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Erik Jones Fastest in First XFINITY Practice at Charlotte

CONCORD, N.C. — In case you missed it, Erik Jones topped the chart in first XFINITY Series practice at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 29.808 and a speed of 181.159 mph. Denny Hamlin was second in his No. 18 JGR Toyota with a time of 29.903 and a speed of 180.584 mph. Ryan Blaney was third in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford with a time of 30.021 and a speed of 179.874 mph. Daniel Suárez was fourth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota with a time of 30.029 and a speed of 179.826 mph. Ty Dillon rounded out the top-five in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 30.089 and a speed of 179.468 mph.

Austin Dillon was sixth in his No. 2 RCR Chevrolet. Cole Custer was seventh in his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Kyle Larson was eighth in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Brennan Poole was ninth in his No. 48 CGR Chevrolet. Brandon Jones rounded out the top-10 in his No. 33 RCR Chevrolet.

Suárez posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 175.708 mph. Austin Dillon was second at an average speed of 173.709 mph. Ryan Reed, who posted the 20th fastest single-lap time in his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, was third at an average speed of 172.642 mph.

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May 27, 2016
The White Zone: Plate Racing Isn’t Going Away

TALLADEGA, Ala.– “The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and I need to make it clear that restrictor plate racing isn’t going away.

As usual, yesterday’s GEICO 500 was quite the show of excitement and carnage. We saw cars upside down and a whole gaggle of cars caught up in one wreck, 37 lead changes among 17 different drivers and mayhem coming to the finish line. It was hands down the most competitive race of the season and arguably one of the best races at Talladega. That, however, hasn’t stopped the critics of restrictor plate racing from pointing to the carnage as the argument against it.

Now plate racing has always come with its detractors. The late David Poole was probably the most hardened critic of restrictor plate racing. Every Monday after a race at Daytona International Speedway or Talladega Superspeedway, he would pen a column in The Charlotte Observer and say on The Morning Drive on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that we should knock down the banking at Daytona and Talladega. The wreck with Carl Edwards at Talladega in 2009 sent him over the edge and led to him suffering a fatal heart attack.

As of late, I’ve started to notice some more people I work with in the media center, I won’t name any of them, who are starting to turn against plate racing.

Here’s my take on restrictor plate racing: I love it and I’m not ashamed to say it! Whether you like it or not, Daytona and Talladega are the most competitive races of the season and the numbers back that up. The number of passes is higher than at any other track and the lead changes are higher than at any other track. More than anything, it’s unpredictable and anyone who so much as qualifies can realistically win.

The carnage is always there, but that’s part of the game. If you go into a race weekend at Daytona or Talladega thinking to yourself that you won’t see big crashes, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Racing is a dangerous sport. It’s been a dangerous sport since auto racing was born in France in the early 1900s and remains the most dangerous sport in the world. To quote Brad Keselowski, “racing has always been that balance of daredevils and chess players.”

We’ve seen other forms of racing continue to race at tracks that don’t fit any current safety standards. One of Formula 1’s crown jewel races is held every Memorial Day Sunday on the streets of Monte Carlo and it doesn’t come close to meeting the safety standards of modern F1. Speaking of Memorial Day, IndyCar continues to race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway despite the fact that these cars are racing at speeds that couldn’t have been imagined in the early days of the Brickyard. Just last year, we saw heart-stopping wrecks in the days leading up to the Indianapolis 500 because of the emphasis on higher speeds.

Despite all the dangers of Monaco and Indianapolis, these racing series still race at these historic venues for one reason; they’re the cathedrals that embody the greatness of their respective sports.

This was the reason that Daytona and Talladega were built in the first place. They were built to be the cathedrals that embody what is so damn great about NASCAR.

The bottom line is that unless fans can settle for Daytona and Talladega becoming drawn out and uncompetitive like Indianapolis, which is exactly what would happen without the plates, plate racing isn’t going away.

My plane is about to take off, so I must get going. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. It takes about 142.18 licks to reach the center of a Tootsie pop.

May 2, 2016
Elliott Sadler Survives to Win at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala.– Elliott Sadler’s 41st birthday will be one to remember as he scored the victory at the Alabama roulette wheel.

The driver of the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet survived a wreck in the tri-oval coming to the checkered flag and had to wait for the official results to take said checkered flag in the Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway. It’s his 11th win in the XFINITY Series, second at Talladega and first since 2014.

“People don’t know how hard it is to win these races. It’s very emotional,” said Sadler choking up in victory lane. “It’s a great birthday gift to me. Man, we needed this win.”

Coming to the line, he was trying to find his way around Joey Logano when Logano got loosened up, came down on Sadler, turned back up the track and slammed the wall head-on. As his lifeless car came back down, it was t-boned by JJ Yeley in his No. 44 Tri-Star Motorsports Toyota. Both drivers were unharmed. Yeley took his car back to the garage and Logano got out of his car under his own power.

Justin Allgaier, who was sitting in his car on pit road after the race had concluded while the finishing order was still being determined, finished second in his No. 7 JRM Chevrolet. Brennan Poole, who had crossed the line first after the field was frozen, came home third in his No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Jeremy Clements finished fourth in his No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet. Brendan Gaughan overcame an early pass-through penalty to round out the top-five in his No. 62 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

Austin Dillon finished sixth in his No. 2 RCR Chevrolet. Daniel Suárez finished seventh in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

“I feel like we had a really fast car by ourselves, but for some reason in the draft and pushing and trying to push people it wasn’t great,” Suárez said. “Pushing was okay and when I was getting pushed it was horrible and then we made it better, but it wasn’t great. I don’t know. I feel like we have to keep working and improving our superspeedway program.”

Matt Tifft led 21 laps on his way to an eighth-place finish in his No. 18 JGR Toyota.

“It wasn’t too bad for typical Talladega until the end there,” Tifft said. “We had a really fast car all day. Just kind of got shuffled out – got shuffled back a little bit further than we might have wanted to. Then the last couple laps, just craziness here, so just tried to stay on the bottom. Just tried to kind of shove our way through there and stay out of trouble, so proud of everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing and our whole NOS Energy Drink Camry.”

Chase Elliott led seven laps on his way to a ninth-place finish in his No. 88 JRM Chevrolet. Aric Almirola overcame an early pass-through penalty to round out the top-10 in his No. 98 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford.

The race lasted two hours, 19 minutes and 45 seconds at an average speed of 132.477 mph. There were 20 lead changes among 13 different drivers and six cautions for 29 laps.

Sadler leaves Talladega tied for the points lead with Suárez.

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April 30, 2016
Tifft on the XFINITY Pole at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala.– Matt Tifft will lead the field to the green flag for this afternoon’s race at Talladega.

The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scored the pole for today’s NASCAR XFINITY Series Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway with a time of 52.857 and a speed of 181.168 mph.

It’s the first career pole for the 19-year old of Fairfax, Virginia.

Daniel Suárez will start second in his No. 19 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 52.951 and a speed of 180.846 mph. Austin Dillon will start third in his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 53.051 and a speed of 180.506 mph. Erik Jones will start fourth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 53.092 and a speed of 180.366 mph. Ty Dillon will round out the top-five in his No. 3 RCR Chevrolet after posting a time of 53.136 and a speed of 180.217 mph.

Brendan Gaughan will start sixth in his No. 62 RCR Chevrolet. Ryan Reed will start seventh in his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Joey Logano will start eighth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Elliott Sadler will start ninth in his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. JJ Yeley will round out the top-10 starters in his No. 44 TriStar Motorsports Toyota.

Derrick Cope, Mike Harmon and Josh Reaume were the three drivers that failed to make the race.

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April 30, 2016
Wallace on Dash 4 Cash Format: ‘I am on the fence about it’

TALLADEGA, Ala.– When asked about the current Dash 4 Cash format in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, Darrell Wallace Jr. said he was “on the fence about it.”

During his media availability early this morning at Talladega Superspeedway, the driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford was asked his thoughts on the Dash 4 Cash format that grants drivers an extra way to make their way into the XFINITY Chase.

“I think one of the factors is we haven’t had the speed enough to put ourselves in position, but I was at Bristol and I was still standing outside my car when they said it was time to roll and start the engines for the feature,” Wallace said. “There is no schedule after that. You run your heats and get back to it. We are just kind of bouncing back and forth not knowing what we are doing. Richmond was a little more organized but still I think it comes down to the speed factor. We have to get a little better to focus on putting ourselves in position to with the $100,000.”

In the two Dash 4 Cash races this season, he’s finished 25th and 16th.

His bad runs, however, didn’t stop him from saying that the program “is a cool concept and it will be interesting to see what the fans say about it. I know there are some of us that are for it and some against it. It is different for us.”

He was also asked if he could apply what he did to earn his sixth-place finish at Daytona to start the season at Talladega and said he wanted “to say yes, but these places are so much about luck. You have to be in the right spot at the right time. We have pretty much the same game plan and hopefully we can get a decent starting spot and get up toward the front and just ride. We have to really plan out the pit stops and not make any mistakes on pit road to get us out there and keep that game plan in order.”

He was then asked about whether his team’s struggles this season was a result of Roush downsizing its XFINITY program from four to two cars and said he didn’t think it was “because of backing off on teams. I think it is just that we are trying new things and trying different things and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. Now it is getting to that point in the season where we have to see what worked and kind of put that together. We are still missing on a lot of other factors as well. Like I said earlier, we are dedicated and 100-percent focused on getting where we need to be. We have some really great tracks coming up for us. Dover, Charlotte has been really good to us. That will be a test to see how we are. Hopefully, we can get some turn through the center. That is the first thing I say on the radio. Hopefully, I won’t be saying that this weekend. We have an off weekend coming up and we can really get in depth more to see what we need to do. I don’t really know what the exact thing is that we are missing. I think it would be really easy and everyone could do it if it was like that.”

April 29, 2016
Tifft Fastest in Final XFINITY Practice at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala.– Matt Tifft topped the chart in final XFINITY Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.

The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 52.639 and a speed of 181.918 mph. Ty Dillon was second in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 52.756 and a speed of 181.515 mph. Brandon Jones was third in his No. 33 RCR Chevrolet with a time of 53.098 and a speed of 180.346 mph. Daniel Suárez was fourth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota with a time of 53.110 and a speed of 180.305 mph. Jeremy Clements rounded out the top-five in his No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet with a time of 53.259 and a speed of 179.801 mph.

Ray Black Jr. was sixth in his No. 07 SS-Green Light Racing Chevrolet. Austin Dillon was seventh in his No. 2 RCR Chevrolet. Erik Jones was eighth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota. Jeb Burton was ninth in his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford. Elliott Sadler rounded out the top-10 in his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

No driver posted a 10 consecutive lap average during the session.

The next time the XFINITY Series is back on track is tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. ET for qualifying for the Sparks Energy 300.

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April 29, 2016
Wallace Fastest in First XFINITY Practice

TALLADEGA, Ala.– Darrell Wallace Jr. topped the chart in the first XFINITY Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.

The driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 49.768 and a speed of 192.413 mph. Ryan Reed was second in his No. 16 RFR Ford with a time of 49.783 and a speed of 192.355 mph. Ty Dillon was third in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 49.920 and a speed of 191.827 mph. Matt Tifft was fourth in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 49.961 and a speed of 191.670 mph. Austin Dillon rounded out the top-five in his No. 2 RCR Chevrolet with a time of 50.241 and a speed of 190.601 mph.

Brandon Jones was sixth in his No. 33 RCR Chevrolet. Blake Koch was seventh in his No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. Chase Elliott was eighth in his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Erik Jones was ninth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota. Daniel Suárez rounded out the top-10 in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.

John Wes Townley, who finished 12th in his No. 05 Athenian Motorsports Chevrolet, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 184.942 mph. The XFINITY Series is back on track this afternoon at 1:25 for final practice.

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April 29, 2016
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wins XFINITY Race at Richmond

Dale Earnhardt Jr. dominated and survived a late race wreck to score the victory in the XFINITY race at Richmond.

The driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet led 128 of the 149 laps on his way to winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond International Raceway.

“I didn’t even realize I hadn’t won before,” Earnhardt said of his first win with JRM. “It was a great run for us. Ty (Dillon) was pretty good at the end. He drove into (Turn) 3 pretty deep and I followed him in there.”

It’s his 24th series win, first since 2010, fourth at Richmond and first at the track since 2002.

Ty Dillon finished second in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet while Elliott Sadler rounded out the podium in his No. 1 JRM Chevrolet. Daniel Suárez finished fourth in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

“I think the day was decent,” Suárez said. “All of these guys work super hard. I felt like having just one practice, 55 minutes, it was the same for everyone but I just felt like it didn’t help us a lot. Our car was good but we needed to work a little bit more on the car to make it better. It was just a little bit difficult in the heat race. Man, it was maybe 35 laps more difficult today but all of the guys never give up on me and I never give up on them and we finished with a decent top-five.”

Austin Dillon rounded out the top-five in his No. 2 RCR Chevrolet.

Cole Custer finished sixth in his XFINITY Series debut in his No. 5 JRM Chevrolet as Brendan Gaughan finished seventh in his No. 62 RCR Chevrolet. Blake Koch finished eighth in his No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet followed by Brad Keselowski who finished ninth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

“We just didn’t have the speed that we wanted,” Keselowski said. “We tried a little strategy play there at the end but then everybody wrecked and I lost the track position. I tried to get it back but just couldn’t do it.”

Brennan Poole led three laps on his way to rounding out the top-10 in his No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

The race lasted one hour, 11 minutes and 37 seconds at an average speed of 93.623 mph. There were four lead changes among four different drivers and two cautions for 20 laps. The last of which involved a 10-car wreck in Turn 2.

Suárez leaves Richmond as the points leader with a nine-point lead over Sadler.

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April 23, 2016
Bristol Race Exactly What XFINITY Series Needs

After several weeks of unhappy fans, lackluster racing, and multiple Sprint Cup regulars winning all of the XFINITY Series events, Saturday’s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 provided a much-needed shot in the arm for a division struggling with credibility. Polesitter Erik Jones passed Cup regular Kyle Larson with an aggressive maneuver with three laps remaining and managed to hold off teammate Kyle Busch to earn his third-career win after leading 62 laps. Jones became the first XFINITY Series regular to win a race since Regan Smith won at Dover last fall.

The race yesterday was everything that every other XFINITY race this season hasn’t been: Exciting.

There were multiple lead changes (10). There was plenty of beating and banging for the lead. There were plenty of tense moments. And in the end, thankfully, a XFINITY Series regular won a race, guaranteeing that there won’t be an absolute shutout of those guys from Victory Lane in 2016.

It’s old news that the XFINITY Series has been suffering recently. Multiple races have been shutouts, with Cup regulars often leading every lap, sometimes by huge margins. In 2015, six XFINITY regulars won in 33 events. In 2014, that number was nine. XFINITY regulars have been getting the short end of the stick regarding success in the division, so to see Jones taking his No. 20 and muscling it past a pair of established Cup stars was good to see, from both the division’s standpoint and from the fan’s standpoint.

BRISTOL, TN – APRIL 16: Erik Jones, driver of the No. 20 Gamestop/Performance Designed Products Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images)

Will this ultimately fix the big problem that the series is facing? No. That looks to be a long way off. But that’s not going to take away what a success Saturday’s race was. The heat races were a bit of a bore, but that was understandable; the drivers wanted to take care of their cars for the main, where it mattered. Should every XFINITY event feature qualifiers and a main event? Probably not. But if nothing is going to be done to address the Cup drivers running rampant in the series, then let the powers that be possibly look into shortening the races. That, or possibly bringing back some of the old tracks that put the division on the map (Gateway, Pikes Peak, Nashville Fairgrounds).

Whatever the case, wherever the division goes from here, it’s obvious that NASCAR needs to look at Saturday’s race and properly gauge the reaction of the fans as well as the series regulars. Twitter blew up with rave reviews of the event, drivers and fans alike were singing praises, and many were glad to see legitimate racing at Bristol for the first time in a long time, considering the racing product had declined following Bruton Smith’s “renovation” of the track in 2007. So much can be done for this struggling division based off of Saturday’s race, and fans and drivers can only keep their fingers crossed that something will be done.

April 17, 2016
Erik Jones Steals One in Thunder Valley

BRISTOL, Tenn.– Erik Jones got a great restart in the closing laps and passed the leader to score the victory at Thunder Valley.

The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota passed to the outside of Kyle Larson with three laps to go to win the Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. It’s the third win in the XFINITY Series for the 19-year-old rookie out of Byron, Michigan.

“I don’t know, we had a really good restart there,” Jones said. “The 18 hadn’t been getting going. I lost my voice because I’ve been screaming so much on the cooldown lap. We got a really good restart and Kyle just left the top open and we went up there and he worked pretty hard to keep us behind him. We just kept digging and it worked out. Just an awesome feeling. I never thought we’d get our first win here at Bristol this year.

“I figured at some point in the year we could get a win when those guys weren’t in the field, but it would be a tall task with them in the field. Here at Bristol for those two guys, this is one of their best tracks. I’m just so excited and you can tell, I’m out of breath. I wasn’t working that hard. Just so excited about the win and to be here in victory lane and beat those guys. This is a really big day for us.”

Kyle Busch led 43 laps on his way to a runner-up finish in his No. 18 JGR Toyota.

“When I went to the gas on the last two restarts, it just didn’t accelerate,” Busch said. “I lost all my acceleration and those guys were just gone. I didn’t even have a chance. Jones cleared me by the time we got to Turn 1, that’s how bad it was.

“I ran too low for a lap and Erik got to my outside. I tried to slide him into (Turn) 1 and I was hoping he’d make a mistake and I’d get another shot at him in 3, but I just ran into the side of him. I did a really poor job the last two laps and I just blame myself.”

Larson, who led the most laps at 94, was edged out by Busch at the line and settled for rounding out the podium. Austin Dillon finished fourth in his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

“This was definitely a different race today,” Austin said. “It was interesting to have the heat races. The No. 2 Rheem Chevrolet was really strong for the second heat race. Danny (Stockman, crew chief) and the guys had the handling dialed in for me. After the heat race, a lot of rubber was laid down and the handling for the main changed. I got pretty tight in the center of the corners but with only 200 laps, it’s hard to make adjustments. I’m proud of the No. 2 team. We have some things we’re going to try next week at Richmond that I’m pretty excited about.”

Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-five in his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

Daniel Suárez finished sixth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Ty Dillon finished seventh in his No. 3 RCR Chevrolet.

“That was definitely a tough finish at the end,” Ty said. “I’m disappointed the way it turned out. We had a lot faster car than a seventh-place finish. It was difficult to pass and make a move today, unless you could really race the bottom of the track. I enjoyed the heat racing today, but wish we were there at the end to have a chance to win the Dash4Cash.”

Kevin Harvick finished eighth in his No. 88 JRM Chevrolet. Joey Logano finished ninth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Aric Almirola rounded out the top-10 in his No. 98 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford.

“We struggled,” Almirola said. “We were off on our balance. We did all of our practice in the morning yesterday and the track was never really the same today. That’s good though because I felt like I learned quite a bit that will help me tomorrow and we’ll go from there. All in all, it was a pretty good day for us…We qualified in the top-10 and pretty much raced in the top-10 all day, so I’m proud of that.”

The race lasted one hour, eight minutes and 10 seconds at an average speed of 93.829 mph. There were 10 lead changes among four different drivers and three cautions for 29 laps.

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April 16, 2016