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  • 2020 Xfinity Series Playoff outlook after Kentucky

    2020 Xfinity Series Playoff outlook after Kentucky

    For the second time this season, the NASCAR Xfinity Series ran a doubleheader feature on two consecutive dates, this week being at Kentucky Speedway. When both races were complete, the series featured a new winner to this season as Austin Cindric rallied from a season highlighted with near misses to win his first two races of 2020.

    For Cindric and his No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang team, it all started on Thursday, July 9, when he outlasted fellow competitor Chase Briscoe through a handful of late restarts and cautions to record his elusive first victory of this year’s Xfinity season and his first on an oval-shaped circuit. Then, he came roaring back on Friday, July 10, with a dominating victory, leading more than half of the 200-scheduled laps and the final 43, to win his second consecutive race in a similar fashion to his first two career victories in August 2019 between Watkins Glen International and at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. 

    Cindric’s breakthrough win at the Bluegrass State, now, guarantees six regulars into the 2020 Playoffs, a list that include points leader Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, rookie Harrison Burton, Justin Haley and Brandon Jones. The second half of the 12-car Playoff field remains to be determined with the Playoffs within sight, though not scheduled.

    With solid third- and fourth-place finishes at Kentucky, Ross Chastain and his No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro team are the highest of those above the cutline with no recorded victories through the first 15 races of this season. The results, nonetheless, have Chastain with six top-five results and 276 points above the cutline.

    Behind, Justin Allgaier rallied from a harrowing last-lap accident in the first Kentucky event that sent him to the hospital to post a strong fifth-place result the following day. While he, too, continues to pursue his first win of the year and since November 2019 at Phoenix, Allgaier and his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro team are 184 points above the cutline.

    The two Kentucky races produced strong results for Michael Annett and rookie Riley Herbst. For Annett, it started with a fifth-place result on Thursday and he came back the following race to finish eighth. The results kept Annett and his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro team 136 points above the cutline. For Herbst, a pair of top-10 results were much needed for the Las Vegas rookie, who has had an up-and-down season prior to Kentucky. It all started on Thursday, where Herbst made a late charge to finish in the runner-up spot, which tied his best result in the series since finishing second to teammate Harrison Burton at Auto Club Speedway on Leap Day. For Friday, Herbst was in position for another strong run when he was hampered with a late pit road speeding penalty. His 10th-place result was not only the eighth of this season, but it was also enough to keep him and his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra team 69 points above the cutline.

    That leaves Ryan Sieg and Brandon Brown in sole possession of the final two spots to the Playoffs. For Sieg, it was an up-and-down week that started with a ninth-place result on Thursday. The ninth-place result marked his first top-10 result since Darlington Raceway in May followed by eight consecutive results of results outside the top 10, finishing no higher than 12th during the eight previous races and despite winning two stages in two consecutive races at Homestead-Miami Speedway in June. Everything, however, changed the following Kentucky race on Friday, when suspension issues and a 35th-place result has Sieg and his No. 39 RSS Racing Chevrolet Camaro team just 57 above the cutline. For Brown, finishes of 27th and 13th have him 14 points above the top-12 cutline.

    The first trailing outside the cutline is Myatt Snider, who finished 15th on Thursday but 31st the following race at Kentucky after a crash. With a full season under his belt between RSS Racing and Richard Childress Racing, Snider remains in contention and within sight of the top-12 cutline by 14 points. Behind, Jeremy Clements recorded strong results in both Kentucky races, where he finished 12th on Thursday and came back to finish 11th on Friday after leading the first 11 laps. The top-10 results in both Kentucky races have the South Carolina native trailing the top-12 cutline by 30 points and with an opportunity to reach his second career Playoffs since 2017. The top-10 results at the Bluegrass State have tallied Clements’ top-15 results of 2020 to nine as his average result of 18.1 through the first 15 Xfinity races is his personal best. In addition, through the first 15 races, Clements has led a total of 12 laps, which ties his most laps led in a season, (2011 and 2017), with an opportunity to surpass the mark and establish a new record of laps led in a season.

    Among those still pursuing the cutline include Alex Labbe, rookie Jesse Little, Josh Williams, B.J. McLeod, rookie Joe Graf Jr. and Vinnie Miller.

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series will return for its upcoming race at Texas Motor Speedway on July 18, which will air at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • NASCAR Xfinity Series Power Rankings- Phoenix I

    NASCAR Xfinity Series Power Rankings- Phoenix I

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series came to play at Phoenix International Raceway this past weekend for race No. 4 of the 2020 season. All-time win-list leader Kyle Busch was back in the field and while everyone expected him to run away and dominate the field, he didn’t as his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brandon Jones passed Busch for the lead with 20 laps to go. Jones built a sizable lead and played his cards right for the second Xfinity Series victory of his career. While Jones was the story of the day, there were some other drivers who had some great runs as well.

    Here are this week’s Power Rankings following the LS Tractor 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. 

    1. Brandon Jones – Jones is making a leap from fifth to first this week in the rankings after scoring the victory. The Georgia native qualified eighth, finished 10th in Stage 1 and seventh in Stage 2. He didn’t lead a lot of laps but was up there at the end when it counted. By scoring the victory, Jones can now worry about focusing on the Playoffs and trying some different things as the season goes on. It won’t be surprising if the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is able to score more wins before the Playoffs begin.

      Previous Week Ranking – Fifth

    2. Harrison Burton – Burton continues his solid 2020 season by having another top-five finish. The North Carolina driver finished second to teammate Jones after passing Kyle Busch for the second position late in the going. Burton wasn’t much of a factor all day, but had a car capable of winning the race should a late-race caution had come out. He placed ninth in Stage 1 and eighth in Stage 2 before earning his fourth consecutive top-five finish. So far, Burton has not finished outside the top five throughout the first four races giving him an average finish of 2.5.

      Previous Week Ranking – First

    3. Chase Briscoe – Chase Briscoe and the No. 98 team of Stewart-Haas Racing team quietly earned a top-10 finish after a battle with Kyle Busch earlier in the day. In fact, Briscoe’s mid-race run was averaging a second-place position and he spent 92% of the day in the top-15. The Indiana native finished third in both stages, respectively, before ultimately finishing sixth. Despite the results not showing the good run, Phoenix was more than likely a disappointment for Briscoe and the No. 98 crew who ran in the top five for most of the day.

      Previous Week Ranking – Third

    4. Noah Gragson – Coming back into the Power Rankings this week is the No. 9 JR Motorsports driver of Noah Gragson. After being called into the NASCAR hauler for his recent incidents over the last couple of weeks (see Myatt Snider, Las Vegas), Gragson was able to put that behind him by earning a seventh-place finish after leading 27 laps and winning the second stage. Gragson started the day in the seventh position and consistently remained in the top-10, as he only ran as low as 11th. The JR Motorsports driver made some noise by leading laps 90-116. At the end of the day, however, it’s what could have been as Gragson earned his third top-10 finish of the 2020 season.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked

    5. Austin Cindric – A disappointing Phoenix outing for Austin Cindric and the No. 22 Team Penske crew, who finished eighth after qualifying second. Cindric led nine laps early on after a short-lived battle with Kyle Busch. Unfortunately, those laps would be the only laps that Cindric led of the day as he would wind up with an eighth-place finish with what could have been a race-winning car. Cindric placed fifth in Stage 1 and ninth in Stage 2.

      Previous Week Ranking – Second

    Fell Out 

    1. Ryan Sieg – Sieg, the Atlanta, Georgia native had somewhat a disappointing 11th place run this past weekend at Phoenix after having a string of top-five and top-10 finishes early this season. He was able to place sixth in the second stage, but that was about it. Sieg and the RSS Racing team will hope to turn it around next week at their hometown race track Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    Previous Week Ranking – Fourth

  • Cole Custer claims Dash 4 Cash prize, wins the ToyotaCare 250

    Cole Custer claims Dash 4 Cash prize, wins the ToyotaCare 250

    Cole Custer set a dominating pace by leading the most laps and earning his second win of the 2019 season in Friday night’s ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

    Custer briefly lost the lead to Austin Cindric on a restart with 26 laps remaining, but would not be denied. He reclaimed the lead just seven laps later to win his first career short track race in the Xfinity Series, and also claim the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash prize.

    “We had a great car,” Custer said. “Mike Shiplett made great adjustments as it went. This one means a lot. We hadn’t had a short-track win yet. We’ve struggled a lot at short tracks, but this helps.

    “A lot of my friends give me crap for being bad at this place, but I finally won, so I’ve got a little bit of bragging rights there. I’m just so happy. Two wins—that’s pretty awesome.”

    Cindric was playing the weather game as rain threatened the finish of the race, but wasn’t able to have mother nature on his side. With his runner-up finish, he qualifies himself for the next Dash 4 Cash race at Talladega Superspeedway. His primary sponsor, MoneyLion, will also be sponsoring that race.

    “Congrats to Cole and those guys,” Cindric said. “I tried my best on that restart to hold him off, but they were obviously the class of the field, him and the 7 (Allgaier). We had some fun and got some points and now we will move on to Talladega for the MoneyLion 300.

    “That will be a big one for me. I would love to win that race and the Dash for Cash at Talladega.”

    Justin Allgaier finished third in his JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet. He led 86 laps throughout the night and won the first stage. Similar to Cindric, Allgaier was trying to have pit strategy fall in his favor, but by the time he charged to the front, he ran out of both car and time.

    “The pit call we made at the end of the (second) stage there, it worked out, obviously, in our favor,” said Allgaier. “But I pushed really hard to get back up to the front, and I just didn’t quite have enough there at the end to really do anything.

    “I made a mistake on that restart. It really burns me up that I made the mistake, but all in all, a great day. I hope we got the monkey off our back.”

    Allgaier’s former teammate Tyler Reddick came home fourth with Ryan Sieg rounding out the top five. Zane Smith running in the No. 8 JR Motorsports car is running a limited schedule in the Xfinity Series, but continues to impress many with another strong sixth place finish at Richmond. John Hunter Nemechek, Chase Briscoe, pole sitter Riley Herbst and Justin Haley completed the top 10.

    Elliott Sadler finished in the 12th position at his home track after making the first of his two planned starts for the 2019 season.

    All cars passed post-race tech, so Custer was declared the official winner. Reddick’s car was caught with one lug nut unsecure, so potential fines will be announced next week by the sanctioning body.

  • Sieg’s Comments Highlight An Unnecessary Trend in NASCAR Sponsorship

    Sieg’s Comments Highlight An Unnecessary Trend in NASCAR Sponsorship

    Following Saturday’s XFINITY Series race at Kansas Speedway, ninth-place finisher Ryan Sieg had some choice words on Twitter for the NASCAR on NBC post-race coverage, and as it turns out, his tweet resonated with many fans and peers in the NASCAR community.

    This raises a question on some sponsorship issues that reside in NASCAR. Sure, the brass in charge say that there are no sponsorship issues. But try saying that to Furniture Row Racing. Try saying that to Roush Fenway’s XFINITY Series efforts. Try saying that to all the backmarkers who fill out the field on a weekly basis.

    There was a time not too long ago when a viewer could hear about the MBNA Pontiac driven by Ward Burton, or the Rumple Furniture Pontiac driven by J.D. McDuffie. It wasn’t uncommon for race broadcasts to cover the majority of the field, if not every driver. In turn that would lead to television time for the various sponsors, who in turn would be inclined to spend more money on advertising and sponsorship. It was a simple formula that added solidity to the sport.

    But now the broadcasts have shifted focus to Playoff points and storylines. Granted, as Sieg said, it was a good performance by Custer to maneuver his broken Ford around the track. It also helps that Custer is a Playoff driver. But should that give him the added merit? Should he be treated like he won the race when the Top-20 had guys like Sieg, Ty Majeski, Jeremy Clements, and Chad Finchum? These are guys who definitely have to work harder for position than a driver in a Stewart-Haas Ford. Guys who managed to buck their personal trends and managed to have a great day while sporting sponsors who, in some cases, barely have the funds to adorn and support a team.

    That said, it’d only make sense to give those guys a nod. Viewers/readers love underdogs, and these guys shouldn’t only warrant coverage if they’re leading. They should get the nod for a good day too, and that shouldn’t have to be solely the responsibility of some of the on-track media. These guys deserve good coverage and so do their sponsors who provide much needed funds into the sport.

    Thus, giving equal support to the drivers could lead to more sponsorship. Stop talking solely about the “Big Three.” Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Busch do not define NASCAR. Neither does Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott. NASCAR is defined by every driver and every sponsor in every one of its divisions. Giving them all an equal amount of support could prove beneficial for NASCAR in the long haul.

    On that note, there’s another reason to cover the underfunded underdogs. Better racing can sometimes happen in the back among these guys. The drivers bringing up the rear aren’t always just cruising around; there are some good races among their positions mid-pack. A race isn’t just for first-place on the track. Drivers know this, peers know this and fans know this. So when the race is a snooze fest with a driver leading wire-to-wire, there’s no reason not to give some of the underdogs good, positive coverage. The developers at 704 Games made sure to give guys like Spencer Boyd and Finchum as much love as the rest of the guys in NASCAR Heat 3, so once again there’s no reason NBC and FOX shouldn’t do the same.

    Especially if they have great days like Saturday at Kansas.

  • Spencer Gallagher Issued Indefinite Suspension for Substance Abuse

    Spencer Gallagher Issued Indefinite Suspension for Substance Abuse

    NASCAR officials announced Wednesday morning that driver Spencer Gallagher has been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR for violating the sanctioning body‘s substance abuse policy.

    Gallagher recently won his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega on Saturday afternoon in the No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a last lap pass on competitor Tyler Reddick. Later that week, Gallagher violated Section 19 of the 2018 NASCAR rule book, which discusses NASCAR’s zero-tolerance substance abuse policy. According to a press release by NASCAR, Gallagher has been indefinitely suspended from participating in any sanctioned event.

    He has agreed to participate in the Road to Recovery Program, a requirement before he is eligible to be cleared to race again.

    The Las Vegas native is not the first to be suspended for substance abuse.  AJ Allmendinger was one of the more recent stories of failing NASCAR’s random drug test back in 2012. Allmendinger was racing for Penske Racing in the No. 22 Ford in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series at the time. He pled not guilty, but went on to complete NASCAR’s recovery program and was reinstated back into the series. He returned to Penske in the Xfinity Series in 2013, and raced full-time for JTG Daugherty Racing. In 2014, he won his first career race at the Cup level at Watkins Glen.

    Gallagher released the following statement shortly after the breaking news. “I recently have had a positive result in a NASCAR drug screen which has violated NASCAR’s substance abuse policy. I want to assure everyone in the NASCAR community this one time error in judgement will never happen again. I am taking the steps to enroll in the Road to Recovery program supported by NASCAR. I would like to say that I am sorry to all of the GMS organization for my actions, especially my team and team owner, who have worked so hard this year and have put faith in me. I also want to apologize to NASCAR, Chevrolet and my fans for letting them down. I have not upheld the behavior that is expected of me. I promise you all here and know, I will do whatever it takes to make this right.”

    Mike Beam, president of GMS Racing, issued this as part of a team statement: “GMS fully supports NASCAR’s policy on substance abuse and we do not condone this type of behavior. First and foremost, our entire organization wants to apologize to NASCAR, our sponsors, teammates and fans due to this policy violation.

    “A substitute driver will be announced at a later date.”

    Additionally, Gallagher and GMS Racing are no longer eligible for the Dash 4 Cash field this week at Dover International Speedway. Ryan Sieg, driver of the No. 39 RSS Racing, will replace Gallagher after finishing sixth at Talladega.

    “Hate the circumstances but just got word from NASCAR we are in the Dash 4 Cash at Dover,” Sieg shared on Twitter later in the morning.

    Gallagher has made 49 starts in the Xfinity Series and an additional 59 starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He has five top-five finishes and 22 top-10 finishes combined across both series.