Fantasy Update: Last-minute lineup advice for Richmond

Posted on September 22, 2018September 22, 2018 by RJ Kraft

Kevin Harvick is set to start from the pole position for Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). There were two practice sessions on Friday, giving players plenty to digest. 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.)

Drivers and cars that failed post-qualifying inspection and will go to the rear: Daniel Suarez (No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota), David Ragan (No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford) and Regan Smith (No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet).

Kyle Busch will go the rear after his team worked on some damage from a qualifying scrape. He was slated to start 11th.

RJ Kraft’s revised Fantasy Live lineup following the lineup being set:
Playoff driver 1: Kevin Harvick
Playoff driver 2: Brad Keselowski
Non-playoff driver 1: Cole Custer
Non-playoff driver 2: Ryan Newman
Garage: Martin Truex Jr.

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

Analysis: The Fantasy Live Playoff Game is in Week 2! Some adjustments were made after Saturday’s post-qualifying inspection.

For the garage, I originally had Kyle Busch there after qualifying, but he will go to the rear for unapproved adjustments due to the repairs the No. 18 team made following his qualifying scrape. So with that in mind, I will be plugging in Martin Truex Jr as my garage driver. I know he’s 0-for-76 on short tracks, but I also know what I have seen in night races with him at Richmond in recent history. He’s been a contender in the last three under the lights there with some really bad luck and timing leaving him on the short end.

For the non-playoff drivers, I was all set to play Daniel Suarez before his car failed post-qualifying inspection. He’s looked the best of the non-playoff drivers and has a 9.7 average finish in three starts at Richmond. Yet, starting that far back is concerning in a relatively short race. So with that in mind, I am going to take a gamble and plug in Cole Custer. The young driver was fast in qualifying, and while I have concerns over his long run speed, I like the upside. I also like that he’s owned by just four percent of players.

The second non-playoff spot goes to Ryan Newman. While the veteran will soon have a new home for 2019, he is closing his Richard Childress Racing tenure with solid showings. He has two straight top 10s and at least 25 points in four of his past five races.

These changes come on the heels of previous changes I made after qualifying and practices on Friday. Kevin Harvick showed then that he has long-run speed by finishing top five in 10-lap averages in both practices, so he went in for Joey Logano. Harvick also has four top-five finishes in his last five Richmond starts. Keselowski is the hot hand with three straight wins. Throw in his solid Richmond history and I think that’s more than enough to have him at my disposal for this race.

For the bonus picks, I am taking Harvick to win Stages 1 and 2 and I just have a gut feeling that Truex gets the win under the lights to break his short-track hex.

Posted on September 21, 2018September 22, 2018 by Reid Spencer

RICHMOND, Va. – A short run at the end of Friday night’s GoBowling.com 250 was just what pole winner Christopher Bell needed to charge into the second round of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

RELATED: Complete Xfinity race results

In a race that saw regular-season champion Justin Allgaier end his night with a hard crash into the Turn 3 wall with 24 laps left, and in a race that saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. lead the most laps in his only scheduled race of 2018, Bell surged past race leader Matt Tifft after a restart on Lap 237 of 250 and pulled away to beat Ross Chastain to the finish line by .566 seconds.

Assured of a place in the next round of the NASCAR Playoffs by virtue of his fifth victory of the season, Bell now can pay a stress-free visit to the Charlotte Road Course on Sept. 29.

“I tell you what, that’s pretty cool,” said Bell, who won for the second time at Richmond—both this season—and for the sixth time in his career. “It’s not very often you get to win with a car that’s not a winning car. So, we’ll take it.

“I want to thank my pit crew for the awesome pit stops tonight. (Crew chief) Jason Ratcliff did a great job making this thing better each and every time we hit pit road. I’m just pumped. To be able to sweep Richmond and get five wins on top of that, moving on to Round 2, I couldn’t be happier.”

Chastain, who won his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race last Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, started from the rear after his clutch locked up following a third-place effort in qualifying. Over the last 14 laps, he chased Bell, eventually running a much higher line around the .75-mile short track—but to no avail.

“I can’t believe I’m disappointed with second, but a dream-come-true to drive for you guys,” Chastain told his team over the radio at the end of his third and final ride in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

“I can never thank you enough. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

MORE: Junior puts on a show at Richmond

Earnhardt, who led 96 laps, won the second stage under caution after the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Ty Majeski slammed into the inside SAFER barrier, the result of contact from teammate Ryan Reed.

“That’s the first stage win of my career,” a jubilant Earnhardt said on the team radio after taking the green / checkered flag.

“It got my expectations all messed up,” Earnhardt added after the race. “Man, I’m like, ‘Dang, I’ve got to win now.’ But we didn’t have the car at the end. We started on the outside (on the final restart), which was kind of tough. Just didn’t have what we needed at the end. But I’m glad that we got to lead a lot of laps. We ran really good for all the people that came down to watch us.”

Earnhardt, who finished fourth behind NASCAR Playoff driver Daniel Hemric, then won the race off pit road and led the field to green for a restart on Lap 159. He held the top spot until Katherine Legge—making her first oval-track start in NASCAR racing—hit the outside wall between Turns 1 and 2 to bring out the fourth caution on Lap 218.

After the race, Earnhardt hugged long-time friend and JR Motorsports driver Elliott Sadler, who announced he will retire from full-time racing at season’s end.

“We’ve been really close friends since we raced late models together,” Earnhardt said. “It just dawned on me in that moment, ‘We’ll never race (together) again.’ I’m glad he’s enjoying this.”

Tifft finished fifth, followed by Sadler, Tyler Reddick, Brandon Jones, Shane Lee and Ryan Reed. Bell took the series lead by 28 points over Hemric and 34 over Allgaier, who held third because of his points advantage entering the NASCAR Playoffs.

“It’s really disappointing,” said Allgaier, who clobbered the Turn 3 wall after contact between the Ford Mustangs of Austin Cindric and Cole Custer knocked Custer’s car into Allgaier’s. “Just unfortunate to be in that position, but at least we’ve got a good points lead.”

Posted on September 21, 2018September 22, 2018 by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. — Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s lone scheduled race of the season — a one-off Xfinity Series effort — was intended to be a flashback, a low-pressure return to NASCAR competition after his retirement from full-time racing last season. It was also intended to be enjoyable, a goal that Earnhardt reiterated in a pace-lap radio communication to his pit crew: “Let’s have some fun, man.”

After 250 laps Friday night at Richmond Raceway, the fun factor was a turning-back of the clock to long-ago days, a rekindling of memories planted nearly two decades earlier to the last time he’d enjoyed racing this much.

“When I was racing Late Models in the ’90s, probably,” Earnhardt said. “I had a lot of fun in the late ’90s running the Xfinity Series, but I didn’t know I was having fun. I didn’t know how good I had it.”

PHOTOS: Sadler reflects on racing Junior for final time | Junior’s career in pics

Earnhardt had a sense of how good things could be by exceeding his own expectations in Friday night’s Go Bowling 250, where he led a race-high 96 laps before slipping to a fourth-place finish. The longtime fan favorite soaked in adoring cheers, spent time with his growing family and accepted well-wishes from many of his peers after the event.

It was an overflow of emotions for Earnhardt, who qualified second in a patchwork fifth JR Motorsports entry, then used a veteran’s poise to conserve his equipment and rise to the lead near the race’s midpoint. He picked up his first-ever stage victory and stayed solidly in contention, building a striking sense of anticipation that his one-race return could be a winner.

The apprehension wasn’t just the crowd’s. It was Earnhardt’s, too.

“I tried to come in here and just think, man, I really just want to have fun, I want to race, I want to do everything I’ve got to do,” he said. “Right around three-quarters of the way through that race, I’m like, man, if I don’t win, now I’m going to be disappointed. I done backed myself into a corner with my expectations getting so high. It’s easy to be disappointed that we didn’t win because we should (have).”

Those prospects held firm until Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet lost the race off pit road in the next-to-last caution period and faded with tire spin on a sprinkling of late restarts. Still, if there was any rust in his first race since last November, it barely showed.

MORE: Dale Jr: ‘We’ll try another one next year’

“If you think about it, when a guy steps out of, say a baseball player no matter what level takes months and months off and get back out there, they don’t just start and pick up right where they left off,” Earnhardt said. “The sport is elite, the drivers are elite and this ain’t a hobby. These guys are the best. Some of these guys in this field will be winning Cup races and championships one day. … You just can’t assume you’re going to miss eight months or 10 months and come right in here and win, much less run in the top five. My expectations were just to kind of be in the top 10.”

Though his competitive juices got going once the field went green, Earnhardt was loose in pre-race ceremonies, conversing with his wife, Amy, and doting on his 4-month-old daughter, Isla Rose. Two fans pierced the intimate family moment, yelling out “Slide job!” in a nod to the TV call that resonated in Earnhardt’s debut as a broadcaster for NBC Sports. Earnhardt made eye contact and grinned.

He’ll resume his primary duties from the television booth starting Saturday evening at Richmond. But for one night at least, the 43-year-old driver was rejuvenated, having the same sort of adventure as a kid trying to scratch out a career at dimly lit short tracks with his Late Model crew.

This time, though, he got to spend it with his wife and daughter, coming oh-so-close to creating scrapbook memories in Victory Lane.

“She obviously won’t remember this, but she’ll have the photographs and all that stuff,” Earnhardt said of his infant daughter. “I don’t know what she’ll think about my racing career and how that’ll register with her since she won’t get to experience any of it, but we got to have one race together and Amy wouldn’t miss it. Isla’s here. It was a pretty important moment for me, personally.”

Posted on September 21, 2018September 22, 2018 by Reid Spencer

RICHMOND, Va. – Kevin Harvick vaulted to the forefront in the final round of Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying at Richmond Raceway, securing the unofficial pole position for Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) by .006 seconds over Denny Hamlin.

After passing inspection Saturday, the pole position was official for the No. 4 Ford.

A seven-time winner this season, Harvick covered the .75-mile distance in 22.153 seconds (121.880 mph). Outside the top 12 in the first round and 11th in the second, Harvick scored his second Busch Pole Award at Richmond, his third of the season and the 24th of his career.

Harvick did not make mock qualifying runs during practice, opting to concentrate on race runs, but his car remained consistent throughout the three rounds.

“We didn’t really fall off,” Harvick said. “I think that’s part of the game here. I think we made some good adjustments on making the car better, and for me, just getting more confidence in how fast I could let the car roll and stay in the throttle up off the corner.

“In the first round we didn’t really know what we had and ran a lap less than a lot of the faster guys.”

Hamlin (121.847 mph), whose hopes of advancing to the second round of the NASCAR Playoffs suffered a major blow in a 32nd-place finish last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, was surprised by the strength of his qualifying run in the money round.

But Hamlin is a three-time winner at Richmond, his home track, and he expects to run well in race trim in Saturday’s Playoff race, the second of Round 1 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“I feel like, if there’s any track I have an advantage at, it’s this one,” Hamlin said. “In this day and age of data sharing, advantages are no longer existent, but I still feel like, in the long runs, I can save tires and do the things I need to do to be successful here, and, hopefully, it all comes together.”

Martin Truex Jr. (121.529 mph) qualified third, followed by Ryan Blaney (121.397 mph) and Daniel Suárez (121.381 mph). Suárez swept the first two rounds, running the fastest lap of the day (122.928 mph) in the second, but his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota couldn’t match the speed of Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford when the pole was a stake.

Suárez was the only non-Playoff driver in the top five, but his time was disallowed after the No. 19 failed inspection Saturday morning.

Cole Custer, who made the final round for the first time in his third Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start, qualified a career-best 11th as the only other non-Playoff driver in the top dozen. Kurt Busch will start sixth, followed by Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski (winner of the last three races in the series), Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Custer and Kyle Busch, who tapped the outside wall in the first round.

Kyle Busch’s Toyota passed inspection, but the team elected to make repairs to the right side of the car and will also go to the rear for the start Saturday night.

Other playoff drivers will start as follows: Joey Logano (13th), Alex Bowman (14th), Chase Elliott (19th) and Jimmie Johnson (22nd). Johnson, Elliott, Jones and Hamlin occupy positions 13 through 16 in the standings, with the Playoff field set to be cut to 12 drivers after the Sept. 30 event at the Charlotte road course.

Clint Bowyer and Austin Dillon failed to advance to the second round and will start 25th and 28th, respectively, at Richmond.

Posted on September 21, 2018September 22, 2018 by Reid Spencer

RICHMOND, Va.–You could make a convincing argument that, with the exception of Kentucky Speedway, Richmond Raceway is Kyle Busch’s best track.

After all, he’s the leading winner at the .75-mile venue among active Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers with five victories, and his average finish in 26 starts at the track is 7.2, second only to Kentucky (5.0 average, with a much smaller sample size of eight races).

There’s only one problem. Busch does his best work at Richmond in the spring. All five of his Richmond wins have come close to his May 2 birthday, including a string of four straight spring races from 2009 through 2012 and, most recently, the Apr. 21 event this year.

Until this season, the fall Richmond race has been the cutoff event for the NASCAR Playoffs. In 2012, Jeff Gordon edged Busch for the final spot in the postseason by finishing second to Busch’s 16th in the Federated Auto Parts 400.

This year, Sunday’s race (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is perhaps even more important as the second event in Round 1 of the NASCAR Playoffs. Busch is at a loss to explain the discrepancy between his performance in the spring versus the fall.

“I have no clue,” he said on Friday at the new Richmond Raceway media center. “Certainly, the fall time is the more important time to be good here, but we just haven’t quite been able to pinpoint that and put our finger on that. Overall, we certainly have had good results here at Richmond. We’ve been good here in the fall. We’ve had good runs. We just haven’t been able to close the deal.

“Certainly, I would like to be able to do that here this weekend and not have to worry about next week at all (at the Charlotte road course), but with everything we’ve had going on so far this year, we’ve been contenders and we’ve been strong each and every week through this entire season. So we just need to get our strength back and be ready for every week.”

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Holly Cain

RICHMOND, Va. – It’s been a mixed bag of emotions for NASCAR Playoff driver Chase Elliott this week. He received fantastic news that one of his major corporate sponsors, Hooters, would be re-upping with his Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet team through 2021.

He also arrived at Richmond Raceway on Friday with a more immediate task at hand — righting his 2018 playoff ship.

Elliott, 22, who crashed out and finished 36th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend, shows up at Richmond for Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) needing to rally out of a playoff hole.

RELATED: Playoff standings

He sits nine points behind the cutoff line and ranked 14th with only 12 of the 16 playoff drivers advancing to the next round following next week’s inaugural run on Charlotte Motor Speedway’s road course.

“Last week obviously sucked,’’ said Elliott, who confirmed he visited a doctor to have his shoulder checked out and was given the medical all-clear.

“Just having probably one of the best 1.5-mile cars that we’ve had all year, we had one of the worst results of the season. So, it’s just the way it goes. And with the way the format is now, stuff happens.

“In that situation, I don’t know what you’d do any differently. We had a solid day going. We were playing catch-up a little bit from a couple of mistakes. Ultimately you limit those mistakes and try not to be behind those guys and you go further forward and hope you miss the melee.”

What Elliott does know – and so does his competition – is that he is one of the best on Richmond’s three-quarter mile oval. And he couldn’t be more motivated to follow up the worst finish of the season last week with a playoff-worthy performance this week.

Elliott qualified on the outside pole in the spring race at Richmond and finished runner-up to Kyle Busch. He has two top-10s in six starts here, has spent 1,000 laps running among the top-10 and boasts the best driver rating (123.1) among his competition — although the third-year Cup driver is adamant he is not one to buy into the merits of a short resume too much. Elliott needs to run well now.

Especially encouraging for him – despite his disappointing finish at Vegas – was how well his Hendrick Motorsports team ran overall.

Even after Elliott (who qualified seventh) was sidelined in Vegas, his playoff-eligible teammates Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman ran among the top-10 for most of the rest of the race. Johnson’s car sustained some damage with a handful of laps remaining and fell from what looked like a certain top-five finish to 22nd. Bowman also had late race issues, but recovered to finish 19th. The team’s other driver, rookie William Byron was in a crash early in the race. The speed was there for all of them, however.

“I thought last week, as a whole, we were probably about as good as we’ve been all year, which was encouraging,’’ Elliott said. “That’s good. That’s only going to help all of us.

“I know that Vegas and Richmond don’t look anything alike, but typically the same guys win every week. Ultimately, they have the fastest cars, or are the best drivers. So, in my mind, I’m thinking I know they’re not very similar, but the same people run good everywhere. So, I think if you’ve made a gain somewhere, it’s probably going to show up here, too.”

The timing is excellent. Elliott is a perfect 3-for-3 in making the NASCAR Playoffs – with a career best fifth place in the final championship ranking just last year. He earned his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory at Watkins Glen last month and has been on a positive trajectory even as his championship Hendrick Motorsports team works through an uncharacteristically challenging season.

The victory last month and the solid performance last week are all good vibes for Elliott, who needs to reposition himself higher in the standings after the Richmond 400-miler.

He’s was eager to make his move even as he was departing his plane from Vegas last week.

“I’m just like ‘Man, I wish we were lining up to run Richmond, now,’” Elliott said. “Like, ‘I don’t want to wait a week. I want to go now and try to fix it.’ Because ultimately that’s all you can do is wait for the next race and go again.

“Ultimately just try to fix the problem tomorrow night and try to get another sticker.”

Posted on September 21, 2018September 21, 2018 by Staff Report

Veteran driver Ryan Newman is expected to fill the No. 6 Ford at Roush Fenway Racing beginning in 2019, according to multiple published reports. A Roush Fenway Racing spokesperson said the organization does not have a comment on the news reports, but that the team has scheduled an announcement for 3 p.m. ET Saturday at the track.

Team owner Jack Roush confirmed earlier this month on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that driver Trevor Bayne would not return to the seat in 2019. Bayne was the full-time driver of the No. 6 Ford from 2015-17, then split time with veteran Matt Kenseth in the seat this year.

MORE: Key players in ‘Silly Season’

“We’re making a search,” Roush said at the time. “We’re in negotiations with drivers right now that would drive the 6 car next year. I think the decision’s been made.”

Newman announced last week in Las Vegas that he would not return to the No. 31 Chevrolet at Richard Childress Racing, where he’s been for five years.

Newman advanced to the Championship 4 in 2014, the first year of NASCAR’s elimination-style playoff format. He finished second that season to champion Kevin Harvick. Newman also qualified for the postseason in 2015 (11th) and 2017 (16th) with the organization.

RELATED: Newman won’t return to RCR

Posted on September 21, 2018September 21, 2018 by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. — Alon Day has had a taste of racing at NASCAR’s highest level, making his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut last season at Sonoma Raceway.

The venue was a sweet spot where Day said “I know where I’m coming from,” a winding road course that rang familiar with his successful background of competing in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. This weekend, Day is back in the Monster Energy Series, but for the first time on an oval track in Saturday’s Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Day says it’s impossible for him to draw comparisons between the two starts. But one easy distinction he can make: A continental divide in the approach to driving.

“The aggression is way higher than the European style,” says Day, a 26-year-old native of Israel. “In Europe, we are not allowed to touch each other. We do, but it’s minor. Here, if you made a mistake and bump someone, he’s kind of allowed to bump you, too. In Europe, no way. I had to get used to that.”

Day, a member of the 2016 NASCAR Next class, would love to become even more accustomed to the stateside style of racing.

Saturday’s Richmond event is the rookie’s next step in NASCAR’s approval process to compete on larger speedways as he aims to beef up his driving duties. He will pilot the BK Racing No. 23 Toyota in Saturday’s 400-lap event, with backing from Best Bully Sticks, a Richmond-based pet treat business. Day has also offered up his road-racing services for teams competing next weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval/road course and hopes to add Phoenix and Homestead to his 2018 schedule.

That’s all happening as Day is entrenched in a battle for his second straight Euro Series title. He’s won four of the eight rounds this season and stands as the division’s winningest active driver. “I’ll try to do my best and win another championship, but right now I’m only thinking about driving here in Richmond.”

His performance in four seasons in the Euro Series has helped his name recognition, especially in his home country, where auto racing has only recently gathered a following. He was honored by Israel’s Ministry of Culture and Sports in January 2017 as the country’s Athlete of the Year in the motorsports category.

That profile boost came on the heels of his inclusion in the NASCAR Next initiative, which helped identify him as a potential rising talent in the stock-car racing pipeline. Two starts in each the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series followed, with his Monster Energy Series opportunities along later.

“Without NASCAR Next, I don’t think people would recognize my name, I wouldn’t get the Xfinity ride, Trucks ride, anything,” Day says. “So I have to thank NASCAR Next for putting me there and making my name bigger. I’m here because of them.”

Posted on September 21, 2018September 21, 2018 by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (September 21, 2018) – The NASCAR Foundation today announced that it has partnered with Feed the Children to provide aid and relief to the victims of Hurricane Florence. As a result, trucks filled with food, hygiene products and cleaning supplies are deployed in needed areas beginning with Belhaven, NC.

The NASCAR Foundation has also launched a Hurricane Disaster Relief donation page that provides NASCAR Nation with one place to band together and make donations to the many affected by Florence and its aftermath. One-hundred percent of the financial contributions made at www.nascarfoundation.org/hurricane will be used toward storm relief efforts.

“Many in the Carolinas are still suffering and our hearts go out to all of the victims of Hurricane Florence,” said NASCAR Vice Chairman and The NASCAR Foundation Board Chairman and President Mike Helton. “Feed the Children is a great organization that gets much-needed food and supplies to those impacted by natural disasters. We encourage all of the NASCAR Family to lend a hand in any way they can. Whether it’s by volunteering, donating or helping spread the word through social media. Every effort helps!”

“We are committed to helping those affected by the devastation of Hurricane Florence in their recovery efforts,” said John Ricketts, Director of Disaster Services at Feed the Children. “We continue to work with our partners, like NASCAR, to distribute much-needed food and supplies. We are calling on communities and partners across the U.S to help our neighbors in their time of need.”

SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90 to host special

On Wed., Sept. 26, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90 will dedicate the 10 a.m. ET hour during “The Morning Drive” to help encourage donations and raise awareness for the victims of the storm and highlight the efforts of the industry as well as The NASCAR Foundation. Hosts Mike Bagley and Pete Pistone will speak with an assortment of special guests.

Industry Also Joining Relief Effort

Today’s announcement complements work already underway across the NASCAR industry. For example, Brad and Paige Keselowski are collecting donations that will be used toward the purchase of fuel for first responders. Krissie Newman sent a fleet of trucks to help rescue and relocate pets. Brett Moffitt is hosting a fundraising campaign where one lucky donor will receive a trip for two to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finale in Miami.

Krissie Newman went into the flood waters to help rescue animals. | Kenn Bell Photo

In addition, several tracks in the southeast are opening campgrounds for those displaced by the storm including Charlotte Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

As far north as the Granite State, NASCAR fans are pitching in to help. The touring series will be collecting supplies during the three races being held this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. These items will be combined with a collection of supplies from NASCAR and Roush Yates Engines employees in the Greater Charlotte area, and Motor Racing Outreach (MRO) will be delivering them to Goldsboro, NC, to provide aid to the five surrounding counties. Additionally, MRO — along with the Waltrip Bros Charity Championship — will deliver trucks from Feed the Children to Jacksonville, N.C.; Leland, N.C.; and to Camp Lejeune.

Posted on September 21, 2018September 21, 2018 by Staff Report

Brad Keselowski, the winner of the last three Monster Energy Series races, showed he still has speed when he led Friday’s final practice session at Richmond Raceway after clocking a lap at 120.224 mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

Martin Truex Jr. was second-fastest, circling the .75-mile track at 120.133 mph in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota.

Austin Dillon (119.458 mph), Ty Dillon (119.390 mph) and Ryan Newman (119.305 mph) rounded out the top five.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to the track with qualifying at 6:05 p.m. ET. The cars will then be impounded and go through inspection Saturday prior to the Federated Auto Parts 400.

Saturday’s race (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is the second in the Round of 16.

FIRST PRACTICE RESULTS

Kyle Busch topped the leaderboard in Friday’s first Monster Energy Series practice at Richmond Raceway, wheeling the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota around the .750-mile track at 121.190 mph.

Aric Almirola was second-fastest, moving his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford around the track at 120.968 mph.

Erik Jones (120.697 mph), Ty Dillon (120.514 mph) and AJ Allmendinger (120.273 mph) rounded out the top five.

The session was primarily uneventful, though Martin Truex Jr. suffered a flat tire on his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota on his first run. The defending Monster Energy Series champ was able to return to the track, and recorded the eighth-fastest speed, 120.059 mph.

Four drivers faced practice holds for varying infractions last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Jamie McMurray and Clint Bowyer (playoff driver) were held 15 minutes at the end of opening practice for being late to pre-race inspection. Kyle Busch (playoff driver) also was held 15 minutes at the end of practice, due to failing pre-race inspection twice last week.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was held 30 minutes at the end of practice due to failing pre-race inspection three times last week.