Busch Finally Wins During Wet Texas Weekend

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Busch won the Autotrader EchoPark 500 from Texas Motor Speedway on Wednesday afternoon to pick up his first win of 2020.

Busch had to wait a few days to pick up his first victory of the year, as a consistent mist stayed in the Fort Worth area for three days.  The race began on Sunday afternoon, but was red-flagged after just 51 laps, and did not resume until Wednesday afternoon.

Busch used pit strategy to get to the front, and he was able to use fuel mileage to get the victory.  After pitting before the rest of the field, Busch had to save fuel over the final 60-lap run.  He was able to save enough to hold off his teammate Martin Truex Jr. in the closing laps.

Busch said he had to work hard over the final run to keep his fuel mileage right on the numbers.

“Kept getting great leadership and mentoring from [Crew Chief Adam Stevens],” Busch said.  “Just kept talking to me, reminding me about saving and being able to do what I could.  Trying to stay in the draft as much as I could on the straightaways.”

Busch, who was eliminated from the Playoffs at the end of the last round, extended his streak of consecutive years with a victory to 16 with his win on Wednesday.

Busch said he believes his team is set up to contend again next year.

“This one means a lot just to keep the 16 going,” Busch said.  “Everyone thought we were duds, but we don’t give up.  We’re ready to fight next year; we’ll be back.”

Truex came into Texas needing a win to advance to the final round of the Playoffs, but came up one spot short.

Now Truex has one more chance to race for a championship at Phoenix, and he said he believes he can contend at Martinsville to lock himself in.

“Excited about Martinsville; I know we can win there,” Truex said.  “Seems like one of those years where we’re just second, third, fourth…we’re right there a lot, but we just needed a little bit more to be better.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Martin Truex Jr.

3. Christopher Bell

4. Ryan Blaney

5. Alex Bowman

6. Brad Keselowski

7. Kurt Busch

8. Matt DiBenedetto

9. Denny Hamlin

10. Joey Logano

11. Austin Dillon

12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

13. William Byron

14. Cole Custer

15. Tyler Reddick

16. Kevin Harvick

17. Clint Bowyer

18. Ryan Preece

19. Ryan Newman

20. Chase Elliott

21. Erik Jones

22. John Hunter Nemechek

23. Aric Almirola

24. Ty Dillon

25. Corey LaJoie

26. Michael McDowell

27. Daniel Suarez

28. Brennan Poole

29. Josh Bilicki

30. Timmy Hill

31. Garrett Smithley

32. Reed Sorenson

33. Quin Houff

34. Chris Buescher

35. Chad Finchum

36. Jimmie Johnson

37. Joey Gase

38. Bubba Wallace

39. Matt Kenseth

40. JJ Yeley

Photos courtesy Jared C. Tilton and Chris Graythen (Getty Images)

Logano Holds off Harvick to Win at Kansas

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Joey Logano won the Hollywood Casino 400 from Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon to lock himself into the Championship Round of the NASCAR Playoffs.

Logano took the lead on the final restart, and he held off Kevin Harvick over the final 30-lap run.

Harvick had a faster car throughout the race, but Logano was able to block him over the final run to pick up his first victory since NASCAR returned from their COVID shutdown.

Logano said he was focused on his mirror throughout the final run to block any runs from Harvick.

“I thought if I could hold him off those first 15 laps, I’d have a chance,” Logano said.  “Dirty air was best for us.  When we caught lapped traffic, we were able to gap ourselves as he got more dirty air.”

Logano said the victory reminds him of 2018, when he locked himself in to the final round of the Playoffs early.

“It was on my mind every lap,” Logano said.  “You come into this race knowing if you can win this thing you’ve got an amazing advantage.  We’re going to Phoenix; we’re racing for a championship again.”

Harvick said he needed to beat Logano off pit road if he was going to win.

“It came down to controlling that restart there and we lost the lead,” Harvick said.  “We weren’t the best behind somebody.  Good run for us; wish we could have won but one short.”

Unofficial results:

1. Joey Logano

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Alex Bowman

4. Brad Keselowski

5. Kyle Busch

6. Chase Elliott

7. Ryan Blaney

8. William Byron

9. Martin Truex Jr.

10. Christopher Bell

11. Austin Dillon

12. Matt DiBenedetto

13. Aric Almirola

14. Cole Custer

15. Denny Hamlin

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. John Hunter Nemechek

18. Bubba Wallace

19. Michael McDowell

20. Erik Jones

21. Chris Buescher

22. Ryan Newman

23. Corey LaJoie

24. Ty Dillon

25. Tyler Reddick

26. Clint Bowyer

27. Daniel Suarez

28. Brennan Poole

29. Ryan Preece

30. JJ Yeley

31. Jimmie Johnson

32. James Davison

33. Quin Houff

34. Timmy Hill

35. Josh Bilicki

36. Reed Sorenson

37. Joey Gase

38. Kurt Busch

39. Chad Finchum

40. Matt Kenseth

Photo courtesy Chris Graythen (Getty Images)

Elliott Ends Round of 12 with Roval Victory

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Chase Elliott won the Bank of America ROVAL 400 from the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course to win his fourth-straight road course race.

Elliott was a favorite going into the race after winning last year’s event at the Roval, and he was able to pull away from the field on a late restart to pick up his third victory of the year.

Already in a good position to make the next round of the Playoffs, Elliott was able to lock himself into the next round with the victory and pick up five additional Playoff Points for the next round.

Elliott said he wasn’t focused on his points position heading into the Round of 12 finale.

“I feel like you start playing the points game and you can get yourself in trouble,” Elliott said.  “Best way to get to the next round is to win, so hopefully we can do something with it.”

Elliott had a dominant car in 2019, and drove up through the field after an accident while leading. 

This year, Elliott said his team brought an even better car than the one he took to victory lane last year.

“I tweaked on some small things and got a little better than what I was here last year, which was good,” Elliott said.  “I feel like road courses have been fortunate to us the last few trips.”

The race saw the bottom four drivers eliminated from Playoff contention.  Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Clint Bowyer and Aric Almirola each saw their championship hopes come to an end.

Busch, the reigning Cup Series Champion, said his team just continued to be off throughout the Playoffs like they had been during the year.

“Nothing’s played out or has been on our side,” Busch said.  “Terrible year for me, but as other sports greats would say, there’s many other drivers that would love to have a year that we’re having.”

“I knew this round was going to be trouble with the year that we had, and I was right.”

Unofficial results:

1. Chase Elliott

2. Joey Logano

3. Erik Jones

4. Kurt Busch

5. Ryan Blaney

6. William Byron

7. Martin Truex Jr.

8. Alex Bowman

9. Cole Custer

10. Clint Bowyer

11. Kevin Harvick

12. Tyler Reddick

13. Jimmie Johnson

14. Ryan Preece

15. Denny Hamlin

16. Aric Almirola

17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

18. Brad Keselowski

19. Austin Dillon

20. Chris Buescher

21. Bubba Wallace

22. Matt DiBenedetto

23. Ty Dillon

24. Christopher Bell

25. Daniel Suarez

26. Gray Gaulding

27. Corey LaJoie

28. Quin Houff

29. James Davison

30. Kyle Busch

31. Ryan Newman

32. Michael McDowell

33. Josh Bilicki

34. Matt Kenseth

35. JJ Yeley

36. John Hunter Nemechek

37. Brennan Poole

38. Timmy Hill

Photos courtesy Jared C. Tilton (Getty Images)

 

Hamlin Stuns with Talladega Victory in Photo Finish

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Denny Hamlin won the YellaWood 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon, beating Matt DiBenedetto to the line in a photo-finish.

Hamlin ran in the back for most of the race to conserve his car for the finish, and he was able to race his way to the front over three overtime finishes.  Hamlin made the pass for the lead as the field entered the trioval, and he was able to beat DiBenedetto to the line by .023 seconds for his seventh victory of the season.

Hamlin said the surprise victory made up for some tough losses throughout the year.

“We just played the strategy…to ride in the back until we were locked in, but things just worked out,” Hamlin said.  “Really excited about this win, unexpected for sure.”

Hamlin got around William Byron and alongside DiBenedetto with a controversial pass below the yellow line in turns 3 and 4.  NASCAR has a rule at superspeedways that no passes below the yellow line are allowed unless the driver is forced there by another driver.

After NASCAR ruled Hamlin was forced down by Chris Buescher, Hamlin said he did what he could to avoid an accident.

“They were crashing in front of us,” Hamlin said.  “Obviously I got forced down like [DiBenedetto] and others did.”

DiBenedetto made a block on William Byron in the middle of turns 3 and 4 that sent Byron’s 24 below the yellow line, and NASCAR ruled against DiBenedetto; his second-place finish turned into a 21st following the ruling.

DiBenedetto said he was doing all he could to hold off the field to try to pick up his first career victory.

“It was actually tough to see, my windshield was filthy from all the Speedy Dry,” DiBenedetto said.  “I was having trouble seeing the block; I was blocking every lane.”

Hamlin took away DiBenedetto’s chance at a victory last year at Bristol, and DiBenedetto said it was a bout of unwanted déjà vu this year at Talladega.

“The emotions…I feel like it’s the same story,” DiBenedetto said.  “Just heartbreak; my wife and I have had a stressful week again.”

“Denny did a great job.  Denny deserves all the support in the world; he’s an incredible racer.”

Unofficial results:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Erik Jones

3. Ty Dillon

4. William Byron

5. Ryan Newman

6. Chris Buescher

7. Tyler Reddick

8. John Hunter Nemechek

9. Brennan Poole

10. Ryan Preece

11. Justin Haley

12. Austin Dillon

13. Quin Houff

14. Alex Bowman

15. Timmy Hill

16. Matt Kenseth

17. Joey Gase

18. Brad Keselowski

19. Cody Ware

20. Kevin Harvick

21. Matt DiBenedetto

22. Chase Elliott

23. Martin Truex Jr.

24. Bubba Wallace

25. Ryan Blaney

26. Joey Logano

27. Kyle Busch

28. Corey LaJoie

29. Jimmie Johnson

30. James Davison

31. Cole Custer

32. Kurt Busch

33. Clint Bowyer

34. Daniel Suarez

35. Brendan Gaughan

36. Michael McDowell

37. Aric Almirola

38. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

39. Christopher Bell

Photos courtesy Chris Graythen (Getty Images)