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Race Central Stories

Christopher Bell captures third Xfinity win this season at Dover

Christopher Bell captured his third Xfinity Series victory of the season in Saturday’s Allied Steel Buildings 200 at Dover International Speedway. Bell also won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash’ bonus for scoring the highest finish among a field of four drivers.

“I just can’t say enough about everyone on this team 20 at Joe Gibbs Racing. They never quit. They keep working and over the last couple weeks we’ve had really fast race cars, but we just haven’t been able to capitalize on it. This one is really out to my pit crew. They did a great job of getting me out first there where I could control the restarts,” Bell said.

“Over that long run there, I felt like I could make gains on him running the top. Last time we were here, the top was really good for me, but it seemed like it rubbered up more and the top was a little less of a disadvantage. Once we got the lead – thank you to my pit crew, they did an outstanding job – it’s really special to be here,” Bell continued.

Cole Custer dominated the race, leading 155 laps but after Kaz Grala’s spin on Lap 154, everybody came in for one final stop and the Joe Gibbs squad got Bell out before Stewart-Haas Racing’s group.

Bell said after the race in Victory Lane, “There’s no doubt that he (Cole Custer) was really good.”

Bell had to overcome not one restart but two restarts as Riley Herbst spun out on Lap 175 and then once again on Lap 181 as Grey Gaulding got involved in an incident with Vinnie Miller.

Justin Allgaier finished second for his fifth top-10 this year, Tyler Reddick was third followed by Custer and Chase Briscoe to round out the top five.

Stage 1:

Cole Custer led from wire to wire after starting on the pole in his Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. The Ladera Ranch, California native went coast to coast, leading all 40 laps as there was no caution during the first stage. There was an incident, however, as Noah Gragson got into the wall. There was no yellow as Gragson was able to continue. Gragson ended up finishing 19th after having to pit late in the race.

Stage 2:

Stage 2 began right where it left off in Stage 1 as the winner from Auto Club Speedway continued his approach to tame Miles the Monster. Custer began the race leading only 38 laps in his four previous trips to the Monster Mile. After the second stage? He led double that. Custer once again led from start to finish, lapping everybody up to 15th place before the green and checkered flags waved to end the stage.

This was Bell’s 11th victory in 51 Xfinity starts in his career but he does trail Tyler Reddick by 23 points in the point standings.

The NASCAR Xfinity teams will have two weeks off before heading to Charlotte Motor Speedway on Memorial Day Weekend.

Xfinity Series Race Number 10
Race Results for the 38th Annual Allied Steel Buildings 200 – Saturday, May 4, 2019
Dover International Speedway – Dover, DE – 1. – Mile Concrete
Total Race Length – 200 Laps – 200. Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	Pts	Status
1	4	20	Christopher Bell	Rheem Toyota	200	2	2	58	Running
2	2	7	Justin Allgaier	BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet	200	3	4	50	Running
3	5	2	Tyler Reddick	Roland Chevrolet	200	4	3	49	Running
4	1	0	Cole Custer	Haas Automation Ford	200	1	1	53	Running
5	7	98	Chase Briscoe #	Nutri Chomps Ford	200	7	7	40	Running
6	3	22	Austin Cindric	Menards/Richmond Ford	200	5	6	42	Running
7	8	19	Brandon Jones	1st Foundation Toyota	200	8	8	36	Running
8	16	23	John Hunter Nemechek #	Fire Alarm Services INC Chevrolet	200	0	10	30	Running
9	6	8	Zane Smith	PatientPop Chevrolet	200	6	5	39	Running
10	15	1	Michael Annett	Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet	200	0	0	27	Running
11	14	39	Ryan Sieg	Anglin Builders LLC Chevrolet	200	0	0	26	Running
12	10	4	Ross Chastain	Protect Your Melon Chevrolet	200	9	0	27	Running
13	17	86	Brandon Brown #	Vector Security Chevrolet	200	0	0	24	Running
14	18	21	Kaz Grala	HotScream Chevrolet	199	0	0	23	Running
15	12	18	Riley Herbst	Monster Energy Toyota	199	0	0	22	Running
16	19	66	Timmy Hill	R.Anderson Mem/CrashClaimsR.USToyota	199	0	0	21	Running
17	11	11	Justin Haley #	LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet	198	10	0	21	Running
18	13	51	Jeremy Clements	RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet	198	0	0	19	Running
19	9	9	Noah Gragson #	Switch Chevrolet	197	0	9	20	Running
20	21	8	Gray Gaulding	World Wide Safety Consulting Chevrolet	197	0	0	17	Running
21	24	99	Tommy Joe Martins	Diamond Gusset Jeans Toyota	197	0	0	16	Running
22	32	36	Josh Williams	DGM Racing Chevrolet	196	0	0	15	Running
23	26	0	Garrett Smithley	teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet	196	0	0	14	Running
24	22	7	Ray Black II	ISOKERN/Scuba Life Chevrolet	196	0	0	13	Running
25	25	90	Ronnie Bassett Jr	Bassett Gutters & More Chevrolet	196	0	0	12	Running
26	23	1	Stephen Leicht	teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet	196	0	0	11	Running
27	20	15	BJ McLeod	teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet	196	0	0	10	Running
28	33	52	David Starr	ATS Chevrolet	195	0	0	9	Running
29	36	35	Joey Gase	Toyota	195	0	0	8	Running
30	27	42	Chad Finchum	Garrison Homes Toyota	195	0	0	7	Running
31	35	5	Matt Mills	J.F. Electric Chevrolet	195	0	0	6	Running
32	31	78	Vinnie Miller	Koolbox Toyota	194	0	0	5	Running
33	37	74	Mike Harmon	JourneyHomeProject/CharlieDanielsChevrolet	144	0	0	4	Running
34	28	17	Bayley Currey(i)	East Carolina University Chevrolet	59	0	0	0	Engine
35	34	89	Morgan Shepherd	Visone RV Chevrolet	50	0	0	2	Overheating
36	29	38	Jeff Green	RSS Racing Chevrolet	15	0	0	1	Brakes
37	38	13	John Jackson	R.Anderson Mem/CrashClaimsR.USToyota	13	0	0	1	Vibration
38	30	93	Josh Bilicki	Chevrolet	10	0	0	1	Transmission

May 4, 2019

Harrison Burton quietly finishes third at Dover

In previous years at Dover, Harrison Burton has driven the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Truck to finishes of 13th in his first outing in 2017 and fifth in last year’s outing.

Burton was looking to improve upon those results coming into the 2019 race and hoping that perhaps a win could solidify those finishes.

“I love Bristol and Dover and fast, high-banked tracks — they fit my style very well,” he said before the race. “I enjoy it and hopefully we can continue that success and build on that. Last year, we didn’t have the best truck at the beginning, but we kept working on it and made it pretty good. We just need to start the weekend of better than we did last time, get a good qualifying spot and we’ll be there for the win — hopefully.”

Burton qualified ninth and when it was all said and done, he came up three spots short, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

After finishing fifth in Stage 1 and sixth in Stage 2, Burton made everyone hold their breath, as he made a heart-stopping move for the lead after the restart with 83 to go. He couldn’t make it stick and had to fall back to third.

Evidently, the No. 18 Team had to work their way back up after some various strategies on the late-race pit stop. In the end, the scoring pylon showed Burton and the No. 18 Safelite Autoglass Toyota Tundra winding up third for his second top five of the year.

“It was a lot of fun,” Burton said to MRN Radio. “The truck came in for the second half of the race. We had a shot at it and then we got clear of everyone, except for Ben Rhodes. I got trapped in the idea of running the bottom. I don’t know, I got tight behind him. That’s when we lost the race. I’m upset with myself about that, but we had a good day. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun, and had some big moments. We were able to rebound from that and had a good points day, and we’ll go win the next one.”

May 4, 2019
ThorSport teammates Enfinger and Crafton collect top-five finishes at Dover

Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton each had to settle for a top-five finish as their teammate Johnny Sauter went on to win Saturday’s Jegs 200 at Dover International Speedway.

For Enfinger and the No. 98 team, he would quietly end up finishing fourth after also finishing fourth in both stages.

“Overall a great day for ThorSport racing and for Duke and Rhonda Thorson to be able to come out here and do this,” Enfinger told MRN Radio. “Locked in the Playoffs, so that’s good. Overall, we had a solid Champion Power Equipment F-150 all weekend really. Just not a race winning truck, but I think if we could have had some track position, we could have held him off. That’s about all we had.”

Matt Crafton, who is also a two-time champion, had a difficult day having to deal with a plug wire issue that came off after Stage 2 was done. However, the No. 88 Menards team was able to rebound to fifth. It was Crafton’s fourth top-five of the season but he was looking for a little more and was not satisfied with a top five.

“No not at all,” Crafton told MRN Radio describing his finish. “Just very aggravated with it, to be honest. It’s a damn shame that a plug wire came off, motor problems two races in a row in these things. Just keep digging us out of a hole. It’s good for these guys who work so hard, but I know this Menards Ford F-150 is better than that. I’m super excited for Johnny Sauter and everybody there, everybody at ThorSport. But at the end of the day, I know we could have been racing for the win.”

May 4, 2019

Johnny Sauter goes three in a row a Dover

Two-time Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter finally scored a win in the 2019 Truck Series season after starting second and taking the lead with 31 to go. However, it didn’t quite look that way earlier in the race as the Wisconsin driver had an ignition issue after trying to save fuel.

“Well I was trying to figure out why it (truck) wouldn’t start,” Sauter told MRN Radio. “I looked at the ignition switch right away and it was up, I just couldn’t get it to fire. I played with the switch on the steering wheel, killswitch and that didn’t do anything, so I thought what the hell? We’ll try to get it running. I just can’t thank all of these guys enough at ThorSport Racing. Our Ford F-150 was awesome. Tenda Heel, Joe and all of these guys at ThorSport, this was a big win. Three in a row at a place like this, that’s saying something. I can remember being in the lounge yesterday before the start of practice and I saw the victory lane hat bag, and I thought, hell, why not? Just can’t thank Duke and Rhonda (Thorson) enough. A couple of months ago didn’t know if we’d be here racing, so it’s pretty special.”

The race sure didn’t start out that way. Moffitt sat on the pole and completly dominated Stage 1 with very little incident. It was Moffitt’s first stage win of the year and there were only 17 trucks on the lead lap.

During the pit stops, however, there were some penalties handed out. Tyler Ankrum (uncontrolled tire), Todd Gilliland (too fast), Derek Kraus (safety violation), and Joe Nemechek (too fast).

Stage 2 was when we saw Sauter out front, as he took the lead on Lap 81 after Moffitt encountered lap traffic which allowed Sauter to go on by.

Not much else happened in that stage and Sauter went on to win Stage 2. However, his ThorSport teammate Matt Crafton had a different story, as he was a facing a plug wire that fell off but it was eventually fixed. The ignition issue came into play for Sauter as well.

With 102 to go for the restart in Stage 3, ARCA champion, Sheldon Creed, took the lead. There were some incidents that took place in this stage.

Jesse Little had a flat right rear tire off Turn 4 and barely lost it. A caution flew on lap 110 with 90 to go for Korbin Forrister who wrecked on the frontstretch.

There was a breathtaking moment with 83 to go on the restart, as Moffitt, Creed and Harrison Burton made it three wide for first. However, Creed came out on top and retained his lead.

Jesse Little’s day went from bad to worse, as he suffered a broken track bar and was done for the day.

With many drivers short on fuel should a caution not come out for the rest of the race, the drivers were able to catch a break when the caution came out with 47 to go for Austin Wayne Self who wrecked off Turn 4.

On the restart with 41 to go, another caution broke out when Sheldon Creed wrecked on the backstretch after getting loose and collecting Todd Gilliland who got through, but suffered damage.

A late race caution came with 10 to go for Brennan Poole, but even with the late caution, nobody could touch Sauter and he went on to win his third consecutive race at Dover, thus becoming the first driver to do so.

Despite his ignition issue early on, the No. 13 ThorSport Racing driver explained how special this win was for him.

“Well I knew after Atlanta we were going to be able to race for wins,” Sauter continued in his post-race interview with MRN Radio. “At Martinsville, we had the truck to beat and it went away from us. People like Duke and Rhonda (Thorson) are gold. You don’t encounter too many people like that throughout your life. You know when we first had the conservation, I didn’t know how it was going to go, honestly. Like I said, you don’t encounter people like that very often. All of these guys, I worked with a lot of these guys with ThorSport in the past, some of them are new, youthful a lot of them and got some experience on the team as well. Just hats off to everyone at ThorSport Racing, fab shop, finish fab, it’s a team effort. These races are won during the week, not during the weekend and that showed today.”

Sauter led twice for 43 laps and became the first driver in the Truck Series to win three in a row at Dover.

There were 12 lead changes among six drivers.

Up next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series heads to Kansas Speedway next Friday, May 11 for the Digital Ally 250.

Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race Number 6
Race Results for the 20th Annual JEGS 200 – Friday, May 3, 2019
Dover International Speedway – Dover, DE – 1. – Mile Concrete
Total Race Length – 200 Laps – 200. Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	Pts	Status
1	2	13	Johnny Sauter	Tenda Heal Ford	200	2	1	59	Running
2	1	24	Brett Moffitt	ISM Connect Chevrolet	200	1	3	53	Running
3	9	18	Harrison Burton #	Safelite AutoGlass Toyota	200	5	6	45	Running
4	6	98	Grant Enfinger	Champion Power Equipment Ford	200	4	4	47	Running
5	5	88	Matt Crafton	Shasta/Menards Ford	200	10	0	33	Running
6	11	99	Ben Rhodes	Carolina Nut Ford	200	0	8	34	Running
7	12	16	Austin Hill	Toyota Racing Development Toyota	200	7	5	40	Running
8	15	19	Derek Kraus	ENEOS/NAPA Filters Toyota	200	0	0	29	Running
9	10	17	Tyler Ankrum #	May’s Hawaii Toyota	200	8	0	31	Running
10	16	45	Ross Chastain(i)	Florida Watermelon Association Chevrolet	200	0	10	0	Running
11	7	46	Raphael Lessard	Spectra Premium Toyota	200	9	0	28	Running
12	4	52	Stewart Friesen	hfracingforautism.com/crossroadscenterChev	200	6	0	30	Running
13	19	51	Brandon Jones(i)	Chigo/Menards Toyota	200	0	9	0	Running
14	18	12	Gus Dean #	OverkillRV.com Chevrolet	200	0	0	23	Running
15	14	4	Todd Gilliland	Mobil 1 Toyota	200	0	0	22	Running
16	32	33	Ryan Sieg(i)	Night Owl Contractors Chevrolet	198	0	0	0	Running
17	20	54	Natalie Decker	N29 Technologies LLC Toyota	197	0	0	20	Running
18	23	2	Tyler Dippel #	Jersey Filmmaker Chevrolet	197	0	0	19	Running
19	17	22	Austin Wayne Self	Go TEXAN/AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet	197	0	0	18	Running
20	25	56	Tyler Hill	Southern Maryland Crane Rentals Chevrolet	197	0	0	17	Running
21	22	3	Jordan Anderson	Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet	196	0	0	16	Running
22	27	20	Spencer Boyd	DLX Mattresses Chevrolet	192	0	0	15	Running
23	8	30	Brennan Poole	Toyota	189	0	0	14	DVP
24	30	49	Ray Ciccarelli	CMI Motorsports Chevrolet	188	0	0	13	Running
25	28	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet	186	0	0	12	Running
26	21	8	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	167	0	0	11	Suspension
27	3	2	Sheldon Creed #	Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet	160	3	2	27	Accident
28	24	44	Reid Wilson	TruNorth.Paul Jr Designs Chevrolet	140	0	0	9	Alternator
29	13	97	Jesse Little	JJL Motorsports Ford	115	0	7	12	Track Bar
30	26	7	Korbin Forrister	All Out Toyota	108	0	0	7	Accident
31	29	34	Josh Reaume	Surface Prep Supply Chevrolet	51	0	0	6	Too Slow
32	31	6	Norm Benning	H&H Transport Chevrolet	28	0	0	5	Too Slow

May 3, 2019

Runner-up finish for Brett Moffitt and No. 24 GMS Racing Team

Could’ve, would’ve, should’ve for Brett Moffitt and the No. 24 GMS Racing Team.

Moffitt and company got off on the right foot Friday afternoon, as the No. 24 Team sat on the pole. He completely dominated Stage 1 and won his first stage of the year. Moffitt lost the lead in Stage 2, but still had a great stage as he finished third.

He was back up front with 83 to go, as a hold your breath moment took place on the restart as Moffitt, Harrison Burton and teammate Sheldon Creed went three wide for the top spot.

Unfournately, Moffitt didn’t come out on the top spot, but was still running near the front.

He remained strong throughout the race running in the top-10. Late in the going, he tried everything he could to catch eventual race winner Johnny Sauter, but had to settle for a second place finish.

“Track position,” Moffitt said to MRN Radio when describing how tough it was to catch Sauter. “You’re not going to beat the guy on the top, restarting on the bottom there and you are in a vulnerable position. I was lucky to hang on to second. I saw the 98 (Grant Enfinger) get a bad restart and I was able to get in line and try to go after Johnny (Sauter), but clean air here is big at Dover. We weren’t catching a big group of lap cars or anything, just a clean air thing.

Dirty air came into effect when it came to Moffitt’s chances of catching Johnny Sauter for the race win and Moffitt describes why it was so key to be out front.

“When this place rubbers in, it gets pretty slick,” Moffitt continued. “And then you’re within five car lengths of somebody, it magnifies that. All in all, I’m disappointed since we’ve had really good trucks all year and I thought today was going to be our day, but it just wasn’t. A stage win and second is good for our ISM Connect Chevy Silverado, and we’ll go on to Kansas to try and win.”

May 3, 2019

Elliott captures the Gander RV 400 pole at Dover

Chase Elliott captured the pole for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) Gander RV 400 at Dover International Speedway with a track record of 165.960 mph. Brad Keselowski held the prior rack record of 164.444 mph

“Super fast. The corner speeds are just so high. There’s just a lot more throttle through the corner than what I feel like we’ve been carrying. But it was a lot of fun. Our NAPA Brakes Chevy was good right there. It’s always nice. This place can either be a lot of fun in qualifying, or it can be a handful,” Elliott said.

NASCAR announced earlier in the week that group qualifying was officially over and the field was set by single-lap qualifying.

Hendrick Motorsports captured the top two qualifying positions with teammate William Byron starting second.

“Team Hendrick 1-2 (William Byron qualified 2nd) was awesome, Chevrolet power and everybody that contributes to our car has been working hard. Hopefully, we can back it up on Sunday,” Elliott added.

Kyle Larson qualified third, Joey Logano fourth and Alex Bowman round out the top five.

Starting Line Up by Row
Dover International Speedway
50th Annual Gander RV 400

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Time	Speed
1	9	Chase Elliott	NAPA Brakes Chevrolet	21.692	165.96
2	24	William Byron	Axalta Chevrolet	21.745	165.555
3	42	Kyle Larson	Credit One Bank Chevrolet	21.757	165.464
4	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford	21.855	164.722
5	88	Alex Bowman	Nationwide Small Business Chevrolet	21.857	164.707
6	4	Kevin Harvick	Jimmy John’s Ford	21.907	164.331
7	10	Aric Almirola	Smithfield Ford	21.918	164.249
8	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Office Toyota	21.931	164.151
9	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Ford	21.936	164.114
10	14	Clint Bowyer	Mobil 1 Ford	21.949	164.017
11	12	Ryan Blaney	Menards/Duracell Ford	22.008	163.577
12	48	Jimmie Johnson	Ally Chevrolet	22.039	163.347
13	19	Martin Truex Jr.	SiriusXM Toyota	22.055	163.228
14	41	Daniel Suarez	Haas Automation Ford	22.073	163.095
15	20	Erik Jones	Sport Clips Toyota	22.086	162.999
16	3	Austin Dillon	AAA Chevrolet	22.09	162.97
17	95	Matt DiBenedetto	FDNY Foundation Toyota	22.108	162.837
18	21	Paul Menard	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford	22.136	162.631
19	1	Kurt Busch	Monster Energy Chevrolet	22.14	162.602
20	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Little Hug Ford	22.152	162.514
21	6	Ryan Newman	Wyndham Rewards Ford	22.176	162.338
22	18	Kyle Busch	Pedigree Toyota	22.233	161.921
23	8	Daniel Hemric #	Caterpillar Chevrolet	22.267	161.674
24	38	David Ragan	MDS Transport Ford	22.317	161.312
25	13	Ty Dillon	Twisted Tea Chevrolet	22.325	161.254
26	34	Michael McDowell	Dockside Logistics Ford	22.326	161.247
27	43	Bubba Wallace	World Wide Technology Chevrolet	22.419	160.578
28	32	Corey LaJoie	CorvetteParts.net Ford	22.572	159.49
29	47	Ryan Preece #	Kroger Chevrolet	22.698	158.604
30	37	Chris Buescher	Degree Chevrolet	22.829	157.694
31	0	Landon Cassill(i)	KODRA Communications Chevrolet	22.948	156.876
32	36	Matt Tifft #	Surface Sunscreen/Tunity Ford	23.132	155.629
33	51	Cody Ware(i)	Jacob Companies Ford	23.369	154.05
34	52	BJ McLeod(i)	RWR Chevrolet	23.384	153.951
35	77	Quin Houff	Chevrolet	23.465	153.42
36	15	Ross Chastain(i)	Low T Center Chevrolet	0	0
37	27	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	0	0

May 3, 2019

Elliott name back in victory lane at Talladega

With four different crashes in the final seven laps, Chase Elliott emerged victorious in the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series.

“Obviously it could have gone both ways but fortunately everybody stayed together and stayed the course and had some help on that last lap with the caution,” Elliott said. “I just appreciate all the support. This is unbelievable. This is special. This is close to home for me. It feels a little bit like a home race.

“We’ll take it. Unbelievable feeling. The crowd was intense. We’re proud to get it done for them.”

Elliott is the first driver for the 2019 season to break the win streak by Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske. He edged his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman, who was disappointed to not have a chance at the win coming to the line despite scoring his career-best finish.

“I’m not just going to let him win, right?” Bowman asked rhetorically. “I’ve got to try. I knew I could get to his quarter panel. I was pretty confident I could get to his quarter panel through the tri-oval. Who knows who is going to get to the line first? At that point, I thought I could do it. Depends on the car behind you, where he goes.

“It would have been fun to try, but happy for Chase, Nationwide (Bowman’s sponsor), everybody that lets us keep doing this thing. I’m glad to kind of turn the season around. It’s been a rough start to the year. These guys deserve way better than the finishes they’ve had. To come home second, it’s not a win, but headed in the right direction.”

Ryan Preece also scored his best career Cup series finish with a third place run. Upon further video evidence, Joey Logano unofficially finishes in fourth just slightly ahead of Daniel Hemric, who also got his best career finish. The rest of the top 10 finishing positions were Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Brendan Gaughan, Aric Almirola and Kyle Busch. Busch now extends his top-10 finishing streak to 10 for the 2019 season.

Three Multi-Car Wrecks at Talladega

The race officially ended under caution on the final lap as William Byron tangled with David Ragan on the back stretch. The two drivers collected Kyle Larson and Jeffrey Earnhardt. Both Larson and Earnhardt spun toward the inside wall, with Larson beginning to flip moments before impact with the inside SAFER barrier. The No. 42 Chevrolet tumbled and began to flip multiple times before finally coming to rest on the wheels. However, with Stenhouse spinning on the front stretch as the field took the white flag, the combination of debris on the track a few hundred feet before the start-finish line and Larson’s flip on the back stretch, NASCAR had to throw the yellow. Erik Jones spun in Turns 3 and 4 with two laps to go, but was able to continue on right away.

“That was probably the longest flip I’ve ever had,” Larson said after he was checked out of the infield care center. “I didn’t know if it would ever stop. It was a little bit scary, but thankfully I’m all right.”

A separate incident occurred with just seven laps remaining, as Chris Buescher’s No. 37 Chevrolet got turned by Aric Almirola on the backstretch. For the majority of that previous lap, Almirola kept looking to the inside to make a three-wide pass, but tucked back in line. However, on the back stretch, Almirola made contact with Buescher as he fell back in line and started a five-car crash. Buescher’s car hit the outside wall, then was t-boned by Matt DiBenedetto’s No. 95 Toyota, lifting Buescher’s car in the air. Martin Truex Jr. made slight contact, but avoided most of the wreck and was able to continue in the race. Justin Haley, who was making his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut, was not so fortunate and had his great debut end after hitting DiBenedetto in the side.

“We just got turned,” Buescher told FOX. ”Good position there with just a handful of laps to go. Just got turned right, destroyed our race car.”

The red flag lasted for 8 minutes and 47 seconds.

Back in the first stage, another multi-car wreck took out a few other major contenders as well. Just 10 laps into the race, Bubba Wallace had a strong run on Ryan Blaney. While the two bump drafted around, Blaney’s car got sideways but he was able to correct it. Wallace was not, and spun toward the inside across traffic. Clint Bowyer’s car slid up and collected his Stewart-Haas teammate Kevin Harvick. Michael McDowell and Matt Tifft were also collected, and those four retired from the race immediately.

“The No. 22 (Joey Logano) pulled up and he checked up a little bit,” Wallace said of the crash. “I went to go to the bottom, where I was safe. I don’t know if I crossed (Blaney’s) bumper or whatever. But it got him wiggled down and shoved me even farther down than I wanted to go.

“So I went back up just to stay off the apron and it just unloaded. It’s just unfortunate, but I tried not to wreck my buddy, Ryan, and it cost our day and some others’.”

Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota also received damage, and went a few laps down early. After hitting the wall on Lap 83, Hamlin took his car to the garage with mechanical failures and would not return to the race. Jimmie Johnson received damage after running over debris from McDowell’s car. On Lap 25, Johnson hit the wall in Turn 3. He was able to get his Chevrolet to pit road, but was out of contention after finishing nine laps down.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competes next at Dover International Speedway on May 5.

Monster Energy Cup Series Race Number 10
Race Results for the 50th Annual GEICO 500 – Sunday, April 28, 2019
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL – 2.66 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 188 Laps – 500.08 Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	Pts	Status
1	11	9	Chase Elliott	Mountain Dew/Little Caesar’s Chevrolet	188	4	1	57	Running
2	9	88	Alex Bowman	Nationwide Chevrolet	188	2	2	53	Running
3	30	47	Ryan Preece #	Kroger Chevrolet	188	0	0	34	Running
4	8	22	Joey Logano	MoneyLion Ford	188	0	9	35	Running
5	5	8	Daniel Hemric #	Caterpillar Chevrolet	188	0	8	35	Running
6	14	1	Kurt Busch	Monster Energy Chevrolet	188	0	6	36	Running
7	24	6	Ryan Newman	Acorns Ford	188	6	0	35	Running
8	29	62	* Brendan Gaughan(i)	BeardOilDstrbtng/SthPntHtl&Casino Chevrolet	188	0	0	0	Running
9	2	10	Aric Almirola	Smithfield Ford	188	0	0	28	Running
10	22	18	Kyle Busch	M&M’s Chocolate Bar Toyota	188	9	10	30	Running
11	36	32	Corey LaJoie	Schuler Systems Ford	188	0	0	26	Running
12	16	41	Daniel Suarez	Coca-Cola Orange Vanilla Ford	188	5	0	31	Running
13	4	2	Brad Keselowski	Snap On Ford	188	0	0	24	Running
14	1	3	Austin Dillon	Dow Chevrolet	188	3	5	37	Running
15	7	12	Ryan Blaney	Menards/Knauf Ford	188	0	4	29	Running
16	17	21	Paul Menard	Quick Land Tire & Auto Center Ford	188	0	0	21	Running
17	13	13	Ty Dillon	GEICO Chevrolet	188	1	0	30	Running
18	37	27	* Reed Sorenson	Low-T Centers Chevrolet	188	0	0	19	Running
19	27	20	Erik Jones	STANLEY Toyota	188	0	0	18	Running
20	20	19	Martin Truex Jr	Bass Pro Shops Toyota	188	0	0	17	Running
21	25	24	William Byron	Hertz Chevrolet	188	7	3	28	Running
22	33	81	* Jeffrey Earnhardt(i)	Xtreme Concepts Toyota	187	0	0	0	Accident
23	15	38	David Ragan	Shriners Hospital for Children Ford	187	0	0	14	Accident
24	10	42	Kyle Larson	Clover Chevrolet	187	0	7	17	Accident
25	6	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Fifth Third Bank Ford	187	8	0	15	Accident
26	34	15	Ross Chastain(i)	Chevrolet	187	0	0	0	Running
27	35	96	* Parker Kligerman(i)	TRD 40th Anniversary Toyota	186	0	0	0	Running
28	40	51	Cody Ware(i)	JACOB Companies Ford	184	0	0	9	Running
29	3	14	Clint Bowyer	Toco Warranty Ford	182	0	0	8	Running
30	31	37	Chris Buescher	Tide Pods Chevrolet	181	0	0	7	Accident
31	26	95	Matt DiBenedetto	Procore Toyota	181	10	0	7	Accident
32	38	77	Justin Haley(i)	Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet	180	0	0	0	Accident
33	21	48	Jimmie Johnson	Ally Chevrolet	178	0	0	4	Running
34	32	0	Landon Cassill(i)	Home Town Lenders Chevrolet	154	0	0	0	Running
35	39	52	Stanton Barrett	HUSKI CHOCOLATE Chevrolet	132	0	0	2	Suspension
36	23	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota	80	0	0	1	Accident
37	18	36	Matt Tifft #	Surface Suncreen/Tunity Ford	11	0	0	1	Accident
38	19	4	Kevin Harvick	Busch Beer Flannel Ford	11	0	0	1	Accident
39	28	43	Bubba Wallace	World Wide Technology Chevrolet	10	0	0	1	Accident
40	12	34	Michael McDowell	Love’s Travel Stops Ford	10	0	0	1	Accident

April 28, 2019

Austin Dillon claims Busch Pole award at Talladega

Austin Dillon earned the Busch Pole Award at Talladega Superspeedway and will lead the field to green for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500.

Dillon drove his No. 3 Chevrolet at a lap speed of 192.544 mph winning his first pole at Talladega. It was his second pole this season and the fifth of his Cup Series career.

But it was particularly significant for a number of other reasons. Dillon turned 29-years-old Friday and his team, Richard Childress Racing, is celebrating their 50th anniversary in the sport as Talladega commemorates their 50th year as a NASCAR track.

It was also Richard Childress Racing’s first pole at Talladega in 25 years, since Dale Earnhardt earned the pole for the team in 1994.

“I’m a numbers kind of guy,” Dillon said, “and you correlate all those numbers together – it’s the 50th anniversary for RCR, 50th for Talladega. Talladega is where RCR kind of started in 1969. I’m pumped to be here in the No. 3 car. Danny Stockman (crew chief) and the boys did a great job building a fast car and you want to go out there and make some noise and they did that. I give all the credit to those guys. Tomorrow it’s up to us to keep that car up front and hopefully make a real iconic win for RCR and everyone here at Talladega.”

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola will start second in Sunday’s race after a 192.131 mph lap.

“I think we got pretty close to backing up what we ran in the first round there but I felt like the wind picked up a little bit more. I don’t know if that was it or what the case was. All in all, it was a great run for us,” Almirola said. “I am happy about starting on the front row with good track position to start the race and a good pit stall. All those things matter.”

Clint Bowyer, Brad Keselowski and Daniel Hemric round out the top five starting positions.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start sixth, followed by Ryan Blaney, last year’s winner Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, rounding out the top 10.

Tune into the GEICO 500 Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on FOX with radio coverage provided by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

April 27, 2019

Tyler Reddick overcomes adversity to win at Talladega Superspeedway

It was a beautiful day for a race at Talladega Superspeedway for the MoneyLion 300, as you could feel the excitement start to build during pre-race ceremonies. Although, for several drivers and crewmembers, their hearts were heavy after the news that Brenda Jackson, the Mother of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller, had passed away earlier this week.

Four drivers were a little more anxious as they were eligible for the Dash 4 Cash, which gives the highest finishing driver of the four an extra $100,000. The eligible drivers were Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier, and Austin Cindric.

One driver overcame a speeding penalty, running over a jack stand, and being involved in an accident that did significant damage to the right side of his car. Reddick, driving his No.2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, would overcome all that adversity and still get his first win at Talladega for himself and for car owner Richard Childress in an Xfinity Series Race. To top that off he also won the Dash 4 Cash money.

“Hell of a job for all our guys at RCR Chevrolet,” Reddick commented. “I tried to take us out of the race so many times and somehow we got back in the mix, and back to the lead.” With a big smile, Reddick added, “We had a good day.”

Stage 1 started with Michael Annett and Reddick on the front row. There was some great side by side racing at the start with everyone jockeying for position. The only caution was for the spinning car of Brandon Jones. Reddick would easily win the stage after leading 21 of the 25 laps.

Stage 2 when the drivers hit pit road before the start Reddick got a little too much of a push from Ross Chastain and both drivers were busted for speeding. When the stage started they were pretty much running single file. There were no cautions in this stage, however, Reddick got loose and tagged the wall causing pretty significant damage to the right side of the car. Noah Gragson went on to win the stage.

The final stage of the race is where patience and probably some tempers wore off. Talladega being known for its “Big One” meant pretty much the only safe drivers were the ones in the front. Reddick once again brushed the wall but didn’t bring out the caution flag. There were several cautions in this stage. One of them took out two of the four Dash 4 Cash drivers, Allgaier and Custer; it also involved Cindric, Stephen Leicht, and Ryan Sieg.

The final caution with only four laps left brought out the red flag for cleanup of the track. Jeffrey Earnhardt got loose and collected Allgaier, Timmy Hill, David Starr, Jeremy Clements, and Alex Labbe. Until this point, Earnhardt was having another great run driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The race restarted with two laps to go and Reddick was able to keep his top spot to win the race.

I want to give a great shout out to Gray Gaulding, driving his No. 08 SS Green Light Racing Chevrolet brought his car home in second place. What a great run he had going today.

Bringing his car home in third place was Christopher Bell in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Chase Briscoe and Cindric would round out the top five. John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Haley, Josh Williams, Landon Cassill, and Chris Cockrum finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Reddick leads the Xfinity Series Standings with 413 points, Bell is second with 381 points, Cindric is third with 339 points, Custer is in fourth with 338 points, and rounding out the top five is Allgaier with 298 points.

The Xfinity Series heads next to Dover International Speedway on Saturday, May 4th.

Xfinity Series Race Number 9
Race Results for the 28th Annual MoneyLion 300 – Saturday, April 27, 2019
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL – 2.66 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 113 Laps – 300.58 Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	Pts	Status
1	2	2	Tyler Reddick	Roland Chevrolet	113	1	10	51	Running
2	8	8	Gray Gaulding	Panini/NASCARRcgExp/WldwdSfty Chevrolet	113	5	0	41	Running
3	10	20	Christopher Bell	Rheem/Johns Manville Toyota	113	7	6	43	Running
4	9	98	Chase Briscoe #	Nutri Chomps/Runnings Ford	113	0	4	40	Running
5	17	22	Austin Cindric	MoneyLion Ford	113	3	0	40	Running
6	15	23	John Hunter Nemechek #	Fire Alarm Services INC Chevrolet	113	10	0	32	Running
7	5	11	Justin Haley #	LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet	113	8	8	36	Running
8	16	36	Josh Williams	StarTron/StarBrite/GnrlFrmltns Chevrolet	113	0	0	29	Running
9	22	4	Landon Cassill	Flex Seal/Contec Chevrolet	113	0	0	28	Running
10	18	17	Chris Cockrum	ADVANCEDCOMMUNICATNGRP Chevrolet	113	0	0	27	Running
11	14	9	Noah Gragson #	ARMOUR Vienna Sausage Chevrolet	113	9	1	38	Running
12	33	0	Garrett Smithley	Flex Tape Chevrolet	113	0	0	25	Running
13	6	8	Brett Moffitt(i)	ISM Connect Chevrolet	113	0	0	0	Running
14	28	52	David Starr	Whataburger Chevrolet	113	0	0	23	Running
15	32	86	Brandon Brown #	Brandonbilt Motorsports Chevrolet	113	0	0	22	Running
16	4	39	Ryan Sieg	Alabama Soda Blasting Chevrolet	113	4	3	36	Running
17	26	5	Matt Mills	J.F. Electric Toyota	113	0	0	20	Running
18	13	19	Brandon Jones	1st Foundation Toyota	113	0	7	23	Running
19	29	78	Vinnie Miller	Pit Viper Toyota	113	0	0	18	Running
20	35	42	Max Tullman	Top Tier Toyota	113	0	0	17	Running
21	34	99	Cody Ware	LORDCO Auto Parts Toyota	113	0	0	16	Running
22	25	15	BJ McLeod	teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet	113	0	0	15	Running
23	31	74	Mike Harmon	Woobies Shoes Chevrolet	111	0	0	14	Running
24	20	1	Stephen Leicht	Flex Glue Chevrolet	111	0	0	13	Running
25	24	90	Alex Labbe	Alpha Prime USA Chevrolet	111	0	0	12	Running
26	7	18	Jeffrey Earnhardt	iK9 Toyota	110	0	0	11	Accident
27	30	51	Jeremy Clements	RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet	108	0	0	10	Accident
28	11	7	Justin Allgaier	Hellmanns/FghtHngrSprkChnge Chevrolet	108	6	2	23	Accident
29	19	66	Timmy Hill	VSI Racing/Overkill Motorsports Toyota	108	0	0	8	Accident
30	3	10	Ross Chastain	Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet	105	2	5	22	Gear Cooler
31	1	1	Michael Annett	TMC Transportation Chevrolet	95	0	9	8	Accident
32	12	0	Cole Custer	JACOB Companies Ford	94	0	0	5	Accident
33	23	93	Josh Bilicki	CMR Construction & Roofing Chevrolet	86	0	0	4	Transmisson
34	36	7	Ray Black II	ISKRNFrplcs&Chmny/ScbaLf Chevrolet	65	0	0	3	Accident
35	21	38	Jeff Green	C2 Freight Resources Chevrolet	52	0	0	2	Engine
36	37	13	Chad Finchum	JamesCrtrAttrnyatLaw/CrshClmsR.US Toyota	36	0	0	1	Gear
37	27	35	Joey Gase	DonateLife/RgstrMe.org/Cmpgn/Gase Toyota	35	0	0	1	Engine

April 27, 2019

Weekend Schedule for Talladega

After a week off for the Easter break, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series go back to the track as Talladega Superspeedway is the home for this weekend’s races. Here is how you can watch all of the action from Talladega.

All times are Eastern.

Friday, April 26th:
12:35-1:25 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series first practice, NASCAR.com/Live
1:35-2:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, NASCAR.com/Live
2:35-3:25 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, NASCAR.com/Live
4:35-5:25 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series final practice, FS1

Saturday, April 27th:
10:10 a.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying (SINGLE-VEHICLE / TWO ROUNDS), FS1
1:00 p.m.: Xfinity Series MoneyLion 300 (STAGES 25/50/113 LAPS = 300.58 MILES),
TV: FS1 – Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
4:40 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying (SINGLE-VEHICLE/ TWO ROUNDS), FOX

Sunday, April 28th:
2 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Geico 500 (Stages 55/110/188 LAPS = 500.08 Miles)
TV: FOX – Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)

April 25, 2019