Posted on by Marissa Fuller

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Chase Elliott came within feet of passing Brad Keselowski in the final laps for the win in Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway, going bumper-to-bumper with the No. 2 Team Penske Ford around each corner for multiple laps.

But he wasn’t able to make the right move in his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to take the lead in the final laps before the checkered flag waved.

“I tried to move up, tried to get some runs,” Elliott said. “Moved up with about five to go and was making a little time but obviously, not enough time and I was just trying to get back to his bumper. I thought maybe I could route him out of the way or something. It was going to be really hard to drive up next to him and pass him, so I was just going to have to get to his bumper and play some games and hope it went my way.”

RELATED: Race results | Keselowski holds off Elliott on final lap

Elliott, with eight starts at Martinsville in his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career under his belt, finished runner-up and notched his best finish at the short track, as well as his best result this season.

“We had a really, really solid car and this is the best shot we had to win to date this season,” said Elliott. “When you have cars like that and performances like we did today, you really need to capitalize.”

” … What happened at Fontana, that was a real bummer. So, to come back and be able to run inside the top five all day long and be as competitive as the winner of the race was, I think, is an improvement.”

This was the refresh that the team needed and they are pleased with what they brought to the table, giving credit to their equipment and smart decisions on pit road.

“It’s solid; it’s what you want to do,” said crew chief Alan Gustafson. “You really want to win, and you can sit here and critique it for a lot of reasons but ultimately, having the pace in the car is the key and if we have good cars, we can have performances like that. We finally had a clean day with a fast car. We needed a good finish.”

The Cup Series heads back to Martinsville Speedway for the first race of the NASCAR Playoffs Round of 8 and a finish like this has Elliott eager to be one of the ones competing in October.

“Ultimately, this is an important race track, coming back here in the fall,” said Elliott. “Hopefully we can run like we did today, maybe a little better and hopefully we’re still a part of the deal to make it matter.”

Elliott led 49 laps of the race after getting by Keselowski and noted that his car was just as strong, if not stronger, than the No. 2. But, he just couldn’t make it happen in the final laps.

” … I thought my car was working a little bit better than his on the first five or 10 laps, I thought that was my best shot to get him,” Elliott said. “Then I felt like he was a little better than me, or we evened out kind of after that and then it was just a matter of how we hit our mark. It was really easy to mess up and it was really just about who strung together two corners lap after lap after lap.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Brad Keselowski led 446 of 500 laps in winning Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

An easy victory, right?

Well, not exactly. After Keselowski’s pit crew put him in the lead for a restart on Lap 380, the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford spent the rest of the race fending off a determined charge from Chase Elliott.

Ultimately, Keselowski got to the finish line .594 seconds ahead of Elliott and 1.335 seconds in front of Kyle Busch, who was attempting to win his third straight Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race in his 1,000th national series start. But it wasn’t easy, as both Elliott and Busch were close enough to capitalize on even the smallest potential mistake.

RELATED: Race results 
SHOP: Keselowski gear

The victory was Keselowski’s second of the season, second at Martinsville and the 29th of his career. It was also Team Penske’s third triumph of the season in six races, equaling the total of Joe Gibbs Racing and the third Cup win for the Ford Mustang, which debuted in the series this year.

“The car was really good,” Keselowski said. “This Ford Mustang. … Ford worked really hard in the offseason to build these cars and make them real strong, and so far, so good. Just a great day for our team.

“Awesome execution on pit road, and big credit to (engine builder) Doug Yates and all the engine stuff. Those guys worked really hard. But just one of those days you dream of as a race car driver where you’ve got a great car.”

RELATED: Drivers with 400 laps led at Martinsville

Before Keselowski could claim the grandfather clock trophy that goes to the winner, he had to go to school. Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was a superior short-run car, enabling Elliott to pass Keselowski for the lead on Lap 325, five laps after a restart necessitated by a caution for William Byron’s spin in Turn 4.

Keselowski followed Elliott for 48 green-flag laps — until Matt Tifft spun in Turn 2 on Lap 372 — and learned a valuable lesson.

“I don’t know if we were as good as the 9 car, Chase Elliott,” Keselowski said. “He was really strong, but he passed me there with about 200 to go, and I watched him and studied him and kind of broke it down and knew what I had to do to hold him off with that fast of a car.

“And we were able to pull it off that last run.”

Busch was hounding Elliott as fiercely as Elliott was dogging Keselowski, but when Busch was held up in traffic in the late going, Elliott began experimenting with a higher line in the corners.

“I felt like we were about as even with him as we could be,” Elliott said. “I felt like when he did get the lead, there was a little advantage to being out front, being able to work traffic your way and kind of play off it and whatnot.

“But, yeah, I tried to move up there at the end, and I don’t know if I could have got to him. Maybe if I moved up a little sooner. But I tried to get to him there in (Turn) 3 (on the final lap). I was pretty well content on moving him out of the way. But maybe next time.”

Ryan Blaney finished fourth, followed by Denny Hamlin, who recovered from a penalty for an uncontrolled tire. Kevin Harvick was sixth, Clint Bowyer came home seventh, despite being sent to the rear twice for speeding on pit road. Martin Truex Jr., Aric Almirola and Daniel Suarez completed the top 10.

Posted on by Staff Report

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

Note: All times are ET.

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

Monday, March 25
5 p.m., NASCAR America: Monday, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
8 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
11 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App

Tuesday, March 26
5 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN
9 a.m., The Tough Trucks of NASCAR: Episode 6
7 p.m., NASCAR Live

Wednesday, March 27
5 p.m., NASCAR America: Motormouths, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN
1 p.m., NASCAR Coast to Coast
1 p.m., Crew Call

Thursday, March 28
3 a.m., NASCAR Presents: The Adventures of Janet Guthrie (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
3:30 a.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Martinsville (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
5 p.m., NASCAR America: The Motorsports Hour, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
7 p.m., Unrivaled: Earnhardt vs. Gordon (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN
1 p.m., MRN Classic Race

Friday, March 29
3 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
4 a.m., NASCAR Presents: The Adventures of Janet Guthrie (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
3 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Texas, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN2)
4 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series practice at Texas, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
5 p.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Qualifying at Texas, FS1/FOX Sports App
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice at Texas, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
7:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying at Texas, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
8:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Texas, FS1/FOX Sports App
9 p.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Vankor 350, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN
8:30 p.m., Vankor 350

Saturday, March 30
5 a.m., NASCAR Presents: The Adventures of Janet Guthrie (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
5:30 a.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Vankor 350 (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
8 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying at Texas (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
9 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Texas, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN2) CANCELED
10 a.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying at Texas, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
11 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub Weekend Edition, FS1/FOX Sports App
11:30 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice at Texas, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN3)
12:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Xfinity Texas, FS1/FOX Sports App
1 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series My Bariatric Solutions 300, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN3, 4)
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Post-race Show, FS1/FOX Sports App

Sunday, March 31
9:30 a.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series My Bariatric Solutions 300 (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App
11:30 a.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series My Bariatric Solutions 300 (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
1:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Texas, FS1/FOX Sports App
2:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FOX/FOX Sports App
3 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, FOX/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN1, 3)

Posted on by Staff Report

Brad Keselowski led all 130 laps of Stage 2 to capture his second stage win at Martinsville Speedway in Sunday’s STP 500.

Keselowski, who has one Martinsville win in his career, collected his second stage win of the season in winning his second stage of the day. He led 254 of the first 260 laps.

RELATED: Stage 2 results

Ryan Blaney made a move around Chase Elliott late in the stage to finish second in the stage. Elliott dropped in the final laps to fourth as Denny Hamlin made a move around him for third.

The stage was punctuated by one early caution when the yellow flag came out on Lap 145 for debris on the track — an axle from the No. 15 of Ross Chastain.

The STP 500 is scheduled to end on Lap 500.

Finish Driver Team Race Points
1  Brad Keselowski  Team Penske 10
2  Ryan Blaney  Team Penske 9
3  Denny Hamlin  Joe Gibbs Racing 8
4  Chase Elliott  Hendrick Motorsports 7
5  Martin Truex Jr.  Joe Gibbs Racing 6
6  Aric Almirola  Stewart-Haas Racing 5
7  Kevin Harvick  Stewart-Haas Racing 4
8  Clint Bowyer  Stewart-Haas Racing 3
9  Daniel Suarez  Stewart-Haas Racing 2
10  Joey Logano   Team Penske 1

 

STAGE 1

Brad Keselowski took the lead from pole-sitter and Team Penske teammate Joey Logano six laps into the STP 500 and held on at Martinsville Speedway for his first stage win of the season.

Keselowski led 124 of the first 130 laps of Stage 1 on Sunday.

Chase Elliott was second in the stage in his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, finishing just 0.113 seconds behind Keselowski as he closed the gap quickly in the waning laps of the stage.

Defending race winner Clint Bowyer was sixth in the stage, while pole-sitter Logano finished seventh.

The caution came out on Lap 64 when the right front tire of No. 34 Michael McDowell went down and he slammed into the wall coming out of Turn 4.

Finish Driver Team Race Points
1  Brad Keselowski  Team Penske 10
2  Chase Elliott  Hendrick Motorsports 9
3  Aric Almirola  Stewart-Haas Racing 8
4  Denny Hamlin  Joe Gibbs Racing 7
5  Ryan Blaney  Team Penske 6
6  Clint Bowyer  Stewart-Haas Racing 5
7  Joey Logano  Team Penske 4
8  Martin Truex Jr.  Joe Gibbs Racing 3
9  Kyle Busch  Joe Gibbs Racing 2
10  Austin Dillon  Richard Childress Racing 1

 

Posted on by

Martinsville’s most recent winner Joey Logano will start from the pole position for Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET,  FS1/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Does he merit a spot in your lineup? We’ve dissected the numbers to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration as you make roster decisions.

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

Remember that the garage locks at the end of Stage 2. Once the final stage starts, your roster is locked in.

Jessica Ruffin’s Fantasy Live lineup for race day at Martinsville
1. Joey Logano
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Clint Bowyer
4. Aric Almirola
5. Denny Hamlin
Garage: Chase Elliott

RELATED: Odds for Auto Club | 10-lap averages from Auto Club | Podcast: Fantasy Fastlane

Analysis:

The majority of my lineup will remain the same. but I made two switches after watching practice and qualifying and looking at long-run speed; I’m taking out Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch and substituting Aric Almirola and Joey Logano. The Team Penske fleet, considered a favorable group for this weekend, has not put up the dominant speeds that I expected heading into the weekend. Because of its strength at other tracks on the circuit and early handle on the 2019 rules package, I’m opting to save the majority of their drivers this weekend. The exception is Logano, who won the Busch Pole Award for Sunday’s event. Logano’s Martinsville history is strong — he’s finished four of the last five races in the top 10, including a win last fall — but what swayed me was his pit stall selection and starting spot, as that No. 1 pit stall is a valuable asset that will aid him on a tricky pit road.

I put Logano in my lineup in place of Kyle Busch after Saturday’s qualifying session; while Busch was quick in practice and has a gleaming recent history at Martinsville, his struggles in qualifying that resulted in a 14th-place starting position worried me. With the race being impounded, crew chief Adam Stevens won’t be able to make any more changes on the No. 18 before Sunday’s race, leaving the slightest bit of risk that I’m not willing to take with a driver as strong week-to-week as Busch.

RELATED: Martinsville 10-lap averages

Aric Almirola was a surprise surge this weekend; the No. 10 driver was second-fastest on the 10-lap average chart (behind Kyle Busch) in opening practice and also posted the second-quickest lap in that session. While Almirola’s entire body of work at Martinsville hasn’t been his most impressive (he has an average finish of 21.4 at “The Paperclip”) his Martinsville finishes in Stewart-Haas Racing equipment are better — he notched 14th- and 11th-place finishes there in 2018. There’s something to be said for Almirola’s current streak, too; he’s finished the past four races in the top 10, leading multiple laps in three of four of them. His front row starting spot confirmed my early decision to slide the No. 10 in my lineup.

While he’s never won on a short track, Martin Truex Jr. has looked fast this weekend, topping the 10-lap average chart in final practice. He was feet away from his first short-track win last fall at Martinsville when Logano bumped him for the victory, leaving redemption on the table for the No. 19 this weekend. He earns a spot in my Fantasy Live lineup. I’m also taking last year’s spring winner at the 0.526-mile track, Clint Bowyer, who topped opening practice and has possessed good long-run speed this weekend.

Rounding out my lineup is the No. 9 of Elliott and the No. 11 of Denny Hamlin. Elliott led final practice at “The Paperclip” and boasts a solid starting spot (eighth) and has put up strong showing at Martinsville in the past. (Remember his run-in with Hamlin in 2017?) Speaking of which — five-time Martinsville winner Hamlin will also be in my lineup. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver ranked sixth on the 10-lap average charts for both practice sessions and owns the second-best average running position at Martinsville. The 2019 Daytona 500 champ also paced the field in the opening two rounds of qualifying and looks like he could be a factor for the win Sunday.

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

MORE: Play the Props Challenge today

1. O/U 11.5 drivers score stage points on Sunday? While we only saw 10 drivers nab stage points in last year’s spring race, the chances of only 12 drivers earning stage points is unlikely. With 20 spots for points in Stages 1 and 2, only 12 drivers earning stage points implies that only two new drivers — ones who didn’t earn points in Stage 1 — will earn points in Stage 2. Too much of a risk for me, so I’m taking the OVER here.

2. O/U 4.5 Ford drivers finish in the top 10 at Martinsville. While I think Ford drivers like Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick are definitely capable of running in the top 10 Sunday, I also think non-Fords like Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and even Jimmie Johnson or JTG Daugherty drivers could make it into the top 10 by the end of a chaotic Martinsville race. If the line was 3.5, I’d take the OVER. But it’s not, so I’m going UNDER as a safer bet.

Posted on by Staff Report

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The No. 24 Chevrolet of driver William Byron failed pre-race inspection Sunday morning at Martinsville Speedway, dropping the car to the bottom of the starting lineup for Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).

After the inspection failure for mechanical measurements, NASCAR officials disallowed the car’s speed posted in Saturday’s Busch Pole Qualifying session. Byron was scheduled to take the green flag sixth in Sunday’s 500-lapper, but instead will start 34th.

RELATED: Official lineup, team rosters for race

The right side of Byron’s car was damaged in Saturday’s opening practice when it hit the wall, and he took it to the garage for repairs. Byron’s car passed inspection on its second time through.

Joey Logano won the provisional Busch Pole in Saturday’s qualifying session, marking his fifth pole position at the .526-mile track since 2015. His Team Penske No. 22 Ford was all clear in its pass through the inspection stations.

The No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet driven by D.J. Kennington also failed the Optical Scanning Station and will start 35th. Kennington qualified 34th on Saturday. The No. 52 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet of Jeb Burton was the third car marked as TD (time disallowed) on the official lineup sheet, and he will start 36th.

Posted on by Marissa Fuller

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — It was a happy ending at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday for Ben Rhodes, who finished second in the No. 99 ThorSport Racing Ford after starting 16th in the TruNorth Global 250. That kind of rebound was just what the doctor ordered for the young team in its fourth race of the 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series season.

Rhodes, who is competing in his fourth full-time season, had been off to a slow start, with a fifth-place showing in Atlanta sandwiched by finishes of 14th in Daytona and 25th in Las Vegas.

Saturday’s runner-up finish marked the start of something good, according to 22-year-old Rhodes.

RELATED: Full Truck Series results

“This was just a solid rebound to get everybody pumped up and ready to attack the rest of the season,” he said.

But if it wasn’t for the work of the No. 99 pit crew, Rhodes wasn’t “quite sure that we’d get a finish like that after qualifying so bad.”

“My pit crew has done an amazing job,” he said. “I give a lot of credit to the guys on the pit box and the pit crew for getting me my spots today. We came in, they made a really good call and before I knew it I was up front — thanks to them.”

Rhodes’ ThorSport team is made up of guys primarily in their early to late 20s, working together for the first time. Although Rhodes finished fifth in the standings last season and notched his second career victory, it wasn’t a seamless transition to this season.

“I mean, I’m 22, my engineer is 24 and my spotter is, like, 27,” Rhodes said. “This is an all new team, new trucks, everything is different. I feel like we’re logging notes and we’re getting better with our setups as we go. I know what we’ve got to do to get better — it’s just a matter of doing it.”

The Truck Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway next weekend and the momentum of back-to-back race weekends is something that the No. 99 team is eager to capitalize on.

“It makes a difference,” Rhodes said. “Running back-to-back with a young team like mine, we’re all new together, we have to keep this momentum going and that’s what I’m happy about with this finish.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – With surgical efficiency, Joey Logano continued his domination of knockout qualifying at Martinsville Speedway.

Saving his car and his tires for the final round of Saturday’s time trials at the .526-mile short track, Logano won the pole for Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a lap at 97.830 mph (19.356 seconds). (The results of Logano’s pole win were confirmed when the No. 22 passed Sunday morning inspection.)

Driving the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, Logano edged Stewart-Haas Racing Ford driver Aric Almirola (97.643 mph) for the top starting spot by .037 seconds. Brad Keselowski (97.458 mph) qualified third, followed by Kevin Harvick (97.382 mph), as Ford drivers captured the top four positions on the grid.

The Busch Pole Award was Logano’s first of the season, his fifth at Martinsville and the 21st of his career. Logano ran only three laps total in the first two rounds, allowing him to save his tires for a four-lap run in the final round. His last lap was his fastest.

MORE: See official starting lineup

“It’s awesome to get another pole and hopefully we can top it off with another win,” said Logano, who used a victory in last year’s Playoff race at Martinsville as a springboard to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship. “This is a fun race. I always look forward to coming up here.”

Logano has earned his five of the last seven contested poles at Martinsville over a nine-race span, with two of the qualifying sessions canceled because of adverse weather.

All told, Fords claimed six of the top 12 starting positions, including Team Penske drivers Logano and Keselowski and all four Stewart-Haas Racing drivers — Almirola, Harvick, Daniel Suarez (ninth) and Clint Bowyer (10th). In contrast to Logano’s economical runs, Bowyer had 16 laps on his tires at the end of the final round.

Five-time Martinsville winner Denny Hamlin paced the first two rounds but had to settle for fifth when the starting order for the top 12 drivers was decided. Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. (eighth) were the only Toyota drivers to make the final round.

William Byron was sixth fastest in the money round, but his car failed pre-race inspection, his time disallowed, and he will start 34th instead. That moved Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson up to sixth as the top Chevrolet ahead of Hendrick Motorsports drivers Chase Elliott (seventh) and Jimmie Johnson (11th), who leads active drivers with nine victories at the paperclip-shaped track.

MORE: No. 24 car fails pre-race inspection

Trying for his third straight Cup win on Sunday — not to mention a weekend sweep of the Martinsville races — Saturday’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series victor Kyle Busch will start 13th in the STP 500.

“Too loose — just didn’t have it with track conditions today,” said Busch, who opted not to make a mock qualifying run during practice.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – A week after locking up his 200th NASCAR national series victory at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, Kyle Busch took the first step toward the next century mark.

Holding off challenges from Ross Chastain and runner-up Ben Rhodes, Busch survived a late restart in winning Saturday’s TruNorth Global 250 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway.

The race ended under a last-lap caution, after Reid Wilson’s No. 44 Chevrolet spun in Turn 4 and nosed toward the inside wall. Rhodes was running second when the yellow flag waved, with reigning series champion Brett Moffitt third and Chastain fourth.

MORE: Full race results

The victory was Busch’s second at the .526-mile short track in his own Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. Busch has won each of his three starts this season and now has 54 victories in Trucks, extending his series record.

“These guys worked really, really hard this weekend,” Busch said of crew chief Rudy Fugle and the No. 51 team. “We unloaded, and I didn’t like where we were at. We made wholesale changes to this thing all weekend long and just tried to keep improving this Cessna Beechcraft Tundra and make it faster. …

“All these guys kept trying to make it turn the center (of the corner) better. At Martinsville, you have to turn the center without getting too loose in or too loose off. … And we had enough tire at the end to hold them all off.”

Busch led 174 of the 250 laps, including the final 66. He passed Chastain for the top spot on Lap 185 and held it the rest of the way through four subsequent cautions before the final restart with three circuits remaining.

“Today we just kind of let the race play out and come to us,” Busch said.

Rhodes had a second-place car but not a race winner — and he knew it.

“It was a good day at Martinsville,” Rhodes conceded. “It was the best finish I’ve had here yet. I was surprised — qualifying 16th. We had a fast Ford F150, but we just needed a little more. We got beat by the best in the business. He knows what he’s doing here.

“It was fun following him and seeing how he was pacing himself. That’s something I’ve struggled with in the past. … Anytime you restart next to that guy, I try to log it in my memory banks so I can just try and get him next time.”

Pole winner Stewart Friesen finished fifth after leading 19 laps, third most behind Busch and Chastain (53). Myatt Snider, Grant Enfinger, Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter and Bubba Wallace completed the top 10.

French Canadian driver Raphael Lessard finished 14th in his first start in the Truck Series.

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