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
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
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
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.
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)
After a three way battle in the closing laps, Martin Truex Jr. was able to out run Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer to the checkered flag in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway.
“You just had to hold ’em off,” Truex told FOX on the front stretch regarding the battle between Logano, Bowyer and himself. “Tonight we didn’t have the best car, but we’ve lost some here with the best car. We’ve kept chipping away at it and hopefully we get better from here on out.”
Truex claimed the lead from Brad Keselowski with just under 80 laps to go, and led to the finish with a race-high of 186 laps. Truex also improved his stage positions throughout the night, third in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2. Kyle Busch led 101 laps, but a speeding penalty paired with the caution for Kyle Larson’s crash knocked Busch off cycle. He wasn’t able to get back to the front, but continues his top 10 streak for the 2019 season among the opening nine races.
Logano won Stage 2 after passing Truex with a handful of laps remaining, but was not able to repeat at the end of the race.
“I figured something out there toward the end with about 10 laps to go to make up some speed,” Logano said. “Fun race, but, gosh, two weeks in a row I felt like we had a car that could win the race, and we haven’t won.”
At this point last year, Clint Bowyer already had a short track victory at Martinsville. He was looking to break the Team Penske/Joe Gibbs Racing duo by putting a Stewart-Haas Racing car in victory lane. He came up a couple of spots short, but not without a few side by side battles with Truex with around 20 laps to go.
“It’s frustrating,” said Bowyer. “I was faster on a long run than him, but by the time you get to (Truex), your stuff is pretty wore out. And with this aero package, you are so aero dependent behind those cars that you get terrible tight.”
Pole sitter Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin finished in the top five. Austin Dillon was the first and only Chevrolet driver in the top 10, finishing in sixth. Brad Keselowski, Stage 1 winner Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and Paul Menard rounded out the top 10.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series takes Easter weekend off. They will race again at Talladega Superspeedway in the Geico 500 on April 28.
Kevin Harvick earned the pole for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 in Friday night’s Busch Pole Qualifying at Richmond Raceway, and he gets to keep it.
Why’s that?
Four of the top 10 qualifiers will have to start from the rear of the field after failing pre-race inspection Saturday afternoon — Erik Jones (qualified second), Chase Elliott (seventh), Daniel Suarez (ninth) and Jimmie Johnson (10th). They all will have to start from the rear of the field for Saturday’s race.
“Eyes forward and let’s get to work,” said Johnson on Twitter after being asked his thoughts on starting from the rear.
But the drama of failed inspections didn’t stop there. Aric Almirola (qualified 15th), Denny Hamlin (18th), Matt Tifft (20th), and Joey Gase (36th) all failed inspection and will have their cars moved to the back of the pack when the green flag waves later tonight.
Additionally, Elliott, Hamlin and Tifft all failed a second time, resulting in a crew member ejected from each team. All eight drivers that failed inspection will start between 30th and 37th positions.
Since Richmond is a night race, NASCAR impounds all the Monster Energy Cup Series cars until the garage is opened again on Saturday for inspection. Single failures result in disallowed qualifying times, and the team is set to start at the end of the field for the race. Multiple failures result in increased penalties against the team.
So the updated results from qualifying are as follows. Harvick is still on pole with a time of 21.722 seconds. Kurt Busch is now the new face on the front row and will start second, 0.075 seconds off the pace. Joey Logano, last weekend’s short track winner, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. with his best start of the season, round out the top five. Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Paul Menard and Kyle Larson complete the updated top 10 qualifying results.
The green flag is set to wave shortly after 7:30 p.m ET tonight.
From one short track to another, the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series and Xfinity Series take to the 3/4-mile track, Richmond Raceway, in Richmond, Virginia. Here is how you can watch all of the action, below.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, April 12: 8:05-9:55 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series first practice, NASCAR.com/Live 11:05-11:55 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, NASCAR.com/Live 1:05-1:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NASCAR.com/Live 3:40 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying (MULTI-VEHICLE / THREE ROUNDS), FS1 5:40 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying (MULTI-VEHICLE / THREE ROUNDS), FS1 7 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series ToyotaCare 250 (STAGES 75/150/250 LAPS = 187.5 miles) TV: FS1 – Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Saturday, April 13: 7:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 (Stages 100/200/400 LAPS = 300 Miles) TV: FOX – Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
An early wreck was not enough to prevent Kyle Busch from winning another race.
Busch was involved in a multi-car wreck to start the race, but he worked his way through the field and took the lead for the first time on Lap 384.
The team snookered the field by choosing not to pit during the final caution of the Food City 500 and held off his older brother, Kurt Busch, for the final 14 circuits to earn his eighth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“It’s pretty awesome to be able to snooker those guys, get our win today here at Bristol. Love this place. It was fun to battle out with the brother there at the end,” Busch said.
“We’re crazy,” Busch said. “We’ll do anything to get a win.”
Busch led 71 laps, including the final 19 of 500 for his third win of the season and the 54th of his career.
“It ain’t 12, that’s for sure (referring to Darrell Waltrip).” So, I got more to go, Busch said.
Kurt Busch could taste victory but saw his chances evaporate when he tagged the wall with three laps to go in hot pursuit of Kyle’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
“I know we didn’t quite get side‑by‑side racing it out. I saw him working the top. I’m like, ‘I better go.’ I got up there, was able to make some ground,” Kyle Busch said.
Brad Keselowski was black-flagged for lining up improperly on the final restart and wound up 18th.
Of the eight races run this season, all eight have been won by drivers from either Joe Gibbs Racing or Team Penske.
Kurt Busch admitted that he was going to give his younger brother more than just a tap.
“I really wanted to beat him,” Busch said. “I was going to wreck him. He already won (this year). I figure he could give a little love to his brother. I wanted that one bad.
“I’m happy that we were in position to do it. This group of guys, we’re not quite ready to win yet, but that was close.”
Joey Logano finished third, Ryan Blaney came home fourth, and last week’s winner Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
Paul Menard, Clint Bowyer, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Newman, and Jimmie Johnson completed the top 10.
Ty Dillon edged Clint Bowyer in a photo finish to take the first stage, while Logano won the second stage.
Monster Energy Cup Series Race Number 8 Race Results for the 59th Annual Food City 500 – Sunday, April 7, 2019 Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, TN – 0.533 – Mile Concrete Total Race Length – 500 Laps – 266.5 Miles
