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Tag: Martin Truex Jr.

  • Truex on pole position for NASCAR All-Star Race

    Truex on pole position for NASCAR All-Star Race

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Custer storms to first Cup career win at Kentucky

    Custer storms to first Cup career win at Kentucky

    In a two-lap sprint to the finish that produced an epic four-car battle for the win, rookie Cole Custer overtook Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney on the final lap to score his first NASCAR Cup Series career win in the 10th annual running of the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Kyle Busch drew the pole position and started on the front row alongside Joey Logano. Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. started at the rear of the field after their respective cars failed pre-race inspection twice.

    When the green flag waved and the 17th race of the 2020 Cup season started, Kyle Busch and Logano battled dead even through Turn 1 before Busch received a push from Aric Almirola in Turn 2 to retain the lead and lead the first lap. The following lap, Almirola and Keselowski each gained a spot while Logano fell back to fourth ahead of Alex Bowman. Behind, Kevin Harvick, who started third, had dropped to seventh.

    After spending the previous three laps trying to pass Kyle Busch for the lead, Almirola passed Busch on the inside lane in Turn 3 to assume command on the 10th lap. Five laps later, Almirola was leading by above half a second over Kyle Busch. Behind, Logano was in third approximately a second followed by Bowman, Keselowski, Matt DiBenedetto and Chase Elliott. Harvick was in eighth followed by Erik Jones and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 

    When the field reached the competition caution on Lap 25, Almirola had maintained his advantage by more than a second over Kyle Busch and more than two seconds over Logano. Harvick was in eighth while Austin Dillon, who started 19th, was in 13th ahead of William Byron. Jimmie Johnson was in 16th after starting 20th, rookie Tyler Reddick was in 18th ahead of Cole Custer, Denny Hamlin was in 21st after starting 12th and Bubba Wallace was in 26th ahead of rookie Christopher Bell. Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth, both of whom started at the rear of the field, were in 20th and 28th.

    Under the competition caution, the entire field pitted and Almirola retained the lead followed by Logano, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Bowman and Harvick. Following the pit stops, Ty Dillon was assessed a commitment line violation and was sent to the rear of the field for the restart.

    The green-flag racing resumed on Lap 30, and Logano, who received a push from Kyle Busch on the inside lane, challenged Almirola for the lead through the Turn 2 backstretch before Almirola cleared the field to retain the lead. Behind, Elliott moved into second and Harvick moved into fourth while Blaney and DiBenedetto battled for fifth. Kyle Busch had fallen back to 10th, Keselowski was back to 12th ahead of Truex and Johnson, and Hamlin drifted back to 24th ahead of Wallace. 

    By Lap 35, the majority of the field towards the front settled into racing in a single file line with Almirola still ahead by nearly a second over Elliott. Behind the leader Almirola, Blaney challenged and made a pass for fourth over Harvick while Truex made his first appearance in the top 10 after passing teammate Kyle Busch. Far behind the leaders, Hamlin continued to drop towards the rear of the field as he was scored in 26th after being overtaken by Wallace, Ty Dillon, Bell and Michael McDowell. His teammate, Erik Jones, was in 19th after running in the top 10 early in the race.

    Through the first 50 laps, Almirola stabilized his lead by more than seconds over Elliott and nearly four seconds over Logano. DiBenedetto moved up to fourth ahead of Harvick while Blaney fell back to sixth ahead of Bowman after his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts/Team Penske Ford Mustang popped out of gear. Truex was in 10th ahead of teammate Kyle Busch, Johnson and Austin Dillon while Keselowski was in 14th ahead of Byron. Custer was the highest-running rookie in 16th while Reddick and Bell were in 19th and 23rd. Kenseth and Ryan Newman were in 21st and 24th, Wallace was in 26th and Hamlin was in 28th.

    Nearly ten laps later, Almirola caught a bevy of competitors trying to remain ahead of Almirola and on the lead lap, starting with rookie John Hunter Nemechek. A handful of laps later, Almirola lapped Nemechek, Corey LaJoie and Wallace with McDowell, Newman and Hamlin ahead of him. Despite encountering the lapped traffic, Almirola maintained a steady lead over Elliott while DiBenedetto moved into third over Logano and Blaney, who continued to battle with shifter issues to his car.

    For the final laps, Almirola was able to cruise to the first stage win for his second stage victory of the season on Lap 80. By then, he lapped 25th-place Newman, but was unable to lap 24th-place Hamlin, who remained on the lead lap. In addition, Stenhouse sustained a flat tire as the stage concluded and he lost a lap in the process. Elliott was in second, four seconds behind, followed by Logano, DiBenedetto and Blaney while Harvick, Bowman, Kurt Busch, Bowyer and Truex were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Almirola exited first followed by Logano, DiBenedetto, Elliott and Blaney. Following the pit stops, Ty Dillon was penalized again, this time for speeding on pit road. In addition, Keselowski made another pit stop to have his lug nuts tightened.

    The second stage commenced on Lap 87, and both Almirola and Logano, again, battled dead even for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 before Almirola benefitted on the outside lane in Turn 3 to retain the lead. Logano settled in second, but was being pursued by DiBenedetto while teammates Elliott and Bowman were settled in the top five. Blaney was in sixth ahead of Truex and Bowyer. On Lap 92, Blaney moved into the top five after passing Bowman. Behind, Johnson moved into the top 10 in ninth after passing Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch. Harvick had fallen back in 14th behind teammate Custer while Hamlin was able to work his way up to 15th ahead of Reddick.

    When the raced reached its 100-lap mark, Almirola was still ahead by over a second over teammate Logano and two seconds over DiBenedetto. Blaney was in fourth ahead of Bowman while Truex overtook Elliott for sixth. Johnson was in ninth behind Bowyer, Kyle Busch was in 13th behind Reddick and teammate Hamlin was in 15th. Meanwhile, Harvick continued to lose positions as he was back in 19th ahead of Keselowski. Soon after, Harvick dropped out of the top 20, just behind Byron and Kenseth.

    Twenty laps later, Almirola and his No. 10 Smithfield Vote for Bacon/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang stabilized a lead of more than two seconds over Logano and nearly four seconds over Blaney, who had overtaken DiBenedetto for position. Truex was in sixth in between Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates Bowman and Elliott while Johnson was in 10th behind Bowyer and Austin Dillon. Joe Gibbs Racing’s teammates Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Jones were in 13th, 15th and 17th, rookies Reddick and Custer were in 12th and 14th, and Byron and Harvick were back in 19th and 22nd. By then, 25 of the 38-car field were on the lead lap. 

    With the race reaching its halfway mark of the 267-lap feature, Blaney, who had overtaken teammate Logano for the runner-up spot earlier and had trimmed a chunk of Almirola’s lead, caught and challenged Almirola for the lead. On Lap 138, Blaney, who encountered shifter issues early in the race, benefited from the lapped car of Nemechek to overtake Almirola for the lead in Turn 3. A lap later, Blaney extended his lead to above a second over Almirola. Another five laps later, Logano moved into the runner-up spot while teammate Blaney was ahead by more than three seconds. At the same time, green-flag pit stops started to occur as Reddick pitted.

    With most of the leaders pitting under green, a handful of cars were on track led by Keselowski in the closing laps of the second stage. Just after Keselowski was making his green-flag stop, the caution flew on Lap 154 when Kenseth blew a left-rear tire and spun below the apron and back across the middle of Turns 3 and 4. Under caution, Kenseth pitted along with Harvick, Elliott and Byron. When the field cycled through, Keselowski emerged with the lead after beating Blaney to the start/finish line at the moment of caution from Kenseth’s spin.

    In a one-lap shootout to the conclusion of the second stage, Keselowski was able to edge teammate Blaney by 0.058 seconds to win the second stage and secure his fourth stage victory of the 2020 season. Custer settled in third followed by Logano and Truex while Bowman, Austin Dillon, Johnson, DiBenedetto and Jones settled in the top 10. During this time, Preece took his No. 37 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the garage due to a transmission issue.

    Under the stage break, the majority of the leaders remained on track while some like Custer, Austin Dillon, Jones, Reddick, Harvick and Byron pitted. Also pitting was Kyle Busch, who was reporting shock issues to his No. 18 M&M’s Fudge Brownie/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry. 

    The final stage started with 100 laps remaining, and teammates Keselowski and Blaney battled against one another through Turn 1 before Keselowski cleared the field through the Turn 2 backstretch and retain the lead the following lap. Behind, Truex moved into second followed by Johnson as Blaney fell back to fourth. Meanwhile, Logano had fallen back to ninth. Three laps later, Kyle Busch, who was running in sixth, got super loose entering Turn 4, but was able to straighten his car and prevent it from spinning, though he fell back to 15th.

    Eight laps later, Truex started challenging Keselowski for the lead, trailing by approximately a tenth of a second, while Blaney overtook Johnson and moved back into fourth. With 86 laps remaining, Truex was able to overtake Keselowski for the lead. By then, his teammate, Kyle Busch, was in 24th, the last car on the lead lap while dealing with shock issues to his car. In addition, Almirola, who dominated throughout the race, was stuck in 10th.

    With 70 laps remaining, Truex was ahead by half a second over Keselowski while Blaney, who was still racing with one hand on the steering wheel while the other was holding the broken shifter, was behind by above a second. Johnson trailed by nearly three seconds while Kurt Busch was in fifth, trailing by more than four seconds. DiBenedetto, Elliott, Logano, Bowyer and Almirola were in the top 10. Ten laps later, Truex extended his advantage by more than two seconds over Keselowski followed by Blaney, Johnson and Kurt Busch.

    A lap later, the race’s second round of green-flag pit stops commenced as Johnson pitted. With 44 laps remaining, while most of the leaders have pitted, Keselowski returned to the lead along with a handful of cars. Behind the leaders, rookie Brennan Poole’s was smoking due to a left-rear tire hub, a lot through the turns, but he continued under green. A lap later, Keselowski pitted while Custer inherited the lead, but was among eight competitors who had yet to pit. 

    Then, with 38 laps remaining and just as Byron moved into the lead when Custer made his green-flag pit stop, the caution returned due to debris. At the same time, Austin Dillon, who was also about to pit but opted to remain on track under caution, spun and made minimal contact with the Turn 4 outside wall while returning to the track. Under caution, some drivers like Byron, Harvick, McDowell, Bell, Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon pitted. Johnson also pitted after making slight contact with the wall. When the field cycled through, Truex was back in the lead followed by Blaney, Kurt Busch, Keselowski and Byron. Harvick, McDowell, Bell, Austin Dillon and Johnson were in the top 10 with 23 cars on the lead lap.

    With the clouds hovering above the track and covering the bright sun, the race restarted with 30 laps remaining as Truex and Blaney battled against one another through Turns 1 and 2. In Turn 3, Truex cleared Blaney to retain the lead. Behind, Johnson, who made a three-wide move on the restart, was up to sixth as he would also return into the top five. At the front, Truex was ahead by two-tenths of a second over Blaney while Johnson was trailing by above a second. Behind, Harvick and Keselowski battled for fourth.

    While Blaney continued to pressure Truex for the lead, the caution returned with 24 laps remaining when Nemechek made contact with the outside wall entering Turn 2. Under caution, the majority of the leaders remained on track while some like Kyle Busch, Jones, Bowman, Almirola and Nemechek pitted. Nemechek would, ultimately, retire following his late incident.

    On the ensuing restart with 19 laps remaining, Johnson was pushing Blaney on the inside lane and attempted to move in front of Keselowski, who was peaking to Johnson’s left-hand quarter panel, when the two made contact on the frontstretch and Johnson spun his No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE below the infield grass, where he was able to straighten his car despite losing all of his track positions. At the time of caution, Blaney emerged with the lead ahead of Truex.

    When the race restarted with 13 laps remaining, Harvick made his move on the inside lane in Turn 1 and went three wide with Truex and Blaney to emerge with the lead. Behind, Keselowski went three wide with Truex and Blaney before Truex moved into the runner-up spot. With the field behind scrambling for positions, Harvick was ahead by less than four-tenths of a second over Truex with Blaney in third, Keselowski in fourth and Austin Dillon in fifth. With 10 laps remaining, Harvick was ahead by around two-tenths of a second over Truex, who continued to pressure Harvick for the lead. Two laps later, the caution returned when Kenseth spun in Turn 4.

    The race restarted with two laps remaining as Harvick and Truex battled against one another through Turns 1 and 2. Behind, Blaney settled in third while Custer, racing on the outside lane, received a push from DiBenedetto to move into fourth ahead of Keselowski and Kurt Busch. In Turn 2, Truex got Harvick loose and nearly turned on the straightaway as they swapped lanes entering Turn 3. Truex gained a big run on the outside lane to squeak ahead, but Harvick stalled Truex towards his quarter panel as Blaney went three wide for the lead. On the fronstretch, Custer made it a four-wide battle on the outside lane before he came out on top in Turn 1 at the start of the final lap. Past the start/finish line, Blaney ran over a bump on the apron and came back into the side of Harvick, who bumped Truex as Harvick developed a massive left-rear tire rub to his No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang. At the front, Custer was able to hold off Truex for one final lap and cross the finish line above two-tenths of a second to claim his first Cup triumph in his 20th series start. 

    With his thrilling victory, Custer became the 194th driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race, the 33rd competitor to win across NASCAR’s three major national division series, the seventh alumnus from the NASCAR Next initiative to win a Cup race, the sixth Cup competitor to win at Kentucky and the first full-time Cup rookie to win a race since Chris Buescher won a rain-shortened race at Pocono in August 2016. In addition to becoming the seventh driver to win a Cup race for Stewart-Haas Racing, he recorded the 60th Cup victory for SHR and the first series win for veteran crew chief Mike Shiplett. 

    With the victory, Custer, who came into Kentucky in 25th place in the regular-season standings and trailing the top-16 cutline by 87 points, became the ninth different competitor to be guaranteed a spot in this year’s Cup Playoffs. As another bonus, the Californian became the 16th competitor to secure a spot for this year’s All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on July 15.

    “Man, we were so good all day,” Custer said on FS1. “Our car was so good. Obviously, it wasn’t the easiest track to pass on. That was the best car I’ve ever driven in my life. Everybody at SHR brought an unbelievable car. [Team owner] Gene [Haas], I can’t stress enough how thankful I am of him taking a shot at me. It, definitely, was not the start of the year that we wanted. We were way off at some places, but this was, by far, an unbelievable car. We put it all together and I can’t thank everybody enough.”

    In the first 15 Cup races of his rookie season, Custer’s best finish was a ninth-place result at Phoenix in March and his average result was 21.7 with two DNFs. Last weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he recorded his first top-five result in the Cup level, which hinted a sign of improvement for Custer, Shiplett and the No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang team in adapting towards NASCAR’s weekly approach of experiencing the driving and handling conditions of a track on race day without practicing nor qualifying.

    “It’s not easy,” Custer added. “You got to adapt as much as you can and I think we’ve gotten better and better at that. It’s just unbelievable. I didn’t think that we were, coming here, coming to win. Now, we’re gonna be in the All-Star Race. I don’t have to run the Open. Hopefully, I can make it to Bristol.”

    Truex emerged as the highest-running Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota competitor in the runner-up spot followed by DiBenedetto, who claimed his second top-five result of the season. Harvick, who rallied from his early share of struggles and was in position to claim his first Kentucky triumph, ended his race in fourth and Kurt Busch, last year’s Kentucky winner, finished fifth. 

    “It was fun,” Truex said on FS1. “[I] Can’t say enough about the guys on the Auto-Owners Camry, everybody back at [Joe Gibbs Racing] went to work this week and tried to get back to what we used to do here. Just hats off to the guys, [crew chief] James [Small], everybody that made this unbelievable racecar. At the end there, we were a bit unlucky, losing the lead to Blaney on that first restart by a couple thousandths and then, again to [Harvick] when the caution came out. We were side by side. That’s, kind of, the way these things go, sometimes. Really proud of the effort, super fast racecar and [I] feel like we’re back in the game now.” 

    “Our Ford Mustang was not very good today, but we got a good break with the caution [with 38 laps remaining],” Harvick said on PRN Radio. “[I] Had a couple of good restarts there and got the car better. Still just not where we needed to be, but the restarts worked out in our favor. We were able to get the lead and Martin just misjudged there on the backstretch and got me sideways. I got out of the gas and that just brought everybody into the picture. Then, we were four wide on the front straightaway and [Blaney] hit the drain and came up and hit the side of the car. Then, I couldn’t see. Yeah, it got wild, but hey, that’s what you’re supposed to do. Just really happy for Cole Custer and everybody on the Haas Automation Ford Mustang. That’s pretty cool to get your first win. As much as I would’ve loved to win, I’m glad that we kept it in the company.”

    “It was crazy,” DiBenedetto said on PRN Radio. “We had a really good car. We could’ve contended for the win. It was really fast. But, yeah, [I] lost track position when things shuffled around. We had to do the wave around and me and my spotter, I got to give him a lot of credit, Doug Campbell. I told him, ‘I think we should win some sort of restart award.’ We were 18th because the track position had cycled out with seven [laps] to go or whatever. [I] Had two monstrous restarts and then pushed Cole there to the win, which, kind of, felt cool, but good for him. Congrats, but this was a big race for us having the Menards, Quaker State Ford Mustang in the Quaker State 400. So, I wished we could’ve won it, but circumstances didn’t work out. We’ll take the strong finish and a really fast car.”

    Blaney, Bell, Almirola, Keselowski and Reddick rounded out the top 10 while Johnson finished 18th in his 10th and final start at Kentucky. 

    There were 13 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 42 laps.

    With his top-five result, Harvick continues to lead the Cup Series regular-season standings by 88 points over Keselowski, 95 over Blaney and 100 over Elliott.

    Results.

    1. Cole Custer, five laps led

    2. Martin Truex Jr., 57 laps led

    3. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap led

    4. Kevin Harvick, 11 laps led

    5. Kurt Busch

    6. Ryan Blaney, 18 laps led

    7. Christopher Bell

    8. Aric Almirola, 128 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    9. Brad Keselowski, 34 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    10. Tyler Reddick

    11. William Byron, four laps led

    12. Denny Hamlin

    13. Austin Dillon

    14. Clint Bowyer

    15. Joey Logano

    16. Ty Dillon

    17. Ryan Newman

    18. Jimmie Johnson

    19. Alex Bowman

    20. Chris Buescher

    21. Kyle Busch, nine laps led

    22. Erik Jones

    23. Chase Elliott

    24. Michael McDowell

    25. Matt Kenseth

    26. Daniel Suarez

    27. Bubba Wallace, two laps down

    28. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

    29. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., three laps down

    30. J.J. Yeley, seven laps down

    31. Brennan Poole, eight laps down

    32. Josh Bilicki, 10 laps down

    33. Garrett Smithley, 10 laps down

    34. Joey Gase, 10 laps down

    35. Quin Houff, 12 laps down

    36. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

    37. Timmy Hill – OUT, Electrical

    38. Ryan Preece – OUT, Transmission

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the 36th annual running of the All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The NASCAR All-Star Open will occur first at 7 p.m. ET on FS1 followed by the All-Star Race at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, both on July 15.

  • Hamlin to reach 700 starts across NASCAR’s major series at Kentucky

    Hamlin to reach 700 starts across NASCAR’s major series at Kentucky

    When the green flag waves on Sunday, July 12, for the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway, Denny Hamlin will reach a significant milestone of his racing career. By starting this Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at the Bluegrass State, Hamlin will reach 700 starts across NASCAR’s three major division series. 

    A native of Chesterfield, Virginia, who started his career by racing go-karts and Late Model Stock Cars, Hamlin made his first NASCAR division series start at the Indianapolis Raceway Park in August 2004. Racing as a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, Hamlin drove the No. 03 Decoma/Gibbs Performance Chevrolet for EJP Racing to a 10th-place result in his NASCAR Truck Series debut. He competed in four more Truck races with the team and made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Darlington Raceway in November 2004, where he drove JGR’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Performance Racing Oil Chevrolet to a 33rd-place result.

    The following season, Hamlin graduated to a full-time driving role in the No. 20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet in the Xfinity Series. Through the 35-race schedule, Hamlin went winless, but he recorded 11 top-10 results, a best finish of third at New Hampshire International Speedway in July and finished fifth in the final standings. In October, he made his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Kansas Speedway in JGR’s No. 11 FedEx Chevrolet, replacing Jason Leffler. He finished 32nd in his Cup debut, but he competed in the final six Cup races of the season. In those six races, he recorded three top-10 results and notched his first career pole at Phoenix International Raceway in November. His strong performances late in the season were enough for him to earn a full-time ride for the 2006 Cup Series season and in the No. 11 FedEx Chevrolet as one of three Cup competitors representing team owner Joe Gibbs.

    Based on his pole at Phoenix, Hamlin made his first start of the 2006 season in the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway in February. In his first superspeedway race in the Cup level, Hamlin won the 70-lap feature race and became the first rookie candidate to win the annual exhibition event at Daytona after beating icons like teammate Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson in a two-lap shootout. At Pocono Raceway in June, Hamlin started on pole and rallied from a spin due to a cut left-rear tire around the one-quarter mark of the race to claim his first Cup win in his 21st start. When the series returned at Pocono in July, Hamlin notched his second Cup career win as he swept both Pocono races and became the first rookie competitor to sweep two wins at the same track since Johnson made the last accomplishment at Dover in 2002. 

    Hamlin’s two wins along with earning 13 top-10 results throughout the 26 regular-season races were enough for him to qualify for the Chase, thus becoming the first Cup rookie candidate to make the premier series’ postseason battle for the title. He achieved six more top-10 results in the final 10 races before settling in third in the final standings, 68 points shy of the title. When the season concluded, Hamlin was named the 2006 Cup Rookie-of-the-Year recipient as he became the highest-finishing rookie candidate in the standings since the late James Hylton finished second in the 1966 standings.

    Throughout the 2006 season, Hamlin also raced as a full-time competitor in the Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing in the No. 20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet. He achieved his first two career wins in the series at Mexico City in March and at Darlington Raceway in May. He also competed in one Truck race for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports at Martinsville Speedway in October, where he finished eighth. At the conclusion of the 2006 season, Hamlin also surpassed 100 starts across NASCAR’s three major division series.

    Following the 2009 season, Hamlin had competed in 280 races across the three division series and had tallied 17 victories, nine in Xfinity and eight in Cup. By then, Hamlin was still in JGR’s No. 11 FedEx car, but sporting the Toyota nameplate, a move made by JGR in 2008 across NASCAR. The 2010 season was among Hamlin’s strongest seasons to date, where he won a season-high eight races, including one win in the XFINITY Series at Darlington, and was in contention to achieve his first Cup title until late misfortunes in the final two races left him 39 points shy of the title to Johnson. Prior to the season’s conclusion, Hamlin reached 300 starts across the sport’s division series.

    The following season, Hamlin also recorded a single victory across NASCAR’s three series. This included his first Truck Series triumph at Martinsville Speedway in October while driving for team owner/Cup teammate Kyle Busch. Through July 2020, Hamlin is one of 32 competitors to win a race across NASCAR’s three major division series. 

    Hamlin went on to surpass 400 starts following the 2012 season, 500 at the conclusion of the 2015 season and 600 when the 2017 season concluded. By then, he had tallied his Cup career wins to 31, his Xfinity career wins to 26 and his Truck career wins to two. Among his accomplishments included winning five races in 2012 with veteran Darian Grubb, recording the 100th Cup win for Joe Gibbs Racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September 2012, winning in his 300th Cup career start at Talladega Superspeedway in May 2014, recording the 100th Xfinity victory for Toyota at Richmond International Raceway in April 2015, notching Joe Gibbs Racing’s first All-Star win at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May 2015, achieving his first Daytona 500 win in a photo finish with Martin Truex Jr. in February 2016 and winning his second Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in September 2017. His best points result from 2011 to 2017 was third in 2014, where he utilized consistency to make it all the way to the Championship Round, only to fall short of the title to Kevin Harvick.

    After going winless in 2018, which marked the first time he concluded a Cup Series season without a victory, Hamlin rebounded in 2019 by winning six races, including the 61st running of the Daytona 500 in February and the penultimate event at Phoenix in November to clinch his spot to the Championship Round, all while working with new/current crew chief Chris Gabehart. In the finale at Homestead, Hamlin had a potential-winning car in the closing laps and was prepared to make a late charge for the championship, but his title hopes were dashed due to overheating issues that forced Hamlin to make an unscheduled pit stop. He finished 10th in Miami and fourth in the final standings, watching from a distance as teammate Kyle Busch won his second Cup title.

    This season, through the first 16 Cup races, Hamlin has won four races, including the 62nd running of the Daytona 500. He has also recorded three stage wins, nine top-five results and 10 top-10 results in 2020. He is ranked fifth in the regular season standings and trails points leader Kevin Harvick by 109 points, though he is also guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs by virtue of his four regular-season victories.

    Sunday’s race at Kentucky will mark Hamlin’s 10th Cup start in the Bluegrass State, where he is set to start in 12th based on a random draw. In his previous nine starts at the track, Hamlin has logged four top-five results with a best result of third place in 2012 and in 2015. He holds an average result of 14.89 at Kentucky.

    Catch Hamlin’s milestone start in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky on July 12 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Harvick benefits in overtime to defend Indianapolis title

    Harvick benefits in overtime to defend Indianapolis title

    For a third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race, the battle for the win came down to a late duel between Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, On this occasion, Harvick benefited from a late incident involving Hamlin and an overtime restart while alongside Matt Kenseth to win the 2020 Big Machine Vodka 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The victory was Harvick’s fourth of the season, the third at Indianapolis and the 53rd of his NASCAR Cup career.

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Joey Logano drew the pole position and was joined on the front row with Kurt Busch. Timmy Hill started at the rear of the field due to failing pre-race inspection twice along with Justin Allgaier, who filled in as an interim driver for seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson.

    Delayed by an hour due to lightning reports near the track, the race was able to proceed as the sun came out and cleared the clouds. When the green flag waved, Logano and Kurt Busch were locked in a side-by-side battle through Turns 1 and 2 before Logano cleared Busch for the lead entering Turn 2 and was able to lead the first lap. Following the first lap, the majority of the field settled in racing single file. On the fourth lap, while battling for a top-10 spot, Kyle Busch made contact with Ryan Blaney through the Turn 4 straightaway, but both competitors kept their car running straight with Blaney moving up. As the run progressed, Martin Truex Jr. was losing positions after reporting an issue to the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) to his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry. 

    On Lap 13, Kevin Harvick made the left-hand turn to pit road for four fresh tires with no fuel. At the time Harvick was having his service complete, the competition caution flew with Logano ahead of Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch. By then, Truex had fallen back to 28th while Allgaier was in 29th. Alex Bowman was in fourth followed by teammate Chase Elliott, Blaney and Brad Keselowski while Kyle Busch was in 10th ahead of William Byron and Bubba Wallace. Matt Kenseth was scored in 14th, Erik Jones was in 16th and Ryan Newman was in 21st. John Hunter Nemechek was the highest-running Cup rookie in 15th while rookies Cole Custer, Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell were in 20th, 22nd and 23rd.

    Under the competition caution, nearly the entire field peeled on to pit road for the first round of service. Towards the back, however, the field jumbled up that started when Michael McDowell pulled into his pit stall. McDowell’s turn into his stall jumbled the competitors behind and ignited a chain reaction wreck that collected Ryan Preece, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bell, Reddick, Chris Buescher, Allgaier, rookie Brennan Poole, Corey LaJoie and Truex. During the carnage on pit road, Allgaier and Poole pinched Blaney’s right-rear tire changer, Zach Price, between the two cars and Blaney’s No. 12 Menards/Team Penske Ford as a tire from Blaney’s pit box also flew and landed on McDowell’s No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford. Price survived, but was transported to the Methodist Hospital. The red flag was displayed for more than 11 minutes to have the pit road entrance cleared of the wreckage. 

    Once the red flag lifted and the field cycled through under caution, Harvick emerged with the leader after electing to remain on the track following the competition caution. Logano, the first car to exit pit road first, was second followed by Bowman, Aric Almirola, Keselowski and DiBenedetto. Kurt Busch, who entered pit road in third, had fallen back to 28th after struggling in his pit stall, where the jack dropped and he ran over the air hose while trying to exit his pit stall. Following the wreck, those that were done for the day were LaJoie and Preece. Truex, who was initially held for two laps for too many crew members over the pit wall under the damaged vehicle policy, also retired. 

    When the race restarted on Lap 20, Harvick and Logano battled dead even for three turns before Harvick persevered on the outside lane in Turn 3 to lead the following lap. Logano settled in second followed by Almirola. During the restart, Bowman, who restarted third, was placed in a three-wide battle between Almirola and Keselowski entering Turn 1 and had fallen back to eighth. Behind the leaders, Allgaier, who returned on the track with front nose damage and multiple laps down, returned to pit road after losing a right-front tire. Ultimately Allgaier took the No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the garage as his return to the Cup Series while subbing for Johnson came to an early end. In addition, Stenhouse and Poole, both of whom attempted to continue following the pit road incident, also retired after failing to reach the minimum speed requirement.

    Ten laps later, Harvick was still leading ahead of Logano, Almirola, Keselowski and Hamlin, who had just passed Elliott for position. DiBenedetto was in seventh followed by Byron, Bowman and Kyle Busch. On Lap 32, Almirola made an unscheduled pit stop due to a vibration concern to his No. 10 Smithfield/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang, an issue that cost Almirola a lap and back outside the top 30. During this time, Harvick was still leading and stabilizing a healthy lead over Logano, Hamlin, Keselowski and Elliott. 

    On Lap 39, Almirola was able to work his way around race leader and teammate Harvick to unlap himself. A lap later, the caution returned when Newman made contact with the Turn 3 outside wall after blowing a right-front tire in Turn 3. Under caution, the majority of the field pitted and Ty Dillon emerged with the lead after taking two tires. Harvick, the first car with four fresh tires, exited in second followed by Elliott, McDowell, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Keselowski, Bowman, DiBenedetto and Logano. At the front, Byron remained on track to inherit the lead followed by Jones, Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain.

    With four laps remaining in the first stage, Byron maintained the lead on the outside lane while Jones settled in second. The following lap, Harvick was back in the top five in fifth while DiBenedetto went three wide on Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Hamlin in the Turn 4 straightaway for position. With two laps remaining, Elliott went three wide with Harvick and Ty Dillon while drafting Austin Dillon through the Turn 4 straightaway to move up to fourth. With more battling occurring behind the pack for positions, Byron was able to maintain the lead and win the first stage on Lap 50 while collecting valuable stage points towards his quest to make the Playoffs. Jones finished second followed by Austin Dillon, Elliott and Harvick while Hamlin, DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch, Keselowski and Clint Bowyer were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some like Byron, Wallace, Jones, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Logano, Kurt Busch, Bowman, Almirola, McDowell, Nemechek, Reddick and Daniel Suarez pitted while the rest remained on track with Elliott leading Harvick and Hamlin.

    The second stage started on Lap 56 and Elliott received a push from DiBenedetto on the outside lane to clear the field for the lead in Turn 1. The following turn, DiBenedetto moved into second and Hamlin moved into third while Harvick dropped to fourth. By Lap 60, Elliott was able to stabilize his advantage by nearly a second over DiBenedetto, Hamlin and Harvick while Kyle Busch trailed by more than two seconds. Another five laps later, Elliott stretched his lead to nearly two seconds over DiBenedetto, who was starting to be pressured by Hamlin for position. Behind, Kenseth was running in sixth, Bell was in eighth and Blaney was in 11th. Jones was in 10th, Byron was in 13th ahead of Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch, and Wallace was in 16th ahead of Almirola.

    By Lap 70, Elliott expanded his lead to above four seconds over DiBenedetto and nearly five seconds over Hamlin. A lap later, with the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Hamlin bolted around DiBenedetto on the outside lane in the Turn 4 straightaway to move into second. In addition, Kenseth moved into fifth after passing Kyle Busch a corner earlier.

    On Lap 74, the caution returned when Jones blew a right-front tire and went dead straight into the Turn 3 outside wall, which busted the radiator and ignited flames underneath the hood of Jones’ No. 20 Toyota Camry. Fortunately, Jones was able to climb out of his demolished car and walk away uninjured, though the wreck marked his second DNF in the last three Cup races. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Byron emerged with the lead after opting for a two-tire stop. Austin Dillon exited second followed by Hamlin, the first car on four fresh tires. Kurt Busch and Harvick emerged in the top five followed by Elliott, Kyle Busch, DiBenedetto, Kenseth and Bowyer.

    The race restarted on Lap 83 and Austin Dillon forced his way into the lead on the inside lane after battling Byron through Turns 1 and 2. Shortly after, Byron blew a left-front tire, which damaged the hood of his No. 24 Liberty University/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE as he also made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3. Byron’s misfortune drew another caution of the race. Following repairs in his pit stall, Byron was unable to remain on the lead lap.

    When the race restarted on Lap 88, Austin Dillon and Hamlin battled through Turns 1 and 2 before Harvick made a daring three-wide move on both drivers while almost running outside the racing surface to move back into the lead entering Turn 3. Behind, the caution returned when Blaney got loose underneath teammate Keselowski, spun and backed into the Turn 3 outside wall. Despite the repairs, Blaney, ultimately, failed to reach the minimum speed and retired.

    With nine laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted and Harvick launched ahead on the outside lane to maintain the lead. Entering Turn 2, Hamlin slipped and made the slightest of contact with Austin Dillon, which allowed Elliott to gain a run for second. By the entrance of Turn 4, Elliott was able to move into second followed by Hamlin and DiBenedetto while Austin Dillon dropped to fifth. By then, Harvick checked out to nearly a two-second advantage. 

    With three laps remaining, Bowman made a green-flag pit stop and was just able to exit pit road and remain ahead of race leader Harvick to remain on the lead lap. At the start of the final lap of the stage, however, Harvick lapped Bowman and was able to cruise to the win of the second stage. Elliott held off Hamlin to finish second while DiBenedetto and Austin Dillon finished in the top five. Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Bell and Bowyer were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a number of competitors pitted, including Kurt Busch, Bowyer, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Wallace, DiBenedetto, Kenseth, Almirola, Custer and Nemechek pitted.

    The final stage commenced with 54 laps remaining and Harvick, again, jumped to an early advantage on the outside lane. Elliott, however, fought back on the inside lane to remain in a tight battle with Harvick for the lead. In Turn 2, Hamlin went three wide on Harvick and Elliott to squeak ahead, but Harvick gained a huge run on the outside lane in Turn 3 to thunder back into the lead. Hamlin and Elliott remained in second and third followed by rookies Bell and Reddick while Kenseth settled in sixth.

    With 45 laps remaining, Harvick was ahead by three-tenths of a second over Hamlin. Elliott was in third, nearly two seconds behind the front two, followed by rookies Bell and Reddick with Kenseth in sixth. Bowyer, Logano, DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch were scored in the top 10. Custer was in 11th ahead of Keselowski while Austin Dillon was in 13th ahead of Nemechek. Kurt Busch and Almirola were in 15th and 16th while Wallace was in 18th. Bowman, who had received the free pass to return on the lead lap prior to the final stage, was back in 20th.

    As the run progressed, Harvick and Hamlin separated themselves from third-place Elliott by three seconds while needing at least a final pit stop to complete the race to its distance. With 38 laps remaining, at the time when Reddick made a green-flag pit stop, Hamlin’s crew led by crew chief Chris Gabehart ordered Hamlin and his No. 11 FedEx/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry to pit road for a final pit stop under green. A lap later, Harvick pitted along with Elliott and Bell while Kenseth remained on track to inherit the lead. By the time Harvick exited pit road, Hamlin was able to cycle his way in front of Harvick like he did last weekend in the second Pocono race, a move that enabled him to win last weekend.

    With 30 laps remaining, Kenseth was still leading by more than seven seconds over Kyle Busch, nearly 13 seconds over Logano and Keselowski, and 14 seconds over Custer. Hamlin was in 12th while Harvick was in 13th and slowly gaining ground to Hamlin. During this time, Bowyer and Nemechek had made a green-flag pit stop.

    Two laps later, more green-flag pits stops occurred as Logano pitted. Not long after, the caution flew when Bowman made hard contact into the Turn 1 outside wall after cutting a right-front tire. Under caution, drivers like Kenseth, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, DiBenedetto, Custer, Keselowski, Almirola and Elliott pitted while Hamlin and Harvick remained on track to inherit the front row for the closing laps.

    With 22 laps remaining, the race restarted and Hamlin launched ahead with the lead on the outside lane through Turn 1. Harvick, who got loose in Turn 1 and lost two spots while nearly making contact with Kenseth on the restart, made his way back to the runner-up spot two corners later as Kenseth moved into third. Custer moved in fourth followed by teammate Almirola while Bell slipped to sixth. A lap later, Harvick drew himself to the rear bumper of Hamlin in Turn 2 and was prepared to make a slingshot move on Hamlin for the lead, but he went high entering Turn 3, which allowed Hamlin to maintain his advantage. 

    With 15 laps remaining, Hamlin was ahead by three-tenths of a second over Harvick while Kenseth was behind by eight-tenths of a second. Behind, Almirola made his way past teammate Custer for position. Three laps later, the top-three competitors of Hamlin, Harvick and Kenseth were separated by seven-tenths of a second and the trio were ahead of fourth-place Almirola by more than two seconds, fifth-place Custer by three seconds and sixth-place Bell by four seconds.

    With seven laps remaining, Hamlin’s run went from good to bad after he blew a right-front tire and went dead straight into the Turn 1 outside wall as smoke and flames erupted beneath Hamlin’s crumbled car. The wreck was enough to end his hopes of winning at Indianapolis for the first time and in his 15th attempt at the famed racetrack. 

    “It’s tough,” Hamlin said, “I hate it for the FedEx team. We did what we needed to do. It’s just didn’t work out for us, today. [I] Had a fast car, obviously. [I] Was stretching it out there, but wasn’t pushing right front [tire] at all. It’s, kind of, roulette whether you get one that’s gonna stay together or not. Mine didn’t and you saw the end result. That stinks, but proud of the whole FedEx Toyota team. We’ve just been so good here lately. I hate that I feel like I’m doing all I can. These big races, just a lot of things like this just don’t go my way all the time. We’re still gonna go next week and try to win the next one. We’ll do all we can.”

    Hamlin’s misfortune allowed Harvick to move back into the lead followed by Kenseth, Almirola, Custer and Bell. Under caution and as the sky was shining brightly into sunset, the leaders remained on track while others, including Bell and Elliott, pitted.

    When the race restarted into overtime, Harvick received a push from teammate Custer to clear the field entering Turn 1 and retain the lead. Entering Turn 2, Kenseth moved back into second and Almirola moved into third. The following turn, Keselowski moved into fourth while Custer fell back to fifth. When Harvick started the final lap, he was ahead by six-tenths of a second. For one final circuit, Harvick was able to maintain his advantage over Kenseth and streak across the finish line in first to add another Brickyard 400 win to his résumé.

    With the win, Harvick joined Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch as the only Cup competitors to win back-to-back Brickyard 400s at Indianapolis. He also achieved his 30th win driving the No. 4 car for Stewart-Haas Racing and his 750th top-10 result in NASCAR’s premier series.

    “Well, we knew that [Hamlin], he was gonna be close on tires and [crew chief] Rodney [Childers] told me on the radio he said, ‘Just make sure you keep the pressure on him,’ and that was all the pressure I could give,” Harvick said. “Those guys do a really good job. Just got to thank on my Busch Light Ford Mustang…everybody who is a part of this program and just keeps bringing good racecars to the racetrack. I didn’t have anymore room [when passing three wide for the lead]. That was for sure, but it’s the Brickyard. This is what I grew up wanting to do as a kid, win at the Brickyard and to be able to come here and have won for the third time is something that I could have never dreamed of. But just really, really proud of all these guys on this team.”

    Kenseth finished second followed by Almirola, Keselowski and Custer. Kyle Busch settled in sixth followed by McDowell, Reddick, Wallace and Logano. Elliott settled in 11th followed by Bell while Kurt Busch finished 13th in his 700th Cup career start. Austin Dillon and DiBenedetto wrecked on the final lap and both settled in 18th and 19th.

    The race capped off an eventful triple-header, Independence Day weekend of racing activities between NASCAR and IndyCar at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    There were 11 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 43 laps.

    With his victory, Harvick continues to lead the Cup Series regular-season standings by 85 points over Elliott and 88 over Keselowski.

    Results.

    1. Kevin Harvick, 68 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Matt Kenseth, 12 laps led

    3. Aric Almirola

    4. Brad Keselowski

    5. Cole Custer

    6. Kyle Busch

    7. Michael McDowell

    8. Tyler Reddick

    9. Bubba Wallace

    10. Joey Logano, 14 laps led

    11. Chase Elliott, 26 laps led

    12. Christopher Bell

    13. Kurt Busch

    14. Ty Dillon

    15. John Hunter Nemechek

    16. Clint Bowyer

    17. Ross Chastain, one lap led

    18. Austin Dillon, five laps led

    19. Matt DiBenedetto

    20. Daniel Suarez, one lap down

    21. J.J. Yeley, one lap down

    22. B.J. McLeod, one lap down

    23. Quin Houff, two laps down

    24. Garrett Smithley, two laps down

    25. Josh Bilicki, three laps down

    26. Joey Gase, four laps down

    27. William Byron, five laps down, 15 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    28. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident, 19 laps led

    29. Timmy Hill, eight laps down

    30. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

    31. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident

    32. Ryan Blaney – OUT, DVP

    33. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

    34. Ryan Newman – OUT, Accident

    35. Brennan Poole – OUT, DVP

    36. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, DVP

    37. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

    38. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Accident

    39. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

    40. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

    The NASCAR Cup Series will return to race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, on July 12 as part of a quadruple-header weekend. The race will air at 2:30 p.m. on FS1.

  • Banner run for four Toyota competitors at Pocono

    Banner run for four Toyota competitors at Pocono

    It was a banner day for Kevin Harvick as he notched his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Pocono Raceway in his 39th attempt. It was also a banner run for the Toyota nameplate as four Toyota drivers earned top-10 results, three of which were top-five results, at the Tricky Triangle.

    The first was Denny Hamlin. Starting third based on a random draw, Hamlin fell back to fifth through the first 13 laps. Under the competition caution, he remained on track and was shuffled back to ninth on the following restart. Under three laps remaining in the first stage, the driver of the No. 11 FedEx/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota surrendered his track position to make a green-flag pit stop to set himself up for track position in the following stage. When the first stage concluded, Hamlin was in 36th. Under the stage break, Hamlin remained on track and gained a multitude of positions while his three JGR teammates pitted. Restarting 10th in the second stage, Hamlin slowly made his way towards the front as strategy became the theme throughout the stage and a multitude of competitors made green-flag pit stops. On Lap 60, Hamlin led his first lap of the day after passing teammate Martin Truex Jr., who peeled off to pit road. Hamlin would lead seven laps before pitting. With eight laps remaining in the second stage, Hamlin was in 10th when the caution flew. Through two late-stage restarts, Hamlin would settle in seventh in the second stage. Restarting seventh in the final stage with 48 laps remaining, Hamlin returned to the lead 11 laps later. Needing to pit to complete the race, Hamlin pitted five laps later for service. For the duration of the closing laps, Hamlin would carve his way back into second with Harvick ahead of him. Then, Hamlin started to report a bad vibration to his car. Despite the issue, Hamlin continued to narrow his deficit to Harvick with less than 10 laps remaining. With four laps remaining, Hamlin narrowed his deficit to less than half a second and was close to Harvick’s rear bumper. He was, however, unable to gain a draft to draw alongside Harvick and challenge for the win as he settled in second. With his runner-up result, Hamlin earned his eighth top-five result of this season and his 12th at Pocono to go along with his three regular-season victories this season and after leading 10 of the event’s 130-scheduled laps.

    “[The vibration]’s bad,” Hamlin said. “It was like someone loosened all the [lug] nuts on the car. It’s unfortunate. We got there and we came there from a long way back. Had a strong FedEx Camry. With about 15, 20 to go, the vibration just got really, really bad. Still, it would’ve been tough to pass. Even though we got there, it was gonna be tough to get around [Harvick]. Man, our car was extremely, extremely fast. [I’m] Optimistic for tomorrow’s race, for sure.”

    Next was rookie Christopher Bell, who shined the brightest of this year’s Rookie-of-the-Year Cup field at a track where he won at in the 2017 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series season with Kyle Busch Motorsports. Starting 36th, Bell gained 10 spots to move into 26th through the competition caution on Lap 13. Through the following two restarts, Bell kept his No. 95 Rheem/Leavine Family Racing Toyota intact. With three laps remaining in the first stage, Bell, like Hamlin, made a green-flag pit stop for early adjustments to his car for the next stage, thus finishing 35th at the conclusion of the first stage. Throughout the second stage, Bell worked his way into the top 10 and was running inside the top five when the caution flew for debris with 13 laps remaining in the stage. Through another caution and two late restarts, Bell concluded the stage in 11th, one spot shy of earning a stage point. At the start of the final stage, Bell remained in contention for a top-10 spot when he made a green-flag pit stop with 39 laps remaining to have enough fuel to make it to the end. From there, Bell was able to work his way up to fourth when the checkered flag flew. The fourth-place result marked Bell’s first top-five career finish in his 14th NASCAR Cup Series start and his fourth top-10 result of this season and in the last eight races. The top-five result was a satisfactory run for Bell, who had finished no higher than 21st in the first six races of the 2020 season.

    “Whenever I started working with [crew chief] Jason [Ratcliff] two years ago in the Xfinity Series, well even before that, I started following him and I knew he was really aggressive on strategy to get his driver up front,” Bell said. “[It] Seems like the majority of the race tracks that we’ve been to the last couple weeks have just been, put four tires on and go, but Pocono is definitely a place where you can mix up strategy, pit early, pit before the stages and so forth. Obviously, Jason did a great job and got us up front and we had the car speed to stay up there.”

    In addition, Kyle Busch rallied from his recent strings of frustration to leave the first Pocono event with a strong top-five run. Starting fourth, Busch was the highest-running Toyota driver in fourth through the first competition caution on Lap 13. Restarting in fourth, Busch outlasted through two additional restarts to finish fourth and gain valuable stage points towards the Playoffs. Under the stage break, Busch pitted with two of his JGR teammates and restarted 23rd for the following stage. In the early portions of the stage, Busch was running towards the top 15, but once a wave of competitors pitted on Lap 46, Busch was in third behind teammates Truex and Hamlin. Busch kept his No. 18 M&M’s Mini’s/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota towards the front when a late caution in the second stage came out due to debris. Opting to pit, Busch was in 11th when the racing resumed with eight laps remaining in the second stage. Through another late-stage restart, Busch finished 10th. He restarted in eighth in the final stage and made his final pit stop under green with 40 laps remaining. As the race dwindled to its final laps, Busch was able to work his way up to fifth, where he finished after taking the checkered flag. Despite remaining winless to the 2020 season, the top-five result was Busch’s first since finishing second at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 7 and his eighth top-10 result of the season.

    “We had some speed and there were laps that I could run with [Hamlin], but he could just do it lap after lap after lap where I was pushing everything I had to keep up with him there,” Busch said. “I just couldn’t do it. I would make the tires mad and would start to fall back. We were just a little tight all day. We really fought tight early on, but we made some really good adjustments and got it a lot closer and got it a lot better. Our strategy there worked out to get us in the top-five – that was about all we could ask for out of today. We got some really good ideas for tomorrow hopefully that will help us out and hopefully get us some speed so we can keep up with those front guys.”

    Finally, Martin Truex Jr. rallied from a disappointing ending last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway to add another top-10 result to this season. Starting 11th, Truex was in 14th through the competition caution, 13 laps, when he opted to make his first pit stop of the day for four fresh tires, fuel and adjustments. The pit stop dropped him back to 21st, and through two restarts, Truex could finish as high as 13th following the first stage. Restarting in 10th for the start of the second stage, Truex emerged with the lead on Lap 45. He led the next 14 laps before surrendering the lead to teammate Hamlin while making a green-flag pit stop. In the closing laps of the second stage, Truex was running inside the top five. Through two late restarts, Truex settled in third in the second stage. Restarting in third in the final stage, Truex was battling within the top five when he made a green-flag pit stop, a stop to get him to the finish. In the final laps, while battling teammate Kyle Busch for a top-five spot, Truex reported a vibration to his No. 19 SiriusXM/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Despite the late concerns, Truex was able to cross the finish line in sixth for his seventh top-10 result of this season after leading 14 laps.

    “We started in a decent spot and lost some spots early,” Truex said. “I thought we had a pretty decent SiriusXM Toyota early on and kind of had to do a little different strategy there. Stage one didn’t look too good, but I felt like we were pretty close with the car. We made some adjustments and got some track position through stage two, so we were able to get some decent stage points there. We were in a decent spot again towards the end and got a really bad vibration, so I was a little concerned that we were going to have a tire issue or something. Luckily, it held on and it wasn’t a great finish by any means, but a solid finish for sure and something we can work on for tomorrow.”

    For the remaining Toyota competitors, Daniel Suarez and Timmy Hill finished 28th and 35th while Erik Jones ended his race in 38th following a late accident in the second stage, a wreck that left Jones trailing the top-16 in the regular-season series standings by six points and moving into a backup car for the second Cup Pocono race on Sunday, June 28.

    The NASCAR Cup Series will return for a second race at Pocono as part of the doubleheader feature on June 28 at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Truex reigns supreme under the lights at Martinsville

    Truex reigns supreme under the lights at Martinsville

    In NASCAR’s first night race at Martinsville Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. captured his first NASCAR Cup Series win of the season in the Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at the paper clip-shaped track. With the victory, Truex achieved his second consecutive win at Martinsville, his eighth driving for Joe Gibbs Racing and the 27th of his Cup career. The win was also the first for former lead engineer James Small as a crew chief.

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Ryan Blaney, who achieved his 100th top-five NASCAR national touring series career finish last Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, drew the pole position. Aric Almirola started on the front row for the second consecutive race. Joey Gase started at the rear of the field and was assessed a pass-through penalty at the start of the race due to his car failing pre-race technical inspection five times.

    When the green flag waved, Almirola prevailed on the outside lane to jump to an early lead. It did not take long for the first caution to fly on the fourth lap due to fallen debris in Turn 2 that came off of Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet, where Dillon sustained a flat right-rear tire at the start.

    When the race resumed on the 13th lap, Almirola was able to clear Blaney on the inside lane in Turn 2 to retain the lead. Behind, Bowyer, who restarted in the second row on the outside lane, dropped multiple positions as he was overtaken by Joey Logano, Truex, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Chase Elliott. By Lap 16, Logano moved into second followed by Truex. Like Bowyer, Blaney lost positions to the Busch brothers after being stuck on the outside lane.

    On Lap 20, Logano took the lead from Almirola as Truex quickly moved into second. The Busch brothers and Elliott also advanced into the top five as Almirola dropped to sixth in three laps. By Lap 30, Logano held a two-second advantage over Truex and Kurt Busch. Behind the leaders, Jimmie Johnson, who started 21st, was in seventh and Corey LaJoie, who started 25th, was in 13th. Almirola and Blaney, both of whom started on the front row, had fallen to 10th and 11th. In addition, Brad Keselowski, who started sixth, fell to 18th while Denny Hamlin, who started 12th, dropped to 21st. Ten laps later, Elliott, who moved to second five laps earlier, was more than three seconds behind Logano, followed by Kurt Busch, Bowyer, Johnson and Kevin Harvick while Truex fell back to seventh. Almirola and Blaney continued to fade in the running order and outside the top 10 due to handling issues.

    By Lap 42, Hamlin and Keselowski were lapped by Logano. Three laps later, Matt DiBenedetto, William Byron and Bubba Wallace were running in sixth, seventh and 13th while Michael McDowell was making his way in the top 10.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 60, Logano was ahead by nearly nine seconds and had lapped a multitude of names that included Keselowski, Hamlin, Cole Custer, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon, Blaney, Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek, Matt Kenseth, Almirola, Kyle Busch and Alex Bowman. By then, 18 cars were scored on the lead lap with Tyler Reddick being the last, but Bowman was able to receive the free pass under caution as the first car scored one lap behind. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Logano retained the lead followed by Elliott, Bowyer, DiBenedetto, Byron and Johnson. Kyle Busch, who was lapped, also pitted to have damage repaired as a result of making contact with the wall.

    When the race restarted on Lap 68, Logano took off with the lead while Elliott and Bowyer battled against one another for second. By the next lap, Bowyer cleared Elliott in Turn 2 as Elliott settled in third in front of Byron. By Lap 80, Logano held a lead less than half a second over Bowyer followed by Elliott while Kurt Busch moved to fourth over Byron. DiBenedetto, Johnson and McDowell were in seventh, eighth and 10th while Wallace, Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Reddick were in the top 15. Hamlin, who was stuck in 31st, was reporting overheating problems to his No. 11 Toyota.

    By Lap 100, Logano was leading above a second over Bowyer. Meanwhile, Kurt Busch was in third followed by Elliott, Truex, Byron, Harvick, Johnson, DiBenedetto and Wallace. Blaney was in 20th, Keselowski was in 24th, Kyle Busch was in 25th and Kenseth and Almirola were in 27th and 28th. Two laps later, Harvick, running seventh, reported a dead battery to his No. 4 Ford and was told he could go 180 more laps before he needed repairs.

    Ten laps later, the caution returned when Timmy Hill, who was in position to receive the free pass and return on the lead lap, stalled on pit road. Under caution, the leaders pitted except for LaJoie. Following the pit stops, Wallace exited first after taking two tires while Logano, the first with four fresh tires, followed behind in second. Bowyer, Johnson, Truex and Harvick exited behind Logano. During the caution, Blaney returned on the lead lap while Stenhouse Jr. was nabbed with a speeding penalty.

    With 10 laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted and LaJoie prevailed on the inside lane to retain the lead while Logano and Bowyer went three-wide with Wallace to move up to second and third. By Turn 4 the following lap, Logano was back in the lead. A lap later, Bowyer moved to second followed by Johnson as LaJoie drifted toward the back. Meanwhile, Wallace was locked in a heated battle with Truex for fourth. While a multitude of battles between competitors ensured, Logano was able to drive away and win the first stage by half a second over Bowyer. Johnson finished third followed by Truex and Wallace while Elliott, Kurt Busch, Harvick, DiBenedetto and Byron finished in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, most of the leaders remained on track while others like Elliott, Kurt Busch, Byron, Wallace, Ryan Newman and Blaney pitted. The following lap, Truex, who remained on track in the top five, made an unscheduled pit stop to have his right-front fender repaired as a result of damaging it following on-track contact with Harvick. In addition, Truex was penalized for a commitment line violation while trying to enter pit road, which forced him to restart in 22nd. Austin Dillon, who was still multiple laps behind, was also penalized for a commitment line violation.

    The second stage started on Lap 140 and Logano retained the lead after clearing Bowyer in Turn 2. Johnson settled in third while DiBenedetto and McDowell battled for fourth. Ten laps later, Logano maintained his advantage by half a second over Bowyer while all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers were in the top 10. During this time, Reddick was in 10th, McDowell had fallen back to 11th and Erik Jones was the highest-running Toyota driver in 18th. By Lap 170, Johnson was in second and was trailing Logano by more than a second. Blaney, who was a lap behind early in the race and restarted 14th, was back in the top 10 in eighth, Wallace was in 13th and Truex and Keselowski were in 21st and 22nd. 

    With the race settling in a long green-flag run, Logano maintained his advantage by more than a second over Johnson and started to encounter lapped traffic as the field settled in single-file racing. On Lap 202, Johnson, who was able to narrow his deficit to Logano when Logano caught lapped traffic, made his move on the inside lane and took the lead, where he started to stretch his advantage to half a second. By Lap 220, Johnson extended his lead to above a second over Blaney, who overtook teammate Logano for second. Harvick, Elliott, Bowman and Byron were running fourth through seventh while Wallace worked his way back to eighth. Kurt Busch and Bowyer were in the bottom half of the top 10 while Keselowski was in 16th. Truex was mired in 19th while his teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin were in 25th and 27th.

    By Lap 230, Johnson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Blaney, more than three seconds over Logano and four seconds over Harvick. By Lap 250, Johnson was ahead by 1.5 seconds over Blaney, more than five seconds over Logano and more than six seconds over Harvick. Wallace had worked his way back to sixth while Keselowski was in 12th. Truex was in 16th, the highest-running Toyota driver, while Bowyer had fallen back to 18th and was lapped. 

    Uncontested, Johnson cruised to the second stage win, his first of the season, above a second over Blaney. Logano, Bowman and Harvick finished in the top five while Wallace, Byron, Elliott, Kurt Busch and Reddick finished in the top 10. Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Johnson exited pit road first followed by Blaney, Logano, Bowman, Harvick, Wallace and Byron. During the caution, Byron was sent to the rear of the field after being penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    The final stage started with 229 laps remaining as Johnson and Blaney battled against one another for one full lap. A lap later, Blaney used the high lane to clear Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet for the lead entering Turn 4. The following lap, Logano made his move on the inside lane to move into second. Behind the leaders, Bowman began to develop a left-rear tire rub after making contact with Keselowski.

    With 216 laps remaining, Logano moved back to the lead after passing Blaney in Turn 3. By then, Johnson dropped to fifth as Harvick and Elliott moved up to third and fourth. Sixteen laps later, with 200 to go, Logano settled to a lead nearly half a second over Blaney as only 16 competitors were scored on the lead lap. Keselowski moved into fifth after overtaking Johnson while Bowman was in seventh despite the mild tire rub to his No. 88 Chevrolet. Reddick and Truex were eighth and ninth, Wallace was in 10th while battling Kurt Busch and Newman and Byron were in 13th and 15th.

    With 175 to go, the caution returned when David Starr spun through Turns 1 and 2 and made contact with the outside wall after being tapped by Jones. At the time, Blaney, who took the lead nineteen laps earlier, was ahead by nearly a second over teammates Keselowski and Logano followed by Harvick, Johnson, Elliott and Bowman. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Logano was able to exit first followed by Keselowski, Johnson, Elliott and Truex while Blaney fell back to eighth. The situation went from bad to worse for Blaney, who was sent to the rear of the field due to a crew member jumping over the pit wall too early.

    With 168 to go, the race restarted and Logano cleared Keselowski by Turn 2 to maintain the lead. Keselowski settled in second while Elliott battled on the outside lane to move into fourth over teammate Johnson followed by Truex, who rallied from his commitment line violation at the conclusion of the first stage.

    With 150 to go, a three-way battle for the lead started brewing as Keselowski drew himself right to the rear bumper of Logano’s No. 22 Ford with Elliott right behind Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford. During this time, Almirola made a pit stop to have the batteries changed due to an alternator issue to his No. 10 Ford. By the time he returned, he was 13 laps behind the leaders.

    With 136 to go, as the leaders approached heavy lapped traffic, Keselowski moved aggressively on the inside lane to take the lead after Logano was pinned behind the lapped car of LaJoie on the outside lane. A lap later, Truex moved into second as Logano slipped to third followed by Elliott and Harvick. Six laps later, Truex emerged with the lead. By then, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates (Kyle Busch, Jones and Hamlin) were running 20th through 22nd. During this time, Johnson was in seventh, Roush Fenway Racing teammates Newman and Buescher were in the top 10 behind DiBenedetto and Wallace was in 12th, one position ahead of Blaney.

    With 103 to go, the caution flew when rookie Quin Houff spun entering Turn 2. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Truex exited first followed by Keselowski, Logano, Elliott, Bowman, Harvick and Johnson. 

    When the race restarted with 97 to go, Truex took off with the lead and Logano moved into second over Keselowski while Bowman, racing with a damaged left-rear fender, moved into fourth over teammate Elliott. At the time the race resumed to green, Austin Dillon exited his car on pit road and had to be cooled off due to being exposed to fumes and heat as a result of the knocked out crushed panels from the cut tire Dillon sustained at the start of the race. Dillon would end his night in the garage and on a stretcher headed for the infield care center while receiving oxygen and fluids to continue to cool off.

    With 75 to go, Truex settled to a lead of nearly a second over Logano. Meanwhile, Blaney, who rallied from his late pit road penalty, was in fifth followed by Bowman while Johnson had fallen to 10th ahead of Newman. Byron was in 12th followed by Bowyer while Wallace had fallen back to 17th.

    As the laps continued to dwindle, Truex extended his advantage to two seconds over teammates Logano and Keselowski with Blaney pursuing by three seconds and Elliott by four seconds. With 40 to go, Truex settled to a lead nearly three seconds over Blaney, who overtook his teammates and was trying to pursue Truex. Twenty laps later, Truex extended his advantage to four seconds as only 15 competitors were scored on the lead lap. With 10 to go, Truex stabilized his lead to nearly five seconds over Blaney and nearly six laps for Keselowski as he started to approach lapped traffic. 

    Despite the heavy lapped traffic, Truex cautiously worked his way through each corner and remained uncontested through the final circuits as he claimed the checkered flag to win by more than four seconds over Blaney and become the seventh winner of this year’s Cup Series season. 

    Prior to the 2019 Cup season, Truex was 0-80 in short track wins. After tonight, he has won four of the last six short-track races.

    “We’ve been working a long time on trying to figure this place out and just chipping away at it,” Truex said. “The last couple of years, we’ve been really strong. [October 2018] was a heartbreaker going at the end of the race there, last year to get the win and this year. Hats off to the guys. We started the first run, pushed the right-front tire off and were terrible. Really good adjustments by the guys, I wanna thank all of them, SiriusXM, Bass Pro [Shops], Auto-Owners [Insurance], everybody that makes this possible. Congrats to James [Small] on his first win. He’s doing an awesome job. It’s a big day for us. We did what we had to do. Thanks to everybody back at [Joe Gibbs Racing] for working through all these tough times and everything else. It feels a little strange out here, to be honest.”

    Blaney rallied from struggling early in the race to finish second for his fifth top-five finish of the season followed by teammates Keselowski and Logano while Elliott settled in fifth. Bowman, DiBenedetto, Byron, Kurt Busch and Johnson finished in the top 10 as only 14 competitors finished on the lead lap.

    The race featured 14 lead changes with eight different leaders. There were seven cautions for 52 laps.

    Harvick continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 28 points over Logano and 47 over Elliott. 

    Results:

    1. Martin Truex Jr., 132 laps led

    2. Ryan Blaney, 34 laps led

    3. Brad Keselowski, five laps led

    4. Joey Logano, 234 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    5. Chase Elliott, one lap led

    6. Alex Bowman

    7. Matt DiBenedetto

    8. William Byron

    9. Kurt Busch

    10. Jimmie Johnson, 70 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    11. Bubba Wallace

    12. Ryan Newman

    13. Chris Buescher

    14. Michael McDowell

    15. Kevin Harvick, one lap behind

    16. Tyler Reddick, one lap behind

    17. Clint Bowyer, one lap behind

    18. Corey LaJoie, one lap behind, five laps led

    19. Kyle Busch, one lap behind

    20. Erik Jones, three laps behind

    21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., three laps behind

    22. Ty Dillon, three laps behind

    23. Matt Kenseth, three laps behind

    24. Denny Hamlin, three laps behind

    25. John Hunter Nemechek, three laps behind

    26. Ryan Preece, four laps behind

    27. Daniel Suarez, six laps behind

    28. Christopher Bell, six laps behind

    29. Cole Custer, six laps behind

    30. Brennan Poole, six laps behind

    31. J.J. Yeley, seven laps behind

    32. David Starr, 21 laps behind

    33. Aric Almirola – OUT, Battery, 19 laps led

    34. Quin Houff, 26 laps behind

    35. Joey Gase, 36 laps behind

    36. Garrett Smithley, 50 laps behind

    37. Austin Dillon – OUT, Fatigue

    38. Reed Sorenson – OUT, Electrical

    39. Timmy Hill – OUT, Fuel Pump

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Homestead-Miami Speedway, which will occur on June 14 and cap off a quadruple-header weekend of racing in south Florida. The race will air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX. 

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Atlanta

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Atlanta

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

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

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

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

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

    3. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished ninth at Atlanta.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Truex claims first top-five result of 2020 at Atlanta

    Truex claims first top-five result of 2020 at Atlanta

    Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway was a race where Martin Truex Jr. came in seeking redemption on two instances. The first was to continue his recent string of consistent runs following a rough start to this season. The second was to claim redemption at Atlanta after falling short to Brad Keselowski one year ago while being botched up from lapped traffic. While Truex fell short of the race win, a third-place result was a result that left the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion content with his run.

    Starting 11th, Truex wasted no time making his way into the top 10, where he was able to do so by the 10th lap as he was in eighth. Following the competition caution on Lap 25 and a restart five laps later, Truex used the outside lane to his advantage to gain a multitude of spots, which included racing three-wide with teammate Denny Hamlin and Aric Almirola, and making his way into the top five.

    By Lap 35, Truex moved up to fourth and five laps later, Truex found himself in the runner-up spot, trailing race leader Kevin Harvick. Following the first round of green-flag pit stops past the 60-lap mark, Truex went from trailing Harvick by a second to approximately four seconds. On Lap 86, after working to decrease his deficit from Harvick, Truex gained a huge momentum in Turn 2 and moved to the inside of Harvick to take the lead through Turn 3. Just as Truex was starting to pull away and lap some cars, a late caution flew due to a single-car spin. Under caution, Truex pitted and was able to exit first following a strong stop by his pit crew.

    When the first stage restarted with six laps remaining, Truex received a push from Clint Bowyer and teammate Kyle Busch on the inside lane to lead through Turn 1 and stabilize his advantage the following lap. While most of the field jostled for positions, Truex was able to fend off his teammate Busch to claim his first stage win of the season.

    When the second stage started, Truex restarted second on the outside lane but received a push from teammate Denny Hamlin that allowed Truex to battle hard with Bowyer for the lead. Four laps later, however, Bowyer was able to clear Truex for the lead. Truex spent the majority of the green-flag run chasing Bowyer until he returned to the lead when Bowyer made an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 147. Nearly 10 laps later, a second round of green-flag pit stops commenced. Following Truex’s pit stop on Lap 160 and when nearly the entire field cycled through, the driver of the No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota found himself in second once again behind Bowyer.

    For 15 laps through Lap 175, Truex was able to decrease his deficit from Bowyer from eight to less than two seconds while on fresher tires. Nearly 10 laps later, Truex returned to the lead. With nine laps remaining in the second stage, at the time when Truex stabilized his lead over teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin, a late caution fell for a single-car spin in Turn 4. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Truex exited second after being beaten by Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota off of pit road.

    With four laps remaining in the stage, the high lane dealt to the favor of Truex as he was able to reassume the lead in Turn 3. For the next three laps, Truex was able to hold on to win the second stage for his second stage victory of the day/season and earn valuable points towards the playoffs.

    When the final stage started with 108 laps remaining, Truex briefly slipped to third but returned to second while Harvick stormed to the lead. Over the course of the green-flag run, Truex narrowed his deficit from Harvick to as close as six-tenths of a second, but Harvick was able to stabilize his advantage to around a second. Following the final round of green-flag pit stops with less than 70 laps remaining, Truex was still trailing Harvick as Harvick started to increase his advantage.

    With no late cautions and no interferences from lapped traffic, Truex was unable to gain more ground toward Harvick. As the laps dwindled, the handling of Truex’s car started to fade as he lost the runner-up spot to Kyle Busch with four laps remaining. When the checkered flag flew, Truex settled in third and was more than eight seconds behind race winner Harvick.

    Despite coming up short in winning for the first time at Atlanta and with his new crew chief James Small, Truex was able to claim his first top-five result of this season. In addition, Truex claimed his fifth top-10 result of this season and moved from sixth to fifth in the Cup Series regular-season standings as he trails Harvick by 87 points.

    “The last two or three runs there, we just got too tight,” Truex said. “Not sure what happened. The car was really good. The guys did a great job. Auto-Owners Camry was fast all day. Got our first two stage wins of the year, which was huge. We just can’t seem to get over the hump at the finishes. Just ran out of tires at the end and lost second to Kyle (Busch). I figured at that point, I could see [Harvick] and was just going to give it all I had and see if there was any opportunity, but he was just too good. Just got too tight at the end. Hell of a job by everybody and a good, solid day.”

    Next for Truex is Martinsville Speedway, a venue where Truex won for the first time last October and that enabled him to secure his spot for the 2019 Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The race will air on June 10 at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Cole Pearn announces departure from Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR

    Cole Pearn announces departure from Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR

    On Monday, Joe Gibbs Racing announced on Facebook that Cole Pearn, Crew Chief for the No. 19 Toyota NASCAR Cup team, will be stepping away not only from the JGR organization but from NASCAR as well. The decision was effective immediately.

    “This was an incredibly difficult decision,” Pearn said. “At the end of the day, I really want to spend time with my family and actually see my kids grow up. Being on the road, you are away from home so much and miss a lot of time with your family. I don’t want to miss that time anymore.”

    “I want to be there for all the things that my kids are going to experience while they are still young. I love racing and there isn’t a better place to be than Joe Gibbs Racing, but I don’t want to look back in 20 years and think about everything I missed with my wife and kids while I was gone. They are what is most important to me.

    Following a brief career in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series where he made 27 starts in four years, Pearn worked for Richard Childress Racing from 2007 to 2009 as an engineer for Kevin Harvick’s team before going to Furniture Row Racing in 2010. He spent 2011 with JTG-Daugherty Racing before returning to FRR, where following the 2014 season he was promoted to Crew Chief for Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 78 team. The pair earned 24 wins together and the 2017 Cup Series championship.

    “I cannot say enough good things about Cole and what he has meant for my career,” said Truex. “I appreciate his hard work and dedication to our race team over the past six years going back to when he was my engineer at Furniture Row. Our friendship is what matters most to me and I’m happy that he is doing what’s best for him and his family.”

    JGR will announce a Crew Chief for the No. 19 at a later date.

  • Truex, Harvick and Hamlin fall short in their bid for the Cup Series championship

    Truex, Harvick and Hamlin fall short in their bid for the Cup Series championship

    Kyle Busch and his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 team won their second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway with seemingly flawless execution by the driver and team.

    His three competitors, however, fell short. Even so, each of these drivers had noteworthy seasons and they are undoubtedly looking ahead to next year and the possibility of another title run.

    Martin Truex Jr.:

    Martin Truex Jr. finished second to Busch as a result of a costly mistake on pit road. He won Stage 1 and was leading during Stage 2 when he took his No. 19 JGR Toyota down pit road for a green-flag stop.

    As soon as he left pit road Truex reported that there was something wrong with his car. Crew Chief Cole Pearn informed him that the team has put tires on the wrong side of the car and that he needed to come back down pit road to correct the mistake.

    He was the beneficiary of a caution on Lap 136 and was able to get back on the lead lap. He was able to rebound to a second-place finish but it was too little, too late.

    Truex said it was the loss of track position that cost him a shot at the win and the championship.

    “Yeah, ultimately it was the loss of track position that bit us,” he said. 

    “I lost a bunch of ground on that run,” he continued, “because of getting tight in traffic and then just was too far back to make anything happen the last run.  Ultimately it came down to track position, and I felt like if I could have been up front and controlled the race, I could have drove away from them.

    “At the end, we were quite a bit quicker, but it’s just, it was too much of a gap.  Yeah, it’s part of the deal.  You’ve got to be perfect, you know, and one mistake probably cost us a shot at it.”

    The disappointment was obvious for the 2017 Cup Series champion.

    “Yeah, these things don’t come around every day,” said Truex. ‘”Second two years in a row definitely stings a little, but the fact that we have one is still really a big deal. It’s hard to win these things. Congrats to Kyle and the 18 guys. It’s a huge accomplishment just to get here I feel like. Yes, sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. It just wasn’t our day.”

    Truex finishes the season with seven wins, 15 top-fives, and 24 top-10s with 1,371 laps led, ranking him second in the year-end standings.

    Kevin Harvick:

    Harvick finished fourth and led 41 laps. He described his biggest obstacle during the race was how much better the other Championship cars were on long runs.

    “On the restarts I could do what I wanted to do,” he said, “and I could hold them off for 15 or 20 laps right there, and you know, this race has come down to that every year, so you kind of play towards that, and they were quite a bit better than us on the long run, but we had a really good car for those first 15 or 20 laps on the restarts and had a lot of speed. Just never got to try to race for it there with a caution.”

    Harvick’s crew chief Rodney Childers hoped to gain an advantage by leaving his driver out on the track as long as possible before the final round of pit stops to give him the freshest tires and hoping for that elusive caution.

    “We just needed to do something different,” Harvick added. “Really our best chance was to have a caution there at the end and never got one. We just did something different hoping for a caution, and that’s what you’re supposed to do in those late situations like that. Just do the opposite of the cars you’re trying to race, and it just didn’t work out.”

    While he was racing against three Joe Gibbs Racing cars for the championship, Harvick said he never felt out-numbered.

    “You race against these guys and it really turns into individual battles and I would say those guys were all racing for each other and trying to win a championship. I didn’t really look at it quite that way.”

    Harvick ends the year with 4 wins, 15 top-fives and 26 top-10s with 953 laps led, finishing third in the year-end rankings.

    Denny Hamlin:

    Hamlin’s championship run hit a major snag toward the end of the race with about 50 laps to go when his car began overheating. On the previous stop, his crew had applied a large piece of tape to the front grille causing water temperatures to rise in his No. 11 JGR Toyota and necessitating an unscheduled pit stop.

    This put him a lap down and while he would eventually get back on the lead lap, he had to settle for a 10th place finish.

    Hamlin was disappointed but felt like he did all that he could do on the track and that being aggressive had worked for them in the past.

    “Like I said, last week”, he said, “I was going to come in here and do the best I could and live with the result either way.  I definitely feel like I couldn’t have done anything different. Certainly, we got a little aggressive there, and it cost us, but I mean, he’s (Chris Gabehart, Crew Chief) also been really aggressive and won us races, too. It’s just he’s going for it. He saw an opportunity there to really add some speed to the car, and it just didn’t work out.

    Hamlin went as far as to say that it has been a great year that could not be defined by one race.

    “it’s just a great year,” he emphasized. “We won 19 races as an organization.  That’s the most in this era. That’s a good thing. In the world where we just keep getting more common with everything, right, common pit guns, common this, common that, JGR continues to set itself apart, and that’s the people and the effort that they’re putting in.  I think that it really says a lot about the organization, no doubt.

    “I’m excited about next year.  I really am. It’s not like I’m going to go through the off‑season upset or sad.  It’s like, I’m looking forward to having the momentum that we took through this year with a first‑year crew chief, and we’re going to win a lot, like a lot next year. I just think that we’ll have another opportunity. There’s no question.”

    Hamlin won six races this season with 19 top-fives, 24 top-10s and led 922 laps. He finished out the year ranked fourth in the standings.

    NASCAR will return for the 2020 season with The Clash at Daytona on Sunday, Feb. 9 as the prelude to the 62nd annual Daytona 500 on Feb. 16.

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