NASCAR
Kevin Harvick Wins NASCAR Race At Michigan, Ganassi’s Kyle Larson Finishes 3rd
BROOKLYN, MI (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Stewart Haas Racing’s (SHR) Kevin Harvick picked up his second victory of the season passing Joey Logano with 17-laps to go to win Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) Race at Michigan International Speedway (MIS).
“We just had a really fast car all weekend,” said Harvick. “Our car handled really well today, and with the multiple lanes, we were able to run all three lanes pretty well and make our way through traffic. So just really proud of everybody on our Mobil 1 Ford, everybody from Busch and Hunt Brothers and Jimmy John’s and everybody back at the shop from Haas Automation and Stewart-Haas Racing, just put a really fast car on the racetrack and we were able to capitalize on it, and that’s always fun.”
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson finished third in the No. 42 McDonalds Camaro, right behind Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who finished second.
“Our McDonald’s Chevy handled really well today when we had four tires on it,” said Larson. “When we would do two rights, I’d be way too tight, and then we’d put two lefts on and I was way too loose, but then that finally balanced out and I was back to being good and running really fast laps at the end.”
Larson was running in the top 10 with a couple of laps remaining when a number of cars either had to go to pit road for fuel, with some running out of gas on the last lap, so Larson finished better than even he thought.
“The last thing I knew I was running like ninth and I passed a couple guys, but so yeah, I guess more people ran out of fuel than I thought,” said Larson. “I don’t really know what happened there. But yeah, it worked out.”
Larson’s third place finish solidified his spot to qualify for NASCAR’s playoffs with three races remaining in the regular season. Larson now sits in 13-place in the playoff standings, 71-points above the cut-off.
“That was a great point saver, well above the cut line now, so happy about that,” said Larson.
Good finish and awesome points day for us today! Happy to head to my favorite track with some momentum. Cars have been fast lately 👍🏼👍🏼
— Kyle Larson (@KyleLarsonRacin) August 12, 2019
Larson’s teammate Kurt Busch ran in the top 10 all day and was running 7th on lap 198 of the 200-lap event, but was one of many drivers trying to save fuel to make it to the end of the race, so he slid back to 8th as he took the white flag and ran out on the back straightaway and fell to 23rd.
Hope the neighbors have some gas ⛽️ when we get home! Ran her dry today. Happy with our effort and teamwork, let’s win @BMSupdates baby! pic.twitter.com/CHgxX2KIou
— Kurt Busch (@KurtBusch) August 12, 2019
Busch now sits in 8th place in the playoff standings with 1-win and 6-playoff points. Hendrick Motorsports Chase Elliott s in 7th place with 2-wins and 14-playoff points. Elliott’s teammate Alex Bowman is behind Busch in 9th place with 1-win and 5-playoff points.
Clint Bowyer is in the 16th and final playoff spot, 6-points above the cut line. Bowyer’s SHR teammate Daniel Suarez is in the 17th position. The top 16 in points qualify for NASCAR’s playoff.
The next Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race is Saturday night August 17, 2019 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
CONCORD, NC (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – A.J. Allmendinger’s run towards a NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship is continuing into the Round of 8 after his third-straight win on ‘The Roval’ at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“It’s special to win this race three years in-a-row,” said Allmendinger. “Do we go for the win during the race’s second stage by pitting early? We decided to do that. Once we got in the lead the Hyperice Chevy was so fast.”
Team Penske’s Austin Cindric finished second after starting from the pole position and having an eventful day. Cindric led the first seven laps of the race before missing the backstretch chicane. Cindric and his team went off strategy and by the end of the recovered and was in second place on the final re-start.
“I spun my tires like crazy on that last restart,” said Cindric, who already clinched a spot in the Round of 8. “I was worried about that, but I didn’t think it was going to be that bad. I feel like I could have tried a second gear restart. I think that would have helped me out at least maintaining some track position, but it was just not meant to be today.”
Daniel Hemric finished third followed by Justin Haley and Brandon Jones. All three also advanced into the Round of 8.
The other drivers advancing to the Round of 8 included Noah Gragson (sixth Saturday), Justin Allgaier (ninth) and Harrison Burton (15th).
The race featured six lead changes among five drivers, with Allmendinger leading the final 21 circuits. There were seven cautions for 13 laps.
The fourth caution also caused a brief stoppage when the brakes failed on the No. 07 Chevrolet of Josh Bilicki, with the car plowing through the backstretch chicane and dislodging pieces of curbing in its path. Track workers had to remove the exposed bolts that had held the curbing in place before the race could continue.
TALLADEGA, AL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Brandon Brown picked up his first Xfinity Series victory winning Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Brown was racing three-wide for the lead with Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones when the No. 20 of Harrison Burton broke loose in turn four triggering a multi-vehicle accident on lap 102 of the 113-lap event.
NASCAR officials reverted back to the last completed scoring loop to determine Brown was slightly ahead when the caution came out.
“Everything I’ve ever wanted to do is take the trophy home to Mom and Dad,” said Brown, who drives for his family owned team. “Oh my god, it’s a dream come true. A Talladega winner. Oh my god, Dad, we did it!”
Jones was credited with a second place finish and Allgaier came home in third position. Daniel Hemric finished fourth followed by Jordan Anderson in fifth.
Defending Xfinity Series Champion Austin Cindric remains atop the drivers standing following his 8th place finish. Allgaier is in second place followed by Hemric in third.
A.J. Allmendinger took a hit in the points after being involved in an accident and fell to fourth, 44-points out of the lead and 25-points above the 8th place cutoff to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
Burton fell to eight in the points after his accident and sits only 8-points ahed of Jeb Burton for the final playoff transfer spot.
BRISTOL, TN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Kyle Larson passed Kevin Harvick with three-laps-to-go and went on to win Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“Have always wanted to win here, so cool to finally do it,” said Larson. “We were able to stay close enough to Kevin. Chase was obviously upset with the contact, was just making things kind of tough on him. It kept me in the game.”
Elliott certainly made it tougher on Harvick after contact between the two, as they were fighting for the lead, sent the No. 9 Hooters Chevy to pit road with a flat left front tire. Elliott returned to the track a couple of laps down but on the same part of the track as the leaders and the defending Cup Series Champion ran the No. 4 up against the wall in frustration.
Elliott eventually passed Harvick but did not pull away with the fresher tires, instead Elliott took the racing line away from Harvick as Larson continued to close in. Larson caught and passed Harvick, who blamed Elliott.
“I just told him it was kind of a chicken-shit move he did there at the end,” fumed Harvick. “I was just trying to get the lead and race him hard. Then he pulls up in front of me and sits there till I lose the whole lead.”
“Well, it’s something he does all the time,” said Elliott of the contact from the No. 4. “He runs into your left side constantly at other tracks. Did it to me in Darlington a few weeks ago because he was tired of racing me. Whether he did it on purpose doesn’t matter. At some point you have to draw a line.”
The line to the next round of the NASCAR Playoffs was drawn after Bristol with four drivers falling out the playoffs.
Chip Ganassi’s hopes of winning that elusive NASCAR Championship ended Saturday night when Kurt Busch was one of those four drivers eliminated. Busch finished 19th at Bristol.
Aric Almirola, Michael McDowell and Tyler Reddick were also eliminated.
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Brandon Brown gets Xfinity Series win at Talladega
Kyle Hardy wins night one of the ‘Bill Hendren Memorial’ at PPMS
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou Wins NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship
Brown Breaks Through
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