Cole Custer and his No. 00 Stewart Haas team played pit strategy to win Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway. This was Custer’s seventh career victory in 100 starts.
“We just had a great pit call,” Custer said to MRN Radio. “Mike (Shiplett, Crew Chief) made an excellent call there staying out, we caught the caution. Production Alliance Group, it’s their third time and third win. Him and Dale, I can’t thank them enough. For everybody at Ford Performance, Stewart Haas Racing, Gene Haas. Unbelievable year and I can’t thank everyone enough.”
Chase Briscoe qualified on the pole, but due to carburetor problems during qualifying and had to drop to the rear prior to the start of the race. Also playoff driver Michael Annett also had to start in the rear due to a engine change.
Stages were 45-45-110 to make up the 200 lap race.
Stage 1 Lap 1- Lap 45
There were tons of action in the first stage, especially lap 1. Harrison Burton in the No. 18 got loose off Turn 1 and went spinning on the backstretch, collecting his teammate and playoff driver Brandon Jones. Both had heavy damage and would be out of the race early. In result, Jones playoff hopes were over due to the crash.
In a separate incident, Tyler Reddick got loose as well and slightly tapped the wall, while making contact with Justin Allgaier. A few more incidents occurred in the first stage. Jeremy Clements had his engine expire early on lap 11 and Christopher Bell came down pit road on lap 15 with no fuel pressure. Clements day was done, but Bell came back on-track. It was later reporter that Bell replaced a carburetor while being behind the wall. John Hunter Nemechek made contact with Mike Harmon on lap 21 to bring out the final caution in Stage 1.
After all that chaos early, the stage remained green until the checkered flag flew on lap 45. It was Justin Allgaier who emerged with the stage win. Custer, Austin Cindric, Zane Smith, Justin Haley, Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Sieg, John Hunter Nemechek and Michael Annett rounded out the top-10 finishers in Stage 1.
Stage 2 Lap 52- Lap 90
Despite a wild Stage 1, Stage 2 saw no incidents and remained green until lap 90. With that in mind, Allgaier once again won the stage. Cindric, Briscoe, Gragson, Custer, Smith, Nemechek, Haley, Annett and Sieg were the top-10 finishers in Stage 2. A big moment came on pit road during the stage break, as Custer won the race off pit road.
Also under the stage break, Nemechek had to come back down pit road due to missing lug nuts, while Gragson had a pit gun failure and also had to make another stop.
Stage 3 Lap 96- Lap 200
When Stage 3 began, it was all Chase Briscoe early taking the lead on lap 98. Briscoe led until lap 168 when he made his last pit stop of the race. During that run, however, he began to report the same problems he had during qualifying.
During the cycle of green flag pit stops, the caution came out on lap 176 for the No. 90 of Dillon Bassett who spun trying to come on pit road. Another yellow came with 12 to go, as Matt Mills, Ray Black Jr and Stephen Leicht were all involved in a accident off Turn 2.
With a late caution also came a late race restart with seven to go. However, Custer was able to hold of the field for his seventh win of the 2019 season.
“It’s huge,” Custer added about the win. “We’ve really stepped it up this year. I feel like we can go to any track to compete for wins. It’s just a matter of us putting it together every weekend. I think we have a shot at any track we go too.”
Custer led twice for 31 laps for his eighth Xfinity Series win of his career. There were six cautions for 33 laps and nine lead changes among six drivers.
As for the playoff drivers, John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Jones and Justin Haley all failed to make to the next round of the playoffs.
Playoff Points Standings
Cole Custer
Austin Cindric, -25
Justin Allgaier, -31
Christopher Bell, -33
Chase Briscoe, -47
Tyler Reddick, -49
Noah Gragson, -58
Michael Annett, -81
Official Results
Cole Custer, led 31 laps
Justin Allgaier, won both stages, led 67 laps
Austin Cindric, led 29 laps
Justin Haley
Chase Briscoe, led 71 laps
Michael Annett, led one lap
Noah Gragson
John Hunter Nemechek
Zane Smith, one lap down
Ryan Sieg, one lap down
Brandon Brown, two laps down
Tyler Reddick, two laps down
Ross Chastain, two laps down
Dillon Bassett, two laps down
Josh Williams, two laps down
B.J. McLeod, three laps down
Ray Black Jr, three laps down
Gray Gaulding, four laps down
Stefan Parsons, four laps down
Vinnie Miller, four laps down
David Starr, five laps down
Joey Gase, six laps down
Stephen Leicht, OUT, Crash
Matt Mills, OUT, Crash
Christopher Bell, OUT, Carburetor
Garrett Smithley, OUT, Rear Gear
Timmy Hill, OUT, Rear Gear
Carl Long, OUT, Transmission
Landon Cassill, OUT, Electrical
Joe Nemechek, OUT, Rear Gear
Chad Finchum, OUT, Engine
J.J. Yeley, OUT, Brakes
Bayley Currey, OUT, Vibration
Mike Harmon, OUT, Accident
Kyle Weatherman, OUT, Overheating
Jeremy Clements, OUT, Engine
Brandon Jones, OUT, Accident
Harrison Burton, OUT, Accident
Up Next: The NASCAR Xfinity Series take a couple of weeks off before they head back to the Midwest at Kansas Speedway to begin the Round of 8.
It has been a special weekend for Denny Hamlin and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team. Hamlin is making his 500th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start in Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway. It will be even more memorable for Hamlin as he set a new track record with a time of 21.55.
“No, not pole-winning, but definitely a race-winning car,” Hamlin said to MRN Radio. “I felt like if we did everything right and we have a good starting spot, going to have good advantage there on pit road. Really happy for the guys. To have that quick of a lap here in this type of format, where stage points are going to be very important is really good for us. We’re proud of it and this is a lot of hard work that went into this.”
It was Hamlin’s first pole of the 2019 season and the 31st of his career.
Kyle Larson qualified on the outside pole, Martin Truex Jr. was third, Kevin Harvick was fourth, Chase Elliott qualified fifth, William Byron will start sixth, Aric Almirola will start seventh, Erik Jones in eighth, Kurt Busch in ninth and Ryan Blaney rounds out the top-10 qualifiers for Sunday’s Drydene 400.
Hamlin has yet to win at Dover International Speedway and seeks his first victory in Sunday’s race.
“You’re going to have to keep up with the racetrack,” Hamlin added to MRN Radio. “I think the racetrack is going to change dramatically after the first or second stage. I’m just going to try and wheel it the best I can, give the best information I can. Obviously, the car will be right there for me. Our teammates are really special around this track and spent a lot of time this week studying them.”
Sunday’s race will begin the next round of the playoffs with the Round of 12. The Round of 12 will take place over the next three races at Dover, then on to Talladega and Kansas will be the cut-off race before the Round of 8 begins.
Official Qualifying Results
Denny Hamlin, making 500th start, Playoff driver
Kyle Larson, fastest in final practice, Playoff driver
Martin Truex Jr., Playoff driver
Kevin Harvick, fastest in first practice, Playoff driver
Chase Elliott, won last years fall race, Playoff driver
William Byron, Playoff driver
Aric Almirola
Erik Jones
Kurt Busch
Ryan Blaney, Playoff driver
Jimmie Johnson
Alex Bowman, Playoff driver
Paul Menard
Joey Logano, Playoff driver
Daniel Suarez
Brad Keselowski, Playoff driver
Clint Bowyer, Playoff driver
Kyle Busch, Playoff driver
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Matt DiBenedetto
David Ragan
Chris Buescher
Matt Tifft
Ryan Newman
Ty Dillon
Bubba Wallace
Austin Dillon
Michael McDowell
Corey LaJoie
Landon Cassill
Daniel Hemric
Ryan Preece
B.J. McLeod
Ross Chastain
J.J. Yeley
Joe Nemechek
Garrett Smithley
Reed Sorenson
The Drydene 400 can be seen live on NBCSN with NASCAR America at 1:30 p.m. ET followed by Countdown to Green at 2 p.m. ET. The green flag is scheduled to fly shortly after 2:30 p.m. ET.
Chase Elliott came back to win the Charlotte Roval by passing Kevin Harvick late for the lead. But it wasn’t easy. With 45 to go on a restart, he spun into the tire barrier while leading the race. However, with perseverance and a couple of lucky breaks, he found his way to victory lane.
“I really just messed up,” Elliott described to PRN Radio. “I made a mistake that you should never really make. I’m not sure if you can do anything more stupid leading one of these races. Take lessons and don’t do that. Odds are, I don’t know how it didn’t hurt it (car). I hit the wall pretty hard. Guys did a good job fixing it, luckily our splitter was still close to the ground and got it done. I’m just wowed. As wowed as anybody out there.”
The Charlotte Roval was the final race in the Round of 16 playoffs and that meant four drivers would be eliminated from the Playoffs. At the start of the race, a few drivers had to go to the back. Denny Hamlin, Alex Bowman and Parker Kligerman had to start at the rear of the field because they had to go to backup cars, Landon Cassill for unapproved adjustments and J.J. Yeley for making a driver change. Martin Truex Jr. also had an engine change at the end of final practice.
Stage 1: Lap 1- Lap 25
The Charlotte Roval provided action on the first lap as Bowman missed the backstretch chicane and spun out. Truex missed it as well and had to stop on the front stretch. A couple of laps later, Bowman and Bubba Wallace had to serve a pass-through penalty for not stopping after the incident.
The first caution waved on Lap 21, as the No. 47 of Ryan Preece wheel hopped the chicane on the backstretch. From there, a caution flew just a few laps before the first stage ended for a major pileup. Jimmie Johnson, Bowman, Erik Jones, Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Chris Buescher all wrecked in Turn 1 after a restart.
With the incident, Stage 1 ended under yellow with Kyle Larson as the winner. William Byron, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top-10 finishers in the first stage. Larson was penalized for pitting outside the box under the stage break.
Stage 2 began on Lap 27 and went to Lap 50.
A few notable incidents happened in the second stage. Logano made a pit stop on Lap 37 before he came back to pit road after hitting a tire barrier in Turn 3. Then quite possibly one of the most notable incidents occurred on Lap 43, as Bowman retaliated against Wallace by wrecking him out on the chicane.
A seven-lap dash was set up for the ending of Stage 2. This time it was Chase Elliott with the win. Keselowski, Bowyer, Johnson, Harvick, Michael McDowell, Truex, Suarez, Paul Menard and Byron were the top finishers in the second stage.
Stage 3: Lap 54- Lap 109
A lot happened in the final stage. On Lap 61, the No. 8 of Daniel Hemric spun around in Turn 14 to bring out the yellow. Then a pivotal moment came in the race. With 45 to go on the restart, Elliott locked up the tires in Turn 1 and went sliding into the wall. However, he somehow managed to get away with little damage.
Another incident came on another restart with 43 to go, as Kyle Busch had a flat left front tire after making contact with Larson. Busch’s day went from bad to worse by being caught for driving through too many pit boxes. Then he was served a penalty.
Pit stops started to begin with 35 to go. However, Harvick cycled out as the leader with 29 to go. Just as soon as the stops ended, a caution was flown with 25 to go for Matt Tifft who went spinning around in Turns 5 and 6. Another caution was also seen with 21 to go, as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. went spinning in the backstretch chicane.
On Lap 92 the eighth caution came out for a major accident with Hamlin, Newman, Preece and Menard in Turn 6. However, the term “cautions breed cautions” came into effect late in the race. Two more cautions were seen before the race was over. One was for the No. 41 of Suarez after contact with Newman. The final one was for an accident in Turn 8 for an incident involving Kurt Busch, Chris Buescher, Newman and Preece.
Due to an extensive cleanup, NASCAR was forced to fly the red flag with six laps remaining.
Elliott made the pass on Harvick with six laps to go after the restart and held on to win his third race of the season.
“It was one of the hottest races of the year for sure,” Elliott added to PRN Radio. “Was trying to make up as much time as I could. Obviously, I wasn’t going to catch Kevin (Harvick) without a caution. Just caught the cautions at the right time and had a couple of restarts that were mediocre I thought and the last two were really good. Luckily it felt like that, that’s not always me. You know, the timing and that, things kind of went our way.”
“Just appreciate the effort, what a win for Hendrick Motorsports right over at the home track for a lot of guys. Nonetheless, it feels a lot like it. Just a big thanks to everyone making this happen and we’ll go on to at Dover.”
Elliott led four times for 35 laps and picked up six playoff points.
There were 10 cautions for 23 laps and 13 lead changes among nine drivers.
Four drivers were eliminated from competing for the championship. Aric Almirola, Erik Jones, Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman will not move forward in the Playoffs.
Making it to the Round of 12 are Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Clint Bowyer, William Byron, Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman.
Official Results
Chase Elliott, won Stage 2, led 35 laps
Alex Bowman
Kevin Harvick, led 34 laps
Clint Bowyer
Brad Keselowski
William Byron, led 23 laps
Martin Truex Jr., led one lap
Ryan Blaney
Jimmie Johnson
Joey Logano, led four laps
Matt DiBenedetto
Michael McDowell
Kyle Larson, won Stage 1
Aric Almirola
Ty Dillon
Paul Menard
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Chris Buescher
Denny Hamlin
Kurt Busch
Ryan Preece
Ross Chastain
Austin Dillon
Bubba Wallace
Matt Tifft
Parker Kligerman
Corey LaJoie
Landon Cassill
J.J. Yeley
Timmy Hill
Joe Nemechek
Ryan Newman
Daniel Hemric
Daniel Suarez, one lap down
David Ragan, one lap down
Garrett Smithely, OUT, Axle
Kyle Busch, OUT, Suspension
Josh Bilicki, OUT, Suspension
Reed Sorenson, OUT, Electrical
Erik Jones, OUT, Crash
Up Next: Now that the Round of 16 had concluded, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers head to Dover International Speedway next Sunday, Oct. 6 for the beginning of the Round of 12.
AJ Allmendinger took home the checkered flag in the Drive for the Cure 250 on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval course, giving Kaulig Racing their second-ever XFINITY Series win. It was their second win this season after Ross Chastain took the win at Daytona in July.
Tyler Reddick took home second, while fellow Playoff drivers Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier, and Noah Gragson rounded out the top-five.
Sixth-place went to Alex Labbe in Mario Gosselini’s No. 90 Camaro, while Playoff drivers John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer, and polesitter Chase Briscoe finished seventh through ninth. JR Motorsports driver Ryan Truex rounded out the top-10.
“I can’t thank Matt Kaulig enough,” Allmendinger told NBCSN. “First of all, he put his belief in me. [He] wanted me to come here to try to build this team. The last times at road courses, I’ve been gutted not getting my wins. I can’t thank all my race team enough.
“Really got to thank Tyler Reddick. He’s phenomenal. He told me he needed my help on the road courses. He’s out-qualified me in every race then, beat me in a couple. I knew behind me I could be defensive on the right side and get myself an angle. Tyler wouldn’t shove it down in there, appreciate that.”
Briscoe won the first stage from the pole, earning 10 stage points and a playoff point, while Christopher Bell and Custer battled for the second stage win. Custer prevailed, which helped along with his eighth-place finish as he was able to clinch his spot in the Round of Eight.
The action heated up in the final stage as several drivers including Truex, Custer, and Briscoe all found themselves turned around. The Briscoe incident was the biggest incident of the day in terms of repercussions, as hard driving between Bell and Briscoe led to the latter’s incident after the No. 98 ran Bell’s No. 20 Toyota hard enough that he missed a chicane. NASCAR penalized Bell to the tail-end of the longest line, where he recovered to finish twelfth after unceremoniously dumping rookie Will Rodgers on the last lap.
There were seven cautions for 14 laps, with six drivers swapping the lead seven times. Nemechek, Brandon Jones (16th), Ryan Sieg (30th), and Justin Haley (31st) head into Dover below the Playoff cutoff line. The XFINITY Series Use Your Melon Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway will start at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
William Byron led the way at Charlotte Motor Speedway to capture his fifth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole this year and the fifth of his career. Alex Bowman qualified second for a 1-2 Hendrick Motorsports front-row sweep.
Byron
drove his No. 24 Chevrolet to a 103.198 mph lap on the 2.28-mile Charlotte Roval
for back to back poles. He also qualified on the pole for this year’s Coca-Cola
600 at Charlotte in May.
“The guys did a great job
with this car,” he said, “and it really takes every corner around
this race track to get a pole. I knew we could qualify top five but I really
wanted the pole and really kind of went out there and got it. So, I’m really
proud of this UniFirst team. It’s going to be great to start up front.”
His
teammate, Alex Bowman, will start second after a 103.078
mph lap in his No. 88 Chevrolet.
“That run wasn’t the
best,” Bowman said. “I know it could have been better. William
(Byron) just did a great job there getting through the corners. It’s definitely
a positive to be starting on the front row and we just have to focus on getting
stage points on Sunday. Very proud of this Nationwide #REALtirement team and
the hard work they put in today.”
Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer rounded out the
top five followed by Kevin Harvick in sixth and Kyle Larson in seventh. Martin Truex Jr., who has won the first two playoff
races in the Round of 16, will start in eighth. Ryan Blaney, the defending race
winner, qualified ninth and Paul Menard will roll off in 10th.
Chase Elliott will start 19th after missing a downshift during his qualifying run which caused him to wheel hop and subsequently spin. Denny Hamlin was another playoff contender who will have to start from the back of the field. During the first practice session, he spun and hit the Turn 5 tire barrier damaging his primary car and had to go to a backup car.
Erik Jones will start 15th followed by Aric Almirola in 16th and Kyle Busch in 17th as Ryan Newman qualified 24th. Kurt Busch, who won the inaugural pole on the Roval last year, qualified his Chip Ganassi Chevrolet in 23rd.
The Bank of America Roval 400 is set for Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC with radio coverage by PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Follow @angiecampbell_ for
the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.
Playoff driver Brad Keselowski won the Pole Award for Saturday nights 62nd Annual Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway with a lap of 21.229 seconds, 127.185 mph. This was Keselowski’s second pole at Richmond and his 17th of his career.
“You’d like to take control of this race and just own it as long as you can.” Brad Keselowski said. There’s not a better starting position and we want to maximize it. I think that first pit stall is gonna be really big at some point in the race and we’ll certainly try to use that to our advantage.”
The pole changed hands multiple times with the names of Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr, before Keselowski notched the top spot.
Tomorrow’s night race will be the first time Richmond will be a playoff race. In years past, it was marked as the final race of the regular season before that was changed.
The rest of the playoff field are scattered throughout the field. Harvick was second, Chase Elliott third, Kyle Busch fourth, Clint Bowyer rounded out the top-5.
“If we can put ourselves in a good position to get through the weekend and make the Roval a lot different to race just because of the fact that you know where you stand. Hopefully, you can put yourself in a position where you know where you stand when you leave here.” Harvick said.
Denny Hamlin qualified sixth, Aric Almirola seventh, Truex Jr eighth, Kurt Busch ninth, Kyle Larson 13th, Ryan Blaney 15th, Erik Jones 16th, Ryan Newman 19th, Alex Bowman 20th, William Byron 25th and Joey Logano 28th (the lowest of the playoff field).
“I thought we were good in race trim, actually. I thought our speed is good as anybody, so that’s encouraging. We just have to get through the field, which if I stay patient, we should be OK.” Logano said of his qualifying effort.
Two practice sessions were held earlier in the day in advance of tomorrow night’s race. Chris Buescher of the No. 37 JTG Daughtery Racing team was fastest in the first practice, while Martin Truex Jr was fastest in the final practice session of the day.
Live coverage of the Federated Auto Parts 400 begins tomorrow afternoon at 6:00 p.m./ET with NASCAR America on NBCSN. Countdown to Green follows at 7:00 p.m./ET. The second race in the 2019 playoffs is scheduled to get underway shortly after 7:30 pm./ET. Stages will be broken up into 100/200/400.
The cars will be impounded, as tech will start at 1:30 pm./ET. Official lineups will come just a few hours before the race.
LAS VEGAS, NV — Martin Truex Jr. becomes the first driver to lock himself into the Round of 12 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series Playoffs. The No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the South Point 400.
It is his fifth win of the season, but it also came during a string of races with a combination of finishes. Since his last win at the road course of Sonoma Raceway, he has earned three top fives, but also four finishes of 15th position or worse.
“We took a gamble, qualified 24th,’’ said Truex, who led 32 laps. “For a while, it wasn’t looking too smart with the 4 (Harvick) out front. Got the right adjustments in the end. Had a great car all day long.
“Hell of a way to make a championship run. Get some good bonus points, move on to the next round, see what we can do there.’’
Kevin Harvick led 47 laps in total, but fell short in the closing laps to finish second.
“I knew the Gibbs cars would be tough,’’ the 2014 Cup champ said. “Martin was just so much better on the second half of the run. He made up that ground there, was able to stay close enough to us. My car started to get loose and push the front. It was just in kind of a four-wheel drift.
“We did some things this weekend that we probably will have to undo going forward. I think we can do a little bit better going forward.’’
Earlier in the race, Brad Keselowski appeared to have engine issues, with the No. 2 Ford team pulling the hood up to investigate internal issues with the racecar. Whether they were able to dodge a bullet or get diagnose the issue, the car seemed to run at full speed. He fell back as far as outside of the top 20 late in the race, but was able to charge his way through the field to finish third.
Chase Elliott was the highest finishing Chevrolet and finished fourth, leading 12 laps. Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five with his fifth place effort. The rest of the top 10 was filled with Playoff drivers: Alex Bowman, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman respectively.
For Byron, it was his first Playoff race of his young career. However, his crew chief Chad Knaus has now been in every Playoff since its formation back in 2004.
“Survive the whole race and try to compete,” said Byron who finished a career-high at Vegas with a seventh place run. “I was really happy with that (finish). We have to be aggressive coming up. Richmond’s going to be a tough short track.”
Drivers got aggressive on the restarts, as many went three-wide into Turn 1. Photo courtesy of Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
The rest of the Playoff drivers finished outside of the top 10. Aric Almirola led earlier in the race and stayed in the top 10 for most of the race, but finished 13th.
“The goal was to leave here in a decent in the points,” Almirola shared after the race. “We just gotta fight hard. Nobody’s going to give it to you. Every point matters, every stage matters.”
Denny Hamlin finished 15th, and Kyle Busch, with multiple issues throughout the race, wound up 19th. Busch hit the wall on Lap 4, and went two laps down early in the race. He was able to rally back to battle for a top five run until a collision with Garrett Smithley knocked the nose of the car and the splitter askew. The handling of the car seemed to be destroyed, and he fell back to finish a lap down.
Pole sitter Clint Bowyer fell back early and was not able to recover. The No. 14 Ford ended the event in the 25th position after leading just the opening lap. Erik Jones had transmission issues that put him behind the wall for 15 laps until the team could make repairs to the car. He finished 36th, 13 laps down. Kurt Busch hit the outside wall in Turn 3 after a left front flat tire caused from contact between him and Truex Jr. on a restart on Lap 185. He would finish in last place, the 39th position.
LOGANO SHOWING EARLY STRENGTH IN STAGE ONE
Logano started 22nd, but took over the race lead by Lap 34. Photo courtesy of Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
As the green flag dropped, drivers were aggressive right out of the gate. While Bowyer was on pole for the first time in 12 years, Daniel Suarez took over the race lead over the next several laps after his Stewart Haas Racing teammate led the first lap. A couple drivers made quick climbs through the field, including non-Playoff driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who made his way up as high as third in the running order.
But the opening laps proved the drama of the Playoffs was alive and well. On Lap 4, Kyle Busch got loose in Turn 2 and hit the wall. The race stayed green, but he was forced to come down pit road a few laps later to replace a flat right rear tire. The crew spent a few extra seconds to pull sheet metal away to provide clearance for the new tires. He would eventually end up two laps down further into the stage.
Just passed halfway through Stage 1, Almirola took over the lead. However, that was short lived as Logano took over the race lead on Lap 34. He originally started in the 22nd position. During green flag pit stops, all drivers came for fuel and tires except for Michael McDowell, who wanted to stretch out his run as far as they could go. The driver of the No. 34 Ford eventually came down pit road, cycling the lead back to Logano who went on to win the stage.
PLAYOFF HOPES SCATTER FOR MANY DRIVERS IN STAGE TWO ONWARD
On the restart, Jones appeared to potentially miss a shift or have a mechanical issue with the transmission of his Toyota Camry as he was stuck in second gear. The crew diagnosed the issue behind the wall in the garage, and the Southern 500 winner was able to rejoin the race 15 laps down.
No one appeared to have any major issues during the second set of green flag pit stops, but Elliott had one of the biggest gains on pit road and found his way up to second in the later half of the stage. Truex was able to get around late in the run, but it Logano seemed to be the car to beat. Truex won Stage 2.
During the pit stops at the conclusion of the Stage 2, Larson received a safety violation penalty and was forced to restart at the tail end of the field. At the time, he had worked his way up into the third position. Front runners ran aggressive on the restart of the final stage. Byron made contact with a few drivers, and had a flat tire to spin on the exit of Turn 4. No contact with the wall was made, so he was able to continue but the yellow flag did fly. Teammate Elliott saw him on pit road as his crew replaced the tires, and backed off to allow him to stay on the lead lap.
Logano, Harvick and Elliott (outside to inside) battle for second behind race leader and eventual race winner Truex. Photo courtesy of Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
Cars were four-wide during the restart. Contact between Truex and Kurt Busch caused the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro to have a tire rub on the left front. The team went back on forth on if they should come down pit road, but the decision was just a lap too late. His left front tire gave way down the backstretch, and the 2004 champion was not able to get the car slowed in time. He hit the outside wall in Turn 3, and came to rest at the entrance to pit road. He would be the first car out of the race and finish in last place.
With 50 laps to go, Harvick led over Truex and Keselowski. The Team Penske driver had the hood up earlier in the race on pit road as the team was diagnosing strange performance issues, but they were able to resolve those and fight their way into the top three. The other big mover was Kyle Busch, who moved into the top 10 for the first time in the day.
In the closing laps, a few drivers decided to stretch their run as far as they could. Unlike Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race where fuel mileage played a potential role, it was definitely too far for their cars to go in one run. Two drivers included Byron and Larson stayed on track to see if a caution would get them in a strong position. At this point, all other Playoff drivers were a lap down according to scoring.
It was not meant to be. The race stayed green, and the rest of the field was forced to pit. Harvick was able to regain the lead, but Truex was able to fight his way around and take over the lead on Lap 248.
As Kyle Busch climbed his way to start battling for the top five, he chose the middle lane when battling with Elliott and Bowman. Smithley however was in the middle lane running slower than Busch expected. The No. 18 Toyota slammed into the rear of the lapped car, caving in the nose and tweaking the splitter on the right front. Busch fell far off pace to finish in 19th, one lap down.
Out front, Truex led the remaining 20 laps to win his fifth race of the season. The victory secures his spot into the next round. The Cup series will compete next at Richmond Raceway as the Round of 16 continues.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA — Tyler Reddick takes the fuel mileage gamble at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to edge out the dominant Christopher Bell and wins the Rhino Pro Truck Outfitters 300 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
“That was nerve-wracking to say the least,” Reddick told NBCSN. “Those last three laps, I was losing fuel pressure.”
The bold call took place during the final caution when C.J. McLaughlin crashed into the Turn 4 wall. Most of the leaders stayed out, but Reddick came to pit road to begin what would be the race-winning fuel mileage strategy. The Richard Childress Racing team recognized they didn’t have the speed to catch or pass Bell, so they played the long game and had the dice roll in their favor over the next 105 miles.
“We came in for fuel and tires and had to save a lot,” Reddick said after a sigh of relief crossing the line under power. ”It allowed us to run some really, really fast laps there before we had on tires at the end to keep us out front. Our car was fast on the long run and that’s what we needed to get a buffer at the end.
“We’ve had a really, really fast car here in the past. Today we didn’t have it but we got them on strategy again.”
Reddick clinched the regular season championship part way through Stage 2 as other cars retired from the race. However with the postseason reset, Bell will take over the points lead by 11 points, leaving Reddick and pole sitter Cole Custer tied for second.
“We ain’t done yet. We got to go to Homestead and get another trophy,” said Reddick who seemed unphased about losing the points lead after dominating the regular season.
Bell led a race high 154 laps, but fell short by just 0.738 seconds. The gap was over 20 seconds after the final pit stops, but Reddick was able to outsmart and out-luck Bell with his strategy.
“It’s the second time this year that we got beat by circumstances,” Bell told NBCSN. “At Iowa we put on our tires when we needed to and some guys banked on a yellow coming out later and they got it and they beat us. Today those guys did the opposite of us and they won the race. Very, very disappointing.”
Brandon Jones, Custer and Justin Allgaier completed the top five. Las Vegas native Noah Gragson finished sixth. Gray Gaulding also gambled with his fuel and had it pay off to finish in seventh, becoming the first non-Playoff driver in the finishing order. John Hunter Nemecheck, Riley Herbst and Elliott Sadler finished in the top 10 respectively. It was Sadler’s final NASCAR race. Ryan Sieg finished in the 14th position, but was disqualified after post-race inspection found his No. 39 Lombar Bros. Gaming Chevrolet Camaro too low in both the right front and left front. He still has enough points to carry him into the postseason.
Bell Shows Strength Early in Stage One
As the series’ final regular season race, the points gap was larger than the other two national touring series. For those outside of the top 12, they were all too far back to point their way in, so only a win could sneak their way into the Playoffs.
Custer started on pole, but was beat on the first lap by Bell. Custer quickly fell back to third as Justin Allgaier made his way around for the second position. Las Vegas native Gragson spun earlier in qualifying and was forced to start at the rear of the field. He quickly climbed through the field and cracked the top 15 halfway through the stage. Sadler, who was making his final NASCAR start, began the day from the eighth position and ran in the top 10 most of the stage before fading back to the 15th position.
Bell went on the lead all the laps and win the first stage. Sadler was the first car one lap down. Landon Cassell, after a fantastic qualifying run for the ninth starting position, fell out of the race early after overheating issues.
The field came down pit road for service, but Austin Cindric’s crew was penalized for an uncontrolled tire. He came off pit road fourth and was forced to the rear of the field.
Dominance by Bell Was Outplayed by Reddick’s Gamble
Bell took the restart and had a strong challenge by Allgaier before reclaiming the lead. A few cars were declared out of the race due to part failures and mechanical issues, which clinched Reddick as the regular season series champion. He looks to make a run at back-to-back championships in the Xfinity series.
By the end of the stage, Bell led all but two laps up to this point and wins his 15th stage of the regular season.
Drivers began to get more aggressive as they took the green flag for the final stage. Bell continued to dominate, but Allgaier and Custer stayed closer to him. On Lap 110, Tommy Joe Martins spun to bring out the caution. That brought all the leaders to pit road. Cindric had fought his way up to fourth, but with too many crew members over the pit wall and NASCAR penalized him to put him at the tail end of the field.
The field restarted on Lap 115, and Allgaier stayed aggressive. He was able to complete the pass by the exit of Turn 2 and claim the lead, putting Bell into a fight for the second position. Bell stayed patient and was able to reclaim the lead by Lap 123. The caution flew just one lap later as McLaughlin crashed into the outside wall of Turn 4. Most lead lap cars elected to stay on the track, as they could not make it to the end on fuel without coming to pit road again, but Reddick came down pit road for fresh tires and fuel.
When the green flag came out again for what would be the final restart of the race, Bell took over the lead but Briscoe began his late race charge. Halfway through the run, he was able to get by Custer and Allgaier and find himself in the second position. As everyone came down pit road for green flag pit stops, Briscoe speeds on the entrance of pit road, and gets a pass-through penalty.
As the final pit stop cycle completes itself, Reddick elects to stay out to extend his fuel run to the end of the race. He was able to stretch his fuel for 70 laps (105 miles) to the end for his fifth win of the season.
The Playoff field was also set as the regular season concludes. Bell will inherit the points lead, 51 points above the cutoff line. Custer and Reddick will tie for second with a 40 point margin. The rest of the drivers above the cutoff line include Cindric, Briscoe, Allgaier, Michael Annett and Gragson. Jones is the first car in the elimination spot, just one point out of the next round. Justin Haley, Sieg and Nemecheck sit out by two, four and five points respectively.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series compete next at Richmond Raceway on Friday, September 20.
Kevin Harvick won the 26th annual Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard on Sunday. He dominated the race leading all but 42 laps en route to his second victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the 48th of his career.
“Yeah, this is great. Got to say thanks to all the fans. Can’t tell you how much, yeah, that’s great. How much coming to Indianapolis means to me, as a kid I watched Rick Mears win Indy 500s and got to be around him as a kid, and he was my hero, so coming here and winning here is pretty awesome.” Harvick said.
This was Harvick’s third victory of the season and his 17th top-10 finish in 2019.
“Yeah, I don’t know if we had the best car, but we had the fastest car. We gave up the lead there on one of those restarts and then we came and pitted and the caution came out and it worked our way. We’ve given so many away just because of circumstances here, and the way that the caution flag fell today actually worked in our favor. It gave us control of the race and we were able to keep control of the race and not make any mistakes and here we are in Victory Lane at one of the greatest places on earth to race,” Harvick said.
In a rare schedule that saw qualifying early Sunday morning, Harvick qualified on the pole. Stages were broken into 50/50/60 laps to make up the 160 lap race.
Stage 1: Lap 1- Lap 50
On Lap 12, potential playoff contender Daniel Suarez slapped the wall off Turn 2 and brought out the first caution of the day. Chaos broke out on pit road when an incident saw Chase Elliott get turned around causing a backup on pit road. Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace, William Byron and Austin Dillon were all involved.
Johnson had the most damage and would have to come back down pit road for a right rear issue. After the restart, Kurt Busch had a left front tire rub which saw him making a pit stop shortly after on Lap 17. As a result of the incident on pit road, Truex had left front damage on his car. Also during this stint, Brad Keselowski reported a possible vibration, but it was minimal.
The second caution flew on Lap 43 when the No. 00 of Landon Cassill hit the wall hard after a right-front tire went down. Cassill walked out under his own power and was okay.
Under the caution, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman played pit strategy by staying out to get the top spots and everyone else wound up pitting.
A restart came with four to go in Stage 1, however, the field was slowed once more with Erik Jones and Keselowski making contact with each other off Turn 2. Jones hit the wall hard and Keselowski’s car went sliding down to hit the tire barrier. Both drivers would be unharmed.
Due to the incident so late in the stage, Stage 1 ended under yellow with Team Penske’s Joey Logano taking the stage win. Kyle Larson, Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Newman, Johnson, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Alex Bowman and Chris Buescher rounded out the top-10 stage finishers. A red flag would eventually come out to allow track workers to clean up the accident.
Stage 2: Lap 57- Lap 100
Stage 2 almost saw a long green-flag run to the end of the stage before a caution was brought out by Kyle Busch. His motor expired and his car came to a stop on pit road going up in smoke. NASCAR would fly the yellow flag due to the car being stopped.
At the time of caution, Johnson was the leader and green flag pit stops were taking place. Harvick had already pitted on Lap 85 and caught a lucky break with the timing of the yellow. Harvick would cycle out as the leader for the restart. Like the ending of Stage 1, another caution was seen for debris in Turn 2 on Lap 97 and the stage ended under yellow once more.
This time it was Harvick who would end up winning the stage. Logano, Larson, Blaney, Logano, Clint Bowyer, Suarez, Kurt Busch, Johnson and Byron were the top-10 stage finishers for Stage 2.
Stage 3: Lap 105- Lap 160
When Stage 3 began, a major wreck broke out in Turn 2 when Johnson hit the wall. This would end Johnson’s championship hopes for the first time in his career. Kurt Busch, Byron, Buescher, Menard, Kligerman and Daniel Hemric were also involved in the crash.
In what seemed like a potential race losing moment for Harvick, Blaney took the lead for a short while before green flag pit stops began with 34 to go. Harvick pitted from the lead two laps later and once again, a caution was flown for the No. 42 of Larson who hit the wall.
Two more yellows were seen. The first occurred with 26 to go for Bowman spinning off Turn 2 and hitting the inside wall on the backstretch. The other caution came with 14 to go when Matt Tifft hit the wall in Turns 1 and 2.
This would set up a late race restart with nine to go. Logano was on the outside row and tried to make a move on Harvick on the backstretch. However, Harvick closed him off, checked out from the field and went on to win his third race of the season and the 48th of his career.
“As long as I was side-by-side going into Turn 1, I just didn’t feel like they were going to pass me,” Harvick added to PRN Radio. “I felt like I could hold my car in the second lane for the first three corners and nobody ever made it to the fourth corner on the inside line. So for us, I just needed to stay side-by-side and I wasn’t trying the bottom again, and that didn’t work. Luckily, things worked our way.”
With three wins this season, Harvick is going to compete for the championship and hopes to win his second title for the first time since 2013. Harvick led five times for 118 laps for his second career Indy win.
There were nine cautions for 48 laps and 13 lead changes among eight drivers.
Up Next: With the playoff grid set, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers began their 10 race playoff run next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kevin Harvick qualified on the pole position for the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard on Sunday with a lap of 48.44 seconds and 185.766 mph. This was Harvick’s third pole position at The Brickyard.
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver noted the importance of the starting spot in order to win the race.
“It’s very important,” Harvick said to PRN Radio. “I wish we had that first pit stall to go with it to cap off the pole with our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang, but still a great job by our guys. Track position is going to be the name of the game today, having things fall your way but you’re still going have to have the handling of your car throughout the long runs in order to keep yourself out front and to have the option to put two tires on at any point.”
“So there’s a number of things that’s going to come into play. The cloud cover obviously has changed things a little bit compared to the bright sun we had yesterday, so the track conditions are a little bit better today, so we’ll see how that affects the handling of the car.”
Track position isn’t the only thing that’s important today. This race is also the last chance for bubble drivers to make the Playoffs that start next weekend in Las Vegas.
Paul Menard qualified second, Clint Bowyer was third, Jimmie Johnson was fifth and Daniel Hemric qualified 11th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start 12th, Daniel Suarez was 18th and Ryan Newman will start in 22nd. All of these drivers face possible elimination in order to compete for the championship.
NBCSN coverage of the Big Machine Vodka 400 starts at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. They will switch over to regular NBC with Countdown To Green at 1:30 p.m. ET.
With potential threatening weather in the area and the potential for more, the start time of the race has been moved up to 2:05 p.m. ET.
Stages will be 50/50/60 laps to make up the 160 lap race.
