Category: RC XFINITY

Race Central NASCAR XFINITY Series news and information

Busch fends off Allgaier in last lap thriller
Kyle Busch held off Justin Allgaier on the final restart with four laps to go to win Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Indiana 250 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This was Busch’s fourth victory of the season and his 96th of his career.

“We just didn’t have the grip in traffic,” Busch said to PRN Radio. “The car was really really fast in a straight line. I could pass some of those guys on the straightaways, even if I botched the corners, it seemed like I could catch them back. Different situations with some of those guys. The 7 (Allgaier) was really good, really smart, played a great race. We were faster, just faster at the end to make sure we stayed in front of those guys.”

This was Busch’s seventh and final race of the 2019 Xfinity Series season.

“Real proud of the effort, certainly want to thank Big Machine Vodka, Big Machine Label group for being on my stuff there and partner at the racetrack this weekend. Also want to thank the fans for their support, this Combos Supra, these guys, everybody on this team did a great job. It’s cool here to win anytime at Indy, so we’ll take it.”

Before the race, Busch qualified on the pole claiming his 66th career pole.

There were a couple of drivers that had to go to the rear before the start of the race. Ronnie Bassett Jr., Josh Bilicki and B.J. McLeod went to the rear for unapproved adjustments and Kyle Weatherman for an engine change.

Stages were 30/30/40 laps to make up the 100 lap race.

Stage 1 Lap: 1- Lap 30

Stage 1 was green for the most part, aside from a few incidents. The No. 10 of Austin Dillon came down pit road early on Lap 12 and reported no oil pressure. The issue only got worse for Dillon as the car ran out of power on the backstretch, eventually coming to a stop on the access road. This brought out the first caution of the day on Lap 16.

Some different strategy was played out with Busch, Cole Custer, Justin Haley, Noah Gragson, Michael Annett and Chase Briscoe, all pitting under caution. Busch had to come back down pit road once again due to not having the lug nuts tight on the right front.

Two more cautions came out before the stage ended on Lap 30. One was for the No. 52 of David Starr who had his motor expire and the other was for Ryan Sieg who spun off Turn 2 on the final lap of the stage. Another driver, Tyler Reddick had some issues on the pit stops. Reddick was served a penalty for having too many men over the wall after his stop.

With the track position and by staying out, Brandon Jones went on to win Stage 1. Austin Cindric, Busch, Gragson, Custer, Allgaier, Christopher Bell, Haley, Briscoe and Reddick rounded out the top-10 finishers in the first stage.

Stage 2: Lap 36 – Lap 60

Busch and Gragson, along with a few others, stayed out under the stage break to assume the lead for the second stage.

It didn’t take long for the caution to fly again as the No. 86 of Brandon Brown went spinning by himself in Turn 1. Two other drivers also had slight contact with each other. Bell and Gragson made minimal contact off the restart. With the contact, Bell had to come down pit road to fix the left front fender.

On Lap 52, eight laps before the stage ended, a thrilling battle for the lead took place between Allgaier and Busch, with Allgaier eventually taking the lead from Busch. The JR Motorsports driver went on to win Stage 2 after holding off Busch. It was a sign of what was to come later.

Busch, Reddick, Jeb Burton, Jones, Bell, Briscoe, Custer, Sieg and Gragson were the top-10 finishers for Stage 2.

Stage 3: Lap 66 – Lap 100

A lot of action and incidents took place in the third and final stage. Allgaier and Busch continued to battle for the lead before a caution came out on Lap 80 for the No. 23 of John Hunter Nemechek. Mostly everyone came down pit road with Haley being the only one to pit for two tires.

The restart came with 16 to go and saw new names out front, as Bell and Reddick were fighting for the lead. However, before they could break away from the field, another yellow was seen with 11 to go as it saw Cindric making contact and spinning the No. 19 of Brandon Jones.

This would shape up another restart with eight laps to go. On the same lap, a vicious crash took place among the leaders. Bell and Reddick took each other out and hit the wall hard off Turn 2. Despite the hard hits, both drivers walked away from the incident. With the long clean up effort, NASCAR officials threw the red flag to let track officials clean up the accident.

Eventually, this would set up a four-lap dash to the finish. With a little bit of help from Burton, Busch got the push he needed in order to get out front of Allgaier. The two broke away from the field to fight it out.

In the end, the All-time Xfinity Series wins leader Busch held off Allgaier for his fourth Indianapolis Xfinity Series win and the 96th of his career.

Earlier in the year, Busch has noted he may retire if he hits the 100 win mark in the series. He’s only four away from win No. 100.

“Yeah, hopefully, we can go five for five and we’ll make it 101, and hang our hat.”

Busch led five times for 46 laps to score his fourth win of the season.

There were eight cautions for 31 laps, one red flag, and 14 lead changes among seven drivers.

With it being Busch’s last start in the Xfinity Series due to NASCAR’s restrictions on Cup drivers, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will end his Xfinity Series season with four wins, five top-fives and top-10 finishes, two poles and an average finish of 9.4.

Up Next: The Xfinity Series has one more race before their playoff run begins at Richmond. The series will head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next Saturday on Sept 14.

Official Results
1. Kyle Busch, led 46 laps
2. Justin Allgaier, led 24 laps, won Stage 2
3. Noah Gragson, led one lap
4. Jeb Burton
5. Justin Haley
6. Brandon Jones, led eight laps, won Stage 1
7. Cole Custer
8. Chase Briscoe
9. Austin Hill
10. Ryan Sieg
11. Jeremy Clements
12. Michael Annett
13. Gray Gaulding
14. Garrett Smithley
15. Ronnie Bassett Jr
16. Landon Cassill
17. Josh Williams, led four laps
18. Joey Gase
19. Stefan Parsons
20. Ray Black Jr
21. Josh Bilicki
22. B.J. McLeod
23. Stephen Leicht
24. Tommy Joe Martins
25. Matt Mills
26. Vinnie Miller, one lap down
27. Austin Cindric, OUT, Engine
28. Brandon Brown, three laps down
29. Christopher Bell, OUT, Accident
30. Tyler Reddick, OUT, Accident
31. John Hunter Nemechek, OUT, Crash
32. Mike Harmon, OUT, Electrical
33. Chad Finchum, OUT, Transmission
34. Austin Dillon, OUT, Fuel Pump
35. Kyle Weatherman, OUT, Overheating
36. Morgan Shepherd, OUT, Handling
37. David Starr, OUT, Engine
38. J.J. Yeley, OUT, Suspension
September 7, 2019
Custer declared winner at Darlington after Hamlin fails post-race inspection

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Denny Hamlin’s apparent victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 was short-lived when his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota failed post-race inspection. NASCAR determined that the height requirements were not met stating that the left front was too low while it was too high in the right rear.

This was the fourth time this season that a car has been disqualified following a race in the Xfinity Series but only the first time that it has involved the winner.

Cole Custer’s Stewart-Haas Racing No. 00 Ford was declared as the winner, moving him from second to first place to claim his sixth victory this season and his first at Darlington Raceway. He is now tied with Christopher for the most wins in the series and is third in the playoff standings.

‘It’s a really strange feeling,” obviously, Custer said in his post-race interview. “You don’t want to win them that way, but it is what it is. We all play by the same rules. Was that the deciding factor? No, with everything, he won the race but it is what it is. We get the points. We get the money and we get everything, including the trophy so we’ll take it.”

Tyler Reddick finished second after leading 70 laps. Ryan Blaney led 50 laps and is credited with third place with Christopher Bell and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounding out the top five finishers.

Earnhardt was pleased with his result in the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet featuring a throwback paint scheme that honored his father’s first start in the premier series in 1975 at Charlotte.

“I love this place,” said Earnhardt. You never know how good you are till you come back and try it. All these guys are elite. All these guys do this every single week, and they’re very, very talented. To think you can take a year off and come back and be good, you just never know. But we did all right!”

Chase Briscoe, Brandon Jones, Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier and Austin Cindric rounded out the top 10.

There are only two races left before the Xfinity Series Playoffs begin. Reddick leads the regular-season standings by 51 points over Bell while Custer is 136 points behind in third place.

Next week the Xfinity Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indiana 250.

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

August 31, 2019
Christopher Bell wins at Road America, first on road course and sixth of season

Despite wild closing laps with road course ringers and Cup regulars spinning off track, Christopher Bell displays his talent and wins the CTECH Manufacturing 180 at Road America in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

“Man, I’m honestly in shock,” Bell said. “I really butchered qualifying and tore the crap out of the left front. I felt like once we got in the race there, we’d be able to drive by those guys. Instead, they dropped the green flag and they were driving by me. That wasn’t much fun.

“Then I told Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) I was really, really tight. We got those tires off and he said the left-front was hurt pretty bad. We got pretty good there when we put our new set of tires on.

“That strategy worked out well for us coming in there (with 14 to go) and then the yellow coming out. This car was really, really fast today. We’ve had a great road course season.”

NASCAR was forced to throw a caution for debris, setting up the race for a two-lap shootout for the win. Bell controlled the restart perfectly, but AJ Allmendinger spun his tires and fell back from the outside front row. Bell would hold off the field for the win, but it was eventful throughout the field behind him.

Austin Cindric pitted during the last caution flag to make a late-race charge through the field. After restarting in the 20th position, he had passed 15 cars and found himself on the heels of Matt DiBenedetto. Coming through Turn 14, DiBenedetto ended up spinning his No. 18 iK9 Toyota Supra, allowing Cindric to cross the start-finish line second — 1.891 seconds behind Bell.

“We talked about a five-to-go plan, that was like a green-white-checkered,” said Cindric, who came a position short of claiming three straight road-course wins in August. “I wasn’t 100 percent confident, but at the same time, we were battling a lot of wheel hop after four or five laps on tires and we had a lot more than on tires.

“In this kind of racing, you pretty much know that you’re going to get used up if you’re slower, so we wanted to go on offense and that was our strategy all day and we probably just needed one or two laps to get our Menards–Richmond Ford Mustang in Victory Lane. All in all, a good day, good points. P-2 is all right.”

Cindric also shared his viewpoint in the last two laps fittingly.

“It was chaos, it was insane. I think it’s why all these people show up at Road America and enjoy this type of racing. You never know what you’re going to get, it always comes down to those last-lap dashes to the finish, I’m glad to be able to put on a show at a place like this.”

Allmendinger admitted to the poor restart, but also collided with Noah Gragson after Turn 1 and spun off course. He would later be collected in a different off-course exchange and finished in a dismal 24th position.

The rest of the top five included points leader and Bristol Motor Speedway winner Tyler Reddick. Gragson and Kaz Grala. Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, Jeremy Clements, Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer completed the top 10. Allgaier and Custer both recovered from earlier race incidents.

It was Bell’s 14th career Xfinity Series victory but his first triumph on a road course.

“I guess I just get lucky on these things, that’s for sure,” Bell said.

Just three races remain in the regular Xfinity Series season. They compete next in the throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway with the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 (Saturday, 4 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

August 24, 2019
Weekend Schedule for Road America and Canada

The NASCAR Xfinity Series competes at Road America this weekend with JR Motorsport’s Justin Allgaier as the 2018 defending race winner. The Gander Outdoors Truck Series heads to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park where Justin Haley won the event last year.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is off this week but will return next weekend at Darlington Raceway.

Please check below for the complete schedule.

All times are Eastern.

Road America

Friday, Aug. 23

1:35 p.m. – 2:25 p.m.: Xfinity Series First Practice – NBC Sports App

3:35 p.m. – 4:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series Final Practice – NBC Sports App

Saturday, Aug. 24

11:40 a.m. – Xfinity Series Qualifying – Multi-car/Two rounds – NBC Sports App Live/NBCSN Tape Delay at 1:30 p.m.

3 p.m.: Xfinity Series CTECH Manufacturing 180 (45 laps/182.16 miles) – NBCSN/ MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Canadian Tire Motorsports Park

Saturday, Aug. 24

9:35 a.m. – 10:25 a.m.: Truck Series First Practice – No TV

11:35 – 12:55 p.m.: Truck Series Final Practice – No TV

Sunday, Aug. 25

9:35 a.m.: Truck Series Qualifying – Multi-truck/Two rounds – FS2

2:30 p.m. – Truck Series Chevrolet Silverado 250 (64 laps/157.37 miles) – FS1/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

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

August 23, 2019
Weekend Schedule for Bristol-2

NASCAR heads to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. The Gander Outdoors Truck Series will feature the first race in Round 1 of their championship Playoffs while the Xfinity Series has five races remaining in the regular season. The Monster Energy Cup Series will close out the weekend with three to go.

Kurt Busch is the defending Cup Series race winner, Kyle Larson won the Xfinity Series Food City 300 last year and Johnny Sauter will be trying to repeat his August 2018 win at Bristol in the Truck Series.

All times are Eastern.

Thursday, August 15

9:05 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.: Truck Series First Practice – No TV
10:05 a.m. – 10:55 a.m.: Xfinity Series First Practice – NBC Sports App
11:05 a.m. 11:55 a.m.: Truck Series Final Practice – No TV
1:35 p.m.2:25 p.m. Xfinity Series Final Practice – NBC Sports App
4:35 p.m. Truck Series Qualifying Impound (Single Vehicle/Two Laps All Positions) – 7 p.m. Tape Delay on FS1
8:30 p.m.: Truck Series UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics (Stages 55/110/200 Laps = 100.6 Miles) – FS1/MRN

Friday, August 16

11:05 a.m. 11:55 a.m.: Cup Series First Practice – NBCSN
1:05 p.m. 1:55 p.m. Cup Series Final Practice – NBCSN
4:05 p.m. Xfinity Series Qualifying Impound (Single Vehicle/Two Laps All Positions) – NBCSN
5:35 p.m. Cup Series Qualifying Impound (Single Vehicle/Two Laps All Positions) – NBCSN/PRN
7:30 p.m. Xfinity Series Food City 300 (Stages 85/170/300 Laps = 159.9 Miles) – NBCSN/PRN

Saturday, August 17

7:30 p.m.: Cup Series Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race (Stages 125/250/500 Laps = 266.5 Miles) – NBCSN/PRN

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

August 14, 2019

Cindric holds off Allmendinger in thriller for first career win

Austin Cindric earned his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Watkins Glen in a last-lap thriller. It was an intense battle after Cindric started on the outside pole for the Zippo 200 and made a gusty pit call with 10 laps to go. He also had to dodge a near wreck off a restart, going from seventh to second, then trading the lead back and forth with AJ Allmendinger, to get to victory lane.

“That was nuts, I didn’t know how that was going to work out,” Cindric said to MRN Radio describing his near miss. “Sometimes you have to take advantage of it and we executed all day.”

All-time Xfinity Series winner Kyle Busch was back in the field for his first race since Texas back in March. Busch sat on the pole, continuing his impressive streak of earning one pole every year in the Xfinity Series. It was his first pole since Bristol last August.

Stages were broken up into 20/20/42 laps to make up the 82 laps distance.

Several drivers had issues before the race started, however. Cole Custer went to a backup car after crashing in Friday’s practice session. Vinnie Miller, who spun in qualifying early Saturday morning, couldn’t get the car started and was pushed behind the wall. The 74 of Dan Corcoran was also pushed behind the wall, before returning to the race later.

Stage 1: Lap 1 – Lap 20

While Kyle Busch checked out, Tyler Reddick missed the inner loop on the first lap. Many other drivers like Chase Briscoe, Michael Annett, Alex Labbe, Brandon Jones and Ray Black Jr. also had issues with grass on their grille, forcing them to pit to clean it off. Josh Bilicki, in the No. 93, went spinning around in Turn 7, but the race remained green.

Miller’s issues continued as he went out for the rest of the race on Lap 8 with an ignition problem. J.J. Yeley also went to the garage on the same lap.

The first caution flew on Lap 10 for the No. 35 of Joey Gase who stalled in Turn 1. During the caution, Justin Allgaier, Ryan Blaney, Custer, Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, Briscoe, Reddick and Annett, along with others, pit.

Allgaier’s name would come up again on Lap 14, as Ross Chastain made contact with him in Turn 3, which sent Allgaier toward the tire barrier to bring out the caution again. Allgaier would later retaliate by sending Chastain into the tire barrier, which would end Chastain’s day.

No other incidents took place for rest of the stage, other than Cindric pitting with three to go.

Busch went on to take the stage win after leading every lap. Christopher Bell, Jeremy Clements, Justin Haley, Blaney, Ryan Preece, Noah Gragson, Ryan Sieg, Reddick, Gaulding rounded out the top-10 stage finishers.

Tommy Joe Martins and Clements were penalized for a crew member over the wall too soon under the stage break.

Stage 2: Lap 23 – Lap 40

After staying out, Bell and Blaney would regain the front spots with Stage 1 winner Busch restarting 15th.

Not much happened in the second stage, aside from Cindric and Custer going side-by-side with each other in the inner loop with Custer getting the worst of it by collecting grass on his grille, and a possible tire rub as well. Custer would end up pitting to clean the grass off his grille.

Another major issue broke out for Busch when he went to make a pass on race leader Blaney in the inner loop. Busch could not stop and was going toward the wall in the carousel after what turned out to be a broken control arm. This sent Busch behind the wall for the rest of the race and he ended up with a disappointing 32nd place finish. This would bring out the caution on Lap 33.

Allmendinger took the lead off the restart on Lap 37 and held on for the rest of the stage to take the stage win. Blaney, Preece, Cindric, Briscoe, Nemechek, Jones, Allgaier, Haley and Bell claimed the remaining top-10 spots for Stage 2. Briscoe and Nemechek would later pit under the stage break.

Stage 3: Lap 43 – Lap 82

Like Stage 1, Reddick once again went through the inner loop on Lap 47 and fell back to 20th. Sieg also went around in the inner loop as well after making contact with Nemechek.

Green flag pit stops started to occur on Lap 48 with Blaney pitting from second. His teammate, Cindric would pit one lap later. This continued until 20 to go with race leader Allgaier being the final driver to pit. In what would be the battle for the lead, Allmendinger pitted from first on Lap 51 but had a slow stop with him coming out behind Cindric.

After Allgaier pitted, Cindric would cycle out as the race leader. A thrilling battle took place with Allmendinger and Blaney a few laps before with Allmendinger getting the better of it.

While it looked liked Cindric would run away with the race win, a caution came out on Lap 68 for Garrett Smithley’s tire carcass that was left in the inner loop and eventually picked up by the 99 of Cody Ware. Right before the yellow, Tommy Joe Martins went spinning around in Turn 1.

In what seemed like a questionable strategy, Cindric pitted from the lead under the yellow for fresh tires. He would restart sixth with Allmendinger as the race leader.

A wreck with Haley and Bilicki occurred on the restart in Turn 1 with contact from Briscoe, which brought out the caution again.

A late-race restart took place with seven laps to go. Bell almost went spinning around after contact with Allgaier that caused a logjam in the esses. This also saw Cindric going from sixth to second after the incident.

This later produced a thrilling battle for the win between Allmendinger and Cindric. Both would trade the lead with each other with less than three laps remaining, with Cindric at one point, almost going off course after a shot from Allmendinger. Both would be side-by-side at the finish on the white flag lap.

Eventually, Cindric had the better car and pulled away from Allmendinger to earn his first Xfinity Series career win at Watkins Glen International.

“This is awesome,” Cindric said. “I’ve got so many people to think. You fans are awesome, thank you for coming to Watkins Glen every single year. This is why you come. I’m so pumped.”

Cindric led twice for eight laps to pick up his first career win. There were seven cautions for 16 laps with nine lead changes among six leaders.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series continues the road course season by heading to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday, August 10.

UPDATE: Allmendinger’s car failed post-race inspection after a rear-height violation and he will be credited with a 37th place finish. The Kaulig Racing team has until noon Monday to appeal the decision.

Xfinity Series Race Number 20
Race Results for the 25th Annual Zippo 200 at The Glen – Saturday, August 3, 2019
Watkins Glen International – Watkins Glen, NY – 2.45 – Mile Road
Total Race Length – 82 Laps – 200.9 Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	S3Pos	Pts	Status
1	2	22	Austin Cindric	MoneyLion Ford	82	0	3	0	48	Running
2	4	20	Christopher Bell	Rheem Toyota	82	2	9	0	46	Running
3	9	7	Justin Allgaier	BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet	82	0	7	0	38	Running
4	3	12	Ryan Blaney(i)	Pirtek Ford	82	5	1	0	0	Running
5	5	2	Tyler Reddick	Anderson’s Pure Maple Syrup Chevrolet	82	0	0	0	32	Running
6	6	98	Chase Briscoe #	Ford Performance Ford	82	0	4	0	38	Running
7	13	0	Cole Custer	GoBowling Ford	82	0	0	0	30	Running
8	14	1	Michael Annett	Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet	82	0	0	0	29	Running
9	18	9	Noah Gragson #	West Herr Auto Group Chevrolet	82	7	0	0	32	Running
10	8	8	Ryan Preece(i)	Louisiana Hot Sauce Chevrolet	82	6	2	0	0	Running
11	11	51	Jeremy Clements	RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet	82	3	0	0	34	Running
12	20	23	John Hunter Nemechek #	Digital Ally Chevrolet	82	10	5	0	32	Running
13	23	5	Scott Heckert	Chevrolet	82	0	0	0	24	Running
14	12	11	Justin Haley #	LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet	82	4	8	0	33	Running
15	15	8	Gray Gaulding	GPSPURE.com Chevrolet	82	9	0	0	24	Running
16	21	90	Alex Labbe	DGM Racing Chevrolet	82	0	0	0	21	Running
17	10	19	Brandon Jones	First Foundation Toyota	82	0	6	0	25	Running
18	27	86	Brandon Brown #	Vero Tru Social Chevrolet	82	0	0	0	19	Running
19	30	36	Josh Williams	Star Brite/Star Tron/Sleep Well Chevrolet	82	0	0	0	18	Running
20	28	1	Stephen Leicht	teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet	82	0	0	0	17	Running
21	26	99	Cody Ware	Chevrolet	82	0	0	0	16	Running
22	24	7	Ray Black II	ISOKERN Fireplaces & Chimneys/Scuba Life Chevrolet	82	0	0	0	15	Running
23	31	42	Stanton Barrett(i)	Horseheads Brewing Toyota	82	0	0	0	0	Running
24	29	0	Garrett Smithley	teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet	80	0	0	0	13	Running
25	34	74	Dan Corcoran(i)	Woobie Shoes/Threatcon 5 Clothing Chevrolet	75	0	0	0	0	Running
26	16	93	Josh Bilicki	Lemons of Love Chevrolet	72	0	0	0	11	Accident
27	33	15	BJ McLeod	teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet	67	0	0	0	10	DVP
28	22	66	Tommy Joe Martins	Gusset.com Toyota	65	0	0	0	9	Accident
29	32	52	David Starr	Chevrolet	57	0	0	0	8	Fuel Pump
30	17	39	Ryan Sieg	Midstate Chevrolet	47	8	10	0	11	Accident
31	1	18	Kyle Busch(i)	iK9 Toyota	35	1	0	0	0	Suspension
32	35	13	Chad Finchum	MBM Motorsports Toyota	30	0	0	0	5	Brakes
33	19	4	Ross Chastain(i)	Buckle Up New York Chevrolet	19	0	0	0	0	Accident
34	36	35	Joey Gase	MBM Motorsports Toyota	9	0	0	0	3	Transmission
35	25	38	JJ Yeley(i)	RSS Racing Chevrolet	6	0	0	0	0	Overheating
36	37	78	Vinnie Miller	Pit Viper Sunglasses Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	1	Ignition
37	7	10	AJ Allmendinger	Death Wish Coffee Chevrolet	82	0	0	0	1	Running

August 3, 2019

Christopher Bell wins at New Hampshire

In dominant fashion, Christopher Bell did what he has done for most of the season, ending the race in victory lane.

“I just had a really good race car,” Bell told NBCSN. “This track’s been really good to us and our team.”

Bell led 186 of the 200 laps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway en route to his fifth victory of the season and the second at New Hampshire.

Cole Custer finished second, followed by Justin Allgaier, Tyler Reddick and Paul Menard rounding out the top five.

Stage 1:

Custer started on the pole but was quickly taken by Bell on Lap 2 into Turn 1. Bell led all the way until 10 to go in the stage when the No. 23 of John Hunter Nemechek lost his brakes and got into the wall. His day was quickly over, not the result that he was looking for at New Hampshire.

With under 10 to go in the stage during this caution, teams chose to select some different strategies. The leaders came in but Ryan Sieg and Brandon Jones, among others, stayed out in the hope that either a caution would come out close to the stage ending or they could hold on for some stage points.

That hopefulness worked as Jones ended up winning the stage with Bell, Reddick, Sieg and Allgaier rounding out the top five.

Stage 2:

Stage two continued with Reddick and Bell side by side with the Oklahoma native getting the advantage. Allgaier was able to get up to second but was unable to get past Bell for the stage win.

Custer ended up in third with Reddick and Menard rounding out the top five. With the stage going green the entire way, only 20 cars remained on the lead lap.

Final Stage:

Bell and Allgaier came in one and two and came out of pit lane, one and two, as they restarted the third and final stage.

Bell started out with the lead and pulled away from the field fairly easily. Allgaier wasn’t so lucky as he battled Custer for second and eventually lost the spot to Custer. It stayed like that until Lap 141 when the yellow waved for what was a debris caution. The lap before, the No. 9 of Noah Gragson, tagged the wall and was quickly losing positions after battling for a top 10 spot.

They went back under green but for the first time this afternoon, the beating and banging was evident. It started when Gragson got into with Austin Cindric. Cindric continued battling, this time with the No. 8 of Ryan Truex.

While that was going the No. 18 of Harrison Burton was battling with Menard until Menard had enough and turned Burton heading into Turn 1 on Lap 153. Menard said on the radio that, “He needs to race me clean. He hit me twice.” Burton went on to finish 29th.

The race went back green once again with 42 laps to go and like most of the day, Bell started from the front and pulled away once the green was in the air. However, unlike the previous caution, it was Custer who was chasing down Bell and not Allgaier. Custer was making ground for a little bit but in the end, Bell was too much for him and ended up in victory lane.

Next up for the Xfinity Series? Their second trip to Iowa where Christopher Bell won earlier this year.

July 20, 2019
Cole Custer wins XFinity Pole at New Hampshire

Cole Custer continued his hot streak by winning the pole for Saturday afternoon’s Roxor 200 at a hot and steamy New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“I didn’t know it was going to be a pole lap honestly,” Custer said after the qualifying. “I thought I could’ve hit it a little bit better. This Haas Automation Mustang has been the best car I have had in New Hampshire in a long time. I can’t thank Mike Shiplett and everybody enough. They brought a really fast car and hopefully we can stay up front today.”

Christopher Bell will start second, followed by Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe rounding out the top five.

Brandon Jones will start sixth, followed by Harrison Burton, Justin Allgaier, Ryan Truex and Noah Gragson to round out the top 10.

Tyler Reddick will start 11th for this afternoon’s race.

After crashing in practice, Camden Murphy attempted to go out and qualify in his Mike Harmon Entry but during his pace lap, he felt something was wrong and went back down onto pit road and did not record a lap.

The ROXOR 200 will get underway at 4 p.m. ET and will be televised on NBCSN.

July 20, 2019
Custer takes Kentucky for fifth Xfinity win of 2019

Cole Custer took the Alsco 300 at Kentucky Speedway Friday night, leading 88 of the 200 scheduled laps to take his fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series win of 2019. The win gives him the most wins of anyone this season, breaking the tie with Christopher Bell, who has four so far in 2019.

Bell finished second in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, while Tyler Reddick took home third, Michael Annett finished fourth, and Chase Briscoe finished fifth. Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier, Ryan Truex, Ryan Sieg, and Justin Haley rounded out the top-10. The race was slowed by five cautions for 24 laps, with 14 lead changes among eight drivers.

“It’s been unbelievable,” said Custer. “This one just goes to my team. That car was just unbelievable, and they knew exactly what to do with it when the track changed, and I was just lucky to drive it there at the end.”

When asked if he could have gotten by Bell late in the going, Custer was clear that it would have been a challenge.

“It is hard to say,” said Custer. “At that point, I thought I would. He was close enough to us in lap time that I thought if he got the lead at that point it would have been really hard to get back by him. Dirty air is always a little bit of a factor here. I don’t know if the PJ1 really made it better or worse tonight. It may have made it a little better. Clean air is always key.”

Mike Shiplett, Crew Chief for the No. 00, was clear that he could sense Custer’s growing maturity and confidence.

“I think every time he gets in the race car he just gets a little bit better just in the way he communicates with us and the way he keeps focusing forward and driving,” said Shiplett. “He is doing a great job. I am proud of him.”

Third-place finisher Reddick scored his first top-five finish since winning at Michigan, which capped a 10-race stretch where he finished no worse than fourth. He won three times during that stretch (Talladega, Charlotte, Michigan), but in the three races prior to Kentucky, his best finish was ninth at Chicago.

“After the last couple of weeks, we needed a solid race like tonight to get back into our groove,” said Reddick. “The balance was tricky to get figured out tonight. Firing off to start the race, I was just way too loose and would fall back on any restarts. We’d build tight the longer we went in a run, but it was just a little too late to contend for the lead at the end of the stages.”

Austin Cindric, who currently sits fourth in points, had an up-and-down day as well. Despite starting on the pole and leading a lap late in the going, a lap 56 spin ended with him gently backing into the wall. He would go on to finish 14th, two laps down.

Another front-runner who faced adversity was JGR driver Brandon Jones. Jones led 12 laps early in the going after starting sixth. However, an engine failure on lap 106 netted him a 30th-place finish and his second-straight DNF. His sixth DNF of 2019 leaves him on the Playoff bubble in 12th.

The series heads into Loudon on July 20, as the ROXOR 200 will air at 4 p.m. EST on NBCSN.

July 13, 2019

Ross Chastain captures first win for Kaulig Racing at Daytona

Ross Chastain won the NASCAR Xfinity Series Circle K Firecracker 250 Friday night at Daytona International Speedway, earning Kaulig Racing their first NASCAR victory.

Chastain’s teammates Justin Haley and AJ Allmendinger followed his lead in what appeared to be a 1-2-3 finish for Kaulig Racing. However, Allmendinger’s car failed the post-race inspection and, as a result, he was officially scored in last place.

Wayne Auton, Xfinity Series managing director, explained the inspection process, saying, “Post-race teardown at all of our races we check a vacuum test on the cars and the engine would not hold a vacuum. So looking at parts on the car we found a discrepancy in one area of the car.”

Allmendinger’s disqualification moved Christopher Bell up to third, with Austin Cindric in fourth place as Stephen Leicht rounded out the top five. Brandon Brown, Jeff Green, Gray Gaulding, Jeremy Clements, and Matt Mills rounded out the top 10 finishers.

It was a hard-fought victory for Chastain in a tumultuous race that included five multi-car wrecks. He was competitive from the start, winning Stage 1 and finishing third in Stage 2. After the final caution of the night, he took the lead on Lap 93, passing Tyler Reddick, and holding off his teammates to claim the checkered flag.

As Chastain climbed from his car and faced the cheering fans, he told NBCSN, “Oh my gosh, we did it! I sat here as a kid. I watched these races as a kid every Fourth of July, never could come in the spring because we were growing watermelons. These guys right here gave me a race car that, oh my gosh, could win a race at Daytona!”

He celebrated by taking a watermelon to the start-finish line and smashing it on the pavement, a nod to his family, watermelon growers in Florida.

More importantly, the win was also a testament to Chastain’s determination. He lost his Xfinity Series ride with Chip Ganassi Racing when sponsorship issues arose after the end of the 2018 season. Although he declared to run for Xfinity Series points at the beginning of the year, he decided to switch mid-season to make a run for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series championship instead. Things did not go as planned when his win at Iowa was disqualified after he failed post race inspection. But Chastain persevered and won the following race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

And now, he’s in victory again.

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

Xfinity Series Race Number 16
Race Results for the 18th Annual Circle K Firecracker 250 at Daytona Powered by Coca – Cola – Friday, July 5, 2019
Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, FL – 2.5 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 100 Laps – 250. Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	S3Pos	Pts	Status
1	4	16	Ross Chastain(i)	Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet	100	1	2	0	0	Running
2	7	11	Justin Haley #	LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet	100	0	3	0	43	Running
3	8	20	Christopher Bell	Ruud-Ferguson Toyota	100	8	5	0	43	Running
4	19	22	Austin Cindric	Pirtek Ford	100	0	9	0	35	Running
5	25	1	Stephen Leicht	Flex Glue Chevrolet	100	0	0	0	32	Running
6	33	86	Brandon Brown #	BMSraceteam.com Chevrolet	100	9	0	0	33	Running
7	20	38	Jeff Green	Larry’s Hard Lemonade Chevrolet	100	0	0	0	30	Running
8	5	8	Gray Gaulding	WorldWide Safety Consulting Services Chevrolet	100	0	0	0	29	Running
9	37	51	Jeremy Clements	RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet	100	0	0	0	28	Running
10	28	5	Matt Mills	J.F. Electric Toyota	100	0	0	0	27	Running
11	27	78	Vinnie Miller	Pit Viper Toyota	100	0	0	0	26	Running
12	29	99	Stefan Parsons	Jacob Companies Toyota	100	0	0	0	25	Running
13	36	7	Ray Black II	ISOKERN Fireplaces & Chimneys Chevrolet	100	0	0	0	24	Running
14	35	0	Garrett Smithley	Flex Tape Chevrolet	100	0	0	0	23	Running
15	16	9	Noah Gragson #	Switch Chevrolet	99	4	6	0	34	Running
16	1	2	Tyler Reddick	Gimme Country Chevrolet	99	7	0	0	25	Running
17	12	7	Justin Allgaier	Vannoy Construction Chevrolet	99	6	4	0	32	Running
18	11	18	Riley Herbst(i)	Monster Energy Toyota	98	3	8	0	0	Running
19	22	25	Chris Cockrum	Advanced Communications Group Chevrolet	97	0	0	0	18	Running
20	18	66	Timmy Hill	VSI Racing/Overkill Motorsports Toyota	97	5	0	0	23	Running
21	32	28	Shane Lee	Circuit City Toyota	97	0	0	0	16	Running
22	21	23	John Hunter Nemechek #	Digital Ally Chevrolet	93	0	0	0	15	Accident
23	6	21	Joe Graf Jr.	Eat Sleep Race Chevrolet	92	0	0	0	14	Accident
24	14	39	Ryan Sieg	CMR Roofing Chevrolet	89	2	10	0	23	Accident
25	3	1	Michael Annett	Pilot Flying J Chevrolet	86	0	1	0	22	Accident
26	15	0	Cole Custer	Jacob Companies Ford	86	0	7	0	15	Accident
27	31	42	Chad Finchum	Amana Heating & Air Conditioning Toyota	86	0	0	0	10	Accident
28	26	36	Josh Williams	Sleep Well/Star Tron Chevrolet	86	0	0	0	9	Accident
29	13	90	Caesar Bacarella	Fisher House Foundation/Alpha Prime Chevrolet	86	0	0	0	8	Accident
30	17	19	Brandon Jones	Menards/ORCA Toyota	76	0	0	0	7	Chassis
31	23	93	Scott Lagasse Jr.	Chevrolet	73	0	0	0	6	Accident
32	34	52	David Starr	Starr Mechanical/Tomi Aircraft Chevrolet	72	0	0	0	5	Accident
33	30	15	BJ McLeod	Flex Shot Chevrolet	72	0	0	0	4	Accident
34	9	8	Sheldon Creed(i)	Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet	71	0	0	0	0	Accident
35	10	98	Chase Briscoe #	Ford Performance Ford	44	10	0	0	3	Accident
36	38	13	Joe Nemechek(i)	MBM Motorsports Toyota	39	0	0	0	0	Steering
37	24	4	Landon Cassill	Flex Seal/Contec Chevrolet	12	0	0	0	1	Accident
38	2	10	AJ Allmendinger	Cornerstone Produce Group Chevrolet	100	0	0	0	1	Running

July 6, 2019

Category: RC XFINITY

Road America

Friday, Aug. 23

Saturday, Aug. 24

Canadian Tire Motorsports Park

Saturday, Aug. 24

Sunday, Aug. 25

Thursday, August 15

Friday, August 16

Saturday, August 17

UPDATE: Allmendinger’s car failed post-race inspection after a rear-height violation and he will be credited with a 37th place finish. The Kaulig Racing team has until noon Monday to appeal the decision.