ARCA Menards Series West standout Blaine Perkins is taking the next step in his racing journey as it was announced Jan. 9 that the 22-year-old driver will run full time for SS GreenLight Racing in the Xfinity Series in the upcoming 2023 season. Perkins is set to pilot the No. 07 Chevrolet.
The news was first reported by RACER Magazine in an interview with Perkins. The team will run engines from Richard Childress Racing with veteran crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. atop the pit box.
"It's really cool," Perkins said of the opportunity in an interview with RACER. “I’ve taken this journey to the East Coast to race and started in the Xfinity Series part-time and then ran full-time in the Truck Series last year. It’s really awesome. Dreams come true, for sure.”
Perkins is coming off a 29th place points finish in the Craftsman Truck Series last season in which his best finish was 18th at Nashville Superspeedway.
In that same interview with RACER, Perkins remarked “I think the transition from maybe the ARCA car to the Xfinity car was a little bit better. I've got 13 races under my belt over the last two years and we rattled off our first top 10 so hopefully, we can keep it going."
Sponsorship for the Bobby Dotter-owned team will be announced at a later date.
NXS: Justin Allgaier holds off Chase Briscoe to win Saturday's Xfinty Series race at Dover
Justin Allgaier won Sunday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Dover to win his first Xfinity Series race of 2020, ending a 20-race winless streak.
Allgaier led 120 laps of the 200 lap race, including the remaining 50 laps.
For driver No. 7, it’s his sixth straight Dover race in which he’s finished third or better.
“These last 18 to 24 month have been crazy,” Allgaier told NBCSN post-race. “Just proud of these guys and the no give of attitude they’ve got. What a day. What a racecar. We were off a little bit in the beginning and Jason did a great job of getting us where we need to be at.”
Rounding out the top five were Austin Cindric in second, Ross Chastain in third, Noah Gragson in fourth and Noah Gragson in fifth.
Austin Cindric, who finished second has finished runner-up in the last seven races.
Rounding out the top ten were Riley Herbst in sixth, Jeb Burton in seventh, Justin Haley in eighth, Michael Annett in ninth and Chase Briscoe in tenth.
Jeb Burton, who finished seventh earned his third top 10 of the 2020 season with only six starts thus far.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will race once again on Sunday as part of the doubleheader from Dover this weekend with coverage beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern on NBCSN.
For Sunday’s race, the top 15 finishers will be inverted. Brett Moffitt will start from the pole and Brandon Brown will start alongside in second.
Stage 1 Winner: Austin Cindric
Stage 2 Winner: Justin Allgaier
Race Winner: Justin Allgaier
Harrison Burton won Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Burton, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing took the lead with just two laps to go, winning his second race of the season and the first in the Xfinity Series two race double header weekend.
With his win on Saturday, Burton becomes the third two-time winner of the 2020 Xfinity Series season along with Noah Gragson and Chase Briscoe.
“So much fun for me especially,” Burton told FOX Sports. “I gave him the lead on the outside early and I think he chose the inside because of that. I knew I couldn’t give it to him again.
“This is such a tight series and everyone is so so competitive that you kind of have to claw and dig every chance you get. This was one of those times where he kind of got loose and got under him and it was a good race. That’s for sure,”
Rounding out the top five were Austin Cindric in second, Noah Gragson in third, Anthony Alfredo in fourth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished fifth in his first race since Darlington last year and his only race for the season.
Rounding out the top ten were Michael Annett in sixth, Chase Briscoe in seventh, Brandon Jones in eighth, Ross Chastain in ninth and Riley Herbst in tenth.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will return to Homestead-Miami Speedway tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. Eastern on Fox Sports 1.
Stage 1 Winner: Ryan Sieg
Stage 2 Winner: Noah Gragson
Race Winner: Harrison Burton
Brandon Jones Triumphs at Phoenix
Brandon Jones triumphed in Phoenix in the LS Tractor 200 to earn his second career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Pit stops played a crucial role in earning and maintaining track position throughout the race. Jones made his pivotal pit stop on lap 130 that put him in fourth on the restart. This gained him the track position he needed to make a run for the win.
“I told (crew chief) Jeff (Meendering) kind of early in the race… I’m like, ‘Man, I’m just lacking track position — that’s the only thing I’m lacking,'” Jones said. “The pit crew did a heck of a job, and they said, ‘There you go. There’s your track position,’ and it paid off at the end.”
Kyle Busch, who started on the pole, ran up front with another NASCAR Cup Series front-runner, Brad Keselowski. Both drivers ran strong throughout the day.
As the laps wound down, the racing began to heat up. With 20 laps to go, Jones got a great run off of Turn 3 and 4 that propelled him pass JGR teammate Kyle Busch. Harrison Burton passed Kyle Busch for the second position before the checkered flag waved.
Brandon Jones' victory gave Toyota their 500th win in NASCAR.
Rounding out the top five at Phoenix Raceway were Harrison Burton, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Justin Haley.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will be back in action on Saturday, March 14 at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the EchoPark Automotive 250 on FS1 beginning at 4:00 p.m.
Chase Briscoe won Sunday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race was postponed after Lap 51 on Saturday due to rain and rescheduled for Sunday one hour following the NASCAR Cup Series race.
Briscoe led 89 laps in route to his victory on Sunday.
“That was really a team win,” Briscoe told FS1 post-race. “We were really good, then as soon as the sun went down when we were in the dirty air, we just weren’t really good. In clean air obviously there at the end we were really good. This is something I feel we can do all year long.”
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver beat out second place Austin Cindric by nearly three seconds to claim his third career NASCAR Xfinity Series win.
Rounding out the top five were Austin Cindric in second, Ryan Sieg in third, Noah Gragson in fourth and Harrison Burton in fifth.
Rounding out the top ten were Brandon Jones in sixth, Michael Annett in seventh, Justin Allgaier in eighth, Riley Herbst in ninth and Ross Chastain in tenth. Chastain, who ran in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race filling in for Ryan Newman had to go directly from Newman’s car to his full-time Xfinity Series ride.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will head into Auto Club Speedway in the running of the Production Alliance Group 300 on Feb. 29 at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.
Stage 1 Winner: Chase Briscoe
Stage 2 Winner: Justin Allgaier
Race Winner: Chase Briscoe