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  • Harvick records milestone win for Ford at Dover, clinches regular-season championship

    Harvick records milestone win for Ford at Dover, clinches regular-season championship

    The moment Kevin Harvick, who started 17th, stormed to the lead in the the closing laps of the first stage, it was lights out for the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford compared to the rest of the competition. From there, Harvick went on to sweep both stages and storm to a dominating win in the second Drydene 311 event at Dover International Speedway on Sunday, August 23.

    The victory was Harvick’s seventh of the season, third at Dover and the 56th of his NASCAR Cup Series career. In addition, Harvick notched the 700th Cup career win for Ford and he clinched his first regular-season championship after maintaining the lead in the regular-season standings by 134 points over Denny Hamlin.

    The starting lineup was based on the results from Saturday’s Cup event, where only the top-20 finishers were inverted for Sunday’s race. With that, Matt DiBenedetto started on pole position and was joined on the front row by Ryan Newman.

    Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman started at the rear of the field after they elected to race in backup cars on Sunday along with Garrett Smithley due to an engine change.

    When the green flag waved, DiBenedetto took off with the lead and he led the first lap while Aric Almirola worked his way to second place after passing Newman. Behind, Austin Dillon was in fourth while Chris Buescher moved up to fifth.

    Shortly after, Ryan Blaney moved up into the top five as he was running in fourth place behind Newman and in front of Austin Dillon, teammate Tyler Reddick and Buescher. 

    While the competitors around the track continued to battle early and hard for positions, the caution flew around the fifth lap when contact from Joey Logano entering Turn 4 got Ricky Stenhouse Jr. loose as Stenhouse spun and made contact with the inside wall backwards. In the ensuing chaos, Chase Elliott sustained damage to the front nose of his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE after running into the rear bumper of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry while Garrett Smithley and Joey Gase spun entering Turn 4 as Gase made hard contact with the outside wall.

    Following the wreck, Elliott and Gase retired while Kyle Busch, Stenhouse and Smithley continued. Under caution, Erik Jones made a pit stop after he sustained minimal damage to his No. 20 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota Camry.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 11, Almirola and his No. 10 Smithfield Hometown Original Ford Mustang gained a strong start on the inside lane to take over the lead from DiBenedetto and the Wood Brothers Racing’s No. 21 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang. Behind, Blaney moved up to second place while DiBenedetto settled in third place ahead of Newman. Reddick moved up to fifth place in front of teammate Austin Dillon and Brad Keselowski. 

    Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin and his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry were in 12th place in front of William Byron while Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE were in 15th in front of Kevin Harvick. Martin Truex Jr. was in 17th ahead of Bubba Wallace and Matt Kenseth. Kurt Busch was back in 22nd while Alex Bowman was in 24th. Jones was in 27th while Kyle Busch was back in 29th. 

    Following the first 20 laps, Almirola was leading by a second over Blaney followed by DiBenedetto, Reddick and Austin Dillon. Behind Logano moved up to eighth place after passing Newman while rookie Cole Custer was scored in seventh behind Keselowski. Buescher, on the other hand, had fallen back to 10th in front of Clint Bowyer.

    Six laps later, on Lap 26, the battling behind the leaders continued to ensue as Hamlin moved into the top 10 after passing Newman. Just behind him, Harvick moved up to 11th while Truex was in 13th ahead of Buescher. Shortly after, Harvick passed Hamlin for 10th place while Truex moved up to 12th. Meanwhile, Byron was in 13th place and running two spots ahead of teammate and rival for the final Playoff spot, Johnson. Way behind, Kyle Busch was in 24th while Kurt Busch was in 25th.

    Just past the Lap 30 mark, the caution returned due to debris spotted on the track. Under caution, most of the leaders led by Almirola, DiBenedetto and Keselowski pitted while others led by Blaney, Byron and Kurt Busch remained on track.

    When the race restarted on Lap 39, Blaney took off with the lead following a strong start on the outside lane while Byron moved up to the runner-up spot. By the following lap, DiBenedetto, the first one on fresh tires, made his way up to third place followed by Keselowski while Kurt Busch fell back to fifth place. Behind, Austin Dillon was in sixth place in front of Johnson, Almirola, Logano and Custer. Harvick was up in 11th and primed to move back into the top 10 while Bowyer, Hamlin and Truex were in 13th, 14th and 15th.

    By Lap 50, Blaney and his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang were leading by more than a second over Byron and his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. DiBenedetto, Keselowski and Kurt Busch continued to run inside the top five while Almirola passed Johnson to move into seventh place. Harvick and Logano were in ninth and 10th while Bowyer, Hamlin and Truex continued to run within the top 15. Wallace was in 17th in between Alex Bowman and Jones while Buescher and Kenseth were in the top 20. Newman was back in 22nd ahead of Daniel Suarez while Kyle Busch was back in 25th in between Ty Dillon and rookie Christopher Bell.

    Six laps later, Harvick continued his march to the front as he passed Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch to move up to sixth while Johnson continued to retain ninth place ahead of Logano. Towards the front, Keselowski muscled his way to third place and DiBenedetto and Almirola continued to battle while Harvick joined the party.

    With all the battling around the track continuing to take place, Blaney was still leading by more than a second over Byron. By Lap 62, however, Harvick moved up to third place after passing Keselowski. Four laps later, Harvick and his No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang moved into second place after passing Byron as he started to reel in to race leader Blaney for the first stage win with a fast car.

    On the penultimate lap of the stage, Harvick took the lead from Blaney following a pass on the outside lane and he was gone from there as he claimed the first stage on Lap 70 and his sixth stage victory of the season. Blaney settled in second behind Harvick while Byron, Almirola, and Keselowski were scored in the top five followed by Logano, DiBenedetto. Johnson, Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Harvick retained the lead following a stellar stop from the No. 4 pit crew. Blaney exited second ahead of Byron, Logano and Keselowski. Following the pit stops, however, Almirola was sent to the rear of the field due to speeding on pit road.

    Shortly after, the red flag was displayed and the race was halted for more than 12 minutes due to safety workers repairing the concrete/pavement in between Turns 3 and 4.

    Once the engines re-fired, the cars returned under cautious pace and the racing under green resumed on Lap 78, Harvick rocketed away with the lead on the outside lane followed by Blaney and Logano while Byron fell back to fourth. Behind, Hamlin and Keselowski battled for fifth place while Truex, Johnson and DiBenedetto were battling in the top 10 ahead of Bowyer and his No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Mustang.

    More than 10 laps later on Lap 90, Harvick was still leading by more than a second over Blaney and more than two seconds over Logano and Byron with Hamlin trailing by more than four seconds and Keselowski by more than five seconds. With Byron in fourth, teammate Johnson was in eighth ahead of DiBenedetto, Bowyer and Kurt Busch. Rookies Custer and Reddick were in 12th and 14th while Jones was in 15th ahead of Wallace, Kenseth and Kyle Busch. Almirola was back in 21st ahead of Austin Dillon and Bell while Newman was in 25th.

    Just shy of the Lap 100 mark, the caution returned due to a spin involving Corey LaJoie in Turn 2 following contact with Ty Dillon. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Logano emerged with the lead after exiting first ahead of Harvick and Blaney while Truex and Hamlin exited inside the top five ahead of Byron. Following the pits stops, however, Johnson was sent to the rear of the field due to speeding on pit road. 

    When the race restarted on Lap 106, Logano and Harvick battled dead even through Turns 1 and 2 before Logano and his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang prevailed by clearing Harvick and the field. Blaney, Hamlin and Truex continued running in a single-file lane in the top five followed by Byron, Keselowski, Bell, Kurt Busch and DiBenedetto. Soon after, Bell and DiBenedetto battled intensely for ninth place with Custer and Bowyer trailing behind.

    At the front, Harvick started to intimidate Logano for the lead. After spending the previous few laps trying to gain a run and navigate his way around Logano, Harvick prevailed and reassumed the lead on Lap 115. Meanwhile, Byron was in sixth while Johnson was up to 23rd.

    By Lap 130, with the field settling into single-file racing, Harvick was still leading by more than a second over Logano with Blaney trailing by less than three seconds. Hamlin and Truex were still in the top five followed by Byron. Keselowski, Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto and Bowyer continued racing in the top 10 while Almirola was in 13th in between Bowman and Reddick. Austin Dillon was in 15th ahead of Jones, Johnson, Kenseth, Buescher and Kyle Busch. Wallace was back in 23rd ahead of Newman and Michael McDowell.

    Ten laps later and on Lap 140, Harvick was at the front of the field by more than two seconds over Logano with Blaney and Hamlin trailing by less than five seconds. 

    Another twenty five laps later and past the halfway mark, Harvick extended his advantage to more than seven seconds over Penske teammates Logano and Blaney. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin and Truex were in fourth and fifth as both continued to reel in the Penske teammates. Behind, Byron was in fifth place while teammate Bowman, racing in a backup car, was in sixth. Behind, Johnson was up in 12th in between Stewart-Haas Racing’s Bowyer and Almirola while Kurt Busch was in 10th behind Keselowski and Custer. DiBenedetto was in 15th ahead of Buescher and Reddick while Kyle Busch was in 19th. Behind, competitors like Jones, Newman, Wallace, McDowell, Bell, Ryan Preece, LaJoie, Suarez and Ty Dillon were pinned a lap behind the leaders.

    By Lap 180 and with the laps in the second stage winding down, Harvick continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than eight seconds over Logano. Behind, Hamlin and Truex made a three-wide move on Blaney as Hamlin moved up to third place in front of Truex while Blaney was back in fifth place in front of Byron.

    With no challengers mounting close behind his fast car, Harvick streaked across the start/finish line to claim the second stage on Lap 185 for his seventh stage victory of the season. By then, he clinched the regular-season championship and will earn an extra 15 points towards the 2020 Cup Playoffs in September. Logano settled behind Harvick followed by Hamlin, Truex and Blaney. Byron, Bowman, Custer, Johnson and Keselowski were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Harvick retained the lead followed by Logano, Hamlin, Truex, Byron and Blaney. Prior to the start of the final stage, Hamlin opted to restart beneath Harvick on the front row while Logano restarted in the second row and on the outside lane next to Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry.

    With approximately 190 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Harvick rocketed away with the lead. Logano moved up to second place ahead of Hamlin and Truex while Byron, Bowman and Blaney battled for more. Johnson was in 10th place ahead of Kurt Busch while Almirola worked his way back to 12th in front of teammate Bowyer. DiBenedetto was back in 15th while Kyle Busch was in 18th ahead of Reddick. Jones, meanwhile, was in 27th and pinned a lap behind the leaders.

    At the Lap 200 mark and with 111 laps remaining, Harvick was leading by more than a second over Logano with Hamlin trailing by more than two seconds and Truex and Byron trailing by less than four seconds.

    With 100 laps remaining, Harvick’s advantage extended to more than two seconds over Logano while Hamlin and Truex were stabilized in third and fourth. Byron was in fifth, four spots ahead of teammate Johnson with Almirola trailing Johnson. Almirola and Bowyer were in 10th and 11th followed by Kurt Busch. DiBenedetto was still in 15th while Kyle Busch made his way up to 16th.

    Four laps later, the caution returned when rookie Quin Houff got loose and spun in Turn 1 from the outside lane and down to the banking. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Harvick retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Logano, Hamlin, Truex, Bowman and Byron.

    With 90 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Harvick, once again, jumped ahead with the advantage. While Hamlin and Logano pursued Harvick for the lead, Truex retained fourth place ahead of Bowman, Byron and Blaney while Bowyer passed teammate Custer for eighth place. Behind, Johnson was back in 13th behind Keselowski and ahead of Kyle Busch while Kurt Busch and DiBenedetto were back in 17th and 18th.

    With less than 85 laps remaining, Hamlin dropped off the pace and made an unscheduled pit stop to address a loose wheel as his hopes of winning two Dover races in one weekend evaporated.

    At the front, Harvick continued to lead by two seconds over Logano while Truex trailed by more than three seconds. Hamlin’s misfortune moved Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates Bowman and Byron back into the top five while Stewart-Haas Racing’s Bowyer and Almirola battled for seventh place. Johnson moved back into 10th place behind Custer while Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch moved up to 13th and 15th.

    Less than 60 laps remaining, Harvick’s advantage grew to more than three seconds over Logano while Truex trailed the leaders by less than five seconds. Behind Bowman and Byron, Almirola was up in sixth place in front of Blaney while Johnson was in ninth in between teammates Bowyer and Custer. Not long after, Bowyer and Johnson passed Blaney and then, Johnson passed Bowyer to move into seventh place.

    With 50 laps remaining and with dark clouds starting to overshadow the track, Harvick was leading by more than four seconds over Logano while Truex trailed by five seconds. Byron was in fifth place while Johnson continued his march towards the front in seventh place. By then, Blaney had fallen back to 11th place while Custer and Austin Dillon occupied the final spots in the top 10.

    With less than 40 laps remaining, Harvick’s advantage grew to more than five seconds over Logano as he was also navigating his way through lapped traffic. Meanwhile, Johnson passed Almirola to move up to sixth place as he started to pursue his teammate/Playoff rival Byron for more.

    Down to under 25 laps remaining, the caution returned when LaJoie made contact with the Turn 3 outside wall after cutting a right-front tire. The caution all but evaporated Harvick’s advantage of more than five seconds over Logano, Truex and Bowman while Johnson was behind Byron by more than a second for fifth place.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Johnson emerged with the lead following a gusty two-tire pit stop. Harvick exited in second followed by Harvick, Truex, Bowman, Logano and Byron.

    With 17 laps remaining, the racing under green resumed as Johnson and his No. 48 Chevrolet retained the lead for three turns. Through Turns 3 and 4, however, Harvick was back in command with the lead as Johnson retained second place in front of Truex. Byron, meanwhile, was in fourth place.

    Four laps later, Truex moved into second place as Johnson had teammates Byron in the No. 24 car and Bowman in the No. 88 car in his rearview mirror. Another four laps later and with 10 laps remaining, Harvick extended his lead to nearly three seconds over Truex while Johnson was still in third place just ahead of teammates Byron and Bowman. Behind, Kyle Busch battled Custer for the final spot in the top 10.

    For the final five laps, while the field around the track continued to battle for positions, Harvick was long gone from the field and he had enough of a big cushion over Truex to streak his No. 4 Ford across the finish line and grab another win to a dominating season and in his quest for his second Cup championship.

    With 56 Cup career wins, Harvick moved into a tie with Kyle Busch for ninth place on the all-time NASCAR Cup wins list. In addition, Harvick became the third competitor to clinch the regular-season title since its inception in 2017 as he also recorded the 63rd Cup career win for Stewart-Haas Racing.

    “I have to thank everybody on our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang,” Harvick said in Victory Lane on NBCSN. “Congratulations to Ford on their 700th Cup win. Just really got to thank everybody on this team. [Crew chief] Rodney [Childers] and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing for overcoming what happened yesterday with the track bar, being able to nail the balance today. Man, what a year. What a seven years. Just really, really proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing for being able to drive this car. Week after week, they just put so much effort into making this thing go fast and it’s just been a great year. I love the grit about our race team. I think that’s what Gene Haas and Tony Stewart have built at Stewart-Haas Racing. Sometimes, we don’t have the fastest car, but we have guys that are willing to just suck it up and win. We have a weak link on that day, somebody else is gonna carry the team. Just really proud of that because that’s what it’s all about. You’re only as good as the people around you, and we have great people.”

    Truex rallied from vibration issues in the closing laps to finish in the runner-up spot for the second day in a row. Compared to Saturday’s run in the late stages, Truex had nothing for race winner Harvick.

    “Definitely not the same way [as Saturday],” Truex said. “I thought, if anything, we were probably a little bit worse today. We tried some things overnight, definitely didn’t do what we hoped it would do. Live and learn. It was a tough day. The Bass Pro Camry had good speed. It was just a handful again. Just never could get it to do what we wanted it to do. We fought hard, we battled. We executed well. Came home with a good result. We’ll keep working to try to get a little bit better. A finish [at Daytona] would be fabulous. If not, hopefully, we’ll pay it forward with a little bit of luck for Talladega in the Playoffs.”

    Behind, Johnson held off teammates Byron and Bowman to finish in third place in his 38th and final event at the Monster Mile. With their results and the stage points both earned on Sunday, Byron holds sole possession of the 16th and final spot to the Playoffs by four points over teammate Johnson heading into next weekend’s regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.

    Logano finished in sixth place while Almirola, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Custer finished in the top 10 ahead of Kyle Busch, Blaney, Kurt Busch, Buescher and Kenseth. 

    Based on their top-15 results, Almirola and the Busch brothers secured spots for this year’s Cup Playoffs based on points along with Bowyer, who finished 16th, ahead of DiBenedetto.

    Sunday’s Cup race capped off an eventful weekend of motorsports racing at the Monster Mile that involved a Cup race on Saturday, two Xfinity Series races on back-to-back dates, a Truck Series and an ARCA Menards Series event on Friday. Prior to Harvick’s win, the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway occurred, with Takuma Sato achieving his second Indy title over Scott Dixon and Graham Rahal.

    There were 15 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 40 laps.

    Results.

    1. Kevin Harvick, 223 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Martin Truex Jr.

    3. Jimmie Johnson, three laps led

    4. William Byron

    5. Alex Bowman

    6. Joey Logano, 15 laps led

    7. Aric Almirola, 22 laps led

    8. Brad Keselowski

    9. Austin Dillon

    10. Cole Custer

    11. Kyle Busch 

    12. Ryan Blaney, 37 laps led

    13. Kurt Busch

    14. Chris Buescher

    15. Matt Kenseth

    16. Clint Bowyer

    17. Matt DiBenedetto, 11 laps led

    18. Tyler Reddick

    19. Denny Hamlin

    20. John Hunter Nemechek

    21. Bubba Wallace

    22. Erik Jones, one lap down

    23. Corey LaJoie, one lap down

    24. Ryan Newman, one lap down

    25. Michael McDowell, one lap down

    26. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    27. Christopher Bell, one lap down

    28. Daniel Suarez, two laps down

    29. Ty Dillon, two laps down

    30. Brennan Poole, six laps down

    31. B.J. McLeod, eight laps down

    32. Josh Bilicki, nine laps down

    33. Reed Sorenson, nine laps down

    34. Quin Houff, nine laps down

    35. Garrett Smithley, 15 laps down

    36. Timmy Hill – OUT

    37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 96 laps down

    38. J.J. Yeley – OUT

    39. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident

    40. Joey Gase – OUT, Accident

    The NASCAR Cup Series will return to Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 and the site of the final regular-season event on Saturday, August 29, where the 2020 Cup Playoffs will be determined. The race will air at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Hamlin conquers first Dover victory following a late pass; leads a JGR 1-2-3 finish

    Hamlin conquers first Dover victory following a late pass; leads a JGR 1-2-3 finish

    Denny Hamlin, who came into this weekend mounted with confidence, saved his best for the end after winning the first Drydene 311 event on Saturday, August 22, of a doubleheader weekend at Dover International Speedway following a late pass on teammate Martin Truex Jr. The victory was Hamlin’s sixth of the season (tied with Kevin Harvick for the most throughout the regular season), his first at Dover in his 29th attempt and the 43rd of his NASCAR Cup Series career.

    The starting lineup was based on three statistical categories: current owner points standings, the results from a previous Cup race and the fastest lap from a previous Cup race. With that, Chase Elliott, coming off his historic victory at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Denny Hamlin. 

    Rookie Brennan Poole started at the rear of the field due to failing pre-race inspection multiple times along with Daniel Suarez and Joey Gase, both of whom also started at the rear due to unapproved adjustments. In addition, Garrett Smithley, who was sent to the rear of the field, was assessed a pass-through penalty down pit road at the start of the race due to an impound procedure infraction.

    When the green flag waved, Elliott launched ahead with an early jump to clear the field with the lead. Behind, Hamlin cleared the field to move into the runner-up spot in Turn 2 followed by teammate Martin Truex Jr. Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano. Behind, William Byron was in sixth place and in front of Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick once the first lap was complete.

    By the fifth lap, Elliott was ahead by more than a second over Hamlin. Teammates Johnson and Byron, both of whom were battling for the final spot to the Playoffs, were in sixth and seventh while Bowyer moved into third place ahead of Truex and Logano. 

    Not long after, the caution flew the following lap when Kurt Busch, who was battling for a top-10 spot, spun and made head-on contact with the inside wall on the backstretch after being tapped by Erik Jones entering the turn. During the ensuing incident, Jones also received right-rear damage after getting hit by Alex Bowman and his No. 88 Acronis Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. The heavy left-front damage to his No. 1 Gearwrench Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was enough to end Kurt Busch’s race in the garage and out of the race in last place of the 40-car field.

    Under caution, Jones and Bowman made a pit stop to have the damage repaired to their respective machines. Chris Buescher, Corey LaJoie, Timmy Hill and rookie Christopher Bell also pitted.

    When the race restarted around the Lap 10 mark, Elliott retained the lead following a strong start. Hamlin followed pursuit in the runner-up spot with Bowyer, Logano and Truex in the top five. Behind, Harvick and Byron battled for sixth place in front of Johnson.

    By the 20th lap, Elliott was still ahead by more than a second over Hamlin. Behind, Harvick made his way into the top five after passing Truex. When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Elliott was ahead by more than half a second over Hamlin followed by Bowyer, Harvick and Logano. By then, Byron and Johnson were in seventh and eighth followed by Keselowski while rookie Tyler Reddick was in 10th place. Ryan Blaney was in 11th place ahead of Kyle Busch and rookie Cole Custer while Aric Almirola was in 14th. Matt DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon and Matt Kenseth were in 16th, 18th and 19th while Bubba Wallace was in 21st. Ryan Newman and Erik Jones were in 24th and 25th.

    Under the competition caution, nearly the entire field pitted and Logano exited first followed by a two-tire pit stop. Blaney and Almirola also gained spots up the leaderboard following two-tire pit stops while Hamlin edged Elliott as the first car to exit on four fresh tires.

    When the pit stops concluded, Austin Dillon, who made his return behind the wheel after being absent last weekend at Daytona due to being diagnosed with COVID-19 symptoms, emerged with the lead after opting not to pit followed by Kenseth, Newman, Chris Buescher, Bell and Logano. Following the stops, Harvick made two extra pit stops to have lug nuts tightened on his No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang.

    When the race resumed under green past the Lap 30 mark, Austin Dillon cleared Kenseth for the lead in Turn 2. Behind, Hamlin moved up to sixth while Elliott was back in 10th and after making the slightest of contact with Bowyer. By Lap 35, with Austin Dillon leading by more than a second over Kenseth, Buescher was in third place followed by Logano, Hamlin and Newman. Elliott was still stuck back in 11th place behind Almirola and Blaney.

    By Lap 45, Austin Dillon extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Hamlin, who was charging to the front on fresh tires, followed by Kenseth, Logano and Bowyer. Five laps later, Dillon’s advantage decreased to above a second over Hamlin. Kenseth, on old tires, was still holding strong in third place ahead of teammates Logano, Keselowski and Bowyer. Behind, Truex was in eighth ahead of Newman, Johnson was in 11th in between Almirola and Blaney, Harvick moved up from 30th to 14th ahead of Elliott and Byron and Kyle Busch was in 18th. Jones was back in 21st followed by DiBenedetto and Wallace while Bowman was in 28th.

    On Lap 59, Hamlin emerged with the lead over Austin Dillon while a variety of battles around the track among a multitude of competitors continued to ensue. For the remainder of the first stage under a dozen laps remaining, Hamlin was able to cruise to the stage win on Lap 70 and for his sixth stage victory of the season. Austin Dillon settled in second place, more than four seconds behind Hamlin, followed by Keselowski, Bowyer and Truex. Logano, Harvick, Johnson, Buescher and Almirola settled in the top 10. By then, Blaney and Kyle Busch were in 11th and 12th while Elliott fell back to 17th after leading the first 28 laps of the race. Byron was all the way back in 21st.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Hamlin retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Truex, Bowyer, Keselowski and Austin Dillon. During the pit stops, Elliott had a slow stop and dropped all the way back to 28th. Following the pit stops, however, Kenseth was sent to the rear after being nabbed with a pit road speeding penalty.

    The second stage commenced under green on Lap 77, and Hamlin cleared the field with the lead through Turn 2 followed by teammate Truex and Bowyer. A lap later, Johnson moved up to sixth after passing Logano while Kyle Busch battled Almirola for ninth place. 

    By Lap 85, Hamlin was still ahead by more than half a second over teammate Truex followed by Bowyer, Keselowski and Austin Dillon. Behind, Harvick was in eighth place in between Logano and Kyle Busch.

    When the race reached its 100-lap mark, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to nearly a second over teammate Truex. Bowyer was still in third place followed by Keselowski and Johnson, who was 19 spots ahead of teammate Byron and in prime position of moving back into the top-16 in the standings. Harvick was in eighth place, but pursuing for more while racing behind Logano and Austin Dillon. 

    Twenty laps later, on Lap 120, Hamlin and his No. 11 FedEx Toyota were still at the front by more than two seconds over teammate Truex and his No. 19 SiriusXM Toyota. Bowyer and Keselowski were still in third and fourth followed by Johnson, whose No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was 18 spots ahead of teammate Byron. Harvick was in sixth ahead of Logano and Kyle Busch while Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Almirola were in ninth, 10th and 11th. Blaney was in 12th followed by rookies Reddick and Custer while Jones was in 15th. Elliott was back up in 16th followed by Newman and DiBenedetto while Buescher, Wallace and Bell were in 20th, 21st and 22nd.

    Not long after, Byron was lapped by Hamlin as he continued to struggle with the handling of his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE and keeping pace with the leaders, leading to him and crew chief Chad Knaus voicing their frustrations over the radio.

    Thirteen laps later, pit stops under green started as Harvick made the turn to pit road followed by Bell, Custer, rookie John Hunter Nemechek and Jones. The ensuing laps, Bowyer made his pit stop under green followed by Logano, Almirola, Truex, Blaney, Austin Dillon, Johnson and race leader Hamlin. During the cycle of pit stops under green, Johnson nearly collided with Stenhouse Jr. on the track, who slowed and made a late turn to pit road in Turn 3 in front of Johnson, who was coming with full speed, and caused Johnson to react swiftly to the right to avoid a collision.

    When most of the pit stops concluded and the field cycled through, DiBenedetto emerged with the lead on Lap 143. Buescher was in second followed by Byron, McDowell and Bowman while Hamlin and Truex were in seventh and eighth.

    On Lap 160, DiBenedetto made his pit stop under green and another lap later, Hamlin bolted his way around Byron to move back into the lead followed by Truex. By then, 19 competitors were pinned a lap behind the leaders, names that included Newman, Wallace, Bell, Ty Dillon, Buescher, Ryan Preece, Kenseth, Nemechek, DiBenedetto and Suarez. Shortly after, Almirola made an unscheduled pit stop under green to address a loose wheel.

    With five laps remaining in the second stage, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to more than a second over teammate Truex. Bowyer was still holding strong in third place followed by Kyle Busch, Keselowski and Harvick. Johnson was in eighth while Byron was back in 25th and two laps behind the leaders following his pit stop under green. 

    With no competition lurking behind and with a dominating car, Hamlin ran away with the second stage victory on Lap 185 as he claimed his series-leading seventh stage victory of the season. By then, he had lapped Blaney, who was in 15th. Truex was in second followed by Bowyer, Kyle Busch and Keselowski. Harvick, Johnson, Logano, Stenhouse and Elliott were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Truex, on this occasion, emerged with the lead over Hamlin. Teammate Kyle Busch exited in third place followed by Bowyer and Keselowski. Following pit stops, however, Austin Dillon was sent to the rear of the field due to being nabbed a pit road speeding penalty.

    When the final stage started with 119 laps remaining, Truex, who restarted on the outside lane, jumped with the lead ahead of teammate Kyle Busch, who restarted on the inside lane in second place. Hamlin, who restarted in the second row on the outside lane next to Keselowski, was back in fourth. Behind, Bowyer was in fifth ahead of Logano while Harvick, Elliott, Johnson and Stenhouse were running in the top 10. By then, Johnson was 20 spots ahead of Byron, who continued to struggle to keep pace with the leaders and his teammate for the final spot in the Playoffs.

    With 100 laps remaining, Truex stabilized his advantage to nearly a second over Kyle Busch and his green No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry. Hamlin was in third place, trailing by, followed by Keselowski, Bowyer, Logano and Harvick. Elliott was in eighth followed by teammate Johnson and Stenhouse. By then, 18 competitors were running on the lead lap with Ty Dillon running in 18th.

    Ten laps later, Truex, who was pursuing his first win since June at Martinsville Speedway, was still ahead by less than a second over teammate Kyle Busch and two seconds over his other teammate, Denny Hamlin. By then, with the Playoff picture dominating the headlines in the final races of the regular season, Johnson was in ninth, Jones was in 12th, Reddick was in 14th, DiBenedetto was in 16th ahead of Buescher, Almirola was in 21st in between Newman and Bell, Wallace was in 25th and Byron was back in 29th.

    Another 10 laps later and with the race continuing to dwindle under green, Truex was still leading teammate Kyle Busch by half a second with Hamlin trailing by less than two seconds.

    Under 70 laps remaining, Buescher made a pit stop under green followed by Bowman. Shortly after, Hamlin passed teammate Kyle Busch for the runner-up spot and encountered a bevy of lapped traffic while continuing to pursue teammate Truex for the lead. Behind, with lapped traffic starting to interfere those on the lead lap, Harvick was in sixth place in between Keselowski and Elliott.

    With 60 laps remaining, Harvick and Elliott made a pit stop under green and they were soon joined by Logano, Johnson, Newman, Bowyer and Kyle Busch. Not long after, Hamlin and Truex also made pit stops under green.

    While most of the field pitted, others that included new leader Keselowski had yet to make a stop while they opted to stretch their fuel cell to the fullest as possible. Under 50 laps remaining and with Keselowski, Stenhouse and Reddick pitting, Austin Dillon, who had yet to make a pit stop under green, was leading by more than 11 seconds followed by Truex, Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Bowyer, Harvick and Elliott.

    Under 40 laps remaining, Austin Dillon and his No. 3 Dow/Behr Ultra Scuff Defense Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE were still leading by four seconds over Truex, who continued to chip away Dillon’s huge advantage on old tires and low fuel. Then, with approximately 30 laps remaining, Truex reassumed the lead while Austin Dillon, who was hoping for a caution to cycle back with the leaders, pitted and was eventually lapped.

    Under 20 laps remaining, Truex was leading by nearly a second over teammate Hamlin with teammate Kyle Busch trailing by less than six seconds. Ten laps later and with 10 laps remaining, however, the battle for the lead started brewing with Hamlin drawing himself right to the rear bumper of Truex and challenging for the lead while Truex struggled to navigate his way around the lapped car of Almirola. 

    A lap later, Hamlin emerged with the lead after gaining a huge run through Turns 3 and 4, crossing beneath Truex and sliding up in front of Truex in Turn 1 to clear him for good through Turn 2. Another lap later, Hamlin was ahead by four-tenths of a second over Truex. When Hamlin started the final lap, he was ahead by nearly a second from teammate Truex. With his teammate unable to gain a run to challenge the lead back, Hamlin was able to cross the finish line in first place and take the checkered flag for the win by more than a second. 

    With the win, Hamlin recorded the 150th Cup win for Toyota and the 183rd Cup win for Joe Gibbs Racing. He also recorded his 12th Cup victory with crew chief Chris Gabehart. Sunday’s Dover event marked the first time since Homestead last November where three Joe Gibbs Racing competitors rounded out the podium results. Hamlin’s victory marked the ninth time since June where a Cup race was won by either Hamlin or Kevin Harvick as Hamlin continued his pursuit and momentum for his first Cup championship.

    “I’ve been running down the leaders these last few weeks, but I haven’t been able to get there,” Hamlin said in Victory Lane on NBCSN. “We just didn’t control that restart there and we just had to battle back. We had to go back and get it. [I] Just was able to work the top line there a little bit to get some momentum and it looked like our car was just a little bit better at moving around tp different lines. Proud of this whole FedEx Office team. This Camry was fast today. It was just unbelievable how good it was. Pit crew did an amazing job. Win No. 43. This is pretty awesome.” 

    “People always ask when you have Q&A’s, ‘What’s your least favorite track?’” Hamlin added. “I always say Dover just because I’m not good here. I love the track. I just haven’t been very good here, but we just have unbelievable cars right now. It just seems like we’re coming to the race track prepared. I’m putting the work in and we’re getting results because of it.”

    Truex, who led 88 laps, settled in the runner-up spot for his ninth top-five result of the season followed by teammate Kyle Busch, who led three laps and recorded his 11th top-five result. Following the race, Truex was straightforward in expressing his displeasure with the lapped car of Almirola for holding him up and allowing Hamlin to pass him for the lead and the win.

    “Really, I think if [Almirola] just wasn’t pinned in on the bottom [lane] in front of me, I would’ve been fine,” Truex said. “Every time I tried to move up to get some air on my car, he just slide up in front of me like an idiot. He’s the reason we lost the lead but in the end, we weren’t good enough. I thought that [Hamlin] was better than us all day long. We got the lead there in the pits and was able to use clean air to our advantage. I was never happy with the car all day long. The SiriusXM Camry was fast, but the balance was all over the place. It was firing off tight and getting really loose on the long runs. At the end, [there was] nothing I could do. Just out of control, sideways.”

    “We had a pretty fast Interstate Batteries Camry,” Busch said. “We made it all the way upfront and did a good job there. The time that we put tires on under green, the car was really fast, really good. So, I was optimistic keeping up with Truex. Then once we got tires on it, I could, maybe, keep up or be faster. We were so tight at the end. It went from being four, five numbers loose to four, five numbers tight. A ten number swing in just putting tires on. Crazy how that happens, but [we] come home with a good solid third place. [I] Got two good teammates, notebook, everything that they got to lean on. Hopefully, we can work on some things for tonight, get ourselves better and try to come out here with a win tomorrow.”

    Harvick recorded a strong fourth-place result followed by Elliott, who earned his ninth top-five result. Bowyer, Johnson, Logano, Keselowski and Stenhouse finished in the top 10.

    Almirola, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Bowyer and DiBenedetto continue to remain inside the top-16 cutline following their runs on Saturday. With his seventh top-10 result of this season, Johnson holds sole possession of the 16th and final spot to the Playoffs by three points over teammate Byron, who concluded his long race in 28th place. Jones finished 12th and he trails the top-16 cutline by 22 points while Reddick, who finished 13th, trails by 45 points.

    DiBenedetto finished 20th and will start on the pole for Sunday’s Cup Dover race, second of the weekend, alongside 19th-place finisher Newman.

    There were 15 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 21 laps.

    With his 16th top-five result, Harvick continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 100 points over Hamlin.

    Results.

    1. Denny Hamlin, 115 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Martin Truex Jr., 88 laps led

    3. Kyle Busch, three laps led

    4. Kevin Harvick

    5. Chase Elliott, 27 laps led

    6. Clint Bowyer

    7. Jimmie Johnson

    8. Joey Logano

    9. Brad Keselowski, nine laps led

    10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap

    11. Cole Custer

    12. Erik Jones

    13. Tyler Reddick, one lap down

    14. Ryan Blaney, one lap down

    15. Austin Dillon, one lap down, 49 laps led

    16. Chris Buescher, one lap down

    17. Aric Almirola, two laps down

    18. Ty Dillon, two laps down

    19. Ryan Newman, two laps down

    20. Matt DiBenedetto, two laps down, 17 laps led

    21. Alex Bowman, two laps down

    22. Christopher Bell, two laps down

    23. Matt Kenseth, two laps down, one lap led

    24. John Hunter Nemechek, two laps down

    25. Ryan Preece, two laps down

    26. Michael McDowell, three laps down

    27. Bubba Wallace, three laps down

    28. William Byron, three laps down, one lap led

    29. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

    30. Daniel Suarez, five laps down

    31. J.J. Yeley, nine laps down

    32. Josh Bilicki, 12 laps down

    33. Quin Houff, 13 laps down

    34. Timmy Hill, 13 laps down

    35. Joey Gase, 18 laps down

    36. Brennan Poole – OUT, Rear end

    37. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Battery

    38. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Handling

    39. Reed Sorenson – OUT, Handling

    40. Kurt Busch – OUT, Accident

    The NASCAR Cup Series will return the following day, August 23, for its second doubleheader series event of the weekend at Dover, which will air at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • 2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Daytona RC

    2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Daytona RC

    Three races and two venues are all that remain in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season schedule with the Playoffs less than two weeks away from being set and commencing. With the deficit for the final spots to the Playoffs stabilizing and not decreasing, time is running low for many current and future stars to earn themselves and their team a ticket to the 2020 postseason battle for the series championship.

    With a win in the inaugural running of the Go Bowling 235 at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course, Chase Elliott joins a handful of competitors that have won multiple Cup races this season, a list that includes regular-season leader Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. All five, along with Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon and rookie Cole Custer, remain guaranteed spots in the Playoffs by virtue of winning one or more regular-season races. Though Austin Dillon did not compete at the Daytona Road Course event due to suffering COVID-19 symptoms, he is expected to be granted a waiver to qualify for the postseason.

    Currently, six spots continue to remain vacant for the 2020 Cup Playoffs with three spots set to be occupied by competitors that have not win this season thus far.

    The first competitor who continues to emerge as the highest winless competitor in points is Aric Almirola. Despite starting in sixth place, the Floridian struggled with maintaining and gaining track position throughout the race. A 24th-place result marked his lowest result since finishing in 33rd place at Martinsville Speedway in June. The good news for Almirola and his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team is the fact that he is 130 points above the top-16 cutline to qualify for this year’s Playoffs.

    “We started to gain momentum there at the end and thought we could have put the Go Bowling Ford Mustang inside the top 10,” Almirola said. “Unfortunately, that caution came out and we pitted. I was caught behind some cars on the restart with nowhere to go. That’s road course racing. Not the day we wanted, but we kept the car on the track and in one piece. We’ll regroup and go to Dover where we know we can bring speed.”

    For the Busch brothers, it was a tale of mixed results. For Kurt Busch, he started in eighth place and was battling for a spot in the top 10 throughout the race before he settled in 14th place when the checkered flag flew. Kyle, on the other hand, had a roller coaster run that ended up with misfortunes. It all started in the opening laps when he locked up his front tires while running inside the top five and made an unscheduled pit stop for fresh tires, a move that sent him to the rear of the field. He rallied his way back into the top 10 during the second stage, but spun in Turn 6 after locking up his front tires. While he appeared poised for a strong result despite his early struggles, his race went away under 20 laps remaining when he took his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to the garage due to brake rotor failure. Though he returned to the track, he was involved in a single-car incident with five laps remaining and was unable to complete the race. Through the first 23 races of this season, both Busch brothers remain winless, with Kurt above the cutline by 121 points and Kyle by 100 points.

    “I really enjoyed the day today, the track was a fun challenge for us,” Kurt Busch said. “[Crew chief] Matt McCall did a nice job making adjustments on the Monster Energy Camaro, but we burned up the tires on the last longer run and just had to play a little defense in the end. It was a really fun track and I had some fun out there today, I just didn’t have enough in the end.”

    Compared to Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer had a strong performance at Daytona. Starting 12th, Bowyer earned top-five results in both stages and collected a number of stage points towards the Playoffs. Though Bowyer could not keep pace with eventual winner Chase Elliott, he remained inside the top five in the final laps and was poised for more before he crossed the finish line in sixth place. Bowyer’s sixth-place result was his highest since finishing seventh and eighth during the Pocono Raceway doubleheader races in June and it snapped his recent seven-race stretch of finishing no higher than 11th. With his sixth top-10 result of the season, the Kansas veteran is 66 points above the top-16 cutline.

    “We did what we needed to do today,” Bowyer said. “We had a great Mobil 1 Ford. I thought it was going to be even better there at the end, but we must have gotten hot. [William Byron] got me on the restart and then another car got by me. If I didn’t have anything to lose there I might have been able to get a few more back. But that was a good points day. I hope we are on a roll and we continue this at Dover.”

    Right behind Bowyer in points continues to be Matt DiBenedetto, who started in ninth place and brought the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang in 15th place when the race concluded. With his 15th top-15 result of the season, DiBenedetto is 44 points above the cutline and three races away from making his first postseason appearance as a championship contender.

    With an eighth-place result at the Daytona Road Course event, William Byron continues to hold sole possession of the 16th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs by 25 points. Starting 13th, the Charlotte native contended inside the top 10 as he earned top-10 results in both stages and collected valuable stage points towards the Playoffs. Restarting in 34th with 26 laps remaining, Byron and his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE charged his way back towards the front. Following a late pit stop under green and a late caution due to a single-car incident, he was scored in sixth place. During the final three laps, he lost two positions before he crossed the line in eighth place for his seventh top-10 career finish in the Cup Series and to remain in contention for a spot to the 2020 Playoffs.

    “It was a good result for us today,” Byron said. “We chose to go for the stage points and had to pass our way through the field a few times because of that strategy. I think we did a nice job of that and getting a lot of those available points. Once we got towards the front top five we kind of stalled out though. Overall, I’m pretty happy with today and getting a good result. We just need to have a couple good weeks with solid races when we go on to Dover for two races and back to Daytona. I’m looking forward to Dover next week for sure though.”

    The competitor who trails the top-16 cutline by 25 points is seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who rallied from his share of on-track struggles throughout the summer to post his highest-finishing result since finishing in third place at Bristol Motor Speedway in May. With three regular-season races remaining, Johnson has three opportunities remaining in keeping his hopes for a record-setting eighth championship alive.

    The next two closest competitors behind Byron and Johnson in points are Erik Jones and rookie Tyler Reddick. Starting in 20th, Jones was able to notch a sixth-place result in the first stage. The remainder of the race, however, did not go as planned for the Michigan native as he settled in 16th in the second stage before finishing 11th in the overall race. For Reddick, who started 18th, he finished outside the top 30 in both stages and he could work his way only up to 18th when the race concluded. As a result, Jones trails the cutline by 35 points while Reddick trails by 57 points.

    The remaining competitors who trail the top-16 cutline by 146 points or more are rookie Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Newman, rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Ty Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece, Daniel Suarez, rookie Brennan Poole and rookie Quin Houff.

    The battle for the final spots to the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will continue next weekend at Dover International Speedway for a series doubleheader weekend. The first Dover race will commence on Saturday, August 22, at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN while the second will occur the following day on Sunday, August 23, at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • 2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Michigan doubleheader

    2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Michigan doubleheader

    The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series regular season is nearing its conclusion following an eventful weekend doubleheader at Michigan International Speedway and with the Playoffs weeks away from being set and commencing.

    With a pair of victories on back-to-back dates at the Irish Hills added to his resume and long list of accomplishments, Kevin Harvick continues his quest for a second Cup championship. Including Harvick, 10 competitors have been guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs by virtue of winning throughout the previous 22 regular-season races, among which continues to include Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon and rookie Cole Custer.

    With four regular-season races remaining until the 2020 postseason field is set, six of the 16-postseason field spots remain vacant with multiple top names either on the bubble or still on the outside.

    Currently, Aric Almirola and the Busch brothers (Kyle and Kurt) continue to remain in decent shape of making the Playoffs by points. Almirola rallied from finishing 16th on Saturday, August 8, to collect a handful of stage points, lead a handful of laps and post a top-10 run on Sunday, August 9, at Michigan as he is 158 points above the top-16 cutline. Kyle Busch, on the other hand, posted two top-five results in both races along with a chunk load of stage points to place himself 140 points above the cutline and with an opportunity of defending his series title.

    Kurt Busch concluded his runs at Michigan by scoring a pair of 10th-place results and gaining a chunk load of stage points towards the postseason. With the 2004 Cup champion tallying his top-10 results to 14 this season, he and his No. 1 Monster Energy/Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team are 137 points above the cutline as he also looks to win a race for the first time since last July at Kentucky Speedway.

    “We covered a lot of ground with the Monster Energy Chevy,” Kurt Busch said on NBCSN. “Both days were a hard-fought battle, a little loose here, a little tight there, lane choice and then, pit stops. We did it as a team, but it was like yesterday, we had a seventh-place car. Today, we had a 13th-place car and finished 10th on both days. Thanks to Monster Energy and Chevy. We know what we need to get our cars more efficient. We need to be a little bit better down the straightaway and still have that handling. This seems like we’re up against this imagery bubble and with [teammate Matt] Kenseth getting better, that’ll help us…working with Hendrick [Motorsports] and trying to get the horsepower right, all of its a balance. Jim Campbell, Chevrolet, thanks to those guys. But, we just didn’t get it done here at Michigan.”

    For Clint Bowyer, it was an up-and-down weekend that ended up with a decent result approaching the final four regular-season races of this season. After finishing 19th on Saturday, Bowyer started Sunday on fire after leading the first 40 laps and winning the first stage. Throughout the second stage, he did not lead but he remained inside the top 10 and finished fifth to gain more stage points. For the early stages of the final stage, however, Bowyer’s race went backwards when he made an unscheduled pit stop after suffering a tire rub. He was able to quickly work his way back on the lead lap and from there, he charged his way back to finish 14th. With his 11th top-15 finish of this season, the Kansas native and his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team are 60 points above the cutline.

    Like Bowyer, Matt DiBenedetto had an eventful weekend at Michigan that started with a 15th-place result on Saturday and ended up with a strong top-10 result (seventh) on Sunday. With his seventh top-10 result of the season, the Californian and his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang team are 57 points above the cutline as DiBenedetto attempts to make his first postseason appearance as a title contender.

    “The ole car had its tongue hanging out all day,” DiBenedetto said on NBCSN. “It still wasn’t pretty. I’m glad to have driven this car. It looked good. Thank you to all of our Ford auto technicians, Motorcraft, Quicklane, Menards, everyone that allows me to drive this thing. It’s a lot of fun. We’re really doing good and the cool thing is when we have a car [that you are] very dissatisfied with and we finished seventh, that shows the strength of our team. So, I’m still encouraged about that. The second half of the season have some really good race tracks for me personally that I like a lot of the 750 horsepower tracks, a lot of the low downforce stuff. That’s what I definitely prefer. It fits my wheelhouse. Looking forward, we have a lot of really good tracks and we just get better and better as a team every week. So, tracks like the [Daytona] road course next week, I’m really looking forward to. It’s gonna be a lot of fun. It’s a lot of great places for us coming up.”

    For the 16th and final spot to the Playoffs, William Byron continues to retain the position by 26 points following a pair of top-15 results at Michigan. The first two competitors who continue to trail Byron and the cutline by 26 points are Erik Jones and seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson. Like Byron, Johnson capped off both Michigan races with top-15 finishes and in his final races at the Irish Hills. Jones, on the other hand, had an up-and-down weekend that started with an 11th-place result on Saturday before he finished a disappointing 27th place on Sunday. With two missed opportunities of locking himself into the postseason and winning at his home track, Jones and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry team are still on the outside of the cutline and with Jones set to depart the organization following this season.

    Rookie Tyler Reddick had a long weekend at Michigan as he recorded finishes of 18th and 24th between the two races, and he now trails the cutline by 36 points.

    “We fought hard today at Michigan International Speedway, but our No. 8 Chevrolet Accessories Camaro ZL1 1LE was a challenge during the race,” Reddick said. “We fired off extremely tight, which made it hard to move around and run the bottom like I needed to be able to do. My crew chief, Randall Burnett, made some good adjustments during the race that helped loosen me up, but we just needed a little bit more today. We’ll definitely look back at this weekend as a team to see what we can learn from it and regroup for next weekend.”

    The remaining competitors who trail the top-16 cutline by 122 or more points include rookie Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece, Daniel Suarez, rookie Brennan Poole and rookie Quin Houff.

    The battle for the final spots towards the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will continue next weekend in the inaugural Daytona International Speedway road course event, which will occur on August 16 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Harvick sweeps Michigan in one weekend

    Harvick sweeps Michigan in one weekend

    Like his run from a day earlier at Michigan International Speedway, Kevin Harvick had a fast car and had to fight off all comers to earn a victory. That was the case on Sunday, August 9, when Harvick held off a late challenge from Denny Hamlin in the final laps to win the Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan and to sweep both Cup races at the Irish Hills on the same weekend. The victory was Harvick’s sixth of this season, fifth at Michigan and the 55th of his Cup Series career. 

    The starting lineup was based on the results from Saturday’s Cup race at Michigan, where the top-20 finishers were inverted while the latter 20 competitors started as finished on Saturday. Chris Buescher, who finished 20th, was scheduled to start on pole position, but he started at the rear of the field in a backup car. As a result, William Byron and Clint Bowyer, both of whom finished 14th and 19th on Saturday, started on the front row and led the field to the start on Sunday.

    In addition to Buescher, the following competitors, including Austin Dillon, Ryan Newman, rookie Tyler Reddick, Aric Almirola, Michael McDowell, Ryan Preece, rookie John Hunter Nemechek and rookie Cole Custer, started at the rear of the field in backup cars. Rookie Brennan Poole also started at the rear of the field for an engine change, Daniel Suarez and Reed Sorenson both dropped to the rear of the field due to failing pre-race inspection twice and Josh Bilicki started at the rear of the field due to a driver change. 

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Byron and Bowyer battled dead even for the lead with Bowyer squeaking ahead to lead the first lap. Behind, Austin Dillon was assessed a pass-through penalty for unapproved adjustments made on the grid prior to the race.

    The following lap, Jimmie Johnson and Matt DiBenedetto overtook Byron for position with rookie Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones and Kurt Busch trailing behind. By then, Bowyer was ahead with the lead by nearly half a second.

    By the fifth lap, Kyle Busch muscled his way up to seventh after overtaking brother Kurt and Wallace in Turn 2 a lap earlier. Behind, Ryan Blaney was in ninth, Chase Elliott was in 11th ahead of Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski. Denny Hamlin was in 17th, teammate Martin Truex Jr. was in 19th and Tyler Reddick was in 20th ahead of Alex Bowman. Rookie Cole Custer was in 25th ahead of Ryan Newman, Aric Almirola and Daniel Suarez.

    Five laps later and 10 laps into the race, Bowyer stabilized his early advantage by more than a second over Johnson followed by Bell, DiBenedetto, Byron and Jones. Two laps later, Bell, the fastest competitor on the track, moved into the runner-up spot after passing Johnson. Another lap later, Johnson lost momentum entering Turn 3 and fell back to sixth place while being overtaken by DiBenedetto, Byron and Jones. 

    By Lap 15, Harvick, winner of Saturday’s Cup Michigan race, cracked the top 10 after passing Wallace. Ahead of him, Kyle Busch was in eighth ahead of Blaney while Logano, Elliott, Keselowski and Hamlin were running in 12th through 15th.

    Five laps later and 20 laps into the race, Bowyer was still leading by more than two seconds over Bell, who continued to chop off Bowyer’s advantage. DiBenedetto was still in third place while Byron and Jones battled for fourth. The Busch brothers followed suit while Blaney and Harvick were in eighth and ninth. Johnson, meanwhile, had fallen back to 10th with Logano lingering behind him. By then, Wallace was in 15th ahead of Reddick, Truex was in 24th behind Almirola and Austin Dillon was back in 33rd place following his opening lap pass-through penalty.

    With the laps in the first stage dwindling, Bowyer and his No. 14 DEKALB Ford Mustang were still ahead and cruising by three seconds over Bell and his No. 95 Procore Toyota Camry. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch and his No. 18 M&M’s Fudge Brownie Toyota Camry continued to work towards the front as he moved into third place followed by Jones, Byron and DiBenedetto. Blaney was in seventh followed by Harvick, one of the fastest competitors on the track. Kurt Busch was in ninth while Logano was in 10th ahead of Johnson, Elliott, Hamlin and Keselowski. Reddick was in 17th behind Wallace while Truex was stuck back in 22nd.

    With no competition trailing behind him for the lead, Bowyer was able to navigate his way through lapped traffic and cruise to the first stage win on Lap 40 while claiming his third stage win of the season and crucial stage points towards making the Playoffs. Bell settled in second place followed by Kyle Busch, DiBenedetto and Jones. Byron, Blaney, Harvick, Kurt Busch and Logano settled in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Kyle Busch emerged with the lead after exiting pit road first following a stellar stop by the No. 18 M&M’s crew. Harvick moved up to second place followed by teammate Bowyer, Byron and Jones. Following the first round of pit stops, Blaney, who was in the top 10, made another pit stop to fill up the fuel tank of his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang. 

    Prior to the restart and with the choose rule implemented, Byron moved up from fourth to second place and restarted beneath Kyle Busch on the front row, Johnson moved up from seventh to restart in third place alongside Harvick in the second row and Bowyer dropped back to sixth to restart on the outside lane in the third row alongside Logano.

    The second stage started on Lap 47 and Kyle Busch jumped to an early advantage with drafting help from Harvick. Not long after, Harvick made a three-wide move on Kyle Busch and Byron entering Turn 2 to take the lead and pull away. Busch settled in second followed by Bowyer, Byron and Jones. A lap later, Keselowski made his way into the top five after moving up to fourth. Behind, Bell was back in eighth following a slow stop under the first stage break. 

    By Lap 60 and with less than 100 laps remaining of the overall race, Harvick was leading by more than a second over Keselowski and Kyle Busch. Bowyer was in fourth followed by Bell, Jones, Logano, DiBenedetto, Elliott and Hamlin. Kurt Busch was in 11th followed by Almirola and Byron, Johnson and Bowman. Blaney was in 18th behind Reddick and ahead of Truex and Wallace. Matt Kenseth and Newman were in 16th and 23rd.

    Ten laps later, Harvick, who started to approach lapped traffic, was still ahead of the field by two seconds over Keselowski and more than three seconds over Kyle Busch. Bell was still in fourth place followed by Bowyer, Jones, Hamlin, Logano, Elliott and Almirola. Johnson and Byron were back in 14th and 15th behind Blaney while Truex was in 17th. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 78, Harvick extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Keselowski with Kyle Busch trailing by more than four seconds, Bell by nearly six seconds and Bowyer by nearly seven seconds. Like his race-winning performance from Saturday and with the same car he drove to yesterday’s win, Harvick was able to drive away from the field and easily claim the second stage on Lap 85 for his fifth stage victory of the season. Keselowski settled in second place followed by Kyle Busch, Bell and Bowyer. Hamlin, Jones, Almirola, Logano and Blaney were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Harvick retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of Kyle Busch. Keselowski, Bowyer and Hamlin exited in the top five followed by Bell. Prior to the restart, Hamlin moved up to the front row to restart beneath Harvick, Kyle Busch fell back to fourth to restart on the outside lane alongside Blaney. Elliott and Keselowski restarted behind on the third row followed by DiBenedetto and Bowyer.

    Under 65 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. During the restart, Hamlin and Blaney boosted ahead with the lead and both competitors battled dead even before Blaney squeaked ahead with the top spot. Behind, Harvick and Hamlin battled for the runner-up spot followed by Elliott, Kyle Busch and Keselowski. Meanwhile, Bowman and Truex, both of whom struggled, were in 10th and 11th while Bowyer was in 12th ahead of Jones, Reddick and Bell. Byron was in 17th ahead of Kenseth while Johnson was in 20th behind Wallace.

    With around 60 laps remaining, Keselowski, who muscled his way up to the runner-up spot, made a move beneath Blaney in Turn 1 and challenged for the lead when he got loose and slipped up into Blaney as both Penske teammates wrecked across the Turn 2 outside wall. With the caution returning, the wreck eliminated Blaney and Keselowski from race-winning contention and the overall race.

    “I just lost it,” Keselowski said following his release from the infield care center on NBCSN. “It’s my fault. I feel really bad for my teammate, Ryan Blaney. He didn’t deserve that. I just came off of Turn 4 and [Harvick] was behind me. He gave me a push and I swear, I went into the corner like 20 mph faster than I had been all day. [I] Got pass [Hamlin] and went to get underneath [Blaney]. It just slipped, lost the back a little bit. I went to correct it and he was there, and I wiped him out and myself out.”

    “It’s unfortunate for the whole Penske organization,” Blaney added. “We had two fast cars, battling for the lead. It stinks that happened. He had a run like he said. He didn’t think he had a big of a run as he had and just got loose and unfortunately, got us both. That’s a shame to end our day like that with the Knauf/Menards Ford Mustang. We were so fast…Got the lead…It’s unfortunate, but it’s not going to carry over. Mistakes happen.”

    Under caution, Bowman made a pit stop after sustaining damage during the incident. Bowyer, who also sustained minimal damage to his car, remained on track inside the top 10. Prior to the restart, Kyle Busch moved up to restart beneath teammate Hamlin on the front row. Kurt Busch and Harvick restarted on the second row in front of Bell and Elliott.

    The race restarted under green with 55 laps remaining and Harvick made his way back to the lead over Hamlin. Elliott moved into third followed by Kyle Busch and Almirola. Kurt Busch charged his way up to sixth followed by DiBenedetto, Truex, Johnson and Bell. Meanwhile, Bowyer, who sustained a tire rub during the restart, made an unscheduled pit stop and was trapped a lap behind the leaders.

    Shortly after, the caution returned when Bell spun in Turn 2 after sustaining a flat tire. The caution was as a saving grace for Bowyer, who received the free pass and returned on the lead lap. 

    Under caution, nearly the entire field pitted and Hamlin exited pit road first after only taking fuel to his No. 11 FedEx Toyota, the first of many who elected to pit for only fuel. DiBenedetto exited in second after he also took only fuel to his car followed by Harvick, who opted for a two-tire stop. At the front, Almirola remained on track to inherit the lead, though he miscommunicated with his crew over code words and had meant to pit with the leaders.

    When the race restarted with 47 laps remaining, teammates Almirola and Harvick battled for the lead with Harvick leading the following lap before Almirola cleared his teammate for the lead the next lap. Behind, DiBenedetto moved up to third place followed by Truex, who made a three-wide move on Kurt Busch and Hamlin to move into the top five for the first time. Logano was in seventh followed by Jones, Kyle Busch and Newman. 

    With 40 laps remaining, Harvick made his way back to the lead after passing Almirola, though Almirola and his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang remained competitive on old tires and low fuel. Truex was up in third place followed by DiBenedetto and Hamlin. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was in ninth ahead of Johnson and Jones, Austin Dillon was up to 13th, Byron was in 15th and Bowyer was in 18th.

    Ten laps later and with 30 laps remaining, Harvick was still leading by two-tenths of a second over his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Almirola while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Hamlin battled for third place. Kurt Busch trailed by more than four seconds with brother Kyle up to sixth.

    Seven laps later, with the leaders approaching lapped traffic, teammates Truex and Hamlin passed Almirola to move up to second and third with Truex trailing race leader Harvick by less than a second. 

    With less than 20 laps remaining, the caution returned due to debris from Bowman’s No. 88 Adam’s Polishes/ChevyGoods.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, who had sustained a flat tire entering Turn 4 and near the pit road entrance. The caution was as a saving grace for Almirola, who was on the brink of having to make an unscheduled pit stop under green.

    Under caution, Almirola along with some that included DiBenedetto, Wallace, Kenseth, Michael McDowell, rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Preece and Daniel Suarez pitted while most of the leaders led by Harvick remained on track.

    With 15 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Harvick and Hamlin on the front row in front of Truex and Logano. At the restart, Harvick retained the lead while teammates Truex and Hamlin battled for the runner-up spot. Teammate Kyle Busch made his way to fourth after passing brother Kurt and with DiBenedetto behind. 

    Two laps later, Hamlin settled in the runner-up spot in front of teammates Truex and Kyle Busch. By then, Harvick was ahead by nearly a second. Meanwhile, Almirola, following his pit stop, was up to eighth on fresh tires behind Elliott. 

    With less than 10 laps remaining, Harvick was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin, who was slowly closing in towards Harvick, while teammates Truex and Kyle Busch battled for third place. During this time, Bowman made another unscheduled pit stop after making contact with the wall and sustaining another flat tire.

    With the laps dwindling, Hamlin continued to chop off Harvick’s advantage as he drew himself to being three-tenths of a second behind Harvick. While Hamlin remained within sight of Harvick’s rear bumper and made a few attempts to pass for the lead through the turns, Harvick was able to retain his advantage entering the straightaways.

    With two laps remaining, Hamlin gained a run in Turn 1 when Harvick lifted, but he also lifted entering Turn 2 as Harvick stabilized his advantage to nearly three car lengths. On the final lap, Harvick was still ahead with Hamlin still lurking behind. In Turn 3, Harvick remained on the inside lane while Hamlin went on the outside lane. Entering Turn 4, Hamlin gained a huge run on Harvick and got to his rear bumper. With the checkered flag waving and the leaders coming across the finish line through the frontstretch, Harvick was able to beat Hamlin by 0.093 seconds to grab a thrilling win.

    The victory was the 13th of the season for Ford, the manufacturer’s 42nd Cup victory since 2018 and the seventh of the season for Stewart-Haas Racing. With his two victories this weekend, Harvick tallied his top-five results of this season to 15 and top-10 results to 19. A day after tying the late Lee Petty for 11th place on the NASCAR Cup all-time wins list, Harvick has tied NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for 10th place on the all-time wins list. 

    “It was a big challenge [on the battle with Hamlin],” Harvick said in Victory Lane on NBCSN. “Our Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang got really tight there in [Turns] 3 and 4. I could run really good through [Turns] 1 and 2 still, but I was just tight on that other end all day. I just got to thank all of my guys. They did a great job all weekend on pit road. Great pit calls. It’s been a long time since I’ve raced back-to-back days, let alone in the Cup car. I’ve never accomplished that, obviously, but we’ve done that a couple times this year. For us, it’s worked out pretty good. When you look at my team, we’ve been together for seven years now, and you look at the confidence that everybody has in each other, the details of the racecars and the thought of everything that goes into everything we do is untouchable.”

    Hamlin settled in the runner-up spot for his 12th top-five result of this season as this also marks the ninth time where he has finished first or second this season. Teammates Truex and Kyle Busch finished third and fourth while Logano held off Almirola to finish fifth.

    “Once we finally got to second, I knew we had something for [Harvick],” Hamlin said. “We got stalled there. He was tight, I was tight. We were better, that’s for sure. He just had the track position and could control the lanes there. [I] Wished I had Turns 1 and 2 to go do over again when we both lifted off of [Turn] 2 there. I should’ve faked low and went high, but I thought I could maybe get to the quarter panel and shoved him even higher. Just couldn’t quite do it, but proud of this whole FedEx Ground Toyota team. Obviously, a very strong run. We just needed a little bit more. Overall, I thought we just had a good-handling car and that’s what allowed us to keep pace there. I thought our whole team did a great job of adjusting overnight. We’re just plugging along here. [I] Really hate giving up wins to [Harvick]. I got tremendous respect for everyone on [the No. 4] team and Kevin. As we’ve gotten older, we’ve gotten wiser, learned to really appreciate what each other does on the race track and obviously, they’re have a great season as well.”

    “We battled back,” Truex said. “The car was pretty far off to start the race. We’re all pretty disappointed in that, obviously. Really proud of the effort to get the Auto-Owners [Insurance] Camry back upfront. Just really proud of our race team. We keep bringing top-three cars to the race track and the Playoffs are coming. So, we need to keep doing that. Just off at the start and had to rebound. Definitely, a different story than yesterday but pretty much, the same result. I was doing all I could to get up there. I got too tight there at the end. Just fought the balance too much all day. Wicked loose to start and wicked tight at the end. We’ll keep digging.”

    Almirola, DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Elliott and Kurt Busch rounded out the top 10. Jimmie Johnson finished 11th in his final run at Michigan while Bowyer ended his run in 14th place.

    There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 24 laps.

    With two victories this weekend and with four regular-season races remaining until the start of the 2020 Cup Playoffs, Harvick continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 137 over Keselowski and 140 over Hamlin.

    Results.

    1. Kevin Harvick, 90 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Denny Hamlin, six laps led

    3. Martin Truex Jr.

    4. Kyle Busch, four laps led

    5. Joey Logano

    6. Aric Almirola, nine laps led

    7. Matt DiBenedetto

    8. Austin Dillon

    9. Chase Elliott

    10. Kurt Busch

    11. Jimmie Johnson

    12. William Byron

    13. Ryan Newman

    14. Clint Bowyer, 43 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    15. Matt Kenseth

    16. Ryan Preece

    17. Christopher Bell

    18. Ty Dillon

    19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    20. Chris Buescher

    21. Bubba Wallace

    22. Corey LaJoie

    23. John Hunter Nemechek

    24. Tyler Reddick

    25. Cole Custer

    26. Daniel Suarez

    27. Erik Jones

    28. Michael McDowell

    29. J.J. Yeley, two laps down

    30. Brennan Poole, three laps down

    31. Reed Sorenson, three laps down

    32. Quin Houff, three laps down

    33. Josh Bilicki, four laps down

    34. Garrett Smithley, four laps down

    35. Timmy Hill, six laps down

    36. Alex Bowman – OUT, Tire

    37. James Davison, nine laps down

    38. Ryan Blaney – OUT, four laps led

    39. Brad Keselowski – OUT

    Next weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series will race for the first time on the Daytona International Speedway Road Course layout as the 2020 Playoffs approaches its starting point. The race at Daytona will occur on August 16 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • 2020 Cup Playoff outlook after New Hampshire

    2020 Cup Playoff outlook after New Hampshire

    With August in its early stages of the year 2020, another race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule has been completed as the Playoffs near its initiating phase. With six regular-season races remaining, the battle for the final six Playoff spots continues to intensify with some big names either on the bubble or still on the outside and looking in.

    Following an intense battle between two veterans giving it their all, Brad Keselowski prevailed over Denny Hamlin for his third Cup victory of the season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on August 2 as he continues his pursuit for a second series title. Like Keselowski, Hamlin had a productive afternoon of racing as he recorded a strong runner-up finish behind Keselowski. With the strength of five victories throughout this season, including last week at Kansas Speedway, Hamlin and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team continue their pursuit for a first Cup title. Keselowski and Hamlin also remain as two of 10 competitors to be guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs by virtue of a victory this season. Also locked in include Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, rookie Cole Custer, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr.

    The top winless competitor who continues to occupy one of the transfer spots to the Playoffs is Aric Almirola. For Almirola, who started on pole for the third time this season by virtue of a random draw, Sunday’s race at New Hampshire did not result in a win for the Floridian. Nonetheless, a seventh-place result, which marked his 12th top-10 result of this season and ninth in a row in recent weeks, along with stage points in both stages were enough to keep Almirola and his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford team 145 points above the top-16 cutline.

    Unlike Almirola, Sunday’s race at New Hampshire was not magical for the Busch brothers. For Kurt, he started the race in 10th place and finished in 17th place. While the finish snapped his three-race string of top-10 results, the 2004 Cup champion remains 112 points above the cutline. Kyle’s race, however, was cut short 15 laps into the event following a wreck into the Turn 3 outside wall caused by a blown right-front tire. The incident marked Kyle Busch’s third DNF of the season and his seventh result outside the top 20. With no victories recorded throughout the first 20 races, the reigning Cup champion is 94 points above the cutline.

    For Clint Bowyer, his run at New Hampshire was primed for a strong result after starting in sixth place and finishing in the top 10 in both stages as he collected a handful of stage points. When the checkered flag waved, however, Bowyer ended his run in 18th, which marked his fifth consecutive finish outside the top 10. Even worse, Bowyer’s crew chief, Johnny Klausmeier, faces a one-race suspension due to two loose lug nuts discovered on Bowyer’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang during post-race inspection process. The lone good news for Bowyer continues to be that he is 43 points above the cutline.

    Coming off a late accident at Kansas Speedway, Matt DiBenedetto rebounded with another strong performance at New Hampshire. A year after recording a solid fifth-place result at New Hampshire, DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford team posted a sixth-place result on Sunday. His sixth top-10 result of this season has DiBenedetto 40 points above the cutline and still in position of making his first Playoffs appearance.

    Lastly, William Byron had another strong run in the making with crew chief Chad Knaus back atop the pit box. After starting in 16th, Byron methodically worked his way towards the front and was able to collect a handful of stage points following a fifth-place result in the second stage. In the final laps, Byron was primed for a top-10 result before he crossed the line in 11th place and in between his fellow competitors and targets battling towards the Playoff cutline. With his 13th top-15 finish of this season, his third in a row at New Hampshire, the Charlotte native continues to hold sole possession of the 16th and final transfer spot by 15 points.

    The first competitor who is outside of the cutline continues to be rookie Tyler Reddick. For Reddick, Sunday’s race at New Hampshire produced another strong performance for the Californian after starting 13th and fighting for a top-10 spot, including battling against his fellow rookie contenders Cole Custer and Christopher Bell. In the final laps, Reddick was able to charge his way to post a 10th-place result. With Byron finishing a spot ahead of him and gaining a handful of stage points, however, Reddick did not gain additional ground towards the cutline. He, nonetheless, remains in contention of pointing his way into the Playoffs as he trails by 15 points.

    The good news for Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team is that Sunday’s race at New Hampshire produced a decent outcome for them as they rallied from an early spin to cross the line in 12th place, which marked their highest result since finishing 10th at Martinsville Speedway in June. The bad news for them is that with Reddick and teammate Byron finishing ahead of them, Johnson and his team continue to trail the cutline as the 2020 Playoffs near its establishing point. By being 25 points behind, the seven-time Cup champion continues to remain on the hunt to move himself inside the cutline and receive a final opportunity to pursue his record-setting eighth championship.

    Unlike Kansas, Erik Jones did not have a good run at New Hampshire. The Michigan native suffered an early pit road penalty for pitting outside his pit box and struggled on the track in keeping pace with the leaders. By finishing 24th, a lap down, Jones trails the cutline by 31 points in his quest to make his third consecutive appearance in the Playoffs.

    The remaining competitors who still remain eligible to make the Playoffs while trailing by 125 or more points include Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, rookie Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Corey LaJoie and Ryan Preece. With his 26th-place finish at New Hampshire, Daniel Suarez is two points below the top-30 cutline in the regular-season standings. Should Suarez move himself back into the top 30 in the standings and record a win between next weekend at Michigan through the final regular-season race at Daytona International Speedway on August 29, he will receive an opportunity to be eligible for the Playoffs.

    The NASCAR Cup Series will compete at Michigan International Speedway in a doubleheader feature on August 8-9. The first Cup race at Michigan will occur on Saturday, August 8, at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN while the second race will occur the following day, August 9, at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • 2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Kansas

    2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Kansas

    With seven races remaining until the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs commences, the battle for the final six vacant spots within the top-16 cutline has changed course yet again. Following Thursday night’s Super Start Batteries 400 at Kansas Speedway, some on the bubble had good nights and kept themselves in contention for the postseason while others struggled and are setting their focus towards next weekend in making up the points lost.

    Ten Cup competitors are still guaranteed a spot to this year’s postseason battle for the championship. This includes Denny Hamlin, who earned his fifth win of 2020 at Kansas as he continues to pursue his first Cup championship. Among others who are guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs include Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon and rookie Cole Custer.

    The first winless competitor who is inside the top-16 cutline continues to be Aric Almirola. For Almirola, who started third based on a random draw, it was another strong night for the Floridian and his No. 10 Smithfield/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team as he finished in the top 10 in both stages, racked up a handful of stage points and survived the late calamity to finish sixth for his best result at Kansas, the same track where he suffered a compression fracture to his T5 Vertebra following his harrowing accident in 2017. While it was another week without a win, the sixth-place result marked Almirola’s 11th top-10 result of the season, eighth in a row, as he is 134 points above the cutline.

    “I’m pretty eager to get a W,” Almirola said. “Man, this race team’s being doing a great job. We’ve been running really good. A long time ago, I would’ve gave anything to just run top 10 every week and run like we’ve been running. When you start tasting victory and you run upfront, you race around those guys, you wanna seal the deal and go to Victory Lane, but tonight, we were just a little bit off. We didn’t have as good of a car compared to the field as we have the last several weeks. Proud of my guys. We just keep chipping away at it, we keep building up that points buffer to the cutoff, which is nice, but now, we’re ready to go get a W and get some bonus points for the Playoffs. So, I think we’re capable and we got a really good race team.”

    Next up are the Busch brothers. For Kyle, who started eighth, the majority of the race had him and his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry towards the front and battling for the lead. After winning the first stage and leading 52 laps, Busch appeared to have a top-five run and even, a late charge for the win established until he made contact with the wall nearing 40 laps remaining. The contact forced Busch to pit under green as he lost a lap to the leaders during his stop. Following two late cautions, however, Busch was able to race his way back onto the lead lap. For the remainder of the race, he worked his way from the top 20 to finish in 11th. Despite remaining winless through the first half of the 2020 season, the reigning Cup Series champion is 120 points above the top-16 cutline.

    “That wasn’t the finish this M&M’S Fudge Brownie Camry deserved today,” Kyle Busch said. “We were tight most of the race and I just got into the wall there. We are making progress and think we showed that tonight. We will go back, get ready and head to New Hampshire next week.”

    For Kurt Busch, who started ninth, Thursday’s race at Kansas was a race where the 2004 Cup champion struggled with adjustments around the track and keeping pace with the leaders, though he remained within sight of the top 10. After finishing in the top 15 the first two stages, Busch battled loose conditions, but was able to work his way into the top 10 in the final laps. He was able to gain one additional spot on track before the checkered flag flew to finish in ninth for his 12th top-10 result of this season. With the finish, Busch and his No. 1 Monster Energy/Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team are 119 points above the cutline.

    “The car was a little tough at times throughout the race,” Kurt Busch said. “We struggled on some of the restarts with tires on heat cycles, but thanks to my guys on this Monster Energy Chevy. We battled hard together and never gave up on working to make it better and try to find the sweetest spot to run. We just need to keep after it and turn these top 10’s into better results.”

    For Clint Bowyer, there is no place like home as the Emporia, Kansas, native arrived back at his home track with an opportunity of locking up a spot in the Playoffs for himself and his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team. The Cup race on Thursday at Kansas, however, was a difficult one for Bowyer, who started 19th, struggled with handling issues, finished outside the top 15 in both stages, sustained minimal damage from a late multi-car wreck and could only work his way up to 14th when the race concluded. The one positive Bowyer was able to walk away with following the race at Kansas was being 42 points above the cutline.

    “Man, we were so loose in the first two stages,” Bowyer said. “We worked hard on it and got it better in the final stage. I don’t know how the heck I didn’t wreck in that [Lap 177] big wreck. We got some damage then we dodged a couple more [wrecks] after that. It was a tough race, but nobody on our One Cure team gave up and our pit crew helped us out a bunch tonight. It’s good to be back in the top 12 in points. That will help our qualifying spot in New Hampshire. It’s always good to be back home in Kansas. I just wish we could have had the fans here tonight. We really missed them and ready to get them back to the track.”

    Unlike Bowyer, Matt DiBenedetto and his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang team were not so fortunate after a late accident cost the driver and the team a handful of points in remaining inside the top-16 cutline. The first half of the race saw DiBenedetto appearing in and out of the top 10 after starting 12th, though he remained poised and in contention for a decent finish. That all came to a crashing halt around 100 laps remaining when he got hit by two cars on the backstretch and made hard contact with the outside wall as he was involved in a multi-car wreck. The damage was beyond repairable for the No. 21 team as DiBenedetto sustained his first DNF of the season and his fourth result outside the top 20. The silver lining for DiBenedetto is the picture of being 35 points above the cutline.

    “I couldn’t tell what was going on,” DiBenedetto said. “I just tried to go low. I saw guys checked up off of [Turn] 2. I didn’t see it. I just got clipped in the right side. Nothing I could do different. I am not going to lie. I am pretty frickin irritated. We have had garbage luck the last couple of weeks.”

    With a 10th-place result on Thursday night at Kansas that included one of his best performances this season, William Byron drew himself back inside the cutline. Starting 15th and racing with interim crew chief/veteran Keith Rodden, the Charlotte native struggled on restarts and could not keep pace with the leaders throughout the first two stages. The final stage was where Byron and the No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team appeared poised for the win as he remained on track on old tires and low fuel in the closing laps, a move that worked to his advantage as he led 27 laps in total. Following a pair of late restarts, however, Byron lost track positions to competitors running on four fresh tires and he was able to hang on to finish 10th when the checkered flag flew. With his sixth top-10 result of this season, Byron holds sole possession of the 16th and final spot to the Playoffs by 10 points.

    “It was a solid finish for us – we needed that for sure for the playoffs,” Byron said. “We started the race way off. We were really loose – just really struggling. The guys, Keith and everybody made a lot of great adjustments throughout the race. It really got us in a position where we could attack. As soon as we got probably 10 laps on our tires, the car felt pretty good. We just stayed out there on no tires, really ran there with [Keselowski] and was able to pass him back for the lead. I thought we were looking really good. Unfortunately, the two tires didn’t really work out for us there at the end. I think we just had too many laps on the left side and struggled there.”

    The first Cup competitor who is a spot below the cutline is rookie Tyler Reddick. Coming off a career-best runner-up finish at Texas Motor Speedway, Reddick, who started 23rd, rocketed his way towards the front as he finished sixth in the first stage. He went on to finish 15th in the second stage while fighting grip and loose conditions to his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. While Reddick had a strong car throughout the race at Kansas, he struggled with balance in the final stage and just missed out for a top-10 result as he settled in 13th when the checkered flag flew. The top-15 finish, nonetheless, allowed Reddick to draw himself to be 10 points below the cutline.

    “We had a fast No. 8 I Am Second Chevrolet on the long runs tonight at Kansas Speedway,” Reddick said. “We just needed a little more on the short runs. It was a tale of two extremes almost, where we fired off extremely loose but about halfway through the race built way too tight. I was able to run the top during Stage 1 before anyone else really could, and that allowed us to climb well up into the top 10 to get some valuable stage points. As the night went on and our car got tighter, I wasn’t able to run up there as well and had to search around for speed to try to keep up with the changing track conditions. Luckily, we were able to avoid a handful of wrecks during Stage 3 and started to climb back up through the field once we were able to loosen our Chevrolet back up a little bit. In the end, we just needed a couple more longer runs to really be able to get back into the top 10 tonight.”

    Trailing behind him is Erik Jones, who needed another strong run in his hopes of making his third consecutive postseason appearance. Starting 21st, Jones was able to carve his way towards the front and notch a 10th-place result in the first stage to collect a valuable stage point. From there, Jones kept himself in contention towards the top 10 and following a series of late cautions and multi-car wrecks, Jones and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry team were able to drive their way into the top five and finish fifth. The top-five result was Jones’ fifth of this season and first since finishing third at Pocono Raceway in June. The finish also allowed the Michigan native to cut his deficit from the top-16 cutline in half from 24 to 12.

    “This is what we needed; we needed a really good points day,” Jones said. “It kind of seems like we’ve been in this spot the last couple of years unfortunately. It feels good to climb out of it. The Reser’s Camry was really good. We started really deep and just could never quite get up to the front and get some clean air. I kind of made a mistake on that last restart, I was trying to push too hard to get to the outside and gave up some ground there on those guys and had to make that back up. Good effort. Pit crew did good and the team gave me a good car. We just have to keep doing that and keep wracking these points up and hopefully get a win.”

    The competitor who took the biggest hit in the points following Kansas was Jimmie Johnson. Starting 20th, Johnson was able to methodically work his way towards the top 10 and remain poised for a decent result following a dismal run the previous race at Texas Motor Speedway. Everything changed with approximately 100 laps remaining when Johnson was involved in a multi-car wreck on the backstretch and sustained significant damage to his No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. While Johnson’s crew tried to repair the No. 48 machine to keep the seven-time Cup champion in contention for the remainder of the race, he was unable to meet the minimum speed requirement to continue with the repairs and was forced to end his race in the garage and in 32nd place, his sixth result this season outside the top 20. Prior to Kansas, Johnson was two points above the top-16 cutline. After Kansas, he is 18 points below the cutline and in jeopardy of missing the Playoffs for the second year in a row and in his final full-time Cup season.

    Another competitor who had a disappointing run at Kansas was Bubba Wallace. Starting 17th, Wallace’s troubles started at the 100-lap mark, when he spun entering Turn 4. More than 70 laps later, Wallace’s race went from bad to worse when he could not avoid a spinning Matt Kenseth entering Turn 4 and broke a right-front suspension during the wrecking process. The damage was enough to terminate Wallace’s long night in the garage as he is 100 points below the cutline.

    Like Johnson and Wallace, Chris Buescher had a dismal run at Kansas. Starting 13th, Buescher’s troubles started under the competition caution when he was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation during his pit stop and was sent to the rear of the field for the ensuing restart. On Lap 143, he spun in Turn 2, but was able to recover. He was not, however, able to avoid a vicious multi-car wreck with less than 90 laps remaining that involved his teammate Ryan Newman and ex-teammate Ryan Preece. The damage to the front of Buescher’s No. 17 Fifth Third Bank/Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang was enough to end his race in the garage and in 33rd place for his ninth finish outside the top 20. The run at Kansas has Buescher 107 below the cutline.

    Other competitors who continue to trail the top-16 cutline by deficits of 111 points or more include Michael McDowell, rookie Christopher Bell, rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Corey LaJoie, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, rookie Brennan Poole and rookie Quin Houff.

    The battle for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will continue next Sunday, August 2, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which will air at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • 2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Texas

    2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Texas

    With eight races remaining until the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series regular season concludes, another name has been added to the Playoff picture. With a strategic move for fuel only to gain track position and through a series of late restarts, Austin Dillon earned his way into the Playoffs following an upset victory in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

    Of all the accomplishments that Dillon established with his victory at Texas, the biggest one of all was guaranteeing himself and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team a spot in the Playoffs for the fourth time in his career, where he will attempt to become the first NASCAR competitor to record a championship across the sport’s three major division series.

    Dillon’s win makes it 10 Cup Series competitors that are guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs by virtue of a victory, a list that include Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman and rookie Cole Custer. Dillon’s win also leaves six spots vacant with the 2020 Playoffs a month away from commencing.

    For the third time in the previous four weeks, including Sunday’s race at Texas, Aric Almirola and the No. 10 Smithfield/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team had a potential shot in winning a race. Despite starting on pole by virtue of a random draw and leading 35 laps, an early pit road penalty for violating the blend-line rule cost Almirola track position and two laps from the leaders. He was able to race his way towards the front in the closing laps of the race before he settled in 10th for his 10th top-10 result of the season. The result has Almirola 109 points above the top-16 cutline and as the highest competitor in points with no recorded victories 18 races into the 2020 regular season.

    “One of these days we’ll get everything to go our way,” Almirola said. “That was my fault on the penalty, but we had such a fast car and got it back in position to compete for a win again before that caution came out. We’re still bringing fast Smithfield Ford Mustangs every weekend and we learned a lot for when we come back here and compete for a championship.”

    Behind, the Busch brothers had strong runs at the Lone Star state. Kurt and the No. 1 Monster Energy/Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team capped off a race with top-10 results in the two stages to finish eighth, a result that keeps Kurt 108 points above the cutline. Kyle, on the other hand, rallied from being involved in a midway multi-car accident that involved his teammate, Truex Jr., to battle for the lead late in the race before settling in fourth. To go along with top-10 results in both stages, Kyle is 95 points above the cutline in his quest to defend his series title. The Busch brothers also continue to pursue their first victory of this season.

    “We had one of our best points days so far this season with the Monster Energy Camaro,” Kurt Busch said. “We scored stage points in the first and second stages, followed by another top-10 result. I really battled a loose handling car all day, it was really difficult on the restarts and short-runs, so I really had to work my butt off there at the end with all the cautions.”

    “It was a good finish and proud of the effort for everyone on this Interstate Batteries team,” Kyle Busch said. “We came a long way today. We got a lot of damage on the frontend of the car that you can’t see with the eye. Going through the grass, it killed it. I thought early on in the first stage, second stage maybe that we had a second-place car and then as the day went, we just kept getting further and further behind. Still a lot of work to do. The car didn’t drive very good at all. Just was able to get something out of nothing there at the end. We’ll go to Kansas and see if we can get a win there.”

    Behind, Matt DiBenedetto had another strong result established following his third-place result at Kentucky Speedway. His run, however, was spoiled following a late incident, where he sustained damage to his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang after being hit by rookie Quin Houff. Over the final two restarts, DiBenedetto was able to race his way back onto the lead lap, but he was unable to charge his way into the top five as he settled in 17th. Nonetheless, the result kept DiBenedetto inside the top-16 cutline by 51 points as DiBenedetto attempts to qualify for his first Cup Playoffs.

    Next, Clint Bowyer rallied from starting 17th to work his way up to 11th when the checkered flag flew. The result keeps Bowyer and his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team inside the cutline by 36 points as Bowyer attempts to make his ninth Playoff appearance approaching next week’s Cup race at Kansas Speedway, his home track.

    “That was a hot, tough day, for sure,” Bowyer said. “We worked hard all race trying to get our Rush Truck Centers Ford to turn better and the guys did a great job fixing our damage from the wreck. I didn’t know if we were going to finish because our engine temperature was so hot. They got it cooled down and we made it to the end with a good finish.”

    For the second consecutive week, seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson had a potential run for a strong result spoiled by an on-track incident. Compared to last weekend at Kentucky, Sunday’s at Texas came early and it was one where Johnson was unable to rally back into race-winning contention. Despite making significant contact with the Turn 4 outside wall, Johnson was able to proceed multiple laps down and gain advantage of others’ misfortunes to finish in 26th. The result has Johnson and the No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE clinging onto the final transfer spot to the Playoffs by two points.

    The first competitor out of the Playoff picture and looking ahead is William Byron and the No. 24 AXALTA/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team. With his seventh finish outside the top 15, second DNF, of this season, Byron’s disappointing season in the Cup Series continued after being involved in two incidents in the final stage of the race and despite starting strong. With his 37th-place result, Byron trails the top-16 cutline by two points as he attempts to qualify for his second consecutive Playoffs.

    “Honestly, it’s going to be tough,” Byron said. “We just have to find speed first. We’re not really running good at all and we’ve got to figure that out…We’ve just got to figure it out and figure it out quick before the fall.”

    With his career-best runner-up finish behind teammate Austin Dillon, rookie Tyler Reddick gained significant ground towards the Playoffs as he is 14 points below the cutline and looks to join fellow competitor and Rookie-of-the-Year rival Cole Custer into the Playoffs.

    “We really couldn’t ask for much more than what we got today,” Reddick declared. “One spot better would have been great, but the recovery this No. 8 Cat Oil and Gas team made today was huge. We’re racing for the big picture of making the playoffs, so we have to race smart. Days like this will help us get there.”

    Compared to Kentucky, Erik Jones had a good result at Texas, where he collected a handful of stage points following the second stage and recorded a strong sixth-place result. The Michigan native, however, trails the cutline by 24 points as he also attempts to record his first Cup win since September 2019.

    “We needed a solid run and mistake free and that’s what we did,” Jones said. “I thought coming into this race if we could just go in and have no mistakes and have decent speed we could run top-five and we came real close to that. We have to keep doing that. Obviously, we need to get some points, especially with two winners the last two weeks that have been from outside the Playoff picture. That kind of changes things for us. We’ll keep rolling, but a decent day for us.”

    Next, Bubba Wallace rallied from difficult results at Kentucky Speedway and the All-Star Open at Bristol Motor Speedway to record a 14th-place run after running in the top 10 late in the race. Despite the decent run, his eighth top-15 run of this season, Wallace trails the cutline by 76 points as he attempts to make his first Playoff appearance.

    “A top-15 day for the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Cash App Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team at the Texas Motor Speedway – a long, hot day that’s for sure,” Wallace said. “Proud of the efforts from our team…I thought we had a chance there. If that last caution had not come out, we maybe could have held on for a top-10 finish. But all-in-all, a great effort. Good bounce back from our last two weeks and we’ll just keep pushing to get our cars better. We’ll see what we got [at Kansas Speedway].”

    Behind, Chris Buescher had a strong race in the making at his home track. After finishing ninth in the first stage and having a potential top-10 run established, his run was spoiled after being involved in a multi-car wreck at the start of the final stage. When the checkered flag flew, Buescher settled in 19th, a lap behind the leaders. The result has Buescher 86 points below the cutline as he attempts to make his second career Playoffs appearance, first since 2016.

    Other competitors that remain in contention of the 2020 Cup Playoff battle include rookie Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Corey LaJoie and Ryan Preece.

    The battle for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continues next week at Kansas Speedway, which will air on July 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • Almirola, Byron, DiBenedetto, Bowyer advance to All-Star Race

    Almirola, Byron, DiBenedetto, Bowyer advance to All-Star Race

    Aric Almirola, William Byron and Matt DiBenedetto transferred to the All-Star Race after each won one of three stages in the All-Star Open at Bristol Motor Speedway. For the final transfer spot, it was Clint Bowyer who earned a one way ticket to the main event after being named the Fan Vote winner.

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Michael McDowell drew the pole position and was joined on the front row with Aric Almirola. Corey LaJoie started at the rear of the field due to failing pre-race inspection twice. 

    When the green flag waved, McDowell received a strong start on the outside lane to jump to an early lead. After the first lap, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. moved into second while Almirola settled in third. Behind, with the field jumbling up through the corners and entering the straightaways, rookies Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick made contact in Turn 3 and nearly spun, but both saved their cars from spinning. Following the contact, Reddick fell off the pace and out of the top 10. During the contact between the two rookies, the field raced four wide entering Turn 1 before Matt DiBenedetto scrubbed the outside wall.

    At the front, McDowell continued to lead, but was hotly pursued by Almirola, Stenhouse, Bubba Wallace and William Byron. On the 11th lap, Almirola made his move below McDowell and took the lead entering Turn 1, where he started to pull away. Shortly after, Stenhouse moved into the runner-up spot after passing McDowell. 

    When the first stage reached its halfway point, Wallace pulled a bump-and-run move beneath McDowell for position through Turns 1 and 2, but McDowell hooked Wallace’s right-rear quarter panel in Turn 2 and sent Wallace into the Turn 3 wall as he made hard contact into the Turn 3 outside wall, sustaining heavy damage to his No. 43 World Wide Technology/Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Behind, Byron made contact with McDowell as McDowell spun with left-rear damage, but was able to continue. The wreck, however, ended Wallace’s attempt to make his second consecutive All-Star Race appearance since he was unable to continue the race with his wrecked primary car, which also took him out of contention of potentially winning the Fan Vote.

    “Just disrespect when you get hooked into the wall,” Wallace said on FS1. “I don’t even need to see a replay…What a joke [McDowell] is.”

    With six laps remaining in the first segment, the race restarted and Almirola took off with the lead on the outside lane. Behind, Ryan Preece got loose in Turn 3 and Reddick made contact to the rear bumper of Preece, which damaged part of Reddick’s front nose. 

    At the front, Almirola continued to pull away with Byron in second and Ty Dillon in third ahead of Bowyer and Corey LaJoie. Despite Byron closing in towards the rear bumper of Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang in the final laps, the Floridian was able to win the first stage spanning 35 laps and to transfer to the All-Star Race for the third time in his career.

    “Man, we’ve just had such a good run lately,” Almirola said on FS1. “We deserve to be in the All-Star Race. Our team has been doing an amazing job. We’ve been bringing really fast Ford Mustangs to the racetrack every weekend. So, proud to have Smithfield involved in the big show tonight. I was, actually, really nervous. When you come to a race like this, you just never know what could happen and you hate to have the All-Star Race and not be in it, especially with as good as we’ve been running lately. Proud of my guys, proud of the team…we’ll get ready for the big show tonight.”

    Under the stage break, some like Bowyer, Daniel Suarez, Preece, rookie Quin Houff, Ty Dillon, Reddick, rookie Brennan Poole and McDowell pitted.

    When the second stage started, Byron, who inherited the lead, jumped to an early lead, but was quickly pursued by Ty Dillon followed by LaJoie. The following lap, with the field jumbling up, Preece made contact with rookie John Hunter Nemechek as both spun through Turns 1 and 2, but both continued.

    With 28 laps remaining in the stage, the race restarted. On this occasion, Ty Dillon remained dead even with Byron through Turn 1, but slipped in Turn 2 as Byron was able to clear Dillon and retain the lead. Dillon fell back to fifth while Bell, Austin Dillon and Austin Dillon moved into the top 5. At the front, Byron stretched his advantage to nearly a second over Bell while Reddick moved back into the top five ahead of Clint Bowyer. Ty Dillon, meanwhile, had fallen all the way back to 12th following contact with Stenhouse and LaJoie as the pack behind the leaders were jumbling, again, for positions.

    As the laps progressed, Reddick fell out of the top 10 after making contact while McDowell was back up to sixth. At the front, Byron continued to lead, leading by nearly two seconds while approaching lapped traffic. With 13 laps remaining in the second stage, DiBenedetto made contact to the rear bumper of Bell to move into the runner-up spot and was quickly pursued by Austin Dillon and Bowyer while Bell fell back to fifth.

    With no drama occurring at the front nor the rear of the field, Byron was able to cruise his No. 24 AXALTA/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE across the start/finish line to win the second stage after leading all 35 laps in the stage and transfer to the All-Star Race for the second consecutive year. With Byron transferring to the All-Star Race, all four Hendrick Motorsports competitors will compete in the main event for a million dollars.

    “It’s always good to advance to the All-Star Race and have a shot to go for a million dollars,” Byron said on FS1. “The guys did a good job with this car, a little bit different AXALTA look for us this week, but it needs a little bit of love on the left-rear quarter panel, but hopefully, we can get that fixed up and just be ready to go. This is, actually, one of my favorite tracks, so it’s pretty awesome to see the fans here.”

    For the start of the final stage spanning 15 laps, DiBenedetto and Austin Dillon battled dead even through the first two turns before DiBenedetto pulled away with the lead. Behind, Bowyer moved into second and quickly drew himself to the rear bumper of DiBenedetto. 

    With 10 to go, DiBenedetto was ahead by half a second over Bowyer with Austin Dillon trailing by nearly a second. Buescher was in fourth followed by Nemechek and Ty Dillon. Five laps later, DiBenedetto stabilized his advantage by nearly a second over Bowyer with some battles for positions taking place behind the leaders. The advantage and the gap between himself and Bowyer was enough for DiBenedetto and the Wood Brothers Racing’s No. 21 Ford Mustang to cruise under the checkered flag to win the All-Star Open for his first non-point NASCAR Cup Series victory and to transfer to the All-Star Race for the first time in his career. 

    “I was hanging on for dear life,” DiBenedetto said on FS1. “We were so loose on entry. I was right on [the] ragged edge. Just thankful to the team for battling back. My gosh, we had big damage there at the start. Had to fix it. … So proud to be driving this thing.”

    Bowyer finished in the runner-up spot, but earned the final spot to the All-Star Race after being named the Fan Vote winner. With the vote, Bowyer will make his 11th All-Star Race appearance. With Bowyer transferring to the All-Star Race, all four Stewart-Haas Racing competitors will compete in the main event for a million dollars.

    “You hate to lean on [the fans], but man, [it] damn sure feels good to have fans back at the track!” Bowyer said on FS1. “It’s fun to be around this place. You want to talk about an All-Star event. This is the right track to do it. It’s only gonna get better as we go here. We got a little bit of work to do on our car. Hey, we’re in it. I watched my buddy, Kasey Kahne, win it one time off of the Fan Vote. Maybe, we can do the same thing.”

    Austin Dillon finished third followed by Buescher and Ty Dillon while Stenhouse, McDowell, Nemechek, LaJoie and Reddick rounded out the top 10, all of whom were 17 competitors who failed to qualify for the 2020 All-Star Race.

    There were three lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 18 laps.

    Results.

    1. Matt DiBenedetto – Stage 3 winner, 15 laps led

    2. Clint Bowyer – Fan Vote winner

    3. Austin Dillon

    4. Chris Buescher, one lap led

    5. Ty Dillon

    6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    7. Michael McDowell, 10 laps led

    8. John Hunter Nemechek

    9. Corey LaJoie

    10. Tyler Reddick

    11. Christopher Bell

    12. Daniel Suarez

    13. Ryan Preece

    14. J.J. Yeley

    15. Brennan Poole

    16. Garrett Smithley

    17. Quin Houff, two laps down

    18. Joey Gase – OUT, Handling

    19. William Byron – Stage 2 winner, 35 laps led

    20. Aric Almirola – Stage 1 winner, 25 laps led

    21. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident

    The NASCAR All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway is next on July 15 at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • 2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Kentucky

    2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Kentucky

    With nine races remaining until the 2020 NASCAR Cup Playoffs commences, a new name has been added to the postseason field.

    After his thrilling, four-wide pass for the win on Sunday in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, rookie Cole Custer has gone from being an Xfinity Series title contender to a Cup Series rookie and now, a Cup Series winner in a span of nine months. Of all the records he accomplished with his victory at Kentucky, the biggest one of all is guaranteeing himself and his No. 41 Haas Automation/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team a spot in the postseason with an opportunity to contend for a Cup Series championship. In addition, he is set to become the 37th competitor to make the Cup Series Playoffs since its inception in 2004 and the first rookie contender to make the Playoffs since Chase Elliott and Chris Buescher qualified in 2016.

    Custer’s win at the Bluegrass State also stirred a major shakeup to the Playoff field with the Californian leaping from 25th to a spot within the top-16 postseason field. Through the first 17 Cup races of the 2020 season, nine competitors, including Custer, are guaranteed spots in the Playoffs by virtue of a win. That leaves seven spots vacant and many big names on the bubble or looking on the outside of the cutline with the postseason more than a month away from starting.

    The first competitor on the bubble is Aric Almirola, Custer’s teammate. Almirola and his No. 10 Smithfield/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team had a race-winning setup at Kentucky after leading a race-high 128 laps and winning the first stage. An eighth-place result was a result that was not in mind for the Floridian, who has not won a Cup race since Talladega Superspeedway in October 2018. The good news for Almirola is he holds a 133-point cushion above the top-16 cutline and he recorded five consecutive top-five results prior to Kentucky, which indicates that his No. 10 team is hitting their strides late into the regular season while preparing for a title run.

    Like Almirola, Kurt Busch had a strong run at Kentucky. Starting seventh, Busch was shuffled out of the top 10 at the start of the race, but he was able to work his way back towards the front as the run progressed. Restarting fifth with two laps remaining, the 2004 Cup champion also had an opportunity to repeat his magic from last year’s Kentucky race, where he won in a thrilling two-lap shootout against his brother, Kyle. This year, however, Busch could only work his way as high as fifth when the checkered flag flew. While he did not earn his first win of the 2020 season, he and his No. 1 Monster Energy/Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team are 104 points above the cutline.

    Unlike Kurt, Kyle Busch had a disappointing run at Kentucky. A two-time Cup winner at the Bluegrass State, he started on pole by virtue of a random draw. After leading the first nine laps, things fell apart for Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota team, where they struggled in keeping pace with the leaders as the driver also fought grip issues. With less than 100 laps remaining, Busch nearly wrecked in Turn 4, but he was able to straighten his car and continue at the expense of losing multiple spots on the track. A 21st-place result left the reigning two-time Cup Series champion winless for another week into the 2020 season, but he remains 89 points above the cutline.

    If there was someone who had a great run at Kentucky on Sunday, it was Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang team. Starting 10th, DiBenedetto ran within the top five and top 10 throughout the race. On the final restart, he was able to charge his way from eighth to third when the checkered flag flew. DiBenedetto’s third-place result was his best since finishing in the runner-up spot at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in February. The podium spot was enough for DiBenedetto to stabilize himself above the cutline by 85 points.

    For Clint Bowyer, the Kentucky race was a day where late restarts hindered Bowyer’s run for a top-10 result. Starting 15th, Bowyer was able to work his way up to ninth when the first stage concluded. He was also in position for a top-10 result in the second stage, but a caution during a round of pit stops under green cost Bowyer spots as he could work his way back as high as 13th. In the final laps, Bowyer was in position to notch a top-10 result, but he was shuffled back to 14th when he crossed the finish line under the checkered flag. Bowyer’s eighth top-15 result of the season kept him 64 points above the cutline.

    For William Byron, it was a salvageable day for the Charlotte native and the No. 24 AXALTA/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team. Starting 21st, Byron made his way within the top 10 in the opening laps, but struggled on the bottom lane the ensuing restart. He worked his way up to 15th when the first stage concluded. The second stage was where Byron struggled the most with loose conditions as he settled outside the top 20 when the stage concluded. Making his way up towards the top 15 in the final stage, an opportunity presented itself for Byron during a cycle of pit stops under green and he was leading with 38 laps remaining. The caution allowed Byron to pit for four fresh tires and line up in sixth for the following restart. The bottom lane, however, hindered Byron’s progress to move towards the front. Despite starting seventh with two laps remaining, he was shuffled back to 11th when the checkered flag flew. With his 11th top-15 result of his junior season in the Cup level, he is 47 points above the cutline.

    A week after COVID-19 symptoms prevented him from racing for the first time since his debut in the Cup Series, Jimmie Johnson came roaring into Kentucky with vengeance and with a grand opportunity to leap himself into the Playoffs in his swan song season in the series. For much of the race, it appeared that Johnson and his No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team were growing closer and closer towards the front, working their way from starting 20th and running within the top 10. In the closing laps, Johnson was able to muscle his way into the top five and was lined up in third on a restart with 19 laps remaining with an opportunity to snatch the lead and his first win in over two years. Then, it came to a crushing blow when contact from Brad Keselowski sent Johnson sideways and out of contention. While Johnson was able to continue, the damage was done as he could only work his way back as high as 21st when the checkered flag flew. Even after missing last weekend’s race at Indianapolis followed by his result outside the top 20 at Kentucky, Johnson holds sole possession of the 16th and final spot to the Playoffs by 24 points as he is, already, setting his sights towards the upcoming regular-season races.

    With a 13th-place result, Austin Dillon finds himself outside the top-16 cutline by 24 points. The same goes for his Richard Childress Racing teammate and rookie Tyler Reddick, who trails by 41 points and continues to pursue his first Cup career win. Erik Jones, who struggled all race long at Kentucky with handling issues, finished 22nd as he and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry team trail by 42 points. Like Jones, Bubba Wallace struggled with keeping up to pace with the leaders, and his 27th-place result, two laps behind, marked his seventh result outside the top 20. Wallace and the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team, however, remain in pursuit of the top-16 cutline by 84 points.

    Other notables that trail the top-16 cutline include Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell, rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece and Daniel Suarez.

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on July 15, which starts with the All-Star Open at 7 p.m. ET on FS1 before the All-Star Race commences at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1. The next Cup points race is scheduled at Texas Motor Speedway on July 19, which will air at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.