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  • Buescher goes back-to-back with dramatic Cup victory at Michigan

    Buescher goes back-to-back with dramatic Cup victory at Michigan

    The one-day wait amid an extensive rain delay period was worth the wait for Chris Buescher and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing as both navigated their way to win the rain-postponed FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway that started on Sunday, August 6, and concluded on Monday, August 7.

    The 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Prosper, Texas, led three times for a race-high 52 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he rolled off the starting grid in fourth place and was coming off a breakthrough victory at Richmond Raceway. Amid a one-day postponement of the event due to precipitation and various pit strategies that ensued throughout the event, Buescher, who managed to cycle his way past dominant Martin Truex Jr. amid the final cycle of green flag pit stops with nearly 40 laps remaining, assumed the race lead with 18 laps remaining and, despite nearly losing the lead with 12 laps remaining, fended off a late surge from Truex to notch his second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory in recent weeks and gain needed momentum with the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs looming.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, August 5, Christopher Bell notched his second Cup pole position of the season and the sixth of his career after posting a fast pole-winning lap at 193.382 mph in 37.232 seconds, which marks the fastest qualifying lap posted since the 2020 Daytona 500. Joining him on the front row was Ross Chastain, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 193.242 mph in 37.259 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included Corey LaJoie, JJ Yeley and Austin Hill dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Another competitor who also dropped to the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments was Josh Berry, who was piloting the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club entry in place of the suspended Noah Gragson.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a delay of more than an hour and a half due to precipitation, Bell and Chastain dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Chastain, who restarted on the inside lane, received a huge shove from rookie Ty Gibbs to muscle his No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead through Turns 1 and 2, where he then moved in front of Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry entering the backstretch. As the field fanned out and jostled early for positions exiting the backstretch and entering Turns 3 and 4, Chastain proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Bell while Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs followed suit.

    Through the second lap, Chastain maintained the lead ahead of Bell while Truex battled Buescher for third place ahead of Ty Gibbs. Behind, Logano retained sixth ahead of Chase Elliott while William Byron, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney were in the top 10.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Chastain was leading by four-tenths of a second over Truex followed by Bell, Buescher and Ty Gibbs while Logano, Elliott, Wallace, Byron and Blaney were in the top 10. Behind, Denny Hamlin was in 11th ahead of Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Tyler Reddick while Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick was mired in 21st ahead of Erik Jones, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. while AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Preece, Justin Haley, Todd Gilliland and Corey LaJoie rounded out the top 30.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Chastain stabilized his early advantage to four-tenths of a second over Truex while third-place Bell trailed by more than a second. With Buescher and Ty Gibbs remaining in the top five, Wallace was up to sixth ahead of Elliott and Byron while Logano fell back to ninth in front of teammate Blaney.

    Four laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Kyle Busch, who was battling Blaney for 10th place, moved up the track and made contact with Blaney, where he then got loose, spun and made contact with the outside wall in Turn 2 on the driver’s side. The incident, which was enough to terminate Busch’s event early as he sustained his fifth DNF of the season, occurred as Chastain was being challenged by Truex for the lead. It also served as the competition caution period initially planned for Lap 20.

    During the competition caution period, a majority of the field led by Chastain pitted for service while 11 competitors led by the race leader Truex remained on the track amid mixed strategy.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 19, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead until Truex muscled his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota TRD Camry into the lead through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. With the field fanning out, Truex maintained the lead by half a second over teammate Gibbs while Buescher followed suit along with Wallace and Blaney. Behind, Elliott was in sixth followed by Suarez and Reddick, but Reddick would overtake both by Lap 21 while Chastain, the first competitor who pitted during the competition caution, was in 10th.

    Just past the Lap 25 mark and amid a series of on-track battles, Truex was leading by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Ty Gibbs while Buescher, Wallace and Blaney were scored in the top five. Truex would extend his advantage to more than a second over Gibbs by Lap 30. By then, Reddick, who started 15th, rocketed his No. 45 Rocket League Toyota TRD Camry into fifth place while Chastain was mired in ninth in between teammate Suarez and Keselowski. In addition, Bell was in 12th behind Byron, Larson, who nearly got loose entering Turn 4, fell back to 15th ahead of Hamlin and Logano was mired in 24th ahead of Aric Almirola and Harvick. In addition, Josh Berry was in 28th in between Kaulig Racing’s Haley and Allmendinger.

    On Lap 34, the second caution of the event flew when Elliott, who was running in ninth after being overtaken by Trackhouse Racing’s Suarez and Chastain a lap earlier, slipped sideways after blowing a right-rear tire and wrecked against the Turn 2 outside wall. The incident not only terminated Elliott’s race amid extensive damage to his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, but it hampered his hopes of gaining valuable points towards the 2023 Cup Series Playoff cutline. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Buescher pitted while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.

    With six laps remaining in the first stage period, the race proceeded under green as Truex and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, Truex muscled ahead from Wallace while starting on the outside lane as the field fanned out to four lanes entering the first two turns and the backstretch. With Truex remaining ahead of Wallace on the track and amid a series of on-track battles between competitors on mixed strategies, Ty Gibbs was in third followed by Keselowski and Suarez while Larson was in sixth ahead of Corey LaJoie and teammate Alex Bowman.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Truex, who announced his return for the 2024 Cup season with Joe Gibbs Racing on Saturday, claimed his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Wallace trailed in second while Ty Gibbs, Keselowski, Larson, Suarez, Bowman, Hamlin, Erik Jones and LaJoie were scored in the top 10. By then, Byron, who was running ninth, got loose, slipped up and slapped towards the outside wall entering Turn 4 as he limped his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 across the start/finish line in 13th.

    Under the stage break, some led by Truex, who remained on the track during the two previous caution periods, pitted while the rest led by Bowman remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Stenhouse was penalized for speeding on pit road and for an uncontrolled tire violation. Not long after, Truex made another pit stop as he was sent to the rear of the field.

    The second stage started on Lap 50 as Bowman and Erik Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Bowman and Jones dueled for the lead entering the first two turns as the field fanned out. Bowman and Jones would continue to duel for the lead through the backstretch while Hamlin, Reddick, Bell and Blaney followed pursuit. Then as the field made their way through Turns 3 and 4, the caution quickly returned when Berry, who was running 16th and battling with Harrison Burton, got loose in front of LaJoie and spun backwards towards the outside wall as he slapped the wall while barely missing Todd Gilliland before the damaged No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 came to a rest below the turn’s grass as his event came to an end. By then, Byron, who was on the Damaged Vehicle Policy clock period spanning seven minutes as his pit crew attempted to repair the No. 24 car, ran out of their scheduled repairment time as his event also came to an end.

    During the following restart on Lap 55, Bowman rocketed ahead with the lead from the outside lane as he then moved in front of Erik Jones to retain the top spot through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. With the battles ensuing through the backstretch, Bell rocketed his way around Erik Jones for the runner-up spot as he pursued Bowman for the lead while Chastain aggressively carved his way up to 11th.

    Through the Lap 60 mark, Bowman was leading by a tenth of a second over Bell followed by Erik Jones, Hamlin and Reddick while Blaney, Austin Cindric, Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon and Allmendinger were in the top 10. By then, Chastain, Wallace, Briscoe, Larson and Truex were in the top 15 while Logano, LaJoie, Almirola, Haley and Buescher occupied the top 20. Behind, Keselowski was mired in 21st ahead of Harrison Burton, Ty Dillon, Ty Gibbs and Suarez while Harvick was back in 26th.

    Four laps later, Bell, who had just overtaken Bowman amid a battle for the lead through the frontstretch, slipped sideways entering Turns 1 and 2 amid close-quarters racing with Bowman with Hamlin joining the battle. This resulted with Bell spinning backwards towards the outside wall as he pounded the wall and sustained significant rear end damage to his pole-winning car. During the caution period, the entire field led by Bowman, expect for Josh Bilicki, pitted for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Bowman exited first followed by Truex, Reddick, Blaney, Larson, Austin Dillon and Cindric. Bilicki would pit prior to the restart as Bowman reassumed the lead.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 69, where Bowman and Reddick occupied the front row, Bowman and Reddick dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Reddick managed to muscle ahead from the inside lane and assume the lead through the backstretch. As the field fanned out amid a series of on-track battles, including a pair of run-ins involving Blaney and LaJoie, Reddick maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Bowman while Larson was up in third followed by Truex, Cindric and Erik Jones.

    Four laps later, the caution returned due to reports of precipitation occurring around the speedway. Soon after, the field led by Reddick was directed to pit road and the event was placed in a red flag period due to the ongoing precipitation on Lap 74. With the precipitation increasing and the delay spanning more than an hour, NASCAR ended up postponing the remainder of the event’s coverage to Monday, August 7, at noon ET on USA Network.

    The following day on Monday, the field endured a brief 33-minute delay due to light mist before returning to the track under a cautious pace. During the caution period, Bell pitted even when pit road was closed for additional repairs to his pole-winning car amid his wreck from Sunday as he was still scored on the lead lap. Once pit road opened for the entire field to pit, some led by Reddick and including Bowman, Larson, Austin Dillon, Ty Gibbs, LaJoie, Stenhouse, Michael McDowell, Haley, Cole Custer and Bilicki pitted while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.

    When the race resumed under green flag conditions on Lap 82 amid an extensive caution period due to reports of light precipitation, where Truex and Cindric occupied the front row, Truex and Cindric dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Bubba Wallace made a bold three-wide move on both through the backstretch to assume the lead in his No. 23 DoorDash Toyota TRD Camry. With Wallace leading the proceeding lap, Truex settled in second while Keselowski battled Cindric for third in front of Erik Jones, Buescher and Hamlin. Jones then overtook Keselowski and Cindric in a three-wide move through the backstretch to move his No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to third as Wallace retained the lead. As the field continued to jostle for positions through the Lap 85 mark, Wallace stabilized his advantage to within a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Truex.

    By Lap 90, the top-three competitors were separated by nearly half a second as Wallace was still leading by two-tenths of a second over Truex followed by Erik Jones while Cindric and Suarez trailed in the top five by more than a second. Behind, Keselowski was in sixth ahead of teammate Buescher, Hamlin, Harrison Burton and Allmendinger while Blaney, Chastain, Logano, Reddick, Bowman, Larson, Briscoe, Harvick, Ryan Preece, Almirola and Ty Gibbs were battling within the top 20.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Truex cycled his way around Wallace, who continued to remain on the track and stretch his fuel tank to finish the second stage, to reassume the lead through the frontstretch while third-place Erik Jones trailed by six-tenths of a second. Behind, Suarez trailed in fourth place by more than a second while Hamlin was in fifth and trailing by more than two seconds.

    Two laps later, the caution flew when Preece, who was running 22nd, blew a right-rear tire entering Turn 1, but he managed to avoid hitting the outside wall as he fell off the pace with light smoke coming out of his No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang. During the caution period, some including the race leader Truex pitted while the rest led by Wallace and including Suarez, Keselowski, Chastain, Allmendinger, Logano, Bowman, Larson, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon, LaJoie and Custer remained on the track amid mixed strategy ensuing. Amid the pit stops, Hamlin, who was running in the top five prior to the caution period, stalled his car while trying to exit his pit stall as he plummeted towards the rear of the lead lap field.

    As the race restarted with 13 laps remaining in the second stage period, Wallace and Suarez dueled for the lead amid two tight-stacked lanes. Behind, Austin Dillon fell off the pace after nearly hitting the outside wall in Turn 1 and pitted under green due to a flat right-side tire, a move that pinned him a lap behind the leaders. Back at the front, Wallace and Suarez continued to duel for the lead until Suarez, who restarted beneath Wallace on the front row, managed to rocket his No. 99 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead entering Turns 3 and 4 as he assumed the lead from Wallace while Keselowski was in third.

    Just past the Lap 110 mark and amid a series of on-track battles, Suarez retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Keselowski while Wallace fell back to third in front of Bowman and Logano. Behind, Larson was in sixth ahead of Allmendinger while Truex charged his way up to eighth place while on four fresh tires and a full tank of fuel. Meanwhile, Hamlin carved his way up to 17th while battling Harvick for position.

    At the conclusion of the second stage period on Lap 120, Truex, who overtook Wallace for third place on Lap 118 as he continued to rocket his way back to the front on fresh tires, surged past Keselowski entering the backstretch and managed to side-draft Suarez amid Suarez trying to block Truex to claim the stage victory, his fifth of the season, in a photo finish. Suarez, who came into the event 34 points below the top-16 cutline towards the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, settled in second followed by Keselowski while Wallace, Bowman, Larson, Logano, Allmendinger, Cindric and Buescher were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Truex while the rest led by Buescher and including Reddick, Blaney, Harvick, Almirola, Gilliland and McDowell remained on the track with more mixed strategy ensuing. Amid the pit stops, Bell was penalized for his pit crew jumping over the pit wall too soon.

    With 74 laps remaining, the final stage started as Buescher and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher and Reddick dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. The caution then quickly returned when Cindric rubbed McDowell up into teammate Gilliland as Gilliland got squeezed towards the outside wall. In the ensuing contact, Bowman, who came into the event 42 points below the top-16 cutline, received light contact from Briscoe that got Bowman loose and spinning as he hit Gilliland before spinning with front nose damage on his No. 48 Ally Detroit Pistons Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. During the caution period, some including Wallace, Briscoe, the Dillon brothers, Gilliland, Erik Jones, Larson and Haley pitted while the rest led by Buescher remained on the track.

    With the race restarting with 67 laps remaining, Buescher surged ahead with the lead from the outside lane as he then fended off Reddick through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. Reddick maintained second in front of Blaney, Harvick and Cindric while Almirola was in sixth. Behind, Truex carved his way to seventh as he then battled Almirola for more while Hamlin was in eighth followed by Chastain and Burton.

    Seven laps later, Buescher stabilized his lead to two-tenths of a second over Reddick followed by Blaney while Truex moved up to fourth in front of Harvick. Behind, Cindric was in sixth ahead of Hamlin, Almirola, Chastain and Burton while McDowell, Ty Gibbs, Keselowski, Logano, Suarez, Preece, Allmendinger, Wallace, Larson and Austin Hill occupied the top 20.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Buescher continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Reddick while Truex trailed by less than six seconds as Hamlin moved up to fourth ahead of Blaney, Cindric and Harvick.

    Seven laps later, green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Buescher surrendered the lead to pit followed by Reddick and Harvick as Reddick exited ahead of Buescher off of pit road. During the following lap, however, Reddick returned to pit road due to a flat right-rear tire on his No. 45 entry, an issue that left Reddick steaming towards his pit crew. By then, Hamlin and Almirola pitted under green before Truex surrendered the lead to pit with 41 laps remaining. Amid the pit stops, Buescher managed to cycle his No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang past Truex on the track as Keselowski assumed the lead with less than 40 laps remaining.

    With 30 laps remaining, Keselowski retained the lead by over Suarez followed by Larson, Erik Jones and Logano, Bell, Wallace, LaJoie, Stenhouse and Preece were scored in the top 10. By then, Ty Gibbs, who was running in fifth place, pitted under green. Logano and LaJoie would pit a few laps later as Keselowski extended his lead to six seconds over Suarez and seven seconds over Larson. By then, Buescher worked his way up to 11th while Truex trailed behind in 12th.

    With 25 laps remaining, Suarez surrendered the runner-up spot to pit under green along with Preece. Keselowski would then surrender the lead the following lap to pit his No. 6 Nexlizet Ford Mustang as Larson assumed the lead. With 23 laps remaining, however, Larson pitted his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from the lead along with Erik Jones, Bell and Wallace as Ty Dillon cycled into the lead followed by brother Austin Dillon. Behind, Buescher and Truex moved up to third and fourth as the latter, who had a strong race car, continued to try to navigate his way around the former with both having enough fuel to finish the event.

    Once the Dillon brothers pitted with nearly 20 laps remaining, Buescher cycled his way into the race lead with 18 laps remaining as Truex continued to intimidate and trail by two-tenths of a second. Buescher would continue to lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Truex while third-place Hamlin trailed by four seconds as Keselowski and Harvick were in the top five.

    Then with 13 laps remaining, Truex, who gained ground to Buescher’s rear bumper through the frontstretch, made his move beneath Buescher for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 as both dueled for the top spot through the backstretch. Truex then side-drafted Buescher back through the frontstretch as he led the following lap by a hair before Buescher returned the favor by side-drafting Truex in a fight to reassume the lead. Despite leading with 12 laps remaining, Truex got loose entering Turn 1, which allowed Buescher to pull ahead with the lead by nearly a second.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Buescher stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Truex while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than three seconds. Keselowski and Larson remained in the top five while Harvick, Chastain, Blaney, Suarez and Cindric were in the top 10. Behind, Ty Gibbs was in 11th ahead of Erik Jones and Almirola while Bell carved his damaged car to 14th place ahead of Wallace.

    With five laps remaining, Truex regained his ground on Buescher as he was only trailing by two-tenths of a second for the lead in his fast No. 19 Toyota. With Buescher retaining the lead, Truex kept Buescher’s No. 17 Ford close within his sights amid the draft as he tried to gain a run around Buescher with the laps dwindling.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Buescher remained as the leader by less than three-tenths of a second over Truex. Through Turns 1 and 2, Truex could not gain a run to draw even with Buescher as both entered the backstretch. Then entering Turns 3 and 4, Truex made a final lap charge to get alongside Buescher, but the run was not enough as Buescher managed to retain the lead and beat Truex to the finish line by a tenth of a second to notch his second consecutive checkered flag in recent weeks.

    With the victory, Buescher, who ended up leading a race-high 52 laps, recorded his fourth career win in NASCAR’s premier series as this marks his first season notching multiple Cup victories, thus making him the sixth multi-race winner of the 2023 Cup Series season, and first time claiming back-to-back Cup race victories. The victory was also the 14th overall in the Cup circuit for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing at the Irish Hills, making RFK Racing the winningest organization at the speedway, and their first since Greg Biffle won in 2012 while Ford claimed its 21st Cup victory, ninth in a row, at Michigan.

    Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “That was our plan [to win],” Buescher said on USA Network. “That’s what we come to do every weekend. It’s awesome. Glad we got to get this whole [race] in. I know it’s been a long weekend, but this Castrol Edge Mustang was so good in practice, qualifying. This team gave me a great car again. [I] Had to work for that [win], too. Hard racing there at the end. Martin [Truex Jr.] was very clean with me. I appreciate that. [I] Get to go to Victory Lane two weeks in a row, so that’s pretty awesome. We’ve got work to do, but that’s massive progress right there for us to do [and win at] two vastly different racetracks. We got road [course] races coming up. I’m excited for those two and Daytona. I look at the schedule we have ahead of us, and this is a heck of a time to get turned on and get rolling.”

    Truex, who led six times for 47 laps, settled in second place for the second time this season amid a strong performance on the track. This also marks Truex’s fourth runner-up result at the Irish Hills as he continues his pursuit for his first Michigan win.

    “I think we just needed maybe a little bit longer run to wear the tires some more,” Truex, who extended his lead in the regular-season standings to 57 points, said. “I felt like we were a little better, but it’s just really hard to pass the leader on equal tires. We had an unbelievable Auto-Owners Camry today and hats off to everybody that puts in the work on these things. It was a rocket. It’s just the leader in clean air is really, really hard to pass. Just didn’t quite have enough, but all in all, a good day.”

    Hamlin came home in third place while Keselowski, Buescher’s teammate and co-owner at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, ended up in fourth place in his home track. The fourth-place result marked Keselowski’s fifth top-five result of the season as he is now 168 points above the top-16 cutline towards the Playoff standings, but he was also left satisfied from an owner’s perspective with Buescher winning the race and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing gaining momentum with the start of the Playoffs lingering.

    “[I’m] Really happy for all the folks at Castrol and for [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing],” Keselowski said. “There’s a lot of work going on here and we’re digging deep and getting the results. I’m just so thankful and proud for everyone at RFK. We’re letting our results speak for themselves and Chris [Buescher] has done a heck of a job driving the car. When you can win, it feels really good, but we got to keep some humbleness and keep our head down. There’s some great competition out here.”

    Larson completed the top five in fifth place while Suarez, teammate Chastain, Harvick, Blaney and Erik Jones finished in the top 10. Notably, Ty Gibbs settled in 11th while Bell rallied from his early wreck on Sunday to finish 13th ahead of Logano and LaJoie. In addition, Wallace fell back to 18th ahead of Austin Dillon, McDowell ended up a lap down in 24th, Allmendinger settled in 26th, Reddick fell back to 30th and Bowman ended up 33rd after he was unable to finish due to a steering issue to his car stemming from his late wreck.

    There were 26 lead changes for 16 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 43 laps. In addition, 21 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With three regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the regular-season standings by 57 points over teammate Denny Hamlin and 96 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 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, Bubba Wallace and rookie Ty Gibbs occupy the remaining vacant spots to the Playoffs based on points, with Gibbs occupying the 16th and final vacant spots by three points over Michael McDowell, five over Daniel Suarez, 24 over AJ Allmendinger, 44 over Alex Bowman, 53 over Austin Cindric, 55 over Chase Elliott, 72 over Justin Haley, 81 over Aric Almirola and 89 over Ryan Preece.

    Results.

    1. Chris Buescher, 52 laps led

    2. Martin Truex Jr., 47 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    3. Denny Hamlin, one lap led

    4. Brad Keselowski, 15 laps led

    5. Kyle Larson, two laps led

    6. Daniel Suarez, 12 laps led

    7. Ross Chastain, 16 laps led

    8. Kevin Harvick

    9. Ryan Blaney, one lap led

    10. Erik Jones

    11. Ty Gibbs, one lap led

    12. Austin Cindric

    13. Christopher Bell, one lap led

    14. Joey Logano

    15. Corey LaJoie

    16. Aric Almirola

    17. Harrison Burton

    18. Bubba Wallace, 21 laps led

    19. Austin Dillon, two laps led

    20. Ty Dillon, two laps led

    21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    22. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    23. Justin Haley, one lap down

    24. Michael McDowell, one lap down

    25. Cole Custer, one lap down

    26. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

    27. JJ Yeley, one lap down

    28. Austin Hill, two laps down

    29. Todd Gilliland, three laps down

    30. Tyler Reddick, three laps down, seven laps led

    31. Chase Briscoe, three laps down

    32. Josh Bilicki, four laps down, one lap led

    33. Alex Bowman – OUT, Steering, 19 laps led

    34. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

    35. William Byron – OUT, Dvp

    36. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident

    37. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in Indianapolis, Indiana. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, August 13, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • John Hunter Nemechek rallies from early spin to notch milestone Xfinity victory for Joe Gibbs Racing at Michigan

    John Hunter Nemechek rallies from early spin to notch milestone Xfinity victory for Joe Gibbs Racing at Michigan

    From a Lap 10 multi-car wreck that involved himself and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, John Hunter Nemechek rallied in dominant fashion by notching a milestone victory for the JGR organization in the Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, August 5.

    The 26-year-old Nemechek from Mooresville, North Carolina, led twice for a race-high 65 of 125-scheduled laps in an event where he started 10th and quickly raced his way towards the front. Amid a Lap 3 incident for a single car spin and a Lap 9 restart, Nemechek’s event quickly went south when he made contact with teammate Ty Gibbs entering the backstretch that sent Gibbs spinning while his third teammate, Sammy Smith, was also collected after making ensuing contact with Nemechek. Despite falling down the leaderboard, Nemechek, who pitted prior to the first stage’s conclusion, gained an advantage during the stage break when he remained on the track and moved up the leaderboard. From there, Nemechek assumed the lead for the first time on Lap 55 and proceeded to win the second stage. He then gained control of the field throughout the final stage spanning the final 59 laps and held off the field during a seven-lap dash to the finish to notch his fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2023 season and record the 200th Xfinity career win for Joe Gibbs Racing.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, August 4, Josh Berry notched his second Xfinity pole position of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 189.549 mph in 37.985 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Justin Allgaier, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 188.289 mph in 38.239 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included Connor Mosack, Sage Karam, Kyle Weatherman and Josh Williams dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective entries.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Berry surged ahead with a strong start from the outside lane through the backstretch, but teammate Allgaier gained a strong run from the inside lane through the first two turns as he then assumed the lead entering the backstretch. With Allgaier placing a reasonable gap between himself and Berry exiting the backstretch before entering Turns 3 and 4, Allgaier proceeded to lead the first lap while Austin Hill and Sam Mayer battled for third place behind Berry.

    During the second lap, Allgaier stretched his lead to half a second over teammate Berry while teammate Mayer trailed in third place by less than a second. By then, Austin Hill was in fourth ahead of rookie Chandler Smith while Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar, John Hunter Nemechek, rookie Sammy Smith and Ross Chastain were in the top 10.

    On the third lap, the first caution of the event flew when Kaz Grala, who was battling within the top 20, slipped sideways entering Turn 4 and spun off the front nose of Sheldon Creed as Grala spun his No. 26 Toyota Genuine Parts Supra below the track and backwards on the frontstretch grass.

    When the race restarted on the ninth lap, teammates Allgaier and Berry dueled for the top spot until Allgaier muscled ahead in his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro to retain the lead. As the field fanned out and jostled for positions, contact was made between Mayer and Chandler Smith entering Turn 3 as Mayer went up the track and lost a multitude of spots while Allgaier continued to lead.

    A lap later, the caution returned when Nemechek, who was battling amid close-quarters racing with Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Ty Gibbs and Sammy Smith, ran into the rear bumper of Gibbs’ No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra entering the backstretch, which got Gibbs loose and spinning sideways as Nemechek also spun after getting hit by Sammy Smith. In the ensuring mayhem, Nemechek spun his No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra towards the bottom of the track in the backstretch while Smith collided into the side of Hocevar and nearly sent his No. 77 Premier Security Chevrolet Camaro flipping over before Hocevar’s car quickly came back down on all four wheels and spun through the backstretch. While Nemechek and Gibbs, who was left sour over the incident with Nemechek, continued along with Hocevar, Sammy Smith’s event came to an early end.

    During the proceeding restart on Lap 16, Allgaier retained the lead amid another strong restart while teammate Berry, who elected to restart on the second row, gained a strong start to move up to second followed by Chandler Smith while Hill, who moved up to restart on the inside lane on the front row, fell back to fourth.

    Approaching Lap 19, the caution flew for a third time when Mason Maggio, who was involved in the previous caution period for a multi-car wreck, went dead straight after blowing a right-front tire and smacked the outside wall towards Turn 2 as his event came to an early end. During the caution period, Nemechek, Karam and Josh Williams pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.

    The following restart on Lap 23 featured Allgaier and Custer dueling for the lead on the front row as Allgaier retained the lead while the field fanned out through the first two turns. As Allgaier retained the top spot, Berry moved back into the runner-up spot followed by Custer while Chandler Smith and Herbst followed suit along with Brandon Jones. Amid the continuous on-track battles, Allgaier would retain the lead at the Lap 25 mark.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Allgaier claimed his eighth stage victory of the 2023 Xfinity season. Teammate Berry settled in second while Custer, Chandler Smith, Herbst, Brandon Jones, Austin Hill, Ryan Sieg, Mayer and Anthony Alfredo were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Allgaier pitted for service while the rest led by Ty Gibbs, Nemechek and Grala remained on the track amid mixed strategy ensuing. Amid the pit stops, Jeb Burton spun while trying to entering his pit stall and was penalized for a safety violation.

    The second stage started on Lap 36 as Ty Gibbs and Creed, who pitted for two fresh tires, occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs took off with the lead ahead of Creed and the field that proceeded to fan out entering the first two turns. By the following lap, Ty Gibbs stretched his advantage to half a second while teammate Nemechek battled and overtook Creed for the runner-up spot.

    On Lap 38, the caution flew when Connor Mosack got turned by Joe Graf Jr. towards the outside wall exiting the frontstretch and approaching Turn 1 as Mosack limped back to pit road with extensive damage on his No. 24 Toyota Racing Development Supra.

    When the race restarted on Lap 42, Ty Gibbs pulled ahead from Riley Herbst with a push from teammate Nemechek as Gibbs assumed the lead while Nemechek and Herbst battled for second.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Ty Gibbs was leading by a tenth of a second over teammate Nemechek followed by Herbst, Cole Custer and Allgaier while Mayer, Austin Hill, Berry, Brandon Jones and Chandler Smith were in the top 10. Behind, Brett Moffitt was in 11th ahead of Creed, Anthony Alfredo, Parker Kligerman and Ryan Sieg while Daniel Hemric, Ross Chastain, Parker Retzlaff, Jeb Burton and Grala occupied the top 20.

    Five laps later, the top-nine competitors were separated by less than two seconds as Nemechek cycled his way around teammate Ty Gibbs to assume the lead. With Nemechek leading by four-tenths of a second and half a second over Herbst, Allgaier and Austin Hill settled in the top five.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 60, Nemechek fended off the field to claim his fifth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Allgaier, who moved from fourth to second two laps earlier, settled in the runner-up spot while Ty Gibbs, Herbst, Austin Hill, Custer, Berry, Mayer, Brandon Jones and Moffitt were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, trouble struck for Allgaier as he got bumped and turned by Ty Gibbs while approaching his pit stall as the field entered pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Nemechek exited first ahead of Herbst, Hill, Custer, Berry and Ty Gibbs.

    With 59 laps remaining, the final stage started as Nemechek and Hill occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek jumped ahead to retain the lead over the field that fanned out with the competitors jostling for positions.

    With 50 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by three-tenths of a second over Austin Hill followed by Herbst, Berry and Brandon Jones while Ty Gibbs settled in sixth. With Custer and Mayer running in seventh and eighth, Allgaier, following his pit road incident during the stage break, had carved his way back up to ninth after restarting 30th while Chastain was in 10th.

    Ten laps later, Nemechek continued to lead by more than a second over Austin Hill while Berry, Herbst and Brandon Jones retained their respective spots in the top five. By then, Ty Gibbs and Custer were running sixth and seventh while Allgaier was in eighth followed by teammate Mayer and Chastain.

    Another 10 laps later, Nemechek increased his advantage to nearly two seconds over Berry while Hill, Herbst and Brandon Jones remained in the top five. Not long after, green flag pit stops commenced as Mayer and Chandler Smith pitted. A series of names that included Ty Gibbs, Allgaier and Custer would pit during the ensuing lap before the leader Nemechek pitted with 28 laps remaining along with Brandon Jones, Hill, Chastain, Berry, Creed, Hemric, Jeb Burton and Jeremy Clements. Amid the pit stops, Allgaier was penalized due to a crew member jumping over the pit wall too soon while Moffitt, who has yet to pit, cycled into the lead. In addition, Austin Hill reported a transmission issue to his No. 21 United Rentals Chevrolet Camaro as he was exiting pit road, which resulted with him losing ground of the leaders.

    Then with 22 laps remaining, Nemechek cycled his way back into the lead after Sage Karam, who led a lap for himself, pitted. In the process, Berry moved up to second as he trailed Nemechek by two seconds as Ty Gibbs would follow suit to third place.

    With 15 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by more than a second over Berry while Gibbs, Jones and Custer were in the top five.

    Then two laps later, the caution flew when Patrick Emerling blew a left-front tire and went dead straight towards the outside wall in Turn 3. During the caution period, names that included Custer, Allgaier, Ryan Sieg, Karam and Moffitt pitted while the rest led by Nemechek remained on the track.

    Down to the final seven laps of the event, the race restarted under green as teammates Nemechek and Ty Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek retained the lead over the field as Berry and Ty Gibbs battled for second ahead of Brandon Jones and Mayer. With the field fanning out through the first two turns and the backstretch, Nemechek stabilized his advantage while starting to place a gap from the field.

    With five laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by three-tenths of a second over Berry and six-tenths of a second over Brandon Jones while Ty Gibbs and Mayer were in the top five. Behind, Herbst was in sixth followed by Chastain, Kligerman, Retzlaff and Jeb Burton. Nemechek would then stretch his advantage to nearly a second over Berry while Brandon Jones would slowly lose touch of the top-two competitors as the laps dwindled.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Nemechek remained as the leader by more than a second over Berry and Brandon Jones while Ty Gibbs and Mayer trailed by more than two seconds. Having no close competition lurking behind him, Nemechek was able to cycle his way around the circuit for a final time and cruise back to the frontstretch to notch his fifth checkered flag of the 2023 Xfinity season.

    With the victory, Nemechek notched his seventh Xfinity Series career victory in his 88th series start and his first at Michigan as he became the first five-time race winner of the 2023 season. In addition to delivering the seventh Xfinity victory of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing, Nemechek bestowed the honors of achieving the 200th career win for the JGR organization, with six of them coming from Nemechek.

    “Man, I’m grateful for this whole No. 20 bunch,” Nemechek, who accepted responsibility over the contact and incident with Ty Gibbs, said on NBC. “[I’m] Grateful for Joe Gibbs Racing, this opportunity. All of our great partners that help us get to the racetrack. I have to apologize to Ty [Gibbs]. I’ve been the one that’s been very vocal about teammates recently. I put him in a bad aero spot, got him loose and then, couldn’t check up. It’s my mistake. I hate that we both spun early, but at least, we both rebounded decently. I know he’s not too happy with me. He has every right not to be. I’m thankful for my team, all the guys. Win number five. After the last two weeks, we said that we needed to come out here and answer. We were able to do that today here at Michigan.”

    Berry, who did not lead a lap despite starting on pole position, ended up in the runner-up spot for the second time this season as he continues to pursue his first victory of the season while teammate Brandon Jones claimed his second top-five result of the season by notching a strong third-place result.

    “Yeah, we just built really tight that last run,” Berry said. “I thought I was kind of inching in on [Nemechek] for a while and then, we kind of leveled out. It was tough there. I felt like I needed to pick behind [Nemechek] there [on the final restart], but the bottom [lane] just got so slick there at the end. I felt like that was gonna give us our best chance. Overall, we were just a little too tight to make a run at him there. Overall, [I’m] really proud of these guys. Obviously, we’ve had a good couple of weeks, so we just got to keep working, keep getting better. We’re just gonna keep after it. We’re getting better at the right time. Definitely, a good day for JR Motorsports and we’ll be in Victory Lane soon.”

    Ty Gibbs, who led 22 laps, rallied from his early incident to finish fourth in his sixth Xfinity start of the season while Mayer, winner of last weekend’s event at Road America, finished fifth.

    Herbst, Ross Chastain, Kligerman, rookie Parker Retzlaff and Jeb Burton completed the top 10 on the track. Notably, Austin Hill ended up 11th in front of teammate Sheldon Creed, Allgaier settled in 14th following his late-race pit road penalty, Custer finished 16th behind Daniel Hemric and rookie Chandler Smith, who had a late-race run-in with Hill that led to a post-race discussion with Hill, fell back to 20th.

    There were seven lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 31 laps. In addition, 20 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With five Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Hill are tied for the lead in the regular-season standings, with Justin Allgaier trailing by 34 points and Cole Custer trailing by 86.

    Results.

    1. John Hunter Nemechek, 65 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Josh Berry

    3. Brandon Jones

    4. Ty Gibbs, 22 laps led

    5. Sam Mayer

    6. Riley Herbst, one lap led

    7. Ross Chastain

    8. Parker Kligerman

    9. Parker Retzlaff

    10. Jeb Burton

    11. Austin Hill

    12. Sheldon Creed

    13. Ryan Sieg

    14. Justin Allgaier, 32 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    15. Daniel Hemric

    16. Cole Custer

    17. Bret Moffitt, four laps led

    18. Anthony Alfredo

    19. Kyle Sieg

    20. Chandler Smith

    21. Kaz Grala, one lap down

    22. Josh Williams, one lap down

    23. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

    24. Jeffrey Earnhardt, one lap down

    25. Sage Karam, one lap down

    26. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

    27. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

    28. Dawson Cram, one lap down

    29. Brennan Poole, two laps down

    30. Garrett Smithley, two laps down

    31. Stefan Parsons, two laps down

    32. Carson Hocevar, two laps down

    33. Blaine Perkins, two laps down

    34. Patrick Emerling, five laps down

    35. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Electrical

    36. Connor Mosack – OUT, Accident

    37. Mason Maggio – OUT, Accident

    38. Sammy Smith – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ fourth annual running of the Pennzoil 150 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in Indianapolis, Indiana. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, August 12, at 5:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Christopher Bell claims Busch Light Pole at Michigan

    Christopher Bell claims Busch Light Pole at Michigan

    Christopher Bell captured the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Pole Award at Michigan International Speedway during the final round of qualifying Saturday afternoon, earning the top spot for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400.

    His lap time of 37.232 seconds at 193.382 mph in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota earned Bell his second pole of the season and his sixth career pole. Bell is looking forward to the upcoming race and is hoping to capitalize on his front-row start.

    “I feel excellent about what I have for sure,” he said after qualifying. “It has been a pretty smooth Saturday. In practice, it was very good off the truck and fast and balanced. That is what it is all about at Michigan – having the car comfortable and balanced so you can drive as hard as you need to; to create speed as you need to here in Michigan.”

    Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain will join Bell on the front row after a qualifying lap of 193.242 mph in his No. 1 Chevrolet. Ty Gibbs (193.024 mph) will start third followed by Chris Buescher (192.921 mph) in fourth.

    Martin Truex Jr., who recently announced a one-year extension through 2024 with Joe Gibbs Racing, qualified with a 192.658 mph lap to round out the top five.    

    Joey Logano, William Byron, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott completed the top 10 fastest drivers in qualifying.

    Josh Berry, filling in for the suspended Noah Gragson, qualified 35th in the Legacy Motor Club No. 42 Chevrolet entry.

    The NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 is set for Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA with radio coverage provided by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Starting Lineup:

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Richmond

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Richmond

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished second in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond.

    “I’m becoming NASCAR’s biggest villain,” Hamlin said. “I’m the driver people love to hate. I’m also the driver drivers love to hate. I’m not here to win NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver award. I’m here to win championships. Unfortunately, I’ve won neither.”

    2. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished seventh in the Cook Out 400.

    “Sunday’s race was relatively incident free,” Truex said. “That’s fine by me because all this feuding gets on my nerves. Throw some punches for Christ’s sake. I think Richard Petty would echo my sentiment. If anyone knows drama queens, it’s the ‘King.’”

    3. Kyle Busch: Busch started second and finished third at Richmond in the No. 8 X World Wallet Chevrolet.

    “I’ve won more races than any active driver in history at Richmond,” Busch said. “I have six Richmond wins. You don’t always need six to top the list of active drivers. With only one, I top the list of active drivers who’ve been sentenced to jail time in a Mexican prison.”

    4. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished 10th at Richmond, posting his ninth top 10 of the year.

    “All the talk lately is about aggression and ethics in racing,” Harvick said. “All I know is in the good old days, if you got your feathers ruffled, you did something about it. Nowadays, if you get your feathers ruffled, it just means you’re a chicken.”

    5. William Byron: Byron struggled at Richmond and finished 21st, one lap down.

    “It was incredibly hot at the track,” Blaney said. “In some cars, the temperature reached 130 degrees. NASCAR has a pretty strict drug policy, so this is about the closest we can come to ‘getting baked.’”

    6. Chris Buescher: Buescher took the lead from Brad Keselowski during a late pit stop cycle and held off Denny Hamlin to win the Cook Out 400 at Richmond.

    “I was worried when Hamlin lined up next to me on the last restart,” Buescher said. “Luckily, I was on the ‘right side’ of Denny Hamlin.”

    7. Kyle Larson: Larson finished 19th at Richmond, the last car on the lead lap.

    “I’ve talked to Hamlin since our incident at Pocono,” Larson said. “Not personally, but over text. I suggested we ‘keep our distance,’ and since Denny finished second and I finished 19th, I guess we did.”

    8. Joey Logano: Logano finished fourth in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond.

    “I started 23rd,” Logano said. “So we really had to work hard to get to the front. I have to hand it to my pit crew–they did all the heavy lifting. And I’m glad they handled that, because have you seen my biceps?”

    9. Christopher Bell: Bell finished 20th at Richmond.

    “There are four races left until the playoffs,” Bell said. “And 12 drivers have clinched playoff spots. So, for the driver battling for those last four spots, it’s going to be tight. And by ‘it’s,’ I mean their sphincters.”

    10. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished 24th at Richmond.

    “Many people are saying Cook Out would be a great sponsor for me,” Chastain said. “That’s probably because of the way I ‘drive through’ the competition.”

  • Buescher captures dramatic Cup victory at Richmond, clinches Playoff spot

    Buescher captures dramatic Cup victory at Richmond, clinches Playoff spot

    With the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs less than a month away from commencing, Chris Buescher punched his ticket into the Playoffs following a dramatic victory in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on Sunday, July 30.

    The 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Prosper, Texas, led three times for 88 of 400 scheduled laps, including the final six, in an event where he rallied from starting 26th to challenge for the lead and eventual victory. After assuming the lead for the first time with 195 laps remaining, Buescher would then navigate his way through a series of green flag pit stops and pit strategies to remain upfront.

    He was then headed towards a victory when a late caution period with 10 laps remaining briefly stalled his progress. With a fast pit service by his pit crew during the caution period, Buescher was able to retain the lead and fend off Denny Hamlin during a three-lap shootout to grab his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season and become the 12th different competitor to be guaranteed a Playoff spot by winning.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, July 29, Tyler Reddick notched his first Cup pole position of the 2023 season and the fifth of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 113.689 mph in 23.749 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Kyle Busch, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 113.636 mph in 23.760 seconds.

    Prior to the event, AJ Allmendinger dropped to the rear of the field due to a driver change after Derek Kraus practiced and qualified his Kaulig Racing entry while Allmendinger opted to pull double duty by competing in Saturday’s Xfinity event at Road America before returning in time to compete for Sunday’s Cup event at Richmond.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Reddick pulled ahead while starting on the inside lane and assumed an early lead while Denny Hamlin challenged Kyle Busch for the runner-up spot through Turns 1 and 2. As the field fanned out through the backstretch, Reddick proceeded to lead the first lap in his No. 45 Xfinity 10G Network Toyota TRD Camry while Hamlin and Busch continued to battle for second in from of Chase Elliott, William Byron and Bubba Wallace.

    Through the second lap, the field continued to fan out and jostle for early positions while Reddick stretched his early advantage to three-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Kyle Busch settled in third in front of Elliott, Byron and Wallace.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Reddick was leading by nearly four-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Busch, Elliott and Byron while Wallace, rookie Ty Gibbs, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Preece and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were in the top 10. Behind, Brad Keselowski was in 11th ahead of Kyle Larson, rookie Noah Gragson, Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland while Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Joey Logano and Aric Almirola occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Truex, who made contact with Stenhouse a few laps earlier, had fallen back to 21st ahead of Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher, Harrison Burton and Ryan Blaney while Christopher Bell was mired in 27th.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Reddick continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over owner Hamlin while Busch trailed by more than a second. Behind, Elliott retained fourth ahead of Wallace, Byron and Gibbs while Harvick was in eighth ahead of teammate Preece and Stenhouse.

    Fifteen laps later, Reddick stabilized his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Hamlin while third-place Busch trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Wallace moved up to fourth in front of Elliott, Byron and Ty Gibbs while Harvick, Preece and Stenhouse stabilized themselves in the top 10. In addition, Keselowski and Larson were in 11th and 13th, Bowman cracked the top 15 in 15th, Logano was mired in 17th ahead of Almirola, Austin Dillon was back in 21st ahead of Chastain, Blaney, Truex and Bell and Daniel Suarez was in 28th.

    Another 10 laps later, Reddick retained the lead by half a second over Hamlin while Busch, Wallace and Elliott continued to run in the top five. By then, Harvick overtook Ty Gibbs to move into seventh place while Keselowski cracked the top 10 as he was in 10th. In addition, McDowell was in 12th and Larson retained 13th in front of teammate Bowman and Gragson while Logano was mired in 18th.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Reddick extended his advantage to more than a second over Hamlin. By then, Wallace moved his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry up into third place, trailing his teammate and owner by more than two seconds, while Busch and Elliott trailed behind in the top five. In addition, Harvick moved his No. 4 Rheem Ford Mustang into sixth place over Byron while Preece and Keselowski overtook Ty Gibbs to move up to eighth and ninth place, respectively.

    Ten laps later, Reddick, who started to approach lapped traffic, extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Hamlin while teammate Wallace trailed in third place by more than two seconds. While Elliott and Harvick continued to run in the top five, Kyle Busch, who started on the front row, had dropped to ninth. In addition, a bevy of names that included Chase Briscoe, Larson, Buescher, Bell, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Blaney, Truex, AJ Allmendinger, Erik Jones, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Justin Haley were mired outside the top 15 and within the top 30 on the track while Ryan Newman, who was making his third Cup start of the season, was in 30th.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 70, Reddick captured his fourth stage victory of the 2023 season. Teammate Wallace followed suit in second along with owner Hamlin while Elliott, Harvick, Preece, Byron, Aric Almirola, Keselowski and Ty Gibbs were scored in the top 10. By then, 29 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap, with Suarez, who was in 29th, able to fend off race leader Reddick to remain on the lead lap at the stage’s conclusion.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Reddick pitted for their first round of service. Following the pit stops, Reddick retained the lead after exiting first followed by teammate Wallace, Hamlin, Elliott, Harvick, Keselowski and Ty Gibbs. Amid the pit stops, Preece endured a slow pit service after stopping his car over the pit line and had to reverse to avoid a penalty, which dropped him out of the top 15.

    The second stage started on Lap 78 as 23XI Racing’s Reddick and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Reddick retained the lead by a narrow margin over teammate Wallace, but Wallace fought back on the outside lane as both dueled dead even for the top spot during the following lap. With the momentum on the outside lane, Wallace assumed the lead on Lap 80. By then, Elliott moved up to third after overtaking Hamlin, who was being pressured by Keselowski for fourth while Harvick followed suit in sixth along with McDowell, who used the outside lane during the restart to move into the top 10.

    Five laps later, Keselowski overtook Elliott to claim third place while Hamlin situated himself in fifth place. By then, teammates Wallace and Reddick continued to run first and second, with Wallace leading by half a second. Another two laps later, Hamlin dueled against Elliott while running on the outside lane for fourth place as Harvick followed in pursuit.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Wallace was leading by more than a second over teammate Reddick followed by Keselowski, Hamlin and Elliott while Harvick, Almirola, Ty Gibbs, Logano and McDowell were running in the top 10. Behind, Buescher was in 11th ahead of Kyle Busch, Preece, Stenhouse and Bowman while Byron, Chastain, Bell, Austin Dillon and Briscoe occupied the top 20. By then, Larson was in 21st, Blaney was mired in 24th behind Erik Jones, Allmendinger was running in 25th ahead of Suarez, Truex was back in 27th and Austin Cindric was mired in 28th.

    Ten laps later, Wallace stabilized his advantage to more than a second over teammate Reddick while third-place Keselowski trailed by more than two seconds, all while Hamlin and Elliott remained in the top five in front of Harvick.

    Another 10 laps later, green flag pit stops commenced as Preece pitted along with Todd Gilliland. During Lap 122, more competitors that included Redick, Keselowski, Elliott, Buescher, Larson, Cindric, Gragson, Almirola, Bowman, Austin Dillon, Allmendinger, Haley and the leader Wallace pitted. Amid the pit stops, Almirola was penalized for a commitment line violation.

    On Lap 128, more competitors that included Hamlin, Harvick, Ty Gibbs, Logano and Bell, who would be eventually penalized for speeding on pit road, pitted under green. With the majority of green flag pit stops completed by Lap 135, McDowell, who has yet to pit, was leading followed by Wallace while Reddick, Truex and Keselowski were in the top five. McDowell would relinquish the lead to Wallace by Lap 137, though he remained on the track.

    At the Lap 150 mark, Wallace was leading by more than a second over teammate Reddick followed by Keselowski, Hamlin and Buescher while Elliott, Preece, Kyle Busch, Logano and Ty Gibbs were in the top 10. By then, McDowell and Truex pitted while on an alternate pit strategy.

    By Lap 172, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Ty Gibbs and Austin Dillon pitted. A few laps later, more competitors that included Keselowski, Buescher, Preece, Byron and Newman pitted. The leader Wallace would pit by Lap 174 along with Erik Jones, Chastain, Almirola, Briscoe, Harvick, Elliott, Reddick, Allmendinger, Larson, Stenhouse and others.

    On Lap 180, Hamlin, who cycled into the lead, pitted his No. 11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota TRD Camry under green along with Logano, Blaney and Bell. With the majority of the green flag pit stops being completed by then, Keselowski, who overtook Truex on his alternate strategy, was the new leader.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 200, Keselowski was leading followed by Reddick, Buescher, Wallace and Hamlin while Truex, Busch, Preece, Ty Gibbs and Austin Dillon were in the top 10. Behind, McDowell was in 11th followed by Harvick, Logano, Bowman and Elliott while Stenhouse, Byron, Almirola, Briscoe and Larson occupied the top 20.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 230, Keselowski claimed his third stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Teammate Buescher followed suit in second while Reddick, Wallace, Hamlin, Busch, Preece, Truex, Ty Gibbs and Logano were scored in the top 10. By then, 17 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while Bowman, who was in 18th, was able to fend off teammate Larson to emerge as the first competitor a lap down and receive the free pass during the stage break.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Keselowski pitted. Following the pit stops, Keselowski retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by teammate Buescher, Reddick, Wallace, Busch and Hamlin.

    With 161 laps remaining, the final stage started as teammates Keselowski and Buescher occupied the front row. At the start, Keselowski rocketed ahead with the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. With Hamlin using the outside lane to launch forward into the top five and while battling Wallace, Keselowski maintained the lead ahead of Buescher while Reddick retained third. Behind, Wallace and Hamlin continued to battle while Kyle Busch was in sixth ahead of Preece, Ty Gibbs and Logano.

    With 150 laps remaining, Keselowski retained the lead in his No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang by less than four-tenths of a second over teammate Buescher while Reddick, Hamlin and Wallace were scored in the top five ahead of Busch and Preece.

    Fifteen laps later, Keselowski continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over teammate Buescher while third-place Reddick trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Hamlin and Wallace remained in the top five while Busch, Preece, Logano, Truex and Elliott were scored in the top 10.

    With less than 120 laps remaining, green flag pit stops returned as Buescher pitted along with Wallace, Busch, Logano and others. Keselowski would then pit with 115 laps remaining followed by Reddick, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Almirola, Harvick and others. Amid the pit stops, Buescher was able to cycle ahead of teammate Keselowski, who nearly pitted outside his pit box. With 108 laps remaining, Hamlin, who cycled into a brief lead, pitted along with Blaney while Truex, who was running on an alternate strategy was leading, followed by Buescher.

    With 105 laps remaining, however, Buescher cycled into the race lead over Truex. Buescher would then extend his advantage to more than four seconds over Reddick with 90 laps remaining while Truex, Wallace and Preece were scored in the top five. Meanwhile, Keselowski was mired back in sixth ahead of Kyle Busch and Hamlin.

    With 65 laps remaining and as Buescher continued to lead, another cycle of green flag pit stops occurred as teammate Keselowski pitted. Logano would follow suit to pit along with Preece, Wallace, Harvick, Almirola, Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Elliott, Busch and Reddick. Buescher would then surrender the lead to pit with 62 laps remaining along with Ty Gibbs and Stenhouse while Blaney, who has yet to pit, was leading followed by Truex. Amid the pit stops, Reddick was penalized for a commitment line violation as he smoked the tires to try to enter pit road.

    With 54 laps remaining, Buescher, who was able to gain ground on Truex amid the pit strategies, overtook him to reassume the lead. Buescher would proceed to extend his advantage to nearly four seconds with less than 50 laps remaining while Hamlin, Preece and Keselowski were in the top five. Behind, Kyle Busch was in sixth while Logano, Wallace, Harvick and Almirola were scored in the top 10.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Buescher was leading by more than six seconds over Hamlin while Preece, Busch and Truex were scored in the top five. By then, Keselowski was in sixth ahead of Logano and Harvick while Wallace fell back to ninth in front of Almirola. In addition, 13 competitors were scored on the lead lap, with Austin Dillon, Briscoe and Elliott occupying the final three lead lap positions.

    Ten laps later, Buescher continued to lead by more than five seconds over Hamlin while third-place Preece trailed by more than six seconds as Busch, Truex and Keselowski were in the top six.

    Then with 10 laps remaining, the caution flew when Gragson sent Suarez for a spin in Turn 4 as Suarez smoked the rear tires of his No. 99 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 before coming to a rest near the apron in Turn 4. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Buescher pitted. Following the pit stops, Buescher retained the lead after exiting first followed by Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Preece, Truex and Keselowski.

    Down to the final three laps, the event restarted under green as Buescher and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher launched ahead to retain the lead while Preece challenged Hamlin for second as the field behind fanned out entering Turns 1 and 2. Hamlin then tried to launch forward towards the lead while on the outside lane entering the backstretch, but he was blocked by Buescher’s No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang, who retained the lead with two laps remaining.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Buescher remained in the lead by half a second over Hamlin while Logano and Busch battled for third. With Hamlin unable to gain ground for a final lap charge, Buescher was able to navigate his way around the circuit smoothly for a final time and zip back to the frontstretch to claim his first checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season.

    With the victory, Buescher, who came into the event 111 points above the top-16 cutline towards the Playoffs, notched his third career victory in NASCAR’s premier series and his first since winning at Bristol Motor Speedway in September 2022. He also recorded the second victory for the newly named Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

    “Yeah, it was smooth sailing there, trying to take care of Fastenal Mustang,” Buescher said on USA Network. “These guys over at [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing], this No. 17 team gave me a great hot rod. This thing was so good. [I] Was just trying to take care of it there. I knew even on our green flag stuff, we were so strong during the race. I had a good feeling about it there. Pretty awesome to pull it off. Proud of everybody. That was a long way from the back [of the field] this morning, so heck of a race for us. We’ve had this [race] circled since last fall. I was really hopeful this could be the one that would turn the page for us. Sure enough, right off the truck I thought it was. I hate that qualifying went the way it did. I was sitting there beating myself up trying to figure out what we were going to do there. Made it to Victory Lane here in Richmond. I’d have told you to flood this place three years ago. My opinions are changing quite a bit here. What a day, though. That’s awesome…We’ve been talking about this a lot and you don’t get to ask me about points anymore.”

    Despite ending up in sixth place in spite of leading a race-high 102 laps, Keselowski was left pleased in being victorious as a team owner for the second time in his second season as both a driver and owner in the Cup Series for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

    “I’m happy for Chris,” Keselowski, who celebrated with Buescher in Victory Lane, said. “We are incrementally building. Solid day for both teams here at RFK. I’m happy for everybody that works on these teams, everybody that supports us with Fastenal and Ford and Build Subs. We led a lot of laps with both cars. Neither cars, we really started up front. Drove through. Great job with the pit crews. A lot to be proud of today. Of course, I want to win as a driver, but just happy that we’re as competitive as we are. We want to keep building and keep being more competitive every week.”

    Meanwhile, Hamlin, who led 20 laps and was coming off a milestone victory at Pocono Raceway, settled in the runner-up spot for the second time this season.

    “I drove in way too deep [in Turns 1 and 2],” Hamlin said. “I was trying to get to the outside there. [I] Really had a great run off of Turn 2 on the restart and off of [Turn] 4 again. But, yeah, I was just so close to him there that I wanted to try to squirt a little extra gas to try to get to the outside. Just too much brake. Man, I’m happy for Chris, [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing], those guys. I know they worked really hard to get to this point. I can appreciate the struggle that it is to get to this point. Congratulations to them. Definitely a great job by this Mavis team. Kept me in it all day long. We just lacked a little, little bit to be the best there. So we just need to improve on it. Still a good day.”

    Kyle Busch came home in third place followed by Logano while Preece achieved a strong fifth-place result. Keselowski finished sixth while Truex, Almirola, Austin Dillon and Harvick, who made his final start at Richmond, completed the top 10. Notably, Wallace ended up 12th in front of Elliott and Blaney, rookie Ty Gibbs finished 15th, pole-sitter Reddick ended up 16th, Larson ended up 19th, the final competitor on the lead lap. Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger ended up 26th and 27th, respectively, after both wrecked while finishing the event.

    There were 18 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 21 laps. While all 36 starters finished the event, 19 finished on the lead lap.

    With four regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. leads the regular-season standings by 39 points over teammate Denny Hamlin and 43 over William Byron.

    William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher 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, Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell currently occupy the remaining vacant spots in the Playoffs based on points, with McDowell occupying the 16th and final vacant spot by 18 points Ty Gibbs, 22 over AJ Allmendinger, 34 over Daniel Suarez, 40 over Chase Elliott, 42 over Alex Bowman, 64 over Austin Cindric, 70 over Justin Haley, 86 over Aric Almirola and 88 over Ryan Preece.

    Results.

    1. Chris Buescher, 88 laps led

    2. Denny Hamlin, 20 laps led

    3. Kyle Busch

    4. Joey Logano

    5. Ryan Preece

    6. Brad Keselowski, 102 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    7. Martin Truex Jr., 18 laps led

    8. Aric Almirola

    9. Austin Dillon

    10. Kevin Harvick

    11. Chase Briscoe

    12. Bubba Wallace, 80 laps led

    13. Chase Elliott

    14. Ryan Blaney, two laps led

    15. Ty Gibbs

    16. Tyler Reddick, 81 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    18. Alex Bowman

    19. Kyle Larson

    20. Christopher Bell, one lap down

    21. William Byron, one lap down

    22. Michael McDowell, one lap down

    23. Erik Jones, one lap down

    24. Ross Chastain, one lap down

    25. Todd Gilliland, one lap down

    26. Austin Cindric, one lap down

    27. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

    28. Noah Gragson, two laps down

    29. Ryan Newman, two laps down

    30. Justin Haley, two laps down

    31. Harrison Burton, three laps down

    32. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

    33. Daniel Suarez, four laps down

    34. Ty Dillon, four laps down

    35. JJ Yeley, four laps down

    36. BJ McLeod, five laps down

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of this season to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, August 6, at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Corey Heim claims 2023 Truck Series Regular Season Championship

    Corey Heim claims 2023 Truck Series Regular Season Championship

    With a sixth-place finish in the Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond Raceway, Corey Heim was named the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Regular Season Championship recipient on Saturday, July 29.

    The 21-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, entered Saturday’s event at Richmond, the final regular-season event on the schedule, with a 42-point advantage over reigning series champion Zane Smith. Needing 19 points to clinch the regular-season title, he accomplished the feat early in a night where he rolled off the grid starting alongside pole-sitter Ty Majeski on the front row. Despite being overtaken by Ben Rhodes during the opening lap, Heim would retain third place throughout the first stage period spanning 70 laps and clinch the title with his top-three result.

    After clinching the regular-season title, Heim proceeded to lead nine laps in the second stage amid more battles involving ThorSport Racing’s Majeski and Rhodes before he recorded another top-three result and additional stage points at the second stage’s conclusion. At the start of the final stage period, Heim fell back to fourth as Carson Hocevar, the eventual winner of the event, joined the battle at the front. By then, Majeski was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. After pitting under green with select others with less than 40 laps remaining, Heim found himself mired outside of the top 10, but he was able to methodically cycle his way back into the top 10 before finishing the event in sixth place, which marked his 13th top-10 result in 15 regular-season starts. The result was enough for him to remain in first place in the regular-season standings by 51 points over Ty Majeski and 55 over Zane Smith, both of whom finished second and third, respectively.

    With his accomplishment, Heim became the seventh different competitor to win a Craftsman Truck Series Regular Season Championship title, joining a list that includes Christopher Bell, Johnny Sauter, Grant Enfinger, Austin Hill, John Hunter Nemechek and Zane Smith. By capturing this year’s regular-season title, Heim was awarded the top seed to start the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs with 2,030 points and 30 Playoff points and enters as one of 10 competitors who will embark on a seven-race stretch to battle for the 2023 Truck Series title, beginning at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Brownsburg, Indiana, on August 11.

    “Yeah, tough night tonight, for sure,” Heim said on FS1. “Definitely not letting [the finish] overshadow the phenomenal regular season we had as a team. We came from a long way to start the year. I feel like we needed a lot the first couple of weeks, but made so much progress within our TRICON Garage team with Toyota Racing. Our Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, throughout the year, was really good. [Tonight’s] JBL Tundra TRD Pro needed some work tonight, but definitely, just a lot of progress made. Just super proud of everyone that’s involved.”

    Heim is campaigning in his first full-time season in the Truck Series a year after competing in 16 of 23 events in 2022 for Kyle Busch Motorsports, where he notched his first two career victories in the series and claimed the Rookie-of-the-Year title. Piloting the No. 11 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage, a team that was rebranded from David Gilliland Racing prior to this season, and led by former championship-winning crew chief Scott Zipadelli, Heim commenced this season with an eighth-place result in the series’ rain-shortened opener at Daytona International Speedway in February. Six races and three additional top-10 results later, the Georgian notched his first victory of the season and the first for TRICON at Martinsville Speedway in April after sweeping both stages and fending off former owner Kyle Busch to retain the lead when the event was shortened 76 laps of its scheduled distance due to precipitation.

    After finishing in the runner-up spot at Kansas Speedway before finishing eighth at Darlington Raceway in eighth, both occurring after the Martinsville victory, Heim assumed the lead in the series standings for the first time in his career. Despite being absent for the series’ event at World Wide Technology Raceway in June due to an illness, where he was granted a waiver to still make this year’s Playoffs, he managed to remain in the points lead and he responded back with vengeance in early July by notching his second victory of the season at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where he led a race-high 30 of 67-scheduled laps. Prior to Richmond, Heim was coming off a runner-up result at Pocono Raceway after being overtaken by Kyle Busch on the final lap.

    Through 34 career starts in the Truck Series, Heim has achieved four victories, five poles, 13 top-five results, 23 top-10 results, 479 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.3. His current average-finishing result of this season is 7.1 on the strength of his two race victories, five stage victories, three poles, seven top-five results and 13 top-10 results.

    In addition to his full-time Truck campaign, Heim has made his first three career starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Sam Hunt Racing, where his best on-track result is a 10th-place finish at Darlington in May. He is also a nine-time race winner in the ARCA Menards Series, with two of his victories occurring in back-to-back series season openers at Daytona in 2021 and 2022.

    Corey Heim’s pursuit for his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship commences at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on August 11. The event’s coverage is scheduled to commence at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Hocevar outduels Majeski to win the Truck Series regular-season finale at Richmond

    Hocevar outduels Majeski to win the Truck Series regular-season finale at Richmond

    From starting at the rear of the field to methodically carving his way to the front and executing a late pit strategy to his favor, Carson Hocevar made an emphatic statement about his quest for a NASCAR championship by winning the Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, July 29.

    The 20-year-old Hocevar from Portage, Michigan, led twice for 64 of 250-scheduled laps in an event where he was set to start in 17th place before a flat tire derailed his event early and he was forced to have the tire changed and start at the rear of the field. Amid a steady gain, while carving his way through the field, Hocevar cracked the top 20 prior to the first stage’s conclusion and would proceed to finish in the top five at the conclusion of the second stage.

    Then after dominant pole-sitter Ty Majeski was penalized for speeding on pit road during the second stage’s break period, Hocevar assumed the lead to start the final stage, where he would lead 60 laps. After pitting with select others under green with 40 laps remaining, Hocevar spent the remainder of the event tracking Majeski, who attempted to remain on the track and pilot his way to victory on the exact tires used since the start of the final stage. Hocevar, though, managed to catch and overtake Majeski for the lead with four laps remaining. From there, the Michigan native muscled away with the advantage and cruised to his third NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of this season and of his career with the regular-season stretch concluding and the 2023 Playoff field set.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, July 28, Ty Majeski claimed his second Truck pole position of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 119 mph in 22.689 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Corey Heim, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 118.728 mph in 22.741 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Justin Carroll dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his truck. Carson Hocevar would also drop to the rear of the field after he pitted to have a flat tire on his truck changed.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a delay that spanned nearly an hour due to a lightning strike, Majeski rocketed ahead with the lead from the outside lane as the field fanned out through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. With the field continuing to jostle for early spots while fanning out to three lanes entering the frontstretch, Majeski proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of teammate Ben Rhodes, who navigated his No. 99 Campers Inn RV Ford F-150 around Heim for second place.

    During the second lap, Majeksi was out in front by three-tenths of a second over teammate Rhodes while Heim, Christian Eckes and Matt Crafton were in the top five. Behind, William Sawalich, who started third, was back in sixth ahead of a side-by-side battle involving rookie Jake Garcia and Matt DiBenedetto, both of whom were vying for spots for the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Majeski was leading by half a second over teammate Rhodes followed by Heim, Eckes and Crafton while Tanner Gray was in sixth ahead of William Sawalich, DiBenedetto, Jake Garcia and Chase Purdy. Behind, Matt Mills, making his first start in the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports entry, was in 11th ahead of Grant Enfinger, rookie Nick Sanchez, Bayley Currey and Zane Smith while Tanner Gray, rookie Rajah Caruth, rookie Daniel Dye, Stewart Friesen and Dean Thompson occupied the top 20.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Majeski continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Rhodes while Heim trailed by nearly two seconds. Behind, Eckes and Crafton remained in the top five while Tanner Gray, another competitor vying for a spot for the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs, retained sixth ahead of Sawalich, Garcia, DiBenedetto and Purdy.

    Fifteen laps later, Majeski extended his advantage to nearly two seconds over teammate Rhodes while Heim, Eckes and Crafton followed suit in the top five. Meanwhile, Hocevar was in 18th after overtaking rookie Daniel Dye and Friesen on the track.

    Another 10 laps later, Majeski continued to extend his advantage to nearly three seconds over teammate Rhodes while third-place Heim trailed by more than five seconds. With Eckes and Crafton retaining fourth and fifth on the track, Jake Garcia was in sixth while Sawalich, DiBenedetto, Purdy and Matt Mills were in the top 10. Behind, Enfinger was in 11th ahead of Tanner Gray, Sanchez, Taylor Gray and Zane Smith while Hocevar was up to 16th on the track.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Majeski, who lapped 23rd-place Friesen, a competitor who came into the event nine points below the top-10 cutline to make the Playoffs, a lap earlier, retained the lead by nearly four seconds over teammate Rhodes as third-place Heim trailed by nearly six seconds while Eckes and Crafton occupied the top five ahead of Garcia, Sawalich and DiBenedetto. Despite being marred into more lapped traffic while lapping 19th-place Zane Smith, Majeski continued to lead ahead of teammate Rhodes by Lap 60.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 70, Majeski captured his third Truck stage victory of the 2023 season, having led every scheduled lap thus far. Teammate Rhodes followed suit in second while Heim, Eckes, Crafton, Sawalich, Garcia, Purdy, Matt Mills and DiBenedetto were scored in the top 10. By then, 16 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while names that included Hailie Deegan, Dean Thompson, Zane Smith, Rajah Caruth, Daniel Dye and Friesen were pinned a lap down. In addition, Corey Heim, who ended up in third place during the first stage’s break period, clinched the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series Regular Season championship.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Majeski retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Heim, Rhodes, Eckes, Crafton and Sawalich.

    The second stage started on Lap 79 as Majeski and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Majeski rocketed ahead with a strong start on the outside lane and entering Turn 1 while Rhodes battled Heim for the runner-up spot through the backstretch. With Rhodes claiming the runner-up spot, teammate Crafton, who came into the event nine points above the Playoff cutline, made it a ThorSport Racing 1-2-3 on the track as he moved his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 to third place over Heim. Heim, however, fought back on Lap 81 as he reclaimed third place before challenging Rhodes for the runner-up spot. Amid the battles, Majeski ran away from the field as he was ahead by eight-tenths of a second.

    Soon after, Purdy, who was in sixth and trying to race his way into the Playoff cutline, was assessed a pass-through penalty through pit road for a restart violation as he did not remain in his lane prior to the start/finish line during the second stage’s start. Meanwhile, Majeski extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Heim while Rhodes, Crafton and Eckes followed suit at the Lap 90 mark.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Majeski was leading by more than four seconds over Heim followed by Rhodes, Crafton and Eckes while Garcia, Taylor Gray, Hocevar, Sawalich and Enfinger were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Tanner Gray was in 11th ahead of Sanchez, DiBenedetto, Ankrum and Matt Mills while Bayley Currey, the final competitor on the lead lap, was in 16th. Meanwhile, Zane Smith, the first competitor a lap down, was mired in 17th ahead of Thompson, Colby Howard and Hailie Deegan while Caruth, Connor Jones, Daniel Dye, Lawless Alan and Friesen were mired in the top 25. In addition, Purdy was in 32nd while two laps behind the leaders.

    Ten laps later, the caution flew when Dean Thompson, who was running 18th in front of Deegan, spun in Turn 2 as he would be overtaken by the lead lap field while trying to re-fire his truck.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 116, Heim gained a strong start on the inside lane as he muscled his No. 11 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the lead through Turn 1 and the backstretch. With Heim leading, teammate Rhodes proceeded to challenge Majeski for second while Eckes followed suit in fourth. On Lap 118, however, the caution quickly returned when Justin Carroll spun in Turn 4. At the moment of caution, Deegan had managed to emerge as the first competitor scored a lap down ahead of Friesen and thus, receive the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap.

    During the proceeding restart on Lap 124, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Heim fended off a three-wide attempt from Majeski to retain the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. Then during the following lap, which marked the halfway mark of the event, Rhodes muscled his way to the lead through the frontstretch and from the outside lane over Heim. Majeski would follow suit during the next lap as he was locked in a tight side-by-side battle with Heim. As the three-truck battle for the lead involving Rhodes, Majeski and Heim continued to ensue, Majeski reassumed the lead on Lap 129 after overtaking teammate Rhodes through the first two turns. With Majeski out in front over teammate Rhodes and Heim, Eckes settled in fourth followed by Hocevar while Garcia, Crafton, Sawalich, Sanchez and Matt Mills were in the top 10.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 140, Majeski, who extended his advantage to more than four seconds over teammate Rhodes, claimed his second Truck stage victory of the night and fourth of the 2023 season. Teammate Rhodes settled in second while Heim fended off Eckes to claim third. Hocevar, Garcia, Crafton, Sawalich, Sanchez and Matt Mills were scored in the top 10. By then, 18 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while Connor Jones had managed to remain ahead of Friesen to be scored the first competitor a lap down and receive the free pass during the stage’s break period to cycle back on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski returned to pit road for another round of service. Following the pit stops, Majeski initially retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of his teammate Rhodes, Hocevar, Heim, Eckes, Crafton and Garcia. Amid the pit stops, however, Majeski was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for speeding while entering pit road.

    With 101 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Rhodes and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, Hocevar gained a strong start from the inside lane as he launched his No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST into the lead while Eckes and Heim took Rhodes three wide in a battle for the runner-up spot. With Rhodes and Eckes battling dead even for the spot entering Turns 3 and 4, Heim settled in fourth while Garcia, Crafton and Zane Smith followed suit as the event reached its final 100-lap mark.

    Five laps later, Hocevar was leading by six-tenths of a second over Rhodes while third-place Eckes trailed by more than a second. With Heim retaining fourth, Zane Smith moved up to fifth after overtaking Crafton and Garcia earlier while Majeski was mired back in 18th.

    Another 10 laps later, Hocevar continued to lead by more than a second over Rhodes followed by Eckes, Heim and Zane Smith while Crafton, Garcia, Matt Mills, Tanner Gray and Sawalich were in the top 10. Behind, Enfinger was in 11th ahead of Sanchez, DiBenedetto, Majeski and Tyler Ankrum while Deegan, Currey, Connor Jones, Taylor Gray and Daniel Dye were in the top 20. By then, Friesen was mired in 22nd, the final competitor scored on the lead lap.

    Then with 78 laps remaining, late troubles occurred for Josh Reaume, who smacked the outside wall in Turns 1 and 2 due to a flat right-front tire. As Reaume attempted to turn his truck left to enter pit road, he was nearly T-boned by an oncoming DiBenedetto, though Reaume managed to steer his damaged truck to his pit stall and the race remained under green flag conditions. By then, Hocevar retained the lead by more than a second over runner-up Rhodes and more than four seconds over third-place Heim.

    With less than 60 laps remaining, Hocevar extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Rhodes while Heim retained third place. By then, Zane Smith was in fourth while Majeski, who re-entered the top five three laps earlier after overtaking Eckes, was in fifth.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Hocevar continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than four seconds over a hard-charging Majeski, who overtook Heim and Rhodes during the five previous laps. In addition, Jake Garcia and Matt Mills both made a pit stop a few laps earlier under green.

    Two laps later, more green flag pit stops ensued as Zane Smith pitted his No. 38 Boot Barn Ford F-150. Then with 40 laps remaining, Hocevar surrendered the lead to pit under green as Majeski cycled his No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 back into the lead. Heim would then pit from the runner-up spot along with Crafton and Sanchez with 36 laps remaining while Rhodes would pit during the following lap. Rhodes would eventually be penalized for a commitment line violation as seven of 36 starters led by Majeski were scored on the lead lap. Currey and Dye would also be penalized for a commitment line violation.

    With 25 laps remaining, Majeski was leading by more than 16 seconds over Eckes and more than 19 over Sawalich. Zane Smith, the first competitor who pitted, was in fourth followed by Garcia, who is placed in a “must-win” situation to make the Playoffs while Tanner Gray, DiBenedetto, Taylor Gray and Matt Mills were in the top 10. Behind, Heim was mired in 11th, Crafton was in 13th, Sanchez was in 15th behind Enfinger and Rhodes had fallen back to 16th.

    Five laps later, Hocevar, who overtook Zane Smith to be the first competitor running on the track on four fresh tires, was up to second place as he trailed race leader Majeski, who has decided to roll the dice and remain on the track while on worn tires, by more than 15 seconds. By then, Garcia was mired in fourth ahead of teammate Eckes and Sawalich.

    Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Majeski, who started to lose ground on his advantage over Hocevar amid his worn tires, retained the lead by more than nine seconds over a hard-charging Hocevar. Majeski would continue to lead by more than five seconds over Hocevar with 10 laps remaining while third-place Zane Smith trailed by more than nine seconds as Garcia and Matt Mills followed pursuit in the top five.

    With five laps remaining, Majeski, who was trying to navigate his way through lapped traffic and lost more ground on his advantage, retained the lead by a second over Hocevar, who was also navigating through lapped traffic but had Majeski close within his sights.

    Then with four laps remaining, Hocevar gained massive ground on Majeski through the backstretch and overtook him through Turns 3 and 4 to reassume the lead through the frontstretch and with just three laps remaining.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hocevar remained as the leader by more than a second over Majeski. Having the four fresh tires to his advantage and with Majeski unable to mount a late rally on his worn tires, Hocevar was able to smoothly navigate his way around the circuit for a final time and streak across the finish line on four fresh tires to claim his third checkered flag of the 2023 season.

    With his third career victory in the series and third of the season, Hocevar became the first competitor to achieve three victories in this year’s Truck season as he also recorded the third victory of the season and the seventh overall for Niece Motorsports. The victory was also a monumental moment for Hocevar, who piloted a Worldwide Express-sponsored truck to the victory in a Worldwide Express-sponsored event as he is one of 10 competitors who will contend for the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series title throughout a seven-race Playoff stretch.

    “Man, I suck at this place and Niece Motorsports, ourselves, we’ve sucked terrible,” Hocevar said on FS1. “That [truck’s] splitter’s gone because we had a flat tire before we even went. We passed every single truck here. [Majeski] was class of the field, but I thought we were second, and when we won with (the) second best truck because I had the first best pit crew and first best crew chief [Phil Gould] on the [pit] box. I just love it. We’ve won two of our competitors’ title races and it sucks seeing our Worldwide Express trophy get handed to a Toyota [competitor]. We had to take it home and there’s gonna be a lot of happy faces. We’re gonna celebrate.”

    While Hocevar was left victorious in Victory Lane, Majeski, who had already secured his spot for the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs prior to tonight’s event at Richmond, was left disappointed on pit road after leading a race-high 168 laps and falling short of notching his first victory of the season.

    “[I was] Helpless,” Majeski said. “I just didn’t have enough there. Obviously, [I] made a mistake speeding on pit road. If I don’t speed on pit road, I feel like that strategy still wins. But regardless, we had a chance to win even with the penalty. I don’t know. It’s just disappointing. What an unbelievable race truck. That thing was so fast tonight. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a dominant vehicle that much better than the rest of the field. To not win with it, it is incredibly disappointing. Everyone’s working really hard at ThorSport [Racing] to get these trucks where they need to be for us for these Playoffs. This one’s gonna sting. Man, I’m so disappointed in myself, but we win and lose as a team. We can go make another run at the Playoffs.”

    Zane Smith came home in third place while rookie Jake Garcia and Matt Mills earned strong top-five results. Heim, the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series Regular Season champion, ended up sixth while Crafton, Sanchez, Enfinger and William Sawalich finished in the top 10.

    With their respective results of seventh, eighth and 17th, Matt Crafton, Nick Sanchez and Matt DiBenedetto secured the final three vacant spots in the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs, with Crafton claiming the final transfer spot by 39 points over Stewart Friesen, who concluded his long night in 27th place.

    “We live to fight another day,” Crafton said. “[We got to] Kick [the competition’s] teeth in.”

    “[We] Brought a dull knife to a gunfight tonight,” Friesen said. “It is what it is.”

    Corey Heim, Zane Smith, Carson Hocevar, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger, Ty Majeski, Ben Rhodes, rookie Nick Sanchez, Matt DiBenedetto and Matt Crafton have made the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs and will embark on a seven-race Playoff stretch to contend for this year’s series title. Stewart Friesen, Tanner Gray, Chase Purdy, Tyler Ankrum, Hailie Deegan, Colby Howard, Dean Thompson, Lawless Alan and Spencer Boyd along with a bevy of rookies that included Jake Garcia, Taylor Gray, Daniel Dye, Rajah Caruth and Bret Holmes were among the remaining full-time competitors who did not make the Playoffs.

    There were nine lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 27 laps. While all 36 starters finished the event, seven finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Carson Hocevar, 64 laps led

    2. Ty Majeski, 168 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    3. Zane Smith

    4. Jake Garcia

    5. Matt Mills

    6. Corey Heim, nine laps led

    7. Matt Crafton

    8. Nick Sanchez, one lap down

    9. Grant Enfinger, one lap down

    10. William Sawalich, one lap down

    11. Christian Eckes, one lap down

    12. Ben Rhodes, one lap down

    13. Tyler Ankrum, one lap down

    14. Taylor Gray, one lap down

    15. Hailie Deegan, one lap down

    16. Tanner Gray, one lap down

    17. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

    18. Bayley Currey, two laps down

    19. Rajah Caruth, two laps down

    20. Connor Jones, two laps down

    21. Daniel Dye, two laps down

    22. Chase Purdy, two laps down

    23. Timmy Hill, two laps down

    24. Colby Howard, three laps down

    25. Dean Thompson, three laps down

    26. Will Rodgers, three laps down

    27. Stewart Friesen, three laps down

    28. Lawless Alan, three laps down

    29. Bret Holmes, three laps down

    30. Ryan Vargas, four laps down

    31. Justin Carroll, five laps down

    32. Christian Rose, six laps down

    33. Derek Lemke, seven laps down

    34. Mason Massey, eight laps down

    35. Spencer Boyd, 10 laps down

    36. Josh Reaume, 11 laps down

    The 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs are set to start at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Brownsburg, Indiana, on August 11, with the event’s coverage to occur at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Sam Mayer scores first Xfinity career victory at Road America in wild double overtime finish

    Sam Mayer scores first Xfinity career victory at Road America in wild double overtime finish

    On a day where veteran Justin Allgaier dominated, teammate Sam Mayer captured the main spotlight and the delight of his home crowd with his first NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory in the 14th annual running of the Henry 180 at Road America on Saturday, July 29.

    The 20-year-old Mayer from Franklin, Wisconsin, led the final two of 49 over-scheduled laps in an event that was dominated by teammate Allgaier, but marred with late caution periods and incidents that sent the event into two overtime attempts. During the second and final overtime attempt, Mayer capitalized in a battle with Allgaier, Sage Karam and Parker Kligerman to move into the lead for the first time prior to the final lap. With the lead in his possession, Mayer smoothly navigated his way around his home track for a final time and fended off Kligerman to triumph for the first time in his 71st career start in the Xfinity Series.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, July 28, AJ Allmendinger notched his second Xfinity pole of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 111.606 mph in 130.574 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Cole Custer, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 111.352 mph in 130.872 seconds.

    Prior to the event, several names that included Kyle Weatherman, Josh Berry, Joe Graf Jr., Ryan Sieg and Ryan Ellis dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Daniel Hemric and Alex Labbe also dropped to the rear of the field due to engine change to their respective entries while Brandon Jones, rookie Sammy Smith and Jeremy Clements started at the rear of the field in backup entries.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Allmendinger rocketed ahead with the lead entering the first turn while the field behind jostled for positions amid two stacked lanes. The field continued to jostle for positions through Turns 2 to 4 before entering a long straightaway prior to a braking zone in Turn 5 as Allmendinger maintained the lead. As Custer and Allgaier battled for the runner-up spot through Turns 6 and 7, Allmendinger started to extend his advantage and muscle away from the pack entering Turns 8 to 10. Following another series of turns from the Kink in Turn 11, Canada Corner in Turn 12 and towards Turns 13 and 14 before entering the long uphill climb to the frontstretch, Allmendinger proceeded to lead the first lap.

    By the second lap, Allmendinger extended his advantage to nearly three seconds over runner-up Allgaier followed by Custer while Sam Mayer and Riley Herbst battled for fourth.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Allmendinger continued to lead by less than four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Allgaier while third-place Custer trailed by eight-tenths of a second in his No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang. Behind, Herbst and Mayer were still in the top five while John Hunter Nemechek, Sage Karam, Kaz Grala, Sheldon Creed and Connor Mosack were in the top 10. By then, Austin Hill, coming off his victory at Pocono Raceway, was in 11th ahead of Parker Kligerman, Brett Moffitt, rookie Chandler Smith and rookie Sammy Smith while Josh Bilicki, Daniel Hemric, Josh Williams, Jeb Burton and Josh Berry occupied the top 20.

    Not long after and still during the fifth lap, the battle for the lead ignited as Allgaier gained a run and overtook Allmendinger entering the braking zone in Turn 5. Custer followed suit in the runner-up spot while Allmendinger fell back to third. Custer would then settle within close quarters of Allgaier’s rear bumper in his attempt to gain the lead, but the latter did not relent as he proceeded to lead the following lap.

    Two laps later, Custer, who continued to stalk Allgaier, attempted to make a move beneath Allgaier entering Turn 6. Allgaier, however, fought back while running the outside lane before gaining the upper lane entering Turn 7. Custer then tried to feign a move on Allgaier for another lead attempt entering Turn 8, but Allgaier kept his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro out in front with the top spot. By then, Allmendinger was trailing the two leaders by more than two seconds while Herbst and Mayer remained in the top five.

    Then on the ninth lap, the first caution period of the event flew when Katherine Legge stalled her car in between Turns 5 and 6. The caution period for Legge’s issue served as the competition caution planned for Lap 10 as Allgaier was scored the lead ahead of Custer, Herbst, Mayer and Allmendinger while Nemechek, Karam, Grala, Mosack and Austin Hill were scored in the top 10.

    During the competition caution period, the entire lead lap field led by Allgaier pitted for a non-competitive pit service.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 12, where Allgaier and Allmendinger occupied the front row, Allgaier fended off Allmendinger through the first turn to retain the lead as Custer drew himself into a side-by-side battle with Allmendinger for the runner-up spot. As the field battled through close-quarters racing from Turns 2 to Turn 5, Allmendinger forced his way into the runner-up spot over Custer, who then quickly blocked Mayer to retain third place, while Allgaier retained the lead. With the field then filing in a long single file line through the remaining nine turns, Allgaier, who led the proceeding lap, started to extend his advantage to nearly a second over Allmendinger while Custer trailed by more than a second.

    At the Lap 15 mark, Allgaier was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Allmendinger followed by Custer, who trailed by more than a second, while Sage Karam and Mayer battled dead even for fourth place in front of Nemechek and Herbst. Behind, Grala was in eighth followed by Austin Hill and Mosack while Sammy Smith, Kligerman, Creed, Bilicki, Moffitt, Hemric, Jeb Burton, Chandler Smith, Berry and Alex Labbe were in the top 20.

    Six turns later, Custer overtook Allmendinger to reclaim the runner-up spot. By then, Karam, who overtook Mayer in Turn 1, retained the spot followed by Mayer, Nemechek, Herbst and Grala, all of whom battled intensely towards the front, as Allgaier retained the lead.

    The following lap, Mayer got loose and briefly went off the course entering Turn 6 as Nemechek overtook him for fifth place. By the time Mayer returned to the track, he fell back to seventh as Herbst also overtook him. Meanwhile, Allgaier stretched his advantage to more than a second over Custer while third-place Allmendinger trailed by more than three seconds.

    On Lap 17 and amid a series of on-track battles occurring towards the front, Dexter Stacey spun in Turn 1, but the event remained under green flag conditions as Allgaier extended his advantage to more than three seconds over runner-up Custer and more than four seconds over third-place Allmendinger. By then, Nemechek was up in fourth while Karam was in fifth.

    Three laps later and at the Lap 20 mark, the caution flew when Chandler Smith, who was battling Berry for 17th, had parts and pieces flying out beneath his No. 16 Quick Tie Chevrolet Camaro due to a brake rotor failure through the frontstretch. With no alternative option to slow his car, he then steered his car left and off the course to try to scrub speed while veering through the grass before slamming into the wall driver’s side at full speed before his car with the entire left side sheet metal from the car shredded off came to a stop near Turn 1. Despite his event coming to an early end, Smith emerged uninjured. The caution for Smith’s incident served as the concluding period of the first stage segment scheduled for Lap 22 as Allgaier, who had extended his advantage to more than three seconds, claimed his sixth stage victory of the 2023 season. Custer settled in second while Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek, Karam, Herbst, Kaz Grala, Austin Hill, Mayer and Sammy Smith were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the field, led by Allgaier returned to pit road for non-competitive pit service spanning for three minutes.

    The second stage started on Lap 24 as Allgaier and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier fended off Custer to retain the lead entering Turn 1 before pulling ahead entering Turns 2 and 3. Then through Turn 3, trouble ignited as Herbst got bumped by Nemechek as Herbst spun, which caused the entire field to scatter and Austin Hill to go off the course, while Ryan Ellis also spun and collided with Herbst. With the field then jostling amid two lanes entering the braking zone in Turn 5 before navigating from Turns 6 to 10, the caution returned when Herbst, who came into the event 26 points above the top-12 cutline to make the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs, stalled his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang on the course in Turn 3.

    During the following restart on Lap 27, Allgaier and Allmendinger dueled for the lead amid a stacked restart before Allmendinger went wide and briefly off the course through Turn 1. This allowed Allgaier to rocket away with the lead followed by Custer and Grala while Allmendinger fell back to fourth in front of Mayer, Karam, Parker Kligerman and Nemechek. As the field fanned out from Turns 3 to 8 with bumping within the field and jostling for positions occurring, Allgaier pulled away from the Custer as Grala, Karam and Allmendinger were in the top five. Then through the Kink corner, Nemechek, who was mired in 10th and was placed in a tight three-wide battle in Turn 5 that involved teammate Connor Mosack, briefly went off the course and dropped to 12th. Nemechek would then go off the course again, this time in the braking zone in Turn 5 during the following lap, as he was strapped in 14th while Allgaier maintained the lead over a hard-charging Custer.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Allgaier continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Custer while third-place Karam trailed in third place by more than three seconds. Karam’s teammate Grala was in fourth followed by Allmendinger while Mayer, Kligerman, Berry, Mosack and Hemric were in the top 10.

    A lap later, more trouble struck for Nemechek, who went off the course entering Turn 13 and hit the access road as he plowed through the grass and ripped the front splitter of his No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra. As Nemechek tried to return to the course, he struggled to steer his car to the right in Turn 14, which caused a hard-charging Austin Hill to go off the course as he was trying to navigate his way around Nemechek, while Herbst spun behind for a second time in Turn 14 as the rest of the field scattered to avoid the carnage. Amid the issues, the caution flag returned as Nemechek’s event came to an end.

    With the event restarting for a one-lap shootout to conclude the second stage period, Allgaier retained the lead over Custer as the field fanned out to nearly three lanes entering Turn 1. With Custer following suit in second followed by Karam, Allmendinger, Grala and Kligerman, Allgaier continued to lead through the frontstretch and entering the braking zone in Turn 5. Allgaier remained out in front through Turns 6 to 11 as more battles ensued behind. Despite Custer’s late effort in gaining a run entering Canada Corner in Turn 12, Allgaier did not flinch for the final two turns and proceeded to claim his second Xfinity stage victory of the day and seventh of the year at the second stage’s concluding period on Lap 34. Custer settled in second while Karam, Allmendinger, Mayer, Grala, Berry, Kligerman, Sammy Smith and Josh Bilicki were scored in the top 10.

    Following another round of non-competitive pit stops for the entire field that spanned three minutes, the final stage started with nine laps remaining as Allgaier and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier rocketed ahead with the lead through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1 while Custer briefly went off the course in Turn 1. This allowed Sage Karam to move into the runner-up spot through Turns 2 and 3 followed by Mayer while Custer fell back to fourth alongside Grala. With the field fanning out to two lanes before settling in a single file line approaching the frontstretch, Allgaier stretched his advantage to more than a second over a three-car battle ensuring between Mayer, Custer and Karam as Mayer received a push from Custer through the frontstretch to move into the runner-up spot. Custer then tried to make his move beneath Mayer through Turns 5 and 6 during the following lap, but the latter retained the spot as Allmendinger tried to join the battle. This, however, allowed Allgaier to muscle ahead as he was leading by more than two seconds.

    Then with seven laps remaining, the caution returned for a hard single-car accident involving Alex Labbe, who was running 13th, lost his brakes through the frontstretch and collided head-on into the tire barriers in Turn 1 at full speed. Despite climbing out of his demolished No. 08 Compass Team Schuler Ford Mustang before laying down on the ground, Labbe emerged uninjured as he was slowly escorted to the ambulance and to the infield care center. At the exact timing of Labbe’s wreck, Creed, who endured numerous on-track issues throughout the event, was shown to have sustained a flat right-rear tire on his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro.

    Down to the final four laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Allgaier and Custer occupied the front row ahead of Mayer and Allmendinger. At the start, Allgaier wasted no time launching away from the field as he rocketed away through the first turn while teammate Mayer followed suit in second as he overtook Custer for the spot. With Custer being challenged by Karam for third through Turn 3, Allgaier continued to lead through a long straightaway before entering the braking zone in Turn 5. The braking zone would serve as the site where the caution returned when Berry got loose and made contact with Sammy Smith which caused Smith to turn sideways and collide into the side of Allmendinger’s No. 10 LeafHome Water Solutions Chevrolet Camaro. With both Smith and Allmendinger spinning entering Turn 5, Custer was collected as Smith collided with him as both, including Allmendinger, veered off the right-hand side of the turn while Karam just avoided the incident. The multi-car incident, which damaged Sammy Smith and Allmendinger’s cars while also breaking the rear axle off of Custer’s Mustang, would send the event into overtime.

    At the start of the first overtime attempt, where teammates Allgaier and Karam occupied the front row ahead of Mayer and Berry, Allgaier retained the lead through the frontstretch and entering the first turn while Karam settled in second. As Mayer occupied third, Kligerman made his move up to fourth followed by Grala while Berry fell back to sixth. The field continued to jostle and battle dead even for spots around the circuit as Allgaier maintained the lead entering Turn 8. Shortly after, the caution returned and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt when Connor Mosack, who had smoke billowing out of his No. 19 Porter Pipe and Supply Toyota Supra entry and was leaking fluid, came to a stop just off the course in Turn 6. The event would then be placed in a red flag period due to the extensive fluid that spewed on the track from Mosack’s entry.

    Once the red flag period was lifted amid a delay that spanned nearly 10 minutes, the start of the second overtime attempt featured Allgaier and Kligerman lining up dead even on the front row ahead of Karm, Berry, Mayer and Grala. At the start, Allgaier received a strong shove from Karam to rocket ahead of Kligerman with the lead through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1. As Allgaier continued to lead Karam through Turns 2 and 3, the field behind fanned out and jostled for spots as Mayer tried to join the battle between the two leaders. Then exiting Turn 5, Allgaier got loose, which allowed Karam to muscle ahead in his No. 24 Carousel Online Toyota Supra with the lead through Turn 6. Then as Mayer, Karam and Allgaier went three wide for the lead through Turns 7 and 8, Allgaier slipped sideways in Turn 8, went off the course and spun as his hopes of winning the race were evaporating.

    Back at the front, Karam, who also went wide with Mayer in Turn 8 but managed to keep his car running straight, retained the lead through Turns 9 and 10 with Mayer closing in. Karam then got loose through the Kink, but he maintained the lead as the field approached Canada Corner. Then through Canada Corner, Mayer tried to make a move to Karam’s outside, but he went wide as Karam retained the lead. Just then, Karam went off the course entering Turn 13, which allowed Kligerman to move his No. 48 Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet Camaro into the lead. Mayer then made slight contact with Kligerman in Turn 14 as he moved his No. 1 Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet Camaro into the lead while Karam fell back to fourth.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Mayer, the hometown hero, was leading a four-car breakaway from the field that included Kligerman, Austin Hill and Karam. While leading throughout the 14-turn circuit for a final time, Mayer was able to place a reasonable gap between himself and Kligerman without slipping through the turns and corners. As Kligerman tried to close back towards Mayer’s rear bumper through Turns 13 and 14, the gap was large enough for Kligerman to not draw close to Mayer’s rear bumper as Mayer was able to make the final uphill climb to the finish line and claim his first checkered flag in the Xfinity circuit.

    With the victory, Mayer, a two-time ARCA Menards Series East champion in 2019-20, became the fourth first-time winner of the 2023 Xfinity Series season and the 175th competitor overall to win in the Xfinity circuit. He also became the 14th different winner in the series 14-year running at Road America and the sixth to claim a first NASCAR Xfinity triumph at Road America as he recorded the second victory of the season and the 75th overall in the Xfinity circuit for JR Motorsports. The victory was also the first for crew chief Mardy Lindley, a former Craftsman Truck Series crew chief for Kyle Busch Motorsports, in the Xfinity circuit and the first for JRM’s No. 1 entry since teammate Josh Berry won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September 2021.

    “Oh my god,” Mayer said on NBC. “It was just about getting track position. We had [the lead] there at the end. I lost it for a second and then, all hell broke loose there at the end. We ended up on top. This team, it’s so special to get that first win and that monkey off your back. It feels so good. I felt it all day, like if I can do this one, I can do anything, and we came here today and did that. All’s well that ends well, I guess.”

    Amid the late turn of events, Kligerman settled in a career-best runner-up result while Austin Hill, who emerged as the new leader in the regular-season standings, came home in third place. Sage Karam, who was two laps away from notching his first NASCAR victory, settled in a career-best fourth place while Herbst rallied late to finish fifth.

    Berry, Grala, Josh Bilicki, Allmendinger and Brandon Jones finished in the top 10. Notably, Daniel Hemric ended up 11th, Parker Retzlaff ended up as the highest-finishing rookie in 14th and Allgaier fell back to 18th.

    There were two lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 15 laps. In addition, 27 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With six Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by 14 points over John Hunter Nemechek, 40 over Justin Allgaier and 84 over Cole Custer.

    Results.

    1. Sam Mayer, two laps led

    2. Parker Kligerman

    3. Austin Hill

    4. Sage Karam

    5. Riley Herbst

    6. Josh Berry

    7. Kaz Grala

    8. Josh Bilicki

    9. AJ Allmendinger, five laps led

    10. Brandon Jones

    11. Daniel Hemric

    12. Jeb Burton

    13. Ryan Sieg

    14. Parker Retzlaff

    15. Brennan Poole

    16. Anthony Alfredo

    17. Blaine Perkins

    18. Justin Allgaier, 42 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    19. Brad Perez

    20. Kyle Weatherman

    21. Josh Williams

    22. Patrick Emerling

    23. Joe Graf Jr.

    24. Stanton Barrett

    25. Dexter Stacey

    26. Sheldon Creed

    27. Jeremy Clements

    28. Leland Honeyman – OUT, Transmission

    29. Connor Mosack – OUT, Rear gear

    30. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident

    31. Sammy Smith – OUT, Accident

    32. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Brakes

    33. Alex Labbe – OUT, Accident

    34. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

    35. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident

    36. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Hub

    37. Chandler Smith – OUT, Accident

    38. Katherine Legge – OUT

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of the season to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, August 5, at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Weekend schedule for Richmond-2 and Road America

    Weekend schedule for Richmond-2 and Road America

    This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series and the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series head to Richmond Raceway while the Xfinity Series competes at Road America. There are only five races remaining in the Cup Series regular season and eight of the active drivers have previously won at the 0.75-mile track.

    Kyle Busch leads with six victories while Kevin Harvick (the defending race winner) and Denny Hamlin have four victories each. Martin Truex Jr. has collected 3 checkered flags while Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson and Joey Logano have each won twice and Alex Bowman has claimed one win.

    Eleven Cup Series drivers (Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch, William Byron, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr., Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney) have already earned a spot in the Playoffs by virtue of wins, leaving five open spots in the 16-driver post-season field.

    As the Xfinity Series heads to Road America, seven drivers have secured a spot in the 12-driver playoffs – John Hunter Nemechek, Austin Hill, Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier, Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith, and Jeb Burton. This leaves five open spots in the Xfinity Series Playoffs with seven races to go.

    There are seven CRAFTSMAN Truck Series drivers who have clinched a spot in the 10-driver Playoff field – Corey Heim, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes and Carson Hocevar. Richmond is the last race of the regular season.

    NASCAR Press Pass will be available throughout the weekend.

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, July 28

    5 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice – Road America – USA
    6 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – Road America – USA
    5:05 p.m.: Truck Series Practice at Richmond (All entries) No TV
    5:35 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying at Richmond (Impound) No TV
    Single Vehicle/2 Laps/All Entries

    Saturday, July 29

    12:35 p.m.: Cup Series Practice at Richmond
    Groups A & B
    USA/MRN/SiriusXM

    1:20 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying at Richmond (Impound)
    Groups A & B – Single Vehicle/2 Laps/2 Rounds
    USA/MRN/SiriusXM

    3 p.m.: Xfinity Road America 180 at Road America
    45 Laps = 182.16 Miles
    Stages end on Laps 22/34/45
    NBC/MRN/SiriusXM
    Purse: $1,347,310

    7:30 p.m.: Truck Series Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond
    250 Laps = 187.5 Miles
    Stages end on Laps 70/140/250
    FS1/MRN/SiriusXM
    Purse: $808,354

    Sunday, July 30

    3 p.m.: Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond
    400 Laps = 300 Miles
    Stages end on Laps 70/230/400 LAPS
    USA/MRN/SiriusXM
    Purse: $7,565,800

  • Three Big Stories: Pocono (2023)

    Three Big Stories: Pocono (2023)

    What a weekend in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.

    Denny Hamlin displayed his hypocrisy on aggressive racing, Austin Dillon chucked his helmet at Tyler Reddick and NASCAR found itself in a lose-lose situation at the finish.

    So without further adieu, let’s dive into the Three Big Stories of the HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway.

    1. Denny Hamlin hypocritically unleashes the aggression

    LONG POND, Pa. – JULY 23: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Mavis Tires and Brakes Toyota, celebrates in victory lane, after winning the NASCAR Cup Series HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway on July 23, 2023, in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Photo: Kirk Schroll/SpeedwayMedia.com

    As Hamlin climbed out of his car, the crowd in attendance showered him with boos and middle fingers. Five minutes earlier, he side-swiped Kyle Larson and took the lead. While Larson hit the wall in Turn 1.

    “I’m not here to defend anything,” he said. “I put both those guys, (Alex Bowman) and 5, in an aero situation. Didn’t touch either one. How can you wreck someone you don’t touch?”

    He went on to say he put Larson and Bowman in an “either let off the gas and race side by side, or hit the gas and hit the wall” situation.

    Now with Bowman, the replays showed they never touched. The No. 48 got loose and spun out.

    With Larson, however, unless you want to take a page from the NFL and use an index card to find a gap, he clearly touched Larson’s car.

    In fact, it’s the same move Hamlin used to pass Ross Chastain at Pocono, last season.

    Now I personally saw nothing wrong with Hamlin’s move on Larson. They were racing for the win and he didn’t intentionally dump him into Turn 1.

    What I have a problem with, however, is Hamlin talking out of both sides of his mouth.

    Just a year ago, Hamlin told Jim Rome that the younger drivers racing aggressively lacked respect for other drivers. Yet here he is doing the exact same thing he feuded with Ross Chastain over the course of the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

    Look, if Hamlin wants to be an aggressive driver, then embrace your inner Dale Earnhardt. If not, then embrace the ways of Mark Martin. And yes, sometimes, you’ll slip up and stray off the Martin path. When that happens, own up to it and apologize.

    But don’t pretend you’re against people racing with a lack of respect, when you do the same.

    2. Austin Dillon tosses his helmet (literally)

    LONG POND, Pa. – JULY 23: Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 Breztri.com Chevrolet, hits the Turn 1 wall in the NASCAR Cup Series HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway on July 23, 2023, in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Photo: Kirk Schroll/SpeedwayMedia.com

    As the field worked its way through Turn 1 under caution on Lap 107, Dillon chucked his helmet at Reddick’s car. Minutes earlier, Reddick put Dillon into the wall.

    Except he didn’t.

    Dillon came down across the nose of Reddick’s car and turned himself into the wall. Though even after watching the replay, he wasn’t convinced he messed up.

    “I felt like I was holding my own,” he said. “He was at my left-rear going in there, and I knew we were three-wide. I think I’ve got the right to at least hold my lane. I’ve got to turn at some point to get down. Brad (Keselowski) was on my outside, maybe a half-lane up. But Tyler (Reddick) drove it in there, and obviously I feel like he drove it in there deep enough where he had to come up the track into me. We can look at the SMT and see the little fine movements that we make, but I felt like that was not the time to do that for the No. 45.”

    I don’t understand why he expected Reddick to yield. It was just a case of two drivers going for the same real estate. And in this case, Dillon got the short end of the stick.

    Then again, in the heat of the moment, you’re not always thinking clearly. So only time will tell if this racing incident spirals into something more.

    Also, Dillon’s probably getting fined for walking onto a hot track.

    3. NASCAR picked its poison

    LONG POND, Pa. – JULY 23: A general view of racing during the NASCAR Cup Series HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway on July 23, 2023, in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images

    As the field came to the white flag, Ryan Preece spins and hits the inside wall on the short chute. So a caution comes out and we go to overtime, right?

    Well, no.

    NASCAR held the flag, waiting to see if Preece would get going.

    Which he did, for a few feet.

    When NASCAR realized this, it threw the caution. Since Hamlin took the white flag, that ended the race.

    Now I know this contradicts what I said on Twitter, but after mulling it over for a night, I don’t know what else NASCAR could’ve done. Either it throws the caution right away and gets flack for not swallowing the whistle or this.

    Unlike Richmond Raceway, Pocono is a massive track, where you complete laps in roughly 50 seconds. So it’s not unfeasible to hold the caution to see if Preece got going, again.

    At the end of the day, it was a pick-your-poison situation that sometimes comes with the job of officiating.