This Memorial Day weekend the Monster
Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the 60th running
of the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday evening while the Xfinity Series hits the track Saturday
for the Alsco 300.
The ARCA Menards Series will also compete at Charlotte Thursday night for the General Tire 150. There will be two hours of practice beginning at 11:30 a.m. with qualifying at 5 p.m. The race is scheduled for a 9 p.m. start and will be televised on FS1.
All times are Eastern.
Thursday, May 23
2:35 p.m.- 3:25 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series First Practice – Airing on FS1 at 3 p.m. 4:05 p.m.- 4:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series First Practice – FS1 6:05 p.m.-6:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series Final Practice – FS1 7:05 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series Qualifying – Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions – FS1/PRN
Friday, May 24 No events scheduled
Saturday, May 25
8:35 a.m.-9:25 a.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series Second Practice – FS1 9:35 a.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions – FS1 11:05 a.m.-11:55 a.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series Final Practice – FS1 1 p.m.: Xfinity Series Alsco 300 (Stages 45/90/200 Laps = 300 Miles) – FS1/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Sunday, May 26
6 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 (Stages 100/200/300/400 Laps = 600 Miles) – FOX/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Clint
Bowyer captured the pole for Saturday’s Monster Energy All-Star Race at
Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was his first pole in the event which features a
$1 million prize.
Qualifying required each participant to complete three qualifying laps with one four-tire pit stop with no pit road speed limit. Bowyer’s best lap time of 136.371 mph and his 14.8-second pit stop in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was enough to earn the top starting position. It will be his 10th All-Star Race.
“Our
Fords are extremely fast, frustrated that we haven’t been able to break into
victory lane. We’re poised to do that. I’m telling you, the Stewart-Haas cars
have been extremely fast,” Bowyer said. “Kevin (Harvick) showed his muscle last week in Kansas, had a
mishap and didn’t get his win. We’ve been knocking on the door at Richmond and
Bristol and Martinsville.
“With our 14 car, I’m very proud of the job that Buga (Mike Bugarewicz, crew chief) and everybody has been doing. That was the difference tonight. Tonight was all about going fast and getting the most out of three laps and I do love the aspect that you add that pit crew. It gives them a time to shine. My pit crew has been doing a jam-up job all season long and they were a big part of that. I call that a win. That is a victory. That’s something that’s not just a qualifying lap. It’s a total team effort.”
Kyle
Busch, who fell short of the pole in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota by .177 seconds, said, “I thought everything about the lap actually was
pretty good. I’m not sure how fast the lap itself was — how fast our car was on
the lap.
“I felt like my progressiveness
onto pit road and pit road speed was relatively good, and then the braking
point and being able to just chatter the tires all the way into the box was
really close. Really on the money there. I thought we got all we could get out
of it.”
Kevin Harvick, Bowyer’s teammate,
will start third with his fastest lap time of 136.068 mph as Austin Dillon and
Martin Truex Jr. round out the top five.
Harvick seemed pleased that his qualifying
run went smoothly, saying, “I think I could have got a little better in
the braking onto pit road was okay, a little better time in the braking and I
spun the tires a little bit too much leaving the stall, but in the end you
don’t want to make any big mistakes and I think we accomplished that.”
Of the remaining drivers who have already qualified for the All-Star Race, Ryan Newman will start sixth followed by Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch.
Qualifying for the Open was held
prior to All-Star qualifying and Richard Childress Racing’s Daniel Hemric won
the pole.
“I said on the radio this is the
first box checked for the weekend,” Hemric said. “You’ve got to bring the
fastest race car you can, and we’ve done that. Hopefully, we can do our jobs
tomorrow and do what we need to do to get in the All-Star race and really have
some fun.”
Fifteen drivers have qualified for the race and another three will join the lineup after the Monster Energy Open which will precede the All-Star Race Saturday night at 6 p.m. ET. The Open will consist of three stages and each stage winner will earn a spot in the All-Star Race. One final driver will be chosen from the Fan Vote, making a total of 19 competitors for the All-Star event.
This year’s All-Star race is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET Saturday on FS1 and will include four stages of 30, 20 and 20 laps with a final 15-lap shootout.
Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.
Kyle Busch returned to the Truck Series after a short hiatus to race in the fifth and final event in which he is allowed to compete and went straight to victory lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It wasn’t easy for Busch, however, as he had to hold off the field in a late race restart with three to go including a hard-charging Brennan Poole for the 56th win of his career.
“Our truck was really, really good,” Busch told MRN Radio. “These guys prepared such a fast Tundra for me and I wanna thank Cessna Beechcraft, Toyota TRD, Rowdy Manufacturing. You know, it takes a whole group effort. Rudy (Fugle) and these guys are awesome at what they do, give me great pieces each and every time we come out here. We have not ever this year not unloaded great, but we really work on our stuff and improved it through practice and even into the race. You know there at the end, I didn’t want to have that last restart at the end. I knew being on older tires were going to be a handful for me. It looked liked it was for a couple of the other guys. Not a very good restart, but I was still able to hold them off thankfully.”
The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 got underway shortly after 8:30 p.m./ET. Matt Crafton qualified on the pole for the second straight week in a row and the 15th of his career.
There were three stages of 30/30/74 laps to equal the 134 lap race. Todd Gilliland took the lead after the start, but Ben Rhodes took the lead from Gilliland on Lap 2.
The first incident of the night happened early with Natalie Decker who had right side damage after making contact with the wall. Matters only got worse for the No. 54 DGR-Crosley team as they would bring out the first caution of the night on Lap 23 when Decker wrecked off Turn 2. During the pit stops, Angela Ruch was penalized a lap for pitting outside the box.
The restart for Stage 1 came with two to go and featured a thrilling finish. Pole sitter, Crafton, was able to rocket back to the front and pass Todd Gilliland off Turn 2 to win Stage 1.
Stage 2 began on lap 36 and went to lap 60. It was a relatively clean stage and saw no cautions. Eventual race winner, Busch took the lead on Lap 40.
There was a minor incident that involved Dover winner Johnny Sauter, as he barely wrecked off Turn 4. However, there were no issues for the all-time wins leader Busch, as he would go on to win Stage 2 which ended on Lap 60.
There was an issue with Chad Finley who slowed and was way off the pace. It was later reported that Finley was out of gas at the end of the stage, which eventually cost him a top-10 stage finish. Grant Enfinger also stalled on pit road as well during pit stops.
Stage 3 was restarted with 67 to go with two Truck Series veterans Kyle Busch and Matt Crafton.
With 62 to go, Codie Rohrbaugh smacked the wall off Turn 2 to bring out the fourth caution. Another caution took place with 57 to go, as rookie Gus Dean hit the wall off Turn 2 as well. Korbin Forrister and Ruch were also involved. During the caution, Ross Chastain, Enfinger and Gilliland, among others, went in to pit while Busch and the front half of the field stayed out.
The sixth caution came out for the No. 49 of Stefan Parsons who hit the wall. Parsons would wind up 24th.
After the restart with 44 to go, there was a wide variety of leaders. Sauter, who had issues earlier with his truck found himself in the lead for a short while before Busch would take the lead once again with 39 to go.
The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 would go on a long green flag run of 37 laps until the final caution broke out with eight to go for last year’s champion Brett Moffitt, who had a right rear tire come apart.
This would eventually set up a late race restart with three to go. Two-time champion, Sauter could not get going on the restart and jacked up the field who was behind him. Busch did not get a great restart either as he found Poole chasing him down for the upset win. However, Busch would continue his winning streak by going five for five this year.
“No, no I don’t think so,” Busch told MRN in regards to having such a dominating streak in 2019. “You know, a couple of years ago, I shot for it and wanted to have it, but only got two or three (races). Overall, I wish I could do more. It’s frustrating that you’re limited because you’re too good at what you do. I would love to be able to come out here some more and be able to win with this team, and all my guys at Kyle Busch Motorsports and for our partners here at Toyota, Cessna Beechcraft and everybody else.”
There were seven cautions for 31 laps with nine leaders among 19 lead changes during the race. Busch led five times for 102 laps and collected his eighth Truck Series win at Charlotte Motor Speedway and his fifth of 2019.
This will be Busch’s last Truck Series race of the 2019 season.
Up Next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will take two-weeks off before returning to on-track action on Friday, June 7.
Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race Number 8 Race Results for the 17th Annual North Carolina Education Lottery 200 – Friday, May 17, 2019 Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC – 1.5 – Mile Paved Total Race Length – 134 Laps – 201. Miles
For one night a year, throw the points out the window as the Monster Energy All-Star teams take to their hometown track for the Annual All-Star Race. The Xfinity teams have one final week off before Charlotte but the Truck Series is back in action Friday night under the lights. Here is how you can watch all of the action.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, May 17
9:05 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series first practice – NASCAR.com/live
10:35 a.m. – 11:25 a.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series final practice – NASCAR.com/live
11:35 a.m. – 12:25 p.m: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice COMBINED Open and All-Star – NASCAR.com/live
1:05 p.m. – 1:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series OPEN final practice – NASCAR.com/live
2:05 p.m. – 2:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All-Star final practice – NASCAR.com/live , FS1 (Delayed)
2:35 p.m.: Pit road speed practice (All-Star Group 1) NASCAR.com/live
2:45 p.m.: Pit road speed practice (All-Star Group 2) NASCAR.com/live
4:35 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Pole Qualifying
(Single Vehicle/One Laps All Positions) – FS1
6:00 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
qualifying OPEN teams – (Single Vehicle/Two Laps) – FS1
7:00 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying All-Star teams – (Single Vehicle/Three Laps All Positions, Mandatory Pitstop) – FS1/PRN
8:30 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series North Carolina
Educational Lottery 200 (Stages 30/60/134 Laps = 201 MILES) – FS1/MRN
Saturday, May 18
6 p.m.: Monster Energy Open Race (Stages 20/20/10 laps) – FS1/PRN
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Brad Keselowski won in an overtime finish at Kansas Speedway for his third victory of the season and his first since 2011 at the 1.5-mile speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.
“Yeah, this was a great day, and that’s what I’ve been known for my whole career is just never give up,” Keselowski said in his victory lane interview. We were behind big time with just 40 or 50 to go. The yellow came out, we were on pit road, we were trapped a lapped down. We dug out of that hole, and then the restarts, a couple of opportunities, the holes were there, I took it, and it stuck. And the next thing I knew I was running second or third behind Alex Bowman. I was able to make just the right move at the right time to clear him. Alex was super, super strong, and he got a little tight off of Turn 2 and I had the run wall and glued to it and built this big run.”
The Digital Ally 400 was broken into 80/80/107 laps to make up the three stages.
Eleven drivers had failed post-qualifying inspection before the race started and had to line up at the back of the field which meant that several drivers moved up starting positions.
Stage 1 saw barely any incidents. There were was a competition caution on Lap 30 due to overnight rain. The first incident of the night took place on Lap 60 when Denny Hamlin spun off Turn 4 and had the crush panels pushed in. William Byron was penalized for removing equipment, a jack post, on pit road.
Before the stage ended, there was a range of leaders from Chase Elliott to Kevin Harvick. Harvick completely dominated the first stage and wound up winning Stage 1 after leading three times for 57 laps, nearly half the stage.
Stage 2 saw the same thing, but this time there was a little more strategy involved throughout the stage with drivers up front who were normally not up front. This included Chris Buescher and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who were trying a different strategy, however, they eventually had to end up pitting.
There were no cautions throughout Stage 2 as it went clean the whole way with Elliott winning the second stage. Harvick wound up second with Jones third, Bowman fourth, Stenhouse fifth, Buescher sixth, Kurt Busch seventh, Clint Bowyer eighth, Kyle Busch ninth and Kyle Larson rounding out the top 10 for Stage 2 which ended on lap 160.
The third and final stage began on lap 168, and the stage saw several more cautions.
On Lap 219, Ryan Newman’s tire went out into the grass and caught on fire. On Lap 221 during the pit stops, Kyle Busch was penalized for driving through too many pit boxes. After adding some additional laps to get the restart order correct, the green flag came out on Lap 228 with unique names like Bowman, Buescher, Stenhouse and Tyler Reddick up front. Another caution flew with 30 to go for debris in Turn 2.
There was intense side-by-side racing for the lead for 19 laps until the final caution came out with just seven laps to go for the No. 95 of Matt DiBenedetto who was leaking fluid in Turn 2.
This would eventually set up an overtime restart with just two laps to go. There were side-by-side battles with Stenhouse, Bowman and eventually Keselowski, who took the lead on Lap 261 and held on for the last 11 laps to win his third race of the season, his first since Martinsville.
Coming into the race, Keselowski had an idea what to expect during the race.
“It’s hard to say where it will go,” Keselowski said in regards to the rules package. “I feel like the season breaks down into thirds. Maybe I am repeating myself to some of the people in the room. You know, you have the first third, your second third, and the final part with the Playoffs, and with that in mind, Kansas to me is like the break to me in the first third of the season and the beginning of the middle stretch. I think we see things start to settle out by then at the end of the West Coast swing start of the season. There’s a lot that comes and goes, and you try to understand the rules; all the engineering behind it is a little bit tough.
“When we get to this part of the season, you really have to shine because this is what you got. So it’s nice to be able to win right here today, it’s always nice to win, but in light of those thoughts or beliefs I guess, it’s a good sign for us for sure.”
Keselowski led twice for 12 laps and earned five Playoff points.
Bowman, Erik Jones, Elliott, Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Larson, Reddick and Buescher rounded out the top-10 finishers.
There were seven cautions for 41 laps and 23 leaders among 12 lead changes.
Up Next: The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads home next weekend to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the annual running of the All-Star Race.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series visited the Midwest Friday night at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway, as usual, it didn’t disappoint.
Ross Chastain passed Stewart Friesen with three laps to go, as Friesen ran out of gas and went on by to score his first career Truck Series win.
“Every win is huge,” Chastain said. “These guys, Al’s (Niece) first Trucks Series win. We each have won a Xfinity Series race, but you can’t rank one above the other. It is so hard to win in NASCAR. I know Kyle Busch has won, winning 200. Like that is incredible, I won two NASCAR races now. I can’t even put it in to words. I know Kyle (Busch) is like, gets up here and he’s mopy and oh well, I only won a Trucks race, but this means so much to all of us. There are so many people in this world that are working toward this goal and I know that, because we went through it. So yeah, I don’t rank one above the other, they all have their place, it only fuels us to win more.”
The Digital Ally 250 saw Matt Crafton on the pole and he led laps early.
The first stage was 40 laps and there were some major incidents. On Lap 23, last week’s Dover winner Johnny Sauter suffered a mechanical issue which saw the truck fall off the pace. He eventually had to take it to the garage for a short while. On Lap 25, Brandon Jones spun out off Turn 4.
After that caution, however, there were no major incidents but some thrilling battles for the lead with Brett Moffitt and Stewart Friesen on Lap 28 with Friesen eventually taking the lead for good on lap 32 and winning the first stage.
Stage 2 began with Moffitt and Sheldon Creed on the front row for the restart. The next caution came out on Lap 52 for Natalie Decker who went sliding coming off Turn 4, getting all four tires off the ground and into the grass. Decker was not injured but her night was done early.
After the incident, there were six laps of racing and Friesen went on to win the second stage.
The fifth caution came out with 24 to go, as Moffitt and Grant Enfinger made contact with each other off the exit of Turn 2. The final incident of the day came with 20 to go for Josh Reaume’s No. 33 Truck, which stalled off the exit of Turn 4.
When the race started to wind down, the battle for the lead started to heat up with Chastain, Austin Hill and Todd Gilliland.
While some were questioning Friesen’s fuel mileage, his crew chief thought they would have enough gas to make it to the finish. But Chastain began to close in and eventually caught him as Friesen ran out of gas with three to go. Chastain went on by and captured the first Truck Series win of his career.
“You always want to win, but you saw Johnny (Sauter) won last week, drove away from Brett (Moffitt) at the end and had perfect handling truck and tonight, I never saw him. I don’t know if something happened to Johnny. Oh did it? I was gonna say, I never saw him. Different trucks come and go each week, and last week we had a terrible week and still finished 10th. I got out of the truck and stretched my back out because it was locking up, and my arms were jello. This week my arms were jello because I was fist bumping so hard. I dented in the roof because I was jumping up and down on it on the frontstretch.”
“Yeah, I mean you just show up each week. This Truck Series is so fun and any racing is fun when you have a team like this, and you show up and have speed. We showed up with this exact race truck in Texas. We walked in that morning of the garage for practice and our chest was out, and we walked out that night our tails were tucked in-between our legs because we were so bad. He (crew chief) was about to cut the dang cross bend out of it, raise it up and cut the frame apart. I wished he (crew chief) would have. You know, it’s like the highest of highs tonight and the lowest of lows in the same truck at Texas, where Al (Niece) had so much invested in that race and we were gonna fifth and we ended up finishing seventh, as the right rear tire ended up going flat at the end, but still a good night saw some promise. Just show up every week, get through practice, try not to have some big moments like I had, you know getting loose and show up and fight.”
Chastain led twice for five laps.
Ben Rhodes, Todd Gilliland, Austin Hill, Brandon Jones, Matt Crafton, Grant Enfinger, Brett Moffitt, Riley Herbst and Harrison Burton rounded out the top-10.
Enfinger still leads the points standings by 13 points over Brett Moffitt.
There were six cautions for 29 laps with 22 lead changes and a margin of Victory of .483 seconds.
Up Next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series heads east next weekend to Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 17.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — For the third time this season and the 28th of his career, Kevin Harvick earned the pole position at Kansas Speedway on Friday evening.
It was Harvick’s fifth pole at the 1.5-mile speedway located in Kansas City, Kansas. Harvick laid down a lap time of 30.131 seconds and a speed of 179.217 mph.
The No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing driver has been quite successful at Kansas Speedway amassing three wins in 26 starts, eight top fives, 14 top-10 finishes, and 751 laps led.
His teammates weren’t that far away, as they took the first four spots. Aric Almirola placed second, hometown favorite Clint Bowyer third and Daniel Suarez fourth.
Talladega winner Chase Elliott was fifth, Dover winner Martin Truex Jr. was sixth, rookie William Byron was seventh, Kyle Larson eighth, Brad Keselowski ninth and Alex Bowman rounded out the top-10 starters for Saturday’s Digital Ally 400.
Other notables include Erik Jones who qualified 11th, Bubba Wallace in 12th, Kyle Busch in 13th, Kurt Busch in 14th, Denny Hamlin will start 17th, Jimmie Johnson in 18th and Ryan Blaney in 19th. Joey Logano will start 20th, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 21st, Austin Dillon 22nd, Ryan Newman in 28th and Tyler Reddick in 30th. Reddick, the reigning Xfinity Series champion, will be making his second Cup Series start driving the Richard Childress Racing No. 31 Chevrolet.
With some unknowns going into Saturday’s race, Harvick explains if we’ll see the single-file racing that Kansas is known for or if we will see something like we did at Texas several weeks ago.
“I think it’s going to be very similar to Texas,” Harvick said. “You’ll see some wild restarts and I think you’re gonna see guys check up with a swarm of cars that they catch you. You know, I think for us the closing rate has been very good when you catch a draft off a car. I don’t think it’s going to be one big pack. You’re going to see that for seven to eight or nine, or 10 laps on the restart like you did at Texas because you do have multiple lanes here but as you run through the night, I think you’re going to see some tire strategy. I don’t think tire fall off is going to be near as bad as it has been in the past. There is still going to be some there, but we haven’t seen a lot today and it’s going to be cooler tomorrow night. I think the exact style of race is going to be hard to tell you, as the conditions are going to be when it is dark.”
Harvick will be looking for his fourth win at Kansas in Saturday’s race.
INDIANAPOLIS — May is the month of the year around which the NTT IndyCar Series revolves. It begins with the IndyCar Grand Prix on the grand prix circuit of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Then on Memorial Day Sunday, the cannon fires at 6:00 a.m. (which indicates the gates are open) and over 200,000 people pour into the facility to drink the day away, take in a concert in the Snake Pit and watch the annual running of the Indianapolis 500. Afterwards, the turnaround at Indianapolis begins for the next major event, the Brickyard 400; be it in September this year or on Independence Day weekend in 2020.
On March 26, 2019, NASCAR announced that as part of its major schedule realignment, the Brickyard 400 will take Daytona International Speedway’s spot on Independence Day weekend in 2020. This comes only two years after it was moved from late July to Richmond Raceway’s slot in mid-September.
Aside from the lackluster quality of the racing, especially compared to the Indianapolis 500, one of the biggest reasons cited for the Brickyard 400’s well documented declining attendance was the extreme heat in summertime July.
“…one of the things, when we moved to September, we said there were two things that were really important,” track president J. Douglas Boles said. “One was getting out of the heat. The other one was we wanted a weekend that meant something, and so last year and this year were the last race leading into the Chase, or the playoffs, the last race of the regular season.”
Given this, one might wonder why it’s moving back to July.
At his press conference Friday at Indianapolis, Boles said that NASCAR approached them with several options, which included Independence Day weekend, as it looked to align its schedule in a manner that would “grow the sport of NASCAR racing,” and that the decision was a joint one between NASCAR and Indianapolis. He also noted that the track was “limited in the number of dates that worked for their schedule.”
“When we looked at the date options we had, July 4th has a lot of impact,” he said. “…it’s a weekend that means an awful lot from our country’s standpoint. You think about we kick summer off on an important American weekend, so if we can kick it off for IndyCar and have NASCAR on an important American weekend, that felt really good to us.”
While heat was an obvious issue, he believe that “a lot of other activities” can overcome that (what that entails, he didn’t mention).
The move to Independence Day weekend in 2020 brings with it a short turnaround between the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day Sunday and the Brickyard 400. There’s concern that the short turnaround might cannibalize the Indianapolis market. That’s not new for the track, however, as from 2004-2007, Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix ran in late September, three weeks after the Indy 500.
“In a lot of ways our staff is excited about it because you can just think about those two huge events all right together, so it’s a little bit longer run where when we’ve been late in July or even in September, we get through May and then there’s a little bit of lull and then you pick back up,” Boles said. “So, it comes with challenges and opportunities, and we’re really focused on the opportunity that it brings, and I think we’re going to find that the recall of July 4th for fans is going to be easier to remember when the Brickyard is.
“And the one positive that we haven’t talked about is we’re not going head-to-head with the NFL, we’re not going head-to-head with the Colts, and I think at the end of the day, we’re going to find that this weekend works out okay.”
With the Xfinity teams off this week, the NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams head to the Midwest for a two day show at Kansas Motor Speedway. Here is how you can keep up on all of the action.
Note: All times are ET
Friday, May 10 9:35 a.m. – 10:25 a.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series first practice – NASCAR.com/live 11:35 a.m. – 12:25 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series final practice – NASCAR.com/live 12:35 p.m. – 1:25 p.m: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice – NASCAR.com/live 2:35 p.m. – 3:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice – FS1/MRN 5:05 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Pole Qualifying (Single Vehicle/Two Laps All Positions) – FS1 7:05 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying – (Single Vehicle/Two Laps All Positions) – FS1/MRN 8:30 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Digital Ally 250 (Stages 40/80/167 Laps = 250.5 MILES) – FS1/MRN
Saturday, May 11 7:30 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Digital Ally 400 (Stages 80/160/267 laps, 400.5 miles) – FS1/MRN
A mistake by Alex Bowman on the final lap of the second stage let Martin Truex Jr. pounce on and pass him to win the stage. After that, the Gander RV 400 was his race to lose.
Lap traffic allowed Kevin Harvick and Truex to reel in Bowman. Harvick tried, but failed to overtake him, as did Truex. On the final lap of the second stage, however, Bowman went too high in Turn 1 and Truex made the pass underneath him to win the stage.
For the final 160 laps, nobody could catch Truex. Aside from a pit cycle under green, he didn’t lose the lead and drove to his 21st Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, and third at Dover International Speedway in his 488th start.
“What a race car we had today,” he said. “(This) SiriusXM Camry was just incredible. Thanks to everybody at the shop…
“We came here with a new setup this time, because we had kind of an older setup that we won with in 2016. We’ve been good, but not good enough.
“Just hats off to Cole (Pearn) James and all those guys, everybody at (Toyota Racing Development) back in California, Costa Mesa for some awesome engines, awesome horsepower.”
He started from the rear of the field, after his car failed pre-race inspection, and ended the race with a nine-second margin of victory. But he swore that it wasn’t as easy as it looked.
“It was a lot of work,” he said. “It was tough, but this race car, man, it was just incredible.”
DOVER, Del. – MAY 06: Alex Bowman, driver of the #88 Nationwide Small Business Chevrolet, races during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander RV 400 at Dover International Speedway on May 6, 2019 in Dover, Delaware. Photo: Matt Sullivan/Getty Images
Alex Bowman, who started in the rear for failing inspection, finished the afternoon in second for the second weekend in a row.
“Talladega (Superspeedway) is a speedway and it’s a lot of luck involved,” Bowman said. “But to come here to, in my opinion, the hardest race track we go to and run from the back of all things was pretty special.
“Just proud of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for all the improvement we’ve made over the last year or so, and we’re gonna keep it going.”
While Kyle Larson fought a tight-handling car early in the race, he got the car handling right and rounded out the podium for his best finish of the 2019 season.
“And in the last run there, after cycling through green-flag stops, I was really loose and got stuck in traffic and then was just looser in the dirty air,” Larson said. “So, I had to just make sure I hit the bottom lap after lap to hold (Kevin) Harvick off. So, it was good to finally have a clean race. I don’t think we’ve had a clean weekend all year long. And we’re 11 weeks into the season. So, it’s good to finally get a clean day, like I said, and thanks to our race team. Our pit crew did a good job today as well. It was a nice day.”
Harvick and Chase Elliott, who led a race high of 145 laps, rounded out the top five.
“…we just fell off there at the end of that second Stage,” Elliott said. “That was the time of the race that we needed to be controlling it and not falling back. Just a bad time to have a bad half of a run and that is kind of what happened. So, we were fast, just not fast enough when it really mattered.”
Erik Jones, Joey Logano, William Byron, Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 10.
RACE SUMMARY
Chase Elliott led the field to green and led the first 108 laps. After Ricky Stenhouse Jr. cut a right-front tire, hit the wall in Turn 1 and brought out the caution on Lap 106, Joey Logano took just right-side tires and exited the pits with the lead. He drove on to win the first stage.
DOVER, Del. – MAY 06: Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander RV 400 at Dover International Speedway on May 6, 2019 in Dover, Delaware. Photo: Chris Trotman/Getty Images
Logano pitted during the stage break, which handed the lead to teammate Brad Keselowski. He led for 57 laps, before he pitted from the lead under green on Lap 181. After a few drivers took turns in the front for nine laps, Elliott cycled back to the lead.
Thanks to lap traffic, Bowman pulled up to his teammate and passed him entering Turn 1 on Lap 223. Likewise, lap traffic allowed Kevin Harvick and Truex to reel him in. Harvick tried, but failed to overtake him, as did Truex. On the final lap of the second stage, however, Bowman went too high in Turn 1 and Truex made the pass underneath him to win the stage.
Truex lost the lead for 27 laps, while Daniel Suarez stayed out hoping to catch a caution. When that strategy failed, he pitted on Lap 347 and Truex led the rest of the way.
Who had a good day
After starting the day in the rear, Bowman drove through the field and led 16 laps, on his way to a runner-up finish.
Teammate Elliott led a race high of 145 laps, on his way to a fifth-place finish.
William Byron earned his second top 10 finish of the season, with an eighth-place finish.
Kyle Busch finished 10th to extend his top 10 streak to 11 races. He tied Morgan Shepherd for the longest top 10 streak in the Modern Era of NASCAR.
Who had a lousy day
Denny Hamlin, who started the day in eighth, quickly fell through the field as his car’s handling went loose. He finished the first stage in 23rd. His afternoon crossed the Mason-Dixon Line when he cut a tire, couldn’t get to pit road and spun in Turn 1 on Lap 265.
The race lasted three hours eight minutes and 37 seconds, at an average speed of 127.242 mph.
There were 15 lead changes among 11 different drivers and six cautions for 31 laps.
Kyle Busch leaves with a nine-point lead.
Monster Energy Cup Series Race Number 11 Race Results for the 50th Annual Gander RV 400 – Monday, May 6, 2019 Dover International Speedway – Dover, DE – 1. – Mile Concrete Total Race Length – 400 Laps – 400. Miles
