Category: RC NASCAR Cup

Race Central NASCAR Cup Series news and information

  • Logano Fastest in Final Martinsville Practice

    Logano Fastest in Final Martinsville Practice

    MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Joey Logano topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford was the fastest with a time of 20.056 and a speed of 94.416 mph. Chase Elliott was second in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 20.075 and a speed of 94.326 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was third in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 20.083 and a speed of 94.289 mph. Clint Bowyer was fourth in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with 20.166 and a speed of 93.901 mph. Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five in his No. 5 Hendrick Chevrolet with a time of 20.167 and a speed of 93.896 mph.

    Jamie McMurray, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola and Austin Dillon rounded out the top-10.

    Jimmie Johnson was 13th, Denny Hamlin was 16th, Ryan Blaney was 22nd and Kevin Harvick rounded out the Playoff drivers in 25th.

    Busch posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 93.186 mph.

    First practice results

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  • Hamlin Fastest in First Practice at Martinsville

    Hamlin Fastest in First Practice at Martinsville

    MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Denny Hamlin topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time with a time of 19.846 and a speed of 95.415 mph. Kyle Larson was second in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 19.870 and a speed of 95.299 mph. Ryan Newman was third in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 19.900 and a speed of 95.156 mph. Ryan Blaney was fourth in his Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 19.925 and a speed of 95.036 mph. Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five in his No. 18 Gibbs Toyota with a time of 19.932 and a speed of 95.003 mph.

    Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, AJ Allmendinger and Ty Dillon rounded out the top-10.

    Busch posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 94.460 mph.

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  • Penalty ends Kenseth’s Playoff run

    Penalty ends Kenseth’s Playoff run

    In what might be Matt Kenseth’s final season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, his chance at a second championship went asunder because of a simple rule infraction.

    Having been collected in the multi-car melee in Turn 2 on Lap 198 of the Hollywood Casino 400, he took his car to pit road for repairs. After some hesitation, a seventh man with an electric saw started working on the left-front wheel well.

    During the red flag, while Kenseth was parked down pit road (away from his stall), NASCAR deemed what his team did a “too many men over the wall” violation. Because he was still on the five-minute damaged vehicle clock when the violation occurred, Kenseth was sent to the garage and, by extension, parked for the rest of the race.

    As a result, he wound up missing the cut to the Round of 8.

    “I don’t know what any of the rules are,” a frustrated Kenseth said. “Seems like we got a lot of stuff that kind of gets, you know, changed so often I honestly can’t keep up with it. My head kind of spins from putting lug nuts out of pit boxes to one to many guys over the wall, you’re not allowed to race anymore. I just don’t get it to be honest with you.

    “I really don’t have a lot good to say right now. I’m more than disappointed. I’m just gonna say thanks to DeWalt. They’ve been a sponsor of mine off and on for 20 years. Awesome guys there. They deserve better than this.

    “We showed some flashes of brilliance this season, been off and on, been fast at times, had great pit stops at times, just haven’t been able to put it all together like a championship team needs to. Unfortunately, this is an example of that. I hope that I can do a better job here the next four weeks and hopefully go get a win.”

    Kenseth ended up in this predicament when, on the Lap 198 restart, Erik Jones got loose, overcorrected back up the track and violently slammed the outside wall.

    Kenseth got into the left-rear corner of Aric Almirola, who was reacting to the wreck ahead, and turned him. This got him loose and spinning towards the outside wall, further exacerbated by Austin Dillon getting into the right-rear corner of his car. This stopped him from hitting the wall, but he spun down onto the apron and into the destroyed car of teammate Daniel Suarez, doing damage to his left-front.

    “I didn’t see the wreck. I was racing real hard on the bottom. Had Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. outside of me and racing a guy in front of me. I never saw the wreck until, basically, it was too late. So by the time I noticed everybody checking up, I started checking up and I think I got ran over and just spun out. I was just stuck in it. I didn’t see it in time.”

    Kenseth leaves Kansas Speedway 10th in points.

  • Larson’s title run ended by engine failure

    Larson’s title run ended by engine failure

    Entering Kansas Speedway, Kyle Larson was third in points and trailed Martin Truex Jr. by 24 for the points lead. Exiting Kansas, his run at a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2017 left with his expired engine.

    Larson hit pit road for possible engine issues on Lap 67, saying later that it felt like a dropped cylinder. Three laps later, he was back on track. He was told to run until the car couldn’t run anymore.

    Well on Lap 77, the engine couldn’t run anymore as it gave way on the front stretch and brought out the second caution of the Hollywood Casino 400.

    “Well it just dropped a cylinder 10 laps ago or so and then it suddenly got worse and finally blew up,” Larson said. “I hate that we blew an engine and probably blew our shot at the championship, but luck is a big factor of our sport.”

    When asked his emotional state, he said he couldn’t say.

    “I guess it’s sinking in as each second passes by. But I don’t know,” he said. “Things happen. You look at the past playoffs and the No. 78 (Truex) had an engine issue last year and he was the best car all year; and then us, this year. So, it’s disappointing. But there’s still a long race left to go and maybe we can get lucky (he said prior to the end and his elimination).”

    Larson left with a 39th-place finish and dropped to ninth in points, thanks to the points reset.

  • Truex makes late pass to complete season sweep at Kansas

    Truex makes late pass to complete season sweep at Kansas

    Martin Truex Jr. overcame an early restart violation to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 and complete the season sweep at Kansas Speedway.

    Truex drove underneath Kyle Busch entering Turn 1 with 57 laps to go and drove on to his 14th career victory in 437 career starts.

    “Just can’t say enough about all these guys on this Furniture Row/Bass Pro Toyota, just really proud of them. Definitely raced with heavy hearts today with the of Jim (Watson) last night. Want to say our condolences to his family and all his friends. He was a heck of a guy and a great working put a heck of a lot of speed in these Furniture Row Toyota’s.

    “Glad we could get him on here today. Excited to get another one here at Kansas. This feels really awesome. It’s really Furniture Row’s home track. It just feels really good to finally get another one here. We got one in the spring after so many heartbreaks. And then today, it looked like it was going to happen and we just persevered.”

    Kurt Busch finished second and Ryan Blaney rounded out the podium.

    “I just feel like I’m on razorblades here,” Busch said. “I really wanted that one bad. At the end, I had the sticker tires. As I’m warming them up they weren’t grabbing in the back. I knew that I wasn’t going to get the jump that I needed. I tried to play middle of the ground. Early in the race with scuffs from qualifying I brushed the fence. Kansas; I don’t know what it is about this place. Kyle (Busch) struggles here too. I feel like I’m on pins and needles most of the day. (Tony) Gibson always throws nice adjustments at it and the race comes to us and we’re right there. We had a shot at winning. I just feel like I’m pushing too hard early on. I saw (Jimmie) Johnson spin. We saw the 77 spin. All the drivers asked for less downforce and yet never got the softer tire that we hoped for. But we’re right there. When we get it right we’re right there. It just feels like I have to overdrive. When you’re overdriving you’re not going to make it work.”

    “We started off in the back and was able to make some good ground early,” Blaney said. “We were able to run up through there and made good adjustments throughout the day which got us in a spot to be up toward the front towards the end and advance. It was a solid day for our team. We overcame a lot coming from the back and they should be proud of that.”

    “It was a good race. We did a nice job coming form the back back and I thought we got our car pretty decent there in the second stage. Then there was a mixup with some strategy stuff and pit calls and it felt like we were kind of at the back part of that but we were able to recover and miss that wreck which was big for us. We ran strong enough all day that we should have been in with where we ran. I am really proud of my team for the effort and we will move on to the next round and Martinsville.”

    Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-10.

    “It was a wild day for sure,” Elliott said. “We fought our balance all weekend. I know the result wasn’t terrible, but definitely feel like we could have been a lot better this weekend and just the way things worked out for us. But, our car got better as the day went along, we just didn’t have the balance on a very long run to go up and pass guys like you need to have. So, we will go to work and get this side of things ready for Texas.”

    Chris Buescher, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-10.

    RACE SUMMARY

    Truex led the field to the green flag at 3:19 p.m. On the restart following the competition caution, he was black-flagged for going below the white line before crossing the start/finish line. This handed the lead to Kyle Busch, who led from there, until he pitted under the second caution of the race — which flew for Brett Moffitt slamming the Turn 1 wall — and the lead went to Brad Keselowski.

    Back to green on Lap 52, Ryan Blaney got the superior start and took the lead. He was passed by Busch three laps later, who drove on to win the first stage.

    He kept on leading, until he hit pit road under a cycle of green flag stops on Lap 128.

    Following a two-lap stint in the lead by Jamie McMurray and 14 by Keselowski, the lead cycled back to Busch.

    After Moffitt brought out the fifth caution on Lap 156, Busch ducked onto pit road and handed the lead to Denny Hamlin, who drove on to win the second stage.

    Staying out to take the lead, Kevin Harvick led the field to the Lap 167 restart. Busch regained the lead prior to a multi-car wreck in Turn 2 following the Lap 198 restart, which forced a 10-minute and 10-second red flag and set up the run to the finish.

    CAUTION SUMMATION

    Caution flew for the first time on Lap 30, a scheduled competition caution, due to overnight rain. The second caution flew for Moffitt slamming the wall in Turn 1 on Lap 47. Kyle Larson’s engine giving way on the front stretch on Lap 77 brought out the third caution. The fourth caution flew when Moffitt slammed the wall a second time in Turn 2 on Lap 156. The fifth flew for the end of the second stage. The sixth caution flew when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. slammed the Turn 3 wall on Lap 175. Jimmie Johnson brought out the seventh caution when he spun out in Turn 4 and through the front stretch grass on Lap 188. He brought out the eighth caution when he spun out a second time in Turn 3. Caution flew on Lap 198 for a 14-car incident on the backstretch. Allmendinger brought out the 10th and final caution when he spun out and came to a halt in the grass with 32 to go.

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted three hours, 11 minutes and 57 seconds, at an average speed of 125.189 mph. There were 14 lead changes among seven different drivers and 10 cautions for 49 laps.

    Truex leaves with a 27-point lead over Kyle Busch. Larson, McMurray, Matt Kenseth and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fail to advance on in the Playoffs.

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  • Martin Truex Jr. Earns Kansas Coors Light Pole Award

    Martin Truex Jr. Earns Kansas Coors Light Pole Award

    By Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. – You can’t blame Martin Truex Jr. for looking ahead.

    The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leader didn’t need to win the pole position at Kansas Speedway, having already qualified for the NASCAR Playoffs’ Round of 8 with a victory two weeks ago at Charlotte.

    But by posting the fastest lap in Friday’s knockout qualifying session at the 1.5-mile track, Truex got a leg up on a trip to the Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, because the time trials at Kansas came with a significant bonus — first choice of pit stalls for the Oct. 29 Round of 8 opener at Martinsville Speedway.

    For the record, Truex ran the fastest lap of the afternoon in the final round of qualifying for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (on NBCSN at 3 p.m. ET), covering the distance in 28.719 seconds (188.029 mph) to beat Kevin Harvick (187.682 mph) for the top starting spot by .053 seconds.

    But Truex had to push his car to the limit in the final round to earn his third Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his second at Kansas and the 15th of his career.

    “I was shaking a little — I’m not going to lie,” Truex said. “My heart was beating. It gets the adrenaline going so high to put down a lap like that, to go the fastest you’ve gone all day in that final round.

    “We put it all together. We got the balance better, and I stepped up and put it on the line out there, and it stuck. The commitment level was high, and the car handled it well. That’s always a good combination.”

    Ryan Blaney had qualified third but his time was disallowed following post-qualifying inspection as it was found that the package tray on the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford did not maintain its original shape. As a result of that, Blaney will start from the 40th position in Sunday’s race.

    Matt Kenseth will start third and Denny Hamlin fourth, as playoff drivers garnered the top four spots on the grid. Daniel Suarez was fifth, followed by Erik Jones and Kyle Busch, as Toyota drivers claimed six of the top seven starting positions, the only exception being the Ford of Harvick.

    Because qualifying at Martinsville is on the same day as the race, pit selection at the .526-mile short track was tied to qualifying at Kansas, where the No. 1 pit stall gives a driver unfettered egress from pit road.

    “It was definitely on our minds,” said Truex, who has won a series-best six races in a dream season for the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team. “We talked about it. It was like ‘It’d be pretty nice to go to Martinsville and have the No. 1 pit stall.’

    “It was definitely on our minds, but I don’t know if it really played into how we got the job done or not. But it was definitely good timing, more than anything, because that’s going to be huge for us going into the Round of 8 next week.”

    Harvick, the 2014 series champion described his qualifying session as “three sketchy laps,” but feels he has a competitive car for the race that will trim the playoff field from 12 drivers to eight.

    “I think we have a car that can be capable of staying up there and hopefully having a chance to win the race at the end,” Harvick said. “It’s a good start to the weekend. That’s half the battle when you’re trying to collect stage points in the first stage and get pit stall selection and try and gain all the advantages that you can on Friday.

    “That’s something that our team did a good job at this year. I feel like our cars are a lot faster from the beginning of the year on the mile-and-a-half race tracks, and we’re on the game. It’s been a fun few weeks.”

    Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who currently leads Kyle Busch by seven points for the final spot in the Round of 8, and will start 12th. Playoff driver Jamie McMurray qualified eight in the fastest Chevrolet.

    Playoff drivers Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott will start 13th and 14th, respectively. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the only playoff driver who failed to make the second round, will take the green flag from 24th.

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  • ‘Big One’ strikes in closing laps at Talladega

    ‘Big One’ strikes in closing laps at Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — Several Playoff drivers were among more than a dozen collected in the “Big One” in the waning laps of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Entering Turn 3, Martin Truex Jr. — trying to make a pass on the top lane — hit the right-rear corner of David Ragan’s car, triggering the ensuing melee.

    “Well I tried to get into a hole that was closing up at the wrong time and by the time that I got in the brakes trying to get out of there I got in the 38 (Ragan) a little bit on the right rear and he got squirrely out there and all hell broke loose,” Truex said. “Just was trying to get to the end and get some track position and try to get towards the front and have a good day and ended up causing a wreck, so I hate it for everybody. We definitively had nothing to lose today, but at the same time you don’t want to be the person that causes others problems. Even though I feel like I’ve never been that guy here before it looks like today I was, so I hate it for all of those guys and all of their teams. I wish I didn’t make that mistake. Just 18 to go at Talladega, trying to get going and trying to fill a hole. Bad judgement and should have been more patient.”

    Ragan’s car turned down track and hooked Kurt Busch up into the outside wall. He continued on into Jimmie Johnson, hitting him in the right-rear tire area. Johnson’s car did a clockwise spin, the momentum of which carried him up the track and into the path of Kyle Busch. Busch t-boned Johnson, which sent both of them up into the outside wall.

    “We got hooked in the right rear, and I was pretty close to the front of the pack,” Kurt Busch said. “I am just happy everything turned out the way it did to just not get clobbered by all the cars coming by. My guess is the outside lane was all jumbled up getting aggressive and pushing and somebody spun out and clipped us in the right rear. I thought we were looking good with the Monster Ford. We were coming from behind and the inside lane was open and we were making hay, but now here we are coming out of the infield care center. That is just Talladega. That is how it works out. We need to figure out how to make the cars better so everybody can bump draft a little harder.”

    The force of the wall hit ripped Kyle Busch’s left-front wheel out of his wheel assembly.

    “I had no clue what happened. I just saw the 38 (Ragan) get sideways above me and then he came across my back and I missed him and he must have got the 48 (Johnson) and the 48 shot up right across in front of us,” Busch said. “I never seen him. I wish I would’ve saw him a little bit down there. I could’ve shot to the apron and tried to miss him, but unfortunately we just got messed up in that deal. I hate it for our situation and what we’ve got going on, that’s not what we needed today, but that’s what we got so we’ll just move on to next week.”

    A few seconds earlier, when the rest of the field was whoahing down in response to Kurt Busch’s wreck, Landon Cassill came across the nose of Austin Dillon’s car and turned up into Truex. Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth, who were riding in the middle of the field at the time, were caught behind Truex and sustained damage.

    This 16-car wreck brought out the ninth caution of the race, as well as the first of three successive red flags for 12 minutes and 31 seconds.

    While Truex leaves without sustaining a major blow to his points situation heading into the cutoff race for the Round of 12 at Kansas Speedway, it would require an absolute disaster run to undo his 53-point gap to the first drop spot, others aren’t so fortunate. Kyle Busch leaves occupying the ninth-place spot, seven points behind Johnson for the last transfer spot. Kenseth and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was also taken out in the wreck, reside in the 10th and 11th-place position’s in points.

    Harvick, in fourth, sits slightly more comfortable with a 22-point margin over Busch.

    Side note: While his car was the main pinball that triggered the wreck, Ragan’s team fixed it enough, and enough cars were taken out in the two subsequent wrecks, that he drove his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford to a 10th-place finish.

    “I feel like we survived this one,” Ragan said. “We had a little bit of luck on our side. Our team did a nice job repairing some of the damage we got in one of the big wrecks. It had been a quiet, low-key race. And then the last 30 laps, everybody raced really hard. I’m proud of our Juice Battery team for fixing me back up so we could come out of it with a top-10”

  • Keselowski Survives Carnage to Win at Talladega

    Keselowski Survives Carnage to Win at Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — Brad Keselowski outlasted three straight red flag-inducing wrecks, passed Ryan Newman on the final lap and held off teammate Joey Logano to win the Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Entering Turn 3 on the final lap, Keselowski juked to Newman’s outside to take the lead. He put the block on Logano, before dropping down to the bottom to stop the advance of Newman and took the checkered flag.

    “I survived. What a special day. We haven’t been as good as we want to be on the mile and a half’s. We knew we needed to come to Talladega and get it done, and this is a great track for us and one that we really enjoy coming to. It’s great to get a win here. I never thought I’d win here, but five times!”

    It’s his 24th career victory in his 300th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start.

    Newman finished second and Trevor Bayne rounded out the podium.

    “We held them off longer than I expected,” Newman said of the last few laps. “I couldn’t tell how much nose damage I had and I hadn’t led all day, so I didn’t know what to expect. I saw the No. 2 (Keselowski) car in the mirror backing up and then he lost his draft and then he backed up again and he caught the No. 22 (Logano). That was all it took for him to get a good run. I would have maybe played it differently and backed it up in hindsight, backed up to them in hindsight, but I don’t think it would have made a difference. They were double-teaming me and you know it was still a good race to finish second with the Caterpillar Chevrolet.”

    “Man I am proud of all of my guys on this Liberty National Ford,” said Bayne after the race. “They did a great job fixing our Ford after all of the damage we got throughout the day. These guys just never give up. And in the end on that last corner off of four we got a huge run off the top and got to third, so I was pretty pumped with that. I think we were eighth coming across for the white flag, but I wanted those two more spots and we did.”

    Logano and Aric Almirola rounded out the top-five.

    Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Grey Gaulding and David Ragan rounded out the top-10.

    Retiring with 10 career restrictor-plate victories, Earnhardt said, when asked if it meant anything to him that he’ll go down as one of the best restrictor plate races in the history of NASCAR, “absolutely.”

    “Anytime anybody says you’re the best at anything, it’s an awesome feeling. I can’t deny that it feels awesome to hear that. People consider you good at anything, it’s a great feeling. I knew that I wasn’t going to win 200 races and seven championships and do all those great things. I just wanted to come in here and be considered talented. But to be great at anything was beyond my imagination. I appreciate people’s compliment’s on my plate driving and the success we’ve had at all the plate races.”

    RACE SUMMARY

    Earnhardt led the field to the green flag at 2:16 p.m. Logano powered by on the top side, on the backstretch, to take the lead on the third lap.

    He and the Ford’s pitted on Lap 15, while the Chevrolet’s tried to duck onto pits on Lap 27. But Erik Jones plowed into the back of Jamie McMurray, turning him into the outside wall, causing a multi-car wreck that brought out the first caution of the race.

    After another caution brought out by Paul Menard slamming the wall in Turn 3, Keselowski edged out Logano in a one-lap shootout to win the first stage.

    Kahne led the field back to the green on Lap 61, losing the lead on the restart to Matt Kenseth. Hamlin acquired it from Kenseth two laps later.

    Debris brought out the fourth caution on Lap 80.

    Lap by lap battling between Kurt Busch and Ryan Blaney after the Lap 87 restart led to dicey racing all the way to the conclusion of the second stage, won by Blaney.

    He took it back from Brendan Gaughan on the Lap 115 restart, lost it to Hamlin on Lap 117 and muscled his way back to the front on the front stretch on Lap 119. Chase Elliott, on the backstretch, powered by Blaney on the high side to take the lead with 64 laps to go.

    The Ford’s ducked onto pit road for their final stop with 45 to go, followed by the Toyota’s — and Hendrick cars — the next lap. This handed the lead to Kyle Busch.

    Heading down the backstretch, Logano powered by Busch on the topside to retake the lead with 41 to go.

    The caution flew with 37 to go when Bayne hit the wall in Turn 3.

    Back to green with 29 to go, the caution flew again five laps later when DJ Kennington turned Joey Gase into the wall exiting Turn 2.

    Restarting with 18 to go, the next three cautions resulted in red flags. The first was a 16-car wreck in Turn 3: 12 minutes and 31 seconds, the second was a five-car wreck in Turn 3: five minutes and 45 seconds and last was 17 minutes and 14 seconds.

    These three wrecks set up the run to the finish.

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted three hours, 47 minutes and 52 seconds, at an average speed of 131.577 mph. There were 30 lead changes among 16 different drivers and 11 cautions for 47 laps.

    Martin Truex Jr. leaves with a 19-point lead over Keselowski.

    Kyle Busch, Kenseth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and McMurray leave in the bottom four spots.

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