Posted on by Pat DeCola

You know by now that Corey LaJoie’s whole mantra is “stacking pennies,” but on Sunday night at Darlington, he collected a “Mark.”

Consistently running in the top 10 in Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway before ultimately settling for 15th, the No. 7 Spire Motorsports driver earned some recognition from Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the NBC Sports broadcast, but Junior wasn’t the only NASCAR Hall of Famer to take notice.

It’s not the first time the 29-year-old has drawn praise from 40-time Cup Series winner Mark Martin — far from it, actually. Turns out, Martin has been closely following the 2012 NASCAR Next class member’s rise through the ranks for nearly a decade.

Whatever books LaJoie is digging into seem to be helping, as he’s enjoying a career-best average finish in 2021 for a Spire Motorsports organization that continues to build piece-by-piece and should be one to watch in the Next Gen era starting next season.

LaJoie has now turned in three straight top-16 finishes for the first time in his career after notching three straight top 20s for the first time from Charlotte to Nashville earlier this season.

 

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Ross Chastain held his head high as fireworks went off around the track following Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Chastain finished tops among non-playoff drivers as the NASCAR Cup Series opened up its 10-race postseason stretch at the 1.366-mile South Carolina oval. The third-place result validated that Chastain and the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team could be closing in on a potential race victory before Trackhouse Racing absorbs the operation in 2022 and Chastain becomes the second driver alongside Daniel Suarez.

But it was who Chastain was racing against at the end that added an extra pep to his step — Kyle Larson.

“It was really cool to say we were close on speed to the 5 car,” Chastain said. “That’s crazy. We were close at Nashville (Superspeedway) and we were close here. Similar package, you know, you see a trend. So, we’ll keep working on that.”

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos from Darlington

The race restarted for the final time on Lap 331 of the 367-lap, 500-mile marathon event, and Chastain elected to take the inside lane with the Choose Rule, which lost him a couple of spots and lined him up with a row separating him from race winner Denny Hamlin and Larson at the front. But it was lessons learned from earlier in the race that moved him to make that split-second decision.

“Earlier in the race, I restarted second next to Kyle and I just lit ’em up and I’ve struggled with that literally my entire career,” Chastain said. “I’ve been working at it but I just didn’t get a good launch, then I was just very paranoid because I was running third, took second and then I went back to sixth. I thought I would cut my losses the rest of the night. Made a pact with myself then and I had to stick to it because I said I was going to take third if I ever had the opportunity again, and I did.”

Chastain described that he was “just on ice” on the outside groove, so a potential pass on Larson for second in the closing laps had to have happened in the bottom groove. On top of that, it was his prowess on restarts that admittedly needs work.

“It wasn’t the tire wear, it was what’s best for me,” Chastain said. “The bottom was the best for me, even though I gave up a row and gave up a spot I know looking at the sheet, but we would have been in fifth or sixth if I had taken the outside. I’ve got to get better at restarts.”

The top-five result was Chastain’s third of the 2021 season and the first since his second place in July at Nashville.

Posted on by Zack Albert

A new phase in the testing of NASCAR’s Next Gen car is due up this week, with a prime audition for the vehicle’s debut in the 2022 Daytona 500.

Eight teams are scheduled to participate in a test for the NASCAR Cup Series’ new model Tuesday and Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway. The two-day session is the first for multiple Next Gen vehicles on a superspeedway and will help NASCAR officials and teams alike gather information about the car’s characteristics in a pack with the aerodynamic draft.

RELATED: Next Gen timeline | 2021 Cup Series schedule

“I think eight or nine cars will be going to Daytona and running together and establishing the aero package and the speeds that we’re looking for. So really, really looking forward to that,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, in an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “Teams are taking delivery of parts and pieces and starting the Next Gen journey, getting those cars together and getting them ready for next year. So, really, really excited about that.”

Five former Daytona winners are among the group of test drivers scheduled to participate. Teams set to get on the track in the two-day session:

  • No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (driver Austin Dillon)
  • No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Denny Hamlin)
  • No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford (Chris Buescher)
  • No. 22 Penske Racing Ford (Joey Logano)
  • No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (William Byron)
  • No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford (Cole Custer)
  • No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet (Ross Chastain)
  • No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.).

Aside from a two-car test last year at Charlotte Motor Speedway, single-car runs in Next Gen testing have been the norm — both for vehicle development and for tire testing. The Next Gen vehicle had previously tested at the 2.5-mile Daytona track, with Buescher piloting the well-used P3 prototype last December. That Daytona test helped officials establish a baseline single-car speed and the proper mix of aero drag and horsepower output on superspeedways, while also offering the opportunity to try different ride-height settings.

Teams and competition officials have multiple objectives for the Next Gen’s return to Daytona:

  • Allowing teams, officials and manufacturers to get a better feel for the model’s characteristics in the draft and around other cars.
  • Evaluating and setting a baseline power level and speed for the Next Gen car in a pack.
  • Helping Goodyear officials determine a suitable tire combination for next season’s events at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway.
  • Giving teams a jump-start on at-track tuning and setup with the Next Gen car

The superspeedway package for the current “Gen-6” model has been an evolutionary process, with adjustments being made as recently as this season in the interest of safety at the sport’s fastest ovals. The focus has primarily centered on regulating the closing rates between cars, keeping the varying speeds between lead cars and advancing cars in check; and in preventing lift during crashes, keeping cars planted to the ground in spins. Those measures haven’t necessarily prevented the multi-car wrecks commonplace at Daytona and Talladega, where the cars frequently run in tight formations.

Alvarezndm 05746
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

Logano previously tested the Next Gen car in just the model’s second test — at Phoenix Raceway in December 2019. His approach to this week’s test also has multiple goals as he reacquaints himself with the 2022 car, this time on a far different track than the 1-mile layout in Arizona.

“I think there’s a few things,” Logano said during last week’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Media Day. “One, you want to get the car driving good and capable of making moves and doing things. I think vision is one thing that you probably are gonna want to work on, with it being such a different car in a pack. Those type of things will be important.

“And then, you know, how these cars draft, what do they do. We just talked a minute ago about the rules package that we have now where we’re driving through each other. How do we get a package that is something that we can all race and be able to make moves and do things, but not something that we’re, you know as soon as we touch each other, we’re wrecking and we’re tearing up 30 cars or 20 cars every time. Somewhere in between, that’s kind of my goal as a driver to try to get to, so you got to work on your own car and then kind of at the same time you’re working for the sport as well to make sure that there’s something that is a good product for the race fans to watch.”

Byron was involved in the fourth test of the Next Gen car, and he was the first to wheel the P3 prototype during a March 2020 shakedown at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. The 23-year-old driver, who won last year’s regular-season finale at Daytona, says this week’s test days won’t necessarily replicate the superspeedway feel of a full 40-car field, but should provide some clues for what to expect performance-wise.

“I think, for me, just try to establish a baseline for those guys, try to try to make it a smooth test, try to gather data, information,” Byron said during Playoffs Media Day. “I think the best thing I can do is just be a good test driver. That’s what I’ve learned over the years is sometimes when I show up to test, with as young as I am I just try to go fast, and that’s not really the goal of a test. The goal is to try to gather information and help those guys gather a variety of information, and also gather your info and ideas and approach to things.

“So, I mean Daytona’s gonna be different, we’re going to be doing single-car runs obviously where you’re just really learning about the car there, I’m not really learning anything. Then when we get in the pack, maybe I’ll learn some things but still a pretty long ways away from being around a bunch of cars out there, so that’s going to be different.”

Additional tire tests are scheduled to be held at Darlington Raceway and on the newly reconfigured and repaved surface at Atlanta Motor Speedway later in the year, with dates to be announced later. Organizational tests are set for the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (Oct. 11-12), Charlotte’s oval layout (Nov. 17-18) and Phoenix Raceway (Dec. 7-8).

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Kyle Larson had nothing to lose.

With a 47-point cushion over the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 16 elimination line heading into Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Larson tried to send it in the final corner in an effort to take the race victory away from Denny Hamlin.

Carrying more speed than normal entering the turn, Larson purposely hit the wall, riding it through Turns 3 and 4 in an effort to reach Hamlin’s back bumper. In what he described as a video-game style move that was reminiscent of Carl Edwards’ attempt for the win against Jimmie Johnson in 2008 at Kansas Speedway, Larson fell just short of passing Hamlin while using up the right side of his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos

“Decided I would try to wall-ride and see what would happen,” Larson said. “He (Hamlin) started running a little bit safer line the last few laps and getting back to diamonding (the corner). I thought if I rode the wall, I could squeeze to his outside and who knows what would have happened after that down the frontstretch. I actually got to his bumper a little too early and he kind of protected the wall.”

“It was wild and I hope the fans enjoyed the desperation. Just came one spot short.”

For Larson, the risk was worth the potential reward. A race win would have added to his bonus points bucket. A complete botch wouldn’t have hurt much given the points he earned by winning Stage 2 and finishing second in Stage 1 to kick off the postseason at the 1.366-mile historic oval. A second place was where he was running regardless, so why not try?

RELATED: Playoff standings after Darlington

“Knowing how far above the cutline we were to start the race and finish in the top two in the stages and finishing second there at the end, I knew that I could go for broke a little bit more there the last handful of laps,” Larson said. “I was kind of hitting the wall every lap in (Turns) 3 and 4. I felt like if I got a flat and finished 25th, I was still going to be good in points. I would say I was a little bit more brave because of that.”

Larson
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

Larson’s crew chief, Cliff Daniels, wasn’t totally surprised with his last-lap decision behind the wheel.

“I don’t know that there’s really a better way to look at it than that,” Daniels told NASCAR.com. “He (Larson) knew how many laps were left in the race, so he knew that if he had a flat tire, he could probably ride it out to the end. I’m sure all that was going through his mind.”

Even playoff competitor Martin Truex Jr. took notice of the risky maneuver.

“I was asking him (Larson) if it was Nintendo or PlayStation,” Truex said with a laugh. “He definitely, the wall glue got him. He got stuck to the wall. … He got close. It was a valiant effort.”

Although the No. 5 incurred heavy right-side damage that will take some time to buff out, he still fared far better than his Hendrick Motorsports counterparts. After hitting the wall on Lap 16 and an engine issue before the green flag waved, Alex Bowman only managed a 26th-place finish. Chase Elliott smacked the wall on Lap 327 after contact with Christopher Bell, ending the night for the No. 9 with a finish of 31st. Finally, William Byron’s Lap 200 crash after a left-front inner valve stem was knocked out ended the No. 24 team’s night prematurely, finishing 34th.

RELATED: Bowman collects teammate Byron | Elliott heads to the garage

“On my end, just made way too many mistakes,” Elliott said. “That’s what you deserve when you make that many mistakes. Onward.”

With Hamlin locked into the Round of 12 with his Darlington triumph, Larson now has an 80-point cushion on the elimination line. As teammates and other playoff drivers struggled at Darlington, including Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch and Michael McDowell, crew chief Daniels and the team will continue to keep the blinders on like they have throughout the 2021 season.

“Our mindset all year has been to focus on our race and that’s really it right now,” Daniels said. “Certainly, if things were to drastically change and we had to start worrying about points, then we would. But we’re very fortunate to be in this spot. I think the best thing we can do right now is stay in our lane, focus on our races and try to execute.”

Posted on by Staff Report

After the opening race of the Round of 16 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race, here’s a brief look at the playoff picture. There are two races remaining in the Round of 16 before the field is whittled to 12, with four drivers eliminated from the postseason following the Sept. 18 race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Winner

Denny Hamlin avoided the pitfalls that jolted several contenders and shook up the first race of the Cup Series Playoffs, locking up a clutch first victory of the season in the Cook Out Southern 500. His fourth triumph at Darlington Raceway gave him an automatic berth in the Round of 12. He led 146 of the 367 laps to win NASCAR’s oldest 500-mile race for a third time.

RELATED: Unofficial results | At-track photos

Who’s hot

Kyle Larson. The regular-season champion led a race-high 156 laps and backed up his status as a Cup Series Playoffs favorite. He wound up second to a strong Joe Gibbs Racing driver for the second consecutive Darlington race.

Martin Truex Jr. The No. 19 driver rallied twice from trouble — overcoming an unscheduled stop for a loose wheel and later a pit-road speeding penalty — to finish fourth. The result marked Truex’s first top-five effort in a month.

Who’s not

Kyle Busch. Busch was out shortly after Stage 2 set sail, his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota making significant contact with the Turn 2 wall. After a check at the infield care center, Busch was critical of his team’s performance, absolving Austin Dillon — the other driver involved in the incident — from blame. He’s won multiple times at Richmond and Bristol — the next two races on the schedule — but he’ll be entering those events at a deficit after finishing 35th.

William Byron. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was among the first playoff-eligible drivers to find trouble, clipping Alex Bowman on Lap 14 after his teammate slowed with a wall scrape. Byron was able to recover and be competitive for a time, but a broken valve stem and downed tire sent him hard into the wall on Lap 200.

Michael McDowell. The Daytona 500 winner acknowledged his playoff underdog status entering the final 10 races, and an early exit in the Darlington opener has him fenced into a virtual must-win scenario. His No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford ended the day on the wrecker’s hook after heavy contact with the inside wall, completing just 30 laps and finishing last in the 37-car field.

BUBBLE WATCH

Rank Driver Points to cutoff
9. Christopher Bell +5
10. Chase Elliott +4
11. Aric Almirola +3
12. Tyler Reddick 0
——– ELIMINATION LINE ———-
13. Alex Bowman 0
14. Kyle Busch -2
15. William Byron -9
16. Michael McDowell -20

Next race

The NASCAR Cup Series travels to Richmond Raceway for the Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders on Sept. 11 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Who it favors

Kyle Busch. He leads active drivers with six wins, 18 top fives and an average finish of 6.8 at the 0.75-mile track. The only active driver with more top-10 finishes at Richmond is Kevin Harvick, who has 26 to Busch’s 24. But Harvick holds a 40-31 advantage over Busch in number of starts at Richmond.

Who it hurts

Michael McDowell. His average finish of 31.9 at Richmond is the worst among this year’s playoff drivers. McDowell’s best finish at Richmond was 12th in 2016 for Leavine Family Racing. Since moving over to Front Row Motorsports, his best finish has been 21st in 2019.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Holding off regular-season champion Kyle Larson throughout a thrilling final green-flag run in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Denny Hamlin is winless in 2021 no more.

Hamlin maintained control of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as Larson buried his No. 5 Chevrolet into Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap. Larson gave Hamlin a tap, but Hamlin blocked the top lane and got to the finish line .212 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

“He drove it in past the limit of the car and tires,” Hamlin said of Larson’s banzai charge. “I knew he was coming. I was a little conservative on that last lap because I had that four-car-length lead.”

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

The victory was Hamlin’s first of the year after a winless 26-race regular season. He won for the fourth time at Darlington and for the 45th time in his career to earn an automatic berth into the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

“Yeah, it was a matter of time,” Hamlin said of the long-awaited win. “We can’t just keep leading inside 10 laps to go every week and not get a win.”

Hamlin kept Larson at bay over the final two restarts but couldn’t pull away to a comfortable lead.

“We got to the white (flag), and I was like, ‘Well, I haven’t been able to gain on him now, I’m going to try something,'” Larson said of the desperation try he labeled a “video-game move.” “Honestly, got to his bumper too quick. I was hoping he was going to run that diamond to kind of be safe and I could skirt to his outside, but gave everything I had.

“I didn’t want to wreck him. I just wanted to try to get to his outside there, but he did a great job not really making any mistakes during the last run, and I was having to push really hard in second to try and just stay with him.”

RELATED: Kyle Larson analyzes his last-lap move | Denny Hamlin reacts to first win of 2021

Larson led 156 of the 367 laps to Hamlin’s 146. Hamlin won the first stage and Larson the second.

Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. caught a break when Ryan Blaney spun in Turn 4 on Lap 318 while the two JGR drivers stayed on the track trying to stretch the cycle of pit stops. Truex beat Hamlin off pit road but was flagged for speeding, and Hamlin held the top spot the rest of the way.

Non-Playoff driver Ross Chastain finished third, followed by Truex, who recovered from the penalty and an earlier loose wheel to run fourth. Playoff drivers Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano were fifth through eighth, respectively, but for other title hopefuls, the race brought disaster.

Two-time series champion Kyle Busch suffered an early exit and a blow to his hopes of winning a third title. Contact with the No. 3 Chevrolet of Austin Dillon sent Busch’s No. 18 Toyota rocketing into the outside wall in Turn 2, causing irreparable damage.

Busch fell out in 35th place and now faces an uphill battle to advance to the Round of 12.

“It wasn’t the 3’s (Dillon’s) fault,” Busch said. “Just take our lumps, you know. We were running like (crap), and that’s what you get when you run like (crap). Shouldn’t be there.”

RELATED: Kyle Busch wrecks in Stage 2 | William Byron out after wreck

Three-fourths of the Hendrick Motorsports armada took a major hit as well. Alex Bowman scraped the wall on Lap 14 and stayed on the track, hoping to make it to the competition caution on lap 25. But a tire rub proved disastrous, sending Bowman’s Chevy into the Turn 4 wall, and damage the No. 24 Camaro of teammate William Byron in the process. 

Bowman was able to continue and finished 26th, but Byron wasn’t as fortunate. After recovering to run in the top 10, Byron cut a left front tire on Lap 200, crashed hard into the Turn 1 wall and exited the race with a 34th-place finish. 

“That was a big hit,” Byron acknowledged. “It looked like on that (previous) pit stop, it looked like we dropped the jack and the left front was still finishing up. I took off and everything felt OK. I went to pass the No. 00 (Quin Houff) or somebody down the frontstretch and was just about to turn into (Turn) 1 and the left front went down. 

“There was nothing we could do. The guys did an awesome job to fix it. We were running like top-12, I think, even with all the (earlier) right rear damage, and it’s just terrible. I don’t know, man. That sucks.”

Reigning series champion Chase Elliott fell out in 31st place after slamming the outside wall on Lap 327 in a three-wide melee in Turn 1 with Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell.

RELATED: Chase Elliott hits wall late in race | Michael McDowell exits early

An early wreck put a dagger to Michael McDowell’s slim championship chances. On Lap 31, McDowell’s No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford broke loose behind Erik Jones’ Chevrolet in Turn 2, smacked the outside wall and careened nose-first into the inside SAFER barrier.

McDowell exited the race, his car destroyed and his title hopes hanging by a thread.

“The 43 (Jones) kind of got everybody jammed up,” McDowell said after exiting the infield care center. “I think he started on the front there without tires, which is a tough spot to be in, and I just went three-wide underneath him and just got into the patch (of new asphalt in Turn 2) with my left sides just a little bit low.  

“I got loose enough into the wall and that was about it. I’ll have to see the replay, but just heartbreaking for everybody on this Front Row team. We had high hopes coming into the Playoffs and this is not how we wanted to start it.”

Bowman, Kyle Busch, Byron and McDowell fell below the current cut line for the Round of 12. Elliott leaves Darlington 10th in the Playoff standings.

The Cup Series’ next race is the Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders, scheduled Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Richmond Raceway. Two events remain in the three-race Round of 16, the opening elimination phase of the 10-race postseason.

Note: Post-race inspection confirmed the No. 11 Toyota of Hamlin to be the race winner. There were no issues. The Nos. 3 (Austin Dillon), 4 (Kevin Harvick), 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) and 42 (Ross Chastain) will be brought back to the R&D Center for further inspection and engine dyno.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Staff Report

William Byron added his name to a list of NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers with issues in the postseason opener as he dropped out of contention after a Stage 2 crash Sunday at Darlington Raceway.

RELATED: Kyle Busch wrecks early in Stage 2 | At-track photos

Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet sustained minor damage in a Lap 14 scrape with teammate Alex Bowman, but he had rallied to compete among the top 10 in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500. His night ended in the 200th lap of a scheduled 367 with a far heavier impact into the Turn 1 retaining wall.

Goodyear officials indicated that the left-front tire’s valve stem had been knocked off, causing Byron to lose control. Byron finished 34th in the 37-car field.

“That was a big hit,” Byron said after being cleared at the infield care center. “It looked like on that pit stop, it looked like we dropped the jack and the left-front was still finishing up. I took off and everything felt OK. I went to pass the No. 00 (Quin Houff) or somebody down the frontstretch, and was just about to turn into (Turn) 1 and the left-front went down. There was nothing we could do. The guys did an awesome job to fix it. We were running like top 12, I think, even with all the (earlier) right-rear damage and it’s just terrible. I don’t know, man. That sucks.”

Byron ranks 15th in the 16-driver playoff standings, nine points below the provisional elimination line. Two races remain in the opening Round of 16 before four drivers are trimmed from the postseason field.

Two other playoff drivers were sidelined in earlier crashes — Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell and two-time Cup champ Kyle Busch. Byron’s teammate Chase Elliott also went behind the wall with damage from a crash 40 laps from the end.

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 NBCSN | Get the NBC Sports App | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App

Monday, Sept.6
Midnight, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series In It To Win It 200, FS2 (re-air)
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
11 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series In It To Win It 200, FS1 (re-air)

Tuesday, Sept.7
1 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub Best of Radioactive: Darlington, FS1 (re-air)
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Wednesday, Sept. 8
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, Sept. 9
4 p.m., Lost Speedways: Animal House, NBCSN (re-air)
4:30 p.m., Lost Speedways: Concrete Palace on the Passaic, NBCSN (re-air)
5 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Toyota Mod Classic 150, NBCSN (tape delay)
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

Friday, Sept. 10
6 p.m., NASCAR The Season, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 150, TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold

On MRN
7 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 150

Saturday, Sept. 11
2 a.m., Lost Speedways: Fit for a King, NBCSN (re-air)
2:30 a.m., Lost Speedways: Home Treasures, NBCSN (re-air)
1:30 p.m., Lost Speedways: Home Treasures, NBCSN (re-air)
2 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Countdown to Green, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN5)
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Go Bowling 250, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN5)
6:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
7 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Countdown to Green, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN5)
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN5)
8 p.m., ARCA Menards Series West Portland 112, TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold
11 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Post-race Show: Richmond, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

On MRN
2 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Go Bowling 250
6 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders

Sunday, Sept. 12
4 p.m., IMSA Auto Racing: Monterey Sports Car Championship, NBCSN

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Busch’s night in the playoff-opening Cook Out Southern 500 came to an early end Sunday after a Lap 125 crash at Darlington Raceway.

RELATED: Wreck ends Michael McDowell’s night early | At-track photos

Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota made significant contact with the outside retaining wall in Turn 2 after contact from the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of non-playoff driver Austin Dillon. Busch drove away with heavy damage but parked in the garage to end his race.

“It’s killed,” Busch told his team over the radio communications as he limped back to pit road and brought his No. 18 behind the wall. He finished 35th in the 37-car field and now sits two points outside of advancing with two races left in the Round of 16.

After a routine check at the infield care center, Busch was critical of his team’s performance and also made a point to clear Dillon of blame.

“It wasn’t the 3’s fault. Just take our lumps, you know,” Busch said. “We were running like (expletive) and got wrecked, so that’s what you get when you run like (expletive). It just shouldn’t be there. I don’t know what our problem is, but every time we go to sim and use sim and think we have a good sim session, we go to the race track and we suck. So I’m done with that, and we’ll have to use some other tools in figuring out how to be good, but the M&M’s Camry was not very good and we’re running terrible and we got wrecked. It wasn’t the 3’s fault.”

Busch stands to gain back some of his lost ground in the Round of 16’s remaining races. He’s a six-time winner at Richmond Raceway, site of the Cup Series’ next race on Saturday night, and Bristol Motor Speedway — host of the last event before the first elimination phase — is a track where Busch has won eight times.

Busch found little consolation in the favorable schedule after his early exit at Darlington.

“Who cares?” Busch said. “We get what we get.”

MORE: Playoff Pulse: Darlington

Coach Joe Gibbs was celebrating at the end of the night with Denny Hamlin in Victory Lane for the first time this season, but the evening presented a mixed bag for the venerable team owner’s four-car organization. Martin Truex Jr. rallied for fourth place, Christopher Bell finished an eventful 20th and Busch brought up the JGR caboose.

But Busch wasn’t the only playoff driver exiting early after a crash; the same fate also hit Chase Elliott, William Byron and Michael McDowell, which kept a large group bunched up near the provisional elimination line.

“Well, I think everybody in the sport — he’s been through the Playoffs a number of times. We have, and it’s extremely tough,” Gibbs said. “You’ve got three races, it’s like the whole playoffs. The thing that probably helped us some, it seemed like a lot of cars that were in the (playoffs) had issues. And so I haven’t seen where the points are or anything, but this is going to be a hard-fought deal for the next two weeks. I think that’s probably what the fans like.

“But there’s going to be a lot on the line. As I mentioned, this race was — it was really tough tonight. It was physical.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Michael McDowell was the first postseason-eligible retiree from Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500, his race ending after a Lap 31 crash at Darlington Raceway.

RELATED: Kyle Busch wrecks in Stage 2 | At-track photos

McDowell lost control of his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford after close racing through a repaved portion of the track with Erik Jones in the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet. McDowell’s car scrubbed the outside wall exiting Turn 2 before careening into the inside wall on the backstretch, leaving it with heavy damage. He was unhurt, checked and released from the track’s infield care center.

“I’m not really sure,” McDowell said when asked for his version of events. “The 43 kind of got everybody jammed up. I think he started on the front there without (fresh) tires, which is a tough spot to be in and I just went three-wide underneath him and just got into the patch with my left-sides just a little bit low. I got loose enough into the wall and that was about it.”

McDowell, who qualified for the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series Playoff grid by winning the season-opening Daytona 500, had said during the postseason’s media day that his team would have to be aggressive to advance through the elimination format. His early exit placed him last in the 37-car field for the playoff opener.

“I’ll have to see the replay, but just heartbreaking for everybody on this Front Row team,” said McDowell. “We had high hopes coming into the playoffs and this is not how we wanted to start it.”

McDowell sits last on the 16-driver playoff grid, 20 points below the elimination line with two races remaining in the Round of 16. His plight was actually helped by the misfortune of other title-eligible drivers, who failed to pad their cushion in the points. Chase Elliott, William Byron and Kyle Busch all retired early in separate crashes.

RELATED: Chase Elliott wrecks late in final stage | William Byron exits in Stage 2

Two events remain in the opening three-race round — Saturday at Richmond Raceway and Sept. 18 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The four lowest-ranked drivers will be eliminated at the end of the Round of 16.