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Harvick benefits in overtime to defend Indianapolis title

For a third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race, the battle for the win came down to a late duel between Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, On this occasion, Harvick benefited from a late incident involving Hamlin and an overtime restart while alongside Matt Kenseth to win the 2020 Big Machine Vodka 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The victory was Harvick’s fourth of the season, the third at Indianapolis and the 53rd of his NASCAR Cup career.

The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Joey Logano drew the pole position and was joined on the front row with Kurt Busch. Timmy Hill started at the rear of the field due to failing pre-race inspection twice along with Justin Allgaier, who filled in as an interim driver for seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson.

Delayed by an hour due to lightning reports near the track, the race was able to proceed as the sun came out and cleared the clouds. When the green flag waved, Logano and Kurt Busch were locked in a side-by-side battle through Turns 1 and 2 before Logano cleared Busch for the lead entering Turn 2 and was able to lead the first lap. Following the first lap, the majority of the field settled in racing single file. On the fourth lap, while battling for a top-10 spot, Kyle Busch made contact with Ryan Blaney through the Turn 4 straightaway, but both competitors kept their car running straight with Blaney moving up. As the run progressed, Martin Truex Jr. was losing positions after reporting an issue to the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) to his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry.

On Lap 13, Kevin Harvick made the left-hand turn to pit road for four fresh tires with no fuel. At the time Harvick was having his service complete, the competition caution flew with Logano ahead of Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch. By then, Truex had fallen back to 28th while Allgaier was in 29th. Alex Bowman was in fourth followed by teammate Chase Elliott, Blaney and Brad Keselowski while Kyle Busch was in 10th ahead of William Byron and Bubba Wallace. Matt Kenseth was scored in 14th, Erik Jones was in 16th and Ryan Newman was in 21st. John Hunter Nemechek was the highest-running Cup rookie in 15th while rookies Cole Custer, Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell were in 20th, 22nd and 23rd.

Under the competition caution, nearly the entire field peeled on to pit road for the first round of service. Towards the back, however, the field jumbled up that started when Michael McDowell pulled into his pit stall. McDowell’s turn into his stall jumbled the competitors behind and ignited a chain reaction wreck that collected Ryan Preece, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bell, Reddick, Chris Buescher, Allgaier, rookie Brennan Poole, Corey LaJoie and Truex. During the carnage on pit road, Allgaier and Poole pinched Blaney’s right-rear tire changer, Zach Price, between the two cars and Blaney’s No. 12 Menards/Team Penske Ford as a tire from Blaney’s pit box also flew and landed on McDowell’s No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford. Price survived, but was transported to the Methodist Hospital. The red flag was displayed for more than 11 minutes to have the pit road entrance cleared of the wreckage.

Once the red flag lifted and the field cycled through under caution, Harvick emerged with the leader after electing to remain on the track following the competition caution. Logano, the first car to exit pit road first, was second followed by Bowman, Aric Almirola, Keselowski and DiBenedetto. Kurt Busch, who entered pit road in third, had fallen back to 28th after struggling in his pit stall, where the jack dropped and he ran over the air hose while trying to exit his pit stall. Following the wreck, those that were done for the day were LaJoie and Preece. Truex, who was initially held for two laps for too many crew members over the pit wall under the damaged vehicle policy, also retired.

When the race restarted on Lap 20, Harvick and Logano battled dead even for three turns before Harvick persevered on the outside lane in Turn 3 to lead the following lap. Logano settled in second followed by Almirola. During the restart, Bowman, who restarted third, was placed in a three-wide battle between Almirola and Keselowski entering Turn 1 and had fallen back to eighth. Behind the leaders, Allgaier, who returned on the track with front nose damage and multiple laps down, returned to pit road after losing a right-front tire. Ultimately Allgaier took the No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the garage as his return to the Cup Series while subbing for Johnson came to an early end. In addition, Stenhouse and Poole, both of whom attempted to continue following the pit road incident, also retired after failing to reach the minimum speed requirement.

Ten laps later, Harvick was still leading ahead of Logano, Almirola, Keselowski and Hamlin, who had just passed Elliott for position. DiBenedetto was in seventh followed by Byron, Bowman and Kyle Busch. On Lap 32, Almirola made an unscheduled pit stop due to a vibration concern to his No. 10 Smithfield/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang, an issue that cost Almirola a lap and back outside the top 30. During this time, Harvick was still leading and stabilizing a healthy lead over Logano, Hamlin, Keselowski and Elliott.

On Lap 39, Almirola was able to work his way around race leader and teammate Harvick to unlap himself. A lap later, the caution returned when Newman made contact with the Turn 3 outside wall after blowing a right-front tire in Turn 3. Under caution, the majority of the field pitted and Ty Dillon emerged with the lead after taking two tires. Harvick, the first car with four fresh tires, exited in second followed by Elliott, McDowell, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Keselowski, Bowman, DiBenedetto and Logano. At the front, Byron remained on track to inherit the lead followed by Jones, Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain.

With four laps remaining in the first stage, Byron maintained the lead on the outside lane while Jones settled in second. The following lap, Harvick was back in the top five in fifth while DiBenedetto went three wide on Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Hamlin in the Turn 4 straightaway for position. With two laps remaining, Elliott went three wide with Harvick and Ty Dillon while drafting Austin Dillon through the Turn 4 straightaway to move up to fourth. With more battling occurring behind the pack for positions, Byron was able to maintain the lead and win the first stage on Lap 50 while collecting valuable stage points towards his quest to make the Playoffs. Jones finished second followed by Austin Dillon, Elliott and Harvick while Hamlin, DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch, Keselowski and Clint Bowyer were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, some like Byron, Wallace, Jones, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Logano, Kurt Busch, Bowman, Almirola, McDowell, Nemechek, Reddick and Daniel Suarez pitted while the rest remained on track with Elliott leading Harvick and Hamlin.

The second stage started on Lap 56 and Elliott received a push from DiBenedetto on the outside lane to clear the field for the lead in Turn 1. The following turn, DiBenedetto moved into second and Hamlin moved into third while Harvick dropped to fourth. By Lap 60, Elliott was able to stabilize his advantage by nearly a second over DiBenedetto, Hamlin and Harvick while Kyle Busch trailed by more than two seconds. Another five laps later, Elliott stretched his lead to nearly two seconds over DiBenedetto, who was starting to be pressured by Hamlin for position. Behind, Kenseth was running in sixth, Bell was in eighth and Blaney was in 11th. Jones was in 10th, Byron was in 13th ahead of Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch, and Wallace was in 16th ahead of Almirola.

By Lap 70, Elliott expanded his lead to above four seconds over DiBenedetto and nearly five seconds over Hamlin. A lap later, with the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Hamlin bolted around DiBenedetto on the outside lane in the Turn 4 straightaway to move into second. In addition, Kenseth moved into fifth after passing Kyle Busch a corner earlier.

On Lap 74, the caution returned when Jones blew a right-front tire and went dead straight into the Turn 3 outside wall, which busted the radiator and ignited flames underneath the hood of Jones’ No. 20 Toyota Camry. Fortunately, Jones was able to climb out of his demolished car and walk away uninjured, though the wreck marked his second DNF in the last three Cup races. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Byron emerged with the lead after opting for a two-tire stop. Austin Dillon exited second followed by Hamlin, the first car on four fresh tires. Kurt Busch and Harvick emerged in the top five followed by Elliott, Kyle Busch, DiBenedetto, Kenseth and Bowyer.

The race restarted on Lap 83 and Austin Dillon forced his way into the lead on the inside lane after battling Byron through Turns 1 and 2. Shortly after, Byron blew a left-front tire, which damaged the hood of his No. 24 Liberty University/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE as he also made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3. Byron’s misfortune drew another caution of the race. Following repairs in his pit stall, Byron was unable to remain on the lead lap.

When the race restarted on Lap 88, Austin Dillon and Hamlin battled through Turns 1 and 2 before Harvick made a daring three-wide move on both drivers while almost running outside the racing surface to move back into the lead entering Turn 3. Behind, the caution returned when Blaney got loose underneath teammate Keselowski, spun and backed into the Turn 3 outside wall. Despite the repairs, Blaney, ultimately, failed to reach the minimum speed and retired.

With nine laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted and Harvick launched ahead on the outside lane to maintain the lead. Entering Turn 2, Hamlin slipped and made the slightest of contact with Austin Dillon, which allowed Elliott to gain a run for second. By the entrance of Turn 4, Elliott was able to move into second followed by Hamlin and DiBenedetto while Austin Dillon dropped to fifth. By then, Harvick checked out to nearly a two-second advantage.

With three laps remaining, Bowman made a green-flag pit stop and was just able to exit pit road and remain ahead of race leader Harvick to remain on the lead lap. At the start of the final lap of the stage, however, Harvick lapped Bowman and was able to cruise to the win of the second stage. Elliott held off Hamlin to finish second while DiBenedetto and Austin Dillon finished in the top five. Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Bell and Bowyer were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, a number of competitors pitted, including Kurt Busch, Bowyer, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Wallace, DiBenedetto, Kenseth, Almirola, Custer and Nemechek pitted.

The final stage commenced with 54 laps remaining and Harvick, again, jumped to an early advantage on the outside lane. Elliott, however, fought back on the inside lane to remain in a tight battle with Harvick for the lead. In Turn 2, Hamlin went three wide on Harvick and Elliott to squeak ahead, but Harvick gained a huge run on the outside lane in Turn 3 to thunder back into the lead. Hamlin and Elliott remained in second and third followed by rookies Bell and Reddick while Kenseth settled in sixth.

With 45 laps remaining, Harvick was ahead by three-tenths of a second over Hamlin. Elliott was in third, nearly two seconds behind the front two, followed by rookies Bell and Reddick with Kenseth in sixth. Bowyer, Logano, DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch were scored in the top 10. Custer was in 11th ahead of Keselowski while Austin Dillon was in 13th ahead of Nemechek. Kurt Busch and Almirola were in 15th and 16th while Wallace was in 18th. Bowman, who had received the free pass to return on the lead lap prior to the final stage, was back in 20th.

As the run progressed, Harvick and Hamlin separated themselves from third-place Elliott by three seconds while needing at least a final pit stop to complete the race to its distance. With 38 laps remaining, at the time when Reddick made a green-flag pit stop, Hamlin’s crew led by crew chief Chris Gabehart ordered Hamlin and his No. 11 FedEx/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry to pit road for a final pit stop under green. A lap later, Harvick pitted along with Elliott and Bell while Kenseth remained on track to inherit the lead. By the time Harvick exited pit road, Hamlin was able to cycle his way in front of Harvick like he did last weekend in the second Pocono race, a move that enabled him to win last weekend.

With 30 laps remaining, Kenseth was still leading by more than seven seconds over Kyle Busch, nearly 13 seconds over Logano and Keselowski, and 14 seconds over Custer. Hamlin was in 12th while Harvick was in 13th and slowly gaining ground to Hamlin. During this time, Bowyer and Nemechek had made a green-flag pit stop.

Two laps later, more green-flag pits stops occurred as Logano pitted. Not long after, the caution flew when Bowman made hard contact into the Turn 1 outside wall after cutting a right-front tire. Under caution, drivers like Kenseth, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, DiBenedetto, Custer, Keselowski, Almirola and Elliott pitted while Hamlin and Harvick remained on track to inherit the front row for the closing laps.

With 22 laps remaining, the race restarted and Hamlin launched ahead with the lead on the outside lane through Turn 1. Harvick, who got loose in Turn 1 and lost two spots while nearly making contact with Kenseth on the restart, made his way back to the runner-up spot two corners later as Kenseth moved into third. Custer moved in fourth followed by teammate Almirola while Bell slipped to sixth. A lap later, Harvick drew himself to the rear bumper of Hamlin in Turn 2 and was prepared to make a slingshot move on Hamlin for the lead, but he went high entering Turn 3, which allowed Hamlin to maintain his advantage.

With 15 laps remaining, Hamlin was ahead by three-tenths of a second over Harvick while Kenseth was behind by eight-tenths of a second. Behind, Almirola made his way past teammate Custer for position. Three laps later, the top-three competitors of Hamlin, Harvick and Kenseth were separated by seven-tenths of a second and the trio were ahead of fourth-place Almirola by more than two seconds, fifth-place Custer by three seconds and sixth-place Bell by four seconds.

With seven laps remaining, Hamlin’s run went from good to bad after he blew a right-front tire and went dead straight into the Turn 1 outside wall as smoke and flames erupted beneath Hamlin’s crumbled car. The wreck was enough to end his hopes of winning at Indianapolis for the first time and in his 15th attempt at the famed racetrack.

“It’s tough,” Hamlin said, “I hate it for the FedEx team. We did what we needed to do. It’s just didn’t work out for us, today. [I] Had a fast car, obviously. [I] Was stretching it out there, but wasn’t pushing right front [tire] at all. It’s, kind of, roulette whether you get one that’s gonna stay together or not. Mine didn’t and you saw the end result. That stinks, but proud of the whole FedEx Toyota team. We’ve just been so good here lately. I hate that I feel like I’m doing all I can. These big races, just a lot of things like this just don’t go my way all the time. We’re still gonna go next week and try to win the next one. We’ll do all we can.”

Hamlin’s misfortune allowed Harvick to move back into the lead followed by Kenseth, Almirola, Custer and Bell. Under caution and as the sky was shining brightly into sunset, the leaders remained on track while others, including Bell and Elliott, pitted.

When the race restarted into overtime, Harvick received a push from teammate Custer to clear the field entering Turn 1 and retain the lead. Entering Turn 2, Kenseth moved back into second and Almirola moved into third. The following turn, Keselowski moved into fourth while Custer fell back to fifth. When Harvick started the final lap, he was ahead by six-tenths of a second. For one final circuit, Harvick was able to maintain his advantage over Kenseth and streak across the finish line in first to add another Brickyard 400 win to his résumé.

With the win, Harvick joined Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch as the only Cup competitors to win back-to-back Brickyard 400s at Indianapolis. He also achieved his 30th win driving the No. 4 car for Stewart-Haas Racing and his 750th top-10 result in NASCAR’s premier series.

“Well, we knew that [Hamlin], he was gonna be close on tires and [crew chief] Rodney [Childers] told me on the radio he said, ‘Just make sure you keep the pressure on him,’ and that was all the pressure I could give,” Harvick said. “Those guys do a really good job. Just got to thank on my Busch Light Ford Mustang…everybody who is a part of this program and just keeps bringing good racecars to the racetrack. I didn’t have anymore room [when passing three wide for the lead]. That was for sure, but it’s the Brickyard. This is what I grew up wanting to do as a kid, win at the Brickyard and to be able to come here and have won for the third time is something that I could have never dreamed of. But just really, really proud of all these guys on this team.”

Kenseth finished second followed by Almirola, Keselowski and Custer. Kyle Busch settled in sixth followed by McDowell, Reddick, Wallace and Logano. Elliott settled in 11th followed by Bell while Kurt Busch finished 13th in his 700th Cup career start. Austin Dillon and DiBenedetto wrecked on the final lap and both settled in 18th and 19th.

The race capped off an eventful triple-header, Independence Day weekend of racing activities between NASCAR and IndyCar at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

There were 11 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 43 laps.

With his victory, Harvick continues to lead the Cup Series regular-season standings by 85 points over Elliott and 88 over Keselowski.

Results.

1. Kevin Harvick, 68 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Matt Kenseth, 12 laps led

3. Aric Almirola

4. Brad Keselowski

5. Cole Custer

6. Kyle Busch

7. Michael McDowell

8. Tyler Reddick

9. Bubba Wallace

10. Joey Logano, 14 laps led

11. Chase Elliott, 26 laps led

12. Christopher Bell

13. Kurt Busch

14. Ty Dillon

15. John Hunter Nemechek

16. Clint Bowyer

17. Ross Chastain, one lap led

18. Austin Dillon, five laps led

19. Matt DiBenedetto

20. Daniel Suarez, one lap down

21. J.J. Yeley, one lap down

22. B.J. McLeod, one lap down

23. Quin Houff, two laps down

24. Garrett Smithley, two laps down

25. Josh Bilicki, three laps down

26. Joey Gase, four laps down

27. William Byron, five laps down, 15 laps led, Stage 1 winner

28. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident, 19 laps led

29. Timmy Hill, eight laps down

30. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

31. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident

32. Ryan Blaney – OUT, DVP

33. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

34. Ryan Newman – OUT, Accident

35. Brennan Poole – OUT, DVP

36. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, DVP

37. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

38. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Accident

39. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

40. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

The NASCAR Cup Series will return to race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, on July 12 as part of a quadruple-header weekend. The race will air at 2:30 p.m. on FS1.

July 5, 2020
Briscoe claims inaugural Xfinity race on Indianapolis Grand Prix circuit

In a late battle against the road-course aces, Chase Briscoe made a bold move on A.J. Allmendinger for the lead with two laps remaining and pulled away from a four-car battle for second to win the inaugural Pennzoil 150 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Grand Prix Circuit, NASCAR’s first race on the famed racetrack’s oval-road course design. The victory was Briscoe’s fifth of this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series season, the seventh of his career and his first at his hometrack as a native from Mitchell, Indiana.

“Growing up, coming here all the time, it’s unbelievable to think that I just won here,” Briscoe said. “So happy to get HighPoint.com in Victory Lane again. Man, I’m wore out. That fence climbing, that’ll take a lot out of you. From a personal standpoint, the Darlington deal [in May] meant a ton just ‘cause what I was going through, but I’ve dreamed of coming to this racetrack and just getting to race here. To win here, it’s unbelievable. I can’t put into words and to get all our sponsors in Victory Lane driving for Stewart-Haas [Racing] at Indianapolis, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Jeb Burton, making his third start of the season in the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, drew the pole position and was joined on the front row with teammate Michael Annett.

When the inaugural road course event at Indianapolis commenced, Burton came out with the lead following the first two turns. He was quickly pursued by Brandon Jones and Justin Allgaier. In Turn 12, Jones made a peak for the lead on the inside lane, but Burton fought back on the outside lane through Turns 13 and 14, and was able to lead the first lap with no incidents occurring behind the leaders. By the first lap, Austin Cindric, one of the favorites who was the fastest in the final practice session on Friday and who started 10th, was in fourth.

The following lap, Allgaier and Jones went three wide on Burton before Allgaier moved into the lead. By Turn 11, Cindric moved into second and started to narrow the gap between himself and Allgaier while Burton fell back to fifth. By the fourth lap, Allmendinger, another favorite who was the fastest in the first practice session on Friday and who started 30th, had made his way into the top 20, running 19th. On the fifth lap, Cindric emerged with the lead on the frontstretch after crossing over Allgaier and gaining a huge run entering the frontstretch exiting Turn 14. From there, he slowly started to build a gap from Allgaier. Behind the two front-runners, Justin Haley and Chase Briscoe were in third and fifth while Ross Chastain was running in between the Indiana natives.

By Lap 10, Cindric was leading by more than three seconds over Allgaier and more than four seconds over Haley. Behind, Briscoe was in fourth followed by Chastain, Noah Gragson, Jones, rookie Harrison Burton, Quebec’s Alex Labbe and Allmendinger. Jeb Burton, who started on pole, was back in 12th while Jeremy Clements was in 11th.

Starting on Lap 11, a number of competitors started experiencing on-track issues while navigating the turns at Indy’s road course. It started with Jeffrey Earnhardt limping to pit road after the rear track bar of his No. 15 JD Motorsports Chevrolet broke. Ultimately, he retired due to chassis issues. Another lap later, rookie Anthony Alfredo made an unscheduled pit stop under green when his window net came loose and fell down, a misfortune that cost him a lap. By then, Josh Williams missed the first turn and Preston Pardus ran off the track entering Turn 7. On Lap 15, Jeb Burton reported power steering issues when smoke started billowing out of his car and the Virginia native was dropping positions. He would pit the following lap to have the issue addressed. The following lap, Pardus spun, but he was able to straighten his car with the race remaining under green.

With three laps remaining in the first stage, the caution flew due to debris from B.J. McLeod, who lost a tire and had limped his way to pit road. At the time of caution, Allmendinger, Jones and rookie Riley Herbst were on pit road for service, but Allmendinger was sent to the rear of the field when he sped in the pits. The first stage concluded under caution on Lap 20 with Cindric winning his fourth stage of the season. Allgaier was in second followed by Haley, Briscoe and Gragson while Chastain, Harrison Burton, Labbe, Clements and Ryan Sieg were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, everyone except Jones and Herbst, pitted. Following the pit stops, Briscoe exited first followed by Harrison Burton, Cindric, Gragson, Allgaier and Chastain. While exiting his pit stall, Haley nearly made contact with Jade Buford and he braked again to allow Buford to pull in his pit stall, which cost Haley valuable spots on pit road.

With the clouds hovering around the track and light sprinkles being reported around the track, the second stage started on Lap 24. By the first two turns, Briscoe emerged with the lead followed by Cindric and Gragson. Two laps later, the caution returned when Bayley Currey stalled on the track.

The race resumed on Lap 29 and Cindric jumped ahead on the outside lane to return to the lead over Briscoe through the first two turns. A lap later, after reviewing the Lap 29 restart, Cindric was assessed a pass-through penalty for jumping the restart over Briscoe. Another lap later, after trying to appeal the penalty between his crew and the NASCAR officials, Cindric served his pass-through penalty on pit road under green, which allowed Briscoe to return to the lead. Gragson moved into second followed by Allgaier, Herbst and Haley.

On Lap 35, the third caution flew when fire and smoke started billowing out of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra of Jones, which forced the Georgia native to pull his car into the grass in Turn 9. With oil reported around the track, Jones retired from the race. Under caution, the majority of the field pitted and Briscoe exited pit road first.

With two laps remaining in the second stage, Sieg and Michael Annett, two of six competitors who elected not to pit, led the field under green. Sieg maintained the lead through Turns 1 and 2 while Briscoe made a three-wide move to advance into second as the field behind him jumbled up and made contact against one another for positions. In the ensuing shuffling of positions, Brandon Brown lost his rear bumper. In Turn 13, Gragson spun following contact with Timmy Hill. At the start of the final lap of the second stage, Briscoe emerged with the lead. Briscoe was able to maintain the lead for another circuit to win the second stage and for his third stage win of this season. Allgaier crossed the line in second followed by Annett, Haley and Snider while Brown, Harrison Burton, Josh Bilicki, Allmendinger and Timmy Hill finished in the top 10.

Under the stage break, some like Sieg, Annett and Brown pitted while the rest remained on track. Following the pit stops, Stephen Leicht and Matt Mills were tabbed with speeding penalties on pit road.

The final stage started with 20 laps remaining and Briscoe maintained the lead through the first two turns followed by Allgaier, Haley, Myatt Snider and Harrison Burton. Behind, Allmendinger and Cindric, both of whom rallied from their respective penalties, were in seventh and eighth.

With 15 laps remaining, Briscoe was leading by a second over Allgaier while Allmendinger and Cindric moved into third and fourth. Haley settled in fifth followed by Harrison Burton, Chastain, Gragson, Herbst and Labbe. The following two laps, Allmendinger and Cindric moved into second and third as Briscoe continued to lead by nearly three seconds. Behind the leaders, Brett Moffitt and Mike Wallace wrecked in Turn 1, but they proceeded without drawing a caution. The following lap, Alfredo slipped off the track while running 15th, but he continued on the track despite sustaining minimal damage to the front nose of his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro.

With 11 laps remaining, the caution flew when smoke started billowing out from Tommy Joe Martins’ car due to axle issues and reports of fluid on the frontstretch. Under caution, a majority of the field pitted and Briscoe maintained the lead off pit road just ahead of Allmendinger. Following the pit stops, Allgaier was assessed a penalty for removing an air hose out of his pit stall. Prior to the restart, Harrison Burton pulled his No. 20 Toyota to pit road to address a loose wheel.

With seven laps remaining, the race restarted with Preston Pardus and Kyle Weatherman on the front row. Once the green flag flew, Briscoe went through the middle to reassume the lead. Allmendinger moved into second while Cindric was stuck in a battle with Gragson for third. With four laps remaining, the battle for the lead and the win started to intensify among the three road-course ringers with Allmendinger drawing himself near the rear bumper of Briscoe and Cindric settling behind the two. In Turn 10, Briscoe slipped, which allowed Allmendinger and Cindric to move pass Briscoe with Allmendinger in the lead.

With two laps remaining, through the frontstretch and approaching Turn 1, Cindric ran into the rear bumper of Allmendinger’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro, which allowed him and Briscoe to go three wide with Allmendinger before Briscoe powered his No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang back into the lead on the inside lane in Turn 1. The following turn, Briscoe forced Allmendinger off the track, which allowed Cindric to draw himself dead even with Allmendinger for second. In Turns 5 and 6, Cindric and Allmendinger made contact and nearly wrecked, which allowed Gragson to move up into third as Cindric fell back to fifth behind Haley. In Turn 7, Allmendinger slipped and Gragson moved into second followed by Haley, costing Allmendinger and Cindric time to catch back to Briscoe. At the front, Briscoe was leading by nearly two seconds when he started the final lap. For a final circuit, Briscoe was able to navigate the 14-turn layout to perfection and hold off a four-car pack for second to streak across the finish line first and claim the biggest win of his racing career.

With the victory, Briscoe has won three times in the last four races with interim crew chief and veteran Greg Zipadelli. Richard Boswell, Briscoe’s regular crew chief, will return next week in the series’ doubleheader at Kentucky Speedway. Briscoe recorded back-to-back wins in NASCAR for the first time in his career as his win was also the 16th NASCAR Xfinity victory for Stewart-Haas Racing with Fred Biagi since 2018.

After returning to the frontstretch and celebrating with a victorious burnout, Briscoe, who led a race-high 30 of the event’s 62-scheduled laps, paid homage to his racing hero and team owner, Tony Stewart, by climbing the fence in celebration along with his pit crew. The fence climbing was something Briscoe had planned in the case that he would win at his home track.

“Everybody knows that I grew up and my hero in racing was Tony Stewart,” Briscoe added. “To get to drive for him and watch him win the Brickyard and that was his signature thing [climbing the fence]. I just wanted to do it. Obviously, it’s not the same prestige as winning on the oval, but you still won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It doesn’t matter if you’re racing on the oval, the road course, the dirt track…It’s special to win here.”

From one Indiana native to another, Winamac’s Haley settled in second, trailing Briscoe by nearly two seconds, followed by Gragson. Allmendinger and Cindric settled in fourth and fifth following their late contact.

Chastain finished sixth followed by Allgaier, who rallied from his late pit road penalty of removing equipment out of his pit box and will fill in as an interim competitor for seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson in tomorrow’s Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Labbe, Annett and Pardus rounded out the top 10 on the track. Jade Buford finished 14th in his NASCAR debut, Mike Wallace finished 24th in his first race since 2015 and Harrison Burton finished 25th following his late pit stop.

The Xfinity race capped off the first NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader at the same track on the exact date. Earlier in the day, five-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon won at the Indianapolis road-course layout by nearly 20 seconds over Graham Rahal and Simon Pagenaud.

There were 13 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 15 laps.

With his win, Briscoe continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 21 points over Gragson, 55 over Chastain and 61 over Cindric.

Results:

1. Chase Briscoe, 30 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Justin Haley

3. Noah Gragson

4. A.J. Allmendinger, two laps led

5. Austin Cindric, 21 laps led, Stage 1 winner

6. Ross Chastain

7. Justin Allgaier, two laps led

8. Alex Labbe

9. Michael Annett

10. Preston Pardus, two laps led

11. Brandon Brown

12. Brandon Gdovic

13. Jeremy Clements

14. Jade Buford

15. Kyle Weatherman

16. Myatt Snider

17. Ryan Sieg, two laps led

18. Jesse Little

19. Timmy Hill

20. Anthony Alfredo

21. Stephen Leicht

22. Josh Williams

23. Josh Bilicki

24. Mike Wallace

25. Harrison Burton

26. Joe Graf Jr.

27. Chad Finchum

28. Kody Vanderwal, one lap down

29. B.J. McLeod, one lap down

30. Matt Mills, one lap down

31. Jeb Burton, two laps down, one lap led

32. Vinnie Miller, two laps down

33. Riley Herbst, five laps down

34. Bayley Currey, eight laps down

35. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Axle

36. Brett Moffitt, 18 laps down

37. Brandon Jones – OUT, Oil line, two laps led

38. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Chassis

Next on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule will be the series’ second time hosting two series races at the same venue, this time at Kentucky Speedway. The two series races at Kentucky will run on July 9-10 and will each be aired at 8 p.m. on FS1.

July 4, 2020
Pit strategy nets Hamlin a win over Harvick at Pocono

It was a tale of two stories at the conclusion of the NASCAR Cup Series’ doubleheader at Pocono Raceway. A day after Kevin Harvick claimed his first Pocono triumph after holding off Denny Hamlin in the closing laps, it was Hamlin who played a strategic call in the late laps that got him ahead of Harvick and the redemption to victory after pulling away and winning the Pocono 350 at the Tricky Triangle, the second of a Cup doubleheader weekend in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The win was Hamlin’s fourth of the season, third since May amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the 41st of his Cup Series career.

The starting lineup was based on the results from Saturday’s 325-mile race at Pocono, where the top-20 finishers were inverted and the bottom 20 were left as finished. After finishing 20th on Saturday, Ryan Preece was awarded the pole position while Austin Dillon, who finished 19th, joined Preece on the front row.

Multiple competitors dropped to the rear of the field. Rookie Quin Houff, rookie Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, Joey Logano and Alex Bowman dropped to the rear after their respective teams opted to field a backup car for the second Pocono race. In addition, Chase Elliott and B.J. McLeod dropped to the rear of the field due to transmission changes along with William Byron and pole-sitter Preece, both due to engine changes.

Following an early delay due to lightning strikes reported near the track, the race commenced with Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch on the front row. Busch jumped to an early lead followed by rookie Cole Custer. Ryan Blaney also moved into third while Dillon slipped back to fourth. Two laps later, Blaney moved into second as Chris Buescher overtook Austin Dillon for fourth.

Soon after, the first caution flew due to rain. Under the caution laps, rookie Tyler Reddick radioed power steering issues to his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. After running the next few laps on the track under caution despite the rain, the pace truck led the field down to pit road, where the race was red flagged and the jet dryers went to work to dry the track.

Approximately 51 minutes later, the red flag was lifted and the caution flag was displayed as the field proceeded back on the track. Soon after, light sprinkles hovered around the track, but the cars proceeded in running on the track under the caution laps. Under caution, Reddick’s crew continued to address power steering issues to Reddick’s car. By the time he returned on the track, he was five laps behind the leaders and in 40th, last of the field.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 11, Kurt Busch retained the lead and was able to stabilize his advantage by a car length over Blaney the following lap. DiBenedetto moved into third followed by Buescher and rookie Christopher Bell, who went three-wide a lap earlier to gain a load of positions.

On Lap 15, as the racing intensified behind the leaders and towards the middle of the pack, the caution returned when Michael McDowell spun after he cut a right-rear tire and made hard contact with the outside wall on the driver’s side in Turn 2. The cut tire was a result of an earlier contact with Elliott in Turn 4. The damage was too severe for McDowell to continue as he took his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford to the garage and retired a day after notching his best Cup result on a non-superspeedway track. Under caution, a number of competitors like Joey Logano, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson, Preece, Corey LaJoie, Daniel Suarez and rookie Quin Houff pitted while the rest remained on track.

The race restarted on Lap 18, and Kurt Busch and Blaney battled dead even before Busch retained a small advantage in Turn 2. Behind the leaders, Buescher moved into third followed by rookies Custer and Bell. By Lap 20, Harvick, who started 20th and who was coming off his first Pocono triumph on Saturday, made his first appearance in the top five.

With five laps remaining in the first stage, Kurt Busch was still ahead by two-tenths of a second over Blaney with third-place Buescher trailing by over a second. Bell was in fourth while Harvick was in fifth, two seconds behind the leaders. Two laps later, Blaney drew himself right to the rear bumper of Busch’s No. 1 Monster Energy/Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet in an attempt for the lead while Bell challenged Buescher for third. Behind, strategy started to play into factor of the race when several competitors like Johnson, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, Matt Kenseth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer and Hamlin made a green-flag pit stop.

At the front, Kurt Busch was able to hold off Blaney to win the first stage on Lap 30. Blaney finished second followed by Bell, Harvick and Brad Keselowski. DiBenedetto, Buescher, Truex, Kyle Busch and Custer rounded out the top 10. Johnson, who was lapped prior to the conclusion of the first stage, was the beneficiary of the free pass and return on the lead lap after being tabbed the first car a lap down when the caution flew. Under the stage break, Kurt Busch and Blaney remained on track along with others while a majority of the field behind the leaders, led by Bell and Harvick, pitted. DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon and Corey LaJoie pitted for two tires while Harvick was the first to exit on four fresh tires.

The second stage commenced on Lap 36 and Blaney received a push from teammate Keselowski on the inside lane to challenge Kurt Busch on the outside lane for the lead. By Turn 3, Blaney took the lead and led the following lap while Kurt Busch battled Keselowski for second. Soon after, Truex and Erik Jones started challenging Kurt Busch for position as more jostling for positions ensued behind the leaders.

On Lap 39, the caution returned when Bell spun entering Turn 2 and made heavy contact with the outside wall. The damage to the rear end of Bell’s No. 95 Rheem/Leavine Family Racing Toyota was too severe for the Oklahoma native to continue as he took his car to the garage and ended his race with a DNF, a day after notching his first top-five career finish in the Cup Series. Under caution, some that included Blaney, Truex, Logano, Kyle Busch and Harvick remained on track while others led by Keselowski pitted. Following the pit stops, Ty Dillon edged Keselowski to exit first after taking only fuel to his No. 13 GEICO/Germain Racing Chevrolet. Prior to the restart, drivers like Kurt Busch, Stenhouse, Byron and the Dillon brothers pitted again to top off with fuel.

The race restarted on Lap 44, and Truex challenged Blaney for the lead through Turn 1 before Blaney rocketed on the outside lane through Turn 2. Two laps later, Buescher slipped in Turn 3 and made contact with the outside wall, thus drawing another caution. With Buescher coming back across the track and straightening his car with rear end damage, the field scattered to avoid making contact with Buescher’s No. 17 Fastenal/Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Under caution, a majority of the leaders remained on track while others like Almirola, Ryan Newman, Daniel Suarez, rookie John Hunter Nemechek and LaJoie pitted.

When the race restarted on Lap 49, Truex made another attempt for the lead, but Blaney retained it through the Long Pond Straightaway. Behind, Kyle Busch was in third followed by Wallace and Hamlin with DiBenedetto falling back to sixth. Six laps later, Blaney was ahead by a second over teammates Truex, Kyle Busch and Hamlin. Harvick was in eighth while battling Elliott and Logano for position. Two laps later, Blaney surrendered the lead to make a scheduled green-flag pit stop. Blaney’s move allowed Kyle Busch to move into the lead followed by teammates Hamlin and Truex with Wallace, DiBenedetto, Harvick and Elliott trailing by more than four seconds. The following three laps, Truex, Kyle Busch and Wallace made a green-flag pit stop while Hamlin moved into the lead. Two laps later, Hamlin was leading by five seconds over Harvick while his fourth Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Erik Jones, was in sixth after passing Logano.

Three laps later, Logano made a green-flag pit stop. By the time Logano returned, he was lapped by Hamlin. When the field reached its halfway mark of the 140-mile race and the sun was shining to its dwindling moments, Hamlin, who had just lapped Wallace, was leading by three seconds over Harvick, eight seconds over DiBenedetto and nearly nine seconds over Elliott. Meanwhile, drivers like Kyle Busch, Blaney and Truex were trapped outside the top 20.

With 10 laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew when Kyle Busch, who was battling Blaney, was bumped by Blaney entering Turn 2, spun and made hard contact with the inside wall as he crumbled the front nose of his No. 18 M&M’s/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, thus ending his day on the wrecker and winless for another week to the 2020 season.

“I don’t know,” Busch said after exiting the infield care center. “The [pit] guys did an amazing job from yesterday to today. I guess it proves that you get a little bit of practice time in and we’re gonna be a force to be reckon with. So hopefully, life gets back to normal, eventually. We’re in [year] 2020, so it doesn’t surprise me to get crashed out of the lead. The M&M’s Camry was pretty fast there. [Crew chief] Adam [Stevens] and the guys did a great job. It’s just very frustrating, unfortunate. I know what happened, but it doesn’t make any sense to talk about it because it will come across as a bad way.”

Under caution, a majority of the leaders, led by Hamlin, pitted and Harvick exited first. Under the pit stops, Bowman was penalized for equipment interference after interfering with Blaney’s pit stop. Keselowski, Almirola, Stenhouse, Newman, Austin Dillon and Truex remained on the track.

With six laps remaining in the second stage, Almirola assumed the lead over Keselowski, but the caution quickly returned when Preece spun in the middle of Turn 2. No one else made contact with Preece as Wallace went all the way below the apron to dodge Preece. Preece was able to return to the pits for fresh tires. Under caution, drivers like Jones, Wallace, Logano and LaJoie pitted.

The race restarted with two laps remaining in the second stage and Keselowski reassumed the lead from Almirola. Keselowski was able to claim the second stage on Lap 85 by more than a second over Almirola. Newman finished third followed by Truex and Stenhouse while Harvick, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto and Hamlin rounded out the top 10.

Under the stage break, a handful of competitors that included Truex, Austin Dillon, Almirola, Stenhouse, rookie Brennan Poole, Suarez and Preece pitted for four tires.

When the final stage started with 51 laps remaining and the sun was slowly setting, Keselowski retained the lead as Kurt Busch charged into second. Four laps later, Harvick moved into second as Kurt Busch was left in a battle with Hamlin for position. Another three laps later, Keselowski surrendered the lead to pit for fuel, giving the lead to Harvick with Hamlin trailing by over a second and Elliott by six seconds.

Soon after, Logano and Newman made a green-flag pit stop. Logano, however, was penalized for driving through too many pit stalls. During his green-flag stop to change only his right-side tires, Johnson clipped a tire from one of his crew members while exiting his pit stall. With the tire rolling out of his pit box, Johnson was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation. Other drivers that pitted under green included Blaney, Kenseth, DiBenedetto, Kurt Busch and Elliott.

With 35 laps remaining, Harvick made a green-flag pit stop for two fresh tires and enough fuel to complete the race. Hamlin returned to the lead, still needing to make a final green-flag pit stop, as Bowyer also pitted while Jones moved into second. Soon after, Bowman pitted followed by Wallace. With 30 laps remaining, Hamlin, who was still attempting to stretch his fuel tank to its fullest, was still leading by nearly nine seconds over Jones and 17 seconds over Almirola while Harvick was in 13th and less than 30 seconds behind the leaders. Aside from the top three, other drivers still racing on the track on low fuel included Truex, Byron, Stenhouse, Wallace, Custer, Austin Dillon and Nemechek.

With 26 to go, Jones made a green-flag pit stop as Almirola moved into second. The following lap, Custer also pitted. By then, Harvick had carved his way up to sixth and was more than 33 seconds behind Hamlin, who was still leading by nearly 17 seconds over Almirola.

With 20 to go, Hamlin pulled into his pit stall and pitted for four seconds of fuel and a two-tire pit stop with the driver and crew chief Chris Gabehart banking on exiting pit road and getting up to speed in front of Harvick. By the time Hamlin exited pit road, he was able to fire off ahead of Harvick, who was still nearly three seconds behind and tucked behind Stenhouse. During Hamlin’s stop, Almirola also made a green-flag pit stop as Truex assumed command. With 15 to go, Truex pitted and Hamlin returned to the lead by more than two seconds over Harvick.

With ten laps remaining, Hamlin stabilized his lead by three seconds over Harvick despite encountering lapped traffic. At that time, Keselowski was in third followed by Elliott and Jones while Almirola was in sixth, trailing by nearly 22 seconds. In addition, Austin Dillon and Stenhouse surrendered their runs in the top 10 to pit. As the laps and the sun continued to dwindle around the Tricky Triangle, Hamlin continued to lead while Harvick was unable to narrow his deficit to Hamlin and as Keselowski slowly started catching Harvick for second. Behind, Jones moved into fourth after passing Elliott.

With four laps remaining, Keselowski made a green-flag pit stop after running out of fuel, which allowed Jones, Elliott and Almirola to move into the top five. It did not change anything at the front as Hamlin was able to start the final lap of the race. For one final lap, Hamlin was able to stabilize his gap from Harvick and cruise to the checkered flag for another win to this season.

With his sixth win at Pocono, Hamlin, who won after starting 19th, tied Jeff Gordon for the most wins at the Tricky Triangle track. In addition, Hamlin recorded his 60th win across NASCAR’s three major division series and he recorded the 350th victory for Joe Gibbs Racing across the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series. The victory was Hamlin’s 10th with crew chief Chris Gabehart.

“A lot of adversity early,” Hamlin said. “We got some nose damage, had to fix that. We just worked on the car and got it better and better. I mean, it finished the race there a lot better than what we finished yesterday, and I thought we had a race-winning car yesterday. We knew after yesterday’s race and showing the speed we had, just don’t mess it up and we got a good shot today, and that’s what we did. You got to work [the pit strategy], but ultimately, the two fastest cars finished one, two both days. I think that there’s no secret there and this team’s been strong every week. We were in contention to win every single week and that’s all you can ask for as a racecar driver, and we’re just on a roll right now. We’re gonna keep getting better, keep getting faster racecars and giving me a bigger box to work in. If we don’t have the exact race setup or the handling’s not perfect, we’re still going out there winning races because we got decent car speed. We’re just continuing to make our stuff a little bit better and it’s making that room for error just a little bit bigger.”

Harvick finished second, trailing Hamlin by three seconds, as he came one position short in winning back-to-back races at Pocono in the same weekend.

“Yeah, we just pitted too early today and gave up too much time in lapped traffic,” Harvick said. “Yesterday, we won the race pitting that way. Just really proud of everybody on our Head for the Mountains Busch Beer Ford Mustang. Great two races and we’ll go to the next one.”

Jones finished third followed by Elliott and Almirola. DiBenedetto and Byron finished sixth and seventh while Bowyer rubbed and edged Bowman to finish eighth. Truex rounded out the top 10. Keselowski settled in 11th following his late pit stop while Johnson finished 16th in his 38th and final start at Pocono.

The race capped off an eventful day at Pocono, where all three of NASCAR’s major division series raced on the same day at the exact venue for the first time in the sport’s history. It also capped off a three-day race span at Pocono featuring five stock car division series races and five different winners.

There were 12 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 32 laps.

With his finishes of first and second this weekend, Harvick retains the lead in the Cup Series regular-season standings by 52 points over Blaney.

Results.

1. Denny Hamlin, 49 laps led

2. Kevin Harvick, 11 laps led

3. Erik Jones

4. Chase Elliott

5. Aric Almirola, four laps led

6. Matt DiBenedetto

7. William Byron

8. Clint Bowyer

9. Alex Bowman

10. Martin Truex Jr., five laps led

11. Brad Keselowski, 13 laps led, Stage 2 winner

12. Matt Kenseth

13. Kurt Busch, 35 laps led, Stage 1 winner

14. Austin Dillon

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

16. Jimmie Johnson

17. Cole Custer

18. Ryan Newman, one lap down

19. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down

20. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

21. Corey LaJoie, one lap down

22. Ryan Blaney, one lap down, 21 laps led

23. Ty Dillon, one lap down

24. Joey Logano, one lap down

25. Ryan Preece, one lap down

26. Daniel Suarez, one lap down

27. Brennan Poole, two laps down

28. J.J. Yeley, two laps down

29. Timmy Hill, three laps down

30. James Davison, four laps down

31. Quin Houff, four laps down

32. Garrett Smithley, four laps down

33. Joey Gase, four laps down

34. Josh Bilicki, four laps down

35. Tyler Reddick, five laps down

36. Chris Buescher, five laps down

37. B.J. McLeod, seven laps down

38. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident, two laps led

39. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

40. Michael McDowell – OUT, Accident

The NASCAR Cup Series’ next destination is at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400. The race will air on July 5 at 4 p.m. on NBC.

June 28, 2020
Briscoe rallies from late spin to win at Pocono

From a late spin to the lead following a late restart, Chase Briscoe emerged victorious in the fifth annual Pocono Green 225 at Pocono Raceway for his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season and the sixth of his career. In a race that felt like a war of attrition with multiple on-track incidents occurring, Briscoe was a victim of one of nine cautions when he spun with 22 laps remaining in Turn 1 after sustaining a flat left-rear tire. Briscoe was able to rally from the incident to battle Ross Chastain for the lead with less than 10 laps remaining and overtake Chastain for the lead on an overtime restart to win.

The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Points leader Noah Gragson drew the pole position and started alongside Myatt Snider. Jeffrey Earnhardt and Cody Ware started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Gragson launched ahead of the field on the outside lane and was pursued by teammate Justin Allgaier while Snider was being pressured by Chase Briscoe and Justin Haley for position. The caution flew when Brandon Jones, fresh off his first NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series career win at Pocono earlier in the day, was turned off the front nose of Austin Cindric and pounded the Turn 1 inside wall head-on. The damage was too severe for Jones to continue as he ended his race without completing a single lap.

“Ultimately, you make up spots on these restarts, so we were trying to go three-wide and get them early,” Jones said. “But, obviously, you have to have a little give and take. It’s just early. It doesn’t take much when you get three-wide to get pushed around. But from my vantage point, we got hit in the back…We had a really good positive. We won the truck race. I had high hopes for this race, too.”

The race restarted on the fourth lap with Gragson retaining the lead. Entering Turn 1, Ross Chastain attempted to split the middle between Briscoe and Allgaier for the runner-up spot. Chastain and Briscoe made the slightest of contact entering the straightaway, but they all proceeded racing straight and still in a three-wide battle. The caution returned when contact from Daniel Hemric got Josh Williams sideways and into the outside wall on the Long Pond Straightaway, where he sustained heavy front nose damage. Also involved was Joe Graf Jr. as both competitors were knocked out of the race. Under the caution laps, Williams expressed his displeasure towards Hemric. Under caution and due to the extended caution laps, NASCAR cancelled the competition caution scheduled on the 10th lap.

The race restarted on the eighth lap as Allgaier received a push from Chastain to challenge Gragson for the lead. Chastain attempted to move to the inside of Gragson and Allgaier for the lead, but he slipped, allowing Gragson to move into the lead. Then, in Turn 2, Cindric powered on the outside lane to take the lead, which he led the following lap. Gragson settled in second followed by Allgaier, Briscoe and Michael Annett while Chastain was back in sixth ahead of Snider and teammate Haley.

On Lap 10, Allgaier slipped while battling teammate Gragson for second in Turn 1. Though he was able to straighten his car, the slip costed him five spots back in eighth. A lap later, Chastain moved into second after passing Gragson while Briscoe and Snider battled behind. By then, Cindric was leading by more than five seconds while Allgaier had rallied back to race in fifth.

The caution flew on Lap 14, when rookie Harrison Burton, who had reported fluid on the track, got loose entering Turn 1 and made head-on contact into the inside wall, a wreck that was reminiscent to his teammate Jones. The front nose damage was enough to end Burton’s day on the wrecker as this marked his second consecutive DNF of the season and after starting this season with 10 consecutive top-10 finishes and two wins.

“I was racing with [Michael Annett] and felt good, and it just instantly came around,” said Burton. “That’s a weird place to come around. That hit looked harder than it was, so I’m all right. Thankful that my team built safe racecars. I’ve unfortunately tested that out twice this year. Bummer, but we’ll be back and hopefully win some more.”

The following lap, the race was red-flagged for nearly 21 minutes to allow the safety workers to clean the reported oil in Turn 1 and the Long Pond Straightaway that reportedly came from Brandon Brown’s car, which retired. Following an extensive cleanup, the field returned under caution. Once the field entered Turn 4, a majority of the competitors, including Haley, Allgaier, Hemric, Gragson, Riley Herbst and Alex Labbe, pitted. Those that remained on the track included Cindric, Chastain, Snider and Annett. The race restarted with three laps remaining in the stage. At the start behind the leaders, Chad Finchum pulled his No. 13 MBM Motorsports Toyota out of line after struggling on the restart, but the field scattered around him and the race proceeded under green. With the field jostling for positions, Cindric was able to pull away by six-tenths of a second over Chastain.

On the final lap of the first stage, Alex Labbe, one of the Dash 4 Cash contenders and who was in 11th, spun entering Turn 1 and tapped the inside wall, though he was able to drive his car back to his pit stall with damage to the front nose of his car. The stage concluded under caution with Cindric winning it. Chastain finished second followed by Allgaier, Snider, Annett. Briscoe, Gragson, Herbst, Haley and Hemric finished in the top 10. Under the stage break, Chastain remained on track to assume the lead while Cindric, Snider, Annett, Ryan Sieg and others pitted.

Following another extensive clean-up for the spilled oil through Turn 1 and the Long Pond Straightaway, the second stage started on Lap 26. The field fanned out to three lanes before Chastain, racing on the outside lane, retained the lead followed by Allgaier with Gragson trailing by a second. Haley was in fourth followed by Herbst. On Lap 29, Cindric made the slightest contact with Herbst as Herbst slipped in Turn 3 and fell to ninth while Cindric advanced into eighth. By then, Chastain was leading by four-tenths of a second over Allgaier with Gragson trailing by two seconds. Trailing behind Gragson were Briscoe, Hemric and Cindric.

On Lap 35, Chastain and Allgaier were ahead of third-place Cindric by nearly five seconds. A lap later, Allgaier drew himself alongside Chastain to challenge for the lead, which he succeeded. Soon after, Chastain peeled off to pit road for a pit stop. Teammate Haley and Briscoe also pitted, but Briscoe was assessed a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road. Back on the track, Allgaier was leading by three seconds over a hard-charging Cindric. Allgaier was able to stabilize his lead to win the second stage and earn his fifth stage win of the 2020 season. Cindric was second followed by Gragson, Hemric and Herbst. Snider, Annett, Sieg, Brett Moffitt and Jeremy Clements finished in the top 10.

Under the stage break, a majority of the lead-lap competitors pitted and Cindric exited pit road first followed by Allgaier, Hemric, Gragson and Snider. Chastain, however, remained on track to inherit the lead after he pitted prior to the conclusion of the second stage. Teammate Haley also remained on track. Labbe pinned a lap behind under the hood.

When the final stage commenced with 46 laps remaining, Chastain took off with the lead on the outside lane and was quickly pursued by Allgaier. Haley trailed the front runners by seven-tenths of a second followed by Cindric and Gragson. Two laps later, Herbst moved his way all the way up to fourth after passing Gragson, but he slipped entering the tunnel turn and fell all the way back to eighth.

A lap later, Haley, who slipped entering Turn 4 following contact with Herbst, veered dead left into the right rear of Herbst and sent Herbst around in Turn 4, where he made minimal contact with the wall. Herbst’s wreck capped off a disappointing day for Joe Gibbs Racing as all three of their Xfinity operations were involved in a wreck. Haley pitted with left-front damage while Herbst also pitted after sustaining front nose energy along with a flat left-front tire to his No. 18 Monster Energy/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Soon after, NASCAR assessed Haley a two-lap penalty in his pit stall for rough driving and following his on-track contact with Herbst, which ended his hopes of winning the race and the final Dash 4 Cash bonus of the season. Haley and his crew chief Alex Yontz were also called for a post-race meeting with NASCAR officials in the Xfinity Series hauler.

Under caution, some like Cindric, Allgaier and others pitted while others like Chastain, Gragson, Hemric, Snider, Clements, B.J. McLeod, Dexter Bean and Jesse Little remained on track.

When the race restarted with 38 laps remaining, Chastain retained the lead but behind, contact from Snider got Gragson loose in Turn 1, where he came back across the track and ignited a multi-car wreck that included teammates Allgaier and Hemric, along with Cindric and Sieg. The wreck ended Cindric’s chances of winning the race and the final Dash 4 Cash bonus after having a strong racecar. Hemric also retired while Gragson, Allgaier and Sieg continued. Under caution, a majority of the leaders, led by Chastain, pitted while few like Briscoe, Moffitt and McLeod remained on track.

The race restarted with 33 laps remaining, and Briscoe was able to clear the field through Turn 1. Moffitt settled in second as Snider and Chastain moved into third and fourth. Behind, Annett, the lone JR Motorsports’ competitor without damage, challenged Clements for fifth. Two laps later, Briscoe was ahead by a second over Snider and Chastain, both of whom remained within sight of another for the runner-up spot. Behind, names like Moffitt, Clements, Jesse Little, Ryan Vargas, Dexter Bean and Stefan Parsons were racing inside the top 10 with McLeod battling Parsons for position.

With 22 to go, Briscoe fell off the pace after sustaining a flat left-rear tire and he spun in Turn 1, though he continued without sustaining any damage. Briscoe’s misfortune allowed Snider to move into the lead followed by Chastain. Under caution, Snider remained on track along with four others while Chastain pitted for four fresh tires and fuel with hopes of gaining more speed to take the lead.

Four laps later, the race restarted and Snider took off with the lead while Chastain, racing on fresh tires, boosted his way into second on fresh tires. Behind, Briscoe, rallying from his late spin, moved into third after passing Annett and Moffitt. With 15 to go, Snider was leading by four-tenths of a second over Chastain with Briscoe trailing by two seconds as the top three started to gap fourth-place Annett by nearly five seconds. Three laps later, Chastain passed Snider for the lead in Turn 1 and three turns later, Briscoe moved into second with the top-three competitors separated by less than six-tenths of a second.

With 10 laps remaining, the battle for the lead ignited between Briscoe and Chastain with Chastain maintaining a small advantage over Briscoe. After making several attempts to pass Chastain, Briscoe succeeded with seven laps remaining in Turn 2. The following lap, Briscoe was starting to extend his lead by four-tenths of a second with Snider trailing by nearly three seconds. The caution returned when Finchum wrecked in Turn 2 and came to rest across the outside wall. Under caution, Snider and Annett led a handful of cars to pit road for service, including Allgaier, while Briscoe and Chastain remained on track. When the pit stops concluded, Snider was all the way back to 15th.

The race restarted in overtime and Chastain received a push from Allgaier on the inside lane to retain the lead. Soon after, Briscoe gained a huge run in the Tunnel Turn and bumped into the rear bumper of Chastain to retain the lead and start the final lap. Briscoe was able to maintain a steady gap over Chastain for one final lap to claim another checkered flag of the season. With the win, Briscoe became the fifth different winner in five NASCAR Xfinity Series races at the Tricky Triangle and he recorded the second victory of the weekend for Stewart-Haas Racing, a day after Kevin Harvick won the first of two Cup Pocono races of the weekend. The victory was also Briscoe’s second with interim crew chief/veteran Greg Zipadelli.

“Yeah, a ton of concern [when Chastain passed me in overtime],” Briscoe said on FS1. “I felt like if I’d picked the bottom [lane], I could’ve, maybe, slid him, but I was really tight and was worried if I went to the bottom, I’d get too tight on exit. When I was catching Ross, I knew his trouble end was the Tunnel Turn. He was just so loose, so I just tried to use that to my advantage. I knew that was the one spot where I could, probably, make the pass. It was fun. He’s one of the hardest guys to race against and pass. We raced clean the whole time. We were really not that good at the beginning. We, kind of, struggled and didn’t have the speed I really anticipated to have here. It’s always fun when you can do that. We’re halfway to eight [wins], so hopefully, we can keep going.”

Chastain finished second for his fourth top-five result of the season. Despite the disappointment of finishing second and falling short of claiming his first win of the season, Chastain secured the fourth and final Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus of the season, second for the Kaulig Racing driver.

“We did everything right,” Chastain said on FS1. “We got the good push that we needed and cleared [Briscoe] into [Turn] 1. It’s tough to be upset with second, but I am. I’m so proud of Kaulig Racing, [Richard Childress Racing], everybody that brings these racecars and we’re unloading and we are in the top two to three every week. I know how lucky I am, but man, it’s the memories we take with us, not the money.”

Clements rallied from a pit road speeding penalty to finish third for his first top-five result of this season while Snider made a late charge in two laps to notch a career-best fourth in his 12th series start, his sixth driving the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

“I knew that I was getting a big push from behind,” Snider said. “I had a run coming on [Gragson], but I knew we were going to fall off real fast, so I started lifting up, but the guy behind me didn’t. So you can kind of see me squirreling around the whole time, and I’m trying slow down, but I just couldn’t stop. I hate that it got so many involved with it, but it ended up being a great day for us. We’re up front leading laps, and we had a chance to win there. It came down to experience for me. I’ve only had a few races with this RCR car. It’s got speed. I’ve just got to get myself a little more consistent, but kudos to the RCR guys for bringing such a fast TaxSlayer Camaro. I had a blast today. Just got to get a little more experience and I think that we’ll be able to win some races.”

Annett finished fifth for his first top-five result of the season followed by teammate Allgaier, who rallied from the late multi-car wreck that also collected his two JRM teammates. Moffitt, Timmy Hill, Herbst and Jesse Little finished in the top 10. Ryan Vargas, who was running in the top 10 until he got into the outside wall in Turn 1 on the final lap, settled in 13th.

There were 12 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 31 laps. Only 21 of the 36-car field finished on the lead lap.

With the win, Briscoe emerged with the points lead by three points over Gragson and 33 over Chastain.

Results:

1. Chase Briscoe, 24 laps led

2. Ross Chastain, 31 laps led

3. Jeremy Clements

4. Myatt Snider, eight laps led

5. Michael Annett

6. Justin Allgaier, nine laps led, Stage 2 winner

7. Brett Moffitt

8. Timmy Hill

9. Riley Herbst

10. Jesse Little

11. Dexter Bean

12. Ryan Sieg

13. Ryan Vargas

14. B.J. McLeod

15. Kyle Weatherman

16. Jeffrey Earnhardt

17. Alex Labbe

18. Vinnie Miller

19. Kody Vanderwal

20. Carson Ware

21. Stefan Parsons

22. Noah Gragson, one lap down, eight laps led

23. Justin Haley, two laps down

24. Bayley Currey, three laps down

25. Matt Mills – OUT, Transmission

26. Chad Finchum – OUT, Accident

27. Stephen Leicht – OUT, Electrical

28. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

29. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident, 11 laps led, Stage 1 winner

30. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Oil leak

31. Jeff Green – OUT, Power steering

32. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

33. Brandon Brown – OUT, Engine

34. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

35. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Accident

36. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident

The NASCAR Xfinity Series will travel to the midwest and compete in the first oval-road course race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 4, where the race will air at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

June 28, 2020
Brandon Jones Wins Pocono Thriller
The Truck Series race took 29 caution laps and one day to complete, but the finish was well worth the wait. Atlanta, Georgia native Brandon Jones finally nabbed his first career Truck Series win at Pocono Raceway.

“That was a heck of a battle,” said Jones, a full-time NASCAR Xfinity competitor who has won twice in that series. “I know it was fun to watch on TV-it was really fun for me there.”

“It’s not really that much pressure, honestly,” Jones said. “There’s so much they provide for us. We were all on a call with him (owner Kyle Busch) last night after the Cup race. He gave us so much information that led to this win today.”

In what was originally scheduled to be a Saturday event, weather forced the series officials to postpone the Truck Series event to early Sunday morning and in some aspects, the race did not disappoint.

On the pole was, Johnny Sauter in the No. 13 Ford F-150 via a random draw from earlier in the week. Jones and the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports group, drew 10th.

Stages 15-15-30 made up the 60 lap event.

Stage 1 Lap 1- Lap 15

The Pocono Organics was action packed from the get-go, especially on the first lap of the race, and the first turn. Austin Wayne Self in the No. 22, got loose and climbed up the track, which caused the No. 9 of Codie Rohrbaugh to get into the No. 88 of Matt Crafton. Rohrbaugh and Crafton collided with each other and made hard contact with the wall. Unfortunately, their day was cut short, and was credited with 39th and 40th.

Two more cautions slowed the stage again. One on lap 5, as Wayne Self was involved in another incident, this time with the No. 4 of Raphael Lessard. Lessard got into the grass going into Turn 3, which then made his Truck loose. It was unfortunate timing for Wayne Self, as he was right there when Lessard spun. Like Rohrbaugh and Crafton, Lessard’s and Wayne Self’s day were done early. They would end up finishing 37th and 38th, respectively in the running order.

Then on lap 11, Niece Motorsports Ty Majeski, pounded the inside wall going into Turn 1. This left the No. 45 Toyota heavily damaged. The Wisconsin native was unable to return to the event and forced to retire.

A two lap dash to the finish of Stage 1 was taken by Sheldon Creed and the No. 2 GMS Racing team. Austin Hill, Tyler Ankrum, Brandon Jones, Todd Gilliland, Grant Enfinger, Johnny Sauter, Zane Smith, Ross Chastain, and Ben Rhodes completed the top 10.

Stage 2 Lap 19- Lap 30

Like Stage 1, the second stage was filled with numerous accidents.

On lap 21, the No. 30 of Brennan Poole scraped the wall on the fronstretch. Moments later, Poole would cut down a tire and slam the wall in Turn 3 bringing out the fourth caution. There was some strategy played under caution, as Chastain, Derek Kraus, and Zane Smith were among the ones who pitted.

A restart was seen with four to go in the stage. However, another yellow flew, due to the No. 3 of Jordan Anderson spinning in Turn 1. A few laps before the yellow, Sauter, Enfinger, Gilliland, Jones pitted to get adjustments to their truck. During the stop, Enfinger was penalized after being too fast on pit road.

With the caution coming out so late in the stage and not enough time to get back going, the stage ended yellow and Creed once again picked up the stage victory. Eckes, Rhodes, Friesen, Tanner Gray, Ankrum, Smith, Moffitt, Bayley Currey, and Spencer Davis were the top 10 for Stage 2.

On pit road, Clay Greenfield and Tyler Ankrum, were penalized for having a crew member over the wall too soon. Christian Eckes and Chase Purdy also made slight contact on pit road as well.

Stage 3 Lap 33 – Lap 60

Off the restart for the final stage, rookie Zane Smith, grabbed the lead and led for a short while. Unfortunately, a few laps later with 25 to go, the No. 02 of Tate Fogleman hit the wall in Turn 3 after contact from Tanner Gray.

Finally after an early caution filled race, we saw a short green flag run of 11 laps. During those 11 laps, Brandon Jones and Christian Eckes traded the lead a couple of times, before Eckes pulled away from his teammate Jones. Looking for his first Truck Series win as well, the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver had a right-rear tire go down, which caused him to spin out in the tunnel turn and crash. Eckes would wind up 33rd in the overall results.

Before we could get to the thrilling finish, the final yellow was flown with six laps to go. Tim Viens in the No. 83 spun around in Turn 1. With the late race yellow, a restart would come with two laps to go.

There were multiple battles for the lead between Austin Hill, Sheldon Creed and Brandon Jones. Jones split the middle right before the entry off the tunnel turn. Eventually, Jones took the checkers ahead of Creed by .864 seconds for his first career Truck Series win.

There were nine cautions for 29 laps and eight lead changes among five different leaders.

Jones twice for 11 laps en route to the victory circle.

Official Results
1. Brandon Jones, led 11 laps
2. Austin Hill
3. Sheldon Creed, led 31 laps, won both stages
4. Todd Gilliland
5. Ben Rhodes
6. Ross Chastain, led 1 lap
7. Brett Moffitt
8. Stewart Friesen
9. Tyler Ankrum
10. Derek Kraus
11. Grant Enfinger
12. Tanner Gray
13. Johnny Sauter
14. Zane Smith, led 7 laps
15. Parker Kligerman
16. Bayley Currey
17. Jordan Anderson
18. Spencer Davis
19. Tyler Hill
20. Robby Lyons
21. Chase Purdy
22. Spencer Boyd
23. Josh Reaume
24. Korbin Forrister
25. Cory Roper
26. Bryan Dauzat
27. Ray Ciccarelli
28. Jesse Iwuji
29. Tim Viens, 1 lap down
30. Norm Benning, 1 lap down
31. Clay Greenfield, 2 laps down
32. Jennifer Jo Cobb, 6 laps down
33. Christian Eckes, OUT, Crash
34. Tate Fogleman, OUT, Crash
35. Brennan Poole, OUT, Damage Vehicle Policy
36. Ty Majeski, OUT, Crash
37. Raphael Lessard, OUT, Crash
38. Austin Wayne Self, OUT, Crash
39. Codie Rohrbaugh, OUT, Crash
40. Matt Crafton, OUT, Crash
Up Next: The NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series will take the Fourth of July weekend off, before heading to Kentucky Speedway on Saturday July 11.
June 28, 2020
Harvick benefits on strategy, outduels Hamlin for first Pocono triumph

In his 39th attempt at a track dubbed the Tricky Triangle, Kevin Harvick scratched Pocono Raceway off of his bucket list. Harvick exited ahead of teammate Aric Almirola with 37 laps remaining following a two-tire pit stop, inherited the lead twenty laps later and held off a late challenge from Denny Hamlin to win the Pocono Organics 325, the first of two Pocono Raceway events this weekend, for his third NASCAR Cup Series win of the season and the 52nd of his career.

The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Almirola, coming off his third-place result at Talladega Superspeedway backwards, drew the pole position and was joined on the front row with Ryan Blaney, who won at Talladega. Rookie Brennan Poole started at the rear of the field after his car failed pre-race inspection twice along with Josh Bilicki due to unapproved adjustments.

Delayed by scattered rain, the field ran extra pace laps under caution. When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Blaney made an attempt for the lead on the inside lane, but he got loose entering Turn 1, which allowed Almirola to clear with the lead through the Long Pond Straightaway as Kyle Busch moved into second. On the fifth lap, Blaney retook second and was followed by teammate Joey Logano while Kyle Busch slipped back to fourth.

At the front, Almirola was able to maintain his advantage by a second over Logano and above two seconds over Blaney through the competition caution on Lap 13. By then, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Matt DiBenedetto, both of whom started 14th and 21st, moved up to 10th and 11th while Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick, both of whom started fifth and ninth, had fallen back to 12th and 15th. Under caution, the top-eight competitors remained on track while a majority led by Jimmie Johnson pitted for early adjustments. When the pit stops cycled through, 14 competitors remained on track while Johnson was in 15th, the first car on fresh tires.

When the green flag flew and the race resumed on Lap 17, a handful of competitors running in the middle of the pack fanned out in racing five- to six-wide past the start/finish line before settling into side-by-side racing through Turn 1. Meanwhile, Almirola retained the lead followed by Logano while Blaney and Kyle Busch battled for third. The caution returned when rookie Quin Houff spun in Turn 2 and made contact with the inside wall.

The following restart, on Lap 21, Logano, who was lined up with teammates Blaney and Brad Keselowski, was able to race alongside Almirola entering Turn 1 before he took the lead through the Long Pond Straight. By then, Chase Elliott, who was racing on fresh tires, moved into the top five after passing Kurt Busch. Two laps later, drivers like Denny Hamlin, Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and rookie Christopher Bell pitted under green as part of a strategic move for the following stage. While most of the battling for track position occurred just outside the top 10, Logano was able to cruise to the first stage win. Almirola finished second followed by Blaney while Kyle Busch and Elliott finished in the top five. Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman and Erik Jones finished in the top 10.

Under the stage break, some led by Logano remained on track while others like Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Johnson, Clint Bowyer, rookie Tyler Reddick, Ryan Newman, Jones, Bubba Wallace, rookie Cole Custer, Ryan Preece, Michael McDowell and Daniel Suarez pitted. Following the pit stops, Reddick was assessed a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road.

The second stage started on Lap 31, where Almirola was able to return to the lead after restarting on the bottom lane. Logano dropped to second while Elliott moved into third after passing Blaney. By then, DiBenedetto moved into the top five while Bowman, Austin Dillon and William Byron were running seventh through ninth.

By Lap 35, Hamlin was in 13th followed by Harvick and Kyle Busch while Johnson was in 20th. Over the next 10 laps, Blaney, Kurt Busch, Logano, DiBenedetto and Bowman made a green-flag pit stop. A lap later, on Lap 46, Almirola pitted under green along with Elliott. Their pit stops allowed Truex, who last pitted on Lap 14, to take the lead followed by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch, all of whom were running with distinct pit strategies. Byron was in fourth followed by Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher and Jones.

By Lap 55, Truex was ahead by three-tenths of a second over Hamlin with Kyle Busch trailing by nearly two seconds. Behind, Harvick was in seventh, Matt Kenseth was in ninth and Bell was the highest-running rookie in 10th with Nemechek and Reddick in 12th and 13th. Johnson was in 14th followed by Wallace while Bowyer was in 20th. Almirola was in 24th followed by Logano, Blaney, Elliott, Kurt Busch and DiBenedetto, all of whom trailed the leaders by 28 seconds.

Over the next five laps, Nemechek, Buescher and Austin Dillon made a green-flag pit stop. On Lap 60, Hamlin passed teammate Truex to inherit the lead. At the same time, Byron made a green-flag pit stop. Shortly after, Truex pitted along with Kenseth as his two teammates, Kyle Busch and Jones, moved into second and third. By then, Harvick and Bell were in the top five while Almirola was in 14th. A lap later, Johnson made a pit stop, but nearly made contact with the lapped car of Bilicki while trying to enter his pit box.

With 13 laps remaining in the second stage, J.J. Yeley blew a left-front tire following contact with Nemechek the previous lap entering Turn 4 and drew a caution when the tire shredded and debris scattered from Yeley’s car. Under caution, nearly the entire field led by Hamlin and Kyle Busch pitted with Hamlin exiting first on four fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Ty Dillon was assessed a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road. When the field cycled through, Almirola remained on track and returned the lead followed by Logano, Blaney, Elliott, Truex, Kurt Busch, Bowman, DiBenedetto and Byron.

The green flag returned with eight laps remaining in the second stage and Almirola was able to fend off teammates Logano and Blaney to retain the lead through Turn 1. By then, Hamlin wasted no time carving his way to seventh. Two laps later, Jones lifted off the throttle entering Turn 4 and Reddick made contact with Jones’ No. 20 Toyota as both slid towards the inside wall with Jones pounding the wall head-on and Reddick sustaining heavy damage to the right side of his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. The caution fell following the wreck. Jones retired, moving him into a backup car for Sunday’s second Cup Pocono race, while Reddick continued. Under caution, a handful of competitors, including Kurt Busch, Byron, Austin Dillon, Johnson and Custer, pitted. On the track, Stenhouse stalled his car due to low fuel pressure and pitted to address the issue.

With two laps remaining in the second stage, Almirola and Logano raced dead even through Turn 1 before Almirola cleared Logano on the outside lane through the first turn. With a majority of competitors jostling for positions in the two-lap dash, Almirola was able to win the second stage by three-tenths of a second over Logano for his first stage win of the 2020 season and gain crucial points towards the Playoffs. Truex settled in third followed by Blaney and DiBenedetto while Bowman, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Elliott finished in the top 10.

Under the stage break, only a handful of competitors that included Blaney, Elliott, Ty Dillon and Byron pitted while the rest remained on track. Elliott spent extra time in his pit box to have his right rear fender repaired. In addition, he turned down a bungee chord to hold his car in fourth gear, which popped out, as he will manage the gear himself for the remainder of the race. To make matters worse, he was penalized due to an uncontrolled tire violation and restarted towards the tail end of the lead lap car.

The final stage commenced with 48 laps remaining as Almirola received a push from DiBenedetto to retain the lead. On the Long Pond Straight, Harvick went three wide with Logano and DiBenedetto to move into second. Logano fell back to sixth as DiBenedetto, Truex and Hamlin passed him.

Eight laps later, Almirola was still ahead by six-tenths of a second over Harvick with DiBenedetto trailing by nearly four seconds. Truex, Logano and Hamlin were running fourth through sixth while Bowman, Newman, Kyle Busch and Bell were running inside the top 10. Shortly after, the following competitors of Blaney, Logano, Keselowski, Truex, Kyle Busch, Byron and Johnson made a green-flag pit stop. Over the next two laps, Bowman pitted along with teammate Elliott, Wallace, Bowyer and DiBenedetto.

With 37 laps remaining, teammates Almirola and Harvick made their green-flag pit stops, but Harvick exited ahead of Almirola following a two-tire stop. Their services gave the lead to Hamlin followed by Newman, Michael McDowell, Buescher and Preece. Others competitors that pitted during this time included Nemechek, Kurt Busch, Bell, Austin Dillon and Kenseth. Five laps later, Hamlin surrendered the lead to pit for two fresh tires as Newman moved into the lead. By then, the top-seven competitors were still racing out on old tires and low fuel while Harvick, the first with fresh tires and a full tank of gas, was in eighth.

With 23 laps remaining, Ty Dillon pitted for fuel while the top-six cars led by Newman continued running on the track as the leaders on low fuel and worn tires. Three laps later, McDowell passed Newman to move into the lead. Buescher was in third behind McDowell and Newman followed by Preece and Stenhouse. Shortly after, McDowell, Newman and Stenhouse pitted, giving the lead to Buescher. Another lap later, Preece pitted as Harvick moved into second, trailing Buescher by more than 11 seconds.

Six laps later, Buescher pitted and Harvick assumed the lead with Hamlin, Almirola, Truex, Bell and Kyle Busch trailing. Another two laps later, Bowman made an unscheduled pit stop to address a flat right-rear tire and minimal damage to the right side of his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. The race remained under green-flag conditions with no debris reported on the track from Bowman’s car.

With the laps dwindling, Hamlin, who reported vibrating issues to his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, started to narrow his deficit from Harvick, who was approaching lapped traffic. With 10 laps remaining, Harvick was ahead by less than a second over Hamlin with Almirola trailing by nearly 13 seconds, Bell by nearly 16 seconds and teammates Kyle Busch and Truex by approximately 18 seconds.

Three laps later, with seven to go, Logano made an unscheduled pit stop after blowing a left-front tire, but the race remained under green. By then, Elliott was lapped by Harvick, who was still a second ahead over Hamlin and more than 12 seconds ahead of Almirola. Another three laps later, Harvick, who had lapped Wallace, stabilized his lead to more than a second over Hamlin, who continued reporting vibrating concerns to his car. The following lap, Hamlin decreased his deficit to less than half a second to Harvick as the battle between the two veterans ignited. Though Hamlin nearly drew himself to the rear bumper of Harvick in the Long Pond Straightaway, Harvick gained a huge run entering Turn 4, which stalled Hamlin’s progress.

When the final lap started, Harvick was ahead by three-tenths of a second over Hamlin. In the Long Pond Straight, Harvick was able to increase his lead by another three-tenths of a second after he broke Hamlin’s draft towards Harvick, which gave the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford the advantage and the gap he needed to claim his first elusive checkered flag at Pocono.

Coming into this weekend’s doubleheader, Harvick’s previous best result at Pocono was second four times. With his first win at the Tricky Triangle, Kentucky Speedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval remain the only active Cup tracks where Harvick has yet to fill in a win column. In addition, Harvick joined Hamlin as the only three-time winners of this year’s Cup season with 14 races completed as he also recorded the third Cup victory of 2020 for Stewart-Haas Racing and the eighth for the Ford nameplate.

“[I] Just gotta thank everybody on our Head for the Mountains Busch Beer Ford Mustang,” Harvick said on FOX. “We weren’t where we needed to be to start the start. Lost a bunch of track position. Came back, made some great strategy calls and we were able to get out front and make some good laps. It’s great to, finally, check Pocono off the list. Everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing has done such a great job with all of our cars every time we’ve come here over the last seven years. I guess we just need special paint schemes to get to Victory Lane. Just glad it didn’t rain all day. I think in the end, it’s gonna come down to strategy and what you need to do [on Sunday].”

Hamlin finished second, more than seven-tenths of a second behind Harvick, for his eighth top-five result of this season followed by Almirola, who led a race-high 61 of the event’s 130-scheduled laps and earned his third consecutive top-five result this season.

“[The vibration]’s bad,” Hamlin said. “It was like someone loosened all the [lug] nuts on the car. It’s unfortunate. We got there and we came there from a long way back. Had a strong FedEx Camry. With about 15, 20 to go, the vibration just got really, really bad. Still, it would’ve been tough to pass. Even though we got there, it was gonna be tough to get around [Harvick]. Man, our car was extremely, extremely fast. [I’m] Optimistic for tomorrow’s race, for sure.”

“We opted to score a lot of points [in the stages], and that probably hurt us on strategy a little bit, but I’m really proud of [crew chief Mike] Buga [Bugarewicz] and these [No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford] guys,” Almirola said. “They’ve been bringing some awesome race cars. I felt like we were tit-for-tat there with [Harvick] when we were on older tires and in clean air. We’re trying to keep the momentum going. Three top fives in a row. I’m really proud of my race team.”

Bell and Kyle Busch finished in the top five. Truex, Bowyer, McDowell and Keselowski finished sixth through ninth while Buescher passed Kenseth with two laps remaining to finish 10th. Ryan Preece finished 20th and will start on the pole position for the second Pocono race on Sunday, where he will share the front row with 19th-place finisher Austin Dillon. Melbourne, Australia’s James Davison finished 34th, five laps behind the leaders, in his Cup debut.

There were 10 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 21 laps. Only 21 of the 40-car field finished on the lead lap.

With his victory, Harvick stabilized his lead in the Cup Series regular-season standings by 29 points over Blaney and 47 over Logano.

Results:

1. Kevin Harvick, 17 laps led

2. Denny Hamlin, 10 laps led

3. Aric Almirola, 61 laps led, Stage 2 winner

4. Christopher Bell

5. Kyle Busch

6. Martin Truex Jr., 14 laps led

7. Clint Bowyer

8. Michael McDowell, one lap led

9. Brad Keselowski

10. Chris Buescher, three laps led

11. Matt Kenseth

12. Ryan Blaney

13. Matt DiBenedetto

14. William Byron

15. Ryan Newman, 13 laps led

16. Cole Custer

17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

18. Kurt Busch

19. Austin Dillon

20. Ryan Preece

21. Jimmie Johnson

22. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

23. Corey LaJoie, one lap down

24. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down

25. Chase Elliott, one lap down

26. Ty Dillon, one lap down

27. Alex Bowman, one lap down

28. Daniel Suarez, two laps down

29. Brennan Poole, three laps down

30. Tyler Reddick, four laps down

31. J.J. Yeley, five laps down

32. Josh Bilicki, five laps down

33. Garrett Smithley, five laps down

34. James Davison, five laps down

35. Timmy Hill, five laps down

36. Joey Logano, six laps down

37. Joey Gase, nine laps down

38. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

39. BJ McLeod – OUT, Transmission

40. Quin Houff – OUT, Accident

The Cup Series’ second Pocono race as part of the doubleheader feature will air the following day, June 28, at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

June 27, 2020
Blaney records first win of 2020 at Talladega

In an overtime shootout on a cloudy afternoon, Ryan Blaney outlasted a last-lap challenge from Erik Jones and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to win the rain-postponed GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway for his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2020 season. The win was Blaney’s fourth of his career in his 175th series start and his second straight victory at Talladega.

The race was postponed from Sunday, June 21, to Monday, June 22, due to inclement weather washing away chances for the race to start as scheduled on Sunday. The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Martin Truex Jr. started on pole position and started on the front row alongside teammate Denny Hamlin. William Byron and Garrett Smithley started at the rear of the field for failing pre-race inspection twice along with Brendan Gaughan, B.J. McLeod and Daniel Suarez, all of whom due to unapproved adjustments. Joey Gase also failed pre-race inspection three times and started at the rear of the field. In addition, he was assessed a pass-through penalty when the race started.

Prior to the opening ceremonies, the competitors and crew members pushed Bubba Wallace’s No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the front of the grid and stood in full solidarity behind Wallace amid Sunday’s controversy, where a noose was found hanging in Wallace’s garage stall. In an ongoing investigation with the FBI, NASCAR has yet to identify the person(s) involved with the racial inequality treatment towards Wallace. Once the opening ceremonies concluded, everyone, including team owner and NASCAR legend Richard Petty, embraced the sport’s lone African-American competitor in support before making their way to their respective cars and pit stalls for the race.

When the green flag waved, Truex jumped to an early lead on the inside lane with his teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch trailing behind him. Following the first two laps, the first four cars led by Truex followed by Hamlin and the Busch brothers were racing in a single-file line on the bottom while Kevin Harvick was the first car leading the outside lane. On the fifth lap, when Truex went high to block Harvick, Hamlin made his move on the bottom lane to move into the lead. He then led a five-car breakaway from the pack. Two laps later, however, Hamlin went high on the frontstretch to block a run from Logano, but Logano was able to prevail the following lap to take the lead. On the 10th lap, Truex was shoved out of the draft as he drifted behind the lead pack. Shorty after, Hamlin was able to retake the lead and was followed by Stenhouse and rookie Christopher Bell while Logano fell back to fifth, battling against Kyle Busch. By then, Harvick also dropped out of the lead group and settled near the top 20.

On Lap 15, Logano reassumed the lead on the outside lane on the frontstretch after receiving a boost from teammate Keselowski. Logano settled on the outside lane with his teammates, Keselowski and Ryan Blaney, behind him while Hamlin continued challenging Logano for the lead on the inside lane. After battling Logano side by side for the next three laps, Hamlin rocketed back to the lead on the 18th lap followed by Stenhouse and Kyle Busch while Logano fell back to fourth, battling Kurt Busch. On Lap 22, Blaney and Keselowski drafted Logano back to the lead. For the next three laps, Logano was able to maintain the lead over his teammates when the competition caution flew on Lap 25. By then, names like Chris Buescher, rookie Cole Custer, Stenhouse and John Hunter Nemechek were running inside the top 10. Johnson was in 11th followed by Bell and teammate Alex Bowman, Elliott was in 15th, Byron was in 17th, Harvick was in 20th, Newman was in 23rd behind Reddick, Wallace was in 25th and Truex was in 27th.

Under the competition caution, six of the lead-lap cars remained on track while the rest made an early pit stop. For those who pitted, Logano exited first after taking two tires followed by Blaney, Hamlin, Keselowski and Custer. When the field cycled through, Matt DiBenedetto, who remained on track, emerged with the lead followed by Harvick, Newman, Ryan Preece and Kenseth. The following lap, the top five competitors along with B.J. McLeod pitted, giving the lead back to Logano.

When the race restarted on Lap 30, Hamlin mounted a challenge for the lead on the inside lane before Logano pulled away and cleared the field in Turn 2 followed by Blaney and Keselowski. The following lap, Stenhouse made a move on the inside lane after being drafted by Custer. In Turn 3, Stenhouse attempted to move in front of Logano on the outside lane, but Logano crossed over beneath Stenhouse as Stenhouse was trapped on the outside lane and drifted out of the lead pack.

With potential weather threats and dark clouds approaching the track, the action of the field started to intensify as more competitors started making moves towards the front. By Lap 35, the top-21 cars were running within one second of the lead as Logano continued to lead on the bottom lane while Kyle Busch issued a challenge for it on the outside lane. The following lap, Kyle Busch managed to lead a lap after receiving drafting help from Byron and Austin Dillon. On Lap 40, three laps after Logano was back in front, Byron emerged with the lead after receiving a draft from Hamlin on the outside lane while Kyle Busch drifted back to 17th. The following lap, Hamlin moved on the outside lane and returned to the lead with Bell drafting behind him. As the race progressed, the racing at the front continued to intensify with the field expanding to three-wide racing and drafting one another to draw close to the front. All of this occurred as the winds intensified and the skies darkened into fogginess.

By Lap 50, Bowman emerged with the lead by a nose over Logano. With five laps remaining in the first stage, Hamlin made an unexpected pit stop as a result of making contact with the wall and cutting a right-front tire. The incident costed Hamlin a lap behind the leaders. Soon after, the caution flew due to sprinkles occurring in Turns 1 and 2. At the time of caution, rookie Tyler Reddick emerged with the lead followed by Bowman, Logano, Johnson and Kyle Busch. Shortly after, the field made their way to pit road and the race was red-flagged as the cars were covered and the competitors and crew members went to seek shelter.

Following a delay of more than 57 minutes, the competitors returned to their cars and the race resumed under caution as the jet dryers continued drying the track in preparation for the next green-flag run. The first stage concluded under caution and Reddick emerged with his first Cup stage win followed by Bowman, Logano, Johnson and Kyle Busch. Blaney, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Elliott and Byron were running in the top 10. By then, there were 21 lead changes and eight competitors who led a lap. Under caution, a majority of the leaders pitted and Bowman exited first followed by Johnson, Logano, Blaney and Keselowski as Reddick fell back to eighth. Drivers like Newman, Harvick, Kenseth, rookie Brennan Poole and McLeod remained on track, but shortly after, they pitted and gave the lead to Bowman. During this time, Hamlin, who lost a lap following his unscheduled pit stop due to a flat tire and had sustained minimal damage, was able to take the wave around to return on the lead lap as he restarted in 34th.

When the second stage and the race resumed on Lap 65, Bowman jumped with the lead, but Blaney made a move on the inside lane to lead the following lap. Then, Kyle Busch formed a third lane on the outside lane and started to march to the front. The following lap, Johnson led a lap before Kyle Busch received a draft from DiBenedetto to move into the front. By Lap 70, as the field expanded to three lanes and the competitors started making efforts to move to the front, the Busch brothers were at the front with Kyle leading Kurt. Blaney was in fourth and challenging on the outside lane with his two Penske teammates behind him.

Ten laps and three lead changes later, the Penske trio were leading the field with Blaney ahead of Logano and Keselowski followed by DiBenedetto, their Penske-alliance teammate, and Kyle Busch. In addition, of the 40-car, the top-30 competitors were separated by less than two seconds with 35 on the lead lap. On Lap 83, Matt Kenseth made a charge on the outside lane towards the Penske cars, but he was nearly turned by Stenhouse in Turn 2, which caused both competitors to loose their momentum from the outside pack and drift outside the top 20. By Lap 90, Wallace, the first car on the outside lane, was battling Custer for a top-five spot and more while being drafted by Kyle Busch.

The race reached its halfway mark on Lap 94 with Blaney still leading his teammates and the field, and with 34 of the 40-car field running on the lead lap. Shortly after, the caution flew when Nemechek got loose entering Turn 4 after reporting a cut right-front tire and spun near the pit road entrance, where he slid his car across the tri-oval grass. He kept his car intact as the field doged him. Under caution, a majority of the leaders pitted and Blaney retained the lead followed by teammates Keselowski and Logano. Drivers like Poole, Corey LaJoie, Preece and Newman remained on track, but once they pitted, Blaney returned to the lead.

The race restarted on Lap 99, and the top-nine competitor on the bottom lane separated themselves from the pack in a single-file line before Kyle Busch started his charge back to the front on the high lane. On Lap 106, Stenhouse led a lap over Blaney as Wallace started to charge towards the front in a third lane on the outside with drafting help from Harvick. Blaney continued flexing his muscles at the front, leading the next five laps, before Stenhouse returned to the lead. Two laps later, Blaney made a bold move on the outside lane entering the frontstretch and nearly slipped sideways in front of Keselowski and the field, but was able to straighten his No. 12 Penske Ford and return to the lead. Not long after, the caution returned due to debris reported on the track, a debris that was hit by Preece. Under caution, the front half of the field remained on track while the second half, which included Preece, Bowman, Ty Dillon, Kenseth, Jones, Harvick, Elliott, Aric Almirola and Daniel Suarez pitted.

The race returned to green in a two-lap dash to conclude the second stage. At the start, Stenhouse challenged Blaney for the lead on the outside lane with drafting help from Kyle Busch. Stenhouse emerged with a nose the following lap with drafting help from Byron. Byron made a move for the lead in Turn 2 before Blaney fought back the following turn. Entering the frontstretch, Stenhouse was nearly turned by Kyle Busch, but he was able to win the second stage. Blaney finished second followed by Kyle Busch, Keselowski and Bell while Logano, Wallace, Custer, Buescher and Byron were scored in the top 10. By then, there were 39 lead changes with 13 different leaders.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Bowman exited first followed by Elliott, Bowyer, Preece and Almirola, all of whom pitted for only fuel, while Blaney, the first car on fresh tires, exited sixth in front of teammates Keselowski and Logano. A handful of competitors, led by Buescher, remained on track. Following the pit stops, Kyle Busch made another pit stop to have a quarter panel brace repaired.

With 63 laps remaining, the final stage commenced led by Buescher, but Harvick and Elliott split Buescher in the frontstretch with Harvick leading the following lap. During this time, Kenseth, who was running inside the top 10, pulled his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet below the apron and made an unscheduled pit stop to address a flat tire and a mechanical issue to his car. Kenseth would eventually take his car to the garage for further repairs. Soon after, Preece edged Elliott by a nose to lead a lap before Elliott received a draft from Harvick and Hamlin to lead. Meanwhile, Blaney regrouped with Keselowski and started challenging for the lead on the outside lane.

The caution returned with 55 laps remaining when Elliott, who was running fourth, was blocked by Logano and was bumped by Keselowski from behind, which turned Elliott into the wall, where he made contact and slid sideways with damage to the front nose and rear end of his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Amazingly, the field scattered and dodged him, though Austin Dillon sustained right-front damage after making contact with Elliott’s wrecked Camaro. Under caution, a handful of competitors led by the Penske trio remained on track while others pitted. When the pit stops concluded, Harvick exited first after a fuel-only stop.

Five laps later, the race restarted and Blaney moved from the outside to the inside lane in front of teammates Logano and Keselowski to stabilize his lead. Two laps after the restart, Kyle Busch mounted a challenge on the outside lane. By then, Elliott, who attempted to continue the race with a wrecked racecar, retired with a missed opportunity of winning at Talladega for the second time. After sustaining damage from making with Elliott, Austin Dillon also retired. With 46 laps remaining, Poole and Joey Gase wrecked in Turns 3 and 4, thus drawing another caution. A majority of leaders pitted under caution, mainly for fuel, and Stenhouse led the field off pit road followed by Harvick, Bowman, Bowyer and Hamlin while Blaney exited seventh. The top-eight competitors led by Bell and Jones remained on track. Prior to the restart, a majority of the field returned to pit road for fuel to make it the rest of the way while Bell, Jones, Stenhouse, Harvick, Bowyer, Hamlin and Kurt Busch remained on track.

With 42 to go, the race restarted and Bell made contact with Jones while trying to move to the inside lane in front of Jones’ No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, which caused Jones to slip below the double yellow lines (out of bounds). Their contact allowed Harvick to move into the lead followed by teammates Custer and Almirola while Hamlin charged on the outside lane. A lap later, Logano, who restarted 12th, moved back into the lead. Shortly after, Bell was assessed a pass-through penalty down pit road for forcing Jones below the yellow lines on the restart. In addition, Kyle Busch fell off the pace after sustaining a flat right-rear tire. By the time Busch returned on track, he was two laps behind the leaders.

With 34 to go, the field settled in running single file on the bottom lane with Byron leading Logano, Hamlin, Harvick, Johnson and Wallace. The top-20 competitors were separated just above a second while another group of competitors behind, led by 21st-place DiBenedetto, trailed by around two seconds. Six laps later, Wallace emerged with the lead as Byron slipped and fell out of the draft. Shortly after, Logano returned to the lead followed by Harvick while Preece made a move on the outside lane in an attempt to move to the front. He did so the next lap and Bowman made his move to the outside of Preece in an attempt to take the lead. Preece, however, was able to emerge ahead of Bowman the next time the field circled back to the start/finish line as the front pack started racing two by two.

With 20 to go, Bowman was the leader followed by Reddick, Logano, Hamlin and Preece as fuel mileage slowly became the concerning topic for a number of competitors at the front. Five laps later, Reddick was back ahead of the pack followed by Hamlin and Wallace. During this time, Bell, who was running with the lead pack while a lap behind, was forced off the track in Turn 2, but he continued driving straight.

With 10 to go, Reddick was still in the lead ahead of Hamlin and Logano as the field made their way past a five-car pack led by Brendan Gaughan, which the lead pack lapped. With five to go, Reddick continued to lead followed by Hamlin, Wallace and Blaney, who had marched back towards the front. Two laps later, after Hamlin had fallen off the pace due to running out of fuel, Blaney returned to the lead. Just pass the start/finish line, Johnson, who was behind Blaney, was clipped by Harvick and spun below the infield entering Turn 1, which drew the caution and sent the race into overtime. By then, Wallace was also out of fuel. Under caution, a majority of competitors at the front pitted, mainly for fuel. Others like Blaney, Harvick, Stenhouse, Buescher and Custer remained on track while on low tanks of fuel.

Prior to the overtime, Custer and Newman peeled off the track to pit for fuel, which jumbled up the field for the restart. In overtime, Harvick received a draft from Buescher to jump to the lead while Blaney came charging back with drafting help from Stenhouse. Harvick started the final lap and led through Turn 3 before Blaney raced back to the lead. By then, a multi-car wreck ensued that involved Truex, DiBenedetto, Bell, LaJoie and Clint Bowyer. Entering the frontstretch, Stenhouse and Jones made a final-corner charge for Blaney. Jones went high and tried to cross back to the bottom, but was blocked by Blaney. He then went high again followed by Nemechek and Blaney moved up and made contact with Jones, turning Jones into the outside wall. At the finish line, Blaney edged Stenhouse by 0.007 seconds to win at Talladega for his first elusive Cup win of the season and second in a row at Talladega.

With Blaney’s win, all three Team Penske competitors have recorded at least one win this season as Blaney also became the eighth winner of this season. Blaney also accomplished his first win with his new crew chief Todd Gordon as he has now won 15 races across NASCAR’s top three national division series.

“Just another exciting one here,” Blaney said on MRN Radio. “I was wanting to take the bottom [lane]. I thought [Stenhouse] was a really good pusher all day and I thought the bottom lane, just kind of get out there was gonna be good. I don’t know if he spun his tires or what, but [I] didn’t get the help at all, but was able to pick and choose lanes there and wanted to wait for a while till later on that last lap. You don’t want to wait too long because the caution might come out. I was surprised the caution didn’t come out in [Turns] three and four, and I was lucky we were ahead. Then, they got a big run again. I was kind of out too far down the frontstretch. I really couldn’t see who was outside. I knew there were some people, I just tried to go up to slow’em down. We, kind of, hit, beat and banged. I don’t know where [Stenhouse] came from. He came with a big run there. Me and [Jones], kind of, got beatin’ and bangin’. I was trying to slow him down. He almost got us, I guess. ”

Stenhouse settled in second followed by Almirola, who spun backwards across the finish line. Hamlin settled in fourth while Jones was able to limp his car across the line in fifth. Buescher, Bowman, Nemechek, Kurt Busch and Harvick rounded out the top 10. Jimmie Johnson rallied from his late spin to finish 13th in his penultimate run at Talladega

After the race, while Blaney celebrated his race win, Wallace, who rallied to finish 14th for his sixth top-15 finish of the season, went up to salute, greet and celebrate his strong run amid his tough week with the limited amount of fans allowed to enter and watch the race at the grandstands.

“Just a stout day,” Wallace said on MRN. “I didn’t know how our Victory Junction Chevrolet was gonna be. We weren’t very good following. We jumped up to the top just to make something work and man, we were a good lead car. We got the lead there for a short stint, but it was still good to come out with a solid day. Maybe one or two scratches [on the car], which is pretty good for us. All in all, it’s just gonna be a long week, but it’s good to come out with a good finish. [The fans], They’re family, we’re all family out here. I appreciate every fan coming out today, enjoying the day and glad we got it in. That was pretty cool right there.”

The race featured 57 lead changes with 19 different leaders. There were eight cautions for 33 laps.

With his top-10 run, Harvick continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 23 points over Logano and 25 over Blaney.

Results:

1. Ryan Blaney, 63 laps led

2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., five laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Aric Almirola

4. Denny Hamlin, 18 laps led

5. Erik Jones

6. Chris Buescher, four laps led

7. Alex Bowman, 12 laps led

8. John Hunter Nemechek

9. Kurt Busch

10. Kevin Harvick, two laps led

11. William Byron, 11 laps led

12. Ty Dillon

13. Jimmie Johnson, one lap led

14. Bubba Wallace, one lap led

15. Ryan Preece, three laps led

16. Corey LaJoie

17. Joey Logano, 33 laps led

18. Michael McDowell

19. Brad Keselowski

20. Tyler Reddick, 19 laps led, Stage 1 winner

21. Brendan Gaughan

22. Cole Custer

23. Ryan Newman, one lap led

24. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led

25. Clint Bowyer, one lap down

26. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

27. Quin Houff, one lap down

28. Daniel Suarez, one lap down

29. Christopher Bell, one lap down, four laps led

30. Gray Gaulding, one lap down

31. B.J. McLeod, one lap down

32. Kyle Busch, two laps down, five laps led

33. Timmy Hill, six laps down

34. Garrett Smithley, six laps down

35. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident, one lap led

36. J.J. Yeley, 13 laps down

37. Joey Gase – OUT, Accident

38. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident, three laps led

39. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

40. Matt Kenseth – OUT, Rear hub

The following weekend will feature the first NASCAR Cup Series’ weekend doubleheader at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The first Pocono race will air on June 27 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX while the second race will air on June 28 at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

June 22, 2020
Haley Wins The Unhinged 300 At Talladega Superspeedway

It was a great day for the Xfinity race on Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway. As the field took the green flag you get that feeling that something is going to happen. Mayhem would happen at some point we just didn’t know when. One driver managed to get through everything and bring home the trophy. Justin Haley in his No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevy wins his first career victory at Talladega.

Haley commented, “Just a wonderful day emotionally. I’m fighting for a ride the next time I get in a race car next year. “ he added, “ Big hats off to the No. 11 crew and everyone at Kaulig Racing, Kaulig we love you, thank you so much. It’s amazing.”

Ross Chastain driving his No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevy may not have won the race, but he didn’t mind coming in second to his teammate and walking away with the Dash 4 Cash $100.000 prize money.

Chastain said, “So proud of the Kaulig Racing team coming into pit road under green out perfect, that’s the way you draw it up.” He added, “ Caution came out and set us up for track position. I’ve never been so happy to finish second. God is Good.”

Coming in third was Jeb Burton in his No. 8 JR Motorsport Chevy. Burton was eligible for the Dash 4 Cash prize but just couldn’t quite get to the front past the Kaulig Racing teammates.

Austin Cindric and Brett Moffitt would round out the top five. Anthony Alfredo, A.J. Allmendinger, Gray Gaulding, Alex Labbe and Noah Gragson finished sixth through 10 respectively.

Stage 1 only had one caution in it and that was the competition caution at lap 10. It looked as if they could have the “Big One” at any moment as the were racing three and four wide. It made for an exciting finish with Justin Haley winning the stage.

Stage 2 went caution-free from start to finish. It also was an exciting stage just waiting for something to happen. What did happen was a lot of swapping for the lead. So much so, that it was hard to keep up at times. Chase Briscoe would win stage 2.

The final stage it where all the action happened. The first caution was for Chase Briscoe and Riley Herbst who got tangled up together. The second caution brought out the red flag when there was a mini “Big One”. Involving Harrison Burton, Joe Graf Jr., and Josh Williams. With ten laps to go the “Big One” finally hit bringing out the red flag for the second time. Some of the drivers involved were Myatt Snider, Tommy Joe Martins, Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones just to name a few.

When the cleanup was complete the field was set for a 3 lap shootout for the win. Haley had his teammate to help and took the win.

The top five in driver points are Gragson with 469 points, Briscoe with 454 points, Austin Cindric with 426 points, Chastain with 422 points, and H. Burton with 399 points.

The Xfinity Series will head next to Pocono Raceway on Saturday June 28.

June 21, 2020
Hamlin earns milestone win at Homestead

Denny Hamlin outlasted multiple weather delays due to lightning strikes and a late duel with Chase Elliott to win the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway for his third win of the season. It was his third in Miami and his 40th NASCAR Cup Series career win, moving him into a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin for 19th place on the all-time Cup wins list.

The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Hamlin started on pole position and was joined on the front row by Joey Logano. Quin Houff started at the rear of the field due to failing pre-race inspection twice along with B.J. McLeod due to unapproved adjustments.

Delayed for nearly an hour due to scattered rain and lightning reported near the track, the race was able to roll under green-flag conditions for the opening three laps, where Logano, who started on the bottom lane, took an early lead and was followed by teammate Brad Keselowski. Shortly after, the first caution of the day flew on the fourth lap due to a lightning strike reported near the area. The field led by Logano was directed to pit road as the red flag was displayed.

Following a delay of more than two hours, all drivers and crew members returned to their respective positions as the track was cleared for racing to resume. When the race returned to green on the ninth lap, Logano retained the lead over Hamlin, who settled in second while being pursued by Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick.

By Lap 20, Logano, Keselowski and Hamlin separated themselves from the pack by three seconds over fourth-place Harvick, who was being pursued by Elliott and rookie Tyler Reddick, who started in 24th. A lap later, the caution flew when Ryan Newman slid below the apron through Turns 3 and 4 after sustaining a flat right-rear tire. He was able to nurse his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford back to pit road to have the tire changed. Immediately, NASCAR declared the caution for Newman to serve as the competition caution initially established for Lap 25. At the time of caution, Kyle Busch was back in 10th after starting fourth and Jimmie Johnson was in 18th after starting ninth. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Logano retained the lead followed by Harvick, Reddick, Hamlin and Elliott. Following the pit stops, Matt Kenseth made another pit stop to address a loose wheel while Ty Dillon was assessed a pit road speeding penalty.

When the race restarted on Lap 25, Logano received a bump from Reddick to retain the lead as Reddick battled Elliott for second. A lap later, Blaney made a three-wide move on Harvick and Hamlin in Turn 3 to move into fourth. Four laps later, Elliott emerged as the new leader after passing Logano in Turn 1 while Reddick wasted no time challenging Logano for the runner-up spot. Two laps later, just as Blaney was about to challenge teammate Logano for third, the fourth caution of the race flew due to another lightning strike reported outside the track. The field was directed to pit road and the race was placed in a red-flagged situation.

Following a weather delay of nearly 40 minutes, the red flag was lifted and the drivers were cleared to return to their cars and reignite their engines. Once the cars returned to track under caution, the field pitted. Following the pit stops, Logano sustained damage after making contact with Houff. Behind, Harvick and Matt DiBenedetto also sustained damage to their respective machines when the field stacked up behind Logano. Harvick and DiBenedetto would pit again to have the damage addressed and repaired, sending them to the rear of the field.

When the race restarted under green-flag conditions under the lights on Lap 37, Blaney made a charge on the outside lane to take the lead by the time the field cycled back to the start/finish line. Eight laps later, Blaney was ahead by more than a second over Hamlin, who slid in front of Elliott entering Turn 2 to move in the runner-up spot. Reddick and Keselowski followed suit.

By Lap 60, Blaney was still ahead by more than a second over Hamlin and Reddick. Aric Almirola, who started 21st, moved up to fourth and was trailing the leaders by four seconds followed by Elliott. During this time, Chris Buescher and William Byron, both of whom started 13th and 22nd, were in ninth and 10th while the Busch brothers of Kyle and Kurt, both of whom started fourth and 10th, were in 11th and 12th. Truex, who started sixth and was coming off his midweek win at Martinsville Speedway, was in 13th while Newman recovered from his early spin to settle in 14th. Harvick and Logano were back in 15th and 17th while Johnson was trapped in 26th. During this time, Erik Jones made an unscheduled pit stop to address a loose wheel.

With the laps of the first stage dwindling, a battle for the lead started brewing as Hamlin caught Blaney. Hamlin made several attempts in charging his No. 11 FedEx Toyota on the inside lane through the corners and try to clear Blaney entering the straightaways, but Blaney would gain momentum from rim-riding towards the outside wall to maintain his advantage through the straightaways. With four laps remaining in the stage, Hamlin moved back to the lead and was able to stabilize his lead to above a second. From there, Hamlin was able to fend off Blaney to win the first stage on Lap 80, his second of the season. Blaney finished second followed by Reddick, Elliott and Almirola. Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Byron, Bowyer and Buescher finished in the top 10. By then, teammates Kyle Busch and Truex were in 11th and 12th, Harvick was in 14th, Logano was in 20th and Johnson was in 25th.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Hamlin retained the lead followed by Elliott, Blaney, Bowman and Reddick. Once most of the leaders completed their stops, Logano remained on pit road to continue to have the front-nose damage repaired, but he was able to exit pit road in front of the pace car and remain on the lead lap. In addition, Johnson spent extra time on pit road as his crew went to work to repair a roof flap on top of his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet.

The start of the second stage on Lap 88 featured an intense duel between Hamlin and Elliott for one full lap with Elliott edging ahead at the line. By the next lap, Elliott was able to clear Hamlin for the lead as Blaney followed in second. Behind, Reddick was challenged by Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates Bowman and Byron for fourth while Kyle Busch was in seventh. On Lap 91, Blaney reassumed the lead and three laps later, Elliott dropped to fifth after being overtaken by Hamlin, Reddick and Byron. With three Hendrick Motorsports’ drivers of Byron, Elliott and Bowman running inside the top six, the fourth HMS driver, Johnson, was in 23rd. Unlike Blaney, who was leading, his teammate, Joey Logano, was trapped in 29th. By Lap 100, Blaney was still in command by more than a second over Hamlin and Reddick with Byron trailing by nearly three seconds and both Bowman and Kyle Busch by nearly five seconds.

While the race progressed, green-flag pit stops started to occur on Lap 117 when Newman made a pit stop. Following the stops six laps later, Hamlin reassumed the lead by two seconds over Blaney as Reddick trailed by seven seconds and teammates Byron and Elliot trailed by nearly 10 seconds. Kyle Busch and Truex were in seventh and ninth while Harvick was in eighth. Keselowski was in 14th, rookie Christopher Bell was in 16th and Bubba Wallace was in 20th.

By Lap 150, Hamlin was ahead by nearly five seconds over Blaney, who was in a fierce battle with Reddick for the runner-up spot. Elliott trailed by six seconds, Byron trailed by 10 seconds and Bowman by 12 seconds. In addition, drivers like John Hunter Nemechek, Newman, Cole Custer, Johnson, Logano, Kenseth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ty Dillon and Suarez were behind by a lap. Three laps later, Blaney dropped to fourth as Reddick and Elliott moved up the leaderboard. When the second stage concluded on Lap 160, Hamlin won the stage followed by Reddick, Elliott, Blaney and Byron. Bowman, Truex, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Almirola finished in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Hamlin exited pit road first followed by Elliott, Reddick, Blaney, Byron and Bowman. Kurt Busch was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

When the final stage started with 99 laps remaining, Hamlin received a push from Reddick to maintain the lead through Turns 1 and 2 and clear the field. Elliott and Reddick duked for the runner-up spot while the rest of the field fanned out across the track while battling one another for positions. The caution returned three laps later when Logano and Newman made contact with one another and against the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2. Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Hamlin exited the pits first again followed by Elliott, Reddick, Blaney, Truex and Byron. Following the stops, Austin Dillon was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

With 92 laps remaining, the green flag flew and Hamlin received another shove from Reddick to maintain the lead. In addition, Blaney went three-wide with Elliott and Reddick in Turn 2 before moving into second by Turn 4. Both Blaney and Elliott remained within sight of one another while pursuing Hamlin for the lead. Behind, Reddick fended off a charge from Byron to remain in fourth as he started to pursue Elliott for more. Meanwhile, Almirola was in sixth, Bell was in eighth and Jones, who had rallied from his early unscheduled pit stop, was in ninth in front of teammate Truex. Harvick and Kyle Busch were in 10th and 11th while DiBenedetto and Wallace were in 13th and 15th.

With 75 to go, Blaney caught Hamlin for the lead and two laps later, he was able to return to the lead. A lap later, Hamlin returned the favor and threw himself back to the top spot. While Hamlin and Blaney battled, Elliott joined the battle as the top three were ahead by a second over fourth-place Reddick. Not long after, Elliott moved into second and started to pursue Hamlin for the lead.

As the run progressed, Hamlin was able to stabilize his lead under a second over Elliott with Blaney trailing by nearly two seconds. With 61 to go, Harvick’s night went south as he made an unscheduled pit stop due to a flat tire, which left him two laps behind the leaders. Three laps later, Buescher made an unscheduled pit stop after meeting the same fate as Harvick. In addition, Bowman made a scheduled pit stop for four fresh tires. Shortly after, green-flag pit stops started to occur as Stenhouse, Ryan Preece and Austin Dillon pitted. Following the stops, Elliott cycled back to the lead followed by Hamlin with Blaney, Reddick and Jones in the top five.

With 40 to go, Elliott stabilized his lead by more than a second over Hamlin and more than four seconds over Blaney. A lap later, Kenseth, who was running inside the top 10 and was the only competitor who had yet to make a scheduled green-flag pit stop, pitted. Eight laps later, Hamlin was able to cut the deficit to half a second as he started to gain ground on Elliott on the long runs. Another three laps later, Hamlin gained a huge run in Turn 2 to pass Elliott for the lead after Elliott struggled to lap Logano, who refused to yield to the leaders. As the laps continued to dwindle to the final stages, the battle for the lead remained between two cars as Hamlin led a hard-charging Elliott by half a second with Blaney trailing by two seconds.

With 17 to go, Hamlin started to stretch his advantage to nearly a second over Elliott as Blaney started to close within Elliott for the runner-up spot. A lap later, Elliott was able to trim the deficit to two-tenths of a second as leader Hamlin started to approach lapped traffic. Another two laps later, Elliott was behind by a tenth of a second as Reddick started to creep towards the leaders, making it a four-car battle for the win.

With eight to go, Reddick moved into third, but Blaney retook the position a lap later. During this time, Hamlin was leading Elliott by four-tenths of a second and was establishing a possible run for Hamlin as Blaney and Reddick lost ground to the leaders. In addition, Jones made an unscheduled pit stop after making contact with the wall.

In the final laps, Elliott made contact with the wall, which allowed Blaney to challenge him for second while Hamlin to stabilize his lead over a second. With no late cautions nor challenges falling on him, Hamlin was able to cruise around the track for a final circuit and take the checkered flag to claim another win at Homestead.

With the win, Hamlin also became the first three-time winner of this year’s Cup season as he also recorded the 180th Cup win for Joe Gibbs Racing. The win also came as Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, returned to the track following his four-race suspension for the fallen ballast at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

“Definitely, [the crew] just made our car really good,” Hamlin said on FOX. “This is the setup based on what we had in the fall here last year going for the championship. I had a strong car all day, obviously, with the laps led and was able to get around Chase there at the end. This whole FedEx team’s just done a phenomenal job with this Camry. This one’s real special. Gotta thank Coca-Cola, the Jordan brand, FedEx, all of our partners, everyone at JGR for putting together great race cars and keep digging and getting ourselves a little bit better. It seems like the end of these races seems to be Chase’s long suit, best suit. I knew that if I was just patient and ran the pace that I was comfortable with, we were gonna be hard to beat in the long run.”

Elliott held off Blaney to finish second, less than a second behind Hamlin, while Reddick notched a solid fourth-place run for his first top-five finish in the Cup Series.

“This Camaro just needed to get through lapped traffic a little better,” Elliott said on MRN. “That’s really about it. I thought, other than that, we did everything we needed to do.”

“We could be running 20th every week,” Blaney said on Zoom. “You’re proud of the runs that you’ve created in a speed our team’s got. I’m proud of that. Yeah, it stinks we haven’t won, but the way I look at it is just keep running up towards the front like that. Just proud with the speed we have and that we’re close. Just little things will go a long way when you’re this close. If you have to find 15 spots worth of speed, that’s when it’s troublesome. Just proud of the effort. [I’m] Not frustrated or anything. Hopefully, we can keep this up and just keep getting better week in and week out.”

Almirola recorded a strong fifth-place result while Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Bell, Byron and Keselowski rounded out the top 10 as 15 competitors finished on the lead lap. Johnson finished 16th, one lap down, in his 20th and final start at Homestead. Everyone except for J.J. Yeley finished the race on the track.

The race featured 17 lead changes with seven different leaders. There were six cautions for 27 laps.

Harvick, who finished 26th and was a lap behind, continues to lead the Cup Series regular-season standings by eight points over Elliott and 29 over Logano.

Results:

1. Denny Hamlin, 137 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

2. Chase Elliott, 27 laps led

3. Ryan Blaney, 70 laps led

4. Tyler Reddick, three laps led

5. Aric Almirola

6. Kyle Busch, two laps led

7. Austin Dillon

8. Christopher Bell

9. William Byron

10. Brad Keselowski, one lap led

11. Clint Bowyer

12. Martin Truex Jr.

13. Bubba Wallace

14. Matt DiBenedetto

15. Michael McDowell

16. Jimmie Johnson, one lap down

17. Kurt Busch, one lap down

18. Alex Bowman, one lap down

19. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

21. Erik Jones, one lap down

22. Cole Custer, one lap down

23. Chris Buescher, one lap down

24. Ryan Preece, one lap down

25. Matt Kenseth, one lap down

26. Kevin Harvick, one lap down

27. Joey Logano, two laps down, 27 laps led

28. Ty Dillon, two laps down

29. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

30. Ryan Newman, four laps down

31. Daniel Suarez, four laps down

32. Brennan Poole, seven laps down

33. Quin Houff, eight laps down

34. Timmy Hill, 10 laps

35. B.J. McLeod, 11 laps down

36. Joey Gase, 12 laps down

37. Josh Bilicki, 22 laps down

38. J.J. Yeley – OUT, Fuel pump

The NASCAR Cup Series will return to action at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday, June 21, for its second superspeedway event of this season. The race will air at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

June 15, 2020
Briscoe rallies from penalty to win at Homestead in overtime

From a penalty to victory lane in a span of two days, Chase Briscoe outlasted the field in two overtime attempts to claim a thrilling win in the Contender Boats 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the second of a series doubleheader weekend in Miami. It was his fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory and third of this season.

The win was also Briscoe’s first with interim crew chief and veteran Greg Zipadelli, who filled in for the suspended Richard Boswell after Briscoe’s team was penalized for a fallen ballast off of Briscoe’s car prior to yesterday’s series race at Homestead. In addition to crew chief Boswell, car chief Nick Hutchins and engineer D.J. Vanderley were also suspended for the next four series races.

The starting lineup was based on the results from Saturday’s event at Homestead, where the top-15 finishers from Saturday were inverted for Sunday’s race and the remaining spots were placed in the finishing order from Saturday. New additions were placed at the rear of the field. With his 15th-place result on Saturday, Myatt Snider started on pole position and was joined on the front row by Brandon Brown. Daniel Hemric, Carson Ware and Jairo Avila Jr. started at the rear of the field due to driver changes along with Justin Allgaier and Kody Vanderwal, both racing in backup cars. Noah Gragson also started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

When the green flag dropped, Snider received a boost from Justin Haley on the inside lane to jump to the lead. By the time Snider led the first lap, Ross Chastain moved into second and was able to take the lead the following lap. Briscoe, who started ninth, moved into second and three laps later, Austin Cindric raced into third.

On Lap 8, Briscoe made a move on the inside lane in Turn 1 and took the lead from Chastain. Three laps later, Cindric took the lead and was able to stabilize his lead to a comfortable margin over Briscoe. Cindric was able to maintain the lead by nearly two seconds over Brandon Jones and Briscoe when the field reached the competition caution on Lap 20. At the time of caution, Harrison Burton was in seventh after starting 15th with teammates Gragson and Allgaier were in sixth and eighth after both started at the rear of the field. Alfredo was in 10th after starting 12th and Hemric and Allmendinger were in 12th and 16th after starting at the rear of the field. Snider and Brown had fallen back to 11th and 29th. Under the competition caution, a majority of competitors remained on the track while some like Ryan Sieg and Riley Herbst pitted for early adjustments.

The race restarted on Lap 24, and Cindric retained the lead after receiving a strong start on the inside lane. Briscoe, who restarted on the outside lane, was shuffled back to fifth as Jones, Burton and Haley moved up the leaderboard along with Allgaier. By Lap 31, while most of the competitors continued battling for positions, Sieg, who restarted in 22nd but on fresh tires, had charged all the way up to second. The caution flew a lap later when Caesar Bacarella and Tommy Joe Martins wrecked on the backstretch. Under caution, the leaders remained on the track while a few including Chastain and Michael Annett pitted.

When the race restarted with four laps remaining in the first stage, a four-wide battle for the lead took place between Cindric, Sieg, Jones and Allgaier through Turns 1 and 2 before Sieg took the lead in Turn 3. Sieg was able to pull away from the field and win the first stage on Lap 40 for his second stage win in two days and by nearly two seconds over Annett, who made a miraculous charge after pitting prior to the restart. Cindric, Jones and Allgaier finished in the top five followed by Gragson, Burton, Hemric, Timmy Hill and Bayley Currey.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Cindric led Jones, Burton, Gragson and Annett. Sieg and Allgaier, both of whom pitted in the top three, fell back to 20th and 23rd after both had issues on pit road, where Allgaier clipped a tire out of Sieg’s pit box while entering his own pit box and then had issues exiting his pit stall while backing up to avoid making contact with Jeffrey Earnhardt. Chastain, who pitted in the closing laps of the stage, remained on track and assumed the lead.

The second stage started on Lap 47 and Jones went three-wide with Chastain and Cindric to take the lead entering Turn 1. Four laps later, Cindric returned to the lead. By Lap 55, Cindric stretched his advantage to more than a second over Jones who was locked in a four-car battle with Hemric, Gragson and Burton. Two laps later, Hemric moved into second as Briscoe joined the battle. Their battle allowed Cindric to continue to extend his advantage to over two seconds through Lap 60.

As the race progressed, Gragson moved into second followed by Burton, Briscoe and Jones while Hemric had fallen back to sixth ahead of Allmendinger. Allgaier was in ninth while Sieg was stuck in 26th.

On Lap 68, Gragson took the lead from Cindric and started to rocket away from the field while using the outside lane toward the wall to his advantage. Just like the majority of yesterday’s Xfinity race at Homestead, Gragson remained uncontested and cruised to the win of the second stage on Lap 80. Cindric finished second, trailing by nearly four seconds, followed by Jones, Briscoe and Hemric. Burton, Allgaier, Annett, Alfredo and Allmendinger finished in the top 10. Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Gragson retained the lead followed by Briscoe, Burton, Hemric and Cindric.

The final stage started with 78 laps remaining and Gragson received a bump from Burton on the inside lane to retain the lead. Two laps later, Cindric raced his way back to second followed by Briscoe while Burton, Hemric and Jones battled for fourth. Six laps later, Cindric reassumed the lead, where he started to stretch his advantage by more than a second over Gragson, who was challenged by Briscoe for the runner-up spot.

With 60 to go, Gragson raced his way back to the lead after Cindric scrubbed the wall. The damage cut Cindric’s right-rear tire as he was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop to address the flat tire. Once Cindric returned to the track, he was in 23rd, a lap behind, while Gragson was ahead by more than three seconds over Briscoe and nearly seven seconds over Hemric, Jones, Allgaier, Burton and Herbst.

With 50 to go, Gragson stabilized his lead to above four seconds over Briscoe while Jones, Burton and Hemric continued battling for third while behind by more than 10 seconds. Soon after, green-flag pit stops commenced as teammates Chastain and Haley pitted. During the green-flag pit stops, Allgaier was slowing his car to make the left-hand turn to pit road right in front of teammate Hemric, which caused Hemric to lock up his front brakes and circle around the track for another lap to make his stop, which cost him time from the lead. Once nearly the entire field pitted, Josh Williams emerged with the lead before pitting a lap later and allowing Cindric to take the lead. Two laps later, Gragson reassumed the lead as he started to pull away.

With 20 to go, Gragson, who continued rim-riding toward the outside wall, was ahead by over three seconds over Briscoe and 11 seconds over Cindric. Teammates Jones and Burton were locked in a heated battle for fourth while Hemric was back in sixth. During this time, Allgaier made an unscheduled pit stop after sustaining a flat tire from scrubbing the wall. Alfredo also pitted after making contact with the wall.

With 10 to go, Briscoe narrowed the deficit to less than two seconds over Gragson, who slowly started to approach lapped traffic but remained running toward the outside near the wall. A few laps later, Burton made an unscheduled pit stop due to a flat tire which ended his hopes to win twice in two days.

In the final five laps, Briscoe started to close toward Gragson, cutting his deficit to less than a second, but he soon made contact with the wall, which allowed Gragson to stabilize his advantage back to over a second.

Just as Gragson was about to take the white flag to start the final lap, Cindric wrecked in Turn 3 after cutting a right-rear tire, which drew the caution and set the race into overtime. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Briscoe beat Gragson off pit road first following a stellar pit stop. Hemric exited third followed by Jones, Herbst and Annett.

In the first overtime attempt, Briscoe maintained the lead and Jones took second away from Gragson. The caution quickly returned for a multi-car wreck in Turn 2 that started when Allmendinger got into the back of Herbst, sending Herbst and Annett against one another toward the outside wall while Hemric was clipped and made head-on contact with the inside wall as everyone else scattered to avoid the wreckage.

In the second overtime attempt, Briscoe and Jones battled for the lead while Gragson made contact with the outside wall in Turn 2 and fell back to the top 10. On the final lap, Briscoe was able to clear Jones for the lead and hold off the Georgia native for one final circuit and by 0.072 seconds at the finish line to win the race and to become the first three-time winner of the series this season.

“Just a testament to our team,” Briscoe said on MRN (Motor Racing Network). “Yesterday, we were so good and today, I don’t know what our deal was. We were still good, but we weren’t near as good as we were yesterday. I don’t know if it was the heat or what. We were able to find some speed up on the top [lane] that last run. I just kept trying to run the fence harder and harder and harder. I knew that if I could get to Noah, I felt like I’d put enough pressure on him after running him down the straightaway that he would make mistakes. With two [laps] to go, I was just trying to get more and more and more, and I was already on the edge. The caution, absolutely, fell perfect. The pit crew did an unbelievable job to get us upfront. Definitely a team win. [Jones] had a big run coming off of [Turn] 4 just because I drove it in so deep on the bottom so he could get to me. It almost cost me. It’s pretty dang cool for me, growing up a die-hard Tony Stewart fan to get a win with [crew chief] Zippy. That’s pretty cool. Happy that we can get our Ford Performance Racing School car in victory lane. We, definitely, weren’t the best car today, but I felt like we were yesterday. It’s nice to get some redemption.”

Jones finished second followed by Chastain while Allmendinger beat Gragson for fourth and claim the second Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus. With his accomplishment, Allmendinger became the 12th different driver to win the $100,000 bonus from the Dash 4 Cash program in the last five seasons.

“We fought hard trying to figure out how to make the car better,” Allmendinger said on MRN. “At the end, we made it the best, but we were still about a ninth-place car. I fought hard to get Ellsworth Advisors $100,000, for Chevrolet, ECR, LeafFilter Gutter Protection, for sure. Can’t thank Xfinity enough for all they do and I guess we get to go to Talladega and do it again, right?!”

The fifth-place result did very little to satisfy Gragson after dominating both Xfinity races in Miami and to fall short in the closing laps.

“[I’m] Gonna have to start working on myself because that’s unacceptable on my standards,” Gragson said on MRN. “[Crew chief] Dave Elenz and the rest of the team, they did an unbelievable job to set up the car. We had the lead there at the end and the caution [fell] with a lap and a half to go. These guys, they work their tails off and it’s not to run fifth. It’s to win these races. Gonna keep on focus, keep positive. Super thankful for this team and them sticking behind me. Gonna keep working on myself and try to be better next time, just learn from the opportunity and just take the positives from today.”

Allmendinger, Brisoce, Jones and Chastain will contend for the third Dash 4 Cash bonus next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

Haley, Snider, Burton and Herbst finished sixth through ninth and as the only competitors to finish on the lead lap while Cindric, the first car a lap down, finished 10th.

The race featured 20 lead changes with eight different leaders. There were six cautions for 28 laps.

Gragson retained the lead in the Xfinity Series regular-season standings by 18 points over Briscoe and 45 over Burton.

Results:

1. Chase Briscoe, 11 laps led

2. Brandon Jones, five laps led

3. Ross Chastain, 11 laps led

4. AJ Allmendinger

5. Noah Gragson, 81 laps led, Stage 2 winner

6. Justin Haley

7. Myatt Snider, one lap led

8. Harrison Burton

9. Riley Herbst

10. Austin Cindric, one lap down, 60 laps led

11. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down

12. Josh Williams, one lap down, one lap led

13. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

14. Colin Garrett, one lap down

15. Jesse Little, one lap down

16. Jeffrey Earnhardt, one lap down

17. Colby Howard, one lap down

18. Michael Annett, one lap down

19. Ryan Sieg, two laps down, seven laps led, Stage 1 winner

20. Tommy Joe Martins, two laps down

21. Chad Finchum, two laps down

22. Justin Allgaier, three laps down

23. Alex Labbe, three laps down

24. Matt Mills, three laps down

25. Timmy Hill, three laps down

26. Bayley Currey, four laps down

27. Jeremy Clements, four laps down

28. Carson Ware, four laps down

29. Vinnie Miller, four laps down

30. Caesar Bacarella, six laps down

31. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Crash

32. Stefan Parsons, 26 laps down

33. Kody Vanderwal – OUT, Power steering

34. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Clutch

35. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Fire

36. Brandon Brown – OUT, Overheating

37. Ja Junior Avila – OUT, Electrical

38. Stephen Leicht – OUT, Handling

Next on the Xfinity Series schedule is Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, which will occur on June 20 at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

June 14, 2020