It was almost a picture-perfect day for Justin Allgaier and his No. 7 JR Motorsports team at Dover International Speedway. Allgaier qualified eighth for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race and worked his way up early taking the lead on Lap 27.
His No. 7 Northeastern Supply Chevy was strong enough to win both the stages. However, pit strategy and late-race cautions cost him late in the going. In the end, Allgaier finished runner up to race winner Cole Custer.
“Disappointing,” Allgaier told MRN Radio. “I feel like we give Cole (Custer) a gift there. Our Northeastern Supply Camaro was really strong today. I felt like we made decent changes throughout the course of the race. We got track position. Obviously points are what they are and we maximized the points in the stages and that’s all we really could do. But at the end there, I feel like we made the right pit strategy. Those guys went five laps further than what I thought we could on fuel.”
“Just disappointing to come out first for the cars that had pitted and to be able to show for it. It’s disappointing, but to get Northeastern Supply in their first race under the hood a good finish and moving on to the next round is a big deal.”
Austin Cindric and his No. 22 Team Penske team had a quiet day for the most part. He raced with Allgaier for parts of the race before racing on his own. Cindric finished third and second in both stages, before coming home third.
“You feel like when you run all three races and you run 12th, we were the best car,” Cindric described to MRN Radio. “Worst finish is third. Really proud of our MoneyLion team. I don’t think we had a car capable of winning today. In clean air, we could hold our own but once we got behind, we were a third-place car and that’s where we finished. I’m proud of that and proud of that effort. Definitely proud of the recovery we made from practice. Trying to keep bringing this momentum into the next round.”
It was a wild weekend for most of the JR Motorsports’ teams who fielded four cars this time around at Charlotte Motor Speedway. However, two drivers had especially eventful days.
Justin Allgaier and the No. 7 team finished fourth after being involved in a Lap 45 accident that involved a few drivers. From there, the JR Motorsports driver had stage finishes of third and fourth before collecting his 13th top five of the season.
“Today was interesting for sure,” Allgaier described to PRN Radio. “Our Armour Vienna Sausage Camaro was really good. I would say we were on the side of conservative just because we knew the implications of the Playoffs and the challenges of coming out of here with a great day. The guys did a great job in the pits and we had to play the strategy to run all the stages out, which I think probably hurt us at the end. We all got really deep in there on that last restart, I don’t know if I got my teammate or not, if I was the one that the got the 8 (Ryan Truex) turned around. I feel really bad if that was what happened.”
“We all got in there four wide, it was a little bit crazy. So I hate that if we were the one that ended up sending him around. Solid points day, did the things we needed to do. Not much damage on our Armour Vienna Sausage Camaro, so that’s a good day.”
Allgaier and the No. 7 JR Motorsports team is currently fifth, +40 above the cut line heading into the final race in the Round of 12.
Speaking of wild weekends, it sure was one for Las Vegas native, Noah Gragson. It all started in practice yesterday when he had an accident and was forced to go a backup car. It carried over to today as his personal vehicle had a flat tire on the side of the road heading to the track.
Despite having a flat tire, Gragson made it to qualifying and the race. The No. 9 Suave Men team finished ninth in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2 before Gragson ultimately wound up finishing fifth after the crazy weekend he had.
“I put my No. 9 team in a bind there to start the race by having to go to a backup car,” Gragson said to PRN Radio. “My Suave No. 9 team worked so hard and I’m just so thankful to be able to drive this car. Got back up and came home with a fifth-place finish and we scored fifth-place points in the second stage. We got points in every stage which is big. We’re 24 above the cut off right now. I feel like we did our job. Obviously, we would like to be a little bit better, but there’s a lot of risk and a lot of reward. If you miss it or spin out, it could be detrimental to your day.”
Gragson heads to Dover in the final race of the Round of 12 in the seventh position, +26 above the cut line.
Justin Allgaier came oh so close of scoring two consecutive wins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The JR Motorsports No. 7 driver qualified eighth and had a strong car all day long, finishing second.
Allgaier remained consistent in Stage 1 and finished sixth. He was able to get out front to the lead when Stage 2 began and took the lead on Lap 53 for nine laps. He battled with the No. 2 of Tyler Reddick for several laps, changing the lead multiple times.
Allgaier was able to get the best of Reddick, taking the lead and taking the Stage 2 win for 10 championship playoff points.
After the stage break, the JR Motorsports driver remained out front in hopes of getting his second Indy victory. However, a new driver came to challenge him and that was All-time Xfinity win leader Kyle Busch. Like Reddick, the two would battle back and forth, hoping to get the best of one another.
At one point, Allgaier got around Busch and led for 12 laps before the caution flew on Lap 80 to bunch the field back up again. As they always say, “cautions breed cautions” which most certainly came into play in the remaining laps.
A late-race restart came with four laps to go, with Allgaier on the outside front row and Busch on the inside row. Busch got a better push then Allgaier did off the start. Despite staying close behind the leader, Allgaier scored a disappointing second-place finish.
“The team deserves all the credit, JR Motorsports, Hendrick engine shop, everybody that touched these racecars,” Allgaier told PRN Radio. “You know, to come here to almost win three years in a row, almost back to back for ourselves with the 7 team says a lot about our program. Our car was so good on the long run. I knew those guys didn’t have anything for us on the long run, I knew if we could get out front we were going to be good and cautions breed cautions at the end.”
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t catch Kyle (Busch). Kyle and all the Gibbs cars had fantastic cars all weekend. We saw it with their qualifying efforts. It’s just disappointing, I thought we were going to be there.”
The second-place finish earned Allgaier his 10th top five of the season and his third second-place finish this season. The JR Motorsports driver sits fourth in the points standings, 138 behind leader Tyler Reddick.
It was oh so close for Allgaier and the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevy who had the car to beat late in the race. He qualified third and was dominant throughout the stages, finishing second in Stage 1 and leading for a short while for 22 laps.
He had a chance to win the first stage before Tyler Reddick who was in second place made slight contact with him which cost Allgaier momentum and an eventual stage win. This let Brandon Jones drive on by to take the stage win.
Allgaier stayed consistent in Stage 2 running up front but never contended for the lead. The JR Motorsports driver had to settle for a third-place stage finish in the second stage.
It wasn’t until the final stage when Allgaier began to shine. He stayed out on a Lap 223 caution for his teammate Michael Annett, as Reddick came down pit road. From there, Allgaier went on a tear to lead 109 laps until a caution on Lap 281 changed everything.
The caution bunched the field up once again and there was a 14-lap dash to settle who would win at Bristol. Unfortunately, Allgaier had a flat tire with 10 laps to go that cost him the win and ended his dominant run at Bristol.
“I didn’t get into the wall, I got a right front flat,” Allgaier said to PRN Radio. “It just really sucks, you know these guys do such a great job. The Brandt Professional Agriculture Camaro was good tonight. I don’t know if we had anything for the 18 (Busch), but when he had his issue, we were definitely class of the field there I thought.”
“Then Tyler (Reddick) had a good car on the short runs. I thought our car was really good on the long run and nothing to show for it. Another Bristol, where we had the dominant car and nothing to show for, it’s just a sucky night.”
Cole Custer set a dominating pace by leading the most laps and earning his second win of the 2019 season in Friday night’s ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Custer briefly lost the lead to Austin Cindric on a restart with 26 laps remaining, but would not be denied. He reclaimed the lead just seven laps later to win his first career short track race in the Xfinity Series, and also claim the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash prize.
“We had a great car,” Custer said. “Mike Shiplett made great adjustments as it went. This one means a lot. We hadn’t had a short-track win yet. We’ve struggled a lot at short tracks, but this helps.
“A lot of my friends give me crap for being bad at this place, but I finally won, so I’ve got a little bit of bragging rights there. I’m just so happy. Two wins—that’s pretty awesome.”
Cindric was playing the weather game as rain threatened the finish of the race, but wasn’t able to have mother nature on his side. With his runner-up finish, he qualifies himself for the next Dash 4 Cash race at Talladega Superspeedway. His primary sponsor, MoneyLion, will also be sponsoring that race.
“Congrats to Cole and those guys,” Cindric said. “I tried my best on that restart to hold him off, but they were obviously the class of the field, him and the 7 (Allgaier). We had some fun and got some points and now we will move on to Talladega for the MoneyLion 300.
“That will be a big one for me. I would love to win that race and the Dash for Cash at Talladega.”
Justin Allgaier finished third in his JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet. He led 86 laps throughout the night and won the first stage. Similar to Cindric, Allgaier was trying to have pit strategy fall in his favor, but by the time he charged to the front, he ran out of both car and time.
“The pit call we made at the end of the (second) stage there, it worked out, obviously, in our favor,” said Allgaier. “But I pushed really hard to get back up to the front, and I just didn’t quite have enough there at the end to really do anything.
“I made a mistake on that restart. It really burns me up that I made the mistake, but all in all, a great day. I hope we got the monkey off our back.”
Allgaier’s former teammate Tyler Reddick came home fourth with Ryan Sieg rounding out the top five. Zane Smith running in the No. 8 JR Motorsports car is running a limited schedule in the Xfinity Series, but continues to impress many with another strong sixth place finish at Richmond. John Hunter Nemechek, Chase Briscoe, pole sitter Riley Herbst and Justin Haley completed the top 10.
Elliott Sadler finished in the 12th position at his home track after making the first of his two planned starts for the 2019 season.
All cars passed post-race tech, so Custer was declared the official winner. Reddick’s car was caught with one lug nut unsecure, so potential fines will be announced next week by the sanctioning body.
Christopher Bell fought his way into the Championship 4 finale, winning the Whelen Trusted to Perform 200 at ISM Raceway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Cole Custer, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Hemric will join him for the 2018 Xfinity Championship at Homestead Miami Speedway.
“We’re going to Homestead baby!” Bell exclaimed over the radio in celebration with his team.
Bell started the day by failing inspection three times during qualifying. According to the NASCAR rule book, the No. 20 Gamestop Toyota would lose their car chief and be forced to start in the rear. They did not get a qualifying time set, and started 38th for the race. However, they did not give up and took the lead just past halfway through the race, easily becoming the car to beat. It was Bell’s seventh win in his rookie season, a new Xfinity Series record.
“Man, that’s never sounded sweeter before in my life,” Bell said with a feeling of relief on the frontstretch in front of all the fans. “I’ll be honest, after Kansas and Texas, I accepted that we weren’t going to be able to get there [to the Championship 4]. I knew this thing was fast. It feels good to give Gamestop a win.”
The early parts of the race saw Justin Allgaier winning both stages, but a late-race collision with John Hunter Nemechek forced his team to make repairs, blocking the brake ducts. Later in the final run, Allgaier’s right front caught fire and he lost a lap, and eventually, his spot in the Championship 4.
”Disappointment,” Allgaier shared. “At the end of the day we did everything right this year. We had a great season. Today we did everything right at the beginning part of the race. That was probably the most frustrating part. We led a lot of laps. We won both stages. All things considered, it was going to be a great day. Ultimately at the end, getting ourselves in that bad position, getting caught up in that little of a crash and losing brakes. At that point it was survival, gain as many points as we can gain.”
Elliott Sadler, Austin Cindric and Matt Tifft were the others eliminated from the Playoffs for the Xfinity Series.
Field Fights for Every Spot in Stage 1
John Hunter Nemechek and Cole Custer battle for position in the Whelen Trusted to Perform 200 at ISM Raceway. Photo by Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
As the field took the green flag, they were put under yellow for the third race in a row. Akinori Ogata in the No. 66 Toyota lost a deck lid and spun before the field could complete a lap. The team for the Japanese rookie was able to make repairs and continue in the race.
On the restart, Justin Allgaier and Ryan Preece were able to get by the outside rows and put themselves into the second and third positions respectively. Further along in the run, Preece’s car fell off pace with the leaders, but Allgaier was able to get by about 30 laps into the race.
With about five laps to go, Elliott Sadler made slight contact with the No. 40 Toyota of Chad Finchum. There was no visible tire smoke or rub, but Sadler did lose a few spots. While his teammate Allgaier would go on to win the stage, Sadler would be the only Playoff driver to finish outside of the top-10 and not collect any stage points.
Sadler would spend a lot of time on pit road as his team made repairs. He would stay on the lead lap. Austin Cindric beat Allgaier and Nemechek off pit road to claim the lead starting the second stage. Matt Tifft was caught speeding on pit road, and Brandon Jones was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation. Both drivers had to restart at the rear.
Allgaier Makes a Statement, Sweeps Both Stages
On the restart, Cindric chose the outside. As we saw in most cases during yesterday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck series, the inside was the preferred line with the extra room of the dogleg and the least risk going into Turn 1 fighting a 3-wide move. Allgaier was able to get by easily and reclaim the lead. He would lead all the laps and take the win in the second stage in a yellow-free stage.
However, it was not uneventful. With a handful of laps left, Bell was attempting to pass Cindric when the two made slight contact multiple times. The last bit of contact was coming out of Turn 2. Bell was not happy, shaking his fist out the window net at Cindric, and said over the radio to his team, “I so wanted to wreck him!”
During pit stops, Allgaier lost four positions as Nemechek reclaimed the lead.
Championship Hopes Flip in Final Stage
Bell clawed his way to the front and with 100 laps to go, claimed the top spot. Allgaier made a few adjustments on pit road to make his car a little faster, but lost track position and ran in the fourth position at this time.
During the run before their potential last pit stop, Cindric drove hard into Turn 1 but slid up in Turn 2, colliding into Allgaier. It was the second time Cindric collided into a Playoff drive. Allgaier held his hand out the window net, palm up, but was able to stay focused and drive forward to get around Nemechek for the third position. Cindric lost his fifth position to Matt Tifft, fighting his way back to the front after a pit road speeding penalty after Stage 1. By this time, the bottom four drivers were now in a must-win situation, so nerves and aggression were starting to get the best of some of those drivers.
With about 65 laps to go, Tyler Hill in the No. 13 spun right in front of a few championship drivers, but no other cars were collected. The yellow flag was displayed, and everyone came down pit road for what may be the final time. Bell won the battle off pit road and all Playoff contenders were in the top 11 at this point.
Tifft fought his way up into the second position on the restart, but a few laps into the run, there were two separate incidents. Ty Majeski spun in Turn 3 to officially bring out the yellow, but Nemechek got loose on the exit of Turn 4. Tyler Reddick inadvertently helped spin out Nemechek with slight contact, but the heaviest contact actually corrected his car when he dove to the inside and hit Allgaier, causing massive damage to the right front fenders. During the yellow, Allgaier came to pit road and his crew made repairs, and surprisingly, it did not affect the handling.
The field took the restart, and Allgaier was able to climb back up into the top-10. Tifft and Bell were both in must-win scenarios, and with both drivers running up front for the potential win, that forced Allgaier to start considering a must-win situation to ensure a chance for the championship at Homestead. With about 48 laps to go, the No. 8 Chevrolet of Tommy Joe Martins went up in smoke to bring out the yellow. He would retire from the race, as no front runners elected to visit pit road.
The Xfinity Series drivers would see yet another restart where most of the field panned out through the dogleg to fight for as many positions as possible. With some contact and beating and banging, Bell emerged as the leader with a hungry and hard-chargin Tifft.
With about 25 laps remaining, Allgaier had a fire in the right-front corner as he lost brakes, making his championship hopes go up in smoke. There was no damage to the tire, so he was able to continue without visiting pit road, but was much slower having no brakes in the right front. No other incidents occurred in the closing laps, as Bell secured his spot for the Championship 4 at Homestead.
The final championship race will be held at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Coverage for the Ford EcoBoost 300 begins at 3:30pm ET on Saturday, November 17.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Unofficial Race Results for the 20Th Annual Whelen Trusted To Perform 200 – Saturday, November 10, 2018 ISM Raceway – Avondale, AZ – 1 Mile Paved
John Hunter Nemechek claims his first career pole in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at ISM Raceway, setting a time of 26.970 seconds at 133.482 mph.
Nemechek edged Cole Custer by 17-thousandths of a second, as both drivers were the only two to run in the 26-second bracket. Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier and Ryan Preece completed the top-five.
“It feels good,” Nemechek told NBCSN. “We came here with the mindset to try and qualify on the pole. We unloaded not really good yesterday so we only got to do one mock (qualifying) run and it wasn’t that great.”
Most of the other Playoff drivers will start in the top-10. Elliott Sadler qualified in sixth, Daniel Hemric in eighth and Matt Tifft in 10th. Tyler Reddick had a slip in the second round, preventing him from putting down a fast enough lap to get into the final round. He will start 14th. The biggest news with those in the championship hunt was Christopher Bell failing inspection three times. He will start 38th.
Round one had about half of the Playoff contenders waiting until the last few minutes before turning a lap. Austin Cindric was fastest and most Playoff contenders held top-15 lap times. All but one made it through to the second round. Christopher Bell and Ty Majeski failed inspection three times, so they will start at the rear of the field. Neither was able to turn a lap, along with Josh Bilicki.
“Well the good thing is (Miami) doesn’t decide on where we start, it decides on where we finish,” Bell told NBCSN. “We got 200 laps, which is an eternity, especially from what I grew up doing in sprint car racing. Got a bunch of pit stops in there and a fast car to make it up. We’ll be fine.”
Bell also shared that this was the same car that won both times at Richmond Raceway.
“This is probably the fastest car we’ve brought to the race track all year-long compared to the field,” Bell said.
In round two, one more Playoff contender was eliminated. Tyler Reddick car got loose in Turn 4, which hurt his first and second attempts at improving his qualifying time. He will start 14th in the afternoon’s event. John Hunter Nemechek was fastest over Cole Custer, as the two were the only drivers to run just one lap in qualifying.
For the final round, the remaining Playoff drivers hold top-10 starts, and despite some last second laps by Cindric, Nemecheck was the one holding the top starting position, ahead of Custer, Cindric, Allgaier and Preece. Coverage for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at ISM Raceway will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon on NBC.
Starting Line Up
ISM Raceway
20th Annual Whelen Trusted To Perform 200
Ross Chastain wins the final race of the NASCAR XFINITY Series regular season and the first of his career at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the DC Solar 300.
“We did it!” Chastain yelled on the frontstretch after celebrating with donuts over the race sponsor’s logo on the frontstretch grass, who also sponsored his car for that race.
Chastain first made headline news in NASCAR media a few weeks ago after the run-in with Kevin Harvick at Darlington. Harvick pinched him into the outside wall, and Chastain immediately retaliated by spinning him out on the same straightaway. His main concern was quickly turned to car owner Chip Ganassi, as he wasn’t sure how his boss would take his reaction on track. A tweet and a phone call showed nothing but pride and confidence in his driver.
“It was so scary when the call was made to take this deal,” Chastain shared in the media center. “[Johnny Davis] believed in me to drive the 4 car and to put me in that car years ago. That’s what my career needed. This [win] is bigger than the playoffs. I’m not trying to spin the story, but this is literally a kid from Florida, eighth generation farmer who started hobby racing when I was 13. It was never supposed to be this way, so that’s why it’s so much bigger.”
Runner-up finisher, Justin Allgaier, was the regular series champion, and will take 15 additional points into the playoffs, but isn’t planning to relax going into the Playoffs.
“Yes and no,” Allgaier said when asked if he felt comfortable with the extra point cushion. “I wanted those extra five bonus points. You gotta go for race wins, you gotta go for stage wins because it’s so challenging to keep the speed but also execute.”
Cole Custer was the third driver that battled at the front all race long, but finished in the third position after what he called a race with insane restarts.
“The restarts were insane,” Custer stated. “If you were fourth on back, you were fighting for your life to try to stay in front of guys because the track position was so important. So you’re trying to block and get as many runs as you can. I feel like every track we go to, we compete for a win but it’s about having it all fall into place.”
Christopher Bell and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top five. Ryan Preece, Brandon Jones, Ryan Truex, Austin Cindric and Spencer Gallagher finished in the remaining top ten positions.
Chastain wins both stages at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the DC Solar 300. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media.
Chastain Leads Most Laps, Wins Stage 1
Cole Custer started on pole and led the opening two laps, but Ross Chastain was able to get by him. Matt Tifft failed post-qualifying inspection four times, so had to serve a pass-through penalty on Lap 1, putting his car one lap down early on.
On Lap 5, the No. 5 JR Motorsports Chevrolet of Michael Annett slid through the grass after contact with Ryan Preece. A three-wide pass was attempted on the exit of Turn 4 with Ryan Sieg to the far outside. Annett noticed this at the last second and tried to turn sharper. This caused the rear tires to lose grip, and as he caught the car, he made contact with Ryan Preece which sent his car into the grass. Annett tried to drive around onto pit road, but his car expired on the apron of Turn 1. He finished 40th with his fifth DNF.
The track was slick all stage long, but Ross Chastain was able to lead the most laps and win the first stage. He lifted off the throttle to allow Ryan Preece to get a lap back. John Jackson, Jeff Green and Annett were the only three cars out of the race at this point.
The Field Continued to Hunt Down Chastain in Stage 2
Ryan Reed takes heavy damage after contact with Matt Tifft on the exit of Turn 4 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Both drivers were treated and released from the infield care center. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media.
Chastain’s pit crew were able to keep their driver in the lead. Most of the front runners kept their positions, except for Christopher Bell who lost a couple spots on pit road.
On Lap 65, Matt Tifft and Ryan Reed made heavy contact. In the middle of Turns 3 and 4, Tifft got loose and Reed had nowhere to go, as Reed drove into the left front of Tifft’s No. 2 car. That sent Tifft spinning in the opposite direction, and Reed with no right front panels and heavy damage to his right front wheel. His car rested along the frontstretch. Reed sat next to his car to catch his breath, but thankfully was able to walk away under his own power. Tifft took longer to get out of his car because his car rested with the driver’s side against the frontstretch wall. Both drivers were checked and released from the infield car center.
On the restart, Daniel Hemric got a great push from Custer to lead a couple laps, but Chastain was able to quickly hunt him down and put his No. 42 Chevrolet in the lead. He led the rest of the laps to close out the stage. Three more cars were declared out of the race: Stan Mullis, Matt Tifft and Ryan Reed. Timmy Hill spent 24 laps behind the wall to make some repairs, but was able to rejoin the race.
Everything Goes Wild in the Final Stage at Vegas
Again, Chastain’s pit crew, who are the same members for Kyle Larson’s NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series team, puts their Xfinity driver out on top. Custer lost five spots on this pit stop, allowing everyone else to gain a spot. However, NASCAR issued two penalties: Ryan Preece for speeding on pit road, and Cole Custer for an uncontrolled tire during his pit stop.
Daniel Hemric edges ahead of Ross Chastain on the restart. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media.
On the restart, Chastain started to get pressure throughout the entire first run as Daniel Hemric started to side draft on the exit of Turns 2 and 4, getting to his rear bumper or side drafting along the straights. That didn’t last too long as Chastain was able to get back around and continue leading. As the run went longer, it appeared that Chastain’s car handled better as the run continued. Toward the beginning of the final stage, both Timmy Hill and Mike Harmon retired from the race.
As the field was facing one of the longest green flag runs of the day so far, Ryan Preece spun on the exit of Turn 2, bringing out the yellow flag around Lap 125. The whole field came down for pit stops. Similar to the other pit stops in the day, the drivers at the front continued to keep most of their positions. Hemric lost a few spots and dropped to the fifth position. Brandon Jones received a penalty for an uncontrolled tire, and went to the back of the field for the restart from his sixth place position after his pit stops.
On the restart, Chastain continued to hold the lead. However, about ten laps into the run, Allgaier moved himself into the second position. After a few side by side battles and pass attempts, he was able to eventually move his No. 7 Chevrolet into the lead and become the first driver besides Chastain to lead more than five laps.
Later in the run on Lap 149, Allgaier radioed to his crew that the car was getting tight. He was passed by Chastain and Custer, but was able to keep pace with them. At the same time, David Starr went behind wall. Ten laps later, Chastain was able to battle through lap traffic faster and grow his lead to over two seconds.
The next yellow flag came out right as green flag stops began. Vinnie Miller spun on the track to bring out that yellow flag.
As for the green flag pit stops, Daniel Hemric, Shane Lee and Cole Custer were all on pit road. Hemric got full service, Lee elected to drive down all of pit lane by skipping his pit box, but Custer’s crew called an audible. They went from a four tire stop to a two tire stop, and with all the chaos over their radio, Custer started to leave his pit box before his jackman was able to clear his path. The crew member climbed over the hood of the car all while holding onto the jack, preventing a penalty of pit equipment leaving the pit box.
As the field came down pit road under yellow, Custer stalled the car and was in position to be in the top three, but lost a spot from that. Hemric was able to get back on the lead lap from all the pit cycles, but had to take the ‘wave around’ before the restart.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. calling the race from Turns 3 and 4 with NBC Sports. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media.
Green flag waved for the restart with 20 laps to go. Allgaier was to the outside of Chastain as both drivers slightly spun their tires but got great pushes from Custer and Reddick. As the leaders continued to battle side by side, the field had three-wide battles behind them. They started to go four-wide on the front stretch, but Custer put a block to keep it three-wide. That allowed Christopher Bell to clear him and hold the outside line in the middle of Turns 1 and 2. Contact from the driver on his inside made him loose on the exit of Turn 2. Since the field was already so close to each other, everyone stacked up quickly, and the worse of the accordion effect was Chase Briscoe. He was sent spinning to the inside wall. His No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford made heavy contact with the curvature of the safety crew’s track access. All four tires came off the ground from the impact and the car caught fire, but Briscoe was able to get out of his car under his own power.
The next restart was similar on the front row with Chastain on the inside and Allgaier to the outside, but the second row had a new set of pushers: Bell on the outside and Gallagher to the inside. Bell was able to push Allgaier, but Chastain got a stronger restart and pulled away from Gallagher. Going into Turn 1, Chastain slammed the door on Allgaier to clear him and secure the top spot.
On the second lap of the restart, Tyler Reddick hit the outside wall along the frontstretch while trying to block Brandon Jones, and came down in front of the second half of the field. As Reddick came down across the field, he clipped the right rear of Shane Lee, which sent him up into the field and collected his Richard Childress teammate, Daniel Hemric. Jones was the only one able to continue in the race.
With six laps to go, the field took the final restart. Chastain seemed to be flawless everywhere with his team: setup, pit stops and restarts. This was no different. Going into Turn 1, Chastain was able to clear Allgaier once again and never looked back. He led the most laps, as well as the one that counted to take the checkered flag.
“With two laps to go, I had a tear come down my face and I told myself, ‘Don’t cry,’” the Florida watermelon farmer told himself as he completed the closing laps.
The NASCAR XFINITY Series holds their Playoff opener at Richmond Raceway on September 21.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Unofficial Race Results for the Inaugural Dc Solar 300 – Saturday, September 15, 2018 Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Las Vegas, NV
Justin Allgaier took the checkered flag Monday in the rain-delayed NASCAR XFINITY Series event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, his fifth win of 2018. Allgaier took the checkered 0.092 seconds ahead of Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney, with Chase Elliott in fourth and Daniel Hemric in fifth. Sixth through 10th was Matt Tifft, Christopher Bell, Austin Dillon, Chase Briscoe, and Brandon Jones.
The race saw 14 lead changes between nine drivers, with Allgaier leading the most laps at 41. The race also saw seven cautions with the last turning into a red flag when contact from John Hunter Nemechek sent Ryan Preece into a tire barrier with hard contact. The race was stopped for 10 minutes while the barrier was repaired. Preece was otherwise uninjured.
Allgaier was emotional in his frontstretch interview, dedicating the win to his family.
“I used to come here and stand in the grandstands and watch the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400 up in turn one, which is why I decided to do a burnout right there,” said Allgaier. “[My Dad] used to drive me up here to Brickyard Crossing every Wednesday night to help me become the best driver I could be in and out of the car…this is awesome.”
The race’s biggest incident happened on a lap-23 restart when Ty Dillon was turned, taking out Elliott Sadler, Austin Cindric, and Spencer Boyd, while Ryan Reed and Christopher Bell were also involved.
With one race left in the regular season Allgaier leads the win total with five wins to Bell’s four. Meanwhile Reddick earned his best finish since his win at Daytona in February, while Briscoe’s ninth-place finish was his career-best result.
The next race will be the DC Solar 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday on NBCSN.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Unofficial Race Results for the 7Th Annual Lilly Diabetes 250 – Saturday, September 8, 2018
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Xfinity Series took the Darlington Speedway by storm today for the VFW Sport Clips Help A Hero 200. It was a sunny warm day for the drivers and for some the heat was on. It looked as if Ross Chastain was going to take the win easily however one driver had his car in the right place at the right time.
Brad Keselowski in his No. 22 Penske Racing Ford took the lead after an exciting incident between race leader Chastain and Kevin Harvick took them both out of contention. Keselowski captured his first win at Darlington Speedway and the 39th of his career.
“Yeah, we had a really great Snap-On Ford Mustang and I could keep up with Ross (Chastain), but I couldn’t pass him. I tried to make the move to get by him and I just brushed the wall and him and Kevin got back by me and then they had their issue off of two and were just so strong that we pounced on it and took advantage of the opportunity. That’s a testament to this team. I drove five races this year and we’ve won three of them. That’s pretty darn good and I’m really proud of that,” Keselowski said.
Stage 1 had one incident on Lap 2 when Austin Cindric wrecked after contact with Ryan Truex. Cindric sustained heavy damage to his race car and was unable to continue in the race. Chastin, who started from the pole position, led every lap of the first stage.
During Stage 2 Harvick took the lead on the restart and led several laps of the stage. Fan favorite, Christopher Bell brought out the caution when he hit the wall with a cut tire and got a piece of Daniel Hemric’s car. The only other incident of the stage was for Brandon Jones who spun his car around. Chastain came out of the pits in the lead for the restart and won Stage 2 of the race.
The final stage of the race brought out excitement, tempers, and a few tears. With 33 laps to go in the race, Harvick saw his opening for the lead when he and Chastain came up on a lapped car. Harvick and Chastain went for the same space and Chastain ended up into the wall, then came down and spun Harvick. Harvick showed his displeasure with the incident by stopping in Chastain’s pit stall. Harvick in his post-incident interview referred to Chastain as an “inexperienced driver” putting the blame on Chastain for the incident. However, Chastain in his post-race interview saw the incident a little differently.
“I’m just trying to race and I’ll have to see the film, you know, and if I made a mistake it’s on me. Being the leader there I felt like I’m just trying to race, man, and we’ve been giving each other room all day.” With tears of frustration in his eyes, he added, “It’s unfortunate.”
Cole Custer stayed in the top of the field all day and came home second in his No.00 Stewart Haas Racing Ford.
“We just had a great Haas Automation Mustang. I can’t thank everybody in the shop enough,” he said, “Everybody at Ford Performance, they’ve given us great tools all year so I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.”
Tyler Reddick had a great run today in his No.9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and crossed the finish line third. Denny Hamlin and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top five. Justin Allgaier, Matt Tifft, Ty Dillon, and Michael Annett finished sixth through 10th, respectively.
Allgaier leads the Xfinity Series point standings with 888 points, Sadler is in second with 872 points, Custer is in third with 871 points, Bell is in fourth with 852 points and Hemric rounds out the top five with 844 points.
The Xfinity Series heads next to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 8.
