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AVONDALE, Ariz. — Denny Hamlin got "screwed" during the first round of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying.

No, another competitor didn’t impede Hamlin’s progress on his run. Crew chief Mike Wheeler described what happened in a tweet on Friday night.

"Ran over a screw in Q1, came in 15 psi lower," Wheeler posted about the cut tire that resulted. "NASCAR no longer allows changes. Tried to pump up for Q2, but didn’t work. Bummer. #startinglast"


RELATED: Race lineup


During the offseason, NASCAR instituted a rule requiring drivers to start the race on their qualifying tires, and tires may be changed only in the case of a factory defect.

With the pumped-up tire, Hamlin nevertheless qualified 19th. Though he’ll have to start from the back of the field in Sunday’s Camping World 500 because of the tire change, he will retain the pit stall he earned with the 19th pick.

Hamlin tweeted that the rule "bit us big time. Run over something, get a flat, can’t continue (although we tried) and have to start in the back for it."

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RELATED: Full race results | Series standings

Austin Dillon and Cole Custer were racing hard in Saturday’s DC Solar 200 at Phoenix Raceway when Custer’s No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford clipped Dillon’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet on Lap 191 — and sparked some chippy driving.

 

As a result of the contact, Dillon’s No. 2 Chevy went spinning, while Custer was able to save his car and continue the race. 


But during the resulting caution, Dillon drove up and made contact with Custer under yellow, forcing the No. 00 Ford into the outside wall. As a result, Dillon, his crew chief Justin Alexander and his spotter were called to the NASCAR hauler after the race.

"It was 100 percent my fault," Custer said after the race. "I got in there too deep, got really loose going in and couldn’t put any wheel into it. That was pretty much it. Just all my fault. Something that won’t happen again. We had a great race leading up to that. … It is unfortunate I cost us and the 2 car there.

"It definitely sucks for us points-wise but I guess you can kind of expect that when he gets taken out," Custer continued on Dillon’s response. "I can understand how frustrated he is about it. It is what it is. I will try not to have that happen again."

Dillon was scored 33rd, while Custer finished 21st. The red flag eventually was displayed for clean-up.

 

"The No. 00 car just overdrove the corner, missed the corner and took me out with him," Dillon said. "It sucks. It was a hard hit. … I was asked to the NASCAR trailer after the race because they believe I retaliated against the 00 car. I don’t think it will be that bad, though. We’ll probably just enjoy an ice cold Coca-Cola together and discuss things."

 

Custer again took blame for the incident on Twitter post-race, and Dillon responded.

 

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RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Detailed breakdown

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Justin Allgaier popped a tire during his celebratory burnout after Saturday’s DC Solar 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.

But you can forgive the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet if he was a trifle rusty with his donuts — Allgaier hadn’t been to Victory Lane in the NASCAR XFINITY Series since August in 2012 at the road course in Montreal.

On a blistering afternoon that brought emotions to a boil at the 1-mile race track in the Sonoran Desert, Allgaier sailed away with a magnificent restart with four laps left and finished .741 seconds ahead of runner-up Ryan Blaney, who started 33rd after inspection issues kept him off the grid during qualifying earlier in the day.

“You have no idea how proud I am of you,” Allgaier radioed to his team after he crossed the finish line and broke an 80-race drought.

After climbing from the car, Allgaier began to digest what he had just accomplished, not the least of which was claiming the $100,000 bonus in the first Dash 4 Cash race of the season. The victory was Allgaier’s fourth in the series.

“Last year was tough,” Allgaier said of a winless 2016, his first year with JRM. “We had really good runs all year but we weren’t able to get to Victory Lane. This was the same group of guys we had last year, and to be able to do it here in Phoenix and win the first XFINITY Dash 4 Cash race. …

“This is a team effort. We had four really good JR Motorsports hot rods out there.”

In fact, with polesitter William Byron running fourth and series leader Elliott Sadler coming home fifth, JRM put three cars in the top five and four in the top nine (with Michael Annett finishing ninth).

With 10 laps left, contact from Cole Custer’s Ford sent Austin Dillon’s No. 2 Chevrolet hard into the outside wall, collecting Ryan Sieg’s Chevrolet in the process. After caution flew on Lap 191, Dillon rode Custer’s car into the outside wall, earning a summons to the NASCAR hauler for Dillon and crew chief Justin Alexander.

“He over-drove the corner and took us out with it,” Dillon said after exiting the infield care center.

Dillon wasn’t particularly apprehensive about the meeting with NASCAR.

“We’ll probably just have a Coke and discuss things,” he said optimistically.

Custer took full responsibility for the incident.

“It was 100 percent my fault,” said the Sunoco rookie driver. “I got in there too deep, got really loose going in and couldn’t put any wheel into it. That was pretty much it. Just all my fault. Something that won’t happen again. We had a great race leading up to that.

“We didn’t start out at all how we wanted to, but by the end we were probably a fifth- to eighth-place car. I thought that was a really good sign for us. I thought we had a really good Haas Automation Ford.

It’s unfortunate I cost us and the 2 car there.”

Under the circumstances, Custer wasn’t surprised at Dillon’s retaliation.

“It definitely sucks for us points-wise, but I guess you can kind of expect that when he gets taken out,” Custer said. “I can understand how frustrated he is about it. It is what it is. I will try not to have that happen again.”

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Editor’s note: Every Friday during the season, "Tweets You Might Have Missed" presents eight of the best NASCAR-related tweets from the week. 



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AVONDALE, Ariz. — Joey Logano and Kyle Busch met with NASCAR officials here Friday morning at Phoenix Raceway, perhaps closing the books on last weekend’s post-race altercation.

 

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers met with officials approximately 30 minutes before the start of the day’s first practice for Sunday’s Camping World 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

RELATED: Full weekend schedule

 

NASCAR officials present were Steve O’Donnell, Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer; Richard Buck, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director; and Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition.

 

Busch and Logano were running fourth and fifth, respectively, on the final lap of last week’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when there was contact between the two after they shot past the slowing entry of Brad Keselowski.

 

Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota shot up the track in Turn 4, then slid down onto the entrance to pit road, leaving him with a 22nd-place result. Logano, driver of the No. 22 Ford for Team Penske, was able to gather his car up after the contact to score a fourth-place finish.

Crewmen stepped in to break it up before NASCAR officials separated the participants and restored order.

 

Three days after the race, NASCAR officials announced neither driver would be penalized for their actions.

 

Busch, the first to exit the NASCAR hauler, was short and consistent when questioned briefly by media.

 

“Everything’s great. Looking forward to getting back to the race track and getting into my race car,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver and 2015 series champion said each time he was queried.

Logano, who said Tuesday that he had reached out to Busch, said he provided data to back up his contention that the on-track contact was not intentional.

 

“He asked for some data and I was able to show him that,” Logano said of the conversation. “That’s that and we’ll move on.”

 

Asked if he felt the two had settled their differences, Logano said, “Time will tell. We’ll see. The only thing I can do at this point was prove my case and say, ‘Hey, it was an honest mistake’ … and we’re going to move on.”

 

Logano maintained his fifth-place points position with his Las Vegas finish. Busch, 24th before the race, actually improved five spots in spite of the 22nd-place result.

 

O’Donnell said bringing in NASCAR competitors to meet face to face is “always our job” when an issue arises.

 

“And a lot of times just texting to hear where a driver really stands is helpful,” he said, “and then the ultimate goal for us is to make them clear of our expectations moving forward as we head into this race weekend.”

 

Going forward, O’Donnell said NASCAR officials have been very clear in terms of any intentional on-track incidents. “We’re going to react,” he said. “We don’t want to have to do that. Do we think they’re best friends? No, but again, that’s what the sport’s built on and those are two guys that we really need out there racing hard for position.”

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RELATED: Practice results | Best 10-lap averages | Buy tickets for Phoenix

Chase Elliott rose to the top of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leaderboard Friday afternoon in opening practice at Phoenix Raceway.



Elliott, driving the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet, clocked a lap of 137.101 mph around the 1-mile track. Last season’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year sits third in the series standings heading into the fourth race of the season.



Kyle Larson, second in the standings, notched the second-fastest lap in the 85-minute practice session. Larson pushed the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet to a best lap of 136.472 mph.


RELATED: Young NASCAR stars legitimate threats at Phoenix



Joey Logano was third-fastest (136.441 mph) in preparation for Sunday’s Camping World 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM), the second leg of the NASCAR Goes West swing. Martin Truex Jr., last week’s winner at Las Vegas, was fourth-best with Ryan Blaney completing the top five.



Kevin Harvick, an eight-time Phoenix winner who prevailed at the Arizona facility in this race last spring, was 13th-fastest at 135.701 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford.



Coors Light Pole Qualifying is scheduled Friday at 7:45 p.m. ET (FS1).

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RELATED: Full schedule for Phoenix


AVONDALE, Ariz. — The start to the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season hasn’t gone the way Daniel Suarez would have hoped.

 

Pressed into service at NASCAR’s highest level by the abrupt departure of Carl Edwards during the offseason, Suarez crashed out of the Daytona 500 in 29th place and finished 21st and 20th in the subsequent two races at Atlanta and Las Vegas.

 

This week, however, the 2016 NASCAR XFINITY Series champion returns to Phoenix Raceway, where he has enjoyed unqualified success.

 

In four XFINITY races at Phoenix, Suarez has posted three top-fives. In two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts, he has a victory and a fourth-place run.

 

Accordingly, the Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate is enthused by the prospect of racing at Phoenix in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for the first time. Suarez participated in an organized test at Phoenix on Jan. 31-Feb. 1.


RELATED: Hamlin confident slow start nearing end for JGR

Suarez also won at Phoenix in the NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series and posted two top 10s in three starts in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West.

 

"Overall, Phoenix is one of those places that doesn’t matter which series I’m going in, I feel very comfortable," Suarez said. "It’s a place that I feel like I have maybe the most experience of the NASCAR race tracks that we go on this year.

 

"It’s always fun to come here and to race in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. It will be very helpful to have that test over a month ago. Hopefully, we can put something that we learn for today’s practice, hopefully be strong for Sunday."