Posted on by Staff Report

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series will be in action at ISM Raceway in Phoenix. All three series enter their final elimination races that will set up the Championship 4. Check out the full schedule below, which is subject to change.

Note: All times are ET

MORE: How to find NBCSN

SUNDAY, November 11
RACE-DAY SCHEDULE
12:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Driver/Crew Chief Meeting
1:50 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Driver Introductions
2:20:30 p.m.: Intro Presentation of Colors by: Luke Air Force Base
2:20:50 p.m.: Invocation by: Dean of Students & Campus Pastor at Grand Canyon University, Chaplain Tim Griffin
2:21:35 p.m.: National Anthem by: U.S. Navy Retired Petty Officer First Class, Steven Powell
2:23:15 p.m.: Fly-By: (2) F-16s Luke Air Force Base & (2) A-10s Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (Turn 1 & 2 to Turn 3 & 4)
2:28:15 p.m.: “Driver’s, Start Your Engines” by: Skeet Ulrich, Star of CW’s Riverdale
2:35:45 p.m.: Green Flag – Can-Am 500 (312 laps, 312 miles), NBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN 3) (Results)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
5:30 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

Friday, November 9
10:30-11:20 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series first practice, FS2 (Results)
12:05-12:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, FS2 (Results)
1:35-2:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App) (Results)
2:35-3:25 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App) (Results)
4:35-5:25 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App) (Results)
5:35 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying, FS1 (Results)
7 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App) (Results)
8:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 (150 laps, 150 miles), FS1 (Results)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
12:15 p.m.: Chip Ganassi Racing
12:45 p.m.: Kurt Busch
1 p.m.: Justin Allgaier, Christopher Bell and Matt Tifft
3 p.m.: Chase Elliott
3:15 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
3:30 p.m.: Kyle Busch
4 p.m.: Jimmie Johnson and Fernando Alonso (via Skype)
4:30 p.m.: USAA Hats Off to Heroes Program
7:45 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying
10:15 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race

SATURDAY, November 10
11:30-12:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series second practice, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App) (Results)
12:35 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App) (Results)
2-2:50 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN App) (Results)
3:30 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Whelen Trusted To Perform 200 (200 laps, 200 miles), NBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN 1, 4) (Results)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
5:30 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race

Posted on by Staff Report

Kevin Harvick swept the opening two stages on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in another dominant performance for the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Harvick grabbed the lead in Stage 2 on Lap 160 after a cycle of green-flag pit stops and closed out for his series-leading 18th stage victory of the season.

Pole-sitter and non-playoff driver Ryan Blaney followed Harvick to the green-white-checkered flag to finish second. Martin Truex Jr., who started at the rear of the field because of an engine change, was third. Brad Keselowski, who had to overcome a speeding penalty on pit road, was fourth, and Martinsville winner Joey Logano was fifth.

RELATED: Stage 2 results

Logano and Kurt Busch were among the cars that stayed out the longest hoping for a caution, but it never came. Busch managed to finish eighth in the stage.

The stage featured a caution on Lap 96 when Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and William Byron got into each other in Turn 3 with the No. 24 hitting the No. 48 from behind. Both cars were able to continue.

Driver Team Points
Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 10
Ryan Blaney Team Penske 9
Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing 8
Brad Keselowski Team Penske 7
Joey Logano Team Penske 6
Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 5
Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing 4
Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing 3
Daniel Suarez Joe Gibbs Racing 2
Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 1

Stage 1 recap

Harvick used pit-stop strategy to grab the lead early and went on to win Stage 1. During the competition caution on Lap 30, Harvick took just two tires to gain track position oveer Blaney, who took four tires.

As a result, Harvick jumped to a lead that he would not relinquish as he dominated the early going by being in front for 53 of the opening 85 laps. Blaney recovered to finish fourth in the stage. Kurt Busch, in second; Erik Jones, in third; and fifth-place Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top five.

RELATED: Stage 1 results

Playoff driver Kyle Busch was hit with a speeding penalty on pit road during the competition caution and had to start from the tail of the field on the ensuing restart. However, he came on strong at the end of the stage to finish seventh.

Another playoff driver, Clint Bowyer, made contact with non-playoff driver Denny Hamlin on Lap 1, leading to an early pit stop for the No. 14. As a result, Bowyer fell two laps off the pace and was in 30th place at the stage’s conclusion.

Driver Team Points
Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 10
Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing 9
Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing 8
Ryan Blaney Team Penske 7
Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing 6
Joey Logano Team Penske 5
Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing 4
Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing 3
Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 2
Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 1
Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR announced before the season that it will standardize at-track team rosters across all three national series in 2018, providing a structure for the number of personnel working on each vehicle during the course of a race weekend.

Official team rosters for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) have been released. Click the print icon above, or the link below.

ROSTERS: Texas fall race

RELATED: Overview of 2018 rules updates

Posted on by Reid Spencer

FORT WORTH, Texas – After Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. felt as though he had just been through a trial by fire.

“I’m telling you, God is testing us,” said Truex, who had to start from the rear of the field after an engine change in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota and later suffered both a loose wheel and a pit road penalty for driving through too many boxes.

“Had to start at the back, got to the front, hung around there for a while and then had a loose wheel there again,” Truex said. “Just a tough day. Overall, a good day. Luckily, we were able to get up front and get some stage points in the first two stages and then we had trouble, but we had it at least in time to recover.”

RELATED: Full results | Playoff standings

Two laps down at one point, Truex recovered to finish ninth and takes a 25-point edge over fifth place Kurt Busch into next Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 elimination race at Phoenix, where the field will be cut to four.

Another saving grace for Truex was that Kevin Harvick won at Texas.

“Harvick or Kyle (Busch) winning is a perfect scenario — the guys that are ahead of you in points,” Truex said. “That was good. I feel OK about where we are. I think we need a little more speed to run with the Fords – they’re clearly really, really fast right now.

“If this was last year, they would all be complaining that we’re too fast, so I don’t know if I should do a (Brad) Keselowski and start whining about it or not. They’re really fast, and if we’re off just a little bit we can’t run with them.

“We were off a little bit today. On the short run, they 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, so hard to get.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Ever wonder what goes on in a driver meeting? We’re here to help.

This year, we’ll publish the actual rules video your favorite Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers will watch before climbing into their stock cars. Above is the video for the AAA Texas 500 (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Texas Motor Speedway.

Posted on by @KESELOWSKI

FORT WORTH, Texas – A frustrated Daniel Hemric marched over to his RCR teammate Matt Tifft’s car parked on pit road following Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

The trio of RCR teammates – Hemric, Tifft and Shane Lee — tangled late in the 300-mile event, affecting Hemric’s position in the playoff standings. Hemric finished 10th and now sits fourth, just above the cutline with one race remaining until the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Tifft is 14 points below the cutline, ranking sixth of eight drivers.

RELATED: Custer makes Championship 4 | Full race results

Tifft attempted to approach Hemric again minutes later, but the No. 21 driver wasn’t ready to chat.

“Tifft wanted to talk then, I wasn’t having it,” Hemric said. “We’ll talk eventually, we’ll work it out. But everybody’s racing for everything, right? You’re not supposed to give anybody anything. And I understand that. But that’s one thing, to drive in the back of somebody is something else.”

“… Just wrong place, wrong time all day it seemed like … The SouthPoint Hotel Casino Chevrolet is fast, just like we’ve been for the last two or three months. So, just really pissed off at the finish we had because my teammate drove in the back of me off (Turn) 2, turned me sideways and left the other teammate to get underneath me and he just busted his ass underneath me.

“Damn, it’s frustrating,” he added. “I don’t know what we’ve got to do to win one of these damn things. It’s getting frustrating. Our race car’s too good not to win races.”

The drama unfolded with five laps remaining when Hemric said Tifft’s No. 2 Chevrolet “ran into the back” of his No. 21 Chevrolet, causing the No. 3 of Shane Lee to get underneath him and make contact.

“There’s no way around it,” Hemric said. “It wasn’t something the 3 could do – he’s doing a heck of a job in only his third or fourth start in these cars. But the 2’s the one who put him in that situation.

“We work really good together, it’s just a frustrating day,” added Hemric. “You’re bound to have days where you run into each other. Just never happy about it when it happens.”

Tifft said he didn’t think he made contact with Hemric’s No. 21, saying that “the the air just got him free and I had momentum behind.” His No. 2 Chevrolet crossed the start-finish line seventh, but Tifft thought they had a better car than where they finished.

“The good thing is we ran together the whole race and both of our cars had speed,” Tifft said on the snafu. “I think we’re both frustrated at the end because we felt like it played out to where we both got back in the pack and were both trying to make our way back up … Once he got sideways, I just tried to duck out to make sure he didn’t get turned and that I had a clear path, too.

“He was frustrated (about) the fact that he got put in that situation. But he understood that I had to go and if I would have gave, somebody would have done the same to me and put me in the same spot. … We’ll be fine, we’ll talk it out.”

Tifft and Hemric weren’t the only Xfinity Series Playoffs drivers to experience frustrating ends to their days in the Lone Star State; six-time 2018 winner Christopher Bell exited the race early at Lap 133 after his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was caught up in its second wreck of the day.

This marks the second straight week Bell’s race has ended on a wrecker, as he also exited Kansas early for a wreck on Oct. 20.

WATCH: Bell on outlook for next couple weeks

“This format, it’s very tough and it creates a lot of drama,” Bell said. “I’ve always been proud of myself for winning races and I’ve won six races this year and I’ve got a chance to win two more. I’m going to go out there and try to win races. I’ve never been a points racer and my results show for that. I’m either up front or crashing. I’m going to go out and try to win two more races.”

The incident put him 34 points below the cutline – and in a must-win situation heading into ISM Raceway next week.

“It doesn’t matter that my back is up against the wall, we’re going to go out there and try to win two races and that’s the only thing we can do,” he said. “At least we know what we have to do.

“Today, I came in here with a different mentality to just survive and I didn’t survive, so screw that, I’m going to try to win.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Martin Truex Jr. will start from the rear on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway for an engine change, NASCAR announced on Saturday.

Truex qualified 13th in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota on Friday and posted the third-fastest speed in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice.

The shift in starting position could have implications on the NASCAR Playoffs, as Truex is vying for a spot in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He currently ranks third of six drivers (25 points above the cutline) with two races left before the finale. Joey Logano is the only driver locked into the championship with his win at Martinsville Speedway last weekend, when he bumped then-leader Truex on the final lap for the checkered flag.

RELATED: Starting lineup, team rosters at Texas | Playoff standings

Daniel Suarez’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (qualified 19th) and Chris Buescher’s No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet (qualified 21st) will also start from the back for engine changes. Matt DiBenedetto, who qualified 31st, will drop to the rear for Sunday’s race (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) for a transmission change in his No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford.

The No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of William Byron also failed Sunday’s pre-race inspection three times. Byron will start at the rear of the field and car chief Todd Devnich has been ejected. He was originally slated to start ninth.

Byron’s teammate, seven-time Texas winner Jimmie Johnson, will also start at the rear after the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet failed pre-race inspection twice. Johnson had qualified 23rd.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

FORT WORTH, Tex. – In a race that produced a last-lap pass for the win, a record 13 cautions and an unmitigated disaster for favorite son Christopher Bell, Cole Custer moved past Tyler Reddick on the backstretch to win Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Custer’s first victory of the season gave the driver of the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford an automatic berth in the Nov. 17 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where Custer dominated last year in winning for the first time in the series.

Reddick led the field to green with two laps left, after the 13th caution, and held the top spot until Custer mounted a strong run off Turn 2 on Lap 200. The cars made side-to-side contact on the backstretch before Reddick surrendered the position, and Custer held on to win by .162 seconds, the third closest finish in an Xfinity Series race at Texas.

With his first victory of the season and the second of his career, Custer is the first of the Round of 8 drivers to clinch a chance at the championship in the season finale.

“I can’t believe it,” Custer said. “I did all I could and drove in deeper than I had all weekend into Turn 1 (on the final lap) trying to get on (Reddick’s) bumper, and it worked out.

“We’re going to Homestead, and I think we have a great chance to win it. It’s just awesome. We haven’t won this year, but we’ve been so close. It’s been frustrating, but we’ve kept going. There’s no better time to do it.”

MORE: Full race results | Updated Xfinity Playoffs standings

Bell’s stunning run of ill fortune continued at Texas. Two weeks ago at Kansas Speedway, in the first race in the Round of 8, Justin Allgaier wiped him out in Turn 2 of the first lap. On Saturday, after winning the pole, Bell spun out of control—again in Turn 2 of the first lap.

Though Bell recovered to finish fourth in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2, his recovery was short-lived. The coup de grace came on Lap 133 when eventual third-place finisher Austin Cindric pushed up the track slightly, clipped the back-left quarter of Bell’s No. 20 Toyota and sent it sliding into the outside wall.

Resulting suspension damage knocked Bell out of the race in 32nd place at the speedway closest to his Norman, Oklahoma, home.

“It caught me off guard,” Bell said of the Lap 1 spin. “You saw the same thing from the No. 7 (Allgaier) at Kansas. I didn’t feel like I was up to speed at all. The next thing I knew, I spun out.

“I don’t know, it has to be the tire combination. It’s tricky. There wasn’t much room for error.”

With the Playoff field to be cut from eight drivers to four next Saturday at Phoenix, Bell Faces a 34-point deficit to Daniel Hemric (10th Saturday), who holds fourth place in the standings. A six-time winner as a Sunoco rookie this season, Bell, for practical purposes, must win again.

“This format, it’s very tough and it creates a lot of drama,” Bell said. “I’ve always been proud of myself for winning races, and I’ve won six races this year, and I’ve got a chance to win two more.

“I’m going to go out there and try to win races. I’ve never been a points racer, and my results show for that. I’m either up front or crashing. I’m going to go out and try to win two more races.”

In a race in which fortunes changed radically with differing pit strategies, Hemric won the first stage. But his luck soon took a turn for the worse. Hemric fell back after a Lap 194 restart and was knocked sideways when Richard Childress Racing teammate Shane Lee lost control underneath Hemric’s Chevrolet in Turn 3.

Aside from Custer, no one in the top eight has much breathing room heading to Phoenix. Reddick has a 20-point edge over fifth-place Allgaier, who came home fifth on Saturday. Veteran Elliott Sadler, who ran eighth, is 13 points ahead of Allgaier, his JR Motorsports teammate. Hemric has a 12-point cushion.

But even huge leads can evaporate in a single corner, as Bell has discovered in the last two races.

Last in the Playoff standings and 61 points out of fourth, Cindric must win at ISM Raceway at Phoenix to advance. That’s nothing new for the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, who finished .316 seconds behind Custer.

“I’ve been in a must-win position since Kansas,” Cindric said. “For me, that hasn’t changed.”

Notes: Kansas winner John Hunter Nemechek finished fourth… The 13 cautions broke the previous mark of 10 set in 2003… The closest Xfinity Series finish at Texas came in 2007 when Matt Kenseth beat Denny Hamlin to the finish line by .128 seconds.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

FORT WORTH, Tex. — Just when he needs it most, the newfound speed that has carried Chase Elliott to a pair of victories in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs seems to have deserted the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

On Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway, Elliott qualified 16th for the second race in the Round of 8 — and a hard-fought 16th at that. In Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), he’ll have another fight on his hands as he tries to crack the top 10 and accumulate badly-needed stage points.

RELATED: Complete Texas starting lineup | Playoff standings

After finishing seventh last Sunday at Martinsville, Elliott enters Sunday’s race 31 points below the current cut line for the Nov. 18 Championship 4 event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. A last-ditch run in qualifying got him up to the 16th spot, but that’s the deepest starting spot for any of the championship contenders.

“Yeah, just couldn’t drive into (Turn) 1 like I wanted to or didn’t do it or whatever,” Elliott said of his qualifying effort. “But, yeah, we have kind of fought some of the similar things throughout practice and didn’t go real fast. Just unfortunate.

“I had a terrible qualifying effort in Martinsville, too, and with the way these stage points are, that was a really strong suit of ours last fall. We qualified really good in these last 10 and that was what kind of kept us going through the rounds.

“So, yeah, you’ve got to qualify good to get those stage points. That last lap helped some, so we will try to move forward on Sunday.”

Unfortunately, Elliott found little solace in Saturday’s two practice sessions. He was 19th fastest in the morning session and 17th at 190.402 mph in Happy Hour.

Posted on by RJ Kraft

Ryan Blaney will lead the field to green for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and the young star is well worth a lineup spot this weekend. After three practice sessions and qualifying determining the starting order, 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 playoff game works

Remember that the garage locks at the end of Stage 2. Also, your garage play can only be swapped for a driver of similar classification. (A playoff garage driver can only be swapped for a playoff driver in your lineup; a non-playoff garage driver can only be swapped for a non-playoff driver in your lineup.)

Cars to the rear: Martin Truex Jr., Daniel Suarez, Chris Buescher (engine changes); Matt DiBenedetto (transmission change); William Byron (failed pre-race inspection three times — car chief ejected); Jimmie Johnson (failed pre-race inspection twice) | Read more

RJ Kraft’s Fantasy Live lineup for race day at Texas:
Playoff driver 1: Kevin Harvick
Playoff driver 2: Kyle Busch
Non-playoff driver 1: Ryan Blaney
Non-playoff driver 2: Brad Keselowski
Garage: Erik Jones

MORE: Fantasy analysis for Texas | Driver stats | 10-lap averages | Lineup

Analysis: The Fantasy Live Playoff Game is in Week 8! The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is at the track known for having no limits. I’m going with the top two drivers all season and on 1.5-mile tracks this year as my playoff plays — Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. Harvick is the defending race winner and topped the 10-lap board in both practices on Saturday. On top of that, he has three top fives here since the track was repaved. Busch is the most-recent winner here and was right behind Harvick on the 10-lap board in both of Saturday’s sessions. The duo have won six of the nine 1.5-mile track races this year. Busch, who won here in the spring, is my lone change to my original lineup as he takes the spot previously held by Martin Truex Jr. (who will be starting at the back due to an engine change).

Ryan Blaney will start on the pole and has earned the second-most points at Texas since the repave before the 2017 season — see the video below for more on that. His 10-lap times are good and he always seems to carry speed on the 1.5-mile tracks.

Brad Keselowski has been solid all year on the 1.5-mile tracks with four 40-plus point races on that type as well as a win at Las Vegas. He has a solid — albeit winless — record at Texas; however, the Fords have shown plenty of speed throughout the weekend and he is among those flying around the track.

For my garage play, I am going with Erik Jones. As of this writing, he is only owned by 9 percent of players — and I like having the option of going against the grain of my opponents. On top of that, he finished fourth at this track in the spring and was fifth on the 10-lap board in final practice. He has five 30-plus point days and six top 10s in the nine 1.5-mile tracks this season. A solid play to have in reserve.

I’ll be taking Harvick for all the bonus picks. The No. 4 car is due to get to Victory Lane in the playoffs and this feels like the time. A pit road penalty derailed a shot at the win at the last 1.5-mile track, two weeks ago at Kansas. He’ll get it done Sunday.