Kasey Kahne fastest in first of 2 Saturday Sprint Cup practices at Bristol

By Jerry BonkowskiApr 18, 2015, 10:25 AM EDT

Kasey Kahne made it two in a row, leading Saturday morning’s first Sprint Cup practice at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Kahne covered the half-mile bullring with a field-best speed of 128.829 mph. He was also fastest in Friday’s solo practice session.

Kahne goes for a practice trifecta with Happy Hour scheduled at 11:30 am to 12:25 pm ET.

Kevin Harvick was second-fastest in Saturday’s practice at 126.395 mph. Also over 126 mph was Joey Logano (126.137) and Kurt Busch (126.088).

The session saw two mishaps.

First was Tony Stewart hitting the wall. The damage was moderate, but his team believed it could repair it instead of going to a back-up car.

Second was a wreck between former teammates Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Carl Edwards. Stenhouse had minor front end damage, while Edwards had minor rear end damage.

Here’s how Saturday’s first of two practices shaped up:

1 Kasey Kahne … 126.829 mph … 65 laps

2 Kevin Harvick … 126.395 … 60 laps

3 Joey Logano … 126.137 … 66 laps

4 Kurt Busch … 126.088 … 78 laps

5 Denny Hamlin … 125.996 … 63 laps

6 Paul Menard … 125.980 … 63 laps

7 Carl Edwards … 125.889 … 50 laps

8 Martin Truex Jr. … 125.782 … 38 laps

9 Dale Earnhardt Jr. … 125.666 … 64 laps

10 Jimmie Johnson … 125.609 … 88 laps

11 Jamie McMurray … 125.584 … 106 laps

12 Brett Moffitt … 125.527 … 83 laps

13 Casey Mears … 125.346 … 69 laps

14 David Ragan … 125.313 … 65 laps

15 Jeff Gordon … 125.256 … 67 laps

16 AJ Allmendinger … 125.256 … 68 laps

17 Sam Hornish … 125.158 … 58 laps

18 Brad Keselowski … 125.109 … 51 laps

19 Matt Kenseth … 125.109 … 61 laps

20 Ryan Newman … 124.930 … 58 laps

21 Aric Almirola … 124.914 … 57 laps

22 Justin Allgaier … 124.865 … 69 laps

23 Kyle Larson … 124.800 … 84 laps

24 Tony Stewart … 124.759 … 56 laps

25 Austin Dillon … 124.533 … 74 laps

26 Jeb Burton … 124.484 … 58 laps

27 Clint Bowyer … 124.379 … 59 laps

28 David Gilliland … 124.347 … 75 laps

29 Mike Bliss … 124.315 … 59 laps

30 Landon Cassill … 124.307 … 36 laps

31 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. … 124.291 … 51 laps

32 Danica Patrick … 124.242. … 52 laps

33 Michael Annett … 124.178 … 67 laps

34 Greg Biffle … 124.058 … 57 laps

35 Alex Bowman … 124.034 … 74 laps

36 Michael McDowell … 123.841 … 42 laps

37 Trevor Bayne … 123.833 … 39 laps

38 Chris Buescher … 123.730 … 64 laps

39 Cole Whitt … 123.658 … 40 laps

40 Matt DiBenedetto … 123.650 … 26 laps

41 Josh Wise … 123.523 … 29 laps

42 JJ Yeley … 122.693 … 47 laps

43 Alex Kennedy … 122.217 … 52 laps
Best 10 Consecutive Lap Average:

1 Kevin Harvick … 125.725 mph

2 Kurt Busch … 125.158

3 Paul Menard … 125.121

4 Kasey Kahne … 125.009

5 Joey Logano … 124.814

6 Jamie McMurray … 124.628

7 Brad Keselowski … 124.597

8 Denny Hamlin … 124.375

9 Casey Mears … 124.227

10 Carl Edwards … 124.153

11 David Ragan … 124.144

12 Matt Kenseth … 124.130

13 Landon Cassill … 124.039

14 Jimmie Johnson … 123.984

15 AJ Allmendinger … 123.957

16 Brett Moffitt … 123.934

17 Kyle Larson … 123.905

18 Mike Bliss … 123.729

19 Dale Earnhardt Jr. … 123.649

20 Tony Stewart … 123.592

21 Michael Annett … 123.542

22 Clint Bowyer … 123.513

23 Austin Dillon … 123.496

24 Sam Hornish Jr. … 123.485

25 Jeff Gordon … 123.380

26 Alex Bowman … 123.272

27 Jeb Burton … 123.261

28 Greg Biffle … 123.253

29 Justin Allgaier … 123.209

30 Ryan Newman … 122.904

31 David Gilliland … 122.885

32 Trevor Bayne … 122.080

33 Aric Almirola … 122.075

34 Josh Wise … 122.058

35 JJ Yeley … 121.860

36 Michael McDowell … 121.754

37 Chris Buescher … 120.383

38 Alex Kennedy … 119.172

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Texas Truck race results: Carson Hocevar scores first series win

By Dustin LongApr 1, 2023, 8:35 PM EDT

Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Carson Hocevar was in front after the leaders crashed in overtime and scored his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway.

MORE: Texas Truck race results

Rookie Nick Sanchez, who led 168 of the 172-lap race, dueled reigning series champion Zane Smith on the last lap when Sanchez’s truck hit Smith’s. As Sanchez tried to regain control of his vehicle, he was hit from behind by Hocevar. That contact sent Sanchez into Smith. Christian Eckes also was collected.

Hocevar’s first win came in his 59th series start.

Chase Purdy placed second. Stewart Friesen finished third. Ty Majeski was fourth. Jake Garcia completed the top five.

Richmond Xfinity results, driver points

By Dustin LongApr 1, 2023, 5:05 PM EDT

RICHMOND, Va. — Chandler Smith won a stage, led a race-high 83 laps and rallied late to score his first career Xfinity win Saturday at Richmond Raceway.

MORE: Richmond Xfinity results

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John Hunter Nemechek placed second. The rest of the top five featured Josh Berry, Kaz Grala and Cole Custer. Austin Hill, who had won three of the first six races of the season, placed ninth.

Hill continues to lead the points. He has a 12-point advantage on Riley Herbst and an 18-point lead on Nemechek heading into the next series race in two weeks at Martinsville.

Chandler Smith scores first career Xfinity win with Richmond victory

By Dustin LongApr 1, 2023, 4:07 PM EDT

RICHMOND, Va. — Chandler Smith held off John Hunter Nemechek to win his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Richmond Raceway.

The 20-year-old Smith took the lead with 12 laps to go and withstood a restart with six laps to go to earn the victory for Kaulig Racing.

MORE: Richmond race results, driver points

His victory came about a month after being passed for the lead with two laps to go at Las Vegas and finishing third day.

“It obviously wasn’t in God’s works for me that and I was fine with that, I was good with that,” said Smith, who will make his Cup debut Sunday. “I knew there was something bigger and better that He was playing it out for me and I just had to be faithful and keep on trucking. Here’s proof of it.”

Nemechek was second. Josh Berry placed third and was followed by Kaz Grala and Cole Custer.

Justin Allgaier finished 13th to win the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus.

“Today was weird because of how we finished,” Allgaier said. “Given the same circumstances a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, 13th wasn’t going to win the Dash 4 Cash but today it did.”

Stage 1 winner: Chandler Smith

Stage 2 winner: Josh Berry

Who had a good race: A caution caught Justin Allgaier a lap down, ending his chances for a top-five finish but he was able to bounce back and win the Dash 4 Cash for a fifth time. … Derek Kraus finished 10th in his Xfinity debut. … Chris Hacker placed 14th in his Xfinity debut.

Who had a bad race: Riley Herbst had his career-long streak of top-10 finishes snapped after nine races. He placed 23rd after he was hit and spun late in the race.

Notable: This is the second time in the last four races that there has been a first-time series winner. Sammy Smith scored his first series win last month at Phoenix.

Next: The series is off until April 15 at Martinsville Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1).

Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain move on from COTA incident

By Dustin LongApr 1, 2023, 1:22 PM EDT

RICHMOND, Va. — Daniel Suarez says he’s been trying to “work on myself” after conflicts with teammate Ross Chastain and Alex Bowman last weekend at COTA but noted that if NASCAR doesn’t make adjustments with restarts on road courses, he’ll change his driving style.

NASCAR fined Suarez $50,000 on Wednesday for hitting another vehicle on pit road after the race. Suarez hit Chastain’s car at pit entrance and hit the back of Bowman’s car while they were both on pit road.

MORE: Cup starting lineup at Richmond

“I’ve been trying to work on myself mostly during the week, trying to clear my mind and reset,” Suarez said Saturday at Richmond Raceway. “My team, we’re good. I think the issue wasn’t really with one driver. I feel like it’s more as an industry, how we are allowing to have those kind of bump-and-run restarts at the end of the races at road courses.

“I don’t think that’s right.”

Suarez restarted fifth in the second overtime restart. Alex Bowman, with Ross Chastain and Chase Briscoe aligned behind, charged and got beside Suarez as they approached Turn 1.

As Bowman slowed to make the tight turn, he was hit from behind and that sent him into Suarez, who clipped the left rear of Martin Truex Jr.’s car. Truex spun in front of Suarez and blocked his path, allowing the rest of the field to go by. Suarez finished 27th.

Chastain said he and Suarez have moved on from last week’s incident after talking this week.

“Every household on this earth has their moments of arguments and we had ours,” Chastain said Saturday.

“We’re family. We’re in the same house, right. It’s in our name. It’s Trackhouse. No matter what, we all think we have to put that behind and know that moving forward we’re brothers. … We’re brothers at Trackhouse and we’re going to be stronger together.”

#NASCAR … Daniel Suárez explains what type of contact is OK on tracks and what isn’t and how he may have to adjust his driving style. pic.twitter.com/0dap6Y8TPN

— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) April 1, 2023

Suarez is among the number of drivers who have raised concerns about the rough driving in the series. The Next Gen car is more durable and can take more hits — as evident in the Clash at the Coliseum to start the year when drivers barreled into the back of cars in the corners to slow down.

Add the emphasis of winning, less respect for one another and the result is the type of racing on display at the end of the race at Circuit of the Americas, as drivers charged down a long straightaway before braking hard for a tight turn and making contact with one another.

So, what can be done?

“I don’t have the answers to that,” Suarez said. “All I know is that NASCAR is working toward trying to make a better solution for some of these restarts. It doesn’t look right. This sport looks embarrassing.

“That’s not real. Just go into the corner and bump three cars to push people out of that way, that’s not real. We know that. That’s how some people got top fives and top 10s last week and some of the guys that were fast, like myself, finished 27th.

“If NASCAR does something about it, that’s amazing. If they don’t I’ll just join the party.”

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