Spartanburg, SC – Jeremy Clements Racing will return for the full 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. The family-run, single-car independent team will be competing in their 10th full-time Xfinity season. In addition, Repairable Vehicles will continue their support as one of the longest-running partnerships in the Series throughout the 2020 season.
Going into the 2020 season JCR looks to continue to build on the recent consistency over the last few years; coming off last season that saw JCR tally a record number of Top 10s (4) and Top15s (19) and the best-ever average starting position of 15.7 and finishing position of 16.9. As luck seems to walk on his side, it seems to be the perfect time for him to gamble and try his chance on online casinos right here.
When asked about 2020 Clements said, “I’m optimistic, I do feel better this year than I did last year because we are ahead of the game and will be way more prepared to start the season.” Clements went on to say, “Having Brad Meyer and his Repairables.com team come back again this year means a helluva a lot to JCR, Brad has basically supported us from the beginning of our full-time effort here the XFINITY Series and I could not be more grateful for his support and friendship,” and “We are definitely looking forward to taking our newest Repariables.com Hot Rod to the front come Daytona.”
FAST FACTS
• Jeremy’s 20th career start at Daytona International Speedway
• Best finish of eighth – 7/2014
• Best start of 19th – 7/2018
JCR TEAM
• Crew Chief: Andrew “Panda’ Abbott
• Manufacturer: Chevrolet
• Engine: Clements Racing Engines
RepairableVehicles.com, a division of Interstate Auto Center, Inc., is one of the leading resellers of repairable vehicles in North America. By working together with insurance companies, dealerships, rental companies, and automotive salvage auctions, they can provide an ever-changing inventory of high-quality total-loss, recovered theft, collision damage, and other types of repairable vehicles to their customers worldwide. www.Repairablevehicles.com
For more information on Jeremy Clements:
– Jeremy Clements on Facebook, JeremyClementsRacing
– Twitter, @jclements51
– Instagram, JClements51
– You can follow Team JCR on Twitter, @JCR_Clements51
Tag: NASCAR Xfinity Series
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Jeremy Clements Racing sets sights on a Playoff Run, Repairable Vehicles returns for 2020
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Justin Allgaier wins Most Popular Driver Award in Xfinity Series
By Staff Report | NASCAR.com
The fans have spoken. Justin Allgaier has been named the NASCAR Xfinity Series Most Popular Driver for the first time.
Allgaier, 33, takes the mantle from former teammate Elliott Sadler, who had won the fan-voted honor for three consecutive years. Sadler retired from full-time racing following the conclusion of the 2018 season, paving the way for Allgaier’s ascension in the voting this year.
The driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet finished fourth in the final Xfinity Series standings after making it to the Championship 4 for the third time in four years. His victory in the penultimate race of the year at ISM Raceway in Phoenix clinched a spot in Miami, where he finished 14th.
Allgaier is known for his affable attitude and fan-friendly demeanor. He often is surrounded by wife Ashley and daughter Harper on pit road before strapping in.
The veteran finished the year with that one win in Phoenix, 16 top-five finishes and 24 top 10s in 33 races. He’s up to 11 wins all time in the Xfinity Series.The award for Allgaier continues an eight-year run for JR Motorsports drivers. Other former JRM drivers to earn the honor during that time include Sadler (2016-18) Chase Elliott (2014-15), Regan Smith (2013) and Danica Patrick (2012).
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Tyler Reddick wins race and Xfinity Series championship
As seen in year’s past, if you want to win the championship, you will more than likely also have to win the race. Tyler Reddick did just that at Homestead-Miami Speedway and capped off a perfect season by earning his sixth win of the 2019 season. He took the lead with 18 to go after a fierce battle with Championship 4 contender Cole Custer. Reddick became just the seventh Xfinity Series driver to win back-to-back championships.
“It’s just amazing and the best part is, my girlfriend Alexa said if I won the championship, our baby boy was going to be named Bo,” Reddick said to MRN Radio. “I got the call so late, we were honestly trying to keep everyone on their toes. I was sideways coming on pit road and I really didn’t know how good my approach was, so I just took it easy. I cost us a lot of time there and came out behind the other two (Champ 4 drivers). That’s on me, I had to put that in my back and had to go out there, and pass those guys while ultimately putting this car in victory lane. Had to put this car in victory lane to where it deserves, that’s on the championship stage, as well as an Owner’s Championship in Richard Childress Racing’s 50th year.”
Qualifying was held on Saturday afternoon just a few hours before the Xfinity Series race. The session also saw Reddick qualifying on the pole. Championship 4 drivers Cole Custer was second, Christopher Bell was seventh and Justin Allgaier qualified 16th. Bobby Earnhardt was the only driver that failed to qualify. Stages were broke into 45/45/110 laps to make up the 200-lap race distance.
Stage 1: Lap 1- Lap 45
Stage 1 got off to a rocky start with multiple incidents. On lap 6 the first yellow came out for the No. 07 of Ray Black Jr. as a tremendous amount of smoke came out of the back of his car. The day would end early for Black Jr. but he would be okay. Another incident occurred in Turn 4 on Lap 16, where the No. 15 of Tyler Matthews hit the wall hard and had a flat tire. Matthews’ day was done early too and resulted in a 37th place finish.
A piece of debris was stuck in Turns 3 and 4 after the accident which made the leaders move down a groove to protect their car from getting hit with it. Shortly after TV cameras pointed the debris out, officials displayed the yellow for the third time of the night on Lap 34.
With a few quick cautions early, the rest of the stage saw a nine lap dash to the stage break. Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe took the stage win while Custer was second, Reddick fourth, Bell 12th and Allgaier finished 13th.
Stage 2: Lap 51- Lap 96
Stage 2 was relaxed for the most part when it came to the cautions. However, one Championship 4 driver had a problem occur on Lap 57. Custer had reported a potential loose wheel to the No. 00. Trying to stay out in hopes of a caution and not lose track positions, he could not anymore and eventually pitted on Lap 60. After the pit stop, the team quickly diagnosed the issue, which was a right-rear that was loose. Custer rejoined the race, one lap down.
One more driver also faced a tire issue. Jeb Burton had a right rear tire go down as well, but this time, almost spinning out coming to the entry of pit road. Burton saved the car and was able to get down to pit road without bringing out a caution.
Just a few laps before the stage finished, Custer had the lucky dog position and was hoping that the No. 22 of Austin Cindric, who was the race leader at the time, would help Custer out by leaning over to get his lap back. However, an accident broke out between Justin Haley and Harrison Burton off Turn 4. Custer passed Cindric in time before the caution was displayed in order to get his lap back.
Cindric wound up winning the stage, with Bell in second, Allgaier in third, Reddick in fourth and Custer in 16th.
Stage 3: Lap 96- Lap 200
As soon as the final stage began, the caution was flown once again. This time it was a bumper cover off Haley’s car that was on the frontstretch. While the drivers were scrambling not to run over it, the No. 35 of Joey Gase was the unlucky one and hit the debris.
After having a strong car early, Briscoe brought out the caution with 78 to go. The Stewart-Haas driver found himself in the wall with a right front tire down. With the caution, most of the leaders pitted and Bell won the race off pit road.
From that point on, no cautions would be flown but intense battles took place. Three out of the four championship drivers were the top three with 51 to go. Bell was out front, Reddick in second and Custer third. All three drivers were battling hard to win the championship.
When the last round of green-flag pit stops started to take place, Bell missed the entry to pit road with 41 to go. This ultimately cost him a shot to win the championship and a lot of ground on the racetrack. Therefore, the championship was left up to Reddick, Custer and Allgaier, unless a caution late bunched the field up.
Allgaier pitted the same time Bell did, while Reddick and Custer pitted a few laps later. When the two rejoined the racing surface, they found themselves racing with Allgaier. The three of them were not trying to run each other over and were three wide going off the pit stops. Eventually, Reddick and Custer had the best two cars of the night and broke away from Allgaier leaving the two drivers to decide it out on their own.
Working the high line, Reddick made slight contact with the wall while trying to chase Custer with 33 to go. The contact wasn’t hard enough to slow him down but it basically helped Reddick a little bit. The Richard Childress Racing driver still kept close to Custer in regrouping and trying to find more momentum. Reddick found his chance with 18 to go and took the lead. Hoping for no cautions, the Corning, California native held on en route to the ninth victory of his Xfinity Series career and a second Xfinity Series championship.
“It’s about this race team, man, and I was just honored to pilot this Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet,” Reddick said. “I’m losing my breath—I’m that excited. This one means so much more. It was just a lot better year, and it was really cool to go back-to-back.”
Meanwhile, Cole Custer came up short once again despite rebounding from a flat tire early on in the race and a battle with Reddick.
“Yeah, I mean, like I said, I think I said it on TV, Tyler can rip the fence here,” Custer said. “I don’t know, I can match his lap time there, out there at the end, but he was just a tick better where he could be on my bumper when he was behind me and do a slide job, and I could keep up with him and I just ‑‑ there at the end I felt like I needed to find a way to close the gap.”
“I was just like three car lengths back the whole time, so I was like, I need to try and figure out a way to close the gap, and I just got in the fence a little bit. It’s been a great year, so we have a lot to hang our hats on. It sucks running second again, but we can still stay positive about how great of a year we’ve had.”
Reddick led five times for 84 laps before closing the door on the 2019 Xfinity Series season. There were seven cautions for 35 laps and 15 lead changes among six drivers.
Official Results
- Tyler Reddick, 2019 Xfinity Series Champion, led 84 laps
- Cole Custer, led 15 laps
- Chase Briscoe, 2019 Rookie Of The Year, led 14 laps
- Noah Gragson, led 10 laps
- Christopher Bell, led 37 laps
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Austin Cindric, led 40 laps
- Brandon Jones
- Jeb Burton, one lap down
- Harrison Burton, one lap down
- Michael Annett, one lap down
- Ryan Sieg, one lap down
- Brandon Brown, one lap down
- Justin Allgaier, one lap down
- Landon Cassill, one lap down
- Jeremy Clements, two laps down
- Gray Gaulding, two laps down
- Alex Labbe, two laps down
- Josh Williams, two laps down
- B.J. McLeod, two laps down
- Colin Garrett, two laps down
- Will Rodgers, three laps down
- David Starr, four laps down
- Stephen Leicht, five laps down
- Jairo Avila Jr, five laps down
- Vinnie Miller, seven laps down
- Joey Gase, seven laps down
- Robby Lyons, eight laps down
- Joe Nemechek, eight laps down
- Matt Mills, OUT, Clutch
- C.J. McLaughlin, OUT, Vibration
- Garrett Smithley, OUT, Oil Line
- Justin Haley, OUT, Damage Vehicle Policy
- Timmy Hill, OUT, Brakes
- Chad Finchum, OUT, Engine
- J.J. Yeley, OUT, Suspension
- Tyler Matthews, OUT, Crash
- Ray Black Jr, OUT, Engine
Up Next: With the 2019 Xfinity Series season officially over, the next on-track activity will be the 2020 opener at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, Feb. 15.
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Briscoe locks up 2019 Rookie of The Year
The 2019 Xfinity Series season was a great season to look back on for Chase Briscoe and the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing team, especially after winning Rookie of the Year honors. There were a couple of rocky starts at Daytona and Atlanta, finishing 12th and 15th, respectively. However, from Las Vegas to Dover, the team finished mainly in the top five. There were some issues later such as Charlotte in May when Briscoe finished 19th, one lap down. There were a few more including Chicago in July with a 15th place result and a DNF at Daytona.
But the team got right back on track the following week at Kentucky with a top-five finish. Then at Iowa, Briscoe had a great car and secured his first win of the season, his first since the victory at the Charlotte Roval. With the win, he was able to lock the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing team into the Playoffs.
The team started off the Playoffs at Richmond Raceway with another top-five finish. Then two weeks in a row at the Charlotte Roval and Kansas, Briscoe qualified the No. 98 on the pole. The Playoffs were looking up for the Stewart-Haas driver, however, a wreck at Texas prior to ISM Raceway hurt their chances to advance. Briscoe finished 22nd and was in a must-win situation going into the final race in the Round of 8.
An eighth-place finish wasn’t enough to push the team for the Championship 4 and they were left to battle for a top-10 position. Even though he could not win the championship, Briscoe still had an opportunity to win the race at Homestead and he certainly had the car capable of doing so. He started fifth and won the first stage. The No. 98 team remained consistent for a finishing position of fifth for Stage 2.
Briscoe never fell out of contention in spite of bringing out the caution on Lap 124. He bounced off the wall off Turn 1 and eventually had a flat tire. Even with the incident, new tires helped the team and in the end, he came home with a third place finish after leading 14 laps.
“Yeah, I think if I had to read it on a 1 to 10 scale, I would say it was like a 6 1/2,” Briscoe said. “I felt like at the beginning of the year I kind of struggled to understand what I needed in these race cars, and truthfully how to drive them and the feel I was looking for. I just struggled to find ‑‑ the biggest thing was I couldn’t feel the right rear ever. As the season went on, we kind of switched from trying to say do what Harvick ran the year before and what Cole was running and just try to build more of a setup to what I felt better about.”
“Iowa was really the first race that we decided to do that, and that was the race we won. It seemed like from then on out we were a serious contender every week. Felt like the second half of the year was a lot better than the first half of the year, but we definitely ‑‑ looking back at these playoffs, especially, I felt like we could have realistically won three or four of the races, and weird stuff happens. The Kansas deal, the Roval was one where I felt like I could have ran down Allmendinger. Dover, I think we led the most laps and didn’t catch a caution, and then tonight just getting into the wall.”
“I think the end of the year was definitely better than the first part of the year, but overall we definitely have more to improve on and I can get way better as a driver I feel like.”
While winning Rookie of The Year may help his resume, Briscoe currently has no plans for 2020 and does not know if he will be back with Stewart-Haas Racing next year.
“I know they’re still working on trying to find funding to make it happen, but as of right now I don’t have anything,” Briscoe added.
“Obviously I was wanting to win the race tonight. I feel like if I did that, it would have made everything a lot easier. But I felt like we showed speed and I feel like if we do get to go back next year, I feel like we could be serious championship contenders, and hopefully, they can and we can work together and try to figure something out. But yeah, right now they’re still working on it.”
Briscoe finishes the 2019 season with one win, 13 top fives, 26 top-10s and 197 laps led along with an average finish of 8.2.
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Bell and Allgaier end up short of championship
After coming up short in last year’s Championship 4 race, Christopher Bell and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team were back for another chance at the Xfinity Series championship. This would be Bell’s last opportunity for the foreseeable future as he goes Cup Series racing next year for Leavine Family Racing. Already being an emotional week for the Oklahoma native, Bell had hopes of bringing home a championship to the No. 20 team.
Bell qualified seventh at Homestead-Miami Speedway and had a great car early on, finishing 12th in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2. He even had the lead multiple times throughout the race and at one point he led 23 laps out front. However, the last time we would see Bell at the front was right before green flag pit stops. A miscommunication call between the driver and spotter had Bell staying out instead of coming in to pit road.
Even with a fast car, Bell was unable to catch the other two championship drivers. There were no late-race cautions and the Oklahoma native had to settle for a disappointing fifth-place finish and third in the championship after a strong season with eight wins.
“Yeah, it was just a miscommunication,” Bell said describing the incident. “I don’t know if my spotter didn’t get told what our cue word was, but I told, got the cue word to pit, and then all of a sudden, I started pitting and he said, not now, not now. But that didn’t matter whenever you get beat by 17 seconds. I’m glad that didn’t have an effect on the outcome of the race.”
Even after the incident, Bell was making up ground but was just too far back in order to make anything happen.
“Well, that second to last run, I don’t know if I just did a better job blocking or what, but we definitely seemed to maintain a little bit better, and then whenever we pitted, I didn’t know ‑‑ you don’t know how many laps that we pitted earlier than the other two guys, but I was pretty happy whenever I drove by them because I think we only had 30‑something laps to go at that point, and my car had been okay for that distance.”
Bell ends his full-time Xfinity Series campaign with 16 wins, 41 top-fives and 46 top-10 finishes along with 12 poles.
Justin Allgaier, on the other hand, had a more disappointing race. The eventful weekend started out with practice when the No. 52 of David Starr came up when he was not clear and made slight contact with Allgaier off Turn 1. Rain showers came and washed out the practices for the rest of the day on Friday. Coming back on Saturday afternoon for qualifying, Allgaier struggled with a 16th place starting effort.
While it wasn’t a pretty Stage 1, Allgaier managed a third place for the second stage. However, after Stage 2, it was like you didn’t see the No. 7 team for the rest of the race. A major moment came late in the final stage, where Allgaier almost spun coming down to pit road. He held onto the car and made it to pit road for adjustments.
Despite those adjustments, the car continued to struggle in the remaining laps. With no late-race cautions, Allgaier finished 14th, one lap down and fourth of the four Championship 4 drivers.
“Yeah, I mean, that was probably the hardest one,” Allgaier said. “Chase sitting here probably got in the wall less than we did, and the caution came out, and it didn’t for us. So I was pretty bummed in that. But on the flip side of it, once this didn’t come out, there was no reason to try to cause a caution. We weren’t fast enough really to be in that position anyway and it ‑‑ at the end of the day, I probably could have done something to benefit ourselves there.”
“The unfortunate part is you’ve got a long way to go to get back to pit road at a slow speed and that ended up putting us two laps down, which we were able to drive our way back to one lap down, but the time that we lost just trying to get back to pit road really, really affected the outcome of where we finished tonight, which didn’t matter, but just for going into the off‑season you’d rather have a better finish than where we finished, 14th, 13th, 15th, something like that. Disappointing.”
Allgaier ends the 2019 Xfinity Series season with one win, 16 top fives and 24 top-10 finishes.
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Preview – 2019 Xfinity Series Championship at Homestead
Four drivers are set to compete for the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship title this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It is a diverse group of drivers from four different teams representing Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota manufacturers.
Drivers listed alphabetically.
Justin Allgaier:
Allgaier drove his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet to victory lane at ISM Raceway last Saturday to secure his spot in the Championship 4 with his first victory this season. This will be the third time in four years that Allgaier has competed for the title, finishing third in two previous attempts in 2016 and 2017. So far this season he has 16 top-fives and 24 top -10 finishes, leading 607 laps with an average finish of 8.9.
He is optimistic about his chances and feels as though the team has hit its stride at the perfect moment.
“We’re going to go to Homestead and have some fun. A lot of the storylines this year have been surrounding the other three contenders and they’ve been really strong and they’ve won a lot of races, but I feel like this BRANDT Professional Agriculture team is peaking at the right time and you can’t count us out,” Allgaier said. “We’re going into this weekend with a new mentality and a new energy and we’re going to have a shot at winning a championship. I can’t wait to see what we can go there and do this weekend.”
Christopher Bell:
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has been impressive this season with a career-high eight wins in his No. 20 Toyota. His most recent win at Texas Motor Speedway locked him into the Championship 4. This is the second consecutive year that he has qualified for the Playoffs, finishing fourth in 2018. Bell has 19 top-fives and 20 top-10s this year along with six poles and has led 1,968 laps.
Bell obviously wants to win at Homestead but regardless of the outcome, he is happy with what he has already accomplished this season.
“I feel good so far. Yes, I want to win the championship so bad, but ultimately it comes down to the last run. If you have a bad pit stop, we saw Erik Jones win the race off pit road two years ago and had it in his hands and one guy stayed out and picked his lane on the restart and it was over. It’s just such a toss-up that you never know how things are going to play out. I would love to win it, but if not, the goal is to get there and we’ve accomplished that,” Bell said. “We’ve won races this year and that’s something I’m proud of. We’ve got an opportunity to win a championship and that’s all you can ask for.”
Cole Custer:
Custer has driven his No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to seven victories this year. He earned a spot in the Championship 4 on points with a runner-up finish last weekend at ISM Raceway. He has 16 top-fives and 23 top-10s in 2019 with six poles and 907 laps led. It is his second consecutive time qualifying for the championship round, finishing second in 2018. Custer’s first career win was at Homestead in 2017. In three starts at the 1.5-mile track, he has an average finish of 6.7.
Custer says that it will take a “near-perfect” effort to win at Homestead and is confident that his team is capable of doing just that.
“In 2018, we had a great car and we were able to lead 95 laps during the race, but we struggled a little bit on the long runs. Tyler Reddick was able to get the top going and had great long-run speed and he was able to make it work for him. I tried late in the race to get the top going, but I couldn’t get it going as fast as him and watched him just drive away. Feeling that heartbreak has us set on kill for this weekend so we don’t have to experience that again and instead, we can hopefully be the ones celebrating on the frontstretch, but it’s going to take a near-perfect race from everyone, which I know we are capable of doing,” Custer said.
Tyler Reddick:
Reddick heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway Saturday hoping to win back-to-back Xfinity Series titles. He claimed a spot in the Championship 4 after his third-place finish at Phoenix, earning enough points to advance. He has five wins this season in his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet along with 23 top-fives, 26 top-10s, four poles and 484 laps led.
Reddick is hoping to see a race that is similar to last year’s event.
“I would like it to end kind of the way it did last year with a long run and being able to run up by the fence and just do what I enjoy most, just trying to go as fast as I can on the long run,” he said. “Obviously, it’s just going to come down to who runs the best race all day, who is there at the end. So it’s whoever can do the best and that’ll be our champion.”
The Xfinity Series Ford EcoBoost 300 is set for Saturday afternoon at 3:30 ET on NBCSN with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.
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Weekend Schedule for Homestead – Updated
NASCAR heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend for the season finale as all three series race to determine their 2019 champion.
Stewart Friesen, Ross Chastain, Brett Moffitt and Matt Crafton will vie for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series championship Friday night. The Xfinity Series title will be decided Saturday afternoon between Justin Allgaier, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Cole Custer.
Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch will close out the season Sunday as they race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, November 15
9:05 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.: Truck Series First Practice – No TV
10:35 a.m. – 11:25 a.m.: Truck Series Final Practice – No TV
2:35 p.m. – 3:25 p.m.: Xfinity Series First Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
3:35 p.m. – 4:25 p.m.: Cup Series First Practice -CANCELED
4:35 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying – Impound (Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions) – FS1 – CANCELED – Lineup set by rulebook
5:35 p.m. – 6:25 p.m.: Xfinity Series Final Practice -CANCELED
6:30 p.m. – 7:20 p.m.: Cup Series Final Practice – CANCELED
9:35 p.m.: Truck Series Ford EcoBoost 200 (Stages 30/60/134 Laps = 201 Miles ) – FS1/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Saturday, November 16
12:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – Impound (Single Vehicle / One Lap All Positions) – NBCSN/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
2:05 p.m.: Cup Series Final Practice (In place of qualifying, the lineup will be set by rule book) NBCSN/MRN/TSN
3:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Ford EcoBoost 300 (Stages 45/90/200 Laps = 300 Miles) – NBCSN/MRN/TSN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Sunday, November 17
3:00 p.m.: Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 (Stages 80/160/267 Laps = 400.5 Miles) – NBC/MRN/TSN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.
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Allgaier fights for first win of 2019 in Round of 8 cutoff race
AVONDALE, Ariz. — When the Playoffs were on the line, Justin Allgaier rose to the occasion by winning the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino 200 as the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 has officially been declared.
“We had a hot rod today,” Allgaier declared.
After winning five races in 2018, Allgaier looks for redemption at Homestead-Miami Speedway this year by winning his first race of the season. It also came at the right time since the JR Motorsports driver was among the cutoff line throughout the race.
“I don’t think we could have beaten the 20 (Bell),” said Allgaier. “But when he made his mistake, we capitalized on it. That’s what it’s all about. No question (not winning) is a weight on your shoulders, man. You can’t even begin to describe it.”
Christopher Bell won last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway to secure his spot for the championship race. Bell led every green-flag lap in both opening stages, but a speeding penalty on pit road forced him to drop to the rear of the field on the restart of the final stage. Another caution, later on, forced him to pit again. The No. 20 car went one lap down and wasn’t able to recover.
“I feel like I gave up a winner,” said Bell. “It all comes down to this one next week. I’m ready for it. I feel really good about where we’re at, and our car is going to be extremely strong next week.
“We’ve prepared a ton for this. Ever since we left Homestead last year, we knew that this race was where we needed to improve. Pretty much all year long, we’ve been focused on Homestead.”
Since Brandon Jones won at Martinsville, no other driver was completely locked in yet. In a combination of stage points and other competitors falling out of the race, Cole Custer had a large enough gap in the points standings to mathematically lock himself into Homestead.
“I never got the memo,” Custer laughed when asked if he was told about the championship status update after Stage 2. “I was giving it all I had. I was really struggling with the brake pedal. I kind of lost it at the start of the run. I had to save the whole run until like 15 laps to go, and then I just let it happen. I just came up a little bit short, but I think that was the best run we’ve had at Phoenix in a long time.”
“I’m looking forward to Homestead, and hopefully we can do one spot better.”
The regular-season champion, Tyler Reddick, will now go for a second consecutive championship in the Xfinity series. Last year, he won with JR Motorsports. This year, he’ll look to bring a title to Richard Childress Racing.
Chase Briscoe, Michael Annett, Austin Cindric, and Noah Gragson were the four drivers eliminated after Phoenix.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will crown their champion next Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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Weekend Schedule for ISM Raceway
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the Xfinity Series and the Gander Outdoors Truck Series will compete this weekend at ISM Raceway for the final races of the regular season. Kyle Busch (Cup), Christopher Bell (Xfinity) and Brett Moffitt (Truck) are the defending race winners.
Next week the top four in each division will battle for the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway as NASCAR closes out the 2019 season.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, Nov. 8
10:05 a.m. – 10:55 a.m.: Truck Series First Practice (No TV)
11:35 a.m. – 12:25 p.m.: Truck Series Final Practice (No TV)
3:05 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series First Practice (NBC Sports App)
4:05 p.m. – 4:55 p.m.: Cup Series First Practice (NBC Sports App/MRN/NBCSN joins in-progress at 4:30)
5:05 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying – Single Vehicle/Two Laps All Positions (FS1)
6:05 p.m. – 6:55 p.m.: Final Xfinity Series Practice (NBCSN/NBC Sports App)
7 p.m. – 7:50 p.m.: Cup Series Final Practice (NBCSN/NBC Sports App/MRN)
8:30 p.m.: Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 – (Stages 45/90/150 Laps = 150 Miles) (FS1/MRN/ SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday, Nov. 9
12:35 p.m. – Xfinity Series Qualifying – Impound (Single Vehicle/Two Laps All Positions) (NBCSN/NBC Sports App)
2 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying – Impound (Single Vehicle/Two Laps All Positions) (NBCSN/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
3:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200 – (Stages 45/90/200 Laps = 200 Miles) (NBC/NBC Sports App/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday, Nov. 10
2:30 p.m.: Cup Series Bluegreen Vacations 500 (Stages 75/150/312 Laps = 312 Miles) (NBC/NBC Sports App/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Playoff standings prior to ISM Raceway
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series:
1. Martin Truex Jr. – 4133 points
2. Kevin Harvick – 4113 points
3. Kyle Busch – 4113 points
4. Joey Logano – 4111 points
5. Denny Hamlin – 4091 points
6. Ryan Blaney – 4088 points
7. Kyle Larson – 4088 points
8. Chase Elliott – 4033 points
NASCAR Xfinity Series:
1. Christopher Bell – 3166 points
2. Cole Custer – 3135 points
3. Tyler Reddick – 3119 points
4. Justin Allgaier – 3101 points
5. Chase Briscoe – 3083 points
6.Michael Annett – 3073 points
7. Austin Cindric – 3070 points
8. Noah Gragson – 3054 points
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series:
1.Brett Moffitt – 3107
2. Stewart Friesen – 3097
3. Ross Chastain – 3082
4. Austin Hill – 3071
5. Matt Crafton – 3062
6. Tyler Ankrum – 3056
7. Johnny Sauter – 2172
8. Grant Enfinger – 2164
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Christopher Bell wins O’Reilly 300, Chastain takes second at Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas — Christopher Bell took the checkered flag in Saturday’s O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, punching his ticket to the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway in two weeks. Bell started third and took the checkered by 5.561-seconds over Kaulig Racing’s Ross Chastain.
“I can’t wait to go to Phoenix,” said Bell. “I love that race track. Now we get to go there and focus on one thing and that’s winning the race.”
“I don’t know if Jason [Ratcliff, Crew Chief] was thinking points tonight, but we’re definitely not going to have to think about points next week.”
Runner-up Chastain used pit strategy to lead 29 laps before spinning his tires on a restart late in the race.
“It was an up-and-down race,” said Chastain of his final start with Kaulig in 2019. “Up at the start, we ran fifth in that first stage. Then we got caught in that dirty air and couldn’t pass anybody, but then we got track position again and took control of the race for a little while.”
“The car was incredible. I made one pretty big mistake on that final restart and spun my tires, and from there we just had to run hard to finish second.”
Austin Cindric, Brandon Jones, and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top-five while Justin Allgaier, Harrison Burton, Cole Custer, Jeb Burton, and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top-10.
Cindric also had a strong run on the night, leading 38 laps on the way to his third-place finish.
“Yeah, we’re in a must-win situation as far as points go, and when you’re leading in the third stage and a caution comes out your heart kind of sinks a little bit,” said Cindric. “But I thought we had a Discount Tire Mustang good enough to win in clean air.”
“We had 50 or 60 people from Discount Tire come out today and was hoping we could get them in Victory Lane and get in the Final Four. But we got next week in Phoenix. It’s a bummer when you’re pissed at finishing third, but I guess that’s the sign of a good night, being able to execute on some of those restarts.”
The biggest incident of the night occurred on Lap 162 when contact between Playoff drivers Chase Briscoe and polesitter Tyler Reddick sent Reddick’s Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet hard into the backstretch wall.
Despite hitting the wall, Reddick still holds a 36-point edge over Briscoe heading into Phoenix. Meanwhile, fellow Playoff driver Noah Gragson scored his first DNF of 2019 following an incident on the frontstretch. Gragson finished 30th and is 57 points below the cutline heading into Phoenix.
There were nine cautions for 51 laps, with nine lead changes among four drivers.
The series makes its next appearance at ISM Speedway on Nov. 9 for the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino 200.