Of the tracks in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series where Kyle Larson is the likeliest to have success, it’s a shock that he hasn’t found any as of yet at the Dover International Speedway.
Topping Friday’s final practice session for Sunday’s Drydene 400 with a lap of 162.705, Larson’s No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet looks to be fast enough to better his record of five top-fives and eight top-10s in 11 starts, including two runner-ups and two third-place finishes.
One good reason for Larson’s consistency at Dover is that it’s a track where the driver actually drives the car. Larson is in his element when racing a track that requires more out of the driver like a bullring or a road course; there’s a reason he’s as prolific as he is in sprint cars.
However, Dover is a fast bullring. It’s got a short-track spirit with the speed of an intermediate track, and that leads to drivers getting in trouble easily. The adequate mixture of speed and driver is right in Larson’s comfort zone, not to mention he knows just how pressing it is he gets to victory lane soon. Last year he made it into the Round of 12 on a bonzai run at Charlotte only to drop out with a quickness following Kansas, echoing his failed 2017 Playoff bid.
But Dover has been kind to Larson, which is all the more reason for the No. 42 crew to be optimistic heading into Sunday. In 2017 he dominated both events, leading 378 of the season’s 806 laps run at the speedway. He didn’t seal the deal, but top-fives in both events told that they were among the strongest on the track. Overall, Larson holds an average finish of eighth at the one-mile speedway.
After a dismal 2018 season though, winning at Dover is a must for Larson. He hasn’t won since Richmond in the Fall of ’17, and a return trip to Victory lane would be a great way to validate his 2019 campaign. He’s had the strength of his ’17 season along with the luck of his ’18 season, so it’s imperative that the No. 42 solidifies his Round of 8 spot early on, since Talladega is next on the calendar with Kansas coming after.
Without a win, Larson would be going into the midway point of the Playoffs at Talladega at a high risk of once again missing the next round. Larson holds an average finish of 20.6 at the 2.66-mile superspeedway with a best finish of sixth in the Fall 2016 event, and holds three DNFs including a spectacular tumble in the Spring event of this year. He holds some strong finishes at Talladega and Daytona, but he hasn’t established himself as a pack racer.
Meanwhile, his luck at Kansas is closer to Dover than it is to Talladega, although it is still cause for concern. He holds three top-fives and five top-10s in 11 starts on the 1.5-mile speedway, but he also has three DNFs. He holds an average finish of 16.6 at Kansas, meaning that Larson may very well consider it as much a Wild Card event as Talladega.
Not only is Larson needing to seal the deal and make Dover his 2019 championship statement, he is long overdue for a win at the speedway in the first place. Chad Johnston has done his best to bring success to the CGR No. 42, but if Larson doesn’t go from consistent to contender this year it may be time for a personnel overhaul within that camp.
When it comes to post-race matter between drivers, the NASCAR community lives in a social media echo chamber. This is true especially in the post-race exchange between Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman where Wallace threw a drink in Bowman’s face while Bowman was receiving treatment from medical staff. Was it ridiculous? Sure. Was it not thought out? Didn’t look like it. Could it have been a way for Wallace to save face once he saw Bowman’s predicament? Likely.
But it was a drink to the face. Not a fist, not a helmet, not a bumper. Despite all of that, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit users were out for Wallace’s blood because throwing a beverage, something cold in liquid (not solid) form was suchan uncalled-for reaction.
That’s rich, to be honest. Drivers hunt each other down and play bumper tag, throw haymakers, and in a memorable incident in 1979 Bobby Allison caught a helmet with his face.
Those same people are often the ones who cry out that that was what the sport was built on. That’s quintessential NASCAR, they will tell you.
But they have a completely different reaction to a driver resorting to tossing a drink in another driver’s face after realizing a hard fist to the jaw wasn’t going to look good. Some are crying out for suspension of fines or go as far as to say that Wallace should never get a ride again.
All of this four years after Matt Kenseth drilled Joey Logano into the wall at Martinsville. Two years after Denny Hamlin dumped Chase Elliott at the same place. A week after Austin Dillon dumped Bowman at Richmond per his grandfather’s orders.
But no, a drink to the face while the guy is sitting on pit road is unacceptable. Not to mention a medic and four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon catching some of the drink as well. If some of these fans had their way Wallace would have gotten the boot because his actions weresuch a black eye for the sport.
Bowman dumped Wallace after Wallace shot Bowman the bird. Bowman deliberately turned Wallace because Wallace was shooting the No. 88 the finger. Bowman right-reared Wallace because of it. It’s a weird concept to try to understand. Was it slightly immature on Wallace’s behalf? Yes. Wallace does have a penchant for letting his El Birdo fly, as it did at Pocono when he and Daniel Suarez had a post-race disagreement over the gesture. He could stand to let his little aviary friend stay in it’s cage a little bit longer and focus more on the task at hand (i.e. driving).
Alex Bowman gets sideways in the Roval’s chicane. Photo by Brad Keppel.
But then again, it’s a gesture. It’s a finger. Sure, it signifies an obscene meaning. But unless Wallace is throwing some ridiculous Alabama voodoo out of the tip of that finger and sending cars spinning around like a left-turning Harry Potter, it isn’t hurting anybody. Nobody is forcing anybody to react. It’s a common gesture, albeit a crude one, and one that likely every driver on the track Sunday had launched against a fellow competitor at some point or another. What’s the point in letting it become such a distraction that it becomes a straw that breaks the camel’s proverbial back?
Bowman’s run on Sunday was the stuff championship campaigns are built on. He muscled his car through actual adversity and managed to edge both Aric Almirola and Ryan Newman to earn the final spot in the Round of 12 in the Playoffs, but it wasn’t a sure thing until the checkered flag dropped. He ran a great race and showcased his abilities in a stellar way. He let his driving prove whatever points he was out to prove.
So with that being said, it wasn’t necessary for him to dump Wallace. As sad as it is to admit, the No. 43 crew are currently non-factors despite their best efforts. So for Bowman to dump Wallace like he did was like Christopher Bell dumping Will Rodgers the day before: There was no good reason for it.
NASCAR made the right call in not penalizing Wallace. If anything, a talk about situational awareness seemed more fitting and likely on the sanctioning body’s behalf, although according to Wallace’s post-race comments he seemed pretty aware of the situation:
“Smooth move playing the sick card so I couldn’t bust him in the mouth.”
Wallace was likely about to do just that only to find Bowman in the precarious position he was in. He didn’t want to leave without getting his point across, so a drink to the face was the best he could come up with at the time. Nobody got hurt, the situation didn’t escalate, and Wallace got his satisfaction off of wiping Bowman’s grin off of his face. If anything, that sounds like ideal situational awareness although a talking to from NASCAR made sense.
Meanwhile, regardless of what the other drivers are doing, Bowman does need to exercise a level head when racing against other teams who aren’t in the Playoffs. Again, referencing the Kenseth/Logano dustup of 2015, but also looking at the Kyle Busch/David Reutimann dustup that occured at Kansas in 2010. Non-factors have a history of derailing championship contenders, and if Bowman decides to let a middle finger get the best of him, or freely dump a driver, it may come back to haunt him in a bad way.
Likewise, Wallace needs to keep himself in check. It’s understandable he was upset from the jump on Sunday, starting with the mess on the first lap then later on getting turned by the No. 88. Moreso when it’s taken into consideration that despite his talent and driving ability he’s still mired back at mid-pack or near the back. Yet he must keep a cool head and keep his single-digit salute down to a minimum. Not every mishap is going to warrant words.
As the great and revered poet Ice Cube once elocuted: “Check yourself before you wreck yourself.”
AJ Allmendinger took home the checkered flag in the Drive for the Cure 250 on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval course, giving Kaulig Racing their second-ever XFINITY Series win. It was their second win this season after Ross Chastain took the win at Daytona in July.
Tyler Reddick took home second, while fellow Playoff drivers Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier, and Noah Gragson rounded out the top-five.
Sixth-place went to Alex Labbe in Mario Gosselini’s No. 90 Camaro, while Playoff drivers John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer, and polesitter Chase Briscoe finished seventh through ninth. JR Motorsports driver Ryan Truex rounded out the top-10.
“I can’t thank Matt Kaulig enough,” Allmendinger told NBCSN. “First of all, he put his belief in me. [He] wanted me to come here to try to build this team. The last times at road courses, I’ve been gutted not getting my wins. I can’t thank all my race team enough.
“Really got to thank Tyler Reddick. He’s phenomenal. He told me he needed my help on the road courses. He’s out-qualified me in every race then, beat me in a couple. I knew behind me I could be defensive on the right side and get myself an angle. Tyler wouldn’t shove it down in there, appreciate that.”
Briscoe won the first stage from the pole, earning 10 stage points and a playoff point, while Christopher Bell and Custer battled for the second stage win. Custer prevailed, which helped along with his eighth-place finish as he was able to clinch his spot in the Round of Eight.
The action heated up in the final stage as several drivers including Truex, Custer, and Briscoe all found themselves turned around. The Briscoe incident was the biggest incident of the day in terms of repercussions, as hard driving between Bell and Briscoe led to the latter’s incident after the No. 98 ran Bell’s No. 20 Toyota hard enough that he missed a chicane. NASCAR penalized Bell to the tail-end of the longest line, where he recovered to finish twelfth after unceremoniously dumping rookie Will Rodgers on the last lap.
There were seven cautions for 14 laps, with six drivers swapping the lead seven times. Nemechek, Brandon Jones (16th), Ryan Sieg (30th), and Justin Haley (31st) head into Dover below the Playoff cutoff line. The XFINITY Series Use Your Melon Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway will start at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Instituting the Playoff system in the NASCAR XFINITY Series was meant to be a way to level the playing field for NASCAR’s Triple-A division, a goal furthered when Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regulars were further limited in the XFINITY Series attempts. However, while that has paved the way to the XFINITY regulars standing up and being noticed, it’s clear that the 2019 title campaign has instead brought three contenders to the forefront: Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer, and Christopher Bell.
While other drivers have managed to find their way to Victory Lane, such as series regulars Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe, it’s the Big Three of Reddick, Custer, and Bell who have been switching the lead in terms of most wins on the season; Bell currently leads with seven wins to Custer’s six and Reddick’s five. While this posits them as the primary contenders for the championship, this also draws parallels to the championship battles of the late 90s, when Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, and Jeff Gordon were constantly duking it out for NASCAR supremacy.
In 1997, Gordon took home the title with 10 wins in a 32-race season, with Jarrett finishing runner-up in the standings with seven wins, while Martin came home in third with four wins. Gordon again took the title in ’98 with 13 wins, while Martin came home in second with seven wins, while Jarrett finished third in points with three wins. The trio made up for 23 wins in the season’s 33 events. This was diced up a bit in ’99, as the Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiacs of Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart finished second and fourth, respectively, winning eight of the season’s 34 events while season champion Jarrett won four times to Martin’s two (Martin finished third in points). Series win leaders Jeff Burton (6) and Jeff Gordon (7) finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Granted, that was in the Winston Cup Series. But looking at the NASCAR Busch Series (today’s XFINITY Series) results in the same time period, Randy LaJoie took the ’97 championship with five wins, while Todd Bodine finished second with a single win and Steve Park took third with three wins. But business picked up in ’98 when Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the championship with seven wins to Matt Kenseth’s three and Mike McLaughlin’s two. In ’99 Earnhardt repeated as the champion with six wins to Jeff Green’s three and Kenseth’s four.
To be champion, a driver needs to be consistent. But winning often also plays a big hand in winning a title, and while Reddick, Custer, and Bell have already surpassed their Busch Series counterparts of the 90s, they’re also making the title fight their own due to their constant winning. Bell is undoubtedly the odds-on favorite; with 15 wins in 68 starts since May 2017 he’s been a championship threat ever since he began his first full-time XFINITY Series campaign in February 2018. He won the 2017 Camping World (now Gander Outdoor) Truck Series championship, and in 2016 made it to the championship round at Homestead as a rookie. Bell’s known nothing but title fights, and he could seal the deal in 2019 as he has proven himself versatile on all types of tracks.
However, Custer and Reddick haven’t been far behind Bell, with both having breakout years despite Reddick having won last year’s championship. Both have also proven themselves to be adept at every type of track this season, with both of them looking to and possibly matching Bell’s Playoff performances in the upcoming races. They’re almost evenly matched, and it is difficult to say how each will fare in the upcoming events. Bell’s already crossed off a road course victory on his list, and he may very well prove himself to be adept at the upcoming Roval as he finished fifth there a year ago. But Reddick and Custer also recorded top-10 runs in that same race.
Point being, despite this being a Big Three battle in the XFINITY Series, this is anyone’s fight. Reddick, Custer, and Bell are winning with the same frequency and dominance as Gordon, Jarrett, Martin, Burton, Kenseth, and Earnhardt, but the Playoff campaign is actually magnifying their efforts and truly turning this battle into a Winner-Takes-All event, not unlike the 1992 Winston Cup campaign.
Then again, something to consider regarding the championship round at Homestead there’s always the fourth playoff driver to act as a foil to the Big Three. It was evident in last season’s Cup and XFINITY finale; could it happen again in November with shades of Alan Kulwicki in 1992? No matter what, this XFINITY battle is shaping up to be one for the ages.
It goes without saying that the Bojangles’ Southern 500 is one of NASCAR’s biggest Crown Jewel events, ranking up there with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and the Daytona 500. One of the main reasons for this is because Darlington Raceway is the sport’s first superspeedway. Before the grace of Daytona and the pageantry of Charlotte, NASCAR muscled hard, rough, and fast on Darlington’s egg-shaped oval.
With Darlington playing host to NASCAR’s annual throwback event, several teams and drivers are paying homage this year with different schemes paying tribute to the early part of the 1990s, which brought the dominance of Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, and Dale Earnhardt Sr. Here are some memorable events in the Southern 500’s 1990s chapter.
1990 – Earnhardt, Elliott, and Geoff Bodine were the three fastest cars of the day; they combined to lead 286 of the 367 scheduled laps. Earnhardt would go on to win his third Southern 500 in four fall events, while Elliott faded back to fourth and Bodine to eighth. Ernie Irvan, who led 70 laps, would finish in second place, 4.19 seconds behind Earnhardt.
There were plenty of fireworks during the day, most notably when early in the event Ken Schrader and Morgan Shepherd made contact which sent Schrader’s No. 25 Chevrolet to the garage. Several laps later Schrader would get back on track and return the favor to Shepherd before being parked for the race. Shepherd would go on to finish 21st.
1991 – Harry Gant began his famous four-win streak in the Fall of ’91 when he won his second Southern 500, leading 152 laps and finishing 10.97 seconds ahead of runner-up Irvan. Schrader finished third and was the last car on the lead lap.
Davey Allison started on the pole and led 151 laps, but finished 12th, four laps off the pace. Gant’s ensuing winning streak was the first since 1987.
1992 – Credited as Darrell Waltrip’s 84th and final Cup win, the 1992 edition of this event originally looked to be in the hands of Allison, who was looking to become only the second driver to win the Winston Million coming into the weekend. Allison and Gant led a total of 163 laps as rain threatened the area. During a cycle of pit stops on Lap 292, several drivers opted to stay out. Allison’s Crew Chief Larry McReynolds sent a crew member to check on the weather forecast in the NASCAR hauler, only for that crew member to misinterpret the weather radar which led to Allison coming down pit road.
Waltrip stayed out, however, and was credited with the win after 298 laps while Allison was credited with fifth-place after starting sixth and leading 72 laps. Martin, Elliott, and Brett Bodine placed second, third, and fourth respectively.
1993 – Martin won the Southern 500 at Darlington. That’s a fact that doesn’t look impressive on paper. But it’s worth noting that Martin won the race without power steering, which is something else entirely since Darlington is such an unforgiving speedway.
Martin started fourth and led 178 laps, dueling most of the day with Earnhardt and his No. 3 Lumina. However, after leading 101 laps on the day, Earnhardt made hard contact with the wall and faded back to fourth in the final running order. Brett Bodine and Rusty Wallace finished second and third respectively. Irvan would go on to finish fifth in his first race in the No. 28 Robert Yates Racing Ford.
1994 – Although Schrader and Martin combined to lead 232 of the race’s 367 laps, engine failure would sideline both drivers, leaving Earnhardt and Elliott to battle for the race win.
Ultimately it was Elliott who took the win, leading 21 laps against Earnhardt’s 87 en route to the checkered flag. Shepherd, Ricky Rudd, and Sterling Marlin rounded out the top-five. It would be Elliott’s final win for Junior Johnson, as Elliott wouldn’t win again until the Pennzoil 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November 2001.
One of the top notable finishers of the day was Kenny Wallace, who finished 11th while filling in for an injured Irvan in the No. 28 RYR Ford after the latter’s accident at Michigan International Speedway the month before. Irvan would make his return in the fall of 1995.
Although the upcoming Bojangles’ Southern 500 will be celebrating the early 90s’ era of NASCAR, the Southern 500’s very legacy is based off some of the sport’s greatest names and greatest battles since the speedway’s inception in 1950.
There’s a quote by none other than Earnhardt himself that perfectly sums up the allure of the Southern 500 and the place it holds in the sport:
“You never forget your first love, whether it’s a high school sweetheart, a faithful old hunting dog, or a fickle race track in South Carolina with a contrary disposition. And if you happen to be a race car driver, there’s no victory so sweet, so memorable, as whipping Darlington Raceway.”
When it comes to Bristol, it is usually a story of hot tempers that trumps out whoever it is that won the race. Surprisingly, though, the biggest storyline to come out of Saturday night’s event was instead one of heartbreak and admiration in regards to Matt DiBenedetto’s performance in the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota, as he managed to not only lead the most laps (93) but also narrowly missed taking the checkered in a battle with eventual winner Denny Hamlin.
Despite Hamlin’s fourth win tying teammates Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. for most wins this season, the entire NASCAR community was focused on DiBenedetto’s performance as the 28-year-old Californian had a career night not only in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series but in his entire NASCAR national touring series career. Fans, media, and peers all reached out to DiBenedetto to congratulate him and offer him support, as earlier in the week it was announced that he would not be returning as driver of the No. 95. A lot of backlash was aimed at team owner Bob Leavine despite it being made clear that the decision was purely business related.
Although the loss and DiBenedetto’s post-race reaction were heart-rending, something a lot of people are neglecting to realize is that the 2019 season isn’t over. DiBenedetto still has plenty of racing to do this season, and if anything, his Bristol performance may be the momentum his team needs to contend for more wins before the checkered flag flies at Homestead.
One thing to note about DiBenedetto’s recent surge in performance is that he’s gotten to be strong on tracks where he must muscle the car. All three of his top-fives this season have come on such hard-driving tracks, as he finished fourth at Sonoma, fifth at Loudon, and second at Bristol. Going into Darlington he has an average finish of 29th, but with the way his team has performed recently that may be a statistic worth disregarding. Darlington is also a track where a driver has to drive hard and muscle the car around, and DiBenedetto is big enough to get the job done.
Similar tracks where the No. 95 may shine include Richmond, the Charlotte Roval (where he finished 13th a year ago), Dover, Martinsville, and Phoenix. None of those tracks are handled with finesse; if anything they’re tracks where a driver has to manhandle their car to get the results they want. However, DiBenedetto has also shown himself to be an adept restrictor plate racer. He led the most laps in the Daytona 500 earlier this year (49) and has three top-10s at Daytona, including an eighth in July. He’s yet to score a top-10 at Talladega, but he has momentum from a string of strong runs in recent weeks, and that could very well carry on for plenty of weeks to come.
It’s true that the revitalized LFR organization is without a question the best Cup team that DiBenedetto has driven for in his young career, and it’s likely that his previous averages at the upcoming tracks can change for the better. He’s still learning and growing as is LFR, and it is likely that there are other top-20 Cup teams who are currently eyeballing DiBenedetto for their seats. The general consensus it that he’ll end up in a race car in 2020 for better or worse.
At this point in time, there’s no need to fret. If Alex Bowman can go from BK Racing backmarker to race-winning Cup standout, then DiBenedetto’s trajectory may not be all that different. He’s got it all: Charisma, talent, passion, and a strong relationship with the fans. He’s a humble driver who knows his worth in the sport and he has the drive needed to make it work at the top level. Team owners will get their money’s worth by hiring him.
But more importantly at this moment, he’s got the final leg of the Cup season to race through, and he’ll have plenty of racing and plenty of opportunities to build off of his Bristol performance. His season isn’t over by a long shot, and with Mike Wheeler on the pit box anything is possible. He’s got plenty of good runs left in the No. 95 this season. That’s where his focus and the NASCAR community’s focus should be lying right now.
The frustration in Kevin Hamlin’s voice was obvious following his driver Natalie Decker’s most recent incident: “Inside, inside, inside, inside, inside…we’re wrecked.” The frustration only compounded following the crash, when Hamlin voiced his displeasure with Decker’s actions saying, “I don’t know how the [expletive] I call inside all the way down the backstretch and she still dives inside.”
It only got worse for the team (or better if you take in the internet’s delight in the team audio) when his driver received a push back to the pits from the tow truck only for the tow truck to spin her out.
Decker: “Don’t push me so fast, how am I going to [expletive] stop?” Hamlin: “I’m completely [expletive] lost. I don’t even know why I’m up here. She’s out. I’m taking my [expletive] off. See you guys later.”
The Bristol incident was another in a long line for Decker in 2019, as comments from both Hamlin and Crew Chief Frank Kerr highlighted the continuing lack of confidence they have in their driver. Decker has seen a career’s worth of incidents in her limited 2019 run, several of which were avoidable and most have happened due to driver error. That isn’t to say all of the incidents were her fault (see Daytona, Kentucky, Michigan, Bristol tow truck), but with her level of inexperience and lack of drive, it’s clear that what started as a possibly promising limited run has failed to meet expectations.
That isn’t to say that she doesn’t have talent. Her 2018 ARCA campaign wasn’t enough to set the racing world on fire, but it was consistent enough to net her a seventh-place points finish; a pole, two top-fives, and nine top-10s aren’t anything to sneeze at. But an extended stay in ARCA with Venturini Motorsports or DGR-Crosley would have been good for her instead of being rushed into the No. 54 Toyota Tundra.
However, hindsight’s always 20/20. The reality we have is simple. In 14 starts in 2019, Decker has eight DNFs, all listed as crashes. This isn’t including the multiple cautions she’s brought out in races she has finished, like at Atlanta. There’s the countless soundbites of Kerr and/or Hamlin getting on their driver’s case. There’s the lack of respect from her peers. There’s the obvious fact that Decker isn’t taken seriously as a driver. That’s the reality for Decker and DGR-Crosley.
It’d be naive to assume that this isn’t lost on DGR-Crosley; they are footing the bill after all. But Bristol needs to be a wake-up call for both team and driver. The idea that Decker has a future in stock car racing as a driver isn’t sustainable. If there hasn’t already, then there needs to be an in-depth meeting where all parties involved should face facts about where Decker’s career should be going following 2019.
She’s been referred to as an Instagram model masquerading as a driver, a notion she’s done nothing to expel. It’s been mentioned more or less in a derogatory manner, but she does know how to market her brand. That is a plus for her, one of the reasons why her following is as big as it is when compared to teammates Anthony Alfredo and Tyler Ankrum. If put to good use for a team instead of her own brand, it could become an asset for whatever team she’s on as opposed to a liability.
Otherwise, she’s done herself no favors on or off the track. With that being said, the only real option left is to get her out of the truck right now. As mentioned before, she’s not happy behind the wheel and her crew isn’t happy either. Why prolong that? Why not spend more time helping her learn the ropes? They’ve done nothing more than turn her into another Danica Patrick and that’s not a good thing. Patrick was a failed experiment in NASCAR and if they’re not careful Decker will be as well. The merciful thing to do for all involved is to sit down and have a realistic look at what’s been done and what can be done to fix it.
Kevin Harvick was able to overcome a flat-right front tire early in the race and would later stretch the fuel in his No. 4 Mobil 1 Mustang on Sunday on the way to his second win of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup season in the Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday.
Harvick led 22 laps en route to victory, taking the checkered by 1.054 seconds over runner-up Denny Hamlin. Kyle Larson finished third, while Martin Truex Jr. and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top-five finishers.
“It was a day of a little bit of adversity that we were able to overcome,” Harvick said. “We had a really fast car all weekend. Our car handled really well today, and with the multiple lanes (due to the PJ1 traction compound), we were able to run all three lanes pretty well and make our way through traffic.
“They (the team) put a really fast race car on the track, and we were able to capitalize on it, so that’s always fun.”
Although the Playoffs are steadily looming closer, Harvick’s Crew Chief Rodney Childers still feels like there’s plenty of time for their Stewart-Haas crew to hit their stride, especially with two wins in the last four races.
“I still feel like it’s a long time before the Playoffs,” said Childers in the Media Center. “We have a lot that we need to get better. You know, we’ve just – we started the year off, and our cars weren’t where we needed to be, and we’ve continually got better and better. I think to be able to get a win on a 550 track and get a win on a 750 track, that says a lot about the race team right now, to sit on the pole at Pocono and have speed there.
“We’ve definitely made gains on it. We’re not perfect by any means, and we’ve still got to get a lot better. But we’re definitely in a lot better shape than we were at the beginning of the year.”
Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece, William Byron, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman rounded out the top-10. Playoff bubble drivers Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson both faced issues in the race, as both drivers made hard contact with the wall during the race. Bowyer would be faced with a 37th-place DNF while Johnson would finish 34th, eight laps down.
Six cautions slowed the race for 24 laps, while eight drivers swapped the lead 19 times. The next race on the schedule will be at the Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday night’s annual event at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Team Penske driver Austin Cindric went back-to-back in the Xfinity Series on Saturday, winning the B&L Transport 170 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for his second-straight win in the series. Cindric’s performance was a dominant one, winning from the pole and leading 46 of the race’s 75 laps and taking the checkered by 3.78 seconds over runner-up Christopher Bell.
“It feels good, two in row and going for three at Bristol,” Cindric said in Victory Lane. “I’ll probably go crazy if I win there. Should be a lot of fun. This is great momentum for our group.”
Cindric also took his No. 22 Penske Ford Mustaing to Victory Lane at Watkins Glen a week ago, narrowly taking the checkered flag following a dramatic last-lap battle with AJ Allmendinger.
Allmendinger, Tyler Reddick, and Noah Gragson rounded out the top-five. Allmendinger’s third-place finish was bittersweet for his Kaulig Racing team, as it was the first time in three starts with Allmendinger in 2019 that they weren’t disqualified following post-race tech. He had taken Kaulig Racing to a third-place run in the July Daytona event and a runner-up last weekend at Watkins Glen, but both finishes were disallowed and Allmendinger was credited with last-place finishes in both events.
2018 Mid-Ohio winner Justin Allgaier finished sixth, while Chase Briscoe, Cole Custer, Justin Haley, and Brandon Jones rounded out the top-10. Former IndyCar driver and current IMSA regular Jack Hawksworth, who scored an IMSA class win at Mid-Ohio earlier this year, made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut with Joe Gibbs Racing in their No. 18 Toyota. He paced one of the practice sessions before qualifying second for the race and winning the second stage. Hawksworth would go on to finish 15th.
“First off, thank you to Joe Gibbs Racing for having me and to Toyota for putting it together; and of course to my team AVS Racing, IMSA and Lexus for allowing me to go do this Xfinity stint,” he told NBCSN. “I was having a lot of fun out there. Some good battles over the beginning. The first stint, I was struggling with the rear tires a little bit. The second stint we made it a little bit better.
“I was comfortable on those restarts going for the lead and felt pretty good about it; but then I think we had a little issue on that second stop so that kind of put us back there. Got grass on the grille on one of those restarts, then kind of lost the brakes and that was kind of all she wrote.
“Little bit of a shame, but I had a great time and the iK9 car was great. I just want to thank everyone for having me here, and we’ll have to come back at some point and give it another shot.”
The race was slowed by six cautions for 17 laps, while eight drivers led for 10 times over the course of the event. The Xfinity Series visits Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday night for the Food City 300 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Monster Energy Cup regular Kyle Larson won the event in 2018.
Among the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series rookies, DGR-Crosley driver Tyler Ankrum has already established his credentials as a contender by already scoring a victory when he won at Kentucky in July. Afterward, he followed his win with a runner-up finish at Pocono and a ninth-place run at Eldora. He now heads into the Michigan race weekend with a solid spot in the NGOTS Playoffs and is poised for a solid run for the Homestead finale.
SM:You established your crendetials as a top rookie contender with your win at Kentucky, followed by a runner-up finish at Pocono and a ninth-place run at Eldora. That said, how do your feel about your odds winning the Rookie of the Year battle against fellow rookies like Sheldon Creed and Harrison Burton?
Ankrum: I think they’re really good. With Michigan being the last race of the regular season, both Sheldon and Harrison have to win to make it into the Playoffs.
To be frank, Sheldon’s showed a lot of speed on these mile-and-a-half and two-mile race tracks, so I think his odds are pretty good. I’m not too sure about Burton; [Kyle Busch Motorsports] as a whole has struggled all year. But overall, they’re both great racers and both are going to have equal opportunities and equal chances to make it in. I think our chances are really good, and going into Michigan all we’ll really need to do is to keep on doing what we’ve been doing.
SM: Now that you’ve solidified your spot in the NGOTS Playoffs, have you updated any of your previous goals in regards to your Playoff campaign?
Ankrum: No. At the beginning of the year our goal was to go win a championship. The goals have stayed the same. We’re aiming high, and that’s how we’re going to continue to push forward and continue to run up front like we have been doing these past few weeks.
SM: Considering that DGR-Crosley is still somewhat new in the NASCAR garage, how did it feel scoring their first national touring series victory?
Ankrum: Oh, it’s awesome because David [Gilliland, team owner] gave me the opportunity to drive Late Models when I was first getting started in stock cars, then he gave me the same opportunity in his K&N car, and now he’s doing it in the trucks. It’s pretty special for me, and I’m super thankful for all the help I’ve had along the way.
SM: Who do you feel is your toughest competition on the track right now?
Ankrum: That’s pretty tough because the truck series is so competitive right now. This is the most competitive it’s been in a really long time; the top 15 trucks have a chance to win every week and whenever they show up.
The greatest competition right now? I’d have to say either the GMS Racing or ThorSport trucks. It’s either going to be Brett Moffitt or Grant Enfinger, Stewart Friesen (Friesen drives a GMS satellite truck), Ben Rhodes or Matt Crafton even though they’ve struggled a little bit this year. Those two teams alone right there have almost eight trucks, so competition has been real stiff. But I think we can hang with them. We’ve been hanging with them the past few weeks. We’ve been doing things a lot different in the race shop, been making a lot of improvements on our equipment and I’m really proud of what we’ve done.
Just going forward, I have the utmost confidence in our guys and I think they have confidence in me, so at this point we’re starting to really figure things out. I think they’ll have to worry about us more than we’ll have to worry about them.
SM: Due to some sponsorship issues you had to step away and run a couple of races for Joe Nemechek at NEMCO. How did that come about?
Ankrum: When we announced that I was no longer full-time, we knew that for me to maintain my points eligibility you have to participate or at least try in every race. It wasn’t about a day later that Joe Nemechek called me and offered me the opportunity to go drive one of his trucks at Iowa and Gateway. He so graciously let us drive that truck and I’m so thankful to him as well and there’s such great guys over there and they’re super easy to work with. Just super guys who were a blast to be with.
SM: Where do you feel your DGR-Crosley team has been the strongest in the 2019 campaign?
Ankrum: We haven’t run too many short tracks, but we’re really good on the mile-and-a-halfs. We’re really good on working on the setups to what I like and what I can drive to. We’re good at keeping our nose clean during long distances and staying out of everyone’s mess; it’s really been the key to our success to go on up there and try to win every race and not get too caught up in points.
Tyler Ankrum, driver of the No. 17 Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway on July 11, 2019 in Sparta, Kentucky. Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images.
SM: On that note, where do you as a driver feel your biggest strengths have been?
Ankrum: I feel like my ability to learn is one of my biggest strengths. I can go out there behind a truck on the race track and watch and see what he’s doing while also paying attention to what I’m doing. I feel like I can learn a lot better that way than I could learn on a simulator or watching film. Learning that way helps me a lot when I’m out inside the truck.
I also feel I can put my truck on the edge and leave it there. I feel like I can be consistent and smooth on the wheel, and I feel that’s what really makes a fast car or a fast truck. It’s easy to go out there and throw down a lap but it’s harder to go out there and do that lap after lap. I work on that quite a bit with myself and I think it’s been working so far.
SM: Inversely, where do you feel that you need the most work in regards to your on-track performance?
Ankrum: My restarts. My restarts are pretty poor. Really need to just figure out the transmission ratios for the most part, but I’ve been getting better these past few weeks. So the adjustments we’ve been making to the truck and to myself and just learning, it’s helped a lot.
SM: Going back to your recent streak of a win, a runner-up, and a ninth-place finish, that’s three strong runs on three different kinds of tracks. To what do you owe your performance to?
Ankrum: I would have to go back and owe that to my ability to learn. The ability to just take in as much as possible as fast as possible. Just the least amount of time working on the drivers and the most amount of time working on the truck and making it faster, with you making it faster along the way.
I appreciate [Crew Chief Kevin] “Bono” Manion. He’s huge, in that department he’s a genius. He just knows so much and he’s so knowledgeable it helps. Having all those guys in my corner, it’s huge.
SM: In regards to the Playoffs, there are those on social media who are quick to use you and Matt Crafton as two examples that the Playoffs are supposedly “flawed” towards “deserving” drivers: You started the season late, yet sit solidly in Playoff contention with the regular season finale at Michigan right around the corner, while Crafton sits second in points but could possibly miss out on the Playoffs if another series regular pulls off a surprise win. What’s your take on the assumption that some drivers are more “deserving” than others?
Ankrum: Well, I mean, I feel that that’s the one word everyone gets caught up on – “deserve” – right? No one deserves anything in this world. I don’t deserve someone’s love or respect; that’s why you earn things. I feel like once you earn something you deserve to have it. I feel like that’s what we’ve done this year.
We earned that win at Kentucky. With our hard work and blood, sweat, and tears we earned that win and earned our spot in the Playoffs. Even though I missed the first few races of the year, to me, that just meant I had to work harder to beat the rest. In my mind. Now, if that means that I don’t deserve it? That’s just a matter of opinion.
But my opinion, we earned it and in a way I feel we earned everyone’s respect because they have to take DGR-Crosley seriously now. I feel that, in a sense, means that we deserve to be in the Playoffs. Whether that means there’s a rule that you have to run the entire season, granted, I couldn’t do so because of my age, and once again I did also have to get a waiver.
I’ve seen a lot of the articles saying that NASCAR is abusing this rule because blah blah blah blah blah, I feel that it’s just keyboard warriors out there on Twitter just trying to make a story and stir the pot up. But that’s just my take. I don’t think anything in this world has to do with “deserve,” it has to do with earning and respect. That’s what I really out here trying to do, just earn my right to have everyone’s respect.
