Saturday, Dec 09

Brandon Jones won Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway. Jones passed his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch with 20 laps to go and was able to hold off the NASCAR Cup Series champion to win for the second time in his career. His other win came at Kansas Speedway last October.

For Toyota, this was their 500th win in NASCAR.

Kyle Busch, who started from the pole on Saturday, was chasing his 12th career Xfinity Series win at Phoenix. Busch led a race-high 78 laps, but was passed by Jones in the final 20 laps.

Last week’s winner at Fontana, Harrison Burton, also passed Busch and finished runner-up to Brandon Jones on Saturday.

Rounding out the top five were Brad Keselowski in fourth and Justin Haley in fifth.

Rounding out the top ten were Chase Briscoe in sixth, Noah Gragson in seventh, Austin Cindric in eighth, Ross Chastain in ninth and Riley Herbst in tenth.

Following the conclusion of Saturday’s race, Dillion Bassett and Brandon Brown and their crew chiefs got into an altercation on pit road. Bassett reached into Brown’s car while he was parked on pit road after the race. The two drivers had previously made contact on Lap 137.

Both met with NASCAR after the race.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series will head to Atlanta Motor Speedway, Saturday March 14th in the running of the EchoPark 250 with coverage beginning at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

 

Stage 1 Winner: Justin Allgaier

Stage 2 Winner: Noah Gragson

Race Winner: Brandon Jones

Justin Allgaier took the checkered flag in Saturday's Desert Diamond West Valley 200 at ISM Raceway and clinched his spot into the Championship 4. 

The No. 7 Brandt Chevrolet took the green flag in the 5th position and battled for his spot in the playoffs throughout the evening. Christopher Bell started on the pole and dominated the first two stages of the race. Allgaier finished second in both stages. 

Before the green flag waved to start stage 3, Bell was penalized for speeding on pit road, sending him to the rear of the field on the restart. Allgaier inherited the lead and maintained until the end. Cole Custer found speed as well, but ran out of time. He cut Allgaier's lead from three seconds to .810 of a second. 

"I just came up a little bit short, but I think that was the best run we've ever had at Phoenix in a long time," Custer said. 

Justin Allgaier snapped a 39-race winless streak after leading a total of 85 laps, including the final 66. This was his first trip to victory lane this season and the 11th of his racing career. 

"Hats off to everybody at Chevrolet and JR Motorsports. We had a hot rod today, maybe we wouldn't beat the 20, but he made a mistake and it was our race." 

Cole Custer, Tyler Reddick, John Hunter Nemechek and Zane Smith rounded out the top five at ISM Raceway. 

Joining Allgaier in the Championship 4 will be Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Cole Custer. 

The NASCAR Xfinity Series will be back in action one last time on Saturday, November 16. A champion will be named at Homestead-Miami Speedway at 3:30 PM ET on NBCSN. 

 

AVONDALE, Ariz.-- With a gutsy call to stay out on old tires, Ryan Newman went to claim victory in the Camping World 500 at Phoenix Raceway to snap a 127 race winless streak. This is his first win since 2013 at Indianapolis and Richard Childress Racing’s first victory since Phoenix in 2013 with Kevin Harvick.

“I’ve lost count; that’s how long it’s been. I’ve got to thank Grainger, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, Monster Energy, for supporting our series, and Chevrolet. The list goes on and on.  What a gutsy call by (crew chief) Luke (Lambert). I called for two tires and he called for none. I’ve won more races no tires than I have with four. I’m just proud of these guys. We had a good car all day. We kept it out of trouble and collected in the end,” said Newman post-race.

The first stage of the race was dominated by Logano. Logano continued to stay up in the front through much of the first stage. As he entered into lapped traffic, Kyle Larson inched closer and closer. But Logano was able to win the stage with Larson in second, Brad Keselowski third, Chase Elliott fourth, and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-five.

The second stage saw the dominance of Logano fade away. Logano was passed by Elliott and Larson on lap 84, but it was Elliott who would take the lead and dominate the stage. Logano stayed in the top-five, but was caught speeding on pit road and had to start at the tail end of the field after the caution flew on lap 117. On the restart, Elliott and Larson battled for the lead, but Elliott prevailed to win the stage. Larson finished second, Kyle Busch finished third, Jimmie Johnson finished fourth, and  Keselowski rounded out the top-five.

Elliott started the stage as the race leader. As the caution came out for a hard hit coming off of the fourth turn by Matt Kenseth, the leaders pitted. Ky. Busch won the race off pit road and went on to lead the most laps in the round. The caution flew three more times. The final caution of the day was caused by Logano who blew a tire on the frontstretch with four laps remaining, sending the race into NASCAR Overtime. Ky. Busch and the other leaders pitted, but Newman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Martin Truex Jr. stayed out on older tires while many guys behind them had two. On the final restart, Larson tried to make a move on Newman, but went sideways stacking up the field behind him giving Newman the advantage and the ultimate victory. Larson finished second, Ky Busch finished third, Stenhouse Jr. finished fourth, and Keselowski rounded out the top-five.

For Larson, this was the fourth time finishing in the second position since Homestead last year. Larson talked about his move on the final restart post-race.

“Yeah, my spotter said ‘clear’ and I started turning down. I guess I just didn’t anticipate him driving in as far as he did. Maybe I should have just run the middle lane there just to be safe. But all in all, it was a good effort for our Credit One Bank Chevy. And dang it, I wish I wouldn’t have gotten sideways there in (Turns) 1 and 2; and I would have stayed close enough to Newman and I probably would have got him down in (Turns) 3 and 4 coming to the white,” said Larson. “You never know though. That’s how the races play out. Maybe I made a mistake there. This one stings because I feel like I was in the best spot out of anybody there to line up fourth on two tires. But, it’s really, really cool to be the point leader right now. That was a goal of mine going into today. So, thanks to everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing for all your hard work. We’ll hopefully continue to have this speed in our race cars and maybe close some of these races out.”

It was all but Ky. Busch’s race to lose, but the last caution and pitting cost him five playoff points.

“Everything’s great, we got a top five and that’s what we set out to do today and we got a third so we should be pumped about that and how good this Skittles Camry ran today. It was awesome there at the end and the guys made some really good calls there at the end – Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and the guys did a good job being able to make some good adjustments and make it feel better once we got out front,” said Busch. “Thanks to my pit crew – the car really liked clean air. We just got caught up in traffic a little bit early in the race, but we were mindful of that and just kind of bided our time and got up to the front when we did, but we had a little miscue there on pit road with Kurt (Busch) and from there it was just too many cars that stayed out. If it was just two that stayed out maybe, but we really needed the outside like (Kyle) Larson had. Overall we should be proud of our run today and we will move on.”

The caution flew eight times for 45 laps. There were 15 different lead changes among eight different drivers.

Next up for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is the final installment of the West Coast Swing with a trip to Auto Club Speedway for the Auto Club 400. FOX and Motor Racing Network will have live coverage next Sunday beginning at 3:30 p.m. EST.

 

AVONDALE, Ariz.-- Justin Allgaier held off a charge from Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones on a late race restart to win the DC Solar 200 from Phoenix Raceway snapping an 80-race winless streak. Allgaier also wins the $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus. All four of JR Motorsports entries finished in the top-10.

“It’s hard work and perseverance. Last year was tough. We had really good runs all year, weren’t able to get to victory lane. These guys fought hard. Same group of guys we had last year here at Phoenix. This is a team effort,” said Allgaier post-race to FOX.

On the Dash4Cash victory, Allgaier told FOX, “To finish first, you must first finish. We gotten the first thing out of the way, we got three more to do. These guys (XFINITY) what they do for our series, the sport of NASCAR. We have the best fans in the world. This is what this series is all about.”

Allgaier started the race from the fifth position. In the first stage, Allgaier had a car strong on the short runs. Allgaier remained towards the front of the field for the whole stage. On the 20th lap, Allgaier gained the lead from Erik Jones. . Allgaier and E. Jones battled for numerous laps before Allgaier took the advantage.  As Allgaier was in the lead, his car turned from well handling to an ill-handling machine. Allgaier went on to lead nine laps in that stint. Allgaier began to fall back. Allgaier was one position from clinching a spot in the Dash4Cash in this stage. E. Jones won the first stage, Austin Dillon was second, William Byron was third, Ryan Blaney was fourth, and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top-five. Allgaier finished sixth in this stage. Byron and Sadler clinched the first two Dash4Cash spots.

The second stage saw Allgaier start behind A. Dillon on the outside lane. E. Jones was unable to get a good restart moving Allgaier up to the second position. Off the backstrerch on lap 82, Allgaier was able to gain the lead. The caution flew for contact between Brendan Gaughan and Matt Tifft. On the restart, Allgaier gained the advantage. However, Blaney began to reel in Allgaier as he began to hit lapped traffic. Blaney grabbed the lead with 11 laps remaining to win the second stage. Allgaier finished second, A. Dillon finished third, Sadler was fourth, and E. Jones rounded out the top-five. Allgaier and Tyler Reddick were the final two drivers to compete in the Dash4Cash.

At the start of the final stage, A. Dillon restarted the race from the lead. However, Blaney and Allgaier continued to pressure Dillon for that lead. Allgaier was trying for the lead but the caution flew for an accident. Allgaier restarted on the inside lane for the restart, but A. Dillon took the advantage. Allgaier gained the lead at lap 139 to lead the next 21 laps. Allgaier lost the lead on put stops as he was the first driver to take four tires while everyone ahead of him took two tires in what would be the last pit stop of the day. Allgaier quickly jumped up towards the front of the field with four fresh tires to gain the lead on lap 165. The caution then flew for a spin by Drew Herring. On the restart, Allgaier made the decision to start on the bottom, a decision he quickly regretted. Allgaier lost the lead for for nine laps, but gained the lead coming into the third turn. As the laps began to wind down, cautions continued to breed caution. The caution flew again for a spin by Blake Koch. Allgaier learned from his mistake on the last restart. Allgaier restarted from the high line, but as quickly as he was clear for the lead, the caution flew for an accident involving A. Dillon, Ryan Sieg, and Cole Custer. That accident brought out the red flag. On the final restart, Allgaier gained an early jump on the field and set sail for his first victory of 2017. Blaney finished second, E. Jones finished third, Byron finished fourth, and Sadler rounded out the top-five.

There were 13 different lead changes among five different drivers. The caution flew nine times for 55 laps.

Next up for the NASCAR Xfinity Series is the 300-miler event from Auto Club Speedway. Motor Racing Network and Fox Sports 1 will have race coverage on March 25th at 4:00 p.m. EST.

AVONDALE, Ariz.-- William Byron will start from the pole in today's DC Solar 200 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Phoenix International Raceway. This is his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series pole in only his fourth event for JR Motorsports.

The first round of qualifying saw Ryan Blaney, Daniel Hemric, Daniel Suarez, Dakoda Armstrong, Brandon Jones, and Ross Chastain not make times due to issues in the inspection line during the opening round. All cars will start the race after the 77 car from Obaika Racing withdrew from the race. Stephen Leicht will race in the 97 car in the race today. Byron was fastest in the first round at 131.839 mph, A. Dillon was second fastest at 131.738 mph, Darrell Wallace Jr. was third fastest at 131.709 mph, Justin Allgaier was fourth fastest at 131.699 mph, and Brennan Poole rounded out the top-five at 131.550 mph.

In the second round of qualifying Erik Jones was fastest at 132.778 mph, Byron was second fastest at 132.548 mph, Elliott Sadler was third fastest at 132.470 mph, Matt Tifft was fourth fastest at 132.319 mph, and A. Dillon rounded out the top-five at 132.290 mph.

Byron was the fastest in the third round at 133.487 mph. E. Jones will start alongside Byron in second with his qualifying speed of 133.432 mph, A. Dillon will start third at 133.033 mph, Koch will start fourth at 132.724 mph, and Justin Allgaier will round out the top-five at 132.694 mph.

The DC Solar 200 will air live on FOX and Motor Racing Network beginning at $:00 p.m. EST.

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