit more but you always want to get more. We’ll see.”

    Kyle Busch (126.976 mph), Martin Truex Jr. (126.861 mph) and Kyle Larson (126.779) rounded out the top five.

    “It was good,” Larson said concerning his qualifying effort. “I feel like I’ve been running as good as I could today. Just off on speed compared to the No. 9 (Chase Elliott) and the No. 18 (Kyle Busch). We got closer there in qualifying and felt like I ran a good lap. I just gave up time in the Carousel. I’ve got to work on that on my end. But, it was a good effort for our McDonald’s team.”

    There was one minor incident in qualifying with Erik Jones blowing a right front tire going into Turn 1. NASCAR allowed Jones to redo his qualifying lap.

    Final inspection will take place on Sunday morning before the race.

    Starting Line Up
    Watkins Glen International
    Provided by NASCAR Statistics – Saturday, 8/3/2019 @ 07:56 PM Eastern

    1 Chase Elliott
    2 William Byron
    3 Kyle Busch
    4 Martin Truex Jr
    5 Kyle Larson
    6 Denny Hamlin
    7 Kurt Busch
    8 Jimmie Johnson
    9 Aric Almirola
    10 Brad Keselowski
    11 Michael McDowell
    12 Ricky Stenhouse Jr
    13 Clint Bowyer
    14 Erik Jones
    15 Kevin Harvick
    16 Chris Buescher
    17 Alex Bowman
    18 Daniel Suarez
    19 Ryan Blaney
    20 Matt DiBenedetto
    21 Joey Logano
    22 Paul Menard
    23 Daniel Hemric #
    24 Parker Kligerman(i)
    25 Ryan Newman
    26 Matt Tifft #
    27 Ty Dillon
    28 Austin Dillon
    29 Ryan Preece #
    30 Bubba Wallace
    31 David Ragan
    32 Ross Chastain(i)
    33 Corey LaJoie
    34 Landon Cassill(i)
    35 Cody Ware(i)
    36 Josh Bilicki(i)
    37 Reed Sorenson

    The Go Bowling at The Glen is scheduled to get underway shortly after 3:00 p.m./ET on NBCSN and MRN Radio.

  • AJ Allmendinger fails post-race inspection at Watkins Glen

    AJ Allmendinger fails post-race inspection at Watkins Glen

    It was announced after the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen on Saturday that the No. 10 Kaulig Racing car driven by AJ Allmendinger failed post-race inspection due to a rear-height violation. His second-place finish was disqualified and he will be credited with a last-place finish of 37th.

    This is the second time Allmendinger has failed post-race inspection this year in only two starts. The first was last month at Daytona when his third-place finish was also disqualified.

    Allmendinger had a thrilling battle with eventual race winner Austin Cindric in the remaining laps of the Zippo 200. Allmendinger had this to say on Twitter regarding his post-race infraction.

    “I can go into a full description of why it was low from contact early in the race on a restart,” Allmendinger said. “The issues we struggled with after cause track bar mount was bent and oil tank getting hung on the coil of the spring the rest of the race. But just doesn’t f***ing matter.”

    The team has until noon Monday to appeal the decision.

    Updated results

    1. Austin Cindric
    2. Christopher Bell
    3. Justin Allgaier
    4. Ryan Blaney
    5. Tyler Reddick
    6. Chase Briscoe
    7. Cole Custer
    8. Michael Annett
    9. Noah Gragson
    10. Ryan Preece
    11. Jeremy Clements
    12. John Hunter Nemechek
    13. Scott Heckert
    14. Justin Haley
    15. Gray Gaulding
    16. Alex Labbe
    17. Brandon Jones
    18. Brandon Brown
    19. Josh Williams
    20. Stephen Leicht
    21. Cody Ware
    22. Ray Black Jr
    23. Stanton Barrett
    24. Garrett Smithley, Two laps down
    25. Dan Corcoran, Seven laps down
    26. Josh Bilicki, Did Not Finish, Crash
    27. B.J. McLeod, Did Not Finish, DVP
    28. Tommy Joe Martins, Did Not Finish, Crash
    29. David Starr, Did Not Finish, Fuel Pump
    30. Ryan Sieg, Did Not Finish, Crash
    31. Kyle Busch, Did Not Finish, Suspension
    32. Chad Finchum, Did Not Finish, Brakes
    33. Ross Chastain, Did Not Finish, Crash
    34. Joey Gase, Did Not Finish, Transmission
    35. J.J. Yeley, Did Not Finish, Overheating
    36. Vinnie Miller, Did Not Start, Ignition
    37. AJ Allmendinger, Originally finished second but failed post-race inspection.
  • Cindric holds off Allmendinger in thriller for first career win

    Cindric holds off Allmendinger in thriller for first career win

    Austin Cindric earned his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Watkins Glen in a last-lap thriller. It was an intense battle after Cindric started on the outside pole for the Zippo 200 and made a gusty pit call with 10 laps to go. He also had to dodge a near wreck off a restart, going from seventh to second, then trading the lead back and forth with AJ Allmendinger, to get to victory lane.

    “That was nuts, I didn’t know how that was going to work out,” Cindric said to MRN Radio describing his near miss. “Sometimes you have to take advantage of it and we executed all day.”

    All-time Xfinity Series winner Kyle Busch was back in the field for his first race since Texas back in March. Busch sat on the pole, continuing his impressive streak of earning one pole every year in the Xfinity Series. It was his first pole since Bristol last August.

    Stages were broken up into 20/20/42 laps to make up the 82 laps distance.

    Several drivers had issues before the race started, however. Cole Custer went to a backup car after crashing in Friday’s practice session. Vinnie Miller, who spun in qualifying early Saturday morning, couldn’t get the car started and was pushed behind the wall. The 74 of Dan Corcoran was also pushed behind the wall, before returning to the race later.

    Stage 1: Lap 1 – Lap 20

    While Kyle Busch checked out, Tyler Reddick missed the inner loop on the first lap. Many other drivers like Chase Briscoe, Michael Annett, Alex Labbe, Brandon Jones and Ray Black Jr. also had issues with grass on their grille, forcing them to pit to clean it off. Josh Bilicki, in the No. 93, went spinning around in Turn 7, but the race remained green.

    Miller’s issues continued as he went out for the rest of the race on Lap 8 with an ignition problem. J.J. Yeley also went to the garage on the same lap.

    The first caution flew on Lap 10 for the No. 35 of Joey Gase who stalled in Turn 1. During the caution, Justin Allgaier, Ryan Blaney, Custer, Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, Briscoe, Reddick and Annett, along with others, pit.

    Allgaier’s name would come up again on Lap 14, as Ross Chastain made contact with him in Turn 3, which sent Allgaier toward the tire barrier to bring out the caution again. Allgaier would later retaliate by sending Chastain into the tire barrier, which would end Chastain’s day.

    No other incidents took place for rest of the stage, other than Cindric pitting with three to go.

    Busch went on to take the stage win after leading every lap. Christopher Bell, Jeremy Clements, Justin Haley, Blaney, Ryan Preece, Noah Gragson, Ryan Sieg, Reddick, Gaulding rounded out the top-10 stage finishers.

    Tommy Joe Martins and Clements were penalized for a crew member over the wall too soon under the stage break.

    Stage 2: Lap 23 – Lap 40

    After staying out, Bell and Blaney would regain the front spots with Stage 1 winner Busch restarting 15th.

    Not much happened in the second stage, aside from Cindric and Custer going side-by-side with each other in the inner loop with Custer getting the worst of it by collecting grass on his grille, and a possible tire rub as well. Custer would end up pitting to clean the grass off his grille.

    Another major issue broke out for Busch when he went to make a pass on race leader Blaney in the inner loop. Busch could not stop and was going toward the wall in the carousel after what turned out to be a broken control arm. This sent Busch behind the wall for the rest of the race and he ended up with a disappointing 32nd place finish. This would bring out the caution on Lap 33.

    Allmendinger took the lead off the restart on Lap 37 and held on for the rest of the stage to take the stage win. Blaney, Preece, Cindric, Briscoe, Nemechek, Jones, Allgaier, Haley and Bell claimed the remaining top-10 spots for Stage 2. Briscoe and Nemechek would later pit under the stage break.

    Stage 3: Lap 43 – Lap 82

    Like Stage 1, Reddick once again went through the inner loop on Lap 47 and fell back to 20th. Sieg also went around in the inner loop as well after making contact with Nemechek.

    Green flag pit stops started to occur on Lap 48 with Blaney pitting from second. His teammate, Cindric would pit one lap later. This continued until 20 to go with race leader Allgaier being the final driver to pit. In what would be the battle for the lead, Allmendinger pitted from first on Lap 51 but had a slow stop with him coming out behind Cindric.

    After Allgaier pitted, Cindric would cycle out as the race leader. A thrilling battle took place with Allmendinger and Blaney a few laps before with Allmendinger getting the better of it.

    While it looked liked Cindric would run away with the race win, a caution came out on Lap 68 for Garrett Smithley’s tire carcass that was left in the inner loop and eventually picked up by the 99 of Cody Ware. Right before the yellow, Tommy Joe Martins went spinning around in Turn 1.

    In what seemed like a questionable strategy, Cindric pitted from the lead under the yellow for fresh tires. He would restart sixth with Allmendinger as the race leader.

    A wreck with Haley and Bilicki occurred on the restart in Turn 1 with contact from Briscoe, which brought out the caution again.

    A late-race restart took place with seven laps to go. Bell almost went spinning around after contact with Allgaier that caused a logjam in the esses. This also saw Cindric going from sixth to second after the incident.

    This later produced a thrilling battle for the win between Allmendinger and Cindric. Both would trade the lead with each other with less than three laps remaining, with Cindric at one point, almost going off course after a shot from Allmendinger. Both would be side-by-side at the finish on the white flag lap.

    Eventually, Cindric had the better car and pulled away from Allmendinger to earn his first Xfinity Series career win at Watkins Glen International.

    “This is awesome,” Cindric said. “I’ve got so many people to think. You fans are awesome, thank you for coming to Watkins Glen every single year. This is why you come. I’m so pumped.”

    Cindric led twice for eight laps to pick up his first career win. There were seven cautions for 16 laps with nine lead changes among six leaders.

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series continues the road course season by heading to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday, August 10.

    UPDATE: Allmendinger’s car failed post-race inspection after a rear-height violation and he will be credited with a 37th place finish. The Kaulig Racing team has until noon Monday to appeal the decision.

    Xfinity Series Race Number 20
    Race Results for the 25th Annual Zippo 200 at The Glen – Saturday, August 3, 2019
    Watkins Glen International – Watkins Glen, NY – 2.45 – Mile Road
    Total Race Length – 82 Laps – 200.9 Miles

    Fin Str No Driver Team Laps S1Pos S2Pos S3Pos Pts Status
    1 2 22 Austin Cindric MoneyLion Ford 82 0 3 0 48 Running
    2 4 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 82 2 9 0 46 Running
    3 9 7 Justin Allgaier BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet 82 0 7 0 38 Running
    4 3 12 Ryan Blaney(i) Pirtek Ford 82 5 1 0 0 Running
    5 5 2 Tyler Reddick Anderson’s Pure Maple Syrup Chevrolet 82 0 0 0 32 Running
    6 6 98 Chase Briscoe # Ford Performance Ford 82 0 4 0 38 Running
    7 13 0 Cole Custer GoBowling Ford 82 0 0 0 30 Running
    8 14 1 Michael Annett Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet 82 0 0 0 29 Running
    9 18 9 Noah Gragson # West Herr Auto Group Chevrolet 82 7 0 0 32 Running
    10 8 8 Ryan Preece(i) Louisiana Hot Sauce Chevrolet 82 6 2 0 0 Running
    11 11 51 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet 82 3 0 0 34 Running
    12 20 23 John Hunter Nemechek # Digital Ally Chevrolet 82 10 5 0 32 Running
    13 23 5 Scott Heckert Chevrolet 82 0 0 0 24 Running
    14 12 11 Justin Haley # LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 82 4 8 0 33 Running
    15 15 8 Gray Gaulding GPSPURE.com Chevrolet 82 9 0 0 24 Running
    16 21 90 Alex Labbe DGM Racing Chevrolet 82 0 0 0 21 Running
    17 10 19 Brandon Jones First Foundation Toyota 82 0 6 0 25 Running
    18 27 86 Brandon Brown # Vero Tru Social Chevrolet 82 0 0 0 19 Running
    19 30 36 Josh Williams Star Brite/Star Tron/Sleep Well Chevrolet 82 0 0 0 18 Running
    20 28 1 Stephen Leicht teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 82 0 0 0 17 Running
    21 26 99 Cody Ware Chevrolet 82 0 0 0 16 Running
    22 24 7 Ray Black II ISOKERN Fireplaces & Chimneys/Scuba Life Chevrolet 82 0 0 0 15 Running
    23 31 42 Stanton Barrett(i) Horseheads Brewing Toyota 82 0 0 0 0 Running
    24 29 0 Garrett Smithley teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 80 0 0 0 13 Running
    25 34 74 Dan Corcoran(i) Woobie Shoes/Threatcon 5 Clothing Chevrolet 75 0 0 0 0 Running
    26 16 93 Josh Bilicki Lemons of Love Chevrolet 72 0 0 0 11 Accident
    27 33 15 BJ McLeod teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 67 0 0 0 10 DVP
    28 22 66 Tommy Joe Martins Gusset.com Toyota 65 0 0 0 9 Accident
    29 32 52 David Starr Chevrolet 57 0 0 0 8 Fuel Pump
    30 17 39 Ryan Sieg Midstate Chevrolet 47 8 10 0 11 Accident
    31 1 18 Kyle Busch(i) iK9 Toyota 35 1 0 0 0 Suspension
    32 35 13 Chad Finchum MBM Motorsports Toyota 30 0 0 0 5 Brakes
    33 19 4 Ross Chastain(i) Buckle Up New York Chevrolet 19 0 0 0 0 Accident
    34 36 35 Joey Gase MBM Motorsports Toyota 9 0 0 0 3 Transmission
    35 25 38 JJ Yeley(i) RSS Racing Chevrolet 6 0 0 0 0 Overheating
    36 37 78 Vinnie Miller Pit Viper Sunglasses Chevrolet 0 0 0 0 1 Ignition
    37 7 10 AJ Allmendinger Death Wish Coffee Chevrolet 82 0 0 0 1 Running