Tag: Tyler Reddick

Reddick Hits the Royal Flush of Fuel Mileage to Win at Vegas

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA — Tyler Reddick takes the fuel mileage gamble at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to edge out the dominant Christopher Bell and wins the Rhino Pro Truck Outfitters 300 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

“That was nerve-wracking to say the least,” Reddick told NBCSN. “Those last three laps, I was losing fuel pressure.”

The bold call took place during the final caution when C.J. McLaughlin crashed into the Turn 4 wall. Most of the leaders stayed out, but Reddick came to pit road to begin what would be the race-winning fuel mileage strategy. The Richard Childress Racing team recognized they didn’t have the speed to catch or pass Bell, so they played the long game and had the dice roll in their favor over the next 105 miles.

“We came in for fuel and tires and had to save a lot,” Reddick said after a sigh of relief crossing the line under power. ”It allowed us to run some really, really fast laps there before we had on tires at the end to keep us out front. Our car was fast on the long run and that’s what we needed to get a buffer at the end.

“We’ve had a really, really fast car here in the past. Today we didn’t have it but we got them on strategy again.”

Reddick clinched the regular season championship part way through Stage 2 as other cars retired from the race. However with the postseason reset, Bell will take over the points lead by 11 points, leaving Reddick and pole sitter Cole Custer tied for second.

“We ain’t done yet. We got to go to Homestead and get another trophy,” said Reddick who seemed unphased about losing the points lead after dominating the regular season.

Bell led a race high 154 laps, but fell short by just 0.738 seconds. The gap was over 20 seconds after the final pit stops, but Reddick was able to outsmart and out-luck Bell with his strategy.

“It’s the second time this year that we got beat by circumstances,” Bell told NBCSN. “At Iowa we put on our tires when we needed to and some guys banked on a yellow coming out later and they got it and they beat us. Today those guys did the opposite of us and they won the race. Very, very disappointing.”

Brandon Jones, Custer and Justin Allgaier completed the top five. Las Vegas native Noah Gragson finished sixth. Gray Gaulding also gambled with his fuel and had it pay off to finish in seventh, becoming the first non-Playoff driver in the finishing order. John Hunter Nemecheck, Riley Herbst and Elliott Sadler finished in the top 10 respectively. It was Sadler’s final NASCAR race. Ryan Sieg finished in the 14th position, but was disqualified after post-race inspection found his No. 39 Lombar Bros. Gaming Chevrolet Camaro too low in both the right front and left front. He still has enough points to carry him into the postseason.

Bell Shows Strength Early in Stage One

As the series’ final regular season race, the points gap was larger than the other two national touring series. For those outside of the top 12, they were all too far back to point their way in, so only a win could sneak their way into the Playoffs.

Custer started on pole, but was beat on the first lap by Bell. Custer quickly fell back to third as Justin Allgaier made his way around for the second position. Las Vegas native Gragson spun earlier in qualifying and was forced to start at the rear of the field. He quickly climbed through the field and cracked the top 15 halfway through the stage. Sadler, who was making his final NASCAR start, began the day from the eighth position and ran in the top 10 most of the stage before fading back to the 15th position.

Bell went on the lead all the laps and win the first stage. Sadler was the first car one lap down. Landon Cassell, after a fantastic qualifying run for the ninth starting position, fell out of the race early after overheating issues.

The field came down pit road for service, but Austin Cindric’s crew was penalized for an uncontrolled tire. He came off pit road fourth and was forced to the rear of the field.

Dominance by Bell Was Outplayed by Reddick’s Gamble

Bell took the restart and had a strong challenge by Allgaier before reclaiming the lead. A few cars were declared out of the race due to part failures and mechanical issues, which clinched Reddick as the regular season series champion. He looks to make a run at back-to-back championships in the Xfinity series.

By the end of the stage, Bell led all but two laps up to this point and wins his 15th stage of the regular season.

Drivers began to get more aggressive as they took the green flag for the final stage. Bell continued to dominate, but Allgaier and Custer stayed closer to him. On Lap 110, Tommy Joe Martins spun to bring out the caution. That brought all the leaders to pit road. Cindric had fought his way up to fourth, but with too many crew members over the pit wall and NASCAR penalized him to put him at the tail end of the field.

The field restarted on Lap 115, and Allgaier stayed aggressive. He was able to complete the pass by the exit of Turn 2 and claim the lead, putting Bell into a fight for the second position. Bell stayed patient and was able to reclaim the lead by Lap 123. The caution flew just one lap later as McLaughlin crashed into the outside wall of Turn 4. Most lead lap cars elected to stay on the track, as they could not make it to the end on fuel without coming to pit road again, but Reddick came down pit road for fresh tires and fuel.

When the green flag came out again for what would be the final restart of the race, Bell took over the lead but Briscoe began his late race charge. Halfway through the run, he was able to get by Custer and Allgaier and find himself in the second position. As everyone came down pit road for green flag pit stops, Briscoe speeds on the entrance of pit road, and gets a pass-through penalty.

As the final pit stop cycle completes itself, Reddick elects to stay out to extend his fuel run to the end of the race. He was able to stretch his fuel for 70 laps (105 miles) to the end for his fifth win of the season.

The Playoff field was also set as the regular season concludes. Bell will inherit the points lead, 51 points above the cutoff line. Custer and Reddick will tie for second with a 40 point margin. The rest of the drivers above the cutoff line include Cindric, Briscoe, Allgaier, Michael Annett and Gragson. Jones is the first car in the elimination spot, just one point out of the next round. Justin Haley, Sieg and Nemecheck sit out by two, four and five points respectively.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series compete next at Richmond Raceway on Friday, September 20.

Source: Racing Reference

Fin	St	#	Driver	Sponsor / Owner	Car	Laps	Status	Led	Pts	PPts
1	4	2	Tyler Reddick	Tame the Beast (Richard Childress)	Chevrolet	200	running	30	54	5
2	2	20	Christopher Bell	Rheem / Smurfit Kappa (Joe Gibbs)	Toyota	200	running	154	55	2
3	6	19	Brandon Jones	Juniper Networks (Joe Gibbs)	Toyota	200	running	0	44	0
4	1	00	Cole Custer	Haas Automation (Stewart Haas Racing)	Ford	200	running	0	47	0
5	3	7	Justin Allgaier	Brandt (JR Motorsports)	Chevrolet	200	running	15	50	0
6	36	9	Noah Gragson	Switch (JR Motorsports)	Chevrolet	200	running	0	31	0
7	16	08	Gray Gaulding	JT Marine (Bobby Dotter)	Chevrolet	199	running	0	30	0
8	13	23	John Hunter Nemechek	Berry’s Manufacturing (Maury Gallagher)	Chevrolet	199	running	0	35	0
9	15	18	Riley Herbst	Monster Energy (Joe Gibbs)	Toyota	199	running	0	0	0
10	8	10	Elliott Sadler	Nutrien Ag Solutions (Matthew Kaulig)	Chevrolet	199	running	0	27	0
11	7	98	Chase Briscoe	Ford Performance (Fred Biagi)	Ford	199	running	1	36	0
12	5	22	Austin Cindric	Money Lion (Roger Penske)	Ford	199	running	0	36	0
13	11	1	Michael Annett	Pilot / Flying J (JR Motorsports)	Chevrolet	199	running	0	27	0
14	22	8	Ryan Truex	Bar Harbor (JR Motorsports)	Chevrolet	199	running	0	26	0
15	10	11	Justin Haley	Leaf Filter Gutter Protection (Matthew Kaulig)	Chevrolet	199	running	0	23	0
16	17	86	Brandon Brown	Vero True Social (Jerry Brown)	Chevrolet	198	running	0	21	0
17	37	90	Alex Labbe	Martin & Cain Warehousing (Mario Gosselin)	Chevrolet	198	running	0	20	0
18	29	36	Josh Williams	Star Brite / Star Tron / Simcraft (Mario Gosselin)	Chevrolet	198	running	0	19	0
19	20	07	Ray Black, Jr.	Isokern Fireplaces & Chimneys / Scuba Life (Bobby Dotter)	Chevrolet	197	running	0	18	0
20	12	51	Jeremy Clements	RepairableVehicles.com (Jeremy Clements)	Chevrolet	197	running	0	17	0
21	23	01	Stephen Leicht	JD Motorsports (Johnny Davis)	Chevrolet	197	running	0	16	0
22	21	4	B.J. McLeod	JD Motorsports (Johnny Davis)	Chevrolet	196	running	0	15	0
23	26	0	Garrett Smithley	JD Motorsports (Johnny Davis)	Chevrolet	196	running	0	14	0
24	24	5	Matt Mills	J.F. Electric (B.J. McLeod)	Chevrolet	195	running	0	13	0
25	18	61	Tommy Joe Martins	Diamond Gusset Jeans (Carl Long)	Toyota	194	running	0	12	0
26	30	52	David Starr	Circle Track / Franklin’s Signs (Jimmy Means)	Chevrolet	194	running	0	11	0
27	38	99	Jairo Avila, Jr.	ART General Contractor (B.J. McLeod)	Toyota	193	running	0	10	0
28	28	15	Tyler Matthews	LineTec Services (Johnny Davis)	Chevrolet	191	running	0	9	0
29	32	35	Joey Gase	Nevada Donor Network (Carl Long)	Toyota	187	vibration	0	8	0
30	34	78	Vinnie Miller	Pit Viper Sunglasses (B.J. McLeod)	Chevrolet	186	running	0	7	0
31	31	93	C.J. McLaughlin	Sci Aps (Rod Sieg)	Chevrolet	121	crash	0	6	0
32	25	74	Kyle Weatherman	(Mike Harmon)	Chevrolet	66	suspension	0	5	0
33	27	17	Joe Nemechek	RWR (Rick Ware)	Chevrolet	56	steering	0	0	0
34	33	66	Chad Finchum	LasVegas.net (Carl Long)	Toyota	52	suspension	0	3	0
35	35	13	Stan Mullis	LasVegas.net (Carl Long)	Toyota	22	carburetor	0	2	0
36	9	89	Landon Cassill	Visone RV (Morgan Shepherd)	Chevrolet	20	overheating	0	1	0
37	14	38	J.J. Yeley	RSS Racing (Rod Sieg)	Chevrolet	2	fuel pump	0	1	0
38	19	39	Ryan Sieg	Lombar Bros. Gaming (Rod Sieg)	Chevrolet	199	disqualified	0	1	0

September 15, 2019

Christopher Bell wins at Road America, first on road course and sixth of season

Despite wild closing laps with road course ringers and Cup regulars spinning off track, Christopher Bell displays his talent and wins the CTECH Manufacturing 180 at Road America in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

“Man, I’m honestly in shock,” Bell said. “I really butchered qualifying and tore the crap out of the left front. I felt like once we got in the race there, we’d be able to drive by those guys. Instead, they dropped the green flag and they were driving by me. That wasn’t much fun.

“Then I told Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) I was really, really tight. We got those tires off and he said the left-front was hurt pretty bad. We got pretty good there when we put our new set of tires on.

“That strategy worked out well for us coming in there (with 14 to go) and then the yellow coming out. This car was really, really fast today. We’ve had a great road course season.”

NASCAR was forced to throw a caution for debris, setting up the race for a two-lap shootout for the win. Bell controlled the restart perfectly, but AJ Allmendinger spun his tires and fell back from the outside front row. Bell would hold off the field for the win, but it was eventful throughout the field behind him.

Austin Cindric pitted during the last caution flag to make a late-race charge through the field. After restarting in the 20th position, he had passed 15 cars and found himself on the heels of Matt DiBenedetto. Coming through Turn 14, DiBenedetto ended up spinning his No. 18 iK9 Toyota Supra, allowing Cindric to cross the start-finish line second — 1.891 seconds behind Bell.

“We talked about a five-to-go plan, that was like a green-white-checkered,” said Cindric, who came a position short of claiming three straight road-course wins in August. “I wasn’t 100 percent confident, but at the same time, we were battling a lot of wheel hop after four or five laps on tires and we had a lot more than on tires.

“In this kind of racing, you pretty much know that you’re going to get used up if you’re slower, so we wanted to go on offense and that was our strategy all day and we probably just needed one or two laps to get our Menards–Richmond Ford Mustang in Victory Lane. All in all, a good day, good points. P-2 is all right.”

Cindric also shared his viewpoint in the last two laps fittingly.

“It was chaos, it was insane. I think it’s why all these people show up at Road America and enjoy this type of racing. You never know what you’re going to get, it always comes down to those last-lap dashes to the finish, I’m glad to be able to put on a show at a place like this.”

Allmendinger admitted to the poor restart, but also collided with Noah Gragson after Turn 1 and spun off course. He would later be collected in a different off-course exchange and finished in a dismal 24th position.

The rest of the top five included points leader and Bristol Motor Speedway winner Tyler Reddick. Gragson and Kaz Grala. Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, Jeremy Clements, Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer completed the top 10. Allgaier and Custer both recovered from earlier race incidents.

It was Bell’s 14th career Xfinity Series victory but his first triumph on a road course.

“I guess I just get lucky on these things, that’s for sure,” Bell said.

Just three races remain in the regular Xfinity Series season. They compete next in the throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway with the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 (Saturday, 4 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

August 24, 2019
Reddick goes from worst to first at Bristol

It was a wild night for the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing driver Tyler Reddick who won the annual Xfinity Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Qualifying was a disaster for him, as he failed inspection four times and was not allowed to post a lap, therefore had to start at the rear and serve a pass-through at the start of the race. But Reddick took the lead with 14 to go when Justin Allgaier had a flat tire go down late and went on to win at Bristol.

“Man, it’s crazy,” Reddick told PRN Radio. “We had to overcome a lot of things in this race. We had a lot of good cars we were racing against. Unfortunately, we never got to race with a lot of them and that’s how racing goes. Someone’s gotta win, you’ll take them however you can get them.”

A few notes, Erik Jones was back in his first Xfinity Series race since 2017 at Phoenix. Austin Cindric who has been on a tear as of late sat on the pole a couple of hours before the race started. Alongside him was all-time Xfinity wins leader Kyle Busch who started second.

Stage 1: Lap 1-Lap 85

The caution came out early on Lap 7 for the No. 68 of Mason Diaz who blew a right front tire. This gave Reddick a lucky break as he received the free pass and was back on the lead lap.

A few other drivers had issues but no caution was thrown. The No. 17 of Joe Nemechek had smoke coming out while Ray Black Jr was slow on the track on Lap 21. A major incident broke out on the backstretch when Cole Custer, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell and Erik Jones all piled into each other.

Custer, Bell and Jones received the most damage. Custer had power steering issues, Jones went out of the race and Bell would end up many laps down.

Another caution broke came out on Lap 52 for John Hunter Nemechek who spun in Turn 2 after blowing a tire. The caution flew once more on Lap 73 for debris in Turn 2. One more final caution occurred right before the stage break as Reddick got loose and made slight contact with race leader Allgaier in Turn 4.

This would cause the stage to end under caution and Brandon Jones won the first stage after the incident. Allgaier, Ryan Sieg, Michael Annett, Noah Gragson, Landon Cassill, Kyle Busch, Gray Gaulding, Josh Williams and Garrett Smithley rounded out the top-10 finishers in Stage 1.

During the stage Justin Haley had smoke from the cockpit, eventually going to the garage with a tire rub. Under the stage break, Reddick was hit with a safety violation and was sent to the rear.

Stage 2: Lap 92-Lap 170

The sixth caution came out on Lap 121 for the 90 of Ronnie Bassett Jr. who had a freak incident off Turn 2. His right rear tire snapped loose and came completely off the car in front of race leader Kyle Busch. There were some reports that Busch may have had some damage but he reported the car was fine with no issues.

Gragson took the lead for five laps off the restart but Busch retook the lead and led for the final 78 laps to end the stage. Busch won Stage 2 but troubles arose for the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing driver.

Despite Busch reporting no major issues, his engine let go right after taking the green-checkered flag for Stage 2. He would be done for the rest of the night and wound up a disappointing 29th after leading 137 laps.

Reddick, Allgaier, Cindric, Hunter Nemechek, Brandon Jones, Briscoe, Annett, Sieg and Clements rounded out the top-10 stage finishers for Stage 2.

There were a few drivers who pitted under caution. Hunter Nemechek was caught with a speeding penalty.

Stage 3: Lap 180-300

There was a long green-flag run when Stage 3 began until a caution broke out on Lap 223 as Michael Annett wrecked in Turn 2.

Another green flag run ensued and Reddick was flying through the field with fresher tires than Allgaier. Sieg was having an impressive run in third place before catching the Turn 2 wall. More problems arose for the No. 39 team as smoke was coming out of the left-rear. He was black-flagged by NASCAR due to the smoke and had to come down pit road.

Sieg pitted for four fresh tires, hoping that would fix the issue, but smoke rose once again. He would be penalized by NASCAR again.

After another long green-flag run, a caution came out with 20 to go for fluid from the No. 52 of David Starr. Christopher Bell also had a right-front tire go down under caution.

This would set up an exciting 14 laps to the finish with Allgaier and Reddick battling each other for the win. Brandon Jones had a flat tire with 11 to go, then the big moment came in the race with 10 to go.

Race leader Allgaier had a flat tire and with that and Tyler Reddick was able to go right on by and score his first-ever win at Bristol.

“I just knew we had a great car,” Reddick added to PRN Radio. “I actually thought we weren’t quite as competitive as the 18 (Busch), 81 (Erik Jones), 12 (Logano), 20 (Bell), for that matter when they got caught up in the wreck. It was just a game-changer for us when we got that caution and got back on the lead lap. Got our lucky dog and from there, we got to the front and made a mistake and we had to do it all over again one more time. This time, we made it work.”

There were nine cautions for 59 laps, with seven leaders among 11 lead changes.

This was Reddick’s fourth win of the season, his first since Michigan in June. He continues to be the championship points leader over Christopher Bell by 54 points.

Up Next: The NASCAR Xfinity Series continues their run to the Playoffs by heading to Road America on Saturday, August 24.

August 17, 2019
Tyler Reddick rebounds to top-five finish

In what was a whirlwind kind of day for Tyler Reddick and his No. 2 Anderson’s Maple Syrup crew, Reddick was able to rebound to a top-five finish at The Glen.

It all started on the first lap of the Xfinity Series Zippo 200 when Reddick missed the turn in the inner loop and had to stop before getting back on track. He would eventually have to make a pit stop to clean the grass off his grille.

Despite the Lap 1 incident and making a pit stop, the California native rebounded to a ninth-place stage finish in the first stage.

For Stage 2, Reddick restarted in the fifth position and stayed consistent throughout the stage until trouble rose again. After a restart on Lap 37, he once again went off the track, but this time it was in Turn 6. This cost the Richard Childress Racing driver several positions with Reddick finishing 15th in Stage 2.

Hoping to have a smooth third and final stage, it all went south again for Reddick on Lap 47, when he went through the inner loop once more. This sent the RCR driver all the way back to 20th.

Even though Reddick had trouble throughout the race, he caught some lucky breaks by having multiple restarts near the end of the Zippo 200. On the final restart of the race on Lap 75, he restarted third, having a shot to win.

Eventually, Reddick finally brought home the No. 2 Chevy in the fifth position.

“It was just a crazy set of circumstances,” Reddick described to MRN Radio. “I mean, I never remember a race where I made so many mistakes and still finish sixth. Just crazy.”

Due to AJ Allmendinger’s disqualification after the post-race inspection, Reddick was credited with a fifth-place finish. It was his 15th top-five finish of the season. Reddick is currently the championship points leader over Christopher Bell by 32 points.

August 4, 2019
Christopher Bell wins at New Hampshire

In dominant fashion, Christopher Bell did what he has done for most of the season, ending the race in victory lane.

“I just had a really good race car,” Bell told NBCSN. “This track’s been really good to us and our team.”

Bell led 186 of the 200 laps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway en route to his fifth victory of the season and the second at New Hampshire.

Cole Custer finished second, followed by Justin Allgaier, Tyler Reddick and Paul Menard rounding out the top five.

Stage 1:

Custer started on the pole but was quickly taken by Bell on Lap 2 into Turn 1. Bell led all the way until 10 to go in the stage when the No. 23 of John Hunter Nemechek lost his brakes and got into the wall. His day was quickly over, not the result that he was looking for at New Hampshire.

With under 10 to go in the stage during this caution, teams chose to select some different strategies. The leaders came in but Ryan Sieg and Brandon Jones, among others, stayed out in the hope that either a caution would come out close to the stage ending or they could hold on for some stage points.

That hopefulness worked as Jones ended up winning the stage with Bell, Reddick, Sieg and Allgaier rounding out the top five.

Stage 2:

Stage two continued with Reddick and Bell side by side with the Oklahoma native getting the advantage. Allgaier was able to get up to second but was unable to get past Bell for the stage win.

Custer ended up in third with Reddick and Menard rounding out the top five. With the stage going green the entire way, only 20 cars remained on the lead lap.

Final Stage:

Bell and Allgaier came in one and two and came out of pit lane, one and two, as they restarted the third and final stage.

Bell started out with the lead and pulled away from the field fairly easily. Allgaier wasn’t so lucky as he battled Custer for second and eventually lost the spot to Custer. It stayed like that until Lap 141 when the yellow waved for what was a debris caution. The lap before, the No. 9 of Noah Gragson, tagged the wall and was quickly losing positions after battling for a top 10 spot.

They went back under green but for the first time this afternoon, the beating and banging was evident. It started when Gragson got into with Austin Cindric. Cindric continued battling, this time with the No. 8 of Ryan Truex.

While that was going the No. 18 of Harrison Burton was battling with Menard until Menard had enough and turned Burton heading into Turn 1 on Lap 153. Menard said on the radio that, “He needs to race me clean. He hit me twice.” Burton went on to finish 29th.

The race went back green once again with 42 laps to go and like most of the day, Bell started from the front and pulled away once the green was in the air. However, unlike the previous caution, it was Custer who was chasing down Bell and not Allgaier. Custer was making ground for a little bit but in the end, Bell was too much for him and ended up in victory lane.

Next up for the Xfinity Series? Their second trip to Iowa where Christopher Bell won earlier this year.

July 20, 2019
Cole Custer wins XFinity Pole at New Hampshire

Cole Custer continued his hot streak by winning the pole for Saturday afternoon’s Roxor 200 at a hot and steamy New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“I didn’t know it was going to be a pole lap honestly,” Custer said after the qualifying. “I thought I could’ve hit it a little bit better. This Haas Automation Mustang has been the best car I have had in New Hampshire in a long time. I can’t thank Mike Shiplett and everybody enough. They brought a really fast car and hopefully we can stay up front today.”

Christopher Bell will start second, followed by Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe rounding out the top five.

Brandon Jones will start sixth, followed by Harrison Burton, Justin Allgaier, Ryan Truex and Noah Gragson to round out the top 10.

Tyler Reddick will start 11th for this afternoon’s race.

After crashing in practice, Camden Murphy attempted to go out and qualify in his Mike Harmon Entry but during his pace lap, he felt something was wrong and went back down onto pit road and did not record a lap.

The ROXOR 200 will get underway at 4 p.m. ET and will be televised on NBCSN.

July 20, 2019
Reddick Wins Charlotte For Second Xfinity Win of 2019

Tyler Reddick scored his second win of the 2019 Xfinity Series season when he won Saturday’s Alsco 300 by 2.10 seconds over runner-up Justin Allgaier. Jeffrey Earnhardt took home third place, while rookies Noag Gragson and Justin Haley rounded out the top-five.

The win was the fifth of Reddick’s career and his third on a 1.5-mile speedway. Reddick began the race in third, but managed to lead the most laps (110) on the way to winning the second stage and the race itself, enduring several wild late-race restarts.

“This is a place I didn’t feel good about, I’m not going to lie,” said Reddick. “I was really worried, Charlotte is kind of been the point in my season where things past Charlotte haven’t really gone good. It’s really nice to come into Charlotte, practice good, come into the race, run good, and come away with a win. Hopefully that means the next couple are going to keep rolling this way.”

The win was the eighth top-four finish for the defending series champion.

Christopher Bell began the race on the pole and led 33 laps and won the first stage, but suffered a tire failure and made contact with the wall around the halfway point of the race. He would finish 31st in his second DNF of the season.

Michael Annett, Jeb Burton, Ryan Sieg, Austin Cindric, and Brandon Jones rounded out the top-10.

The day was excessively hot, which led to a slick race track and several front-runners suffered tire issues or made contact with the wall, including Bell, Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, Earnhardt, Chase Briscoe, and outside-polesitter Cole Custer. Several drivers were also overheated during and after the race, including Reddick, Haley, and Earnhardt, who was later taken to the medical center after experiencing dizziness on pit road.

Fourth-place starter Austin Dillon had to relinquish his seat to Cup teammate Daniel Hemric with 40 laps to go when the seat in his Kaulig Racing got too hot and began burning his ribs.

The next race will be June 1 at Pocono Raceway for the Pocono Green 250 at 1 p.m. ET on FS1.

May 25, 2019

Tyler Reddick overcomes adversity to win at Talladega Superspeedway

It was a beautiful day for a race at Talladega Superspeedway for the MoneyLion 300, as you could feel the excitement start to build during pre-race ceremonies. Although, for several drivers and crewmembers, their hearts were heavy after the news that Brenda Jackson, the Mother of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller, had passed away earlier this week.

Four drivers were a little more anxious as they were eligible for the Dash 4 Cash, which gives the highest finishing driver of the four an extra $100,000. The eligible drivers were Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier, and Austin Cindric.

One driver overcame a speeding penalty, running over a jack stand, and being involved in an accident that did significant damage to the right side of his car. Reddick, driving his No.2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, would overcome all that adversity and still get his first win at Talladega for himself and for car owner Richard Childress in an Xfinity Series Race. To top that off he also won the Dash 4 Cash money.

“Hell of a job for all our guys at RCR Chevrolet,” Reddick commented. “I tried to take us out of the race so many times and somehow we got back in the mix, and back to the lead.” With a big smile, Reddick added, “We had a good day.”

Stage 1 started with Michael Annett and Reddick on the front row. There was some great side by side racing at the start with everyone jockeying for position. The only caution was for the spinning car of Brandon Jones. Reddick would easily win the stage after leading 21 of the 25 laps.

Stage 2 when the drivers hit pit road before the start Reddick got a little too much of a push from Ross Chastain and both drivers were busted for speeding. When the stage started they were pretty much running single file. There were no cautions in this stage, however, Reddick got loose and tagged the wall causing pretty significant damage to the right side of the car. Noah Gragson went on to win the stage.

The final stage of the race is where patience and probably some tempers wore off. Talladega being known for its “Big One” meant pretty much the only safe drivers were the ones in the front. Reddick once again brushed the wall but didn’t bring out the caution flag. There were several cautions in this stage. One of them took out two of the four Dash 4 Cash drivers, Allgaier and Custer; it also involved Cindric, Stephen Leicht, and Ryan Sieg.

The final caution with only four laps left brought out the red flag for cleanup of the track. Jeffrey Earnhardt got loose and collected Allgaier, Timmy Hill, David Starr, Jeremy Clements, and Alex Labbe. Until this point, Earnhardt was having another great run driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The race restarted with two laps to go and Reddick was able to keep his top spot to win the race.

I want to give a great shout out to Gray Gaulding, driving his No. 08 SS Green Light Racing Chevrolet brought his car home in second place. What a great run he had going today.

Bringing his car home in third place was Christopher Bell in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Chase Briscoe and Cindric would round out the top five. John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Haley, Josh Williams, Landon Cassill, and Chris Cockrum finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Reddick leads the Xfinity Series Standings with 413 points, Bell is second with 381 points, Cindric is third with 339 points, Custer is in fourth with 338 points, and rounding out the top five is Allgaier with 298 points.

The Xfinity Series heads next to Dover International Speedway on Saturday, May 4th.

Xfinity Series Race Number 9
Race Results for the 28th Annual MoneyLion 300 – Saturday, April 27, 2019
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL – 2.66 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 113 Laps – 300.58 Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	Pts	Status
1	2	2	Tyler Reddick	Roland Chevrolet	113	1	10	51	Running
2	8	8	Gray Gaulding	Panini/NASCARRcgExp/WldwdSfty Chevrolet	113	5	0	41	Running
3	10	20	Christopher Bell	Rheem/Johns Manville Toyota	113	7	6	43	Running
4	9	98	Chase Briscoe #	Nutri Chomps/Runnings Ford	113	0	4	40	Running
5	17	22	Austin Cindric	MoneyLion Ford	113	3	0	40	Running
6	15	23	John Hunter Nemechek #	Fire Alarm Services INC Chevrolet	113	10	0	32	Running
7	5	11	Justin Haley #	LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet	113	8	8	36	Running
8	16	36	Josh Williams	StarTron/StarBrite/GnrlFrmltns Chevrolet	113	0	0	29	Running
9	22	4	Landon Cassill	Flex Seal/Contec Chevrolet	113	0	0	28	Running
10	18	17	Chris Cockrum	ADVANCEDCOMMUNICATNGRP Chevrolet	113	0	0	27	Running
11	14	9	Noah Gragson #	ARMOUR Vienna Sausage Chevrolet	113	9	1	38	Running
12	33	0	Garrett Smithley	Flex Tape Chevrolet	113	0	0	25	Running
13	6	8	Brett Moffitt(i)	ISM Connect Chevrolet	113	0	0	0	Running
14	28	52	David Starr	Whataburger Chevrolet	113	0	0	23	Running
15	32	86	Brandon Brown #	Brandonbilt Motorsports Chevrolet	113	0	0	22	Running
16	4	39	Ryan Sieg	Alabama Soda Blasting Chevrolet	113	4	3	36	Running
17	26	5	Matt Mills	J.F. Electric Toyota	113	0	0	20	Running
18	13	19	Brandon Jones	1st Foundation Toyota	113	0	7	23	Running
19	29	78	Vinnie Miller	Pit Viper Toyota	113	0	0	18	Running
20	35	42	Max Tullman	Top Tier Toyota	113	0	0	17	Running
21	34	99	Cody Ware	LORDCO Auto Parts Toyota	113	0	0	16	Running
22	25	15	BJ McLeod	teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet	113	0	0	15	Running
23	31	74	Mike Harmon	Woobies Shoes Chevrolet	111	0	0	14	Running
24	20	1	Stephen Leicht	Flex Glue Chevrolet	111	0	0	13	Running
25	24	90	Alex Labbe	Alpha Prime USA Chevrolet	111	0	0	12	Running
26	7	18	Jeffrey Earnhardt	iK9 Toyota	110	0	0	11	Accident
27	30	51	Jeremy Clements	RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet	108	0	0	10	Accident
28	11	7	Justin Allgaier	Hellmanns/FghtHngrSprkChnge Chevrolet	108	6	2	23	Accident
29	19	66	Timmy Hill	VSI Racing/Overkill Motorsports Toyota	108	0	0	8	Accident
30	3	10	Ross Chastain	Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet	105	2	5	22	Gear Cooler
31	1	1	Michael Annett	TMC Transportation Chevrolet	95	0	9	8	Accident
32	12	0	Cole Custer	JACOB Companies Ford	94	0	0	5	Accident
33	23	93	Josh Bilicki	CMR Construction & Roofing Chevrolet	86	0	0	4	Transmisson
34	36	7	Ray Black II	ISKRNFrplcs&Chmny/ScbaLf Chevrolet	65	0	0	3	Accident
35	21	38	Jeff Green	C2 Freight Resources Chevrolet	52	0	0	2	Engine
36	37	13	Chad Finchum	JamesCrtrAttrnyatLaw/CrshClmsR.US Toyota	36	0	0	1	Gear
37	27	35	Joey Gase	DonateLife/RgstrMe.org/Cmpgn/Gase Toyota	35	0	0	1	Engine

April 27, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

April 12, 2019

Kyle Busch recovers to capture second victory of Vegas weekend in Xfinity Series

LAS VEGAS – Kyle Busch recovers from an early race issue to win the Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Since winning Friday night’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Strat 200, Busch will now go for the triple sweep at Vegas in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“It was really tough to come back from one of those setbacks,” Busch said after an eventful day in his No. 18 Extreme Concepts / iK9 Toyota. “I wasn’t sure how we were going to be able to do it down a set of tires. We got a lucky break with a caution during the second stage. That kind of got us back on cycle, and we were able to put the first set (of tires) back on with fresh wheels so we didn’t have any more issues there.”

John Hunter Nemechek tried everything he could with the late race position he had, but came up just 0.192 seconds short of victory.

“We gave him a run for his money,” Nemechek said. “I’ve been beaten by Kyle (Busch) too many times, in late model races and now in the Xfinity Series. Hopefully, we can come out on top and build momentum off of this.”

Noah Gragson was the highest finishing rookie in his No. 9 Switch Chevrolet after an aggressive three-wide pass on the final lap to finish in third. Austin Dillon helped Kaulig Racing earn their best career finish of fourth in the No. 10 Stitched Chevrolet. Daytona 500 champion Michael Annett rounded out the top five.

Ryan Sieg, Ross Chastain, Chase Briscoe, Cole Custer and Justin Haley (one lap down) completed the top 10.

Custer Sets the Pace in Stage One

Qualifying was rained out, so the field was set by the order of owners’ points. Stephen Leicht and Christopher Bell started at the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments to their cars prior to the start of the race. Cole Custer started on the front row and led the opening eight laps. Austin Cindric, for a brief moment was out front on Lap 9, but Custer reclaimed the top spot for the rest of the first stage.

On Lap 3, Donald Theetge spun through Turn 3 and slowly drifted up the track, collecting Joey Gase. A few drivers did elect to come down pit road, but all the leaders stayed out.

Tyler Reddick leads Brandon Jones and John Hunter Nemechek on the front stretch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Photo by Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.

After 15 laps into the race, Kyle Busch, who was working on his triple sweep at Vegas, came down pit road after feeling a vibration. He went a lap down early, and faced an uphill battle early in the race as a few others were already a lap down. This also put him at a disadvantage as he was down a fresh set of tires. Tyler Reddick radioed in saying that something might be breaking, and had trouble getting onto pit road as he was stuck in the outside lane. However, he stayed out on track to keep the lead lap position.

The rest of the stage finished under green with Custer collecting the stage points. At this point, four cars retired from the race and one had not yet joined the race. During pit stops, Custer lost three spots while Tyler Reddick gained the lead leaving pit road. Three penalties were handed out during this pit cycle. Jeff Green’s crew members were over the wall too soon, and both Timmy Hill and Josh Williams had uncontrolled tire issues.

Stage Two Dominated by Dirt Racers

As the field restarted the race, Tyler Reddick wasted no time and pulled away from the field to lead all the laps in the second stage. Christopher Bell had also worked his way up toward the front after starting at the rear of the field to finish in second at stage end, as the two dirt racers put on a great show racing together.

The one notable event that was a major turning point was on Lap 60 when the yellow was displayed after Austin Cindric and Zane Smith collided on the exit of Turn 2. Cindric went for a long slide, and barely made contact with the outside wall, if any. Both were able to continue the race, but this allowed Kyle Busch to put on the scuff set of tires from the first stage, putting him on the same tire strategy as the rest of the field. He was still a lap down, but it put him in much better position for either a lucky dog or a wave around.

Two drivers received penalties during pit stops. Ryan Sieg was caught speeding on pit road, and Vinnie Miller had a crew member over the wall too soon.

Kyle Busch Surges Back to the Front in the Final Stage

Most of the third stage was uneventful, aside from Busch charging through the field toward the front. He first claimed the lead from Tyler Reddick on Lap 112, and kept the top spot until 20 laps remaining.

Bell and Reddick worked together to reel in Busch, and Bell eventually was able to get by Busch. He led for a lap, but brushed the wall in Turns 3 and 4, giving the lead back to Busch. Bell and Reddick also collided a few times, allowing Busch to pull a gap. On Lap 190, Ja Junior Avila spun off Turn 4 into the infield grass to bring out the caution flag. All drivers had one set of fresh tires, and elected to come to pit road with only six drivers on the lead lap. Before the yellow flag, Busch, Jones and Reddick had over a 20 second lead on the fourth place driver. The top three positions stayed the same after pit stops, but Brandon Jones gained two spots to start in the fourth position.

On the restart, Bell and Reddick attempted to work together to get by Busch who didn’t have quite the perfectly handling car at this point in the race. Bell had briefly stepped out in front before, and Reddick was attempting to do the same.

Before the leaders could take the white flag, Cole Custer had a run on Brandon Jones out of Turn 2. Jones attempted to block, and the two made contact on the back stretch. Jones over-corrected and turned hard into the outside wall. His window net went down and he was able to walk away uninjured, and was evaluated and released from the infield care center shortly after.

Most of the leaders crashed during the first overtime attempt on the exit of Turn 4. Photo by Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.

The first overtime attempt had many unknowns, including who would push who and if there would be a four-wide pass going into the first turn. Many of the other drivers had better handling cars, as more started to charge for the win. Going into Turn 3, Reddick lost control of his car as he was to the inside of Busch. As he slid up the track, he collided into Bell and the two went spinning on the exit of Turn 4. Both Austin Cindric and Zane Smith crashed into the sides of both cars heavily, ending the day for all four drivers. The yellow flag was displayed before Busch could take the white flag.

Kyle Busch chose the outside lane on all the final restarts, including the one for the last overtime attempt. John Hunter Nemechek stayed to Busch’s inside until Turn 4 when Busch could clear his car. Noah Gragson made a 3-wide pass in Turns 1 and 2 to recover from an early ill-handling race car, but Busch had too much of a lead for anyone to get a run on him. This was Busch’s second career NASCAR Xfinity win at Vegas, and made him one win away from completing the triple sweep.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series competes next at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona on March 9.

Race Results for the 23rd Annual Boyd Gaming 300 – Saturday, March 2, 2019, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Stage1Pos	Stage2Pos	Pts	Status
1	8	18	Kyle Busch(i)	Extreme Concepts/iK9 Toyota	213	0	3	0	Running
2	10	23	John Hunter Nemechek	Allegiant Chevrolet	213	5	5	47	Running
3	4	9	Noah Gragson #	Switch Chevrolet	213	10	0	35	Running
4	31	10	Austin Dillon(i)	Stitched Chevrolet	213	0	0	0	Running
5	16	1	Michael Annett	Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet	213	6	8	40	Running
6	18	39	Ryan Sieg	Lombard Bros Gaming Chevrolet	213	0	9	33	Running
7	15	4	Ross Chastain	RM Parks/EZ Angus Ranch Chevrolet	213	0	0	30	Running
8	28	98	Chase Briscoe #	Nutri Chomps Ford	213	0	10	30	Running
9	1	0	Cole Custer	Haas Automation Ford	213	1	4	45	Running
10	13	11	Justin Haley #	LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet	212	9	0	29	Running
11	20	7	Ray Black II	ISOKERNFrplcs&Chmnys/ScubaLife Chev	211	0	0	26	Running
12	35	8	Gray Gaulding	Flywheel Chevrolet	211	0	0	25	Running
13	3	20	Christopher Bell	Rheem/Smurfit Kappa Toyota	210	4	2	40	Running
14	12	2	Tyler Reddick	Hurdl Chevrolet	208	3	1	41	Accident
15	17	51	Jeremy Clements	RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet	208	0	0	22	Running
16	19	36	Josh Williams	All Sports Coffee/JoeFroyo Chevrolet	208	0	0	21	Running
17	11	86	Brandon Brown #	Brandonbilt Motorsports Chevrolet	208	0	0	20	Running
18	22	0	Garrett Smithley	teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet	208	0	0	19	Running
19	27	52	David Starr	Chevrolet	208	0	0	18	Running
20	29	15	BJ McLeod	teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet	208	0	0	17	Running
21	2	42	Chad Finchum	Amana/Smithbilt Homes Toyota	207	0	0	16	Running
22	5	22	Austin Cindric	MoneyLion Ford	206	8	0	18	Accident
23	34	66	Timmy Hill	Francovich Manhattan Toyota	206	0	0	14	Running
24	6	8	Zane Smith	The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas Chevrolet	205	0	0	13	Accident
25	24	99	Ja Junior Avila	Art General Contractors/JW Transport Toyota	205	0	0	12	Running
26	14	78	Vinnie Miller	Koolbox Chevrolet	202	0	0	11	Running
27	30	1	Stephen Leicht	teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet	200	0	0	10	Running
28	9	19	Brandon Jones	Menards/Jeld-Wen Toyota	198	2	7	22	Accident
29	25	5	Matt Mills	JF Electric Chevrolet	196	0	0	8	Running
30	37	74	Mike Harmon	Time for a Hero Chevrolet	194	0	0	7	Running
31	7	7	Justin Allgaier	BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet	119	7	6	15	Engine
32	26	38	Jeff Green	RSS Racing Chevrolet	99	0	0	5	Suspension
33	38	89	Morgan Shepherd	VisoneRV.com Chevrolet	61	0	0	4	Handling
34	21	17	Bayley Currey(i)	Chevrolet	24	0	0	0	Electrical
35	36	13	Stan Mullis	Fluidyne/CrashClaimsR.US Toyota	14	0	0	2	Vibration
36	32	93	Josh Bilicki	RSS Racing Chevrolet	13	0	0	1	Electrical
37	23	90	Donald Theetge	Mercedes-Benz St-Nicolas/Circuit Acura Chev	1	0	0	1	Accident
38	33	35	Joey Gase	Nevada Donor Network Toyota	1	0	0	1	Accident

March 2, 2019