Fantasy Update: Last-minute Watkins Glen lineup, props advice

Posted on August 3, 2019August 4, 2019 by RJ Kraft

Chase Elliott is on the pole for the GoBowling at The Glen on Sunday at Watkins Glen International (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Does the defending race winner at the road course merit a spot in your Fantasy Live lineup? We’ve dissected the numbers to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration. Remember that inspection Sunday morning makes the starting lineup official.

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RJ Kraft’s Fantasy Live lineup for race day at Watkins Glen:
1. Kyle Busch
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Chase Elliott
4. William Byron
5. Denny Hamlin
Garage: Brad Keselowski

Cars to the rear: Ryan Blaney (unapproved adjustments)

Analysis: I’m sticking with my original lineup but moving Elliott into an active spot for Keselowski. I have five of the top six cars in the starting lineup, plus a driver-crew chief combo known for shaking it up and taking risks in the garage. I expect Byron to go full throttle on stage points.

The way Watkins Glen’s stages are (and we saw this in the Xfinity race on Saturday as well as the Cup race last year) drivers don’t have to punt both stages to set themselves up better for the win. Elliott and Truex each won a stage last year and finished 1-2. My point is you may not get stage points in both stages — 19 drivers got stage points in last year’s Cup race; Truex was the only driver to earn stage points in both stages — but the odds are you’ll get some sort of points in the stages from the bulk of your lineup.

For the bonus picks, I like Truex to score the Stage 1 win with Hamlin taking Stage 2 and Kyle Busch bringing home the victory.

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. Will the polesitter lead the first seven laps? Elliott has one of the best cars this weekend and while the Joe Gibbs Racing fleet will be in hot pursuit, I’ll say YES he leads the first seven laps. Probably not much more than that, though, in Stage 1.

2. Which driver finishes higher? Paul Menard or Ryan Newman? Both drivers qualified outside the top 20 pending inspection but my gut says Newman will do what he always does — grind out a finish that you don’t quite expect. The Roush Fenway Racing driver is currently in the provisional playoff grid so he can’t afford a bad day because there is a hungry pack of drivers waiting to grab that spot. Menard has never scored a top 10 here in 15 starts, so I’ll go with Newman for that reason as well.

Posted on August 3, 2019August 4, 2019 by Reid Spencer

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Chase Elliott isn’t racing differently on road courses. He’s just racing better.

And on Saturday, Elliott returned to Watkins Glen International with a vengeance, taking a giant step toward another victory at the track that gave him his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win last year.

Elliott covered the 2.45-mile layout in 69.287 seconds (127.297 mph) to edge his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the 22nd event on the Cup calendar this year.

The Busch Pole Award was Elliott’s first on a road course, his third of the season and the seventh of his career. Most important, it reinforced Elliott’s status as a legitimate contender at the seven-turn track that features right-hand as well as left-hand corners.

“Our NAPA Chevy is fast, which is nice,” Elliott said. “It cooled off a lot (in late afternoon), and the track picked up a lot of pace from practice. So I just tried to find the limits of all that. There were a couple of places where I thought I could get more, but you always want to get more.

“Qualifying well here is important, because the strategy is important. Pitting these cars backwards (with fuel intakes on the right side instead of left), you need good pit selection and track position. This is a great result for our NAPA Chevy team.”

PHOTOS: See every car in Sunday’s field

Elliott finished 13th in his first two races at The Glen. Then last year, he started third and got his breakthrough victory.

“I don’t think I necessarily did anything different today than I did my first two trips,” Elliott said. “You hope you’ve gotten better as time goes on, but I can’t really say my approach was any different. I just think the combination of the cars getting better and us working together more is what helped us get the pole today.”

Byron earned his eighth front-row starting spot of the season. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch (126.976 mph) and Martin Truex Jr. (126.861 mph) qualified third and fourth to lead the Toyota contingent.

Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson will start fifth through eighth, respectively. Aric Almirola claimed the ninth spot on the grid in the fastest Ford.

Early in the first of two qualifying rounds, Erik Jones blew a right front tire in Turn 1. After his car was towed back to pit road, he recovered to qualify 14th.

“I just missed my mark,” Jones said of his entry into the first corner. “I just got in too hot and locked the right front up enough that it blew it out. That’s not what you want to do. I kind of thought we were done, and I didn’t realize that the rule was that if you don’t complete a lap you get to come back in and change tires.

“We put another tire on it, and the DeWalt Camry had good speed. I was just a little conservative on my lap, which I think you can probably understand why after the first time. Still a good starting spot. It has more speed than that, so it’s frustrating in that way, but still nice that we’re starting off better than dead last where we thought we were going to be.”

Posted on August 3, 2019August 3, 2019 by Zack Albert

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — NASCAR officials disqualified the second-finishing Kaulig Racing No. 10 Chevrolet of AJ Allmendinger for a technical violation after Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International.

Allmendinger had led a race-high 24 of 82 laps in the Zippo 200, crossing the finish line 1.168 seconds behind first-time winner Austin Cindric on the 2.45-mile course. But his Kaulig Racing entry was found to be too low on both the right-rear and left-rear corners in post-race inspection, dropping Allmendinger to a last-place result in the 37-car field.

RELATED: Official race results

Xfinity Series director Wayne Auton said that the No. 10 car was inspected for damage in post-race inspection. He also added that the Matt Kaulig-owned organization has until noon ET Monday to file an appeal.

Allmendinger, a former regular in the Monster Energy Series, has returned to NASCAR competition this season on a partial schedule in the Xfinity Series. Both of his starts thus far, however, have resulted in disqualifications. Officials threw out Allmendinger’s apparent third-place finish at Daytona International Speedway in July, demoting him to last place.

Auton said that the Kaulig team’s second offense would not necessarily result in a stiffer penalty.

“No, we’ll obviously talk about it, but whenever you get DQ-d, I think that’s a pretty big penalty in itself,” Auton said. “So we consider this race closed now. The other cars have passed inspection.”

There is no minimum height requirement in the Monster Energy Series, but the Xfinity Series and Gander Outdoors Truck Series have a ride-height rule.

Posted on August 3, 2019August 3, 2019 by Reid Spencer

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Opportunity knocked for Austin Cindric after a mechanical failure knocked Kyle Busch out of Saturday’s Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International.

And after Cindric and road course ace AJ Allmendinger traded knocks on the final two laps of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race, Cindric—on fresher tires—emerged the winner for the first time in his career.

Following post-race inspection, Allmendinger’s No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet was disqualified for a rear height violation, dropping Allmendinger to last place in the running order. But fans left the track with the memory of an intense battle over the closing laps.

When NASCAR called the sixth caution on Lap 69 of 82, Brian Wilson, crew chief on Cindric’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford, made a courageous call that later proved decisive. Wilson brought Cindric from the lead to pit road for fresh tires, dropping the 20-year-old driver to ninth in the running order for a restart on Lap 73.

An immediate caution for a pile-up in Turn 1 left Cindric in sixth for the next restart on Lap 76. When Christopher Bell was knocked sideways in Turn 2, and Justin Allgaier and Tyler Reddick lost momentum while fighting for the second spot, Cindric charged around the outside into second place and chased Allmendinger.

It took three laps for Cindric to trim Allmendinger’s advantage from 1.714 seconds to .521 seconds, and from that point, the game was on. On Lap 81, Cindric nudged Allmendinger up the track in the carousel and took the lead. Allmendinger returned the favor approaching Turn 7 and regained the top spot as Cindric was forced wide.

But Allmendinger entered Turn 7 too wide and Cindric drove back underneath to lead Lap 81. On the final circuit he pulled away to win by 1.168 seconds and clinched a spot in the Xfinity Series Playoffs.

Cindric and Wilson had discussed the possibility of a late pit stop before the race.

“I’ve been on the other side of it,” Cindric said. “(Bell) had been pretty good all day, so it was going to be hard to hold him off depending on which lane he had on the restart.”

The only thing that went wrong was Cindric’s celebratory burnout. But it was helpful that pole winner Kyle Busch had critical issues during the race itself.

“I was kind of bummed,” Cindric said. “I broke the clutch out of it trying to do a burnout, so my guys are going to have to do a little extra work and I’ll have to buy them an even bigger dinner. We talked before the weekend, and we knew something would have to go wrong with (Kyle Busch), but I’m so blessed to be able to be here.”

After winning the first stage and pitting thereafter, Busch had just passed Ryan Blaney for the lead entering the inner loop when the upper control arm on the left front of his No. 18 Toyota broke. Busch retired from the race and opened the door for Cindric.

With the Allmendinger disqualification, Bell inherited the runner-up spot, followed by Allgaier, who traded hard knocks with Ross Chastain, eliminating Chastain from the race after hard contact with the barrier in the carousel. Blaney and Reddick ran fourth and fifth.

WATCH: Allgaier, Chastain tangle | Chastain mum after wreck

Posted on August 3, 2019August 3, 2019 by Zack Albert

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race didn’t even get through the first of three stages before the battle of bumpers and words between Ross Chastain and Justin Allgaier escalated to a thermometer-bursting height at Watkins Glen International.

Chastain, one of the hottest drivers in NASCAR’s three national tours, was short-circuited by retaliation from Allgaier, who drove on to a third-place finish in the Zippo 200. Chastain exited after completing just 19 of the 82 laps, coming home in 33rd place.

Allgaier’s JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet spun and made contact with the retaining wall near the bus-stop chicane after receiving a shove from Chastain’s No. 4 JD Motorsports Chevrolet on Lap 14 of the Zippo 200. Allgaier continued, then gave Chastain a solid bump in return six laps later, sending his car careening into the Turn 5 barrier on the final lap of Stage 1.

RELATED: Official race results

Allgaier owned up to the purpose behind his payback bump, explaining that previous altercations with Chastain had built up his anger level.

“We’ve had a rocky relationship over our racing career,” said Allgaier, who recovered to lead 13 laps in the final stage. “Unfortunately, I’ve been on the receiving end a number of times of him running into me, and he flat wrecked me in the bus stop back there. At some point, you just get to a point of where you’re tired of getting run into, and so I ran back into him. I had no intention of putting him in the wall. I wanted to spin him out, for sure. I wanted him to kind of have the same feeling that I had a few laps before whenever he spun me out, and I did it in a position where there was nobody else around us and made sure that if it was going to be a crash that it was just going to be the two of us.

“I hate it for Johnny (Davis) and the 4 team because obviously with the budget that they’re on, they don’t need to be wrecking race cars, but on the flip side of it, he knew what he was doing when he got into the bus stop and wrecked me on purpose, and then even when I caught him back, he slowed way, way down and he knew that I was mad at him. You can’t race like that and not have something come of it.”

Chastain issued a fiery reaction back to his crew over the team’s communications immediately after the incident, saying he would find Allgaier at a later time. After a trip to the infield care center for a mandatory check-up, Chastain was more measured with his words.

“Well no, you don’t expect to get wrecked like that at a NASCAR national series event,” Chastain said. “Just racing hard and mistakes on all sides, but I’m glad that my nine-point safety harness did its job because I hit the wall a ton.”

Pressed for if Allgaier’s aggression crossed a boundary, Chastain demurred. “I don’t know. I better keep my opinions to myself on that.”

Posted on August 3, 2019August 3, 2019 by Zack Albert

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — One week removed from a Bubba Wallace gesture that touched off a testy post-race conversation at Pocono Raceway, Daniel Suarez’s arrival in New York’s Finger Lakes region was greeted with talk about another finger with a ripple effect.

RELATED: Full schedule for Watkins Glen

Suarez was in a jocular mood Saturday between Monster Energy Series practices at the 2.45-mile road course in Watkins Glen, saying that he and Wallace remain friends after their late-race aggression last Sunday, Wallace’s middle finger flip and their chippy discussion that followed. That pit-road chat spilled over to social media early in the week, but Suarez said he doesn’t expect to see any gestures again.

“He won’t. I guarantee you that,” Suarez said with a smile. “We are good friends but sometimes he drives a little bit over his head on the race track, and he’s been in wrecks a couple of times. He’s been a little bit too aggressive with myself or different situations. I don’t get to race him very often, but when I do, he’s a little bit too aggressive, which is OK.

“I don’t have a problem, but sometimes you can cross the line and you can get mad and things happen.”

Wallace explained the intent behind his gesture during a Tuesday appearance at Charlotte Motor Speedway, saying that he meant it in a playful manner. “I do it to guys I like and I can race around,” Wallace said, mentioning Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. as fellow drivers that he’s similarly saluted.

MORE: Wallace’s side of Pocono dust-up

On Saturday, Suarez repeated his mantra that those gestures equal fighting words. He also wasn’t buying the “all in good fun” explanation.

“He said he was playing, but I’m not dumb. I know he wasn’t,” Suarez said. “That was his excuse, but that’s OK with everybody. We move on and we focus on the next one.”

But which part of the interaction stirred the most anger: the close-quarters racing or the gesture?

“The way that he raced, I know him. That’s the way that he does things,” Suarez said. “I think that sometimes he’s smart, sometimes he’s not. The way that he did things and then flipped me, and then I got even more mad when he said that he was joking when I knew perfectly he wasn’t. It’s all good. It’s in the past. We’re friends. We have known each other for a long time. There is always that extra confidence in us, we know that we can fight and we can be good the next day. I get fired up pretty quick when it comes to that kind of stuff, as you guys can see.”

Suarez discarded the notion that his perilous spot in the NASCAR playoff picture may have fueled his irritation. The 27-year-old driver for Stewart-Haas Racing is still looking for his first premier-series win and sits 18th in the standings, just outside of the provisional postseason field.

“That thing that, ‘Hey, Daniel is getting pressure’ or ‘the tempers are getting into his head,’ but that has nothing to do with it,” Suarez said. “I can be leading the championship and I will get fired up as good as I get fired up right now. That’s just myself. I’ve been like this since I can remember.”

Posted on August 3, 2019August 3, 2019 by Staff Report

Defending race winner Chase Elliott recorded the fastest practice lap in the final 50-minute session at Watkins Glen International, moving his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet around the track at 126.901 mph on Saturday afternoon.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch also cracked the top five in the session, with Truex racing his No. 19 Toyota 125.418 mph for second-fastest and Busch moving his No. 18 Toyota 125.074 mph for fifth-fastest.

Matt DiBenedetto, who led for most of the practice until a late-run surge, was third-fastest in his No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota at 125.391 mph.

Michael McDowell was fourth in the session after his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford went around the 2.45-mile road course 125.259 mph.

The Monster Energy Series returns to the track at 6:40 p.m. ET for Busch Pole Qualifying (NBCSN/NBC Sports App) to determine the starting order for Sunday’s GoBowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

FIRST PRACTICE
Alex Bowman snuck in the fastest first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice lap just as the 50-minute session was concluding at Watkins Glen International on Saturday, wheeling his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet around the 2.45-mile road course at 125.888 mph.

Bowman, who made the final lap in qualifying trim, edged out Kyle Busch for the fastest time. Busch recorded a fast lap of 125.786 mph in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on Saturday morning, just ahead of teammate Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 JGR Toyota at 125.643 mph.

RELATED: First practice results

Defending race winner Chase Elliott was fourth-fastest at 125.623 mph in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, while Kyle Larson rounded out the top five in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet at 125.568 mph in the practice session in advance of Sunday’s GoBowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

The caution came out briefly when Matt Tifft spun his No. 36 Ford coming out of the carousel about seven minutes into the 50-minute session, and Elliott had to maneuver quickly to the left to avoid wrecking. Neither car made impact with anything, but Tifft brought his car to the garage before returning to the track.

Posted on August 2, 2019 by Chase Wilhelm

Stewart Friesen punched his golden ticket into the 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Playoffs with his first career victory in Thursday night’s Eldora Dirt Derby.

That’s bad news for the rest of the competition with just one race remaining in the regular season.

Six drivers are now locked into the eight-driver postseason before the Corrigan Oil 200 on Aug. 10 at Michigan International Speedway (1 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriuxXM NASCAR Radio) — race winners Friesen, Austin Hill, Johnny Sauter, Ross Chastain, Brett Moffitt and Tyler Ankrum.

Although two playoffs spots are technically available, ThorSport Racing’s Grant Enfinger is set to clinch his first Gander Trucks Regular Season Championship by just starting next Saturday’s finale, and currently holds a 52-point lead over Matt Crafton. That gives Enfinger the seventh slot before the race turns one lap old.

What bodes well for Crafton is how it’s mathematically impossible for the No. 88 ThorSport Racing driver to be caught on points, as he’s ahead by 63 points on teammate Ben Rhodes, who sits fifth in the standings. Friesen and Moffitt (third and fourth in the standings, respectively) are already locked into the postseason with race wins.

A run-in with Tyler Dippel in Thursday’s showdown at Eldora Speedway shuffled Rhodes back to a 14th-place finishing position after he showed promise for a top-10 run the majority of the night. Now forced into a must-win scenario to make the playoffs, Rhodes let his frustrations be known after another tough race.

“Daytona we got wrecked, Kentucky we got wrecked, here (Eldora) we got wrecked, engine blew at Chicago, transmission issue at Texas, I mean I can go on with this list,” a frustrated Rhodes said outside his hauler Thursday night. “Things out of our control are taking us out of the playoffs.”

“I’m just sad that people can eliminate you that quick,” he added.

Behind Rhodes in the standings are Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland and Sheldon Creed, drivers who are all faced with the same situation — win or miss the big dance. With a postseason bid on the line, those drivers will be in desperation mode until the very end Saturday in the Irish Hills.

Posted on August 2, 2019August 2, 2019 by Chase Wilhelm

ROSSBURG, Ohio — As fireworks ignited on the backstretch moments after Thursday night’s Eldora Dirt Derby, a heated exchange between Ben Rhodes and Tyler Dippel provided a different kind of fiery display.

After climbing out of a heavily damaged No. 99 ThorSport Racing Ford, Rhodes immediately ran toward Dippel’s No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet, reaching into the cockpit before a NASCAR official and crew members separated them.

The altercation stemmed from an incident after the final restart with two laps remaining in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series showdown at Eldora Speedway. Dippel slid into Rhodes coming off of Turn 2, sending him into the outside fence. The pair traded paint and sheet metal on the cool down lap before it came to a head.

Dippel didn’t mince words regarding his stance on the conflict.

“It was green-white-checkered, it was time to go,” Dippel said after his eighth-place finish. “That’s all it was, it was time to go. He came up after me before I could even get out of the truck. Probably the only way he could do anything because he probably weighs 140 pounds soaking wet.

“He’s a (expletive),” Dippel added. “That’s pretty much just it. He complains about pretty much everyone every week. It’s probably going to be cool to see a person like him miss the playoffs in really good equipment.”

For Rhodes, it wasn’t just Dippel he was frustrated with in the 150-lap feature.

“It was multiple guys on the track,” Rhodes said. “It’s just sad because nobody races with respect on the race track anymore. I didn’t touch a soul all night unless they were wrecking around me and I had to somehow touch them to get away from the wreck. Other than that, I didn’t touch a soul. I raced everyone with respect and the way that I wanted to be raced. We’re racing for a championship and there’s just guys that come here and just clean you out.”

Rhodes also noted Sheldon Creed, driver of the No. 2 GMS Racing Chevrolet, roughed him up in Turn 2, resulting in significant damage to the left side of Rhodes’ machine.

“The 2 didn’t even try to make the corner,” Rhodes said. “Put me in the fence and hit me so hard my mirror was pointed toward the sky … the inside mirror … that’s how hard he hit me. Then the 02 did the exact same thing. It’s just bad racing. I don’t know how to fix that with the guys. Nobody has respect on the track and I don’t know what to do to change it.”

“It’s honestly been building for a few years,” he added. “I’ve seen it get a little worse each year, then this year I just don’t know why it is the way it is. It’s been building for a while and the cup is kind of running over. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I know I got cleaned out on the track several times today.”

This year’s regular season, which concludes for the Gander Trucks next week at Michigan International Speedway on Aug. 10, has been a trying one for Rhodes. While he has five top fives and nine top-10 finishes, six finishes of 14th or worse put Rhodes in a must-win position as he sits 63 points below the playoff cutline following the 14th-place result at Eldora.

“I hate it for my guys,” Rhodes said. “… Things out of our control are taking us out of the playoffs.”

Posted on August 1, 2019August 11, 2019 by Holly Cain

First at last.

Canadian Stewart Friesen held off Sheldon Creed by .728 seconds in the Eldora Dirt Derby at Eldora Speedway to earn his first career NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series victory Thursday night.

It was a typical Eldora night of close racing, hot tempers and high drama on the Rossburg, Ohio, half-miler. Friesen, the driver of the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Chevrolet took the lead on Lap 94 of the 150-lap race and held off the field despite multiple caution periods and restarts – before prevailing in a two-lap shootout to the checkered flag.

Championship points leader Grant Enfinger finished third, followed by Mike Marlar and Todd Gilliland in order. Defending Eldora winner Chase Briscoe, who led a race-high 94 laps, finished seventh. Briscoe and Friesen were the only two race leaders.

“Oh man, thank you to all the race fans that stuck with us,” Friesen said in Victory Lane. “Today, this is the day. This is the week. Thanks to everybody. This is meant to be. We needed to get it done on the dirt. Thanks to everyone. What a special event.”

The race certainly had its share of excitement.

Briscoe, last week’s NASCAR Xfinity Series winner at Iowa Speedway, won both the first and second stages but was then caught up in multiple incidents. He managed to keep his truck racing to take a hard-earned top-10 finish.

For many of the usual frontrunners, the unique Eldora challenge presented new obstacles. It was the dirt debut for several full-time drivers, including three-race winner Ross Chastain, who ran impressively among the top five early in the race, spun out on his own after the Stage 2 restart but rallied to a 12th-place finish.

Sunoco Rookie Harrison Burton was running eighth when he spun and brought out the fourth caution flag of the night and then was collected in another multi-truck accident. He eventually had to retire his No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota and suffer a 31st-place finish in the 32-truck field.

As for Friesen, who had been a symbol of “coming so close” to victory, this was finally his career highlight night. He has six runner-up finishes in the last three seasons, including two earlier this year. A last-place finish last weekend at Pocono Raceway had really put him in championship peril, dropping him to last among the current eight eligible drivers. Instead, with Thursday’s win, he has an automatic berth to contend for the title.

The series moves to Michigan International Speedway for the regular-season finale next Saturday.