Posted on by Reid Spencer

RICHMOND, Va. – Ryan Newman parlayed his strong run in Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 into a significant move up the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff ladder.

Recovering from a lackluster qualifying effort, Newman finished fifth to climb to ninth in the playoff standings, 14 points to the good over 13th-place Alex Bowman approaching the Sept. 29 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

“It was just a good team effort, good pit stops,” Newman said. “The strategy wasn’t a whole lot to it, just put four tires on, but had a good short-run car. One time we had a good long-run car, but we could never get both.

“I think that, if we would have had both, we could have ran with those guys (race winner Martin Truex Jr. and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates), but we were at our best probably when we were just holding good bias to a long-run car—but who would have known there were going to be that many green flag runs.”

RELATED: Richmond results

Newman started 19th and was gratified he was able to drive forward in what he characterized as the best all-around performance of the season by his No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford team.

“Yeah, without a doubt,” Newman said. “The best team performance all-around throughout the entire weekend. We failed at qualifying. We got the car too tight, but, overall, just a great team effort to get the Roush Performance Ford a good run.

“What meant to me the most probably was just being better than we were the first race (in the spring). We ran ninth in the first race and qualified 30th or something like that, and we came back and showed that we were learning, and we’ll keep learning.”

Posted on by Staff Report

The race-winning No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Martin Truex Jr. passed post-race technical inspection Saturday night at Richmond Raceway with no issues.

The No. 19 Toyota was found to be compliant with the 2019 NASCAR Rule Book after Truex won the second race of the 2019 NASCAR Playoffs, the Federated Auto Parts 400.

The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Erik Jones failed post-race technical inspection, resulting in disqualification and the forfeit of his fourth-place finish. Jones will be credited with last place, earning one race point after being stripped of 41 of his 42 original points total. The No. 20 car will also go back to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina.

Additionally, all cars were found to be compliant with the post-race lug-nut policy.

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

RELATED: Full 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

RICHMOND, Va. – On a night of “firsts” for Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, Martin Truex Jr. continued to assert his mastery over the first round of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Rallying from a spin off the bumper of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s Ford and passing teammate Kyle Busch for the lead with 25 laps left, Truex led an apparent 1-2-3-4 finish for JGR in Saturday night’s Federated Auto parts 400 at Richmond Raceway.

RELATED: Official results
SHOP: Truex gear

The victory was a milestone for Truex, too. The winner of last week’s playoff opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Truex had never before won back-to-back races. Now, the driver of the No. 19 Toyota has six wins this season, a season sweep at Richmond and 25 victories in his Cup career.

Never before had the organization swept the top four spots in a race in NASCAR’s premier series — but that sentiment was short-lived.

Busch came home second, 2.630 seconds behind his teammate. Denny Hamlin ran third, followed by Erik Jones, who completed the Gibbs sweep with a pass of pole winner Brad Keselowski for fourth place on Lap 378 of 400. Jones’ No. 20 Toyota failed post-race inspection, however, and was ultimately disqualified and scored last.

Truex’s win was no cakewalk. On Lap 315, Stenhouse, who had just pitted for new tires, drove hard into Turn 3 beneath the No. 19 Camry. Stenhouse lost the nose of his No. 17 Ford, slid up into Truex’s car and sent him spinning, handing the lead to Busch.

Restarting third after the fifth and final caution, Truex chased his teammate for the next 50 laps, finally clearing him on Lap 375.

“Luckily I didn’t hit anything,” Truex said of his spin. “I just tried to keep it off the fence, tried to get spun around and get going, and we ended up—because we were pretty far up front, we got going in a pretty good spot and left pit road in a good position and then good adjustments at the end again by (crew chief) Cole (Pearn) and (engineer) James (Small) and the guys.

“This is just freaking unbelievable. So we came here to get bonus points and damn sure we did that. … Had a heck of a race with Kyle and Denny all night long, really, and we just kept plugging away at it, kept plugging away at it, as we always do. We just keep digging and we never quit.  Next thing you know, catching the 18 (Busch) for the lead, I’m like, ‘Cool, all right, here we go.’ Man, to sweep Richmond finally is pretty awesome, as much as we’ve led here coming into this year, and just thanks to everybody. It’s pretty amazing.”

Though Busch led a race-high 202 laps to Truex’s 109, the driver of the No. 18 Toyota conceded his car wasn’t quite up to the task of challenging his teammate.

“I don’t think we were as good as him all night long,” Busch said. “Martin, the car, the combination thereof, us, the combination of, just lacked a little bit. You know, like the 11 (Hamlin) lacked a little bit more than us. Just weird, I don’t know.

“We led a lot of laps. We were up front a lot. But when I was out front, he could keep the closest distance to me. That kind of worried me for a finish like that in the long run.”

Keselowski, the only other driver to lead laps, ended up finishing fourth after the Jones disqualification, followed by fellow playoff drivers Ryan Newman, Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer in order.

With what looked to be a fourth-place run, Jones made up 20 points of the 23 point deficit he brought to Richmond from Las Vegas, where a stuck throttle sent him hurtling into the outside wall and cost him a 36th-place finish. Jones was set to head to the Sept. 29 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval three points behind 12th-place William Byron (24th Saturday) for the final berth in the Round of 12 but instead will need to win the race in order to advance.

Alex Bowman (23rd), Jones, Bowyer and Kurt Busch (18th) enter the final race of the Round of 16 below the cutline. Jones faces the largest deficit—45 points.

Posted on by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: How to find NBCSN | Get the NBC Sports App | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App

Monday, Sept. 23
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., Wood Brothers, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (re-air)
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

Tuesday, Sept. 24
5 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
6 p.m., Glory Road, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6:30 p.m., Glory Road, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (re-air)
9 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (re-air)

Wednesday, Sept. 25
3 p.m., IMSA Racing “Lamborghini Super Trofeo: Laguna Seca,” NBCSN/NBC Sports App
4 p.m., IMSA Racing “Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge: Laguna Seca,” NBCSN/NBC Sports App
5 p.m., NASCAR America: Motormouths, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Racing: “K&N Series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway,” NBCSN/NBC Sports App

On MRN
noon, NASCAR Coast to Coast

Thursday, Sept. 26
5 p.m., NASCAR America: Motorsports Hour, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Racing: Whelen Series Musket 250, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

Friday, Sept. 27
2 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (airing on tape delay) (Canada: TSN App, also on tape delay)
3 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
4 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
4:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN2)
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6:30 p.m., Racing Roots: “Ricky Stenhouse Jr.,” NBCSN/NBC Sports App (re-air)
7 p.m., Wood Brothers, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (re-air)

On PRN
4:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying

Saturday, Sept. 28
12:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (joined in progress) (Canada: TSN App)
1 p.m., NASCAR Grassroots Racing Tour, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
2 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN2)
3 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Countdown to Green, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN2)
6 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Post Race, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

On PRN
3 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 200

Sunday, Sept. 29
11:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Classic: 1994 Coke 600, FS1/FOX Sports App (re-air)
noon, NASCAR RaceDay: Charlotte, FS1/FOX Sports App
1:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Countdown to Green, NBC/NBC Sports App
2 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America Roval 400, NBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN1)
6 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Post Race, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

On PRN
1:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America Roval 400

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Busch led a Joe Gibbs Racing sweep of the top four spots in Stage 2 of the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Saturday night at Richmond Raceway. Busch took the lead on pit road between Stages 1 and 2 and did not relinquish it, despite a late challenge from teammate Martin Truex Jr., to capture his 11th stage win of the season.

Truex, who won Stage 1, came in second with teammates Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones in third and fourth, respectively. Pole winner Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five.

RELATED: Stage 2 results

Ryan Newman, who entered the night six points below the Round of 12 cutline, came in sixth. Non-playoff driver Jimmie Johnson edged playoff driver Kyle Larson at the start-finish line to finish in 10th and pick up a stage point.

Contact between the No. 3 of Austin Dillon, No. 24 of William Byron and No. 88 of Alex Bowman brought out the stage’s only caution on Lap 111. Bowman expressed frustration with Dillon over his team radio. Bowman was three laps down from the leaders at the end of the stage, while Byron was two laps down.

Place Driver Team Pts
1 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing 10
2 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing 9
3 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 8
4 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing 7
5 Brad Keselowski Team Penske 6
6 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing 5
7 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 4
8 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 3
9 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing 2
10 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports 1

STAGE 1

Martin Truex Jr. won Stage 1 in the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Saturday at Richmond Raceway. Truex, in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, beat teammate Kyle Busch to the start-finish line for his fifth stage win of the 2019 season. Busch was second in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 5.616 seconds behind.

Pole winner Brad Keselowski was third in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Truex passed Keselowski on Lap 54 after Keselowski had led the first 53 circuits around the .75-mile track. Denny Hamlin, in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and Kevin Harvick, in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, rounded out the top five.

RELATED: Stage 1 results

Non-playoff drivers among the top 10 included Matt DiBenedetto in seventh and Jimmie Johnson in 10th.

Playoff drivers Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Alex Bowman and Joey Logano all finished Stage 1 one lap down to the leaders.

Place Driver Team Pts
1 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing 10
2 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing 9
3 Brad Keselowski Team Penske 8
4 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 7
5 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 6
6 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing 5
7 Matt DiBenedetto Leavine Family Racing 4
8 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 3
9 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing 2
10 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports 1
Posted on by RJ Kraft

Brad Keselowski is on the pole for Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Is the Team Penske driver worthy of a lineup spot with how good the bulk of the Joe Gibbs Racing cars have looked this weekend? And how should you navigate the playoff game format? We’ve dissected the numbers to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration.

PLAY NOW: Set your lineup | How the game works | Tips to set your lineup

RJ Kraft’s Fantasy Live lineup for race day at Richmond:
Playoff driver 1: Denny Hamlin
Playoff driver 2: Kevin Harvick
Non-playoff driver 1: Jimmie Johnson
Non-playoff driver 2: Matt DiBenedetto
Garage: Kyle Busch

RELATED: Odds for Richmond | Lap averages | Weekend preview

Analysis: Hamlin was the best car in final practice topping the 5-, 10-, 15-, 20-, 25- and 30-lap board. Factor in a strong Richmond and short-track history — he’s the only driver to score top fives in all four short-track races this year — and he’s in. Harvick’s lap averages showed a significant lack of fall off over the long run and he has eight top-five finishes in his last 10 starts here.

For the non-playoff plays, I am not particularly jazzed by Johnson’s lap averages, but I love the recent Richmond history. He has no finish outside the top 12 in his last 10 starts at the 0.75-mile track. I’ll play those odds especially when he has the best starting spot among the non-playoff field. My second spot in this group goes to DiBenedetto, who I planned to avoid coming into the weekend. The long-run lap averages and lack of fall off over that is the main reason for the play. The other reasons are I wasn’t thrilled by Austin Dillon’s lap averages and I seem to get burned every time I play Daniel Suarez.

In the garage, this choice came down to Busch, Truex and Keselowski. Their lap averages are pretty much in the same ballpark and the recent Richmond stats favor the two Gibbs drivers a bit more. I think something is a little off with the 18 camp, but the Richmond record and 2019 short-track stats — like Hamlin and Bowyer, he has top-10 finishes in every short track race this year; Busch has three top-five finishes. That gives him a slight nod over the most recent race winner at Richmond (Truex) and the pole winner for tonight’s race (Keselowski).

For the bonus picks, I will take Harvick to win Stage 1 with Hamlin the rest of the way. I’ll double down on the manufacturer since Toyota has won three in a row at Richmond and six of the last eight as well.

Each week in this space, we’ll also highlight two Props Challenge items for players.

MORE: Need Props help? The Action Network has you covered | Play the Props Challenge today

1. O/U 1.5 drivers lead at least 100 laps. In three of the last four races at Richmond — all under the lights — only one driver has led more than 100 laps. Usually, the next highest total for a leader is in the low 90s. The one time there were two to lead over 100 it was in the spring and the second driver barely went over 100 with 101 laps led. I’m taking the UNDER here.

2. Which playoff driver below the cutoff line will finish higher: Erik Jones or Kurt Busch. The short-run lap averages favor Jones, while the long-run averages favor Busch. The recent Richmond numbers also favor the 2004 champion so I am going with BUSCH on this prop.

Posted on by Nick Giffen

The Action Network specializes in providing sports betting insights/analytics and is a content partner with NASCAR. Check out more NASCAR betting analysis here.

There are only 36 points-paying races on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule. With such limited opportunities to bet, it can be hard to refrain from playing multiple drivers every weekend.

However, we should only make bets when we project a positive expected value.

Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 is one of those weekends where it’s hard to find winning value. I’m not projecting a lot of value in the market, for two reasons.

First, favorites typically win at Richmond, which means we need to limit our exposure to longer shots. If we choose a driver with long odds, he needs to be a driver who has shown plenty of upside on a team with winning capabilities.

The list of winners since 2013 — while NASCAR has used the Gen-6 car — is a who’s who of NASCAR stars:

• 2013: Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards
• 2014: Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski
• 2015: Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth
• 2016: Edwards, Denny Hamlin
• 2017: Logano, Kyle Larson
• 2018: Kyle Busch, Ky. Busch
• 2019: Martin Truex Jr.

Only twice has a driver representing a team other than Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing or Team Penske taken the checkered flag. Those instances were Kevin Harvick in 2013 during his final year at Richard Childress Racing and Kyle Larson for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2017.

RELATED: Analyzing matchup bets

Second, it’s hard to bet this weekend’s race favorites since they are priced quite well across the market. That makes it hard to find enough value to feel confident a bet within this group will return long-term value.

Don’t shut things down completely however. There is still potential for things to change. If a driver’s car fails post-qualifying inspection, he will be sent to the rear of the field for the start of the race. Very often, the market will overreact to this news, and more value can be found. Additionally, there is definitely head-to-head value for Saturday night’s race.

As of right now, because the favorites are priced quite accurately, I have only one longer play. But stay tuned for updates to this article as inspection results come in.

MORE: See odds to win

Kyle Larson +2750 to Win

Larson is on a 73-race winless streak since his most recent win in the Cup Series in 2017. That win, as mentioned earlier, came in the second Richmond race in which Larson led 53 laps en route to his fifth-career win.

That win isn’t his only strong performance at Richmond. He also has a second-place finish in the 2016 fall edition of the race, and four top-seven finishes in his last six Richmond starts. Going back 10 races, Larson has finished inside the top 12 seven times. Overall, since his last Cup Series win, Larson has eight runner-up finishes. It’s clear he puts himself in position to win quite frequently.

Practice was also encouraging for the 27-year-old driver. He placed inside the top 12 in every consecutive lap category in final practice. More importantly, in the cooler opening practice session, Larson was either first or second over 10, 15, 20 and 25 consecutive laps.

That shows Larson had elite speed when track temperatures were cooler, and second-tier speed when track temperatures were warmer. I like looking at the early session when temperatures were a bit cooler because the race will be held at night which should more closely resemble the opening practice conditions.

Larson has the upside to win. The combination of strong track history and elite opening practice speed means he’s valuable down to +2000.

Posted on by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. — The two other members of the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Big Three opened their playoff quests Friday night with finishes on the virtual podium. For defending series champ Tyler Reddick, Richmond Raceway produced a head-scratching result that left him “kind of baffled.”

Reddick eked out a 10th-place finish in Friday’s Go Bowling 250, the opening event in the seven-race postseason. Meanwhile, fellow regular-season dominator Christopher Bell pounced for his series-leading seventh win of the season, and Big Three member Cole Custer settled for third.

RELATED: Official results | Xfinity Series standings

Reddick finished outside the top 10 in both stages, and only a hard-fought rally past fellow postseason hopefuls Ryan Sieg and Brandon Jones in the closing laps salvaged a top-10 final result.

“I’m not necessarily frustrated, just confused more than anything,” said Reddick, who thought his car had a flat tire near the end of the first stage. “We kind of had to rebound through Stage 2 and we still didn’t have a better car. I just, we’re just kind of baffled as to what happened to our car. We didn’t think it was that bad, and it was in the race. We just had to fight really, really hard to get every spot we could there and we were fortunate to at least get to 10th.”

Reddick’s Richard Childress Racing No. 2 Chevrolet team may have had momentum from last weekend’s victory in the regular-season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But crew chief Randall Burnett said that an otherwise mundane fourth-place run at the .75-mile Richmond track in April didn’t hold much promise for a turnaround. As a result, Burnett & Co. opted to try different setups in an attempt to offset the dread.

“We’ve worked really hard on it, just for whatever reason, we just haven’t figured out how to get around this place just yet,” Burnett told NASCAR.com. “We were OK with the balance in practice, but it was pretty slow, so the crew chief decided he was going to change a bunch of stuff going into the race and probably didn’t help it any. I’ve got to stop doing that. We just didn’t have it tonight. This was definitely one of those places in the (playoffs), this was probably the one that had our biggest concern coming in here.”

The next concern for the Xfinity Series’ postseason field of 12 comes at the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval and road-course layout, which returns for its second edition next weekend. Reddick still holds a 38-point buffer over the cut-off line with the Roval then Dover to close out the postseason’s opening round.

“The Roval’s a fantastic place for opportunity, but even more fantastic of a place to wad your cars up,” Reddick said. “We’re in a really good spot going into that race. I think if we do a little bit better job of managing our race than we did here today, we should be able to come out of the Roval in a good enough spot to just be smart at Dover and be fine. We’re going to have speed again here soon, I’m sure.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RICHMOND, Va. — Eager to add a NASCAR Xfinity Series championship to his resume in perhaps his final season in the series, Christopher Bell made an emphatic statement in Friday night’s Go Bowling 250 at Richmond Raceway.

Bell swept the first two stages of the series playoff opener — bringing his total of stage wins to 17 — and led a career-best 238 laps in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, winning for the seventh time this season, the third time in five starts at the .75-mile short track and the 15th time in his Xfinity Series career.

RELATED: Unofficial results

“That one was pretty special,” said Bell, who passed pole winner Austin Cindric for the lead on Lap 86 and never trailed after that. “Going 92 laps straight there (on the final green-flag run) was really difficult. We were sliding all around.

“I felt like, if I could get through traffic, I would be in good shape because my car could really move around good. I could run up (the track) and I could run down. The No. 00 (eventual third-place finisher Cole Custer) was keeping pressure on us pretty good, but this Supra was too good.”

Bell finished 1.700 seconds ahead of Cindric, who passed Custer on Lap 239 of 250 to secure the runner-up position. Bell’s car was so dominant that he opened a lead of 7.743 seconds over Cindric before Vinnie Miller hit the Turn 2 wall to bring out the second caution on Lap 51.

The only pressure Bell felt during his cruise to the checkers came from Custer, who passed Cindric for second on Lap 87 and shadowed the race winner early in the final stage, drawing within three car lengths at one point before Bell widened his advantage in traffic.

“The 00 could kind of close a little on us in the middle part of the run, but I was just trying to keep hitting my marks, keeping the rear tires underneath me and running on that yellow line (at the apron),” Bell said. “When the 00 was closing, I was getting nervous, because I was pretty much running as hard as I could without slipping the tires), and he was gaining on me a little at a time there.

“It seemed like my car could move around maybe a little bit better than his, and lapped traffic helped me get a little bit of a gap.”

Custer faded to 4.432 seconds back at the finish.

“We were just kind of loose to start the run,” Custer said. “It kind of got worse, and I was using too much break and got to tight center (in the center of the corners). We were really close there for a second, but I just didn’t have the long-run speed.”

Cindric posted his second straight runner-up finish at Richmond, after running second to Custer in the spring. He’s fourth in the standings with a comfortable margin heading to the Charlotte Roval.

“This is the only double-digit buffer I think I’ve ever had in anything in NASCAR, so I’ll take it,” Cindric said. “Obviously, a really good night for the MoneyLion Ford Mustang, keeping the Fords up front. Two runner-up finishes here at Richmond is good, but you want to win races, so I’ve got to keep working and keep figuring out how to catch that guy in the 20 (Bell). But overall, a great day.”

Justin Allgaier finished fourth after qualifying second and dropping to the rear of the field for the start because of a pre-race tire change. Chase Briscoe ran fifth, followed by Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson, Zane Smith, Michael Annett and Tyler Reddick.

With an automatic berth in the Round of 12, Bell leads the playoff standings by 18 points over Custer and Reddick. Brandon Jones (11th Friday), Ryan Sieg (12th), Justin Haley (17th) and John Hunter Nemechek (15th) fell below the cutline for the next round, with an elimination race looming in two weeks at Dover.