Posted on by Staff Report

Hendrick Motorsports has named Darian Grubb crew chief for the No. 5 Chevrolet team and driver Kasey Kahne for the remaining nine Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs races in 2017 NASCAR Cup Series season, the team announced Monday afternoon in a press release. He will be atop the pit box for Sunday’s event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

NEWS: Kahne will move to No. 95 in 2018

Grubb, 41, led Tony Stewart to the 2011 championship and has posted 23 total victories in the series, which rank him third among active full-time crew chiefs, behind only teammate Chad Knaus (81 wins) and Todd Parrott (31 wins). He has recorded 18 pole positions, 72 top-five finishes and 130 top-10s in his career.

“Darian is an extremely talented and experienced crew chief,” said Hendrick Motorsports president Marshall Carlson. “Having been back with us for more than 20 months, he knows all of our people and processes. There’s no one more prepared to hit the ground running at this point in the year.”

RELATED: Kahne won’t return to HMS in 2018 | See Kahne’s special paint scheme

Grubb originally joined Hendrick Motorsports in January 2003. He served as the lead race engineer for the No. 48 Chevrolet and driver Jimmie Johnson from 2003-2006, including four races as interim crew chief during the team’s 2006 championship season. Grubb earned one win in 2007 as crew chief for Casey Mears before being named engineering manager for the Nos. 5 and 88 Hendrick Motorsports teams for 2008.

In 2009, Grubb moved into a crew chief role at Stewart-Haas Racing, where in three seasons with driver Stewart he won 11 races and the 2011 Monster Energy Series title. He then joined Joe Gibbs Racing, recording nine total victories from 2012-2015 as crew chief for drivers Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards. Grubb rejoined Hendrick Motorsports in January 2016 to oversee race car manufacturing as vehicle production director and was recently promoted to director of competition systems.

THROWBACK: Is Grubb Hendrick’s secret weapon?

“I’m looking forward to working with the team for the rest of the season,” said Grubb, a native of Floyd, Virginia, with a mechanical engineering degree from Virginia Tech. “I enjoy competing in a playoffs environment, and we have tremendous resources at Hendrick Motorsports to pull from. I’m ready to get started this weekend.”

Grubb replaces Keith Rodden, who was the team’s crew chief for 99 races. Rodden remains under contract to Hendrick Motorsports through the end of the 2017 season and will be assigned other responsibilities. The team’s crew chief for the 2018 season has not been determined.

PHOTOS: All of Kahne’s career wins

Posted on by Staff Report

Editor’s note: The “Made in Japan” documentary aired Sept. 20 on FS1’s “Race Hub” program. Watch here.

RELATED: See exclusive photos of trip to Japan

Cultures crossed in the mid-1990s when NASCAR held a series of races in Japan over a three-year stretch.

Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett and others made the 7,000-mile trip across the Pacific Ocean to compete in NASCAR’s first major international race, an unprecedented event in competing against the best racers in Japan.

The setting? Japan’s world famous Suzuka Circuit.

“Made in Japan” explores all of the above, and more — the effort to launch the first race in 1996, the lasting impact on Japan, if NASCAR will ever return — in an all-access, behind-the-scenes documentary airing as part of “Race Hub” on FS1.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said he believes the sanctioning body provides a level playing field for all manufacturers, and that Twitter comments from Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski were “a little bit of posturing.”

Keselowski incited both a discussion and criticism on Friday when he tweeted about the speed of Toyotas compared to other manufacturers, leading to some back-and-forth with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch.

RELATED: Drivers trade Twitter barbs | Busch fires back at Kes

O’Donnell was asked about Keselowski’s commentary Monday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

“Certainly our job is to put a level playing field out there,” O’Donnell said. “We’ve got a process that each of the (manufacturers) goes through and kind of witnesses. We believe they are on a level playing field.

“I look at it as a little bit of posturing. Brad certainly ran well this weekend. At the end of the day, you’ve had that car all year long. It’s the playoffs, and you have to go out there and deliver.”

Sunday’s playoffs opener at Chicagoland Speedway saw four different drivers lead at least 40 laps, with all three manufacturers spending time out front — including the top-three finishers in Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota, 77 laps led), Chase Elliott (Chevrolet, 42 laps led) and Kevin Harvick (Ford, 59 laps led).

Posted on by @KESELOWSKI

RELATED: Field set for playoffs | Playoffs standings | Driver previews

JOLIET, Ill. — And then there were 12.

Saturday’s TheHouse.com 300 at Chicagoland Speedway set the stage for the 2017 XFINITY Series NASCAR Playoffs, solidifying the 12 drivers who will run for the series championship.

Leading that pack is JR Motorsports’ William Byron, who — despite a broken transmission that left him with a 33rd-place finish on Saturday — is seeded first with three wins in the regular season. All four JR Motorsports cars will compete for the title, with Elliott Sadler winning the regular season title and Justin Allgaier nabbing his second victory of the season at Chicago. Michael Annett squeezed into the playoffs on points as the final driver in the field.

The strength of the team as a whole bodes well for the six-race stretch leading up to the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“Our team has got a good amount of speed right now, so that’s encouraging,” Byron told NASCAR.com after the race. “Definitely in the races I think we keep getting better and get our cars faster. So, we’ll see what we can do with that. I think it’s going to be good for us toward the end of this year.”

“… Just have to make no mistakes the whole (Playoffs) and put ourselves in a good position.”

Richard Childress Racing will also have a substantial showing in the ’17 NASCAR Playoffs, with two of its full-time cars — Daniel Hemric and Brendan Gaughan — in championship contention. Saturday’s event was especially important for Gaughan, who hadn’t reached Victory Lane to lock in a spot and was seeded a precarious 12th entering the final race of the regular season. After battling back from an equalized right-rear tire midway through the race, a 13th-place finish earned Gaughan a coveted playoff spot — and a hug from team owner Richard Childress on pit road after the race.

RELATED: Gaughan thrilled to be playoff-bound

“You keep digging and you don’t stop,” an always-enthusiastic Gaughan said. “That’s what (crew chief) Shane Wilson’s always been about and me and all my boys. I’m so proud of them for not stopping … nobody getting down, chasing down the problem, getting it fixed, getting the tire off, then just getting back in the race car and saying ‘OK we’re good now.’

“(I’m) excited now — now we can go back in race mode,” he continued later. “You saw what we can do at the end of the race when they finally take the handcuffs off. This SouthPoint Chevy’s fast — the handcuffs are back off now. We get to go play.”

While the Chevys of JR Motorsports and RCR will likely be strong and expected contenders, rookie Cole Custer could shake up the party; the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing driver battled hard with Monster Energy Series Playoffs driver Kyle Larson throughout Saturday’s 300-miler, putting together a seventh-place result even after contact with Ryan Blaney in the waning laps.

“That was probably the most fun I have ever had in a stock car, doing those crossover passes,” Custer said of his run with Larson. “I have respect for him racing me clean there. That was a lot of fun.”

“… I was happy with that today. That is the best speed we have had all year in the Haas Automation Mustang. It was really good. The four of us up front kind of gave it to the 7 car but that is how it is sometimes. I was happy with our run.

“I think we showed a lot of speed today.”

Ryan Reed, Jeremy Clements, Brennan Poole, Matt Tifft and Blake Koch also advanced to the 2017 XFINITY Series Playoffs. Dakota Armstrong missed the mark by 25 points.

MORE: Custer ready to run with the big boys

Posted on by

RELATED: Race results | Playoff standings

JOLIET, Ill. – If it hadn’t been for Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott might have been hoisting his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series trophy into the air — and getting covered in green slime — following Sunday’s NASCAR Playoffs opener at Chicagoland Speedway.

But for the No. 24 driver, a runner-up finish, one that may have dampened his mood last year during his rookie season, does more than just earn race points.

Elliott called it a “huge step in the right direction.”

“Days like this are the days we’re going to have to have,” he said. “There’s no way around that. So, I thought we had a solid day overall … and frankly it’s a lot better than we’ve been doing and we’ve got to have days like this moving forward.”

Having led 42 laps in Sunday’s 400-miler was a feat in itself for the No. 24 driver, who hasn’t paced the field for more than 20 laps since Phoenix back in March. In fact, his 42-lap total today was more than his entire laps-led total since then.

Call it a much-needed shot in the arm.

“To me, I think we all needed it; we all needed the realization that if we do have the car driving right, if we do have the right pit stops on pit road, restarts go good, we can run with those guys,” Elliott said. “We didn’t have anything for (race winner) Martin (Truex Jr.) today by any means but I thought we made the most with what we had. I thought we were better than about everybody else.

“To me, I think that’s something to be proud of.”

RELATED: Analyzing the playoff field

Crew chief Alan Gustafson echoed that sentiment later in the garage.

“Any time you can lead laps and compete with the best of the best, it’s a big deal,” Gustafson said. “So, I think it’s good for his confidence. I have confidence in the team and what we can accomplish. … I think it’s good for him. Any time you perform like that, you know you can do it.

Winning Stage 2 — which earned Elliott a valuable playoff point and 10 race points — certainly didn’t hurt either.

“Those stage points we gained today – those were really significant, that was a goal of ours,” Gustafson said. “Starting the race, we wanted to get as many stage points as we could and that would help us close the gap on those guys who had a pretty big bonus point advantage. …

“The one stage point isn’t going to hurt – we’ll take it. I’d like to have five more — unfortunately the 78 didn’t cooperate,” he joked.

Team owner Rick Hendrick paid a visit to the No. 24 car after the race to congratulate his young driver’s strong performance, one that comes just in time for the remaining nine-race NASCAR Playoffs stretch.

“If you’re going to get hot or fix things or take a step in the right direction, now is certainly the time to do it,” Elliott said. “So, I’m glad we had the run we did today. Like I said, we needed that – we all needed that and we haven’t been running to our potential each week. It’s just always nice to show up and know that if things are driving right, if pit stops are good, then you can run with them.

“And I think we just kind of proved to ourselves and everybody else that we can.”

 

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Race results | Playoff standings

JOLIET, Ill. — Martin Truex Jr., the driver with the briefcase full of bonus points and the fastest black Toyota Camry in the country, proved for the umpteenth time this year why his No. 78 team is a favorite to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.

The Furniture Row Racing pilot won Sunday’s Tales of the Turtles 400, the opening race of this year’s 10-race Playoffs.

He won it convincingly, 7.179 seconds ahead of runner-up Chase Elliott.

He won it after an early pit-road penalty for speeding dropped him from what had been second to what’s referred to as “the tail end of the field.”

Back country, in other words. The back of the field is so far removed from the front they don’t have electricity there.

But to the surprise of no one, Truex and his team, led by crew chief Cole Pearn, flogged away at the competition until, hey whaddya know, ol’ Martin’s right back in the mix.

RELATED: Analyzing the playoff field

Truex wasn’t the only one to run afoul of NASCAR’s pit-road “radar” on a cloudy day here southwest of Chicago.

Six others were ticketed for speeding as well, including fellow playoffs drivers Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch.

If there was any consolation for Truex and his group, it was that the infraction occurred on Lap 39 of the 267-lap race, giving them plenty of time to try and overcome the setback. But it wasn’t the only setback.

“We were lucky enough to stay on the lead lap,” Pearn said of the speeding penalty. “That was really the key there. Then we left lugs off on the next stop, had to come back, which was kind of just poor execution on our part.”

It also helped, Truex said, that it took place at the Chicago track, a venue that features an old and worn surface. That makes for options when searching for the fastest way around the track.

If the beginning seemed a trifle mess, by the time the first two stages had ended, Truex and the team appeared to have all issues resolved. From that point, they did what they’ve done much of the year.

Hammer down.

At Lap 190, he passed then-leader Kevin Harvick to take the lead for the first time in the race. He gave it up briefly, for one lap, under caution, before restarting out front and leading the final 55 laps.

It was impressive but it wasn’t unexpected. Still, there were mixed messages in the garage afterward.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
Martin Truex Jr. gets slimed after winning in Chicago.

At least one long-timer said the rest of the field had a ways to go to catch the No. 78.

Another, however, said the 78 was good, but that the No. 18 of Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing) was probably the better car Sunday.

Busch was felled by a series of incidents, including problems by his newly anointed pit crew, that kept the 2015 champion a lap down for much of the race. Had that not been the case …

“I like those guys, so I don’t want to wish them ill will,” Pearn said. “I was pretty happy we weren’t racing them. Even when they were back in there, they were really strong, had good speed.”

WATCH: Kyle Busch’s pit road woes

JGR supplies Furniture Row with its chassis as well as technical information. It’s a popular alliance out in Denver, Colorado, where the Barney Visser-owned team is based. How it’s going over inside the walls of JGR up in Huntersville, North Carolina, is anyone’s guess.

The five wins for Truex on the season is a career best and one better than a year ago. He was fast then, too, but not fortunate. A blown engine at Talladega took him out of the playoffs picture.

Now, he is the first to qualify for the Round of 12 no matter how he fares next week at New Hampshire or the week after at Dover.

And the bonus points, well, those continue to grow as well.

“From our standpoint, really our outlook, our approach doesn’t change from what it was in the regular season,” Truex said. “We go every single week to try to win both stages and try to win the race, try to get as many of those points as we can in case we have something happen like we did last year at Talladega.”

It stopped them last year. But it doesn’t appear the competition will be as fortunate this time around.

Posted on by

RELATED: Race results | Playoff standings 

JOLIET, Ill. – Sunday’s third-place finish at Chicagoland Speedway earned a smile-and-handshake exchange between Kevin Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers on pit road following the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs opener.

It wasn’t a trip to Victory Lane — but for the usually dominant No. 4 team, it was what it needed in a season that has only seen one win.

“It was a really nice execution all weekend long,” Childers told NASCAR.com. “I felt like we were bringing a good car here and really did a good job through every practice. Everybody worked well together and really made no mistakes the whole weekend.

“That’s what we needed to do. We don’t feel like we’re fast enough to win races right now but we showed that we have better speed.”

Execution was key for the whole team Sunday — and that’s what they did, Harvick said.

“We just had to execute and take what they’ll give you and not finish any worse than that,” Harvick said. “I think we did that today. I felt like the 24 and the 78 were a little better than us and we finished right where we should have.”

RELATED: A look at the playoff picture

Indeed, Harvick’s third-place run was his best playoffs-opening result since 2013, having notched 42nd- and 20th-place finishes the past two years.

But this year’s a bit different, Childers noted. In 2015, Harvick followed up his 42nd-place result with a victory at Dover International Speedway two weeks later. Last season, he rebounded from the subpar 20th-place result at the Illinois track with a trip to Victory Lane the very next weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“In years past, we felt like ‘He-Men’ in a way – we felt like we always had enough speed to where if we made a mistake, we would just come back the next week and win,” Childers said. “And we don’t feel that way anymore. So, we have to be really smart about what we do, make sure that we make the right calls throughout the weekend and during the race. And he’s got to be smart driving the car and just try to points-race a little bit and get our way through a couple rounds and then hopefully we can get our cars better by then.”

The smooth, mistake-free run for Harvick in a race that saw many playoff contenders falter gave the No. 4 driver solace moving forward.

“Everyone did a great job today,” Harvick said. “That is what we have to do to compete for the championship. I know we can do that as a team because we have done that before and executed whether our backs have been against the wall or we have been off, we have always figured a way out.

“That is the plan. We will keep doing that. Today we made it happen.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Race results | Playoffs Pulse: Inside the field of 16

Kyle Busch led a race-high 85 laps in the opener for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but a pair of early miscues left the pole-starter with a lackluster finish Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway.

Busch placed 15th in the Tales of the Turtles 400, unable to overcome an unscheduled stop and a pit-road penalty — all in rapid succession. The former series champ was able to regain one of two laps lost, but he wound up one lap down to eventual winner Martin Truex Jr. He sits fifth in the standings one race into the three-race Round of 16.

“Oh well. We’ll move on,” Busch said in a post-race interview with NBC Sports.

Busch was competing in his first race with a new pit crew, days after Joe Gibbs Racing swapped in the crew members of the No. 19 Toyota for rookie teammate Daniel Suarez. Busch handily won the race’s first stage, but stopped on Lap 94 to tighten the lug nuts on a loose right-rear wheel.

RELATED: JGR swaps pit crews on Nos. 18, 19 teams

The extra pit stop was harmful enough, but the No. 18 crew was also docked for coming over the pit wall too soon, an infraction that required a pass-through penalty.

That knocked Busch down to 30th place early in Stage 2, an obstacle that kept him from contending again.

“It’s just disappointing that we had trouble on pit road like that. We just never had the opportunity with how the cautions fell to get back on the lead lap.

“We’ll get back to the shop and talk about it, and really all we can do is move on and put it behind us.”

Contributing: NASCAR Wire Service

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Race results | Stage recaps | Detailed breakdown
SHOP: Truex Jr. gear

JOLIET, Ill. – Remember all those playoff points that were supposed to carry regular-season champion Martin Truex Jr. through the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs?

He didn’t need them — not after what turned out to be a dominating victory in Sunday’s Tales of the Turtles 400, the Playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway. Truex’s fifth victory of the season, his second straight at Chicagoland and the 12th of his career was hardly a cakewalk, even though the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota took the checkered flag 7.179 seconds ahead of runner-up Chase Elliott.

In earning automatic advancement to the Round of 12, Truex had to overcome a speeding penalty incurred on a green-flag pit stop on Lap 39 and loose lug nuts that forced him to return to pit road and restart deep in the field after the end of Stage 1.

Though the victory eased Truex’s progress through the NASCAR Playoffs — increasing his playoff point total to 58 — the winning driver didn’t consider it a statement to his fellow competitors.

RELATED: Analyzing the playoff field

“I don’t care much about statements,” Truex said. “I’m just having fun. I’m proud of our pit crew for doing what they did and everyone on this team. It’s important to come here and not let the pressure get to you, and I think we did a good job of that.

“Every time you go to Victory Lane, it’s special. There’s just so many people to thank. I’m kind of speechless, but (team owner) Barney (Visser), and everyone at TRD (Toyota Racing Development) in Costa Mesa building great engines and TRD Salisbury – (sponsors) Bass Pro, Tracker Boats – just everyone, thank you so much. It’s a dream come true, and we’re having the time of our lives.”

Playoff drivers claimed the top six positions in the final running order. Kevin Harvick was at or near the front all afternoon and ran third. Denny Hamlin was fourth, followed by Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski.

Behind Joey Logano, who missed the Playoffs, seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson soldiered home in eighth in a No. 48 Chevrolet that lacked the speed to compete with the contenders. Playoff drivers Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray and Ryan Blaney claimed positions nine through 11, respectively.

Elliott was pleased with his best run since Michigan in June. His 42 laps led were Elliott’s most since he was out front for 106 circuits at Phoenix in March. But the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet couldn’t challenge Truex, who led 77 laps and was pulling away at the finish.

RELATED: Elliott reflects on placing second

“Obviously, it would have been great to battle with Martin a little bit more,” Elliott said. “We didn’t have anything for him. (But) from where we’ve been to where we ran today was a major, major step in the right direction, frankly where we need to be, where we deserve to be, to the potential we can run.”

Truex had the speed to overcome his problems on pit road. Others weren’t at fortunate. Polesitter Kyle Busch, who won the first stage handily, caught a double whammy after taking the green/checkered flag at the end of the first 80-lap segment. Eight laps after a restart on Lap 88, Busch returned to pit road because of a loose wheel. On the stop, one of his crewman — from the crew he had acquired from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Daniel Suarez’s team to start the Playoffs — was flagged for stepping over the wall too soon.

WATCH: Busch’s pit road woes

Busch served a pass-through penalty under green, never got back to the lead lap and finished 15th in one of the fastest cars in the race.

But Busch’s travails paled in comparison with those of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who scraped the wall early, incurred a penalty for a commitment line violation and finished 25th, deepest in the field of all the playoff drivers.

Kasey Kahne simply lacked speed. He ran 21st, three laps down and put himself in dire peril of elimination after the Round of 16.

Kurt Busch, who had shown a decided uptick in performance of late, pitted on Lap 200 with a vibration shaking his No. 41 Ford and promptly incurred a pit road speeding penalty. The Daytona 500 winner finished a disappointing 19th, two laps down and will head for next Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with ground to make up.

Austin Dillon sped on pit road on the same lap Truex was busted on but couldn’t overcome the mistake. He finished 16th in the No. 3 Richard Childress racing Chevrolet, seven spots ahead of teammate Ryan Newman, who ended the race three laps in arrears.

Note: The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota driven by Matt Kenseth was found with one unsecured lug nut in a post-race check. Penalties will be announced later this week, but such infractions typically result in fines only.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full race results | Playoffs standings

After the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race, here’s a brief look at the playoffs picture. There are two races remaining in the Round of 16 before the field is whittled to 12, with four drivers eliminated from the postseason following Dover (Oct. 1).

Winner

Martin Truex Jr. won on Sept. 17 at Chicagoland Speedway, clinching a spot in the second round of the playoffs. The win also gives him five playoff points to add to his total, which now sits at 58.

Who’s hot

Chase Elliott. Elliott’s 42 laps led were his most since Phoenix, the fourth race of the season, and he ran in the top five with the big dogs all day. However, his second-place finish was ruled encumbered for a post-race inspection violation, costing the No. 24 team the playoff point for a stage win. The team also loses 15 driver points. | More on L1 penalty for No. 24

Kevin Harvick. Harvick led four times for 59 laps, the third-most in the race and the most for the No. 4 team since leading 77 at Texas in April. His short-run speed and restart launch both were impressive, as was his third-place finish.

Who’s not

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Stenhouse Jr.’s first race as a playoffs driver couldn’t have gone worse early. An ill-handling condition saw his No. 17 Ford get into the wall early in Stage 1, an issue compounded when Stenhouse Jr. was issued a commitment line violation when he came to pit road for service. It put Stenhouse two laps down and he never recovered, finishing 25th.

Ryan Newman. Contact with Jamie McMurray didn’t help matters, but Newman’s No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was off all day. His 23rd-place showing drops him to the bottom of the Playoffs Grid.

PHOTOS: All the best images from Chicago

BUBBLE WATCH

Rank Driver Points to cutoff
9. Matt Kenseth +13
10. Ryan Blaney +8
11. Jamie McMurray +5
12. Austin Dillon 0
————— CUT-OFF LINE —————
13. Kurt Busch 0
14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -4
15. Kasey Kahne -5
16. Ryan Newman -7

Next race

The Monster Energy Series travels to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for a Sunday afternoon race on Sept. 24 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Who it favors

Wins: Kurt Busch (3), Denny Hamlin (3), Jimmie Johnson (3), Matt Kenseth (3), Ryan Newman (3)
Average Finish: Denny Hamlin (10.0), Brad Keselowski (10.2), Jimmie Johnson (11.1), Kyle Larson (11.7)
Driver Rating: Denny Hamlin (104.0), Jimmie Johnson (100.8), Kyle Busch (98.8), Brad Keselowski (98.7), Kevin Harvick (98.0)

Who it hurts

Fewest Top-10s: Ryan Blaney (0), Chase Elliott (0), Austin Dillon (1)
Worst Average Finish: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (20.4), Jamie McMurray (19.8), Chase Elliott (19.3)
Worst Driver Rating: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (69.0), Austin Dillon (71.1), Jamie McMurray (73.1)