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DiBenedetto survives overtime finish for first Truck career victory at Talladega

A timely caution amid a major wreck during the finish of an overtime attempt generated a new winner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series as Matt DiBenedetto was awarded his first career win in the Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, October 1.

The 31-year-old DiBenedetto from Grass Valley, California, placed himself in prime position of contending for the win as he was running in the top five during the final lap of the first and only overtime attempt that was caused when Carson Hocevar intentionally spun to draw a caution with four laps remaining. Approaching the frontstretch and the finish line, DiBenedetto went three-wide on Playoff contender Ben Rhodes and Bret Holmes as he launched his bid for the win. Despite getting forced below the double yellow line by Rhodes as Rhodes wrecked along with a host of other competitors, DiBenedetto managed to cross the finish line sideways in the runner-up spot after being edged by Holmes. Following an extensive review of the finish, however, DiBenedetto was deemed the winner due to being out in front at the moment of caution prior to taking the checkered flag and completing the race, thus claiming his first NASCAR national touring series career victory.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek claimed his seventh pole position of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 178.767 mph in 53.567 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate and Playoff contender Chandler Smith, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 177.732 mph in 53.879 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Nemechek jumped ahead with an early advantage as the field stacked up in two tight-packed lanes through the first two turns. Through the backstretch, Nemechek retained the lead ahead of teammate Chandler Smith while Zane Smith started to challenge on the outside lane. Despite Zane Smith gaining a run through the frontstretch, Nemechek moved up to block him as he went on to lead the first lap.

A lap later, a side-by-side battle for the lead between Zane Smith and Nemechek occurred while the field behind started to fan out to three lanes.

Through the first five scheduled laps, Nemechek was leading by a hair over Zane Smith followed by Ty Majeski, Chandler Smith, Carson Hocevar, Colby Howard, Matt Crafton, Corey Heim, Jordan Anderson and Christian Eckes.

By Lap 10 and with the field settling into two tight-packed lanes within the draft, Nemechek continued to lead ahead of Zane Smith, Hocevar and Crafton while Chandler Smith and Jordan Anderson battled for fifth. By then, half of the remaining eight Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 with Eckes in eighth. Behind, Ben Rhodes was in 12th, Stewart Friesen was in 17th, Grant Enfinger was back in 23rd and Ty Majeski settled in 27th.

Then with two laps remaining in the first stage, the first caution of the event flew when the No. 3 Chevrolet Silverado RST piloted by Anderson, which was running in fifth place, went up in smoke and flames at full speed. With the truck up in flames, Anderson, who was trying to keep his truck below the apron with reduced speed, managed to avoid contact with the field as he then steered his flaming truck towards the inside wall in Turn 2 before escaping it. He would then be airlifted to a local hospital to be further evaluated with burns.

The caution for Anderson was enough for the first stage to conclude on Lap 20 as Nemechek secured his seventh stage victory of the 2022 season. Zane Smith settled in second followed by Hocevar, Chandler Smith, Tanner Gray, Colby Howard, Rhodes, Heim, Tyler Ankrum and Eckes. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Friesen, Enfinger and Majeski were scored in the top 20.

Under the stage break, the leaders led by Nemechek pitted, most for fuel, as Chandler Smith exited first followed by teammate Nemechek, Friesen, Rhodes, Heim and Eckes.

The second stage started on Lap 26 and at the start, Chandler Smith and Rhodes dueled for the lead in front of Nemechek as the field stacked up entering Turn 2. Then as Rhodes gained another strong run on the outside lane to overtake Chandler Smith for the lead, the caution returned when Colby Howard spun in the middle of the pack and towards the backstretch after cutting a left-rear tire.

When the race restarted on Lap 31, a tight side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between Rhodes and Chandler Smith through the first two turns before Nemechek gave teammate Chandler Smith a small draft to lead through the backstretch. Rhodes, however, fought back on the outside lane with drafting help from teammate Eckes as the field battled in a tight side-by-side pack.

During the following lap, the caution flew when Lawless Alan blew a right-front tire and went dead straight into the outside wall in Turn 3. With debris flying out of Alan’s wrecked truck, Bryan Dauzat and Hocevar also received damage. This caution provided mixed strategy amongst the field as some pitted while others remained on the track.

With two laps remaining in the second stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Rhodes and Chandler Smith dueled for the lead in front of the pack and they remained dead even for the lead when they returned to the frontstretch and started the final lap of the second stage.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 40, Chandler Smith received a draft from teammate Nemechek to surge ahead of Rhodes and capture his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season. Teammate Nemechek settled in second while Friesen, Rhodes, Enfinger, Eckes, Ankrum, Heim, Zane Smith and Majeski were scored in the top 10. By then, all of the eight Playoff contenders cracked the top 10 and had scored at least one stage point.

Following the second stage’s conclusion, Zane Smith nursed his No. 38 Love’s Travel Stop Ford F-150 into his pit stall after he cut a right-rear tire and damaged the right-rear fender of his truck. Once pit road became accessible for the field, some led by Nemechek pitted, mainly for fuel, while names like Chase Purdy, Bret Holmes, Johnny Sauter, Matt DiBenedtto, Hailie Deegan and Clay Greenfield remained on the track. Prior to the restart, names like Nemechek and Chandler Smith pitted again to top off on fuel and for damage repair.

With 49 laps remaining, the final stage started as Chase Purdy and Bret Holmes occupied the front row. At the start, Holmes cleared the field and assumed the lead on the outside lane followed by Matt DiBenedetto as the field started to fan out to three lanes through the backstretch.

At the halfway mark on Lap 47, Holmes was leading ahead of DiBenedetto, Purdy, Johnny Sauter and Derek Kraus while Jack Wood, Enfinger, Eckes, Blaine Perkins and Carson Hocevar were scored in the top 10. By then, Eckes was the lone Playoff contender running in the top 10 while the remaining seven were mired inside the top 30.

With less than 40 laps remaining, Eckes made his way to the top of the field followed by Holmes, Hocevar, DiBenedetto and Sauter while Ryan Preece, Kraus, Purdy, Wood and Enfinger were in the top 10. With two of eight Playoff contenders running in the top 10, Rhodes and Majeski were in the top 20 while Friesen, Nemechek, Chandler Smith and Zane Smith were mired back from 25th to 28th, respectively.

Then nearing the final 30 laps of the event and with most of the front-runners veering to pit road for service under green, the caution flew when Hailie Deegan, who entered pit road too fast, hit her tire carrier and caused a tire to roll out of her pit box and onto the infield grass, which prompted the tire carrier to bolt to the infield grass and retrieve the tire. Following the pit stops, additional names like Friesen, Sauter and Purdy were penalized for speeding on pit road.

Down to the final 26 laps of the event, the race proceeded under green as Eckes and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, Hocevar was drafted into the lead followed by Enfinger before Eckes fought back on the outside lane through the backstretch. Soon after, Eckes and Hocevar engaged in a tight side-by-side battle for the lead in front of the pack running tight through two drafting lanes.

Five laps later, the caution returned when Colby Howard spun in front of Nemechek in Turn 4, though he managed to straighten his truck and not sustain any significant damage nor collect others.

With 18 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Eckes received a push from teammate Rhodes on the outside lane to remain as the leader by a mere margin before Hocevar fought back on the inside lane with drafting help from Preece.

Three laps later, the caution flew when Playoff contender Grant Enfinger, who was starting to fall off the pace in Turn 3, was bumped by Austin Wayne Self as both slipped sideways and pounded the outside wall. In the process, Sauter and Tanner Gray were collected as all four sustained significant damage to their respective trucks.

During the following restart with 10 laps remaining, Hocevar received drafting help from Preece to lead the inside lane while teammates Eckes and Rhodes fought back on the outside lane. As the field returned to the frontstretch, the front-runners were mired in a tight pack between two lanes as Eckes and Hocevar remained dead even for the lead.

Then with five laps remaining of the event, Hocevar, who was battling Eckes for the lead, dropped his truck below the apron and was falling off the pace after cutting a tire. Then with the race remaining under green while the lead pack zipped by, Hocevar remained on the track below the apron and looped his truck around past the start/finish line. This prompted NASCAR to draw the caution as Eckes was ahead followed by teammate Rhodes, DiBenedetto, Bret Holmes and Preece. In addition, NASCAR issued a one-lap penalty to Hocevar for intentionally causing a caution as the field was sent into overtime.

During the start of overtime, teammates Eckes and Rhodes battled for the lead through the first two turns. Then through the second turn and the backstretch, Rhodes received drafting help from Holmes to briefly pull away with the lead before the rest of the front-runners caught up to them through Turns 3 and 4. By then, Holmes navigated his way into the lead as DiBenedetto and Rhodes dueled for the lead.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Holmes was leading ahead of Rhodes, DiBenedetto, Eckes and Preece. Through the backstretch, Rhodes was drafted into the lead by Eckes before both ThorSport Racing teammates dueled for the lead in front of the pack.

Then entering Turn 4, Rhodes started to pull ahead of Eckes when Heim got bumped as he wrecked his No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the outside wall. With Heim coming back across the track and collecting more competitors, Holmes and DiBenedetto went three-wide on Rhodes approaching the start/finish line. While Holmes remained on the outside lane, DiBenedetto made contact with Rhodes as he was shoved below the double yellow line. The contact got Rhodes sideways as nearly the entire field wrecked while crossing the finish line. Back at the front, however, Holmes edged DiBenedetto by 0.002 seconds to score what appeared to have been his first NASCAR national touring series career victory.

Following an extensive review of the final lap incident, the battle for the win and who was out in front at the moment of caution, NASCAR determined that the caution was displayed before Holmes crossed the finish line to complete the race and that DiBenedetto was out in front when the caution was displayed, thus being declared the official winner.

With the victory, DiBenedetto, who has made 248 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, achieved his first career victory in his 338th career start across NASCAR’s top three national touring series and in his 21st career start in the Camping World Truck Series. The victory was also the first for Rackley-W.A.R. Racing, a team that debuted in 2021.

DiBenedetto’s victory marks the seventh consecutive season where the Truck Series Playoff event has been won by a non-Playoff contender with the streak spanning to the series’ Playoff inception in 2016. He also became the sixth different competitor to record a first Truck career victory at Talladega.

“Oh man, it’s such a long time coming!” DiBenedetto said on FS1. “Praise God. I’m so thankful. [My fans] have bared with me through so much in me being a reckless human being sometimes just through life. This one’s life-changing. I’m out of breath. I think I was more nervous waiting and hearing what would happen. My spotter, Doug Campbell, is awesome. We worked together so good. I think in the Cup Series, we led on like the white flag twice here or something at Talladega. So, I owe a lot to him. At the end there, we were just really committed to staying on the bottom [lane] and pushing. This [truck], it pushed well, so I was just committed to staying there and pushing whoever was in front of me. I’m so thankful. So thankful! This is amazing. This team deserves it.”

Once the final finishing order was displayed, Rhodes was awarded the runner-up spot despite ending up with a wrecked truck while Holmes was shuffled back to a career-best third place.

“It’s tough to lose something that close,” Holmes said. “We lost an ARCA race that close, I don’t know, probably lost it closer today. I want to win here so bad, I can’t stand it. I have so many people here from my hometown, friends, and family. Growing up and racing at the dirt track across the road, it just would mean the world for me to win here. It seems like the last couple years in ARCA we’ve been right there, the Truck races we’ve been right there. It’s just super tough, hate we couldn’t pull it off for everybody. Wish the race ended at the finish line because I feel like we would’ve had it…It’s tough to lose that one, for sure.”

Preece ended up fourth while Eckes completed the top five. Deegan notched a career-best sixth place despite being involved in the final lap accident while Purdy, Colby Howard, Parker Kligerman and Tyler Ankrum completed the top 10 on the track.

Notably, Playoff contenders Chandler Smith, Zane Smith, Friesen, Majeski, Nemechek and Enfinger finished 14th, 17th, 20th, 23rd, 24th and 29th, respectively.

There were 25 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 36 laps.

Results.

1. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap led

2. Ben Rhodes, two laps led

3. Bret Holmes, six laps led

4. Ryan Preece

5. Christian Eckes, 25 laps led

6. Hailie Deegan

7. Chase Purdy, six laps led

8. Colby Howard

9. Parker Kligerman

10. Tyler Ankrum

11. Kaden Honeycutt

12. Clay Greenfield

13. Derek Kraus, three laps led

14. Chandler Smith, 17 laps led, Stage 2 winner

15. Timmy Hill

16. Parker Retzlaff

17. Zane Smith, one lap led

18. Kaz Grala

19. Jack Wood

20. Stewart Friesen

21. Bayley Currey

22. Matt Crafton, one lap led

23. Ty Majeski, one lap led

24. John Hunter Nemechek, 20 laps led, Stage 1 winner

25. Johnny Sauter

26. Corey Heim – OUT, Accident

27. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Accident

28. Carson Hocevar, one lap down, 12 laps led

29. Grant Enfinger, one lap down

30. Austin Wayne Self – OUT, Accident

31. Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident

32. Jennifer Jo Cobb – OUT, Clutch

33. Lawless Alan – OUT, Accident

34. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

35. Bryan Dauzat – OUT, Dvp

36. Jordan Anderson – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. Ty Majeski – Advanced

2. Chandler Smith +30

3. Zane Smith +18

4. Ben Rhodes +3

5. Christian Eckes -3

6. Stewart Friesen -3

7. John Hunter Nemechek -5

8. Grant Enfinger -29

With the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season nearing its conclusion, the Playoff’s Round of 8 will next continue at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 22, where the Championship Round field will be set. The event’s coverage is scheduled to commence at 1 p.m. ET on FS1.

October 1, 2022
Ryan Preece scores second consecutive Truck Series victory at Nashville

A year after achieving his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory at Nashville Superspeedway, Ryan Preece shined under the lights at Music City for a second consecutive season after surviving the late chaos while on worn tires to win the Rackley Roofing 200 on Friday, June 24.

The 31-year-old Preece from Berlin, Connecticut, led three times for a race-high 74 of 150-scheduled laps, including the final 49, as he had enough horsepower through three restarts to survive the chaos and fend off late challenges from both Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar under the final five laps to collect his second career victory in the series and in his sixth Truck start of the 2022 season.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Ryan Preece, who won last year’s Truck event at Nashville, claimed his first pole position in the series after posting a pole-winning lap at 160.925 mph in 29.753 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Zane Smith, who posted his best qualifying lap at 160.386 mph in 29.853 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Zane Smith and Preece dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Smith gained the advantage on the inside line entering the backstretch to assume the lead as he went on to lead the first lap. With Smith leading ahead of Preece, Corey Heim was in third ahead of Carson Hocevar and Stewart Friesen, who had Chandler Smith, Matt DiBenedetto and Derek Kraus pursuing him. By then, Tanner Gray, who made an unscheduled pit stop, was penalized for fueling prior to the green flag, where he was pinned a lap behind the field.

Seven laps into the event and with Zane Smith still leading, the first caution of the event flew when Matt Crafton made contact with rookie Jack Wood and sent Wood’s No. 24 Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet Silverado RST into the outside wall between Turns 3 and 4 before he slid below the apron and forced the field to scatter to avoid being hit.

When the race proceeded under green on Lap 13, the field fanned out entering the first two turns as Zane Smith retained the lead followed by Preece, Hocevar, Heim, Friesen and Chandler Smith.

Nearing the Lap 20 mark, the second caution of the event flew when Camden Murphy spun and wrecked his No. 30 Rowdy Energy Toyota Tundra TRD Pro in Turn 2. At the time of caution, Zane Smith was leading ahead of Preece followed by Heim, Hocevar and Friesen while Chandler Smith, Derek Kraus, Matt DiBenedetto, Ty Majeski and Christian Eckes were in the top 10.

With the race restarting under green on Lap 24, Zane Smith gained another strong advantage on the outside lane to retain the lead as Preece, Heim and Friesen engaged in a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot with Preece prevailing in his No. 17 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford F-150. Soon after, Heim moved his No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into third place while Friesen settled in fourth place in front of Chandler Smith, Kraus, Hocevar and DiBenedetto.

Through the first 30 laps of the event, Zane Smith was leading by more than a second-and-a-half over Preece while Heim, Friesen, Chandler Smith, Kraus, Hocevar, Ty Majeski, DiBenedetto and Christian Eckes were in the top 10. By then, John Hunter Nemechek was in 11th ahead of Ben Rhodes, Tyler Ankrum, Grant Enfinger and Crafton while Hailie Deegan, Todd Bodine, Chase Purdy, Parker Kligerman and Colby Howard were in the top 20.

Ten laps later, Zane Smith continued to lead by more than a second over Preece while Heim Friesen and Chandler Smith remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Kraus and Hocevar battled for sixth place with the latter prevailing.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Zane Smith cruised his No. 38 Speedco Ford F-150 to his sixth stage victory of the season. Preece settled in second followed by Heim, Friesen, Chandler Smith, Hocevar, Kraus, Majeski, DiBenedetto and Eckes were scored in the top 10. Behind, Colby Howard spun while in 18th place, but he was able to nurse his truck back to pit road under caution.

Under the stage break, the leaders led by Zane Smith pitted and Majeski emerged with the lead following a two-tire pit stop followed by Smith, Preece, Friesen, Heim and Hocevar. Following the pit stops, Jesse Little was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

The second stage started on Lap 53 as Majeski and Zane Smith occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out to multiple lanes entering the first turn, Zane Smith used the inside lane and four fresh tires to his advantage as he reassumed the lead followed by Preece while Majeski fell back to fourth behind Heim.

Nearing the Lap 60 mark, Colby Howard got into the outside wall entering Turn 3 after he cut a tire. Despite the incident, Howard was able to nurse his truck back to pit road and the race proceeded under green. By then, Zane Smith was leading by three-tenths of a second over Preece followed by Heim, Eckes and Chandler Smith while Majeski fell back to sixth ahead of Nemechek, Friesen, Hocevar and Kraus.

Then on Lap 69, the caution flew when Hocevar and Nemechek made contact entering the backstretch, which sent Nemechek’s No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro spinning through the backstretch grass. The incident occurred while both were battling for eighth place. During the caution period, some like Hocevar, Hailie Deegan, DiBenedetto, Kris Wright, Jesse Little, Stefan Parsons, Kligerman, Tyler Ankrum, Rhodes and Majeski pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hocevar was penalized for speeding while exiting pit road.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 73, Preece received a push from Eckes on the inside lane to move into the lead ahead of Zane Smith as the field behind jumbled for positions. As Preece maintained the lead ahead of Zane Smith, Heim and Eckes battled for third in front of Friesen while Bodine battled Kraus for sixth ahead of Chandler Smith, Grant Enfinger and Rhodes.

By Lap 80, Preece was leading by six-tenths of a second over Zane Smith while Heim, Eckes, Friesen, Kraus, Bodine, Rhodes, Chandler Smith and Enfinger were in the top 10. Behind, Majeski was in 11th ahead of Crafton, Max Gutierrez, Ankrum, Chase Purdy, Nemechek, Hocevar, DiBenedetto, Kligerman and Dean Thompson.

Ten laps later, Preece remained as the leader by more than a second over Zane Smith while Heim, Eckes, and Friesen remained in the top five.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 95, Preece, who encountered lapped traffic, claimed his third stage victory of the season. Zane Smith settled in second followed by Heim, Eckes, Friesen, Kraus, Rhodes, Majeski, Bodine and Enfinger.

Under the stage break, the leaders led by Preece pitted and Parker Kligerman exited with the top spot following a two-tire pit stop followed by Preece, Eckes, Friesen, Stef Parsons and Rhodes. Following the pit stops, Chandler Smith was penalized for removing equipment out of his pit stall.

With 48 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Preece took off with the lead on the inside lane and on four fresh tires followed by Eckes and Friesen while the field fanned out and stacked up around Kligerman, who was struggling to keep pace, entering the first two turns.

Eight laps later, Preece was leading by more than a second over Eckes while Friesen, Enfinger, and Zane Smith were in the top five. Rhodes was in sixth ahead of teammate Majeski, Hocevar, Heim and Kligerman while Crafton, Kraus, DiBenedetto, Max Gutierrez and Hailie Deegan were in the top 15.

Then with 31 laps remaining, the caution flew when Bodine spun his No. 62 Camping World Toyota Tundra TRD Pro through the frontstretch. During the caution period, some led by Hocevar pitted while the rest led by Preece remained on the track.

With 26 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Preece and Eckes dueled for the lead and the field fanned out entering the first two turns as both Rhodes and Chandler Smith nearly got turned sideways through the frontstretch grass.

Three laps later and with the field jostling and scrambling for positions amid those with fresh tires compared to those on old tires, the caution returned when a four-wide action between Majeski, Heim, Enfinger and DiBenedetto that resulted in the latter three colliding and wrecking hard against one another and into the Turn 3 outside wall, leaving DiBenedetto, Enfinger and Heim with demolished trucks.

When the field attempted to restart with 15 laps remaining, the caution quickly returned when Deegan spun into Howard through the frontstretch as the field fanned out to avoid hitting Deegan.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Preece took off with the lead followed by Eckes and a hard-charging Zane Smith as the field fanned out and battled behind. Behind, Bodine scrapped the wall as sparks flew out of his truck, but the race remained under green as Zane Smith started his bid to challenge Preece for the win. Behind, Hocevar moved up to third while Majeski and Eckes were in the top five.

With five laps remaining, Preece remained as the leader by nearly a second over Zane Smith followed by Hocevar, Majeski and Eckes while Friesen, Max Gutierrez, Ankrum, Crafton and Kligerman were in the top 10.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Preece, who was being pressured by both Zane Smith and Hocevar under the final five laps, retained the lead by two-tenths of a second with Hocevar trailing close behind. In Turn 1, Zane Smith attempted to make his move beneath Preece, but Preece threw a block and Hocevar was able to draw himself alongside Smith’s truck, which lost momentum entering the backstretch, in a bid for the runner-up spot. While Hocevar battled Smith, Preece was able to run away from his challengers and cycle back to the finish line for his first checkered flag of the 2022 season and for his second consecutive Gibson guitar trophy.

In addition to claiming his second consecutive victory at Nashville, Preece claimed his second Camping World Truck Series career win in his eighth series start, the fourth career victory for David Gilliland Racing and the second consecutive victory for DGR’s No. 17 Ford F-150 team. As an added bonus, Preece claimed the second of three $50,000 bonuses from the Triple Truck Challenge.

“I don’t ever like [the battle] to be that close,” Smith said on FS1. “My hats off to [David Gilliland Racing] and this Hunt Brothers Ford F-150. We’re getting a second guitar! I might have to start a band! I like it. That sounds good. I just want you guys to know [that] a lot of this is built in the shop. The speed is built in the shop and these guys work their tails off, and I know what it takes to win races. They gave me a phenomenal race car, so just proud to be the one holding the steering wheel. The biggest thing I had was clean air and to put as much dirty air on [Zane Smith] as possible. I wasn’t giving up.”

Behind, Zane Smith edged Hocevar to claim the runner-up spot while Majeski and Friesen finished in the top five.

“Clean air [was what I needed,” Smith said. “Ryan just did a really good job of shutting my air off there. Just really, really though to pass. Once we had that really bad [pit] stop, [I] lost 10 spots, I was worried. To battle back there and contend for a win says a lot about my SpeedCo Ford F-150 and my Front Row [Motorsports] team. Just man, another fast Ford. Just not quite enough.”

“I thought it was just gonna be like our year,” Hocevar said. “We run really good and have something happen, but I’m tired. I’m actually wore out. I haven’t really got to work out or do anything, so I’m a little winded, but the No. 42 truck was pretty good. We struggled to find the balance there and finally hit it almost too late. It’s tough. It is so hard to win these races and hard to get passed. Clean air is so important. I had twenty-something lap better tires than [the leaders]…My best chance was to push [Smith] and let him take the shot. I didn’t have enough momentum built up when [Smith and Preece] got close and lost their momentum. Finally, we finished, probably, where we deserved to finish.”

Ecks, Ankrum, Max Gutierrez, Nemechek and Crafton completed the top 10 on the track. Notably, Rhodes finished 12th behind Kraus, Chandler Smith settled in 15th, Kligerman ended up in 20th and Bodine concluded his night in 27th, one spot ahead of Deegan.

There were seven lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 43 laps.

With two races remaining of the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular-season stretch, Zane Smith leads the regular-season standings by 21 points over John Hunter Nemechek, 30 over Ben Rhodes, 35 over Chandler Smith and 53 over both Stewart Friesen and Ty Majeski.

Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith and Stewart Friesen are tentatively locked into the 2022 Truck Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the season while Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, Grant Enfinger, and Matt Crafton are above the top-10 cutline based on points. Derek Kraus trails the top-10 cutline to the Playoffs by 29 points, Tyler Ankrum trails by 50, Matt DiBenedetto trails by 62, Tanner Gray trails by 70 and Chase Purdy trails by 109.

Results.

1. Ryan Preece, 74 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Zane Smith, 70 laps led, Stage 1 winner

3. Carson Hocevar

4. Ty Majeski, four laps led

5. Stewart Friesen

6. Christian Eckes

7. Tyler Ankrum

8. Max Gutierrez

9. John Hunter Nemechek

10. Matt Crafton

11. Derek Kraus

12. Ben Rhodes

13. Chase Purdy

14. Dean Thompson

15. Chandler Smith

16. Colby Howard

17. Kris Wright

18. Blaine Perkins

19. Jesse Little

20. Parker Kligerman, two laps led

21. Kaden Honeycutt

22. Stefan Parsons

23. Timmy Hill

24. Lawless Alan

25. Spencer Boyd

26. Nick Leitz

27. Todd Bodine, two laps down

28. Hailie Deegan, six laps down

29. Chris Hacker, six laps down

30. Tanner Gray, seven laps down

31. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, Accident

32. Grant Enfinger – OUT, Accident

33. Corey Heim – OUT, Accident

34. Camden Murphy – OUT, Accident

35. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident

36. Chase Janes – OUT, Rear gear

The 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season will next continue to Lexington, Ohio, to compete for the first time at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, which will also mark the third and final Triple Truck Challenge event of the season. The event is scheduled to occur on July 9 at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

June 24, 2022
Kyle Busch capitalizes in final Truck Series start with a victory at Sonoma

Kyle Busch made the most of his final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start of the season by winning the inaugural DoorDash 250 at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday, June 11, following a two-lap shootout to the finish.

The two-time Cup Series champion from Las Vegas, Nevada, led four times for a race-high 45 of 75 laps and was able to pull away from teammate Chandler Smith at the start of a two-lap shootout to the finish and beating Zane Smith by more than a second to record his first Truck Series victory of the 2022 season at Sonoma, California.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Carson Hocevar, who was still recovering from his final lap accident at Gateway from a week ago, notched his first pole position after clocking in a fast lap at 91.135 mph in 78.609 seconds. During his pole-winning lap, however, Hocevar got loose and smacked the wall in Turn 10. The incident along with unapproved adjustments forced Hocevar to start the event at the rear of the field in a backup truck along with Stefan Parsons. With Hocevar dropping to the rear of the field, teammate Ross Chastain, who was making his 100th Truck Series career start, and Kyle Busch occupied the front row, with Chastain’s qualifying time occurring at 90.492 mph in 79.167 seconds while Busch’s was at 90.428 mph in 79.223 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Chastain rocketed with the lead follows by Kyle Busch as the field battled dead even through the first three turns and entering the return of the Chute corner through Turns 4 to 7. Through Turns 8 through 11 and when the field returned to the start/finish line, Chastain led the first lap while Ty Majeski challenged Busch for the runner-up spot ahead of Tyler Ankrum and Alex Bowman.

Through the first five laps of the event, Chastain was leading by nearly three seconds over Kyle Busch followed by Majeski, Bowman and Ankrum while John Hunter Nemechek, Stewart Friesen, Parker Kligerman and Matt DiBenedetto were in the top 10. Austin Dillon was in 11th followed by Zane Smith, Hailie Deegan, Christian Eckes and Derek Kraus while Ben Rhodes, Chandler Smith, Kaz Grala, Lawless Alan and Timmy Hill occupied the top 20.

On the following lap, Friesen spun after locking up his front tires and slipping sideways while battling Kligerman in the top 10 in Turn 7. The race, however, proceeded under green as Chastain continued to lead by two seconds over Kyle Busch.

At the Lap 10 mark, Chastain remained as the leader by less than two seconds over Kyle Busch while Majeski, Bowman and Ankrum remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Carson Hocevar, who started at the rear of the field while battling a broken right tibia, was up in 23rd place as he had Daniel Suarez on standby to relieve him.

The following lap, Hocevar pitted and the driver swap occurred as Suarez hopped into the No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST. By then, Stefan Parsons took his truck to the garage after he was trailing smoke. The switch, however, cost the No. 42 team two laps while Chastain retained the lead by one-and-a-half seconds over Busch.

Just past the Lap 15 mark, Chastain stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Kyle Busch followed by Majeski, Bowman and Ankrum while Nemechek, Enfinger, Kligerman, DiBenedetto and Zane Smith were in the top 10.

Shortly after, Friesen pitted his No. 52 Halmar Toyota Tundra TRD Pro followed by the leader Chastain as Kyle Busch moved into the lead. Harrison Burton also pitted. Then with the field approaching the final two laps of the first stage, Kyle Busch pitted his No. 51 Yahoo! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro along with Bowman while Majeski moved into the lead.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 20, Majeski claimed his first stage victory of the season after fending off a last-lap challenge from Ankrum. Nemechek settled in third place followed by Enfinger, Kligerman, DiBenedetto, Derek Kraus, Zane Smith, Austin Dillon and Hailie Deegan.

Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Majeski pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track. During the pit stops, Harrison Burton reported being down a cylinder despite continuing. Following the pit stops, Deegan was penalized for an equipment going over the wall early along with Kris Wright and DiBenedetto, both of whom were penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation. Tanner Gray was also penalized for equipment being thrown from his pit box while Todd Bodine was penalized for speeding on pit road. Meanwhile, Suarez cycled his way to be only a lap behind the leaders.

The second stage started on Lap 25 as Chastain and Kyle Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Chastain cleared Busch and the field from the outside lane to retain the lead entering the first two turns. Then in Turn 7, Enfinger, who was in the top 10, locked up his front tires, ran over the curb and spun in the middle of the field. With the field scrambling to avoid hitting Enfinger, the race proceeded under green as Enfinger continued without sustaining any damage.

Back at the front, Kyle Busch moved into the lead after overtaking Chastain in Turn 11 while Bowman was in third place ahead of Ankrum and Friesen. During the following lap, the caution returned when Christian Eckes, who was the fastest during Friday’s practice session, made contact with Nemechek as he spun and hit the wall in Turn 8. The caution cycled Suarez to the lead lap.

When the race proceeded under green on Lap 30, Kyle Busch pulled ahead of Chastain and the field to lead through the first two turns and entering Turns 3 and 3A. Through the 11-turn circuit and back to the start/finish line, Busch remained the leader despite having Chastain close behind in his rearview mirror. Behind, Ankrum was in third ahead of Bowman and Majeski while Friesen and Ben Rhodes battled for sixth place. Kligerman was in eighth while Kraus and Nemechek were in the top 10.

By Lap 35, Kyle Busch continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Chastain followed by Ankrum, Bowman and Majeski while Friesen, Rhodes, Chandler Smith and Kraus were in the top 10. Not long after, Kraus surrendered his spot in 10th place to pit as Zane Smith moved into the top 10.

Two laps later, Matt Crafton spun his No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra TRD Pro in Turn 8 after getting hit by Todd Bodine, who locked up his front tires prior to entering the corner.

Through Lap 40 and with the event surpassing its halfway mark, Kyle Busch stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over Chastain, who had Ankrum pressuring him for the runner-up spot while Bowman and Majeski were scored in the top five.

Two laps later, a handful of competitors led by Zane Smith pitted under green while Kyle Busch continued to lead. Another lap later, however, Busch surrendered the lead to pit followed by Ankrum, Bowman, Chastain, Majeski and Kligerman while Ben Rhodes moved into the lead.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 45, Rhodes claimed his eighth stage victory of the season. Chandler Smith settled in second followed by Chase Purdy, Kaz Grala, Austin Dillon, Suarez, Timmy Hill, Dean Thompson, Deegan and Bodine.

Under the stage break, some led by Rhodes pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track.

With 26 laps remaining, the final stage started as Kyle Busch and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, Kyle Busch fended off Chastain to lead through the first two turns while the field scrambled and jostled for positions entering Turns 3, 4 and 7. Back to the start/finish line, Busch was leading by a tenth of a second over Chastain while Majeski, Bowman, Friesen, Kligerman, Zane Smith, Nemechek, Tanner Gray and DiBenedetto were in the top 10.

Five laps later, Bodine spun his No. 62 Camping World Toyota Tundra TRD Pro in front of Dean Thompsons entering Turn 3. The race, however, continued under green as Kyle Busch remained the leader by less than a second over Chastain.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Kyle Busch stabilized his advantage to nearly a second over Chastain while Majeski, Bowman and Kligerman were in the top five. Way behind the leaders, Crafton pitted as smoke was lightly billowing out of his No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, an issue that started through the esses and was enough to have his truck pushed behind the wall.

With 15 laps remaining, Kyle Busch was leading by less than two seconds over Chastain. Behind, Bowman was in third place, trailing by more than three seconds, while Majeski and Kligerman were in the top five. Just then, the caution flew when DiBenedetto, who was making a move beneath Friesen for 10th place entering Turn 11, ran into the tire barrier and into Friesen with both spinning in the turn as a tire barrier was knocked on its side.

During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Kyle Busch pitted as Busch exited first followed by Chastain, Majeski, Bowman, Chandler Smith and Nemechek. Back on the track, however, Rhodes, who did not pit, remained on the track and assumed the lead along with Kraus and Chase Purdy, both of whom did not pit. Following the pit stops, Bowman was penalized for equipment interference.

Down to the final 11 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Rhodes took off with the lead through the first two turns while Kyle Busch battled and overtook Kraus for the runner-up spot while on fresh tires. As the field jostled for positions, Rhodes locked up his front tires and Kraus got turned and spun in Turn 7 as Kyle Busch reassumed the lead.

Then during the following lap, the caution returned when Deegan blew a right-rear tire, slipped sideways and smacked the wall entering Turn 1, thus sustaining significant right-side and rear-end damage to her No. 1 Monster Energy Ford F-150.

With seven laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Kyle Busch rocketed with the lead as teammate Chandler Smith moved his No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the runner-up spot through the first two turns. Through Turns 3 and 3A, Rhodes went off the course and reported a flat tire as the field continued to jostle for positions under green.

Two laps later, Kyle Busch was leading by six-tenths of a second over teammate Chandler Smith. Behind, Zane Smith overtook Majeski to move into third while Chastain was in fifth ahead of Kligerman and Suarez. Shortly after, the caution flew for a heavy wreck entering Turn 1 that started when Friesen got Josh Bilicki sideways as Bilicki clipped the inside wall before he smacked the outside wall hard along with Friesen. In the process, Bowman and Lawless Alan sustained damage to their respective trucks after getting into Bilicki. The incident was enough for the event to be drawn into a red flag period for nearly 13 minutes.

When the red flag lifted and the race restarted for a two-lap shootout, Kyle Busch cleared the field and retained the lead while teammate Chandler Smith fended off Zane Smith to retain second place. Through Turn 7, Zane Smith move his No. 38 CMR Ford F-150 into the runner-up spot ahead of Chandler Smith while Busch continued to lead.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Kyle Busch was leading by more than a second over Zane Smith and more than two seconds over teammate Chandler Smith as the field jostled for positions. Behind, Dean Thompson spun, but the race remained under green flag conditions. With Zane Smith unable to mount a challenge for the final time through the 11-turn circuit, Kyle Busch navigated his way back to the finish line for his first checkered flag of the season.

With the victory, Kyle Busch, who is a two-time Cup winner at Sonoma, notched his 62nd career win in the Camping World Truck Series and his first victory on a road course circuit in the Truck Series. The victory also extended Busch’s current winning streak in the Truck Series to 10 consecutive seasons with this season marking his 17th Truck season with at least one victory.

“I appreciate Yahoo! and everybody that has made this partnership possible with Toyota and [Toyota Racing Development],” Busch said on FS1. “This Tundra TRD Pro was awesome today. I’m really proud to drive it. We had a struggle at Charlotte a couple weeks ago, but today was really good. Awesome adjustments by [crew chief] Mardy [Lindley] and all the guys here to get us in position to be able to win today. Yesterday was ugly. I wasn’t sure about it. I didn’t feel good about the truck, but they worked on it all night long and we made some brake changes. We made some chassis changes and these guys never stop. As hard as it might seem sometimes, I know the efforts there. Super effort here. Ready to go celebrate.”

Zane Smith settled in second place for his sixth top-five result of the season followed by Ty Majeski, who notched his fifth top-five result of the 2022 season. Chastain came home in fourth place while Chandler Smith fell back to fifth place.

“[The day] didn’t start out too good,” Zane Smith said. “Took a huge swing at our MRC Ford Performance F-150. Luckily, it went the right way. It’s really hard to do in a racing situation, so props to my team, but I hate finishing second. Especially to [Kyle Busch]. I feel like just racing with [Chandler Smith], he got out too far out front and I think that last lap was the fastest lap of the race for me. I just wished I was a little closer so I had a shot at him.”

Suarez earned a strong sixth-place effort while subbing for the injured Carson Hocevar while Kligerman, Nemechek, Ankrum and DiBenedetto finished in the top 10. Jack Wood was the highest-finishing rookie competitor in 16th place.

“[Today] was busy, man,” Suarez said. “It was very busy. I was hoping to go one lap down, but when we went two laps down, I was like, ‘Man, it’s gonna be a long recovery’. I was hoping to recover quicker on that, but the truck had speed. I was hoping for long runs so I can be able to make some ground, but overall, the team did a very good job. Very thankful I was able to help. We were able to get some stage points in stage number 2 and then finish in the top six. That was a pretty decent day. I wished we could have won. The truck was capable of winning the race, but we just ran out of time.”

There were 10 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 17 laps. A total of 26 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

With four races remaining of the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season stretch, Ben Rhodes leads the regular-season standings by five points over Chandler Smith, 12 over Zane Smith, 14 over John Hunter Nemechek. 45 over Ty Majeski and 47 over Stewart Friesen.

Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith and Stewart Friesen are tentatively locked into the 2022 Truck Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the season while Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton are above the top-10 cutline based on points. Tanner Gray trails the top-10 cutline by 33 points, Matt DiBenedetto trails by 36, Derek Kraus trails by 39, Tyler Ankrum trails by 50 and Chase Purdy trails by 91.

Results.

1. Kyle Busch, 45 laps led

2. Zane Smith

3. Ty Majeski, four laps led, Stage 1 winner

4. Ross Chastain, 19 laps led

5. Chandler Smith

6. Carson Hocevar (*subbed by Daniel Suarez)

7. Parker Kligerman

8. John Hunter Nemechek

9. Tyler Ankrum

10. Matt DiBenedetto

11. Grant Enfinger, one lap led

12. Harrison Burton

13. Tanner Gray

14. Kaz Grala

15. Chase Purdy

16. Jack Wood

17. Austin Dillon

18. Ben Rhodes, six laps led, Stage 2 winner

19. Colby Howard

20. Todd Bodine

21. Blaine Perkins

22. Brad Perez

23. Spencer Boyd

24. Dean Thompson

25. Lawless Alan

26. Kris Wright

27. Derek Kraus, one lap down

28. Timmy Hill, two laps down

29. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

30. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

31. Stewart Friesen – OUT, Accident

32. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Accident

33. Jade Buford – OUT, Transmission

34. Matt Crafton – OUT, Transmission

35. Christian Eckes – OUT, Accident

36. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Oil cooler

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway for the second annual running of the Clean Harbor 150. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, June 18, at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

June 11, 2022
Rhodes earns dominant Truck victory at Bristol Dirt Course

A year after finishing in the runner-up spot during the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course, Ben Rhodes was not going to be denied. On Saturday night, April 16, during Easter weekend, Rhodes rose to the occasion and persevered over a five-lap shootout against Carson Hocevar to win the Pinty’s Truck Race on Bristol’s dirt course.

The reigning Truck Series champion from Louisville, Kentucky, led a race-high 95 of 150-scheduled laps and captured both stages before losing the lead and having to methodically carve his way to the front throughout the final stage. Then during a restart with five laps remaining, Rhodes was able to utilize the outside lane and his fast truck to his advantage as he rocketed to the lead and muscled away from Hocevar and John Hunter Nemechek for the remainder of the event to capture his first victory of the 2022 season as he pursues his quest to defend his series championship.

The starting lineup for the main event was determined through four 15-lap heat events on Saturday, where the competitors accumulate points for their finishing results and passing by improving from their original starting spots.

By winning the third heat event and earning a total of 15 points, 10 for winning the heat event and five for improving from his sixth-place starting spot, Joey Logano started on pole position for the main event. Joining him on the front row was Ben Rhodes, who finished in the runner-up spot behind Logano but earned 14 points, nine for finishing second and five for improving from his seventh-place starting spot.

Jessica Friesen, wife of driver Stewart Friesen, and veteran Norm Benning were the two competitors who failed to qualify for the main event.

Prior to the event, Hailie Deegan dropped to the rear of the field due to starting the event in a backup truck along with Andrew Gordon, who received unapproved adjustments to his truck.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Rhodes launched his No. 99 Tenda Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to an early challenge for the lead beneath Logano’s No. 54 Planet Fitness Ford F-150 through the first two turns. Rhodes would then prevail entering the third turn and come back around to lead the first lap.

Behind Rhodes and Logano, Stewart Friesen was in third place ahead of Chandler Smith, who had Parker Kligerman and Carson Hocevar engaged in a side-by-side battle for a spot in the top five.

By the fifth lap, Rhodes stretched his advantage to half a second over Logano. Friesen and Chandler Smith retained their respective spots of third and fourth while Chase Elliott, who was piloting the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports, was up in the top five.

Through the first 20 laps of the event, Rhodes was leading by more than a second over Logano followed by Friesen, Elliott and Ty Majeski while Kligerman, Chandler Smith, Carson Hocevar, Matt DiBenedetto and Colby Howard were in the top 10. Matt Crafton was in 11th ahead of Austin Wayne Self, Grant Enfinger, John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Dillon while Christian Eckes, Derek Kraus, Zane Smith, Tate Fogleman and rookie Jack Wood were in the top 20. Tyler Ankrum was in 21st ahead of Buddy Kofoid, Kaz Grala, Harrison Burton and Andrew Gordon while Hailie Deegan was mired inside the top 30.

Four laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Andrew Gordon spun in Turn 4.

When the race restarted on Lap 31, Rhodes retained the lead following a strong start while Majeski overtook Logano for the runner-up spot. Soon after, Majeski challenged teammate Rhodes for the lead, but the latter prevailed as Stewart Friesen, who also passed Logano, joined the battle.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 40, Rhodes, who led all the laps in the first stage, captured his fourth stage victory of the season. Teammate Majeski settled in second followed by Friesen, Logano, Chandler Smith, Kligerman, Elliott, Crafton, Carson Hocevar and Matt DiBenedetto.

Under the stage break, names like Rhodes, Majeski and Austin Wayne Self remained on the track while the rest led by Friesen pitted. It was soon revealed that Rhodes, who did not pit, meant to, though he retained the lead.

The second stage started on Lap 41 as teammates Rhodes and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Rhodes rocketed with another strong start to retain the lead ahead of teammate Majeski and Austin Wayne Self while Friesen and Logano battled for fourth place ahead of a pack of competitors that included Kligerman, Chandler Smith, Elliott, Nemechek and Crafton.

At the Lap 50 mark, Rhodes was leading by less than four-tenths of a second over teammate Majeski while Self, Logano and Kligerman were in the top five. Elliott was in sixth ahead of Chandler Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Friesen and Hocevar while Buddy Kofoid was in 11th ahead of Crafton, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger and Zane Smith.

Five laps later, the caution returned when Dean Thompson spun and backed his No. 44 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST against the outside wall between Turns 2 and 3. In the midst of the incident, Blaine Perkins got turned below the apron, though he continued without sustaining any significant damage.

By Lap 61, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Rhodes retained the lead on the outside lane while Majeski fended off Logano for the runner-up spot. Meanwhile, Nemechek challenged Self for fourth place.

At the halfway mark on Lap 75, a battle for the lead ignited between teammates Rhodes and Majeski as Majeski launched repeated attacks on Rhodes for the top spot. Meanwhile, Logano trailed by more than two seconds in third place while Nemechek and Kligerman were in the top five. Elliott was in sixth ahead of Self, Hocevar, Buddy Kofoid and Chandler Smith while Derek Kraus, Eckes, Zane Smith, Friesen and Austin Dillon were in the top 15. By then, Crafton, Enfinger and DiBenedetto were mired in the top 10 while Hailie Deegan was in 26th behind Harrison Burton.

Ten laps later, Rhodes continued to lead ahead of teammate Majeski while Nemechek muscled his No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to third place ahead of Logano and Kligerman, though Nemechek and Logano bumped against one another in Turn 3. With Elliott in sixth, Kofoid was up in seventh place ahead of Hocevar.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Rhodes, who swept both stages of the event, captured his fifth stage victory of the season. Teammate Majeski settled in second followed by Nemechek, Kligerman, Logano, Elliott, Kofoid, Hocevar, Chandler Smith and Derek Kraus.

Under the stage break, names like Nemechek, Kligerman, Kofoid, Hocevar, Chandler Smith, Enfinger, Eckes, Zane Smith, Tate Fogleman, Mike Marlar, Chase Purdy and Deegan remained on the track while the rest led by Rhodes pitted.

With 58 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Nemechek retained the lead through the first two turns until Hocevar launched his No. 42 Premier Security Solutions Chevrolet Silverado RST into the lead approaching Turn 4. Despite being pressured by Nemechek, Hocevar retained the lead while Kligerman, Enfinger and Kofoid were in the top five. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith, Elliott and Majeski were in the top 10 while Rhodes and Logano were mired in the top 15.

Four laps later, the caution flew when Self got the front nose of his No. 22 AM Chevrolet Silverado RST dead-locked and stuck to the rear bumper of DiBenedetto’s No. 25 TW Frierson Chevrolet Silverado RST entering Turn 4. With both competitors trying to shake one another off of each other, they eventually came to a stop in Turn 2 while still stuck to one another. The incident was enough for NASCAR to pause the event to allow the safety crew to separate the competitors.

Following a delay of nearly six minutes as the red flag was lifted, the race restarted under green with 45 laps remaining. At the start, Hocevar retained the lead ahead of Nemechek, who was soon overtaken by Enfinger.

Five laps later, Hocevar was leading by more than half a second over Nemechek while Kligerman, Enfinger and Kofoid were in the top five. Meanwhile, Rhodes, who was in the top 10, was trying to march his way back into the top five.

A few laps later, the caution flew due to a single-truck incident between Turns 2 and 3 that involved Keith McGee.

Down to the final 32 laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Hocevar prevailed on the outside lane to retain the lead while Nemechek tried to launch another attack on Hocevar for the lead. Behind, Buddy Kofoid muscled his way into third place ahead of Kligerman, Enfinger and Rhodes.

Six laps later, the caution returned when Chandler Smith spun his No. 18 Charge Me Toyota Tundra TRD Pro after being bumped by Eckes through Turns 2 and 3. The contact caused Smith’s truck to spin in a looped circle and he spun it again while trying to straighten his truck, though he was dodged by the field.

Another seven laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hocevar retained the lead following another strong start while Nemechek fended off Kligerman to remain in second place. Behind, Majeski and Kofoid battled for fourth place while Rhodes was in sixth.

With 15 laps remaining, Rhodes muscled his way into the top five as he went to pursue Kofoid for fourth place. Meanwhile, Hocevar retained a narrow advantage over Nemechek.

Then with 11 laps remaining, the caution flew when Rhodes, who was battling Kofoid for fourth place, pulled a slide job on Kofoid through Turns 1 and 2, which caused Kofoid to step out of the gas and spin his No. 51 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. Behind, Majeski also spun as both competitors came to a sliding halt on the bottom lane. Both competitors, however, were unable to escape damage as Kraus, who was unable to slow his truck below the apron, collided with them. The incident spoiled Kofoid and Majeski’s run towards the front.

Down to the final five laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Hocevar retained the lead while Rhodes used the outside lane to rocket past Nemechek and Kligerman for the runner-up spot. Just as the field returned to the start/finish line, Rhodes challenged and quickly overtook Hocevar for the lead. Hocevar then tried to mount a challenge beneath Rhodes in Turn 3, but the latter remained on the outside lane to muscle away with the lead.

With two laps remaining, Rhodes was leading by less than four-tenths of a second over Hocevar while Nemechek retained third ahead of Kligerman, Eckes and Elliott.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Rhodes was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Hocevar while third-place Nemechek trailed by more than a second. Having no challengers put the pressure to him for a final lap, Rhodes was able to pull away, slide back around to the frontstretch and claim the victory by more than eight-tenths of a second over Hocevar.

In addition to claiming his first victory of the season, first at Bristol and first on dirt, Rhodes claimed his sixth career win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in his 147th series start. The victory was enough for Rhodes to add 34 points to his lead in the regular season standings as he became the third series regular to be guaranteed a spot in this year’s Truck Playoffs.

Photo by Christian Gardner for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“I thought we gave it away for a moment,” Rhodes, who led a race-high 95 of 150 laps, said on FS1. “Michael Waltrip asked me on the radio, ‘Did you mean to stay out [after the first stage]?’ The real answer was no. Driving back through the pack like that was really, really tough. Not something we wanted to do. My crew gave me such an awesome Tenda Toyota Tundra this weekend. I wasn’t gonna let them down. I had to go back up there and earn the spot back. Really, really proud of all their effort. It looked like I had really fast teammates today, too. Thanks, everybody, for coming out. Happy Easter!”

Hocevar, who led 55 laps, notched the second runner-up result of his career while Nemechek notched his third consecutive top-five result in recent weeks by finishing in third place.

“[I could have] Either ripped the top or crashed [Rhodes],” Hocevar said. “I hate saying that, but that’s part of this racing, right? I just really couldn’t compete with him. He just had better tires. He was the fastest truck all day, so I was just trying really hard and hoping I could hold off. I kept looking up in the mirror. I was like, ‘Man, he’s fifth. He can’t really go anywhere.’ Once I knew he was in fourth, I was like, “Oh, I’m in trouble here.’ He slide-jobbed me and I should’ve prepared for it. crossed him over and then, raced him really hard. Second just sucks. It does. It’s terrible, especially being that close…Just close, but [the late Bryan Clauson] was definitely with me tonight, running that thing as hard as we were”

“Just didn’t quite have it tonight,” Nemechek said. “We struggled with some forward drive, just couldn’t get it off the corner kind of like [Rhodes] could. He was definitely the dominant truck tonight. Congrats to those guys. Thank you to everyone at [Kyle Busch Motorsports]. After the first string of races, I feel like we’re kind of on a roll here with top fives.”

Kligerman brought the No. 75 Henderson Motorsports entry to a fourth-place result while Eckes recorded his second top-five result of the season by finishing fifth. Logano, Elliott, Enfinger, Crafton and Zane Smith finished in the top 10.

Notably, Friesen finished 11th, Austin Dillon came home in 14th and Deegan settled in 18th ahead of Chandler Smith and Harrison Burton. Majeski fell back to 21st while Buddy Kofoid ended up in 27th place behind Kaz Grala.

There were three lead changes for two different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 43 laps. All 36 starters finished the event, with 27 finishing on the lead lap.

With his first victory of the season, Ben Rhodes continues to lead the regular-season standings by 38 points over Chandler Smith, 51 over Stewart Friesen, 54 over Zane Smith and 62 over John Hunter Nemechek.

Results.

1. Ben Rhodes, 95 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

2. Carson Hocevar, 55 laps led

3. John Hunter Nemechek

4. Parker Kligerman

5. Christian Eckes

6. Joey Logano

7. Chase Elliott

8. Grant Enfinger

9. Matt Crafton

10. Zane Smith

11. Stewart Friesen

12. Colby Howard

13. Chase Purdy

14. Austin Dillon

15. Tanner Gray

16. Dean Thompson

17. Mike Marlar

18. Hailie Deegan

19. Chandler Smith

20. Harrison Burton

21. Ty Majeski

22. Jack Wood

23. Timmy Hill

24. Spencer Boyd

25. Blaine Perkins

26. Kaz Grala

27. Buddy Kofoid

28. Tate Fogleman, one lap down

29. Derek Kraus, one lap down

30. Lawless Alan, one lap down

31. Tyler Ankrum, three laps down

32. Andrew Gordon, four laps down

33. Kris Wright, four laps down

34. Keith McGee, four laps down

35. Matt DiBenedetto, five laps down

36. Austin Wayne Self, seven laps down

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is the series’ first of two visits of this season at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur on May 6 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 16, 2022
Bubba Wallace makes history, earns first Cup career victory at Talladega

History was made under a wet, cloudy afternoon at Talladega, Alabama, after Bubba Wallace won the rain-shortened YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Monday, October 4, and claimed his first elusive NASCAR Cup Series career win.

Wallace, who dodged a late-race multi-car wreck, stormed to the lead with drafting help from Brad Keselowski with seven laps remaining in the second stage and continued to lead when another multi-car wreck occurred behind him two laps later that drew a caution. Soon after, rain, which dominated the weekend and forced the event to be postponed from its scheduled start on Sunday, October 3, began to pour across the superspeedway venue, which forced NASCAR to red-flag the event and park the field to pit road.

Nearly an hour after the event was red-flagged and with lightning strikes being reported along with continuous rain, NASCAR made the race official and Wallace was handed his first career win at his home track in NASCAR’s premier series and in his 143rd series start, thus becoming the second African-American competitor to win in the Cup level.

The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Denny Hamlin, winner of last weekend’s Playoff event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and last year’s fall event at Talladega, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with teammate Kyle Busch.

Prior to the event, Quin Houff and Joey Gase started at the rear of the field due to failing pre-race inspection twice. James Davison also started at the rear of the field for replacing David Starr for the event.

Following a one-and-a-half-hour delay due to morning precipitation on the track on Sunday, October 3, the competitors fired up their engines and hit the track in an attempt to commence the event on a cloudy afternoon. Not long after, however, precipitation hit the track again, which forced the pace car to lead the field back on to pit road and under another weather delay.

Then, NASCAR made the call to postpone the event from Sunday to Monday due to the continuous rain and no weather relief in sight.

When the competitors returned a day later, the race was able to start under green on a clear, cloudy afternoon. At the start, Kyle Busch jumped ahead with the lead on the inside lane followed by Chase Elliott while Hamlin slipped to third on the outside lane.

As Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski started to gain a run exiting the backstretch and entering the frontstretch, Kyle Busch was able to lead the first lap as the field began to fan out to multiple lanes and in a tight pack.

Just past the start/finish line, Logano stormed to the lead on the outside lane with drafting help from teammate Keselowski and Hamlin. Despite receiving a strong push to jump ahead through the backstretch, Logano nearly lost the top spot to Kyle Busch entering the frontstretch, but he was able to lead the following lap by a nose.

Through the first five laps of the event, Kyle Busch, who moved back to the lead on the third lap, was leading ahead of Elliott, Larson Kevin Harvick and Alex Bowman. Tyler Reddick was in sixth ahead of Logano, rookie Chase Briscoe, Matt DiBenedetto and Bubba Wallace. By then, Hamlin pulled his car out of the pack as part of a strategic move and settled his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry in 29th place.

By Lap 10, Harvick, who took over the lead on the sixth lap, was leading ahead of Ford teammates Logano, DiBenedetto, Ryan Blaney, Keselowski and Aric Almirola. Austin Dillon was in seventh ahead of William Byron, Cole Custer and Kyle Busch.

Soon after, the field, which had broken apart and was divided into certain sections of competitors, was back competing in a tight pack within the draft and beginning to fan out to multiple lanes. Then, the field fanned out three lanes deep as Truex, who received drafting help from Wallace, challenged Harvick and DiBenedetto for the lead, which he succeeded on Lap 15 before being overtaken by Larson two laps later.

By Lap 20, Custer, who received drafting help from teammate Harvick, emerged with the lead ahead of Larson, who led the previous three laps, while Logano and Wallace were in the top five ahead of a steaming pack of cars. By then, 38 of the 40 starters were separated by less than six seconds.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Custer was still leading in his No. 41 Autodesk Ford Mustang ahead of Harvick, Logano, Blaney, Elliott, Keselowski and the field that settled through double lanes. By then, names like DiBenedetto, Ryan Newman, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Aric Almirola, Briscoe, Reddick, Hamlin and Christopher Bell were running outside the top 20 while Truex, Alex Bowman, Byron, Larson and Kyle Busch were back inside the top 20.

Under the competition caution, the majority of the field pitted while 12 competitors led by rookie Anthony Alfredo remained on the track. During the pit stops, Hamlin slid through his pit box and had to back up for fresh tires while Elliott nearly made contact with Cody Ware while exiting his pit stall.

A lap later, the 12 competitors led by Alfredo who remained on the track pitted, giving the lead to Harvick.

When the race restarted on Lap 29, Harvick briefly jumped ahead with the top spot on the inside lane before Truex received a big push from Kurt Busch and Keselowski to take the lead through the backstretch.

Then, Kurt Busch moved his No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to pass Truex on the inside lane and lead the following lap. Truex, though, fought back on the outside lane as the field was engaged in a competitive, tight pack within the draft.

By Lap 35, Harvick, who reassumed the lead a lap earlier, was ahead of Team Penske’s Blaney and Logano. Austin Dillon was up in fourth ahead of Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Hamlin, Custer and the field. Meanwhile, Kurt Busch was in ninth, Truex was in 11th, Kyle Busch was in 14th, Byron was in 20th, teammates Larson and Bowman were in 22nd and 23rd, and Elliott was in 29th.

Approaching the Lap 38 mark, the field fanned out to three lanes at the front as Hamlin challenged Keselowski and Harvick for the top spot. In the middle of the pack, a four-wide action nearly occurred that included Logano.

Through the first 40 laps of the event, Keselowski was leading ahead of Buescher, Hamlin, Logano, Austin Dillon, Harvick and the field. By then, Michael McDowell, who suffered damage under the competition caution and lost in touch with the field and the draft prior to the restart, was lapped by the leaders.

Three laps later, the top-26 competitors were separated by a second as Keselowski challenged and overtook Hamlin, who led the previous two laps, for the top spot. By then, Keselowski had drafting help from Ford teammate Chris Buescher and Logano while Hamlin was trying to keep Bowman in the draft. Meanwhile, Austin Dillon was trying to form a third line on the inside lane, but he was overtaken by the other two lanes that had a multitude of cars within the draft.

By Lap 50 and through the closing laps of the first stage, the majority of the field were running in a long single-file line on the outside lane led by Keselowski. In addition, names like Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley were in the top 10 while names like Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie, Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick were in the top 15. Justin Allgaier, an Xfinity Series veteran, was in 16th ahead of Elliott.

Four laps later, Buescher, who bumped and moved Keselowski out of the way through the backstretch, led a lap for himself ahead of Logano and Harvick. Keselowski, meanwhile, was back in fourth alongside teammate Blaney.

On Lap 56, the caution flew when Justin Allgaier, running within the top 10, got bumped and turned off the front nose of Byron entering the frontstretch, where he collided against Larson’s No. 5 Cincinnati Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE against the outside wall before sliding across the track and near the pit road exit. Briscoe and Ryan Preece were also involved in the accident.

The early incident concluded the first stage scheduled on Lap 60 under caution as Buescher claimed his second stage victory of the season and the first since Homestead-Miami Speedway in February. Logano, the highest-running Playoff contender, settled in second ahead of Keselowski, Harvick, Reddick, Blaney, Elliott, Ross Chastain, Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman. By then, names like Byron, Kyle Busch and Truex were in the top-17 while Hamlin was in 23rd. Meanwhile, Larson, who was having issues re-firing his car during the repairs, lost a lap to the leaders.

Through the first stage, 12 different competitors had led at least a lap, comprising of 17 different lead changes.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field pitted while names like Ricky Stenhouse Jr., DiBenedetto and Daniel Suarez remained on the track. Once the competitors who did not pit earlier pitted, Logano was leading ahead of Hamlin, Keselowski, Buescher and Blaney. Meanwhile, Harvick pitted a second time after reporting a flat left-rear tire, which sent him to the rear of the field.

The second stage started on Lap 64. At the start, Logano received a push from teammate Keselowski to maintain the top spot on the inside lane through the first turn while Hamlin challenged Blaney on the outside lane.

The following lap, Kyle Busch intentionally drew his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry out of the pack to settle behind the pack as Reddick challenged Logano for the lead. Reddick, however, was overpowered by Team Penske’s three Playoff competitors led by Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang.

Shortly after, the caution flew when Larson, who continued with the damage on his No. 5 car, lost the right-front tire, smacked the Turn 2 outside wall and shredded debris across the racing surface, making his day go from bad to worse.

Under caution, some led by Reddick and Hamlin pitted, mainly for fuel, while the rest led by Logano and Keselowski remained on the track. By then, Larson, who was four laps behind, was able to continue after meeting the minimum speed allotted while damaged.

On Lap 70, the entire field pitted for enough fuel to complete the second stage with weather threats looming near the track and the teams aiming to reach the halfway point to make the race official. During the pit stops, Hamlin nearly clipped Blaney while trying to enter his pit stall, which cost him time and positions.

Following the pit stops, Cody Ware was the leader ahead of Logano, Keselowski, Buescher, Blaney and Harvick while Bell, Kyle Busch, Reddick and Joey Gase were in the top 10.

Soon after, reports of rain near Turn 1 were reported as the pace car continued to lead the field at a cautious pace. Then on Lap 73, the pace car led the field to pit road and the race was red-flagged for a weather delay and for the jet dryers to dry the racing surface in Turns 1 and 2.

More than 18 laps later, the competitors returned to their cars and re-ignited the engines after the racing surfaces through the first two turns were dried, though weather threats and a flash flood watch remained within sight of the superspeedway venue.

When the field returned to the track, the competitors returned to pit road for another round of topping off with fuel to get to the conclusion of the second stage. Meanwhile, Justin Haley and LaJoie remained on the track ahead of Team Penske’s three competitors along with Buescher, Reddick, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch and Harvick.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 77, Haley, piloting the No. 16 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Kaulig Racing, received drafting help from Logano on the inside lane while LaJoie had drafting help from Blaney on the outside lane through the first two turns.

Through the backstretch and entering the frontstretch, a third lane formulated on the outside lane as Buescher jumped ahead of LaJoie to move towards the front. Meanwhile, Haley continued to lead ahead of Logano and Keselowski.

By Lap 80, Bell moved his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry to the lead as he received drafting help from Harvick and Hamlin while Buescher, who briefly led, nearly wrecked entering the second turn. Meanwhile, Bell was in front of a long single-file line running on the outside lane. In addition, names like Ryan Preece, Stenhouse, Cody Ware, Michael McDowell and Erik Jones were in the top 10.

Four laps later, Hamlin, who moved to the inside lane entering the frontstretch, received a push from former teammate Erik Jones to take the lead over teammate Bell. With Hamlin out in front, Jones and Custer were in second and third while Bell fought back on the outside lane with drafting help from Harvick.

Through 90 laps and with the intensity of the pack racing crescendoing, Harvick, who took over the lead a lap earlier, was leading ahead of Alex Bowman and Bell, who led the previous six of nine laps. Hamlin and Stenhouse were in the top five followed by Elliott, Erik Jones, Keselowski, Custer and Alfredo. By then, the top-36 competitors were separated by three seconds. Meanwhile, Larson was mired back in 39th, four laps behind. In addition, Briscoe was lapped by the field.

At the halfway mark on Lap 94, which would make the race official, Bell, who reassumed the lead two laps earlier, was out in front with drafting help from teammate Hamlin. Bowman then challenged on the outside lane followed by Harvick, Stenhouse, Erik Jones, Elliott, Custer, Keselowski, Buescher and the field mired in a tight three-wide pack.

Three laps later, the caution flew when Alex Bowman, who led the previous lap and was challenging Bell for the lead, was bumped by Stenhouse exiting the backstretch and made head-on contact into the outside wall before he was hit hard by Ross Chastain, which demolished his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. While most of the field dodged the incident, names like Reddick, Kyle Busch, Truex, DiBenedetto, Quin Houff, BJ McLeod and Preece were involved. The wreck, however, placed Bowman in a “must-win” scenario for next weekend’s Playoff event at the Charlotte Roval to keep his title hopes alive.

With 17 laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green as Stenhouse and Bell filled in the front row. At the start, Stenhouse had drafting help from Chase Elliott on the outside lane while Bell had teammate Hamlin and Harvick pushing him on the inside lane through the first two turns.

When the field returned to the frontstretch, Stenhouse maintained the lead followed by Elliott and Keselowski while Bell slipped back to fourth after losing the draft with Hamlin and Harvick. A lap later, though, Bell fought back on the inside lane, but Stenhouse continued to maintain the lead with continuous help from Elliott.

By Lap 108, Kurt Busch, who initially was pushing Bubba Wallace a lap earlier, stormed to the lead ahead of a three-wide cluster of cars with the skies darkening.

Down to the final 10 laps of the second stage, Kurt Busch was leading ahead of Harvick, Bell, Stenhouse and Hamlin while Wallace, Jones, Elliott, Austin Dillon and Keselowski were in the top 10.

Not long after, Harvick was drafted out of the lead pack as Kurt Busch and Stenhouse engaged in a heated duel for the lead.

On Lap 112, Bubba Wallace and Kurt Busch, Wallace’s future teammate at 23XI Racing, dueled for the lead as Wallace received a push from Keselowski on the outside lane to lead the following lap. Wallace then moved his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry in front of Busch and Bell while Keselowski remained on the outside lane in front of teammate Logano.

With five laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew when Preece, who was running towards the front, got bumped and turned by Buescher, spun and smacked the backstretch outside wall before he clipped DiBenedetto and Byron, who had flames bursting out of his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Like teammate Bowman, the wreck placed Byron in a “must-win” scenario for the Roval to maintain his title hopes.

At the time of caution, Wallace retained the lead ahead of Keselowski and Logano while Kurt Busch and Bell were in the top five. Just then, the skies darkened and the track was overshadowed with scattered rain and clouds, which forced the pace car to lead the field to pit road and to a stop on Lap 117, three laps shy of the second stage.

While Wallace and the field awaited the decision, the jet dryers returned to the track to dry the racing surface. Soon after, reports of continuous precipitation along with lightning were made as nearly the entire grandstands were emptied and the competitors and teams took shelter near their respective pit box.

Then, 17 minutes after the lightning report was made, NASCAR declared the race official and Wallace, who awaited the decision in his pit box, was named the winner, having led the final five laps prior to the call and with the race 71 laps shy of its scheduled distance.

With the victory, Bubba Wallace became the 198th different competitor to win in the NASCAR Cup Series, the third first-time Cup winner of 2021, the 12th first-time winner at Talladega and the second African-American competitor to achieve a win in the NASCAR Cup Series. The first African-American competitor to win in NASCAR occurred in December 1963 made by the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Wendell Scott.

“Part of me was just sitting there waiting,” Wallace, who was anxiously awaiting NASCAR’s decision to declare the race official, said on NBCSN. “It’s not over with. Just sit there, bide our time. If we go racing again, that’s fine. We’ll put ourselves in position. But we had so many cool fans behind us in the pit box, just cheering for it to rain, so it kind of amped up the intensity a little bit.

“Just so proud of everybody at 23XI [Racing],” Wallace added. “New team. Coming in and getting a win late in the season. [It] Reminds me of 2013. Waited so long to get that first Truck win. I know a lot of history was made today, I believe, which is really cool, but it’s about my guys, it’s about our team, it’s about what we’ve done. Appreciate Michael Jordan, appreciate Denny [Hamlin] for believing in me, giving me the opportunity. Like we talk, it’s pretty fitting that it comes here at Talladega.”

When asked about being the second African-American competitor to achieve a win in the NASCAR Cup Series, the emotions began to pour out of Wallace’s face and voice while recognizing the significance.

“I never think about those things,” Wallace said. “When you say it like that, it brings a lot of emotions, lot of joy to my family, fans, friends. It’s pretty damn cool. Just proud to be a winner in the Cup Series.”

Finally, Wallace evoked an inspiring message to future inspirers following his long journey and hurdles to become a NASCAR Cup Series winner.

“This is for all those kids out there that want to have an opportunity, whatever they want to achieve and be the best at what they want to do,” Wallace said. “You’re gonna go through a lot of [expletive], but you always got to stay true to your path and not let the nonsense get to you. Stay strong, stay humble, stay hungry. There’s been plenty of times where I wanted to give up. You surround yourself with the right people and it’s moments like this that you appreciate.”

In addition to Wallace achieving his first win as a driver, the victory was also a first for veteran crew chief Robert “Bootie” Barker, who replaced Mike Wheeler as Wallace’s crew chief in mid-September. It was also the first for 23XI Racing, a newly formed NASCAR team that debuted this season and is co-owned by NASCAR veteran NBA legend Michael Jordan and NASCAR veteran Denny Hamlin.

“It’s just way more emotional [as an owner] because I know how difficult it is,” Hamlin, who finished seventh on the track, said. “These guys just worked so hard over the last 10 months to put this team together. We just spent a lot of hours getting this all put together. It’s great to see the results from all the work from these team guys. It means so much. It’s a learning process. We knew it was gonna be a learning process, but I’m so happy for the team…This is just the building step. We’re still in the beginning stages of our team. We’re still growing. We got some great things on the horizon, but this is just a great moral booster for everyone.”

Wallace’s first Cup victory at Talladega capped off a historic NASCAR triple-header weekend at Talladega filled with first-time winners as Tate Fogleman claimed his first Truck Series career win in a wild finish while Brandon Brown achieved his first Xfinity career win, both occurring on Saturday, October 2.

Wallace’s victory also meant that none of the remaining 11 Playoff contenders, aside from Hamlin, earned a one-way ticket to the Round of 8 by winning, leaving them to battle for the remaining seven vacant spots to the penultimate round in the Playoffs next weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (Roval).

Brad Keselowski was the highest-finishing Playoff contender on the track in second place while teammate Logano settled in third. Kurt Busch finished fourth while Christopher Bell completed the top five. Chris Buescher, Hamlin, Harvick, Erik Jones and Alfredo finished in the top 10.

Truex, Blaney and Elliott finished 12th, 15th and 18th while Kyle Busch ended up 27th, Following their misfortunes, teammates Byron, Larson and Bowman finished 36th, 37th and 38th.

There were 35 lead changes for 19 different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 27 laps. Only nine of the 40 starters did not finish on the lead lap.

Results:

1. Bubba Wallace, five laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Brad Keselowski, 13 laps led

3. Joey Logano, nine laps led

4. Kurt Busch, nine laps led

5. Christopher Bell, 12 laps led

6. Chris Buescher, seven laps led, Stage 1 winner

7. Denny Hamlin, six laps led

8. Kevin Harvick, 16 laps led

9. Erik Jones

10. Anthony Alfredo, one lap led

11. Austin Dillon

12. Martin Truex Jr., two laps led

13. Cole Custer, seven laps led

14. Chase Briscoe

15. Ryan Blaney

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 10 laps led

17. Michael McDowell

18. Chase Elliott

19. Quin Houff

20. Justin Haley, four laps led

21. Ryan Newman

22. Corey LaJoie

23. Daniel Suarez

24. Landon Cassill

25. Joey Gase

26. Aric Almirola

27. Kyle Busch, four laps led

28. Cody Ware, four laps led

29. Garrett Smithley

30. BJ McLeod

31. Josh Bilicki

32. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

33. Ross Chastain, one lap down

34. James Davison, one lap down

35. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, Accident, two laps led

36. William Byron – OUT, Accident

37. Kyle Larson, four laps down, three laps led

38. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident, one lap led

39. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident, two laps led

40. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

Bold indicates Playoff contenders.

Playoff standings.

1. Denny Hamlin – Advanced

2. Kyle Larson, +22

3. Joey Logano, +21

4. Brad Keselowski, +20

5. Martin Truex Jr., +20

6. Ryan Blaney, +15

7. Chase Elliott, +9

8. Kyle Busch, +9

9. Kevin Harvick, -9

10. Christopher Bell, -28

11. William Byron, -44

12. Alex Bowman, -52

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will continue at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course for the Bank of America Roval 400 on Sunday, October 10, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, which will mark the series’ seventh and final road course event of this season. It is also where the second round of eliminations in the Playoffs will occur.

October 4, 2021
Blaney caps off regular-season stretch with a thrilling win at Daytona

For a second consecutive week, Ryan Blaney stole the show after the High Point, North Carolina, native took the lead from Chris Buescher prior to the final lap and pulled away from the field wrecking behind to win the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway under caution on Saturday, August 28.

The victory was Blaney’s third of the season as he will be one of 16 competitors who will compete for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series championship over a 10-week Playoff stretch.

The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. Kyle Larson, the regular-season points leader, was scheduled to start on pole position, but instead, he started at the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race inspection multiple times. With that, teammate William Byron, winner of last year’s Daytona 400 event, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Denny Hamlin.

Along with Larson, Joey Gase, Corey LaJoie and Kaz Grala started at the rear of the field due to multiple pre-race inspection failures. Michael McDowell and rookie Anthony Alfredo, teammates at Front Row Motorsports, also dropped to the rear of the field after it was discovered that both cars did not conform to NASCAR rule specifications pinpointing the deck lid extensions. As a result, crew chiefs Drew Blickensderfer and Seth Barbour were ejected from the event. Car chief Jason Sheets served as McDowell’s interim crew chief while Derrick Finley, Front Row Motorsports’ competition director, served as Alfredo’s interim crew chief. To make matters worse, Alfredo was assessed a pass-through penalty on pit road following the start of the race for illegal body adjustments made to his car while on the grid.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Byron received an early advantage on the outside lane with drafting help from Kyle Busch to take the lead, where he went on to lead the first lap by a nose over Hamlin.

The following lap, Byron broke away from the pack as he continued to lead ahead of Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr., all of whom were on the inside lane, while Kyle Busch settled as the lead car on the outside lane.

By the fifth lap, a majority of the pack formed a single-file line on the outside lane as Byron led teammate Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Truex, Matt DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney and Kurt Busch. Leading the inside line was ninth-place Alex Bowman.

Two laps later, Kevin Harvick, who had drafting help from Blaney, peaked ahead by nose to lead a lap over Byron. Another two laps later and while Byron moved back into the lead, Elliott got shuffled out of the top five as he dropped to the mid-pack.

Through the first 10 laps of the event, Hamlin moved into the lead followed by Bubba Wallace while Byron, who had led seven laps, was back in third ahead of Austin Dillon and Harvick. Kyle Busch, Blaney, Ross Chastain, Bowman and Brad Keselowski were in the top 10. By then, Joey Logano was in 12th, Elliott was in 15th, Truex was in 20th in between teammate Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick, Kurt Busch was in 24th behind rookie Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece and Kyle Larson was mired in 26th behind Aric Almirola.

Five laps later, the field fanned out to three tight lanes as Byron, who moved back into the lead the previous lap, was leading ahead of Hamlin, Chastain, Logano and Austin Dillon. Another three laps later, Chastain made a pit stop under green for two fresh tires and to have his fenders fixed. By then, Austin Dillon motored into the lead ahead of Elliott and Hamlin.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 20, Elliott squeaked ahead of Austin Dillon to lead followed by Truex, Logano and Stenhouse. Byron, Hamlin, Cole Custer, Blaney and Briscoe were in the top 10. By then, five different competitors led at least a lap.

Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted with all utilizing a variety of strategies. Following the pit stops Elliott retained the lead. Prior to the restart, Michael McDowell fell off the pace and took his car to the garage due to an engine failure and dropping fluid on the track.

When the race restarted on Lap 25, Elliott and Custer battled dead even for the lead before Elliott cleared the field when he and the field returned to the start/finish line. The following lap, Hamlin made a bold three-wide move on Logano and Austin Dillon in a bid for third place as Elliott and Custer battled for the lead ahead of a packed field.

By Lap 30 and with the majority of the field settled in a single-file line, Elliott continued to lead followed by Logano, Custer, Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Byron, Bell, Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Chastain.

Ten laps later, Elliott remained as the leader of a long single-file line followed by Logano, Custer, Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Byron, Bell, Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Chastain. Meanwhile, Truex was in 13th behind Blaney, Wallace was in 16th behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Almirola and Tyler Reddick were in 19th and 20th, Harvick and Larson were in 22nd and 23rd behind Briscoe, Bowman was in 25th behind Daniel Suarez and DiBenedetto was mired in 28th.

The following lap, Logano emerged as the new leader while Elliott got shuffled back to fourth in front of teammate Byron while trying to clean his grille. Two laps later, Elliott received a boost from teammate Byron to storm back into the lead while Logano had to defend the outside lane from a hard-charging Austin Dillon.

Approaching Lap 46, Logano gained a draft on Elliott, moved to the inside lane and tried to slide in front of Elliott through Turns 3 and 4, but he was unable to as Elliott retained the lead on the outside lane while Logano settled in as the lead car on the inside lane.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 50 following an early competitive race, Elliott managed to retain the lead and claim his third stage victory of the season. Hamlin settled in second followed by Kyle Busch, who nearly wrecked approaching the start/finish line following contact with Ross Chastain. Chastain was fourth followed by Truex, Austin Dillon, Corey LaJoie, Logano, Preece and Chris Buescher. By then, seven different competitors had led at least a lap within the pack racing and the draft.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted for four fresh tires and to top off on fuel.

The second stage started on Lap 55. At the start, Truex pulled ahead by a slight margin over Elliott on the outside lane through the first two turns before clearing Elliott entering Turn 3. By then, he had names like Corey LaJoie, Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch settled in behind him.

Two laps later, LaJoie made a move beneath Truex to lead a lap before he got shuffled out of the draft and back in fourth.

Through the first 60 laps of the event, Truex, who took the lead back on Lap 58, was leading followed by teammate Bell, Stenhouse, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, LaJoie, Keselowski, Elliott, Chastain and Preece.

Fifteen laps later, Bell, who took over the top spot on Lap 70, was leading followed by Stenhouse, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Logano, Truex, Elliott, LaJoie, Briscoe, Reddick and a steaming pack of cars.

On Lap 77, the caution flew when Almirola and Bowman spun in the middle of Turn 4 while running near the rear of the field and in front of a handful of competitors. During the incident, Hamlin ran into the rear of Preece.

Four laps later, the race restarted under green as Logano and Bell started on the front row. At the start, Logano launched ahead followed by Bell while LaJoie received a push from Reddick through the backstraightaway before being shuffled out by Reddick, who tucked in behind Logano.

By Lap 90, Logano was leading followed by Reddick, Stenhouse, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Truex, Hamlin, Preece and Larson.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 100, Logano, who took over the lead three laps earlier over teammate Blaney, was scored the leader as he claimed his fifth stage victory of the season. Austin Dillon settled in second followed by Byron, Reddick, Larson, Blaney, Stenhouse, Kyle Busch, Wallace and Bell. By then, 11 different competitors had led at least a lap.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted for fresh tires and fuel.

With 55 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Byron and Hamlin filled the front row. At the start, Hamlin received a push from Harvick to take over the lead. During the next four laps, Harvick led three before Elliott squeaked ahead to lead one for himself.

Five laps later, Harvick was back out in front followed by Hamlin, Byron, Wallace and Logano, who then mounted a charge on the inside lane while being pursued by Chastain, Elliott and others.

Another 10 laps later and with the field, which had fanned out to three lanes earlier, settling in a long single-file line, Chastain was leading followed by Bowman, Blaney, Kyle Busch, Harvick, Stenhouse, Wallace, Hamlin, Elliott and Briscoe.

With 38 laps remaining, the Ford competitors peeled off the track to pit under green. Back on the track, Chastain and Wallace battled for the lead ahead of the field that had fanned out to two lanes.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Wallace was leading followed by Kyle Busch, Chastain, Bell, Stenhouse, Truex, Bowman, LaJoie, Elliott and Landon Cassill. The following lap, Chastain received a push from Stenhouse to snatch the lead back from Wallace.

With 21 laps remaining, the caution flew for an accident involving Cody Ware, Joey Gase and Garrett Smithley, all of whom drive for Rick Ware Racing, in Turn 4. At the time of caution, Kyle Busch was the leader. Under caution, the front-runners pitted and the Fords moved up the pack, giving the lead to Logano. During the pit stops, Austin Dillon, who was battling battery issues to his car, was busted for speeding and was sent to the rear of the field.

Five laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Logano jumped ahead on the inside lane followed by teammate Blaney, Almirola, Buescher and Custer while DiBenedetto got shuffled back to sixth ahead of Kyle Busch and Harvick.

With 15 laps remaining, the caution flew when Truex got bumped by Stenhouse entering the backstretch and collided into Byron before spinning across the grass and proceeding with damage and firing rolling out of his car. Also involved were Briscoe, Cassill, Suare Alfredo, Keselowski and Tyler Reddick, the competitor occupying the 16th and final spot to the Playoffs as he had smoke trailing behind and damage on the front nose his car. The incident was enough for NASCAR to red-flag the event for nearly 15 minutes.

Following the cleanup period concluded and the caution was drawn back, teammates Reddick and Austin Dillon pitted to have their respective Chevrolets repaired with enough adjustments to finish the race.

With 10 laps remaining, the race restarted as teammates Logano and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Logano jumped ahead, but the field narrowed the gap through the backstraightaway and back to the tri-oval from the draft as Almirola moved up the leaderboard.

The following lap, Chris Buescher mounted a challenge on the inside lane to move up to third behind Logano and Blaney. He then received pushes from Kurt Busch and Elliott to move up to second as he challenged Logano for the lead.

With seven laps remaining, Buescher received a strong push from Elliott and Hamlin to take the lead, where he managed to slide in front of Logano through the backstraightaway.

A lap later, though, Elliott stormed to the lead while Buescher got shuffled out in a three-wide battle against Logano and Elliott. With Buescher falling back, Elliott was leading followed by Hamlin, Logano and Blaney while Matt DiBenedetto mounted a challenge on the inside lane.

Under the final five laps, Logano fell off the pace after he cut a tire in a shower of sparks. Despite the misfortune, Logano kept his car rolling on the outside lane as the field went by him and the race proceeded under green. At the front, DiBenedetto challenged Elliott on the outside lane for the lead as the field behind started to stack up and fan out multiple lanes with the finish within sight.

Then in Turn 3, DiBenedetto, who continued to intimidate Elliott for the lead, ran into the rear bumper of Elliott as both along with Hamlin skidded across the outside wall. The contact of the wall got Elliott loose and he slid up and into DiBenedetto across the outside wall again. The ensuing contact ignited a chain reaction wreck that involved Hamlin, Keselowski, Bell, Kyle Busch, Preece, Chastain, Custer, Stenhouse and Kaz Grala, a wreck that sent the race into overtime.

In the midst of the carnage, Buescher was back in the lead followed by Blaney, LaJoie, Austin Dillon and Harvick. Chastain was in sixth followed by Larson, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace and Kurt Busch.

When the race restarted in overtime, Buescher and Blaney battled dead even entering the first turn before Blaney received a strong push from LaJoie to take the lead on the inside lane. LaJoie, though, received a draft from Harvick to close back to Blaney’s rear bumper in Turn 3.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney was leading ahead of LaJoie and Buescher. Through Turn 1, Harvick made a bold move beneath LaJoie to move into second place, thus shuffling LaJoie out of the lead draft, as Suarez, Buescher, Kurt Busch and others mounted a final lap mount to the front.

Through the backstraightaway, Blaney continued to lead followed by Harvick and Suarez. Then, Suarez got loose in front of Kurt Busch and turned into Harvick, which triggered a big accident in Turn 3 involving Austin Dillon, Larson, Chastain, LaJoie, Bowman and Erik Jones.

With the field wrecking behind, Blaney pulled away unscathed and cruised to the finish line in first place as the caution flew due to the accident.

The victory marked Blaney’s first at Daytona International Speedway, his second consecutive Cup victory in recent weeks after winning last weekend at Michigan International Speedway, his third of the season and the seventh of his career.

“Man, that was a lot of fun,” Blaney said on NBC. “Gosh, we just barely missed that wreck. We got lined up on the front row and got a good push by [LaJoie]. You never know how the end of these days are gonna play out. Down the back, you don’t know what lane’s getting a bigger run. I guess somebody got tangled up over there. Hopefully, everyone’s okay. Man, this is so cool. Second win of the year with BodyArmor on the car. Winning at Daytona, this is so cool. It’s really special and man, it’s been a fun two weeks. Looking forward to next week! Got a good, enough momentum. It’d be nice to make it three [wins] in a row. We’ll see.”

Behind Blaney, Chris Buescher came home in second place while Bubba Wallace, who dodged the final lap carnage, recorded a strong third-place result. The best season results for both Buescher and Wallace, however, were not enough for either of them to make the Playoffs.

“It hurts,” Buescher said. “That one stings a lot, but at the same time, [I] appreciate everybody at [Roush Fenway Racing]. Awesome weekend for Fifth Third Bank…[I] Wanted to get that [win] for so many different reasons. To miss that Playoff spot by one spot, that’s a tough ending to the day, but proud of this group. Proud of the car we brought…That hurts.”

“The seas parted and when that wreck happened, I just stayed in it, came out third, but it’s not what we needed,” Wallace added. “Bummer, but solid day. We went up and led some laps. Unfortunate, we wanted to win. That was the most prepared I’ve ever been for this speedway stuff and [finished] third…It just stings.”

Following the post-race inspection, however, Buescher was disqualified from his runner-up result due to an illegal track bar mounting assembly. As a result, Buescher was demoted to 40th place, dead last, while Wallace was promoted to the runner-up result, which tied his best result in NASCAR’s premier series.

Ryan Newman was elevated to third place followed by Ryan Preece, both of whom also did not make the Playoffs. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick, who barely escaped the final lap multi-car wreck, finished fifth and claimed the 16th and final spot to the Playoffs over teammate Austin Dillon, who was unable to finish the race after being swept up in the wreck. With that, Reddick joins Michael McDowell and Christopher Bell as first-time members of the Cup Series Playoffs this season.

“My emotions were shot as soon as we took the green on the last green-white-checkered [restart],” Reddick said. “I couldn’t even believe we finished seventh. Getting through that last crash coming to the line, it was a lot, I’m not gonna lie. Going to Homestead, running for Xfinity Series championships were a lot of fun. Really exciting, really nerve-racking, but what a roller coaster it is to be on the bubble going into Daytona, running into the back of somebody and have all the issues we did at the end there. Almost felt helpless there, but we didn’t give up and we fought through it.”

“It was a little bit of a roller coaster ride,” Austin Dillon said. “We fought our butts off in the stages. We made some good moves to get points and found ourselves in fourth-place for a green-white-checkered here at Daytona. That’s where we were when we won the Daytona 500, so I was feeling pretty good about it…We fought hard. The Bass Pro Shop Chevy was very fast. Two weeks in a row we’ve had great cars out of the No. 3 team. Just haven’t gotten the finishes we’d like to have, but very thankful that the good Lord took care of us tonight and we get to race at Darlington next week. Unfortunate that we’re not in the Playoffs, but we gave it all we could and fought until the very end.”

Justin Haley, Bowman, Elliott, BJ McLeod and Josh Bilicki finished in the top 10.

Despite being involved on the final lap accident, Kyle Larson, who was scored in 20th claimed the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship over Denny Hamlin, who ended up in 13th. The result made Larson the fourth different competitor to achieve the regular-season title in the Cup Series.

“I think I read somewhere earlier this week where we had overcome a 166-point gap to Denny [Hamlin],” Larson said. “I didn’t think it was possible, but our team worked so hard all of the regular season and [I] couldn’t have done it without Mr. [Hendrick] and Linda, all of their support, everybody back at the shop, too. It’s a long season, and we still got 10 races to go, but it’s a long point to get to here…I’m just the lucky guy who gets to drive [the car] and get a lot of the credit, but it’s really credit to everybody back at the shop.”

Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Christopher Bell, Aric Almirola, Michael McDowell, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Tyler Reddick have made the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, and will contend for this year’s championship.

Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Newman, Ryan Preece, Erik Jones, Corey LaJoie, Austin Dillon, Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Cole Custer, Matt DiBenedetto, Anthony Alfredo and Quin Houff are among the remaining competitors who failed to make the Playoffs.

There were 45 lead changes for 15 different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 31 laps.

Results.

1. Ryan Blaney, seven laps led

2. Bubba Wallace, eight laps led

3. Ryan Newman, two laps led

4. Ryan Preece

5. Justin Haley

6. Tyler Reddick

7. Alex Bowman

8. Chase Elliott, 36 laps led

9. BJ McLeod

10. Josh Bilicki

11. Erik Jones

12. Kurt Busch

13. Denny Hamlin, seven laps led

14. Aric Almirola

15. Kevin Harvick, four laps led

16. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident, one lap led

17. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident, three laps led

18. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident, 14 laps led

19. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident

20. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident

21. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident

22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

23. Joey Logano, one lap down, 37 laps led

24. Cole Custer, one lap down

25. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

26. Anthony Alfredo, two laps down

27. David Starr, two laps down

28. Cody Ware, two laps down

29. Martin Truex Jr., two laps down, 13 laps led

30. Garrett Smithley, two laps down

31. Joey Gase, three laps down

32. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident, eight laps led

33. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident

34. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident, five laps led

35. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident

36. Landon Cassill – OUT, Accident

37. William Byron – OUT, Accident, 12 laps led

38. Quin Houff, 29 laps down

39. Michael McDowell – OUT

40. Chris Buescher – Disqualified, eight laps led

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will commence next weekend at Darlington Raceway for the Cook Out Southern 500 on Sunday, September 5, which will start at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

August 29, 2021
Blaney steals the show with a late victory at Michigan

The outside lane at Michigan International Speedway was the preferred lane for many at Michigan International Speedway, but the inside lane prevailed at the right time for Ryan Blaney. The High Point, North Carolina, native received a push from Kyle Busch to overtake and beat William Byron in an eight-lap dash to win the FireKeepers Casino 400 at the Irish Hills on Sunday, August 22.

The victory was Blaney’s second of the season and his first since winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March.

The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Kyle Larson, the regular-season points leader, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with teammate Chase Elliott.

Prior to the event, Josh Berry and Joey Gase started at the rear of the field due to driver changes from their respective machines.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, teammates Larson and Elliott dueled dead even until Ryan Blaney issued a challenge on the inside lane through the first turn. Through the backstretch, however, Larson was able to pull ahead on the outside lane as he went on to lead the first lap ahead of Matt DiBenedetto.

Meanwhile, Kurt Busch powered his way into third while Elliott was challenged by Kevin Harvick for fourth place. Behind, Ryan Blaney slipped back into the top 10 as Alex Bowman, Denny Hamlin and others moved up the leaderboard.

On the third lap, DiBenedetto, who challenged Larson for the lead early, led the third lap before Larson took it back. Through the backstretch and entering Turn 4, Kurt Busch then moved into the runner-up spot over DiBenedetto as Elliott started to reel in the leaders. Just behind the top-four competitors were Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, both of whom were battling for a top-five spot ahead of Alex Bowman.

Through the first five laps, Larson continued to lead by nearly two-tenths of a second over Kurt Busch. Meanwhile, Martin Truex Jr. was mired back in 33rd after he sustained left-rear quarterpanel damage to his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry.

By Lap 10, Larson’s No. 5 Cincinnati Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was leading by nearly four-tenths of a second over Kurt Busch’s No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE while DiBenedetto, Elliott and Hamlin were in the top five. Harvick was in sixth followed by Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch. William Byron was in 11th ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Blaney was back in 13th ahead of Chris Buescher and Erik Jones, who announced his return to Richard Petty Motorsports for the 2022 season. Ryan Newman was in 16th ahead of rookie Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Christopher Bell. Aric Almirola was in 21st ahead of Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez, Michael McDowell was in 24th, Bubba Wallace was in 26th and Cole Custer was in 29th.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 20, Larson, who has led all but one of the scheduled laps, was the leader by nearly half a second over Kurt Busch. By then, Byron moved into the top 10 while Blaney and Harvick fell back to 12th and 16th. Truex, meanwhile, was still mired in 33rd.

Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Hamlin emerged with the lead after only opting for fuel under his first pit stop. Larson, who elected for a two-tire pit stop, exited in second followed by Kurt Busch, Elliott, Bowman and Reddick.

When the race restarted on Lap 25, Hamlin, who restarted on the outside lane, received a push from Larson to muscled away from Elliott, who elected to restart on the inside lane on the front row. Elliott, though, was able to settle in the runner-up spot ahead of teammate Larson through the backstretch.

Two laps later, Elliott thundered his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE into the lead over Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry. Behind, Kurt Busch overtook Larson for fourth while Reddick settled in fifth.

The following lap, Kurt Busch drag-raced and battled Hamlin for the runner-up spot, but Hamlin managed to prevail on the outside lane through the first two turns. Behind, Joey Logano challenged Larson for fourth, but he lost his momentum in Turn 4 and fell back to sixth ahead of Byron and Bowman.

Through the first 30 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by nearly four-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Larson, Kurt Busch and Reddick battled in the top five. Byron moved up to sixth ahead of Logano, Bowman, DiBenedetto and Austin Dillon.

Shortly after, the caution flew when Joey Gase wrecked in Turn 2. Under caution, few like Daniel Suarez pitted while the rest led by Elliott remained on the track.

When the race restarted on Lap 35, Elliott and Kurt Busch battled dead even for the lead through the first turn and the backstretch until Elliott managed to pull ahead in Turn 3. Behind, Hamlin, who received a push from Logano through Turn 4, moved up to second while Logano moved his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang in front of Kurt Busch for third the following lap. The next lap after, Larson overtook Kurt Busch for fourth in Turn 3 while Austin Dillon, a competitor battling for a Playoff spot and who opted for four fresh tires under the competition caution, challenged Busch for fifth.

Nearing the first 40 laps of the event and with the field jostling for positions, Elliott was leading by three-tenths of a second over Hamlin and Logano. Larson and Austin Dillon were in the top five followed by Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto, Blaney, Byron and Brad Keselowski. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, Harvick and Truex were in 12th, 13th and 16th while Tyler Reddick was back in 15th.

With the race surpassing the Lap 50 mark, Elliott was leading by half a second over Austin Dillon. Hamlin, Logano and Larson were in the top five followed by Byron and DiBenedetto while Kurt Busch fell back to eighth ahead of brother Kyle and Blaney.

Back at the front, Austin Dillon and Larson started to reel in on Elliott for the lead. Despite the challenge, though, Elliott was able to maintain the lead and claim his second stage victory of the season by winning the first stage on Lap 60. Behind, Larson managed to edge Dillon at the line to settle in second while Hamlin held off Byron to retain fourth. Logano, DiBenedetto, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Keselowski settled in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson exited with the lead following a stellar four-tire pit stop. Elliott followed in second ahead of Austin Dillon, Suarez (who opted for two fresh tires), Logano and Kyle Busch while Hamlin, who pitted from fourth place, fell back to 10th. Prior to the restart, Logano returned to pit road to have the lug nuts on his car tightened.

The second stage started on Lap 66 as Larson and Austin Dillon started on the front row. At the start, Larson and Dillon battled dead even for the lead for a full lap until Larson prevailed on the outside lane through Turn 1. With Larson clear in the lead, teammate Elliott moved up to second over Dillon, who was being challenged by DiBenedetto for more.

Behind, contact from DiBenedetto got Kurt Busch loose in Turn 3. While Busch prevented the car from spinning, he fell out of the top 10 and was mired near the midfield and around a bevy of cars. At the front, though, Larson continued to lead ahead of teammate Elliott, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Suarez.

By Lap 75, a three-way battle for the lead ensued as Larson, the leader, was pressured by Austin Dillon and Elliott for the top spot, all three of whom were separated by approximately three-tenths of a second. Kyle Busch was up in fourth followed by DiBenedetto, Keselowski, Christopher Bell, Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Harvick.

Five laps later, Elliott motored his way back into the lead.

At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Elliott continued to lead by a narrow margin over teammate Larson. Austin Dillon settled in third ahead of Kyle Busch and Bell while Hamlin was in sixth. DiBenedetto, Byron, Keselowski and Blaney were in the top 10.

Not long after, pit stops under green commenced as names like Harvick, Byron, Stenhouse, rookie Chase Briscoe and Bowman pitted. By Lap 110, Larson surrendered the lead to pit. The following lap, Elliott also pitted. A few laps later, Kyle Busch and Hamlin pitted, but Hamlin slid past his pit box while trying to enter his stall. During the pit stops, Ross Chastain took his car to the garage due to a fire in the rear end of his No. 42 Moose Fraternity Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.

Back on the track and with the green flag pit stops concluding, Kyle Busch, who pitted three and four laps later than Larson and Elliott, cycled to the lead. Bell was in second while Larson and Elliott closed in and challenged Hamlin for third.

Utilizing his pit strategy to perfection, Kyle Busch cruised to his fifth stage victory of the season after winning the second stage on Lap 120. Teammate Bell settled in second followed by Larson, Elliott and Hamlin. Behind, Austin Dillon nipped Keselowski for sixth, but then, Dillon’s strong day evaporated after contact from Keselowski sent Dillon head-on into the Turn 4 outside wall, where his car nearly flipped, before coming to a rest below the apron. The damage to the No. 3 Chevrolet was enough to terminate Dillon’s run for the day and put a huge dent to his Playoff hopes, though he will have a final opportunity to make the postseason next weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

“I was just trying to get as many stage points as I could get right there and did a good job of side-drafting and came down to the apron and I’ve seen just one quick replay, but it was after the start/finish line,” Dillon said at the infield care center on NBCSN. “I was starting to come up off the apron because it’s so rough down there. But I figured by that point, [Keselowski] would have given me a little room. I hate it. I’m thankful that the good Lord kept me safe today. That was a heck of a wreck, but I feel fine.

“I hate it for BREZTRI and my guys, most of all,” Dillon added. “They built a rocket ship. They really wanted this one, and I did too. Just working our tails off right there. I think we would have had a shot to do something there at the end with our race car. It’s the best race car we’ve brought to the track at [Richard Childress Racing] this year, I feel like. It’s just a bummer but we’ve got Daytona left and I just hate it. I don’t know why it happened, really. I thought I had a little room to come up and he just held me down there a little bit too long, I guess.”

In the midst of the incident, Reddick, Byron and DiBenedetto rounded out the top-10 stage points positions in the second stage.

Under the stage break, names like Kyle Busch, Wallace, Elliott, Hamlin, Bell and Erik Jones pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

With 74 laps remaining, the final stage started as Larson and Kurt Busch started on the front row. At the start, Larson and Kurt Busch battled dead even for the lead for a full lap, where Busch led for the first time before Larson received a push from teammate Byron to grab the lead through the first two turns. Behind, Byron motored his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE into the runner-up spot while Busch fell back to third ahead of Blaney, DiBenedetto and Truex.

With 60 laps remaining, Larson was leading by a tenth of a second over teammate Byron while Kurt Busch, Blaney and Bowman were in the top five. Truex, following his early issues, was up in sixth ahead of teammate Hamlin, DiBenedetto, Logano and Reddick. Kyle Busch was mired back in 11th, Elliott was in 14th ahead of Harvick, Keselowski was back in 18th and Bell was in 21st.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event and with overcast clouds hovering above the track, Larson continued to lead by nearly four-tenths of a second over teammate Byron. Kurt Busch and Blaney remained in third and fourth while Truex was up in fifth ahead of teammate Hamlin, Bowman and Logano.

Nearing the final 40 laps of the event, names like Elliott, Byron, Bowman and Blaney pitted under green. During this time, Larson, who ran out of fuel, pitted along with Kurt Busch, but he was overtaken by teammate Byron on the track.

Under the final 40 laps, Hamlin emerged with the lead followed by teammate Truex while Logano, Kyle Busch and Reddick were in the top five. Not long after, Logano pitted along with Harvick and Truex.

With 35 laps remaining, Hamlin pitted as teammate Kyle Busch took the lead. Following Hamlin’s pit service, teammates Byron and Larson managed to overtake him on the track. Three laps later, Kyle Busch pitted along with Elliott, thus giving the lead to Keselowski as Chris Buescher was in second and Bell was in third, all of whom were among some who needed to pit.

With 20 laps remaining, the caution flew due to precipitation reported on the track. Five laps earlier, Byron emerged with the lead after Keselowski and Bell pitted, thus completing the cycle of green-flag pit stops. Teammate Larson moved up to second followed by Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Blaney.

Under caution, some led by Keselowski pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track.

Down to the final 14 laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Byron and Kurt Busch started on the front row. At the start, the field stacked up past the start/finish line, but Byron received a push from teammate Larson to retain the lead through the first turn.

As the field fanned out through the backstretch, Hamlin aggressively charged his way into the runner-up spot over Larson while Reddick made a bold four-wide move on Logano, Kurt Busch and Blaney entering Turn 3 in a bid to gain spots towards his Playoff hopes. Then, through Turns 3 and 4, Reddick slowly drifted up the track and got loose in front of Logano, who got sideways and turned by Truex. The spin by Logano ignited a chain-reaction wreck that involved Bell, Josh Berry, McDowell and Ryan Newman. The incident drew the caution back on the circuit.

With eight laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start and with the leaders battling dead even, Blaney, who restarted as the first competitor on the inside lane, received a huge shove from Kyle Busch to assume the lead in the first turn ahead of Byron as the field fanned out.

A lap later, Reddick spun in Turn 3, but the race remained under green. Back at the front, Blaney continued to lead by a narrow margin over Byron, Larson and Kurt Busch. Behind, Briscoe overtook Hamlin for fifth.

Down to the final five laps of the event, the top-seven competitors were separated by half a second as Blaney, the leader, had Larson closing in on his rear bumper through the first two turns along with Byron, Kurt Busch, Hamlin, Briscoe and DiBenedetto.

A lap later, Kurt Busch, who challenged Byron for third, wiggled in Turn 2 and lost his momentum before he was hit by Briscoe. Despite the contact, all competitors continued straight. A turn later, DiBenedetto shoved Hamlin out of the way on the inside lane, which sent Hamlin up the track in front of Briscoe, all of whom continued without wrecking.

Back at the front, Larson issued a challenge beneath Blaney, but he could not carry the momentum in Turn 1. Two turns later, Byron passed teammate Larson for the runner-up spot as he started to intimidate Blaney for the lead.

When the white flag waved and the final lap of the race occurred, Blaney was still leading ahead of Byron and Larson, both of whom were setting up a final challenge on Blaney for the top spot. Through the first turn and the backstretch, Byron gained a draft but was unable to execute a dive run on Blaney entering Turn 3. Through Turns 3 and 4, Byron tried another move from the outside lane, but the run came too late as Blaney edged Byron by 0.077 seconds to capture his first victory in the Irish Hills and in an upset fashion.

In addition to capturing his second victory of the season and first at Michigan, Blaney achieved his sixth win in the NASCAR Cup Series and his first multi-victory season in the Cup circuit. He also recorded the seventh consecutive Cup victory for the Ford nameplate at Michigan.

“We got a great push by [Kyle Busch] on the restart and was able to get clear there,” Blaney, who led the final eight laps, said on NBCSN. “Michigan’s a matter of pretty much wide open and just trying to play the air game. I hate you have to race that way, but that’s how you have to run. It worked out for us. Man, I’m proud of everybody on the No. 12 team. We weren’t great to start the day off and yeah, kept working and working, got a lot better. It’s so cool to get in Victory Lane for Ford here. This is such a huge one for Ford. That was cool, man. I’m fired up.”

Behind, Byron, who led 18 laps, settled in the runner-up spot while Larson, who led a race-high 71 laps and was aiming for his fourth victory at Michigan, ended up in third.

“[Hamlin] tried to shove us into [Turn] 1 and I had to stay with him to not sacrifice my right rear,” Byron said. “Once you get put three-wide middle, it’s game over. I gave up the lead trying to protect the top [lane] and just didn’t have the loyalty there to push me to the lead. Overall, a really good car. The AXALTA Chevrolet was extremely fast. Definitely, I know we can bring that to the Playoffs. It stinks to finish second, but I feel like we had a really good car to go to battle with.

“Yeah, the restart worked out a little better than I thought it was going to for me,” Larson said. “[Hamlin] tried to stick [Byron] three-wide. They got loose. I got to the middle. I think came out third or something there. Was able to get to second. Just made a couple bad moves, I guess. I think honestly just a little too patient behind [Blaney]. Could have made some later, you know, dives I guess to the inside. Who knows. I need to watch the replay.

“Just made a couple wrong moves, allowed William to get by me. Once I was in third, I hoped they would get racing, get side drafted. I was never close enough to William to help him generate a run on [Blaney]. Ended up third. A good points day. Wish we could have had more, but all in all a good day for the Cincinnati Chevy.”

Kurt Busch came home in fourth ahead of Hamlin while DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Keselowski and Truex finished in the top 10.

Despite finishing 14th, Kevin Harvick clinched his spot into the Playoffs based on points.

There were 20 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race six featured cautions for 29 laps.

With one race remaining until the 2021 Cup Playoffs commences, Larson continues to lead the regular-season standings by 28 points over Denny Hamlin. Currently, 13 competitors (Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Christopher Bell, Aric Almirola and Michael McDowell) are guaranteed Playoff spots based on winning at least once throughout the regular season.

Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick are also guaranteed spots in the Playoffs based on points.

Tyler Reddick, meanwhile, occupies the 16th and final berth to the Playoffs by 25 points over teammate Austin Dillon, with Matt DiBenedetto trailing by 120 points, Chris Buescher by 135, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by 173, Ross Chastain by 185, Bubba Wallace by 195, Chase Briscoe by 227, Erik Jones by 250, Daniel Suarez by 254, Ryan Newman by 271, Ryan Preece by 279, Cole Custer by 295, Corey LaJoie by 370 and Anthony Alfredo by 440.

Results:

1. Ryan Blaney, eight laps led

2. William Byron, 18 laps led

3. Kyle Larson, 71 laps led

4. Kurt Busch, one lap led

5. Denny Hamlin, 10 laps led

6. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap led

7. Kyle Busch, 13 laps led, Stage 2 winner

8. Chase Elliott, 68 laps led, Stage 1 winner

9. Brad Keselowski, six laps led

10. Martin Truex Jr.

11. Chase Briscoe

12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

13. Christopher Bell

14. Kevin Harvick

15. Chris Buescher

16. Alex Bowman

17. Aric Almirola

18. Erik Jones

19. Bubba Wallace

20. Michael McDowell

21. Ryan Preece

22. Daniel Suarez

23. Cole Custer

24. Ryan Newman

25. Justin Haley

26. Josh Berry

27. Cody Ware, one lap down

28. BJ McLeod, two laps down

29. Tyler Reddick, two laps down

30. Quin Houff, four laps down

31. Josh Bilicki, five laps down

32. Garrett Smithley, six laps down

33. Joey Logano – OUT, Dvp

34. Anthony Alfredo, 22 laps down

35. Ross Chastain, 48 laps down

36. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

37. Joey Gase – OUT, Accident

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season will cap off its regular-season stretch next weekend at Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 and where the 16-car Playoff field will be determined. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, August 28, at 7 p.m. ET on NBC.

August 22, 2021
Allmendinger storms to historic Cup victory in the inaugural Indianapolis Road Course event

In a race highlighted with two red flag periods, late chaos and a number of top contenders being taken out of contention, AJ Allmendinger survived the carnage and stole the lead prior to the final lap to win the inaugural Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on Sunday, August 15.

The victory, which marked the first NASCAR Cup Series event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, was the first for Kaulig Racing and the second for Allmendinger in NASCAR’s premier series.

Qualifying occurred on Sunday, August 15, and William Byron achieved his second NASCAR Cup Series pole of the year with a pole-winning speed at 100.044 mph. Joining him on the front row was Chase Briscoe, a rookie Cup competitor who won last year’s Xfinity Indy road course event.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Byron pulled away from Briscoe and the field entering the first turn and leading through the first four turns. Through Turns 5 and 6, the infield backstretch, the left-hand turn in Turn 7, a series of turns through Turns 8, 9 and 10, and the final round of turns from 11 to 14, Byron rolled back to the frontstretch and led the first lap by half a second over Briscoe, with Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. running in the top five.

The following lap and with the field continuing to jostle for positions, Briscoe took over the lead after passing Byron in Turn 7.

Another two laps later, Truex pitted under green to have a tire rub and potential damage addressed on his car.

By the fifth lap, Briscoe was leading by half a second over Byron while Hendrick Motorsports’ Elliott and Larson continued to run in third and fourth. Daniel Suarez was up in fifth followed by AJ Allmendinger, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Michael McDowell and Cole Custer. By then, Tyler Reddick was in 11th ahead of Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Matt DiBenedetto and Denny Hamlin. Austin Cindric, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity event at Indianapolis, was in 16th in front of Austin Dillon, Christopher Bell, Kurt Busch and Corey LaJoie. Alex Bowman was in 22nd in front of Aric Almirola, Bubba Wallace and Kevin Harvick. Brad Keselowski was mired back in 28th, Ryan Newman was in 21st and Truex was in 39th.

Not long after, Cindric spun in Turn 1 after over-braking the turn, but the race proceeded under green.

Through the first 10 laps of the event, Briscoe’s No. 14 High Point Ford Mustang continued to lead by nearly half a second over Byron’s No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. By then, Aric Almirola pitted to have a tire rub and damage assessed to his car following an earlier on-track contact with Corey LaJoie.

A few laps later, names like Logano, Ross Chastain, Custer, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, DiBenedetto, Christopher Bell, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman, Harvick, Bubba Wallace, LaJoie and Ryan Newman pitted under green. Shortly after, the leaders led by Briscoe pitted.

Back on the track, Tyler Reddick, who has not yet pitted, emerged as the leader after overtaking Michael McDowell in Turn 12. Despite being pressured by McDowell for a full lap around the 14-turn circuit, Reddick was able to cycle back to the start/finish line and claim the first stage victory on Lap 15 along with his second stage victory of this year’s Cup season. McDowell settled in second followed by Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Justin Haley, Briscoe and Elliott.

Under the stage break, some led by Reddick pitted while the rest led by Keselowski and Briscoe remained on the track. Then, disaster struck for Briscoe, who was penalized and forced to surrender a handful of spots for failing to maintain cautious pace under the stage break.

The second stage started on Lap 19 with Keselowski and Elliott starting on the front row. At the start, Keselowski maintained the lead through the first four turns while Byron mounted a charge to the runner-up spot over teammate Elliott. In Turn 7, Byron attempted to overtake Keselowski for the lead, but he was stuck on the outside lane, which allowed Keselowski to remain as the leader. Soon after, Elliott made his way into the runner-up spot in Turn 12.

When the field returned to the start/finish line and the frontstretch, Elliott peaked and overtook Keselowski for the lead. Through the infield backstretch, Byron dropped all the way back to ninth after he fell off the pace.

Through Lap 22 and while the field continued to jostle for positions, Elliott was leading by more than a second over Logano while Larson, Kyle Busch and Cole Custer were in the top five. Byron was in sixth while Briscoe and Keselowski battled for seventh. Suarez and Blaney were in the top 10 ahead of Allmendinger, Hamlin and the field.

In Turn 12, Bell and DiBenedetto made contact against one another when DiBenedetto slipped into the grass and Bell, who also slipped, made contact with him through the turn. The following lap, Chastain spun in Turn 1 while battling Hamlin for position. In the midst of the on-track chaos, Kurt Busch pitted under green.

By Lap 25, Elliott extended his advantage to nearly two seconds over teammate Larson while Logano, Kyle Busch and Custer continued to run in the top five. By then, Byron and Briscoe were up in sixth and seventh while Keselowski, who had fallen back to 18th, pitted under green after making contact with the wall in Turn 11 and sustaining significant damage to the rear of his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang. Soon after, Logano spun and went off course in Turn 7 after he ran into the rear of Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE as he dropped from third to 10th.

Through the first 30 laps of the event, Elliott continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Larson while Kyle Busch, Custer and Byron were in the top five. Briscoe continued to run in sixth followed by Allmendinger, Hamlin, Suarez and Blaney. By then, Keselowski was in 39th and three laps behind the leaders while Kurt Busch was in 36th.

The following lap, names like Cindric, Suarez, Briscoe, Truex, Blaney, Logano, Bowman, Bell, Byron, Wallace, Harvick, McDowell, Chris Buescher, Almirola and Newman pitted under green. Soon after, the leader Elliott pitted along with teammate Larson, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Allmendinger.

Back on the track, Richard Childress Racing’s Reddick and Austin Dillon were running first and second. Both continued to remain on the track as they started the final lap of the second stage. When the second stage concluded on Lap 35, Reddick was able to grab his third stage victory of the season along with crucial stage points in his quest to make this year’s Playoffs. Teammate Austin Dillon settled in second followed by Ryan Preece, Stenhouse, DiBenedetto, Justin Haley, LaJoie, Andy Lally, Larson and Elliott.

Under the stage break, some led by Reddick pitted while the rest led by teammates Larson and Elliott remained on the track.

With 43 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start and with the field fanning out to multiple lanes through the frontstretch, Larson took off with the lead ahead of teammates Elliott and Byron. Briscoe managed to carve his way to fourth ahead of Kyle Busch and the field. Behind, Almirola and Stenhouse spun through the infield backstretch.

Shortly after, the caution flew due to debris — a radiator pan and splitter — being reported across a curb in Turn 6. Under caution, few like Almirola, Stenhouse and Keselowski pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

When the race restarted with 39 laps remaining, Larson maintained the lead over teammates Elliott and Byron approaching the first turn while the field fanned out to multiple lanes. Through the infield backstretch, Ryan Newman went off course and lost a bevy of spots as he also sustained rear-end damage.

Through the frontstretch on the following lap, Hamlin and Logano nearly made contact as Hamlin made a bold three-wide move, but slipped while battling Logano and Cole Custer. At the front, Larson continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over teammates Byron and Elliott while Kyle Busch and Briscoe continued to pursue.

With 35 laps remaining, Larson remained as the leader by more than a second over teammate Byron and more than two seconds over his other teammate, Elliott. Truex was up in fourth followed by teammate Kyle Busch while Briscoe, Logano, Custer, Hamlin and Bell were in the top 10. By then, Bowman, Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric were in the top 15 along with Blaney and Harvick. Kurt Busch was in 16th ahead of teammate Ross Chastain, Allmendinger was back in 20th, Reddick was in 22nd and Austin Dillon was in 26th. Keselowski, who was back on the lead lap, was in 34th behind Garrett Smithley.

Nearing the final 30 laps of the event, Cindric pitted after being spun by Kurt Busch in Turn 7. In addition, Briscoe pitted under green after he flat-spotted a tire. Soon after, Daniel Suarez also pitted.

A few laps later, names like Elliott, Truex, Bell, Blaney, Harvick and Chastain pitted. Not long after, names like Larson, Kyle Busch, Byron, Logano, Custer, Bowman, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, LaJoie, Josh Bilicki and James Davison also pitted under green.

Back on the track, Hamlin was leading by nearly 13 seconds over Bubba Wallace while Kurt Busch, Allmendinger and Reddick were in the top five. Larson, Elliott, Byron, Kyle Busch and Truex were back from 11th to 15th.

Not long after, Hamlin locked up his tires and went off the course in Turn 12, though he continued to lead by a large margin over Kurt Busch and Wallace.

With 20 laps remaining, Hamlin surrendered the lead to Matt DiBenedetto to pit. By then, names like Kurt Busch, Wallace, Buescher, Allmendinger, Stenhouse, Haley, Reddick and Preece had also pitted.

A lap later, Larson cycled back into the lead after he overtook DiBenedetto in Turn 4.

With 15 laps remaining, Larson was leading by more than five seconds over teammate Elliott with his other teammate, Byron, trailing by nearly eight seconds. DiBenedetto, who has yet to pit, was in fourth ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex, Kyle Busch and Hamlin. By then, Briscoe, who was running in the top 15, pitted.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson remained as the leader by more than four seconds over teammate Elliott and nearly nine seconds over teammate Byron while Truex, Kyle Busch and Hamlin were running fourth to sixth. Then, the caution flew due to debris reported in Turn 6. At the time of caution, DiBenedetto pitted.

Under caution, a majority of the field led by Larson pitted while the rest, including Hamlin, Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto and Briscoe, remained on the track. During the pit stops, Elliott dropped out of the top five and all the way back to 16th due to his car falling off the jack.

With six laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Hamlin and Kurt Busch filled in the front row. At the start, the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the frontstretch as Hamlin remained as the leader ahead of Briscoe through the first four turns.

Through Turns 5 and 6, Truex spun and made contact into the tire barriers after getting bumped by teammate Bell just past the curb, but the race remained under green.

The following lap, the battle for the lead intensified as Hamlin was being pressured by Briscoe for the top spot. While Briscoe gained a run through the frontstretch and the first turn, Hamlin fought back and retained the lead through the following five turns. The battle between Hamlin and Briscoe allowed Larson to close in on the two leaders.

Then, the caution flew for a multi-car wreck that started when Byron, who ran over the curbs in Turns 5 and 6 and destroyed his splitter, slipped sideways and wrecked along with Kyle Busch and Logano, who made hard head-on contact into the tire barriers. In the ensuing chaos, a number of competitors, including Preece, Reddick, Buescher, Bell, Suarez, Davison, Haley and Harvick, wrecked. In addition, Corey LaJoie caught major air after running over the curbs. The carnage forced NASCAR to display the red flag for minutes to give the on-track safety personnel and crew to clear the carnage.

More than 19 minutes later, the red flag was lifted and the field proceeded under caution. During the caution period, the race was sent into overtime.

Following an extensive caution period, the first overtime attempt occurred as Hamlin and Larson filled in on the front row. At the start, Hamlin jumped ahead with the lead as the field fanned out to multiple lanes. Entering the first turn, Larson received a shove from Kurt Busch and was shuffled out of the top five.

While Hamlin and Briscoe battled for the lead, the caution returned due to a multi-car wreck that involved Cole Custer, Austin Dillon, McDowell, Reddick, Chastain, LaJoie and Truex. Not long after, the race was red-flagged for four minutes before the field proceeded under caution.

When the track was cleared, the race resumed for a second overtime attempt. At the start, Hamlin pulled ahead with the lead while Briscoe got forced off the course entering the first turn. Despite getting into the grass in Turn 1, Briscoe came back on the racing surface with the lead until Hamlin took it back through the infield backstretch. Behind, Ryan Newman ran over the curbs while Keselowski spun.

Back at the front, Briscoe, who continued to battle Hamlin for the lead, was assessed a stop-and-go penalty for driving off the course. Despite the penalty call, Briscoe continued to battle Hamlin for the lead. Then in Turns 9 and 10, Briscoe ran into the rear bumper of Hamlin, sending Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry around. With Hamlin out of contention, Briscoe continued to lead until he locked up the tires in Turn 12 and went off the course. In the midst of the chaos, AJ Allmendinger, driving Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE stormed to the lead.

When the final lap started, Allmendinger was leading by nearly four-tenths of a second over Blaney while Larson, Elliott and DiBenedetto were in the top five. By then, Briscoe pitted and was parked on pit road to serve his penalty.

For one final rodeo around the 14-turn road course, Allmendinger, who rebounded from a speeding penalty during the race, was able to stabilize his advantage and extend his advantage to nearly a second over runner-up Blaney as he came back around and streaked across the finish line in first place to grab the biggest victory of his racing career.

In addition to winning the first Cup event on Indy’s road course layout, Allmendinger became the 16th competitor to win a stock car event at the Brickyard as he earned his second Cup career victory in his fourth start of this season and first since winning his first Cup race at Watkins Glen International in August 2014. Allmendinger’s Indy victory made him the 134th different competitor to achieve multiple Cup wins, though he is ineligible for this year’s Cup Playoffs since he is competing in the series on a part-time basis but full time in the Xfinity Series.

In addition, Kaulig Racing achieved its first victory in the Cup Series in its seventh appearance since making its debut in 2020. The team, which competes on a full-time basis in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Allmendinger, is set to field two cars in the 2022 Cup season.

“Oh my god,” Allmendinger said on NBC. “I was so mad yesterday. I wanted to win so bad [in the Xfinity event at Indy]. This is unbelievable. In my wildest dreams, [I] could never have imagined the way that just played out. We had to fight hard…Oh my god. We just won at Indy. It was just survival of the fittest. We probably had like an eighth-, 10th-place car. I sped on pit road, I thought we were gonna finish 12th or 15th. And then, those restarts were just insane. It’s great when you have a car owner that just says go get me trophies. He doesn’t care if that thing’s torn up. We just won at Indy! What’s up?! Thank you, everybody, for coming out! Let’s go!”

Following the event and their on-track incident, Hamlin and Briscoe, both of whom finished 23rd and 26th, met and exchanged words on pit road. The contact between both eliminated Hamlin’s hopes of grabbing his first victory of the season and locking himself in the Playoffs along with Briscoe, who was within sight of his first Cup career victory.

“I agree [the contact]’s not on purpose, but my team told me that [Briscoe] had a penalty right away and to me, it’s obvious if you cut to the racetrack and if you end up in the lead, you’re gonna have a penalty,” Hamlin said. “Lack of awareness and then, I just said, ‘Race me for a lap.’ He went right in the back of me. You can’t race that way. I don’t think he did it malicious. I’ve raced with him for a year now. He’s not that kind of person, but it’s just a bad judgement…I thought we were probably in good shape there, but this just turns everything upside down.”

“Obviously, [Hamlin]’s upset,” Briscoe said. “I would’ve been, too. He just came down there and asked what I was doing. I don’t think he realized that I didn’t even know I had a penalty until we got to Turn 10…Denny’s been in my situation, where you’re trying to go for your first win. He asked why I didn’t wait. Well, I felt like that was my best opportunity to win the race if I could get under him there…I had to try to get going all I could. I’m sorry that it ruined his day. That was never my intention. I get why he’s upset. Like I said, I would’ve been, too. I didn’t know I had a penalty until I got to Turn 10. As far as I knew, at that moment in time, I was going for the win. That’s what I’m paid to do and that’s what I was trying to do.”

Blaney came home in the runner-up spot followed by Larson, who won the Knoxville Nationals on Saturday and has taken sole possession of the regular-season points lead. Elliott rallied from his late pit road miscue to finish fourth while Matt DiBenedetto rounded out the top five.

Kurt Busch rebounded for a sixth-place effort followed by Erik Jones, Justin Haley, Austin Cindric and Newman.

Bubba Wallace settled in 13th ahead of Harvick and Truex, Kyle Busch fell back to 20th ahead of Reddick and Keselowski ended his long day in 24th.

There were 13 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 23 laps.

With two races remaining until the 2021 Cup Playoffs commences, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by 22 points over Denny Hamlin. Currently, 13 competitors (Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Christopher Bell, Aric Almirola and Michael McDowell) have clinched Playoff spots based on winning at least once throughout the regular season. Despite finishing 23rd and having a potential first victory slip away, Denny Hamlin clinched his spot for the Playoffs based on points. As a result, Kevin Harvick and Tyler Reddick occupy the final two spots to the Playoffs on points, with Reddick ahead by 28 points over teammate Austin Dillon, 145 over Matt DiBenedetto, 146 over Chris Buescher, 176 over Ross Chastain, 187 over Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 202 over Bubba Wallace, 242 over Chase Briscoe and 258 over Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones.

Results.

1. AJ Allmendinger, two laps led

2. Ryan Blaney

3. Kyle Larson, 28 laps led

4. Chase Elliott, 14 laps led

5. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap led

6. Kurt Busch

7. Erik Jones

8. Justin Haley

9. Austin Cindric

10. Ryan Newman

11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

12. Chris Buescher

13. Bubba Wallace

14. Kevin Harvick

15. Martin Truex Jr.

16. Corey LaJoie

17. Alex Bowman

18. Josh Bilicki

19. Aric Almirola

20. Kyle Busch

21. Tyler Reddick, six laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

22. Quin Houff

23. Denny Hamlin, 27 laps led

24. Brad Keselowski, two laps led

25. Cole Custer

26. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Parked, 12 laps led

27. Timmy Hill, one lap down

28. Garrett Smithley, one lap down

29. Ross Chastain, two laps down

30. Michael McDowell – OUT, Accident

31. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

32. James Davison – OUT, Accident

33. William Byron – OUT, Accident

34. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident

35. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

36. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

37. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident

38. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Suspension

39. Andy Lally – OUT, Rear gear

40. Cody Ware – OUT, Accident

With the regular-season stretch nearing its completion and the start of the Playoffs looming, the NASCAR Cup Series will be making its annual visit to Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, August 22. The event is scheduled to occur at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

August 15, 2021
Almirola defies the odds with a wild, weather-shortened win at New Hampshire

In a race mired with precipitation, an early accident eliminating two former Cup champions and a 10-lap reduction due to darkened skies, Aric Almirola erased his difficult regular-season stretch by scoring an upset win in the weather-shortened Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the 50th event at the Magic Mile, on Sunday, July 18.

The Tampa, Florida, native capitalized late to lead twice for 25 laps and fend off a hard-charging Christopher Bell to return to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series following a 98-race winless drought.

The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Kyle Busch started on pole position and was joined on the front row with teammate Martin Truex Jr.

Prior to the event, Quin Houff, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece and BJ McLeod dropped to the rear of the field due to multiple pre-race inspection issues. Bubba Wallace also started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Kyle Busch launched his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry ahead of teammate Truex and the field through the first two turns.

With the field fanning out to two lanes through the backstretch, Kyle Busch led the first lap and was able to retain the lead despite an early challenge from teammate Truex. Behind, Chase Elliott was in third followed by Kurt Busch, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and Alex Bowman. Denny Hamlin, the regular-season points leader, settled in sixth ahead of Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity event at New Hampshire.

On the fifth lap, the caution flew when both Kyle Busch and Truex, the two leaders, wrecked in Turn 1 after both got loose entering the turn due to the slick conditions on the track as a result of rain falling on the track. Behind, Hamlin got loose while battling Bowman and spun, though he continued without sustaining any serious damage. While Hamlin remained on the track, Busch and Truex pitted to have their respective Toyota Camrys assessed for the damage.

Not long after, the field was brought to pit road and the race was red-flagged on the eighth lap as the rain picked up around the circuit and the cloudy skies. At the time of the caution and delay, Elliott emerged as the leader followed by Kurt Busch, Bowman, Bell and Ryan Blaney while Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick were in the top 10.

During the delay, Kyle Busch and his crew retired from the event due to the damage on the car.

“We started the race under a mist,” Kyle Busch said on NBCSN. “It never should have gone green to begin with, but then it kept getting worse and worse lap over lap. The lap before, I went into [Turn] 1 and it shoved the nose really bad, and I was able to keep it under control. It wasn’t bad enough. The next time I went down there, hell, I lifted at the flag stand, maybe a little past the flag stand, don’t get too dramatic, and just backed it in. We’ve been talking about it for two laps that it was raining. There’s no sense in saying what I want to say, it doesn’t do you any good. We’re done, we’re going home. It’s over. There’s no fixing that thing.”

Nearly two hours later amid the track-drying process, the red flag was lifted and the field returned to the track under the competition caution, which was initially scheduled for Lap 30. Prior to the start, NASCAR announced that Joey Logano, who pitted under the caution period while the pit road was closed, will be held two laps on pit road due to his crew working on the car during the red flag period.

Under caution, some led by Hamlin pitted while the rest led by Elliott pitted. During the pit stops, Ryan Preece was penalized for speeding while exiting pit road. Meanwhile, Truex was able to remain in the race following repairs to his No. 19 Reser’s Toyota Camry from his pit crew.

When the race restarted on green on Lap 23, Elliott was challenged by Kurt Busch for the lead, which the latter succeeded the following lap. Two laps later, however, Elliott returned the favor entering the backstretch and reassumed the lead as Christopher Bell joined the party.

By Lap 30, Elliott was leading by nearly half a second over Bell, who was followed by Blaney, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski. Reddick was in sixth followed by Bowman, Chastain, Larson and Harvick.

A few laps later, the caution returned due to rookie Anthony Alfredo spinning in Turn 4 following contact with Bubba Wallace. Under caution, some like Bowman, Larson, William Byron, Aric Almirola, Chris Buescher, rookie Chase Briscoe and Daniel Suarez pitted while the rest led by Elliott remained on the track.

When the race restarted on Lap 38, Elliott and Bell battled for the lead for one full lap until Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE managed to clear Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry through Turns 1 and 2. Behind, Cody Ware spun in Turn 2, but the race remained under green.

As the field fanned out and the competitors battled for positions, Team Penske’s Blaney and Keselowski were in third and fourth followed by Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick.

On Lap 42, Blaney overtook Bell for the runner-up spot. By then, Harvick moved into the top five while Kurt Busch fell back to sixth ahead of Reddick and Matt DiBenedetto.

Through the first 50 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by nearly half a second over Blaney while Bell, Keselowski and Harvick were in the top five. Reddick was in sixth followed by Chastain, DiBenedetto, Kurt Busch and Hamlin. Austin Dillon was in 12th behind Cole Custer, teammates Bowman, Byron and Larson were in 14th, 15th and 16th, Aric Almirola was in 19th in front of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Truex was mired back in 22nd, Ryan Newman and Briscoe were in 24th and 25th ahead of Wallace and Daniel Suarez was in 27th. Logano, meanwhile, was in 33rd and a lap behind.

By Lap 60, Elliott continued to lead by a tenth of a second over Blaney. Behind, Keselowski moved up to third while Bell and Harvick battled for fourth ahead of Tyler Reddick.

Two laps later, Blaney overtook Elliott for the top spot as he became the fourth different leader of the race. In the ensuing laps, Blaney started to extend his advantage to more than a second.

Amid the overcast weather and the bizarre start, Blaney was able to remain in the lead with a comfortable advantage and claim the first stage victory on Lap 75, thus claiming his fourth stage victory of 2021. Behind, Keselowski prevailed over a late battle with Elliott to settle in second while Harvick and Reddick were scored in the top five. Scored in the top 10 were Bell, Hamlin, Chastain, DiBenedetto and Larson.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Harvick exited with the lead followed by Hamlin, Reddick, Keselowski, Elliott and Blaney.

The second stage started on Lap 82 with Harvick and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Harvick rocketed away from the field on the outside lane while Hamlin struggled to launch on the inside lane, which allowed Reddick to move into second place and the field to stack up and fan out to multiple lanes through the first two turns.

The following lap, Elliott battled Reddick for the runner-up spot while Hamlin was locked in a battle with Keselowski for fourth. Meanwhile, Harvick was out in front by more than half a second.

By Lap 90, Harvick was leading by more than a second over Elliott while Keselowski, Reddick and Hamlin were in the top five. Blaney was mired back in sixth followed by Larson, Chastain, Bell and Almirola.

At the Lap 100 mark, Harvick remained as the leader by more than one second over Elliott while third-place Keselowski was trailing by less than three seconds. Hamlin retained fourth place ahead of Blaney, Reddick, Chastain, Larson, Almirola and Bell. Bowman was in 11th ahead of Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto, Custer and Stenhouse. Byron was in 16th followed by Truex and Austin Dillon, Wallace was in 19th ahead of Chris Buescher, Newman was in 21st ahead of Suarez and Erik Jones, Michael McDowell was in 25th behind Ryan Preece and Briscoe was back in 29th. Logano, meanwhile, was in 30th and still a lap behind.

Ten laps later, Harvick continued to lead by more than a second over Elliott and nearly three seconds over Keselowski, who had Hamlin challenging him for a top-three spot. Another 10 laps later, Harvick stabilized his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Elliott and more than three seconds over the new third-place competitor, Hamlin.

On Lap 128, the caution flew due to Quin Houff spinning and making contact with the Turn 3 outside wall following contact with Ryan Newman. At the time of caution, Austin Dillon pitted despite pit road being closed at the time of his service.

Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Harvick retained the lead after exiting pit road ahead of Hamlin, Keselowski, Elliott and Almirola. During the pit stops, Blaney, who dropped from first to fifth during the first stage caution period, dropped from fifth to ninth under the recent caution.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 135, Harvick and Hamlin, both of whom were seeking their first victory of the season, pulled ahead while Almirola challenged Keselowski for third place.

A lap later, a three-wide battle ensued between Almirola, Elliott and Larson through Turns 1 and 2 before Larson prevailed ahead of the two for fourth place entering Turn 3. Behind, Blaney, Chastain and Bell battled for seventh while Harvick retained the lead ahead of Hamlin.

Shortly after, the caution returned due to a two-car spin through the backstretch involving Wallace and Chris Buescher. In the midst of the incident and the caution, Logano received another free pass to return to the lead lap.

When the race restarted on Lap 144, Harvick received another strong start to muscle away with the lead ahead of Keselowski while Hamlin was mired back in third ahead of the field after he struggled at the start.

Two laps later, Keselowski, sporting a sleek blue and black scheme to his No. 2 eCascadia Ford Mustang, took over the lead ahead of Harvick and Hamlin.

By Lap 150 and right at the halfway mark, Keselowski was leading by more than a second over Harvick while Hamlin, Blaney and Almirola were in the top five. Scored in the top 10 were Elliott, Larson, Chastain, Reddick and Bell.

By Lap 175, Keselowski continued to lead by less than two seconds over Harvick, with Blaney and Hamlin in third and fourth. Almirola, meanwhile, continued to run in fifth ahead of Elliott.

While Harvick started to close back in on Keselowski for the lead, Keselowski was able to retain a reasonable advantage over Harvick and claim his second stage victory of the season after winning the second stage on Lap 185. Harvick settled in second followed Blaney, Hamlin, Almirola, Elliott, Larson, Reddick, Chastain and Kurt Busch.

Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road and Keselowski retained the lead after exiting with the lead followed by Harvick, Blaney, Almirola, Larson and Hamlin. Following the pit stops, however, Hamlin returned to pit road due to a missing lug nut.

With 109 laps remaining and the skies above the track darkening, the final stage started as teammates Keselowski and Blaney started on the front row. At the start, Keselowski peaked ahead of Blaney and Harvick to retain the lead. While Penske’s Keselowski and Blaney battled for the lead, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Harvick retained third ahead of teammate Almirola, Larson, Bell and Chastain.

Six laps later, Blaney, who kept teammate Keselowski in his sights, took the lead, though Keselowski refused to give in and with a potential dark weather-ending race looming.

Down to the final 100 laps of the event, teammates Blaney and Keselowski battled for the top spot while Harvick narrowed the deficit to half a second. Meanwhile, Logano, who was two laps behind earlier in the race, was in 10th.

Under the final 100 laps, both Blaney and Keselowski refused to surrender as they continued to battle intensely for the lead through every turn and corner, but with neither prevailing over the other. Harvick, meanwhile, continued to close in behind the two Penske Ford competitors.

With 90 laps remaining, the top-three competitors were separated by six-tenths of a second as Blaney continued to lead by less than half a second over teammate Keselowski and six-tenths of a second over Harvick. Not far behind, Almirola was behind by more than a second while Larson was in fifth. Logano, meanwhile, was in eighth.

Ten laps later, Blaney, who earlier prevailed over his intense battle with teammate Keselowski, was ahead by less than nine-tenths of a second over Keselowski. Behind, Almirola moved up to third place ahead of teammate Harvick while Larson remained in fifth. Logano was up in seventh, Reddick was in ninth ahead of Bowman, Kurt Busch and Elliott were back in 13th and 14th, Truex was in 16th and Hamlin was mired back in 18th in between William Byron and Daniel Suarez.

Another five laps later, the advantage for Blaney over teammate Keselowski grew to more than a second while third-place Almirola was trailing by two seconds.

Under the final 65 laps of the event, Almirola overtook Keselowski for the runner-up spot while Blaney continued to lead by more than a second. Harvick, meanwhile, was more than three seconds behind while Larson remained in fifth, but behind by less than five seconds.

Approaching the final 60 laps of the event, Almirola caught Blaney and started to challenge him for the lead. Despite repeated attempts from Almirola, Blaney managed to remain in front of Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang.

Then with 55 laps remaining, Almirola emerged with the lead following a pass on Blaney through Turns 2 and 3 before clearing him for good in Turn 4.

Just then, pit stops under green ensued as Elliott pitted along with Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch Keselowski, Newman and others. Harvick also pitted along with Bell, Logano, Larson, Blaney and race leader Almirola.

Under the final 45 laps of the event and with most of the leaders having made a pit stop, DiBenedetto, who has yet to pit, was leading ahead of Byron and Keselowski, who had fresh tires and enough fuel to the finish. Almirola was mired back in fourth while Wallace was in fifth ahead of Bell.

Not long after, Almirola overtook Keselowski for third place, but he was more than 18 seconds behind race leader DiBenedetto.

With 36 laps remaining, Almirola overtook Byron for the runner-up spot while DiBenedetto continued to lead by more than 13 seconds. Behind, Keselowski and Bell overtook Byron for spots in the top five while Blaney was in sixth ahead of Harvick, Logano, Larson and Reddick.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event, DiBenedetto, who drives for the legendary Wood Brothers Racing team but has no current racing plans established for 2022, continued to lead by less than six seconds over a hard-charging Almirola. Bell, meanwhile, was in third, less than eight seconds behind, while Keselowski and Blaney were in the top five.

Three laps later, DiBenedetto, who was aiming for a shortened event and for his first Cup victory, surrendered the lead to pit for two tires and fuel. With DiBenedetto out of contention, Almirola returned to the lead with Bell behind by less than two seconds.

With 20 laps remaining, Almirola was leading by more than a second over Bell. Keselowski remained in third while Blaney and Harvick battled for fourth. DiBenedetto, meanwhile, was in 13th.

Just then, NASCAR declared that the event will be shortened to a final 10-lap dash to the checkered flag due to darkness looming around the track and with no lights installed around the Magic Mile. By then, Almirola continued to lead by more than a second over Bell with third-place Keselowski trailing by more than four seconds as the race remained under green.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Almirola, who was struggling to lap Austin Dillon, was leading by more than six-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Bell. Meanwhile, Logano was up in fourth ahead of teammate Blaney and Harvick.

When the final lap of the darkened event started, Almirola continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Bell. Despite Bell’s final lap effort for the win, Almirola remained ahead and he was able to come back around to claim his first checkered flag in more than two seasons.

With the win, Almirola, who came into the event in 27th place in the regular-season standings and a long shot in the Playoff battle, scored his third NASCAR Cup Series career victory and he achieved his first win in NASCAR’s premier series since October 2018 at Talladega Superspeedway. In addition, he became the 13th different competitor to be guaranteed a spot in the 2021 Cup Playoffs based off of winning throughout the regular-season stretch and he recorded the first victory of the season for Stewart-Haas Racing.

“This is by far one of my favorite racetracks,” Almirola said on NBCSN. “I love coming up to the New England area and racing. I love this racetrack. I had this race won a couple years ago and I gave it away. I lost it, and I am so glad to win a race here with this race team. God is so good. We’ve been through so much and I’ve just stood the test and kept the faith. The team, everybody, they’ve just been working so hard. There have been so many people that have just continued to support us through the crappiest year ever, and, man, this feels so good for them. My pit crew, they did a phenomenal job on pit road. All the guys that work on this car, they just keep fighting. They just keep digging, bringing the best race car they can bring every week and it is no doubt, we have struggled, but, guess what? We’re going Playoff racing!”

Bell, who was aiming for a weekend sweep after winning Saturday’s Xfinity event at New Hampshire, settled in second place for his second runner-up result in three weeks.

“I didn’t know how may laps [NASCAR] cut it short, but definitely whenever I saw the board and saw that we were eight laps short, it stings man,” Bell said. “I felt like I probably had a little better pace than [Almirola] and I was able to get to him. I know lapped cars were giving him a bad time, but I was able to get to him. It was going to be a heck of a race, but really proud of everyone on this Rheem Pristine Auction Camry. They did really good. Everyone on this 20 crew, we didn’t start out the greatest and then we were really good, probably the best we were all day right there at the end of the race. That’s all you can ask for is to have a shot at it and just wish we had eight more laps.”

Keselowski, who led 53 laps, came home in third place followed by teammates Logano, who rallied from two laps behind, and Blaney, who led 64 laps.

Harvick, who led 66 laps, ended up in sixth followed by Larson, Chastain, Bowman and Hamlin.

DiBenedetto, who pitted late for fuel, settled in 11th in front of Truex, Reddick, Cole Custer and Stenhouse. Kurt Busch came home in 16th, Elliott ended up in 18th behind Austin Dillon, Byron finished 21st behind Daniel Suarez, Wallace ended up in 26th behind Michael McDowell and rookie Chase Briscoe finished 27th.

There were 14 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 47 laps.

With four races remaining until the 2021 Cup Playoffs commences, Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 13 points over Kyle Larson. Currently, 13 competitors (Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, William Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell) are guaranteed Playoff spots based on winning at least once throughout the regular season. Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Tyler Reddick occupy the remaining three vacant spots to the Playoffs as winless competitors, with Reddick ahead by five points over teammate Austin Dillon, 121 over Chris Buescher, 143 over Matt DiBenedetto, 144 over Ross Chastain, 170 over Bubba Wallace, 172 over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and 195 over Daniel Suarez.

Results.

1. Aric Almirola, 25 laps led

2. Christopher Bell

3. Brad Keselowski, 53 laps led, Stage 2 winner

4. Joey Logano

5. Ryan Blaney, 64 laps led, Stage 1 winner

6. Kevin Harvick, 66 laps led

7. Kyle Larson

8. Ross Chastain, three laps led

9. Alex Bowman

10. Denny Hamlin, one lap led

11. Matt DiBenedetto, 20 laps led

12. Martin Truex Jr.

13. Tyler Reddick

14. Cole Custer

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

16. Kurt Busch, one lap down

17. Austin Dillon, one lap down

18. Chase Elliott, one lap down, 53 laps led

19. Erik Jones, one lap down

20. Daniel Suarez, one lap down

21. William Byron, one lap down

22. Ryan Preece, one lap down

23. Corey LaJoie, one lap down

24. Ryan Newman, one lap down

25. Michael McDowell, one lap down

26. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

27. Chase Briscoe, two laps down

28. Justin Haley, two laps down

29. Chris Buescher, three laps down

30. BJ McLeod, five laps down

31. Cody Ware, eight laps down

32. Anthony Alfredo, eight laps down

33. Garrett Smithley, 10 laps down

34. Josh Bilicki, 13 laps down

35. Quin Houff – OUT, Accident

36. James Davison – OUT, Clutch

37. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

The NASCAR Cup Series will be taking the next two weekends off for the Tokyo Summer Olympics before returning to action at Watkins Glen International on Sunday, August 8, which marks the series’ fifth road course event of 2021. The event is scheduled to occur at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

July 18, 2021
Elliott extends road course dominance with a win at Road America

In NASCAR’s six-plus decade return to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, on Independence Day weekend, Chase Elliott extended his road course skillsets after the reigning Cup Series champion rallied from starting at the rear of the field to lead the final 17 laps and muscle away from the field to win the Jockey Made in America 250 at Road America on Sunday, July 4, as he returned to Victory Lane in the Cup circuit following a one-month dry spell.

Qualifying occurred on Sunday, July 4, and William Byron claimed his sixth NASCAR Cup Series career pole position with a pole-winning lap at 110.359 mph. Teammate Kyle Larson joined him on the front row.

Prior to the event, Kyle Busch and Ryan Preece dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car. Justin Haley also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change along with Bubba Wallace due to a transmission change. Kyle Tilley, Josh Bilicki and Quin Houff started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective machines.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Byron peaked ahead with the lead through the first three turns. Through the Turn 4 straightaway and with the field fanning out to two and three lanes, Larson, who was battling AJ Allmendinger for the runner-up spot, also ignited an early challenge on teammate Byron for the lead from Turn 5 to Turn 9, but Byron maintained his advantage through the kink. As the field settled in a single-file line, Byron remained as the leader over Larson and Allmendinger from the kink to Turns 13 and 14.

When the field returned to the start/finish line, Byron maintained the lead over teammate Larson and led the first lap. Allmendinger remained in third place followed by Reddick and Austin Cindric. Ross Chastain was in sixth followed by Matt DiBenedetto, Daniel Suarez, Denny Hamlin and teammate Martin Truex Jr.

On the second lap, the first caution of the event flew when the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE piloted by Suarez came to a stop under the Corvette bridge in Turn 6 due to a transmission issue, an issue that required a wrecker to have Suarez’s car pushed back to pit road and the garage.

When the race restarted on the fourth lap, Byron retained the lead through the first three turns. Larson also maintained second place over Allmendinger and the field, which made its way through the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand fifth and sixth turns.

By the fifth lap and with the field settling in a single-file line, Byron was leading by nearly three-tenths of a second over teammate Larson, while Allmendinger, Reddick and Cindric continued to run in the top five. Chastain, meanwhile, retained sixth followed by Truex, DiBenedetto, Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman. By then, Joey Logano was in 12th behind Christopher Bell, Kurt Busch was in 14th, Chase Elliott was in 18th in between Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski was in 22nd in front of Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola was in 25th ahead of Ryan Newman and rookie Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace was mired back in 31st.

Then in Turn 5, Larson, who made a bid for the lead over teammate Byron, overshot the left-hand fifth turn, which allowed Allmendinger to move into the runner-up spot while Larson fell back to third in front of Reddick and Cindric.

The following lap, Ryan Preece pulled his No. 37 Kroger Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE off the course in Turn 5 and behind the wall due to an engine issue. Despite Preece’s exit, the race remained under green as Byron continued to lead by nearly a second over Allmendinger.

Through the first 10 laps of the event, Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE continued to lead by more than a second over Allmendinger’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Larson, racing in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, settled in third ahead of Reddick and Cindric while Chastain, Truex, Hamlin, DiBenedetto and Bell were in the top 10. By then, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch, both of whom started at the rear of the field, were in 14th and 16th.

During the 10th lap, Ty Dillon spun in the right-hand kink corner. Despite the spin, Dillon continued and the race remained under green. Shortly after, names like Cindric, DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch, Truex, Bubba Wallace, Aric Almirola, rookie Anthony Alfredo and Austin Dillon pitted. During the pit stops, Austin Dillon was busted with a pit road speeding penalty. Briscoe and Michael McDowell, both of whom pitted, were also penalized for driving through multiple pit stalls.

The following lap, the second caution of the event flew when Kyle Tilley got stuck in the gravel trap after overshooting Turn 9. The incident was enough for the first stage scheduled on Lap 14 to conclude under caution, and William Byron claimed his third stage victory of the season. Allmendinger settled in second followed by Larson, Reddick, Chastain, Hamlin, Bell, Bowman, Kurt Busch and Elliott.

Under the stage break, a multitude of competitors led by Byron pitted while the rest led by Martin Truex Jr. remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 16 with Truex and DiBenedetto on the front row. At the start, Cindric ignited his early bid for the lead as he pulled a three-wide move on Truex and DiBenedetto entering the first turn. By the third turn, Cindric emerged as the new leader. Through the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand fifth turn, Cindric was out in front of DiBenedetto while Kyle Busch muscle his way into third place.

When the field returned to the start/finish line, Cindric was out in front by two-tenths of a second over DiBenedetto, who started to challenge Cindric for the top spot. Kyle Busch moved up to third followed by teammate Truex and Bubba Wallace in the top five. Byron, meanwhile, was in sixth while Aric Almirola, Ty Dillon, Reddick and Hamlin were in the top 10. Larson was in 11th ahead of teammate Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Chastain and Allmendinger.

On Lap 18 and with a multitude of battles ensuing around the road course, DiBenedetto and Cindric engaged in a side-by-side battle for the lead through the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand fifth turn as Kyle Busch closely tucked himself behind the two leaders. While Cindric was able to retain a brief lead for another turn, DiBenedetto, though, was able to prevail for the lead in Turn 6 while Cindric retained the runner-up spot over Kyle Busch.

The following lap, Cody Ware punted Quin Houff in Turn 5, but the race remained under green as both continued.

By Lap 20, DiBenedetto, piloting the No. 21 Menards Ford Mustang, was leading by nearly a second over Cindric and his No. 33 Pirtek Ford Mustang. Kyle Busch, racing in his No. 18 Skittles American Mix Toyota Camry, was still in third followed by Truex and Byron. Reddick was in sixth followed by Larson, Wallace, Elliott and Hamlin.

Then in Turn 5, Hamlin overshot the corner and kicked up some gravel after his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry overshot the corner, with the driver taking evasive action to avoid hitting Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. The off-track ride dropped Hamlin from the top 10 to 16th behind Aric Almirola.

Two laps later, the battle for the lead ignited between DiBenedetto and Cindric, with the latter gaining a run through Turns 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 along with the kink corner. By then, Brad Keselowski was continuing from a spin in Turn 14.

In Turn 1 and during the following lap, Cindric returned to the lead. Four turns later, however, Cindric locked up the brakes and went wide, which allowed Kyle Busch to move into the lead through Turn 6. Then, things went from bad to worse for Cindric, who spun in Turn 8 and had to loop his car around to continue without drawing a caution. Despite continuing, Cindric was off the pace and he ended up nursing his car to his pit stall, where he then took his car to the garage due to a mechanical issue.

Back at the front, Kyle Busch, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity Series event at Road America and one of the Pocono Raceway doubleheader events last weekend, was leading by more than a second over DiBenedetto, with Truex, Reddick and Byron scored in the top five. By then, Corey LaJoie went off course, got loose and spun in Canada corner, but he continued despite kicking up dirt in the air.

By Lap 25, Kyle Busch was leading by more than a second over teammate Truex, with Reddick, Byron and DiBenedetto in the top five.

Not long after, names like Blaney, Elliott, Hamlin, Bowman, DiBenedetto, Allmendinger, Larson, Keselowski, Almirola, Chris Buescher, Bell, Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, McDowell, Alfredo, Cole Custer, Ty Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who had a flat tire, pitted under green. Kyle Busch and teammate Truex also pitted.

In the midst of the pit stops, Reddick emerged with the lead on Lap 27. With pit lane closed, Reddick was able to maintain his advantage for the next two laps before claiming the second stage victory on Lap 29 as he also claimed his first stage victory of the season. Byron settled in second, trailing by more than four seconds, followed by Chastain, Larson, Kurt Busch, Logano, Kevin Harvick, Wallace, Justin Haley and Kyle Busch. Earlier, Kurt Busch went off course in Turn 6, though he was able to remain in the top 10.

Under the stage break, a multitude of competitors led by Reddick pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch and Elliott remained on the track.

With 30 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Kyle Busch launched ahead with the lead followed by DiBenedetto through the first turn while Elliott slipped back to third. Busch maintained the lead through the first three turns and the Turn 4 straightaway as the field fanned out to two lanes while battling for positioning.

From Turn 5 to Canada corner, Busch continued to lead, but everything changed when DiBenedetto powered back into the lead entering Turn 12.

Through the first three turns, the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand fifth turn, DiBenedetto was the leader followed by Kyle Busch and Elliott while Hamlin and Briscoe were in the top five.

With 25 laps remaining, DiBenedetto was leading by two-tenths of a second over Elliott, who earlier made his way by Kyle Busch for the runner-up spot. Busch settled back in third ahead of teammate Hamlin and Bell. Briscoe, Bowman, Chris Buescher, Byron and McDowell were in the top 10.

Then, Elliott took over the lead for the first time of the day in Turn 1. By Turn 6, Elliott was out in front by a decent advantage over Kyle Busch, who dropped DiBenedetto back to third.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by more than four seconds over Kyle Busch, with Hamlin, Bell and DiBenedetto in the top five. Shortly after, Aric Almirola and Ryan Blaney pitted under green. Then, the caution flew when rookie Anthony Alfredo spun in Turn 1 and got stuck in the gravel trap as a result of a cut left-rear tire. The caution was well-timed for Blaney, who was having his front nose repaired following on-track contact.

Under caution, nearly all of the leaders led by Elliott pitted, except for Almirola and Blaney, both of whom pitted earlier and remained on track.

With 17 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Almirola led the field through the first turn while Kyle Busch followed pursuit. Then, Busch engaged in a brief battle with Almirola through the following two turns before he took the lead away entering Turn 3. Through Turn 5, Elliott charged his way up into the runner-up spot behind Busch as the field behind battled and fanned out to two lanes.

Entering the Canada corner, however, Elliott was able to reassume the lead over Kyle Busch as he maintained the top spot when he returned to the start/finish line and slowly started to pull away.

With 15 laps remaining, Elliott was leading by more than a second over Kyle Busch, with Hamlin, Larson and Almirola battling in the top five. Blaney was back in sixth followed by Bell, DiBenedetto, Bowman and Briscoe.

While Elliott and Kyle Busch continued to run in first and second, Larson was able to muscle his way into the third place over Hamlin in Turn 5.

A lap later, Byron, the pole-sitter, went off course in Turn 5, but the race remained under green.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Elliott remained as the leader by more than three seconds over Kyle Busch. Behind, Bell marched his No. 20 SiriusXM Toyota Camry into third place while Larson was in fourth ahead of Hamlin and Bowman. Kurt Busch, Briscoe, Almirola and DiBenedetto were in the top 10.

With six laps remaining, Bowman locked up his brakes and bumped his teammate Larson, sending Larson spinning in Turn 5. Following the contact, Bowman and Hamlin, both of whom sustained damage following the contact with Larson, moved up to fourth and fifth followed by Kurt Busch and Briscoe while Larson fell back to 11th.

Five laps later and with five laps remaining, Elliott continued to lead by nearly five seconds over Kyle Busch while third-place Christopher Bell trailed by six seconds. Bowman and Hamlin, meanwhile, remained in the top five ahead of Kurt Busch, Briscoe, Chastain, DiBenedetto, Reddick and Larson.

A lap later, Bell moved into the runner-up spot after overtaking teammate Kyle Busch, with Elliott still leading by more than six seconds.

Down to the final two laps, Elliott maintained an advantage of more than five seconds over Bell, with Kyle Busch trailing by eight seconds. Behind, Briscoe locked up his brakes entering Turn 5 and nearly ran into the rear of Hamlin, though he was able to continue and remain in sixth place while Hamlin and Kurt Busch battled for fourth.

When the final lap of the race started, Elliott was leading by less than six seconds over Bell. For one final time through the 14-turn circuit and with no challengers closing in, Elliott was able to cruise to the checkered flag and score the victory on the Fourth of July weekend as the crowd cheered.

With the victory in NASCAR’s first event at Road America since 1956, Elliott notched his second victory of the 2021 season, first since winning the rain-shortened event at the Circuit of the Americas in May, his seventh road course win and his 13th Cup Series career victory in his 205th series start. Elliott also recorded the 10th victory of the season for Hendrick Motorsports.

“I appreciate y’all [fans] coming out,” Elliott said on NBC. “Thank you for spending your Fourth of July with us. I hope you enjoyed the show. Man, it was a hot day, but a lot of fun, man. Just really proud of our team for overcoming some adversity early, having to start at the back, having good pit stops. [I] Had a really fast NAPA Chevy, so just so proud. We’ve had a rough few weeks, so [the win]’s really good.”

“I just never felt like I got in a real good rhythm all of yesterday,” Elliott added. “For whatever reason there, about halfway through the race, I started finding some of that rhythm, was able to put it together, piece different parts of the track and then finally, I felt like I was able to piece most of it together. [I] stayed with it and glad that it worked out.”

Bell, who won the Daytona Road Course event in February, came home in a strong second-place result for his third top-five result of the season, first since Richmond Raceway in April, followed by Kyle Busch, who achieved his ninth top-five result of the season.

“Yeah, I just, kind of, buried ourselves there,” Bell said. “We had that pit road penalty, but man, it was a lot of fun. Our SiriusXM Camry was really good and really proud of this No. 20 group. It’s been a trying last two months, but we feel like we’re getting back on track here, so there’s no reason why we can’t be running upfront every week.”

“[I] Just kept working at it,” Busch added. “[I] Kept trying to do what I needed to do for adjustments there. Just did not have the tire life that [Elliott] did. Just incredible that they could continue to just drive away from us. His braking was really good, but then, the drive-off out of the corners was just awesome. They out-beat us by far today. Proud of the Skittles bunch, everybody here on the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camrys did a good job. We all ran upfront, we had good speed. We showed that we’re close. That’s all we had for what [Elliott] seems like impossible. Overall, just a good day fighting through traffic…I feel like we’re in a good spot and hopefully, we’ll go get’em next week.”

Kurt Busch and Hamlin finished in the top five while rookie Chase Briscoe achieved his second top-10 result in the Cup Series by finishing sixth. Chastain, Reddick, Truex and DiBenedetto finished in the top 10.

Austin Dillon finished 11th, Keselowski settled in 13th in front of Almirola and Logano, Larson ended up in 16th following his late dust-up with teammate Bowman, Chris Buescher finished 18th in front of Erik Jones and Blaney and Bowman, who pitted following his contact with Larson, ended up in 22nd.

Bubba Wallace came home in 24th, Kevin Harvick ended up in 27th behind Ty Dillon, AJ Allmendinger ended up in 29th in front of McDowell and pole-sitter William Byron fell all the way back to 33rd.

There were 10 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured four cautions for nine laps.

With six races remaining until the 2021 Cup Playoffs commences, Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by three points over Kyle Larson. Currently, 11 competitors (Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell) are guaranteed Playoff spots based on winning at least once throughout the regular season. Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick and Kurt Busch occupy the remaining five vacant spots as winless competitors, with Kurt Busch ahead by 25 points over Chris Buescher, 69 over Ross Chastain, 70 over Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 74 over Matt DiBenedetto, 79 over Bubba Wallace and 88 over Daniel Suarez.

Results.

1. Chase Elliott, 24 laps led

2. Christopher Bell

3. Kyle Busch, four laps led

4. Kurt Busch

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Chase Briscoe

7. Ross Chastain

8. Tyler Reddick, five laps led, Stage 2 winner

9. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led

10. Matt DiBenedetto, 10 laps led

11. Austin Dillon

12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

13. Brad Keselowski

14. Aric Almirola, one lap led

15. Joey Logano

16. Kyle Larson

17. Cole Custer

18. Chris Buescher

19. Erik Jones

20. Ryan Blaney

21. Corey LaJoie

22. Alex Bowman

23. Josh Bilicki

24. Bubba Wallace

25. Justin Haley

26. Ty Dillon

27. Kevin Harvick

28. James Davison

29. AJ Allmendinger

30. Michael McDowell

31. Cody Ware

32. Ryan Newman

33. William Byron, 15 laps led, Stage 1 winner

34. Quin Houff

35. Kyle Tilley, two laps down

36. Daniel Suarez, nine laps down

37. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Brakes

38. Austin Cindric – OUT, Rear gear, two laps led

39. Ryan Eversley – OUT, Rear gear

40. Ryan Preece – OUT, Engine

Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Atlanta Motor Speedway for the series’ second visit to Hampton, Georgia this season. The event is slated to occur on Sunday, July 11, at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

July 4, 2021