Tag: Toyota Owners 400

  • Truex finally gets his short track win at Richmond

    Truex finally gets his short track win at Richmond

    After a three way battle in the closing laps, Martin Truex Jr. was able to out run Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer to the checkered flag in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway.

    “You just had to hold ’em off,” Truex told FOX on the front stretch regarding the battle between Logano, Bowyer and himself. “Tonight we didn’t have the best car, but we’ve lost some here with the best car. We’ve kept chipping away at it and hopefully we get better from here on out.”

    Truex claimed the lead from Brad Keselowski with just under 80 laps to go, and led to the finish with a race-high of 186 laps. Truex also improved his stage positions throughout the night, third in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2. Kyle Busch led 101 laps, but a speeding penalty paired with the caution for Kyle Larson’s crash knocked Busch off cycle. He wasn’t able to get back to the front, but continues his top 10 streak for the 2019 season among the opening nine races.

    Logano won Stage 2 after passing Truex with a handful of laps remaining, but was not able to repeat at the end of the race.

    “I figured something out there toward the end with about 10 laps to go to make up some speed,” Logano said. “Fun race, but, gosh, two weeks in a row I felt like we had a car that could win the race, and we haven’t won.”

    At this point last year, Clint Bowyer already had a short track victory at Martinsville. He was looking to break the Team Penske/Joe Gibbs Racing duo by putting a Stewart-Haas Racing car in victory lane. He came up a couple of spots short, but not without a few side by side battles with Truex with around 20 laps to go.

    “It’s frustrating,” said Bowyer. “I was faster on a long run than him, but by the time you get to (Truex), your stuff is pretty wore out. And with this aero package, you are so aero dependent behind those cars that you get terrible tight.”

    Pole sitter Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin finished in the top five. Austin Dillon was the first and only Chevrolet driver in the top 10, finishing in sixth. Brad Keselowski, Stage 1 winner Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and Paul Menard rounded out the top 10.

    The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series takes Easter weekend off. They will race again at Talladega Superspeedway in the Geico 500 on April 28.

  • Harvick Gets to Keep His Pole Position at Richmond

    Harvick Gets to Keep His Pole Position at Richmond

    Kevin Harvick earned the pole for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 in Friday night’s Busch Pole Qualifying at Richmond Raceway, and he gets to keep it.

    Why’s that?

    Four of the top 10 qualifiers will have to start from the rear of the field after failing pre-race inspection Saturday afternoon — Erik Jones (qualified second), Chase Elliott (seventh), Daniel Suarez (ninth) and Jimmie Johnson (10th). They all will have to start from the rear of the field for Saturday’s race.

    “Eyes forward and let’s get to work,” said Johnson on Twitter after being asked his thoughts on starting from the rear.

    But the drama of failed inspections didn’t stop there. Aric Almirola (qualified 15th), Denny Hamlin (18th), Matt Tifft (20th), and Joey Gase (36th) all failed inspection and will have their cars moved to the back of the pack when the green flag waves later tonight.

    Additionally, Elliott, Hamlin and Tifft all failed a second time, resulting in a crew member ejected from each team. All eight drivers that failed inspection will start between 30th and 37th positions.

    Since Richmond is a night race, NASCAR impounds all the Monster Energy Cup Series cars until the garage is opened again on Saturday for inspection. Single failures result in disallowed qualifying times, and the team is set to start at the end of the field for the race. Multiple failures result in increased penalties against the team.

    So the updated results from qualifying are as follows. Harvick is still on pole with a time of 21.722 seconds. Kurt Busch is now the new face on the front row and will start second, 0.075 seconds off the pace. Joey Logano, last weekend’s short track winner, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. with his best start of the season, round out the top five. Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Paul Menard and Kyle Larson complete the updated top 10 qualifying results.

    The green flag is set to wave shortly after 7:30 p.m ET tonight.

  • Kyle Busch Captures Third Consecutive Win of the Season

    Kyle Busch Captures Third Consecutive Win of the Season

    Kyle Busch scored his third straight victory of the year winning the Toyota Owners 400 in overtime at Richmond Raceway Saturday night. He dominated the field in the closing 30 laps of the race to capture his 46th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win.

    It was his fifth triumph at the .75-mile short track and may have been his most challenging win at Richmond. Busch started in 32nd place but was able to maneuver his way to a sixth-place finish in both Stage 1 and Stage 2. It wasn’t until the closing laps of the third stage, however, that Busch began to make his presence known. He led three times (Lap 273, Laps 371-390, and Laps 392-402) for 32 laps) on his drive to Victory Lane.

    He spoke about his winning streak and the possibility of four in a row as the series travels to Talladega Superspeedway next week and the unpredictability of restrictor plate racing.

    “It’s definitely cool we’ve won three in a row,” Busch said. “We did it a couple years ago, and now I don’t know if you can shoot for four in a row. It’s hard to go to Talladega with that much of a winning streak and think that you can go to Victory Lane, but we’re going to go there anyway and give it a shot.

    “We’ll see what we can do … I think it’s easier to win the Power Ball than to win at Talladega.”

    Chase Elliott finished second, after taking advantage of the late-race cautions to gradually work his way to the front of the field for the final restart in overtime but he was unable to overtake Busch.

    “Yeah, just very fortunate circumstances there at the end for us, with the way the restarts went,” Elliott said. “Having a short run there at the end was definitely in our favor. So it was nice to be on the good end of things for the first time in a while.

    “Looking forward, we have to be realistic about how we ran tonight. I think the result shouldn’t weigh into how hard we worked this week because we have some work to do. I think that we have to keep that in mind.”

    Denny Hamlin took third place followed by a disappointed Joey Logano who finished fourth after winning Stage 1 and 2,

    “You know, we had a really good Shell Pennzoil Ford early in the race and got a couple stage wins early which was great. We maxed out those points which is awesome. We just lost the handle on the car and fell back to sixth or so. We had a bad pit stop and lost a bunch of spots and then had a really good pit stop and got them all right back and were able to come home with a top-five. I wish I could re-run that. I feel like we can do better if we tried again. I am sure the whole field would say that. I am proud of the speed we showed at Richmond. Just want to be a little better.”

    Kevin Harvick rounds out the top five finishers in the Toyota Owner’s 400.

    Busch retains the points lead after Richmond followed by Logano (-56), Clint Bowyer (-86), Harvick (-91) and Brad Keselowski in fifth (-112).

    Next week the action continues when the Monster Energy Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the Geico 500.

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

     

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  • The White Zone: Thoughts on the first quarter of the 2017 season

    The White Zone: Thoughts on the first quarter of the 2017 season

    RICHMOND, Va. — Yesterday at Richmond International Raceway marked the end of the first quarter to the new era of NASCAR, so I thought I’d give my take on how it’s turned out.

    Brian France and the other dignitaries from today’s press conference join in a toast to welcome Monster Energy into the NASCAR fold. Photo: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

    For all intents and purposes, the 2017 season really began on December 1, 2016 with the, at the time, worst kept secret in NASCAR. At the Wynn Las Vegas luxury hotel, in the midst of NASCAR’s Championship Week Banquet sendoff to exiting Cup Series sponsor Sprint, it was officially announced that Monster Energy would take over as the new entitlement sponsor of the Cup Series.

    Monster Energy, a company that targets younger consumers and fans of extreme sports, was to say the least an odd choice. It made sense for NASCAR to want to bring aboard Monster Energy with the sport’s aging demographic. But it didn’t make sense, to me anyway, why Monster Energy had any interest in doing business with NASCAR, especially when the sport is in a decade-long television ratings decline. Yes I’m aware they’ve sponsored Kyle Busch in the XFINITY Series and Kurt Busch in the Cup Series, but sponsoring individual drivers with their own fanbases isn’t the same as sponsoring the sport in which they compete. The Busch brothers, being of a Generation-X age, draw a much different age group of fans than the sport itself.

    However, I kind of had that question about Monster Energy’s motive answered by Mark Hall, chief marketing officer for the company, if they would go after the exiting, and markedly older NASCAR audience, compared to the consumers Monster Energy targets.

    “There’s really — there’s two answers to that question,” Hall said. “Young people set trends in fashion, and then older people adapt, and I don’t want to say old. Fashion is set by a small group of influencers. The challenge is to make your product relevant to that group and then have them influence the others. If we’ve been successful in the past, we’ve followed that model. I think we have a lot of drinkers in the current NASCAR fan base. I think we can make the sport more interesting to some younger consumers, as well.”

    NASCAR executive Steve O’Donnell and a selection of NASCAR personalities and NASCAR/ISC/SMI executives address the media during a press conference announcing new format “enhancements” to NASCAR’s three national touring series during the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour. Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

    The next major plot point of the 2017 season was at the Charlotte Convention Center on January 23, 2017 with the drinking word of the offseason, “enhancements.” NASCAR was crystal clear to use the word “enhancement(s)” in place of change(s) this time around.

    At this point, we all know the “enhancements” included stage racing and giving winners of the race and stages points specifically that would be added to your total at the start of the Chase, oh I’m sorry, “playoffs.” Yeah that was also another “enhancement” for 2017, dropping the name “Chase” and using the generic “playoff” term instead. Playoffs were so radically different from the “Chase,” despite the fact virtually nothing was changed about the system formerly known as the “Chase,” that the name “Chase” no longer seemed warranted.

    All this wording was totally naturally, and not a cynically manipulative ploy by the sanctioning body to make this lead balloon go over much easier.

    Despite all of that, I still decided, “What the hell? I’ll see where this goes.”

    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – FEBRUARY 26: Kurt Busch, driver of the #41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the 59th Annual DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 26, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

    The third plot point of this story was on Sunday, February 26, 2017, the day of the 59th running of the Daytona 500.

    The Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s biggest race, held on it’s grandest stage, Daytona International Speedway. It’s the culmination of an offseason of work by all departments of the race shops located back in Charlotte (or Denver in the case of Furniture Row Racing), and the culmination of Speedweeks (from January (Rolex 24) to the Daytona 500).

    The success, television-wise, sets the tone for the rest of the season more often than not with the ratings of the rest of the races to come.

    The 2017 Daytona 500 was perhaps the most critically important race in the history of NASCAR. As I mentioned earlier, the sport is in the midst of a long slide in ratings, and I, as well as many other NASCAR writers, consider this season a make or break year for the future sustainability of the sport.

    To make a long story short, this year’s Daytona 500 absolutely HAD to deliver at all costs.

    So what were the results? It too soon to tell.

     

    Let’s discuss the most important aspect of a race, the race itself. How did this year’s running of the Daytona 500 fare out with stage racing?

    From start to finish, and I mean this with all sincerity, that was the most entertaining restrictor plate race I’ve watched in a long, long time.

    The intensity was there, even for the lead, almost every single lap. It had the pack racing, drafting and carnage you’d expect from a race at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

    Kurt Busch celebrates with his Stewart-Haas Racing crew after doing donuts through the infield grass of Daytona International Speedway in celebration of winning the 59th running of the Daytona 500. Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

    Chase Elliott is on his way to his first career victory on the sport’s biggest stage when he runs out of gas. Martin Truex Jr. takes over the lead, and then he runs out of gas. Kyle Larson takes the lead coming to the white flag, and he runs out of gas.

    Taking the lead exiting Turn 2 is Kurt Busch.

    The story writes itself.

    Busch, a driver who started his Cup Series career receiving the middle finger salute, courtesy of Dale Earnhardt, in the 2001 Daytona 500, two years ago, two days prior to the Daytona 500, was banned from NASCAR for alleged domestic abuse (of which no charges were pressed), one of the most talented drivers of the 2000’s takes the lead on the final lap of one of the most important races in NASCAR history and wins the Daytona 500.

    This race alone was so great that any driver winning it would’ve made a great story, but the fact that it was won by a man who’s very life, both professional and personal, is worthy of an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary feature, is the best part. As someone who’s watched Kurt his entire NASCAR career, as a race fan during the years he was king at Bristol Motor Speedway and as a member of the media, I take great joy in knowing I saw his entire story arc play out (on the NASCAR side).

    But as happens every year, when Daytona ends, the grind of the season truly starts.

    As a seasoned NASCAR observer, both as a fan and scribe, I know that Daytona, and plate racing, is its own animal.

    But there was no denying that stage racing and playoff points made the racing more intense than usual, to the point where the usual problem of passing the lead car was not a major problem (also thanks to Brian France warning against drivers blocking in response to a fustercluck of an XFINITY Series race at Daytona the day prior).

    So I thought if cars could pass with ease at Daytona where it’s hard as hell to pass for the lead, then we’re in for one hell of a race at Atlanta, where passing is much, much easier.

    Well a few hours, I’d say two, after the Cup race, Jeff Gluck and I were “shooting the bull” about the race at the exit of pit road. We both thought stage racing was going to turn the intensity “up to 11,” like we saw at Daytona. We both agreed, however, that around halfway, the intensity wasn’t always going to be “up to 11.” It’s just going to be the same old product we’ve been getting, especially on the mile and a half’s.

    Thus started the “some notable moments in an otherwise forgettable race” trend we’ve experienced outside the short tracks.

    The first was the finish to Atlanta.

    Gluck asked me what I thought of the race overall. I said,”It was average for Atlanta, and that was with the way it ended with (Kevin) Harvick’s speeding penalty. Take that out of the equation and Harvick wins this, I don’t think this race registers.”

    “Oh agreed,” Gluck replied. “It’s basically Truex at Charlotte if Harvick wins this.”

    Then came Las Vegas. Keselowski has a part failure and Truex wins, which is overshadowed by a, let’s call it, fight on pit road between Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, of which Gluck captured the best video.

    Phoenix sees Ryan Newman snap a four-year winless drought with a decision to stay out in the final laps.

    Fontana delivers Kyle Larson his second career victory and demonstrates he’s truly a threat to win the championship this season.

    Martinsville hands down was not only the best race of the season, but also my favorite race to ever cover. You have cars making the outside groove at MARTINSVILLE of all places work, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. bumping Kyle Busch out of the way to stay on the lead lap, allowing Chase Elliott to win the stage and a 10-lap duel for the win between Kyle and Brad Keselowski with less than 50 laps remaining that saw Keselowski win the race.

    Texas showed us Jimmie Johnson is still arguably the greatest driver in NASCAR history and is going nowhere. It was also the breakout race for Ryan Blaney, who led 148 of 334 laps and won two stages, but finished 12th thanks to a bad pit stop.

    Bristol, when I wasn’t getting soaked trying to get from my car in Lot E by the drag strip to the deadline room and press box, was a good race as Bristol always is, but not as great as everyone said. Either way, it was fun to watch the events that led to Johnson win yet again on a Monday afternoon in Tennessee.

    Finally there was Richmond.

    It was…good. Like Bristol, it wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was still a short track race that delivered excitement. In the end, it was Joey Logano who scored the checkered flag.

    I said during the media tour that I would give some time to see how stage racing plays out. After one quarter of the season is complete, I love stage racing. But I’m not convinced it’s the direction that’ll resuscitate the ailing television ratings, especially when the ratings continue sliding down after eight races (Richmond’s rating wasn’t available when this was posted).

    So how will it play out during the second quarter, we’ll just have to see.

    That’s my view for what it’s worth.

  • Earnhardt’s Lousy Season Continues at Richmond

    Earnhardt’s Lousy Season Continues at Richmond

    RICHMOND, Va. — If Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t have bad luck, he wouldn’t have any luck. Sunday at Richmond International Raceway was a microcosm of his abysmal final season to date.

    Going into Richmond, Earnhardt’s season has included being taken out of the Daytona 500, while leading, in a multi-car wreck, finishing 30th at Atlanta, 16th at Las Vegas, 14th at Phoenix, 16th at Fontana, taken out in a late-race multi-car wreck at Martinsville, a fifth-place finish at Texas and wrecking out at Bristol.

    Starting 12th, Earnhardt was running eighth at lap 72 when, under the second caution of the Toyota Owners 400, he was busted for speeding on pit road and restarted 26th.

    He made it to second in the running order, thanks to a cycle of green flag pit stops as he had yet to pit, with 57 laps to go when teammate Jimmie Johnson, who was exiting pit road, slammed into him exiting Turn 2.

    “He (Johnson) said he didn’t see us,” Earnhardt said. “He had pitted and got tires and we were out there running around the top and weren’t ready to pit yet. He said he didn’t get any notice that he had a car outside. He was coming to pass me. I was running the top right against the fence and really wasn’t watching the mirror, so I didn’t know he was there or anybody was coming. TJ (Majors, spotter) was giving me pretty good warning about guys getting on my inside, but otherwise when you are running the top you don’t have to worry about it everybody kind of takes care of you, but Jimmie (Johnson) didn’t know we were there. Came off the corner and didn’t know the car was there. It was an explosion, but the car held up pretty well.”

    Eight laps after the ensuing restart, the left-rear tire on Earnhardt’s car gave out and he spun out in Turn 3. He brought his car home to a 30th-place finish. It’s his fifth finish of 30th or worse in nine races, amounting to a 24.4 finishing average on the season. He avoided his fourth DNF of the season running two laps down at the finish.

    He leaves Richmond 24th in points, 257 behind points leader Kyle Larson.

     

  • Mixed Bag Day for Gibbs at Richmond

    Mixed Bag Day for Gibbs at Richmond

    RICHMOND, Va. — Joe Gibbs Racing experienced a mixed bag of results in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

    Matt Kenseth kicked off the race weekend by taking pole position. He lead from the start to the 164th circuit, winning the first stage, before losing the lead to Brad Keselowski and finishing runner-up in the second stage.

    With 38 laps to go, however, he and Chase Elliott made contact in Turn 1, leading to his right-rear tire going flat.

    He came home 23rd.

    Kyle Busch ran a more “under the radar” race until the final stage. He made his way towards the lead for a lap and hung around the top-five, but was busted for a commitment line violation under the final caution of the race.

    He finished 16th.

    Daniel Suarez, who started 11th and rallied from a three-lap deficit to finish 12th, described his race as “okay.”

    “The first half of the race it was very tough,” Suarez said. “In the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, it’s just so difficult. You get behind one or two adjustments and then you get a lap down or two laps down and it’s very difficult to recover that. Luckily we got a lot of cautions right there at the end and I was able to overcome those laps down that I was down. Very proud of the team. They never give up. They were working hard on the race to try to make it better. I just feel like we have to work hard in the first third – first half – of the race to try to stay with the rest of the guys.”

    Denny Hamlin was the highlight of the mixed bag.

    He put himself in position with finishes of fifth in the first stage and fourth in the second. He first took the lead briefly under the second stage caution break, but lost it to Keselowski on lap 228. He regained it under the fifth caution with 150 to go, thanks to exiting pit road first, and held it until he was edged out at the line by Keselowski with 113 to go.

    Hamlin took the lead for the final time under the seventh caution and was passed by Keselowski on the restart with 39 to go.

    He brought his car home to a third-place finish.

    “We were competitive and our car drove really good,” Hamlin said. “We were just missing some of the speed from the 2 (Brad Keselowski) and the 22 (Joey Logano) – they run a little more sideways than what we run and just they have more grip. I think we optimized our day for the most part and that’s about as good as we could do.”

  • Furniture Row drivers at opposite ends of finishing results in Richmond

    Furniture Row drivers at opposite ends of finishing results in Richmond

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Furniture Row Racing duo went into Sunday’s race topping two of the three practice sessions, but finished at different ends of the spectrum when the checkered flag flew at Richmond International Raceway.

    Erik Jones was squeezed into the outside wall by Kasey Kahne, a byproduct of three-wide racing on the opening lap of the Toyota Owners 400. It led to a left-front tire cut and slamming the wall in Turn 3 on the fifth lap, bringing out the first caution of the race.

    “We got three-wide right on the start and then the 5 ran us up into the fence,” Jones said. “I was trying not to wreck everybody and then a couple laps later the GameStop Prey Toyota Camry cut a left-front tire. It’s just really a heartbreaking day. It’s not what we wanted, but we’ll just have to come back next week with another fast race car and try to run up front again.”

    He earned his first last-place finish in his 12th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start.

    He leaves Richmond 16th in points, down four spots and 205 points back of Kyle Larson.

    It was an across the board day for teammate Martin Truex Jr. with a third-place finish in the first stage and disappearing from the top-10 at the end of the second.

    His drive back to the top-10 almost took a fatal blow under the eighth caution with 39 laps to go when he was busted for a commitment line violation, one of six drivers busted for so during the race, and restarted 25th.

    But he opted not to pit during the final caution and restarted fourth. On old tires, he salvaged a 10th-place finish.

    “We just didn’t have it today, too many issues with rear grip,” explained Truex. “We were good in the beginning but couldn’t get the rear grip issue resolved with our Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Toyota. Just one of those days where you battle all day and hope to get a top-10 and we barely did that. We have some work to do for next time we come here.”

    Truex’s third-place in the first stage and 10th overall finish moves him up to second in points, just 40 behind Larson.

  • Late Wreck Caps Rotten Day for Blaney

    Late Wreck Caps Rotten Day for Blaney

    RICHMOND, Va. — When the day started, Ryan Blaney was second in the running order. When it ended, he was behind the wall.

    Blaney qualified second for the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway, but dropped like a rock after the first restart of the race on lap 12.

    The day went from lousy to awful for Blaney with 22 laps to go. Going down the backstretch, Chase Elliott made contact with Kurt Busch above him, sending him into Blaney. Busch’s contact with him cut down his left-rear tire. He tried to hold onto it, but lost control and spun out in Turn 3, bringing out the final caution of the race.

    He came home 36th, his fourth straight finish outside the top-10 and third finish of 25th or worse in the last four races.

    He leaves Richmond 12th in points 169 back of Kyle Larson.

  • Logano takes lead in closing laps to win at Richmond

    Logano takes lead in closing laps to win at Richmond

    RICHMOND, Va. — The records will show that Joey Logano started fifth, but he came from the rear for an unapproved adjustments, took the lead from Kyle Larson with less than 20 laps to go to win in the capital of Virginia.

    Opting not to pit under the final caution of the race, Larson assumed the race lead. He was unable to hold off Logano on four fresh tires. Logano made the winning pass driving to Larson’s outside and scored his 18th career victory in his 300th career start.

    “I didn’t really discuss it much with Todd (Gordon),” Logano said when asked how pit strategy played out. “My thought process was, ‘Oh no!’ right after we stayed out. But we were able to maintain the lead. I don’t think we would have been able to win the race and hold off Kyle (Busch) if it had stayed green. The caution came out. The boys had a great stop which gave us good track position to pass the cars that stayed out. We were able to have a good start, work our way past those cars and tried to take off the best I could. I knew the 2 was so much faster than everybody and I had to get out there as quick and as far as I could. He was on his way to catch me. I think he was catching me a couple tenths a lap. That was all I had inside the car and I burned them up early trying to go. I am proud of the effort of the team. We executed under pressure today and brought a car home that was a 5th-10th place car home to victory lane.”

    Teammate Brad Keselowski finished runner-up and Denny Hamlin rounded out the podium.

    “I was just hoping for another restart or the race to get extended for another 10 laps,” Keselowski said of the closing laps and pit strategy. “I think we had a ton of long run speed today. That short run at the end…half the field came, half the field didn’t. I just got stuck in a lane of cars that didn’t go. By the time I did, he had a whole straightaway on me. I got it down to a couple of car lengths at the end. All and all I’m happy for Team Penske withe 1-2 finish. We’ll take it and move on.”

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five.

    Matt Kenseth led the field to the green flag at 2:16 p.m. He led the first stage from start to finish and won it.

    He maintained the lead of the race until lap 164 when Keselowski passed him on the backstretch, allowing Keselowski to win the second stage.

    Kevin Harvick passed Keselowski on the outside to take the lead with 170 to go (lap 230). Keselowski responded eight laps later passing him on his outside exiting Turn 2 to retake the lead.

    Hamlin took the lead exiting pit road under the fifth caution of the race. He held the lead from 147 to 113 to go when Keselowski edged him out at the line.

    Keselowski lost the lead under a cycle of green flag stops to Ryan Newman, who was staying out to catch a caution. It didn’t work out however as he pitted and gave the lead back to Keselowski, which he’d lose on pit road two cautions later.

    Hamlin held the lead on the restart with 39 to go, only to lose it to Keselowski the following lap.

    Logano took the lead for the first time passing his teammate exiting Turn 2 with 29 to go.

    A single-car wreck in Turn 3 set up the final 19-lap run to the finish.

    Erik Jones brought out the first caution on the fifth lap when he suffered a left-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 3.

    “Well, we got three-wide right on the start and then the 5 (Kasey Kahne) ran us up into the fence,” Jones said. “I was trying not to wreck everybody and we got run into the wall by the 5 and then a couple laps later we cut a left front, so it’s really unfortunate. We only made five laps, 10 laps of the race and we’re already out, so it’s just really a heartbreaking day. It’s not what we wanted, but we’ll just have to come back next week, bring another fast race car and try to run up front again.”

    Stenhouse brought out the second when he made contact with the wall in Turn 3 on lap 65. The first stage conclusion brought out the third.

    The fourth flew for the end of the second stage.

    Debris, a towel, in the restart zone brought out the fifth. Jimmie Johnson slammed into teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. exiting Turn 2 with 57 to go, lead to the sixth caution.

    With 43 to go, Earnhardt suffered a left-rear tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 3 and there was a two-car wreck under the caution involving Clint Bowyer and Ty Dillon.

    Debris brought out the eighth with 33 to go.

    Kurt Busch made contact with Ryan Blaney, leading to a cut tire on the 21 car and he slammed the wall in Turn 3.

    The race lasted three hours, 12 minutes and eight seconds at an average speed of 93.685 mph. There were 18 lead changes among eight different drivers and nine cautions for 53 laps.

    Larson leaves with a 40-point lead over Martin Truex Jr.

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  • Larson Fastest at Richmond in Final Cup Practice

    Larson Fastest at Richmond in Final Cup Practice

    Kyle Larson topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Richmond International Raceway.

    The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 22.675 and a speed of 119.074 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was second in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 22.686 and a speed of 119.016 mph. Jimmie Johnson was third in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 22.727 and a speed of 118.801 mph.

    Erik Jones was fourth in his No. 77 Furniture Row Toyota with a time of 118.702 mph. Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five in his Hendrick Chevrolet with a time of 22.794 and a speed of 118.452 mph.

    Truex posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 117.521 mph.

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