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Tag: NASCAR Cup Series

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Bristol Dirt

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Bristol Dirt

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished third at Bristol in the first NASCAR race on dirt since 1970.

    “I have six top-five finishes in seven races so far this season,” Hamlin said. “So, I guess I’m already in championship form, which always seems to be the case with me, until it’s time to decide the championship.”

    2. Joey Logano: Logano dominated the final stage at Bristol and pulled away to win the Food City Dirt Race.

    “The No. 22 Penske Ford was great at the end,” Logano said. “We left all the contenders in the dust. As a matter of fact, as you would expect on a dirt oval track, everybody was ‘left’ in the dust.”

    3. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished 11th at Bristol.

    “That’s two straight wins for Penske Racing,” Keselowski said. “One on asphalt and one on dirt. Me? I’d just settle for ‘one.’”

    4. Kyle Larson: Larson was caught up in Christopher Bell’s early spin, and the ensuing repairs cost him two laps. Larson eventually finished 29th, five laps down.

    “Bell did me dirt-y,” Larson said, “so he’s gonna have to pay for this. Isn’t he supposed to be a dirt-track expert? Consider me not impressed. I guess his reputation on dirt just became a reputation of dirt.”

    5. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished eighth at Bristol, posting his fourth top 10 of the year.

    “It was a wild weekend in Bristol,” Blaney said. “It’s like Mother Nature and Joe Dirt got together, shacked up in a double-wide, and birthed BMS’s dirt track.”

    6. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished 15th at Bristol.

    “Tony Stewart is frustrated that NASCAR gave the dirt track race to Bristol and not his Eldora Speedway,” Harvick said. “After all Tony’s done for this sport, it’s pretty awful for NASCAR to treat him like dirt over dirt. As a result, Tony’s showing his ass in addition to other body parts, like the cold shoulder, and the middle finger.”

    7. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex won Stage 1 at Bristol but faded late and finished 19th.

    “That was my first Trucks series win,” Truex said. “And it’s one I’m going to remember a long time from now, especially if I can’t get the taste of Tennessee red clay out of my mouth.”

    8. William Byron: Byron finished sixth at Bristol, scoring the best finish for Hendrick Motorsports.

    “I don’t mind racing on dirt,” Byron said. “Heck, if it’s dry, it’s practically like racing on a paved surface. And the few fans there seemed to love it too. Even though there were only 30,000 of them in attendance, the place was ‘packed.’”

    9. Chase Elliott: Elliott took 10th in Bristol’s rain-delayed dirt race.

    “NASCAR announced during the race that next year’s spring race at Bristol would also be on dirt,” Elliott said. “That’s also known as NASCAR ‘soiling themselves.’”

    10. Christopher Bell: Bell spun on Lap 51, collecting Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain in his wake. Bell’s day was done, and he finished 34th.

    “The accident was certainly my fault,” Bell said. “And both Kyle and Ross have said as much. Kyle especially. He’s been very outspoken in his criticism of me. But I’m no pushover. All I have to say to Kyle is, ‘Watch what you say.’”

  • Logano conquers inaugural Bristol Dirt Course

    Logano conquers inaugural Bristol Dirt Course

    In the first NASCAR Cup Series-sanctioned race on the dirt in half a century, Joey Logano made a late charge to the front and prevailed on an overtime restart to win the inaugural Food City Dirt Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course on Monday, March 29.

    Qualifying was initially set to occur on Saturday, March 27, featuring four 15-lap qualifying heat events and the starting lineup was based on a formula weighing the results and position gained during each heat. The qualifying heats, however, were cancelled due to rain, and the starting lineup was determined by qualifying metrics, based on race/points results and the fastest lap from the previous Cup race. 

    Kyle Larson was awarded the pole position based on the metric formula, but he started at the rear of the field due to an engine change. The move propelled Denny Hamlin, the regular-season points leader, to the front row along with Ryan Blaney, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Along with Larson, Matt DiBenedetto and Michael McDowell dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

    Delayed by weather and steady rain, the race was delayed from starting on Sunday, March 28, as the main event commenced on Monday, March 29. When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Hamlin launched his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry ahead with an early advantage on the outside lane as he led the first lap ahead of teammate Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney.

    The following lap, Kyle Busch powered his No. 18 M&M’s Messages Toyota Camry to the lead. Shortly after, teammate Martin Truex Jr., winner of the Truck Series event at the Bristol Dirt Course, moved into second place as Hamlin dropped to third place. Behind, Blaney was in fourth followed by Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman and William Byron.

    On the ninth lap, Truex emerged as the new leader of the event while Kyle Busch, who fell off the pace, pitted due to an overheating issue.

    By Lap 15 and with the dirt kicking up on the cars through every turn, Truex was leading by more than a second over Blaney, who was locked in a battle with the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by Byron. Hamlin and Bowman were in the top five followed by Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon and Ryan Newman. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson, one of NASCAR’s dirt specialists who started at the rear of the field due to an engine change, was up into 18th place.

    Through the first 30 laps of the event, Truex continued to lead as he was ahead by two seconds over Blaney. Teammates Bowman and Byron battled for third and fourth while Christopher Bell, one of the favorites as a dirt racing specialist, moved his No. 20 IRWIN Toyota Camry into fifth place. By then, Larson was in 12th. Kyle Busch, on the other hand, was in 38th place and trapped two laps behind the leaders.

    Not long after, Bowman slipped his way into the runner-up spot. In addition, Byron slipped his way on the inside lane in the dirt to take over third place, thus dropping Blaney to fourth. 

    On Lap 41, the first caution of the NASCAR Cup Series’ dirt event at Bristol flew due to a vicious multi-car wreck in the backstretch that involved Corey LaJoie, Stewart Friesen, Shane Golobic, rookie Anthony Alfredo and Aric Almirola, whose No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang sustained heavy damage after being hit three different times. The wreck, which occurred in front of the leaders, was enough for NASCAR to display the red flag, with the event being stopped for six and a half minutes.

    When the red flag was lifted and the race returned to racing under green on Lap 45, Truex retained the lead following a strong restart. Teammate Bell moved up into second place followed by teammate Hamlin while Bowman fell back to fourth ahead of Ryan Newman and Byron. Larson, meanwhile, moved up to seventh.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when contact from Byron sent Newman around in the backstretch. Fortunately, the field dodged Newman as he continued without any serious damage. In the midst of Newman’s incident, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick and rookie Chase Briscoe made contact with one another, where Harvick pinned Briscoe’s car against the outside wall and resulted with both competitors sustaining damage. Cody Ware was also involved in a separate incident with his car coming to a rest towards the backstretch’s inside wall.

    The incident was enough to send the field to the first scheduled competition caution on Lap 50. Under the competition caution, the field pitted and the teams were placed on a three-minute clock to work on the adjustments of the cars.

    When the field returned to the track and the race returned to green on Lap 51, Truex retained the lead followed by teammate Bell and Bowman. Larson charged up to fourth place followed by Hamlin and Daniel Suarez.

    Shortly after, the caution returned when Bell ran up the track in Turn 1 and entering the backstretch, got loose and spun in the dirt, collecting Larson and Ross Chastain, who ran into Larson’s No. 5 Freightliner Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE after having his path blocked. Teammates Harvick and Briscoe also sustained damage along with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    Under caution, Larson drove his damaged car into the rear bumper of Bell’s car to express his displeasure as both competitors pitted for heavy damage on both of their cars. Bell and Chastain were knocked out of the race following the incident while Larson continued, though he dropped off the lead lap.

    When the race restarted on Lap 59, Truex retained the lead following a strong start while Suarez moved up into second place. Byron and Blaney were in third and fourth followed by Stenhouse and Hamlin. Chase Elliott and Logano were in seventh and eighth followed by Chris Buescher. Tyler Reddick, Bowman, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Newman

    By Lap 70, the No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry driven by Truex remained as the leader by nearly a second over Suarez while Byron, Blaney and Hamlin continued to run in the top five. Logano was in sixth while Elliott and Bubba Wallace battled for seventh. Stenhouse and Newman were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, who returned to the lead lap under the first competition caution, was in 17th behind brother Kurt Busch.

    Ten laps later, Truex stabilized his advantage to less than two seconds over the No. 99 Camping World Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by Suarez while third-place Byron was trailing by less than three seconds. Hamlin was in fourth ahead of Team Penske’s Blaney and Logano while Wallace was in seventh ahead of Elliott. Newman and Stenhouse continued to run in the top 10 and just ahead of Buescher, Reddick, Ryan Preece, Erik Jones and Bowman. The Busch brothers were in 17th and 18th, Harvick was in 20th, Brad Keselowski was in 23rd in between Michael McDowell and Stewart Friesen and Briscoe was in 25th in front of Austin Dillon.

    Through the first 90 laps of the event, Truex’s advantage increased to more than two seconds over Suarez, with Byron closing in on Suarez’s rear bumper for the runner-up spot. 

    With early action igniting in the inaugural Cup Bristol dirt event, Truex was able to cruise to the first stage victory on Lap 100 and become the ninth different competitor to record a stage victory through the first seven Cup events of the 2021 season. Byron crossed the start/finish line in second place followed by Hamlin, Suarez and Blaney. Logano, Wallace, Newman, Stenhouse and Buescher were scored in the top 10. By then, 24 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap, with names like Briscoe and Austin Dillon pinned a lap behind. Larson, meanwhile, was in 30th, two laps behind the leaders.

    Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road as the teams were given three minutes to service the cars.

    The second stage started on Lap 101 with Truex and Byron on the front row. At the start, Truex retained the lead and Suarez reassumed second place on the outside of Byron while Logano made a charge for fourth place against Hamlin. Newman, following his early spin, charged his way back into sixth place ahead of Wallace and Blaney as the dirt was kicking up around the track in the midst of the competitive racing.

    By Lap 110, Truex was ahead by nearly a second over Suarez while Byron, Logano and Hamlin were in the top five. Newman, Wallace, Blaney, Buescher and Chase Elliott were in the top 10 followed by Reddick, Erik Jones, Bowman, Matt DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch.

    With the field reaching the halfway point on Lap 125, Truex remained in command of the field by less than a second over Suarez while third-place Byron was trailing by less than two seconds. Logano continued to run in fourth place followed by Hamlin and Newman.

    Not long after, Suarez started to close in on Truex’s rear bumper for the lead as he was behind by three-tenths of a second. Byron also started to close in with his deficit being a second behind.

    On Lap 134, Suarez, who came into the main event with little dirt racing experience and in his seventh race with the newly formed Trackhouse Racing Team, put the bumper on Truex to move Truex out of the racing groove in Turn 3 and assume the lead in Turn 4. Not long after, Byron moved into second place while Truex dropped back to third place ahead of Logano and Newman.

    By Lap 140, Suarez was ahead by a narrow margin over Byron while Truex continued to retain third place over Logano and Newman.

    When the second competition caution flew on Lap 150, Suarez remained as the leader over Byron, Truex, Logano and Newman. 

    Under the second competition caution, the leaders returned to pit road for tires and service.

    When the race restarted on Lap 152, Suarez and Byron battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns before Suarez prevailed on the outside lane. Not long after, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck on the frontstretch that started when in the midst of the dust, Kyle Busch ran into Blaney’s No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang, turning him and stacking up the oncoming competitors behind. The incident also involved Austin Dillon, Bowman, Michael McDowell, Ryan Preece, Cody Ware, J.J. Yeley and Larson.

    The race restarted on Lap 158, and Suarez retained the lead following a strong start. Behind, Logano was able to take over second place while Byron and Truex battled for third place. Two laps later, however, the caution returned due to a single-car incident on the frontstretch involving Briscoe, who was turned by Keselowski.

    Following the recent wrecks and the rising dust amid the restarts, NASCAR announced that the competitors will restart in a single-file line, not double lanes, for the remainder of the race.

    When the race restarted on Lap 169, Logano challenged Suarez for the lead, but Suarez was able to retain the top spot. Behind, Truex was in third followed by teammate Hamlin, Byron, Newman, Elliott, Wallace, Reddick and Stenhouse.

    By Lap 180, Suarez remained as the leader by half a second over Logano with Truex, teammate Hamlin and Byron remaining in the top five. 

    Six laps later, the caution flew due to an incident involving Cody Ware and J.J. Yeley in Turn 3.

    On Lap 190, the race restarted and Suarez continued to lead, though Logano mounted another challenge for the lead. The following lap, Logano, following a brief battle with Suarez, emerged with a narrow advantage, though Suarez refused to give in.

    By Lap 195, Logano was leading by nearly half a second over Suarez while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin and Truex battled for third place. 

    Following his late surge to the front, Logano was able to come back around and win the second stage on Lap 200. Suarez settled in second place followed by Hamlin, teammate Truex and Newman while Stenhouse, Wallace, Erik Jones, Reddick and Elliott were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road for adjustments. In addition, the teams were given approximately 10 minutes to work on the cars to allow track officials to work on the track in preparation for the final stage.

    With 48 laps remaining, the final stage started with Logano remaining as the leader. At the start, Hamlin jumped to the outside lane to take the runner-up spot over Suarez. He then went to work on Logano for the lead while Truex started to close in on Suarez for third place. 

    Five laps later, Hamlin drew himself alongside Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, with both competitors locked in a heated battle for the lead in the dirt. Following a lengthy side-by-side battle, Logano retained the lead by a narrow margin over Hamlin.

    While Logano and Hamlin battled for the lead, Suarez remained in third place ahead of Truex, Newman and Tyler Reddick. Not long after, Reddick moved into the top five after overtaking Newman’s No. 6 Oscar Mayer Ford Mustang.

    Under the final 35 laps of the event, Wallace’s hopes for a top-10 result evaporated when contact from Stenhouse sent Wallace around and cut the left-rear tire on Wallace’s No. 23 DoorDash Toyota Camry. He was able to limp back to pit road and have the tire changed.

    With 30 laps remaining and the dirt continuing to kick up, Logano extended his advantage to under half a second over Hamlin with third-place Suarez trailing by three seconds. Truex and Reddick were in the top five followed by Newman, Stenhouse, Byron, teammate Elliott and Jones. By then, the leaders were mired in heavy, lapped traffic.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Logano remained as the leader, but by less than half a second over Hamlin. Behind, Truex moved into third place over Suarez.

    Five laps later, Logano continued to lead by nearly half a second over Hamlin, with Logano starting to catch Bowman, Briscoe and Austin Dillon to lap them.

    With 10 laps remaining, Logano was still leading by a reasonable margin over Hamlin. Meanwhile, Truex was trailing the two leaders by less than three seconds.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Logano extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Hamlin, who was still navigating his way through lapped traffic.

    Just then, the caution flew due to Mike Marlar spinning on the frontstretch due to a flat tire. The caution all but evaporated Logano’s advantage of more than three seconds over Hamlin, who was briefly overtaken by teammate Truex after Hamlin made contact with the outside wall while trying to close back in on Logano. By then, Stenhouse was in fourth followed by Suarez, Reddick, Newman, Byron, Jones and Blaney.

    The race restarted in overtime. At the start, Logano took off with the lead while Stenhouse mounted a challenge on Hamlin to take over the runner-up spot. Truex, meanwhile, fell off the pace after losing a tire.

    When the final lap initiated, Logano was still leading while Stenhouse was able to overtake Hamlin for the runner-up spot.

    With no challengers mounting close behind, Logano, who came into the event with little dirt experience, was able to come back around and claim the checkered flag ahead of Stenhouse.

    By winning the first stock car event on the Bristol Dirt Course, Logano became the first competitor to win a Cup event on dirt since Richard Petty made the last accomplishment at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in September 1970. Logano also became the seventh different winner through the first seven Cup events of the 2021 season as he also collected his 27th career victory in NASCAR’s premier series.

    “Man, it’s incredible!” Logano exclaimed on FOX. “How about Bristol on dirt, guys?! This is incredible! Unbelievable racetrack! Great job by everybody that prepped the track. Obviously, a lot of work over here the last few days. We did a lot of work in the dirt department here the last few weeks…I was getting nervous. There were so many first-time winners and different winners than there has typically been. I said, ‘We’ve got to get a win to make sure we get in the Playoffs,’ so it’s amazing to get this Shell/Pennzoil Mustang into victory lane at Bristol. There’s nothing like winning at Bristol, but putting dirt on it and being the first to do it is really special.”

    “Everyone at Team Penske really put together some really good cars to come here and wing it,” Logano added. “That’s what this is about. Nobody really knew what to put in the car and we were able to adjust the right way throughout practice and get into victory lane. It’s great.”

    Stenhouse crossed the finish line in an impressive second-place result and for his first top-five result in nearly a year followed by Hamlin, who secured his sixth top-five result of this season. Behind, Suarez notched a strong fourth-place result for his first top-five result since November 2019 and for a career-best result for the newly formed Trackhouse Racing Team. Newman finished in fifth place for his first top-five result since October 2019. 

    “Yeah, our Kroger Camaro was really good on the long run; we needed a little bit more NOS Energy Drink for the restarts,” Stenhouse said. “I just couldn’t get going, couldn’t get the turn in the race car that we needed. But, we made a ton of adjustments and we kind of went back and forth overnight of what we were going to do…Man, we had a blast. At the start of the race, I was terrible with the green race track and a little bit of moisture in it. But as it blew off, we got back to where we were in practice and felt really good with it. A good way to go into the off week. I’m going to go run my sprint car with my dad this weekend. Hope everyone has a good Easter.”

    “I thought I could, on that last restart, run the top-end hard, but they didn’t prep it in-between cautions like they did before, so it was just marbles up there,” Hamlin said. “I’m proud of this whole FedEx Camry team. Man, I thought I had a shot there. I cut t[Logano] too many breaks there when he was cutting us off, but at the end of the day it looked like he had a little bit better car in the long run. I’m proud of this whole team. We are third-best again.”

    “To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing,” Suarez said. “But, we’re having fun. Everyone at Trackhouse Racing did an amazing job. This is the second week in a row that we’ve had very fast race cars capable of running in the fop-five, top-10. I couldn’t be more proud of all these guys [like] Justin Marks, Ty Norris, and everyone that helps in this program…Everyone has been a huge support of myself. It just feels so good to be back. It’s been a little bit difficult the last year, and it feels so good to be able to race with these guys and to have some fun up front. Hopefully, our time will come soon.”

    Byron, Reddick, Blaney, Jones and Elliott finished in the top 10.

    Harvick finished 15th, Kyle Busch finished 17th behind brother Kurt, Truex dropped all the way back to 19th after leading a race-high 126 laps, Briscoe was the highest-finishing rookie in 20th, Stewart Friesen finished 23rd in his Cup debut, Wallace settled in 27th and Larson ended his long run in 29th.

    Following an eventful, successful first-year run of the NASCAR Bristol Dirt Course event, NASCAR announced that the event will return in Spring 2022.

    There were five lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 39 laps. 

    Following the first seven NASCAR Cup Series races of the 2021 season, Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 58 points over Logano, 80 over Truex, 85 over Larson and 95 over Keselowski.

    Results.

    1. Joey Logano, 61 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    3. Denny Hamlin, one lap led

    4. Daniel Suarez, 58 laps led

    5. Ryan Newman

    6. William Byron

    7. Tyler Reddick

    8. Ryan Blaney 

    9. Erik Jones

    10. Chase Elliott

    11. Brad Keselowski

    12. Michael McDowell

    13. Matt DiBenedetto

    14. Chris Buescher

    15. Kevin Harvick

    16. Kurt Busch

    17. Kyle Busch, seven laps led

    18. Ryan Preece

    19. Martin Truex Jr., 126 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    20. Chase Briscoe, one lap down

    21. Austin Dillon, one lap down

    22. Alex Bowman, one lap down

    23. Stewart Friesen, one lap down

    24. Cole Custer, one lap down

    25. Quin Houff, one lap down

    26. Ty Dillon, one lap down

    27. Bubba Wallace, two laps down

    28. J.J. Yeley, four laps down

    29. Kyle Larson, five laps down

    30. Josh Bilicki, six laps down

    31. Mike Marlar – OUT, Accident

    32. Cody Ware, 11 laps down

    33. Chris Windom – OUT, Engine

    34. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

    35. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident

    36. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

    37. Shane Golobic – OUT, Accident

    38. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

    39. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

    The NASCAR Cup Series will enter a one-week Easter break before returning at Martinsville Speedway in Henry County, Ridgeway, Virginia, for the series’ first Saturday night race of the season on April 10. The event is slated to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Updated weekend schedule for Bristol Dirt races

    Updated weekend schedule for Bristol Dirt races

    Due to steady rain and flooding in the area, NASCAR has postponed both the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) Food City Dirt Race and NASCAR Camping World Trucks (NCWTS) Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt until Monday. The NCWTS will race at 12 noon ET Monday, broadcast on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio followed by the NCS race at 4 p.m. ET, to be broadcast on FOX, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    The NASCAR Cup Series and the Camping World Truck Series head to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend for some much-anticipated dirt track racing. It will be the first time since 1970 that the Cup Series has competed on a dirt track.

    Both series will have practice sessions and heat races before the main events.

    The lineup for the 15-lap heat races will be determined by a random draw. Only green flag laps will count.

    After the qualifying heat races, the starting lineups for the Cup Series and Truck Series races will be determined by a formula that takes into account the finishing position plus any positions gained during each heat.

    Drivers who finish first in their heat will earn 10 points with second place earning nine points, third place earning eight points, and so on. Also, the drivers will earn passing points for each position they gained during their heat race. All of these factors will be used to calculate the starting lineup for the main events. If there are any ties, they will be broken by current team owner points.

    Because of safety concerns, there will be no green or yellow flag pit stops during the races. All adjustments, tire changes and adding fuel are only allowed during stage breaks with the exception of vehicles involved in incidents.

    Teams, however, are not required to pit during the stage breaks. If any competitors elect not to pit, they will line up ahead of those that pit, on the restart. For those that choose to pit, NASCAR will implement a controlled pit stop system that does not allow vehicles to race on to or off pit road.

    Notes:

    During the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt and the Cup Series Food City Dirt Race, caution-flag laps will count, while, as indicated above, only green-flag laps will count for the qualifying heats.

    The choose rule which allows each driver to pick either the inside or outside line for restarts will not be in effect. The race leader will select the lane they prefer and serve as the control car on all restarts.

    The Truck Series field will be comprised of 40 drivers, 35 from the heat races and five provisional slots based on 2021 owner points. The Cup Series field has 39 entries and all drivers will transfer to the main event.

    NASCAR announced the following changes Saturday afternoon:

    Stages lengths for the Cup Series race: Stage 1 will end on Lap 100 (previously Lap 75) and Stage 2 will end on Lap 200 (previously Lap 150).

    Competition cautions for the Cup Series race: There will be two competition cautions, on Lap 50 and Lap 150 at the halfway point of each stage. This will allow the teams a chance to pit and will also give NASCAR two more opportunities for track preparation. Laps for stage breaks and during competition cautions will not count once the free pass car has been sent around.

    Each team will receive one additional set of tires, for a total of six.

    All times are Eastern.

    Thursday, March 25

    4 p.m.: Cup Series random drawing to determine the starting grid for qualifying heat races (No TV)
    4:15 p.m.: Truck Series random drawing to determine the starting grid for qualifying heat races (No TV)

    Friday, March 26

    3:05 PM 3:55 p.m.: Truck Series First Practice – FS1
    4:05 PM 4:55 p.m.: Cup Series First Practice – FS1
    5:35 PM 6:25 p.m.: Truck Series Final Practice – FS1
    6:35 PM 7:25 p.m.: Cup Series Final Practice – FS1

    Saturday, March 27

    4:30 p.m.: Truck Series First Qualifying Race (15 Laps) FS1 (11 trucks) – Canceled
    4:45 p.m.: Truck Series Second Qualifying Race (15 Laps) FS1 (11 trucks) – Canceled
    5:00 p.m.: Truck Series Third Qualifying Race (15 Laps) FS1 (11 trucks) – Canceled
    5:15 p.m.: Truck Series Fourth Qualifying Race (15 Laps) FS1 (11 trucks) – Canceled
    6:00 p.m.: Cup Series First Qualifying Race (15 Laps) FS1 (10 cars) – Canceled
    6:15 p.m.: Cup Series Second Qualifying Race (15 Laps) FS1 (10 cars) – Canceled
    6:30 p.m.: Cup Series Third Qualifying Race (15 Laps) FS1 (10 cars) – Canceled
    6:45 p.m.: Cup Series Fourth Qualifying Race (15 Laps) FS1 (9 cars) – Canceled
    8 p.m.: Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt (Stages 40/90/150 Laps = 75 Miles) FS1/ MRN/ SiriusXM NASCAR Radio – Postponed

    Sunday, March 28 – Postponed to Monday, March 29

    3:30 p.m.: Cup Series Food City Dirt Race (Stages 75/150/250 Laps = 125 Miles) (FOX/PRN/TSN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio – Postponed to Monday, March 29 at 4 p.m. and will air on FOX/PRN/TSN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    9 p.m.: Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt (Stages 40/90/150 Laps = 75 Miles) FS2/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio – Postponed to Monday, March, 29 at noon and will air on FS1/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Atlanta

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Atlanta

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished fourth at Atlanta, posting his fifth top-five of the season.

    “I accidentally sent Kurt Busch into the wall on a restart,” Hamlin said. “Hopefully, Kurt will understand that just as I had no intentions of wrecking him, I have no intentions of apologizing.”

    2. Kyle Larson: Larson swept the first two stages at Atlanta, but couldn’t hold off Ryan Blaney, who passed Larson with eight laps to go. Larson held on for second and is second in the points standings.

    “I did everything but win,” Larson said. “It hurts. Luckily, I have a crew chief in Cliff Daniels who will let me complain all I want. And he also knows that when I’m done, the last three words I want to hear are, ‘I hear you.’”

    3. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished ninth at Atlanta, joining Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch in the top 10.

    “We’re off to Bristol for the next race,” Truex said. “I don’t think anyone really knows how it will turn out. It could be a circus, or it could be the greatest show on ‘earth.’”

    4. Joey Logano: Logano finished 15th at Atlanta.

    “Xfinity drivers Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric traded punches after their race on Saturday,” Logano said. “I’m not sure if either really connected, but if Tim Richmond was alive today, he would surely give them credit for ‘swinging.’”

    5. Brad Keselowski: Contact with Martin Truex Jr. damaged the front of Keselowski’s No. 2 Penske Mustang and Keselowski limped home with a 28th-place finish.

    “I’m in the middle of contract renewal negotiations with Penske Racing,” Keselowski said. “Roger Penske has assured me he wants me to stick around, so much like my performance at Atlanta, ‘I’m not going anywhere.’”

    6. Ryan Blaney: Blaney passed Kyle Larson with eight laps to go and pulled away to win the Folds Of Honor Qwik Trip 500 by over two seconds.

    “I gave the checkered flag to a young fan in the stands,” Blaney said. “That’s something he’ll treasure for the rest of his life, or, at the very least, as long as the funds from its sale on eBay will last.”

    7. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished 10th at Atlanta despite having to make a green flag pit stop due to a flat tire.

    “Tony Stewart is engaged to NHRA drag racer Leah Pruett,” Harvick said. “When she walks down the aisle, it will be ¼-mile long. If you would have mentioned ‘tying the knot’ to Tony 10 years ago, he would have adamantly refused to undergo lap-band surgery.”

    8. Chase Elliott: Elliott’s engine blew 220 laps into the Folds Of Honor Qwik Trip 500. He finished 38th.

    “When NASCAR’s most popular drivers blow an engine,” Elliott said, “it’s a big deal. When he does it in his home state of Georgia, it sends shock waves throughout the sport. And the sound it makes is ‘GA boom!’”

    9. Christopher Bell: Bell finished 21st at Atlanta, only his second result outside of the top 10 this season.

    “My Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch won the Trucks Series race on Friday night,” Bell said. “That was his 60th Trucks win. That means that 60 times, Kyle won a race against inferior competition that he was supposed to.”

    10. William Byron: Byron came home eighth at Atlanta as Hendrick Motorsports placed three cars in the top 10.

    “NASCAR used COVID-19 sniffing dogs to test team members at Atlanta,” Byron said. “It may very well be the first time anyone at a NASCAR race has passed the ‘smell test.’”

  • Blaney perseveres late for a Cup victory at Atlanta

    Blaney perseveres late for a Cup victory at Atlanta

    In a late turn of events, Ryan Blaney overtook a dominating Kyle Larson and surged ahead under the final 10 laps to win the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 21, and claim his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2021 season.

    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, the regular-season points leader, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Martin Truex Jr., Hamlin’s teammate and winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Phoenix Raceway.

    Prior to the race, Chase Elliott and Timmy Hill dropped to the rear of the field due to multiple pre-race inspection failures. For Hill, he was also assessed a pass-through penalty through pit road and his car chief was ejected due to his car failing pre-race inspection three times. Quin Houff also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. 

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Hamlin pulled away with a strong start followed by Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick while Truex fell back to fourth. Behind, the field fanned out through two lanes.

    Following the first lap, Hamlin was out in front while Harvick and Logano battled for the runner-up spot. Through Turn 2, Truex gained a run on both Harvick and Logano, but Harvick blocked and stalled Truex’s momentum. 

    Through the first five laps of the event, Hamlin continued to lead by a narrow margin over Harvick with Logano trailing by less than half a second. Kyle Larson, making his 350th NASCAR national touring series start and who started sixth, moved up to fourth followed by teammate William Byron. Truex, meanwhile, fell back to sixth while Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski were in the top 10.

    Over the next two laps, Larson advanced to third place over Logano, who was also pressured by Byron, who started ninth, for position. Behind, Truex was in sixth ahead of Blaney, Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon, all of whom were locked in a heated battle for position.

    By Lap 10, Hamlin was ahead by half a second over Larson, who continued to muscle his way to the front with Harvick behind by a second. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick made an unscheduled pit stop after making early contact with the outside wall. 

    While Hamlin and Larson pulled away from the field and by nearly two seconds over third-place Harvick, teammates Logano and Ryan Blaney battled for fifth place, Kyle Busch, winner of the Truck Series event at Atlanta and who started 19th, moved up into seventh place while Truex continued to lose positions. By Lap 16, he was in 10th after being overtaken by the Busch brothers and Austin Dillon.

    By Lap 20, Hamlin extended his advantage to more than a second over Larson with Harvick trailing by more than three seconds. Byron and Blaney, who started 10th, were in the top five followed by Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Logano, Austin Dillon and Truex. Brad Keselowski, meanwhile, was back in 12th behind Alex Bowman, who was making his 250th NASCAR national touring series start. Chase Elliott, on the other hand, was up in 16th after starting at the rear of the field.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Hamlin remained in the lead by more than half a second over Larson with Harvick, Blaney and Kyle Busch in the top five, thus dropping Byron to sixth place. By then, 31 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap. 

    Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Larson emerged with the lead over Hamlin followed by Harvick, Blaney and Kyle Busch. Following the pit stops, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Corey LaJoie were sent to the rear of the field after both were busted for speeding on pit road.

    Prior to the restart, Harvick returned to pit road after his No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang suffered a flat left-rear tire.

    When the race restarted on Lap 30, Larson and Hamlin were locked in a heated battle for the lead through the first two turns. Hamlin received a push from Blaney to squeak ahead on the outside lane entering Turn 3, but Larson fought back on the inside lane to retain the lead when the field returned to the start/finish line.

    Shortly after, Blaney overtook Hamlin for second, who was also pressured by Kurt Busch’s No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. While Kurt Busch and Hamlin battled for third place, Kyle Busch battled Logano for fifth place. 

    By Lap 35, Larson continued to lead by nearly half a second over Blaney. Behind, Kurt Bush and Hamlin continued to battle for third place.

    Five laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than a second over Blaney with Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch in the top five. Bowman, teammate Byron, Logano, Truex and Keselowski were in the top 10. By then, Elliott was up in 11th ahead of Matt DiBenedetto, Cole Custer, teammate Aric Almirola and Ryan Newman. Christopher Bell was in 16th, Austin Dillon was back in 18th, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez were in 21st and 22nd ahead of Michael McDowell and Austin Cindric, making his second Cup career start, was in 24th ahead of Erik Jones. Rookies Chase Briscoe and Anthony Alfredo were in 28th and 29th while Harvick was back in 32nd place, the final car on the lead lap. Tyler Reddick was in 33rd, two laps behind the leaders.

    By Lap 50, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE piloted by Larson was out in front of the field and by more than two seconds over Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry. Blaney, racing in the BODYARMOR Ford Mustang, continued to run in third place ahead of a charging No. 18 M&M’s Messages Toyota Camry driven by Kyle Busch. Brother Kurt was in fifth ahead of Bowman, Truex, Byron, Keselowski and Elliott.

    Ten laps later, Larson continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by over three seconds over Hamlin with teammate Kyle Busch trailing in third place by less than four seconds. While Blaney and Kurt Busch continued to run in the top five, Elliott moved up to eighth place ahead of teammate Byron and Keselowski.

    Another four laps later, pit stops under green commenced as Hamlin pitted followed by race leader Larson, DiBenedetto, Almirola, Blaney, Bowman, Kurt Busch, Logano, Harvick, Keselowski, Truex, Elliott, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch, Byron, Bubba Wallace and others. 

    By Lap 67 and with most of the leaders pitting under green, Larson was back out in front by more than a second over Hamlin with teammate Kyle Busch retaining third place. Meanwhile, Harvick, who was in 27th, was able to remain ahead of leader Larson and on the lead lap. 

    Through the first 75 laps of the event and with the leaders mired around lapped traffic, Larson was the leader by more than three seconds over Hamlin with teammate Kyle Busch behind by four seconds. Blaney was in fourth while Bowman, racing in his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, moved up to fifth place. By then, Harvick, who tried to remain in front of leader Larson, was lapped, thus making Austin Cindric the final competitor on the lead lap.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson remained as the leader by six seconds over Kyle Busch, who earlier overtook teammate Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Blaney also moved up to third place while Hamlin and Kurt Busch were in the top five. Bowman, Truex, Elliott, Keselowski and Byron rounded out the top 10.

    By Lap 100 and in the final laps of the first stage, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than seven seconds over Kyle Busch with Blaney trailing by more than nine seconds, Kurt Busch by nearly 11 seconds, Hamlin by more than 12 seconds and Bowman by more than 13 seconds.

    With a fast car in the early stages of the event, Larson was able to cruise to the first stage victory on Lap 105 and with a seven-second advantage over Kyle Busch. Blaney settled in third followed by Kurt Busch and Hamlin while Bowman, Truex, Elliott, Chris Buescher and Byron were scored in the top 10. By then, 19 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap, with names like Aric Almirola, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, McDowell, Harvick, Cindric, Erik Jones and Briscoe pinned a lap behind.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road with the top spot followed by Kyle Busch, Blaney, Elliott, teammate Bowman and Kurt Busch. Following the pit stops, Chastain was penalized for an uncontrolled tire.

    The second stage started on Lap 112 with the two Kyles on the front row. At the start, Larson pulled away on the inside lane while Kyle Busch struggled to go on the outside lane and caused a stack up with Elliott running into the rear bumper of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota. Behind, Kurt Busch, who was behind Elliott, was bumped and turned by Hamlin as Busch’s No. 1 Chevrolet made hard contact against the outside wall entering Turn 1. Though Busch limped his car back to pit road, the damage was enough to end his strong run early.

    Under caution, some like Hamlin, Logano, Suarez and Almirola pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.

    The race restarted on Lap 118 with teammates Larson and Byron on the front row. At the start, Blaney muscled his way into the lead over the Hendrick teammates. While Blaney led himself a lap, Larson, with a strong, fast car, was able to reassume the advantage by Lap 120. Behind, Keselowski sustained damage to his fender and hood as a result of running into the back of Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry.

    By Lap 130, Larson was leading by nearly three seconds over Blaney, who had Bowman closing in for position. DiBenedetto and Byron were in the top five followed by Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Buescher, Elliott and Stenhouse.

    Twenty laps later, Larson increased his advantage to six seconds over Blaney. By then, Suarez was scored in the top 10 as he was in 10th place behind Buescher.

    Nearing the Lap 160 mark, a second round of pit stops under green occurred as the leaders pitted. When the field cycled through following the pit stops and the race reaching the halfway mark, Larson was back out in front by more than five seconds over teammate Bowman with Blaney, DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch in the top five.

    By Lap 175, Larson continued to lead by more than seven seconds over teammate Bowman with Blaney trailing by more than eight seconds. DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch continued to run in the top five followed by Byron, Austin Dillon, Hamlin, Buescher and Truex. Suarez, Elliott and Logano were 11th, 14th and 15th while Wallace was in 17th. Harvick, meanwhile, was mired back in 20th, two laps behind the leaders, while Keselowski was in 29th, three laps behind.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than nine seconds over teammate Bowman as he continued to set sail with a fast car.

    By Lap 200 and in the final laps of the second stage, Larson was leading by nearly 11 seconds over Blaney with third-place Bowman trailing by more than 12 seconds.

    With no challengers lurking close behind, Larson was able to cruise to the second stage victory on Lap 210. Blaney crossed the line in second place, trailing by less than eight seconds, followed by Bowman, Kyle Busch and Byron while DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Hamlin and Suarez settled in the top 10 and with stage points. By then, 14 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap. While Ryan Newman and Elliott remained on the lead lap at the time of caution, names like Logano, Cole Custer, Bubba Wallace, Almirola, McDowell, Harvick, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Cindric, Briscoe, Jones, Reddick and Keselowski were pinned at least a lap behind. Logano, though, received the free pass to return on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road with the lead by a narrow nose over Blaney followed by Bowman, teammate Byron, Kyle Busch and DiBenedetto.

    With 108 laps remaining, the final stage commenced with teammates Larson and Byron on the front row. At the start, Larson retained the lead followed by Blaney, Bowman, Kyle Busch and Byron while Hamlin made a run alongside DiBenedetto and Suarez behind.

    Two laps later, the caution returned due to fluid on the track when smoke started billowing out of Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE entering Turn 4. Though Elliott was able to limp his car back to his pit stall, his crew ended up taking the car to the garage as Elliott’s race came to an end at his home track due to a mechanical failure.

    Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and this time, Blaney exited the pits with the lead over Larson followed by Bowman, Kyle Busch and Byron. Following the pit stops, however, Kyle Busch was sent to the rear of the field due to speeding on pit road.

    Prior to the restart, 21 competitor opted for the wave around, with five returning on the lead lap, including Harvick. With than, 20 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap.

    With 101 laps remaining, the race restarted with Blaney and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Blaney retained the lead while Larson and Hamlin battled for the runner-up spot along with DiBenedetto.

    Six laps later, Blaney was the leader by less than two-tenths of a second over Larson, who worked his way back into the runner-up spot, while Hamlin, Bowman and DiBenedetto were in the top five.

    With 90 laps remaining, Blaney stabilized his advantage by four-tenths of a second over Larson with Hamlin, Bowman and Austin Dillon in the top five. By then, names like DiBenedetto, Suarez, Buescher, Newman and Truex were in the top 10 while Byron, Kyle Busch, Logano and Harvick were in 11th, 13th, 15th and 16th.

    Two laps later, Larson reassumed the lead over Blaney, who had debris on the front grille of his car.

    With 75 laps remaining, Larson was out in front by more than two seconds over Blaney while Hamlin, Bowman and Austin Dillon continued to run in the top five. By then, Suarez, in his sixth race with the newly formed Trackhouse Racing Team, moved up to sixth place ahead of Buescher and DiBenedetto. Behind, Truex and Byron were in the top 10 followed by Kyle Busch.

    While Daniel Suarez and Trackhouse Racing Team were in sixth, Bubba Wallace and 23XI Racing were inside the top 15. B.J. McLeod, driving for the newly formed Live Fast Motorsports, was in 34th.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to a second over Blaney, with the latter starting to decrease the deficit to himself and the leader. Hamlin, Bowman and Austin Dillon remained in the top five while Suarez, Buescher, DiBenedetto, Truex and Kyle Busch were scored in the top 10. Byron fell back to 11th followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Wallace, Harvick, Newman and Logano.

    A lap later, another round of pit stops under green occurred, starting with Truex pitting followed by others, with the teams filling the cars with enough fuel to get to the finish. During the pit stops, rookie Anthony Alfredo spun on pit road and nearly collided against Almirola and his pit crew during Almirola’s service. Despite the incident, the race continued under green.

    With 50 laps remaining and the pit stops completed, Larson was back out in front by more than two seconds over Blaney. Bowman was in third followed by Hamlin and Austin Dillon. Teammates Truex and Kyle Busch were in sixth and seventh followed by Byron, Buescher and DiBenedetto. Suarez, who was running in the top 10, was back in 19th, a lap down, after speeding while exiting pit road.

    Ten laps later, Larson continued to dominate with an advantage of three seconds over Blaney. Bowman trailed by less than seven seconds in third place while Hamlin and Austin Dillon continued to run in the top five. Kyle Busch, meanwhile, moved up to sixth place over teammate Truex while Byron, Buescher and DiBenedetto continued to run in the top 10.

    With 25 laps remaining and the field reaching the Lap 300 mark, Larson was still leading by more than two seconds over Blaney with third-place Bowman trailing by more than eight seconds and fourth-place Hamlin trailing by less than 10 seconds. Kyle Busch, meanwhile, was in fifth place, trailing the lead by less than 15 seconds, following an earlier pass on Austin Dillon.

    Five laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Blaney with third-place Bowman trailing by more than nine seconds. By then, 15 of the 39-car field were scored on the lead lap, with Logano running in 15th place while Wallace was lapped in 16th place.

    With the laps winding down and the race transitioning to night conditions, Blaney started to narrow the deficit between himself and Larson, with the former behind by less than a second.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson was leading by four-tenths of a second over Blaney, who continued to close on Larson with a fast car. By then, Larson was mired behind Logano, who was trying to remain on the lead lap, and was having his large advantage slipping away.

    Two laps later, Blaney emerged with the lead in Turn 4 following a battle with Larson and following his late surge for the lead. Shortly after, he pulled away with a four-tenths of a second advantage over Larson, with both overtaking Logano and putting him a lap behind.

    Shortly after, Corey LaJoie made contact with the wall, but the race remained under green as LaJoie limped back to pit road.

    With five laps remaining, Blaney pulled away by more than a second over Larson with Bowman trailing by less than nine seconds.

    Not long after and when the final race started, Blaney continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Larson. With no challengers mounting behind, Blaney was able to come back around following his late surge and grab the checkered flag by two seconds over Larson.

    With his victory, Blaney became the sixth different winner through the first six races of the 2021 season as he also claimed his fifth Cup career victory and first since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in June 2020. He also recorded the first Cup victory of the season for Team Penske.

    “Gosh, we had a great long run car all day,” Blaney said on FOX. “It took us a little bit to get going. I was pretty free all day, so we made a really good change to tighten me up where I needed it and it looked like Kyle was getting loose and I’m happy it worked in our favor that there was a couple long runs at the end that kind of let us get there. He got slowed up behind some lap traffic, but I’m really proud of this whole BodyArmor, Menards No. 12 group. We’ve been good this year and had some bad breaks and it’s nice to close out a race like that. That was awesome.”

    Larson, who led a race-high 269 of 325 laps, finished in second place for the second time at Atlanta and for his third top-five result in four races this season.

    “Yeah, I don’t know,” Larson said. “I think [Blaney] just got a lot better there that last stage and it kind of changed up my flow of the race a little bit. I could get out to such a big lead and then I could take care of my stuff; and run the bottom, where it was maybe slower, but I could take care of my tires. He was fast there and I just wanted to maintain that gap that I had, so I had to run in the faster part of the racetrack and just use my stuff up. And then, he was just a lot better than me there late in the run. Hate to lead a lot of laps and lose, but we had a really good car that we brought to the track. Our HendrickCars.com Chevy was fast there for a long time. I don’t really know; I don’t know if we got that much worse or he just got way better and, like I said, it just kind of changed up the flow of my race.”

    Bowman finished in third place for his first top-five result of the season while teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch finished in the top five.

    Austin Dillon, Buescher, Byron, Truex and Harvick finished in the top 10 on the track. 

    DiBenedetto finished 11th, Logano settled in 15th ahead of Wallace and Suarez, Cindric finished 22nd in his second Cup career start, Briscoe was the highest-finishing rookie in 23rd and Keselowski ended his run in 28th.

    There were 11 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 25 laps. 

    Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 43 points over Larson, 63 over Logano, 65 over Truex, 71 over Keselowski and 74 over Harvick.

    Results.

    1. Ryan Blaney, 25 laps led

    2. Kyle Larson, 269 laps led, Stage 1 and 2 winner

    3. Alex Bowman

    4. Denny Hamlin, 27 laps led

    5. Kyle Busch

    6. Austin Dillon

    7. Chris Buescher

    8. William Byron, two laps led

    9. Martin Truex Jr. 

    10. Kevin Harvick

    11. Matt DiBenedetto

    12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    13. Ryan Newman

    14. Ross Chastain

    15. Joey Logano, one lap down

    16. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

    17. Daniel Suarez, one lap down, one lap led

    18. Cole Custer, one lap down

    19. Michael McDowell, one lap down

    20. Aric Almirola, one lap down

    21. Christopher Bell, two laps down

    22. Austin Cindric, two laps down

    23. Chase Briscoe, two laps down

    24. Erik Jones, two laps down

    25. Ryan Preece, two laps down

    26. Tyler Reddick, two laps down

    27. Anthony Alfredo, three laps down

    28. Brad Keselowski, four laps down

    29. Corey LaJoie, six laps down

    30. Justin Haley, six laps down

    31. Cody Ware, nine laps down

    32. James Davison, nine laps down

    33. Quin Houff, 11 laps down

    34. B.J. McLeod, 12 laps down

    35. Joey Gase, 17 laps down

    36. Timmy Hill, 20 laps down

    37. Josh Bilicki, 40 laps down

    38. Chase Elliott – OUT, Engine

    39. Kurt Busch – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the highly anticipated Food City Dirt Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course on Sunday, March 28, which will mark the series’ first event on dirt since 1970. The event is slated to occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Weekend schedule for Atlanta

    Weekend schedule for Atlanta

    NASCAR heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend. With five different winners in five races, the Cup Series has consistently provided diverse results. The Xfinity Series has had four different winners in five races, with Austin Cindric winning at Daytona and Phoenix. The Truck Series is back after a two-week break for the fourth race of their season.

    There will be no practice or qualifying sessions due to COVID-19 protocols established by NASCAR.

    The starting lineups are determined by the following metrics formula:

    • 25 percent: Driver’s finishing position from the previous race
    • 25 percent: Car owner’s finishing position from the previous race
    • 35 percent: Team owner points ranking
    • 15 percent: Fastest lap from the previous race

    All times are Eastern.

    Saturday, March 20

    2:30 p.m.: Truck Series Fr8Auctions 200 race (Stages 30/60/130 Laps = 200.02 Miles) FS1/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
    Pole: John H. Nemechek

    5 p.m.: Xfinity Series EchoPark 250 race (Stages 40/80/163 Laps = 251.02 Miles) FS1/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
    Green flag: 5:13 p.m.
    Competition caution: Lap 20
    Pole: Austin Cindric

    Sunday, March 21

    3 p.m.: Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 race (Stages 105/210/325 Laps = 500.5 Miles) FOX/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
    Green flag: 3:19 p.m.
    Competition caution: Lap 25
    Pole: Denny Hamlin

    Georgia native Jeff Foxworthy is bringing his popular comedy act during a pre-race performance on Sunday. Admission to Foxworthy’s show is included with every grandstand ticket for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.

    Atlanta Motor Speedway Information:
    Season Race #: 6 of 36 (03-21-21)
    Track Size: 1.54-miles
    Banking/Turn 1 & 2: 24 degrees
    Banking/Turn 3 & 4: 24 degrees
    Banking/Frontstretch: 5 degrees
    Banking/Backstretch: 5 degrees
    Frontstretch Length:  2,332 feet
    Backstretch Length:  1,800 feet
    Race Length: 325 laps / 500.5 miles
    Stage 1 & 2: 105 Laps (each)
    Final Stage: 115 Laps

    Atlanta Motor Speedway Qualifying Information:
    2020 pole winner: None – Starting Lineup set by Metric Qualifying; Chase Elliott started on the pole.
    Track qualifying record: Geoffrey Bodine, Ford (197.478 mph, 28.074 secs. 11-15-97)

    Ryan Newman leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series(NCS) in the average starting position at Atlanta with a 7.429 in 28 starts.  Newman and Buddy Baker are tied for the NCS most poles with seven each.

    Atlanta Motor Speedway Race Information:
    2020 pole winner: Kevin Harvick, Ford (142.966 mph, (03:30:03), 06-07-20)
    Track race record: Bobby Labonte, Pontiac (159.904 mph, (03:07:48), 11-16-97)

    Chase Elliott leads all active drivers in the NCS in average finishing position at Atlanta with a 10.0 in five starts. The Georgia native and series champion returns home this weekend. The Hendrick Motorsport’s driver has the opportunity to become the second driver in series history from the state of Georgia to win at Atlanta. Elliott could join his father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott (a.k.a. Awesome Bill from Dawsonville) with five Atlanta Cup wins.

    Kevin Harvick leads all active drivers in laps led with 1,197 in 29 starts. Atlanta is one of Harvick’s best tracks having won in all three NASCAR national series. Harvick leads all active drivers with 30 starts, wins (three tied with Kurt Busch), top fives (nine), top-10s (15 tied with Kyle Busch), and laps led (1,348).

    Nine different manufacturers have won in the NCS at Atlanta.  Led by Chevrolet (40), Ford (33), Pontiac (11), Dodge (nine), Mercury (eight), Buick (four), Plymouth (four), Toyota (three) and Oldsmobile (one).

    Top 10 Driver Ratings at Atlanta
    Kevin Harvick – 102.2
    Brad Keselowski – 96.9
    Martin Truex Jr – 96.9
    Kurt Busch – 96.7
    Denny Hamlin – 94.7
    Kyle Busch – 94.0
    Chase Elliott – 93.1
    Kyle Larson – 90.2
    Joey Logano – 83.6
    Ryan Blaney – 83.6
    Note: Driver Ratings compiled from 2005-2020 races (22 total) among active drivers at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Phoenix

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Phoenix

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished third at Phoenix and maintained his lead in the points standings.

    “It was a good day for the No. 11 Toyota,” Hamlin said. “So I’m happy. I would have been happier if Bubba Wallace Jr. had held on to a top 10. We think Bubba’s gonna be great. How can he not with me and Michael Jordan mentoring him on the things we know best? It’s perfect—I talk to Bubba about racing and Michael talks to him about championships.”

    2. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski started on the pole and finished fourth at Phoenix, posting his third top-five of the year.

    “Unfortunately,” Keselowski said, “we had two missing/loose lugnuts in post-race inspection. I’m not saying we’re looking for an advantage, but if you’re gonna ‘cut corners,’ the Phoenix track layout is the place to do it.”

    3. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex pulled away late and won the Instacart 500 at Phoenix, ending a 29-race winless streak.

    “It’s good to be back in Victory Lane,” Truex said. “I’d forgotten what it looked like there, and asking Kyle Busch to describe it was a waste of time.”

    4. Joey Logano: Logano led a race-high 143 laps at Phoenix and finished second.

    “It was about one year ago that the COVID-19 outbreak shut down our sport,” Logano said. “It’s times like those that make you take stock and be thankful you’re alive. It was the same feeling I got after being confronted by an angry Ryan Newman.”

    5. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished sixth at Phoenix.

    “Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer had a memorable feud at Phoenix back in 2012,” Harvick said. “I think they probably would have thrown hands had an army of crew members not stepped in between them. So, much like Sunday’s race at Phoenix, nothing happened then either.”

    6. Kyle Larson: Larson started at the rear after failing inspection but worked his way back to the front for a seventh-place finish.

    “I failed two inspections,” Larson said. “As you know, NASCAR inspections are pretty routine, monotonous, and boring. That being said, both of mine were more exciting than the race itself.”

    7. Chase Elliott: Elliott finished fifth at Phoenix, recording his second top-five result of the year.

    “I started from the rear due to unapproved adjustments,” Elliott said. “For those of you not familiar with it, ‘starting from the rear’ is another term for ‘qualifying is virtually meaningless in NASCAR.’”

    8. Christopher Bell: Bell finished ninth at Phoenix.

    “Actor Jason Biggs served as Grand Marshal for the race,” Bell said. “His ‘start your engines’ command was awesome. And boy, did he put ‘everything into it,’ much like he did to that pie in the movie ‘American Pie.’”

    9. William Byron: Byron came home eighth in the Instacart 500 as Hendrick Motorsports placed three cars in the top 10.

    “Trucks series driver Stewart Friesen and his wife Jessica will be racing in the same race at Bristol on March 26th,” Byron said. “In a perfect world, the two will make contact and wreck each other, allowing a witty race reporter to ask one of them, ‘How did you two meet?’”

    10. Kyle Busch: Busch finished 25th at Phoenix, his day sidetracked by a number of problems.

    “Let’s see,” Busch said. “To start with, I had a penalty for an uncontrolled tire. Then, I got spun into the wall by Ross Chastain. And there was more. It was a run of bad luck matched only by my run of expletives I uttered on my radio.”

  • Truex snaps winless drought, records first Cup victory of 2021 at Phoenix

    Truex snaps winless drought, records first Cup victory of 2021 at Phoenix

    The 29-race winless drought for Martin Truex Jr. and Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota team came to an end under the afternoon sun in the desert state of Phoenix, Arizona, after the 40-year-old veteran from Mayetta, New Jersey, rallied from an early scrape in the wall to prevail on a restart with 25 laps remaining and over Joey Logano to win the Instacart 500 at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, March 14. 

    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, Brad Keselowski started on pole position. Kyle Larson, winner of last weekend’s event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, was due to start on the front row with Keselowski, but ended up dropping to the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race inspection twice. As a result, Christopher Bell moved up to the front row.

    Along with Larson, teammate William Byron and Cody Ware dropped to the rear of the field due to their respective machines also failing pre-race inspection twice. Chase Elliott and Quin Houff also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments along with Garrett Smithley, his case due to a driver change.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Keselowski was able to jump ahead with a strong lead, even as he went low through the dogleg and entering Turn 1, followed by Denny Hamlin, who overtook teammate Christopher Bell for the runner-up spot. 

    Following the first lap, Keselowski was the leader followed by four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota competitors led by Hamlin. The following lap, however, Hamlin was able to move his No. 11 Offerpad Toyota Camry into the lead.

    By the fifth lap, Hamlin was ahead by more than half a second over Keselowski, who was soon overtaken by Bell for the runner-up spot. Truex remained in fourth place ahead of teammate Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney. 

    Five laps later and through the first 10 laps of the event, Hamlin stabilized his lead by half a second over teammate Bell while Keselowski, Truex and Blaney were in the top five. Kyle Busch fell back to sixth followed by brother Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Matt DiBenedetto.

    The following lap, Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry made contact with the outside wall exiting Turn 1 and entering the backstretch, which allowed Blaney to overtake him for fourth place. 

    By Lap 20, Hamlin extended his advantage to more than a second over Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry while Team Penske’s Keselowski, Blaney and Logano were in the top five. Truex remained in sixth place while the Busch brothers battled for seventh place. Stenhouse was in ninth followed by DiBenedetto while Kevin Harvick was in 11th. 

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 30, Hamlin remained in the lead followed by Keselowski, teammate Blaney, Bell and Logano. Kurt Busch and Stenhouse were in sixth and seventh while Truex fell back to eighth. Harvick was in ninth while Kyle Busch dropped back to 10th in front of DiBenedetto. By then, Kyle Larson was in 14th behind Austin Dillon and teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott were in 20th  and 21st behind teammate Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace, who was making his 250th NASCAR national touring series career start.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Keselowski exited pit road with the lead over Bell, Blaney, Harvick, Hamlin and Truex. Following the pit stops, Larson was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. 

    The race restarted on Lap 36 with Keselowski and Bell on the front row. At the start, Keselowski retained the lead followed by teammate Blaney. Bell dropped back to third followed by teammate Hamlin and Logano.

    On Lap 44, Blaney emerged with the lead after overtaking teammate Keselowski through the backstretch and coming back to the start/finish line. By then, Bell was still in third followed by Logano, Hamlin and Harvick.

    Shortly after, the caution returned when Bowman, who checked up behind Ross Chastain and made contact with him, was hit by Austin Dillon and spun as his No. 48 Ally/Best Friends Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE made light contact with the outside wall in Turn 1. The accordion effect nearly collected Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Corey LaJoie and rookie Chase Briscoe. 

    Under caution, some like Kyle Busch, Byron, DiBenedetto, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace, Michael McDowell, Elliott, Larson, Bowman, Ryan Newman, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, Justin Haley and rookie Anthony Alfredo pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track. During the pit stops, Austin Dillon was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The race restarted on Lap 50 with teammates Blaney and Keselowski on the front row. At the start, Blaney utilized the dogleg to remain in the lead. Teammate Keselowski, racing in his No. 2 Wurth Ford Mustang, remained in second while teammate Logano battled Bell for third in front of Hamlin. 

    By Lap 60, the three Penske competitors were out in front led by Blaney. Behind, Hamlin was in fourth while Chase Elliott, racing on fresh tires in his No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, moved up to fifth ahead of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Stanley Toyota Camry. Bell fell back to seventh in front of Harvick while Byron, another competitor on fresh tires, was in ninth ahead of DiBenedetto, Kurt Busch, Truex, Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tyler Reddick. 

    Ten laps later and through the first 70 laps of the event, Blaney’s No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang continued to lead by nearly three-tenths of a second over teammate Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang. Keselowski, meanwhile, was pressured by Hamlin for third place as Elliott joined the battle. Kyle Busch, Harvick, Byron, teammate Larson and DiBenedetto were in the top 10 while Bell fell back to 11th.

    With the laps in the first stage closing, the battle for the lead heated up as Blaney came under fire from teammates Logano and Keselowski with Hamlin and Elliott scrambling in the battle. Despite nearly losing the lead to teammate Logano, Blaney was able to hold on ahead of a five-car battle and claim the first stage victory on Lap 75. In claiming his first stage victory of this season, Blaney also became the seventh different competitor to record a stage victory through the first five Cup events of the 2021 season. Logano settled in second followed by teammate Keselowski, Hamlin and Elliott. Kyle Busch settled in sixth followed by Harvick, Byron, teammate Larson and DiBenedetto. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Logano emerged with the lead after exiting pit road with the top spot followed by teammate Blaney Hamlin, Elliott, Keselowski and Larson.

    The second stage started on Lap 83 with teammates Logano and Blaney on the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the dogleg, Logano retained the lead followed by Blaney while Elliott muscled his way into third place entering the backstretch. Keselowski and Hamlin battled for fourth followed by Larson and Harvick. Behind, Byron and DiBenedetto battled for eighth as Kyle Busch joined the battle. 

    Six laps later, the caution returned for an on-track accident involving Cody Ware and rookie Anthony Alfredo, who wrecked into the Turn 2 outside wall following contact from Ware and sustained heavy damage to his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang.

    Under caution, some like Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Cole Custer, McDowell, Preece, Haley and James Davison pitted while the rest led by Logano remained on the track.

    Following an extensive caution as a result of Alfredo’s incident, the race resumed under green on Lap 98 with teammates Logano and Blaney remaining on the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the dogleg again, Logano retained the lead followed by teammates Blaney and Keselowski while Hamlin was in fourth ahead of Elliott, Kyle Busch and Byron.

    Two laps later and through the Lap 100 mark, Logano was scored the leader followed by teammate Blaney and Keselowski. Elliott overtook Hamlin for fourth and went to work on Keselowski for more. Teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch were in fifth and sixth while Larson moved up to seventh ahead of teammate Byron. Bell and Harvick were in the top 10. 

    By Lap 110, Logano continued to lead by more than half a second over teammate Blaney while Elliott settled in third. Keselowski was in fourth while Larson, racing in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, prevailed over a battle with Hamlin to move into the top five.

    By Lap 120, Logano extended his advantage to less than two seconds over teammate Blaney. Elliott retained third place while teammate Larson moved into fourth place. Keselowski was back in fifth ahead of Hamlin, Harvick, Kyle Busch, teammate Truex and Byron. 

    Not long after, Larson continued to flex his muscles after overtaking teammate Elliott for third place. By then, he was less than four seconds behind race leader Logano. In addition, Keselowski started to close in on Elliott for position along with Hamlin.

    By Lap 130, Logano was leading by more than three seconds over Larson, who earlier overtook Blaney for the runner-up spot. Keselowski moved up to fourth followed by Hamlin while Elliott fell back to sixth. Truex started to close in on Elliott for the sixth spot while Harvick, Byron and Aric Almirola were in the top 10. Bell and teammate Kyle Busch were in 11th and 12th followed by DiBenedetto, Briscoe, Bowman and Wallace. Kurt Busch was mired in 17th followed by Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones and Stenhouse.

    Nearing the Lap 140 mark, pit stops under green started to occur as Keselowski pitted followed by Harvick, Elliott, Logano, teammate Blaney, Kurt Busch, Bowman, Stenhouse, Truex, Byron, Almirola, Erik Jones, Buescher, Cole Custer, Hamlin, teammate Bell, teammate Kyle Busch, Larson and Briscoe. Following the pit stops, Larson was busted with a second pit road speeding penalty. Kyle Busch was also penalized due to an uncontrolled tire violation.

    By Lap 150 and with most of the leaders completing pit stops under green, Corey LaJoie, who has yet to pit, was scored the leader. Logano was in second followed by teammate Blaney, Truex, Keselowski and Hamlin. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 156, Logano reassumed the lead from LaJoie. Blaney, Truex and Keselowski were in the top five followed by Hamlin, Harvick, Byron, teammate Elliott and Bell. By then, Larson was back in 22nd, still on the lead lap and in front of Daniel Suarez and Bubba Wallace, while Kyle Busch was in 30th, the sixth car scored a lap behind the leaders.   

    Through the first 175 laps of the event, Logano stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over Truex. Teammates Blaney and Keselowski were in third and fourth followed by Hamlin. Harvick was in sixth while Byron, teammate Elliott, Almirola and Bell were in the top 10. By then, Larson was back in 17th and still on the lead lap while Kyle Busch was in 28th, the sixth car scored a lap down. Meanwhile, LaJoie, still on the track on old tires but with enough fuel to complete the second stage, was scored in the top 15.

    With the laps in the second stage closing, Logano continued to lead by approximately two seconds over Truex while Hamlin and Blaney battled for third place. Keselowski stabilized himself in fifth place followed by Harvick, Byron, teammate Elliott, Almirola and Bell. 

    While Truex was able to decrease his deficit to Logano to, Logano was able to retain the lead and navigate his way through lapped traffic to claim the Stage 2 victory on Lap 190. In claiming his first stage victory of the season, Logano also became the eighth different competitor to record a stage victory through the first five events of the 2021 Cup season. Hamlin was scored in third place behind teammate Truex while Keselowski managed to overtake teammate Blaney for fourth place. Harvick, Byron, Almirola, Elliott and Bell were scored in the top 10. By then, Larson moved back up to 13th ahead of Kurt Busch while Kyle Busch was in 27th, two laps behind.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Logano retained the lead after exiting pit road in first followed by Hamlin, Truex, Blaney, Keselowski and Harvick. Following the pit stops under caution, Almirola, Elliott and Ross Chastain were penalized for speeding on pit road.

    With 113 laps remaining, the final stage commenced with Logano and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Logano nearly got turned after being bumped by Truex, but he retained the lead through the dogleg and entering Turn 1. Behind, Hamlin and Keselowski battled for the runner-up spot through the backstretch while Blaney retained fourth ahead of Harvick, Byron and Truex. Behind, Larson moved up to eighth followed by Erik Jones and Stenhouse. 

    With 110 laps remaining, Logano was ahead by nearly six-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by teammates Blaney and Keselowski with Truex moving back into fifth over Byron. By then, Larson moved up to seventh over Bell, Harvick and Stenhouse. Meanwhile, Wallace was in 11th ahead of Jones and Kurt Busch.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Logano was leading by approximately a second over Hamlin. Blaney, Truex and Keselowski stabilized themselves in the top five followed by Byron, racing in his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Larson was in seventh followed by Harvick, Bell and Stenhouse. Behind, Wallace, Jones, Briscoe, Kurt Busch and Bowman were running in the top 15. Almirola and Elliott, following their late pit road penalties, were in 18th and 20th while Kyle Busch was mired back in 24th, a lap behind.

    With 88 laps remaining, Truex gained a huge run entering the backstretch to emerge as the new leader over Logano. As Hamlin remained in third followed by Keselowski, Larson fought his way back into the top five after passing Blaney. 

    Eight laps later and with 80 laps remaining, Truex was leading by more than a second over Logano. Hamlin, Keselowski and Larson remained in the top five followed by Blaney, Harvick, Bell, Byron and Bubba Wallace, who overtook Stenhouse for position.

    Down to the final 70 laps of the event, Truex extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Logano, who also had Hamlin starting to close in on him for the runner-up spot. Keselowski was still in fourth, trailing by less than five seconds, while Larson remained in fifth, trailing by more than five seconds. Blaney and Bell battled for sixth followed by Harvick, Wallace and Byron.

    Under the final 65 laps of the event, Byron made a pit stop under green. By then, Truex stretched his advantage to more than five seconds over teammate Hamlin, thus dropping Logano to third. Keselowski, Larson and Bell were in fourth, fifth and sixth while Wallace continued to his impressive run to the front as he was scored in seventh. 

    Shortly after, Logano and Larson pitted under green. Blaney soon pitted along with Keselowski, Elliott, Bell, Almirola, Wallace, Reddick, Ryan Newman, leader Truex and others.

    With 55 laps remaining and the leaders completing service under green, Truex was back out in front by nearly two seconds over Larson. Hamlin was in third followed by teammates Logano and Keselowski. Bell and Harvick were in sixth and seventh followed by Blaney, Byron and Wallace. 

    Behind, Kyle Busch, racing on old tires, made contact with the outside wall while scored in 14th. Despite the incident, the race remained under green as Busch pitted for fresh tires and dropped out of the lead lap category. 

    With 50 laps remaining, the caution flew when Reddick made contact with the outside wall in Turn 2 after cutting a right-front tire.

    Under caution, nearly all of the leaders returned to pit road and Logano muscled his way back into the lead following a stellar service from his No. 22 pit crew. Truex exited in second place followed by Truex, Keselowski, Larson and Hamlin. On track, though, Wallace did not pit for fresh tires and emerged as the leader. Following the pit stops, Briscoe was busted with a pit road speeding penalty.

    With 44 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Wallace and Logano on the front row. At the start, Wallace and Logano made contact as the field fanned out to three lanes through the dogleg. Through Turn 1, Keselowski managed to prevail in a three-wide battle to take the lead followed by teammate Logano. Wallace remained in third followed by Truex while Larson, Hamlin and Byron battled for fifth. 

    With 40 laps remaining, teammates Keselowski and Logano battled for the lead while Truex trailed by more than a second. Truex, Larson and Hamlin were in the top five while Wallace was trying to hang on in sixth while battling Hamlin and Harvick.

    Two laps later, Logano used the infield dogleg on the frontstretch to reassume the lead over teammate Keselowski. 

    With 31 laps remaining, Logano extended his advantage to over a second over teammate Keselowski and Truex. Just as Truex was able to take over the runner-up spot, the caution returned the following lap when teammate Kyle Busch, the first competitor scored a lap down, spun across the start/finish line after receiving a tap from Ross Chastain. At the time of caution, Wallace had fallen back to 16th on old tires. 

    Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Logano retained the lead following another stellar pit stop followed by Truex, teammate Hamlin, Keselowski, Larson and Harvick.

    With 25 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Logano and Truex on the front row. At the start, Logano went super low through the dogleg, Truex remained on the outside lane and the field fanned out to multiple lanes.

    Back to the start/finish line, Truex reassumed the lead over Logano followed by Hamlin, who was locked in a battle with Keselowski and Larson. Teammate Elliott was back up in sixth followed by Almirola, Byron, Harvick and Bell. 

    With 20 laps remaining, Truex was leading by nearly half a second over Logano while Hamlin and Keselowski were in third and fourth. Teammates Larson and Elliott battled for fifth in front of their other teammate William Byron. Harvick was in eighth followed by teammate Almirola and Bell. Blaney was in 11th in front of Bowman, Kurt Busch was in 14th and Wallace was in 17th in between Cole Custer and Austin Dillon.

    Five laps later, Truex extended his advantage to a second over Logano with Hamlin trailing behind. Keselowski was locked in a battle with Larson for fourth while Elliott settled in sixth. Harvick, meanwhile, overtook Byron for seventh while Bell and Blaney were in the top 10. Earlier, Custer made a pit stop under green after making contact with the wall with help from Wallace.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Truex remained in the lead by more than a second over Logano. Hamlin settled in third, nearly two seconds behind, followed by Keselowski. Elliott, meanwhile, managed to move into the top five while Larson was locked in a battle with Harvick for sixth place. 

    With five laps remaining, Truex continued to lead by more than a second over Logano with Hamlin trailing by two seconds. By then, Harvick prevailed over Larson for sixth place while Keselowski and Elliott remained in the top five. 

    Utilizing the final laps to his favor in cruise control and with a respectable lead of over a second over Logano, Truex was able to take the white flag, navigate his No. 19 Toyota Camry through the circuit smoothly for a final time and come back around to claim his first checkered flag of the season and become the fifth different winner through the first five Cup races of the 2021 season. 

    The victory was Truex’s 28th of his Cup career, moving him to a tie with Carl Edwards and Rex White for 28th place on the all-time Cup wins list, and first at Phoenix as he also claimed his first Cup victory since June 2020 at Martinsville Speedway. In addition, crew chief James Small claimed his second career victory while Joe Gibbs Racing claimed Cup career win No. 187.

    “Just an awesome job by everybody, James [Small], [car chief] Blake [Harris] and all the pit crew guys fixing it,” Truex said on FOX. “Really solid. I thought at the beginning of the race, we were gonna run 15th or so. Man, I can’t really believe it, I’m speechless. This feels pretty amazing. Phoenix has been a tough one for us and to come here and win this, I wish it was November, but hopefully we can come back here in November and have a shot at being in the Final Four. Man, just so thankful and so proud of everybody at JGR and everybody who makes this possible.”

    Logano settled in second place for the second time this early in the season while Hamlin finished third and claimed his fourth top-five result through the first five events of this season.

    “All of the above, just a little bit everywhere is where it seemed [Truex] beat us,” Logano said on MRN. “Once they got [Truex] tuned in, he was the fastest car on the racetrack. We did a good job maximizing our day with our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. We were a second-place car and finished second, won a stage and second in the other stage, so a lot of points. I hate finishing second, though. It really stinks, but, overall, this has been a good racetrack for us. The last few times we’ve been here is first, third and second, so we’re all over it, just needed that last run not to have a caution. I think we were in a pretty good spot to maybe run that thing out, but, overall, that was where we had it.”

    “Yeah, I think we are happy with [the finish],” Hamlin said. “Obviously, we want to win with our Offerpad Toyota but certainly the short tracks is something we want to put a lot of emphasis on this year. We just didn’t have the results on the short tracks that we wanted last year, but getting the first short track win here for JGR – 1, 3 is a good sign that we worked on the right things and we are headed in the right direction.”

    Keselowski finished fourth for his third top-five result in four races while Elliott rounded out the top five at Phoenix, which marked his best result since finishing in second place in this year’s Daytona 500. Harvick, Larson, teammate Byron, Bell and Blaney completed the top 10 on the track.

    Almirola rallied from his slow start to the season by finishing 11th followed by Stenhouse, Bowman, DiBenedetto and Kurt Busch. Wallace posted a 16th-place result in front of Austin Dillon, Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez finished 20th and 21st, rookie Chase Briscoe finished 22nd in front of Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch ended his long afternoon in 25th.

    There were 22 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 45 laps. 

    Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings 39 points over Brad Keselowski, 44 over Logano, 56 over Truex, 57 over Larson and Elliott and 60 over Harvick. 

    Results.

    1. Martin Truex Jr., 64 laps led

    2. Joey Logano, 143 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Denny Hamlin, 33 laps led

    4. Brad Keselowski, 19 laps led

    5. Chase Elliott

    6. Kevin Harvick

    7. Kyle Larson, one lap led

    8. William Byron

    9. Christopher Bell

    10. Ryan Blaney, 35 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    11. Aric Almirola

    12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap led

    13. Alex Bowman

    14. Matt DiBenedetto

    15. Kurt Busch

    16. Bubba Wallace, four laps led

    17. Austin Dillon

    18. Chris Buescher

    19. Ross Chastain

    20. Erik Jones

    21. Daniel Suarez

    22. Chase Briscoe

    23. Michael McDowell

    24. Justin Haley

    25. Kyle Busch, one lap down

    26. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    27. Corey LaJoie, one lap down, 12 laps led

    28. Ryan Newman, one lap down

    29. Tyler Reddick, two laps down

    30. B.J. McLeod, three laps down

    31. Cole Custer, four laps down

    32. Quin Houff, seven laps down

    33. James Davison, nine laps down

    34. Garrett Smithley, 12 laps down

    35. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Power steering

    36. Cody Ware – OUT, Accident

    37. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

    38. Timmy Hill – OUT, Engine

    The NASCAR Cup Series will return to the south to compete at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the first of two visits to the track for the series this season, on Sunday, March 21. The event is slated to occur at 3 p.m. on FOX.

  • Weekend schedule for Phoenix Raceway

    Weekend schedule for Phoenix Raceway

    The NASCAR Cup Series and the Xfinity Series head to Phoenix Raceway this weekend for the fifth race of the season while the Camping World Truck Series has a week off from competition.

    Both series have had four different winners in each race for what is shaping up to be an exciting season. There will be no practice or qualifying sessions due to COVID-19 protocols established by NASCAR.

    The starting lineups are determined by the following metrics formula:

    • 25 percent: Driver’s finishing position from the previous race
    • 25 percent: Car owner’s finishing position from the previous race
    • 35 percent: Team owner points ranking
    • 15 percent: Fastest lap from the previous race

    All times are Eastern.

    Saturday, March 13

    5:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Call 811 Before You Dig 200 presented by Arizona 811
    FS1/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
    200 miles (200 Laps)
    Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)
    Pole: Daniel Hemric

    Sunday, March 14

    3:30 p.m.: Cup Series Instacart 500
    FOX/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
    312 miles (312 laps)
    Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 75), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 190), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 312)
    Pole: Brad Keselowski

    Phoenix Raceway Information:

    Season Race #: 05 of 36 (03-14-21)
    Track Size: 1-mile
    Banking/Turn 1 & 2: 9 degrees
    Banking/Turn 3 & 4: 11 degreesBanking/Frontstretch: 3 degrees
    Banking/Backstretch: 9 degrees

    Phoenix Raceway Qualifying Information – Cup Series:

    Track Qualifying Record: Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet (143.158 mph, 25.147 seconds on 11-13-15)
    2020 Pole Winner: Chase Elliott, Chevrolet (138.116 mph, 26.065 seconds on 03-07-20)

    Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman lead the NASCAR Cup Series in starts at Phoenix with 36 starts each. Chase Elliott leads the series in average starting position with a 4.6 in 10 starts. Ryan Newman (2002, 2003, 2004, 2008) and Kyle Busch (2006, 2012, 2016, 2019) lead the NASCAR Cup Series in poles with four each. Five different manufacturers have won at least one Busch pole award led by Chevrolet (18), Ford (15), Toyota (7), Dodge (4) and Pontiac (4).

    Phoenix Raceway Race Information – Cup Series:

    Track race record: Tony Stewart, Pontiac (118.132 mph, 02:38:28 on 11-07-99)
    2020 race winner: Joey Logano, Ford (94.407 mph, 03:20:50 on 03-08-20)

    Kevin Harvick leads the series in wins with nine victories at Phoenix (2006 sweep, 2012 Playoff race, 2013 Playoff race, 2014 sweep, 2015 Spring race, 2016 Spring race, 2018 Spring race).  Four different manufacturers have won at Phoenix, led by Chevrolet (24), Ford (17), Toyota (6) and Pontiac (2). 

    Top-10 Driver Ratings at Phoenix Raceway – Cup Series:

    Kevin Harvick – 110.6
    Chase Elliott – 108.4
    Kyle Busch – 104.7
    Denny Hamlin – 98.4
    Brad Keselowski – 95.0
    Kurt Busch – 94.5
    Joey Logano – 93.1
    Kyle Larson – 93.0
    Ryan Blaney – 89.4
    Martin Truex Jr – 88.5

    (Note: Driver Ratings compiled from 2005-2020 races (32 total) among active drivers at Phoenix Raceway).

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Las Vegas

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Las Vegas

    Note: The quotes in the article are fictional.

    1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin claimed fourth at Las Vegas and remained atop the points standings.

    “Joe Gibbs Racing put all four cars in the top 10,” Hamlin said. “And Kyle Busch had the best finish of us all. We’re all telling Kyle he ‘finished first’ just to make him feel better.

    “I think we’re all looking forward to racing on the dirt at Bristol in a few weeks. I guess you could say it’s ‘grounds’ for excitement.”

    2. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski won Stage 1 and finished second at Las Vegas.

    “I knew we had a car good enough to finish in the top five,” Keselowski said. “If you were a gambler, I’d have told you to bet the house on a top five. If you were a NASCAR fan, I’d have told you to bet the trailer.”

    3. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished sixth in the Pennzoil 400.

    “Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer have great chemistry in the announcer’s booth,” Larson said. “Their years of experience plus their witty banter is on-air magic. You could call it ‘mic joy.’”

    4. Kevin Harvick: Harvick started on the pole at Las Vegas but struggled from the start, suffering a tire rub and a flat tire early that eventually resulted in extensive handling problems. He finished 20th.

    “We had a fast car,” Karvick said. “The only problem was, it went downhill fast.

    “Hopefully, our trouble in Vegas will stay here, and won’t follow us to Phoenix. As the saying goes, ‘What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas.’ Hopefully, that’s true. The following is also true: if there was a Vegas show reboot of a 1970s sitcom about three working-class African-Americans in Watts that had an unlimited run on the Strip, it would be called, ‘What’s Happening (In Vegas) Stays In Vegas.’”

    5. Kyle Larson: Larson led a race-high 103 laps and pulled away on the final green-flag run to win the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas.

    “Frankly,” Larson said, “I’m ‘shocked,’ mostly because I overcame lengthy ‘suspension’ problems to get the win.

    “Honestly, I don’t know what to say, which means I’ve done something right.”

    6. Chase Elliott: Elliott spun with 99 laps remaining at Las Vegas, but recovered to salvage a 13th-place finish.

    “I’m so happy for Kyle Larson,” Elliott said. “He’s in the playoffs, which is the first step in becoming a NASCAR champion. Kyle will probably be the favorite when we return to LVMS. We’ll be back in Nevada in September, which Kyle calls being ‘reinstated.’”

    7. William Byron: Byron came home eighth at Las Vegas as Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson took the win.

    “Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr served as the race’s Grand marshal,” Byron said. “Many Las Vegas citizens were saying if that was his last job as a ‘starter,’ things are looking up for the Raiders.”

    8. Joey Logano: Logano finished ninth at Las Vegas.

    “Hiring Kyle Larson was a brilliant move for Hendrick Motorsports,” Logano said. “Larson is a team player, unlike that other Kyle that used to drive the No. 5 for Hendrick. With Kyle Busch, the team was all about ‘me, me, me.’ That kind of selfishness is called ‘I Racing,’ and Kyle Larson wants no part of that.”

    9. Kyle Busch: Busch finished third in the Pennzoil 400 at his hometown of Las Vegas.

    “Did I spin intentionally in the Trucks Series race on Friday?” Busch said. “That’s a question I’m unable to answer under oath, or with my hand on a bible, or honestly. Suffice it to say I’d answer with the sincerity of a Teresa Earnhardt wedding vow.”

    10. (tie) Christopher Bell: Bell finished seventh at Las Vegas as Joe Gibbs Racing placed all four cars in the top 10, led by Kyle Busch’s third.

    “That race just flew by,” Bell said. “That’s often not the case. Most times, I find myself saying, ‘I didn’t think that race would ever end.’ That’s in contrast to viewers at home watching Fox’s pre-race coverage, who find themselves saying, ‘I didn’t think that race would ever start.’”

    10. (tie) Ryan Preece: Preece finished 15th at Las Vegas.

    “Four races,” Preece said, “four different winners. And only one of those four winners made the playoff field last year. I think a precedent has been established: ‘anybody can win.’ And that’s the only reason I can find that would keep Quin Hoff, B.J. McLeod, Garrett Smithley, Cody Ware, Joey Gase, Josh Bilicki, and Timmy Hill motivated to continue embarrassing themselves week after week.”