“Summer’s Five Things” is a daily column for NASCAR fans to catch up on the most recent, relevant, and need-to-know news and information in the sport! While mostly focused on NASCAR, this column may also feature other interesting and exciting moments from the world of motorsports. Enjoy!
- Justin Allgaier wins XFINITY Series race
In what has been by far a career best season for Justin Allgaier, the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet won Sunday’s Johnsonville 180 in the NASCAR XFINITY Series at Road America. This was Allgaier’s fourth victory of the season and ninth victory of his career.
Allgaier certainly had an exciting day en route to Victory Lane. While battling with Christopher Bell towards the end of the race, Bell and Allgaier made contact and went off course. However, both were able to keep going and the race remained green.
With seven laps to go, Allgaier restarted alongside James Davison — an experienced road racer — and Davison was able to clear him, but made a mistake shortly thereafter that allowed Allgaier to take the lead … and keep it.
The cruise to victory lane was made even easier when, just a couple of laps later, Davison and Justin Marks made contact and spun out while racing for second. The margin of victory was 5.403 seconds over second-place finisher Matt Tifft.
As a result of the victory, Allgaier was able to steal the points lead away from Christopher Bell. Bell spun out with five laps remaining after contact from Tifft and had to make a pitstop, relegating him to a 23rd-place finish. Whoever is leading the points at the end of the regular season will receive an additional 15 Playoff points at the start of the postseason. Allgaier currently holds a five-point advantage over Bell with three races left in the regular season.
NASCAR XFINITY Series Unofficial Race Results
NASCAR XFINITY Series Unofficial Driver Points
2. Bill Elliott has fun despite rough day at Road America
In his first NASCAR national series start since 2012, NASCAR Hall of Famer and 16-time Most Popular Driver Bill Elliott finished 20th at Road America, running as high as seventh at one point in the race.
However, Elliott said post-race that he felt like he hit “everything but the lottery”, after suffering front-end damage from running into another driver to avoid a crash by Brandon Jones at the end of Stage 1 and spinning out with only a handful of laps remaining.
Even with all of that, the 62-year-old driver still was able to enjoy what will likely be his final NASCAR start — for real this time.
“This was a lot of fun, a good time,” Elliott said post-race. “These guys are serious racers. I mean all these kids are really, really good. I felt like I held my own pretty good for where I’m at in my career and what I was trying to do. It’s just hard to put it all together.”
Elliott’s son, Chase, spotted for him during the event. Chase won his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race earlier this month at Watkins Glen International with Bill serving as a spotter.
- Unfamiliar faces in XFINITY Series race hold their own in Johnsonville 180
While “road ringers” have become less common in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the XFINITY Series still draws a handful of drivers that aren’t normally part of the weekly grind when the series heads to a road course.
One of those drivers is Justin Marks. Marks has run only 34 XFINITY Series races since 2008, with many of those starts coming on road courses, and earned his first and to-date only race win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2016 while driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. Marks was unable to lead any laps in Saturday’s race at Road America, but likely would have finished in the top five had he not made contact with another road racing expert, James Davison, with just a few laps remaining.
Davison is an Australian racecar driver, who is most experienced in sports car racing, though he has also made starts in the Verizon IndyCar Series. Saturday was his fourth career start in the XFINITY Series, where he finished eighth after leading just one lap.
Andy Lally is a staple in the XFINITY Series when it comes to road course racing, and he proved why on Saturday. Driving for owner Mario Gosselin, Lally earned Gosselin’s third ever top-10 finish as an owner with a 10th-place result. Lally has earned five top-10 finishes in 10 career XFINITY Series starts.
Katherine Legge made her second career NASCAR start at Road America on Saturday. After having an on-track run-in with Tyler Reddick during practice on Friday, Legge had to overcome a spin during the race in order to rally to a 14th-place finish after running as high as third. Legge is from Guilford, Englad and has three career victories in the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship series including a win at Belle Isle in June earlier this year.
Word on the street is that we may soon see Legge on an oval track if the circumstances work out for her to do so.
IndyCar Series driver Conor Daly had a rough XFINITY Series debut. After sponsor Lilly Diabetes pulled the decals from his car after a racial slur his father used over 30 years ago surfaced, Daly suffered a mechanical failure and retired from the race after 35 of the 45 laps. Daly ran as high as 10th before heading to the garage area and finished 31st.
- Truck Series holds practice, qualifying sessions in preparation for Sunday’s race
Though overshadowed by the action at Road America, the Camping World Truck Series was on track at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in order to practice and qualify for Sunday’s Chevrolet Silverado 250, the first playoff race for the series. .
The first practice session of the day was led by Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Noah Gragson, who finished second in his only career start at this track last season. ThorSport Racing veteran Matt Crafton was second quickest, followed by rookie Todd Gilliland. John Hunter Nemechek and Ben Rhodes rounded out the top five.
The only incident in the session was when Harrison Burton went off course. He did not sustain any significant damage.
The second and final practice session was led by Justin Haley, with a time of 80.136 seconds at 110.467 mph. Gilliland and Nemechek were second and third, respectively. Brett Moffitt and Stewart Friesen rounded out the top five.
The Truck Series completed their day qualifying in the rain. 21-year-old Rhodes won his second career pole with a time of 90.465 seconds at 97.854 mph. He will line up alongside Gragson.
Myatt Snider, Crafton, and Timothy Peters — who is filling in for Spencer Gallagher — rounded out the top five.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Practice 1
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Final Practice
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Starting Lineup by Row
- Full schedule for today’s race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park
The Camping World Truck Series has a rare Sunday afternoon race, with a 64-lap run to the finish on the 10-turn Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
Here is the full schedule for today:
- Presentation of Colors (Royal Canadian Mounted Police): 2:24PM ET
- Invocation (Tom Kipp): 2:24:10PM ET
- Intro For National Anthem: 2:24:40PM ET
- National Anthem (Martina Ortiz Luiz): 2:24:50PM ET
- Intro For Canadian National Anthem: 2:26:20PM ET
- Canadian National Anthem (Martina Ortiz Luiz): 2:26:30PM ET
- Fly-by (Canadian Harvard Aerobatic Team): 2:28PM ET
- Command To Fire Engines (Kris Barclay, winner of 2018 Chevrolet Boots & Hearts Festival Emerging Artist Showcase): 2:33PM ET
- Green Flag: 2:42PM ET
The television broadcast will be on FS1. The radio broadcast will be on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
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If you would like to receive “Five Things” in your inbox, or just connect with me, you may send me an e-mail at [email protected].
You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram.
Summer’s Five Things: What You Need To Know For August 26, 2018
“Summer’s Five Things” is a daily column for NASCAR fans to catch up on the most recent, relevant, and need-to-know news and information in the sport! While mostly focused on NASCAR, this column may also feature other interesting and exciting moments from the world of motorsports. Enjoy!
In what has been by far a career best season for Justin Allgaier, the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet won Sunday’s Johnsonville 180 in the NASCAR XFINITY Series at Road America. This was Allgaier’s fourth victory of the season and ninth victory of his career.
Allgaier certainly had an exciting day en route to Victory Lane. While battling with Christopher Bell towards the end of the race, Bell and Allgaier made contact and went off course. However, both were able to keep going and the race remained green.
With seven laps to go, Allgaier restarted alongside James Davison — an experienced road racer — and Davison was able to clear him, but made a mistake shortly thereafter that allowed Allgaier to take the lead … and keep it.
The cruise to victory lane was made even easier when, just a couple of laps later, Davison and Justin Marks made contact and spun out while racing for second. The margin of victory was 5.403 seconds over second-place finisher Matt Tifft.
As a result of the victory, Allgaier was able to steal the points lead away from Christopher Bell. Bell spun out with five laps remaining after contact from Tifft and had to make a pitstop, relegating him to a 23rd-place finish. Whoever is leading the points at the end of the regular season will receive an additional 15 Playoff points at the start of the postseason. Allgaier currently holds a five-point advantage over Bell with three races left in the regular season.
NASCAR XFINITY Series Unofficial Race Results
NASCAR XFINITY Series Unofficial Driver Points
2. Bill Elliott has fun despite rough day at Road America
In his first NASCAR national series start since 2012, NASCAR Hall of Famer and 16-time Most Popular Driver Bill Elliott finished 20th at Road America, running as high as seventh at one point in the race.
However, Elliott said post-race that he felt like he hit “everything but the lottery”, after suffering front-end damage from running into another driver to avoid a crash by Brandon Jones at the end of Stage 1 and spinning out with only a handful of laps remaining.
Even with all of that, the 62-year-old driver still was able to enjoy what will likely be his final NASCAR start — for real this time.
“This was a lot of fun, a good time,” Elliott said post-race. “These guys are serious racers. I mean all these kids are really, really good. I felt like I held my own pretty good for where I’m at in my career and what I was trying to do. It’s just hard to put it all together.”
Elliott’s son, Chase, spotted for him during the event. Chase won his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race earlier this month at Watkins Glen International with Bill serving as a spotter.
While “road ringers” have become less common in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the XFINITY Series still draws a handful of drivers that aren’t normally part of the weekly grind when the series heads to a road course.
One of those drivers is Justin Marks. Marks has run only 34 XFINITY Series races since 2008, with many of those starts coming on road courses, and earned his first and to-date only race win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2016 while driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. Marks was unable to lead any laps in Saturday’s race at Road America, but likely would have finished in the top five had he not made contact with another road racing expert, James Davison, with just a few laps remaining.
Davison is an Australian racecar driver, who is most experienced in sports car racing, though he has also made starts in the Verizon IndyCar Series. Saturday was his fourth career start in the XFINITY Series, where he finished eighth after leading just one lap.
Andy Lally is a staple in the XFINITY Series when it comes to road course racing, and he proved why on Saturday. Driving for owner Mario Gosselin, Lally earned Gosselin’s third ever top-10 finish as an owner with a 10th-place result. Lally has earned five top-10 finishes in 10 career XFINITY Series starts.
Katherine Legge made her second career NASCAR start at Road America on Saturday. After having an on-track run-in with Tyler Reddick during practice on Friday, Legge had to overcome a spin during the race in order to rally to a 14th-place finish after running as high as third. Legge is from Guilford, Englad and has three career victories in the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship series including a win at Belle Isle in June earlier this year.
Word on the street is that we may soon see Legge on an oval track if the circumstances work out for her to do so.
IndyCar Series driver Conor Daly had a rough XFINITY Series debut. After sponsor Lilly Diabetes pulled the decals from his car after a racial slur his father used over 30 years ago surfaced, Daly suffered a mechanical failure and retired from the race after 35 of the 45 laps. Daly ran as high as 10th before heading to the garage area and finished 31st.
Though overshadowed by the action at Road America, the Camping World Truck Series was on track at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in order to practice and qualify for Sunday’s Chevrolet Silverado 250, the first playoff race for the series. .
The first practice session of the day was led by Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Noah Gragson, who finished second in his only career start at this track last season. ThorSport Racing veteran Matt Crafton was second quickest, followed by rookie Todd Gilliland. John Hunter Nemechek and Ben Rhodes rounded out the top five.
The only incident in the session was when Harrison Burton went off course. He did not sustain any significant damage.
The second and final practice session was led by Justin Haley, with a time of 80.136 seconds at 110.467 mph. Gilliland and Nemechek were second and third, respectively. Brett Moffitt and Stewart Friesen rounded out the top five.
The Truck Series completed their day qualifying in the rain. 21-year-old Rhodes won his second career pole with a time of 90.465 seconds at 97.854 mph. He will line up alongside Gragson.
Myatt Snider, Crafton, and Timothy Peters — who is filling in for Spencer Gallagher — rounded out the top five.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Practice 1
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Final Practice
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Starting Lineup by Row
The Camping World Truck Series has a rare Sunday afternoon race, with a 64-lap run to the finish on the 10-turn Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
Here is the full schedule for today:
The television broadcast will be on FS1. The radio broadcast will be on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
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If you would like to receive “Five Things” in your inbox, or just connect with me, you may send me an e-mail at [email protected].
You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram.