Posted on by Zack Albert

Robert Yates, a master engine builder and longtime NASCAR team owner, died Monday. He was 74.

In May, Yates was selected for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Class of 2018. He had been battling liver cancer, requiring multiple rounds of immunotherapy treatment. His son, Doug Yates, announced his father’s passing on social media Monday night.

“Hero — my dad’s my hero,” his son, Doug Yates, said in a post from his Twitter account Monday night. “My dad’s the toughest guy you’ve ever met. Never give up, always looking for the positive and looking for a competitive advantage, and that’s the way he raised myself and our family and everybody at Roush Yates.”

Yates’ expansive know-how as a mechanic led his cars to 77 wins in NASCAR’s premier series as an engine builder. After creating Robert Yates Racing in 1989 after his purchase of the Ranier-Lundy operation, Yates went on to collect 57 more victories and 48 pole positions as a team owner, adding a series championship for fellow Hall inductee Dale Jarrett in 1999.

RELATED: Drivers offer condolences, memories

Equipped with a degree in mechanical engineering from Wilson Technical College, Yates broke into the sport with the elite Holman-Moody organization, the Ford factory powerhouse, in 1967.

Yates later worked alongside Junior Johnson, forming a partnership that resulted in 30 wins from 1969-75. That tenure included LeeRoy Yarbrough’s only Daytona 500 victory, the first of five triumphs for Yates as an engine builder and team owner in The Great American Race. Yates then transitioned to DiGard Racing for a 10-year association that produced Bobby Allison’s lone major-league championship.

PHOTOS: Robert Yates’ life of racing

After two years with Ranier-Lundy, Yates dove into the world of team ownership. Driver Davey Allison made the jump with him, continuing their relationship as Robert Yates Racing was formed. Allison scored 15 of his 19 premier-series victories from that point forward, including a triumph in the 1992 Daytona 500.

In addition to Allison and Jarrett, Yates fielded cars for Ernie Irvan, Ricky Rudd, Elliott Sadler, David Gilliland and others. He retired from team ownership after the 2007 season, turning his attention to the engine-building company founded by his son, Doug. Now named Roush Yates Engines, that organization continues to power all Ford-backed entries in NASCAR’s top division.

Yates’ selection to the NASCAR Hall is the most recent recognition of his achievements in motorsports. Yates was given the Bill France Award of Excellence in 2000, and in 2007 received the Buddy Shuman Award for Lifetime Achievement in NASCAR.

Yates was the top vote-getter on NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Day, named on 94 percent of the ballots. “I don’t even know if I’ll sleep tonight,” Yates said May 24th. “I’m so honored and I love this sport, and I want this sport to do the same thing it did for me, again and again and again.”

MORE: Yates overcome with emotion at Hall of Fame election

An outpouring of sympathy for Yates streamed in throughout the NASCAR industry.

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said: “Robert Yates excelled in multiple NASCAR disciplines, earning the respect of an entire industry and an everlasting place in the hearts and minds of the NASCAR fanbase. His excellence spanned decades, from the 1983 championship powered by his engines and the 1999 title captured by the cars he owned, both of which helped earn him a deserved spot in the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2018.

“And though he was a master at his craft, it was Robert’s passion and character that endeared him to every single person he encountered and will ensure that his memory will live on for generations. On behalf of my family and all of NASCAR, I extend heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of a NASCAR giant, whose legacy will impact an entire industry forever.” …

Said Edsel B. Ford II, member of the board of directors, Ford Motor Company: “We at Ford are collectively saddened to have learned the news of the passing of Robert Yates. Robert, by any measure, was a valued and respected member of our family.

“His many accomplishments included winning the NASCAR championship in 1999 and being selected for the class of 2018 NASCAR Hall of Fame. I am proud to have been a part of both of those events but most meaningful to me was our friendship which spanned over 20 years.

“First and foremost an engine guy, Robert will be remembered as a person who helped build the sport with dedication and hard work. His legacy at NASCAR will be defined by his roles as an engine builder, championship team owner, co-founder of Roush Yates Engines and ultimately by the innovation that he brought to all of these endeavors and more.

“Much like my great grandfather, Henry Ford, Robert was a tinkerer. They both leave behind a legion of admirers and friends who benefited from their mentorship and their passion.

“We at Ford offer our sincere condolences to Robert’s wife Carolyn, his son Doug, daughter Amy and his eight grandchildren.” …

“Robert Yates knew the value of hard work and earned everything he achieved in life,” said Dave Pericak, Global Director of Ford Performance. “Not only was Robert a legendary engine builder and championship car owner, but he was a husband, father, grandfather and loyal Ford man who left an unmeasurable impact on those who knew him.

“He was a respected and valued member of the Ford family and co-founder of Roush Yates Engines, and while we’ll miss the wisdom he possessed for working on engines and race cars, we will miss his caring demeanor and friendship even more. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Robert’s wife, Carolyn, his two children, Doug and Amy, and his eight grandchildren.” …

Said three-time premier series champion Tony Stewart: “Our sport lost one of the most inventive minds and kindest personalities in Robert Yates. I’m glad I got to know him and proud our race team was able to honor him this year at Darlington. He leaves a strong legacy that is carried on by his son, Doug, and all of their employees at Roush Yates Engines. While Robert will certainly be missed, he will always be remembered.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Name: Donnie
Hometown: Leopold, MO
Member since: 2010

Getting to know Donnie

Q. Why did you join the Official NASCAR Fan Council?

“I first heard about the NASCAR Fan Council on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. I remember thinking it was pretty cool that NASCAR had a platform for fans to give feedback about the sport. I decided to sign up, and am very grateful that I’ve been able to serve on the Fan Council for the past 6.5 years. I wanted to be able to have a voice, and give back to the sport in hope that it will be around so my children and grandchildren can enjoy it as much as I have.”

Q. How did you first become interested in NASCAR?

“It first started with some friends that I worked with on my Great Uncle’s farm. I was 11 or 12 at the time, and they asked if I wanted to go to watch some sprint cars at a local dirt track. I still remember that race like it was yesterday, I’d never seen anything like it. They were also big NASCAR fans, so on Sundays we would get together and watch races. I’ve been hooked ever since.”

Q. What makes NASCAR special for you?

“NASCAR is special and unique in that it’s unlike any other sport. Fans have more access and interaction with the drivers and teams than other sports. I think by having this access you get to know these people, and fans can relate to that. I also enjoy the history of the sport, and the traditions of the anthem and prayer at the beginning of each race.”

Q: Do you have any favorite NASCAR memories or traditions?

“My favorite NASCAR memory is when Mark Martin won the Phoenix race in 2009. I’ve been a lifelong Mark fan, and still am to this day. Mark hadn’t won a race since 2005, and that was his first full season after running a couple of partials. Seeing the emotion and all of the drivers and team owners come to victory lane to congratulate Mark was special. As far as traditions go, for the last 10 years I’ve gone to the spring race at Talladega with 7 of my best friends to enjoy a weekend of camping and racing.”

Q: If you could go to any NASCAR race/track, where would you go?

“Martinsville.”

Q: Do you have a favorite in any of the following categories?

Driver: “Mark Martin”

Track: “Darlington & Martinsville”

Memorabilia: “An autographed Mark Martin truck that I won on a Twitter giveaway.”

Q: Where did you grow up?

“Leopold, Missouri.”

Q: What do you like to do in your free time?

“Spend time with my family, watch NASCAR races, hunting, and spending time outside.”

Q: Where is your dream car?

“1969 428 SCJ Mach 1 Grabber Blue Mustang.”

Q: What would be your dream vacation?

“New Zealand.”

From all of us at NASCAR, we thank Donnie for his continued support and look forward to hearing from him in 2017.

Posted on by Holly Cain

DOVER, Del. — With two consecutive wins in the opening round of the 2017 NASCAR playoffs, Sunday’s race winner Kyle Busch has convincingly put himself atop the list of contenders for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup trophy.

He is there along with leader Martin Truex Jr., who won the first of the three playoff races in Chicago and has methodically collected enough playoff points to make his appearance in the Championship 4 at Miami a near-certainty.

MORE: Dover race results | NASCAR Playoffs standings

Yet when the 2015 champ Busch considered whether his early work in the playoffs places him alongside Truex as a sure-bet championship contender yet, Busch answered quickly and succinctly.

“No,” he deadpanned.

“There’s a lot of racing to go,” he explained. “You know, I think week to week, you can probably change your favorite. Early in the first third of the (season) I probably would have said (Kyle) Larson is your new championship favorite, but you’ve got to let these things play out.

“I don’t know that there’s necessarily a favorite. Maybe it closes our gap that the 78 (Truex) had on us a little bit where I still think it’s 78, 18 (Busch), 42 (Larson), and there’s different distances between us each and every week, I guess, depending on how we run and what all kind of goes on, so it’s all about getting the stars to align and doing your job and having everything go your way.”

Busch is the first to win back-to-back races in the playoffs since Joey Logano won three straight in 2015. Kevin Harvick won the final two races of 2014.

RELATED: Busch steals Dover win from Chase Elliott

It’s a perpetually productive, well-decorated group crowding Busch at the top of the standings — something Busch isn’t alone in acknowledging. Predicting the four drivers who will compete for the title at Homestead-Miami Speedway still isn’t any easier, according to those hoping to be among the group.

“When you run fourth and you’re disappointed it shows what your team is made of,” Truex said. “Proud of everyone, they did a good job all weekend. I am looking forward to the next round and feel good about where this Furniture Row Racing team is at right now.”

Kyle Larson, who finished fifth Sunday and is third in the playoff standings, has four wins and has been a consistent championship threat. Brad Keselowski is leading the Ford contingent and sits fourth in points — between Larson and a guy with seven large championship trophies at home: Jimmie Johnson. The reigning champ finished third at Dover and sounded very much ready to make a run at a historic eighth title.

RELATED: Johnson adjusts to new playoffs format

“I think when we unloaded on Friday, we realized how much speed all of our Hendrick cars had,” said Johnson. “As we look back over the summer, it just seems like tracks with more banking, our combination works well, and we were able to exploit that this weekend.

“I wished I would have qualified better. I really think we had a shot at winning the race today, and at times I was better than the 24 (Chase Elliott) and the 18 (Busch) and was catching them there at the end. I just never really had track position to race for the win. I finally got top three there on the last run and we were out of laps.

“A solid day, though. Charlotte is a great track for us, as well, and typically when we run well at Dover, it carries over to Charlotte, and we’re optimistic about next week, too.”

That’s rough news for the rest of the field. But not surprising.

Even the early achievement in the playoffs combined with the team’s past performance doesn’t seem to make Busch and his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota crew overly confident. Just confident.

And ready.

“Talladega is just a crapshoot, kind of like playing Bingo,” explained Busch’s crew chief Adam Stevens. “Bingo is not really fun for me, so you need to have all the bonus points you can going into that, and NASCAR was smart to put it in the middle of the segment.

“Everybody is going to have to race their guts out all day long. But as far as the next round, any time you eliminate four drivers, the field gets thinner and the points you need to score to advance are even more.

“You know, you’re going to have to be that much sharper, that much better, and have that many fewer mistakes. Aside from winning, you just have to perform each and every week, and it just ramps up each time we go to a new round.”

Posted on by RJ Kraft

RELATED: XFINITY Series Playoff standings

DOVER, Del. – Matt Tifft had to overcome early adversity for a strong finish in the Use Your Melon Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway on Saturday, but that is nothing new for the XFINITY Series rookie.

Tifft had to start from the rear because of a tire change after qualifying, sacrificing a 23rd-place starting spot. A Lap 6 accident just served as another setback for Joe Gibbs Racing driver before he worked his way up, jumping into the top 10 just past the midway point of the 200-lap race at the “Monster Mile.”

“You got to be super patient,” Tifft said of moving through the field over the course of a race. “… We were just trying to be smart and we kind of knew we were going to have an uphill battle starting from the back. Right off the bat, we got smacked in the back. I was hoping the damage wasn’t going to be too severe and it wasn’t. Really didn’t affect us at all.”

Tifft would go on to earn to a sixth-place finish in his No. 19 entry and come in as the highest finishing Toyota driver, an even more impressive effort when his teammates for the day were Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rookies Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones. The result also marked the third straight top 10 for the 21-year-old Ohio native.

This season marks Tifft’s first full-time season in a NASCAR national series. He underwent brain surgery on July 1, 2016 to remove a low-grade, benign brain tumor that kept him sidelined for about two-and-a-half months last year.

The result was also important for Tifft’s XFINITY Series Playoff outlook as he extended his point cushion to 14 points to the good over ninth-place Brendan Gaughan. Tifft sits in seventh, 12 points ahead of Ryan Reed in eighth. The drivers who will compose the Round of 8 will be set after  the Drive for the Cure 300 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“Great day for our team and we just need to keep that consistency rolling through next week in Charlotte,” Tifft said. “Nothing set in stone yet. We just need to keep plugging away like we are right now.”

Tifft finished 26th at Charlotte in the spring, but nabbed two top 10s on the 1.5-mile tracks of Chicago and Kentucky in September. And on top of that, he finished eighth in Charlotte’s fall race last year.

“We didn’t have the greatest run at Charlotte earlier in the year,” Tifft said. “Going to Chicagoland, I thought we learned a lot about some rough and wore-out places like that. I feel like we have a good outlook on that place and we had a solid run there in the fall before.”

Posted on by RJ Kraft

RELATED: Race results | Playoff standings

DOVER, Del. – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. proved to be prescient. The Roush Fenway Racing driver indicated on Friday that getting stage points could be a difference-making strategy play and he was, indeed, correct.

A timely caution on Lap 86 of the Apache Warrior 400 presented by Lucas Oil at Dover International Speedway set the stage for Stenhouse to snag stage points in Sunday’s opening 120-lap stage. At the time, green flag stops were underway and Stenhouse was one of five cars yet to pit. But then Jeffrey Earnhardt had a run-in with the pit road sand barriers, and everything changed.

Before the flurry of pit road activity, the Mississippi native had been running in the low 20s.

Stenhouse restarted third on Lap 93 and would finish the stage on Lap 120 in fourth. Those seven stage points ended up being the difference in advancing to the Round of 12. Stenhouse, who turns 30 years old on Monday, ended the day two points to the good on Ryan Newman for the last transfer spot into the next round — and even received a hug of congratulations from friend Tony Stewart.

“We got really, really lucky on that caution,” Stenhouse said on pit road after the race. “We were getting ready to pit and that was really the turning point of our race. Gave us a big buffer when we came in. We needed all of it.”

WATCH: Earnhardt crashes into pit road barriers

Stenhouse entered the elimination race in a tie with Austin Dillon for the last spot to advance, and he held the tiebreaker over the Richard Childress Racing driver. Dillon gave Stenhouse credit for the strategy play working out just right to help him advance.

“The No. 17 played the strategy right and got the stage points and we were racing him pretty much the rest of the day,” Stenhouse said. “So, we tried some more strategy stuff by staying out there at the end on older tires and we didn’t get the caution. So, congratulations to the No. 17 team for moving on.”

RELATED: Dillon reflects on missing out on advancing

Still, Stenhouse’s position remained precarious as Newman made his way up to 13th — and two points behind the final spot — while Stenhouse was trapped a lap down.

“Right there at the end, it’s hard knowing where everybody is,” Stenhouse said. “My spotter was keeping me up-to-date that we were two to the good, but you never know if the 31 or 3 is getting ready to pass a couple cars. It was nerve-racking there at the end. I felt like it was pretty smooth until the last two runs when we just didn’t have a good handle on the car. That was probably the worst two runs and that made me a little nervous.”

With two restrictor-plate wins this season — one each at Daytona and Talladega — and a points reset that drops him in eighth in the standings, Stenhouse is carrying a little extra spring in his step since the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway is in the Round of 12.

“Talladega is our best track to grab a win,” Stenhouse said. “We knew coming into Dover, we probably didn’t have a car capable of winning. But Talladega, we feel confident going in that we got that car. Jimmy Fennig has been working hard on our speedway program. …

“We restart this round ahead of a few others and that’s a positive.”

 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Race results | Kyle Busch foils Elliott at Dover

Editor’s note: This story has been updated from the original version

Two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series cars were found with an unsecured lug nut after Sunday’s Apache Warrior 400 at Dover International Speedway.

The Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Ford driven to a sixth-place finish by Clint Bowyer and the 12th-place Furniture Row Racing No. 77 Toyota of rookie Erik Jones each had one unsecured lug nut in a post-race check.

Under the rules set forth in the 2017 NASCAR deterrence system, the suggested guidelines for such an infraction is a $10,000 fine.

Any penalties from NASCAR’s competition department will be announced later in the week.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Race results | Elliott dejected | Round of 12 set

DOVER, Del. — Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman got into a brief exchange on pit road at Dover International Speedway following the Apache Warrior 400 presented by Lucas Oil. 

Gordon, who spent the race on the No. 24 pit box of race runner-up Chase Elliott, said in passing to Newman, “thanks for the help,” seemingly in reference to Newman not letting then-race leader Elliott by in the closing laps of the race as the driver of the No. 31 fought to stay on the lead lap with his playoff hopes on the line.

Kyle Busch passed Elliott for the final lead change just before the white flag dropped.

Newman quizzically asked Gordon, “You don’t think I was racing for my own position? Just watch what you say, man. You said it as a smartass.”

Gordon denied any malice, and it appears the two talked it out after.

The Richard Childress Racing driver was fighting to advance to the Round of 12 but came up two points short to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for the final transfer spot.

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Race results | Full schedule for Charlotte

DOVER, Del. — Chase Elliott simply sat still, his head in his hands — contemplative — before climbing out of his second-place finishing No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet on Dover International Speedway pit road late Sunday afternoon.

A few minutes later, he climbed out and leaned against his car facing away from the crowd of reporters, crew members and race officials on pit road as his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson approached. The reigning and seven-time Cup champion leaned back against the car as well and faced the 21-year old Elliott, who led a race-best 137 laps but not the final one.

Veteran Kyle Busch got around Elliott with one lap to go. And so, the highly-touted, highly-talented former XFINITY Series champion and son of Hall of Famer Bill Elliott came .357-seconds shy of his first Cup victory.

It was his second runner-up finish in the last three races, third on the season and fifth of his two-year Cup career.

It stung. And his teammate Johnson felt for him.

“I knew I couldn’t say anything to make it better, but I felt like just standing there was maybe helpful since I know him so well,” Johnson shared later. “Maybe let him get a few cuss words out before he had to actually pull it together and do a proper interview.

“I don’t think you can say anything now to make it better. As we get close to next weekend, the sting will subside and you can look for the silver lining. But right now, it’s gonna hurt, it’s gonna sting. We all know that 24 car is going to win a lot of races soon.”

After dutifully doing a required television interview, Elliott came into Dover Media Center to take questions from reporters. Many were still outside doing interviews and Elliott had to wait a few moments before the session began. His body language was easily translated, the disappointment palpable.

His answers to reporters questions were short, but heartfelt.

“It was all just lap-traffic dependent,” he surmised of Busch’s pass. “I thought if I had a clean track, I could have run as fast as he did, but I didn’t, and I should have done something different. 

“So that’s just on me, and he did a better job than I did. At the end of the day that’s what it comes down to.”

Of his teammate Johnson’s consolation, he said, “Well, you know, I certainly appreciate his friendship and him willing to come over and talk to me, but yes, I think that kind of shows the kind of person he is, but it doesn’t fix my lack of performance this afternoon.”

Many would argue that Elliott absolutely performed Sunday afternoon in NASCAR’s first elimination race in the 10-race playoff stretch. His time out front was not only best on the afternoon, but best of his season and accounted for nearly a third of his 364 laps led in 2017.

The previous driver of Elliott’s No. 24, four-time champion Jeff Gordon, sat atop Elliott’s pit box for the race. Sitting alone on a row behind the team’s engineers and crew chief, Gordon was expressionless watching Elliott turn the race’s final laps. He sat still with his arms crossed in front, staring at the computer screen in front of him.

There was nothing really he could do but understand the frustration the young Elliott was enduring as he took the checkered flag. When Gordon climbed off the pit box to seek Elliott out, he had nothing but praise and optimism for his young friend.

“A lot of positives to take out of it, a tremendous effort by the whole team, so really disappointing right now,” Gordon said. “He drove an amazing race and his win is coming soon. Kyle (Busch)  did a good job there in lapped traffic. It’s difficult when you’re the leader and no one wants to cut you a break trying to stay on the lead lap. It was difficult to watch.

“I’ll certainly tell him what a good job he did and try to cheer him up. It’s hard on everybody. His team has been very, very close and I know how badly he wants to win. That’s just passion. That’s what I like.”

Gordon knows about passion. As he walked down pit road to speak with Elliott, he ran into Ryan Newman, who had been among the cars in front of Elliott as he raced those final frantic laps. He and Gordon exchanged words but later walked through the garage together smiling.

Busch, who has now won two races in a row, said he was slightly surprised he was able to get around Elliott. But the veteran conceded he simply seized opportunity.

“Could Chase have done anything differently?” Busch pondered after the race.

“The only thing Chase could have done differently was just move around and try to get out of the wake of the cars that were in front of him. I was actually surprised he didn’t. 

“He kept running the bottom behind those guys, and the bottom was what got him there for that point in the day. He was good down there all day long, but he was just getting slowed down too much by the air and everything in front of him.

“He could have just tried to blitz them on the top and get around them sooner, but other than that, I think he was just so focused on what he had all day long, making the bottom work, that he just stuck with it.”

And he added, “I would just say that’s experience.”

It’s certainly something Elliott is getting. The close calls — six third-place finishes in addition to the runner-ups — provide promise and uplift. No one doubts that Elliott will win. And when he does, he will have a wonderful — and very well-earned — sense of appreciation. 

“By mid‑week I’m sure they’ll work through this and find the silver lining and move on and go to Charlotte,” Johnson said. 

“They’re a fantastic race team. Chase is one heck of a driver, and I look forward to whenever that celebration does happen.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Race results | Stage recaps | Detailed breakdown | Playoff standings
SHOP: Kyle Busch gear

DOVER, Del. – Call him the Grinch.

Halloween may be the next holiday on the calendar, but Kyle Busch stole Christmas morning from Chase Elliott late on Sunday afternoon at Dover International Speedway.

Running Elliott down from more than four seconds back in the last 40 laps of the Apache Warrior 400 at the Monster Mile, Busch powered his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota around the outside of Elliott’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and cleared him off Turn 4 as the cars approached the white flag.

A lap later, Busch had his second straight victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff, leaving a disheartened Elliott still in search of his first victory in the series and agonizing over what he might have done differently.

Though Elliott was inconsolable, there were plenty of positives in his performance. The Hendrick cars showed real speed for the first time since the playoffs began two weeks earlier at Chicagoland, and Elliott moved on comfortably to the Round of 12.

Not as fortunate were Ryan Newman, Austin Dillon, Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch, who were eliminated from the Playoffs, as Ricky Stenhouse Jr., claimed the 12th and final spot in the next round by two points over Newman, thanks to a risky-but-serendipitous pit call by crew chief Brian Pattie.

But it was Busch who stole the show and stole the race, running the top line as he sliced into Elliott’s advantage and diced his way through traffic more adroitly than his less experienced rival.

“Man, I saw that carrot out there, and I wanted to go and get it,” said Busch, who won for the fourth time at Dover and the 42nd time in his career. “I got within five lengths and I stalled out and I was like, ‘Oh, man, I think that was it,’ you know? But I got back to the top and got enough momentum back rolling. Chase was kind of plugged up with the lapped cars in front of him, so I think the lapped cars actually helped us with that one.

“But, overall, just great day for us. Great job by the team being able to get in Victory Lane here in Dover. It’s been a long time since we’ve been in Victory Lane here, and it’s hard to come by wins here because (11-time Dover winner) Jimmie (Johnson) takes up all the darn Monster trophies. But it’s nice to have a third or fourth in my collection – I can’t remember.”

Johnson, who finished third, tried to console his teammate, but Elliott felt he let his team and organization down when he failed to beat Busch to the finish line.

RELATED: Elliott dejected after finishing second

“I thought if I had a clean track, I could have run as fast as he did, but I didn’t, and I should have done something different,” said Elliott, still despondent when he arrived at the media center for his post-race interview. “So that’s just on me, and he did a better job than I did. At the end of the day that’s what it comes down to…

“Man, such a bummer, such a disappointment for my team. I don’t really have a whole lot to add.”

Series leader and pole winner Martin Truex Jr. ran fourth, followed by Kyle Larson and a trio of non-playoff drivers — Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Daniel Suarez.

Busch, Truex, Larson and 10th-place finisher Brad Keselowski had clinched spots in the Round of 12 before arriving at Dover. Elliott, Johnson, Jamie McMurray (ninth on Sunday), Matt Kenseth (11th), Kevin Harvick (17th), Ryan Blaney (23rd), Denny Hamlin (35th) and Stenhouse (19th) joined them on Sunday.

But it was Stenhouse who won the nail-biter. But for Pattie’s decision to keep the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford on track as long as possible during a cycle of green-flag pit stops late in the first stage, Stenhouse would have been eliminated.

WATCH: Jeffrey Earnhardt’s caution timely for Stenhouse Jr.

As luck would have it, Jeffrey Earnhardt spun into the barrels protecting the entrance to pit road on Lap 86 to cause the first caution of the race one circuit before Stenhouse was scheduled to pit. The fortuitous yellow left five cars on the lead lap and gave Stenhouse the track position he needed to score seven points as the fourth-place finisher in Stage 1.

That gave him the edge he needed over Newman.

“We caught the caution there right at the right time with a perfect amount of laps left in the stage to get stage points and that was the turning point of the day,” said Stenhouse, who battled back from disaster at Chicagoland and a lackluster run at New Hampshire. “Our Fastenal Ford was definitely not close to what we needed, especially the last two runs. We were close before the last two runs and made some adjustments there and really fell off.

“All in all, like I said, I feel lucky that we had all the mistakes at Chicago and really not a good car at Chicago, Loudon or Dover but we still made it in. Really, it’s hats off to the guys for fighting all day, and it’s nice that the round starts over.”

Posted on by Staff Report

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs field was whittled from 16 drivers to 12 on Sunday following the playoff race at Dover International Speedway, with Kyle Busch winning.

Dover was the site of the third and final race in the Round of 16, with the four drivers lowest in the standings eliminated from the postseason and the ability to compete for a championship in Miami.

MORE: Race results | Top pictures from Dover

The following drivers advanced to the Round of 12, with seeding and points after Dover:

1. Martin Truex Jr.: 3,059 points
2. Kyle Busch: 3,041 points
3. Kyle Larson: 3,034 points
4. Brad Keselowski: 3,020 points
5. Jimmie Johnson: 3,017 points
6. Kevin Harvick: 3,015 points
7. Denny Hamlin: 3,013 points
8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: 3,010 points
9. Ryan Blaney: 3,008 points
10. Chase Elliott: 3,006 points
11. Matt Kenseth: 3,005 points
12. Jamie McMurray: 3,003 points

PROCEED WITH CAUTION: Green-flag pit stops were halted in Stage 1 when Jeffrey Earnhardt wrecked into the sand barrels on the entrance to pit road, bringing out the red flag. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was a big beneficiary. He stayed out as late in the run as possible and finished fourth in Stage 1, for seven crucial points — he had been running further back in the field, hence the gamble. Austin Dillon, meanwhile, was trapped a lap down.

Those seven stage points were the difference was Stenhouse Jr. ended the race two points up on Ryan Newman for the final transfer spot.

BUBBLE BOYS: The playoff picture was tight entering Dover. Jamie McMurray came into the day in 11th place in the standings, nine points above the cutoff line. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Austin Dillon were tied for the final spot, Ryan Newman was one point behind them, and Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne trailed by double digits.

PLAYOFF BONANZA: Martin Truex Jr. will be the top seed for the Round of 12 by virtue of his playoff points. He has 59. All point totals will be reset to 3,000 for the Round of 12, with each driver’s playoff points total added to that.