Posted on by Reid Spencer

LAS VEGAS – Team owner Chip Ganassi told The Associated Press this week that veteran driver Jamie McMurray won’t return to the No. 1 Chevrolet next season.

The report said that Ganassi plans to offer McMurray an advisory role with the team, similar to that of Dario Franchitti in Ganassi’s IndyCar organization. In Las Vegas this week, Ganassi driver Kyle Larson said a potential McMurray exit would leave a large void to fill, from a personal standpoint.

RELATED: Key players in Silly Season | Report: McMurray out of the No. 1

“I think you always care who your teammate is, for sure, and I have enjoyed having Jamie for my whole Cup career,” Larson said. “He has been such an amazing friend and teammate, and he has taught me a bunch on and off the track. 

“So I don’t know what his future holds or what, but he has done a lot for my life and my career. … I don’t think that there’s anybody else in the garage that could have taught me the things that he did and was as nice as he was to me as a young (driver) when I first came in. There’s no better teammate than Jamie McMurray.”

McMurray isn’t the only silly season driver on the move this year. Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, remains unsigned for next year and has been touted as a possible replacement for McMurray.

Roush Fenway Racing team owner Jack Roush also confirmed on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that this season will be Trevor Bayne’s last in the No. 6 Ford. Roush said he is talking to several possible successors but wouldn’t elaborate.

And Ryan Newman announced Saturday that he would not return to Richard Childress Racing in 2019.

RELATED: Newman, RCR part ways

Contributing: Staff report

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

LAS VEGAS — The heat is about to ramp up as the NASCAR Playoffs kick off for the first time at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – both figuratively and literally.

The temperature for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is forecasted to reach 101 degrees, a 43-degree difference compared to the Las Vegas race in March when the temperature was 58 degrees.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Full Las Vegas schedule

The toasty weather in the desert is poised to present a new set of challenges for drivers and teams than they are used to seeing in Las Vegas — which adds another element for the 16 playoff drivers to worry about as the postseason begins.

Brad Keselowski, currently on a two-race winning streak following victories in the Southern 500 and the Brickyard 400, is the fourth seed to start the playoffs. The Team Penske driver has a couple concerns on his radar.

“Physically, I feel pretty good,” Keselowski told NASCAR.com in between a pair of Saturday practice sessions. “I like the heat. I’m more concerned about the car, just the systems being tested to new limits than ever before.

“And the tires,” he added. “Really concerned about the tires. We’ve already seen some issues in practice.”

RELATED: Keselowski riding hot hand heading into the playoffs

Alex Bowman, the 16th seed in the playoffs, said the saving grace for drivers and the cars is the lack of humidity, but given that there’s no previous data from a Las Vegas race in September, anything can happen.

“The longest we’ve run is like 15 laps (in practice), so we don’t really know yet,” Bowman told NASCAR.com. “It’s kind of a wild card. Nobody has a notebook for it.”

“It’s definitely a little slick, but it’s not terrible,” he added. “I feel like the falloff (in the tires) is a little bigger, but it’s probably not as big of a difference than I thought there would be. I think we’ll be all right. It will just be another challenge for us.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Ryan Newman announced via Twitter on Saturday afternoon that he would not return to Richard Childress Racing after the 2018 season.

The veteran driver, who is in his fifth season with RCR, says his intention is to compete full time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2019, but he is not ready to announce his plans yet.

RELATED: Key players in Silly Season | Newman tops Las Vegas practice

“I want to take a moment to let everyone know that I will not return to Richard Childress Racing in 2019,” Newman wrote. “I have very much enjoyed driving the No. 31 car and I want to personally thank Richard Childress and everyone at RCR for the support over the past five seasons.”

Team owner Richard Childress told NASCAR.com in the Las Vegas Motor Speedway garage that Newman has been a “good veteran driver” for the team for the last five seasons. He said that it was too early to reveal plans for the No. 31 ride for 2019.

“We knew we were going to change,” Childress said. “It’s just when we were going to announce it.”

Newman missed the playoffs in 2018 for just the second time with Childress. His first year with the team (2014) produced his best result, with the No. 31 group emerging as a playoff sleeper, advancing to the Championship 4 in Miami and coming within a few laps of winning the championship.

RELATED: Career stats for Newman | Career highlights for Newman

The veteran won his first race with RCR last year at ISM Raceway in Phoenix. Through 26 races this year, he has seven top-10 finishes. In his career, he has 18 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victories.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Busch Pole Award winner Erik Jones paced the final practice before Sunday’s playoff opener, setting the standard of 181.251 mph around Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a 50-minute session Saturday afternoon in the desert.

Jones, who finished sixth in the first practice session Saturday, will lead the field to green when the South Point 400 gets underway Sunday at 3 p.m. ET (NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

MORE: Final practice results

Ryan Blaney finished second in final practice at a clip of 181.238 mph. Blaney, in his Team Penske No. 12 Ford, also finished second earlier Saturday.

Fellow playoff drivers Alex Bowman (181.202 mph) and Brad Keselowski (181.099 mph) were third and fourth on the final practice leaderboard, respectively, with Ryan Newman coming in fifth. Newman set the pace in the earlier Saturday practice.

RELATED: Full lineup

Playoff drivers Kyle Busch (sixth), Kyle Larson (eighth) and Chase Elliott (ninth) also finished in the top 10. Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr., who both are in the sport’s “Big 3” of consistently fast drivers, finished outside the top 10 in both Saturday sessions.

Seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson was 24th in final practice, slowest among the 16 playoff drivers.

•   •   •

PRACTICE 2 | FULL RESULTS

Ryan Newman displayed a burst of speed during Saturday’s opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, soaring to the top of the leaderboard ahead of the 16 playoff drivers with a best lap of 183.892 mph.

The Richard Childress Racing driver missed out on the postseason this year, but showed his No. 31 Chevrolet still has plenty of juice for the final 1o races of the season.

MORE: Best 10-lap averages

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who did qualify for the playoffs, was second in his No. 12 Ford at 183.268 mph. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola (183.194 mph), Hendrick Motorsports rookie William Byron (183.107 mph) and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Daniel Suarez (182.822 mph) completed the top five.

Byron and Suarez, like Newman, did not qualify for the 16-driver postseason.

Of those remaining drivers in the playoffs, Erik Jones (sixth) and Jimmie Johnson (seventh) logged top-10 times.

The “Big” 3 of Kevin Harvick (14th), Martin Truex Jr. (16th) and Kyle Busch (25th) fell outside the top 10 — far outside, in Busch’s case.

BREAKDOWN: Analyzing the field

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

LAS VEGAS — Thursday night was record-setting for Hailie Deegan at the Las Vegas Dirt Track as she became the first woman in NASCAR history to win a pole for a K&N Pro Series West race.

At race’s end, Deegan finished second to ARCA Racing Series regular Sheldon Creed — but it was a hard-fought runner-up result. And it was one she was not content with.

Deegan led 13 laps early in the Star Nursery 100, but her No. 19 Bill McAnally Racing Toyota quickly developed a problem, routinely popping out of gear after mis-shifting at the start. The issue plagued her the rest of the night and added to the race drama.

“I just got antsy on the start,” Deegan told NASCAR.com Friday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “I started in second (gear) and went to third and that was good, but as soon as I got back to fourth … I didn’t blip the throttle enough and ended up getting stuck in neutral and grinded the gear. I could never really get it into fourth, but when I did, every other lap or so it would pop out.”

The issue meant she tried to drive the demanding dirt with one hand while the other remained on the shifter, and persisted even after the mid-race break when the team attached a bungee cord in an effort to keep the car in fourth gear. Even then her car wouldn’t stay in gear.

“I would say every three to five laps it would pop out of gear,” Deegan said. “After I got the hang of it, what it was doing and I got the rhythm down, I expected it to pop out and I was ready for it.”

Despite the historic night under difficult circumstances, the 17-year-old NASCAR Next driver wasn’t satisfied with her runner-up result.

“Everyone was like, ‘Good job, top five!’ And I’m like, ‘Top five?’ ” Deegan said. “‘No, that was horrible, what are you talking about?’ And even with second, everyone is like ‘Yeah, you got second, that’s still the highest-finishing place for a girl.’ I’m like, ‘No, I qualified on pole and fell back a position. This is not OK.’”

That demanding demeanor is what she was taught from her father, freestyle motocross rider Brian Deegan. It has never mattered that she is a woman trying to succeed in the male-dominated racing world.

“It’s always been, ‘You want to be the best driver, hands down,’ ” said Deegan. “He’s trained me to figure out what I’m doing wrong. That’s with everything in life. You figure out what you’re doing wrong and fix it so we can be better next race.”

Her lineage and her gender have made Deegan a driver whom other competitors want to beat, a fact she has used to motivate her even more in her first year transitioning to stock cars from off-road racing.

“As soon as you get on the track, they expect you to be the best person, plain and simple,” Deegan said. “No one will treat you differently as soon as you get on the track. No one will drive differently, even though sometimes they drive me a little harder because I’m a girl and they don’t want a 17-year-old girl beating them.”

She has her own standards to live up to.

“I don’t want to be the best girl, I want to be the best driver,” she said. “Whatever series I’m racing, I will never be OK with being the best girl. I want to be the best driver no matter what. That was just my mentality growing up. I was trained like that.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. have earned some separation from the rest of the Monster Energy Series field entering the NASCAR Playoffs. Their regular-season performances — winning 17 of the 26 races — make the three drivers favorites to compete for the championship in the Homestead-Miami finale Nov. 18.

With three rounds of eliminations and a juggled 10-race slate for the postseason, there are no guarantees that the Harvick-Busch-Truex triple threat stays solvent. Or are there?

With nine races to go before the Championship 4 field is set, NASCAR.com’s writers in place for the Las Vegas Motor Speedway opener debate the question: Will the Big 3 stay intact all the way to Homestead?

RELATED: Breaking down the playoff field | NASCAR Playoffs 101 | Which driver will surprise?

ZACK ALBERT

Yes: Perhaps there’s not a long-odds bonanza with this pick, but there’s something to be said for betting the chalk and staying with the favorites. The three fastest cars are part of that mix. Three experienced drivers — champions, all — competing at their highest level is in that equation, too. Top that with a sustaining bounty of playoff points — 50 each for Busch and Harvick, and 35 for Truex — and there’s reason to believe in conventional wisdom. The road to Homestead won’t be a waltz for the front-running trio, but almost all postseason indicators suggest three familiar faces on the final stage.

CHASE WILHELM

No: Nine races and three rounds of elimination races to set the Championship 4 contenders means ample opportunity for the Big 3 to either achieve more success or make huge mistakes. With that said, let’s pump the brakes on giving Busch, Harvick and Truex three of those four coveted spots right away. All three drivers experienced their fair share of DNFs during the regular season (Busch: 2, Harvick: 3, Truex: 5). Although they have plenty of playoff points to use as a bandage if something catastrophic occurs, it’s still not enough insurance to have more than one bad race. It’s the playoffs and too much can happen, which is why at least one of the Big 3 drivers will find themselves out of the championship battle in Homestead.

Posted on by Staff Report

Trackside Live is heading back to Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a stacked guest lineup. The show will be on Sunday, Sept. 16 at 11:30 a.m. ET (8:30 a.m. PT).

WATCH: Trackside Live | MORE: Full schedule for Vegas | Buy your tickets

Don’t miss your chance to meet your favorite drivers including Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano ahead of the first race of the 2018 NASCAR Playoffs — Enjoy!

Posted on by Reid Spencer

LAS VEGAS – It took three overtimes for Grant Enfinger to get his first victory of the season, with a win that represented a giant leap in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs.

In the second race of the postseason, Enfinger went from eighth in the playoff standings to a guaranteed berth in the second round when he held off charging Johnny Sauter in the third overtime to win the World of Westgate 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by .142 seconds.

RELATED: Full race results

Brett Moffitt led the field to the green flag in all three overtimes, coming within 200 feet of winning in the second extra period before a multicar wreck caused the 11th caution and forced NASCAR to red-flag the race on Lap 138.

WATCH: ‘Big One’ sets up triple overtime

When Moffit came to the final restart, his No. 16 Toyota failed to pick up fuel, and Enfinger, who restarted second, surged into the lead. Having to work his way around Moffitt’s sputtering truck, Sauter fell back and ran out of time in a race that went 10 laps beyond its scheduled distance of 134 laps.

The second straight playoff race produced a first-time winner this season, with Justin Haley having triumphed Aug. 26 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. With berths in the second round secure, Enfinger and Haley can race stress-free in the Oct. 13 cutoff at Talladega Superspeedway, Enfinger’s home track.

“There’s only two of us comfortable going into Talladega, and I’m one of those two,” said Enfinger, who knew he had a strong No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford entering the race. “It’s kind of the culmination of the whole year.

“We’ve put together the pieces needed to win a race individually but not as a whole as a group. The truck was great – we had the best truck out there.”

Sauter might take issue with assertion. His No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet improved throughout the event, but Sauter’s Achilles heel was the restarts.

“My restarts absolutely sucked tonight — just awful,” Sauter said. From first to second gear, it was terrible. The 16 (Moffitt) ran out of gas, and I had to snake around that, and we just lost a little bit of momentum.

“We’ve just got a little work to do. Obviously, we had the fastest truck the last half of the race.”

Sauter, at least, goes into Talladega with the series lead, 17 points ahead of pole winner Noah Gragson, who overcame a cut tire and a commitment line violation to finish 18th. With the playoff field set to be trimmed from eight drivers to six after Talladega, Ben Rhodes (fourth Friday) and Stewart Friesen (17th after three spins) are the two drivers on the outside, but both are within close range of fifth-place finisher Matt Crafton, who is fifth in the standings.

Haley took advantage of the late restarts to finish third ahead of Rhodes and Crafton. Moffitt came home 11th after his truck finally picked up fuel on the next-to-last lap.

Enfinger’s win came after crew chief Jeff Hensley opted for a no-tire call following Enfinger’s victory in the second stage. An opportune caution on Lap 100 gave Enfinger a chance to gain a tire advantage, and he used the fresh rubber to charge through the field.

Enfinger’s spotter, ThorSport general manager David Pepper, picked up the victory in his 500th race.  

Posted on by Reid Spencer

LAS VEGAS – Before Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Erik Jones considered himself a sleeper entering the first race of the playoffs.

That was before the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota announced his presence by winning the pole for Sunday’s opening postseason race, the South Point 400.

Jones toured the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway in 28.705 seconds (188.121 mph) to earn his first Busch Pole Award of the season and the second of his career by .003 seconds over Team Penske driver Joey Logano (188.101 mph).

RELATED: Full starting lineup | Breaking down the playoff field 

“I knew we had a good car in practice, but I didn’t know if we’d get the pole,” Jones said. “The track kind of came to us, and I thought I knew what we needed to do adjustment-wise. We got the (car) where it needed to be and put together a really good lap.

“You can’t start them off any better than that. We have a long ways to go this weekend but we got the speed to do it. … I feel like we’ve been kind of under the radar. We’ve been running really well, and we’ve just got to put it together for one really good race. I think we can do that. We’re one to watch.”

Jones’ JGR teammate, Denny Hamlin, qualified third at 187.624 mph, followed by Kyle Busch (187.402 mph) and Kevin Harvick (187.396 mph), as Playoff drivers claimed the top 11 starting positions. The only interloper to make the final round was Jamie McMurray, who ended up 12th after hard contact with the outside wall on his money lap.

RELATED: Who could surprise in the playoffs?

With playoff driver Brad Keselowski having won the last two races and Logano showing excellent speed in all three qualifying rounds, Logano said he was encouraged by his performance in time trials.

“I feel like the field’s pretty close, and I feel comfortable about my car,” Logano said. “I think the Penske cars are all fairly quick, and we’ll work on it some more (in Saturday’s practice).”

Penske teammate Ryan Blaney was sixth fastest in the final round. Keselowski will start 13th after failing to advance to the final round by .001 seconds. In addition to Keselowski, Playoff drivers who will start outside the top 12 are: Clint Bowyer (15th), Aric Almirola (16th), Jimmie Johnson (17th) and Austin Dillon (18th).

Playoff drivers Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson occupy the seventh through 11th positions on the starting grid, respectively. Truex and Kyle Busch each had to make two runs in Round 2 to bump their way into the final 12.