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  • Keselowski rolls to a dominant win at New Hampshire

    Keselowski rolls to a dominant win at New Hampshire

    With his status for next season uncertain, Brad Keselowski reignited his momentum for his second Cup title by dominating and prevailing over several battles with Denny Hamlin to win the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the 20th race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. The win was Keselowski’s third of this season, second at New Hampshire, third with crew chief Jeremy Bullins and 33rd of his Cup career, which moved him into a tie with the late NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Fireball Roberts for 24th on the all-time wins list.

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Aric Almirola started on pole position for the third time this season and was joined on the front row with Denny Hamlin, a three-time winner at New Hampshire and last week’s winner at Kansas Speedway. 

    Prior to the race, Jerry Baxter, crew chief for Bubba Wallace and the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team, and Ryan Sparks, crew chief for Corey LaJoie and the No. 32 Go Fas Racing Ford Mustang team, were both suspended from the race due to a pre-race inspection infraction for an improperly mounted ballast. In addition, both Wallace and LaJoie started at the rear of the field and were each docked 10 points. Engineer Roy Gangdal served as LaJoie’s interim crew chief while the No. 43 team went into a group effort for Wallace. Austin Dillon also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

    When the green flag waved, Almirola, who started on the outside lane, jumped to an early advantage followed by Brad Keselowski while Denny Hamlin, who started on the inside lane and had issues getting started, dropped to third. Behind, Kyle Busch moved his way into fourth place followed by Clint Bowyer while Chase Elliott dropped to sixth. 

    On the third lap, Keselowski made his move beneath Almirola to move into the lead. Behind, Kurt Busch slipped up the racing groove entering Turn 3 and dropped all the way back to 18th. While Keselowski continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Almirola, teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin along with Bowyer battled intensely for third with Elliott lurking behind. 

    On Lap 10, Blaney missed the racing groove in Turn 3 while running 10th and nearly slapped the outside wall, though he was able to gather his car back into the racing groove entering Turn 4. By the time he gathered his No. 12 Menards/Sylvania/Team Penske Ford Mustang back, he had fallen back to 15th. A lap later, a similar thing happened to William Byron, who nearly collected teammate Jimmie Johnson in the process when Byron and his No. 24 Liberty University/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE slipped. Byron’s miscue dropped him back to 15th as he was locked into a battle with rookie Tyler Reddick.

    A few laps later, Bowyer and Elliott made their way into the top five, which dropped Kyle Busch back to sixth and with Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano closing in towards Busch. 

    The first caution flew on Lap 15 when Kyle Busch blew a right-front tire and went dead straight into the Turn 3 outside wall as he sustained significant damage to the right side of his No. 18 Pedigree/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry. Following his incident, Busch nursed his No. 18 Toyota back to pit road and made the left-hand turn to the garage as he parked his car near his hauler and his race came to an early end. The incident also extended his winless streak this season to 20 races.

    “Just going down the backstretch there and about halfway down the backstretch, I felt it go flat and tried to get it slowed down enough without taking everybody else running over me behind me down the straightaway,” Busch said after being released from the infield care center on NBCSN. “I don’t know. I think there’s a replay of another Pedigree car here a few years ago that blew a right-front tire for absolutely no reason, too. Seems to be our luck with the Pedigree car here at New Hampshire. Sorry to all of our fans and all the Pedigree folks, but it’s still 2020.”

    Under caution, many that included Hamlin, Bowyer, Harvick, Kurt Busch, Erik Jones and others pitted for tires while the rest led by Keselowski and Almirola remained on track. Following the pit stops, Jones was held a lap for pitting outside his pit box.

    The race restarted on Lap 22 and Keselowski retained the lead followed by teammate Logano. Johnson gained a huge run on the outside lane entering Turn 4 to move into third place over Almirola while Elliott and Reddick battled for fifth. Behind, rookie Cole Custer moved into seventh followed by Hamlin and Byron. Harvick, the first car on fresh tires, moved back into 10th followed by Blaney and Bowyer. On Lap 25, Byron missed the racing groove entering Turn 3 for the second time of the day while battling inside the top 10 as he fell back to 16th. 

    While the battling for positions continued to ensue around the track, Keselowski was able to stabilize his advantage by nearly a second over teammate Logano by the time the competition flew on Lap 30. Under caution, a majority led by Logano pitted while others led by Keselowski, Hamlin, Reddick, Blaney and Harvick remained on track. Following the pit stops, LaJoie was assessed an over-the-wall too soon pit penalty. 

    When the race restarted on Lap 35, Keselowski retained the lead while Hamlin prevailed in a battle with Blaney for the runner-up spot. Bowyer, meanwhile, moved into fourth followed by Matt DiBenedetto and Harvick. 

    On Lap 38, Hamlin started to challenge Keselowski for the lead. He made a few attempts to move Keselowski for the lead, including bumping Keselowski’s rear bumper to loosen up the 2012 Cup champion, but Keselowski still prevailed with the top spot. Shortly after, Blaney joined the party as he started challenging Hamlin for the runner-up spot. 

    On Lap 44, Blaney moved into the runner-up spot after bumping Hamlin out of the way the previous lap as he started to set his sights towards teammate Keselowski for the lead. Behind, Bowyer and DiBenedetto continued battling for fourth followed by Harvick and Truex. Johnson, Bell and Byron were running in the top 10 while Logano, following his slow pit stop under the competition caution, was back in 12th ahead of Almirola. Elliott was in 14th followed by Reddick and Kurt Busch while Jones, who got back to the lead lap, was in 18th.

    On Lap 50, with the clouds and weather concerns surrounding the track, Keselowski was still leading by a narrow margin over teammate Blaney and Hamlin with the trio being two seconds ahead of Bowyer and DiBenedetto. 

    Three laps later, Blaney made a challenge for the lead over Keselowski, but was unable to clear his teammate for the lead as he lost his momentum and allowed Hamlin to move back into the runner-up spot. Another five laps later, Hamlin muscled his way to the lead but a lap later, Keselowski took it back while Blaney went to work again for the runner-up spot. 

    On Lap 61, following a heated, intense battle with two Penske competitors, Hamlin was able to move into the lead and retain it while being pressured by Keselowski and Blaney. Shortly after, the caution flew when Johnson got loose underneath Bowyer while battling for position and spun entering Turn 2. He was able to continue without sustaining any significant damage to his No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.

    Under caution, the majority of competitors led by Keselowski pitted while some led by Blaney and Byron remained on track. Following the pit stops, Elliott was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

    With seven laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted under green with Blaney remaining as the leader. Behind, Hamlin, on fresh tires, bolted his way into the runner-up spot as the shuffling of positions ensued behind the leaders. With five laps remaining in the stage, Hamlin muscled his way back into the lead. Truex moved into the runner-up spot as Blaney fell back to third on older tires. Shortly after, Harvick moved into third followed by Blaney while Bell and Keselowski battled for position. 

    With the battling for positions continuing and light rain drops being reported near the track, Hamlin was able to cruise to the first stage win on Lap 75 as he also recorded his third stage victory of the season. Teammate Truex settled in the runner-up spot followed by Harvick, Bell and Keselowski while Blaney, Bowyer, Logano, Preece and Almirola settled in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some like Blaney, Bowyer, Bell, Byron, Harvick, Custer, Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez and others pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on track.

    The second stage commenced on Lap 83 with Hamlin retaining the lead. Behind, teammate Truex remained in sight for the lead while Harvick moved into third over Bell. Keselowski was in fifth followed by teammate Logano, Almirola, Kurt Busch, Ryan Preece and DiBenedetto. 

    By Lap 90, with the intense racing from earlier easing down, Hamlin was still ahead by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Truex followed by Harvick, Keselowski and Bell. Behind, Elliott was in 13th followed by Blaney, Matt Kenseth, Custer and Jones. Byron was in 18th ahead of Ryan Newman and Bowman while Wallace was in 21st ahead of Reddick. Bowyer was in 24th while Johnson was in 27th. Not long after, the caution flew due to rain. By then, Harvick had overtaken Truex for the runner-up spot.

    Under caution, where the field continued to remain on track under cautious pace, nearly the entire field led by Hamlin pitted while few like Harvick, Blaney, Wallace and Bowyer remained on track. Following the pit stops, Truex was assessed an uncontrolled tire violation penalty and was sent to the rear of the field.

    With the race surpassing 100 laps, the race restarted as Harvick and Blaney engaged in a heated battle for the lead before Harvick cleared the field entering Turn 4. Behind, Hamlin, who restarted sixth on fresh tires, bolted his way to the runner-up spot while Logano moved into fourth. Soon after, Logano moved into third ahead of his two Penske teammates, Blaney and Keselowski, Behind, Bowyer was locked into a battle with Bell for sixth.

    On lap 104, Hamlin returned to the lead and three laps later, Logano moved into the runner-up spot over Harvick. Another three laps later, Keselowski moved into third. Behind, Bell was in fifth followed by Blaney, Bowyer, Almirola, Kurt Busch and Elliott, who was just ahead of teammate Byron.

    By Lap 125, Hamlin was leading by a second over Logano, who was starting to be pressured by teammate Keselowski for position. Harvick was still in fourth followed by Bell while Almirola was in sixth ahead of Blaney, Bowyer, Elliott and Byron, all of whom were in the top 10. Truex was in 14th following his pit penalty while Johnson was in 20th.

    Five laps later, Hamlin was still leading by nearly two seconds over Keselowski, who overtook Logano for the runner-up spot. Another two laps later, Almirola overtook teammate Harvick for the fourth spot.

    On Lap 141, Hamlin, who struggled with passing and lapping teammate Jones in Turn 2, was overtaken for the lead in Turn 3 by Keselowski. The lead for Keselowski, however, did not last long as Hamlin crossed over beneath Keselowski and moved back into the lead, though Keselowski remained within sight of his target for the top spot. 

    On Lap 146, Hamlin, who struggled with passing and lapping Wallace in Turn 2 again, passed Hamlin for the lead again in Turn 3 and entering Turn 4. This time, Keselowski was able to prevail on the outside lane in Turn 1 the following lap to retain the lead with clear race track while Hamlin went to work in challenging Keselowski back for the lead. Soon after, Keselowski started to approach a handful of cars that included Michael McDowell and Ty Dillon in lapping them, but he was ahead by nearly a second over Hamlin.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 151, Keselowski was ahead by more than a second over Hamlin followed by Logano, Almirola and Harvick, who was trailing by nearly 10 seconds. Ten laps later, Keselowski extended his advantage by more than three seconds over Hamlin with Logano trailing by nearly four seconds. Almirola was still in fourth, trailing by five seconds, while Byron moved up to fifth, trailing by nearly 12 seconds. Behind, Bell moved into sixth after passing Harvick while Bowyer, DiBenedetto and Elliott were in the top 10. Truex was in 11th while Johnson was in 19th.

    On Lap 166, Harvick made a pit stop under green for fresh tires and fuel. Nearly five laps later, just as Blaney entered pit road for service, the caution flew due to a spin in Turn 2 involving Bell, who was having a strong run prior to his incident caused by a flat tire. Under caution, the lead lap cars led by Keselowski, Hamlin and Logano pitted. Following the pit stops, Austin Dillon was the first off of pit road following a two-tire stop followed by Keselowski, Hamlin, Almirola, Byron and Logano. 

    With less than 10 laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted and Keselowski prevailed on four fresh tires to move into the lead through Turns 1 and 2. Behind, Hamlin moved into the runner-up spot while Almirola was in third. Logano moved into fourth ahead of Byron while Bowyer tried to shove his way into sixth between Austin Dillon and Truex. Shortly after, the caution flew when Kenseth spun in Turn 2. Under caution, with light sprinkles reported on the track, some like Blaney, Jones, Chris Buescher, Stenhouse, Ty Dillon and rookie Brennan Poole pitted while the rest remained on track.

    With two laps remaining in the stage, the racing under green resumed and Keselowski retained the lead through Turn 1 until Hamlin took it back in Turn 2. On the final lap of the stage, Keselowski and Hamlin battled against one another for the lead and Keselowski was just able to clear Hamlin entering Turn 4 to win the second stage on Lap 185 for his sixth stage victory of the season. Hamlin was in second followed by Logano, Almirola and Byron while Bowyer, Austin Dillon, Truex, Elliott and DiBenedetto settled in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some like Austin Dillon, Harvick, Reddick, Wallace, Suarez and McDowell pitted while the rest remained on track.

    The final stage started with approximately 110 laps remaining with Keselowski leading, but Hamlin muscled his way into the lead the following lap. While Hamlin and Keselowski continued battling back and forth against one another for the lead, Byron started to challenge Almirola for third place, which he prevailed as he started to set his sights on the front two for the lead. Behind, Logano was in fifth ahead of Elliott and Truex with Bowyer, DiBenedetto and Johnson in the top 10. 

    Four laps after the restart, the caution returned for another single-car incident involving Kenseth, who blew a right-front tire. Under caution, some like Blaney, Harvick, Logano, Ty Dillon and McDowell pitted while the rest remained on track.

    With approximately 100 laps remaining, the race restarted and Keselowski reassumed the lead while Hamlin and Byron battled for the runner-up spot. A lap later, Hamlin was able to clear Byron for the runner-up spot while Almirola, Truex, DiBenedetto and Elliott railed behind. Johnson was in eighth followed by Custer and Bowyer. Another three laps later, a race turned bad became worse for Kenseth when he drew another caution due to another cut tire. Following his third incident, Kenseth took his No. 42 Clover/Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the garage and retired. 

    Under caution, a majority of competitors led by Keselowski, Hamlin and Byron pitted. Following the pit stops, Logano, who miscommunicated with crew chief Paul Wolfe in opting to pit the previous caution and who pitted again this time with the field, emerged ahead after a fuel only stop followed by Ty Dillon, Hamlin, Byron, Keselowski and Truex. When the field cycled through, Elliott moved into the lead after opting to remain on track followed by Stenhouse, Bell, Blaney, Harvick and J.J. Yeley.

    With 93 laps remaining, the race restarted and Elliott retained the lead followed by Blaney and Stenhouse while Hamlin moved his way towards the top five. While Elliott and Blaney battled for the lead, Hamlin continued moving up the pack as he worked his way to third. Logano was in fifth, one spot ahead of Keselowski, while Harvick was in seventh. 

    Not long after the restart, the caution fell again when rookie John Hunter Nemechek made hard contact into the Turn 3 outside wall when he blew a right-front tire. Under caution, some like Elliott, Blaney, Stenhouse, Harvick, Bell, the Dillon brothers and McDowell pitted while the rest led by Hamlin, Logano and Keselowski remained on track.

    With 83 laps remaining, the race restarted under green and Hamlin retained the lead while Keselowski issued another challenge for the lead. Three laps later, Keselowski returned to the lead with Logano lurking behind. Truex was in fourth followed by Johnson and DiBenedetto. Byron, Custer, Reddick and Bowyer were in the top 10.

    With 75 laps remaining and with the skies starting to darken while overshadowed by the clouds, Keselowski and Hamlin continued to battle against one another intensely for the lead. Behind, Truex moved into third place, but not before Logano issued a challenge to retain the spot. Also, DiBenedetto moved into the top five ahead of Johnson while Byron and Custer battled inside the top 10. Elliott was in 12th ahead of Bowyer, Blaney was in 17th and Harvick was in 19th.

    Fifteen laps later, Keselowski was still ahead by more than a second over Hamlin and nearly two seconds over Truex. Logano was in fourth, trailing by nearly four seconds, followed by DiBenedetto. Johnson was in sixth followed by Byron, Almirola, Custer and Elliott while Reddick was in 11th ahead of Harvick. Behind, Kurt Busch was in 14th and Blaney was trapped in 16th.

    With approximately 50 laps remaining, Bell made a pit stop under green due to a flat right-rear tire, which ended his hopes of posting a top-10 result following an up-and-down day. Ten laps later, Keselowski was still leading by more than a second and a half over Hamlin with Truex, Logano and DiBenedetto trailing behind by four seconds or more.

    Another 10 laps later, Keselowski extended his advantage by more than two seconds over Hamlin with Truex trailing by less than five seconds. Logano was in fourth, trailing by eight seconds, followed by DiBenedetto, Almirola and Johnson. Harvick, one of the fastest cars on the circuit, continued charging his way up to eighth followed by Custer and Byron. Two laps later, Harvick overtook Johnson for seventh place.

    With 20 laps remaining, with fuel becoming the topic for some in terms of making it to the end, Keselowski extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Hamlin with Truex, Logano and DiBenedetto trailing by less than 10 seconds. 

    With 10 laps remaining, Keselowski was still ahead by less than three seconds over Hamlin as he started to approach lapped traffic. Once he was able to navigate his way through traffic, he was able to conserve and save enough fuel for the final 10 laps to take the checkered flag by 1.6 seconds over Hamlin after leading a race-high 184 laps and following an intense battle between the two veterans.

    Keselowski’s victory was also the sixth of the season for car owner Roger Penske and the 21st Cup career win for the new Ford Mustang since its inception for the 2019 season. The win at New Hampshire also marked the eighth season where Keselowski has won three or more races in a Cup season.

    “We’ve had a lot of great races this year with the 2 car, but we just hadn’t really went out and kind of dominated a race,” Keselowski said on NBCSN in front of an estimated crowd of 12,000 fans. “I was talking to Jeremy Bullins and that’s what we need to get to that next level. We’re right there, we need to go out and just dominate a race and that’s what today was for us with the Western Star/Alliance Truck Parts Ford Mustang. I’m really proud of my team and the effort they gave today. … It’s so great to be racing in front of fans again. It feels like forever, so welcome back, guys. Jeremy and this whole team’s been a kick in the butt for me to make me a little bit better and push me to find another level, and we’re doing that so far. I’m just really thankful. I’m in a great spot here and hungry for more wins. I don’t want to stop here. I want us to keep going and I know this team can do it.”

    Hamlin, who led 92 laps, settled in the runner-up spot for the third time this season and second in a row at New Hampshire as he also collected his 11th top-five finish of this season.

    “We just kind of were second there to [Keselowski],” Hamlin said. “We could really do well on restarts and we were going back-and-forth. Wow, that was some really, really good short track racing there. Hopefully the fans liked what they saw there with me and [Keselowski] for most of the day. Some great side-by-side racing. We treated each other fair and it’s good that we got one-two out of it.”

    Behind Keselowski and Hamlin, Truex made a nice rebound from his uncontrolled tire violation penalty to finish in third place followed by Logano and Harvick, who recorded his 13th top-five result of this season.

    “We ran second in the first stage and had a tire get away on pit road, had to come from the back,” Truex, who recorded his fifth top-five finish of the season, said. “That definitely made things a lot more challenging. [I] Had a decent Sport Clips Toyota, just wasn’t quite driving like we needed it to and then it kind of burned the tires off after 25 or 30 laps. We could hang with them and we would fall consistently off [Keselowski] and [Hamlin]. Third-best car and we finished third so all in all, a good day. Just have to find a little bit more. Just missed the balance a little bit today. Love coming up here to Loudon and this was a fun day.”

    DiBenedetto, Almirola and Custer finished sixth, seventh and eighth while Elliott and Reddick overtook Byron and Johnson in the final laps to round out the top 10. Johnson finished 12th in his 35th and final race at New Hampshire, one spot behind teammate Byron, while Bowyer, a two-time Cup New Hampshire winner, finished 18th, two spots ahead of Blaney.

    There were 22 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 52 laps.

    With his top-five finish, Harvick continues to lead the regular-season standings by 81 points over Keselowski with Hamlin trailing by 115 points and Blaney trailing by 118 points.

    Results.

    1. Brad Keselowski, 184 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Denny Hamlin, 92 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    3. Martin Truex Jr.

    4. Joey Logano

    5. Kevin Harvick, six laps led

    6. Matt DiBenedetto

    7. Aric Almirola, three laps led

    8. Cole Custer

    9. Chase Elliott, nine laps led

    10. Tyler Reddick

    11. William Byron

    12. Jimmie Johnson

    13. Austin Dillon, three laps led

    14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    15. Alex Bowman

    16. Ryan Preece

    17. Kurt Busch

    18. Clint Bowyer 

    19. Michael McDowell

    20. Ryan Blaney, five laps led

    21. Ryan Newman, one lap down

    22. Ty Dillon, one lap down

    23. Bubba Wallace, one lap down

    24. Erik Jones, one lap down

    25. Chris Buescher, one lap down

    26. Daniel Suarez, two laps down

    27. Brennan Poole, two laps down

    28. Christopher Bell, two laps down

    29. J.J. Yeley, two laps down

    30. James Davison, three laps down

    31. Garrett Smithley, six laps down

    32. Quin Houff, seven laps down

    33. Timmy Hill, seven laps down

    34. Joey Gase, eight laps down

    35. Corey LaJoie, 39 laps down

    36. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

    37. Matt Kenseth – OUT, Accident

    38. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

    The NASCAR Cup Series will return next weekend and host its second series doubleheader weekend of this season at Michigan International Speedway. The first Cup Michigan race will run on August 8 at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN while the second will run the following day, August 9, at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. 

  • 2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Kansas

    2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Kansas

    With seven races remaining until the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs commences, the battle for the final six vacant spots within the top-16 cutline has changed course yet again. Following Thursday night’s Super Start Batteries 400 at Kansas Speedway, some on the bubble had good nights and kept themselves in contention for the postseason while others struggled and are setting their focus towards next weekend in making up the points lost.

    Ten Cup competitors are still guaranteed a spot to this year’s postseason battle for the championship. This includes Denny Hamlin, who earned his fifth win of 2020 at Kansas as he continues to pursue his first Cup championship. Among others who are guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs include Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon and rookie Cole Custer.

    The first winless competitor who is inside the top-16 cutline continues to be Aric Almirola. For Almirola, who started third based on a random draw, it was another strong night for the Floridian and his No. 10 Smithfield/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team as he finished in the top 10 in both stages, racked up a handful of stage points and survived the late calamity to finish sixth for his best result at Kansas, the same track where he suffered a compression fracture to his T5 Vertebra following his harrowing accident in 2017. While it was another week without a win, the sixth-place result marked Almirola’s 11th top-10 result of the season, eighth in a row, as he is 134 points above the cutline.

    “I’m pretty eager to get a W,” Almirola said. “Man, this race team’s being doing a great job. We’ve been running really good. A long time ago, I would’ve gave anything to just run top 10 every week and run like we’ve been running. When you start tasting victory and you run upfront, you race around those guys, you wanna seal the deal and go to Victory Lane, but tonight, we were just a little bit off. We didn’t have as good of a car compared to the field as we have the last several weeks. Proud of my guys. We just keep chipping away at it, we keep building up that points buffer to the cutoff, which is nice, but now, we’re ready to go get a W and get some bonus points for the Playoffs. So, I think we’re capable and we got a really good race team.”

    Next up are the Busch brothers. For Kyle, who started eighth, the majority of the race had him and his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry towards the front and battling for the lead. After winning the first stage and leading 52 laps, Busch appeared to have a top-five run and even, a late charge for the win established until he made contact with the wall nearing 40 laps remaining. The contact forced Busch to pit under green as he lost a lap to the leaders during his stop. Following two late cautions, however, Busch was able to race his way back onto the lead lap. For the remainder of the race, he worked his way from the top 20 to finish in 11th. Despite remaining winless through the first half of the 2020 season, the reigning Cup Series champion is 120 points above the top-16 cutline.

    “That wasn’t the finish this M&M’S Fudge Brownie Camry deserved today,” Kyle Busch said. “We were tight most of the race and I just got into the wall there. We are making progress and think we showed that tonight. We will go back, get ready and head to New Hampshire next week.”

    For Kurt Busch, who started ninth, Thursday’s race at Kansas was a race where the 2004 Cup champion struggled with adjustments around the track and keeping pace with the leaders, though he remained within sight of the top 10. After finishing in the top 15 the first two stages, Busch battled loose conditions, but was able to work his way into the top 10 in the final laps. He was able to gain one additional spot on track before the checkered flag flew to finish in ninth for his 12th top-10 result of this season. With the finish, Busch and his No. 1 Monster Energy/Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team are 119 points above the cutline.

    “The car was a little tough at times throughout the race,” Kurt Busch said. “We struggled on some of the restarts with tires on heat cycles, but thanks to my guys on this Monster Energy Chevy. We battled hard together and never gave up on working to make it better and try to find the sweetest spot to run. We just need to keep after it and turn these top 10’s into better results.”

    For Clint Bowyer, there is no place like home as the Emporia, Kansas, native arrived back at his home track with an opportunity of locking up a spot in the Playoffs for himself and his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team. The Cup race on Thursday at Kansas, however, was a difficult one for Bowyer, who started 19th, struggled with handling issues, finished outside the top 15 in both stages, sustained minimal damage from a late multi-car wreck and could only work his way up to 14th when the race concluded. The one positive Bowyer was able to walk away with following the race at Kansas was being 42 points above the cutline.

    “Man, we were so loose in the first two stages,” Bowyer said. “We worked hard on it and got it better in the final stage. I don’t know how the heck I didn’t wreck in that [Lap 177] big wreck. We got some damage then we dodged a couple more [wrecks] after that. It was a tough race, but nobody on our One Cure team gave up and our pit crew helped us out a bunch tonight. It’s good to be back in the top 12 in points. That will help our qualifying spot in New Hampshire. It’s always good to be back home in Kansas. I just wish we could have had the fans here tonight. We really missed them and ready to get them back to the track.”

    Unlike Bowyer, Matt DiBenedetto and his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang team were not so fortunate after a late accident cost the driver and the team a handful of points in remaining inside the top-16 cutline. The first half of the race saw DiBenedetto appearing in and out of the top 10 after starting 12th, though he remained poised and in contention for a decent finish. That all came to a crashing halt around 100 laps remaining when he got hit by two cars on the backstretch and made hard contact with the outside wall as he was involved in a multi-car wreck. The damage was beyond repairable for the No. 21 team as DiBenedetto sustained his first DNF of the season and his fourth result outside the top 20. The silver lining for DiBenedetto is the picture of being 35 points above the cutline.

    “I couldn’t tell what was going on,” DiBenedetto said. “I just tried to go low. I saw guys checked up off of [Turn] 2. I didn’t see it. I just got clipped in the right side. Nothing I could do different. I am not going to lie. I am pretty frickin irritated. We have had garbage luck the last couple of weeks.”

    With a 10th-place result on Thursday night at Kansas that included one of his best performances this season, William Byron drew himself back inside the cutline. Starting 15th and racing with interim crew chief/veteran Keith Rodden, the Charlotte native struggled on restarts and could not keep pace with the leaders throughout the first two stages. The final stage was where Byron and the No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team appeared poised for the win as he remained on track on old tires and low fuel in the closing laps, a move that worked to his advantage as he led 27 laps in total. Following a pair of late restarts, however, Byron lost track positions to competitors running on four fresh tires and he was able to hang on to finish 10th when the checkered flag flew. With his sixth top-10 result of this season, Byron holds sole possession of the 16th and final spot to the Playoffs by 10 points.

    “It was a solid finish for us – we needed that for sure for the playoffs,” Byron said. “We started the race way off. We were really loose – just really struggling. The guys, Keith and everybody made a lot of great adjustments throughout the race. It really got us in a position where we could attack. As soon as we got probably 10 laps on our tires, the car felt pretty good. We just stayed out there on no tires, really ran there with [Keselowski] and was able to pass him back for the lead. I thought we were looking really good. Unfortunately, the two tires didn’t really work out for us there at the end. I think we just had too many laps on the left side and struggled there.”

    The first Cup competitor who is a spot below the cutline is rookie Tyler Reddick. Coming off a career-best runner-up finish at Texas Motor Speedway, Reddick, who started 23rd, rocketed his way towards the front as he finished sixth in the first stage. He went on to finish 15th in the second stage while fighting grip and loose conditions to his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. While Reddick had a strong car throughout the race at Kansas, he struggled with balance in the final stage and just missed out for a top-10 result as he settled in 13th when the checkered flag flew. The top-15 finish, nonetheless, allowed Reddick to draw himself to be 10 points below the cutline.

    “We had a fast No. 8 I Am Second Chevrolet on the long runs tonight at Kansas Speedway,” Reddick said. “We just needed a little more on the short runs. It was a tale of two extremes almost, where we fired off extremely loose but about halfway through the race built way too tight. I was able to run the top during Stage 1 before anyone else really could, and that allowed us to climb well up into the top 10 to get some valuable stage points. As the night went on and our car got tighter, I wasn’t able to run up there as well and had to search around for speed to try to keep up with the changing track conditions. Luckily, we were able to avoid a handful of wrecks during Stage 3 and started to climb back up through the field once we were able to loosen our Chevrolet back up a little bit. In the end, we just needed a couple more longer runs to really be able to get back into the top 10 tonight.”

    Trailing behind him is Erik Jones, who needed another strong run in his hopes of making his third consecutive postseason appearance. Starting 21st, Jones was able to carve his way towards the front and notch a 10th-place result in the first stage to collect a valuable stage point. From there, Jones kept himself in contention towards the top 10 and following a series of late cautions and multi-car wrecks, Jones and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry team were able to drive their way into the top five and finish fifth. The top-five result was Jones’ fifth of this season and first since finishing third at Pocono Raceway in June. The finish also allowed the Michigan native to cut his deficit from the top-16 cutline in half from 24 to 12.

    “This is what we needed; we needed a really good points day,” Jones said. “It kind of seems like we’ve been in this spot the last couple of years unfortunately. It feels good to climb out of it. The Reser’s Camry was really good. We started really deep and just could never quite get up to the front and get some clean air. I kind of made a mistake on that last restart, I was trying to push too hard to get to the outside and gave up some ground there on those guys and had to make that back up. Good effort. Pit crew did good and the team gave me a good car. We just have to keep doing that and keep wracking these points up and hopefully get a win.”

    The competitor who took the biggest hit in the points following Kansas was Jimmie Johnson. Starting 20th, Johnson was able to methodically work his way towards the top 10 and remain poised for a decent result following a dismal run the previous race at Texas Motor Speedway. Everything changed with approximately 100 laps remaining when Johnson was involved in a multi-car wreck on the backstretch and sustained significant damage to his No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. While Johnson’s crew tried to repair the No. 48 machine to keep the seven-time Cup champion in contention for the remainder of the race, he was unable to meet the minimum speed requirement to continue with the repairs and was forced to end his race in the garage and in 32nd place, his sixth result this season outside the top 20. Prior to Kansas, Johnson was two points above the top-16 cutline. After Kansas, he is 18 points below the cutline and in jeopardy of missing the Playoffs for the second year in a row and in his final full-time Cup season.

    Another competitor who had a disappointing run at Kansas was Bubba Wallace. Starting 17th, Wallace’s troubles started at the 100-lap mark, when he spun entering Turn 4. More than 70 laps later, Wallace’s race went from bad to worse when he could not avoid a spinning Matt Kenseth entering Turn 4 and broke a right-front suspension during the wrecking process. The damage was enough to terminate Wallace’s long night in the garage as he is 100 points below the cutline.

    Like Johnson and Wallace, Chris Buescher had a dismal run at Kansas. Starting 13th, Buescher’s troubles started under the competition caution when he was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation during his pit stop and was sent to the rear of the field for the ensuing restart. On Lap 143, he spun in Turn 2, but was able to recover. He was not, however, able to avoid a vicious multi-car wreck with less than 90 laps remaining that involved his teammate Ryan Newman and ex-teammate Ryan Preece. The damage to the front of Buescher’s No. 17 Fifth Third Bank/Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang was enough to end his race in the garage and in 33rd place for his ninth finish outside the top 20. The run at Kansas has Buescher 107 below the cutline.

    Other competitors who continue to trail the top-16 cutline by deficits of 111 points or more include Michael McDowell, rookie Christopher Bell, rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Corey LaJoie, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, rookie Brennan Poole and rookie Quin Houff.

    The battle for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will continue next Sunday, August 2, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which will air at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • 2020 NASCAR Cup Rookie of the Year mid-season review

    2020 NASCAR Cup Rookie of the Year mid-season review

    Five months after the first green flag of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season waved, the series has reached its halfway mark of this year. During the first 18 races of the 36-race schedule, a lot has occurred within the sport both on and off the track. From Ryan Newman’s harrowing accident on the final lap of the Daytona 500 to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that paused the on-track racing from nearly two months, from the sport returning at Darlington Raceway in May to running doubleheaders and four to five division series races a week, this season has been like none other in recent years. Among the storylines that have been ongoing throughout this year’s racing season has been the battle for this year’s Rookie-of-the-Year title between six up-and-coming competitors working their way to emerge as the next future stars of the Cup Series.

    Through the first 18 Cup races of this season, Tyler Reddick continues to lead the way in the rookie standings. Even though he is currently 17th in the regular-season standings and is 14 points shy of moving into the top-16 cutline to qualify for the Playoffs, Reddick has recorded a stage win at Talladega Superspeedway in June, the most top-10 results (six) and the best average result (17.17) among his five fellow rookie contenders. He is coming off a career-best result of second place at Texas Motor Speedway, where he finished behind teammate and race winner Austin Dillon following a late strategic call for fuel only. His previous best result was fourth place at Homestead-Miami Speedway in June. In addition to his stats, another factor the Corning, California, native has displayed through the first half of this season is the speed to keep pace and contend against NASCAR’s elite on a weekly basis. With eight races remaining until the Playoffs is set, Reddick and his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team led by crew chief Randall Burnett look to carry the speed and competitiveness throughout this season and from winning the previous two Xfinity Series championships towards contending for the 2020 Cup title.

    Trailing behind Reddick is Christopher Bell. For Bell, it has been an up-and-down first half of his rookie Cup campaign that has seen a major improvement entering the second half of the season. For the first five races of the year, the Oklahoma native and the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota Camry team finished no higher than 21st, sustained two DNFs and were ranked 32nd in the regular-season standings. Since the second Darlington race in May through last weekend’s race at Texas, Bell has recorded five top-10 results and has worked his way up to 21st in the standings. His highlight run was at Pocono Raceway in June, the first of two Pocono races of the weekend, where he rallied from starting 36th to record a career-best fourth-place result ahead of former boss Kyle Busch. He is, however, 102 points below the top-16 cutline to make the Playoffs and needs to generate more strong results to come within reach of the Playoffs mark. With Bell and Leavine Family Racing’s future uncertain beyond 2020, the combo aims to strive for more and emerge as a competitive single-car organization for this season and beyond.

    Also trailing Reddick for the lead in the rookie standings is Cole Custer. While Reddick leads this year’s rookie class, the thing that Custer has, and the others rookies do not have, is a win. That was the case in July, when Custer made a bold, four-wide pass for the lead on the final lap against top names like Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. to score his first NASCAR Cup career win in his 20th series start and in an upset fashion. The victory not only made Custer as the first rookie contender to win a Cup race since 2016, but it also guaranteed the Californian and his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team a spot to this year’s Playoffs with an opportunity to contend for a Cup title. Prior to the win, Custer’s season started off on a low note with a lone top-10 result (ninth) at Phoenix in March along with seven results outside the top 20 in the first 16 races of the season. The turning point came at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the Fourth of July weekend, where he recorded his first top-five finish in NASCAR’s premier series. A week later, ironically, Custer won his first Cup race at Kentucky. Despite being involved in a multi-car wreck last weekend at Texas, Custer and his team appear to adapt to this year’s weekly approach of starting in a position based on a random draw and diving into competitive race trim on race day. With the Playoffs a month away from commencing, Custer and his team have time to continue to gain more momentum and contend for more wins and points that would make the Californian not only a potential Rookie-of-the-Year winner, but also as a title threat for this season.

    Next up is John Hunter Nemechek. A third-generation driver from Mooresville, North Carolina, the opportunity for Nemechek to move to the Cup level came in the final three races of the 2019 season, when he took over the Front Row Motorsports Ford entry driven by Matt Tifft. When Tifft suffered a seizure and opted to focus on his health, Nemechek was named one of two full-time competitors for FRM. He started off his rookie season strong by finishing 11th in the Daytona 500 before he recorded finishes outside the top 20 the following three races. He rebounded on a strong note at Darlington in May by finishing ninth for his first top-10 career result in the Cup level. He finished in the top 20 in four of the next seven races before recording a career-best finish of eighth at Talladega, a result where Nemechek was in race-winning position before being involved in an incident approaching the finish line. Thus far, he has finished in the top 20 nine times and he is currently 25th in the regular-season standings, 120 points below the cutline. With the recent string of consistent finishes inside the top 15 to 20 results and the momentum building for Front Row Motorsports, Nemechek looks to place an FRM entry into their first postseason appearance since 2016 and extend the on-track success previously displayed by his father, Joe.

    Behind him is Brennan Poole. Like Bell, this season marks Poole’s first season ever racing in the Cup level, an opportunity that he announced last December when signing with Premium Motorsports. Unlike Bell, Poole has struggled in keeping pace with his fellow rookie contenders. His lone highlight was finishing 16th in the season-opening Daytona 500 in his first Cup race. For the next 17 races, he has finished no higher than 24th, which occurred at Bristol Motor Speedway in May. With the Texas native 32nd in the regular-season standings, he needs to grab a win and work his way into the top 30 in the standings to have any shot towards making this year’s Playoffs.

    Last but not least is Quin Houff, who was promoted to a full-time driving role in StarCom Racing’s No. 00 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for the 2020 and 2021 Cup seasons. Since his start this season, however, Houff has finished no higher than 23rd, which he finished at Indianapolis. He has also recorded five DNFs this season, including last weekend at Texas, where a last-minute turn to slow and come to pit road resulted with him clipping the cars of Bell and Matt DiBenedetto before wrecking himself out of the race. It was a move that was met by sharp criticism by Brad Keselowski. He is 34th in the regular-season standings and like Poole, he needs to grab a win and generate consistent results towards the front to work his way into the top 30 in the standings and have any shot for this year’s Playoffs.

    While Reddick leads the 2020 Cup Rookie-of-the-Year standings through the first half of this season, Harrison Burton leads the current Xfinity Series rookie standings while Christian Eckes leads the current Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series rookie standings.

    The Cup rookie contenders will embark on an 18-race stretch to conclude this year’s racing season and strive for more on-track success for the future, beginning on Thursday, July 23, for the Super Start Batteries 400 at Kansas Speedway. The race will air at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • 2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Texas

    2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Texas

    With eight races remaining until the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series regular season concludes, another name has been added to the Playoff picture. With a strategic move for fuel only to gain track position and through a series of late restarts, Austin Dillon earned his way into the Playoffs following an upset victory in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

    Of all the accomplishments that Dillon established with his victory at Texas, the biggest one of all was guaranteeing himself and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team a spot in the Playoffs for the fourth time in his career, where he will attempt to become the first NASCAR competitor to record a championship across the sport’s three major division series.

    Dillon’s win makes it 10 Cup Series competitors that are guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs by virtue of a victory, a list that include Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman and rookie Cole Custer. Dillon’s win also leaves six spots vacant with the 2020 Playoffs a month away from commencing.

    For the third time in the previous four weeks, including Sunday’s race at Texas, Aric Almirola and the No. 10 Smithfield/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team had a potential shot in winning a race. Despite starting on pole by virtue of a random draw and leading 35 laps, an early pit road penalty for violating the blend-line rule cost Almirola track position and two laps from the leaders. He was able to race his way towards the front in the closing laps of the race before he settled in 10th for his 10th top-10 result of the season. The result has Almirola 109 points above the top-16 cutline and as the highest competitor in points with no recorded victories 18 races into the 2020 regular season.

    “One of these days we’ll get everything to go our way,” Almirola said. “That was my fault on the penalty, but we had such a fast car and got it back in position to compete for a win again before that caution came out. We’re still bringing fast Smithfield Ford Mustangs every weekend and we learned a lot for when we come back here and compete for a championship.”

    Behind, the Busch brothers had strong runs at the Lone Star state. Kurt and the No. 1 Monster Energy/Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team capped off a race with top-10 results in the two stages to finish eighth, a result that keeps Kurt 108 points above the cutline. Kyle, on the other hand, rallied from being involved in a midway multi-car accident that involved his teammate, Truex Jr., to battle for the lead late in the race before settling in fourth. To go along with top-10 results in both stages, Kyle is 95 points above the cutline in his quest to defend his series title. The Busch brothers also continue to pursue their first victory of this season.

    “We had one of our best points days so far this season with the Monster Energy Camaro,” Kurt Busch said. “We scored stage points in the first and second stages, followed by another top-10 result. I really battled a loose handling car all day, it was really difficult on the restarts and short-runs, so I really had to work my butt off there at the end with all the cautions.”

    “It was a good finish and proud of the effort for everyone on this Interstate Batteries team,” Kyle Busch said. “We came a long way today. We got a lot of damage on the frontend of the car that you can’t see with the eye. Going through the grass, it killed it. I thought early on in the first stage, second stage maybe that we had a second-place car and then as the day went, we just kept getting further and further behind. Still a lot of work to do. The car didn’t drive very good at all. Just was able to get something out of nothing there at the end. We’ll go to Kansas and see if we can get a win there.”

    Behind, Matt DiBenedetto had another strong result established following his third-place result at Kentucky Speedway. His run, however, was spoiled following a late incident, where he sustained damage to his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang after being hit by rookie Quin Houff. Over the final two restarts, DiBenedetto was able to race his way back onto the lead lap, but he was unable to charge his way into the top five as he settled in 17th. Nonetheless, the result kept DiBenedetto inside the top-16 cutline by 51 points as DiBenedetto attempts to qualify for his first Cup Playoffs.

    Next, Clint Bowyer rallied from starting 17th to work his way up to 11th when the checkered flag flew. The result keeps Bowyer and his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team inside the cutline by 36 points as Bowyer attempts to make his ninth Playoff appearance approaching next week’s Cup race at Kansas Speedway, his home track.

    “That was a hot, tough day, for sure,” Bowyer said. “We worked hard all race trying to get our Rush Truck Centers Ford to turn better and the guys did a great job fixing our damage from the wreck. I didn’t know if we were going to finish because our engine temperature was so hot. They got it cooled down and we made it to the end with a good finish.”

    For the second consecutive week, seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson had a potential run for a strong result spoiled by an on-track incident. Compared to last weekend at Kentucky, Sunday’s at Texas came early and it was one where Johnson was unable to rally back into race-winning contention. Despite making significant contact with the Turn 4 outside wall, Johnson was able to proceed multiple laps down and gain advantage of others’ misfortunes to finish in 26th. The result has Johnson and the No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE clinging onto the final transfer spot to the Playoffs by two points.

    The first competitor out of the Playoff picture and looking ahead is William Byron and the No. 24 AXALTA/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team. With his seventh finish outside the top 15, second DNF, of this season, Byron’s disappointing season in the Cup Series continued after being involved in two incidents in the final stage of the race and despite starting strong. With his 37th-place result, Byron trails the top-16 cutline by two points as he attempts to qualify for his second consecutive Playoffs.

    “Honestly, it’s going to be tough,” Byron said. “We just have to find speed first. We’re not really running good at all and we’ve got to figure that out…We’ve just got to figure it out and figure it out quick before the fall.”

    With his career-best runner-up finish behind teammate Austin Dillon, rookie Tyler Reddick gained significant ground towards the Playoffs as he is 14 points below the cutline and looks to join fellow competitor and Rookie-of-the-Year rival Cole Custer into the Playoffs.

    “We really couldn’t ask for much more than what we got today,” Reddick declared. “One spot better would have been great, but the recovery this No. 8 Cat Oil and Gas team made today was huge. We’re racing for the big picture of making the playoffs, so we have to race smart. Days like this will help us get there.”

    Compared to Kentucky, Erik Jones had a good result at Texas, where he collected a handful of stage points following the second stage and recorded a strong sixth-place result. The Michigan native, however, trails the cutline by 24 points as he also attempts to record his first Cup win since September 2019.

    “We needed a solid run and mistake free and that’s what we did,” Jones said. “I thought coming into this race if we could just go in and have no mistakes and have decent speed we could run top-five and we came real close to that. We have to keep doing that. Obviously, we need to get some points, especially with two winners the last two weeks that have been from outside the Playoff picture. That kind of changes things for us. We’ll keep rolling, but a decent day for us.”

    Next, Bubba Wallace rallied from difficult results at Kentucky Speedway and the All-Star Open at Bristol Motor Speedway to record a 14th-place run after running in the top 10 late in the race. Despite the decent run, his eighth top-15 run of this season, Wallace trails the cutline by 76 points as he attempts to make his first Playoff appearance.

    “A top-15 day for the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Cash App Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team at the Texas Motor Speedway – a long, hot day that’s for sure,” Wallace said. “Proud of the efforts from our team…I thought we had a chance there. If that last caution had not come out, we maybe could have held on for a top-10 finish. But all-in-all, a great effort. Good bounce back from our last two weeks and we’ll just keep pushing to get our cars better. We’ll see what we got [at Kansas Speedway].”

    Behind, Chris Buescher had a strong race in the making at his home track. After finishing ninth in the first stage and having a potential top-10 run established, his run was spoiled after being involved in a multi-car wreck at the start of the final stage. When the checkered flag flew, Buescher settled in 19th, a lap behind the leaders. The result has Buescher 86 points below the cutline as he attempts to make his second career Playoffs appearance, first since 2016.

    Other competitors that remain in contention of the 2020 Cup Playoff battle include rookie Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Corey LaJoie and Ryan Preece.

    The battle for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continues next week at Kansas Speedway, which will air on July 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • Austin Dillon secures Playoff spot with a win at Texas

    Austin Dillon secures Playoff spot with a win at Texas

    For the second consecutive week, a late caution changed an outcome of a NASCAR Cup Series race. On this occasion, Austin Dillon utilized pit strategy and capitalized over a handful of late restarts, including a battle with teammate Tyler Reddick, to win the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The victory was Dillon’s third of his NASCAR Cup Series career and the first of the season for Richard Childress Racing as Dillon snapped an 88-race winless drought dating back to February 2018.

    The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Aric Almirola started on pole position for the second time this season and was joined on the front row with Ryan Blaney. Chase Elliott and Reed Sorenson started at the rear of the field due to their respective cars failing pre-race inspection twice. Josh Bilicki, Joey Gase and J.J. Yeley also started at the rear of the field due to driver changes.

    During the pace laps, Almirola reported issues to his brake pedal, but he remained on track for the start of the race. When the green flag waved, Almirola battled dead even with Blaney through Turns 1 and 2 before he cleared the field in Turn 3 and led the first lap. Blaney settled in second while the Busch brothers battled for third place along with Brad Keselowski.

    Behind, the early battling for positions continued as Kevin Harvick moved into the top five by the third lap after passing Keselowski. Three laps later, Martin Truex Jr. gained a spot over Keselowski for sixth with Matt DiBenedetto joining the battle. 

    At the front, Almirola continued to lead despite his brake pedal issues by nearly a second over Blaney with Kurt Busch in third and brother Kyle battling Harvick for fourth. Though Blaney narrowed the gap between himself and Almirola to approximately a half second, Almirola was able to retain the lead when the field reached the competition caution on the 20th lap. At the time of caution, Jimmie Johnson, who started 20th, was up to eighth while Denny Hamlin, who started seventh had fallen back to 16th. Chase Elliott, who started at the rear of the field due to failing pre-race technical inspection twice, was up to 24th.

    Under caution, the majority of the field pitted, and Kyle Busch was the first to exit pit road after opting for two fresh tires followed by William Byron, Alex Bowman, rookie Tyler Reddick and Blaney, the first with four fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Johnson was assessed a pit road penalty for having too many crew members over the wall. At the front, Almirola, teammate Harvick and Truex remained on track as they inherited the top-three starting spots.

    On the ensuing restart, Harvick assumed the lead on Lap 26 and on the inside lane while Truex challenged Almirola for the runner-up spot. Behind, Byron nearly slipped beneath Kyle Busch in Turn 3, but he was able to keep his car straightened and inside the top five. At the front, Harvick continued leading by a tenth of a second over teammate Almirola with Truex and Kyle Busch closing in for more. Behind, Blaney was back in ninth in between Erik Jones and Kurt Busch.

    By Lap 40, Harvick was still leading by nearly half a second over Almirola with Truex also closing in the two Stewart-Haas Racing teammates. Behind, Kyle Busch and Byron were in the top five with Bowman in sixth. Erik Jones, Blaney, Reddick and Kurt Busch were in the top 10 followed by Chris Buescher and DiBenedetto. Hamlin was in 15th followed by Joey Logano and Ryan Newman while teammates Elliott and Johnson were in 18th and 19th. Austin Dillon was in 20th followed by rookie Cole Custer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and rookie Christopher Bell while Bubba Wallace and Matt Kenseth were in 27th and 30th.

    Ten laps later, Harvick continued to lead by a tenth of a second over teammate Almirola, who continued to stalk his teammate for the lead but was unable to navigate his way around Harvick’s No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang. On Lap 55, Almirola bolted his way around Harvick on the outside lane in Turn 2 to return to the lead. Four laps later, Almirola extended his advantage to over six tenths of a second over teammate Harvick while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Kyle Busch were slowly closing in towards Harvick. A lap later, Truex moved into the runner-up spot while Kyle Busch started battling Harvick for third. 

    Shortly after, Almirola and Harvick made a pit stop under green, giving the lead to Truex with Kyle Busch trailing by a second. Not long after Almirola pitted, he was penalized for a blend-line violation and was forced to serve his penalty by driving through pit road, a penalty that cost him two laps behind the leaders. On Lap 67, Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry started sputtering after he ran out of fuel in Turn 2. He was, nonetheless, able to nurse his car back to pit road for service, but he lost two laps from the leaders when he returned on the track.

    At the front, Blaney was in command by half a second over Kyle Busch. Byron was in third, trailing by less than five seconds, followed by Jones, Bowman and Reddick. By Lap 85, Blaney was still ahead under two seconds over Kyle Busch. Behind, Johnson was in 10th ahead of Keselowski, Hamlin was in 12th, Elliott was in 18th, Harvick was in 29th, Truex was in 30th and Almirola was in 32nd.

    Not long after, pit stops under green commenced when Buescher made his stop followed by Johnson, Wallace, Custer, DiBenedetto and Newman. With 10 laps remaining in the first stage and with the entire field completing their pit stops under green, Blaney cycled back with the lead followed by Kyle Busch while Harvick was back up in third. Reddick was in fourth followed by Byron.

    For the remainder of the first stage, which concluded on Lap 105, Blaney was able to hold off Kyle Busch to claim his second stage win of the season. Harvick was in third followed by Reddick and Byron while Kurt Busch, Johnson, Bowman, Buescher and Truex were scored in the top 10. Under the stage break, some like Harvick, Reddick, Byron, Kurt Busch, Johnson, Truex, Newman, Kenseth, Wallace and rookie John Hunter Nemechek pitted while others led by Blaney and Kyle Busch remained on track. Also remaining on track included Hamlin, Elliott, Logano, Clint Bowyer and Bell. Following the pit stops, Newman was held a lap on pit road for pitting outside his pit box.

    The second stage started on Lap 112, and Blaney battled dead even with Kyle Busch for two full laps before Busch cleared Blaney for the lead on the bottom lane entering Turn 3. Two laps after, the caution flew when Johnson got loose entering Turn 4 and made contact with the outside wall, damaging the right side of Johnson’s No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Under caution, Johnson pitted along with Truex and Wallace. Following his pit stop, Johnson was assessed a two-lap penalty under caution due to having too many crew members over the wall, a misfortune that cost Johnson valuable points towards the Playoffs. Following Johnson’s incident, Newman was able to receive the free pass and return on the lead lap.

    When the race restarted on Lap 121, Kyle Busch received a push from teammates Hamlin and Jones to retain the lead. A lap later, Hamlin moved into the runner-up spot followed by Hamlin, Logano. Behind, Bell slipped through Turns 3 and 4 while running in the top 15 and made minimal contact with the outside wall, but the race remained under green. 

    On Lap 123, Hamlin moved into the lead followed by Blaney while Kyle Busch was in third ahead of Jones, Logano and Elliott. Three laps later, Blaney reassumed the lead following a battle with Hamlin. During this time, Johnson, following his two-lap penalty, was able to maintain minimum speed to remain on the track and racing despite the damage. He was, however, back in 40th, last, and eight laps behind the leaders. 

    By Lap 140, Blaney was still ahead by nearly a second over teammate Logano followed by a trio of Joe Gibbs Racing competitors led by Hamlin followed by Jones and Kyle Busch. Elliott was in sixth followed by Harvick while Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto and Almirola were in the top 10.

    With the race progressing under green, Buescher, one of many competitors looking on the outside of the Playoff picture, was in 11th followed by Byron and Truex while DiBenedetto and Almirola, both of whom are inside the top-16 cutline, were in ninth and 10th. At the front, Blaney was still ahead by two seconds over teammate Logano followed by Hamlin, Jones and Kyle Busch.

    On Lap 158, a second round of pit stops under green started when Byron pitted followed by teammate Elliott and race leader Blaney. Soon after, Bowyer made a pit stop followed by Kyle Busch, Reddick and Hamlin. When the field reached its halfway mark on Lap 167, Logano was in the lead, but he still needed to pit. A lap later, Logano pitted and Jones moved into the lead.

    With 30 laps remaining in the second stage and with most of the leaders pitting, Truex was in the lead but was among a handful of competitors who needed to pit. On Lap 190, Blaney cycled back to the lead followed by teammate Logano and Hamlin. Truex, who pitted with enough fuel to complete the second stage, came out in fourth ahead of Kurt Busch.

    For the final 20 laps, Blaney was able to stabilize his advantage by more than five seconds over teammate Logano to win the second stage on Lap 210 and claim his third stage of the season. Hamlin was in third followed by Kurt Busch and Harvick while Truex, Elliott, Almirola, Jones and Kyle Busch settled in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Blaney retained the lead following a four-tire pit stop. Keselowski exited second after opting for two tires followed by Hamlin, Logano, Elliott and Harvick.

    The final stage commenced with 116 laps remaining, and teammates Keselowski and Blaney battled dead even through Turns 1 and 2 before Keselowski cleared for the lead in Turn 3. At that time, Blaney got loose on the outside lane and teammate Logano had to lift off the throttle to avoid hitting Blaney, which jumbled up a number of competitors running in the top 10. Soon after, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck on the frontstretch that started when contact from Kurt Busch and Almirola turned Almirola into Kyle Busch, who then tagged teammate Truex sideways and into the outside wall as Busch plowed his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry through the grass while continuing with no serious damage. Truex, however, was unfortunate after sliding across the wall and receiving hard contact from Stenhouse. The wreck also collected Byron, Custer, Buescher, Ryan Preece and Kenseth as the race was red-flagged for more than 11 minutes.

    When the red flag was lifted and the caution flag was displayed, some like Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Harvick, Bowyer and Byron pitted while others led by Keselowski, Hamlin, Elliott, Blaney and Almirola remained on track.

    With 110 laps remaining, the race restarted under green and Keselowski jumped to an early advantage. Hamlin pursued Keselowski followed by Blaney, who was battling with Elliott against one another for third. Soon after, the battle for the lead intensified as Hamlin and Blaney drew themselves to the rear bumper of Keselowski. 

    With 103 laps remaining, Hamlin made a challenge for the lead beneath Keselowski in Turn 4 and was able to lead a lap shortly after with both competitors battling against one another dead even through the corners and the straightaway. With Hamlin in the lead, Blaney moved into the runner-up spot with teammate Logano joining the battle for third against Keselowski. Behind, Almirola rallied his way back into fifth ahead of Elliott, Harvick and DiBenedetto. 

    With 97 laps remaining, Logano passed teammate Keselowski to move into third. At the front, Blaney reassumed the lead after passing Hamlin on the bottom lane in Turn 3. A lap later, Logano got loose in Turn 3, which allowed Almirola, Keselowski and Elliott to pass Logano with Harvick also in the mix of the battle. 

    Four laps later, the caution flew when Nemechek spun and made contact with the wall on the backstretch. At the time of caution, Blaney was ahead by above a second over Hamlin. Under caution, some led by Blaney, Hamlin, Almirola and Elliott remained on track while others led by Harvick, Logano, Keselowski and Kurt Busch pitted.

    The race restarted with 86 laps remaining, and Blaney and Hamlin battled against one another for one full lap before Blaney retained his lead through Turn 1. Behind, Elliott was in third followed by Almirola and Newman with DiBenedetto and Austin Dillon in sixth and seventh. Logano, Kurt Busch and Keselowski were in the top 10 followed by Harvick. Shortly after, the caution returned when Ty Dillon and his No. 13 GEICO/Germain Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE got loose beneath Byron’s No. 24 AXALTA/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE as both competitors made contact with the outside wall. Under caution, Bowyer, Reddick, LaJoie, Byron and Ty Dillon pitted. Byron, however, retired, which cost him in his battle to make the Playoffs.

    With 79 laps remaining, the race restarted as Blaney and Hamlin, again, battled against one another for the lead before Blaney moved in front of Hamlin to clear him for the lead. Soon after, Almirola started to challenge Hamlin for the runner-up spot with DiBenedetto and Elliott moving into the top five ahead of Logano and Keselowski.

    Three laps later, DiBenedetto and Almirola battled for third while Hamlin was trailing Blaney by three-tenths of a second and trying to gain a run back to Blaney for the lead. Behind, Kyle Busch had worked his way back to 10th behind brother, Kurt, while Harvick was in eighth. Jones was in 12th behind Austin Dillon while Reddick, Wallace, Kenseth and Bowyer were in 15th through 18th.

    With 60 laps remaining and the leaders needing to make a final pit stop for fuel to make it to the distance, Blaney was still leading by more than a second over Hamlin with Almirola, DiBenedetto and Logano in the top five. Elliott settled in sixth followed by Harvick, Keselowski and the Busch brothers.

    Under 50 laps remaining, the final round of pit stops under green started when Elliott pitted followed by race leader Blaney, Almirola, DiBenedetto and Hamlin, who opted for a two-tire change. Following the pit stops, Hamlin emerged ahead of Blaney, but as the laps dwindled, Blaney was able to chop off a chunk of the deficit from himself to Hamlin as they approached traffic. 

    Under 30 laps remaining, the caution flew when rookie Quin Houff made contact with Bell in Turn 3 while appearing to move to the inside lane off the pace and after bouncing off of DiBenedetto, he spun and made hard contact with the outside wall near Turn 4. At the time of caution, 14 competitors that needed to make a final pit stop occupied the top-14 positions led by Harvick and Logano. Under caution, a majority of those competitors pitted and Reddick exited first after only taking fuel to his car. Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch followed pursuit followed by Wallace and Logano, who was the first to exit pit road with four fresh tires over Harvick and Kyle Busch.

    When the field cycled through, Reddick emerged with the lead followed by teammate Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Logano and Harvick. Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Wallace, Jones and Bowman were in the top 10 while Hamlin, who received the free pass after being scored a lap down, was in 15th. Blaney, Almirola and Elliott were in 16th through 18th as they took the wave around under caution to return to the lead lap along with Newman, who was in 19th. DiBenedetto, who sustained damage following contact with Houff, was in 20th and scored a lap behind the leaders. 

    With 23 laps remaining, the race restarted and Austin Dillon, racing on two fresh left-side tires, cleared Reddick for the lead in Turn 2. With the two Richard Childress Racing competitors at the front and by more than a second with 20 laps remaining, Kyle Busch and Logano battled for third while Harvick was in fifth ahead of Wallace.

    With 16 laps remaining, the caution flew when Hamlin, who was battling for 12th, got loose underneath Bowman as both competitors spun through Turns 1 and 2. Bowman made contact with the outside wall and sustained right-side damage that eliminated him for the remainder of the race while Hamlin managed to slide his No. 11 FedEx Toyota without sustaining any significant damage. At the time of caution, Austin Dillon was ahead by more than two seconds over teammate Reddick with Logano, Kyle Busch and Harvick behind by more than three seconds. 

    The race restarted with 11 laps remaining, and both RCR teammates battled against one another for one full lap, where Reddick led a lap, before Austin Dillon emerged back at the front. The following lap, Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was ahead by less than two-tenths of a second over Reddick and his No. 8 Caterpillar Oil and Gas Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Shortly after, Reddick started to close within teammate Dillon for the lead while Logano passed Kyle Busch for third.

    Then, the caution returned when Hamlin, whose race went from good to bad and worse, got loose entering Turn 4 and spun through the frontstretch grass, which set the race up for a two-lap shootout and another opportunity for the competitors on fresh tires to try to pounce on the two leading Richard Childress Racing competitors.

    With two laps remaining, the race restarted and Austin Dillon got a strong start on the inside lane to launch ahead with the lead with teammate Reddick pursuing him. On the final lap, Dillon was still ahead over Reddick while Logano and Kyle Busch battled against one another for third. For one final circuit, Dillon was able to stabilize his narrow advantage over Reddick and cross the finish line in first for his first checkered flag since winning the 2018 Daytona 500, which also marked the last time Richard Childress Racing and Justin Alexander, Dillon’s crew chief, were in victory lane in NASCAR’s premier series.

    With the win, Dillon became the 10th Cup competitor to be guaranteed a spot in the 2020 Playoffs by virtue of a victory, which marks his first Playoff appearance since 2018, as he recorded the third win of the season for Chevrolet. In addition, the native from Welcome, North Carolina, recorded the 100th Cup victory for the number 3.

    “Not bad for a silver spoon kid, right? I’ll take that.” Dillon said on NBCSN. “Got to thank everybody at RCR, ECR [Engines], Bass Pro Shops. Man, Tyler Reddick, he raced me clean. One-two [finish] for RCR – this has been coming, man. We’ve had good cars all year. Justin Alexander and my whole crew. I got my baby, Ace, back home, my wife, I love’em so much. Man, I don’t know. I’m just so happy. Thank God. To tell you the truth, it means a whole lot just for the family, for everybody, all of our partners. That was fun. I, definitely, had to earn it. I changed it up. I waited the second [restart] and I went on the last one. It worked out for me good.”

    After driving his No. 3 Chevrolet to victory lane and celebrating, he went to the infield care center for treatment following a 500-mile race with temperatures in the cockpit and around the track soaring above 90 and even, 100 degrees.

    Behind, rookie Reddick continued to impress after notching a career-best runner-up result in his 20th Cup career start while also recording his second top-five result of this season. This also marked the first 1-2 finish for Richard Childress Racing in a Cup race since Talladega Superspeedway in October 2011 between Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton. The runner-up result has Reddick 14 points below the top-16 cutline with eight races remaining until the 2020 Playoff field is determined in August.

    “[Today] was about strategy in our Cat Oil and Gas Chevrolet,” Reddick said on NBCSN. “We had good speed in our Chevrolet ZL1 1LE, but we just couldn’t get our Camaro back in contention after we took right sides [tires]. It really shifted the balance of our Camaro. That just put us behind and we had to catch a few breaks, some cars got collected in carnage. We avoided, but can’t ask for much more than what we got there. Me and my teammate on the front row there the last couple of restarts. [Dillon]’s done this a little bit longer than I have, and I’m a little rusty. I haven’t been on the front row in a while. He just snookered me those times. Kyle [Busch] was doing a really good job of pushing me, but that last [restart], I put us in a big deficit and just couldn’t get back out of it. There was one restart where I, probably, could’ve went to [Dillon’s] inside. I just wanted it to between us. I didn’t want to bring other cars into it, make sure that we could fight it out. We just got the restarts, kept giving us opportunities. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get it done today, but hats off to the 3 [crew], all those guys working hard. It gets one RCR Chevrolet into the Playoffs and now, we’re below the cutline. We gotta keep fighting. If we can keep running like this, we don’t have to worry about points, hopefully.”

    Logano settled in third for his first top-five result since Martinsville Speedway in June ahead of Kyle Busch, who rallied from his midpoint accident, while Harvick finished fifth in his 700th Cup start.

    “I couldn’t believe it,” Logano said on NBCSN. “I thought when [Dillon and Reddick] did fuel only and we were sitting fourth, I’m like, ‘Man, we got’em.’ I thought, ‘Boy, we’re gonna win this race.’ We just needed 15 laps to get off the splitter down in [Turns] 3 and 4, that was the problem. By the time I got to that point, the race was over. Overall, I’m proud of what our Shell/Pennzoil Ford team did today. I thought that finishing second the first stage and a third overall with a shot at winning is progress. That’s what we need to do, build a little momentum. It stings not to win, but hey, it’s progress. So, we’ll keep moving.”

    Jones, Blaney, Kurt Busch, Keselowski and Almirola rounded out the top 10. Elliott finished 12th behind Bowyer, Wallace and DiBenedetto finished 14th and 17th, and Hamlin ended his run in 20th. Johnson settled in 26th, 12 laps behind the leaders.

    There were 29 lead changes for 12 different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 45 laps.

    With his top-five run, Harvick continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 91 points over Blaney.

    Results.

    1. Austin Dillon, 22 laps led

    2. Tyler Reddick, five laps led

    3. Joey Logano, 22 laps led

    4. Kyle Busch, 11 laps led

    5. Kevin Harvick, 40 laps led

    6. Erik Jones, seven laps led

    7. Ryan Blaney, 150 laps led, Stage 1 and 2 winner

    8. Kurt Busch

    9. Brad Keselowski, 15 laps led

    10. Aric Almirola, 35 laps led

    11. Clint Bowyer

    12. Chase Elliott

    13. Ryan Newman

    14. Bubba Wallace

    15. Michael McDowell

    16. Corey LaJoie

    17. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap led

    18. Matt Kenseth

    19. Chris Buescher, one lap down

    20. Denny Hamlin, one lap down, 11 laps led

    21. Christopher Bell, three laps down

    22. John Hunter Nemechek, three laps down

    23. Daniel Suarez, five laps down

    24. J.J. Yeley, six laps down

    25. Gray Gaulding, 11 laps down

    26. Jimmie Johnson, 12 laps down

    27. Brennan Poole, 12 laps down

    28. Reed Sorenson, 12 laps down

    29. Martin Truex Jr., 14 laps down

    30. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

    31. Josh Bilicki, 16 laps down

    32. Joey Gase, 16 laps down

    33. B.J. McLeod, 16 laps led

    34. Quin Houff – OUT, Accident

    35. Ty Dillon – OUT, DVP

    36. Timmy Hill – OUT, Electrical

    37. William Byron – OUT, Accident

    38. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

    39. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident

    40. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

    The NASCAR Cup Series will return to action in the midwest at Kansas Speedway on July 23 with the race to air at 7:30 p.m. on NBCSN.

  • McDowell on pole position for NASCAR All-Star Open

    McDowell on pole position for NASCAR All-Star Open

    Michael McDowell will start on pole position for the NASCAR All-Star Open at Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday, July 15, by virtue of a random draw. The lineup was revealed during Monday night’s coverage of NASCAR Race Hub on FS1.

    McDowell, who is in his third season driving the No. 34 Ford Mustang for Front Row Motorsports, is ranked 24th in the Cup Series regular-season standings and he trails the top-16 cutline to the Playoffs by 90 points. He will attempt to make his first career start in NASCAR’s All-Star feature.

    Joining McDowell on the front row will be Aric Almirola, who is eighth in the regular-season standings and will attempt to make his third career start in the All-Star Race. Rookie Christopher Bell, who will make his All-Star Open debut, will start third alongside Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who will attempt to make his fourth All-Star start. Rookie Tyler Reddick will start fifth as he attempts to race his way into his first All-Star Race.

    Bubba Wallace, who edged Daniel Suarez in a thrilling finish for the Stage 2 win at Charlotte Motor Speedway to make his first All-Star Race start a year ago, will start sixth followed by William Byron, who edged Wallace for the win in Stage 1 to make his All-Star debut last season. Chris Buescher will start eighth while Clint Bowyer and Matt DiBenedetto round out the top-10 starting positions.

    Rounding out the 21-car field are Austin Dillon, Ryan Preece, J.J. Yeley, Garrett Smithley, rookie Brennan Poole, rookie Quin Houff, Joey Gase, Daniel Suarez, rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Ty Dillon and Corey LaJoie.

    The winners of each segment, (three in total – 35 laps in Segment 1, 35 in Segment 2 and 15 in Segment 3), will advance to the All-Star Race and will also be joined by the Fan Vote winner, all of whom will round out the 20-car field for the All-Star Race.

    Notably, Timmy Hill and MBM Motorsports will not compete in the All-Star Open following recent wrecks at Pocono Raceway and at Kentucky Speedway. They will return for the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway on July 19.

    The NASCAR All-Star Open will air on July 15 at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • 2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Kentucky

    2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Kentucky

    With nine races remaining until the 2020 NASCAR Cup Playoffs commences, a new name has been added to the postseason field.

    After his thrilling, four-wide pass for the win on Sunday in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, rookie Cole Custer has gone from being an Xfinity Series title contender to a Cup Series rookie and now, a Cup Series winner in a span of nine months. Of all the records he accomplished with his victory at Kentucky, the biggest one of all is guaranteeing himself and his No. 41 Haas Automation/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team a spot in the postseason with an opportunity to contend for a Cup Series championship. In addition, he is set to become the 37th competitor to make the Cup Series Playoffs since its inception in 2004 and the first rookie contender to make the Playoffs since Chase Elliott and Chris Buescher qualified in 2016.

    Custer’s win at the Bluegrass State also stirred a major shakeup to the Playoff field with the Californian leaping from 25th to a spot within the top-16 postseason field. Through the first 17 Cup races of the 2020 season, nine competitors, including Custer, are guaranteed spots in the Playoffs by virtue of a win. That leaves seven spots vacant and many big names on the bubble or looking on the outside of the cutline with the postseason more than a month away from starting.

    The first competitor on the bubble is Aric Almirola, Custer’s teammate. Almirola and his No. 10 Smithfield/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team had a race-winning setup at Kentucky after leading a race-high 128 laps and winning the first stage. An eighth-place result was a result that was not in mind for the Floridian, who has not won a Cup race since Talladega Superspeedway in October 2018. The good news for Almirola is he holds a 133-point cushion above the top-16 cutline and he recorded five consecutive top-five results prior to Kentucky, which indicates that his No. 10 team is hitting their strides late into the regular season while preparing for a title run.

    Like Almirola, Kurt Busch had a strong run at Kentucky. Starting seventh, Busch was shuffled out of the top 10 at the start of the race, but he was able to work his way back towards the front as the run progressed. Restarting fifth with two laps remaining, the 2004 Cup champion also had an opportunity to repeat his magic from last year’s Kentucky race, where he won in a thrilling two-lap shootout against his brother, Kyle. This year, however, Busch could only work his way as high as fifth when the checkered flag flew. While he did not earn his first win of the 2020 season, he and his No. 1 Monster Energy/Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team are 104 points above the cutline.

    Unlike Kurt, Kyle Busch had a disappointing run at Kentucky. A two-time Cup winner at the Bluegrass State, he started on pole by virtue of a random draw. After leading the first nine laps, things fell apart for Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota team, where they struggled in keeping pace with the leaders as the driver also fought grip issues. With less than 100 laps remaining, Busch nearly wrecked in Turn 4, but he was able to straighten his car and continue at the expense of losing multiple spots on the track. A 21st-place result left the reigning two-time Cup Series champion winless for another week into the 2020 season, but he remains 89 points above the cutline.

    If there was someone who had a great run at Kentucky on Sunday, it was Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang team. Starting 10th, DiBenedetto ran within the top five and top 10 throughout the race. On the final restart, he was able to charge his way from eighth to third when the checkered flag flew. DiBenedetto’s third-place result was his best since finishing in the runner-up spot at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in February. The podium spot was enough for DiBenedetto to stabilize himself above the cutline by 85 points.

    For Clint Bowyer, the Kentucky race was a day where late restarts hindered Bowyer’s run for a top-10 result. Starting 15th, Bowyer was able to work his way up to ninth when the first stage concluded. He was also in position for a top-10 result in the second stage, but a caution during a round of pit stops under green cost Bowyer spots as he could work his way back as high as 13th. In the final laps, Bowyer was in position to notch a top-10 result, but he was shuffled back to 14th when he crossed the finish line under the checkered flag. Bowyer’s eighth top-15 result of the season kept him 64 points above the cutline.

    For William Byron, it was a salvageable day for the Charlotte native and the No. 24 AXALTA/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team. Starting 21st, Byron made his way within the top 10 in the opening laps, but struggled on the bottom lane the ensuing restart. He worked his way up to 15th when the first stage concluded. The second stage was where Byron struggled the most with loose conditions as he settled outside the top 20 when the stage concluded. Making his way up towards the top 15 in the final stage, an opportunity presented itself for Byron during a cycle of pit stops under green and he was leading with 38 laps remaining. The caution allowed Byron to pit for four fresh tires and line up in sixth for the following restart. The bottom lane, however, hindered Byron’s progress to move towards the front. Despite starting seventh with two laps remaining, he was shuffled back to 11th when the checkered flag flew. With his 11th top-15 result of his junior season in the Cup level, he is 47 points above the cutline.

    A week after COVID-19 symptoms prevented him from racing for the first time since his debut in the Cup Series, Jimmie Johnson came roaring into Kentucky with vengeance and with a grand opportunity to leap himself into the Playoffs in his swan song season in the series. For much of the race, it appeared that Johnson and his No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team were growing closer and closer towards the front, working their way from starting 20th and running within the top 10. In the closing laps, Johnson was able to muscle his way into the top five and was lined up in third on a restart with 19 laps remaining with an opportunity to snatch the lead and his first win in over two years. Then, it came to a crushing blow when contact from Brad Keselowski sent Johnson sideways and out of contention. While Johnson was able to continue, the damage was done as he could only work his way back as high as 21st when the checkered flag flew. Even after missing last weekend’s race at Indianapolis followed by his result outside the top 20 at Kentucky, Johnson holds sole possession of the 16th and final spot to the Playoffs by 24 points as he is, already, setting his sights towards the upcoming regular-season races.

    With a 13th-place result, Austin Dillon finds himself outside the top-16 cutline by 24 points. The same goes for his Richard Childress Racing teammate and rookie Tyler Reddick, who trails by 41 points and continues to pursue his first Cup career win. Erik Jones, who struggled all race long at Kentucky with handling issues, finished 22nd as he and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry team trail by 42 points. Like Jones, Bubba Wallace struggled with keeping up to pace with the leaders, and his 27th-place result, two laps behind, marked his seventh result outside the top 20. Wallace and the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team, however, remain in pursuit of the top-16 cutline by 84 points.

    Other notables that trail the top-16 cutline include Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell, rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece and Daniel Suarez.

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on July 15, which starts with the All-Star Open at 7 p.m. ET on FS1 before the All-Star Race commences at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1. The next Cup points race is scheduled at Texas Motor Speedway on July 19, which will air at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • 2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Indianapolis

    2020 Cup Playoff outlook after Indianapolis

    With the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series regular season in its second half, there are 10 races remaining until the Cup Playoffs commence. Currently, six competitors are separated by 56 points for the 16th and final spot to the Playoffs while eight spots remain vacant for anyone in or out of the cutline to secure an early ticket to the postseason and with an opportunity to contend for the series championship.

    Following the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at the Brickyard, the 16th race of the season, eight competitors are guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs based on a win. Kevin Harvick leads the way in the regular-season standings on the strength of four wins, including his recent one at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski, both of whom trail Harvick by 85 and 88 points, are also guaranteed a spot by virtue of a victory. Others that are locked into the Playoffs with wins include Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr. and Alex Bowman.

    The first three competitors that occupy eight vacant spots to the Playoffs as winless competitors, following Indianapolis, are Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch. For Almirola, a race where he rallied from vibration concerns and an early unscheduled pit stop to finish third, his fifth consecutive top-five result was a result that stabilized his advantage from the top-16 cutline as he is 105 points inside the cutline and with an opportunity to make his third consecutive Playoffs.

    “We’re doing such a good job of being consistent,” Almirola said. “We’re bringing great race cars and we’re being really consistent running up front, so just really proud of this team and just want to keep it going. It’s fun to run up front like that.”

    For Kyle Busch, a sixth-place result marked a strong rebound from his 38th-place result last Sunday at Pocono Raceway due to a wreck. The result was his ninth top-10 result of the season as he is 10th in the regular-season standings and is 101 points above the top-16 cutline. The result, however, leaves him with a 16-race winless drought dating back to November 2019 at Homestead as he is still trying to pursue his first win of the 2020 season.

    “We just kept getting off on pit strategy with the Skittles America Mix Camry,” Kyle Busch said. “We had a valve stem come off the left rear [tire] on a stop and that put us in the back. Then we had vibrations at various points throughout the race with different sets of tires so we had to stay on top of that and make sure we changed those. Each time, that would put us on the back. I struggled to pass anybody most of the day, but somehow got spots on restarts. I was able to salvage a sixth-place finish and will head to Kentucky next week.”

    For his brother, Kurt, an early misfortune on pit road left the driver of the No. 1 Monster Energy/Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet team in 13th when the checkered flag flew. The result dropped Kurt Busch from 10th to 11th in the standings as he is 97 points above the cutline. He is also facing a 33-race winless drought dating back to July 2019 at Kentucky Speedway, which, ironically, marks the next destination for the Cup Series.

    Among those still inside the top-16 cutline are Matt DiBenedetto, Clint Bowyer and William Byron, who won the first stage but blew a left-front tire in the closing laps of the second stage. With a 27th-place result, which snapped his five-race stretch of finishing in the top 15, Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team are 32 points above the cutline to the Playoffs.

    “Our Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was super-fast today,” Byron said. “It just sucks because we have had a lot of these things happen this year. It’s not a fault of anyone, it just happens and it’s a bummer for sure. We’ve had fast cars and it feels like we always have bad luck when we do. That’s what hurts even more. We just need to bring that same speed to Kentucky and hopefully we won’t have any issues there. To be leading the race like that and have a tire issue is, I guess, a good way to go out. We’ll just see what we can do in Kentucky.”

    Despite missing his first Cup race in 663 races after testing positive of COVID-19, Jimmie Johnson still remains in the cutline by 36 points. His schedule for the remainder of his swan song season as a full-time competitor, however, remains undetermined as he awaits his upcoming COVID-19 tests and clearance from his physicians.

    Behind, Austin Dillon holds sole possession of the 16th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs by six points after finishing 18th despite running inside the top 10 the majority of the day at Indianapolis and gaining valuable stage points by finishing in the top five in the first two stages.

    “We had a really strong Dow Salutes Veterans Chevrolet today at the Brickyard and it was fun to be able to earn stage points in Stages 1 and 2 and lead laps,” Austin Dillon said. “Our Chevy was handling really well all day so we really only needed to make small adjustments throughout the race…Definitely not the finish we wanted or deserved today, but I’m proud of our effort. We had a lot of positives with earning stage points and leading laps.”

    The first competitor who trails the top-16 cutline is Erik Jones. Coming off an up-and-down weekend at the Pocono doubleheader, Jones ended his race in the garage after being involved in a harrowing accident in the second stage when he cut a right-front tire in Turn 3. His 33rd-place dropped him from 16th to 17th in the standings as he is behind by six points.

    “It’s a shame; it’s kind of the story of our season,” Jones said. “We’ve just had a rough year, and things are just not going our way. Hopefully, we can just turn it around, keep bringing fast cars and have things turn around for us.”

    With an eighth-place result and his fourth top-10 result of his rookie Cup season at Indy, rookie Tyler Reddick is 18th in the standings as he and his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet team trail the cutline by 16 points.

    “We had a great No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet when we could run in clean air and record some good lap times, but unfortunately we struggled in dirty air, like a lot of our competitors today,” Reddick said. “Any time we were battling someone side by side or from behind them, our car would just build way too tight and make it tough to gain or hold track position. We just had an up-and-down day, falling back early and then playing some strategy to stay out to start Stage 3 from the fifth spot…I was able to capitalize on the final restart with fresher tires and race up to eighth place, which is a great finish for our day. We had to grind it out today, but it turned out in our favor.”

    Behind Reddick, Bubba Wallace accomplished another respectable finish this season in his quest to make his first Playoffs. By finishing ninth and notching his third top-10 result of his junior year, Wallace gained two spots in the standings and is situated in 19th, 42 points behind the cutline, as he attempts to place a Richard Petty Motorsports entry in the Playoffs for the first time since 2014.

    “I guess it is good to be frustrated when you finish in the ninth place,” Wallace said. “All-in-all, it was a good day for this No. 43 World Wide Technology Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. It was fast. We just did not have the handling underneath us. It was good down the straightaways. It did not want to turn very well – specially behind traffic. One of the more frustrating days being behind cars and just trying to maneuver. So, coming out of there with a top-10 finish is good momentum going to the Kentucky Speedway – another good track for us. We will continue the good vibes and keep staying on [crew chief] Jerry [Baxter] to produce good finishes for us.”

    Trailing by 48 is Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who finished 36th after being involved in a bizarre wreck on pit road and ending his day early. Those who are in the top 30 in the points standings and still remain in contention for the Playoffs include Chris Buescher, rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Michael McDowell, rookie Christopher Bell, rookie Cole Custer, Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Corey LaJoie and Ryan Preece.

    The road to the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continues on Sunday, July 12, at Kentucky Speedway, which will air at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Cup rookies prepare for first tackle at Talladega

    Cup rookies prepare for first tackle at Talladega

    It has been a month since NASCAR returned to on-track racing amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and a number of firsts have occurred since the sport’s return. From midweek races to series’ doubleheaders at the same track and even quadruple-header weekends among the sport’s three major national division series, NASCAR has provided its share of resolving the unexpected and creating memories through the first half of the 2020 season. With Talladega Superspeedway next on the schedule, the unexpected is a term that every driver and team can annually anticipate from the drop of the green flag to the checkered. It is also a venue that can provide the element of surprise for anyone, especially for this year’s Cup rookie class.

    When the first green flag of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season flew at Daytona International Speedway in February, six rookies embarked on a yearlong journey filled with firsts and a new approach towards each track like none other from their previous seasons. This weekend will mark their first time racing at Talladega, one of the world’s fastest racing venues, in NASCAR’s premier series, which has not raced on a superspeedway event since the Daytona 500 in February.

    For years, Talladega is a track that does not yield a simple race-winning path for anyone after 500 miles. It is a track that requires patience, aggression and boldness for any competitor to emerge victorious ahead of a steaming pack of other competitors fighting towards the same goal. It is also a track that can make any dreams come true. Since its inception in 1969, 11 competitors have scored their first Cup win at Talladega, not since Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made the last accomplishment in 2017, which provides a golden opportunity for any rookie competitor to shine and rise to the occasion against NASCAR’s elite.

    Twelve races into the 2020 season, the reigning two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Tyler Reddick leads the Cup rookie standings. The Corning, California, native is coming off a career run last weekend at Homestead, where he finished fourth and picked up his first top-five career finish in the Cup Series. To go along with two additional top-10 results and fast racecars prepared by his team and crew chief Randall Burnett, Reddick is slowly peaking towards his first Cup win. When it comes to Talladega, there are two advantages for Reddick. The first is that Reddick is a former winner at the superspeedway event, having won last year’s Xfinity race at the track despite encountering early on-track issues. The second is that his team, Richard Childress Racing, has a rich history at Talladega with 12 wins, six poles and over 70 top-10 results, achieving results with names like Dale Earnhardt, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer. With the results, Reddick looks to add his name to RCR legacy’s at the superspeedway venue in Alabama and extend his recent stretch of solid performances.

    Pursuing Reddick in the rookie standings is John Hunter Nemechek. The second-generation driver from Mooresville, North Carolina, has achieved three top-15 results since May, including his first top-10 career finish at Darlington Raceway (ninth), and has displayed a model of consistency in his first full-time season in NASCAR’s premier series. Nemechek has raced at Talladega seven times between the Xfinity and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, his best result being sixth in the 2017 Truck Series season and last year’s Xfinity Series season. An advantage Nemechek has towards Talladega is that his team, Front Row Motorsports, is competitive at superspeedway events (Daytona and Talladega). Since FRM’s started racing in the Cup Series in 2005, the team has notched 20 top-10 results, more than half coming at Talladega. In addition, Talladega serves as the track where the team notched its first Cup career win in 2013, when David Ragan and David Gilliland recorded a thrilling one-two finish for the team. With his consistent start, Nemechek looks to take the next step to finish at the front of the field and etch his name as the next upset winner at the world’s fastest racing venues.

    Next is Christopher Bell. The Norman, Oklahoma, native has achieved a multitude of accomplishments in racing, from sprint cars to stock cars. This includes winning the 2013 USAC National Midget title, three Chili Bowl sprint car titles, a NASCAR win at Eldora, the 2017 Truck Series championship and a combined 23 wins across the Truck and Xfinity Series in 14 different tracks, including his first road course win at Road America last season. There are a handful of accomplishments that Bell has yet to achieve, among which includes winning a Cup race and winning a superspeedway event. Thus far, Bell has achieved three top-10 results in his rookie Cup season and has raced at Talladega five times between the Xfinity and Truck Series, his best result being second in the 2017 Truck Series season and third in last year’s Xfinity Series season. His team, Leavine Family Racing, is competitive at superspeedway events despite scoring two top-10 career finishes at Talladega and his crew chief, Jason Ratcliff, has won at the track once in the 2011 Xfinity season with Kyle Busch. With his recent stride in producing decent results, Bell also looks to take the next step in his rookie Cup season by finishing towards the front and placing himself in position to emerge as an upset winner at a track that is very familiar with upset tales.

    While the last seven results since May have not fallen in the favors of Cole Custer, the Ladera Ranch, California, native remains in pursuit of his first breakthrough moment in the Cup Series while driving for one of the sport’s competitive teams, Stewart-Haas Racing. Entering this weekend, Custer has achieved one top-10 career finish in the Cup Series and has raced at Talladega four times between the Xfinity and Truck Series, with a best result of ninth in the 2018 Xfinity season. In 2018, Stewart-Haas Racing achieved its first Cup win at Talladega on a day where all four SHR cars led the field the majority of the race before Aric Almirola scored a breakthrough win of his career. This serves as an advantage for Custer to race towards the front competitively with a championship-winning team and possibly achieve his moment in NASCAR’s premier series.

    When it comes to Talladega Superspeedway, Brennan Poole has a notable moment at the track that is deemed heartbreaking. In 2016, Poole, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, dodged a last-lap incident between Joey Logano and Elliott Sadler in the tri-oval to nip Justin Allgaier at the finish line and score what appeared to have been his first Xfinity Series career win. Upon reviewing the footage, however, NASCAR determined that Sadler, who had managed to straighten his car and continued to race despite wrecking, was ahead of the field at the moment of caution, which resulted in Sadler winning while Poole was demoted to third. To date, this remains the closest Poole has come in winning at Talladega. The Woodlands, Texas, native has raced at the track three additional times between the Truck and Xfinity Series, but all finishes have been outside the top 20. In his first 12 Cup career starts this season, Poole has recorded a career-best result of 16th from this year’s Daytona 500, but has finished as high as 24th in the last seven races. This weekend serves as an opportunity for Poole to hone his driving skills against the current Cup stars and claim the win that was taken away from him four years ago.

    Lastly, Quin Houff also looks to achieve a breakthrough moment of his racing career on the track. Through the first 12 races of this season, Houff has finished in the top 30 twice (Darlington & Bristol) while sustaining three DNFs and finishing outside the top 30 in five of the last six Cup races. Houff’s team, StarCom Racing, has raced in NASCAR since 2017 and has finished in the top 15 twice, both coming at Daytona and Talladega. Like Poole, Houff sets his focus on this weekend to etch his name against the sport’s elite.

    This year’s rookie Cup class are among six of multiple stars that includes Matt DiBenedetto, William Byron, James Davison, Ty Dillon, Brendan Gaughan, Gray Gaulding, Joey Gase, Timmy Hill, Corey LaJoie, Michael McDowell, B.J. McLeod, Ryan Preece, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace and J.J. Yeley who will pursue their first win in the Cup Series this weekend at Talladega.

    All Cup Series competitors, including this year’s rookie class, will receive their first of two opportunities this season to conquer Talladega on June 21 with the race to air at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Homestead features unique top-15 notables

    Homestead features unique top-15 notables

    While Denny Hamlin earned a milestone win in his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday night’s Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the 12th race of the 2020 season, there were a multitude of competitors who earned strong results and left Miami satisfied with their performances.

    The first was Tyler Reddick. Coming into Miami, Reddick had earned two top-10 results in the last six Cup races and was situated in 18th in the regular-season standings. The key aspect Reddick and his team had was the speed to run toward the front and it was only a matter of time before he could utilize the speed to earn a strong result. When the race proceeded under the lights in Homestead, the California native shined against the veterans and fellow future stars as he ran within the top five all race long despite starting 24th, led his first three career laps in the series and finished within the top three in both stages while earning valuable stage points in his quest to make the playoffs.

    In the final laps, Reddick was within sight of the leaders before he drove his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE home in a solid fourth-place in his first Cup start at Homestead, a track where he won at the last two seasons in the Xfinity Series that clinched him the overall championships. With his fourth-place result, Reddick notched his first top-five finish in his 14th Cup Series career start along with his fourth top-10 result as he is two points shy of cracking the top 16 in the Cup standings. In addition, Reddick leads the Cup Rookie-of-the-Year standings by 70 points over John Hunter Nemechek, who finished 19th at Homestead. With Reddick’s top-five result, this marked the first time since 2007 where a rookie candidate finished inside the top 10 at Homestead.

    “I’m really proud of my Chevy Cares Chevrolet team and the effort we showed today,” Reddick said. “We had really good speed today and were able to run up front pretty much all night long. The men and women of RCR and ECR did a great job preparing us with a fast racecar to bring down to my favorite track on the circuit. We were able to use that speed to our advantage and race into the top 10 within the first 30 laps, and were able maintain that track position…We got a little too tight by the end of the night to really make the fence work like I wanted, but all in all, it was a solid effort tonight. I’ve won the past two times I’ve come here, granted in the Xfinity Series, but it was so fun to be ripping the fence with three of the best tonight in the NASCAR Cup Series. It was a hard-fought battle and one we can build momentum off of.”

    For this season, there were two rookies who finished in the top-10 results at Homestead as Christopher Bell also earned a decent result of eighth in Leavine Family Racing’s No. 95 Toyota Camry. For the Oklahoma native, the run at Miami and since NASCAR’s return in May produced a major turnaround from the start of his rookie Cup season. Following the first four races of the season, Bell’s average finish in the Cup Series was 29th to go along with two DNFs and a best result of 21st. The following six races, Bell improved his average result to 20th and he was able to claim his first two top-10 career results in the Cup Series. Starting 36th, Bell methodically carved his way through the field and found himself running inside the top 10 throughout the final stage. When the checkered flag flew, Bell finished eighth for his career-best finish in the Cup Series along with his third top-10 result in his 12th series start. The result allowed Bell to gain one position in the standings from 25th to 24th.

    “Our Rheem Camry was really, really loose to start the night and then [crew chief] Jason [Ratcliff] did a great job adjusting on it got it pretty close to where I was happy and then we were able to pick our way though there,” Bell said. “The races are so long – there are so many yellows – that I really wasn’t worried about our starting position. I knew that if we had a car that was good; we were going to get up front. I’m not going to say that we’re ready to make the next step, but at least we are being competitive the majority of weeks and we just have to keep it up.”

    Next was Aric Almirola. Prior to Homestead, the Florida native, in his third season driving for Stewart-Haas Racing, had an average-finishing result of 17.5 in the first 11 races and only three top-10 results. In addition, his highest-finishing result in the last four Cup races was a 20th-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway despite starting on the front row for three consecutive weeks by virtue of a random draw. At Homestead, Almirola started 21st, but by Lap 40, he proved that he had a strong car as he was in eighth. He finished fifth in the first stage and salvaged a 10th-place run in the second stage, which allowed him to gain valuable points towards making the playoffs. With the race progressing in a long green-flag stretch, Almirola kept his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang near the front and was able to finish in fifth for his first top-five result in this year’s Cup season and his second at Miami. With his finish, Almirola moved from 14th to 13th in the series standings and sets his sights on next weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway, the site of Almirola’s last Cup victory dating back to October 2018.

    “Man, we finally had a nice clean day today,” Almirola said. “We really needed that as a team. We haven’t raced a full race yet without having something go wrong. This proves we have the speed we need to compete this season if we continue to run clean with no mistakes. Homestead is not an easy track to earn a top-five at either. To get our first of the season here shows we have a lot of potential.”

    Following a difficult midweek race at Martinsville Speedway, where a broken crush panel left him exposed to extreme heat behind the steering wheel and retiring in the closing laps while needing medical attention, Sunday’s run at Homestead felt like a win on a day that was already special for Austin Dillon. Prior to the main event, the Welcome, North Carolina, native and his wife, Whitney, celebrated the birth of the couple’s son, Ace. When the green flag dropped, Dillon, who started 16th, was able to navigate his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE inside the top 10, where he spent a majority of the race. Despite finishing eighth in the second stage and earning a handful of points towards his quest to make the playoffs, Dillon was running seventh towards the beginning of the final stage when he was penalized following a pit stop and sent to the rear for an uncontrolled tire violation. Despite the penalty, Dillon was able to carve his way through the field and finish in seventh for his fourth top-10 result of this season, his second in a row at Miami and to move from 17th to 16th in the series standings.

    “We took our No. 3 Dow / Behr Ultra Scuff Defense Chevy to a top-ten [result],” Dillon said. “That was a fun race for the Dow Coatings team. We were not good to start – we started from the back a couple of times. Made big adjustments – [crew chief] Justin [Alexander] made a good adjustment about halfway through the race to allow us to get some stage points. Things started turning for us and we got a good restart. And then a caution came out, pitted and we had a tire that got away. Unfortunate, but we kept our heads down and dug hard. We were able to come all the way back to P-7. Strong run for our team.”

    Four days after finishing in the top 10 at Martinsville Speedway, momentum continues to roll towards the favor of William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team as they capped off their first back-to-back top-10 results of the 2020 Cup Series season. Starting 22nd, Byron’s car came to life under the lights in Miami as he battled inside the top five most of the race along with teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman. He finished eighth in the first stage and fifth in the second stage as he also collected valuable stage points in his quest to make the playoffs. When the checkered flag flew, Byron settled in ninth for his fourth top-10 result of the season and his first at Homestead. With the result, Byron gained one position in the standings from 16th to 15th.

    “We had a good and solid night and honestly it was nice to be able to run in the top five,” Byron said. “We continued to adjust on the car as the race went along there. Hopefully we can continue to string runs together like we had tonight and be able make the right adjustments at the right point in the race to be in contention in the end. We’re getting close to that first win we just need to continue working on a couple things to get faster. On to Talladega.”

    Last but not least, Bubba Wallace, who has been a key spokesperson in highlighting social injustice treatment/police brutality towards African Americans, raising prominence of the Black Lives Matter movement within the racing community and whose call to have the display of the Confederate flag banned from all NASCAR events approved and granted from NASCAR a few days later, backed up his strong performance at Martinsville Speedway with a decent performance and a late rally at Homestead. Starting 17th, Wallace spent the majority of the race inside the top 20, where he would finish in both stages. With the race progressing towards a long green-flag stretch, Wallace was able to move within the top 15 in the closing laps and settle in 13th for his fifth top-15 finish of the season, third in the last four Cup races, and his best result in Miami, which left the Alabama native situated in 20th in the standings.

    The NASCAR Cup Series will return on June 21 to race at Talladega Superspeedway for the second superspeedway event of the season. The race will air at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.