Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR fined three Cup Series teams for lug-nut violations found in post-race inspection Wednesday at Texas Motor Speedway. The No. 6 of Ryan Newman, No. 12 of Ryan Blaney and No. 14 of Clint Bowyer were each discovered to have at least one lug nut not safe and secure, a violation of Section 10.9.10.4 in the NASCAR Rule Book.

As a result, NASCAR fined each of the crew chiefs $10,000 — Scott Graves for the No. 6, Todd Gordon for the No. 12 and John Klausmeier for the No. 14.

RELATED: NASCAR confiscates rear spoiler from No. 19 car

In addition, NASCAR posted the L1 penalty for the illegal spoiler confiscated from the No. 19 car of Martin Truex Jr. in pre-race inspection. As reported earlier, crew chief James Small was fined $35,000 and the team lost 20 owner points and 20 driver points.

Posted on by Sean Montgomery

The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs field is heading to “The Half Mile of Mayhem” on a quick turnaround for a crucial elimination race that sets the stage for the Championship 4. Tune in to live coverage of the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway at 2 p.m. ET Sunday (NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Before the Round of 8 finale, check out some important information you need to know.

RELATED: Full Martinsville schedule | Series standings

TRACK DETAILS

Martinsville is a .526-mile asphalt track, the shortest on the series circuit, with concrete paving in the turns. Contained in a width of 55 feet, the track features 800-foot straightaways and tight, nearly flat turns that are banked at only 11 degrees. The high maneuverability of the track most often leads to door-to-door racing.

Sunday’s race will be the 144th Cup Series competition held at the track, with Red Byron taking home the inaugural checkered flag in 1949.

STAGE LENGTHS

Stage 1 will end at Lap 130, Stage 2 at Lap 260 and the final stage at Lap 500.

STARTING LINEUP

Brad Keselowski won the Busch Pole Award and will lead the field to the green Sunday. Martin Truex Jr. will join Keselowski on the front row.

The lineup was determined using NASCAR’s competition-based formula, which is a total number based on the previous event: 15% of a fastest lap time position, 25% of the driver’s final race finish position, 25% of the owner’s final race position and 35% of the owner points position.

RELATED: Full starting grid

RULES PACKAGE

The 2020 NASCAR rules package for short tracks will be in effect with a tapered spacer used to set a target of 750 horsepower. The cars will use a reduced downforce package with a shorter spoiler, a shorter splitter overhang and other aerodynamic changes.

GOODYEAR TIRES

Each team will be outfitted with nine sets of Goodyear Eagle Short Track Radials.

Later into the fall season, adjusting for cooler track temperatures is a key factor in developing the right tire compound that produces the desired wear. It is important for the tires to have the ability to lay rubber in all areas of the track, creating alternate racing grooves throughout the race.

“The last time we raced at Martinsville, it was June and both ambient and track temperatures were not a concern,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “We’ve had a lot of cold weather races at this track over the past several years, so we did some work on developing tread compounds that would lay rubber in the concrete corners in those conditions. The results have been good, as we’ve seen the surface turn from white to black in the corners, giving drivers the ability to move up the track to find grip. The resulting second lane has helped produce some great racing along the way.”

PLAYOFF STATS TO KNOW

— Only Joe Gibbs Racing has competed with multiple Championship 4 drivers in the same year (2016, 2019), and Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. are still in contention for 2020. This trend will change if Brad Keselowski joins Team Penske teammate Joey Logano for the final run at Phoenix Raceway.

— Neither Hamlin or Kevin Harvick have won in the last three races, tying the longest winless streak between the two for the entire 2020 season.

— With his win at Kansas Speedway, Logano tied Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Fred Lorenzen for 31st in all-time Cup Series wins with 26. Logano currently has a three-year multi-race win streak and has won multiple times in six of the last seven seasons.

— Alex Bowman is the only remaining title contender who has never finished inside the top five at Martinsville. He heads into this weekend in a potential must-win situation, sitting 25 points below the cutline.

Source: Racing Insights

INTERACTIVE COVERAGE

For a more interactive experience, head over to NASCAR.com or the NASCAR app to check out an enhanced Race Center, live Lap-by-Lap coverage, the customizable live leaderboard with Scanner, and the return of Drive (featuring in-car cameras).

Be sure to set your lineup in Fantasy Live and make your picks in the NASCAR Finish Line App.

2019 RACE WINNER

Martin Truex Jr. put on a historic display of dominance in last year’s playoff race at Martinsville, leading 464 laps and picking up his first win at the track. Truex swept each stage and punched his ticket to the Championship 4.

RELATED: Who does this race favor?

ACTIVE MARTINSVILLE WINNERS

Jimmie Johnson (nine wins); Denny Hamlin (five wins); Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch (two wins each); Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman (one win each).

Posted on by Staff Report

Brad Keselowski won the Busch Pole Award for Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), host of the Round of 8 elimination race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

The lineup was determined using NASCAR’s competition-based formula, which is a total number based on the series’ previous event: 15% of a fastest lap time position, 25% of the driver’s final race finish position, 25% of the owner’s final race position and 35% of the owner points position.

RELATED: Learn more about the new lineup formula

Joining Keselowski and the No. 2 Team Penske on the front row will be Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

In the majority of national series events since NASCAR’s May return, starting lineups have been set by random draws. This structure, first introduced in early August, draws on performance from both individual races and season-long results, rather than leaving a range of starting spots up to chance.

See the full starting lineup for Sunday’s race below (P = playoff eligible):

Start Driver Car # Team
1 Brad Keselowski (P) 2 Team Penske
2 Martin Truex Jr. (P) 19 Joe Gibbs Racing
3 Alex Bowman (P) 88 Hendrick Motorsports
4 Denny Hamlin (P) 11 Joe Gibbs Racing
5 Kurt Busch (P) 1 Chip Ganassi Racing
6 Kevin Harvick (P) 4 Stewart-Haas Racing
7 Joey Logano (P) 22 Team Penske
8 Chase Elliott (P) 9 Hendrick Motorsports
9 Kyle Busch 18 Joe Gibbs Racing
10 Ryan Blaney 12 Team Penske
11 Christopher Bell 95 Leavine Family Racing
12 Matt DiBenedetto 21 Wood Brothers Racing
13 William Byron 24 Hendrick Motorsports
14 Austin Dillon 3 Richard Childress Racing
15 Cole Custer 41 Stewart-Haas Racing
16 Clint Bowyer 14 Stewart-Haas Racing
17 Tyler Reddick 8 Richard Childress Racing
18 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing
19 Erik Jones 20 Joe Gibbs Racing
20 Aric Almirola 10 Stewart-Haas Racing
21 Ryan Newman 6 Roush Fenway Racing
22 Ryan Preece 37 JTG Daugherty Racing
23 John Hunter Nemechek 38 Front Row Motorsports
24 Michael McDowell 34 Front Row Motorsports
25 Ty Dillon 13 Germain Racing
26 Corey LaJoie 32 GoFas Racing
27 Jimmie Johnson 48 Hendrick Motorsports
28 Chris Buescher 17 Roush Fenway Racing
29 Daniel Suarez 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing
30 Brennan Poole 15 Premium Motorsports
31 Matt Kenseth 42 Chip Ganassi Racing
32 Bubba Wallace 43 Richard Petty Motorsports
33 Josh Bilicki 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing
34 Timmy Hill 66 Motorsports Business Management
35 Quin Houff 00 StarCom Racing
36 Garrett Smithley 77 Spire Motorsports
37 James Davison 53 Rick Ware Racing
38 JJ Yeley 27 Rick Ware Racing
39 Joey Gase 51 Petty Ware Racing
Posted on by Terrin Waack

A technicality doesn’t set the mentality.

Kurt Busch, sitting eighth in the NASCAR Playoffs standings, is currently the only title-eligible driver who must win at Martinsville Speedway this Sunday to qualify for the Championship 4. There’s no way he can point his way into the final round. It’s a true must-win situation.

“We need to go win,” said Chase Elliott, who’s tied for fifth, right below the cutoff. “That’s really the bottom line. I’m not even going to look at the points because, in my opinion, it doesn’t really matter. If you can’t win races and win consistently in the series, then you’re not going to the championship anyway.”

RELATED: Official race results | NASCAR Playoffs standings

Technically, Elliott doesn’t need to win. Neither does Alex Bowman (sixth), nor Martin Truex Jr. (seventh). But that doesn’t matter to the four on the outside looking in.

“I feel like we need to go there to win or …,” Bowman said. “Obviously it can happen. Some guys can have really bad days. But we need to go win.”

Brad Keselowski holds the fourth and final transfer spot with a 25-point advantage. Elliott and Bowman follow, respectively, but hold the same deficit at 25 points apiece. Truex is 36 points out. Busch is 81 down.

RELATED: Martinsville will determine Martin Truex Jr.’s playoff fate

The absolute most points a driver can earn in a race is 60 – 40 for the overall win and 10 each for the two stage wins. It’s a full sweep.

“We’ll see how it plays out,” Busch said. “We’re going to be elbows out, not afraid to rub. Hopefully we’re going to be in the right spot.”

Three of the Championship 4 berths remain. Joey Logano punched his ticket with his Round of 8 opener at Kansas Speedway two weeks ago. Kyle Busch robbed a title contender of his opportunity to do the same when he won Wednesday at Texas Motor Speedway as non-playoff driver.

Kevin Harvick comes in at second, plus-42 points. Denny Hamlin is third at plus-27. Keselowski, again, falls fourth.

“We just needed to run better throughout the year,” Bowman said. “We did a phenomenal job the last two months; we’ve been as good as anybody the last two months. But those summer months, when you needed to be accumulating playoff points, we were struggling.”

That’s really how Hamlin has remained safe. He won six regular-season races but has struggled in the playoffs. Points got him through the Round of 16, a win at Talladega Superspeedway then advanced him out of the Round 12, and now he brings a cushion into the Round of 8 elimination event.

RELATED: Martinsville weekend schedule

It’s a season-long race to the finale. Not a playoff race. Though, winning in the postseason does have its automatic benefits.

“I don’t think you have to go hit home runs to win races,” Elliott said. “I think we can get solid base hits with singles and doubles to put ourselves in a position to win. Just treat it like a normal race weekend because that’s what it is. We’ll give it our best shot to go try and win. We do that every weekend. I don’t think we need to reinvent the wheel.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

Martin Truex Jr. came a Texas-sized fuel-mileage gamble away from icing his NASCAR Cup Series postseason fate Wednesday evening.

Truex came up short when teammate Kyle Busch’s gas tank didn’t, finishing second in the rain-plagued Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Instead of taking a breather for the short turn to Sunday’s Round of 8 finale in the playoffs, Truex and his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team will need to rely on his recent Martinsville Speedway mastery in the Xfinity 500 (Sunday, 2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Race results | Martinsville schedule

Truex made his final pit stop seven laps later than his teammate but was unable to make up substantial ground on the fuel-conscious Busch during the final run to the end.

“We knew he was close,” said Truex, who led five times for 53 laps. “The only thing we could do at that point, which we did all day anyway, was try to run flat-out. Hell of an effort by the Bass Pro guys and everybody that helps us. It just seems like one of those years where we’re second, third, fourth – we’re right there a lot. Just need a little bit more to be better.”

Truex enters the next-to-last race of the season facing a 36-point deficit below the provisional cutline, ranking seventh among the remaining eight playoff-eligible drivers. Three spots in the Championship 4 field remain up for grabs, with only Joey Logano having locked up an automatic berth with his Kansas Speedway win in the round opener.

Truex completed a solid points day with matching second-place finishes in both stages at Texas, but those gains were offset by a substantial 20-point penalty to the No. 19 team for an unapproved spoiler discovered in Sunday’s pre-race inspection. Truex started at the rear of the field and raced with car chief Blake Harris serving as the interim crew chief in place of the ejected James Small.

The points gap means the most likely route to his fourth straight Championship 4 appearance would be by virtue of a victory at Martinsville, which has been friendly to him in recent years. Truex has won the last two races at the .526-mile Virginia track, part of a streak of six straight top-10 efforts there.

It’s a track record that has him confident, but cautiously so.

“Yes and no. I mean, a must‑win at any track, no matter how good you’ve been there in the past, I think is a challenge,” Truex said. “The last race there that we ran and to lead all the laps that we did, whatever, it’s no guarantee. We’ve got to work hard this week to make sure we’re prepared. I know the guys have already been doing that. So definitely optimistic. It’s a good track for us, but it’s a short track and a lot can happen on restarts and things. We’ll go there and do the best job we can.”

Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series continued its Round of 8 in the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs at Texas Motor Speedway with the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500. Sunday marked the second of three races in this postseason round. At the end of it, four drivers will be eliminated from playoff contention and the Championship 4 will be set for the title race Nov. 8 at Phoenix Raceway.

WINNER

Kyle Busch. The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota won Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at the 1.5-mile track in Fort Worth, Texas. It marked the reigning NASCAR Cup Series championship’s first win of 2020 and 57th in his career. Busch is not title eligible, though. He was eliminated after the Round of 12.

RELATED: Unofficial race results

WHO’S HOT

Alex Bowman. The Hendrick Motorsports driver is still below the cutoff line, but his No. 88 Chevrolet made a jump in the standings. Bowman now ties for the first elimination spot rather than being two out. The misfortunes of teammate Chase Elliott helped Bowman’s postseason outlook when it comes to points. Bowman was third in Stage 2 and finished fifth.

Brad Keselowski. The Team Penske driver didn’t have a standout race, but his No. 2 Ford did enough to keep his spot above the cutline. He even added to his points cushion. Keselowski was fourth in Stage 2 and finished sixth.

WHO’S NOT

Denny Hamlin. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was involved in a wreck on Lap 60. His No. 11 Toyota nudged the rear of Matt Kenseth’s No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, sending it spinning and into the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevy of Bubba Wallace. Those two sustained substantial damage, ending their days right then and there, but Hamlin carried on after pit-road repairs. He finished ninth.

Chase Elliott. The Hendrick Motorsport driver had tire issues late in Stage 2. His No. 9 Chevrolet had to make an extra, unscheduled stop to pit road. Elliott ended up 27th at the conclusion of the second stage. He later finished 20th and now ties his teammate, Alex Bowman, for the first spot below the cutline.

BUBBLE WATCH

Rank Driver Points to cutoff
1. Joey Logano WIN
2. Kevin Harvick +42
3. Denny Hamlin +27
4. Brad Keselowski +25
——-                               CUTOFF LINE ———————
5. Chase Elliott -25
6. Alex Bowman -25
7. Martin Truex Jr. -36
8. Kurt Busch -81

NEXT RACE

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway on Sunday for its final race in the Round of 8 — the Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

WHO IT FAVORS

Martin Truex Jr. The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was hit with a a pre-race penalty that dug the 2017 champ into an even deeper points hole, so Martinsville is coming at the perfect time. Truex won the last two races at the “Paperclip” and has earned the most points (271) over the past six races there. He’s in must-win mode in order to make the Championship 4, and Martinsville lines up as a strong venue for him to make it happen.

WHO IT HURTS

Alex Bowman. The No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet carries the worst Martinsville average finish — 22.0 — among playoff drivers. In Bowman’s nine starts there, he has no top-five and two top-10 finishes, though he finished sixth there earlier this season. Still, he was 30th in this race last year and has never led a lap at Martinsville.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

After winning the three-time-weather-delayed Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Wednesday, Kyle Busch climbed from his car and pointed to the image of a zombie on his helmet.

“This is what we’ve all looked like around here for the last three days,” Busch said. “Everybody just zombied into their phones.”

RELATED: Race results | Martinsville schedule
SHOP: Kyle Busch gear

In reality, 72 hours, 28 minutes and 34 seconds elapsed between the time NASCAR red-flagged the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race Sunday and lifted the red at 5:03 p.m. ET Wednesday afternoon after many attempts to dry the track and complete the event Monday and Tuesday.

Using every trick in his arsenal, and with constant direction from crew chief Adam Stevens, Busch saved enough fuel over the last green-flag run to get 66 laps out of his last tank of gas. Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota ran out of fuel during the celebratory burnout on the frontstretch. 

The victory was Busch’s first of the season, preserving a 16-year streak of winning at least one race per season, starting with his rookie year in 2005. It was his third win at the 1.5-mile speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, and the 57th of his career.

“We finally got it,” Busch said. “I was so nervous… I was nervous the whole last run. I’ve been in this position so many times. The last three laps, though, that’s like winning the championship. That’s how nervous I was.

“I can’t believe it, but just so proud to be here. My team guys, awesome pit stops, they were phenomenal. We’re ready to fight next year — we’ll be back.”

RELATED: How does the playoff picture look leaving Texas?

The victory also was welcome consolation for the reigning series champion, who was eliminated from the playoffs in the Round of 12.

By winning, though, Busch frustrated teammate and playoff driver Martin Truex Jr., who likely needed a victory at either Texas or Sunday at Martinsville Speedway to advance to the Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway. After his final green-flag pit stop on Lap 276 of 334 — eight laps after Busch came to pit road for the last time and packed his Camry full of fuel — Truex chased his teammate, trimming a deficit of more than five seconds to .468 seconds at the finish line.

“We knew he was close (on fuel),” Truex said. “The only thing we could do at that point is what we did all day anyway, which is try to run flat-out. Hell of an effort by the guys… It seems like one of those years when we’re second, third, fourth. We’re there a lot. We just needed a little bit more to be better.”

RELATED: Martin Truex Jr. optimistic heading to near must-win situation

Sunoco rookie Christopher Bell ran third, followed by Ryan Blaney and playoff driver Alex Bowman. Brad Keselowski,  Kurt Busch, Matt DiBenedetto, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano completed the top 10. Clint Bowyer won the first stage and led 89 laps, but he was forced to pit with 24 laps remaining. He slipped to a 17th-place finish in what’s set to be his final Texas start.

Logano already has qualified for the Championship 4 with a victory Oct. 18 at Kansas Speedway. Kevin Harvick finished 16th after suffering damage from a brush with the wall Sunday (when 52 laps were completed), but the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford remained 42 points above the playoff cutline. 

Hamlin and Keselowski are 27 and 25 points, respectively, above the cutoff heading to Sunday’s elimination race at Martinsville. Chase Elliott had to make an unplanned pit stop to change a corded tire, lost a lap and finished 20th. Both he and Bowman, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, are 25 points behind Keselowski in the standings, in danger of falling out of the playoffs.

The Round of 8 finale is the Xfinity 500, scheduled Sunday (2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the .526-mile Martinsville track. The 500-lapper will be the next-to-last race of the year.

Notes: The No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford (driven by Ryan Newman), the No. 12 Team Penske Ford (driven by Blaney) and the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford (driven by Bowyer) were all found to have one lug nut not safe and secure. Those teams’ crew chiefs will face a fine from NASCAR later this week.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Staff Report

Wet conditions have delayed Wednesday’s attempt at resuming the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race from Texas Motor Speedway, but track-drying efforts are well underway and progress is being made. NASCAR is planning to push cars out to the grid at 4:30 p.m. ET and will aim to fire engines at approximately 5 p.m. ET, with coverage on NBCSN, NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

RELATED: Full leaderboard | Weather: Forecast, officials’ radio

The Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 began Sunday, with drivers completing 52 of 334 laps before a light mist and drizzle escalated, forcing the event to be red-flagged. Nagging rain and mist then washed out both Monday’s and Tuesday’s attempts to continue the race, pushing it to a Wednesday, 3 p.m. ET restart time (on NBCSN). But that proposed schedule has been thwarted by the fourth straight day of inclement weather at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth, Texas, track.

Clint Bowyer’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford is first on the scoring pylon. He is followed by another driver in his final full Cup Series season, Jimmie Johnson with the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

The 501-miler is the second of three events in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 8, which will determine the final four drivers who will race for the title Nov. 8 at Phoenix Raceway. The Championship 4 field will be set after the Round of 8 finale, scheduled Sunday (2 p.m. ET) at Martinsville Speedway. Only Joey Logano has clinched a Championship 4 berth, thanks to his victory in the round opener Oct. 18 at Kansas Speedway.

A tighter turnaround is anticipated for teams, broadcast crews and NASCAR personnel to set up for Sunday’s event in Martinsville, Virginia. Officials said if the conclusion of the Texas event is completed Wednesday, “NASCAR plans to leave the advertised Martinsville schedule in place. Any additional postponements will require an adjustment to the Martinsville schedule, and we will notify you of those changes as they happen.”

Stage 1 is scheduled to end on Lap 105 with Stage 2 to end on Lap 210. The race would be ruled an official event at the halfway point (Lap 167).

Posted on by Staff Report

The No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports team was issued a safety penalty on Oct. 28, stemming from a loose wheel that did not stay installed following a pit stop in Sunday afternoon’s race at Texas Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Truck Series standings

As a result of violating Sections 12.5.2.7.4 in the NASCAR Rule Book, which specifies a penalty for any loss or separation of an improperly installed tire/wheel from the vehicle, the team’s crew chief (Danny Stockman), tire changer (Brandon Traino) and jackman (Charles Thacker) have been suspended from the next three NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series races.

There are two races remaining in the 2020 Truck Series season, meaning this penalty will carry over to the 2021 season-opener.

Chandler Smith, who drove the No. 51 at Texas, finished 21st and one lap down.