Koch on XFINITY playoff battle: ‘Yeah, I watch the points’

Posted on July 31, 2017June 21, 2021 by Nascar

RELATED: Iowa results | Series standings

Blake Koch earned a career-best Iowa finish, Michael Annett had to battle electrical issues in his No. 5 Chevrolet and Brendan Gaughan says he and his team aren’t worried about anything except the upcoming playoffs.

The three NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers are currently bringing up the rear in the series’ playoff standings, winless thus far but inside the top 12 with seven races remaining before the playoffs get underway.

Koch and Gaughan qualified for the postseason last year while Annett was wrapping up an uneventful stint in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

“Yeah, I watch the points,” Koch, driver of the No. 11 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing, said Saturday after an eighth-place finish at Iowa Speedway. “As soon as I leave here I get in my rental car and keep refreshing (the web page) until they’re uploaded, that’s how much I watch the points.

“We’ve lived on the bubble since we started this deal last year; we feel like we’re a better race team, I feel like I’m a better driver than this point last year. We just had our best Iowa starting position and our best Iowa finishing position so we always strive to constantly improve. That takes hard work and that’s what my team does and that’s what led to better results this week.”

For Koch, who qualified seventh, it was his first top-10 finish since Bristol. He’s 10th in points as the series readies for this weekend’s trip to Watkins Glen and Saturday’s Zippo 200 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).

“We know these next five races, Iowa included, the road courses and Bristol, are some of our best tracks so we want to capitalize, give ourselves a points cushion and try to lock ourselves in before we go to Chicago,” he said.

Three of the next four stops for the series come at road courses – Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio and Road America.

RELATED: Watch Iowa race recap

Annett, sixth in points earlier this season, is now 11th and has only one top-10 result in his last 10 starts. At Iowa, a balky ignition box was thought to be the culprit that resulted in a lengthy repair job and left the JR Motorsports driver 33rd in the final rundown.

“Once they got it replaced and took it out they put the temp gun to it and it was about 200 degrees,” Annett said afterward. “We haven’t had any issues all year on any of the cars’ ignition-wise so that’s something we’ll take a look at … just more bad luck.”

Because of his proximity to the cutoff line, Annett admitted he is paying close attention to the points as the number of regular-season races shrinks.

“We have to watch them when the guys around us are getting top-10s,” he said. “The 62 (of Gaughan) finished 13th today … we definitely have to watch it. We’d love to go win a race and not have to worry about it but we have to get our cars better.

“The way we’ve been running, even in the playoffs we’re not going to be in it very long if we don’t run better.”

JRM teammate Elliott Sadler is winless but leads the points standings while fellow JRM driver William Byron is next behind him in second with three wins. The team’s third driver Justin Allgaier has one win and is third in points.

Gaughan was as far back as 17th in points at one time this year, but has fought back to his current spot of 12th. He is 14 points ahead of J.J. Yeley, who is 13th, and 16 ahead of Ryan Sieg (14th).

Gaughan has managed three top 10s in his last 10 starts in the No. 62 Chevrolet fielded by Richard Childress Racing.

The points picture is out there, but Gaughan said he’s focused on other things.

“I’m not watching too much because we’ve been fast enough all year,” he said. “We just had a bad stretch of races that put us in that spot.

“We’re in a playoff spot now and there’s no way that an RCR car and us aren’t going to make the playoffs. We’re not worrying about it now because all we’re trying to get ready for now is to make sure we’re fast enough when the playoffs come.”

Only three drivers thus far have all but clinched a playoff spot with a win this year – Allgaier and Ryan Reed (Roush Fenway Racing) each have a single victory while Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Byron has three.

Joey Logano is the defending champion of the Zippo 200; he and seven other Monster Energy Series drivers are entered in Saturday’s race.

Posted on July 31, 2017June 17, 2021 by Reid Spencer

LONG POND, Pa. — On Lap 96 of Sunday’s Overton’s 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway, Martin Truex Jr. brought his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota to pit road – giving up the lead just four laps away from what would have been his 15th stage win of the season.

It was a case of long-range thinking by Truex and his crew chief, Cole Pearn. The idea was to set up a race-winning strategy by pitting early and regaining track position when those who stayed out for the stage points pitted under caution at the end of the stage.

But Truex lost the lead to Kevin Harvick in traffic and never regained it. After Kyle Busch stormed through the field on fresher tires to win the race, Truex arrived at the finish line in third place.

“The thought there was, if we didn’t pit there, we probably weren’t going to have a shot at winning the race,” Truex said. “That was the gamble. That was our mindset before the race. We figured if we felt like we were good enough to possibly win the race, we’d have to pit before the end of that second stage.

“Just stuck to our plan. That’s kind of what we talked about before the race, hoping to get the overall win. It didn’t work out, so obviously now I wish we would have stayed out and won that stage.”

Truex already has 29 playoff points, 15 from his three race victories and 14 from the stages. Jimmie Johnson is second with 16 playoff points.

MORE: Monster Energy Series playoff standings

Posted on July 31, 2017 by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Results | Season stage points totals

LONG POND, Pa. — When every car running ahead of Clint Bowyer came to pit road on Lap 96 – in a group that included race winner Kyle Busch, runner-up Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Chase Elliott — Bowyer inherited the lead.

Four laps later, Bowyer collected his first stage win and first playoff point of the season.

But that wasn’t the highlight of Bowyer’s day. Forced to pit under caution at the end of the stage, Bowyer restarted 11th and never advanced higher than fifth during the final 60 laps of the race. He finished sixth, after Brad Keselowski passed him for the fifth position in the closing laps.

Bowyer, who is fighting for a spot in NASCAR’s playoff, was pleased with the speed in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

“It was a big pit strategy day, for sure, and you know that going into a race like this,” Bowyer said. “Our car was good all weekend. We unloaded a fast car. This is the best car that we’ve unloaded in quite some time.

“A little bit different build. Hopefully, this is what we’re looking for, what I’m looking for and (we can) build on this.”

Posted on July 30, 2017 by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Results | Series standings | Bubble watch | Detailed breakdown
SHOP: Kyle Busch gear

LONG POND, Pa. — Three hundred and seventy-two days.

Kyle Busch had more than a full calendar year to sit and ponder when Win No. 39 was coming his way.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver got his answer Sunday at Pocono Raceway, wheeling his dominant No. 18 Toyota to Victory Lane for the first time in his career at the Tricky Triangle.

The drought, however, certainly wasn’t for lack of trying — or speed.

Sunday’s pole-winner has had plenty of promising races foiled in between the pair of front-row-to-Victory-Lane stompings — he led 149 of 170 laps in his Brickyard win last year — but for reasons one or another, victory eluded the 2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion for 36 straight races.

Exactly a full season’s worth.

There was last year’s Bristol night race, where a stout No. 18 Toyota led a race-high 256 laps — and was saddled with a 39th-place finish after a crash. Another 274 laps led at Martinsville earlier this year before ceding the lead late to rival Brad Keselowski for a runner-up finish. Or the runner-up finish in the 2017 Coca-Cola 600 (you know, the mic toss finish.) Or the squandered poles at Dover, June’s Pocono race, Kentucky and Indy.

The list could go on.

Sunday’s win didn’t feel like it was about luck finally breaking through. It felt like it was about time.

“It’s pretty cool, finally just being able to get the monkey off our back and get to Victory Lane this year,” Busch said. “It’s been a long time coming. It’s well-documented; it’s been over a year. We find it very rewarding to achieve victory, especially here at Pocono in M&M’s back yard, with one of their main plants over there in Hackettstown (New Jersey), so we appreciate being able to go see all those guys and gals on Thursday and having them invite us over and giving the team guys and their spouses tours and what not. It was fun to do that and, of course, to be able to get to Victory Lane with this team with Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and all the guys.

“It’s not due to lack of effort; it’s not due to lack of speed. We’ve certainly figured out a lot different ways to lose those races this year, but it feels really good to capitalize on having a fast car and Adam making a really good decision there to kind of long-stint that last run and put tires on late. It really paid off for us.”

With 16 to go, the 18 got around the No. 4 of Kevin Harvick for the lead after the Stewart-Haas Racing driver got loose and incited minimal contact between the two. It took off from there.

A caution seemed certain to fall in the closing laps — surely, something would spoil this for Busch and Co. But as the laps ticked off, the laps stayed clean.

And just like that, the drought was over.

All of a sudden, the conversation shifted from focusing on the season-long strength of the Nos. 42 and 78 of Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. to the realization that Busch has been equally strong, just without the occasional champagne-soaked celebrations.

Busch’s No. 18 has led 1,114 laps, 392 more than Larson and just 177 less than Truex’s series-leading 1,291. He has eight top-five finishes — the same as Truex and one less than Larson.

The title picture right now is clearly three-wide, with perhaps a quickly-improving No. 2 team of Brad Keselowski approaching.

That could be your Championship 4, and seeing Busch in that group has long made sense, but the win may have validated that notion.

“We normally tend to fly under the radar most times, but it’s not something that I need to go out and beat our chest to say that we should be in the conversations. That’s for other people to decide,” he said. “I think our stats and our runs and our speed shows for itself. Those guys have just been able to capitalize on race victories and that’s what we haven’t been able to capitalize on. It kind of goes, every once in a while, that we’re not all that flashy, you know … we just methodically go about our races and that’s our mentality and when it works for us we go to Victory Lane.

“And that’s how we get to Homestead.”

Posted on July 30, 2017 by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Race results

LONG POND, Pa. – What used to be an excellent track for Jimmie Johnson has turned into a jinx of late.

The seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion has three victories at the Tricky Triangle, but in the last four races at the 2.5-mile speedway, Johnson has crashed out three times.

Sunday’s Overton’s 400 brought the second straight DNF for the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. On Lap 57, one go-around after the second stage went green, Johnson took a spin into the Turn 3 wall off the nose of teammate Kasey Kahne’s Chevrolet.

WATCH: See Johnson’s wreck

Before Johnson’s race ended in that corner, he had already collided with Ryan Blaney after an earlier restart.

“I was in the outside lane and losing some spots,” Johnson said of the wreck. “I think the No. 5 washed up into me and kind of finished me off over there in Turn 3.

“It’s definitely not the day we wanted to have, but I don’t think either one of those situations were intentional by any stretch. It’s just a bummer day for this whole Lowe’s team, and we’ll get our Chevy ready for next week and go do it again.”

In his last four starts at Pocono, Johnson has finished 35th, 16th, 36th and 35th. He hasn’t had a result better than 10th since he picked up his third victory of the season on June 4 at Dover.

Posted on July 30, 2017July 31, 2017 by Staff Report

RELATED: Race recap | Pocono results

Kyle Busch crossed off another track on his win list Sunday when he was victorious in the Overton’s 400 at Pocono Raceway. Busch has won at every track in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series except Charlotte Motor Speedway. Here’s a look at Busch’s wins at each track:

Track	Wins
Bristol	5
Richmond	4
Fontana	3
New Hampshire	2
Sonoma	2
Watkins Glen	2
Kentucky	2
Atlanta	2
Dover	2
Texas	2
Indianapolis	2
Martinsville	1
Chicago	1
Darlington	1
Daytona	1
Las Vegas	1
Talladega	1
Homestead	1
Pocono	1
Phoenix	1
Michigan	1
Kansas	1
Charlotte	0

Posted on July 30, 2017June 16, 2021 by Staff Report

NASCAR officials found a loose lug nut on the race-winning No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota following Kyle Busch’s victory in Sunday’s Overton’s 400 at Pocono Raceway.

Busch’s victory was his first of the 2017 season and broke a winless streak that dated back to Indianapolis in 2016, a stretch of 36 races.

The NASCAR Rule Book suggests a $10,000 fine to the crew chief (in this case Adam Stevens) with no suspension as punishment.

The No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Trevor Bayne and the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also were each missing one lug nut in post-race inspection. Crew chiefs Matt Puccia (No. 6) and Brian Pattie (No. 17) are subject to the $10,000 fine with no suspension, as suggested in the NASCAR Rule Book.

Posted on July 30, 2017July 30, 2017 by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Results | Series standings | Bubble watch | Detailed breakdown
SHOP: Kyle Busch gear

LONG POND, Pa. – Barely more than three hours after the Pocono crowd greeted Kyle Busch with a chorus of boos during driver introductions, Kyle Busch made converts of the fans in the grandstands – at least a large portion of them – with a spectacular burnout after his long-awaited victory in the Overton’s 400.

Benefitting from a splendid pit call by crew chief Adam Stevens, Busch charged through the field after his final stop and pulled away to beat runner-up Kevin Harvick to the finish line by a whopping 6.178 seconds, breaking a career-long 36-race drought and giving Toyota its 100th victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

The win was Busch’s first at Pocono Raceway, leaving Charlotte Motor Speedway as the only active Monster Energy Series track the driver of the No. 18 Camry hasn’t conquered.

Having won his fourth Pocono pole earlier in the day – on the first instance where the Monster Energy Series drivers have qualified and raced on the same day in NASCAR’s modern era – Busch recorded the 39th victory of his career when he took the checkered flag.

“It’s been a frustrating year, but an awesome day today,” Busch said in Victory Lane. “This is also a meaningful win for me in another way. This is the first time I’ve been to victory lane in a points-paying race since my grandmother passed away. This one’s for her, and she’s smiling down on us here today, and I appreciate that.”

Harvick came to pit road for the final time on Lap 124. Eventual third-place finisher Martin Truex Jr. pitted two laps later, leaving Busch on the track to lead 10 of his race-high 63 laps in clean air.

When Busch finally hit pit lane on Lap 135, he left with fresher tires than those on the cars ahead of him and in short order, picked off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, who finished fourth, and Truex.

Busch and crew chief Adam Stevens had discussed the strategy before the race.

“I knew what he was thinking and that’s what it all came down to,” Busch said. “We didn’t really outsmart anyone today. We just kind of played our race and our own strategy and thought about it a little differently than others, and it worked out for us.”

MORE: Stage results from Pocono | Total stage points

Busch caught Harvick in Turn 3 on Lap 144 of 160, and when Harvick got loose and slowed in the corner, Busch gave the No. 4 Ford an inadvertent shot to the rear bumper. Busch flashed past Harvick and was gone.

“The only chance that I had was to get into the corner correctly,” Harvick explained. “I got in there and was loose all the way through the corner on entry and just kept holding the brake down, holding the brake down, holding the brake down and finally, I’m sure he thought I was going to go and I didn’t accelerate.

“I was trying to stay on the bottom to park the thing to get going and he had a good run. Kyle had the class of the field all weekend. His car was really, really fast. He got the pole. Got the win. Pretty much just charged through the field. We definitely have a little bit of work to do. I feel like we got closer and closer. I feel like we raced around all the Toyotas all day.”

Busch collected his eighth stage win of the season when he took the green/checkered flag at the end of Lap 50, and the victory gave him an additional five playoff points, bringing his season total to 13, tied for third in that category with Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski.

Clint Bowyer collected his first stage win of the season on Lap 100, after Truex, Busch, Harvick and Hamlin all came to pit road just before the end of the stage to set up their prospects for a race win. Bowyer finished sixth behind Keselowski.

Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, Matt Kenseth (who recovered from a spin in Turn 3 on the first lap) and Chase Elliott completed the top 10.

Notes: Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 12th in what is likely to be his final run in a Cup car at Pocono… Danica Patrick ran third in Stage 2 and finished 15th, her fourth consecutive top-15 result… The seventh-place finish was the third consecutive top 10 for Suarez.

Posted on July 30, 2017August 4, 2017 by Staff Report

What channel is NASCAR programming on this week? We answer that and provide all the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Monday, July 31
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Tuesday, August 1
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR special, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Wednesday, August 2
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, August 3
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Scan All 43, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race Iowa Speedway, NBCSN

Friday, August 4
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN

Saturday, August 5
10 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, NBCSN (Canada: TSN 4)
11 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN (Canada: TSN GO)
12 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
12:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN (Canada: TSN 4)
1:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Countdown to Green: Watkins Glen, NBCSN
2 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Zippo 200 at The Glen, NBCSN (Canada: TSN 1, 4)
4:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series post-race: Watkins Glen, NBCSN

Sunday, August 6
11 a.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Watkins Glen, FS2
12 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN (Canada: TSN 5)
1 p.m., NASCAR America Sunday, NBCSN
2:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Countdown to Green: Watkins Glen, NBCSN
3 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series I Love New York 355 at The Glen, NBCSN (Canada: TSN 1, 3, 4, 5)
6 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series post-race: Watkins Glen, NBCSN
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN
7:30 p.m., Racing Roots: Daniel Suarez, NBCSN
10:30 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lane: Watkins Glen, FS1

Posted on July 30, 2017August 6, 2017 by Staff Report

NASCAR heads to the Finger Lakes Region of New York for the second road course race of the season at Watkins Glen International with both the XFINITY Series and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in action. Check out the full weekend schedule below.

All Monster Energy Series and XFINITY Series events are also live streamed online on the NBC Sports App, which can be accessed here. Events that are only available on NBC Sports App are noted below.

Notes: All times are ET.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6
ON TRACK
12:05 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN (Results) (Canada: TSN 5)
3 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series I LOVE NEW YORK 355 at The Glen (90 laps, 220.5 miles), NBCSN (Results) (Canada: TSN 1, 3, 4, 5)

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

FRIDAY, AUGUST 4
ON TRACK
12-12:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, NBC Sports App (Results) (Canada: TSN GO)
2:30-3:25 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice, NBC Sports App (Results) (Canada: TSN GO)

GARAGECAM (Watch live)
11:30 a.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
11:15 a.m.: Cole Custer, Brendan Gaughan and Brennan Poole

SATURDAY, AUGUST 5
ON TRACK
10-10:55 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, NBCSN (Results) (Canada: TSN 4)
11:05 a.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN (Results) (Canada: GO)
12:30-1:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN (Results) (Canada: TSN 4)
2 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Zippo 200 at The Glen (82 laps, 200.9 miles), NBCSN (Results) (Canada: TSN 1, 4)

GARAGECAM (Watch live)
9:30 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
9 a.m.: Joey Logano
9:15 a.m.: Jimmie Johnson
11:15 a.m.: Denny Hamlin
11:30 a.m.: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
5 p.m.: Post-NASCAR XFINITY Series race