Sheldon Creed advances to Championship 4 with Texas victory in overtime

Posted on October 25, 2020October 25, 2020 by Reid Spencer

Brett Moffitt gave GMS Racing teammate Sheldon Creed a forceful invitation to the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series championship party.

Already qualified for the Championship 4 race at Phoenix, Moffitt pushed Creed’s No. 2 Chevrolet clear of Austin Hill’s Toyota as the trucks approached the start/finish line for the white-flag lap in overtime. That was the impetus Creed needed to win Sunday’s SpeedyCash.com 400 at Texas Motor Speedway and join Moffitt in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway with a chance to win the title.

“Man, what a good truck my guys put together,” said Creed, who picked up his fourth win of the season, the fourth of his career and his first at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth Track. “We’ve been inconsistent here, but we’ve always had speed, and today, man, just awesome. I finally won in front of my mom and dad. They’re here today. …

“Two trucks locked in for the organization—that’s awesome—and hopefully we can get the other two (Zane Smith and Tyler Ankrum) or at least one more next weekend. Hard racing today. Man, it’s crazy. We’ve just been working for this all year, and I feel like I’ve improved so much and put so much work into this. Man, going to Martinsville stress-free is so nice.”

RELATED: Race results

Ben Rhodes’ retaliation against Christian Eckes on Lap 146 of a scheduled 147 forced the overtime and sent the race five laps beyond its scheduled distance. Miffed that Eckes had forced him up the track in a battle for position late in the race, Rhodes clipped the right rear quarter of Eckes’ Toyota as the trucks entered the tri-oval and sent Eckes spinning hard into the wall.

Rhodes simultaneously threw away his winning chances and now must win next Friday at Martinsville to secure a spot in the championship race. GMS Racing’s Ankrum is in the same position after running 16th at Texas.

In a race that produced 10 cautions, there was action throughout, but none more dramatic than the catastrophic battle for the lead between Stewart Friesen and Johnny Sauter, both of whom are winless this year.

After a restart on Lap 125, Friesen forced Creed up the track and grabbed the lead on Lap 127, with Johnny Sauter following into second place. Three laps later, Sauter tried a similar move on Friesen, with disastrous results.

Sauter’s No. 13 Ford broke loose under Friesen’s No. 52 Toyota and carried both trucks into the outside wall, adding misery to star-crossed seasons for both drivers. The wreck restored Creed to the lead for a restart on Lap 136.

Creed won the first stage wire-to-wire, but three-time series champion Matt Crafton passed him for the lead with five laps left in Stage 2 and held the top spot to the finish of the 35-lap segment.

The first playoff driver to suffer serious issues was ThorSport Racing’s Grant Enfinger, whose engine expired in a cloud of smoke on Lap 92. Enfinger, who entered the race seven points below the cut line, now must claim victory in next Friday’s night race at Martinsville to advance to the Championship 4.

“We just blew up,” Enfinger said. “It just wasn’t meant to be. On to Martinsville next week—must-win. Looking forward to the challenge.”

Hill held the runner-up spot at the finish, followed by GMS Racing’s Zane Smith. Those two Playoff drivers remained above the current cutoff for the Championship 4. Raphael Lessard ran fourth, followed by Moffitt.

Crafton, Austin Wayne Self, Dylan Lupton, Derek Kraus and Tanner Gray completed the top 10. Crafton remains 12 points below the cut line heading to Martinsville.

In his first race in more than five years, 2012 series champion James Buescher went a lap down during the first 35-lap stage but recovered to finish 15th in his debut in the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet.

The Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series will finish off the Round of 8 on Friday with the NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 at Martinsville Speedway (8 p.m. on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on October 25, 2020October 25, 2020 by Staff Report

NASCAR sent three cars to the rear of the field and confiscated the spoiler for the No. 19 car in the Cup Series before the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The No. 19 of Martin Truex Jr., No. 49 of Chad Finchum and No. 96 of Daniel Suarez all failed inspection twice and will move to the rear during pace laps.

Additionally, it was found that the Joe Gibbs Racing team of Truex Jr. had violated section 20.4.12.b in the NASCAR Rule Book that states, except as specified, spoilers must be used exactly as supplied from the manufacturer.

RELATED: More story lines from Texas

As a result, the No. 19 team was fined $35,000, lost 20 driver and owner points and will start from the rear. It also lost crew chief James Small for the race due to ejection.

Truex was originally sixth in the starting lineup and 31 points below the cutline for advancement into the Championship 4.

Posted on October 24, 2020October 24, 2020 by Chase Wilhelm

Noah Gragson was on his way to becoming a hero on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway, taking the white flag with the lead to potentially seal his fate for the Championship 4.

But that all changed in the final corner, when Harrison Burton passed the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet driver to steal a much-needed victory away in the second NASCAR Xfinity Series Round of 8 playoff race.

Gragson took the lead away from fellow playoff driver Austin Cindric following a restart with 15 laps remaining in the 200-lap event. It was clear that Burton had the faster car, however, running down Gragson in the final three laps.

In hindsight, Gragson admitted he put too much steering wheel into it during the waning moments, heating up the front tires too much, which made it impossible to hold his line to keep Burton at bay.

“On the last lap in (Turns) 1 and 2 I knew he was coming quick,” Gragson said. “I figured may as well put all the wheel I can into it until slipping, obviously. But I don’t know if I overheated the fronts or what, it was tighter. Grew tighter as the closing laps came and just couldn’t get it done.”

Gragson, known for his aggression behind the wheel, felt he had a different approach as the pressure poured on him. That made the pill of losing the battle even harder to swallow.

“Normally I feel like I’d get excited in moments like that, but I was more patient and calm than ever,” Gragson said. “I felt like I was really well-prepared for this moment. Entry of (Turn) 3 you’re on top of the world, on exit you feel like a total POS.”

The series now heads to Martinsville Speedway next Saturday for the Round of 8 finale (3:30 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It will be Gragson’s last shot to make the championship race at Phoenix Raceway.

With a 24-point deficit on the cutline, it’s mathematically not a must-win situation for Gragson, but it may as well be given how stiff the competition will be to fill the final three spots in the Championship 4. He’ll be battling for the opportunity with teammate Justin Allgaier, as well as Justin Haley, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain and Ryan Sieg.

On a positive note, Gragson knows how to find Victory Lane at Martinsville, earning a win in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2017.

“Just try to go win the race,” Gragson said. “Try to go run as best as possible and do the best I can. There’s a lot of great competitors here in the Xfinity Series fighting for a championship. It’s very competitive. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be there. Just got to focus forward, keep our heads up and stay positive. Let the past be the past and learn from it.”

Posted on October 24, 2020October 24, 2020 by Reid Spencer

With a dramatic pass of the final corner in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, Harrison Burton stole the victory from Noah Gragson, who would have clinched a spot in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 Round with a win.

Having recovered from a spin that caused the sixth of 10 cautions on Lap 107, Burton passed Anthony Alfredo for the second position on Lap 198 of 200 and took off in pursuit of Gragson, who had taken the lead on Lap 186.

Burton, who had run down Gragson to win the second stage of the race — his first stage victory of the season — closed quickly on the final lap and shot past Gragson’s No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet off Turn 4. Burton’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota streaked across the finish line .445 seconds ahead of Gragson’s Chevy.

RELATED: Full results

“We had such a fast race car,” Burton said after climbing from his car on the frontstretch. “I’ve never driven anything harder than that last corner in my life. I don’t know how it stuck. I lost my voice—I was screaming. Gosh, that’s special. I’ve never spun out and come back and won, so that’s cool.

“We were obviously pushing the limits all day… of speed. That’s kind of what we came to do, to be fast, to win our first stage of the year, which was a good sign, and our speed—what we did on that last lap was incredible. I don’t know how it happened, but I’m pretty damn glad it did. What a cool place to win. We’re going home with cowboy hats.”

After a multi-car wreck that KO’d the entries of playoff contenders Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones and Ross Chastain, Gragson grabbed the lead from Austin Cindric on the restart lap when Cindric’s No. 22 Ford broke loose in the outside lane. Alfredo took second and Burton followed into third.

Though Burton, who was eliminated from the Xfinity Playoff in the Round of 12, had the fastest car on the track at the time, he had difficulty overtaking Alfredo. But once he took second with two laps left, he closed rapidly on Gragson.

“I feel like we had a fast car there,” said a dejected Gragson. “I was a little tight on exit all day. Just frustrated at myself. I was pretty tight there at the end. I saw Alfredo holding Harrison off and thought we were getting away, I saw the 20 get by the 21 (Alfredo) and he ran me down in like two laps.

“I knew he was coming. I just didn’t expect him to get there. I don’t know. Frustrated. But thankful for my guys, (crew chief) Dave Elenz, and the rest of this team. We’ll go to Martinsville (next Saturday), I like that track. It had to be make or breaking your season right there.”

The race fell apart for Allgaier, Jones and Chastain after the Lap 186 restart. Six playoff drivers restarted in the top six positions, but, moments later, they were strewn through the field after Allgaier broke loose underneath Chastain to start a wreck that also collected Jones and Jeremy Clements.

“I tried to leave the 10 (Chastain) as much room as I could, but when he got to my quarter panel, I got loose,” said Allgaier, who has had an antagonistic relationship with Chastain in the past. “(Then) he just decides to hang a left because he’s aggravated and wrecks the whole field.”

Jones and Allgaier were eliminated from the race and finished 25th and 26th, respectively. Chastain was able to continue and came home 16th.

But the wreck had a dramatic effect on the playoff standings.

Allgaier in third place is just eight points ahead of Jones in fifth, with seventh-place finisher Justin Haley between them. Chastain is 15 points below the cut line in sixth.

Chase Briscoe, who secured a spot in the Championship 4 with his win last week at Kansas, finished 24th after a shock mount broke on his No. 98 Ford. Gragson is seventh, 24 points behind Haley, likely needing a victory in the elimination race at Martinsville. Ryan Sieg, who suffered suspension problems and finished 31st, is 43 points behind Haley.

Cindric finished fourth behind Burton, Gragson and Alfredo, with Brandon Brown rolling home in fifth. Michael Annett, Haley, Ryan Vargas, Josh Williams and Tommy Joe Martins completed the top 10.

Posted on October 24, 2020October 24, 2020 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.

Kevin Harvick has won the last three fall races at Texas Motor Speedway and is the +260 favorite for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN). From an outright winner standpoint, that means bettors will likely have to decide whether it’s smarter to bet big on Harvick or try to beat him with a handful of other drivers.

I’ll leave that web for Nick Giffen to untangle. On the other hand, Texas’ smooth surface makes it easier for longer shots to steal better-than-expected finishes with tire strategy, making prop bets better values than at typical tracks.

With this in mind, here are two props for Sunday’s race at Texas that I’m grabbing right now.

NASCAR at Texas Odds, Betting Picks

Alex Bowman (+450) for a top-five finish

The No. 88 Chevrolet has stepped it up at intermediates since the start of NASCAR’s playoffs with Bowman’s average finish of 4.0 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway (both 1.5-mile tracks like Texas) the best in the series this postseason.

Bowman has also run the fourth-most fastest laps and has the fourth-best driver rating over those two races, showing he’s not only stealing top-five finishes, but is also consistently showing top-five speed.

At +450, I’m backing Bowman to accomplish that feat for a third straight race on a 1.5-mile circuit.

[Bet Alex Bowman now at BetMGM and get an INSTANT $500 deposit match.]

Chris Buescher (+1000) for a top-10 finish

Buescher is certainly a long shot, but a 400-1 long shot is pretty insane. No, that doesn’t mean I’m betting on him to win at those odds, but it’s important to note that price because that’s also the number sportsbooks will use as a basis for prop prices, like top-10 finishes.

Considering the No. 17 Ford had the ninth-best driver rating at Texas earlier this year and posted top 10s at 1.5-mile tracks at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Las Vegas, Buescher’s 10-1 odds to manage that feat on Sunday is worth a wager.

Odds of 10-1 imply a 9.09% chance, and considering that Buescher has two top 10s in eight races at similar tracks for a 20% top-10 finish rate — while posting a top-10 driver rating in July at Texas — this number has a very attractive betting edge.

[Bet Chris Buescher now at BetMGM and get an INSTANT $500 deposit match.]

Posted on October 24, 2020October 24, 2020 by Chase Wilhelm

Whether it’s via race victory or points in the final two races of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8, Kevin Harvick will likely find himself in the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway.

Harvick has a 41-point cushion on the cutline going into Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). But if you’re looking at the recent trend, there’s a decent chance he won’t need to rely on points.

The No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing driver has earned the victory in the past three fall races at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth oval. Harvick hasn’t finished worse than 10th since the 2014 spring race. Harvick finished fifth in July at Texas after unconventional strategy allowed Austin Dillon to sneak away with the race win.

So, what is it about the fall air in the Lone Star State that makes Harvick so stellar?

While Harvick took a light-hearted moment to give credit to track president Eddie Gossage for the track reconfiguration in 2017, which is when the fall-race streak began, he immediately pointed to the strength of his team.

“I think as you look at really everything that’s happened at Texas it’s just been A-plus, and when you have that confidence in a race track and the guys have confidence in the setup and the car and the things that they change from year to year, it’s hard to beat confidence,” Harvick said. “There’s always things that can happen, but I truly believe that we’ll go there and have a really fast car and be comfortable the week leading up to it that you made the right decisions because we’ve made a lot of really good decisions there in the past. It’s just been a great place for us.”

Going to a race track with a fast car has been Harvick’s M.O. throughout the 2020 season, so there’s no reason to believe that’s going to change on Sunday. There’s a reason for that, with Harvick noting team puts the same amount of preparation and effort into everything, regardless of whether it’s the first race of the season or the 33rd.

It’s a belief that Harvick and the crew, led by crew chief Rodney Childers, have adopted from experience in the postseason.

“You just have to let the results just be what they are and do the things that you do on a weekly basis in order to just race the same way,” Harvick said. “It’s not a switch that you can flip. We tried that in the beginning and mentally it’s just not the right thing to do because you’re not mentally prepared and mentally trained to think the way that you have to think in the playoffs if you don’t do that on a week-to-week basis.”

Harvick currently owns nine victories with three races remaining. On Sunday in Texas, he can make it 10 and eclipse double-digit triumphs in one season for the first time in his 20-year Cup Series career.

While Harvick answered a question about advice he would give to a new team owner in the sport, it also happened to explain why the accomplishments have been plentiful this season.

“I think the most important thing that you have are people,” Harvick said. “The only way to be great is to have great people. If you have average people, you’re gonna have an average team. If you have good people, you’re gonna have a good team.

“If you have great people, it leads to the opportunity to be great, so it’s all about putting the right people in the right places. Obviously, you have to run it to a budget, but I’d rather buy less tires than not have the right people because in the end it’s a scenario that you’re only as good as the people that are surrounding you and that is 100 percent true.”

It’s clear Harvick has great people and he could be well on his way to a second career championship because of it.

Posted on October 23, 2020 by Reid Spencer

Chase Briscoe’s dream season continued last Saturday at Kansas Speedway.

The driver of the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford picked up his ninth NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the year and earned automatic advancement into the Championship 4 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

On Tuesday, Stewart-Haas announced Briscoe would succeed the retiring Clint Bowyer in the No. 14 NASCAR Cup Series Ford next year.

MORE: SHR taps Briscoe for No. 14 ride

In stark contrast, Austin Cindric’s Kansas weekend couldn’t have been worse. The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford made an aggressive move between cars early in the race, tangled with the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet of Noah Gragson and finished 28th.

WATCH: Cindric, Gragson tangle at Kansas

Cindric dropped from second to fourth in the series standings, just two points clear of Justin Haley in fifth, the first spot below the Round of 8 playoff cutline. But Cindric enters Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 (4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as the most recent winner at Texas, and a season sweep would ensure a spot in the Championship 4.

Gragson fared even worse at Kansas. The wreck with Cindric dropped him to 36th (last) in the race and eighth in the standings, 33 points below the current cutoff. In practical terms, Gragson’s clearest path to the Championship 4 requires a victory at Texas or at Martinsville Speedway the next week.

Texas is problematic for Gragson. In his three starts at the track, he has a best finish of 13th, and his last two races there have ended with 30th-place results.

“Texas has not treated us well in the past,” Gragson said. “We were really strong here in the spring and just got bit by the bad-luck bug. We’re coming off a rough weekend in Kansas, but my team has their heads held high, and we know we can go in this weekend and win.

“We just have to put it all together and be there at the end, which I know we are capable of doing.”

Posted on October 23, 2020 by Reid Spencer

Brett Moffitt and GMS Racing teammate Tyler Ankrum enter Sunday’s SpeedyCash.com 400 at Texas Motor Speedway with an air of certainty — but for vastly different reasons.

Moffitt doesn’t have to win the race or even run well in the second event in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series’ Round of 8 (12 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The driver of the No. 23 Chevrolet advanced to the Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway with his first victory of the season last Saturday at Kansas Speedway.

Ankrum, on the other hand, crashed out of the race after 38 laps and finished 34th, dropping to eighth in the standings, 56 points below the current playoff cutoff. He comes to Texas with a win-or-bust mentality.

The remaining six playoff drivers are scrambling for position, and that includes the ThorSport Racing entries of Grant Enfinger, Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes, who are fifth, sixth and seventh in the standings, respectively.

Enfinger trails fourth-place Zane Smith by seven points, with Crafton, a three-time champion, eight points further back. Rhodes is 33 points below the cutline, on the cusp of needing a victory at either Texas or Martinsville Speedway to advance.

Crafton is the only former Texas winner among the eight playoff drivers. Kyle Busch Motorsports has won the last three races at the track, two by Kyle Busch himself and one by Greg Biffle.

MRN: Title contender Zane Smith joins MRN Outloud

Posted on October 23, 2020October 25, 2020 by Terrin Waack

Denny Hamlin is trending the wrong way at the wrong time.

The NASCAR Playoffs continue with its second Round of 8 race at Texas Motor Speedway, and the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota doesn’t have the best track record at the 1.5-mile venue in Fort Worth, Texas.

TEXAS: Weekend schedule | Paint schemes | Betting odds

Sure, Hamlin ties Kevin Harvick for the most wins at Texas among playoff contenders with three. But two of Hamlin’s victories came in 2010 – a solid decade ago. His third win was last year but during the spring event rather than the fall showdown.

Hamlin’s Texas playoff race finishes

Since the current postseason format was installed in 2014, Texas has hosted six playoff races. Hamlin’s best finish in that span is a third-place run in 2017, which doubled as his only top five. Otherwise, he has three results of 28th or worse. (See chart to right.)

Earlier this season, Hamlin placed 20th in the spring event at Texas. He led 11 laps and came in third and 15th in the two stages.

That race marked one of 10 on 1.5-mile tracks this year. Among active drivers, Hamlin ranks sixth in average finish (10.5) with that oval length. He won at two different places – Kansas Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Neither was a postseason event.

Hamlin’s 2020 playoff finishes

Hamlin’s hot start to the playoffs, entering as the second seed with six wins, has started to simmer. In the seven races so far, Hamlin won just once – Talladega Superspeedway, where his average running position was worse than 20th. He has only one other top-five, top-10 finish. (See chart to left.)

Awaiting the middle race in the Round of 8, Hamlin currently sits third in the standings with a 20-point advantage on the cutline. He had a 32-point cushion before the opener at Kansas Speedway last weekend, but a 15th-place finish left him with a 12-point loss despite placing third in Stage 1 and even winning Stage 2. Fourth-place Brad Keselowski sits just – wait for it – 12 points below Hamlin now.

Through the first 24 races of the season, Hamlin had just eight finishes outside the top 10. He has now finished outside the top 10 in six of the last nine races.

Two races remain before the Championship 4 is set. One berth is already secured by Joey Logano, thanks to his Kansas win, leaving seven drivers vying for three spots. Texas presents the first opportunity when the race resumes Monday (10 a.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Then, Martinsville Speedway will play host to the final elimination event Nov. 1.

In 29 starts, Hamlin has won five times at Martinsville – most recently in 2015, not the playoff race. Hamlin has made the Championship 4 twice in his career (2014 and 2019). He has fallen short in the Round of 8 just as many times (2016 and 2017).

In 15 full-time seasons, Hamlin is still searching for his first NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Posted on October 22, 2020October 23, 2020 by Staff Report

Go Fas Racing announced its racing plans for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series on Thursday, indicating it would transition to part-time competition next season.

RELATED: Key figures in Silly Season

Team owner Archie St. Hilaire, who added comments during a Thursday afternoon appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, said the team planned on “running 5-6 races in 2021 at tracks we enjoy and make financial sense.” St. Hilaire also said he planned to shift his half of the team’s charter to a new owner, who would be “announced in the coming days.” He also indicated Joe Falk of the former Circle Sport Racing operation would continue to own the other half-share of the charter.

“It has been a lot of fun over the years but with the evolution of life, your priorities change,” St. Hilaire said in a team release. “With my son Mason (Go Fas’ general manager) moving on to start his own business in a different industry and myself getting ready to spend time with my daughter having my first grandchild, I feel its time to re-evaluate the next chapter of my life. It definitely has been great working with Ford and all of our great marketing partners over the last 10 years and we look forward to continuing with them on a smaller scale going forward.”

On Friday, the new owner St. Hilaire referenced turned out to be two, Matt Tifft and B.J. McLeod. The two drivers will operate the charter alongside Falk. Tifft ran the bulk of the 2019 season for Front Row Motorsports before stepping away for a medical situation. McLeod has been a driver/owner in the Xfinity Series ranks for several years and expanded into the Cup Series in 2020.

Go Fas Racing has fielded the No. 32 Ford for Corey LaJoie the last two seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series. LaJoie confirmed Aug. 21 he would not return to Go Fas in 2021. Thursday, St. Hilaire said an update about the team’s driver for next season would come later.

St. Hilaire has been involved in team ownership since a 2009 debut in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, three years before he moved to the NASCAR Cup Series. Go Fas Racing grew out of the merger of Go Green Racing and FAS Lane Racing before the 2014 season.