Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Category: Race Central

Race Central Stories

  • Kyle Busch Passes Elliott Coming to White Flag to Win at Dover

    Kyle Busch Passes Elliott Coming to White Flag to Win at Dover

    Kyle Busch ran down and passed Chase Elliott with two laps remaining to win the Apache Warrior 400 at Dover International Speedway.

    Elliott took over the race lead after Larson’s car shutoff under the second stage break and, as a result, was sent back in the running order for not maintaining pace with the caution car. After the final round of green flag stops finished up, Elliott cycled back to the lead and was on his way to his first career victory. But thanks to pitting five laps later than Elliott, Busch cut the lead to under a second with less than 15 laps to go. Lap traffic made the difference, in the end, as Busch pulled alongside and passed Elliott, exiting Turn 4, coming to the white flag and drove on to victory.

    “That was hard fought. That was everything I had, obviously,” Busch said. “I was trying to get there. Got stuck there for a few laps. Wasn’t sure I was going to make it all the way. And then, I was like ‘You know what? I gotta try the top again.’ The top had been working. It kind of got me there. I got up there. Got to the top and got rim-riding. Got the momentum on the straightaways and that carried me by the 24 (Elliott). Man, just an awesome, awesome M&M’s Caramel Camry! Wasn’t that great at the beginning of the day. We definitely made a lot of gains on this car. Made a lot of gains throughout the runs. Got it a lot better and put on a heck of a show for the fans. So one’s right here in Dover.”

    Elliott finished second and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the podium.

    “I’m just so disappointed with myself,” Elliott said. “Couldn’t have had it any easier. Ran green from the stage break, all the way to the end and gave it away. I appreciate my team and their efforts today. Our pit stops were great and they kept us in the ball game today, and I didn’t.”

    “Yeah, we had a very competitive car today,” Johnson said.

    “The car was good we just kind of fought track position and I wish I had done a better job on Friday and got us up in that front three sooner. It was so tough to pass, I think whoever came off pit road or had control of a restart was really in the catbird seat. But, a great day for our Lowe’s Chevy. These banked tracks seem to suit us much better than a lot of the flat we saw during the summer. Usually, if you run well at Dover, you run well at Charlotte, so we are excited to go to next week as well.”

    Martin Truex Jr. and Larson rounded out the top-five.

    “It was a really good race,” Larson said. “I won that second stage and was the leader off pit road and then my engine was kind of struggling firing up when I would cycle the engine and cool it down under yellows. It just didn’t re-fire that one time and had to restart fifth and feel back to sixth. Kind of hard to pass when I got back there I couldn’t really move up the race track because I would be in dirty air. We short pitted, got to third, but fell back and finished fifth. I felt like if I could have restarted the leader I probably would have had a shot to win like the No. 24, but once I had restart on the inside of the third row I was kind of done unless I had a caution, which there wasn’t any left the rest of the race.”

    Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Daniel Suarez, Jamie McMurray and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-10.

    RACE SUMMARY

    Martin Truex Jr. led the field to the green flag at 2:17 p.m. After leading the first 25 laps, Larson pinned him behind a lapped car exiting Turn 4, which allowed Larson to drive under him to take the lead on Lap 26. Truex worked his way back around Larson, passing under him in Turn 1, to retake the lead on Lap 62. He surrendered the lead to pit under green, as did a number of other cars around Lap 82, just before caution flew for the first time on Lap 87 (Jeffrey Earnhardt rear-ended the sand barriers along the leading edge of the outside pit wall).

    Kyle Busch was the race leader when the caution flew, but lost it to Brad Keselowski on pit road, who drove on to win the first stage.

    Retaking the lead on pit road, Busch led the field back to green on Lap 128. Larson powered around the outside of Busch entering Turn 3 to retake the lead on 141. Reed Sorenson brought out the third caution on Lap 168 when he blew an engine in Turn 3.

    Truex exited the pits with the lead, but Larson used an excellent restart to take back the lead entering Turn 1 on the Lap 174 restart and drove on to win the second stage. This setup the run to the finish.

    TIDBITS

    Kevin Harvick pitted from fifth on Lap 219 for a loose wheel, and Denny Hamlin pitted with 27 to go after hitting the backstretch wall and breaking a rear-axle.

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted three hours, five minutes and 48 seconds, at an average speed of 129.171 mph. There were 15 lead changes among six different drivers and four cautions for 24 laps (including one red flag for 15 minutes and nine seconds).

    Truex leaves with an 18-point lead over Kyle Busch, following the conclusion of the Round of 16. Ryan Newman, Austin Dillon, Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch fail to advance.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/C1729_UNOFFRES.pdf”]

  • Ben Rhodes Holds Off Christopher Bell to Win in Last Lap Thriller at Las Vegas

    Ben Rhodes Holds Off Christopher Bell to Win in Last Lap Thriller at Las Vegas

    Ben Rhodes claimed his first career victory in the Camping World Truck Series race Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, holding off Christopher Bell in the final laps to win by a margin of 0.066 seconds.

    The ThorSport Racing driver took the lead on the final restart with seven laps to go in his No. 27 Toyota, leading twice for a total of 20 laps, on his way to Victory Lane. With this win, Rhodes is locked into the Round of 6.

    “I used every play in my playbook,” said Rhodes said after the race. “I knew if I could keep him (Bell) close to me, he couldn’t break the (air) bubble. This is the biggest high of my life.

     “So many things have gone wrong and now here I am in Victory Lane.”

    Chase Briscoe finished third in his No. 29 Ford while Austin Cindric and Kaz Grala rounded out the top five.

    On Saturday afternoon, Ryan Truex and Johnny Sauter set the front row spots in qualifying for the Las Vegas 350 Truck Series race. Stage 1 and 2 were 35 laps each with a final stage of 76 laps.

    The first stage got off to a wild start. There was a pack of trucks that were three wide down the backstretch and unfortunately, Myatt Snider was bumped from behind by Stewart Friesen and was sent sideways in Turn 3.

    After that, the action calmed a bit as Briscoe jumped out to the lead and was able to go on to win Stage 1. Sauter, Bell, Truex, Matt Crafton, Rhodes, Grala, Cindric, Friesen and Noah Gragson rounded out the top 10.

    Stage 2 began on Lap 41 and just like the beginning of the race, there was tons of action on the first lap of the stage. Sauter missed a shift and got tapped from behind by Cindric which caused a chain reaction crash that involved Grala, Friesen, Austin Wayne Self and Justin Haley. Grala and Sauter were the only ones with major cosmetic damage.

    On Lap 47, Bell went to the lead. The action didn’t stop there as Briscoe, Crafton, John Hunter Nemechek, Rhodes and Truex had a tight battle for the lead. However, on Lap 55, Cindric went sideways through the grass after a side-draft gone wrong with Grant Enfinger.

    With a restart on Lap 61, Rhodes took the lead and never looked backed as he went to take Stage 2.

    The third final stage went underway on Lap 77. After varying pit strategies, Cindric, who pitted for fuel only and Gragson, who stayed out, were marked as the leaders for a short while.

    On Lap 81, playoff contenders, Crafton, Sauter and Cindric made contact with each other on the backstretch. Due to the contact, Sauter had a flat tire. As he went to pit, Sauter was deemed too fast entering pit road and again was caught for speeding.

    Bell regained the lead on Lap 87. With 40 to go, Gragson began to pit for his scheduled pit stop but was caught speeding twice and ended up doing a stop-and-go penalty.

    Green flag pit stops began with 25 laps to go. This saw most of the leaders pit, except for Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek who was trying to stretch it to the finish on fuel. The final caution came out with 15 to go as Austin Wayne Self had a tire go down and slammed the outside wall hard. Unfortunately, Nemechek ran out of fuel and stalled his truck on pit road, ending his hopes at a shot for the win.

    There were six cautions for 32 laps and seven leaders among 11 lead changes.

    Playoffs Points
    1. Christopher Bell (W)
    2. Ben Rhodes (W)
    3. Matt Crafton -51
    4 . Johnny Sauter -54
    5. Chase Briscoe -68
    6. Austin Cindric -70
    Below the cut line
    7. Kaz Grala -78
    8. John Hunter Nemechek -84

    Next Up: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series takes a week off before heading to Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, October 12, for the Fred’s 250, the final race in the Round of 8.

  • Ryan Blaney wins “Use Your Melon. Drive Sober 200” NASCAR XFINITY Series playoff race

    Ryan Blaney wins “Use Your Melon. Drive Sober 200” NASCAR XFINITY Series playoff race

    Ryan Blaney fondly remembers coming to race tracks as a child, and having lots of fun during many weekend afternoons.

    On Saturday, Blaney turned Dover International Speedway into his personal playground as he earned a victory in the “Use Your Melon. Drive Sober 200” NASCAR XFINITY Series playoff race.

    Blaney led 136 laps in the No. 22 Ford, collecting his second NASCAR XFINITY Series victory of the season and sixth overall.

    The 23-year-old dominated the final two stages of Saturday’s 200-mile race, which remained caution-free (aside from stage breaks) for the final 171 laps.

    “I can’t remember a race here where we ran that long on a green flag,” Blaney said. “[Our team] did a great job of improving the car all day long.”

    NASCAR XFINITY Series playoff contenders Justin Allgaier and William Byron placed second and third, respectively, improving their standing in the XFINITY Series postseason standings.

    Allgaier leads playoff grid by three points over Byron, followed by veteran Elliott Sadler (13 points back), Cole Custer (14 behind) and Daniel Hemric (17 behind).

    “We knew our car was really good on the long runs,” Allgaier said. “We kept getting messed up on restarts. It was still a good points day for us.”

    Byron, who earned the race’s pole position earlier on Saturday, led all 60 laps of the first stage, which included three cautions, including one for a wreck involving Brandon Jones and Jeff Green exiting Turn 3.

    “Definitely, the first stage was a ton of cautions and a ton of wrecks,” Byron said. “It definitely mellowed out. Our cars were strong all weekend and we had a good amount of speed. Overall, this is the day we needed.”

    Blaney took over from there, as he exited pit road with the lead, grabbed a strong start in clean air, and plowed through lapped traffic on the way to the checkered flag.

    “We knew our car had the best long run speed of any car,” said Greg Erwin, Blaney’s crew chief. “As soon as that sun popped out and we got into lapped traffic, we started to distance ourselves. The long green flag run was very important for us. Coming into the lead and being able to restart in clean air tips the scale in your favor at the end.”

    Blaney, who said afterward he prefers not to do burnouts after victories, gave the checkered flag to a young fan near the start-finish line. In his post-race news conference, Blaney said he was pleased to see many young fans lining the fences after the race.

    “I was a little kid, coming here and watching races,” Blaney said. “Anything we can do to keep people coming back is great. [The kid] was pretty happy when he got the flag.”

    Among other NASCAR XFINITY Series playoff contenders, Daniel Hemric finished fourth, Brennan Poole placed fifth and Matt Tifft finished seventh.

    Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular Daniel Suarez finished seventh, Ty Dillon placed 13th and his brother Austin Dillon finished 23rd.

    Blaney covered the 200 miles with an average speed of 111.975 mph in 1 hour, 47 minutes and 10 seconds.

  • Blaney Asserts his Dominance in NASCAR XFINITY Series Win at Dover

    Blaney Asserts his Dominance in NASCAR XFINITY Series Win at Dover

    By Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

    DOVER, Del. – Once Ryan Blaney got the lead in Saturday’s Use Your Melon. Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway, it was “game over” in the second NASCAR XFINITY Series Playoff race of the season.

    After Playoff driver William Byron led every lap of the 60-circuit first stage and banked a playoff point, Blaney took the lead off pit road under caution on Lap 64. Blaney kept his No. 22 Team Penske Ford out front the rest of the way, except for one lap led by Daniel Suarez on pit road under caution after the conclusion of Stage 2.

    Playoff driver Justin Allgaier charged from fourth to second on the Lap 128 restart that began the final stage, which ran under a green flag to the finish. Though Allgaier was able to hold off Byron, his JR Motorsports teammate, and hold the series lead, he had nothing for Blaney, who finished 4.852 seconds ahead of Allgaier’s No. 7 Chevrolet.

    “It’s really hard to get a car like that, and, to be honest, we didn’t have it in the first run,” said laney, who will try to advance to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 in Sunday’s Apache Warrior 400 (on NBCSN at 2 p.m. ET). “We were a little bit off on the first run. We made some great changes after the first stage to get it better to where it needs to be.

    “We actually got it better for the last run… As a driver, that’s all you can ask for, great changes throughout. It’s awesome to get to Victory Lane with (sponsor) Fitzgerald. This is really cool. We were close the first race this year and just didn’t quite get it, definitely learned a lot for tomorrow.”

    The victory was Blaney’s sixth in the series, his second this season and his first at the Monster Mile.

    Though he couldn’t catch Blaney over the final run, Allgaier also had reason to celebrate as the highest finishing series regular. Heading to Charlotte 54 points above the current cut line for the second round of the XFINITY Playoff, Allgaier is a virtual lock to advance.

    So is Byron, who chased Allgaier for the final 73 green-flag laps but couldn’t find a way past his teammate. Byron is 51 points above the cutoff with the Playoff field scheduled to be pared from 12 to eight drivers next Saturday at Charlotte.

    “I was trying to put it in Victory Lane,” Allgaier said. “We just needed a little more. I ran high some, low some. There at the end we made a great adjustment, and I was able to run the bottom, where I wanted to run all day.

    “It paid off. Obviously, second place is not quite Victory Lane, but in the points battle we’re playing, it’s pretty darn close.”

    In the battle to survive the Playoff cutoff, Brendan Gaughan gained ground with a 10th-place finish. Facing the elimination race at Charlotte, Gaughan is ninth in points, two behind eighth-place Ryan Reed, who finished a lap down in 16th-place at Dover.

    Playoff drivers Daniel Hemric, Brennan Poole and Matt Tifft came home fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, to improve their chances to make the Round of 8. Daniel Suarez ran seventh, joining Blaney as the only non-XFINITY regulars to finish in the top 12.

    Rookie Cole Custer and regular-season champion Elliott Sadler, both well above the current cut line, ran eighth and ninth respectively.

    NASCAR XFINITY Series Race – Use Your Melon. Drive Sober 200
    Dover International Speedway – Dover, Delaware – Saturday, September 30, 2017
     

    1. (8) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 200.
    2. (4) Justin Allgaier (P), Chevrolet, 200.
    3. (1) William Byron # (P), Chevrolet, 200.
    4. (9) Daniel Hemric # (P), Chevrolet, 200.
    5. (7) Brennan Poole (P), Chevrolet, 200.
    6. (23) Matt Tifft # (P), Toyota, 200.
    7. (2) Daniel Suarez(i), Toyota, 200.
    8. (6) Cole Custer # (P), Ford, 200.
    9. (10) Elliott Sadler (P), Chevrolet, 200.
    10. (13) Brendan Gaughan (P), Chevrolet, 200.
    11. (16) Michael Annett (P), Chevrolet, 200.
    12. (12) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 200.
    13. (11) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200.
    14. (21) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 199.
    15. (14) Corey LaJoie(i), Toyota, 199.
    16. (17) Ryan Reed (P), Ford, 198.
    17. (25) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 198.
    18. (18) Casey Mears, Ford, 198.
    19. (19) Blake Koch (P), Chevrolet, 198.
    20. (3) Erik Jones(i), Toyota, 198.
    21. (27) Ray Black II, Chevrolet, 198.
    22. (22) Jeremy Clements (P), Chevrolet, 198.
    23. (26) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 198.
    24. (20) Spencer Gallagher Jr. #, Chevrolet, 198.
    25. (29) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, 197.
    26. (5) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 197.
    27. (28) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 194.
    28. (35) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 194.
    29. (30) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 194.
    30. (39) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 192.
    31. (37) Mike Harmon, Dodge, Clutch, 87.
    32. (36) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Suspension, 43.
    33. (38) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, Overheating, 35.
    34. (40) Gray Gaulding(i), Chevrolet, Electrical, 31.
    35. (24) Reed Sorenson(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 25.
    36. (34) Chad Finchum, Chevrolet, Accident, 25.
    37. (31) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, Engine, 17.
    38. (32) David Starr, Chevrolet, Accident, 7.
    39. (15) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 4.
    40. (33) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, Accident, 4.

     

    Average Speed of Race Winner:  111.975 mph.
    Time of Race:  1 Hrs, 47 Mins, 10 Secs. Margin of Victory:  4.852 Seconds.
    Caution Flags:  5 for 28 laps.
    Lead Changes:  4 among 3 drivers.

    Lap Leaders:   W. Byron # (P) 1-62; D. Suarez(i) 63; R. Blaney(i) 64-122; D. Suarez(i) 123; R. Blaney(i) 124-200.
    Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  R. Blaney(i) 2 times for 136 laps; W. Byron # (P) 1 time for 62 laps; D. Suarez(i) 2 times for 2 laps.

    Stage #1 Top Ten: 9,22,18,7,20,1,42,00,21,48

    Stage #2 Top Ten: 22,9,7,18,1,42,00,21,48,20

     

  • Chase Elliott Speeds to Lead Final Dover Practice

    Chase Elliott Speeds to Lead Final Dover Practice

  • Martin Truex Jr. Speeds to Coors Light Pole Award at Dover

    Martin Truex Jr. Speeds to Coors Light Pole Award at Dover

    By Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

    DOVER, Del. – The two drivers who have seized control of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff continued their domination in Friday’s knockout qualifying session at Dover International Speedway.

    Navigating the Monster Mile in 22.407 seconds (160.664 mph) in the final round, Martin Truex Jr. edged Kyle Busch (160.392 mph) for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Apache Warrior 400 (on NBCSN at 2 p.m. ET), the elimination race in the Playoff’s Round of 16.

    Truex won his second Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his third at Dover — the closest facility to his Mayetta, New Jersey, hhometown— and the 14th of his career. Winner of a series-best five races this season, Truex will start on the front row for the ninth time this season.

    “We just kind of chased it a little bit — chased the balance — and I thought we were pretty close at the end of practice,” Truex said. “We hit it pretty close for Round 1 (of qualifying) and tweaked on it a little from there.

    “We put together a decent lap for Round 1, and the guys did an awesome job all day. So, really proud of them, and I’m looking forward to getting some more bonus points.

    With a victory at Chicagoland Speedway in the opening event of the Playoff, Truex already has locked up a spot in the Round of 12. His 19 stage wins and 59 Playoff points both are tops in the series.

    Going for his third straight qualifying sweep, Busch was fastest in the first and second rounds but fell short in the third. With last Sunday’s victory at New Hampshire, Busch also is guaranteed a spot in the Round of 12.

    “It was a good run for us,” said Busch, whose lap at 160.800 mph in the second round was the fastest of the day. “I thought the first two rounds, obviously, we showed really good speed — probably used up a little too much tire in Round 2, and I just wasn’t able to follow through in that third round and get a quick enough time to hold off Martin. …

    “But I’m excited to have a Toyota front row, and we’ll go race ’em on Sunday.”

    With Kyle Larson qualifying third and Matt Kenseth fourth, playoff drivers swept the top four spots, and Toyota drivers claimed five of the top six. Daniel Suarez will start fifth, followed by playoff driver Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who posted his first single-digit qualifying effort since winning the pole at Daytona in July.

    After posting the third-fastest time in Friday’s opening practice, 11-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson qualified a disappointing 17th and failed to advance to the final round.

    “The track changed a little more than we adjusted for is really what it boils down to,” Johnson said. “We felt like it was going to do that and made an effort at it and just didn’t go far enough.”

    Nevertheless, Johnson has unwavering confidence in his No. 48 Chevrolet under race conditions.

    “Yeah, the great thing is just how fast the car was off the truck,” said Johnson, who is seeking an unprecedented eighth series championship. “I know when it comes to race time we will be fine here. Qualifying for me is qualifying, so we had speed this morning, and I know it’s in there.”

    Of the drivers fighting from the bottom of the playoff standings for the final positions in the Round of 12, Ryan Newman had the best effort in time trials, qualifying eighth. Relative to the field, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. improved over practice and secured the 15th position on the grid.

    Austin Dillon, currently tied with Stenhouse for the 12th and final position in the next round, will start 23rd, while Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne — both of whom likely will need a victory to advance from their respective 15th and 16th positions in the standings — qualified 13th and 21st, respectively.

    “We just didn’t have the rotation we needed to kind of finish off the end of the corner,” Dillon said. “It’s tough. We’ve been not that great since we unloaded. We’ll keep working on it though. Usually, the race comes to us a lot more than qualifying does.”

    RELATED: Qualifying results

     

  • NASCAR Racing Schedule for Dover and Las Vegas

    NASCAR Racing Schedule for Dover and Las Vegas

  • Kyle Busch Wins First Career Playoff Race at New Hampshire

    Kyle Busch Wins First Career Playoff Race at New Hampshire

    The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) continued their playoff run this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the second race did not disappoint. Kyle Busch jumped out to the lead after a restart with 23 laps to go and was able to hold on to win his third MENCS race of 2017 and his first ever playoff win.

    Busch talked about the strategy moving forward since he is now locked into the next round of the Playoffs.

    “I think the biggest thing for us is to just keep focusing on what we’ve done all year long, just keep trying to go out there and run hard, run smooth and be good at what we do,” he said. “Obviously fast race cars help us being able to stay out front. We’ve got a good pit crew. They did a good job today, did everything right, and from there, we’re just trying to collect stage points, go out there and race as hard as we can, get stage wins, get race wins, and do what we can in order to keep padding that cushion that we have for the start of every round.”

    Busch started on the pole and led three times for 187 laps. When Stage 1 began, Busch jumped out early but on lap 40 it was all Martin Truex Jr. who took the lead and never looked back, going on to win his 19th stage win of the year. Kyle Larson, Busch, Erik Jones, Ryan Blaney, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick round out the top 10 in Stage 1.

    Stage 2 took place from Lap 83 – Lap 151. Not much happened in this stage until, with one lap to go, Harvick was accidentally spun around by another playoff contender, Austin Dillon. This caused a huge wreck and chain reaction on the backstretch. During this wreck, Truex Jr., Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Danica Patrick and Jeffrey Earnhardt were all involved during the melee late in Stage 2. Eventual race winner, Kyle Busch barely missed the carnage by inches. The stage ended under caution and gave (Kyle) Busch the win. Kenseth, Larson, Keselowski, Jones, Truex Jr, Hamlin, Johnson, Blaney and Jamie McMurray comprised the remaining top 10 finishers in this stage.

    After the craziness in Stage 2, Stage 3 was restarted on lap 159. Busch once again went out and led the way. A few playoff contenders had their fair share of troubles. Hamlin reported a “tire vibration” and pitted for the issue. On lap 186, Austin Dillon was facing microphone issues and could not hear his team communications. With 83 laps to go, non-playoff contender, Earnhardt Jr., had a left front tire blowout and ended his hopes of trying to win for the first time this year.

    On lap 219, the caution came out for the fourth time as debris was seen in Turns 3 and 4. Dillon was able to get the free pass and was back on the lead lap.

    As often happens late in races, cautions breed cautions. There were three more cautions that slowed the field. On Lap 262, Kasey Kahne slowed in Turns 3 and 4. He eventually was held by NASCAR for intentionally bringing out the caution. Later, he went to the garage for suspension and track bar problems.

    “Something broke. I think they said trackbar, but that is all I know I didn’t talk to Darien (Grubb, crew chief). But, that is what he had said while we were in the garage,” Kahne said.

    With 33 to go, David Ragan spun around off Turn 2 and the caution flew once more. The last caution came with 28 to go as Trevor Bayne spun out on the backstretch.

    The final restart came with 23 to go and Busch was able to hold off Kyle Larson for the win.

    “So, we finished second again with our Target Chevy,” Larson said. “That’s a lot of second-place finishes this year, but I’m fine with second. Top fives will get us to Homestead, so hats off to everybody on our Target team. The pit crew was great all day. I think we gained spots every time. Normally I’m struggling on short tracks, but this year we were pretty good.

    Truex Jr. rebounded to a fifth-place finish after the wreck in Stage 2. He led three times for 112 laps and retains his position at the top of the playoff leaderboard.

    There were six cautions for 32 laps and six leaders among three lead changes.

    Playoff Standings
    1 . Martin Truex Jr. (W)
    2. Kyle Larson -24
    3. Kyle Busch (W)
    4. Brad Keselowski -43
    5. Denny Hamlin -61
    6. Matt Kenseth -62
    7. Jimmie Johnson -73
    8. Ryan Blaney -79
    9. Chase Elliott -79
    10. Kevin Harvick -80
    11. Jamie McMurray -96
    12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -105
    Below the cut line
    13. Austin Dillon -105
    14. Ryan Newman -106
    15. Kurt Busch -122
    16. Kasey Kahne -122

    Next Up: The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Dover International Speedway next Sunday for the final race in the Round of 12.

  • Allgaier rallies from flat tire to finish third at Kentucky

    Allgaier rallies from flat tire to finish third at Kentucky

    SPARTA, Ky. — Justin Allgaier leaves the Bluegrass State as the points leader, but doing so required rallying from an early flat tire and falling two laps down.

    Allgaier started losing pace on Lap 14 due to a tire rub on the right-front tire. The right-front went flat the following lap and he was forced onto pit road for four tires. He rejoined the race in 39th, two laps down. Per NBC, Allgaier spent 27 total laps being down two laps.

    Opting to take the wave-around under the first stage break, he climbed up to 21st and took over as the first car a lap down on Lap 54. Angela Ruch’s spin in Turn 4 on Lap 75 came at the perfect time for Allgaier, as he earned his way back onto the lead lap via the lucky dog.

    Ending the second stage in 11th, crew chief Jason Burdett opted for a fuel-only stop.

    Allgaier restarted third on Lap 97 and fell to fifth by the time he pitted for the final time on Lap 138. When the green flag pit cycle was complete, he came out sixth.

    With a strong long run car, he worked his way around Cole Custer and teammate Elliott Sadler for fourth with 20 laps to go. He spent the next 10 chipping away the gap to third, took it from Ryan Preece and brought his car home to a podium finish.

    “My team at JR Motorsports obviously does a great job,” Allgaier said. “We talked about not beating ourselves in the first playoff race. You know, it was unfortunate there getting a flat tire. It wasn’t in our control. We did what we had to do and persevered through it and we did a great job on pit calls and pit stops. I thought we had a car that maybe could win the race. After the race, I told my team we might not have won the playoffs tonight but we definitely salvaged what we needed to tonight to move ourselves forward.”

    Allgaier leaves Kentucky, tied with Custer, with a two-point lead over Sadler.

  • Reddick wins XFINITY Playoff opener at Kentucky

    Reddick wins XFINITY Playoff opener at Kentucky

    SPARTA, Ky. — Tyler Reddick’s entire No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing XFINITY Series team will enjoy a free vacation to Myrtle Beach, thanks to his overtake of Ryan Preece just past halfway to win the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

    He got underneath Preece exiting Turn 4 on Lap 126 and edged him out at the line to take the lead. Reddick only lost it once more during the final cycle of green flag stops with roughly 50 laps to go, Kyle Benjamin led for eight circuits, before it cycled back to him and he drove on to a 14.540-second victory.

    “Well it was all about execution and having a smart race and Mike Shiplett obviously did a great job on the box, Reddick said. “This is obviously the goal we are working towards, is winning a race. It’s all about being smart, executing and not making mistakes. We had plenty of opportunities throughout this race to throw it away, whether it was being too aggressive passing lapped cars, trying to pass for the lead, pass for position on the race track or even coming to pit road, or on pit road. So plenty of opportunities to give the race away. We had a pretty sizable lead. So it was our race to throw away and we played it smart. We were conservative, we were safe and it got us here to victory lane.”

    It was his first career victory in 15 NASCAR XFINITY Series starts.

    Brennan Poole finished second and Justin Allgaier rallied from an early flat tire to round out the podium.

    “My team at JR Motorsports obviously does a great job,” said Allgaier. “We talked about not beating ourselves in the first playoff race. You know, it was unfortunate there getting a flat tire. It wasn’t in our control. We did what we had to do and persevered through it and we did a great job on pit calls and pit stops. I thought we had a car that maybe could win the race. After the race, I told my team we might not have won the playoffs tonight but we definitely salvaged what we needed to tonight to move ourselves forward.”

    Preece and Cole Custer rounded out the top-five.

    Elliott Sadler, Daniel Hemric, Brian Scott, Matt Tifft and Ryan Reed rounded out the top-10.

    RACE SUMMARY

    Benjamin led the field to the green flag at 8:17 p.m. He led almost all of the first stage, before Custer took over the lead with three remaining in it to win the first stage.

    During the first stage, Allgaier suffered a right-front tire failure and fell as low as 39th (two laps down).

    Benjamin took the lead back by beating Custer off pit road, but Custer took the lead back on the ensuing Lap 51 restart and drove on to win the second stage. Sadler opted not to pit under the second stage break and assumed the race lead.

    Playoff driver William Byron made an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 102 to remove a piece of trash from his grille.

    Preece, on new tires, took the lead from Sadler going into Turn 1 on Lap 105. Reddick took it from Benjamin on Lap 126, setting up the run to the finish.

    CAUTION SUMMATION

    The first caution flew on Lap 45 for the end of the first stage. Caution flew for the second time on Lap 75 when Angela Ruch spun in Turn 4. The end of the second stage brought out the third and final caution of the race.

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted one hour, 58 minutes and 38 seconds, at an average speed of 151.728 mph. There were eight lead changes among five different drivers and three cautions for 14 laps.

    Allgaier and Custer leave Kentucky, tied, with a two-point lead over Sadler. Brendan Gaughan, Blake Koch, Michael Annett and Jeremy Clements leave in the bottom-four spots.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/N1727_UNOFFRES.pdf”]