NASCAR Podcast
July 1, 2016
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Aric Almirola won his second NASCAR XFINITY Series race by much less than a nose.
But to the driver of the No. 98 Fred Biagi-owned Ford, that was a vast improvement over his first victory in the series—when he wasn’t even in the car when the race ended. Continue reading “Almirola edges Allgaier for NASCAR XFINITY Series win at Daytona”
NASCAR XFINITY Series Race – PowerShares QQQ 300
Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Florida
Saturday, February 20, 2016
1. (19) Chase Elliott(i), Chevrolet, 120
2. (8) Joey Logano(i), Ford, 120
3. (15) Kasey Kahne(i), Chevrolet, 120
4. (10) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 120
5. (4) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 120 Continue reading “2016 Daytona NASCAR XFinity Series Race Results – Chase Elliott Wins”
Chase Format Extended to NASCAR XFINITY Series,
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Seven-Race Chase Formats to be Implemented in 2016
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 19, 2016) – Using the overwhelming success of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format introduced in 2014 as a guidepost, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France announced today the implementation of a playoff system in both the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
On the heels of a 2015 Chase that saw the highest season-finale viewership in nearly a decade, record-breaking page views on NASCAR.com and unparalleled volume on social media, the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will each feature a seven-race Chase to decide its respective championships starting in 2016. The announcement was the first of a number of racing innovations presented by NASCAR on Tuesday.
“Fans, partners and the industry have embraced the new Chase format like nothing we’ve seen in the sport’s history,” said France. “Winning never has been this important, and the excitement generated the past two seasons in the Sprint Cup Series has led to this implementation of the Chase format in all three national series. Competition in both the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will undoubtedly elevate to new heights and shine a spotlight on the rising stars of our sport.”
The NASCAR XFINITY Series, where “Names Are Made,” and the rugged NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will implement seven-race, three-round Chase formats with unique characteristics but very much in the same spirit of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. All three series will conclude the Chase with a Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway to crown a champion. However, all three will begin at different tracks: Chicago (Sprint Cup Series), Kentucky (XFINITY Series) and New Hampshire (Camping World Truck Series)
Drivers still must declare a series in which they will earn points, and will only be eligible to compete for a championship in that series. The 16 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers who qualified for the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup will be ineligible to compete in the 2016 NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship 4 races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES CHASE
The seven-race NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase will begin at Kentucky Speedway on Sept. 24, and feature 12 drivers and two elimination rounds, with four drivers competing in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
A win in the first 26 races all but guarantees a driver entry into the NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase, provided the driver is in the top 30 in points and has attempted to qualify for each race. Drivers who win two Dash 4 Cash bonuses are also all but guaranteed a Chase berth.
The first round, called the Round of 12, consists of the races at Kentucky, Dover and Charlotte. All drivers will start with their points adjusted to 2,000, with three additional bonus points added to their total for each win in the first 26 races. If a driver wins a race in the Round of 12, the driver automatically advances to the next round. The remaining available positions (1-8) that have not been filled by wins will be filled on points.
Each driver who advances to the Round of 8 (Kansas, Texas, Phoenix) then will have their points reset to 3,000. Drivers who win a race in the Round of 8 automatically advance to the Championship 4. The remaining available positions (1-4) that have not been filled by wins will be filled on points.
The four drivers who advance to the Championship 4 at Homestead will have their points reset to 4,000. The highest finishing Championship 4 driver will be crowned the NASCAR XFINITY Series champion.
NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES CHASE
The seven-race NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase will begin at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 24. It will feature eight drivers and two elimination rounds, with four drivers competing in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. A win in the first 16 races all but guarantees a driver entry into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase, provided that the driver is in the Top 30 in points and has attempted to qualify for each race.
The first round, called the Round of 8, consists of the races at New Hampshire, Las Vegas, and Talladega. All drivers will have their points adjusted to 2,000, with three additional bonus points added to their total for each win in the first 16 races. If a driver wins a race in the Round of 8, the driver automatically advances to the next round. The remaining available positions (1-6) that have not been filled by wins will be filled on points.
Each driver who advances to the Round of 6 (Martinsville, Texas, Phoenix) then will have their points reset to 3,000. Drivers who win a race in the Round of 6 automatically advance to the Championship 4. The remaining available positions (1-4) that have not been filled by wins will be filled on points.
The four drivers who advance to the Championship 4 at Homestead will have their points reset to 4,000. The highest finishing Championship 4 driver will win the championship.
All rules outlined above also apply to both series’ owner championship structure.
July 18, 2015
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
LOUDON, N.H. – To Denny Hamlin, it was just hard short-track racing for the win.
To runner-up Austin Dillon, it was unnecessarily aggressive driving that led to Hamlin’s victory in the Lakes Region 200 NASCAR XFINITY Series race on Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
On Lap 179 of 200 at the Magic Mile, Hamlin drove his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to the inside of Dillon’s No. 33 Chevrolet. Hamlin slid up the track into Dillon, broke the No. 33’s momentum and took the lead.
Eventual third- and fourth-place finishers Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch also passed Dillon, who later regained the positions he lost to Keselowski and Busch but ran out of time in his pursuit of Hamlin.
Earlier in the race Hamlin had two similar incidents with Busch, his teammate. And though Busch didn’t appear particularly annoyed with Hamlin’s tactics, Dillon was incensed.
“He got to me, and I figured he was going to race, but he never even wanted to,” Dillon said. “He wrecked his teammate and then proceeded to try and wreck me, and if I had gotten back to him, it would have happened to him.”
Hamlin wrote off the contact to all-out racing at a one-mile flat track.
“The bottom line is, if you don’t have any air on the outside of you, you just can’t hold it,” Hamlin said. “There was an example of that about three times today … I want to thank ‘Wheels’ (crew chief Mike Wheeler) for giving me the dominant car. We had the best car, and just, wow, what a day.”
In Hamlin’s view, Dillon wasn’t blameless either.
“Well, he jumped the restart, for one,” Hamlin said. “I’m the control car, but that’s fine. Eventually I was going to get back around him anyway. Same thing—I was a fender ahead, and he drove in there knowing that he was going to have to hold me low to hold the position, and I just washed up into him.
“But that’s two guys on a short track racing for the win.”
Dillon clearly had a different opinion.
“What is racing, if you can’t race side-by-side for more than a corner?” Dillon asked rhetorically. “He never even went through a corner with me, the whole race. He didn’t want to. He just moved me. Missed the corner. Wrecked me.
“I’m fine with racing rough. I promise you, I can do it to anybody. But if we’re going to race like that, I need to know before you get to the first corner. Give me a corner at least.”
Dillon indicated there might be some payback in the offing but wouldn’t reveal how or when.
“I’m not going to talk about it,” Dillon said. “He won’t be ready.”
Hamlin’s reply? “We’ve both got race cars.”
Dillon got the lead on Lap 175 moments after a restart following the sixth and final caution for Brian Scott’s blown engine.
Both Hamlin and Dillon had stayed out on old tires under the previous yellow, but Keselowski came to pit road for fresh rubber on Lap 142. As it turned out, the new tires made little difference.
“It was the right call and probably got us to third, instead of fourth or fifth,” Keselowski said. “We just weren’t as fast as the 33 and 20 were. … We just weren’t fast enough this weekend.”
Rookie Daniel Suarez ran fifth, followed by Ty Dillon, Regan Smith, Darrell Wallace Jr., Chase Elliott and Brennan Poole. Series leader Chris Buescher finished 14th, one lap down, and saw his lead in the standings shrink to 31 points over second-place Elliott.
NASCAR XFINITY Series Race – Lakes Region 200
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, New Hampshire
Saturday, July 18, 2015
1. (1) Denny Hamlin(i), Toyota, 200, $52101.
2. (6) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200, $32261.
3. (4) Brad Keselowski(i), Ford, 200, $27038.
4. (2) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 200, $26186.
5. (3) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 200, $27768.
6. (7) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 200, $23909.
7. (8) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 200, $23253.
8. (11) Darrell Wallace Jr. #, Ford, 200, $24948.
9. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 200, $23720.
10. (13) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 200, $23494.
11. (10) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 200, $22467.
12. (14) Ben Rhodes, Chevrolet, 199, $22341.
13. (21) Ryan Reed, Ford, 199, $22188.
14. (20) Chris Buescher, Ford, 199, $21935.
15. (19) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 199, $22209.
16. (15) Dakoda Armstrong, Ford, 199, $21681.
17. (17) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 199, $21755.
18. (28) Eric McClure, Toyota, 198, $21402.
19. (23) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 198, $21352.
20. (16) Blake Koch, Toyota, 198, $21802.
21. (25) Cale Conley #, Toyota, 198, $21200.
22. (24) David Starr, Toyota, 198, $21144.
23. (18) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 198, $21093.
24. (26) Dylan Lupton, Chevrolet, 198, $21028.
25. (27) BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 197, $21142.
26. (31) Peyton Sellers #, Chevrolet, 195, $20957.
27. (36) Derek White, Dodge, 195, $20921.
28. (33) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, Clutch, 174, $20885.
29. (5) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, Engine, 165, $20850.
30. (35) Todd Peck(i), Chevrolet, Fuel Pump, 156, $21115.
31. (37) Mike Harmon, Dodge, Brakes, 111, $20779.
32. (38) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, Brakes, 98, $14744.
33. (29) Matt Wallace, Toyota, Vibration, 84, $14723.
34. (12) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, Brakes, 46, $20703.
35. (40) Matt Frahm, Chevrolet, Brakes, 42, $14651.
36. (34) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Brakes, 40, $13234.
37. (22) Ross Chastain #, Chevrolet, Accident, 36, $18234.
38. (39) Josh Reaume #, Dodge, Brakes, 24, $11234.
39. (32) Harrison Rhodes #, Chevrolet, Engine, 16, $16234.
40. (30) Jeff Green, Toyota, Vibration, 3, $9234.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 98.342 mph.
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 09 Mins, 06 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.516 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 38 laps.
Lead Changes: 12 among 7 drivers.
Lap Leaders: D. Hamlin(i) 0; K. Busch(i) 1-22; B. Keselowski(i) 23-39; D. Lupton 40-42; D. Hamlin(i) 43-44; K. Busch(i) 45-47; D. Hamlin(i) 48-119; B. Scott 120-121; A. Dillon(i) 122-123; D. Wallace Jr. # 124; D. Hamlin(i) 125-173; A. Dillon(i) 174-178; D. Hamlin(i) 179-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): D. Hamlin(i) 4 times for 145 laps; K. Busch(i) 2 times for 25 laps; B. Keselowski(i) 1 time for 17 laps; A. Dillon(i) 2 times for 7 laps; D. Lupton 1 time for 3 laps; B. Scott 1 time for 2 laps; D. Wallace Jr. # 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: C. Buescher – 623; C. Elliott – 592; T. Dillon – 585; R. Smith – 564; E. Sadler – 555; D. Wallace Jr. # – 547; D. Suarez # – 516; B. Gaughan – 506; R. Reed – 502; B. Scott – 494.
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The Final Lap Weekly 