Saturday, Oct. 9 12 p.m., IMSA Auto Racing GT Challenge at VIR, NBC/NBC Sports App
3 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250 presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, NBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN, TSN3)
On PRN 2:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250 presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina
Sunday, Oct. 10 Noon, NASCAR RaceDay: Charlotte, FS1
1 p.m., Countdown to Green, NBC/NBC Sports App
2 p.m., NASCAR Bank of America ROVAL 400, NBC/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN, TSN5)
6 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Post-Race Show, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
On PRN
1 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America ROVAL 400
Rain hit the 2.66-mile Alabama track early Sunday morning and continued throughout the afternoon. Track-drying personnel had the superspeedway ready to race at 3:45 p.m. ET and pace laps began shortly after, but another heavy shower hit the track during that time, forcing NASCAR to postpone because it was not possible to run the full 188-lap distance.
“I always hate these days. I just want to get in and go,” said playoff contender Martin Truex Jr., who is scheduled to start sixth. “Still thinking about the same things as we were this morning and last night. … Hopefully stay at the front and get some stage points and hopefully be running at the end. That’s always the first goal.”
The race was originally scheduled for a green-flag time of 2:03 p.m. ET.
Denny Hamlin will start on the Busch Pole for Monday’s start. Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch will start alongside him on the front row. Hamlin is locked into the Round of 8 with his victory last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“Let’s see what happens,” said Trackhouse’s Daniel Suarez, scheduled to start 18th. “Hopefully tomorrow, we can make it happen, but something is for sure — there’s going to be a lot of excited drivers tomorrow. So if today was going to be crazy, tomorrow is going to be crazier, so looking forward to it.”
Phoenix Raceway announced Sunday that the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race on Nov. 7 is fully sold out, marking the earliest sellout in the history of the track.
The emphasis here is on fully. There are no more grandstand seats, the hospitality suites are sold out and the hillside is full. The FanShield Infield Experience? Again, fully booked.
“I think this says a ton about our fans,” said Julie Giese, NASCAR Vice President of Track Marketing and Phoenix Raceway President. “It’s exciting coming off of last year’s race, where we only had a limited capacity, and we were well on our way to a sellout then, too. I’m really happy for our team and proud of our team. And most of all, I’m happy that we’ll see all of our fans back with us.”
It’s been quite the journey for Phoenix Raceway and surrounding community since NASCAR announced in 2019 that the 1-mile facility would host the title race for all three NASCAR national series beginning in 2020.
So while November will mark the second consecutive year NASCAR’s three national series conclude their season with a title race in the desert, it’s the first without capacity restrictions. Last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in compliance with local health protocols, capacity was capped.
Those in attendance last year saw Sheldon Creed capture a dramatic Truck Series championship; Austin Cindric rally with a beautiful restart in NASCAR Overtime to capture his first Xfinity Series title; and Chase Elliott cap an amazing end-of-season run for his first Cup Series championship.
Community support for the event has never wavered, Giese said, and has in fact strengthened during the pandemic — from local police and fire departments having custom badges and messaging on trucks, to the Avondale community and state of Arizona leaning in to embrace a premier championship weekend in the area.
“I think we had an expectation of how much the community was going to support us, and it’s surpassed my wildest imaginations on what this community can do around an event,” Giese said. “Just seeing the support we have from cities of Avondale and Phoenix and state of Arizona, so many people coming together to make this event as big and special as it can be. It’s fun to see that culminate and come together.”
Phoenix Raceway opened in 1988 and has hosted 50 races at NASCAR’s highest level — two per year since 2005.
The track reconfigured its mile-long oval ahead of its fall race in 2018, shifting the start-finish line to what was formerly the exit of Turn 2. And the distinctive track’s races in recent years have also put the expansive apron in the dogleg before Turn 1 into play — an enticing option for those willing to make dive-bomb passing attempts.
Those track changes were part of a larger $178 million renovation that put an emphasis on fan amenities and accessibility.
And it’s the fans that makes this weekend so special for Giese.
“I can’t wait to see the fans and I can’t wait to have a full facility so those fans can witness a championship event and fully be part of it,” Giese said. “For so many of them, it’ll be their first championship event. In a way it’s the first for even those fans who were with us last year. I’m really looking forward to celebrating with them.”
This year’s Championship Weekend kicks off Friday, Nov. 5, with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at 8 p.m. ET. The Xfinity Series (along with ARCA Menards Series West) crowns its champion on Nov. 6, followed by the NASCAR Cup Series’ culmination and coronation on Nov. 7.
A limited number of grandstand and FanShield Infield Experience tickets remain for Friday and Saturday during NASCAR Championship Weekend. Fans can purchase tickets for Friday and Saturday’s action at Phoenix Raceway at www.phoenixraceway.com and can also secure their seats for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway by purchasing season tickets.
NASCAR fans, get ready for a different type of a racing in a different type of gaming arena.
NASCAR will make its debut in ZED RUN, a popular NFT horse-racing game, on Oct. 3 to coincide with the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race at Talladega Superspeedway.
A new NASCAR Stakes race track replete with plenty of bright colors — much like you’d see when scoping out paint schemes at Talladega — and grandstands lining the track launches Sunday as part of the partnership between the companies, opening a 24-hour window for those who enter to win one of 100 NASCAR ZED passes.
🏁Introducing, the @NASCAR ZED Pass!👀You won't want to miss an opportunity to grab the inaugural version of the newest utility-driven aspect of ZED RUN! 🐴🔥
The new ZED Pass is a stand-alone NFT that will reward holders and unlock future in-game features, along with other special perks such as special airdrops and entry to exclusive in-game events.
In addition to 100 passes being given away, there also will be 900 NASCAR ZED passes available for purchase. For a chance to win, enter a racehorse to compete on the new NASCAR Stakes race track.
Head over to ZED RUN to buy your very own digital racehorse and learn more.
🏁 If you ain't first, you're last! 🏁
Get your first glimpse at the fastest racetrack in the metaverse, the @NASCAR Stakes racetrack! 🐎💨 #NASCARxZEDRUN
Debuting at NASCAR Race Day at ZED RUN on October 3rd! 🐴🔥
TALLADEGA, Ala. — The NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs field wound up split at Talladega Superspeedway.
Half of the Round of 12 finished within the top 10 when the race was called early with six laps remaining in the 113-lap event due to darkness. The other half was recorded a lap down, and then five of those six wrecked out and didn’t even see the end of the Sparks 300.
That shook up the postseason picture, as the series prepares for its elimination race next Saturday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
“If you’re below – and how much below – it changes a lot,” said Harrison Burton, whose day ended prematurely on Lap 103. “If you’re above, it’s always nerve-wracking because you just have to beat a certain guy and keep him behind you.
“I don’t know. There are some other guys that had some tough days today, too, that are in the playoffs. I just don’t know where we shake out really.”
Burton is now ranked eighth, safe from elimination by eight points. Cousin Jeb Burton, who finished seventh, is on the flip side, eight points out. Myatt Snider is 10th (minus-24) after a 31st-place result. Riley Herbst’s 27th-place run left him 11th (minus-32). Jeremy Clements was the second driver not on the lead lap but still running at the end, and he remains last (minus-48).
From the top down in the standings: Austin Cindric (finished eighth; plus-77), Justin Allgaier (third; plus-55), Daniel Hemric (fourth; plus-41), AJ Allmendinger (39th; plus-33), Justin Haley (sixth; plus-24), Brandon Jones (second; plus-21) and Noah Gragson (30th; plus-18).
“We’re fine,” Gragson said. “We just can’t wreck at the Roval, and we’ll be all good. I feel confident we can run in the top five. It’s obviously a tricky track, so just racing the race track and not getting ahead of our skis.”
Allmendinger is the defending race winner, having won the past two Roval races. He is the only active NASCAR Xfinity Series driver with a win on the 2.32-mile road course. Chase Briscoe, who’s now full time in the NASCAR Cup Series, won the inaugural event in 2018.
The only 2021 title contender locked into the Round of 8 is Cindric. He clinched his spot on points before action was stopped.
“Mission accomplished,” Cindric said. “There’s really only one race that I need to win this year and feel like I should try to win – I got to get there first – and that’s in Phoenix. Otherwise, if we point our way in or win out way in, that’s what we want to do.”
Cindric has two third-place finishes and sixth-place results in his three Roval starts. His 4.0 average finish is third-best in the series. Allmendinger is first with a 1.0 mark, and Gragson’s 3.5 falls second.
The Drive for the Cure 250 presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is set for Oct. 9 at 3 p.m. ET (NBC/NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Four drivers will be eliminated.
“I obviously have to get better,” Harrison Burton said. “Cindric and AJ, those guys are kind of beating everyone’s butt right now. But I feel confident with my team’s work ethic and my work ethic, I think we can do it. I really don’t know what we have to do, but whatever it is, we’ll figure it out and go do it.”
TALLADEGA, Ala. – As he crossed the finish line under caution on a dark race track, Brandon Brown surrendered to the emotion of his first victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
“Thank God,” Brown exulted. “We did it. We did it. We won!”
On a day of unexpected victories at Talladega Superspeedway — a track where the unexpected sometimes seems commonplace — Brown had a narrow lead three-wide with Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones at the previous scoring loop when NASCAR called the fifth caution of the race on Lap 102 for a multicar wreck in Turn 4.
With darkness preventing the resumption of the race, NASCAR showed the checkered flag to Brown under yellow on Lap 107 of a scheduled 113, with Jones credited with second and Allgaier third.
Brown’s excitement hadn’t abated one iota by the time he got to Victory Lane.
“You can ask my neighbors at Coastal Carolina, I did plenty of burnouts to practice for this moment,” said Brown, who drives for his family-owned team, Brandonbilt Motorsports. “Oh, my god. It’s a dream come true. A Talladega winner. Oh my god, Dad, we did it!
“This is everything we hoped and dreamed for. Everything I’ve ever wanted to do is take the trophy home to Mom and Dad. Oh, my god. Thank you so much Larry’s Lemonade … all of our partners. It’s unbelievable.”
Brown was a keen student of the action during the first two stages of the race, won by John Hunter Nemechek and Blaine Perkins. He noticed major changes in momentum between the top and bottom lanes at the 2.66-mile track.
“Everything shifted top to bottom so much, it was like, ‘OK, let’s just stay patient where we’re at and hope for the best,” Brown said. “We saw our moment and we seized it. God, I’m just so proud of Brandonbilt Motorsports and so proud of our team, here and at home and everyone that worked on our team since the beginning.
“We did it. We did it. We did it.”
Brown, Jones and Allgaier were trading the lead three-wide when the No. 20 Toyota of Harrison Burton broke loose in Turn 4 and ignited an eight-car crash that slowed the race for the final time.
Daniel Hemric finished fourth, followed by Jordan Anderson, Justin Haley, Jeb Burton and defending series champion Austin Cindric, who clinched a spot in the Round of 8 in the Xfinity Playoffs with an insurmountable points edge over ninth-place Jeb Burton.
On the final lap of the first stage, the cars of Sam Mayer and regular-season champion AJ Allmendinger collided in Turn 3, demolishing both vehicles. The No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet of Mayer slammed the outside wall so heavily that NASCAR had to red-flag the race for repairs to the SAFER barrier.
Allmendinger took a heavy hit in the points, but he’s still 33 above the cut line heading to next Saturday’s Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Roval (3 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM), a track where he is expected to excel.
“That’s why you work so hard during the regular season to build up bonus points,” Allmendinger said after a trip to the infield care center. “We’ll see where it puts us going into the Roval. … It’s a minor setback in a great year.”
If Allmendinger’s setback was minor, the hit Noah Gragson suffered in a Lap 88 wreck was a major one. Gragson was running at the front of the field in the inside lane when slight contact from Jeb Burton’s Chevrolet to the left rear of Brett Moffitt’s Camaro — after Moffitt’s car had gotten loose — triggered the first major wreck of the event.
Moffitt’s Chevy slid down the track into Gragson’s No. 9 Camaro, which rocketed nose-first into the outside wall. As Gragson slipped back down the track, Myatt Snider — with nowhere to go — plowed into the rear of Gragson’s car.
Like Allmendinger, Gragson suffered a significant blow in the standings but remained 18 points above the current cut line for the Round of 8.
“The 02 (Moffitt) just got turned by the 10 (Burton), and I got it head-on and got cleaned out by the 2 (Snider),” Gragson said. “So, just a bummer. We had a fast car.”
Brown’s victory was the nightcap — literally — of a playoff doubleheader with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Earlier on Saturday, Tate Fogleman secured his first Truck Series win in the Chevrolet Silverado 250.
Notes: Post-race inspection was completed in the Xfinity Series garage without major issue. The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by runner-up Jones was found with one unsecured lug nut, which should result in a fine for the team in next week’s penalty report. … Justin Haley was forced to start at the rear of the field and serve a pass-through penalty after the green flag after his No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet was found with improperly applied decals in pre-race inspection. Officials indicated that the decals were applied in an attempt to help aerodynamics.
TALLADEGA, Ala. — AJ Allmendinger, the regular-season champion in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, was sidelined by a Stage 1 crash in Saturday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Allmendinger’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet was swept up along with the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevy of Sam Mayer into the outside retaining wall in Turn 3 on the final lap of the opening stage in the Sparks 300. Both drivers had been racing three- and four-abreast back in the pack just before the stage’s end at Lap 25 (of a scheduled 113). Both drivers walked away from the crash under their own power. They were at the tail end of the top-10 group.
Both drivers walked away from the crash under their own power.
“It looks like Sam got clipped by somebody, and that sent him into us,” Allmendinger said. “You put yourself in that position, that’s bound to happen racing with certain people. That’s a part of Talladega.
“It’s unfortunate, but that’s why you go so hard in the regular season to get these bonus point, to go out and if you have something like this happen in a playoff race, it doesn’t completely set you back. We’ll see where we end at the end of today. If we got to go to the Roval and win the race, we’ll probably go do that. And if not, we’ll do what we have to do to make it to the next round.”
Allmendinger entered the middle race in the Round of 12 in the Xfinity Series playoffs with a 59-point cushion over the elimination line, but he was scored 39th in the 40-car field after the incident. That’ll give him just one point. Mayer was slotted 38th in his 13th start this season.
“I didn’t expect people to make it four-wide then and there, going off into the corner,” Mayer said. “Usually you try to make that move off the corner. But honestly, I’m new at this whole thing, so maybe that is the right thing to do but I definitely wasn’t ready for it. I was just trying to mind my own business, put my left front right on the hash mark, like I’d been doing all day. Whether I was three-, four-wide didn’t really matter until there. People just making moves that really don’t benefit you enough to risk, risk vs. reward.”
John Hunter Nemechek ultimately won Stage 1. There were eight playoff drivers in the top 10 – Jeb Burton, Riley Herbst, Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton, Myatt Snider, Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones filled second through eighth in order; Daniel Hemric was 10th. The race was then briefly stopped during the break for repairs to the Turn 3 barrier.
The Round of 12 field will dwindle down to eight drivers next Saturday at the Charlotte Roval (3 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Allmendinger has never raced on the Roval layout and not won – two wins in two starts. He led 20 of the 67 laps in 2019 and 12 of 68 in 2020.
“We’ll absolutely kick their (explicit) like usual there,” Allmendinger said. “That’s what we’re going to go do.”
YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway
(⏰ 1 p.m. ET | 📺 NBCSN, TSN | 📻 MRN, SiriusXM)
Everything you need to know for Monday’s rescheduled Round of 12 middle race and 31st points-paying NASCAR Cup Series event of the 2021 season.
Where: Talladega, Alabama Green flag: 1 p.m. ET on Monday, October 4th Grand Marshal: Jimmy Rane, Founder, president and CEO of Great Southern Wood Preserving TV/Radio: NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Forecast: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 10 a.m. CT, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 1 p.m. CT. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 78. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 70%, according to NOAA.gov. Race Distance: 188 laps, 500 miles Stages: 60 | 120 | 188 Pit-road speed: 55 mph Caution car speed: 70 mph Talladega 101: Get the full lowdown Starting lineup: See the full lineup Pit-stall assignments: See who is pitting where |Expert breaks down pit selectionsJames Gilbert | Getty Images
Five to watch
Here are five big story lines we’ll be following at Talladega Superspeedway.
1. Denny Hamlin is the only NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs driver that has clinched a spot in the Round of 8 after his win at Las Vegas. The only driver who could clinch on points at Talladega without any help is Kyle Larson, who would get an automatic bid to the next round with 54 points, or 55 points if Joey Logano wins.
2. On the other side of the spectrum, William Byron, Kevin Harvick, Alex Bowman and Christopher Bell enter Talladega below the Round of 8 elimination line. Byron is four points below eighth-place driver Brad Keselowski, while Bell finds himself 25 points back. Harvick holds the best average finish at Talladega among drivers below the elimination line with a 15.8 in 41 starts. But what have you done for me lately? While Harvick finished fourth in the spring race at Talladega earlier this year, Byron finished second and also recorded a fourth-place result in the fall race one year ago.
3. It’s hard to ignore the strength of Team Penske on superspeedway races and that especially holds true at Talladega. Penske drivers Ryan Blaney, Keselowski and Logano hold 11 victories at the 2.66-mile Alabama track, while the rest of the current field has seven race wins. Blaney has won two of the last four races at Talladega and also picked up another superspeedway win at Daytona in August.
4. Aside from Blaney, the other superspeedway king recently has been Hamlin. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver has finished sixth or better in five of the last eight races at Talladega and is the defending winner of Monday’s race. He’s also won two of the last seven superspeedway races. Hamlin could steal another win away from other playoff drivers who desperately need one and should be a favorite to do so.
5. Hamlin’s JGR teammate, Martin Truex Jr., currently sits fourth in the playoff standings. He’s in a good spot, 31 points above the elimination line, but that’s before you look at his Talladega stats. Truex only has two top-five finishes in 33 starts and is on a string of 10 straight finishes of 20th or worse. While Truex remains a Championship 4 favorite, Talladega could very well make or break his run for a second Cup title.
Race-day staples
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• Power Rankings: Plenty of title fight left in dark horse Brad Keselowski | Latest rankings
• Paint Scheme Preview: Slick schemes for Talladega | See them here • Playoff Pulse: Who’s hot, who’s not after Las Vegas | Full breakdown
• Debate: Are Denny Hamlin and No. 11 crew peaking at perfect time? | Backseat Drivers
• Bubble Watch: William Byron next to make Round of 8? | See the bubble breakdown
• Fantasy Fastlane: Penske power at the fantasy forefront | Top plays, sleepers
• Analysis: Round of 12 track-by-track breakdown | See it here
Get in on the action
Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy.
• What are the odds?: Betting odds for Talladega | See them here
• NASCAR betting: How Penske rises about superspeedway randomness | Read more
• The Action Network: Who to pick — Denny Hamlin or Brad Keselowski? |Read more • Talking playoffs: How Fantasy Live game works for the postseason | Read more • No risk, big reward: Take a shot at winning cash prizes with the free-to-play Jackpot Races app | Hit the jackpot
Memories from Talladega
Before the Cup Series races at Talladega for the second time this season, take a look back at some important track history.
Hard-hitting, race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.
• Four drivers have finished in the top 10 in all four playoff races to this point: Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick. • Three drivers — Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott — have led a combined 76% of the laps raced in the 2021 Playoffs. • Ryan Blaney has won two of the last four races at Talladega and three of the last eight superspeedway races. • Martin Truex Jr. only has two top-five finishes in 33 starts at Talladega. • Team Penske has 10 Talladega wins and all 10 came in the last 19 races there.
Catch the pack
Read up on all the headlines from the week leading up to the race.
• Pack the protein: Built Bar becomes Official Protein Bar of NASCAR | Read more
• Baby Briscoe: Chase Briscoe, wife Marissa welcome first child | Read more
• Moving on: Round of 8 clinch scenarios for Talladega | Read more
• What pressure?: Chase Elliott feels No. 9 team can ‘enjoy, thrive’ in pressure | Read more
• Don’t be that guy: Joey Logano says Kevin Harvick is ‘known to be that guy’ | Here’s why
• Back in the No 47: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will return to JTG Daugherty Racing in 2022 | Read more
• Penske power: Team Penske sets driver-crew chief lineup for 2022 | Learn about the changes
• Good news: Joey Gase cleared to run Talladega after scary Las Vegas crash | Read more
• Let’s get silly: Keep up with latest Silly Season news for the 2022 season | Read more
Say what?
Notable quotes from the stars of the sport heading into the race.
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images
“It’s not been very good lately. We’ve kind of been in bad relationship these last couple of years. I don’t know. I enjoy going there. I enjoy racing there. It just been a real challenge to get to the finish, so hopefully, this time around we will have a little bit better luck. Just been caught up in a lot of accidents. Nowhere to hide there. It’s just not been that good to us. We haven’t finished a speedway race this year, so I guess the odds are in our favor to finish this one, hopefully. We need it. We need a good finish, so hopefully we will get it done.” — Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
“I feel like you have to just go as hard as you can. I’ve tried to play the laying back and getting to the front and all that. There’s times where you can chill out because the momentum in the race maybe isn’t as important in that time. But, you’ve got to go for those stage points and put yourself in a good spot. For me, personally, I try to go for the points and see what can happen.” — William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
“The biggest stress point for me is trying to make it to the end of that race. It’s really difficult to do no matter how good at superspeedway racing you are or you aren’t. Just trying to make the right decisions there and the right calls. Hopefully end up toward the front there at the end of the day. It’s definitely pretty tough. — Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Before upset winner Tate Fogleman could go to Victory Lane, he had to visit the infield care center after sliding sideways across the finish line in tandem with runner-up Tyler Hill and slamming into the inside wall.
Fogleman claimed the win in the Chevrolet Silverado 250 after he turned then-race-leader John Hunter Nemechek sideways and passed him in the Talladega Superspeedway tri-oval as the trucks approached the stripe.
The victory was Fogleman’s first in 46 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts. The driver of the No. 12 Chevrolet scored his second top 10 in the series and his first on pavement, having run ninth on dirt at Knoxville Raceway.
Fogleman had never finished a superspeedway race before, but his luck turned on Saturday when he avoided two multicar wrecks earlier in the event.
“It was crazy,” said Fogleman, whose margin of victory was .052 seconds. “I missed that first big wreck, got through the second one, and it felt like things were finally starting to go right finally on a superspeedway. I’d never finished a superspeedway race before. I had a good feeling about it.
“We lined up third there (for the final restart in overtime), and I knew we just had to be aggressive. … I got a push from behind, and we were able to do it.”
Todd Gilliland came home third, followed by Nemechek, who slid across the finish line in fourth. Nemechek was the only one of eight Playoff drivers to finish in the top 10 in an event that left several drivers in the postseason in must-win positions for the Oct. 30 Round of 8 elimination race at Martinsville Speedway.
“I had a run, got by the 38 (Gilliland) and was trying to keep the 12 (Fogleman) in the mirror,” Nemechek said of the final lap. “He had a huge run through the tri-oval. He faked high and I went to block high, and then the block was a little too late, I guess. I should have stayed up and probably still would have won the race.
“Solid points day for us — 35 above the cut line (actually 36), I think, or something like that going into Martinsville. Just have to survive and advance to get to the final four.”
Nemechek leaves Talladega first in the Playoff standings, one point ahead of Ben Rhodes, who finished 13th on Saturday.
A gigantic wreck on Lap 58 had huge implications both for the race and for the Playoff. Chase Purdy shoved the Ford of Gilliland into the back of Austin Hill’s Toyota, and the resulting off-center contact shot Hill’s Tundra up the track, knocking Zane Smith’s Chevrolet into the outside wall.
Smith was eliminated in 33rd place and likely must win Oct. 30 at Martinsville Speedway to advance to the Championship 4.
“The last thing I remember, the 16 (Hill) was about in my windshield,” a rueful Smith said after exiting the infield care center.
All told, 21 trucks — more than half the 40-truck field — were involved in the wreck. Among them was the No. 18 Toyota of Playoff driver Chandler Smith, who managed to continue in the race despite heavy damage to his Tundra. Smith came home 19th, seven laps down.
A subsequent multi-truck accident on Lap 76 brought an early end to the race for Playoff drivers Stewart Friesen and Carson Hocevar, as well as for former Talladega winner Grant Enfinger.
Enfinger steered from the bottom lane to the top, in front of a line of trucks led by reigning series champion Sheldon Creed. When Creed moved higher on the track, Enfinger attempted to block him, and contact between the trucks ignited the seven-truck incident.
Chase Purdy spun while leading after contact from with Gilliland’s truck to bring out the sixth and final caution of the race on Lap 93 and set up the overtime. Only 20 of the 40 trucks that started the race were running at the finish.
Notes: Post-race inspection in the Camping World Truck Series garage was completed without issue, confirming Fogleman’s breakthrough win. … Tyler Hill’s career best runner-up finish was his first top-five result in 23 Camping World Truck starts.
Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe took to social media Saturday to reveal he and wife Marissa have welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Brooks Wayne Cunningham Briscoe.
What I’ve learned in the short 6 hours I’ve been a parent… I need more phone storage, I think I’ve already taken about 200 photos. Here is the most recent one from the little mans big day. pic.twitter.com/nZFGDydGKa
Briscoe shared on Twitter last weekend the baby’s due date was fast approaching as evidenced by the fact he flew out to Las Vegas Motor Speedway the morning of the race.
Pulled the backup plane out so hopefully this one is good to go, bought a seat on the 11:25 just in case this one doesn’t go. Crazy morning left the house at 5:30am! Hopefully I don’t get there and @MarissaBriscoe_ go into labor. 😂 https://t.co/USU4ADhYtLpic.twitter.com/6NV7PsErwD
After a NASCAR Xfinity Series win last year at Darlington Raceway — the series’ first race back after a break from the COVID-19 pandemic — the Stewart-Haas Racing driver was quite emotional as a day prior, the couple shared they had lost a baby. Since then, the couple has been open on social media about their journey.
It has been an emotional week for Briscoe, who is mourning the loss of ARCA champion car owner and friend Briggs Cunningham III, who passed away earlier this week at the age of 89. Given his tweets in honor of his friend and a member of his racing family, it’s not hard to imagine the baby’s middle name is in honor of him.
I’ve been very blessed to have never lost a family member I’m close to in 26 years and although Briggs wasn’t family he was like family and another grandfather to me, he was one of my best friends and someone I owe practically everything to. I miss you so much already Briggs… pic.twitter.com/8CksRaxMeP
The Indiana native is in his first NASCAR Cup Series season driving the famed No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford for co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas.
