Xfinity Series News (7158)
NASCAR Xfinity Series News
RCR PR
Race Winner: John Hunter Nemechek of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Daniel Hemric of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: John Hunter Nemechek of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-45):
● Briscoe started 12th and finished 30th.
● A nine-car accident in the second turn of the first lap left Briscoe’s No. 98 with heavy, front-end damage.
● Over several caution laps, the crew made repairs before returning Briscoe to the race in 30th position.
● Briscoe spent the remainder of the stage pitting whenever possible for more repairs and running at the back of the pack.
● Briscoe stayed on the lead lap until lap 30.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 46-90):
● Briscoe started 29th and finished 29th.
● Climbed to 27th place as the crew took every opportunity to continue making repairs to the No. 98 under caution and even pitting under green.
● Despite the repairs, the damage was too great to continue and Briscoe retired from the race after completing only 79 laps.
Notes:
● John Hunter Nemechek won the Kansas Lottery 300 to score his first career Xfinity Series victory,
● Six different drivers swapped the lead 10 times during the race that saw seven caution periods.
● The No. 98 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing With Biagi-DenBeste (SHR) made its 12th and final appearance of 2018 in this race. Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick and Briscoe shared driving duties this season.
● The No. 98 team posted two wins, four top-five and six top-10 finishes in 2018. Harvick won Feb. 24 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Briscoe won the Sept. 29 race on the “roval” at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 98 Nutri Chomps Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing With Biagi-DenBeste:
“That’s disappointing. Sure not the way we wanted to end our schedule with the No. 98. I was just going into turn two and everybody in front of me started spinning and I had nowhere to go. It was a long day after that, but everyone on the No. 98 team worked really hard to keep us in the race as long as we could. It was a pleasure and honor to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing with Biagi-DenBeste this year. We got a win and had some good runs. This is a great team and I really appreciated all the support from Ford and Nutri Chomps as well.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 on Saturday, Nov. 3 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The race starts at 4:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN.
TSC PR
Race Winner: John Hunter Nemechek of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Daniel Hemric of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: John Hunter Nemechek of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-45):
● Custer started 10th, finished 28th.
● On the first lap, Custer was caught in an accident with nowhere to go, causing significant damage to the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford.
● Custer visited pit road three times to repair the damage and said he had a power steering issue.
● After a lap-25 caution, Custer visited pit road to cover his steering wheel with grip tape to help him turn in the corner with no power steering.
● When the stage ended, he brought the No. 00 Ford to the garage to replace the power steering fluid.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 46-90):
● Custer started 30th, finished 29th.
● Custer reentered the race on lap 54. He said he had power steering for a few seconds, then it completely went away.
● Crew chief Jeff Meendering radioed him back to the pits during a lap 56 caution. The team assessed the issue, but found a mechanical issue in the steering component that could not be repaired.
● He finished the stage 13 laps down but gained one position.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 91-200):
● Custer started 28th, finished 26th.
● Thanks to the Haas Automation Ford team’s hard work to keep Custer on track, he was able to gain two more positions before the race concluded.
Notes:
● Only eight of the 40 drivers finished on the lead lap.
● John Hunter Nemechek won the Kansas Lottery 300 to score his first career Xfinity Series victory.
Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing With Biagi-DenBeste:
“I have no idea what happened on that first lap. It seemed like I kind of got loose before everyone started wrecking. I don't know if something was wrong with the track or something. We all wrecked on lap one and that kind of sunk our boat. We fixed the car and muscled it out but it is what it is. We will have to go try to win at Texas and Phoenix. It sucked. It took a lot. I didn’t think I was going to make it after about 30 laps without power steering, but you kind of get used to it and find a way to get a rhythm. Hopefully, I don't ever have to do that again.”
Playoff Standings:
1. Daniel Hemric (3067 points, +23)
2. Elliott Sadler (3058 points, +14)
3. Tyler Reddick (3055points, +11)
4. Christopher Bell (3003 points, +1)
5. Matt Tifft (3044 points, -1 )
6. Justin Allgaier (3039 points, -5)
7. Cole Custer (3011 points, -23)
8. Austin Cindric (3,001 points, -43)
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 on Saturday, Nov. 3 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The race starts at 4:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN.
TSC PR
John Hunter Nemechek took a visit to victory lane at Kansas Speedway on Saturday. Nemechek, piloting the No. 42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing, led the field for 64 of the 200 laps to earn his first career NASCAR XFINITY Series win.
The 300-mile Kansas Lottery 300 was dominated by second-place finisher Daniel Hemric. Hemric, who won the pole for the race and led 128 circuits, sat 5.200 seconds behind the race winner.
Hemric finished first in stage one and sat second in stage two behind eventual race winner John Hunter Nemechek. Hemric, in 30 races this season, has 14 top five and 20 top 10 finishes.
With the win on Saturday, through 15 starts in 2018, Nemechek has earned four top five and eight top 10 finishes.
Elliott Sadler rounded out the top three finishers in the Kansas Lottery 300 on Saturday. Sadler, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, started 11th on the leaderboard and lead the field for two laps. The Virginia native ended stage one sitting fifth and stage two sitting fourth.
Shane Lee and Tyler Reddick rounded out the top five.
Matt Tifft, Ryan Reed, Ty Majeski, Ryan Sieg and Jeremy Clements rounded out the top 10.
Several potential winners were caught up in struggles early on. On the backstretch after going green, nine cars were involved in an incident that took out Justin Allgaier and Austin Cindric. Other notables involved were Cole Custer, Ryan Truex, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe. Allgaier will leave with a 38th-place finish while Cindric finished 39th.
Eleven laps later a yellow came out for the No. 19 Toyota of Brandon Jones on the backstretch. Jones went on to finish 36th and 188 laps down.
On lap 89, a lap before the end of stage two, a caution came out for three cars in turn four that involved a trio of cars. One of those drivers included Ryan Preece. The driver of the No. 18 Toyota finished the afternoon in 21st.
The next race for the NASCAR XFINITY Series will be in two weeks at Texas Motor Speedway. Coverage of the event will air live on NBC and MRN radio.
Daniel Hemric will start on the pole Saturday at Kansas Speedway. Hemric, still looking for his first career NASCAR XFINITY Series win, posted a 29.355, 183.995 mph. in the final round of qualifying.
Christopher Bell will start second in the No. 20 Rheem Toyota. Bell, last year’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race winner at the 1.5-mile oval, posted a 29.543, 182.784 mph. in the final round. The young driver comes into the day looking to score his seventh win of the year.
Justin Allgaier rounded out the top three in the final round by posting a 29.601, 182.426 mph. Allgaier enters Kansas with 16 top five and 22 top 10 finishes along with five wins.
Austin Cindric and Brandon Jones round out the top five.
The Kansas Lottery 300 will take place at 3:00 p.m. ET. live on NBC and MRN.
"Regarding the announcement of Spencer Gallagher’s retirement earlier today at Kansas Speedway, all of us at GMS Racing wish Spencer the best in his future endeavors. We look forward to what the future holds for this organization and we will continue to work to build our Xfinity Series program into a championship caliber team like our trucks." - Mike Beam President of GMS Racing
GMS Racing PR
After the NASCAR XFINITY Series' first weekend off since June, Go Green Racing returns to action in Kansas with Joey Gase. This weekend is the first and only trip the series makes to Kansas Speedway this season. The mile and a half quad-oval is a track that Gase enjoys racing, "I like to think of it as another home track for me," said Gase. "It's one of the closest tracks to my hometown, so we always have a lot of family and friends that come to the track which is awesome."
This weekend Gase is bringing along two new sponsors that will be making their NASCAR debut on the #35 Chevy Camaro. Absaroka is a new Western & Leather apparel company out of Decatur, AL who is coming on as the primary sponsor for the Kansas Lottery 300. Page Construction announced yesterday that they'll be coming on board this weekend as an associate sponsor. Page Construction is a home repairs & construction company based out of Kansas City, MO. "We're extremely excited to have Absaroka and Page Construction on board with us this weekend," said Gase. "Both are great companies with even better people. I really look forward to building our relationship in the future."
Gase's first ever start at Kansas Speedway was for Archie St. Hilaire and the Go Green Racing team back in 2011. This weekend will mark his 7th start at the speedway with his best finish of 19th coming in 2012. The team will look to bounce back after a tough weekend in Dover and improve on Gase career best finish at Kansas Speedway.
Track Facts:
Length: 1.5 mile oval
Banking in turns: 17-20°
Banking on Frontstretch: 10°
Banking on Backstretch: 5.5°
TV / Radio:
The haulers are set to enter the track tomorrow morning and the first practice session for the Kansas Lottery 300 will begin tomorrow afternoon at 3:05 p.m. ET. on NBCSN. Final practice for the NASCAR XFINITY Series will begin later on in the day at 5:05 p.m. ET and can be seen on NBCSN as well.
The green flag is scheduled for Saturday, October 20th at 2:55 p.m. ET. Live coverage of the Kansas Lottery 300 will be broadcasted on NBC. You can also listen in on MRN Radio, as well as Sirius XM Radio, channel 90.
Joey Gase PR
Virginia driver Quin Houff will return to the JD Motorsports with Gary Keller team for Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway.
Houff, who will be driving in his seventh career Xfinity race, will pilot the No. 15 Chevrolet for JDM. He raced in September for the team at Richmond Raceway, finishing 31st, and now will finish the season in the car.
“I am very excited to have the opportunity to get back in a car with JDM,” Houff said. “Kansas will be a great track to start our four-race spurt together since I ran there last year. I am eager to learn on track and continue to build a relationship with the race team. I can’t thank all those who helped me get here and JDM enough for the opportunity.”
Houff, 21, started racing Limited Late Models at the age of 13 and advanced into Super Late Models and then into the Automobile Racing Club of America series.
Practices are scheduled at Kansas at 3:05 p.m. (ET) and 5 p.m. Friday. Qualifying is set for 11:40 a.m. Saturday, with the race to follow at 2:55 p.m.
JDM PR
Garrett Smithley will drive the No. 0 Chevrolet for JD Motorsports with Gary Keller in Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway.
The race will be Smithley’s third in the Xfinity Series at Kansas. His best finish at the 1.5-mile track is 18th.
“Kansas is a track that gets your attention because the speeds are up there,” Smithley said. “The laps and miles go by really quickly. Sometimes you feel like you’re hanging on for dear life, but it’s still a fun track to challenge.”
There are four races remaining in the 2018 season.
Practices are scheduled at Kansas at 3:05 p.m. (ET) and 5 p.m. Friday. Qualifying is set for 11:40 a.m. Saturday, with the race to follow at 2:55 p.m.
JDM PR
