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Tag: Playoffs

Austin Cindric Punches Ticket Into Championship 4

On Friday night at Phoenix International Raceway, Brad Keselowski Racing driver, Austin Cindric was able to point his way in for his first Championship 4.

Let’s take a look at how Cindric got here first.

Despite finishing 21st or worse in the first three races this season, Cindric has had a fairly consistent 2017 season. He posted seven top five and 15 top 10 finishes, and only had two DNF’s that came in Texas and Daytona. Cindric collected his first win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park after moving Kaz Grala out of the way on the last lap.

When the Playoffs started, he was solid throughout the rounds. Cindric posted eighth, fourth, fifth, 10th, second and ninth at Loudon, Las Vegas, Talladega, Martinsville, Fort Worth and Phoenix, respectively.

However, the Phoenix race didn’t come without controversy. On Lap 131, Playoff driver Ben Rhodes, came down to block Cindric which resulted in a multi-vehicle accident including championship contender Matt Crafton.

Now the only way Cindric would not advance to the Championship 4 was a win from John Hunter Nemechek, which almost happened as Nemechek finished second. Even with the ninth-place finish and second for Nemechek, Cindric pointed his way to his first ever championship race.

“The 27 (Rhodes) had been executing all night,” Cindric said. “They’d been doing what they needed to beat us, and on that restart, I had envisioned us getting the perfect restart and trying to pop to the inside if I did. It’s one of those racing deals: two guys fighting for the same amount of real estate. It was very similar to what happened at Homestead last year in the Cup race, two guys racing for the same real estate with Carl Edwards and Joey Logano. Unfortunately, that’s how it ended.

I wish we were able to race him hard from there, racing three-wide. I’m sure his spotter was telling him to defend the bottom or ‘looking inside’ and, sure enough, I was on the inside. It certainly wasn’t intentional and I didn’t want to earn the spot that way. I think we’ve surprised a few people with how far we’ve come this season. Hopefully, we can have a fun night at Homestead and maybe come back with some confetti on our Draw-Tite Ford F-150.”

November 13, 2017
Ben Rhodes Poised to Become 2017 Truck Series Champion

The Louisville, Kentucky driver will be competing in his first ever post-season playoffs.

Ben Rhodes has been so close to victory lane in 2017. It all started at Kansas earlier this year when he was leading late but a blown motor, unfortunately, put him out of the race and he wound up 23rd. Since then, despite a few bad finishes, Rhodes has had strong results, with the highest finish of second coming at Pocono in July. Rhodes can’t have finishes like 20th at Martinsville, 27th at Kentucky and 30th at Eldora. However, there are a lot of unknowns throughout the playoffs, but Rhodes likes uncertainty.

“I guess I’m different because I kind of like it,” Rhodes said. “I like the fact that there’s an unknown certainty to it. We all have to go there, we all have to race. We all are subjected to the same conditions, so I kind of like the uncertainty of it. I like Talladega. I like Daytona. Those are some of my favorite races out of the whole year so that it’s in the Playoffs – I don’t think it could come at a better time.”

Although Rhodes was certain he had a chance to make it into the playoffs, he really didn’t know until after the race was over.

“It’s honestly a blur looking back at it,” Rhodes said. “I can tell you it wasn’t pleasant, wasn’t the most fun race of the season. We had a good time. The race didn’t go the way we wanted. There was multiple mistakes, different things that were going on and we had to overcome those throughout the entire day, the entire night. Not the most fun race in recent memory, but I feel like that’s good rehearsal for the Final Four. Hopefully, we can make it there and be consistent, limit those mistakes going forward and just play it safe going forward. Make sure that we don’t put the pressure on ourselves and I think we’ll be just fine.”

Even though Rhodes did not make the Round of 8 last year, he earned finishes 15th at Loudon, 12th at Las Vegas and 24th at Talladega due to a crash. He’ll need to improve upon those finishes if Rhodes wants to move on to the Round of 6.

September 21, 2017
Christopher Bell Hopes to Turn Strong Run into Championship at End of the Year

Christopher Bell has had a great 2017 season so far. The No. 4 JBL Toyota Tundra driver has four wins, 10 top fives and 14 top 10 finishes, with an average finish of 6.6 and 592 laps led. If Bell carries this kind of consistency into the postseason playoffs, he’ll for sure be a lock into the final four. Bell was among the final four drivers last year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he ended up finishing eighth, third in the playoff standings. He believes that this is an important factor in capturing his first championship.

“Well last year I felt like we were able to really capitalize on consistency,” Bell said. “We got a win in the middle part of the year at Gateway last year, but overall we just weren’t able to consistently compete for wins, but we were able to knock down those top-fives, those top-eights and that’s essentially what got us all the way to Homestead.”

However, the 2017 season has been a night and day difference for Bell.

“This year it’s been a little bit different progress,” Bell said. “We’ve been able to compete for wins a lot more often and win a lot more races and hopefully we can continue that and win our way to Homestead.”

A new addition to the 2017 NASCAR season was added back in January, which is called playoff points. Any driver finishing in the top 10 during a stage or winning stage, race, earns a different amount of points. But Bell has a different mindset about how the playoff points will affect how this year’s champion will be decided.

“Well, that’s going back to what I said earlier, I don’t think it changes our mind at all,” Bell said. “We’re going to go out there and try and compete for wins and know that we’ve got those bonus points in our back pocket, but don’t rely on them. The biggest thing is just no mistakes. If you get through with no mistakes, especially where I’m at and where Johnny (Sauter) is at, we’re in pretty good shape through this first round and assuming some of these guys back here don’t win, we should be okay through the second round too. But we want to win races. All of us want to win races and so that’s what we’re going to try and do.”

September 21, 2017
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-New Hampshire
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series continues the on-track action this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Not only do they continue the on-track action, but the Round of 8 begins and it starts the championship run to Homestead-Miami Speedway. Here’s a look at who will be hot this weekend in Loudon.

Loudon is an interesting place for the Camping World Truck Series. The series raced there consecutively from 1996-2011. However, the series recently made its return to the track in 2014. Here’s a look at who’s hot at New Hampshire.

There are currently 30 drivers on the preliminary entry list.

Since its return in 2014, there have been three different winners in the past three races. Only a few drivers have experience here, while there will be rookies making their first start.
1. 1. Johnny Sauter – Sauter is carrying momentum after his win last week at Chicago. In the past three races, he has two top fives and three top 10 finishes, with an average finish of 5.7. With the momentum, it won’t be surprising if Sauter ends up winning at New Hampshire. Sauter is also hungry as he does not have a win at this track. Look for him to be a contender on Saturday afternoon.
  2. Christopher Bell – In one start at New Hampshire, which came last year, Bell finished a solid second. During that race, he even led 11 laps in his track debut.
  3. Matt Crafton – Crafton will look to put his dismal Chicagoland weekend behind him and it could happen this weekend at New Hampshire. In the past three races, Crafton finished third, second and third, respectively. Not to mention, he leads all active drivers with three top fives and top 10 finishes, and an average finish of 2.7.
  4. John Hunter Nemechek – If there is a track similar to New Hampshire, it’s Gateway Motorsports Park. Gateway was the site of his first win of the season. Nemechek may be the fourth best driver to compete this weekend. He has two top fives and three top 10 finishes, with an average finish of 6.3. New Hampshire just might be the place where Nemechek could once again set the Truck Series on fire.
  5. Kaz Grala – Grala has one start in the Truck Series at New Hampshire. In the 2016 race, he finished seventh. Something Grala once again has to do this weekend.
On track action begins Friday at 1:30 p.m. ET with first practice and final practice taking place at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1. Qualifying is slated for Saturday morning at 10:05 a.m. ET and the green flag is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET, all on FS1 and MRN Radio.
September 20, 2017
Jeremy Clements Savors Success While Preparing for Playoffs

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Once in awhile, a particular driver catches your eye and you think to yourself, this one has possibilities.

In April 2014, I wrote, ‘Jeremy Clements’ recipe for success is a combination of talent, tenacity and mathematical wizardry. Throw some sponsorship dollars and a little luck into the mix and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him standing in victory lane.’

Almost 3 1/2 years later, Clements finally captured his first career XFINITY win at Road America and I can’t help but feel a sense of pride in his accomplishments.

For him, it’s a childhood dream come true.

“It’s what a lot of people dream about, myself included,” Clements told me, “competing and then winning a race in the next level. I’m extremely pleased. And obviously it makes me want more, so I can taste it again. Hopefully, it’s the first of many.”

That sweet taste of success in a national series was a long time coming. He began racing go-karts when he was seven-years-old, thanks to his grandfather, Crawford Clements.

“My grandfather was a crew chief for Rex White and Buck Baker in the 1960s,” Clements said, “and they won a championship. So he’s the one who got all this started. It was very special. He was in his upper 60s at that time and I learned a ton from him. He’s the reason I started racing. He was very smart and he could figure out how to make cars go faster. He was always a whiz with carburetors. We could use him today, I promise you that.

“He passed away in ‘96 from lung cancer when I was about 11; I owe it all to him. I know he’s smiling down from heaven and I can’t wait to talk to him one day about all this and how it went down. I’m sure he’s proud of me.”

Clements won 47 feature events in go-karts before moving on to dirt track racing. He began racing four cylinders on dirt in 1999 and over the next three years, he scored wins in over 50 feature events as well as two track championships.

In 2002, he began competing in the Late Model division winning nine races and the championship at Cherokee Speedway. On October 25, 2002, Clements made his first ARCA Series start at Talladega Superspeedway.

The following year he competed in Late Models and made five more starts in the ARCA Series with three top-10 finishes. His first start in the XFINITY Series came in 2003 when Clements was 18-years-old. In 2011 he began competing full-time in the series with a career total of one win, two top fives and 13 top 10s in 257 starts.

Those numbers take on more significance when you realize that Jeremy Clements Racing is a small family-owned team with limited funding and a full-time staff of only four people.

While Clements is basking in the afterglow of a trip to Victory Lane, he’s focused on what comes next – the Playoffs.

“We’re trying to get ready for the Playoffs and trying to learn as much as we can to apply toward Kentucky, Dover, Charlotte,” Clements said. “Those are the first three and we want to try to make it to the next round, we don’t want to be a team that gets knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.”

Their game plan is simple. It includes “not making any mistakes and finishing each race,” he explained. “Some of those guys are gonna have problems. They’ll wreck trying to race each other and if we can just be smart, be there at the end, get a good finish and I think we can possibly move on to the next round.”

To say it’s been a year to remember is quite the understatement. In addition to the NASCAR XFINITY Series victory, Clements also got married in May. He doesn’t know what impact the win will have on his future but he is certain of one thing.

“I’m very blessed to be able to do both in the same year, that’s pretty dang cool,” he said. “I’ll never forget this year regardless of what happens.”

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September 6, 2017