Category: RC NASCAR Cup

Race Central NASCAR Cup Series news and information

Kyle Busch Victorious in the Can-Am 500, Championship 4 Set

Kyle Busch won at ISM Raceway in the Can-Am 500 as the Championship 4 is set for the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series. It was his eighth victory of the season and the 51st of his Cup career.

“I’d like to think it gives us a lot (of momentum), but I don’t know – talk is cheap,” said Busch in the newly designed Gatorade Victory Lane, a part of the $178 million renovation project at the 1-mile raceway. “We’ve got to be able to go out there and perform and just do what we need to do. Being able to do what we did here today was certainly beneficial. I didn’t think we were the best car, but we survived and we did what we needed to do today. It’s just about getting to next week and once we were locked in, it was ‘all bets are off and it’s time to go.’”

Adam Stevens, crew chief for the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, and team owner Joe Gibbs addressed the media as they head into the final race of the 2018 season.

“Well, I think it’s important to come into the last race firing on all cylinders,” Stevens said about today’s victory. “And it’s hard to do that when you’re just riding around trying to score points. It’s not like we were throwing caution to the wind by any means. The job that we set out to do is to win the championship, and to do that you’ve got to beat them all.”

Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano will join Busch in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Logano crashed early in the race and did not join the others in the press conference.

“We just got a little bit of luck, a little bit of ‘right place, right time’ kinda thing,” Truex shared when discussing the various wrecks that happened in front of him. “One last hurrah next week and we’re gonna go give ’em all we got.”

“I think we have a chance every time we show up,” Harvick shared assessing his chances to win his second career Cup championship. “Our guys are doing a great job. Obviously, to accomplish everything we did this weekend was quite the feat without your crew chief and car chief, but Tony Gibson and Nick did a great job filling in. Everybody kept their head about them and we were competitive all weekend.”

William Byron also locked up the Rookie of the Year standings with his ninth-place effort.

“I take away my growth as a person and our growth as a team,” Byron told the media. “I think of road course races were really good. I feel like I’m in a good position for next year.”

Harvick-Chase Battle Creates Early Drama in Stage 1

The first two stages were split by 75 laps each. The remaining 162 laps would be scheduled for the final stage. As the green flag dropped, Harvick would show the way early, but throughout most of the run, Elliott was within a second of him. After the race last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, most of the bottom four drivers were in a must-win situation. But since Wednesday’s announcement of Harvick’s penalty, there was hope for some drivers to possibly sneak in on points.

About 20 laps into the race, Elliott started inching his way closer to the rear bumper of Harvick, but as they started to approach lapped traffic, Harvick looked to claw his way through the field better and was able to put some distance between them. Elliott was completely silent on the radio, presumably happy with the handling of his Napa Chevrolet.

With three laps to go, tragedy struck for Harvick as he had a flat tire and had to come to pit road. Elliott inherited the lead and won Stage 1. Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch also finished in the top-10 and gained valuable bonus points. Elliott won the battle off pit road. Paul Menard stayed on pit road as the team lifted the hood and appeared to begin examining the engine. Harvick ended up going one lap down, and since he pit after pit road was closed (two laps to go in the stage), he was not eligible for the free pass under yellow, or the wave-around. At this point, Harvick and Truex would be knocked out of the Championship 4; Truex and Kurt Busch were tied in points, but Busch wins the tie-breaker with a better finish because he was second at this time, despite Truex finishing third at Martinsville.

Kurt Busch Shows Strength in Stage 2

On the restart, Kurt Busch fought hard on the outside to take over the lead from Chase Elliott. Elliott then had to fight off Ryan Blaney for a couple of laps but eventually settled into the second position.

With about 55 laps to go in the stage, Harvick made his way into the “Lucky Dog” position. One lap later, Joey Logano got a flat left-rear tire and crashed going into Turn 1. He is already locked in with his win at Martinsville, but this helped Harvick get himself back onto the lead lap. However, the carnage was just beginning.

Clint Bowyer crashes at the entrance to Turn 3, then drives away. Photo by Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.

With roughly 30 laps to go, Clint Bowyer crashed to bring out the yellow, ending his championship hopes. On pit road, lots of strategies took place, including a penalty. Roughly eight of the lead lap cars elected not to pit, but most of the other leaders came to pit road. Kurt Busch was caught passing the pace car and served a one-lap penalty.

It was addressed in the driver’s meeting, and we’ve seen similar penalties throughout the year. When entering pit road, the leader usually accelerates to create a gap between their car and the cars behind, a slight advantage that can be huge in certain circumstances. However, the leader is not allowed to pass the pace car before entering pit road. In this case, the nose of the No. 41 Haas Automation Ford was just ahead of the pace car before the first yellow line signaling the start of pit road. Even though he was in the lead at the time of the yellow, and won the battle off pit road, he would be served a penalty that would put their team one lap down.

Kyle Busch was one of the first cars out with fresh tires. He easily took over the top spot a couple of laps into the restart, winning Stage 2. Martin Truex Jr. finished third, and Kevin Harvick battled his way back up to the fourth position, making the “Big 3” the big discussion once again. Some of the leaders stayed out, preventing a “free pass” car and keeping Kurt Busch one lap down. Other drivers on older tires came to pit road for either two or four tires.

Championship Contenders Go Wild in the Final Stage

The field races through the new Turns 3 & 4 after one lap taking the green flag for a restart at ISM Raceway. Photo by Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.

With 160 laps to go, Kyle Busch would keep the lead ahead of Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney. At this time, most of the championship contenders were running in the top-11, except for Logano and Bowyer, who was out of the race. Kurt Busch was still stuck one lap down in the “Lucky Dog” position.

Green flag pit stops began as the race approached 85 laps to go. During some of the pit stops, including while Harvick was on pit road, Tanner Berryhill spun at the entrance of pit road. He did a great job of correcting the car to continue on, but not before NASCAR had to throw a yellow flag. The rest of the field came to pit road, but Elliott sped on pit road, forcing his No. 9 car to the rear of the field. Kurt Busch was the “Lucky Dog”, but most of the field elected for the wave-around.

On the restart, the Playoffs started to come into play for every point possible. We saw the field go three, even four wide in the dogleg. Blaney slowed suddenly and came to pit road. Harvick continued to claw his way up along with teammate Kurt Busch. As the two were getting around the lapped car of David Ragan, he appeared to slip entering Turn 3. Harvick misjudged his speed and got into the rear of Ragan and spun him out to bring out the sixth caution flag. A couple of drivers were toward the end of the field, but Kyle Busch visited pit road so his crew could examine some minor damage as he was outside of Harvick during that contact.

The field took the green again for a few laps, and just when the race seemed to mellow for a brief moment, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took a hard hit to the outside wall in Turn 1. The rear end of the car was completely destroyed and even a brief fire ensued while he was still spinning. NASCAR displayed the red flag for 10 minutes with so much fluid coming from the No. 17. At this time, Kurt Busch was one point ahead of Harvick for the fourth and final Championship spot. However, that would quickly change.

As the field took the green, Erik Jones started to the inside of Kurt Busch but Jones got loose in the middle of Turns 1 & 2, forcing Busch up the track slightly. No harm was done, but Denny Hamlin made an aggressive move to get by both drivers. He couldn’t clear Busch in time and pinched him in the wall. However, with the championship on the line, Busch didn’t back out and stayed in the throttle. As he bounced off the wall, he continued to collide with Hamlin, eventually spinning him out and collecting Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott along the backstretch. That eventually ended the day for Busch as the damage clock expired, and his brother Kyle Busch officially locked himself into the Championship 4 on points. Elliott rejoined the track and was able to maintain minimum speed, but ran three laps down in the 24th position.

The sun sets behind the grandstands as Kyle Busch pulls away to his 51st career NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series win. Photo by Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.

The Cup drivers went racing again with about 30 laps to go. However, with all the nose damage on Bowman’s No. 88 Chevrolet, he went up in a ball of fire and smoke at the end of the frontstretch, causing him to crash in Turn 2 alongside pit entrance. NASCAR had to throw another red flag to clean up the incident. At this point, Harvick was back in the good on points. Aric Almirola was the only other driver left that could steal a spot in the Championship 4 if he won at ISM Raceway. Almirola was running fourth at the time when the field went back under yellow. Some of the leaders elected for a pit stop, including Kyle Larson, who took four tires and would restart in the eighth position.

This restart would be the first time for the Cup Series facing speedy dry in Turns 1 and 2. On Friday night, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race had a restart with speedy dry in the first set of turns that prevented Grant Enfinger from getting a strong restart against Noah Gragson and Brett Moffitt. However, this wouldn’t faze Kyle Busch as he pulled away from a hard-charging Almirola but he got a second chance as Berryhill crashed to bring out another caution flag on the track.

With about 15 laps to go, the field took the green flag but Almirola appeared to just not have the right setup to run with Kyle Busch on the outside. Brad Keselowski tried to push him through to the front, but that caused Almirola to go wide through Turns 1 and 2. Keselowski was able to get by both him and Harvick to put a late race charge toward the lead, but there just wasn’t enough time to catch Busch.

“It certainly feels really good,” Busch said in the media center after celebrating his win with the fans. “It feels good to go off into next week with a win under our belt and hopefully do it again.”

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race
Unofficial Race Results for the 31St Annual Can-Am 500 – Sunday, November 11, 2018
ISM Raceway – Avondale, AZ – 1 Mile Paved

Pos	St	Car	Driver	Team	Make
1	6	18	Kyle Busch (P)	M&M’s	Toyota
2	12	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Holiday Knitwear	Ford
3	8	42	Kyle Larson	DC Solar	Chevrolet
4	18	10	Aric Almirola (P)	Smithfield	Ford
5	1	4	Kevin Harvick (P)	Busch Light	Ford
6	21	1	Jamie McMurray	Cessna	Chevrolet
7	17	6	Matt Kenseth	Wyndham Rewards	Ford
8	15	3	Austin Dillon	American Ethanol e15	Chevrolet
9	19	24	William Byron #	Hertz	Chevrolet
10	30	43	Bubba Wallace #	U.S. Air Force	Chevrolet
11	22	31	Ryan Newman	Cat Global Mining	Chevrolet
12	24	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger ClickList	Chevrolet
13	10	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Ground	Toyota
14	13	78	Martin Truex Jr. (P)	Auto-Owners Insurance	Toyota
15	20	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s Power of Pride	Chevrolet
16	23	34	Michael McDowell	Love’s/Luber Finer	Ford
17	7	20	Erik Jones	Sirius XM	Toyota
18	25	37	Chris Buescher	Gain	Chevrolet
19	28	13	Ty Dillon	GEICO Military	Chevrolet
20	31	38	David Ragan	Trident Seafoods Wild Alaska Pollock	Ford
21	27	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Can-Am/Wholey	Ford
22	29	95	Regan Smith	Procore	Chevrolet
23	2	9	Chase Elliott (P)	NAPA Auto Parts	Chevrolet
24	33	15	Ross Chastain(i)	Ternio	Chevrolet
25	34	72	Cole Whitt	Standard Plumbing Supply	Chevrolet
26	32	00	Landon Cassill(i)	StarCom Fiber	Chevrolet
27	38	7	* DJ Kennington(i)	APC/Northern Provincial Pipelines	Chevrolet
28	39	51	Cody Ware	JacobCo/BanyanCayGolfClub&Resort	Chevrolet
29	11	21	Paul Menard	Menards/Cardell	Ford
30	5	88	Alex Bowman	Axalta	Chevrolet
31	36	97	* Tanner Berryhill		Toyota
32	14	41	Kurt Busch (P)	Haas Automation/Monster Energy	Ford
33	3	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	Ford
34	4	12	Ryan Blaney	PPG	Ford
35	16	14	Clint Bowyer (P)	ITsavvy	Ford
36	26	19	Daniel Suarez	STANLEY	Toyota
37	9	22	Joey Logano (P)	Shell Pennzoil	Ford
38	35	23	JJ Yeley(i)	She Beverage Company	Toyota
39	37	66	* Timmy Hill(i)	Rewards.com	Toyota

November 11, 2018

Kevin Harvick on Pole for Can-Am 500 at ISM Raceway

Kevin Harvick sneaks past Chase Elliott to take the pole in the penultimate race of the 2018 NASCAR Monster Energy Series season at ISM Raceway for the Can-Am 500 with a time of 25.836 seconds at 139.340 mph.

With the penalties from last weekend’s encumbered win at Texas Motor Speedway, Harvick’s usual crew chief, Rodney Childers, is serving a two-race suspension. Interim crew chief Tony Gibson is calling the shots for the No. 4 Stewart Haas Racing team. That didn’t faze Harvick one bit.

“It’s pretty awesome to see a group of people come together — old man Tony Gibson and Nick (DeFazio, interim car chief) — coming out to fill the gaps for the suspensions,” Harvick told NBCSN. “Like I told the radio a second ago, everybody on our Busch Light Ford has been there before and we know what we need to do. This is a great race track for us. I really wasn’t expecting that. Our cars are usually a lot better in race trim than in qualifying trim, and just got fortunate to hit a good lap right there and it came at a good time.”

Throughout the three stages, Harvick wasn’t always up toward the front. In fact, all eight of the Playoff drivers were spread out across the top 21 positions, but still advancing to the second round of qualifying. Matt Kenseth quietly ran fastest and was the only driver in the 138 mph speed bracket. Austin Dillon was second fastest, with Harvick as the first Playoff contender in third.

In Round 2, half of the Playoff drivers were eliminated, including the other three Stewart Haas drivers: Kurt Busch (14th), Clint Bowyer (16th) and Aric Almirola (18th). Martin Truex Jr. missed the final round of qualifying by only three-thousandths of a second. To put it in even further perspective, positions eight through sixteen were only separated by one-tenth of a second, as the fight for the final transfer spots were a tight battle as Elliott ran fastest in the second round.

“It was a battle,” said Truex, who was 20th-fastest in Friday’s practice. “Kind of par for the course for us here lately, so I say 13th is a pretty good starting spot for the day we’ve had. I really didn’t get a good crack at anything in practice and we didn’t end up having much time and we were pretty far off. Made some good gains for sure. I wish we could’ve ran again. I definitely feel like I could pick up some more. Car was just pretty tight, so we’ll start 13th and get to work tomorrow.”

In the final round, Harvick claimed his 25th career pole by holding off Elliott, who will be clawing for every point possible in Sunday’s race and try to steal a spot in the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five.

“That’s not bad,” Blaney said with a shrug as he glanced at the speed charts. “We got better each round, which is good, so that was nice, but we just didn’t quite have the speed and obviously not pole speed, but it was good.”

Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Paul Menard and Brad Keselowski completed the top 12 in the final round of qualifying.

Cody Ware, who crashed during Friday’s lone practice for the series, did not make a qualifying attempt in the Rick Ware Racing No. 51 Ford.

November 9, 2018
Weekend schedule for Phoenix

Staff Report | NASCAR.com

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series will be in action at ISM Raceway in Phoenix. All three series enter their final elimination races that will set up the Championship 4. Check out the full schedule below, which is subject to change.

Note: All times are ET

Friday, November 9
10:30-11:20 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series first practice, FS2 (Results)
12:05-12:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, FS2 (Results)
1:35-2:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Results)
2:35-3:25 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Results)
4:35-5:25 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Results)
5:35 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying, FS1 (Results)
7 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
8:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 (150 laps, 150 miles), FS1 (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
12:15 p.m.: Chip Ganassi Racing
12:45 p.m.: Kurt Busch
1 p.m.: Justin Allgaier, Christopher Bell and Matt Tifft
3 p.m.: Chase Elliott
3:15 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
3:30 p.m.: Kyle Busch
4 p.m.: Jimmie Johnson and Fernando Alonso (via Skype)
4:30 p.m.: USAA Hats Off to Heroes Program
7:45 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying
10:15 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race

SATURDAY, November 10
11:30-12:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series second practice, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
12:35 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
2-2:50 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
3:30 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Whelen Trusted To Perform 200 (200 laps, 200 miles), NBC/NBC Sports App (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
5:30 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race

SUNDAY, November 11
2:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Can-Am 500 (312 laps, 312 miles), NBC/NBC Sports App (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
5:30 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

November 8, 2018
Harvick Wins Texas, Will Make Appearance in Championship Round

FORT WORTH, Texas — Kevin Harvick punched his ticket to the Championship Round in Miami by dominating Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, leading 177 laps and outrunning pole winner Ryan Blaney by 0.447 seconds.

Joey Logano finished third, with Erik Jones and Kyle Larson rounding out the top-five. Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr., and Austin Dillon rounded out the top-10.

Blaney spoke about his second-place finish, saying. “We got by the 4 on that one restart but I just couldn’t hold him off. He was really good. I kind of missed one and two by an inch and he took advantage of it. We needed to be mistake free and then some and I just couldn’t be that.

“Then we had another shot at it. The last one, he took the top, like I knew he was going to and he motored around me. It was a strong showing by our Carlisle team. I thought we were a second-place car all night really. I thought the 4 was head and shoulders above everyone else but I thought we were second best for sure. That was a fun race for sure.”

Third-place Logano also commented on the dominance of Harvick and the Ford teams.

“We had a top-five car. We got out front where we could lead laps for a little bit and just when the front tires would give up that is when the 4 was just stellar. He was stupid fast. He was able to do a lot. Congrats to them. That is two Fords in and two to go.”

The win was Harvick’s 45th career Cup Series win and his second-straight in the fall event at TMS. With this win, Harvick’s appearance at Miami will be his fourth in five years, since the inception of the playoff system in 2014, the year he won his first championship.

”Really, that’s what we race for,” said Harvick on his run to Miami. “You try to get yourself in position to get into the Playoffs and position yourself to have a chance at getting to Homestead.”

”It’s not easy at this time of year just because of the fact that everybody is throwing everything that they have at it, all the notes and all the things that you’ve done all year all piled into the cars that you have on the race track. But it’s enough to win races at this point of the year and to get to Victory Lane and that’s our goal.”

Harvick celebrated his win on the track with a young fan, celebrating with him by taking a selfie before handing him the checkered flag.

”I thought about taking him to Victory Lane with me, but I realized his parents wouldn’t know where he was at,” said Harvick in the Media Center to a roomful of laughter.

Harvick is also the winningest driver at ISM Raceway, where he’ll be able to take a breath next weekend before racing for his second title at Homestead on November 18.

November 4, 2018
Blaney leads Ford brigade to Texas Busch Pole Award

Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

FORT WORTH, Tex. – Ryan Blaney may have exited the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but that doesn’t mean the desire to win has left the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford.

Running the fastest lap of the day in the final round of Friday’s knockout qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway, Blaney sped around the 1.5-mile track in 26.932 seconds (200.505 mph) to earn the top starting spot for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In winning his first Busch Pole Award at Texas, his third of the season and the fifth of his career, Blaney fell just short of the track record (26.877 seconds at 200.915 mph) set by Kurt Busch in November of last year. Nevertheless, Blaney’s lap in the money round was the second fastest ever run on a 1.5-mile intermediate speedway.

Blaney, who paced the first round but fell to eighth in the second, beat playoff driver Clint Bowyer (200.230 mph) by .037 seconds when it counted. Kevin Harvick (199.941 mph) qualified third, as Ford drivers swept the top five spots on the grid and seven of the top eight.

“We just seemed to get tighter round to round,” Blaney said. “We just kept freeing it up, and I messed up Round 2 pretty bad. I got really greedy in (Turn) 1 and drove in there too deep. So we freed it up even more, and I backed my entry up, and that helped it out …

“It felt really fast. That’s what you get with this nighttime qualifying. High speeds. Speeds pick up, and it has been cool here today. We’ve had a really good Ford all day, and it is nice to back it up in qualifying. It doesn’t mean a lot if you are fastest in practice and blow it in qualifying … I’m excited to see how it is in race trim in Saturday’s practice.”

With Aric Almirola qualifying fourth and Kurt Busch eighth, Stewart-Haas Racing placed all four of its drivers in the top seven, and all four are still in contention for the series championship. Brad Keselowski was fifth fastest, giving Team Penske two drivers in the top five.

Toyota driver Denny Hamlin was seventh with the only non-Ford in the top eight. Team Penske driver Joey Logano — already qualified for the Nov. 18 Championship 4 race at Homestead by virtue of last Sunday’s victory at Martinsville, was eighth quickest after topping the second round at 200.267 mph.

Playoff driver Martin Truex Jr. will start 13^th on Sunday after Almirola bumped him out of the final round by .001 seconds.

“I got a little loose on Turn 3 in my last lap there,” Truex said. “If I didn’t mess that up, I probably would have been in. It’s a sensitive track, really fast. For whatever reason, we’ve been off qualifying since they redid this place.

“I haven’t quite figured out what I need for qualifying. In our race trim, we’ve been really good here. We’ll see. We’ll work harder on it (Saturday in practice) and see on Sunday.”

Chase Elliott, winner of two Playoff races, will start 16^th. Ninth-place qualifier William Byron, Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, was the only Chevrolet driver to crack the top 12.

November 2, 2018

Logano punches his ticket to Miami after late race drama

Joey Logano won the First Data 500 at Martinsville on Sunday afternoon after a chaotic battle for the win against Martin Truex Jr. He scored his second win of the season and punched his ticket to the Championship 4 at Homestead.

“That was just a hard great race. NASCAR racing at its finest. It was a lot of bumper banging towards the end and a hard race. You know, we didn’t wreck each other. We bumped into each other a lot and that is what this sport was built on. I know a lot of fans out there aren’t too happy about it but it is racing and that is what NASCAR is about and what stock car racing is. I am just glad we finally won here,” Lagano said in victory lane.

Logano led 309 laps. Denny Hamlin came in second, with Truex, Kyle Busch, and Brad Keselowski rounding out the top five.

Kyle Busch led the field to the green after winning the pole on Saturday. It was a struggle for him early as it took teammate Denny Hamlin 32 laps to take the lead from him. Busch fell to third when Clint Bowyer was able to take another position from him.

The first caution came out on Lap 43 when Jeb Burton crashed into the wall. Kyle Busch selected the first pit stall coming out of the pits which gave him the advantage and was able to retake the lead after the pit stops. Alex Bowman was penalized for speeding in the pits.

The race started slow for some of the playoff drivers but they were all making a run at getting a top 10 finish to end Stage 1. Chase Elliott and Truex were two drivers that started further back and drove toward the top 10.

The race lead was flipping around between Kyle Busch and Hamlin. They had a nice battle throughout the entire stage. Jimmie Johnson spun out on Lap 71 bringing out the second caution. Most of the leaders stayed out as we saw Jamie McMurray and teammate Kyle Larson pit. No major damage was reported for Johnson following his spin.

Hamlin won Stage 1. Truex was the fastest car on the track closing Stage 1. He finished the stage in the seventh position. The only playoff driver out of the top 10 was Chase Elliott finishing 11th and missing out on any playoff points. Hamlin led 29 laps of the stage.

The race off pit road during the stage break had Logano surpassing the Joe Gibbs teammates and taking the lead. Bowyer made contact with Erik Jones giving him some damage in the right front. Ryan Blaney had an uncontrolled tire and was forced to start in the back for Stage 2.

Logano got a great jump in the restart and he never looked back from then. The Busch brothers had some good door to door battles for third at the beginning of the run. Hamlin went back to fourth because of it.

On Lap 173 we saw a good battle between Truex and Bowyer as they made contact for the fifth position. Logano had a dominant stage as he started lapping many of the cars. By Lap 207 he had lapped half of the field. Drivers Larson and Blaney were put down a lap by Logano.

Kevin Harvick had a pretty tough stage. He dropped out of the top 10 on Lap 212. Truex continued his surge to the front as he took fourth from Kurt Busch.

AJ Allmendinger and Ty Dillon had good Stage 2 runs as both cars made their ways into the top 15 and were able to stay on the lead lap. We saw Harvick go down a lap at the end of Stage 2 when he was in the 15th position.

Hamlin closed in on Logano in the final laps of the stage for a side by side finish favoring Logano. Logano dominated Stage 2 but found some trouble holding off Hamlin. Logano was able to hold the lead during the stage break edging in front of Hamlin off pit road. Ryan Newman was caught speeding, he was supposed to restart sixth.

Going into the final stage, teams started to adjust their strategies as the radar showed some rain heading towards the race track. The final stage started pretty clean with Logano holding the lead on the restart. Logano was taking care of the lead while there was a lot of mixing up behind him.

Truex didn’t have a good restart dropping him a few spots to sixth. It was eventful for Johnson who entered the top 10 on Lap 285 after overcoming the spin earlier in the race.

Truex started to settle down laps into the run when he started to get some positions back that he lost on the restart. He eventually moved up to second as the run continued. Harvick was the playoff driver that struggled the most during the last run. He was maintaining in the top 15. Almirola’s car was the fastest around Lap 330 when he moved up to sixth.

Logano’s lead began to diminish as he was seeing Truex close in on him after Lap 154. Truex’s car was handling much better in the corners when they started battling for the lead. He was able to take the lead from Logano on Lap 360. This was Truex’s first time on the lead in the afternoon after starting the race in 33rd.

A caution came out shortly after Truex took the lead when Byron got into the wall on Lap 366. The radar was showing the rain getting closer to the track by this time. Truex held on to the lead with Logano behind him on pit road.

On Lap 374 the green flag came out for the restart with Truex continuing to lead the field. Logano maintained the second spot as he was inching toward Truex. Almirola started to lose spots after restarting forth because he was not able to get his car to the bottom line. Logano retook the lead from Truex on Lap 377.

A caution came out on Lap 382 after Timmy Hill’s car caught fire on pit road. Bowyer led cars behind him into pit road. Elliott came out in front of the pits with the group starting from ninth.

Logano held off Truex on the restart and Brad Keselowski started to come into the picture after he was able to take third following the restart. A caution came out a few laps later for Larson. It appeared that he had some mechanical issue after a lot of smoke caused him to exit his vehicle.

The green flag was back out on Lap 415 with Logano leading into the first turn. Keselowski took second from Truex. He was able to get to Logano’s side and take the lead from him shortly after. Keselowski started the race at the rear for unapproved adjustments.

Truex dropped all the way to sixth. Logano and Hamlin’s battle for second started to heat up. This gave Keselowski an advantage and extended his lead. A caution came out on Lap 457 after playoff contending Bowyer made contact with Johnson and spun. He was running outside the top 10 at the time.

The leaders came down pit road during the caution with Logano coming out in front of everyone else. Most of the drivers took four tires.

The restart was led by Logano with 37 laps left. He was able to lead going into Turn 1 but there were some hectic battles behind him. Kyle Busch, Keselowski, and Truex had some bumpy battles for the few positions behind Logano.

“We had a good run there. We were really good on the short runs but we struggled a little bit on the long runs and it just didn’t end up playing out there for us at the end. It is good to see Joey (Logano) get to victory lane. Happy for Team Penske,” Keselowski said.

The final 10 laps had some intense racing between Logano and Truex for the lead. Side by side racing in the final few laps as Logano was able to put a bumper on Truex in the final corner to take the win.

Next week we head to Fort Worth for the AAA Texas 500.

Post Martinsville Playoff Standings

Joey Logano: 1 win
Kyle Busch: +46
Martin Truex Jr: +25
Kevin Harvick: +25
Kurt Busch: -25
Chase Elliott: -31
Clint Bowyer: -42
Aric Almirola: – 50

Monster Energy Cup Series Race
Unofficial Race Results for the 70th Annual First Data 500 – Sunday, October 28, 2018
Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, VA – 0.526 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 500 Laps – 263. Miles

Pos	St	Car	Driver	Team	Make
1	10	22	Joey Logano (P)	Shell Pennzoil	Ford
2	3	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Freight	Toyota
3	33	78	Martin Truex Jr. (P)	5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops	Toyota
4	1	18	Kyle Busch (P)	M&M’s Halloween	Toyota
5	7	2	Brad Keselowski	Thomas Built Buses	Ford
6	6	41	Kurt Busch (P)	Haas Automation/Monster Energy	Ford
7	19	9	Chase Elliott (P)	SunEnergy1	Chevrolet
8	16	31	Ryan Newman	E-Z-GO	Chevrolet
9	8	19	Daniel Suarez	ARRIS	Toyota
10	12	4	Kevin Harvick (P)	Busch Beer	Ford
11	5	10	Aric Almirola (P)	Smithfield	Ford
12	34	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s for Pros	Chevrolet
13	13	37	Chris Buescher	Bush’s Chili Beans	Chevrolet
14	15	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger ClickList	Chevrolet
15	23	13	Ty Dillon	GEICO	Chevrolet
16	17	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald’s	Chevrolet
17	14	88	Alex Bowman	Nationwide	Chevrolet
18	36	38	David Ragan	MDS Transport	Ford
19	18	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Fifth Third Bank	Ford
20	4	12	Ryan Blaney	Menards/Moen	Ford
21	2	14	Clint Bowyer (P)	Rush Truck Centers	Ford
22	35	21	Paul Menard	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center	Ford
23	24	6	Matt Kenseth	Wyndham Rewards	Ford
24	28	72	Cole Whitt	MOEN	Chevrolet
25	20	34	Michael McDowell	Dockside Logistics	Ford
26	21	20	Erik Jones	DeWalt	Toyota
27	29	96	* DJ Kennington(i)	Xtreme Concepts/iK9	Toyota
28	27	95	Regan Smith	WRL General Contractors	Chevrolet
29	22	15	Ross Chastain(i)	Ternio	Chevrolet
30	25	3	Austin Dillon	Dow	Chevrolet
31	38	23	JJ Yeley(i)	Adirondack Tree Surgeons	Toyota
32	32	99	* Landon Cassill(i)	StarCom Fiber	Chevrolet
33	39	51	Jeb Burton(i)	Jacob Companies	Chevrolet
34	37	43	Bubba Wallace #	Pioneer Records Management	Chevrolet
35	30	00	Joey Gase(i)	Donate Life	Chevrolet
36	26	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Keen Parts/CorvetteParts.net	Ford
37	9	42	Kyle Larson	First Data/Clover	Chevrolet
38	40	66	* Timmy Hill(i)	Rewards.com	Toyota
39	11	24	William Byron #	Liberty University	Chevrolet
40	31	7	* Hermie Sadler II	I Virginia Lottery	Chevrolet

October 28, 2018

Full weekend schedule for Martinsville

Staff Report | NASCAR.com

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series will be in action at Martinsville Speedway while the NASCAR Xfinity Series is off. The Monster Energy Series heads to the first race of the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Playoffs, while the Camping World Truck Series enters the first race in the Round of 6. Check out the full schedule below, which is subject to change.

Note: All times are ET

FRIDAY, Oct. 26
12:05-12:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series first practice (no TV) (Follow live)
2:05-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice (no TV) (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
10:30 a.m.: Timothy Peters
10:45 a.m.: Justin Haley, Johnny Sauter
11 a.m.: Matt Crafton, Grant Enfinger
11:15 a.m.: Noah Gragson, Brett Moffitt

SATURDAY, Oct. 27
9-9:50 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
10:05 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Qualifying, FS1 (Follow live)
11:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
1 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Texas Roadhouse 200 presented by Alpha Energy Solutions (200 laps, 105.2 miles), FS1 (Follow live)
4:05 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
8:15 a.m.: Chase Elliott
10:30 a.m.: Clint Bowyer
10:45 a.m.: Kyle Busch
2:45 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race
4:45 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying

SUNDAY, Oct. 28
2:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series First Data 500 (500 laps, 263 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
6 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

MORE: How to find NBCSN

October 25, 2018

Chase Elliott wheels into Victory Lane at Kansas as the Round of 12 Concludes

Chase Elliott won the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon. Elliott is really starting to heat up heading into the Round of 8 next week after scoring his second victory in the Round of 12 and his third Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win this season.

He spoke about the team’s strategy as they continue in the Playoffs and the emphasis on winning races.

“The points game is nice I guess to play. Really you just need to care about winning,” Elliott said. “If you’re trying to win, putting yourself in position to win, that’s way more important than just barely trying to squeak through. Having the ability to win, do it weekly, putting yourselves in those positions week by week is the most important thing. If we can do that these next three weeks, I think we can give ourselves a chance.”

Joey Logano started the race on the pole and led the field to the green flag quickly maintaining the lead. It only lasted one lap for clean racing. Daniel Suarez brushed the wall on the second lap and made slight contact with Alex Bowman. Suarez then pitted.

Stage 1 was an adventure for Kyle Larson. Larson started the race at the tail of the field because he had to go to a backup car after wrecking his primary on Friday during practice. By Lap 15 he was already in the 20th position. Larson needed a win to advance to the next round of the playoffs.

Alex Bowman was in the same position as Larson. He also needed a win to advance. He hit the wall on Lap 24 while he was trying to run the high line. Nothing major happened to his car and he continued running.

By Lap 45 all of the Playoff drivers had pit once under green. No serious changes to the leaderboard happened during the pit stops.

The first caution of the race came out on Lap 56 when William Byron had an engine failure in his vehicle. It was a long cleanup since he dropped a lot of oil on the track and on some pit boxes.

When the lead lap cars went in to pit under caution there were three drivers that elected to just take two tires. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. did not pit and led the field to the green on Lap 64 for the restart. His lead did not last too long as he fell back quickly with Ryan Blaney taking the lead.

There was a great battle between teammates Logano and Blaney toward the end of the stage as both were going hard for the lead. Kevin Harvick got into the picture while the teammates kept swapping positions. Logano was able to hold off Harvick and Blaney to win Stage 1. With Harvick finishing second, it clinched his spot in the Round of 8.

No major changes happened during the pit stops. All the leaders went in as expected and Logano led the field for the start of Stage 2. Blaney was able to take the second position away from Harvick on the restart. Harvick was able to come back and take the spot back on Lap 96.

Larson became a contender in the race during Stage 2. He found himself in the sixth position behind Kyle Busch by Lap 101.

Kurt Busch had a rough day. The speed in his car was not where he wanted it to be as he started to fall off in Stage 2. The battle between Harvick and Blaney seemed like it was happening all day. Blaney was able to take the second spot back from Harvick on Lap 115.

Green flag pit stops in Stage 2 started on Lap 119 with Martin Trux Jr. being the first car to pit. Aric Almirola and Kurt Busch were hit with penalties for uncontrolled tires as Busch’s bad day continued to get worse.

Brad Keselowski tried staying out on the track many laps after everyone had gone in to pit, hoping to catch a caution. That did not work and he finally had to pit on Lap 140. Harvick took over the lead and went on to win Stage 2.

There was a good battle in the pits during the caution. Larson gained three positions during his time on pit road. Denny Hamlin was penalized for speeding on pit road. Kyle Busch and Logano clinched their spots in the Round of 8 after Stage 2.

Harvick and Elliott led the field on the restart to start the final stage. Kurt Busch continued down a lap but kept creeping in and out of the playoff picture the whole afternoon.

Elliott made some nice gains after being able to catch Blaney and taking away the second position from him. Larson was also able to come in and challenge Blaney for the third position.

On lap 208 Kyle Busch was able to pass Larson and Blaney at the same time moment that Blaney scrapped the wall. Blaney eventually dropped to fifth and his minor issues put him outside the cutoff line for the next round late in the race.

“Obviously it was a mistake I made trying to work hard to catch those guys and I pushed too hard and got in the fence. It is all my fault. Whether it would have worked out for us or not, I don’t know,” Blaney said.

Kyle Larson was the first car to go in for green flag pit stops.

A big change in the race happened after leader Harvick was penalized for speeding during his pit stop. This positioned Chase Elliott to take the lead when the field cycled out after the pits.

“Today wasn’t great from my standpoint. Our Busch Lite Ford was really fast and leading the race there and I got a speeding penalty. That was my fault. I tried to get a little too much and wound up going too fast. We will take it one week at a time,” Harvick said after the race.

Kyle Busch started to show late speed with under 30 laps to go. He was cutting down on Elliott’s lead. With 15 laps to go there were signs that Busch was getting close to Elliott but he had a hard time at the end. This gave Larson some life as he approached Busch. None were able to get passed Elliott as a result.

Kyle Busch had to settle with second place with Larson finishing third. Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top five.

Blaney, Keselowski, Larson, and Bowman were eliminated from the Playoffs as we head to the Round of 8 next week at Martinsville.

“We won three races and did all that. I feel like we can go win Martinsville next week so I am excited about that but of course, the ultimate goal is to win a championship and we won’t have an opportunity to do that this year.” Keselowski said.

The drivers advancing to the Round of 8:

1. Kyle Busch
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Martin Truex Jr.
4. Clint Bowyer
5. Kurt Busch
6. Joey Logano
7. Chase Elliott
8. Aric Almirola

Monster Energy Cup Series Race
Unofficial Race Results for the 18th Annual Hollywood Casino 400 – Sunday, October 21, 2018
Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, KS – 1.5 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 267 Laps – 400.5 Miles

Pos	St	Car	Driver	Team	Make
1	13	9	Chase Elliott (P)	Mountain Dew	Chevrolet
2	7	18	Kyle Busch (P)	M&M’s Halloween	Toyota
3	27	42	Kyle Larson (P)	McDonald’s Trick. Treat. Win!	Chevrolet
4	6	20	Erik Jones	Craftsman	Toyota
5	12	78	Martin Truex Jr. (P)	Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY	Toyota
6	5	2	Brad Keselowski (P)	Discount Tire	Ford
7	4	12	Ryan Blaney (P)	Menards/Wrangler Riggs	Ford
8	1	22	Joey Logano (P)	Shell Pennzoil	Ford
9	10	88	Alex Bowman (P)	Nationwide	Chevrolet
10	3	10	Aric Almirola (P)	Smithfield	Ford
11	23	3	Austin Dillon	Dow	Chevrolet
12	2	4	Kevin Harvick (P)	Busch Light	Ford
13	14	14	Clint Bowyer (P)	Dekalb	Ford
14	9	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Office	Toyota
15	16	31	Ryan Newman	Caterpillar	Chevrolet
16	21	37	Chris Buescher	Bush’s Chili Beans	Chevrolet
17	20	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald’s Trick. Treat. Win!	Chevrolet
18	11	41	Kurt Busch (P)	Haas Automation/Mobil 1	Ford
19	28	38	David Ragan	MDS Transport	Ford
20	15	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Fastenal	Ford
21	25	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger ClickList	Chevrolet
22	22	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s for Pros	Chevrolet
23	31	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Plan B Sales	Ford
24	8	19	Daniel Suarez	ARRIS	Toyota
25	30	13	Ty Dillon	GEICO	Chevrolet
26	29	43	Bubba Wallace #	Transportation Impact	Chevrolet
27	24	34	Michael McDowell	Coburn Supply Company	Ford
28	26	95	Regan Smith	Tommy Williams Drywall	Chevrolet
29	35	00	Landon Cassill(i)	Share Foundation	Chevrolet
30	19	6	Trevor Bayne	AdvoCare Rehydrate	Ford
31	36	23	JJ Yeley(i)	BK Racing	Toyota
32	18	21	Paul Menard	Menards/NIBCO	Ford
33	38	51	BJ McLeod(i)	Jacob Companies	Chevrolet
34	34	72	Corey LaJoie	Dragonchain	Chevrolet
35	37	99	* Kyle Weatherman	StarCom Fiber	Chevrolet
36	39	7	* Reed Sorenson	Harrah’s North Kansas City	Chevrolet
37	33	96	* Jeffrey Earnhardt	Xtreme Concepts/iK9	Toyota
38	17	24	William Byron #	Unifirst	Chevrolet
39	32	15	Ross Chastain(i)	Durkin Tactical	Chevrolet
40	40	66	* Timmy Hill(i)	Ternio	Toyota

Follow on Twitter for updates: @BryanR_305

October 21, 2018

Full weekend schedule for Kansas

Staff Report | NASCAR.com

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series will be in action at Kansas Speedway while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is off. The Monster Energy Series heads to the final race of the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Playoffs, while the Xfinity Series enters the first race in the Round of 8. Check out the full schedule below, which is subject to change.

Note: All times are ET

FRIDAY, Oct. 19
2:05-2:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
3:05-3:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
5-5:50 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
7:10 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
12:30 p.m.: Kyle Larson
12:45 p.m.: Ryan Blaney
1 p.m.: Alex Bowman
1:15 p.m.: Aric Almirola
1:30 p.m.: Christopher Bell, Cole Custer and Daniel Hemric
3:30 p.m.: Clint Bowyer
8 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying

SATURDAY, Oct. 20
10:30-11:20 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series second practice, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
11:40 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series pole qualifying, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
1:05-1:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
2:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Kansas Lottery 300 (200 laps, 300 miles), NBC/NBC Sports App (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
5:30 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race

SUNDAY, Oct. 21
2:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 (267 laps, 400.5 miles), NBC/NBC Sports App (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
11 a.m.: Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award
5:30 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

MORE: How to find NBCSN

Playoff Standings – Field will be cut to eight contenders at the conclusion of the Kansas Speedway Hollywood Casino 400.

1. Aric Almirola – Win – Will Advance
2. Chase Elliott – Win – Will Advance
3. Kevin Harvick +63
4. Kyle Busch +46
5. Joey Logano +39
6. Kurt Busch +30
7. Clint Bowyer +21
8. Martin Truex +18
9. Brad Keselowski -18
10. Ryan Blaney -22
11. Kyle Larson -36
12. Alex Bowman -68

October 18, 2018

Almirola rolls to a Victory following a last lap pass at Talladega

Aric Almirola won the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 1000 Bulbs 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon securing his spot in the Round of 8. This is his second career Cup Series win.

“I felt like I kept giving it away and I was so disappointed for all these guys behind me because they’re awesome. They’re the best. I’m with the best team in the garage and I felt like I kept letting them down not winning a race. Today, the Good Lord was shining on us and we went to Victory Lane. We did it, finally,” said Almirola in victory lane.

Kurt Busch led the field to the start of the race backed up by his three Stewart-Haas Racing teammates. It only took three laps for someone to have a problem as David Ragan’s car lost power on Lap three.

There was a point in the race where the Stewart-Haas cars and the Hendrick Motorsports’ cars controlled the first eight spots. The first caution came out on Lap 11 due to a spin by Jeffrey Earnhardt. The leaders went down to pit road but there was no major change in position.

Paul Menard ran into problems on Lap 15 expressing to his crew that something had broken in his car. Luckily no contact was made with any other cars.

It was a seven-car breakaway until the Penske cars were able to reach the lead pack and make an impact on the lead. Kyle Busch got pushed off the lead pack as it seemed that his car was handling poorly. Brad Keselowski pitted after he reported that he had a vibration putting him a lap down. The vibration was caused by a left-rear loose wheel.

Kurt Busch won Stage 1 followed by his Stewart-Haas teammates.

Ryan Blaney gained five spots during the pit stops. That put him in the lead for the beginning of Stage 2. Chase Elliott went down pit road before everyone else causing him to restart at the rear of the field.

Jimmie Johnson spun out by himself hitting the wall on Lap 63 giving him damage on the left-front part of the car. This brought out a caution. The leaders pit during the caution and Kevin Harvick took the first spot from Ryan Blaney. Blaney had a bad stop and came out eighth. Most of the drivers took fuel only.

It was a good battle following the restart for the lead by Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. Harvick was able to get the best help by his teammates.

Michael McDowell had an early exit to the race when he had a hub failure forcing him to the garage on Lap 81. Keselowski was able to fight back to the lead lap breaking into the top 10 near the end of Stage 2.

A playoff driver with a potential issue was Martin Truex Jr. He wasn’t running the best of races and was reporting that he was a hearing something in the rear-end of the car. More problems for playoff drivers came on Lap 103 when Kyle Larson blew a tire causing him to spin and giving him damage to the right-front fender. Most of the leaders stayed out during the caution.

Kevin Harvick continued to lead following the restart giving him the Stage 2 win. His three teammates backed him up in the running order.

Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Jamie McMurray and Bubba Wallace stayed out during the stage caution. Pit road penalties were given to Eric Jones, David Ragan and Jimmie Johnson.

Things started to heat up in the final stage with cars racing side by side and battling for positions. William Byron took the lead on Lap 123 from Keselowski.

On Lap 127 Keselowski was able to retake the lead after making a strong move on Byron. A caution came out on Lap 136 after Jamie McMurray spun in the tri-oval hitting the wall.

The leaders pit with Kurt Busch taking the lead. It was the four Stewart-Haas cars on the inside lane with the Penske cars on the outside lane. Busch was able to hold the lead following a 12 car breakaway on Lap 151.

A caution came out on Lap 160 after a tire was rolling in the infield grass. A lot of the cars further in the field elected to pit during the caution. Kurt Busch led the field on the restart with his teammates slowly getting lined up behind him. With 20 to go the Stewart-Haas cars controlled the first four spots.

It was Stewart-Haas Racing against the rest of the field. There was plenty of hard racing after the four-car breakaway but the field was not able to catch them.

On Lap 186, Alex Bowman, William Byron and JJ Yeley were involved in a crash at the back of the pack. This gave the field some life to contend for the win.

Overtime came into effect at the end and fuel became a problem for some drivers. Harvick and Blaney were forced to pit right before they went green which counted them out of contention for the win.

It was Kurt Busch with Aric Almirola side by side for the final restart with wrecks going on behind them. They stayed green going into the final turn when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had a great run and pushed that energy to Almirola. When Busch ran out of fuel on the final lap, Almirola was clear and secured the victory.

Busch, who finished 14th, was disappointed but praised the competitiveness of the Stewart-Haas Racing team.

“It was a very different Talladega for me. I really enjoyed leading the race, working with my teammates,” Busch said. “I’m really happy a Stewart-Haas car won, but the four of us, I’ve never seen so much synergy. We knew we were gonna have to race when we got to Kansas. It would have been nice to have the win. We’re here to win. That’s what Monster Energy wants. Thanks to them. That’s what Team Haas wants. Thanks to Gene, Tony Stewart, everybody. But there were two human element calls there at the end. I don’t know why we ran an extra lap under yellow and why there wasn’t the yellow for a dispatch of an ambulance.”

Clint Bowyer, who finished second, said “I was happy for Aric. He had that race won last week (at Dover), and it was me that brought out the caution. I feel like he got a little redemption there.

“Was happy that we finished second. I think it was second, second and second (in all three stages). As far as our day went, we needed to be a little bit better.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano rounded out the top five.

With one race to go in the Round of 12, these are the four drivers in elimination positions going into Kansas next week: Brad Keselowski (-18), Ryan Blaney (-22), Kyle Larson (-26) and Alex Bowman (-68).

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race
Unofficial Race Results for the 50Th Annual 1000Bulbs.Com 500 – Sunday, October 14, 2018
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL – 2.66 Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 193 Laps – 513.38 Miles

Pos	St	Car	Driver	Team	Make
1	4	10	Aric Almirola (P)	Smithfield Bacon for Life	Ford
2	2	14	Clint Bowyer (P)	Cummins/Rush Truck Centers	Ford
3	12	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	SunnyD	Ford
4	10	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Ground	Toyota
5	20	22	Joey Logano (P)	Shell Pennzoil	Ford
6	23	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger ClickList	Chevrolet
7	6	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s for Pros	Chevrolet
8	15	20	Erik Jones	Craftsman	Toyota
9	30	21	Paul Menard	Menards/Dutch Boy	Ford
10	25	95	Regan Smith	Procore	Chevrolet
11	34	42	Kyle Larson (P)	Credit One Bank	Chevrolet
12	28	62	* Brendan Gaughan(i)		FALSE
13	24	6	Trevor Bayne	AdvoCare Rehydrate	Ford
14	1	41	Kurt Busch (P)	Monster Energy/Haas Automation	Ford
15	29	13	Ty Dillon	GEICO	Chevrolet
16	13	19	Daniel Suarez	Stanley	Toyota
17	21	3	Austin Dillon	American Ethanol e15	Chevrolet
18	37	00	Joey Gase(i)	PFK Foundation	Chevrolet
19	17	43	Darrell Wallace Jr. #	Medallion Bank/Petty’s Garage	Chevrolet
20	8	24	William Byron #	Hertz	Chevrolet
21	26	37	Chris Buescher	Bush’s Chili Beans	Chevrolet
22	38	99	* Landon Cassill(i)	StarCom Fiber	Chevrolet
23	11	78	Martin Truex Jr. (P)	Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY	Toyota
24	36	15	Ross Chastain(i)	Xchange of America/Solomon Plumbing	Chevrolet
25	22	31	Ryan Newman	Liberty National	Chevrolet
26	9	18	Kyle Busch (P)	M&M’s	Toyota
27	18	2	Brad Keselowski (P)	Miller Lite	Ford
28	3	4	Kevin Harvick (P)	Jimmy John’s	Ford
29	19	12	Ryan Blaney (P)	REV	Ford
30	27	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Dude Wipes	Ford
31	5	9	Chase Elliott (P)	NAPA Nightvision Lamps	Chevrolet
32	40	72	Corey LaJoie	Winn Dixie	Chevrolet
33	7	88	Alex Bowman (P)	Nationwide	Chevrolet
34	33	7	* DJ Kennington(i)	Wilride Transport Ltd	Chevrolet
35	31	1	Jamie McMurray	Winter Park Construction/Arctic Cat	Chevrolet
36	32	23	JJ Yeley(i)	Steakhouse Elite	Ford
37	35	96	* Jeffrey Earnhardt	Xtreme Concepts/iK9	Toyota
38	39	51	Cody Ware	Jacob Companies	Chevrolet
39	16	38	David Ragan	1000Bulbs.com	Ford
40	14	34	Michael McDowell	Speedco/Rotella	Ford

Follow on Twitter for updates: @BryanR_305

October 14, 2018