Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Find NBCSN in your area

All times ET

Monday, September 26
1 a.m., NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
Noon, NASCAR 120, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Tuesday, September 27
5 p.m., NASCAR Scan All Special: Charlotte, Pocono, Michigan (re-air), NBCSN
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Scan All Special:Sonoma, Daytona, Kentucky (re-air), NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Wednesday, September 28
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, September 29
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Series: New Hampshire Motor Speedway (taped), NBCSN

Friday, September 30
10 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, NBCSN
11:30 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, NBCSN
12:30 p.m., NASCAR K&N Pro Series Race: Meridian Speedway (taped), NBCSN
1:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice, NBCSN
3 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR K&N Pro Series Race: Meridian Speedway (re-air), NBCSN
11 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying (re-air), NBCSN

Saturday, October 1
12:30 a.m., NASCAR The List: Memorable Moments (re-air), NBCSN
2 a.m., NASCAR K&N Pro Series Race: Meridian Speedway (re-air), NBCSN
10:30 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, CNBC
11 a.m., WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: Road America, FS1
11:30 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, CNBC
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, NBCSN
2 p.m., WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: Road America, FS2
2:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Countdown to Green, NBCSN
3 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200, NBCSN POSTPONED
5 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Post-Race, NBCSN
6 p.m, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FS2
8 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series SetUp, FS1
8:30 p.m, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series DC Solar 350, FS1

Sunday, October 2
10 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200, CNBC
11:30 a.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Countdown to Green, NBCSN
2 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Soldier 400, NBCSN
5 p.m., WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: Road America (re-air), FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Post-Race Show, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN
7 p.m., Kyle & Rut’s Racing Roots featuring Kevin Harvick, NBCSN
1:30 a.m., NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1

 



Posted on by Zack Albert

WATCH LIVE: Inspection from the R&D Center at 8 a.m. ET

RELATED: Full race results


LOUDON, N.H. — Only Kevin Harvick emerged victorious Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but his other 15 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff foes salvaged some shred of consolation alongside him.

All 16 championship-eligible cars won the race after the race Sunday, clearing without issue through the Laser Inspection Station (LIS) platform after the Bad Boy Off Road 300. Those cleared included the winning Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet driven by Harvick, who damaged his car’s left-rear fender with a smoky, tire-ripping burnout after his third victory of the season.

Only the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota of third-place finisher Kyle Busch went through the inspection bay a second time, and that was due to the car failing to meet the weight limit by a nominal amount. After topping off fluids as permitted in the rules, the No. 18 also was cleared.

Scrutiny for the post-race inspection process rose after last weekend’s Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway, leading to midweek rules updates from NASCAR’s competition department. Last weekend, the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 of race winner Martin Truex Jr. and the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 for Jimmie Johnson both were flagged for being outside of the allowable measurements at the LIS station.

NASCAR officials responded by scratching penalties for minor infractions. But they also required the full Chase field to make its way through the LIS inspection bay, a process that added a sidelight to the usual busy atmosphere in the post-race garage area.

Following stern warnings in the pre-race drivers’ and crew chiefs’ meeting against circumventing the LIS platform, the new post-race check was largely a breeze. All 16 cars received a thumbs up from competition officials in a tidy span of roughly 45 minutes.

As is customary, race officials announced that they would take a handful of cars back to the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, for further inspection. Those are:

— Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet driven by race winner Kevin Harvick
— Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota driven by runner-up Matt Kenseth
— Team Penske No. 2 Ford driven by fourth-place finisher Brad Keselowski

That process will be live streamed on NASCAR.com on Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET. 

RELATED: Watch live inspection here

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Updated Chase Grid
SHOP: Harvick gear | Chase gear

 

LOUDON, N.H. — Remember last week, when Kevin Harvick was trapped a lap down at Chicagoland Speedway, finished 20th and fell out of the top 12 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings?

 

Remember last year, when Harvick crashed at Chicagoland and ran out of fuel while leading at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and had to win at Dover to advance in the Chase?

 

That’s all moot, now that Harvick redeemed himself with a victory in Sunday’s Bad Boy Off Road 300 at New Hampshire, the second race in the Chase.

 

Surging ahead of Matt Kenseth after a restart with six laps left in the 300-lap event at the 1.058-mile track, Harvick pulled away to win by .442 seconds and joined Chicagoland winner Martin Truex Jr. in the Chase’s Round of 12.

 

“One of our main goals this year was to not stress ourselves out so bad,” said Harvick, who won last year’s Dover race to escape the Round of 16 in his last opportunity. “I feel like the performance of the car and the things that we’re doing are good enough to be competitive, and we just need to not make mistakes and go from there.”

 

Harvick got his opportunity to win the race when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Reed Sorenson collided on the backstretch on Lap 291 to bring out the sixth and final caution of the race.

 

Starting on the inside lane and timing the restart perfectly, Harvick stayed side-by-side with Kenseth entering the first corner and cleared Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota through Turn 2. Kenseth was unable to get back to the rear bumper of Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet over the final six laps.

 

“Man, that worked out really good,” said Harvick, who won for the second time at the Magic Mile, the third time this season and the 34th time in his career. “The car was pretty good on the restarts. Once we got clean air there at the end, it wound up being really good up front. I’m just really proud of our team. They did a great job.”

 

NASCAR admonished Kenseth before the final restart not to slow down in the restart zone, as the sanctioning body believed he had done on the previous restart, when Kenseth held off Truex for the lead.

 

“They made it sound like I slowed down the last time,” Kenseth said. “But in my opinion, the leader is always supposed to have the advantage. He’s the leader. He earned that advantage. They said I slowed down a little bit last time, which I’ve got to re-watch it. 

 

“I don’t really think I did, but if I did at all, it’s because the inside car (Truex) was laying back a little bit, and you want to make sure he gets up to your nose so it’s a fair restart. If he’s back at your door and anticipates a little bit, it’s not a fair restart. He’s going to be equal to you or a little bit better.”

 

Then Kenseth second-guessed the way he handled the final restart with Harvick beside him.

 

“I saw Kevin at my door, and I should have known better,” Kenseth said. “I should have went deep in the box and waited, and the acceleration was probably better down there anyway, but I didn’t. I went right at the first line, and he anticipated a little bit of that and got rolling good through the gears, and then I got through the gears bad. I spun the tires in second (gear), I spun the tires in third, so I had a really bad restart besides all that.”

 

Kyle Busch finished third behind Harvick and Kenseth after pitting for fresh tires under caution on Lap 265 and charging through the field. Brad Keselowski ran fourth and took over the Chase points lead by one point over Truex, who led a race-high 141 laps in a seventh-place run but wore out his tires trying to pass Kenseth after a restart on Lap 269.

 

Kurt Busch came home fifth, followed by polesitter Carl Edwards, Truex, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Larson.

 

Harvick escaped the bottom four in the standings, and that left Jamie McMurray, Austin Dillon, Tony Stewart and Chris Buescher all needing to improve their positions to avoid elimination next Sunday at Dover International Speedway.

 

McMurray and Dillon (19th and 16th, respectively, at New Hampshire) are five points behind Larson in 12th place. Stewart is 11 points back of Larson after a 23rd-place run on Sunday, and Buescher trails by 30 points, needing a Dover miracle.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Results | Chase Grid | Standings

WATCH: Edwards receives penalty


LOUDON, N.H. – Coors Light Pole Award winner Carl Edwards hovered in and around the top five for nearly all of Sunday’s Bad Boy Off Road 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway but nearly had his afternoon derailed due to a costly penalty with less than 40 laps remaining.


During the fourth caution of the day, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver came to pit road and incurred a commitment line violation, sinking his running position all the way back to 19th on the ensuing restart on Lap 268.

For a minute there, it certainly appeared Edwards would be fighting for Chase for the Sprint Cup survival next week at Dover International Speedway in the final race of the Round of 16. But Edwards rallied hard over the final 30-plus laps to salvage a sixth-place finish and now holds a 16-point cushion over the cutoff line.

He’ll need to avoid similar gaffes moving forward — though he doesn’t necessarily agree he even made a gaffe — and realizes he may have gotten away with one here.

“I gotta see the replay, but I was pretty sure I made it onto pit road. I felt pretty comfortable,” Edwards said on pit road after the race. “I don’t know about that (penalty), but we still recovered well. I think we could’ve been top three or four because we got off sequence, but as it turned out to finish sixth with that penalty is pretty much a gift. My guys didn’t quit, I’m proud of them.

“Now we head to Dover with a little bit of a point cushion, and Dover is one of my favorite race tracks, one of my best tracks and this team should have won this race in the spring so hopefully we can go there and lock ourselves into the next round. … Anything can happen, but there’s no better race for us to be a cutoff race.”

Following the race, Edwards’ crew chief Dave Rogers had a discussion with NASCAR officials to get clarity on the penalty.

“Yeah, NASCAR showed me the notes, and the notes that they had were all four tires below the orange box and our right-rear (tire) touched it,” Rogers told NASCAR.com. “So it’s one of those deals where we knew it was close, and we didn’t intentionally drive over the box, first of all. It was a last-minute call to pit. We thought the rule was all four on or below and it wasn’t. The rule’s all four under, so hence the penalty.”


Edwards’ teammate Denny Hamlin also was victim to a pit road penalty on the same stop, as an errant tire got away from his No. 11 Toyota crew. Hamlin, however, was not as fortunate as Edwards and finished 15th. The 2016 Daytona 500 winner declined post-race interviews and sits seventh on the Chase Grid, still higher than Edwards despite the worse finish.

“Unfortunately, we had a pit road penalty; two stops in the end that got us really far behind and just got kind of shuffled out of the mix on a couple restarts and finished about five to 10 spots worse than we should have, but still alive,” said Hamlin’s crew chief Mike Wheeler. “Hit the restart button and try again. Dover is a decent track for Denny. He hasn’t had a win there yet, but has had some good runs and hopefully we can have another good run there.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full results for final practice | Fastest 10-lap averages

 

Kyle Larson made it a perfect sweep of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practices, as his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet flew to the top of the leaderboard at 132.577 mph in Saturday’s final practice session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Larson paced the field in Friday’s lone session and tied Martin Truex Jr. for the fastest speed/time in Saturday’s morning practice.

Joe Gibbs Racing‘s Denny Hamlin made a late surge to nab the second spot on the speed charts, wheeling his No. 11 Toyota at 132.549 mph.

Hendrick Motorsports‘ Kasey Kahne laid down the third-fastest speed, his No. 5 Chevrolet peaking at 132.489 mph. Kahne and teammate Alex Bowman (10th), who is driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Jr. this weekend, were the only non-Chase drivers to record top-15 speeds in the final session.

Pole sitter Carl Edwards came up fourth in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (132.420 mph), while Hendrick Motorsports‘ Jimmie Johnson completed the top five with a fast speed of 132.255 mph from his No. 48 Chevrolet.

Points leader Truex Jr. — who tied Larson for the fastest speed in practice earlier today — ranked sixth in the field this session, propelling his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota at 132.250 mph.

Reigning race winner Matt Kenseth was seventh-fastest, his No. 20 JGR Toyota topping out at 132.222 mph.

Jamie McMurray (18th), Austin Dillon (22nd) and Chris Buescher (28th) were the only Chase drivers to record practice speeds outside the top 15.

The Sprint Cup Series returns to the track Sunday for the Bad Boy Off Road 300 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

RELATED: Full results for Practice 2

 

Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. both reached 132.186 mph early in the second Sprint Cup Series practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday morning.

The Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates driver also paced the field during Friday’s lone Sprint Cup practice session in his No. 42 Chevrolet.

Last weekend’s Chicagoland winner, Truex Jr. in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota laid down the exact same speed (132.186 mph) and lap time (28.814 seconds) as Larson in the 55-minute session.

Reigning race winner Matt Kenseth was third-fastest, his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota reaching a top speed of 132.085 mph, while his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin came up fourth in the field (132.030 mph). Hendrick Motorsports‘ Chase Elliott rounded out the top five with a top speed of 131.980 mph in his No. 24 Chevrolet.

Coors Light Pole winner Carl Edwards was sixth-fastest in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

The top-nine performers in the second session were all Chase drivers and Chasers made up 11 of the top-15; Brad Keselowski (18th), Tony Stewart (19th), Austin Dillon (23rd) and Chris Buescher (33rd) were the outlying Chase competitors.

Posted on by Staff Report

RESULTS: Practice 1

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 5 Kasey Kahne 5 14 131.273
2 10 Danica Patrick 1 10 126.870

 

RESULTS: Practice 2

 

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 78 Martin Truex Jr 2 11 131.139
2 20 Matt Kenseth 15 24 131.033
3 18 Kyle Busch 23 32 130.757
4 11 Denny Hamlin 24 33 130.754
5 24 Chase Elliott # 3 12 130.576
6 42 Kyle Larson 24 33 130.559
7 27 Paul Menard 2 11 130.472
8 31 Ryan Newman 2 11 130.462
9 88 Alex Bowman(i) 32 41 130.366
10 48 Jimmie Johnson 3 12 130.334
11 19 Carl Edwards 8 17 130.316
12 1 Jamie McMurray 6 15 129.924
13 41 Kurt Busch 20 29 129.825
14 23 David Ragan 1 10 129.795
15 3 Austin Dillon 17 26 129.785
16 2 Brad Keselowski 20 29 129.499
17 43 Aric Almirola 13 22 129.476
18 44 Brian Scott # 27 36 128.899
19 95 Michael McDowell 6 15 128.823
20 21 * Ryan Blaney # 1 10 128.743
21 15 Clint Bowyer 9 18 128.458
22 34 Chris Buescher # 26 35 127.980

RESULTS: Practice 3

 

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 19 Carl Edwards 13 22 131.663
2 4 Kevin Harvick 28 37 131.401
3 42 Kyle Larson 24 33 131.342
4 18 Kyle Busch 35 44 131.337
5 48 Jimmie Johnson 1 10 131.279
6 11 Denny Hamlin 2 11 131.167
7 24 Chase Elliott # 34 43 131.113
8 5 Kasey Kahne 1 10 131.069
9 20 Matt Kenseth 2 11 130.927
10 88 Alex Bowman(i) 1 10 130.902
11 41 Kurt Busch 23 32 130.869
12 78 Martin Truex Jr 2 11 130.842
13 2 Brad Keselowski 34 43 130.761
14 22 Joey Logano 23 32 130.705
15 14 Tony Stewart 1 10 130.675
16 27 Paul Menard 3 12 130.561
17 31 Ryan Newman 1 10 130.411
18 1 Jamie McMurray 1 10 130.216
19 3 Austin Dillon 18 27 129.938
20 43 Aric Almirola 1 10 129.656
21 47 AJ Allmendinger 1 10 129.645
22 6 Trevor Bayne 19 28 129.635
23 10 Danica Patrick 27 36 129.247
24 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr 16 25 129.231
25 21 * Ryan Blaney # 22 31 129.058
26 44 Brian Scott # 20 29 128.788
27 7 Regan Smith 1 10 128.720
28 95 Michael McDowell 1 10 128.572
29 16 Greg Biffle 7 16 128.554
30 13 Casey Mears 16 25 128.542
31 34 Chris Buescher # 24 33 128.528
32 15 Clint Bowyer 22 31 128.318
33 23 David Ragan 1 10 128.176
34 38 Landon Cassill 30 39 127.961

*Car must run 10 consecutive laps on the track to be included in the above chart.
# denotes rookie
(i) denotes ineligible for points

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: See the Chase Grid

 

LOUDON, N.H. — Jimmie Johnson felt certain he’d be facing a much larger deficit in the second event of the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs. A points penalty for his Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet failing its post-race pass through the Laser Inspection Station (LIS) platform last week likely would have dropped him into the bottom four of the 16-driver postseason field.

 

But Johnson said he received a phone call Wednesday afternoon on his way back from his race shop that altered his outlook. NASCAR competition officials had just implemented a midweek update regarding minor LIS infractions, offering a reprieve for both himself and the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 team of last weekend’s race winner, Martin Truex Jr.

 

“I was just taking my lumps and going on with my business and then kind of Christmas showed up in September,” Johnson said Friday after qualifying fourth for Sunday’s Bad Boy Off Road 300 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “Just unexpected, but happy.”

 

NASCAR’s competition department announced Wednesday that P2 and P3-level penalties would be eliminated for lesser LIS violations found in post-race inspections, leaving the stricter P4-grade punishments in place for more egregious infractions. Truex, who automatically advanced to the Chase’s next round with his victory at Chicagoland Speedway, and Johnson were not penalized in the points standings.

 

Johnson said he was pleasantly surprised, though he knew his car was slightly outside of the allowable measurements for its rear axle offset, or “skew.”

 

“I really feel NASCAR was trying to create a penalty system that was more forgiving,” Johnson said. “Stuff bends, stuff moves, and they set those tolerances up to really help the garage area and then to keep cars failing out of the headlines. But it’s tough. There’s a lot of moving parts in these cars and of course we’re trying to get as much skew as we can and we failed.

 

“I’m sure directionally, it was an advantage. Everybody will take every hundredth of an inch they can get. I think we were four thousandths over. I don’t know how much of an advantage you can get in four thousandths. That’s awfully, awfully small, but we’re in a world now where it’s black or white.”

 

The non-penalty kept Johnson in the heart of the Chase’s opening round, slotted eighth with a 13-point spread behind series leader Truex. Four drivers will be eliminated from championship eligibility after next weekend’s race at Dover International Speedway, where Johnson has won a record 10 times.

 

Johnson’s current ranking could be worse had the penalty taken effect, but it could have been better as well. Johnson was solidly on the verge of a top-five finish last week at Chicagoland, but a pit-road speeding penalty on his penultimate stop bumped him outside the top 10.

 

Johnson said he began to accelerate just 2 feet too early at the pit-exit line, sending him over the speed limit for the final timing section and offsetting the performance strides the No. 48 team had made in recent weeks.

 

“We’ve definitely been showing speed over the last month and a half,” Johnson said. “That’s been something that’s very welcomed and it’s been a lot of hard work to get to that point. Unfortunately, mistakes still are continuing to happen and last week was on me.”

RELATED: Hear Johnson’s reaction on the scanner

Posted on by Chris Knight

RELATED: Results | Standings | Chase Grid

SPARTA, KY – A huge push from Daniel Suárez on a restart with four laps to go in Saturday night’s eventful VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 sent Elliott Sadler ahead of Ryan Blaney to win the opening race of the NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase at Kentucky Speedway.

Sadler’s third win of the season and 13th of his XFINITY Series career was about more than just stamping his way into Round 2 of the Chase. The Emporia, Virginia, native fought for the win while thinking of his mother, Bell, who was released from the hospital Saturday, after a week of hospitalization and two surgeries.

“We fought through a lot tonight,” Sadler said in Victory Lane. “I’m going to get a little emotional on you, I’ve been in the hospital all week with my mom in ICU watching her fight and fight through a lot of pain and suffering. (She) made her way back home tonight to watch the race. Mom, I love you. She leads so much by example.”

Sadler also credited his team, who helped Sadler battle from outside the top 15 earlier in the race.

“These guys are my heroes,” Sadler said. “We had a 10th or 15th place car at best. Still had to come in and really take our time and work on it. Great pit calls by Kevin (Meendering, crew chief) and the guys to get us in position. Got a good push there at the end. I do want to say thanks to Josh Berry for helping me a ton tonight. That kid did some cool things on the restarts. This OneMain Financial team has no quit in them. We just fight till the end. This is a great way to start the Chase.”

Suárez, who finished second, said he struggled with a tight condition all night but was best at the end of the race.

“Right at the end, we were pretty good, maybe just a little tight but we were strong,” he said. “I feel like we were the fastest car out there at the end. I just needed one or two laps more to get the win.”

The inaugural XFINITY Series Chase race offered plenty of excitement and drama. With the “win and advance” format putting a greater premium on victories, drivers found themselves on the edge of control at a track where the racing groove was extremely tight since undergoing a repave in May.

“At halfway, we were running 20th,” Sadler said. “By my calculations, we were probably 10th or 11th in points, so to fight back that last 100 laps to gain that kind of momentum probably means a lot for us and these guys. I’m so proud of these guys. Dale (Earnhardt Jr., team owner) and Kelley (Earnhardt-Miller, team manager) and all of our partners for Hunt Bros., and Chevrolet and everyone that does so much for us at JR Motorsports. This is a great way to start off the Chase and keeps the momentum on our side, we can relax and go to Dover and have fun there and Charlotte and get ready for the second round.”

XFINITY Chase drivers Ty Dillon, Brandon Jones and Erik Jones all found themselves in a deep hole after being collected in accidents throughout a caution-filled race. Dillon and Erik Jones tangled while racing for second with 12 laps remaining. The event was red-flagged for five minutes, 34 seconds for cleanup of the Turn 3 incident.

RELATED: See the wreck | Jones’ take | Dillon’s take

Jones, the pole sitter who led a race-high 100 laps, took responsibility for the crash.

“I just got sucked around,” Jones said after the incident. “I tried to slow down but Ty was holding me down there pretty tight on the restart, slamming doors through (Turns) 1 and 2. It was my fault but it’s a pretty tough aero situation to be in.

“I just couldn’t hang on to it. I tried to slow down but he kept slamming down on my door and I did all I could to hang on to it. It definitely looks like we’re going to have to run really well at Dover and Charlotte or even win.”

Behind Sadler and Suárez, Sprint Cup rookie Ryan Blaney finished third while Sam Hornish Jr. and Matt Tifft completed the top five. Tifft, a NASCAR Next alumnus made his XFINITY Series return after undergoing brain surgery in July to remove a remove a benign, low-grade glioma.

Sadler leaves Kentucky Speedway with an eight-point lead in the standings and guaranteed admission to the next round of the Chase at Kansas Speedway in three weeks. Suárez (+27 points above the cutoff line) is second in the Chase standings, followed by Brendan Gaughan (+21), Ryan Reed (+19), Darrell Wallace Jr. (+19), Justin Allgaier (+17), Brennan Poole (+16), Blake Koch (+15), Erik Jones (-3), Ryan Sieg (-5), Brandon Jones (-15) and Ty Dillon (-15).