Posted on by Staff Report

The 2020 NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola is more than just a military appreciation platform — it’s a campaign that salutes all who have gone above and beyond to keep their fellow members of society safe and healthy. During a global pandemic that impacted almost every aspect of our daily lives, they have been there for us — doctors, nurses, EMTs, first responders, etc. Now, it’s our turn to be there for them and to give recognition where it’s deserved the most.

In this edition of NASCAR Salutes Refreshing Moments, NASCAR.com is highlighting the work of U.S. Army National Guard Specialist Charles H. Hoffmann.

RELATED: Learn more about NASCAR Salutes

Hoffmann has served in the South Carolina National Guard for two years after growing up in Clover, South Carolina. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Hoffmann and the soldiers of the 117th Engineer Brigade (EN BDE) and 1050th Transportation Battalion have been helping deliver daily meals to children in Horry County, South Carolina. Hoffmann also helped raise money and organize donations to help distribute more than 2,000 books to children and families.

Service is in Hoffmann’s blood as both of his parents are veterans with his mother a Judge Advocate General (JAG) in the Tennessee Army Guard for 24 years. His father was a field artillery officer in the 101st Airborne Division. Hoffmann is also studying elementary education at Winthrop University.

In an interview with Roush Fenway Racing driver Ryan Newman that aired during NBC Sports Network’s (NBCSN) coverage of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Newman informed Hoffmann that NASCAR Salutes and the USO had teamed up for a  donation to USO’s South Carolina Programming and the USO Dallas-Fort Worth.

During Newman’s conversation with Spc. Hoffmann, both men were told by Hoffmann’s commanding officer that they will be receiving a coin and certificate “given to outstanding soldiers for excellence” in the South Carolina National Guard.

“That’s one of the things I always learned when I went and experienced different things,” Newman said of different trips he has taken to military bases through the NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola platform in previous years. “It wasn’t about what a soldier does, it was about the personal story you could share and converse about what makes a soldier a soldier.”

For the first time ever, NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola kicked off with the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as the platform shifts to a mid-summer window due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola, which runs through July 31, will see the NASCAR industry honor United States Armed Forces and frontline healthcare heroes as part of this year’s expanded program — an industry-wide opportunity to recognize and thank those who keep society safe and healthy.

Posted on by Staff Report

Kevin Harvick officially notched 700 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday when his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford fired off at Texas Motor Speedway. Harvick became the 18th driver to reach the milestone.

RELATED: Drivers with best finishes in 700th start

The 44-year-old from Bakersfield, California, joined the NASCAR Cup Series in 2001 as the full-time driver of the No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. His first race was the Dura Lube 400 on Feb. 26, 2001 at North Carolina Speedway, where he finished 14th. That season, Harvick accomplished two wins as a rookie. He broke through to Victory Lane in just his third start that season: the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 11, 2001.

That victory marked the first of 53. The 2014 champion has won four races in 2020 — so far.

Crew chief Rodney Childers noted his driver’s career milestone over the No. 4 team communications in pace laps Sunday: “All right, bud. Have fun. Seven hundred starts is something to be proud of. Done a hell of a lot in that amount of time, so have some fun today. Go get you another one here today.” Harvick’s reply: “10-4, man. Thanks. Appreciate all the help. You guys have fun in there. See what we can do.”

Harvick, who has gained the nicknames “Happy Harvick” and “The Closer” over the years, boasts trophies from 22 tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit, putting him three away from a clean sweep. He has yet to win at Daytona International Speedway’s road course (debuts in 2020), Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval (debuted in 2018) and Kentucky Speedway.

At Texas, Harvick has won three times. All of the victories took place within the last five years.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Timmy Hill said his victory in the iRacing Pro Invitational Series on March 29 came with one small regret — that he wasn’t able to celebrate with the winner’s traditional cowboy hat at Texas Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Hill edges Byron at virtual Texas

Back then, track promoter Eddie Gossage took to social media to promise that Hill would get the winner’s laurels when the Fort Worth track’s race was rescheduled after the COVID-19 outbreak. Sunday, track officials stayed true to their promise.

“We did a Victory Lane photoshoot with the Texas hat, and that’s really neat to be recognized,” Hill told PRN Radio before Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. “That whole experience was neat to run well and get some exposure for our sponsors. I’m happy Texas Motor Speedway followed through and kept their word.”

Posted on by Staff Report

The No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Chase Elliott and the No. 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet of Reed Sorenson will move to the rear of the field for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Both cars failed pre-race technical inspection two times resulting in the penalties handed out by NASCAR.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Set your fantasy lineup

Elliott, who won Wednesday night’s NASCAR All-Star Race, was originally set to start eighth after last week’s random lineup draw. Sorenson, meanwhile, was already slated to start last in the field.

The No. 51 of Joey Gase, No. 53 of Josh Bilicki and No. 77 of JJ Yeley all dropped to the rear for driver changes.

Posted on by PJ Walsh

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

For the second straight points-paying race, the NASCAR Cup Series will run during the day at a smooth, 1.5-mile circuit.

Just like last weekend’s race at Kentucky Speedway, today’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN) at Texas Motor Speedway will produce very little tire falloff, making track position key.

In fact, this weekend’s event will feature the same tire combination used at both Kentucky and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, giving us two meaningful races to analyze in order to find mispriced NASCAR odds for Texas.

And after looking at results from both of those races, one driver continues to be disrespected by oddsmakers, providing plenty of prop-betting value.

Follow me on Twitter (@PJWalsh24) for any additional bets I make for Sunday’s race at Texas.

NASCAR at Texas Odds, Betting Picks

Odds as of Sunday at 7 a.m. ET and via BetMGM. Get an INSTANT $500 deposit match at BetMGM today or see more offers and reviews for the best online sportsbooks.

Matt DiBenedetto (+155) for a Top-10 Finish

What does Matty D need to do to get a little respect?

DiBenedetto just finished third at Kentucky and his fourth-best driver rating in that race proves it was no fluke.

That top-three result also afforded his Wood Brothers team a prime pit stall selection for today’s race, which will certainly help DiBenedetto keep or gain that all-important track position.

DiBenedetto finished second in February at Las Vegas, which is significant considering teams will run the same tire combination this weekend that was used at both Vegas and Kentucky.

And finally, the No. 21 Ford will start 11th in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, giving DiBenedetto the advantage of early track position.

Posted on by Zack Albert

The frustration in Christian Eckes’ cool-down lap communication to his team was telling, a groaning, angst-heavy curse followed by an admission that he hasn’t quite reached the level of Kyle Busch — his mentor, teammate and team owner. The post-race thumbs-down for the FOX Sports cameras gave his emotions a visual.

What Eckes had to show for his Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway was a career-best second place in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. The rookie led four times for 52 laps, but his Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 Toyota came up just shy of carrying him to a breakthrough victory in his first full season as Busch scooted away in a 10-lap sprint to the end.

RELATED: Official results | 2020 Gander Trucks schedule

“I definitely gave it my best effort,” said Eckes, who claimed his second top-five finish of the season. “Looking back on it, there’s probably a few things I could’ve done just to side-draft him and try to clear him, but I did my best. He’s so damn fast at aero games, and I’m not yet. So I’ve got a little bit of learning to do for Kansas, but overall really proud of my team.”

Eckes started seventh and made gains through handling adjustments that helped his truck come to life in the second and third stages. In the final green-flag cycle of pit stops, Busch provided a lesson on entering and exiting pit road, putting his truck out front by a significant margin.

Busch led by nearly four seconds before a late caution period bunched the field for the dash to the end.

“Led a bunch of laps, missed my marks on pit road I guess a little bit,” Eckes said. “I thought I hit it right, but Kyle was a straightaway ahead of me by the time I got out of the corner. It is what it is.”

Busch eventually took the upper hand in their late-race scramble, fending off Eckes by .777 seconds at the finish. But he remained impressed by the 19-year-old driver’s growth, a development curve unaided by extra track time from practice or qualifying in the series’ six races since COVID-19 at-track protocols were established.

His previous career-best was third, achieved three times in the last two seasons. Saturday, Eckes did one better.

“What can you say about Christian, he’s getting better each week,” Busch said. “Every time out, they get that chemistry going more and more with (crew chief) Rudy Fugle and those guys. Real proud of that Safelite Tundra running fast and being there to challenge us at the end.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

Kyle Busch held off 19-year old rookie Christian Eckes by .777-seconds to earn the victory in the Vankor 350 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night.

It was master and protégé showing the way with Eckes still scoring a career-best second-place finish in the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. The two – running first and second – held a 12-second advantage on the field during much of the final stage of the race.

They exchanged the lead for a lap following a restart with 10 laps remaining, but ultimately Busch was able to get around his young driver with eight laps left and hold off the field to earn his 59th series win – third of 2020. It was nearly a perfect competitive day as Busch was scored the winner initially in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race earlier Saturday at Texas. But his car was disqualified following technical inspection.

RELATED: Race results | 2020 Gander Trucks schedule

The two drivers – Busch (72 laps) and Eckes (52) combined to lead 124 of the race’s 167 laps.

Reigning series champion Matt Crafton finished third followed by Stewart Friesen, who earned his best finish of the season. Another former series champion Brett Moffitt finished fifth – his second top five of the year.

Tyler Ankrum, Justin Haley, Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes and Ross Chastain rounded out the top 10. Both Haley and Chastain also finished top-10 in the Xfinity Series race earlier in the day.

Busch joked on the FS1 telecast that he shouldn’t celebrate until after his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota truck finished inspection but he was clearly pleased to earn the win and to see his own young driver challenge him so well.

“What can you say about Christian [Eckes], he’s getting better each and every week, every time out getting that chemistry more and more with [his crew chief] Rudy Fugle and those guys,” Busch said. “So real proud.

“But wanted to make sure we went out on a win.”

Eckes was simultaneously happy and frustrated to come so close to his first career win.

“We battled hard and it was really fun to go toe-to-toe with the best and just got to get a little better to beat him,” Eckes said. “I thought our truck was good enough to beat him I’ve just got to improve a few things. I’m really proud of my team.”

With 40 to go, Eckes held a .631-second advantage on Busch and the two were more than nine seconds ahead of the rest of the field before a series of green flag pit stops.

Busch nearly steered into the wrong pit box initially on his green flag stop – seeing the No. 18 sign, which is Busch’s NASCAR Cup Series number – before catching himself and motoring on to the right box. His advantage on track, however, was enough to put him back out front by three seconds as the pit stop sequence completed with 32 laps remaining.

A caution came out with 15 laps remaining after contact with Todd Gilliland and Ben Rhodes while racing hard inside the top 10. Gilliland’s No. 38 Ford suffered the worst damage and retired. Rhodes’ team made quick repairs in the pits and he returned to finish ninth.

It was an unusually tough day for several of the Texas track’s best, including former series champion Johnny Sauter, whose five previous wins in Fort Worth are most among active drivers. His No. 13 Ford had to retire only 62 laps into the race, hurting his place in the points standings, dropping him from 10th to 12th with only four races remaining before the Playoffs begin. The top 10 drivers in the driver standings vie for the title.

The NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series championship leader Austin Hill finished outside the top-10 for the first time this season. The driver of the No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota made a pair of extended pit stops before eventually retiring on Lap 107, in 30th place.

The DNF delivered a hit in Hill’s championship points lead, however. The young Georgia-native’s championship advantage dropped from 46 points ahead of Sheldon Creed before the race to only 22 points over Rhodes after the Texas checkered flag.

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Busch was disqualified from an apparent victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Saturday after his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Toyota failed post-race inspection at Texas Motor Speedway.

Busch’s car was found out of compliance with the height requirements, according to the NASCAR Rule Book. That ruling elevated Austin Cindric, who was the second driver to take the checkered flag, to his third Xfinity Series victory of the year in the My Bariatric Solutions 300. It also sent Busch’s No. 54 to last place in the 37-car field.

RELATED: Official race results

After winning Saturday night’s Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race, Busch said he was unsure what caused the car to fail the height portion of the inspection. He said he was unsure whether the team would appeal the penalty, adding that his reaction to the violation was frustration instead of a indifference for an infraction that wasn’t his doing.

“Yeah, it’s bothersome. It pisses me off,” Busch said. “We come out here and race and run hard and score a win and then it gets taken away from you. It sucks because it’s nothing we did. We even put a round in the right-rear during the race in order to help the handling characteristic and then the left-rear was low. I don’t know. There’s nothing I can do about it, so you just kind of move on. I don’t know; I guess NASCAR wants me here longer.”

His last remark was delivered with a smirk. Busch is on record as saying he would retire from Xfinity Series competition after scoring his 100th career victory. Saturday would have marked No. 98.

The last driver to be disqualified from an Xfinity Series win was Denny Hamlin, whose No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was also penalized for failing height requirements last August at Darlington Raceway. That promoted apparent runner-up Cole Custer to victory.

NASCAR competition officials introduced a tougher deterrence system into the rule book before the 2019 season, one that included disqualifications for significant rules violations.

Posted on by Zack Albert

The South Carolina racing community came together this weekend to celebrate the life of stock-car racing pioneer Raymond Arnold Jr., a figure whose behind-the-scenes work aided the cause of NASCAR Hall of Famer Wendell Scott.

Arnold, who served as a longtime member of Scott’s pit crew, died July 7 at the age of 85. His mechanical know-how, passion for racing and friendship endeared him to Scott, who became the NASCAR Cup Series’ first Black winner in 1963.

Raymond Arnold Submitted 1

Arnold was in attendance when Scott was enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015, and he was acknowledged by Scott’s sons, Franklin and Wendell Jr., as part of the induction speech. Scott’s children were part of the No. 34 team, but Arnold was also considered family.

“We got along good. I was an only child, never had a brother,” Arnold told NASCAR Productions in 2010. “And if I could’ve picked a brother, I probably would’ve picked him for big brother. … The more I was around him, the better I liked him.”

A STEM and Education Studies scholarship honoring Arnold is also available through the Spartanburg County Foundation. Visit RayArnoldLegacy.com for details.

The weekend-long memorial celebration — which was held with COVID-19 precautions in place — included visitation Thursday in Spartanburg, South Carolina, with graveside services the following day at Upper Shady Grove Baptist Church in nearby Wellford. Plans also included two racing-related tributes at Palmetto State tracks that were regular stops for Scott’s team — a Friday night meeting at the Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds in Spartanburg and a Saturday afternoon victory lap at Greenville-Pickens Speedway.

The Spartanburg track holds a special place for the Arnold and Scott families. Ray Arnold was attending a race there with some friends, and when he met the driver, Scott was troubleshooting a problematic carburetor on his 1961 Chevrolet. Arnold said that just weeks earlier, he had bought a trimmed-out 1962 Impala with performance parts. After some wrenching and the addition of an adapter plate, Arnold’s new carburetor rode with Scott’s No. 34 to the finish, and a friendship was born.

Raymond Arnold Submitted3

“From then on, we just kept growing closer and closer,” Arnold said in 2010. “Every time he came in the area, I’d find out where he was going to be, and me and some of my buddies would just go to the race track.”

Arnold continued with Scott until his racing career ended in 1973, balancing his time helping the race team with his job as a teacher of automotive mechanics and driver education at Eastside High School in Greenville County. Fellow crew members nicknamed Arnold “Rags” because he was often seen with a shop rag hanging from his pockets.

Arnold said he was a witness to the challenges Scott and his team faced as a Black man competing in the Deep South during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. He also saw the struggles Scott had in his search for speed as a determined independent.

“The words ‘never’ and ‘can’t’ are two words he never used,” Arnold told the Spartanburg Herald-Journal in 2016. “He wouldn’t give up.”

Arnold is survived by three children, Dr. Sonya Arnold, Dr. Antonia “Toni” Arnold-McFarland and Raymond “Trey” Arnold III.

Posted on by Holly Cain

Austin Cindric collected his third consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series win Saturday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway after Kyle Busch’s No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota failed post-race inspection – the left rear on his car ruled too low.

The Team Penske driver Cindric, who swept a doubleheader weekend at Kentucky Speedway last week, originally finished less than a second behind Busch, but the finishing order was corrected to show Cindric the winner and Xfinity Series championship leader Chase Briscoe the race runner-up.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos: Texas

Justin Allgaier, who led a race-best 98 of the 201 laps, rallied back through the field for a third-place finish after being penalized for a pit-road exit violation with 30 laps remaining. The blend line penalty forced him to rally from two laps down making his third-place effort that much more impressive.

Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Harrison Burton, a two-time winner in 2020, finished fourth and Michael Annett was fifth. Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones, Kaulig Racing teammates Justin Haley and Ross Chastain and Brandon Brown rounded out the top 10. It marks the ninth consecutive top-10 finish for Chastain and is Brown’s fourth top 10 of the season.

Cindric was dressed in a Texas winner’s tradition white cowboy hat when he showed up for a second media video-conference availability Saturday after being officially declared the race winner. He conceded the Busch disqualification wasn’t how he liked to win races but victories are hard to come by at this level.

“Obviously great to get the Money Lion Ford Mustang in Victory Lane no matter how it happens,” Cindric said. “Great points day.”

Cindric – only the ninth driver in NASCAR Xfinity Series history to win three straight races – said he was tipped off to the possibility of a change in finishing order after walking out of his team transporter and seeing Busch’s car and team still undergoing inspection in the garage.

“You want to win it on track and I feel like we had a shot to do that today and maybe didn’t execute as well as we should have and that’s what kept us out, but fast race cars and being in position, that’s what counts,” Cindric said.

And, the ace road course racer laughed acknowledging that he now has more NASCAR Xfinity Series oval wins (three) than road course triumphs (two).

“I’ll take it,” he said. “It’s great to be able to capitalize on fast race cars. I said that last week and I’ll say that again. I didn’t think this weekend we were quite as good as what we had in Kentucky but overall being able to run up front all day and get great stage points was great and we’ve just got to keep building on that.”

Allgaier, the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet swept the opening two stages – the sixth time he’s done that in his career. But he’s only turned that early race dominance into a victory one previous time. And it was not to be on Saturday afternoon because of the late-race penalty. It’s the second time this season he has led the most laps but not earned the trophy. He led 156 laps at Bristol, Tenn., in June but finished 18th.

Noah Gragson, a two-time winner this year, finished 30th after his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet was involved in a pair of incidents. His Lap 5 contact with Riley Herbst brought out the day’s first caution flag, then Gragson exited 75 laps short of the finish after a close call with Cindric and a crunching of the Turn 2 retaining wall.

The series races next in the Kansas Lottery 250 at Kansas Speedway next Saturday (5 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Contributing: Staff reports