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Tag: Bristol Motor Speedway

Season, as well as opportunities, far from over for DiBenedetto and Leavine Family Racing

When it comes to Bristol, it is usually a story of hot tempers that trumps out whoever it is that won the race. Surprisingly, though, the biggest storyline to come out of Saturday night’s event was instead one of heartbreak and admiration in regards to Matt DiBenedetto’s performance in the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota, as he managed to not only lead the most laps (93) but also narrowly missed taking the checkered in a battle with eventual winner Denny Hamlin.

Despite Hamlin’s fourth win tying teammates Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. for most wins this season, the entire NASCAR community was focused on DiBenedetto’s performance as the 28-year-old Californian had a career night not only in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series but in his entire NASCAR national touring series career. Fans, media, and peers all reached out to DiBenedetto to congratulate him and offer him support, as earlier in the week it was announced that he would not be returning as driver of the No. 95. A lot of backlash was aimed at team owner Bob Leavine despite it being made clear that the decision was purely business related.

Although the loss and DiBenedetto’s post-race reaction were heart-rending, something a lot of people are neglecting to realize is that the 2019 season isn’t over. DiBenedetto still has plenty of racing to do this season, and if anything, his Bristol performance may be the momentum his team needs to contend for more wins before the checkered flag flies at Homestead.

One thing to note about DiBenedetto’s recent surge in performance is that he’s gotten to be strong on tracks where he must muscle the car. All three of his top-fives this season have come on such hard-driving tracks, as he finished fourth at Sonoma, fifth at Loudon, and second at Bristol. Going into Darlington he has an average finish of 29th, but with the way his team has performed recently that may be a statistic worth disregarding. Darlington is also a track where a driver has to drive hard and muscle the car around, and DiBenedetto is big enough to get the job done.

Similar tracks where the No. 95 may shine include Richmond, the Charlotte Roval (where he finished 13th a year ago), Dover, Martinsville, and Phoenix. None of those tracks are handled with finesse; if anything they’re tracks where a driver has to manhandle their car to get the results they want. However, DiBenedetto has also shown himself to be an adept restrictor plate racer. He led the most laps in the Daytona 500 earlier this year (49) and has three top-10s at Daytona, including an eighth in July. He’s yet to score a top-10 at Talladega, but he has momentum from a string of strong runs in recent weeks, and that could very well carry on for plenty of weeks to come.

It’s true that the revitalized LFR organization is without a question the best Cup team that DiBenedetto has driven for in his young career, and it’s likely that his previous averages at the upcoming tracks can change for the better. He’s still learning and growing as is LFR, and it is likely that there are other top-20 Cup teams who are currently eyeballing DiBenedetto for their seats. The general consensus it that he’ll end up in a race car in 2020 for better or worse.

At this point in time, there’s no need to fret. If Alex Bowman can go from BK Racing backmarker to race-winning Cup standout, then DiBenedetto’s trajectory may not be all that different. He’s got it all: Charisma, talent, passion, and a strong relationship with the fans. He’s a humble driver who knows his worth in the sport and he has the drive needed to make it work at the top level. Team owners will get their money’s worth by hiring him.

But more importantly at this moment, he’s got the final leg of the Cup season to race through, and he’ll have plenty of racing and plenty of opportunities to build off of his Bristol performance. His season isn’t over by a long shot, and with Mike Wheeler on the pit box anything is possible. He’s got plenty of good runs left in the No. 95 this season. That’s where his focus and the NASCAR community’s focus should be lying right now.

August 19, 2019
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Bristol

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Kyle Busch: Busch fell a lap down early but recovered to post a fourth-place finish at Bristol.

“Unlike Denny Hamlin,” Busch said, “I would never apologize to a driver whom I passed for the victory. I don’t want anyone to ever say, ‘Kyle Busch puts the ‘ass’ in ‘compassion.’”

2. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin started on the pole at Bristol and overcame a number of impediments, including a loose wheel, contact with Jimmie Johnson, and falling a lap down at one point.

“That’s called ‘beating adversity,’” Hamlin said. “As we all know, adversity is not even close to being undefeated. In fact, it’s the only thing Kurt Busch has ever beaten in a fight.”

3. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished 13th at Bristol, two laps down.

“Congratulations to Denny Hamlin,” Truex said. “But let’s face it, the night belongs to runner-up Matt DiBenedetto, who just recently lost his ride. Fans gave him a standing ovation. And while all those fans were standing, Matt was the one looking for a ‘seat.’”

4. Joey Logano: Logano found himself in an early hole after an unscheduled pit stop left him three laps down. He battled his way back to the lead lap, but damage in a Lap 364 accident damaged the nose of his No. 22 Penske Mustang. He finished 16th and is second in the points standings, 39 behind Kyle Busch.

“It was an up and down night,” Logano said. “Not only for me but for many drivers. There were more ‘uppers’ and ‘downers’ than a sleepover at Tim Richmond’s house.”

5. Chase Elliott: Elliott took fifth at Bristol to post the best finish for a Chevrolet.

“I don’t think the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports car was good enough to win,” Elliott said. “But I’m happy to give Chevy their best finish. It’s a small victory. I guess that’s the result when you ‘manufacture’ a win.”

6. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished last at Bristol.

“Nothing beats a victory burnout with your son in the car,” Harvick said. “I experienced that after winning at Michigan. Bristol was another story. After my performance at Bristol, my son Keelan called a ride-share, because he was ‘Uber-disappointed.’”

7. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski took third in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, recording his first top-five since a fifth at Chicagoland in late June.

“I think fans and drivers alike love night racing,” Keselowski said. “Ask anyone and they’ll tell you, ‘Night racing is way ‘cooler’ than day racing.’”

8. Kurt Busch: Busch finished ninth at Bristol, posting his 13th top 10 of the season.

“I think Matt DiBenedetto’s performance will certainly get him another job,” Busch said. “But really, he probably would have won the race if stubborn old Ryan Newman had gotten out of his way. Thanks to Newman, DiBenedetto got ‘jobbed.’”

9. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished 10th, one lap down, at Bristol, posting his 11th top 10 of the season.

“I cut a tire and triggered an accident that collected several cars,” Blaney said. “Sparks were flying out of the rear end of my car. ‘Sparks’ and ‘rear end’ are never a good combination anywhere, especially at Martinsville after one of their hot dogs.”

10. Kyle Larson: Larson won Stage 1 at Bristol and finished sixth.

“How about J.J. Yeley pulling Slayer as a sponsor for his car?” Larson said. “Apparently, some other sponsors didn’t want to be associated with the band. I guess these other sponsors must have a lot of influence, but I think they should mind their own business. It’s a case of ‘heavy meddle.‘”

August 19, 2019
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings- Bristol
The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series visited Bristol Motor Speedway this past Thursday night for the start of their fourth annual championship Playoffs. The UNOH 200 was full of all kinds of action with twists and turns throughout the evening.

There were 12 cautions for 73 laps which means 36.5% of the race was run under caution which is what you would expect for a place like Bristol, especially in a Truck Series race.

The top spots, for the most part, were filled by playoff drivers, but there were some other drivers who had great runs as well. With that said, here’s a look at this power rankings following Thursday night’s UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
1. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt led the second-most laps in the race. He had a dominant truck as he qualified on the pole, finished second in Stage 1 and won the second stage. Rarely did you see Moffitt in the back of the field as he avoided all of the major accidents. He traded the lead with Ross Chastain and Grant Enfinger, before taking the lead for good on Lap 174. Moffitt led the final 27 laps to pick up his third win of the year and the 10th of his career. With the win, he advances onto the next round of the Playoffs.
  
  Previous Week Ranking- Fourth
2. Grant Enfinger – It was a fifth-place finish for Enfinger and his No. 98 ThorSport Racing team. He led once for 57 laps and finished ninth in Stage 2. Despite finishing fifth, he is tied fourth in the playoff standings with his teammate Matt Crafton. The top five finish continues Enfinger’s consistency that he has had throughout the season that ultimately earned him the regular-season championship.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – First
3. Stewart Friesen – Friesen started on the right foot in the Playoffs, finishing fourth after starting third. It shouldn’t be surprising at Bristol, as he was runner-up in last year’s race. The Halmar Racing driver was unable to lead any laps but had good stage results, finishing seventh in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2. Now, Friesen heads to his home racetrack Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and will look for a popular victory north of the border.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Fifth
4. Ross Chastain – Chastain quite possibly had the second-best truck of the night. He started on the outside pole, led four times for 78 laps and wound up third. He won Stage 1 and finished second in Stage 2. Some may question his aggression, but nonetheless, it was his seventh top-five of the year. The strong season continues for the No. 45 Niece Motorsports team.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
5. Sheldon Creed – Even though he missed the Playoffs, Creed followed Michigan’s strong run with a sixth-place finish at Bristol. He started a disappointing 24th and did not record and top -10 stage finishes. But he was there at the end had things gone Creed’s way. Unfortunately, Creed will have to wait for another race as he finished sixth, his seventh top-10 of 2019.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Second
  
  Fell Out
  
  1. Tyler Dippel – Dippel was nowhere to be seen, as he had a disastrous night at Bristol getting caught up in a couple of incidents. He was involved in two wrecks, one on Lap 131 and the other on Lap 183. The Youngs Motorsports driver was probably more than ready to leave Bristol after recording a 24th place finish.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Third
August 19, 2019
Keselowski frustrated with top-five finish at Bristol

Although he led laps early in Stage 3 and finished third at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday night, Brad Keselowski was disappointed with his top-five outing.

“We had a car capable of contending for the win, we were leading and got tore up,” Keselowski told PRN Radio. “Got the most speed out of the Miller Lite Ford but had to settle for third which isn’t what we wanted, but not a bad day, just not the win I thought we could have been able to get.”

Keselowski qualified 13th on Friday afternoon and it didn’t take him long to get to the front in Stage 1. The Team Penske driver finished eighth in Stage 1 and eighth again in Stage 2.

The No. 2 driver worked hard all night to get the front dodging accidents. It wasn’t until the final stage when we saw Keselowski up front for good, swapping the lead multiple times with Kyle Busch. Keselowski managed to get out front on Lap 265 and led for 85 laps. He took the lead three more times while battling side-by-side with Busch.

From that point on, he was trying to catch the race leaders in search of this third Bristol victory. However, Keselowski will have to wait another year to do so as he wound up with a third-place finish. He is currently fourth in the playoff points standings, -138 behind leader Kyle Busch.

August 18, 2019
Matt DiBenedetto falls short at Bristol with runner-up finish

In what could have been a crowd-pleasing moment at Bristol Motor Speedway, Matt DiBenedetto and the fans were left disappointed as he came up one spot short of victory.

With the final restart coming with 113 laps to go, DiBenedetto rocketed to second place as race leader Kyle Busch slid back when he got caught up in the PJ1. From there, the No. 95 driver chased Erik Jones down and took the lead on Lap 396.

For much of the race, he had the best car on the racetrack. DiBenedetto was weaving in and out of lapped traffic in what was likely the best car he has driven in a long time.

The Grass Valley, California native was determined not to let anything get in the way of his first career Cup Series win. That is, until he caught up to the No. 6 of Ryan Newman. DiBenedetto was struggling to get around him and trying to put him a lap down while keeping on pace.

He finally managed to get around Newman but at that point, DiBenedetto’s car had begun to go away and he was suddenly not the best car on the track. It was now his affiliate teammate Denny Hamlin who had the car to beat.

Trying to be consistent, DiBenedetto was doing everything he could to keep Hamlin in his rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, Hamlin got to the left side of him and made contact with left front fender.

This eventually cost DiBenedetto the win and what might have been the most popular victory in NASCAR in quite some time.

“I don’t even know what to say, I’m so sad we didn’t win but proud of the effort,” DiBenedetto told PRN Radio. “I got tight there from the damage and trying to get by Newman. I immediately flipped the switch and got tight. This opportunity, this is what I want everyone to know, how thankful I am that I got this opportunity and work with great people like Wheels (Mike Wheeler), my crew chief.”

“I’m so thankful to everyone on this team who gave me an opportunity, all of our sponsors, Procore, Dumont Jets and Toyota for backing me this year, everyone at Leavine Family Racing. I want to try and not get emotional but it’s been a tough week and I want to stick around and I want to win. That’s all I want to do is win in the Cup Series. It’s so hard to be that close but it’s neat to race door-to-door with Denny Hamlin, someone who I’ve been a fan of since I was a kid.”

“It’s amazing, a great day but this one is going to hurt for sure.”

The second-place finish was DiBenedetto’s career-best finish of his Cup Series career.

August 18, 2019
Hamlin scores emotional win at Bristol
Start first, finish first for Hamlin and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing, but it wasn’t all that easy.

Hamlin was dominant in the first stage, swapping the lead back and forth with Kyle Larson six times before Hamlin had a right-rear tire go down after contact. The JGR driver was quiet after Stage 1 until he made contact with race leader Matt DiBenedetto for the lead with 12 to go. Hamlin was able to hold off DiBenedetto for his fourth win of the season.

“It feels good,” Hamlin said to PRN Radio. “My first reaction was, I’m sorry to Matt (DiBenedetto). I mean I know those guys really wanted to win and Matt (DiBenedetto) really deserves to win. Watching him (DiBenedetto) do an interview, I get emotional for him. I just hate that I had to take it from him.”

Hamlin sat on the pole Friday afternoon, which gave him his first pole of the season.

Stage 1: Lap 1 – Lap 125

Hamlin was strong early leading 14 laps before getting stuck in lap traffic, allowing Larson to close in and take the lead. Both drivers would swap the lead a couple of times before a caution on Lap 81 when Hamlin was involved in an accident with Austin Dillon and Jimmie Johnson. Hamlin had to pit under caution for a flat right-rear tire that went down.

There were no more cautions and Larson took the stage win. Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, DiBenedetto, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Aric Almirola rounded out the top-10 finishers for Stage 1. Hamlin finished 11th after pitting for the right-rear tire.

Under the stage break, Larson, Truex, Elliott, Harvick, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Blaney, Jones and Clint Bowyer were among the ones to pit.

Stage 2: Lap 135 – Lap 250

The second stage has more incidents than Stage 1. On Lap 160, Chicago winner Alex Bowman had a left front tire rub but no caution was warranted. The battle for the lead heated up four laps later with last week’s winner, Harvick and Truex followed suit. Johnson went two laps down on Lap 169. More issues arose for Hamlin on Lap 178 when he reported a loose wheel and he eventually went in to pit on Lap 186. The problem later turned out to be the right-side tire.

The third caution came out on Lap 191 as Almirola made contact with the 54 of J.J. Yeley. Replays later showed that Almirola tried coming down to pass the 54 before being clipped by Yeley. Almirola would later bring out another caution on Lap 214 after being involved in an accident with the 51 of B.J. McLeod. It was a big moment for Kyle Busch as he had been struggling all night and received the free pass to get back on the lead lap. Busch was running 19th at the time of caution.

A close call took place with Blaney on Lap 231 with the 52 of Kyle Weatherman. Blaney may have received right front damage. A caution came out again on Lap 242 as Quin Houff made contact with Bowyer which sent Bowyer spinning up the track in Turn 2. Bowyer escaped without any major damage. The caution would be a huge break for Hamlin as he received the free pass.

This would set up a late Stage 2 restart with three laps to go. The top six of Kurt Busch, Daniel Suarez, William Byron, Newman, Daniel Hemric and Kyle Busch stayed out under caution. Under the caution, Harvick who had led 28 laps, went behind the wall with clutch problems. The No. 4 driver would not return to the race and wound up with a disappointing last-place finish.

By staying out, Kurt Busch was able to win the second stage. Suarez, Newman, Kyle Busch, Byron, Elliott, Jones, Keselowski, Hemric and Truex rounded out the top-10 in Stage 2. Hamlin was 18th in the second stage.

Stage 3: Lap 260 – Lap 500

In the early part of Stage 3, Kyle Busch, who had been struggling earlier, was able to take the lead and led for 11 laps before Keselowski took over for a short while. Both would take the lead several times creating an interesting battle up front. Keselowski eventually took the lead and led 85 laps before battling with Busch again.

On lap 313, Reed Sorenson was out of the race with a clutch problem. The race started to get interesting on Lap 360 as Truex came down pit road with a right front tire down. Just two laps later, Bowman brought out the seventh caution of the night after blowing a left front tire. Joey Logano and Byron would also be caught in the crash with Logano receiving the most damage.

The night would go from bad to worse for Logano as he was caught with a safety violation under caution. Race leaders Kyle Busch, Jones, Larson and Hamlin, among others, made a pit stop as well.

The eighth caution came out for a big wreck on Lap 374. Blaney shot straight up the track in Turn 1 as he couldn’t turn due to a right front tire that went down. He took Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, David Ragan and Johnson with him. McDowell had heavy damage as did Johnson who had the right side sheet metal torn apart with styrofoam coming out of the side.

After that, there was a long green-flag run with 113 laps to the finish. Race leader Kyle Busch hit the dusty part of the PJ1 which slowed him down and eventually cost him the win. At that point, fan-favorite DiBenedetto skyrocketed to second trying to catch Erik Jones for the lead.

It wasn’t until a few laps later on Lap 396 when DiBenedetto finally passed Jones for the lead. On the same lap, Jones got loose and made contact with the wall and collected Elliott. Jones later had to pit for the damage.

From that point on, DiBenedetto set a blistering pace in search of his first career win. He was lapping cars left and right until he caught Ryan Newman, who is a hard driver to pass on the racetrack. Newman gave DiBenedetto a run for his money.

With DiBenedetto and Newman racing for the lead, Hamlin was able to close in on him, lap by lap. With 12 to go, Hamlin was side-by-side with race leader DiBenedetto. Both made contact on the backstretch, giving the 95 some left front tire damage.

Unfortunately for DiBenedetto, he ran out of time and laps as Hamlin went on to win at Bristol.

“Yeah, he was good,” Hamlin said in describing DiBenedetto’s run. “It was probably the setup I ran last year. Mike Wheeler has a great set up for this place. Matt was just doing a phenomenal job, that’s all you could say. He’s a helluva racecar driver and he’s going to land on his feet in a better ride then he’s got now.”

Despite getting damage early on, Hamlin was able to come back and take home his second win at Bristol.

“It means a lot, it’s emotional for a lot of reasons,” Hamlin added to PRN Radio. “The team is on a roll like I’ve never seen before. It hasn’t been this good in a long time.”

Hamlin led four times for 79 laps before picking up the win at Bristol. He also collected five playoff points in the process.

There were eight cautions for 61 laps and 23 lead changes among 10 different drivers.

Up Next: The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series takes their final off weekend before returning to Darlington International Raceway on Sunday Sept.1.

Playoff Standings
1. Kyle Busch – Four wins
2. Denny Hamlin – Four wins
3. Martin Truex Jr. – Four wins
4. Brad Keselowski – Three wins
5. Joey Logano – Two wins
6. Kevin Harvick – Two wins
7. Chase Elliott – Two wins
8. Kurt Busch One win
9. Alex Bowman – One win
10. Ryan Blaney +95
11. Kyle Larson +74
12. William Byron +73
13. Aric Almirola +63
14. Erik Jones +63
15. Ryan Newman +12
16. Daniel Suarez
Official Results
1. Denny Hamlin – led 79 laps
2. Matt DiBenedetto – led 93 laps
3. Brad Keselowski – led 91 laps
4. Kyle Busch – led 30 laps
5. Chase Elliott – led 33 laps
6. Kyle Larson – led 62 laps, won Stage 1
7. Clint Bowyer
8. Daniel Suarez – one lap down
9. Kurt Busch – won Stage 2
10. Ryan Blaney – one lap down
11. Ryan Newman – one lap down
12. Daniel Hemric – one lap down
13. Martin Truex Jr. – two laps down, led 52 laps
14. Bubba Wallace – two laps down
15. Alex Bowman – three laps down
16. Joey Logano – three laps down
17. Chris Buescher – three laps down
18. Ryan Preece – three laps down
19. Jimmie Johnson – four laps down
20. Ty Dillon – four laps down
21. William Byron, four laps down
22. Erik Jones – five laps down
23. Paul Menard – five laps down
24. Corey LaJoie – six laps down
25. Landon Cassill – 10 laps down
26. Ross Chastain – 10 laps down
27. Matt Tifft – OUT, Suspension
28. J.J. Yeley – 15 laps down
29. Aric Almirola – 18 laps down
30. Quin Houff – 22 laps down
31. Kyle Weatherman – 26 laps down
32. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Front Hub
33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, DVP
34. Austin Dillon – 113 laps down
35. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Fatigue
36. David Ragan – OUT, Crash
37. Michael McDowell – OUT, Crash
38. Reed Sorenson – OUT, Crash
39. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Clutch, led 28 laps
August 17, 2019
Austin Cindric comes up short for hat trick at Bristol

In what has been a dominant couple of weeks for Cindric and Team Penske with wins at the road courses at Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio, Cindric was ready to finally win on an oval.

Cindric got off on the right track in Friday afternoon qualifying by winning his third pole of the year. When the Food City 300 got underway, the No. 22 Money Lion Ford was fast even though Cindric did not earn a top-10 stage finish in Stage 1.

He fought hard and finished fourth in Stage 2 and led for one lap. Cindric caught a few lucky breaks at the end with a caution late in the going. With the caution, the Team Penske driver still had hopes of going three in a row this season.

Ultimately, Cindric had to settle for a fifth-place finish. Still, he was happy with the result.

“I would say we were a little better,” Cindric told PRN Radio describing his car. “I just never got an outside restart the entire night. They mean a lot here, especially when our short run wasn’t the best. We had a great car after 30 to 40 laps, fastest car on track kind of deal but didn’t have track position to use well enough.”

“Congrats to Tyler (Reddick), he’s a good friend of mine but I want it, man. It’s great to be on the pole, great to come home with a top-five. Great day for the guys, so we’ll move on to Road America and see if we can go three in a row on road courses.”

With the fifth-place finish, Cindric earned his ninth top five of the season.

August 17, 2019
Kyle Busch has tough night at Bristol after engine failure

With an Xfinity Series race at Bristol, you had to expect that Kyle Busch wasn’t going to miss this one. It was Busch’s first race back in the series since Watkins Glen a few weeks ago, where he had the suspension problem.

This time around, Busch was looking to put that behind him and win at a track where he has been so successful. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had the pole for a short while before being bumped to the second starting position.

In what would look like his usual dominating fashion, Busch led the first 59 laps of the race before finishing seventh in Stage 1 after making a pit stop under green.

By making a pit stop, Busch would restart on the front row before taking the lead over once again on Lap 94. From there he led for most the stage before a freak accident happened for the No. 90 of Ronnie Bassett Jr. The right rear tire ripped out of the car and almost hit race leader Busch.

Talking back and forth with the team, Busch believed his car would be okay following the incident. The race went back green and Busch led the rest of the way before problems occurred.

Right after taking the Stage 2 win, Busch reported, “we’re done,” to the team after suffering an engine failure. The engine failure relegated him to a 29th place finish after leading 137 laps.

“It all of sudden started about five or six laps before the stage ended,” Busch said in his interview with NBCSN. “Just coming off the corner, I got back to the gas and it broke. I was just trying to limp it home and that’s all she had. Tough day for our Juniper Supra, it was really fast, really good. We’re always good here. It’s nice to have a solid run, but man these guys have had a bad month.”

It was Busch’s second straight DNF of the season. Busch only has one more start in the Xfinity Series before the Playoffs begin.

August 17, 2019
Justin Allgaier disappointed with outing at Bristol

It was oh so close for Allgaier and the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevy who had the car to beat late in the race. He qualified third and was dominant throughout the stages, finishing second in Stage 1 and leading for a short while for 22 laps.

He had a chance to win the first stage before Tyler Reddick who was in second place made slight contact with him which cost Allgaier momentum and an eventual stage win. This let Brandon Jones drive on by to take the stage win.

Allgaier stayed consistent in Stage 2 running up front but never contended for the lead. The JR Motorsports driver had to settle for a third-place stage finish in the second stage.

It wasn’t until the final stage when Allgaier began to shine. He stayed out on a Lap 223 caution for his teammate Michael Annett, as Reddick came down pit road. From there, Allgaier went on a tear to lead 109 laps until a caution on Lap 281 changed everything.

The caution bunched the field up once again and there was a 14-lap dash to settle who would win at Bristol. Unfortunately, Allgaier had a flat tire with 10 laps to go that cost him the win and ended his dominant run at Bristol.

“I didn’t get into the wall, I got a right front flat,” Allgaier said to PRN Radio. “It just really sucks, you know these guys do such a great job. The Brandt Professional Agriculture Camaro was good tonight. I don’t know if we had anything for the 18 (Busch), but when he had his issue, we were definitely class of the field there I thought.”

“Then Tyler (Reddick) had a good car on the short runs. I thought our car was really good on the long run and nothing to show for it. Another Bristol, where we had the dominant car and nothing to show for, it’s just a sucky night.”

August 17, 2019
Clements, Gaulding, Hill, have strong runs at Bristol

Bristol would probably be the last place you would expect to see guys like Jeremy Clements, Gray Gaulding and Timmy Hill finishing inside the top-10, but truth be told, Bristol is an equalizer for teams.

For Jeremy Clements and his family-owned No. 51 team, it was his best finish of the year so far in the 2019 Xfinity Series season. It has been a year of ups and downs for the team but Friday night at Bristol, they finished fourth. Clements, however, wanted a little more at the end.

“Yeah, it was a decent effort,” Clements told PRN Radio. “We started off super tight and faded pretty good there at the start. Got our car a lot better as we went. Just couldn’t get the tightness out like I needed it to through the center. Our RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet and fast Xfinity internet, we had a good run. Got moved on the last lap by the 23 (Nemechek), unfortunately. That sucks, I was wanting that top three, but oh well. Looking forward to going to Road America, ready to kick their ass there and ready to win again. Let’s do it!”

Clements finished 10th in Stage 2 and earned his first top-five of the season.

For Gray Gaulding and the No. 08 Bobby Dotter team, they wound up sixth tonight after a great qualifying effort of 13th. Gaulding finished eighth in Stage 1 while not receiving any stage finish points in Stage 2. Still, it was a solid night for the team.

“I didn’t leave nothing out there, that’s for sure,” Gaulding said to PRN Radio. “I muscled it all night long. My guys gave me a great car. Throughout the race, we just kept working on it to get better and better, just trying to keep track position which was key tonight. So good fight. We’re going to celebrate this one. I mean, we’re little guys here. To finish sixth at Bristol at the night race in front of all these great fans is a special night.”

This was Gaulding third top-10 finish of the 2019 Xfinity Series season.

A fan favorite in the Xfinity Series, Timmy Hill, who was driving the No 61 Carl Long Toyota with support from Hattori Racing, finished seventh tonight at Bristol. It was Hill’s best finish of his career.

“This was a very exciting weekend for us,” Hill said to PRN Radio. “We partnered with HRE, Toyota Tsusho came on board for this race, really excited for that. We wanted to put in a good run for those guys. During practice, I figured we had a good car, did really well in practice. Didn’t qualify as well as we would have liked, but we stayed patient throughout the race, really marched forward. These guys really prepared me a great car. Seventh place is my best finish in my career.”

“I wish we could have got one better if not get a top-five and I’m so pleased with these guys.”

August 17, 2019