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  • Briscoe and Nemechek earn top-fives at Bristol

    Briscoe and Nemechek earn top-fives at Bristol

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Austin Cindric comes up short for hat trick at Bristol

    Austin Cindric comes up short for hat trick at Bristol

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Kyle Busch has tough night at Bristol after engine failure

    Kyle Busch has tough night at Bristol after engine failure

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Justin Allgaier disappointed with outing at Bristol

    Justin Allgaier disappointed with outing at Bristol

    It was oh so close for Allgaier and the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevy who had the car to beat late in the race. He qualified third and was dominant throughout the stages, finishing second in Stage 1 and leading for a short while for 22 laps.

    He had a chance to win the first stage before Tyler Reddick who was in second place made slight contact with him which cost Allgaier momentum and an eventual stage win. This let Brandon Jones drive on by to take the stage win.

    Allgaier stayed consistent in Stage 2 running up front but never contended for the lead. The JR Motorsports driver had to settle for a third-place stage finish in the second stage.

    It wasn’t until the final stage when Allgaier began to shine. He stayed out on a Lap 223 caution for his teammate Michael Annett, as Reddick came down pit road. From there, Allgaier went on a tear to lead 109 laps until a caution on Lap 281 changed everything.

    The caution bunched the field up once again and there was a 14-lap dash to settle who would win at Bristol. Unfortunately, Allgaier had a flat tire with 10 laps to go that cost him the win and ended his dominant run at Bristol.

    “I didn’t get into the wall, I got a right front flat,” Allgaier said to PRN Radio. “It just really sucks, you know these guys do such a great job. The Brandt Professional Agriculture Camaro was good tonight. I don’t know if we had anything for the 18 (Busch), but when he had his issue, we were definitely class of the field there I thought.”

    “Then Tyler (Reddick) had a good car on the short runs. I thought our car was really good on the long run and nothing to show for it. Another Bristol, where we had the dominant car and nothing to show for, it’s just a sucky night.”

  • Enfinger rounds out top five finishers at Bristol

    Enfinger rounds out top five finishers at Bristol

    After leading 57 laps and qualifying 14th, regular-season champion Enfinger came home fifth at Bristol.

    “Great job to Jeff Hensley (Crew Chief) right there, gusty call and getting some track position,” Enfinger said to MRN Radio. “We weren’t a bad truck when we had the lead. I don’t know what I would have done different on that restart. The 24 (Moffitt) was a little bit better than us on the top. I thought about taking away the top side, but we weren’t worth a crap up there, so I stuck to the bottom and that’s what worked for us.”

    “He just flat out nailed that restart and got me. We had a great truck, once we got some clean air. Really proud of everyone at ThorSport Racing. Champion Power Equipment, Duke and Rhonda Thorson, Curb Records, everyone that lets us do this.”

    Enfinger took the lead once and led for 57 laps before the eventual race winner, Brett Moffitt, took it from him on Lap 174, and went on to win the race. The Alabama native finished ninth in Stage 2 and is currently tied with his teammate Matt Crafton in fourth in the point standings, 28 points back from first.

  • Smith comes home second in Bristol outing

    Smith comes home second in Bristol outing

    It was an impressive run for Chandler Smith and his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports team as they came home in the second position after having a shot to win the race late.

    Smith qualified seventh finished fifth and third in both stages, respectively. He was up front throughout the race, but especially late in the race when Smith had a shot to win with a restart with three laps to go. He eventually finished runner up to race winner Moffitt in his first-ever truck series start at Bristol.

    “Yeah, he (Moffitt) was just better all day,” Smith said to MRN Radio. “We fought back early in the race and we got to the 45 (Chastain) and Brett. We just needed a little bit more to be where he is right now.”

    “I just can’t thank Rudy Fugle (Crew Chief), KBM, iBuyPower Toyota for this incredible opportunity. We definitely made the most of it.”

    It was Smith’s third Truck Series start of the season and his career-best finish in the series. The 17-year-old now has the KBM 51 Truck third in the Owners Playoff grid, +26.

  • DiBenedetto reveals he is not returning to Leavine Family Racing

    DiBenedetto reveals he is not returning to Leavine Family Racing

    By Staff Report | NASCAR.com

    Matt DiBenedetto revealed Thursday on social media that he will not return to Leavine Family Racing for the 2020 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

    This is DiBenedetto’s fifth full-time season in the Monster Energy Series, but his first with LFR. The Grass Valley, California, native had 163 Monster Energy Series starts at the time of his announcement.

    Four of DiBenedetto’s eight career top-10 finishes have come this season with LFR, including his only two top-five finishes in NASCAR’s premier series. The top fives came at Sonoma Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Plus, he finished sixth at Watkins Glen International earlier this month.

    Leavine Family Racing is affiliated with Joe Gibbs Racing, an alliance that began this season with LFR switching manufacturers to Toyota.

  • Ankrum’s strong run ends in wreck

    Ankrum’s strong run ends in wreck

    The No. 17 of Tyler Ankrum was having a great run going at Michigan International Speedway until he was involved in a wreck with four laps to go after a push gone wrong.

    Matt Crafton and Ankrum had been pushing each other all day, helping each other on the restarts that are so tricky at Michigan. On the restart with four to go, Crafton misjudged his push to Ankrum, which sent him spinning in front of the field and he collected his DGR-Crosley teammate.

    Despite being caught up in a wreck Ankrum was not disappointed by the outcome.

    “Final restart, things got a little bit hairy,” Ankrum told MRN Radio. “I was trying to control some of my tire spin with the clutch, just modulating on the throttle, brakes and the clutch. Just got a really big shove from the 88 (Crafton), felt like he kind of got in my right rear. Just got sideways there, chasing it from there and ended up getting hit from the side.”

    “It was a really good effort by my Toyota DGR-Crosley team. We had a really fast truck. I think we could have won if I would have just got a better launch on that restart and not spun my tires so much. Really great effort, just one mistake at the beginning and then we were able to recover and we all saw the speed we had there at the end. Unfortunate it happened but we’re going to go to Bristol and try to go get one there.”

    Ankrum’s day started out rough being penalized for a start violation by NASCAR. He would have to serve a pass-through penalty in order to serve the violation. As a result, Ankrum did not get any stage points in Stage 1 as he finished 25th. In stage 2 he had a much better finishing position of 12th.

    Before being caught up in the crash with four to go, the California native was slated to restart on the front row with a shot at the win. However, with the crash, Ankrum had to settle for a 25th place finish after starting third.

    Ankrum and his No. 17 DGR-Crosley team will now shift their focus to the Playoffs where they are seeded eighth in the standings, 17 points behind first place.

  • Creed falls short of making the Playoffs

    Creed falls short of making the Playoffs

    It was win or bust for Sheldon Creed and his No. 2 GMS Racing coming into the regular-season finale.

    Creed has been on a roll the past couple of weeks, however, his regular crew chief was suspended after Eldora due to a safety violation described as a loss or separation of added ballast to the vehicle. Jeff Stankiewicz (Creed’s Crew Chief), Austin Pollak (Truck Chief) and Jonathan Stewart (Engineer) were all suspended for three races including the Michigan race.

    With the added pressure to perform well, Creed did not have a very good starting after he qualified 18th early Saturday morning, which left him a lot of work to do in order to get to the front where track position means so much at Michigan.

    It didn’t take Creed long though to move up to the front in hopes of a playoff spot. In Stage 1, he finished 14th while he had a much better finishing position in Stage 2, finishing ninth and earning stage points. The California native even led a few times during the two stages for nine laps.

    Despite leading a few laps and being in contention to win on the final restart in overtime, Creed fell .125 seconds short of his first win and the possibly making the Playoffs. He will have to wait for another chance to compete for a championship.

    “I don’t know if he (Austin Hill) doesn’t pass tech, but he’s pretty good at passing tech,” Creed said to MRN Radio regarding the second-place finish. “I did everything I could there, the guys gave me a good car. I started 18th and just plugged away at it. Really, that’s the most patient race of the year. Just did what I could to save the car all day.”

    “I finally lined up on the outside and outsides are huge on restarts. I was damn near wide open those last two laps. I think I was starting to lose a little bit of grip in Turns 1 and 2 but I was really good in Turns 3 and 4. I just needed to be that much closer. I needed the 02 (Tyler Dippel) to be behind me, a little bit closer to give that push, but so close, two seconds in a row for our season.”

    The second-place finish was Creed’s second top-five this season.

  • Dillon and Hemric qualifying times disallowed

    Dillon and Hemric qualifying times disallowed

    It was announced by NASCAR after the Monster Energy Cup Series qualifying that the times of Richard Childress Racing’s No. 3 of Austin Dillon and the No. 8 of Daniel Hemric were disallowed due to having unapproved alternators.

    As a result of the L1 infraction, Dillon and Hemric will lose 10 driver points and 10 owner points will be deducted as well. Each crew chief will also face a $25,000 fine. Dillon originally qualified seventh and Hemric was 11th but they will now start from the back of the field for the Consumers Energy 400 Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

    Updated starting lineup:

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