At 8:40 pm ET the ARCA Menards Series driver will chat about racing at Five Flags Speedway this weekend with the ARCA East. He’s a Pro Late-Model champion at the Pensacola, Florida track.
Editor’s Note: Our interview with Bret Holmes is rescheduled according to the rescheduling of the Five Flags Speedway ARCA East race.
Fan4Racing NASCAR Weekend Preview of Atlanta and Pensacola is presented by host Sharon Burton and co-host Jay Husmann every Thursday night. Join us as we rev up race fans for the upcoming weekend of racing. Then, stick around for Hot Topics Sound Off with co-host Andy Laskey and our Fan4Racing crew!
This NASCAR Weekend Preview of Atlanta and Pensacola centers on the NASCAR Cup, Xfinity, and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Along with the ARCA Menards Series East at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. We’ll include updates from the ARCA Menards Series along with the ARCA Menards Series West.
Check out our Chat Room where listeners can interact with us throughout our LIVE broadcast. Those listening to the Podcast can also post their comments.
Our Race Review of Phoenix starts 8:30 pm ET on Monday, March 9, 2020
Guests on this episode include…
Bill McAnally
Team owner of Bill McAnally Racing chats about the 2020 season and his new teams.
Michael Mulder
The tire specialist at Bill McAnally Racing talks about working with the teams this season.
Fan4Racing NASCAR Race Review is hosted by Sharon Burton and co-host Sal Sigala every Monday night at 8:30 pm ET. Gear up for 90 minutes of the smartest race talk around with our guests, then stick around for more with Hot Topics Sound Off at 10 pm ET with co-host Andy Laskey and our Fan4Racing crew!
Our NASCAR Race Review of Phoenix centers around NASCAR Cup, and Xfinity Series at Phoenix Raceway along with the ARCA Sioux Chief Showdown. We also give some updates from the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck, ARCA Menards Series, East, and West, and sometimes more. We’ll include post-race review audio from the winning teams when possible.
Join the conversation throughout our LIVE broadcast or leave comments while listening to the Podcast.
AVONDALE, ARIZONA – MARCH 07: Brandon Jones, driver of the #19 Menards/Turtle Wax Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series LS Tractor 200 at Phoenix Raceway on March 07, 2020, in Avondale, Arizona. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
AVONDALE, Ariz. – From race winner Brandon Jones’ standpoint, it’s too bad there wasn’t a bounty on Kyle Busch in Saturday’s LS Tractor 200 at Phoenix Raceway.
Buoyed by a strong run through turns three and four, Jones shot past Busch into the lead on the frontstretch on lap 181 and pulled away to win by 3.556 seconds over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Harrison Burton, who passed Busch on lap 190 for the runner-up position.
Next weekend at Atlanta, there will be a $100,000 bounty on Busch in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race, courtesy of NASCAR cup veteran Kevin Harvick and Marcus Lemonis, chairman and CEO of Camping World.
On Saturday, Jones had to be content with the satisfaction of beating the career leader in NASCAR Xfinity Series victories, who rolled home third without adding to his 96 wins in the series. Jones was happy to settle for the trip to Victory Lane—after beating Busch and fellow NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, who ran fourth.
“These are two of arguably the best in the business,” Jones said. “We just had a car to beat ‘em today. These guys just did an incredible job.”
Crucial to the win was a quick pit stop on lap 130 that got Jones second off pit road and fourth in the running order for a restart on lap 134.
“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. 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.”
The one-two-three finish for JGR was the sixth in company history. More important, Jones’ second victory in the series and first at Phoenix was the 500th win for Toyota in NASCAR’s top three national series combined.
Burton’s No. 20 Toyota improved throughout the afternoon, as the 19-year-old driver—fresh from his maiden win at Auto Club Speedway last week—posted his fourth straight top-five finish to start the season.
“Early in the day, we weren’t good enough at all,” Burton said. “We were running ninth, tenth, somewhere back there. We fought really hard and got a lot better by the end. The 19 (Jones) kind of did the same thing.
“We got better and better and better as the race went on, so I’m really proud of that. That was Toyota’s 500th victory, so that’s really cool. Good to have a one-two-three when we do it. Proud of our guys. Proud of our effort. Not quite enough, but we’ll be back (at Phoenix in November), hopefully with a chance to win the championship.”
Keselowski recovered from an off-sequence pit stop and a brush with the outside wall to finish fourth, followed by Xfinity regulars Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain (who overcame a power-steering issue that put him a lap down) and Riley Herbst.
Star-crossed Justin Allgaier had perhaps the fastest car in the race, but the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet was trapped in a pit stop zugzwang after staying on the track under caution early in the third stage. Subsequently, Allgaier pitted for fuel only under the sixth yellow on lap 139, but he failed to get a timely caution late in the race that would have allowed him to use his final set of new tires.
Allgaier, who led 51 laps and won the first stage, stood by crew chief Jason Burdett’s pit call.
“I’m good with the decision,” Allgaier said. “Obviously, it didn’t work out, and to say that I’m not disappointed would be lying to you. We had a fast, fast Camaro today. I thought we made the right call. I told him (Burdett) multiple times that I thought we made the right call.”
Notes: Busch led a race-high 78 laps… Gragson won the second stage and led 27 laps… Jones was fourth in laps led with 24… All told there were 12 lead changes among seven drivers… There were seven cautions for 45 laps, the last coming on lap 143.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – 16th Annual LS Tractor 200
Phoenix Raceway
Avondale, Arizona
Saturday, March 7, 2020
1. (8) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 200.
2. (3) Harrison Burton #, Toyota, 200.
3. (1) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 200.
4. (4) Brad Keselowski(i), Ford, 200.
5. (14) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 200.
6. (9) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 200.
7. (7) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 200.
8. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 200.
9. (5) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 200.
10. (11) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 200.
11. (10) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 200.
12. (13) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, 200.
13. (6) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200.
14. (15) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 200.
15. (29) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 200.
16. (24) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 200.
17. (26) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 200.
18. (20) Dillon Bassett, Chevrolet, 199.
19. (17) Brett Moffitt(i), Chevrolet, 199.
20. (21) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 199.
21. (33) Jesse Little #, Chevrolet, 199.
22. (22) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 199.
23. (30) Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 198.
24. (31) Chad Finchum, Toyota, 196.
25. (23) Ray Black II, Chevrolet, 196.
26. (32) David Starr, Chevrolet, 196.
27. (35) Vinnie Miller, Chevrolet, 196.
28. (28) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 194.
29. (36) Kody Vanderwal #, Chevrolet, 177.
30. (12) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, DVP, 142.
31. (19) Joe Graf Jr #, Chevrolet, Accident, 142.
32. (27) Joe Nemechek(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 127.
Time of Race: Two Hrs, Nine Mins, 47 Secs. The Margin of Victory: 3.556 Seconds.
Caution Flags: Seven for 45 laps.
Lead Changes: 12 among seven drivers.
Lap Leaders: A. Cindric 1-9;K. Busch(i) 10-39;J. Allgaier 40-48;B. Keselowski(i) 49-55;J. Allgaier 56-75;K. Busch(i) 76-85;R. Chastain 86-89;N. Gragson 90-116;J. Allgaier 117-138;B. Jones 139-142;K. Busch(i) 143-180;B. Jones 181-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Busch(i) three times for 78 laps; Justin Allgaier three times for 51 laps; Noah Gragson one time for 27 laps; Brandon Jones two times for 24 laps; Austin Cindric one time for nine laps; Brad Keselowski(i) one time for seven laps; Ross Chastain one time for four laps.
Fan4Racing NASCAR Weekend Preview of Phoenix is presented by host Sharon Burton and co-host Jay Husmann every Thursday night at 8:30 pm ET. Join us as we rev up race fans for the upcoming weekend of racing. Then, stick around for Hot Topics Sound Off at 10 pm ET with co-host Andy Laskey and our Fan4Racing crew!
Fan4Racing NASCAR Weekend Preview centers around racing at Phoenix Raceway for the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series. Along with the first ARCA Menards Series Showdown event. We’ll include updates from the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck and ARCA Menards Series along with the ARCA Menards Series East and West.
Check out our Chat Room where listeners can chat with us throughout our LIVE broadcast. Those listening to the Podcast can also post their comments.
We always appreciate listeners taking time to tune-in. Whether listening to the live broadcast or the podcast afterward, we extend our thanks.
Editor’s Note: Although our broadcast ends at the two-hour mark, we continue recording the rest of our conversation. That portion of our broadcast is availableon the podcast. When returning to hear the overtime content, just fast forward to the two-hour mark to hear the rest of the conversation. There is no interruption for Podcast listeners.
