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  • Buescher wins Cup regular-season finale at Daytona in overtime; Wallace clinches final Playoff berth

    Buescher wins Cup regular-season finale at Daytona in overtime; Wallace clinches final Playoff berth

    With nearly half the field vying for the 16th and final spot to make the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing duo of Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski captured the final spotlight amid an overtime shootout as Keselowski drafted teammate Buescher to an overtime victory in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 26.

    The 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Buescher from Prosper, Texas, led the final two of 163 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started 11th and kept his car intact throughout the event that was mired with competitive racing, 22 lead changes and 17 different competitors taking turns to lead at least a lap amid the draft, even including a 12-car pileup on Lap 94 that wiped out a handful of Playoff hopefuls. Then after surging his way towards the front prior to a harrowing rollover accident involving Ryan Preece with five laps remaining that sent the event into overtime, Buescher received the draft needed from teammate Keselowski to overtake Kevin Harvick and fend off the field through the final two laps to claim his unprecedented third NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season.

    By virtue of Buescher, who was already locked into the Playoffs based on winning twice prior to Daytona, winning the regular-season finale at Daytona, Bubba Wallace benefited by rounding out the 2023 Cup Series Playoff field after finishing in 12th place while several top names, among which included Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, rookie Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman and Aric Almirola, did not make the Playoffs.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, August 25, Chase Briscoe notched his first Cup pole position of the season and the second of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 181.822 mph in 49.499 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Aric Almirola, who clocked in the second-best qualifying lap at 181.693 mph in 49.534 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Ryan Preece was the only competitor who dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Briscoe, who started on the outside lane, quickly jumped ahead before he transitioned his No. 14 Magical Vacation Planner Ford Mustang to the inside lane in front of teammate Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang exiting the frontstretch and through the first two turns. As the stacked field navigated through the backstretch, Briscoe muscled ahead with drafting help from teammate Almirola, but Bubba Wallace quickly gained ground from the outside lane as he dueled with Almirola for the runner-up spot. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Briscoe led the first lap as Wallace challenged Briscoe for the lead with drafting help from Riley Herbst, who was piloting the No. 36 Monster Energy Zero Sugar Ford Mustang for Front Row Motorsports.

    Through the second lap, Briscoe and Wallace continued to duel for the lead in front of two stacked lanes of competitors, with Briscoe gaining a slight advantage with drafting help from teammate Almirola while Wallace had Herbst still drafting his No. 23 Luke Combs/Columbia Toyota TRD Camry. Through the backstretch and Turns 3 and 4, the inside lane led by Briscoe prevailed as Briscoe started to surge ahead followed by Almirola and Harrison Burton. Then through the frontstretch, rookie Ty Gibbs became the first competitor to lead the outside lane as he moved his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry in front of Wallace as Briscoe proceeded to lead the third lap.

    Through the first five scheduled laps and as the field started to fan out and jostle early for positions amid the draft, Briscoe was leading ahead of teammate Almirola, Burton, Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher while Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace were in the top 10. By then, all 39 starters were separated within three seconds.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Briscoe retained the lead by 0.075 seconds over teammate Almirola while Burton, Larson and Buescher followed suit in the top five. By then, Truex was serving as the lead competitor on the outside lane as he dueled with Allmendinger for sixth place before Denny Hamlin moved up the outside lane and in front of teammate Truex in his bid for the front. Amid the field still engaged in two tight-packed lanes, Briscoe continued to lead the race.

    Five laps later, Briscoe was still leading ahead of teammate Almirola, Burton, Larson and Buescher while Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Truex were in the top 10. By then, Bell, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Blaney, Wallace, Herbst, Tyler Reddick, Kevin Harvick and Ross Chastain were battling within the top 20. Meanwhile, Joey Logano was in 21st ahead of Michael McDowell, Preece, Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman and Daniel Suarez, William Byron was back in 29th and Brad Keselowski drifted back to 38th behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as part of a conservative play.

    At the Lap 25 mark and with the field continuing to run within two tight-packed lanes, Hamlin, who used the outside lane to move his No. 11 FedEx Cares Toyota TRD Camry into the lead from Briscoe two laps earlier, was leading ahead of teammate Truex while his other two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Bell and Ty Gibbs followed suit along with his 23XI Racing competitor Wallace. By then, Briscoe fell back to sixth while Herbst, Harvick, Almirola and Logano were scored in the top 10. In addition, Harrison Burton was back in 11th followed by Cindric, Larson, Suarez and Allmendinger while Elliott, who was dealing with radio issues, was in 16th ahead of Austin Dillon, Buescher, Kyle Busch and McDowell.

    Just past the Lap 30 mark, Hamlin retained the lead ahead of his three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates while Herbst started to ignite a charge as the lead competitor on the outside lane as he also dueled with Wallace for fifth while receiving drafting help from Ford teammates Harvick, Logano and Cindric. Herbst would then boost his way up to the runner-up spot by Lap 32 before Hamlin moved up the track through the backstretch to block Herbst. This allowed Truex to muscle a challenge on the inside lane during the proceeding lap as the Toyota competitors became separated within two tight-packed lanes.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 35, Truex, who received a big push from teammate Bell to muscle past teammate Hamlin through the backstretch as the field fanned out, captured his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Teammate Bell settled in second followed by Harvick, Ty Gibbs, Logano, Wallace and Cindric while Hamlin fell back to eighth in front of Briscoe and Suarez. By then, all but one of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap as the event featured two lead changes for three different leaders.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Truex pitted for their first service of the night. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Austin Hill exited first after opting for no fresh tires, though he missed his pit stall, followed by Logano, the first competitor with four fresh tires, as Truex, Bell, Wallace, Harvick, Suarez, Hamlin and Briscoe followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Justin Haley was penalized for equipment interference. In addition, Kyle Busch was penalized for a crew member jumping over the pit wall too soon. Once Hill pitted again, Logano cycled into the race lead.

    The second stage started on Lap 40 as Logano and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, Truex and Logano dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Logano muscled ahead in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang entering the backstretch with drafting help from Harvick and Suarez. Truex would continue to lead the outside lane in front of teammate Bell while Logano retained the lead for the following lap on the inside lane.

    By Lap 45 and as the field started to fan out to three tight-packed lanes, Logano was pushed ahead of the stacked field followed by Harvick and Suarez while Truex tried to regain ground from the outside lane with continuous help from teammate Bell as Wallace tried to follow suit. Soon after, Elliott surged towards the front in his No. 9 LLumar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as part of a third drafting lane running toward the outside wall. Elliott would then be drafted into a duel against Logano for the lead through the first two turns as he had Allmendinger, Kyle Busch and Stenhouse assisting him. Then as Elliott had appeared to break ahead of the pack, Allmendinger made his move to the front and led Lap 47 as he dueled against Elliott for the lead. Allmendinger would then break away from the pack along with Kyle Busch while Elliott dueled against Stenhouse for third place.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Elliott led a lap for himself followed by Logano as Allmendinger, who led the previous three laps, was back in third. By then, Kyle Busch and Harvick were in the top five followed by Haley, Ty Gibbs, Stenhouse, Chastain and Almirola while Truex, Austin Hill, Bell, Buescher and Chandler Smith occupied the top 15. By then, all 39 starters were running on the lead lap and separated by two-and-a-half seconds.

    Two laps later, a three-wide battle for the lead ensued as Logano was stuck in the middle lane, Elliott charged on the inside lane and Allmendinger muscled ahead on the outside lane with drafting help from Kyle Busch. As the field was also stacked in three tight-packed lanes, Allmendinger retained the lead from the outside lane while Ty Gibbs tried to launch a charge on the inside lane. By then, Elliott lost his momentum after nearly wrecking with Stenhouse through the frontstretch prior to Lap 54 while Logano also drifted back within the top 10 as he continued to run in the middle lane.

    Then on Lap 55, Ross Chastain made his presence known at the front as he led the middle lane and surged his No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to a narrow lead before dueling against Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger. By then, Chastain had drafting help from Logano while Hamlin drifted back to 37th after bailing on the three-wide pack towards the front.

    Just past the Lap 60 mark and with the field settling in two tight-packed lanes, Chastain, who took the lead from Allmendinger a few laps prior, was leading by a narrow margin over Logano while Truex, Bell, Preece, Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, Haley and Harvick were battling in the top 10. With the field still settling in two packed lanes, Chastain would continue to lead by the Lap 65 mark.

    By Lap 70 and with most of the field migrating to the outside lane, Chastain was leading ahead of Logano, Preece, Elliott and Harvick while Larson, Blaney, Bell, Stenhouse and Truex were running in the top 10. By then, Almirola was in 11th ahead of Ty Gibbs, Buescher, Burton and Keselowski while Josh Berry, Cindric, Bowman, Reddick and Byron were battling up in the top 20. Behind, Briscoe was back in 21st, Austin Dillon was in 26th ahead of Suarez, Erik Jones and Kyle Busch, Allmendinger was shuffled back in 31st, Wallace settled in 34th and Hamlin continued to run in 37th.

    Five laps later, Ryan Blaney made his move beneath Chastain exiting the backstretch as he surged to the lead in his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang with drafting help from teammate Logano and Harvick. Chastain would settle in fourth place and duel with Harvick for third while Stenhouse, Preece, Almirola, Elliott, Buescher and Larson battled within the top 10. Keselowski, who ran towards the rear of the field earlier in the event, would also carve his way to run just outside the top 10. Not long after and as the intensity of the two tight-packed racing increased, Stenhouse would surge his No. 47 Boost by Kroger Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the front and lead the halfway mark on Lap 80 as Blaney and Chastain, both of whom Stenhouse was battling with, followed suit.

    A lap later, green flag pit stops ensued as Stenhouse led Chastain, Bell, Berry, Ty Gibbs, Truex, Reddick, Erik Jones, Wallace, Hamlin and BJ McLeod to pit road for service, mainly for fuel. Another wave of competitors led by Blaney, Logano, Harvick, Brennan Poole, JJ Yeley, Austin Hill, Allmendinger, Haley and Chandler Smith pitted during the proceeding lap as Almirola cycled into the lead. Amid the pit stops, Hamlin was penalized for a crew member jumping over the pit wall too soon as he was forced to return to pit road and serve a pass-through penalty. Herbst would also be penalized for meeting the same fate as Hamlin while Poole was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    By Lap 84, a big group of competitors led by Almirola pitted under green as Harrison Burton cycled into the lead followed by Keselowski and Michael McDowell. Burton and McDowell would pit two laps later before they were able to blend back on the track and retain the top-two spots ahead of the charging pack. With the pack quickly catching up to Burton and McDowell through the backstretch, Keselowski then tried to make a move to Burton’s outside for the lead, but the field fanned out to nearly four lanes through the frontstretch as Kyle Busch ignited his charge to the lead. Suarez followed suit along with Alex Bowman and Austin Dillon as Kyle Busch aggressively carved his No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead by Lap 87.

    With five laps remaining in the second stage, Kyle Busch was leading ahead of Suarez, Bowman, Austin Dillon and Keselowski while Burton was getting shuffled out of the top five amid two tight-packed lanes. As the laps dwindled, the field fanned out to three lanes as Busch continued to lead.

    Then on the final lap of the second stage, Lap 94, trouble ensued when Ty Gibbs, who was trying to surge to the front, slipped sideways off the front nose of teammate Bell and clipped the leader Blaney as both were sent hard against the outside wall, collecting Bell, Reddick, Stenhouse and Bowman in the process as Allmendinger, Hamlin, Herbst, Cindric, Austin Dillon, Harvick, Larson, Poole, Buescher and Burton were also involved. The wreck, which proved costly to Gibbs as his hopes of making the Playoffs came to an end, was enough to place the event in a red flag period for nine-and-a-half minutes. By then, Keselowski escaped the carnage to capture the stage victory, which was his fourth of the 2023 Cup season, while Kyle Busch, Suarez, Bowman, Byron, Reddick, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Chastain and Logano were scored in the top 10. In addition, Truex, who dodged the incident, was crowned the 2023 Cup Series Regular Season champion.

    Under the stage break and once the red flag period was lifted, a majority of the lead lap field led by Keselowski pitted for service while Stewart-Haas Racing’s Briscoe and Almirola remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Kyle Busch exited first while Elliott, Suarez, Chastain, Keselowski, Byron and Logano followed suit.

    With 56 laps remaining, the final stage started as Briscoe and Kyle Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Briscoe emerged with the lead and surged ahead with drafting help from teammate Almirola while Busch dueled with Erik Jones for third place. As Busch regained ground through the backstretch, he then challenged Briscoe for the lead as he had Bowman and Suarez pushing him. Despite Briscoe managing to lead the proceeding laps, he kept being engaged in a side-by-side duel against Busch for the lead as Almirola, Erik Jones and Bowman were in the top five. Meanwhile, Wallace, who was on the brakes to avoid the multi-car wreck at the end of the second stage, was up to seventh as he tried to crack the top five along with Keselowski and Suarez.

    With 50 laps remaining, Briscoe continued to lead as he had both lanes under his control followed by teammate Almirola, Erik Jones, Keselowski, Wallace and Logano while Kyle Busch tried to charge back to the front on the outside lane. Wallace would then move up in front of Busch and lead the outside lane during the following lap as he dueled against Logano for fifth while Josh Berry joined the battle.

    Five laps later and with the field slowly starting to fan out to three lanes, Briscoe retained the lead ahead of a long single file line on the inside lane as teammate Almirola, Erik Jones, Keselowski and Logano were in the top five. By then, Wallace fell back to 13th as Berry, Chandler Smith, McDowell, Bell and Corey LaJoie charged in the top 10 in front of Kyle Busch while Elliott and Suarez were mired back in the top 20.

    Another five laps later and with most of the field migrating to the outside lane, Briscoe was leading ahead of teammates Almirola and Preece while Buescher and Harvick were in the top five. By then, Keselowski, Elliott, Ty Dillon, Chandler Smith and Truex were in the top 10 while Wallace, who briefly moved back into the top five, fell back to 14th after being shuffled out of the draft before he blended back into the draft towards the outside wall. With nearly the entire field continuing to run in a long single-file line toward the outside wall, Briscoe also continued to lead ahead of teammates Almirola and Preece with 35 laps remaining.

    With 30 laps remaining, Briscoe retained the top spot by 0.083 seconds over teammate Almirola followed by Preece, Buescher and Harvick while Keselowski, Elliott, Ty Dillon, Chandler Smith and Truex continued to run in the top 10. With Erik Jones, Kyle Busch and Logano mired in 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively, Wallace retained 14th in front of McDowell while Bell, Austin Hill, LaJoie, Byron and Bowman were running in the top 20.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Briscoe continued to lead a long line of competitors towards the outside wall, with teammates Almirola and Preece along with Buescher and Harvick following suit. By then, the top-six spots continued to be occupied by Ford competitors as Keselowski was in sixth, Elliott served as the lead Chevrolet competitor in seventh and Wallace was the leading Toyota competitor as he returned to the top 10.

    A lap later, Preece attempted to make a charge to the front on the inside lane, but he got shuffled out of the draft and drifted back as Chandler Smith served as the lead competitor on the inside lane while Briscoe retained the lead on the outside lane.

    With 16 laps remaining, a wave of competitors led by Chandler Smith, including Wallace, pitted under green, mainly for fuel, as Briscoe continued to lead the rest of the field. Briscoe would then lead another wave of competitors to pit road for service under green with 14 laps remaining. Once the wave of competitors led by Briscoe completed their service, Harvick, who pitted during the first wave, cycled as the leader ahead of Elliott, Almirola, Buescher, Keselowski, Bowman and Briscoe while the wave of competitors who pitted earlier led by Kyle Busch, who was running 12th in front of Wallace, was slowly gaining ground.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Harvick was leading ahead of Elliott, Almirola, Buescher and Keselowski while Bowman, Briscoe, Byron, Logano and Ty Dillon trailed behind. Meanwhile, Wallace was in 13th behind McDowell and Kyle Busch while Erik Jones and Truex occupied the top 15.

    Two laps later, Almirola launched a charge on the outside lane, but Harvick moved up the track to block his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate. Harvick would then surge ahead with the top spot followed by Almirola and Buescher as Elliott tried to fight back on the inside lane as he had teammate Larson drafting him. Elliott then tried to launch another charge on the inside lane with seven laps remaining, but Harvick surged ahead on the outside lane as he, Almirola and Buescher briefly broke away from the pack. Teammates Buescher and Keselowski then overtook Almirola through the backstretch to move up to second and third as they settled behind Harvick with five laps remaining.

    Shortly after, the caution flew when Preece, who was running in the middle of the pack through the backstretch, got hit by Erik Jones as he veered sideways and collected teammate Briscoe in the process. Amid the collision, Preece’s No. 41 RaceChoice.com Ford Mustang then went airborne and barrel-rolled multiple times in the air and towards the backstretch’s infield before the battered car came to a violent rest on all four wheels. Despite the wild ride that ended his hopes of making this year’s Playoffs, Preece emerged uninjured as he was placed on a stretcher and medically escorted to the infield care center before being transported to a local hospital for further evaluation. Preece’s wild wreck was also enough to send the event into overtime.

    Following an extensive caution period, the race restarted in overtime as Harvick and Buescher occupied the front row in front of Elliott and Keselowski. At the start, Buescher and Harvick dueled for the lead entering Turns 1 and 2 until Buescher gained the upper hand as his teammate and co-owner Keselowski drafted his No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang into the lead entering the backstretch. Buescher then maintained the lead followed by Keselowski’s No. 6 King’s Hawaiian Ford Mustang as Almirola tried to move up to third place while battling alongside teammate Harvick and in front of Logano.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Buescher, who transitioned from the inside to the outside lane to retain the momentum and keep Keselowski behind him, remained as the leader as Harvick launched a charge with drafting help from Elliott. The two Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing competitors would slightly surge ahead entering the backstretch and remain on the outside lane with more momentum that included pushes from Almirola and Logano keeping them ahead of Harvick and Elliott. With Buescher and Keselowski starting to pull away from the pack through Turns 3 and 4, Harvick got shuffled out of the draft as Almirola and Elliott fanned out in their final hopes of making the Playoffs. Despite gaining momentum with drafting help, their runs were not enough to catch the Roush competitors as Buescher surged ahead and beat Keselowski to the finish line to capture his third checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season by 0.098 seconds over Keselowski.

    With the victory, Buescher became the fourth different competitor to achieve at least three victories throughout the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season as he also notched the fifth career win of his premier series resume and first at Daytona. With a total of 2,021 points, Buescher, who has made the Playoffs for the second time in his career and first since 2016, will line up in fourth place in this year’s Playoff grid and will embark on a 10-week Playoff stretch to battle for this year’s championship, beginning next weekend at Darlington Raceway.

    “[I owe Brad Keselowski] A little more than [the push],” Buescher said on NBC. “That was amazing. So proud to get Fifth Third Bank into Victory Lane here at Daytona. I knew we were coming here with fast [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing] Ford Mustangs and got there at the end and showed when it counted. That’s as much Brad’s win as ours right there. That was the right help. Aggressive, sticking with us, too, all the way to the line. I was waiting for him to do something there coming to the finish. I figured we’d be side-by-side, but looked like he got stalled out a little behind. Just so thankful to Brad for all those pushes there at the right time. [This season]’s hard to explain. It’s awesome, though. To be sitting here again [as a winner] so quickly. What a heck of a start into the Playoffs right now. It’s been a long time coming, a lot of work. So amazing for us.”

    While Buescher celebrated on the frontstretch, Bubba Wallace celebrated with his pit crew, family, friends, teammate Tyler Reddick and team owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin on pit road after securing the 16th and final spot to make the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs by finishing 12th on the track and being 47 points ahead of Daniel Suarez, who ended up 20th. As a result, Wallace, who is in his third season driving for 23XI Racing and was able to lock both 23XI Racing cars in the Playoffs alongside teammate Tyler Reddick, has qualified for the Cup Playoffs for the first time in his career and in a season highlighted with four top-five results, six top-10 results, 14 top-15 results and five 12th-place finishes, a career-high 159 laps led and an average-finishing result of 16.8 throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch. He will line up in 16th place in the Playoff standings with 2,000 points as he will contend for his first series title.

    “That was the most stressed, but also the most locked in that I’ve ever been, knowing that this place is mostly out of your control,” Wallace said. “I just try to focus on doing the things that I could do. Missing that wreck [at the end of Stage 2] was massive. [I] Appreciate [spotter] Freddie [Kraft]. He’s one of the best up on the roof that gets us through a lot and that’s what helps our resume here at the speedway stuff. Proud to be locked into the Playoffs. This is special for our team. 23XI [Racing], third year in, getting both cars in the Playoffs. We’ve gone through a lot of trials and tribulations, but just so proud of the effort that we put in. No matter how much we set ourselves back, we know that we have a kickass group and we can bounce back from anything.”

    Meanwhile, Elliott was left disappointed after surging his way to finish fourth on the track, but could not gain the momentum needed to make the Playoffs as this season will mark the first time where he will not contend as a Playoff competitor. Amid a difficult regular-season stretch where he was absent for a total of seven events, six due to an injury from a snowboarding accident earlier this season, Elliott remained optimistic as he set his sights on gaining momentum for the 2024 season.

    “I really liked where we were before the caution [with five laps remaining],” Elliott said. “Honestly after the [overtime] restart there, we had the bottom lane that we wanted. I knew [Keselowski] was gonna go with [Buescher]. I thought [Harvick] was gonna take the bottom [lane] and he did, and we really had all the help that we could ask for behind…It’s a bummer, for sure. [I] Hate the season’s worked out like it has, but the good news is the car got in the owner’s points. That’s a big deal. Credit to [crew chief] Alan [Gustafson] and everybody for continuing to work and scratch and claw while I was out to keep our team alive and to give ourselves a chance, so that’s a big deal. Probably much bigger than a lot of people realize to our team. Looking forward to these next 10 [races] and try to make a little noise on that side of things and just try to get ready and prepare for next year. I appreciate everybody’s support. The season hasn’t been what I would want by any means, but certainly gonna be some lessons taken from it and I think we’ll be better for it on the other end.”

    Almirola came home in third place behind Buescher and Keselowski as he too missed the 2023 Playoffs while Elliott and Logano finished in the top five on the track. Bowman, who also missed the Playoffs, settled in sixth while Kyle Busch, Byron, Harvick and Corey LaJoie finished in the top 10.

    William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kevin Harvick and Bubba Wallace have made the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

    Daniel Suarez, rookie Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Cindric, Aric Almirola, Justin Haley, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece, Todd Gilliland, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Harrison Burton, Chase Briscoe and Ty Dillon are the remaining full-time competitors who did not make the Playoffs.

    There were 22 lead changes for 17 different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 18 laps. In addition, 25 of 39 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Chris Buescher, two laps led

    2. Brad Keselowski, six laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Aric Almirola, three laps led

    4. Chase Elliott, two laps led

    5. Joey Logano, nine laps led

    6. Alex Bowman

    7. Kyle Busch, five laps led

    8. William Byron, one lap led

    9. Kevin Harvick, 14 laps led

    10. Corey LaJoie

    11. Ty Dillon

    12. Bubba Wallace

    13. Michael McDowell

    14. Austin Hill

    15. Chandler Smith

    16. Christopher Bell

    17. Ross Chastain, 19 laps led

    18. Erik Jones

    19. JJ Yeley

    20. Daniel Suarez, one lap led

    21. Justin Haley

    22. Josh Berry

    23. BJ McLeod

    24. Martin Truex Jr., four laps led, Stage 1 winner

    25. Tyler Reddick

    26. Denny Hamlin, one lap down, 12 laps led

    27. Kyle Larson, two laps down

    28. Harrison Burton, three laps down, five laps led

    29. AJ Allmendinger, three laps down, eight laps led

    30. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident, 67 laps led

    31. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

    32. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Overheating

    33. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

    34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    35. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident

    36. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, four laps led

    37. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident

    38. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

    39. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident

    The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to commence next Sunday, September 3, during Labor Day weekend at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina for the Cook Out Southern 500. The event’s broadcast is scheduled to occur at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Allgaier edges Creed in double overtime for thrilling Xfinity victory at Daytona

    Allgaier edges Creed in double overtime for thrilling Xfinity victory at Daytona

    Amid early adversity by dropping to the rear of the field and serving a pass-through penalty for multiple pre-qualifying technical failures to his No. 7 JR Motorsports entry, Justin Allgaier rallied in thrilling fashion by surviving two overtime attempts and late on-track chaos to edge Sheldon Creed in a photo finish and win the Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, August 25.

    The 37-year-old Allgaier from Riverton, Illinois, led twice for 14 of 110 over-scheduled laps, including the final 12, in an event where he was one of five competitors who served a pass-through penalty through pit road following the opening lap and due to his entry failing pre-qualifying inspection three times. Being mired towards the rear of the field, Allgaier managed to methodically carve his way to the front amid the draft and tight-packed racing before he led for the first time with 15 laps remaining.

    Following a caution period due to a multi-car wreck with eight laps remaining, Allgaier, who was then running on fumes to have enough fuel to the finish, reclaimed the lead at the start of a two-lap shootout when another multi-car wreck sent the event into an overtime attempt. Amid another multi-car wreck that sent the field into a second overtime attempt, where he managed to retain the lead, Allgaier then fended off late challenges from Parker Kligerman and Daniel Hemric before Sheldon Creed launched a final side-by-side duel on the final lap. With both drag-racing to the finish, Allgaier managed to edge Creed by 0.005 seconds to claim his second checkered flag of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season and his first at Daytona.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Austin Hill started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 182.719 mph in 49.256 seconds. Joining him on the front row was his Richard Childress Racing teammate Sheldon Creed, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 181.620 mph in 49.554 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included Justin Allgaier, Jordan Anderson, Jeb Burton, rookie Parker Retzlaff and Ryan Sieg dropped to the rear of the field and were assessed pass-through penalties through pit road as a result of their respective entries failing pre-race technical inspection multiple times. Connor Mosack and Natalie Decker were also sent to the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments to their respective entries, but not assessed pass-through penalties.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, teammates Hill and Creed dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Hill muscled ahead from the outside lane. Hill then transitioned from the outside to the inside lane and back to the outside lane to defend his line and the lead while rookie Chandler Smith dueled and challenged rookie Sammy Smith for the lead. With the field running two by two and just as Allgaier, Anderson, Jeb Burton, Retzlaff and Ryan Sieg served their pass-through penalties, Hill proceeded to lead the first lap while Chandler Smith and Sammy Smith continued to duel for the runner-up spot.

    Just past the third lap mark, Hill maintained the lead as he was running on the outside lane while Sammy Smith tried to challenge Hill for the lead on the inside lane as he had Creed following him while Chandler Smith and Daniel Hemric remained on the outside lane to assist Hill amid the draft.

    Through the first five scheduled laps and with the field still running in two stacked lanes amid the draft, Hill was leading ahead of Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith, Hemric and Trevor Bayne while Creed, Sam Mayer, Parker Kligerman, Riley Herbst and Justin Haley were in the top 10. By then, Kaz Grala was in 11th ahead of Cole Custer, Anthony Alfredo, Josh Berry and John Hunter Nemechek while Brandon Jones, Brett Moffitt, Joe Graf Jr., Jeremy Clements and JJ Yeley occupied the top 20. In addition, the top 32 competitors were separated by three seconds.

    A lap later, Sammy Smith gained a run beneath Hill entering the frontstretch and started to inch ahead, but Hill managed to regain his momentum and retain the top spot by a hair towards the start/finish line mark. Hill and Smith continued to duel for the top spot during the proceeding laps until Smith managed to lead a lap for himself on the eighth lap.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Sammy Smith, who continued to duel against Hill for the lead, was leading by 0.003 seconds over Hill as the top-32 competitors were separated by five seconds amid the draft.

    Five laps later, Hill, who reassumed the lead on Lap 11, retained the lead ahead of teammate Creed followed by Chandler Smith, Hemric and Alfredo while Mayer, Moffitt, Clements, Custer and Kligerman were in the top 10, with a majority of the field migrating to the outside lane behind Hill. Meanwhile, Herbst, who was running 31st, reported a steering issue to his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang, though he continued to run at full pace.

    At Lap 20 and with nearly the entire field running in a long single file line on the outside lane, Hill, who had debris on his front grille, continued to lead ahead of Creed followed by Chandler Smith, Hemric and Alfredo while Moffitt, Clements, Mayer, Custer and Kligerman retained the top-10 spots in the running order. Shortly after, Mayer, who was running eighth, attempted to make a move to the front amid the draft as he transitioned from the outside to the inside lane, but he had no assistance from anyone as he dropped towards the top 15 on the track. With Kligerman also meeting the same fate as his move to the bottom lane did not prevail, Hill would retain the lead ahead of teammate Creed and Chandler Smith through the Lap 25 mark.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Hill, who fended off a late surge from Chandler Smith through the backstretch as he maintained control of both lanes through Turns 3 and 4, claimed his fourth stage victory of the 2023 season. Creed edged Chandler Smith to settle in second while Moffitt, Alfredo, Brandon Jones, Hemric, Clements, Custer and Bayne were scored in the top 10. By then, Herbst blew a left-front tire and damaged his fender amid his steering issue as he limped his Ford back to pit road. The issue would place Herbst three laps behind the leaders despite continuing under full pace while his Playoff hopes were taking another hit amid on-track issues.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hill pitted. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Hill exited first ahead of Nemechek, Creed, Sammy Smith and Kligerman, all of whom took two tires, while sixth-place Chandler Smith was the first competitor to opt for four fresh tires ahead of teammate Hemric and Brandon Jones.

    The second stage started on Lap 36 as teammates Hill and Creed occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek gave Hill a push to muscle ahead of Creed which enabled Hill to maintain the lead. Hill then continued to run the outside lane in front of Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith while Creed was trying to fight back on the inside lane with drafting help from Kligerman. As the field fanned out to three lanes entering the frontstretch, Hill retained the lead.

    By Lap 40, Creed gained a run on the inside lane with drafting help from Kligerman as he muscled ahead of Hill and led a lap for himself. A lap later and with the field fanned out to three lanes, the caution flew when Anthony Alfredo moved up the track and made contact with Brandon Jones who got loose and clipped Moffitt before both veered and collided against the outside wall towards the frontstretch. The incident triggered a multi-car wreck that involved Connor Mosack, Kyle Weatherman, Allgaier, Haley, Connor Mosack, Moffitt, Grala, Joe Graf Jr., Ryan Sieg, Natalie Decker and Alex Guenette. During the extensive caution period, some led by Berry pitted while the rest led by Creed remained on the track.

    When the race restarted on Lap 50, which marked the halfway mark of this event, Creed received a shove from teammate Hill to muscle ahead from the outside lane ahead of Kligerman. Despite Kligerman drawing even with Creed through the backstretch, Creed fired back on top through Turns 3 and 4 and back to the frontstretch before Kligerman fought back during the following lap in Turn 1. Kligerman then received a huge push from Nemechek and Bayne through the backstretch to rocket ahead with the lead as he led the Lap 52 mark.

    By Lap 53, however, Bayne, who was making his first of three Xfinity starts of the season while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, powered past Kligerman and emerged as the new leader while Kligerman and Chandler Smith battled for second in front of Nemechek, Creed, Hill and Hemric. Bayne would proceed to lead through and past the Lap 55 mark as the field settled in a long single-file line behind Bayne and towards the outside wall amid the draft.

    Two laps later, Creed made his move beneath the inside lane and overtook Bayne to reassume the lead followed by teammate Hill and Kligerman. Hill then bailed on Creed as he assumed the lead. In the process, Bayne and Kligerman moved to second and third while Creed fell back to fourth in front of Sammy Smith and Hemric.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 60, Creed, who threw a big block on Custer through the backstretch before drawing even against teammate Hill through Turns 3 and 4, edged Hill by a fender to claim the stage victory, which marked his fourth of the 2023 season. Hill settled in second ahead of Custer, Sammy Smith and Hemric while Nemechek, Bayne, Kligerman, Mayer and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Creed pitted. Following the pit stops and another cycle of mixed strategies, Mayer, who nearly spun his car upon exiting his pit stall, exited first after opting for no fresh tires followed by Creed, who pitted for two fresh tires, as Allgaier, Hill, Sammy Smith, Custer and Berry followed suit. By then, Bayne, who exited pit road in 10th, was the first competitor who opted for four fresh tires.

    With 34 laps remaining, the final stage started as Mayer and Creed occupied the front row. At the start, Mayer and Creed dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Creed muscled ahead from the inside lane with drafting help from teammate Hill while Mayer was trying to connect with teammate Allgaier from the outside lane. Creed and Hill, however, would prevail on the inside lane as they rocketed away from the field that fanned out to three stacked lanes through the frontstretch and during the proceeding lap.

    With 30 laps remaining, Creed and Sammy Smith dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes as Creed had teammate Hill assisting him amid the draft while Smith had teammates Bayne and Nemechek along with Kligerman assisting him on the inside lane. Smith would prevail through the backstretch as he led the following lap before Creed returned the favor and reassumed the lead. By then, Smith, who nearly got turned by Hill through the backstretch, was deadlocked against Bayne for the runner-up spot until Bayne muscled ahead and started to challenge Creed for the lead with drafting help from Nemechek.

    Five laps later, Bayne, who had been dueling against Creed during the previous few laps for the lead, had the top spot and both lanes to his control as he was ahead of teammates Nemechek and Sammy Smith amid two tight-packed lanes. Shortly after, Kligerman made a bold three-wide move on the backstretch to assume the runner-up spot as he settled behind Bayne while Creed dueled Sammy Smith for third in front of Nemechek and Hill. Teammates Sammy Smith and Nemechek would reclaim second and third during the following lap as they both settled behind Bayne amid the draft. Nemechek and Smith, however, would both get shuffled out of the draft with 22 laps remaining as Kligerman reclaimed second while Creed, Mayer, Hill and Allgaier were in the top six.

    With 20 laps remaining, Bayne, trying to block both lanes, was still leading ahead of Creed and Kligerman while Hill, Mayer and Allgaier joined the battle toward the front. Two laps later, Mayer muscled ahead beneath Bayne to lead a lap for himself before Bayne fought back on the outside lane. With Bayne having Creed pushing him from the outside lane, Mayer had teammate Allgaier assisting him on the inside lane as Jeb Burton charged his way into the top five along with Creed, Kligerman and Nemechek.

    Five laps later, Allgaier, who received a huge push from Bayne through the backstretch, managed to duel and overtake teammate Mayer to lead and muscle ahead of the pack that fanned out to three tight lanes. With Allgaier leading, he then blocked teammate Mayer to defend the spot and maintain control of both lanes as Bayne also tried to fight back with drafting help from Creed. Bayne would then draw even against Allgaier through Turns 3 and 4 before sliding in front of Allgaier and reassuming the lead with 13 laps remaining. With Bayne back out in front ahead of Allgaier and Creed, Hill pushed Kligerman to fourth while Mayer was getting shuffled out of the top five. With Hill cracking back in the top three, he gave teammate Creed the assistance needed to reassume a brief lead from Bayne with 12 laps remaining before Bayne fought back and dueled with Creed for the lead.

    Dow to the final 10 laps of the event, Bayne was leading by 0.027 seconds ahead of Creed with Allgaier, Hill and Kligerman running in the top five while Chandler Smith, Hemric, Mayer, Alfredo and Jeb Burton were battling in the top 10. By then, Sammy Smith and Nemechek were back in the top 12 while Custer and Berry were mired outside the top 15.

    Then two laps later, the caution flew when Jeb Burton, who was running in the top 10, veered sideways entering Turns 3 and 4 and despite trying to keep his car straight, he ended up spinning before making contact with the outside wall. Amid Burton’s wreck, more issues ensued behind the lead pack as Haley got hit by Caesar Bacarella as he spun while Ryan Ellis also spun and pounded the inside wall towards the pit road entrance head-on while Bacarella plowed his damaged car through the frontstretch grass. At the moment of caution, Bayne retained the lead after executing a bold block on Hill through Turns 3 and 4 as Allgaier, Hill, Kligerman and Chandler Smith were scored in the top five.

    During the caution period, some like Custer, Berry, Moffitt, Clements, Ryan Sieg, Garrett Smithley and Blaine Perkins pitted while the rest led by Bayne remained on the track.

    With the event restarting with two laps remaining, where Bayne and Allgaier occupied the front row front of Kligerman and Hill, Allgaier and Bayne dueled for the lead exiting the backstretch until Hill tried to make a move to the outside of Bayne. As Bayne tried to block Hill, his late move ended up being costly as Bayne got turned into the outside wall and ignited a chain reaction multi-car wreck with Chandler Smith getting bumped by teammate Hemric and turned into Nemechek and Mayer, who spun and clipped Bayne’s No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra as Bayne then clipped teammate Nemechek in the process and destroyed his rear deck lid, as Sammy Smith, JJ Yeley and Jeffrey Earnhardt sustained damage to their respective entries. Amid the wreck that eliminated most of the front-runners, Allgaier escaped with the race lead followed by Kligerman, Retzlaff, Hemric and Creed. The wreck also sent the event into overtime.

    During the first overtime attempt, where Allgaier and Kligerman occupied the front row, Allgaier muscled ahead in his No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro with a narrow lead over Kligerman’s No. 48 Spiked Coolers Chevrolet Camaro as the field started to fan out exiting the frontstretch and entering the first turn. Allgaier and Kligerman dueled for the top spot through Turns 1 and 2 before Allgaier started to inch ahead with drafting help from Creed on the inside lane. Then through the backstretch, the caution returned and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt when Blaine Perkins got loose and turned into Josh Williams, who spun and clipped Berry into a spin before he hit the outside wall head-on as his car briefly got airborne after then getting hit by Nemechek’s No. 20 Yahoo! Toyota Supra, whose event came to a fiery end. Bayne, Clements and Moffitt were also involved in the wreck as their runs came to a late end.

    For the second overtime attempt, Allgaier surged ahead on the inside lane while Hemric and Kligerman battled for the runner-up spot. As the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch, Hemric and Kligerman appeared to have formed a two-car tandem behind Allgaier before Kligerman made a move to Hemric’s outside. This allowed Allgaier to maintain the lead as Creed drafted Kligerman away from Hemric with more momentum coming to the outside lane.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allgaier remained as the leader over Kligerman, Creed and the field through the frontstretch. With the event remaining under green flag conditions as Kaz Grala spun towards the frontstretch, Creed made his move into the runner-up spot amid a tight battle with Kligerman while Allgaier was left to fend off both lanes by himself as he was pulling away from the field.

    Then through the backstretch, Creed gained a draft from Hemric to make his move to Allgaier’s outside as both dueled for the top spot through Turns 3 and 4. With the field approaching the frontstretch while Jordan Anderson and Berry wrecked behind, Allgaier managed to surge ahead and edge Creed’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro by 0.005 seconds to claim his first victory at Daytona.

    With the victory, Allgaier scored his 21st career victory in the Xfinity Series, his first since winning at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and his first at Daytona in his 26th series start as he became the fifth series regular to achieve multiple victories this season. The victory was the fourth of the season for JR Motorsports, the team’s eighth at Daytona and the 13th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate.

    “I’ve been coming to this place for a long time,” Allgaier, who celebrated on the frontstretch with his team, said on USA Network. “I’ve wanted to win here so bad and we’ve been so close. This team, I just can’t say enough. [Crew chief] Jim Pohlman, everybody on this No. 7 team, everybody at JR Motorsports. Our Hellmann’s Camaro was awesome tonight. To come through the adversity we had to come through and to not really be sure what we were going to have there at the end. We did all the things we needed to do. The team never quit, never gave up and we rallied. Obviously, we put ourselves in good position. Man, it’s special. This is Daytona. This is one of the iconic places in the world and I’m just so thankful to be here.”

    Despite finishing in the runner-up spot for the fifth time in his Xfinity career and second in recent weeks after falling short a week ago at Watkins Glen International, Creed remained optimistic over his strong run throughout the night as he is 60 points above the top-12 cutline to make the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs with two regular-season events remaining on the schedule.

    “We have some momentum, finally,” Creed said. “Back-to-back second places. I’m cleaning it up and doing better myself. Just putting races together. I thought we killed it tonight. [Finished] second [in] Stage 1, won Stage 2…Just an amazing night for us. Good points night for us, so we’re gonna make the Playoffs this year and we’re gonna keep fighting for these good finishes. It’s a good time to be heating up.”

    Hemric came home in third place for his fifth top-five finish of the season followed by Kligerman, who nabbed his sixth top-five result of the season and coming off the announcement that he will be remaining at Big Machine Racing for the 2024 season. Hemric’s run currently places him 57 points above the top-12 cutline to make the 2023 Xfinity Playoffs while Kligerman was able to crack the top-12 cutline and be 20 points within the cutline amid Herbst’s issues as Herbst ended up 24th, two laps down.

    Cole Custer finished fifth while Ryan Sieg, Parker Retzlaff, Alfredo, Gray Gaulding and Haley completed the top 10 on the track.

    There were 20 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 32 laps. In addition, 19 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With two Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, Austin Hill continues to lead the regular-season standings by 27 points over Justin Allgaier and 28 over John Hunter Nemechek.

    Results.

    1. Justin Allgaier, 14 laps led

    2. Sheldon Creed, 21 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Daniel Hemric

    4. Parker Kligerman, one lap led

    5. Cole Custer, one lap led

    6. Ryan Sieg

    7. Parker Retzlaff

    8. Anthony Alfredo

    9. Gray Gaulding

    10. Justin Haley

    11. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    12. Jeb Burton

    13. Kyle Sieg

    14. Joey Gase

    15. Jordan Anderson

    16. Garrett Smithley

    17. Josh Berry

    18. Brett Moffitt

    19. Sam Mayer, six laps led

    20. Kaz Grala, one lap down

    21. Sammy Smith, one lap down, four laps led

    22. Chandler Smith, one lap down, one lap led

    23. Austin Hill, one lap down, 36 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    24. Riley Herbst, two laps down

    25. Blaine Perkins, two laps down

    26. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Accident

    27. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

    28. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

    29. Trevor Bayne – OUT, Accident, 26 laps led

    30. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

    31. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident

    32. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident

    33. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Dvp

    34. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Dvp

    35. Natalie Decker – OUT, Accident

    36. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident

    37. Connor Mosack – OUT, Accident

    38. Alex Guenette – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ second and final visit of this season to Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, September 2, during Labor Day weekend at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Chase Briscoe wins the pole for NASCAR’s regular-season finale at Daytona

    Chase Briscoe wins the pole for NASCAR’s regular-season finale at Daytona

    Chase Briscoe captured the NASCAR Cup Series pole for Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway after posting a qualifying lap of 181.822 mph in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. It marks Briscoe’s second Cup Series career pole.

    After qualifying, Briscoe admitted that he was not confident as he left pit road to qualify. “I was worried,” he said. “When I left pit road I did an absolutely terrible job. I spun the tires and I shifted way too early to second and then I had a double lift on the gas at third and fourth and I was like, ‘Man, I completely threw this away,’ so I knew it was gonna be extremely close getting back to the line and just barely was able to be there.

    “It’s cool for Stewart-Haas Racing. It’s no secret that it’s been a struggle for us this year and to bring two really fast Fords to Daytona and lock out the front row is a testament to everything the men and women back there are doing and this Roush Yates power under the hood.”

    His teammate, Aric Almirola, will join Briscoe on the front row, after laying down a 181.693 mph lap in the final round. Wood Brothers Racing’s Harrison Burton claimed the third spot in the No. 21 Ford, his career-best starting position. Toyota drivers Bubba Wallace (23XI Racing) and Ty Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing) rounded out the top five.

    Riley Herbst qualified sixth for Front Row Motorsports in only his third Cup Series start as Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, the only Chevrolet driver in the top 10, was seventh. Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney was eighth quickest, as Stewart-Haas Racing teammates, Ryan Preece and Kevin Harvick, earned the final two spots in the top 10.

    There is more on the line than usual this weekend with only one spot remaining in the 16-driver Cup Series Playoffs which is set to begin next week at Darlington Raceway.

    All eyes will be on Chase Elliott as he attempts to keep the streak alive after having made the Playoffs for seven consecutive years. He is currently 19th in the driver playoff standings and nothing short of a win will advance him.

    After qualifying 23rd, Elliott will have his work cut out for him but he remains determined.

    “I still don’t think it matters a whole lot,” Elliott said of qualifying at Daytona. “I do think track position matters at some point during the day, and we saw that in the [Daytona] 500 here. I crashed there early on, but the part of the race I was in, I felt like everybody was stuck. We couldn’t go anywhere. I was looking around, and there were times during the race I was like, he’s trying to go forward and can’t.

    “I think the more the cars are the same as time has gone on, it’s hard to be different, then it puts all the emphasis on the little stuff. How fast are your pit stops? How much gas you got in it? How good’s your restart? All the itty-bitty little things become much larger pieces of the puzzle when the cars are just more and more the same, especially when you’re running around here wide open.”

    “There’s still a little bit of a difference,” he added. “Whether it’s the driver, the car or a combination of both, I still think a guy can make himself stand out.”

    Tune into the Coke Sugar Zero 400 Saturday evening at 7 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock for all the racing action as the Cup Series playoff field is set.

    Starting Lineup

    1. Chase Briscoe
    2. Aric Almirola
    3. Harrison Burton
    4. Bubba Wallace
    5. Ty Gibbs (R)
    6. Riley Herbst
    7. Kyle Larson
    8. Ryan Blaney
    9. Ryan Preece
    10. Kevin Harvick
    11. Chris Buescher
    12. Brad Keselowski
    13. Martin Truex Jr.
    14. Joey Logano
    15. Christopher Bell
    16. Austin Cindric
    17. AJ Allmendinger
    18. Kyle Busch
    19. Denny Hamlin
    20. Tyler Reddick
    21. Austin Dillon
    22. Daniel Suarez
    23. Chase Elliott
    24. Erik Jones
    25. Ross Chastain
    26. Austin Hill
    27. William Byron
    28. Justin Haley
    29. Josh Berry
    30. Ty Dillon
    31. Alex Bowman
    32. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    33. JJ Yeley
    34. Brennan Poole
    35. Todd Gilliland
    36. Chandler Smith
    37. Corey LaJoie
    38. BJ McLeod
    39. Michael McDowell
  • Byron executes on pit strategy to claim dominant Cup victory at Watkins Glen

    Byron executes on pit strategy to claim dominant Cup victory at Watkins Glen

    After finishing no higher than 14th during his previous five scheduled starts, William Byron responded with an emphatic and potential championship-performance statement after scoring a dominant victory in the Go Bowling at The Glen on Sunday, August 20.

    The 25-year-old Byron from Charlotte, North Carolina, led three times for a race-high 66 of 90-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row alongside pole-sitter Denny Hamlin and spent the first stage period running in the top five. Then during the first wave of green flag pit stops that ensued entering the second stage period, a strategic call by crew chief Ryan “Rudy” Fugle and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team to have Byron pit a lap after the front-runners enabled Byron to cycle ahead of them.

    He proceeded to lead starting on Lap 24 and claimed the second stage victory. Then following another well-executed call to pit with 35 laps remaining just as teammate Chase Elliott drew a caution for running out of fuel on the course, Byron cycled back to the lead with 33 laps remaining and retained the top spot during a 30-lap shootout to the finish, setting sail to his unprecedented fifth checkered flag of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, August 19, Denny Hamlin notched his fourth Cup pole of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 125.298 mph in 70.392 seconds. Joining him on the front row was William Byron, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 124.961 mph in 70.582 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Aric Almirola, Cole Custer, Justin Haley, Brad Keselowski and Corey LaJoie dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective entries.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Hamlin rocketed ahead with an early advantage while the field fanned out entering the first turn. As the field continued to duke for early positions through the Esses and the first four turns, Hamlin retained the lead ahead of a hard-charging McDowell. Through the Inner Loop Bus Stop Corner before entering the Carousel, the Outer Loop and the final set of turns, Hamlin managed to fend off McDowell and a pack of competitors jostling for spots to lead the first lap.

    Through the second lap, McDowell attempted to make a move beneath Hamlin for the lead entering Turn 1. In spite of Hamlin briefly going off the track through Turn 1, Hamlin managed to retain the lead through the Esses ahead of McDowell while William Byron trailed behind in third in front of rookie Ty Gibbs and AJ Allmendinger. Hamlin would also manage to navigate his way smoothly through the Carousel and the Esses with the top spot, but McDowell continued to close as he awaited his opportunity to take the lead.

    Two laps later, McDowell, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, made his move beneath Hamlin’s No. 11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota TRD Camry and drew himself into a brief duel with Hamlin before he muscled his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang ahead with the top spot entering Turn 2. Byron then followed suit and assumed the runner-up spot through Turns 2 to 4 in his No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Hamlin settled in third in front of teammate Ty Gibbs. With Hamlin settling in between Byron and Gibbs, McDowell proceeded to lead, starting on the fourth lap.

    During the fourth lap, early trouble struck for Daniel Suarez, who was running 10th before he got loose while hitting the curbs exiting the Bus Stop Corner and spun as he barely hit the inside wall, but he was able to proceed without drawing a caution. Meanwhile, McDowell retained the lead through the fifth lap mark over a hard-charging Byron.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, McDowell was leading by four-tenths of a second over Byron followed by Hamlin, Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger while Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch were in the top 10. Behind, Joey Logano was in 11th ahead of Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Austin Cindric and Chris Buescher while Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., Ross Chastain, Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney was mired in 21st ahead of Mike Rockenfeller, Ryan Preece, Corey LaJoie and Daniel Suarez while Todd Gilliland, Ty Dillon, Andy Lally, Erik Jones and Kevin Harvick were back in the top 30. Amid the running order, Brad Keselowski was in 33rd in between Justin Haley and Aric Almirola while Harrison Burton was mired in 36th, a lap down in last place, after an earlier chain reaction resulted with Lally bumping and spinning Burton’s No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang in the Carousel Corner without drawing a caution.

    Five laps later, McDowell continued to lead by half a second over Byron while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than a second. In the process, Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger remained in the top five ahead of Larson while Bell, Wallace and Kyle Busch overtook Reddick to move up to seventh through ninth, respectively. In addition, Elliott retained 13th ahead of Buescher and teammate Bowman, Truex was mired back in 23rd and Harvick was in 28th in front of Keselowski.

    Another two laps later, green flag pit stops ensued as Truex pitted his No. 19 Siemens Toyota TRD Camry along with Blaney and Elliott. Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Aric Almirola, Cindric and Bowman would also pit during the ensuing laps as McDowell continued to lead.

    At the conclusion of the first stage period on Lap 20, McDowell, who first assumed the lead on the fourth lap, captured his second Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Byron settled in second followed by Hamlin, Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger while Larson, Bell, Wallace, Kyle Busch and Reddick were scored in the top 10. By then, more names that included Austin Dillon, Reddick, Preece and Corey LaJoie pitted under green.

    With the event proceeding under green just past the Lap 20 mark to start the second stage, McDowell led Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Larson, Bell, Wallace, Kyle Busch and a host of competitors during the following lap to pit road for service under green while Byron assumed the lead followed by Allmendinger. Amid the pit stops, McDowell, who managed to exit pit road ahead of Hamlin, was assessed a penalty for driving through too many pit boxes prior to entering his pit box for service. Byron would then pit under green on Lap 22 as Allmendinger assumed the lead. Once Allmendinger pitted by Lap 23 after leading two laps, Byron, who earlier managed to blend back on the track from pit road ahead of Hamlin, assumed the lead followed by Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Allmendinger, Larson and Keselowski, who has yet to pit. As Byron proceeded to lead just past the Lap 25 mark, McDowell was mired back in 17th behind Truex. In addition, Bell, Elliott, Wallace and Kyle Busch were scored in the top 10.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Byron maintained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Ty Gibbs, Allmendinger and Larson while Bell, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Wallace and Reddick were running in the top 10. By then, Keselowski pitted his No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang under green while Austin Dillon, Logano, Briscoe, McDowell and Truex were scored in the top 15. With Keselowski losing spots as he blended back onto the racetrack amid his pit stop, Harvick was in 28th behind teammate Almirola, Suarez was in 26th and Bowman was mired in 17th in between Blaney and Buescher.

    By Lap 35, Byron extended his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Ty Gibbs, Larson and Allmendinger remained in the top five. In addition, Bell, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Wallace and Reddick retained their respective spots in the top 10 while McDowell was mired in 12th in between Austin Dillon and Logano.

    At the conclusion of the second stage on Lap 40, Byron captured his eighth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Hamlin settled in second while Ty Gibbs, Larson, Allmendinger, Bell, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Wallace and Austin Dillon were scored in the top 10.

    With the event commencing under a continuous green flag period with 50 laps remaining, Byron was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Hamlin. Byron would proceed to extend his advantage to more than a second over Hamlin as the event reached its halfway mark with 45 laps remaining. Behind, Ty Gibbs, Larson and Allmendinger remained in the top five while Bell, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Wallace and Ausitn Dillon continued to run in the top 10 with McDowell moving up to 11th ahead of Reddick, Logano, Truex and Blaney.

    With 40 laps remaining, Byron continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than three seconds over Hamlin while Larson overtook Ty Gibbs to move into third place. With Allmendinger retaining fifth ahead of Bell and Kyle Busch, McDowell returned to the top 10 as he moved up to ninth in between Elliott and Wallace while Truex was scored in 12th in between Austin Dillon and Blaney.

    Three laps later, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Ty Gibbs pitted his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry while running in the top five. McDowell would also pit along with Blaney, Suarez, Larson, Logano, Reddick, Preece, Stenhouse, Almirola, Cindric and Buescher as Byron continued to lead by more than five seconds over Hamlin.

    Then two laps later, the caution flew when Elliott ran out of fuel through the Esses as his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 coasted entering the Inner Loop before coming to a full stop off the course near the Bus Stop Corner. By then, Byron, Hamlin, Allmendinger and Bell had pitted prior to the caution being displayed. In addition, Larson, who had just pitted prior to the caution, was penalized for speeding while exiting pit road and was sent to the rear of the field for the ensuing restart.

    During the caution period, some led by Kyle Busch, including those who had not yet made a pit stop, pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track. By then, Elliott, who was assisted by a wrecker to return to pit road, lost a lap to the leaders as he was mired in 34th.

    When the race restarted under green with 30 laps remaining, where Byron and Hamlin occupied the front row, Byron and Hamlin dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1 as the field fanned out. Entering the Esses, Byron managed to clear Hamlin to retain the lead ahead of Bell and Allmendinger while Truex was up to fifth in front of teammate Ty Gibbs. In addition, Blaney was up to seventh ahead of Buescher while McDowell was in ninth ahead of Logano. As the field navigated its way through the Bus Stop Corner, the Carousel and the final sets of turns while jostling for late positions, Byron managed to place a reasonable gap between himself and Hamlin as he retained the lead for the following lap.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Byron was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Bell while Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs, both of whom are needing a victory to make the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, were running fourth and fifth. Behind, Truex, the regular-season leader, was sixth while Buescher, McDowell, Reddick and Blaney were running in the top 10 ahead of Logano, Todd Gilliland, Stenhouse, Wallace and Keselowski. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was back in 17th, Harvick was back in 23rd in front of Larson and Bowman was mired in 26th behind Suarez.

    Five laps later, Byron extended his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Hamlin while Bell, Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs remained in the top five on the track. Behind, Truex, Buescher, McDowell, Reddick and Blaney also remained in the top 10. By then, Wallace retained 14th ahead of Keselowski and Cindric, Kyle Busch was still mired in 17th, Larson was back in 21st behind Austin Dillon, Harvick was down in 24th ahead of Suarez and Bowman was in 26th. In addition, Elliott was mired in 33rd and not scored on the lead lap along with Harrison Burton, Chase Briscoe and Ty Dillon.

    With 15 laps remaining, Byron stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Hamlin while Bell, Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs remained in the top five. By then, the event remained under green flag conditions despite Almirola spinning entering the frontstretch. Not long after, McDowell, who was running eighth, pitted under green after the power in his No. 34 Ford shut off, which resulted with him coasting through the circuit before limping his car to his pit stall as his pit crew went underneath the hood of McDowell’s car to diagnose the issue. The issue would eventually be terminal for McDowell as he capped off his roller coaster event in 36th place, dead last.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Byron extended his advantage to two seconds over Hamlin while Bell, Allmendinger and Ty Gibs continued to run in the top 10. With McDowell out of contention, Truex was in sixth followed by Buescher, Reddick, Blaney and Logano while Gilliland, Stenhouse, Wallace, Keselowski and Kyle Busch were in the top 15.

    With five laps remaining, Byron stabilized his advantage to nearly three seconds over Hamlin as Bell, Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs remained in the top five.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Byron remained as the leader by more than three seconds over Hamlin. With Hamlin unable to gain ground, Byron was able to cycle his No. 24 Chevrolet smoothly around Watkins Glen’s series of turns for a final time before re-emerging through the frontstretch in clean air and to capture his fifth checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season.

    With the victory and the regained momentum, Byron notched his ninth career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his career-high fifth of the season and his first on a road course venue. The victory at Watkins Glen was the 102nd overall for Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 24 entry, with HMS notching its 298th Cup career win overall, as Byron claimed his first victory since winning the rain-shortened event at Atlanta Motor Speedway in early July.

    “[The win] feels really good,” Byron said on USA Network. “Just a huge credit to the race team behind me. I wanna thank [road ringer] Max Papis. This first road course win. We’ve worked years and years for this. Thanks to all the guys on the team. It’s a great win. I don’t know what it means in all that. I don’t read into that, but I think it shows that when we’re at our best, we can perform like this. We seem to go through that summer slump in July and August. For some reason, we just can’t quite put the races together. I think it’s the racetracks itself. [I] Just came this weekend with a good mindset. [I] Focused it on trying to get ready for the postseason. We’ve had fast cars. We just haven’t executed races, but today, it was flawless. Road courses have been tough, so it’s fun to get a win. Really good strategy by [the crew].”

    Hamlin, the pole-sitter who led the first three laps, settled in the runner-up spot for the third time this season after trailing Byron to the finish line by more than two seconds while teammate Bell finished third.

    “I’m happy with my day,” Hamlin said. “It takes me a while to get going and with [Michael] McDowell there at the beginning, he’s ready and he’s on kill, and I’m kind of working my way into it. I just hate that I lost the lead because I just looked at [Byron]’s back bumper the rest of the day. It was a fun race.”

    Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs finished fourth and fifth, respectively, as both enter next weekend’s regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway 72 and 32 points, respectively, below the top-16 cutline in their final hopes of making the Playoffs. Truex, the regular-season leader in the standings, came home in sixth place and leaves Watkins Glen with a 39-point lead in the standings while Buescher, Reddick, Blaney and Logano finished in the top 10.

    Notably, Wallace finished 12th and he leaves Watkins Glen grasping onto the 16th and final vacant spot to the Playoffs by 32 points. Kyle Busch finished 14th followed by Keselowski, Cindric ended up 16th, Mike Rockenfeller ended up 19th in his second Cup start behind Ross Chastain, Harvick settled in 21st in front of Suarez and Bowman and Elliott capped off his run in 32nd, a lap down. In addition, Larson and Austin Dillon ended up 26th and 31st, respectively, after Larson collided into Dillon entering the final turn and sent both spinning.

    There were six lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured a single caution period for four laps. In addition, 31 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With one regular-season event remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the regular-season standings by 39 points over teammate Denny Hamlin and 76 over William Byron.

    William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. With Byron winning at The Glen, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski have clinched spots for the Playoffs based on points while Bubba Wallace occupies the 16th and final vacant spot to the Playoffs by 32 points over rookie Ty Gibbs. Daniel Suarez trails the top-16 cutline by 43 points, AJ Allmendinger trails by 72, Alex Bowman trails by 96, Chase Elliott trails by 101, Austin Cindric trails by 114, Justin Haley trails by 162, Ryan Preece trails by 167 and Aric Almirola trails by 177.

    Results.

    1. William Byron, 66 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Denny Hamlin, three laps led

    3. Christopher Bell

    4. AJ Allmendinger, two laps led

    5. Ty Gibbs

    6. Martin Truex Jr.

    7. Chris Buescher

    8. Tyler Reddick

    9. Ryan Blaney

    10. Joey Logano

    11. Todd Gilliland

    12. Bubba Wallace

    13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    14. Kyle Busch, two laps led

    15. Brad Keselowski

    16. Austin Cindric

    17. Ryan Preece

    18. Ross Chastain

    19. Mike Rockenfeller

    20. Corey LaJoie

    21. Kevin Harvick

    22. Daniel Suarez

    23. Alex Bowman

    24. Justin Haley

    25. Andy Lally

    26. Kyle Larson

    27. Josh Bilicki

    28. Cole Custer

    29. Erik Jones

    30. Aric Almirola

    31. Austin Dillon

    32. Chase Elliott, one lap down

    33. Harrison Burton, one lap down

    34. Ty Dillon, one lap down

    35. Chase Briscoe, seven laps down

    36. Michael McDowell – OUT, Electrical, 17 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero Sugar 400, which will determine the 16-driver field of this year’s Cup Series Playoffs. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, August 26, at 7 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Denny Hamlin earns 40th career Cup Series pole at Watkins Glen

    Denny Hamlin earns 40th career Cup Series pole at Watkins Glen

    Denny Hamlin claimed the NASCAR Cup Series Pole for the Go Bowling at The Glen race at Watkins Glen International with a 125.298 mph lap in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. It is his fourth pole this season and his second at the 2.45-mile track.

    After qualifying, he spoke about his approach to racing at Watkins Glen and how it differs from other road courses.

    “I think it’s probably the least technical of all the road courses,” Hamlin explained. “Obviously, they call it the superspeedway of road courses. I think, like Tyler Reddick, his skill set on road courses doesn’t really play a huge benefit – the way he attacks them doesn’t really pay a huge dividend at this race track. I think you see more unconventional guys run up front here because it’s not quite as technical as the others. I just think that it’s pretty straightforward. I’ve got so many laps here that I certainly feel comfortable. And obviously, my car today has got speed.”

    William Byron will join Hamlin on the front road after setting the second-fastest qualifying lap time in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Michael McDowell will start third in the Front Row Motorsports Ford followed by Ty Gibbs in the No. 54 Toyota. Kyle Larson will round out the top-5 in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet.

    AJ Allmendinger (Kaulig Racing), Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing), Tyler Reddick (23I), Kyle Busch (RCR) and Corey LaJoie (Spire Motorsports) rounded out the top-10, earning LaJoie his second top-10 Cup Series career start.

    Hendrick Motorsports driver, Chase Elliott, will start 15th and was obviously disappointed with his qualifying effort.

    “Daytona, to show up there [next week] and it be a must-win situation is like going to Vegas and having to hit the nearest slot machine for the jackpot,” Elliott said. “That’s just silly. To me, this is the opportunity we have the most control over and didn’t have a very good start to the weekend, so it puts you in a tough spot.”

    With only two races remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season, the pressure is on. You can tune into the NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on USA with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Starting Lineup:

    1. Denny Hamlin
    2.  William Byron
    3.  Michael McDowell
    4.  Ty Gibbs
    5.  Kyle Larson
    6.  AJ Allmendinger
    7.  Christopher Bell
    8.  Tyler Reddick
    9.  Kyle Busch
    10. Corey LaJoie
    11. Joey Logano
    12. Bubba Wallace
    13. Chris Buescher
    14. Daniel Suarez
    15. Chase Elliott
    16. Austin Dillon
    17. Austin Cindric
    18. Alex Bowman
    19. Martin Truex Jr.
    20. Justin Haley
    21. Mike Rockenfeller
    22. Ross Chastain
    23. Ryan Blaney
    24. Brad Keselowski
    25. Todd Gilliland
    26. Chase Briscoe
    27. Aric Almirola
    28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    29. Andy Lally
    30. Ryan Preece
    31. Erik Jones
    32. Harrison Burton
    33. Kevin Harvick
    34. Cole Custer
    35. Josh Bilicki
    36. Ty Dillon
  • Mayer spins Gibbs, rallies for wild Xfinity victory at Watkins Glen

    Mayer spins Gibbs, rallies for wild Xfinity victory at Watkins Glen

    From conserving the low fuel needed to finish to spinning dominant Ty Gibbs out of the lead during an overtime shootout, Sam Mayer raced his way to an overwhelming victory in the Shriners Children’s 200 at The Glen on Saturday, August 19.

    The 20-year-old Mayer from Franklin, Wisconsin, led twice for eight of 86 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started fifth and assumed the lead for the first time with 10 laps remaining amid a late gamble to stretch his low fuel tank to the distance ahead of teammate Justin Allgaier and pole-sitter Ty Gibbs. During a late caution period with seven laps remaining, where Mayer elected to remain on the track with the lead ahead of Allgaier and Gibbs, Mayer was quickly overtaken by Gibbs while trying to block him through the frontstretch. Despite falling back to third, Mayer received another opportunity to win amid another caution period for a wreck that involved Allgaier and sent the event into overtime.

    Then, at the start of overtime, Mayer bumped and ran into the rear of Gibbs which sent Gibbs spinning. With Gibbs out of contention, Mayer, who despite sustained minor fender damage to his car while running on fumes with his low fuel tank, moved up to second as Sheldon Creed assumed the lead. Then after Creed missed the final turn approaching the start of the final lap, Mayer capitalized on Creed’s misfortune to assume the lead for good as he methodically navigated his way around the circuit for a final time before zipping back to the frontstretch and claiming the second checkered flag of this season and of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Ty Gibbs, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, notched his first pole position of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 125.019 mph in 70.549 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Alex Bowman, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 124.721 mph in 70.718 seconds.

    Prior to the event, however, Bowman joined Cole Custer, Brett Moffitt and rookie Parker Retzlaff as competitors who dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments and mechanical repairs to their respective entries. Bowman’s move enabled Daniel Hemric to move up and start alongside Ty Gibbs on the front row.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Ty Gibbs jumped ahead with an early advantage as the field fanned out entering the first turn. As Gibbs led through the first four turns before entering a brief backstretch approaching the Inner Loop, Justin Allgaier made his way into the runner-up spot while Hemric retained third in front of teammate Kyle Busch, Sam Mayer and Josh Berry. With the field navigating through the Inner and Outer Loop turns before entering the final set of turns to Turn 7 and back to the frontstretch at The Glen, Gibbs proceeded to lead the first lap.

    Through the second lap, Gibbs retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Allgaier. By then, Busch and Mayer moved up to third and fourth while Hemric fell back to fifth as the field jostled and bumped for early positions around the circuit.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Ty Gibbs was leading by more than two seconds over Allgaier followed by Mayer, Kyle Busch and Berry while Hemric, rookie Sammy Smith, Riley Herbst, Austin Hill and John Hunter Nemechek were in the top 10. Behind, Sheldon Creed was in 11th ahead of Parker Kligerman, Kaz Grala, Jeremy Clements and rookie Chandler Smith while Ross Chastain, Brandon Jones, Alex Labbe, Jeb Burton and Sage Karam occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Custer was back in 21st and Bowman was mired in 25th behind Ryan Sieg. In addition, Brennan Poole plummeted to 37th after spinning through the Inner Loop Bus Stop corner amid contact with Max McLaughlin a lap prior.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Ty Gibbs continued to lead by more than three seconds over Allgaier while Mayer retained third. By then, Berry moved up to fourth while Busch fell back to fifth in front of Austin Hill, Nemechek, Sammy Smith, Herbst and Creed. In the midst of the early racing, the event remained under green flag conditions amid an on-track condition in the Bus Stop corner when Jeremy Clements blew a right-front tire and clipped Chandler Smith as both went off the course with Smith spinning backward. A few laps earlier, Connor Mosack encountered on-track issues of his own after spinning in the Bus Stop corner.

    Not long after, Kyle Busch pitted his No. 10 LA Golf Chevrolet Camaro under green to address debris on his front grille that affected his brakes. With Busch losing spots amid his pit stops, Ty Gibbs extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Allgaier. Gibbs would stabilize his advantage to nearly four seconds over Allgaier just past the Lap 15 mark. By then, Herbst, who was running seventh, was reporting the transmission popping out of gear in his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang, though he continued to run under full pace around the circuit.

    At the conclusion of the first stage period on Lap 20, Ty Gibbs claimed his fourth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season after retaining the lead from the drop of the green flag. Allgaier settled in second followed by teammates Mayer and Berry while Austin Hill, Nemechek, Creed, Herbst, Custer and Kligerman were scored in the top 10.

    With the event proceeding under green just past the Lap 20 mark to start the second stage, the event’s first caution period shortly flew when Ryan Ellis came to a stop on the course. By then, select names that included Bowman and Chandler Smith pitted for service. Smith, however, would be penalized for driving his No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro through too many pit boxes while exiting his upon his completed service.

    During the first caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Ty Gibbs pitted while Bowman remained on the track to inherit the race lead. Following the pit stops, Gibbs exited first followed by Allgaier, Hill, Berry, Creed and Nemechek.

    Just as the event was set to restart under green on Lap 24, the caution period continued to stand when Josh Williams sustained heavy front nose damage to his No. 92 Nordic Logistics Chevrolet Camaro. At the same time, Moffitt took his car to the garage due to a rear-end issue while the on-track safety crew proceeded to address any debris or fluid leaking on the course near the carnage scene.

    Following a lengthy caution period, the race restarted under green on Lap 26 as Bowman and Ty Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Bowman and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Gibbs used the outside lane to his advantage as he muscled ahead of Bowman prior to entering Turns 2 to 4 to reassume the lead. With Gibbs leading Bowman and Allgaier through the Inner Loop Bus Stop corner, Hill was in fourth ahead of Berry, Creed and Custer while Nemechek was in eighth ahead of Herbst and Kligerman. As the field continued to jostle and scramble for positions for a full lap around the circuit, with even mechanical debris flying around the circuit, Gibbs stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Bowman while third-place Allgaier trailed by more than a second.

    During the following lap, Grala and Sammy Smith rubbed fenders through the Bus Stop corner as Grala moved up to 12th over Smith followed by Hemric. In the process, Ty Gibbs extended his advantage to a second over Bowman while Allgaier, Austin Hill and Berry remained in the top five. By then, Custer moved his No. 00 HighPoint Ford Mustang up to sixth in front of Creed, Mayer, Herbst and Kligerman while Gibbs continued to lead at the Lap 30 mark.

    On Lap 31, the event’s second caution period flew when Grala, who was running 12th, was bumped by Sammy Smith entering the Bus Stop corner as he went off the course and plowed his No. 26 Island Coastal Lager Toyota Supra through the course’s grass and Go Bowling sign before returning back onto the racing surface while sending debris on the track. During the caution period, Grala, who ended with a clogged front grille full of grass, ran into the rear of Smith’s No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra, which sustained front nose damage, to express his displeasure over the contact.

    During the caution period, select names that included Sammy Smith, Grala, Retzlaff, Joe Graf Jr., Chandler Smith and Kyle Sieg pitted while the rest led by Ty Gibbs remained on the track.

    During the event’s restart on Lap 33, Gibbs retained the lead after a strong restart while Allgaier and Bowman battled and bumped for the runner-up spot as Allgaier claimed the spot through Turns 2 to 4. In the process, Austin Hill closed in on Allgaier and Bowman from fourth place while Custer and Berry battled for fifth. With the field battling, jostling and kicking up dust through the Bus Stop corner, Ty Gibbs stretched his advantage to more than a second over Allgaier.

    A lap later, Bowman reclaimed the runner-up spot over Allgaier, who went wide and off the course through Turn 1 after barely scrubbing the wall through the frontstretch, while Hill moved his No. 21 Bennett Transporation Chevrolet Camaro up to third. Custer and Mayer would pursue Allgaier within close quarters amid the racing while Ty Gibbs continued to lead by more than a second at the Lap 35 mark.

    Then with three laps remaining in the second stage period, Herbst, who was in ninth, pitted under green due to a track bar issue to his car. With the track bar broken on his car, Herbst, who returned on the course only to have a trail of smoke billowing out of his car due to his mechanical issue, took his car to the garage and eventually retired as Ty Gibbs retained the lead ahead of Bowman and Austin Hill.

    At the conclusion of the second stage period on Lap 40, Ty Gibbs claimed his second consecutive stage victory of the day. Bowman trailed in second along with Hill, Allgaier and Custer while Mayer, Berry, Nemechek, Creed and Kligerman were scored in the top 10. By then, Mosack was down in 26th after running his No. 24 Toyota Genuine Parts Supra off the course in Turn 10 while battling Stanton Barrett for position.

    With the event commencing under a continuous green flag period with 42 laps remaining, Ty Gibbs was leading by more than two seconds over Bowman while Hill, Allgaier and Custer remained in the top five. A few laps later, Hill and Custer moved up to third and fourth while Allgaier settled in fifth in front of teammate Mayer. By then, Ty Gibbs extended his advantage to more than four seconds over Bowman.

    Then with 37 laps remaining, the caution flew when Max McLaughlin slipped and collided into the outside wall in Turn 7 as he emerged with significant rear-end damage to his No. 96 Randco Chevrolet Camaro. During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Ty Gibbs pitted for service while Kyle Weatherman remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hill exited first over Gibbs while Bowman, Custer, Creed, Nemechek and Mayer followed in pursuit.

    With 32 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs launched a bold three-wide move on both Weatherman and Hill to assume the lead entering the first turn as the field fanned out. With Gibbs retaining the lead from Turns 2 to 4, Hill pursued in second while Bowman followed suit in third along with Custer, Creed and Allgaier as Weatherman started to go backward.

    During the following lap and as the field continued to jostle for late positions with nearly 30 laps remaining, Ty Gibbs stretched his advantage to more than a second over Austin Hill while third-place Bowman also trailed by more than a second, though Bowman started to close in on Hill for second along with Custer and Allgaier. By then, Weatherman fell out of the top 10 while Sammy Smith and Grala, amid their on-track contact, were in ninth and 10th ahead of Kyle Busch and Hemric.

    With 28 laps remaining, Nemechek, who was running ninth, pitted his No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra to ensure that he would have enough fuel to the scheduled distance. Teammate Sammy Smith would also pit for fuel during the following lap while the rest of the field led by Ty Gibbs remained on the track, with a majority uncertain if they would have enough to finish the race.

    Three laps later, Ty Gibbs extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Austin Hill while third-place Bowman trailed by nearly four seconds. Custer and Allgaier remained in the top five while Mayer, Creed, Grala, Kyle Busch and Hemric trailed in the top 10. By then, Kligerman, Berry, Sage Karam, Brandon Jones and Ryan Sieg were in the top 15 while teammates Nemechek and Sammy Smith were in 25th and 26th.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Ty Gibbs stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over Austin Hill while Bowman, Custer and Allgaier remained in the top five. Behind, Mayer, Creed, Grala, Kyle Busch and Hemric continued to run in the top 10 amid continuous concerns of fuel shortages for the front-runners.

    A lap later, trouble struck for third- and fourth-place runners Bowman and Custer after Custer, who tried to make a move beneath Bowman, bumped the curb and made contact with Bowman in Turn 1 as both spun together in the turn. Both continued to run without drawing a caution as Mayer and Allgaier moved up the leaderboard. Bowman managed to fall back to fifth in his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro while Custer was back in eighth. A lap later, Custer’s event that went from good to bad became worse when he got loose and spun off the course and up the hill in Turn 3 as he continued to plummet below the leaderboard.

    With 15 laps remaining, Ty Gibbs retained the lead by more than three seconds over Austin Hill while Mayer, Allgaier and Bowman remained in the top five ahead of Creed, Grala, Hemric, Kligerman and Kyle Busch.

    Three laps later, Austin Hill surrendered the runner-up spot to pit for four fresh tires and fuel. Ryan Sieg would also pit not long after while Ty Gibbs continued to lead over runner-up Mayer and Allgaier. Another two laps later, however, Ty Gibbs pitted his No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra from the lead for fuel as Mayer assumed the lead. Upon exiting pit road, Gibbs blended back onto the racetrack in sixth place behind Creed while Grala and Hemric would pit with eight laps remaining while Mayer and Allgaier continued to run first and second on the track.

    Then with seven laps remaining, the caution flew when Parker Retzlaff went off the course and spun sideways before he got his No. 31 Funkaway Chevrolet Camaro stuck in the gravel trap in Turn 6. By then, Hemric, who endured a slow pit stop, took his car to the garage due to a mechanical issue to his car. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Bowman pitted while the rest led by Mayer, Allgaier and Ty Gibbs remained on the track amid mixed strategies.

    Down to the final four laps of the event, the race restarted under green as teammates Mayer and Allgaier occupied the front row in front of Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch. At the start, the field fanned out as Mayer tried to block Ty Gibbs through the frontstretch. Gibbs, though, managed to rocket ahead and overtake Mayer before overtaking Allgaier through the first turn when Allgaier went wide. With the entire field also going wide and off the course through the first turn while Kyle Busch fell off the pace, Gibbs and Mayer dueled for the lead through Turns 2 to 4 until Gibbs rocketed away. Mayer was then left to fend off teammate Allgaier and Hill for the runner-up spot until Hill bumped and overtook the spot from Mayer through the Bus Stop Corner.

    Then exiting the Bus Stop Corner, trouble struck when Allgaier made contact with Custer and was sent spinning. In the ensuing chaos, Sammy Smith bumped and turned Bowman into the path of Connor Mosack while Brandon Jones and Grala collided into Allgaier, causing a caution as debris was left scattered across the Outer Loop Corner. The on-track carnage was enough to send the event into overtime.

    During the first overtime attempt, where Ty Gibbs and Austin Hill occupied the front row, Gibbs muscled ahead of the field that was stacked in two lanes entering the first turn. Then in Turn 1, Mayer collided with Gibbs and sent Gibbs for a spin. In the ensuing chaos, Hill got hit by Custer as he spun while the rest of the field muscled away exiting Turn 1. With the field navigating through Turns 2 to 4, Sheldon Creed emerged with the lead followed by Mayer and Berry. Creed would continue to lead through the Inner and Outer Loop corners while Mayer trailed in second. Then exiting the Outer Loop, Berry got loose and spun his No. 8 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro from third place as he fell out of contention while the event remained under green. Not long after, Creed, who nearly got loose while trying to fend off Mayer in Turn 6, slipped again in Turn 7 and missed the turn, which allowed Mayer to assume the lead in his No. 1 Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet Camaro.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Mayer remained as the leader by six-tenths of a second over Creed while Sammy Smith spun behind in the middle of the field. With the event remaining under green flag, Mayer, who continued to run under full pace amid concerns of running low on fuel, managed to cycle his way around the circuit for a final time and beat Creed by nine-tenths of a second to grab his second checkered flag in four weeks at Watkins Glen.

    With the victory, Mayer notched his second NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory in his 74th series start, all occurring on road course events, and he became the fourth Xfinity regular to notch multiple victories in this year’s Xfinity season. In addition to becoming the first full-time Xfinity competitor to win at Watkins Glen since Austin Cindric made the last accomplishment in 2019, Mayer notched the third victory of the season for JR Motorsports and the 12th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate.

    “The first [restart], I got used up,” Mayer said on USA Network. “I thought I had a good [restart] there, but all glory to God for this one because we had to work our tails off for it. [Crew chief] Mardy [Lindley] on top of the [pit] box, everyone on pit road. We earned this one, for sure. It feels good to have a car as fast as Xfinity 10G, no matter where you go and no matter what the situation is. It feels really, really good. I wheel-hopped [the car]. That’s unfortunate. I feel bad for [spinning Gibbs]. Obviously, you don’t want to take out a [Joe] Gibbs car like that or any car like that. Just trying to get another win in the Xfinity Series. I got a lot of catching up to do. I was in there. I put my nose in there and that’s part of it. Fenders are fenders. That’s an accident, but I think everyone can agree that it’s OK for an Xfinity Series regular to win this race.”

    While Mayer celebrated the victory in front of the stands, Gibbs was left disappointed on pit road after leading a race-high 70 laps and ended up 17th in the final running order.

    “It just really sucks,” Gibbs said. “Definitely sucks to get cleaned out there. I had a good time running these things this year. I think it’s just a part of life and it’s part of racing. You just get over it. When stuff like that happens and desperate moves like that happen, it’s just part of it and you just got to keep going. I don’t really know how much of a conversation you can really have with [Mayer] in that situation. We, kind of, grew up around racing each other. He has more starts than I do and this is his second win. So, congratulations to him on his second win. Definitely wished I could’ve gotten my 13th [win] there.”

    Creed, who was a lap away from claiming his first Xfinity victory, settled in the runner-up spot for the fourth time of his career while Parker Kligerman finished third for his fifth top-five result of the season as he is only three points below the top-12 cutline to make the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs.

    Ross Chastain and Connor Mosack finished in the top five while Nemechek, Custer, Chandler Smith, Bowman and Jeb Burton completed the top 10 on the track. Notably, Austin Hill ended up 14th, Allgaier settled in 16th in front of Ty Gibbs and Sammy Smith, Berry fell back to 20th upon his late spin and Hemric ended up 23rd. In addition, Kyle Busch ended up 27th after retiring due to a late transmission issue.

    There were nine lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 18 laps. In addition, 21 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With three Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by nine points over John Hunter Nemechek and 34 over Justin Allgaier.

    Results.

    1. Sam Mayer, eight laps led

    2. Sheldon Creed

    3. Parker Kligerman

    4. Ross Chastain

    5. Connor Mosack

    6. John Hunter Nemechek

    7. Cole Custer, one lap led

    8. Chandler Smith

    9. Alex Bowman, four laps led

    10. Jeb Burton

    11. Brandon Jones

    12. Brennan Poole

    13. Kyle Weatherman, two laps led

    14. Austin Hill

    15. Sage Karam

    16. Justin Allgaier, one lap led

    17. Ty Gibbs, 70 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    18. Sammy Smith

    19. Kyle Sieg

    20. Josh Berry

    21. Ryan Sieg

    22. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

    23. Daniel Hemric, two laps down

    24. Alex Labbe, three laps down

    25. Josh Bilicki, three laps down

    26. Parker Retzlaff, four laps down

    27. Kyle Busch – OUT, Transmission

    28. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident

    29. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Suspension

    30. Ryan Ellis, 21 laps down

    31. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Axle

    32. Stanton Barrett – OUT, Suspension

    33. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Brakes

    34. Max McMaughlin – OUT, Accident

    35. Riley Herbst – OUT, Suspension

    36. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

    37. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Suspension

    38. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Transmission

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’s second and final visit of the season to Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, August 25, at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Weekend schedule for Watkins Glen

    Weekend schedule for Watkins Glen

    The NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series travel to Watkins Glen this weekend as the regular season winds down with only two races remaining before the Playoffs begin.

    Thirteen drivers have clinched a spot in the Cup Series Playoffs – Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. With only three open spots in the 16-driver field, the competition promises to be intense.

    With four races to go in the Xfinity Series regular season, only four drivers have secured a spot in the 12-driver playoff field including Austin Hill, John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer.

    Ty Majeski won the first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race of the Playoffs last week at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park and will advance to the Round of 8. The series is off until August 27 at Milwaukee Mile Speedway when the postseason continues.

    The ARCA Menards Series will also compete at Watkins Glen with the General Tire 100 Friday evening at 6 p.m. on FS1 and FloRacing with radio coverage provided by MRN and SiriusXM.

    All times are ET.

    Saturday, August 19

    10:30 a.m.: Xfinity Series Practice – NBC Sports App
    11 a.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – NBC Sports App

    12:30 p.m.: Cup Series Practice – USA/MRN
    1:30 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying USA/MRN/SiriusXM
    Post-Cup Qualifying: NASCAR Press Pass

    3:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Shriners Children’s 200 at The Glen
    Distance: 82 Laps = 200.9 miles
    Stages end on Lap 20, Lap 40, Lap 82
    USA/MRN/SiriusXM
    Purse: $1,257,045
    Post-Xfinity Race: NASCAR Press Pass

    Sunday, August 20

    3:30 p.m.: Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen
    Distance: 90 Laps = 220.5 miles
    Stages end on Lap 20, Lap 40, Lap 90
    USA/MRN/SiriusXM
    Purse: $7,154,312
    Post-Cup Race: NASCAR Press Pass

  • McDowell shakes up the 2023 Cup Playoff field with dominant victory at the Indianapolis Road Course

    McDowell shakes up the 2023 Cup Playoff field with dominant victory at the Indianapolis Road Course

    A major shakeup to the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field was made at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course venue as Michael McDowell raced his way into this year’s postseason championship battle after scoring a dominant victory in the third annual running of the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on Sunday, August 13.

    The 38-year-old McDowell from Glendale, Arizona, led three times for a race-high 54 of 82-scheduled laps in an event where he started fourth and quickly made his presence known after assuming the lead from pole-sitter Daniel Suarez on the sixth lap and following the event’s only caution period on the second lap.

    After proceeding to win the first stage and gain valuable stage points towards his push above the Playoff cutline, McDowell benefited through a 77-lap green flag run to the finish with mixed pit strategies to lead Laps 36 to 48 before reassuming it for good on Lap 53 upon pitting for the final time with 34 laps remaining. From there, the Arizona veteran managed to preserve his car through each of the speedway’s 14 turns and fend off a late charge from Chase Elliott to win for the second time in the Cup Series level and add his name to this year’s Playoff picture.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, August 12, Daniel Suarez notched his first Cup pole position of the 2023 season and the third of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 99.814 mph in 87.968 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Tyler Reddick, the reigning Brickyard winner who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 99.649 mph in 88.113 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Brodie Kostecki, the current points leader of this year’s Supercars Championship season who was making his inaugural NASCAR presence driving the No. 33 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing, dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car after wrecking his primary car during Saturday’s qualifying session. William Byron also dropped to the rear of the field and was assessed a pass-through penalty upon taking the green flag due to his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 failing pre-race inspection three times, an issue that prevented him from posting a qualifying lap on Saturday.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Suarez rocketed ahead from the field amid crossing the new restart zone in between Turns 13 and 14 and retained the lead through the frontstretch while the field fanned out. Through the first braking zone in Turn 1 before entering Turn 2, Suarez maintained the lead ahead of Reddick while Chase Elliott and Michael McDowell battled for third through Turns 3 to 6 in front of Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch. As the field continued to fan out and jostle for early positions, Suarez maintained the lead through a brief straightaway exiting Turn 6 before entering another braking zone in Turn 7 and navigating from Turns 8 to 14. As Suarez proceeded to lead the first lap over Reddick, Byron served his pass-through penalty.

    A lap later, the first caution of the event flew when Joey Logano ran over the curb in between Turns 5 and 6 and bumped into Justin Haley, which sent Haley off the course and into the guardrails and tire barrels in Turn 6 as Haley was left with significant damage to his No. 31 LeafFilter Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. By then, Kamui Kobayashi, a multiple World Endurance champion and former 24 Hours of Le Mans winner who was making his NASCAR debut for 23XI Racing, was in 37th despite starting 28th after getting hit by Andy Lally and spinning in Turn 2.

    During the first caution period, select names that included Brad Keselowski, Mike Rockenfeller, Kamui Kobayashi, Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest led by Suarez remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on the fifth lap, Suarez retained the lead through the restart zone and through the frontstretch while Michael McDowell challenged and overtook Reddick for the runner-up spot. As Logano spun entering Turn 1 after running into the rear of teammate Ryan Blaney while rookie Ty Gibbs got turned by Shane van Gisbergen, the event remained under green flag conditions as Suarez continued to lead from Turns 2 to 13 while the field behind scrambled and jostled for positions. Then through Turns 13 and 14, McDowell, who was announced to remain at Front Row Motorsports for the 2024 season, battled and overtook Suarez to assume the lead in his No. 34 Horizon Hobby Ford Mustang through the frontstretch and the first braking zone in Turn 1.

    The following lap, McDowell maintained the lead by a tenth of a second over Suarez as Reddick, Elliott and Larson followed suit in the top five. With Kyle Busch in sixth, Christopher Bell, Shane van Gisbergen, Alex Bowman and Chase Briscoe were in the top 10 while Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric occupied the top 15.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, McDowell was leading by four-tenths of a second over Suarez followed by Reddick, Elliott and Larson while Busch, Bell, Bowman, Briscoe and van Gisbergen were in the top 10. Behind, Truex was in 11th ahead of Blaney, Buescher, Wallace and Cindric while Todd Gilliland, AJ Allmendinger, Corey LaJoie, Harrison Burton and Austin Dillon occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Ross Chastain was in 21st ahead of Denny Hamlin, Jenson Button, Erik Jones and Andy Lally while Ty Gibbs, Josh Bilicki, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Brodie Kostecki were scored in the top 30. By then, Byron was in 33rd in between Mike Rockenfeller and Kobayashi, Logano was down in 35th and Aric Almirola was running 37th in front of teammate Ryan Preece.

    Two laps later, Harvick pitted his No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang under green. Jenson Button and Andy Lally pitted during the following lap while Blaney, Cindric and Gilliland followed suit on pit road during Lap 14 while McDowell continued to lead ahead of Suarez. Amid the pit stops, Button was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    At the conclusion of the first stage period on Lap 15, McDowell, who came into the event three points below the top-16 cutline to race his way into the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, claimed his first Cup career stage victory. Suarez settled in second while Elliott, Reddick, Larson, Kyle Busch, Bell, Bowman, van Gisbergen and Truex were scored in the top 10.

    With the event remaining under green just past the Lap 15 mark to start the second stage period, Chase Briscoe and Buescher peeled off the track to pit their respective entries. On the following lap, Brodie Kostecki, Reddick, Allmendinger and Byron also pitted. McDowell would then surrender the lead to pit by Lap 17 followed by Suarez, Larson, Bowman, Chastain, Ty Gibbs and Mike Rockenfeller while Elliott assumed the lead. Elliott proceeded to lead a lap before he pitted by Lap 18 along with Kyle Busch and LaJoie. By then, Rockenfeller and LaJoie were both penalized for speeding on pit road.

    Back on the track and by Lap 20, Bell, who assumed the lead on Lap 18, was leading by more than four seconds over van Gisbergen followed by Truex, Wallace and Austin Dillon while Hamlin, Harrison Burton, Keselowski, Kobayashi and Ty Dillon were scored in the top 10.  Meanwhile, Suarez, who exited ahead of McDowell on pit road following his green flag pit stop, was in 12th ahead of McDowell while Elliott, Larson, Kyle Busch, Reddick and Bowman were running 14th through 17th, respectively.

    At the Lap 25 mark, Bell continued to lead by more than 15 seconds over Austin Dillon while Hamlin, Keselowski and Suarez trailed in the top five ahead of McDowell, Elliott, Ty Dillon, Larson and Kyle Busch. With Reddick, Bowman, Briscoe, Buescher and Blaney running in the top 15, Truex, who pitted on Lap 22, was in 17th while van Gisbergen and Wallace, both of whom pitted on Lap 23, were back in 20th and 21st.

    A lap later, the leader Bell pitted his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry for his first service of the event. This allowed Austin Dillon to move into the lead followed by Hamlin and Keselowski despite all three still having to make at least their first pit stop of the day while Suarez and McDowell cycled and followed suit in the top five. Dillon would then pit his No. 3 Cowboy Chanel Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 by Lap 28, which moved Hamlin into the lead. By then, Larson, who was running eighth, missed the corner in Turn 12 and fell back to 12th while blending back into the racing groove.

    On Lap 30, trouble struck for Allmendinger after he got turned by Blaney through Turn 14 while both were battling for 16th place, a move that prompted Allmendinger to issue a potential payback to Blaney, as he managed to proceed without drawing a caution. By then, Hamlin, who has yet to pit, retained the lead ahead of Keselowski while Suarez, McDowell and Elliott were in the top five.

    At the conclusion of the second stage period on Lap 35, Hamlin, who nearly missed the turn entering Turn 7, fended off Suarez, McDowell and Keselowski to capture his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season in his No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota TRD Camry. McDowell and Suarez followed suit in second and third along with Keselowski, who missed the turn in Turn 12 and allowed both McDowell and Keselowski to cycle past him, while Elliott, Kyle Busch, Reddick, Bowman, Briscoe and Larson were scored in the top 10.

    With the final stage commencing under a continuous green flag period with 47 laps remaining, McDowell reassumed the lead through Turns 12 and 13 as Hamlin and Keselowski both pitted after both were successful in stretching their fuel tanks and gaining valuable stage points. With Hamlin and Keselowski pitting, Elliott cycled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to second followed by Suarez while Kyle Busch and Reddick were scored in the top five.

    At the halfway mark with 41 laps remaining, McDowell was leading by nearly six-tenths of a second over Elliott followed by Suarez, Busch and Reddick while Bowman, Briscoe, Larson, Truex and Bell were in the top 10. Behind, van Gisbergen was in 11th followed by Buescher, Cindric, Blaney and Wallace while Austin Dillon, Ty Gibbs, Chastain, Byron and Kostecki occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Harvick was in 24th ahead of Kobayashi, Keselowski and Hamlin were back in 26th and 27th, Button was scored in 30th, Rockenfeller was in 35th behind Logano and Allmendinger was back in 37th.

    With 37 laps remaining, Harvick and Andy Lally pitted under green. By then, Josh Bilick, who spun off the course, was back in 30th while McDowell stabilized his advantage to more than seven-tenths of a second over Elliott as third-place Suarez trailed by more than a second.

    A lap later, another cycle of green flag pit stops slowly commenced as names including Briscoe, Larson, Cindric, Blaney, Brostecki, Gilliland and Jenson Button pitted while Suarez bumped Elliott entering Turn 12 to move into the runner-up spot. McDowell then surrendered the lead to pit under green with 34 laps remaining along with Suarez, Elliott, Reddick, Buescher, Truex and Ty Gibbs. Amid the pit stops, Suarez endured a slow pit service after the air gun hose got stuck under the front tire of his No. 99 Freeway.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which resulted in Suarez’s car having to be jacked for a second time as Elliott and McDowell overtook him on pit road.

    With 30 laps remaining, Bell assumed a brief lead before he pitted under green. McDowell would cycle back into the lead during the following lap as Wallace pitted his No. 23 MoneyLion Toyota TRD Camry, which allowed Elliott, Suarez, Reddick and Hamlin to move up into the top five.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, McDowell was leading by nearly three seconds over Elliott followed by Suarez, Reddick and Hamlin while Keselowski, Bowman, Briscoe, Truex and Larson were running in the top 10 ahead of Bell, van Gisbergen, Buescher, Cindric and Blaney. By then, Kyle Busch, who was running 11th, pitted under green after flat-spotting his tire on his No. 8 3Chi Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while missing a braking zone in Turn 12 while Stenhouse bumped and sent Button’s No. 15 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for a spin entering Turn 8 while both were battling for 30th.

    Five laps later, McDowell stabilized his advantage to nearly three seconds over Elliott followed by Suarez and Reddick, both of whom trailed by more than nine seconds, as Bowman cracked the top five. As a result, Keselowski fell back to sixth while Briscoe, Hamlin, Truex and Larson occupied the top 10. By then, Gilliland, McDowell’s teammate at Front Row Motorsports, was scored in 38th after getting into the wall in Turn 12 without drawing a caution.

    Two laps later, Keselowski, who was running in the top 10 a lap prior, pitted his No. 6 Socios.com Ford Mustang under green. Another two laps later, trouble struck for Kobayashi after he got hit and sent for a spin by Stenhouse, who made earlier contact again with Button, entering Turn 1. With Kobayashi continuing under green, McDowell continued to lead by more than two seconds over Elliott and more than seven seconds over third-place Suarez.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, McDowell retained the lead by more than two seconds over Elliott while third-place Suarez trailed by more than six seconds followed by a hard-charging Reddick. With Bowman running in the top five, Briscoe, Truex, Larson, Bell and van Gisbergen followed suit in the top 10.

    With five laps remaining, McDowell stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Elliott while Suarez, Reddick and Bowman remained in the top five. By then, Allmendinger went off the course and ran his car through the gravel through Turn 4, but the event remained under green as Allmendinger blended back onto the racing surface. As the laps continued to dwindle, McDowell, who also navigated his way through lapped traffic, retained his lead to more than two seconds over Elliott.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, McDowell remained as the leader by more than a second over a hard-charging Elliott, who now had McDowell close within his sights after clearing his way through lapped traffic. As Elliott continued to gain slight ground on McDowell’s advantage from Turns 1 to 6, he then tried to close in on McDowell’s rear bumper through two braking zones from Turn 7 and Turn 12, but it was not enough as McDowell, who retained the lead through 14 turns for a final time, was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and beat Elliott by nine-tenths of a second to triumph for the second time in his Cup career and punch his ticket into the Playoffs.

    With the victory, McDowell, who became the 13th different competitor to be guaranteed a spot for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning, achieved his second career victory in NASCAR’s premier series and his first since winning the 2021 Daytona 500, thus giving him two crown-jewel victories in NASCAR. The victory was the fourth overall for Front Row Motorsports owned by team owner Bob Jenkins, the fifth of the season for the Ford nameplate and the first for new full-time crew chief Travis Peterson as McDowell became the 18th different competitor to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, third to do so on the track’s road course layout.

    Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Man, this is such a dream come true,” McDowell said on NBC. “I’m so thankful to everybody at Front Row Motorsports. Man, we had a fast Ford Mustang. Everybody at Roush Yates Engines Shop, [CEO] Doug [Yates]. These guys gave me everything today. We had the fastest car. We executed and we did what we needed to do. Just so thankful to still be grinding it out in the Cup Series. To put on a performance like that, I don’t know if it was dominant, but it felt pretty dominant to me.”

    “I was really trying to pace myself,” McDowell added. “I figured there would be a late-race caution. I didn’t want to burn my stuff up. I was just trying to maintain that gap. Then when I got into traffic [and Eliott] started closing, I had to push it. I just can’t believe it. It’s been a grind and I’m so proud. I thought we could point our way in [to the Playoffs], but after the car that we had yesterday in practice, I thought man, we got a good shot at winning if we could just get track position and maintain it. I can’t believe it. Winning the Daytona 500 was one of the coolest moments you could ever have, but going to Victory Lane without your family, that was tough. We cherry-pick. My family comes to the races we think we can win. We thought we could win this one. Just so proud.”

    While McDowell celebrated both a race victory and a Playoff berth, Elliott and Suarez were both left disappointed, but still optimistic, over their top-three results at Indianapolis. For Elliott, who lost ground on the Playoff cutline amid wrecking early during the previous scheduled event at Michigan International Speedway, the runner-up result was his second of the season, but not enough for him to narrow the gap between himself and the cutline as he is now tied with teammate Alex Bowman for 19th place in the regular-season standings while trailing the cutline by 80 points.

    “[I needed] Just to be a little better through the back half over there and get off of [Turn] 14 a little better just to have myself in a better spot getting into [Turn] 1,” Elliott said. “Just really appreciate the effort, man. Our Napa Chevy was really good. Just needed just a little bit more and came up a bit short. But congrats to Michael, man. He did a good job. Ran a great race and stayed mistake-free, and that’s what you’ve got to do to win. [The race] was great. It felt good. Ready to go for 77 [laps] more.”

    For Suarez, the late pit road issue involving an air gun hose getting stuck underneath his car during his final pit service under green evaporated his hopes of regaining ground on McDowell for the victory, but the third-place result marked his third top-five result of the 2023 season. Currently, Suarez is situated in 17th place in the regular-season standings and trails the cutline by 28 points.

    “We win and we lose as a team, and that’s all I can say,” Suarez said. “The guys brought a very fast race car. I felt that maybe we were one adjustment behind in the first run with the back of the car, but then we made it a little bit better. But I felt like I was always one step behind [Elliott McDowell], and then at the end, I felt that when my car came alive again, we had that [pit road] issue. Just a little bit heartbreaking, but that’s part of the sport. All we can do is continue to push, continue to build race cars like this, and I’ll keep on winning races. I mean, definitely, we can perform, I think, ever better [next weekend]. I’m pretty sure we’re gonna go back and analyze everything, and come back stronger next week.”

    Reddick, the reigning Brickyard winner, came home in fourth place while Alex Bowman finished fifth despite still being 80 points below the top-16 cutline towards the Playoffs. Briscoe Truex, Larson, Bell and Shane van Gisbergen completed the top 10 on the track.

    Notably, rookie Ty Gibbs finished 12th behind Buescher, Byron rallied from his pass-through start of the event by finishing 14th behind Blaney, Wallace came home in 18th in front of Hamlin and Keselowski, Harvick finished 23rd in his final start at Indianapolis, Allmendinger ended up 26th, Logano capped off his long event in 34th and Kyle Busch ended up 36th.

    In addition, Brodie Kostecki and Kamui Kobayashi finished 22nd and 33rd in their Cup Series debut, respectively, while Mike Rockenfeller and Jenson Button finished 24th and 28th, respectively.

    There were 10 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured a single caution for three laps. In addition, all 39 starters finished the event, with 22 finishing on the lead lap.

    With two regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the regular-season standings by 60 points over teammate Denny Hamlin.

    William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace occupy the remaining vacant spots in the Playoffs based on points, with Wallace occupying the 16th and final vacant spots by 28 points over Daniel Suarez, 49 over Ty Gibbs, 80 over both Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman, 87 over AJ Allmendinger and 105 over Austin Cindric.

    Results.

    1. Michael McDowell, 54 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Chase Elliott, one lap led

    3. Daniel Suarez, six laps led

    4. Tyler Reddick

    5. Alex Bowman

    6. Chase Briscoe

    7. Martin Truex Jr.

    8. Kyle Larson

    9. Christopher Bell, 11 laps led

    10. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap led

    11. Chris Buescher

    12. Ty Gibbs

    13. Ryan Blaney

    14. William Byron

    15. Austin Cindric

    16. Austin Dillon, one lap led

    17. Ross Chastain

    18. Bubba Wallace

    19. Denny Hamlin, eight laps led, Stage 2 winner

    20. Brad Keselowski

    21. Harrison Burton

    22. Brodie Kostecki

    23. Kevin Harvick, one lap down

    24. Mike Rockenfeller, one lap down

    25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

    26. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

    27. Ty Dillon, one lap down

    28. Jenson Button, one lap down

    29. Corey LaJoie, one lap down

    30. Andy Lally, one lap down

    31. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    32. Josh Bilicki, one lap down

    33. Kamui Kobayashi, one lap down

    34. Joey Logano, one lap down

    35. Erik Jones, one lap down

    36. Kyle Busch, two laps down

    37. Todd Gilliland, two laps down

    38. Justin Haley, two laps down

    39. Aric Almirola, three laps down

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is another road course event as the series travels east to Watkins Glen International in New York for the Go Bowling at The Glen. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, August 20, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Ty Gibbs aces Indianapolis Road Course for first Xfinity victory of 2023

    Ty Gibbs aces Indianapolis Road Course for first Xfinity victory of 2023

    A late strategic move by exiting pit road ahead of AJ Allmendinger enabled Ty Gibbs to assume the lead and muscle away from the field during a 16-lap dash to the finish to win the fourth annual running of the Pennzoil 150 at the Brickyard on Saturday, August 12.

    The reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Charlotte, North Carolina, led twice for a race-high 28 of 62-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row alongside Allmendinger before he made his presence known early after assuming the lead on the third lap. Despite losing the lead by Lap 13 to pit for slick tires amid an early lightning delay followed by a brief round of precipitation, Gibbs remained within striking distance of the front-runners throughout the event.

    Then with 19 laps remaining, an opportunity struck for Gibbs, who managed to exit pit road ahead of Allmendinger amid a late cycle of green flag pit stops just as the caution flew for a stalled car off the course in Turn 1. Once a handful of competitors who had not yet pitted did so, Gibbs cycled into the lead. He then managed to fend off Allmendinger before distancing himself from the field during a restart with 16 laps remaining to cruise to his first Xfinity victory in his seventh start of the season and his first at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, AJ Allmendinger notched his third pole position of the 2023 Xfinity season and the 11th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 92.985 mph in 94.428 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Gibbs, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 92.352 mph in 95.075 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following competitors that included Brennan Poole, Jeremy Clements, Brad Perez and Blaine Perkins dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Joe Graf Jr. also dropped to the rear of the field for missing driver introductions.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Allmendinger rocketed away from the field while entering the new restart zone in between Turns 13 and 14 as he also fended off Ty Gibbs through the frontstretch entering the first braking turn. Gibbs then tried to pull a crossover move on Allmendinger through Turns 1 and 2, but Allmendinger retained the lead as the field navigated its way from Turns 2 to 6 before entering a long straightaway prior to another braking zone in Turn 7. With the field behind fanning out and jostling for early positions, Allmendinger continued to lead from Turns 7 to 14 before he returned to the frontstretch and led the first lap. By then, Ty Gibbs kept Allmendinger within his sights and within close margins while Josh Berry, Austin Hill and Daniel Hemric were in the top five.

    Through the second lap, Gibbs drew himself alongside Allmendinger entering Turns 3 and 4 in a bid for the lead, but Allmendinger gained the upper advantage and the preferred lane through Turn 5 as he retained the lead while Gibbs settled in second. Allmendinger would proceed to lead the second lap while continuing to fend off Gibbs’ early challenge. By the third lap, however, Ty Gibbs gained a run on Allmendinger exiting the frontstretch and assumed the lead in his No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra through the first braking turn.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Ty Gibbs was leading by nearly two seconds over Allmendinger while Berry, Cole Custer and Austin Hill were in the top five. Behind, John Hunter Nemechek, Hemric, Sheldon Creed, Riley Herbst and Justin Allgaier were in the top 10 while Ross Chastain, Parker Kligerman, rookie Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer and Connor Mosack occupied the top 15 on the track. With Brett Moffitt, Josh Bilicki, Kaz Grala, Miguel Paludo and rookie Chandler Smith running in the top 20, Sage Karam was mired in 21st ahead of Jeb Burton, rookie Parker Retzlaff, Brandon Jones and Alex Labbe.

    Another lap later, the first caution of the event flew due to lightning occurring near the speedway. By the seventh lap, the field led by Ty Gibbs was directed to pit road and the event was red-flagged amid the lightning strike and as light precipitation began to increase.

    When the red flag was lifted following a delay period spanning nearly 44 minutes, the competitors returned to the track’s racing surface under a cautious pace on the eighth lap in spite of the track conditions still being slightly wet from the precipitation. Prior to the red flag being lifted, the pit crews were given the option to change to wet tires for their respective entries.

    During the caution laps, however, some led by Allmendinger and including Sam Mayer, Chandler Smith, Retzlaff, Kyle Weatherman and Blaine Perkins pitted to change from wet to slick tires while the rest led by Ty Gibbs remained on the track.

    When the race resumed under green flag conditions on Lap 11 and amid a single-file restart formation, Ty Gibbs retained the lead through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1 followed by Custer as the field fanned out. Then as the field navigated its way from Turns 2 to 7, Ross Chastain spun after getting hit by Connor Mosack’s No. 24 Toyota Genuine Parts Supra in Turn 7, but the event remained under green flag conditions as he proceeded without getting hit by the field. Back at the front of the pack, Ty Gibbs stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Custer during the proceeding laps while Berry, Nemechek and Austin Hill were in the top five ahead of Hemric.

    By Lap 14, Ty Gibbs surrendered the lead to pit for slick tires under green along with Custer, Moffitt, Kaz Grala, Chastain, Jeb Burton, Ryan Sieg, Brennan Poole and Josh Williams. More names that included Nemechek, Austin Hill, Miguel Paludo, Sage Karam and Josh Bilicki would then pit on Lap 15 as Berry cycled into the lead followed by Hemric and Creed, who would pit on Lap 16. Shortly after, however, Hemric overtook Berry for the lead as Parker Kligerman joined the battle. By Lap 17, more names that included Herbst, Sammy Smith and Alex Labbe pitted as Hemric continued to lead.

    Then on Lap 18, Allmendinger, who methodically carved his way through the field while on slick tires and from starting midfield since the restart, overtook teammate Hemric for the lead in Turn 13. Allmendinger would proceed to stretch his advantage to more than three seconds by the time he entered Turn 7 over teammate Hemric before Mayer, who also pitted prior to the restart, overtook Hemric for the runner-up spot.

    At the conclusion of the first stage period on Lap 20, Allmendinger captured his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Mayer settled in second followed by Hemric, Kligerman and Allgaier while Ty Gibbs, Retzlaff, Chandler Smith, Berry and Custer were scored in the top 10.

    With the race remaining under green just past the Lap 20 mark to start the second stage period, Allmendinger continued to extend his advantage to more than five seconds over Mayer while third-place Hemric trailed by more than 14 seconds. Nearing the Lap 21 mark, the following names that included Hemric, Allgaier, Kligerman and Berry pitted for slick tires. By then, Josh Williams nursed his car to the garage amid smoke billowing out of his entry nearing the conclusion of the first stage period.

    By Lap 25 and with the entire field running on slick tires, Allmendinger was leading by more than six seconds over Mayer while Ty Gibbs was in third and trailing by more than 15 seconds. Behind, Custer and Retzlaff were in the top five while Chandler Smith, Creed, Austin Hill, Nemechek and Kyle Weatherman occupied the top 10 in front of Herbst, Moffitt, Grala, Paludo and Ryan Sieg. Meanwhile, Kligerman was mired back in 35th while a lap down after pitting a few laps earlier due to a flat left-front tire on his No. 48 Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet Camaro stemming from a valve stem being knocked out.

    A lap later, the caution flew when Brad Perez came to a stop on the oval circuit near Turns 13 and 14 as smoke started to billow out of his No. 53 entry due to a mechanical issue. By then, Allmendinger was leading by more than six seconds over Mayer while Ty Gibbs, Custer and Retzlaff continued to run in the top five.

    During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by Mayer and including Custer, Moffitt, Ryan Sieg, Allgaier and Berry remained on the track.

    As the event restarted under green and in double-file formation on Lap 30, Mayer muscled ahead from Custer with the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1. From Turn 2 to Turn 6, Mayer retained the lead as Custer also retained second in front of Allgaier while Allmendinger, who restarted eighth, had quickly carved his way up to fourth while on four fresh tires. With the field continuing to jostle for positions around each of the remaining 14 turns, Mayer would lead the following lap, Lap 31, as the event reached its halfway mark.

    By Lap 34, Allmendinger battled and reassumed the lead from Mayer through the first three turns. Allmendinger would proceed to increase his advantage to more than a second over Mayer during the following lap while Ty Gibbs, who overtook Custer for third place the lap prior, trailed by more than two seconds.

    Then on Lap 36, Custer, who was battling Allgaier for fourth, made slight contact with Allgaier in Turn 13. Allgaier then ran over the curb entering Turn 14 and made contact again with Custer as Custer ran off the circuit and into the grass before he spun back onto the course while trying to straighten his car. Custer would manage to proceed without sustaining significant damage to his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang and without drawing a caution while Creed, Herbst and Hill managed to overtake Allgaier for positions fourth through sixth amid the chaos. Another lap later, Allgaier pitted under green along with teammate Paludo, Moffitt, Custer and Andre Castro while Allmendinger retained the lead over Ty Gibbs and Mayer.

    At the conclusion of the second stage period on Lap 40, Allmendinger captured his third Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season and second of the day as he was leading by more than three seconds over Ty Gibbs. Gibbs settled in second while Mayer, Creed, Herbst, Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, Nemechek, Hemric and Jeremy Clements were scored in the top 10.

    With the final stage commencing under a continuous green flag period with 22 laps remaining, Allmendinger retained the lead by more than two seconds over Ty Gibbs. Another lap later, names including Nemechek, Mayer, Hemric and Chandler Smith pitted under green. Herbst would pit from fourth place with 20 laps remaining while Allmendinger continued to lead by nearly three seconds over Ty Gibbs with 20 laps remaining. By then, Nemechek and Herbst were penalized for speeding on pit road.

    A lap later, Allmendinger surrendered the lead to pit under green followed by Ty Gibbs, Austin Hill, Grala, Brandon Jones while Creed cycled into the lead. Shortly after, however, the caution flew for Andre Castro parking his car off the course in Turn 1 due to a mechanical issue. By then, Creed had made a pit stop, but had failed to enter pit road in time just as the caution flew and was sent to the rear of the field for the proceeding restart.

    During the caution period, some led by Clements and including Josh Bilicki, Karam, Retzlaff, Jeb Burton, Preston Pardus, Paludo and Kligerman pitted while the rest led by Ty Gibbs, who had managed to overtake Allmendinger during the green flag pit stops, remained on the track.

    Down to the final 16 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Ty Gibbs fended off Allmendinger to retain the lead through the frontstretch as the field fanned out. Then in Turn 1, Allmendinger tried to draw even with Gibbs, but Gibbs muscled ahead on the inside lane in Turn 2. Gibbs would continue to lead during the proceeding turns as Brandon Jones spun in Turn 1 after getting bumped by Sammy Smith, but without drawing a caution. After fending off another charge from Allmendinger amid contact through Turn 7 while Hemric went off the course after getting hit by teammate Chandler Smith and an oncoming Connor Mosack, Gibbs continued to lead while Mayer pressured Allmendinger for the runner-up spot.

    Gibbs would proceed to lead with 15 laps remaining ahead of Allmendinger and Mayer while Allgaier and Austin Hill battled for fourth. By then, select competitors like teammates Chandler Smith and Hemric along with Sammy Smith pitted under green amid their contact and off-track incident in Turn 7. Gibbs would proceed to extend his advantage to more than two seconds over runner-up Allmendinger during the proceeding laps while Mayer trailed in third place by more than four seconds followed by Austin Hill and Allgaier. By then, Custer rallied to sixth while Grala, Nemechek, Moffitt and Kligerman were running in the top 10.

    With 10 laps remaining, Gibbs continued to lead by more than three seconds over Allmendinger while Mayer, Hill and Allgaier remained in the top five. Behind, Custer, Grala, Nemechek, Moffitt and Kligerman also remained in the top 10 while Creed, Labbe, Jeb Burton, Herbst and Berry were mired in the top 15. Meanwhile, Brandon Jones was down in 23rd, Hemric was in 28th ahead of Sammy Smith while a lap down and Chandler Smith was in 33rd.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Ty Gibbs extended his advantage to more than four seconds over Allmendinger while third-place Mayer trailed by more than six seconds ahead of Austin Hill and Allgaier. By then, Blaine Perkins, who went off the course in between Turns 8 to 10 after making contact with Ryan Ellis, was mired in 33rd as he eventually pitted. Chandler Smith, who was two laps down in 32nd, locked up the front tires and went off the course in Turn 12 while earlier, Ryan Sieg was assessed a stop-and-go penalty after missing Turn 6 as he was currently running in 27th.

    Shortly after, trouble struck for Grala, who was running sixth before he went off the course entering Turn 1. Then as he tried to blend back into the racing surface, he clipped Nemechek and sent Nemechek’s No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra spinning in Turn 2 as Nemechek fell out of the top 10 on the track. Despite the incident, the race remained under green flag conditions as Ty Gibbs retained the lead by more than five seconds over Allmendinger.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Ty Gibbs remained as the leader by more than seven seconds over Mayer, who battled and overtook Allmendinger’s No. 10 LeafHome Water Solutions Chevrolet Camaro for the runner-up spot a lap prior. Amid the late on-track chaos and having a clear view in front of him, Gibbs was able to smoothly navigate his way around the 14-turn circuit for a final time and cruise back to the frontstretch to claim his first checkered flag of the 2023 NASCAR season and his first at Indianapolis.

    With the victory, Gibbs, who is currently competing in his first full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series for Joe Gibbs Racing, notched his 12th career victory in the Xfinity Series and his first since winning both the 2022 season finale and championship at Phoenix Raceway this past November. In addition to winning at Indianapolis for the first time and becoming the fourth different winner in four Xfinity events on Indy’s road course venue, he achieved his fourth victory on a road course venue and the second of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 “all-star” entry led by veteran crew chief Jason Ratcliff while also becoming the 13th different winner of this year’s Xfinity season.

    Gibbs’ victory capped off an eventful IndyCar-NASCAR doubleheader feature at Indianapolis on Saturday as six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon fended off pole-sitter Graham Rahal amid a late battle to win the Gallagher Grand Prix at the Indy Road Course hours earlier.

    “It’s definitely about time [that I won],” Gibbs said on USA Network. “Really cool to get one here at the Brickyard. I grew up racing go-karts at New Castle right down the street, so really special to me. Awesome car! Great car. Thank you, Jason Ratcliff. This is the man right here. Jason does such a great job. This is just so special. We got the Brickyard! Let’s go!”

    Mayer, who led five laps in his No. 1 Huck’s Market Chevrolet Camaro, settled in the runner-up spot for the third time this season while Allmendinger, who led 21 laps and swept both stages, ended up third in his fifth Xfinity event of the season. Austin Hill and Allgaier finished in the top five while Custer, Kligerman, Creed, Grala and Moffitt came home in the top 10.

    Notably, Nemechek ended up 13th in between Herbst and Berry, Brandon Jones settled in 21st ahead of teammate Miguel Paludo, Hemric ended up 27th in front of Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith retired in 34th due to a suspension failure.

    There were 10 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured three cautions for nine laps. In addition, 26 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With four Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by 11 points over John Hunter Nemechek and 34 over Justin Allgaier.

    Results.

    1. Ty Gibbs, 28 laps led

    2. Sam Mayer, five laps led

    3. AJ Allmendinger, 21 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    4. Austin Hill

    5. Justin Allgaier

    6. Cole Custer

    7. Parker Kligerman

    8. Sheldon Creed, one lap led

    9. Kaz Grala

    10. Brett Moffitt

    11. Alex Labbe

    12. Riley Herbst

    13. John Hunter Nemechek

    14. Josh Berry, two laps led

    15. Sage Karam

    16. Jeb Burton

    17. Parker Retzlaff

    18. Josh Bilicki, one lap led

    19. Jeremy Clements, one lap led

    20. Kyle Weatherman

    21. Brandon Jones

    22. Miguel Paludo

    23. Anthony Alfredo

    24. Preston Pardus

    25. Brennan Poole

    26. Connor Mosack

    27. Daniel Hemric, one lap down, three laps down

    28. Sammy Smith, one lap down

    29. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

    30. Kyle Sieg, one lap down

    31. Blaine Perkins, two laps down

    32. Ryan Sieg, five laps down

    33. Josh Williams, five laps down

    34. Chandler Smith – OUT, Suspension

    35. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Axle

    36. Andre Castro – OUT, Suspension

    37. Ross Chastain – OUT, Suspension

    38. Brad Perez – OUT, Brakes

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is another road course event as the series travels east from Indiana to New York for Watkins Glen International. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, August 19, at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Majeski wins Truck Playoff opener at IRP; snaps yearlong winless drought

    Majeski wins Truck Playoff opener at IRP; snaps yearlong winless drought

    After enduring a winless drought throughout the regular-season stretch, Ty Majeski commenced the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs with an emphatic statement after notching a dominant victory in the TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday, August 11.

    The 28-year-old Majeski from Seymour, Wisconsin, led twice for a race-high 179 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row and quickly assumed the lead by the fourth lap. Proceeding to sweep both stage periods and fending off several restart challenges, including from ones by Playoff rivals Christian Eckes and Corey Heim, Majeski capitalized on a restart with 52 laps remaining to muscle his No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford entry away from the field and claim the Playoff opener victory by more than three seconds over Eckes.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, August 11, Playoff contender Christian Eckes secured his second Truck pole position of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 107.918 mph in 22.884 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Ty Majeski, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 107.739 mph in 22.922 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included Playoff contender Zane Smith, Lawless Alan, Matt Mills and Logan Bearden dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective trucks. Tyler Ankrum also dropped to the rear of the field in a backup truck.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Eckes muscled ahead with an early advantage on the inside lane followed by Majeski and Corey Heim as the field fanned out through the first two turns. As the field continued to fan out and jostle early for positions, Eckes proceeded to lead the first lap in his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST while Majeski and Heim battled for the runner-up spot.

    Through the second lap and as the field continued to jostle early for positions, Eckes maintained the lead by a tenth of a second over Majeski with Heim following pursuit. By the third lap, however, Majeski drew himself even against Eckes in an early battle for the lead. He continued to duel with Eckes for the following lap until Majeski muscled ahead from the outside lane. Another lap later and at the fifth lap mark, Heim moved into the runner-up spot over Eckes as he began his pursuit on Majeski for the lead.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Majeski was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Heim followed by Eckes, Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger while rookie Jake Garcia, rookie Nick Sanchez, rookie Rajah Caruth, Matt Crafton and Layne Riggs were in the top 10. Behind, William Sawalich was in 11th ahead of Tanner Gray, Colby Howard, Ben Rhodes and Stewart Friesen while Jake Drew, Dean Thompson, rookie Daniel Dye, Chase Purdy and Connor Jones battled in the top 20. Meanwhile, Zane Smith was mired in 21st ahead of Matt DiBenedetto.

    Nearing the Lap 14 mark, the first caution of the event flew for a multi-truck wreck involving Greg Van Alst, Landen Lewis and Hailie Deegan in Turn 3.

    When the race restarted on Lap 21, Majeski received a push from Eckes on the inside lane to emerge ahead by a hair before Eckes and Heim took Majeski three-wide in Turn 1. With Majeski and Heim breaking away from the field entering the backstretch, Heim gained the advantage on the outside lane through Turns 3 and 4 as he assumed the lead in his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for the following lap, though Majeski kept pressuring him for the lead. Majeski and Heim would then battle dead even for the proceeding laps until Heim muscled ahead by Lap 23. As Heim fended off Majeski for the lead, Eckes retained third while Hocevar and Enfinger were in the top five.

    Nearing the Lap 30 mark, the battle for the lead intensified as Majeski made several attempts to draw even with Heim through the turns and the straightaways from the inside lane, though Heim managed to remain ahead while running on the outside lane. While both continued to battle nearly dead even for the lead, Eckes was under pressure by Hocevar for third place as Enfinger retained fifth ahead of Garcia, Riggs, Caruth, Sanchez and Tanner Gray.

    By Lap 40, Majeski, who pulled the slide job on Heim in Turn 1 to assume the lead a lap earlier, was leading by two-tenths of a second in his No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 over Heim followed by Eckes, Hocevar and Enfinger while Garcia, Riggs, Sanchez, Caruth and Tanner Gray were in the top 10. Behind, Zane Smith was up to 11th ahead of Rhodes, Jake Drew, Sawalich and Crafton while Thompson, Purdy, DiBenedetto, Taylor Gray and Deegan were running in the top 20.

    Six laps later, contact was made on Lap 46 as Garcia, who was trying to overtake Enfinger for fifth, got loose, slid up the track and forced Enfinger to scrape the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2. Both, though, continued to run in the top 10 as Majeski extended his advantage to two seconds over Heim.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Majeski, who ran into the rear bumper of rookie Daniel Dye in Turn 1 to get him loose and lap him several laps earlier, claimed his fifth stage victory of the 2023 Truck season. Heim settled in second followed by Eckes while Riggs, Garcia, Hocevar, Enfinger, Caruth, Tanner Gray and Zane Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, 23 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while Rhodes, Sanchez, Crafton and DiBenedetto did not score any stage points from the first stage period.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Majeski retained the lead after exiting first followed by Heim, Hocevar, Enfinger and Tanner Gray while Eckes exited sixth after losing three spots on pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 70 as Majeski and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Majeski rocketed ahead with the lead from the outside lane as the field fanned out entering Turn 1. Through the backstretch, Majeski retained the lead over Heim while Enfinger was in third ahead of Hocevar and Eckes amid the field still fanning out and jostling for positions.

    At the Lap 75 mark, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Heim while Enfinger, Hocevar and Eckes remained in the top five. Behind, Sawalich was in sixth followed by Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Zane Smith and Riggs while Jake Drew, Sanchez, Crafton, DiBenedetto and Caruth occupied the top 15 on the track.

    Ten laps later, Majeski extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Heim while third-place Enfinger trailed by more than three seconds. Meanwhile, Hocevar and Eckes remained in the top five while Playoff contenders Rhodes and Zane Smith were in eighth and ninth. By then, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Sanchez, Crafton and DiBenedetto were mired in 11th, 13th and 16th, respectively.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Majeski continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than three seconds over Heim while Enfinger, Eckes and Hocevar continued to run in the top five. Behind, Sawalich, Tanner Gray, Zane Smith, Rhodes and Riggs were in the top 10 as 23 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap. Notably, Sanchez and Crafton were in 11th and 12th, DiBenedetto was mired in 15th ahead of Garcia and Shane van Gisbergen, the debutant winner of the NASCAR Cup Series event at the Chicago Street Course who was making both his Truck and oval debut for Niece Motorsports, was in 22nd behind Jack Wood.

    Ten laps later, Majeski, who lapped van Gisbergen a few laps earlier, retained the lead by more than five seconds over Heim while third-place Enfinger trailed by more than six seconds. As Eckes and Hocevar remained in the top five, Zane Smith moved up to seventh over Tanner Gray while Sanchez cracked the top 10 ahead of Crafton.

    Another five laps later, the caution flew when Chris Hacker, a Noblesville, Indiana, native got loose and spun entering the backstretch as he barely managed to keep his No. 30 UBPN/Morgan & Morgan Toyota Tundra TRD Pro off the wall before continuing. Hacker’s incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 120 to finish under caution as Majeski captured his sixth Truck stage victory of the 2023 season and second of the night. Heim settled in second while Enfinger, Eckes, Hocevar, Sawalich, Zane Smith, Tanner Gray, Riggs and Sanchez were scored in the top 10. By then, 20 of 36 competitors were scored on the lead lap while Playoff contenders Crafton, DiBenedetto and Rhodes were scored outside the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Majeski retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Heim, Enfinger, Zane Smith, Sawalich, Eckes and Hocevar. Amid the pit stops, Heim was sent to the rear of the field for a safety violation after a crew member fell over his pit box while trying to retrieve a tire due to his pit stop. In addition, Enfinger made another pit stop to address missing lug nuts to his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST.

    With 73 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Majeski and Zane Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Majeski and Smith dueled for the lead until Majeski managed to rocket ahead from the outside lane through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field fanned out and jostled for late positions, Eckes moved up to second while Hocevar, Sawalich and Riggs battled behind Smith. Amid the racing, Tanner Gray, who was running in the top 10, was black-flagged by NASCAR for a restart violation as he changed lanes prior to reaching the start/finish line to restart the event.

    Shortly after and just as Tanner Gray was serving his penalty through pit road, the caution returned with 70 laps remaining when Dean Thompson got squeezed towards the outside wall through the backstretch. As Thompson’s truck was slowly sliding to a halt, he was then T-boned by Spencer Boyd as both competitors were left with heavy damage to their respective trucks.

    Following an extensive caution period, the event restarted with 60 laps remaining. At the start, Majeski muscled ahead of Eckes from the outside lane to retain the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. With Majeski leading by nearly half a second during the proceeding laps, Eckes retained second while Zane Smith, Riggs and Hocevar were in the top five. The caution, however, returned with 59 laps remaining when Hailie Deegan spun off the front nose of Landen Lewis and rear-ended her No. 13 Ford Performance Ford F-150 into the outside wall in Turn 1 as her event came to a late end.

    During the proceeding restart with 52 laps remaining, Majeski and Eckes dueled for the lead through Turn 1 as Eckes tried to muscle ahead from the inside lane. Eckes, however, slid up the track entering the backstretch, which allowed Majeski to regain the advantage and reassume the lead as the field jostled for positions throughout the following lap. With Majeski leading with 50 laps remaining, Eckes retained second ahead of Hocevar while Riggs and Zane Smith battled for fourth in front of Sawalich. In the midst of the battles towards the front, ThorSport Racing’s Rhodes and Crafton battled for seventh.

    With 40 laps remaining, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Eckes followed by Hocevar, Riggs and Zane Smith while Sawalich, Caruth, Heim, Crafton and Sanchez were running and battling in the top 10. Behind, Rhodes was in 11th ahead of Enfinger, DiBenedetto, Garcia and Purdy while van Gisbergen, Jake Drew, Tanner Gray, Taylor Gray and Jack Wood were mired in the top 20.

    Ten laps later, Majeski continued to lead by more than two seconds over Eckes while Riggs, who moved up to third place, trailed by nearly four seconds ahead of Hocevar and Zane Smith. Behind, Sawalich and Caruth retained sixth and seventh while Heim was still scored in eighth ahead of Sanchez and Crafton.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Majeski stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over runner-up Eckes while third-place Riggs continued to trail by more than four seconds. By then, seven of 10 Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 while the remaining Playoff competitors that included DiBenedetto, Rhodes and Enfinger were mired in 11th through 13th, respectively.

    With less than 15 laps remaining, Majeski retained the lead by nearly three seconds over Eckes and more than four seconds over third-place Riggs. Majeski would continue to lead by more than two seconds over Eckes with 10 laps remaining as Hocevar and Zane Smith remained in the top five ahead of Sawalich.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Majeski was leading by more than three seconds over Eckes and more than four seconds over third-place Riggs as the laps continued to dwindle.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski remained as the leader by more than three seconds over Eckes. With Eckes not gaining ground to mount a final lap charge for the win, Majeski, who also had a clear racetrack in front of him, managed to cycle his way around the circuit for a final time and return to the frontstretch victorious for the first time in 2023.

    With the victory, Majeski notched his third career victory in the Craftsman Truck Series, all occurring throughout the Playoffs, and his first since winning at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October 2022. He also became the 14th different competitor to win at Indianapolis Raceway Park as he recorded the third victory of the season for ThorSport Racing and the fifth for Ford.

    By winning the Playoff opener at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Majeski became the first competitor to transfer to the Round of 8 as he continues his pursuit for his first NASCAR Truck Series championship.

    “Man, that was awesome. How about that, Indy?! Yeah!” Majeski said on FS1. “So cool. [Owners] Duke and Rhonda Thorson put the support into this race. They wanted [Indianapolis Raceway Park] to come back and they’re a huge reason behind that. Just so proud of everybody. Obviously, a heartbreaking loss last week at Richmond, but we win and lose as a team. This is so cool. Proud of the effort, but this is just the start of our Playoff run.”

    Eckes, the pole-sitter who led three laps, settled in the runner-up spot for the second time this season and leaves Indianapolis Raceway Park with a 39-point advantage above the top-eight cutline to commence the Playoffs while Layne Riggs achieved a career-best third-place result in his sixth career start in the Truck Series and first with Spire Motorsports.

    “I thought our NAPA AutoCare Chevrolet was really good there,” Eckes said. “[Majeski]’d fire off a little bit better, then would be just a little bit better throughout. They’ve kind of been the classes of the field on these style of races from the last two years. We got a little bit of homework to do on this style stuff, but overall, just really proud of my guys for bringing what we had.”

    “[Tonight]’s huge,” Riggs said. “I feel like this proves that I deserve to be here every weekend. I love truck racing, I love NASCAR racing. I wanna do it more. It’s a rare occurrence when I can do this. It was a really good truck tonight. Thank you so much to everybody. I hope I can be at one soon.”

    Hocevar came home in fourth place while Zane Smith ended up fifth as both competitors leave Indiana above the cutline.

    William Sawalich, rookie Rajah Caruth, Heim, Crafton and DiBenedetto finished in the top 10. Notably, Playoff competitors Nick Sanchez, Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes finished 11th, 12th and 16th, respectively, while Shane van Gisbergen ended up 19th in his Truck Series debut.

    There were three lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 41 laps. In addition, 18 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Ty Majeski, 179 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Christian Eckes, three laps led

    3. Layne Riggs

    4. Carson Hocevar

    5. Zane Smith

    6. William Sawalich

    7. Rajah Caruth

    8. Corey Heim, 18 laps led

    9. Matt Crafton

    10. Matt DiBenedetto

    11. Nick Sanchez

    12. Grant Enfinger

    13. Jake Garcia

    14. Chase Purdy

    15. Tanner Gray

    16. Ben Rhodes

    17. Jake Drew

    18. Jack Wood

    19. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down

    20. Taylor Gray, one lap down

    21. Logan Bearden, one lap down

    22. Daniel Dye, one lap down

     23. Matt Mills, two laps down

    24. Lawless Alan, two laps down

    25. Bret Holmes, three laps down

    26. Tyler Hill, three laps down

    27. Connor Jones, four laps down

    28. Landen Lewis, four laps down

    29. Chris Hacker, five laps down

    30. Stewart Friesen, 17 laps down

    31. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Accident

    32. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

    33. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Accident

    34. Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Electrical

    35. Colby Howard – OUT, Suspension

    36. Greg Van Alst – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings.

    1. Ty Majeski – Advanced

    2. Corey Heim +47

    3. Christian Eckes +39

    4. Carson Hocevar +35

    5. Zane Smith +29

    6. Grant Enfinger +24

    7. Ben Rhodes +4

    8. Nick Sanchez +2

    9. Matt Crafton -2

    10. Matt DiBenedetto -3

    With the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs underway, the second Round of 10 Playoff event is set to occur at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin, which will mark the series return to the venue since 2009. The event is scheduled to occur on August 27 at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.