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  • Truex Dominates, Outlasts “The Monster” At Dover

    Truex Dominates, Outlasts “The Monster” At Dover

    Not much could be lost for Martin Truex Jr. entering Dover. The New Jersey driver already won a race in this Chase round two weeks ago at Chicagoland, and so he could have finished 1st or 31st; it would have no bearing on his points situation in the Round of 12.

    Truex elected to go for the former.

    Truex dominated the 47th Annual Citizen Soldier 400, leading 187 laps, on his way to his second career win at the Dover International Speedway on Sunday.

    Truex started second, passed pole sitter Brad Keselowski on lap five and dueled with Kyle Busch for much of the first 124 laps. Truex took the lead on lap 125 and stayed there before being passed by Jimmie Johnson on lap 189. Johnson stayed out front before having to serve a pass-through penalty for having one crew member over the wall too soon on a green flag pit stop. Outside of giving up the lead a handful of times due to green flag pit stop cycles, Truex was unchallenged and led the rest of the way.

    It was Truex’s seventh career win and fourth of the season. Toyota has now won 14 races this season. Truex has led 1594 laps this season, just over 1000 more laps led than his career high before this season (581 in 2007). One of the most remarkable statistics from this race weekend is that Truex only had 24 laps of on-track practice before Sunday’s race, the second least amount of any other driver in the field.

    “What an awesome weekend for us, I love this place,” Truex said in the media center following the race. “I’ve had a lot of heartbreaks since my first win here back in ’07. I’ve had a lot of heartbreaks. I’ve led a lot of laps. I’ve been in position to win multiple times, and it never seemed to work out for multiple reasons.

    “Today I’m just thankful to have a great team, to have been able to lead lap 400 and get back to victory lane at a track that’s so special to me.”

    The first half of the race was notable for Chip Ganassi Racing drivers finding themselves at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Jamie McMurray, in a season with record low amounts of engine failures, had an engine failure on lap 194. It was only the second time this entire season an engine out of the Hendrick shop failed. McMurray finished last and missed out on the next Chase round. Kyle Larson started the day off wrong by losing power in his battery during the first caution, then made it even worse by blowing a tire and hitting the wall on lap 183. Although Larson would recover to salvage a 25th showing on the day, neither CGR car ended up making the Chase.

    The second half of the race became an endurance run. What would become the last restart of the day was on lap 198, making the 202 laps afterward a test of driver and crew to avoid mistakes. Only six cars finished on the lead lap, the least amount all season and the lowest amount in years. Johnson served a pass-through penalty but still recovered to seventh, the first car one lap down.

    Kyle Busch came in second, seven and a half seconds behind Truex.

    Chase Elliott followed up his third in the spring race at Dover this season with another third in this race. It was a strong race for Elliott, who drove his way into the Round of 12 after running in the top 10 for the vast majority of the race.

    Brad Keselowski led seven laps after starting on the pole but just didn’t show the pure long run speed the No. 78 and No. 48 cars did. Keselowski still rode home fourth. Matt Kenseth had a somewhat quiet day, finishing fifth after running top five almost the entire race.

    Joey Logano unlapped himself late due to short pitting and finished the race in sixth. Austin Dillon had a solid day and finished eighth, good enough to pass Larson for the final Chase position in the points. Denny Hamlin finished ninth and Jeff Gordon, in what will probably be his final start at Dover, finished 10th.

    Tony Stewart couldn’t gain ground on Austin Dillon or pass Larson in points with his 13th, ending his hopes for a fourth championship. Chris Buescher finished 23rd after coming in essentially needing a victory, and did not advance in the Chase by a wide margin.

    Ryan Blaney blew a right front tire on lap 106 in turn two and stalled in turn three trying to get down to the apron. Blaney finished 38th. Kevin Harvick had a terrible day; he broke a track bar mount to cause the first caution of the day on lap 35 and spent the next 43 laps in the garage. By virtue of his win last week at New Hampshire, however, his 37th at Dover had no impact on his Chase hopes this season.

    All cars cleared post-race inspection.

    Unofficial Results:

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    Unofficial Points Report:

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  • Suarez survives ”The Monster”; Wins XFINITY Series race at Dover

    Suarez survives ”The Monster”; Wins XFINITY Series race at Dover

    Daniel Suarez found victory lane at Dover International Speedway on a cloudy Sunday morning in the Drive Sober 200 and locked himself into the Round of 8 in the inaugural XFINITY Series Chase.

    On paper, it looked easy for the 24-year-old from Monterrey, Mexico. Suarez started fifth and led 123 of 200 laps on his way to victory. In reality, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Suarez. On lap 139, shortly after making a green flag pit stop, Suarez was involved in an incident with Justin Marks. Suarez turned Marks heading into turn one and Marks violently slammed the SAFER Barrier wall, finding air but thankfully not flipping over.

    Marks did not think that Suarez went too far in his actions.

    “[Suarez] had tires and he was racing for the win,” Marks told NBC Sports after being released from the infield care center. “We weren’t that good. He was trying to make up as much time as possible. I was trying to do the same thing. There’s limited space out there.

    “I like Daniel. I don’t think he did anything on purpose. I don’t think he did anything stupid. I think it was just a pretty optimistic move.”

    It was Toyota’s 125th XFINITY Series victory and 16th of the season. It’s Suarez’s second win of the season and of his career. Suarez took the lead back from Justin Allgaier on lap 155 after Allgaier got around him on the restart and never looked back, winning by over five seconds.

    Ty Dillon was second and Allgaier was third. Ryan Blaney, who was a last minute substitute for Joey Logano, finished fourth. Alex Bowman ended the day in fifth. Blaney wasn’t the only last minute substitute, as a few Cup drivers scheduled to race elected not to due to the race being delayed until the morning of the Cup race. Austin Dillon handed his No. 2 Chevrolet over to Regan Smith, who finished 13th. Meanwhile, Drew Herring was called in to substitute for Kyle Busch, but it wasn’t pretty for the part time driver- multiple problems during the race regulated him to 21st.

    It was a battle of attrition for drivers on the XFINITY Series Chase bubble. After leading 54 laps early, bubble driver Erik Jones had an unscheduled pit stop for a vibration right after the halfway point. Jones got back on the lead lap by being a wave-around after the caution flew on lap 139 but couldn’t make it on fuel and finished 16 after pitting with a handful of laps to go.

    Ryan Sieg sped on pit road during green flag pit stops right before the Marks caution and that penalty led to Sieg finishing 19th after running well most of the day.  During the lengthy clean-up the Marks wreck required, Blake Koch had to pit from the lead onto a closed pit road due to running out of fuel. Koch couldn’t initially re-fire his car and he ended up going a lap down. Koch finished 14th.

    The points situation now looks to be very unsure heading into Charlotte for the cut-off race next weekend. The only two drivers who are locked into the Chase are Suarez and Elliott Sadler. Allgaier is third in points, 17 ahead of ninth in points. Brendan Gaughan is 14 ahead, Ryan Reed is 11 ahead, and Darrell Wallace Jr. sits 10 ahead. Koch has a four point cushion heading into Charlotte while Brennan Poole is the last driver in the Chase and has a three point advantage over Dillon in ninth. Erik Jones is down by four and Ryan Sieg is down by 10. Finally, Brandon Jones sits 18 back and either needs to win or get very lucky at Charlotte for his Chase to continue past it.

  • Buescher says being in the Chase has ‘been a good experience’

    Buescher says being in the Chase has ‘been a good experience’

    Asked how the experience of being in the Chase has been, Chris Buescher said it has “been a good experience.”

    Speaking to the media this morning at Dover International Speedway, the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford spoke about the experience of being in the Chase.

    “It’s been a good experience,” Buescher said. “We’ve learned a lot through it. We look at Dover as the last race of this round and we really don’t have anything to lose. Chicago and Loudon weren’t the races that we wanted to have and we come into Dover, one of my favorite race tracks.

    “This should be a place where we can really have a good run and see if we can advance to that next round. It’s gonna be tough at this point, but this is probably our best race track out of this round, so I’m excited to get going.”

    Buescher earned his way into the Chase with a win in the rain-shortened Pennsylvania 400 during the summer at Pocono Raceway. He also earned a fifth-place finish in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in August.

    During that same stretch of races, however, he’s finished 30th, 35th, 17th, 24th, 28th and 30th. He currently sits 16th in the Chase standings and 30 points out of the 12th place cutoff with this weekend being the first elimination race.

    In his first Cup start at the Monster Mile, he finished 18th four laps down. This time around, he’ll need to finish 11th or better to have a chance of advancing to the Round of 12.

    Despite the odds, Buescher said it’s a little nice to go into a race just worrying about getting the best finish possible.

    “It’s the racing that you’re able to do at the beginning of the year before you’re too worried about the points leading up to the Chase,” he added. “We’ve been in a lot of points racing situations over the last two years and to be able to have a handful where we can go out and like we said, we don’t really have anything to lose here today. All we have to do is gain, so, to me, it’s gonna make it to where we’re able to go out here and not worry about it, take some chances, try and utilize some risk and see if we can pull something off.”

  • Rain Washes Away Dover Sprint Cup Qualifying; Keselowski On Pole

    Rain Washes Away Dover Sprint Cup Qualifying; Keselowski On Pole

    A persistent rain forced NASCAR to cancel qualifying for the Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway on Friday. As per the NASCAR rulebook, the field will line up based on points with points leader Brad Keselowski leading the field to the green flag on Sunday.

    Dover has been one of the better tracks for Keselowski on the Sprint Cup circuit, with an average finish of 12.8 and a win in his 2012 championship winning season. Keselowski enters Sunday with a 35 point cushion on making the next Chase round.

    “It’s great… because we obviously have been having a great season, maybe not with what we had done on track today, but with what we had done throughout the course of the year and scoring a lot of points and winning races,” Keselowski said. “So it’s certainly still something to be very proud of, to be this far into the season and being [in] the points lead, so these are the perks you get when you’re in that position. We’ll take it.”

    Starting next to Keselowski will be Martin Truex Jr. Truex has long considered Dover, the site of his very first Sprint Cup win, a home race. The New Jersey driver has nothing to lose on Sunday, thanks to his win at Chicago a couple of weeks ago guaranteeing him advancement to the second Chase round. Kevin Harvick, who starts seventh, is the only other Chaser who is locked in.

    Kyle Busch starts third and Matt Kenseth starts fourth. Joey Logano rounds out the top five starters.

    The drivers on the Chase bubble will all start right next to each other, with Kyle Larson (+5) in 12th, Jamie McMurray (-5) in 13th, Austin Dillon (-5) in 14th, Tony Stewart (-11) in 15th, and Chris Buescher (-30) in 16th. Keselowski seemed to be happy about not having to start in the middle of that; “That should be compelling to watch. I won’t get to see it, but you will”.

    It’s the third straight Sprint Cup race at Dover where qualifying has been rained out; the last time qualifying was completed at Dover was in the spring 2015 race.

     

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  • Bowman, Busch Quickest In Dover XFINITY Practices

    Bowman, Busch Quickest In Dover XFINITY Practices

    The two XFINITY practices on Friday in preparation for Saturday’s race at Dover International Speedway fought against the weather and although one session ended up going off without any issues, the second session was cut short due to rain.

    Session one featured Kyle Busch putting down a lap at 157.729 mph, the fastest of the session by a wide margin. Busch was over three-tenths of a second faster than teammate Erik Jones in second. Busch enters this weekend looking for his ninth win of the XFINITY Series season and the 16th of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing. Jones enters this weekend three points out of the advancing field in the XFINITY Series Chase and needs to have a good run on Saturday to continue racing for a championship.

    Alex Bowman was third fastest followed by Austin Dillon who was fourth. Joey Logano looks to bring the Team Penske No. 22 Ford to victory lane for the first time this season and started the weekend off by running fifth in practice.

    In the second practice session, Bowman was the fastest on the board when rain came roughly halfway through the session. Bowman has had quite an adventure since the last time he raced at Dover; this spring he ran his first NASCAR race of the year and opened some eyes by finishing third. Since then, he’s had great runs for JR Motorsports in the XFINITY Series and has had some good runs subbing for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Sprint Cup Series.

    Busch was second in this session and Logano followed close behind in third. Points leader Elliott Sadler was fourth and Justin Allgaier was fifth.

    Outside of rain in the second session, there were no major incidents during either session.

     

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  • Larson Fastest In Opening Sprint Cup Practice At Dover

    Larson Fastest In Opening Sprint Cup Practice At Dover

    In the opening Sprint Cup Series practice session on Friday morning, Kyle Larson ended up being the fastest at the Dover International Speedway.

    Larson’s lap at 165.578 mph was his final lap in the practice session as the No. 42 team was preparing for qualifying. Larson enters Dover as the last driver in a Chase advance spot, only five points ahead of teammate Jamie McMurray. Dover just happens to be one of Larson’s best racetracks; the young California driver has four top 10s in his five starts at Dover, including a close second to Matt Kenseth in the spring race earlier this season.

    The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Carl Edwards and Kenseth were second and third respectively. Ryan Newman was the best non-Chaser in fourth while 10-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson was fifth.

    The Chase drivers who stand to be eliminated from Round 1 of NASCAR’s playoffs didn’t fare very well. Austin Dillon was the highlight in ninth followed by McMurray in 16th. Tony Stewart was 24th and Chris Buescher, who sits 30 points out and needs a win to advance to the next round, struggled in 31st.

    Four drivers ran 10 consecutive laps in this session. Defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch was the fastest, with an average speed of 159.336 mph. Kevin Harvick, the defending race winner, was second and Dillon was third. Trevor Bayne, 27th on the overall chart, was the slowest of the four in fourth place. Busch was 28th on the speed chart, as the No. 18 team focused on race trim instead of qualifying trim.

    The practice started with a 15-minute delay due to rain. Rain is a major part of the forecast this weekend, with the Weather Channel reporting an 80 percent chance of rain on Saturday and a 60 percent chance of rain on Sunday.

     

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  • NASCAR Racing Schedule for Dover and Las Vegas

    NASCAR Racing Schedule for Dover and Las Vegas

    The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and XFINITY Series head to Dover International Speedway this weekend while the Camping World Truck Series travels to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Please check below for the complete schedule of events.

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, Sept. 30:

    On Track at Dover:
    10-11:25 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series First Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    11:30 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: XFINITY Series First Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    1:30-2:55 p.m.: XFINITY Series Final Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    3:40 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    1 p.m.: XFINITY Series

    Press Conferences: ( Watch live )
    8:30 a.m.: Chris Buescher
    8:45 a.m.: Chase Elliott
    9 a.m.: Jamie McMurray
    9:15 a.m.: Jimmie Johnson
    9:45 a.m.: Erik Jones
    12:30 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
    12:45 p.m.: Regan Smith
    4:40 p.m..: Post-Sprint Cup Series Qualifying (time approx.)

    Saturday, Oct. 1:

    On Track at Dover:
    10:30-11:25 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series Second Practice – CNBC/NBC Sports App
    11:45 a.m.: XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – CNBC/NBC Sports App
    1:30-2:20 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    3 p.m.: XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200 (200 laps, 200 miles) – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    10 a.m.: NASCAR  Sprint Cup Series

    Press Conferences: ( Watch live )
    5 p.m..: Post-XFINITY Series Race (time approx.)

    On Track at Las Vegas:
    11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series First Practice
    1-2 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Final Practice
    6:10 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying – FS2
    8:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series DC Solar 350 (146 laps, 219 miles) – FS1

    Sunday, Oct. 2:

    On Track at Dover:
    2 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Citizen Soldier 400 (400 laps, 400 miles) – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    5:30 p.m.: Post-Sprint Cup Series Race (time approx.)

     

     

  • Elliott Sadler Wins Carnage Filled Chase Opener in Kentucky

    Elliott Sadler Wins Carnage Filled Chase Opener in Kentucky

    SPARTA, Ky. — Chaos and carnage ruled the night in the bluegrass state, and Elliott Sadler survived the onslaught to score the victory in the XFINITY Chase opener.

    Erik Jones led the field to the green flag at 8:17 p.m. It proceeded orderly until the first caution flew on lap 26 for a scheduled competition caution. Ty Dillon exited pit road with the race lead.

    The race restarted on lap 32 and the second caution flew for the first of many spins by Justin Marks through the night when he got loose and spun out in turn 3.

    After the race went back green on lap 36, it settled into a long green run. The only significant note of interest was Jones retaking the lead on lap 60. The third caution was brought out by Matt Waltz after his car caught fire on pit road.

    At this point, the race set into short green bursts of a few laps before something prompted a caution. This included a three-car wreck by Joey Gase, Ray Black Jr. and Blake Jones on lap 77 just a lap after the restart, Timmy Hill blowing a motor a lap after the lap 88 restart, Marks getting turned by a loose Josh Berry and collecting Brandon Jones in turn 4 on the same lap as the restart on lap 96, Ryan Sieg spinning out in turn 4 12 laps after the restart, Marks rear-ending the wall in turn 3 on lap 123 just a lap after a restart and Sam Hornish Jr. bouncing off Daniel Suarez, getting loose in turn 2 and getting clipped by Justin Allgaier on lap 130 just two laps after a restart.

    The race calmed down a little after it restarted on lap 135, only for race leader Matt Tifft to be handed a pass through penalty for jumping the restart. Smoke from Derrick Cope brought out the 10th caution on lap with under 25 to go. Sadler exited pit road first after taking fuel only.

    The race restarted with 19 to go and the caution flew for the 11th time, a new track record, for Berry slamming the wall in turn 4 with 17 to go.

    The race went back green with 13 to go and the new track record for cautions was extended to 12 with Jones getting loose in turn 3, spinning out and taking out Dillon.

    “I just got sucked around,” Jones said. “I was slamming on the brakes, trying to slow down. But Ty didn’t want to be really tight there on the restart, slamming doors in (Turns) 1 and 2. He was on me pretty tight down there. It’s my fault, but it’s tough when you’re in that situation. It’s a pretty tough aero situation into (Turn) 3. Just couldn’t hang onto it. I tried to slow down like I said and give some room on entry, but he kept slamming down on my door. I did all I could do to hang onto it.

    “We definitely had a winning car, but we just made a mistake and it ended our night.”

    It forced the race to be red-flagged for five minutes and 34 seconds. Dillon was disqualified from continuing on in the race after his crew was found working on the car during the red flag

    The race restarted with four laps to go and Sadler drove on to score the victory.

    “We fought through a lot tonight,” Sadler said in victory lane. “These guys (his crew) are my heroes. We had a 10th or 15th place car. Just had to come in and really take our time and work on it. Great pit calls at the end by Kevin (Meendering) and the guys to get us in position. We had a good push there in the end. I do want to say thanks to Josh Berry. He helped me a ton tonight. That kid did some cool things on the restarts. This One Main Financial team has no quit in them. We just fight to the end. This is a great way to start the Chase.”

    It’s his 13th career victory in 323 XFINITY Series starts, third of the season, 24th top-10 finish of 2016 and first win in 11 starts at Kentucky Speedway.

    Daniel Suarez came home second in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    It’s his 21st top-10 finish of 2016 and third top-10 finish in four races at Kentucky.

    Ryan Blaney rounded out the podium in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    Sam Hornish Jr. finished fourth in his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Tifft recovered from his pass through penalty to round out the top-five in his No. 18 JGR Toyota.

    Brendan Gaughan finished sixth in his No. 62 RCR Chevrolet. Ryan Reed finished seventh in his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Darrell Wallace Jr. finished eighth in his No. 6 RFR Ford. Justin Allgaier finished ninth in his No. 7 JRM Chevrolet. Brennan Poole rounded out the top-10 in his No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

    The race lasted two hours, 48 minutes and 37 seconds at an average speed of 106.751 mph. There were 16 lead changes among eight different drivers and 12 cautions for 64 laps.

    Sadler leaves Kentucky with an eight-point lead over Suarez in the points standings.

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  • Byron Punches Ticket to Truck Chase Second Round with Win at NHMS

    Byron Punches Ticket to Truck Chase Second Round with Win at NHMS

    LOUDON, N.H — Dominating doesn’t begin to describe the performance of William Byron at the UNOH 175 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    The 18-year-old rookie from Charlotte led 161 of the 175 laps on the way to his sixth Camping World Truck Series win of the season. With the victory in the first race of the Truck Series Chase, Byron advances to the second round.

    The only laps that Byron didn’t lead came after a caution for John Hunter Nemechek’s spin on lap 52. A different pit strategy put Byron, who took four tires, in sixth place for the restart behind the leader Cody Coughlin who stayed on the track to inherit the lead. Coughlin held the lead for three laps before Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Christopher Bell overtook him for the top spot. Eleven laps later, Byron recaptured the lead and held it throughout the rest of the race.

    Bell mounted a charge as Byron was negotiating lap traffic and cut the lead to a half second when they received the white flag, but Byron held on for the victory.

    Byron, Bell and Coughlin all drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

    “We had a great truck all weekend,” said Byron. “We were fortunate enough to test here a couple months ago and came with the right mindset on what changes to make. Practice was really important to us. We executed well today and I’m just proud of this KBM team and Liberty University.”

    Team Owner Kyle Busch shared his advice for Byron as he headed into the first Truck Series Chase.

    “Go fast and turn left,” Busch joked in the media center. “William has done a good job with all the different obstacles that have been put in front of him. This is win number six, so it’s not anything new for this team to go to victory lane. ”

    Matt Crafton finished third, Tyler Reddick took home fourth and Timothy Peters rounded out the top-five.

    “Everyone at KBM did an awesome job this weekend,” Bell said after his second place finish. “The test we did here proved very helpful and I am proud of that. We tested at three racetracks that we have raced at so far and all three of them the KBM trucks have been excellent at. We were the second best truck here, but we needed a lot more to race for the win.”

    Crafton isn’t focusing on the Chase.

    “I raced this race like it was any other race,” said Crafton, a two-time Camping World Truck Series Champion. “If you go out there and do your job and all the ducks line up you have a shot. You can’t over-analyze it and over think it and make mistakes. We’re trying to take it one race at a time.”

    Cole Custer brought home sixth, Kaz Grala was seventh, Brett Moffitt came in eighth, John Hunter Nemechek was ninth and Johnny Sauter rounded out the top-1o.

    The Truck Chaser who had the worst day was Daniel Hemric who blew a tire on lap 25 which broke the brake line and put the Brad Keselowski Racing driver 48 laps down in 28th place.

    The Chase Standings after the UNOH 175

    1. William Byron
    2. Matt Crafton -16
    3. Christopher Bell -17
    4. John Hunter Nemechek -22
    5. Timothy Peters -24
    6. Johnny Sauter –26
    7. Ben Kennedy -27
    8. Daniel Hemric -47

    Following the race, the truck of John Hunter Nemechek failed post-race inspection for height requirements. Any penalties will probably be announced on Wednesday.

    The Camping World Truck Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the DC Solar 350 Saturday, Oct. 1.

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  • Jones scores the XFINITY pole at Kentucky

    Jones scores the XFINITY pole at Kentucky

    SPARTA, Ky. — Erik Jones will lead the field to the green flag in tonight’s XFINITY Series race in the bluegrass state.

    The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scored the pole for the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 after posting a time of 28.845 and a speed of 187.207 mph. It’s his 11th career pole in 53 XFINITY Series starts, eighth of the season and first in four races at Kentucky Speedway.

    Daniel Suarez will start second in his No. 19 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 28.966 and a speed of 186.425 mph. Elliott Sadler will start third in his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 29.059 and a speed of 185.829 mph. Ty Dillon will start fourth in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 29.101 and a speed of 185.561 mph. Sam Hornish Jr. will round out the top-five starters in his No. 2 RCR Chevrolet after posting a time of 29.123 and a speed of 185.420 mph.

    Matt Trifft will start sixth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Brendan Gaughan will start seventh in his No. 62 RCR Chevrolet. Ryan Blaney will start eighth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Darrell Wallace Jr. will start ninth in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Justin Allgaier will round out the top-10 in his No. 7 JRM Chevrolet.

    Brennan Poole will start 11th and Josh Berry will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    Brandon Jones will start 14th, Blake Koch will start 15th, Ryan Reed will start 16th and Ryan Sieg will round out the Chase drivers in 19th.

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