Erik Jones places seventh at ISM Raceway

Posted on November 11, 2019 by Data Skrive

Erik Jones placed seventh in the Bluegreen Vacations 500 at ISM Raceway, adding 30 points to his season total.

Jones now sits at No. 16 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings with 2157 points. He’s posted nine top-five finishes in 2019.

Denny Hamlin brought home the win in the race, with Kyle Busch finishing second, and Ryan Blaney crossing the finish line third. Kyle Larson brought home fourth place, followed by Kevin Harvick in the No. 5 spot.

Hamlin came away victorious in Stage 1, and Joey Logano took Stage 2.

Jones qualified in ninth position at 138.862 mph. The fourth-year driver has piled up two career victories, 23 top-five finishes and has placed in the top 10 in 48 races.

There were 39 cars in the field, and the race endured five cautions and 32 caution laps. Prior to the checkered flag there were eight lead changes.

Toyota added 40 points to its season total with Hamlin’s victory. Overall, Toyota ranks No. 1 with 1278 points, followed by Ford in the No. 2 spot with 1235. Chevrolet sits at No. 3 with 1193 points on the season.

Erik Jones Driver Page | Get Erik Jones Gear | Race Center

Posted on November 11, 2019 by Data Skrive

Kyle Larson placed fourth in the Bluegreen Vacations 500 at ISM Raceway, adding 42 points to his season total.

Larson now sits at No. 6 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings with 2321 points. He’s posted eight top-five finishes in 2019.

Denny Hamlin came away with the victory in the race, with Kyle Busch following in second, and Ryan Blaney placing third. Kevin Harvick followed in fifth.

Hamlin came away victorious in Stage 1, and Joey Logano took Stage 2.

Larson qualified in fifth position at 139.238 mph. The seventh-year driver has collected six career victories, 55 top-five finishes and has placed in the top 10 in 98 races.

There were 39 cars in the field, and the race endured five cautions and 32 caution laps. There were eight lead changes.

Kyle Larson Driver Page | Get Kyle Larson Gear | Race Center

Posted on November 11, 2019November 11, 2019 by Pat DeCola

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Denny Hamlin is in the midst of his best season since a career-defining — for better and worse — 2010 campaign.

If next weekend’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway goes according to plan, that definition will be due for a hasty update.

The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran put on a show in Sunday’s Bluegreen Vacations 500, with the pre-playoffs championship favorite leading a race-high 143 of 312 laps. It came at a crucial time, coming into the elimination race 20 points below the cutline. It came when most were already penciling in a repeat of last year’s Championship 4, with that quartet standing strong above the fold on Sunday morning.

It came because, when it mattered most, Denny delivered.

Though a path via points was possible at the drop of the green flag, a Stage 2 victory by rival Joey Logano dropped that possibility from eh, maybe to don’t even bother – go for the win.

He did exactly that, of course, and has reestablished himself as the title favorite before cars hit the track for Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Miami (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Yeah, yeah. We’ve seen how this story ends – with Hamlin, arguably the best driver at Homestead, finding a way to squander what, on paper, looks like a sure thing. He was just as well-positioned — if not more so — to claim his first title in 2010, picking up his career-high eighth win of the season at Texas before watching the sand castle fortress he had built over the course of 34 races be washed away in an instant by a wave of blue and white (with neon yellow numbers.)

Hamlin finished the season with finishes of 12th and 14th at Phoenix and Miami, respectively, handing a fifth straight championship over to Jimmie Johnson.

There are no guarantees at Homestead – look no further than Logano’s victory last year over the vaunted “Big 3” that had dominated the entire season – but this at least feels different than 2010, or any other year. It feels like it’s Hamlin’s race, and title, to lose.

This season has sneakily had whiffs of it finally being Hamlin’s turn at the head table, from his season-opening Daytona 500 win – his second – to wins at Texas-1, Pocono-2, Bristol-2, Kansas-2 and Phoenix-2.

That’s a lot of wins, at a lot of different types of race tracks, at a lot of different stages of the season. Those victories certainly point to, in my mind, a team that has its proverbial “stuff” together. And has the driver to take advantage of it.

This is Hamlin’s chance to rewrite history, so to speak, and make amends for the one black mark on his racing resume that’s holding him back from entering the all-time greats conversation.

“This is very similar to 2010 in the sense of the car speed we’ve had this season. There’s similarities, for sure. But it is very different,” Hamlin said after his Sunday win. “I think this is a tighter-knit group of guys. I think Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) takes a lot of pride in assembling this group of guys from top to bottom. I know we kind of did an introduction with everyone at JGR early maybe in January, something like that. We sat around here and Chris talked about, ‘Here is what we’re going to do. I just want you to see this is the team that’s going to take us all the way.’ ”

And it has. Just one more race stands between the 11 squad and the ‘ship.

The old notion that “you have to lose a title before you learn how to win one,” absolutely applies to the 38-year-old (soon to be 39, the day after Miami) after the 2010 heartbreak and disappointment in the 2014 Championship 4.

Hamlin has grown up quite a bit and perhaps learned to relax a little more over the past decade, going from locking himself in his hotel room and shutting off his phone during that 2010 weekend to staying up until 1 a.m. playing $100 games of tennis with pal Kyle Larson on Saturday night ahead of one of the biggest races – and eventual wins – of his life Sunday.

The pressure won’t get to him, because he’s clearly not feeling it.

“I think over the years, we’re almost 10 years later, I’m just more content with what I’ve accomplished in the series. I don’t need validation of a championship,” Hamlin said. “I think that the outside world feels like I need that to validate my status, whatever it is. But doesn’t change who I am. Doesn’t change how I treat people. If I don’t win this year, I’m going to work just as hard for 2020.

“There are many, many more opportunities ahead of me. This is not my last opportunity to win a championship. Especially with the relationship that I’ve built with Chris, I see this going a long way.”

It may not be his last opportunity to win a championship, but it’s definitely his best yet.

Posted on November 10, 2019November 10, 2019 by Reid Spencer

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Needing to make up a 23-point deficit to qualify for the Championship 4, Ryan Blaney started 10th in Sunday’s Bluegreen Vacations 500, last among playoff contenders.

RELATED: Race results | Hamlin prevails

Blaney’s Team Penske No. 12 Ford improved throughout the race, and he finished third behind Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, but with Hamlin winning the race and Busch also advancing to the finale, Blaney was knocked out of contention.

Blaney had a chance to win when the race went to a restart with three laps to go, but Blaney started second on the inside, with Hamlin taking the top lane.

“I felt like I got an OK start,” Blaney said. “It’s really hard for the guy on the bottom on the front row to accelerate and turn down the hill. It’s the way (the track) is shaped. It’s kind of tough, especially in Turn 2. But I don’t know, you can always get a better start, right?

“I thought I got an OK start, but the 18 (Busch) got a better one and got inside of me, and, honestly, the top is so dominant, especially if you’re on two (tires), you’re kind of just sliding up from the bottom, and he (Hamlin) was obviously the best car all day. Just needed the lead and I might have been able to pinch him through 1 and 2, and you never know. But it’s not enough.”

Posted on November 10, 2019November 10, 2019 by Staff Report

The race-winning No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Denny Hamlin passed post-race technical inspection Sunday at ISM Raceway with no issues.

The No. 11 Toyota was found to be compliant with the 2019 NASCAR Rule Book after Hamlin won the final race in the Round of 8 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, punching his ticket into the Championship 4 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The following cars were found to have one lug nut not safe and secure in post-race inspection: The No. 2 Ford of Brad Keselowski and the No. 53 Ford of JJ Yeley.

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

RELATED: Results

The post-race process is part of a new, more timely approach to inspection for all three NASCAR national series. Competition officials announced in February that thorough post-race inspections would take place shortly after the checkered flag at the track instead of midweek at the Research & Development Center.

Those inspections come with a stiffer deterrence structure that includes disqualification for significant rules infractions — “a total culture change,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer. In the past, race-winning teams found in violation of the rules were penalized with post-race fines, points deductions and/or suspensions, but victories were allowed to stand.

Competition officials introduced the quicker post-race inspection timetable in an effort to make the results official on race day, aiming for a 90-minute target time frame to complete their scrutinizing. The new post-race inspection process was also designed to deal with potential violations more promptly, avoiding any midweek news that might cloud the previous week’s results or the build-up to the following week’s event.

NASCAR will still inspect cars and parts at the R&D Center as needed, but the more comprehensive at-track inspection will take priority.

According to NASCAR statistical archives, the last time a premier-series driver was disqualified occurred in 1973, when early retiree Buddy Baker was demoted to last place in the National 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The last time an apparent race winner in NASCAR’s top division was disqualified came on April 17, 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis’ victory at Wilson (N.C.) Speedway was thrown out because of an oversized fuel tank on his No. 85 Chevrolet.

Posted on November 10, 2019 by Staff Report

Toyota clinched its third manufacturers championship in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with its 18th win of the season Sunday at ISM Raceway near Phoenix.

The automaker’s title is its third in the last four seasons, a run broken only by Ford’s championship performance last year. Joe Gibbs Racing has accounted for all 18 of its premier-series wins this year, tying a single-season record for one organization, set by Hendrick Motorsports in 2007.

JGR clinched three spots in the Championship 4 field that will battle for the title next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Phoenix race winner Denny Hamlin and Gibbs teammates Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. will challenge Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick for the title in the season finale at the 1.5-mile Florida venue.

Before Toyota’s recent tear and Ford’s title last season, Chevrolet had won 13 straight manufacturers championships from 2003-15.

Posted on November 10, 2019November 10, 2019 by Pat DeCola

AVONDALE, Ariz. – The road to Miami wasn’t always paved Peanut M&M’s yellow, but Kyle Busch snagged the final transfer spot and will race for the title in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season finale for the fifth straight year.

Busch led 69 laps from the pole in Sunday’s Bluegreen Vacations 500 at ISM Raceway en route to a Championship 4-clinching, second-place finish after Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag. By virtue of the victory by Hamlin – who entered the race below the cutline – mutal rival and defending series champion in Team Penske’s Joey Logano was ousted from contention. Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson were eliminated as well.

RELATED: Race results | Championship 4 set

Busch looked early on to have a shot at winning his way into Miami, but the No. 11 Toyota of Hamlin proved to be too formidable to overcome over the long runs of the second half of the race. Hamlin led a dominant 143 of 312 laps.

“Just didn’t quite have enough. I knew the 11 was the best car in practice,” Busch said on pit road after the race. “I knew we were going to be about third to fifth. We were second. Guys did a great job, this M&M Camry was good. … It’s cool to have a chance to go race for a championship. Just keep coming up short.”

Busch’s entire nine-race stretch over the playoffs thus far has been a test of his patience – and a testament to the importance of regular-season performance and stage points.

Despite an uncharacteristic four finishes outside the top 10 from Vegas to Martinsville, the regular-season champion cobbled together just enough leeway to finish seven points ahead of Stage 2 winner Logano after the No. 22 dropped like a rock to ninth in the final stage.

Busch says the advancement isn’t any sweeter, however, given his winding path to South Beach.

Because he never doubted he’d be there.

“No, just I never questioned our ability or our opportunity to be able to go out there and achieve to get ourselves to the final four,” Busch said. “We had a rough road, but other teams had rougher. But we’re here, and that’s the good part.”

With such a veteran-laden, talent-heavy Championship 4 he’ll be contending with – JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr. and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick will also race for their second career titles – it appears likely that the only way to wind up hoisting the Monster Energy Cup come Sunday night is with a win, as has been the case in every instance of this format.

For those keeping score at home, Rowdy hasn’t landed in Victory Lane since the Pocono Raceway spring race, a span of 21 races.

“Yeah, thanks for the reminder,” Busch said. “Fight as hard as we can, do the best job we can, exactly what we did today. Today we just weren’t good enough. Next week we’ll just have to make sure that we are.

“Somehow, some way, if it works out, it was meant to be. If it doesn’t, then it’s not. Hopefully, the sun will come up for another day.”

Posted on November 10, 2019November 10, 2019 by Reid Spencer

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Out, demon!

Denny Hamlin’s exorcism is complete. At ISM Raceway, the site of one of his biggest disappointments, Hamlin barged back into the Championship 4 with a dominating victory in Sunday’s Bluegreen Vacations 500.

Hamlin joins Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch, Sunday’s runner-up, in the Nov. 17 race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The three JGR drivers will battle Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing for the trophy.

RELATED: Race results | Shop: Hamlin gear

After losing control of his car and sliding off Turn 4 last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, Hamlin fell 20 points below the cut line for the Championship 4 entering the Phoenix race. But with his victory, Hamlin knocked defending champion Joey Logano out of title contention.

“I can’t believe it,” exulted Hamlin, who picked up his sixth victory of the season, his second at ISM Raceway and the 27th of his career. “This race team worked so hard this whole year. They deserve to be there. I put them in a bad hole last week.

“I told them today in the meeting, I said, ‘I’m going to give everything I’ve got to make up for the mistake I made last week.’ That’s all I got.’

Logano finished ninth on Sunday and ended the Round of 8 fifth in the standings and seven points behind Busch, who grabbed the last berth in the title race.

Hamlin led a race-high 143 laps, including 142 of the last 146, and built a lead of more than 12 seconds before surrendering the top spot for four laps during a cycle of green-flag pit stops. Hamlin’s advantage was more than nine seconds when John Hunter Nemechek’s Ford slapped the Turn 1 to cause the fifth and final caution.

“One of the best cars of my career, I can tell you that,” said Hamlin, who came to Phoenix as the championship favorite in 2010, only to lose 18 points of his 33-point lead on a misguided pit call. “Fast car. But, yeah, I pushed for all I had.

“I mean, that’s all I got. Once we got the big lead there, a little over 10 seconds, I just kind of sat there. I got to thinking about if the caution does come out, I want to lap as many (cars) as I can.”

MORE: Defending champ Logano eliminated | Wreck ends Elliott’s championship dreams

A week after his 2010 misfortune at Phoenix, a shell-shocked Hamlin spun early and lost the title to Jimmie Johnson. In contrast, it was a focused and determined Hamlin who showed up at Phoenix on Sunday.

Busch led the first 69 laps of the race but lost the first stage to Hamlin after Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s collision with the Turn 4 wall caused the first caution of the afternoon. When the race came down to a restart with three laps left, Busch couldn’t keep up with his teammate and finished .377 seconds behind the No. 11 Toyota Camry.

“Just didn’t quite have enough,” Busch said. “I knew the 11 was the best car in practice. I knew we were going to be about third to fifth. We were second. Guys did a great job, this M&M Toyota Camry was good.

“It’s cool to have a chance to go race for a championship. Just keep coming up short.”

Logano led 93 laps, won the second stage and was out front until Hamlin passed him for the lead on Lap 177. From that point, Logano dropped like a rock to 11th and fell a lap down to Hamlin before third-place finisher Ryan Blaney started a cycle of green-flag stops on Lap 243 of 312.

Kyle Larson ran fourth and failed to advance to the Championship 4, as did Blaney and Chase Elliott, who rocketed into the Turn 1 wall with a flat left rear tire on Lap 166 and finished 39th.

Posted on November 10, 2019November 11, 2019 by Staff Report

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 is set following Sunday’s race at ISM Raceway, with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch joining Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick in next weekend’s title race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Two spots were up for grabs in the Round of 8 finale, with Truex Jr. and Harvick having clinched their spots with previous victories this round. Hamlin delivered one of the most clutch performances in NASCAR Playoffs history, becoming just the second driver to enter Phoenix below the cutline and win his way into the title field. That left the fourth spot to either Busch or Joey Logano, with Busch taking it via points after a runner-up finish and eliminating the reigning series champion in Logano.

Logano, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott were eliminated from the postseason.

RELATED: Race results

FIRST IN LINE: Truex Jr. officially clinched his spot by winning the Round of 8 opener at Martinsville Speedway, a fitting location given the year prior he was knocked out of the way in the final turn of the final lap. The short-track win was Truex Jr.’s seventh victory of the year, and his first at the venerable .526-mile facility.

TEXAS CLINCH: Harvick, meanwhile, qualified for his fifth Championship 4 appearance in six years of the playoff elimination format by winning his third consecutive fall race at Texas. The 2014 series champion and crew chief Rodney Childers remain one of the best pairings in the garage.

WRECKED HOPES: Hamlin (-20), Blaney (-23), Larson (-23) and Elliott (-78) entered the Phoenix race below the cutline, some in more drastic positions this others. Elliott was the only driver who mathematically faced a must-win scenario before the green flag ever dropped.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver’s title hopes ended on Lap 167, though. Running in the top five — as he had done all day — the No. 9 Chevrolet appeared to have a tire issue, sending it hard into the wall in a single-car wreck. Elliott exited the race early, ensuring he’d finish outside the top 30 in every Round of 8 race.

“Just a continuation of our first two weeks, unfortunately,” Elliott told NBC. “These last three weeks have been pretty rough.”

STAGING A COMEBACK: Hamlin’s Stage 1 win earned him points against the two drivers just above the cutline in Busch and Logano, although they both finished in the top five as well. By the end of Stage 2, though — one in which Hamlin finished second, but Logano won and Busch finished in the top five again — it became clear that Hamlin would have to win his way in.

And he did.

BY THE NUMBERS: It’s the fifth Championship 4 appearance for Busch, Truex Jr. and Harvick alike. Hamlin will make his second career Championship 4 appearance, and first since he was part of the inaugural field of 2014.

Posted on November 10, 2019November 10, 2019 by Staff Report

Joey Logano’s bid for a second straight Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series crown ended with a slide to a ninth-place finish Sunday at ISM Raceway near Phoenix.

Logano entered Sunday’s Bluegreen Vacations 500 with a 20-point edge over Denny Hamlin in the battle for the final spot in the Championship 4 field. But Hamlin’s drive to victory clinched an automatic title berth and sealed Logano’s elimination by seven points at the end of the postseason’s Round of 8.

“No clue,” Logano told NBC Sports post-race. “I went from a car that could lead and win a stage and run really well, and from what they told me, it was an air pressure adjustment made it go from a winning car to can’t stay on the lead lap, and one of the tightest things I’ve ever driven. I don’t really understand it. It doesn’t make any sense. You change tires and change a half pint of air, that sounds ridiculous. It is what it is. Just wasn’t our year to make it, I guess. But we’ll fight for fifth, I guess, in points for this year, and we’ll move on.”

Logano led twice for 93 laps, second only to Hamlin’s race-topping 143. He also won Stage 2 over Hamlin, but his Team Penske No. 22 Ford faded over the final stretch, falling off the lead lap on the 238th lap.

Logano missed the playoffs altogether in 2017, then orchestrated a race-winning march in last season’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to claim his first series title. He’ll be on the outside of the title-eligible foursome in next Sunday’s season-ender in South Florida.

“It stinks. It hurts a little bit, but we’ll live,” Logano said. “Everything is going to be OK. Life is a lot worse in other ways for some. We’re still fortunate to be here and get to do what we love. It’s a bummer for sure. It doesn’t take anything away from that, but it’s just part of the game sometimes.”