Category: Race Central

Race Central Stories

Allgaier sweeps Richmond in doubleheader weekend

Coming off his late surge and dominating win on Friday night in Richmond, Virginia, while recording a milestone win for JR Motorsports, Justin Allgaier backed it up by winning the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 250 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday afternoon, September 12, for his third NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season and in the past six races as he also claimed his second victory of the weekend. The win was Allgaier’s 14th of his Xfinity career and 11th while driving JRM’s No. 7 car as JR Motorsports recorded its 51st NASCAR Xfinity career victory.

The starting lineup was based on the results from Friday night’s race at Richmond, where the top-14 finishers were inverted. With that, Tommy Joe Martins started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Brandon Jones. Chad Finchum started at the rear of the field due to an engine change. Rookie Myatt Snider also started at the rear of the field in a backup car.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Martins and Jones battled dead even for the lead before Jones was able to prevail through Turns 3 and 4 and lead the first lap. Behind, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Sieg made a three-wide move on Martins entering Turn 1 before both moved up to second and third behind Jones. Not long after, Kaz Grala also moved up into fourth followed by Michael Annett while Martins continued to fade and lose spots on the track.

By the fifth lap, Jones was ahead by nearly three-tenths of a second over Briscoe with Sieg trailing by half a second. Five laps later, on Lap 10, Jones stabilized his advantage to nearly three-tenths of a second over Briscoe. Behind, Grala moved into third place over Sieg while Noah Gragson joined the battle. Austin Cindric was in sixth followed by Annett, Justin Haley, teammate Ross Chastain and rookie Riley Herbst. Justin Allgaier, winner of Friday night’s Xfinity race at Richmond, was in 11th ahead of cousins Harrison and Jeb Burton while Tommy Joe Martins fell back to 20th.

On Lap 17, Briscoe emerged with the lead after passing Jones on the inside lane the previous lap in Turn 1. Behind him. Grala moved into second place followed by Gragson while Jones settled in fourth place ahead of Haley and Cindric. Four laps later, Haley, who finished in second place on Friday night behind Allgaier, continued his march to the front after passing Jones for fourth place. By then, Allgaier cracked the top 10.

By Lap 25, the top-three competitors on the track led by Briscoe and followed by Grala and Gragson were ahead of fourth-place Haley by a second with Cindric trailing by more than a second and Annett by more than two seconds. Shortly after, Gragson moved into second place over Grala.

Thirty laps into the event and with the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Gragson emerged with the lead after passing Briscoe the previous lap in Turn 1. Briscoe maintained second place over Grala while Haley and Cindric stabilized themselves inside the top five. Behind, Allgaier moved up to sixth place and Ross Chastain moved up to eighth place while Jones fell back to 11th behind teammates Herbst and Harrison Burton.

While Gragson slowly extended his advantage, Grala and Briscoe battled for second place with Haley joining the party and heavy lapped traffic in front of them. On Lap 37, Haley, Briscoe and Grala went three wide for second place amid the lapped traffic for nearly a full circuit before Haley prevailed and took the spot. Behind, Allgaier rocketed his way into third place while Briscoe and Grala settled in the top five ahead of Cindric. Shortly after, Allgaier moved into second place.

With the battling for positions settling down, Gragson was able to maintain the lead just as the competition caution flew on Lap 40. Under caution, few that included Joey Gase and Tommy Joe Martins made a pit stop while the rest remained on track.

The race resumed under green on Lap 45 as teammates Gragson and Allgaier battled for the lead while Briscoe made a three-wide move to move up to third place. At the front, Allgaier emerged with the lead entering Turn 2 and after restarting on the inside lane. Behind, Haley passed Briscoe for third place while teammate Chastain overtook Annett into fifth place in pursuit of more on the track.

Fifty-five laps into the event, Allgaier was ahead by three-tenths of a second over teammate Gragson while Kaulig Racing teammates Haley and Chastain trailed behind. Annett, teammates to Allgaier and Gragson at JR Motorsports, was back in fifth place while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Herbst and Burton battled with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Briscoe for sixth and seventh. Penske’s Cindric was in ninth while RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg was in 10th. Richard Childress Racing’s Grala was back in 12th behind Sieg.

Five laps later, on Lap 60, Allgaier continued to lead by half a second over Gragson with Haley trailing by seven-tenths of a second and Chastain trailing by more than a second. Jones was back in 14th while Martins was back in 27th. In addition, Grala overtook Cindric for 10th place.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 75, Allgaier emerged at the front of the field as he claimed his 10th stage victory of the season. Gragson settled in second place behind his teammate followed by Haley, Chastain and Harrison Burton while Annett, Herbst, Jeb Burton, Sieg and Grala settled in the top 10. By then, Briscoe and his No. 98 Go Bowling Ford Mustang dropped back to 11th place ahead of Brandon Jones while Cindric and his No. 22 PPG Ford Mustang also fell back to 15th place.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Allgaier retained the lead following his pit stop ahead of teammate Gragson, Chastain, Haley, Harrison Burton and Jeb Burton. Following the pit stops, Sieg was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

The second stage commenced on Lap 82 and Chastain made a bold three-wide move beneath Allgaier and Gragson in Turn 1 to take the lead. Eight laps later, on Lap 90, Chastain stabilized his advantage to a second over teammates Allgaier and Gragson while Jeb Burton moved up to fourth place in front of Haley and Harrison Burton. Behind, Cindric rallied from his late issues near the end of the first stage to run in seventh place followed by Herbst, Briscoe and Brett Moffitt. Annett, Jeremy Clements, Brandon Jones, Brandon Brown and Grala were running in the top 15.

Another 10 laps later, on Lap 100, Chastain stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Allgaier, whose car slowly came to life and with speed on long runs like the first stage, with Gragson trailing by more than a second. Behind, Jeb Burton continued to maintain fourth place over Haley.

By Lap 110, Allgaier cut his deficit to three-tenths of a second over Chastain as the leaders started to approach heavy lapped traffic. Both Chastain and Allgaier were ahead of third-place Gragson by more than two seconds with Haley in fourth. Behind by more than four seconds were cousins Harrison and Jeb Burton, both battling for fifth place, with Herbst joining the party. Cindric was back in eighth place ahead of Briscoe and Annett.

Ten laps later, on Lap 120, Allgaier started to pressure Chastain for the lead as they cleared the lapped traffic. He then attempted to gain a run and set up a pass on the outside lane, but Chastain was able to stabilize his narrow lead.

When the race reached its halfway point on Lap 125, Chastain was still ahead with the lead as Allgaier settled right behind the rear bumper of Chastain’s No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro. Three laps later, Allgaier and his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro moved back into the lead after fending off a challenge by Chastain, who refused to back out of the gas.

Behind, Harrison Burton made his way to third place after passing Gragson while Herbst moved up to fifth place after passing Haley. Jeb Burton settled in seventh place in front of Cindric, Jones and Briscoe. Shortly after, Herbst muscled his No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota Supra into fourth place.

With 10 laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew for an incident involving in Turn 3 involving Colby Howard. By then, Allgaier was leading by more than a second over Chastain with Harrison Burton trailing by less than four seconds. Under caution, some like Chastain, Haley, Harrison Burton, Herbst, Cindric, Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones and Briscoe pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on track. Following the pit stops, Jones was sent to the rear for speeding on pit road.

With five laps remaining, the short dash to the conclusion of the second stage started under green and with Allgaier and Grala restarting on the front row followed by teammates Gragson and Annett. At the start, Allgaier retained the lead while Chastain rocketed his way on the outside lane to move all the way up to second place in two laps and on fresh tires than Allgaier. All this occurred as the field scrambled for positions between those on fresh tires versus those on old tires.

A lap later, teammates Chastain and Haley made a three-wide move on Allgaier for the lead with Chastain reassuming the lead while Allgaier was overtaken by a handful of cars on fresh tires and dropped back to the top 10. By the time the second stage concluded on Lap 150 and with the scrambling for positions still ongoing through every turn and straightaway, Chastain emerged out in front and claimed his second stage victory of the season. Teammate Haley and his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro settled in second followed by Jeb Burton, Briscoe and Harrison Burton while Cindric, Herbst, Allgaier, Gragson and Grala settled in the top 10.

Under the stage break, some like Allgaier, Gragson, Jeb Burton, Grala, Clements and Brandon Brown pitted while the rest led by teammates Chastain and Haley remained on track.

The final stage commenced under green with 93 laps remaining and with Chastain and Haley on the front row. At the start, Chastain took off with the lead followed by Briscoe and Jeb Burton while Haley got shuffled out of the top five entering Turn 2. In one lap, Allgaier moved up to sixth place on fresh tires.

At the front, Jeb Burton made a move beneath Chastain to take the lead with 90 laps remaining. Shortly after, Allgaier rocketed into third place after passing Cindric while Briscoe settled in fifth place in front of Harrison Burton.

With 87 laps remaining, Allgaier overtook Chastain for second place as Jeb Burton continued to lead by a second. Seven laps later, with 80 laps remaining, Allgaier cut his deficit to Jeb Burton down to less than three-tenths of a second. Behind, Chastain trailed by two seconds in third place followed by Gragson and Cindric while Harrison Burton and Haley battled for sixth place.

Two laps later, Allgaier made his way back into the lead after passing teammate Jeb Burton. Another five laps later, with 73 laps remaining, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than a second over Jeb Burton’s No. 8 LS Tractor Chevrolet Camaro.

As the green-flag run progressed and with Allgaier ahead by more than two seconds, Chastain took second place over Jeb Burton with Gragson and Haley in the top five. Cindric was in sixth place followed by Harrison Burton, Annett, Grala and Herbst while Briscoe was back in 12th place in front of Jones, Clements and Brown.

With 60 laps remaining, Allgaier stabilized his lead to three seconds over Chastain. Ten laps later, with 50 laps remaining, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than five seconds over Chastain with Jeb Burton trailing by less than six seconds.

Another 10 laps later and with 40 laps remaining, Allgaier continued to extend his advantage by seven seconds over Chastain with Jeb Burton trailing by more than eight seconds. Fourth-place Haley was trailing by 10 seconds while Gragson and Harrison Burton trailed by more than 12 seconds. By then, names like Ryan Sieg, Brett Moffitt and Chase Briscoe were lapped.

Under 30 laps remaining, Allgaier’s lead expanded to eight seconds over Chastain with Jeb Burton trailing by nine seconds, Haley by less than 11 seconds and Harrison Burton by less than 15 seconds. Gragson retained sixth place ahead of teammate Annett and Grala while Cindric and Jones were scored in the top 10. Behind, Alex Labbe was in 11th place ahead of Herbst, Clements, Brandon Brown and Matt Mills. Jeffrey Earnhardt was in 16th place, a lap down, while Sieg and Briscoe were back in 17th and 19th.

With approximately 20 laps remaining, the caution flew after contact from Brandon Brown sent Herbst hard into the Turn 1 outside wall and with significant damage sustained to the rear end of Herbst’s No. 18 Toyota that knocked Herbst out of contention in the closing laps of the race. The caution erased a nearly nine-second advantage for Allgaier. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Allgaier retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of Jeb Burton and Chastain.

The race restarted under green with 13 laps remaining and with teammates Allgaier and Burton on the front row while Chastain and Harrison Burton lined up on the second row. At the start, Allgaier withstood a challenge from Jeb Burton to retain the lead,

With 10 laps remaining, Allgaier stabilized his advantage to nearly four-tenths of a second over teammate Jeb Burton with Chastain trailing behind and the pack behind jostling for late positions. Two laps later, Allgaier extended his advantage to six-tenths of a second.

With five laps remaining and Allgaier leading by more than a second, Jeb Burton continued to maintain second place ahead of Chastain and Harrison Burton with Haley in fifth place ahead of Gragson.

With the leaders encountering lapped traffic, Chastain started to challenge Jeb Burton for second place followed by Harrison Burton and his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra. Despite encountering lapped traffic in front of him, Allgaier was able to stabilize his advantage and navigate his way through one final circuit and come back around to win by two seconds and for his second checkered flag of the weekend.

Through the first 19 regular-season races of this year, Allgaier had yet to fill in the win column to his stats in 2020. Since recording his first victory at Dover International Speedway in August, Allgaier’s pair of victories this weekend at Richmond allowed him to join Cindric, Briscoe and Brandon Jones as the lone Xfinity competitors to achieve three or more victories throughout the regular-season stretch. In addition, Allgaier joined Cindric as the lone Xfinity competitors to achieve two victories in a doubleheader weekend at a track, when Cindric made his accomplishment at Kentucky Speedway in July.

“I knew how good our car was all day,” Allgaier said in Victory Lane on NBCSN. “It seems like lately, we haven’t been able to get [BRANDT] to Victory Lane. It wasn’t for lack of effort. I knew at the end there, I knew we had speed. I knew when we needed to go we could. I just didn’t know how fast. My teammate, Jeb Burton, did a fantastic job today on that last restart. I’m just so proud of these guys.”

In addition, Allgaier, who won on Friday night at Richmond, spent time afterwards working with his crew to install a new front nose on his No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro prior to Saturday afternoon’s race, where he went on to win.

“I have to thank the Man upstairs,” Allgaier added. “Tonight was definitely a push to the end, but we just had the luck we needed. I say luck, but luck is opportunities and preparation. We were prepared and the opportunities came tonight and we did a good job. I’m really proud of these guys.”

Behind, Jeb Burton settled in a career-best second place in his 40th series start followed by Chastain, who racked up his 12th top-five result of this season. Harrison Burton rallied from a 16th-place result on Friday night to finish in fourth place while Haley recorded a fifth-place run for his second top-five result in two days and for his eighth top-five finish of this season. Gragson finished in sixth place while Annett, Brandon Jones, Grala and Cindric rounded out the top 10. By finishing in 10th place, Cindric clinched this year’s regular-season championship and he will be awarded 15 bonus points for this year’s Playoffs.

By finishing 15th and 34th, Ryan Sieg and Riley Herbst clinched their spots for this year’s Xfinity Playoffs, thus joining Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones, Justin Haley, Harrison Burton, Ross Chastain and Michael Annett for this year’s championship battle.

Brandon Brown finished in 11th place and he holds sole possession of the 12th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs by 49 points over Clements, who finished 17th, and 88 over Snider, who finished 31st, as the series makes its way to the regular-season finale next Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

There were nine lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 29 laps.

Results.

1. Justin Allgaier, 135 laps led, Stage 1 winner

2. Jeb Burton, 12 laps led

3. Ross Chastain, 58 laps led, Stage 2 winner

4. Harrison Burton

5. Noah Gragson, 16 laps led

6. Justin Haley

7. Michael Annett

8. Brandon Jones, 16 laps led

9. Kaz Grala

10. Austin Cindric

11. Brandon Brown

12. Alex Labbe

13. Matt Mills

14. Jeffrey Earnhardt

15. Ryan Sieg, one lap down

16. Chase Briscoe, one lap down, 13 laps led

17. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

18. Brett Moffitt, one lap down

19. Bayley Currey, one lap down

20. Kyle Weatherman, two laps down

21. Mason Massey, two laps down

22. Stephen Leicht, three laps down

23. Joey Gase, three laps down

24. B.J. McLeod, three laps down

25. Josh Williams, three laps down

26. Tommy Joe Martins, three laps down

27. Joe Graf Jr., three laps down

28. Chad Finchum, four laps down

29. Kody Vanderwal, four laps down

30. Dexter Bean, four laps down

31. Myatt Snider, four laps down

32. Vinnie Miller, five laps down

33. Jesse Little, six laps down

34. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

35. Colby Howard – OUT, Accident

36. Timmy Hill – OUT, Fuel pump

The NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season finale will occur at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 300, which will occur on Friday, September 18, at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

September 12, 2020

Justin Allgaier earns his second win of the season at Richmond

Justin Allgaier captured his second win of the season Friday night in the Go Bowling 250 at Richmond Raceway. It was his 13th Xfinity Series career win and the 50th win for JR Motorsports.

Justin Haley finished second in his No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet followed by Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric and Ross Chastain to complete the top five finishers.

Brett Moffitt, Michael Annett, Noah Gragson, Kaz Grala and Riley Herbst (the highest finishing rookie) placed sixth through 10th, respectively. Annett’s finish earned him enough points to advance to the playoffs.

Allgaier described the race as being one where everything came together after a frustrating season of ups and downs.

“It feels great,” he said. “You know, we’ve had fast Camaros all year long and everybody at JR Motorsports has worked their butts off and put us in position many times. You know, the definition of luck is when opportunity meets preparation and when we’ve been prepared, the opportunity hasn’t come and when we’ve had the opportunity we just haven’t been prepared. And the team today did a fantastic job of executing, just from beginning to end.

“You know, we knew we were a little behind the eight ball when the green flag dropped, just starting as far back as we were. That first cycle on tires was really rough on us. We lost some spots, got a little bit of damage, unfortunately. Just really felt like we were not where we wanted to be at. And the guys rallied, we had unbelievable pit stops tonight. We made great adjustments and you know just ultimately put ourselves in good position at the end.”

Haley was disappointed with his second-place finish but proud of his efforts. He was as far back as 25th after two consecutive pit stops during the Stage 1 caution to repair damage to his car. Haley was able to get back to the front, lead 51 laps and contend for the win in the final laps but fell short.

“Allgaier was just a little bit better. I’m about tired of everyone on social media saying I can’t show up anywhere but superspeedways,” Haley said, smiling. “So I finally showed up somewhere where talent matters.”

The playoffs will begin in two weeks at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with only one spot left to be filled. Brandon Brown currently has the advantage with 43 points over Jeremy Clements for the final transfer position.

The Xfinity Series will race again Saturday at 2 p.m. ET at Richmond Raceway in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 250 which was realigned from Michigan International Speedway.

Post Inspection Report:

The No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet of Ross Chastain had one loose lug nut.

The No. 61 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota driven by Chad Finchum was disqualified for failing rear heights and was scored in last place.

Car Chief, Zach Gobble, for the No. 13 Motorsports Business Management Toyota driven by Stephen Leicht, ejected and will miss Saturday’s race for a safety violation: 12.5.2.7.4.e – Any loss or separation of an improperly installed rear axle from the vehicle will result in a one Race suspension of a crew member(s).

Complete Results:

1. Justin Allgaier

2. Justin Haley

3. Kyle Busch

4. Austin Cindric

5. Ross Chastain

6. Brett Moffitt

7. Michael Annett

8. Noah Gragson

9. Kaz Grala

10. Riley Herbst

11. Chase Briscoe

12. Ryan Sieg

13. Matt Mills

14. Brandon Jones

15. Tommy Joe Martins

16. Harrison Burton

17. Jeremy Clements

18. Brandon Brown

19. Joe Graf Jr

20. Joey Gase

21. Bayley Currey

22. Josh Williams

23. Alex Labbe

24. Jeffrey Earnhardt

25. Jesse Little

26. Kyle Weatherman

27. Mason Massey

28. Kody Vanderwal

29. BJ McLeod

30. Vinnie Miller

31. Dexter Bean

32. Jeb Burton

33. Colby Howard

34. Stephen Leicht

35. Myatt Snider

36. Timmy Hill

37. Chad Finchum

September 11, 2020

Enfinger back in Victory Lane at Richmond
Grant Enfinger took the checkered flag at Richmond International Raceway for the third time in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series 2020 season. It was his first victory since Atlanta earlier this season. The Alabaman took the lead from his ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton with seven laps to go when Crafton had to check up off Turn 4 and roll out of the throttle, which let Enfinger roll on by for the victory.

“Can’t say enough about [crew chief] Jeff Hensley, we’ve both been beating our head against the wall lately, but we go into the Playoffs with some momentum now,” said Enfinger, who led 18 laps in the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford F-150.

Richmond International Raceway marked the first time since 2005 that the Truck Series has raced on the circuit, 15 years ago. And for many drivers, aside from veterans David Ragan, Crafton and Johnny Sauter, most of the drivers in the field did not have any racing experience on the .750-mile race track in Virginia. Race No. 16 of 2020 also marked the last race of the Truck Series regular season before the Playoffs begin at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, Sept. 17.

Austin Hill started on the pole as determined by the new qualifying format that is based on competition percentages. He was also eligible to secure the regular season championship and pick up an additional 15 points as the series heads into the Playoffs. Stages of 70-70-110 laps made up the 250-lap event.

Stage 1: Lap 1 – Lap 70

Numerous drivers had issues from the get-go, while pole sitter Austin Hill checked out with the race lead.

On Lap 5, the No. 44 of Natalie Decker was on pit road with the hood up on her Niece Motorsports truck. She would eventually rejoin the race but many laps down and out of contention for the a solid finish. Meanwhile, Johnny Sauter’s season continued to get worse, as he was down on pit road just 10 laps into the race. Later on in the stage, the team reported that something had possibly broken on his No. 13 truck. Sauter continued to struggle throughout the night, before being credited with a 27th place finish.

The first caution flag of the night flew on Lap 55 when CMI Motorsports drivers Tim Viens and Ray Ciccarelli had an accident off Turn 4.

Under the caution, Enfinger came down pit road for four tires and fuel while David Ragan was penalized for a crew member over the wall too soon and Trevor Bayne went to the garage for mechanical issues.

After the brief yellow, the rest of the stage remained green from the Lap 61 restart until the Stage 1 completion on Lap 70.

Zane Smith took the stage win with Enfinger, Austin Hill, Stewart Friesen, Ben Rhodes, Derek Kraus, Sam Mayer, Brett Moffitt, Tate Fogleman and Christian Eckes were the top 10 finishers of Stage 1.

During the stage break, a few drivers received penalties while making their pit stops. The No. 15 of Tanner Gray was penalized for too many crew members over the wall and Ryan Huff was penalized for commitment line violation. Raphael Lessard received a penalty for pitting outside the box and was held a lap and Danny Bohn for a crew member over the wall too soon.

Prior to the restart of Stage 2, Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Chandler Smith was penalized for hitting the choose cone and was sent to the rear of the field.

Stage 2: Lap 82 – Lap 140

Stage 2 saw 59 laps of green-flag racing and no caution flags. The only notable of the stage was when Ben Rhodes took the lead from Enfinger on Lap 120 and held on to take the stage victory. Enfinger, Hill, Ragan, Zane Smith, Moffitt, Crafton, Creed, Gilliland, and Timmy Hill completed the top 10.

By virtue of finishing third in Stage 2, Austin Hill clinched the regular-season title and gained an additional 15 points for the Playoffs.

Stage 3: Lap 153 – Lap 250

Enfinger’s race almost went awry when the green flag flew for the restart. The Alabaman made contact with his teammate and race leader Rhodes. Due to the contact, Enfinger received left rear fender damage. The team elected to bring him down pit road and give up track position to fix the damage, which put Enfinger a lap down.

However, thanks to a Lap 175 caution for contact with Ciccarelli and Austin Wayne Self, Enfinger was the beneficiary of the free pass and was back on the lead lap. Under the caution, Crafton and Moffitt came to pit road, changing up their strategy.

The remainder of the stage was caution-free with Crafton dominating the race and passing Moffitt for the lead with 31 laps to go. Unfortunately for Crafton, lap traffic was starting to get in the way and began slowing him up.

As Crafton was not able to get through lap traffic smoothly, it allowed Enfinger to catch him, slowly but surely. The defining moment came with five to go when Crafton caught the No. 6 of Norm Benning at an unlucky time off Turn 4. From that moment on, Enfinger fended off Crafton for the checkered flag to pick up the win and five playoff points.

There were four cautions for 37 laps and eight lead changes among six different drivers. Enfinger led three times for 18 laps en route to victory.

By virtue of their finishes, Todd Gilliland and Tyler Ankrum clinched the last remaining playoff spots of ninth and 10th. Unfortunately for Derek Kraus, Johnny Sauter and Stewart Friesen, among others, they finished outside the top 10 and will miss out on the Playoffs. It’s the first-time in Sauter’s career he will miss the Playoffs.

Official Results following the Toyota Care 250 at Richmond International Raceway:
1. Grant Enfinger, led 18 laps
2. Matt Crafton, led 25 laps
3. Ben Rhodes, won Stage 2. led 66 laps
4. Brett Moffitt led 32 laps
5. Tyler Ankrum
6. Codie Rohrbaugh
7. David Ragan, 1 lap down
8. Austin Hill, led 65 laps, 1 lap down
9. Timmy Hill, 1 lap down
10. Stewart Friesen, 1 lap down
11. Zane Smith, won Stage 1, led 44 laps, 1 lap down
12. Chandler Smith, 1 lap down
13. Sheldon Creed, 1 lap down
14. Austin Wayne Self, 1 lap down
15. Tate Fogleman, 1 lap down
16. Tanner Gray, 1 lap down
17. Todd Gilliland, 1 lap down
18. Christian Eckes, 1 lap down
19. Sam Mayer, 1 lap down
20. Spencer Boyd, 3 laps down
21. Clay Greenfield, 3 laps down
22. Derek Kraus, 4 laps down
23. Jordan Anderson, 4 laps down
24. Josh Bilicki, 5 laps down
25. Raphael Lessard, 5 laps down
26. Johnny Sauter, 8 laps down
27. Ryan Huff, 11 laps down
28. Trevor Bayne, 13 laps down
29. Norm Benning, 15 laps down
30. Ray Ciccarelli, 19 laps down
31. Josh Reaume 33 laps down
32. Danny Bohn, OUT, Electrical
33. Natalie Decker, 95 laps down
34. Tim Viens, OUT, Crash
35. Jennifer Jo Cobb, OUT, Clutch
Playoff Standings starting at Bristol
1. Sheldon Creed, 2,026 points
2. Zane Smith, -4 from the lead
3. Austin Hill, -4 from the lead
4. Grant Enfinger, -7 from the lead
5. Brett Moffitt, -11 from the lead
6. Ben Rhodes, -12 from the lead
7. Matt Crafton, -17 from the lead
8. Christian Eckes, -21 from the lead
9. Todd Gilliland, -23 from the lead
10. Tyler Ankrum, -24 from the lead
Up Next: The NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series will begin their 2020 Truck Series Playoffs with the Round of 10 beginning next Thursday night, Sept. 17, at Bristol Motor Speedway, which will be televised live on FOX Sports 1 and MRN Radio.
September 10, 2020
Weekend schedule for Richmond

NASCAR travels to Richmond Raceway this weekend. The Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series is first up Thursday night for their regular season finale while the Xfinity Series will feature a doubleheader, competing Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Saturday will mark the second race in the Playoffs for the Cup Series Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.

Kevin Harvick remains the points leader after earning his eighth win of the season last week at Darlington Raceway and will start from the pole.

Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer will have substitute crew chiefs after both teams were penalized for missing two lug nuts in post-race inspection at Darlington Raceway, resulting in $20,000 fines for each team. Also, Adam Stevens, crew chief for Busch, and Johnny Klausmeier (Bowyer), were suspended for one race. Jacob Canter will fill in as interim crew chief for Busch and Greg Zipadelli will crew chief for Bowyer.

All times are Eastern.

Thursday, Sept. 10

8 p.m.: Truck Series ToyotaCare 250 (Stages 70/140/250 Laps = 187.5 Miles) FS1/MRN/Sirius XM NASCAR Radio
Pole: Austin Hill

Friday, Sept. 11

7 p.m.: Xfinity Series Go Bowling 250 (Stages 75/150/250 Laps = 187.5 Miles) NBCSN/MRN/Sirius XM NASCAR Radio
Pole: Ross Chastain
2019 Winner: Christopher Bell

Saturday, Sept. 12

2 p.m.: Xfinity Series Virginia is for Racing Lovers 250 (Stages 75/150/250 Laps = 187.5 Miles) NBCSN/MRN/Sirius XM NASCAR Radio (Replaces race originally scheduled for Michigan)

7:30 p.m.: Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 (Stages 80/235/400 Laps = 300 Miles) NBCSN/MRN/Sirius XM NASCAR Radio
Pole: Kevin Harvick
2019 Winner: Martin Truex Jr.

September 9, 2020
Harvick wins the 2020 Cup Playoff opener at Darlington Raceway

Kevin Harvick capped off a thrilling triple-header Labor Day weekend of racing at Darlington Raceway and opened the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs by winning the Cook Out Southern 500. Harvick’s opportunity of winning came with 15 laps remaining following a late incident involving leaders Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott while Harvick was back in third place. With Truex pitting and Elliott falling off the pace, Harvick was able to snatch the lead and fend off a late charge from Austin Dillon to notch another victory of this season and continue his quest for a second Cup championship.

The starting lineup was based on four statistical categories: current owner standings, the driver’s result from a previous Cup race, the team owner’s result from a previous Cup race and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Chase Elliott started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Denny Hamlin.

Prior to the race, Playoff contender Ryan Blaney dropped to the rear of the field and his crew chief Todd Gordon was suspended for the main event due to an improperly mounted ballast discovered on Blaney’s No. 12 Menards/Maytag Ford Mustang during pre-race inspection. Blaney’s team was also docked 10 driver/owner points as a result of the ballast, leaving him with a one-point deficit to start this year’s Playoffs. With Gordon out, Travis Geisler, Team Penske’s competition director, served as an interim crew chief for Blaney at Darlington. In addition, Playoff contender Austin Dillon and Joey Gase dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments along with Ross Chastain due to a driver change.

When the green flag waved and the 2020 Cup Playoffs commenced, Elliott and Hamlin battled dead even through Turns 1 and 2 before Elliott managed to clear Hamlin entering Turn 3 and come back around to lead the first lap.

With Elliott in the lead, teammate Alex Bowman moved into second place followed by Martin Truex Jr. while Hamlin fell back to fourth in front of William Byron and Kevin Harvick.

Five laps into the race, 14 of the 16 Playoff contenders were running in the top-14 positions on the track led by teammates Elliott and Bowman. Behind, Jimmie Johnson was the highest-running non-title contender in 15th place. Way behind, Blaney was in 26th while Austin Dillon was in 31st.

Five laps later and following the first 10 laps of the race, Elliott was still leading by nearly a second over teammate Bowman while Truex, Hamlin and Byron were in the top five. Harvick was settled in sixth place followed by teammate Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski, Clint Bowyer and Joey Logano. The Busch brothers were in 11th and 12th while Johnson moved up to 13th ahead of Matt DiBenedetto and Cole Custer. Behind, Bubba Wallace was in 17th behind Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones was in 18th, Matt Kenseth was in 20th behind Chris Buescher, John Hunter Nemechek was in 22nd, Christopher Bell was in 25th and Ryan Newman was in 27th. Blaney was in 21st while Austin Dillon made his way into the top 30.

By Lap 20, Elliott extended his advantage to more than a second over Truex, who passed Bowman to move into second place. Behind, Harvick and Hamlin battled for fifth place while Keselowski moved up to seventh place.

On Lap 25, the competition caution flew with Elliott and his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at the front of the pack ahead of Truex, Bowman, Byron and Hamlin while Harvick, Keselowski, Almirola, Logano and Bowyer were in the top 10. By then, Blaney was scored in 21st while Austin Dillon was in 29th.

Under the competition caution, the lead lap competitors pitted and Elliott retained the lead after exiting pit road first by a nose over Truex followed by Bowman, Hamlin, Harvick and Byron. Prior to the restart and under the Choose Rule lane effect, Truex elected to restart in fourth place and in the second row on the outside lane while teammates Bowman and Byron moved up to restart in second and third. Logano and Hamlin restarted on the third row while teammates Bowyer and Harvick restarted on the fourth row

When the race restarted under green on Lap 31, Elliott retained the lead after clearing Bowman’s No. 88 ChevyGoods.com/Truck Hero Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE in Turn 3. Behind, Truex charged his way back to second place followed by teammate Hamlin while Bowman settled in fourth place in front of Harvick. Byron fell back to sixth ahead of Keselowski while Johnson and Logano battled for eighth.

By Lap 35, Elliott and his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet were ahead by nearly three-tenths of a second over Truex. Behind, Harvick moved up to fourth and Johnson was gaining ground on Keselowski for seventh place. A few laps later, Byron passed teammate Bowman for fifth place.

With the first 40 laps of the race complete, Elliott was still leading by half a second over Truex and after leading every lap thus far. In addition, all 16 Playoff contenders were scored in the top 20 on track with nine in the top 10.

A few laps later, Playoff contenders Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer made contact, where Busch ran into the back of Bowyer’s rear bumper and loosened him up in Turn 1 before passing him for 10th place. With Kyle up to 10th, Kurt Busch was in 12th place in between Bowyer and Erik Jones.

Following the first 50 laps of the race, Elliott extended his advantage by more than a second over Truex. Elliott’s three teammates from Hendrick Motorsports (Byron, Bowman and Johnson) were running in fifth, sixth and seventh while Harvick and Hamlin were in fourth and fifth.

By Lap 60 and with the leaders catching and making their way past lapped traffic, it was still Elliott with the lead by more than a second over Truex followed by Harvick and Hamlin, both of whom continued to battle intensely for position. Johnson, meanwhile, continued to march towards the front as he was in sixth place ahead of Bowman and reeling in on teammate Byron for more while Keselowski and Logano battled for eighth place. Behind, Kurt Busch and Bowyer overtook Kyle Busch for 10th and 11th. Blaney and Austin Dillon were in 16th and 18th while Almirola, DiBenedetto and Custer were back in 15th, 19th and 21st.

Not long after, Austin Dillon made a pit stop under green due to a flat right rear tire. When the race surpassed the Lap 70 mark and with Elliott still ahead of Truex with the lead, a few competitors like Nemechek and Newman pitted. In addition, Kyle Busch pulled his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry to pit road for a pit stop. Shortly after, pit stops under green for the leaders continued as Bowman pitted. When the pit stops concluded, Elliott retained the lead ahead of Truex.

The second caution flew past the Lap 80 mark due to debris on the track that started when Keselowski cut a right-front tire following contact with Almirola before he made contact with the outside wall near Turn 3, thus sustaining damage to the right side of his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang.

Under caution, nearly the entire field led by Elliott pitted for service, fresh tires and fuel. Following the stops, Truex emerged with the lead after exiting pit road in first place followed by teammate Hamlin and Elliott. By then, Keselowski lost a lap to the leaders while his No. 2 crew went to work to repair the damage to the car. Back on the track, Kurt Busch and Wallace moved up to first and second when both opted to remain on track on old tires.

With the race restarting on Lap 86, Kurt Busch and Truex battled dead even through the first three turns before Truex and his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry cleared Busch’s No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE entering Turn 4 to take the lead. While Wallace dropped out of the top five and was clinging inside the top 10, Kurt Busch retained second place followed by Elliott, Johnson, Hamlin, Bowman, Logano and Byron.

When the race reached its 100-lap mark, Truex was leading by more than two seconds over Elliott and Johnson. Kurt Busch was back in fifth in between Hamlin and Bowman while Byron was in eighth behind Logano. Harvick was in ninth ahead of Kyle Busch and Jones while Blaney was in 13th in between Bowyer and Reddick. Bowyer, Austin Dillon and Custer were in 12th, 16th and 17th while DiBenedetto was back in 26th. Keselowski was back in 31st place and a lap behind following his incident.

Five laps later and with 10 laps remaining in the first stage, Johnson and his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, muscled his way into second place after passing teammate Elliott a lap earlier in Turn 4.

Though Johnson had a fast race car and started to reel in Truex for the lead, Truex was able to stabilize his advantage by four seconds and win the first stage on Lap 115 for his third stage victory of the season. Johnson settled in second followed by Elliott, Hamlin and Kurt Busch while Bowman, Logano, Byron, Kyle Busch and Harvick were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break and with the skies setting into darkness, the leaders pitted for service and adjustments with Truex retaining the lead after exiting pit road in first place. Following the pit stops, Elliott moved up to second followed by Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Logano and Kyle Busch while Johnson fell all the way back to eighth place following a slow pit stop.

The second stage started on Lap 121 with Truex and Hamlin on the front row followed by Logano, Elliott, Johnson and Kurt Busch while Blaney made an unscheduled pit stop prior to the restart to address a flat left-rear tire. At the front, Truex managed to clear Hamlin entering Turn 2 to retain the lead while Elliott moved up to second place.

By Lap 130, Truex was ahead by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Elliott with Hamlin trailing by more than a second. Johnson was in seventh behind Kyle Busch while Harvick was in ninth in between Bowman and Jones. Kurt Busch and Logano were in fourth and fifth while Byron was in 12th in between Reddick and Bowyer. Way behind the leaders, Blaney was in 31st and two laps behind.

Ten laps later and on Lap 140, Truex was still ahead by more than two seconds over Elliott, who had made contact with the wall a few laps earlier but continued to run on the track in second place. Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Logano were in the top five while Johnson was in sixth place ahead of Kyle Busch.

Another eight laps later, Hamlin and Kurt Busch overtook Elliott to move into second and third. By then Truex’s advantage grew to more than three seconds.

Just past the Lap 155 mark, Harvick made a pit stop under green. Nearly 15 laps later and on Lap 170, Truex was still ahead by more than four seconds over Kurt Busch followed by Hamlin while Elliott and Logano battled for fourth place ahead of Johnson.

By then, pit stops under green started to commence as DiBenedetto pitted along with Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece, Johnson, Newman, Christopher Bell, Bowman, Jones, Custer, Bowyer, Hamlin and Kyle Busch. When the pit stops under green cycled through, Harvick emerged with the lead by eight seconds over Truex with Johnson back up to third place.

Just shy of the Lap 180 mark, the caution returned when Wallace got loose and spun entering Turn 4. Under caution, the leaders led by Harvick pitted, but Truex emerged with the lead after exiting ahead of Harvick on pit road in first place. Following the pit stops, Custer was sent to the rear for speeding on pit road.

With the race reaching Lap 185 and past its halfway mark, the race restarted under green. At the front, Truex muscled his way back to the lead after passing Hamlin in Turn 2 while Harvick moved up to second place by Turns 3 and 4. With Hamlin in third, Johnson was in fourth followed by Bowman, Kyle Busch, Jones and Austin Dillon. Byron was in 11th behind Kurt Busch while Elliott was back in 14th behind Logano and Matt Kenseth.

Nearly five laps later and on Lap 190, Truex was ahead by half a second over Harvick with Hamlin trailing by less than a second. By then, 12 of the 16 Playoff contenders were running inside the top 15, with eight being scored in the top 10. In addition, Penske teammates Keselowski and Blaney, both of whom raced their way back on the lead lap under the last caution involving Wallace, were in 19th and 24th.

Ten laps later and on Lap 200, Truex stabilized his lead by seven-tenths of a second over Harvick with Hamlin trailing by less than two seconds. By then, Wallace took his No. 43 Cash App Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the garage due to mechanical issues.

Another 20 laps later and on Lap 220, Truex was still ahead by more than four seconds over teammate Hamlin with Harvick, Johnson, Bowman and Kyle Busch trailing by six or more seconds.

For the remainder of the second stage, Truex was able to extend his advantage by more than five seconds to claim the stage victory on Lap 230 as he claimed his fourth stage win of the season. Hamlin settled in second followed by Harvick, Bowman and Johnson, who made late contact with the outside wall, while Kyle Busch, Jones, Austin Dillon, Bowyer and Kurt Busch were scored in the top 10. By then, 24 of the 39-car field were running on the lead lap. In addition, DiBenedetto was pinned a lap behind the leaders in 27th place while Custer was in 24th, the final car on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Hamlin emerged the lead over teammate Truex following his pit stop. Harvick exited in third place followed by Bowman, Kyle Busch, Jones, Austin Dillon, Johnson and Elliott.

With 132 laps remaining and the lights shining around the track, the race restarted under green with Hamlin and Bowman on the front row. At the start, a stack-up behind occurred that left Logano with damage to the rear end of his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, where he was hit by Corey LaJoie.

Following an intense battle for the lead, Hamlin and his No. 11 Federal Express Toyota Camry cleared the field with the lead in Turn 3 followed by teammate Truex. Harvick also moved up to third place while Bowman fell back to fourth. While Joe Gibbs Racing’s Jones and Kyle Busch moved up to fifth and sixth, Johnson was stuck in a battle with Kurt Busch for seventh place. In addition, Bowyer was starting to battle Austin Dillon for ninth place with teammate Almirola joining the party.

With 123 laps remaining, the caution returned when John Hunter Nemechek cut a right-front tire and made contact with the outside wall in Turn 1 with sparks flying out from his No. 38 Citgard Ford Mustang. Under cautions, the leaders returned to pit road for service and Truex reassumed the lead following his pit stop ahead of teammate Hamlin with Kyle Busch, Harvick and Johnson scored in the top five. During the stops, Bowman dropped from fourth to 14th due to a jack issue during his pit stop. In addition, Logano and Blaney pitted to have the damage on their respective Fords addressed. Under caution, Bell took his No. 95 Rheem Toyota Camry to the garage due to a mechanical issue.

The race restarted under green with 117 laps remaining and with teammates Truex and Kyle Busch on the front row. At the start, Truex launched ahead with the lead through Turn 1 before Busch initiated a challenge in Turn 2. Truex, however, was able to clear Busch through Turns 3 and 4 with the lead while Hamlin pulled a crossover move in an attempt to pass Busch for second place.

Behind the three Joe Gibbs Racing competitors, Harvick and Kurt Busch started to reel in Hamlin for third place while Bowyer was in sixth and Elliott moved up to seventh ahead of teammate Johnson. Jones was in ninth, Almirola was in 10th ahead of teammate Custer and Keselowski rallied his way back into 12th place.

With 100 laps remaining, Truex was out in front by more than a second over teammate Kyle Busch with teammate Hamlin trailing by three seconds. By then 12 of the 16 Playoff contenders were running no lower than 14th, with eight scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Logano was back in 17th while teammate Blaney was back in 24th. In addition, Byron was in 18th while DiBenedetto was in 20th.

Ten laps later and with 90 laps remaining, Truex’s lead grew to nearly two seconds over teammate Kyle Busch with teammate Hamlin still lurking behind by less than four seconds. Harvick and Kurt Busch stabilized their spots in the top five followed by Bowyer, who reported voltage issues to his No. 14 PEAK Ford Mustang. Elliott was in seventh ahead of Jones while Johnson was in ninth ahead of Almirola, Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Custer and Bowman.

With approximately 85 laps remaining, Johnson made a pit stop under green. Shortly after, Austin Dillon pitted. Then, pit stops under green for most of the lead lap competitors commenced as Bowman, Blaney, Logano and Harvick pitted. During the stops, Ty Dillon was assessed a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road.

With 70 laps remaining, Truex was still out in front by more than two seconds over teammate Kyle Busch and more than three seconds over teammate Hamlin. By then, the top-six competitors led by Truex had yet to pit.

Four laps later, Bowyer pitted under green. Shortly after, Keselowski pitted. With 60 laps remaining, Truex and teammate Kyle Busch pitted while Hamlin assumed the lead. Another lap later, Hamlin missed the pit road entrance when he struggled to turn his car below the apron in Turn 3 towards the entrance, was hit by Johnson and was unable to slow his car in time to make the turn to the pit road entrance. As a result, he had to cycle around the track for another circuit before he could enter pit road successfully and pit for service. The late misfortune dropped Hamlin out of race-winning contention.

Following the stops from the Joe Gibbs Racing competitors, Harvick was back at the front by less than a second over Elliott and coming to 55 laps remaining. Nearly eight laps later, just as Elliott passed Harvick for the lead, the caution flew due to debris on the backstretch. Under caution, the competitors on the lead lap pitted and Elliott retained the lead after beating Harvick by a nose off of pit road.

With 41 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Elliott and Truex on the front row followed by Harvick, Austin Dillon, Jones and Almirola. At the start, Elliott and Truex duked for the lead through Turn 1 before Elliott cleared Truex for the lead following a push from Harvick. Truex and Harvick went to work in battling one another for position and closing in on Elliott for the lead while Logano made his way up to fifth place with a damaged rear end and behind Austin Dillon’s No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.

With Elliott maintaining a three-tenths of a second advantage over Truex, Jones was back in sixth place in front of Almirola and Byron while Kyle Busch was in ninth place ahead of Bowman. Hamlin was in 14th behind Kurt Busch, Custer and Bowyer while Johnson was in 16th behind Keselowski.

Under 30 laps remaining, Elliott’s advantage grew to less than a second over Truex with Harvick trailing by less than two seconds. Behind, Bowman made his way into ninth place after passing Almirola while Byron and Kyle Busch were in seventh and eighth. Jones was the highest-running non-title contender in sixth place while Johnson was in 15th.

With 20 laps remaining, the battle for the lead started to ignite with Truex trailing Elliott by less than two-tenths of a second and continuing to close to the rear bumper of Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet. Behind, Harvick and his No. 4 Busch Beer Ford Mustang trailed the two leaders by more than five seconds with Austin Dillon and Logano continuing to run in the top five.

With 15 laps remaining, Truex gained a huge run on Elliott entering Turn 4 as he crossed beneath him past the start/finish line to take the lead. In Turn 1, however, Truex tried to slide up in front of Elliott, but they made contact and both made contact against the outside wall. Despite the damage, Truex continued with the lead while Elliott continued to run in second place, trailing by less than two seconds.

Shortly after, Truex pitted due to sustaining a flat right-rear tire. Back on the track, Harvick assumed the lead and was followed by Austin Dillon while Elliott started to fade out of race-winning contention.

With 10 laps remaining, Harvick was ahead by six-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon followed by Logano, Jones and Byron while Elliott dropped back to eighth place after being passed by teammate Bowman and Kyle Busch. Elliott would continue to lose more positions as he was off the pace with the field.

With the laps winding down and the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Harvick was still out in front while Austin Dillon continued to keep Harvick in his sights for the lead. However, with five laps remaining, Harvick started to extend his advantage to a second over Austin Dillon with Logano trailing by less than two seconds.

When Harvick started the final lap, he was still ahead by six-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon. For one final circuit, Austin Dillon got the deficit down to less than three-tenths of a second, but it was not enough through Turns 3 and 4 as Harvick managed to streak across the finish line in first place and add a second Southern 500 title to his racing resume.

The victory was Harvick’s eighth of this season, his fourth win since August and the 57th of his Cup career, which he surpassed fellow competitor Kyle Busch and moved into ninth place on the NASCAR Cup Series all-time wins list. In addition, Harvick’s win was the 15th of the season for Ford and the ninth of the season for Stewart-Haas Racing. With the victory, Harvick clinched his spot to the Round of 12 in the Playoffs.

Ironically, Darlington Raceway served as the track where NASCAR made its return to on-track racing back in May amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and where the race was also won by Harvick. Compared to May, where the grandstands were empty, Harvick’s victory on Sunday evening at Darlington was met by a chorus of cheers from the fans with up to 8,000 spectators allowed to attend the race from the grandstands, something that delighted Harvick upon saluting the fans with his win.

“The first thing I wanna say is, ‘Welcome back, fans!’ Woo!” Harvick exclaimed on the frontstretch on NBCSN. “This interview’s a hell of a lot more fun with you guys up there. [I] Just wanna say thank you to everybody from NASCAR, all of you fans here in South Carolina…Just wound up fighting all night long. This Busch Beer Ford Mustang wasn’t where we wanted it to be, but the leaders got tangled up there and the next thing you know, we were racing for the win. Anytime you can win the Southern 500, it’s a good day. This is one of the most prestigious races in our sport and this is one of the most prestigious race tracks in our sport. Anytime you can win at Darlington, it’s a big deal. Man, Southern 500!”

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Austin Dillon rallied from starting at the rear of the field to post a strong runner-up result while Logano made a nice rally from his incident at the start of the final stage to finish in third place. Jones, the reigning Southern 500 winner, finished in fourth place as he emerged as the highest-finishing non-title contender in the field while Byron rallied to finish in fifth place and record his third consecutive top-five result.

Playoff contenders Bowman, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Almirola and Bowyer finished inside the top 10 on the track. Keselowski finished 11th ahead of Custer, Hamlin finished 13th, Elliott faded back to 20th and Truex ended his night in 22nd, a lap behind the leaders. DiBenedetto finished 21st, a lap down, while Blaney finished 24th, the lowest-finishing Playoff contender in the field.

There were 18 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 34 laps.

Results.

1. Kevin Harvick, 32 laps led

2. Austin Dillon

3. Joey Logano

4. Erik Jones

5. William Byron

6. Alex Bowman, one lap led

7. Kyle Busch

8. Kurt Busch, five laps led

9. Aric Almirola

10. Clint Bowyer

11. Brad Keselowski

12. Cole Custer

13. Denny Hamlin, 19 laps led

14. Matt Kenseth

15. Ryan Newman

16. Michael McDowell

17. Ryan Preece

18. Jimmie Johnson

19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

20. Chase Elliott, 114 laps led

21. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

22. Martin Truex Jr., one lap down, 196 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

23. Tyler Reddick, one lap down

24. Ryan Blaney, one lap down

25. Daniel Suarez, three laps down

26. Chris Buescher, three laps down

27. Ty Dillon, four laps down

28. Brennan Poole, five laps down

29. Ross Chastain, seven laps down

30. J.J. Yeley, seven laps down

31. Quin Houff, 10 laps down

32. Josh Bilicki, 11 laps down

33. Joey Gase, 16 laps down

34. Christopher Bell, 18 laps down

35. Timmy Hill – OUT, Overheating

36. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

37. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

38. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Transmission

39. James Davison – OUT, Engine

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. Kevin Harvick – Advanced

2. Denny Hamlin +54

3. Joey Logano +27

4. Brad Keselowski +22

5. Alex Bowman +19

6. Martin Truex Jr. +16

7. Chase Elliott +12

8. Austin Dillon +10

9. William Byron +9

10. Kyle Busch +7

11. Kurt Busch +4

12. Aric Almirola +0

13. Clint Bowyer -0

14. Cole Custer -3

15. Matt DiBenedetto -17

16. Ryan Blaney -17

Next on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Richmond Raceway for the Federated Auto Parts 400 and the second Playoff race of the season. The race will occur on Saturday, September 12, at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

September 7, 2020
Rhodes ends winless drought at Darlington
Ben Rhodes and the No. 99 ThorSport Racing team broke through at Darlington Raceway on Sunday afternoon after taking advantage of an overtime restart with two laps to go. Rhodes lined up alongside rookie Derek Kraus, who was the control truck coming to the restart line. However, Kraus got loose off Turn 2 and couldn’t block Rhodes due to the looseness of the No. 19 Truck. From there, the Kentucky native used the high side and held on to snap a two-year winless drought dating back to 2018 at Kentucky.

“Gosh, that was such a tough win,” Rhodes said. “We weren’t the best truck all day. I was actually really disappointed when the [final] caution flag came out because I thought fourth place is a good finish for us, we’ll get in the Playoffs.

“But I’m not letting this checkered flag go,” he said grinning at the turn of events. “It’s been a long time coming.”

For the first time in nine years, the Truck Series returned to the famed Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Most of the drivers have never raced at the track “Too Tough To Tame” with the exception of veterans Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter. Additionally, Trevor Bayne, Greg Biffle, and David Ragan returned to the Truck Series as well and were among the few who had experience by racing in the Cup or Xfinity Series. Stages 45-45-57 made up the 147-lap event.

Stage 1: Lap 1 – Lap 45

The caution flew early on Lap 6 when the No. 33 of Bryant Barnhill slammed the Turn 3 wall and came to a stop. Unfortunately for Barnhill, he would be credited with a last-place finish.

A few other notable incidents occurred in the early laps of Stage 1, especially for 2016 Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter. He had smoke coming out of the back end of his truck but he was able to keep on going well past the Lap 20 competition caution that was scheduled for Lap 15.

After the competition caution, 21 laps of green-flag racing ensued and GMS Racing was once again back out front to continue their recent dominance of the Truck Series. However, just five laps before the stage ended, returning competitor Trevor Bayne had suspension issues on his No. 40 Niece Motorsports entry. The handling of the truck continued to get worse throughout the day and he was never able to rebound.

When the green-checkers flew on Lap 45 for the completion of Stage 1, it was all Brett Moffitt in his Bobby Allison inspired throwback scheme who claimed the stage victory. Austin Hill, Sheldon Creed, Rhodes, Ragan, Crafton, Tyler Ankrum, Raphael Lessard, Christian Eckes, and Zane Smith rounded out the top 10. By winning the stage, Moffitt was able to clinch a playoff spot ahead of the final race of the regular season at Richmond.

Stage 2: Lap 50 – Lap 90

Only one minor incident occurred during the second stage when the No. 41 of Dawson Cram bounced off the backstretch wall, causing damage to the right-side of his Chevrolet.

Miraculously, no yellows were seen for Stage 2, which saw a 40-lap green-flag run with Sheldon Creed collecting the stage win. Moffitt, Austin Hill, Rhodes, Ragan, Lessard, Ankrum, Crafton, Gilliland, and Zane Smith completed the top 10 stage finishers.

Stage 3: Lap 97 – Lap 152 (Overtime Finish)

The third and final stage saw numerous cautions on the final run to the checkered flag. In fact, there were three cautions that occurred when the laps began to wind down.

The fifth yellow was flown on Lap 124 after Tyler Ankrum went spinning sideways through Turn(s) 1 and 2 immediately after he made contact with his teammate Zane Smith. Fortunately for Ankrum, he saved his truck from further contact, but Smith received minimal damage to the No. 21 machine.

Bad luck continued for rookie Smith as he was involved in the sixth caution when the No. 15 of Tanner Gray made contact with him in Turn 1.

Despite the two cautions slowing down the action, there was a 16-lap run from Laps 130 – 145. Before the final yellow flew, it looked as though Sheldon Creed was on pace for another dominating victory. However, a wreck on the backstretch that involved Josh Reaume, Matt Crafton, and David Ragan changed the entire complexion of the race for the front runners, Creed and Moffitt.

When the yellow flew with two laps to go, Creed and Moffitt were left with a tough choice of whether to pit. The two teams eventually made the decision to pit for fresh rubber and fuel, as their tires were worn out. Unfortunately, Creed’s day went from bad to worse, as he was caught with a penalty for too fast entering which ended any chances of him pulling off a consecutive win.

With Creed and Moffitt out of the picture, there was an overtime restart with Rhodes and Kraus making up the front row. Despite the last attempt with Kraus trying to hold Rhodes off, Rhodes eventually claimed the checkered flag for the third time of his Truck Series career with the rookie Kraus finishing runner up.

“[Crew chief] Kevin [Bellicourt] up on top of the box made a really good call at the end and I got a good restart and did everything I needed to do, and off of [Turn] two got really loose,” Kraus said about being passed by Rhodes.

“You’ve got to be aggressive to make the Top 10 and the Playoffs,” Kraus added of his door-to-door racing with Gilliland throughout the day.”

There were seven cautions for 35 laps with 11 lead changes among five different leaders.

Official Results following the South Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Darlington Raceway.
1. Ben Rhodes, led four laps
2. Derek Kraus, led one lap
3. Austin Hill
4. Grant Enfinger
5. Christian Eckes
6. Raphael Lessard
7. Todd Gilliland
8. Stewart Friesen
9. Timmy Hill
10. Brett Moffitt, won Stage 1, led 63 laps
11. Tyler Ankrum
12. Bayley Currey
13. Ty Majeski
14. Matt Crafton
15. Tate Fogleman
16. Zane Smith
17. Austin Wayne Self
18. Sheldon Creed, won Stage 1, led 82 laps
19. Greg Biffle
20. Danny Bohn
21. Clay Greenfield
22. David Ragan
23. Chandler Smith, 1 lap down
24. Jordan Anderson, 1 lap down
25. Codie Rohrbaugh, 2 laps down
26. Spencer Boyd, 2 laps down
27. Trevor Bayne, 3 laps down
28. Josh Reaume, 3 laps down
29. Tanner Gray, 4 laps down
30. Jennifer Jo Cobb, 5 laps down
31. Johnny Sauter, OUT, Engine
32. Norm Benning, OUT, Handling
33. Dawson Cram, OUT, Crash
34. Bryant Barnhill, OUT, Crash
Playoff Standings with 1 race to go
1. Sheldon Creed (3 wins), 20 playoff points
2. Zane Smith (2 wins), 14 playoff points
3. Grant Enfinger (2 wins), 11 playoff points
4. Austin Hill (1 win), 7 playoff points
5. Ben Rhodes (1 win), 5 playoff points
6. Matt Crafton (1 win), 5 playoff points
7. Brett Moffitt (Clinched with virtue of Stage 1 victory), 5 playoff points
8. Christian Eckes (Clinched with virtue of Darlington finish), No playoff playoff points
9. Tyler Ankrum, +14 above the cut line
10. Todd Gilliland, +10 above the cut line
  
  Below the cut line
11. Derek Kraus, -10
12. Raphael Lessard, -66
13. Tanner Gray, -93
14. Stewart Friesen, -100
  
  Any driver below the cut line will have to win in order to make the playoffs.
Up Next: The NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series will head to Richmond International Raceway for a Thursday night event on September 10th live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio. The Richmond event will be the last race of the Truck Series season, before the playoffs begin at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, September 17th.
September 6, 2020

Brandon Jones steals a win at Darlington Raceway

It was the perfect day for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway, also known as the “Track Too Tough To Tame”. Many drivers earned their Darlington stripe today and several drivers more than once. There was one driver who happened to be at the right place at the right time and that was Brandon Jones in his No. 19 Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing, who came away with the win, his third of the season.

“Look at the right side of this thing!” he exclaimed, “I think everybody’s looks like this. That’s what’s so much fun about this track.’ He added, “This is a tough place to get around.”

Coming in second place today was the No. 10 Chevy of Ross Chastain.

“Denny (Hamlin) was faster, I knew that and everyone watching NBC knew that,” Chastain commented, “I just kept ripping the top as best I could, I probably hit it 25 times.” He added, “I was really struggling on entry. I’m just proud of this group and proud of their effort.”

Ryan Sieg brought his No. 39 RSS Racing Chevy into third place today.

Riley Herbst and Hamlin would round out the top five. Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson, Michael Annett, Austin Hill, and Myatt Snider finished sixth through 10, respectively.

Stage 1 only had 2 cautions. The first was for the cars of Sieg, Hemric and Brandon Brown who got tangled up together. The second was a scheduled competition caution. By Lap 34 Hamlin took the lead after starting at the rear of the field. He would win the stage.

Stage 2 had one caution for Noah Gragson. Allgaier had tire trouble and went behind the wall and later returned to the track. Hamlin retook the lead from Briscoe on Lap 84 and went on to win the stage.

Stage 3 is where all the action was. Jeremy Clements stalled on the track and brought out the caution. David Starr smacked into the wall after his tire went down. Next, Brett Moffitt’s car laid fluid on the track, sending several cars spinning and bringing out the red flag for cleanup. When the race resumed, a battle between Chastain and Hamlin was on. It was exciting to watch as Hamlin tried to take the lead away. Both cars bounced off the wall several times. Coming down to the white flag both Hamlin and Chastain got into the wall, and Jones, who was in third, jumped into the lead and the race win. It was such an exciting race to watch, I can’t wait for the rest of this weekend’s racing.

Austin Cindric leads the Xfinity Series points standings with 1005 points, in second is Chase Briscoe with 951 points, third in the points is Chastain with 911 points, fourth is Gragson with 878 points, and rounding out the top five is Harrison Burton with 789 points.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads next to Richmond Raceway on Friday, Sept. 11.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 23

Darlington Raceway – Darlington, SC – 1.366 – Mile Paved

Total Race Length – 147 Laps – 200.802 Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	S3Pos	Pts	Status
1	8	19	Brandon Jones	Toyota	147	6	2	0	54	Running
2	5	10	Ross Chastain	Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet	147	2	4	0	51	Running
3	11	39	Ryan Sieg	CMRRoofing.com Chevrolet	147	9	6	0	41	Running
4	6	18	Riley Herbst #	Monster Energy Toyota	147	0	10	0	34	Running
5	37	54	Denny Hamlin(i)	SportClips Toyota	147	1	1	0	0	Running
6	3	20	Harrison Burton #	DEX Imaging Toyota	147	0	5	0	37	Running
7	14	9	Noah Gragson	Unilever United for America Chevrolet	147	5	0	0	36	Running
8	7	1	Michael Annett	OREO/Pilot Flying J Chevrolet	147	8	8	0	35	Running
9	26	61	Austin Hill(i)	Toyora Tsusho Toyota	147	0	0	0	0	Running
10	20	93	Myatt Snider #	The Original Louisiana Hot Sauce Chevrolet	147	0	0	0	27	Running
11	2	98	Chase Briscoe	Highpoint.com Ford	147	4	3	0	41	Running
12	4	22	Austin Cindric	MoneyLion Ford	147	3	7	0	37	Running
13	1	11	Justin Haley	LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet	147	0	0	0	24	Running
14	27	78	BJ McLeod	Koolbox Ice Toyota	147	0	0	0	23	Running
15	9	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing Chevrolet	147	0	0	0	22	Running
16	24	36	Alex Labbe	DGM Racing Chevrolet	147	0	0	0	21	Running
17	17	68	Brandon Brown	Costal Carolina University Chevrolet	147	0	0	0	20	Running
18	10	4	Jesse Little #	Shriners Hospitals Chevrolet	147	0	0	0	19	Running
19	18	15	Colby Howard	Project Hope Foundation Chevrolet	147	0	0	0	18	Running
20	23	13	Chad Finchum	CRASHCLAIMSR.US Toyota	146	0	0	0	17	Running
21	25	0	Jeffrey Earnhardt	KSDT CPA Chevrolet	146	0	0	0	16	Running
22	33	99	Matt Mills	JF Electric Toyota	146	0	0	0	15	Running
23	28	8	Joe Graf Jr #	Bucked Up Energy Chevrolet	146	0	0	0	14	Running
24	30	74	Bayley Currey(i)	Mutt and Jeff Porkskins Inc. Chevrolet	146	0	0	0	0	Running
25	29	6	Ryan Vargas	Cranio Care Bears Chevrolet	146	0	0	0	12	Running
26	19	44	Tommy Joe Martins	Gilreath Farms Red Angus Chevrolet	145	7	0	0	15	Running
27	12	21	Anthony Alfredo	Blue Otter Polarized Chevrolet	145	0	0	0	10	Running
28	32	5	Vinnie Miller	Koolbox Ice Toyota	145	0	0	0	9	Running
29	34	52	Kody Vanderwal #	The Rolling Home Show with Bill Malone Chev	145	0	0	0	8	Running
30	35	90	Dexter Bean	Sleep Well Chevrolet	145	0	0	0	7	Running
31	16	7	Justin Allgaier	BRANDT Chevrolet	135	10	0	0	7	Running
32	13	51	Jeremy Clements	Repairables.com Chevrolet	129	0	9	0	7	Running
33	21	2	Brett Moffitt(i)	Knockaround Chevrolet	118	0	0	0	0	Oil Leak
34	22	7	David Starr	Richardson Service 1991 Inc. Chevrolet	108	0	0	0	3	Accident
35	36	66	Stephen Leicht	JANIKING Toyota	11	0	0	0	2	Suspension
36	31	47	Kyle Weatherman	Back The Blue Chevrolet	5	0	0	0	1	Accident
37	15	8	Daniel Hemric	Poppy Bank Chevrolet	2	0	0	0	1	Accident

September 5, 2020

NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Daytona

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished 20th at Daytona.

“I had an early overheating issue,” Harvick said. “It seems some trash collected on my front grill. As one would expect in this sport, it was ‘white trash.’”

2. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin led at the final restart at Daytona, but was shuffled out of the draft and finished third.

“I’d like to be a team owner once my driver days are over,” Hamlin said. “And speaking of ‘taking ownership,’ Tyler Reddick apologized for causing the lap 152 ‘Big One.’”

3. Chase Elliott: Elliott survived on a wild night at Daytona to take the runner-up position in the Coke Zero Sugar 400.

“The race was called the ‘Coke Zero Sugar 400,’” Elliott said. “I don’t know a lot about Coke Zero, but I do know something about ‘Zero Coke.’ That’s the drug consumption in the Daytona infield with no fans.”

4. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished fourth at Daytona and is sixth in the points standings.

“The last eight laps at Daytona were pure chaos,” Truex said. “Incidentally, ‘Pure Chaos’ might be Tyler Reddick’s new nickname or the newest Mountain Dew flavor.”

5. Joey Logano: Logano won Stages 1 and 2 at Daytona, but his strong Stage 3 run ended when he was collected in a big crash with one lap to go. He finished 27th.

“I got bounced around pretty hard when I was knocked out of the race,” Logano said. “So, I’m upset I got knocked out of the race, and I’m a little sore from the wreck. So, in other words, ‘Sliced Bread’ feels ‘crumby.’”

6. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished 10th at Daytona, posting his 19th top 10 of the year.

“I purposely hung back for much of the race,” Keselowski said, “to avoid becoming a victim in an inevitable crash. I thought it wise to stay out of harm’s way. If I really want to find myself in harm’s way, I’ll ask Kevin Harvick to push me there.”

7. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished sixth at Daytona.

“You saw the ‘Big One’ happen with eight laps to go,” Blaney said. “I think everyone can agree that Tyler Reddick was totally responsible for causing that. I’m sure Tyler will have a lot of drivers he needs to apologize to. He’ll have a lot of stops to make, so he should drive. That’s called a ‘guilt trip.’”

8. Aric Almirola: Almirola finished 18th at Daytona and enters the playoffs in 12th place, 52 behind Kevin Harvick.

“I’m going to the playoffs with the mindset to win it all,” Almirola said. “I’m so confident, I guarantee my name will be atop the standings after we race in Phoenix on November 8. Of course, I’m counting on drivers to be ranked alphabetically.”

9. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer finished 19th in the Coke Zero Sugar 400.

“I clinched a spot in the playoffs after Stage 1 ended,” Bowyer said. “I considered doing a burnout to celebrate. But I ultimately decided against it, because the last time I ‘intentionally spun’ before a race was over, it wasn’t a good look for me.”

10. (tie) William Byron: Byron survived a hectic finish at Daytona to take the win in the Coke Zero Sugar 400.

“There were two huge crashes in the final eight laps,” Byron said. “My car is sponsored by Liberty University, so I’m guessing Jerry Fallwell Jr. loved watching this race because he likes watching people ‘smash.’”

10. (tie): Kyle Busch: Busch was leading at Daytona on Lap 152 when Tyler Reddick went for an ill-advised block, forcing Busch into the wall and triggering the ‘Big One.’ Busch was knocked out of the race and finished 33rd.

“I’m not sure what Reddick was thinking,’” Busch said. “As they often say in NASCAR, it appears he ‘ran out of talent.’ That’s true, but when your wreck the defending NASCAR champion who’s also leading the race, you’ve ‘ran into talent.’”

August 30, 2020
Byron scores first Cup career win at Daytona; 2020 Cup Playoff field is set

Dropping the hammer and refusing to lift out of the throttle at the right timing and in a last-stretch effort to keep his championship hopes alive, William Byron raced his way into the 2020 NASCAR Cup Playoffs after forcing his way into the lead with two laps remaining and holding off the field in overtime to score his first Cup career win in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway under the lights on August 29. The victory was Byron’s first in his 98th career start in NASCAR’s premier series as he became the 11th Cup competitor to clinch a spot into the Playoffs by winning a regular-season race.

The starting lineup was based on three statistical categories: current owner points standings, the results from a previous Cup race and the fastest lap from a previous Cup race. With that, Kevin Harvick, coming off his victory in the second of a Dover International Speedway doubleheader last weekend and who is the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season champion, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Martin Truex Jr. Austin Dillon dropped to the rear of the field due to failing pre-race technical inspection twice along with Clint Bowyer due to unapproved adjustments.

When the green flag waved and the race started, the field battled two by two for a full circuit until Truex was able to move in front of Harvick and lead the first lap. The following lap, Harvick gained a push from Brad Keselowski in Turn 2 and was able to come back around to lead the second lap by a nose over Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry.

Approaching the third lap, William Byron made a move on the outside lane with drafting help from teammate Alex Bowman and started to challenge Harvick for the lead through the tri-oval and in Turn 1 with sparks flying beneath Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.

On the fifth lap, Harvick was still leading, but the outside lane led by Byron gained a huge run entering Turns 1 and 2. Though the inside lane led by Harvick gained a run through Turns 3 and 4, Byron was able to lead a lap for himself on the sixth lap.

Through the early stages of the race and the opening 10 laps, the competitors running on the outside lane would gain an advantage through Turns 1 and 2, but the competitors on the inside lane would gain an advantage through Turns 3, 4 and the tri-oval, which kept the field dead even against one another while racing two to three wide approaching and past the start/finish line.

By Lap 10, Byron, racing on the outside lane, was back in the lead as he held a narrow advantage over teammate Bowman, rookie Cole Custer, Erik Jones and rookie Tyler Reddick all on the outside lane while Harvick was in sixth place and the first car running on the inside lane. In addition, J.J. Yeley was slowly limping his car back to pit road. Three laps later, Harvick dropped below the yellow line in Turn 2 and surrendered track position towards the front to tuck behind Ryan Newman’s No. 6 Guaranteed Rate Ford Mustang in 24th place to have debris removed from the grille of his No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang.

Back at the front on Lap 14, Byron and the No. 24 car were still leading ahead of teammate Bowman, Custer, Jones, Reddick, Kyle Busch and rookie John Hunter Nemechek all on the outside lane with Keselowski leading a pack of cars on the inside lane.

For the next six laps, Byron was able to remain ahead of a bevy of competitors in a single-file line through the competition caution flew on Lap 20. By then, Jones and Reddick were in fourth and fifth behind Custer while names like Daniel Suarez, Nemechek, rookie Christopher and Michael McDowell were in the top 10. Jimmie Johnson was in 11th ahead of Denny Hamlin, Keselowski, Truex and Ryan Blaney while Matt Kenseth, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano were in 16th, 18th, 19th and 20th. Matt DiBenedetto was in 21st ahead of Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman and Chris Buescher while teammates Aric Almirola and Harvick were in 26th and 28th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was in 30th behind teammate Ryan Preece while Clint Bowyer was in 33rd in between Brendan Gaughan and Austin Dillon.

Under the competition caution, nearly the entire field led by Byron pitted while names like Almirola, Truex, Harvick, Stenhouse and Ross Chastain, all of whom were racing towards the rear of the field, remained on track. Shortly after, the remaining cars that remained on track pitted prior to the restart.

Nearing the 25-lap mark, the race restarted under green with teammates Byron and Bowman on the front row. At the start, Byron moved in front of teammate Bowman on the inside lane to retain the lead. With Reddick running in third place behind the two leading Hendrick Motorsports competitors, Jones, who was scored in fourth place, was the first car to form a pack on the inside lane.

Not long after, Johnson moved up to fourth place while the inside lane led by Jones followed by teammate Kyle Busch and including Keselowski and Logano. After a handful attempts in trying to move in front of the Chevrolet brigade on the outside lane led by Byron, Jones emerged with the lead followed by his teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin on Lap 29.

A lap later and with the pack continuing to battle intensely within the draft, Jones was still leading teammate Kyle Busch and Bell followed by McDowell, Logano and Kenseth. By then, Byron was back in seventh place.

On Lap 34, Byron returned to the lead followed by teammate Bowman, Reddick and Logano while Jones and Kyle Busch fell back to fifth and seventh. Two laps later, Logano emerged with the lead as the field continued to battle dead even in a pack for the top spot.

By Lap 40, Logano was still leading over teammate Blaney and his No. 12 Body Armor Ford Mustang followed by Jones, Kyle Busch, Bell and Hamlin. In addition, Byron was in 10th behind DiBenedetto and ahead of Reddick and Johnson, who earlier made a move on the inside lane in Turn 3 but lost his momentum when no one opted to go with him. Way behind the pack and trailing by approximately nine seconds, Bowyer was in 34th ahead of teammates Almirola and Harvick.

With approximately five laps remaining in the first stage, a pack of cars on the inside lane led by Reddick and his No. 8 KC Motorgroup Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE started to charge towards the front on the inside lane as he was in fifth place while pursuing for more on the track.

At the start of the final lap of the first stage, Jones attempted to make a move on Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang for the lead, but Logano blocked his momentum and retained his advantage through Turns 1 and 2. By then, the competitors running towards the front started to battle intensely for many positions as possible with Reddick, Johnson and Byron starting to charge on the inside lane. In Turn 3, Reddick gained a run and tried to side-draft Logano for the lead. Logano, nonetheless, was able to have enough horsepower on the outside lane and drafting help from Jones through Turn 4 to win the first stage on Lap 50 and for his fifth stage victory of the season. Jones settled in second in front of Reddick, Blaney and Johnson while Bell, Byron, McDowell, Hamlin and Kyle Busch were scored in the top 10.

In terms of the battle for the final three spots to the Playoffs, Bowyer was able to clinch a spot for this year’s postseason, though he finished 33rd in the first stage. With Bowyer’s accomplishment, all four Stewart-Haas competitors have made the Playoffs for the second time in the last three seasons. In addition, with Bowyer securing a Playoff spot, that left two spots vacant. Thus far, DiBenedetto was inside the top-16 cutline by three points and Byron was ahead by two with teammate Johnson trailing by two. The remaining competitors led by Jones and Reddick were placed in a “must-win” situation to make the Playoffs.

Under the stage break, the majority of the field led by Logano pitted while some led by Keselowski remained on track. Prior to the start of the second stage, however, Keselowski pitted along with Harvick, Logano, Almirola, Newman, Hamlin, Chastain, DiBenedetto, Buescher and Custer to top off their respective cars with fuel. Following the pit stops, however, Hamlin was penalized and sent to the rear of the field due to not entering pit road in a single-file line.

The second stage started on Lap 55 with Bell and Jones at the front of the pack. At the start, Jones gained a push from Johnson on the outside lane to move into the lead. With Jones leading and in a “must-win” situation to make the Playoffs, Johnson settled in second place followed by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch and Kenseth. Bowman and his No. 88 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE were in fifth ahead of teammate Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon while Bell and Kyle Busch were back in eighth and ninth just ahead of Wallace.

By Lap 60, Jones and his No. 20 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry were still leading over Johnson and his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Kurt Busch and Kenseth were still in third and fourth followed by Bowman, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Bell, Kyle Busch and Wallace (all of whom were part of a bevy of competitors running in a single-file lane on the outside lane). In addition, names like Ricky Stenhouse Jr., rookie Brennan Poole, Nemechek and DiBenedetto were running in the top 15.

A few laps later, Wallace dropped out of the lead pack due to power issues on his No. 43 World Wide Technology Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, an issue he was able to diagnose and fix while racing at the back of the pack. Shortly after, on Lap 65, a number of Chevrolet competitors including Byron, Johnson, Elliott, Bowman, Reddick, Austin Dillon, Kenseth and Kurt Busch pitted for fuel under green as part of a strategic call to complete the remainder of the second stage on fuel. Another lap later, the next wave of competitors including Jones, Bell, Poole and rookie Quin Houff pitted for fuel.

Back on the track, Kyle Busch and his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry assumed the lead followed by Stenhouse, Nemechek, DiBenedetto and Logano. Then, on Lap 72, Suarez, who has finished no higher than 18th place all season long, assumed the lead followed by Ty Dillon, Corey LaJoie, Wallace, Hamlin and Kyle Busch as a bevy of cars running in a single-file lane started to approach the lead group.

Eight laps later and at the halfway mark on Lap 80, Suarez and his No. 96 CommScope Toyota Camry from Gaunt Brothers Racing were still leading over Ty Dillon, Wallace and Kyle Busch. With Hamlin in fifth, names like Stenhouse, Nemechek, DiBenedetto and LaJoie were running in the top 10. Logano was in 10th ahead of teammate Blaney, Newman was in 13th ahead of McDowell, Harvick was in 18th ahead of teammates Bowyer and Almirola, Keselowski was in 21st, Johnson was in 24th ahead of Kurt Busch and Elliott, Jones was in 28th and Byron was in 31st ahead of Reddick and Bell.

With 12 laps remaining in the second stage, names like Ty Dillon, Wallace, LaJoie and Gaughan pitted for fuel while Suarez continued to lead over ex-teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin. Three laps later and with the laps in the second stage winding down, Logano gained a huge run on the outside lane followed by teammate Blaney, Truex and a bevy of cars through Turns 2 and 3 to reassume the lead over Suarez.

With five laps remaining in the second stage, the Chevrolet pack led by Johnson caught back up to the lead pack as Johnson started to make his move towards the front. Approaching two laps remaining, Kyle Busch made a green flag pit stop for fuel.

At the front, Logano was still ahead followed by teammate Blaney with Truex leading the outside lane and pushing for more. At the start of the final lap of the second stage, Johnson, who was in fourth, attempted to make a move beneath Bowyer for more, but Bowyer blocked and was nearly turned in the process entering Turn 1.

Despite the intensity that was occurring behind him, Logano was able to hold off the field to win the second stage on Lap 100 and for his sixth stage victory of the season. Truex settled in second place followed by Bowyer, Kurt Busch and Johnson while Keselowski, DiBenedetto, Stenhouse, Blaney and Bell settled in the top 10.

In terms of the Playoff picture following the second stage, DiBenedetto was still ahead of the top-16 cutline by five points and Johnson ahead by four with Byron now trailing by four points as a result of Byron failing to gain stage points in the second stage while Johnson and DiBenedetto did.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted for fuel and Logano retained the lead following a stellar four-tire pit stop. Prior to the restart, Harvick and Hamlin were among a number of competitors who made a pit stop for final adjustments and to top off their respective cars with fuel.

With 55 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green with Logano and Truex leading the field. In Turn 1, Truex received a push from Johnson and was just able to slide in front of Logano to move into the lead. Bowyer was in third place followed by the Busch brothers and Johnson. Behind, DiBenedetto was battling Kenseth for seventh place.

Five laps later and with 50 laps remaining, Truex was still the leader ahead of Logano and a pack of cars running two to three wide. By then, the top-24 competitors were separated by less than a second.

Two laps later, Logano and Bowyer gained a drafting run on the outside of Truex through Turns 2 and 3 as Logano moved back to the lead. Truex, however, was able to reassume the advantage the following lap followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Johnson, Elliott and Kurt Busch while Logano dropped back to sixth.

With 41 laps remaining and the battle for the top spot within the lead pack continuing to intensify and with two- to three-wide racing ongoing, Kyle Busch moved into the lead while Johnson fell out of the draft and was clinging within the top-15 running order. Another lap later, Johnson was scored in 13th while Byron and DiBenedetto were scored in fifth and 13th while Elliott and Kurt Busch were running in second and third behind Kyle Busch. By then, Johnson was scored outside of the cutline in the standings.

Another lap later, things got tight for the lead pack running three wide as the field had to avoid Chastain, who was being lapped and was running as close to the outside wall in Turn 3. In addition, entering Turn 4, Blaney wiggled following contact with Jones, but he managed to straighten his car without spinning it in the middle of the pack.

With 35 laps remaining, the Chevrolet competitors led by Elliott and including Kurt Busch, Byron, Stenhouse, Bowman, Wallace, Austin Dillon, Reddick, Johnson and Kenseth made a pit stop under green for fuel. Another lap later, the Toyota competitors led by Kyle Busch and including Hamlin, Jones, Truex, Bell and Suarez pitted. Poole and Chastain also pitted with the Toyota competitors.

With 30 laps remaining, 13 Ford competitors led by Logano and followed by DiBenedetto, McDowell, Buescher and Nemechek were at the front of the pack. Shortly after, the Ford competitors led by Logano and including Buescher, Nemechek, Newman, Keselowski, Bowyer, McDowell, Blaney, Almirola, Harvick, LaJoie and Custer pitted for fuel.

Back on track, Kyle Busch assumed the lead followed by teammate Hamlin, Byron, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon and a number of competitors running in a single-file line with less than 30 laps remaining. With the laps continuing to wind down, the competition heating up towards the front and with 20 laps remaining, Kyle Busch was still leading ahead of teammate Hamlin, Byron, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon and Logano. Behind, Johnson was in 20th and scored outside of the top-16 cutline behind Byron and DiBenedetto, who was in 17th. In addition, Stenhouse, who made a handful of attempts to grab the lead on the inside lane, was back in 12th.

With 18 laps remaining, the caution flew when James Davison spun in Turn 3. Under caution, some like Byron, Elliott, Johnson, Bowman, Blaney, Almirola, Harvick, Ty Dillon, Buescher, Newman and Suarez pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on track.

The racing under green resumed with 13 laps remaining and with teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Kyle Busch moved in front of Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry to retain the lead. Three laps later, with the competition at the front heating up and with 10 laps remaining, Kyle Busch was still leading ahead of Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Bell, McDowell, Buescher and a multitude of cars.

A lap later, Kurt Busch and his No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE gained a run underneath brother Kyle to lead a lap, but Kyle reassumed the lead past the tri-oval. Behind, Reddick started to gain a huge run on the outside lane. In Turns 2 and 3, Reddick made a move beneath Kyle Busch for the lead.

In Turn 3, Reddick moved up the track and tried to squeeze and slide in front of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota. While trying to slide in front of Busch’s car, however, they touched and made contact with the outside wall. In addition, a chain reaction accident erupted that collected Jones, Kurt Busch, Truex, Austin Dillon, Stenhouse, Ryan Preece, McDowell and Newman. In the midst of the wreck, DiBenedetto along with teammates Johnson and Byron made it through with no damage to their respective cars. Following the carnage, Hamlin emerged with the lead over Reddick and the race was red-flagged for 10 minutes.

When the red flag was lifted and the race resumed under green with five laps remaining, Hamlin and Reddick battled for the lead dead even through Turn 1 while Reddick gained a push from Buescher and his No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang to move into the lead in Turn 2. The following lap, Logano drafted Hamlin to the lead and blocked a run from Bowyer while Reddick fell back to fourth.

In Turn 1, the following lap, Wallace started to form a third line on the outside lane and started to draft Logano to the front. With two laps remaining, Logano crossed over Hamlin at the tri-oval to move back into the lead while Wallace started to mount a challenge on the outside lane.

Entering Turn 1, however, Hamlin made contact with Logano and he bumped into Wallace, though all three kept their respective cars pointing straight. In addition, Byron stuck his nose in between Wallace, Logano and Hamlin in a four-wide battle for the lead as more contact was made amongst the leaders. With sparks flying underneath his car, Logano was turned off the front nose of DiBenedetto and made hard contact against the outside wall before being hit by Custer. In addition, another multi-car accident erupted that collected Reddick, Kenseth, Bell, Bowman, Suarez and Nemechek. Also involved was Johnson, who was hit by Kenseth across the outside wall, spun and sustained heavy damage to his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet. Following the accident, where Byron, Wallace and DiBenedetto managed to escape the carnage, the race was red-flagged for more than five minutes.

When the second red flag period was lifted and the race restarted under green in overtime, Hamlin and Byron were on the front row ahead of Bowyer and DiBenedetto. Way behind the leaders, Johnson continued on the lead lap following repairs to his car.

At the front, Byron received a push from Bowyer on the inside lane to take the lead ahead of Hamlin. In Turn 2, however, Bell and his No. 95 Rheem Toyota Camry gained a run to Byron’s rear bumper. When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Byron was still ahead. Behind, Truex moved up to second after passing Bell and started to challenge Byron for the lead on the outside lane. In Turn 1, Bowyer and his No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Mustang slipped following contact with Hamlin and he made contact with the outside wall. Behind him, Harvick, who had made contact with Buescher a lap earlier in Turn 2, also got into the wall amid a shower of sparks after cutting a tire.

At the front and with no caution flying, Truex and Byron continued to battle dead even for the lead and the win. Right behind them through Turn 2, LaJoie spun and made contact with the wall after being bumped by Bell while Almirola and Ty Dillon also wrecked. With still no caution flying and with Bell making contact with the wall, Byron fought back on the inside lane entering Turn 3 and received a push from teammate Elliott and his No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to retain the lead while Truex lost his momentum after being placed in a three-wide battle with Hamlin and Brendan Gaughan.

Entering Turn 4 and with the checkered flag flying, Byron was able to hold off Elliott and a small pack of cars to streak across the finish line in first place and grab a win and a spot in the Playoffs.

With the victory, Byron recorded the 260th NASCAR Cup career win for Hendrick Motorsports and the first win for the No. 24 car since November 2015 at Martinsville Speedway, which was last made by NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon. In addition, Byron and Gordon are the only competitors to record a Cup win while driving the No. 24 car. The Charlotte native also became the 195th competitor to win a Cup race, the second first-time winner of this season and the 34th competitor to record a win across NASCAR’s three major division series (Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series). In addition, crew chief Chad Knaus recorded his first Cup win since June 2017 at Dover International Speedway and he extended his Playoff appearance as a title contender to 17 consecutive seasons.

Ironically, this marked the third consecutive season where the second Cup race at Daytona’s oval-shaped circuit produced a first-time winner (Erik Jones in 2018 and Justin Haley in 2019).

“This is incredible, man,” Byron said on NBC at the tri-oval and with fans present at the facility. “I’m just extremely blessed. It’s been a hard couple of year in the Cup Series and trying to get my first win, try to gel with this team and these guys have done an awesome job today and got us in the Playoffs. It’s amazing, man. [Daytona is] Probably the hardest track to points race. We didn’t have a great Stage 2, kind of got back in the pack, got shuffled when everyone went single file. [I] Thought my hopes were up there. We were racing around [DiBenedetto] and [Johnson] in the final stage. I was like, ‘Man, I got to really make something happen.’ Luckily, I was able to push [Wallace], [Logano] and him made some contact and opened up a hole for me. I wasn’t gonna lift, so it’s awesome. Thanks to Liberty University, Chevrolet. Thanks to God. It’s amazing.”

Elliott finished in second place nearly two weeks after he won on Daytona’s road course layout. Teammates Hamlin and Truex finished third and fourth while Wallace made a late rally to finish in fifth place for his third top-five career finish in the Cup Series.

Blaney finished in sixth place while Bowman, Gaughan, Buescher and Keselowski rounded out the top 10.

DiBenedetto finished 12th and secured one of two final spots to the Playoffs while Johnson finished 17th and failed to make the postseason in his final full-time season of racing.

“First and foremost, congratulations to my teammate getting his first Cup win like that,” Johnson said. “This setting and the drama to go with it – that’s a big win for Chad Knaus and William Byron. I’m really happy for those guys. I really felt like we had a way to transfer, to win, or point our way in the way it went in the first two stages. Things just got ugly down in turn one. Unfortunate, but that’s plate racing. The last couple of months, we’ve been really getting our act together and running well. Definitely disappointed to not be in the Playoffs – that was the number one goal to start the year. But, when I look back at the disqualification at Charlotte and then missing the Brickyard 400 due to my COVID-19 positive test and only miss it by six points – we did all that we could this year. I’m so thankful for Hendrick Motorsports and the career that I’ve had there, the relationship with Ally and their continued support for this race team. [Crew chief] Cliff Daniels and these guys on my team – they pour their guts out for me. There’s 10 races left, 10 trophies to go chase and we’ll have to focus our efforts there.”

“We made it!” DiBenedetto exclaimed. “I don’t care how we did it. I wasn’t, obviously, super thrilled with the finish. We couldn’t get going there on the restart. I don’t care. My goal was to come in here and make it. We had some really good competitors. Obviously, Jimmie [Johnson] and Willy B. [William Byron]. Congrats to him on his first win. Man, I wanted this so bad for this team, for Menards, Dutch Boy, Motorcraft, Quicklane and the Wood Brothers! Man, driving for the Wood Brothers. It’s something special. We’ll celebrate tomorrow and have a good day. It’s gonna be time to get to work, but I’m so glad we made the Playoffs. This team deserves this. I’m mentally tired after that one.”

Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, William Byron, Austin Dillon, Cole Custer, Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Matt DiBenedetto will make up the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field.

Drivers that include Jimmie Johnson, Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, Ryan Newman, John Hunter Nemechek, Ty Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece, Daniel Suarez, Brennan Poole and Quin Houff missed the Playoffs and will not contend for this year’s championship battle.

There were 35 lead changes for 16 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 21 laps.

Results.

1. William Byron, 24 laps led

2. Chase Elliott

3. Denny Hamlin, nine laps led

4. Martin Truex Jr., 14 laps led

5. Bubba Wallace

6. Ryan Blaney, one lap led

7. Alex Bowman, one lap led

8. Brendan Gaughan

9. Chris Buescher

10. Brad Keselowski, one lap led

11. John Hunter Nemechek

12. Matt DiBenedetto

13. Christopher Bell, two laps led

14. Michael McDowell, two laps led

15. Brennan Poole

16. Ross Chastain

17. Jimmie Johnson

18. Aric Almirola, one lap led

19. Clint Bowyer

20. Kevin Harvick, six laps led

21. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

22. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident

23. Quin Houff, two laps down

24. Timmy Hill, three laps down

25. Austin Dillon, three laps down

26. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident, 19 laps led

27. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 36 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

28. Matt Kenseth – OUT, Accident

29. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident, one lap led

30. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident

31. Joey Gase, six laps down

32. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

33. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident, 31 laps led

34. Kurt Busch – OUT, Accident, one lap led

35. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident, 15 laps led

36. Ryan Newman – OUT, Accident

37. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

38. Josh Bilicki, 13 laps down

39. James Davison – OUT, Accident

40. J.J. Yeley – OUT, Engine

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will commence on September 6 at Darlington Raceway for the Cook Out Southern 500. The race will air at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

August 30, 2020
Haley notches a thrilling win at Daytona

At the start of the final lap of the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway, all three Kaulig Racing competitors led by A.J. Allmendinger and followed by Ross Chastain and Justin Haley were running at the front with an opportunity to win. When the checkered flag flew, two Kaulig competitors made contact and wrecked while the third competitor, Haley, escaped the carnage on the final lap to win at Daytona.

The victory was Haley’s second of his Xfinity Series career, second of this season after winning his first Xfinity career race at Talladega Superspeedway in June and the fifth NASCAR win overall for Kaulig Racing.

The starting lineup was based on three statistical categories: current owner points standings, the results from a previous Xfinity race and the fastest lap from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Chase Briscoe, coming off his victory at Dover International Speedway in part of a doubleheader weekend, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Ross Chastain.

Rookie Riley Herbst was the only competitor to drop to the rear of the field due to an improperly mounted ballast discovered from his No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota Supra during the pre-race technical inspection, resulting in his car chief being ejected. In addition, he was assessed a pass-through penalty at the start of the race. Ryan Sieg, Josh Williams and Tim Viens retained their starting spots, but they all lost a pit stall selection for next weekend’s series race at Darlington Raceway due to multiple pre-race technical failures.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Briscoe received a push from Austin Cindric at the start to jump to an early lead. The top-eight competitors led by Briscoe ran in a single-file lane following by a bevy of competitors racing in double lanes for one lap around the superspeedway venue as Briscoe led the first lap.

The following lap, with Briscoe still leading, Cindric settled in second followed by Kaulig Racing’s Ross Chastain and Justin Haley while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones and Harrison Burton were running inside the top six. Anthony Alfredo was in seventh place ahead of Brandon Brown, Alex Labbe and Brett Moffitt while JR Motorsports’ four-car lineup led by Noah Gragson and including Justin Allgaier, Daniel Hemric and Michael Annett were running inside the top 16.

By the fifth lap, Briscoe was still leading Cindric, Chastain and a bevy of cars racing in a single-file lane followed by a scattered pack racing in two lanes. Trailing the lead pack by more than 34 seconds was Herbst following his opening lap penalty.

Shortly after, the first caution of the race flew when rookie Joe Graf Jr. spun across the tri-oval/frontstretch, made contact with the outside wall and damaged his car following contact with Jeffrey Earnhardt as Caesar Bacarella also sustained damage. Following his incident, Graf was limping his No. 08 Bucked Up Chevrolet Camaro back to pit road when the right-rear tire on his car shredded and left a multitude of debris scattered across Turn 2. The shredded right-rear tire and the damage to the right side of Graf’s car also left his car beyond repairable to continue.

Following the incident, NASCAR declared the caution involving Graf, Earnhardt and Bacarella as the competition caution originally planned on the 10th lap. Under caution, few like Moffitt, Earnhardt, A.J. Allmendinger, Chad Finchum, Ryan Sieg and Herbst pitted while the rest led by Briscoe remained on track.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 11, Briscoe jumped ahead on the outside lane and moved in front of Cindric’s No. 22 Odyssey Battery Ford Mustang on the inside lane to retain the lead through Turn 1. Entering Turn 2, however, Haley made a charge on the outside lane and started to battle with Cindric for the runner-up spot.

A lap later, just as Haley started to mount a challenge on Briscoe and Cindric for the lead, a rough start became worse for Bacarella as he wrecked on the backstretch and sustained heavy damage to the front nose of his No. 90 Alpha Prime/Maxim Chevrolet, thus brining out the second caution of the race. In addition, John Jackson was slowly limping back to pit road.

Under caution, some like teammates Gragson, Hemric, Allgaier and Annett along with Moffitt, Allmendinger and Sieg pitted while the rest led by Briscoe remained on the track.

The race restarted under green on Lap 17, and Briscoe jumped ahead and moved in front of Cindric with the lead again. In Turn 1, Burton mounted a challenge on the outside lane as he and Briscoe battled dead even for the lead. When the field returned to the tri-oval, Briscoe and his No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang were ahead by a nose over Burton and his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra with the entire pack running close behind the leaders.

Two laps later, on Lap 20, Briscoe, who has led every lap thus far, was still ahead with the lead and in front of Cindric, Haley, Chastain, Alfredo and Brown. Not long after, Gragson, fresh off a one-year contract extension with JR Motorsports, started to move into the top five on the outside lane with his three teammates (Allgaier, Hemric and Annett) tucked behind.

On Lap 23, Haley emerged with the lead followed by teammate Chastain and Alfredo while Briscoe fell back to fourth place alongside Brown.

While the battling for the lead continued to intensify, the caution returned a lap later for an accident in Turn 1 involving Earnhardt, teammate B.J. McLeod and Kody Vanderwal, who came to rest below the Turn 1 infield grass with the hood raised above his No. 52 The Swag Spot Chevrolet.

Under caution, some like Alfredo, Labbe, rookie Jesse Little, Myatt Snider, Josh Williams, Timmy Hill, Sieg and Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by teammates Haley and Chastain remained on track.

For the conclusion of the first stage, the field restarted under green for a one-lap shootout. At the start, Haley and his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro jumped ahead and moved in front of teammate Chastain on the inside lane while retaining the lead. In addition, he pulled away in Turn 1 before Cindric and Chastain came charging along with the pack through Turns 2 and 3. Despite the run, Haley was able to fend off the field to win the first stage on Lap 30 and for his third stage victory of the season. Chastain settled in second place followed by Cindric, Brown and Briscoe while Herbst, Gragson, Allgaier, Jones and Hemric were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the majority of the leaders pitted and Chastain emerged with the lead ahead of Briscoe and Haley. Following the pit stops, however, a number of competitors led by Hill, Labbe, Allmendinger, Williams, Moffitt, Sieg and Snider remained on track to occupy the top-seven positions.

The second stage started on Lap 34 with Hill leading as Allmendinger quickly made his way to second place. Back in seventh place in Turn 2 while also gaining a draft back to the front was Chastain with teammate Haley and Cindric also making their move back to the front. With the competitors running close to one another in a pack, Allmendinger made his way into the lead followed by teammates Chastain and Haley on Lap 36.

On Lap 40, with Allmendinger continuing to lead teammates Chastain and Haley followed by Cindric, the caution flew when contact from Briscoe and Jones, who was turning across the nose of Briscoe’s No. 98 Ford in Turn 3, resulted in Jones being spinning sideways as a multi-car erupted in Turn 4. The accident involved all four competitors from JR Motorsports (Gragson, Hemric, Allgaier and Annett) along with Moffitt, Labbe, Brown, Alfredo, Snider, Colby Howard and Tommy Joe Martins.

When the race restarted on Lap 45, Allmendinger retained the lead on the inside lane followed by Cindric and Chastain. Shortly after, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck in Turn 3 when Allgaier, who was trying to continue after being involved in the first multi-car wreck, spun after cutting a tire and triggered another multi-car wreck that involved Labbe, Joey Gase, Snider, Brown and Jeremy Clements. Following the wreck, the race was red-flagged for more than 11 minutes while the safety workers cleaned up the carnage area in Turn 3.

When the race resumed under cautious pace and under green near the 50th lap, Allmendinger and Cindric battled for the lead through Turns 1 and 2. By then, Brown retired in the garage. Allmendinger, nonetheless, was able to retain the lead with his teammates Chastain and Haley tucked right behind. Meanwhile, Cindric dropped out of the top five after receiving no drafting help on the outside lane.

At the halfway mark, Lap 50, Allmendinger and his No. 16 Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet Camaro were still leading teammates Chastain and Haley followed by Herbst and Burton. A few laps later, the caution returned due to debris on the backstretch. Under caution, some like Chastain, Allmendinger, Haley and Hemric pitted while others led by teammates Herbst and Burton remained on track.

With five laps remaining in the second stage, Herbst moved in front of teammate Burton to emerge with the lead. Behind, Cindric, Allmendinger and Chastain wasted no time carving their way back to the front. The following lap, Gray Gaulding and his No. 07 Walk-Ons.com Chevrolet Camaro owned by Bobby Dotter started to challenge Herbst for the lead with Allmendinger behind.

With three laps remaining in the stage, Gaulding emerged with the lead while Allmendinger started to challenge Herbst for second place on the outside lane. On the final lap of the stage, with his Kaulig Racing teammates tucked behind him, Allmendinger was able to pass Gaulding on the backstretch and hold on to win the stage for his second stage victory of the season and the fourth of his career. Teammate Chastain muscled his way to second place followed by teammate Haley, Gaulding and Annett. Herbst, Burton, Briscoe, Cindric and Sieg settled in the top 10. By then, 25 competitors were running on the lead lap. In addition, names like Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Brett Moffitt and Brandon Brown were out of the race.

Under the stage break, some like teammates Allmendinger, Chastain, Haley and Sieg remained on track while the rest led by Gaulding, Cindric and Briscoe pitted.

With less than 40 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green and Allmendinger moved in front of teammates Chastain and Haley to retain the lead. While Allmendinger and Chastain managed to clear the field, Haley was locked in a battle for third place with Sieg. Not long after, Sieg was black-flagged due to having a rear bumper cover loose on his No. 39 CMRroofing.com Chevrolet.

Remaining on track for three laps, Sieg made the turn to pit road to have the bumper cover addressed. At the same time, Hemric was also black-flagged to have a rear bumper replaced and addressed on his No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet. Following his stop, however, Hemric was assessed a drive-through penalty on pit road for having too many crew members over the wall during his service.

With 30 laps remaining and with the laps continuing to wind down, Allmendinger and his No. 16 Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet Camaro continued to lead a 10-car breakaway running in a single-file lane. Teammates Chastain and Haley were in second and third followed by Briscoe, Josh Williams and Cindric. Annett, the lone JR Motorsports competitors in the top 10, was in seventh followed by Herbst, Burton and Gaulding.

Five laps later, Allmendinger was still ahead of a 10-car breakaway followed by teammates Chastain and Haley while rookie Jesse Little, running in 11th place and leading the next wave of cars, was trailing by nine seconds. Another five laps later, with 20 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead teammates Chastain and Haley, though all three Kaulig Racing Chevrolets were in question about having enough fuel to complete the race to its distance compared to their challengers behind them.

Under 15 laps remaining, the top-10 competitors led by Allmendinger were separated by nearly four seconds while the 11th-place car led by Little was trailing by 20 seconds. Five laps later and with 10 laps remaining, the following competitors of Cindric, Briscoe, Annett and Herbst overtook Haley for position while Allmendinger and Chastain continued to lead. By then, 16 competitors were running on the lead lap and the top-nine competitors were ahead of 10th-place Williams by nearly 10 seconds.

With five laps remaining and the top-nine competitors at the front still settling in a single-file line, nose to nose and bumper to bumper, Allmendinger was leading teammate Chastain while Cindric and Briscoe were behind.

With two laps remaining, entering Turn 1, Chastain and Briscoe attempted to pull beneath Allmendinger for the lead, but Allmendinger kept his car ahead of the pack after blocking the run. Chastain and his No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro remained in second while Briscoe fell back to seventh.

When the final lap of the race started, Allmendinger was still leading and blocking Chastain, Cindric and Haley. Entering Turn 3, Chastain gained a run through Turn 2 and he attempted to make a move beneath Allmendinger for the lead and the win. Chastain ended up giving his teammate a bump in the turn that turned Allmendinger sideways as he spun with a multi-car wreck erupting that collected Chastain, Annett and Cindric.

In the midst of the wreck, Haley dodged the carnage involving his teammates and came out on top as he was able to cruise across the finish line to grab a thrilling victory at Daytona.

The victory was Haley’s second at Daytona after he won his first NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona last July in a rain-shortened race while driving for Spire Motorsports. Including his three NASCAR Truck Series career victories in 2018, Haley has won six races across NASCAR’s three major division series. In addition, Haley’s last three victories across NASCAR have occurred on superspeedway venues.

“An amazing effort by Kaulig Racing,” Haley said on the frontstretch on NBCSN. “Obviously, I hate that A.J. and Ross got together there. As you guys at home can see, [team owner] Matt Kaulig, [team president] Chris Rice, we built a team and a family. We all work as one. Extremely proud of this LeafFilter Gutter Protection crew. [I] Can’t believe it. Two superspeedway wins in a row. Gotta say something for [spotter] Kevin Hamlin on the booth, too. Just a little lucky there. We got shoved out and I was a little frustrated, but that’s why you never give up. These things are so unpredictable. An incredible effort today. We swept everything [stages and race win]. Extremely proud of everyone.”

Haley’s victory at Daytona was also redemption from the Xfinity Series race at Daytona in July 2018, where Haley, driving for GMS Racing, made a bold three-wide pass for the win on Kyle Larson and Elliott Sadler entering the tri-oval for the win. While he was able to clear both competitors and streak across the finish line in first place, he completed his pass with his left-side tires crossing beneath the double yellow line zone. As a result, Haley was disqualified and demoted back to the last car on the lead lap while Larson was awarded the win.

“[I] Parked it right here on the double yellow line [area] where I went down too low about two years ago in a Xfinity race,” Haley added. “A little humor there.”

Behind Haley, Gray Gaulding tied his career-best result of second place in his 43rd series start followed by Briscoe, Herbst and Burton. Chastain, Annett and Cindric limped across the line in sixth, seventh and eighth while Williams and Little finished in the top 10. Allmendinger, who was unable to limp his car back to the finish line, ended his race in 15th place.

Following the race, Allmendinger made the mandatory post-race trip to the infield care center. Both Kaulig Racing teammates, at the end, expressed no ill will towards one another with Chastain defending his move and attempt to win to lock himself into the Xfinity Playoffs.

“Hopefully, we get some good ratings on that one,” Chastain said on pit road on NBCSN. “Terrible to run into your teammate like that. It must be my fault, though. It’s unfortunate, we did everything right all night. Man, we just got to win. This No. 10 car, Nutrien Ag Solutions. [I] Did everything right to be the best teammate I could. I haven’t always been. Last lap, I don’t back down and I’m gonna go for it. If I wasn’t there, if I watch the replay, but he got turned, so it wasn’t completely into the bumper. I hate it, man! It’s not gonna help me moving forward. It doesn’t matter how many races each of us run. We’re supposed to go for the win. Team rules the last 10 laps, and we all stayed committed. I hated that Justin got shoved out there with 10 or five [laps] to go. Coming to the checkered, what am I supposed to do? Just finish second? Not this guy.”

“It’s the way it is,” Allmendinger added in the infield care center on NBCSN. “We’re proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing for building really fast Chevys. [I] Wanted to do everything I could to get that Ellsworth Advisors Chevy in Victory Lane. I try to take care of my teammates, but it is what it is. It’s for the win. Ross is going for the championship and going for a win there. I saw him get low and I thought he’d, maybe, take care of me a little bit, considering I was there. He’s going for the win. It is what it is. It’s just disappointing. We were gonna have another 1-2-3 Kaulig finish at Daytona. It’s part of life, it’s racing. More importantly, congrats to my little bro, Justin Haley, and at least getting a Kaulig Racing Chevy in Victory Lane. That’s the most important thing. We’re bringing more trophies home for Matt Kaulig and that’s all that matters. He’s going for the win. I get it.”

There were nine lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 28 laps.

With his top-10 result, Cindric continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 58 points over Briscoe.

Results.

1. Justin Haley, nine laps led, Stage 1 winner

2. Gray Gaulding, two laps led

3. Chase Briscoe, 22 laps led

4. Riley Herbst, four laps led

5. Harrison Burton

6. Ross Chastain, one lap led

7. Michael Annett

8. Austin Cindric

9. Josh Williams

10. Jesse Little

11. Vinnie Miller

12. Colby Howard

13. Brandon Jones

14. Tommy Joe Martins

15. A.J. Allmendinger – OUT, Accident, 58 laps led, Stage 2 winner

16. Matt Mills, one lap down

17. Mike Harmon, one lap down

18. Tim Viens, one lap down

19. Myatt Snider, one lap down

20. Jeremy Clements, two laps down

21. Anthony Alfredo, two laps down

22. Timmy Hill, three laps down, four laps led

23. Ryan Sieg, four laps down

24. Daniel Hemric, eight laps down

25. Chad Finchum – OUT, Engine

26. Brandon Brown – OUT, Dvp

27. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Accident

28. Joey Gase – OUT, Dvp

29. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

30. Alex Labbe – OUT, Accident

31. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

32. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Accident

33. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

34. Kody Vanderwal – OUT, Accident

35. John Jackson – OUT, Handling

36. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident

37. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Accident.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series will run its next scheduled race at Darlington Raceway on September 5 at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

August 29, 2020