After leading 138 of the scheduled 150 laps and sitting on the pole, Mayer was once again victorious for the second consecutive time this season, earning his first ARCA West Series win at the Bullring. The victory was an emotional win for Mayer and company.
It’s been over eight years ago (2012) since the ARCA Menards Series West (previously NASCAR K&N Pro Series West) last raced at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring. One of the names making early headlines so far in the 2020 season is standout Sam Mayer for GMS Racing. Mayer also competed in the ARCA East race last week at New Symrna and scored the victory. As for the Bullring, he was looking to once again go to victory lane for the second time in a row this season.
Mayer was driving a Spencer Clark tribute car. Clark, who got his start at Las Vega, was killed in an automobile accident in 2006 when he was only 19-years-old.
“Yeah, this is so special,” Mayer said to NBCSN. “I’ve never had a connection to Spencer (Clark) being with the team. I actually feel that connection, so it’s really special to have him on the car and it’s really emotional. Even before the race, we were feeling the emotions of it, now we’re going to feel it after a victory like that. We definitely would have done what Spencer would have done. Go out and wax the field. I can’t thank GMS enough for bringing the best car out here today and we’re going to enjoy this one for sure.”
“I don’t want to pinch myself because I hope I’m not dreaming,” Mayer said after the win. “This is a heck of a way to start a year for sure. New era, new freakin’ everything. Obviously it’s a new me too. Hopefully, we can continue this grind of getting wins left and right and hopefully get into Victory Lane all the time.”
As noted, once the Star Nursery 150 got underway, Mayer’s car was like a rocket leading almost every single lap. However, it wasn’t that easy for him to get the victory. Jesse Love in the No. 19 took the lead for 14 laps before Mayer was able to get it back. It seemed like nothing could stop the Franklin, Wisconsin native, even the few cautions that fell in the quick race.
It seemed as though the cautions were few and far between. The first fell on Lap 25 when the No. 12 of Lawless Alan made slight contact with the No. 16 of Gio Scelzi who went around off Turn 4. Then, 39 laps later, the second caution came out for the No. 7 of Austin Reed as he spun in Turn 2. Reed had some help from Scelzi. On Lap 80, the third yellow of the night came for the No. 17 of Zach Telford. Telford lost his brakes on the frontstretch and came to a stop. Telford would wind up in 16th place.
After these few quick cautions, Mayer continued to set the pace at blistering speeds by lapping up to seventh place at one point. Then one final caution stacked the field up one more time for a restart with eight to go with Mayer as the leader. In the end, it was basically the story of the night for the GMS driver as he picked up his second win of the 2020 season.
Despite the dominating win, a few drivers, including Mayer, had brake rotor problems. But, he says one of the cautions helped him with that issue.
“About halfway through the race, my brakes pretty much went away,” Mayer added to NBCSN. “Thank god that caution came out because I was able to cool them down a little bit again. It was a tough race and this place is a lot harder on the brakes than I thought it was going to be, but that’s what makes a race team and racecar driver, perseverance through some adversity.”
Just four cautions slowed the pace in the 150-lap race and only one lead change occurred.
Official Results
Sam Mayer, led 138 laps
Jesse Love, led 13 laps
Blaine Perkins
Gracie Trotter
Trevor Huddleston
Lawless Alan
Jack Wood
Todd Souza
Austin Reed, one lap down
Gio Scelzi, two laps down
Takuma Koga, three laps down
Holley Hollan, three laps down
Bobby Hillis Jr, 13 laps down
Joey Iest, 45 laps down
Chirs Lowden, 52 laps down
Zach Telford, 71 laps down
Bridget Burgess, 110 laps down
Up Next: The ARCA Menards West Series’ next race is Saturday night, March 28. at Irwindale Speedway.
This week all three series head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series Strat 200 is scheduled for Friday night while the Xfinity Series will take center stage Saturday with the Boyd Gaming 300. The NASCAR Cup Series will close out the weekend’s activities with the Pennzoil 400 Sunday afternoon.
All times are Eastern.
Friday,
Feb. 21
11:05
a.m.: Truck Series final practice – No TV
2:35
p.m.: Xfinity Series final practice – FS2
4:05
p.m.: Cup Series first practice – FS1
5:05
p.m.: Truck Series qualifying – Impound/Single Vehicle/One Lap/All Positions –
FS1
7:30
p.m.: Cup Series final practice – FS1
9 p.m.: Truck Series Strat 200 (Stages
30/60/134 Laps = 201 Miles) FS1/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Saturday,
Feb. 22
1:05
p.m.: Xfinity Series qualifying – Impound/Single Vehicle/One Lap/All Positions
– FS1
2: 35
p.m.: Cup Series qualifying – Impound/Single Vehicle/One Lap/All Positions –
FS1/PRN
4 p.m.: Xfinity Series Boyd Gaming 300 (Stages
45/90/200 Laps = 300 Miles) FS1//PRN/ SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Sunday,
Feb. 22
3:30 p.m.: Cup Series Pennzoil 400 (Stages
80/160/267 Laps = 400.5 Miles) FOX/PRN/ SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
After a spectacular season opener for the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series, the series now heads west for race 2 of the 2020 season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. While the racing won’t be a crash fest like Daytona was, it will certainly still be an exciting actioned-packed event as the Truck Series normally is.
Here is this week’s preview of the Strat 200 and five highlighted drivers that might end up in victory lane in Friday night’s race. Currently, there are 35 trucks on the preliminary entry list for the Strat 200, which means three trucks will be sent home after qualifying.
Kyle Busch – It’s really hard to count out the all-time wins leader of the Truck Series, Kyle Busch. Busch is making his first of five starts this year in 2020 and the winning looks like it won’t stop soon. Busch has made two consecutive starts dating back to 2018 and has pretty much swept the two events by qualifying on the pole and winning both races. While he only led 55 laps in 2018, Busch led 110 out of the scheduled 134 laps in 2019 and won both stages as well. He’ll be expected to be up front and challenge for the win Friday night.
Brett Moffitt – If there is anyone that can challenge Busch for the win, look no further than the No. 23 team of Brett Moffitt. Since entering the GMS Racing camp of last year, Moffitt has one top five finish and one top-10 finish for Maury Gallagher. In the spring race, the Iowa native finished runner up to Busch and so far, it’s Moffitt’s best finish at the track. He also finished second and 10th during both stages, respectively.
Stewart Friesen – Friesen has had mixed results at Las Vegas during his past six starts dating back to 2016. Only once has he wrecked out which occurred in 2017. Since then, it’s either been top five finish or top-20 finish. For last year’s race, Friesen started seventh and finished fourth after leading 20 laps. The Canadian also also finished seventh and second in both of the stages. We’ll see how this year’s race will go, as he finished fifth in the spring of 2018, 17th in fall of 18, fourth in spring of 19 and 19th in the fall race last year. So maybe Friesen will be in for another strong run this time around.
Christian Eckes – Hard to base anything off two starts, but Eckes had a strong outing in two races there by finishing third. The New Yorker started first and finished third after leading four laps in the fall 2019 race. Eckes also placed sixth in the second stage of that race. He’ll have crew chief Rudy Fugle and boss man Kyle Busch to lean on should he need any help. Eckes will be piloting chassis KBM-58. This chassis has seen four starts with a win by Busch at Charlotte in May of last year.
Sheldon Creed – Speaking of two starts, that’s how many the California native Creed has to his name at Vega and both came in last year’s races. Las Vegas has been kind so far to Creed, who finished sixth in last year’s spring race, while finishing fourth in the fall race. He has not led any laps, but managed to finish seventh in Stage 2 in the spring race, finish sixth in Stage 1, and seventh in Stage 2 in the fall race. Keep an eye on Creed Friday night.
Dating back to 1996, Las Vegas Motor Speedway has seen 25 Truck Series races and since 2018, they have seen two races a year. The winners include Jack Sprague, Joe Ruttman, Greg Biffle, Ted Musgrave, David Starr, Brendan Gaughan, Shane Hmiel, Todd Bodine, Mike Skinner, Travis Kvapil, Johnny Sauter, Austin Dillon, Ron Hornaday Jr, Nelson Piquet Jr, Timothy Peters, Erik Jones, John Wes Townley, Tyler Reddick, Ben Rhodes, Kyle Busch, Grant Enfinger, and Austin Hill.
Chevrolet has the most manufacturer wins with nine, Toyota with eight, Ford with five and Dodge one. Toyota has won the last two races here.
As for qualifying, it has differed in various races. The race winner came from the pole seven times throughout the 25 races, meaning 28 percent of the races have been won from the pole. The lowest a driver has ever come from the back to win was 21st by Shane Hmiel in 2004.
The most lead changes the Las Vegas race has seen was 21 in the September race of 2018, which was won by Grant Enfinger. The fewest lead changes occurred twice with six happening in the first race in 1996 that was won by Jack Sprague and the second in 2004, also won by Hmiel.
Ever since stages were implemented in 2017, Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Noah Gragson, Stewart Friesen, Grant Enfinger, Kyle Busch, and Ross Chastain have all won the stages.
The NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series will only have one practice session that take place Friday morning at 11:05 a.m. ET with no live TV coverage. Qualifying is set for later in the day at 5:05 p.m. ET and can be seen on Fox Sports 1.
The Strat 200 is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio. Stages of 30/60/134 laps will make up the 201-mile race.
Friday night’s race was race No. 19 of the 2019 season and marked the final race in the Round of 8. While Friday night’s race fell on Friday the 13th, you would think after all the incidents that we saw, it was due to the date. The World of Westgate 200 saw 23.9% of the race run under caution and only 14.6 laps on average for green flag laps. Many playoffs drivers suffered engine failures that left them scratching their heads when the race concluded. Friday night’s race was quite possibly the most exciting and most entertaining race of the season.
ThorSport Racing Struggle – It was a difficult and strange night for the ThorSport drivers who were in the playoffs. The issues started with the regular-season champion, Grant Enfinger. On Lap 7, Enfinger brought out the first caution after having smoke come out the back of his truck. The team pushed the truck behind the wall in hopes of fixing it and continuing to race in the playoffs. However, after looking at the situation, the problem was too catastrophic to fix and it left Enfinger with a 31st place finish and out of the Round of 6. Later on, more issues arose for the two other teammates on Lap 41. Johnny Sauter happened to run over something on the track, which caused a fire under his hood, While that happened, Matt Crafton, who was following directly behind him, ran over it as well. The incident left both drivers out of the race as they finished 29th and 30th. While the incident left Sauter frustrated and out of the playoffs, Crafton and the No. 88 team will still get to fight for a championship and move on to the Round of 6.
Hill Victorious – Austin Hill and the No. 16 found themselves in victory lane once again on Friday night. It was his third win of the season and the second win for the Truck chassis that was previously raced at Michigan, where the team won there as well. The team was more than likely locked into the next round due to troubles by other playoff drivers, but they will have some additional playoff points to fall back on in case Hill gets into a tight points situation.
Ankrum Gets In – Quite possibly the underdog coming into the playoffs is Tyler Ankrum and the No. 17 DGR-Crosley team. The team was in a must-win situation after coming into Vegas, -14 behind the cut line. While no one gave him a chance of moving on to the next round, Ankrum succeeded by finishing 11th and with help from other playoff drivers falling out of the race early on. Now by advancing to the Round of 6, Ankrum and the No. 17 team have a shot to go to the Championship 4 should they win at Talladega, Martinsville or ISM Raceway.
Wild Night For NEMCO Motorsports – While the craziness of the Truck Series race was seen on Friday night, it all started before the race even started. John Hunter Nemechek was back in the field in the No. 8 truck that he found success in when his career was just beginning not too long ago. Unfortunately, Nemechek’s truck was unable to get started when the command was given to Start Engines. The North Carolina native never got to record a lap and the result was a last-place finish due to a fuel pressure problem. On the other hand, Tony Mrakovich was piloting the No. 87 truck which is normally a start and park unless sponsorship is found to run the whole race. Mrakovich was making his third start of the season, his first since Pocono in July. The Pennsylvania native started 12th and finished 13th. Not bad for Mrakovich in just his third race of the year and for NEMCO Motorsports, who had a wild night that began before the race even started.
The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series returned on-track this past Friday night for the final race in the Round of 8. The World of Westgate 200 featured an action-packed race and left a lot of playoff drivers in trouble. However, it saw one driver break through and quite possibly surprised some race fans who were not expecting him to win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Here are this week’s power rankings following the second Las Vegas Truck Series race of the season.
Ross Chastain – Chastain provided a dominant performance throughout the race before being passed late for the win. The Florida native started second, won both stages, led the most laps with 88 but ultimately fell short, finishing second. Despite this Chastain clinched a spot in the Round of 6 after winning one of the stages. Should he and the No. 45 Niece Motorsports team continue this dominance throughout the Round of 6, we could very well see Chastain in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Previous Week Ranking – Fifth
Austin Hill – Hill came through at the end passing Chastain for the lead and the eventual race win. It was his third win of the season and he was able to lock himself into the Round of 6. While Hill was already guaranteed a spot, he made it easier for his No. 16 Hattori Racing team by winning. It shouldn’t as a surprise to anybody as this the same team that won the championship last year.
Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
Sheldon Creed – Creed and his No. 2 GMS Racing team came into Vegas with a lot of momentum after being consistent late in the season. Previously, at Canada, he finished fourth continuing his top-five finishes. Creed qualified sixth, then finished sixth and seventh in Stage 1 and 1, respectively. While he was unable to lead a lap, the No. 2 team continued their string of top-five finishes by posting their fourth of the season.
Previous Week Ranking – Second
Brett Moffitt – Moffitt and the No. 24 team had a quiet night finishing seventh after being dominant in the first two races of the Round of 8. The Grimes, Iowa native did, however, finish ninth and third in both stages and led 12 laps. He may have been disappointed not to sweep the entire Round of 8 but the team is going on to compete in the Round of 6 after winning at Bristol and Canada.
Previous Week Ranking – First
Brennan Poole – Though not competing in the full Truck schedule as originally planned, Poole and the No. 30 On Point Motorsports is making the most of their opportunities when they do compete. It has been an up and down season for Poole who had two DNFs, one top-five and three top-10s heading into Vegas. His schedule has been sporadic due to not having the funding to compete in every race. Hoping to better his spring finish at Vegas, Poole had a lot of work to do. He qualified 18th but it didn’t take him long to get up to the front with the help of a few cautions. Poole finished seventh and fifth in both stages. After all was said and done, the No. 30 driver fell short of his second top-five but managed a sixth-place finish for his fourth top-10 of the year. It was nicely done by the No. 30 On Point Motorsports team especially considering that they don’t compete every week.
Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
Fell Out 1. Stewart Friesen – Friesen and the No. 52 Halmar Racing team had a rough night after being down a cylinder for the majority of the race. The Canadian qualified 19th and finished 19th, down two laps. Despite not having any top-10 stage finishes, Friesen and his team will have another chance to compete for the championship by advancing to the Round of 6.
2. Ben Rhodes – It was a solid eighth-place finish after starting 13th and surviving the chaos that happened throughout the night. He was also able to record a fourth-place finish in Stage 2.
LAS VEGAS, NV — Martin Truex Jr. becomes the first driver to lock himself into the Round of 12 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series Playoffs. The No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the South Point 400.
It is his fifth win of the season, but it also came during a string of races with a combination of finishes. Since his last win at the road course of Sonoma Raceway, he has earned three top fives, but also four finishes of 15th position or worse.
“We took a gamble, qualified 24th,’’ said Truex, who led 32 laps. “For a while, it wasn’t looking too smart with the 4 (Harvick) out front. Got the right adjustments in the end. Had a great car all day long.
“Hell of a way to make a championship run. Get some good bonus points, move on to the next round, see what we can do there.’’
Kevin Harvick led 47 laps in total, but fell short in the closing laps to finish second.
“I knew the Gibbs cars would be tough,’’ the 2014 Cup champ said. “Martin was just so much better on the second half of the run. He made up that ground there, was able to stay close enough to us. My car started to get loose and push the front. It was just in kind of a four-wheel drift.
“We did some things this weekend that we probably will have to undo going forward. I think we can do a little bit better going forward.’’
Earlier in the race, Brad Keselowski appeared to have engine issues, with the No. 2 Ford team pulling the hood up to investigate internal issues with the racecar. Whether they were able to dodge a bullet or get diagnose the issue, the car seemed to run at full speed. He fell back as far as outside of the top 20 late in the race, but was able to charge his way through the field to finish third.
Chase Elliott was the highest finishing Chevrolet and finished fourth, leading 12 laps. Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five with his fifth place effort. The rest of the top 10 was filled with Playoff drivers: Alex Bowman, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman respectively.
For Byron, it was his first Playoff race of his young career. However, his crew chief Chad Knaus has now been in every Playoff since its formation back in 2004.
“Survive the whole race and try to compete,” said Byron who finished a career-high at Vegas with a seventh place run. “I was really happy with that (finish). We have to be aggressive coming up. Richmond’s going to be a tough short track.”
Drivers got aggressive on the restarts, as many went three-wide into Turn 1. Photo courtesy of Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
The rest of the Playoff drivers finished outside of the top 10. Aric Almirola led earlier in the race and stayed in the top 10 for most of the race, but finished 13th.
“The goal was to leave here in a decent in the points,” Almirola shared after the race. “We just gotta fight hard. Nobody’s going to give it to you. Every point matters, every stage matters.”
Denny Hamlin finished 15th, and Kyle Busch, with multiple issues throughout the race, wound up 19th. Busch hit the wall on Lap 4, and went two laps down early in the race. He was able to rally back to battle for a top five run until a collision with Garrett Smithley knocked the nose of the car and the splitter askew. The handling of the car seemed to be destroyed, and he fell back to finish a lap down.
Pole sitter Clint Bowyer fell back early and was not able to recover. The No. 14 Ford ended the event in the 25th position after leading just the opening lap. Erik Jones had transmission issues that put him behind the wall for 15 laps until the team could make repairs to the car. He finished 36th, 13 laps down. Kurt Busch hit the outside wall in Turn 3 after a left front flat tire caused from contact between him and Truex Jr. on a restart on Lap 185. He would finish in last place, the 39th position.
LOGANO SHOWING EARLY STRENGTH IN STAGE ONE
Logano started 22nd, but took over the race lead by Lap 34. Photo courtesy of Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
As the green flag dropped, drivers were aggressive right out of the gate. While Bowyer was on pole for the first time in 12 years, Daniel Suarez took over the race lead over the next several laps after his Stewart Haas Racing teammate led the first lap. A couple drivers made quick climbs through the field, including non-Playoff driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who made his way up as high as third in the running order.
But the opening laps proved the drama of the Playoffs was alive and well. On Lap 4, Kyle Busch got loose in Turn 2 and hit the wall. The race stayed green, but he was forced to come down pit road a few laps later to replace a flat right rear tire. The crew spent a few extra seconds to pull sheet metal away to provide clearance for the new tires. He would eventually end up two laps down further into the stage.
Just passed halfway through Stage 1, Almirola took over the lead. However, that was short lived as Logano took over the race lead on Lap 34. He originally started in the 22nd position. During green flag pit stops, all drivers came for fuel and tires except for Michael McDowell, who wanted to stretch out his run as far as they could go. The driver of the No. 34 Ford eventually came down pit road, cycling the lead back to Logano who went on to win the stage.
PLAYOFF HOPES SCATTER FOR MANY DRIVERS IN STAGE TWO ONWARD
On the restart, Jones appeared to potentially miss a shift or have a mechanical issue with the transmission of his Toyota Camry as he was stuck in second gear. The crew diagnosed the issue behind the wall in the garage, and the Southern 500 winner was able to rejoin the race 15 laps down.
No one appeared to have any major issues during the second set of green flag pit stops, but Elliott had one of the biggest gains on pit road and found his way up to second in the later half of the stage. Truex was able to get around late in the run, but it Logano seemed to be the car to beat. Truex won Stage 2.
During the pit stops at the conclusion of the Stage 2, Larson received a safety violation penalty and was forced to restart at the tail end of the field. At the time, he had worked his way up into the third position. Front runners ran aggressive on the restart of the final stage. Byron made contact with a few drivers, and had a flat tire to spin on the exit of Turn 4. No contact with the wall was made, so he was able to continue but the yellow flag did fly. Teammate Elliott saw him on pit road as his crew replaced the tires, and backed off to allow him to stay on the lead lap.
Logano, Harvick and Elliott (outside to inside) battle for second behind race leader and eventual race winner Truex. Photo courtesy of Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
Cars were four-wide during the restart. Contact between Truex and Kurt Busch caused the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro to have a tire rub on the left front. The team went back on forth on if they should come down pit road, but the decision was just a lap too late. His left front tire gave way down the backstretch, and the 2004 champion was not able to get the car slowed in time. He hit the outside wall in Turn 3, and came to rest at the entrance to pit road. He would be the first car out of the race and finish in last place.
With 50 laps to go, Harvick led over Truex and Keselowski. The Team Penske driver had the hood up earlier in the race on pit road as the team was diagnosing strange performance issues, but they were able to resolve those and fight their way into the top three. The other big mover was Kyle Busch, who moved into the top 10 for the first time in the day.
In the closing laps, a few drivers decided to stretch their run as far as they could. Unlike Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race where fuel mileage played a potential role, it was definitely too far for their cars to go in one run. Two drivers included Byron and Larson stayed on track to see if a caution would get them in a strong position. At this point, all other Playoff drivers were a lap down according to scoring.
It was not meant to be. The race stayed green, and the rest of the field was forced to pit. Harvick was able to regain the lead, but Truex was able to fight his way around and take over the lead on Lap 248.
As Kyle Busch climbed his way to start battling for the top five, he chose the middle lane when battling with Elliott and Bowman. Smithley however was in the middle lane running slower than Busch expected. The No. 18 Toyota slammed into the rear of the lapped car, caving in the nose and tweaking the splitter on the right front. Busch fell far off pace to finish in 19th, one lap down.
Out front, Truex led the remaining 20 laps to win his fifth race of the season. The victory secures his spot into the next round. The Cup series will compete next at Richmond Raceway as the Round of 16 continues.
LAS VEGAS, NV — In Saturday’s Rhino Pro Truck Outfitters 300 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series, it came down to a gamble on fuel mileage strategy. For three drivers who elected to stretch to the last drop, they were all successful. One driver that had the biggest statement at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was Gray Gaulding who finished seventh for SS-Green Light Racing.
“Yeah, I saved my rear end off,” said a relieved Gaulding. “I did everything I could to make sure.”
The relief came after extending the green flag pit window to a total of 70 laps, 74 including caution flag laps that began the final run to the checkered.
“They said it was going to be close, but about 20 laps to go, they said ‘You’re good.’ So I thought I could pick it up a little bit, but the racer in my thought that I needed to save as much as I can, even if they say I might not need to. Luckily enough, I saved enough fuel. The calculations were dead on because I ran out right at the checkered flag. It says a lot about that call, but what a place to do it in Vegas. People roll the dice every day, and we rolled the dice to get in. We got a great finish, but didn’t get in (the Playoffs).”
The finish became the team’s fourth top 10 of the 2019 season. The last time team owner Bobby Dotter had this many top 10 finishes in a single season was back in 1995 when he drove himself. Gaulding knew he was with an old school team that knew how to get it done the old school way.
“It’s about the people,” Gaulding was quick to state. “Bobby Dotter is the best owner I’ve ever drove for, and he rolled the dice on me to put me in the car. Look at where they were last year with their old driver, now look where they are today. Not in the cocky or arrogant way, I feel like I’m really doing my job and doing it well, but I know it’s not from a lack of effort from my guys and everybody that works their tails off on these racecars.
“It’s so fun, I’m having a blast.”
In the 21-year-old driver’s first full-time season with the Xfinity Series, he missed the Playoffs by just one spot in the points. He was too far back to point his way in, so he knew he was in a tough spot, even back in February at season start. But to be as close as they were, both with points and a few surprising runs throughout the season, was a testament to the fight they have within.
“You can always be disappointed,” he continued when asked about his thoughts on being the first car missing the Playoffs. “But the thing is; look at where we were in February. Did anyone pick us to make the Playoffs? Probably zero out of a hundred. Nobody even talked about us, thought about us, and the last three months, everybody is starting to watch us. We’re running good, we’re running up front. We almost won at Talladega.
“At the end of the day, we weren’t supposed to but to be even in the conversation and be there, fighting for a spot, that just says a lot about where the team was last year to now. We’re just going to keep fighting and do what we do best.”
The team’s quick growth this past year has been multiple avenues. The team’s only other top 10 finishes in recent years were by Xfinity “road ringer” Andy Lally, so the surge has been a surprise to some. Gaulding isn’t taking it for granted but celebrating when he can as they find success during the team’s growth. He can’t put his finger exactly on the reason for their success, but he again quickly pointed to his team.
“My crew chief Patrick (Donahue) and I gel well together,” he declared showing his gratitude with their teamwork over the season. “We got that love-hate relationship. I love him like a brother. When he does something wrong, I let him know, and when I do something wrong, he lets me know. It makes for a good marriage and a good combination. He’s just got my stuff getting really good week in and week out, especially on the big tracks. We’re down on motor, we’re down on everything. So to be able to show up and to finish in the top 10 on a mile and a half with these big motors, it says a lot about our race cars and what I’m doing.”
Despite missing the Playoffs, Gaulding is now the highest-seeded driver outside of the Playoffs. He currently has a 21 point lead over Jeremy Clements, and wants to not only say he’s the best outside of the Playoffs but show that his crew can compete against the bigger budget teams.
“I’m going to my favorite track next weekend (Richmond),” said Gaulding excitedly. “You can count on seeing me up front. I feel like what we learned in the Spring will make it even better next week. That just says a lot about what we’re doing. We’re taking the races we went to the first race and making them better the second time. I’m pretty damn good at Richmond. Richmond is my favorite track on the schedule, along with Bristol. Any short track, I feel like I can make up the difference for the car.”
There’s a lot of positive vibes going around the team and within the driver, but there’s uncertainty with the 2020 year. Gaulding is hopeful yet optimistic he can prove that he’s right where he belongs.
“My goal is that I want to be here. I want to be in the same position. Obviously a lot of things have to work out, but I know I can beat these guys. If we had full ECR Engines (Earnhardt-Childress Racing) every week and we had all the tires, I think we can beat the bigger teams. I got a lot of fight in me, and my guys got a lot of fight in them.
“I think going into next year, we’re going to see a lot of great things happening to me and my race team.”
We’re all focused on who can spoil the Playoffs with a win to secure their seat for the next round. It’s not a bad idea to also keep an eye on a young and hungry Virginia driver to spoil the Xfinity Playoffs. It’ll be a spoiler that many didn’t predict back in February.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA — Tyler Reddick takes the fuel mileage gamble at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to edge out the dominant Christopher Bell and wins the Rhino Pro Truck Outfitters 300 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
“That was nerve-wracking to say the least,” Reddick told NBCSN. “Those last three laps, I was losing fuel pressure.”
The bold call took place during the final caution when C.J. McLaughlin crashed into the Turn 4 wall. Most of the leaders stayed out, but Reddick came to pit road to begin what would be the race-winning fuel mileage strategy. The Richard Childress Racing team recognized they didn’t have the speed to catch or pass Bell, so they played the long game and had the dice roll in their favor over the next 105 miles.
“We came in for fuel and tires and had to save a lot,” Reddick said after a sigh of relief crossing the line under power. ”It allowed us to run some really, really fast laps there before we had on tires at the end to keep us out front. Our car was fast on the long run and that’s what we needed to get a buffer at the end.
“We’ve had a really, really fast car here in the past. Today we didn’t have it but we got them on strategy again.”
Reddick clinched the regular season championship part way through Stage 2 as other cars retired from the race. However with the postseason reset, Bell will take over the points lead by 11 points, leaving Reddick and pole sitter Cole Custer tied for second.
“We ain’t done yet. We got to go to Homestead and get another trophy,” said Reddick who seemed unphased about losing the points lead after dominating the regular season.
Bell led a race high 154 laps, but fell short by just 0.738 seconds. The gap was over 20 seconds after the final pit stops, but Reddick was able to outsmart and out-luck Bell with his strategy.
“It’s the second time this year that we got beat by circumstances,” Bell told NBCSN. “At Iowa we put on our tires when we needed to and some guys banked on a yellow coming out later and they got it and they beat us. Today those guys did the opposite of us and they won the race. Very, very disappointing.”
Brandon Jones, Custer and Justin Allgaier completed the top five. Las Vegas native Noah Gragson finished sixth. Gray Gaulding also gambled with his fuel and had it pay off to finish in seventh, becoming the first non-Playoff driver in the finishing order. John Hunter Nemecheck, Riley Herbst and Elliott Sadler finished in the top 10 respectively. It was Sadler’s final NASCAR race. Ryan Sieg finished in the 14th position, but was disqualified after post-race inspection found his No. 39 Lombar Bros. Gaming Chevrolet Camaro too low in both the right front and left front. He still has enough points to carry him into the postseason.
Bell Shows Strength Early in Stage One
As the series’ final regular season race, the points gap was larger than the other two national touring series. For those outside of the top 12, they were all too far back to point their way in, so only a win could sneak their way into the Playoffs.
Custer started on pole, but was beat on the first lap by Bell. Custer quickly fell back to third as Justin Allgaier made his way around for the second position. Las Vegas native Gragson spun earlier in qualifying and was forced to start at the rear of the field. He quickly climbed through the field and cracked the top 15 halfway through the stage. Sadler, who was making his final NASCAR start, began the day from the eighth position and ran in the top 10 most of the stage before fading back to the 15th position.
Bell went on the lead all the laps and win the first stage. Sadler was the first car one lap down. Landon Cassell, after a fantastic qualifying run for the ninth starting position, fell out of the race early after overheating issues.
The field came down pit road for service, but Austin Cindric’s crew was penalized for an uncontrolled tire. He came off pit road fourth and was forced to the rear of the field.
Dominance by Bell Was Outplayed by Reddick’s Gamble
Bell took the restart and had a strong challenge by Allgaier before reclaiming the lead. A few cars were declared out of the race due to part failures and mechanical issues, which clinched Reddick as the regular season series champion. He looks to make a run at back-to-back championships in the Xfinity series.
By the end of the stage, Bell led all but two laps up to this point and wins his 15th stage of the regular season.
Drivers began to get more aggressive as they took the green flag for the final stage. Bell continued to dominate, but Allgaier and Custer stayed closer to him. On Lap 110, Tommy Joe Martins spun to bring out the caution. That brought all the leaders to pit road. Cindric had fought his way up to fourth, but with too many crew members over the pit wall and NASCAR penalized him to put him at the tail end of the field.
The field restarted on Lap 115, and Allgaier stayed aggressive. He was able to complete the pass by the exit of Turn 2 and claim the lead, putting Bell into a fight for the second position. Bell stayed patient and was able to reclaim the lead by Lap 123. The caution flew just one lap later as McLaughlin crashed into the outside wall of Turn 4. Most lead lap cars elected to stay on the track, as they could not make it to the end on fuel without coming to pit road again, but Reddick came down pit road for fresh tires and fuel.
When the green flag came out again for what would be the final restart of the race, Bell took over the lead but Briscoe began his late race charge. Halfway through the run, he was able to get by Custer and Allgaier and find himself in the second position. As everyone came down pit road for green flag pit stops, Briscoe speeds on the entrance of pit road, and gets a pass-through penalty.
As the final pit stop cycle completes itself, Reddick elects to stay out to extend his fuel run to the end of the race. He was able to stretch his fuel for 70 laps (105 miles) to the end for his fifth win of the season.
The Playoff field was also set as the regular season concludes. Bell will inherit the points lead, 51 points above the cutoff line. Custer and Reddick will tie for second with a 40 point margin. The rest of the drivers above the cutoff line include Cindric, Briscoe, Allgaier, Michael Annett and Gragson. Jones is the first car in the elimination spot, just one point out of the next round. Justin Haley, Sieg and Nemecheck sit out by two, four and five points respectively.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series compete next at Richmond Raceway on Friday, September 20.
Stewart Haas Racing sweeps the top four starting spots, and this time they get to keep it. Clint Bowyer will lead his Ford teammates by winning the Busch Pole Award for the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series.
“I’m as shocked as you are,” Bowyer exclaimed in the media center.
Reason for the surprise is that it was Bowyer’s third career pole in the Cup series. His last pole came on this date in 2007 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when qualifying was originally held on Friday. He went on to lead 222 laps and claim his first career win. The race was also the Playoff opener for that year’s postseason. It had been 431 races between the veteran driver’s pole awards.
“Something is wrong with them if I beat them to a pole,” Bowyer said jokingly on the NBCSN broadcast. “I’m telling you that car is a bullet.
“Tomorrow’s a whole new day. The thing’s got to turn left at the end of the straightaway tomorrow and it has to do it for a long time, unlike just one lap today. Just timing is everything and we had some good fortune.”
Bowyer bested his teammates, with Daniel Suarez, Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola starting just behind him. The team had originally earned the first four starting positions earlier this year at Kansas, but post-qualifying inspection found two of the cars illegal, invalidating their times. Former Stewart Haas driver Kurt Busch rounded out the top five.
“Qualifying well is important,” Almirola shared after his fourth place qualifying run. “I am happy about that and really proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. There is so much effort going in week in and week out, and I feel really good about where we are at.”
The first non-Playoff drivers were the Richard Childress Racing teammates of Daniel Hemric and Austin Dillon, who will start sixth and seventh respectively. Chase Elliott, Jimmie Johnson and Michael McDowell complete the top 10 starting positions.
“It hurts to not be in the Playoffs,” Johnson shared before qualifying with Bob Pockrass for NASCAR on FOX. “It really bothers me at the end of the day, but that’s good that it has that effect on me. We’re going to use that as fuel to get us back where we need to be.”
Denny Hamlin was the fastest Toyota driver, and will start 13th. Other Playoff drivers through the first half of the field include William Byron (14th), Kyle Larson (15th), Ryan Newman (17th), Brad Keselowski (18), Alex Bowman (19th) and Kyle Busch (20th).
The Playoff drivers that struggled the most in qualifying include Joey Logano (22nd), Ryan Blaney (23rd), Martin Truex Jr. (24th) and Erik Jones (26th).
The green flag for the first race of the Playoffs will wave on Sunday, September 15 for the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Las Vegas, NV — In the closing laps, Austin Hill fights his way through the field and passed Ross Chastain to win the World of Westgate 200 in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“That was a big statement win,” Hill declared in Victory Lane. “It means the world to me. This was the hardest one. We were going to stay out last caution, and everyone else pitted, so we needed to pit or we were screwed. So we came down pit road and restarted at the tail end of the longest line. Man, it stayed green, I had to drive all the way through the field and this truck was unbelievable.
“We’re two for two with this truck, so we’re going for three.”
Hill won the first race of the season at Daytona International Speedway, as well as the last race of the regular season at Michigan International Speedway, but he knew that wins, strong runs and no mistakes were evermore important during the Playoffs. He felt Friday night’s win was that strong run they needed to be a serious title contender.
“Coming into tonight, our number one goal was getting stage points and we did that, we got stage points in stage one and stage two. Got through that and after the second stage and we knew that some of the Playoff drivers had some issues, my only concern was going for the win,” Hill said later. “That’s all I really cared about. I didn’t think we were going to be able to catch them under green, but we did. It’s even more of a statement win because we had a little bit of an issue during practice and lost our truck chief. I know he was up watching us in the stands, but this is so special.”
It was a solid day for Chastain, but with old tires, he came up just a dozen laps short. After leading the most laps (88), the Niece Motorsports driver still finished second.
“Just (no) front tires,” Chastain shared on pit road after the finish. “They thought they got enough fuel in it on the final stop. Just all tires unfortunately.”
But the race was anything less than eventful. Three-wide action, including competitors making a five-wide pass on the front stretch early in the race, proved how each driver understood the value of every position. Unfortunately for some, mechanical issues began to unfold early throughout the race. Grant Enfinger won the regular season, but only raced for six laps, as he lost his engine and Playoff hopes. He became the first of many drivers with engine issues.
ThorSport teammates Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter both lost their engines on Lap 38, and it started to concern the eventual race winner. He shared his concerns both at that time, and later in the race where the engine seemed to lack power at various moments on restarts and while racing competitors.
“Yeah, we had to keep pulling tape each time,” Chastian continued when asked about his concern with competitors losing engines. “The first run, I had to let Austin (Hill) get in front of me to get some trash off the grill, and then the bugs were just terrible. Just a freak deal.”
Pole sitter Christian Eckes, Sheldon Creed and Todd Gilliland completed the top five. Brennan Poole, Brett Moffitt, Ben Rhodes, Harrison Burton and Dylan Lupton rounded out the top 10 positions.
Green flag flew for Christian Eckes, who won his second career pole in just his tenth career start in the Truck series. Ross Chastain quickly took over the lead and led the majority of the laps in the first stage, and went on to win Stage 1. Moffitt started the race in the rear of the field, but climbed his way up to ninth by the end of the stage.
The biggest news happened on Lap 6 when Grant Enfinger, who was the regular season champion, lost his motor on the front stretch. The team diagnosed the issue, attempted to repair the truck, but were unable to get back out on track. After starting the race just two points above the cutoff line, he would not collect enough points to make it into the next round of the Playoffs.
More Playoff drama unfolded during Stage 2. On the front stretch on Lap 38, teammates Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton both lost their engines at the same time. Crafton later shared that his truck appeared to lose power after running over debris that came from Sauter’s truck. That incident locked Enfinger out of the next round, and Sauter was left to the mercies of where Friesen and Ankrum finished.
More drivers began reporting engine issues, including Friesen. Natalie Decker began to come in and out of the garage, and a few other drivers retired from the race from mechanical issues. In the end, Chastain claimed the Stage 2 victory and set the pace throughout the first half of the race.
The field took the green flag to start the final stage on Lap 68, but quickly went back under yellow as Johnny Sauter eventually lost the entire motor. The troubled Playoff driver was looking to make up a couple more spots for the points required to make it into the next round, competing against Ankrum and Friesen for the final transfer position.
On Lap 82, Tyler Dippel lost his engine to bring out the caution. Teams had various strategies when they came to pit road. Chastain elected for fuel only, while Hill took four fresh tires. A mishap on pit road required him to come back down under yellow, forcing his team to restart toward the back of the lead lap trucks in the 16th position. The race was restarted on Lap 87, but many other trucks declared engine issues. Jennifer Jo Cobb and Natalie Decker went behind the wall with various engine issues
Hill fought his way through the field to catch Chastain in the closing laps, passing him on Lap 123. He led the final 12 laps to claim his third win of the season, winning by 2.116 seconds. Enfinger and Sauter were officially eliminated from the Playoffs when Ankrum and Friesen finished 11th and 19th respectively.
“We got lucky,” Ankrum stated after the race explaining his truck cutting in and out in the middle of the final stage. “On that last restart, the motor just fell on its face and I thought I just messed up on the restart, and that’s why I fell back so fast. About five laps later, it sounded like an old ‘69 Malibu. My heart sank, I thought we were blowing up. I was going to be mad, that was the first thing that was going to happen. But it cut back on, so I think it was just electrical.
It doesn’t matter how you get there (to the Round of 6), it’s just that you get there.”
The Round of 6 Playoff drivers have been set with Moffitt, Chastain, Hill, Friesen, Crafton and Ankrum. The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will compete next on October 12 in the Sugarlands Shine 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.
