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  • Harvick claims the first Cup Michigan race of the weekend

    Harvick claims the first Cup Michigan race of the weekend

    Following a late battle and the slightest of contact with Kyle Busch in the closing laps, Kevin Harvick prevailed through a series of late restarts and in overtime against Brad Keselowski to win the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, August 8, the first of two NASCAR Cup Series races at Michigan of the weekend. The victory was Harvick’s fifth of the season, fourth at Michigan and the 54th of his Cup Series career.

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Joey Logano started on pole position for the second time this season and was joined on the front row with Denny Hamlin. 

    Prior to the race, NASCAR confiscated the spoilers from the Roush Fenway Racing two-car lineup of Ryan Newman and Chris Buescher during the pre-race inspection process. With both teams violating Section 12.4.12.b (spoiler section) of the NASCAR Cup rule book, both competitors dropped to the rear of the field and they were also docked 20 driver/owner points. In addition, their crew chiefs (Scott Graves and Luke Lambert) were each fined $25,000 for the infraction. Jimmie Johnson and Joey Gase also dropped to the rear of the field due to their respective cars failing pre-race inspection twice.

    When the green flag and the race commenced following a 45-minute delay because of the delayed Xfinity Series race occurring at Road America, Logano received a push from Aric Almirola on the outside lane to jump to an early lead as he led the first lap. The following lap, Hamlin attempted to pass Logano on the inside lane, but he lost his momentum entering Turn 2 as Logano retained the lead while Almirola challenged Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Behind, Kevin Harvick was in fourth followed by Alex Bowman, teammate Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski, all of whom battled one another through Turns 3 and 4. 

    In Turn 1, Keselowski lost his momentum and dropped all the way back to 12th behind rookie Tyler Reddick, who was fresh off a one-year contract extension deal with Richard Childress Racing. 

    After the first 10 laps, Logano, who reported a vibration, was still leading by less than two-tenths of a second over Hamlin with teammates Almirola and Harvick trailing behind and battling one another for third place. A few laps later, Almirola dropped out of the top five after being overtaken by Harvick and Kurt Busch. 

    On Lap 14, Hamlin made a move beneath Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford in Turn 3 and both battled dead even for the lead through Turns 4 and 1. While Hamlin led the 15th lap, Logano cleared Hamlin for the lead back in Turn 2 just as the competition caution flew. Prior to the competition caution, Ryan Blaney made a green flag pit stop for early adjustments and fresh tires for the ensuing restart. At the time of caution, Almirola had fallen back to 10th place and Martin Truex Jr. was in sixth while Harvick, Bowman and Kurt Busch were scored in the top five. Erik Jones and Chase Elliott were in 11th and 12th while Matt DiBenedetto and William Byron were in 14th and 15th. Clint Bowyer was in 16th, Jimmie Johnson was in 17th and Ryan Newman was in 29th. 

    Under caution, a majority of competitors led by Keselowski, Almirola, Elliott, rookie Cole Custer, Byron, Austin Dillon and Newman pitted while the rest led by Logano, Hamlin, Reddick and Harvick remained on track. 

    The race restarted on Lap 19 and Hamlin received a push from Reddick on the inside lane to move into the lead through Turns 1 and 2. Behind, Logano, who restarted on the outside lane, retained the runner-up spot followed by Harvick, Kurt Busch and Bowman. A lap later, Truex cut a right-front tire in Turn 3 after making contact with Reddick in Turn 2. He was able to keep his car off the wall and return to pit road for two fresh right-side tires. The misfortune, however, cost Truex two laps.

    At the front, Harvick gained a run on Hamlin in Turn 4 and was able to pass Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota to emerge with the lead on Lap 23. Behind, Blaney bolted his way into sixth place followed by Reddick and Jones. 

    By Lap 30, Harvick was ahead by two-tenths of a second over Hamlin. Kurt Busch was in third followed by Blaney, Bowman and Jones. Elliott was in eighth while Logano was back in ninth following contact with Kyle Busch in Turn 2. Bowyer was in 12th, Johnson was in 14th, Byron was in 17th and Almirola was in 18th. Truex was in 36th while Reddick, who had been running inside the top 10, was back in 35th after making an unscheduled pit stop under green a few laps earlier.

    With no one behind him nor close enough to challenge for the lead, Harvick was able to cruise to the win in the first stage on Lap 40 as he claimed his third stage victory of the season. Hamlin trailed in second place and above half a second followed by Blaney, Kurt Busch and Keselowski. Jones, Bowman, Elliott, Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were scored in the top 10. Logano had fallen back to 18th while battling loose-handling conditions to his car.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Hamlin exited pit road first ahead of Harvick following a stellar pit stop from the FedEx crew. Blaney exited in third place followed by Keselowski and Kurt Busch.

    Prior to the start of the second stage and with the new choose rule implemented, Harvick dropped from second to fourth to restart on the outside lane while Keselowski was lined up in second place and beneath Hamlin on the front row. In addition, Jones moved up from sixth to third as the second car to restart on the bottom lane while Bowyer moved up from ninth to fifth.

    The second stage started on Lap 47 and Hamlin gained a huge run on the outside lane to retain the lead. While the field behind battled intensely against one another and raced three to four wide for position, Blaney took the lead on Lap 49. Harvick settled right behind Blaney in second followed by Kurt Busch while Hamlin and Keselowski battled for fourth. 

    By Lap 55, Blaney was still ahead by less than four-tenths of a second over Harvick followed by Kurt Busch and Jones, who gained a huge run on the outside lane to pass both Hamlin and Keselowski for position a few laps earlier. Bowman trailed behind in seventh followed by Bowyer, Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace. Elliott and Logano were in 12th and 15th while Johnson was in 17th. Reddick, who took the wave around to return to the lead lap under the first stage break, was in 26th while Truex was in 34th, still a lap behind. 

    Five laps later and with less than 100 laps remaining of the overall race, Blaney was still leading by less than half a second over Harvick with Michigan natives Jones and Keselowski lingering behind. Soon after, Hamlin joined the party as he battled teammate Jones and Keselowski for position inside the top five.

    With Blaney leading by less than two-tenths of a second over Harvick on Lap 67, the Busch brothers started to close in towards the top-five competitors for position. By Lap 76, Harvick benefitted from Blaney getting stuck behind a lapped car to reassume the lead. By then, Reddick made another unscheduled pit stop after he reported a flat tire to his No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Behind the leaders, Keselowski moved up to third after passing Hamlin, who earlier nearly wrecked with the lapped car of Timmy Hill. Both competitors continued to battle intensely for the spot as the laps of the second stage continued to dwindle.

    Like his run to the conclusion of the first stage, Harvick was able to pull away from Blaney by less than a second and not worry about any lapped traffic to win the second stage on Lap 85 and claim his fourth stage victory of the season. Blaney settled in second followed by Hamlin, Jones and Keselowski. Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Bowman, Bowyer and Johnson settled in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Harvick, this time, exited pit road with the lead followed by Hamlin, Blaney, Keselowski and Kyle Busch.

    The final stage under green occurred with 65 laps remaining and Hamlin, who restarted on the inside lane, received a push from teammate Jones to move into the lead. In Turn 3, however, Jones and Harvick attempted to place Hamlin in a three-wide situation for the lead. While Jones slipped and dropped back into the top 10, Harvick was able to muscle his way back into the lead. Keselowski advanced to the runner-up spot over Hamlin while Blaney and Kyle Busch moved into the top five.

    The caution returned shortly after when rookie John Hunter Nemechek spun in a flurry of circles on the frontstretch following contact with Chris Buescher. With the caution, Truex received the free pass and cycled back to the lead lap. Under caution, few that included Buescher, Corey LaJoie, Newman, Almirola, Reddick and Nemechek pitted while the rest remained on track.

    With 58 laps remaining, the race restarted and Harvick was able to clear Hamlin on the outside lane to retain the lead. Keselowski and Hamlin battled again for the runner-up spot followed by Kyle Busch and Bowyer while Blaney, Johnson, rookie Christopher Bell, Jones and Elliott settled in the top 10. 

    Eight laps later, the caution returned for another spin in Turn 4 involving Nemechek. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Kyle Busch emerged with the lead after only taking fuel for his No. 18 M&M’s Fudge Brownie Toyota Camry. Jones and Truex followed suit after they elected for only fuel to their respective Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas followed by Elliott and Bell, both of whom opted for a two-tire stop. Harvick also opted for a two-tire stop to remain within sight of the lead.

    Prior to the restart and with the choose rule implemented, Harvick moved up to the front row on the inside lane beneath Kyle Busch while Austin Dillon and Jones lined up right behind the leaders. Keselowski lined up in fifth next to Truex followed by Hamlin and Elliott.

    With 46 laps remaining, the race restarted and Kyle Busch received a push from teammate Jones to retain the lead on the outside lane. A lap later, Harvick made a move beneath Kyle Busch in Turn 1 to reassume the lead. Behind, Truex passed teammate Jones and started to challenge teammate Kyle Busch for the runner-up spot. 

    With 40 laps remaining and with fuel in question for the leaders to complete the race to its scheduled distance, Harvick was still ahead by less than eight-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Jones. Elliott was in fifth place followed by Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Logano, Bell and Hamlin with Blaney in 11th.

    Ten laps later, Harvick extended his advantage to more than a second over teammates Kyle Busch and Truex. Jones was in fourth while Elliott prevailed in a battle with Keselowski for fifth place. Behind, Hamlin was still running in 11th and trailing Team Penske’s Logano and Blaney for a spot in the top 10.

    With 26 laps remaining, the caution returned for a third incident involving Nemechek in Turn 3, who made contact with the outside wall and sustained heavy rear end damage. Compared to his previous two incidents, this recent incident ended Nemechek’s race in the garage as he will move to a backup car for Sunday’s race at Michigan.

    Under caution, some like Logano, Blaney, Bowyer, DiBenedetto, Michael McDowell, Matt Kenseth and Buescher pitted while the rest remained on track. Prior to the restart, Jones dropped back to sixth to restart as the fourth car on the outside lane while Elliott moved up to second and alongside Harvick on the front row. Keselowski and Kyle Busch were lined up behind the two leaders and in front of teammates Hamlin and Truex.

    With 18 laps remaining, the race restarted and Elliott powered his way into the lead on the inside lane. While the field fanned out and battled for positions through the straightaways and the turns, Elliott maintained a narrow advantage over Harvick a lap later followed by a flurry of Toyota competitors led by Kyle Busch, Truex, Bell, Jones and Hamlin. 

    Five laps after the restart and with the battle for the lead intensifying, the caution returned after Ryan Preece made contact with the outside wall in Turn 2. Under caution, some like Reddick and Kenseth pitted while the rest remained on track. Prior to the restart, Kyle Busch elected to restart on the inside lane beneath Elliott on the front row. Behind, Harvick and Hamlin restarted alongside one another in the second row. 

    The race restarted with nine laps remaining and Kyle Busch received a push from teammate Hamlin to take the lead through Turns 1 and 2. In Turn 3, however, Kyle Busch slipped following close racing with Harvick, which nearly involved contact between the two, and Harvick reassumed the lead while Busch lost his momentum and fell back to the top 10. Shortly after, the caution flew when rookie Cole Custer made hard contact into the outside wall in Turn 3 and retired from the race, thus moving him to a backup car for Sunday’s race at Michigan. At the time of caution, Harvick was leading followed by Elliott, Hamlin, Blaney, Wallace, Jones and Truex while Kyle Busch was back in ninth. The race eventually went into a red flag period for nearly six minutes to allow the clean-up crew to clear the incident site in Turn 3 caused by Custer. 

    Prior to the restart when the race resumed under caution, Hamlin elected to restart beneath Harvick on the inside line and on the front row in front of Wallace and Elliott with teammates Blaney and Keselowski in the third row. 

    The race restarted with three laps remaining and Harvick and Hamlin battled dead even for the lead entering Turn 1. It was there where Wallace attempted to make a three-wide move for more, but it was not enough as Harvick reassumed the lead in Turn 2. Elliott moved up to second followed by Blaney, Keselowski and Truex while Hamlin and Wallace dropped back to sixth and seventh. In Turn 4, Austin Dillon, McDowell and Newman wrecked in Turn 4 as the caution returned and the race went into overtime. 

    Prior to the overtime attempt, Keselowski restarted on the front row beneath Harvick in front of Hamlin and Elliott. Wallace and Blaney were lined up in the third row followed by Johnson and Truex.

    In the first overtime attempt, Harvick and Keselowski battled dead even against one another through half a circuit with both not prevailing ahead of the other and receiving not drafting help from behind. In Turn 3, however, Harvick cleared Keselowski for the lead on the outside lane entering Turn 4. On the final lap, Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang were ahead by two-tenths of a second over Keselowski’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang. Though Keselowski remained within sight of Harvick, he was unable to gain any draft for the lead as Harvick was able to claim the checkered flag in first place and win by less than three-tenths of a second. 

    The victory was also the 12th of the season for Ford and the sixth for Stewart-Haas Racing. With his 54th career win, Harvick moved into a tie with the late Lee Petty for 11th place on the all-time series wins list.

    “This was an awesome car to drive today,” Harvick said on NBCSN. “The restarts were obviously a handful, but our Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang was really fast today and we held on for the long run and would really go on the short run and did everything we needed it to do. I think that the confidence is high when we come to Michigan. It’s a race track that’s been really good to us and just fits our style of cars. [Crew chief] Rodney [Childers] and [the No. 4 crew] have given me great racecars at Michigan every time we’ve come… I can’t say enough about our whole organization. Since we’ve come back from COVID, the work that these guys and gals are putting in at the race shop and the organization, they’ve had a lot of really good training from Tony Stewart in awkward situations on how to prepare for things. Thanks, Smoke!”

    “I knew I needed to be right there [with Kyle Busch],” Harvick added regarding the contact with Kyle Busch. “I couldn’t tell if I touched him. I knew I wanted that side draft there. I knew that we had a fast enough car to pass him, but I knew that I needed to take the opportunity I had and I needed to side draft him.”

    Keselowski finished in second place as he came one spot short of winning at his home track. Truex ended his race in third place followed by Blaney and Kyle Busch, who nipped teammate Hamlin at the line for a top-five run. 

    “[Harvick] is just super fast in the corners and the straightaway,” Keselowski said. “He was definitely the best car out here today. We put a good effort to kind of maximize our day and that is what we did, finished second. Proud of everyone on the Discount Tire Ford Mustang team. We will go back to work on it and hopefully find a little bit more for the race [Sunday].”

    “I just didn’t get loose and turn up to the wall by myself,” Kyle Busch said regarding the contact with Harvick. “I don’t know whether he hit me or it was just air. It was close enough that it disturbed my car and made me have to get out of [the gas] real bad and chase it real bad. Thankfully, we kept it out of the fence and at least try to salvage something out of it. That’s a pretty good run for us there. I felt like we had a fast car, but it was the best of the rest. [Harvick] was lights out. He deserved to win the race, anyways. It was a race for second today, overall. We’ve been fighting hard all year. We’ve been running well enough for good finishes. We just aren’t getting them. Today was another indication of that. We should’ve finished second, I guess, but a top five it is.”

    Hamlin, Elliott, Logano, Wallace and Kurt Busch rounded out the top 10. Buescher finished 20th and will start on pole position for the second Cup Michigan race on Sunday, August 9, alongside Bowyer with the top-20 finishers on Saturday being inverted for Sunday.

    Jones, who will not be remaining with Joe Gibbs Racing after this season, finished 11th and is 16 points behind 14th-place finisher Byron for the 16th and final spot to the 2020 Playoffs with five regular-season races remaining. Reddick, who finished 18th, is 19 points behind while Johnson, who finished 12th, is 22 points behind. DiBenedetto and Bowyer, both of whom finished 15th and 19th, are 40 and 41 points above the top-16 cutline while Wallace, who notched a career-high fourth top-10 result of this season, remains 123 points below the cutline.

    There were 12 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 43 laps.

    With his victory, Harvick continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 94 points over Keselowski, 127 over Hamlin and 128 over Blaney.

    Results.

    1. Kevin Harvick, 92 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Brad Keselowski

    3. Martin Truex Jr.

    4. Ryan Blaney, 27 laps

    5. Kyle Busch, four laps led

    6. Denny Hamlin, 10 laps led

    7. Chase Elliott, nine laps led

    8. Joey Logano, 18 laps led

    9. Bubba Wallace

    10. Kurt Busch

    11. Erik Jones

    12. Jimmie Johnson

    13. Christopher Bell

    14. William Byron

    15. Matt DiBenedetto

    16. Aric Almirola

    17. Matt Kenseth 

    18. Tyler Reddick

    19. Clint Bowyer

    20. Chris Buescher

    21. Alex Bowman

    22. Corey LaJoie

    23. Ty Dillon

    24. Daniel Suarez

    25. Ryan Preece

    26. J.J. Yeley, one lap led

    27. Quin Houff

    28. Ryan Newman 

    29. Michael McDowell

    30. Reed Sorenson

    31. Austin Dillon

    32. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    33. Timmy Hill, two laps down

    34. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident 

    35. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Steering

    36. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

    37. Brennan Poole – OUT, Engine

    38. James Davison, 58 laps down

    39. Joey Gase – OUT, Transmission

    The NASCAR Cup Series will return the following day, August 9, for its second Michigan race of the season, which will air on 4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • Greg Ives to reach 200 Cup starts as crew chief following Michigan

    Greg Ives to reach 200 Cup starts as crew chief following Michigan

    A significant milestone is in the making this weekend for Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by Alex Bowman in the NASCAR Cup Series. When the Cup Series completes its upcoming doubleheader races at Michigan International Speedway, Ives will achieve 200 starts in NASCAR’s premier series as a crew chief.

    A native of Bark River, Michigan, Ives graduated from Michigan Technological University with an engineering degree in 2003 and joined Hendrick Motorsports as a mechanic for the No. 24 Chevrolet team driven by Jeff Gordon the following year. As a lead engineer for the No. 48 Chevrolet team driven by Jimmie Johnson and led by crew chief Chad Knaus, Ives was part of Johnson’s historic run of winning five consecutive Cup championships from 2006 to 2010.

    Following the 2012 season, Ives spent the next two seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series as a crew chief for Regan Smith in 2013 and rookie Chase Elliott in 2014. In his two-year role as crew chief, Ives achieved his first five career wins, two poles, 23 top-five results and 44 top-10 results. In addition, he achieved his first NASCAR championship in 2014 with Elliott.

    In July 2014, Ives was named crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS team for the 2015 NASCAR Cup Series season following the departure of veteran Steve Letarte, who joined NBC Sports as an analyst. Nine races into his rookie season as a Cup crew chief, Ives notched his first career win with Earnhardt Jr. in May 2015 at Talladega Superspeedway, the same venue where he also achieved his first Xfinity career win in 2013 with Regan Smith. Throughout the 2015 season, the combo also won at Daytona International Speedway in July and at Phoenix Raceway in November while racking up 16 top-five results and 22 top-10 results. When the final checkered flag of the 2015 Cup season waved, they concluded the season in 12th in the final standings.

    The 2016 season was an eventful season for Ives and the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team. For the first 18 races, Earnhardt Jr. drove the No. 88 car to five top-five results and six top-10 results, and they were situated in 13th place in the regular-season standings. The following race, however, Earnhardt Jr. was sidelined due to suffering concussion-like symptoms. When Earnhardt Jr. opted out of racing for the remainder of the 2016 season, Ives worked with Alex Bowman and Jeff Gordon for the final 18 races. With Gordon, the No. 88 team achieved two top-10 results and seven laps led. With Bowman, the team achieved a pole position at Phoenix in November along with three top-10 results and 200 laps led.

    In 2017, Ives reunited with Earnhardt Jr. with Earnhardt receiving medical clearance to return to racing. Following the first eight races of the season, where the combo only achieved one top-five result, Earnhardt Jr. announced his retirement from full-time NASCAR racing following the 2017 season. Three months later, Bowman was named as Earnhardt Jr.’s successor of the No. 88 Chevrolet with Ives to continue to lead the team. Throughout the 2017 season, though he was absent for two races, Ives achieved one top-five result, eight top-10 results and two poles with Earnhardt Jr. before concluding the season in 21st in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 Cup starts as a crew chief.

    In 2018, following Earnhardt Jr.’s retirement and with Bowman behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro, the combo started off on a high note by winning the pole position for the Daytona 500. Throughout the season, however, Bowman and Ives achieved three top-five results and 11 top-10 results. Though they made the Playoffs, they concluded the season in 16th in the final standings.

    The following season, it took until the first 16 races into the new season for Bowman to achieve his first Cup career win at Chicagoland Speedway in June. Bowman’s victory also snapped a three-year winless drought for Ives and the No. 88 team since their last victory in November 2015. Throughout the 2019 season, the two achieved seven top-five results and 12 top-10 results as they made the Playoffs again before concluding the season in 12th in the final standings, four spots higher than the previous season.

    Through the first 20 races of this season, Bowman and Ives have achieved one victory at Auto Club Speedway in March. They have also achieved two top-five results and six top-10 results, and they are one of 10 teams to be guaranteed a spot in the 2020 Cup Playoffs. Heading into this weekend’s doubleheader races at Michigan, Ives’ home track, the U.P. native has achieved five career wins, four poles, 34 top-five results and 70 top-10 results in his sixth year as a Cup crew chief for Hendrick Motorsports.

    Catch Greg Ives’ milestone at Michigan on August 9 at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • Chase Elliott follows in his father’s footsteps to win the All-Star Race at Bristol

    Chase Elliott follows in his father’s footsteps to win the All-Star Race at Bristol

    As Chase Elliott took the checkered flag to win the All-Star race at Bristol Motor Speedway, social media was instantly filled with those who were disappointed in a race that they deemed lackluster.

    Was this the most exciting All-Star race we’ve ever seen? Probably not. Elliott led 60 of the 140 laps and the track’s surface made passing difficult.

    After it was announced that the race was being moved from its traditional venue at Charlotte Motor Speedway to Bristol, most anticipated a wild event on the short track. For many viewers, the All-Star race did not live up to those expectations.

    But, let’s be honest. Nothing is perfect. We sometimes have races so tedious that we have to make ourselves watch until the predictable end. Then we have races that have us standing on our feet and holding our breath as we anticipate a crazy finish. But generally, most races are a little of both, periods of boredom interspersed with nail-biting, up on the edge of our seats, excitement.

    But NASCAR is about so much more than cars going around in circles. It’s the passion of drivers who are never satisfied with anything less than first place and the adrenalin rush of cars and competitors pushed to the limit.

    There are highs and lows and everything in between but what keeps us coming back is the emotional connection between the fans and the drivers. It’s a community of people from all walks of life who come together for the love of the sport.

    And don’t forget the long, storied history of NASCAR.

    This was only the second time that the All-Star race was not run at Charlotte Motor Speedway since its inception in 1985. It happened once before in 1986 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Bill Elliott won that race. Like father, like son.

    “To join dad in winning this event, heck, I mean, that’s not just special, that’s a lot of years and a lot of history for everything to come full circle like that,” Elliott said. “It’s pretty dang cool.”

    Elliott and his father are only the second father-son duo to win the prestigious All-Star Race, joining Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    Was this the most exciting All-Star race we’ve ever seen? Probably not. But who could have predicted such a historic outcome?

  • Elliott records first All-Star triumph at Bristol

    Elliott records first All-Star triumph at Bristol

    In front of a packed grandstand and with an orange-colored neon glowing underneath his No. 9 UniFirst/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE under the lights, Chase Elliott held off Kyle Busch in a 15-lap dash to the checkers to win the 36th running of the NASCAR All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway following a dominating performance. The victory marked Elliott’s first All-Star triumph as he became the 25th Cup competitor to win the annual race.

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Martin Truex Jr. drew the pole position, but he dropped to the rear of the field due to failing pre-race inspection twice. Alex Bowman, who drew the second-place starting position, led the field to the start alongside Ryan Blaney.

    When the green flag waved for the start of the race and the first stage, spanning 55 laps, Bowman, who started on the outside lane, jumped to an early lead. After leading the first two laps, Blaney emerged with the lead. Behind, Kevin Harvick was in third, trailing by a second to Blaney, while teammates Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth battled for fourth, trailing by more than three seconds. 

    On the seventh lap, just as Kevin Harvick moved into the runner-up spot, Brad Keselowski made the slightest of contact to the left rear quarter panel of Kurt Busch while battling for fourth, which sent Busch’s No. 1 Monster Energy/Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE spinning through Turn 1 as the first caution flag flew. Busch was able to keep his car off the wall and proceed with no significant damage while also being dodged by the oncoming field. Under the first caution, he along with Justin Haley made a pit stop.

    The race restarted with 40 laps remaining in the first stage, and Blaney retained the lead following a strong start on the outside lane. Harvick settled into second followed by Bowman, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott, who made contact with Keselowski to move up the leaderboard. Keselowski settled in sixth followed by Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman while Matt Kenseth and Erik Jones were scored in the top 10. Behind the leaders, Matt DiBenedetto made contact with the outside wall entering Turn 3 after making contact with William Byron when Byron checked up, but he proceeded under green. 

    Ten laps later, Blaney was still ahead by nearly a half second over Harvick. Bowman was trailing by more than two seconds while Logano and Elliott battled for fifth. Four laps later, Elliott pulled off a bump-and-run move to move into fourth after passing Logano.

    While the laps in the first segment continued to dwindle under green, Blaney continued to stabilize his lead over Harvick by approximately half a second. Elliott was in third followed by Bowman and Jones while Almirola, Logano, Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Newman were in the top 10. Jimmie Johnson was in 11th followed by Denny Hamlin while Matt Kenseth had fallen back to 15th, one position ahead of Truex. Rookie Cole Custer and Justin Haley, both of whom were making their All-Star debuts, were in 17th and 18th, while Kurt Busch was mired in 20th, the rear of the field.

    With nine laps remaining in the first stage, Blaney lapped Kurt Busch as Harvick started to narrow the deficit to himself and Blaney. Behind, Elliott was behind by around a second while being one of the fastest cars on the track. Despite encountering DiBenedetto, who was on the verge of going a lap down, Blaney was able to hold off Harvick to emerge as the leader when the first stage concluded. DiBenedetto was able to remain on the lead lap while Kurt Busch received the free pass to return on the lead lap under the stage break.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Harvick assumed the lead followed by Elliott, Blaney, Jones and Bowman.

    When the second stage, spanning 35 laps, commenced, Harvick jumped to an early advantage on the outside lane while Elliott and Blaney battled for the runner-up spot. The caution returned a lap later when Newman got loose entering Turn 4 and spun towards the bottom lane, where he made minimal contact with the inside wall. He was able to drive back to pit road for tires and repairs.

    Five laps later, the race resumed under green and Harvick, again, jumped to an early advantage on the outside lane. The following lap, Elliott bolted his way to the lead on the outside lane when Harvick briefly fell off the pace. Four laps later, Elliott, Harvick and Blaney were separated by above half a second while fourth-place Bowman trailed by nearly two seconds. Keselowski was in fifth behind Bowman while Logano, Bowyer, Hamlin, Almirola and Kyle Busch settled in the top 10.

    With 10 laps remaining in the second stage, Elliott was still ahead by three-tenths of a second over Harvick while Blaney trailed by more than a second as the 20-car field settled in racing in a single file line. 

    Though Harvick remained within sight of Elliott, the Georgia native in the No. 9 Chevrolet was able to stabilize his advantage as he also started to extend it to nearly a second. With no interferences within sight in front or behind him, Elliott was able to retain the lead at the time the second stage concluded.

    Under the stage break, Blaney remained on track while the rest of the field pitted. Following the pit stops, Keselowski was the first to exit off pit road after having two left-side tires changed on his car. Elliott, the first with four fresh tires, followed pursuit along with Harvick and DiBenedetto, who also had two tires changed on his car. Logano was fifth over Bowman.

    Once the third stage spanning, 35 laps, commenced, Blaney, restarting on old tires, benefitted on the outside lane to retain the lead followed by teammate Keselowski, Elliott and Harvick. Three laps later, Elliott made contact to the rear bumper of Keselowski entering Turn 4 to pull himself beneath Keselowski while challenging for the runner-up spot. Two corners later, Elliott and Keselowski raced three wide with Harvick in Turn 2 before Keselowski settled back into the runner-up spot followed by Elliott and Harvick.

    With 23 laps remaining in the third stage, Blaney was ahead of a four-car battle for the lead as Keselowski and Elliott with Harvick trailing. Shortly after, Elliott pulled the bump-and-run move on Keselowski in Turn 1 to move into the runner-up spot as he quickly pursued Blaney for the lead. 

    Approximately 10 laps later, Elliott passed Blaney to reassume the lead. With the stage reaching its final 10 laps, he started to stretch his advantage to nearly a second over Blaney while teammate Keselowski and Kyle Busch caught him for position. While Keselowski and Kyle Busch continued to battle for third, Elliott was able stabilize his advantage to above half a second over Blaney to win the third stage.

    Under the stage break, some of the leaders led by Elliott and Blaney remained on track while others led by Harvick, Logano and Bowman pitted. The decision to pit for Harvick and others moved teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin up to the top five.

    At the start of the final stage, spanning 15 laps, Elliott retained the lead following a strong launch, but he was pursued by Blaney and Kyle Busch while Keselowski fell back to fourth ahead of Hamlin. With 10 laps remaining, Elliott was ahead by less than half a second over Kyle Busch, who made a late appearance towards the front. Keselowski and Hamlin trailed the front two leaders while Blaney had fallen back to fifth with his tires starting to wear out. Harvick, racing on fresh tires, was back in seventh behind Jones and was running out of time to race back to the front. 

    Though Kyle Busch remained within sight of Elliott, he was unable to narrow the deficit between himself and Elliott nor was he able to find another groove/lane with his No. 18 M&M’s/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry to pass him. On the final lap, Elliott was able to stabilize his advantage for a final circuit to race back to the finish line under the checkered flag and win the All-Star Race by 0.418 seconds over Busch while cashing in over a million dollars.

    With the victory, Elliott recorded the ninth All-Star win for Hendrick Motorsports, (becoming the fourth HMS competitor to win the featured race), the 19th for the Chevrolet nameplate and the first for veteran crew chief Alan Gustafson. He also became the third youngest winner of the All-Star event at age 24 years, seven months and 18 days. As an added bonus, Elliott is guaranteed a spot in the All-Star Race for the next 10 seasons.

    In addition, the Elliotts joined the Earnhardts as the only father-son duo to win the All-Star Race. Ironically, Elliott joined his father, Bill, as the only drivers to win the All-Star Race at a different track from Charlotte Motor Speedway, (Bill won the All-Star Race at Atlanta in 1986).

    After taking the checkered flag, Elliott greeted his crew members, performed a smokey burnout and saluted the fans while receiving a chorus of cheers under the lights. With a crowd of above 20,000 in attendance for the race, this marked the largest crowd gathering for a NASCAR race since May and amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

    “Oh, my gosh! I can’t believe it,” Elliott said in front of a roaring crowd on FS1. “What a better night to have fans back than tonight. I mean, y’all are awesome. There’s nothing like Bristol. There’s nothing like the lights here. There’s nothing like racing here. I’ve never won here – what a race to do it. Just really proud of our team tonight and rebounding. We’ve had a really tough couple of weeks and just felt like we had kind of gotten off base and I felt like I was struggling. Just tried to hit the reset button this week, and came out and put on a great performance – great car. Just can’t thank all our partners enough, everybody that makes this happen. All those No. 9 hats and t-shirts up in the stands – love to see it…Bristol is an electric atmosphere that is unlike any other [racetrack] that we go to. [I] Couldn’t be more excited. We’re gonna celebrate this one, for sure, and we’ll take that million dollars back to Georgia. Why don’t we?”

    Kyle Busch, who won the All-Star Race in 2017, settled in the runner-up spot for his sixth top-five result in the All-Star event followed by Kevin Harvick, who fell short in winning his third All-Star event.

    “We’re trying hard and we’re running okay, but it seemed like we were mired in 10th place for much of that race tonight and the last couple of adjustments really helped us,” Busch said. “[Crew chief] Adam [Stevens] did a great job helping the car and making it better. I got a good restart and went from 12th all the way up to fifth [in the final 15-lap stage] so that was a huge bonus for us getting that track position. Overall, just got to keep fighting. I think that’s like four, five six second places this year, what do you do? You just have to keep going.”

    “There were a couple laps there that I had to spend a little more time in traffic than I needed to to get back to the front, but our Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang guys did a good job,” Harvick said. “I think that was the right call [for tires]. That was our only chance. We weren’t gonna beat [Elliott] where we were sitting on the same tires, so it all came down to getting past those cars for the first couple laps, but, in the end, it was definitely one lane. Much different than I thought it was gonna be.”

    Keselowski finished fourth followed by Hamlin while Blaney, who led a race-high 72 laps, settled in sixth on old tires.

    “We managed to win Stage 1 but fought a tight condition most of the race,” Blaney said. “I should have pitted at the end of Stage 2, but it was a fun event and glad to see fans back in the stands at Bristol tonight. We’ll be ready to go racing for real on Sunday in Texas.”

    Logano, Bowman, Almirola and Truex rounded out the top 10. DiBenedetto, Haley and Custer finished 13th, 14th and 16th in their first All-Star attempts while Johnson finished 17th in his 19th and final All-Star appearance.

    In addition to the neon glow under 16 of the 20 cars and the packed grandstands, this year’s All-Star Race featured the implementation of the “choose rule” format, which allowed all competitors to choose their lanes for all restarts, and the exposure of sponsors alongside the cars, where the numbers were moved from the door towards the rear wheels with the sponsors gaining a greater presence alongside the cars for a race.

    All 20 participants of the 2020 All-Star Race finished on the lead lap. There were six lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 13 laps.

    Results.

    1. Chase Elliott, 60 laps led, Stage 2 & 3 winner

    2. Kyle Busch

    3. Kevin Harvick, six laps led

    4. Brad Keselowski

    5. Denny Hamlin

    6. Ryan Blaney, 72 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    7. Joey Logano

    8. Alex Bowman, two laps led

    9. Aric Almirola

    10. Martin Truex Jr.

    11. Erik Jones

    12. William Byron

    13. Matt DiBenedetto

    14. Justin Haley

    15. Clint Bowyer

    16. Cole Custer

    17. Jimmie Johnson

    18. Matt Kenseth

    19. Ryan Newman

    20. Kurt Busch

    The NASCAR Cup Series will return on July 19 to race at Texas Motor Speedway as part of a triple-header weekend. The race will air at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • Truex on pole position for NASCAR All-Star Race

    Truex on pole position for NASCAR All-Star Race

    The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. will start on pole position for the 2020 NASCAR All-Star Race on Wednesday, July 15, by virtue of a random draw. The lineup was revealed during Monday night’s coverage of NASCAR Race Hub on FS1.

    Truex, who is in his second season driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, is ranked seventh in the Cup Series regular-season standings and trails points leader Kevin Harvick by 132 points. He is guaranteed a spot in the 2020 Playoffs by virtue of his victory at Martinsville Speedway in June. He will also make his ninth career start in NASCAR’s All-Star feature.

    Joining Truex on the front row is Alex Bowman, who will make his third consecutive All-Star Race appearance. Ryan Blaney, who will make his fourth consecutive All-Star start, will start third followed by newcomer Justin Haley, who will make his All-Star Race debut. Kevin Harvick, a two-time winner of the All-Star Race, will start fifth.

    Matt Kenseth, the 2004 All-Star Race champion who will pilot the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE that won last year’s race with Kyle Larson, will start in sixth followed by the 2010 All-Star winner and teammate Kurt Busch. Rookie Cole Custer, coming off his thrilling victory last Sunday at Kentucky Speedway, will roll off the grid in eighth while making his All-Star Race debut. Brad Keselowski will start ninth while Kyle Busch, the 2017 All-Star Race champion, will round out the top 10.

    Ryan Newman, the 2002 All-Star Race champion, will start 11th alongside Joey Logano, winner of the 2016 All-Star feature. Chase Elliott will start 13th next to teammate Jimmie Johnson, a four-time All-Star Race winner who will make his 19th and final start in the featured race. Denny Hamlin, the 2015 All-Star champion, will start 15th while teammate Erik Jones will round out the top-16 field as competitors that have already been guaranteed a spot for the main event.

    The final four spots of the 20-car field will be determined following the NASCAR All-Star Open, which will occur prior to the All-Star Race on July 15. The leaders/winners of each of the three segments will advance to the All-Star Race and will be joined by the Fan Vote winner.

    This year’s All-Star Race will occur at Bristol Motor Speedway for the first time in NASCAR history. Among the rules featured for the race includes the Choose Rule, where the competitors must commit to the inside or outside lane for a restart while approaching a designated spot on the track; extra sponsor exposure, where the car number will move to the rear wheel and allow the exposure of sponsors; and underglow lights, where the car automatically qualified for the All-Star Race will have lights glowing beneath the racing vehicles. This will mark the first time where the underglow lights will be featured on the cars since Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson sported underglow lights to their cars during the Burnouts on Broadway spectacle as part of NASCAR’s Champion’s Week in Nashville last December.

    This year’s All-Star Race will feature four segments with 55 laps in the first segment, 35 in the second, 35 in the third and 15 for the fourth and final segment, a total of 140 laps where one million dollars awaits the winner.

    The 2020 NASCAR All-Star Race will air on July 15 at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Jones, Elliott, Almirola cap off Pocono doubleheader with top-five runs

    Jones, Elliott, Almirola cap off Pocono doubleheader with top-five runs

    While Denny Hamlin celebrated another win in the NASCAR Cup Series’ second race of the weekend at Pocono Raceway, drivers that included Erik Jones, Chase Elliott and Aric Almirola trailed the race winner from a distance, but with strong top-five runs entering the second half of this year’s Cup regular season.

    For Erik Jones, a third-place result on Sunday marked a huge turnaround from 24 hours earlier. In the closing laps of the second stage on Saturday, Jones’ race came to a crashing halt when he checked up entering Turn 4, was sent into a spin with rookie Tyler Reddick and made head-on contact with the inside wall that left Jones’ No. 20 Craftsman/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota destroyed and out of the race. On Sunday, racing in a backup car towards the rear of the field, the race started smoothly for the Michigan native as he was able to methodically carve his way through the field. Following the first stage, Jones finished 12 and in the second stage, he finished 13th. Throughout the final stage, which went green for the remainder of the race, Jones made his way into the top five in the closing laps. After making his final pit stop for fuel with 17 laps remaining, Jones was home free to make it to the end. With less than 10 laps remaining, Jones was back in the top five and he was able to gain two more spots to cross the line in third. The result marked Jones’ best finish along with his fourth top-five finish through 15 Cup races this season along with his fifth top-five result at the Tricky Triangle. The result was enough for Jones to move from 17th to 16th in the regular-season series standings as he is 14 points ahead of Austin Dillon for the final transfer spot to the 2020 Playoffs.

    “Yeah, today was a lot better than yesterday for sure,” Jones said. “It’s great to rebound like that. Unfortunately, I think we could have – definitely could have had two top-fives, and really, I think our primary car was quite a bit better than this car. I thought we could have probably contended both days a little more towards the win if we had our primary, but the Craftsman Camry was good. We made good changes overnight. We actually changed a lot of stuff and tried to kind of rebalance with what we had with this backup car. It’s nice to get a solid finish. I mean, we came off a good run at Talladega and went right back to a DNF and to come back here with a third. We just need to be consistent from here and keep it rolling.”

    Like Jones, a fourth-place result for Elliott was much needed coming off two consecutive disappointing weeks for the Georgia native and his No. 9 NAPA/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team. Mired with a 25th-place result on Saturday and starting at the rear of the field due to a transmission change, Elliott was in 13th at the conclusion of the first stage. He then worked his way into the top 10 throughout the second stage before finishing 11th after being edged by Hamlin for the final stage point. With less than 50 laps remaining in the final stage, Elliott was among a handful of competitors who made a green-flag pit stop for fuel that would last to the finish. For the remainder of the race, Elliott paced himself around the Tricky Triangle and benefited when more competitors, including Brad Keselowski, pitted to move up the leaderboard and cross the line in fourth. At the end of the race, Elliott was the highest-running Hendrick Motorsports’ car as William Byron and Alex Bowman finished in the top 10 while Jimmie Johnson finished 16th in his final run at Pocono. With Elliott’s fourth-place run, it was his seventh top-five result through 14 Cup races of the 2020 season and his third at the Tricky Triangle. Elliott and his No. 9 team are already guaranteed a spot in the 2020 Playoffs based on Elliott’s win at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

    “It was good to have a solid run for our NAPA team after yesterday being so poor,” Elliott said. “Obviously, we would’ve liked to of been a little better, but after starting in the back, I was pleased how I was able to move forward and gain a lot of that track position back. It was a good rebound. Looking forward to getting back on track at Indy.”

    Lastly, Almirola had a memorable weekend as he finished fifth and capped off the Pocono doubleheader with two consecutive top-five results. A day earlier, Almirola led the field to the start, led a race-high 61 laps and came home in third. On Sunday, Almirola started 18th and after pitting in the closing laps of the first stage, he was scored in 31st. By the start of the second stage, the Florida native was able to work his way into the top 10 and in the closing laps, his No. 10 Smithfield/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was ahead of the pack. He took the lead just before a late caution for a single-car spin and on the following restart, Almirola was overtaken by Brad Keselowski and settled in second while earning valuable stage points in the second stage. With 25 laps remaining in the final stage, Almirola was in second, but was needing to pit for a final time to make it to the end on fuel. Four laps later, he pitted for fuel to make it to the end. With 10 laps remaining, he worked his way back to sixth and then, he gained one more position in the remaining laps to finish fifth. The fifth-place result was Almirola’s fourth consecutive top-five result and his second straight at Pocono after recording zero top-five results in his previous 15 starts at the Tricky Triangle. Following two stellar runs at Pocono, Almirola moved from 12th to ninth in the regular-season standings as he is 104 above the top-16 cutline.

    “Another top five,” Almirola said. “I’m so proud of [crew chief Mike Bugarewicz] and al the guys on this 10 team. That’s four top fives in a row. What a weekend we had here in Pocono, got a lot of stage points and finished third yesterday and fifth today. We’re riding a wave of momentum … We’ll go to Indy, a place that’s very similar to the tunnel turn at Pocono and felt like we were really good there this weekend. I’m excited about Indy and another top five.”

    The three drivers along with their fellow competitors will return for the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series’ race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400. The race will air on July 5 at 4 p.m. on NBC.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Atlanta

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Atlanta

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Kevin Harvick: Harvick led 105 of the final 108 laps, dominating the last stage to win the Folds Of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta.

    “The No. 4 Chevy was awesome today,” Harvick said. “I knew we were going to be fast by just looking at our paint scheme. Busch beer and Hunt Brothers Pizza make a lethal combination, and not just in your stomach.”

    2. Joey Logano: Logano came home 10th at Atlanta, posting his fifth top 10 of the season.

    “I guess I could blame my performance on handling,” Logano said. “I didn’t have a handling problem last week at Bristol, because regarding the Chase Elliott wrecking me situation, I ‘handled’ it. Of course, I handled it not with a fist, but with the hand of compassion, which most would say has ruined too many budding feuds in this sport.”

    3. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished ninth at Atlanta.

    “It’s an unprecedented time in our sport,” Keselowski said. “Hopefully, things will change. But how must Richard Petty and Richard Childress be feeling for criticizing kneeling athletes in the past? Probably like ‘Dicks.’”

    4. Chase Elliott: Elliott started on the pole at Atlanta and finished eighth.

    “It’s always fun racing on Atlanta’s surface,” Elliott said. “The track can get pretty slick, especially on the turns with their 24 degree banking. And a ‘slippery slope’ fits in perfectly with NASCAR’s newfound political stance.”

    5. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex won Stages 1 and 2 at Atlanta, but couldn’t catch Kevin Harvick over the course of the final stage. Truex settled for third, right behind Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch.

    “Harvick had the best car when it counted,” Truex said. “In other words, he was in the driver’s seat. That meant I had to take a back seat.”

    6. Alex Bowman: Bowman finished 12th at Atlanta, and is eighth in the points standings.

    “It’s good to hear Bubba Wallace is doing better,” Bowman said. “I hear he got the ‘OK’ from doctors, right after they gave him the ‘IV.’”

    7. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished fifth at Atlanta and is now seventh in the Cup points standings, 94 out of first.

    “Wow,” Hamlin said, “Bubba Wallace passed out during an interview after the race. That’s one instance in which even Richard Petty says it’s okay to take a knee.”

    8. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished fourth in the Folds Of Honor QuikTrip 500.

    “And speaking of ‘Quik Trips,’” Blaney said, “NASCAR’s road to racial justice recognition should be over soon, once the fan base takes its stand, which certainly won’t be on a knee.”

    9. Kyle Busch: Kyle Busch finished second at Atlanta, claiming his second consecutive top-five result.

    “Now that the Trucks bounty is off my head,” Busch said, “I feel like I’ve found a renewed focus. Just give me a few races, and I’m sure I’ll become the ‘poster boy’ for something.”

    10. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished seventh at Atlanta and hasn’t won a race in over three years.

    “I think it’s great that we paused for a moment of silence before the start of the race,” Johnson said. “It would have been even better if we then paused for a moment of uncomfortable silence in honor of all the drivers and owners who haven’t spoken out against racial injustice.”

  • Sweet redemption for Elliott at Charlotte

    Sweet redemption for Elliott at Charlotte

    After the two previous races got away from Chase Elliott, he came back on Thursday evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway and found redemption. Following a late pass for the lead and benefiting from a green flag run to the finish, Elliott notched his first elusive NASCAR Cup Series win of the season in the rain-delayed Alsco Uniforms 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The victory was the seventh of his Cup career in his 157th series start and his second at Charlotte as Elliott became the sixth Cup regular to win this season. The victory came two days after Elliott celebrated a Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series bounty win at Charlotte over Kyle Busch.

    “It feels awesome,” Elliott said. “Man, it’s been a tough week, for sure. We’ve had some tough losses, but that deal on Sunday night was a heartbreaker. It’s not the Coke 600, but any win in the Cup Series is really hard to get. Just appreciate my team. [Crew chief] Alan [Gustafson] made a great call there at the end to get it tuned up and luckily, the run went long and I think that fell in our favor.” 

    The race was postponed to Thursday evening after persistent rain canceled original plans for the event to run on Wednesday evening, May 27.

    The starting lineup was based on the results from Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on May 24, with the top-20 finishers from Sunday being inverted for the event. William Byron, who finished 20th in the Coke 600, started on pole position while teammate Alex Bowman joined him on the front row.

    Josh Bilicki and J.J. Yeley were sent to the rear of the field due to driver changes from Sunday’s 600-mile race. Aric Almirola also started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

    When the green flag dropped, Byron launched ahead of the field followed by DiBenedetto, who was drafting Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet from the start. After drafting Byron through Turn 1, DiBenedetto made a move on the inside lane in Turn 2 and took the lead entering Turn 3. 

    The field was feet away from starting the first lap of the race when the first caution came out as teammates Joey Gase and Garrett Smithley made contact with one another and wrecked in Turn 3. Gase sustained significant right-rear damage while Smithley entered pit road with significant right-side damage as flames engulfed the underneath of his No. 53 Chevrolet. Under caution, Ty Dillon made a pit stop after reporting power steering issues.

    Following an extensive cleanup, the race restarted on the ninth lap. On this restart, Byron benefitted from the bottom lane and a push from teammate Bowman to lead the following lap, but DiBenedetto remained dead even with Byron for the next circuit. A lap later, Byron managed to clear DiBenedetto and slowly pull away with the lead as Bowman made his move to take second over DiBenedetto. Byron would be uncontested as he remained in the lead at the time of the competition caution on Lap 20. By the time the caution was displayed, DiBenedetto was able to retake second over Bowman.

    Under caution, the majority of the field pitted, except for Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace. With most of the front-runners opting to have two tires changed on their respective cars, Byron was able to exit pit road first followed by DiBenedetto, Bowman, Kurt Busch and rookie Christopher Bell. During his stop, Byron made contact with Corey LaJoie, who was turning left to enter his pit stall, while turning right to exit his pit stall. While Byron sustained minimal right-side damage to his car from the contact, he made an extra pit stop to have his left-side tires changed. During the pit stops, Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin were sent to the rear of the field after both sped on pit road.

    On the following restart on Lap 24, Logano received a push from teammate Blaney and DiBenedetto on the bottom lane to inherit the lead as the field expanded to racing three-wide through Turns 2 and 3.

    The caution flew five laps later, when Matt Kenseth spun in Turn 3, but was able to straighten and drive his No. 42 Chevrolet back to his pit stall. Just in front of him, Brad Keselowski, who was 16th, fell off the pace when he sustained a flat right-front tire.

    Shortly after, the cars made their way to pit road and the race was red-flagged due to lightning and severe thunderstorms surrounding the racetrack. With the rain progressing, the Air Titans were dispatched on track.

    Following a delay that spanned 74 minutes, the drivers returned to their cars and the race resumed under the lights as the skies fell into darkness. Under caution, Bell, Jimmie Johnson, rookie Custer, Bowyer and Daniel Suarez pitted while the others remained on track. Keselowski, Kenseth and Byron also pitted to have the damage to their respective machines repaired.

    When the race restarted on Lap 34, Logano maintained the lead and was able to maintain a decent pace over DiBenedetto and Blaney. By Lap 45, Harvick, who started 16th, was fourth, Kyle Busch, who started 17th, was 11th and Elliott, who started 19th, was ninth. Jimmie Johnson, who started at the rear of the field, was in 19th. Hamlin and Bowyer, following their early pit road spending penalties, were running outside the top 20. Byron and Keselowski, following their pit stops for repairs under the previous caution, had made their way only up to 24th and 27th while Kenseth was trapped in 38th, one lap behind.

    For the final 22-lap green-flag run, Logano was uncontested as he was able to win the first stage. Blaney made his way to second followed by DiBenedetto, Harvick and Bowman. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Elliott and Chris Buescher rounded out the top 10 at the conclusion of the first stage.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap cars pitted for four tires, fuel and adjustments. Logano was able to maintain his lead by exiting pit road first followed by Blaney, Harvick, Bowman and Kurt Busch. DiBenedetto, Buescher, Elliott, Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch exited in the top 10.

    The restart on Lap 63 to start the second stage was where the fireworks on the track started to ignite as Logano maintained his advantage while being challenged by Blaney. While racing four-wide with Erik Jones, Stenhouse and Almirola through Turn 2, Kyle Busch and Almirola made contact in Turn 3, which cut Busch’s left rear tire and damaged his left rear quarter panel. Following the contact, Busch fell off the pace as everyone behind him scattered through Turns 3 and 4 to avoid hitting Busch’s No. 18 Toyota. The damage was enough to force Busch to make an unscheduled stop the following lap, where he fell out of the lead lap. During the tight racing, Ryan Newman also sustained a tire rub, but remained on track. 

    In the midst of the tight racing behind him, three laps later, Harvick was able to take the lead from Logano while Busch, two laps behind, still had damage to the left rear quarter panel. By Lap 70, Harvick checked out to a lead above a second over Logano. Two laps later, Bowman moved into second over Logano.

    The caution returned on Lap 74, when rookies Quin Houff and Brennan Poole tangled in Turn 1, with both drivers making contact with the wall. Under caution, Harvick surrendered the lead to pit for four tires and fuel, giving the lead to Bowman, who was one of 14 cars who opted not to pit.

    When the race restarted on Lap 79, Bowman received a push from Blaney to maintain the lead over the field. By Lap 93, Blaney moved to second after passing teammate Logano and was trailing Bowman by less than two seconds. Additionally, Elliott moved into fourth after passing Kurt Busch and Harvick, who restarted 17th, rallied his way to eighth. With all four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas running outside the top 10, Hamlin was the highest-running JGR competitor in 17th while Kyle Busch was back in 37th, still trapped two laps behind and with a damaged left rear quarter panel.

    The 100-lap mark featured unique names running inside the top 10 on track, with Austin Dillon in seventh followed by Bell and Wallace while Nemechek and Reddick were 11th and 12th.

    While the majority of competitors continued jostling one another for positions, Bowman was able to drive his No. 88 Chevrolet to the win in the second stage over two seconds over Blaney. Logano held off Elliott to finish third followed by Harvick. Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon, Nemechek, Bell and Wallace finished in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Bowman exited first over Logano followed by Harvick, Blaney and Kurt Busch. Elliott exited sixth followed by Hamlin, who gained five positions following a stellar pit stop from his pit crew. Austin Dillon, Bowyer and Wallace exited in the top 10. During the pit stops, Bowyer was tabbed with a second pit road speeding penalty and was sent to the rear.

    The restart of the final stage occurred with 86 laps remaining as Bowman maintained the lead over Logano after clearing him in Turn 3. A lap later, Harvick made his way to second. Three laps later, Harvick made a bold move on the outside lane entering Turn 4 to reassume the lead over Bowman. Additionally, Elliott passed Blaney and Logano to move to third. 

    With 74 laps remaining, Bowman’s race fell apart after he slipped entering Turn 4 and slapped the outside wall, damaging the right side of his No. 88 Chevrolet while attempting to narrow his deficit from Harvick. A lap later, Bowman pitted to have the damage repaired, which cost him a lead-lap finish, as the race remained green. During this time, Blaney moved to second followed by Elliott, Logano, Hamlin and Kurt Busch.

    The caution returned with 64 laps remaining when Timmy Hill’s car fell off the pace in Turn 4. Under caution and following the pit stops, Harvick led the field off pit road while Hamlin gained three spots to move into second. Blaney, Kurt Busch, Elliott and Logano followed in pursuit. Jones was assessed a penalty and was held a lap in his pit box for pitting outside his box.

    When the race restarted with 59 laps remaining, Harvick maintained his advantage with a bump from Blaney. Behind Harvick, the front-runners raced two-by-two through Turn 2 before Blaney cleared the field to move into second and Elliott pursued Hamlin for third. Behind, Stenhouse, making a late rally, took fifth from Kurt Busch. 

    With 50 laps remaining, Elliott and Blaney engaged in a heated battle for second behind Harvick while Stenhouse battled Hamlin for fourth.

    With 43 laps remaining, Wallace, who spent the majority of the event running inside the top 10, made an unscheduled pit stop for a flat right-rear tire that was initiated from making contact with the wall. Shortly after, braking issues forced Wallace to park his car in the garage and end his race in the late stages.

    With 27 laps remaining, Elliott, who persevered over his battle with Blaney and started to reel in Harvick, made a move on the inside lane in Turn 2 and used the lapped car of Suarez, running on the high lane, to take the lead. From there, Elliott started pulling away as Harvick started losing ground and positions.

    For the final 27-lap stretch, Elliott placed himself in a familiar position from last Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, leading over the field. Unlike Sunday, Elliott, who increased his advantage above two seconds, was able to take the white flag and start the final lap of the race, thus ensuring the race would not fall into a late caution and overtime. For a final circuit, Elliott was able to navigate his No. 9 Chevrolet patiently behind lapped traffic and cross the finish line first under checkers to win as the lapped car of McDowell spun behind him.

    “I was just waiting for the caution to come out, to be honest with you,” Elliott humorously said. “I thought either the caution was gonna come out, I was gonna break something or I was gonna crash. Just after the last couple of weeks, I just didn’t think surely it wast gonna go green to the end. Just glad it did and glad we’re, hopefully, back on the right path.”

    Hamlin passed Blaney on the final lap to finish second in his first of four races with interim crew chief Samuel Mcaulay. Stenhouse Jr. finished fourth for his second top-five result of the season and Kurt Busch settled in fifth for his third top-five result of 2020.

    Rounding out the top 10 were Logano, Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Truex Jr. and Harvick.

    The race featured 14 lead changes with eight different leaders. There were seven cautions for 37 laps.

    Harvick continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 14 points over Logano, 41 over Elliott and 43 over Bowman.

    Results:

    1. Chase Elliott, 28 laps led
    2. Denny Hamlin
    3. Ryan Blaney, two laps led
    4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    5. Kurt Busch
    6. Joey Logano, 42 laps led, Stage 1 winner
    7. Brad Keselowski
    8. Austin Dillon
    9. Martin Truex Jr.
    10. Kevin Harvick, 63 laps led
    11. Jimmie Johnson
    12. William Byron, 11 laps led
    13. John Hunter Nemechek
    14. Tyler Reddick
    15. Matt DiBenedetto, 10 laps led
    16. Clint Bowyer
    17. Ryan Newman
    18. Cole Custer
    19. Corey LaJoie
    20. Aric Almirola
    21. Christopher Bell
    22. Chris Buescher
    23. Matt Kenseth, one lap down
    24. Ryan Preece, one lap down
    25. Michael McDowell, one lap down, one lap led
    26. Erik Jones, one lap down
    27. Ty Dillon, one lap down
    28. Daniel Suarez, one lap down
    29. Kyle Busch, one lap down
    30. Gray Gaulding, two laps down
    31. Alex Bowman, two laps down, 51 laps led, Stage 2 winner
    32. Quin Houff, three laps down
    33. Timmy Hill, three laps down
    34. J.J. Yeley, four laps down
    35. B.J. McLeod, five laps down
    36. Josh Bilicki, eight laps down
    37. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident
    38. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident
    39. Joey Gase – OUT, DVP
    40. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Accident

    With the Carolina spring stretch complete in NASCAR’s return to on-track racing, the Cup Series will travel to Bristol, Tennessee, to race at Bristol Motor Speedway on May 31. The race can be seen at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Chase Elliott takes Gander Truck Series win at Charlotte, claims bounty

    Chase Elliott takes Gander Truck Series win at Charlotte, claims bounty

    After 95-days, the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series were back in action Tuesday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Not only did the Truck Series return to action, but it also marked the first time in series history, that a bounty was issued to any Cup driver that could beat Kyle Busch.

    GMS driver and Cup veteran, Chase Elliott was able to fend off the All-time win-list leader Kyle Busch to win the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He not only won the race but also claimed the $100,000 bounty that was offered by Kevin Harvick and Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis to any full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver who could beat Busch in the series.

    “He was a little better than I was there at the end,” Elliott said after the race. “I got tight. I don’t think we adjusted enough on that last pit stop (on Lap 89). I was a little scared. I really didn’t know exactly what I needed or what these things did as time went on.

    “Luckily, the right-front (tire) stayed on it long enough to get to the end. And I think he (Busch) burned out his stuff pretty hard trying to get to me. It was a lot of fun. To be able to come out and outrun him, and him finish second — I’d much rather him finish second than wreck or something, so I feel like I did something right.”

    Stage 1: Lap 1 – Lap 30

    Before the green-flag dropped a random draw was held earlier this week. As a result of the draw, ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes sat on the pole with Tyler Ankrum on the outside. The stages were broken into 30/30/74 to make up the 134-lap race.

    A short green-flag run was seen before a competition caution flew on Lap 15 due to no practice or qualifying. Hattori Racing’s Austin Hill had led the field up until that point. A few drivers including Busch, Tanner Gray, Johnny Sauter, Christian Eckes and a few others pitted. Both Busch and Sauter reported that their splitter was hitting the ground. Under the yellow, Spencer Davis and Austin Wayne Self were penalized for speeding, while Timmy Hill was penalized for too many crewmen over the wall.

    Once the stage went back to green with 10 to go, Ross Chastain took the lead from Austin Hill. From there, Chastain went on to take the stage win.

    Hill, Zane Smith, Matt Crafton, Ty Majeski, Elliott, Todd Gilliland, Ben Rhodes, Tyler Ankrum, and Brett Moffitt completed the top-10 stage finishers.

    Under the stage caution, Timmy Hill was nabbed for speeding and Tanner Gray was caught with too many men over the wall. Before the stage finish, Busch’s right-rear tire was going down.

    Stage 2: Lap 37 – Lap 60

    When Stage 2 began, we saw new leaders at the front with Zane Smith and Canadian Raphael Lessard on the front row. It didn’t take long though for Elliott to get to the lead who was in the top position at Lap 44. Surprisingly, this stage went caution-free but there were a few drivers who had issues. Reaume Brother’s Jesse Iwuji was black-flagged by NASCAR for not maintaining minimum speed and Bryan Dauzat was also penalized for the same issue.

    Elliott went on to claim Stage 2 as Rhodes, Nemechek, Crafton, Busch, Moffitt, Smith, Gilliland, Chastain, and Austin Hill completed the top-10.

    Stage 3: Lap 68 – Lap 134

    In the final stage, Busch did not lead a single-lap in the race until Lap 69.

    Also during the final-stage, Todd Gilliland in the No. 38 had an issue with a tire rub and hit the wall off Turn 4 receiving damage to the left front. Later, Iwuji continued to have problems as he was involved in a wreck with Stewart Friesen and Brennan Poole.

    Once the event went back green with 48 to go, another caution was flown as Natalie Decker and Poole were involved in a wreck in Turns 3 and 4. Several laps later Garrett Smithley spun around with 39 to go after caution was called for debris. The last caution of the night would come out for Gilliland as he once again hit the wall off Turn 4.

    Before that last caution, however, Crafton would come down pit road for a problem with the No. 88 Truck. It was later reported that the track bar mount had broken. While he was able to get back out, Crafton couldn’t go much higher than 35th in the running order.

    After the final restart with 26 to go, Elliott would be back in the lead and was looking for his first Truck Series victory since Martinsville of 2017. It wasn’t easy as Busch was trying all he could to duke it out for the victory.

    Ultimately, Elliott fended off Busch’s late-race charge and won by .627 seconds to claim the $100,000 bounty.

    Elliott led three-times for 47 laps en-route to the third Truck Series victory of his career.

    There were seven cautions for 37 laps and 19 lead changes among 10 different drivers.

    Official Results

    1. Chase Elliott, won Stage 2, led 47 laps
    2. Kyle Busch, led 25 laps
    3. Zane Smith, led 15 laps
    4. Brett Moffitt, led 2 laps
    5. Sheldon Creed
    6. John Hunter Nemechek
    7. Johnny Sauter
    8. Ty Majeski
    9. Austin Hill, led 26 laps
    10. Ben Rhodes
    11. Ross Chastain, won Stage 1
    12. Grant Enfinger
    13. Tyler Ankrum
    14. Christian Eckes
    15. Raphael Lessard
    16. Derek Kraus
    17. Tate Fogleman
    18. Codie Rohrbaugh
    19. Austin Wayne Self
    20. Tanner Gray
    21. Jesse Little
    22. Timmy Hill
    23. Angela Ruch, 1 lap down
    24. Korbin Forrister, 1 lap down
    25. Spencer Boyd, 1 lap down
    26. Jennifer Jo Cobb, 1 lap down
    27. Natalie Decker, 2 laps down
    28. Bayley Currey, 2 laps down
    29. Clay Greenfield, 4 laps down
    30. Stewart Friesen, 4 laps down
    31. Jordan Anderson, 4 laps down
    32. Cory Roper, 5 laps down
    33. T.J. Bell, 7-laps down
    34. Bryan Dauzat, 14 laps down
    35. Matt Crafton, 27 laps down
    36. Garrett Smithley, OUT, Rear-End
    37. Todd Gilliland, OUT, Crash
    38. Brennan Poole, OUT, Damage Vehicle Policy
    39. Jesse Iwuji, OUT, Crash
    40. Spencer Davis, OUT, Transmission

    Up Next: The next time the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series will be on-track is Saturday, June 6 at Atlanta Motor Speedway live on Fox Sports 1.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished fifth in the Coca-Cola 600 and remains atop the points standings with a 23 point lead over Joey Logano.

    “Chase Elliott must be devastated,” Harvick said. “And it shows. Even with the specter of Coronavirus all around us, he still can’t ‘mask’ his disappointment.”

    2. Joey Logano: Logano won Stage 3 and finished 13th at Charlotte.

    “I turned 30 on Sunday,” Logano said. “NASCAR officials gave me a pit road speeding penalty for my birthday, apparently.”

    3. Alex Bowman: Bowman won Stages 1 and 2 at Charlotte, but faded late and finished 19th. He is third in the points standings, 25 behind Kevin Harvick.

    “Chase Elliott might be a little upset at crew chief Alan Gustafson for the decision to pit,” Bowman said. “I hear Gustafson came to Chase’s hauler to console him. Chase was having none of it. He told Alan to ‘Get out.’ And, most importantly, he told him to ‘Stay out!’”

    4. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski stayed out on a caution with two laps remaining and held off Jimmie Johnson to win the Coca-Cola 600.

    “I’d like to thank my team,” Keselowski said, “as well as the fans. I’d also like to thank the ‘man upstairs.’ That’s what I call the person sitting atop Chase Elliott’s pit box who made the decision to pit.”

    5. Chase Elliott: Elliott pitted with the lead when a caution flew with two laps remaining, a decision that ultimately cost him the win. A dejected Elliott finished second.

    “We blew that,” Elliott said. “It was such a bad decision, I gave myself the finger.

    “We thought pitting was definitely the right call, but it turned out to be one of the dumbest moves we’ve made. No matter how you look at it, it was a ‘no brainer.’”

    6. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished 29th, seven laps down, after a disastrous start in Charlotte.

    “I had a rough start to my night,” Hamlin said. “I had to pit before the green flag because my ballast weights fell out. My response was, ‘Weight! What?’

    “On the bright side, I’ve already got two wins this season. So, mask or no mask, it’s easy to ‘put on a happy face.’”

    7. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished third at Charlotte, posting his second top-five of the season. He is seventh in the points standings, 79 out of first.

    “Charlotte’s race was called the ‘Coca-Cola 600,” Blaney said. “When I looked into the stands, however, I thought ‘Coke Zero.’”

    8. Aric Almirola: Almirola finished 15th at Charlotte.

    “Kyle Larson won the World Of Outlaws race on Saturday night in Missouri,” Almirola said. “Earlier this year, he lost big in the ‘Words Of Outlaws.’”

    9. Kyle Busch: Busch came home fourth in the Coca Cola 600

    “It was an eventful week for Chase Elliott and his right arm,” Busch said. “First, I wrecked him in Darlington and he gives me the finger. Then, in Charlotte, he loses the race by his own hand.”

    10. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished second at Charlotte, but was disqualified after failing post-race inspection and relegated to last place.

    “As Kyle Busch might say,” Johnson said, “you can’t fix this and have ice cream later. But if I were to have ice cream, it would definitely be from DQ.”