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  • Allmendinger dominates Indianapolis Road Course for third Xfinity win of 2022

    Allmendinger dominates Indianapolis Road Course for third Xfinity win of 2022

    Nearly a year after achieving an upset victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in NASCAR’s premier series, AJ Allmendinger added another major achievement to his racing resume by winning the Pennzoil 150 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Saturday, July 30.

    The 40-year-old Allmendinger from Los Gatos, California, led three times for a race-high 42 of 62 scheduled laps, including the final 18, as he rallied from a slow pit stop early in the event to cruise to his third Xfinity victory of the 2022 season and stabilize himself atop the drivers’ standings.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, AJ Allmendinger notched his second consecutive Xfinity Series pole position at Indianapolis after clocking in a pole-winning lap at 97.834 mph in 89.748 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Gibbs, who clocked in his best lap at 97.732 mph in 89.842 seconds.

    Prior to the event, names like Bayley Currey, Brandon Jones, Anthony Alfredo, Parker Kligerman, Brandon Brown, Kaz Grala and Austin Dillon dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars. Chase Briscoe and Miguel Paludo, who spun during Friday’s Xfinity practice session, also dropped to the rear of the field due to a tire change made to their respective cars.

    During the pace laps, Briscoe and Jeb Burton pitted as their respective crew members popped the hoods of both cars open. In the midst of this, Burton took his No. 27 Our Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to the garage due to a rear track bar issue as his event came to an end without taking the green flag.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Allmendinger and Gibbs dueled for the lead entering the first turn as Allmendinger managed to clear Gibbs and the field through Turns 1 to 3 to emerge out in front with a clear racetrack. Behind, Gibbs retained second while Riley Herbst and Noah Gragson battled for third in front of Alex Bowman, Sam Mayer and Justin Allgaier.

    Through the 14-turn circuit and when the field returned to the frontstretch, Allmendinger led the first lap ahead of Gibbs, Herbst, Gragson and Bowman while Allgaier, Mayer, Josh Berry, Sage Karam and Landon Cassill occupied the top 10.

    Following the second lap, Allmendinger stabilized his advantage to a second over Gibbs as Herbst stabilized himself in third. Behind, Gragson was under attack by Bowman for fourth place as Allgaier started to join the battle. By then, Alex Labbe emerged in the top 10 in ninth place while Bubba Wallace, piloting Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 DoorDash Toyota Supra, was in 11th.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Allmendinger was leading by nearly two seconds over Gibbs followed by Herbst, Bowman and Gragson while Allgaier, Mayer, Berry, Karam and Wallace were in the top 10. Rookie Sheldon Creed was in 11th followed by Landon Cassill, rookie Austin Hill, Ross Chastain and Daniel Hemric while Anthony Alfredo, Andy Lally. Ty Dillon, Preston Padres and Myatt Snider were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Labbe, who overshot Turn 12 while running in the top 10 a lap earlier, pitted after flat-spotting his tires along with Ryan Sieg while names like Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Kaz Grala, Santino Ferrucci, Jeremy Clements, Brandon Jones and Miguel Paludo were in 21st, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th and 31st, respectively.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Allmendinger extended his advantage in his No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro to more than two seconds over Gibbs’ No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra while Bowman was up in third place as he trailed the leaders in his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro by more than four seconds. Herbst and Allgaier were scored in the top five followed by Mayer while Gragson was back in seventh. Berry, Wallace and Karam filled in the final spots in the top 10 before Wallace made an unscheduled pit stop to address an overheating issue in his car.

    Four laps later, the first caution flew when Parker Kligerman snapped loose entering Turn 7 and collided into Ryan Ellis as both wrecked and came to rest off the course. At the time of caution, Allmendinger stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Gibbs. 

    During the caution period, most of the field led by Allmendinger pitted while Gragson, Myatt Snider and Briscoe, who pitted prior to the caution being displayed, remained on the track. During the pit stops, Allmendinger fell all the way back to 14th due to issues while having his right-rear tire changed. In addition, Briscoe, who remained on the track after pitting earlier, was penalized for a commitment box violation.

    With two laps remaining in the second stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start and with the field fanning out, Gragson pulled ahead of Snider through the first turn as he assumed full control with the lead while Bowman outlasted a side-by-side duel with Gibbs to move into third. In addition, Allgaier moved up to fourth through the straightaway between Turns 6 and 7 while Mayer made a bold move on both Monster Energy competitors of Herbst and Gibbs in Turn 7 in a bid for fifth before he backed out and Herbst prevailed.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 20, Gragson captured his eighth stage victory of the 2022 Xfinity season. Snider retained second followed by Bowman, Allgaier, Herbst, Gibbs, Berry, Creed, Allmendinger and Mayer.

    Under the stage break, Gragson surrendered the lead to pit along with Snider, Landon Cassill and Briscoe while the rest led by Bowman remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Cassill was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 24 as Bowman and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Bowman emerged out in front, but Allgaier fought back entering the first turn. Behind, Gibbs got turned by Josh Berry and he spun in Turn 1 as the field scrambled and fanned out to avoid him. Back at the front, Allgaier emerged with the lead as the field continued to jostle for positions while making their way through the infield straightaway and the turns. Then entering Turn 8, Herbst spun while running towards the front following contact with Berry, but the race proceeded under green.

    When the field returned to the frontstretch for Lap 25, Allgaier was leading Bowman while Allmendinger bolted his way into third place after overtaking Berry while Ross Chastain was in fifth. Behind, Anthony Alfredo, who was running in 11th, spun in Turn 1 as the field managed to avoid hitting Alfredo.

    During the following lap, the caution returned due to a piece of debris spotted in Turn 1. Under caution, some like Herbst, Karam, Austin Dillon, Wallace and Ryan Sieg pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track. Prior to the restart, Gragson, who sustained damage to his front splitter, also pitted his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 28, Allmendinger, who restarted on the second row, made a bold three-wide move on Bowman and Allgaier exiting the frontstretch and entering the first turn as he reassumed the lead while the field made their way through the first three turns, Turns 4 and 5 and entering the straightaway between Turns 6 and 7.

    By Lap 30, Allmendinger was out in front by eight-tenths of a second over Bowman followed by Allgaier, Berry and Chastain while Creed, Daniel Hemric, Kaz Grala, Mayer and Austin Hill were in the top 10. Miguel Paludo carved his way up to 11th followed by Andy Lally, Myatt Snider, Alex Labbe and Brandon Jones while Jeremy Clements, Ty Dillon, Brett Moffitt, Briscoe and Gibbs were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Herbst was in 23rd and Gragson was mired in 34th while Bubba Wallace, who sustained front-nose damage to his car while also encountering overheating issues, retired in the garage due to engine issues.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 31, Allmendinger extended his advantage to more than a second over Bowman while Allgaier, Chastain and Berry remained in the top five.

    Near the conclusion of the second stage, names like Hemric, Hill, Briscoe and Andy Lally pitted under green along with Allgaier, Chastain, Mayer, Gibbs, Herbst and Jeremy Clements. During the pit stops, Hemric was penalized for speeding on pit road while Gibbs, Clements and Lally were all penalized for commitment box violations.

    Then on Lap 38, the leader Allmendinger pitted followed by Bowman, where Bowman managed to exit pit road in front of Allmendinger, as Berry, who had yet to pit, cycled to the lead.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 40, Berry notched his sixth stage victory of the season. Labbe settled in second followed by Kaz Grala, Sage Karam, Preston Pardus, Ty Dillon, Bayley Currey, Anthony Alfredo, Kyle Weatherman and Patrick Gallagher. By then, Bowman was back in 13th ahead of Allmendinger and Allgaier.

    Under the stage break, some led by Berry pitted while the rest led by Bowman remained on the track.

    With 18 laps remaining, the final stage started as Bowman and Allmendinger occupied the front row. At the start, Bowman and Allmendinger dueled for the lead as the field fanned out entering the first turn. Then through Turns 1 and 2, Allmendinger reassumed the lead ahead of Bowman while Sheldon Creed started to pressure Bowman for second followed by Allgaier. Behind the leaders, Paludo got turned as he spun in Turn 12, but the race proceeded under green.

    During the following lap, Mayer got bumped by Cassill and went off the course in Turn 1 while Allgaier sustained left-front damage after making contact with Creed while entering the first turn. Then in Turn 13, Creed, who was running in the top five, got turned by Chastain as Allmendinger continued to lead by more than a second over Bowman.

    With less than 15 laps remaining, Allmendinger extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Bowman while Allgaier was being pressured by Chastain as Briscoe was in the top five. Behind, Hill, the current Xfinity Series Rookie-of-the-Year leader, was in sixth ahead of Cassill, Herbst, Santino Ferrucci and Josh Berry.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Allmendinger continued to lead by more than three seconds over Bowman while Chastain, Briscoe and Allgaier occupied the top five.

    With five laps remaining, Allmendinger stabilized his advantage to two-and-a-half seconds over Bowman followed by Chastain and Allgaier while Briscoe fell back to fifth. Meanwhile, Riley Herbst, who spun at the beginning of the second stage, carved his way back to sixth while Hill, Berry, Mayer and Gibbs, who rallied from his spin and pit road penalty in the second stage, were in the top 10. Gragson was in 11th followed by Cassill, Labbe, Sage Karam and Santino Ferrucci while Brandon Jones, Moffitt, Hemric, Anthony Alfredo and Ty Dillon were mired in the top 20.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allmendinger remained as the leader by more than two seconds over Bowman while third-place Chastain trailed by more than 14 seconds. With no pressure mounting behind him and having a clear racetrack in front of him with a clean race car, Allmendinger smoothly navigated his way through the 14-turn circuit for a final time and cycled his way back to the frontstretch for his third checkered flag victory of the season.

    With his third victory of the 2022 season, Allmendinger, who will attempt to sweep the weekend at the Brickyard after winning last year’s Cup Indy event, achieved his record-setting ninth Xfinity win on a road course event and his 13th career victory in his 80th start in the series. The victory was also the 17th overall in the Xfinity circuit for Kaulig Racing as Allmendinger became the fourth Xfinity regular to achieve three-plus victories this season.

    “God, I love this place!” Allmendinger, whose last victory occurred at Portland International Raceway in June, said on NBC. “Indy, baby, let’s go! [I] Can’t thank everybody at Kaulig Racing, all the men and women. We’ve struggled. We’ve worked hard to get a little bit better. This Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevy was really good. I knew Bowman was really good on the long runs, so [I] tried to gap him as much as I could. God, I love Indy.” 

    “We win and lose as a team,” Allmendinger, who addressed his early slow pit stop, added. “I knew the way our car set up, in traffic, it’s not very good. We were having a little bit of brake issues as well. The [pit] guys recovered really well. I was just frustrated ‘cause I knew that we gave up stage points a little bit there as well to the guys we’re fighting in the points. At this point, points don’t mean a damn thing. We’re kissing the bricks. Hell yeah!”

    Bowman finished in second place, trailing Allmendinger by more than two seconds, while Allgaier overtook and fended off Chastain to claim third place. Briscoe, who won the inaugural Xfinity Indy Road Course event, rounded out the top five in fifth.

    “Yeah, just a little tight on the short run,” Bowman said. “[I] Thought I could get [Allmendinger] on the long run there and just kind of ran out of time. [I] Probably was a little too nice on the last restart. I knew he was gonna be better than us firing off, but yeah, ran out of time. Big thanks to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com and Ally for letting me drive this [car] to try to help me for tomorrow. [I] Had a lot of fun. The race car was probably as fast as Xfinity Internet there at the end. We were definitely running [Allmendinger] down. Just not enough laps.”

    Completing the top 10 were Herbst, Mayer, Gibbs, Hill and Gragson. Notably, Josh Berry finished 14th behind Sage Karam, Brandon Jones settled in 15th, Creed ended up 23rd behind Hemric and Paludo settled in 24th.

    There were eight lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 11 laps.

    With six races remaining in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season stretch, AJ Allmendinger continues to lead the regular-season standings by 17 points over Justin Allgaier, 30 over Ty Gibbs, 92 over Josh Berry and 95 over Noah Gragson.

    Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Josh Berry, rookie Austin Hill and Brandon Jones are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Xfinity Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular season stretch while Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Daniel Hemric, Landon Cassill and Ryan Sieg occupy the remaining vacant spots to the Playoffs based on points. Rookie Sheldon Creed trails the top-12 cutline to make the Playoffs by 50 points, Anthony Alfredo trails by 75, Brandon Brown trails by 83, Brett Moffitt trails by 88, Jeb Burton trails by 142, Jeremy Clements by 148 and Myatt Snider by 151.

    Results.

    1. AJ Allmendinger, 42 laps led

    2. Alex Bowman, four laps led

    3. Justin Allgaier, four laps led

    4. Ross Chastain

    5. Chase Briscoe

    6. Riley Herbst

    7. Sam Mayer

    8. Ty Gibbs, one lap led

    9. Austin Hill

    10. Noah Gragson, six laps led, Stage 1 winner

    11. Landon Cassill

    12. Alex Labbe

    13. Sage Karam

    14. Josh Berry, five laps led, Stage 2 winner

    15. Brandon Jones

    16. Brett Moffitt

    17. Santino Ferrucci

    18. Anthony Alfredo

    19. Jeremy Clements

    20. Ty Dillon

    21. Bayley Currey

    22. Daniel Hemric

    23. Sheldon Creed

    24. Miguel Paludo

    25. Andy Lally

    26. Austin Dillon

    27. Ryan Sieg

    28. Patrick Gallagher

    29. Preston Pardus

    30. Kyle Weatherman

    31. Scott Heckert

    32. Kaz Grala, one lap down

    33. Myatt Snider, one lap down

    34. Brandon Brown – OUT, Suspension

    35. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Engine

    36. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident

    37. Parker Kligerman – OUT, Accident

    38. Jeb Burton – OUT, Trackbar

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ annual visit of the season at Michigan International Speedway, which will occur on Saturday, August 6, at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Tyler Reddick scores Cup Series pole for Indy Road Course

    Tyler Reddick scores Cup Series pole for Indy Road Course

    Tyler Reddick outpaced the field with a 99.378 mph lap during qualifying to win the Busch Light Pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 at The Brickyard.

    It is the second pole for the Richard Childress Racing driver in his third full year of completion in the Cup Series and his ninth top-five starting position this season.  

    “It certainly seemed like a pretty good lap,” Reddick said, “but definitely not a pole lap. So certainly right away we were hustling to cool the car down and cool the brakes down so we could re-run but it ended up being a good enough lap and it stood up against the nine other competitors.   

    “But yeah I definitely had a little bit of concern, missing it a little bit in turn four and just a little bit in the braking zone. Just glad it was a good enough lap. Certainly, you always try and run the perfect lap and we didn’t quite do that but it was good enough to win the pole.”

    Austin Cindric’s lap of 99.095 mph earned him the second starting position.

    “When you get beat for pole I guess you’d rather be a chunk slower than a little bit slower because I feel like there’s a little bit I could have done better,” Cindric said, “but not a chunk. I felt like our Ford Mustang was fast all day and I’m proud of that effort. We’re trying a few new things this weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing how they play out in the race.”

    Chase Briscoe ((98.962 mph), Christopher Bell (98.721 mph) and Joey Logano (98.476 mph) rounded out the top five fastest qualifiers followed by Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott, Todd Gilliland and Kyle Busch to complete the top-10 starters for Sunday’s race.

    Team Penske drivers were strong in qualifying with Cindric, Logano and Blaney grabbing starting spots in the top six.

    “It’s a good start and hopefully we can continue that,” Logano said. “It’s always special to win here. When your boss owns the track it probably adds a little bit to that, but a top-five qualifying effort is nice and we’ll try to pick it up a little from there.”

    Notably, Elliott was the only Hendrick Motorsports driver in the top 10. His teammates Kyle Larson, William Byron and Alex Bowman will start 22nd, 23rd and 28th, respectively.

    Ty Gibbs will start 26th, filling in for the second consecutive race for Kurt Busch. Busch has not been medically cleared to race since his accident during qualifying at Pocono Raceway.

    Tune into Sunday’s Verizon 200 at The Brickyard at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC and the NBC Sports App with radio coverage on IMS Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

  • Grant Enfinger wins 2022 Truck Series Playoff opener at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park

    Grant Enfinger wins 2022 Truck Series Playoff opener at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park

    A gusty call to pit for four fresh tires under caution with less than 10 laps remaining before bolting his way to the front through two late-race restarts netted Grant Enfinger a big victory in the TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday, July 29.

    The 37-year-old Enfinger from Fairhope, Alabama, led four times for 13 of 207 over-scheduled laps and utilized four fresh tires to overtake Zane Smith during an overtime attempt to capture his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory of the season and to become the first Playoff contender to transfer from the Round of 10 to 8.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Friday, Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek started on pole position for the fifth time in 2022 after posting a pole-winning lap at 111.188 mph in 22.211 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Nemechek’s teammate and Playoff contender Chandler Smith, who won last weekend’s event at Pocono Raceway and won Friday’s ARCA Menards Series event earlier at IRP before he clocked in his best lap at 110.998 mph in 22.249 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Chris Hacker and Josh Reaume dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Nemechek launched his No. 4 Yahoo! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to the lead while Chandler Smith and Christian Eckes battled for the runner-up spot before the former retained the spot in front of the field.

    As the field returned to the start/finish line to complete the first lap, Nemechek retained the top spot ahead of teammate Chandler Smith and Eckes while Grant Enfinger, Carson Hocevar and Corey Heim battled for spots within the top six.

    By the fifth lap, Enfinger moved his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST up to third followed by Hocevar while Eckes fell back to fifth in front of Stewart Friesen and Heim. Meanwhile, Nemechek remained as the leader by three-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith’s No. 18 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.

    Nearing the Lap 10 mark, the first caution of the event flew when Josh Reaume and Spencer Boyd wrecked in Turn 1, resulting in Reaume’s truck sustaining significant rear-end damage and Body’s truck bursting into flames. By then, Nemechek, who nearly lost the lead to teammate Chandler Smith, was back out in front followed by Enfinger, Hocevar and Friesen while Heim, Eckes, Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski and Derek Kraus were in the top 10. In addition, Zane Smith, the 2022 Truck Series regular-season champion, was mired in 17th behind Austin Wayne Self while Matt Crafton was back in 22nd behind Chase Purdy.

    Following an extensive caution period, the event restarted under green on Lap 20. At the start, Nemechek retained the top spot while Carson Hocevar made a bold move on the inside lane in an attempt to take the lead before he settled in third behind Chandler Smith. Behind, Enfinger and Stewart Friesen battled for fourth in front of Corey Heim and the field that fanned out to multiple lanes. 

    Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Nemechek was leading by two-tenths of a second over teammate Chandler Smith followed by Hocevar, Friesen and Enfinger while Heim, Ben Rhodes, Eckes, Kraus and Majeski were in the top 10. 

    Four laps later, the caution returned when Reaume, who was involved in the first caution with Spencer Boyd, spun in Turn 4. During the caution period, Matt Crafton pitted for adjustments to his No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra TRD Pro along with Jesse Little and Blake Lothian while the rest of the field led by Nemechek remained on the track.

    When the event proceeded under green on Lap 37, Nemechek retained the lead while Chandler Smith fended off Hocevar and Friesen to remain in second. As the field fanned out, Enfinger was in fifth followed by Heim, Rhodes, Majeski and Eckes while Zane Smith cracked the top 10.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Nemechek continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Chandler Smith as the top-10 spots were occupied by Playoff contenders. The only Playoff competitor who was not in the top 10 was Crafton, who was mired in 24th.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Nemechek captured his fourth stage victory of the season. Teammate Chandler Smith trailed in the runner-up spot while Hocevar, Friesen, Enfinger, Rhodes, Heim, Majeski, Zane Smith and Eckes were scored in the top 10. Crafton, meanwhile, was still mired in 24th.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Nemechek pitted and teammate Chandler Smith emerged with the lead followed by Hocevar, Nemechek, Rhodes, Heim and Enfinger. Following the pit stops, Rhodes and Kris Wright were sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 70 as Chandler Smith and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, Hocevar rocketed his No. 42 Premier Security Chevrolet Silverado RST to the lead on the inside lane in front of Chandler Smith as the field fanned out to multiple lanes around the circuit.

    Three laps later, the caution returned when Blake Lothian came to a stop in Turn 1 as his night came to an end.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 80, Hocevar managed to retain the lead while on the inside lane as Enfinger challenged Chandler Smith for the runner-up spot in front of Nemechek. Behind, Tyler Ankrum was in fifth ahead of Heim, Kraus, Friesen, Eckes and Zane Smith.

    By Lap 90, a heated side-by-side battle for the lead was occurring between Hocevar and Enfinger. While Enfinger gained a run and was strong through the turns, Hocevar managed to fend off Enfinger and retain the lead entering the straightaways. Meanwhile, third-place Nemechek trailed by less than a second while Chandler Smith and Ankrum were in the top five.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Hocevar was leading by a narrow margin over Enfinger while Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Ankrum, Friesen, Heim, Zane Smith, Majeski and Kraus were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Christian Eckes was in 11th, Rhodes was in 14th and Crafton was back in 17th behind Taylor Gray.

    Five laps later, Enfinger persevered through his tight, endless battle against Hocevar by taking the lead through the backstretch and entering Turn 3. Another two laps later, the caution returned when Nemechek, who was closing in on Hocevar and teammate Chandler Smith for the runner-up spot, spun in Turn 2 after making contact with the lapped truck of Kris Wright. Despite spinning and coming to a stop in the middle of the track and in a cloud of smoke in Turn 2, Nemechek was dodged by the oncoming competitors led by Ankrum as he managed to continue without sustaining any significant damage.

    During the caution period, most of the field led by Enfinger pitted while names that included Chandler Smith, Rhodes, Kaz Grala, Lawless Alan and Timmy Hill remained on the track as Smith reassumed the lead.

    With six laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Chandler Smith retained the lead on the inside lane ahead of Rhodes as the field fanned out entering the backstretch. Two laps later, however, Ty Majeski muscled his No. 66 Road Ranger Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to the lead on fresh tires followed by Enfinger, who quickly dispatched Chandler Smith on fresh tires. Another two laps later, Zane Smith and Chandler Smith made contact as Zane rubbed against Chandler’s No. 18 Toyota in Turn 1 with both making contact with the outside wall. Despite the contact, the race proceeded under green as Majeski remained as the leader. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 120 under caution after Dean Thompson spun in Turn 2, Majeski held off Enfinger to claim his second stage victory of the season. Enfinger settled in second followed by Rhodes, Hocevar, Zane Smith, Heim, Friesen, Chandler Smith, Ankrum and Colby Howard.

    Under the stage break, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith, Rhodes, Lawless Alan, Kaz Grala, Austin Wayne Self, Johnny Sauter, Hailie Deegan, Timmy Hill and Jake Garcia pitted while the rest led by Majeski remained on the track.

    With 72 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green. At the start, Majeski fended off Enfinger to remain as the leader while Hocevar was in third ahead of Friesen, Ankrum, Nemechek and Heim while the field fanned out.

    Following a debris caution reported in Turn 4 10 laps later, the race proceeded under green with 55 laps remaining. At the start, Majeski retained the lead by a narrow margin over Enfinger while Nemechek, Friesen and Ben Rhodes duked for fifth in front of Hocevar, Heim and Tyler Ankrum. Not long after, however, the caution returned when Lawless Alan, who was locked in a tight four-wide battle through the backstretch, got turned by Chase Purdy as he spun and made hard contact against the inside wall. In the midst of the carnage, Zane Smith sustained minimal damage to his No. 38 Boot Barn Ford F-150 after hitting Alan.

    During the caution period, names like Zane Smith, Taylor Gray, Austin Wayne Self and Dean Thompson pitted while the rest led by Ty Majeski remained on the track.

    With 42 laps remaining, the event restarted under green. At the start, Majeski and Enfinger dueled for the lead through Turn 1 as Nemechek also attempted to squeeze his way to the top spot. Despite the tight racing for the lead entering the backstretch, Majeski managed to clear Enfinger to remain as the leader while Nemechek settled back in third. Behind, Friesen was in fourth while Rhodes was in fifth in front of Hocevar.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Majeski was leading by more than one-and-a-half seconds over Enfinger followed by Nemechek, Friesen and Rhodes while Hocevar, Heim, Colby Howard, Ankrum and Matt DiBenedetto were in the top 10. By then, Zane Smith, Chandler Smith, Crafton and Eckes were in 14th, 15th, 17th and 21st, respectively.

    Ten laps later, Majeski, who was carving his way through lapped traffic, extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Enfinger while Nemechek, Rhodes and Friesen remained in the top five.

    Then with 12 laps remaining, Majeski, who was getting stalled by the lapped truck of Hailie Deegan and Blaine Perkins, was caught by Enfinger as Enfinger dueled and overtook Majeski for the lead a lap after as Nemechek started to close in while running in third place. 

    With 10 laps remaining, however, the caution flew when Colby Howard, who was having a strong run in eighth place, made contact with Hocevar entering Turn 4, which Hocevar repaid the favor by veering dead left and sending Howard’s No. 91 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet Silverado RST backward into the outside wall. The incident prompted Howard to express his displeasure towards Hocevar after he exited his damaged truck.

    During the caution period, the majority of the field led by Enfinger and Majeski pitted while names like Nemechek, Taylor Gray, Ankrum, Zane Smith, DiBenedetto, newcomer Layne Riggs, Johnny Sauter, Austin Wayne Self, Jesse Little and Chris Hacker remained on the track as Nemechek inherited the lead.

    Down to a two-lap shootout to the finish, the race restarted under green. At the start, Taylor Gray managed to pull ahead of Nemechek and the field to take the lead entering the backstretch. Then entering Turn 4, Gray was hit by Nemechek as he spun his No. 17 David Gilliland Racing Ford F-150 across the outside wall, which prompted NASCAR to display the caution and send the event into overtime. At the moment of caution, Nemechek managed to retain the top spot followed by Zane Smith while Ankrum was in third ahead of Enfinger, Layne Riggs and DiBenedetto. 

    At the start of the first overtime attempt, Nemechek launched ahead on the outside lane entering the first two turns before he got forced into the outside wall by Zane Smith. With Nemechek falling below the leaderboard following his late scrape, Zane Smith assumed the top spot followed by a hard-charging Enfinger, who was on four fresh tires, as the field fanned out and jostled for late positions. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Enfinger was ahead by a nose over Zane Smith as Rhodes carved his way into third. Enfinger then managed to clear Zane Smith and the field through the first two turns and the backstretch to assume full authority. With no late challenges instigating behind and having four fresh tires to his advantage, Enfinger cycled his way back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by four-tenths of a second over Rhodes.

    With the victory, Enfinger, who competed between ThorSport Racing and CR7 Motorsports a year ago before reuniting with GMS Racing as a full-time competitor this season, claimed his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win since winning at Martinsville Speedway in October and his seventh career win in the series. He also became the 13th overall competitor to win a Truck event at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park as he recorded the first victory of the season for GMS Racing and the third for the Chevrolet nameplate. 

    By winning the first event of the 2022 Truck Series Playoffs at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Enfinger, who managed to secure a Playoff spot based on points a week ago at Pocono Raceway, also earned an automatic transfer spot to the Round of 8 as he continues his pursuit to win his first NASCAR national touring series championship.

    “We’re finally moving forward at all,” Enfinger said on FS1. “This is the first laps we’ve led since Atlanta or something. Terrible off-season. Not because of these [pit] guys behind me, but we’ve just been off a little bit as an organization. [I] Can’t say thank you enough to [GMS Racing president] Mike Beam, [owner] Maury Gallagher, Ron Booth, everybody at GMS Fabrication and everybody on this No. 23 team. We’ve been working so hard because we’ve been sucking. It hurts to say it, but we’ve had a terrible season to this point. We had a great No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet all day. [I] Felt like every time I got the lead, the caution come out. It put [crew chief Jeff] Hensley in a bad spot. I knew from experience, just trust his gut. It’s a pretty special night. Definitely very, very thankful.”

    During his victory celebration, Enfinger credited the late gusty pit call made by his veteran crew chief Jeff Hensley, who reunited with Enfinger at GMS Racing in late June. Both Enfinger and Hensley worked together at ThorSport Racing from 2017 to 2020.

    “Four years and we’ve ridden the roller coaster together,” Enfinger added. “We’ve been in the lows. We missed the Playoffs our first year together and we haven’t missed it since then. We’ve had some success together. He’s a racer. I’m a racer. Neither one of us are very smart, but we put it together tonight.”

    Rhodes came home in second place in front of Zane Smith while Friesen and Heim finished in the top five. Ankrum finished in sixth in front of newcomer Layne Riggs while Majeski, who was initially in a position to win his first NASCAR race, settled in eighth. Crafton rallied to finish ninth while Nemechek, who led a race-high 75 laps and ended up in the wall while leading, fell back to 10th place.

    Notably, Playoff contenders Christian Eckes, Chandler Smith and Carson Hocevar finished 16th, 18th and 21st, respectively.

    The Truck Series’ return to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park since 2011 featured 12 lead changes for six different leaders. The race also featured 10 cautions for 78 laps.

    Results.

    1. Grant Enfinger, 13 laps led

    2. Ben Rhodes

    3. Zane Smith

    4. Stewart Friesen

    5. Corey Heim

    6. Tyler Ankrum

    7. Layne Riggs

    8. Ty Majeski, 71 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    9. Matt Crafton 

    10. John Hunter Nemechek, 75 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    11. Matt DiBenedetto

    12. Johnny Sauter

    13. Hailie Deegan

    14. Derek Kraus

    15. Jesse Little

    16. Christian Eckes

    17. Timmy Hill

    18. Chandler Smith, 13 laps led

    19. Austin Wayne Self

    20. Kaz Grala

    21. Carson Hocevar, 34 laps led

    22. Taylor Gray, one lap led

    23. Tanner Gray

    24. Chris Hacker

    25. Jack Wood

    26. Blaine Perkins

    27. Chase Purdy, one lap down

    28. Jake Garcia, one lap down

    29. Dean Thompson, three laps down

    30. Chad Chastain, three laps down

    31. Kris Wright, three laps down

    32. Colby Howard – OUT, Accident

    33. Josh Reaume – OUT, Too slow

    34. Lawless Alan –  OUT, Accident

    35. Blake Lothian – OUT, Driveshaft

    36. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders.

    Playoff standings

    1. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    2. Zane Smith +50

    3. Ben Rhodes +36

    4. Stewart Friesen +28

    5. John Hunter Nemechek +24

    6. Chandler Smith +24

    7. Ty Majeski +19

    8. Carson Hocevar +7

    9. Matt Crafton -7

    10. Christian Eckes -7

    With the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs underway, the second Round of 10 events is scheduled to occur at Richmond Raceway on August 13. The event’s coverage is scheduled to occur at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Elliott awarded Cup Series victory at Pocono; Hamlin, Kyle Busch DQ’d following post-race inspection

    Elliott awarded Cup Series victory at Pocono; Hamlin, Kyle Busch DQ’d following post-race inspection

    In a late turn of events, Chase Elliott was declared the winner of the M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, July 24, after NASCAR disqualified the initial results of race winner Denny Hamlin and runner-up finisher Kyle Busch.

    The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Dawsonville, Georgia, initially came home in third place behind Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin and Busch. Two hours after Hamlin claimed the checkered flag on the track, however, the news of the disqualification involving Hamlin and Busch following the post-race inspection process was announced. This prompted NASCAR to award Elliott, who currently leads the regular-season standings, his fourth victory of the 2022 Cup season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Denny Hamlin claimed his third pole position of the season after his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry posted a pole-winning lap at 169.991 mph in 52.944 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Kyle Busch, whose No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry clocked in a fast qualifying lap at 169.498 mph in 53.098 seconds.

    On Saturday, NASCAR assessed L1 penalties to Petty GMS Motorsports’ two entries piloted by Ty Dillon and Erik Jones after both were found to have violated NASCAR’s Rule Book pertaining to the Rocker Box Assemblies. As a result, both entires were docked 35 driver/owner points and their crew chiefs, Jerame Donley and Dave Elenz were suspended for Sunday’s event. With the team electing not to appeal the penalty, Joey Cohen served as Dillon’s interim crew chief while Danny Efland served as Jones’ interim crew chief.

    Prior to the event, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Justin Haley, Erik Jones and Cody Ware dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars. In addition, the No. 45 23XI Racing entry normally piloted by Kurt Busch dropped to the rear of the field due to a back-up car and for a driver change as Xfinity Series competitor Ty Gibbs took over the ride. Gibbs filled in for Busch, who was not medically cleared to compete following his wreck during qualifying on Saturday.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Hamlin rocketed toward the front with an early advantage exiting the frontstretch, but Kyle Busch gained a huge run through the first turn and grabbed the lead. Then, entering the Long Pond straightaway, Hamlin scrubbed the outside wall as he was overtaken by Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney. As the field fanned out through the Tricky Triangle’s three turns, Busch led the first lap as the field returned to the frontstretch. By then, Hamlin was back in fifth.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Kyle Busch was leading by two-and-a-half seconds over Chase Elliott followed by Larson, Hamlin and Blaney while Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman were in the top 10.

    During the following lap, the first caution flew when rookie Austin Cindric slipped sideways and spun in Turn 3 as he barely tapped the inside wall toward the frontstretch and flat-spotted the tires on his No. 2 Keystone Ford Mustang. During the extensive caution period, Joey Logano, Justin Haley, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Kevin Harvick, rookie Todd Gilliland, Aric Almirola, rookie Harrison Burton, Michael McDowell, Cole Custer, Josh Bilicki and JJ Yeley pitted while the rest, led by Kyle Busch, remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 12, Kyle Busch launched ahead on the outside lane, but he then went wide entering the first turn and lost both the lead and his momentum. With Busch losing the top spot and a bevy of spots, a three-wide battle for the lead occurred between Larson, Elliott and Hamlin through the Long Pond straightaway before Larson assumed the top spot with a strong move on the outside lane through the Tunnel Curve.

    By Lap 15, Larson was leading by more than six-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott followed by Hamlin, Blaney and Suarez while Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were in the top 10. Ross Chastain was in 11th followed by Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr. and Erik Jones while Corey LaJoie, Michael McDowell, Austin Dillon, William Byron and rookie Harrison Burton were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick was mired in 23rd behind teammate Chase Briscoe, Aric Almirola was in 25th in front of Logano, Brad Keselowski was in 29th and newcomer Ty Gibbs was in 33rd.

    At the Lap 20 mark, Larson continued to lead by nearly four-tenths over teammate Elliott while Hamlin, Blaney and Suarez were in the top five. Behind, Kyle Busch started to challenge Suarez for sixth place while Wallace, Bell, Buescher and Chastain were in the top 10. Shortly after, Austin Dillon pitted under green as part of a strategic move.

    By Lap 27, Bubba Wallace, Bell, Buescher, Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman and Stenhouse pitted under green. Just as they all peeled off the track to pit, the caution flew when Aric Almirola got loose and spun his No. 10 Haas Automation Ford Mustang in Turn 3 as he flat-spotted his tires. Almirola’s spin was enough for NASCAR to conclude the first stage scheduled for Lap 30 to conclude under caution and Larson claimed his third stage victory of the 2022 Cup season. Teammate Elliott settled in second followed by Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Suarez, Blaney, Erik Jones, Byron, Martin Truex Jr. and Harvick.

    Under the stage break, Burton, Logano, BJ McLeod, Cody Ware, Bell, Chastain, Wallace, Buescher, Gilliland, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon, Reddick and Custer remained on the track while the rest, led by Larson, pitted.

    The second stage started on Lap 34 as Burton and Logano occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out to multiple lanes approaching the first turn as Bell, who restarted behind Burton, challenged Burton for the lead. When the field returned to the start/finish line, Bell assumed the lead while Wallace overtook Bell for the runner-up spot. By then, Logano was back in sixth as Kyle Busch and Chastain were in the top five.

    During the following lap and as the field continued to scramble for positions, the caution returned when Josh Bilicki suffered a flat tire, spun and wrecked in Turn 1.

    As the race proceeded under green on Lap 40, the field fanned out to multiple lanes again approaching the first turn as Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry retained the top spot ahead of Harrison Burton’s No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Mustang and Wallace’s No. 23 DoorDash Toyota TRD Camry. Not long after, however, the caution returned when Hamlin, who was running in 18th, got loose and spun his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry past the Tunnel Curve in Turn 2 as he was dodged by the field. During the caution period, some drivers, including Austin Dillon, pitted, while the rest, led by Bell, remained on the track.

    As the race restarted under green on Lap 44 and with the field fanning out, Bell retained the top spot on the outside lane while Wallace and Kyle Busch battled for the runner-up spot. Just as the field made its way through the first turn and entering the Long Pond straightaway, the caution flew when Corey LaJoie got loose underneath Michael McDowell. This caused McDowell to slip and slap the outside wall while LaJoie pounded the wall and came to a rest sideways and with damage to his car. During the caution period, Erik Jones, Stenhouse, Haley, McDowell, Noah Gragson, Cody Ware and McLeod pitted while the rest, led by Bell, remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 48, Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry received a push from Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the lead ahead of teammate Bell as the field spread out through the Long Pond straightaway and entering the Tunnel Curve.

    By Lap 55, Kyle Busch was leading by more than a second over teammate Bell followed by Wallace, Larson and Byron while Truex, Chastain, Reddick, Bowman and Blaney were in the top 10. Burton was back in 11th ahead of Suarez, Buescher, Elliott and Harvick while Logano, Hamlin, Erik Jones, Briscoe and Almirola were in the top 20. By then, Logano pitted under green.

    Two laps later, Wallace and Burton pitted under green while Kyle Busch extended his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Bell and more than three seconds over third-place Larson. Bowman would also pit his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green.

    Just past the Lap 60 mark, Byron and Harvick also pitted under green along with Bell, Larson, Suarez and Elliott as Kyle Busch remained the leader by more than six seconds over teammate Truex and nearly seven over Chastain.

    On Lap 65, Kyle Busch surrendered the lead to pit under green followed by Buescher as Truex assumed the lead. By then, Chastain had also pitted. Another two laps later, Truex surrendered the lead to pit along with Almirola as Blaney cycled to the lead. By then, Reddick had completed his pit stop.

    Through Lap 75, Erik Jones, who overtook Blaney for the lead two laps earlier, was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Blaney Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon while Stenhouse, Brad Keselowski, McDowell, Kyle Busch and LaJoie were in the top 10.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 80, Erik Jones continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Blaney, Austin Dillon and Stenhouse while Kyle Busch, McDowell, LaJoie, Gilliland and Larson were in the top 10. Shortly after, Blaney, who led seven laps, pitted under green.

    Two laps later, the caution flew when Ty Dillon, who had just made a pit stop under green, spun past the Tunnel Curve in Turn 2. During the caution period, Wallace and Blaney remained on the track while the rest of the field, led by Erik Jones, pitted. 

    With seven laps remaining in the second stage, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Wallace received a push from Kyle Busch on the outside lane to emerge with the lead followed by Busch while Blaney fell back to third in front of Erik Jones, Hamlin, Chastain, Larson, Suarez and Byron. Through the Tunnel Curve, Busch quickly cycled his way back to the lead as Blaney also overtook Wallace for the runner-up spot. Not long after, Chastain, Erik Jones and Hamlin all overtook Wallace for spots in the top five as Kyle Bush ran away from the field.

    With three laps remaining in the second stage, Wallace, who was falling below the leaderboard on old tires, pitted under green as Kyle Busch was out in front by nearly a second over Chastain. Meanwhile, Blaney and Erik Jones battled for third in front of Hamlin.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 95, Kyle Busch clinched his second stage victory of the 2022 season. Chastain settled in second followed by Blaney, Erik Jones, Hamlin, Harvick, Byron, Suarez, Elliott and Larson.

    Under the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Buescher, pitted while the rest, led by Kyle Busch, remained on the track.

    With 60 laps remaining, the final stage started as Kyle Busch and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, Kyle Busch retained the lead ahead of Chastain while Hamlin made a bold three-wide move on Blaney and Erik Jones through the Long Pond straightaway and entering the Tunnel Curve to move into third place. Shortly after, Byron rocketed his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into fourth place as Jones and Blaney fell back to fifth and sixth in front of Harvick and Bell.

    Ten laps later, Kyle Busch retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Chastain while Hamlin, Byron, Bell, Harvick, Erik Jones, Suarez, Elliott and Larson were in the top 10. A few laps earlier, Blaney pitted under green after his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang sustained a flat left-rear tire.

    Nearing the final 40 laps, names like Chris Buescher, Reddick, Stenhouse, Harvick and Austin Dillon pitted under green while Kyle Busch held a narrow advantage over Chastain. Soon after, Elliott pitted along with Suarez, Truex, Larson, Byron, Erik Jones and Aric Almirola. Following the pit stops, Byron was penalized for equipment interference.

    With 37 laps remaining, Kyle Busch surrendered the lead to Chastain as he pitted under green along with teammate Bell and Bowman. During the following lap, Chastain pitted under green as Hamlin cycled to the lead.

    Two laps later, Buescher spun in Turn 3, but the race continued under green as the leader, Hamlin, pitted under green. Once the rest of the field, including Logano and Wallace, pitted, Chastain cycled to the lead ahead of Kyle Busch and Hamlin.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Chastain was leading by nearly a second over rival Hamlin while third-place Kyle Busch trailed by one-and-a-half seconds. 

    Then seven laps later, the caution flew when Blaney got loose in Turn 3, spun and pounded the inside wall head-on. During the caution period, names like Gilliland, Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Byron, Haley, Ty Dillon, Gragson and Stenhouse pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.

    With 19 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Chastain and Hamlin dueled for the lead entering the first turn. Then through the first turn, Hamlin, who was still irritated over his share of run-ins with Chastain throughout the season and vowed payback, moved up the track and edged Chastain into the outside wall, causing him to pound the wall. While Hamlin ran away with the lead, Chastain, who lost his momentum, was then hit by Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang and Bell scraped the outside wall as Chastain spun and clipped the inside wall. The wreck spoiled Chastain’s opportunity to win along with Harvick’s opportunity to grab a win and keep his Playoff hopes alive. 

    When the race proceeded under green with 13 laps remaining, Hamlin retained the lead with a strong start on the outside lane followed by teammate Kyle Busch while Elliott was in third followed by Bell and Reddick. Behind, Suarez was in sixth followed by McDowell, Truex, Larson and Erik Jones.

    With 10 laps remaining, Hamlin continued to lead by nearly eight-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch followed by Elliott and Reddick while Suarez and Bell battled fiercely for fifth in front of McDowell, Truex and Larson. By then, Wallace rallied his way into 10th place.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Hamlin remained the leader by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch followed by Elliott, Reddick and Suarez.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hamlin led by nearly nine-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch. Despite enduring a bumpy road to victory from start to finish, Hamlin was able to smoothly navigate his way around the Tricky Triangle’s turns and straightaways for a final time as he beat Busch by nearly a second to grab what would have been his third victory of the 2022 season and a record-achieving seventh victory at Pocono.

    “It’s the team,” Hamlin, who shared a victorious moment with his daughter, Taylor, on the frontstretch, said on USA Network. “They just were able to come back with a great strategy there to get us back upfront from the mistake I made. I just wanted to be a local short-track racer in Virginia. That’s all I really cared about. I was able to get a great break from [the late] J.D. Gibbs. That’s why I’m driving the No. 11 for Joe Gibbs Racing. It feels good to win here at Pocono.”

    Following the event, however, NASCAR disqualified the first and second-place cars of race winner Hamlin and runner-up, Kyle Busch, due to their cars failing the post-race inspection process. NASCAR later stated that an issue with the front fascia was found on both cars, which prompted the sanctioning body to strip the results of both Joe Gibbs Racing competitors.

    With Hamlin and Busch disqualified, Chase Elliott, who initially finished in third place, was awarded the victory. As a result, Elliott notched his fourth victory of the year, becoming the first four-time winner of this season. It was his first at Pocono and his 17th career win in NASCAR’s premier series. This also marks the first time this season that an initial Cup winner was disqualified due to an issue stemming from the post-race inspection process.

    “Yeah, unfortunately, we were doing our post-race inspections, which we do,” Brad Moran, NASCAR Cup Series managing director, said following the announcement. “There were some issues discovered that affect aero of the vehicle. The part was the front fascia. There really was no reason why there was some material that was somewhere it shouldn’t have been, and that does basically come down to a DQ. It is a penalty, both for the 11 of Denny Hamlin and the 18 of Kyle Busch have been DQed. Their vehicles are being loaded in the NASCAR hauler and they’re going to go back to the R&D Center [in Concord, North Carolina].”

    Joe Gibbs Racing has been given until 12 p.m. ET Monday to file an appeal.

    Tyler Reddick was promoted to second place while Suarez, Bell and Larson finished in the top five. McDowell, Truex, Wallace, Erik Jones and Austin Dillon completed the top 10. Notably, Ty Gibbs finished 16th in his Cup debut.

    There were 15 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 37 laps.

    With five regular season races remaining this season, Chase Elliott continues to lead the regular season standings by 105 points over Ross Chastain. 

    Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, rookie Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Kurt Busch are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. are above the top-16 cutline based on points. Kevin Harvick trails the top-16 cutline by 83 points, Aric Almirola by 140, Erik Jones by 182, Austin Dillon by 206, Michael McDowell by 207, Bubba Wallace by 236, Justin Haley by 247, Chris Buescher by 266, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by 287 and Cole Custer trails by 301.

    Results.

    1. Chase Elliott

    2. Tyler Reddick

    3. Daniel Suarez

    4. Christopher Bell, 14 laps led

    5. Kyle Larson, 18 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    6. Michael McDowell

    7. Martin Truex Jr., two laps led

    8. Bubba Wallace, four laps led

    9. Erik Jones, 11 laps led

    10. Austin Dillon

    11. Alex Bowman

    12. William Byron

    13. Aric Almirola

    14. Brad Keselowski

    15. Chase Briscoe

    16. Ty Gibbs

    17. Cole Custer

    18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    19. Corey LaJoie

    20. Joey Logano

    21. Justin Haley

    22. Ty Dillon

    23. Harrison Burton, four laps down

    24. Noah Gragson

    25. Todd Gilliland

    26. Cody Ware

    27. Kevin Harvick

    28. JJ Yeley, one lap down

    29. Chris Buescher, two laps down

    30. BJ McLeod, two laps down

    31. Austin Cindric, six laps down

    32. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident 16 laps led, Stage 2 winner (*Awarded after Kyle Busch’s disqualification)

    33. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, seven laps led

    34. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

    35. Denny Hamlin – Disqualified, 21 laps led

    36. Kyle Busch – Disqualified, 63 laps led

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ second annual event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, which will also mark the series’ fourth road course event of this season. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, July 31, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Gragson outduels Gibbs for third Xfinity victory of 2022 at Pocono

    Gragson outduels Gibbs for third Xfinity victory of 2022 at Pocono

    A week after having a top-five result at New Hampshire Motor Speedway stripped due to a failed post-race inspection to his car, Noah Gragson rebounded with vengeance after fending off Ty Gibbs to win the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 23.

    The 24-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, led three times for a race-high 43 of 90-scheduled, including the final 21, as he overtook teammate Josh Berry for the top spot. From there, he fended off a hard-charging Gibbs, including a final lap side-by-side duel with Gibbs through the Long Pond straightaway, to retain the top spot and claim his third victory of the 2022 Xfinity Series season by more than two-tenths of a second.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Justin Allgaier, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, started on pole position after clocking in a pole-winning lap at 168.669 mph in 53.359 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Gibbs, who posted a fast qualifying lap at 168.319 mph in 53.470 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Allgaier and Gibbs dueled for the top spot entering the first turn as Allgaier managed to fend off Gibbs and Brandon Jones to lead the field through the Long Pond straightaway. Behind, newcomer Sammy Smith and AJ Allmendinger dueled for fifth ahead of Josh Berry and Richard Childress Racing’s rookies Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill.

    During the following lap, the first caution flew when Rajah Caruth made contact with Alex Labbe entering the frontstretch as both were sent spinning and colliding against the inside wall. Despite the hard accident, both competitors emerge uninjured from their wrecked race cars.

    When the event restarted under green on the sixth lap, Allgaier rocketed his No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro with the lead on the outside lane as he fended off Gibbs’ No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra. Shortly after, Brandon Jones overtook teammate Gibbs for the runner-up spot followed by Allmendinger and Creed as Gibbs was stuck n a side-by-side battle with Hill on the inside lane with no momentum. 

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Allgaier was leading by more than a second over Brandon Jones’ No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra followed by Allmendinger, Creed and Gibbs while Hill, Noah Gragson, Berry, Daniel Hemric and Sammy Smith were in the top 10. Riley Herbst was in 11th ahead of Santino Ferrucci, Cole Custer, Landon Cassill and Ryan Sieg while Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brett Moffitt, Myatt Snider, Sam Mayer and Anthony Alfredo were in the top 20.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 20, Allgaier captured his sixth stage victory of the season as he was leading by more than a second over Brandon Jones. Allmendinger settled in third followed by Gibbs, Creed, Berry, Gragson, Sammy Smith, Hemric and Hill.

    Under the stage break, Anthony Alfredo remained on the track while the rest led by Allgaier pitted. During the pit stops, Allgaier dropped out of the top five due to a slow pit stop and an issue with his jack as Brandon Jones was the first competitor to exit off of pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 25 as Alfredo and Brandon Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Alfredo took off with the top spot followed by a hard-charging Gragson as Gragson assumed the lead through the Long Pond straightaway. As the field, which was fanned out, returned to the start/finish line, Gragson was out in front ahead of Gibbs, Berry, Brandon Jones and Creed while Allgaier was mired in ninth in between Hemric and Sammy Smith.

    By Lap 35, Gragson’s No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro was out in front by four-tenths of a second over Gibbs’ No. 54 entry while Brandon Jones, Creed and Berry were in the top five. Allgaier was back in sixth while battling teammate Berry as Allmendinger, Hemric, Landon Cassill and Hill occupied the top 10. Meanwhile, Sam Mayer, who had pitted a few laps earlier due to suffering a flat tire, was back in 36th and off the lead lap from the leaders.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 40, Gragson notched his seventh stage victory of the season while Gibbs fended off teammate Brandon Jones for the runner-up spot. Creed, Berry, Allgaier, Allmendinger, Cassill, Hemric and Hill were scored in the top 10 at the stage’s conclusion.

    Under the stage break, names like Hill and Myatt Snider remained on the track while the rest led by Gragson pitted as Gragson was the first competitor to exit off of pit road.

    With 45 laps remaining, the final stage started as the event reached its halfway mark. At the start and as Myatt Snider took his car to pit road with a flat right-rear tire, Hill and Gragson dueled for the lead before Gragson rocketed with the lead on the inside lane as Hill was being challenged by Brandon Jones and Gibbs for the runner-up spot.

    Then as the field made their way back to the frontstretch, the caution flew when Santino Ferrucci got sideways entering the frontstretch and triggered a multi-car wreck as he was hit hard by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Then as Stenhouse’s wrecked No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet Camaro slid towards the inside wall, he was hit by an oncoming Jeb Burton, who was running towards the inside wall to avoid the incident as Burton was sent upside down as his No. 27 Our Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro slid across the frontstretch before coming to a rest just past the start/finish line while the car remained on its roof. Other competitors that were involved in the wreck included Jeremy Clements and Ronnie Bassett Jr. Despite the incident, all competitors, including Burton, emerged uninjured as the event was red-flagged for more than eight minutes.

    When the red flag lifted and the race proceeded under green with 40 laps remaining, Gibbs powered his No. 54 entry to the lead followed by Creed’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro as Brandon Jones battled Gragson for third place. Through the Tunnel Curve, Gragson held on for third place as Hemric challenged Jones for fourth place.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when Sammy Smith got loose underneath Cassill in Turn 1 and backed his No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra into the outside wall with significant damage. During the caution period, the field led by Gibbs pitted and Gibbs exited with the top spot followed by Berry, Allgaier, Alfredo and Creed, all of whom opted for only fuel to their respective cars, while most of the field opted for two tires. During the pit stops, Creed nearly made contact with David Starr and Stefan Parsons while trying to exit his pit stall. Following the pit stops, Allgaier was penalized for speeding on pit road. 

    With 34 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Riley Herbst and Brett Moffitt, both of whom remained on the track, occupied the front row. At the start, Herbst took off with the lead and Berry carved his way into the runner-up spot as the field fanned out through the Long Pond straightaway.

    Four laps later, Berry rocketed his No. 8 Tire Pros Chevrolet Camaro to the top of the leaderboard over Herbst’s No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang as Creed and Gragson duked for third place in front of Gibbs. 

    Another nine laps later, Gragson, who had stalked and intimidated teammate Berry for the lead, seized an opportunity and returned to the lead while Gibbs remained in third place. By then, Brandon Jones had made a pit stop under green due to a flat right-rear tire to his car. Shortly after, Gibbs muscled his way into the runner-up spot after he overtook Berry.

    With 15 laps remaining, Gragson was leading by four-tenths of a second over Gibbs followed by Berry, Allmendinger and Creed while Hill, Mayer, Allgaier, Herbst and Hemric occupied the top 10. Meanwhile, Cassill was in 11th ahead of Cole Custer, Brandon Brown, Ryan Sieg and Myatt Snider while Brett Moffitt, Anthony Alfredo, Kyle Weatherman, Josh Williams and Sage Karam were in the top 20.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Gragson continued to lead by nearly four-tenths of a second over Gibbs. Berry remained in third, trailing by nearly four seconds, while Allmendinger and Creed settled in the top five. Filling out the top 10 were Hill, Sam Mayer, Allgaier, Hemric and Cassill while Herbst fell back to 11th.

    Then with six laps remaining and with the leaders making their way through lapped traffic, Gragson and Gibbs dueled for the lead through the frontstretch, but Gragson managed to retain the top spot. Both competitors went at it for the lead during the following lap, but Gibbs could not seal the deal as Gragson remained as the leader. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gragson remained as the leader by a tenth of a second ahead of Gibbs, who was setting up for a final lap challenge for the victory. Entering the Long Pond straightaway, Gibbs then gained a huge run and managed to pull himself alongside Gragson’s No. 9 entry as both went side-by-side and made little contact. Through the Tunnel Curve, hover, Gragson managed to pull ahead on the outside lane while Gibbs nearly got loose on the inside lane. With Gibbs unable to launch another attack for the win, Gragson cycled his way back to the frontstretch and cross the finish line to win by nearly three-tenths of a second over Gibbs.

    With the victory, Gragson earned his eighth NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory, his third of the season and his first since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in April. He also recorded the eighth Xfinity victory of the season for JR Motorsports and he became the third Xfinity regular to achieve three-plus victories throughout the season.

    “That was probably the best I’ve ever driven there,” Gragson said on USA Network. “Man, I’m worn out. It really wasn’t that long of a race. Just working my ass off there to keep [Gibbs] back. He’s pretty fast. [Crew chief] Luke Lambert and the rest of this 50th anniversary Bass Pro Shops, Black Rifle Coffee, True Timber team did an unbelievable job with coming down pit road there, putting four tires on. Man, I had to work for it. It was tough. Just getting tight, tight, tight. I didn’t think with 15 [laps] to go, I didn’t think I could hold him off. We just keep digging. This team is unbelievable. I’m fired up. Our third win of the year. It’s a dream come true and it doesn’t get any better than in front of you badass race fans out here. I wanna thank you, guys, for coming out, baby!”

    Ty Gibbs settled in the runner-up spot for the second time of this season and for a second consecutive season at Pocono while Berry, Allmendinger and Creed finished in the top five.

    “It definitely hurt us being on a tire advantage, but also so surprised to be able to hang with [Gragson] when he was on rights,” Gibbs said. “Great car, just didn’t put it together. I wanna say that was, I feel like, on my part. I just made some mistakes, but we’ll come back at it next weekend. I just put myself in a bad position there, but I always love racing out here. Congratulations to [Gragson]. We both went in [the Tunnel Curve] side-by-side. I just lost my side force and got loose under him, but that’s racing. I put myself in that position, but I feel like I definitely have to look back and see what other options I had. Thank you to everybody that’s a part of this deal. I had a great time”

    There were nine lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 18 laps.

    With seven races remaining in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season stretch, AJ Allmendinger continues to lead the regular-season standings by 16 points over Justin Allgaier, 22 over Ty Gibbs, 87 over Josh Berry and 90 over Noah Gragson.

    Ty Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, Josh Berry, rookie Austin Hill and Brandon Jones are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Xfinity Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular season stretch while Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Sieg and Landon Cassill occupy the remaining vacant spots to the Playoffs based on points. Sheldon Creed trails the top-12 cutline to make the Playoffs by 47 points, Brandon Brown trails by 66, Anthony Alfredo trails by 77, Brett Moffitt trails by 89, Jeb Burton trails by 123, Myatt Snider trails by 144, Jeremy Clements trails by 146, Myatt Snider and Alex Labbe trails by 171.

    Results.

    1. Noah Gragson, 43 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Ty Gibbs, three laps led

    3. Josh Berry, nine laps led

    4. AJ Allmendinger

    5. Sheldon Creed

    6. Sam Mayer

    7. Justin Allgaier, 22 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    8. Austin Hill, four laps led

    9. Daniel Hemric

    10. Cole Custer

    11. Landon Cassill

    12. Riley Herbst, four laps led

    13. Brandon Brown

    14. Myatt Snider

    15. Ryan Sieg

    16. Anthony Alfredo, three laps led

    17. Brandon Jones

    18. Brett Moffitt, two laps led

    19. Kyle Weatherman

    20. Sage Karam

    21. Josh Williams

    22. Kyle Sieg

    23. Stefan Parsons

    24. Mason Massey

    25. Ryan Vargas, one lap down

    26. Bayley Currey, one lap down

    27. David Starr, one lap down

    28. JJ Yeley, one lap down

    29. Patrick Emerling, one lap down

    30. Timmy Hill, one lap down

    31. Sammy Smith – OUT, Accident

    32. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Accident

    33. Jeb Burton – OUT, Accident

    34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

    35. Santino Ferrucci – OUT, Accident

    36. Ronnie Bassett Jr. – OUT

    37. Alex Labbe – OUT, Accident

    38. Rajah Caruth – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ lone event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course as part of a NASCAR and IndyCar doubleheader feature. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, July 30, at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Zane Smith clinches 2022 Truck Series regular-season championship

    Zane Smith clinches 2022 Truck Series regular-season championship

    Zane Smith captured the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular-season championship with a 13th-place finish at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 23.

    The 23-year-old Smith from Huntington Beach, California, entered Saturday’s event at Pocono with a 58-point advantage over both John Hunter Nemechek and Chandler Smith prior to the event. His weekend started on a high note after he was awarded the pole position when rain washed out Friday’s qualifying session, which forced NASCAR to establish the starting lineup by the rulebook.

    During the main event, however, Smith did not lead a lap during the first stage which was comprised of 15 laps. Nonetheless, Smith, who only needed two recorded points to capture the regular season title, accomplished his task with a sixth-place run in the first stage. For the remainder of the event, he earned more stage points after finishing eighth in the second stage which was also comprised of 15 laps.

    After pitting prior to the final stage, Smith, who was mired in the second half of the leaderboard, encountered throttle issues as he made multiple pit stops with less than 20 laps remaining to address the issue. Restarting near the end of the lead lap for a 14-lap dash to the finish, he managed to carve his way back to 13th place when the checkered flag flew, which was enough for him to wrap up the regular-season title by 40 points over Pocono race winner, Chandler Smith, and 45 points over third-place finisher Nemechek.

    With his accomplishment, Zane Smith became the sixth different competitor to win a Camping World Truck Series regular-season championship, joining a list that includes Christopher Bell, Johnny Sauter, Grant Enfinger, Austin Hill and John Hunter Nemechek.

    By capturing this year’s regular-season title, Smith, who accumulated 616 points throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch along with 22 Playoff points and seven stage victories, was also awarded an additional 15 Playoff points for winning his first regular-season title. He now enters the 2022 Truck Series Playoffs as one of 10 competitors who will embark on a seven-race stretch to battle for the 2022 Truck Series title, beginning next weekend at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, and with a 15-point advantage over Chandler Smith.

    “A huge props to [Front Row Motorsports] and all our sponsors involved throughout this regular season,” Smith said on FOX. “Man, today was a major struggle. Started out with the green flag to pretty much the end of Stage 2, our throttle was ticking. Everything that we were doing wasn’t fixing it, so a little worried there at times because I knew that I just had to have a couple points, and you see [Chandler Smith] up there. Long, long day. Once we did get it right, [I] still fought a really, really tight truck. There’s no giving up. This race is just so short to try to get your truck right, but I’m glad we’re on to the Playoffs and ready to get this [Playoff] season started.”

    Smith is campaigning in his third full-time season in the Truck Series, but the first with Front Row Motorsports following a two-year run at GMS Racing. He began his first event with FRM on a high note by winning the 2022 season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway in February, which gave him the regular-season points lead and a guaranteed spot in the 2022 Truck Playoffs. Despite finishing in the runner-up spot during the following scheduled event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, Smith’s result was stripped due to his truck failing post-race inspection, where he lost the points lead. He rebounded by winning at Circuit of the Americas in March and at Kansas Speedway in May. Following a strong runner-up result at Nashville Superspeedway in June, Smith reassumed the points lead, which he never relinquished. To go along with his three regular-season victories, Smith has finished in the top 10 in all but three of the 16 regular-season events.

    Through 62 career starts in the Truck Series, Smith has achieved six victories, a pole, 20 top-five results, 41 top-10 results, 854 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.9. He has also finished in the runner-up spot in the final standings during the previous two seasons.

    Zane Smith’s pursuit for his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship commences next Friday, July 29, at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The event is scheduled to occur at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Chandler Smith wins 2022 Truck Series regular-season finale at Pocono

    Chandler Smith wins 2022 Truck Series regular-season finale at Pocono

    After losing the lead to Ryan Preece with less than 20 laps remaining, Chandler Smith executed a restart with 14 laps remaining and a draft from teammate Corey Heim to his advantage as he reassumed the lead and fended off Preece to win the CRC Brakleen 150 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 23.

    The 20-year-old Smith from Talking Rock, Georgia, led three times for a race-high 49 of 60-scheduled laps as he capped off the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season stretch with his second victory of the season and added momentum in his pursuit for his first NASCAR national touring series championship.

    With on-track qualifying that was set for Friday canceled due to rain, the starting lineup was determined through a qualifying metric from NASCAR’s rulebook. As a result, Zane Smith, the regular-season points leader, started on pole position while Chandler Smith joined Smith on the front row.

    Prior to the event, Josh Reaume dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his truck.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Zane Smith and Chandler Smith dueled for the top spot entering the first turn as Chandler Smith used the inside lane to rocket his No. 18 Charge Me Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to the lead. Through the Long Pond straightaway, Zane Smith settled in the runner-up spot behind Chandler Smith while Carson Hocevar was in third ahead of Stewart Friesen, Christian Eckes, Derek Kraus, John Hunter Nemechek and Ty Majeski. 

    Just as Zane Smith started to challenge Chandler Smith for the lead, the first caution flew when rookie Jack Wood got loose entering the second turn and spun his No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST, though he was dodged by the oncoming field.

    As the event restarted on the fourth lap, the field fanned out to multiple lanes entering the first turn as Chandler Smith retained the lead ahead of Zane Smith’s No. 38 Fr8 Auctions Ford F-150 while Hocevar and Eckes battled for third ahead of Kraus, Friesen and Nemechek.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when Dean Thompson spun his No. 40 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST in Turn 1. During the caution period, some like Ty Majeski and Grant Enfinger, who was encountering radio issues to his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RSt, pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.

    With five laps remaining in the first stage, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Chandler Smith took off with the lead on the outside lane while Eckes rocketed his No. 98 Cub Records Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the runner-up spot. Behind, Hocevar fended off Nemechek for third place before Zane Smith and Friesen took Nemechek three-wide past the Tunnel Curve for spots in the top five. 

    As the on-track battles continued through the frontstretch and around the Tricky Triangle, the caution returned during the following lap when Todd Bodine, who was making his 800th NASCAR national touring series career start, got pinched in between Hailie Deegan and Blaine Perkins entering the first turn. The contact sent Bodine’s No. 62 Camping World Toyota Tundra TRD Pro around and into the outside wall as Jack Wood and Tyler Hill piled into Bodine’s Toyota. The wreck and damage were enough to conclude Bodine’s historic NASCAR career in the garage.

    The wreck involving Bodine was enough for the first stage scheduled for Lap 15 to conclude under caution as Chandler Smith captured his second stage victory of the season. Eckes settled in second followed by Hocevar, Friesen, Derek Kraus, Zane Smith, Nemechek, Tyler Ankrum, Matt Crafton and rookie Corey Heim. With his sixth-place result, Zane Smith clinched the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season championship.

    Under the stage break, some led by Kraus and Zane Smith pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 18 as Chandler Smith and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Smith retained the lead on the outside lane followed by Eckes and Friesen while Hocevar was being overtaken by Heim, Ankrum, Crafton, Ryan Preece, Matt DiBenedetto and Nemechek, all of whom were running on the outside lane through the Pocono turns.

    Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Chandler Smith was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Eckes followed by Friesen, Heim and Ankrum while Preece, Crafton, DiBenedetto, Nemechek and Hocevar were in the top 10. Derek Kraus was back in 11th ahead of Tanner Gray, Majeski, Jesse Little and Grant Enfinger while Colby Howard, Austin Hill, Timmy Hill, Chase Purdy and Blaine Perkins were in the top 20. Meanwhile, names like Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes and Hailie Deegan were mired outside of the top 20.

    By Lap 25, Chandler Smith extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Eckes. Meanwhile, Heim moved his No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into third place while Friesen and Preece were scored in the top five. Crafton and Enfinger, both of whom occupied the final two spots to the Playoffs, were in seventh and 19th while Ankrum and Kraus, the first two competitors scored outside of the top-10 cutline, were in sixth and 11th.

    A few laps later, names like Heim, Friesen, Preece, Hocevar, Kraus, Austin Hill, DiBenedetto and Tanner Gray pitted under green. By Lap 28, Chandler Smith surrendered the lead to pit for four fresh tires and fuel while Eckes cycled to the lead. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 30, Eckes captured his first stage victory of the season. Ankrum settled in second following a side-by-side battle between Crafton and Nemechek. Majeski, Colby Howard, Chase Purdy, Zane Smith, Jesse Little and Enfinger were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some led by Eckes pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.

    With 25 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Chandler Smith and Ryan Preece occupied the front row. At the start, Chandler Smith retained the lead on the outside lane followed by Preece, Heim, Hocevar, Hill and Kraus as the field fanned out through the Long Pond straightaway.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Chandler Smith was leading by four-tenths of a second over Preece while Heim, Hocevar and Austin Hill retained their spots in the top five. Kraus was in sixth ahead of Nemechek, DiBenedetto, Eckes and Ankrum while Crafton and Enfinger were in 13th and 17th.

    Shortly after, the battle for the lead ignited as Preece, who was dealing with a left-rear tire rub, dueled and overtook Chandler Smith for the top spot in Turn 1. Just as the battle between Preece and Smith continued, the caution returned with 18 laps remaining when Spencer Boyd spun from Turn 3 to the frontstretch as he also dropped debris on the frontstretch. During the caution period, Zane Smith pitted to fix a throttle issue along with Rhodes, who opted for fresh tires, while the rest led by Preece remained on the track.

    With 14 laps remaining, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Heim pushed teammate Chandler Smith back to the lead while Preece fell back to second. Meanwhile, Hocevar overtook Heim for third place as Nemechek joined the battle followed by Austin Hill, Kraus and Majeski.

    Two laps later, Kraus, who was running in seventh place, started to have smoke come out of the left-front fender of his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST as he reported a power steering failure to his truck. Despite the issue, he continued on the track and the event remained under green.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Chandler Smith continued to lead by half a second over Preece’s No. 17 RaceChoice.com Ford F-150 followed by Heim, Hocevar and Nemechek while Austin Hill, Eckes, Kraus, Majeski and Tanner Gray were in the top 10. By then, Crafton was in 13th, Zane Smith recovered to 15th ahead of Ankrum and Enfinger was back in 18th behind Colby Howard.

    With five laps remaining, the top-six competitors were separated by less than two seconds as Chandler Smith remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Preece and seven-tenths of a second over teammate Heim. Behind, Hocevar, Nemechek and Hill engaged in a three-truck battle for fourth place while Kraus, Tanner Gray, DiBenedetto, Zane Smith, Crafton, Ankrum and Enfinger were in ninth, 10th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th, respectively.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Chandler Smith was leading by two-tenths of a second over Preece. While Preece kept Smith close to his front windshield, he could not gain any late momentum through the Trick Triangle’s turns as Smith managed to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and claim his second checkered flag of the season by more than two-tenths of a second.

    With the victory, Smith recorded his fourth Camping World Truck Series career victory, his first at Pocono and his first win since winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. He also recorded the seventh Pocono victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports. By collecting his second checkered flag of the season along with two stage victories throughout the regular season stretch, Smith and his No. 18 KBM Toyota team led by former championship-winning crew chief Danny Stockman Jr. will commence the 2022 Playoffs in second place in the Playoff standings with 2,022 behind Zane Smith, who holds 2,037 with his regular-season title.

    Photo by Jeff Clemons for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “God’s good,” Smith said on FOX. “We’ve been going through a little bit of a struggle here recently, but just when we needed to shine, we started shining. I can’t thank [Kyle Busch Motorsports]. This Charge Me Toyota Tundra was fast today. It was really good. It was a little tight. [I] Had problems getting through the gears. Also, thank you to the No. 51 team. Just can’t thank the good Lord. This is awesome! [The victory is] Big because we didn’t have a lot of Playoff points going into the Playoffs and today, we got one stage win, won the race, so I think we’re gonna be looking pretty sharp going to [Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park].”

    Preece, who made his seventh Truck start of the season and won in his latest series start at Nashville Superspeedway in June, settled in the runner-up spot while Nemechek, Heim and Hocevar finished in the top five. Completing the top 10 were Austin Hill, Majeski, Eckes, Kraus and Tanner Gray. 

    With their finishes of 15th and 17th, Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger secured the final two spots to the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs. Kraus, who finished ninth, was the first competitor to miss the top-10 cutline to the Playoffs by 17 points.

    “After a day like today, it’s a little bit frustrating,” Enfinger said. “First and foremost, got to say thank you to everybody that stuck behind us. Everybody at GMS Fabrication. They built a brand new truck for here. We never were able to see what it did, so everything that happened to us today was on us. We’re gonna take it back, we’re gonna learn from it. We’re not gonna get down. The good thing about this regular season is it’s over and we made it to the off-season. We’ve learned a lot throughout this year. We’re getting transitioned again. [Crew chief] Jeff Hensley did a great job on the [pit] box, battling through the stuff that was self-inflicted. I’m frustrated right now, but we’re not gonna get down. We’re gonna work hard and be ready for [Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park].”

    “We had a very, very good truck,” Crafton said. “It was really good on short run. We had a way better truck than where we finished, but you need to be aggressive on the starts and I couldn’t put myself in any bad situations. You have to put yourself in bad situations on restarts to be able to get the spots. I would have to wait for everything to settle down and then, pass people, earn it instead of being a wild man on restarts. We just had to keep [Kraus] in grasp right there and hopefully, we didn’t get a new winner. [The team] worked really hard.”

    “[There were] A couple races that we could’ve improved on where we were better,” Kraus said. “Overall, it’s what happened. I don’t know what happened when the power steering went away. Just parts failure. Just move on, hang our heads high and we’ll go on to the next 10 [Playoff] races.”

    Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Stewart Friesen, Ty Majeski, Carson Hocevar, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton have made the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs. All 10 competitors will embark on a seven-race postseason stretch and contend for this year’s Truck title.

    Derek Kraus, Tyler Ankrum, Matt DiBenedetto, Tanner Gray, Colby Howard, Timmy Hill, Chase Purdy, Lawless Alan, Hailie Deegan, Dean Thompson, Jack Wood, Spencer Boyd, Kris Wright, Blaine Perkins were among the remaining competitors whom did not make the Playoffs.

    There were five lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 20 laps.

    Results.

    1. Chandler Smith, 49 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Ryan Preece, six laps led

    3. John Hunter Nemechek

    4. Corey Heim

    5. Carson Hocevar

    6. Austin Hill

    7. Ty Majeski

    8. Christian Eckes, five laps led, Stage 2 winner

    9. Derek Kraus

    10. Tanner Gray

    11. Chase Purdy

    12. Matt DiBenedetto

    13. Zane Smith

    14. Stewart Friesen

    15. Matt Crafton

    16. Tyler Ankrum

    17. Grant Enfinger 

    18. Colby Howard

    19. Ben Rhodes

    20. Tate Folgeman

    21. Max Gutierrez

    22. Lawless Alan

    23. Kaz Grala

    24. Dean Thompson

    25. Kaden Honeycutt

    26. Jesse Little

    27. Kris Wright

    28. Timmy Hill

    29. Blaine Perkins

    30. Tyler Hill

    31. Armani Williams, one lap down

    32. Spencer Boyd, one lap down

    33. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Brakes

    34. Josh Reaume, five laps down

    35. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident

    36. Todd Bodine – OUT, Accident

    The 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs is set to commence next Friday, July 29, at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, which marks the series’ return to the venue since 2011. The event is scheduled to commence at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Weekend schedule for Pocono

    Weekend schedule for Pocono

    NASCAR travels to Pocono Raceway for three days of racing action this weekend.

    The ARCA Menards Series will kick things off Friday evening with the Camping World Truck Series and the Xfinity Series headlining Saturday’s events. Sunday afternoon the Cup Series will close out the weekend with the M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400.

    There are six races left in the Cup Series regular season which has so far produced 14 different winners. That leaves only two available spots to make the Playoffs on points. Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney is currently ranked 15th followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. in 16th.

    Seven different Xfinity Series drivers have secured their place in the Playoffs this season with wins, leaving five remaining open spots. Ty Gibbs has won four times, followed by Justin Allgaier (three), AJ Allmendinger (two), Noah Gragson (two), Josh Berry (two), Austin Hill (two) and Brandon Jones (one).

    It will be the final race of the regular season for the Camping World Truck Series. The Playoff field will be set and the Regular Season Champion will be crowned. Eight drivers including Zane Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Stewart Friesen, Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes and Carson Hocevar have already secured a place in the Playoffs, leaving two spots up for grabs.

    You can watch Press Pass throughout the weekend for post-qualifying and post-race content along with various driver media availability sessions.

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, July 22

    2:45 p.m.: ARCA Practice – No TV
    3:30 p.m.: ARCA Qualifying – No TV
    4:30 p.m.: Truck Series Practice – FS1 – Canceled (Rain)
    5 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying – FS1 – Canceled (Rain) Lineup set by NASCAR Rule Book
    6:30 p.m.: ARCA General Tire Delivers 200 race – FS1/MRN

    Saturday, July 23

    9:35 a.m.: Xfinity Series Practice – USA
    10:05 a.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – USA

    Noon: Truck Series CRC Brakleen 150
    Distance: 150 miles (60 laps)
    Stage 1 ends on Lap 15, Stage 2 on Lap 30, Race ends on Lap 60
    The Purse: $702,702
    FOX/MRN/SiriusXM

    2:35 p.m.: Cup Series Practice – USA/MRN/SiriusXM
    3:20 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying – USA/MRN/SiriusXM

    5 p.m.: Xfinity Series Explore the Pocono Mountains 225
    Distance: 225 miles (90 Laps)
    Stage 1 ends on Lap 20, Stage 2 on Lap 40, Race ends on Lap 90
    The Purse: $1,337,905
    USA/MRN/SiriusXM

    Sunday, July 24

    3 p.m.: Cup Series M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 – USA/MRN/SiriusXM
    Distance: 400 miles (160 Laps)
    Stage 1 ends on Lap 30, Stage 2 on Lap 95, Race ends on Lap 160
    The Purse: $6,828,051
    USA/MRN/SiriusXM

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: New Hampshire

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: New Hampshire

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Chase Elliott: Elliott, seeking his second consecutive win, took the runner-up spot at New Hampshire. He leads the points standings by 16 over Ross Chastain.

    “Christopher Bell just left me in the dust,” Elliott said. “He beat me by over five seconds. In other words, he ‘went off,’ unlike the siren at the Dawsonville Pool Hall.”

    2. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished eighth at New Hampshire, posting his 11th top 10 of the season.

    “I didn’t have the best car,” Chastain said, “and I’m certainly not the best driver. But I’m extremely proud of my finish. I earned it. You could say I deserve everything I get, and I’m sure Denny Hamlin would agree.”

    3. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex started on the pole at New Hampshire and won Stages 1 and 2, but couldn’t close the deal, settling for a fourth-place finish.

    “My car was primarily sponsored by Interstate Batteries,” Truex said. “Most people are used to seeing that logo on Kyle Busch’s car. I would name a sponsor that Kyle has lined up for next year, but I’m drawing a blank on that.”

    4. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished fifth at New Hampshire.

    “My in-car camera was sponsored by Hunt Brothers Pizza,” Harvick said. “Thanks to Hunt Brothers Pizza for allowing the viewer to see what’s in front of me. And also thanks to Hunt Brothers Pizza, you don’t want to see what’s behind you after eating it.”

    5. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished sixth at New Hampshire, posting his fourth top 10 of the year.

    “Congratulations to my Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell,” Hamlin said. “Now, he’s got something Martin Truex Jr. doesn’t have – a win; something Kyle Busch doesn’t have – a contract; and something I don’t have – 15 years to win a Cup title.”

    6. Joey Logano: Logano finished 24th in New Hampshire.

    “If you saw the word ‘Slam’ on Daniel Suarez’s car,” Logano said, “your eyes did not deceive you. And if you knew that ‘Slam’ promoted Pitbull’s Slam! Charter Schools, then you must be pretty smart, and obviously not a product of a school system with ‘Slam’ in its title.”

    7. Kyle Busch: Busch survived two spins and worked his way to a 12th in the Ambetter 301 at New Hampshire.

    “Joe Gibbs said he’s ‘surprised’ the team hasn’t signed me to a contract extension,” Busch said. “One would think for a driver who’s found the finish line so many times, finding the dotted line wouldn’t be so hard.”

    8. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished 18th in the Ambetter 301.

    “How about that battle between Brad Keselowski and Austin Dillon?” Blaney said. “Those guys were really trying to wreck each other. Currently, that’s what disagreements in the Cup series amount to – trading paint. If it were the Xfinity series, the two drivers would be trading punches.”

    9. Christopher Bell: Bell passed Chase Elliott with 42 laps to go and pulled away to win at New Hampshire, taking his first win of the season and clinching a playoff spot.

    “This was an incredibly special win,” Bell said. “Not only did I clinch a playoff berth, but I also won a live lobster as a trophy. I heard that Tim Richmond once won a race and got crabs.”

    10. William Byron: Byron finished 11th at New Hampshire and is eighth in the points standings, 70 out of first.

    “I don’t drive a Toyota,” Byron said, “but I can appreciate Toyota’s commercial starring the Busch brothers, Kurt and Kyle. And it makes sense that Kurt would be the one abducted by aliens because apparently, no one wants Kyle.”

  • Bell clinches 2022 Cup Playoff spot with a victory at New Hampshire

    Bell clinches 2022 Cup Playoff spot with a victory at New Hampshire

    Christopher Bell punched his ticket to the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after claiming a late victory in the Ambetter 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 17.

    After starting the day on the bubble for the Playoffs, the 27-year-old from Norman, Oklahoma, led the final 42 laps overtaking Chase Elliott for the lead. He pulled away and beat Elliott by more than five seconds to achieve his first victory of the season and became the 14th different competitor to win and secure a spot in the postseason championship in NASCAR’s premier series. 

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Martin Truex Jr. started in the pole position after posting a winning lap at 127.113 mph in 29.964 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Chase Elliott, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Atlanta Motor Speedway after he clocked in a fast qualifying lap at 126.922 mph in 30.009 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race started amid a 20-minute delay due to a brief shower, Truex rocketed forward with an advantage on the outside lane while Bubba Wallace launched an early attack on Elliott for the runner-up spot. As the field returned to the start/finish line, Truex led the first lap followed by Wallace, Elliott, Kurt Busch, William Byron and Kyle Larson as the field jostled early for positions.

    Five laps into the event, the first caution flew when Ty Dillon made contact with Justin Haley entering the backstretch, which caused Dillon to get loose. He veered his No. 42 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to the right and collided head-on into the outside wall along with Alex Bowman as Josh Bilicki and BJ McLeod also wrecked.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 12, Truex and Wallace dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Truex managed to clear Wallace and retain the lead through the backstretch. Behind, Elliott and Kurt Busch fought for third ahead of Larson, Aric Almirola and Byron as the field fanned out to double lanes.

    Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Truex was leading by six-tenths of a second over Wallace followed by Elliott, Kurt Busch and Larson while Almirola, Byron, Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell and Joey Logano were in the top 10. Brad Keselowski was in 11th ahead of Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick while AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Corey LaJoie and Erik Jones were in the top 20. By then, Daniel Suarez was in 22nd behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Briscoe was mired in 24th, rookie Austin Cindric was in 26th ahead of Harrison Burton and Austin Dillon was back in 30th.

    By Lap 35, Truex extended his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Wallace while Elliott remained in third. Behind, Larson overtook Kurt Busch for fourth place while Byron was back in ninth behind Almirola, Harvick and Bell.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Truex stabilized his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Wallace while Larson, Elliott and Kurt Busch remained in the top five.

    Ten laps later, Truex continued to extend his advantage as he was more than three seconds over both Wallace and Larson, with both dueling for the runner-up spot. Elliott remained in fourth while Harvick emerged into the top five ahead of Kurt Busch. By then, Denny Hamlin was in the top 10 in 10th place while names like Harrison Burton, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, Stenhouse and Justin Haley were lapped by the field.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 70, Truex captured his sixth stage victory of the season. Wallace fended off Larson to retain second ahead of Elliott, Harvick, Bell, Kurt Busch, Almirola, Byron and Hamlin. By then, Cole Custer, who was running in 23rd, remained on the lead lap while Harrison Burton was the recipient of the free pass after being scored as the first competitor a lap down in 24th.

    Under the stage break, the leaders, led by Truex pitted, and Truex retained the lead followed by Harvick, Larson, Wallace, Bell and Kurt Busch.

    The second stage started on Lap 77 as Truex and Harvick occupied the front row. At the start, Truex managed to retain the lead ahead of Harvick, Larson and the field entering the first two turns. Shortly after, however, the caution flew when Kyle Busch spun in the middle of the backstretch, but managed to proceed without sustaining any damage to his No. 18 DeWalt Toyota TRD Camry.

    As the race proceeded under green on Lap 83, Truex kept the lead ahead of Larson while Wallace and Harvick raced for third. Behind, three-wide action occurred between Kurt Busch, Almirola and Bell while Elliott was mired in eighth ahead of Joey Logano, Byron and Keselowski.

    Six laps later, the caution returned due to a heavy multi-car wreck on the backstretch involving Harrison Burton, Michael McDowell and Corey LaJoie, whose No. 7 Built.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sustained heavy front-nose damage.

    During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Truex pitted while names like Logano, Austin Cindric, Chris Buescher and Harrison Burton remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Elliott pitted for a second time to address loose right-side wheels on his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 100, Logano retained the lead followed by Buescher while Cindric and Truex competed for third in front of Harvick, Kurt Busch, Almirola, Larson and Wallace.

    Ten laps later, Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Truex’s No. 19 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry while Harvick started to pressure Buescher for third place. Behind, Cindric was in fifth ahead of Wallace, Larson, Kurt Busch, Almirola and Bell while Elliott was up in 11th ahead of Hamlin, Byron, Ross Chastain and Ryan Blaney.

    Another 10 laps later, Logano’s advantage decreased to two-tenths of a second over Truex while Buescher, Harvick and Larson remained in the top five. During the following lap, however, Truex reassumed the top spot.

    Just past the Lap 135 mark, Truex extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Logano while Larson, Harvick and Cindric were scored in the top five. Behind, Kurt Busch was in sixth while Buescher, Elliott, Wallace and Bell were in the top 10.

    Ten laps later, the caution flew when Ryan Blaney spun and backed his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang into the Turn 4 outside wall. Under caution, the leaders led by Truex pitted as Truex, who opted for four fresh tires, retained the lead amid a flurry of different strategies while Suarez, who opted for two fresh tires, came out in second.

    When the event restarted on Lap 151 at the halfway mark, Truex pulled away with the lead followed by Logano as the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the backstretch. With the field still fanned out through Turns 3 and 4, the caution returned when Chase Briscoe spun his No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang in Turn 4.

    As the field restarted under green on Lap 156, Truex received another strong start on the outside lane to retain the lead while Harvick, Logano and Kurt Busch challenged for the runner-up spot. Behind, Cindric retained fifth ahead of a hard-charging Elliott while Suarez was being pressured by Larson, Bell, Byron, Chastain and Wallace. By then, Almirola, who won last year’s event at New Hampshire, took his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang to the garage due to a mechanical issue.

    Then on Lap 162, the caution flew again when Kyle Busch, who was battling Suarez for 12th place, got loose and spun entering the frontstretch, which marked his second spin of the day. At the moment of caution, tempers flared between Austin Dillon and Keselowski after both collided and rubbed fenders against one another through the backstretch, with Keselowski claiming that Dillon attempted to wreck him on the backstretch. The contact resulted in Keselowski’s No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford Mustang cutting a left-front tire as he pitted along with Dillon and Kyle Busch.

    With the race proceeding under green on Lap 167, Truex gained another strong start on the outside lane to retain the lead ahead of Harvick, Logano and Kurt Busch as the field fanned out through the first two turns. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Elliott launched his attack on Kurt Busch for fourth place while Bell and Larson vied for sixth. With Elliott clearing Busch for the position, he then managed to overtake Logano for third place while Truex continued to lead.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the second stage, Truex stabilized his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Harvick followed by Elliott, Logano and Larson while Chastain started to close in on Kurt Busch for sixth place. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 185, Truex captured his seventh stage victory of the season and the second of the day after being Harvick by four-tenths of a second. Elliott settled in third followed by Logano, Larson, Kurt Busch, Chastain, Byron, Bell and Wallace.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Truex pitted as he retained the lead. During the pit stops, Cindric had to back his car to his pit stall after the left-front wheel from his No. 2 AutoTrader Ford Mustang came off while exiting his pit stall.

    With 109 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Harrison Burton and Briscoe occupied the front row in front of Truex and Kyle Busch. At the start, Briscoe pulled ahead with the top spot while Truex and Harrison Burton dueled for a lap for the runner-up spot in front of Kyle Busch, Elliott, Harvick, Logano and the field.

    Six laps later, Truex muscled his No. 19 Toyota to the outside of Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford to reassume the lead. Another six laps later, the caution returned for an incident involving rookie Todd Gilliland in Turn 4. During the caution period, a majority led by Truex pitted while the rest led by Kurt Busch remained on the track. During the caution period, Harvick, who was exiting his pit stall after completing his service, collided with Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as Dillon ended up pitting backward. In addition, Harrison Burton was penalized for equipment interference.

    With 92 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green as Kurt Busch cleared the field with the lead followed by Logano, Cole Custer and Larson while Truex was mired in eighth behind Byron, Elliott and Harvick.

    With less than 75 laps remaining, Kurt Busch remained the leader by four-tenths of a second over Logano as Elliott started to challenge Logano for the runner-up spot. Custer and Bell were in the top five followed by Kyle Busch, Larson, Wallace, Harvick and Truex, who was unable to march his way back to the front.

    Fifteen laps later, Kurt Busch stabilized his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Logano before he was overtaken by Elliott shortly after. Bell would also overtake Logano for third place as Logano was trapped behind the lapped car of Cody Ware through the backstretch.

    Another six laps later, Elliott overtook Kurt Busch’s No. 45 SiriusXM Toyota TRD Camry for the lead as Bell also moved his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry into the runner-up spot.

    Then with 41 laps remaining, Bell used the lapped car of Todd Gilliland to his advantage as he trapped Elliott to the outside lane before overtaking him for the lead.

    Nearing the final 30 laps, Kurt Busch surrendered third place to pit under green. By then, Bell was leading by nearly a second over Elliott while Bubba Wallace cycled his No. 23 DraftKings Toyota TRD Camry into third place ahead of Harvick and Truex. Another four laps later, Austin Dillon pitted.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Bell was leading by nearly two seconds over Elliott while third-place Wallace trailed by nine-and-a-half seconds. Harvick and Truex remained in the top five while Hamlin, Logano, Custer, Byron and Brad Keselowski were scored in the top 10. By then, Kyle Bush was in 11th ahead of Chastain, Suarez, Larson and Briscoe while Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, Buescher and Blaney were all on the lead lap. Kurt Busch was the first competitor a lap down in 20th.

    With 10 laps remaining, Bell stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Elliott while Wallace, Harvick and Truex remained in the top five.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Bell continued to extend his advantage to more than four seconds over Elliott as third-place Wallace trailed by 11 seconds. Meanwhile, Harvick, racing in his No. 4 Gearwrench Ford Mustang, settled in third while Truex was mired back in fifth. Shortly after, Logano, who was told that he was short on fuel for the finish, pitted under green while Truex caught and overtook Harvick for fourth.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bell, who lapped Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, remained the leader by more than five seconds over Elliott. Despite being mired by lapped traffic in the closing laps, Bell was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch with a clear race track and claim both his first checkered flag of the 2022 Cup season and a spot in the 2022 Cup Playoffs.

    In addition, Bell, who became the third Joe Gibbs Racing competitor to win this season, recorded his second career win in the NASCAR Cup Series and his first since winning his first series victory at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in February 2021. With Bell becoming the 14th different winner of this season, this marks the first time since 2011 that a Cup season has featured 14 winners through the first 20 scheduled events.

    “Man, that one was much needed right there,” Bell, who finished second at New Hampshire one year ago, said on USA Network. “I’ll tell you what. That was a hell of a race from my viewpoint. That was so much fun. Racing with [Kurt Busch], [Logano] and [Elliott]. We were all running different lines. That was a blast. Just so happy. So happy to be here at Joe Gibbs Racing. All of our partners on this No. 20 car. It’s good to get Rheem back in Victory Lane.”

    “Man, winning Cup races is hard,” Bell added. “You [fans] are awesome. Thank you for coming out, but it just seems like we’ve been so close and then we’ve fallen off a little bit last week. I was talking to my best friend. I told him I said earlier in the year, I felt like we were right on the verge of winning and in the last couple of weeks, I felt like we were pretty far away. But here we are today.”

    Elliott, who led 13 laps in comparison to Bell’s 42, came home in the runner-up spot for his fourth consecutive top-two result while Wallace earned a strong third-place result for his second top-three result of the season.

    “Just do a better job again,” Elliott said. “Same conversation as Road America, unfortunately. I felt like just a poor run of execution on my end throughout that last run. Man, I felt like it took me a while to get past Joey [Logano] and [Kurt Busch]. [I] Had to run a little harder than I wanted to and got in front of those guys. Just made a couple of mistakes and couldn’t get much breathing room. Christopher did a good job. Congrats to those guys. I know they stayed close to winning, so that’s cool, but obviously, for us, we were in a position where guys at this level should close out a race if you got a lead like that. Just poor effort on my part.”

    “Just proud of the team,” Wallace said. “Proud of myself. Proud of everybody at the shop. They brought a decent DraftKings Toyota Camry TRD. It didn’t handle that great, but it had speed. We knew that. Just the mental preparation and had to set yourself up for a long day, and then we did. I had no idea where we were running there at the end. I knew it was inside the top five, but just tire management there at the end and we were able to capitalize. Just proud of everybody. Happy. It’s been hell the last month and so, good to come out with a top five.”

    Truex, who led a race-high 172 laps and claimed the first two stages, could only carve his way to fourth place while Harvick completed the top five.

    “Just Loudon, for us,” Truex said. “It’s every year. We lead a ton of laps. We run really well here and then, we find a way to give it away. I’m frustrated for Intestate [Batteries], Toyota, all of our partners. Overall, it was a hell of a run. This place, man, it’s killing me. It’s not like we haven’t been trying to win. We’ve had cars to win. We’ve had some really strong cars and everybody at [Joe Gibbs Racing]’s working really hard. Our short track stuff’s been off and we came here and dominated, and [Bell] winning. Congratulations to him. They were smarter than us at the end. I’m happy for him. I’m just really disappointed for us.”

    Finishing in the top 10 on the track were Hamlin, Keselowski, Chastain, Suarez and Kurt Busch, who ended up leading 40 laps.

    There were eight lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 52 laps.

    With six regular season races remaining this season, Chase Elliott continues to lead the regular season standings by 67 points over Ross Chastain and 78 over Ryan Blaney. 

    Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, rookie Austin Cindric and Christopher Bell are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular-season stretch while Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. are above the top-16 cutline based on points. Kevin Harvick trails the top-16 cutline by 68 points, Aric Almirola trails by 129, Erik Jones, trails by 154, Austin Dillon trails by 198, Michael McDowell trails by 204, Justin Haley trails by 228, Bubba Wallace trails by 230, Chris Buescher trails by 239 and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. trails by 286.

    Results.

    1. Christopher Bell, 42 laps led

    2. Chase Elliott, 13 laps led

    3. Bubba Wallace

    4. Martin Truex Jr., 172 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    5. Kevin Harvick

    6. Denny Hamlin

    7. Brad Keselowski

    8. Ross Chastain

    9. Daniel Suarez 

    10. Kurt Busch, 40 laps led

    11. William Byron

    12. Kyle Busch 

    13. Austin Cindric

    14. Kyle Larson, one lap down

    15. Chase Briscoe, one lap down, six laps led

    16. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

    17. Chris Buescher, one lap down

    18. Ryan Blaney, one lap down

    19. Erik Jones, one lap down

    20. Justin Haley, one lap down

    21. Tyler Reddick, one lap down

    22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

    23. Austin Dillon, one lap down

    24. Joey Logano, one lap down, 25 laps led

    25. Todd Gilliland, one lap down

    26. Harrison Burton, one lap down, three laps led

    27. Cole Custer, one lap down

    28. Michael McDowell, two laps down

    29. JJ Yeley, two laps down

    30. Cody Ware, four laps down

    31. Aric Almirola, 19 laps down

    32. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

    33. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident

    34. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

    35. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

    36. BJ McLeod – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ lone annual visit of the season to Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, July 24, at 3 p.m. on USA Network.