Kyle Busch Wins Championship with Homestead Victory

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Busch won the Ford 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday afternoon to win his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

Busch came into the weekend as the underdog after going winless over the last 21 races.  The victory was Busch’s first since June 2 at Pocono Raceway.

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Busch picked up his fifth win of the season at Homestead, and said his success was a testament to his team’s hard work as they struggled to find victory lane.

“We have a great race team and a great owner,” Busch said.  “I just can’t say enough and can’t thank everyone enough for this opportunity.  I may be the one who’s able to hoist the trophy or have a championship, but it wouldn’t be possible without [crew chief] Adam Stevens and Coach Joe Gibbs.”

Busch took the lead late in the race after his teammates suffered pit miscues.  Denny Hamlin had to make an unscheduled stop when his car started overheating after the team put too much tape on the nose, and Martin Truex Jr. was caught too far behind the leader without enough time to make up the difference after he pitted later than the rest of the leaders.

Hamlin said he was disappointed he couldn’t celebrate his first title.

“It’s disappointing, but all you can ask for is a chance,” Hamlin said.  “Chris [Gabehart, Hamlin’s crew chief] is aggressive; he’s an aggressive crew chief.  He tried to get me all the speed he could there and it was just too much tape.  We were going to blow up.”

Truex had a dominant car and led 103 laps, but fell short to Busch over the final run.

Truex said he and his team lost control of the race in the third stage.

“Having to restart back where we did…and we started the third stage for sure too tight,” Truex said.  “We were faster the whole last run, we were just too far behind and it was too much to make up with traffic.”

Busch, who has always been a polarizing figure in the sport, said the victory and the championship was for his fans.

“There’s always your doubters; there’s always your haters,” Busch said.  “This one’s for Rowdy Nation, because you guys are the best.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Martin Truex Jr.

3. Erik Jones

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Joey Logano

6. Clint Bowyer

7. Ryan Newman

8. Austin Dillon

9. Alex Bowman

10. Denny Hamlin

11. Ryan Blaney

12. Daniel Hemric

13. Jimmie Johnson

14. Daniel Suarez

15. Chase Elliott

16. Chris Buescher

17. Paul Menard

18. Brad Keselowski

19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

20. Matt DiBenedetto

21. Kurt Busch

22. Aric Almirola

23. John Hunter Nemechek

24. Ty Dillon

25. Ryan Preece

26. Michael McDowell

27. David Ragan

28. Landon Cassill

29. Drew Herring

30. JJ Yeley

31. Corey LaJoie

32. BJ McLeod

33. Timmy Hill

34. Bubba Wallace

35. Ross Chastain

36. Josh Bilicki

37. Reed Sorenson

38. Joe Nemechek

39. William Byron

40. Kyle Larson

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Harvick Dominant in Texas Victory

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kevin Harvick won the AAA Texas 500 from Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon to lock himself into the Championship Round of the Playoffs.

Harvick had a dominant car all weekend.  After winning the pole on Saturday, Harvick led 119 laps on Sunday on his way to victory lane.

Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

A penalty on a pit stop forced Harvick to restart in the back, and it looked as though his car struggled in traffic.  After another round of pit stops, Harvick was able to work his way through traffic, and he was able to get past his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola to take the lead.

Harvick said a bad set of tires and a bad restart caused the slow start in the back.

“We had a bad restart one time and we got buried back there,” Harvick said.  “We came in, put another set of tires on, and we were really able to make up some time.”

Harvick now sets his sight on Homestead-Miami Speedway in two weeks, where he will fight for the Championship.

Harvick said his team has been preparing for the finale for awhile.

“We’ve already been going down that road,” Harvick said.  “They’ve already built the car…picked a direction.”

While Harvick locked himself into the finale at Homestead, Denny Hamlin made his road to the championship harder.  After spinning early in the race and damaging the nose to his car, Hamlin finished 28th.

After coming into Texas with a 24-point lead above 5th-place in the standings, Hamlin now sits 20 points below the cutoff.

Hamlin said his team is going to go to Phoenix next weekend looking for a victory.

“The car and effort will be there, that’s for sure,” Hamlin said.  “There’s no doubt in my mind we can go there and win, especially in these circumstances.”

“I like the challenge.  We’re going to go out there and give it our best shot, put our best foot forward and see if we can win next week.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Aric Almirola

3. Daniel Suarez

4. Joey Logano

5. Alex Bowman

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. Kyle Busch

8. Ryan Blaney

9. Kurt Busch

10. Erik Jones

11. Clint Bowyer

12. Kyle Larson

13. Austin Dillon

14. Matt DiBenedetto

15. Ryan Newman

16. Daniel Hemric

17. William Byron

18. Ty Dillon

19. Chris Buescher

20. Paul Menard

21. John Hunter Nemechek

22. Parker Kligerman

23. Ryan Preece

24. Bubba Wallace

25. Michael McDowell

26. JJ Yeley

27. Landon Cassill

28. Denny Hamlin

29. Joe Nemechek

30. Josh Bilicki

31. Ross Chastain

32. Chase Elliott

33. Quin Houff

34. Jimmie Johnson

35. David Ragan

36. Garrett Smithley

37. Timmy Hill

38. Corey LaJoie

39. Brad Keselowski

40. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

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Truex Dominant in Martinsville Victory, Hamlin and Logano Fight on Pit Road

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Martin Truex Jr. won the First Data 500 from Martinsville Speedway on Sunday afternoon to lock himself into the Championship Round of the Playoffs.

Truex was dominant on Sunday, and led 464 of 500 laps.  Truex, who struggled on short tracks for the majority of his career, has now won three in the past two years.

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Truex said he and his team have been working to get better on short tracks.

“We’ve wanted to win here for a long time, and the guys have worked so hard,” Truex said.  “I’m just so excited and proud to drive this thing.”

The victory locks Truex into the Championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway where he will fight for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

Truex said he’s excited that his team can now focus on the race in three weeks.

“We don’t have to worry about points anymore, we can just get to work on our Homestead car,” Truex said.  “We’re going to Homestead again, so that was what we tried to accomplish this weekend.”

William Byron tried to chase Truex down in the closing laps, but the 21-year old driver wasn’t able to make a move on the 19 of Truex.

Byron said he would have used the bumper to try to pick up his first career victory if he had been close enough.

“I wouldn’t have raced him dirty, but I’m really hungry for my first win,” Byron said.  “He ran such a good race, I think he would have been able to drag the brake and do anything he could to keep me behind him anyways.”

After the race, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano got into a pit road altercation after the two made contact late in the race.  Logano pushed Hamlin, and that led to a fight between the two drivers and their crews.

Hamlin said the fight started with a typical move from Logano.

“Everything was civil, and then, like Joey does, he does the little push and runs away,” Hamlin said.  “That’s Joey, he’s scared.  He would probably say, ‘it’s short track racing.’”

Logano said he was frustrated that Hamlin did not apologize for the contact between the two Playoff drivers.

“I just wanted to see what he was going to say, and he really wasn’t apologetic at all,” Logano said.  “Maybe I shouldn’t have shoved him at the end; it maybe escalated it a little bit more.”

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. William Byron

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Ryan Blaney

6. Kurt Busch

7. Kevin Harvick

8. Joey Logano

9. Kyle Larson

10. Ryan Newman

11. David Ragan

12. Chris Buescher

13. Bubba Wallace

14. Kyle Busch

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

16. Matt DiBenedetto

17. Daniel Hemric

18. Corey LaJoie

19. Ryan Preece

20. Erik Jones

21. Paul Menard

22. Austin Dillon

23. Michael McDowell

24. Ty Dillon

25. Matt Crafton

26. Landon Cassill

27. BJ McLeod

28. JJ Yeley

29. Ross Chastain

30. Alex Bowman

31. Daniel Suarez

32. Garrett Smithley

33. Reed Sorenson

34. Timmy Hill

35. Clint Bowyer

36. Chase Elliott

37. Aric Almirola

38. Jimmie Johnson

Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Hamlin Wins at Kansas, Elliott Transfers to Round of 8

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Denny Hamlin won the Hollywood Casino 400 from Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon in the finale for the Round of 12 of the Playoffs.

Hamlin had a dominant car during the second half of Sunday’s race, and led a race-high 153 laps.  Hamlin held off challenges from Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch in the closing laps after multiple cautions sent the race into overtime.

Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Hamlin was already locked into the next round of the Playoffs on points, but he said he was glad to pick up another win on the year.

“That car was awesome…to dominate that whole second half was great,” Hamlin said.  “We’ve been running really good, just cannot wait to get to Martinsville.”

Hamlin now heads to Martinsville Speedway next weekend, where he has had strong runs in the past.  A win next weekend would send Hamlin to the Championship Four at Homestead to battle for his first career Cup Series Championship.

Hamlin said he is taking everything one week at a time.

“It’s step-by-step, week-by-week,” Hamlin said.  “I’m not getting too far ahead of ourselves.  We concentrate every week as if it’s the most important one, and this win kind of shows that.”

Elliott came into the race in a must-win scenario to keep his Playoff hopes alive, and he was able to finish second and make it into the next round. 

Elliott said the strong finish was a testament to his team’s attitude as they struggled early in the race.

“We were really struggling there at one point in the race, and you have to stay fighting in these things,” Elliott said.  “Excited that we’ll get to fight another race.”

Brad Keselowski was on the losing end of the Playoff race, and missed the next round of the Playoffs by three points after struggling on the final restart.

Keselowski said he wasn’t able to make the moves he needed to in the closing laps.

“Couldn’t get nothing to go for me on the restart,” Keselowski said.  “I got sandwiched and somebody went three-wide…just all bad and I didn’t do a good enough job.”

Keselowski was joined by William Byron, Alex Bowman and Clint Bowyer as the four drivers eliminated from the Playoffs.

Unofficial results:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Chase Elliott

3. Kyle Busch

4. Kurt Busch

5. William Byron

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. Erik Jones

8. Clint Bowyer

9. Kevin Harvick

10. Jimmie Johnson

11. Alex Bowman

12. Ryan Preece

13. Chris Buescher

14. Kyle Larson

15. Matt DiBenedetto

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. Joey Logano

18. Paul Menard

19. Brad Keselowski

20. Austin Dillon

21. Ryan Blaney

22. Ty Dillon

23. Aric Almirola

24. Michael McDowell

25. Matt Tifft

26. David Ragan

27. Ross Chastain

28. Corey LaJoie

29. Parker Kligerman

30. JJ Yeley

31. Daniel Hemric

32. Daniel Suarez

33. Reed Sorenson

34. Garrett Smithley

35. Bubba Wallace

36. Josh Bilicki

37. Landon Cassill

38. Joey Gase

39. Timmy Hill

40. Ryan Newman

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Blaney Wins Wild Talladega Race

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Ryan Blaney won the 1000Bulbs.com 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on Monday afternoon to lock himself into the next round of the Playoffs.

The first stage of the race was run on Sunday, but rain postponed the rest of the race until Monday afternoon.  After a calm first half of the race, the second brought chaos that shuffled the running order.

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Numerous big wrecks took out many of the front runners, and it set up for a two-lap sprint to the finish.  Blaney lined up first, and he quickly cleared Aric Almirola to take control on the restart.  He held onto the lead until the final turn, when Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin pushed their way to the front.

Blaney and Newman made contact in the trioval, and Blaney was able to beat Newman to the finish line by .007 seconds.

Blaney said he couldn’t block Newman’s run if he wanted a chance at the victory.

“There was no blocking the 6 [of Newman] and the 11 [of Hamlin], they were coming so fast,” Blaney said.  “I figured I’d give up the bottom and they were just going to leave me in the middle.”

Blaney said the push from Almirola was able to give him enough momentum to get past Newman at the end.

“I can’t thank Almirola enough for helping me out there at the end; he was a great pusher all day,” Blaney said.  “[Newman] kind of pushed me below the yellow line…I definitely wasn’t going to go below the line before we made contact.”

Newman said he didn’t want to think of all the things he could have done to gain the .007 seconds that stood between him and the victory.

“I could have pinched him some more, I probably could have took the air,” Newman said.  “I saw the guys spinning in the back and I was hoping there’d be a yellow but there wasn’t.”

“We overcame a lot of obstacles, had cars flying on top of us and all that stuff; just proud of the team.”

Unofficial results:

1. Ryan Blaney

2. Ryan Newman

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Aric Almirola

5. Michael McDowell

6. Austin Dillon

7. Corey LaJoie

8. Chase Elliott

9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

10. Ty Dillon

11. Joey Logano

12. Ross Chastain

13. Matt Tifft

14. Landon Cassill

15. Parker Kligerman

16. Paul Menard

17. Kevin Harvick

18. Ryan Preece

19. Kyle Busch

20. Chris Buescher

21. Daniel Hemric

22. Reed Sorenson

23. Clint Bowyer

24. Bubba Wallace

25. Brad Keselowski

26. Martin Truex Jr.

27. Brendan Gaughan

28. Kurt Busch

29. David Ragan

30. Matt DiBenedetto

31. Blake Jones

32. Daniel Suarez

33. William Byron

34. Erik Jones

35. Austin Theriault

36. Joey Gase

37. Alex Bowman

38. Jimmie Johnson

39. Kyle Larson

40. Spencer Boyd

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Larson Snaps Winless Streak with Dover Victory

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Larson won the Drydene 400 from Dover International Speedway on Sunday afternoon to snap a 75-race winless streak.

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Larson had a strong car throughout the entire weekend, and ran up front for most of the race after qualifying second.  After taking the lead following a pit stop in the final stage, Larson was able to work his way through lapped traffic on his way to victory lane.

Larson said this win was big for his team after going winless in 2018.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve won a points-paying race,” Larson said.  “We won the All-Star Race earlier this year…but we wanted to win a points race and we did it when it mattered.”

With the wild card of the Playoffs at Talladega next weekend, the victory locked Larson into the third round.

Larson said he was happy he won’t have to stress about Talladega next weekend.

“Everybody in the Playoff field is going to be stressing next week at Talladega, except for me,” Larson said.  “Last time I was at Talladega, I was on my lid…I could still end up on my lid next week but it’s not going to matter.”

Martin Truex Jr. finished second on Sunday.  Truex won Stage 2, but a pit road mistake by his crew cost him the lead to Larson. 

Truex said lapped traffic played a part in his ability to catch the leader.

“We were catching him at the end; we got close, but just unfortunate,” Truex said.  “Lost track position and just the whole third stage we were behind.”

“Good job by all the guys, good rebound by the pit crew, and just a solid day at Dover.  We had a shot at the win come up short; would have been nice to have that win and a free pass.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Martin Truex Jr.

3. Alex Bowman

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Kyle Busch

7. Matt DiBenedetto

8. Jimmie Johnson

9. Kurt Busch

10. Clint Bowyer

11. Brad Keselowski

12. Paul Menard

13. William Byron

14. Daniel Suarez

15. Erik Jones

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. Aric Almirola

18. Austin Dillon

19. Ryan Preece

20. Bubba Wallace

21. Daniel Hemric

22. Ryan Newman

23. Ty Dillon

24. Michael McDowell

25. Matt Tifft

26. Landon Cassill

27. David Ragan

28. Corey LaJoie

29. BJ McLeod

30. Joe Nemechek

31. Ross Chastain

32. JJ Yeley

33. Garrett Smithley

34. Joey Logano

35. Ryan Blaney

36. Chris Buescher

37. Reed Sorenson

38. Chase Elliott

Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Elliott Wins Playoff Cutoff at the Roval

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Chase Elliott won the Bank of America Roval 400 from the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course on Sunday afternoon.

Elliott had a dominant car throughout the race, but a miscue on a late restart almost ended his day.  After taking the green flag, Elliott locked up his tires and slid into the Turn 1 wall.

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Elliott said he was happy he could come back from the mistake.

“You talk about messing something up,” Elliott said.  “I pretty well blew it and got cautions at the right time and brought it home.”

Elliott led a race-high 35 laps on his way to victory lane, and the win was his third win of 2019, his second at a road course.

Elliott said the extra Playoff Points will help in the next round of the Playoffs.

“It’s our last road course, so the biggest thing is we have six more bonus points to continue forward with,” Elliott said.  “Luckily our car wasn’t too bad, and our Napa Camaro was fast enough to drive through there.”

After the race ended, four drivers were eliminated from the Playoffs as the first round came to an end.  Aric Almirola, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch and Erik Jones were all eliminated from contention.

Alex Bowman was on the bubble coming into the race on Sunday, and after spinning on lap 1 it seemed like his Playoff hopes would be over.  Bowman was able to drive up through the field to finish second and lock himself into the next round.

Bowman said he was glad to come back after trying to give the race away on the first lap.

“Glad we were able to rebound,” Bowman said.  “The guys obviously gave me a really strong car to come back through the field.”

Unofficial results:

1. Chase Elliott

2. Alex Bowman

3. Kevin Harvick

4. Clint Bowyer

5. Brad Keselowski

6. William Byron

7. Martin Truex Jr.

8. Ryan Blaney

9. Jimmie Johnson

10. Joey Logano

11. Matt DiBenedetto

12. Michael McDowell

13. Kyle Larson

14. Aric Almirola

15. Ty Dillon

16. Paul Menard

17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

18. Chris Buescher

19. Denny Hamlin

20. Kurt Busch

21. Ryan Preece

22. Ross Chastain

23. Austin Dillon

24. Bubba Wallace

25. Matt Tifft

26. Parker Kligerman

27. Corey LaJoie

28. Landon Cassill

29. JJ Yeley

30. Timmy Hill

31. Joe Nemechek

32. Ryan Newman

33. Daniel Hemric

34. Daniel Suarez

35. David Ragan

36. Garrett Smithley

37. Kyle Busch

38. Josh Bilicki

39. Reed Sorenson

40. Erik Jones

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images