Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: XFINITY Series

  • Full Weekend Schedule for Charlotte

    Full Weekend Schedule for Charlotte

    Staff Report | NASCAR.com

    The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series head to Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend. Check out the tentative full schedule, subject to change.

    Note: All times are ET.

    Thursday, May 24
    2:35-3:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, FS1
    4:05-4:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series practice, FS1
    6:05-6:50 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, FS1
    7:15 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Award qualifying, FS1

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    12:30 p.m.: Kevin Harvick
    1:30 p.m.: Brad Keselowski
    1:45 p.m.: Jimmie Johnson
    2 p.m.: Daniel Hemric
    2:15 p.m.: Elliott Sadler, Ross Chastain and Ryan Reed
    3:45 p.m.: Daniel Suarez
    4 p.m.: Matt Kenseth
    4:15 p.m.: Bubba Wallace
    4:30 p.m.: Joey Logano
    5:30 p.m.: Toyota Racing Development announcement
    8:15 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying

    Friday, May 25
    No events scheduled

    Saturday, May 26
    9:05-9:55 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, FS1
    10:10 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Pole qualifying, FS1
    11:05-11:55 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1
    1 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Alsco 300 (200 laps, 300 miles), FS1

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    3:45 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race

    Sunday, May 27
    6 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 (400 laps, 600 miles), FOX

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    3:05 p.m.: NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2019 Inductees
    10:15 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

  • Can Anyone Compete With Ford?

    Can Anyone Compete With Ford?

    Ford has done nothing short of dominating the 2018 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series (MENCS) season. Eleven races into the 36 race season and Ford has managed to find their way into victory lane six total times. While it is true that four of the six wins came with Stewart-Hass Racing driver Kevin Harvick, the other Ford drivers in the field have been strong. There is no shortage of talent, or speed, in the Ford camp.

    So far in 2018, Ford has amassed 2,145 laps led, 48 top 10s, 17 stage wins, and six race wins. Things seem to be picking up for the “Blue Oval.”

    Stewart-Hass Racing has obviously been the dominant Ford team this season, accounting for five of the six wins that Ford has, of which Kevin Harvick owns four, and Clint Bowyer has one. Team Penske driver Joey Logano has the other Ford victory that came at Talladega Superspeedway in the 10th race of the Cup Series season.

    The fact that Harvick and Logano are the only two Ford drivers to win so far this season is not a reflection of the strong cars that the manufacturer has brought to each track this season. Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. have all had some really great runs this season. Blaney probably should have won Bristol, until he was caught up in a wreck coming to the end of the second stage.

    Keselowski has had a strong car at several races this season but has fallen into the clutches of bad luck. At Bristol, he blew a tire toward the end of the race and erased any shot he had at winning. At Talladega, he got caught up in the big one on lap 165 by running into the back of teammate Blaney, who were both a part of the 14 cars involved in the calamity.

    Roush Fenway Racing has shown some speed with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who drives the No. 17 for the team. Those strong runs, combined with the recent announcement that 2003 MENCS Champion Matt Kenseth will be returning to the team to run a part-time schedule in the No. 6 car currently driven by Trevor Bayne, could be the shot in the arm that team needs to become a contender again.

    But, Ford’s domination isn’t limited to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. They are also flexing some muscle in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Of the 10 races run in the series, Ford has snagged four wins with four different drivers. Harvick, Keselowski, Logano, and Blaney have all taken home a trophy this season driving a Ford.

    In the Xfinity Series, Ford has recorded 631 laps led, 22 top 10s, five stage wins, and four race wins. Team Penske accounts for three of the four wins, between three different drivers (Keselowski, Logano, and Blaney). Stewart-Hass Racing has the fourth win with Harvick.

    Ford has scored a win at four very different race tracks, including ISM Raceway, Atlanta, Auto Club, and Texas. These tracks range anywhere between one mile in length to two miles in length, showing that Ford is capable of winning regardless of the tracks that they run on. We will have to wait until later in the season to see if they will be able to keep the momentum going on the road courses and the bigger tracks like Michigan and Pocono.

    In short, if you are a Chevrolet or Toyota team, you need to be doing some serious digging to try to shut these Fords down this season. We do have to give credit where it is due; Toyota has won four races this season. Three with Kyle Busch and one with 2017 MENCS Champion, Martin Truex Jr. But if you are a Chevy team, you need to be worried. With only one win coming at this year’s Daytona 500, Chevy has not seen the early success that it is used to. Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time champion and one of the strongest, consistent Chevy drivers, has struggled this season and currently sits in the longest winless streak of his career, dating back to the spring Bristol race of 2017. Kyle Larson, though, has shown some strength this year. He battled with Kyle Busch for much of the third stage at Bristol but could not capitalize on the run after spinning out while leading the race.

    It may still be early in the season, but I don’t think it would be a surprise for us to see a Ford taking home the championship in the MENCS when they make their final stop of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18. And don’t be surprised if it is the No. 4 Fusion for Stewart-Hass Racing claiming his second MENCS title.

  • Justin Allgaier Slays The Monster And Wins At Dover

    Justin Allgaier Slays The Monster And Wins At Dover

    Justin Allgaier, driving his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, brought home his first Xfinity Series win this season and his first ever at Dover International Speedway Saturday afternoon.

    Elliott Sadler made the last lap exciting by trying to get a run on Allgaier but ended up getting loose and falling back enough to give Allgaier the win in the OneMain Financial 200. Allgaier made it look easy by dominating the competition and leading 104 of 200 laps during the race. He topped it off by winning the final Dash 4 Cash prize of $100,000. It was a great way to finish the week off for Allgaier’s car owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who just had his first baby (a girl) with wife, Amy.

    Allgaier commented on that last lap stating, “Well, unfortunately, I thought the 15 was going to go to the bottom and he went to the top, I got on my brakes and almost spun myself out.” He added, “ That race, I couldn’t ask for anything better, these guys and everyone at JR Motorsports have done a fantastic job. I think we have a great shot at going for the championship.”

    Stage 1 was fairly uneventful only having two cautions, one for Matt Tifft spinning and the second when Josh Bilicki tagged the wall. Sadler was the dominant car in this stage of the race, but Allgaier and Brandon Jones were right up there fighting for the lead. Sadler would win Stage 1 followed by Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Daniel Hemric, and Ryan Truex rounding out the top five.

    Stage 2 would see Tyler Reddick come to the front and take the lead, but 25 laps into the stage Allgaier would take the lead back and finish out the stage taking the win. The top five in Stage 2 were Allgaier, Reddick, Austin Cindric, Christopher Bell, and Tifft.

    The final stage is where it really started to heat up. The drivers started going three wide trying to get to the front for the win, and that’s when the cautions started coming out. There were three cautions in this stage involving drivers such as John Hunter Nemechek, Cindric, Alex Labbe, Dylan Lupton, and Ty Majeski.

    Allgaier would dominate the final stage leading most of the laps. Sadler did his best to get to Allgaier to make a pass for the lead and the two of them were side by side on the last lap, when they got together. Sadler got loose and backed off giving Allgaier the win.

    A dejected Sadler commented, “ I gave it my best, I’m just proud of everyone on my team. I really want to give these guys a win, I’m tired of finishing in the top five but don’t have any checkered flags to show for it. I did the best I could but it just wasn’.t good enough today.”

    Hemric ran in the top 10 most of the race and came home in third. A frustrated Hemric commented, “My Lord, we’re doing everything we can to put ourselves in a good position. I just want to figure out what it takes to close one of these things out, but I hate finishing third.”

    Bell and Reddick round out the top five. Johnny Sauter, Noah Gragson, Tifft, Cindric, and Jones finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

    Sadler leads the Xfinity Series standings with 401 points. Allgaier is in second with 368 points followed by Reddick in third with 363 points, Bell is in fourth with 349 points and Hemric rounds out the top five with 343 points.

    The Xfinity series heads next to Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26.

     

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Dover-Xfinity-Unofficial-Race-Results-5-5-18.pdf” title=”Dover Xfinity Unofficial Race Results 5-5-18″]

  • Full Weekend Schedule for Dover

    Full Weekend Schedule for Dover

  • Full Weekend Schedule for Talladega

    Full Weekend Schedule for Talladega

  • Bell Holds Off Gragson for Richmond Win, Sadler Wins Dash 4 Cash Prize

    Bell Holds Off Gragson for Richmond Win, Sadler Wins Dash 4 Cash Prize

    Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

    RICHMOND, Va. – In a long green-flag run fraught with spellbinding tension, Christopher Bell held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Noah Gragson to win Friday night’s ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway.

    Bell spoiled Gragson’s prospects for a victory in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut, passing his teammate for the lead on Lap 172 of 250 and staying in front — if only just barely — the rest of the way.

    RELATED: Race results | Sadler receives Dash 4 Cash check

    Bell crossed the finish line .423 seconds ahead of Gragson, after the driver of the No. 18 Toyota got to the bumper of Bell’s No. 20 in the closing laps.

    Virginia native Elliott Sadler ran third and claimed a $100,000 Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus, though he remained winless and frustrated at his home track. It was Sadler’s fourth career win under the Dash 4 Cash program.

    “I had to work for it,” Bell said of his second career victory, his first of the season and his first at Richmond. “My teammate was really good. I knew throughout both practices that both of our cars were going to be really strong.

    “Joe Gibbs Racing has been producing really, really fast Camrys for the last couple weeks, and it’s really shown … All in all, it was enough to stay in front of him at the end.”

    During the final 79-lap run, Gragson fell behind by as much as 1.5 seconds, but when Bell hit traffic, Gragson closed in, trimming his deficit to a half-second with 20 laps left. At the 18-to-go mark, Gragson turned up the pressure and closed up to Bell’s rear bumper in the final laps but couldn’t get in position to make a clean winning move.

    “It’s tough,” Gragson said of his first Xfinity start. “I found a little something in the track, a little speed there at the end of the second stage on old tires, and I kept it in my memory banks till the end, and I told my team, ‘I’ve got something when it’s time to go — just tell me when.’

    “And about 18 to go, I told them, ‘I can’t wait any longer; I don’t have any more patience.’ And I ran Christopher down about two or three car lengths.”

    Matt Tifft ran fourth in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, followed by Austin Cindric with a career-best fifth. Bell, Sadler, Tifft and Cindric earned eligibility for the Dash 4 Cash bonus next Saturday at Talladega.

    Sadler won the second stage, got the bonus and retained the series lead by 29 points over Bell but said he would trade the cash for a win at Richmond.

    “I had a real strong run in that second stage,” Sadler said. “I was just a little bit tighter (handling) than I wanted to be at the end of the race. We can’t hang our heads. We won the Dash 4 Cash, and we’re part of the Dash 4 Cash going to Talladega next week, too.

    “But we always want to win at this race track, and it’s a shame to come up short tonight.”

    Pole winner Cole Custer ran sixth, followed by Ryan Truex, Jeremy Clements, Ryan Reed and Brandon Jones.

  • Full Weekend Schedule for Richmond

    Full Weekend Schedule for Richmond

  • Full Weekend Schedule for Bristol Motor Speedway

    Full Weekend Schedule for Bristol Motor Speedway

  • Ryan Blaney Ropes Xfinity Series Win at Texas

    Ryan Blaney Ropes Xfinity Series Win at Texas

    It was an unusually cold day at Texas Motor Speedway for the My Bariatric Solutions 300, but that didn’t stop Ryan Blaney from taking the No. 22 Penske Racing Ford into Victory Lane.

    He dominated the race by leading 132 of 200 laps. Once he took the lead with 47 laps left to go in the race, he was untouchable. This is Blaney’s seventh career Xfinity Series win and his first at Texas.

    “The car was great, pit stops were great all day,” Blaney commented. “I couldn’t ask more of this team.” He added, “It’s finally nice to win one here at Texas.”

    Stage 1 would get off to a rather rough start seeing three cautions within the first 16 laps for single car incidents. The race would settle down for the remainder of the stage with Blaney having led every lap and winning the stage.

    Stage 2 would once again see Blaney up front at the beginning but he would fall back mid-stage and ChristopherBell would take over as the leader. Only two cautions were thrown, the second would see a last-lap shootout to end the stage as Brandon Jones would take the lead and the stage win.

    The final stage of the race would only have one caution for Stage 2 winner Jones, who would see the wall after getting loose. Blaney would once again find himself up front with second place Christopher Bell trying hard to catch up to him but unable to close the gap.

    Bell stated, “We were able to get to the front, but not quite enough to get a run at the 22 yet.” He added, “I felt like we were pretty equal at times, but overall he was just a little bit better than us.”

    Daniel Hemric brought his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet home in third place today. Cole Custer and Ryan Preece would round out the top five. Matt Tifft, Jamie McMurray, Elliott Sadler, Austin Cindric, and Spencer Gallagher finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

    Sadler leads the Xfinity Series point standings with 228 points, Reddick is in second with 217 points followed by Bell in third with 208 points. Hemric is in fourth with 203 and Allgaier rounds out the top five with 196 points.

    Today’s race was the first Dash 4 Cash race and the top four drivers who are eligible for the $100,000 prize at Bristol Motor Speedway are Christopher Bell, Daniel Hemric, Cole Custer, and Ryan Preece.

    The Xfinity Series will head next to Bristol Motor Speedway on April 14.

     

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Texas-NXS-Unofficial-Results-4-7-18.pdf” title=”Texas NXS Unofficial Results 4-7-18″]

     

     

  • Full Weekend Schedule for Texas Motor Speedway

    Full Weekend Schedule for Texas Motor Speedway