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  • Briscoe claims inaugural Xfinity race on Indianapolis Grand Prix circuit

    Briscoe claims inaugural Xfinity race on Indianapolis Grand Prix circuit

    In a late battle against the road-course aces, Chase Briscoe made a bold move on A.J. Allmendinger for the lead with two laps remaining and pulled away from a four-car battle for second to win the inaugural Pennzoil 150 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Grand Prix Circuit, NASCAR’s first race on the famed racetrack’s oval-road course design. The victory was Briscoe’s fifth of this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series season, the seventh of his career and his first at his hometrack as a native from Mitchell, Indiana.

    “Growing up, coming here all the time, it’s unbelievable to think that I just won here,” Briscoe said. “So happy to get HighPoint.com in Victory Lane again. Man, I’m wore out. That fence climbing, that’ll take a lot out of you. From a personal standpoint, the Darlington deal [in May] meant a ton just ‘cause what I was going through, but I’ve dreamed of coming to this racetrack and just getting to race here. To win here, it’s unbelievable. I can’t put into words and to get all our sponsors in Victory Lane driving for Stewart-Haas [Racing] at Indianapolis, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Jeb Burton, making his third start of the season in the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, drew the pole position and was joined on the front row with teammate Michael Annett.

    When the inaugural road course event at Indianapolis commenced, Burton came out with the lead following the first two turns. He was quickly pursued by Brandon Jones and Justin Allgaier. In Turn 12, Jones made a peak for the lead on the inside lane, but Burton fought back on the outside lane through Turns 13 and 14, and was able to lead the first lap with no incidents occurring behind the leaders. By the first lap, Austin Cindric, one of the favorites who was the fastest in the final practice session on Friday and who started 10th, was in fourth. 

    The following lap, Allgaier and Jones went three wide on Burton before Allgaier moved into the lead. By Turn 11, Cindric moved into second and started to narrow the gap between himself and Allgaier while Burton fell back to fifth. By the fourth lap, Allmendinger, another favorite who was the fastest in the first practice session on Friday and who started 30th, had made his way into the top 20, running 19th. On the fifth lap, Cindric emerged with the lead on the frontstretch after crossing over Allgaier and gaining a huge run entering the frontstretch exiting Turn 14. From there, he slowly started to build a gap from Allgaier. Behind the two front-runners, Justin Haley and Chase Briscoe were in third and fifth while Ross Chastain was running in between the Indiana natives.

    By Lap 10, Cindric was leading by more than three seconds over Allgaier and more than four seconds over Haley. Behind, Briscoe was in fourth followed by Chastain, Noah Gragson, Jones, rookie Harrison Burton, Quebec’s Alex Labbe and Allmendinger. Jeb Burton, who started on pole, was back in 12th while Jeremy Clements was in 11th. 

    Starting on Lap 11, a number of competitors started experiencing on-track issues while navigating the turns at Indy’s road course. It started with Jeffrey Earnhardt limping to pit road after the rear track bar of his No. 15 JD Motorsports Chevrolet broke. Ultimately, he retired due to chassis issues. Another lap later, rookie Anthony Alfredo made an unscheduled pit stop under green when his window net came loose and fell down, a misfortune that cost him a lap. By then, Josh Williams missed the first turn and Preston Pardus ran off the track entering Turn 7. On Lap 15, Jeb Burton reported power steering issues when smoke started billowing out of his car and the Virginia native was dropping positions. He would pit the following lap to have the issue addressed. The following lap, Pardus spun, but he was able to straighten his car with the race remaining under green. 

    With three laps remaining in the first stage, the caution flew due to debris from B.J. McLeod, who lost a tire and had limped his way to pit road. At the time of caution, Allmendinger, Jones and rookie Riley Herbst were on pit road for service, but Allmendinger was sent to the rear of the field when he sped in the pits. The first stage concluded under caution on Lap 20 with Cindric winning his fourth stage of the season. Allgaier was in second followed by Haley, Briscoe and Gragson while Chastain, Harrison Burton, Labbe, Clements and Ryan Sieg were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, everyone except Jones and Herbst, pitted. Following the pit stops, Briscoe exited first followed by Harrison Burton, Cindric, Gragson, Allgaier and Chastain. While exiting his pit stall, Haley nearly made contact with Jade Buford and he braked again to allow Buford to pull in his pit stall, which cost Haley valuable spots on pit road.

    With the clouds hovering around the track and light sprinkles being reported around the track, the second stage started on Lap 24. By the first two turns, Briscoe emerged with the lead followed by Cindric and Gragson. Two laps later, the caution returned when Bayley Currey stalled on the track.

    The race resumed on Lap 29 and Cindric jumped ahead on the outside lane to return to the lead over Briscoe through the first two turns. A lap later, after reviewing the Lap 29 restart, Cindric was assessed a pass-through penalty for jumping the restart over Briscoe. Another lap later, after trying to appeal the penalty between his crew and the NASCAR officials, Cindric served his pass-through penalty on pit road under green, which allowed Briscoe to return to the lead. Gragson moved into second followed by Allgaier, Herbst and Haley.

    On Lap 35, the third caution flew when fire and smoke started billowing out of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra of Jones, which forced the Georgia native to pull his car into the grass in Turn 9. With oil reported around the track, Jones retired from the race. Under caution, the majority of the field pitted and Briscoe exited pit road first. 

    With two laps remaining in the second stage, Sieg and Michael Annett, two of six competitors who elected not to pit, led the field under green. Sieg maintained the lead through Turns 1 and 2 while Briscoe made a three-wide move to advance into second as the field behind him jumbled up and made contact against one another for positions. In the ensuing shuffling of positions, Brandon Brown lost his rear bumper. In Turn 13, Gragson spun following contact with Timmy Hill. At the start of the final lap of the second stage, Briscoe emerged with the lead. Briscoe was able to maintain the lead for another circuit to win the second stage and for his third stage win of this season. Allgaier crossed the line in second followed by Annett, Haley and Snider while Brown, Harrison Burton, Josh Bilicki, Allmendinger and Timmy Hill finished in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some like Sieg, Annett and Brown pitted while the rest remained on track. Following the pit stops, Stephen Leicht and Matt Mills were tabbed with speeding penalties on pit road.

    The final stage started with 20 laps remaining and Briscoe maintained the lead through the first two turns followed by Allgaier, Haley, Myatt Snider and Harrison Burton. Behind, Allmendinger and Cindric, both of whom rallied from their respective penalties, were in seventh and eighth.

    With 15 laps remaining, Briscoe was leading by a second over Allgaier while Allmendinger and Cindric moved into third and fourth. Haley settled in fifth followed by Harrison Burton, Chastain, Gragson, Herbst and Labbe. The following two laps, Allmendinger and Cindric moved into second and third as Briscoe continued to lead by nearly three seconds. Behind the leaders, Brett Moffitt and Mike Wallace wrecked in Turn 1, but they proceeded without drawing a caution. The following lap, Alfredo slipped off the track while running 15th, but he continued on the track despite sustaining minimal damage to the front nose of his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro.

    With 11 laps remaining, the caution flew when smoke started billowing out from Tommy Joe Martins’ car due to axle issues and reports of fluid on the frontstretch. Under caution, a majority of the field pitted and Briscoe maintained the lead off pit road just ahead of Allmendinger. Following the pit stops, Allgaier was assessed a penalty for removing an air hose out of his pit stall. Prior to the restart, Harrison Burton pulled his No. 20 Toyota to pit road to address a loose wheel.

    With seven laps remaining, the race restarted with Preston Pardus and Kyle Weatherman on the front row. Once the green flag flew, Briscoe went through the middle to reassume the lead. Allmendinger moved into second while Cindric was stuck in a battle with Gragson for third. With four laps remaining, the battle for the lead and the win started to intensify among the three road-course ringers with Allmendinger drawing himself near the rear bumper of Briscoe and Cindric settling behind the two. In Turn 10, Briscoe slipped, which allowed Allmendinger and Cindric to move pass Briscoe with Allmendinger in the lead. 

    With two laps remaining, through the frontstretch and approaching Turn 1, Cindric ran into the rear bumper of Allmendinger’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro, which allowed him and Briscoe to go three wide with Allmendinger before Briscoe powered his No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang back into the lead on the inside lane in Turn 1. The following turn, Briscoe forced Allmendinger off the track, which allowed Cindric to draw himself dead even with Allmendinger for second. In Turns 5 and 6, Cindric and Allmendinger made contact and nearly wrecked, which allowed Gragson to move up into third as Cindric fell back to fifth behind Haley. In Turn 7, Allmendinger slipped and Gragson moved into second followed by Haley, costing Allmendinger and Cindric time to catch back to Briscoe. At the front, Briscoe was leading by nearly two seconds when he started the final lap. For a final circuit, Briscoe was able to navigate the 14-turn layout to perfection and hold off a four-car pack for second to streak across the finish line first and claim the biggest win of his racing career.

    With the victory, Briscoe has won three times in the last four races with interim crew chief and veteran Greg Zipadelli. Richard Boswell, Briscoe’s regular crew chief, will return next week in the series’ doubleheader at Kentucky Speedway. Briscoe recorded back-to-back wins in NASCAR for the first time in his career as his win was also the 16th NASCAR Xfinity victory for Stewart-Haas Racing with Fred Biagi since 2018.

    After returning to the frontstretch and celebrating with a victorious burnout, Briscoe, who led a race-high 30 of the event’s 62-scheduled laps, paid homage to his racing hero and team owner, Tony Stewart, by climbing the fence in celebration along with his pit crew. The fence climbing was something Briscoe had planned in the case that he would win at his home track.

    “Everybody knows that I grew up and my hero in racing was Tony Stewart,” Briscoe added. “To get to drive for him and watch him win the Brickyard and that was his signature thing [climbing the fence]. I just wanted to do it. Obviously, it’s not the same prestige as winning on the oval, but you still won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It doesn’t matter if you’re racing on the oval, the road course, the dirt track…It’s special to win here.”

    From one Indiana native to another, Winamac’s Haley settled in second, trailing Briscoe by nearly two seconds, followed by Gragson. Allmendinger and Cindric settled in fourth and fifth following their late contact.

    Chastain finished sixth followed by Allgaier, who rallied from his late pit road penalty of removing equipment out of his pit box and will fill in as an interim competitor for seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson in tomorrow’s Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Labbe, Annett and Pardus rounded out the top 10 on the track. Jade Buford finished 14th in his NASCAR debut, Mike Wallace finished 24th in his first race since 2015 and Harrison Burton finished 25th following his late pit stop.

    The Xfinity race capped off the first NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader at the same track on the exact date. Earlier in the day, five-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon won at the Indianapolis road-course layout by nearly 20 seconds over Graham Rahal and Simon Pagenaud.

    There were 13 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 15 laps.

    With his win, Briscoe continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 21 points over Gragson, 55 over Chastain and 61 over Cindric.

    Results:

    1. Chase Briscoe, 30 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Justin Haley

    3. Noah Gragson

    4. A.J. Allmendinger, two laps led

    5. Austin Cindric, 21 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    6. Ross Chastain

    7. Justin Allgaier, two laps led

    8. Alex Labbe

    9. Michael Annett

    10. Preston Pardus, two laps led

    11. Brandon Brown

    12. Brandon Gdovic

    13. Jeremy Clements

    14. Jade Buford

    15. Kyle Weatherman

    16. Myatt Snider

    17. Ryan Sieg, two laps led

    18. Jesse Little

    19. Timmy Hill

    20. Anthony Alfredo

    21. Stephen Leicht

    22. Josh Williams

    23. Josh Bilicki

    24. Mike Wallace

    25. Harrison Burton

    26. Joe Graf Jr.

    27. Chad Finchum

    28. Kody Vanderwal, one lap down

    29. B.J. McLeod, one lap down

    30. Matt Mills, one lap down

    31. Jeb Burton, two laps down, one lap led

    32. Vinnie Miller, two laps down

    33. Riley Herbst, five laps down

    34. Bayley Currey, eight laps down

    35. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Axle

    36. Brett Moffitt, 18 laps down

    37. Brandon Jones – OUT, Oil line, two laps led

    38. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Chassis

    Next on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule will be the series’ second time hosting two series races at the same venue, this time at Kentucky Speedway. The two series races at Kentucky will run on July 9-10 and will each be aired at 8 p.m. on FS1. 

  • Weekend schedule for Indianapolis

    Weekend schedule for Indianapolis

    The world’s most famous 2.5-mile oval track, Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), will host the first-ever NASCAR/INDYCAR triple-header this weekend. The 2-day event that kicks off with NTT INDYCAR SERIES (NTTICS) GMR Grand Prix on the track’s road course at noon on Saturday followed by NASCAR’s Xfinity Series (NXS) Pennzoil 150 at 3 p.m. on NBC. Then on Sunday, the NASCAR Cup Series will race the 27th running of the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at 4 p.m. on NBC and broadcast live on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network.

    All times are Eastern.

    NASCAR Cup Series

    The Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 race will be 400 miles (160 laps) and broken up into three stages. The first two stages will be 50 laps each and the final stage will be 60 laps.

    Five former Indianapolis race winners are entered in this weekend race. Seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson with four wins (2006, 2008, 2009, 2012), Kevin Harvick (2003, 2019), Kyle Busch (2015, 2016), Brad Keselowski (2018) and Ryan Newman (2013).

    NASCAR Xfinity Series

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series will race the road course for the first time in series history this weekend. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course is a 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course that will provide a whole new set of challenges for drivers and teams. Saturday’s race will be 62 laps for 151.22 miles with the first two stages being 20 laps each and the final stage is 22 laps.

    For the first time since the break from the COVID-19 pandemic, the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be allowed to practice prior to race. The teams and drivers will get two practice sessions on Friday, July 3 at 1:30 p.m. ET and at 3 p.m. ET.

    All times are Eastern.

    NASCAR:

    Friday, July 3

    1:30 p.m. – 2:25 p.m.: First Xfinity Series practice – NBC Sports App

    3 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.: Final Xfinity practice – NBC Sports App

    Saturday, July 4

    3 p.m.: Xfinity Series Pennzoil 150 at the Brickyard (road course) – 62 laps/151.22 miles – Stages: 20/40/62 (NBC, NBC Sports App, PRN/IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

    Sunday, July 5

    4 p.m.: Cup Series Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered by Big Machine Records – 160 laps/400 miles – Stages: 50/100/160 (NBC, NBC Sports App, PRN/IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

    NTT IndyCar:

    Friday, July 3

    11:30 a.m.: 1 p.m. IndyCar practice (NBC Gold)

    4:30 – 5:45 p.m.: IndyCar qualifying (NBCSN)

    Saturday, July 4

    Noon: IndyCar GMR Grand Prix – 80 laps/207.32 miles (NBC, IMS Radio Network)

  • The NASCAR Xfinity Series prepares for historic weekend at Indianapolis

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series prepares for historic weekend at Indianapolis

    For over a century, Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been an epicenter of racing and has featured a festivity of crown-jewel races across different motorsports regions. From the United States Grand Prix in Formula One to the Indianapolis 500 in IndyCar and NASCAR’s Brickyard 400, the track presents the best of racing and entertainment for the fans, the competitors and the teams, especially those aiming to achieve and stamp their name as a winner at the historic racing venue and pressing their lips against the yard of bricks on the frontstretch with a victorious kiss. Now, for the 2020 Independence Day weekend, the 2.5-mile track in Indianapolis will feature a unique and historic schedule lineup to kick off its first racing events of this year.

    For the second time in the last three seasons, the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be introduced to a racing event on a track very familiar to its schedule, but with a twist. The twist comes in the form of racing at the venue on a layout that is both an oval and a road course. That will be the case on Saturday, July 4, when the Xfinity Series races on the famed racetrack’s infield road course and parts of its 2.5-mile speedway, including the frontstretch with the start/finish line and the yard of bricks, for its 13th event of the 2020 season known as the Pennzoil 150.

    The Xfinity oval-road course event at Indy features 14 turns, making it a 2.439-mile event, and will span 62 laps, 150 miles. Stage breaks for the race are scheduled on Lap 20, 40 and 62. While the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented NASCAR from allowing drivers and teams to run practice or qualifying sessions prior to a race, there will be two practice sessions on Friday, July 3, at Indy’s road course to prep the competitors and the teams in time for the main event on Saturday. Jeb Burton, driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports, will start on the pole based on a random draw for the series’ race with no fans in attendance throughout the weekend.

    Every competitor and team will receive a first-hand experience of the track’s layout for the first time during Friday’s practice sessions. In January, Matt DiBenedetto, driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Cup Series, took part in a one-day Xfinity testing session on Indy’s road course layout in Team Penske’s No. 22 Xfinity Series Ford Mustang, driven by Austin Cindric. Due to DiBenedetto’s test session, he will not be eligible to compete in this weekend’s series race.

    This weekend’s Xfinity race at Indy will also provide an opportunity for road course ringers like A.J. Allmendinger, Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric, and even hometown heroes like Briscoe and Justin Haley, to master their skills towards the historic track’s layout and stamp their names as the inaugural winner of NASCAR’s road course event at Indianapolis. For drivers like Cindric, Justin Allgaier, Ross Chastain and Michael Annett, this weekend comes with an opportunity for them to notch their first Xfinity Series win of the season and receive a free pass to the Playoff with the series reaching its midpoint of the regular season. For others like Myatt Snider, Brandon Brown and Jeremy Clements, this weekend comes with an opportunity to gain as many points and positions as possible, through aggressiveness or consistency, towards the battle for the top-12 cutline and towards the Playoffs. This weekend also features the return of Mike Wallace, a NASCAR veteran since 1990 who last competed in 2015, and the debut of Jade Buford, an IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car competitor from Brentwood, Tennessee.

    The 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series has completed 12 races and has featured seven different winners, five of which are full-time series competitors and are guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs. With four wins, including last weekend at Pocono Raceway, Briscoe leads the regular-season series standings by three points over Noah Gragson and 33 over Chastain. Coming off his career-best fourth-place finish at Pocono, Snider holds sole possession of the 12th and final spot to the Playoffs by four points over Brown.

    The Xfinity Series has been racing at Indiana since 1982, but at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis through 2011. In 2012, the series made its debut at the 2.5-mile speedway as part of a doubleheader weekend with the NASCAR Cup Series, which has raced at the famed racetrack since 1994. From 2012 to 2019, five different drivers have won an Xfinity race at Indianapolis with Kyle Busch holding the most with four, including last season.

    While the experience of racing on an oval-road course layout at Indianapolis is new to NASCAR, it is not for the track along with other motorsports regions. Since 2014, the NTT IndyCar Series has raced at the track’s road course layout for the GMR Grand Prix, an event that runs two weeks prior to the Indianapolis 500 on the track’s 2.5-mile oval. From 2000 to 2007, Formula One raced at the Indianapolis road course for its annual United States Grand Prix, where names like Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Rubens Barrichello won. From 2008 to 2015, the track’s road course featured Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Motorcycle racing will return at the track for its MotorAmerica Championship of Indianapolis on October 9-11, 2020. The track’s road course has even held the Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational, a racing meet sanctioned by the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association. The Indy Lights, a development series sanctioned by IndyCar, was scheduled to race at Indy’s road course layout in early July, but the series’ season was cancelled and put in a hiatus until 2021.

    NASCAR, however, is no stranger in featuring an oval-road course venue to its schedule. Since 2018, Charlotte Motor Speedway utilized its infield road course configuration for a doubleheader weekend for the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series during the Playoffs. Known as the Charlotte Roval, the course measures 2.28 miles in length and features 17 turns between the infield course layout and multiple portions of the speedway’s oval-shape track. On March 4, 2020, Daytona International Speedway will host its annual Busch Clash race for the Cup Series on the speedway’s infield road course layout with parts of the speedway’s 2.5-mile high banks under the lights on February 9, 2021. NASCAR’s first oval-road course event at Daytona will mark the first of a six-day span of racing action leading up to the 2021 Daytona 500 on February 14. The layout has previously been used for the IMSA’s annual Rolex 24 at Daytona along with the annual Daytona 200 motorcycle race.

    The Xfinity Series will be part of motorsports’ history this weekend as this will mark the first IndyCar-NASCAR doubleheader at the same track on the exact date. With the Cup Series slated to run the Brickyard 400 on oval on Sunday, July 5, this weekend will be marked as a triple-header weekend between NASCAR and IndyCar. Prior to the Xfinity race on Saturday afternoon, the IndyCar Series will race its annual GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis road course layout on Saturday morning. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, IndyCar revised its schedule that included postponing the GMR Grand Prix from May to July 4, the exact date as the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ first oval-road course race on the track, and as the second race of the season for the series. Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud, the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner, and Will Power, the 2018 Indy 500 champion, remain the only two IndyCar competitors to win at the track’s road course layout in its six-year history. The IndyCar Series completed its first race of the season at Texas Motor Speedway on June 6, which was won by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon.

    The Fourth of July doubleheader will not mark the only IndyCar race at Indianapolis. With the revised schedule, the series will race for the third time at Indianapolis, second on the track’s road course known as the IndyCar Harvest GP, on October 3. The 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 on the track’s oval-shaped layout, which was initially scheduled to run on Memorial Day weekend, is scheduled to occur on August 23 with fans in attendance. Among the names who will attempt to make the starting grid for the race will be two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso, who will drive the No. 66 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet Dallara. The current and revised 2020 IndyCar Series schedule features 14 races across nine different tracks with seven races cancelled, among which includes the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama; the Grand Prix doubleheaders in Detroit, Michigan; the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas; the Streets of Long Beach, California; the Exhibition Place in Toronto, Canada; and the series’ anticipated return to Virginia’s Richmond Raceway.

    The upcoming NASCAR and IndyCar races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway serves as part of an eventful race weekend throughout Independence Day weekend. In other motorsports news, Formula One, which will celebrate its 70th anniversary of the first F1 season, will make its first anticipated start of the year at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria, for the Austrian Grand Prix on July 5. It is the first of two races scheduled at Red Bull Ring with the F1 series to return the following weekend on July 12 for the Styrian Grand Prix. The start of the 2020 Formula One season was scheduled to commence in March, but was paused due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This Sunday will provide a first opportunity for the current F1 drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas for Mercedes, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc for Ferrari, Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon for Red Bull Racing, Carlos Sainz Jr. for McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo for Renault, Kimi Räikkönen for Alfa Romeo Racing and Pierre Gasly for AlphaTauri along with Haas F1 competitors Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean to compete and make up for the loss time on the track. The current and revised 2020 F1 schedule features eight races across six countries with the rest of the schedule to be determined. Some countries like the United States of America, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Russia and China have postponed their scheduled F1 races to unknown dates while others like Australia, Monaco, Singapore, France and Japan have cancelled their F1 races this year.

    In addition, the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season will resume on July 4 at Daytona International Speedway for the WeatherTech 240 spanning two hours and 40 minutes. It will mark the second SportsCar race of the season since the Rolex 24 at Daytona on January 25-26. There are 10 WeatherTech SportsCar races in 10 different tracks that are currently in schedule to occur through November 14 for the finale, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring at Florida’s Sebring International Raceway.

    The inaugural Pennzoil 150 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course for the NASCAR Xfinity Series will air on July 4 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC after IndyCar’s GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Road Course, which will air at noon ET on NBC. The NASCAR Cup Series’ Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will air on July 5 at 4 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Brandon Jones to make 150th Xfinity start at Indianapolis

    Brandon Jones to make 150th Xfinity start at Indianapolis

    Coming off an up-and-down weekend at Pocono Raceway, Brandon Jones will reach a milestone start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. When he takes the green flag for the Pennzoil 150 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval-road course layout, Jones will reach 150 career starts in the Xfinity Series.

    A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Jones made his Xfinity debut at Iowa Speedway in May 2015. Driving the No. 33 Jeld-Wen/Menards Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing, Jones finished eighth. He would compete in four more races in the series for RCR, earning his first top-five career finish at Kentucky Speedway in September and averaging a finishing result of 15th. The following season, Jones was promoted to a full-time racing schedule in RCR’s No. 33 Chevrolet in the Xfinity Series. He opened his first full-time season with a seventh-place result at Daytona International Speedway and went on to earn 11 more top-10 results while making the inaugural Xfinity Playoffs. He was eliminated, however, following the first round and finished 10th in the final standings. Despite starting the 2017 season with his first career pole for the season-opening event at Daytona, the remainder of the season was a disappointing one for Jones as he only achieved three top-10 results, missed the Playoffs and concluded the season in 16th in the final standings.

    In 2018, Jones transitioned to Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the No. 19 Toyota with Menards maintaining their partnership with the driver as one of his primary sponsors throughout the season. Through the first nine Xfinity races, Jones earned five top-10 results. Among his highlights for the start of the 2018 season included winning a stage at Texas Motor Speedway, leading a race-high 106 laps before finishing sixth at Bristol Motor Speedway the following week and finishing a career-best second at Talladega two weeks later, all in April. He would earn 12 more top-10 results, record a pole at Dover International Speedway in May and finish ninth in the final standings while making the Playoffs.

    He remained at JGR for the 2019 Xfinity Series while being paired with crew chief Jeff Meendering. He started the season with a third-place run at Daytona followed by a fourth-place run at Atlanta Motor Speedway before finishing 28th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the following week due to a late accident. For the first 29 Xfinity races, Jones earned 13 top-10 results, which was enough for him to qualify for the Xfinity Playoffs for the third time in his career despite sustaining seven DNFs. After recording finishes of 11th, 16th and 37th in the first round of the Playoffs, Jones was eliminated from title contention. The following week at Kansas Speedway, however, Jones rebounded by taking the lead with 10 laps remaining and holding off the field on a two-lap shootout to grab his first Xfinity career win in his 133rd series start, which was also his first victory across NASCAR’s three major division series. He would finish in the top 11 for the remaining three races and settle in 10th in the final standings.

    This season, in his third with JGR, Jones has finished in the top 10 seven times and is ranked eighth in the regular-season series standings through the first 12 races. He recorded his second Xfinity Series career win at Phoenix Raceway in March, which was also the 500th win for Toyota across NASCAR’s three major division series, after passing Kyle Busch in the closing laps for the lead, a victory that has him guaranteed a spot for the 2020 Playoffs. He has also made one of select NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series starts in the No. 51 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports last weekend at Pocono Raceway, which he won and recorded his first Truck win in his 46th series start.

    Like his fellow Xfinity Series competitors, this weekend’s event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will mark Jones’ first start at the famed racetrack’s oval-road course layout. He has competed at Indy’s oval-shaped layout the previous four seasons, finishing in the top 10 in all of them with a best result of sixth in 2019.

    Catch Jones’ milestone start in the Pennzoil 150 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval-road course event on July 4 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Vargas to return to JD Motorsports at Kansas

    Vargas to return to JD Motorsports at Kansas

    Coming off a career run at Pocono Raceway, Ryan Vargas announced via Twitter that he will return as driver of the No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro for JD Motorsports with Gary Keller in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, July 25.

    A two-time Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award winner and a NASCAR Next alumnus, the 19-year-old native from La Mirada, California, made his NASCAR national touring series debut in 2019 after previously racing in Super Stock and super late models and the 2018 ARCA Menards Series East season for Rev Racing, where he finished sixth in the final standings and achieved six top-10 results in the 14-race schedule. Driving the No. 15 Chevrolet for JD Motorsports with Gary Keller in the Xfinity Series, Vargas finished 17th in his series debut at Iowa Speedway on July 27. He returned for two more races with the team and in the No. 4 Chevrolet. He finished 18th at Road America in August and 26th at Phoenix’s ISM Raceway in November to attain an average result of 20.33 in his three-race Xfinity slate. When he was not competing in NASCAR, he was contending for the 2019 Irwindale Track Championship.

    On June 22, Vargas and JDM reached a multi-race agreement for the 2020 NASCAR season. Last weekend at Pocono Raceway, Vargas had a career run in the making as he dodged a series of late carnages to place himself in contention for a top-five run. On the final lap during an overtime restart, Vargas was running inside the top 10 when he made contact with the outside wall and the incident dropped him to 13th in the final running order. The top-15 result, nonetheless, was Vargas’ best in his fourth Xfinity career start and he was one of four JDM competitors to finish in the top 20 as teammates Jesse Little, B.J. McLeod and Jeffrey Earnhardt finished 10th, 14th and 16th. Following the Xfinity Series’ last race at Pocono, JDM entries have recorded a combined 27 top-20 results with its four-car operation through the first 12 races.

    While Vargas does not have a current full-time ride in NASCAR, he continues to pursue sponsorship availabilities and enough financial support that would enable him to gain more seat time in the sport and compete against NASCAR’s elite along with his fellow competitors.

    Catch Vargas’ second Xfinity Series race of 2020 with JDM at Kansas Speedway on July 25 at 5 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • Briscoe rallies from late spin to win at Pocono

    Briscoe rallies from late spin to win at Pocono

    From a late spin to the lead following a late restart, Chase Briscoe emerged victorious in the fifth annual Pocono Green 225 at Pocono Raceway for his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season and the sixth of his career. In a race that felt like a war of attrition with multiple on-track incidents occurring, Briscoe was a victim of one of nine cautions when he spun with 22 laps remaining in Turn 1 after sustaining a flat left-rear tire. Briscoe was able to rally from the incident to battle Ross Chastain for the lead with less than 10 laps remaining and overtake Chastain for the lead on an overtime restart to win.

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Points leader Noah Gragson drew the pole position and started alongside Myatt Snider. Jeffrey Earnhardt and Cody Ware started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Gragson launched ahead of the field on the outside lane and was pursued by teammate Justin Allgaier while Snider was being pressured by Chase Briscoe and Justin Haley for position. The caution flew when Brandon Jones, fresh off his first NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series career win at Pocono earlier in the day, was turned off the front nose of Austin Cindric and pounded the Turn 1 inside wall head-on. The damage was too severe for Jones to continue as he ended his race without completing a single lap. 

    “Ultimately, you make up spots on these restarts, so we were trying to go three-wide and get them early,” Jones said. “But, obviously, you have to have a little give and take. It’s just early. It doesn’t take much when you get three-wide to get pushed around. But from my vantage point, we got hit in the back…We had a really good positive. We won the truck race. I had high hopes for this race, too.”

    The race restarted on the fourth lap with Gragson retaining the lead. Entering Turn 1, Ross Chastain attempted to split the middle between Briscoe and Allgaier for the runner-up spot. Chastain and Briscoe made the slightest of contact entering the straightaway, but they all proceeded racing straight and still in a three-wide battle. The caution returned when contact from Daniel Hemric got Josh Williams sideways and into the outside wall on the Long Pond Straightaway, where he sustained heavy front nose damage. Also involved was Joe Graf Jr. as both competitors were knocked out of the race. Under the caution laps, Williams expressed his displeasure towards Hemric. Under caution and due to the extended caution laps, NASCAR cancelled the competition caution scheduled on the 10th lap.

    The race restarted on the eighth lap as Allgaier received a push from Chastain to challenge Gragson for the lead. Chastain attempted to move to the inside of Gragson and Allgaier for the lead, but he slipped, allowing Gragson to move into the lead. Then, in Turn 2, Cindric powered on the outside lane to take the lead, which he led the following lap. Gragson settled in second followed by Allgaier, Briscoe and Michael Annett while Chastain was back in sixth ahead of Snider and teammate Haley.

    On Lap 10, Allgaier slipped while battling teammate Gragson for second in Turn 1. Though he was able to straighten his car, the slip costed him five spots back in eighth. A lap later, Chastain moved into second after passing Gragson while Briscoe and Snider battled behind. By then, Cindric was leading by more than five seconds while Allgaier had rallied back to race in fifth.

    The caution flew on Lap 14, when rookie Harrison Burton, who had reported fluid on the track, got loose entering Turn 1 and made head-on contact into the inside wall, a wreck that was reminiscent to his teammate Jones. The front nose damage was enough to end Burton’s day on the wrecker as this marked his second consecutive DNF of the season and after starting this season with 10 consecutive top-10 finishes and two wins.

    “I was racing with [Michael Annett] and felt good, and it just instantly came around,” said Burton. “That’s a weird place to come around. That hit looked harder than it was, so I’m all right. Thankful that my team built safe racecars. I’ve unfortunately tested that out twice this year. Bummer, but we’ll be back and hopefully win some more.”

    The following lap, the race was red-flagged for nearly 21 minutes to allow the safety workers to clean the reported oil in Turn 1 and the Long Pond Straightaway that reportedly came from Brandon Brown’s car, which retired. Following an extensive cleanup, the field returned under caution. Once the field entered Turn 4, a majority of the competitors, including Haley, Allgaier, Hemric, Gragson, Riley Herbst and Alex Labbe, pitted. Those that remained on the track included Cindric, Chastain, Snider and Annett. The race restarted with three laps remaining in the stage. At the start behind the leaders, Chad Finchum pulled his No. 13 MBM Motorsports Toyota out of line after struggling on the restart, but the field scattered around him and the race proceeded under green. With the field jostling for positions, Cindric was able to pull away by six-tenths of a second over Chastain.  

    On the final lap of the first stage, Alex Labbe, one of the Dash 4 Cash contenders and who was in 11th, spun entering Turn 1 and tapped the inside wall, though he was able to drive his car back to his pit stall with damage to the front nose of his car. The stage concluded under caution with Cindric winning it. Chastain finished second followed by Allgaier, Snider, Annett. Briscoe, Gragson, Herbst, Haley and Hemric finished in the top 10. Under the stage break, Chastain remained on track to assume the lead while Cindric, Snider, Annett, Ryan Sieg and others pitted.

    Following another extensive clean-up for the spilled oil through Turn 1 and the Long Pond Straightaway, the second stage started on Lap 26. The field fanned out to three lanes before Chastain, racing on the outside lane, retained the lead followed by Allgaier with Gragson trailing by a second. Haley was in fourth followed by Herbst. On Lap 29, Cindric made the slightest contact with Herbst as Herbst slipped in Turn 3 and fell to ninth while Cindric advanced into eighth. By then, Chastain was leading by four-tenths of a second over Allgaier with Gragson trailing by two seconds. Trailing behind Gragson were Briscoe, Hemric and Cindric. 

    On Lap 35, Chastain and Allgaier were ahead of third-place Cindric by nearly five seconds. A lap later, Allgaier drew himself alongside Chastain to challenge for the lead, which he succeeded. Soon after, Chastain peeled off to pit road for a pit stop. Teammate Haley and Briscoe also pitted, but Briscoe was assessed a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road. Back on the track, Allgaier was leading by three seconds over a hard-charging Cindric. Allgaier was able to stabilize his lead to win the second stage and earn his fifth stage win of the 2020 season. Cindric was second followed by Gragson, Hemric and Herbst. Snider, Annett, Sieg, Brett Moffitt and Jeremy Clements finished in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the lead-lap competitors pitted and Cindric exited pit road first followed by Allgaier, Hemric, Gragson and Snider. Chastain, however, remained on track to inherit the lead after he pitted prior to the conclusion of the second stage. Teammate Haley also remained on track. Labbe pinned a lap behind under the hood.

    When the final stage commenced with 46 laps remaining, Chastain took off with the lead on the outside lane and was quickly pursued by Allgaier. Haley trailed the front runners by seven-tenths of a second followed by Cindric and Gragson. Two laps later, Herbst moved his way all the way up to fourth after passing Gragson, but he slipped entering the tunnel turn and fell all the way back to eighth. 

    A lap later, Haley, who slipped entering Turn 4 following contact with Herbst, veered dead left into the right rear of Herbst and sent Herbst around in Turn 4, where he made minimal contact with the wall. Herbst’s wreck capped off a disappointing day for Joe Gibbs Racing as all three of their Xfinity operations were involved in a wreck. Haley pitted with left-front damage while Herbst also pitted after sustaining front nose energy along with a flat left-front tire to his No. 18 Monster Energy/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Soon after, NASCAR assessed Haley a two-lap penalty in his pit stall for rough driving and following his on-track contact with Herbst, which ended his hopes of winning the race and the final Dash 4 Cash bonus of the season. Haley and his crew chief Alex Yontz were also called for a post-race meeting with NASCAR officials in the Xfinity Series hauler.

    Under caution, some like Cindric, Allgaier and others pitted while others like Chastain, Gragson, Hemric, Snider, Clements, B.J. McLeod, Dexter Bean and Jesse Little remained on track.

    When the race restarted with 38 laps remaining, Chastain retained the lead but behind, contact from Snider got Gragson loose in Turn 1, where he came back across the track and ignited a multi-car wreck that included teammates Allgaier and Hemric, along with Cindric and Sieg. The wreck ended Cindric’s chances of winning the race and the final Dash 4 Cash bonus after having a strong racecar. Hemric also retired while Gragson, Allgaier and Sieg continued. Under caution, a majority of the leaders, led by Chastain, pitted while few like Briscoe, Moffitt and McLeod remained on track.

    The race restarted with 33 laps remaining, and Briscoe was able to clear the field through Turn 1. Moffitt settled in second as Snider and Chastain moved into third and fourth. Behind, Annett, the lone JR Motorsports’ competitor without damage, challenged Clements for fifth. Two laps later, Briscoe was ahead by a second over Snider and Chastain, both of whom remained within sight of another for the runner-up spot. Behind, names like Moffitt, Clements, Jesse Little, Ryan Vargas, Dexter Bean and Stefan Parsons were racing inside the top 10 with McLeod battling Parsons for position.

    With 22 to go, Briscoe fell off the pace after sustaining a flat left-rear tire and he spun in Turn 1, though he continued without sustaining any damage. Briscoe’s misfortune allowed Snider to move into the lead followed by Chastain. Under caution, Snider remained on track along with four others while Chastain pitted for four fresh tires and fuel with hopes of gaining more speed to take the lead.

    Four laps later, the race restarted and Snider took off with the lead while Chastain, racing on fresh tires, boosted his way into second on fresh tires. Behind, Briscoe, rallying from his late spin, moved into third after passing Annett and Moffitt. With 15 to go, Snider was leading by four-tenths of a second over Chastain with Briscoe trailing by two seconds as the top three started to gap fourth-place Annett by nearly five seconds. Three laps later, Chastain passed Snider for the lead in Turn 1 and three turns later, Briscoe moved into second with the top-three competitors separated by less than six-tenths of a second.

    With 10 laps remaining, the battle for the lead ignited between Briscoe and Chastain with Chastain maintaining a small advantage over Briscoe. After making several attempts to pass Chastain, Briscoe succeeded with seven laps remaining in Turn 2. The following lap, Briscoe was starting to extend his lead by four-tenths of a second with Snider trailing by nearly three seconds. The caution returned when Finchum wrecked in Turn 2 and came to rest across the outside wall. Under caution, Snider and Annett led a handful of cars to pit road for service, including Allgaier, while Briscoe and Chastain remained on track. When the pit stops concluded, Snider was all the way back to 15th.

    The race restarted in overtime and Chastain received a push from Allgaier on the inside lane to retain the lead. Soon after, Briscoe gained a huge run in the Tunnel Turn and bumped into the rear bumper of Chastain to retain the lead and start the final lap. Briscoe was able to maintain a steady gap over Chastain for one final lap to claim another checkered flag of the season. With the win, Briscoe became the fifth different winner in five NASCAR Xfinity Series races at the Tricky Triangle and he recorded the second victory of the weekend for Stewart-Haas Racing, a day after Kevin Harvick won the first of two Cup Pocono races of the weekend. The victory was also Briscoe’s second with interim crew chief/veteran Greg Zipadelli.

    “Yeah, a ton of concern [when Chastain passed me in overtime],” Briscoe said on FS1. “I felt like if I’d picked the bottom [lane], I could’ve, maybe, slid him, but I was really tight and was worried if I went to the bottom, I’d get too tight on exit. When I was catching Ross, I knew his trouble end was the Tunnel Turn. He was just so loose, so I just tried to use that to my advantage. I knew that was the one spot where I could, probably, make the pass. It was fun. He’s one of the hardest guys to race against and pass. We raced clean the whole time. We were really not that good at the beginning. We, kind of, struggled and didn’t have the speed I really anticipated to have here. It’s always fun when you can do that. We’re halfway to eight [wins], so hopefully, we can keep going.” 

    Chastain finished second for his fourth top-five result of the season. Despite the disappointment of finishing second and falling short of claiming his first win of the season, Chastain secured the fourth and final Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus of the season, second for the Kaulig Racing driver.

    “We did everything right,” Chastain said on FS1. “We got the good push that we needed and cleared [Briscoe] into [Turn] 1. It’s tough to be upset with second, but I am. I’m so proud of Kaulig Racing, [Richard Childress Racing], everybody that brings these racecars and we’re unloading and we are in the top two to three every week. I know how lucky I am, but man, it’s the memories we take with us, not the money.”

    Clements rallied from a pit road speeding penalty to finish third for his first top-five result of this season while Snider made a late charge in two laps to notch a career-best fourth in his 12th series start, his sixth driving the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

    “I knew that I was getting a big push from behind,” Snider said. “I had a run coming on [Gragson], but I knew we were going to fall off real fast, so I started lifting up, but the guy behind me didn’t. So you can kind of see me squirreling around the whole time, and I’m trying slow down, but I just couldn’t stop. I hate that it got so many involved with it, but it ended up being a great day for us. We’re up front leading laps, and we had a chance to win there. It came down to experience for me. I’ve only had a few races with this RCR car. It’s got speed. I’ve just got to get myself a little more consistent, but kudos to the RCR guys for bringing such a fast TaxSlayer Camaro. I had a blast today. Just got to get a little more experience and I think that we’ll be able to win some races.”

    Annett finished fifth for his first top-five result of the season followed by teammate Allgaier, who rallied from the late multi-car wreck that also collected his two JRM teammates. Moffitt, Timmy Hill, Herbst and Jesse Little finished in the top 10. Ryan Vargas, who was running in the top 10 until he got into the outside wall in Turn 1 on the final lap, settled in 13th.

    There were 12 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 31 laps. Only 21 of the 36-car field finished on the lead lap.

    With the win, Briscoe emerged with the points lead by three points over Gragson and 33 over Chastain.

    Results:

    1. Chase Briscoe, 24 laps led

    2. Ross Chastain, 31 laps led

    3. Jeremy Clements

    4. Myatt Snider, eight laps led

    5. Michael Annett

    6. Justin Allgaier, nine laps led, Stage 2 winner

    7. Brett Moffitt

    8. Timmy Hill

    9. Riley Herbst

    10. Jesse Little

    11. Dexter Bean

    12. Ryan Sieg

    13. Ryan Vargas

    14. B.J. McLeod

    15. Kyle Weatherman

    16. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    17. Alex Labbe

    18. Vinnie Miller

    19. Kody Vanderwal

    20. Carson Ware

    21. Stefan Parsons

    22. Noah Gragson, one lap down, eight laps led

    23. Justin Haley, two laps down

    24. Bayley Currey, three laps down

    25. Matt Mills – OUT, Transmission

    26. Chad Finchum – OUT, Accident

    27. Stephen Leicht – OUT, Electrical

    28. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

    29. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident, 11 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    30. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Oil leak

    31. Jeff Green – OUT, Power steering

    32. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

    33. Brandon Brown – OUT, Engine

    34. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

    35. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Accident

    36. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series will travel to the midwest and compete in the first oval-road course race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 4, where the race will air at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity entries earn top-10 results in second Homestead race

    Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity entries earn top-10 results in second Homestead race

    Joe Gibbs Racing’s NASCAR Xfinity Series teams displayed strong performances in a span of two days for two races at Homestead-Miami Speedway. A day after Harrison Burton earned a thrilling win for himself and JGR in the first Xfinity event at Homestead, all JGR Toyota teams managed to finish in the top-10 in the second race down in Miami with Brandon Jones leading the way after earning a close runner-up finish.

    The starting lineup was based on the results from Saturday’s event at Homestead, where the top-15 finishers from Saturday were inverted for Sunday’s race and the remaining spots were placed in the finishing order from Saturday. Burton, who won at Miami on Saturday, started 15th while rookie Riley Herbst and Jones started sixth and eighth.

    When the green flag dropped, the JGR entries remained inside the top 15 while battling handling conditions to their respective Toyotas. When the competition caution flew on Lap 20, Jones was in third despite battling tightness to his No. 19 Toyota, Burton was in seventh despite struggling on exit and Herbst fell back to 13th despite rallying from early tight conditions. Under the competition caution, Herbst pitted for early adjustments while Jones and Burton remained on track with the leaders.

    When the race resumed, Burton and Jones marched towards the front, running inside the top five. Following a late caution and a four-lap shootout to the conclusion of the first stage, Jones would lead the way for the team by finishing third while Burton and Herbst finished seventh and 18th. The trio pitted under the stage break for adjustments and exited pit road inside the top 10 for the start of the second stage.

    On Lap 47, the start of the second stage, Jones made a three-wide move on Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric entering Turn 1 to take the lead. Four laps later, Jones was overtaken by Cindric for the lead and locked in a heated battle for the runner-up spot with Burton along with Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric. As the laps progressed under green-flag conditions in the stage, Jones and Burton continued racing and battling inside the top five while Herbst was in 11th. When the second stage concluded, Jones and Burton finished third and sixth while Herbst settled in 11th. Under the stage break, the trio pitted with the field and exited inside the top 10.

    When the final stage started with 78 laps remaining, the trio started battling one another and their fellow competitors for more positions inside the top 10 as Herbst remained within sight of his teammates. With less than 60 laps remaining, Jones was in third while Burton and Herbst were in sixth and seventh. With 45 to go, Herbst made a green-flag pit stop followed by Burton and Jones the following laps. With less than 10 to go, the trio was running inside the top 10 when Burton made contact with the wall and was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop. By the time Burton and his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra returned on track, he was a lap behind.

    With two laps remaining, the caution returned following a single-car wreck and Burton took the wave around by remaining on track. Jones and Herbst pitted under caution and exited inside the top five. In the first overtime attempt, however, Herbst was turned in Turn 2 after being bumped by AJ Allmendinger and was involved in a multi-car wreck. At the time of caution, Jones was able to pass Gragson for second while Burton was able to dodge the incident. Despite the damage, Herbst was able to continue and remain on the lead lap. In addition, Burton was the recipient of the free pass and returned on the lead lap.

    In the second overtime attempt, Jones gained another strong short-run boost from his No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra and made a charge for leader Chase Briscoe. He tried to gain a run on Briscoe, but was unable to navigate a run in time to pass Briscoe as he settled in the runner-up spot and right behind the rear bumper of Briscoe’s No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Burton was able to finish eighth while Herbst nursed his wounded No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota Supra across the line in ninth.

    With his fourth top-five finish of this season, Jones jumped from eighth to sixth in the regular-season standings, trailing points leader Gragson by 90 points, and will be one of four competitors contending for the next Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

    “It was close, but I don’t think I got into [Briscoe],” Jones said. “We were just going as hard as we could. I didn’t get as good of a run through [Turns] one and two as I thought I was going to, so I saw him dive to the bottom in three and I wanted to use the high line. I wanted to try to get the big arc because I knew he was going to push up and I thought I could go low. That was the thought process there. I did try to fake him on the frontstretch to try to get him to move around and mess up but just didn’t work there. This was by far probably the hottest we’ve been in a while anyways. I think it was great that we were able to run back-to-back races. It was great that we were able to take the same exact car to the second race as well.”

    Despite falling short in winning two NASCAR Xfinity races of the weekend at Homestead, Burton extended his remarkable streak of finishing in the top 10 in all 10 series scheduled races as he is still third in the standings, trailing Gragson by 45 points.

    “I felt like we had a better car than we did yesterday,” Burton said. “We were a little bit more competitive. [Gragson] was still really good. [Jones] was better today, [Herbst] was better today, so as a company I think we made some strides. Not a finish my team deserves, but that happens. You are getting all you can the last few laps – right against the fence – and sometimes you just overstep. Once I got to the wall, I couldn’t get off of it, and that’s what caused the right rear to blow…I still haven’t won a stage – won two races but haven’t won a stage. Got to find a way to get those Playoff points, they are really important come later in the year. That’s my main goal now – to fire off faster and try to be aggressive from the start and hopefully, get more dominate.”

    Herbst made a decent recovery from his late accident to earn his fifth top-10 finish of this season as he is still 11th in the standings, trailing Gragson by 179 points.

    “I beat [Hemric] initially on the start, so I dropped down and made it three-wide on the bottom and I was about to clear him,” Herbst said. “AJ Allmendinger came from behind and gave me a push to help clear him and then he pushed me too far in the left side and hooked me up and wrecked us. All in all, it was a decent day and we got better and better. It’s promising. At the end there, we were probably top-five speed and just lacking a little bit. It was cool to get better as the day went, for sure.”

    With the results, this marks the fourth time this season, second consecutive day, where all three Joe Gibbs Racing full-time entries finished in the top 10.

    All three full-time JGR Xfinity competitors along with their fellow competitors will return on June 20 for the next series race at Talladega Superspeedway, where the race will air at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Allmendinger notches $100,000 bonus for Kaulig Racing at Homestead

    Allmendinger notches $100,000 bonus for Kaulig Racing at Homestead

    A day after late pit road penalties knocked teammates Ross Chastain and Justin Haley out of potential race-winning contention, Kaulig Racing returned with three cars to the starting grid for the Contender Boats 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway as Haley and AJ Allmendinger were two of four competitors contending for the second Dash 4 Cash bonus. Following two overtime restarts, Allmendinger was able to claim the $100,000 bonus with a fourth-place result as all three Kaulig competitors finished in the top six.

    The starting lineup for Sunday’s race was based on having the top-15 finishers from Saturday inverted with the next 15-finishing competitors starting Sunday as they finished on Saturday and new entries rounding out the field. Haley, who finished 13th at Miami on Saturday, was the highest-starting Kaulig Racing competitor in third while Chastain, who finished ninth, started seventh. Allmendinger started at the rear of the field since he did not compete in Saturday’s race at Homestead.

    When the green flag dropped, it did not take long for Chastain to flex his muscles early as he took the lead from Myatt Snider on the second lap. He led for a total of seven laps before he was overtaken by Chase Briscoe. When the competition caution flew on Lap 20, Chastain had fallen back to fourth while fighting the balance and grip of his car. Haley was back in sixth while Allmendinger was able to work his way up to 16th. Following another caution in the closing laps of the first stage, all Kaulig Racing teammates were in the top 15 while continuing to fight the grip levels and balance of their respective Chevrolet Camaros. Under the caution, Chastain gave up track position to pit while Haley and Allmendinger remained on track with the leaders. Following a four-lap dash to the conclusion of the first stage, Haley finished 14th while Allmendinger and Chastain finished 17th and 33rd.

    Following pit stops under the stage break, Chastain remained on track to inherit the lead for the start of the second stage while Haley and Allmendinger moved to 10th and 11th after pitting. When the second stage started, Chastain led four laps before being overtaken by Brandon Jones. As the laps progressed, Chastain and Allmendinger were running inside the top 10 while Haley was in 12th. In the closing laps, Allmendinger reported loose conditions to his No. 16 Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet Camaro while Chastain and Haley were battling tight conditions and falling back from the leaders. When the second stage concluded, Allmendinger finished 10th and earned a stage point while Chastain and Haley finished 12th and 15th.

    When the final stage started with 78 laps remaining, all three Kaulig teammates restarted ninth through 11th and spent the majority of the stage racing within the top 10 and 15. During the run and following green-flag pit stops, all Kaulig competitors were behind a lap from the leaders. With the race dwindling to its final laps, the Kaulig competitors appeared to have top-10 runs solidified despite being a lap down when the caution flew with two laps remaining for a single-car incident in Turn 3. By then, Allmendinger, who was the first competitor a lap behind, was the recipient of the free pass to return on the lead lap while Haley and Chastain took the wave around.

    In the first overtime attempt, Allmendinger made contact with rookie Riley Herbst while battling for a top-five spot, which turned Herbst into a wreck with JR Motorsports’ Michael Annett and Daniel Hemric. Everyone else behind, including Haley and Chastain, were able to scatter pass the wreck with no damage, though Haley and Chastain pitted under caution.

    In the second overtime attempt, all three Kaulig competitors restarted inside the top seven and Chastain was able to carve his way to settle in third while watching Briscoe beat Jones to win the race right in front of him. Behind him, Allmendinger fended off Noah Gragson to finish fourth for his second consecutive top-five finish in his second start of this season and emerge as the highest-finishing Dash 4 Cash contender, thus winning the second $100,000 bonus of the 2020 season. Haley settled in sixth.

    “We fought hard trying to figure out how to make the car better,” Allmendinger said on MRN. “At the end, we made it the best, but we were still about a ninth-place car. I fought hard to get Ellsworth Advisors $100,000, for Chevrolet, ECR, LeafFilter Gutter Protection, for sure. Can’t thank Xfinity enough for all they do and I guess we get to go to Talladega and do it again, right?!”

    With their results, Allmendinger and Haley will contend for the next Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus at Talladega Superspeedway next weekend along with Briscoe and Jones.

    With his second top-five result of this season, Chastain dropped from fourth to fifth in the standings, but is 61 points behind points leader Gragson. With his sixth top-10 result of this season, Haley remained in seventh in the standings, but is 105 points behind Gragson.

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series will return on June 20 at Talladega Superspeedway, where the race will air at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Two races, two strikes for Gragson at Homestead

    Two races, two strikes for Gragson at Homestead

    If there was one competitor who left both NASCAR Xfinity Series events of this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway with disappointment and feelings of déjà vu, it was Noah Gragson. The Las Vegas native driving for JR Motorsports had the car to beat in both racing events in Miami. Then like a bomb, his dominating performance en route to victory was halted by late-race cautions that would flip the cards on the table and allow his fellow competitors to emerge with late-race victories. While Saturday’s loss was difficult, Sunday’s loss came with a hard, bitter ending for Gragson.

    Starting 13th, Gragson started at the rear of the field in a backup car but proved that he had a race-winning car when the green flag dropped. After carving his way through the field, Gragson was able to race up to sixth when the competition caution flew on Lap 20. Twelve laps later, Gragson was able to make his way into the top five when the caution returned following a two-car wreck on the backstretch. In the final four laps of the first stage, Gragson would be overtaken by two competitors for two positions and would finish in sixth.

    The second stage was where Gragson flexed his muscles as he restarted in the top five but started to make his move to the front. Gragson spent a good portion of the stage battling hard with teammate Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones and Harrison Burton for the runner-up spot before making his charge for the lead, occupied by Austin Cindric. On Lap 68, Gragson took the lead and was gone as he kept his car rim-riding towards the outside lane and toward the wall to gain speed from the corners to the straightaways, which allowed him to extend his lead. Like yesterday’s event, Gragson was uncontested and won the second stage while also collecting his fifth stage win of the season.

    Following a smooth pit stop from his pit crew, Gragson retained the lead for the start of the final stage with 78 laps remaining. For the start of the final stage, Gragson would battle Cindric for the lead before the latter gained the upper advantage. With 61 laps remaining, Cindric made an unscheduled pit stop due to sustaining a flat tire as a result of making contact with the outside wall, which allowed Gragson to reassume the lead. By then, he was more than three seconds over runner-up Chase Briscoe and continued to stretch while remaining close to the wall to gain more speed.

    Following green-flag pit stops and exiting second on track, Gragson returned to the lead with 36 laps remaining and was maintaining a healthy lead over Briscoe. He was cruising his way to another win of the season, redemption following his loss on Saturday and his second consecutive $100,000 bonus from the Dash 4 Cash program when déjà vu struck and the caution flew with two laps remaining when Cindric cut another tire and spun in Turn 3.

    Under caution, Gragson fell to second as Briscoe’s pit crew got Briscoe ahead of him exiting the pits. On the first overtime attempt, Gragson slipped to third as Jones moved into second, moments before the caution returned for a multi-car wreck that knocked out Gragson’s teammates Hemric and Michael Annett. In the second overtime attempt, Gragson was unable to mount a rally back to the front as he settled in fifth, the highest-finishing JR Motorsports competitor, after being passed by two more competitors. Teammates Annett and Justin Allgaier finished 18th and 22nd while Hemric, who was unable to finish following his late wreck, settled in 31st.

    While Gragson parked his No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro on pit road, he watched as Briscoe celebrated his third race win of the season while AJ Allmendinger was awarded the second Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus.

    “[I’m] Gonna have to start working on myself because that’s unacceptable on my standards,” Gragson said on MRN. “[Crew chief] Dave Elenz and the rest of the team, they did an unbelievable job to set up the car. We had the lead there at the end and the caution [fell] with a lap and a half to go. These guys, they work their tails off and it’s not to run fifth. It’s to win these races. Gonna keep on focus, keep positive. Super thankful for this team and them sticking behind me. Gonna keep working on myself and try to be better next time, just learn from the opportunity and just take the positives from today.”

    With his seventh top-10 result of this year’s Xfinity Series season to go along with two race victories, the bonus points for winning the second stage and leading a race-high 81 laps, Gragson leads the regular-season standings by 18 points over Briscoe and 45 over Burton.

    Gragson, along with his fellow competitors, will return for the next series race at Talladega Superspeedway on June 20, where the race will air at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Briscoe rallies from penalty to win at Homestead in overtime

    Briscoe rallies from penalty to win at Homestead in overtime

    From a penalty to victory lane in a span of two days, Chase Briscoe outlasted the field in two overtime attempts to claim a thrilling win in the Contender Boats 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the second of a series doubleheader weekend in Miami. It was his fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory and third of this season.

    The win was also Briscoe’s first with interim crew chief and veteran Greg Zipadelli, who filled in for the suspended Richard Boswell after Briscoe’s team was penalized for a fallen ballast off of Briscoe’s car prior to yesterday’s series race at Homestead. In addition to crew chief Boswell, car chief Nick Hutchins and engineer D.J. Vanderley were also suspended for the next four series races.

    The starting lineup was based on the results from Saturday’s event at Homestead, where the top-15 finishers from Saturday were inverted for Sunday’s race and the remaining spots were placed in the finishing order from Saturday. New additions were placed at the rear of the field. With his 15th-place result on Saturday, Myatt Snider started on pole position and was joined on the front row by Brandon Brown. Daniel Hemric, Carson Ware and Jairo Avila Jr. started at the rear of the field due to driver changes along with Justin Allgaier and Kody Vanderwal, both racing in backup cars. Noah Gragson also started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

    When the green flag dropped, Snider received a boost from Justin Haley on the inside lane to jump to the lead. By the time Snider led the first lap, Ross Chastain moved into second and was able to take the lead the following lap. Briscoe, who started ninth, moved into second and three laps later, Austin Cindric raced into third.

    On Lap 8, Briscoe made a move on the inside lane in Turn 1 and took the lead from Chastain. Three laps later, Cindric took the lead and was able to stabilize his lead to a comfortable margin over Briscoe. Cindric was able to maintain the lead by nearly two seconds over Brandon Jones and Briscoe when the field reached the competition caution on Lap 20. At the time of caution, Harrison Burton was in seventh after starting 15th with teammates Gragson and Allgaier were in sixth and eighth after both started at the rear of the field. Alfredo was in 10th after starting 12th and Hemric and Allmendinger were in 12th and 16th after starting at the rear of the field. Snider and Brown had fallen back to 11th and 29th. Under the competition caution, a majority of competitors remained on the track while some like Ryan Sieg and Riley Herbst pitted for early adjustments.

    The race restarted on Lap 24, and Cindric retained the lead after receiving a strong start on the inside lane. Briscoe, who restarted on the outside lane, was shuffled back to fifth as Jones, Burton and Haley moved up the leaderboard along with Allgaier. By Lap 31, while most of the competitors continued battling for positions, Sieg, who restarted in 22nd but on fresh tires, had charged all the way up to second. The caution flew a lap later when Caesar Bacarella and Tommy Joe Martins wrecked on the backstretch. Under caution, the leaders remained on the track while a few including Chastain and Michael Annett pitted.

    When the race restarted with four laps remaining in the first stage, a four-wide battle for the lead took place between Cindric, Sieg, Jones and Allgaier through Turns 1 and 2 before Sieg took the lead in Turn 3. Sieg was able to pull away from the field and win the first stage on Lap 40 for his second stage win in two days and by nearly two seconds over Annett, who made a miraculous charge after pitting prior to the restart. Cindric, Jones and Allgaier finished in the top five followed by Gragson, Burton, Hemric, Timmy Hill and Bayley Currey.  

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Cindric led Jones, Burton, Gragson and Annett. Sieg and Allgaier, both of whom pitted in the top three, fell back to 20th and 23rd after both had issues on pit road, where Allgaier clipped a tire out of Sieg’s pit box while entering his own pit box and then had issues exiting his pit stall while backing up to avoid making contact with Jeffrey Earnhardt. Chastain, who pitted in the closing laps of the stage, remained on track and assumed the lead.

    The second stage started on Lap 47 and Jones went three-wide with Chastain and Cindric to take the lead entering Turn 1. Four laps later, Cindric returned to the lead. By Lap 55, Cindric stretched his advantage to more than a second over Jones who was locked in a four-car battle with Hemric, Gragson and Burton. Two laps later, Hemric moved into second as Briscoe joined the battle. Their battle allowed Cindric to continue to extend his advantage to over two seconds through Lap 60. 

    As the race progressed, Gragson moved into second followed by Burton, Briscoe and Jones while Hemric had fallen back to sixth ahead of Allmendinger. Allgaier was in ninth while Sieg was stuck in 26th.

    On Lap 68, Gragson took the lead from Cindric and started to rocket away from the field while using the outside lane toward the wall to his advantage. Just like the majority of yesterday’s Xfinity race at Homestead, Gragson remained uncontested and cruised to the win of the second stage on Lap 80. Cindric finished second, trailing by nearly four seconds, followed by Jones, Briscoe and Hemric. Burton, Allgaier, Annett, Alfredo and Allmendinger finished in the top 10. Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Gragson retained the lead followed by Briscoe, Burton, Hemric and Cindric.

    The final stage started with 78 laps remaining and Gragson received a bump from Burton on the inside lane to retain the lead. Two laps later, Cindric raced his way back to second followed by Briscoe while Burton, Hemric and Jones battled for fourth. Six laps later, Cindric reassumed the lead, where he started to stretch his advantage by more than a second over Gragson, who was challenged by Briscoe for the runner-up spot.

    With 60 to go, Gragson raced his way back to the lead after Cindric scrubbed the wall. The damage cut Cindric’s right-rear tire as he was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop to address the flat tire. Once Cindric returned to the track, he was in 23rd, a lap behind, while Gragson was ahead by more than three seconds over Briscoe and nearly seven seconds over Hemric, Jones, Allgaier, Burton and Herbst.

    With 50 to go, Gragson stabilized his lead to above four seconds over Briscoe while Jones, Burton and Hemric continued battling for third while behind by more than 10 seconds. Soon after, green-flag pit stops commenced as teammates Chastain and Haley pitted. During the green-flag pit stops, Allgaier was slowing his car to make the left-hand turn to pit road right in front of teammate Hemric, which caused Hemric to lock up his front brakes and circle around the track for another lap to make his stop, which cost him time from the lead. Once nearly the entire field pitted, Josh Williams emerged with the lead before pitting a lap later and allowing Cindric to take the lead. Two laps later, Gragson reassumed the lead as he started to pull away.

    With 20 to go, Gragson, who continued rim-riding toward the outside wall, was ahead by over three seconds over Briscoe and 11 seconds over Cindric. Teammates Jones and Burton were locked in a heated battle for fourth while Hemric was back in sixth. During this time, Allgaier made an unscheduled pit stop after sustaining a flat tire from scrubbing the wall. Alfredo also pitted after making contact with the wall.

    With 10 to go, Briscoe narrowed the deficit to less than two seconds over Gragson, who slowly started to approach lapped traffic but remained running toward the outside near the wall. A few laps later, Burton made an unscheduled pit stop due to a flat tire which ended his hopes to win twice in two days. 

    In the final five laps, Briscoe started to close toward Gragson, cutting his deficit to less than a second, but he soon made contact with the wall, which allowed Gragson to stabilize his advantage back to over a second. 

    Just as Gragson was about to take the white flag to start the final lap, Cindric wrecked in Turn 3 after cutting a right-rear tire, which drew the caution and set the race into overtime. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Briscoe beat Gragson off pit road first following a stellar pit stop. Hemric exited third followed by Jones, Herbst and Annett.

    In the first overtime attempt, Briscoe maintained the lead and Jones took second away from Gragson. The caution quickly returned for a multi-car wreck in Turn 2 that started when Allmendinger got into the back of Herbst, sending Herbst and Annett against one another toward the outside wall while Hemric was clipped and made head-on contact with the inside wall as everyone else scattered to avoid the wreckage.

    In the second overtime attempt, Briscoe and Jones battled for the lead while Gragson made contact with the outside wall in Turn 2 and fell back to the top 10. On the final lap, Briscoe was able to clear Jones for the lead and hold off the Georgia native for one final circuit and by 0.072 seconds at the finish line to win the race and to become the first three-time winner of the series this season.

    “Just a testament to our team,” Briscoe said on MRN (Motor Racing Network). “Yesterday, we were so good and today, I don’t know what our deal was. We were still good, but we weren’t near as good as we were yesterday. I don’t know if it was the heat or what. We were able to find some speed up on the top [lane] that last run. I just kept trying to run the fence harder and harder and harder. I knew that if I could get to Noah, I felt like I’d put enough pressure on him after running him down the straightaway that he would make mistakes. With two [laps] to go, I was just trying to get more and more and more, and I was already on the edge. The caution, absolutely, fell perfect. The pit crew did an unbelievable job to get us upfront. Definitely a team win. [Jones] had a big run coming off of [Turn] 4 just because I drove it in so deep on the bottom so he could get to me. It almost cost me. It’s pretty dang cool for me, growing up a die-hard Tony Stewart fan to get a win with [crew chief] Zippy. That’s pretty cool. Happy that we can get our Ford Performance Racing School car in victory lane. We, definitely, weren’t the best car today, but I felt like we were yesterday. It’s nice to get some redemption.”

    Jones finished second followed by Chastain while Allmendinger beat Gragson for fourth and claim the second Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus. With his accomplishment, Allmendinger became the 12th different driver to win the $100,000 bonus from the Dash 4 Cash program in the last five seasons.

    “We fought hard trying to figure out how to make the car better,” Allmendinger said on MRN. “At the end, we made it the best, but we were still about a ninth-place car. I fought hard to get Ellsworth Advisors $100,000, for Chevrolet, ECR, LeafFilter Gutter Protection, for sure. Can’t thank Xfinity enough for all they do and I guess we get to go to Talladega and do it again, right?!”

    The fifth-place result did very little to satisfy Gragson after dominating both Xfinity races in Miami and to fall short in the closing laps.

    “[I’m] Gonna have to start working on myself because that’s unacceptable on my standards,” Gragson said on MRN. “[Crew chief] Dave Elenz and the rest of the team, they did an unbelievable job to set up the car. We had the lead there at the end and the caution [fell] with a lap and a half to go. These guys, they work their tails off and it’s not to run fifth. It’s to win these races. Gonna keep on focus, keep positive. Super thankful for this team and them sticking behind me. Gonna keep working on myself and try to be better next time, just learn from the opportunity and just take the positives from today.”

    Allmendinger, Brisoce, Jones and Chastain will contend for the third Dash 4 Cash bonus next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Haley, Snider, Burton and Herbst finished sixth through ninth and as the only competitors to finish on the lead lap while Cindric, the first car a lap down, finished 10th.

    The race featured 20 lead changes with eight different leaders. There were six cautions for 28 laps.

    Gragson retained the lead in the Xfinity Series regular-season standings by 18 points over Briscoe and 45 over Burton.

    Results:

    1. Chase Briscoe, 11 laps led

    2. Brandon Jones, five laps led

    3. Ross Chastain, 11 laps led

    4. AJ Allmendinger

    5. Noah Gragson, 81 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    6. Justin Haley

    7. Myatt Snider, one lap led

    8. Harrison Burton

    9. Riley Herbst

    10. Austin Cindric, one lap down, 60 laps led

    11. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down

    12. Josh Williams, one lap down, one lap led

    13. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

    14. Colin Garrett, one lap down

    15. Jesse Little, one lap down

    16. Jeffrey Earnhardt, one lap down

    17. Colby Howard, one lap down

    18. Michael Annett, one lap down

    19. Ryan Sieg, two laps down, seven laps led, Stage 1 winner

    20. Tommy Joe Martins, two laps down

    21. Chad Finchum, two laps down

    22. Justin Allgaier, three laps down

    23. Alex Labbe, three laps down

    24. Matt Mills, three laps down

    25. Timmy Hill, three laps down

    26. Bayley Currey, four laps down

    27. Jeremy Clements, four laps down

    28. Carson Ware, four laps down

    29. Vinnie Miller, four laps down

    30. Caesar Bacarella, six laps down

    31. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Crash

    32. Stefan Parsons, 26 laps down

    33. Kody Vanderwal – OUT, Power steering

    34. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Clutch

    35. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Fire

    36. Brandon Brown – OUT, Overheating

    37. Ja Junior Avila – OUT, Electrical

    38. Stephen Leicht – OUT, Handling

    Next on the Xfinity Series schedule is Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, which will occur on June 20 at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1.