Posted on by Staff Report

One race and three more spots are up for grabs in the Championship 4 for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Sunday’s Can-Am 500 at ISM Raceway in Phoenix (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will see seven drivers compete for the final spots available in the postseason finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 18.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

• Kyle Busch: Busch would clinch with 31 points and a new winner. If there is a repeat winner (or a win by Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick or a non-playoff driver), he would clinch with 28 points. With a win, he would clinch.

• Martin Truex Jr.: Truex would clinch with 34 points and a new winner. If there is a repeat winner (or a win by Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick or a non-playoff driver), he would clinch with 31 points. With a win, he would clinch.

• Kevin Harvick: If there is a repeat winner (or a win by Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. or a non-playoff driver), he would clinch with 53 points. With a win, he would clinch. Harvick could also clinch on points with a new winner, but would need help depending on the winner.

RELATED: Playoff standings | Full schedule for ISM Raceway

• Kurt Busch: The only guaranteed result that gives Kurt Busch a Championship 4 spot is a win. Busch could also clinch on points, but would need help depending on the winner.

• Chase Elliott: The only guaranteed result that gives Elliott a Championship 4 spot is a win. Elliott could also clinch on points, but would need help depending on the winner.

• Aric Almirola: Almirola can only clinch a spot with a win.

• Clint Bowyer: Bowyer can only clinch a spot with a win.

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Cole Custer won at Texas and Christopher Bell prevailed in a must-win scenario at Phoenix to seal automatic berths in the Championship 4. Daniel Hemric and Tyler Reddick advanced to the Homestead-Miami finale on the basis of points, completing a field of four drivers from four organizations for the title battle.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

Johnny Sauter locked up a Championship 4 spot with a win at Martinsville, while Justin Haley prevailed at Texas to secure his fate in Miami. Brett Moffitt won at ISM Raceway to lock in, while Noah Gragson reached the Championship 4 on points.

Posted on by Staff Report

There’s plenty of pressure mounting as the NASCAR Playoffs head into the penultimate race of the season at the newly configured ISM Raceway in Phoenix. With one more chance left to punch an automatic ticket to the championship race in Miami, it’s understandable if drivers’ nerves are becoming a bit frayed.

Aric Almirola, who is 57 points below the playoff cutline after Sunday’s race at Texas, made no bones about his displeasure toward Joey Logano for a late-race move that left the driver of the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford feeling miffed. With Almirola running in the top five, Logano appeared to bring the No. 22 Team Penske Ford down toward Almirola’s vehicle, taking some air off it and resulting in a bobble that shuffled Almirola back in the pack.

RELATED: Full race results

Almirola finished in eighth place while Logano came home third, and in his post-race interview with NBCSN, Almirola said, “When Homestead comes around, if I’m not in, he’ll know it.” When asked to elaborate, Almirola said, “I will just make it real difficult on him.” Almirola ended by saying about Phoenix, “I’m fired up, let’s go!”

Alrighty then! Were Almirola’s hard feelings toward Logano warranted? NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola, Jonathan Merryman and George Winkler debate.

PD: Aric Almirola is a nice guy. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt here and I’ve been wracking my brain trying to see this from his viewpoint, but I just can’t get behind it.

Sure, he can be displeased that Logano perhaps came down on him a little too close for comfort, but, for starters, there was no contact made and, secondly, what else does he expect a race car driver to do in a race, but to … race?

This playoff format is exciting for tons of reasons, one of which is exactly this situation. Logano is already locked into Miami so *conceivably* he could lay off the gas (pun intended) and coast into the title race. But that’s not how race car drivers are born and bred, and that’s certainly not how Logano — arguably the sport’s most-aggressive driver — would ever act on a race track.

RELATED: Updated playoff standings

Video games are way less fun when you change them to the easiest difficulty, and that’s essentially what Almirola is expecting out of his opponent. Unwarranted.

GW: I’m also having a hard time getting behind Almirola, but Logano’s aggressive driving gets under people’s skin. Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and now Almirola are some of the drivers who’ve come away either miffed — or in some cases swinging their fists — at Logano after he races them hard to the finish.

Whether or not Almirola’s hard feelings are warranted, it’s legitimate to wonder whether racing hard for third place at Texas will cost Logano in the end at Homestead-Miami. Because unless Almirola pulls off a clutch win at ISM Raceway this weekend, he likely will be out of it. And that will free him up to make life difficult for Logano, who will be racing for a championship.

So maybe next time in the interest of the bigger goal, Logano should leave the little battles alone and settle for a fifth-place finish or whatever. Hey, I’m all for competing hard for the win, but sometimes you have to be smart and make sure you don’t add another enemy to your list. And right now, that list of enemies is pretty long for Mr. Logano.

RELATED: Logano, Truex swap texts

JM: Joey Logano’s job is to put Roger Penske in a position to race for a championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. I suspect Aric Almirola’s job requirements are to make sure he’s got a chance at a Cup title for his owner Tony Stewart.

That being said, just because Joey Logano is locked into the playoff finale set for later this month in South Florida doesn’t mean he needs to pull over to give another drive a shot at a win.

Logano is paid to win, something he has done 20 times in his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career. He’s done this by being a hard-nosed, never-give-an-inch racer, so don’t be surprised when he doesn’t let you by.

In the closing laps of the AAA Texas 500, Almirola said over his radio “That (expletive) won’t get a break at all from me when we get to Homestead, I  guarantee you that.”

Good. He shouldn’t. But that should be due to the fact he’s paid to drive a race car to the best finish possible every week, and not because he’s mad at Joey for doing just that.

RELATED: Almirola vows payback 

Posted on by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — One race. Two championship bids remain.

There is so much anticipation as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to the new-look ISM Raceway in Phoenix this week to set the final two positions eligible for the series Championship 4.

MORE: Full Phoenix schedule | TV listings

Kevin Harvick won Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway to secure his fourth championship run in five seasons. Team Penske’s Joey Logano won at Martinsville Speedway two weeks ago to punch his first ticket to the title race in two years.

That leaves two positions remaining to earn a chance in the title bout. Regular season champion Kyle Busch holds a 28-point edge on the field going to Phoenix. And reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr. sits 25 points to the good.

Chase Elliott and Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer round out the list of eight eligible Playoff drivers, who will essentially need to hoist a trophy at ISM Raceway to earn their opportunity at the 2018 Monster Energy Series title.

MORE: Full NASCAR Playoffs standings

If the race winner of Sunday’s Can-Am 500 (at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio – Channel 90) is one of the eight championship eligible drivers, he would automatically earn a position in the Championship 4. If not, then two drivers from that group of eight would advance based on points.

All four Stewart-Haas Racing Fords are among those still vying for a title — Harvick, Kurt Busch, Almirola and Bowyer — and it’s the only four-car team to have all its drivers advance this far in the title run.

“Just the fact that we were able to get all four of them this far is an accomplishment, a huge year for our company,” team co-owner Tony Stewart said Sunday.

“Couldn’t be more proud of everybody. But the reality is we knew, everybody knew, when they started the playoffs that those first three spots were already for the most part taken unless they had a natural disaster happen.

“I guess from our standpoint now, I mean, we got one in. There’s one more race left. We got one more opportunity to get one more of those three in. No matter what, it’s been a record breaking year for our company in so many ways. There’s so many different records that have been broken, if Kevin is the only one that ends up in there, it’s still been a great season.”

Of the four drivers essentially needing a victory to break into the top-four in the standings, only Kurt Busch has won at ISM Raceway before. His brother Kyle and Joey Logano each have a victory, too. Harvick scored his ninth win at ISM Raceway this spring – most among the field; double that of any driver entered this week (Jimmie Johnson is next best with four wins).

Harvick’s Phoenix mastery includes a massive 1,522 laps led at the track compared to 827 for Kyle Busch — the two largest lap totals among the current eight Playoff drivers. Kurt Busch is next with 757 laps out front.

Among those still looking for that first Phoenix trophy, Truex has led only 104 laps in 25 starts. Elliott – the lone Chevrolet still running for the crown – has led 140 laps in only five ISM Raceway starts. Bowyer has led only 22 laps in 26 Phoenix races and Almirola is still looking for his first lap out front in what will be his 16th start.

Counting Harvick’s victory on Sunday, six of the eight Playoff drivers finished among the top-10 at Texas. Kyle Busch was 17th and Bowyer, who qualified on the outside pole position, was 26th.

“That stinks, first corner of the race,” Bowyer said of contact on the opening lap with Denny Hamlin.

“I’m sick. It wasn’t what we were hoping for today. We were having to turn right to get into the corner and were ploughing in the middle. I think something was going on with the car when it was getting in the corner.

“We’ll go to Phoenix and try to win. This isn’t over yet,” said Bowyer.

Past statistics certainly may not predict the outcome this week either. The track is debuting an incredible $178 million makeover featuring not only new fan amenities, but the one-mile oval itself will present differently. The start-finish line is essentially flip-flopped with it now located where Turn 2 used to be. 

RELATED: Revamped ISM Raceway set to awe

Whether Harvick’s previous amazing work at the track can be replicated on the fresh layout remains to be seen. Certainly there is plenty of motivation from the other Playoff drivers realizing this is their last opportunity to “win” their way in to a shot at the sport’s biggest trophy. 

The entire slate of championship chasers turned in good showings at Phoenix earlier this year. All four of the drivers essentially needing to win to secure a championship position scored top-10 finishes there this March. Kurt Busch was 10th, Elliott was third, Almirola was seventh and Bowyer was sixth.

Truex, the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota, was fifth in the spring and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was runner-up – his fifth top-five at Phoenix in the last six races. 

“I feel okay about where we are and feel like we’re in decent shape going to Phoenix,” Truex said Sunday. “We’ll go there and race hard again and see what we can do. I think we need a little more speed to run with the Fords – they’re clearly really, really fast right now and if we’re off just a little bit we can’t run with them.

“On the short run, they (Fords) were really fast, but on the long run I thought we were as good as anybody, but just never got to show it. Track position was so hard to get.”

Even needing to overcome a 25-point deficit, Kurt Busch seemed optimistic about his chances to rally into the championship field.

“We are in a good position,” Busch said. “There are a lot of other people I would like to be right here.”

It all comes down to one thing.

“We’ve got to win, simple,” Chase Elliott said.

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FORT WORTH, Texas — For winner Kevin Harvick, Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway was an opportunity capitalized: He ran a strong race and punched his ticket to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

For other NASCAR Playoffs contenders, the overtime event was a series of struggles, mistakes and, ultimately, missed opportunities with only one race remaining until Miami.

Call it pressure from the playoffs, or simply human error, that led to mistakes. But they hurt — and some worse than the others.

RELATED: Complete race results | Playoff standings | Harvick dominates 

“We had two mistakes today and they were a driver error and a pit crew error,” said No. 18 crew chief Adam Stevens, whose driver Kyle Busch finished 17th. “Mistakes happen. There’s never a good time for them and we had two of them today.

“You speed on pit road, you go to the back and you have a loose wheel under green then lose a couple laps and we just couldn’t get back on the lead lap. Obviously at the very end we did, but it didn’t matter at that point with only a green-white-checkered to finish. Felt like we had something we could have raced for.”

Fellow playoff contender Martin Truex Jr. also made a crucial mistake when he drove through too many pit boxes after pitting for a loose wheel. The No. 78 team had been looking for redemption after last week’s heartbreak at Martinsville Speedway. Instead of battling up front for the win, Truex finished ninth and sits 25 points above the cutline.

“I’m telling you, God is testing us,” Truex said. “There’s no question. Had to start at the back, got to the front, hung around there for a while and then had a loose wheel there again. Just a tough day. …Proud of everybody on this Bass Pro/5-hour ENERGY Toyota and feel like we’re in decent shape going to Phoenix. We’ll go there and race hard again and see what we can do.”

RELATED: Truex being tested

While Truex was able to maintain a decent position in the standings despite the mishaps, Clint Bowyer wasn’t as fortunate. The No. 14 driver experienced problems early when he made contact with Denny Hamlin in the opening laps, putting the team two laps down. After using strategy to gain back a lap, his day worsened when he was penalized for a crew member over the wall too soon at Lap 164. Six laps later, he was penalized again for pitting before pit road was open.

The mistakes put Bowyer last in the playoff standings – 73 points from the cutline – and in a must-win situation heading into the penultimate race at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona. After finishing 26th, the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing driver was visibly frustrated.

“It was a good weekend for us and bad day,” he said.

Next week’s race at ISM Raceway is a chance for Harvick and Logano, who was locked into the Championship 4 at Martinsville, to gain another win and perhaps some good, old-fashioned momentum heading into the finale.

For the six other Championship 4 hopefuls, next Sunday’s event is a last-chance, all-or-nothing opportunity to battle for the title at Miami.

As Bowyer said walking away at Texas, “Go get ‘em.”

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Crew chief Chad Knaus and other Hendrick Motorsports personnel visited the NASCAR hauler following Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway to meet with NASCAR officials after the No. 48 team was mistakenly sent to the rear of the field pre-race for failing inspection.

NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell issued an apology to the No. 48 team and said league officials would work to better the communication in the future.

RELATED: Complete race results

“It’s unacceptable on our part,” O’Donnell said. “There was a communication breakdown that happened right before the start of the race between the ground and race control, where I think there was an assumption there was a third failure. There wasn’t, there were only two. In that case, the 48 (of driver Jimmie Johnson) shouldn’t have started in the back.

“So, at this point, what we can do is put processes in place to fix that so it never happens again. It’s disappointing. It’s not something you can fix during the race, unfortunately. So all we can do is own up to it and fix it.”

Johnson had qualified 23rd for Sunday’s event in the Lone Star State. His No. 48 Chevrolet failed pre-race inspection two times, which calls for a loss of practice time.

NASCAR officials announced over the radio that the No. 48 was to drop to the rear after it was recorded as three failures.

“It’s very difficult,” said Knaus, who was atop the pit box calling the race for Johnson for the 600th time Sunday. “We had some communication with one of our officials. He didn’t think that was the case, so that’s why I kept Jimmie in his position with one lap to go before we took the green flag. At that point, NASCAR was very adamant that we needed to go to the rear. Which, with the information the race director had at that point, we needed to go to the rear.

“So, it was just a miscommunication.”

O’Donnell said by the time they’d realized the mistake, the race already had begun.

“It was written down as a third failure. So, that’s where it broke down,” O’Donnell said. “When it goes out and it’s during the parade laps and there’s a lot going on … we didn’t hear from the team at that point, or maybe we missed it. So, at that point once we recognized in race control a mistake had happened, we already started the race.”

Hendrick Motorsports Vice President of Competition Jeff Andrews and No. 48 team co-owner Jeff Gordon also visited the NASCAR hauler with Knaus, who spoke to the group’s conversation on how to remedy the situation moving forward.

“As an industry, we need to try to figure out a way to make that happen a little bit better,” Knaus said. “(NASCAR is) working on looking into a way to try to make it where we have a direct line of communication.

“NASCAR sees the error and mistake, and they’re going to work to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Kevin Harvick had a big day Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, winning the AAA Texas 500 with maximum bonus points and locking into the Championship 4 — but pulling a kid out of the stands and taking a selfie on the track was maybe an even bigger hit with fans.

The boy’s name is Joel Cram III and Harvick plucked him from the stands after taking the checkered flag and doing a finish-line interview on television.

Havick said later he hopes it’s a moment Joel will never forget. Pretty safe bet.

Kevin Harvick takes a selfie with a young fan at Texas Motor Speedway.
Twitter: @ilovesandwiche

https://twitter.com/ilovesandwiche/status/1059251318257266688

Posted on by Staff Report

Add Aric Almirola to the list of drivers annoyed at Joey Logano.

The driver of the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford had some choice words for Logano over his team scanner following a late restart, then re-emphasized them on pit road after the race.

RELATED: Race results

Almirola’s issue was how Logano raced him on a late restart, where tight driving quarters knocked Almirola out of the top five. Almirola finished eighth in Texas.

“We fought all day from the back and worked diligently all day, finally got ourselves in position and the 22 (of Logano) just went down in Turn 3 and put it right on my door and about wrecked us both,” Almirola told NBCSN reporters after the race. “I’m not sure, I’ll have to talk to him.

“He just continues to make things harder on himself. If that is the way he wants to race me when he is already locked into Homestead and we are out here fighting for our lives, that is fine. When Homestead comes around if I am not in, he will know it.”

When pressed on if he’d retaliate against Logano, Almirola replied: “I will just make it really difficult on him. He made it really difficult on me today which was really unnecessary. He could have run fourth, fifth, 11th, it doesn’t matter. He is still going to go to Homestead and race for a championship, It is just not smart.”

Logano irked Martin Truex Jr. last week by bumping the No. 78 Toyota out of the way on the final lap at Martinsville Speedway, winning his way to Homestead.

DEBATE: The Martinsville move

That led to Truex Jr. declaring that Logano wouldn’t win “the damn war” that is the 2018 series championship.

The No. 22 team declined comment to NBCSN regarding Almirola’s interview.

Posted on by Staff Report

Following the eighth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race, here’s a brief look at the playoffs picture. The 10-race postseason is two races into the Round of 8. There is just one more race before the field is whittled to four, with four drivers eliminated from the postseason following Phoenix (Nov. 11).

Winner

Kevin Harvick earned his fourth career trip to the Championship 4 with a clean sweep at Texas Motor Speedway. The Stewart-Haas Racing veteran had the move of the race, too. On the final restart of a NASCAR Overtime finish, Harvick elected to start on the outside, hit the restart perfectly and powered clear of Ryan Blaney for his eighth win of the season.

MORE: Full race results | Updated standings

Who’s hot

Joey Logano. Forget whatever happened to Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford as the temperatures got cooler. That he finished third one week after winning at Martinsville, on a day where several playoff contenders struggled, shows that this group is a serious threat to win the title. Logano isn’t making many friends by remaining as aggressive as ever on the track, but it’s helping his team round into championship form.

Kurt Busch. In a race in which it seemed nearly every playoff driver had issues, Kurt Busch enjoyed quite a smooth run. His seventh-place finish Sunday at Texas gives him a jolt heading into Phoenix. The only way his day could have been better is if Martin Truex Jr. had stayed a lap down after his pit-road penalty, because it would have significantly cut into the gap on the cutline. As it stands, though, Kurt looks like a threat to win at Phoenix.

Who’s not

Clint Bowyer. Bowyer’s in the “not” column for the second consecutive week, putting him in a must-win situation at Phoenix. Contact on Lap 1 with Denny Hamlin damaged Bowyer’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and put him two laps back. While the team confirmed the right rear damage wasn’t fatal to the car, the driver lost an extra lap and couldn’t recover — especially after an over-the-wall penalty with four laps remaining in the second stage.

Kyle Busch. Busch appeared to holler out “oh boy” on the scanner in the middle of Stage 2. In fact, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver felt he had a loose wheel. The vibration got so bad he pitted out of cycle to get new tires as a precautionary measure, but it cost him two laps and any shot at the win, plus the ability to pad his lead entering the Round of 8 finale. Busch’s 17th-place finish is his worst of the year on a 1.5-mile track.

BUBBLE WATCH

Rank Driver Points to cutoff
1. Kevin Harvick WINNER (Texas)
2. Joey Logano WINNER (Martinsville)
3. Kyle Busch +28
4. Martin Truex Jr. +25
————— CUT-OFF LINE —————
5. Kurt Busch -25
6. Chase Elliott -39
7. Aric Almirola -57
8. Clint Bowyer -73

Next race

The Monster Energy Series travels to ISM Raceway at Phoenix for a Sunday race on Nov. 11 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It is the final race in the Round of 8.

Who it favors

Chase Elliott. Elliott likely needs to win at Phoenix to make the Championship 4, and he appears equipped to do so. His past two trips to the 1-mile track resulted in finishes of second and third; the runner-up showing came last year in the playoffs, and Elliott has shown a knack this year for closing those races out with a win.

Who it hurts

Clint Bowyer. Bowyer’s average finish of 20.7 over the past 10 races at ISM Raceway ranks last among playoff drivers. We understand those results are a little skewed since Bowyer was in the No. 14 Ford for only three of those races, but Bowyer’s career average finish of 18.4 at Phoenix is worse than all but two other tracks in the circuit. His lone top-10 finish during this stretch was earlier this season in the spring, the only bright spot in Bowyer’s recent track history.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

FORT WORTH, Texas — This time, there was no late-race glitch to interrupt Kevin Harvick’s domination of a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

Streaking away from pole winner Ryan Blaney during an overtime restart on Lap 336, Harvick won Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway with the utmost of authority, sweeping the stages and leading a race-high 177 laps on the way to his series-best eighth victory of the season and a guaranteed spot in the Nov. 18 Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

MORE: Full race results | Playoff standings
SHOP: Harvick gear

The victory was Harvick’s first since Michigan in August, and it broke a streak of bad luck during which the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford led laps but failed to find Victory Lane, thanks to mechanical issues or pit road mistakes.

“We’ve been working day after day to make speed,” said Harvick, who won for the second time at Texas and the 45th time in his career, 17th most all-time. “This place has been really good to me. We finally knocked that barrier down (with a win in last year’s playoff race at TMS).

“The expectations are to win. Like I told you guys before the race, we don’t race for points. We race for wins. We don’t count our fingers and our toes trying to figure out how to make it in (to the Championship 4 race). Today we earned our way in, and we’re going to race again next week (at Phoenix) and try to win another race and then see what we can do at Homestead.”

Harvick joins Joey Logano, last Sunday’s Martinsville winner, in the title race. Logano ran third at Texas after leading 54 laps, second only to Harvick. To celebrate the victory, Harvick pulled a young fan out of the stands and took a selfie with him on the frontstretch in front of the crowd. It was the perfect capper for a dominant day for the No. 4.

RELATED: Find out about the fan in the selfie

The only stress for Harvick was lane choice for the overtime. On the previous restart on Lap 311 of a scheduled 334, following a caution for Matt DiBenedetto’s hard crash into the inside wall on the backstretch, Harvick picked the inside lane, and Blaney cleared him off Turn 2.

It took Harvick seven laps of chasing to regain the lead, but in the two-lap overtime, he didn’t have the luxury of time to mount a pursuit. So Harvick picked the top lane for the first time and roared around Blaney in Turn 1.

Then Harvick was off into the Texas sunset.

“That last restart I knew I needed to pick the top,” Harvick said. “I wanted to be on the bottom to be safe, because the top got such a good side-draft getting into Turn 1 and the outside groove got rubbered up. I thought if I could keep him from finishing the corner, I could drive back by him. It all worked out.”

Blaney got a shove from fifth-place finisher Kyle Larson on the final restart, but it wasn’t enough.

“The 42 (Larson) gave me a heck of a push, but I didn’t quite get far enough ahead of the 4 into (Turn) 1,” Blaney said. “We went in side‑by‑side. If I sailed off in there as fast as he did, I would have got loose, wrecked us both.

“You kind of knew you were beat getting into 1 when you’re there, because you know the guy on the outside is going to pin you. I figured when he took the top, it was going to take a really good push and position into 1 to have a prayer at it. Just didn’t happen.”

Harvick was the only one of so-called ‘Big 3’ to avoid trouble on Sunday.

Kyle Busch drew an early speeding penalty entering pit road and later had to make an unscheduled pit stop because of a loose wheel. He finished 17th, the last driver on the lead lap.

Martin Truex Jr. came to pit road early on Lap 247 to correct a loose left front wheel and in the process drove through too many pit boxes entering his stall. Two laps down after a pass-through penalty, Truex rallied to finish ninth.

Nevertheless, with the Round of 8 elimination race at Phoenix looming, Busch holds a 28-point edge over his brother Kurt Busch, who is fifth in the Playoff standings after running seventh on Sunday. Truex is 25 points ahead of Kurt Busch, who likely will need a victory at Phoenix to advance to the Championship 4.

The same is true for sixth-place Texas finisher Chase Elliott (39 points below the cut line). Aric Almirola (eighth Sunday) and Clint Bowyer (26th, after contact with Denny Hamlin’s Toyota on Lap 1) are both in must-win situations.

Erik Jones ran fourth for the third time in the last five races.

Posted on by Staff Report

What channels are NASCAR races on 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 Go | How to find NBCSN

Monday, November 5
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

On MRN
Noon: Motorsports Monday (with hosts Woody Cain and Joey Meier)

Tuesday, November 6
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

On MRN
7 p.m.: NASCAR Live (with host Mike Bagley)

Wednesday, November 7
5 p.m., NASCAR America: Wednesdays with Dale Jr., NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

On MRN
Noon: Crew Call (with hosts Sammi Jo Francis and Rocko Williams)
1 p.m.: NASCAR Coast to Coast (with hosts Kyle Rickey and Hannah Newhouse)

Thursday, November 8
2 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1 (re-air)
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
5:30 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

On MRN
1 p.m.: Throwback Thursday: 1990 Checker 500

Friday, November 9
2:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1 (re-air)
10:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, FS2
11:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Classic: 1988 Daytona 500, FS2
Noon: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, FS2
1:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
4:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying, FS1
7 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
8 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, FS1
8:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150, FS1
11:30 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (re-air)

Saturday, November 10
4 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150, FS1 (re-air)
11:30 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
12:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
1:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
2 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
3 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Countdown to Green, NBC/NBC Sports App
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Whelen Trusted to Perform 200, NBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN 1, 4)

Sunday, November 11
12:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
1:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Countdown to Green, NBC/NBC Sports App
2:20 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Can-Am 500, NBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN 3)
6 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Post-Race Show, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN/NBC Sports App