Posted on by Terrin Waack

Matt DiBenedetto was right there, running second on the lead on the last lap at Road America — until he wasn’t.

Coming into the 4.048-mile road course’s final turn on the white-flag lap, DiBenedetto veered off the track and into the sand out of nowhere. His No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota got stuck in the pit and never made it out to cross the start-finish line. He ultimately finished 27th in the race results.

“Just being stupid on my part,” DiBenedetto told NBCSN after the race. “I was looking in my mirror, got too high and just barely got up in the marbles. Made the most rookie mistake of my life. It was dumb. It was uncalled for.”

RELATED: Road America results

DiBenedetto led a race-high 18 of 45 laps and started the race second after a strong qualifying performance. It was the first time in DiBenedetto’s career he ran out front during an Xfinity Series race, and he has been bopping in and out of the circuit since 2009. This was his first race against this level of competition in 2019.

“We could have won,” DiBenedetto said. “We had the fastest car and nothing to show for it. I drove stupid. I’m pretty pissed off at myself. Nothing else. Won’t sleep all week. This isn’t exactly good when I’m trying to make my career.”

Christopher Bell ended up winning Saturday’s CTECH Manufacturing 180, his first road-course victory ever and sixth win overall this season. Austin Cindric benefited from DiBenedetto’s mistake and took second. Tyler Reddick, Noah Gragson and Kaz Grala then made up the rest of the top five, in order.

“I’m really heartbroken for Matt DiBenedetto, too,” Bell said. “He was obviously really, really fast. We knew from practice both of our cars were going to be really good and we were going to be right there racing with each other. I don’t really know exactly what happened, but I saw him going flying off (Turn) 14. Man, that sucks. He’s in a tough spot right now and needed a good run there.”

DiBenedetto runs full time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series but that series had the weekend off. He steers the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota but revealed last week that he was told he will not be returning to the team after this season.

DIBENEDETTO: ‘I’m not done yet’ | ‘I want to win in Cup’

Just days after his news became public, DiBenedetto finished the Bristol Night Race in second. There, he also led a race-high 93 laps but lost the lead to Denny Hamlin with 12 to go.

Much like Bell did, Hamlin expressed his remorse toward his competitor after the race.

NASCAR’s top national series will return to action next week with the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (Sept. 1 at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). DiBenedetto currently sits 22nd in the championship standings.

Posted on by Staff Report

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — In a two-lap shootout during Saturday afternoon’s CTECH Manufacturing 180 at Road America, Christopher Bell checked out from the competition to claim his sixth Xfinity Series win of the season.

Bell found himself battling the best of the best when it comes to road-course racing inside the final laps between AJ Allmendinger and Austin Cindric. But when Gray Gaulding went into the gravel in Turn 1, the full-course caution waved and set up the eight-mile dash to the finish.

“Man, I’m honestly in shock,” Bell said. “I really butchered qualifying and tore the crap out of the left front. I felt like once we got in the race there, we’d be able to drive by those guys. Instead, they dropped the green flag and they were driving by me. That wasn’t much fun.

“Then I told Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) I was really, really tight. We got those tires off and he said the left-front was hurt pretty bad. We got pretty good there when we put our new set of tires on.

“That strategy worked out well for us coming in there (with 14 to go) and then the yellow coming out. This car was really, really fast today. We’ve had a great road course season.”

RELATED: Official Road America results | Look at championship standings

On the final restart, Bell cleared then-second-place Allmendinger. It was Cindric, though, who pitted during the last caution and put on a show trying to charge from his 20th restarting position.

By the white flag, Cindric had passed 15 cars and found himself in the clutches of then-second-place Matt DiBenedetto. When DiBenedetto ended up spinning his No. 18 iK9 Toyota Supra in Turn 14, Cindric crossed the start-finish line second — 1.891 seconds behind Bell.

“We talked about a five-to-go plan, that was like a green-white-checkered,” said Cindric, who came a position short of claiming three straight road-course wins in August. “I wasn’t 100 percent confident, but at the same time, we were battling a lot of wheel hop after four or five laps on tires and we had a lot more than on tires.

“In this kind of racing, you pretty much know that you’re going to get used up if your slower, so we wanted to go on offense and that was our strategy all day and we probably just needed one or two laps to get our Menards–Richmond Ford Mustang in Victory Lane. All in all, a good day, good points. P-2 is all right.”

Cindric described his 19-car charge through the field in two laps in one fitting word: chaos

“I passed a lot of cars that just ended up overdriving corners and missing corners,” he said. “It was chaos, it was insane. I think it’s why all these people show up at Road America and enjoy this type of racing.

“You never know what you’re going to get, it always comes down to those last lap dashes to the finish, I’m glad to be able to put on a show at a place like this.”

RELATED: Complete at-track gallery from Road America

For Bell, it was his 14th career Xfinity Series victory but first on a road course.

“I guess I just get lucky on these things, that’s for sure,” Bell said.

Allmendinger admitted he spun the tires during the last restart and later collided with Noah Gragson while battling in the top five. Allmendinger became involved in another off-course exchange on the same lap and limped to a 24th-place finish after making a pit stop on the final lap.

Behind Bell and Cindric, points leader and Bristol Motor Speedway winner Tyler Reddick finished third. Gragson was fourth, and Kaz Grala rounded out the top five.

Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, Jeremy Clements, Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer comprised the remainder of the top 10.

For Allgaier, the top 10 was a relief after nosediving into the gravel in Turn 1 due to a flat left-front tire on the last lap of Stage 1. Falling off the lead lap and getting the lap back, the JR Motorsports driver used the remainder of the race to earn his 15th top 10 of the year.

Playoff contender Custer also had an impressive lap-down rebound after running off course during the first lap of Stage 2 and mowing down several track signs. Earning the free pass late in the race, Custer used aggressive driving in the final run to earn his 15th top 10 of the season.

With three races remaining in the regular Xfinity Series season, next up is a throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway with the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 (Saturday, 4 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series driver Tyler Dippel has been indefinitely suspended for violating the Member Conduct Guidelines of the NASCAR Rule Book.

Dippel violated Section 12.1 of the NASCAR Rule Book, a behavioral penalty for “actions detrimental to stock car racing,” according to a NASCAR spokesperson.

Dippel, 19, currently sits 13th in the Gander Trucks standings. He’s logged one top-five finish and three top-10 finishes this year driving the No. 02 Chevrolet for Young’s Motorsports.

The Gander Outdoors Truck Series is on track this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The second race in the opening Round of 8 in the Gander Trucks Playoffs is Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

DJ Kennington will now drive the No. 02 in the Chevrolet Silverado 250.

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Busch will honor Bobby Hillin’s Snickers paint scheme with a Snickers ride of his own at Darlington Raceway in next weekend’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 (Sept. 1, 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Vote for your favorite scheme | All the throwback looks | Buy tickets for Darlington

Hillin ran the Snickers look in the 1990 season, while the Mars-brand chocolate bar has been with Busch as part of his sponsorship with Mars since he moved to Joe Gibbs Racing prior to the 2008 season. Check out the then and now looks below.

SHOP: Kyle Busch throwback gear

Kyle Busch Darlington Paint Scheme

Posted on by Zack Albert

There’s something to be said for the Bristol Night Race boost NASCAR Xfinity Series veteran Jeremy Clements received over the weekend. The 34-year-old driver gutted out a fourth-place finish at the Tennessee track, providing his best result of the season so far.

Conventional thinking would forecast that his Bristol run would provide an extra dose of confidence for the Xfinity Series’ next stop, Saturday’s CTECH Manufacturing 180 (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Road America, the track that produced his only victory in 2017. Clements says he isn’t lacking for confidence there either way.

“I don’t know. I don’t need a shot in the arm for that, honestly,” Clements said from Bristol’s pit road after his first top-five finish since that Road America win two years ago. “I mean, this is cool as hell but it’s not going to make me run any better next week. Everything’s just totally different — different car, brakes, transmission. Everything’s just so different.

“It wouldn’t matter if we wrecked and finished last, I’m still pumped up to go to Road America and I’m ready to kick their ass, man. That’s a place we can win and we’ve done it before, so why can’t we do it again?”

RELATED: Full schedule for Road America, Canadian Tire

Clements’ history with the picturesque 4.048-mile road course has been a mixed lot, with two top-10 finishes in his eight starts there. This season, he has finished 11th in both road-course events (Watkins Glen International, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course).

Clements said his family-owned No. 51 team has been making gains despite a small inventory of cars, with the focus on developing more horsepower as the organization builds its own engines. He sits 14th in the Xfinity Series standings, with a significant points gap to make up to qualify for the 12-driver postseason field.

Winning would solve that math problem, especially at the sprawling Wisconsin circuit where unpredictability looms at many of its 14 bends. The field should be stout, with Monster Energy Series regular Matt DiBenedetto and road-racing ace AJ Allmendinger on the preliminary entry list, but Clements expects to be competitive.

“We’re going to be right there,” Clements said, “so they better not overlook us.”

RELATED: Full stats for Clements’ NASCAR career

Posted on by Staff Report

Dale Earnhardt Jr. tweeted Wednesday night that he still plans to compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway next week as previously planned.

Earnhardt Jr., his wife Amy, daughter Isla and dog Gus were involved in a frightening airplane crash last week while traveling to Bristol Motor Speedway. There were no serious injuries reported, but Earnhardt Jr. took the weekend off from his duties as an analyst on NBC Sports and has been focused on recovering at home with his family.

RELATED: Earnhardts safe after crash

Junior also tweeted his lower back is heavily bruised, but he’s been treating the area every day.

The 15-time Most Popular Driver retired from full-time NASCAR competition at the end of the 2017 season, and immediately moved into the broadcast booth with NBC Sports. He had two Xfinity Series races on the docket, though, for his own JR Motorsports team — last year at Richmond Raceway and this year at Darlington Raceway.

Driving the No. 88 Chevrolet at Richmond last season, Earnhardt Jr. qualified second, led 96 laps and finished fourth.

Earnhardt Jr. has slowly become more active on social media after taking time to process the events of last week in private. He released a statement on Monday, and also topped a previously recorded episode of the “Dale Jr. Download” podcast with a heartfelt message to his fans.

On Wednesday night, in addition to replying to fans asking about his Darlington plans, he good-naturedly tweeted at former crew chief and NBC co-worker Steve Letarte, who admitted he was watching the racing classic “Days of Thunder” for the first time Wednesday night.

The Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway is scheduled for Aug. 31 at 4 p.m. ET, televised on NBC (Radio: MRN, SiriusXM).

Posted on by Zack Albert

NASCAR competition officials announced procedural changes Wednesday for the 2020 season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, unveiling the driver participation guidelines for the sport’s national series, reducing the size of the Xfinity Series field from 38 to 36 and setting the schedule for the Dash 4 Cash and Triple Truck Challenge bonus programs.

Driver participation rules for Xfinity and Gander Trucks races feature only slight changes from the previous season. Under NASCAR’s current rules, drivers with more than five years of experience who earn points in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series were limited to driving in seven Xfinity Series events and five races in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

Under the 2020 guidelines, drivers with more than three years of premier series experience will be limited in their lower-series participation. The amount of Xfinity Series races allowed for those veterans will trim from seven to five. The allowable participation for the Gander Trucks will remain at five races.

As in years past, points-earning Monster Energy Series regulars above the three-year experience threshold also will be barred from participating in the regular-season finale and playoffs for the other two national circuits. Events in the Xfinity Series’ Dash 4 Cash and the Gander Trucks’ Triple Truck Challenge will also be off limits.

Wednesday’s announcement continues a trend of reducing the impact of Monster Energy Series drivers in the Xfinity Series and Gander Trucks in an effort to better showcase those series’ competitors.

RELATED: NASCAR 101

“We’ve made small tweaks since then, and this is third tweak, but the goal is to find a happy medium or that sweet spot where it works for all of our stakeholders,” said Meghan Miley, NASCAR senior director of racing operations. “We hear from the fans that we need to get Cup drivers out of Xfinity and Trucks, and they want to just see the regulars, but we hear from the younger drivers that, ‘Hey, we want to race against these guys because they make us better.’

“We also work with all the teams within the garage to make sure it’s working with the way they run their businesses, so we really loop in all of our stakeholders to get all of their feedback.”

While there’s a temptation to label the revised guidelines as a “Kyle Busch Rule” that cracks down on the Monster Energy Series star’s success in lower divisions, Miley says that the limits are not intended to single out one driver.

“That’s always something people bring up,” Miley said, “and while what Kyle is doing is no less impressive and he’s an extremely important owner in our Truck Series, we take into account what’s been the trend here for all of our teams in the garage, all of our stakeholders and really what is best for everybody, not just one person.”

In other procedural changes announced Wednesday:

Xfinity Series field size set at 36 cars: Competition officials will reduce the field from 38 to 36 for the 2020 season. The decrease comes on the heels of a move from 40 to 38 cars this year.

As with this season, the purse money that would be marked for the 37th and 38th finishers will be redistributed through the field.

“This year, we looked at what we did going into the 2019 season, seeing how it worked and then decided that we could probably go a little further,” Miley said, “the goal being that we take the prize money for those positions and put it back into the teams. All of it goes back into the teams, and you’re really taking care of the teams that are reinvesting in the sport and racing full time.

“It’s wanting to have the most competitive teams racing in those series to make them the best series they can be, and I think this is a good opportunity to strengthen the field and support those teams that are reinvesting back in the sport.”

The field for each race will be set with 31 starting positions based on qualifying speed, four provisional berths set according to the rule book, plus one provisional spot reserved for past series champions.

Dash 4 Cash schedule set for 2020: Competition officials announced that Texas Motor Speedway will join the four-race slate for the Xfinity Series’ Dash 4 Cash incentive program. Bristol, Talladega and Dover return to the schedule, and Homestead-Miami Speedway enters the format as the qualifying event to establish eligibility for the first bonus payday.

RELATED: More details about 2020 Dash 4 Cash

The Dash 4 Cash series will be back for its 12th season as part of the Xfinity Series schedule.

“Time flies,” Miley said. “I would say that this program, backed by Comcast, has really grown over the years. The teams have gotten so into it.”

Unlike “The Trip,” the eligibility and general requirements for the Dash 4 Cash are not changing. It’s a testament to having a fine-tuned program that consistently serves fans and tracks alike.

“In the format of Dash 4 Cash, you qualify the week before so those drivers that have qualified are usually in market and working really closely with the tracks, who do a really good job of promoting these events as well,” Miley said. “Then again with the fans, you go on social media after and the fans talk about how much they love seeing these series regulars battle it out and then go for that bonus. So there’s just excitement generated throughout the industry for it.”

Triple Truck Challenge back for second year: Officials also announced the return of the Triple Truck Challenge, which debuted earlier this season as a bonus program for Gander Trucks regulars. The 2020 version takes on a new look, moving to earlier in the season with three new tracks. The program will also shift to race weekends as companion events to other national series; all three races in “The Trip” were stand-alone events this year.

RELATED: More details about ‘The Trip’ in 2020

Gander Trucks drivers will compete for extra cash at Richmond, Dover and Charlotte.

Eligibility for ‘The Trip’ tweaked: Officials removed the entry deadline requirement for both drivers and teams aiming to compete for the Triple Truck Challenge. The detail figured into this season’s three-race series, keeping veteran Greg Biffle from vying for more bonuses after he won the first leg of the program. The same technicality would have kept other post-entry drivers out of the Triple Truck Challenge running.

“I think with everything, once you get through the first year or even the second or third year, you take a look at it and see what always needs tweaked or maybe updated,” Miley said, “and we found with the format of the Triple Truck Challenge, it really didn’t make sense to have those entry deadline rules in there. If anything, it could potentially take away from the momentum of what the program’s all about. So we felt that with this format and for these events, it probably made sense to remove those and so we’re going to do that for 2020.”

The entry deadline requirement for eligibility will remain in the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash program.

Posted on by Zack Albert

NASCAR officials released the races that will make up the Xfinity Series’ Dash 4 Cash and Gander Outdoors Truck Series’ Triple Truck Challenge in 2020.

Dash 4 Cash will return to three of the four tracks that made up its springtime swing this season. The Triple Truck Challenge — nicknamed “The Trip” — will visit three new venues and take place earlier in the season.

RELATED: NASCAR 101

“The 2020 schedule is a little different, so that definitely had us going back and looking,” said Meghan Miley, NASCAR senior director of Racing Operations. “The goal of it when looking at what events we’re going to do, we want them to be consecutive because that just keeps the momentum going for the program. Additionally, three of the four markets are key for Comcast, with the program wrapping up in their back yard.”

The Dash 4 Cash program will offer bonus money for eligible Xfinity Series regulars at four selected tracks:

March 28: Texas Motor Speedway
April 4: Bristol Motor Speedway
April 25: Talladega Superspeedway
May 2: Dover International Speedway

Texas returns to the Dash 4 Cash series for the first time since 2010, the program’s second season. Bristol, Talladega and Dover will collectively return to the Dash 4 Cash schedule for the third straight year. The series’ March 21 visit to Homestead-Miami Speedway will serve as the Dash 4 Cash qualifier, which will determine the four eligible drivers for the Texas opener.

Richmond Raceway drops from the Dash 4 Cash program, but picks up another incentive-laden race with the Triple Truck Challenge. Gander Trucks teams will compete on the .75-mile track next season for the first time since 2005.

The full slate for the Triple Truck Challenge:

April 18: Richmond Raceway
May 1: Dover International Speedway
May 15: Charlotte Motor Speedway

The Triple Truck Challenge was introduced in 2019, held at Texas, Iowa and Gateway in June.

Other rules and prize-money payouts for Dash 4 Cash and the Triple Truck Challenge will be announced at a later date.

Posted on by Staff Report

Fans in Canada can watch Sunday’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Playoffs race via a live stream on NASCAR.com.

Bookmark the link here or simply go to https://www.nascar.com/trucksincanada/

Sunday’s race is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET. Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio have the radio calls. Fans in the United States can watch on FS1.

MORE: Full schedule for Canadian Tire, Road America

After opening the playoffs last year, the 2019 race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park serves as the second race in the opening Round of 8.

In years past fans have often seen last-lap contact when battling for the win. Last year it was Noah Gragson getting into teammate Todd Gilliland — spinning them both out — near the final corner.

Defending series champion Brett Moffitt leads the eight-driver playoff field into Canada, and he’s automatically advanced into the next round by virtue of his win in the postseason opener at Bristol.  Veteran Johnny Sauter currently holds the last transfer spot, sitting three points above Austin Hill and 13 points above Tyler Ankrum on the cutline.

The playoff field will be trimmed to six following the third race of the Round 8, Sept. 13 at Las Vegas.

Posted on by Terrin Waack

Adaptability will determine who survives and thrives in the playoffs.

The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series kicked off its 2019 postseason at Bristol Motor Speedway last week. Brett Moffitt won and became the first driver to solidify his Round of 6 berth. Now the circuit heads to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, a 2.459-mile road course with 10 turns that’s much different than the recent 0.533-mile oval.

“Well, it was pretty crazy (Thursday),” Tyler Ankrum said, who is currently eighth in the standings. “So I think it set the tone that it’s only going to get crazier. We’ll see for these next two races. Then, you know, what happens happen.”

The Chevrolet Silverado 250 is Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Moffitt wins at Bristol | Full Canadian Tire schedule

With where the championship standings fall right now, Ankrum (eighth, 2,030 points) is the bottom-ranked playoff driver. He and Austin Hill (seventh, 2,040 points) are below the cutline, which Johnny Sauter has set in sixth at 2,043 points. Moffitt is in first and holds 2,081 points.

Three races make up each playoff round, the third being an elimination race. The current Round of 8 consists of Bristol (done), Canadian Tire (next) and Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Sept. 13 at 9 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), which is a 1.5-miler. None of the tracks are alike.

“It’s just a beast in itself,” Hill said. “You got a half mile – a half mile that’s super fast like Bristol is, too – and then you go to a road course you only run once a year. I didn’t have the privilege of doing any other road-course races, so that’s going to be interesting. To be able to go to Las Vegas then is going to be really good for us.”

Justin Haley, who’s now in the Xfinity Series, won the race at Canadian Tire last year.

The Gander Trucks as a whole has not run a road course this season.

“Oh, I’m looking forward to it,” said Matt Crafton, who’s fifth (2,053 points) in the standings and has an average finish of 8.7 in six starts at Canadian Tire. “I love road racing.”

RELATED: Complete look at championship point standings

Other drivers in the playoffs not already mentioned are Ross Chastain (second, 2,065 points), Stewart Friesen (third, 2,057 points) and Grant Enfinger (fourth, 2,053 points). That makes eight total. Two drivers will be cut from the field after Las Vegas.

Only four get to compete for the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 15.

“Can’t slow down,” Chastain said. “You’ll get runover.”

The Round of 6 will start at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 12. After the 2.66-mile-long oval, the Truck Series will go to 0.526-mile Martinsville Speedway. The last stop before the finale, ISM Raceway, is a mile.

The lack of similarities between the Round of 6 tracks mirrors that of the Round of 8.

“It’s the same thing once you get to Round 2,” Ankrum said. “So you have to be able to adapt really well.”