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.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Two factors threw the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs into chaos on Monday afternoon — Talladega and Ryan Blaney.

By .007 seconds — the sixth-closest finish in series history — Blaney edged Ryan Newman to win Monday’s rain-delayed 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, which took a big bite out of most other playoff contenders and set up a scramble for the six remaining spots in the Round of 8 next Sunday at Kansas Speedway.

RELATED: Unofficial race results
SHOP: Blaney gear

With his first victory of the season, his first at Talladega and the third of his career, Blaney secured his berth in the next round, joining Dover winner Kyle Larson, who crashed out of Monday’s race in 39th place.

“Yeah, it was an amazing effort the last two days, to be honest with you,” said Blaney, who spun coming to pit road during Stage 1, which was completed on Sunday just before the rain arrived and forced the rest of the race to be run on Monday.

“We spun out early yesterday and missed some big ones today. We were able to weave our way through. I can’t thank Aric Almirola enough for helping me out there at the end.”

Blaney led the field to green with two laps left, after a caution for an 11-car pileup on the backstretch caused the eighth caution of the afternoon. On the final lap, Blaney surrendered the lead to Newman, who got a strong push to the front from eventual third-place finisher Denny Hamlin.

Coming to the checkered flag, Blaney side-drafted Hamlin and uncoupled the two cars, and with help from fellow Ford driver Aric Almirola, he beat Newman to the finish line by roughly one foot.

“That big push that Newman and the 11 (Denny Hamlin) got, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to block it. They were coming so fast and they wanted to split me. I wanted to stay to the bottom and kind of pulled the 11 off the 6 and then had a big enough run to get to the 6.

“We kind of hit above the line (at the apron) and that pushed me below the line. That is a big judgment call. You never know. I definitely wasn’t going to go below the line before we made contact (because of the possibility of a penalty). I can’t say enough about this Dent Wizard team. It has been super fun the last couple of days. We’re moving on! This is super cool.”

Getting separated from Hamlin in the last quarter-mile likely cost Newman a chance for his first victory with Roush Fenway Racing.

“We just came up that little bit short,” Newman said. “I don’t know what else to say. I could have pinched him some more. I probably could have taken the air. You can go back and bench-race that three weeks from now. It was good racing to the end.”

None of the 12 playoff drivers escaped the race without incident. The massive wreck on the backstretch on Lap 182 of 188 destroyed the winning chances of Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski.

Kurt Busch was pushing his brother Kyle in the middle of a three-wide pack when the Ford of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. moved up the track toward Kyle Busch’s Toyota. Almost simultaneously, Kyle’s No. 18 Camry turned sideways off the nose of Kurt’s Chevrolet and slammed into the No. 62 Chevrolet of Brendan Gaughan, who was leading the outside lane.

Playoff driver Alex Bowman was gone on Lap 107, when his attempted block of Joey Logano went awry and ignited a 10-car incident that crippled the No. 19 Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. and damaged the cars of Harvick, Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski.

Pole winner William Byron saw his playoff hopes take a hit when he turned to the right off Kurt Busch’s front bumper and drove Logano’s No. 22 Ford into the wall on Lap 162. That occurred after a blown tire, and a spin onto the apron waylaid Clint Bowyer on Lap 153.

Elliott recovered to finish eighth, and Logano secured an 11th-place result, but when the smoke cleared from the multicar accidents, Bowman, Elliott, Bowyer and Byron found themselves facing probable must-win scenarios at Kansas.

Almirola ran fourth, followed by Michael McDowell, Austin Dillon, Corey LaJoie, Elliott, Stenhouse Jr. and Ty Dillon.

Posted on by Staff Report

After the second race of the Round of 12 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race at Talladega Superspeedway, here’s a brief look at the playoff picture. There is one race remaining in the Round of 12 before the field is whittled to eight, with four drivers eliminated from the postseason following next week’s Kansas race on Oct. 20.

Winner

Ryan Blaney beat Ryan Newman in a photo finish, earning the win in one of the wildest races of the year. The victory also adds five playoff points to his total and locks him into the Round of 8. The Team Penske driver entered the race 12th among 12 drivers in the standings.

RELATED: Race results

Who’s hot

Denny Hamlin. Hamlin drove the middle portion of the race one lap down, but when ‘Big One’ after ‘Big One’ occurred, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver found himself at the front of the field. Unofficially, he finished third and is very comfortable heading into Kansas.

Joey Logano. With a car that looked like it had been through the ringer at your local short track, Logano’s heavily damaged No. 22 Ford limped to an official 11th-place finish. Staying on track was crucial for this group, who jumped above the cutline with a gritty effort.

Who’s not

William Byron. A late-race wreck ruined the day for the No. 24 team, one in which Byron was leading late while appearing poised to compete for his first win. Several playoff drivers had rough days, but it feels like a big missed opportunity for Byron, who dropped below the playoff cutline.

Clint Bowyer. Monday was devastating for the driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. The veteran had plenty of speed and rocketed to the front of the field throughout the race, winning Stage 2 before a downed tire caused him to spin out with approximately 35 laps to go. The kicker: Bowyer’s car actually got stuck on the apron, his wheels barely off the ground due to the steep banking at Talladega. He was two laps down after getting cleared and stopping on pit road.

BUBBLE WATCH

Rank Driver Points to cutoff
5. Kyle Busch +41
6. Kevin Harvick +36
7. Brad Keselowski +20
8. Joey Logano +18
————— CUT-OFF LINE —————
9. Alex Bowman -18
10. Chase Elliott -22
11. Clint Bowyer -24
12. William Byron -27

Next race

The Monster Energy Series travels to Kansas Speedway to conclude the Round of 12 at the 1.5-mile facility on Oct. 20 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Who it favors

Kevin Harvick. Taking just the last 10 Kansas races into account, Harvick’s two wins are tied for most in the series (along with Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano). He also has five top-five finishes in that span and a series-best 515 laps led. Kansas has become a staple track for Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers.

Who it hurts

Clint Bowyer. This may be his home track, but Kansas has not been kind to Bowyer, whose 18.5 average finish over the last 10 races there ranks 10th of 12 playoff drivers. Bowman and Byron are worse, but have extenuating circumstances — Byron only has three starts here, and many of Bowman’s starts came before he drove for Hendrick Motorsports. The lone upside for Bowyer — he finished in the top five here earlier this year.

Posted on by Staff Report

William Byron’s spin set off a second “Big One” in Monday’s NASCAR Playoffs race at Talladega Superspeedway. This one involved eight cars, including fellow playoff driver Joey Logano, whose No. 22 took a hard blow from the No. 24 of Byron as it moved up the track.

Byron was leading a group around the inside lane and battling Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the upper lane for the race lead when contact came from behind leading to an accordion effect and Byron losing control.

RELATED: Logano involved in earlier “Big One”

Byron went up the track and wiped out Logano in the outside lane, and afterward the No. 24 went behind the wall and out of the race. Two of Byron’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Alex Bowman and Jimmie Johnson, were knocked out of the race in the earlier “Big One.”

“I don’t really know,” Byron said of the push from Kurt Busch. “Obviously, our noses are pointed and it just jacked me right up and turned me around. I have to look at it. Yeah, it just turned me to the inside first. I don’t know what to do different there to get the push better. Just unfortunate for us. We had a really good run going. I felt like we were going to at least finish pretty solid.”

Eight cars were involved in the second wreck. Besides Byron and Logano, Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Paul Menard (with substitute driver Matt Crafton), Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece and Austin Thereault were also involved in the wreck.

Byron was officially scored in 33rd place and enters the Kansas race 27 points below the cutline for the Round of 8.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

TALLADEGA, Ala. – A small misjudgment may have cost Alex Bowman a chance to advance to the Round of 8 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Bowman was out front in Monday’s rain-delayed 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway when he tried to block a strong run by Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer, who were advancing at a much higher rate of speed.

RELATED: Race results

Slight contact from Logano’s Ford sent Bowman’s No. 88 Chevrolet spinning toward the apron and triggered a 10-car wreck that crippled Bowman’s car and damaged the machines of six other playoff drivers in the process.

After retiring from the race in 37th place, Bowman heads for next Sunday’s race at Kansas 12th in the series standings and likely needing a victory to advance to the next round.

“I knew the No. 22 (Logano) was coming, and I just tried to move down just a little bit,” Bowman said. “As soon as he touched me, it just turned it sideways. They just had a bigger run than I realized. I should have let them go and shouldn’t have thrown a block. I apologize to all the cars that got torn up. That’s on me. Talladega happens. I hate it for all of our sponsors.

“The spoilers are so big now, that even though they are clear, the cars shake so much you really can’t see. At least I couldn’t. My mirrors are super shaky, and trying to look through a thing of lexan is tough. Just didn’t do a very good job of judging it, and that’s on me.”

Posted on by Staff Report

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event has been halted by rain at Talladega Superspeedway. The race is set to resume Monday at 2 p.m. ET (NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Stage 1 winner William Byron was scored as the leader when the 1000Bulbs.com 500 was stopped with 57 of a scheduled 188 laps complete. The race was in the first stage intermission when rain began to pelt the 2.66-mile track.

RELATED: Race leaderboard | Stage 1 recap

The event is the fifth of 10 races in the Monster Energy Series’ playoffs. Race officials had moved up Sunday’s start time by 15 minutes because of the threat of inclement weather.

Ryan Blaney led the most laps during Sunday’s racing, setting the pace for 15 laps. He overcame a Lap 34 spin on the entry to his pit stop and a pit-road speeding penalty to finish 10th in the opening stage.

Paul Menard was scored 33rd in the 40-car field after his Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford team executed a planned driver change shortly before the red flag. Two-time Gander Trucks champion Matt Crafton subbed in for Menard, who has been dealing with neck soreness this week.

The 500.08-mile event is the middle race in the Monster Energy Series’ Playoffs Round of 12. Stage 2’s end is set for Lap 110, after which the race would be deemed official.