Posted on by Team Release

Lexington, N.C. – (October 15, 2019) – Kaulig Racing announced today its expansion to two full-time entries for the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season with Ross Chastain, who will join Justin Haley. Nutrien Ag Solutions will serve as the primary sponsor for 23 races, riding along as the No. 10 team competes for the 2020 NXS Championship.

“Ross Chastain has it all – he’s competitive, he’s marketable, he’s all-around a great, blue-collar guy,” team owner Matt Kaulig said of his latest hire. “As a team, we couldn’t be more honored to land a driver like Ross. In just four races already this season, he’s not only helped advance our program, but he brought home this team’s very first win. Having him at Kaulig Racing next season, driving full-time, is a great gain for our organization.”

It was at Daytona International Speedway this past July that Chastain provided Kaulig Racing its first ever victory in the No. 16 Chevrolet. And with that, Kaulig Racing looks to further elevate Chastain and his winning ways with the team.

LONGFORM: On the move with the ‘Melon Man’

“Two of the most important things in my life are agriculture and racing,” Chastain commented. “Nutrien Ag Solutions is the best sponsor I could have ever asked for as it pertains to my family’s long history of farming. Matt (Kaulig), Chris (Rice) and all of Kaulig Racing gave me the opportunity to race this year when I really wasn’t sure I would ever get another winning opportunity in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. And, we won. Now, next year, we get to try to win more races and also compete for the championship.”

Nutrien Ag Solutions, one of the world’s agriculture retail leaders, will extend its partnership with Chastain and Kaulig Racing into 2020. Throughout the 2019 season, Nutrien Ag Solutions served as the primary sponsor for both Chastain and Elliott Sadler.

“Nutrien Ag Solutions is thrilled to continue our partnership with Ross Chastain and Kaulig Racing,” said Brent Smith, Vice President of Marketing + Innovation for Nutrien Ag Solutions. “Ross is a talented driver on the track and a great ambassador for our brand on his farm in Florida. He connects and resonates well with our growers and employees across North America. We look forward to seeing him on the track, at the farm with our growers, and in Victory Lane during the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.”

The crew chief for Chastain’s team and the 23 selected Nutrien Ag Solutions events will be announced at a later date.

RELATED: Silly Season at a glance

Posted on by Data Skrive

Korbin Forrister finished 13th in the Sugarlands Shine 250 at Talladega Superspeedway, adding 24 points to his season total. Forrister now sits at 107 points on the season.

Spencer Boyd came away with the victory in the race, with Todd Gilliland finishing second, and Riley Herbst placing third. Brett Moffitt brought home fourth place, followed by Stewart Friesen in the No. 5 spot.

Sheldon Creed came away victorious in Stage 1, and Friesen finished out front in Stage 2.

Forrister qualified in ninth position at 179.470 mph. After 49 career starts, the sixth-year driver continues to search for win No. 1 .

Forrister battled 31 other cars in the field and the race saw seven cautions and 29 caution laps. There were 24 lead changes before the checkered flag.

Chevrolet added 40 points to its season totals with Boyd’s victory. Overall, Toyota ranks No. 1 with 745 points, followed by Chevrolet in the No. 2 spot with 736. Ford sits at No. 3 with 657 points on the season.

Race Center

Posted on by Data Skrive

Harrison Burton placed 11th in the Sugarlands Shine 250 at Talladega Superspeedway, adding 26 points to his season total.

Burton now sits at 623 points on the season. He’s collected seven top-five finishes in 2019.

Spencer Boyd took the checkered flag in the race, with Todd Gilliland following in second, and Riley Herbst crossing the finish line third. Brett Moffitt took fourth place, followed by Stewart Friesen in the No. 5 spot.

Sheldon Creed came away victorious in Stage 1, and Friesen finished out front in Stage 2.

Burton qualified in third position at 180.349 mph. Burton still is looking for career win No. 1, but boasts 11 top-five finishes and 17 finishes in the top 10.

Burton battled 31 other cars in the field and the race saw seven cautions and 29 caution laps. There were 24 lead changes before the checkered flag.

Chevrolet added 40 points to its season totals with Boyd’s victory. Overall, Toyota ranks No. 1 with 745 points, followed by Chevrolet in the No. 2 spot with 736. Ford sits at No. 3 with 657 points on the season.

Harrison Burton Driver Page | Race Center

Posted on by Data Skrive

Tyler Ankrum placed seventh in the Sugarlands Shine 250 at Talladega Superspeedway, adding 35 points to his season total.

Ankrum now sits at No. 5 in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series standings with 3040 points. He’s posted three top-five finishes in 2019.

Spencer Boyd took the checkered flag in the race, with Todd Gilliland finishing second, and Riley Herbst placing third. Brett Moffitt took fourth place, followed by Stewart Friesen to round out the top five.

Sheldon Creed came away victorious in Stage 1, and Friesen finished out front in Stage 2.

Ankrum qualified in second position at 180.881 mph. He led on three occasions for a total of six laps. The second-year driver has tallied one career victory, three top-five finishes and has placed in the top 10 in 9 races.

Ankrum battled 31 other cars in the field and the race endured seven cautions and 29 caution laps. There were 24 lead changes before the checkered flag.

Chevrolet added 40 points to its season totals with Boyd’s victory. Overall, Toyota ranks No. 1 with 745 points, followed by Chevrolet in the No. 2 spot with 736. Ford sits at No. 3 with 657 points on the season.

Tyler Ankrum Driver Page | Race Center

Posted on by Data Skrive

Riley Herbst placed third in the Sugarlands Shine 250 at Talladega Superspeedway, adding 39 points to his season total. Herbst now sits at 61 points on the season.

Spencer Boyd finished out front in the race, with Todd Gilliland following in second. Brett Moffitt took fourth place, followed by Stewart Friesen to round out the top five.

Sheldon Creed came away victorious in Stage 1, and Friesen finished out front in Stage 2.

Herbst qualified in seventh position at 179.838 mph. Herbst still is looking for career victory No. 1, but owns one top-five finish and three finishes in the top 10.

There were 32 cars in the field, and the race endured seven cautions and 29 caution laps. There were 24 lead changes.

Chevrolet added 40 points to its season totals with Boyd’s victory. Overall, Toyota ranks No. 1 with 745 points, followed by Chevrolet in the No. 2 spot with 736. Ford sits at No. 3 with 657 points on the season.

Race Center

Posted on by Data Skrive

Todd Gilliland placed second in the Sugarlands Shine 250 at Talladega Superspeedway, adding 39 points to his season total.

Gilliland now sits at 622 points on the season. He’s posted five top-five finishes in 2019.

Spencer Boyd finished first in the race, with Riley Herbst placing third. Brett Moffitt brought home fourth place, followed by Stewart Friesen in the No. 5 spot.

Boyd has advanced to the next round of the Truck Series playoffs.

Sheldon Creed came away victorious in Stage 1, and Friesen finished out front in Stage 2.

Gilliland qualified in sixth position at 179.922 mph. He led on two occasions for a total of seven laps. Gilliland still is looking for career victory No. 1, but owns 11 top-five finishes and 24 finishes in the top 10.

There were 32 cars in the field, and the race endured seven cautions and 29 caution laps. Prior to the checkered flag there were 24 lead changes.

Chevrolet added 40 points to its season totals with Boyd’s victory. Overall, Toyota ranks No. 1 with 745 points, followed by Chevrolet in the No. 2 spot with 736. Ford sits at No. 3 with 657 points on the season.

Todd Gilliland Driver Page | Race Center

Posted on by Brad Norman

Ryan Blaney and Ryan Newman sped toward the start/finish line at Talladega Superspeedway, the fate of the entire NASCAR Playoffs field hanging in the balance.

When the No. 12 Ford of Blaney beat Newman’s No. 6 Ford to the start/finish line by .007 seconds — the sixth-closest finish in NASCAR history — the entire postseason field got an upheaval.

Blaney, who entered the day 12th among 12 drivers in the NASCAR Playoffs standings and 22 points behind the cutline, clinched an automatic berth into the Round of 8. Here’s how he shook up the playoff picture, and also how things would have been different if Blaney was .008 seconds slower and finished second.

RELATED: Blaney joins ‘clutch’ list

Playoffs standings: Blaney wins

Because he won at Talladega, Blaney is automatically in the Round of 8. We’ll put him at the top of the pile here, along with Kyle Larson, who won at Dover.

That’s important because Blaney, in terms of the actual points standings, is ranked ninth among the 12 playoff drivers.

Winning really does mean everything in this format.

Because Blaney, who otherwise would have been below the cutline, has advanced to the Round of 8, the outlook is much more severe to the four drivers currently below it. While they don’t mathematically face a must-win at Kansas, they probably do need a victory — or a very strong showing, and on-track issues for those above the cutline — to advance.

MORE: How ‘Dega shook up the playoffs

Driver Points Cutline
Kyle Larson WIN (Dover) ADVANCED
Ryan Blaney WIN (Talladega) ADVANCED
Denny Hamlin 3,114 +56
Martin Truex Jr. 3,106 +48
Kyle Busch 3,099 +41
Kevin Harvick 3,094 +36
Brad Keselowski 3,078 +20
Joey Logano 3,076 +18
Alex Bowman 3,058 -18
Chase Elliott 3,054 -22
Clint Bowyer 3,052 -24
William Byron 3,049 -27

Playoffs standings: What if?

What if Ryan Blaney was .008 seconds slower? That’s about the blink of an eye, but with racing in the draft at Talladega, it’s not difficult to imagine a scenario in which Newman held Blaney off by a razor-thin margin.

So, what happens then? A lot, actually.

Most importantly, Blaney would not get an automatic berth into the Round of 8 for finishing second at Talladega. The standings and bubble would look vastly different.

We plugged Blaney into the playoff field wondering what if and came up with the look below — remember, if Blaney had finished second instead of first, he would have earned 35 points for his second-place finish (not the 40 he received for his actual win). That’s reflected below.

Driver Points Cutline
Kyle Larson WIN (Dover) ADVANCED
Denny Hamlin 3,114 +60
Martin Truex Jr. 3,106 +52
Kyle Busch 3,099 +45
Kevin Harvick 3,094 +40
Brad Keselowski 3,078 +24
Joey Logano 3,076 +22
Alex Bowman 3,058 +4
Chase Elliott 3,054 -4
Clint Bowyer 3,052 -6
Ryan Blaney 3,051 -7
William Byron 3,049 -9

Not only is Blaney below the cutline, but drivers like Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Clint Bowyer and William Byron would face much more pleasant scenarios at Kansas.

A split-second win has a huge impact on the entire field. But those below the cutline in either scenario can follow the Blaney template for getting to the Round of 8.

Just win.

Posted on by
No. Driver Sponsor Make Organization
00 Landon Cassill Creek Enterprise Chevrolet StarCom Racing
1 Kurt Busch Advent Health Chevrolet Chip Ganassi Racing
2 Brad Keselowski Discount Tire Ford Team Penske
3 Austin Dillon TBD Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing
4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John’s 3 Dollar Little John Ford Stewart-Haas Racing
6 Ryan Newman Roush Performance Ford Roush Fenway Racing
8 Daniel Hemric Caterpillar Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing
9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports
10 Aric Almirola Smithfield / Hy-Vee Ford Stewart-Haas Racing
11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing
12 Ryan Blaney Menards / Dickies Ford Team Penske
13 Ty Dillon GEICO Chevrolet Germain Racing
14 Clint Bowyer DEKALB Ford Stewart-Haas Racing
15 Ross Chastain TBD Chevrolet Premium Motorsports
17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fastenal Ford Roush Fenway Racing
18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Halloween Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing
19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing
20 Erik Jones DeWalt Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing
21 Paul Menard Menards / Atlas Ford Wood Brothers Racing
22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford Team Penske
24 William Byron UniFirst Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports
27 Reed Sorenson TBD Chevrolet Premium Motorsports
32 Corey LaJoie Kansasland Ford Go Fas Racing
34 Michael McDowell Love’s Travel Stops Ford Front Row Motorsports
36 Matt Tifft Louis Kemp Crab Delights Ford Front Row Motorsports
37 Chris Buescher Kroger Simmer Like A Winner Chevrolet JTG Daugherty Racing
38 David Ragan MDS Ford Front Row Motorsports
41 Daniel Suarez ARRIS Ford Stewart-Haas Racing
42 Kyle Larson Credit One Bank Chevrolet Chip Ganassi Racing
43 Bubba Wallace Victory Junction Chevrolet Richard Petty Motorsports
47 Ryan Preece Kroger Chevrolet JTG Daugherty Racing
48 Jimmie Johnson Ally Fueling Futures Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports
51 JJ Yeley Jacob Companies Ford Petty Ware Racing
52 Austin Theriault Bangor Bank Ford Rick Ware Racing
53 Josh Bilicki Insurance King Ford Rick Ware Racing
66 Joey Gase TBD Toyota MBM Motorsports
77 Timmy Hill TBD Chevrolet Spire Motorsports
88 Alex Bowman Nationwide Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports
95 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota Express Maintenance Toyota Leavine Family Racing
96 Parker Kligerman TBD Toyota Gaunt Brothers Racing
Posted on by Zack Albert

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Ryan Newman was full of could’ve, should’ve thoughts at the end of Monday’s rain-delayed finish to the 1000Bulbs.com 500, a race that ended with his Roush Fenway Racing No. 6 Ford just .007 seconds shy of winner Ryan Blaney at the start/finish line.

Those second guesses included his move at the end, his last-lap timing and strangely, a revisionist thought about Talladega Superspeedway’s gleaming new infield renovation.

“I said they spent $50 million redeveloping this place,” Newman recalled telling fellow Ford driver Aric Almirola, who finished behind him in fourth. “I should have threw in 50 bucks for them to move the start-finish line, repainted it or something.”

RELATED: Race results | Closest finishes in series history

Had that start-finish line come sooner, Newman had the potential to break what’s now an 0-for-36 career streak at the unpredictable 2.66-mile track. Instead he settled for his second runner-up result at Talladega in the last three years, by one of the slimmest margins in the sport’s history.

Though Newman had regrets, there were plenty of savvy last-lap moves that pushed him from fourth place at the white flag into contention for the win. He stepped out of line on the backstretch, veering to the high side and enjoying a sizable boost from Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota going with him.

Hamlin’s aggressive bump-drafting nearly knocked him sideways through Turns 3 and 4, but the powerful push also provided him a significant gap. From there, Newman wasn’t quite able to block Blaney’s advances, which included his decisive crossover move and some side-by-side contact through the tri-oval.

“I mean, we just came up that little bit short. I don’t know what else to say,” Newman said after his best finish of the season. “I could have pinched him some more. I could have probably took the aero. You can go back and bench-race that three weeks from now. It was a good race until the end.”

MORE: Replay Talladega’s wild final lap

While Newman remained winless, he did keep one positive streak intact — running at the finish in every race in his first season with Roush Fenway Racing. That includes all four superspeedway events, including Monday’s chaotic completion with multi-car wrecks galore.

“It’s a little tough to take right now, but he was there,” said No. 6 crew chief Scott Graves. “He did a great job all day of avoiding all the wrecks. He’s done that every speedway race for us this year, so I can’t complain. He did a great job to get there to get the run with the 11 (Hamlin) pushing him and to kind of be aware of what was going on there. It’s hard to come up short like that and just miss it, but it’s a good day.”

Posted on by Staff Report

The race-winning No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang driven by Ryan Blaney passed post-race technical inspection Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway with no issues.

The No. 12 Ford was found to be compliant with the 2019 NASCAR Rule Book after Blaney won the second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12 race. Also, no cars going to the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

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

RELATED: Race 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 thorough post-race inspections would take place shortly after the checkered flag at the track instead of midweek at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

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 scrutineering. 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.