Category: RC NASCAR Cup

Race Central NASCAR Cup Series news and information

Kyle Busch is victorious on the Tricky Triangle in the Pocono 400

Despite the field seeking out more speed and track position with various pit strategies, Kyle Busch led 79 laps to win his 55th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway in the Pocono 500, tying Rusty Wallace on the all-time win list.

“I just can’t say enough about everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing,” Busch said in Victory Lane. “Everybody that works there works so hard to build these awesome Camrys. We’ve had an amazing roll this year here so far. We’ve been doing well.

“We feel like we’ve kind of given away a couple of wins that we thought we had a shot for, but overall, it’s been awesome to get back to Victory Lane here. Pocono’s been a struggle, but it’s a lot better now.”

Busch’s fourth win of the season came after beating Brad Keselowski by 2.224 seconds. He led a few laps during pit cycles, but was able to fight his way up after the final restart to get close to Busch. His No. 2 Penske Ford wasn’t quite as strong.

“We didn’t have speed enough to pass guys, but we could run with them,” Keselowski said. “We wanted a little bit more to be able to pass everybody, but you had to be so much faster that you just try to execute the best you can and hope things fall the right way. “They fell decent, just not good enough to win today.”

Erik Jones finished in the third position, followed by Talladega winner Chase Elliott. Clint Bowyer completed the top five.

“I feel like if Kyle [Busch] and I had been on four tires, we would’ve been pretty even,” Jones said with a positive outlook with his third place effort after a dead last finish in last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600. “Good day overall, it would have had to really be a perfect scenario for us to win today, but we had a good car. The Dewalt Camry was fast, and it was fast all weekend.”

“We’ve been good, but not great,” Elliott shared with FOX Sports after the race when evaluating their current overall situation.

Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, pole winner William Byron and Aric Almirola rounded out the top 10.

Three front runners had struggles in the race. First, Kevin Harvick was in contention for the win, but a late race pit-road penalty changed their outcome. On Lap 124, they were caught with an uncontrolled tire and were forced to serve a pass-through penalty. Harvick dropped off the lead lap and finished his day at Pocono in the 22nd spot.

Last week’s winner Martin Truex Jr. was victorious in three of the last five points-paying races. However, his attempt for his fourth win of the season fell short after 91 laps into the race when his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota went behind the wall with an engine issue. His team finished 35th for the day.

The third driver who was a strong contender early in the race was Kyle Larson. The Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet driver led 35 laps and won the race’s first two stages. On a late race restart, Larson slapped the outside wall after contact with Clint Bowyer. He was forced to pit with damage to the right rear and at risk of blowing a tire. He finished one lap down in the 26th position.

The weekend was a rough start for Erik Jones and Chris Buescher as they failed pre-qualifying inspection on Saturday. Since cars were impounded after Busch Pole Qualifying, the inspection also served as pre-race inspection. This resulted in the car chief for both teams being ejected for the race weekend, Jason Overstreet (No. 20) and Doug Powers (No. 37). Both drivers have been coming from strong recent finishes, with Jones finishing in the top-six in two of the last three races and Buescher with two consecutive top-10 results.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races next weekend at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, June 9.

Monster Energy Cup Series Race Number 14
Race Results for the 38th Annual Pocono 400 – Sunday, June 2, 2019
Pocono Raceway – Long Pond, PA – 2.5 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 160 Laps – 400. Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	Pts	Status
1	2	18	Kyle Busch	M&M’s Hazelnut Toyota	160	0	0	40	Running
2	5	2	Brad Keselowski	Wabash National Ford	160	3	4	50	Running
3	4	20	Erik Jones	DeWalt Toyota	160	0	0	34	Running
4	12	9	Chase Elliott	NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet	160	0	0	33	Running
5	3	14	Clint Bowyer	Haas Automation Ford	160	0	0	32	Running
6	6	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Office Toyota	160	0	0	31	Running
7	16	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford	160	8	2	42	Running
8	9	41	Daniel Suarez	Haas Automation Demo Days Ford	160	7	10	34	Running
9	1	24	William Byron	Hendrick Autoguard Chevrolet	160	2	3	45	Running
10	13	10	Aric Almirola	Valley Technical Academy Ford	160	5	0	33	Running
11	21	1	Kurt Busch	Monster Energy Chevrolet	160	0	6	31	Running
12	17	12	Ryan Blaney	Menards/Libman Ford	160	6	0	30	Running
13	23	8	Daniel Hemric #	Kalahari Resorts and Conventions Chevrolet	160	0	9	26	Running
14	24	37	Chris Buescher	Kroger Thrill of the Grill Chevrolet	160	0	8	26	Running
15	15	88	Alex Bowman	Axalta Chevrolet	160	0	0	22	Running
16	19	6	Ryan Newman	Wyndham Rewards Ford	160	0	5	27	Running
17	22	95	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota Express Maintenance Toyota	160	0	0	20	Running
18	14	21	Paul Menard	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford	160	10	0	20	Running
19	8	48	Jimmie Johnson	Ally Chevrolet	160	0	0	18	Running
20	28	34	Michael McDowell	Dockside Logistics Ford	160	0	0	17	Running
21	26	43	Bubba Wallace	Victory Junction Chevrolet	160	0	7	20	Running
22	11	4	Kevin Harvick	Busch Light Father’s Day Ford	159	4	0	22	Running
23	29	47	Ryan Preece #	Kroger Chevrolet	159	0	0	14	Running
24	32	15	Ross Chastain(i)	Low T Center Chevrolet	159	0	0	0	Running
25	34	51	Bayley Currey(i)	Jacob Companies P-40 Warhawk Ford	159	0	0	0	Running
26	7	42	Kyle Larson	Credit One Bank Chevrolet	159	1	1	31	Running
27	25	13	Ty Dillon	GEICO Chevrolet	158	0	0	10	Running
28	35	27	* Reed Sorenson	VIPRacingExperience.com Chevrolet	157	0	0	9	Running
29	36	77	Quin Houff	Spire Motorsports Chevrolet	157	0	0	8	Running
30	27	38	David Ragan	ExploriaResorts.com Ford	156	0	0	7	Running
31	31	0	Landon Cassill(i)	Madison Group Chevrolet	154	0	0	0	Running
32	18	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Fastenal Ford	146	0	0	5	Accident
33	30	36	Matt Tifft #	Surface Sunscreen Ford	128	0	0	4	Running
34	37	52	JJ Yeley	Steakhouse Elite Chevrolet	110	0	0	3	Running
35	20	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Bass Pro Shops Toyota	91	9	0	4	Engine
36	33	32	Corey LaJoie	VisoneRV Ford	68	0	0	1	Accident
37	10	3	Austin Dillon	Dow Chevrolet	28	0	0	1	Accident

June 2, 2019

Weekend schedule for Pocono Raceway

This weekend the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the Xfinity Series head to Pocono Raceway. Martin Truex Jr. grabbed his third victory of the season last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway and is also the defending race winner for the Pocono 400.

Kyle Busch won last year’s Xfinity Series Pocono Green 250 but will not compete in this week’s race. Instead, Jeffrey Earnhardt, who earned a career-best finish of third last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, will pilot the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

All times are Eastern.

Friday, May 31
1:05 – 1:55 p.m. – Xfinity Series First Practice (MRN) – NASCAR.com/live
2:05 – 2:55 p.m. – Cup Series First Practice (MRN) – NASCAR.com/live
3:05 – 3:55 p.m. – Xfinity Series Final Practice (FS2)
4:05 – 4:55 p.m. – Cup Series Final Practice (FS2, MRN)

Saturday, June 1
10:05 a.m. – Xfinity Series Qualifying (Impound) Single vehicle/One lap – All positions (FS1)
11:35 a.m. – Cup Series Qualifying (Impound) Single vehicle/One lap – All positions (FS1, MRN)
1 p.m. – Xfinity Series Pocono Green 250 (Stages 25/50/100 = 100 laps/250 miles) (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Sunday, June 2
2 p.m. – Cup Series Pocono 400 (Stages 50/100/160 = 160 laps/400 miles) (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

May 30, 2019
Truex scores second Coca-Cola 600 win at Charlotte

Martin Truex Jr. scored his third win of 2019 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday night, as he won his second Coca-Cola 600 by .330 of a second over Joey Logano. Truex had the dominant car of the evening, leading 116 laps after starting 14th, although he had to overcome a cut tire and contact with the wall on Lap 75 when he brought out the caution while leading.

Truex had his hands full on the last restart with five laps left, when he restarted third behind David Ragan and Ryan Newman after pitting for fresh tires. Third-place finisher Kyle Busch restarted fourth, and after a strong restart, Busch appeared to be in position to take the lead until Truex made a four-wide pass for the lead on the backstretch and didn’t look back. Chase Elliott and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top-five.

“What a hell of a team,” Truex said. “We never gave up on it. I thought we were done. We blew a tire and hit the wall. We never gave up on it. I thought we were done. Just kept fighting, just kept fighting. What a race there at the end. That was pretty wild.”

Logano was disappointed with second place but proud of his team’s efforts.

“The Coke 600 is such a big deal to win,” he said, “especially as a Coke driver. You want to make it happen and we were close, but we’ll just have to wait again to next year and go at it.

“I thought we had a good shot when that caution came back out. That was another chance and just didn’t quite get it, but overall, like I said, very proud of it. As far as Memorial Day Weekend and getting to race is a privilege, so for me to complain about second sounds pretty dumb. I’m proud to live in this country and I’m happy that I just get to race.”

Busch, who earned his seventh top-five of the season, said, “I thought that through much of the race we had a fast car. We were there. We led some laps, we ran around. The 4 (Harvick) was fast, the 19 (Truex) was fast. The 19 was the fastest car, so I’m not sure what they had different than us, but obviously we were just off a little bit. Otherwise, I felt like we had a race-winning car capable of at least running second, I guess, but overall the red, white and blue M&M’s Camry was fast, and we brought it home where we should have – or close anyway, I think.”

Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson, William Byron, and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-10. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stops at Pocono Raceway next on June 2 at 2 p.m. ET on FS1.

The race had 16 cautions for 80 laps, the majority of which were due to tire issues. Several drivers such as Truex, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Matt DiBenedetto, and Brad Keselowski all made contact with the wall after having tire issues. However, the race’s biggest caution happened on Lap 317 when Clint Bowyer and Kyle Larson made contact that collected Austin and Ty Dillon as well as Ryan Preece. Larson’s and Austin Dillon’s days ended after the incident.

“I just got in there and lost grip and slid up into Clint,” said Larson. “I just hate that I caused the wreck there. I didn’t do a good job on the restart. Just put myself in a bad spot and got sideways.”

The race saw 30 lead changes among 11 drivers, with many on social media proclaiming positive reviews on the event which further enforces the idea that the current aero package is a step in the right direction. This comes after two of the previous three Coke 600s were won by drivers who led over 375 of the 400 laps (Busch won in ’18 after leading 377 laps and Truex won in ’16 after leading 392 laps).

May 26, 2019
William Byron captures pole and sets record for Coca-Cola 600

William Bryon earned the Busch Pole Award Thursday evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600, becoming the youngest pole winner in the event’s history.

The 21-year-old Charlotte native earned the pole in his Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet with a 183.424 mph lap. It was his second Cup Series pole and the second this season after starting up front for the season-opening Daytona 500.

“This is a dream come true,” Byron said after qualifying. “Obviously I grew up in Charlotte and came to this race every year. So, it’s a dream come true to qualify on the pole with Hendrick Motorsports just across the street and all the hard work and everybody at Chevrolet giving us fast race cars. This is pretty cool. I can’t think of a better way to start the weekend.

“Winning the pole is a good first step for this weekend. After all those nights of running the Summer Shootout and Winter Heat around here (as a child), I spent a lot of time wondering what it would be like to run the big track. It’s really cool (to win the pole on it). I’ve run one (Coca-Cola 600) here and it didn’t go so great, so the one thought I’ve had in my head this week was to make it better this year, because honestly it was miserable last year. I’ve taken that and used it as added motivation for this year. I don’t really like having the ‘youngest’ term attached to me. I’ve always been the young guy. I really just look at myself as a race car driver.”

Aric Almirola will start in second after a lap of 183.069 mph in his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

“I got everything I could out of it,” he said. ” If somebody else gets in there maybe they might be able to do something different, but I felt like I got everything I could out of it. Surprisingly, it was a handful to drive so I’m proud of that lap.”

The defending race winner, Kyle Busch, qualified third in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at 182.933 mph. Austin Dillon will start fourth with Kevin Harvick in fifth.

Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Daniel Hemric round out the top 10 starting positions.

Jimmie Johnson, with four Coca-Cola 600 wins (2003, 2004, 2005, 2014), will start in 15th.

Tune into the 60th running of the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on FOX with radio coverage on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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

May 23, 2019
Weekend schedule for Charlotte

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

May 23, 2019
Clint Bowyer wins pole for All-Star Race at Charlotte
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.
May 17, 2019
Full schedule for Charlotte All-Star weekend

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

8 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race (Stages 30/20/20/15 laps) – FS1/PRN

All-Star Race – Rules, Format, Eligibility

May 16, 2019
Brad Keselowski wins in a thriller at Kansas

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.

May 11, 2019
Kevin Harvick wins pole at Kansas

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.

May 10, 2019
IMS President Boles explains why Brickyard 400 returns to July in 2020

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.

SEE ALSO: NASCAR announces 2020 schedule

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.”

May 10, 2019