Posted on by Nascar

BRISTOL, Tenn. — NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Chris Buescher has a victory but remains outside the top 30 in points, a situation that the Front Row Motorsports rookie driver hopes to remedy in the coming weeks as he seeks a berth in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR  Sprint Cup.

For the third consecutive season, NASCAR’s Chase field will consist of drivers in the top 30 in points who have one or more wins, with any remaining positons in the 16-team field determined via points.

Buescher earned his first career Sprint Cup victory at Pocono Raceway, and trails 30th place David Ragan (BK Racing) by only three points heading into Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops NRA 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (8 p.m. NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR). But it’s not just Ragan and the seemingly slim deficit that Buescher said he and his Front Row Motorsports team have their sights set on.

“I think anyone will tell you that it’s not necessarily just three points,” said Buescher. “It’s going to be constantly changing. There are four drivers in this window that can basically upset the balance or change it each and every weekend.

“For us right now, yeah, it’s three points to David Ragan, but after Bristol it could be a completely different story. We could gain points on David, but get passed by the one behind us. It’s a balance, but we’ve got to take it week by week.  … We have to capitalize on our weekends as much as possible. That’s what is going to be important for us — to do the best we can and let everything else fall the way it’s going to.”

Regan Smith trails Buescher by 14 points; Brian Scott sits 11 behind Smith.

Ten drivers have clinched one of the 16 Chase berths based on wins and their current points positions, including defending series champion Kyle Busch and 2012 champ Brad Keselowski. Tony Stewart has a victory, but has yet to officially clinch a spot since the three-time series champ sits 26th in points and could fall out of the top 30.

Eleventh through 16th in points but winless this season are Ryan Newman, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson and Trevor Bayne.

Should Stewart remain in the top 30 and Buescher advance, only four positons would be set based on points.

Just outside the top 16 are Kasey Kahne and Ryan Blaney.

“Right now, we’ve got to get all we can get and be aggressive with it to gain points and that’s more fun racing,” Buescher, one of four drivers competing for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors, said. “We can enjoy these weekends and not be too worried about giving it up, just knowing that we’ve got to do everything we can do to run as well as possible.

“That’s not necessarily saying we’ve got to try and get ourselves in a fuel window and run out of gas and lose a bunch of spots. It’s saying we’ve got to be aggressive on track, take passes whenever we can get them, and make sure that we can drive forward so that we’re earning points versus losing them each of these next four weekends.”

Buescher finished 21st at Bristol in the spring race, and said it’s “probably one of our better race tracks this year for speed … and this should be a place where we can gain a lot of those points.”

But, he added, “the guys that we’re racing also run really well here, so it’s going be a battle right up to the end of Richmond.”

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BRISTOL, Tenn. – Matt Tifft remembers waking up in the middle of the night in the Intensive Care Unit following his brain surgery. The television was on and the XFINITY Series race at Daytona was playing.

Tifft went right back to sleep that night — but getting back to the track hasn’t been far from his mind since then.

“It’s great to see everyone,” Tifft said Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed being at the race track … I don’t know that I’ve ever stayed away from a race track that long.”

The 20-year-old developmental XFINITY driver for Joe Gibbs Racing underwent surgery July 1 to remove a low-grade, benign brain tumor, and has been sidelined from the race track since. Poised and in good spirits, Tifft thoroughly explained the difficult recovery he’s endured for the past month and a half.

“I got this nice scar over here,” Tifft said, gesturing to a long scar on his head. “They got as much (of the tumor) as they could out. The way they best describe it is a wet cotton ball in a cup of water, basically. So, they can pull out as much as they can but there’s always going to be a couple strands left in. … But they were able to go in and do a fairly aggressive surgery and get the most out as possible.

“But one of the most shocking things to me was apparently with a brain tumor, one of the symptoms is a loss of smell. So, I came downstairs the Monday after I had my surgery and my mom, she was washing something with Murphy’s Oil (Soap). I guess I couldn’t smell things for years and it just hit me and it made me nauseous and all of a sudden I just started smelling everything. I was like, ‘My goodness, I can’t believe this.’ “

Scent wasn’t the only sense regained following Tifft’s recovery. He quickly realized how much the tumor had affected details of every day life on many levels.

“The first couple weeks getting back, I could do 30 minutes more of activity without getting too worn out,” Tifft recalled. “What I would figure out, though, is every day I had new experiences — going to the mall, walking around, things that you think are just so normal to everybody – all of a sudden, those things were stressful situations. … It was just fascinating getting to learn about that. And every day I got stronger and better and to the point where I was able to start driving a street car again, get back to normal life, basically. After that, I was able to get back to a normal physical activity level.”

While the process has been wearisome at times, it also has afforded Tifft the opportunity to connect with others who either have gone through brain surgery, themselves, or have children who have undergone a similar process.

“It really puts things in perspective,” Tifft said. “I think sometimes we get lost in this world of NASCAR, sometimes we get trapped in a bubble a little bit with that, and you get hit with something like this and it’s shocking but then you realize with other people, there’s a whole lot more that could be going wrong. It just makes you appreciate things a lot more.”

With a new outlook — and regained sense of smell — Tifft finally climbs behind the wheel Sunday with doctor’s approval for the first time since his procedure, as he tests a late model at Hickory Speedway.

“I think I will be smiling from ear to ear,” Tifft said. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to strap back in the seat. It will be a really great feeling.”

But perhaps a better feeling will be eventually getting back into a stock car, the thought that has kept Tifft going since July.


“You get that realization that this is not going to be tomorrow that I’m going to be OK, this is going to take some time and in the beginning that took a while to really understand that,” Tifft said. “There were definitely some times where you’re bummed out and you just want things to go back to normal. Then you just have to keep telling yourself that you have to do everything necessary to get back to that point.

“My goal from the get-go is to get back in the race car. … The reason I was able to stay so positive and so driven was the one goal of getting back in the car.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: First session results | Second session results

Kyle Busch captured the top spot on the leaderboard in both NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practices Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, clocking in at 129.684 mph in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the final session.


Right behind him in Friday’s second session was Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota at 129.587 mph.


Rounding out the top five were Matt Kenseth in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (129.386 mph), Ryan Blaney in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford (129.334 mph) and Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (129.256 mph.)


Series points leader Brad Keselowski was 10th in the final session at 128.142 mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.


The caution flag came out twice in the final session: first, when Greg Biffle spun, though there was no contact, and a second time when Josh Wise lost a right front tire and slammed into the outside wall.


—


In the earlier session, Kyle Busch led the way at 128.969 mph in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Right behind him was teammate Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 JGR Toyota at 128.649 mph. Hamlin also logged the most laps in the 80-minute session at 99.

Rounding out the top five were Kyle Larson in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet (128.597 mph), Chase Elliott in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (128.511 mph) and Aric Almirola in the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford (128.503 mph).

Series points leader Brad Keselowski was sixth fastest with a speed of 128.468 mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

The session got underway five minutes late as crews worked to dry a wet track from morning rain. Practice was extended a few minutes to compensate for the late start.


RELATED: Follow Bristol weather updates here

Posted on by Staff Report

Opening practice 10-lap averages

Position Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 11 Denny Hamlin 61 70 126.740
2 21 * Ryan Blaney # 26 35 126.485
3 2 Brad Keselowski 19 28 126.219
4 47 AJ Allmendinger 15 24 126.207
5 4 Kevin Harvick 47 56 126.191
6 43 Aric Almirola 40 49 126.128
7 19 Carl Edwards 34 43 126.016
8 3 Austin Dillon 14 23 125.907
9 24 Chase Elliott # 26 35 125.692
10 1 Jamie McMurray 30 39 125.665
11 18 Kyle Busch 43 52 125.476
12 20 Matt Kenseth 49 58 125.457
13 27 Paul Menard 38 47 125.326
14 83 Matt DiBenedetto 3 12 125.295
15 13 Casey Mears 2 11 124.799
16 15 Clint Bowyer 28 37 124.470
17 14 Tony Stewart 3 12 124.252
18 95 Michael McDowell 20 29 124.240
19 10 Danica Patrick 58 67 124.231
20 5 Kasey Kahne 51 60 124.134
21 41 Kurt Busch 4 13 124.089
22 22 Joey Logano 40 49 123.951
23 30 * Josh Wise 13 22 123.902
24 38 Landon Cassill 19 28 123.526
25 31 Ryan Newman 38 47 123.498
26 34 Chris Buescher # 48 57 123.189
27 23 David Ragan 12 21 123.091
28 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 35 44 123.043
29 48 Jimmie Johnson 39 48 123.032
30 88 Jeff Gordon 50 59 122.389
31 16 Greg Biffle 51 60 122.260
32 44 Brian Scott # 29 38 122.232
33 6 Trevor Bayne 36 45 122.182

Final practice best 10-lap averages

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 11 Denny Hamlin 2 11 127.193
2 18 Kyle Busch 1 10 127.015
3 24 Chase Elliott # 1 10 126.865
4 31 Ryan Newman 5 14 126.811
5 20 Matt Kenseth 26 35 126.669
6 2 Brad Keselowski 33 42 126.660
7 19 Carl Edwards 62 71 126.273
8 4 Kevin Harvick 67 76 126.086
9 14 Tony Stewart 4 13 126.038
10 21 * Ryan Blaney # 4 13 125.966
11 5 Kasey Kahne 7 16 125.906
12 41 Kurt Busch 1 10 125.826
13 48 Jimmie Johnson 54 63 125.789
14 47 AJ Allmendinger 10 19 125.473
15 3 Austin Dillon 6 15 125.441
16 16 Greg Biffle 38 47 125.431
17 88 Jeff Gordon 6 15 125.231
18 42 Kyle Larson 48 57 124.631
19 34 Chris Buescher # 50 59 124.585
20 1 Jamie McMurray 2 11 124.538
21 13 Casey Mears 4 13 124.432
22 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 5 14 124.285
23 95 Michael McDowell 41 50 124.260
24 15 Clint Bowyer 4 13 123.988
25 27 Paul Menard 25 34 123.696
26 6 Trevor Bayne 13 22 123.611
27 22 Joey Logano 50 59 123.400
28 44 Brian Scott # 39 48 123.245
29 83 Matt DiBenedetto 15 24 122.606
30 23 David Ragan 1 10 120.742
31 30 * Josh Wise 11 20 120.246
Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Chase Grid

BRISTOL, Tenn. — A remarkable chain of circumstances gave Austin Dillon the chance to win Friday night’s Food City 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Dillon took full advantage, completing two harrowing overtime laps to edge surprise runner-up Justin Allgaier in a race that went eight laps beyond the scheduled distance at the ultra-fast .533-mile concrete short track.

Dillon didn’t take the top spot until Lap 305 of 308, when Brad Keselowski‘s No. 22 Ford ran out of fuel while leading under the eighth and final caution of the evening.

Driving a No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet that slipped noticeably in Turn 3 on the white-flag lap — just after crossing the overtime line at the entrance to the corner — Dillon nevertheless held off Allgaier, third-place finisher Kyle Larson and fourth-place Elliott Sadler, who swapped positions behind the winner on the two overtime laps.

Dillon crossed the finish line .227 seconds ahead of Allgaier, who won a drag race against Larson off the final corner. And in Victory Lane, Dillon stayed busy counting his blessings, not the least of which was a shout-out to fiancée Whitney Ward, who recently accepted Dillon’s marriage proposal.

“It was just a war of attrition,” said Dillon, whose new crew chief, Justin Alexander, got his first victory. “We had a pretty good car — maybe not the fastest car — but the car that won. I made a mistake in (Turn) 3 coming to the white, but, luckily, everybody else got loose…

“It was just a war of attrition, and we did what we had to do to win.”

Keselowski’s empty fuel tank was simply the last domino in a sequence of events that put Dillon in position to win for the first time at Bristol — or on any short track for that matter — the second time this season and the eighth time in his career.

On Lap 243, pole winner Erik Jones spun Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Daniel Suarez in Turn 3, triggering a six-car wreck that sent both Jones and Suarez to the garage.

“I just made a mistake,” Jones said ruefully. “I basically turned the 19 (Suarez). It’s unfortunate. I feel bad for Daniel and I feel bad for this team and my guys. The (car) was really good, and it deserved a good finish and was probably good enough to win.

“I just threw it away on that restart and tried to make too much happen too quick. Just trying to get back in line behind them before the others got there, and I wasn’t clear. Just mad at myself.”

The pivotal wreck that followed was even more dramatic. Keselowski and Kyle Busch were fighting for the lead on Lap 296 when Busch tried a pass in the lower lane and slid his No. 18 Toyota up the track in front of Keselowski’s Mustang.

Unwilling to surrender the position, Keselowski maintained his momentum off the corner, clipped the right rear of Busch’s Camry and sent both cars into the outside wall. Keselowski was able to continue, but Busch blew a tire and shot up into the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4, collecting Ty Dillon, younger brother of the race winner, who was running behind — and who had led briefly after a restart on Lap 287.

“Kyle is, of course, real good at this track, and he was quite a bit faster,” Keselowski said. “I was just trying to hold him off anyway I could. He got a good run on the bottom, and the bottom groove was just a little bit faster in (Turns) 1 and 2 than it was in 3 and 4. He knew that and made a really smart move and got up next to me, but I had a big run on exit and he wasn’t quite clear. 

“I knew he needed to come up because 3 and 4, like I said, the bottom groove wasn’t as good. He knew he needed to come up and there just wasn’t enough room. I was already there and it clipped him in the right rear. I don’t really know what happened from there, but it was tough. We were battling really hard and definitely didn’t want to see it end that way.” 

When the race went past its posted distance and Keselowski had issues picking up fuel under the yellow, that left Dillon to hold off Larson, who had led 200 laps at that point.

With advice from his grandfather and team owner, Richard Childress, Dillon picked the outside lane for the final restart and pulled out a victory that would have seemed an unlikely outcome just 50 laps earlier.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Complete lineup for Bristol | See every car in the field

 

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Denny Hamlin owns a new track record, but Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Carl Edwards won the round that counted in Friday’s knockout qualifying session at Bristol Motor Speedway.

 

Edwards sped around the .533-mile high-banked concrete short track in 14.602 seconds (131.407 mph) to claim the top starting spot for Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops NRA night Race (8 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), edging Hamlin (131.200 mph) by .023 seconds.

 

Remarkably, Edwards earned his fifth Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his fourth at Bristol and the 21st of his career without making a mock qualifying run during either of Friday’s two practice sessions. Instead, the driver of the No. 19 Toyota relied on setup information from his teammates – including Hamlin.

 

“It’s nice to have fast teammates,” said Edwards, who will try to duplicate his pole-winning, race-winning performance from April. “We wouldn’t have had a shot at (the pole) if it wasn’t for them. We thought it was going to rain, so we didn’t practice qualifying or anything. My guys made great adjustments based on that information.

 

“I just hope we can finish it off the way we did in the spring.”

 

All four JGR drivers qualified in the top five for the 23rd NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the season. Kyle Busch (130.931 mph) will start third and Matt Kenseth (130.619 mph) fifth. The only interloper was Ford driver Ryan Blaney (130.637 mph), who grabbed the fourth spot on the grid in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Fusion.

 

With a blistering run in 14.573 seconds (131.668 mph) in the first round, Hamlin broke the track record he set for this event last year, eclipsing his own mark of 14.602 seconds (131.407 mph). But Hamlin was the last of 12 drivers out for the final round and fell just short of Edwards’ winning time.

 

“We had really good speed, so I’m pretty optimistic about that,” said Hamlin, who will start within the top six for the 15th time this season. “I can’t believe we’ve qualified as good as we have this year and not gotten a pole.

 

“It’s unbelievable – still a great effort by our whole team. I hope we can have a great race up here on (Saturday) night and get in Victory Lane.”

 

Chris Buescher, fighting to crack the top 30 in the standings and qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup (based on his victory at Pocono), qualified 12th, one position behind Jeff Gordon, who made the final round for the first time in his fourth start in place of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

 

Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott had the fastest Chevrolet, qualifying sixth.

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Race results


BRISTOL, Tenn. — With only a handful of starts on his schedule, Brett Moffitt competes as if every race is a tryout.

And in many ways, that’s indeed the case.

Called into service by Red Horse Racing to fill the seat of the organization’s No. 11 Toyota earlier this year, Moffitt responded with a strong performance at Kentucky before an engine issue left him 31st, and Pocono, where he finished third.

Earlier this month, Red Horse officials announced Moffitt would return for three more starts — at Bristol, Michigan and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, Moffitt continued to impress with a career-best runner-up finish to first-time race winner Ben Kennedy (GMS Racing) in the UNOH 200.


MORE: Kennedy: ‘This is the coolest day of my life’


“It’s really fun running like this and being super competitive two weeks in a row now,” Moffitt, 24, said. “But second place sucks. We’re here to win. I’m happy but I’m not. It sucks being that close.”

Moffitt has Sprint Cup experience, making a handful of starts a year ago with the now-defunct Michael Waltrip Racing group before closing the season behind the wheel of the No. 34 for Front Row Motorsports. His performance was good enough to earn him Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors. It wasn’t, however, enough to secure him a ride for ’16.

Until he was called on to drive the No. 11 for Red Horse earlier this year, subbing for Matt Tifft, his NASCAR career was in a holding pattern.

While his future remains uncertain — he said there have been no conversations beyond his next two starts — Moffitt is hoping his results lead to more opportunities.

The team will carry the same truck to Michigan next week that was used at Kentucky and Pocono. “And they actually did some more work to it,” he furthered, “so hopefully it’s even better.

“We’re showing really strong, got a third place and a second place here; we just need one more. That would be a good place to win and hopefully at the road course as well.”

Moffitt had an opportunity at Bristol, restarting second to Kennedy for a six-lap shootout following the ninth and final caution. But Kennedy, who went from third to first with 20 laps remaining, didn’t falter with the win on the line.

While he closed on Kennedy’s bumper, Moffitt said he couldn’t get close enough to either make the pass or move the leader out of the way. Both were options he considered.

“I’m going to race people the way I want to be raced,” he said. “It is Bristol so if you need to move someone, you’ve got to move them.

“I just wasn’t quite good enough through the center (of the turn) to get to him. He slipped up a few times and I was able to get to his bumper once but didn’t get to him hard enough. I was really waiting for him to make a mistake so I could shove my nose in there but he executed when he needed to and he hit his marks. I just wasn’t able to get to him there.”

Daniel Hemric (Brad Keselowski Racing), William Byron (Kyle Busch Motorsports) and Johnny Sauter (GMS) rounded out the top five.