Tag: Austin Cindric

Kyle Busch caps off potential Xfinity Series career with a dominant victory at Atlanta

In what could be his final NASCAR Xfinity Series start of his illustrious racing career, Kyle Busch walked off as a winner after dominating and fending off the field in overtime to claim the inaugural Credit Karma Money 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 10. The victory made Busch five-for-five ini this year’s Xfinity season as he also claimed his 102nd career win in his 362nd series start.

The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Kyle Busch, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Road America, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with teammate Daniel Hemric.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Kyle Busch rocketed away with the lead from the inside lane, where he led the first lap followed by AJ Allmendinger, Harrison Burton and Justin Haley while Hemric, who started on the outside lane, slipped out of the top five through the first two turns.

Following the first five laps of the event, Kyle Busch was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Allmendinger, with Haley, Harrison Burton and Noah Gragson running in the top five. Jeremy Clements was in sixth followed by Hemric, Austin Cindric and Jeb Burton while Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones were battling for 10th.

Five laps later, Kyle Busch’s advantage grew to nearly two seconds over Allmendinger wile Haley, Harrison Burton and Gragson continued to run in the top five. By then, Austin Dillon, who filled in the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro in place of Michael Annett with Annett absent due to a leg injury, was battling for a top-25 spot after starting at the rear of the field.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 20, Kyle Busch was out in front by nearly seven-tenths of a second over Allmendinger. Meanwhile, Harrison Burton was up in third followed by Gragson, Haley and Hemric.

Under the competition caution, some led by Austin Cindric pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track.

On Lap 24, the race restarted and Kyle Busch received another strong start to retain the lead while the field behind fanned out to three lanes. While Haley and Hemric struggled to launch on the outside lane, Allmendinger moved up to second followed by Harrison Burton and Gragson.

By Lap 30, the No. 54 Extra Gum Toyota Supra driven by Kyle Busch was leading by six-tenths of a second over the No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Allmendinger. Harrison Burton, racing in the No. 20 Offerpad Toyota Supra, was in third followed by teammate Hemric, Gragson, Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier, Brett Moffitt, Haley and Alex Labbe.

With a clear, early advantage, Kyle Busch was able to cruise to the first stage victory on Lap 40. Allmendinger settled in second followed by Harrison Burton, Hemric, Gragson, Moffitt, Labbe, Haley, Brandon Jones and Austin Dillon.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Harrison Burton emerged with the lead followed by Hemric, Allmendinger, Gragson and Kyle Busch, who lost the lead following his service.

The second stage started on Lap 46 with Harrison Burton and Gragson starting on the front row. At the start, Gragson and Harrison Burton battled for the lead through the backstretch before Gragson pulled out ahead. Behind, Kyle Busch marched his way to third place behind teammate Harrison Burton before taking over the runner-up spot.

By Lap 49, Kyle Busch returned to the lead after overtaking Gragson on the outside lane in Turn 3. Shortly after, the caution flew due to an incident on the frontstretch involving Matt Mills and veteran David Starr.

When the race restarted on Lap 55, Kyle Busch launched ahead with the lead followed by Gragson while Harrison Burton, Allmendinger and Hemric engaged in a three-wide battle for third in Turn 1. Through the backstretch, Hemric was able to prevail ahead over teammate Harrison Burton with Allgaier moving up to fifth over Allmendinger.

By Lap 60, Kyle Busch continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Gragson. Behind, Harrison Burton moved back into third place followed by Allmendinger and Hemric, who was being pressured by Allgaier and Moffitt for more.

Nearly three laps later, the caution returned when Josh Berry spun off of Turn 4, though he was dodged by the incoming traffic.

On Lap 66, the race restarted and Kyle Busch was able to clear AJ Allmendinger entering Turn 2 to retain the lead while the field behind battled through multiple lanes for positioning.

Through the first 70 laps of the event, Kyle Busch remained out in front by more than a second over Allmendinger, with Gragson, Allgaier and Hemric in the top five. Harrison Burton was back in sixth followed by Moffitt, Brandon Jones, Ty Dillon and Austin Dillon.

Like he did in the first stage, Kyle Busch was able to muscle away from the field with a comfortable advantage and claim the second stage victory on Lap 80 by eight-tenths of a second over Allmendinger. Gragson, Allgaier, Hemric, Harrison Burton, Moffitt, Ty Dillon, Haley and Austin Dillon settled in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and this time, Kyle Busch exited pit road with the lead over Allmendinger, Gragson, Hemric and the field. Following the pit stops, Allmendinger was assessed a pit road speeding penalty. In addition, Harrison Burton pitted for a second time to have the lug nuts on his car tightened.

With 77 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Hemric started on the front row. At the start, Kyle Busch received another start on the inside lane to retain the lead followed by Gragson while Hemric slipped back to third.

Seven laps later, Kyle Busch stretched his advantage to more than a second over Gragson, with Moffitt running in third place ahead of Hemric and Allgaier. Running in the top 10 were Haley, rookie Sam Mayer, Austin Dillon, Cindric and Ty Dillon. Allmendinger, meanwhile, was in 16th behind teammate Jeb Burton while Harrison Burton was in 19th in front of Gray Gaulding.

Not long after, the caution returned for an incident involving Gray Gaulding, who spun and hit the backstretch wall. Under caution, some led by teammates Gragson and Allgaier remained on the track while the rest led by Kyle Busch pitted.

With 62 laps remaining, the race restarted. By then, Gragson surrendered his spot near the front to pit and have a flat tire addressed. At the start, Allgaier retained the lead over Haley while the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes between competitors on fresh tires over those with none.

A few laps later, Allgaier was leading by nearly six-tenths of a second over Hemric, with Haley, Jeb Burton and Ty Dillon in the top five. By then, Kyle Busch was in ninth in between Cindric and Allmendinger while Harrison Burton was in 11th ahead of Moffitt.

With 58 laps remaining, Hemric muscled his No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra into the lead over Allgaier. By then, Kyle Busch worked his way back into the top five. Another few laps later, Busch was up into second place and trailing teammate Hemric by more than a second.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Hemric was still leading, but his advantage decreased to a second over his hard-charging teammate Kyle Busch. Allmendinger, meanwhile, trailed by more than two seconds while the Dillon brothers rounded out the top five ahead of Moffitt, Allgaier, Harrison Burton, Cindric and Haley.

Five laps later, the caution returned for an incident involving Brandon Jones and Ryan Sieg in the backstretch, with Jones making hard contact against the outside wall. Under caution, names like Ty Dillon, Myatt Snider, Tommy Joe Martins and Gragson remained on the track while the rest led by Hemric and Kyle Busch pitted. Prior to the restart, Allgaier was sent to the rear of the field due to a commitment line violation,

With 39 laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start, the front-runners fanned out to three lanes before Hemric muscled to the lead followed by Kyle Busch on the outside lane. With Busch close behind, Hemric was leading while seeking his elusive first victory in NASCAR.

With 30 laps remaining, Hemric continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch. Behind, Allmendinger and Moffitt battled for third followed by Harrison Burton, Austin Dillon, Haley, Cindric, Sieg and Clements. Allgaier, following his commitment line penalty, was in 12th while teammate Gragson was in 14th.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event and with the leaders catching lapped traffic, Hemric stabilized his advantage to nearly six-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch, who was unable to close in for the lead despite keeping his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate within sight.

Three laps later, the caution flew when Carson Ware spun on the backstretch. By then, Hemric stretched his advantage to nearly a second over Busch.

Under caution, nearly all of the leaders pitted and Hemric exited pit road ahead of teammate Kyle Busch by a nose. Back on the track, Kyle Weatherman did not pit and assumed the lead.

With 11 laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start, Hemric moved himself quickly back to the front followed by Kyle Busch and the competitors on the inside lane. For Weatherman, however, his time at the front did not last long after a transmission issue while restarting resulted with him getting hit by Brandon Brown and Harrison Burton before spinning, thus bringing back the caution flag.

Under caution, few like Harrison Burton, Myatt Snider and Tommy Joe Martins pitted while the rest led by Hemric remained on the track.

With six laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Hemric and Allmendinger started on the front row in front of Kyle Busch and Allgaier. At the start, Allmendinger issued a challenge for the lead on Hemric, who had teammate Kyle Busch trying to push him out in front. While trying to maintain the lead, Hemric was then bumped by teammate Busch, who then was turned into Allmendinger and sent sideways while making hard contact with the outside wall in Turn 1. The incident all but spoiled another opportunity for Hemric to achieve his first NASCAR national touring series win.

With Hemric out of contention, Kyle Busch was back out in front followed by Moffitt, Jeb Burton, Haley and Allmendinger.

Down to a two-lap shootout, the race restarted with Kyle Busch and Jeb Burton starting on the front row. At the start, Busch managed to clear Burton through the backstretch to retain the lead. While Burton kept Busch within his sights, the latter started to pull away and maintain a decent advantage when he started the final lap.

For one final lap, Busch was able to keep Jeb Burton and Gragson at bay as he came back around and claimed the checkered flag for the win.

In addition to winning for the 102nd time in the Xfinity circuit and winning in all five of his scheduled Xfinity starts, Busch also recorded his third series victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway and his 222nd NASCAR national touring series career victory.

While celebrating on the frontstretch in front of the grandstands, Busch took a moment to address his late restart incident involving his teammate Daniel Hemric.

“Yeah, I meant to push [Hemric], and I wanted to hit him, I just wanted to ht him forward and straight but turned him sideways a little bit, and I think he got more help on his right side,” Busch saaid on NBCSN. “Just trying to help a teammate there, and that’s why I restarted behind him. Overall, great day for our 54 car, but [Hemric] was better and deserved this win. So, I’m sorry to Daniel and all those guys. I hate it that all that transpired. That’s why this win is a little more somber than others have been. You don’t take solace in a win like that. But a win’s a win.”

“Yeah, as far as I know, as far as what’s gonna happen right now, it’s never say never,” Busch, when addressing the potential end of his Xfinity Series career, added. “This is it.”

Behind Busch, Jeb Burton claimed his second-best result in the series after finishing in the runner-up spot followed by Gragson. Haley came home in fourth place followed by Ty Dillon.

Moffitt, Allgaier, Clements, Sam Mayer and Cindric finished in the top 10.

Austin Dillon finished 11th wile filling in for Michael Annett. Allmendinger finished 13th, Riley Herbst came home in 19th, Myatt Snider fell back to 21st, Harrison Burton ended up in 24th and Hemric settled in 30th.

“What could’ve been, right?” Hemric said. “That’s all you think about. On the flip side of it, you can’t change it. Obviously, I know it wasn’t intentional by no means…Our day will come.”

There were 16 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 43 laps.

Austin Cindric continues to lead the regular-season standings by 74 points over AJ Allmendinger and 112 over Daniel Hemric.

Results.

1. Kyle Busch, 97 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

2. Jeb Burton, one lap led

3. Noah Gragson, five laps led

4. Justin Haley

5. Ty Dillon, four laps led

6. Brett Moffitt

7. Justin Allgaier, four laps led

8. Jeremy Clements

9. Sam Mayer

10. Austin Cindric

11. Austin Dillon

12. Ryan Sieg

13. AJ Allmendinger, two laps led

14. Ryan Vargas

15. Alex Labbe

16. Tommy Joe Martins

17. Jade Buford

18. Josh Williams

19. Riley Herbst

20. Colby Howard

21. Myatt Snider

22. Jeffrey Earnhardt

23. Josh Berry

24. Harrison Burton, three laps led

25. Joe Graf Jr.

26. Matt Mills

27. Ronnie Bassett Jr.

28. Jesse Little

29. Mason Massey

30. Daniel Hemric, 45 laps led

31. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident

32. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident, three laps led

33. Santino Ferrucci, two laps down

34. Bayley Currey, two laps down

35. Gray Gaulding, four laps down

36. Carson Ware – OUT, Accident

37. CJ McLaughlin, 25 laps down

38. Landon Cassill, 36 laps down

39. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident

40. David Starr – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ return to New Hampshire Motor Speedway following a one-year absence. The event is scheduled to occur at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

July 10, 2021
Elliott extends road course dominance with a win at Road America

In NASCAR’s six-plus decade return to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, on Independence Day weekend, Chase Elliott extended his road course skillsets after the reigning Cup Series champion rallied from starting at the rear of the field to lead the final 17 laps and muscle away from the field to win the Jockey Made in America 250 at Road America on Sunday, July 4, as he returned to Victory Lane in the Cup circuit following a one-month dry spell.

Qualifying occurred on Sunday, July 4, and William Byron claimed his sixth NASCAR Cup Series career pole position with a pole-winning lap at 110.359 mph. Teammate Kyle Larson joined him on the front row.

Prior to the event, Kyle Busch and Ryan Preece dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car. Justin Haley also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change along with Bubba Wallace due to a transmission change. Kyle Tilley, Josh Bilicki and Quin Houff started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective machines.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Byron peaked ahead with the lead through the first three turns. Through the Turn 4 straightaway and with the field fanning out to two and three lanes, Larson, who was battling AJ Allmendinger for the runner-up spot, also ignited an early challenge on teammate Byron for the lead from Turn 5 to Turn 9, but Byron maintained his advantage through the kink. As the field settled in a single-file line, Byron remained as the leader over Larson and Allmendinger from the kink to Turns 13 and 14.

When the field returned to the start/finish line, Byron maintained the lead over teammate Larson and led the first lap. Allmendinger remained in third place followed by Reddick and Austin Cindric. Ross Chastain was in sixth followed by Matt DiBenedetto, Daniel Suarez, Denny Hamlin and teammate Martin Truex Jr.

On the second lap, the first caution of the event flew when the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE piloted by Suarez came to a stop under the Corvette bridge in Turn 6 due to a transmission issue, an issue that required a wrecker to have Suarez’s car pushed back to pit road and the garage.

When the race restarted on the fourth lap, Byron retained the lead through the first three turns. Larson also maintained second place over Allmendinger and the field, which made its way through the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand fifth and sixth turns.

By the fifth lap and with the field settling in a single-file line, Byron was leading by nearly three-tenths of a second over teammate Larson, while Allmendinger, Reddick and Cindric continued to run in the top five. Chastain, meanwhile, retained sixth followed by Truex, DiBenedetto, Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman. By then, Joey Logano was in 12th behind Christopher Bell, Kurt Busch was in 14th, Chase Elliott was in 18th in between Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski was in 22nd in front of Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola was in 25th ahead of Ryan Newman and rookie Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace was mired back in 31st.

Then in Turn 5, Larson, who made a bid for the lead over teammate Byron, overshot the left-hand fifth turn, which allowed Allmendinger to move into the runner-up spot while Larson fell back to third in front of Reddick and Cindric.

The following lap, Ryan Preece pulled his No. 37 Kroger Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE off the course in Turn 5 and behind the wall due to an engine issue. Despite Preece’s exit, the race remained under green as Byron continued to lead by nearly a second over Allmendinger.

Through the first 10 laps of the event, Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE continued to lead by more than a second over Allmendinger’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Larson, racing in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, settled in third ahead of Reddick and Cindric while Chastain, Truex, Hamlin, DiBenedetto and Bell were in the top 10. By then, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch, both of whom started at the rear of the field, were in 14th and 16th.

During the 10th lap, Ty Dillon spun in the right-hand kink corner. Despite the spin, Dillon continued and the race remained under green. Shortly after, names like Cindric, DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch, Truex, Bubba Wallace, Aric Almirola, rookie Anthony Alfredo and Austin Dillon pitted. During the pit stops, Austin Dillon was busted with a pit road speeding penalty. Briscoe and Michael McDowell, both of whom pitted, were also penalized for driving through multiple pit stalls.

The following lap, the second caution of the event flew when Kyle Tilley got stuck in the gravel trap after overshooting Turn 9. The incident was enough for the first stage scheduled on Lap 14 to conclude under caution, and William Byron claimed his third stage victory of the season. Allmendinger settled in second followed by Larson, Reddick, Chastain, Hamlin, Bell, Bowman, Kurt Busch and Elliott.

Under the stage break, a multitude of competitors led by Byron pitted while the rest led by Martin Truex Jr. remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 16 with Truex and DiBenedetto on the front row. At the start, Cindric ignited his early bid for the lead as he pulled a three-wide move on Truex and DiBenedetto entering the first turn. By the third turn, Cindric emerged as the new leader. Through the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand fifth turn, Cindric was out in front of DiBenedetto while Kyle Busch muscle his way into third place.

When the field returned to the start/finish line, Cindric was out in front by two-tenths of a second over DiBenedetto, who started to challenge Cindric for the top spot. Kyle Busch moved up to third followed by teammate Truex and Bubba Wallace in the top five. Byron, meanwhile, was in sixth while Aric Almirola, Ty Dillon, Reddick and Hamlin were in the top 10. Larson was in 11th ahead of teammate Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Chastain and Allmendinger.

On Lap 18 and with a multitude of battles ensuing around the road course, DiBenedetto and Cindric engaged in a side-by-side battle for the lead through the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand fifth turn as Kyle Busch closely tucked himself behind the two leaders. While Cindric was able to retain a brief lead for another turn, DiBenedetto, though, was able to prevail for the lead in Turn 6 while Cindric retained the runner-up spot over Kyle Busch.

The following lap, Cody Ware punted Quin Houff in Turn 5, but the race remained under green as both continued.

By Lap 20, DiBenedetto, piloting the No. 21 Menards Ford Mustang, was leading by nearly a second over Cindric and his No. 33 Pirtek Ford Mustang. Kyle Busch, racing in his No. 18 Skittles American Mix Toyota Camry, was still in third followed by Truex and Byron. Reddick was in sixth followed by Larson, Wallace, Elliott and Hamlin.

Then in Turn 5, Hamlin overshot the corner and kicked up some gravel after his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry overshot the corner, with the driver taking evasive action to avoid hitting Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. The off-track ride dropped Hamlin from the top 10 to 16th behind Aric Almirola.

Two laps later, the battle for the lead ignited between DiBenedetto and Cindric, with the latter gaining a run through Turns 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 along with the kink corner. By then, Brad Keselowski was continuing from a spin in Turn 14.

In Turn 1 and during the following lap, Cindric returned to the lead. Four turns later, however, Cindric locked up the brakes and went wide, which allowed Kyle Busch to move into the lead through Turn 6. Then, things went from bad to worse for Cindric, who spun in Turn 8 and had to loop his car around to continue without drawing a caution. Despite continuing, Cindric was off the pace and he ended up nursing his car to his pit stall, where he then took his car to the garage due to a mechanical issue.

Back at the front, Kyle Busch, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity Series event at Road America and one of the Pocono Raceway doubleheader events last weekend, was leading by more than a second over DiBenedetto, with Truex, Reddick and Byron scored in the top five. By then, Corey LaJoie went off course, got loose and spun in Canada corner, but he continued despite kicking up dirt in the air.

By Lap 25, Kyle Busch was leading by more than a second over teammate Truex, with Reddick, Byron and DiBenedetto in the top five.

Not long after, names like Blaney, Elliott, Hamlin, Bowman, DiBenedetto, Allmendinger, Larson, Keselowski, Almirola, Chris Buescher, Bell, Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, McDowell, Alfredo, Cole Custer, Ty Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who had a flat tire, pitted under green. Kyle Busch and teammate Truex also pitted.

In the midst of the pit stops, Reddick emerged with the lead on Lap 27. With pit lane closed, Reddick was able to maintain his advantage for the next two laps before claiming the second stage victory on Lap 29 as he also claimed his first stage victory of the season. Byron settled in second, trailing by more than four seconds, followed by Chastain, Larson, Kurt Busch, Logano, Kevin Harvick, Wallace, Justin Haley and Kyle Busch. Earlier, Kurt Busch went off course in Turn 6, though he was able to remain in the top 10.

Under the stage break, a multitude of competitors led by Reddick pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch and Elliott remained on the track.

With 30 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Kyle Busch launched ahead with the lead followed by DiBenedetto through the first turn while Elliott slipped back to third. Busch maintained the lead through the first three turns and the Turn 4 straightaway as the field fanned out to two lanes while battling for positioning.

From Turn 5 to Canada corner, Busch continued to lead, but everything changed when DiBenedetto powered back into the lead entering Turn 12.

Through the first three turns, the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand fifth turn, DiBenedetto was the leader followed by Kyle Busch and Elliott while Hamlin and Briscoe were in the top five.

With 25 laps remaining, DiBenedetto was leading by two-tenths of a second over Elliott, who earlier made his way by Kyle Busch for the runner-up spot. Busch settled back in third ahead of teammate Hamlin and Bell. Briscoe, Bowman, Chris Buescher, Byron and McDowell were in the top 10.

Then, Elliott took over the lead for the first time of the day in Turn 1. By Turn 6, Elliott was out in front by a decent advantage over Kyle Busch, who dropped DiBenedetto back to third.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by more than four seconds over Kyle Busch, with Hamlin, Bell and DiBenedetto in the top five. Shortly after, Aric Almirola and Ryan Blaney pitted under green. Then, the caution flew when rookie Anthony Alfredo spun in Turn 1 and got stuck in the gravel trap as a result of a cut left-rear tire. The caution was well-timed for Blaney, who was having his front nose repaired following on-track contact.

Under caution, nearly all of the leaders led by Elliott pitted, except for Almirola and Blaney, both of whom pitted earlier and remained on track.

With 17 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Almirola led the field through the first turn while Kyle Busch followed pursuit. Then, Busch engaged in a brief battle with Almirola through the following two turns before he took the lead away entering Turn 3. Through Turn 5, Elliott charged his way up into the runner-up spot behind Busch as the field behind battled and fanned out to two lanes.

Entering the Canada corner, however, Elliott was able to reassume the lead over Kyle Busch as he maintained the top spot when he returned to the start/finish line and slowly started to pull away.

With 15 laps remaining, Elliott was leading by more than a second over Kyle Busch, with Hamlin, Larson and Almirola battling in the top five. Blaney was back in sixth followed by Bell, DiBenedetto, Bowman and Briscoe.

While Elliott and Kyle Busch continued to run in first and second, Larson was able to muscle his way into the third place over Hamlin in Turn 5.

A lap later, Byron, the pole-sitter, went off course in Turn 5, but the race remained under green.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Elliott remained as the leader by more than three seconds over Kyle Busch. Behind, Bell marched his No. 20 SiriusXM Toyota Camry into third place while Larson was in fourth ahead of Hamlin and Bowman. Kurt Busch, Briscoe, Almirola and DiBenedetto were in the top 10.

With six laps remaining, Bowman locked up his brakes and bumped his teammate Larson, sending Larson spinning in Turn 5. Following the contact, Bowman and Hamlin, both of whom sustained damage following the contact with Larson, moved up to fourth and fifth followed by Kurt Busch and Briscoe while Larson fell back to 11th.

Five laps later and with five laps remaining, Elliott continued to lead by nearly five seconds over Kyle Busch while third-place Christopher Bell trailed by six seconds. Bowman and Hamlin, meanwhile, remained in the top five ahead of Kurt Busch, Briscoe, Chastain, DiBenedetto, Reddick and Larson.

A lap later, Bell moved into the runner-up spot after overtaking teammate Kyle Busch, with Elliott still leading by more than six seconds.

Down to the final two laps, Elliott maintained an advantage of more than five seconds over Bell, with Kyle Busch trailing by eight seconds. Behind, Briscoe locked up his brakes entering Turn 5 and nearly ran into the rear of Hamlin, though he was able to continue and remain in sixth place while Hamlin and Kurt Busch battled for fourth.

When the final lap of the race started, Elliott was leading by less than six seconds over Bell. For one final time through the 14-turn circuit and with no challengers closing in, Elliott was able to cruise to the checkered flag and score the victory on the Fourth of July weekend as the crowd cheered.

With the victory in NASCAR’s first event at Road America since 1956, Elliott notched his second victory of the 2021 season, first since winning the rain-shortened event at the Circuit of the Americas in May, his seventh road course win and his 13th Cup Series career victory in his 205th series start. Elliott also recorded the 10th victory of the season for Hendrick Motorsports.

“I appreciate y’all [fans] coming out,” Elliott said on NBC. “Thank you for spending your Fourth of July with us. I hope you enjoyed the show. Man, it was a hot day, but a lot of fun, man. Just really proud of our team for overcoming some adversity early, having to start at the back, having good pit stops. [I] Had a really fast NAPA Chevy, so just so proud. We’ve had a rough few weeks, so [the win]’s really good.”

“I just never felt like I got in a real good rhythm all of yesterday,” Elliott added. “For whatever reason there, about halfway through the race, I started finding some of that rhythm, was able to put it together, piece different parts of the track and then finally, I felt like I was able to piece most of it together. [I] stayed with it and glad that it worked out.”

Bell, who won the Daytona Road Course event in February, came home in a strong second-place result for his third top-five result of the season, first since Richmond Raceway in April, followed by Kyle Busch, who achieved his ninth top-five result of the season.

“Yeah, I just, kind of, buried ourselves there,” Bell said. “We had that pit road penalty, but man, it was a lot of fun. Our SiriusXM Camry was really good and really proud of this No. 20 group. It’s been a trying last two months, but we feel like we’re getting back on track here, so there’s no reason why we can’t be running upfront every week.”

“[I] Just kept working at it,” Busch added. “[I] Kept trying to do what I needed to do for adjustments there. Just did not have the tire life that [Elliott] did. Just incredible that they could continue to just drive away from us. His braking was really good, but then, the drive-off out of the corners was just awesome. They out-beat us by far today. Proud of the Skittles bunch, everybody here on the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camrys did a good job. We all ran upfront, we had good speed. We showed that we’re close. That’s all we had for what [Elliott] seems like impossible. Overall, just a good day fighting through traffic…I feel like we’re in a good spot and hopefully, we’ll go get’em next week.”

Kurt Busch and Hamlin finished in the top five while rookie Chase Briscoe achieved his second top-10 result in the Cup Series by finishing sixth. Chastain, Reddick, Truex and DiBenedetto finished in the top 10.

Austin Dillon finished 11th, Keselowski settled in 13th in front of Almirola and Logano, Larson ended up in 16th following his late dust-up with teammate Bowman, Chris Buescher finished 18th in front of Erik Jones and Blaney and Bowman, who pitted following his contact with Larson, ended up in 22nd.

Bubba Wallace came home in 24th, Kevin Harvick ended up in 27th behind Ty Dillon, AJ Allmendinger ended up in 29th in front of McDowell and pole-sitter William Byron fell all the way back to 33rd.

There were 10 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured four cautions for nine laps.

With six races remaining until the 2021 Cup Playoffs commences, Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by three points over Kyle Larson. Currently, 11 competitors (Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell) are guaranteed Playoff spots based on winning at least once throughout the regular season. Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick and Kurt Busch occupy the remaining five vacant spots as winless competitors, with Kurt Busch ahead by 25 points over Chris Buescher, 69 over Ross Chastain, 70 over Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 74 over Matt DiBenedetto, 79 over Bubba Wallace and 88 over Daniel Suarez.

Results.

1. Chase Elliott, 24 laps led

2. Christopher Bell

3. Kyle Busch, four laps led

4. Kurt Busch

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Chase Briscoe

7. Ross Chastain

8. Tyler Reddick, five laps led, Stage 2 winner

9. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led

10. Matt DiBenedetto, 10 laps led

11. Austin Dillon

12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

13. Brad Keselowski

14. Aric Almirola, one lap led

15. Joey Logano

16. Kyle Larson

17. Cole Custer

18. Chris Buescher

19. Erik Jones

20. Ryan Blaney

21. Corey LaJoie

22. Alex Bowman

23. Josh Bilicki

24. Bubba Wallace

25. Justin Haley

26. Ty Dillon

27. Kevin Harvick

28. James Davison

29. AJ Allmendinger

30. Michael McDowell

31. Cody Ware

32. Ryan Newman

33. William Byron, 15 laps led, Stage 1 winner

34. Quin Houff

35. Kyle Tilley, two laps down

36. Daniel Suarez, nine laps down

37. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Brakes

38. Austin Cindric – OUT, Rear gear, two laps led

39. Ryan Eversley – OUT, Rear gear

40. Ryan Preece – OUT, Engine

Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Atlanta Motor Speedway for the series’ second visit to Hampton, Georgia this season. The event is slated to occur on Sunday, July 11, at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

July 4, 2021
Kyle Busch conquers Road America for 101st Xfinity Series win

The streak of different winners at Road America in the NASCAR Xfinity Series was extended to a 12th season as Kyle Busch rallied from an early spin to win the Henry 180 on Saturday, July 3, after leading the final five laps of the event. The victory also extended Busch’s winning streak in this year’s Xfinity Series season to four wins in four starts along with achieving his 101st series victory.

Qualifying occurred on Saturday, July 3, with rookie Ty Gibbs recording his first Xfinity career pole after logging a pole-winning lap at 107.532 mph. Joining him on the front row was Austin Cindric, winner of last weekend’s event at Pocono Raceway and the reigning Xfinity winner at Road America.

Prior to the event, Noah Gragson (engine change) and Riley Herbst (backup car) dropped to the rear of the field along with Brett Moffit, Natalie Decker and Ryan Ellis (unapproved adjustments).

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, the entire field battled dead even entering the first turn until at the front, Gibbs was able to squeak ahead of Cindric and AJ Allmendinger through the Turn 2 straightaway and past the third right-hand turn.

Through Turn 3, the Turn 4 straightaway and the fifth left-hand turn, Gibbs retained the lead while Allmendinger bolted his way into the runner-up spot over Cindric, who was in front of Daniel Hemric, Kyle Busch, Justin Allgaier and Jeb Burton. Behind, Kaz Grala went wide in Turn 5 after locking up his brakes.

From the left-hand Turn 5 through the right-hand Turn 14, the field settled in a competitive, single-file line with Gibbs still leading Allmendinger and Cindric.

When the entire field returned to the start/finish line following 14 turns, Gibbs led the first lap followed by Allmendinger, Cindric, Busch and Hemric.

After leading the first two laps, Gibbs was overtaken by Allmendinger, a former winner at Road America.

On the fifth lap, the first caution of the event was displayed when Spencer Pumpelly, driving the No. 6 Chevrolet Camaro for JD Motorsports, spun in Turn 14 following a bump from Brandon Brown and got stuck in the gravel trap.

Under caution, multiple names like Kyle Busch, Gibbs, Hemric, Justin Allgaier, Andy Lally, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton, Ryan Sieg, Preston Pardus, Brett Moffitt, Myatt Snider, Josh Williams and Alex Labbe pitted for four fresh tires.

The race restarted on the eighth lap as Allmendinger retained the lead over Cindric, Jeb Burton, Haley, Gragson, Annett and the field through the first three turns. Then in Turn 3, Kyle Busch spun into the grass following contact from Allgaier, though he was able to continue without any serious damage. Not long after, Gibbs was assessed a penalty for changing lanes during the restart.

With the field continuing to battle for positioning around every turn, Allmendinger cruised to the first stage victory on Lap 10 as he claimed his fourth stage victory of the season. Cindric settled in second followed by Jeb Burton, Haley and Gragson. Gibbs crossed the start/finish line in sixth, but he was discredited from earning any stage points as a result of his restart violation. The move promoted Hemric to sixth followed by Allgaier, Annett, Josh Bilicki and Riley Herbst.

Under the stage break, most of the leaders led by Allmendinger pitted while others led by Cindric and Gragson remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 12 with Cindric and Gragson restarting on the front row. At the start, Cindric peaked ahead briefly, but Hemric made a move to the outside of Cindric’s No. 22 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang to take the lead through the first turn. Through the first three corners, the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand Turn 5, Hemric and his No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra remained out in front while the field jumbled up while battling for positioning.

Shortly after, the caution returned for a hard accident involving Sam Mayer and Preston Pardus.

When the race restarted on Lap 15, Allgaier took over the top spot over Hemric, where he led the following two laps. Then, Allmendinger moved back to the front of the field.

With a series of battles occurring around the road course, Allmendinger, like he did in the first stage, was able to pull away and win the second stage on Lap 20, thus claiming his fifth stage victory of the season. Allgaier settled in second followed by Hemric, Haley, Busch, Jones, Gibbs, Cindric, Harrison Burton and Herbst. Moments before he crossed the start/finish line, Busch went off the track through the straightaway between Turns 11 and 12 as he kicked up dirt before continuing without serious damage.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted as Allgaier inherited the lead. Following the pit stops, Allmendinger was penalized due to his crew members jumping over the pit wall early, thus sending Allmendinger to the rear of the field.

With 23 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Allgaier and Kyle Busch restarted on the front row. At the start, Allgaier was able to prevail over Busch to remain as the leader. With the field fanning out through the first two turns, Allgaier led Busch through the first three turns, the Turn 4 straightaway, the left-hand turns in 5 and 6, a brief straightaway in Turns 7 and 8, a long right-hand turn in 9 and 10, a long straightaway from Turn 10 to 12 and a pair of turns in 13 and 14 before returning to the start/finish line.

The following lap, Allgaier continued to lead, but he had Cindric closing in for the lead entering the first turn after Cindric overtook Kyle Busch for the runner-up spot. Then, through the second turn, Cindric made a move to the right of Allgaier’s No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro. Following a side-by-side battle through the straightaway and under the Sargento bridge, Cindric returned to the lead.

With 20 laps remaining, Cindric was leading by more than four seconds over Gragson, with Allgaier being pressed by Busch and Gibbs for more. Haley was in sixth followed by Herbst, Hemric, Jones and Jeb Burton.

A lap later, the caution returned for a harrowing accident involving Spencer Pumpelly, who lost his brakes entering the first turn, spun through the gravel trap and plowed into the tire barriers, where the rear end of his No. 6 Chevrolet Camaro ended up on top of the barriers.

Under caution, nearly the entire field pitted while names like Brandon Jones, teammate Harrison Burton, Harvick, Josh Bilicki and Cody Ware remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hemric was penalized due to a crew member jumping over the pit wall too soon.

With 16 laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start, Jones retained the lead over teammate Harrison Burton, Harvick and the field through the first three turns, the Turn 3 and 4 straightaway and through the left-hand fifth turn.

The following lap and after navigating his way through the 14-turn circuit, Jones continued to lead followed by Harrison Burton and Cindric, who started to close in on Burton for more. After leading through the first four turns,, Jones locked up the brakes entering Turn 5 in front of Cindric, forcing Cindric to crossover to the left of Harrison Burton and Jones through the fifth turn. After going three wide with Burton and Jones, Cindric reassumed the lead entering the sixth turn.

With Cindric out in front, Harrison Burton remained in second place. A lap later, Allgaier and Gibbs moved up the leaderboard followed by Gragson while Jones slipped back to sixth. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was in eighth in front of Allmendinger.

Then, through Turns 12 and 13, Gibbs moved up into second place followed by Allgaier and Gragson while Harrison Burton fell back to fifth. Behind, Kyle Busch and Allmendinger moved up to sixth and seventh.

A few laps later, Jeb Burton and Brandon Jones spun in Turn 14, but the race remained under green as both plummeted on the leaderboard.

With 11 laps remaining, Harrison Burton brought his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra to pit road for service. Shortly after, the caution returned when Gibbs, who was running in the runner-up spot, came to a stop under the Corvette bridge in Turn 6 following a transmission failure to his No. 81 Monster Energy Toyota Supra, an issue that eliminated him from race-winning contention.

Under caution, some led by Cindric pitted while the rest led by Gragson remained on the track.

Down to the final eight laps, the race restarted under green as Gragson and Allmendinger started on the front row. At the start, Gragson jumped ahead with the lead followed by Kaulig Racing’s Haley and Allmendinger through the first turn.

Then, the caution returned when Snider made contact with Harrison Burton, spun and made light contact with the wall through the Turn 2 straightaway. Snider’s incident resulted in ensuing chaos behind as Cody Ware, Kris Wright and Natalie Decker wrecked and knocked down a number of advertising billboards through the Turn 2 straight In the midst of the incident, Cindric and Allgaier sustained damage to their respective machines, forcing both to pit under caution.

With six laps remaining, the race restarted as Gragson and Haley started on the front row. At the start, Gragson received a bump from Allmendinger to retain the lead over Haley through the first three turns and through Turn 5. With Gragson’s No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro leading, Kyle Busch bolted his No. 54 M&M’s Ice Cream Toyota Supra into third place entering Turn 3 as he then challenged Allmendinger for the runner-up spot through Turns 5 and 6.

Then in Turn 8, Allmendinger made his move beneath Gragson and made contact with Gragson before he moved his No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet Camaro back into the lead followed by Busch. Gragson, meanwhile, fell back to third in front of Haley, Harrison Burton and the field.

The following lap and with five laps remaining, Busch made his move beneath Allmendinger entering the first turn and made contact with Allmendinger, which gave Busch the advantage through the Turn 2 straightaway and Turn 3 to take the lead. From there, Busch started to pull away from the field.

When the field returned to the start/finish line, Busch was leading by nearly a second over Allmendinger, with Gragson, Michael Annett and Haley in the top five. Jones and Harrison Burton followed in pursuit along with Harvick, Hemric and Herbst. Way behind the leaders, a multi-car wreck occurred in Turn 12, involving Ryan Sieg, Josh Bilicki, Ryan Ellis and Brett Moffitt. Despite the incident and the damage, the race proceeded under green.

The following lap, Jones went off the track in Turn 1, but the race remained under green. By then, Busch extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Allmendinger.

Down to the final two laps of the event, Busch remained out in front by more than two seconds over Allmendinger, who had Annett and Hemric closing in for the runner-up spot. Behind, Harrison Burton challenged Gragson for fifth place while Harvick was in seventh.

When the final lap of the event started, Busch was the leader by more than three seconds. Behind, Annett and Hemric were in second and third after both passed Allmendinger, who was struggling with grip, through Turns 13 and 14. Not long after, Hemric moved into the runner-up spot in Turn 3.

Back out in front, Busch continued to set sail with a comfortable advantage. With no pressure occurring in front of him and behind, Busch was able to navigate his way through the 14-turn circuit and climb up the road hill from Turn 14 to streak across the finish line and take the checkered flag for the win.

With his victory, Busch is four-for-four in this year’s Xfinity Series season as he claimed his first triumph at Road America and extended his all-time lead in Xfinity Series victories to 101. He also recorded the first Xfinity win for crew chief Mark McFarland, with McFarland and Joe Gibbs Racing’s ARCA team assisting Busch’s efforts to the Xfinity win.

With his Xfinity Series plans for the future uncertain now that he has achieved 100+ victories, Busch is scheduled to run his fifth and final series event of the season next weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“Obviously, tires, that was the saving grace for us,” Busch said on NBC. “We had tires left over. [Allmendinger] didn’t. When we came in to put them tires on, I wasn’t sure we were gonna be able to get through that many cars, but man, I don’t know what happened the last couple restarts. Just melee at the start going down the straight. I couldn’t see what was happening. Then, there was a wreck between [Turns] 2 and 3, and was just fortunate to be on the right side in order to get by that stuff and get through that stuff without too much damage to our race car. Obviously, it was neat to have the opportunity to run this race today, get ready for tomorrow. Hopefully, tomorrow will look a lot like this day.”

Hemric settled in the runner-up spot for the ninth time in his Xfinity Series career while Annett picked up his first top-five result of the season with a strong third-place effort.

Allmendinger, who was aiming to become the first repeat winner in the Xfinity Series event at Road America, settled in fourth place while Harrison Burton finished in the top five.

Harvick, Herbst, Cindric, Gragson and Haley finished in the top 10.

Allgaier finished 12th, Jeb Burton came home in 14th, Kaz Grala settled in 18th in front of Brandon Jones and Snider ended up in 23rd behind Ryan Sieg. Ty Gibbs, following his late transmission issue, ended up 33rd.

There were 12 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 11 laps.

With an eighth-place run, Austin Cindric continues to lead the regular-season standings by 89 points over AJ Allmendinger as third-place Daniel Hemric trails by 105 points.

Results.

1. Kyle Busch, five laps led

2. Daniel Hemric, three laps led

3. Michael Annett

4. AJ Allmendinger, 12 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

5. Harrison Burton

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Riley Herbst

8. Austin Cindric, 10 laps led

9. Noah Gragson, four laps led

10. Justin Haley

11. Brandon Brown

12. Justin Allgaier, five laps led

13. Andy Lally

14. Jeb Burton

15. Tommy Joe Martins

16. Preston Pardus

17. Josh Williams

18. Kaz Grala

19. Brandon Jones, four laps led

20. Timmy Hill

21. Alex Labbe

22. Ryan Sieg

23. Myatt Snider

24. Cody Ware

25. Kris Wright

26. Stephen Leicht

27. Landon Cassill

28. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

29. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

30. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident

31. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Accident

32. Natalie Decker – OUT, Accident

33. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Transmission, two laps led

34. Jade Buford – OUT, Suspension

35. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

36. Spencer Pumpelly – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Atlanta Motor Speedway. The event will occur on Saturday, July 10, at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

July 3, 2021
Cindric emerges triumphant over Gibbs at Pocono

Executing the race when it mattered most, Austin Cindric cycled to the lead under the final 15 laps and held off rookie Ty Gibbs amid the lapped traffic to win the Pocono Green 225 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, June 27, as he claimed his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season in his bid to defend his series title.

The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Harrison Burton started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Justin Allgaier.

Prior to the event, Riley Herbst dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. Jesse Iwuji also started at the rear of the field for a driver change.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Harrison Burton launched ahead with the lead on the outside lane, where he was pursued by Allgaier and the field fanning out to two lanes through the three tricky lanes.

After leading the first lap, Harrison Burton was out in front by half a second over Allgaier, with AJ Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric and Jeb Burton in the top five. Noah Gragson was in sixth followed by Brandon Jones, rookie Ty Gibbs, Austin Cindric and Justin Haley.

Following the first five laps of the evert, Harrison Burton continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Allgaier with Hemric in pursuit. Teammates Allmendinger and Jeb Burton continued to run in the top five while Gragson, Cindric, Gibbs, Haley and Brandon Jones were in the top 10. By then, newcomer Sam Mayer, piloting the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, was in 11th, Myatt Snider was in 19th in between Brandon Brown and rookie Josh Berry and Riley Herbst was in 24th.

Five laps later, Harrison Burton remained in front of teammate Hemric by four-tenths of a second, with Allgaier trailing by less than a second. Behind, Cindric was in the top five behind Allmendinger while Mayer moved into the top 10 behind Gragson, Jeb Burton, Gibbs and Haley.

Just then, the first caution of the event flew when Josh Williams spun and wrecked in Turn 1 following contact from Santino Ferrucci. Under caution, some like Mayer, Brandon Jones, Josh Berry, Michael Annett, Myatt Snider, Ryan Sieg and others pitted while the rest led by Harrison Burton remained on the track.

When the race restarted on Lap 17, the field battled dead even until Harrison Burton was able to clear and retain the lead over Allgaier and Hemric.

With Harrison Burton out in front, a three-car battle ensued between Cindric, Allmendinger and Gibbs for fourth place. Behind, Haley got loose in Turn 2 and nearly clipped Gragson in Turn 2, but both managed to continue inside the top 10 without an incident.

On the final lap of the first stage, Hemric mounted a charge on teammate Harrison Burton for the lead, but Burton managed to keep his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra out in front. In the end, he claimed the first stage victory on Lap 20 and his second stage victory of the season. Hemric settled in the runner-up spot followed by Allgaier, Cindric and Allmendinger while Gibbs, Gragson, Jeb Burton, Haley and Berry were in the top 10.

Under the stage break, some led by Allgaier pitted while the rest led by Harrison Burton pitted.

The second stage started on Lap 24 with Allgaier and Snider starting on the front row. At the start, Allgaier managed to clear Snider on the outside lane to retain the lead entering the first turn while a three-wide battle occurred behind between Haley, Hemric and Mayer for third place.

Shortly after, the caution flag returned for a big accident involving Haley, who made contact with Mayer into the outside wall and was turned as he made pounded the inside wall in Turn 1 before coming back across the track. His No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro was then hit by the No. 6 JD Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Ryan Vargas before coming to a rest near the outside wall. Following the incident, Haley exited his battered car and laid down on the ground before being attended to by the medical personnel. After getting back up, Haley made the trip to the medical center, where he was evaluated and released.

The wreck placed the event in a red-flag period for over five minutes. When the red flag was lifted and the field proceeded in a cautious pace, few like Landon Cassill, Loris Hezemans and Ryan Sieg pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 28, Allgaier boosted ahead from the field on the outside lane followed by Hemric and Harrison Burton while Snider fell back on the inside lane through the first turn.

Returning back to the start/finish line, Hemric started to pursue Allgaier for the lead while Cindric challenged Snider for fourth place.

By Lap 30, Allgaier was leading by two-tenths of a second over Hemric while Harrison Burton trailed by four-tenths of a second. Cindric and Snider remained in the top five.

The following lap, Hemric gained a run entering the frontstretch and drag-raced with Allgaier to the start/finish line before clearing Allgaier’s No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro entering the first turn and taking the lead.

On Lap 34, the caution returned when Harrison Burton got loose underneath Allgaier in Turn 1, spun and made left-side contact with the outside wall. The incident occurred as Burton was attempting to take over the runner-up spot over Allgaier. Despite returning to pit road, Harrison Burton’s race came to an end.

Under caution, some led by Hemric pitted while the rest led by Ty Gibbs remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hemric was assessed a pit road speeding penalty and sent to the rear of the field.

With two laps remaining in the second stage, Gibbs and Noah Gragson battled dead even for the lead through the first turn before Gibbs managed to clear Gragson on the outside lane.

Through the final lap and with the field behind battling for positioning, Gibbs managed to retain the top spot and claim the second stage victory on Lap 40, thus recording his second stage victory in his debut Xfinity Series season. Gragson settled in second followed by Brandon Jones, Snider and Herbst while Cindric, Jeb Burton, Allmendinger, Berry and Allgaier were in the top 10.

Under the stage break, some led by Brandon Jones pitted while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track.

With 46 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Gibbs and Cindric started on the front row. At the start, Gibbs received a push from Gragson to retain the lead over Cindric entering the first turn.

At the halfway point on Lap 45, Gibbs was still leading by a narrow margin over Cindric and Gragson. Then, Gibbs got loose entering Turn 1, which allowed Cindric to assume the lead while Gragson challenged Gibbs for the runner-up spot. Just then, the caution returned when Riley Herbst wrecked his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang in Turn 2.

When the race restarted with 41 laps remaining, Cindric retained the top spot on the outside lane while Gibbs challenged Gragson for the runner-up spot. Behind, Snider was in fourth followed by Brandon Brown, who had Allgaier, Jeb Burton and Allmendinger battling behind.

At the front, Cindric continued to lead by a narrow margin over Gibbs with third-place Gragson trailing by half a second.

With Cindric leading under the final 40 laps, Allgaier and Snider battled for fourth while Hemric and Allmendinger battled for seventh behind Jeb Burton. In addition, Mayer was battling ninth ahead of Brandon Jones.

Down to the final 35 laps of the event, Cindric extended his advantage to nearly a second over Gibbs while Gragson trailed by more than two seconds. By then, Allgaier, who was in fourth place, pitted under green.

A lap later, Snider, who took over fourth place, peeled his No. 2 Crosley Furniture Chevrolet Camaro into pit road for his service. The next lap, Gragson pitted along with Jeb Burton, Allmendinger, Josh Berry and Cindric, giving the lead back to Gibbs. The following lap, Gibbs pitted, which allowed Hemric to take the lead.

With Hemric still leading, teammate Brandon Jones pitted for fuel the following lap. Mayer also pitted, but slid through his pit box during his service, which cost him the lead lap when he returned to the track.

Under the final 30 laps, Hemric, who has yet to pit, continued to lead followed by Brett Moffitt, Jeremy Clements, Brandon Brown, Alex Labbe, Austin Hill, Tommy Joe Martins, Kyle Weatherman, Blaine Perkins and Landon Cassill. Far behind, Cindric was in 20th followed by Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Allgaier, Gibbs, Gragson, Jeb Burton and Snider.

With 20 laps remaining, Hemric continued to lead by mover 20 seconds over Clements, with Brown, Labbe and Martins in the top five. Cindric, meanwhile, worked his way up to seventh while Gibbs was in 10th. Allgaier was in 12th while Gragson was in 15th in front of Allmendinger.

The following lap, Hemric pitted for four tires and fuel for his No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra. Then, disaster struck for Hemric, who was busted for speeding on pit road for a second time and was forced to serve a drive-through penalty through pit road.

With Hemric out of contention, Clements was leading by more than six seconds over Labbe while third-place Cindric was in third place. Gibbs moved up into fourth followed by Allgaier.

Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Cindric was back out in front of the field as Clements and Labbe pitted. Gibbs moved back up into the runner-up spot followed by Allgaier, Ryan Sieg, Gragson and Allmendinger.

With 10 laps remaining, Cindric was leading by more than three seconds over Gibbs while Allgaier, Gragson, Sieg and Allmendinger continued to run in the top six.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Cindric, who was approaching lapped traffic, continued to lead by three seconds over Gibbs. Behind, Allgaier remained in third place ahead of teammate Gragson and Allmendinger. Hemric, meanwhile, was mired back in seventh behind teammate Brandon Jones.

With three laps remaining, Cindric nearly tangled with the lapped car of David Starr, which allowed the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra driven by Gibbs to cut the deficit within a second.

When the final lap started, Cindric was leading by less than half a second over a hard-charging Gibbs. Through the first two turns, Cindric continued to lead over Gibbs. Then on the final turn, Gibbs attempted to draw himself to Cindric’s rear bumper, but he did not have enough momentum to complete the run, which allowed Cindric and his No. 22 Car Shop Ford Mustang to remain out in front and fend off Gibbs to take the checkered flag for the fourth time of this season.

In addition to claiming his fourth victory of the season, Cindric collected his 12th NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory as he became the sixth different winner in six Xfinity events at Pocono Raceway, a streak that started since 2016.

“Well, I didn’t know what happened to [David Starr] there,” Cindric said on NBCSN. “I went from a three-second lead to a half a second lead, so these thing’s never easy. I had to avoid two wrecks today, but it’s awesome to, obviously, be in front of all you great people. I’m so excited to see people back in the race track, get the Car Shop Ford Mustang to Victory Lane. I’m over the moon. We’ll keep putting our heads down. We gotta keep getting better. We got strong competition and lot of racing left.”

The runner-up result was Gibbs’ second of the season in his eighth series career start. In his eight career Xfinity starts, Gibbs has finished in the top five in all but one, with his average result being 4.25.

“The lapped cars, definitely, helped me, to my advantage,” Gibbs said. “There were just in the way and messed up. Cindric got stuck up behind them and I was luckily closing. Just put myself in a weird spot where I tried to go under him and maybe, give him a little tap, but I think I could’ve gotten wider and crossed him back over because he went low and I was stuck behind him in the air. Just learning. I’m very thankful to be here…I can’t thank everybody enough. This is a blast and a dream come true running the Xfinity Series.”

Allgaier came home in third place followed by teammate Gragson and Allmendinger.

Hemric, following his late speeding penalty, finished in sixth place followed by teammate Brandon Jones, Jeb Burton, Berry and Snider.

Sam Mayer settled in a disappointing 18th place, a lap down, in his Xfinity debut while Sieg, who was running short on fuel, fell all the way back to 17th.

There were 11 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 21 laps.

Austin Cindric continues to lead the regular-season standings by 101 points over AJ Allmendinger and 112 over Daniel Hemric.

Results.

1. Austin Cindric, 26 laps led

2. Ty Gibbs, 11 laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Justin Allgaier, 10 laps led

4. Noah Gragson, one lap led

5. AJ Allmendinger

6. Daniel Hemric, 18 laps led

7. Brandon Jones

8. Jeb Burton

9. Josh Berry

10. Myatt Snider

11. Brett Moffitt

12. Michael Annett

13. Jeremy Clements, two laps led

14. Santino Ferrucci

15. Brandon Brown

16. Alex Labbe, one lap led

17. Ryan Sieg

18. Sam Mayer, one lap down

19. Jade Buford, one lap down

20. Tommy Joe Martins, one lap down

21. Landon Cassill, one lap down

22. Jeffrey Earnhardt, one lap down

23. Matt Mills, one lap down

24. Colby Howard, one lap down

25. Austin Hill, one lap down

26. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down

27. Loris Hezemans, one lap down

28. Carson Ware, two laps down

29. Jesse Little, two laps down

30. Mason Massey, two laps down

31. Jesse Iwuji, two laps down

32. Joe Graf Jr., two laps down

33. David Starr, three laps down

34. Blaine Perrkins – OUT, Suspension

35. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

36. Joey Gase – OUT, Clutch

37. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident, 21 laps led, Stage 1 winner

38. Justin Haley – OUT, Accident

39. Ryan Vargas – OUT, Accident

40. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is a trip to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, which will occur on Saturday, July 3, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

June 27, 2021
Allmendinger rallies from late penalty to win at Mid-Ohio

From a late penalty to victory, AJ Allmendinger became the first repeat winner at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course after the Los Gatos, California, native fended off teammate Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs and the field in overtime to win the B&L Transport 170 at Mid-Ohio on Saturday, June 5, as he also claimed his second victory of this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Austin Cindric, the regular-season points leader, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Ty Gibbs, winner of Friday’s ARCA Menards Series event at Mid-Ohio and last weekend’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Prior to the event, Kris Wright and Ryan Ellis dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Cindric and Gibbs battled for the lead through the first two turns.

It did not take long, however, for the first caution of the event to fly when Noah Gragson drove off the track and through the grass, where he destroyed the front nose from his car that was also leaking fluid and smoke. Behind, Cody Ware spun in Turn 2. While Ware continued, Gragson parked his battered car between Turns 2 and 3 as his race came to an early end.

Following the incident, the race restarted on the fifth lap. At the start, Cindric maintained the lead followed by Gibbs, Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton, Justin Allgaier and the field.

Three laps later, the caution returned when Tommy Joe Martins due to fluid on the course when the engine from Tommy Joe Martins’ machine expired.

Another four laps later, the race restarted, with Cindric and Gibbs retaining the front row. At the start, Gibbs made his move beneath Cindric’s No. 22 PPG Ford Mustang to take the lead. Cindric, though, was quick to reassume the advantage in Turn 4, where he continued to fend off Gibbs and lead when the field returned to the start/finish line.

On Lap 15, AJ Allmendinger muscled his No. 16 Ramco Specialties Chevrolet Camaro into the lead over Cindric.

Three laps later and with Allmendinger still leading, Harrison Burton damaged the front nose and splitter from his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra after going off-course in Turn 1. Despite the incident, the race continued to run under green.

In the final laps of the first stage, names like Ty Gibbs, Daniel Hemric, Andy Lally and Myatt Snider pitted for fuel. Back on the track, Allmendinger continued to lead by more than three seconds over Cindric.

In Turn 9, Miguel Paludo spun in the gravel trap, but the race continued to run under green. With a healthy advantage over the field, Allmendinger was able to navigate his way back to the start/finish line and win the first stage on Lap 25. Cindric was scored in second place followed by Haley, Jeb Burton, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, Alex Labbe, Michael Annett and Jeremy Clements.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Allmendinger pitted while Gibbs, Snider, Hemric, Ryan Sieg and Lally remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 30 with Gibbs and Hemric on the front row. At the start, Gibbs maintained the lead over Hemric, Snider and the field. Cindric, meanwhile, was back in seventh while Allmendinger was in fifth behind Andy Lally. By then, Justin Allgaier took his car to the garage due to a mechanical issue.

Just past the Lap 40 mark and with Gibbs still leading, the caution flew due to Jeremy Clements stalling his car in the Acura Bridge.

Four laps later, the race restarted. At the start, Allmendinger, who restarted alongside Gibbs, made his move to take the lead in Turn 2. By Turn 5, teammate Justin Haley moved into the runner-up spot while Gibbs was shuffled back in third in front of Brandon Jones, Hemric and Jeb Burton.

On Lap 46, trouble ignited for Daniel Hemric, who limped back to pit road after he blew a left-rear tire, which damaged the left-rear side of Hemric’s No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra. He was able to limp back to pit road and keep the race running under green.

Not long after, Allmendinger pitted along with Gibbs, Lally, Brett Moffitt, Josh Williams and Miguel Paludo. During the pit stops, however, Allmendinger was penalized for failing to meet minimum pit stop time and was required to start at the rear of the field for the final stage.

Back on the track, Haley assumed the lead in his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro. With the clean air, Haley was able to claim the second stage victory on Lap 50 by nearly two seconds over Brandon Jones. Jones settled in second followed by Jeb Burton, Herbst, Cindric, Labbe, Snider, Brandon Brown, Annett and Ryan Ellis.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted for tires with some opting to pit again for fuel. During the stops, Andy Lally was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

With 20 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Ryan Sieg and Cindric started on the front row. At the start, Cindric muscled to the lead on the outside lane in Turn 1 while the field behind scrambled for positions.

Down to the final eight laps of the event, Cindric was leading by nearly 11 seconds over Gibbs while Allmendinger, following his penalty, was in third place, trailing by 13 seconds. Moffitt was in fourth followed by Michael Annett and Haley.

Then, the caution flew when Jeb Burton spun in Turn 4 and was stuck in the gravel trap. Under caution, the leaders remained on the track.

With five laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start, Allmendinger quickly made his move beneath Gibbs and Cindric entering Turn 1. With all three competitors making contact against one another in a three-wide battle, Allmendinger returned to the lead past the first turn. As Brett Moffitt moved into the runner-up spot, contact from Gibbs Annett and Haley resulted with Cindric getting hit and spinning in the grass, which ended Cindric’s hopes of winning.

Despite the incident, the race continued to run under green as Allmendinger retained the lead. Not long after, however, the caution flew due to a multi-car incident in Turn 6 that involved Kris Wright, Alex Labbe and Kyle Weatherman with everyone else scattering around the circuit to avoid the incident.

Under caution, Moffitt, who was running in the runner-up spot, lost power as a result of a fuel pump issue and stalled on the track, effectively ending his hopes of battling for the win.

With the race sent into overtime, Allmendinger received a strong start through the first turn to maintain the lead over teammate Haley and Gibbs while everyone else scattered and scrambled for positions through the first two turns.

When the final lap started, Allmendinger maintained a decent advantage over Haley and Gibbs. With the leaders clearly out in front, chaos ensued behind, starting with Riley Herbst getting into Miguel Paludo in Turn 1 as Paludo spun. Shortly after, Andy Lally bumped into Herbst and sent Herbst’s No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang spinning in Turn 2.

Back to the front, Allmendinger continued to lead Haley and Gibbs through Turns 4 and 5. Having the lead in his sole possession, Allmendinger was able to navigate his way through the 13-turn circuit for a final time to claim the checkered flag and win.

With his second victory of the season, Allmendinger became the first multi-winner of the Xfinity Series event at Mid-Ohio since its inception in 2013. He also claimed his seventh Xfinity career victory, his fifth on a road course and the 10th career win for Kaulig Racing.

“I mean, I’m not gonna lie, I was a little upset,” Allmendinger said on FS1 when mentioning about the penalty. “But we win and lose as a team so I was gonna fight until the checkered flag flew. I knew we had the best car…This Ramco Specialties Chevrolet had some massive rear grip. I lost the restart, [Gibbs] opened up a gap and I know these guys will do it to me, so I barreled in there when I saw a gap and I was gonna come out on the other side clean. That’s all I got there.”

Haley settled in second place for his first top-five result of the season while Ty Gibbs came home in third place and notched his sixth top-five result in seven Xfinity starts this season.

“First of all, congrats to AJ,” Haley said. “That’s amazing. This is LeafFilter’s home, this is [team owner] Matt Kaulig’s home. To finish one-two here is really special. Obviously, you want the LeafFilter car to go to Victory Lane, but I thought we were a little better than AJ there at the end, but I had so much damage. I was just on the splitter so hard…Really, really special day here.”

Brandon Jones finished in fourth place followed by Andy Lally. Brandon Brown finished in sixth place followed by Annett, Josh Berry, Ryan Sieg and Josh Williams.

Hemric settled in 12th while Cindric ended his race in 14th after leading a race-high 30 laps. Riley Herbst and Paludo finished 21st and 27th following their spins on the final lap.

There were seven lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 23 laps.

Cindric continues to lead the regular-season standings by 96 points over Allmendinger.

Results.

1. AJ Allmendinger, 23 laps led, Stage 1 winner

2. Justin Haley, seven laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Ty Gibbs, 16 laps led

4. Brandon Jones

5. Andy Lally

6. Brandon Brown

7. Michael Annett

8. Josh Berry

9. Ryan Sieg, two laps led

10. Josh Williams

11. Alex Labbe

12. Daniel Hemric

13. Jade Buford

14. Austin Cindric, 30 laps led

15. Cody Ware

16. Jeb Burton

17. Gray Gaulding

18. Ryan Vargas

19. Matt Jaskol

20. Landon Cassill

21. Riley Herbst

22. Colby Howard

23. Matt Mills

24. Jesse Little

25. Preston Pardus

26. Kyle Weatherman

27. Miguel Paludo

28. Ryan Ellis

29. Myatt Snider

30. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

31. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Fuel pump

32. Kris Wright – OUT, Accident

33. Jeremy Clements, 10 laps down

34. Jeffrey Earnhardt, 10 laps down

35. Justin Allgaier, 11 laps down

36. David Starr, 12 laps down

37. Bayley Currey – OUT, Electrical

38. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

39. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Engine

40. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is a trip to the Lone Star state for a 250-mile event at Texas Motor Speedway, which will occur on Saturday, June 12, at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

June 5, 2021
Elliott wins rain-shortened, inaugural Cup event at COTA

The inaugural EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, featured wet, slick conditions, wild racing and major milestone victories for Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet after Chase Elliott emerged victorious for the first time this season on Sunday, May 23. The reigning Cup Series champion took the lead on Lap 50 and retained the top spot by Lap 54 while on low fuel when NASCAR made the race official due to late, inclement weather that ended the race 14 laps from its scheduled distance.

Qualifying occurred on Sunday, May 23, prior to the main event. Tyler Reddick started on pole position with a pole-winning qualifying lap at 92.363 mph and was joined on the front row with Kyle Larson. Aric Almirola, rookie Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Erik Jones, Cody Ware, James Davison, rookie Anthony Alfredo, Daniel Suarez and Denny Hamlin started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

Prior to the race, the competitors made a pit stop to change for slick tires with reports of precipitation nearing the circuit. During the pit stops, teammates Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski was forced to start at the rear of the field due to having tape pulled from their cars, which was not permitted at the time.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Cindric made a move on Reddick in the first turn to take the lead while the field fanned out and jostled for positions early in the race through the first two turns and the esses. For one full lap, the competitors made their way through the 20-turn circuit in a calm, consistent pace as Cindric led the first lap.

Under the first lap, names like Byron, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and Kevin Harvick pitted early for wet tires.

At the front, Cindric was leading followed by A.J. Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, teammate Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson. Reddick, meanwhile, was back in sixth place followed by Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell, Bubba Wallace and Kurt Busch.

By the second lap, Allmendinger pitted for fresh tires along with Reddick. A lap later, names like Kyle Busch, Larson, Bell, Matt DiBenedetto and James Davison made their pit stops for tires.

Through the first five laps of the event, Cindric, who continued to run on slick tires, was in a commanding lead over Truex. Shortly after, he made a pit stop as Truex, who started the race on rain tires, took over the lead followed by Michael McDowell, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and teammate Ryan Preece. Cindric, following his pit stop, fell back to ninth place behind Logano.

Three laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Daniel Suarez, who went off course in Turn 13 but managed to continue, stalled on the course due to a mechanical issue and needed a wrecker to have his car pushed to the garage.

Under caution, some like leader Truex pitted while the rest led by McDowell remained on the track.

The race restarted on Lap 9 with McDowell and Wallace on the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, McDowell retained the lead. From Turn 3 through Turn 10, the field continued to navigate through the rain as McDowell led Logano and Cindric. Behind, Denny Hamlin spun in Turn 9, but he continued.

By Lap 10, McDowell was still leading followed by Logano, Cindric, William Byron and Kurt Busch. Stenhouse was back in sixth followed by Chase Briscoe, DiBenedetto, Wallace and Chris Buescher. In Turn 12, Logano made his move beneath McDowell and as McDowell’s car wobbled, the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang driven by Logano muscled to the lead.

With the laps in the first stage dwindling, Garrett Smithley went off course and drove his car through the gravel before returning on the track and continuing. Not long after, Corey LaJoie spun off course entering Turn 12. Then, DiBenedetto ran into the right-rear quarter panel of Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, damaging both competitors as Byron pitted.

Back at the front, Logano continued to lead. Through the turns and the slick conditions, Logano was able to come back around and claim the first stage on Lap 15, which marked his third stage victory of the season. McDowell crossed the start/finish line in second place followed by Kurt Busch, Larson and Cindric. Buescher and Briscoe were scored in sixth and seventh. Ross Chastain, who slid off course in Turn 11, crossed the line in eighth followed by Kyle Busch and DiBenedetto, who continued despite the damage on his car.

Under the stage break, some like Cindric pitted while the rest led by Logano remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 18 with Logano and McDowell retaining the front row. At the start, Logano retained the lead followed by Kurt Busch as the field fanned out again. In Turn 4, Ryan Newman spun after getting loose underneath Ross Chastain, but he prevented the car from sustaining any damage.

Through the twists and turns from Turn 3 through 10 and the long straightaway in Turns 11 and 12, Logano continued to lead followed by the Busch brothers, McDowell and Chastain.

Behind, Ryan Blaney, who got hit by Christopher Bell, spun and went off course as a result of a cut right-rear tire. In the ensuing chaos, the caution flew when Kevin Harvick, who lifted off the throttle through the long straightaway, got hit from behind by Wallace’s car, which sent Harvick into the guardrails and with heavy damage. Stenhouse also received damage following the contact. The damage knocked Bell and Wallace out of contention along with Harvick, who car was leaking fluid, while Blaney and Stenhouse continued.

Under caution, some like Larson, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Truex, Newman and Byron pitted while the rest led by Logano remained on the track.

When the race resumed on Lap 24, Chastain moved a bold three-wide move on Logano and Kyle Busch entering Turn 1 to take the lead followed by Ryan Preece. Through Turns 9 and 10, Preece overtook Chastain for the lead and he retained the top spot entering Turn 11. Kyle Busch was in third followed by Cindric, Chase Elliott and Logano.

Then, the caution returned when Truex ran into the rear of McDowell, which sent Truex’s hood up and blocked his view. With Truex off the pace, Cole Custer rammed into the rear of Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry at full speed, which nearly sent Truex’s car upside down before coming back to rest on all four wheels while Custer made contact with the SAFER Barriers before coming to a stop on fire. Truex and Custer were able to exit their respective machines following the wreck. Following the incident, the race was red-flagged for nearly 21 minutes. At the time of the incident, Chastain was leading Preece, Kyle Busch, Cindric and Elliott.

When the red flag was lifted following a lengthy cleanup, the field made their way to pit road under caution and the teams were allowed to service their respective cars with the driver’s vision. Later on, Chastain led a handful of competitors down pit road while the rest led by Preece remained on the track. Prior to the start, NASCAR announced that all restarts for the remainder of the event will be single-filed.

Following a delay, the race restarted under green on Lap 28. At the start, Kyle Busch took the lead followed by Cindric while Preece fell back to third. Behind, Austin Dillon, who was in sixth, was assessed a drive-through penalty for cutting through the esses.

Back at the front, Cindric returned to the lead by the time the field returned in Turn 11 before Kyle Busch took it back in Turn 12. When the field returned to the straightaway heading towards the start/finish line, Kyle Busch retained the lead followed by Cindric, Preece, Elliott and Reddick.

With the laps in the second stage dwindling, the battle for the lead continued to heat up between Kyle Busch and Cindric, though Busch refused to relinquish the top spot. With Busch prevailing, Chase Elliott started to challenge Cindric for the runner-up spot. By then, names like Newman, Erik Jones and Quin Houff encountered on-track issues of their own.

With a clear track in front of him, Kyle Busch, winner of Saturday’s inaugural Xfinity Series event at the Circuit of the Americas, was able to come back around and win the second stage on Lap 32, which marked his second stage victory of the season. Elliott was scored in second place followed by Reddick, Cindric, Corey LaJoie, Larson, Preece, A.J. Allmendinger, Briscoe and Alex Bowman.

Under the stage break, some led by LaJoie pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track.

With 33 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Kyle Busch retained the lead followed by Cindric, Reddick, Briscoe and Elliott. With the field navigating its way through the esses and through Turns 9, 10 and 11, Busch remained in the lead while the field fanned out. Behind, Brad Keselowski spun in Turn 11 following contact with Newman.

Under the final 30 laps of the event, Kyle Busch was leading by less than six seconds over Larson. Elliott was in third place followed by Logano, Reddick and Allmendinger. Cindric and Chastain battled for seventh followed by McDowell and Kurt Busch. Behind, Stenhouse spun following contact from Quin Houff. In addition, Davison and LaJoie went off track separately. Soon after, Reddick spun in Turn 20.

With 27 laps remaining, the leader Kyle Busch pitted along with Elliott. Busch’s move handed the lead to Larson followed by Logano and Chastain. Two laps later, Chastain overtook Logano for the runner-up spot. Not long after, Kurt Busch, Chastain’s teammate, moved into third place. At the front, Larson continued to lead by three-and-a-half seconds.

Behind, more pit stops ensued as Allmendinger pitted along with Reddick, DiBenedetto, McDowell and others, By then, rain started to make its way back on the circuit.

With 24 laps remaining, Chastain moved into the lead as Larson pitted under green. Kurt Busch joined Larson on pit road for service along with Logano, Briscoe and Ty Dillon. The following lap, Preece and Buescher pitted. Another lap later, Chastain, who last pitted on Lap 27, pitted along with Byron.

Back on the track, Alex Bowman, winner of last weekend’s event at Dover, took the lead as Kyle Busch moved back into second place. Elliott was in third place followed by Hamlin and Larson.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event and with light precipitation falling on the circuit, Bowman continued to lead while Elliott remained in front of Kyle Busch, Larson and Hamlin for the second-place spot. Logano was in sixth followed by rookie Anthony Alfredo, Chastain, Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch. Allmendinger was in 12th in front of Briscoe, Reddick and Cindric were in 16th and 17th and Byron was in 19th.

Two laps later, Elliott took the lead entering Turn 20 while Bowman pitted for fresh tires along with Hamlin. Larson, who trailed teammate Elliott by six seconds, moved into second place followed by Kyle Busch, Logano and Chastain. Shortly after, radio chatters about the fuel window between Elliott, Larson and Busch started to occur, with Elliott and Busch reportedly not having enough for the finish while Larson had enough to complete the race to its distance.

With 16 laps remaining, Kyle Busch brought his No. 18 M&M’s Mix Toyota Camry into pit road for fresh tires and enough fuel for the scheduled distance.

Back to the front, the No. 9 LLumar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE piloted by Elliott continued to lead by more than 12 seconds over the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE piloted by Larson. Behind, Kurt Busch overshot Turn 12, nearly clipping his brother Kyle and Austin Dillon, where he drove his car through the gravel and grass, spun the car to the right direction and continued without getting stuck in the wet mud.

With 15 laps remaining, the caution flew due to visibility and the current track conditions with the circuit wet and light precipitation making its way on the track. Not long after, the field was brought down to pit road and the race was red-flagged.

As rain continued to fall, NASCAR made the race official 14 laps shy of its scheduled distance and Elliott, the leader at the time, was declared the winner. The victory in the inaugural Circuit of the Americas event marked Elliott’s 12th NASCAR Cup Series career win and his six road course career victory as he became the 11th different driver to record a victory this season. In addition, Elliott recorded the 268th Cup win for Hendrick Motorsports, moving the team to a tie with Petty Enterprises for the most all-time Cup victories, and the 800th Cup victory for Chevrolet.

“Man, I couldn’t be more excited,” Elliott said on FS1. “I’ve never won a rain race before, so that’s kinda cool. Just super proud of our team for just continuing to fight. We kinda starting the day, we weren’t very good and just kept pushing myself, kept making some good changes throughout the day and got to where I thought we were on pace with those guys at the end. So, really proud of that. It’s not the greatest thing ever to have a rain race win if it’s your first one, but I think it’s okay if it’s down the road, so I’m pretty excited about that. Looking forward to next week and trying to keep it rolling.”

Larson settled in the runner-up spot for the fourth time this season while Logano finished in third place. Chastain notched his first top-five result in the Cup Series by finishing fourth while Allmendinger concluded his run with a strong fifth-place result, thus recording the first top-five result in the Cup Series for Kaulig Racing.

Rookie Chase Briscoe recorded his first top-10 career result by finishing sixth while McDowell, Bowman, Reddick and Kyle Busch finished in the top 10.

Byron settled in 11th, Hamlin finished 14th, teammates Blaney and Keselowski finished 17th and 19th, Ty Dillon finished 21st, Cindric came home in 25th and Kurt Busch fell all the way back in 27th.

There were 11 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 12 laps.

Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 98 points over Byron, 110 over Larson, 111 over Logano and 116 over Elliott.

Results.

1. Chase Elliott, five laps led

2. Kyle Larson, four laps led

3. Joey Logano, 14 laps led, Stage 1 winner

4. Ross Chastain, four laps led

5. A.J. Allmendinger

6. Chase Briscoe

7. Michael McDowell, three laps led

8. Alex Bowman, three laps led

9. Tyler Reddick

10. Kyle Busch, 12 laps led, Stage 2 winner

11. William Byron

12. Austin Dillon

13. Chris Buescher

14. Denny Hamlin

15. Ryan Preece, two laps led

16. Erik Jones

17. Ryan Blaney

18. Anthony Alfredo

19. Brad Keselowski

20. Corey LaJoie

21. Ty Dillon

22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

23. Matt DiBenedetto

24. Ryan Newman

25. Austin Cindric, four laps led

26. Aric Almirola

27. Kurt Busch

28. Garrett Smithley

29. James Davison

30. Josh Bilicki

31. Kyle Tilley

32. Cody Ware, one lap down

33. Daniel Suarez, eight laps down

34. Quin Houff – OUT, Dvp

35. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Accident, three laps led

36. Cole Custer, – OUT, Accident

37. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Accident

38. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

39. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident

40. Justin Haley – OUT, Steering

Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, during Memorial Day weekend. The event is slated to occur on Sunday, May 30, at 6 p.m. ET on FOX.

May 23, 2021

Cindric perseveres to win the XFINITY Series Drydene 200 at Dover

Reigning Xfinity champion Austin Cindric captured his third victory of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season Saturday in the Drydene 200 at Dover International Speedway. Cindric also won the season opener at Daytona and again at Phoenix Raceway in March.

Cindric started in 16th place but methodically made his way to the front to lead 51 of the 200 laps in his Team Penske No. 22 Ford en route to his 11th Xfinity Series career win.

With this victory, he has increased his lead in the Xfinity Series standings to 62 points over Daniel Hemric in second.

“Every win means so much and everyone that is in this series — I have the unique opportunity to know what I am doing in the future. I respect the guys that I am racing around are trying to get to the top level. I know I have that for me down the road but I have to bring that same energy that I am racing against. These wins are really hard to come by. It sucks that we have had some bad races recently that make this one feel so much better. This is my favorite race track that we go to,” Cindric said.

Josh Berry finished second for his third top-five this season in the JR Motorsports No. 8 Chevrolet, passing his teammate Justin Allgaier with 28 laps to go and captured the Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus.

“It could have been one spot better, we were so good today,” Berry said. “That last run we just fired off too free. Me and Justin got racing each other and the 22 (Cindric) got away. We just weren’t quite as good in that last run as the run before. It’s tough. But when you’re in the top two or three all day, there’s still a lot to be proud of.”

Justin Allgaier finished third, AJ Allmendinger fourth and rookie Ty Gibbs finished fifth.

“It’s just a hard track for me. I feel like this is one of my harder ones. I feel like I’m learning as I go. I’m kind of frustrated. I think I could have ran a little better. We had a good day overall. I will take a top-five any day. We will keep on going,” Gibbs said.

The Xfinity Series heads to the Circuit of the Americas for the Pit Boss 250 on Saturday, May 22 at 4 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. This will be the series’ first event at the Austin Texas road course.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 10
Race Results for the 40th Annual Drydene 200 – Saturday, May 15, 2021
Dover International Speedway – Dover, DE – 1. – Mile Concrete
Total Race Length – 200 Laps – 200. Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	S3Pos	Pts	Status
1	16	22	Austin Cindric	Car Shop Ford	200	8	3	0	51	Running
2	6	8	Josh Berry #	Tire Pros Chevrolet	200	2	1	0	54	Running
3	2	7	Justin Allgaier	BRANDT Chevrolet	200	1	2	0	53	Running
4	7	16	AJ Allmendinger	Hyperice Chevrolet	200	3	4	0	48	Running
5	14	54	Ty Gibbs #	Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota	200	7	9	0	38	Running
6	5	20	Harrison Burton	DEX Imaging Toyota	200	4	5	0	44	Running
7	11	1	Michael Annett	Pilot Flying J myRewards Plus Chevrolet	200	0	7	0	34	Running
8	12	39	Ryan Sieg	CMR Construction and Roofing/A-Game Ford	200	9	0	0	31	Running
9	1	18	Daniel Hemric	Poppy Bank Toyota	200	0	0	0	28	Running
10	19	68	Brandon Brown	Brandonbilt Foundations Chevrolet	200	0	0	0	27	Running
11	13	10	Jeb Burton	Chevy Chevrolet	200	0	0	0	26	Running
12	8	51	Jeremy Clements	First Pacific Funding Chevrolet	200	0	0	0	25	Running
13	10	2	Brett Moffitt	Destiny Homes Chevrolet	199	0	0	0	24	Running
14	31	23	JJ Yeley	Our Motorsports Chevrolet	199	0	0	0	23	Running
15	3	9	Noah Gragson	Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/BRCC Chevrolet	199	6	6	0	32	Running
16	15	2	Myatt Snider	TaxSlayer Chevrolet	199	0	0	0	21	Running
17	20	98	Riley Herbst	Monster Energy Ford	198	0	10	0	21	Running
18	28	0	Jeffrey Earnhardt	ForeverLawn Chevrolet	198	0	0	0	19	Running
19	18	36	Alex Labbe	Prolon/rousseau/Silver Wax Chevrolet	198	0	0	0	18	Running
20	17	44	Tommy Joe Martins	Gilreath Farms Red Angus Chevrolet	198	0	0	0	17	Running
21	24	99	BJ McLeod(i)	Chevrolet	198	0	0	0	0	Running
22	32	47	Kyle Weatherman	Thin Blue Line USA/Police Week 2021 Chevrolet	198	0	0	0	15	Running
23	27	17	Cody Ware	Nurtec ODT Chevrolet	197	0	0	0	14	Running
24	26	74	Bayley Currey(i)	Childrens National Chevrolet	196	0	0	0	0	Running
25	37	6	Landon Cassill	Drydene Chevrolet	196	0	0	0	12	Running
26	23	4	Ryan Vargas #	Drydene Chevrolet	195	0	0	0	11	Running
27	39	5	Matt Mills	J.F. Electric Toyota	195	0	0	0	10	Running
28	25	15	Colby Howard	Drydene Chevrolet	194	0	0	0	9	Running
29	36	7	Joe Graf Jr.	Z GRILLS Chevrolet	193	0	0	0	8	Running
30	22	66	Timmy Hill(i)	ATS Alarm Tech Toyota	193	0	0	0	0	Running
31	40	52	Gray Gaulding	Panini Chevrolet	192	0	0	0	6	Running
32	30	26	John Hunter Nemechek(i)	ACME Toyota	182	10	8	0	0	Running
33	34	48	Jade Buford	Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet	155	0	0	0	4	Engine
34	35	90	Kyle Sieg	Independent Metal Strap Ford	83	0	0	0	3	Accident
35	4	19	Brandon Jones	Menards/Pelonis Toyota	68	5	0	0	8	Accident
36	9	11	Zane Smith(i)	LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet	67	0	0	0	0	Accident
37	33	78	Jesse Little	Apex Wireless Chevrolet	57	0	0	0	1	Accident
38	29	92	Josh Williams	Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet	57	0	0	0	1	Accident
39	38	13	Matt Jaskol	Auto Parts 4 Less Toyota	56	0	0	0	1	Accident
40	21	61	David Starr	Special Report w/ Bret Baier Toyota	18	0	0	0	1	Overheating

May 15, 2021

Cindric nabs his second win of the season at Phoenix Raceway

One driver was better than the rest Saturday during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Before You Dig 200 presented by Arizona 811 and that was Austin Cindric in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

He spent most of the race up in the front and led the most important lap, the last one. It was a battle for the lead and it bit some drivers, but it was Cindric bringing home the trophy.

Cindric stated, “I think it was a role reversal from the last time we were here. He (Justin Allgaier ) obviously got a good restart and stuck on top of three there fighting for track position. I came away with a win here with Carshop Ford Mustang.” He added, “It’s awesome to have them on board for this season, keep pink and white colors in Victory Lane.”

Coming in second with another great run was Ty Gibbs in his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Ford. Having a great finish in third was Brandon Brown in his No. 68 Brandonbilt Motorsports Chevrolet.

Stage 1:

Stage 1 was rather uneventful with no actual cautions. However, on the last lap, Josh Berry had issues and Jesse Little smacked into the wall, but the stage was already over. Cindric would win this stage.

Stage 2:

Stage 2 had a couple of incidents that pretty much involved only one car such as Dexter Bean hitting the wall and Noah Gragson, who had a fire underneath his car. Daneil Hemric won the stage.

Stage 3:

Stage 3 is where chaos would hit but again in mostly one car incidents. Harrison Burton spun and then Brett Moffitt spun. Brandon Jones hit the wall and Alex Labbe also spun. One thing never changed though and that was the leader. The last lap had cars bouncing off the wall and each other, but Cindric made it through with no issues after battling with Ty Gibbs who finished second.

Brandon Brown, Riley Herbst and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top five. Jeb Burton, Bayley Currey, Justin Allgaier, Brett Moffitt and Jeremy Clements finished sixth through 10, respectively.

In the NASCAR Series standings, Cindric leads with 248 points, Hemric is second with 201 points, in third is Jeb Burton with 172 points, in fourth is Allmendinger with 162 points, and rounding out the top five is Harrison Burton with 162 points.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series head next to Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sat., March 20.

March 13, 2021
McDowell upsets the competition, scores first Cup triumph in the Daytona 500

The ultimate upset was made under the lights at Daytona International Speedway after Michael McDowell avoided a multi-car pileup on the final lap to win the 63rd annual running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 14, and claim his first NASCAR Cup Series triumph. McDowell’s first Cup career victory came in his 358th start in NASCAR’s premier series, which marked the second-most starts in the series prior to a first Cup win.

The front row for this year’s Daytona 500 was determined on Wednesday, February 10, following a qualifying session, with the rest of the lineup determined on Thursday, February 11, following two Bluegreen Vacations Duel events at Daytona. With that, Alex Bowman started on pole position. William Byron, the outside pole-sitter, was due to start on the front row with teammate Bowman, but he dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car. The move allowed Austin Dillon, winner of the second Daytona Duel event, to move up to the front row to start alongside Bowman.

Along with Byron, the following competitors that include Brad Keselowski, rookie Chase Briscoe, Kaz Grala, rookie Anthony Alfredo, Cole Custer and Ross Chastain also dropped to the rear of the field in backup cars. Martin Truex Jr. dropped to the rear of the field due to an oil cooler change along with Erik Jones, who did so following an engine change. Bubba Wallace also dropped to the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race inspection twice, thus resulting with his car chief being ejected for the event.

When the green flag waved and the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season commenced, Bowman, who started on the outside lane, crossed over the bottom lane to jump to an early lead in front of Austin Dillon. Shortly after, he moved back to the outside lane in front of Kevin Harvick, who gave him a clear bump ahead of the field through the backstretch and entering Turn 3.

Bowman was able to lead the first lap before Harvick made a move to the bottom lane. Bowman, however, was able to retain the lead with his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE receiving drafting help from Kyle Busch through the backstretch until Harvick made a charge on the inside lane entering the tri-oval. Harvick was able to lead the following lap by a nose over Bowman.

During the third lap, the crew members and the fans saluted the three fingers to pay tribute to Dale Earnhardt, seven-time NASCAR Cup champion, Hall of Famer and the 1998 Daytona 500 champion who died 20 years ago following an accident on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

Shortly after, the first caution of the race flew when Derrike Cope, the 1990 Daytona 500 champion, blew a right-front tire and made contact against the outside wall in Turn 3. By then, Harvick was the leader followed by teammate Aric Almirola, Christopher Bell, Ryan Newman and Bowman.

Under caution, names like Michael McDowell, Matt DiBenedetto, Byron, Truex, Austin Cindric, Cole Custer, Alfredo, Cody Ware, Briscoe, Grala, B.J. McLeod, Denny Hamlin, Josh Bilicki, Quin Houff and Wallace pitted while the rest led by Harvick remained on the track.

The race restarted on the seventh lap with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Harvick and Almirola at the top of the field. At the start, Harvick quickly transitioned to the bottom lane to move in front of teammate Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang. The top lane, however, prevailed through Turns 1, 2 and the backstretch as Ryan Newman rocketed to the lead followed by Joey Logano. Nonetheless, Harvick was able to retain the lead by a nose over Newman when the field returned to the start/finish line.

By Lap 10 and with the field starting to fan out from double lanes to triple lanes, Harvick was still out in front followed by teammate Almirola, Bell, Bowman and Kyle Busch. A few laps later, Bowman became the first car to lead the outside lane as he challenged for the lead followed by Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson. Meanwhile, Harvick continued to lead followed by teammate Almirola.

Three laps later, trouble ensued at the front when a bump from Bell, who was being pushed by teammate Kyle Busch, got Almirola loose, where he made contact with Bowman as both wrecked against the outside wall and in the middle of the straightaway with a multitude of competitors approaching them. What then followed was a multi-car wreck that involved Newman, Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, DiBenedetto, Chris Buescher, Jamie McMurray, David Ragan, Tyler Reddick, Truex and Byron, who nearly flipped on his side before spinning and coming to rest on the muddy grass in Turn 3.

In the midst of the on-track work for the safety workers to remove the wrecked cars, the race was red-flagged due to reports of lightning within eight miles of the superspeedway, which was followed by rain and on-track precipitation. At the time of the rain, Harvick was still the leader followed by Bell, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott. Larson, Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were in the top 10.

Five hours and 40 minutes later, the red flag was lifted and the majority of competitors returned to the track under caution, beginning on Lap 15, and under the lights as the skies darkened. By then, names like Alfredo, Almirola, Blaney, Bowman, Buescher, DiBenedetto, Jones, Newman, Ragan and Suarez were ruled out of the remainder of the race.

Under caution, everyone pitted, except for Kaz Grala and B.J. McLeod. After leading 10 laps under caution, Grala pitted along with McLeod. Bell, Kyle Busch and a few others also pitted to top off on fuel for the end of the first stage.

When the green flag waved and the race resumed on Lap 29, Elliott was the leader while Austin Dillon started along him. Through the backstretch, Dillon received a push from Ryan Preece to take the lead. The following lap, Cole Custer battled on the outside lane to lead a lap for himself.

Shortly after, Hamlin shoved Custer out of the draft in Turn 1 and became the lead car on the outside lane. He went on to assume command of the field.

By Lap 35, Hamlin was leading Keselowski, Wallace, Kyle Busch and Logano with the field settling in a single-file line. Meanwhile, Byron, who was three laps behind the leaders and still competing in a damaged No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, was black-flagged for a loose rear bumper cover.

Two laps later, the caution returned when Quin Houff cut a tire after running over the bumper cover from Byron’s car and made contact with the outside wall in the frontstretch. His incident also involved Chase Briscoe as both sustained damage and slid down to the apron near Turn 1. Briscoe continued despite the incident while Houff was knocked out of the race.

The race resumed under green on Lap 43. At the start, Hamlin received a push from teammate Kyle Busch on the outside lane while Keselowski received a push from Bubba Wallace on the inside lane.

Through the backstretch and after briefly shoving Keselowski to the lead, Wallace made a three-wide move on Keselowski and Hamlin, which sent Keselowski back into the top 10. At the front, Hamlin retained the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Preece, Austin Cindric, Wallace, Austin Dillon and Logano.

By Lap 50 and with the field settling in a single-file lane on the outside lane, Hamlin continued to lead followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Preece, Cindric and Austin Dillon while Larson, Wallace, Harvick, Keselowski and Bell were in the top 10. By then, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott were in 13th and 14th behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Custer. In addition, 22 of the 40-car field were competing on the lead lap, with 12 out of the race.

Ten laps later and with five laps remaining in the first stage, Hamlin was still out in front followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Preece, Cindric and Austin Dillon. Larson, Wallace, Harvick, Keselowski and Bell were in the top 10 while Custer, Logano, Stenhouse, Elliott and LaJoie were in the top 15.

At the start of the final lap of the first stage, Austin Dillon made his move to the inside lane along with Larson. In addition, Preece also moved in front of Dillon, but teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch blocked the move on the inside lane. Through the backstretch, Kyle Busch got shuffled out of the lead draft when Preece and a multitude of cars moved to the outside lane and right behind Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry.

Though Hamlin had a steaming pack of cars behind him, he was able to retain the lead and win the first stage on Lap 65. Preece settled in second place followed by Austin Dillon, Larson and Cindric. Bell, Wallace, Logano, Ross Chastain and Custer settled in the top 10, all of whom earned stage points. Kyle Busch fell back to 12th in front of Keselowski and Elliott.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Hamlin retained the lead. Meanwhile, Jamie McMurray received the free pass and returned to the lead lap.

The second stage commenced on Lap 71 with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin and Bell on the front row followed by Cindric, Austin Dillon, Logano and Larson. At the start, Hamlin received a push from Cindric to retain the lead. Shortly after, Hamlin moved in front of teammate Bell on the inside lane, but Cindric, winner of the Xfinity Series season-opening event at Daytona a day ago, mounted a charge on the outside lane in his No. 33 Verizon 5G Ford Mustang as he had Penske teammates Logano and Keselowski pushing him to the lead.

After leading two laps, Hamlin stormed back to the lead while Cindric fell back to seventh. A lap later, Bell made his way to the front followed by teammate Kyle Busch while Hamlin fell back to third. Austin Dillon, Cindric and Harvick moved up the leaderboard while Harvick was in seventh place and the lone car on the bottom lane.

Another two laps later, the field settled in a long single-file line as Bell was out in front followed by teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin. Austin Dillon was in fourth followed by Cindric, Logano, Larson, Elliott, Wallace and Chastain. Harvick, meanwhile, was shuffled back to 11th in front of Preece, Keselowski, Stenhouse and McMurray.

Not long after, the leader Bell reported debris on the grille of his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry. Nonetheless, he continued to lead teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin while Austin Dillon, Cindric and Logano remained in pursuit.

By Lap 90, Bell continued to lead followed by teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin. Austin Dillon and Cindric continued to run in the top five followed by Logano, Larson, Elliott, Wallace and Chastain, all of whom were locked in a single-file lane. Harvick was in 11th followed by Stenhouse, teammate Preece, Keselowski and McMurray while Michael McDowell, Custer, LaJoie, Kaz Grala and Joey Gase were in the top 20.

When the field reached the halfway mark on Lap 100, three Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas led by Bell and followed by Kyle Busch and Hamlin were all still at the front. Austin Dillon and Cindric remained in the top five followed by Logano, Larson, Elliott, Chastain and Preece. Behind, Wallace, who attempted to make a move to the front on the inside lane, was shuffled back to 13th in between Keselowski and Harvick.

Four laps later, pit stops under green commenced as a number of Ford drivers pitted, including Cindric, Logano, Keselowski, Harvick, Briscoe and Custer. McDowell, racing in his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang, also pitted. Another three laps later, the Toyota drivers pitted, including Bell, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Wallace. Not long after, a bevy of Chevrolet drivers led by Austin Dillon, Larson and Elliott pitted. Prior to the Chevrolets pitting, Preece pitted alone.

When the field cycled back with 20 laps remaining in the second stage, Hamlin was back in front followed by Wallace. Shortly after, Wallace got shuffled out of the draft from Kyle Busch. Not long after, Bell got loose in Turn 1 after sustaining a left-rear tire and made contact with Stenhouse, who went on to make contact with Larson, before spinning entering the backstretch. Grala, LaJoie and McMurray, who spun, were also sustained damage while the rest of the field managed to avoid the incident and a spinning Bell.

Under caution, a handful of competitors led by Hamlin remained on the track while the rest pitted. In addition, Grala came to his pit stall with the right rear of his No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE on fire. Though he tried to continue, Grala’s Daytona 500 debut came to an end as fire continued to burst out of his car.

When the race resumed under green on Lap 117, Hamlin and Harvick led the field on the front row. At the front, Hamlin retained the lead and he moved in front of Harvick on the outside lane entering the backstretch. Shortly after, Logano received a draft from Kyle Busch on the bottom lane to lead the following lap. Entering the tri-oval, Harvick and Logano pulled a three-wide move on Hamlin with Harvick returning to the lead entering the backstretch.

The following lap, Wallace drafted his owner Hamlin to the front while Keselowski mounted a challenge beneath Hamlin. The outside lane, however, prevailed with a bevy of competitors opting to move up on the outside lane and Hamlin retaining the lead. Wallace was in second followed by Harvick, Elliott and Austin Dillon. McDowell was in sixth followed by Keselowski, Preece, Logano and Kyle Busch. By then, the field settled in a long single-file lane on the outside lane.

At the start of the final lap of the second stage, Wallace made his move beneath Hamlin to take the lead followed by a bevy of competitors, including McDowell and Keselowski. Through the backstretch, Logano, receiving drafting help from Kyle Busch, formed a third lane as the pack started to battle intently and tight against one another.

With the field entering Turn 3 and the tri-oval, Hamlin received a push from Harvick on the outside lane to reassume the lead over Wallace’s No. 23 DoorDash Toyota Camry and claim the second stage on Lap 130. Harvick settled in second followed by Wallace, Elliott and Austin Dillon. Logano, McDowell, Larson, Kyle Busch and Keselowski were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Austin Dillon exited in first place. Hamlin exited in second place followed by McDowell, Harvick, Wallace and Logano. Following the pit stops, Larson was penalized for a safety violation.

With 64 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Austin Dillon moved his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE in front of Hamlin to retain the lead. His lead, however, did not last long was Hamlin retuned to the top point with drafting help from Harvick, though he got squirrelly while being drafted by Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang. Dillon settled in third place, the first car on the bottom lane, as he battled Logano and Kyle Busch.

With 60 laps remaining, Hamlin was leading Harvick, Logano, Kyle Busch and Cindric while Custer, Austin Dillon, Elliott, Preece and McMurray were in the top 10. Larson was in 12th while Wallace was back in 14th in front of Keselowski, McDowell and Bell. By then, 18 cars were scored on the lead lap.

Ten laps later and with 50 laps remaining, Hamlin was still out in front followed by Harvick, Logano, Kyle Busch and Cindric. Custer, Austin Dillon, Elliott, Preece and McMurray were still in the top 10. Larson was in 12th, Keselowski was in 14th and Wallace was in 16th. By then, the field returned to a long single-file lane on the outside lane.

Another 10 laps later and with the next round of pit stops under green lurking, the field remained in a long single-file lane on the outside lane as Hamlin was still leading Harvick, Logano, Kyle Busch and Cindric. Custer was in sixth followed by Austin Dillon, Elliott, Preece and McMurray.

Down to the final 30 laps of the race, Hamlin continued to lead followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Elliott and Preece.

Shortly after, pit stops under green commenced when Ford names like Logano, Harvick, Cindric, Custer, Keselowski and McDowell pitted. Not long after, a bevy of Chevrolet competitors pitted. Shortly after, the Toyota drivers led by Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Wallace pitted.

When the field cycled back on the track, Logano was able to assume command of the race followed by Harvick as Kyle Busch and Hamlin, both of whom exited pit road ahead of the field, were unable to blend in front of the lead pack with enough speed and retain the top spots.

With 24 laps remaining, Logano, racing in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, was leading Harvick, Custer, Keselowski and McDowell. Ross Chastain was in sixth followed by Austin Dillon, Elliott, Kyle Busch and Preece. Wallace was in 11th while Hamlin fell back to 13th behind Larson.

Four laps later and with the laps winding down, Logano was still at the top of the field followed by Harvick, Custer, Keselowski and McDowell as Fords comprised the top-five spots on the track. Chastain was the leading Chevrolet competitor in sixth while Kyle Busch was the leading Toyota competitor in ninth. By then, Wallace, who made another pit stop to address a vibration concern, was in 17th and a lap behind. In addition, the top-12 competitors, all within more than a second of one another, were locked in a single-file lane as Hamlin was back in 12th.

Down to the final 15 laps of the race and with 15 competitors on the lead lap, the field remained in a single-file lane as Logano continued to lead followed by Harvick, Custer, Keselowski and McDowell. By then, Bell was pinned a lap behind along with Wallace. In addition, Hamlin remained in 12th place, three spots behind teammate Kyle Busch.

With 10 laps remaining, Logano remained at the front as the first of four Ford competitors leading the way followed by Harvick, Keselowski and McDowell. Behind, Austin Dillon was the leading Chevrolet competitor in fifth as he worked his way to the front followed by Elliott. Kyle Busch was in seventh followed by Larson, Hamlin and Chastain.

Down to the final five laps of the race, the field remained in a long single-file lane with Logano still leading Harvick, Keselowski, McDowell and Austin Dillon.

Logano continued to lead with three laps remaining while the driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet driven by Austin Dillon, currently scored in fifth, was preparing his move as Elliott was in sixth.

With two laps remaining, however, Keselowski, racing in his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang, gained a run and was able to move behind teammate Logano as McDowell also moved up while Harvick was shuffled out. When the final lap of the race started, Logano was still out in front followed by teammate Keselowski.

Through the backstretch, Keselowski received a push from McDowell and closed in on Logano as he prepared to execute his move for the win. Entering Turn 3, however, the two Penske teammates made contact and a multi-car wreck ensued. In the midst of the carnage, Keselowski made head-on contact against the outside wall before being slammed hard by Kyle Busch as Keselowski’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang went up against the outside wall and shredded against the catchfence amid a shower of flames and sparks. In addition, Logano slid up and clipped Chastain, who also made contact with Preece, before being hit by Wallace. Cindric and Custer were also involved in the midst of the fiery accident.

The wreck ended the race under caution and at the moment of caution, McDowell was ahead of the field and declared the winner as he recorded his first career victory in NASCAR’s biggest event of the season.

With his victory, McDowell became the 40th driver to win the Daytona 500, the eighth competitor to record a first Cup career victory in the 500 and the 196th competitor overall to win a NASCAR Cup Series race. The victory was the first for Front Row Motorsports since August 2016 (third overall), the second for crew chief Drew Blickensderfer and the 16th Daytona 500 victory for the Ford nameplate. In addition, McDowell became the third competitor to win the 500 after leading only the final lap.

“I just can’t believe it,” McDowell said on FOX. “I’ve just got to thank God. So many years just grinding it out, hoping for an opportunity like this. I’ve got to thank Love’s Travel Stops, Speedco, [team owner] Bob Jenkins for giving me this opportunity. I’m so thankful. Such a great way to get a first victory. Daytona 500, are you kidding me?! We’re the Daytona 500 champions! We had our Ford partners at the end and they all crashed, but luckily I was able to make it through. I’m just so thankful. God is good.”

Elliott, the reigning series champion, came home in second place as he achieved his best result in the 500 in his sixth attempt to win it.

“I felt like we had a fast car,” Elliott said. “We weren’t as good as I thought we were on Thursday. I felt like we did a really good job executing today. Staying out of trouble, that’s not something I’ve done a very good job of here in this race, so I’m glad we could at least finish this one and have something to build on for when we come back and try to do better.”

Austin Dillon, the 2018 Daytona 500 champion, finished in third place followed by Harvick and Hamlin, who came up short in his bid to win three consecutive Daytona 500 titles.

“Yeah, you know you’ve just got to be thankful to be around at those moments at the end,” Dillon said. “I pulled out to see if the bottom would work and just didn’t get enough of a run. It was close. I’ve got to thank all my sponsors like Bass Pro Shops and everybody that helps this program. We were here all weekend scoring points and that’s all I can ask for…What can I say? Chevy was really close. I had fun working with my guys tonight in the Chevy camp.”

Preece came home in sixth place with a wrecked car followed by Chastain and McMurray. LaJoie and Larson rounded out the top 10.

Logano, Keselowski and Kyle Busch ended their nights in 12th, 13th and 14th following their vicious wreck. The wreck evaporated Keselowski’s hopes of winning his first 500 title in his 12th attempt along with Kyle Busch, who made his 17th attempt to win it.

“[I] Had a big run down the backstretch, went to make the pass to win the Daytona 500 and it ended up really bad,” Keselowski said following his release from the infield care center. “[I] Don’t feel like I made a mistake, but I can’t drive everyone else’s car. Frustrating, the Discount Tire Ford was not the fastest, but [crew chief] Jeremy Bullins and the whole team did a great job of keeping us in position and right then, we were in position. That’s exactly where I want to be running second on the last lap at Daytona with this package. Had the run, made the move. Then it didn’t work out.”

“Pandemonium, I guess,” Logano said. “Chaos struck. [Keselowski] kept trying to back up, trying to get a run. I was trying to back up to him and try to keep the runs from being too big. I guess he got to the back of [McDowell] and it ended up being a really big run coming at me, and it seemed we all just collided in one spot. Real bummer. None of the Penske cars won, but at least a Ford won…I hate that we didn’t win with our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. I feel like we had a great shot, being where we were and leading on the last lap, but if we couldn’t win, I’m really happy to see McDowell win this thing.”

“It’s to be expected,” Kyle Busch said. “Just a matter of time before it all breaks loose and whatever happens happens. I saw a window to the outside and all of a sudden, I had [Keselowski] on my hood…Got clobbered a few good times and just fortunate that I’m all good. Our M&M’s Camry, that one won’t live to see another day. Hopefully, we’ll be back here next week and have a better go around on the [Daytona] road course and get back after it.”

Cindric was scored in 15th place in his Cup debut while Briscoe was the highest-finishing Rookie-of-the-Year contender in 19th place. Wallace finished in 17th place in his first run with 23XI Racing.

There were 22 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 40 laps.

Following the first race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, Austin Dillon leads the regular-season standings by six points over Hamlin, eight over Harvick, 10 over Elliott and 12 over McDowell and Preece.

Results.

1. Michael McDowell, one lap led

2. Chase Elliott, three laps led

3. Austin Dillon, seven laps led

4. Kevin Harvick, 17 laps led

5. Denny Hamlin, 98 laps led, Stage 1 and 2 winner

6. Ryan Preece

7. Ross Chastain

8. Jamie McMurray

9. Corey LaJoie

10. Kyle Larson, one lap led

11. Cole Custer, one lap led

12. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 26 laps led

13. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident

14. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

15. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident, two laps led

16. Christopher Bell, one lap down, 32 laps led

17. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident, one lap led

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., two laps down

19. Chase Briscoe, three laps down

20. Joey Gase, four laps down

21. Cody Ware, four laps down

22. Kurt Busch, five laps down

23. B.J. McLeod, five laps down

24. Josh Bilicki, six laps down

25. Martin Truex Jr., seven laps down

26. William Byron, nine laps down

27. Tyler Reddick, 12 laps down

28. Kaz Grala – OUT, dvp, 10 laps led

29. Quin Houff – OUT, Accident

30. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident

31. Chris Buescher – OUT, dvp

32. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, dvp

33. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, dvp

34. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

35. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident, one lap led

36. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident

37. David Ragan – OUT, Accident

38. Ryan Newman – OUT, Accident

39. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

40. Derrike Cope – OUT, Accident

With the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season underway, the next event on the schedule is the series’ return to Daytona International Speedway for the series’ second points-paying event on the road course layout. The event will occur on Sunday, February 21, at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

February 15, 2021
Austin Cindric wins the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300 at Daytona

The NASCAR Xfinity Series held their season opener at Daytona International Speedway Saturday evening and if you wanted excitement it did not disappoint. Neither did Austin Cindric, reigning Xfinity Series Champion. He drove his No. 22 Penske Ford into Victory Lane. Not only did he win the race but he did it from the pole position but it was also his first-ever superspeedway win.

“Oh my goodness what an awesome race!” he exclaimed, “ What a really fast ride, the 5G Mustang. Unbelievable effort by team Penske,” he smiled and said, “ I’m gonna try to do it again tomorrow!”

Brett Moffitt tried his best to catch Cindric, but in the end, he just wasn’t able to get there. He brought his No. 02 Our Motorsports Chevy home in second place.

“Once the 22 got up front, anytime I got within a car’s length, it just pushed him further forward,” said Moffitt, “Everyone on this team has worked very hard to make a small team into a successful team in a short amount of time.”

Driving home in third place was Harrison Burton in his No.20 Joe Gibbs Toyota. Jeb Burton and A.J. Allmendinger would round out the top five. Brandon Brown, Myatt Snider, Brandon Gdovic, Daniel Hemric, and Jason White finished sixth through 10, respectively.

Stage 1 only had a handful of cautions and most were single-car incidents. When it came down to the end of the stage Brandon Jones beat everyone to the line, winning the stage.

Stage 2 had no caution laps and they pretty much all stayed in their line until it was the last lap of the stage which Moffitt would win. On the last lap a couple of cars got together as the stage was ending.

Stage 3 is where you got your money’s worth.

A few laps after the start Ty Dillon spun and caught Justin Allgaier. Lap 75 saw several cars get tangled together. Justin Currey, Noah Gragson, Michael Annett, along with a few others, were caught up in it with 14 cars in total either wrecked or with some damage. ‘The Big One’ didn’t happen until 11 laps to go and that net tangled a lot of fish. Allgaier, J. Burton, Brandon Jones, Chad Finchum, Daniel Hemric, included, just to name a few. The stage went into overtime and Cindric took the checkered flag to win the race.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series will head to the Daytona Road Course, on Saturday, Feb. 20, for the second race of the season.

Official Results:

1. Austin Cindric
2. Brett Moffitt
3. Harrison Burton
4. Jeb Burton
5. AJ Allmendinger
6. Brandon Brown
7. Myatt Snider
8. Brandon Gdovic
9. Daniel Hemric
10. Jason White
11. Joe Graf Jr.
12. Caesar Bacarella
13. Stefan Parsons
14. Ty Dillon
15. Kyle Weatherman
16. Matt Mills
17. Jesse Little
18. Ryan Vargas
19. Danny Bohn
20. Timmy Hill
21. Josh Williams
22. Jeremy Clements
23. Landon Cassill
24. Tommy Joe Martins
25. Robby Lyons
26. Riley Herbst
27. Josh Berry
28. Justin Allgaier
29. Justin Haley
30. Chad Finchum
31. Ryan Sieg
32. Noah Gragson
33. Bayley Currey
34. Gray Gaulding
35. Colby Howard
36. Michael Annett
37. Jeffrey Earnhardt
38. Brandon Jones
39. Cody Ware
40. Alex Labbe

February 13, 2021

Tag: Austin Cindric

Stage 1:

Stage 2:

Stage 3: