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Tag: XFINITY Series

  • Grudgingly Enough, NASCAR was in the Right on Haley Call

    Grudgingly Enough, NASCAR was in the Right on Haley Call

    Friday nights Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 XFINITY series event at Daytona International Speedway had the potential to be a huge night for the series. Great racing, thrilling moments, and an upset winner going to Victory Lane in just his second series start.

    A 19-year-old kid who happens to have amassed a fair amount of accolades in the sport and is currently in a career year in the Camping World Truck Series, somehow makes a wild move on NASCAR’s biggest stage and actually sticks it, crosses the finish line to the shouts and cheers of peers, announcers, and fans alike. For a division suffering an identity crisis like the XFINITY Series, they needed that.

    Instead, Justin Haley’s Bouchard-esque win was stripped away by a small ribbon of asphalt. What hurts even worse is that he didn’t need to go below said ribbon.

    One can only imagine the dejection he must have felt after celebrating at the line only to see Kyle Larson celebrating in the grass after being told he was the winner. Larson, who is among the best actual wheelmen in the sport, happens to be an established Cup superstar with several Cup and XFINITY wins under his belt (ergo, didn’t need to be in the race where the win would ultimately add up to nothing). It just goes to show how ludicrous both the Yellow Line rule is as well as the “need” for Cup drivers in lower divisions.

    Still, a rule is a rule. NASCAR has been wildly inconsistent with it over the years (from the 2003 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega when Dale Jr. passed Matt Kenseth, to the 2008 Amp Energy 500 at Talladega when Regan Smith went below the Yellow Line and was stripped of the win), but inconsistency isn’t enough to fuel a legitimate argument. Haley reacted to Elliott Sadler’s and Larson’s battle. The reaction sent him too far below when there was enough room to pass above the line. Unintentional, but it was enough to deny Haley, GMS Racing, and the NASCAR faithful who wish to see a resurrection of the XFINITY Series.

    Until NASCAR abolishes the Yellow Line rule at Daytona and Talladega, there will be more instances of pure highway robbery where wins and excitement will be stripped from otherwise memorable races. Until then, the fact remains that NASCAR made the right call after Friday’s race, but to their own detriment and the detriment of a series in dire need of a shot in the arm.

  • Kyle Larson Shocked by Xfinity Win at Daytona

    Kyle Larson Shocked by Xfinity Win at Daytona

    Kyle Larson brought home the victory in a wild finish at the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway. Driving his No.42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet he crossed the finish line mere inches from Elliott Sadler, who came in second place.

    This is Larson’s third Xfinity victory this season and his first Xfinity win at Daytona. He survived not only the “Big One” but also watching driver Justin Haley take the checkers ahead of him making him believe he didn’t win. Haley, however, went below the yellow lines which is against the rules and NASCAR ruled Larson the race winner.

    “I didn’t even think I’d won until I got to the lug nut check, and they had a big screen down there,” Larson said. “And I saw a little bit of the replay and saw that he went a clipped the yellow line, so I asked about it, and they said NASCAR was talking about it, and about 10 seconds later we were declared the winner.”

    He added, “It’s a little bit of a shock for me, this is awesome, to win both stages and win the race, it means a lot for me and DC Solar.”

    Haley commented on NASCAR’s decision, saying, “I just wish NASCAR would tell us how much of the car we could have below the yellow line. It’s not how we wanted it to end, but I’m extremely blessed to get the opportunity. It’s amazing to be here at Daytona even though I didn’t win.”

    Stage 1 of the race went caution free making for a very fast stage. The frontrunners broke away from the pack leaving the rest of the field to fight for 10th on back. The only hiccup would be from Christopher Bell who slid sideways into his pitbox when making his pit stop at the end of the stage. Larson won this stage easily.

    “We got a third-place finish,” Bell said, “so I’m really proud of my team and hope we can build on this and create some momentum.”

    Stage 2 would see pole sitter Ryan Preece’s day come to an early end with a mechanical failure.

    “We must have got a piece of debris go through the radiator, and we lost all of the water,” Preece explained. “It cooked the motor down. Unfortunate. I felt like we were starting to make our way forward and start to work the draft.”

    During the remainder of the stage, the cars pretty much stayed in two lines with the inside line being the fastest of the two. This stage, like the first, Larson would also win without really being challenged. There was one spin but the caution was already out for the end of the stage.

    The final stage of 40 laps is where you held your breath and waited for what everyone knew would happen…”The Big One.”

    The drivers began to lose patience in their bid to the front and started going three and four wide. On Lap 81, it happened, when Matt Tifft and Austin Cindric triggered a 17-car pileup that would bring out the red flag. Cindric would get the worst of it when his No. 60 started to barrel-roll. Luckily Cindric was treated and released from the infield care center. With three laps to go, there was another multi-car wreck and the race would go into NASCAR overtime.

    A very frustrated Elliott Sadler finished in second place.

    He remarked, “I just didn’t know the 24 was coming, miscommunication between my spotter and myself. I was just trying to key in on the 42. I feel like it was Daytona February all over again. I just hate it for my guys, they work way too hard for me to keep finishing second here at Daytona. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

    Bell overcame his hiccup at the end of the first stage and finished third in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    “We got a third-place finish,” Bell said, “so I’m really proud of my team and hope we can build on this and create some momentum.”

    Ryan Blaney and Kaz Grala would round out the top five finishers. Shane Lee, Timmy Hill, Daniel Hemric, Justin Allgaier, and Ross Chastain finished sixth through 10th respectively.

    Sadler leads the Xfinity Series standings with 582 points. Hemric is in second and Cole Custer in third followed by Bell in fourth and Justin Allgaier is in fifth.

    The Xfinity Series heads next to Kentucky Speedway on Friday, July 13.

  • Full Schedule for Daytona

    Full Schedule for Daytona

    Staff Report | NASCAR.com

    The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be in action for a holiday weekend at Daytona International Speedway this week. Check out the full schedule below, subject to change.

    Note: All times are ET.

    Thursday, July 5 
    1:05-1:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series practice, NBCSN (Canada: TSN GO) (Results)
    2:05-2:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, NBCSN (Canada: TSN1) (Results)
    3:05-3:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, NBCSN (Canada: TSN GO) (Results)
    4:05-4:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN (Canada: TSN1) CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    Noon: Tyler Reddick and Elliott Sadler
    12:15 p.m.: Brandon Jones, Kaz Grala and Ryan Preece
    12:30 p.m.: Austin Dillon
    12:45 p.m.: Bubba Wallace
    1 p.m.: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    3:30 p.m.: Kyle Larson

    Friday, July 6 
    2:10 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series pole qualifying, NBCSN (Canada: TSN GO) CANCELED DUE TO RAIN
    5:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole qualifying, NBCSN (Canada: TSN GO) (Follow live)
    7:30 p.m. NASCAR Xfinity Series Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 (100 laps, 250 miles), NBCSN (Canada: TSN2) (Follow live)

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    3 p.m.: Denny Hamlin
    5:45 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying
    9:45 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race

    Saturday, July 7
    7 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 (160 laps, 400 miles), NBC (Follow live)

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    4:30 p.m.: Medal of Honor Recipients
    10 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

     

  • Kyle Larson rebounds from early setback to win Xfinity Series race at Chicago

    Kyle Larson rebounds from early setback to win Xfinity Series race at Chicago

    Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

    JOLIET, Ill. – When Kyle Larson crossed the finish line at Chicagoland Speedway 8.030 seconds ahead of runner-up Kevin Harvick, there were no screams of elation from the winner of Saturday’s Overton’s 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race.

    Instead, Larson placed an order.

    “Water, ice and towel at the start/finish line,” Larson radioed to his team, after winning a race in mind-numbing heat that approached 150 degrees in the greenhouse of his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro.

    Larson had won the pole earlier in the day but had to start from the rear of the field because of a flat right front tire that required changing before the race. That proved only a temporary deterrent.

    By the end of the first 45-lap stage, Larson had driven up to sixth place, and on Lap 72, he made a three-wide pass of Harvick and Christopher Bell to take the lead for the first time.

    The 25-year-old Californian went on to lead a race-high 80 laps and took advantage of an 80-lap green-flag run to the finish to win for the first time at Chicagoland, the second time this season and the 10th time in his career.

    “Yeah, it was pretty hot,” Larson said in the understatement of the week. “But the adrenaline was kicking in. I can’t say enough about this race car. We were really bad (Friday in practice), so it’s cool we could win.

    “We were able to get our car better for today. These guys (the No. 42 team) never quit. The pit crew was amazing. That was really a key there, I thought, to get some track position after falling back to fourth (after the restart following the end of Stage 2).”

    In fact, Larson gained two positions on pit road under a caution for debris in Turn 4 on Lap 114 and restarted third on the bottom on Lap 121. He cleared the fourth-place car of Christopher Bell on the restart and took off in pursuit of Harvick, who had assumed the lead.

    “I was able to stay pretty close to Harvick on the bottom,” Larson said. “I felt like, if the race stayed green, I would eat him up.”

    Indeed, after the tires began to wear, Larson moved to the top of the track, where he was unstoppable. On Lap 142 he surged past Harvick into the lead and extended his advantage to more than four seconds before a cycle of green-flag pit stops that started on Lap 166.

    When the cycle ended with Brandon Jones’ stop on Lap 180, Larson was up by 9.490 seconds. From that point on, it was a cruise to the finish—in a steam bath.

    “I needed a short run there, for sure,” said Harvick, who led 38 laps. “The Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford was really good there for about 25 laps, and Kyle would struggle for 25 laps. I just didn’t need it to go green.

    “I just couldn’t run the top. I would slide the front tires, and I didn’t have enough rear grip to throttle through the center of the corners. My car wouldn’t turn but on the bottom.”

    And the bottom lane wasn’t the fast way around the 1.5-mile track when the tires began to wear.

    Cole Custer ran third and took the series lead from sixth-place Elliott Sadler, who fell to third in the standings behind Custer and fifth-place finisher Daniel Hemric. Daniel Suarez came home fourth in his second Xfinity start of the season.

    Justin Allgaier ran seventh, followed by Paul Menard and Chase Briscoe, who scored his first career top-10 in the series. Chase Elliott was 10th and paid a quick visit to the infield care center before Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying for some IV fluids.

    “I feel a lot better now,” Elliott said on his way out of the care center. “Those IVs make you feel like a million bucks.”

    The Xfinity Series returns Friday, July 6 from Daytona International Speedway for the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

    RELATED: Full race results | Xfinity Series standings

     

  • Full weekend schedule for Chicagoland

    Full weekend schedule for Chicagoland

  • Justin Allgaier Beats the Heat and Wins the Xfinity Race at Iowa Speedway

    Justin Allgaier Beats the Heat and Wins the Xfinity Race at Iowa Speedway

    It was a hot day at Iowa Speedway for the American Ethanol E15 250, but one driver was hotter than the track. Justin Allgaier driving his No.7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet didn’t feel anything but elation as he wheeled into victory lane.

    Allgaier swept all three stages of the race claiming his second NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the year. Today’s win also marked his seventh career victory. He dominated today’s race leading 182 of 250 laps.

    In Victory Lane Allgaier commented, “We had a great car today, these guys did a fantastic job I can’t thank everyone at JR Motorsports enough. We’re in the middle of a cornfield, how can you not enjoy this? Man is it cool to win one especially at Iowa.”

    In Stage 1 Austin Cindric, starting from the pole position, appeared to be the car to beat. There was only one caution for Garrett Smithley who had a tire go down. It seemed like Cindric would lead every lap of this stage. However, with two laps remaining, Allgaier made his move and took the stage win.

    Stage 2 would run caution free with Allgaier in the lead. Although others were jockeying for positions Allgaier proved dominant leading every lap and winning the stage.

    The final stage would bring the best battles of the day. There were two minor cautions, one for Chad Finchum tagging the wall and the other for the spinning car of Brandon Hightower. The battle for the lead would get intense, even going three wide at points. Christopher Bell, in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, did everything he could to get the lead from Allgaier. On the last lap, Bell would try one final time but would come up short taking second place.

    After the race, Bell commented,” We had a very good Rheem Camry, just not good enough to get him (Allgaier).”

    Coming home in third place was Daniel Hemric in his No.21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Cole Custer and Brandon Jones would round out the top five. Riley Herbst finished sixth in his first ever NASCAR Xfinity Series start. Ty Majeski, Tyler Reddick, Matt Tifft, and Kaz Grala finished seventh through 10th, respectively.

    Elliott Sadler leads the Xfinity Series standing with 504 points over Cole Custer who has 500 points. Hemric is in third with 497 points, Reddick is in fourth with 473 points and Bell with 471 points rounds out the top five.

    The Xfinity Series is off next week but will be heading to Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday, June 30.

  • Dillon battles competition and rain to win Xfinity race at Michigan

    Dillon battles competition and rain to win Xfinity race at Michigan

    Austin Dillon held off his Richard Childress Racing teammate Daniel Hemric to bring home the checkered flag in Saturday’s Xfinity Series LTi Printing 250 at Michigan International Speedway.

    It was his first Xfinity Series victory win since August 2016 at Bristol, ending a 26-race winless streak in the series. Dillon took over the lead on Lap 72 and led the last 18 laps of the rain-shortened event which ended under caution after Lap 91 of 125 scheduled laps. The race start was delayed three hours due to the inclement weather.

    It was Dillon’s first win at Michigan and his ninth Xfinity Series career victory.

    “It’s always amazing to get back to Victory Lane. We’ve been working really hard at Richard Childress Racing to get back into the Winner’s Circle and as an organization, we really thought that if we could put Nick Harrison and myself together we could get there. It worked because this is only our second race together this year and here we are.”

    Hemric’s second place tied his career-best finish but he was disappointed in the result.

    “I am proud of the effort and the strides our team made throughout the weekend in practice to make sure we had a really good-driving race car today. I’m proud of everyone on this No. 21 South Point Hotel & Casino team for giving me the opportunity to drive a fast race car. I just didn’t quite execute on my end to put this team in Victory Lane today.”

    Cole Custer finished third, and said, “Today we were just in the right place at the right time and had great strategy. I think my crew chief had a great strategy and got us track position at the end. Our Code 3 Ford Mustang was pretty solid. It was hard to pass. You don’t want to be on the bottom. We had some things go our way and ended up P3 there.”

    Ryan Reed placed fourth followed by Paul Menard in fifth. Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Kevin Harvick, Justin Allgaier and Ryan Truex rounded out the top 10.

    This was the second straight week that the Xfinity Series ran a high-downforce restrictor-plate package. The result was closer racing action which produced nine cautions during the race.

    Dillon gave the package his stamp of approval, saying, “The new package we ran this weekend worked. The fans had to love how tight we were all running together. It was definitely difficult to pass that lead guy. I thought it was fun. It reminded me of Go Kart racing back in the day.”

    Elliott Sadler, the series point leader, finished 30th after scraping the outside wall on Lap 73 due to contact with Alex Bowman. He retains the lead by 41 points over Custer in second.

    The Xfinity Series heads to Iowa Speedway next Sunday for the Iowa 250 presented by Enogen.

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

    Complete results:

    1. (13) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 91 laps, 0 rating, 0 points.
    2. (5) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 35.
    3. (4) Cole Custer, Ford, 91, 0, 42.
    4. (15) Ryan Reed, Ford, 91, 0, 49.
    5. (2) Paul Menard, Ford, 91, 0, 0.
    6. (1) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 91, 0, 0.
    7. (6) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 30.
    8. (24) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 91, 0, 0.
    9. (9) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 28.
    10. (12) Ryan Truex, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 41.
    11. (7) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 91, 0, 28.
    12. (40) Kaz Grala, Ford, 91, 0, 34.
    13. (8) John Hunter Nemechek, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 33.
    14. (16) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 28.
    15. (21) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 22.
    16. (14) Matt Tifft, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 28.
    17. (17) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 20.
    18. (11) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 91, 0, 25.
    19. (18) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 18.
    20. (27) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 17.
    21. (10) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 0.
    22. (34) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 15.
    23. (29) Austin Cindric, Ford, 91, 0, 18.
    24. (25) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 13.
    25. (32) Vinnie Miller, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 12.
    26. (22) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 11.
    27. (33) Josh Bilicki, Toyota, 91, 0, 10.
    28. (38) BJ McLeod, Dodge, 91, 0, 9.
    29. (36) Chad Finchum, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 8.
    30. (3) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 91, 0, 21.
    31. (37) Timmy Hill, Dodge, 90, 0, 6.
    32. (26) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, transmission, 89, 0, 5.
    33. (28) David Starr, Chevrolet, accident, 82, 0, 4.
    34. (23) Caesar Bacarella, Chevrolet, accident, 79, 0, 3.
    35. (35) Brandon Hightower, Toyota, accident, 79, 0, 2.
    36. (30) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, accident, 54, 0, 1.
    37. (20) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, accident, 52, 0, 1.
    38. (39) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, brakes, 34, 0, 1.
    39. (19) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, overheating, 33, 0, 1.
    40. (31) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, vibration, 5, 0, 1.

     

  • Full weekend schedule for Michigan and Texas

    Full weekend schedule for Michigan and Texas

  • Kyle Busch Tricks The Triangle and Wins the Xfinity Race at Pocono

    Kyle Busch Tricks The Triangle and Wins the Xfinity Race at Pocono

    Kyle Busch is making milestones this year in the Cup Series and now he’s marked off another one in the Xfinity Series, by winning the Pocono Green 250 at Pocono Raceway. The win today was Busch’s first win at Pocono in the Xfinity series.

    He led 64 of  100 laps today in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota culminating in his 92nd career win in the Xfinity Series. Busch dominated the race overall, finishing 2.85 seconds over second place Chase Elliott in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet.

    In Victory Lane, a happy Busch remarked, “It feels good for as good as our car was, and I tried to screw it up early again this week.” He added, “The car was on rails this week you know it was last week too, but we were able to overcome our deficits we had this week.” He also said, “It’s a lot of fun to race with meaning and cause, so I dedicate this win to the men and women that are fighting for our country both now and past.”

    UPDATE: According to a NASCAR spokesperson, Busch failed post-race inspection height measurements. Any possible penalties will be announced next week. 

    Stage 1 would be caution free from start to finish. Cole Custer brought the field to the green, but by Lap 2 Busch was leading the field and wouldn’t look back. There were some great battles going on with all the cars fanning out four and five wide on the track, making for an exciting race. Busch would take the stage win leading 23 of 25 laps.

    Stage 2 started off in an interesting way. During the caution, Busch, along with Christopher Bell, received speeding penalties and had to restart at the rear of the field. But, starting at the rear would not hinder either Bell or Busch as within 10 laps both drivers were back in the top 10. There was only one caution for the spinning car of Michael Annett. Paul Menard worked his way to the front to be the winner of Stage 2.

    Stage 3 had some of the best action with cars battling for position. John Hunter Nemechek, Bell, and Brandon Jones were all swapping the top spots. The yellow flag waived twice for cautions, once for Annett and Chase Briscoe who got tangled up and into the wall. The next caution would involve Justin Allgaier and Bell who were both in the top 10 all day, ending their chances at a win. Busch had the top spot when the green flag flew again and stayed there to the finish getting his first Xfinity win of 2018.

    Second place would go to Elliott in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet. After the race, he commented, “Kyle was really fast at the beginning though I thought about halfway through I was equal to him.” He went on to say, “If I was right behind him I could draft and stay close and I thought that was going to be good if I could’ve got the air and run a little further up on that restart.” He finished by saying, “ It was fun, had a good day, I’m looking forward to the next one.”

    Daniel Hemric in his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet would take the third spot today. Hemric summed his day up as a ”Chicken salad kind of day.” He explained it this way, “We struggled trying to get track position early, we hoped we had a lot more speed, it was so hard to make runs or passes. You get side by side but it all depends on what the guy behind you did, if he went with you or with the other guy.” He continued, “It seems like I was always the other guy who (they) didn’t get going with.”

    Austin Cindric and Cole Custer would round out the top five. Elliott Sadler, John Hunter Nemechek, Paul Menard, Tyler Reddick, and Ryan Truex finished sixth through 10th respectively.
    Sadler leads the Xfinity Series standings with 474 points, Cole Custer is second with 412 points and Daniel Hemric is in third place with 411 points. Tyler Reddick sits in fourth place with 410 points, and rounding out the top five is Christopher Bell with 395 points.

    The Xfinity Series will be heading next to Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, June 9.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Xfinity-Series-Pocono-Unofficial-Race-Results-6-2-18.pdf” title=”Xfinity Series Pocono Unofficial Race Results 6-2-18″]

     

  • Keselowski wins the Xfinity Series Alsco 300 at Charlotte

    Keselowski wins the Xfinity Series Alsco 300 at Charlotte

    CONCORD, N.C. — Keselowski held off Cole Custer to win Saturday’s Xfinity Series Alsco 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway to capture his 38th series victory and his fourth at Charlotte. Keselowski won in overtime after the yellow flag came out for debris with two laps remaining.

    “It’s kind of an eventful day from the rain and everything that happened there. Strategies, the car handling and things going on this week with Roger and the Hall of Fame, but so far it’s been a great week and I couldn’t ask for a much better start for Memorial Day Weekend than to bring home a win.” Keselowski said.

    A hot, humid and an hour-long rain delay didn’t stop Brad Keselowski from becoming the first repeat winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season.

    “It was brutally hot out there. The humidity was just killer. I don’t usually get that hot in a race car, but it was smoking out there.” Keselowski said.

    Cole Custer finished second, Christopher Bell third, Ty Dillon fourth and Elliott Sadler finished fifth.

    Custer was disappointed with his runner-up finish, saying, “I wasn’t happy because you want to win, but our Haas Automation Mustang was pretty good all weekend. I think they kind of got lucky on the strategy and how the cautions flew, but I think we probably had the best car. It is what it is. You give up the track position, but it was fun racing. It’s a real edgy race track and fun to move around the VHT and stuff, so it was a fun race for sure.”

    Bell, on fresher tires, thought that he might be able to pass Keselowski on the final restart.

    “I had better tires than him and just didn’t execute. I’m going to be curious to look at the restart there and see if – see what happened and why I couldn’t get going. Bottom line, just didn’t do a good job accelerating there and that’s all she wrote,” Bell said.

    Ty Dillon came back from a penalty to score a fourth-place finish.

    “We had an uncontrolled tire penalty in Stage 3 and had to start in the rear, but our car was so fast that we were back in the top 10 in just a few laps. It was risky, but we decided to play with pit strategy at the end so that we would have fresher tires than the rest of the field to finish out the race. We were so fast but came up three spots short in the end. I can’t thank these RCR guys enough for building such a fast race car. I always like getting in these cars, and I’m looking forward to being back with them in Kentucky.”

    Sadler finished fifth and continues to hold the series points lead by 38 over Christopher Bell.

    After winning Stage 1 and 2 and leading 93 laps, Kyle Busch was poised to capture his 92nd Xfinity Series victory. But his hopes were dashed on the Lap 161 restart.  Busch, who was mired in traffic after a series of cautions and differing pit strategies, spun and slid into Chase Briscoe. He would, however, rally to an eighth-place finish.

    The Xfinity Series heads to Pocono Raceway Saturday, June 2, for the 12th race of the season.

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

    Unofficial Race Results
    Alsco 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
    May 26, 2018
    Pos Driver
    1 Brad Keselowski
    2 Cole Custer
    3 Christopher Bell
    4 Ty Dillon
    5 Elliott Sadler
    6 Ryan Truex
    7 Daniel Hemric
    8 Kyle Busch
    9 Matt Tifft
    10 Kaz Grala
    11 Chase Briscoe
    12 Michael Annett
    13 Ryan Sieg
    14 Garrett Smithley
    15 Brandon Jones
    16 Austin Cindric
    17 Joey Gase
    18 Joe Nemechek
    19 Ray Black Jr.
    20 David Starr
    21 Spencer Boyd
    22 Ty Majeski
    23 Tyler Reddick
    24 Tommy Joe Martins
    25 Josh Bilicki
    26 Ross Chastain
    27 Brandon Hightower
    28 Vinnie Miller
    29 Ryan Reed
    30 Timmy Hill
    31 Jamie McMurray
    32 Justin Allgaier
    33 Dylan Lupton
    34 Alex Labbe
    35 Jeremy Clements
    36 J.J. Yeley
    37 Chase Elliott
    38 Josh Williams
    39 Jeff Green
    40 B.J. McLeod