Posted on by Data Skrive

Jimmie Johnson finished eighth in the Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway on Wednesday.

The top 10 finish for Johnson, his second of the year, added 29 points to his season total.

Johnson started in 37th position. The 20th-year driver has secured 83 career victories, with 228 top-five finishes and 367 results inside the top 10.

Victory Lane at Darlington Raceway is a familiar place for Johnson, who has three career wins at the track. He has also compiled nine top-five finishes at Darlington and his eighth-place result marks the 13th top 10.

The El Cajon, California native began the race 24 spots behind his career mark of 12.6, but finished six places ahead of his career average of 14.

Johnson’s eighth-place finish came against a field of 39 drivers. The race endured 11 cautions and 54 caution laps. There were 17 lead changes.

Denny Hamlin brought home the win in the race, and Kyle Busch followed in second. Kevin Harvick placed third, Brad Keselowski secured fourth, and Erik Jones rounded out the top five.

Clint Bowyer got off to a great start in the race, winning both of the first two stages, but couldn’t hold on to end up in Victory Lane.

Jimmie Johnson Driver Page | Get Johnson Gear | Race Center

Posted on by Data Skrive

Erik Jones finished fifth in the Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway on Wednesday.

Jones’ top five finish, the first time he has achieved that result this year, added 39 points to his season total.

Jones started in 13th position and led 27 laps in the race. The fifth-year driver has earned two career victories, with 25 top-five finishes and 52 results inside the top 10.

Victory Lane at Darlington Raceway is a familiar place for Jones, who has one career win at the track. He has also compiled three top-five finishes at Darlington and his fifth-place result marks the fifth top 10.

The Byron, Michigan native’s starting and finishing positions compared favorably to his career averages, starting at his career mark of 13.1 and completing the race 12 places ahead of his 17.3 career average finish.

Jones took on a field of 39 drivers on the way to his fifth-place finish. The race endured 11 cautions and 54 caution laps. Prior to the checkered flag there were 17 lead changes.

Denny Hamlin finished first in the race, and Kyle Busch took second. Kevin Harvick placed third, with Brad Keselowski taking fourth place. Jones rounded out the top five.

Clint Bowyer got off to a great start in the race, winning both of the first two stages, but couldn’t hold on to end up in Victory Lane.

Erik Jones Driver Page | Get Jones Gear | Race Center

Posted on by Staff Report

The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Denny Hamlin passed post-race technical inspection Wednesday after winning the Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Hamlin’s race-winning car was found to be compliant with the 2020 NASCAR Rule Book after the rain-shortened event at the 1.366-mile track.

RELATED: Official results

With post-race teardown complete, the race results are official.

This is the second year of a post-race process to bring a more timely approach to inspection for all three NASCAR national series. Competition officials announced before the 2019 season thorough post-race inspections would take place shortly after the checkered flag at the track instead of midweek at the NASCAR Research & Development Center. Those inspections come with a stiffer deterrence structure that includes disqualification for significant rules infractions.

NASCAR will still inspect cars at the R&D Center as needed to monitor trends and parts compliance.

Posted on by Staff Report

Denny Hamlin became the season’s second multi-time winner, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota earning the rain-abbreviated Toyota 500 NASCAR Cup Series victory Wednesday night at Darlington Raceway.

This year’s Daytona 500 winner Hamlin took the lead during a late-race caution — opting to stay on track while most of the other front-runners pitted for fresh tires. Hamlin held off the field on the ensuing restart with 29 laps remaining and was out front when the final yellow flag came out for an incident directly behind him involving reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch and the sport’s Most Popular Driver, Chase Elliott.

A steady rain began to fall before the race could resume and NASCAR parked the cars on pit road with 20 laps remaining before calling the race minutes later as the rain intensified.

RELATED: Official race results | SHOP: Denny Hamlin gear

Kyle Busch finished second, followed by Sunday’s Darlington winner and current NASCAR Cup Series driver standings leader Kevin Harvick. Brad Keselowski and Erik Jones rounded out the top five followed by Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson, Matt DiBenedetto and Martin Truex Jr.

“I’ve got my happy face on, made sure I brought it with me today,” Hamlin said from inside his car on pit road, referring to a face mask depicting a huge smile. “The pit crew did a great job today, everybody really. I was pretty happy with how it all turned out.

“It’s a driver’s race track,” said the three-time Darlington winner. “You can move around and you can do different things to make your car handle and we got it right today.”

As a precaution to the global COVID-19 pandemic, no fans were in the grandstands. But for all those watching the race at home on FS1, it was an action-packed thriller and there was immediately a lot of talk on social media about the outcome and the closing laps.

As Hamlin took the victory questions on live television, Busch was approached by Elliott’s crew chief Alan Gustafson to further discuss the incident with Elliott. Gustafson was Busch’s former crew chief when the two-time Cup champion drove for Hendrick Motorsports from 2005-07.

MORE: Gustafson: ‘Tired of being run over’

“There’s no question. I know I made a mistake and just misjudged the gap,” Busch said of the incident with Elliott.

“We were racing there with the 11 (Hamlin) and the 9 (Elliott) had a run on him and I knew he was there and I knew I needed to get in line as quickly as I could and in doing so, I watched him and his momentum going by me and I tried to look up in the mirror and see where Harvick was (behind) and get in and I just misjudged it,” Busch said. “I made a mistake and clipped the nine there and spun him in the wall. I hate it for him and his guys.

“I’ve got too many friends over there on that team to do anything like that on purpose. I’ve raced Chase since he was a kid and never had any issues with him whatsoever. It was just a mistake on my part and we’ll just have to deal with it later on.”

WATCH: Busch: ‘I made a mistake’

Certainly, it seemed the Joe Gibbs Racing quartet had their best runs in the closing laps. With 70 to go, all four cars were inside the top 10 with 2019 Darlington winner Erik Jones leading the way.

Earlier, however, Clint Bowyer looked to be the man to beat for much of the night. He became the first driver of the season to win both the first and second stages of the same race. And Bowyer’s race-best 71 laps out front were a personal best at the 1.366-mile speedway. He’d only led 17 laps total in 15 previous career starts at Darlington before tonight.

But with 34 laps remaining, Bowyer’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford hit the wall and spun, bringing out a caution and sending the fan favorite to the pits for an extended stop. He finished 22nd.

The race start was delayed about two hours as track workers dried the track from an earlier downpour and the green flag dropped for action at 8 p.m. ET. The racing was immediately on tempo — fast and furious, ultimately featuring 17 lead changes among 13 drivers with intense battles up front all evening.

The starting lineup featured an inverted field for the top 20 positions — based on the finish of Sunday’s Darlington race. Harvick, who collected his 50th career NASCAR Cup Series win on Sunday, had to start 20th alongside his runner-up Alex Bowman. The disadvantage did not last long, however, as both Harvick and Bowman made their way forward despite each brushing the famously notorious Darlington walls.

Harvick’s third-place showing — his sixth top-10 finish in as many races this season — was enough to keep him atop the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings by two points over Logano. Bowman is third in the championship — 37 points back from Harvick.

For the first time this season, Christopher Bell earned top rookie honors, scoring an 11th-place finish in the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota. His previous best finish on the season was 21st in the season-opening Daytona 500.

The next NASCAR Cup Series race, the Coca-Cola 600, is slated for Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The NASCAR Xfinity Series Toyota 200 at Darlington Raceway will take place Thursday, May 21 at 12 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

Chase Elliott was well on his way to a strong finish in Wednesday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway after starting 17th.

But that all changed when the Hendrick Motorsports driver was turned by Kyle Busch with 28 laps remaining. Elliott was running second in the closing laps of the race when he received a heavy tap from Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, sending the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet nose-first into the inside frontstretch wall heading into Turn 1.

Elliott was unable to continue in the race, showing his frustration with Busch after exiting his race car by delivering a very specific, one-fingered gesture. Busch overtook the second-place position before a red flag was displayed for inclement weather with 22 laps remaining. The race was then declared official.

Busch was confronted by No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson — Busch’s own former crew chief — after the race. The pair exchanged words from a distance before heading their separate ways into the garage.

Following the rain-shortened event, Busch took full blame for the incident and shared his side of what happened.

“I’m certainly going to reach out,” Busch said after the race. “Him and I have always had a cordial relationship over the years. Certainly, we’re not near as close, we’re not friends like you’d say him and (Ryan) Blaney are or anything like that. I’ve known him since he was 12 or 13 years old, been racing with him ever since then, late models, super late models, Trucks, Xfinity cars, all that sort of stuff.

“Obviously, I just made a mistake, misjudged the gap, sent him into the wall,” he added. “That was entirely unintentional. Yeah, I mean, I’ll definitely reach out to him and tell him I’m sorry, tell him I hate it that it happened. All I can do. That doesn’t change the outcome of the night.”

Busch later took to Twitter to apologize once more for ending Elliott’s night prematurely.

Kevin Harvick, who finished third in the event after winning Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400 at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped South Carolina oval, had the best view of the incident.

“He (Busch) wanted to get back in line so quick,” Harvick said. “Kyle was on the bottom. He had a hole between myself and Chase. I’m sure he had one eye in the mirror, glanced forward. It looked to me like he completely misjudged and got the 9.”

Elliott led 28 of the 208 total circuits, earning 13 stage points after finishing seventh in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2.

The NASCAR Cup Series will be back in action on May 24 for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Staff Report

Clint Bowyer swept the stages Wednesday night at Darlington Raceway, using the skills of his adept pit crew to re-take the lead late in Stage 2 and hold on for his second green-and-white checkered flag of the evening.

Bowyer led from Lap 31 to 83 but Stage 2, at times, appeared headed to a win by teammate Kevin Harvick or Martin Truex Jr., who each led double-digit laps in the stage prior to Bowyer.

After Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Cole Custer spun in Turn 2 to bring out the stage’s final caution on Lap 107, Bowyer’s crew worked feverishly to put him in position on the restart and he was able to hold on.

Chase Elliott, Truex Jr., Erik Jones and Sunday’s winner in Harvick rounded out the top five.

RELATED: Stage 2 results

Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 took heavy damage midway through the stage, getting his Ford into the outside wall and needed to come to pit road for repairs. He was 33rd at stage end.

Chris Buescher spun after contact with the No. 34 of Michael McDowell on Lap 72 to bring out the caution. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also spun in the stage to bring out another caution.

Pole-starter Ryan Preece saw his engine expire early in the stage, exiting the race and finishing 39th.

Finish Driver Team Points
1 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing 10
2 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 9
3 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing 8
4 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing 7
5 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 6
6 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports 5
7 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 4
8 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 3
9 Joey Logano Team Penske 2
10 Matt DiBenedetto Wood Brothers Racing 1

 

Stage 1 recap:

Clint Bowyer took command after a competition caution and rode to the Stage 1 win in Wednesday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway.

Bubba Wallace briefly held the lead after staying out during the competition caution but was quickly overtaken by Bowyer, whose No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford looked particularly sporty under the lights at the track “Too Tough to Tame.” Bowyer’s 30 laps led were most in the stage, followed by Joey Logano’s 19 and outside pole-starter Ty Dillon’s eight.

Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman and Logano rounded out the top five. Sunday’s winner at Darlington, Kevin Harvick, placed 15th in the stage while running the same car he took to Victory Lane three days ago.

RELATED: Stage 1 results

Following a delay after the track required drying from earlier rain, the green flag was thrown just after 8 p.m. ET. Not long after, John Hunter Nemechek brought out the race’s first caution on Lap 4 after getting into the wall. The Front Row Motorsports driver brought it back out not long after on Lap 12, once again spinning. The only other caution of the stage was the planned competition caution on Lap 25.

During the competition caution, Aric Almirola’s No. 10 crew was initially hit with a penalty for an uncontrolled tired, but it was rescinded after it was determined Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s car knocked it loose from the carrier’s hand.

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch finished 24th in Stage 1.

Wednesday’s race, the Toyota 500, marked the second race back for NASCAR since the COVID-19 stoppage that occurred in March. The race is the sixth of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Finish Driver Team Points
1 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing 10
2 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing 9
3 Ryan Blaney Team Penske 8
4 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 7
5 Joey Logano Team Penske 6
6 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 5
7 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 4
8 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 3
9 Matt Kenseth Chip Ganassi Racing 2
10 Ryan Preece JTG Daugherty Racing 1

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Five drivers will start at the rear of the field for Wednesday night’s Toyota 500 for the NASCAR Cup Series at Darlington Raceway.

The No. 20 Toyota Camry of Erik Jones will drop to the rear of the field before the start due to unapproved adjustments. Jones was scheduled to start 13th.

The No. 32 Ford Mustang of Corey LaJoie and the No. 78 Chevrolet Camaro of B.J. McLeod will start at the rear for failing pre-race inspection multiple times. McLeod will also be forced to serve a drive-through penalty on pit road following the start of the race. LaJoie was slated to start 31st, while McLeod was supposed to start 38th.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Darlington, Charlotte schedule

The No. 27 Ford Mustang of Gray Gaulding and the No. 77 of J.J. Yeley will also start at the rear for driver changes from Sunday night’s The Real Heroes 400. Gaudling replaces Yeley in the No. 27, while Yeley replaces Reed Sorenson in the No. 77. Gaulding would have originally started 28th, while Yeley was set to take off in 29th position.

The start of the Toyota 500 was delayed by weather. Race officials had already moved the start time for the Toyota 500 ahead 90 minutes to a 6 p.m. ET green flag. But inclement weather at the 1.366-mile track led to the delay of the 228-lap event (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).

Posted on by Staff Report

Leftovers from rain that moved through the area earlier delayed the start of Wednesday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway, but conditions had improved enough that track-drying was underway.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Darlington, Charlotte schedule

Race officials had already moved the start time for the Toyota 500 ahead 90 minutes to a 6 p.m. ET green flag. But inclement weather at the 1.366-mile track led to the delay of the 228-lap event (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).

MORE: Xfinity Series’ return postponed

NASCAR officials have 10 Air Titans to lead track-drying efforts at Darlington.

When the 500-kilometer race lines up, Ryan Preece will start from the pole position in the JTG-Daugherty No. 37 Chevrolet. He landed the top starting spot after an inversion of the top 20 finishers from Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400, the Cup Series’ most recent race and its first event back after the outbreak of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Competition officials added a partial inversion to determine Wednesday’s starting order after deciding to race without practice or qualifying in as NASCAR returns to hosting live events. That means Kevin Harvick, Sunday’s race winner, will start 20th in Wednesday’s race. Starting positions from 21st on back will be set by teams’ Sunday order of finish.

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.

The NASCAR Cup Series restarted its season at Darlington Raceway on Sunday and is wasting no time with a second race at the track “Too Tough to Tame” on Wednesday night.

After a dominant victory three days ago, Kevin Harvick is a clear favorite for the Toyota 500 (6 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), however, due to an inversion setting the starting lineup, Harvick will have to come from the 20th starting position to score back-to-back victories.

And Harvick isn’t alone with a less-than-stellar starting spot, as Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, William Byron and Jimmie Johnson are all starting outside of the top 15.

Let’s take a look at the best bets for Wednesday’s Toyota 500 at Darlington.

NASCAR at Darlington Best Bet Picks

Kevin Harvick to Win (+425)

Harvick didn’t just win The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington on Sunday, he stomped the field. The Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) driver led the most laps, ran the most fast laps and had the best driver rating.

In fact, since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has two wins and six top-five finishes (!) in seven Darlington races, with a worst finish of ninth. That’s pretty good.

As I mentioned above, Harvick will have to come from the 20th position on the starting grid, but considering his past Darlington success and the fact that he’s bringing back the same car that he dominated with on Sunday, I’m not all that concerned.

And one more bonus from Sunday’s win — Harvick was able to keep the first (and best) stall on pit road, which is a huge advantage at a race track like Darlington where drivers will likely pit every time the caution flag waves due to tire wear.

[Bet now at PointsBet. NJ and IN only.]

Jimmie Johnson to Win (+1800)

Johnson looked to have the only car capable of running with Harvick on Sunday before getting tangled up with Chris Buescher and wrecking right before the end of Stage 1.

Jimmie was penalized for his poor finish Sunday with the 37th starting position for Wednesday night, but with Harvick already anchoring our card, I’m willing to gamble that Johnson will be fast enough to work his way to the front again.

And just like Sunday, there will be a competition caution Wednesday due to the lack of practice, and that scheduled yellow will be a huge help for Johnson by letting him close the gap to the cars in front him early in the race.

[Bet now at PointsBet. NJ and IN only.]

Tyler Reddick to Win (+6000)

In the least shocking NASCAR betting news possible, I’m once again on Reddick. Despite a poor starting position and a pit road speeding penalty, the impressive rookie was able to drive through the field two separate times to score a seventh-place finish on Sunday.

That finish wasn’t a fluke either, evidenced by the eighth-best driver rating and Reddick’s 73 green-flag passes — the most in the field.

Reddick easily had a top-10 car on Sunday, but has just the 17th-best odds for the Toyota 500. Hello, value.

[Bet now at PointsBet. NJ and IN only.]

Posted on by Terrin Waack

For the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, Ryan Preece will start a race from the pole position.

The driver of the No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet is set to lead the field to green in Wednesday’s Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Preece earned the front spot by finishing 20th in last Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400, which also took place on South Carolina’s 1.366-mile track.

“Who would have thought 20th place would get a pole?” Preece told NASCAR.com. “You love that.”

DARLINGTON: Sunday’s results | Wednesday’s lineup | Betting odds 

It’s because Wednesday’s lineup was set by Sunday’s final results. There will be no qualifying, as the sanctioning body makes an effort to keep events to one day only amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The top 20 finishers were inverted, with the bottom 19 starting from where they finished. Any new entries will be placed at the back of the pack.

Preece was well aware of this caveat toward the end of the 293-lap race.

“I knew we were in 21st in the last 10 laps,” he said. “We had a really good car to begin with, so it created the opportunity to get back by Bubba (Wallace). But that’s why I was really pushing the issue to get by him because that was the difference of 20 spots, right? It’s going to make you push that much harder.”

Wallace ultimately came in 21st and will therefore fire off 21st.

Through five races this season, Preece is averaging a 23.2 starting spot. He qualified 20th in the last three races before the sport’s on-track pause due to the coronavirus. His best start in 46 NASCAR Cup Series races overall was 14th at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval last year.

Preece’s only national series pole — in a 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway — did turn into a trip to Victory Lane.

“Track position — it’s funny — is so hard to get,” Preece said. “So if you have a good race car and you already have that track position, then it’s just about everybody executing the way they need to. Staying up front and keeping that clean air right in the front half, front third of the pack, it’s a big deal. That can pretty much set the tone for your race.”

Much like Kevin Harvick’s race-winning team, Preece and the No. 37 crew may bring the same car back to Darlington. Preece said he thought it ran really well and could be an even stronger contender with a few tweaks.

Preece started 25th. At the end of Stage 1, he was up to just 24th. But by Stage 2’s conclusion, he was seventh and gained four stage points. Things were fine until the No. 37 camp lost track position on the final round of pit stops.

“We know we have a fast race car,” Preece said. “It’s a bittersweet type of thing because I really felt like we had a much better car than 20th last week. Just circumstances out of your control really is what it is. But at the same time, it gives us an opportunity to rebound on that and have a solid day. Start us off on the right foot when it comes to it on Wednesday.”