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  • Almirola defies the odds with a wild, weather-shortened win at New Hampshire

    Almirola defies the odds with a wild, weather-shortened win at New Hampshire

    In a race mired with precipitation, an early accident eliminating two former Cup champions and a 10-lap reduction due to darkened skies, Aric Almirola erased his difficult regular-season stretch by scoring an upset win in the weather-shortened Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the 50th event at the Magic Mile, on Sunday, July 18.

    The Tampa, Florida, native capitalized late to lead twice for 25 laps and fend off a hard-charging Christopher Bell to return to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series following a 98-race winless drought.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Kyle Busch started on pole position and was joined on the front row with teammate Martin Truex Jr.

    Prior to the event, Quin Houff, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece and BJ McLeod dropped to the rear of the field due to multiple pre-race inspection issues. Bubba Wallace also started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Kyle Busch launched his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry ahead of teammate Truex and the field through the first two turns.

    With the field fanning out to two lanes through the backstretch, Kyle Busch led the first lap and was able to retain the lead despite an early challenge from teammate Truex. Behind, Chase Elliott was in third followed by Kurt Busch, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and Alex Bowman. Denny Hamlin, the regular-season points leader, settled in sixth ahead of Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity event at New Hampshire.

    On the fifth lap, the caution flew when both Kyle Busch and Truex, the two leaders, wrecked in Turn 1 after both got loose entering the turn due to the slick conditions on the track as a result of rain falling on the track. Behind, Hamlin got loose while battling Bowman and spun, though he continued without sustaining any serious damage. While Hamlin remained on the track, Busch and Truex pitted to have their respective Toyota Camrys assessed for the damage.

    Not long after, the field was brought to pit road and the race was red-flagged on the eighth lap as the rain picked up around the circuit and the cloudy skies. At the time of the caution and delay, Elliott emerged as the leader followed by Kurt Busch, Bowman, Bell and Ryan Blaney while Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick were in the top 10.

    During the delay, Kyle Busch and his crew retired from the event due to the damage on the car.

    “We started the race under a mist,” Kyle Busch said on NBCSN. “It never should have gone green to begin with, but then it kept getting worse and worse lap over lap. The lap before, I went into [Turn] 1 and it shoved the nose really bad, and I was able to keep it under control. It wasn’t bad enough. The next time I went down there, hell, I lifted at the flag stand, maybe a little past the flag stand, don’t get too dramatic, and just backed it in. We’ve been talking about it for two laps that it was raining. There’s no sense in saying what I want to say, it doesn’t do you any good. We’re done, we’re going home. It’s over. There’s no fixing that thing.”

    Nearly two hours later amid the track-drying process, the red flag was lifted and the field returned to the track under the competition caution, which was initially scheduled for Lap 30. Prior to the start, NASCAR announced that Joey Logano, who pitted under the caution period while the pit road was closed, will be held two laps on pit road due to his crew working on the car during the red flag period. 

    Under caution, some led by Hamlin pitted while the rest led by Elliott pitted. During the pit stops, Ryan Preece was penalized for speeding while exiting pit road. Meanwhile, Truex was able to remain in the race following repairs to his No. 19 Reser’s Toyota Camry from his pit crew.

    When the race restarted on green on Lap 23, Elliott was challenged by Kurt Busch for the lead, which the latter succeeded the following lap. Two laps later, however, Elliott returned the favor entering the backstretch and reassumed the lead as Christopher Bell joined the party.

    By Lap 30, Elliott was leading by nearly half a second over Bell, who was followed by Blaney, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski. Reddick was in sixth followed by Bowman, Chastain, Larson and Harvick.

    A few laps later, the caution returned due to rookie Anthony Alfredo spinning in Turn 4 following contact with Bubba Wallace. Under caution, some like Bowman, Larson, William Byron, Aric Almirola, Chris Buescher, rookie Chase Briscoe and Daniel Suarez pitted while the rest led by Elliott remained on the track.

    When the race restarted on Lap 38, Elliott and Bell battled for the lead for one full lap until Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE managed to clear Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry through Turns 1 and 2. Behind, Cody Ware spun in Turn 2, but the race remained under green.

    As the field fanned out and the competitors battled for positions, Team Penske’s Blaney and Keselowski were in third and fourth followed by Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick.

    On Lap 42, Blaney overtook Bell for the runner-up spot. By then, Harvick moved into the top five while Kurt Busch fell back to sixth ahead of Reddick and Matt DiBenedetto.

    Through the first 50 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by nearly half a second over Blaney while Bell, Keselowski and Harvick were in the top five. Reddick was in sixth followed by Chastain, DiBenedetto, Kurt Busch and Hamlin. Austin Dillon was in 12th behind Cole Custer, teammates Bowman, Byron and Larson were in 14th, 15th and 16th, Aric Almirola was in 19th in front of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Truex was mired back in 22nd, Ryan Newman and Briscoe were in 24th and 25th ahead of Wallace and Daniel Suarez was in 27th. Logano, meanwhile, was in 33rd and a lap behind.

    By Lap 60, Elliott continued to lead by a tenth of a second over Blaney. Behind, Keselowski moved up to third while Bell and Harvick battled for fourth ahead of Tyler Reddick.

    Two laps later, Blaney overtook Elliott for the top spot as he became the fourth different leader of the race. In the ensuing laps, Blaney started to extend his advantage to more than a second.

    Amid the overcast weather and the bizarre start, Blaney was able to remain in the lead with a comfortable advantage and claim the first stage victory on Lap 75, thus claiming his fourth stage victory of 2021. Behind, Keselowski prevailed over a late battle with Elliott to settle in second while Harvick and Reddick were scored in the top five. Scored in the top 10 were Bell, Hamlin, Chastain, DiBenedetto and Larson.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Harvick exited with the lead followed by Hamlin, Reddick, Keselowski, Elliott and Blaney.

    The second stage started on Lap 82 with Harvick and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Harvick rocketed away from the field on the outside lane while Hamlin struggled to launch on the inside lane, which allowed Reddick to move into second place and the field to stack up and fan out to multiple lanes through the first two turns. 

    The following lap, Elliott battled Reddick for the runner-up spot while Hamlin was locked in a battle with Keselowski for fourth. Meanwhile, Harvick was out in front by more than half a second.

    By Lap 90, Harvick was leading by more than a second over Elliott while Keselowski, Reddick and Hamlin were in the top five. Blaney was mired back in sixth followed by Larson, Chastain, Bell and Almirola.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Harvick remained as the leader by more than one second over Elliott while third-place Keselowski was trailing by less than three seconds. Hamlin retained fourth place ahead of Blaney, Reddick, Chastain, Larson, Almirola and Bell. Bowman was in 11th ahead of Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto, Custer and Stenhouse. Byron was in 16th followed by Truex and Austin Dillon, Wallace was in 19th ahead of Chris Buescher, Newman was in 21st ahead of Suarez and Erik Jones, Michael McDowell was in 25th behind Ryan Preece and Briscoe was back in 29th. Logano, meanwhile, was in 30th and still a lap behind.

    Ten laps later, Harvick continued to lead by more than a second over Elliott and nearly three seconds over Keselowski, who had Hamlin challenging him for a top-three spot. Another 10 laps later, Harvick stabilized his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Elliott and more than three seconds over the new third-place competitor, Hamlin.

    On Lap 128, the caution flew due to Quin Houff spinning and making contact with the Turn 3 outside wall following contact with Ryan Newman. At the time of caution, Austin Dillon pitted despite pit road being closed at the time of his service.

    Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Harvick retained the lead after exiting pit road ahead of Hamlin, Keselowski, Elliott and Almirola. During the pit stops, Blaney, who dropped from first to fifth during the first stage caution period, dropped from fifth to ninth under the recent caution.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 135, Harvick and Hamlin, both of whom were seeking their first victory of the season, pulled ahead while Almirola challenged Keselowski for third place.

    A lap later, a three-wide battle ensued between Almirola, Elliott and Larson through Turns 1 and 2 before Larson prevailed ahead of the two for fourth place entering Turn 3. Behind, Blaney, Chastain and Bell battled for seventh while Harvick retained the lead ahead of Hamlin.

    Shortly after, the caution returned due to a two-car spin through the backstretch involving Wallace and Chris Buescher. In the midst of the incident and the caution, Logano received another free pass to return to the lead lap.

    When the race restarted on Lap 144, Harvick received another strong start to muscle away with the lead ahead of Keselowski while Hamlin was mired back in third ahead of the field after he struggled at the start.

    Two laps later, Keselowski, sporting a sleek blue and black scheme to his No. 2 eCascadia Ford Mustang, took over the lead ahead of Harvick and Hamlin.

    By Lap 150 and right at the halfway mark, Keselowski was leading by more than a second over Harvick while Hamlin, Blaney and Almirola were in the top five. Scored in the top 10 were Elliott, Larson, Chastain, Reddick and Bell.

    By Lap 175, Keselowski continued to lead by less than two seconds over Harvick, with Blaney and Hamlin in third and fourth. Almirola, meanwhile, continued to run in fifth ahead of Elliott.

    While Harvick started to close back in on Keselowski for the lead, Keselowski was able to retain a reasonable advantage over Harvick and claim his second stage victory of the season after winning the second stage on Lap 185. Harvick settled in second followed Blaney, Hamlin, Almirola, Elliott, Larson, Reddick, Chastain and Kurt Busch.

    Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road and Keselowski retained the lead after exiting with the lead followed by Harvick, Blaney, Almirola, Larson and Hamlin. Following the pit stops, however, Hamlin returned to pit road due to a missing lug nut.

    With 109 laps remaining and the skies above the track darkening, the final stage started as teammates Keselowski and Blaney started on the front row. At the start, Keselowski peaked ahead of Blaney and Harvick to retain the lead. While Penske’s Keselowski and Blaney battled for the lead, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Harvick retained third ahead of teammate Almirola, Larson, Bell and Chastain.

    Six laps later, Blaney, who kept teammate Keselowski in his sights, took the lead, though Keselowski refused to give in and with a potential dark weather-ending race looming.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, teammates Blaney and Keselowski battled for the top spot while Harvick narrowed the deficit to half a second. Meanwhile, Logano, who was two laps behind earlier in the race, was in 10th.

    Under the final 100 laps, both Blaney and Keselowski refused to surrender as they continued to battle intensely for the lead through every turn and corner, but with neither prevailing over the other. Harvick, meanwhile, continued to close in behind the two Penske Ford competitors.

    With 90 laps remaining, the top-three competitors were separated by six-tenths of a second as Blaney continued to lead by less than half a second over teammate Keselowski and six-tenths of a second over Harvick. Not far behind, Almirola was behind by more than a second while Larson was in fifth. Logano, meanwhile, was in eighth. 

    Ten laps later, Blaney, who earlier prevailed over his intense battle with teammate Keselowski, was ahead by less than nine-tenths of a second over Keselowski. Behind, Almirola moved up to third place ahead of teammate Harvick while Larson remained in fifth. Logano was up in seventh, Reddick was in ninth ahead of Bowman, Kurt Busch and Elliott were back in 13th and 14th, Truex was in 16th and Hamlin was mired back in 18th in between William Byron and Daniel Suarez.

    Another five laps later, the advantage for Blaney over teammate Keselowski grew to more than a second while third-place Almirola was trailing by two seconds.

    Under the final 65 laps of the event, Almirola overtook Keselowski for the runner-up spot while Blaney continued to lead by more than a second. Harvick, meanwhile, was more than three seconds behind while Larson remained in fifth, but behind by less than five seconds.

    Approaching the final 60 laps of the event, Almirola caught Blaney and started to challenge him for the lead. Despite repeated attempts from Almirola, Blaney managed to remain in front of Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang. 

    Then with 55 laps remaining, Almirola emerged with the lead following a pass on Blaney through Turns 2 and 3 before clearing him for good in Turn 4. 

    Just then, pit stops under green ensued as Elliott pitted along with Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch Keselowski, Newman and others. Harvick also pitted along with Bell, Logano, Larson, Blaney and race leader Almirola.

    Under the final 45 laps of the event and with most of the leaders having made a pit stop, DiBenedetto, who has yet to pit, was leading ahead of Byron and Keselowski, who had fresh tires and enough fuel to the finish. Almirola was mired back in fourth while Wallace was in fifth ahead of Bell.

    Not long after, Almirola overtook Keselowski for third place, but he was more than 18 seconds behind race leader DiBenedetto.

    With 36 laps remaining, Almirola overtook Byron for the runner-up spot while DiBenedetto continued to lead by more than 13 seconds. Behind, Keselowski and Bell overtook Byron for spots in the top five while Blaney was in sixth ahead of Harvick, Logano, Larson and Reddick.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, DiBenedetto, who drives for the legendary Wood Brothers Racing team but has no current racing plans established for 2022, continued to lead by less than six seconds over a hard-charging Almirola. Bell, meanwhile, was in third, less than eight seconds behind, while Keselowski and Blaney were in the top five.

    Three laps later, DiBenedetto, who was aiming for a shortened event and for his first Cup victory, surrendered the lead to pit for two tires and fuel. With DiBenedetto out of contention, Almirola returned to the lead with Bell behind by less than two seconds.

    With 20 laps remaining, Almirola was leading by more than a second over Bell. Keselowski remained in third while Blaney and Harvick battled for fourth. DiBenedetto, meanwhile, was in 13th.

    Just then, NASCAR declared that the event will be shortened to a final 10-lap dash to the checkered flag due to darkness looming around the track and with no lights installed around the Magic Mile. By then, Almirola continued to lead by more than a second over Bell with third-place Keselowski trailing by more than four seconds as the race remained under green.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Almirola, who was struggling to lap Austin Dillon, was leading by more than six-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Bell. Meanwhile, Logano was up in fourth ahead of teammate Blaney and Harvick.

    When the final lap of the darkened event started, Almirola continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Bell. Despite Bell’s final lap effort for the win, Almirola remained ahead and he was able to come back around to claim his first checkered flag in more than two seasons.

    With the win, Almirola, who came into the event in 27th place in the regular-season standings and a long shot in the Playoff battle, scored his third NASCAR Cup Series career victory and he achieved his first win in NASCAR’s premier series since October 2018 at Talladega Superspeedway. In addition, he became the 13th different competitor to be guaranteed a spot in the 2021 Cup Playoffs based off of winning throughout the regular-season stretch and he recorded the first victory of the season for Stewart-Haas Racing.

    “This is by far one of my favorite racetracks,” Almirola said on NBCSN. “I love coming up to the New England area and racing. I love this racetrack. I had this race won a couple years ago and I gave it away. I lost it, and I am so glad to win a race here with this race team. God is so good. We’ve been through so much and I’ve just stood the test and kept the faith. The team, everybody, they’ve just been working so hard. There have been so many people that have just continued to support us through the crappiest year ever, and, man, this feels so good for them. My pit crew, they did a phenomenal job on pit road. All the guys that work on this car, they just keep fighting. They just keep digging, bringing the best race car they can bring every week and it is no doubt, we have struggled, but, guess what? We’re going Playoff racing!”

    Bell, who was aiming for a weekend sweep after winning Saturday’s Xfinity event at New Hampshire, settled in second place for his second runner-up result in three weeks.

    “I didn’t know how may laps [NASCAR] cut it short, but definitely whenever I saw the board and saw that we were eight laps short, it stings man,” Bell said. “I felt like I probably had a little better pace than [Almirola] and I was able to get to him. I know lapped cars were giving him a bad time, but I was able to get to him. It was going to be a heck of a race, but really proud of everyone on this Rheem Pristine Auction Camry. They did really good. Everyone on this 20 crew, we didn’t start out the greatest and then we were really good, probably the best we were all day right there at the end of the race. That’s all you can ask for is to have a shot at it and just wish we had eight more laps.”

    Keselowski, who led 53 laps, came home in third place followed by teammates Logano, who rallied from two laps behind, and Blaney, who led 64 laps.

    Harvick, who led 66 laps, ended up in sixth followed by Larson, Chastain, Bowman and Hamlin.

    DiBenedetto, who pitted late for fuel, settled in 11th in front of Truex, Reddick, Cole Custer and Stenhouse. Kurt Busch came home in 16th, Elliott ended up in 18th behind Austin Dillon, Byron finished 21st behind Daniel Suarez, Wallace ended up in 26th behind Michael McDowell and rookie Chase Briscoe finished 27th.

    There were 14 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 47 laps. 

    With four races remaining until the 2021 Cup Playoffs commences, Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 13 points over Kyle Larson. Currently, 13 competitors (Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, William Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell) are guaranteed Playoff spots based on winning at least once throughout the regular season. Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Tyler Reddick occupy the remaining three vacant spots to the Playoffs as winless competitors, with Reddick ahead by five points over teammate Austin Dillon, 121 over Chris Buescher, 143 over Matt DiBenedetto, 144 over Ross Chastain, 170 over Bubba Wallace, 172 over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and 195 over Daniel Suarez.

    Results.

    1. Aric Almirola, 25 laps led

    2. Christopher Bell

    3. Brad Keselowski, 53 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    4. Joey Logano

    5. Ryan Blaney, 64 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    6. Kevin Harvick, 66 laps led

    7. Kyle Larson

    8. Ross Chastain, three laps led

    9. Alex Bowman

    10. Denny Hamlin, one lap led

    11. Matt DiBenedetto, 20 laps led

    12. Martin Truex Jr.

    13. Tyler Reddick

    14. Cole Custer

    15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    16. Kurt Busch, one lap down

    17. Austin Dillon, one lap down

    18. Chase Elliott, one lap down, 53 laps led

    19. Erik Jones, one lap down

    20. Daniel Suarez, one lap down

    21. William Byron, one lap down

    22. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    23. Corey LaJoie, one lap down

    24. Ryan Newman, one lap down

    25. Michael McDowell, one lap down

    26. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

    27. Chase Briscoe, two laps down

    28. Justin Haley, two laps down 

    29. Chris Buescher, three laps down

    30. BJ McLeod, five laps down

    31. Cody Ware, eight laps down

    32. Anthony Alfredo, eight laps down

    33. Garrett Smithley, 10 laps down

    34. Josh Bilicki, 13 laps down

    35. Quin Houff – OUT, Accident

    36. James Davison – OUT, Clutch

    37. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

    The NASCAR Cup Series will be taking the next two weekends off for the Tokyo Summer Olympics before returning to action at Watkins Glen International on Sunday, August 8, which marks the series’ fifth road course event of 2021. The event is scheduled to occur at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN. 

  • Kurt Busch shakes up the Playoff field with first victory of 2021 at Atlanta

    Kurt Busch shakes up the Playoff field with first victory of 2021 at Atlanta

    With his future racing status beyond this season currently uncertain, Kurt Busch made an epic statement after dominating and fending off brother Kyle Busch to win the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 11, for his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season and to place himself in a guaranteed spot to make the Playoffs in Chip Ganassi Racing’s swan song season in NASCAR.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Chase Elliott, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Road America, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Kyle Busch, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity Series event at Atlanta.

    Prior to the event, Martin Truex Jr. started at the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race technical inspection twice.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Elliott launched ahead with an early advantage while Kyle Busch struggled to start on the outside lane and in front of a stacked field.

    With the first lap complete as the field behind jostled for early positioning, Elliott was out in front by two-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch with Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick in the top five.

    Following the first five laps of the event, Elliott was leading by nearly half a second over Kyle Busch. Teammates Hamlin and Bell continued to run in third and fourth followed by Reddick, Matt DiBenedetto, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski.

    Five laps later, Elliott stabilized his advantage to half a second over Kyle Busch. While Hamlin continued to run in third, Reddick made his move to fourth place over Bell.

    On Lap 14, Kyle Busch muscled his way into the lead over Elliott through the backstretch and following an intense battle for the top spot with Elliott over the previous few laps.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Kyle Busch was leading by more than two seconds over teammate Hamlin while Elliott slipped back to third. Reddick remained in fourth while Kurt Busch emerged in fifth over Larson, Bell, Logano, DiBenedetto and Alex Bowman. By then, Brad Keselowski was in 11th ahead of Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher and William Byron. Truex was in 18th in between Aric Almirola and Bubba Wallace, Kevin Harvick was in 20th ahead of rookie Chase Briscoe, Ryan Newman was in 22nd, Daniel Suarez was in 24th in between Ross Chastain and Erik Jones, Cole Custer was in 27th behind Corey LaJoie and Michael McDowell was in 29th.

    Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Hamlin exited pit road with the lead ahead of teammate Kyle Busch, Reddick, Larson, Logano and Keselowski. Elliott, meanwhile, dropped from third to 18th after he slid his No. 9 Adrenaline Shoc Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE through his pit box prior to pitting for fresh tires and fuel.

    When the race restarted on Lap 29, Hamlin retained the lead through the first two turns until teammate Kyle Busch gained a run on the outside of Turn 3 and challenged Hamlin for the top spot. While Busch led the following lap, both Joe Gibbs Racing teammates continued to battle early for the lead.

    Shortly after, the caution returned for a chain reaction spin and wreck in the backstretch involving Cody Ware, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Daniel Suarez.

    When the race restarted on Lap 35, Kyle Busch received a strong start to retain the lead followed by a two-car battle for the runner-up spot between Logano and Hamlin, with the latter prevailing ahead of Larson and Reddick. While teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin battled for the lead, Kurt Busch muscled his way into third place over Reddick while Alex Bowman moved into the top five ahead of Logano, Keselowski and Larson.

    By Lap 40, Kyle Busch continued to lead by nearly half a second over teammate Hamlin, with Kurt Busch closing in on Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Reddick and Bowman were in the top five followed by Logano, Keselowski, Larson, DiBenedetto and Byron. Elliott, meanwhile, was mired in 20th behind Aric Almirola while Truex was in 11th.

    Ten laps later, the Busch brothers were running first and second as younger brother Kyle was leading by half a second over older brother Kurt. Hamlin remained in third while running just ahead of Bowman and Reddick. By then, Larson was in eighth behind Logano and Keselowski, Truex was in 10th behind Byron, Harvick was in 14th behind Blaney and Elliott was still mired in 20th behind Briscoe and Bubba Wallace.

    Another 10 laps later, Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Skittles Gummies Toyota Camry continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over brother Kurt’s No. 1 GEARWRENCH Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE while Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, which was more than four seconds behind the leader, emerged in third place ahead of Hamlin’s No. 11 Offerpad Toyota Camry and Reddick’s No. 8 Okuma Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.

    By Lap 70, Kyle Busch stabilized his lead to nearly a second over brother Kurt while Hamlin, Bowman and Reddick remained in the top five. Meanwhile, a four-car battle ensued for seventh place between Larson, Byron, Keselowski and Truex. By then, Harvick was in 11th, Blaney was in 14th behind Austin Dillon, Christopher Bell was in 16th behind Chris Buescher and Elliott was in 18th.

    Not long after, Ryan Newman pitted under green to have a right-front chorded tire addressed to his No. 6 Oscar Mayer Ford Mustang.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 80, Kyle Busch was out in front as he claimed his fourth stage victory of the season. Kurt Busch settled in second followed by Hamlin, Bowman, Reddick, Larson, Logano, Byron, Truex and Harvick. By then, names like Erik Jones, Michael McDowell, rookie Anthony Alfredo and Ryan Newman were lapped by the leaders.

    Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road and Kurt Busch exited pit road to assume the lead for the first time followed by Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Bowman and Reddick. During the pit stops, Elliott clipped Cole Custer’s tire carrier while entering his pit stall. Following the pit stops, Harvick and Truex returned to pit road to have their respective cars repaired after both sustained damage on pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 86 with the Busch brothers leading the field. At the start, Kurt Busch took off with the lead following a strong start while Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Reddick battled for the runner-up spot as the field fanned out through the backstretch.

    By Lap 90, Kurt Busch continued to lead by nearly half a second over brother Kyle, who had Tyler Reddick pressuring him for the runner-up spot. Meanwhile, Hamlin and Bowman battled for fourth while Keselowski, Byron, Blaney, Larson and Wallace were in the top 10.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Kurt Busch was leading by nearly two seconds over Bowman, with Reddick, Kyle Busch and Hamlin in the top five. Behind, Larson was in sixth ahead of Keselowski while Elliott was in 16th behind Truex. Harvick, meanwhile, was in 20th behind Ross Chastain.

    A few laps later, Logano brought his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang to pit road after reporting a left-rear vibration.

    Nearing the Lap 120 mark and with rain threats looming near the track, names like Byron, DiBenedetto, Hamlin, Larson, Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Wallace, Blaney, Harvick, Bowman, Austin Dillon, Elliott and Briscoe pitted under green. A few laps later, Kurt Busch also pitted along with Reddick, Buescher, Corey LaJoie, Erik Jones, Alfredo, Bell and Truex. Cole Custer, who briefly led, also pitted along with Newman.

    Back on track, Almirola was leading by half a second over Preece, though both are still in need of a pit stop, while Kurt Busch was back in third and 10 seconds behind.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 130, Almirola was still leading by nearly half a second over Preece while Kurt Busch narrowed the gap to two-tenths of a second. Two laps later, Kurt Busch, racing on fresh tires, bolted his way back to the lead over Preece and Almirola. Another four laps later, brother Kyle Busch moved into the runner-up spot followed by Bowman, Reddick, Almirola and Larson while Ryan Preece pitted. Not long after, Almirola also pitted.

    By Lap 140, Kurt Busch was leading by more than four seconds over brother Kyle while Bowman, Reddick and Larson were in the top five. Hamlin, meanwhile, was in sixth followed by Blaney, Byron, Keselowski and Austin Dillon. Elliott was in 12th behind Wallace, Truex and Harvick were in 16th and 17th while in front of Logano and Almirola was all the way back in 25th.

    Ten laps later, Kurt Busch continued to lead by more than four seconds over brother Kyle. Behind, Larson overtook Reddick for fourth place while Bowman settled in third.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 160, Kurt Busch was still leading as he claimed his third stage victory of the season. Settling in second was Kyle Busch followed by Bowman, Larson, Hamlin, Reddick, Blaney, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Truex.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Kurt Busch retained the lead following a stellar pit stop. Kyle Busch followed in second and in front of Bowman, Larson, Reddick and Hamlin. Following the pit stops, Hamlin was assessed a pit road speeding penalty.

    Soon after, NASCAR red-flagged the event for 19 minutes to have the track surface on the frontstretch repaired.

    When the red flag lifted following the surface repairs, the final stage started under green with 90 laps remaining. At the start, Kurt Busch retained the lead followed by Bowman while Kyle Busch was engaged in a three-wide battle with Larson and Keselowski for third place through the backstretch.

    Three laps later, Kyle Busch muscled his way into the runner-up spot over Bowman while Kurt Busch continued to lead. Behind, Keselowski made a bold three-wide move on Reddick and Truex to move into fifth place while teammates Bowman and Larson were in third and fourth.

    With 75 laps remaining, Kurt Busch remained as the leader by more than a second over brother Kyle. Teammates Bowman and Larson remained in third and fourth followed by Reddick, Blaney, Truex, Keselowski, Bell and Elliott.

    Down to the final 60 laps of the event, Kurt Busch continued to lead by less than a second over Kyle Busch while Bowman, Larson and Reddick remained in the top five. By then, Elliott was in eighth behind Truex and Blaney, Keselowski was back in 10th, Wallace was in 12th ahead of Harvick and Hamlin was in 18th in between Austin Dillon and Byron.

    Nearly 10 laps later, pit stops under green commenced as Elliott pitted along with Bell, Logano, Keselowski, DiBenedetto, Wallace, Harvick, Briscoe, Chastain, Blaney, Byron and others. Shortly after, Kyle Busch pitted.

    When the pit stops cycled not long after, Kyle Busch, who pitted a lap earlier than Kurt, emerged with the lead as Kurt started to chase down his brother for the lead and the win. By then, Larson was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    With 40 laps remaining, Kyle Busch, who was mired in lapped traffic, was leading by eight-tenths of a second over brother Kurt while third-place Alex Bowman trailed by more than three seconds. Trailing by more than six seconds in fourth was Truex while Reddick was in the top five ahead of Blaney, Elliott, Bell, Keselowski and DiBenedetto.

    Ten laps later, Kyle Busch’s advantage over brother Kurt decreased to six-tenths of a second, with the older brother slowly catching younger brother for the top spot.

    With 24 laps remaining, Kurt Busch drew himself alongside brother Kyle’s No. 18 Toyota, who was tucked behind the lapped No. 42 Clover Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by Ross Chastain, through Turn 3 and the frontstretch. Following a side-by-side battle for another lap, Kurt returned to the top spot while Kyle kept his brother in sight.

    With 20 laps remaining, Kurt Busch was leading by half a second over brother Kyle while Truex, Bowman and Reddick remained in the top five. Running in the top 10 were Blaney, Elliott, Bell, DiBenedetto and Keselowski.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Kurt Busch, who earlier was leading by nearly a second over brother Kyle, was leading by just less than half a second over Kyle Busch, with both Busch brothers refusing to give in to one another. Meanwhile, third-place Truex trailed by more than four seconds.

    Three laps later, Kyle Busch gained a run to the inside lane of Turn 1 and tried to slide up in front of Kurt while trying to take back the lead, but Kurt remained in the gas and retained the lead through the backstretch.

    With five laps remaining and the leaders approaching lapped traffic, among which included Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch was ahead by nearly six-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch.

    Despite catching the lapped traffic, Kurt Busch started to pull away from his brother Kyle, who was losing ground for the win. Having his advantage grow to more than a second, Kurt was able to commence the final lap of the event and come back around to claim his first checkered flag of the season.

    With his victory, Kurt Busch, who led a race-high 144 of 260 laps, became the 12th different competitor to record a victory in this year’s regular-season stretch. He also achieved his fourth victory at Atlanta and his 33rd Cup Series career win. Above all, he recorded the 20th NASCAR victory for Chip Ganassi Racing, a team that will be departing the sport following this season after the team was purchased by Trackhouse Racing Team.

    “Hell yeah, we beat Kyle!” Kurt Busch exclaimed on NBCSN. “I taught that kid everything he knows. He should be grateful. What a battle. What a genuine, awesome, old-school racetrack, and I just asked the track today, last time here on your old asphalt, can I have an old guy win, and she answered. Thank you, Atlanta Motor Speedway!”

    During the victory celebrations in front of the grandstands, Kurt credited his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Ross Chastain, for helping him overtake his brother Kyle in the final laps.

    “Shake and bake!” Kurt Busch added. “He did his job as a teammate. Ross is gonna get a little flack for it, but that’s what it takes to be a good teammate at the right moment, so I couldn’t be more proud of Ross Chastain. I’ll pay you back, eventually, but right now, this is our No. 1 car in Victory Lane. For all of Ganassi,… I don’t know where I’m going, but I just love racing cars and I wanna race that Next Gen car. That’s why I’m trying to stick around.”

    Behind, Kyle Busch, who led 91 laps, settled in second place as this marks the fourth time where the Busch brothers have finished first and second in a Cup event, with Kurt winning over Kyle for a second time. Unlike Kurt, Kyle vocally expressed his criticism over Chastain’s move that allowed Kurt to win.

    “[I] Had everything I had there early and then, just smoked it behind [Chastain],” Kyle Busch said. “Shows you what kind of driver he is, and just tried to fight hard after that when I got passed. [I] Had one valiant effort off of [Turn] 2, but just didn’t have enough momentum to drag [Kurt Busch] down, make him go high in [Turns] 3 and 4. After that, the tires were smoked. Great effort, the guys gave me a great piece. We were fast. [Kurt Busch] was definitely better than us. It’s just that I thought I had him, and we did. Racing just didn’t play out for us.”

    Truex rallied from starting at the rear of the field to grab a strong third-place effort followed by Bowman and Blaney.

    Reddick, meanwhile, continued his strong, consistent quest to make the Playoffs by finishing sixth while Elliott, Bell, DiBenedetto and Keselowski completed the top 10 on the track.

    Harvick settled in 11th, Hamlin could only rebound as high as 13th following his late pit road speeding penalty, Wallace and Briscoe finished 14th and 15th in front of Chris Buescher, Larson ended up 18th in front of Logano, Byron and Chastain, Almirola settled in 23rd in front of Erik Jones and Newman came home in 28th.

    There were 10 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 21 laps.

    With this year’s NASCAR events at Atlanta Motor Speedway concluded, the oval circuit will be reprofiled and its racing surface will be repaved in preparation for the 2022 season.

    With five races remaining until the 2021 Cup Playoffs commences, Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 10 points over Kyle Larson. Currently, 12 competitors (Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, William Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell) are guaranteed Playoff spots based on winning at least once throughout the regular season. Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick occupy the remaining four vacant spots to the Playoffs as winless competitors, with Reddick ahead by 96 points over Chris Buescher, 138 over Matt DiBenedetto, 145 over Ross Chastain, 148 over Bubba Wallace, 161 over Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 179 over Daniel Suarez and 196 over Chase Briscoe.

    Results.

    1. Kurt Busch, 144 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Kyle Busch, 91 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    3. Martin Truex Jr.

    4. Alex Bowman

    5. Ryan Blaney

    6. Tyler Reddick

    7. Chase Elliott, 13 laps led

    8. Christopher Bell

    9. Matt DiBenedetto

    10. Brad Keselowski

    11. Kevin Harvick

    12. Austin Dillon

    13. Denny Hamlin, two laps led

    14. Bubba Wallace

    15. Chase Briscoe

    16. Chris Buescher

    17. Cole Custer, one lap led

    18. Kyle Larson

    19. Joey Logano, one lap down

    20. William Byron, one lap down

    21. Ross Chastain, one lap down

    22. Corey LaJoie, two laps down

    23. Aric Almirola, two laps down, eight laps led

    24. Erik Jones, two laps down

    25. Ryan Preece, two laps down, one lap led

    26. Anthony Alfredo, three laps down

    27. Michael McDowell, four laps down

    28. Ryan Newman, four laps down

    29. Justin Haley, five laps down

    30. BJ McLeod, six laps down

    31. Garrett Smithley, seven laps down

    32. Bayley Currey, seven laps down

    33. Cody Ware, seven laps down

    34. Josh Bilicki, 12 laps down

    35. Quin Houff, 12 laps down

    36. Daniel Suarez, 17 laps down

    37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Suspension

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the series’ annual visit to Loudon, New Hampshire. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, July 18, at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • Elliott extends road course dominance with a win at Road America

    Elliott extends road course dominance with a win at Road America

    In NASCAR’s six-plus decade return to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, on Independence Day weekend, Chase Elliott extended his road course skillsets after the reigning Cup Series champion rallied from starting at the rear of the field to lead the final 17 laps and muscle away from the field to win the Jockey Made in America 250 at Road America on Sunday, July 4, as he returned to Victory Lane in the Cup circuit following a one-month dry spell.

    Qualifying occurred on Sunday, July 4, and William Byron claimed his sixth NASCAR Cup Series career pole position with a pole-winning lap at 110.359 mph. Teammate Kyle Larson joined him on the front row.

    Prior to the event, Kyle Busch and Ryan Preece dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car. Justin Haley also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change along with Bubba Wallace due to a transmission change. Kyle Tilley, Josh Bilicki and Quin Houff started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective machines.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Byron peaked ahead with the lead through the first three turns. Through the Turn 4 straightaway and with the field fanning out to two and three lanes, Larson, who was battling AJ Allmendinger for the runner-up spot, also ignited an early challenge on teammate Byron for the lead from Turn 5 to Turn 9, but Byron maintained his advantage through the kink. As the field settled in a single-file line, Byron remained as the leader over Larson and Allmendinger from the kink to Turns 13 and 14.

    When the field returned to the start/finish line, Byron maintained the lead over teammate Larson and led the first lap. Allmendinger remained in third place followed by Reddick and Austin Cindric. Ross Chastain was in sixth followed by Matt DiBenedetto, Daniel Suarez, Denny Hamlin and teammate Martin Truex Jr.

    On the second lap, the first caution of the event flew when the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE piloted by Suarez came to a stop under the Corvette bridge in Turn 6 due to a transmission issue, an issue that required a wrecker to have Suarez’s car pushed back to pit road and the garage.

    When the race restarted on the fourth lap, Byron retained the lead through the first three turns. Larson also maintained second place over Allmendinger and the field, which made its way through the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand fifth and sixth turns.

    By the fifth lap and with the field settling in a single-file line, Byron was leading by nearly three-tenths of a second over teammate Larson, while Allmendinger, Reddick and Cindric continued to run in the top five. Chastain, meanwhile, retained sixth followed by Truex, DiBenedetto, Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman. By then, Joey Logano was in 12th behind Christopher Bell, Kurt Busch was in 14th, Chase Elliott was in 18th in between Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski was in 22nd in front of Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola was in 25th  ahead of Ryan Newman and rookie Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace was mired back in 31st.

    Then in Turn 5, Larson, who made a bid for the lead over teammate Byron, overshot the left-hand fifth turn, which allowed Allmendinger to move into the runner-up spot while Larson fell back to third in front of Reddick and Cindric. 

    The following lap, Ryan Preece pulled his No. 37 Kroger Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE off the course in Turn 5 and behind the wall due to an engine issue. Despite Preece’s exit, the race remained under green as Byron continued to lead by nearly a second over Allmendinger.

    Through the first 10 laps of the event, Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE continued to lead by more than a second over Allmendinger’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Larson, racing in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, settled in third ahead of Reddick and Cindric while Chastain, Truex, Hamlin, DiBenedetto and Bell were in the top 10. By then, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch, both of whom started at the rear of the field, were in 14th and 16th.

    During the 10th lap, Ty Dillon spun in the right-hand kink corner. Despite the spin, Dillon continued and the race remained under green. Shortly after, names like Cindric, DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch, Truex, Bubba Wallace, Aric Almirola, rookie Anthony Alfredo and Austin Dillon pitted. During the pit stops, Austin Dillon was busted with a pit road speeding penalty. Briscoe and Michael McDowell, both of whom pitted, were also penalized for driving through multiple pit stalls.

    The following lap, the second caution of the event flew when Kyle Tilley got stuck in the gravel trap after overshooting Turn 9. The incident was enough for the first stage scheduled on Lap 14 to conclude under caution, and William Byron claimed his third stage victory of the season. Allmendinger settled in second followed by Larson, Reddick, Chastain, Hamlin, Bell, Bowman, Kurt Busch and Elliott.

    Under the stage break, a multitude of competitors led by Byron pitted while the rest led by Martin Truex Jr. remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 16 with Truex and DiBenedetto on the front row. At the start, Cindric ignited his early bid for the lead as he pulled a three-wide move on Truex and DiBenedetto entering the first turn. By the third turn, Cindric emerged as the new leader. Through the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand fifth turn, Cindric was out in front of DiBenedetto while Kyle Busch muscle his way into third place.

    When the field returned to the start/finish line, Cindric was out in front by two-tenths of a second over DiBenedetto, who started to challenge Cindric for the top spot. Kyle Busch moved up to third followed by teammate Truex and Bubba Wallace in the top five. Byron, meanwhile, was in sixth while Aric Almirola, Ty Dillon, Reddick and Hamlin were in the top 10. Larson was in 11th ahead of teammate Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Chastain and Allmendinger.

    On Lap 18 and with a multitude of battles ensuing around the road course, DiBenedetto and Cindric engaged in a side-by-side battle for the lead through the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand fifth turn as Kyle Busch closely tucked himself behind the two leaders. While Cindric was able to retain a brief lead for another turn, DiBenedetto, though, was able to prevail for the lead in Turn 6 while Cindric retained the runner-up spot over Kyle Busch.

    The following lap, Cody Ware punted Quin Houff in Turn 5, but the race remained under green as both continued.

    By Lap 20, DiBenedetto, piloting the No. 21 Menards Ford Mustang, was leading by nearly a second over Cindric and his No. 33 Pirtek Ford Mustang. Kyle Busch, racing in his No. 18 Skittles American Mix Toyota Camry, was still in third followed by Truex and Byron. Reddick was in sixth followed by Larson, Wallace, Elliott and Hamlin.

    Then in Turn 5, Hamlin overshot the corner and kicked up some gravel after his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry overshot the corner, with the driver taking evasive action to avoid hitting Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. The off-track ride dropped Hamlin from the top 10 to 16th behind Aric Almirola.

    Two laps later, the battle for the lead ignited between DiBenedetto and Cindric, with the latter gaining a run through Turns 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 along with the kink corner. By then, Brad Keselowski was continuing from a spin in Turn 14.

    In Turn 1 and during the following lap, Cindric returned to the lead. Four turns later, however, Cindric locked up the brakes and went wide, which allowed Kyle Busch to move into the lead through Turn 6. Then, things went from bad to worse for Cindric, who spun in Turn 8 and had to loop his car around to continue without drawing a caution. Despite continuing, Cindric was off the pace and he ended up nursing his car to his pit stall, where he then took his car to the garage due to a mechanical issue.

    Back at the front, Kyle Busch, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity Series event at Road America and one of the Pocono Raceway doubleheader events last weekend, was leading by more than a second over DiBenedetto, with Truex, Reddick and Byron scored in the top five. By then, Corey LaJoie went off course, got loose and spun in Canada corner, but he continued despite kicking up dirt in the air.

    By Lap 25, Kyle Busch was leading by more than a second over teammate Truex, with Reddick, Byron and DiBenedetto in the top five.

    Not long after, names like Blaney, Elliott, Hamlin, Bowman, DiBenedetto, Allmendinger, Larson, Keselowski, Almirola, Chris Buescher, Bell, Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, McDowell, Alfredo, Cole Custer, Ty Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who had a flat tire, pitted under green. Kyle Busch and teammate Truex also pitted.

    In the midst of the pit stops, Reddick emerged with the lead on Lap 27. With pit lane closed, Reddick was able to maintain his advantage for the next two laps before claiming the second stage victory on Lap 29 as he also claimed his first stage victory of the season. Byron settled in second, trailing by more than four seconds, followed by Chastain, Larson, Kurt Busch, Logano, Kevin Harvick, Wallace, Justin Haley and Kyle Busch. Earlier, Kurt Busch went off course in Turn 6, though he was able to remain in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a multitude of competitors led by Reddick pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch and Elliott remained on the track.

    With 30 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Kyle Busch launched ahead with the lead followed by DiBenedetto through the first turn while Elliott slipped back to third. Busch maintained the lead through the first three turns and the Turn 4 straightaway as the field fanned out to two lanes while battling for positioning. 

    From Turn 5 to Canada corner, Busch continued to lead, but everything changed when DiBenedetto powered back into the lead entering Turn 12. 

    Through the first three turns, the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand fifth turn, DiBenedetto was the leader followed by Kyle Busch and Elliott while Hamlin and Briscoe were in the top five. 

    With 25 laps remaining, DiBenedetto was leading by two-tenths of a second over Elliott, who earlier made his way by Kyle Busch for the runner-up spot. Busch settled back in third ahead of teammate Hamlin and Bell. Briscoe, Bowman, Chris Buescher, Byron and McDowell were in the top 10.

    Then, Elliott took over the lead for the first time of the day in Turn 1. By Turn 6, Elliott was out in front by a decent advantage over Kyle Busch, who dropped DiBenedetto back to third.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by more than four seconds over Kyle Busch, with Hamlin, Bell and DiBenedetto in the top five. Shortly after, Aric Almirola and Ryan Blaney pitted under green. Then, the caution flew when rookie Anthony Alfredo spun in Turn 1 and got stuck in the gravel trap as a result of a cut left-rear tire. The caution was well-timed for Blaney, who was having his front nose repaired following on-track contact.

    Under caution, nearly all of the leaders led by Elliott pitted, except for Almirola and Blaney, both of whom pitted earlier and remained on track. 

    With 17 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Almirola led the field through the first turn while Kyle Busch followed pursuit. Then, Busch engaged in a brief battle with Almirola through the following two turns before he took the lead away entering Turn 3. Through Turn 5, Elliott charged his way up into the runner-up spot behind Busch as the field behind battled and fanned out to two lanes.

    Entering the Canada corner, however, Elliott was able to reassume the lead over Kyle Busch as he maintained the top spot when he returned to the start/finish line and slowly started to pull away. 

    With 15 laps remaining, Elliott was leading by more than a second over Kyle Busch, with Hamlin, Larson and Almirola battling in the top five. Blaney was back in sixth followed by Bell, DiBenedetto, Bowman and Briscoe. 

    While Elliott and Kyle Busch continued to run in first and second, Larson was able to muscle his way into the third place over Hamlin in Turn 5.  

    A lap later, Byron, the pole-sitter, went off course in Turn 5, but the race remained under green.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Elliott remained as the leader by more than three seconds over Kyle Busch. Behind, Bell marched his No. 20 SiriusXM Toyota Camry into third place while Larson was in fourth ahead of Hamlin and Bowman. Kurt Busch, Briscoe, Almirola and DiBenedetto were in the top 10.

    With six laps remaining, Bowman locked up his brakes and bumped his teammate Larson, sending Larson spinning in Turn 5. Following the contact, Bowman and Hamlin, both of whom sustained damage following the contact with Larson, moved up to fourth and fifth followed by Kurt Busch and Briscoe while Larson fell back to 11th.

    Five laps later and with five laps remaining, Elliott continued to lead by nearly five seconds over Kyle Busch while third-place Christopher Bell trailed by six seconds. Bowman and Hamlin, meanwhile, remained in the top five ahead of Kurt Busch, Briscoe, Chastain, DiBenedetto, Reddick and Larson.

    A lap later, Bell moved into the runner-up spot after overtaking teammate Kyle Busch, with Elliott still leading by more than six seconds. 

    Down to the final two laps, Elliott maintained an advantage of more than five seconds over Bell, with Kyle Busch trailing by eight seconds. Behind, Briscoe locked up his brakes entering Turn 5 and nearly ran into the rear of Hamlin, though he was able to continue and remain in sixth place while Hamlin and Kurt Busch battled for fourth.

    When the final lap of the race started, Elliott was leading by less than six seconds over Bell. For one final time through the 14-turn circuit and with no challengers closing in, Elliott was able to cruise to the checkered flag and score the victory on the Fourth of July weekend as the crowd cheered.

    With the victory in NASCAR’s first event at Road America since 1956, Elliott notched his second victory of the 2021 season, first since winning the rain-shortened event at the Circuit of the Americas in May, his seventh road course win and his 13th Cup Series career victory in his 205th series start. Elliott also recorded the 10th victory of the season for Hendrick Motorsports.

    “I appreciate y’all [fans] coming out,” Elliott said on NBC. “Thank you for spending your Fourth of July with us. I hope you enjoyed the show. Man, it was a hot day, but a lot of fun, man. Just really proud of our team for overcoming some adversity early, having to start at the back, having good pit stops. [I] Had a really fast NAPA Chevy, so just so proud. We’ve had a rough few weeks, so [the win]’s really good.”

    “I just never felt like I got in a real good rhythm all of yesterday,” Elliott added. “For whatever reason there, about halfway through the race, I started finding some of that rhythm, was able to put it together, piece different parts of the track and then finally, I felt like I was able to piece most of it together. [I] stayed with it and glad that it worked out.”  

    Bell, who won the Daytona Road Course event in February, came home in a strong second-place result for his third top-five result of the season, first since Richmond Raceway in April, followed by Kyle Busch, who achieved his ninth top-five result of the season.

    “Yeah, I just, kind of, buried ourselves there,” Bell said. “We had that pit road penalty, but man, it was a lot of fun. Our SiriusXM Camry was really good and really proud of this No. 20 group. It’s been a trying last two months, but we feel like we’re getting back on track here, so there’s no reason why we can’t be running upfront every week.”

    “[I] Just kept working at it,” Busch added. “[I] Kept trying to do what I needed to do for adjustments there. Just did not have the tire life that [Elliott] did. Just incredible that they could continue to just drive away from us. His braking was really good, but then, the drive-off out of the corners was just awesome. They out-beat us by far today. Proud of the Skittles bunch, everybody here on the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camrys did a good job. We all ran upfront, we had good speed. We showed that we’re close. That’s all we had for what [Elliott] seems like impossible. Overall, just a good day fighting through traffic…I feel like we’re in a good spot and hopefully, we’ll go get’em next week.”

    Kurt Busch and Hamlin finished in the top five while rookie Chase Briscoe achieved his second top-10 result in the Cup Series by finishing sixth. Chastain, Reddick, Truex and DiBenedetto finished in the top 10. 

    Austin Dillon finished 11th, Keselowski settled in 13th in front of Almirola and Logano, Larson ended up in 16th following his late dust-up with teammate Bowman, Chris Buescher finished 18th in front of Erik Jones and Blaney and Bowman, who pitted following his contact with Larson, ended up in 22nd. 

    Bubba Wallace came home in 24th, Kevin Harvick ended up in 27th behind Ty Dillon, AJ Allmendinger ended up in 29th in front of McDowell and pole-sitter William Byron fell all the way back to 33rd.

    There were 10 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured four cautions for nine laps.

    With six races remaining until the 2021 Cup Playoffs commences, Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by three points over Kyle Larson. Currently, 11 competitors (Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell) are guaranteed Playoff spots based on winning at least once throughout the regular season. Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick and Kurt Busch occupy the remaining five vacant spots as winless competitors, with Kurt Busch ahead by 25 points over Chris Buescher, 69 over Ross Chastain, 70 over Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 74 over Matt DiBenedetto, 79 over Bubba Wallace and 88 over Daniel Suarez.

    Results.

    1. Chase Elliott, 24 laps led

    2. Christopher Bell

    3. Kyle Busch, four laps led

    4. Kurt Busch

    5. Denny Hamlin

    6. Chase Briscoe

    7. Ross Chastain

    8. Tyler Reddick, five laps led, Stage 2 winner

    9. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led

    10. Matt DiBenedetto, 10 laps led

    11. Austin Dillon

    12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    13. Brad Keselowski

    14. Aric Almirola, one lap led

    15. Joey Logano

    16. Kyle Larson

    17. Cole Custer

    18. Chris Buescher

    19. Erik Jones

    20. Ryan Blaney

    21. Corey LaJoie

    22. Alex Bowman

    23. Josh Bilicki

    24. Bubba Wallace

    25. Justin Haley

    26. Ty Dillon

    27. Kevin Harvick

    28. James Davison

    29. AJ Allmendinger

    30. Michael McDowell

    31. Cody Ware

    32. Ryan Newman

    33. William Byron, 15 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    34. Quin Houff

    35. Kyle Tilley, two laps down

    36. Daniel Suarez, nine laps down

    37. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Brakes

    38. Austin Cindric – OUT, Rear gear, two laps led

    39. Ryan Eversley – OUT, Rear gear

    40. Ryan Preece – OUT, Engine

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Atlanta Motor Speedway for the series’ second visit to Hampton, Georgia this season. The event is slated to occur on Sunday, July 11, at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • Kyle Busch coasts to a thrilling victory at Pocono

    Kyle Busch coasts to a thrilling victory at Pocono

    From clutch issues to Victory Lane, Kyle Busch played a late fuel strategy to perfection after overtaking teammate Denny Hamlin prior to the final lap and coasting for a final full lap on a dry tank to win the Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 at Pocono Raceway, the second of a Pocono Cup doubleheader weekend, on Sunday, June 27.

    The starting lineup was based off the results from Saturday’s Cup event at Pocono, with the top-20 finishers being inverted for Sunday’s event. Chris Buescher, who finished 20th, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Michael McDowell, who finished 19th on Saturday. 

    Prior to the event, names like Cole Custer, Ryan Newman, Kyle Larson, Ryan Preece, Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie and rookie Anthony Alfredo started at the rear of the field in back-up cars. Justin Allgaier also started at the rear of the field after replacing Justin Haley in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, with Haley opting to sit out following his hard wreck in the Xfinity Series event occurring early Sunday at Pocono.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Buescher pulled ahead on the outside lane to retain the lead over McDowell and the field through the first turn and entering the second turn.

    Through the first lap, Buescher was out in front followed by McDowell, Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr. and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Behind, Daniel Suarez was in sixth followed by Aric Almirola, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick.

    The following lap, the first caution of the race flew when rookie Anthony Alfredo made hard contact with the outside wall in Turn 2.

    When the race restarted on the sixth lap, Buescher peaked ahead until he slipped entering the first turn and lost his momentum along with a bevy of spots. Buescher’s slip-up allowed McDowell to move to the lead followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Bell. Behind, Aric Almirola made his way to fourth followed by Stenhouse, Suarez, Keselowski, Reddick and Wallace as Buescher fell all the way back to 12th.

    Through the first 10 laps of the event, McDowell remained in the lead by a narrow margin over Truex and Bell while Almirola, Stenhouse, Keselowski, Suarez, Wallace, Kyle Busch and Reddick were running in the top 10. By then, Kurt Busch was in 11th in front of Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and Buescher. Chase Elliott was in 16th in front of rookie Chase Briscoe and teammate William Byron, Austin Dillon was in 20th behind Erik Jones and Alex Bowman, winner of the first Cup Pocono doubleheader event, was in 21st in front of Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson and Matt DiBenedetto. Ryan Newman, meanwhile, was in 29th.

    Three laps later, Truex moved his No. 19 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota Camry into the lead. Teammate Bell quickly followed in his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry to assume the runner-up spot while McDowell fell back to third in front of Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang.

    By Lap 20, Truex was out in front by more than a second over teammate Bell while Almirola, McDowell and Kyle Busch were in the top five. McDowell was back in sixth followed by Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace. Stenhouse was situated in ninth ahead of Suarez. Meanwhile, Logano and Harvick were in 12th and 13th, Elliott was still mired back in 15th in between teammate Byron and Kurt Busch, Bowman was back in 21st behind Hamlin and Larson was in 22nd in front of Erik Jones.

    Five laps later, Truex extended his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Bell. Behind, Almirola, Keselowski and Kyle Busch remained in the top five ahead of Blaney and Wallace, with McDowell settling in eighth ahead of Stenhouse and Suarez.

    Shortly after, Hamlin brought his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry to pit road under green. A lap later, his teammates, Bell and Kyle Busch, pitted. Meanwhile, the fourth Joe Gibbs Racing competitor, Truex, remained on the track and in the lead. During this process, Hendrick Motorsports’ competitors Elliott and Byron also pitted.

    At the front, Truex held a comfortable advantage over runner-up Almirola. With no lead lap challengers closing in approaching Lap 30, Truex was able to come back around and claim the first stage victory as he also claimed his fourth stage victory of the 2021 season. Almirola settled in second followed by Keselowski, Blaney and Wallace while McDowell, Stenhouse, Reddick, Suarez and Logano were scored in the top 10. By then, Byron, who was in 33rd, managed to beat Truex at the start/finish line to return on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, nearly all of the leaders pitted and Truex retained the lead following his exit from his pit stall. Back on track, names like Keselowski, teammate Blaney, Austin Dillon, Bell, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Elliott and Byron remained on the track. During the pit stops, Larson remained on pit road to have the front nose of his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE assessed after he ran into the rear of Hamlin on a restart.

    The second stage started on Lap 35 with Keselowski and Bell starting on the front row. At the start, Keselowski received a push from teammate Blaney to retain the lead through the first turn over Bell. Behind, Kyle Busch retained fourth place ahead of Byron, Hamlin and the field.

    By Lap 40, Keselowski continued to lead over teammate Blaney, Bell, Kyle Busch and Byron. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, who was running in the top five, radioed issues to his No. 18 M&M’s Mini’s Toyota Camry as the car was popping out of fourth gear.

    Five laps later, teammates Keselowski and Blaney pitted, moving Kyle Busch to the lead. Larson, who reported overheating issues to his car, also pitted during this process. Earlier, Austin Dillon pitted.

    Through the first 50 laps of the event, Kyle Busch remained as the leader by nearly three-tenths of a second over Byron, with Bell, Hamlin and Elliott in the top five. Truex was in sixth followed by Almirola, Ross Chastain, Logano and Harvick. Not long after, Blaney made another pit stop to address a loose right-front wheel, a move that dropped him a lap behind the leaders.

    By Lap 60, Kyle Busch continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Byron. Bell, teammate Hamlin and Elliott continued to run in the top five followed by Truex, Almirola, Chastain, Logano and Bowman.

    On Lap 65, Byron brought his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to pit road under green. By then, Daniel Suarez pitted. With Byron pitting from the runner-up spot, teammates Bell and Hamlin moved up to second and third behind their third teammate and leader, Kyle Busch. By then, all four Joe Gibbs Racing competitors were running in the top five, with Elliott in fourth.

    A few laps later, Kevin Harvick brought his No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang to his pit stall for service under green. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 70, Kyle Busch was the leader followed by teammate Bell, Elliott, teammate Truex and Almirola. Chastain moved up to sixth followed by Logano, Bowman, Reddick and Kurt Busch. A lap earlier, Hamlin pitted.

    During the ensuing laps, Ryan Newman pitted along with Bell, Elliott, Truex, Chastain, Almirola, Kurt Busch, Bowman, Logano, Ryan Preece, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and others. During the sequence, Kyle Busch, who surrendered the lead to pit, had to receive a push from his crew after stalling his car with the car getting stuck in gear and not moving.

    Back on course and on Lap 75, Bubba Wallace was leading followed by DiBenedetto, Byron, Keselowski, Hamlin and Bell. Two laps later, Wallace pitted and Byron inherited the lead with Keselowski in second.

    By Lap 80, Byron was leading by more than two seconds over Keselowski, with Hamlin, Bell and Elliott in the top five. Truex was in sixth followed by Larson, Almirola, Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon.

    With the laps in the second stage concluding, Hamlin managed to overtake Keselowski for the runner-up spot. By then, Byron was clear out in front by more than two seconds. With a clear sight in front amid the lapped traffic, Byron was able to claim his second stage victory on Lap 80 as he also recorded his second stage victory of the season. Hamlin settled in second followed by Keselowski, Bell, Elliott, Truex, Kyle Busch, Larson, Almirola and Chastain.

    Under the stage break, some led by Keselowski pitted while others led by Byron remained on the track. During the pit stops, Kyle Busch spent extra time in his pit stall to have the shifter and gear issue on his car addressed. Despite pitting for a second time for repairs, Busch remained on the lead lap.

    With 50 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Byron received a push from Hamlin to remain as the leader. Behind, Elliott charged to third place followed by Bell, teammate Truex, Almirola and Bowman as the field battled intensely for positioning. 

    Two laps later, the caution flew due to debris that came off the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE piloted by Erik Jones, who earlier had a left-front tire flat.

    Under caution, some led by Byron and Hamlin pitted while the rest led by Elliott remained on the track. During the sequence, Elliott, who faked coming to pit road, was penalized for not maintaining his position on the track under caution, sending him back to fourth as Bell moved back to the lead.

    With 44 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Bell and Bowman started on the front row. At the start, Bowman received a push from Ross Chastain on the inside lane to move into the lead over Bell. Behind, Chastain challenged Bell for the runner-up spot while Elliott and Harvick battled dead even for fourth place in front of Almirola and Keselowski. 

    Back to the frontstretch, Harvick made a bold three-wide move to move into the runner-up spot after Bell and Chastain made contact against one another. Following the contact, Chastain’s No. 42 McDonald’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE went up the race track in Turn 1 with a flat tire following the contact with Bell. 

    Then entering the frontstretch, Elliott made contact with Bell, sending Bell sideways. Though Bell sustained right-rear damage to his car, he prevented the car from spinning sideways as the race proceeded under green. The contact scattered the field as Bell fell out of contention. Both Bell and Chastain pitted following their on-track incident. 

    Back up front, Bowman was the leader by nearly seven-tenths of a second over Harvick, with Keselowski, Blaney and Reddick in the top five. McDowell was up in sixth followed by Elliott, Almirola, Kurt Busch and Hamlin.

    Under the final 40 laps, Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE fell off the pace due to a flat right-front tire as he made the trip to pit road for four fresh tires. Not long after, Matt DiBenedetto pitted along with Logano.

    With 35 laps remaining, Bowman continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Harvick, with third-place Keselowski trailing by more than a second. Soon after, names like Blaney and Austin Dillon pitted. In addition, Elliott made a second pit stop due to another flat tire.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, the battle for the lead intensified as Bowman led by less than three-tenths of a second over Harvick. Soon after, Almirola surrendered his spot on the track to pit along with Stenhouse, who had smoke trailing out of the tailpipe of his No. 47 Scott Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE as he made the left-hand turn to the garage.

    Two laps later, Harvick pitted along with McDowell. Another three laps later, more pit strategy occurred as Bowman surrendered the lead to pit for fuel for his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, giving the lead to the No. 2 Freightliner Ford Mustang piloted by Brad Keselowski. 

    Nearing the final 20 laps of the event, Tyler Reddick surrendered the runner-up spot to pit.

    With 20 laps remaining and the fuel strategy conversation continuing among multiple teams, Keselowski, who was in question about having enough fuel to make it to the finish, was leading by over Byron. Kurt Busch, Hamlin and Larson were in the top five followed by Kyle Busch, Wallace, Preece, Briscoe and Suarez. Harvick, who had enough fuel to complete the race to its scheduled distance, was in 13th behind Truex while Bowman was in 15th behind Blaney.

    Five laps later, Keselowski continued to lead by more than three seconds over Byron, with Kurt Busch, Hamlin and Larson remaining in the top five. Harvick, meanwhile, was still mired back in 13th behind Truex as Blaney, Bowman and Reddick were in 14th, 15th and 16th.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Keselowski was leading by more than 11 seconds over Byron, with Kurt Busch, Hamlin, Larson, Kyle Busch and the field trailing by more than 21 seconds. Harvick, meanwhile, was up in 10th place behind Ryan Newman.

    Two laps later, Keselowski, who last pitted on Lap 87, surrendered the lead to pit for fuel, with the former Cup champion not having enough to initially complete the remainder of the race. Despite pitting for fuel, Keselowski managed to pick up speed and pull ahead of Harvick as both awaited the fuel fate of the front-runners.

    Back on course, Byron inherited the lead followed by Hamlin, the Busch brothers, Larson and Wallace. 

    With five laps remaining, Byron, who was trying to conserve fuel, was leading by more than two seconds over Hamlin with Kyle Busch also joining the party. By then, Keselowski and Harvick were in seventh and eighth.

    Then with two laps remaining, Byron, who last pitted on Lap 94, pitted as teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch moved into first and second. 

    Shortly after, Hamlin fell off the pace exiting Turn 2 as he ran out of fuel. Despite trying to block his teammate, Kyle Busch assumed the lead on the outside lane entering the frontstretch as he started the final lap of the race. With Busch out in front and Hamlin pitting, Kyle Larson moved into second place, trailing by more than seven seconds. By then, Kurt Busch pitted.

    With the gas tank in the No. 18 Toyota running dry, Kyle Busch, who last pitted on Lap 95, was able to navigate his way around the triangle circuit for a final time and come back around to take the checkered flag and steal the win a day after finishing in the runner-up spot in the first Cup Pocono doubleheader event.

    The victory marked Busch’s second of this season, fourth at Pocono and the 59th of his NASCAR Cup Series career. It was also Busch’s second of the season with rookie Cup crew chief Ben Beshore.

    “[The car’s] Stuck in fourth gear,” Busch said on NBCSN. “About out of gas. Just saving, just riding, just playing the strategy the best we could with what was given to us. Just can’t say enough about everybody on my team, everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota, [Toyota Racing Development], all the work that they’re putting in and everything. Sometimes, these races aren’t always won by the fastest car, but I still felt like we had the fastest car. Even though we were in the back and behind and having to come back and having to persevere, being stuck in fourth gear, no clutch, all that stuff, it’s all burned out. Nothing left in his M&M’s Mini’s Camry. It was awesome today…This is really awesome to pull off another win here at Pocono. Feels good.”

    Behind, Larson, who struggled throughout the event and wrecked a day ago while leading on the final lap, had enough fuel to come home in second place as he collected his ninth top-two result of the season.

    “It’s surprising finish for us. Our HendrickCars.com Chevy was really loose for a majority of the race, then we got a lot of nose damage there on one of the restarts. Was off on speed. I felt like after that. [Crew chief] Cliff [Daniels] and everybody did a really, really good job managing the race, coached me through saving fuel there at the end. [I] Was hoping that [Kyle Busch] was going to run out. I saw [Hamlin] running out. I was, ‘Okay, they’re teammates, they got to be close to running out.’ [Busch] did pit a lap after us under caution. That actually probably won them the race. But, yeah, second-place finish, I thought we would be outside of the top-20. A lot of points throughout the race today; we’ll take it. Happy about the effort for sure all weekend.”

    Keselowski and Harvick, both of whom were charging hard on fuel, finished in third and fourth while Bubba Wallace achieved his first top-five result of the season and for 23XI Racing by finishing fifth.

    “We knew we were in a worse position than [Kyle Busch],” Wallace said. “It was just racing our race. I was trying to do the best that I could, but all in all, really solid weekend. First top five for the team. I think that’s a little pen to the paper action there to re-sign and re-up there. All in all, just happy with how the weekend went. Smooth sailing for the most part. Today was a little bit trickier, but perseverance. Just got to battle through it and proud of everybody here.”

    Blaney, Bowman, Preece, Reddick and Logano finished in the top 10.

    Byron, following his late pit stop, ended up in 12th behind Truex while Hamlin, who was a lap away from capturing his first victory of the season until he ran out of fuel, fell all the way back to 14th.

    “We had our hands tied up behind our backs,” Byron said. “Definitely had the fastest car. The caution didn’t fit us perfectly. We had control of the race there and was right on our number to make it or not, and just didn’t work out. Really fast car. The AXALTA Chevrolet was awesome. Sucks to lose’em like that, but I feel like we had everything we needed in the car. Just couldn’t save enough fuel as far back as we were. Just part of it, but thanks to the guys.”

    “The result is we’ve pitted on the last lap for three weeks in a row,” Hamlin said. “That’s tough. I hate seeing the white [flag], ended up coming to pit road. It’s just so frustrating, but fuel mileage’s got us the last two weeks and lug nuts the week before, but we’re running fast. We’re getting a little better. I think that overall, we had a little bit more speed this weekend than what we’ve had in the past few weeks. Just can’t see the checkered right now.”

    Truex settled in 11th, Austin Dillon and Suarez finished 13th and 15th, Almirola came home in 16th ahead of McDowell, Kurt Busch fell all the way back to 20th behind Chris Buescher, rookie Chase Briscoe finished 21st, Justin Allgaier finished 25th as a substitute competitor for Spire Motorsports, Chastain and Elliott ended up in 26th and 27th and Bell ended his strong run in 32nd behind Erik Jones.

    There were 12 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 15 laps.

    With eight races remaining until the 2021 Cup Playoffs commences, Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by four points over Larson. Eleven competitors (Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell) are guaranteed Playoff spots based on winning at least once through the first 19 regular-season events. Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick and Kurt Busch occupy the remaining five spots as winless competitors, with Busch ahead by three points over Chris Buescher, 48 over Daniel Suarez, 54 over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bubba Wallace, 60 over Matt DiBenedetto and 72 over Ross Chastain. 

    Results.

    1. Kyle Busch, 30 laps led

    2. Kyle Larson

    3. Brad Keselowski, 31 laps led

    4. Kevin Harvick

    5. Bubba Wallace, three laps led

    6. Ryan Blaney

    7. Alex Bowman, 18 laps led

    8. Ryan Preece

    9. Tyler Reddick

    10. Joey Logano

    11. Martin Truex Jr., 19 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    12. William Byron, 22 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    13. Austin Dillon

    14. Denny Hamlin, one lap led

    15. Daniel Suarez

    16. Aric Almirola

    17. Michael McDowell, seven laps led

    18. Matt DiBenedetto

    19. Chris Buescher, six laps led

    20. Kurt Busch

    21. Chase Briscoe

    22. Ryan Newman

    23. Corey LaJoie, one lap down

    24. Cole Custer, one lap down

    25. Justin Allgaier, one lap down

    26. Ross Chastain, one lap down

    27. Chase Elliott, one lap down

    28. Cody Ware, one lap down

    29. B.J. McLeod, one lap down

    30. James Davison, three laps down

    31. Erik Jones, four laps down

    32. Christopher Bell, five laps down, three laps led

    33. Quin Houff, five laps down

    34. Anthony Alfredo, six laps down

    35. Josh Bilicki, eight laps down

    36. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Engine

    37. Timmy Hill – OUT, Handling

    38. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Engine

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Road America, the series’ return to the track near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, since 1956. The event is slated to occur on Sunday, July 4, during Independence Day weekend at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Larson achieves second All-Star Race win at Texas

    Larson achieves second All-Star Race win at Texas

    The 2021 comeback season for Kyle Larson continued under the lights in the Lone Star state after the Elk Grove, California, native prevailed over a late battle against Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott to win the NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, June 13, and claim his second All-Star career victory.

    The starting lineup was determined via random draw, with Kyle Larson, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Sonoma Raceway, starting on pole position and Kyle Busch joining him on the front row. 

    Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick and Aric Almirola transferred to the All-Star Race following their respective segment victories in the All-Star Open along with Matt DiBenedetto, winner of this year’s All-Star Fan Vote.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced for Round 1, the field battled dead even through the first two turns and entering the backstretch led by the two Kyles. At the start/finish line, Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry led the first lap over Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.

    Then in Turn 1, the caution waved when Christopher Bell got sideways in Turn 1, though he was able to straighten the car on the apron and not sustain any damage to his No. 20 CRAFTSMAN Toyota Camry. Bell was the only competitor who pitted under caution, with caution laps not counting in the race.

    When the race restarted on a 14-lap dash through the first round, the two Kyles battled dead even for the lead again for one full lap before Busch prevailed the following lap. With Kyle Busch leading, Cole Custer challenged Larson for the runner-up spot ahead of Chase Elliott and William Byron with the field battling intensely for spots.

    Through the first five laps of the event, Kyle Busch was leading by three-tenths of a second over Larson, with Byron, Custer and Elliott in the top five. Joey Logano and Austin Dillon were in sixth and seventh followed by Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick. 

    Two laps later, Larson overtook Kyle Busch to assume the lead for the first time. At the same time, Byron challenged Busch for the runner-up spot, though the former retained the spot.

    Not long after, Kyle Busch attempted to challenge Larson back for the lead on the inside lane, but Larson retained the top spot on the outside lane entering the backstretch. Soon after, Byron also took over the runner-up spot while Elliott and Custer battled for fourth.

    By Lap 12, the battle for the runner-up spot heated up as Elliott joined teammate Byron and Kyle Busch in an attempt to overtake both. With Larson still leading, Byron was able to clear himself to remain in second while Kyle Busch continued to battle Elliott for third place. 

    Back at the front, Larson was able to fend off teammate Byron and Kyle Busch to claim Round 1 on Lap 15. Byron, Kyle Busch, Elliott and Custer settled in the top five followed by Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Ross Chastain and Logano.

    Under the first break, the leaders pitted for early adjustments. Prior to the second round, the top-12 competitors were inverted in positions, a decision made via random draw. The move made Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick start on the front row.

    When Round 2 started on Lap 16, Blaney received a push from Chastain to retain the lead entering the first turn. Soon after, Chastain attempted to make a move on the outside lane for the lead, but his plan backfired as Keselowski took over the runner-up spot while Chastain was left in a battle with Chase Elliott. Behind, Harvick drifted back to eighth.

    The following lap, Chastain got Blaney sideways entering Turn 1, but Blaney maintained the lead and straightened his No. 12 Menards/Wrangler Ford Mustang, though he was left in a battle with teammate Keselowski for the lead.

    At the front, teammates Blaney and Keselowski battled dead even for the lead, with Keselowski fighting on the inside lane and Blaney on the outside. Chastain, meanwhile, was in third followed by Elliott and the Busch brothers.

    By Lap 20, Blaney was leading by a narrow margin over teammate Keselowski while Chastain, Kurt Busch, Elliott, Byron, Kyle Busch, Logano, Martin Truex Jr. and Custer were in the top 10. 

    Five laps later, Penske’s Blaney and Keselowski were running first and second followed by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Chastain and Kurt Busch, with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch in fifth and Hendrick Motorsports’ Elliott running in sixth. 

    When Round 2 concluded on Lap 30, Blaney survived an intense, competitive battle for the lead as he was the leader followed by teammate Keselowski, Chastain, Kurt Busch, Byron, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Custer, Denny Hamlin and Logano.

    Under the second break, the leaders returned to pit road for more adjustments. 

    Prior to the third event, the entire field was inverted, giving DiBenedetto and Almirola the front row. 

    When Round 3 started on Lap 31, DiBenedetto cleared Almirola to lead the field as Michael McDowell challenged Almirola for the runner-up spot. Behind, Ryan Newman challenged Harvick for fourth as Alex Bowman joined the party. 

    A few laps later, McDowell made a bid for the lead through the backstretch, but DiBenedetto received a push from Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang through Turn 4 to remain in the lead entering the backstretch.

    By Lap 35, DiBenedetto was leading by a narrow margin over McDowell followed by Bowman, Almirola and Larson. Newman was in sixth followed by Christopher Bell, Austin Dillon, Hamlin and Harvick.

    Two laps later, Bowman moved his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE into the lead.

    By Lap 40, Bowman was leading by half a second over DiBenedetto, with Almirola, McDowell and Newman in the top five,

    With the field behind battling for position, Bowman was able to retain the top spot and claim Round 3 on Lap 45. DiBenedetto was in second place followed by Almirola, McDowell, Newman, Larson, Hamlin, Bell, Byron and Harvick.

    Under the round break, the leaders returned to pit road for adjustments as the race transitioned to evening conditions.

    Prior to the fourth round, the top-nine competitors via random draw were inverted, placing Byron’s No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE into the lead.

    When Round 4 started on Lap 46, Byron and Bell battled side-by-side for the lead for one full lap before the former prevailed. Soon after, Larson made his way into the runner-up spot over Bell while DiBenedetto, Bowman and Hamlin battled for fourth. Elliott was mired back in ninth while Kyle Busch was in 17th.

    By Lap 50 and at the halfway mark, Byron was leading by two-tenths of a second over teammate Larson, with Bell trailing by six-tenths of a second. DiBenedetto and Hamlin battled for fourth while Bowman, Elliott, Blaney, Newman and McDowell were in the top 10.

    With the laps in the fourth round dwindling, Larson started to catch teammate Byron for the lead as he decreased the deficit to a tenth of a second.

    Despite being challenged by his teammate for the lead, Byron was able to hold on to the lead and win Round 4 on Lap 60 by a tenth of a second over Larson. Hamlin, Bell, Elliott, Blaney, Bowman, DiBenedetto, Almirola and Newman were scored in the top 10.

    Under the round break, the leaders pitted for another round of adjustments.

    The lineup for the fifth round was determined via the cumulative results from the first four rounds, giving Byron the lead and teammate Larson the runner-up spot.

    When Round 5 started on Lap 61, the entire field battled dead even led by teammates Byron and Larson.

    The following lap, names like Hamlin, Bell, DiBenedetto, Reddick, Truex, Harvick and McDowell made a mandatory pit stop under green. Soon after, Kyle Busch pitted along with Newman and Austin Dillon. Then, Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon were assessed a penalty for speeding on pit road.

    Back on track, Byron was leading followed by teammates Larson, Elliott and Bowman, with Kurt Busch and Keselowski in fifth and sixth. Soon after, Blaney pitted along with Custer.

    By Lap 70, all four Hendrick Motorsports competitors were running first through fourth, with Byron still out in front. By then, Custer and Kurt Busch made their mandatory pit stop under green.

    Through Lap 75, Byron continued to lead, though he was one of eight competitors that had yet to pit.

    Not long after, Byron pitted along with Larson, Elliott, Bowman and Chastain. Through the next three laps, Keselowski, Logano and Almirola were the final round of competitors to make a mandatory pit stop.

    Just then, the caution flew when Chastain, who had just pitted, spun in Turn 1 following contact from Newman. At the time of caution, Keselowski, who was the last competitor to pit, was able to cycle ahead with the lead over Elliott, Byron and Larson. 

    Under caution, few names like Chastain, Kyle Busch and DiBenedetto pitted. By then, Kyle Busch received the free pass and returned to the lead lap while Austin Dillon was still trapped a lap behind.

    When the race restarted on Lap 80, Keselowski and Elliott battled dead even for the lead, with Elliott leading the next lap by a nose. With the battle for the lead heating up in the closing laps, Elliott was able to take the rocket ahead with the lead on the outside lane through the following lap followed by teammates Byron and Larson as Keselowski slipped back to fourth.

    By Lap 85, Elliott was still leading by more than a tenth of a second over teammate Byron. Keselowski moved back into third place followed by Larson and Blaney while Logano was in sixth.

    When Round 5 concluded on Lap 90, Elliott was able to fend off teammate Byron to remain in the lead. Larson and Blaney settled in third and fourth followed by Keselowski, Logano, Hamlin, Bowman, Kurt Busch and Almirola.

    Under the final round break, Austin Dillon received the free pass and returned on the lead lap, making all 21 competitors scored on the lead lap entering the final round. Few names like Harvick, McDowell, Newman, Reddick, DiBenedetto and Austin Dillon pitted while under caution.

    Following the mandatory green flag pit stops from all competitors during the fifth round, it was announced that Chase Elliott’s pit crew led by crew chief Alan Gustafson earned $100,000 for being the fastest pit crew of the evening.

    The lineup for the final round was determined via the results from the fifth round, keeping Elliott and Byron on the front row.

    When the Final Round started on Lap 90 and for a 10-lap shootout to the finish, Elliott peaked ahead in Turn 1 before Blaney made a bold three-wide move while going for the lead over Larson and Byron, with Byron falling back. Through the backstretch, Blaney and Elliott engaged in a heated battle, with Elliott receiving a push from Larson to squeak ahead.

    The following lap, teammates Elliott and Larson battled dead even for the lead across the line and for nearly a full circuit before Keselowski bolted his way to the lead beneath Elliott and Larson through Turns 3 and 4. Though Keselowski led the following lap, Larson fought back on the outside lane and reassumed the top spot with seven laps remaining.

    With five laps remaining, Larson was leading by nearly a tenth of a second over Keselowski, with Elliott trailing by two-tenths of a second and Logano and Blaney running in the top five. Despite being pressured by Keselowski and Elliott, Larson continued to hold strong with the lead.

    Down to the final three laps of the event, Larson continued to lead by a tenth of a second over Keselowski, with Elliott trailing by three-tenths of a second and slowly falling back. 

    When the final lap started, Larson was ahead by nearly three-tenths of a second over Keselowski, who continued to trail Larson closely, but not have enough to complete his run to the lead. Through the backstretch and Turn 3, Larson stabilized his narrow margin over Keselowski to come back around the finish line and take the checkered flag on Lap 100, thus winning the All-Star Race and a million dollars.

    With the victory, Larson became the eighth competitor to claim multiple All-Star victories as he won his first All-Star event since 2019. In addition, he recorded the 10th All-Star victory for Hendrick Motorsports and the first for crew chief Cliff Daniels.

    FORT WORTH, TEXAS – JUNE 13: Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, and crew chief Cliff Daniels celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway on June 13, 2021 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images).

    “Honestly, I can’t believe it,” Larson said on FS1. “That second run there, we were really bad and I was like, ‘Man, we’re in trouble.’ I went backwards that round, so I was like we got an uphill battle and did not imagine myself winning this race today. Cliff and everybody works so hard on this thing, made some good adjustments during those first, second and third rounds, and got us in position. That last restart worked exactly how I needed it to do…I can’t believe it.”

    Keselowski finished in second place in his 13th appearance in the All-Star event, which marked his third runner-up event in the event.

    “It feels like to run second to the Hendrick cars right now is kind of an accomplishment,” Keselowski said. “They’re just stupid fast. I had [Larson] off of Turn 4, but they just have so much speed. He just motored right on back by me like damn. It feels like a first in class day for the Discount Tire Ford. [Crew chief] Jeremy Bullins and the team did a great job of executing and getting us in position. We just didn’t have enough speed to make the most of it, but good execution day and I’m proud of that.”

    Elliott, winner of last year’s All-Star event at Bristol Motor Speedway, settled in third place. Logano and teammate Blaney finished in the top five. Bowman, teammate Byron, Almirola, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch completed the top 10 on the track.

    There were 10 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured seven cautions. All 21 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Larson, 17 laps led

    2. Brad Keselowski, five laps led

    3. Chase Elliott, 12 laps led

    4. Joey Logano

    5. Ryan Blaney, 15 laps led

    6. Alex Bowman, nine laps led

    7. William Byron, 30 laps led

    8. Aric Almirola

    9. Kyle Busch, six laps led

    10. Kurt Busch

    11. Christopher Bell

    12. Michael McDowell

    13. Martin Truex Jr.

    14. Cole Custer

    15. Kevin Harvick

    16. Tyler Reddick

    17. Matt DiBenedetto, six laps led

    18. Ross Chastain

    19. Austin Dillon

    20. Ryan Newman

    21. Denny Hamlin 

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ inaugural event at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday, June 20, with the event to occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN as FOX’s coverage of this year’s NASCAR season concludes.

  • Chastain, Reddick, Almirola and DiBenedetto transfer to All-Star Race following eventful All-Star Open

    Chastain, Reddick, Almirola and DiBenedetto transfer to All-Star Race following eventful All-Star Open

    Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick and Aric Almirola claimed starting spots for the 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race after each won a segment during the NASCAR All-Star Open at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, June 13. For the final transfer spot, Matt DiBenedetto earned a one-way ticket into the main event after being named the Fan Vote winner.

    The starting lineup was determined via driver points, making Tyler Reddick starting on pole position while Chris Buescher joined him on the front row.

    Prior to the race, Ross Chastain dropped to the rear of the field due to a violation discovered on his car pinpointing to his aero ducts. As a result, crew chief Phil Surgen was suspended from the weekend and Chip Ganassi Racing was fined $25,000. Austin Cindric (two pre-race inspection failures) and David Starr (unapproved adjustments) also started at the rear of the field. 

    When the green flag waved and the race started for the first segment, Buescher jumped ahead and battled Reddick for the lead entering the first turn before Reddick received a push from Matt DiBenedetto on the inside lane to take the lead.

    With the field jostling for position behind, Reddick led the first lap. Meanwhile, Buescher and rookie Chase Briscoe made their way into second and third over DiBenedetto as Bubba Wallace and Erik Jones joined the battle.

    Then, NASCAR declared that Buescher has been assessed a penalty for jumping ahead of the leader, Reddick, prior to the start of the event. In addition, Cindric was penalized for changing lanes at the start of the race.

    On the fourth lap, the caution flew when Wallace, who was running in fourth place ahead of Erik Jones and Matt DiBenedetto, got loose and spun in Turn 1 before coming to a rest below the apron. Despite the spin, Wallace continued with no damage to his No. 23 DoorDash Toyota Camry. 

    Under caution, Wallace pitted along with Daniel Suarez, Quin Houff, Garrett Smithley, Austin Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Following the pit stops, Stenhouse was assessed an over-the-wall too soon penalty. 

    When the race restarted on the eighth lap, Reddick retained the lead over Briscoe, Jones and the field through the first two turns. Not long after, the caution returned when Buescher spun in Turn 3 following a bump from Stenhouse. 

    Under caution, Buescher pitted along with Stenhouse and Josh Bilicki.

    When the race restarted on Lap 13, Reddick retained the lead followed by Jones, Briscoe and the field. 

    Two corners later, trouble ensued again when Jones, who battled hard against Briscoe, slipped up and spun sideways, where he was hit by Daniel Suarez before spinning back up to the wall with heavy damage as Suarez also made contact with the outside wall. The wreck was enough to knock Suarez and Jones out of contention to make the All-Star Race.

    Under caution, Briscoe pitted, but was busted for speeding on pit road.

    On Lap 18, the race restarted as Reddick and Ross Chastain started on the front row. At the start, Reddick and Chastain battled for the lead entering the backstretch while DiBenedetto and Corey LaJoie made a three-wide move on Almirola to move up towards the front.

    Coming to the final lap of the first segment, Chastain made his move on the outside lane of Reddick through Turns 3 and 4 and he was able to grab the lead past the start/finish line. Through Turn 1, Chastain was able to clear Reddick and pull away. 

    Following his surge on the final lap, Chastain, who rallied from starting at the rear of the field following pre-race inspection issues, rocketed away to win the first segment on Lap 20 and race his way into the All-Star Race for the first time in his career, joining teammate Kurt Busch in the main event.

    “It’s really cool,” Chastain said on FS1. “It’s been a good weekend on-track, but off-track, it’s obviously been really tough. Just fired me up more. This McDonald’s Chevy was obviously really good, coming from the back like that and race with guys like Reddick and those guys. I thought I was getting turned on the backstretch there when he drove into the left rear, but it’s a dream come true. Man, I’m living my dream as a farmer. Now, I get to go NASCAR racing in the All-Star Race with my heroes. It’s amazing.”

    Under the segment break, LaJoie pitted along with Justin Haley, Cody Ware, Houff, James Davison, Timmy Hill and David Starr.

    At the start of the second segment, Reddick received a push from Cindric on the outside lane to retain the lead ahead of DiBenedetto and Cindric. Meanwhile, Buescher and Almirola battled for fourth place followed by Wallace and Stenhouse. 

    By Lap 25, Reddick was the leader followed by Cindric, DiBenedetto, Almirola and Buescher. Wallace was in sixth followed by Briscoe, Stenhouse, rookie Anthony Alfredo and LaJoie. 

    A few laps later, DiBenedetto and Almirola overtook Cindric for second and third. Meanwhile, Reddick continued to lead by nearly a second. 

    By Lap 30, Reddick was leading by four-tenths of a second over DiBenedetto, with Almirola trailing by nearly a second. Behind, Cindric and Buescher battled for fourth place while Wallace retained sixth place.

    With five laps remaining in the second segment, Reddick was still leading despite encountering lapped traffic, but he had Almirola closing in for the lead.

    Down to the final two laps of the segment, Almirola drew his car behind Reddick’s rear bumper, but he could not navigate his way around Reddick to take the lead,

    On the final lap of the second segment, Reddick was leading by under two-tenths of a second over Almirola, who continued to keep Reddick in pressure. Despite Almirola’s late surge, Reddick was able to beat Almirola by nearly three-tenths of a second to win the second segment on Lap 40 as Reddick transferred to his first All-Star Race, joining teammate Austin Dillon.

    “Thankfully, we executed in the second segment,” Reddick said. “We got this thing in the race. That was the hottest 40-lap race I’ve ever done. That was hot.”

    Under the segment break, Stenhouse pitted along with Briscoe, Haley, B.J. McLeod and Garrett Smithley. 

    With 10 laps remaining, the final segment commenced under green. At the start, the field battled through two lanes as Almirola and DiBenedetto battled dead even for the lead. Following a close side-by-side battle with DiBenedetto for a full lap, Almirola pulled ahead with the lead.

    With five laps remaining, Almirola was leading by nearly half a second over DiBenedetto and Buescher. Cindric and Briscoe were in the top five followed by Wallace, Haley, Alfredo, Stenhouse and LaJoie.

    As Almirola continued to lead, DiBenedetto and Buescher battled for the runner-up spot as both were behind by seven-tenths of a second. 

    Having a clear lead to his advantage, Almirola, who has endured a difficult 2021 season, was able to navigate his way around the circuit for a final time and come back around to take the checkered flag and win the NASCAR All-Star Open as he punched his ticket into the All-Star Race for the fourth time in his career, joining teammates Kevin Harvick and Cole Custer. 

    “It just helps make you happy about something,” Almirola said. “It’s been a really tough year and the guys just continued to work their guts out and bring the best cars we can. And here at Texas today, we got a really fast car. We took the long way in, but I’m still glad we’re racing for a million bucks tonight. Just proud to give [my sponsors] something to smile about, really.”

    Despite finishing in the runner-up spot, Matt DiBenedetto claimed the 21st and final starting spot to the All-Star Race after being named the Fan Vote winner, a move that allowed him to transfer into the All-Star event for a second consecutive season.

    “That’s a relief,” DiBenedetto said. “We struggled a little bit with the car there, but man, thank you so much. That’s really cool. It means a lot to get all the votes from the fans. I can’t tell them how much I appreciate that and an opportunity to be an All-Star.”

    Buescher finished in third place followed by Briscoe and Cindric. Wallace rallied to finish sixth followed by Haley, Alfredo, Stenhouse and LaJoie. All eight competitors were among the remaining 18 competitors competing in the Open whom failed to make the All-Star Race.

    There were three lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 13 laps.

    Results.

    1. Aric Almirola – Won third segment, 10 laps led

    2. Matt DiBenedetto – Fan Vote winner

    3. Chris Buescher

    4. Chase Briscoe

    5. Austin Cindric

    6. Bubba Wallace

    7. Justin Haley

    8. Anthony Alfredo

    9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    10. Corey LaJoie

    11. Cody Ware

    12. B.J. McLeod

    13. Josh Bilicki

    14. Garrett Smithley

    15. Quin Houff, one lap down

    16. James Davison, one lap down

    17. Timmy Hill, one lap down

    18. David Starr, one lap down

    19. Tyler Reddick – Won second segment, 38 laps led

    20. Ross Chastain – Won first segment, two laps led

    21. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

    22. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident

    The 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway will follow suit on Sunday, June 13, at 8 p.m. on FS1.

  • Larson achieves historic victory for Hendrick Motorsports in the Coca-Cola 600

    Larson achieves historic victory for Hendrick Motorsports in the Coca-Cola 600

    History was made under the lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 30, as Kyle Larson raced his way to a dominating victory in the Coca-Cola 600 and made Hendrick Motorsports the winningest team in the NASCAR Cup Series. The Elk Grove, California, native led a race-high 327 of 400 laps from pole position, including the final 49 laps, to muscle away from his teammates and the competition before recording the biggest victory for himself and for HMS on Memorial Day weekend.

    Qualifying occurred on Saturday, May 29, and Kyle Larson captured the pole position with a pole-winning speed at 180.282 mph. Joining him on the front row was Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in his No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.

    Prior to the event, Kurt Busch and B.J. McLeod dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.  

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Larson was able to squeak ahead with the top spot as he led the first lap while teammate Chase Elliott battled Stenhouse for the runner-up spot. Behind, a series of side-by-side battles occurred as William Byron battled Kevin Harvick for fourth place while Austin Dillon overtook Alex Bowman for sixth place. 

    Through the first 47 laps of the event, it was Larson and his No. 5 MetroTech Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE that was leading the field and dominating.

    Shortly after, the first round of green flag pit stops occurred as Martin Truex Jr. and Ross Chastain pitted. They were soon followed by Bowman, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Chris Buescher, Larson, Elliott and others. During the pit stops, Chastain remained on pit road and his crew pulled the hood up on his No. 42 AdventHealth Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to address a broken oil pump belt. 

    With most of the pit stops completed, Brad Keselowski, who was trying to stretch the fuel in his car to the fullest, led six laps before Matt DiBenedetto and rookie Anthony Alfredo led the following three laps. Afterwards, Larson returned to the lead.

    With five laps remaining under the first stage, Daniel Suarez made a pit stop under green due to a flat right-front tire. 

    Back on the track, Larson was able to set sail at the front and cruise to the first stage victory on Lap 100, thus claiming his seventh stage victory of the season. Teammates Elliott and Byron crossed the start/finish line in second and third followed by Harvick and Austin Dillon. Kyle Busch, teammate Truex, Reddick, Stenhouse and Bowman were scored in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead following a stellar service from his pit crew.

    The second stage started on Lap 107 with teammates Larson and Elliott on the front row. At the start, Larson pulled ahead on the bottom lane to maintain the lead ahead of Elliott and Harvick through the first two turns.

    By Lap 110, Larson was ahead by half a second over Elliott while Harvick and Byron engaged in a fierce battle for third place. A few laps later, Harvick prevailed over his battle with Byron as Kyle Busch went to work on Byron for fourth place.

    On Lap 132, Elliott, coming off his victory at the Circuit of the Americas, was able to move his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE into the lead for the first time of the event.

    On Lap 140, Kurt Busch took his No. 1 Gear Wrench Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the garage after reporting a broken belt issue to his machine, a similar issue that eliminated teammate Chastain from competition.

    Not long after, another round of green flag pit stops occurred as Brad Keselowski pitted followed by Stenhouse, Byron, Kyle Busch, Bowman, Truex, Bubba Wallace, rookie Chase Briscoe, Larson, Elliott, Harvick and others. While entering and exiting pit road, Larson and Elliott battled dead even to be on top of one another before the former prevailed.

    By Lap 153, Larson returned to the lead after Bell pitted. 

    Twenty laps later, the caution returned when Kurt Busch, who had returned to the track while multiple laps behind, retired due to an engine failure when smoke billowed out of his car. Busch’s retirement was his third of the season and his seventh finish outside the top 20 through the first 15 events of this season.

    Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Bowman emerged with the lead following a two-tire pit stop. Hamlin and Logano, both of whom also took two tires, exited in second and third followed by Larson, the first competitor with four fresh tires. 

    With 23 laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted. At the start, Bowman was able to retain the lead, but Hamlin moved his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry to the top spot three laps later. Behind, however, Elliott was quick to move into the runner-up spot followed by teammates Bowman and Larson.

    After leading the next three laps, Hamlin lost the lead to Elliott. Five laps later, however, Larson reassumed the lead. From there, he was able to cruise to the second stage victory on Lap 200 and claim his eighth stage victory of the season. Teammates Elliott and Byron settled in second and third followed by Kyle Busch, Reddick, Harvick, Bowman, Buescher, Hamlin and Austin Dillon.

    Under the stage break, the entire field drove down to pit road and paused for a moment of silence in remembrance of the fallen during Memorial Day weekend. When the competition resumed, the leaders pitted and Larson was able to retain the lead ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates.

    The third stage started on Lap 207 as Larson received another strong start to retain the lead ahead of his teammates and the field.

    By Lap 210, Larson held a narrow advantage over Byron followed by Elliott, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Bowman, Hamlin, Logano, Reddick and Wallace.

    On Lap 231, Byron emerged with the lead, where he went on to lead 17 laps. By Lap 253, though, Larson returned to the lead.

    With five laps remaining in the third stage, the caution flew when Ryan Newman lost a right-front tire and pounded the outside wall in Turn 3. The incident was enough to end the third stage under caution, with Larson claiming his third stage victory of the 600-mile event and the ninth of this season. Teammate Byron followed in the runner-up spot and ahead of Kyle Busch, Elliott, Bowman, Reddick, Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Wallace and Harvick.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead after exiting in first place followed by Kyle Busch. Following the pit stops, Wallace was assessed an equipment interference penalty while Blaney was caught speeding on pit road.

    With 94 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as the two Kyles led the field to the green flag. At the start, Kyle Busch challenged Larson for one lap, even leading a lap, before Larson cleared Busch for the lead entering the backstretch during the following lap. In the process, Elliott retook the runner-up spot and Busch got loose while battling Byron for third place.

    Down to the final 90 laps of the event, Larson was ahead by half a second over teammates Elliott and Byron, both of whom were battling to keep up with their dominating teammate.

    With less than 55 laps remaining and with green flag pit stops ensuing, Reddick led for three laps before Blaney took over the top spot for the following two laps.

    Under the final 50 laps, Larson moved back into the lead after Blaney pitted.

    Twenty laps later, Larson, who was lapping traffic in front of him, was out in front by a reasonable margin over teammates Elliott and Byron, with Kyle Busch in fourth and Bowman in fifth. 

    Under the final 10 laps, Larson continued to lead by a big margin over teammate Elliott. With seven laps remaining, Larson’s advantage to Elliott was more than 10 seconds. 

    With five laps remaining, Larson remained as the leader by more than 10 seconds over Elliott. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch battled and overtook Byron for third place.

    When Larson started the final lap of the event, he stabilized his advantage to more than 10 seconds over Elliott. With no challenges lurking behind, Larson was able to come back around and claim the checkered flag for the win.

    In his seventh full-time season and career start No. 238, Larson captured his eighth NASCAR Cup Series career victory, his second win of the season, his first victory at Charlotte and his first crown jewel event in NASCAR with his first Coke 600 title. He also joined teammate Bowman and Truex as the only competitors to win multiple races through the first 15 races of this year’s Cup season. 

    “It feels good,” Larson said on FOX. “It was not easy. I felt like I had to fight off William [Byron] and Chase [Elliott] a lot. It kind of worked out there that last run. [Erik Jones] had to pit and pulled out in front of me. I just towed with him for a while and stretched my lead out. We had a good car there that last run. Awesome, it feels great to be the guy that helped Mr. [Hendrick] break that record finally. This is awesome…Just very lucky that Mr. H was able to put a deal for me. It’s just awesome. I’m living dream, for sure.”

    With Larson’s victory, Hendrick Motorsports achieved its 12th Coke 600 title and surpassed Petty Enterprises with the most victories in the Cup Series with career win No. 269, an achievement that left team owner Rick Hendrick beaming on pit road.

    “Number one, Richard Petty is the king of NASCAR and he’s done so much for this sport,” Rick Hendrick said. “Man, this is so awesome. All I could think about was the first win, all the drivers. I wanna thank every driver that’s ever driven, ever won a race and the one’s that didn’t win. It’s unbelievable. I can’t really get it in my brain right now ‘cause I just thought something’s gonna happen. But man, what a good job [the drivers] did tonight. I’m just looking forward to the rest of the year when I’m glad [win No.] 269 is over. I’m glad it’s over.”

    Elliott, who was making his 200th Cup career start and led 22 laps, settled in second place for the third time this season followed by Kyle Busch.

    “Yeah, I was happy for the boss [Rick Hendrick], happy for Kyle [Larson] and [crew chief] Cliff [Daniels], and everybody on the No. 5 team,” Elliott said. “They’ve been kicking ass since February. They deserve to win and rightfully so. They did a great job tonight, ran a great race, made no mistakes and the best car won. Proud of [Hendrick Motorsports]. Man, I feel like everybody’s, like I’ve been saying, been pulling in the same direction and it’s really showing. Just proud of our company and excited as the No. 9 team’s, specifically, for more opportunities ahead and try to get better, and see if we can get dialed in.”

    “We had nothing for the Hendrick cars,” Busch said. “Overall, just a really good night for us. This M&M’s Camry was fast. [Crew chief] Ben [Beshore] and the boys did a really, really good job. I appreciate for what all we had, it was enough to be able to go out there, run strong and try to break’em [Hendrick drivers] up. I didn’t want them to finish one-two-three-four again, so at least I could get in the middle of them there, but overall, a good job…We had a solid night tonight. Hopefully, good for the points and hopefully, we can keep this momentum rolling.”

    Teammates Byron and Bowman finished in the top five as all four Hendrick Motorsports’ competitors finished in the top five. Austin Dillon, Hamlin, Buescher, Reddick and Harvick completed the top 10.

    Keselowski finished 11th followed by Stenhouse, Blaney, Wallace and Suarez. Logano fell back to 17th ahead of Matt DiBenedetto and Briscoe was the highest-finishing rookie competitor in 23rd. Martin Truex Jr., a two-time Coke 600 winner, ended his night in 29th following a late tire issue.

    There were 23 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 26 laps. 

    Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 76 points over Kyle Larson and William Byron, with Chase Elliott trailing by 92 points.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Larson, 327 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 & 3 winner

    2. Chase Elliott, 22 laps led

    3. Kyle Busch, one lap led

    4. William Byron, 19 laps led

    5. Alex Bowman, five laps led

    6. Austin Dillon, one lap led

    7. Denny Hamlin, three laps led

    8. Chris Buescher

    9. Tyler Reddick, six laps led

    10. Kevin Harvick

    11. Brad Keselowski, six laps led

    12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 

    13. Ryan Blaney, two laps led

    14. Bubba Wallace

    15. Daniel Suarez, two laps down

    16. Erik Jones, two laps down

    17. Joey Logano, two laps down

    18. Matt DiBenedetto, two laps down, two laps led

    19. Corey LaJoie, two laps down

    20. Michael McDowell, two laps down

    21. Cole Custer, three laps down

    22. Aric Almirola, three laps down

    23. Chase Briscoe, three laps down

    24. Christopher Bell, three laps down, three laps led

    25. Anthony Alfredo, three laps down, three laps led

    26. Ryan Preece, three laps down

    27. Ryan Newman, four łaps down

    28. Justin Haley, five laps down

    29. Martin Truex Jr., nine laps down

    30. Cody Ware, 11 laps down

    31. B.J. McLeod, 11 laps down

    32. Quin Houff, 11 laps down

    33. James Davison, 12 laps down

    34. Garrett Smithley, 13 laps down

    35. Josh Bilicki, 18 laps down

    36. David Starr, 31 laps down

    37. Ross Chastain, 41 laps down

    38. Kurt Busch – OUT, Engine

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ return to the West Coast and at Sonoma Raceway following a one-year absence. The race will occur on Sunday, June 6, at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Elliott wins rain-shortened, inaugural Cup event at COTA

    Elliott wins rain-shortened, inaugural Cup event at COTA

    The inaugural EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, featured wet, slick conditions, wild racing and major milestone victories for Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet after Chase Elliott emerged victorious for the first time this season on Sunday, May 23. The reigning Cup Series champion took the lead on Lap 50 and retained the top spot by Lap 54 while on low fuel when NASCAR made the race official due to late, inclement weather that ended the race 14 laps from its scheduled distance.

    Qualifying occurred on Sunday, May 23, prior to the main event. Tyler Reddick started on pole position with a pole-winning qualifying lap at 92.363 mph and was joined on the front row with Kyle Larson. Aric Almirola, rookie Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Erik Jones, Cody Ware, James Davison, rookie Anthony Alfredo, Daniel Suarez and Denny Hamlin started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

    Prior to the race, the competitors made a pit stop to change for slick tires with reports of precipitation nearing the circuit. During the pit stops, teammates Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski was forced to start at the rear of the field due to having tape pulled from their cars, which was not permitted at the time.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Cindric made a move on Reddick in the first turn to take the lead while the field fanned out and jostled for positions early in the race through the first two turns and the esses. For one full lap, the competitors made their way through the 20-turn circuit in a calm, consistent pace as Cindric led the first lap.

    Under the first lap, names like Byron, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and Kevin Harvick pitted early for wet tires. 

    At the front, Cindric was leading followed by A.J. Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, teammate Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson. Reddick, meanwhile, was back in sixth place followed by Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell, Bubba Wallace and Kurt Busch.

    By the second lap, Allmendinger pitted for fresh tires along with Reddick. A lap later, names like Kyle Busch, Larson, Bell, Matt DiBenedetto and James Davison made their pit stops for tires.

    Through the first five laps of the event, Cindric, who continued to run on slick tires, was in a commanding lead over Truex. Shortly after, he made a pit stop as Truex, who started the race on rain tires, took over the lead followed by Michael McDowell, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and teammate Ryan Preece. Cindric, following his pit stop, fell back to ninth place behind Logano.

    Three laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Daniel Suarez, who went off course in Turn 13 but managed to continue, stalled on the course due to a mechanical issue and needed a wrecker to have his car pushed to the garage.

    Under caution, some like leader Truex pitted while the rest led by McDowell remained on the track.

    The race restarted on Lap 9 with McDowell and Wallace on the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, McDowell retained the lead. From Turn 3 through Turn 10, the field continued to navigate through the rain as McDowell led Logano and Cindric. Behind, Denny Hamlin spun in Turn 9, but he continued. 

    By Lap 10, McDowell was still leading followed by Logano, Cindric, William Byron and Kurt Busch. Stenhouse was back in sixth followed by Chase Briscoe, DiBenedetto, Wallace and Chris Buescher. In Turn 12, Logano made his move beneath McDowell and as McDowell’s car wobbled, the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang driven by Logano muscled to the lead.

    With the laps in the first stage dwindling, Garrett Smithley went off course and drove his car through the gravel before returning on the track and continuing. Not long after, Corey LaJoie spun off course entering Turn 12. Then, DiBenedetto ran into the right-rear quarter panel of Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, damaging both competitors as Byron pitted.

    Back at the front, Logano continued to lead. Through the turns and the slick conditions, Logano was able to come back around and claim the first stage on Lap 15, which marked his third stage victory of the season. McDowell crossed the start/finish line in second place followed by Kurt Busch, Larson and Cindric. Buescher and Briscoe were scored in sixth and seventh. Ross Chastain, who slid off course in Turn 11, crossed the line in eighth followed by Kyle Busch and DiBenedetto, who continued despite the damage on his car. 

    Under the stage break, some like Cindric pitted while the rest led by Logano remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 18 with Logano and McDowell retaining the front row. At the start, Logano retained the lead followed by Kurt Busch as the field fanned out again. In Turn 4, Ryan Newman spun after getting loose underneath Ross Chastain, but he prevented the car from sustaining any damage.

    Through the twists and turns from Turn 3 through 10 and the long straightaway in Turns 11 and 12, Logano continued to lead followed by the Busch brothers, McDowell and Chastain. 

    Behind, Ryan Blaney, who got hit by Christopher Bell, spun and went off course as a result of a cut right-rear tire. In the ensuing chaos, the caution flew when Kevin Harvick, who lifted off the throttle through the long straightaway, got hit from behind by Wallace’s car, which sent Harvick into the guardrails and with heavy damage. Stenhouse also received damage following the contact. The damage knocked Bell and Wallace out of contention along with Harvick, who car was leaking fluid, while Blaney and Stenhouse continued. 

    Under caution, some like Larson, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Truex, Newman and Byron pitted while the rest led by Logano remained on the track.

    When the race resumed on Lap 24, Chastain moved a bold three-wide move on Logano and Kyle Busch entering Turn 1 to take the lead followed by Ryan Preece. Through Turns 9 and 10, Preece overtook Chastain for the lead and he retained the top spot entering Turn 11. Kyle Busch was in third followed by Cindric, Chase Elliott and Logano.

    Then, the caution returned when Truex ran into the rear of McDowell, which sent Truex’s hood up and blocked his view. With Truex off the pace, Cole Custer rammed into the rear of Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry at full speed, which nearly sent Truex’s car upside down before coming back to rest on all four wheels while Custer made contact with the SAFER Barriers before coming to a stop on fire. Truex and Custer were able to exit their respective machines following the wreck. Following the incident, the race was red-flagged for nearly 21 minutes. At the time of the incident, Chastain was leading Preece, Kyle Busch, Cindric and Elliott.

    When the red flag was lifted following a lengthy cleanup, the field made their way to pit road under caution and the teams were allowed to service their respective cars with the driver’s vision. Later on, Chastain led a handful of competitors down pit road while the rest led by Preece remained on the track. Prior to the start, NASCAR announced that all restarts for the remainder of the event will be single-filed.

    Following a delay, the race restarted under green on Lap 28. At the start, Kyle Busch took the lead followed by Cindric while Preece fell back to third. Behind, Austin Dillon, who was in sixth, was assessed a drive-through penalty for cutting through the esses. 

    Back at the front, Cindric returned to the lead by the time the field returned in Turn 11 before Kyle Busch took it back in Turn 12. When the field returned to the straightaway heading towards the start/finish line, Kyle Busch retained the lead followed by Cindric, Preece, Elliott and Reddick. 

    With the laps in the second stage dwindling, the battle for the lead continued to heat up between Kyle Busch and Cindric, though Busch refused to relinquish the top spot. With Busch prevailing, Chase Elliott started to challenge Cindric for the runner-up spot. By then, names like Newman, Erik Jones and Quin Houff encountered on-track issues of their own.

    With a clear track in front of him, Kyle Busch, winner of Saturday’s inaugural Xfinity Series event at the Circuit of the Americas, was able to come back around and win the second stage on Lap 32, which marked his second stage victory of the season. Elliott was scored in second place followed by Reddick, Cindric, Corey LaJoie, Larson, Preece, A.J. Allmendinger, Briscoe and Alex Bowman.

    Under the stage break, some led by LaJoie pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track.

    With 33 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Kyle Busch retained the lead followed by Cindric, Reddick, Briscoe and Elliott. With the field navigating its way through the esses and through Turns 9, 10 and 11, Busch remained in the lead while the field fanned out. Behind, Brad Keselowski spun in Turn 11 following contact with Newman.

    Under the final 30 laps of the event, Kyle Busch was leading by less than six seconds over Larson. Elliott was in third place followed by Logano, Reddick and Allmendinger. Cindric and Chastain battled for seventh followed by McDowell and Kurt Busch. Behind, Stenhouse spun following contact from Quin Houff. In addition, Davison and LaJoie went off track separately. Soon after, Reddick spun in Turn 20.

    With 27 laps remaining, the leader Kyle Busch pitted along with Elliott. Busch’s move handed the lead to Larson followed by Logano and Chastain. Two laps later, Chastain overtook Logano for the runner-up spot. Not long after, Kurt Busch, Chastain’s teammate, moved into third place. At the front, Larson continued to lead by three-and-a-half seconds.

    Behind, more pit stops ensued as Allmendinger pitted along with Reddick, DiBenedetto, McDowell and others, By then, rain started to make its way back on the circuit.

    With 24 laps remaining, Chastain moved into the lead as Larson pitted under green. Kurt Busch joined Larson on pit road for service along with Logano, Briscoe and Ty Dillon. The following lap, Preece and Buescher pitted. Another lap later, Chastain, who last pitted on Lap 27, pitted along with Byron.

    Back on the track, Alex Bowman, winner of last weekend’s event at Dover, took the lead as Kyle Busch moved back into second place. Elliott was in third place followed by Hamlin and Larson.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event and with light precipitation falling on the circuit, Bowman continued to lead while Elliott remained in front of Kyle Busch, Larson and Hamlin for the second-place spot. Logano was in sixth followed by rookie Anthony Alfredo, Chastain, Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch. Allmendinger was in 12th in front of Briscoe, Reddick and Cindric were in 16th and 17th and Byron was in 19th.

    Two laps later, Elliott took the lead entering Turn 20 while Bowman pitted for fresh tires along with Hamlin. Larson, who trailed teammate Elliott by six seconds, moved into second place followed by Kyle Busch, Logano and Chastain. Shortly after, radio chatters about the fuel window between Elliott, Larson and Busch started to occur, with Elliott and Busch reportedly not having enough for the finish while Larson had enough to complete the race to its distance.

    With 16 laps remaining, Kyle Busch brought his No. 18 M&M’s Mix Toyota Camry into pit road for fresh tires and enough fuel for the scheduled distance.

    Back to the front, the No. 9 LLumar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE piloted by Elliott continued to lead by more than 12 seconds over the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE piloted by Larson. Behind, Kurt Busch overshot Turn 12, nearly clipping his brother Kyle and Austin Dillon, where he drove his car through the gravel and grass, spun the car to the right direction and continued without getting stuck in the wet mud.

    With 15 laps remaining, the caution flew due to visibility and the current track conditions with the circuit wet and light precipitation making its way on the track. Not long after, the field was brought down to pit road and the race was red-flagged.

    As rain continued to fall, NASCAR made the race official 14 laps shy of its scheduled distance and Elliott, the leader at the time, was declared the winner. The victory in the inaugural Circuit of the Americas event marked Elliott’s 12th NASCAR Cup Series career win and his six road course career victory as he became the 11th different driver to record a victory this season. In addition, Elliott recorded the 268th Cup win for Hendrick Motorsports, moving the team to a tie with Petty Enterprises for the most all-time Cup victories, and the 800th Cup victory for Chevrolet.

    “Man, I couldn’t be more excited,” Elliott said on FS1. “I’ve never won a rain race before, so that’s kinda cool. Just super proud of our team for just continuing to fight. We kinda starting the day, we weren’t very good and just kept pushing myself, kept making some good changes throughout the day and got to where I thought we were on pace with those guys at the end. So, really proud of that. It’s not the greatest thing ever to have a rain race win if it’s your first one, but I think it’s okay if it’s down the road, so I’m pretty excited about that. Looking forward to next week and trying to keep it rolling.”

    Larson settled in the runner-up spot for the fourth time this season while Logano finished in third place. Chastain notched his first top-five result in the Cup Series by finishing fourth while Allmendinger concluded his run with a strong fifth-place result, thus recording the first top-five result in the Cup Series for Kaulig Racing.

    Rookie Chase Briscoe recorded his first top-10 career result by finishing sixth while McDowell, Bowman, Reddick and Kyle Busch finished in the top 10.

    Byron settled in 11th, Hamlin finished 14th, teammates Blaney and Keselowski finished 17th and 19th, Ty Dillon finished 21st, Cindric came home in 25th and Kurt Busch fell all the way back in 27th.

    There were 11 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 12 laps. 

    Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 98 points over Byron, 110 over Larson, 111 over Logano and 116 over Elliott.

    Results.

    1. Chase Elliott, five laps led

    2. Kyle Larson, four laps led

    3. Joey Logano, 14 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    4. Ross Chastain, four laps led

    5. A.J. Allmendinger

    6. Chase Briscoe

    7. Michael McDowell, three laps led

    8. Alex Bowman, three laps led

    9. Tyler Reddick

    10. Kyle Busch, 12 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    11. William Byron

    12. Austin Dillon

    13. Chris Buescher

    14. Denny Hamlin

    15. Ryan Preece, two laps led

    16. Erik Jones

    17. Ryan Blaney

    18. Anthony Alfredo

    19. Brad Keselowski

    20. Corey LaJoie

    21. Ty Dillon

    22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    23. Matt DiBenedetto

    24. Ryan Newman

    25. Austin Cindric, four laps led

    26. Aric Almirola

    27. Kurt Busch

    28. Garrett Smithley

    29. James Davison

    30. Josh Bilicki

    31. Kyle Tilley

    32. Cody Ware, one lap down

    33. Daniel Suarez, eight laps down

    34. Quin Houff – OUT, Dvp

    35. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Accident, three laps led

    36. Cole Custer, – OUT, Accident

    37. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Accident 

    38. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

    39. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident

    40. Justin Haley – OUT, Steering

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, during Memorial Day weekend. The event is slated to occur on Sunday, May 30, at 6 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Bowman leads a 1-2-3-4 finish for Hendrick Motorsports at Dover

    Bowman leads a 1-2-3-4 finish for Hendrick Motorsports at Dover

    It was an historic day for Hendrick Motorsports as Alex Bowman assumed the lead under the final 100 laps following a stellar pit stop from his crew and went on to beat teammate Kyle Larson and win the Drydene 400 at Dover International Speedway on Sunday, May 16, as he also led a 1-2-3-4 finish for the HMS organization.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Martin Truex Jr., winner of last weekend’s event at Darlington Raceway, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Denny Hamlin, teammate and the regular-season points leader.

    Prior to the race, Chase Elliott dropped to the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race inspection twice. Ryan Newman also dropped to the rear due to unapproved adjustments. Josh Berry, who was making his NASCAR Cup debut in the No. 77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, also dropped to the rear of the field due to a driver change as he replaced Justin Haley, who was absent from the Cup event and Saturday’s Xfinity Series event due to COVID-19 protocols.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Truex launched ahead with the lead followed by Kyle Larson, Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Truex, though, was able to lead the first lap with the field behind jostling for position.

    Through the first 10 laps of the event, Truex continued to lead by half a second over Larson and nearly seven-tenths of a second over William Byron. Hamlin was in fourth followed by Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher and Christopher Bell.

    Five laps later, Byron, who had taken over the runner-up spot over teammate Larson, started to close in on Truex for the lead. Another lap later, Byron powered his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the lead. 

    By Lap 20, Byron was leading teammate Larson and Harvick while Truex slipped back to fourth place ahead of teammate Hamlin.

    By Lap 30 and with the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Byron continued to lead by a narrow margin over teammate Larson. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, who was running in the top 10, had fallen back to 12th place after reporting a mechanical issue to his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry.

    When the field reached the competition caution on Lap 35, Byron maintained the lead over teammate Larson, Harvick, Truex and Hamlin. By then, Chase Elliott, who started at the rear of the field, was in 17th while Kyle Busch, who continued to have mechanical issues with his car, had fallen back to 23rd. In addition, names like Ryan Preece, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Cole Custer and Aric Almirola were spared from being lapped by Byron.

    Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Larson was able to exit pit road ahead of teammate Byron. Following the pit stops, Tyler Reddick, Corey LaJoie and Michael McDowell were sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

    When the race restarted on Lap 40, Larson took off with the lead followed by Harvick.

    By Lap 50, Larson was out in front by half a second over Harvick while Byron, Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin were in the top five. Chris Buescher was in sixth followed by Brad Keselowski, Logano, Alex Bowman and Elliott. Truex was back in 11th followed by Austin Dillon, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace and rookie Chase Briscoe. Kyle Busch was in 29th, the final car on the lead lap.

    Three laps later, Kyle Busch, who continued to battle engine issues, was lapped by Larson. Meanwhile, Byron, who continued to run in third place, radioed brake issues to his car.

    Through the first 70 laps of the event, Larson remained in the lead by nearly two seconds over Harvick followed by Byron. Behind, Corey LaJoie pitted due to a flat tire.

    Five laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Harvick followed by Byron, Blaney and Hamlin. Buescher, Logano, Keselowski, Elliott and Bowman all remained in the top 10 ahead of Austin Dillon and Truex, who was struggling with pace.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Larson continued to lead by more than four seconds over Harvick followed by Byron, Blaney and Hamlin. Elliott moved up to sixth followed by Buescher, Logano, Bowman and Keselowski.

    In the closing laps of the first stage, Larson increased his advantage to more than seven seconds. Behind, Hamlin moved up to second place followed by Blaney, Harvick and Elliott while Byron fell back to sixth.

    On the final lap of the first stage, Chase Briscoe, who was trying to remain on the lead lap ahead of leader Larson, scrubbed the outside wall in Turn 1, though he was able to prevent the car from spinning. The debris from Briscoe’s damaged car was enough for the first stage to conclude under caution as Larson was able to claim his fifth stage victory of the season. Hamlin maintained the runner-up spot followed by Blaney, Elliott and Harvick while Byron, Logano, Bowman, Buescher and Keselowski were in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson maintained the lead following his pit service. Hamlin exited in second place followed by Elliott, Blaney and Logano. Soon after, Truex made another pit stop to have damage to the front of his car repaired.

    The second stage started on Lap 129 with Larson and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Larson maintained the lead while Elliott drew his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE alongside Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry for the runner-up spot.

    By Lap 135, Larson was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott followed by Blaney, Hamlin and Logano. Harvick, Buescher, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch and Byron were in the top 10. 

    Through the first 150 laps of the event, Larson remained as the leader followed by teammate Elliott, Blaney, Hamlin and Logano. Harvick was in sixth followed by Byron, Buescher, Austin Dillon and Alex Bowman. Kurt Busch and Keselowski were in 11th and 12th, Truex was in 14th ahead of Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace was in 17th behind Tyler Reddick and Kyle Busch was in 36th, eight laps behind. By then, names like Cole Custer, Erik Jones, Ryan Newman, Ryan Preece, Christopher Bell, Matt DiBenedetto, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were a lap behind.

    More than 20 laps later, the caution returned when Josh Berry scrubbed the wall in Turn 2. Prior to the pit road opening for the leaders, Blaney pitted to have a hole on the front of his car fixed and due to a flat tire. When the pits opened, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead after exiting ahead of Elliott, Hamlin, Harvick and Byron.

    When the race restarted on Lap 176, Larson launched ahead with a strong start followed by Elliott and Hamlin while Harvick and Byron battled for fourth place. In addition, Bowman, the fourth Hendrick Motorsports competitor, joined the party in sixth place.

    By Lap 190, Larson extended his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott while Hamlin, Byron and Harvick continued to run in the top five. A few laps later, Penske teammates Logano and Keselowski nearly made contact with one another in Turn 1 while battling for eighth place. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 200, Larson was leading by nearly a second over teammate Elliott while teammate Byron trailed by nearly five seconds. Hamlin was in fourth while Bowman was in fifth, marking all four Hendrick Motorsports competitors in the top five. Harvick was in sixth followed by Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Aric Almirola.

    By Lap 220, all four Hendrick Motorsports competitors were running first through fourth, with Larson leading Elliott, Bowman moving up in third and Byron back in fourth. Hamlin was in fifth followed by Harvick, Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Almirola. Logano, meanwhile, was in 13th behind Reddick and Truex.

    Despite having teammate Elliott closing in for the lead, Larson was able to pull away late as he approached lapped traffic and win the second stage on Lap 240 for his sixth stage victory of the season. Elliott followed behind in second place followed by teammates Bowman and Byron while Hamlin was in fifth. Harvick, Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Reddick were scored in the top 10. By then, names like Wallace and Logano remained on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson retained the lead following another stellar stop from his pit crew followed by Bowman, Elliott, Byron and Kurt Busch.

    With 152 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Larson rocketed away with another strong start while teammates Bowman and Elliott battled for the runner-up spot. Behind, a three-wide battle ensued between Harvick, Keselowski and Hamlin with Harvick moving into sixth place behind Kurt Busch while ahead of Keselowski and Hamlin. 

    Down to the final 135 laps of the event, Larson was out in front by more than two seconds over teammate Bowman with teammate Byron trailing by nearly three seconds and teammate Elliott trailing by three seconds. Kurt Busch, meanwhile, remained in fifth followed by Harvick, Keselowski, Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Reddick, Blaney, Ross Chastain, Almirola, Logano, Suarez and Truex.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to nearly three seconds over teammate Bowman with his other two teammates, Byron and Elliott, trailing by more than four seconds. Harvick was in fifth place, trailing by more than seven seconds, after overtaking former teammate Kurt Busch.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the race, Larson remained in the lead followed by teammates Bowman, Byron and Elliott with Harvick in fifth. A lap later, though, the caution returned when Aric Almirola made hard contact into the Turn 3 outside wall after he blew a right-front tire, with fire eventually flaming out of Almirola’s car. The on-track incident marked Almirola’s fifth DNF and his sixth result of 30th or worse this season. 

    Under the caution period, the leaders pitted and Bowman, whose pit crew clocked off a fast pit service, emerged with the lead ahead of teammates Larson, Elliott and Byron with Harvick coming out in fifth.

    With 92 laps remaining, the race restarted and Bowman maintained the lead over Larson and Elliott. Behind, Harvick overtook Byron for fourth with Hamlin lurking behind.

    Six laps later, the caution returned when a bump from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. sent rookie Anthony Alfredo sideways and spinning to the inside wall in Turn 2, where he made contact with the wall. In the midst of the incident, Stenhouse and Keselowski received minor damage to their respective machines.

    Under caution, a majority of competitors led by Hamlin pitted while the rest led by Bowman remained on the track. Overall, all four Hendrick competitors along with Harvick, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez and Bubba Wallace remained on the track.

    With 81 laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start, Bowman pulled ahead followed by Larson while Elliott struggled to launch on the inside lane. Despite Larson challenging teammate Bowman for the lead through Turns 1 and 2, Harvick pulled his No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang alongside Larson’s No. 5 Nations Guard Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE in Turn 3, which allowed Bowman to maintain the lead.

    While Bowman continued to lead under the final 75 laps, Larson remained within sight of the lead by nearly seven-tenths of a second followed by Elliott, Harvick and Byron. Suarez and Reddick maintained sixth and seventh while Wallace battled owner Hamlin for eighth place.

    Just then, debris drew the caution, which jumbled the field and erased Bowman’s lead over teammate Larson. Under caution, a majority of the leaders remained on the track while others like Logano, Custer pitted.

    The race restarted with 70 laps remaining and with teammates Bowman and Larson on the front row. At the start, Bowman maintained the lead followed by Larson and Elliott while Byron retook fourth place over Harvick.

    Under the final 60 laps of the event, on-track battling occurring and with weather threats looming near the track, Bowman remained as the leader under half a second over a hard-charging Larson followed by Elliott, Byron and Harvick. Reddick, Suarez, Hamlin, Wallace and Logano were in the top 10 followed by Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Kurt Busch, Custer and Truex.

    With 50 laps remaining, Bowman continued to lead by half a second over teammate Larson with teammates Elliott and Byron remaining in third and fourth. Harvick remained in fifth followed by Reddick, Suarez, Logano, Hamlin and Wallace, who had Blaney challenging him for more.

    Down to the final 35 laps of the event, Bowman was leading by more than a second over teammate Larson while Elliott, Byron and Harvick stabilized themselves in the top five. Reddick, Logano, Suarez, Hamlin and Wallace also stabilized themselves in the top 10.

    With 20 laps remaining, the gap between leader Bowman and runner-up Larson remained to more than a second, with teammate Elliott behind by more than two seconds and teammate Byron trailing by more than seven seconds. Harvick remained in fifth place while Logano overtook Reddick for sixth place. A few laps later, Custer overtook Wallace for 10th place.

    Under the final 10 laps, the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by Bowman continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Larson, who continued to lose ground on his teammate for the top spot. Bowman maintained his healthy advantage under the final five laps of the event. 

    With no challengers closing in to his rear bumper, Bowman was able to come back around and claim the checkered flag ahead of his three HMS teammates.

    The Dover victory marked Bowman’s first at the Monster Mile, fourth of his Cup Series career and second of this season as he joined Martin Truex Jr. as the only multi-winners of this year’s Cup season. He also returned the iconic No. 48 car to Victory Lane at Dover for the first time since 2017 made by Jimmie Johnson, who won at Dover 11 times. The 1-2-3-4 finish was a first for HMS and the fourth time done by a NASCAR team.

    “We won Richmond and then had a really rough couple weeks there,” Bowman said on FS1. “[We] Went to some really good race tracks for us and struggled. [I] Told the guys last week, ‘We’re still the same team that did it at Richmond.’ It’s another really good place for us. I’m just so pumped for Ally. It feels right to put the No. 48 back in Victory Lane here after how many races this car has won here. Mr. [Hendrick] is here, I don’t think I’ve won with him here befrore, so that’s really cool. Just so proud of this pit crew. It was a rough off-season for us and a big void to fill…The whole pit crew’s doing a really good job. Thanks to my spotter, Kevin Hamlin, for coaching me there at the end. It was fun racing Kyle [Larson] and glad to get Hendrick Motorsports another win.”

    With the Dover victory and career win No. 267, Hendrick Motorsports is one win away from tying Petty Enterprises for the most victories all-time in the Cup Series. In addition, Chevrolet is one win away from achieving 800 victories in NASCAR’s premier series.

    “I can guarantee you, this is the most nervous I’ve ever been in a race,” Rick Hendrick said. “Great day for the organization. Alex, congratulations to him. This is a sign of the guys working together and bringing good stuff to the track. I don’t think it’ll hit me till tomorrow that we were able to finish 1-2-3-4. That’s pretty hard to do, things can happen, pit stops, tires, anything. That’s a first. We’ll take it. It’s a great day for us.”

    Larson, who led a race-high 263 laps, crossed the finish line in second place, two seconds behind, and for his third runner-up result of the season. 

    “I felt like all of us, HMS guys, were pretty equal, so it was like whoever got out to the lead was gonna be hard to beat,” Larson said. “[Bowman’s] team just really did a good job on that pit stop, gain control of the race and never really had a shot after that. That one restart, I got to his bumper and got him loose, but [Harvick] was coming, so we had to let each other go, but hard to be disappointed with that second. I felt like I did everything I could. We led a lot of laps, won both stages. Good points, but I would’ve liked to have been one spot better…What a day for Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet. Thanks to everybody at the shop, the engine shop. This is pretty amazing…That’s a pretty special day, for sure.”

    Elliott finished in third place, three-and-a-half seconds behind, as he has yet to win this season. Byron capped off the 1-2-3-4 finish for Hendrick Motorsports by finishing fourth as he also captured his 11th consecutive top-10 result.

    Logano emerged as the highest-finishing non-Hendrick Motorsports competitor by finishing fifth while Harvick, Hamlin, Reddick, Suarez and Custer finished in the top 10. 

    Wallace claimed his first top-15 finish of this season and for 23XI Racing by finishing 11th ahead of Blaney, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon and Chastain. Keselowski finished 16th, Truex came home in 19th and Kyle Busch capped off his long afternoon in 27th. Josh Berry finished 30th in his Cup debut.

    There were 10 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 41 laps. 

    Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 101 points over William Byron and 102 over Martin Truex Jr.

    With the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season stretch halfway complete, 10 competitors (Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, William Byron, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell) are currently guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs based on winning at least once. Denny Hamlin would also be guaranteed a spot based on leading the regular-season standings. Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick are inside the top-16 cutline to the Playoffs as winless competitors, with Reddick ahead by 17 points over Matt DiBenedetto, 30 over Kurt Busch, 32 over Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 38 over Ryan Newman, 49 over Bubba Wallace, 56 over Daniel Suarez and 58 over Ross Chastain.

    Results.

    1. Alex Bowman, 98 laps led

    2. Kyle Larson, 263 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    3. Chase Elliott

    4. William Byron, 21 laps led

    5. Joey Logano

    6. Kevin Harvick

    7. Denny Hamlin, two laps led

    8. Tyler Reddick

    9. Daniel Suarez

    10. Cole Custer

    11. Bubba Wallace

    12. Ryan Blaney

    13. Kurt Busch

    14. Austin Dillon

    15. Ross Chastain

    16. Brad Keselowski

    17. Chris Buescher

    18. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    19. Martin Truex Jr., one lap down, 16 laps led

    20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down

    21. Christopher Bell, four laps down

    22. Erik Jones, four laps down

    23. Ryan Newman, four laps down

    24. Matt DiBenedetto, five laps down

    25. Michael McDowell, five laps down

    26. Corey LaJoie, seven laps down

    27. Kyle Busch, seven laps down

    28. Anthony Alfredo, eight laps down

    29. Quin Houff, 12 laps down

    30. Josh Berry, 12 laps down

    31. Cody Ware, 13 laps down

    32. Garrett Smithley, 17 laps down

    33. James Davison, 18 laps down

    34. Josh Bilicki, 19 laps down

    35. Chase Briscoe, 65 laps down

    36. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Engine

    37. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is a trip to Austin, Texas, for the series’ inaugural event at the Circuit of the Americas for the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix. The event is slated to occur on Sunday, May 23, at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Byron scores resounding victory at Homestead

    Byron scores resounding victory at Homestead

    After struggling for the first two races of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, William Byron rebounded by racing his way to a resounding victory in the late stages of the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, February 28. The win marked the second of his Cup career in his 111th career start.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. With that, Denny Hamlin, the reigning winner at Homestead, was due to start on pole position. He, however, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. With that, Joey Logano started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Christopher Bell, winner of last weekend’s event at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course.

    Along with Hamlin, Alex Bowman and Corey LaJoie started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. James Davison joined the trio due to multiple pre-race inspection failures.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Logano jumped ahead with an early advantage while the field behind fanned out to two and three lanes entering Turn 2 while battling for spots. Logano was able to lead the first lap as Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch moved up while Bell fell back inside the top 10. 

    By the fifth lap, Logano retained an early advantage by seven-tenths of a second over Harvick with Keselowski behind by nearly a second while closing in on Harvick. Kurt Busch and Bell were in the top five followed by Michael McDowell, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, teammate Chase Elliott and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    Two laps later, Keselowski overtook Harvick for the runner-up spot. Another lap by, Kurt Busch passed Harvick for the third spot. In addition, Larson moved up to sixth while Truex fell back to eight. 

    By Lap 10, Logano continued to lead, though his advantage shrieked to less than half a second over teammate Keselowski. 

    Two laps later, Keselowski muscled his way into the lead over teammate Logano. Behind, Larson continued to rim-ride his way to the front after passing Harvick for fourth place. Shortly after, Stenhouse overtook Harvick to move into the top five. Meanwhile, Truex and Elliott were back in ninth and 10th.

    By Lap 20, Keselowski stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Logano as Kurt Busch and Larson remained in pursuit. Stenhouse was in fifth followed by Harvick, Truex, Chris Buescher, Bell and Elliott.

    When the field reached Lap 25, a planned competition caution flew. By then, Keselowski extended his advantage to more than four seconds over teammate Logano. Kurt Busch fended off Larson and Stenhouse to remain in third place. Behind, Truex moved into sixth place followed by Harvick, Buescher, Bell and Ryan Blaney.

    By then, Elliott and Kyle Busch were in the top 15 while Tyler Reddick was in 17th, one spot ahead of Matt DiBenedetto. Alex Bowman was in 20th ahead of Bubba Wallace and Cole Custer while Denny Hamlin was back in 24th behind Aric Almirola.

    Under the competition caution, the leaders pitted and Keselowski retained the lead following a four-tire pit stop. Kurt Busch was able to exit pit road into second place followed by Logano, Harvick and Truex.

    When the race restarted on Lap 30, Keselowski and Kurt Busch challenged one another in a side-by-side battle for the lead for nearly one full lap. Entering Turn 4, however, Keselowski gained a run on the outside lane and retained the lead while teammate Logano attempted to pull a three-wide move on Harvick and Keselowski. Logano and Harvick were able to move into second and third while Kurt Busch slipped back to fourth. Shortly after, Buescher moved up to fourth over Kurt Busch as the field continued to battle for spots.

    By Lap 35, Keselowski was ahead by nearly half a second over teammate Logano. Behind, Harvick was in third followed by Stenhouse, Buescher, William Byron, Kurt Busch, Larson, Bell and Ryan Newman.  

    Five laps later, the two Penske drivers led by Keselowski were separated by seven-tenths of a second. Buescher moved up to third place followed by Byron and Stenhouse, who overtook Harvick for position. Larson moved back up to seventh while Kurt Busch fell back to eighth. Newman and Bell remained in the top 10 followed by Kyle Busch, Bowman, Austin Dillon, Blaney, Truex and Elliott.

    By Lap 42, Buescher made a move beneath Logano to move into the runner-up spot while Byron started to close in on Logano for third place.

    By Lap 50, Keselowski continued to lead by a narrow margin over Buescher. Byron remained in third place followed by Logano and Kurt Busch. Larson moved up to sixth followed by Stenhouse, Bowman and Newman. Harvick, meanwhile, slipped back to 10th followed by Bell, teammate Truex, Newman, Austin Dillon, Elliott and Kyle Busch. Further behind, Hamlin was in 20th and battling with power issues. 

    Three laps later, Buescher became the third different leader of the day after passing Keselowski. 

    By Lap 60, Buescher extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Byron while Keselowski fell back to third. Kurt Busch was in fourth followed by Logano while teammates Larson and Bowman were in sixth and seventh. Stenhouse fell back to eighth followed by Newman and Truex. Harvick, meanwhile, was back in 11th. 

    Four laps later, the caution flew due to fluid on the backstretch coming from the No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by James Davison, who had smoke and flames erupting beneath the car as Davison made the turn to the garage.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Buescher retained the lead following a stellar four-tire stop over names like Keselowski, Logano, Truex, Bowman and Kurt Busch. During the pit stops, Byron dropped from second to seventh

    The race restarted on Lap 72 with Buescher and Keselowski on the front row. At the start, Keselowski and Buescher battled for the lead followed by Bowman, who muscled his way inside the top three over Logano, as the field fanned out to three lanes through the backstretch. 

    The following lap, Keselowski was back in the lead followed by Buescher, Bowman, Truex and Logano.

    With the laps in the first stage closing, Buescher closed back in on Keselowski in a battle for the lead. After pressuring Keselowski for the top spot, Buescher moved back into the top spot with two laps remaining in the first stage.

    Following his late charge and strong start in the early portions of the race, Buescher was able to easily cruise his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang to the first stage victory on Lap 80. Keselowski trailed back by nearly a second followed by Truex, Byron and teammate Bowman. Larson settled in sixth followed by Logano, Elliott, Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon.

    Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road and Buescher exited pit road in first place following another stellar pit stop. Keselowski exited pit road in second place followed by Bowman, teammate Elliott and Logano

    The second stage started on Lap 87 with Buescher and Keselowski on the front row. At the start, Buescher and Keselowski battled for the lead while Logano was mired in a tight battle with all four Hendrick Motorsports competitors. 

    Shortly after, Elliott mounted his way towards the front after overtaking his teammates, Logano and Keselowski for positions. By Lap 88, Elliott muscled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the lead after passing Buescher in Turn 1. 

    With Elliott in the lead, teammate Larson and Buescher, both of whom overtook Keselowski, battled for second place. Byron and Bowman, teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, were in fifth and sixth. Truex was in seventh while Logano dropped back to eighth. Hamlin, who struggled at the start, was up in ninth followed by Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch and Cole Custer.

    On Lap 93, Buescher reassumed the lead over Elliott, who led four laps. Two laps later, Buescher stretched his advantage to nearly half a second over Elliott as teammate Larson settled in third. Teammates Byron and Bowman were in fourth and seventh while Keselowski, Truex and Logano were in fifth, sixth and eighth.

    Five laps later, teammates Larson, Elliott and Byron were locked in a heated battle for the runner-up spot, with Larson and Byron prevailing and moving up.

    By Lap 100, Buescher was leading by more than a second over Larson, who had teammate Byron closing in for more. Behind, teammate Elliott was locked in a battle with Truex for fourth place. Keselowski was in sixth followed by Bowman, Kurt Busch, Logano and Hamlin.

    Ten laps later, Buescher stabilized his advantage to more than one-and-a-half seconds. Behind, Truex overtook Larson and Byron for the runner-up spot while Kurt Busch worked his way back into sixth place. Elliott fell back to sixth followed by teammate Bowman, Keselowski, Hamlin and Austin Dillon.

    Another five laps later, Byron overtook teammate Larson for third place. By then, Buescher was still in the lead by more than a second over Truex.

    Shortly after, the first round of pit stops under green commenced as Newman pitted followed by Ross Chastain, Matt DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. Hamlin, Elliott, Keselowski, Logano, Aric Almirola, Bell, Byron, Bowman, Custer, Michael McDowell, Truex, Kurt Busch, Larson, Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, Corey LaJoie and race leader Buescher pitted in the ensuing laps.

    When the majority of pit stops under green were completed, Truex emerged with the lead on Lap 125 moments after Daniel Suarez and Bubba Wallace pitted under green.

    By Lap 135, Truex was leading by nearly two seconds over Buescher while Byron was in third, trailing by more than four seconds. Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon were in the top five. Bowman was in sixth followed by Newman, Hamlin, Larson and teammate Elliott while Keselowski was in 11th. Earlier, Elliott, who made a three-wide move on teammate Larson and Keselowski for position through Turns 3 and 4, slipped up and got loose, though he was able to avoid wrecking in front of Keselowski.

    Behind the leaders, Logano was in 13th, Harvick was in 14th and Kyle Busch was in 18th.

    With the first 150 laps of the race complete, Truex remained in the lead by nearly two seconds over Buescher. Byron continued to run in third place followed by Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon. Bowman remained in sixth place followed by Hamlin, Larson, Newman and Almirola. Behind were Harvick, Keselowski and Elliott while teammates Logano and Blaney rounded out the top 15. 

    Three laps later, the caution returned when smoke billowed out of Corey LaJoie’s No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE due to his engine letting go down the backstretch.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Truex retained the lead after exiting pit road in first place followed by teammate Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Byron and Buescher.

    The race restarted with a one-lap dash to conclude the second stage as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Hamlin were on the front row. At the start, teammates Truex and Hamlin battled dead even through Turns 1 and 2. 

    Entering Turn 3, Hamlin squeaked ahead and tried to slide in front of teammate Truex for the lead. Byron, meanwhile, had other plans and made the inside lane work to his advantage as he powered through both JGR competitors and came out on top to claim the second stage victory on Lap 160. Hamlin settled in second followed by teammate Kurt Busch, Truex and Larson. Buescher, Harvick, Blaney, Bowman and Keselowski were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some led by Truex pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track.

    With 100 laps remaining, the final stage commenced with Byron and Hamlin on the front row. At the start, Byron retained the lead followed by Hamlin as the field fanned out to three, four and five lanes through Turns 1 and 2. 

    When the field returned to the start/finish line, Byron continued to lead by a narrow margin over Hamlin while Larson overtook Kurt Busch for third place. Truex and Harvick were in fifth and sixth while Custer, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick were in the top 10.

    With 90 laps remaining, Byron continued to lead by nearly a second over teammate Larson, who was locked in a heated battle with Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Truex was close behind in fourth while Kurt Busch was in the top five. Custer moved up to sixth place followed by Harvick, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Reddick. Bowman was in 11th followed by Kyle Busch, McDowell, Ross Chastain and Newman. Bell and DiBenedetto were in 16th and 17th followed by Bubba Wallace, Blaney and Buescher. Elliott was all the way back in 23rd while Logano was in 25th in front of rookie Chase Briscoe. 

    Twenty laps later, Byron remained in the lead by more than a second over Truex. Larson, Hamlin and Kurt Busch were in the top five followed by Harvick, who overtook teammate Custer for position. McDowell worked his way up to eighth followed by Reddick and Keselowski.

    Under the final 70 laps of the race, the caution returned for an on-track incident involving Aric Almirola and Blaney, where Almirola tried to slide up in front of Blaney entering Turn 3 and the two made contact that resulted with both competitors making contact against the outside wall and sustaining damage to their respective machines.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Larson, whose pit crew struggled throughout the event, emerged with the lead following a stellar pit stop. Truex exited in second place followed by Kurt Busch, Hamlin and Harvick while Byron dropped back to sixth place. Following the pit stops, however, Hamlin was busted with a pit road speeding penalty.

    The races restarted with 60 laps remaining. At the start, Truex squeaked ahead while Larson fought back on the inside lane. While Truex and Larson battled for the lead, Byron made a bold three-wide move to overtake Keselowski and Harvick for third place. Byron then went to work on teammate Larson for the runner-up spot, which he prevailed. 

    Not long after, Byron reassumed the lead with 58 laps remaining after passing Truex with Larson lurking behind. Custer, meanwhile, worked his way into fifth place as he went to work in challenging Keselowski for fourth place. 

    With 55 laps remaining, a three-way battle for fifth place heated up between Kurt Busch, Harvick and Keselowski. Meanwhile, Byron was leading by nearly half a second over Truex with Larson behind by less than a second and Custer trailing by two seconds.

    Five laps later, Byron remained in the lead by over teammate Larson, who prevailed over a late battle with Truex. 

    Under the final 50 laps of the race and with the lights coming on as the race fell into night conditions, Kurt Busch, who was battling Custer for fourth place, radioed vibration issues to his No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.

    With 40 laps remaining, Byron stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Larson. Truex remained in third place followed by Kurt Busch and Custer.

    Shortly after, Kurt Busch surrendered his top-five spot on the track to pit under green for tires and following his vibration issues. 

    With 30 laps remaining, Byron’s advantage over teammate Larson remained unchanged as Byron led by more than two seconds. Truex remained in third place, trailing by more than three seconds, while teammates Harvick and Custer trailed by more than eight seconds. By then, Logano made a pit stop under green. Shortly after, teammate Keselowski also pitted under green for four fresh tires.

    With 20 laps remaining, Byron stretched his advantage in his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to four seconds over Larson’s No. 5 Nations Guard Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE with Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry trailing by nearly five seconds.

    With 10 laps remaining, Byron remained in the lead by less than five seconds over teammate Larson. Truex was in third place and more than five seconds behind Byron, though he was closing in on Larson for the runner-up spot. Reddick was in fourth followed by Harvick. Teammate Custer remained in sixth followed by McDowell, Newman, Bowman and Kyle Busch.

    Under five laps remaining, Byron continued to lead while a three-car battle for the runner-up spot ensued between Larson, Truex and Reddick. Utilizing the outside lane to his advantage while running close to the outside wall, Reddick moved into third place. Entering Turn 4, however, he got loose underneath Larson, though he prevented the car from spinning out.

    With Byron long gone with the lead, the battle for the runner-up spot continued to heat up as Reddick overtook Truex for third place and went to work on Larson for more, which he prevailed not long after.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Byron was out in front by nearly four seconds over Reddick and Larson. With no challengers coming close, Byron was able to cruise around the circuit for a final time and come back around to claim the checkered flag in first place and with a victory margin of nearly three seconds.

    With his second Cup career victory and first since winning at Daytona International Speedway in August 2020, Byron, who led a race-high 102 laps, became the third different winner of the 2021 season. While he snapped a two-race streak featuring first-time Cup winners, he extended the race-winning streak of Hendrick Motorsports to 36 consecutive seasons.

    The victory was the first of the season for Hendrick Motorsports and the 95th career victory for the No. 24 car. The victory was also the first in the Cup Series for crew chief Ryan “Rudy” Fugle, who worked and won seven Truck Series races with Byron in 2016. 

    “That guy [Fugle] has been huge for my career,” Byron said on FOX. “He’s the reason I’m here. I’m glad we could get him [a win]. He’s just awesome and this whole team did a phenomenal job. Everybody, pit crew, over the wall. Extremely blessed…I can’t even believe it. It was just a really smooth day and we worked hard in the winter on this track. I can’t believe it.”

    “You had to go with the wall at certain times; (Turns) 3 and 4 were really fast up there,” Byron added. “I definitely didn’t do it as good as the Xfinity cars do it, but I used it when I had to, and this car was just awesome. It’s really a lot of hard work. I think we went to the [simulator] four or five times this off-season and it just pays off, man. It’s awesome.”

    Behind, Reddick tied his career-best result after finishing in second place as he fell short in becoming the third first-time winner within the first three Cup races of the 2021 season. Compared to Saturday’s Xfinity Series event at Homestead, where his car failed post-race inspection and the driver was disqualified from his runner-up result to winner Myatt Snider, Reddick’s car passed the Cup post-race inspection process and he was able to remain in second place officially. Despite the result, he was less than pleased in falling short of the win.

    “Second place, it’s a good night considering how the first two weekends have went,” Reddick said. “I needed to get this Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevy to Victory Lane because if I would’ve, it would’ve gotten a lot of people in America free chicken tenders on Monday night. Once I really saw how fast we were in clean air, at the end there and I saw how fast we were catching everybody, it’s beyond frustrating. Just two or three different decision on a restart would’ve put me miles ahead and I would’ve been within reach. Second’s great, but I saw how much faster I was than those guys there at the end. Naturally, it’s frustrating.” 

    Truex, meanwhile, was able to squeak ahead of Larson to take third place while Harvick rounded out the top five.

    “I felt like that last run, for whatever reason, it didn’t do what it’d done all day,” Truex said. “[Byron] and [Larson] got by us on that restart, I’m like, ‘Alright, I’m just gonna take care of it here and hope that this is gonna be a really long run.’ That’s where we were strong all day. It just never happened. My balance got off there the last 40 laps or so and the car wouldn’t do what it did earlier. So close. The guys did a great job. It was a solid good effort for our Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry. Just proud of everybody for working hard. It’s definitely something we can build on.”

    “That got pretty intense there at the end, “Larson said on MRN. “[I was] Just trying to take care of my tires and was just struggling on the long runs. Loose for the majority of the race and there that last run, [I] actually got tight. But I felt like being tight was better for my long run just because I could be just a little more confident leading with the right front than the right rear. A top-five finish, I would’ve like to finish second, but those guys were better than me at the end and just couldn’t hold them off. I hate that I gave up those spots but all in all, a good day for the Nations Guard team.”

    McDowell, Newman, Kurt Busch, Bowman and Kyle Busch completed the top 10 on the track. Hamlin settled in 11th, Elliott was in 14th, Keselowski ended up 16th and Logano finished all the way back in 25th.

    There were 20 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 36 laps. 

    Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 20 points over Harvick, 31 over Logano, 33 over McDowell, 34 over Elliott and 35 over Kurt Busch.

    Results.

    1. William Byron, 102 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Tyler Reddick

    3. Martin Truex Jr., 37 laps led

    4. Kyle Larson, five laps led

    5. Kevin Harvick

    6. Michael McDowell

    7. Ryan Newman

    8. Kurt Busch

    9. Alex Bowman

    10. Kyle Busch

    11. Denny Hamlin

    12. Austin Dillon

    13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    14. Chase Elliott, four laps led

    15. Daniel Suarez, one lap led

    16. Brad Keselowski, 47 laps led

    17. Ross Chastain

    18. Chase Briscoe

    19. Chris Buescher, 57 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    20. Christopher Bell

    21. Ryan Preece

    22. Bubba Wallace, two laps led

    23. Cole Custer

    24. Anthony Alfredo

    25. Joey Logano, 12 laps led

    26. Justin Haley, one lap down

    27. Erik Jones, one lap down

    28. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

    29. Ryan Blaney, one lap down

    30. Aric Almirola, three laps down

    31. Garrett Smithley, four laps down

    32. Cody Ware, six laps down

    33. Josh Bilicki, eight laps down

    34. B.J. McLeod, nine laps down

    35. Quin Houff, nine laps down

    36. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Engine

    37. James Davison – OUT, Engine

    38. Timmy Hill – OUT, Electrical

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the first of a two-race West Coast swing for the series. The Vegas event in Nevada will occur on Sunday, March 7, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.