Posted on by Holly Cain

Joey Logano held off Kevin Harvick by a scant .312 seconds in a high-speed duel to the checkered flag to win the Hollywood Casino 400 Playoff race at Kansas Speedway on Sunday and earn the first position in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 that will settle the season title Nov. 8 at Phoenix Raceway.

Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford beat Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford off pit lane and then successfully held off the 2020 regular-season champion for the final 45 thrilling laps – the two former series champions putting on a master class in pursuit and defense.

RELATED: Official race results | Cup Series standings
SHOP: Logano gear

“You gotta want it, man,” an exuberant Logano said after climbing out of his car. “What an amazing team this Shell Pennzoil team is. Oh my goodness. Pit stops put us in position and got us the lead. The 4 (Harvick) was fast, he was real fast especially on the straightaways and I thought if I could hold him off the first 15 laps I had a chance and actually dirty air was best for us and as I caught lapped traffic I was able to gap ourselves.”

Sunday’s win marked Logano’s 26th career NASCAR Cup Series win and third victory of the year, but his first since competition resumed under the COVID-19 pandemic conditions. Of note, the 30-year-old Connecticut native’s last win this season came at championship venue Phoenix Raceway in March.

Alex Bowman, Logano’s teammate Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five at Kansas with Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr. and rookie Christopher Bell completing the top 10.

As with Logano and Harvick, Bowman, Keselowski, Elliott and Truex are playoff drivers. The other two playoff competitors, Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch, finished 15th and 38th, respectively. Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota had to rally after he brushed the wall late in the race. Busch’s No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet blew an engine on Lap 198 of the 267-lap race.

MORE: Kurt Busch out early at Kansas

With the victory, Logano secured his place in the title race. Harvick is now second in the playoff outlook with a healthy 41-point edge on fifth-place Chase Elliott. Hamlin is third in the standings, 20 points up on Elliott in the first spot outside the Championship 4 cutoff. Keselowski, in the final transfer position, is eight points up on Elliott.

Despite his third-place finish, Bowman is ranked sixth, 27 points behind fourth-place Keselowski. Truex, who made a valiant run up through the field to finish ninth after starting last, is now seventh, 31 points below the cutoff. Kurt Busch is in a must-win situation with a 73-point deficit.

“Just a really fast Jimmy John’s Ford Mustang, all our guys did a great job and we moved all over the race track [in pursuit],” said Harvick, who led a race-high 85 laps. “We weren’t the best behind somebody but I had a lot of options as the team made the car better. Good run for us, wish we could have won, just one short.

“I needed the lapped cars to time out well, but Joey’s a good blocker.”

Elliott, who led 47 laps, started from the pole and won Stage 1, his ninth stage victory of the season. Hamlin won Stage 2, his 10th stage victory of 2020.

Hamlin led 58 laps and looked strong throughout the event but scraped the wall and damaged a tire while racing inside the top five. He went a lap down after making a green-flag pit stop but still managed to rally to that 15th-place finish.

Busch’s No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet blew an engine 198 laps into the race, putting the 2004 series champ in essentially a must-win situation at Texas and/or Martinsville. Busch, who scored a playoff win at his hometown Las Vegas track four races ago, had run among the top five at various times at Kansas.

“It’s a shame for everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing,” Busch said. “Having an engine failure in the playoffs is like a huge parachute that slows you up. We’ll pack that parachute up, throw it away and go to Texas to win.

“We knew we were going to have win either here or Texas and Martinsville we’ve got a shot at it too. The odds are stacked against us, but hey, we’re in the top eight for a reason and I’ve got a great crew chief in Matt McCall. We’ll bounce back.”

The series’ next race is the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: Post-race inspection in the Cup Series garage was completed without major issue. Three teams were each found with one lug-nut not safely secured in a post-race check: the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Harvick and the Nos. 18 and 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas driven by Kyle Busch and Truex respectively. According to the deterrence structure in the NASCAR Rule Book, those infractions will result in $10,000 fines for each team’s crew chief.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Terrin Waack

Kurt Busch arrived at Kansas Speedway thinking this Round of 8 track was his ticket into the Championship 4.

Instead, Sunday’s Round of 8 opener saw Busch prematurely retire from the Hollywood Casino 400.

Internal mechanical issues hit the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing team on Lap 193 of a scheduled 267. Busch reported his Chevrolet was losing power. A handful of laps later, the souring engine expired in a plume of smoke, and Busch drove to the garage after just 197 laps.

RELATED: Joey Logano outlasts Kevin Harvick | Who’s hot, not in playoffs

“Hendrick engines have been bulletproof the last few years, and it’s a big surprise to all of us,” Busch said in a post-race Zoom video conference. “Nothing really showing a big indication of what went wrong. Maybe a valve and eventually the valve broke, and then once it broke, it just started rattling around and locked up a rod? Who knows. That’s all speculation.”

Busch’s name was listed 38th of 40 on the final results.

The 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion entered 2020’s fourth-to-last race already eighth – last – in the playoff standings and 21 points below the cutline. Busch exited in the same spot, but his deficit increased to 73 points.

“When you start the Round of 8 against these guys who have all those points, all those stage points and points in the bank, we knew we needed to do something spectacular,” Busch said. “We just didn’t expect an engine failure.”

After firing off third, Busch was 19th at the end of Stage 1 on Lap 80 and then ninth at the conclusion of Stage 2 on Lap 160. The top-10 result in the second portion gave him two stage points. And it showed he could compete with the front-runners.

Until he literally couldn’t compete at all.

“It’s really weird,” Busch said. “Quality control is very high. The amount of attention to detail, that’s at an all-time high. I mean, I haven’t seen an engine failure in years. Whether it’s a Chevy or a Ford or a Toyota, everybody is spot-on. So, it’s one of those fluke things we have to get to the bottom of.”

And soon.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 (3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – another 1.5-mile oval. Busch has one win (2009) at Texas in 35 career starts. He placed eighth there earlier this season, creating a seven-race streak of top 10s. He averages a 14.1 finish.

That figure stands as not the worst — sixth among playoff drivers — but Busch needs to win.

Only two races remain before the Championship 4 is set for the Nov. 8 championship event at Phoenix Raceway. Busch’s last chance will be Martinsville Speedway in two weeks, but he and his team preferred the first two Round of 8 options.

“We couldn’t decide,” Busch said. “We had Kansas circled. We had Texas circled. Now we know it’s all about Texas, and we’re going in there with everything we’ve got.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: How to find NBCSN | Get the NBC Sports App | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App

RELATED: How to follow races on NASCAR.com | NASCAR Live Stream

Monday, October 19
6 p.m, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
10 p.m., NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series: Clean Harbors 200 at Kansas Speedway (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App

Tuesday, October 20
3 p.m., IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship at Road Atlanta (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
5 p.m., Dale Jr. Download (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., Glory Road: Controversial Finishes (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
6:30 p.m., Glory Road: The Winston Million (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App

On MRN:
7 p.m., NASCAR Live 

Wednesday, October 21
5 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., Glory Road: The Inaugural Brickyard (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
6:30 p.m., Glory Road: NASCAR’s Lost Tracks (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App

Thursday, October 22
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App                   

Saturday, October 24
4 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Countdown to Green, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
4:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN3)
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Post-Race Show, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

On PRN:
4 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway

Sunday, October 25
11 a.m., NASCAR RaceDay: NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, FS1/FOX Sports App
Noon, NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors: SpeedyCash.com 400 at Texas Motor Speedway, FS1/FOX Sports App
2:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
3 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Countdown to Green, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN1, 4)–POSTPONED TO MONDAY AT 10 A.M. ET
8 p.m., Lost Speedways, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
8:30 p.m., Lost Speedways, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

On MRN:
11:30 a.m., NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series: SpeedyCash.com 400 at Texas Motor Speedway

On PRN:
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway–POSTPONED TO MONDAY AT 10 A.M. ET

Posted on by Staff Report

The No. 19 NASCAR Cup Series car driven by Martin Truex Jr. will move to the rear for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Kansas Speedway because of two inspection failures before the race.

The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was originally set to start the race in the fifth position on the grid, but it will drop to the back during pace laps.

RELATED: Kansas starting lineup | Kansas schedule

“It’s not optimum,” Truex Jr. said in a pre-race media session. “It’s not what you are hoping for. I don’t know. We will see. We have done it a lot this year. It is what it is. We will deal with it. This place, fortunately, there are a lot of lanes that you can run, really the whole race track works. You just have to go where they are not and pick them off one-by-one.”

Truex, who is in the Round of 8 and has qualified for the Championship 4 in each of the past three seasons, enters Sunday’s race 10 points below the playoff cutline. In 24 career races at Kansas, Truex has two wins, 11 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 13.4.

The No. 53 Ford driven by James Davison will also drop to the rear for two inspection failures. The Rick Ware Racing entry was originally slated to start 33rd.

Posted on by Nick Giffen

The Action Network specializes in providing sports betting insights/analytics and is a content partner with NASCAR. Check out more NASCAR betting analysis here.

Today’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway is the eighth race of the year at a 1.5-mile track with low- or medium-tire wear. That gives us plenty of data to work with to find the best value when betting matchups and other props.

In particular, there are four representative races that we can lean on to best inform us on driver performance. We can also look back at 2019 data, which had a similar aerodynamic and engine package.

This vast amount of relevant data has led me to recommend these three prop bets:

NASCAR at Kansas Betting Picks

Austin Dillon (+195) for a top-10 finish

Dillon has been very good at low-wear, 1.5-mile tracks this year. In seven races, he has three top-10 finishes, including a win at Texas and a fourth-place at the first Las Vegas race. He does have two races with major incidents, so his top-10 ratio is actually 60% in his incident-free races.

Dillon has an average finish of 8.0 over a five-race sample size and, somewhat stunningly, is 10th place in the point standings. This line at FanDuel is just too good to pass up.

[Bet Austin Dillon now at FanDuel and get a $1,000 risk-free bet.]

Erik Jones (+100) over Aric Almirola

Both Jones and Almirola have had struggles at low- or medium-wear, 1.5-mile tracks this year, with each having three finishes outside the top 15. Head to head, Jones holds a 4-3 advantage over Almirola. Dating back to 2019, Jones holds an 8-7 lead.

This edge improves to 3-1 for Jones at the four most representative races in 2020, where similar tires have been used. When looking at average green-flag speed from these four races, Jones comes in as the 11th-fastest driver, while Almirola is 16th. Even removing Almirola’s worst race, Jones still ranks better.

Jones should be favored here, so this line at William Hill is good value. I’d bet on Jones as low as -115.

Chris Buescher (+470) for a top-10 finish

I debated between Buescher and Stenhouse, who are priced the same and each have two top-10 finishes to their name at low- or medium-wear, 1.5-mile tracks this year. The tiebreaker came down to three things.

First, Buescher is more consistent, with only two DNFs all year. That gives him more opportunity to place in the top 10 if crazy things happen.

Second, Buescher has just been better all year, leading Stenhouse, 3-2, at 1.5-mile, low-wear races where both drivers did not encounter major incidents.

Third, Buescher’s two top-10 finishes came at the four races where at least one side of tires was the same as what’s being used at Kansas Speedway. Stenhouse has only one finish inside the top 10.

Buescher has eight top-10 finishes on the year, and outside of superspeedways, 1.5-mile tracks are historically his best track type. All four of his top-10 finishes in 2019 came at 1.5-mile tracks.

Snap him up at +470 at FanDuel and hope he keeps his nose clean while faster drivers have issues. Buescher has top-10 finishes in five of his last 13 low-wear, 1.5-mile races, so there is definitely value here.

[Bet Chris Buescher now at FanDuel and get a $1,000 risk-free bet.]

Posted on by Holly Cain

Chase Briscoe led a dominant 159 of 200 laps to win his record ninth NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday night, the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway. And while the 25-year-old Hoosier turned in a dominating effort, the race – a crucial chapter in the 2020 playoff run – was dramatic in multiple ways.

Briscoe’s No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford ultimately edged Daniel Hemric’s No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet by 1.199 seconds to earn the win – his nine-trophy, single-season tally the most ever by an Xfinity Series regular. Just as importantly, the victory gives Briscoe an automatic position in the Championship 4 round to decide the season title Nov. 7 at Phoenix Raceway.

“Super happy to lock into Phoenix, it’ll be a lot less stressful the next two weeks,” Briscoe said. “That’ll be nice. Can’t say thank you enough to everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing, this Ford Performance Racing School Mustang was lights out.”

Fellow playoff driver Ryan Sieg, driving for his family-owned team, finished third, leading the race with 23 laps remaining and making a bold playoff statement in his first appearance in this round of championship competition.

Justin Haley and Austin Hill rounded out the top five. Josh Williams, Brett Moffitt, Michael Annett, Brandon Jones and Justin Allgaier completed the top 10. It was certainly an overall impressive night for Moffitt, who won the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at the 1.5-mile Kansas track an hour before the Xfinity Series’ green flag dropped.

RELATED: Official results

While playoff drivers such as Briscoe, Sieg, Haley, Jones and Allgaier turned in a productive opening race to the Round of 8, it was a much different night for fellow title contenders Ross Chastain (finished 12th), regular-season champion Austin Cindric (finished 28th) and Noah Gragson (finished 36th).

Chastain’s effort was inspired considering his No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet was dinged up in several incidents. Cindric and Gragson were involved in a large multi-car accident while the field was racing three and four-wide at the beginning of the race. Cindric’s Team Penske crew was able to repair his No. 22 Ford Mustang enough to continue to turn laps, albeit well out of contention. Gragson’s No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet was too heavily damaged to continue.

The result is a massive turnaround in the playoff points standings. Cindric and Allgaier came into Saturday night’s race ranked second and fourth, respectively, among the eight championship-eligible drivers, but their misfortune at Kansas cost them significantly.

Cindric is now fourth, with only a slight two-point advantage over Haley. Gragson fell to eighth among the eight drivers and is now 33 points below the cutoff line as the series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for next week’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 (4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Allgaier moved to second place – just behind Briscoe – and has an 11-point edge on fifth place. Jones, the two-time defending Kansas winner, is now ranked third, nine points up on Haley. Chastain (-12), Sieg (-17) and Gragson (-33) round out the playoff standings heading to the Lone Star state.

“We were in the middle, four-wide and it’s tough,” Gragson said after being checked in and released from the track’s Infield Care Center. “We all get crowded off Turn 2 on the restart. It’s a bummer and definitely frustrating. But we were racing for the lead, just a racing deal. …

“We’ve got good speed at Texas in the past so I’m confident about that and we are extra motivated. That’s the good thing about these Xfinity playoffs. You don’t want to have a bad race but if you do, it allows you to rebound. We’re going to have our heads held high this week.”

One of the most dramatic parts of the race involved a multi-car accident on a restart with 28 laps remaining. While racing among the top 10 for position RCR driver Anthony Alfredo’s No. 21 Chevrolet took a tumble on track and ended up upside down. The race was red-flagged as the NASCAR safety crew immediately came to Alfredo’s rescue, carefully righting the car and helping Alfredo out. He walked to the ambulance and spoke to reporters minutes later.

“That was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced and definitely shows how fast things happen in racing,” Alfredo said. “I’m just glad to be okay and first off, I’ve got to thank the NASCAR safety crew for being there immediately before I even realized it was (flipped) over.

“It was just racing hard. We had an extremely fast Chevrolet Camaro tonight.

“I’m very thankful for the safety team, our safe race cars and all the safety equipment that goes into keeping drivers safe in the race cars.”

Note: The race winning No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Chase Briscoe cleared NASCAR’s post-race inspection. There were no other issues.

Posted on by Terrin Waack

In her first NASCAR national series start, Hailie Deegan pulled off a first for the sport.

Deegan finished 16th in Saturday’s Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway, accomplishing the best finish by a female driver in her series debut. She steered the No. 17 Ford for DGR-Crosley, her full-time ARCA Menards Series team. The top-20 showing came without any practice for the up-and-coming driver, as NASCAR continues to limit at-track time due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

RELATED: Race results 

“My first time starting that truck was coming off pit road and taking the green flag,” Deegan said. “It was definitely difficult. My expectations of how the truck was going to handle based on what my crew told me was not how it handled the first stage. We were able to tune it up to how I liked it and get better every single time we pitted.

“I think, at the end of the day, it was crazy. I had so much fun, and I can’t wait to do more of it.”

And she will.

During the race, Ford Performance announced Deegan will run in the 2021 Camping World Truck Series with DGR-Crosley. The goal is for the gig to be full time. Deegan indicated there are still some deals that need to be worked out before that is officially the case, but she is confident it’ll be a for-sure thing before the end of the year. The Truck Series is where Deegan, 19, believes she belongs at this point in her career.

“It’s going to be a struggle at first,” she said. “I’m not going to go out there and set the world on fire and win my first race. People have to understand that. It’s going to take time. It’s going to take a lot of learning. I think eventually we’ll obviously get better with time.”

That’s what happened Saturday.

Deegan fired off 34th with a loose truck, which she quickly figured out was not her preference. She navigated her way up to 25th by the end of Stage 1 on Lap 30 and then 18th by the conclusion of Stage 2 on Lap 60. Her 16th-place result was a lap down, but Deegan completed the 139-lap event that went into overtime with a running truck.

During all that, Deegan had to make her first-ever green-flag pit stop.

“I hadn’t entered the pits here under actual speed in anything,” Deegan said. “Even in the ARCA race we have scheduled pit stops. You’re already rolling with everyone; you can’t lose any spots. But in the trucks, you can lose or gain a ton.

“We weren’t even planning on coming in that early, like we were going to stay out for a few more laps. I don’t know if you guys heard me on the radio, but you could hear me panic saying, ‘It’s out. It’s out. It’s out. It’s out.’ That was off Turn 2, and I was able to just make it to my pit stall, get gas in it and by the time I took off, it was still sputtering. I was about to stall it because it was just so dry on fuel. That was definitely a sketchy moment.”

Even recalling that minor scare, though, Deegan couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

“It was so much fun,” Deegan said.

Posted on by Holly Cain

After four runner-up finishes on the season, former NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Series champion Brett Moffitt earned his first victory of 2020 in the Clean Harbors 200 at Kansas Speedway Saturday evening. And while that first win came 20 races into the season, it was particularly impactful — officially landing Moffitt in the Championship 4 that will compete for the series title Nov. 6 in Phoenix.

Moffitt, 28, held off his GMS Racing Chevrolet teammate Sheldon Creed by a mere .111-seconds for the overtime victory. The race went into extra laps just after Moffitt took the lead from another teammate and fellow playoff driver Zane Smith on Lap 132 of the scheduled 134-lap race.

The two made contact while racing side-by-side and Smith spun out, recovering to finish 11th with seven laps of overtime.

RELATED: Race results | Updated standings

“It’s pretty incredible, such a way to turn the season around for our 23 team,” said Moffitt, who raced in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kansas following his victory. “It’s been a long time since I got in Victory Lane in Iowa, pretty incredible there on the backstretch.

“Thanks to everyone at GMS and the Gallagher family. I’ve got to apologize to the 21 (Smith) there for trying to block him. But we were racing hard for a championship spot and that’s what you got to do.

“A bad block by me, it’s my fault … we’re racing for everything right now, I apologize to Zane.”

RELATED: Zane Smith discusses late contact with teammate Moffitt

Austin Hill rallied from a mid-race setback to finish third, followed by Grant Enfinger and Chandler Smith. Rookie Christian Eckes, Timothy Peters, reigning series champion Matt Crafton, rookie Derek Kraus and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top 10.

Hailee Deegan finished 16th — the best-ever showing for a female driver in her Truck Series debut.

“Oh man, I think my goal was just to finish the race,” a smiling Deegan said. “It’s crazy compared to ARCA racing how intense this racing is, how competitive it is. You’re trying to block one guy while pass another and next thing you know, you’ve got two guys blowing by you if you don’t make a successful pass. It’s a lot tougher racing, but I think we definitely had a successful day.”

RELATED: Hailie Deegan reacts to her historic debut

Creed, who led a race-best 61 laps, won both stages, increasing his series-best mark to nine stage wins on the season.

With the victory, Moffitt, the 2018 Gander Trucks champion, earns his shot at a second title in the Phoenix season finale. Creed’s runner-up effort gave him the points lead by seven points over the regular-season champion Hill. Smith’s impressive recovery from the late-race spin kept him ranked fourth with a seven-point edge over Enfinger. Crafton is ranked sixth, followed by Ben Rhodes and Tyler Ankrum, who both had troubles on Saturday.

The four drivers who will race for a championship include any playoff driver who wins one of these three final round races — as Moffitt did. At least one position will go to the driver with the highest points tally after that Oct. 30 race at Martinsville.

Deegan’s history-making finishing was only part of a huge career day for the 19-year old Californian.

Shortly before the green flag, Ford Motor Company announced Deegan will drive in the series in 2021 competing for Rookie of the Year honors driving the No. 17 Ford for the DGR-Crosley Racing team. Deegan competed in the ARCA Menards Series full time this season, with a sixth-place finish at the Kansas Speedway season finale on Friday. She was the series’ Rookie of the Year, finishing third place in the standings with a best showing of runner-up twice.

RELATED: Hailie Deegan lands Truck Series ride for 2021

The Gander Trucks’ next race, the SpeedyCash.com 400, is Sunday at noon ET at Texas Motor Speedway (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NOTE: Inspection in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoor Truck Series garage is complete, with the No. 17 truck (Deegan) having one lug nut not safe and secure and no other issues.

Posted on by Staff Report

Ford Performance announced Saturday that Hailie Deegan will move full time to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2021, teaming with DGR-Crosley Racing for a Sunoco Rookie of the Year campaign.

Deegan, 19, just completed her first full season of ARCA Menards Series competition for DGR-Crosley. She also made her truck debut in Saturday’s Clean Harbors 200 (4 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Kansas Speedway, driving the No. 17 Ford for DGR-Crosley co-owners David Gilliland and Bo LeMastus.

RELATED: Hailie Deegan driver stats

“I am excited for this next step in my career with Ford Performance,” Deegan said. “I have raced trucks in the off-road world but to now have the opportunity to race trucks next season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is a dream come true. I have some great partners already behind me for next season. We have a few primaries still available and I hope that we can fill these up in the coming weeks. I can’t wait for Daytona 2021 to get here.”

After beginning her NASCAR career with Toyota Racing, Deegan was signed to Ford’s driver development program last December. She had scored three wins in the ARCA Menards Series West the last two seasons before moving to the main ARCA tour this year.

Ford officials indicated the automaker had “a broad scope of racing activities planned” for Deegan before the COVID-19 outbreak scattered the racing schedule for multiple series. Even with a somewhat curtailed schedule, Mark Rushbrook — the global director for Ford Performance Motorsports — expressed he was pleased with her growth as a driver.

“We are very happy with Hailie’s progress as demonstrated in her first year as a part of our Ford Performance driver development program,” Rushbrook said. “Continuing with the consistency from DGR-Crosley, Hailie is ready to make the step to the NASCAR Truck Series, providing some intense competition and great racing.”

Deegan placed sixth in Friday’s season finale for the ARCA Menards Series, capping her third-place finish in the 2020 standings. She had four top-five finishes and 17 top 10s in 20 starts this season with a best result of second place on two occasions — once in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway and earlier this month on the dirt at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

After Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, NASCAR Cup Series Playoff driver Alex Bowman said people slept on him advancing deep into the postseason.

Well, now he’s in the Round of 8, so the joke’s on them.

Bowman heads into Sunday’s third-round-kickoff race, the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM), seventh in the points standings, 18 points behind Championship 4 cutline driver and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.

There’s only one way not to worry about that points deficit — win. The No. 88 driver says the team is capable of doing that right off the bat.

RELATED: Bowman: ‘A lot of people slept on us’

“We’ve been a little off with our mile-and-a-half program compared to how we started the year, but we’re kind of getting back that direction,” Bowman told NASCAR.com. “I’m excited to see how the car is at the start of the race, and I think we could be really good. Kansas is probably my favorite place we go to, just with all the lane options. When that place is cool and has a lot of grip, it’s a lot of fun to race. I think we can have a really solid weekend and hopefully contend for the win.”

Bowman started off the season with solid speed, winning at Auto Club Speedway to make the playoffs, but the summer stretch was rough. Nearing the playoffs, he rebounded. Since scoring a fifth-place finish in August at Dover International Speedway, Bowman has only two finishes outside the top 10.

“We got headed in the right direction at the right time, which was a big positive for us,” Bowman said. “I think we can continue that through the rest of the playoffs.”

An eighth-place finish in July at Kansas bodes well for Bowman’s chances to find the front on Sunday. He also scored a runner-up result in the spring race there last year.

Mathematically speaking, Bowman isn’t in a must-win situation out of the gate, but the task will be tall to make it into the Championship 4 without visiting Victory Lane.

“It’s going to be really hard to point our way into the (Championship) 4,” Bowman said. “But, if we can win, it’d be pretty cool to go race for a championship. I don’t think we have to, but I mean we need three really, really well-executed races with lots of stage points and top fives minimum in all three of them to make the (Championship) 4. That’s really the box we put ourselves in with the lack of playoff points. Just need to go be as perfect as we can be.”

While both Kansas and next Sunday’s stop at Texas Motor Speedway offer opportunities for victory, it’s the Round of 8 cutoff race at Martinsville Speedway that has Bowman on his toes, admitting it’s probably his weakest track on the circuit.

Bowman earned a sixth-place result in the first stop at the Virginia short track this year.

RELATED: Complete Round of 8 preview

“We’ve made gains on our short-track program,” Bowman said. “I feel like we still have a little bit to go, but we’re definitely gaining on it.”

Working with his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, in particular the No. 9 team of Elliott, has led to an uptick in his short-track performance. While Elliott is one of Bowman’s direct playoff competitors, teamwork still makes the dream work.

“We have a good relationship, good relationship with (crew chief) Alan (Gustafson), as well,” Bowman said. “We lean on that team a lot. That team has been the best performing team at HMS the past couple years. They’re definitely doing a really good job. Chase does a really good job. We lean on them a lot, especially for places like Martinsville where they’re really good, or the road courses where they’re really good.

“On the race track, we race each other really well and clean, but hard as well. Away from the track, we’re sharing information as much as we can.”