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Author: Tucker White

  • Austin Dillon Fastest in First XFINITY Practice at Kentucky

    Austin Dillon Fastest in First XFINITY Practice at Kentucky

    SPARTA, Ky. — Austin Dillon topped the chart in first XFINITY Series practice at Kentucky Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.761 and a speed of 187.754 mph. Kyle Busch was second in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 28.882 and a speed of 186.958 mph. Erik Jones was third in his No. 20 JGR Toyota with a time of 28.892 and a speed of 186.903 mph. Ty Dillon was fourth in his No. 3 RCR Chevrolet with a time of 28.962 and a speed of 186.451 mph. Daniel Suárez rounded out the top-five in his No. 19 JGR Toyota with a time of 29.018 and a speed of 196.091 mph.

    Cole Custer was sixth in his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Brennan Poole was seventh in his No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Brandon Jones was eighth in his No. 33 RCR Chevrolet. Elliott Sadler was ninth in his No. 1 JRM Chevrolet. Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-10 in his No. 7 JRM Chevrolet.

    Ty Dillon was the only driver to post a 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 183.382 mph.

    The XFINITY Series is back on track Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. for their second of four practice sessions.

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  • Changes Made to Kentucky Speedway

    Changes Made to Kentucky Speedway

    SPARTA, Ky. — The repave wasn’t the only change made to the racing surface at Kentucky Speedway.

    It was announced back in early-January that the 1.5-mile facility would undergo its first repave in its 17-year history. In addition, they changed the degree of the banking in Turns 1 and 2, narrowed the width of the turns, improved drainage and added over 3,000 feet of SAFER barrier.

    The repave was completed in May. In total, 17,000 tons of asphalt was poured to form the new surface by Ohio Valley Asphalt. The asphalt used is a “standard” racing asphalt mix that’s been tweaked to “age the track” faster.

    The finished product was 29,700 feet of added drainage pipes, an addition of 3,200 feet of SAFER barrier for a total of 11,300 feet, all added by Southern Bleacher and Seal Pro. The pit exit lane and apron in Turns 1 and 2 were widened from 14 to 30-feet, Turns 1 and 2 were narrowed from 74 to 56 feet and banking increased from 14 to 17 degrees both of which were done by Baker’s Construction Services.

    The changes in Turns 1 and 2 were done because the previous pit exit lane was very narrow and made merging back onto the racing surface difficult.

    “Modifying Turns 1 and 2 will present an exciting challenge to the drivers while addressing issues of the track surface, SAFER barrier, and drainage will improve safety, which is always our  paramount concern,” said Mark Simendinger, general manager of Kentucky Speedway.

    After blistering was seen during a tire test held at the track in mid-June, Goodyear has decided to bring harder tires for use during the race weekend.

  • The ‘Big One’ Takes Out Over Half the Field at Daytona

    The ‘Big One’ Takes Out Over Half the Field at Daytona

    The “Big One” struck and collected over half the field just past halfway through last night’s race at the “World Center of Racing.”

    A total of 22 cars suffered some degree of damage in the lap 91 wreck that started when Jamie McMurray made contact with Jimmie Johnson. This hooked McMurray’s car into the wall and triggered a chain-reaction that led to the mass of wrecked cars in turn 1.

    Five cars – Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Brian Scott and Regan Smith piled into the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

    Being shoved by Matt DiBenedetto, Kevin Harvick slammed into the rear of Scott and lifted the No. 44 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford off the ground.

    Johnson’s battered No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet then turned down the track and collected Danica Patrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Chris Buescher and Ryan Newman piled into Johnson.

    Kasey Kahne, trying to slow down, t-boned the side of Smith, was rear-ended by Michael Annett and collided with Harvick.

    “I was in the middle and something happened to the No. 1 and he went to the right and then he chased it…and was in a slide and came back down in front of me, hit the No. 42 (Kyle Larson) door-to-door – kind of light contact,” said Johnson – who finished 35th – of the wreck from his point of view. “I thought we were fine, but I eventually turned him sideways and the whole thing happened. I don’t know what happened to the No. 1 to change lanes as fast as he did from the outside, but we are all dealing with a matter of inches and once that started, it just collected everybody.”

    “Just a bunch of cars crashing – pretty much that was it,” said Kenseth – who finished 28th – on what he thought triggered the wreck. “I was just trying to make my way back toward the front a little bit there. We had a bad pit stop exchange and came out way, way behind everybody. Carl (Edwards) was up towards the front and we were running with him before the pit stop. I probably should have just hung in the back, hindsight, but who knows when they’re going to wreck, you never know if they’re going to wreck. Just trying to get back towards the front and there was a wreck somewhere a few rows up in front of me and just nowhere really to go.”

    “I didn’t see a lot,” Scott – who finished 37th – said of the wreck that he was also caught up in. “I was on the outside and our lane seemed to get a good run entering turn 1 and I saw guys check-up and hands out the windows so I started checking up. Then the check-up kept going and it became an accordion effect. We were in the wall and jacked up and I guess the 4 came up under me and drove underneath my car and then I was up in the air. It was a pinball effect. It is an unfortunate end. You always seem to get those big ones here in the Fourth of July race. Sometimes there is nothing you can do. There was no chance to ever miss that for our 44 Ford.”

    Biffle rebounded from the wreck and drove his Roush Fenway Racing Ford to an eighth-place finish.

    “It was a rough night after we got in that wreck,” said Biffle. “We got shuffled out of line and that will happen with speedway racing. We were working our way back up and running with the No. 4 car (Harvick) and a few of those guys and somebody got turned right in the middle. I don’t know who. We got pretty severe damage and were able to come back and finish eighth.”

    Despite finishing 39th, Harvick left Daytona still the points leader.

  • Hamilton Out-Duels Rosberg in Austria

    Hamilton Out-Duels Rosberg in Austria

    Nico Rosberg attempted to stop Lewis Hamilton’s pass on him going into Turn 2, but the block backfired, he lost his front wing and his teammate and main rival for the championship drove on to score the victory in the Austrian Grand Prix.

    It’s the 47th win in Formula 1 for the driver of the No. 44 Mercedes AMG Petronas car, first at the Red Bull Ring, 250th by a British driver, fifth by a British driver at the circuit and 94th career podium.

    Max Verstappen, who had been leading the race near the end, earned his third career podium finish and first for Red Bull Racing at their home circuit with a runner-up finish in his No. 33 RBR car. Kimi Räikkönen rounded out the podium in his No. 7 Scuderia Ferrari. It’s his 84th career podium finish.

    Rosberg brought his wounded No. 6 Mercedes car home to a fourth-place finish. Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top-five in his No. 3 RBR car.

    Jenson Button brought his No. 22 McLaren-Honda home to a sixth-place finish. Romain Grosjean finished seventh in his No. 8 Haas F1 Team Ferrari. Carlos Sainz Jr. finished eighth in his No. 55 Toro Rosso Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas finished ninth in his No. 77 Williams Martini-Mercedes. Pascal Wehrlein rounded out the top-10 in his No. 94 Manor Racing Mercedes.

    Esteban Gutiérrez brought the other Haas car home 11th.

    Sebastian Vettel was leading the race when he suffered a right-rear tire blowout and hit the wall on the pit straight. He finished the race unclassified.

    Rosberg leaves Austria with an 11-point lead over Hamilton in the drivers’ championship. Mercedes leaves still leading the constructors’ championship.

  • Keselowski Dominates to Win at Daytona

    Keselowski Dominates to Win at Daytona

    It was a dominant day for Brad Keselowski in a carnage-filled race at the “World Center of Racing” as he held off an overtime charge from the likes of the Busch brothers and teammate Joey Logano to score the victory in the Coke Zero 400.

    “Those guys were doing a heck of a job,” Keselowski said of the Busch brothers and Logano. “Kyle and Kurt worked together really well, and my teammate Joey Logano was a huge part of this today. We had two great cars here with Team Penske and worked together really well. Joey has won here and he’s really a pro, especially on that restart. He gave me that push I need to get to the front and here we are at Daytona in Victory Lane. I don’t care if it’s not the 500. It’s Daytona. This is huge. I love this place and here we are in Victory Lane with the Detroit Ford.”

    The driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford led 115 of the 161 laps on his way to scoring his 20th Sprint Cup Series victory in 250 starts. It’s his third victory and 11th top-10 finish in 2016, his third victory this season, and his first at Daytona International Speedway. Keselowski’s victory is the 100th victory in Sprint Cup Series competition for Team Penske.

    Kyle Busch, who wrecked his primary car in practice the day before and had turned no laps of practice in his backup car, led 16 laps and posted his 11th top-10 finish of the season and his eighth in 23 races at Daytona with a runner-up finish in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    “It was really close to Talladega,” Busch said of the final laps. “We finished second at Talladega. Just there at the end of the race, the 2 car was really, really fast. Really, really strong. It’s really hard to get by him. I tried just about everything. The only thing I didn’t quite have was a big enough push one time to just try to make a move. He was really good at making that thing pretty wide.”

    Trevor Bayne earned his third top-10 finish in 12 races at Daytona in rounding out the podium in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

    “I owe the guys behind me that were pushing me,” Bayne said. “I had a lot of help. The race was really crazy today. Just watching some of the guys working the middle you knew there would be trouble at some point. My spotter has a better perspective than I do (and) told me to go to the back and ride and we did and got through some wrecks. It was a tough night.”

    Logano led six laps on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 22 Penske Ford. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top-five in his No. 17 RFR Ford.

    Kyle Larson finished sixth in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

    “I got a little bit better restart than I thought I would, through (Turns) 1 and 2 and was able to get to Joey inside. I got clear of the No. 22 down the back and the No. 17 shoved me and gave me a really good (push), but it kind of got me squirrely and stalled me out. I should have probably moved up in front of him (Logano). But I knew we had a good night going so I didn’t want to risk anything. So, me messing up on the backstretch probably ruined our shot at a win, but we still finished at Daytona, so that’s good,” said Larson.

    Austin Dillon finished seventh in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

    “I don’t know about track position but I thought that 2 car was pretty darn stout,” Dillon said. “He was the same way at Talladega and you just can’t get to his back bumper. He does a good job of keeping that bumper and that car is fast, so I really think fast cars pay off here and win races. We are getting closer, we just have to keep working.”

    Greg Biffle led one lap and continued on despite damage in a wreck halfway through the race to bring his No. 16 RFR Ford home to an eighth-place finish. After an electrical fire in the dashboard the week before at Sonoma Raceway, Clint Bowyer led one lap and brought his No. 15 HScott Motorsports Chevrolet home to a ninth-place finish. Michael McDowell rounded out the top-10 in his No. 95 Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet.

    Casey Mears led two laps and  finished 12th. David Ragan, who led one lap, finished 16th. Denny Hamlin led seven laps and finished in 17th place. Carl Edwards led eight laps, finishing 25th while Martin Truex Jr., who led one lap, finished 29th. Regan Smith led one lap and finished 38th as Kevin Harvick, who led one lap, finished 39th.

    Twenty-three cars finished the race on the lead lap and 31 were running at the finish. Nine cars failed to finish the race because of an accident.

    The race lasted two hours, 40 minutes and 38 seconds at an average speed of 150.342 mph. There were 26 lead changes among 13 different drivers and five cautions for 28 laps.

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  • Almirola Edges out Allgaier in Overtime at Daytona

    Almirola Edges out Allgaier in Overtime at Daytona

    As hell broke loose on the backstretch at the “World Center of Racing,” Aric Almirola found himself just barely ahead of Justin Allgaier when the caution waved to score the victory in the Subway Firecracker 250.

    “It was an emotional last few laps,” Almirola said in victory lane. “I thought I had a shot to win but wasn’t sure I would get it done. I got a big push from the 7 and then he pulled out and the 18 came and gave me a good push. I am really thankful for that. It is a huge night for me to get back to victory lane in the XFINITY Seires. I didn’t feel like I truly won in the XFINITY Series before but tonight was my night. Now I can truly say I have truly won in every series in NASCAR.”

    This is the second career victory in 93 XFINITY Series for the driver of the No. 98 Biagi-DenBeste Racing Ford and first since Milwaukee in 2007. It’s his third top-10 finish of 2016 and third in eight races at Daytona International Speedway.

    Allgaier led three laps on his way to a runner-up finish in his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. It’s his 12th top-10 finish in 2016 and sixth in 12 races at Daytona. Ryan Sieg rounded out the podium in his No. 39 RSS Racing Chevrolet. It’s his third top-10 finish in six races at Daytona.

    Joey Logano led 46 laps, most of any driver, on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    “We had such a fast Discount Tire Ford and it just goes to show with how many laps we led,” Logano said. “Toward the end of the race we just made a bad call. Went to the top to block and the bottom was coming with momentum and I didn’t get there in time and we got shuffled down the middle and lost 10 or 15 spots. We recovered to finish third. We will take it.”

    Brendan Gaughan led one lap on his way to rounding out the top-five in his No. 62 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

    Ryan Reed earned his first top-10 finish with a sixth-place finish in his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Jeff Green finished seventh in his No. 17 Rick Ware Racing Toyota. It’s his first top-10 finish since Richmond in 2005. Spencer Gallagher finished eighth in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet. Chase Elliott led five laps on his way to a ninth-place finish in his No. 88 JRM Chevrolet. Erik Jones rounded out the top-10 in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    “Just really up and down day…Not really sure – we just got drug down at the end,” Jones said. “We had a lot of right rear damage and knew it wasn’t going to be too good by ourselves there but just had a tandem at the end and tried to give yourselves the best shot to get out and break away from the field but we just couldn’t do it. Too bad. I feel bad for the 18 (David Ragan) car. We both got drug back together.”

    Twenty-two cars finished the race on the lead lap and 27 were running at the finish.

    The race lasted two hours, seven minutes and 29 seconds at an average speed of 121.192 mph. There were 19 lead changes among 12 different drivers and eight cautions for 33 laps.

    Daniel Suárez leaves Daytona with a six-point lead over Sadler in the points standings.

    Next up for the XFINITY Series is Kentucky Speedway next Friday.

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  • Biffle Takes the Pole at Daytona

    Biffle Takes the Pole at Daytona

    Greg Biffle will lead the field to the green flag tomorrow night after scoring the pole for the Coke Zero 400.

    “Yeah, we knew the car had pretty good speed from our practice but we never made a mock qualifying run,” Biffle said of his fast lap. “It was a little bit of unknown and we thought the car had enough speed to be top-10 for sure. If you hit your shift marks perfect and not try to put too much wheel in it entering the corner and be as smooth as you can and not make any mistakes. It is a little uneventful at Daytona but a lot of pressure not to make any little mistakes. I made two decent laps and the car has a lot of speed. We are pretty happy.”

    It’s the 13th career pole in 491 races for the driver of the No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford after posting a final round time of 46.643 and a speed of 192.955 mph, first in 129 races, second in 28 races at Daytona International Speedway and first since 2004.

    Carl Edwards will start second in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 46.693 and a speed of 192.748 mph.

    “It’s a great starting spot – congratulations to Greg (Biffle) and all those guys at Roush Fenway, I know they work hard on this program,” Edwards said of his former team. “We would have loved to be on the pole, but starting up front will be great and hopefully we can stay up front. I need to get a win in that column, we have a big zero there from my career here at Daytona so I would like to get a win.”

    Kyle Busch will start third in his No. 18 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 46.793 and a speed of 192.336 mph.

    “Car felt good,” Busch said of his qualifying lap. “Everything about this Interstate Batteries Camry felt just like the primary car so I’m real excited about that and the preparation and the skill that these guys have here in preparing great race cars for me.”

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start fourth in his No. 17 RFR Ford after posting a time of 46.797 and a speed of 192.320 mph.

    “It is a good day for the Roush Fenway Ford’s,” Stenhouse said. “It felt good in practice. The Fifth Third Fusion was pretty solid and the guys have been bringing really good cars to the speedways, really fast cars.”

    Brad Keselowski will round out the top-five in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford after posting a time of 46.813 and a speed of 192.254 mph.

    Austin Dillon will start sixth in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

    “Yeah, it’s good to be fast,” Dillon said of his qualifying effort. “Our car seems to have quite a bit of speed in it. And come tomorrow night, if we can keep it up there, it would be great to win.”

    Matt Kenseth will start seventh in his No. 20 JGR Toyota. Jimmie Johnson will start eighth in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

    “We did a little bit of drafting and enjoyed the car and thought that it had a lot of speed,” Johnson said. “I think we qualified maybe 10th or eighth; so that’s all-in-all, good. It’s always nice to be in the final round of qualifying.”

    Denny Hamlin will start ninth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Kurt Busch will round out the top-10 starters in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

    Joey Logano will start 11th in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Ryan Blaney will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    Chase Elliott, who scored the pole for the Daytona 500 and Talladega earlier this season, will start 24th. This snaps a three-race pole streak at the restrictor plate races for the No. 24 team.

    Regan Smith failed to post a timed lap due to fluid leakage and will start 40th.

    Josh Wise was the lone DNQ of the race.

    Nineteen Chevrolet’s, 12 Ford’s and nine Toyota’s will comprise the 40-car field for tomorrow night’s race.

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  • Smoke Beats and Bangs his Way Back to Victory Lane

    Smoke Beats and Bangs his Way Back to Victory Lane

    After about losing the race running wide in turn 7a on the final lap, Tony Stewart capitalized on Denny Hamlin locking up in Turn 11, made contact with him, hit the wall and scored the victory at Sonoma.

    The driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet snapped an 84-race winless streak as he won the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

    When asked if this win is significant because of its timing, he said “They’re all good; it doesn’t matter where you get them. But, we ran close to those guys all day. We just got stuck back in traffic. It’s pretty ironic the last one we got was in a Code 3 car and I’m proud to do it again. I’m proud of Mobil 1 and Bass Pro and everybody. It’s just an awesome job.”

    It’s his 49th career win in 598 Sprint Cup Series starts, first of 2016, first since Dover in June of 2013, third at Sonoma Raceway and first since 2005.

    He currently sits 32nd in points nine points back of the Chase cutoff.

    Hamlin brought his wounded No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota home to a runner-up finish.

    “Tony was doing a good job maintaining his tires, a good job of running consistent laps there,” Hamlin said. “Really he gave me an opportunity to get close. On the second to last lap, he wheel-hopped into (turn) seven, allowed us to get close and I just did a poor job of getting through 11. I was expecting to really drive in deep and I really thought that was going to happen and he did, but I also left the bottom open and that was a bad mistake on my part.”

    It’s his seventh top-10 finish of the season and third in 11 races at Sonoma. He earned the bonus point for leading the most laps at 33. Joey Logano rounded out the podium in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    “We had a hard-fought third-place finish today, which is no easy finish here at Sonoma at any point,” Logano said.

    It’s his fourth top-10 finish in eight races at Sonoma.

    Carl Edwards led 24 laps on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.

    “We had a really fast Stanley Toyota, this was the most fun I’ve had in a long time, really good car,” Edwards said. “It was fun to race. Congrats to Tony, I know he drove his heart out there. It’s pretty neat to see him in victory lane. We just had some fun today, it was a good time.”

    After losing second to Hamlin going into turn 7a with 12 laps to go, Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top-five in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota.

    “We just burned it up at the end trying to get Smoke (Tony Stewart) and I gave up a couple spots, but I had to try to go for it,” Truex said of the closing laps. “The rear tires were gone at the end. It was a good race and congrats to Tony, it’s good to see and it’s been a long time coming for him.”

    Kevin Harvick led three laps on his way to a sixth-place finish in his No. 4 SHR Chevrolet. Kyle Busch led two laps on his way to a seventh-place finish in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Ryan Newman finished eighth in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Kasey Kahne finished ninth in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Kurt Busch rounded out the top-10 in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet.

    Despite leading 20 laps and being a front-runner for most of the afternoon, an uncontrolled tire penalty relegated AJ Allmendinger to the tail-end of the longest line during the fourth caution of the race and he finished 14th. Paul Menard, who led three laps, finished 16th. Danica Patrick, who led three laps, finished 19th.

    Thirty-five cars finished on the lead lap and 37 finished the race. Josh Wise exited the race with 14 laps remaining due to engine failure. Michael McDowell left the race with 18 laps to go for rear gear failure and Clint Bowyer exited the race on lap seven for an electrical fire in the dashboard of his car.

    The race lasted two hours, 42 minutes and 13 seconds at an average speed of 80.966 mph. There were 12 lead changes among eight different drivers and four cautions for 10 laps.

    Harvick leaves with a 35-point lead over Kurt Busch in the points standings.

    The next race for the Sprint Cup Series is the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway this Saturday night.

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  • Christopher Bell Endures Carnage to Win at Gateway

    Christopher Bell Endures Carnage to Win at Gateway

    On a night of wrecks, angry drivers, more wrecks and a DDT, Christopher Bell endured it all to score the victory at Gateway.

    The driver of the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota led 38 laps and took advantage of the misfortunes of other drivers in the closing stages to win the Drivin’ 4 Lineman 200. It’s his second career victory in 16 Camping World Truck Series starts, the first of 2016 and his first on asphalt. The win ties KBM with Roush Fenway Racing for most wins by any organization in the Truck Series.

    Ben Rhodes led four laps on his way to scoring a career-best finish of second in his No. 41 ThorSport Racing Toyota. It’s his fourth top-10 finish of 2016. Daniel Hemric rounded out the podium in his No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford. Johnny Sauter led 29 laps on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet. Reigning series champion Erik Jones rounded out the top-five in his No. 51 KBM Toyota.

    John Hunter Nemechek finished sixth in his No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet. Germán Quiroga finished seventh in his No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota. Kaz Grala finished eighth in his No. 24 GMSR Chevrolet. Ben Kennedy finished ninth in his No. 33 GMSR Chevrolet. Timothy Peters rounded out the top-10 in his No. 17 RHR Toyota.

    William Byron, who led a race-high of 47 laps, came home 17th.

    Twenty cars finished on the lead lap and 23 finished the race.

    The race lasted two hours, 14 minutes and 48 seconds at an average speed of 89.021 mph. There were eight lead changes among six different drivers, nine cautions for 44 laps and three red flag periods. The first red flag was for a three-car wreck in Turn 3 that resulted in Austin Wayne Self being t-boned by Jennifer Jo Cobb. The second was for a multi-car wreck in Turn 4. The last was for a two-car wreck in the closing laps in Turn 1 involving Spencer Gallagher and John Wes Townley that resulted in a fight. During this scuffle, Townley delivered a DDT to Gallagher onto the racing surface.

    Byron leaves with a one-point lead over Matt Crafton in the points standings.

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  • Edwards Takes the Pole in Sonoma

    Edwards Takes the Pole in Sonoma

    Carl Edwards will lead the field to the green flag tomorrow afternoon after claiming pole position in wine country.

    The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scored the pole for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 after posting a time of 1:14.799 and a speed of 95.777 mph.

    “That was good,” Edwards said of his pole lap. “My first lap was amazing, the car was really good and then I wasn’t sure about the second lap. It was good enough and that tells you how good the car is. I just can’t say enough about Stanley and all the things they’re doing for us. We had a dinner last night for us and this will be really exciting for them to have their Stanley Toyota up on the pole for the start of the race and hopefully we can stay there and get another win.”

    It’s his 19th career pole in 425 Sprint Cup Series starts, the third pole of 2016 and his first at Sonoma Raceway.

    AJ Allmendinger will start second in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 1:14.878 and a speed of 95.676 mph while Martin Truex Jr. will start third in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota after posting a time of 1:14.881 and a speed of 95.672 mph.

    “Honestly, for where we were yesterday; it was a struggle yesterday,” Allmendinger said. “We just never could really find the direction of the car. All my guys did a great job to get to work and get this Kroger/Kingsford Chevy closer to the front. When I saw Carl first lap, I kind of said I don’t care what kind of lap I run. If he runs that again, I’m not going to get close. And then I saw it was less than a tenth. I always nitpick, but it was a big gain from where we were yesterday. We’ve still got to go to work and we’ve still got to figure out what we need for race trim, but a good start at least.”

    “I thought we had it, thought we had a shot at it – I know we had a shot at it obviously being second in the first round,” Truex said of his qualifying run. “Knew a few spots on the track I could do a better job driving. Made a few adjustments on the car and felt like I could make up some time. Really had it all put together going into turn 11 and just missed it by six inches down there and got it a little bit tight and had to wait on the gas. If you don’t get off that corner, you lose a lot of time coming to the start-finish line…All in all, it was my best qualifying effort here and this is typically a place we race well, just don’t qualify well so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

    Kurt Busch will start fourth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 1:14.895 and a speed of 95.654 mph followed by Kyle Larson who will round out the top-five starters in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 1:15.124 and a speed of 95.362 mph.

    Denny Hamlin will start sixth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota and Joey Logano will start seventh in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    Logano said afterwards that his run was “better than where we were last year. We were 17thor 18th last year, so we’ve improved. I thought I had a shot after the first round, but lost some grip the second round and tried harder at the same time and all of that just didn’t work out. It’s unfortunate that we lost a little bit from the first round to the second round, but we’re still in good shape. I still think we have a top-five car and we proved that today in qualifying. We were really close to that, so now we’ll just work our way through it and see where we end up. At this race you never know what’s gonna happen. It’s about strategy and the fastest car doesn’t always win. A lot of times if you have a top-5 car you can figure out ways to win and I feel like we have that, so it’s just all about executing the race strategy and getting through the race by keeping your cool and doing all of that right.”

    Kyle Busch will start eighth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota, Paul Menard will start ninth in his No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet as Tony Stewart rounds out the top-10 starters in his No. 14 SHR Chevrolet.

    Danica Patrick will start 11th in her No. 10 SHR Chevrolet. Brad Keselowski will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying in his No. 2 Penske Ford.

    Among the cars that didn’t advance out of the first round included all four cars of Hendrick Motorsports.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was fastest in final practice the day before, said his team “just didn’t see what everybody had yesterday. We ran the same times as we did yesterday. The car drove the same. There were just some guys out there that were faster and they just never really made a mock run or showed that speed yesterday. We do have a good race car as far as race trim speed against everybody else. I still feel like this is the best car I’ve had at this race track. The car drove good. I made a couple of mistakes that cost me enough time to get into the next round. But, I make a mistake every lap I run here and that’s just the way it’s going to be. The guys have done a good job of giving me a good race car to cover me every once in a while and I’m pretty excited about tomorrow. I didn’t think we’d get the pole. I know everybody was excited. All the fans were excited about how we ran yesterday. But, I knew there were some guys that just get around this place no matter what car they’re in. They’re fast and when it came to pole day they were going to show up and they did.”

    Cody Ware is the lone DNQ for this weekend.

    Dylan Lupton will make his first career Sprint Cup Series start tomorrow driving the No. 93 Toyota for BK Racing.

    Twenty Chevrolets, 11 Fords and nine Toyotas will comprise the 40-car field for tomorrow’s race.

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