By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Post-race review and analysis from the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Who Won?
Kyle Larson. The Californian held off a late charge from Christopher Bell and Justin Allgaier in NASCAR Overtime to claim his first Xfinity Series win at Bristol.
Who Claimed the Stages?
Larson. He was the man to beat after Kyle Busch exited early, keeping his fellow competitors at bay to secure both stage wins for the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team.
Top Stories
A Tale of Two Kyles
One Kyle’s trash was another Kyle’s treasure on Friday night.
Kyle Busch entered the Xfinity race ready to kickstart another potential weekend seep. He couldn’t attempt to repeat his tripleheader sweep of the year prior — the Camping World Truck Series race was the tour’s regular season finale, so Cup drivers were banned – but the Nevadan qualified on the pole for his first start of the weekend and appeared capable of another dominant run.
Early on he managed just that, stretching out to a lead of more than five seconds on the half-mile oval while lapping all but the top 11 cars. But a mistake in the middle stages of Stage 1 sent Busch’s day awry.
Busch was in the process of lapping cars on when he got up above the racing groove, into the section of the track where loose rubber and other objects tend to accumulate.
The mistake led to a cut tire on Lap 70, and quickly eliminated Busch from the race outright after Lap 74. The 2015 Cup champ’s dominant No 18 Toyota ended up in the garage area, relegating Busch to a 36th-place result.
“Just rubber on top of rubber,” he said. “The rubber build up that was happening – I just got into the corner a little too hot and just got up into the fence a little bit and then I don’t know, two or three laps later it blew out.”
The run was Busch’s worst in an Xfinity race at Bristol since his 42nd-place run in the spring of 2008. Prior to Friday he’d finished in the top three in 12 of his previous 14 starts in Thunder Valley, with eight wins during the stretch.
That dominance has made it difficult for other drivers to break through at the track, but the veteran’s mistake on Friday opened the door for a number of drivers to add their name to the list of Bristol winners.
In the end the one that capitalized as another Kyle.
Larson.
Running at a track he considers his favorite in NASCAR, Larson won both stages and held on through NASCAR Overtime after a late caution to score his first Bristol win.
“It feels really, really cool to win here finally at Bristol,” Larson said. “I’ve been close so many times. It’s my best race track by far, I feel like—this and Homestead.
“It feels real cool to win.”
Larson had come close numerous times at the facility, finishing second or third in five of his eight Bristol Xfinity starts before Friday.
To finally break through in Thunder Valley was rewarding for Larson, and it capped off a special Xfinity run for the Californian. Larson claimed four of his six starts in NASCAR’s second series
It also means he has a chance to break out the broom and sweep NASCAR’s top two tours on Saturday. He’ll start the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race from the pole.
Not that he’s letting the thought go to his head.
“I haven’t started looking for a broom,” Larson said. “I always know how tough these things are to win. I’m just thankful for the opportunity.”
The Curse Continues
The next time you have an enemy that does you wrong and want payback, take this idea into consideration.
Get some paint and grab a paint brush, sneak over to their car when they’re not around and paint a big “60” on the door of their machine.
Then wait and check the news. You’ll probably find that they crashed leaving the parking lot – if this year’s NASCAR season is any indication, that is.
Roush Fenway Racing (RFR) debuted a new prospect team at the start of the year, and with it fostered hope for the future of both themselves and Ford.
The concept behind the car was simple. Three young talents under the Ford umbrella – Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Ty Majeski – would share driving duties for the ride, allowing each driver an opportunity to build experience with a high-level team while potentially competing for wins and top-fives along the way.
Cindric opened the year for the team at Daytona International Speedway with a disastrous run, slotting in 40th after an early crash.
Briscoe bounced back with a serviceable 15th-place run at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but afterward the team’s misfortune began to build. They would manage only two top-20 finishes over the ensuing 11 races, all while failing to score a single top-10.
Majeski broke through with the group’s best result to date at Iowa, and in the weeks since the trio have held their own with four additional top 15s in eight starts. But the overall results have been staggeringly poor.
Roush’s No. 60 team have averaged a finish of 23.72 during the first 22 rounds of the season. They’ve had something go wrong in 17 of those 22 starts, and have more DNFs (eight) than top-10s (three) during the stretch.
The latest example came on Friday at Bristol. Briscoe was battling with playoff hopeful Ross Chastain when he crashed out after 142 of the race’s 310 laps. The damage eliminated him from the race in 34th – his second DNF in eight starts.
Another promising week. Another letdown.
“I hate it for all the 60 guys,” Briscoe said. “They’ve had to work on a lot of race cars this year. I felt like we had decent speed tonight and maybe could have contended for a top-10, but the day got cut short.”
Other Notes
- Michael Annett was forced to start Friday’s race from the tail, but the JR Motorsports veteran rebounded to finish a season-best seventh. It wasn’t enough to push him into a playoff spot, but provided hope heading to the Road America track where he had arguably his best performance in 2017.
- Jairo Avila Jr. had a quiet Xfinity debut. That’s not a negative, though. Given the chaotic nature of Bristol, bringing home a relatively underfunded machine in 20th was a strong result for the Californian.
- Cole Custer scored his eighth top-five of 2018 at Bristol, and in doing so pushed his top five total beyond the mark he managed in his rookie year – all before the playoffs begin.
Bearden Breakdown: Food City 300
By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Post-race review and analysis from the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Who Won?
Kyle Larson. The Californian held off a late charge from Christopher Bell and Justin Allgaier in NASCAR Overtime to claim his first Xfinity Series win at Bristol.
Who Claimed the Stages?
Larson. He was the man to beat after Kyle Busch exited early, keeping his fellow competitors at bay to secure both stage wins for the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team.
Top Stories
A Tale of Two Kyles
One Kyle’s trash was another Kyle’s treasure on Friday night.
Kyle Busch entered the Xfinity race ready to kickstart another potential weekend seep. He couldn’t attempt to repeat his tripleheader sweep of the year prior — the Camping World Truck Series race was the tour’s regular season finale, so Cup drivers were banned – but the Nevadan qualified on the pole for his first start of the weekend and appeared capable of another dominant run.
Early on he managed just that, stretching out to a lead of more than five seconds on the half-mile oval while lapping all but the top 11 cars. But a mistake in the middle stages of Stage 1 sent Busch’s day awry.
Busch was in the process of lapping cars on when he got up above the racing groove, into the section of the track where loose rubber and other objects tend to accumulate.
The mistake led to a cut tire on Lap 70, and quickly eliminated Busch from the race outright after Lap 74. The 2015 Cup champ’s dominant No 18 Toyota ended up in the garage area, relegating Busch to a 36th-place result.
“Just rubber on top of rubber,” he said. “The rubber build up that was happening – I just got into the corner a little too hot and just got up into the fence a little bit and then I don’t know, two or three laps later it blew out.”
The run was Busch’s worst in an Xfinity race at Bristol since his 42nd-place run in the spring of 2008. Prior to Friday he’d finished in the top three in 12 of his previous 14 starts in Thunder Valley, with eight wins during the stretch.
That dominance has made it difficult for other drivers to break through at the track, but the veteran’s mistake on Friday opened the door for a number of drivers to add their name to the list of Bristol winners.
In the end the one that capitalized as another Kyle.
Larson.
Running at a track he considers his favorite in NASCAR, Larson won both stages and held on through NASCAR Overtime after a late caution to score his first Bristol win.
“It feels really, really cool to win here finally at Bristol,” Larson said. “I’ve been close so many times. It’s my best race track by far, I feel like—this and Homestead.
“It feels real cool to win.”
Larson had come close numerous times at the facility, finishing second or third in five of his eight Bristol Xfinity starts before Friday.
To finally break through in Thunder Valley was rewarding for Larson, and it capped off a special Xfinity run for the Californian. Larson claimed four of his six starts in NASCAR’s second series
It also means he has a chance to break out the broom and sweep NASCAR’s top two tours on Saturday. He’ll start the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race from the pole.
Not that he’s letting the thought go to his head.
“I haven’t started looking for a broom,” Larson said. “I always know how tough these things are to win. I’m just thankful for the opportunity.”
The Curse Continues
The next time you have an enemy that does you wrong and want payback, take this idea into consideration.
Get some paint and grab a paint brush, sneak over to their car when they’re not around and paint a big “60” on the door of their machine.
Then wait and check the news. You’ll probably find that they crashed leaving the parking lot – if this year’s NASCAR season is any indication, that is.
Roush Fenway Racing (RFR) debuted a new prospect team at the start of the year, and with it fostered hope for the future of both themselves and Ford.
The concept behind the car was simple. Three young talents under the Ford umbrella – Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Ty Majeski – would share driving duties for the ride, allowing each driver an opportunity to build experience with a high-level team while potentially competing for wins and top-fives along the way.
Cindric opened the year for the team at Daytona International Speedway with a disastrous run, slotting in 40th after an early crash.
Briscoe bounced back with a serviceable 15th-place run at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but afterward the team’s misfortune began to build. They would manage only two top-20 finishes over the ensuing 11 races, all while failing to score a single top-10.
Majeski broke through with the group’s best result to date at Iowa, and in the weeks since the trio have held their own with four additional top 15s in eight starts. But the overall results have been staggeringly poor.
Roush’s No. 60 team have averaged a finish of 23.72 during the first 22 rounds of the season. They’ve had something go wrong in 17 of those 22 starts, and have more DNFs (eight) than top-10s (three) during the stretch.
The latest example came on Friday at Bristol. Briscoe was battling with playoff hopeful Ross Chastain when he crashed out after 142 of the race’s 310 laps. The damage eliminated him from the race in 34th – his second DNF in eight starts.
Another promising week. Another letdown.
“I hate it for all the 60 guys,” Briscoe said. “They’ve had to work on a lot of race cars this year. I felt like we had decent speed tonight and maybe could have contended for a top-10, but the day got cut short.”
Other Notes