Posted on by Staff Report

A caution flag with eight laps remaining in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway brought out more than the yellow flag. It brought out the age-old NASCAR question: To pit or not to pit?

Strategies varied throughout the field, and ultimately results varied for both those who stayed out and those who went down pit road for fresh tires ahead of the final restart.

Comparison Graphic Function Main

Here’s a look at the results from several of the drivers who were in position to win Sunday — either before the caution fell or after.

You can also use our “Compare” feature in Race Center for additional information between any two drivers in the field.

MORE: Driver comparison from Nashville

Chase Elliott

Position at yellow flag: First
Decision: Stay out
Position after pit stops: First
Finish: Winner
Note: Elliott said post-race that it was crew chief Alan Gustafson’s call to make, and Gustafson elected to keep the No. 9 Chevrolet out on the track and maintain the lead. Several of the top cars behind Elliott pitted, but enough other drivers stayed out to make it difficult for those with new tires to drive back through the field and challenge Elliott for the win in the final four laps.

“I let Alan do his thing,” Elliott said. “He lets me do my thing, so I’m going to let him do his and just have confidence in that. It doesn’t do me any good to not. When I start questioning his decisions, I feel like is when we start going down a road that is not favorable for success. He has had a lot of respect for me and let me do my job and let me approach things a pretty unique way and kind of be me, so I’ve always respected him in return and let him do his thing and just had confidence in whatever that decision is.”

RELATED: Full race results

Kyle Busch

Position at yellow flag: Second
Decision: Pit for tires
Position after pit stops: 11th
Finish: 21st
Note: Busch was the highest running driver to pit for tires, but he dropped an additional 10 spots after the green flag. His No. 18 Toyota was directly behind an incident involving Brad Keselowski on the ensuing restart, and the Joe Gibbs Racing driver couldn’t challenge for the win. He led 54 laps but dropped 20 positions over the final 10 laps.

 

Denny Hamlin

Position at yellow flag: Third
Decision: Pit for tires
Position after pit stops: 12th
Finish: Sixth
Note: Hamlin started from the Busch Light Pole position and led a race-high 114 laps. He finished the best out of the Joe Gibbs Racing trio — including Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. — who pitted late from the top five.

Martin Truex Jr.

Position at yellow flag: Fourth
Decision: Pit for tires
Position after pit stops: 14th
Finish: 22nd
Note: Truex led 82 laps, but trouble on the final restart had the No. 19 Toyota outside the top 20 when the checkered flag dropped.

Kurt Busch

Position at yellow flag: Sixth
Decision: Stay out
Position after pit stops: Second
Finish: Second
Note: The decision to stay out put Kurt Busch on the front row for the final restart. While he couldn’t catch Chase Elliott for the lead, he did hold off the rest of the field for a runner-up finish that the veteran lamented after the race.

“I got soft on him,” Busch told NBC Sports. “I should have been throwing some fenders and moving some momentum around. I didn’t stick with our strength. … I wanted to throw some fenders, but I didn’t get the job done. Everybody on the team will be smiling, but I let them down. I should have come up with a better plan.”

Ryan Blaney

Position at yellow flag: Ninth
Decision: Stay out
Position after pit stops: Third
Finish: Third
Note: “Jonathan (Hassler) made a good call to stay out the last stop,” Blaney said in a tip of the cap to his crew chief after nabbing a top-five finish. “Why not, running ninth and was able to run third, so that was a good call by him.”

Posted on by Pat DeCola

LEBANON, Tenn. — Ross Chastain, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing at the time, enjoyed his best weekend of the season last year with a runner-up finish at Nashville Superspeedway.

It was a nice story at the time, but one that didn’t impact the season at large or even the future of that franchise. CGR announced the sale of its assets to Chastain’s current team not even two weeks later. Chastain had just one top five the rest of the way; he missed the playoffs and finished 20th in the standings.

“My world is pretty much opposite just from where I was at this point last year in life and my career to the performance we’ve put together this entire season, where we finished second and it was the greatest thing to happen to us all year,” Chastain said after picking up his eighth top five of the season in Sunday’s Ally 400.

That number more than doubles his career total from before the season, and he’s done it in just 17 races.

RELATED: Race results | Chase Elliott wins on late surge

“Now, we finish fifth and it’s exactly what we’re supposed to do,” Chastain said. “We had the fifth-place car and we needed to finish fifth with it. We don’t need to wreck trying to get third and we don’t need to run ninth with it, we need to run fifth. For me, it checks just as many boxes and gets me just as excited that we executed tonight exactly where we should’ve.”

Chastain has lit the series on fire in 2022, as he and Trackhouse as a whole have seemingly come out of nowhere to hone themselves into legitimate title contenders with three wins and 11 top fives between him and teammate Daniel Suárez. To go from a season of searching for moral victories driving for a lame-duck organization to arguably the favorite to win it all while knocking on the door of a Regular Season Championship is a rarity in a sport with perennial heavyweights like Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske making Championship 4 reservations season after season.

What a difference a year — or 17 — makes.

“12-year-old Ross is like ‘What? You could be leading the Cup Series points standings straight up in a few weeks or at any point?’ That’s wild,” said the 29-year-old Chastain. “Go fast, acquire points and it all kind of works itself out. … but yeah, little kid Ross is like ‘What in the world? This can’t be real.’

“I just want to be competitive. I want to go fast and get more points than everybody else and that’ll all sort itself out, but of course it’s a goal (to win the Regular Season Championship).”

Part of Chastain’s success has been the fast cars crew chief Phil Surgen has unloaded off the truck most weekends, but the No. 1 team continues to make strong calls late in the race as well.

There was an extreme variance in pit strategies on the final caution of the race, with Surgen electing to take Chastain down pit road for a full set of tires. While that didn’t work out for all the teams that went this route — and race winner Chase Elliott elected to stay out to maintain track position, which clearly worked — it was the game-changer for the No. 1.

“It was incredible,” said Chastain. “You never want to be the last car on old tires and as soon as we got down into Turn 1 we had grip and I got to Cole (Custer’s) back bumper off of (Turn) 2 and pushed him as long as I could. I wanted to try to tandem and help him and help me, selfishly, hooked out, found clean air and kind of knifed my way through there and held off some guys there on the last lap to hold onto fifth. It was just kind of where the seas parted on Turns 1 and 2 for us on fresh tires.

“When we pitted, I thought we were about to win Nashville and then whenever we left pit road on the access road, I saw how many cars stayed out and I didn’t know how many cars were a lap down or anything but I knew it was more than I wanted. I wanted to restart sixth and instead I was 13th.

“But you just play your best hand and Phil Surgen and our group will go to bed very well tonight knowing we made a good call to win the race. It just didn’t quite work out.”

While we’ve seen some teams come and go throughout the year, Trackhouse has maintained its stature better than most.

Don’t expect that to change next weekend at Road America for the season’s third road-course race, either. Two of the team’s three wins on the season came earlier this year at Circuit of The Americas and Sonoma Raceway.

And 12-year-old Ross Chastain probably wouldn’t believe that, either.

Posted on by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: How to find USA Network | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App | Watch on USA Network | Get the NBC Sports App | Watch on Peacock | FloRacing

Monday, June 27
NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m., Motormouths, Peacock
11:31 p.m., Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fast Lane (re-air), USA Network

Tuesday, June 28
5:30 a.m., NASCAR

Wednesday, June 29
NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m., Motormouths, Peacock

Thursday, June 30
NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, Peacock
NASCAR Race Hub, Best of Radioactive: Road Courses, FS1
9:31 p.m., Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fast Lane, USA Network

Friday, July 1
12:33 a.m., Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fast Lane (re-air), USA Network
2 p.m., IMSA: Lamborghini Super Trofeo at Watkins Glen International (re-air), USA Network
3 p.m., IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge: Tioga Downs Casino Resort 120 (re-air), USA Network
5 p.m., Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fast Lane (re-air), USA Network
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Qualifying at Road America, USA Network 

Saturday, July 2
1:30 a.m., Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fast Lane (re-air), USA Network
11:30 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Qualifying at Road America, NBC Sports App
12 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Qualifying at Road America, USA Network
12:35 p.m., IMSA Weather Tech Sportscar Championship: CTMP Qualifying, Peacock
2 p.m., Countdown to Green, USA Network
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Henry 180 at Road America, USA Network
4:05 p.m., IMSA Weather Tech Sportscar Championship: CTMP Race, Peacock
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Post-Race show, USA Network
6 p.m., Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fast Lane (re-air), USA Network

On MRN:
11:30 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Qualifying at Road America
2 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Henry 180 at Road America

Sunday, July 3
IMSA Mazda MX-5 Cup: Canadian Tire Motorsports Park Race, Peacock
MSA Prototype Challenge: Canadian Tire Motorsports Park Race, Peacock
NASCAR RaceDay: NCS at Road America, FS1
1 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour: Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 at Riverhead Raceway (re-air), USA Network
2 p.m., Countdown to Green, USA Network
3 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Kwik Trip 250 at Road America, USA Network
3 p.m., IMSA SportsCar Championship: Mobil 1 Grand Prix (re-air), NBC
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Post-Race show, USA Network
7 p.m., Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fast Lane (re-air), USA Network
7:30 p.m., Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fast Lane (re-air), USA Network

On MRN:
2 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Kwik Trip 250 at Road America

Posted on by Reid Spencer

LEBANON, Tenn. – In a race twice delayed by lightning, Chase Elliott stole the thunder from a contingent of Toyota drivers who showed early dominance.

After a late caution slowed the action in Sunday’s Ally 400, Elliott remained on the track and led the field to a restart with four laps left at Nashville Superspeedway.

MORE: Official results | At-track photos

Elliott pulled away from runner-up Kurt Busch and powered his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet across the finish line by a margin of 0.551 seconds.

In fashioning his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season, his first at Nashville and the 15th of his career, Elliott overcame a long pit stop on Lap 120 that dropped him to 25th in the running order.

“I’m so proud of our team,” Elliott said. “We had a setback about halfway, but we were able to get the NAPA Chevy dialed back in and get back in the mix. It was a long day, a fun day… I’m so proud of our team. We’ve had a pretty rough month, month and a half. It’s just nice to get back going in the right direction.

“Getting a win is always huge. To do it in a really cool city like Nashville is even better. I’m looking forward to that guitar (trophy).”

Elliott beat three Toyota drivers — pole winner Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch — who collectively led 250 of the 300 laps at the 1.33-mile concrete track.

It might be more accurate to say the Toyota drivers beat themselves by pitting during the 10th and final caution on Lap 293, the result of a blown engine in Josh Bilicki’s Chevrolet.

While Elliott and Kurt Busch stayed out under caution, along with eight other drivers, Kyle Busch, Truex and Hamlin all came to pit road for tires. Of the three, only Hamlin advanced over the final four laps, finishing sixth behind Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain.

Kyle Busch and Truex ran afoul of heavy traffic on the final lap and came home 21st and 22nd, respectively.

Hamlin, who led a race-high 114 laps, was out front for the first 41 circuits before lightning halted the action for one hour and 28 seconds. After the resumption and two more cautions, Truex passed Hamlin for the lead on Lap 66 and help through the end of Stage 1.

Truex, who led six times for 82 laps, also won the second stage, but Elliott’s car came to life in the final third of the race. Elliott had a one-second lead over Kyle Busch, with Hamlin and Truex trailing in third and fourth place, when Bilicki’s engine failure caused the final caution with nine laps remaining.

Kurt Busch’s only regret about his runner-up finish was not being more aggressive on the final restart.

“I wanted to throw some fenders, but I didn’t get the job done,” the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota driver said. “Everybody will be smiling, but I let them down. I should have come up with a better plan.

“We were going to stay out no matter what, and I needed to start throwing fenders to move people around. I didn’t get after it, and I made too many mistakes and didn’t stick with our strength. I’m not going to say what our strength was, but we did a lot of things good.

“We didn’t have one exceptional item. We’re second with our Toyota Camry. I want to do it over, but you don’t get those at this elite level and Chase got the job done.”

The second lightning delay, which also brought rain and necessitated track drying, lasted two hours, eight minutes and 35 seconds. It occurred on Lap 139, just 11 laps short of halfway.

Austin Cindric, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick ran sixth through 10th, respectively. Elliott leads the series standings by 30 points over Chastain.

At Lap 50, shortly after the first delay, Alex Bowman’s day came to a premature end. Contact from Corey LaJoie sent his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet spinning into the Turn 2 SAFER barrier. Bowman was able to drive away from the scene, but a flat-spotted right-front tire tore away critical body panels. The team couldn’t repair the car before the damaged vehicle policy’s six-minute clock expired, adding to the list of disappointing summer results for Bowman.

RELATED: Alex Bowman’s summer history at Hendrick Motorsports

Chase Briscoe found trouble at Lap 61 when his No. 14 Ford slid sideways entering Turn 1 while battling with Ty Dillon. Both cars spun into the outside retaining wall but were able to continue.

This marks the second Cup race at Nashville, a 1.33-mile concrete oval in Lebanon, Tennessee. Hendrick Motorsports has won each event at Nashville, with Kyle Larson claiming the inaugural victory in 2021.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Staff Report

Lightning and heavy rain at Nashville Superspeedway paused the NASCAR Cup Series race for the second time of the day at Lap 140 Sunday evening.

MORE: Live leaderboard | At-track photos

Lightning strikes within an eight-mile radius of the track delayed the Ally 400 before significant rain doused the track. Racing resumed shortly after 10 p.m. ET. Coverage continues on USA Network, Peacock, NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

A 30-minute stoppage is mandated whenever lightning is detected within an eight-mile radius of the race track. The first stoppage of the race was issued at Lap 42. After multiple lightning strikes and a delay of a little more than an hour, the race resumed when NASCAR gave the all-clear signal. The second pause lasted just over two hours.

Denny Hamlin has dominated the event and maintains the lead at the red flag. His No. 11 Toyota has paced the field for 78 of the 139 completed laps. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell run second, third and fifth, respectively. Kevin Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing Ford completes the top five in fourth place.

The race is not deemed official until the halfway mark is reached, which is Lap 150 at Nashville.

 

 

Posted on by PJ Walsh

The Action Network specializes in providing sports betting insights/analytics and is a content partner with NASCAR. Check out more NASCAR betting analysis here.

I’ve taken a very conservative approach to betting on Sunday’s NASCAR Ally 400 (5 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM) at Nashville Superspeedway.

In my mind, there are simply too many unknowns heading into today’s race to get overly heavy, from a bettor’s perspective, on the Ally 400.

However, 50 minutes of practice on Friday helped clear up some of those questions.

While I’m still not planning on a big betting card for today’s race at Nashville, one driver’s odds to win the Ally 400 are simply too good to pass up.

NASCAR at Nashville Pick

*Odds as of Sunday morning

RELATED: Updated BetMGM race-day odds | Picking the Chastain-Suárez matchup

As soon as practice got underway on Friday, it was clear the Toyota teams showed up with speed, especially in race trim.

Toyota drivers finished first, second, fifth and sixth in 15-lap averages in practice, which is pretty impressive considering there are only six Toyotas in the field.

When it comes to my favorite value, I’m taking Martin Truex Jr., who drives the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, at 15-1 odds.

Truex didn’t have much short-run speed in practice; however, that didn’t seem to matter in qualifying as he secured a respectable 10th-place starting spot.

But where Truex’s car really seemed to excel was on the long runs.

The JGR driver posted the seventh-best 10-lap average in practice and improved to the fifth-best average over 15 laps.

Perhaps more important is the fact that Truex confirmed his pace in an interview during qualifying, saying the car has great long run speed.

When a former Cup Series champion driver, in the series’ best equipment, really likes a car that showed plenty of speed in practice, I pay attention.

When that driver is also available at 15-1 odds (DraftKings), I bet.

The bet: Truex to win (15-1).

Posted on by Dustin Albino

The sample size of who typically runs well at Nashville Superspeedway is rather small. After all, the Cup Series has run just one race on the 1.333-mile layout. After an extended 50-minute practice session and qualifying on Saturday, not much has changed on who was expected to be quick and the teams that had work to do.

Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup:

Starter 1: Ross Chastain

Starter 2: Kyle Larson

Starter 3: Joey Logano

Starter 4: Denny Hamlin

Starter 5: Martin Truex Jr.

Garage pick: Daniel Suarez

NEXT IN LINE: Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola, Christopher Bell.

RISING: Martin Truex Jr. announced this weekend he will return to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023, so now he can focus solely on the competition. So far, so good at Nashville, as the No. 19 car will take the green flag from 10th, a big improvement from beginning the 400-mile event in 35th last year.

Starting 30th wouldn’t seem like much of an improvement, but Bubba Wallace had a massive catch on his qualifying run. In Friday’s practice session, it was the No. 23 team that topped the chart on the short and long run. That was a boost of confidence for Wallace, and he’s not foreign to coming from the back, having multiple pit-road woes in 2022. After winning the pole, Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing, said Wallace should be confident entering the race because he has a fast car.

FALLING: Kyle Busch was the lone car to have an issue in qualifying when the No. 18 Toyota backed into the wall. Busch had an ill-handling car at Nashville last year, and it doesn’t look as though much has changed this time around. It also wouldn’t be surprising to see him do KFB things and get a good finish.

Just about every week this season, Tyler Reddick has had speed that is capable of being in contention of winning a race. Meanwhile, the No. 8 team is still looking for its first checkered flag 16 races into the year. His 16th-place qualifying run is among the worst of the year for the two-time Xfinity Series champion.

FEATURED MATCHUPS:

Tyler Reddick vs. Austin Dillon:

Remember what I just said above? Yeah, about that. Compared to Dillon, Reddick has shown more outright speed this season and did rank in the top 10 on 10-lap averages in practice. If an outside racing groove gets worked in, the No. 8 car could come to life.

Ross Chastain vs. Daniel Suárez:

This is the toughest matchup of the week. Both Trackhouse drivers have a bunch of momentum and made the final round of qualifying on Saturday. However, Chastain is my pick to win the race, so it’s tough betting against the No. 1 team.

Aric Almirola vs. Kevin Harvick

Harvick’s team made a vast improvement from practice to qualifying, and Sunday will be the first race since Martinsville Speedway that the No. 4 car has qualified inside the top 10. This matchup is near equal on all fronts –- the two are separated by seven points through 16 races –- but the No. 10 car has shown more speed on tracks similar to Nashville this season, so Almirola is the surprising choice.

Kyle Larson vs. William Byron

Earlier in the week, this might have been a tougher choice. But with Larson being fourth in practice on single-lap speed (granted, Byron was fifth) and second on the best 10-lap average, the No. 5 car gets the vote. Larson also starts third and dominated the inaugural Cup race at Nashville, leading 264 of 300 laps.

Posted on by Brandon White

Kyle Soper accomplished something Saturday evening that no other Riverhead Raceway regular had done in 27 years.

By earning his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory in Saturday’s Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 on Saturday evening, Soper became the first Riverhead regular to win a Tour race at the track since Ed Brunnhoelzl Jr. back in 1995.

Although Soper’s achievements at Riverhead include three track championships, he considered ending the long drought for Riverhead regulars to be a major highlight in his career.

“I wasn’t even born when [Brunnhoelzl] won, so this is quite an accomplishment,” Soper said. “I’m just so glad that I’m a [Whelen Modified] Tour winner now.”

RELATED: Complete results from Riverhead

The path to a Whelen Modified Tour victory at Riverhead on Saturday was a long, arduous process for Soper.

Eight of Soper’s 14 Whelen Modified Tour appearances entering the Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 had been at his home track of Riverhead. Although Soper had finished inside the top five three times, he came away from each race feeling more could have been done to position himself better for the win.

One recurring issue that Soper attributed to his struggles in Whelen Modified Tour races at Riverhead was his qualifying speed, as his front row start back in 2017 marked the only time Soper had qualified inside the top five at the facility.

Soper was determined to resolve his qualifying woes during the Whelen Modified Tour’s second of three visits to Riverhead this season, and he turned to a fellow Modified veteran in Jimmy Blewett for advice on how to get more out of his No. 15 Feeds car in time trials.

The advice Blewett gave Soper allowed him to qualify fifth, which gave Soper all the track position he needed to run at his own pace.

“I was texting Jimmy Blewett [on Friday] night about a qualifying setup,” Soper said. “He got us close and we got up to the front. Usually I start in the back, and that means I have to burn my tires up coming to the front. Luckily we started closer up, and I was able to save my tires.”

Soper applied a relentless amount of pressure to polesitter Timmy Solomito during the first half of the Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 before finally pulling in front with 86 laps remaining.

Once he got the lead, Soper then had to contend with three-time Tour champion Justin Bonsignore, who has put together an impressive resume at Riverhead himself that includes eight series victories.

Bonsignore managed to overtake Soper on the final restart of the night but struggled to pull away as the race neared the checkered flag. A daring crossover maneuver by Soper with 10 laps remaining allowed him to re-take the lead, forcing Bonsignore to settle for second.

While Bonsignore was disappointed to finish second, he was happy to see a Riverhead regular finally visit Victory Lane again after over two decades.

“It’s been a long time since Ed Brunnhoelzl won that race [at Riverhead] in the ’90s, so it was cool to see [Soper win],” Bonsignore said. “It sucks that he beat us to do it, but our car was really good through the middle section of the race and we got to second. I thought I was in good shape when I got the lead, but I started to free up with about 30 to go, and [Soper’s] car was way too good at that point.”

Bonsignore’s second-place finish proved to be another positive step toward getting back into championship contention.

Two poor finishes at Riverhead and Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway to open the 2022 season placed Bonsignore deep in the Whelen Modified Tour points, but he is confident that a fourth championship is still feasible following a more efficient showing at the end of June.

“All in all, this was a good run,” Bonsignore said. “We got the win [at Monadnock Speedway] last week and now a second [on Saturday], so I can’t thank this whole team enough. It was a hot one, but now it’s on to Wall Stadium in a couple of weeks.”

For Soper, fending off someone as talented as Bonsignore made Saturday’s victory all the more special.

Soper grew up idolizing the local heroes who helped build up Riverhead’s proud reputation, and he wanted nothing more than to honor those legends by representing them in Victory Lane during a Whelen Modified Tour-sanctioned race at the track.

With another Whelen Modified Tour race at Riverhead coming up in September, Soper plans to celebrate Saturday’s triumph for as long as he can with his father Tom and car owner Wayne Anderson before the series regulars invade the track once again.

“[Wayne] is probably stroking out right now because he’s so excited,” Soper said. “My dad worked so hard on this car. We were actually going to take the new car, but luckily we didn’t. There’s so many people that come to help us out and make this dream work.”

Whelen Modified Tour points leader Ron Silk ended up third, while Jon McKennedy and Dylan Slepian were the other top-five finishers. Completing the top 10 were Kyle Bonsignore, John Beatty Jr., Solomito, Austin Beers and Doug Coby.

A replay of Saturday’s Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 can be seen on the USA Network on July 3 starting at 1 p.m. ET.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will return to action on July 9, when the series heads to Wall Township in New Jersey for their first race at Wall Stadium since 2019. That race will be shown live on FloRacing.

Posted on by Brandon White

Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200

Riverhead Raceway

Pos. No.  Name Sponsor Laps Diff
1 15 Kyle Soper Eastport Foods 200 –
2 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 200 1.912
3 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 200 3.906
4 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 200 6.001
5 10 Dylan Slepian* Eastport Foods 200 6.559
6 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT’s/Munn’s Auto 200 7.313
7 5 John Beatty Jr. Elite Sound Designs 200 9.632
8 66 Timmy Solomito Natural Designs/Highmark 200 10.727
9 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 200 11.141
10 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 200 12.057
11 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 199 1 lap
12 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling/MUSCO 199 1 lap
13 96 Matthew Brode* Peter Clark Motorsports 199 1 lap
14 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 199 1 lap
15 82 Craig Lutz Danny’s Cesspool Pool Service 198 2 laps
16 26 Eddie Brunnhoelzl Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric 198 2 laps
17 49 Chris Young* J&H Homestead 197 3 laps
18 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises 197 3 laps
19 88 Roger Turbush Rheem 196 4 laps
20 71 James Pritchard Jr.* Freeway Tire & Tire Pros/Wicklow & Lauren Landscaping 194 6 laps
21 3 Donny Lia Propane Plus/Hunting Honda 165 35 laps
22 78 Walter Sutcliffe Jr. Last Minute Racing 59 141 laps
23 81 Chris Turbush Cromers Market 57 143 laps
24 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 57 143 laps
25 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 25 175 laps
26 01 Melissa Fifeld Pine Knoll Auto Sales 9 191 laps

RACE STATISTICS

Time of race: 54 mins, 36 seconds

Average speed: 54.945 mph

Margin of victory: 1.912 seconds

Caution flags: Laps 17-21 (Car #88 spin turn 4 no contact, no FP); 27-42 (Car #3, #34, and #88 turn 4 contact, no FP); 58-65 (Car #78, #18, #71 and #81 turn 1 contact, FP #88); 176-179 (Car #26 spin turn 4 no contact, FP #1); 137-142 (Car #71 spin turn  4 no contact, FP #96). 4 for 35 laps.

Lap leaders: Timmy Solomito 1-114, Kyle Soper 115-142, Justin Bonsignore 143-189, Kyle Soper 190-200.

Total laps led: Timmy Solomito 114, Justin Bonsignore 47, Kyle Soper 39. 3 changes involving 3 drivers.

 

Posted on by Pat DeCola

LEBANON, Tenn. — With just under 40 laps to go in Saturday’s Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway, apparent contact between the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet of Sam Mayer and No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Ty Gibbs sent the latter sideways.

Gibbs was able to — impressively — save his machine without spinning out completely, but there’s history here.

Cue the emojis.

The pair of uber-talented teenagers driving for competing organizations with uber-famous team owners came to blows on pit road not even three months ago at Martinsville Speedway, resulting in some scrapes on Mayer’s face and a stern talking-to in the NASCAR hauler not long after.

MORE: Gibbs, Mayer tussle after Martinsville | Stacking Pennies breaks down fight | Alternate angle

With ambient temps hovering around 100 degrees at the Tennessee track, perhaps it was too hot to heat things up any further. There were no such fireworks between Gibbs and Mayer on Saturday, despite the fourth- and fifth-place finishers, respectively, parking their cars together on pit road following the race.

In fact, there was a bit of agreement.

“That last run was pretty painful. Obviously, contact with the 54, complete accident, I will say,” Mayer said. “It was just a matter of aerodynamics and packing the air under his spoiler, getting him loose and then unfortunately getting into him in his left front. Not intentional. I feel bad because I did ruin a better run for him. I ruined a better run for myself, too.”

“I’m hoping (he sees it that way as well). He’s gained a lot of knowledge over the last year and a half of running Xfinity just like I did. Racing the 54, obviously, our history. I hate that we call it our history because I really just want to drive race cars no matter who’s out there. I did that move literally all day and never once packed air that hard. So it really was a complete accident.”

Gibbs wasn’t thrilled with the contact, but appeared to completely understand the circumstances and echoed Mayer’s take on what happened almost to a T. It probably also didn’t hurt that he wound up finishing a spot ahead of his counterpart, and neither of them likely had anything for eventual race winner Justin Allgaier, who dominated the afternoon. Later on in the run, Mayer allowed Gibbs to pass him with plenty of space, which did not go unnoticed.

MORE: Full Xfinity race results

“Got hit there and got taken out, but that’s part of it,” Gibbs said. ” … I did the same thing to the 39 (of Ryan Sieg) and I apologized to him, so it’s just part of it. It’s just racing in general. Just packed air and got me too loose. He was faster at that moment. I feel like we were better than him on the long run, even with the left front damage. We were gonna get back around him probably, but that’s just part of it. It’s just racing. I made my mistakes, just gotta learn from it.

“I feel like it shows something (when he let me by), but again, it’s just part of it. The one thing I’ve learned this year is I’ve gotta mature quickly. We’re both similar ages and just gonna have to learn from it, especially in front of millions of people, it’s hard, but it’s the career we chose.”

As with any incident on the track, this one will be added to both of their memory banks even if it winds up being a minor blip in the potential decades of racing against each other the two prospects have ahead. Retaliation is unlikely for this one, but certainly not off the table.

Apologies go a long way.

“I’m hoping he can move on,” Mayer said. “I will apologize, but unfortunately it’s just one of those deals. I don’t know (if he’ll retaliate). We’ve already gotten yelled at so I don’t think so, but he might and he’ll call it an accident. And it could be. I don’t know. Just unfortunately, racing’s one of those weird things in that sense. Everyone’s gotta bite the bullet one way or another. Obviously, I don’t want to and I want to race clean. I never want to be known as the dirty, aggressive driver, but I just made a mistake. It wasn’t even really a mistake, I just overestimated the move and how it worked.”

The Xfinity Series races next Saturday at Road America with the Henry 180 (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).