Photo – Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Though Ricky Stenhouse Jr. didn’t win Sunday’s Camping World 500 at Phoenix by staying out on old tires—as Ryan Newman did—the driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford did hold onto fourth-place during a two-lap overtime.
That Stenhouse was able to score his eighth career top-five is emblematic of improved performance at Roush Fenway Racing, but Stenhouse says there’s still work to do. Continue reading
AVONDALE, AZ – MARCH 19: Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, wrecks during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Camping World 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on March 19, 2017 in Avondale, Arizona. Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Joey Logano started Sunday’s Camping World 500 from the pole and led 82 laps, but his race ended suddenly and dramatically when his right front tire blew as the No. 22 Ford approached turn one on lap 307 of a scheduled 312. Continue reading
When the winner of Sunday’s Camping World 500 was announced, officials might have thought for a moment that they got the wrong envelope, à la Warren Beatty at the Oscars.
But, no, there was no mistake. Ryan Newman was the unexpected winner of the fourth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season after a late caution gave his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing team the chance to break a drought dating to 2013. Continue reading
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams will race the Camping World 500 at Phoenix Raceway this Sunday, March 19th. FOX is providing television coverage at 3:30 pm ET with radio coverage also available on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Drivers will race 312 miles over 312 laps with Stage 1 ending on lap 75 and Stage 2 ending on lap 150. Continue reading
Justin Allgaier popped a tire during his celebratory burnout after Saturday’s DC Solar 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.
But you can forgive the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet if he was a trifle rusty with his donuts—Allgaier hadn’t been to Victory Lane in the NASCAR XFINITY Series since August in 2012 at the road course in Montreal.
On a blistering afternoon that brought emotions to a boil at the one-mile race track in the Sonoran Desert, Allgaier sailed away with a magnificent restart with four laps left and finished 0.741 seconds ahead of runner-up Ryan Blaney, who started 33rd after inspection issues kept him off the grid during qualifying earlier in the day.
“You have no idea how proud I am of you,” Allgaier radioed to his team after he crossed the finish line and broke an 80-race drought.
After climbing from the car, Allgaier began to digest what he had just accomplished, not the least of which was claiming the $100,000 bonus in the first Dash 4 Cash race of the season. The victory was Allgaier’s fourth in the series.
“Last year was tough,” Allgaier said of a winless 2016, his first year with JRM. “We had really good runs all year but we weren’t able to get to Victory Lane. This was the same group of guys we had last year, and to be able to do it here in Phoenix and win the first Xfinity Dash 4 Cash race…
“This is a team effort. We had four really good JR Motorsports hot rods out there.”
In fact, with polesitter William Byron running fourth and series leader Elliott Sadler coming home fifth, JRM put three cars in the top-five and four in the top-nine (with Michael Annett finishing ninth).
With ten laps left, contact from Cole Custer’s Ford sent Austin Dillon’s No. 2 Chevrolet hard into the outside wall, collecting Ryan Sieg’s Chevrolet in the process. After caution flew on lap 191, Dillon rode Custer’s car into the outside wall, earning a summons to the NASCAR hauler for Dillon and crew chief Justin Alexander.
“He over-drove the corner and took us out with it,” Dillon said after exiting the infield care center.
Dillon wasn’t particularly apprehensive about the meeting with NASCAR.
“We’ll probably just have a Coke and discuss things,” he said optimistically.
Custer took full responsibility for the incident.
“It was 100-percent my fault,” said the Sunoco rookie driver. “I got in there too deep, got really loose going in and couldn’t put any wheel into it. That was pretty much it. Just all my fault. Something that won’t happen again. We had a great race leading up to that.
“We didn’t start out at all how we wanted to, but by the end we were probably a fifth- to eighth-place car. I thought that was a really good sign for us. I thought we had a really good Haas Automation Ford.
It’s unfortunate I cost us and the 2 car there.”
Under the circumstances, Custer wasn’t surprised at Dillon’s retaliation.
“It definitely sucks for us points-wise, but I guess you can kind of expect that when he gets taken out,” Custer said. “I can understand how frustrated he is about it. It is what it is. I will try not to have that happen again.”
Average Speed of Race Winner: 91.013 mph.
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 11 Mins, 51 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.741 Seconds.
Caution Flags: nine for 55 laps.
Lead Changes: 13 among five drivers.
Lap Leaders: 0; E. Jones(i) 1-19; J. Allgaier 20-28; E. Jones(i) 29-64; A. Dillon(i) 65-81; J. Allgaier 82-109; R. Blaney(i) 110-124; A. Dillon(i) 125-138; J. Allgaier 139-159; M. Tifft # 160-163; E. Jones(i) 164; J. Allgaier 165-172; E. Jones(i) 173-181; J. Allgaier 182-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): J. Allgaier five times for 85 laps; E. Jones(i) four times for 65 laps; A. Dillon(i) two times for 31 laps; R. Blaney(i) one time for 15 laps; M. Tifft # one time for four laps.
Stage #1 Top-Ten: 20,2,9,22,1,7,6,42,21,11
Stage #2 Top-Ten: 22,7,2,1,20,42,6,48,9,11