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Tag: Elliott Sadler

  • Elliott Sadler announces 2018 will be his last full-time season

    Elliott Sadler announces 2018 will be his last full-time season

    Staff Report | NASCAR.com

    Perennial NASCAR Xfinity Series contender Elliott Sadler said he is ending his run as a full-time driver after the 2018 season. The veteran of more than 800 races in NASCAR’s national series and driver for JR Motorsports posted a statement on his website, ElliottSadler.com, on Wednesday announcing his decision.

    “After much consideration and many conversations with my family, I’ve decided this will be my last season racing full time in NASCAR,” Sadler wrote. “It’s time for me, as Dad, to help my kids pursue their dreams.”

    The full statement can be read in the Twitter post below.

    Sadler, 43, began racing in what is now the Xfinity Series in 1995, and he has 383 Xfinity starts to his credit. He also has 438 starts in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and 20 starts in the Camping World Truck Series.

    Sadler has three wins in the Monster Energy Series, 13 wins in Xfinity and one win in the Truck Series. He has finished second in the Xfinity Series standings in each of the past two seasons and is in second place entering Friday’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

    Sadler also finished second in Xfinity in 2011 and 2012. Sadler’s three Cup wins were at Texas and Auto Club Speedway (both in 2004 for Yates Racing) and Bristol (2001 for Wood Brothers Racing).

  • Sadler rallies from penalty to claim Dash 4 Cash at Talladega

    Sadler rallies from penalty to claim Dash 4 Cash at Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — If you went by Elliott Sadler’s post-race photo op after he collected $100,000 in the NASCAR XFINITY Grand National Series Dash 4 Cash, you’d think it was just a run of the mill afternoon. What the race results don’t tell you, however, was that he rallied from a speeding penalty that put him a lap down to finish fifth.

    “That’s an up and down day, for sure,” Sadler said. “We came from the back to fourth in five laps. We won the second stage. Then when the No. 42 (John Hunter Nemechek) wrecked when we went to pit under green, I sped up to avoid him clipping us. Obviously it costed us and we lost a lap from the penalty. My team never gave up and we came back to get another top-five finish and win the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash for a second week in a row. We have the OneMain Financial 200 next weekend and we’ll do all we can to win the $100,000 prize there too.”

    For most of the Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway, it was a run of the mill event for Sadler. He started the day second and rode there for most of the first stage. Coming to the line to start the final lap of the stage, Sadler broke out of line to make his move on race leader Daniel Hemric, but nobody went with him and he finished the stage in eighth.

    Elliott Sadler leads Ryan Reed and Spencer Gallagher, coming to the conclusion of the second stage of the NASCAR XFINITY Grand National Series Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway. Photo: Stephanie McLaughlin/SpeedwayMedia.com

    After a five-car wreck on the backstretch brought out the caution on Lap 31, he opted not to pit and assumed the race lead, which he held for the remainder of the second stage. He exited the pits second, but took it back on the restart on Lap 57.

    As Sadler slowed down on the apron to enter pit road, John Hunter Nemechek out-braked and shot right past him, running over an area covered in water and spinning out. Sadler sped up to avoid hitting Nemechek and slowed down as he traveled down pit road, as NASCAR rules state you’re required to do if you must use pit road to avoid an accident. But because he pitted for service, which NASCAR has stated that you can’t do if forced to use pit road to avoid an accident, NASCAR posted him for speeding.

    TALLADEGA, Ala. – APRIL 28: Elliott Sadler, driver of the #1 OneMain Financial Chevrolet, celebrates winning the Dash 4 Cash after the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 28, 2018 in Talladega, Alabama. Photo: Josh Hedges/Getty Images

    Sadler fell to 34th in the running order, and worked his way to 20th when Hemric’s shredded tire and wall hit in the tri-oval brought out the caution with seven laps to go. He took the wave-around to get back on the lead lap, and car after car running out of fuel bumped him up to 14th on the final restart. It allowed him to bump-draft with teammate Justin Allgaier up to a fifth-place finish, past Christopher Bell to claim the Dash 4 Cash at Talladega.

    “Coming down to the end, I knew the 22 (Austin Cindric) was gonna restart second, and the 20 (Bell) was behind him. So I knew I was racing both of those guys, but the 22 had damage. So I’m thinking in my head ‘I either need to get to the third lane or the first lane, as quick as I can, not in the same lane that they’re in.’ Then the 22 ran out of gas. Then I knew it was just the 20. And I was trying to get the third lane going, because I thought the 20 was in the middle. Then Justin (Allgaier) made a great move to the middle. Then the 20 moved to the top, and kind of opened up the middle. So I went with Justin. So I was just racing the 20 there at the end. So when we got by them, I just stayed behind Justin and kept bumping him, bumping him, going ‘Man, wherever we finish, we finish, but I don’t need to fan out here and create a distraction and then the 20 come back and beat us, because I knew we couldn’t win the race at that point, off of (Turn) 4. So you’re very aware, I am at least, of who I’m racing and where they’re at, especially at Talladega.”

    Sadler leaves Talladega with a 40-point lead over teammate Tyler Reddick.

  • Bell Holds Off Gragson for Richmond Win, Sadler Wins Dash 4 Cash Prize

    Bell Holds Off Gragson for Richmond Win, Sadler Wins Dash 4 Cash Prize

    Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

    RICHMOND, Va. – In a long green-flag run fraught with spellbinding tension, Christopher Bell held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Noah Gragson to win Friday night’s ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway.

    Bell spoiled Gragson’s prospects for a victory in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut, passing his teammate for the lead on Lap 172 of 250 and staying in front — if only just barely — the rest of the way.

    RELATED: Race results | Sadler receives Dash 4 Cash check

    Bell crossed the finish line .423 seconds ahead of Gragson, after the driver of the No. 18 Toyota got to the bumper of Bell’s No. 20 in the closing laps.

    Virginia native Elliott Sadler ran third and claimed a $100,000 Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus, though he remained winless and frustrated at his home track. It was Sadler’s fourth career win under the Dash 4 Cash program.

    “I had to work for it,” Bell said of his second career victory, his first of the season and his first at Richmond. “My teammate was really good. I knew throughout both practices that both of our cars were going to be really strong.

    “Joe Gibbs Racing has been producing really, really fast Camrys for the last couple weeks, and it’s really shown … All in all, it was enough to stay in front of him at the end.”

    During the final 79-lap run, Gragson fell behind by as much as 1.5 seconds, but when Bell hit traffic, Gragson closed in, trimming his deficit to a half-second with 20 laps left. At the 18-to-go mark, Gragson turned up the pressure and closed up to Bell’s rear bumper in the final laps but couldn’t get in position to make a clean winning move.

    “It’s tough,” Gragson said of his first Xfinity start. “I found a little something in the track, a little speed there at the end of the second stage on old tires, and I kept it in my memory banks till the end, and I told my team, ‘I’ve got something when it’s time to go — just tell me when.’

    “And about 18 to go, I told them, ‘I can’t wait any longer; I don’t have any more patience.’ And I ran Christopher down about two or three car lengths.”

    Matt Tifft ran fourth in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, followed by Austin Cindric with a career-best fifth. Bell, Sadler, Tifft and Cindric earned eligibility for the Dash 4 Cash bonus next Saturday at Talladega.

    Sadler won the second stage, got the bonus and retained the series lead by 29 points over Bell but said he would trade the cash for a win at Richmond.

    “I had a real strong run in that second stage,” Sadler said. “I was just a little bit tighter (handling) than I wanted to be at the end of the race. We can’t hang our heads. We won the Dash 4 Cash, and we’re part of the Dash 4 Cash going to Talladega next week, too.

    “But we always want to win at this race track, and it’s a shame to come up short tonight.”

    Pole winner Cole Custer ran sixth, followed by Ryan Truex, Jeremy Clements, Ryan Reed and Brandon Jones.

  • Joey Logano Goes for a California Cruise in the Roseanne 300

    Joey Logano Goes for a California Cruise in the Roseanne 300

    Joey Logano led 139 of 150 laps in a dominating win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in the Roseanne 300 at Auto Club Speedway. This is Logano’s 29th career victory in the Xfinity series, and third at Auto Club Speedway. He has never finished outside the top-10 and will start sixth for tomorrow’s NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series race.

    “Anytime you have new tires and everyone else doesn’t, it’s fun. It’s when you have the old tires and everyone else has got the new tires, that’s not fun,” Logano laughed when asked about the late race pit cycles.

    “I felt sure that we had a car quick enough. The worry more than anything was a crash happening in front of us.”

    Logano was only one of two Cup drivers starting this race, with Austin Dillon who finished fourth. It was asked during the press conference about carrying over any notes or on-track experience into tomorrow’s race.

    “You know there are some things that you can learn from this race, and you only come out here once a year. The cars are very different, Cup cars and Xfinity cars. There were a couple things to carry over, you know, running against the wall, which will help you for the first couple of laps. You have an advantage for the first five laps. You know where the track is a little better. The cars that were fast earlier in practice today are gonna be very fast tomorrow, and I don’t think the advantage you get from running this race is so large that you’re going to smoke everyone tomorrow because you had more laps, but it does allow you to feel more comfortable and feel the race track sooner.”

    JR Motorsports finish second and third with Justin Allgaier and Elliott Sadler, respectively. Elliott extends his point lead to four points over teammate Tyler Reddick.

    “We worked really hard today,” Allgaier joyfully stated after feeling a successful weekend. “Yesterday in practice, we had a really strong Hellman’s Chevrolet and unfortunately when the race started, not that it was bad by any means, but some of the balance things that we felt like we were good with practice, today with the conditions being a little different, we needed to work on it a little. Jason (Burdett) made a great call there to pit towards the end, put tires on and catch the 22 off sequence, which we were kinda hoping it would take a little longer to get up front to battle him.

    “The 22 was the class of the field today, I think they had everybody. Our west coast swing has been great, two seconds and a third. We’ve been chopping away at it. I wish we had a win, but all in all, whenever you get up to the front like that, it’s a good day.”

    Despite hitting the wall, Daniel Hemric fought throughout the day and finished in the fifth position.

    “I’m proud of our effort, not just today but over the past three or four weeks,” Hemric shared during a post-race conference session. “We kinda raced around the fifth to ninth place all day, and the racing to get by there is more intense. It seems like whenever you try to side draft somebody or someone side drafts you, here come three more with runs. Just proud to get to our best running position of the day there, and maintain and come home with the top five. And I hit the wall!”

    Most of the first stage was eventless until Matt Mills in the No. 15 spun in Turn 2. There weren’t enough laps to clean up the incident to go back green, so the end of the first stage finished under yellow.

    During the second stage, the No. 42 Chevrolet of John Hunter Nemechek blew his right front tire on the frontstretch in the closing laps. He didn’t collide with the wall, but the rubber caused substantial damage to the sheet metal. He would finish three laps down in the 29th position after starting in a hopeful third position.

    Christopher Bell, who started on the pole, took FOX’s Helmet Cam for a wild ride over the weekend, being involved in two separate incidents during the final stage. The first was a spin coming out of Turn 4 and sliding through the front stretch grass. Only a few laps later, Michael Annett pinched him coming out of Turn 4 as they ground against the outside wall along the front stretch.

    A few late-race cautions built some unique strategies into the closing laps of the race. Dylan Lupton, who went to a backup car after crashing in qualifying earlier in the day, lost a motor, which ended a long day for his No. 28 team. A few laps later, another caution was put out for debris found in Turn 2. At this time, Logano was one of only a few takers to come to pit road for fresh tires. He restarted in 16th, charged to the front, and took the lead within five laps. However, the final caution came out with around 10 laps remaining for more debris on the front stretch. At this time, almost everyone came to pit road, shuffling all the strategies, except for Ryan Sieg who inherited the lead for the final restart. Sieg was no competition against the fresh tires, as the field charged past him on the opening lap, allowing Logano to cruise to his third career win at the 2-mile oval.

    Positions 6-10 were Cole Custer, Tyler Reddick (highest finishing rookie), Matt Tifft, Ryan Preece and Ross Chastain. Kaz Grala crashed coming to the checkered flag and finished in the 14th position, but was checked and released from the infield care center shortly after the press conference was completed.

    Ironically, Logano is a big fan of the television show Roseanne.

    “I feel like I watched Roseanne a long time ago on like Nic at Nite,” Logano shared, as Brian Wilson, Logano’s crew chief, added, “He was watching the re-runs. I was watching the originals.”

    Joey continued talking about the trophy and winning the race.

    “You know, I was kinda hoping when we pulled in here and I saw the Roseanne 300 banner over the walkway, I was thinking of what the trophy was going to look like, so I hoped it would be a big picture of her face. It’s still cool.”

    Elliott Sadler leads the series points over teammates Tyler Reddick and Justin Allgaier. The NASCAR Xfinity Series races next in Texas on Saturday, April 7, and tickets can be purchased through the speedway website.

     

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  • Kyle Larson Dominates to Win Boyd Gaming 300

    Kyle Larson Dominates to Win Boyd Gaming 300

    Kyle Larson paced the field for 142 laps to earn his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Boyd Gaming 300.

    The final restart resembled closely that of the first start, as Larson pulled away from pole-sitter Christopher Bell after a late race caution for the final seven laps with a margin of victory of 0.881 seconds. The victory was Larson’s first of the season, ninth of his career and first at the speedway.

    “It was an awesome day,” Larson mentioned during his Victory Lane interview. “This car was so fast. It was really fast last year, but you really never know, and this was my first time racing with this new (composite) body, and it performed well.”

    The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet overcame a pit road issue that dropped him to eighth for a restart on Lap 139, but it didn’t take long to find his way to the front, pushing the issue three-wide to fight his way through the field quickly.

    “Normally my guys are some of the best on pit road,” Larson said. “They said the left-rear (tire) just wouldn’t come out (of the wheel well). I had been fighting a tight issue all day and then finally we got our car to turn better.

    “It allowed me to get to the lead fairly easily, and then I was saving fuel in case the race stayed green.”

    Larson and Bell have found themselves in this position before. They frequently battle each other on dirt tracks. During the off-season, Bell was the driver in Victory Lane in last November’s Turkey Night Classic and January’s Chili Bowl, one of the biggest midget races of the season. Bell was excited to see the friendly face extend their close competition into the stock car series.

    “That was really cool, and there will be a lot more of that,” Bell hinted, who beat Larson earlier in the event at the end of Stage 1. “We were close, running second to Kyle – if I’m going to run second to anyone, I guess I would rather it be him.

    “Special day, we were able to win a stage and get a Playoff point. We need to keep racking those up and get some race wins here.”

    As Bell mentioned, he did win a playoff point and becomes only the second Xfinity driver to earn any playoff points. As for Larson, his feelings about the competition with Bell were mutual.

    “It’s always fun to get to race Bell,” Larson said. “He seems to beat me all the time in the dirt stuff, and he edged me out there in qualifying. That first stage kind of felt like we were dirt-track racing there, swapping lanes and stuff. I was trying to take the air off him, and he got by, and yeah, it was fun.”

    As for the rest of the field, JR Motorsports had a strong showing with three of their four drivers finishing in the top eight with Justin Allgaier (third), Elliott Sadler (fifth) and Daytona 500 winner, Tyler Reddick (eighth). Kyle Busch, yesterday’s Camping World Truck Series winner, struggled all day with an ill-handling race car and faced a pit road penalty on his final stop when his gasman grabbed a tire. This year, the new rule states that they are only allowed to ‘kick’ a tire and fuel the car, and no other service is allowed to be done on the car or in the pit box. His No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota finished in a disappointing 14th position.

    Ryan Blaney, who will start on the pole for tomorrow’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, led 33 laps and finished in fourth. Cole Custer, who makes his Monster Energy Cup series debut tomorrow, finished in the ninth position. Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones, and Spencer Gallagher also finished the weekend with top-10 results.

    Tyler Reddick and Elliott Sadler are tied at the top of the Xfinity Series points after three races. The Xfinity series will continue their west coast swing at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona next weekend on March 10. Tickets are still available for purchase on the track’s website at http://www.ismraceway.com/Buy-Tickets/NASCAR-Ticket-Prices.aspx.

  • Kyle Larson Hits the Jackpot and Wins the Xfinity Race at Las Vegas

    Kyle Larson Hits the Jackpot and Wins the Xfinity Race at Las Vegas

    Kyle Larson, driving his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Chevy, brought home the prize in the Xfinity Series Boyd Gaming 300 Saturday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He dominated the field and would lead the most laps, 142-of-200, before finally capturing the checkered flag.

    This is his first win at the track after his runner-up finish last year. It’s also his ninth career victory at eight different tracks.

    After the race, Larson commented, “It was an awesome day for DC Solar. I think this is their first win so I’m glad to get them their first win here in the Xfinity series.” Larson would go on to say, “This race car is so fast, it was really fast last year, but you never really know. This is my first time with this body and it performed well. I’m happy about that, it’s a great day.”

    Stage 1 would only have one caution caused by a spinning Dylan Lupton. The rest of the stage we saw a great battle from the drivers, especially between Larson and Christopher Bell. Bell and Larson would swap the lead so often they were putting on a great race for the fans. However, it would be Bell who would become the winner of Stage 1.

    Stage 2 would go caution free but there was still plenty of action. After a bad pit stop, Bell would fall back a little giving Ryan Blaney the chance to vie for the lead with Larson. Another great battle would ensue between the two but this time Larson would take the Stage 2 win.

    The final stage of the race saw Bell back up front once again battling with Larson for the lead. It started to look like it was going to be a fuel mileage race. This had teams scrambling to see if they could make it to the finish without pitting and it seemed that Larson was going to be a little short. You could almost hear the sigh of relief when a caution with 16 laps to go came out. Once the race got back underway Larson would get the lead and not look back until he took the checkers.

    Bell would bring his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota home in second place. He battled with Larson hard but it just wasn’t enough today.

    Bell who had given Larson a shove to the lead told reporters, “It would have been nice to get up to the lead but I knew if I could put Kyle out there we’d be able to race it out. It was a lot of fun racing and I hope it was a lot of fun watching.”

    Justin Allgaier finished his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in third place. He will be celebrating his 12-year Anniversary with wife Ashley, tomorrow.

    Allgaier commented, “At the end of the race we got ourselves good track position, led laps, and there I probably burnt up the right front a little bit too much on that long run and started fading. I was glad to see that caution at the end, but you’re never really sure how those are gonna go.”

    Ryan Blaney and Elliott Sadler would round out the top five. Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones, Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer, and Spencer Gallagher finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

    Reddick leads the Xfinity Series standings with 123 points, by virtue of a win, over Sadler, who also has 123 points. Bell is in third, 23 points behind, with Allgaier in fourth and Gallagher rounding out the top five.

    The Xfinity Series heads next to ISM Raceway (formerly Phoenix International Raceway) on March 10.

     

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Las-Vegas-Xfinity-Series-Unofficial-Results-3-3-18.pdf” title=”Las Vegas Xfinity Series Unofficial Results 3-3-18″]

  • Kevin Harvick dominates the Xfinity Series to win at Atlanta

    Kevin Harvick dominates the Xfinity Series to win at Atlanta

    Veteran driver Kevin Harvick schooled the field to bring home the trophy in the Rinnai 250 Friday afternoon at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Once he got his No. 98 Stewart-Haas Ford up front, there was no looking back for Harvick. He led the most laps, 141-of-163, to capture the checkered flag at Atlanta.

    It was Harvick’s 47th win of his Xfinity career and his fifth victory at Atlanta. He also tied Tony Stewart for winning at Atlanta with four different teams. Harvick, age 42, is also the second oldest winner at Atlanta with Harry Gant being the oldest at age 54.

    Harvick commented on his domination of the race saying, “It’s just been a really good place for me obviously getting my first win here, and being able to run good cars here throughout the years.” He added, “The racetrack has stayed very similar to what it’s been for a number of years, it’s been a great racetrack for us.”

    Stage 1 would be the only stage for the caution to come out, one for Cole Custer hitting the wall and the other for debris on the track. Stages 2 and 3 would both go caution free. Harvick won all three stages.

    Joey Logano brought his No.22 Penske Ford home in second, 4.183 seconds behind Harvick. Logano did all he could do to try and catch Harvick to no avail. This was his third consecutive second-place finish at Atlanta.

    “I don’t think we were even close. Kevin played with us all day long, we just kinda rode out there,” Logano said after the race.

    Christopher Bell, who started on the pole, had a great run going in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Toyota today, finishing in third place.

    Bell stated, “Our Ruud Camry was really fast, it just wasn’t quite good enough to get up there and run with the No. 98.”

    John Hunter Nemechek and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top five. Justin Allgaier, Austin Cindric, Kyle Benjamin, Ryan Truex and Ryan Reed finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series will be heading next to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Boyd Gaming 300, on March 3.

     

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/NXS-Atlanta-unofficial-results-Feb.-2018.pdf” title=”NXS Atlanta unofficial results Feb. 2018″]

     

  • Five Drivers to be Excited for in the 2018 XFINITY Series

    Five Drivers to be Excited for in the 2018 XFINITY Series

    With the 2018 NASCAR XFINITY Series right around the corner, several changes in the driver roster have been made, many of which bring the promise of success for several drivers. The season promises to be one for the series regulars as the talent that these five drivers bring will be sure to bring much-needed change to the division.

    Christopher Bell – Joe Gibbs Racing

    One year after scoring the 2017 Camping World Truck Series title for Kyle Busch Motorsports as well as his first XFINITY Series win at Kansas, the 23-year-old Oklahoman is shaping up to be the next big thing in the XFINITY Series. Bell has got the world on a string; backing from Toyota Racing Development and Joe Gibbs Racing, the best equipment in his hands, and all the talent afforded to young racers.

    He’s garnered a lot of success over his young racing career, scoring trophies on dirt and asphalt, and he will earn more wins in ’18. His path mirrors that of his predecessor, 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year Erik Jones, so it’s a safe bet that like his predecessor, Bell is only getting started.

    Elliott Sadler – JR Motorsports

    To put it out there, Sadler is angry. He is sick and tired of being a bridesmaid. After rejoining the XFINITY ranks in 2011, he’s achieved a great deal of success, but he’s managed to lose the championship in more ways than Dale Sr. lost the Daytona 500.

    His incident with Ryan Preece at Homestead could mark a change in the veteran; one that’s more determined and aggressive than ever before. It’s no question Sadler can take his JRM Chevy to the front. But can he keep it there long enough to finally seal the deal and score his first-ever NASCAR championship? It’ll be fun to watch.

    Jeremy Clements – Jeremy Clements Racing

    Winning at Road America in 2017 was the shot in the arm this program needed. Sure, they were among the first eliminated in the Playoffs, but they scored a career-best 12th-place in the points, which isn’t bad for any stretch for an underdog owner/driver combination.

    Considering that JCR is still among the underfunded teams in the garage, Clements can’t afford to be as aggressive as other drivers. He didn’t match his average finish from 2016 (20th to 2017’s 22.1) or his 2016 top-10 total (three to 2017’s two), but look for this program to continue its growth on the track and put itself in position for a banner season.

    John Hunter Nemechek – Chip Ganassi Racing

    Finally. That’s what the rest of the NASCAR garage was thinking when CGR announced that they had signed Nemechek to a partial schedule in the flagship No. 42 Chevrolet. Considering his performance in his father’s truck since 2013, it’s a wonder why he wasn’t signed sooner. Nemechek put the NEMCO truck into Victory Lane five times, finishing a career-high eighth in points in 2016 and 2017.

    Nemechek isn’t a particularly aggressive driver and manages to take care of his equipment better than most, which has led to his quiet consistency on track. Considering that NEMCO isn’t the cream of the crop in terms of equipment, the fact that Nemechek won and was a contender on a regular basis should bode well for his time with CGR.

    Tyler Reddick – JR Motorsports

    Reddick will be taking over the No. 9, piloted to the 2017 series championship by William Byron, who will be a Cup Series rookie in 2018. Reddick’s first venture into the XFINITY Series did prove fruitful in 2017, where he scored two poles, six top-10s, four top-fives, and a win at Kentucky.

    Reddick is strong and has won on various disciplines of tracks such as superspeedways, one-mile speedways, and mile-and-a-half tracks. He’s also fared well on road courses and short tracks, having finished sixth at Mosport in 2016 and scoring multiple top-fives and top-10s on short tracks in his truck and XFINITY career.

    Several other storylines will develop as the season progresses toward Homestead-Miami, with many surprises and busts bound to happen. But with all that aside, these are the five drivers to watch in the 2018 NASCAR XFINITY Series.

  • NXS Recap: Kyle Busch Wins and Ryan Preece Impresses at New Hampshire

    NXS Recap: Kyle Busch Wins and Ryan Preece Impresses at New Hampshire

    By Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

    LOUDON, N.H. – Kyle Busch’s celebratory burnout produced a cloud of smoke over the frontstretch at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but Ryan Preece’s first run in top-of-the-line equipment made an even bigger impression in Saturday’s Overton’s 200 NASCAR XFINITY Series race.

    After a major snafu on pit road took a potential win away from Brad Keselowski, who had arguably the fastest car at the Magic Mile, Busch cruised to a 10.425-second victory, collecting his third win in six starts this season, his sixth at NHMS and the 89th of his career, extending his series record.

    Driving the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for the first time, Preece finished second to his far more experienced teammate and left the track hoping his performance will open the eyes of someone looking for talent behind the wheel.

    “This is something I dreamed about, to be honest with you,” said Preece, who won Friday’s All-Star modified race and finished second in Saturday’s 100-lap preliminary to the XFINITY event. “I work hard week-in and week-out at the modifieds, so to be able to have this opportunity means a lot to me.”

    Preece, who will race at Iowa on July 29 in his only other scheduled event in the No. 20 car, ran the full NASCAR XFINITY Series schedule last year in Johnny Davis’ No. 01 Chevrolet.

    “I don’t take back doing what I did last year,” Preece said. “It was great. People don’t even know that I ran full-time, but I got laps. That’s what you need sometimes. I’ve been doing this all my life, so all I needed was the right opportunity.

    “Joe Gibbs gave it to me. Congratulations to Kyle, my teammate. That’s pretty cool to say. Right?”

    The race, which ran without a caution from a restart on Lap 97 to the finish at Lap 200, turned on the final cycle of green-flag pit stops. Busch ducked onto pit road on Lap 169 for fuel and fresh tires.

    Keselowski, who led a race-high 102 laps, brought his car to the pits on Lap 170 but had to angle his No. 22 Ford around Kyle Larson’s No. 42 Chevrolet, which had started to leave its pit stall as Keselowski pulled in.

    When the jack dropped and Keselowski accelerated, the gas can was still locked into its coupler, and the forward motion of the car pulled both the can and the fueler out of the No. 22’s pit stall.

    Keselowski had to serve a stop-and-go penalty for dragging equipment outside the pit box. His winning chances gone, Keselowski finished fifth, more than 18 seconds in arrears, as one of six cars on the lead lap.

    “I think we kind of coaxed those guys into having to rush themselves and hurry a little bit (by pitting first with a flawless stop), and maybe we put the pressure and that was the difference today,” Busch said. “So great day for us and excited to have the opportunity to be in Victory Lane again here in New Hampshire.”

    Keselowski had a succinct summation of the afternoon.

    “It’s always fun being fast and leading the most laps and all that, but we just didn’t put the whole race together today,” he said.

    Sunoco rookie of the year frontrunner William Byron ran third, with Larson, Keselowski and Ben Kennedy behind him. Byron is second in the series standings, 45 points behind leader Elliott Sadler, who ran seventh, the first driver one lap down.

    NASCAR XFINITY Series Race – Overton’s 200
    New Hampshire Motor Speedway
    Loudon, New Hampshire
    Saturday, July 15, 2017

    1. (1) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 200.
    2. (6) Ryan Preece, Toyota, 200.
    3. (7) William Byron #, Chevrolet, 200.
    4. (3) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 200.
    5. (2) Brad Keselowski(i), Ford, 200.
    6. (13) Ben Kennedy #, Chevrolet, 200.
    7. (8) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 199.
    8. (12) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 199.
    9. (10) Cole Custer #, Ford, 199.
    10. (9) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 199.
    11. (4) Matt Tifft #, Toyota, 199.
    12. (5) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 199.
    13. (14) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 199.
    14. (19) Ryan Reed, Ford, 198.
    15. (21) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 198.
    16. (23) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 198.
    17. (16) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 197.
    18. (24) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, 197.
    19. (18) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 197.
    20. (20) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 197.
    21. (26) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 197.
    22. (39) Dylan Lupton, Toyota, 196.
    23. (25) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 195.
    24. (15) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 195.
    25. (34) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 195.
    26. (27) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 194.
    27. (32) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 193.
    28. (33) Timmy Hill, Dodge, 186.
    29. (31) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 185.
    30. (28) David Starr, Chevrolet, 184.
    31. (38) Mike Harmon, Dodge, 178.
    32. (11) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 173.
    33. (37) Martin Roy, Chevrolet, Engine, 163.
    34. (22) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 157.
    35. (17) Spencer Gallagher #, Chevrolet, Suspension, 156.
    36. (36) Carl Long, Chevrolet, Electrical, 67.
    37. (35) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Suspension, 59.
    38. (30) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, Electrical, 15.
    39. (29) Reed Sorenson(i), Chevrolet, Brakes, 7.
    40. (40) John Jackson, Dodge, Vibration, 4.

    Average Speed of Race Winner:  109.276 mph.
    Time of Race:  01 Hrs, 56 Mins, 11 Secs. Margin of Victory:  10.425 Seconds.
    Caution Flags:  3 for 15 laps.
    Lead Changes:  13 among 7 drivers.

    Lap Leaders:   K. Busch(i) 1-2; B. Keselowski(i) 3-7; K. Busch(i) 8-27; B. Keselowski(i) 28-33; J. Allgaier 34-35; E. Sadler 36-40; K. Larson(i) 41-51; R. Preece 52-53; K. Busch(i) 54-71; B. Keselowski(i) 72-93; K. Busch(i) 94-101; B. Keselowski(i) 102-170; M. Tifft # 171; K. Busch(i) 172-200.

    Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  B. Keselowski(i) 4 times for 102 laps; K. Busch(i) 5 times for 77 laps; K. Larson(i) 1 time for 11 laps; E. Sadler 1 time for 5 laps; R. Preece 1 time for 2 laps; J. Allgaier 1 time for 2 laps; M. Tifft # 1 time for 1 lap.

    Stage #1 Top Ten: 42,20,18,1,22,7,48,3,9,19
    Stage #2 Top Ten: 22,18,42,20,9,1,3,19,48,2

     

  • Elliott Sadler says there’s a big difference between racing Daytona and Talladega

    Elliott Sadler says there’s a big difference between racing Daytona and Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — The late Barney Hall once said, “They don’t race ’em anywhere in the world like they do at Talladega,” and there’s truth to that statement.

    Restrictor plate racing, while polarizing to some, is beloved by many in the NASCAR nation for its unpredictability and intensity. A byproduct of the use of restrictor plates, the racing consists of cars packed together racing inches apart three, four and sometimes five-wide, at 200 mph.

    Brad Keselowski summed up plate racing as a “balance of daredevils and chess players” and said that Talladega is a “daredevil style of track.”

    “…racing has always been that balance of daredevils and chess players. Some weekends we’re chess players, some weekends we’re daredevils,” Keselowski said. “(Talladega) has always been the more daredevil style of track, which probably offsets some of the tracks that we go to where we’re the chess player.”

    This type of racing is done exclusively at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, both of which were built to serve as cathedrals of speed.

    Talladega is essentially an enlarged version of Daytona, being 2.66 miles in length to Daytona’s 2.5. It’s also wider, allowing for four to five-wide racing, whereas the narrow confines of Daytona restrict pack racing to three-wide racing.

    Beyond the size, you’d almost think there was no difference in racing at either track. That’s unless you ask NASCAR XFINITY Series driver Elliott Sadler.

    “To me, it’s a big difference,” Sadler said. “It is restrictor plate racing and we have the bumpers all lined up. But Daytona, there are some handling characteristics involved. The turns are a lot tighter. The course is a lot more narrow. The tri-oval is more of a sharp corner. You have some handling characteristics where two-wide is good, but three-wide is not real good at Daytona. We can run three and four-wide around here (at Talladega) all day long. The corners are a lot longer. It’s a little bit more banked. The tri-oval is not as sharp of a turn. So handling is not a characteristic. So what that means is more people are in play.”