Posted on by Holly Cain

In a day of varying strategies and dramatic restarts among the frontrunners, JR Motorsports rookie Connor Zilisch prevailed in a late-race sprint to the checkered flag in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono Raceway — the first oval win of this young talent’s career.

Late-race restarts determined the day and ultimately it came down to a duel between Zilisch and his best friend, last year’s Rookie of the Year, Jesse Love. Zilisch pulled his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet alongside Love’s car as they crossed the start/finish line with four laps to go and then he took the lead for good with three laps remaining – .437-seconds ahead of the field.

It was that kind of resolute day for the 18-year-old Zilisch, who had some key help in his headset from a first-time crew chief. His team owner, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., filled in for the team’s full-time leader, Mardy Lindley, who was serving a one-race suspension.

The two-time Daytona 500 winner Earnhardt, an icon in the sport, not only called the race from atop Zilisch’s pit box, but climbed down and helped out on pit stops too. He was absolutely ecstatic after the race in his debut, calling the shots. He’s the fifth crew chief this season to earn his first Xfinity Series victory.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Pocono

“Just a great job putting us in position to succeed, we had a lot of things go our way, a lot of good luck, good race strategy, had a little help from [his former NASCAR Cup Series crew chief Steve] Letarte,” a grinning Earnhardt said, applauding Lindley’s preparation for the weekend.

“Hats off to everybody on this team,” he continued. “It’s been amazing all weekend long. Great race car driver. Connor Zilisch is going to be a big deal in this sport for a long time. A lot of fun for me today.”

Zilisch was similarly exuberant, having to really work hard for this win, his second of the season. Ten caution flags on the afternoon created varying strategies and a real test of restart skills.

“I’ve been dying for this one for a while now, I’ve been so close on the ovals lately,” Zilisch said. “I finished second at Charlotte, second at Nashville.

“And Dale Jr., not too bad on the box,” he said smiling, saying he appreciated Earnhardt’s advice throughout the race. “Pretty cool to have him up there. Thank you so much to the entire JR Motorsports team. … this one is definitely special. I’ve been chasing an oval win for a while now.”

For much of the day, Zilisch’s greatest challenge up front came from former Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, who is competing in both the Xfinity and Cup Series races this weekend. Elliott led the most laps — 38 of the 100 compared to Zilisch’s 34 out front.

Elliott and the series’ current championship leader, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, were up front on a restart with 13 laps remaining. While contending for the lead, they nearly came together and had to take evasive action up the track not to collide.

Love took advantage of the situation and came through from the second row to stake claim to the race lead in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. A caution came out almost immediately after Love moved to the front and that allowed Zilisch to start directly behind him on that final restart — leaving the trophy up to the two friends to decide.

“That’s the most focused I’ve ever been inside a race car, I did not want Connor to beat me because I’ll have to hear about it for a long time,” said Love, with a smile. “Hats off to him. He ran a good race. Once I was able to get a draft I was able to get back to him. But that bums me out, I’m not going to lie, but I’m still trying to be grateful we have fast race cars and are in position to win. Hats off to Connor.”

Another rookie rounded out the top three with Kaulig Racing’s Christian Eckes claiming a career best third-place finish in the No. 16 Chevrolet. Elliott rallied to finish fourth and Ryan Sieg was fifth in his family-owned Ford.

Carson Kvapil, Sam Mayer, Sammy Smith, rookie Taylor Gray, and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top 10.

The reigning series champion Allgaier now holds an 82-point championship advantage on RCR’s Austin Hill, who was collected in an early-race accident and finished 35th.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series moves to Atlanta for Friday night’s Focused Health 250 at EchoPark Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hill has won the last three Atlanta races – the most recent this February.

NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed without issue in the Xfinity Series garage, confirming Zilisch as the winner. The Nos. 16 and 17 will go to the Research & Development Center in Concord, N.C. on Monday for further inspection.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

LONG POND, Pa. — One race remains to set the seeds for the inaugural In-Season Challenge in the NASCAR Cup Series.

The 32 drivers locked into this year’s five-race, bracket-style tournament will be seeded according to their best finishes over the course of three races — Michigan International Speedway, Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and finally Pocono Raceway on Sunday afternoon (2 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

MORE: How In-Season Challenge works | Pocono schedule

Tyler Reddick, the 2024 regular-season champion, wasn’t quite sure where he sat in the provisional seedings but knew “we’re not currently seeded very well at all.” He’s right, sitting in the No. 21 seed after two races. Chase Briscoe, on the other hand, is the No. 12 seed and knew exactly who he’d be matched against if the tournament started today.

“For sure. Right now, I’d go up against Tyler if it started this weekend,” Briscoe said. “I’m hoping that changes just because Tyler, I think he’s, like, seeded (21st) or something right now, and he’s one of the top five guys in the sport. So it’d be a tough round one.”

The challenge begins next week at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta). Ryan Blaney, the 2023 Cup champion, is currently listed as a No. 23 seed and would be matched against No. 10 Ross Chastain in the opening round.

“I wasn’t crazy-hyper-focused on like the seeding,” Blaney said, “but then I saw a chart of the seeding as of right now after Mexico City, and I was like, ‘Oh man, I need to get my seeding up.’ But Atlanta being the first race, it doesn’t really make a huge difference. I think you’re going to see a lot of upsets at Atlanta just because the way the track is, but I think when you get in the tournament starts next week, you’re definitely going to be aware of who you’re racing and who you’re matched up against.

“You’re not going to completely jumble your race up just for that, but you might have a hell of a battle for like 20th. You’re like, ‘Why are these guys racing so hard?’ Well, it’s part of the In-Season [Challenge]. These guys are racing their asses off for 20th to move on.”

RELATED: Pocono photos

Bubba Wallace is currently the No. 6 seed and would be matched against No. 27 Joey Logano, the defending and three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. The $1-million prize is tantalizing, but Wallace shares the same mindset as Blaney: don’t let those battles ruin your race.

“I’ve been paying attention to the seeding, but you can’t let that be a distraction,” Wallace said. “It’s something that is cool I think more so for the fans to be more invested into their favorite drivers and see how it stacks up than the drivers themselves. So I’ve just got to do our part and not get caught up in the madness.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

Perhaps not too surprisingly, Pocono Raceway’s all-time winningest driver, Denny Hamlin, was fastest on Saturday to earn pole position for Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 (2 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will take the green flag to start the NASCAR Cup Series race, and historically speaking, no one has led the field to more checkered flags; his seven wins at Pocono are the most in history. And he’s finished first or second in five of the last eight races on the 2.5-mile, unique three-turn track.

RELATED: Starting lineup | At-track photos: Pocono

Hamlin’s lap of 172.599 mph was .083-second faster than RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher in the No. 17 Ford. Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar (Chevrolet), Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek (Toyota) and Haas Factory Team’s Cole Custer (Ford) rounded out the top five in qualifying.

It marks a big return for the season’s three-time race winner Hamlin, who is back on the grid after receiving a waiver from NASCAR, missing last weekend’s inaugural race in Mexico City to be home for the birth of his son.

“We typically can step up from practice,” said Hamlin, who was not even among the top-10 fastest drivers in the afternoon’s practice session. “We had good adjustments, so never really panicked too much.

“And obviously because I was a little more rested than the rest of the field right there, I was able to show a little more speed,” he added with a smile and nod to missing last week’s race.

“Every week we have a good shot to win and this team just knows what I need out of the car. The cars and tires have changed over time, but you still make speed at this track the same way. I was able to execute there in qualifying and that’s a good start for us.”

Of note, the current Cup Series championship leader, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, crashed his No. 24 Chevrolet late in the qualifying session.

WATCH: Byron hits wall during qualifying

Hamlin’s JGR teammates, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs, will start sixth and seventh and Tyler Reddick, who drives the 23XI Racing Toyota co-owned by Hamlin, was eighth fastest. JRG’s Christopher Bell will line up ninth on the grid, and Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez will roll off 10th. Six of the top-10 cars were Toyotas.

Defending race winner, Ryan Blaney, was 20th quickest in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford.

Four drivers did not make qualifying runs, including Reddick’s 23XI teammate Bubba Wallace, whose team rolled his car off the line just before his run. Wood Brothers’ Josh Berry, Rick Ware Racing’s Cody Ware and NY Racing’s Brennan Poole also did not make qualifying laps.

PRACTICE

Before crashing on his qualifying lap, Byron put down the fastest single lap in Saturday’s practice session at 170.758 mph. Bubba Wallace (170.032 mph), Chase Elliott (169.885 mph), Tyler Reddick (169.766 mph) and Chris Buescher (169.667 mph) rounded out the top five.

The No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports driver also topped the board in five- and 10-lap averages at the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania circuit.

Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota suffered a mechanical issue before hitting the track in Group B’s 25-minute session and only put down three laps, landing 13th on the practice board.

Posted on by Holly Cain

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, a three-race winner this season, missed last week’s race in Mexico City so he could be home with his family for the birth of his first son, Jameson Drew. Hamlin revealed that it was a tough labor for his fiancée, Jordan, and was glad he could be there for her and their two daughters.

His son’s name was thoughtful and purposeful – Jameson is “James’ son” and James is Hamlin’s first name. And Drew gives him “JD” initials — a nod to both the late JD Gibbs, a cherished friend of Hamlin and the person credited with hiring him at JGR and also the initials of James Dean, the car owner earlier in Hamlin’s career providing his big opportunity to be seen — and eventually hired — to a major NASCAR operation.

“He’s been great, slept through the night the last three nights in a row. … he’s behaving good early,” Hamlin said of his son, with a smile.

MORE: Truex fills in for Hamlin at Mexico City

Hamlin said he watched the Mexico City race from home last weekend and was very impressed with the Amazon Prime broadcast and the extended time the network uses. But he’s ready to race at Pocono — where his seven wins are the most all-time. He finished runner-up (2024) and scored that seventh win (2023) in the last two visits.

“Just a track that no matter what the car we drive or the tires we have on or the aero package, none of that really matters,” said Hamlin, who earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Pocono, sweeping both races — from pole position no less — in his 2006 rookie season.

“You still make speed at this race track the same way, no matter what car you’re driving.

“It’s been one of the few tracks that I haven’t had to change my approach to it, depending on the car I’m driving. So, I think that’s why the success has been sustained.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

LONG POND, Pa. — Carson Hocevar entered Pocono Raceway Saturday as a hot topic of conversation all over again.

The 22-year-old sophomore racer for Spire Motorsports reignited a feud with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in Mexico City — only one week after their tensions cooled. He was also fined $50,000 by Spire Motorsports for derogatory comments Hocevar made about Mexico City on a livestream before the weekend began.

MORE: Details on Hocevar fine | Pocono schedule

Before shifting his attention back to the race track, Hocevar reflected on his comments, which disparaged Mexico City before he ventured south of the United States border.

“The issue wasn’t the team having their frustrations that I’m giving my opinion and putting it out there,” Hocevar said. “It’s the fact that my opinion wasn’t my opinion. It was just based off everything else that I’ve heard or seen, right? I didn’t go do my own homework and voice my own opinion. I didn’t give it a shot. I didn’t give it a chance. I didn’t go walk around. I didn’t go see it. When I did, then hindsight’s 20/20, then I have my own opinion. But I’ve already put it out there. So I think that was the biggest thing was like — I wasn’t doing what I pride myself of doing, (which is) just having my own opinion, putting it out there and being me. I just didn’t give it a fair shot, so I think that’s where it all stems from.”

Hocevar, who finished 13th in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, is also expecting Stenhouse to claim some sort of retribution after contact at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez from the lapped car of Hocevar spun lead-lap-racer Stenhouse out of position, their second run-in in three weeks.

“The scorecard has it that I’m getting something from the 47 at some point, right?” Hocevar said. “And I think my team and everybody kind of knows that. But at the same time, it’s ideally just the 47, right? It’s not an open hunting season on the 77 because of these incidents. It’s kind of oscillated to when the 47 has a moment that he wants to take at us or take a shot, it’s just like — OK, that’s probably fair. But with everybody else, my team has reassured me that this isn’t open hunting season. We are going to race like we’ve raced; let’s just not create more enemies that we start getting shots back at us.

“But we’re still just going to go race, be aggressive and defend ourselves when we need to. But this is, unfortunately, now a 2-0 scorecard. I’ve been a fan of the sport for a long time. You know the game; you’ve seen it and everything. But we just go race.”

Carson Hocevar drives during NASCAR Cup Series practice at Pocono.
Alex Daus | NASCAR Digital Media

Hocevar is no stranger to controversy, even in just his second year inside the NASCAR Cup Series. On-track run-ins have overshadowed his consistent and impressive speed dating back to his years competing as a full-time Truck Series driver from 2021-23. He knows his reputation precedes him, even with Cup veterans who have watched Hocevar come up through the ranks.

“I already have that image, right? Like it’ll never go away,” Hocevar said. “I could go three years from now and it’s just like oh, I’m back, per se. I think I’ve already made that image before I got in this garage, and I think it’s just trying to balance one thing of owning it and trying to change the narrative while still being like, yeah, I get it. Like I’m aware of this and knowing that.”

The same overaggression that has cost Hocevar has also rewarded him. In addition to five career Truck wins, Hocevar has earned two top fives, three top 10s and his first Busch Light Pole Award in the Cup Series this season. But he has also finished 24th or worse in five of the last six races, the lone exception a runner-up finish at Nashville Superspeedway, the same night he first turned Stenhouse.

“I’ve just been a fan forever, right? And you always saw the rookie get pushed around and kind of have to pay their dues,” Hocevar said. “And I was just like, man, if I’m ever in that spot, I’m never going to get pushed around. That’s how you lose opportunities of races. You never know how long you’re going to be in the garage, for one. None of us have a shot clock waiting on us. You never know.

“So, for me, I want to take advantage of every opportunity I have out there and have no regrets of the effort I’ve put in. And maybe at times, instead of just not letting myself get pushed over, I’m trying to push other people over, and that was the wrong mindset or wrong decision at times.”

Those mistakes have weighed on him mentally, he said. Still, he knows he can’t sacrifice speed for the sake of making friends on the track.

“Just because I do something in the heat of the moment or maybe do it two or three times, doesn’t mean I’m not hard on myself for those mistakes because they are mistakes,” Hocevar said. “It’s just trying not to make that a pattern. But when you’re constantly making aggressive moves like we’re doing, it’s balancing that fine line of, you make a thousand moves a day. Just unfortunately, what people remember isn’t always the good ones. You always remember the negative ones. So that’s just trying to limit the negative ones a lot more.”

Posted on by Staff Report

The No. 44 NY Racing Team has been handed multiple penalties after the car failed pre-race inspection three times before finally passing on its fourth attempt. As a result, car chief Mark Labretone has been ejected from the event weekend.

The series of inspection failures triggered a combination of consequences under NASCAR’s rulebook. The No. 44, driven by Brennan Poole this weekend, will forfeit its right to participate in qualifying and will not be permitted to select a pit stall based on performance. In addition, Poole will be required to serve a pass-through penalty after taking the green flag in Sunday’s race, further impacting its chances to contend.

RELATED: Pocono schedule | At-track photos

The No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford, driven by Josh Berry, will also start from the rear after having to replace the rear clip above the diffuser during Saturday’s practice.

UPDATE: NASCAR announced Sunday afternoon the full slate of cars to the rear, which included defending winner Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford. Blaney told Prime Video during pre-race that his team elected to change the starter.

Additional cars sent to the rear for unapproved adjustments included Ty Dillon’s No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota, William Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Cody Ware’s No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford.

MORE: Byron hits inside wall hard during qualifying at Pocono

Sunday’s event at Pocono Raceway will be the 17th race of the 2025 Cup Series season, with 10 races left before the playoff field is set for the 2025 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Posted on by Dustin Albino

LONG POND, Pa. — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. entered through the tunnel of Pocono Raceway still fired up over a late spin in last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series debut at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

With 10 laps remaining at Mexico City, Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar, one lap down, turned Stenhouse’s No. 47 Chevrolet in the stadium section of the 15-turn course for the second time in three races. That came following a conversation between the two drivers before the prior race weekend at Michigan International Speedway, as the No. 47 car was also tagged at Nashville Superspeedway.

The two drivers haven’t spoken about the most recent incident since an immediate pit-road confrontation, though Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson did chat with Stenhouse.

RELATED: Stenhouse confronts Hocevar on pit road at Mexico City

“After all our conversations from Nashville, he said all the right things and even during the race waved me by,” Stenhouse told NASCAR.com Saturday morning at Pocono Raceway, site of Sunday’s Cup race (2 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “I felt like things were in a good spot. I know he didn’t mean to spin us out, but it still happened. It’s kind of like Nashville, I don’t think he really was like, ‘I’m going to crash you.’ He just did.”

More maddening for Stenhouse was that he believed the No. 47 car was in position to secure a top-20 finish. With Shane van Gisbergen scoring the victory, the elimination line was bumped up, and Stenhouse is now 61 points below the bubble. Ironically, he’s one point behind Hocevar.

“After we spun three or four times [at Mexico], I was just tired of getting spun out,” Stenhouse said. “It cost us at least six or seven spots when that didn’t need to be the case.”

Admittedly, Stenhouse isn’t sure how the situation will be handled from here. After speaking with the media on the topic of Hocevar at three of the last four races, he’s grown exhausted of giving Hocevar any additional energy.

MORE: Hear what Stenhouse Jr. said to Hocevar on pit road

“For me, I’m tired of giving the kid any publicity, anyway,” Stenhouse added. “I don’t know how it’s going to play itself out, but it will.

“I don’t know where it goes or what happens, but we’ve got a job to do over here, and that’s to claw our way back in the points. That line got tougher with SVG winning. We know next weekend is a very good opportunity for us to get the job done and win.”

If the most recent incident had happened domestically, Stenhouse acknowledged he would have likely had a scuffle. Not knowing the Mexican laws and regulations, the elder statesman leaned on his wisdom and opted to play the long game.

“Being in Mexico, it’s the reason I just went and talked to him instead of letting him get out of the car and making sure nothing did happen that I would have regretted later,” Stenhouse added. “Just walking up and doing it in the garage — that’s what got me in trouble for the All-Star Race. It’s been two out of three weeks, so I’m sure there might be something else. We’ll just see how that goes.”

Hocevar admitted Saturday morning during a media availability that he would “probably” give Stenhouse some additional room should the two drivers cross paths during The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

LONG POND, Pa. — Chase Elliott has arguably had the most consistent start of anyone in the NASCAR Cup Series this season. But consistency, he said, isn’t quite enough.

The 2020 series champion has finished inside the top 20 in each of the opening 16 races of 2025 and enters Pocono Raceway on the heels of a season-best third-place finish in Mexico City. The season has started well for the Georgia native, but he admitted Saturday that he and his team are looking to raise their ceiling ahead of The Great American Getaway 400 (2 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

MORE: Pocono schedule | Cup standings

“The consistency, it’s good, but this deal really rewards winning,” Elliott said.

Elliott has put together an impressive 11.2 average finish to open the year, enough for third-best among all full-time drivers, with four top fives and eight top 10s. The 29-year-old is careful to downplay the success he and his team have accrued this season while seeking improved performance. While his Hendrick teammates Kyle Larson (851) and William Byron (769) top the series in laps led, Elliott ranks 11th with 95 circuits led as he navigates a 43-race winless streak.

“It’s not where I want to be, no doubt,” Elliott said. “I think that for us, there’s been some high spots. And to be honest, there’s been weeks where we’ve run well or maybe had a good finish — or even there’s been a couple weeks where we haven’t necessarily had a good finish — and I can go home and be like, ‘Man, we were in the mix. We had good pace today.’ And those are the weeks that (you want). You want to just feel like you’re in the ball game as it pertains to pace and doing the right things and getting up in there and giving yourself a shot. Those days, I can go home and have something to be proud of.

“It’s the days and weekends where we’re just not even relevant that I think are really the most frustrating to me. And we’ve had more of those than I want to have and that we want to have as a team. So I think it’s been good. It’s not satisfactory to myself or to our team, but there’s still a lot of racing left in the season.”

RELATED: Elliott evaluates 2025 campaign

Resiliency has been a key part of the No. 9 team’s results this season. Even when strategy has gone awry — like at Michigan, where cautions derailed pit strategy and dropped Elliott from contending for the lead instead dropping him to a 15th-place finish — the group has been able to walk away with a reasonable amount of points in their pocket. Elliott enters Pocono fourth in the points standings, 104 points off Byron for the series lead, but 146 points above the provisional elimination line to the Cup Series Playoffs as the highest non-winner in the standings.

“I think our team has done a really good job taking some of those days where we were not having a good day and digging in, and finding a way to just get something halfway decent out of it,” Elliott said. “Sometimes that can be a really hard thing to do, and I am really proud of them for that. Because it’s easy to throw in the towel on those days, just lose it and be done and go try again next week. But we as a whole, we don’t know any better and we just keep trying, keep pushing, and make the most out of whatever the day has brought us.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

LONG POND, Pa. — With a fifth-place finish in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, Daniel Hemric walked away with his seventh top-five finish in 14 races for the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing team.

But Hemric, the 2021 Xfinity Series champion, still wasn’t completely satisfied after Friday’s MillerTech Batteries 200 at Pocono Raceway.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Pocono

Hemric lamented a 19th-place effort in qualifying, which stuck him midpack to being the 80-lap contest, but crew chief Josh Graham worked to give Hemric the right balance despite early damage from contact, allowing the duo to score its seventh top 10 in the past eight races. Their one hiccup came in the series’ most recent outing on June 7 at Michigan, where a late crash relegated the No. 19 Chevrolet to a season-worst 27th-place finish.

“In all fairness, we haven’t really been in a situation where we had to bounce back, and we proved we could do that coming off of Michigan,” Hemric said Friday. “Disappointed we haven’t been able to tally any stage points the last two weeks, but when we have a fifth-place result, it’s hard to be upset.”

The recent results for Hemric have been notably strong, tallying an average finish of 7.9 across the past eight weeks. But with a Martinsville Speedway win in hand and a trip to the Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs virtually assured, Hemric hesitates to grow too content, eagerly working with his team to find speed earlier in contests that allow them to score stage points and seriously contend for victories.

“We’ve just gotta have more potential,” Hemric said. “I’ve got to bring either a better mindset or something to gain some potential and need a little help on their end as well. The good thing is this team does pull the rope the same direction. Even though it’s been a character-building and patience-building season for us, thankfully, we are able to put the races together at the end when it matters.

“I can woulda-shoulda-coulda the stage points — I think it’s been three or four weekends where we haven’t tallied any and we’ve still made a decent result. So that’s where we’ve got to (find) more speed, more balance the first run or two (that) gives us that ability. And you’re going to have to have that once the postseason starts.”

There is an optimism laced within Hemric’s disappointment. Although Hemric and Co. have “very quickly realized that we still are not where we need to be on these high-throttle-carry, big-downforce-style race tracks,” the group’s in-race adjustments have proved effective, propelling the team to strong results.

“As soon as Josh Graham gets to work on it in the race, we hit the balance, and we go forward,” Hemric said. “Then we have good restarts and it looks like and feels like a different, race-capable truck with a lot more potential. So I’m proud of these guys. We had a bit of a new body build. Don’t know if that helped us or hurt us; it’s hard to evaluate when I did as poorly of a job in qualifying as I did, but yeah, it’s good to get out of here with another solid day.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

Layne Riggs capped one of the best race weekends of his young career, claiming his first-ever pole position then leading the final 20 laps of Friday’s MillerTech Battery 200 to take his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the season in the opening race of a NASCAR tripleheader weekend at Pocono Raceway.

Riggs’ No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford beat Tricon Garage driver Tanner Gray to the checkered flag by a healthy 3.64 seconds, delivering the young star his third career series win.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Pocono

Riggs had been fast all day and was running second to championship leader Corey Heim coming to a restart with 19 laps to go only to have Heim’s No. 11 Toyota suffer a flat tire just as the field was about to take the green flag.

Just after Heim pulled off the track for a quick tire change, NASCAR Cup Series regular Carson Hocevar moved his No. 7 Spire Motorsports Truck forward and into the lead on the restart — but was handed a penalty for the move.

Riggs, as the second-place car, was the “control” car when Heim pitted — not Hocevar — and Riggs assumed the lead for good when Hocevar pitted with 18 laps remaining to serve the stop-and-go penalty for his restart violation.

“That’s just a testament to this team, that thing was bad fast, especially that last run right there,” said Riggs, the 23-year-old son of former NASCAR Cup Series standout Scott Riggs.

“I really hate the 11 [Heim] fell out and not sure what the seven [Hocevar] was doing on the restart there, but made sure to take advantage of it.

“But, hey, I’m a happy man right now. This is not what I had circled. Last year, we wrecked in practice, didn’t qualify and ran dead last all day. And today we were the best. It’s amazing.”

For much of the early race — before the tire problem — it appeared the season’s four-race winner Heim would essentially turn in a repeat performance of his work a year ago at the 2.5-mile Pocono track when he swept both stages and won the race. Heim led a race-best 48 of the 90 laps and set an all-time series record, claiming his 12th stage win.

But to his credit, Riggs, who also took a stage win, kept Heim honest all day. And that’s what put him in position to capitalize.

Kaden Honeycutt, who started on the front row alongside Riggs, finished third in the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet. Brandon Jones in the No. 1 Tricon Garage Toyota and Daniel Hemric in the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet rounded out the top five.

Rookie Connor Mosack, Riggs’ teammate Chandler Smith, Stewart Friesen, reigning series champion Ty Majeski and Rajah Caruth completed the top 10.

Heim rallied to a 23rd-place finish and leads Riggs’ teammate, Chandler Smith by 124 points in the championship standings.

With the victory, Riggs claims the seventh playoff position based on race wins. Only four more regular-season races remain to decide which 10 drivers will compete for the Craftsman Truck Series championship.

Next Saturday, the series makes its first trek up to the historic Lime Rock Park road course in Lakeville, Connecticut, for the inaugural The LIUNA 150 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed without issue in the Craftsman Truck Series garage, confirming Riggs as the winner.