Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR officials issued penalties Tuesday for lug-nut infractions in the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series from last weekend’s events at Kansas Speedway.

Foremost among those lug-nut penalties was a one-race suspension for Jeff Stankiewicz, crew chief for the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet for Xfinity playoff contender Sheldon Creed. The No. 2 Camaro was found with two unsecured lug nuts in a post-race check after Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300, resulting in the one-race ban and a $10,000 fine.

The No. 2 RCR team has tapped engineer Sam Bowers as Stankiewicz’s replacement on the entry list for Friday night’s Food City 300 (7:30 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM, NBC Sports App) at Bristol Motor Speedway. The event is the opening race in the Xfinity Series Playoffs.

RELATED: Weekend schedule: Bristol | Officials reinstate Gragson

Two other Chevy teams with drivers in the Xfinity postseason field were each fined $5,000 for having one unsecured lug nut each: Andy Street, crew chief of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing group for regular season champion Austin Hill; and Shane Whitbeck, crew chief for Jordan Anderson Racing’s No. 27 and driver Jeb Burton.

In the Craftsman Truck Series, two teams outside the playoff picture were hit with L1-level penalties for infractions related to the triangular filler panels. The following teams and drivers were docked 10 points in their respective standings:

  • No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet (driver Kaden Honeycutt)
  • No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet (driver Colby Howard)

The No. 12 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet team was fined $2,500 for a single loose lug nut after Friday’s Kansas Lottery 200. That penalty was issued to Tyler Young, crew chief for the No. 12 driven by Truck Series regular Spencer Boyd.

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

For the third time this year and the 73rd time in series history, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to New York’s popular quarter-mile bullring known as Riverhead Raceway for the running of the Eddie Partridge 256 (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET on FloRacing).

While the Modified Tour is no stranger to Riverhead, Saturday’s race marks just the second running of the Eddie Partridge 256, an event held in honor of the late Modified Tour car owner and Riverhead Raceway owner Eddie Partridge.

Unlike most Tour events held at Riverhead, the Eddie Partridge 256 will feature live pit stops thanks to a specially constructed, temporary pit wall in the infield. Justin Bonsignore, a 1o-time Tour winner at Riverhead, is the defending winner of the Eddie Partridge 256.

Tickets to Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 256 are available trackside. Below is everything you need to know about the 15th race of the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.

Eddie Partridge 256 at Riverhead Raceway

What to watch for:

The battle for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship returns to Riverhead Raceway for the third time this season as both Justin Bonsignore and Ron Silk look to find an edge in the title battle.

Silk narrowly leads Bonsignore with four races remaining, and both drivers have reason to be excited to race at Riverhead. Bonsignore, coming off a victory at Monadnock Speedway last weekend, is the active wins leader at Riverhead. Silk, meanwhile, is the most recent Riverhead winner in June.

Both are expected to contend for victory, but they won’t be the only contenders.

Austin Beers, who started from the pole and led 63 laps at Riverhead in June, has been fast all season and could be a threat to Silk and Bonsignore on Saturday night.

MORE RIVERHEAD: Watch live Saturday on FloRacing

Eric Goodale returns to action aboard his own No. 58 at the same track where in 2014 he earned his first Modified Tour victory. Timmy Solomito, a three-time Modified Tour winner at Riverhead, is also in the field as he looks to score his first series win since 2017.

Langley Speedway Modified Tour winner Kyle Bonsignore will look to register his second victory of the season and third of his career. Craig Lutz will look to shake off a difficult season with a victory of his own.

Local drivers John Beatty Jr., Mark Stewart, Matthew Brode and Roger Turbush will look to give the Long Island fans something to cheer about Saturday night.

The complete entry list for Saturday night’s Eddie Partridge 256 is available here.

Cars in action during Eddie Partridge 256 at Riverhead Raceway on Sept. 17, 2022. (Photo: Mike Lawrence/NASCAR)

RACE FACTS

Race Eddie Partridge 256
Date Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023
Track Riverhead Raceway
Layout Quarter-mile paved oval
Location Riverhead, New York
Start Time 8 p.m. ET
Laps 256
Posted awards $88,495
Live stream FloRacing (Live)

Schedule: Saturday, Sept. 16 … Final practice from 3:15-4:15 p.m. ET … Qualifying at 6 p.m. ET … Eddie Partridge 256 at 8 p.m. ET (FloRacing).

Qualifying: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the Eddie Partridge 256 is limited to 28 starters including Provisional Positions.

Tire allotment: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is ten (10) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. The tire change rule is two (2) tires, any position.

Posted on by Brandon White

Ryan Vargas will wrap up the month of September by experiencing two vastly different parts of NASCAR culture.

On Sept. 23-24, Vargas is set to take part in a NASCAR Whelen Euro Series event at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in Germany. He will pilot the No. 30 Critical Path Security Chevrolet Camaro in a collaborative effort between Team FJ and 3F Racing in the EuroNASCAR PRO division.

Once Vargas wraps up his Euro Series debut, he will turn his attention to his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start at Talladega Superspeedway on Sept. 30 driving the No. 30 Critical Path Security Toyota Tundra for On Point Motorsports.

Germany and Talladega could not be further apart for Vargas in every regard, but he is excited about participating in the upcoming doubleheader, particularly when it comes to fulfilling a childhood passion of competing across the Atlantic Ocean.

“I’ve always wanted to race in the NASCAR Euro Series,” Vargas said. “My dream has always been to go overseas and drive a race car, whether it be GT racing or NASCAR Euro. I’ve always had a fascination with racing overseas, so when the opportunity arose for [the doubleheader] to happen, I jumped on it as quickly as I could.”

RELATED: Career stats for Ryan Vargas

3F Racing was the driving force behind making the doubleheader happen for Vargas, who has served as the organization’s director of team and driver development since July.

A German team based in Richard Childress Racing’s campus, 3F Racing’s goal is to one day compete in the NASCAR Cup Series. While Vargas is working hard to help make that idea a reality for 3F Racing, he is eager to represent the team in their home country during the NASCAR GP Germany.

What entices Vargas the most about the Euro Series is the drivability of the cars. Designed to resemble their Cup Series counterparts but built for European tracks, the Euro Series cars use a V8 engine with 450 horsepower along with a four-speed manual gearbox with rear-wheel drive, all of which Vargas said results in one thrilling race after another.

An elite international driver roster only adds to the allure of the Euro Series for Vargas. He would love to perform well against past series champions like Anthony Kumpen and Lucas Lasserre, but Vargas said his goals for Germany are to keep his car out of trouble while promoting both 3F Racing and NASCAR.

RELATED: NASCAR Whelen Euro Series point standings

“I’m not going over there expecting to set the world on fire by any means,” Vargas said. “I want to show what 3F Racing is trying to do with their development program and bring some eyes to the international crowd. NASCAR is always trying to grow their footprint across the world, especially with the Garage 56 entry at Le Mans, so there’s no better time than now to try something completely unorthodox.”

Ryan Vargas is fulfilling a childhood dream of racing overseas by competing in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. (Photo: NASCAR)

The Euro Series competing at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben for the first time is something Vargas believes will put him on a more level playing field with the series veterans. Despite this, Vargas understands he is still going up against drivers who have been competing on road courses through their entire careers.

Even after his time in Germany is complete, Vargas will not get much time to mentally decompress before preparing for the Truck Series race at Talladega, an event known for its chaotic and unpredictable nature.

In the past five Talladega races in the Truck Series, the winner has only led the final lap, with the four most recent winners still having just one victory in the series to date. For Vargas, those statistics only add to the anticipation of running with the lead pack and potentially scoring his first Truck Series win.

“I love the superspeedway racing,” Vargas said. “Some guys like it, some guys hate it, but I’m one of the few that absolutely loves it, especially when it goes [my] way. It’s a race where everyone has the same chance to go out there and win. For me, I want to put myself in contention when it gets down to those final few laps.”

RELATED: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races at Talladega

Superspeedways were mostly kind to Vargas during his time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Including Atlanta Motor Speedway’s reconfiguration into a drafting track, Vargas has five top-20 finishes on superspeedways, among them being a career-best run of sixth at Daytona International Speedway last August.

Vargas is approaching the Talladega Truck Series race differently from an Xfinity Series there. He said the aerodynamic setup with the trucks puts more emphasis on track position and minimizing mistakes as opposed to utilizing big runs in the draft.

“The Trucks are so much taller, they have a bigger spoiler, and they poke such a big hole in the air compared to the Xfinity cars,” Vargas said. “Just from watching footage, they also get more tightly bunched together, so it’s going to be about making sure you’re [up front] with 10 to go. If you’re smart and bide your time, you can have a good day.”

Ryan Vargas looks to score his first Top 5 in any NASCAR national series when he competes in the upcoming Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: NASCAR)

All the preparation between Germany and Talladega has been a rigorous exercise for Vargas, but he considers himself grateful for a chance to pull such a unique feat off.

Vargas wants to do everything possible to keep racing in the top three levels of NASCAR. He knows the best way to accomplish that mission is to take any ride available and showcase his capabilities behind the wheel.

The logistics of the doubleheader are not going to be easy despite the races taking place one week apart from each other, but Vargas has confidence in himself and those assisting the effort to stay efficient as he travels between two continents.

“We’re putting in a lot of work on both ends,” Vargas said. “When those weekends come around, there’s going to be a lot of action in a short amount of time. To go on this journey from Germany all the way to Talladega, Alabama is a wild one and it’s great to bring Critical Path Security along for the ride.

“It’s crazy to think about everything that’s going to be happening in these upcoming weeks.”

Germany and Talladega are going to test Vargas in two separate but equally demanding ways. No matter what challenges he endures during those two weekends, Vargas is ready to enjoy every minute of his time on track.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Sam Mayer will return to the No. 1 Chevrolet with JR Motorsports in 2024, the team announced Tuesday morning.

Mayer is currently on the brink of his second appearance in the Xfinity Series Playoffs, but this time, he enters with momentum. The 20-year-old Wisconsin native found Victory Lane twice during the regular season to clinch his postseason position, claiming his first two career wins.

MORE: Xfinity Series Playoffs hub | Bristol schedule

He heads into his sophomore playoff run with all focus on chasing a championship and none centered on any contract worries.

“It’s a huge weight off of my shoulders obviously to be set in stone for next year and have that confidence to come back to a great organization that has been really good to me over the past couple of years,” Mayer told NASCAR.com. “Obviously, it took us a little bit to get going (during) the first part of my career here in the Xfinity Series, but they’ve helped me through every step and every heartache that we’ve gone through and it’s been a great deal.”

Through heartache has come triumph. Mayer scored his first two Xfinity Series wins over the summer, cementing his spot in the postseason through wins at Road America and Watkins Glen International in a span that featured five straight top-five finishes and eight in an 11-race stretch.

“Obviously, this year is super, super solid with getting my first two wins and being locked in the playoffs and all that kind of stuff,” Mayer said. “So I’m really looking forward to coming back, obviously, and being better than ever.”

Mayer joined the Xfinity ranks on a regular basis midway through the 2021 campaign, forced to wait until he turned 18 years old to take over the reins on JRM’s No. 8 Chevrolet. That season, Josh Berry – who mentored Mayer in late model stock cars as he came through the ranks – competed in the bulk of the No. 8 team’s Xfinity races before Mayer was eligible to race regularly.

Next year, Berry graduates to the NASCAR Cup Series with Stewart-Haas Racing, joining a list of other JRM drivers Mayer has been able to learn from – Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Michael Annett and Noah Gragson among them.

“It’s cool because Josh got the opportunity because we split the car for that one year, and it’s super cool to see him go to the Cup Series now,” Mayer said. “And knowing to be a little bit a small part of that is super cool. But I mean, as an organization, I’ve seen a lot of different people. I was there when Michael Annett was just getting done. And obviously, Noah had a lot of success last year, Josh this year and Justin’s been there right by my side with it.

“So it’s super cool to be able to see an organization that kind of moves around that much and has success each and every year no matter what. But obviously, next year’s gonna look a lot different, just overall. With obviously Josh being gone, the 8 car’s gonna look different probably. So I’m looking forward to it. I think that we’re going to be one of the strongest ones on the team because I just have that experience, and I have that confidence now.”

RELATED: Mayer: ‘So special’ to score first win at home track | Mayer’s OT win at The Glen

That confidence didn’t come overnight. His first 13 starts resulted in six DNFs, five of which were due to crashes. His persistence was relentless, though, and now he’s set for a third full season at JRM.

“I learned probably every lesson in the book, good and bad,” Mayer said. “And I continue to learn and experience more positive and powerful things for my career. And it helps to have it at an organization that’s able to back me up and help me out. Obviously, the name with JRM and the organization and their history, it’s super cool to be a part of that. It makes life a lot more fun inside the shop.

“It makes having that shop time and being with the guys during the week just a lot of fun. So I’m looking forward to being able to do that again next year. Obviously, the lineup for my team should be just about the same. So we have that confidence, and that momentum going into next year is gonna be really key for us.”

One of Mayer’s key on-track mentors has been Gragson, who won eight Xfinity races a season ago before finishing runner-up in the championship race. But just as important have been Berry and team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., who returns to action at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday night (7:30 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in one of two scheduled 2023 appearances.

“Having to learn on the fly and having Dale by my side and all these other drivers in-house really helps a lot with that,” Mayer said. “But really, everyone just had their own input, and it helped and affected me, each in different ways.”

Next on the docket is his second chance to chase a NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship. Mayer enters as the No. 5 seed with a nine-point buffer to the provisional elimination line ahead of Friday’s postseason opener.

That marks quite the turnaround from the start of the year, which saw Mayer flipped on his lid on the final lap of the opening race at Daytona International Speedway after slight contact with Allgaier. In all, Mayer suffered four finishes of 17th or worse in the first nine races, three of them DNFs.

Fortunes have generally trended positive lately, though the No. 1 Chevrolet indeed crashed out early at Kansas Speedway in the regular-season finale after completing 20 laps.

“I do think we can go out there and win a couple more races and be in that Championship 4 here at the end of the year,” Mayer said. “ I think going into this year, we were kind of a sleeper pick about that. It was just a matter of if it was a positive season or if the season from last year stayed the same.

“I think we kind of came out of the gate a little bit slow. We did as an organization. We acknowledge that. But I think that throughout the rest of the summer, we got a lot of speed in these race cars now. And we who we have a lot of success here coming up, I think. So it’s just a matter of going out and closing the deal. Closing the deal and hopefully going for a championship.”

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR competition officials announced procedural changes Tuesday for the last remaining road course on the 2023 schedule, reinstating caution periods at the end of each stage.

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, revealed the format shift Tuesday during his regular weekly appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The changes are set to go into effect for the Bank of America Roval 400, scheduled Oct. 8 on the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

RELATED: Cup playoff hub | Buy tickets for Charlotte

Competition officials had updated rules before the season to eliminate stage breaks for road-course events. The move was made in collaboration with teams and fan feedback, with Sawyer saying that the intermissions “took an element of strategy away from the event.” Sawyer also noted the desire to officiate all 10 Playoffs races consistently — with each race having stage-break cautions.

At the previous five road-course races for the Cup Series and select events in other national series this year, the green-checkered flag still waved to signify the end of stages and championship points were still awarded, but the racing continued under green-flag conditions. In the last two road-course races for the Cup Series (Indianapolis and Watkins Glen), only one caution period slowed the action, and drivers noted the physical demands of long green-flag stints without breaks.

Sawyer also said the restart zone for the Charlotte road course race will be moved to the final chicane before the start/finish line on the 2.32-mile layout. In the previous five Roval events, the initial start and restarts fired off from a portion of the oval track that’s used as a run-off area on all other laps.

The move follows similar procedure updates at two other road courses this year, with starts and restarts occurring before a turn and not on a straightaway. The restart zone was placed before the final turn for the inaugural Chicago Street Race and was moved to the final chicane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road-course configuration.

The Charlotte Motor Speedway road course is scheduled as the final race in the Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12 and the sixth of 10 races in the postseason.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Tyler Reddick and Kyle Larson may be the only two drivers in the NASCAR Playoffs who left Kansas Speedway feeling comfortable about their Round of 16 prospects.

On Sunday, Reddick joined Larson as winners who have locked themselves into the Round of 12 regardless of the outcome on Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway (6:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). The 14 other drivers fighting for 10 spots are left to wonder whether they will still be in the championship hunt after visiting the 0.533-mile, high-banked bullring.

MORE: Race Rewind: All Kansas chaos | Latest playoff standings

Regular Season Champion Martin Truex Jr. returned to Kansas confident his No. 19 team would rebound from an uncharacteristic 18th-place finish at Darlington Raceway in the opening event of NASCAR’s postseason. The 2017 Cup champion seemed ready to back that up after qualifying third, but a puncture in the center of the tread of his right-rear tire on Lap 4 derailed any hopes to score meaningful points, sending Truex sliding into the outside SAFER barrier and resulting in a 36th- and last-place finish.

That positions the playoffs’ No. 2 seed seven points beneath the provisional elimination line entering Bristol, the final race of the Round of 16. A seven-point margin, though, means others are in just as much danger of falling out of title contention.

“I knew something was up for sure, just didn’t realize it was going to blow the tire out,” Truex said. “I felt like the right rear was soft. I was hoping it was going to go down on the straightaway, not going into Turn 3. Really unfortunate. In hindsight, I guess I should have just pitted, but at that point in time, you just don’t know if the car is just really tight or what’s going on. It’s a real shame. I hate for my team. We had a really, really fast Bass Pro Toyota. I can’t imagine about being this unlucky.”

Two-time and defending Cup champion Joey Logano sits 11th, 12 points above the proverbial separation. Kevin Harvick, the 2014 title winner, holds the final transfer spot heading to Bristol by that narrow seven-point difference. Both left Kansas with top-11 finishes, but neither was enough to add significant security heading into an elimination race.

Logano, however, entered Kansas three points to the good — and was set to finish just one point above the line before a caution for fellow playoff driver Chris Buescher with six laps remaining in regulation. But a strategy call by crew chief Paul Wolfe to take right-side tires only under the yellow flag leaped Logano from 15th to third on the way to a fifth-place finish, bolstering his points cushion to a 12-point margin despite sitting 11th in points.

“We’re more above than we were when we came in, so that’s, I guess, a good day when you look at that,” Logano told NASCAR.com. “We struggled most of the day just trying to get the balance on our car, and then when we did get the balance, we still weren’t really fast and really struggled with a lot of things today. So to finish in the top five with a day like that, that’s pretty big for us.”

WATCH: Logano ‘proud’ of No. 22 team’s effort | Wolfe details gutsy Kansas call

On the other side of the elimination line, Bubba Wallace joins Truex, out by a 19-point difference. He’s 14th in the standings ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (-22 to the transfer) and Michael McDowell (-40 points).

Wallace, the defending winner of the fall race at Kansas, appeared primed for a fantastic day. After qualifying 10th, Wallace was running second when a flat right-rear tire sent him sliding into the SAFER barrier in Turn 2. The 23XI Racing team was forced to repair the damage to keep Wallace on the track, but the No. 23 Toyota never truly recovered, finishing 32nd and four laps down.

Stenhouse, winner of the season-opening Daytona 500, battled handling issues throughout the day, magnified after mid-race wall contact before ultimately finishing 23rd. McDowell, triumphant at Indianapolis last month, got into the rear bumper of Austin Cindric and sent the No. 2 car spinning. That contact appeared to impact the front end of McDowell’s car, but a crash-out at Darlington left no margin of error for the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team. Instead, McDowell finished 26th, one lap down.

Heartbreak in Kansas City is not uncommon for playoff drivers. According to Racing Insights, the 1.5-mile tri-oval holds a shared record for the highest total of postseason contenders to finish outside the top 20 — seven, a mark set in September 2007. The attrition Sunday rivaled that record. Five playoff drivers finished 23rd or worse: Stenhouse, McDowell, Buescher (27th, one lap down), Wallace and Truex.

Buescher, a three-time winner in the past seven races, and Kansas polesitter Christopher Bell are tied for ninth in the standings, only 13 points above the elimination line.

So now it comes down to Bristol, where Buescher was victorious one year ago. With a volatile swarm of playoff drivers eager to collect significant points to stave off elimination, sparks are sure to fly Saturday night.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — For the second week in a row, Denny Hamlin appeared poised to win a race in the opening round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs but didn’t take home the checkered flag.

Sunday at Kansas Speedway, Hamlin took the green flag for NASCAR Overtime third in the outside lane, the first car in his lane on four fresh Goodyear tires. But a rough restart plummeted the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as far back as eighth place exiting Turn 2. He rallied to second on the final lap but ultimately couldn’t catch race winner Tyler Reddick, who drives the No. 45 Toyota for 23XI Racing — the team Hamlin co-owns.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Kansas

This race — 23XI’s third win in the past four Kansas races — goes into Hamlin’s win column as a team owner, but he’s not exactly eager to celebrate this one.

“I am not enjoying the 45 winning right in this second, for sure,” Hamlin said. “I mean, on Sundays, certainly I’m a driver first. You know, when it was our first couple (victories), you’re super-excited for them. This one just stings a little bit more for me personally, just having a car dominant at the end and not winning.”

Hamlin led 63 laps in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, the middle stanza of the Round of 16. Hamlin’s runner-up finish sets him 49 points above the provisional elimination line — nearly locked into next week’s round finale at Bristol Motor Speeedway (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “Nearly,” though, means he’s not officially in. Victories at either Kansas or one week earlier at Darlington Raceway — where he led 177 of 367 laps — would have done the trick.

Hamlin was sailing toward the checkered flag unchallenged at Kansas before a caution came out with six laps remaining when a flat tire sent Chris Buescher into the outside wall. Daniel Suárez opted not to pit under the caution period and assumed the lead for the restart as most everyone else hit pit road. Erik Jones, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano each took right-side tires only. Hamlin was the first off pit lane with four new tires, just ahead of Reddick.

Lining up for the restart, Hamlin chose to restart in the outside lane behind Jones and Busch on two; Reddick chose the inside lane behind Suárez and Logano. But when the front-runners throttled up for the green flag, Hamlin was caught focusing on his rear-view mirror as Kyle Larson lagged behind him trying to get a better restart.

“I’m trying to back up to him because I can’t afford to let him just lag way back and then split us three-wide,” Hamlin said. “So I back up, field goes green and I’m sitting there in no man’s land. So it’s just a bad scenario, and it allowed the 45 to hit the gap that I wanted to hit in the middle of (Turns) 1 and 2. So you know, battling back to second is OK, but certainly it was a tough caution that certainly wasn’t good for us.”

Chris Gabehart, Hamlin’s crew chief, felt the No. 11 Toyota was “clearly the best car” and its speed showed in NASCAR’s loop data, where Hamlin ranked No. 1 in green-flag speed at 169.174 mph and second in total number of fastest laps — 31 to Larson’s 50.

“The 5 (Larson) kind of had their trouble and it was obviously gonna be us and the 5 again at the very least, and that’s me being generous,” Gabehart said. “We executed a great play. Four tires was clearly the right call. But first thing’s first: You gotta get a good launch when you’re only racing three miles, and we didn’t do that.”

Gabehart has been paired as Hamlin’s crew chief since the start of the 2019 season. Including a one-off sub-in role in 2017, Sunday marked the duo’s 165th race together. By Gabehart’s count, the No. 11 team was capable of winning 60 of those. Instead, they’ve won 18 — a far-more-than-respectable number, but a reminder of ones that fell by the wayside.

“Sixty times. Sixty times we’ve been capable of winning,” Gabehart said. “Our 60th anniversary, in my own personal way of looking at things, and there’s no one that’s a bigger critic of this race team than me. So when I tell you we’ve been capable of winning 60 times, and we only have 19, that’s frustrating. But you’re not going to win 100% of the races you’re capable of winning. The key is you’re capable of winning. I’m just so proud of my team for the longevity that we’ve shown together since 2019 and the ability to be capable of winning nearly each and every week we show up.”

The No. 11 team’s downfall at Darlington was a pit-road miscue in the final 100 laps — a left-rear wheel left just loose enough to force Hamlin back to pit road and ultimately leading to a 25th-place finish. There was little doubt the crew would bounce back from the costly error, but that it did spoke volumes to Gabehart.

“No surprise is a stretch,” Gabehart said. “That minimizes the effort that it (takes) to rebound from such a crushing defeat like that — and from how far off we were as a company just 30 races ago. And I don’t want to minimize it. This pit department, this pit crew has put in a hell of an effort to get to where they’re at. A crushing defeat last week by the narrowest of margins. It was not an egregious error. So what are you made of, right? What are you made of on your worst days? Are you gonna fold or are you gonna show up? And they showed up this weekend. It’s a fantastic group and they will keep showing up.”

Posted on by Staff Report

After the second race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, here’s a rapid look at the playoff picture. There is one race left in the Round of 16 — Saturday night’s showdown at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

WINNER

Tyler Reddick led just two of the 268 laps, capitalizing in an overtime frenzy to secure a win in the Hollywood Casino 400. Reddick started fifth and converted for his second win of the season, his first at the 1.5-mile Kansas track and the fifth of his Cup Series career. The triumph — his first since March at Circuit of The Americas — sends him to the Round of 12, keeping him free of the threat of elimination in the opening round’s finale.

RELATED: Race results

WHO’S HOT?

Denny Hamlin. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran hasn’t won in the opening round of the Cup Series Playoffs, but he’s been among the most impressive performers. He led 63 laps and dominated the final stage as he logged a runner-up finish Sunday at Kansas. That result comes on the heels of leading a race-best 177 laps in the playoff-opener at Darlington Raceway before fading to a 25th-place outcome.

Kyle Larson. Last week’s winner stayed on a positive swing, leading the most laps (99) and rallying from a brief Stage 2 fade to net his fourth top-five result in the last five Kansas races. Larson has already advanced to the next postseason round but heads to Bristol, where he’s led multiple laps in seven of the last eight races on the high-banked concrete oval.

WHO’S NOT?

Martin Truex Jr. The regular-season champ’s safety net of playoff points has all but evaporated after a Lap 4 crash left the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing driver with a last-place finish in the 36-car field. The early exit, combined with a 23rd in the postseason opener at Darlington, leaves Truex at risk of elimination at Bristol.

Bubba Wallace. The 23XI Racing driver still sits below the provisional elimination line, and he dipped further in the standings after a 32nd-place result at Kansas — four laps off the pace. The outcome didn’t reflect Wallace’s early strength at Kansas, a track where he posted his second Cup Series victory last season. Sunday, he finished a solid second in Stage 1 and was running in that position when he encountered the outside retaining wall.

BUBBLE WATCH

RankDriverCutoff
9Chris Buescher13
10Christopher Bell13
11Joey Logano12
12Kevin Harvick7
ELIMINATION LINE
13Martin Truex Jr.-7
14Bubba Wallace-19
15Ricky Stenhouse Jr.-22
16Michael McDowell-40
Posted on by Reid Spencer

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – With a bold move to the front of the field in overtime, Tyler Reddick won Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 and left his car owner frustrated at the end of the second NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at Kansas Speedway.

Reddick beat Joe Gibbs Racing driver and 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin to the finish line by 0.327 seconds. Hamlin led 63 laps and was more than two seconds ahead of Reddick when playoff driver Chris Buescher blew a right-rear tire on Lap 261 of a scheduled 267 to cause the ninth and final caution.

Diverging strategies then gave Reddick the opening he needed to gain automatic entry into the Playoffs’ Round of 12. Daniel Suárez stayed out on 31-lap-old tires and inherited the lead. Erik Jones, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano made two-tire stops and restarted second, third and fourth.

RELATED: Official race results | At-track photos: Kansas

Reddick restarted on the bottom of the third row and surged forward while Hamlin hung back in the top lane. After the field rounded Turn 4 on the restart Lap, Reddick shot to the bottom of the track and took the lead right before the start/finish line.

On the final circuit, third-place finisher Erik Jones moved up the track on the backstretch to block Hamlin’s progress for a moment, and that gave Reddick all the breathing room he needed to secure his second victory of the season, his first at 1.5-mile Kansas and the fifth of his career.

“Just an outstanding job by this whole 23XI team,” Reddick said after climbing out of the window of his No. 45 Toyota during his celebratory burnout.

“We had really good pace, but just couldn’t get ahead of Denny there, but chaos ensued, people stayed out, some took two tires, and the bottom lane opened up. Pretty crazy.”

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Beaten by a car he owns, Hamlin took the defeat philosophically. The second-place run leaves him 49 points ahead of teammate Martin Truex Jr., the first driver below the current Round of 12 cut line.

“Well, the 5 (Kyle Larson, behind Hamlin in the top lane for the final restart) was just laying back so much,” Hamlin said. “I was trying to back up to him. Should have just kind of focused forward, probably.

“It gave the 45 (Reddick) an opportunity to get up there in front of us. Just kind of sleeping on the restart, looking in the rearview instead of looking in the front.

“Just another really, really fast car — just didn’t need that caution at the end.”

Larson finished fourth after leading a race-high 99 laps and winning the first stage. Logano came home fifth, thanks to the two-tire call by crew chief Paul Wolfe. Chase Elliott was sixth, followed by Kyle Busch, pole winner Christopher Bell and Brad Keselowski, who won the second stage.

The race, however, had dire consequences for playoff drivers now in danger of elimination next Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Disaster struck Regular Season Champion Martin Truex Jr. before the race was four laps old. As the field was working Lap 4, Truex started to slow on the backstretch and then slammed the wall in Turn 3, the result of a cut tire.

MORE: Truex sidelined early at Kansas

With the suspension on his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota damaged beyond repair, Truex retired to the garage in 36th place and fell seven points below the cut line for the Round of 12.

“Just unfortunate and very unlucky,” Truex said after exiting the infield care center. “I took off really tight, and I knew something was up, and then cut a right rear. Not really sure what happened, obviously, but it blew in the worst place possible.

“I hate it for my guys. We had an awesome Bass Pro Toyota Camry. We were going to have a great day, just not sure what we need to do to get some luck here.”

Bubba Wallace was next to have his hopes of advancement to the Round of 12 suffer a crippling blow. Wallace was running second on Lap 108 when his right rear tire exploded, sending his No. 23 Toyota hard into the outside wall.

RELATED: Wallace hindered after Stage 2 scrape

Wallace brought the car to pit road to repair a bent right-rear toe link and lost three laps in the process. After a second trip to pit road, he was five laps down in 34th place and could recover only to 32nd by the end of the event.

Now 14th in the Playoff standings, Wallace leaves Kansas 19 points behind Kevin Harvick in 12th.

After two brushes with the outside wall, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came home 23rd and is 22 points behind Harvick. Michael McDowell dropped 40 points below the cut line with a 26th-place result and realistically needs a victory at Bristol to advance to the Round of 12.

The Cup Series’ next race is the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, scheduled Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) at Bristol Motor Speedway. The 500-lapper will conclude the Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 16, and four drivers will be eliminated from title contention at the checkered flag.

Note: Post-race technical inspection in the Cup Series garage was completed without issue, confirming Reddick as the race winner.

Contributing: Staff reports