Haley goes for three Xfinity wins in a row at Talladega

Posted on April 22, 2021 by Reid Spencer

No current NASCAR Xfinity Series driver has attained mastery over superspeedways to the extent achieved by Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley, who will try for his third straight Talladega Superspeedway win in Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300 (4 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Haley, who will start fifth, swept both Talladega races last year. His only other Xfinity Series win came at Daytona International Speedway, where the driver of the No. 11 Chevrolet also scored an unlikely NASCAR Cup Series win in the rain-shortened 2019 summer race.

Haley should have plenty of help at Talladega from teammates AJ Allmendinger and Jeb Burton. As a unit, the Kaulig Racing cars have been the dominant force in Xfinity Series superspeedway racing over the past two years.

“I’m hoping to have the speed at Talladega that we’ve had in the past,” Haley said. “It’s always been one of my favorites, and I’m excited to get back on track with my teammates and working together again to get (team owner) Matt Kaulig more trophies.”

Chevrolets, which have massive strength in numbers (28 of the 40 cars in the field), boast a four-race winning streak at Talladega.

Though Austin Cindric is starting on the pole due to metric qualifying, that’s not necessarily an advantage. In 30 Xfinity Series races at the 2.66-mile track, the No. 1 spot on the grid has produced only three winners: Joe Nemechek in 1998, Tony Stewart in 2008 and Haley in last year’s first race at the superspeedway.

And unlike Haley, Cindric has no teammates — a distinct liability in the draft.

The Ag-Pro 300 is the second Xfinity Dash 4 Cash races of the season. Noah Gragson won the first $100,000 bonus at Martinsville Speedway and will try for two straight at Talladega. The other three eligible Dash 4 Cash drivers are Martinsville winner Josh Berry (Gragson’s JR Motorsports teammate) and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Daniel Hemric and Brandon Jones.

Posted on April 22, 2021 by Terrin Waack

At just 5 years old, Harrison Burton decided his career goal was to be a NASCAR Cup Series driver.

A decade later, he made his first start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He ran three part-time seasons before his full run in 2019. That same year, at age 18, Burton made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut. He turned full time there in 2020 and carried that job into this season.

On Sunday, Burton will accomplish his goal and race in Cup’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM). He’s 20 years old.

“I’m here,” Burton said Wednesday on Zoom. “Obviously it’s awesome to be in this situation and awesome to have this opportunity. But, you know, that’s not what I’m necessarily satisfied with, if that makes sense. I want to make the most of it. For me, riding around for most of the race, I feel like if I get to the end of the race doing that, I’m not going to have the experience I need to make the moves I need to win the race.”

Odds are this is just the beginning of Burton’s Cup journey. His ride this weekend is a one-off gig with Gaunt Brothers Racing in its No. 96 Toyota. He’ll continue in the Xfinity ranks otherwise, driving his normal No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Burton didn’t specifically ask for Talladega as his first Cup attempt, but he welcomed it.

“I don’t know if this is right or not, but I think Jon Gruden always says in football, ‘The best ability is availability,’ ” Burton said. “In racing, I guess it’s the same, right? When the opportunity comes, no matter what track whether it’s a road course, dirt track, oval or whatever, you have to be ready for it.”

And Burton is ready. Even if his opportunity happens to be coming at the 2.66-mile Alabama track known for its high banks and high speed — which inevitably lead to wrecks.

That’s a theme Burton’s father, Jeff Burton, remembers all too well from his Cup days.

“Listen, as mom and dad, it’s going to be a little nerve wracking,” Jeff said. “Obviously Talladega is a nerve-wracking place. Harrison was working with some of his guys a little while ago, watching footage of some old races. I walked in, and hell, I got nervous watching replays and I knew what was going to happen. It’s just a crazy race track. It always has been.”

Harrison has ran it in Xfinity and Trucks. In his two Xfinity starts, he placed 23rd and 32nd (crashed out); he’ll race in Saturday’s event, too. He finished 11th in his sole Truck race.

Since there will be no practice or qualifying due to COVID-19 protocols, the fact Talladega is NASCAR’s longest oval actually could be beneficial for Harrison.

“It creates opportunity to gradually get to know your car and get to know your competition,” Jeff said. “So, just like everything in life, it has pluses and minuses. When I looked at the whole thing, I thought wow, this is actually a good opportunity for him to get some experience in the race without all the pressure.”

Through 40 Cup starts from 1994-2013, Jeff pulled out five top-five and 16 top-10 finishes at Talladega. His average start was 24.1, which turned into a 18.4 average finish.

Harrison is set to fire off 39th in Sunday’s 40-car field.

“It’s exciting for me to be here,” Harrison said. “But my goal since I was 5 years old wasn’t just to be here, right? So, finding a way to make the most of it, get after it and learn as fast as I can is important.”

Posted on April 21, 2021January 19, 2022 by Steve Luvender

Brad Keselowski is known as a superspeedway expert in NASCAR circles, and after winning the GEICO 70 in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series in a late-race pass, his status holds true in the sim world, too.

The 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champ passed race-dominant James Davison on a late-race restart as chaos unfolded deep in the pack during the run to the checkered flag in the exhibition race.

The virtual 2.66-mile superspeedway hosted the second race of this year’s Pro Invitational Series Wednesday night and featured a full field of NASCAR Cup Series stars — plus a few special guests — four days before Sunday’s GEICO 500 (2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM).

Six-time Talladega winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., FOX Sports broadcaster Clint Bowyer and fan-vote winner Jesse Iwuji joined 36 NASCAR Cup Series regulars for 70 scheduled laps of action on FS1, featuring iRacing’s laser-scanned version of Talladega with as-real-as-it-gets Cup cars.

Keelan Harvick, eight-year-old son of NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick, was also invited to race alongside his dad.

James Davison qualified on pole after a round of single-car qualifying alongside Anthony Alfredo — underdogs by Cup Series standards, but experts when it comes to iRacing.

Rick Ware Racing’s Davison, combined with teammate Garrett Smithley, put their Chevrolets at the front of the pack to open up the evening.

The race’s first caution flew when Austin Dillon and William Byron tangled, snarling Kevin Harvick in the process. Luckily, the drivers were afforded two fast-repair damage resets each, enabling the drivers to continue.

Shortly after, in-race reporter Bowyer went for a spin thanks to a bump-draft gone wrong with Daniel Suarez, who sported a Red Farmer tribute paint scheme for the evening. Despite the available resets, the crash knocked Bowyer out of contention — though he admits he didn’t enter the race with high hopes.

Throughout the intermediate portions of the race, the leaders remained in single-file formation — Davison and Smithley out in front — waiting patiently to make a move until later.

A round of green-flag pit stops — a surprise to some drivers — brought the field to pit road to make it to the finish with enough fuel. Still, Australia’s Davison persisted at the front of the field.

A flurry of cautions bunched up the field with less than 25 laps to go, setting up for a sprint to the finish, pit stops no longer a question.

On each ensuing restart, it didn’t take long for action to take on the familiar side-by-side, ultra-competitive look of any race at Talladega.

Talladega’s famous “Big One” struck not long after, a multi-car crash triggered when Denny Hamlin and Corey LaJoie made contact, tagging Iwuji, Kyle Larson, Matt DiBenedetto, and others.

Intensity ramped up as the lap count dwindled. The caution flew again with less than 10 to go when Larson, Hamlin and Chase Briscoe collided, sending Joey Logano’s car into the air in a manner reminiscent of Jeff Gordon’s crash in last year’s running of the sim race.

Of course, another crash meant another caution — and another restart. This time, six laps from the finish.

Teammates Davison and Smithley struggled to coordinate the restart, putting the brakes on Smithley’s outside lane and breaking up the unstoppable pair. But another caution flew shortly after when Byron and Justin Haley made contact and crashed with Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Martin Truex Jr. and others, setting up yet another restart — the race’s final.

Keselowski, who’d patiently waited behind Davison in previous runs, was able to quickly make his way to the preferred bottom lane, the veteran faking out the race’s dominant driver.

Keselowski, the 34-time Cup Series race winner, held off a hungry Christopher Bell to cross the finish line first, picking up his first Pro Invitational Series victory.

Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch, surged to third on the last lap, while Timmy Hill and defending race winner Alex Bowman rounded out the top five. Davison came home eighth after leading 61 laps.

Keelan Harvick finished the race — though deep in the field in 38th position.

While no points or money is on the line in the Pro Invitational Series, iRacing will make a $5,000 donation to Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation.

The iRacing Pro Invitational Series was created last year as NASCAR looked for alternative forms of racing after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. The series returned for 2021 and features a 10-race schedule, with events airing on FOX Sports and NBC Sports.

The next iRacing Pro Invitational Series race is set for May 5 at the virtual Darlington Raceway.

Posted on April 21, 2021April 22, 2021 by Zack Albert

Joey Logano says he has an appetite for superspeedway racing, a sort of fondness that’s bolstered by several positive factors — his talent for it, an adept spotter in veteran TJ Majors, and stout No. 22 Team Penske Fords. When the NASCAR Cup Series reconvenes this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, he’ll be leaning on all three.

“For those reasons, I feel like we’re always a threat to win. We’re always up there. We always have a shot,” Logano said earlier this week before teeing up the big caveat. “That being said, we’ve been crashing a lot, too. That’s part of it, I guess.”

Logano punctuated that remark with laughter, but he wasn’t exactly yukking it up with teammate Brad Keselowski after their last-lap collision sparked a multicar crash in the most recent superspeedway event, allowing Michael McDowell to dash to victory in the season-opening Daytona 500. The in-house calamity was such that team owner Roger Penske said last month that he planned a face-to-face sitdown with his drivers — Logano, Keselowski and Ryan Blaney — to mend fences and make a pact on the rules of engagement for Sunday’s GEICO 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the high-speed Alabama track.

“I don’t think there’s anything new that will happen,” Penske said in a March 22 video conference, “but I think we just have to make an agreement on just exactly how you want to play ball if you get into that same situation as we had with two of us running as well as we had with a half-mile to go, and then end up with three cars in the trash bucket, but that’s what you have to expect, unfortunately. It wasn’t a good day for us, obviously.”

In a Thursday morning Zoom press conference, Blaney indicated that conversation had occurred between the team owner and his three drivers. The call also included Wood Brothers Racing driver Matt DiBenedetto.

“I wouldn’t say it was awkward,” Blaney said. “Even though I was on the couch watching the end of that race because we wrecked out early, you’re still a part of it. It’s something that we talked about … just trying to find the best way if we are in a spot to where we’re 1-2 coming to the end of this thing, how do we go about that? How do we go about to make sure we do our best to finish 1-2, no matter who wins. I feel like we had a really good conversation between all of us.”

Blaney went on to say the ultimate goal is for all the Penske cars to be lined up and in the best position to win the race at the end. But, it’s difficult for a driver to have that mindset in the heat of the moment when you’re trying to reach Victory Lane, regardless if you’re battling with a teammate.

Good days have been part of Penske’s recent experience at Talladega, where the team’s entries have won nine of the last 18 Cup Series races — a stretch that includes four victories from Keselowski, three from Logano and two by Blaney. Ford has also benefited at the 2.66-mile trioval where teamwork and manufacturer solidarity are crucial, winning 12 of the last 17 events there in a similar span.

That said, the nature of superspeedway racing can alter the best-laid plans of teams and automakers to work together in harmony. On-track decisions made in the thick of the aerodynamic draft can thwart even the most crystalline pre-race strategies in a split second. Those strategies become even more murky in the late going, when team unity can give way to individual goals. Those clouded conditions are what Logano says he’d like to clear up when those pre-Talladega discussions take place.

“As far as who you work with, when you work with them, what you’re supposed to do, I just pray for clarity,” Logano said. “That’s all I want. Just tell me what I can do and what I can’t do, how to work together the best way possible when the gloves drop and when we go for it. Honestly, that has nothing to do with the 100% rule. That is how we win, right? I don’t think I can go out there and win by myself without having allies on the race track. I think probably most everyone can agree with that that’s out there.

“So you have to have some kind of plan of how do you pit together, how do you work the draft together, what’s OK and what’s not OK, and when does that end and does it end. I don’t know. I think this week will be important to get some clarity to those questions.”

MORE: Roger Penske on plans for pre-race talk

Count DiBenedetto among that group pushing Team Penske’s superspeedway mission, as the second-year driver of the tightly affiliated Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford. DiBenedetto said communication across the Penske banner has remained a strong point, noting the chemistry among teammates through a group text and the intensity of the “group study” for superspeedway strategy.

All that, he said, comes with the acknowledgement that Talladega’s brand of racing sometimes scuttles even the best prep work, bending well-established alliances.

“I haven’t made a mistake like that but none of it all works out perfectly,” DiBenedetto says. “You can scope out all these plans and have all this organization and communication but when the green flag drops you can’t predict what lines are moving or what line you are stuck in. It is really freaking stressful.”

Contributing: Chase Wilhelm

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Tadd Haislop

Tyler Rypkema did not head into the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season-opener at Martinsville Speedway almost two weeks ago expecting a top-five finish.

But that’s exactly what happened.

Rypkema charged through the field late in the 200-lap race on fresh tires to finish second to Eric Goodale. It marked the 24-year-old Rypkema’s career-best finish.

After four straight top-10 finishes to close out 2020 season, Rypkema’s No. 32 team continues to bring speed to the track in their second full-time season on the Tour.

Tyler Rypkema, driver of the No. 32 Musco / Welcorp Chevrolet, competes during the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 200 for the Whelen Modified Tour at Martinsville Raceway in Martinsville, Virginia, on April 8, 2021. (Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

Even though Rypkema had to rally late to finish where he did at Martinsville, he ran second in the only practice session of the day and qualified 10th. There is no doubt about it: Rypkema has improved from the beginning of 2020, when he finished 18th at Pennsylvania’s Jennerstown Speedway.

“We keep gaining on everything and building as a team,” Rypkema said. “We said a few times last year, ‘We probably had a top-five car, just came up short.’ So just to have it all come together and finally get that first top five is huge for everybody involved.

“As a team, we’re just looking to be competitive and really learn. We still have a ton to learn. All we’re looking to do is just finish the race, gain some more respect and gain some more knowledge.”

Rypkema credits crew chief Zach Truesdall for much of that improvement. It was Truesdall’s decision to save a set of tires for the final run at Martinsville.

“It really panned out for us,” Rypkema recalled. “It was huge for all of us to have that outcome and have that good of a run for us. … I’ve always been one that I want to be fast at the end of the race. I don’t want to be backing up. I want to be going forward. That’s how Zach likes it, too.”

Now Rypkema heads north to run the 49th edition of the NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler at Stafford Motor Speedway, where tires almost certainly will play a role in deciding who wins.

MORE SPRING SIZZLER:

“You gotta be there at the end,” Rypkema said. “You gotta be quick at the end. You can’t just be there by luck.”

Like Martinsville, Stafford is a track with plenty of historical significance dating back to the 1950s.

“Obviously, the Spring Sizzler is huge,” Rypkema said. “It dates back all the way to Richie Evans and before him. It’s incredible to see the list of drivers that have won that race. To think that that’s a possibility, that you might someday be on that list, too, is incredible. Everybody wants a Stafford Spring Sizzler trophy.”

Despite the string of strong finishes, Rypkema is keeping expectations cautiously optimistic for the rest of the season.

“Yeah, we had a good run,” he allowed. “It was huge to do that, but, don’t think just because you did that one time, you can do it every race. Prepare yourself. You’re going to have bad races. It’s not the end of the world. You’ll learn from even the bad races.”

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Marcus DiNitto

While some professional bettors look to take advantage of the randomness that results from restrictor plate racing, drafting at 200-plus mph and the crashes that usually ensue, other sharps believe it is too difficult to find an edge and stay away from superspeedways completely.

For public bettors, the buzz around Talladega and Daytona, plus the long odds available on top drivers in races such as Sunday’s GEICO 500, are too enticing to ignore.

Zack White, a pro bettor who specializes in NASCAR, has long avoided superspeedways and in recent seasons has pared down the number of races he bets to only about half the Cup schedule, tracks “where I’m still finding some edges,” he said. “I used to try to bet just about every race, maybe save the superspeedways.”

“The bookmakers know this, too, but it’s just a super crapshoot until the last few laps,” White said of superspeedway races. “It’d be really rare to go into a Talladega or a Daytona week and see anybody at +150 or anything around that range (in a driver vs. driver matchup prop). The bookmakers know that it’s fairly random. I’m sure a few people out there try to piece something together that they think is a winning strategy at these tracks, but I just choose not to.”

Sharp NASCAR bettor Blake Phillips agrees that the randomness of superspeedways makes it difficult to predict outcomes, but from his perspective, since oddsmakers are up against the same challenge, opportunity is borne from this randomness.

“The normal stuff that you would think is correlated with a win or at least finishing in a good position doesn’t necessarily apply as much in these kinds of races,” Phillips said. “First off, you have the issue of drafting, which changes the equation a little bit. But more importantly, you’re practically guaranteed a giant wreck that’s going to wipe out a big percentage of the drivers.

“Talladega and Daytona are tracks where I have a different approach that’s a lot less based on fundamental handicapping and a lot more looking at the offerings available and seeing where I feel there’s too heavy of a lean in a race with low predictability.”

That strategy translates into giving serious consideration to underdogs in head-to-head and group matchups, manufacturer to win and other props.

Superspeedway randomness also means longer odds in the outright market than we see for most races. At SuperBook USA in Las Vegas, no driver opened with single-digit odds to win the GEICO 500, as Denny Hamlin was made the 10/1 favorite. Nine drivers are listed at less than 20/1 odds, and six more opened at exactly 20/1.

Conversely, for last week’s race in Richmond, the SuperBook offered six drivers in single digits and a total of 11 at 20/1 or less.

“Talladega is much more open than Richmond,” said Ed Salmons, vice president of risk management at the SuperBook. “At Talladega, if you got six drivers against the field, the field would be a huge favorite.”

The chance to bet drivers like Chase Elliott at 12/1 odds, Brad Keselowski at 14/1 or Martin Truex Jr. 20/1 doesn’t come around often, and these opportunities motivate casual bettors. Handle tends to pick up for Talladega, according to Salmons.

“People always like this race,” he said. “You get good odds on everyone, no matter who you bet.”

Marcus DiNitto is a writer and editor living in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has been covering sports for nearly two-and-a-half decades and sports betting for more than 10 years. His first NASCAR betting experience was in 1995 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, where he went 0-for-3 on his matchup picks. Read his articles and follow him on Twitter; do not bet his picks.

Posted on April 21, 2021April 22, 2021 by Staff Report

See where your favorite driver will pit for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on April 21, 2021April 21, 2021 by Staff Report

Denny Hamlin has claimed the Busch Pole Award for Sunday’s GEICO 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Talladega Superspeedway.

Hamlin will start his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota from the pole position for the third time this season in the 500-miler at the 2.66-mile Alabama track. He finished second last weekend at Richmond Raceway and has held the NASCAR Cup Series points lead for all but one week this season.

Austin Cindric, the defending Xfinity Series champion, captured the pole for Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300 (4 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM) in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

As NASCAR adapted to COVID-19 protocols last season, practice and qualifying were eliminated at a majority of national-series events to limit at-track time, exposure and to cut race weekend costs. To determine starting lineups, competition officials used grouped draws, added inversions for weekend doubleheaders, and eventually adopted a performance-metrics formula. That metrics format remains in place this season, drawing on performance from both individual races and season-long results.

NASCAR’s metrics formula for 2021 weighs:

25 percent: Driver’s finishing position from the previous race
25 percent: Car owner’s finishing position from the previous race
35 percent: Team owner points ranking
15 percent: Fastest lap from the previous race

See the full lineup for Sunday’s Cup Series race below.

Start pos.	Driver	Car #	Team
1	Denny Hamlin	11	Joe Gibbs Racing
2	Joey Logano	22	Team Penske
3	Martin Truex Jr.	19	Joe Gibbs Racing
4	William Byron	24	Hendrick Motorsports
5	Alex Bowman	48	Hendrick Motorsports
6	Christopher Bell	20	Joe Gibbs Racing
7	Ryan Blaney	12	Team Penske
8	Chase Elliott	9	Hendrick Motorsports
9	Kyle Busch	18	Joe Gibbs Racing
10	Brad Keselowski	2	Team Penske
11	Austin Dillon	3	Richard Childress Racing
12	Kyle Larson	5	Hendrick Motorsports
13	Matt DiBenedetto	21	Wood Brothers Racing
14	Aric Almirola	10	Stewart-Haas Racing
15	Kurt Busch	1	Chip Ganassi Racing
16	Kevin Harvick	4	Stewart-Haas Racing
17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	47	JTG Daugherty Racing
18	Ross Chastain	42	Chip Ganassi Racing
19	Daniel Suarez	99	Trackhouse Racing Team
20	Tyler Reddick	8	Richard Childress Racing
21	Chris Buescher	17	Roush Fenway Racing
22	Erik Jones	43	Richard Petty Motorsports
23	Michael McDowell	34	Front Row Motorsports
24	Bubba Wallace	23	23XI Racing
25	Chase Briscoe	14	Stewart-Haas Racing
26	Corey LaJoie	7	Spire Motorsports
27	Cole Custer	41	Stewart-Haas Racing
28	Ryan Newman	6	Roush Fenway Racing
29	Ryan Preece	37	JTG Daugherty Racing
30	Anthony Alfredo	38	Front Row Motorsports
31	BJ McLeod	78	Live Fast Motorsports
32	Quin Houff	00	StarCom Racing
33	Cody Ware	51	Petty Ware Racing
34	Justin Haley	77	Spire Motorsports
35	Joey Gase	28	Rick Ware Racing
36	Josh Bilicki	52	Rick Ware Racing
37	JJ Yeley	15	Rick Ware Racing
38	Kaz Grala	16	Kaulig Racing
39	Harrison Burton	96	Gaunt Brothers Racing
40	Timmy Hill	66	MBM Motorsports

Practice and qualifying are tentatively scheduled for eight Cup Series races this year. Busch Pole Qualifying was held for the season-opening Daytona 500 but rain canceled the qualifying races for Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt-track race. The next Cup Series event with qualifying scheduled is the May 23 debut at the Circuit of the Americas road course in Austin, Texas.

Posted on April 20, 2021 by Staff Report

Jesse Iwuji has won the first ever eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series Fan Vote, as revealed on Tuesday’s NASCAR Race Hub on FS1. As a result, Iwuji is now eligible to race in Wednesday night’s Pro Invitational Series event at virtual Talladega Superspeedway, airing at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.

Iwuji was one of 10 drivers in the fan vote. NASCAR Xfinity Series driver and Martinsville Speedway winner Josh Berry finished second in the vote, followed by Xfinity Series driver Landon Cassill.

Other drivers in the fan vote included Justin Allgaier, Rajah Caruth, Noah Gragson, Austin Hill, Nicholas Sanchez, Ryan Truex and Ryan Vargas.

NASCAR Cup Series driver William Byron earned victory in the first 2021 Pro Invitational Series event on the virtual Bristol Motor Speedway dirt. The triumph was his fourth career Pro Invitational Series victory.

Posted on April 20, 2021 by Staff Report

NASCAR officials issued penalties Tuesday to three teams — two in the Cup Series and one in the Camping World Truck Series — for lug-nut violations in last weekend’s events at Richmond Raceway.

The infractions, filed under the heading of Sections 10.9.10.4 (tires and wheels) in each series’ rule book, resulted in fines for each team’s crew chief. The vehicles were each found with one unsecured lug nut in a post-race check.

STANDINGS: Cup Series | Camping World Trucks

After the Cup Series’ Toyota Owners 400, the safety violations — which carried $10,000 fines — were handed to:

• The No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for driver William Byron (crew chief Ryan “Rudy” Fugle)
• The No. 51 Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet for driver Cody Ware (crew chief Mike Hillman)

In the Camping World Truck Series, the race-winning Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 4 Toyota team for driver John Hunter Nemechek was docked for a single-lug penalty. The infraction resulted in a $2,500 fine to crew chief Eric Phillips.